Flat cookies when baking with milled grains I've made whole wheat chocolate chip cookies from Good to the Grain many times with King Arthur Flour's whole wheat flour and they come out great.  http://food52.com/blog/9497-kim-boyce-s-whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies

When I mill hard red wheat and use it in the cookies (from finely milled to coarse) I get flat, barely edible cookies.

Anyone know why this happens and how I can fix it?

Edited to add:
With the King Author wheat flour I use a 3T cookie scoop and the cookies flatten slightly and then raise. They have a slight crunch to them.

Using the milled flour and the same cookie scoop they at least double in diameter, do not raise much, and are very flat.  They are really hard to bite and can only be eaten when dunked in milk.

I wish I had pictures, but the times I tried making them I didn't think to take any.

TL;DR: For cookies, use soft white wheat (or try mixing in spelt).  And be aware that you may need to tweak some quantities of things like oil, baking powder, and sugar when you use different flours.

There are several types of modern wheat readily available for milling.  The basic divisions are

Red or white
Soft or hard
Winter or spring

Red means that the bran literally has a slightly redder color to it, but it is also a little tougher, with a slightly stronger flavor, and generally more noticeable in the finished product.  Unless you're specifically going for that rustic wholemeal sort of effect, choose white wheat.

Soft and hard refer to how hard the berry is, but is also strongly correlated with how much gluten you get — soft meaning there's more starch and less protein, and hard being more protein and less starch.  Basically, if you're baking bread you want hard; if you're baking cookies, muffins, cakes, etc., you want soft.

Spring wheat is (usually) planted in the spring and harvested before autumn.  Winter wheat is (usually) planted later, so that it can't be harvested before winter; it goes dormant, and is harvested once it finishes growing in the spring.  (In warmer places like parts of California, spring wheat actually grows during the warm winter, before the desperately hot summer arrives.  It's still spring wheat, though, because of its genetic makeup.)  Winter wheat tends to have slightly lower protein content, though the main driver is soft vs. hard.

Of course, in addition to the modern varieties, you'll also find ancient varieties like spelt, emmer, khorasan (a.k.a. kamut), and einkorn.  These have slightly different flavor, and typically less gluten.  The idea is that humans have bred wheat for millenia, starting from einkorn, to increase the gluten to provide more structure in their bread.  But all that structure that's so important for bread is too much for more delicate baked goods like cakes, cookies, pancakes, etc.  So you want to use one of the lower-gluten varieties for those.  For example, you might try milling 50% soft white wheat and 50% spelt for those cookies, and I bet you'd get a great result.

All of these varieties still have bran, which is usually sifted out of all-purpose flour, pastry flour, cake flour, etc.  When you use whole-grain flour (or mill it yourself and don't sift it), that bran tends to interrupt the formation of the gluten network, giving your baked goods a bit less structure — though maybe grittier, and possibly tougher or more bitter if you don't adjust your recipe.

That's not to mention rye, barley, and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), which are the other gluten-containing grains.  And then there are completely different grains like oat, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, teff, amaranth...  (King Arthur Flour has a nice guide for this group here.)

All of this is basically saying that — even just among basic wheat varieties — there's a wide world of grains out there to try in your baking.  Whether you buy them as flour, or mill them yourself, you'll really improve your skills if you start branching out by using new grains in your baking.  But not all grains can be substituted for others.  You need to think more, and maybe adapt recipes.  Adjusting hydration levels is the first and most obvious thing.  But sometimes you'll find that it helps to do things like adding some extra baking powder or adjusting the quantity of sugar to get your cookies just right.


Attempted to season my new cast iron pan and was left with a ring Is my pan ruined? I coated it evenly with vegetable oil, put it on low to medium heat, came back after about 20 and the centre where the now circle is was dry and the oil was around the dry circle. I cleaned it under hot water, gently scrubbed, the hard crumby circle away and it went down to what you see now. I reseasoned it and put it in the oven upside down but nothing changed. Help!

From the look of that, I'd say there's two possibilities.

your burner is too small, and is heating the pan in the middle only, producing the ring.  The solution for this is to heat it in the oven as explained in this answer.
as Tetsujin suggests, you may be using too much oil and it's pooling in the middle and burning.

In either case, your next step is to scrub the pan to get the burned and uneven oil off.  I suggest using coarse salt with a little vegetable oil as a scrubbing mix; I get my pans smooth this way.  Then restart your seasoning.


What kind of wood puts the most flavor in the meat? I want to smoke a few boston butts, but I want to know what wood has the strongest flavor, and I will be smoking them for 12+ hours, very slow and low cook.

The strongest wood is not always the best wood. Mesquite is by far the strongest smoke wood. But it can be a disaster on anything but beef or fast-cooked foods. Hickory is a good complement to barbecued pork, and is the traditional wood for Carolina barbecue. I like to use hickory and cherry with pulled pork and ribs, myself.


How to make crescent rolls soft and fluffy? I have tried a couple of times to make my crescent rolls light, soft, and fluffy, but I have not managed to achieve that yet. They turn out a bit too heavy. My guess is that the dough is too sticky, so when I knead it I add more flour than is needed. Any help here? Thank you.

First thought with any roll/croissant/ etc is the dough needs to be made with COLD ingredients.

This allows layers to be formed and this is what creates the magic.

If ingredients, especially butter, are not cold then they make a gloppy thick dough. Cold ingredients make nice, clean layers that lead to lighter finished products.


New to sous vide and not having any luck Tried a pork loin that had been well marinated. Cooked it at 140 for 3 hours. Was very tender and did not have any character and no taste of marinade.
Next try was chicken tenders. Cooked at 140 for almost 2 hours. Used it for Orange Chicken. It was very tender and kind of like eating tofu with orange sauce.
Third try was a marbled beef chuck roast. Put salt, pepper and onion powder on before vacuum bagging it. Cooked for 48 hours at 135. Seared in oil in cast iron pan on all sides. Was very tender but not falling apart. Did not taste like a roast.
My wife thinks I wasted money on sous vide. Everything I read raves about everything cooked this way, but we have not experienced that.. What am I doing wrong?

Sous vide is a great method for getting tender meat but it doesn't impart flavor to anything. Marinades only go so far adding flavor, you need your meat to have flavor in the first place. Other than from marinade flavor in cooked meat comes from:

The quality of the meat: good quality meat comes from good breeds that have been raised well and given quality feed
The cut: the more work the meat does on the animal the more flavor it has. A tenderloin is tender to begin with because it just fills a gap and doesn't move, but it isn't going to taste the same a shoulder. A working cut has a much stronger flavor and the connective tissues break down into gelatin which adds flavor and a luscious mouth feel. My personal opinion is that there's no point in slow cooking tender cuts, I always go for the beef shin (leg), chuck, or rump (round). Chicken breast, especially your standard cheap store brands, has very little flavor, I prefer dark meat, or if I'm cooking breast I go for quality free range birds
Maillard reactions and caramelization: When cooking at high temperatures you get flavors from maillard reactions and the caramelization of sugars, slow cooking does not add these, so you need to brown before or after (you appear to have done this with your beef which is good), before is better for slow cooking in my opinion as you get the flavors from the browning throughout the meat

The simple truth is you won't get a tasty result in cooking unless you start with good ingredients, and this is especially true in sous vide cooking, or any slow cooking method really. Sous vide is not a magic bullet which transforms mediocre steak into amazing steak, it's got to be amazing steak in the first place. Good restaurants use the best quality meats they can get their hands on, so if you want to get similar results you will too.


Recipe word for "not trimmed" I'm trying to write up a recipe by weight and include both the "cleaned" weight and the "uncleaned" weight. I can't find a good word for "uncleaned" and I'm hoping someone here knows one. "Raw" means "not cooked". "not cored or skinned" is awkward.
For example:

60 g   celery, trimmed (start with 1 stalk, uncleaned)
70 g   onion, skinned (start with 1/4 onion, uncleaned)
50 g   granny smith apple, skinned and cored (start with 1/2 apple, uncleaned)

Is there such a word?

You don't need the "uncleaned" word there at all.
All of the qualitative amounts are just approximates, so "(about 1/4 onion)" works fine.


I waited two hours before starting my slow-cooker. Will the food be safe to eat? What I did:

I browned some beef cubes and put them in the slow-cooker. I then added some spices (a lot of spices), tomato juice, olive oil and vinegar.

For all kinds of reason, I waited a total of over 2 hours since placing the meat in the slow-cooker (mostly covered) before turning it on.

I then turned it on high. I plan on cooking the food for at least 7 hours.

Is it safe?

Thank you!

The general rule is that food can only spend two hours in the 'danger zone'. Leaving it out for over two hours before starting the process of heating it out of the danger zone means that it could now be unsafe.

Cooking it for seven hours on high will probably kill all bacteria in the food, however, it is not the bacteria you need to worry about. The problem is if the bacteria have produced any kind of toxin. These toxins are generally proteins, which will not be destroyed at any normal cooking temperature.

I would recommend following your username and throwing it out.


Fixing a Brownie Brick I have a fudge brownie recipe that I followed pretty much to the letter. I think when I baked it, it was too thin; it came out hard, like a brick, and it's pretty much inedible. I'm also afraid someone left it outside / in the fridge exposed, and it dried up more.

Is there anything I can do to soften it and make it edible?

I would crumble it up into a blender, add some vanilla ice cream and some milk.  Blend it all together to make a Brownie Milkshake.


garlic powder and onion powder substitutes recipe calls for 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder all I have is garlic salt also 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder and all I have is onion salt how much do I substitute for each

A good substitute will be Asafoetida . It smells like blended onion and garlic . Taste wise , its a great substitute of onion and garlic .


Bread cracks in the oven I'm having trouble with my hamburger buns cracking in the oven.

click to expand

In this photo you can see a a bun with the crust cap cracking, isolating the bottom portion and exposing the crumbs. I used to have Hamilton Beach mixer for kneading and never had any issues. I set the Hamilton Beach mixer on speed 4 for 10 minutes. But now I got a KitchenAid Artisan mixer, and am having trouble with the exact same recipe.

I first tried to follow the KitchenAid instructions to knead only for two minutes at speed 3 which didn't work out well and the dough failed the window pane test. I then searched and found some advice to knead at speed 4 for about 10 minutes. I did and my dough passed the window pane test but somehow after rising during the shaping the crust/surface of the buns show a non-smooth surface (happens a lot more on whole wheat). What are some of the reasons this happens? The same recipe works perfectly with the Hamilton Beach mixer. Any advice on the technicalities would be appreciated.

I've read What causes the crown of the bread to crack during baking? (and I appreciate people citing that). But that question is about a loaf, and it's normal for loaves to crack like that, and normal to score loaves. Hamburger buns, in contrast, are not generally scored, and the recipe I'm making is not supposed to require it. It's worked fine without scoring sometimes, so there's something else going wrong besides the lack of scoring.

Your picture makes me want to say that it's a classic case of underproofing, but... You also mixed that dough at a pretty high speed. I think you may have over-developed the gluten. Sometimes if the gluten is too tight, it won't be stretchy enough to accommodate proofing and oven spring, which can lead to a rough surface during proofing and ripping while baking. This is more frequently a problem for buns since their shape requires them to be molded tighter than a loaf would normally be, and their small size means that they rise faster than the gluten can relax. You might have better luck only mixing for the recommended time on the lower speed, and then folding it once or twice during the rising time.


What can I substitute for soda pop in a sweet pork recipe? I was looking up sweet pork recipes and every one of them call for Coke or Dr. Pepper.

I avoid soda as much as possible because of questionable ingredients: specifically GMO corn syrup, sodium benzoate and caramel color.

Are there any safer substitutions I could use to achieve the same/similar flavor?

Apple juice is good with pork.  The frozen cans of concentrate are cheap and perfect for this use.
Apple juice lacks the dark notes of cola.  To get those I propose you add hoisin sauce.  It is very sweet, a great mix with pork (I have some boneless ribs soaking in some right now awaiting the grill) and will lend the apple juice more of a dark sweet tone.
If you want to stay pure to your recipe, sub in one of the organic root beers on the market. They are easy to find and they will brag about how they don't do the stuff you dislike about Big Cola.  Whole Foods has a store brand one you could use.  Root beers vary a lot; try some first to make sure it has flavors you want for your pork.


Coating meat in flour before browning, bad idea? For a long time, before browning meat that would then braise, I've coated it in flour as to ensure the right consistency for the resulting sauce. Are the downsides to this method? Should I just brown the meat for braised dishes without the flour coat, then thicken the simmering liquid with a slurry?

I have done it both ways successfully. Flouring the meat before browning does give a little extra flavor, plus the flour continues to cook while the meat is braising. I personally think it gives a richer, deeper flavor and ensures that you won't have any raw flour flavor. If you are happy with your results using this method I wouldn't change it.   :)


Sugar content of food This appears to be the most relevant site to post my question about the sugar content of foods. For the various sugar products that I have come across recently, it appears that typically one teaspoon contains 4 grams of sugar. I use this relationship to gauge how much sugar is added to commercial products.
But I'm also curious about natural products. So for instance I currently have a bag of dates (the only ingredient) and the label says that 5 dates contain 29 grams of sugar, so about 6 grams per date. Using the above relationship, that implies that each date is equivalent to consuming about one and a half teaspoons of sugar. So having a few dates is equivalent to consuming several teaspoons of sugar? Is this a correct way to think about it?

That is actually correct - depending on the fruit you may be looking at different sugar component ratios (fructose/glucose), but ultimately, fruit is sweet because it contains sugar.
If you looking at dried fruit, the loss of water means a lot of concentrated sugar remains - and if you remember how sugar is made, it’s to be expected.


What effect does orange juice have when used in dough? I was following a recipe to make some Middle Eastern inspired Olive bread, and the recipe called for a cup of orange juice in the dough.

I was intrigued by this as I had not seen it before.

What effect would the orange juice have when use in the dough? Are there any specific reasons to use orange juice in dough?

Here is the rest of the recipe for the dough:

4 cups flour
1 cup oil
1 cup orange juice
1 egg
2 tsp. baking powder

In her book, Bakewise, Shirley Corriher writes that vitamin C strengthens gluten. Many "dough enhancers" feature vitamin C as a large component.

Of course orange juice also tastes good which is probably why it was included in your recipe.


Why did this cake fail? I made this cake in a borrowed bundt pan (i.e., I'm not used to baking in it), which I greased with cooking spray. This was the result:

Not only did large sections stick to the pan and tear out upon removal, but there's that thick semi-burnt crust on the surface.

The tear-out suggests that the pan wasn't greased properly, but I typically get pretty good coverage with that spray.
The semi-burnt crust suggests that the oven was too hot, but, while I've never actually tested the oven, I've used it for years with no problems, so I'm pretty confident that it's accurate.

Does anyone have a thought as to what happened here?

Batters full of starches and sugars are always sticky, how you prevent it from sticking partly depends on the plan. Some pans have coatings which while called non-stick aren't, but do reduce sticking somewhat. On pans like these often buttering is sufficient, and 'normal' cake pan shapes allow you to loosen the sides by running a knife around the side, so even if they stick you can free the cake. Putting a piece of baking paper on the bottom of a flat bottomed pan is a sure-fire way of preventing issues.
When you have an odd shape like a bundt, paper won't work, and you can't afford anything sticking, so the best way to ensure it frees is to generously butter (not oil or spray) the pan and then flour it. You can also make cake release, which can be sprayed or brushed on, using equal volumes of flour, oil and shortening.


How to safely grill meat/fruit/veggie skewers This weekend we grilled kebabs with steak, onions, peppers, and big pineapple spears.  No ill effects, but I noticed that the pineapple was still cool where it was touching the meat, and the meat still reddish where touching the pineapple.  This made me wonder whether having the chunks all snugged up against each other is truly safe or not, it seems like any bacteria on either piece would still be safely alive and dangerous where they were touching.  Any good knowledge on this, or recommended practices for grilling safely?

Honestly, while your typical "combination" skewer looks more impressive, I find it's much better to grill them in separate skewers.  One for beef, one for chicken, one for peppers, one for onions, etc.  That way, you can cook each to their preferred temperature and not have to worry about the exact problem you're running into.

As far as cross contamination, you'll definitely minimize any risk grilling them as separate skewers, but since you didn't have chicken in the mix you should be relatively safe anyway.  Once you sear the outside of the beef, you should be safe.

I picked this method up from an Alton Brown recommendation on a Good Eats episode (Scene 10), and found that I get considerably better results when I do it this way.


Why did my storebought spaghetti sauce bubble out of the jar? Tonight we were having meatball subs we open store bought spaghetti sauce and put it on our subs. We just spooned it out of the jar, no heating. We looked away for a moment, then once we started eating I looked at the sauce and it had bubbled and run over the sides of the jar. The top looked like lava with bubbles busting air. Anyone ever hear of this? What happened? It was sauce with Italian sausage.

Since it was unheated, this is definitely a sign of food contamination. Since this had Italian sausage, it is low pH, and could be in danger of botulism toxin. Here is information from the CDC about botulism. If you ate the sauce, I recommend you see a doctor quickly, as it can lead to paralysis.

If it had been heated, it could have just been boiling over. As liquids boil, bubbles start to form. Since the spaghetti sauce is thick, it's going to trap the bubbles, and release them with more force. The bubbles may accumulate so much, that it will spill over the pan.


Substituting white flour for maida in making Indian samosas Indian recipes call for using Maida or All-purpose flour in making samosa. Disregarding for a second the difference between the two (as discussed in here - Difference between Maida and All purpose flour), is it possible to use "regular" white refined flour instead of all-purpose one?

To clarify - I live in a country (Israel) where it's not possible to get Maida. Until now I have bought what is called all-purpose flour for samosas, but actually what is sold here as "white flour" seems to have similar nutritional content (All purpose flour has 10.4% protein, while white flour has 10.5% protein, similar calories and fat values). The reason I would like to use white flour is because it is 30% of the price of all-purpose flour.

There has been quite a bit of confusion here concerning maida (which can be labeled all-purpose, especially in India). The top answer on the question that you linked to was actually incorrect. It has been fixed. Maida is actually a very low protein flour, much like what would be called cake flour in the US. I suspect and would appreciate if you can confirm that your use of the term "all-purpose flour" stems from the Indian use of the term, not that your recipes call for what Americans would call "all-purpose flour".

In answer to your question, yes, you can substitute what you know as white flour and what I know as all-purpose flour (`10.5% protein) for maida by replacing some of the white flour with cornstarch or potato starch. The best reference I could could find for the percentage of protein in maida was The Fresh Loaf, they say that, on average, maida contains 7.5% protein. To get from 10.5% protein to 7.5% protein, you would need to "lose" 3 grams of protein per every 100 grams of flour. By replacing 28.6 grams of white flour with potato starch or cornstarch, your mixture would have the the 7.5% protein content of maida. That looks good on paper, but my gut says to split the difference. I'd first try a mixture of 15 grams of potato or corn starch and 85 grams of white flour as a substitute for 100 grams of maida. The use of cornstarch in that way is commonly done in the US with our all purpose flour to emulate our low protein cake flour. cake flour with corn starch

In case the international flour terms aren't complicated enough, I understand that in Israel what is generally called cake flour has added leavening agents, it's like what I would call self-rising flour. Confused yet? I'll repeat here what I said in comments above:

  "It's confusing. In India (and therefore also on its exports) maida is sometimes labeled "all-purpose", but it is more like what Americans call cake flour. Israel has its all-purpose, which is less processed than the all-purpose in the US. What is called cake flour in Isreal would be called self-rising flour in the US. What Isreal has that is the closest to what Americans call all-purpose is called white flour."


Cake flavour options I want to make an easy cake. What flavor should I do it?
I have already tried strawberry, vainilla and chocolate cakes, but I want something different that its not too difficult.

You can make a vainilla cake with chocolate chips.


Can I make pancakes with waffle mix? It's thanksgiving, bought pancake mix to enjoy on a cold morning with the family. It had bugs in it from the store.

I have waffle mix, but my iron is MIA. Can I make pancakes or something alike using the waffle batter I have on hand?

Yes.The basic ingredients for both are the same; the difference lies in how they are cooked.


Why do crisp bread rolls have more water than soft bread rolls? I was wondering why my recipe for crisp bread rolls needed more water than soft bread rolls.

There's several things going on here:

Water itself doesn't really make it crisp or not...per se.  What may happen there is that the water will release in the oven as steam and that contributes to a 'crisp crust'.  More water will thus generally mean a crispier crust - because it steams more.  You can accentuate this by baking in a closed container like a dutch oven or by creating steam in the oven artificially (thats what 'real' bakery ovens do, inject steam).
The reason bread is soft on the inside however has a lot more to do with two major things.

The sugar content
The fat content

Increasing both of these will make your bread softer.  So if your softer recipe also includes more these, thats why they're softer - not the water content.
The flour type...kind of.  Softness and chewiness aren't quite opposites, but if you're looking for Wonderbread, you'll want to avoid high protein flours and go for something like all purpose flour. 'Chewiness' can be perceived as less soft.  Chewiness is generally a result of more gluten.  With all purpose flour, you'll end up with less gluten and as a result, less chewiness.  Using a high protein dough, you end up with something chewy like pizza dough or such.  Since gluten forms easier with wetter doughs (thats what the whole no knead movement is about) - the water content also plays a factor here.  It will make it chewier - which can be interrupted as less soft.


Preparation of gravlax versus lox I have prepared lox and gravlax in the past.  In both instances, I have brined and lightly smoked the salmon; in the case of gravlax, I have then put finely snipped fresh dill on the flesh side of the salmon, put a bit of olive oil on the dill and pressed it into the fish and left it to age for several days in the refrigerator.

These techniques never seem to give me a product similar to those I have tried in restaurants and at commercial outlets.

It seems that I am doing something wrong, especially with the gravlax, which never seems to achieve the fine texture and flavor of the gravlax I can purchase.

I use about 3 tablespoons/50 ml of salt and about half as much sugar per pound/450 grammes for a dry brine, which is then put in the refrigerator for a day, before smoking.

Has anyone made this? Why isn't it coming out correctly?

I'd say you probably brined the salmon for too long. Gravlax goes generally from 12 to 48 hours in a dry brine.

You have to know that

The longer the salmon is left in the brine the more it gets cooked
and firm. Try shorter brine time (12-48h).
The more saltier the brine is, the firmer the salmon will end up. Try increasing the sugar ratio in your mix.

If the result is uneven, you should flip the fish each 12 or so hours. After the brining and removing all the salt under running water, let the fish rest (dry) for a few hours to let the flavors balance inside the fish.

For the smoking, you should take care of cold smoking it (fish temperature should be kept below 37°C [100°F]) as to maintain gravlax properties. However as it was mentioned in the comments, it should then be called smoked salmon instead of gravlax as the gravlax is generally not smoked. Inserting a thermometer in the fish is helpful to control temperature during the whole process.

A trick to maintain gravlax properties and confection, but to add some smoke flavor is to add some smoked tea to the brine.


Will chopping hard destroy my new knives? I bought a new set of knives and my dad used the chopping knives to cut onions.

Instead of chopping by slicing the onions with the usual technique, he was using his two hands to hold the knife by the extremities and chopping the onions this way. Is this going to destroy my knives?

Hard chopping will not destroy the knife, but it will dull the knife faster. The edge of a knife is extremely narrow. As a result, regular use will push the edge to the left or right, leading to burrs. Hard impacts accelerate this process, and can even cause the edge of the blade to chip. Knife blades stay sharp longest when they are used gently and on soft cutting surfaces.


How are crisp flavours made? So, in my local supermarket, I stumbled upon these bags of "Wiltshire Cured Ham, Mature Cheddar and Farmhouse Chutney" flavoured crisps (a.o.) and inquisitive as I am I couldn't help myself but to try them out and discover what glorious tastes these produced.

Lo and behold my surprise when they turned out to taste just like many others on this list of flavours. I tried my best, closing my eyes, looking for a hint of cured ham, maybe a vague sense of cheddar, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't make out anything remotely close to it.

Hence my question, how do they make such flavourings?

Yes, here's the list of ingredients:

  Ingredients:

  Potatoes, Sunflower Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Wiltshire Cured Ham
  and Mature Cheddar with Farmhouse Chutney Seasoning [Contains: Sugar,
  Salt, Natural Flavourings, West Country Mature Cheddar Powder (from
  Milk), Fruit Powders, Spices, Dried Milk Whey, Parsley, Acid (Citric
  Acid), Wiltshire Cured British Ham Powder, Colour (Paprika Extract),
  Vinegar Powder.

But, my point is, apart from there being no "chutney" in there at all, for example, how do people come up with this? Do they boil down a Wiltshire cured ham and dry the slurry to a powder? And what about the cheese? Was it cheese in the first place? And who comes up with this? Is there some cook who says: "Hmmm, this sure is a tasty dish here on my plate, how about I take those chips (fries) and add the rest of the meal to it as a flavour!" and who then goes out and 'distills' the rest of the meal?

I know that "beef extract", which you can find as an ingredient sometimes, is actually boiled down and dried cow, but how about this?

There is no one answer, as each manufacturer has different processes

Most flavours are simple esters, acids, and salts that mimic the main flavour notes of the food being replicated. Some high quality chips will use actual freeze dried powders made from the actual food

e.g.

Ham powder = the good stuff is freeze dried and then powdered real ham, the other stuff is just fat, smoke, and maybe some chemical esters

Fruit powder = either just the essential chemical ester that denote the fruit, or actual freeze dried fruits. A little freeze dried fruit goes a long way

Cheese powder = spray dried melted cheese, a similar process to how milk powder is made. It's basically cheese with no water

Vinegar powder = acetic acid powder. Vinegar is mostly a ~5% solution of acetic acid, and acetic acid is a common and cheap chemical used in the plastics and glue industries

Chilli or Paprika = capsaicin oil, either naturally extracted, or chemically made, one drop goes a very long way

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ester

Chip flavours are just "invented" like every thing else. The chips invention is more interesting, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crum


How to thicken slow cooker recipe sauce I made a slow cooker balsamic chicken recipe that has a lot of liquid from 2 cans of diced tomatoes with their juice. The recipe says the juice is needed to keep the chicken from drying out. But the sauce is so runny that it doesn't adhere to the angel hair pasta that you are supposed to serve the chicken over. It is delicious but too runny. How can I thicken the sauce so it will adhere to the pasta and give the pasta the delicious balsamic taste of the dish?

If you're adapting a recipe for a slow cooker, you would normally reduce the liquid. But there's also quite a lot of variation between slow cookers, in terms of how much steam gets out, so even a slow cooker recipe may need adjustment to the liquid. On top of that your tastes may differ from the recipe creators'.

If you want to thicken the sauce while keeping the quantity constant, a little cornflour (US: corn starch) at almost the end can help - mix it up with cold water then mix into the sauce before putting the lid on for a few more minutes. It should be cooked by the time you do this - opening a slow cooker lets out a lot of heat which can extend the cooking time. You can thicken a slow cooked sauce with cornflour at the start, but you tend to get a skin on top. This will disappear in a few minutes if you stir it in.


Chocolate-Flavored Cheese Would it be feasible to make a chocolate-flavored cheese?  The idea that originally occurred to me was the use of chocolate milk for this purpose, but I'm not sure that's the best solution.  Does this food already exist?  What kinds of cheese are doable in this situation?

The other answers refer to products that are cheese-flavored fudges or cream cheeses blending with cocoa.

Your question seems like it is asking about making a cocoa flavored cheese from scratch.

I have not tried chocolate in particular but I have been experimenting with flavoring cheese (and tofu) and have some data points that might be helpful.

I have not had much success with flavoring the milk before it is curdled. The curdling and pressing process is designed to force out water and water soluble compounds. I would expect much of the cocoa dissolved in the milk to be wasted. Additionally, I wouldn't expect store-bought chocolate milk to work very well because of all the additional sweeteners, emulsifiers, and thickeners that are included. I don't know how it would behave when making cheese but I wouldn't be surprised if they got in the way of forming a good curd.

I have had more success with adding dry flavorings to the curd after it is drained and before it is pressed into the final shape. This is the same time that the salt is added. Some water is still pressed out and so some flavor is lost but much less than in earlier stages.

I am still experimenting with how much dry flavoring can be added before the curd doesn't set properly. The cheese becomes more fragile the more ingredients interfere with the milk proteins.

An easy way to start would be with a simple paneer or queso fresco. Simply heat up milk, stir in some acid (lemon juice, vinegar, citric acid, etc), let the milk protein precipitate out, strain it, mix in salt and some cocoa powder, and let the mass drain in a cloth until it is the consistency that you want.


How can you safely remove 9x13 pans/dishes from a hot water bath? I like to bake my corn pudding in a bain marie but I have difficulty removing it from the pan.  Any suggestions?

This can be tricky, as you are trying to remove the pan with the hot pudding before it cools completely, without sloshing water into the inner pan.

There are wire rack arrangements with handles that extend on the narrow ends of the pan, but these are an extra expense and require extra height in the oven rack.

A home solution for this is to string some butchers twine criss-crossed under the pan you are using, and extend this over the sides of the bain marie pan. The problem here is that this will wick some water out and it will drip, but does not cause a big problem for me when making bread pudding using a similar method.

When you remove the bain and pudding at end of cook time, you can lift the pan out using the string, but make sure it is very steady. Make sure you use enough string to support the pan.

String:

NOTE: I have big hands, and can do this. THIS CAN BE DANGEROUS if it slips and plunges into the hot water !!

Finally, just lift it out an inch or so, then rotate 90 degrees and rest it on the outer pan. You can now dry the side handles and move it with dry potholders from there.


Cutting windows into a premade gingerbread We have a gingerbread kit that we would like to add windows.  What is the best way to cut into the hard gingerbread without breaking?

Very, very carefully.

Although that's rather tongue in cheek, it's true: slowly and carefully is the key approach. The quicker you try to move, the rougher the shape you produce. You also significantly increase the chance of breakage.

Make an initial rough hole at the center point of your eventual window area, and then cut out to finish the edges. A serrated knife used with a slow, steady sawing motion should work.

Luckily, if you do end up with lopsided, misshapen, or unexpected results, icing and candy decoration can help hide the mistakes :)


How do you make the sauce that is underneath Flan? My favorite Flan always has that nice light brown sauce underneath, is there a way to prepare that from scratch?

That is simply caramelized sugar that coats the dish before the custard is poured in for baking.  As the flan is chilled, the moisture from the custard liquefies the caramelized sugar and results in the sauce.

If you're wanting to make it for other desserts and aren't making flan, then simply caramelize sugar and then add water to it.  Be careful as the steam can easily burn you if you're standing over it.  The sugar will seize up and then as it continues to cook the crytallized caramelized sugar will liquefy.  You will then have caramelized sugar syrup.


What is the difference in the making of yoghurt to produce carbonated (like Kefir) vs non-carbonated yoghurt? What is the difference in the making of yoghurt to produce carbonated vs non-carbonated yoghurt?

I'm not a proper cook, and am just researching this 'cos i'm curious..

Yoghurt is fermented milk, and gas would be produced..

So what's the difference in the yoghurt making process between when a yoghurt is carbonated, like a Kefir drink(Kefir is mentioned on wikipedia, it's a carbonated yoghurt).. vs when a yoghurt is like most we are more familiar with, not carbonated like normal yoghurt.

There are different kinds of lactic acid fermentation which are done by different kinds of bacteria and/or yeasts.

The simplistic picture is that yogurt is typically made with only two types of bacteria (lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus) that perform only homolactic fermentation converting sugar (glucose) into lactate only. In contrast, Kefir is made with a larger mix of bacterias that perform homolactic fermentation as well as heterolactic fermentation, which converts glucose into carbon dioxide (CO2), ethanol and lactate.

For this reason, kefir is carbonated and have even slightly alcoholic.


Where to keep sourdough starter I am wondering what the pros and cons are of keeping a sourdough starter inside the fridge or outside the fridge. Certainly, keeping the starter in the fridge reduces the frequency of feedings, but does keeping the starter in the fridge negatively impact its quality?

Keeping the starter in the refrigerator is a fairly common practice, and does not degrade the quality of the starter.  In fact, you can also freeze a starter...or even dehydrate it for longer storage.  As you point out, this just reduces its activity, and the frequency of feedings.  Of course, when you are preparing to bake, you should remove it from the refrigerator well in advance.  Depending on how long you go between feedings, you may want to remove it from the refrigerator 24 hours or more in advance, and begin regular 12-hr (or so) feedings to get it working at its full effectiveness again.


Can you parfry hash browns in advance? I like making and especially eating hash browns, but they take quite some time to cook. Could I make all of my hash browns in advance by cooking them but not all the way and then finishing them off right before I want to eat them?

I'd cook them first till they are cooked through and then finish them off till they are crispy. Are there any difficulties with this approach?

Is this the way you could make them for a large group of people?

(Just to be clear, I mean the grated kind.)

Par-cooking potatoes is an extremely common technique.

However, the shredded or grated kind of hash browns would be very difficult to par-cook with wet methods, as they would go to mush quite quickly if you tried to simmer them, and then you would have the trouble of squeezing out the water afterwards (which is necessary so they crisp up, and so they finish cooking rapidly).

Par-frying would be labor intensive, and not terribly scalable either.

Typically, shredded hash browns only take about 15 minutes to cook, which is not terribly long.

I have had some success with making shredded hash browns in a very hot (450 F, 230 C) oven, baking them for about 30 minutes.  They are not quite as good as fried, but they are still good, and the technique would scale quite well.

If you are willing to experiment, I believe that par-baking them for about 20-30 minutes at a more moderate temperature (say about 350 F, 180 C) would be a promising approach.  They would stay dry, and you could then finish-fry them just to crisp up and get some buttery flavor.  You would need try it a few times to work out the be combination of baking and frying times.


How to thicken salad dressing I try to maintain a low fat low sodium diet.

I have a homemade salad dressing that I like and is light on oil:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup water

The only problem is that it is thin and does not stick to the leaves very well.
How can I get better adhesion to the leaves?

It won't take much more mustard without overpowering the taste.

I don't want to use egg yolk or vegetable as that would limit shelf life.

I am considering tapioca starch and lecithin oil.

A very small amount of xanthan gum will work.  It is commonly used in salad dressings.  Be careful though, too much will result in an unpleasant texture that some describe as mucus-like.  Maybe start with 1/4 tsp. Wisk in and increase from there as necessary, but in very small amounts.  Xanthan takes a while to hydrate and thicken.  Start with a small amount, as the thickening power will increase with time.  You can always add more later.


What does pulling on syrup (in the semi-solid state) do to the texture/taste? I have seen this done at candy shops before, where the syrup is pulled/stretched 10s of times before they are allowed to cool off.

What chemically does this do to the sugar? How does this affect the taste?

It aerates the sugar (you do the same for taffy) - adding tiny bubbles in the final product.

It makes the finished product lighter and chewier instead of denser and hard.


How to melt sugar evenly? I tried melting some sugar for a sesame caramel bar, but I could't manage to melt it evenly, and I have no idea why.

What I did was:

I turned the heat on the hot-plate at 2 (out of 4) and put a thick pan on.
I put the sugar in - the layer was about 1/2 to 1cm.
It started melting alright but there was unmelted sugar left on the top, so I tried swirling it (as I've read I should do in that case) but it didn't seem to do anything. I was afraid it might start burning so I tried putting the melted sugar on the top of the unmelted sugar (again according to the instructions) with a spoon, but that didn't work well - it started hardening in lumps.
I managed to melt it somehow and removed it from the heat when it started turning brownish, even though there were still some small lumps left.

The bar I was making turned out quite well despite of this, but I'd still like to know how to melt sugar properly.

Some people/recipe suggest adding a little bit of water at the start to help dissolve the sugar.

Have a lookskie at "wet caramel"


What is the name (in Chinese) of the utensil that is used to prick lots of tiny holes in pork skin to make it very crispy? I have seen people mentioning this and I've heard it's available in Chinatown in NY or in Hong Kong but I can't find it listed anywhere for sale online.  I think this is because I don't know the term for it so if anyone can help with a name or a link it would be much appreciated.  NB: I have tried a German meat tenderiser that looks similar but it's not sharp enough.  The thing I'm looking for is wooden and has lots of very sharp pins coming out the botton

The answer to the question is "Chap Zai".

The name for Chinese Crispy Roast Pork is "sio bak" by the way

talon8 - I bought a tenderizer from Amazon exactly like the one you posted but the pins were not sharp enough to make the required number of tiny holes - and therefore the skin on the pork belly did not get that crystalised look where the fat has flowed out through the skin.  My best result was by using a sharp knife but this took a long time.

Anyway - long story short, I got this by emailing a number of Chinese supermarkets (was never listed on their website shops) and they told me the name.  Would be good if anyone can verify this name...


How oil changes the taste of salads? Almost every salad recipes I've read needs some oil. What's its effect on vegetables? How does it change the flavor?

If oil is not used for the taste, why is it necessary for salads?

Here are a couple reasons why (for which I know) oil is used on salads:

Oil caries in fat soluble aromas (often we use aromatic oils like olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, walnut oil, and so on, that are all very aromatic) and balances out other components (like vinegar or lime juice or some strong tasting veggies).
it adheres to the surface of many leaves/vegetables better than water/vinegar (cause it breaks into the waxy leaf cuticle), so the dressing coating gets evenly distributed over the salad, you can use another thicker substance that clings to the leafs (like yoghurt) for this purpose instead.
in thicker vinaigrettes/dressings it serves as a thickener, as by mixing with vinegar it builds an emulsion (like in aioli the oil usually represents the continuous phase of the traditional vinaigrette - water-in-oil emulsion, where many modern vinaigrettes reverse the ratio - oil-in-water emulsion, or use some other fats rather than oil).

And as already noted, it is not necessary for salads, you can use just lime juice (like in some thai salads), boiled dressing (that is thickened with starch), stock reduction, fruit/vegetable purees, yoghurt dressings or something else that does not require oil (e.g. I have made slightly pickled japanese salads that only required some vinegar and brine and the main aromas came from the veggies).
Also, I found this to answer "What's its effect on vegetables?":

McGee, on Food&Cooking says:
Oil seeps through the waxy leaf cuticle and spreads into the leaf interior, where it displaces air and causes the leaf to darken and its structure to collapse.


Is it safe to drink grain alcohol mixed with snake blood? I was in Vietnam recently and I took a shot of grain alcohol mixed with blood from a freshly killed cobra.

That was close to a month ago and I didn't die or get sick, but I'm wondering how dangerous this was.  The cobra was definitely of the venomous sort.  What are the risks posed here?

According to Biological risks associated with consumption of reptile products International Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 134, Issue 3, 15 September 2009, Pages 163-175:
People are documented to have been infected with the following pathogens due to raw snake consumption:

Spirometra (Vietnam is specifically mentioned)
Gnathostoma doloresi
Pentastomids

See also Spirometra (Pseudophyllidea, Diphyllobothriidae) Severely Infecting Wild-Caught Snakes from Food Markets in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China: Implications for Public Health The Scientific World Journal
Volume 2014, Article ID 874014:

In China, there are a lot of cases of human sparganosis caused by eating raw meat of snakes and frogs, drinking snake blood, and swallowing snake gall bladder [16]. Improper cooking methods of snakes will also increase the risk of infection, such as snake skin salad and halfcooked snake meat. In addition, Spirometra may contaminate tableware and food in the process of cooking snake meat. In the year of 2011, a patient suffered from bronchial sparganosis because he had a history of ingesting raw frogs, snakes, and drinking raw snake blood [17]. Another case of cerebral sparganosis reported in 2012 was caused by eating frogs and snakes [18]. In a separate report in 2003, all of the 11 patients infected by Spirometra had the habit of eating raw meat and skin of animals and 6 of them ate snake meat, blood, or snake gall [19]. In 104 cases from 2000 to 2006, 53.9% were caused by eating snakes or frogs [16].

...

More than half (55.0%) of the snakes were infected by Spirometra

Finally, concerning alcohol, see Effect of physicochemical factors on infectivity of Spirometra mansoni plerocercoid Zhongguo Ji Sheng Chong Xue Yu Ji Sheng Chong Bing Za Zhi. 2011 Oct;29(5):368-71 :

None of the mice fed with plerocercoids soaked in 60% ethanol for 2 h was infected. All the mice fed with plerocercoids soaked in 60% ethanol for 1 h, or in 50% ethanol for 2 h or 3 h were infected.

So even if the final concentration of alcohol after mixing was 60% (120 proof), and you wait 1 hour after mixing the blood and alcohol, it isn't necessarily sufficient to disinfect.


Can heavy cream be frozen? Sometimes, I want to try a recipe that calls for a small amount of heavy cream.  Can the remainder be frozen and then used to make whipped cream?  If so, how long will it keep in the freezer?

Heavy cream can be frozen but only if intended to be used in its liquid form (soups, sauces, etc.) It will not whip properly once frozen.

I agree with Pointy that there's really no point in freezing it because it's usually dated about 2 months out from the time I'm purchasing it.  Additionally, if kept cold and not left out on the counter unnecessarily (as with most dairy products) it will keep well beyond the date on the carton.

I'm not a milk drinker but use it baking/cooking.  If I have a recipe that requires milk I use a 50:50 ratio of heavy cream and water and haven't had any issues yet.  If I was using milk it would be whole milk so it's kind of like making your own version.


thicken stew with excess floating fat I skim fat from my stews and then thicken it with a roux or cornstarch.  Is there a way to directly thicken with the floating fat?

If you want to use the fat to keep the flavor, or because you are keeping a diet where fat is considered more beneficial than carbohydrates, there are several ways.

First, you can skim the fat, make a roux with the skimmed fat, then add it back.

Second, you can skim the fat, add a little bit of broth and an emulsifier, whisk until you have a nice thick emulsion, then add it back.

If you use a straciatella style thickening, the fat eyes will frequently disappear between the rags, especially if you can get them to break up very small.

But if you are asking because you want to save some work, I don't think there is a good way. Generally, if you use enough flour or other starches at the frying at the start of the stew (including tomato pastes and such), the fat will bind with the starch instead of floating. But it seems that your recipe is for a thin stew, and the fat continues to float there.


What makes a bread either close or open crumbed/textured? What causes the texture of bread to be open, ie with lots of large holes, or close, ie a regular, uniform tender crumb with no large holes? How can I achieve either?

There are several factors that make bread be "holey". First of all we must understand that those big holes are created by "balloons" of gluten filled with CO2 and alcohol made by yeasts. Those balloons can grow in 2 ways

Yeast cells close to the balloon make CO2 or alcohol, and it's "poured" into the balloon, and it grows.
The wall between 2 balloons gets broken, so a new balloon is made with the joining of the former two.

You would also get some bubbles with rye bread and bacteria, but the holes would be smaller. So I'll focus on wheat flour and yeasts.

So, some tips to maximize the size of the holes:

Please, note that those points are not independent. Thanks @rumtscho for pointing it out.

Don't manipulate the dough too much.

Most breads have 2 fermentations: bulk one and proofing. Do just one. The more you handle the dough, the higher chances to degas it by breaking bubbles and letting the gas get out of the dough.
High hydration

With more water the dough will be less stiff, so bubbles will be able to extend more. Also, it will be easier for the yeasts to "find" their food: sugar, so they'll produce more CO2 and alcohol.

Some flours absorb more water than others. Using a flour with high absorption index might allow you
Yeast + time

The more yeasts, the more gas will be made. But be aware not to add too much, or they'll run out of glucose. It's better to give them time to do their work.
Use strong wheat flour

The more time dough is waiting to be risen, the more gluten will be destroyed by enzymes. So using flour with a lot of gluten (strong, high % proteins, a W value over 270) will help assuring a minimum of gluten will still exist after long fermentations.
Oven spring

Yeasts continue producing CO2 until they die at 60C/140F. Also, gasses expand with heat, so it will also help holes to grow a bit (if I remember well, up to 30%). But that grown will stop when dough gets baked and strengthens, and when crust begins to form. To retard this 2 tricks are used:

Use steam  in the oven the fist 1/3 or 1/4 of baking time.

Steam will keep the "outer skin" of the bread humid, so it will prevent it from getting dry and forming the crust.
Score the bread

Bread is slashed (those cuts made in its surface) to allow it to grow more easily. So inner bubbles will be able to grow more in the oven.

To allow heat enter in the dough from the bottom to up, bakers use stones in their ovens.
Develop the gluten completely

Kneading is very important, so the gluten network will perfectly developed to retain all the CO2 and alcohol.

To get high hydration doughs, bakers make a normal hydration dough (approx. 66%) with all the flour, and then add the rest of water and knead a bit more to let it absorb it.

An example of a type of bread with big holes can be seen in this Spanish forum (sorry: it's a Spanish bread and I couldn't find it in English).

Ciabattas are also a good example of big holes bread.

Some tips to minimize the holes:

Low hydration

As opposite to high hydration to get big alveolus. As low as 50%
Degas the dough

Some artisan or home bakers press the dough with their hand to avoid having too big bubbles. For certain types of bread, professional bakers use rolls to make a thin one. It's called refinement, and might be made several times (maybe 5 during proofing).
Weak flour.

With less gluten, the bubbles will break letting the gas go out of the dough.
Underproof

Use a short fermentation time so yeasts won't be able to make too much CO2.
Pierce the dough

So any excess of CO2 will leave through the holes, instead of getting kept inside the dough.

Also, to lower the production rate of the yeasts, you can also add a lot (really a lot) of salt, or a lot of sugar, or grease/oil.

As an example, a couple of breads (again in Spanish): Pan Candeal and Bollo Sevillano.


How to tell when bacon is cooked enough? I've been experimenting cooking bacon on the George Foreman grill. I'm trying it out a little less cooked and was wondering, how do I know if it's cooked enough to be safe to eat? Recently I've tried coating the bacon in maple syrup and it really makes it difficult to see when the bacon starts to brown.

Bacon cooks to safe very quickly.  Once it's opaque it is safe to eat.

Raw bacon is itself pretty low risk, provided it has been properly cured.  Even if it wasn't cooked through, you are unlikely to come to harm.


Are there too many flavors competing in this side dish? I am going to make maple roasted Brussels sprouts for a party tomorrow with toasted almonds and cranberries. However, I wanted to add a sauce for the side and I was thinking something garlic-y, probably an aioli type of dip with mustard.

Does that sound like too much going on between the maple, cranberry, garlic and mustard? I would normally experiment and just see for myself but I don't have time to go back to the supermarket between now and the party.

Thanks for any help.

Toasted almonds match well with hazelnuts, cumin, nutmeg, rosemary, vanilla and cinnamon.

Cranberries do match well with garlic, lime, chili and onion.

So from a flavor-pairing point of view, if you want a spicy dip, it would be better to make a cranberry dip in itself with cranberries, sugar, chili, pineapple and coriander, like a chutney.

Mustard is a gamble. Cranberries do match well with some acidity, like lime or pineapples. I would be worried about the vinegar to be too stingy.

If it's a garlic-based dip, I would focus on garlic, onions, rosemary and cumin.


How to roast garlic on low temperature grill Going to smoke some pork ribs on the grill, with a smoker box, planned temp with closed cover is about 90C (194F), but for sure less then the boiling point. This will probably take about 2:30 - 3 hours.
Is there anything I can do to use the space on the grill for roasting some garlic while ribs getting done? I am used to add some oil and cover them in foil, then roast on high temp for about half an hour. But now it is going to be relatively low temps.

Thanks,
UriR.

Just do the same thing - cut the ends off, drizzle on some oil, wrap in foil, and leave them.


What is the difference between milk (simple) and milk drink? Here in Finland I have come across two types of milk. One is simple milk (maito/mjölk) and the other is milk-drink (maitojuoma/mjölkdryck). They also have variations like fat-free, light, whole (hel/täys) and lactose(-free).
Lactose-free whole milkdrink and whole milk, and light milkdrink and light milk have different tastes.
The difference between their ingredients is milk-based mineral preparations, mineral product or mineral preparations
Swedish:

mjölkbaserat mineralpreparat (Milbona)
mineralpreparat (Valio)

Finnish:

maitopohjainen kivennäisvalmiste (Milbona)
maitovalmiste (Valio)

They have different nutrition values but the same mineral value (only compared Milbona whole milk).
And both are placed in refrigerated compartments.
(I found milkdrink's taste slightly better.)
Question:
What is the differences between (simple) milk and milk-drink?

If the milk is modified by removing the lactose, it is no longer considered milk, and must be sold under a different name, such as milkdrink. The fat content can be modified while still considering it milk however.

The swedish FAQ of Valio (the biggest dairy producer in Finland) is very clear on this.

http://www.valio.se/halsa/laktosintolerans/fragor-och-svar

I couldn't however find the same quote in the Finnish FAQ (Via google translate).

http://www.valio.fi/usein-kysytyt-kysymykset/

While the legislation could in theory be different between the two countries, I believe this is probably regulated on EU level.


How to avoid getting arm hair in food? Sorry if this question is slightly gross.

I happen to have a significant amount of hair on my arms and the back of my hands.  When preparing food using my hands (e.g. kneading dough), sometimes hair gets in the food.  How can I avoid this?  What would a serious / professional cook do?

Would they wear gloves and long sleeves?  Would they shave their arms?  Are there other approaches?

I have a similarly hairy hand/arm issue. I scrub my hands and arms quite roughly with soap, hot water and scouring pad prior to any prep. In an effort to remove any lose hairs before giving them a chance to get in any food. Suffice to say I've never noticed any hair in any of my food.

Gloves may help stop any hand hair's getting in there but I can't see how a long sleeved top would, all you'll end up with is dirty cuff's. If it really does get bad just clingfilm your arms ;-)


Can you use WD-40 to loosen the blades in a Mixer Grinder? The blades in 2 out of 4 jars of our Mixer Grinder stuck within two months of its purchase and we put the jars aside as the blades stopped rotating.

I think WD-40 will do a good job (I tried it on one of them and it worked immediately), but my mother worries that it might be harmful.

Could anybody tell me if I was right and suggest the best thing to loosen them? By the way, loosening bolts with the plastic tool the company provided never worked.

Update: I should have used coconut oil or vegetable oil, but I think it attracts dust and worsens the problem if we don't use the jar for sometime.

WD-40 contains naphtha, hydrodesulfurized heavy; 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene; 1,3,5-trimethyl benzene; mixed xylene isomers; and surfactant, which are not for food use. WD-40 can harm/dissolve certain plastics and rubbers (perhaps used in your blender).

I think the toxicity of WD-40 is relatively minor, but essentially, WD-40 isn't food grade. Now, I know that this is not a food facility, but I would definitely opt for food grade mineral oil to prevent rancidity and rusting issues. FDA Code of Federal Regulations 178.3570 allows food grade mineral to be used for lubricating food processing equipment, and USP grade mineral oil happens to be the primary lubricant in the industry (I'd guess at least 90% of the lubrication is done with mineral oil).

CFR 178.3570 also allows use of naturally-sourced fatty acids (like capric acid, caprylic acid and caproic acid, which are more for antibacterial applications, and can/will cause corrosion issues), polybutene (maybe for electronic parts), isopropyl oleate (pricey), and castor oil (which is gummy, can become rancid, and induces cramping). The petrolatum that is mentioned is USP grade (CAS Number: 8009-03-8) which is basically vaseline; and it is only for use in "as a protective coating of the surfaces of metal or wood tanks used in fermentation process". The rest of the lubricants that are mentioned in CFR 178.3570 are not actually lubricants (more like, antibiotic soaps and chealating agents) or are simply exotic materials (even for industrial manufacturers).

So, what I'm saying (to be 100% clear) is that USP mineral oil is the only realistic lubricant allowed by FDA. Isopropyl oleate would be my second choice, but the price is going to be about 10 fold higher than mineral oil, and castor oil would be my third choice for reasons mentioned above. The rest of the "lubricants" are basically industrial-use lubricant additives (used in very minor amounts for more specific applications).


How to thicken a sour cream recipe? Sour cream is not sold in stores where I live. I found a sour cream recipe. This asked me to put some cream in a bowl, add white vinegar, then let it sit in the refrigerator for one hour. I used some cream called “UHT thickened cream” and added some drops of white rice vinegar.

The taste is okay, but it is liquid like milk and not thick like the sour cream sold in stores in the United States. How can I thicken this sour cream?

You need more vinegar for it to thicken.  I make salad dressing with cream as the oil and when I stir in the vinegar, it becomes quite thick.  Unfortunately, it will probably have a strong vinegar taste in your recipe (which turns out to be okay in a salad dressing).


When can milk substitute for buttermilk in sourdough recipes? I want to prepare buttermilk sourdough pancakes:

One part sourdough starter
Two parts flour
Two parts buttermilk
Sugar to taste (about a quarter part, depending on mood)

The idea is to leave it overnight and let the sourdough SCOBY incorporate the buttermilk culture. In the morning, the sponge can be used for pancakes, waffles, etc. At a chemical level, the yeast eat the flour and make sugars and carbon dioxide bubbles, the lactic acid bacteria eat lactose and other sugars and make lactic acid, the overall pH drops from a milky 8 to a sour 4, and the buttermilk effectively spoils but in a very controlled fashion.
I'm currently snowed in due to a blizzard. I don't have any buttermilk, but I do have some milk. From a chemist's perspective, surely the desired reaction will proceed eventually, and the only changes will be how long it takes for the culture to rise and sweeten, and the overall proportions of lactic acid bacteria. However, from a cooking perspective, those two things matter quite a bit. What are the consequences of substituting milk for buttermilk in sourdough recipes?
As a practical matter, I do have some lemon juice and can sour milk into buttermilk using that common combination. I'm mostly curious about whether there's a flavor or safety reason for preferring prepared buttermilk.

I think your understanding here is incorrect.

The idea is to leave it overnight and let the sourdough SCOBY incorporate the buttermilk culture.

With a mature, functioning starter, there won't be much of any "incorporation" overnight, in the sense of actually reaching a new equilibrium of species in the starter. I don't think the buttermilk is being added to change your starter, it is just there because it is a common ingredient for pancakes and the like.
So, just go ahead and do whatever substitution you like that would be appropriate for the same batter without sourdough. You can expect analogous results, maybe even closer to the original, since you already have some lactic acid production from the sourdough.

curious about whether there's a flavor or safety reason for preferring prepared buttermilk

Flavor yes, buttermilk tastes differently from buttermilk substitutes. Safety no, adding buttermilk to a batter doesn't make it shelf stable.


Would boiling make escargot safe if they were carrying parasites or bacteria? I've read that escargot can be a carrier of parasites (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) or bacteria that can lead to meningitis. I assume there are no visible signs if they are in fact carriers. Will the boiling process make escargot safe to eat if they are? I assume it's just a matter of time and temp but I want to be sure I'm not missing something.

I think you're a bit unclear what meningitis is. It isn't something like smallpox or salmonella, which are caused by a specific pathogen. Meningitis stands for an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain surface, and it can be caused by a number of pathogens. There is bacterial meningitis, viral meningitis, parasitic meningitis, and even meningitis where it isn't possible to find out what caused it.

As such, it is just wrong to say that a food can be a "meningitis carrier". If you want to say that every organism contaminated with a pathogen which can potentially cause meningitis is a "meningitis carrier", then everything is a meningitis carrier, including the lips of your significant other. If a significant proportion of contacts with a "meningitis carrier" lead to meningitis, humanity would have died out before it discovered fire. So first, you can't react to such news as to a statement like "escargot can carry salmonella". Second, if "meningitis carrier" was the real wording of your source, this is  a red flag for its credibility.

If the material which you read says that "escargot is sometimes contaminated with bacterium X, which has been known to cross the blood brain barrier in a big percentage of infected people and cause meningitis", you should look up the combinations of time and temperature required for a 6-log10 reduction of this bacterium (the USDA publishes such data) and make sure that this temperature has been maintained at the core of the food for at least the time indicated. Just throwing into boiling water and waiting isn't enough, because you don't know when the core of the food reaches the temperature prescribed.

If your source doesn't mention the type of pathogen, you can't assume that boiling will kill it. There are bacteria on Earth which proliferate in hot geysers, and while it is unlikely that they can both live in escargot and cause meningitis, making the assumption that boiling can kill any pathogen is reckless. If the source was credible, you need to hunt more information, until you know which pathogen is meant, then follow the previous paragraph.

If your source wasn't especially credible, something like a tabloid saying "A child ate escargot and landed in hospital with meningitis! We will all die with our brains converted to swollen puss if we eat escargot!!!", then it was some common pathogen which happened to somehow reach a victim's brain in a single case. Disregard the meningitis scare, look up the guidelines for cooking escargot, and stick to them in order to eliminate the common pathogens contained in it.

edit: now you have updated your question, it was possible to do some research. The parasite was the easy one.

This paper is used as a basis for the safety guidelines of some government organs, e. g. the public health agency of Canada: link. As it doesn't say how the 2-3 minutes are measured, I'd wait until the core of a snail is at 55°C, and measure at least 3 minutes after that (or more, for added safety). This will make you safe from the parasite infection, which sometimes causes meningitis (and is probably unpleasant even if it doesn't reach the brain).

As for bacteria, I didn't find any special information about escargot or any kind of land snails. As all the mentions of escargot and meningitis together I found pointed to the parasite as a cause, there probably isn't an escargot specific bacterium which causes meningitis or other unusual illness. So the usual food safety guidelines apply. Sadly, the various food safety organs of different countries don't seem to have published specific guidelines for escargot (maybe the French have, but I don't speak French). You can use the guidelines for seafood, because for food safety purposes, escargots count as mollusks Foodsafety.gov is a good place to start for the home cook - even if you don't live in the USA, you can trust them to have chosen good guidelines. The FDA site also contains good information, it lists 145°F internal temperature for seafood, but, strangely, no time period.


How can I make my carrot cake taste more carroty I have used organic carrots finely grated and increased the quantity of carrots used, but still can't taste the carrot

You could try a few different tactics:

Use some roasted carrots. Roasting intensifies the flavour by removing water. Try not to brown them too much though, which will give them a burnt-sugar taste.
Use complimentary spices. Mace, which is the dried membrane that surrounds nutmeg, compliments and enhances the flavour of carrots very well. If you can't find mace, try nutmeg itself.
Reduce carrot juice. Simmer until syrupy and add to the cake. You might need a little more flour to compensate for the extra liquid.


Chilli powder in the UK Today, chilli powder in the UK, as sold by the major supermarkets and the largest independent brand, is a US/Mexican style blend of powdered red chillis with herbs, spices and seasonings such as oregano, garlic, cumin and salt, as used for seasoning chilli con carne. (Asda mild,hot; Sainsbury's mild, hot, Tesco mild, hot; Schwartz mild, hot.) Until I found this out, I'd always assumed that chilli powder was exactly what it says: powdered chilli.

It appears that at least some UK brands are just that – Morrison's don't list ingredients for their hot chilli powder and the web page for their mild chilli powder just says "Ingredients: chilli powder". The bag of chilli powder I got from an Indian grocer also lists no ingredients, so I assume all of these are just powdered chilli.

What is the history of this? Has chilli powder in the UK "always" been the US/Mexican style blend or is this a more recent phenomenon?

Please include evidence beyond personal recollection in any answers. Personal recollection is unreliable in this case, because everyone thinks they know what chilli powder is and most people mistakenly believe that it's just powdered chilli. This question is an attempt to clear up the confusion in the comments to an answer on "Confused about cayenne pepper, chili powder and paprika?".

There's a few questions you've asked in your answer, some explicitly, and some implicitly, so I've summarised the questions as I see them.

1) Is Chilli powder just powdered chillies, or a blend of other spices to create the dish "chilli"?

Both. As you've seen in your experience, this is a case of overloaded etymology, where confusion arises from the common name of the Capsicum genus of berries: chilli (or chili) peppers, and the mexican dish "chili".

As for which came first seems to be a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, as some sources say the dish is called chili because it was made with chili peppers, and some say they're called chilli peppers as they're the main component of the dish. Couldn't find a verifiable source for a definitive answer on this one.

2) When was the spice blend variant Chilli Powder invented (globally)

A cursory internet search leads to the article "The man who invented chili powder"[1], which covers the invention of the spice blend.

  The family further claims that DeWitt invented chili powder, the now ubiquitous blend of ground chile pods and spices used to season chili, which may very well be true. It was certainly invented in Texas. Chili historian Joe Cooper credits William Gebhardt, a German immigrant, with first pulverizing dried chiles in a meat grinder in New Braunfels in 1896. But Fort Worth was electrified more than a decade earlier, and so, probably thanks to a mechanized chile chopper, DeWitt was already marketing a chili blend called Chiltomaline in local newspapers by 1890.

Cultures have been drying and grinding herbs and spices for millenia, so "powdered chillies" is nothing new, and indeed, would be my preferred distinction for referring to it rather than the blend.

3) When did the spice blend come to the UK?

As the blend was invented around 1890, at some point after that when someone thought it was a good idea to import it. Regarding it's stocking as such in UK supermarkets, there's not likely to have been a shift in one vs the other at any given point as the confusion will probably have existed since 1890.

4) How do I know which one is which?

The only way is to look at the ingredient list, which as you say will either just list chilli (although usually not the particular variant of chilli - or chillies, which is probably quite common to get a more complex flavour profile), or the other spices which have been blended. The Morrisons link you've given actually says in the description "pure chilli powder", corroborating the suggestion that it's not a spice blend.

[1] https://penderys.com/news/d-magazine-july-2018


Pasta Salad+Chicken freezer storage for a week? Maybe this is silly, but im a bit paranoid when it comes to spoilage and me and my wife are doing this new "make lunch for a week" thing to save money and stop us from eating out.

Anyways this week is home-made pasta salad with home-made italian dressing + Baked Chicken (Had a very easy marinade for a couple of hours as well)

Anyways, since Pasta Salad/Cooked Chicken typically lasts 3-5 days in the fridge apparently (and i'd rather err on the side of caution) I said we should just stick it in the freezer and then take out our little Tupperware (we just made individual portions for the week)

Anyways my wife thinks this won't work or will make it taste terrible, I figure a week shouldn't affect anything? Plus we get the added benefit of it not going bad?

Does this seem like a good plan? or just dumb?

I'd seriously doubt it going bad in 5 days if your fridge is set to a proper temperature and it was prepared with some semblance of proper sanitation. A vat of the stuff taken out of the fridge for serving 4 times, yes. An individual serving stored in the fridge the whole time, I doubt.

The pasta texture will get weird from freezing/thawing. Should not actually affect the flavor if it's properly sealed. You may or may not find the texture change acceptable. Your wife may or may not agree with you.

As usual, experimentation will be your best guide as to whether you find it acceptable or not, so freeze one and don't freeze one and compare the two when you eat them.


How Does a Hot Water Whipped Pie Crust Work? First time poster here. I was wondering if someone could help me better understand the science behind a hot water whipped pie crust. I know if someone's never made one, and knew anything about the science of baking, they'd think it was a bad recipe.
However, my sister won a state pie bake off using the water whipped method, with homemade butter flavored shortening (we add 1-2 tablespoon butter flavor extract to the shortening).
We usually don't share this info with people, but when we do they can't comprehend how it was made with hot water and shortening because its so flakey and buttery.
How does this method work? Doesn't the fat need to stay a certain temperature to layer up, or does the shortening have such a high melting point that 214 degree boiling water doesn't break it down as much as it would butter? If thats the case, it makes sense that whipping it would create air pockets allowing layers to form.
Anyone one with more baking insight would be helpful!

How does this method work? In a hot water crust, when the high temperature of the water and fat emulsion is combined with flour the hot liquid causes some of the starch to gelatinize and swell with water which makes less liquid available to form gluten. This lack of gluten results in a tender pie crust that might be better described as "mealy" when compared to a "flaky" pie crust made with a dough using ice water and cold butter.
Here are some articles for further reading:

https://joepastry.com/2015/american-vs-british-hot-water-pie-crust/
https://foodcrumbles.com/hot-water-crust-pastry/
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5790-hot-water-crust


Homemade mayonnaise difficulties I have been trying to make mayonnaise and have had no luck. I have tried it 4 times now, twice in a Blendtec blender following their instructions online and twice following these directions . Each time the mayonnaise came out like yellow stinky soup.

I have been adding the oil very slowly, it takes about 2 minutes to add a cup. I have let my eggs warm up to room temperature for an hour. I have bought fresh eggs.

It looks so simple, but I am having no luck. Please help.

You might want to try it by hand with a whisk first, rather than going straight to a blender, though a blender will work fine (though I've only done it with a standing blender, not an immersion blender)  The key I've found is the very slow addition of the oil to the beaten egg yolks.  (only yolks, no white).  You might want to taste your oil to make sure that it isn't rancid, which might be the cause of your "stinky" issue.  It does take some practice to pour the oil in slowly while you are beating the yolks, but you can add more oil at a time as your emulsion gets more stable.

I've found that it's not so hard to do by hand, and that you will get a real sense of accomplishment once you've done it.


Newbie to Dutch Oven I just bought a dutch oven and was wondering if I can use that instead of a larger pot for pasta. Can you also bake casseroles in it?

Sure you can use it for other cooking.  They are pretty ballistic.


Should Pickle Slices be Above or Below the Hamburger When making hamburgers that will be eaten in a bun should the pickle slices be placed above the hamburger like this:

Or should they be placed below the hamburger like here:

Of course, there are ancillary issues concerning lettuce, onion, tomato, fried egg, ketchup, mustard and mayo but let us just consider this for a hamburger with pickles and maybe a little ketchup.

Is there an objective reason to choose one or the other?

As you might guess there is not hard and fast rule for this.  It depends on when you want to have the flavor of the pickle hit your taste bud; before the savory or after the savory (meat).  Additionally it could be complicated by other condiments you have mentioned above.  However there is a bit of science you can employ here as well.  Pickles (assuming you are using dill) activate the sour taste buds in our mouth.  Savory (umami) is not as widely distributed as sour. So from that standpoint if you really like that savory flavor from a freshly grilled juicy burger, you would want to put the pickles underneath the meat.  If you prefer the pickle taste to be front and center place them on top.  I've included a reference for you as well.  Happy eating! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072592/


Flies in my bag of bread - bad bread? I just bought a loaf of sliced bread from the corner store (couldn't make a trip to the grocery store today) and when I opened the bag, there were two tiny flies in it, still alive.

The flies have since been shooed away, but this raises some concerns - does this indicate that my bread has most likely gone bad, and that I should throw it away? Or could it still be usable?

Sometimes the presence of insects in certain foods cannot be avoided. The FDA has regulations on this, but I couldn't find any specific references to bread per se. However, based on standards for some other foods in there, two flies probably aren't a big issue.

At the same time, flies are well known for spreading bacteria harmful to humans all over the place, and if you're feeling squeamish about this, I would just throw out the bread. This may be true especially considering that you don't know how long the flies have been present with the bread, and that the bread has been sliced and thus exposes more surface area.


Rising dough with closed/airtight lid? We have, because of Corona, started to make our own bread daily. This means we have dough in a round bowl in the fridge all the time, taking up a lot of space we can't use (on top of it, but also around it, because of the corners).
I was wondering if it's possible to buy a square container with a completely closing lid, to make space on top of it in the fridge, as an extra shelf.

The problem I see, is that the yeast is creating air bubbles in the dough, basically filling the container with gas and therefore overpressure.

What kind dough-containers would be suitable? Do they need an air-valve to prevent overpressure in the container?

Most containers are not completely airtight. If you are worried that something like a cambro container seals too tightly, you can cover it with a baking tray or square plate, rather than the original lid. Alternatively, just poke a few holes in the lid.

Of course, make sure that there is enough head space between the dough and the top of the container, to avoid spills.


How to bake the Betty Crocker Super Moist White Cake Firstly - I have a Betty Crocker super moist white cake mix which is 16.25 oz. Would putting all of the 16.25 oz cake mix in a 9 x 1.5 inch wilton round pan not be a good idea? If it's not a good idea, what is your suggestion? The recipe says it could make two 9-inch rounds. But I'm afraid that the cake will come out thin. That's why I'm thinking of putting all the cake mix in one pan.

Secondly - The recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups water, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, and 3 egg whites. Can I substitute these to 1 1/4 cups milk, 1/3 melted butter, and 4 egg whites? Are these the right amount for substitutions?

Thirdly - I want to bake four layers. Can I mix 4 cake mixes all together at once? If yes, then would I multiply 4 times of the substitution amount?

Fourthly - I want to avoid having a dome so I'm planning to use baking strips (made out of foil and paper towels). Should I bake the cake at 325 using home convection ovens? The instruction calls for 350 for nonstick pan (not sure if its for convection or conventional oven). And how many minutes should I bake it for?

This is a super long post. Sorry! I'm really looking forward to your reply. Thank you! :D

If you try to break this all up, it's possible that people will try to shut them down as being duplicates.  (and they close to a few others, but I don't think they're true duplicates)

I don't know if a 1.5" high pan would be tall enough.  I've done what you're asking about, but in a 3" high 8" across pan, and it comes up to the top (at least, the dome does).  As an 8" is about 80% of the area of a 9", so I'd expect it to rise to about 2.4".  See How much can I change the height of a cake? and  Correct way to join two halves of sponge cake?

Don't increase the number of egg whites.  You're already adding more water by changing the oil to butter.  (as butter is about 15% water).  Keep the egg whites the same.  See Conversion rule: how to switch oil and butter? and for the inverse, Can vegetable oil be used in place of butter? (which links to lots of others).

You can only get away with it if you're baking them all at the same time, as letting it sit before baking will change the texture.  Of course, that would require having multiple pans, and enough space in your oven to fit them all in without crowding.  (and related : Cakes cooked in same tin but come out different sizes )
But if you're going to be making 4 times the batter, I'd actually recommend making 3 cakes rather than cramming it all into two.  (although, I'd feel better if your pans were 2" high.

Yes, lower the heat to reduce doming.  (also see How do you make a cake lift equally and minimize doming? ).  And you cook them until they're done.  (I will never bake a 14" cake again if I can help it, as even with baking strips and a heat core, the outside was done so much sooner than the inside that I had to turn the oven down so far that it took hours to finish).

...
Oh, and 'super moist' cakes aren't so great for stacking really high.  You typically want a denser cake (eg, pound cake), so the weight of the upper layers don't crush the bottom.  As they end to be dryer, you then pour on some flavored syrup to soak in.
There is a trick for dealing with boxed mixes though -- add a package (one of the smaller boxes) of instant pudding in with the cake mix, without adding any of the stuff that the instant pudding calls for adding.  But it'll change the color of your cake, if you were hoping for snow white.


Fresh salmon that was frozen after: till when can it still be eaten raw I always buy fresh salmon filet, cut it into pieces and put it in the freezer.
I usually take a frozen piece cut it and eat it raw.

My question is: for how long can a frozen salmon filet (frozen after being fresh) still be eaten raw without the need to cook it?

As explained in How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?, frozen food is safe indefinitely.

That being said, raw salmon that has simply been stored in your freezer for a while is not safe to consume without cooking. Not after 1 month, not after 1 week, not after 1 day. Fresh salmon needs to be cooked.

"Sashimi-grade fish" needs to be frozen at significantly lower temperatures than most home freezers are normally set at, and lower than many are actually capable of. Unless you can guarantee that it has been consistently lower than -20° C for 7 days or -35° C for 15 hours, you shouldn't eat it raw. Either buy sashimi-grade salmon from a reputable source, or order it prepared at a reputable restaurant.


How can I revive dried out fudge? Someone gave me a couple pounds of fudge (chocolate and peanut butter) in approximately 1/2" slices. I let it sit in a paper bag for a couple weeks and now it's all dried out and hard.
Is there a way to revive this and make it like new again without ruining it even more?

In order to save your fudge, you need to rehydrate it.

One way to do so is to place the fudge in an airtight container with some source of moisture and leave it to absorb overnight. This could be:

A bowl of water
A damp paper towel
A slice of non-stale bread

You could also gently heat the fudge with some moisture. This could be done:

In the microwave - microwave in short increments with a glass of (warm) water, which creates steam for the fudge to absorb, until the fudge no longer feels/looks dried out
In the oven - wrap the fudge in foil with a tiny bit of water, perhaps 2-3 teaspoons and bake at a low temperature (120-140C or 248-284F) for 10-20 minutes, or until the fudge no longer feels/looks dried out


In baking, can yoghurt replace butter? By baking, I mean cakes / muffins / biscuits.

This is mainly to cut down on fat.

I've tried replacing butter with yoghurt in all of these and the results were OK.

Are there any cases where it's not a good idea?

I generally replace with equal ratios e.g 100 ml butter = 100 ml yoghurt.

Is this the best ratio?

I guess it depends on what the substitution is for.

Certainly if the butter is just for flavour, it's a reasonable substitute (I think I'd use slightly more yogurt).  But 9 times out of 10, fat is the main reason the recipe is calling for butter!  Yogurt cannot substitute for a fat (butter) because it has very little fat.

If you lower the fat content of a baked good then you'll generally end up with a product much denser and less flakey.  So if you feel you must do this for some reason, then I would increase the sugar in the recipe to compensate (sugar inhibits gluten formation and will help to make the result less chewy).

The other thing you'd better keep in mind is that yogurt is naturally sour and will become even sourer when baked at a high temperature.  The longer you bake, the more sour it will become, so you might need to amp up the sugar significantly to maintain the proper flavour.

So for the most part, no, yogurt is really not a substitute for butter or any other fat.  Obviously this is partly a matter of personal taste, and if you're happy with the result, then continue doing what you're doing - but I think I'd definitely hesitate to eat a cake that was baked with yogurt instead of butter.


How can I improve a dish with badly cooked spices without recooking? I am living in a place where the food (namely curries) served is so bad I lose my appetite by just smelling it. I've tried making it taste better by adding some chilli powder, salt, and onions but it hasn't helped. I don't understand why it still tastes bad may be I am mixing in wrong quantity or wrong ingredients.

I asked my friend why is the food tastes bad, and he said that spices need to be cooked to release the flavours and the person making the dish is not cooking them properly so the raw spices are causing a bad taste.

So is cooking necessary for all spices to release flavour? How can I tell whether that's the problem, and how can I improve a dish with badly cooked spices without recooking?

If there are truly offensive aromas (eg burnt smell) in there that you cannot mask with other aromas, or if there are serious textural flaws (brutally adstringent mouthfeel, unpalatably hard pieces...) the dish is beyond help.

If there are aromas missing - add aromatic seasonings, herbs, spices (probably in oil).

If the dish is too diluted (tastes watery, does not stick well to grains or bread...), try reducing it (cooking it down) or thickening it.

If aromas seem to be present but subdued, try adding fat (eg butter or coconut oil) or acid (vinegar, lemon) or sugar.

If there is too much bitter/metallic/strawy taste, it could be missing salt. Or be oversalted, ironically.

If too salty: try diluting it.

If it is too sour, add sugar; if cloyingly sweet, add an acid.

If it somehow isn't fun to eat even if all the elements are there, try adding umami (MSG, nutritional yeast, soy sauce...).


What went wrong with my bread? I made challah earlier today and the texture is a bit off- it's slightly too dense and not as fluffy as it should be. The recipe I used calls for only yeast, not baking soda. Any idea what I should do differently next time?

Edit:
The recipe I used was this, but without the apple filling https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/apple-honey-challah/

I let it rise for 2 hours (punching it down at the halfway mark). I baked it at 350° for 20 minutes, turned it 180, baked another 20, covered with foil, then baked it at 10 minute intervals for another 30 minutes until it sounded more hollow and the internal temp was about 190°.

After shaping I let it rest for about 40 minutes.

It tastes good but the texture seems slightly off, so I’m hoping to get some insight for my next attempt

I think you got very close, just a couple of tweaks are necessary.

Generally the reasons for a dense loaf are that the dough is too dry and/or inadequate gluten development. If you have reduced the liquid in the recipe by adding less honey and not replacing it with something then you will have less gluten development because gluten needs water to unwind and yeast needs water to function. It's also possible you added too much flour when kneading, don't add any more flour than the recipe calls for, even if it is sticky, it will incorporate and become less sticky as the gluten develops.  A dry dough will also get less oven spring from the expansion of air and water vapor. Leaving out the apples in this case shouldn't make the bread dense as they are a filling and not the actual dough.

It's also possible you didn't let it proof enough. Recipes often give timings for proofing, but what you should be looking for a result. Challah is an enriched dough, the honey, eggs, oil, and sugar will all retard the yeast action, making it slower to rise. It can take awhile for an enriched dough to get working, so it helps to budget extra time. I like to let a challah more than double in size before I move on to the next step.

Another problem could be you didn't knead enough. Kneading unwinds gluten strands and lets them entangle, giving your dough elasticity and allowing it to trap the air created by yeas action. If you don't knead enough there will be less gluten development, and less elasticity. It doesn't look like this was the case for you, but it is a consideration.

Now, when it comes to braided breads there's a few gotchas. Your goal when braiding and shaping your bread should be to preserve as much as the air in the dough.

Rolling: You have to work challah dough a lot when you roll out the braids, the tendency can be to really press down when elongating the individual braids. This has the effect of squishing the air out them, meaning all that hard work the yeast did gets undone. Instead of squishing and pressing the dough down in order to get it to go out try using the rolling motion to stretch the dough out, you'll retain more of your nice air.
Handling: Try to treat your braids a bit gently and rough handling will knock out air. You don't need to knock back the dough during rising as you'll be doing enough rolling and braiding to get rid of any large air bubbles.
Braiding: One common reason for dense braided breads is that the braiding was done too tightly, leaving no room for expansion during the last rise. Bread dough is alive, when you rolls the braids out you'll lose some of your rise, but a healthy and active dough is going to spring back. You need to leave some space to allow for this, or the dough in the middle will have nowhere to go

Looking at your picture the edges of the bread have bigger air holes than the center, which leads me to think you braided it too tight and/or were too rough with it when braiding it up. The edges still look a little dense though, probably it was a bit too dry as well.