Baking with a drip pan I want to bake cookies and croissant but I don't have baking trays. Can I use the drip pan that is removable and metal? It's shiny coated black metal ( not sure which type).

I assume you are talking about something like : https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Frigidaire-5304442087-Range-Stove-Oven-Broiler-Pan-1-Blue/PRD2Z84UNVIFLYX
Yeah, you could do it.
If you have parchment paper or silpat silicon baking mat, it would be even better


Why use gloves when handling food? I watched this video yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LerF1zgRDE . (Its a video that the manufacturer shows how they make candy and in this case its also seen they work the candy with naked hands). And reading the comments most people were shocked that they do not use gloves for (consumer health reasons). Chefs don't use gloves when working with food which in this case should be seen as the same as candy.

It doesn't bug people (as much) when people at restaurants working with your food do not wear gloves. Yet when a manufacturer touches food or candy its frowned on.

So how dangerous is it really to the consumer if who ever is working with your food or candy touches it with their naked hands, if they practice good hygiene (disinfecting hands) ?

I am afraid that gloves make things worse. Even with proper training, people who wear gloves seem to be more complacent that those who do not wear gloves. I have seen people handle dollar bills then turn around and touch my food with the same gloves on. Disgusting, and I refuse the food, and when I tell them why, they say the gloves are to protect me...what the F ever. Then I ask them how that glove protects me
From
The germs on those dollars you just touched?

I find its better to enforce good hand washing habits than it is to allow gloves to be used at all. When you are wearing gloves, you don't even wipe your hand on a towel, without gloves your hands kinda start to tell you they need to be washed if you've been lax.


mysterious green middle eastern plums I was on a trip to the middle east a year or so ago around mid spring.  I was offered what looked like a green plum.

The taste was very sour and hard (not soft like a plum). The locals called it "janarek" and for the life of me I can't find it here in North America.

The closest I've found were the yellow and golden plums

the mysterious green plums I'm talking about are a bit smaller and lot crunchier.

any ideas on what its name, and where I can buy it from?


Does eating foods made using transglutaminase pose any risk to your health? Does transglutaminase, the enzyme that is used to glue bits of meat together, pose any health risks?

Transglutaminase (TG) is a naturally occurring enzyme that butchers and chefs, particularly modernist chefs, have been using for a long time.  The enzyme bonds proteins, that is why it is also sometimes called "meat glue."  It is perfectly safe for consumption.  You can read a good primer here.


What hole size to prefer in the bread for what reasons? I have seen someone asking how to get big holes in a bread? and then someone else asking how to get small holes in the bread?

Why would someone like big holes and the other person small holes?

Question: Is it all about the looks? Big holes look fancier than the smaller ones OR do the size of the holes impact the taste and texture of the breads?

There are lots of styles of bread, which of course different people have different preferences for, and which lend themselves to different applications.

First, what do the holes indicate?  The holes are pockets or cells in the gluten network in the loaf--so the stronger the gluten network, the larger the holes can expand during proofing.  similarly, the more active the yeast, or the longer the proof, the larger the holes will have the potential to expand.

So large holes tend to be found in breads with strong gluten networks, which have longer proofing times.  These loaves will have chewier texture, and yeastier flavor, which can be very delicious.

For other applications, such as a typical US-style sandwich bread, the desire is for a more tender product, which is indicative of less gluten development; also, large holes would let spreads or condiments soak through the bread more easily, which is not so desirable in a sandwich to be eaten out of hand.  So these loaves are typically ones with smaller holes.

So the holes are either a factor themselves (as in sandwich bread), or indicative of other qualities of the loaf (as in so-called artisan style bread)--but either way, they are a very visible indicator of the nature of the loaf, and so getting the desired holes will help get the desired loaf qualities.

I am sure there are many more qualified bread experts who will give you a more detailed answer...


Can Parkay Spray be used in place of melted butter for baking muffins? Can Parkay Spray be used in place of melted butter for baking muffins to reduce calories?

Although a single serving of Parkay Spray lists 0 calories on its label that is not true (due to labeling rules they are allowed to state it as such).

An 8oz bottle of Parkay Spray contains 832 calories.
8oz of butter contain approximately 1625 calories.

Parkay Spray:

  Ingredients: Water, Soybean Oil, Buttermilk, Salt, Contains Less Than 2% of The Following: Soy Lecithin And Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids (Emulsifiers), Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate And Sodium Benzoate (to Preserve Freshness), Lactic Acid (Acidulant), Natural And Artificial Flavor, Vitamin A Palmitate, Colored With Beta Carotene (Source of Vitamin A). Contains Milk, Soy.

With a list of ingredients like that there are better ways to lessen the calorie count of your baked goods. Additionally the water in the spray may have a negative effect on your final product as well.

Many times you can just use less butter/oil. Some recipes replace some or all of the fat with things like unsweetened applesauce (approximately 100 calories for 8oz), canned pumpkin puree (100 calories/8oz) or baby food fruit purees. These kinds of substitutions can add additional nutrients and flavors, making for a tastier finished product.

The internet is a great resource for low/reduced calorie/fat recipes.


Can I substitute 70% chocolate for unsweetened chocolate in a cake recipe? This is a recipe for a dark chocolate cake. It calls for 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate. But I made a mistake and bought the 70%. The recipe also calls for 1.25 cups sugar. I don't want it to be too sweet, so by how much should I decrease the sugar?

The last time I baked this cake, I used 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate and it was perfectly dark. I want to get the same results. Help!

This is a challenge because not only will the different chocolate change the sweetness of the cake slightly but it will change the texture slightly. One thing you can do is subtract the amount of sugar from the recipe that is in the chocolate. In your case 30% of the three ounces of chocolate is roughly one ounce. This should work for you.


Help with ice cream cake I'm making an ice cream cake for my brothers birthday. I was putting the ice cream on the first layer of cake and put it in the freezer. I couldn't finish putting the icecream on because it was melting, I tried putting more ice cream on it 15 minutes later but it was melting all over the place. I put it in the freezer again. I think at the beginning my ice cream was way too soft. How do I fix this?? Any help will be appreciated! Thanks.

The problem was a malfunctioning freezer; this is why ice cream melted overnight in it.


Are caraway seeds and fennel seeds the same? My mom always called the seeds in rye bread caraway. But they are in Italian sausage and a jar labeled fennel seeds.

Are they the same thing?

Fennel and caraway are relatives, but not the same plant.  Fennel seeds have a flavor dominated by anise/licorice, where caraway is quite different, being dominated by other flavors. They also have subtle differences in appearance.

Cumin, anise, and dill are other look-alike seeds with very different flavors.  Anise and fennel have very similar flavors, and can be substituted for each other.  Caraway and dill are likewise similar in flavor.  Cumin has a flavor different from any of the above. I am including pictures of fennel, caraway, anise, cumin, and dill seeds so you can see how similar they are, but also how there are subtle differences in shape.

Fennel Seed:

Caraway Seeds:

Anise Seed:  It is hard to tell from the picture, but anise seeds are much smaller than fennel.

Cumin Seeds: note, these vary considerably in color

Dill Seeds: (note how much flatter theses are)


Substituting almond milk for regular milk in coffee without bitterness I've tasted my local coffee shop's specialty coffee in which they substitute homemade almond milk for regular milk, and it tastes creamy and smooth. No bitterness.

When I try to recreate this with Starbucks coffee beans ground and put into a moka maker, and then adding sugar and microwaved Silk almond milk (bought from the store, and frothed a bit with a milk frother), it tastes slightly tangy and kinda bitter. The taste is kinda strange. I don't taste it from the coffee or the almond milk alone, but when combined, it forms.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be happening and what I could do to remedy it?
I would like to avoid too much sugar.

I don't have a confident answer as to why it's happening. My wife uses Almond Milk and drinks it with her coffee. She's never noticed any bitterness. My first suggestion would be the coffee itself, rather than the almond milk. The way you make coffee (in a moka pot) will produce different results than at Starbucks or any other coffee shop themselves. That said, if I understand you correctly the local coffee shop you're drinking at isn't Starbucks. Personally I find many of their beans to be bitter... Despite you not being able being able to identify the bitterness in the coffee when drank black, I'd suggest that those beans are your problem. Perhaps the Almond milk is highlighting out some unpleasant flavours in those beans.

Things to try (Starting with what I'd guess as being the most likely to solve this...):

Buy beans from your local coffee shop, preferably the same ones they serve. Ideally this coffee shop can tell you when the beans were roasted, and preferably this date is recent-ish. But, if not, that's fine, Just try a different bean first.
Add a bit of salt. See this related question
Change the way you make coffee (drip, moka, etc...) for a day and see if the harsh tones are still present when you add your Almond Milk
Do you use your moka pot regularly, if you hadn't used it in a while, perhaps there are some harsh flavours that have gone stale? (Kinda stretching here).
Try a different Almond Milk?
The last thing I would do is add sugar... That usually doesn't cover up the bitterness.


DIY Pot Noodle safe ingredients I'm looking to make some of these DIY pot noodles or "pot ramen" or whatever folk might call them. I've got a load of ideas for what to put in them but no idea how safe it will be to eat given the minimal cooking that's available by just pouring boiled water. So, can anyone advise if any of the following ingredients pose any risk if they are simply soaked in water and not drained or heated in any sustained fashion?

Vermicelli Noodles
Water Chestnuts
Bean Sprouts
Miso Paste

The Vermicelli I can find here in the UK all suggests that it needs to be soaked and drained. Is it safe to eat them with the water they were soaked in? Are there other kinds of noodles that can be prepared using only boiling water (which would then become some sort of "miso soup" in the blend of things)?

Food safety is the ultimate factor for me, I'm emetophobic so anything which could cause food poisoning will make me paranoid as hell.

None of those items need to be heated to be safe, even if you eat them daily. Vermicelli is just pasta, made from wheat four, rice flour or mung bean flour. It may not be palatable under-cooked, but it won't hurt you unless you are sensitive to that ingredient. And if you are sensitive, cooking it won't help anyway.


What is enzyme modified butter fat? Does anybody have a clue? This is an ingredient listed on a dinner package. Fortunately it is near the end of the listed ingrediets list.
All I can find using google is that the enzyme modified means the flavor is enhanced but does not say what it is that is being enhanced. Just curious if anyone had run into this before.

What is enzyme-modifed butterfat?
According to the United States Food and Drug Administration:

(a) Enzyme-modified refined beef fat, enzyme-modified butterfat, and enzyme-modified steam-rendered chicken fat are prepared from refined beef fat; butterfat or milkfat; and steam-rendered chicken fat, respectively, with enzymes that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Enzyme-modified milk powder may be prepared with GRAS enzymes from reconstituted milk powder, whole milk, condensed or concentrated whole milk, evaporated milk, or milk powder. The lipolysis is maintained at a temperature that is optimal for the action of the enzyme until appropriate acid development is attained. The enzymes are then inactivated. The resulting product is concentrated or dried.

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=184.1287
That probably doesn't offer much that you don't already know.  It says that enzymne-modified butterfat is made from butterfat or milkfat and enzymes, which are themselves derived from dairy products.
What is an enzyme?
An enzyme is a protein that acts as a catalyst, accelerating chemical reactions.

Enzymes accelerate the rates of such reactions by well over a million-fold, so reactions that would take years in the absence of catalysis can occur in fractions of seconds if catalyzed by the appropriate enzyme. Cells contain thousands of different enzymes, and their activities determine which of the many possible chemical reactions actually take place within the cell.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9921/
Like all catalysts, they are not consumed or changed by the reaction they facilitate.
Should there be enzymes in my food?
Yes! As stated above, cells contain thousands of enzymes, so there's no avoiding them.  But most of those enzymes are not doing anything interesting in your food.  However, sometimes we need specific enzymes to make the food we eat.  For instance, in order to make cheese, we need to add rennet.  Rennet is a group of enzymes, including, most importantly, chymosin, which is the enzyme that causes the milk to curdle.  Some cheese also relies on the enzyme lipase, which causes fat to break down and release fatty acids.  These fatty acids are partly responsible for the flavor (and texture) of most blue cheeses, feta cheese and others.
How do enzymes enhance flavor?
To avoid a long discussion of what flavor is, let's just say that it has to do with your nose and mouth reacting to certain compounds in a food.  As discussed above, enzymes can catalyze the reactions that produce flavorful compounds.  They can also produce compounds that make already present flavors more noticeable (like how adding salt to food not only makes it taste salty, but also brings out the other flavors).
Examples
DuPont, an American chemicals company, makes a variety of enzymes that can be used to improve cheese flavor and make it easier to produce.  For example, KM450 Lipase is supposed to reduce bitterness, reduce ripening time and modify the flavor intensity of mature goat cheese.  Savorase® ARP is meant to improve the flavor of Swiss or Italian-type enzyme modified cheese, while Savorase® CHC is to be used for Cheddar flavor enzyme modified cheese.
https://www.dupontnutritionandbiosciences.com/products/natural-flavor-enzymes.html


What are the effects of using different types of ground mustard? I made a cheese souffle recipe that called for 1 tsp of dry mustard. I used ground mustard that was 40% yellow and 60% black.(And it wasn't fine like powder)  Everything went perfectly with the souffle but the taste wasn't all that amazing. In fact, I couldn't stand eating it, perhaps because of the mustard spice I used, it just didn't taste good. I even reduced the amount of dry mustard to ~90% of 1 tsp, because I feared that its pungent taste would overcome everything else. So, now I am left wondering where did I go wrong? Is there a difference in taste with my described mustard and 100% yellow mustard? Would this difference cause such a huge taste differences?

I used Alton Brown's recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cheese-souffle-recipe.html.

The only change I made is add a pinch of nutmeg and cayenne pepper instead of the garlic powder.

Brown/black mustard seed is hotter and more intense than yellow. So, powdered mustard seed that is predominantly brown/black is going to pack quite a wallop compared to powdered yellow mustard seed. In the US, recipes calling for powdered mustard are going to expect you to use yellow. See Serious Eats for an interesting article on the subject.


looking for a substitute for liquor in a cake recipe I'm making a Lady Baltimore cake the recipe called for chopped raisins and figs to be soaked in 1/2 cup of brandy can I substitute something other than liquor? This mixture goes into a frosting along with nuts and it is spread in the middle of the cake.

If your objection is merely to using liquor then I would suggest Brandy Extract, technically, yes it does contain a wee bit of alcohol, like all good extracts, but it is inconsequential. (There are several good Brandy Extracts, the link is provide as an example, not an endorsement)

If you are simply 'out of brandy' and seeking a substitute, Whiskey or Bourbon would likely carry the closest flavor profile.


Can I make hard / crunchy food without sugar or fat? I don't feel "optimal" after eating sweet or fatty foods, but I miss the crunch of a granola bar or a potato chip. I realize that binding with hard candy and deep frying are for different uses, so I guess I'm asking the more general question of what makes things hard? My food science brother mentions "cross-linking".

Thinking about it, there are other crunchy things like nuts, pretzels, "baked" chips, or "popped" rice chips... What makes these work?

Links to further reading are quite welcome too!

Blah ... this is getting to be a bit long for a comment, so I might as well reformat & expand more, even though it might not be an appropriate answer.  (and I should note that this is mostly from memory as I got an engineering degree ~20 years ago)

Are you asking about the physics of what 'crunchy' is?  It's effectively stiff, brittle things.

When you're dealing with strength of materials, you're looking at how much energy something can absorb before it fails.  Strain is a measure of how much something deforms as it's being loaded.   Items that can take a high load (force applied) without deforming are considered stiff.  (stiffness = force / deformation)

Brittle is a characterization of how it fails -- something that deforms plastically (stretches and won't go back to the original shape once the load is removed) can become weaker as more force is applied, but still keep resisting.  Think of something like taffy.

Brittle failures, however, are almost explosive -- it just breaks suddenly.  Think of a concrete block being crushed -- you load it and it looks like nothing's happening, but suddenly bits of it shoot off and you're left with a pile of rubble.

Why things are crunchy is another issue entirely -- because there's lots of different structures that can result in "crunchy".

Crunchy baked goods are more like a wooden truss bridge.  Wood can handle a lot of force without breaking, but once once member goes, the truss loses strength and is ripped apart, and it suddenly fails.  There's often debris along the breakage because of how the item rips itself apart internally. (although we typically call them 'crumbs' not 'rubble' when talking about this kind of food).

For these foods, water will typically soften the structure making it so they can't support much load -- making them not stiff, and thus not crunchy.

Moist things like apples, lettuce and carrots are often crunchy, but it's a bit different.  It's more like bubble wrap.  Cells are effectively a bunch of tiny water balloons bound tightly together.  As we apply pressure, they pop.  (although they're so tightly packed together that unlike a single water balloon, it doesn't have space to deform).  In this case, we don't see crumbs as much as the moisture from the cells breaking.

If the cells aren't full, then we consider it to be mushy ... maybe even chewy if we dry it far enough ... if the cells don't stay bound together well, then it's mealy -- it crumbles easily, rather than giving us that resistance before it fails explosively.

So anyway ... if you want crunchy without sugar and fat ... have some celery.  If you're okay with a bit of sugar, then carrots.  If a bit of fat, then crackers (but not ritz or really buttery ones).


I boiled sliced yellow squash with ravioli, and it turned bluish-green -- why? Boiled cheese ravioli for 10 minutes.  Added sliced yellow squash for the last 3 minutes.  Nothing else in the pot but boiling water, not even salt.  It looked fine cooking but after I drained everything in the colander, the squash rind stayed yellow but the flesh turned bluish-green on most pieces.  Not all pieces though.  It tastes the same as usual.  The color is freaky.  Why did this happen?

Probably the same reason why garlic turns blue sometimes when you cook it.
http://www.foodsafetysite.com/consumers/faq/?m_knowledgebase_article=14

its a reaction with sulfur + copper which can naturally occur in foods.


Annatto Oil Substitute We have a recipe that calls for us to make annatto (achiote) oil and fry some chilli peppers in it.  We are unable to find annatto seeds.  Is there a good substitute?

can you even find the whole annatto seed? that's what makes the oil that color. i don't think it really imparts a much of a flavor. a thread at chowhound.com suggests maybe using turmeric instead to color the oil -- i can see a bit of a resemblance.


What is the difference between sea salt and regular table salt? I often sea sea salt sold in grinders to be used at the table, with comments about how it tastes better. What sort of taste differences would I notice using sea salt vs table salt, and what other differences might using one over the other impart?

I've also noticed people say that regular table salt is unhealthy, but that sea salt is somehow healthier for you.

I can say, as a salt snob, that sea salt is a far more flavorful product. I can't even use regular table salt anymore.

Sea salt is salt formed from evaporated sea water, is not iodized, and because it doesn't come from salt mines requires very little processing. Some people will say that because it's "natural", sea salt must be better for you. The mayo clinic seems to disagree: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sea-salt/AN01142


Which knife is best for somone just learning to cook? I'm just self-learning to cook and I'm looking for a chef's knife. I've read the many differences between a chef's knife and a santoku knife,  but it's still not clear to me which one I should choose. The only difference I'm aware of between santoku and a chef's knife is that santoku has exactly the same functionality as a chef's knife if one does not carve meat.

I definitely want to obtain proper/efficient knife skills (referring to the rock and chop that's often discussed), but at the same time, I want something that will be easy for me to use (I tend to cut using an up and down motion). I'm pretty sure I know what length and weight I want the knife to be, but to keep the question from being too localized, I won't discuss those features.

I don't know if it's worth mentioning, but I almost never carve meat or cut bones.

So do I go with a gyuto, santoku, or chef's knife?

The difference between a santuko and European chef's knife is mostly a matter of personal taste and style.

However, if you live in North America, Europe, or anywhere else with a European cooking tradition, most of the resources and videos that you see to help you develop knife skills will assume you have a chef's knife.  For this reason, I suggest you start with a good basic chef's knife.  Secondly, you will want a paring knife.

With these two knives, you can do 95% of kitchen tasks very well.

As you develop your skills, you can try santukos and other style blades and determine if the work for you.


What can I use polenta leftovers for? When we make polenta, we use polenta leftovers for lunch, grilling them.
Are there any other uses for polenta leftovers?

You can slice it thin, cut it into pieces, dip into flour and fry it in oil or butter according to your preference.  Or use it as a base for something with a sauce like chicken cacciatore.  Enjoy!


What makes creme brulee set? I've attempted to make creme brûlée several times using different recipes. The usually result is that the custard doesn't set, and gets up too runny. I've tried adjusting the ingredients, and the amount of time I let the finished product set in the fridge.

I'm wondering what is the cooking process or ingredient that determines the consistency? Time in the oven, level or water in the around the ramekins in the oven, amount of creme/milk compared to egg yoke?

I would prefer to give an answer that doesn't involve spending hundreds of dollars, but Modernist Cuisine has a great table about the consistency of custards comparing cooking temperature to egg concentration. If you can find a copy at your local library the kitchen guide has a table on page 233, otherwise check out volume 4 page 84.

Quick synopsis: What sets the creme brulee is the egg proteins coagulating. If you were to take the weight of the liquid in the brulee and add 30% of that weight as eggs and cook it to 181 degrees F you would have a creme brulee texture. Overcook to 190 F and you have flan, undercook to 176 F and you have creme anglaise. The two main factors are egg concentration and cooking temperature.


Pizza dough with sand paper texture? Every time I have had a really good pizza (usually in Italy for some reason) there's one thing that stand out more than anything else and that's the crust. What I have noticed about those really good pizzas is that the crust have a very rough texture, almost like sand paper. I have tried to find a picture of this but it's hard to find any. This was the best I could find now:

You see all those white spots? (They are all over the pizza, not only on the bottom like in this picture) What are they and why do only a few pizzas have them? Is it a special kind of flour in the dough? Is it some other secret ingredient? Every time I see a pizza with this texture I know it will be a good one. Note: It's not just dusted with flour. It seem to be embedded and part of the dough.

Oftentimes, semolina is spread on the peel so that the pizza will slide off (known as launching).  That could cause this phenomenon.


Brown sediments when frying meat Possibly, this is a rather trivial question, but I've not yet found any good explanation.

Whether I cook a steak for bacon, as long as it is red meat, the ground of the pan fills with a brown sediment, similar to this picture.

What's that? As for bacon, I heard that some people even collect the flavored grease.

The brown color is given by the caramelization of the sugars contained in the meat. It is due to a chemical reaction that is triggered by the high temperature in the pan (take place between 140c and 180c or 284f and 356f) called Maillard reaction. It is exactly the same thing that gives bread and fried foods their characteristic golden-brown color and their delicious taste!

But back to the picture: the reason why you see the bottom of the pan becoming brown is because during cooking the meat lets some juices out. Those juices contain sugars that caramelize and stick to the pan or float in the hot grease.


Seasoning for Ground Meat I am trying to figure out how to season the ground meat in my goulash.  Here are the ingredients that are in the dish.  What seasonings would be best so that the dish comes together nicely?

Other ingredients:

turkey sausage
corn
red bell pepper
green onions
tomato sauce
oregeno
egg noodles
a little bit of mild salsa
topped with shredded cheddar cheese

Well, for a start it's not really goulash without paprika. Having visited Hungary numerous times I'd also say it's not really goulash with ground meat, turkey sausage, corn, egg noodles, salsa or cheese either, but each to his/her own.

Thyme is always nice in stew-style dishes, as is a bay leaf. Other than that just salt and pepper.


Is there any way to remove stains (e.g. from curries and pasta sauces) from plastic containers? I like using microwaveable plastic containers to bring my lunch in as they are my lighter than the Pyrex/glass versions. However, reheating my food up creates unsightly stains.

After washing them, fill them with a mild bleach solution (one tablespoon for each cup of water) and let them out in the sun exposing the stain for a whole day.  Make sure children and animals cannot reach the containers with bleach.

There used to be a product called Cascade Plastic Booster that you could add to your dishwasher that would remove the stains.  It's no longer sold but its main ingredient was benzoyl peroxide at 5%, which you may buy in most drugstores.


What to use instead of cling film to wrap pastry I'm trying to stay away from single use plastics for the environment. The only kitchen thing I have not yet managed to find a substitute for is wrapping pastry in cling film to let it rest in the fridge before rolling and baking. What can I use instead that doesn't let the pastry dry out while resting? I'm interested in a substitute that's either biodegradable or ideally reusable.

It is less useful than what you think

Frame challenge incoming...

Cling film is very light and made especially for such purposes. The environmental damage is extremely low - which limits what alternatives you can choose. Most alternatives (including those already mentioned in the other answers) will be so much more resource demanding to make, dispose or recycle for it to be worth it. Baking paper, while extremely useful - is full of silicones, so don't put it in the "paper" bin... and it is more resource demanding to make. Teflon, cloth, etc - same deal!

Aluminium foil, for instance. 75% of all Aluminium refined and made is still in use. Because of the extremely friendly "recyclability" of aluminium, it is a very good material. Just not for aluminium foil, it is rarely recycled. People just throw it in the trash. We destroy a valuable resource.

Cling film, on the other hand is  dirt cheap to make and can safely be incinerated. If you worry about polluting the sea - I'd see if there are any alternatives to landfilling your waste in your community. As for carbon emissions - Walk once to the store instead of driving, and you'll be in the green even if you consider a life time supply of cling film.

Note: Some cling films are made with PVC, I'd consider switching to the less clingy, but better overall alternative LDPE. PVC contains chlorides and while the environmental impact is still low, if you go for LDPE or similar it goes to negligible. Check the box it came in to find which you have


How do I finely process/puree a large amount of chillies? I have a large quantity of chillies that I would like to make a hot sauce out of. But firstly I would like to create a really fine puree out of these chillies, is anyone aware of the appropriate equipment that will allow me to do this? I don't think a conventional food processor will suffice as it will leave coarse bits of chilli. What are my options?

I assume you will be cooking the sauce. If this is the case, my recommendation is to cook the chillies first and puree them afterwards, as with traditional ljutenica or ajwar. In this case, you can either peel the skin off after charring it and then process the resulting soft flesh whichever way you want (it's very easy, leaves no chunks), or put them unskinned through a meat grinder with a special disk which separates the skins from the pureed flesh.


What does an American recipe mean by “1 tablespoon vanilla”? I have a recipe for a self-saucing pudding that separates into a sponge top with a custard layer beneath, rather like Lemon Surprise Pudding. It calls for one tablespoon of vanilla.

For an idea of the size of the recipe, it starts:

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar

This is surely not ground vanilla pods or vanilla extract, as so much would be overpowering.

Is there something similar in the English pantry that is similar, or can someone provide an equivalent amount of vanilla extract?

It means vanilla extract.

Whether it's correct or not is hard to say. It does sound like a lot for something with those quantities, so it's possible they meant to say a teaspoon, which is a pretty common amount, resulting in a subtle but noticeable flavor in a batch of chocolate chip cookies, for example.

Or it's possible they just wanted whatever it is you're making to really taste like vanilla, rather than just have a hint of vanilla in the background. Vanilla really is a subtle flavor, so it takes a lot to make it strong, and it's hard for it to really be overpowering.


Cold stuffed mushrooms? I was planning on making some stuffed mushrooms for a halloween party at work (I am going as Mario), however there aren't any suitable ovens at work and my commute is long and in the early AM so they will obviously not stay hot en route.

So the question is, how can I adapt a recipe to be cold or room temperature and that it will still taste good?

Should I still bake the mushrooms, but then add the cold stuffing mixture later when I get there? Just not sure how to go.

I am making 2 kinds, veggie and crab. I have crab meat, broccoli, cream cheese, green onions, salt, parsley, garlic powder, and a bunch of seasonings. I was going to try and come up with a good mixture...

Got any ideas?

In general, cold food needs stronger flavors to taste equally good.  A little more seasoning, a little stronger spicing, a touch more acidity.

However, you also have to consider texture and cultural expectations.

I am not sure that cold cooked mushrooms are... expected.  You might want to try it in advance and see what you think.  On the other hand, raw mushrooms would be dissonant as well with stuffing.

I would suggest reassessing what you are taking.  Perhaps a crudite, where your fillings transform into dips, and you supplement the (raw) mushrooms with other vegetables might be a logistically more appropriate dish.

If you want hot dips, they can probably be done in a microwave, if your office has one.


Shoulder Steak vs London Broil I bought a piece of shoulder steak. Can I cook it like a london broil - marinating it and then broiling for around fifteen minutes?

Shoulder steak & London broil are often used interchangeably. I won't bother with technical/pedantic differences, as practically speaking, the exact same cut of meat may be labeled "shoulder steak" at one grocer and "London broil" at another.
So yes, your shoulder steak is what you are used to seeing as London broil. So you can cook it exactly the same.


Subsituting mango puree for bananas in banana bread I have some mangoes lying around the house that I am curious to use in a banana bread.

Suppose I puree the mangoes and I have one banana. How much mango puree should I use to make a mango-banana bread?

Mango puree is quite a bit more acidic than banana; 3.4 to 4.6. vs about 6.5.
Quite a bit more liquid too.
I'd cut to about two bananas worth volume wise, and be quick about stirring in the puree and getting it into your oven. The low pH is liable to set off your rising agent quickly. Take it too slow, and you'll have bread overfilling the pan, or flatbread.


How to prepare mutton so it's not tough? I had a mutton shoulder and I wanted to prepare it in a way which imitated to some point doner kebab, so the meat was sliced into thin pieces and fried on a pan. However it was a bit tough.

I'd marinaded the meat for 24h in sour milk and spices - it didn't help much.

The meat wasn't low-quality and it tasted very well, the only issue was it wasn't tender. Any ideas what to do about that?

Lamb shoulder requires only one thing - time.

The marinade would work wonders I'm sure. However lamb shoulder needs a long slow cook. I would roast it in one piece then carve it for serving. I suggest two methods:

Slow roast. Perhaps a 150C heat, maybe 5 - 6 hours. It's ready when you can pinch the meat off the bone between finger and thumb. Make sure you allow it to rest for a good hour.
Part-braise. A Greek family taught me a lovely recipe which involves using your spices slackened down with enough water to cover the base of your roasting dish, then continually basting the lamb as you go along. Roast in about a 170C oven for about 2 hours, covering with foil for the first hour to build up steam.


When making fried rice, how does the amount of heat affect the taste of the food? This answer talks about the amount of heat required for cooking fried rice which tastes similar to restaurants.

I want to understand the science behind it. Please explain.

It's an issue of thermodynamics.

When you're cooking food, the food cools itself off through evaporative cooling and the energy being used to cause chemical changes in the food (eg, caramelizing sugars).

If you have too much food in the pan, the balance is overwhelmed by evaporative cooling, and thus you can only get to the boiling point of water.

To change the equation, you need to do one of the following:

Use a more powerful heat source.
Cook less food at a time
Reduce the amount of moisture in the food before cooking it.

You'll often see advice for #3 -- such as patting dry steak or chicken before grilling it, as without it, you won't get good browning.

You can't do that when you're dealing with sauces.  You can try cooking less, but with sauces you cause more problems -- if the pan size is the same, the area for evaporation is the same, so you don't really improve the balance.

With a sufficiently sized burner, you can actually heat sauces above the boiling point, as you're putting in energy faster than evaporation can cool it.  This which will change the chemical reactions that occur, thus the resulting chemical compounds and the resulting flavor of the food.


How to determine quality of spices I know using spices while cooking is often subjective and you would use spices that you deem appropriate for certain dish but it is undeniable that when you do use them, you should use fresh and good ones.

Now, this question is being made with intent of it becoming community wiki and a great resource for people trying to get good spices. To get to the question, how would you recognize superior spices when you go shopping? What would be some objective (and subjective) tests for determining spice quality.

In case this doesn't become a community wiki, I'll add a specific question so that this one doesn't get deleted and also to start the list of spices - how would you recognize great saffron from a lousy one?

Well, let me just cover bottled spices here, since that seems like enough to bite off:

Age: while often difficult to determine, age is the #1 determinant of spice quality.   Unfortunately, most mass market brands of spices do not print packaging dates on bottles (deliberately).  Try asking the staff at your market.  Dried herbs are at their best for 3-6 months, and ground seeds (cumin etc.) are good for 6-12 months.
Vendor: different brands of spices have different levels of quality of sourcing, preparing, and packaging spices.  For example, I buy spices from Penzey's specifically because I know their high-quality sourcing and preparation.  Cook's Illustrated rated Spice Islands superior among supermarket brands.
Variety: some varieties of certain common spices are better than others.  Ceylon cinnamon is superior to Mexican; Tellicherry peppercorns are superior to the common variety; and Turkish bay leaves are better than Californian.  Also, because they are more expensive, finer varieties of spices are often packaged and stored better.
Storage Conditions: heat, moisture, and/or direct sunlight all cause spices to age much faster.  To check for moisture, look for caking.  To check for exposure to sunlight, look for faded colors, especially on only one side of the bottle.
Smell: if you're buying in bulk, or you already have the bottle open, most spices should have a strong and distinctive aroma.  If they don't, they're probably old.
Taste: Spices should taste of themselves and not have extra musty or bitter flavors. These off tastes are generally indications of age and/or poor storage.


How to clean ginger for tea I have recently taken up making homemade ginger tea.
I am living in Korea and most produce is very dirty and has to be cleaned.
The ginger is very..curvy with small lumps all over it.

I find it very hard to peel and clean..it seems to take forever.
Is there an easier way?
There are some black spots on the outside of my ginger. Can I just cut them off and continue to eat the clean portions?

I drink ginger tea many times a day, so I purchase large pieces of ginger. They always have nubs, bumps and curves, as they are actually the root, or rhizome, of the ginger plant, and that's how they grow. I don't have one on hand at the moment or I'd do a pictorial demonstration.

I call the sections that jut out from the large piece "fingers" because the big piece sometimes looks like a hand. I have no idea what the technical term is! Sometimes before peeling I break off some of those fingers, especially if they're very tight with little or no ability to get in between them. My peeling method is the same, I just do more separate parts at a time.

My favorite way by far to peel ginger is by scraping it with the edge of a spoon. It works in a similar way as a carrot peeler or paring knife, but is much easier because the spoon slides over and around the nubby parts, and gets into those v-shaped bends. Also, it takes off just the thin outer skin while leaving you with the most amount of ginger.

I'll explain one method, and once you see how easy it is you can customize the same basic idea, without needing to strictly follow my directions.

Hold the spoon with the side against the ginger, with the inside of the round part facing you. Tip the spoon gently on its edge and scrape towards yourself in such a way as to gather the peel inside the spoon.  Clean off the spoon with your hand once the skin covers the spoon or gets in your way. You can scrape with the spoon faced the other way, but I find it harder to handle and not as efficient.
You can do short, quick motions, or long scrapes if there are large sections that aren't bumpy.
When I'm all done, I'll use my fingernails to get at any left over cracks and crevices. You don't have to worry about leaving those bits. As others have said, peeling isn't even necessary, but I'm kind of obsessive about it!

As for the black spots, I don't know if there's a general rule, so I don't want to steer you in a wrong direction, but I'm with JoseNunoFerreira in terms of removing them. Many times they're just dirt, as ginger is grown underground and, at least in the United States, undergoes minimal handling on the way to the market. If I can rub the black off easily with my finger, or if it smells like the earth, I feel pretty sure that it's dirt. I cut that section off to the point where all the black is gone, and use the rest.

However, if there's any trace of mold anywhere, I throw the whole piece out. A lot of people I know just cut off the moldy areas, but I always err on the side of what I know to be safe, which to me means no mold!

I also remove those nubs, or any other area, including the ends, if they're shriveled. While not necessarily unsafe, it means they're dried out and won't make yummy tasting tea anyway. They're also hard to peel. Just cut or break those off.

I agree with Dorothy that frozen ginger can be much easier to peel. I don't freeze mine very often, but when I do, I use the same spoon method for peeling. That's just my preference, because I'm less coordinated and not very good at handling a microplane! Perhaps that could be a trial and error thing for you.


Can I tenderize conch meat with baking soda I want to tenderize conch meat with baking soda for the first time.  It works on meats, beef, pork and chicken, but I have never tried it on conch meat. I have in the past, tenderized conch by pounding it and cooking for long periods.

While you might get a tiny bit of tenderizing from a baking soda soak, it won't do much to transform the physical structures that make conch tough.  Mechanical tenderizing is the way to go - together with (typically) a very long and slow cooking time, or possibly cooking with a pressure cooker.

If you decide you want to try a baking soda "brine" I would recommend soaking briefly AFTER you pound the conch and making sure to wash the conch thoroughly afterwards to make sure you don't retain a soapy taste of baking soda that would ruin the subtle flavor of conch.

If you are interested in a chemical tenderizer for conch, you might consider some form of acid-based marinade - although, again, a marinade is going to transform the delicate flavors that characterize conch.

Basically, if you want to enjoy the conch-y taste of conch, I would go for tenderizing with a mallet and judicious cooking only.

See also:  How should baking soda be used to tenderize meat?


Can I make panna cotta using a flavored, non-gelatin "Jell Dessert"? I'd like to make panna cotta, but all of the recipes I've seen call for unflavored gelatin, and the closest thing I have on hand is a product (Gefen brand Strawberry Jell Dessert) that is neither gelatin nor unflavored:

It is a kosher-certified product that replaces gelatin with maltodextrin, adipic acid, and carrageenan.
In addition to these gelling agents, it contains a great deal of sugar as well as flavorings (similar to the more famous Jell-O).

Can I make a [strawberry-flavored, naturally] panna cotta using this product, somehow?

(I keep kosher, and my local supermarket doesn't carry a kosher-certified, unflavored, gelatin-type agent. I know that such products exist, but I want to make panna cotta right now, while the inspiration is fresh in my head.)

Yes! I was able to make a panna cotta using this product in a standard recipe with some minor changes. Just incorporate the Jell Dessert powder where the gelatin is called for and subtract 1/4-cup from the prescribed sugar.

I started with this recipe on JoyofBaking.com.

The recipe, like most I've seen, calls for one standard 1/4-ounce packet of gelatin. From what I've read (e.g. here) this amount is used to gel 2 cups of water in standard application. The preparation directions for the Jell Dessert also call for 2 cups of water, so it probably contains an equivalent amount of gelling power to a standard packet of gelatin.

The main ingredient in the Jell Dessert powder that isn't a gelling agent is sugar. As sugar is also a major ingredient in panna cotta, I figured that I could try cutting the sugar by the sugar content of the Jell Dessert. I estimated this amount by observing that the Jell Dessert is two thirds sugar by weight (14 g of each 21 g serving, according to the Nutrition Facts), measuring the total volume of the powder at a bit more than 1/3-cup, and assuming that all of its ingredients are of similar density. A little more than two thirds of 1/3-cup is 1/4-cup.

So, I made the following substitutions to the standard recipe:

When the recipe calls for sprinkling the gelatin onto cold milk, I instead mixed the Jell Dessert powder with the milk. I mixed instead of just sprinkling because I was afraid that the additional ingredients would clump around the gelling agents and prevent them from getting properly wet, otherwise.
I cut the powdered sugar to cook with the cream from 1/2-cup to 1/4-cup.

The result was, as far as I could tell, a successful, strawberry-flavored panna cotta. I'd never tasted panna cotta before, so I didn't have a basis for comparison, but it set nicely, was pleasantly creamy, didn't taste too sweet to me (at least, as served with semi-sweet chocolate sauce), and was, in my opinion, delicious.

I expect that the same substitutions would work for this product in other panna cotta recipes. I'm not as sure whether other prepared Jell Desserts (including Jell-O) would work the same way or not.


When is it better to fry with oil and when is it better to fry with butter? I usually see people frying eggs with butter and sometimes with soy oil - for example. But there are a lot of other ocasions in which these two options appear. My guess is that there are kinds of frying, for example: When you want to fry eggs, it's better to do it with butter, this is a kind of lighter frying. But when you are frying chips, it's better to do it with oil, this is a kind of heavy frying in which the food much receive more heat for a long time (I guess that oil can reach temperatures higher than butter).

Basically it all depends on temperature:

Every fat or oil has a specific smoke point (see here for a list), at which temperature it starts to degrade. That means, not all oils are suitable for every heat, or all types of frying. Some types of oil should remain "cold", like extra-virgin olive oil.

Butter  has a rather low smoke point (325-375 °F or 163-190 °C) due to milk solids. So, frying with butter is a bit tricky temperature-wise, but often butter is choosen for taste. (Clarified butter, on the other hand, has a smoke point of ca. 485 °F or 252 °C, which makes it usable for pan- or deep-frying. The taste is somewhat similar to butter, but not equal.)

As eggs are typically fried at a "low" temperature, using butter is fine. An example from the opposite end of the heat range would be asian cuisine, where food is prepared in a wok at very high heat. (I won't give recommendations what to use & when, as there are subtle differences, even between brands. If in doubt, read the label.)

So, to cut a long story short: Decide what you want to do, how hot your pan is going to be and pick the matching oil.


Worms found around eggs Two weeks ago, I stored around 20 eggs in a pot and sealed it (that was wrapped inside clean closed trash bag) for storing them safely and placing in the fridge (which I forgot to do...). The eggs were clean prior to storing them in the pot.

Today I opened it and found to my great horror worms swarming all over the pot.

By the design of this accidental experiment, they didn't come from the environment outside the bag, so how did they get there?

Are you talking about raw clean eggs or boiled clean eggs? Were there worms crawling inside the pot on the eggs? Are these 'worms' maggots or what?

Since there's no such thing as spontaneous generation of life, I can think of a few explanations. The rotting eggs would give off a smell that you might miss until close but carrion insects have an extremely sensitive sense of smell. You would know best which fits.

There may have been insect eggs either on the pot and lid or inside the garbage bag (maybe when you shook it open, small airborne eggs were added). They could be small enough for you to miss.
When you sealed the bag, a tiny fly species got in. If you put boiled eggs in the pot, the smell of the eggs would be enough to attract some insect's attention.
The bag wasn't sealed air-tight (or there's a small tear in the bag you didn't notice) and a tiny fly species got in and then got busy laying eggs as close to the scent of food as it could.


Substitute for sesame oil (sesame allergy) My family eats a lot of stir fries and sesame oil is a critical ingredient in many of them.  Unfortunately, my wife is allergic to sesame so we need an alternative.  Has anyone had success recreating the sesame oil flavor with a non-sesame-based food?

Sesame oil has such a distinctive flavour, I'm afraid there's nothing that will give you exactly the same taste. Many sites suggest peanut oil, but this is more or less tasteless in my experience.

I would suggest toasting some unsalted peanuts or cashews and adding them to the stir fry, to get that roasted, slightly smoky flavour. Just add them to a warm, dry pan and toss frequently to prevent burning.

If you're feeling really adventurous you might even try smoking some peanuts (you can do this in a wok with certain wood chips and a bamboo steamer, plenty of instructions online).


How can I keep my freshly baked loaf fresh until the next morning if I bake it at night? I wwould like my bread to be fresh the next day when I bake it at night but I know you shouldn't cover your freshly baked bread as it will soften it. Can I leave it on the counter uncovered overnight? Will it still be fresh?

It may be a matter of how you are defining 'Fresh', but my experience has been that 'fresh' isn't that hard to maintain, as long as I'm making a loaf with a significant crust; just don't cut it.  I tend to leave the bread on the rack in my oven overnight to cool down, with no loss of freshness, as long as it hasn't been cut into.  Once it's cut into, things change, but the crust itself isn't terribly vulnerable to getting stale quickly, and protects the rest of the bread.


what are the Cheap substitute of menthol that can be used in mint? i am preparing some candies and want to add some menthol for Cool effect in mouth but while searching on net i found that menthol is very costly so is there any cheap substitute of Menthol which can provide Cooling effect in mouth ?

There are absolutely no substitutes, neither cheap nor expensive.

First, the cooling effect is due to a very rare coincidence. It so happens that menthol is chemically capable of activating one of the temperature receptors in human skin (also present in the lining of the mouth). There are no other substances which do the same thing, at least not ones known in cooking (and if there happens to be some exotic option, it will certainly be more expensive to get hold of).

Also, even if you could mimic the cooling effect of menthol, you would never find a substitute which also smells of menthol, so people will readily notice the difference.

That being said, I am surprised that you find menthol very expensive. I found that I can get natural mint essential oil (which is about 50% menthol) for 8 Euros for a 40 ml bottle. This should be enough to aromatize about 400 kg of candy. And we are talking about expensive, naturally created stuff sold to hobbyists in a country with high standard of living. It could be possible to find synthetic menthol at cheaper rates somewhere, most likely at a pharmacy. Of course, it could turn out that there is no good supply where you live and the few people who sell it demand too much, but this would surprise me if it is a commonly used ingredient in your culinary tradition.

If you find that pure menthol is for some reason too expensive for your pocket, e.g. because the smallest batch you can buy is more than you will use up in a lifetime, you could just look at products meant for cooks which are basically diluted menthol. This includes mint extracts, mint syrups, mint essential oil, and a lot of other options, varying by region.


What is this Austrian pork dish called? A traditional Austrian pork dish, served with potato croquettes, vegetables, mushrooms and gravy

From: http://imgur.com/gallery/35BwvDi

The original source of this image is from a photographer named KF, Gmunden, taken in Austria on July 2005.

Here is the original source on the internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pork_.JPG

With a reverse Google Image search and more digging, this doesn't appear to be a named dish. Rather, the amalgamation of these ingredients is typical, as suggested by the original wiki upload. If the dish had a name, it would have been tagged when the file was uploaded to Wikipedia.


While frying the cheese garlic bread on a frying pan, can a silver foil prevent the base of bread from burning? Everytime I make cheesy garlic bread at home using a frying pan, the base of the bread turns black within few minutes. Can using a silver foil on the base prevent it from burning.

The foil will heat up to the same temperature as the pan, so no. You need to use a lower temperature to fry the bread if it turns black before it's cooked through.


How to separate meat from vegetables in a soup? I love to make a nice chicken soup.

I take some chicken legs, carrots, leak and celery, a few herbs and of course salt and pepper, and I just let it boil for like 4 hours.
I then sift the soup to take out all the vegetables, skin, bones and meat. This way I get somewhat of a clear soup.
Then I take the chicken and put in all the chicken meat back in to the soup.
The thing is, I often have a hard time separating the chicken and vegetable "mash".

My question: is there an easier way to do this? I was thinking about putting the chicken in some kind of net, but couldn't find cooking nets online.

Are they maybe called different?

Is it an option to do half/half? Boil the chicken in 1 pan and the vegetables in a second one?

Since the intermingling of the flavors is what your soup is about, and you want to remove only some of the solids (the chicken), a metal insert or colander might be too cumbersome.

Boil bags are what I’d suggest - cheap, disposable, and will allow everything to simmer together nicely.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071RJTTXH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8SdHCbFWV2C0R


preservative to use in falafel sauce I have falafel sauce made of:

dried red hot pepper
fresh red bell pepper
onion
garlic
lemon
salt
black pepper

I want to sell this product in glass bottles or plastic containers. What kind of preservative should I use?

As you're already using lemon (I assume the juice), and considering the tart/sour taste of citric acid would pair well with your ingredients; I would go for citric acid.

However food safety, especially when you're planning to commercially sell these products, is not something you should get direct advice from strangers on the Internet...

I wouldn't follow the guidance for the amounts and the processes mentioned here (or anywhere else). You really need professional opinion on creating shelf-stable food products. And you should be following professional food preservation techniques.


How to get more lactic acid vs acetic acid in sourdough? I want to start a sourdough culture with wheat flour. I don't want the vinegar taste to be too pronounced.

What can I do to create a culture which produces a high ratio of lactic to acetic acid?

This is a theoretical answer based on several publications and it would require actual experimental tests. The most probable tip seems to maintain your sourdough at 32 °C as it will affect facultatively heterofermentative lactobacilli present in your sourdough.

A lot of spread knowledge provides, without explanation, several tips such as: feed your starter more regularly, use more starter, add baking soda, use white flour, add baker's yeast, rest your dough at cooler temperature, etc.

Wikipedia currently cites a post by Debra Wink to assert:

  Conversely, a wetter and warmer starter has more bacterial activity and less yeast growth, with more lactic acid relative to acetic acid.

Debra Wink's post is a quite detailed theory of what's going on with lactic and acetic acid productions in sourdough based on several research papers.

The temperature argument is not so clear and seems to be based on so-called baker's rule that low temperatures (20–26 °C) are better for yeast growth. Indeed, this paper argues that you will need a warm temperature (90 °F or 32 °C) and enough humidity as these are the optimal conditions for the growth of lactobacilli, and you need to slow the growth of yeast. While some yeast species (such as Candida milleri) grow faster within 20–26 °C range, the optimum temperature for growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the species of baker's yeast, is supposed to be 30–35 °C.

And more importantly, yeast does not produce acetic acid or lactic acid, it only produces ethanol (alcohol) and CO2. All acids are produced by bacteria.

Lactic acid is produced by lactobacilli and to increase the lactic acid to acetic acid ratio, it seems you will indeed need to favor lactobacilli growth, hence the temperature argument.

However, details are more complex. There are three kinds of lactobacilli:

obligately homofermentative, producing two lactic acid molecules per 6-carbon  sugars;
obligately heterofermentative, producing one lactic acid molecule, and one ethanol molecule and one CO2 molecule per 6-carbon sugars (or just lactic acid and ethanol for lactobacilli able to ferment pentoses) ;
facultatively heterofermentative, chosing either path depending on availability of sugars and required energy.

Facultatively heterofermentative lactobacili will apparently choose the homofermentative path (produce only lactic acid) at higher temperature.

Acetic acid is a by-product of the metabolism of heterofermentative path: whether you end up with ethanol (CH3CH2OH) or acetic acid (CH3COOH) depends on the availability of co-substrates.

Obviously, you might consider having only homofermentative lactobacilli, or facultatively heterofermentative lactobacilli in a warmer environment, yet you might not be able to choose your starter with this precision in your kitchen.

Indeed, the issue seems to concern obligatively heterofermentative lactobacilli including Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis, which has been extensively studied as it is part of common sourdough. According to the post mentioned above, it will produce acetic acid by co-metabolizing fructose with maltose. However, Henry Ng, in a 1972 paper referenced by this post, found that limiting oxygen will limit the amount of acetic acid in a sourdough composed of Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis. In fact, this paper established Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis as an obligatively heterofermentative lactobacilli.

Furthermore, according to Michael Gänzle, another author being referred to, oxygen is the co-substrate for acetic acid, Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis will reduce fructose to mannitol, not to acetic acid, and the amount of oxygen is limited anyway (unless you shake it as Henry Ng's team did). Consequently, the production of lactic acid appears to be the principal factor of the lactic to acetic acid ratio.

Please note that this author stresses that you do need acetic acid in your sourdough:

  Spicher says that a ratio of 20 acetate to 80 lactate is optimal. […] The acetic acid is furthermore important as growth of spoilage organisms such as molds or rope causing bacilli (Bacillus subtilis) is inhibited by high acetic acid concentrations.


How to prevent frozen food from freeze-drying? I have one of those no-frost freezers and while it's awesome that I do not have to defrost it every once in a while, it has a nasty habit of freeze-drying everything I put inside it. This includes things like sealed trays of meat which I'd expect to remain stable since the water cannot escape the container.

I found this somewhat related question: Freezing meat in Tupperware vs freezer bag,  but the advice does not really work for me. I've tried packing the food tightly in plastic bags, but even then ice crystals begin to appear within the bag after a while and if I do not consume the food for a long time, the bag ends up being full of ice and the food within rather dryer than before.

The only thing that seems to work is when I buy some vacuum-sealed piece of meat which has absolutely no air inside - then there is no space for the ice crystals to form and the meat can be stored for extended periods of time. This would not work for things like bread and similar items though.

How do I prevent my food from freeze-drying without having the equipment to vacuum-seal it completely?

The way to prevent freezer burn, or at least delay it as long as possible, is to remove air.  Even fairly low-end vacuum sealers will help you here.  However, if you don't want to get one, or can't, the next best thing is to use freezer zip bags and employ Archimedes principle.  It's commonly used in sous vide cooking, but can certainly help to remove air for freezing.  Another option is to seal a zip bag most of the way, with a straw inserted.  Suck the air out, then, in one swift motion, remove the straw and seal the bag.  By the way, both of these suggestions would work for more delicate items, like bread.


When to prefer yogurt, cream, and coconut milk in an Indian vegetarian dish to make it creamy? Firstly, I have noticed all the curried dishes we eat in an Indian restaurant feel "creamy".
Now, I don't know whether they add cream, or yogurt, or coconut milk?

In which kinds of dishes do we need which kind of substance to make it creamy?

Rule of thumb, dairy in the north and coconut in southern recipes. ie korma wouldn't have coconut

Indian yogurt is made with whole milk. As with western recipes, balancing the fat for good mouth-feel is important: yogurt can be a good choice when a larger quantity of liquid is called for. Cream works great when a finishing splash smooths out flavors without watering down

Acidity is also important. Does the dish need a tangy component or a softening of acids?
A dish could use both: yogurt marinade then a bit of cream to finish.

For richness and a hint of sweetness along with a wonderful aroma, coconut can't be beat but will be a discernable flavor in most curries. Many restaurants are making use of coconut where it is less than traditional with good results.


Can I substitute Soy Milk when a recipe for baking calls for regular milk? If a baking recipe calls for regular milk, can I substitute Soy Milk...

The short answer is yes; the longer answer depends on what kind of soy milk you're buying and how you plan to use it. I've used soy milk in my breads and cakes without noticing much of a difference in texture, but I use the unflavored, unsweetened versions of it (especially in cake-baking, as many recipes call for vanilla and some soy milks have vanilla in them). I avoid "light" soy milk when making creamy dishes or sauces because I want them to have the creamiest texture possible. If you're using soy milk in a soup or stew, don't allow it to boil because that can cause the "milk" to curdle (and add your acids at the end of cooking, also to avoid curdling). Oh, and be aware that some brands of soy milk are very sweet (you can buy it unsweetened, though); the sweetness might not work well in some dishes.


Salted butter in toffee What effects would using salted butter instead of unsalted butter have on a toffee recipe?

I'm using the basic

Equal parts butter and sugar
Heat to soft crack (285 F)
Poor into flat cooking sheet or something similar to cool

Besides the obvious - your toffee will have more salt in it? Salted butter also contains more water than unsalted butter, and varies more on both salt and moisture content on a brand-by-brand basis than unsalted butter. A higher percent of water means less fat, so after the water cooks out, your ratio of fat to sugar will be off somewhat.


Should I make my own Hoisin Sauce? My local Asian Food Warehouse sells a few varieties of Hoison sauce that vary wildly in price. That got me thinking why?

Are there different qualities in prepared Hoisin sauces?
If so, would I be better served by making my own?
If I make my own, how long will it keep for?

Thanks!

Are there different qualities in prepared Hoisin sauces?

Think of it like barbecue sauce or chili powder: every company has their own recipe, and it's always hard to know the precise justification for a specific price. The high price on one may be part of their premium brand image, and have nothing to do with the quality of the ingredients. Ultimately, you just have to try a few brands and decide which flavor appeals to you, and whether you find the price reasonable.

  If so, would I be better served by making my own?

As far as I can tell, hoisin sauce does not need to be fermented, so it's going to be much easier to make authentic hoisin sauce at home than something like soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce. It's more like making your own barbecue sauce.

A few different websites have minor variations on this recipe: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/420/Hoisin_Sauce12082.shtml

Is it worth the effort? That's a matter of personal opinion. It's probably hard to justify on purely economic terms; do you really use more than a few cents worth of hoisin sauce in any given meal, and are the ingredients that much cheaper than the product itself? But of course, there are other reasons to cook than just to save money. I think you've just inspired me to try making my own hoisin sauce :)

  If I make my own, how long will it keep for?

Each of those ingredients can last months on its own, often without any refrigeration, and together would create a highly acidic and antimicrobial environment. The worst that might happen to homemade hoisin sauce in several months of refrigerated storage is it might separate a bit and have to be remixed.


Is it possible to make vegetarian 'prawn' toast? As a vegetarian for over 15 years the only food I continue to miss is prawn toast. Does anybody whether it would be possible to make a vegetarian version and what alternatives to prawn could be used?

This recipe seems to be something close to what you are looking for!
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=21443.0
Tofu seems to be a reasonable substitute.

However you can also find a vegetarian shrimp substitute through this company:
http://www.vegieworld.com/cart/product_pages.asp?id=667

One of their suggested preparation methods is for toast!


Why does the grate of my charcoal grill keep rusting? By the end of every summer it seems like the grate of my charcoal grill is rusty. Does anyone know how I can keep it from rusting and whether or not the rust is unhealthy?

Rust isn't bad for you, with the possible exception of men who have hemochromatosis. Even then, I don't think that the uptake from iron oxide is very high.

The reason rust forms is due to the high heat the grate is exposed to. Unprotected iron will rust when exposed to the air, and the speed at which it does so is dependent on heat (and moisture). So as the heat increases the rate of oxidation increases significantly. Moisture in the air also causes the iron to rust more quickly, as does the moisture in food as it is cooked.

To remove the rust, use a wire brush before and after each cooking session. Applying a layer of oil to the grate before/after cooking on it will help to keep the rust off. In time, you can (depending on the exact composition of your grill) develop a "seasoning" coating on the metal similar to what you would develop in a cast iron skillet.


Making a cremeaux lighter with whipped cream. Is there a name for this? Making a cremeux lighter with whipped cream. Is there a name for this? I used this method to make a lighter filling and it was great. I know diplomat cream is similar but I was just wondering if there's a name for lightening a cremeux with whipped cream.
Edit: "cremeaux" to proper spelling of "cremeux". ;-)

The name for this is still 'cremeaux', nothing changes.
In English pastry jargon, "cremeaux" is a (somewhat rarely used) umbrella cream for any sweet filling with a creamy consistency. It is not connected to a specific recipe or technique. If the thickness is such that you can pipe it, and the texture is more similar to a custard than to, say, jam, then it can be called a cremeaux.
An alternative word for a substance of this consistency is "cream", as in "buttercream" or "shaving cream". The difference is that it is also used outside of the culinary context, and when it is used in culinary language, it can be confused with "cream" the dairy liquid made by partially removing the water from milk. I suspect that some people use the word "cremeaux" to avoid the confusion, and others just because it sounds fancier.
So, if you take a random recipe that can be called a cremeaux, maybe a custard of the right thickness, and then fold whipped cream into it, you still have something that is sweet, pipeable, and creamy in mouthfeel. Which makes again the word "cremeaux" applicable.
Depending on the final texture, the result may also fall under the term "mousse". The mousse's central characteristic is that it is very airy, while still spoonable. If you added a lot of whipped cream, and managed to keep most of the air in, it may be recognizable as a mousse.


Ideal temperature and stabilizer for chewy ice cream? I've been a huge fan of homemade ice cream ever since I went to Herrell's ice cream in Northampton Massachusetts: http://www.herrells.com

The owner, Steve Herrell, is known as the godfather of chewy ice cream in America, and I've been trying to come up with ice cream just as good as his and, after a lot of experimentation, here is my recipe (some measurements might be wrong because I can't find my recipe book right now):

Base:

1 cup of heavy cream
1 1/4 cup of milk
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp of milk powder
3 tbsp of light corn syrup
1/2 cup of sugar
1/8 tsp of salt

Other:

4 tsp of cornstarch
1/4 cup of milk
3 tbsp of cream cheese
Extract of your choice to taste

Mix all the base ingredients together, bring to a boil, reduce to gentle simmer, simmer for 4 minutes. Mix cornstarch and milk together, put in simmering base, bring back to simmer for 2 minutes or until thick. In a small bowl with the cream cheese, mix some of the mixture, then mix cream cheese with base. Rest overnight in the fridge. Put in extract of your choice to taste (this prevents flavor from evaporating if you put it in while hot). Make with your ice cream maker of choice, but make sure to cover holes in your ice cream maker so that air won't get in, and the ice cream is dense.

My ice cream, while it tastes as good as if not better than Herrell's, just does not have the same texture. Herrell's is much softer and creamier. It might be because my freezer is too strong (at someone else's house where the freezer is much warmer, I've noticed that Talenti ice cream has a much better texture) and also because the stabilizer I'm using, which is cornstarch.

Thoughts? What stabilizer is best for ice cream (egg yolk, gum, starch, flour etc.) and what temperature is ideal for the ice cream's texture? I hope I can adjust my freezer's temperature at the apartment I rented.

There is an article on Serious Eats that is pretty much entirely about replicating Herrell's style ice cream at home. The differences I can see between your recipe and the one discussed in that article are the addition of egg yolks, the addition of arrowroot powder, using evaporated milk (rather than milk and milk powder), and they stop their machine early (as most overrun happens in the last few minutes usually).


Sorbet contain ice crystals I bought the ICE-30BC ice cream machine from cuisinart after reading hundreds of reviews on amazon and youtube
They all said that it will make a smooth and creamy ice cream.

I tried the red fruits sorbet:
Raspberry
Strawberry
With sugar syrup

When I churned the mix and taste the mix it was smooth and delicious but when I kept it in the fridge for the next day it was hard and I felt the ice crystals when I ate a portion.

The reason is the machine ? The fridge or a missing ingredient ?

A few possibilities, hard to say given the amount of detail:

you didn't blend the mixture smooth enough, so you have ice crystals from the water in small pieces of fruit that were left
you didn't churn it long enough, so when it finished freezing in the freezer, it developed larger ice crystals, while if it'd been churned longer they'd have been smaller
your recipe has too little sugar (too much fruit/water, including what was in the syrup), so it was never going to work out

See also What determines whether a sherbet will set or not? and Is there a magic ingredient that keeps ice-cream soft?, among many other past questions on soft sorbet/sherbet/ice cream.


Are cooking show minutes really minutes? I've noticed that cooking show inches are not very accurate.  I can usually see that the "half inch slices" called for by the chef are no where near that, which is fine, since I can see the thickness for myself.  It only just occurred to me that cooking show minutes might be way off as well.  If they say "put this under the broiler for five minutes" they could mean anywhere from two to ten minutes if their sense of time is as warped as their sense of distance.  But the shows are edited for time, so I have no idea if they're fudging.

How literally do you interpret times given by cooking shows?  Is there a fudge factor?

There is no single answer to that question:  it is going to vary program by program.  Some shows, like America's Test Kitchen, are going to be quite precise--at at least, they will intend to be.  Other shows, not naming any names, less so.

The thing is, with very very few exceptions, you should not be cooking to time anyway.  The time in a recipe is just a guideline so you have some expectation for logistical planning, and to know when to start testing.

Quality recipes--and quality television shows giving you recipes--should always give a test for when a food is done.  This can vary from "pulls away from the side of the pan" for brownies, to "pulls apart easily with a fork" for a braised pork shoulder, to "internal temperature of 135 F" for a roast.

Even for shows that intend to give you very good time estimates, testing is still important, because there are many variables that effect how long it takes food to cook.   For something as simple as a steak, the starting temperature of the steak, the thickness of the steak, the starting temperature of the pan and its thermal mass, and the power and setting of your burner (hob) will all effect how long it takes the steak to finish.   You probably don't have the same room temperature as the test kitchen where the recipe was developed, the same stove, the exact same settings, and the same thickness of steak.

Such variables apply to almost all recipes.  The test is what tells you when to stop cooking; the time is only an estimate.

As an aside, the few things that must be cooked to time are those that are 1) uniform in size and cooking properties; and 2) foods for which it is difficult or impossible to observe the effect of the cooking directly.  The only two examples I can think of that are appropriate are cooking eggs in the shell, and roasted peanuts in the shell.


Any fix for a warped carbon steel fry pan? I bought a De Buyer 14" Mineral B Round carbon steel fry pan approximately five years ago. I've used it a fair bit, but recently I think I warped it in the oven when I put it under a broiler for a bit. Now it wobbles when I put it down on a flat surface.

Is there any remedy for this? Or should I recycle it?

I found this suggestion. Let us know if this works for you.

  cut yourself a piece of 2x4 about 1/2" shorter than diameter of the pan's bottom, i.e., just short en
  ough to fit flat in the pan if the bottom weren't warped.

  Heat the pan.

  Set the pan on a flat piece of concrete (a thick steel plate would be
  better, but how many people have those sitting around?).

  Put the 2-by in the pan and start whacking the heck out of it with a
  hammer.  Turn the board so every part of the pan gets flattened, but
  concentrate in the center.

  Let the pan cool, reheat and repeat.

  If the crown is on the bottom, you have to find something big enough
  to support the pan's rim, but which allows the handle to extend beyond
  the surface -- so the pan sits flat; and of course, you'll want a 2-by
  a few inches longer than the pan is wide.

  If you're very thorough, you'll flatten both sides each time you
  flatten.


What should I look for when choosing tomatoes for pasta sauces? What factors should I take into account when selecting tomatoes for sauces?

Background: I'm growing my own tomatoes, and I need to start germinating soon. Taste and production are my 2 first concerns. We usually can about 30 to 40 qt. a year but want to buy less from the stores to do it.

Vendors are pretty good about listing a dizzying array of growing factors and expected results... But I'm not entirely clear on what I should be focusing on when it comes to making sauce.

From a production standpoint, you might actually be better off asking this question on the gardening site.

In general, however, for canning purposes you'll want to select a 'determinate' variety -- they tend to have all of their fruit ripen around the same time, rather than having it be spread out across many weeks.  Indeterminate tend to be better for tomatoes that you might want to use for salads or other purposes, as you won't suddenly be stuck with a glut of tomatoes that you can't use all of.

Your other gardening considerations are if the plant is more bush-like, or more vine-like, as it'll affect how much you need to do to manage them.  The vine ones you have to keep checking them every couple of days to make sure the vines are fed back through the tomato cages so they don't start drooping against the ground when they're laden with fruit.

In general, you're going to want to select a plum-style tomato.  Sometimes they also label tomatoes as 'sauce' or 'paste' tomatoes.  Other varieties of tomatoes tend to be a bit more wet and can require more cooking down, although other varieties may have some advantages.

As for the specific variety, San Marzano and Roma are two well known varieties, but there are now a large number of hybrids that I'm just not familiar with.  I would personally select for varieties that do well in your local climate, and can deal with the specifics of your garden (eg, how much space you have to work with) ... but again, ask that on the gardening site.

In the article that I linked to above, they actually recommend blending multiple varieties, but this is more difficult in a home garden unless they all ripen at the same time.  You could always plan for the bulk to come from a determinate variety, and blend in some from one or more indeterminate varieties, or plant a couple of determinate varieties, or stagger them some to try to get batch sizes that will be easier to deal with.


How can you tell if if a meal is thawed? I am planning to place a meal (salmon + rice) in a refrigerator after having frozen it.
How can I tell when it's thawed?

Aside from simply feeling the package, a thermometer would be the most accurate way to tell.


Baking Soft Boiled Eggs? For various reasons I have to bake yolks to the consistency of soft boiled eggs, what is a good temp and time to do this?

A soft boiled eggs yolk is nothing more than raw egg yolk warmed up. You stop the cooking process right before it begins to congeal. The yolk itself is not considered "cooked".
At 145° the yolk will still be completely liquid, jump it to 150° and the yolk starts to congeal.

  At 150° those egg yolks have gone from completely liquid to a soft, malleable texture that easily holds its shape.Soft cooked eggs, Serious Eats

I'm really not sure of exactly what you're after, but those are the facts as far as temperature goes regarding egg yolks.


What got salisbury steak its name? I love salisbury steak, ever since I first tried it in Wendy's, but now I want to know exactly why it is named the salisbury steak.
What's the reason it's called a salisbury steak?

Origin: Wikipedia

James Salisbury was an American physician and chemist known for his advocacy of a meat-centered diet to promote health, and the term Salisbury steak for a ground beef patty served as an entree has been used in the United States since 1897. Today, Salisbury steak is usually served with a gravy similar in texture to brown sauce, along with various side dishes. It is a common item in supermarket frozen food sections.
Dr. Salisbury recommended this recipe (somewhat different from modern Salisbury steak recipes) for the treatment of alimentation:

Eat the muscle pulp of lean beef made into cakes and broiled. This pulp should be as free as possible from connective or glue tissue, fat and cartilage...previous to chopping, the fat, bones, tendons and fasciae should all be cut away, and the lean muscle cut up in pieces an inch or two square. Steaks cut through the centre of the round are the richest and best for this purpose. Beef should be procured from well fatted animals that are from four to six years old.
The pulp should not be pressed too firmly together before broiling, or it will taste livery. Simply press it sufficiently to hold it together. Make the cakes from half an inch to an inch thick. Broil slowly and moderately well over a fire free from blaze and smoke. When cooked, put it on a hot plate and season to taste with butter, pepper, salt; also use either Worcestershire or Halford sauce, mustard, horseradish or lemon juice on the meat if desired. Celery may be moderately used as a relish.


How to thin half and half to substitute for milk? I have a recipe that is for a "Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler" (site is paywalled) from America's Test Kitchen.

The recipe is as follows:

4 tbsp butter in four pieces + 8 tbsp melted & cooled
1-1/2 c sugar (10-1/2 oz)
1-1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1-1/2 c all-purpose flour (7-1/2 oz)
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 c milk

This makes a batter-style base (rather than the more traditional biscuit-style).

All we have on hand is half and half. In this usage, is it acceptable to replace the milk with some fraction of half and half cut with water?

This answer discusses something similar with cream.  I've found sites that say it's possible to do this but I'm not sure how trustworthy they are. Plus, they seem to disagree... some say to cut the half and half with water, other say to just replace it and expect a richer outcome.

Take out 4 tbsp butter and add the 1.75 c half and half.  That's what I'd do anyway.  It's about the same amount of fat and adds a bit more liquid back in.  Keep in mind that butter changes consistency depending on when it is put in or how it is applied, so it's possible this won't work so well if you have to do some whipping or something.
Do not add water.  You'll lose out on flavor.


Vegetable mill versus using a food processor for vegetables What is the advantage of using a mechanical vegetable mill (the utensil which in Italian is called "passaverdura" or "passaverdure") as opposed to using an electric food processor for vegetables?

The only thing I could think of is that a mechanical vegetable mill makes it easy to separate the tomato peels when passing the tomato through it.

Here is an example of a food processor for comparison:

I've also found the following Wikipedia link to the utensil I describe:

Food Mill

Thank you for your insight.

Note: A vegetable food processor can also be called a vegetable mixer as this link demonstrates:

Vegetable Mixer

The advantage of a passaverdura (or passe-vite in French, also known as Foley Mill in the US) is that like you said it will, depending on the coarseness of the screen, keep back undesired matter, such as pips, skins and strings. Personally, I use it mostly for apple sauce and also mashed potatoes (they achieve a higher level of fluff and fineness than with a masher).

Assuming that by a vegetable mixer you mean a stick mixer for puréeing (among other things), using that implement will not remove the aforementioned unwanted matter, which can make the consistency deviate from what you want it to be.


should I let my sourdough loaf proof in the fridge or on the counter? I've been watching tons of videos on making sourdough recently, and quite a few say to let the sourdough loaf do its final proof, or rise, in the fridge. Is this necessary? Would it speed up if I just let it rise on the counter? Thoughts?

Speed is not the point. Speed is the opposite of the point. Refrigerator rising makes for a long, slow rise and flavor development - it's not unique to sourdough, it's very common in pizza dough (though not usually the "final rise" in pizza, as that would be very difficult to arrange enough fridge space for.)

You can do it, or not, or try both and compare.


Is there a difference between mirin (미림) and mijak (미작)? I was shopping online for a few cooking ingredients and among other items, I bought what was advertised as Korean mirin. However, once I've got the bottle in my hands I noticed it's labelled as "Marinade with Ginger (Cooking Sauce)" in English rather than a cooking wine. Some googling and handwritten translation told me that the bottle's contents are actually mijak. Are mirin and mijak the same thing? Can they be used interchangeably?

No. Mirin is a sweet saki for cooking, with a very neutral flavour. Mijak is a ginger flavored wine. If you are cooking a dish that calls for mirin and ginger, you can skate by using mijak. Otherwise, no.


Keeping rice paper spring rolls moist I've made some fresh spring rolls by filling rice paper sheets with vegetables, cheese and peanuts, without any cooking. I've kept the uneaten ones in the fridge for a night in a sealed box. The rice paper has lost its flexibility and moisture.

Is there a recommended way to store fresh spring rolls in a fridge for a few days, without losing the moisture of the rice paper?

In its recipe for Spring Rolls, What's Cooking America indicates:

  Spring rolls can be made a day ahead. Cover them with a damp paper
  towel, then wrap well in plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Refrigerating
  firms and toughens the wrappers and noodles [inside the roll, in this recipe] slightly (if they are a
  little dry, wipe them gently with a damp cloth).

In the future, consider that you might not want to make the rolls until you are ready to eat them.  Your filling ingredients will probably hold quite well on their own, and hydrating the wrappers to make the rolls is very fast and easy.


Does adding flour before egg coating and breadcrumbs help sticking? When deep frying chicken, assuming:

flour and seasonings
egg and milk mix
breadcrumbs

does the first layer of flour help the egg to stick better? Why not just add seasonings to the breadcrumbs and skip the flour layer entirely?

Yes it is helpful for an initial dip in flour...as it would  help the egg to stick better...
A little addition of oil in the egg also helps thin the liquid coating,  with the extra fat from the egg will help brown the breadcrumbs better underneath. The proteins in the flour and eggs help the bread crumbs stick to the food once cooked. A fabulous and crunchy crust is formed around the food once fried in a pan.
 Do let me know if my answer is helpful


What causes tea to be bitter, and how can I avoid that bitterness? How does tea become bitter between the moment it is packaged and the moment I drink it? Are there any chemical processes that take place when tea is stored or brewed that I can control to prevent making a cup of bitter tea?

If the causes of bitterness vary between different types of tea, I'd like to know that as well.

Storing Tea

You tea should never become bitter due to your storage methods. The only thing that should happen to tea as a result of how you store it is general loss of flavor or loss of the complexity of flavor (in a green tea, you might lose any honey or fruit notes of a tea that has been improperly stored, but it'll still taste like green tea).

There are a couple of factors at play when storing tea. The first is light. Exposure to light will degrade the quality of tea, stripping it of both color and flavor. Light also sets off a chain of reactions that destroys the antioxidants found in tea. So, you should store your tea in a light-blocking container (like a typical metal tea tin).

The next factor is air. Tea needs to be stored in a place that does not have any strong-smelling other foods or chemicals because it absorbs other odors very easily. In addition, tea absorbs moisture from the air, so it needs to be stored in a dry place. Moisture can cause several different problems with your tea: it could start binding to the tannins and make your tea taste bitter when you eventually brew it, and excess moisture could provide breeding grounds for bacteria or fungus, which would make your tea unfit for brewing at all. So, store your tea in an airtight container that blocks moisture and any other nearby odors. Vacuum sealing is not necessary, unless you want to keep a batch of tea for a long time without using it at all.

I haven't found any evidence supports claims of oxidation affecting taste more than moisture or light. Different types of tea are created by oxidizing tea leaves (white teas are the least oxidized, black teas the most, and greens and oolongs are somewhere in between), so oxidation is not inherently bad for tea.

To sum it up: Protect your tea from the harmful effects of light, moisture, ambient odors, and air by storing it in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. If stored properly, most kinds of tea leaves should retain most of their flavor for about two years, though fresher is always better. (Some teas, like Japanese green teas, are traditionally only stored for about 3 months.)

Brewing Tea

In order to achieve the best taste, brew tea according to the processor's instructions (at least to start with - once you become more familiar with tea and what you like, you can adjust according to taste). The tea manufacturer's want their tea to taste good, and they are experts, so you can rely on them to provide decent instructions. I've never bought tea that didn't have instructions for brewing right on the package, but in case you find some that don't have instructions, here are some general guidelines. I've taken this from Upton Tea's Brief Guide to Tea, and it corresponds to my own experience with making tea and chatting with tea importers / shop owners, too.

Whole Leaf Teas

black teas: boiling (212°F / 100°C) water, steep for 3-4 minutes; if serving with milk or lemon, steep 4-5 minutes
green teas: slightly less than boiling (180°F / 82°C), steep 2-3 minutes
oolong teas: lighter oolongs use warm (180°F / 82°C) water, steep for 2-3 minutes
white teas: less than boiling (180°F / 82°C) water, steep for 2-3 minutes
herbal tisanes: boiling (212°F / 100°C) water, steep for 5-8 minutes

Fanning, Crushed Leaves, or Powder

This is what most pre-bagged teas are, and since they have been processed to be finer, they require a shorter brewing time. (Finer leaves means more surface area, so you get more tannins per second when brewing, compared to tea leaves in larger pieces.)
Use guidelines above, but brew for 1-1.5 minutes less than whole leaf teas

The bitter taste comes from tannins. There are two ways for tea to become unpleasantly bitter: steeping at too high a temperature, or steeping for too long. (It's also possible that if your water is heavily chlorinated or otherwise impure that it could be making your tea taste bad, but that's far less likely than improper brewing.) If you're making tea from loose tea leaves, using too many leaves could also make your tea bitter; a good rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon of tea per 8 oz of water, though this can vary depending on the type of tea you're making.

Generally speaking, the longer you brew tea, the more tannins will be released and the bitterer the tea will be. If you use the times above as a starting point, you shouldn't get any overly bitter tea, but remember: each batch of tea is unique, and each tea drinker's taste is different. Experiment until you find what you consider to be the perfect cup of tea.

Lastly, start with good quality tea. Some tea is poorly processed and the flavor is ruined before you've even opened the package. If you start with a high-quality tea, you're much more likely to get good results. :)


Will my pasta taste fine 5 days later? Possible Duplicate:
  How long does cooked pasta last in the fridge?

I work Monday to Friday, and dont pack very good lunches, I recently bought a bunch of pasta and sauce, my plan is to make 5 days worth of pasta for lunches on Sunday night and keep it all in the fridge and bring one portion for lunch each day, will my pasta still taste fine for my Thursday and Friday lunch?

You can keep pasta in the fridge for up to 5 days, but it may well be beginning to go off at day 5. If it smells musty discard it. Another option would be to freeze it; you can drop it into boiling water straight from the freezer from what I've read.
I also found this earlier question here How long does cooked pasta last in the fridge? which is pretty much what you're asking


Simmering lemons for hours, leaves them quite bitter? I have a lot of lemons.  I drink a lot of tea.
I've been experimenting, by slicing lemons, putting them in water, and letting them simmer for a long time, reducing the water 2-3X, then impulse blend them, and put them in a tea cup with some simple syrup.
The first few times I did this, the taste was great.
Lately, the taste has been completely bitter.  The lemons are fine for other "normal" lemony things.
I have tried cutting off all the peeling, and just have the inner part, and that was bitter as well.
I'm stuck.  My only remaining idea is that the seeds might be bitter, causing the problem (maybe my earlier lemons were seedless?  Is there such a thing?)
TLDR:  I'd like to simmer lemons for several hours, impulse blend them, add some sugar and have a tasty hot drink.  Instead it ends up totally bitter.  Why?  Is there something I can do to remedy this?

One strategy to reduce lemon bitterness is to slice, bring to a boil, then drain.  Refill pot, and repeat.  Do this 3 or 4 times.  Then, proceed with your recipe.  This is a strategy employed when making candied citrus.  It could be helpful in your case.