How to cut chicken without producing loud noises Whenever I try to cook some dinner and I get the chicken out of the freeze, I have to think twice if I really want to undergo the messy process of chopping it up into smaller pieces.

I have a butchers knife and a wooden chopping board. Whenever I swing my knife on it, it make a loud noise and the whole kitchen counter feels like it took the hit and shakes a little bit.

I feel bad because I think my neighbors can hear that and it might bother them. I use small hand towels underneath the chopping board to absorb some of the shock from the knife.

Is there any other solutions to this so that I can just cut the chicken more efficiently without banging on the kitchen counter too much? Is there some kind of shock absorbing mat that I can use beneath my chopping board?

Plan a bit ahead. Move the chicken from the freezer to the fridge the night before, so it's thawed (or at least not rock-hard) when it's time to cut it. Or if for some reason that won't work, thaw it at least partially under running water.

Beyond that, make sure your knife is sharp, so you're not having to spend more effort than you should. With thawed meat and a sharp knife, you shouldn't need violent swings of your knife.

To answer the actual question you asked, a kitchen towel (or several layered) will dampen impact on the counter some. And you might find that different parts of the counter rattle less, or even try cutting on your table. But I'd really suggest avoiding having to whack it hard enough to make the counter shake in the first place!


How long can leftover pizza be stored in the freezer? Today I had a pizza party at my home. I ordered 10 large pizzas, but that was too much and five are left over. I don't want to throw them out. Can I freeze the leftovers? If so, how long can it be kept in the freezer without loss of quality?

I don't know if you can keep quality the "same", but yes, it's possible to freeze.  Plain cheese actually freezes better than one with lots of toppings.

For the absolute best quality, you need to limit freezer burn, which means wrapping it in something that will prevent moisture from escaping into the container surrounding it.  This typically means tightly wrapping it in a water-tight material.

I'd recommend first chilling the pizza in the fridge.  I would specifically not freeze an amount that you think you'd be able/willing to eat over the next few days.  (willing because you might get sick of pizza if you have it multiple days in a row)

Once it's chilled down, you have to decide on portions -- if you're going to be the only one eating it, you might want to only wrap it up in bundles of two or three slices, depending on the size of the slices and how much you typically eat.  If you have a family, you may want to go with larger amounts.

For wrapping, I suggest stacking up slices of a similar size and toppings, and then either:

Wrap each stack tightly in freezer paper, then tape shut any seams.
Wrap each stack in plastic wrap, then in a layer of aluminum foil.  (plastic wrap alone is too thin; aluminum foil may react w/ the acidic tomato sauce)
Arrange a couple of stacks in a large zip-top freezer bag, and suck out the air before fully sealing.

And you should label them before they go into the freezer with what they are, and when you originally purchased it (so if you find one months later, you know that you need to either eat it soon or dispose of it).

For thawing/reheating ... if it's still tightly wrapped, you can get away with thawing it in the fridge first.  If it's not, you'll end up with condensation on the outside, so you might be better going straight from the freezer to the oven.  (or a microwave on low power, then the oven).

Exact time and temperature in the oven depends on the thickness of the crust, the amount and water content of the toppings, and if you're going from thawed or frozen.  As a general recommendation, I recommend starting with a moderately hot oven (350°F / 180°C) if thawed; a bit lower if frozen, and cook until it's warmed through.

Other things that you can do to improve the quality of the pizza:

Turn up the heat towards the end if you like your cheese melted / gooey
Once it's warmed up a bit, add pre-cooked toppings and an additional sprinkling of cheese on top.
Put it under the broiler / grill (top heat only) to get the top extra browned.  (also useful when adding toppings)
Pre-heat a sheet pan or baking stone, and place the pizza on that to get a crisper crust.  (but don't pre-heat to extreme heat like you would if cooking it from raw dough)
Adjust the oven shelf depending on how you like you pizza and/or how brown it already is.  Lower to reduce the amount of extra browning on top and cook the crust more; higher for the opposite.


How to clean a wooden cauldron lid? I bought this the other day for making shabu shabu (샤부샤부) as well as for camping.  The pot itself is made of cast iron which I know how to clean, but the lid is made of wood.  The lid doesn't get very dirty during use - but there are some splatters, etc - I'm wondering if I should wipe this down with oil or just water?  I would use oil, but I'm concerned that this will inhibit the wood's ability to swell when placed over steaming liquid.

Beautiful. If it were mine it would usually get cleaned with a quick wipe with a slightly damp paper towel. On the rare occasions that it needed it, it would get sponged with soapy water, rinsed, and lightly oiled as it dried.


How to Feed a Sour Culture I'm following the instructions in The Rye Baker to start a rye sour culture. After the first week of daily refreshing, it says it can be left in the refrigerator and fed once or twice a week. There are proportions for a "maintenance refresh", but no specific instructions for feeding. Am I just supposed to dump flour on top? With water?

Specifics:
The first step is 70g whole-grain rye flour and 70g warm water. Daily for the next week is 70g of preceding culture mixed with equal amounts flour and water. (I'm using King Arthur Pumpernickel flour.) The maintenance refresh is 7g sour culture and 70g each of flour and water, which seems to be rather wasteful for "feeding".

In searching this site, this question got the closest to an answer, but it's asking about feeding after taking some out for bread; I'm not sure if regular not-baking-anything feeding is different, or if an all-rye culture is different.

The feeding/maintenance of your starter is the same regardless of flour.  Remove and discard (or use elsewhere) half or more of starter.  Add fresh flour and water in the desired proportions.  Stir.  As your starter matures, it becomes acidic.  Too much acidity interferes with yeast activity in the bread making process.  That is why you need to remove a portion of the "spent" starter each time you feed.


Can I pressure can roasted sweet peppers without sugar or vinegar? I want the naturally sweet flavor of the pepper preserved, so no pickling or added sugar is desired. Can I pressure can sweet fire roasted peppers without sugar or vinegar, or are those required for safety?

Peppers are a low acid food, so under home conditions, pressure canning will be required to do so.

See for example:  NCFHFP recipe for peppers.


What cut of beef is "fillet of beef"? I usually cook vegetarian dishes because it's easier for me although I'm a huge carnivore. I'm taking a stab at this steak sandwich recipe which calls for "fillet of beef". What does that mean? Which cut (chuck roast, london broil, etc...) can I get? Surely Ina Garten does not mean fillet mignon?

I believe it's another name for the tenderloin. http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Beef%20Cuts.htm

Also, if you check out this other fillet of beef recipe from the same show:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fillet-of-beef-recipe/index.html
You can see a much better picture of the meat. That one is clearly a tenderloin.

So The Fillet Mignon is part of that technically...


How is baking bread in a ceramic pan different from using a metal one? I just used my ceramic bread pans for the first time.  The top crust was just like it used to be when I baked with those cheap metal pans with the stick-free surface that I'm wanting to avoid now to avoid toxicity.  However, the sides and bottom of the loaf were very light colored and the loaf itself was a wee bit doughy towards the center.

Any tips for how to get an evenly cooked loaf?  Change the temp up or down?  Extend the baking time?  Thanks for any help you can offer!

The difference is in the conductivity of the materials with the glass being less conductive than metal.

If the center isn't done...simply add more time.  Worried about the top browning too much..cover with foil for the additional amount of time.  OR cook at a slightly lower temperature for a longer time.

ALSO...check the temperature of your oven.  Just because you set the dial to 350˚F doesn't mean that it is accurate!  Buy a small oven thermometer and check the temperature.  If it is off look at the instruction manual for your oven to see if you can calibrate the oven.  If not...allow for the temperature difference by turning up (or down) the oven to get the proper temperature!  (This is much cheaper than a service call.)


How safe is it to combine flavor extracts? I experiment a lot with food combinations, and I know enough about their chemistry to avoid the particularly terrible ones. However, I know too little about flavor extracts to apply the same logic.

Just as an example, I've noticed that orange and almond extracts used together give a strong unpleasant taste to the food.

In general, is this just unpleasant tasting or actually harmful? Are there particular combinations of extracts, with food or with other extracts, that I should avoid?

I probably would not recommend eating a box of baking soda and chasing that with shots of vinegar. But aside from that silliness, I can't think of a single thing that is actual "food" that is unsafe mixed with another actual "food", assuming reasonable quantities. Certainly anything with alcohol can be dangerous in huge quantities, as can a lot of other ingredients. Allergies or food sensitivities can make certain ingredients dangerous to certain people. But mixing ingredients to which the individual has no special sensitivity and in normal quantities? No, I don't think you are risking anything by doing so other than unpleasant food.


Panda Express style Chow Mein I find myself addicted to Chow Mein served at Panda Express, and have tried cooking it several times, failing each time.

I have followed these recipes:

http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-do-you-make-panda-express-chow-mein.html
http://www.chinesefood-eye.com/recipe_100232_panda-express-chow-mein.aspx

The secret seems to be sugar+chicken broth.

However each time I make it I can never get the noodles quite right.  They turn out mushy, and half of them stick to the pan.

I've tried vermicelli, Annie Chung's chow mein, and egg noodles.

How do I get nice, firm, golden chow mein noodles?

If your noodles are mushy, then you're overcooking them. Vermicelli take barely a minute or two to cook in already-boiling water. Egg noodles take a little longer, but either way, trying the noodles as they start to loosen up is the best way to ensure the right texture.

Remember, you are going to be cooking them again when you stir fry them, so they should be a little underdone when they come out of the broth. Rinsing in cold water will arrest the cooking process and also wash off the starch that can make the noodles stick to the wok when frying.


Commercial fridge for thawing In commercial use, what temperature is set in a refrigerator used primarily for thawing?
Because food keeps longer when colder, my home fridge is kept so close to freezing that ice cubes sometimes don't fully melt over-night.  Using a thermometer with an alarm set for 40 degrees F, I thaw food faster in coolers, drawers, the interior of a microwave oven, etc. ... any small space where desired heat infiltration can be controlled enough the ambient air temperature stays in the safe zone.

Commercial thawing cabinets alternate between gentle heat and refrigeration. The operating manual for the Williams OT1 lists the heating cycle being +2°C/36°F and cooling cycle -1°C/30°F.


What exactly does cooking meat do as far as sanitation goes? I know there are government recommendations for foods to reach certain internal temperatures so that they are "safe to eat". But if the meat has spoiled already, or has been dropped on the floor or something and contaminated with other things, cooking it will not make it safe.

Or will it? How much sanitation does cooking do? What does cooking not do? Or which kinds of food safety issues does cooking eliminate/not eliminate?

Very simple: it kills bacteria.

The recommended cooking temperatures are empirically derived. They lead to a log 7 reduction in the amount of bacteria present. That is when you have a piece of meat, 1 in 10 000 000 of the bacteria on it remain alive after cooking. The recommended temperature for storage and cooking is chosen in such a way that, for food which has been handled safely before cooking, this reduction is enough to produce food which will be safe for the next 3-5 days in the fridge.

There is no path from "unsafe food" to "safe food". There is no telling how many bacteria are on your food if it was not handled properly. Bacteria grow exponentially, so small differences can result in not just a few more bacteria, but in many times as more bacteria. Also, there is always the problem of toxins created while there was a lively bacterial colony on the meat, even if you cook the bacteria to death afterwards.

In short, food is only safe when it is handled safely before cooking, cooked safely, and handled safely after cooking. A slip at any step cannot be remedied.


Alternatives to massaging fresh kale? I plan on making a raw kale salad for a large group and was wondering if there is another technique besides massaging it with my hands, which will likely get sore after breaking down a large quantity of kale.

Other than cooking or slicing the raw kale, is there a shortcut or tool I could use to make easier work of massaging the fresh kale?

If you put batches of cut kale into a ricer like the Oxo one shown below, and give it a good hard squeeze until a little of the kale juice comes out, it will make easier work of the massaging process.  You should see the kale come out broken down as much as when massaged by hand.  If not, squeeze again.

I do it over the salad bowl to capture the juices as well as any dropped leaves.  It seemed to work more easily with lacinato (dinosaur) kale than curly leaf.


Adding salt to a marinade to brine? I have a marinade I really love for chicken that has a base of pineapple and lime juice, aromatics, and a little canola oil. There's no salt in the marinade and I don't season the chicken before putting it in either. I tried using this marinade overnight, but found that the flavor wasn't as intense. I think this could be solved by marinating for longer and/or adding some salt to essentially brine the chicken.
I know that a typical wet brine is around can be up to 20% salt, and this is what I'm thinking of doing for the marinade. However, I'm not sure if I'd ruin a big batch of chicken with this much salt. Given that it already has all of these ingredients, should I lower the salt content and marinade for longer, or just bite the bullet and go with the standard brine ratio?

Marinating is basically a surface treatment.  Marinades don't penetrate more than a millimeter or two.  Most flavor molecules are just too large. So, if you like the flavor after a short bath, just keep it at that.  A longer marination generally doesn't help.
Now, salt does penetrate, that is why brining works.  However, don't confuse brining with marination.  The added salt will not improve the effect of marination.  Only the salt will penetrate.
These are two different processes.


Dough Too Wet - what to do? I'm trying out a recipe for a type of dinner roll. After kneading it on my mixer for 15 minutes, I put it in a slightly warmed oven to rise. I noticed that the dough was very wet, though. There is no way I'm going to be able to shape this into rolls. How to deal with this?

Should I have added some flour during kneading? (The next time I make this, perhaps I can just reduce the liquids: 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 5 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp oil).
Can I add flour after it rises? Basically, punch down the dough, incorporate flour and keep kneading until the dough is "shapable", then shape them into rolls and bake.
Something else?

I'd do one or more of a few things:

Treat it like the dough in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in which you sprinkle flour on top, then pull off a portion you need, then shape quickly into a ball, developing the outer skin, keeping the freshly floured side out.
Chill down the dough, so it's firmer and easier to work with.  (and then do #1 while it's still a bit cold)
Put it into muffin pans or similar for baking, so you don't have to worry about it holding up on its own or even attempting to shape it.  (if you can shape it a little bit, you can then put it into a pan with enough of a lip to give them some support as they rise; they might spread into each other, but you can typically break them apart after they're baked)

In general, I find that kneading dough in a mixer (unless specifically called for in a recipes) always needs more flour.  Basically, when you're kneading normally, you might work in 1/2 cup or so of extra flour.  And there are the issues with knowing what the proper way to measure flour for a given recipe if the measurements are given in volume (cups) and not by weight, which will easily throw off any bread recipe.


Is cornstarch a less effective thickener when used with gelatin? Gravy is a big deal in my house, when it comes to holiday meals, so I usually make extra. A day or two ahead of time, I roast some extra turkey parts (drumsticks, wings, backs, and/or necks), then boil the heck out of them (2-4 hours). The idea here is to create a flavorful turkey stock, which would be full of gelatin.

When I try turning this turkey stock (and pan drippings from the roasted bird) in gravy, I had to add 3 to 4 times the amount of cornstarch to get a good gravy consistency. The cornstartch wasn't "Bad", since I ran through this procedure three times with two different containers of cornstarch. I've used cornstarch in the past to thicken other things, and I know it continues to thicken as it cools, but I still think I used an increadible amount.

Does cornstarch work less well in the presence of gelatin?

Cornstarch can be a bit temperamental.  You can weaken the strength if you cook it too long and it doesn’t do well if you reheat it.  If you use a lot, it could weep.  There is a much better alternative.  ARROWROOT! (not to be used with dairy products)  Arrowroot doesn’t cloud your gravy, doesn't alter the flavor like cornstarch can.  For me, it's just a better thickener.  I use it all the time in my pot-roast gravy that has tons of gelatin and a spot of vinegar. It doesn’t interfere with the silky texture you are seeking.


Sear pork belly before or after cooking in a pressure cooker? I've been trying different pork belly recipes, after trying a few using a pressure cooker and a few that only call for pan-searing, I think I'd like to try a combination of both, since that works really well for beef.

Every time I've done any sort of beef in the pressure cooker, the consensus appears to be that you should sear before putting it in the pressure cooker. After all, it usually comes out too tender to sear afterwards, anyway.

However, recipes for pork belly appear to call for the opposite: to sear the pork belly after it comes out of the pressure cooker.

I know that pork belly has a lot of fat & connective tissue, so is this perhaps the reason why the recipes call for the opposite? Will searing it before pressure cooking affect how that breaks down? Or is it really bound to not make that much of a difference?

If you sear the meat in the pressure cooker before putting the lid on, then the flavoring from the seared tidbits and caramelization will assist in bringing a fuller flavor to the finished recipe.

This is the same technique I use when I cook something in my Dutch Oven (as a substitute for my slow cooker). Instead of trying to transfer everything into the slow cooker, I simply slide my Dutch Oven into the oven and set the heat (for the equivalent of high or low).

I don't see any reason that the same principle shouldn't work for you with your pressure cooker.


Can I make Ricotta Impastata? Trying to make homemade canollis. Have tried a half dozen different ways, with some success. I recently found an Italian eatery that sells canolli filling in their refrigerated section. This is the exact taste I have been trying to duplicate for months! The first ingredient says “Ricotta Impastatta”...so I think that’s what I need to find. Haven’t found it in any local grocery store or Italian deli. Wondering if I can make this myself somehow since I can’t find it. Help!

Ricotta Impestata is apparently ricotta that has been drained and pressed through a fine mesh.  So, while you can order it online, you can also make it yourself by first draining or blotting the ricotta using paper towels or cheesecloth, and then by pressing it through a tight-mesh strainer.  Personally, I would do the draining but not the pressing, as the latter would be a lot of work and probably not make that much of a difference.

Also, having just made proper whey ricotta not 2 hours ago, I suspect that what the "impestata" process duplicates is the texture of fine whey ricotta, which is quite smooth and creamy compared with whole milk ricotta.  So if you make cheese anyway, try making whey ricotta and draining it thouroughly, and that may give you the texture you're looking for.


what are the small black things that fall from top ceiling of my grill? I have quite an old cooker, and when I put foil paper in I notice little black things fall onto the foil from the top of the grill (I think broiling in US) compartment. Even when I don't cook if I put something in and hit the ceiling/gas heating element I can see these little black things fall.

I'm concerned it might go onto food and I'll eat them without knowing.  Do you know what these are likely to be? Is it a hazard, or maybe time to get a new grill?

This answer is in regard to an outdoor Weber grille.  According to the Weber grille people the black peelings are carbonized grease that accumulate when cooking and are not harmful. They might not be tasty though so I recommend a quick wipe to loosen the particles before cooking.  Again Weber suggests using aluminum foil to brush the top and I believe that is because aluminum is softer than steel and so won't scratch the surface.  Happy grilling!


Can I make gluten free crepes? I have seen recipes for gluten free American style pancakes, and suppose that they turn out OK as long as they contain something which keeps them from falling apart. But I was wondering if I can make gluten free palatschinken or crepes. I am reluctant to just use some gluten replacement like starch and non-wheat flours, because it won't bind the crepe together. And I want the result to be like a real crepe - very thin, and flexible enough to be rolled.

Does anybody have experience with gluten-free crepes? Do they work? If yes, how are they made, what should I pay attention to?

I thought that crepes (and tasty pancakes) were traditionally made with buckwheat flour. Crepes in particular because buckwheat makes a finer flour. So, traditionally made crepes would be gluten free.


Why is it advised to freeze meat before eating as opposed to eating it fresh? I am not sure, is it right to wrong "It is not good to eat meat just after killing, it should be stored and deep freezed for at least 24 hours". But I had heard same like this through national media. What could be the logic behind this ?

What kind of meat is it, maybe pork?

There are many kinds of pathogens in meat. One type are bacteria. They don't die from cold temperatures (not even freezing), but die from high heat. Unfortunately, heating the meat throughout so it's hot enough to kill all bacteria will turn it into a shoesole. So, meat is cooked to slightly lower temperatures which are capable of killing most, but not all bacteria. And the surface of the meat comes into contact with the pan, so it gets much hotter than the inside. Because the surface is where the bacteria are (they came onto the meat after it was butchered), they die in the hot pan.

But there are other pathogens beside bacteria. One class are parasites. They also die from high heat. But they don't sit on the surface of the meat, they were living inside the tissue of the animal before it was slaughtered. So, if you bring a contaminated steak to 55 Celsius internal temperature, but accidentally stick your thermometer in a too thin part of the meat - or don't use a thermometer and hope that you can judge meat doneness by feel - it can happen that a parasite snuggled in the thickest part survives. And some domestic animal parasites can also use the human as a host, causing all kinds of ugly health problems. A prime examples would be trichinosis, a disease caused by a pig parasite.

Parasites are rather rare in industrial food production, because there are ways to heal them in the living animal. You almost never get into contact with them, while each piece of meat you buy is teeming with disease-causing bacteria. So parasites are not in the spotlight of food safety, the typical rules are created to protect against bacteria. Given the lack of trichinosis epidemics lately, it seems to work.

But if there is a high chance that you get contaminated meat, you can consider freezing the meat. Unlike bacteria, parasites die when frozen solid, and stop being a danger to you.

I haven't heard of such a wave of advice in the media, it could be that there was a single high-profile case of parasite illness in your country, or that there has been a slowly growing epidemic. Or also that there always has been some danger due to the way animals are typically held (your description of eating right away reminds me of a family slaughtering pigs they raised themselves, in which case there is no vet inspecting the meat), but that consumer rights groups have started a media campaign to bring the situation into public attention.

Beside pork, there is high parasite risk in wild hunted game, as well as many kinds of sea food. Sheep can also carry some, but they are more likely to be in the organ meat, not the muscle (e.g. liver flukes). AFAIK, beef and chicken are not typical hosts to dangerous parasites. Update: As Mischa Arefiev points out, there is a type of tapeworm which lives in beef. Freezing is effective against it too.


Blade of Mace Quantity When a recipe calls for a blade of mace, what is the expected quantity? The pieces of mace in the bag I have literally come in every size, from the entire husk, down to tiny fragments. The thickness is pretty uniform, so two-dimensions would be enough to define it. Alternatively, I could conceptualize volume-if-ground as well; although it needs to actually be kept whole.

In case the context matters, I'm cooking from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer.

Thanks!

Personally, I conceptualize an average blade-of-mace size, and use that to determine if I should tear a bit of or not. The outcome will sometimes be a bit more macey, sometimes a bit less macey. For me, it's part of the charm of a curry, and also helps finding out personal preference of dosage for mace.

The same problem exists with "an inch of ginger", "a 2 inch piece of dalchini": There's thick and thin parts of ginger, smaller or wider parts of dalchini. I do the same there: Consider what the average part looks like (i.e. for ginger, the more bulbous part seems to be main part, with smaller knobs on the outside), and use that to take your measure.

Ideally they would specify everything in tea- or tablespoons, which would at least help for grindable spices, but in my experience, most indian recipes don't when it comes to mace, ginger and dalchini (and of course garlic: Big cloves, small cloves?). (Although for ginger, they sometimes specify "a thumb sized piece of ginger", which is quite workable).

I just accept that sometimes it will be a bit more gingery/macey/cinnamony, sometimes less. I have never had a failed curry because of it, it's just that the taste will float within a certain (acceptable) range of flavors.


How do I keep eggs from sticking to a pan while cooking? I like to cook eggs in my toaster oven, but the one thing that I don't like about it is how the eggs will stick to my pan after cooling and its just so difficult to clean off afterwards. I end up having to take a very stiff brush to the pan and even then it takes a full 5 minutes of scrubbing to clean it off.

How do I keep the eggs from sticking to the pan in the first place? A few things:

It's usually around 3 eggs, whisked in a bowl, and salted before being poured into the pan (I think its called a fritata?)
The pan is definitely NOT non-stick. I think it's an aluminum cake pan, but I don't really remember.
I butter the pan before pouring the eggs in.
Oven is set to 150 C, cooks for about 10 minutes. I realize I might be overcooking things, but would NOT overcooking solve my problem?

I need some advice here. Is there a way to solve my problem with this pan or should I just go out and buy a new one?

This combination is never going to work - it will stick no matter what.

If you want to keep this method of baking, you will have to switch the pan. A nonstick pan will work, and while it is new, you might even be able to slide off the eggs without any crust sticking to the pan (while later it will be just easier to clean from the stuck stuff). You might also decide to switch to a glass pan - it will also stick, but you will have an easier time cleaning it, especially with a bit of a soak. Using glass in a toaster oven will make the eggs stick a bit more though, because it creates a stronger crust.

In both cases, there will be some time involved in cleaning that's more than just cleaning, say, a bowl in which you reheated some soup - there is no way around that with your chosen method of preparation.


How should "vegetarian duck" (seitan) be pre-prepared to substitute into a duck recipe So, I have a large can of "vegetarian roast duck" (actually braised gluten), and while I can find many recipes to put the stuff into, I'm wondering about how important the physical properties tend to be in cooking duck, and if there are any tips for how best to prepare the gluten, in order to successfully substitute it into a recipe that calls for real duck.

For example, many recipes start with rendering fat out of the duck, which I'm assuming is not necessary here.  Also, steps to encourage crispy skin probably won't be helpful.  On the other hand, such meat substitutes tend to be quite lean compared to actual meat, and often need fats added back into the dish... being unfamiliar with actual duck, is there a way to tell how much fat (or what kinds) I should be adding back?  How much fat I should add if the recipe didn't render the fat out from under the skin first?  Will I need to adjust cooking times, since the gluten is essentially precooked (I don't care about saving time, just if the recipe will suffer for it)?  Are there other common places in a recipe where the physical properties of a duck need to be accounted for, since the gluten doesn't have those properties?

It is fairly easy to find recipes, that isn't the issue - I'm wondering if there are any extra steps I should add to offset any difficulties that might happen because I substituted the gluten in for the actual meat.  I am not at all familiar with actual duck meat, to figure out how to tweak the recipes around the lack.  I'm hoping someone on the site might have enough experience with the real stuff, and the gluten, to suggest ways to avoid problems.  This particular can is already "roasted", so I could just pick a recipe that skips those processes - but I've seen non-roasted varieties available, and I find many recipes interesting enough to try, so any hints for how to deal with this with those recipes that do call for such steps would be appreciated.

The image below isn't exactly the same as mine, but it should give an idea of the kind of product I'm referring to.

It's often a good idea to drain mock duck and bake it in the oven to slight crispiness (10-15 min at 180°C). You can add some cooking oil of your choice (something refined and smell-free is better) to make it fatter if you don't mind extra fat. If your brand of duck is not spiced, you can also try to add some white pepper/five spice mix or something you like there. If liquid in the tin does not smell good, you can soak chunks of duck in some stock of your choice prior to baking.

There is almost no way to make it fool a meat-eater that it's a real thing except in some very spicy dishes where you can't really make out any individual ingredients. That said, in Thai noodle soups and curries or fried with vegetables or in gravy it is less recognizable than being fried without additives.

So try different recipes and see what feels better. I certainly recommend you to try Thai and Chinese recipes, those guys are expert in mock meats. Not that there're not some very nice Vietnamese, Cambodian, or Malaysian dishes.

For example, I find mock duck the most suitable for Guay Teow/Kwai Teow (has different variations in Chinese and every SE Asian cuisine, you can google lots of them, or try some variation of it in every single vegetarian restaurant in Thailand and is super easy to make with just a few special ingredients and ready stock), at least much better than mock chicken (which is better in Tom Kha or curries). Hopefully, you will find something suitable.

Note that after baking mock duck doesn't really require much cooking, add it one of the last when frying, or even directly to the serving bowl for noodle soup.


Shea Butter (or Cocoa Butter Equivalent) tempering while making Chocolate This is more of a theoretical question. But assuming I have the following ingredients

Cocoa powder / Cocoa Mass (containing no cocoa butter or trace amounts of it)
Sugar
Shea Butter

I've been reading that CBEs like Shea Butter can be used for replacing Cocoa Butter while making chocolate[1]. However most resources say it requires tempering.

How can I temper shea butter in chocolate?
What is the right ratio to use shea butter if I were to make pure shea butter based chocolate?

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20190107151600/https://knowledge.ulprospector.com/1085/fbn-cocoa-butter-alternatives-chocolate/

Interesting question, but for practical purposes, I think it is a dead end.

If you want something resembling a Lindt chocolate bar, you cannot make it at home. You just don't have the machinery needed to create the needed particle size of the starchy phase. There is by the way no "cocoa mass containing no cocoa butter or trace amounts of it", the best you can get is strongly defattted cocoa powder at about 5% cocoa butter, and that is already so dry that you couldn't have it behave as "cocoa mass", you can only get is as powder. And this powder particle's sizes are several orders of magnitude larger than those needed for a chocolate bar. You need a tightly controlled industrial process with specialized machines to make the bar from that point. Even if there are manufacturers who have managed to engineer a similar process with shea butter as a substitute, you can't replicate it in your kitchen.

If you want something else instead of a smooth bar, the best you can get will be some liquidish product, maybe a ganache or a hot chocolate replacement. There you don't need tempering, because you dissolve the whole thing and emulsify the fat, it is no longer sitting around in crystalized form.


What are the different kinds of cheese? I've heard people say that the cheese used in pizzas is not suitable for many other things and for this recipe you need to have this particular cheese. Is there some broad principle as to which cheese should be used and where??

I would imagine that one would use the cheese local to the dish being made.

For example, for pizza, one would use (fresh) mozzarella; or for the traditional Tartiflette, one will use Reblochon cheese or use Cheddar for a Welsh Rarebit.

You could substitute cheeses in recipes, but the final taste or texture might not be the same as you would have if using the "proper" cheese, or worse could ruin a dish.

For example, I would never use Camembert for a Cacio e Pepe pasta dish.

Cheeses have different characteristics, some will melt, other will not, some must be eaten fresh, some can be aged.

Normally, you should use a similar cheese when trying to substitute (Grana Padano vs. Parmesan vs. Romamo)

But feel free to experiment and try different cheeses in different dishes.

Max


How hot do charcoal grills get? As a college student, I am working with limited cooking equipment. There are several outdoor charcoal grills however, which students sometimes have cookouts on. How hot do can these grills get? I have literally no idea how hot they get, but would like to find something in the 700 degree area.

Charcoal can get to 700 degrees F  but in normal use you're more likely to be in the 500F range.  In order to get to the higher end of charcoal's abilities there are a couple things you can do:

Use natural lump charcoal, not briquettes.
Lower the grill grate to within 1" of the hot coals
If 1&2 don't get you enough heat, consider using the Alton Brown chimney approach (Setup starts around the 8 minute mark)


Is a portable Wok burner safe (indoors) My Condo only has an electric stove, an no gas lines. I was looking to get a portable propane burner for a wok, so that I could effectively cook (I use it daily). Is this something that is safe to do inside? I've seen things like this use professionally, but as I do it personally and for family, I wanted to be sure the danger wasn't unreasonable for a non-professional chef

It can be safe - people use gas burning stoves inside on a regular basis.
The one thing you must do is ensure that there is adequate air-flow in your kitchen so as to prevent the build-up of carbon monoxide. This is as simple as leaving a window partially open when cooking.
Another concern would be how stable one of these is on your bench/work surface. Placing a large pan on top of a small foot-print stove will make it decidedly top heavy, so you should get one that is either low and flat (much like a regular cooking stove in a kitchen; e.g. this one) or one with feet that limit the movement/tipping capacity (e.g. this one). I have no affiliation with either product and make no claims about their ability to cook things, other than that MSR is a reliable outdoors brand. After all, you don't want your cooker to tip over and set your kitchen on fire or cause you to get burned from the hot food/pan and/or from the flame.


How does red wine butter impact the flavor of dishes? I was looking for some ways to use up some older wine and red wine butter came up as a possible use. I see that it is supposedly pretty tasty on many meat-based dishes; how does the wine change the butter so as to make it a more attractive alternative than just using butter or oil?

The main point, IMHO, is to make an easy to use and flavorful compound butter. It can be put on top of grilled meats, tossed in with a sautee of meat/veggies/pasta, etc.

I would finely mince some onion or shallot and garlic. Lightly sweat them, then add wine and reduce. Add some fresh herbs and the butter and melt to combine. I then cool this until lightly set, then roll it in a tube in some plastic wrap and freeze it. It can then be sliced off, like tubed cookie dough, and placed on top of grilled/baked meats, etc...

The wine and herbs add a rich, deep flavor that can be used in a variety of ways.


Lump Charcoal vs Briquettes and variations in brands I've been experimenting with BBQ on a variety of smokers for the past few years.

Originally I tried some Kingsford Briquettes and had a hard time managing the temperature.  There was an excessive amount of ash generated that seemed to choke out the fire.  I did a little research and found that clay is added to briquettes to give them their shape, and this was likely the cause of all the ash.

Since then (until recently), I've used lump charcoal and have been fairly happy with the results.

This summer I mistakenly purchased another bag of briquettes - Stubbs brand - and I've been using that ever since.  This charcoal seems to burn hotter and longer than the lump and without the excessive amount of ash I found when using the Kingsford.

Have others experienced this as well?

Do briquetes burn hotter and longer (in general) than lump?
Is Kingford a very "ashy" charcoal or maybe did I just get a bad bag?

When you're talking about briquettes, much of the "ash" you're talking about is actually clay and binders to hold the briquette together. That also tends to mean a cooler burning form of charcoal.

Overall, charcoal is made by taking wood (or a few other materials, but usually hardwood) and heating it to burning temperatures without enough oxygen for it to actually burn. The result is something that burns more cleanly and steadily than the original wood, which burns a fairly volatile way until it gets down to coal. That means that charcoal sort of "skips" the volatile burn and gets right to the steady cooking burn.

Briquettes are lots of little bits of charcoal, bound together with those binding materials into the little forms in the bag. Lump charcoal is just chunks of wood that go through the process and come out the other end still sort of resembling the piece of wood that went in.

Lump charcoal burns much hotter than briquettes and, since there are no binders or fillers, very little is left behind when you're done. However, it tends to burn out faster too, meaning for a long fire (like for slow smoking pork), you'll need to refill with lump charcoal more often than for briquettes.

Kingsford (which dominates at least the US market) is a company that comes directly from when Henry Ford really came up with the process for making charcoal. For most of that time, they've pretty much stuck to the same form factor with the binders, and focused on adding things like a few shavings of mesquite or pre-soaking them with petroleum-based lighter fluids.

However, recently, they've introduced a "competition" briquette that is actually much closer in how it burns to lump charcoal and has fewer of the binders in it. While I generally prefer to use lump charcoal, I wasn't nearly as disappointed when I tried these new briquettes.


Ratios for making Dashi from Kombu and Katsuobushi Im trying to figure out the correct balance between kombu and katsuobushi when making dashi. I have read here that the perfect ratio between the glutamate in kombu and inosinate in the katsuobushi is an equal 1:1 ratio.

The problem is how can one attain these ratios or is it pretty much guess work as you never really know how much of each acid in the kombu or katsuobushi. How do you know how much has been extracted, how long to soak each for etc ?

Or does it really make a difference if there is more of one or the other ?

I would appreciate if anyone has any tips on the best way to make the Awase dashi and how to achieve a good synergistic balance that amplifies umami ?

Measure both with weight, start with a ratio you find to be tasty and produce varying kombu to katsuobushi ratios in equal steps, preferably 3 or 5 variations in small batches. Make sure to keep liquids, temperature etc. as much of a constant as you can.

Taste all, make notes and have others taste test them as well.
This process should be repeated each time the source of your katsuobushio or kombu changes.

Unless you live in Japan, consistency may be hit and miss.


How Long Does Tomato Juice Last? We've been buying tomato juice in smaller containers and now decided to buy bigger ones.  But, when we went to the store the tomato juice says that it only lasts two weeks in the fridge.  Expiration dates always err on the side of caution.  How long can we expect to keep it after we have opened it?

According to this website, 5 to 7 days in the fridge.


Accentuating Garlic flavour I keep losing the flavour of garlic when I cook. For example, I chop up a lot of garlic and put it in a baked bean recipe or I make soup. I have been putting an enormous amount of garlic in these recipes and still can't taste it and I wonder if I'm preparing it incorrectly.
I just put on some chicken to go in a soup. Should I be chopping it up and putting it onto the chicken so that the chicken fat interacts with the garlic or wait to put the garlic into the broth?

In general, should garlic be prepared by having it interact with meat fats or should it be put on top at the end or boiled with other vegetables?
Is there a spice that will help make the garlic flavour more prominent?

Simply put, the longer garlic cooks for, the weaker the flavour gets. If you want a super-garlicky hit, put it in at the last minute. Chopping it finer, or crushing it, also increases the flavour because more of the 'juice' is released.


What type of cookie to use, when an Australian recipe calls for "crushed biscuits"? I have a recipe from my teenage years in Australia for a bar cookie called "Cherry Crunch". It includes cashews, arrowroot, cocoa and "biscuits", among other things. I know that biscuits are cookies, but have no idea what type of cookie to use. I'm assuming it would be something rather plain?

As an Australian we seem to use Arnott's Milk Arrowroot or Arnott's Milk Coffee biscuits in a lot of recipes.

Milk Arrowroot


Can we make peanut butter with 500W mixer? I tried making peanut butter with 500w mixer but peanut is not secreating oil, is there any way to make peanut butter?

While "500 watt mixer" doesn't really tell us any specifics about your setup, considering that right now you've got yourself a nice batch of crushed, or maybe stirred peanuts rather than peanut butter, I'm going to say "no."

To make peanut butter, you either need a grinder in which the grinding surfaces are close enough to make butter, or you need something which has blades that move fast enough while still having enough torque to move through peanut butter.

If the mixer you have is a stand mixer (like a kitchen aid) then there's a good chance you can purchase some sort of attachment which will suit your purposes.

A food processor would do the trick but really low-end models would probably leave a few chunks.

A higher-quality blender would be able to make you a nice smooth peanut butter, but more affordable blenders probably won't have the muscle.

You can also get a hand-crank peanut mill online for less than 50 bucks.

Good luck!


Why flaxseed sealed in containers once opened needs to be refrigerated and yet has to be consumed within 4 days? I have bought whole flaxseeds from a stationary store. The usage directions written on container says that the whole flaxseeds need to be grounded, stored in air tight containers and refrigerated. Even then it should not be used after 4 days. They have given no reasons for it. I find this quite strange. I want to know the scientific reason behind this.

Also my flaxseeds are already over 4 days. Should I dispose them off? They are very costly.

Here is a quote from a "Mens Fitness" article on flax seeds:

  To get the nutritional and health benefits of flax seeds, aim for 1 to 2 tablespoons of flax daily. You can purchase flax seeds whole or ground. The ground flax seeds may be easier for some folks to digest over the whole variety. Store flax seeds in a sealed plastic container in a cool, dark place for up to 4 months. To maintain freshness longer, you can also store flax seeds in a sealed plastic container in the refrigerator or freezer.

That quote of 4 months for whole seed I think for un-ground seeds 4 months without loss of quality in sealed container should be safe and a fairly standard claim.  They need that for shelf life for selling.  4 days after grinding might well be as they will start to lose quality due to loss of essential oils.  But unless they have done something unusual I see no reason the whole seeds cannot be stored longer.  If the particular source has done something like stored them long term in an inert environment requiring the entire bag be used immediately on opening, I would look for a new source myself.


Why should I boil pretzels in baking soda water before baking? This weekend I made pretzels from Alton Brown's recipe.

This recipe, and others I've seen, call for dipping the pretzels one by one in boiling water with baking soda for 30 to 60 seconds.

I assume the boiling water will help the pretzels come up to temperature more quickly so they cook thoroughly, is this correct?

What benefit does the baking soda bring - is it important in forming a crust?  If so, why?

The pretzel originates in Germany, where it is called Laugenbrezel. It was originally prepared in a alkali solution, which is where the "Laugen" part of the word comes from; typically, lye was used, but baking soda gets you most of the way there without a trip to the pharmacy (a Mexican or Asian market may do the trick if you want culinary lye).

The alkali solution is what causes the crust to brown so deeply, and it's most of the difference between a pretzel and a bagel. A bagel would typically be boiled in a malted sugar solution instead. The flavor is also affected, but I don't know how to describe the difference; there's a very pronounced aroma difference if you skip this step. To me, you end up with nothing more than a pretty breadstick unless the dough gets that alkali bath.

If you do use culinary lye, use gloves and don't rush anything. Traditional Laugen aren't boiled, so you just need a cool 3% lye solution; no boiling step.

In Germany, the pretzel shape isn't the only option for Laugen. Little rolls calls Laugenbrötchen and longer, roughly baguette-width sticks called Laugenstangen are also popular. On my most recent trip last year, the Laugenstangen were frequently sold in the form of sandwiches, though I don't remember seeing many of those when I was first living there in the mid-90s.

ETA: Having done this a few more times since originally posting, I'd also add that the utensils you use in lye-based pretzels need to be wood, glass or plastic. Eye protection is important too. Metal will likely corrode or oxidize when it contacts food put in contact with lye, even if it's after the wash. I'd recommend setting the washed pretzels on a wooden surface after dipping if you want to minimize damage/discoloration on your baking sheet.


What nutritional differences are there between honey and table sugar (sucrose)? My girlfriend has been putting honey in my coffee instead of sugar. She says it is better for me, but she can't give me an explanation I understand. I think she is being influenced by someone she works with.

What nutritional differences are there between honey and sucrose? Are they digested differently?

I'd say yes, honey is a bit healthier than sugar, but this really depends on the type of sugar or honey. Raw honey is better than pasteurized honey. Highly refined sugar is less healthy than some less refined sugar.

Assuming you are talking about table sugar and raw honey, in general:

Sugar is sucrose.
You need some enzymes to split it into fructose and glucose, your body has to make these enzymes and can digest those mono-sacharides. When you eat honey, there is no need for such body-made enzymes, because the fructose and glucose aren't combined, but they appear there as mono-sacharides. So honey is less demanding for your body.
Honey is better for your blood-glucose level (this level raises more if you eat sugar than if you eat the same amount of honey).
Honey contains some vitamins and minerals, which sugar lacks.
As a consequence of all these points: If you use sugar, you have a higher risk of high cholesterol and obesity than if you use honey.

I didn't mention anything about the taste, since that is not health-related.

Source and more info: http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-vs-sugar.html


Should shortbread cookies be lightly browned? I'm trying to make shortbread cookies the proper way. Should they be cooked through, but without any browning? Or, should they be lightly browned?

Either way is acceptable these days, but the classic version declines any browning.

It's really a matter of personal taste. The classic Scottish recipe calls for shortbread to be set but pale. However, many people prefer a bit of light browning, as this tends to emphasize the taste of the salt, which in turn enhances the taste of the butter.


Malva pudding recipe containing too much bicarb and vinegar? I tried making Malva pudding today using this recipe and the results were decidedly off. I don't know if it was too acidy or basey but definitely didn't taste right. The recipy calls for 2tsp bicarb and 1tbsp vinegar. I did think it was quite a bit of vinegar at the time but trusted the recipe. I assumed the bicarb/vinegar would neutralize eachother and act as a rising agent.

Is this a usual amount of bicarb/vinegar to use in a recipe of this size? Or did I do something else wrong?

Full disclosure: I didn't have jam so that was excluded but followed the recipe faithfully otherwise, fresh ingredients and all. Could the exclusion of the jam have made a diff? I didn't think it would?

Edit:

It could have been the jam! Apricot jam has a pH of 3.8ish which is what makes it preserve so well I believe. So it's possible that the jam was also supposed to neutralize the bicarb.

Edit 2:

I asked about the acid base ratio at chemistry here and almost certainly too much bicarb!

In any recipe where a chemical reaction is required, in this case the reaction of bicarbonate and vinegar as a raising agent, it is important to add all ingredients. In any chemical reaction the wrong ingredient or the lack of one can make all the difference.
The vinegar may have reacted with most of the bicarbonate but the apricot jam would have been used as a sufficient means to add both flavour and stabilise the rest of the bicarbonate.


Beef and veggies in crock pot turn out hard and tough I have a Hamilton Beach 6 qt Set 'N Forget Programmable slow cooker, and I keep having the same problem-- when I try to make beef stew, the beef comes out almost inedibly tough, and the veggies don't soften. I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong!

My cooking method:

  Put in 1.5ish lbs stew beef-- the stuff that comes from the store
  already cut up into pieces.

  Add carrots and celery, chopped about 1/2 - 1 inch long.

  Add splash worsterchire sauce and cajun spices.

  Add enough water to fill the crock pot halfway (I did this because
  last time I didn't use as much and thought that might be the source of
  the problem-- but apparently not.)

  Set crock pot on low until it reaches 160* (within about an hour and a half), and then leave on warm through the rest of the night (it maintained the temperature at 160*),
  for a total of 11 hours.

I've read that acidic ingredients can prevent vegetables from getting soft, but that wouldn't explain the beef. Anyone have an idea what the problem might be?

And on that note... does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with a couple pounds of tough, cooked beef, hard carrots, and celery?

Thanks!

Try cooking on low instead of warm (or at a higher temperature, maybe 185-195F, with your fancy crock pot), and make sure you really got good stew meat.

I would expect the beef to have been reasonably tender after that long if it were the right kind of cut - certainly not inedibly tough, even if it weren't all the way done due to the lower temperature. But it's unfortunately possible that the beef for stew that you got isn't actually good for this purpose; sometimes stores will sell things under that label expecting (I guess) that people will cook them briefly in their stew. Make sure that what you buy has a lot of connective tissue that will break down as it cooks. See also What is the best cut of beef to use for stews?

If you did have a good cut of beef for long slow cooking, it's possible that 160F is still just too low (or that 11 hours isn't long enough) for the meat you got. See What is the lowest possible temperature for stewing meat? - apparently the collagen -> gelatin breakdown can happen even down to 130F, but it's much faster at higher temperatures.

It's likely that one way or another the low temperatures also messed with your vegetables. I'm not sure if that's actually hot enough to soften them. And for some vegetables, cooking them at a lower temperature for a while will cause them to stay firm even if they're subsequently cooked at a higher temperature!

There's a blurb about this in On Food and Cooking, which I'll find and add into my answer when I can. In the meantime, I found this in a Serious Eats article about carrots:

  Unlike meat proteins which are fully cooked anywhere between 140 and 165°F or so, vegetables contain pectin—a kind of glue that holds its cells together and keeps it firm. Pectin doesn't break down until 183°F, which means that no matter what vegetable you cook sous-vide, you have to set your water oven to at least 183°F if you would like the end results to be tender ...


How can I recreate the Montgomery Inn "Cincinnati style" barbeque sauce at home? I love Montgomery Inn barbeque sauce for its tangy/vinegar-y flavor, however it's often not in stock at the stores in my area.

Does anyone know how I could achieve a similar flavor with a homemade sauce?

Found this...

http://www.copykatchat.com/sauces/7118.htm

I've never been there, so I can't judge; but might be a good place to start.


How to make whole bean blonde Starbucks without machine So I just got Starbucks' Blonde Willow Blend (Whole Bean) and I am very excited to make it, but the problem is I have never done it before and I cannot find any online tutorial for beginners. I also don't have a coffee machine.

I will condense my questions:

Do I need to roast the beans? If so, how? Will a pan on the stove do?
How can I grind the coffee beans without a coffee grinder? Can a regular grinder work and how fine does it have to be(perhaps how long in seconds)?
Is it made into cold or hot coffee? If cold then how much ice? Can I make it in a regular mixer?
Does it include milk? If so, how much milk?
Can I brew the coffee in a regular pan on fire?

I really want to do it correctly but I can't figure out how. If you can help, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks! And I apologize if my questions don't make sense because I am completely new to coffee making.

If you have a grinder and don't have a coffee pot, here's what I would do (I'm assuming you don't also have a coffee filter):

Step 1 - Grind the beans.  If you have a grinder, grind your beans until you have a medium grind:

Step 2 - Punch a couple of holes into the bottom of a disposable, hot-beverage cup (or a tin can)

Step 3 - Line inside of cup or can from #2 with a handkerchief.  Secure edges of handkerchief around lip of cup with binder clips or a rubberband.

Step 4 - Place grounds into cup.  2-3 tablespoons should be enough.

Step 5 - Place cup over top of empty mug (so coffee can flow into it)

Step 6 - Pour water (very slowly and over all the grounds) that is 5 minutes off the boil over coffee grounds.

You can view a similar tutorial here.


When do I freeze tamales? I don't want to be ridiculous but I'm uncertain at what point I can freeze tamales.  Do I steam them and then freeze or do I assemble and then freeze?  I would like to make a large batch and freeze since they are time consuming.  Also, when they come out of the freezer then what?  Any help is greatly appreciated.

I would steam them, let them cool, then freeze them.  If you buy them in large quantites from a vendor or from a fund raiser or something, they come already steamed.

As for prep, I would think the microwave is the best answer, as that ought to keep them nice and moist while they are cooking.  Steaming them again would probably work, but might take a while.  And while I haven't tried it, I suspect an oven might dry them out too much.


My sourdough starter split in 2 on the 3rd day. What should I do? I have fed it first after 24h and it grew nicely. And on the 2nd morning after I woke up I saw this:

Should I keep the upper half? or simply start a new batch?

I have used the following formula: 200ml water, 200 gr 550 flour, and kept it at about 25 degree celcius.

Sourdough during the first few days can show pretty erratic behavior. I wouldn’t worry, just stir and feed as planned. Continuing the culture with just the foamy top would probably also work.

Reasons to start over would be visible mold (fluffy or colorful spots) or if there’s no bubbling. Neither is the case here.


Can I use tapioca pearls for thickening? A friend of mine went shopping in an Asian market. I asked them to bring me tapioca starch. They brought me a package of small tapioca pearls.

Is there any way to use the pearls as I would use the starch? For example, can I grind them with mortar and pestle?

If I can't use them for thickening, what are they good for, besides bubble tea?

The problem with using the non-ground pearls is that they don't always fully dissolve. Cook's Thesaurus indicates that they can be pulverized or ground in a grinder or by mortar and pestle and used similarly to the starch. However, there are pearls which are instant and those that are not. With instant tapioca you can substitute 1:1, with regular tapioca pearls, pulverized, it would be 2:1.

As for What are they good for?, they are good as a thickening agent assuming that you are okay with little gelatinous balls in whatever you are making. Rice and tapioca puddings spring to mind; there are uses of it in curries and stews for its thickening prowess; also it can be used as a gluten free thickening agent in place of flour.

If you run out of corn starch or arrow root you can also turn to the pulverized stuff. Same rules apply; slurry 1 Tbsp in cold water per 1 cup liquid to thicken. However, do not bring to a boil or you will end up over-cooking the starch.


Can I freeze ricotta hand pies? I want to make little hand pies with apple and ricotta, bake them, and then freeze them to thaw for afternoon snacks. Any advice? Will that work?

Yes, it will work. I do this for a friend who hates to bake but loves apple (or nectarine)-and-cheese pies. Dry cottage cheese will also work.


Maximum oven temperature for glass cookware Is there a maximum safe temperature for cooking with a glass casserole dish in an oven?

Got some Dutch ovens on the bottom rack at 240C (450F) and wondering if I dare put a Pyrex dish on the top rack for half an hour...

A glass casserole dish, with a casserole in it, will be safe at any temperature your oven can reach.

As Ring mentioned, the issue is not absolute temperature, but fast changes in temperature, leading to a temperature differential and thermal stresses inside the dish. Your oven cannot heat the dish fast enough to cause a problem, and the wet food inside will prevent the dish from going far above 100C, meaning that cooling it down afterwards will also be safe.

If you're using the dish to roast dry ingredients, or otherwise won't have food keeping the dish cool, it'll still be safe, but afterwards make sure to let it cool a bit before running cold water over it.

And remember the first rule for avoiding burns: HOT GLASS LOOKS LIKE COLD GLASS. Pay attention and don't pick it up with your bare hands once it's out of the oven.


What are the vertical-edge plates called? I'm assuming asking this question is ok since questions about kitchen equipment and cutlery are permitted.

So far I've only found steel plates that have a vertical edge. Do these vertical-edged plates have a specific name that I could search for, to check if they are available as a microwavable plates?

Most plates are pretty flat, which causes food to annoyingly go off the edge and onto the table.

With Duarte's help, I found the plates are:

Raised edge plate
The divided scoop plates.
Dignity plates.
High sided plates.
Hi Lo plates.
Manoy plates.
Inner lip plates.

There are also lipped edge plates, but it doesn't always satisfy the requirement of food not going off the edge.


Where did the idea of using alcohol in pie crust come from? Back in 2008, Good Eats showed a recipe for pie crust which included distilled alcohol. In 2009, America's Test Kitchen showed a recipe for blueberry pie which also used alcohol in the crust. In both cases, the program explained that alcohol made the pie dough easier to work without encouraging gluten formation the way that water would.

Does anyone know where the idea of using alcohol in pie crust really came from? Was this a well-known trick, or did one of these programs invent the idea?

In November 2007 a recipe was published in Cooks Illustrated for a Foolproof Pie dough with vodka. That recipe was created by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt who was one of the chefs on America's Test Kitchen and writer for Cooks Illustrated. He has an article about the recipe here http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2011/07/the-food-lab-the-science-of-pie-how-to-make-pie-crust-easy-recipe.html?ref=sweets-sb3. As far as I know this was not a well-known trick and Lopez-Alt came up with it originally.


Chicken didn't retain flavour from marinade Last night I made some lovely chicken. However the flavour from the marinade was lacking and spotty. Some parts of the chicken (drumsticks) were quite flavourful, while in others the flavour was more in the background almost like an after thought.

Now, a quick note - I normally cook using dry rubs as opposed to marinades, but like most of my other questions I am trying to broaden my horizons and add tools to my "culinary tool kit".

Below is my procedure and then my question.

Procedure

Rinsed chicken
Made marinade (500ml mango juice, 6 fresno peppers with seeds, salt and pepper, 3 green onions, a dash of soy sauce)
Placed chicken in container and poured the marinade over the chicken so that it was all submerged and shook briefly to make sure it was well mixed
Placed in the fridge for (what was supposed to be 4 hours, but ended up being 24 -- long story)
Place on BBQ, lightly salted, and cooked at a temperature (approx. 375F - it varied occasionally to turn but was generally around 375F for 90% of the time on the grill).

Question

Despite sitting in the marinade for so long the flavour didn't "uptake" well, and did so unevenly across the meat. My questions below - I feel all have the same underlying cause.

How can I better ensure that the flavour seeps into the meat more uniformly?
How do I prevent "spotty" flavouring in the future?
Would poking the chicken, just to break the skin, have helped?

The scientific foundation for this answer is in the fantastic post pointed out in the comments here.

How can I better ensure that the flavour seeps into the meat more
uniformly?

Basically there are two parts to this problem, as pointed out by the other post - one part is the composition of your flavor components that you want to penetrate the meat, and as discussed at length in the original post, more lipossoluble molecules and smaller molecules penetrate the meat better; the other one is the surface area to volume ratio of your chicken, for the molecules that will have more difficulty in reaching the deep confines of the chicken, so in that case, the smaller pieces of chicken you use, the better.

This is essentially the scientific foundation for why wings and legs are more flavorful than breast, especially when it is a whole chicken.

How do I prevent "spotty" flavouring in the future?

Either change the composition of your marinade (this one is very water soluble and has a lot of big flavor molecules) or cut your chicken in smaller pieces (so the surface area to volume ratio is better).

If you want to change the composition of your marinade to include more oil-soluble substances, I advise you to use buttermilk as a liquid, since it has a larger oil-to-water ratio and it will be a better solvent for your additional spices and ingredients. For a suggestion on the ingredients, the chili family in general contains capsaicin which is liposoluble and gives the spicy kick; black pepper, anise, cloves and nutmeg all contain eugenol, which is a small molecule and also has a good solubility in fat and gives the aromatic aspect; you can also use roasted sesame oil for the smokey depth and an Asian-like feel.

Would poking the chicken, just to break the skin, have helped?

If it is just breaking the skin, not really. What really helps is injecting, so you get more surface for your brine to permeate the chicken.


Brewing coffee concentrate using both hot and cold methods - Freezing concentrate I drink iced coffee by the gallon. Currently my go-to method is just to brew a strong pot of store-brand medium grind coffee at night using an old Mr Coffee drip coffemaker, putting the brewed coffee in the fridge and adding sugar-free hazelnut syrup and fat-free half & half in the morning.

Obviously, I'm not a coffee connoisseur. I'm not looking for exquisite flavor and delicate notes here, I just want my java, and I want it as cheaply and conveniently as possible. I don't want any "nasty" flavors, and I can't stand burnt tasting coffee, but I won't even notice a reasonably mild decrease in quality.

I've read about brewing methods using near boiling water (french-press type), and cold brewing methods to make concentrate. Can I get more bang for my buck by doing both? What I am imagining is using my 10 cup rice cooker and the giant freezer I have at my disposal this time of year. How about freezing the concentrate in hopes of keeping it at the ready for 2-3 weeks?

This is what I have in mind:

Step 1 - In the morning, put a large quantity (maybe 2 cups?) of inexpensive, medium roast, medium grind coffee in my rice cooker. Add 8 cups of cold water, hit "cook" and bring just to or just below the boil.

Step 2 - Perhaps keeping the rice cooker on "warm" for a while? My cooker will drop from boiling down to about 140F where it will stay just about indefinitely.

Step 3 - Set the cooker insert, contents and lid on the porch until chilled, then place in refrigerator overnight.

Step 4 - Strain the grounds from the coffee concentrate, freeze the concentrate in ice cube trays. Once frozen, transfer cubes to a freezer bag.

Step 5 - Reconstitute coffee cubes in water, add syrup and creamer.

Can I expect that I will get more concentrate (or more concentrated concentrate) by using both heat and time in this way? What problems can you foresee? Should I keep it below the boiling point? Will keeping it warm for a while extract more flavor? Will it be OK to freeze the concentrate?

I think this will give you some very disgusting coffee. By doing both a high temperature and a long extraction, you will get the worst of both worlds.

High temperature extractions can get some great flavors out of coffee by forcing out a lot of the caramelized sugars, but usually they also use a very quick extraction to avoid also pulling out the bitter flavors.

Cold brewing works by remaining below the temperature that the bitter compounds are most easily extracted at and using a long extraction time to get out the most of everything else.

By using a high temperature and a long time, you'll get most of the sugar out, but you'll also very efficiently extract all the bitter compounds in your coffee.

I would think your best bet for something like this would be to just use a standard cold brew method. Let the grounds sit in room temperature water from 12-24 hours, strain it through cloth (I like using a clean old t-shirt), and then refrigerate your concentrate. I also know people who have frozen the concentrate in ice cube trays to use in blended drinks, so it should freeze well too.


Spicy margarita jelly not setting up I made a spicy margarita jelly that hasn't set up after almost two weeks - even in the refrigerator it's still "loose."  I don't have the exact measurements in front of me, but I soaked a scorpion pepper in tequila for about 2 hours.  Then I added sugar, Cointreau, key lime juice (I didn't have lemon or lime), salt, and two packages of pectin.  If I reprocess it and add more pectin, there's no guarantee it will thicken up properly.  It is possible that the alcohol didn't boil off enough.  I literally turned my back for 15 seconds on a non-boiling pot only to hear it boiling over - all over my glass top stove!  All the burners were coated except the one with the canner firmly on it so I couldn't continue the boiling process.  If I decide to reprocess it, should I try something other than pectin in it - like gelatin?

All gelling agents work only under certain conditions. You need to be in the working range for:

temperature
sugar content
pH
alcohol

Pectins are more sensitive than gelatine, working in narrower ranges. Also, not every pectin is active in the same range, the main difference is between HM and LM pectin.

You can try if gelatine works with your recipe, but here we get into shelf life problems. If you wanted a refrigerated jelly, gelatine is OK. But if you want a jelly that is shelf stable after canning, you need to have at least 33% sugar by weight, better more, and as far as I know, it won't work with gelatine (I don't know if this is because of food safety consideration or because this is outside of the gelatine's working range).

The better way is to find out what changes to make to the recipe in order to have the proper ranges for pectin to work. Use this table for the pectin properties.

(source: Texture by Martin Lersch)

If your pectin type was not on the label, you're more likely to have HM pectin.

I don't know whether trying to reprocess your current batch of jelly is worth it; it may or may not work. You have to calculate the risk (do you see it violating some of the conditions on this table?), your time, and the cost of the ingredients. Also, you don't say how much sugar you used, but if it was too little, it is not edible after 2 weeks in the fridge.


Is it possible to join two thin steaks together on the grill? I have some thinly cut rib eye steaks at home. I want to grill them but they get done too quick and I can't get that nice bite into them.

Is it possible to put one on top of another and grill them as if it was one thick piece? Will this work?

It will not work. (*)

The two internal sides in the middle will steam and will not taste good.

I suggest to just cook them as quickly as possible in a hot pan.

(*) There is a chemical called "Transglutaminase" that acts like a meat glue that could be used to do that, but it is overkill.


Are welded-handled stock pots safe? I'm shopping for a new 16 to 20 quart induction-compatible stock pot and seem to be having a hard time finding one that has handles that are not welded.  I've read in various Amazon reviews that welds can weaken and break, and if true, nobody wants a pot of scalding water spilling all over themselves.

Is this true?  Assuming so, is there an induction stock pot that has screwed or riveted handles?

The two pots I'm looking at are the Update International SPS-20 and the Winware Stainless Steel one.

Assuming that there were stock pots manufactured with handles that broke off, they would likely have been recalled by the CPSC.

It appears that the CPSC has only ever recalled one stock pot that was based on a single report of a handle breaking off.  The problematic stock pot was sold by a liquidation company.  Based on this, I'd assume that any NSF certified stock pot that you buy from a reputable retailer is going to be safe.


I have some old smoked nuts- can I make anything with them? They were smoked so they are not rancid. They are just rather flat in flavor. Are there any options for use? They are smoked almonds and brazil nuts.

Chopped coarsely, these could be well used as a textural addition to various kind of mock-minced-meat dishes, eg in a vegetarian bolognese, lasagna sauce, mapo dofu sauce...


How hot does the water need to be when cooking stock? What's the minimum water temperature for making stock? (from either meat and vegetables, if they're different)

Traditionally, you want it at a very slow simmer, approximately 200 F, 94 C.  This is essentially the same for all stocks.  This is one case where very few people actually use a thermometer; the visual indication of slow occassional bubbles is a good sign you are the right temperature.

You could probably go lower, but without the visual indication, a thermometer would be required, or even a feedback loup such as is present in a sous-vide setup or immersion circulator.  In that case, anything above 140 F / 65 C should be safe, and reasonable extraction amd gelatin conversion times are likely starting around 180 F / 83 C.  The lower the temperature, the longer it will take to get a good result.

In the other direction, the main reasons not to go  to a full boil are:

The agitation from the bubbling at a full boil will emulsify and suspend more particles in the body o the stock, leading to a cloudier end product
The more rapid evaporation may require you to top off the stock pot with fresh water more often in order to keep the ingredients covered by the liquid


Why is my sourdough too sweet? I’ve been feeding my 40g sourdough starter with 40g water and around 45g wholemeal flour (for a firmer consistency, as I’ve had bad experience with liquid accumulating on top) each day. It initially started smelling quite acidic and yeasty and started bubbling nicely.

From what I had read online, I was afraid that my first bread would be way too sour. But in fact the opposite was the case: after a few days, my starter stopped smelling sour altogether and started smelling almost unbearably fruity-sweet instead. The starter was still good however, so I made bread from it, using a variation of the beginner’s sourdough bread from The perfect loaf. The bread came out alright but rather than tasting sour, it tasted fairly sweet.

I don’t mind the taste that much but I’m still wondering what’s causing my nicely active sourdough to smell and taste distinctly sweet and not the least bit sour. From what I’ve read, the opposite should be the case: my firm sourdough should be more acidic.

For reference, the sourdough jar is standing next to a radiator but my house isn’t heated during the working hours, nor between midnight and 7am, and will get down to 16 °C. To compensate, I’ve wrapped a kitchen towel around the jar.

Lack of sour indicates more yeast activity over the souring lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and using a firm starter from that link favors yeast and not LAB. For more sour, increase the water content. There's a bunch of other dials you can fiddle with, Ken Forkish in "Flour Water Salt Yeast" indicates that a "warmer levain cultures encourage lactic acid production", your 16 °C favors acetic acid production. Keep the temperature around 26C to 32C to favor LAB. (Perhaps use an insulated box to help avoid the nighttime temperature swings?) Another point would be what temperature water are you hitting it with; tap water during winter could be quite cold (I use room temperature water that has stood to evaporate off the municipal chlorine). Other things to experiment with might be adding small amounts of salt (though this will slow down the ferment) or changing the flour or mix of flours used; whole grain vs. not, rye vs. wheat, etc.

A notebook may help; track ambient temperatures (min/max), temperature of the water used, amount, type of flour, plus any notes on what the starter looks and smells like.


I put frozen veg back in the fridge instead of freezer I put frozen veg back in the fridge instead of freezer.  This morning I put them back in freezer.  Will they be ok to eat when I cook them.

Safe, most likely.

Will they be worse ? yes, freezing and thawing break down cell structure.

You will loose a lot of the vegetable structure and texture, they will be more mushy.


Nonsoggy spinich pie with frozen spinach The base recipe for my spinach pie (rough recipe I don't have a book) is

500g spinach
250g Feta cheese
250g Cheddar cheese
1 bunch of spring onions
1.5 - 3 eggs (for binding)

Baked into 2 large pies, made with filo pastry. Cooked at 180-200C.

Originally I would make this by using cooking fresh spinach in water,
then carefully drying it with paper towel,
and combining that with fried spring onion.

However the fresh spinach was too expensive, so I refined it.
Changing to frozen, which I would put in the microwave,
then while it was defrosting, I chop up the spring onions and put them into the microwave with it.
I would not drain this or anything just combine with the other ingredients (in the same bowl I microwaved it in even!)
This was great it made delicious pie and was low effort.
You couldn't taste the difference.

However I wanted to make it more filling.
so I tried adding potato, it was good and very filling. However, my family thought it was less full of spinach and feta goodness.
So my next approach was to double the amount of spinach and cheese.
It is delicious and as expected each slice is twice as filling.
I've tried that twice now and both times it has ended up soggy on the bottom.

What can I do about this?
Is it a matter of squeezing the water out of the defrosted spinach?
Or is there some other trick, like cutting a hole in the top of the pastry to let the steam out while it cooks.

With more spinach you need to wring the hell out of it, whether you start with fresh or frozen. Cook the spinach a bit so it starts to release its liquid, then squeeze it out with your hands doing small batches at a time. When you're done with that, put it in a clean tea towel, wrap it up and twist and wring. You'll get even more liquid. I'm surprised actually that you say that you didn't wring the spinach originally but didn't have a problem with sogginess. Spinach contains a boatload of water.

{edit upon further reflection}

I would even go further than wringing the spinach. To protect against sogginess, I would briefly sauté the spinach after wringing it. That would be a great opportunity to incorporate other complementary stuff like onions or garlic too.


Why does the broccoli at Chinese take-out restaurants have a crunchier texture than those bought at supermarket and grocery store salad bars? I've been eating at Chinese take-out restaurants lately, mostly to save money and still get a big portion of food.  When I get the beef and broccoli and lo mein, I notice that the broccoli is a lot harder and crunchier, compared to the broccoli that I get from salad bars at the grocery stores and supermarkets (which is considerably softer and more crumbly in texture).  Does this indicate that the broccoli served at Chinese take-out places is of lower quality?  For example, could the crunchy texture indicate that I'm eating genetically-modified broccoli?

(If it matters, I live in New York City.)

Raw broccoli is crunchy, and cooking softens it. Usually it's cooked until somewhat softer but still with a bit of crunchiness or at least firmness.  Most likely the very soft broccoli you describe is just more cooked, probably overcooked by a lot of people's standards.

You can't easily tell that much about the quality of the broccoli at that point; the cooking is going to affect the texture and flavor a lot more than anything else. There's certainly nothing here that suggests anything specific about the broccoli (like GMO).

Also, while it's possible that the crunchy broccoli is actually undercooked, many people do like it relatively crunchy. Your soft "crumbly" broccoli sounds much worse to me, so even in terms of the end result, we can't really say anything about quality, just personal preferences.

I see that you've speculated that the soft, crumbly broccoli is raw. First off, it's extremely easy to tell: the color changes as it's cooked, becoming slightly translucent and shifting to a deeper green, probably slightly less blue and slightly more yellow. Raw broccoli should never be soft, and if it's actually soft and limp then it's very far from fresh. It's also only crumbly in the sense that the teeny darker bits on the top can crumble off. So given that you haven't said it's horrible, it seems more likely that it's (over)cooked and chilled, similar to how you might see chilled roasted peppers or cooked meat in a salad bar.


Can I substitute fresh tomatoes for canned? I'm quite new to cooking. I want to make spaghetti and all the recipes I've found for spaghetti sauce so far have required multiple types of canned tomatoes. However, I only have fresh tomatoes, nothing canned. I do have the basic spices (garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, etc), just no canned tomatoes.
Should I just finely chop my fresh tomatoes and put them in a pan with the spices? Should I add water or some kind of liquid?

Recipes that call for canned tomatoes usually do so because these are picked and preserved when at peak ripeness, as well as saving you the trouble of peeling. For whole or chopped canned tomatoes, you can substitute fresh tomatoes (get the ripest ones you can) that you'll have to peel yourself. For other canned tomato products (like passata or paste), you will need to process the fresh tomatoes to get the same result.
Note that if the recipe calls for canned tomatoes and a pinch of sugar, you might want to omit or dial back the sugar. Recipes often include sugar to counteract the higher acidity of some canned tomatoes.


Is my dry aged beef spoiled? I cut out 30 days dry aged prime rib into pieces and then put in a vacuum seal bag and froze them. I found these brownish spots on the inside of each piece. Is this normal or they are spoiled?

I dry aged them by myself. Temperature is around 2-4 degree Celsius and humidity level is around 80%. The outer layer that I trimmed off seemed a little oily, not slimmy, and formed a crust.

Yes, you should dump them out. If you cook that you will right away smell the rotten blood coming out of it. But if you would like to make sure the only way to do it is to cook it and try a piece. Remember always cook your meat to 155 degrees to be safe that there is no bacteria left. 165 if possible.


Does the type of sugar make a difference when making chocolate? I was checking some sites on how to make chocolate myself.
I should start with mixing cocoa butter, cocoa powder and sugar (and milk powder if I would make milk chocolate). Most sites mention "sugar". I'm assuming those are talking about granulated sugar. I've also found a few sites that call for powdered sugar.

Since granulated sugar has larger particles, I guess it takes longer to be completely melted. But I believe it would happen (so the chocolate would not turn out grainy).
Powdered sugar has smaller particles, so it should be absorbed rather quickly. However, there is also some starch added. Would this have an effect on the chocolate? Or is the amount too small for that?

(After the mixing it together, I should melt and temper it, with adding some existing chocolate.)

So, does the type of sugar make a difference in the taste or structure of my self-made chocolate?

Speaking from making fudge, I have gotten the most consistent results using superfine / castor sugar.

I haven't noticed starch related issues from powdered sugar, but your mileage may vary; the problem I have had with it is due to clumping in spite of the starch (particularly in a frosting recently).
I have used granulated sugar to make fudge and it is grainy. I melted most of it, but got sick of stirring it as it got crazy thick. I suppose it's possible to get it to the point of a completely dissolved syrup, but that would take longer than it is worth since you are likely going to run the risk of scorching.

Relative to the taste and structure, you won't get anything special from the caster sugar. However, you will get a more predictable product, and less hassle waiting for it to dissolve. You will also avoid texture problems and reduce the risks brought on by extended time in the pot (i.e. too much heat, likelier to accumulate moisture randomly).


Sourdough starter - will it set off my allergies? I'm very allergic to mold, among other things (all airborne, no food allergies). I also adore sourdough bread. If I were to make my own sourdough starter so I could bake sourdough regularly, would it a) be similar enough to mold to set off my allergies, or b) be likelier to attract mold than anything else in my kitchen?

Sourdough starter will grow mold if it starts going "off". If it's healthy, it will naturally prevent mold from growing, but if you forget to feed it for too long and/or the container it is in is dirty, it can start growing fuzzy stuff.

Feed your culture regularly, and transfer it into a clean container now and then, and it will be fine.


Carrots turning dark at heads, and on skin after chopping? Please see attached photos.  We are a small food processing plant, and recently it came to my attention some of the carrots we have been purchasing have been having a problem where the heads are turning a dark green/brown coloration.  The skin on them also turn dark after processing.  There is no slimy or any textural difference to the rest of the carrots, and to the touch they are still completely firm with no give or sign of rot.  These are fresh from the distributor, and properly stored in coolers, we source and use fresh vegetables so these do not sit in the coolers for prolonged periods at all.

Just to give more information, our procedure is 1) automatic friction peeler, 2) fresh water rinse, 3) chlorine wash at 200PPM concentration (verified) with contact time of ≈15 seconds, 4) two additional fresh water rinse cycles, 5) carrot chopper.

You can see in the upper photo, after chopping the outer layer of the skin is already starting to turn dark for unidentified reason.  Again, our process is rapid and our processing room is air conditioned.  There is no slime or decay, but this batch of carrots has been discoloring unusually like this.

My questions are: what is the cause?  Is there a food safety impact or is this a quality / aesthetic issue?  What are some methods to combat this from happening?

Thank you!

I ran a school tuckshop and also a college cafeteria for some years and I have seen this many times with new staff members.

The problem with discolouration is any damage to the skin. If preparing carrots in advance or in larger quantities ( sliced, grated, etc ) the skin needs to be thoroughly removed before storage. If any trace of skin is left they will get a brown discolouration.

The heads are a different matter. Carrots are root vegetables and, like potatoes, if any moisture is around the plant will make signs of growth. It's not harmful, they can be cut off a bit further down and any new fine roots which begin to grow can come off with peeling. When cutting down to tops you might see the green colouring further down in the centre. This isn't harmful, in fact nutritionally adds some chlorophyll and folate among others to the diet, but can taste bitter.

Hope this is helpful, good luck


How to get the correct expresso extraction amount, grind vs tamper I'm trying to extract a double shot, e.g 60ml in 30 seconds. I always seem to go over and get 100ml+. When I use a finer grind, the coffee tastes burnt... It seems that tampering harder and using a finer grind have the same effect.

How do I know which method to use? e.g. why not use a really fine grain and not tamper at all? why not use a croase grind and tamper really really hard?

There are two things happening when you make espresso:

The pressure of the espresso machine pushes the water through the grounds faster than most other coffee-making methods.  In general, the good flavours in coffee are highly water-soluble and the bitter, acidic parts are less water-soluble, so by pushing the water through the grounds quickly, you get proportionally more of the good stuff and less of the bitter.
More significantly, by grinding the coffee very finely and packing it in (tamping), the water doesn't just flow past the coffee particles, the pressure forces the water through the particle where it pushes out some of the aromatic oils which form an emulsion in the liquid.

That emulsion - the crema - is what makes espresso different from coffee, and you need both a fine grind and tamping to get it.

If you're really keen on getting this right, you could start by checking your temperature and pressure - you want ~200 F and ~9 bars.

Your extraction time (30s) is good, and so is going for a double shot, but I'm not sure what you mean by "always go over."  If you're getting good crema, it should ooze out, almost like honey or syrup, and you should stop the extraction when it starts to turn whitish.  If that happens in less than 30s, you should grind your coffee a bit finer and try again.  If it takes more than 30s, you need to go a bit coarser.

If you still find the espresso tastes burnt, try different beans.


Why is "raw" honey thicker than the one you buy in regular super markets? I tried some honey I got at a farmer's market and noticed it was really thick compared to regular honey you buy at any supermarket.

The raw honey at your farmer's market is likely unfiltered.

  Usually raw, unfiltered raw honey can only be purchased directly from
  the bee farm. Characterised by fine textured crystals, it looks
  cloudier and contains particles and flecks made of bee pollen,
  honeycomb bits, propolis, and even broken bee wing fragments. Raw and
  unfiltered honey and has a high antioxidant level and will usually
  granulate and crystallize to a thick consistency after a few months.
  It is usually preferred as a spread on bread and waffles, or dissolved
  in hot coffee or tea. However, as most consumers are naturally
  attracted to buying and eating crystal clear and clean honey,
  unfiltered honey which looks cloudy and unappealing, is not
  commercially available on supermarket shelves.

Additionally, the pasteurization process helps keep the honey more liquid:

  A lot of honey found in the supermarket is not raw honey but
  "commercial" regular honey, some of which has been pasteurized (heated
  at 70 degrees Celsius or more, followed by rapid cooling) for easy
  filtering and bottling so that it looks cleaner and smoother, more
  appealing on the shelf, and easier to handle and package. ... Heating
  also slows down the speed of crystallization in liquid honey. ... you
  may also find raw honey that are unprocessed but slightly warmed to
  retard granulation for a short period of time and allow light
  straining and packing into containers for sale.

http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/raw-honey.html


Clean an entire fish before or after storing in a freezer? After buying an entire fish from the supermarket, I was wondering if it is better to clean an entire fish before or after putting it to a freezer for storage (not long, abound a few days)?

Or the solution depends on the kind of fish? Today I bought some butter fishes. Before, I have bought porgy, bluefish, mackerel, pomfrey, ...

Thanks and regards!

Yes the fish should be cleaned and prepared before being frozen. Reference: http://www.helpwithcooking.com/food-storage/freezing-fish.html


What can I use hard, crunchy, leftover cookie-mistakes for? My husband made some chocolate chip cookies.  He changed the recipe (mistake) and they turned out flat and crispy.  They taste good, but do not look nice.  What can we use these for?  I hate to throw them all out - he made a double batch. Can I blend them up in the blender and make choc. chip pancakes or what.  Thanks for any help.

There are plenty of uses for less than ideal cookies.  Here are a few off the top of my head:

Crumble on top of yogurt, ice cream or other deserts
Crumble up and pack it down as a pie crust (although, chocolate chips might make this one messy)
Break up, and use in a bread pudding (but you have to let it soak for a while, and do not sweeten the custard, as you need to compensate for the sugar in the cookies)


Why are my dumplings made of evil? I made a fairly simple chicken-and-dumpling stew recipe; however, after one bite of dumpling, I have the most wretched aftertaste. The soup is fine; however, the dumplings taste totally nasty, kind of bitter and repulsive and a little like vomit (My fiancee describes it as "metal and bad"). If there had been anything in my mouth by the time that taste hit, I'd have spit it out instinctively.

The recipe calls for 1/3 cup Bisquick Heart Smart baking mix and 1/3 cup buttermilk to make the dumpling dough; I doubled it because I was making a large pot of stew. The stew tastes fine once I ditch the dumplings; it contained chicken broth (made from bouillon cubes), milk, cornstarch, cooked chicken, parsnips, carrots, celery, and onions. The dumplings were dropped by spoonfuls into the stew and cooked for about 7 minutes, as per the recipe directions. I have not made this specific recipe before. The consistency of the dumplings seemed fine; they were a little bland due to lack of seasoning, but otherwise all was well until that aftertaste hit.

What could have gone wrong? The buttermilk was purchased just a few days before, well within its expiration date (Nov 24th), and the baking mix had been used for pancakes earlier in the week (which were a little bland but not disastrous)

Spoiled buttermilk wouldn't give a metallic aftertaste, but I wouldn't expect old baking mix to do so either.

I would suspect that your box of bisquick is either contaminated, or you may have gotten a bad box. Sometimes manufacturing processes don't go right, so it might be that your box got far too big a portion of baking powder, or some other component of the mix. In the manufacturing process all the ingredients are supposed to be well mixed but it isn't unheard of for a clod to make it through the process intact. I'd throw the box out.


How can I make my crinkles less dry? I just made chocolate crinkles for the first time and I really like them, but they are a bit too dry, making them slightly crumbly. It's possible I over-baked them a little bit, I'll try to bake them a minute less next time. Is there something else I can do to get them some more moist?
I halfed this recipe, resulting in:

41 g cocoa powder
75 g sugar
60 ml oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
130 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

I followed the recipe closely for the preparation and I let the dough chill overnight.

You could try replacing part of the sugar with a liquid alternative: molasses, maple syrup, honey, et cetera. You don't need to modify it much to start with, try replacing 10 grams of the sugar with 10 grams of an alternative.

Volume conversions can be found in section 1.2 of

http://realfoodliving.com/faqs/sweeteners-faqs

but I can't find any weight conversions.