pre-soaking tea in cold water prior to brewing My friend recently gave me the advice that tea bag should be soaked in a little bit (barely enough to submerge the tea bag) of cold water for a couple of minutes.  Then hot water should be added to the cold to brew it.

The idea is that scalding hot water is hot enough to burn flavour compounds and pre-soaking protects against this.

I tried googling to no avail.  Does anyone have any references that prove/dis-prove this?

I don't think the couple minutes of soaking is actually doing anything; it'll pull a bit of stuff out of the leaves, and get them wet, but what really matters is the hot water. It sounds like this is a way of getting lower temperature water, similar to your proposed "protect the tea from hot water" explanation. This is indeed good for green and white tea, and maybe oolong, but essentially unnecessary for most other teas.

You don't actually always want boiling water for tea. Joe provided this table of temperatures in his comment. Some temperatures for common types of tea, in decreasing order of temperature:  maté, rooibos or herbal (208F / 98C); black (195-205F / 91-96C); oolong (195F / 91C); blooming (180F / 82C); white or green (175F / 80C). So for some teas (black, maté, rooibos, herbal), it's pretty close to boiling - by the time the water's poured in, and transfers some heat to the cup, it'll be a few degrees below boiling, so you don't need to worry about it much.

But other kinds of tea (green or white tea), you ideally want to add somewhat lower temperature water. If you have a way to get water somewhere around 80C - for example, some electric kettles can automatically turn off at a lower temperature - then just do that. But if it's easiest to make boiling water, then if you fill your cup a bit less than 1/4 of the way with water at room temperature (20C) then fill it the rest of the way with boiling water, the result will be around 80C, just right for green tea!


Frozen eggs in the shell: thaw and cook or trash them? I wanted to scramble some eggs and when I cracked them they were frozen solid. Could I have cooked them? I just threw them out.

Can you thaw frozen eggs and cook them???

Yes you can thaw frozen eggs and cook them, the only thing is that the consistency will change and the yolk tends to get lumpy. I wouldn't recommend trying to bake with them but they'll make fine scrambled eggs.


How does one find recipes given an ingredient rather than the recipe name? How does one find recipes given an ingredient rather than the recipe name?

Supercook

Supercook's core feature is a "pantry inventory" system.

You basically fill in all the ingredients you have in your kitchen. You are presented with recipe choices based on a subset of your ingredients, as you enter them. You can then "emphasize" certain ingredients which makes them a required ingredient in the recipes you are shown. It will also show recipes where you are only missing 1-3 ingredients; useful if you don't mind running to the grocery store. You can also exclude specific ingredients from recipe results.

Creating an account permits you to save your ingredients as well as your favorite recipes. You can also generate shopping lists based on the missing ingredients from your favorite recipes that you don't currently have in stock.

The quality of recipes varies a lot. Supercook sources its recipes from many other sites, including: Allrecipes, Recipezaar, Epicurious, FoodGeeks and others. Some sites (like Allrecipes) I feel have a lot of "filler" recipes, which are simply present for search results.

Epicurious

Epicurious doesn't provide the "pantry inventory" aspect that Supercook does, but it is very useful in its own way.

With Epicurious you search for your main ingredient, e.g. chicken, and then refine your search using ingredients and other parameters such as: meal, dietary requirements, holiday, cuisine, and preparation method (among others). I find their interface very intuitive.

One of Epicurious' greatest strengths is the quality of its recipes. Many of the recipes are originally from the reputable food magazines Gourmet and Bon Appetit. I find the recipe ratings to be very accurate, and the community feedback on the recipes is also of a reasonably high caliber. I also find their original content recipes to be very high quality. They often come up with quality themed recipes for major holidays, including full menus.

They also have a useful iPhone/iPad app that provides recipe syncing. I often use the iPhone app when grocery shopping to check off ingredients that I need for whatever dish I'm planning to make.

Allrecipes

Allrecipes is another site I have used.

Allrecipes has a general purpose recipe search, similar to Epicurious. It also has an ingredient search that is similar to Supercook. The ingredient search doesn't provide the ability to save your pantry inventory like Supercook does, but is more of an ad hoc way to find recipes based on a list of ingredients and exclusions.

Unfortunately, I find the recipe quality to be rather low here. There are a lot of user submitted recipes which tend to range in quality from mediocre to atrocious. The feedback left by the community is also subpar. I tend to use it when I want a really basic recipe to use as a base for something more. They do have a lot of these "filler recipes", as I call them, which are very simple and often missing a thing or three that make them memorable. This is useful for experimenting or giving yourself ideas.

Food Network

Food Network is another site I use that functions very similarly to Epicurious.

Food Network has a general purpose recipe search that permits filtering of results by cuisine, ingredients, technique, show, tv personality, and others.

I use Food Network primarily to look up recipes that I've seen on a Food Network show before, but didn't record at the time. I also find it very useful for finding new recipes by a chef I like. It's pretty much the canonical source for all Alton Brown recipes for example.

The community feedback and recipe ratings are middle of the road. I find they are less reliable than Epicurious, but far more reliable than Allrecipes.


Can sweetened condensed milk be substituted for whole milk and sugar? I am making a fudge recipe that calls for 1cup whole milk and 5 cups sugar. It also uses 2 sticks of butter and 25 marshmallows. I'm wondering if I can omit the milk and cut back on the sugar by using sweetened condensed milk.

There are recipes that specifically use condensed and or evaporated milk as a shortcut to making fudge. It's not just a drop in replacement, it's a whole change in method. Just do a search for "easy fudge recipe" on Google to get examples of these fudge recipes that use condensed milk.

To add my opinion however, the old fashioned cooking and churning method produces the best fudge, but the condensed milk method although isn't as good at least produces a more consistent result. I do the old fashioned method. It's worth the extra effort and the extra learning curve (to recognize when the fudge is about to setup).


Seasoning new cast iron cookware I am a neophyte cook (and a guy). I bought some cast iron cookware in the hope of taking it camping. It seems that it must be seasoned before use. I looked on-line and followed the directions. Not knowing if the seasoning was just for the cooking surface or the entire item, (I figured it's all iron, right) I coated the entire griddle and Dutch oven in vegetable oil and baked at 350° for an hour. Now both items are sticky. What did I do wrong and how do I fix it?

It's possible that you put a too-thick layer of oil on (e.g., if you dumped oil on it instead of wiping it on with a paper towel or similar). Or that you used a oil that doesn't work well; soy works and it's cheap.

But more likely, it just hasn't cured fully—and the fix is simple, bake it longer and/or hotter. The exact time/temperature needed depends on the oil you use. And how much smoking you're willing to tolerate. [Hotter is quicker, but smokes more, up until you get too hot and just burn the seasoning off like an oven cleaning cycle.]

Note typically you put on more than one layer of seasoning.

PS: If it came coated in wax, etc. to prevent rust during shipping, I hope you removed that first. Bare iron is metallic gray.


Method to brew a large batch of iced tea without steeping in a plastic container I have concerns about steeping tea in plastic pitcher because I do not want anything to leach out of the plastic with the hot water.
Glass would solve this problem, but it does not handle thermal shock well, so it is usually a matter of time before a glass pitcher will shatter if it is routinely used for brewing.
A traditional brewing method would be a ceramic tea pot, but my experience is that these pots are designed to brew hot tea a cup or two at a time.  I have not seen any large teapots designed to accommodate 32 oz or more of tea.
Stainless steel seems like it would be acceptable since this is how commercial kitchens brew batches of tea, but it looks like home stainless-steel pitchers are an afterthought. Few have lids and those that do are generally not airtight, so after the brew is complete it would need to be transferred into a different pitcher and chilled for storage or plastic wrap over the top.

Certainly there must be a best practice for brewing iced tea at home without a plastic container, right?

Stephie's answer covers a couple convenient options: there are large ceramic pots, and any stainless steel vessel can work.  (Traditionally, metal has been frowned upon for tea brewing because it loses heat too quickly, and many people are particular about maintaining a consistent temperature during brewing.  I think that concern is overblown, particularly if you aren't serving the tea hot.)

I'd also just challenge the assumption from the question that glass containers will shatter when used for brewing. It's really a question of the type of glass.

Glass vessels designed for hot liquids are usually produced from borosilicate glass, the same stuff used for most glass laboratory equipment.  For example, borosilicate lab beakers are commonly available up to 5 liters, with pouring spouts as an option.  The downside is most lab glassware doesn't have convenient handles.  And beakers don't generally have lids, so storage in the same vessel is less convenient.  (I have been known to brew tea in my 2-liter Erlenmeyer flask, which can be conveniently corked for storage; I guarantee it will get interesting looks from guests.)

I would, however, be careful with cooking glassware that is not specifically advertised as borosilicate glass.  Much "pyrex" glassware, for example, has switched in the past few decades to a soda-lime glass formula, which is more susceptible to thermal shock breakage (though cheaper to manufacture).  Ironically, you're often better off buying dedicated "professional" lab glassware for a cheaper price than the expensive non-borosilicate stuff often marketed in kitchen stores.

Personally, I've also found heavy-duty traditional canning jars to work fine for brewing tea.  And they're usually available quite cheaply up to 2-quart size, with standard lids (including pourable flip-cap ones, if you look for them) so you wouldn't even need to change vessels from brewing to storage.  (I'd be careful with the gallon-size ones, which often aren't built for standard canning and more susceptible to fracture.)  Just don't "abuse" them or "beat them up" -- avoid metal stirring and cleaning utensils or rough handling, and periodically check for any sign of flaws.

Although it will generally take many thermal cycles before canning jars will crack, you can limit the stress by pouring a small amount of hot water in the bottom first (the most common breakage point in canning jars is around the bottom), "swishing" a bit, and then gradually filling the rest of the way -- or emptying that small amount and re-filling, sort of like "warming" a traditional teapot.  Traditional ceramic pots are sometimes seen to crack over time too if you don't do this.


How does mixing different kinds of beers/liquors mask the taste of alcohol? Some time ago, I was at a college party where my friend gave me some horrifying concoction of various liquors, and he asked me to try it.  As I'd expected, it was absolutely foul- until he added a splash of beer.  Naturally, I was skeptical...up until I tasted it.  I couldn't taste ANY alcohol whatsoever, just some of the juice he'd used.  And since then, I've had quite a few other mixed drinks where the taste of alcohol just disappears.

In general, what is happening (chemically, mechanically, any way) when you mix two different types of alcohol together?  Are there any specific tricks to being able to make drinks like that?

According to the article Why People Hate Drinking, there is considerable variation in how people perceive the flavor of ethanol:

Some find it is primarily sweet (non-tasters)
Some find it bitter and sweet (average)
Some find it overwhelmingly bitter (super tasters, as defined by sensitivity to tasting a specific compound, PROP or 6-n-propylthiouracil, as bitter)

Depending how people perceive alcohol, it may be easy to mask it, especially with strongly sweet flavors, or when there are other more apparent bitter flavors.

However, this is as much to do with the specific physiology of the taster as it is to do with the contents of the glass.  The same drink tasted by different people may give differing experiences.

Beware the Long Island iced tea.


How to Flavor Homemade Gum Drops For favors that I am making for an upcoming party, I'm looking to do some old-fashioned homemade gum drops.  I have found a recipe that looks do-able.  It calls for candy flavoring.  I've also found other recipes that call for using juice, which rather limits the flavors to the flavor of juice that I purchase.

In looking at my local stores, I cannot find anything in their online product lists indicating that they have candy flavoring, even those that carry Wilton products.  I like the idea of candy flavoring for the variety, but am unsure about finding it.

Are there pros and cons to using candy flavoring for gummy candy that I should be aware of in making the decision of juice versus specific flavoring?  Are their alternate ways of flavoring that I should be considering besides what I've seen in recipes so far?

The only place I've ever seen flavored oil for cooking is in a friend's kitchen.  I got mine from the wonderful internet...

http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-1913-1029-Candy-Flavoring-Set/dp/B001205FI4/ref=sr_1_2?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1293115217&sr=1-2

Also if you were making it a batch at a time you might want to use flavored gelatin to increase the flavors power.


How long does coconut curry last in the fridge? I have three day old green coconut chicken curry in the fridge and am wondering if coconut milk goes bad very quickly. (This is complicated slightly by the power cut we had two days ago for 12 hours. I ate a bit of leftover pork after the power cut and it was fine and the milk was also fine. My house is not hot as it's fall and we are not using heat, the fridge seemed pretty cold but unfortunately I didn't have a thermometer).

My question is that seeing how some foods were fine, would coconut curry be more of a problem than say cooked meat or milk?

I have spent time in Indonesia where they keep cooked food overnight in a cupboard and don't get sick (generally) vs. the extreme-sounding food safety stuff has me confused. Thanks!

I agree with @ElendilTheTall. Coconut milk and such based products do not have a long fresh shelf life. Personally, I would discard and not take the risk.

That said, I don't know where you are located and what standard practices apply. In a lot of cases common sense can apply as to how to handle.


Is it safe to only rinse visible residue from container if I then refrigerate the container? I like to eat off silicone containers. I've noticed that if I rinse them right away after eating, there will be basically no visible residue left on the surface.
Now let's say that, err, I had a friend who is lazy and gross and was considering rinsing a container that way and placing it in the fridge in between meals, eating in that same container throughout the day and only washing it properly after dinner.
That would be yucky, yes, but not dangerous, right? Since the fridge can keep a whole container of food safe for a few days, surely it can keep some microscopic food residue safe from morning until night? The food would only stay briefly in the temperature danger zone (4-60 C or 40-140 F) when eating, so it wouldn't add up to two hours of non-safe temp throughout the day.
I coul-I mean, my friend could even rinse with hot water, or place it in the freezer instead to make extra sure. Or you know, actually wash it for real, but it's a really lazy person I'm talking about here.
EDIT - To summarize: I want to know whether it is dangerous to not fully clean the container in between meals throughout a day (like three or four times). I would only give it a quick rinse to remove visible residue, and then keep it under 4 C / 40 F, where bacteria won't grow too quickly (and then clean it properly afterward for the next day).

I see you're familiar with the "danger zone" concept. I think the only on-topic way to answer this is to help you add up the "danger zone" time, (and raise the concern of cross contamination!). I will say in response to your heading, there is no "loophole" in food safety guidelines. They are pretty stark in that things are either safe or not.
Eating something that has been treated "unsafe" aren't guaranteed to make you ill--but for this site, "will it make me sick?" is off-topic, while "is this considered food safe?" is on-topic, so I'll focus solely on the latter.
Cross contamination ❌
It's not guaranteed this will happen, but every time you handle something, you risk cross contamination. Uncovered food in the fridge can also be a contamination vector. Each time you reuse a dish without washing, you essentially double your chances of having a problem. A trace of e. coli on an apple peel during breakfast has a chance to be transfer to the plate, grow all day long and be ingested during every meal of the day, increasing the chances that you might get ill.
Danger zone math ⚡
Keep in mind that this is a CUMULATIVE time for the food (and residue)--it doesn't reset when the food hits your bowl. Also, food safety guidelines consider a plate to be "contaminated" with food from the time food hits it until the plate is properly washed/sanitized (ie, with soap). Even if there is no visible residue, if it hasn't been washed properly the plate is treated the same as if  there was still a full serving of food on it, from a food safety perspective.
Based on all of that, you'd need to add up time the ingredients (for everything that was on the plate) are unrefrigerated coming home from the grocery, being prepared & cooked (between cold and hot), after cooking on your plate, time in the fridge while cooling back down, repeat for each meal.
If you use the same plate for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert without washing, you'd essentially be calculating the danger zone time as if you had breakfast leftovers that you refrigerated then reheated at lunch. Then added extra lunch leftovers and put them in the fridge. Then you reheated breakfast and lunch leftovers, added some dinner leftovers and back into the fridge. Then reheated breakfast, lunch, and dinner leftovers to eat them for dessert.
So it gets complicated to do all that math... But there's a lot of time that will accumulate as it passes from warm to cold to warm to cold, etc.
My verdict? ⚖
It seems unlikely that you'd be able to add up all that time in the danger zone and still stay within the time window that is considered food safe by government food safety guidelines.
If you're already going to rinse it water to remove visible residue,  a quick swipe of a soapy wash cloth seems like a low-difficulty added effort to wash away the remaining unseen food & bacterial residue. I'd even possibly argue that a quick soapy wash is no more difficult than trying to find a way to stay within food safety guidelines.


What's is the internal temperature of pancakes? I made pancakes made out of a nutritional shake but some of the health benefits disappear if heated over 115 degrees F. So wanted to know what the typical internal temp is for pancakes?

The typical internal temperature at which most bread products are "done" is between 175-200˚F.  For a normal pancake batter that is enriched with butter, milk, and/or egg, it would likely fall at the lower end of that range.  However, the browned outer crust has likely reached significantly higher temperatures, in the 250-400˚F range.


Duration of use for green smoothies I make green smoothie in the morning and I dont want to do it again in the evening.
  Is it fine if I use the same smoothie in the evening or there are some problems.

Thanks

One problem that I've had in the past with making smoothies ahead of time is getting the right consistency because many smoothie recipes rely on ice or frozen fruit to thicken them and thus are not great after several hours in the refrigerator.

I found and have been been playing with a make-ahead recipe that includes oatmeal and chia seeds placed dry in the blender and processed to the consistency of flour to thicken the smoothie, which means you can make them ahead of time without sacrificing thickness.

Recipe source: http://www.theyummylife.com/Oatmeal_Smoothies


Lard isn't sold anymore? Is lard being sold anymore?

I went to two different groceries, no lard, and no tallow.

(Shame on anyone who even thinks of telling me to use a hydrogenated oil.)

I've seen it in a lot of grocery stores either with the baking ingredients or at the meat counter. If your grocery store doesn't carry it, you might be able to request it. You might also be more likely to find it at an ethnic grocer, as it is traditionally used in tortillas, tamales, ramen, etc .


Italian meringue deflated after adding sugar I've only ever made French meringue prior to this, and I've only ever used whole, separated eggs.

In this case, I used egg whites out of a carton (probably should note they were only a few weeks shy of their expiration date).  I know fresher whites whip up better, but I definitely got these to soft/slightly stiff peaks when I whipped the whites on their own.  However, when I added the sugar syrup the meringue turned liquidy pretty quickly.  I kept it whipping for a bit but the texture remained pretty liquidy (I did use some cream of tartar to help stabilize, but to no avail, apparently).

I'm wondering which, if any, of the following is the likely culprit:

is there any general detriment to using the whites from the carton?
was it simply the lack of freshness? (I would be surprised if it was either just because the whites did whip up pretty nicely before I added the sugar)
could the syrup have been too hot or in some other way caused the whites to break down?
could I have overwhipped the whites before adding the sugar? the peaks didn't seem to be too stiff before that point, but I suppose it's possible
something else?

I've only ever made French meringue prior to this, and I've only ever used whole, separated eggs.
In this case, I used egg whites out of a carton (probably should note they were only a few weeks shy of their expiration date). I know fresher whites whip up better..

Older egg whites being thinner volume up better, but the drawback is being less stable (not so suitable for french meringue).  Polar opposites to fresh eggs.  However you are going to stabilise them by pouring hot syrup and keep whisking till it's cool, so no worries.
Note: carton eggs are usually pasteurised, so there is a slight performance decrease, but not enough to prevent from making a meringue

..but I definitely got these to soft/slightly stiff peaks when I whipped the whites on their own. However, when I added the sugar syrup the meringue turned liquidy pretty quickly. I kept it whipping for a bit but the texture remained pretty liquidy (I did use some cream of tartar to help stabilize, but to no avail, apparently).

Presume the cream of tartar was added when the whites were foamy.  It is mainly used as a stabiliser to prevent overbeating.
There are two camps on Italian meringue methodology:

Adding the syrup at soft peaks,
This is with the consideration of using a stand mixer or a suitably powerful beater at high speed to beat the whites to stiff peaks before it is stabilised, and continue beating until it has cooled.
Adding the syrup at firm/stiff peaks
This allows you to also whip by hand, hand beater or stand mixer, until cool.

I'm wondering which, if any, of the following is the likely culprit:
is there any general detriment to using the whites from the carton?
was it simply the lack of freshness? (I would be surprised if it was either just because the whites did whip up pretty nicely before I added the sugar)
could the syrup have been too hot or in some other way caused the whites to break down?
could I have overwhipped the whites before adding the sugar? the peaks didn't seem to be too stiff before that point, but I suppose it's possible
something else?

It's not clear in the OP whether:

The whites were beaten by hand, beater or stand mixer;
The temperature of the sugar syrup reached 'soft ball stage' (112°C - 116 °C or 234°F - 241 °F)
What speed were the whites whipped while the syrup was being added

One or more of these issues may have caused the collapse.


What islands use a cooking technique that starts with sugar and hot sauce in the pan? I had a roommate many years ago that was from a Caribbean island, but I don't remember which one. His general technique for cooking almost anything was to start with a hot saute pan, add oil, a good amount of sugar, and a homemade hot sauce that had lots of mustard as well as chili heat in it. Almost similar to the Vietnamese caramel chicken. Can anyone identify which island(s) this technique might be from? Is there a name for it? Niceties to the technique?

Sounds like the technique for Pelau, from Trinidad, only with hot sauce added. I don't think it has a name other than "pan fry/sear in caramelized sugar"


Ideal way to cook a chicken To get a marinated chicken to be golden brown on the outside, maybe a bit crispy, and tender on the inside, which is a better approach:

Cook it on high heat until it browns, then cover it and cook it on very low heat until done
Cover it and cook it for a couple of hours on low heat, then uncover it and blast it on high until it browns
Other

In the past I've cooked it on low heat, circa 190 celsius, for three hours, uncovered. It's tender and juicy, but it doesn't crisp.

You make no mention of basting. 190 is more than high enough though 3 hours sounds a bit long. Basting fat over the skin throughout cooking is the key to crispy skin. Covering it is a sure way to soggy skin.


Baking yeast breads in gas oven? There are only 3 rack settings in my gas oven.  I have baked on the top rack and my bread is raw. Which one should I use to cook at 350f for 35-40 min.

I have a gas oven as well, and have found that baking on the middle rack, using a pizza stone helps bread bake more evenly. Additionally, as User22259 suggested, adjusting the baking time until the internal temp of the bread reaches about 220-degrees will get you a perfect product every time.


Baking ratio for waffles! What is the ratio between flour, sugar, fat, liquid, and egg for waffles?
I searched up "baking ratios" and "cooking ratios" but the closest thing that came up was for pancakes. Now, I know pancakes and waffles have different compositions.

I really want to make my own recipe for orange flavored waffles, and want to do so using the help of a golden ratio.

You cannot find a "golden ratio" as there is no such thing for something as diverse as "waffles":

Brussels Waffles
Liège Waffles
Butter waffles
Vanilla waffles
Blueberry waffles
Honey Waffles
...

Just take a recipe for waffles that resembles the kind of waffles you want to make and substitute one ingredient for another (In this case, I'd start with a blueberry waffle recipe and change the blueberries with oranges cut up in cubes as big as blueberries).


Why is the Chicken too hard in the outside but soggy in the inside? I have a problem when I cook a chicken. Usually, I will divide the chicken into smaller parts. However, when I cook the chicken by placing in a soup, I often get the meat too hard at the outside and soggy in the inside.

Any insight on making my chicken consistent from outside to inside?

When poaching chicken (whether in soup or in some other liquid), you need to be careful not to cook the chicken too long. Overcooked boiled chicken will be flavorless and have a bad texture.

For chicken breasts, if they're whole, don't cook the breasts for more than 10 to 15 minutes at a simmer, although you can leave the meat in the liquid for another 15 minutes so long as the heat is turned off. Here are some recipes for poached chicken.

On the other hand, if you're trying to make chicken soup, you're going to want to cook the chicken much longer, but that meat will be fairly inedible. By simmering chicken on the bone for an hour or two, you'll get a nice flavorful stock, but you'll overcook the meat.


How do I make a fried egg with completely cooked white but completely runny yolk? I like a fried egg with all the white cooked, yet all the yolk runny.

I normally do this by separating the yolk and white, and putting the yolk in halfway through.

Anybody know an easier way?

Tips for perfect fried egg:

Temperature of your pan is the key.  (low - medium)
Do not flip the egg (this will cook the top too fast and bye bye to runny golden yolk)
Halfway through the cooking take a lid for the pan put a small bit of water in it and close the lid on it for a few minutes.  (Too much water and your eggs are wet when you pull them, too little and the effect is not noticed.)

The end result, if you do it right is the white cooked, the outer yellow cooked but inside runny golden and good.  If you do it too short the white will not cook through, too long and you over cook but I have been doing it this way for awhile.


Are vanillin/vanilla powder safe to use in savory dishes? Vanilla beans are quite expensive, and I can buy cheap vanillin ($0.3).

So I'm wondering whether I can use vanillin instead of real vanilla for savory dishes:
are they dangerous in high heat? I'm thinking of curry or onion soup.

The vanilla chapter of Ian Hemphill's "Spice and Herb Bible" says,

  Vanilla is also delicious in savory cooking because it is not overtly
  sweet. An innovative Mauritian restaurant in Sydney served a delicious
  vanilla chicken [...] It was aromatic delicate and beautifully
  balanced.

The same book has a recipe for Vanilla Salmon Salad where vanilla seeds are scraped into the dressing.

I did a quick taste test using vanilla extract with various savory things from my fridge. Here are the results:

Cheese: tasted fine, but I wouldn't call it a taste sensation;
Vegeburger: nasty combination; I think the leeks in the burger were a problem;
Avocado: actually quite a nice combination;
Roasted aubergine: not bad;
Tomato: fine;
Savory omelet: not good; onions don't seem to work with vanilla extract;
Baked beans in tomato sauce: very nice.

Note that using vanilla extract and a vanilla bean to flavor a dish are not the same thing. There is an amount of alcohol in the vanilla extract I used (bourbon) and this may completely invalidate the test. Having said that, the first indications are that alliums (onions, leeks, garlic etc) don't go with vanilla. So onion soup may not be a good plan. And since curry generally contains plenty of onion and garlic, I'm skeptical about using it there too.

Turning to the question of whether vanilla and vanillin become dangerous when heated, the answer is almost certainly no. That doesn't mean that heating vanilla is inconsequential. Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" mentions that vanilla beans contain more than 200 volatile compounds and notes,

  Prepared vanilla extracts [...] are best added toward the end of
  cooking; any period of time spent at a high temperature causes aroma
  loss.

On the other hand, heating vanillin at normal cooking temperatures (i.e. normal for soup and curry) is not a problem. Its boiling point is around 285°C.

As another answer mentions, vanilla has a more complex taste to pure vanillin. Most of what you will read comparing the two will be very much in favor of using real vanilla beans in cooking. Instead of repeating this advice, I'm reminded of having read that in a Cook's Illustrated taste test comparing genuine vanilla to synthetic vanillin, the artificial flavoring came out on top. It's probably not be enough to conclude that vanillin tastes better than vanilla but may encourage you to forge ahead if vanillin is all you can afford.

Update: Having read @papin's suggestion that you may need to caramelize the onions, I just did a quick taste test with rostad lök (not sure how it translates from Swedish, the literal translation is toasted onion). It tasted slightly better but still not great. Again, I'm using vanilla extract so my taste test is not necessarily valid.


Why did my hot pepper oil get moldy? While following the advice in this answer I placed two ripe Bhut Jolokia peppers in a fresh bottle of olive oil, and put it on the shelf to sit for a month so the heat from the peppers would infuse the oil.

However, one of the peppers became covered with white mold.

The two peppers were put in at different times, as they ripened, since I only got half a dozen peppers from the plant, and they all ripened at different times.

The first pepper went into what had been an unopened bottle of olive oil, after I cut out a small blemish, and removed the stem and top of the pepper.  It floated at the top of the oil for a few days, perhaps as long as a week, before sinking to the bottom of the bottle.

The second pepper was added about 1.5-2 weeks later, and was more intact (there was no blemish, so I only removed the top to remove the stem and expose the seeds).  That pepper floated on the surface as well, but about 1.5-2 weeks later, I noticed that it was still floating, and was now covered with a patch of fluffy white mold just above the surface.

What did I do wrong here?  How could I prevent this from happening next time?

Unfortunately...I think that other answer gave some dangerous information.

Sticking a raw pepper in oil and letting it sit out is dangerous.  Not only could the moisture cause mold apparently but sticking something like that in oil runs the risk for botulism.

You could reduce the risk of mold by using dried peppers, but botulism is still there.


Good sauces for large Italian Conchiglioni pasta I bought some packets of Italian Conchiglioni pasta (Brand Maestri pasti selection Giovanni Castiello). The Conchiglioni are really large: each shell is probably 5cm long.

I tried them with a traditional tomato sauce (tomato, onions, carrot, basil, olive oil) and it didn't feel right: I had to eat large chunks of pasta with not much sauce and had at the end some sauce left. So I'm wondering whether other types of sauces are better suited for pasta that large.

This is borderline opinion based, and also borderline asking "what do I do with this ingredient", however I think it can be answered so I'm going to give it a shot.

Large pasta shells are generally stuffed rather than used as a simple pasta and sauce scenario, the size and thickness of them means that sauces don't really coat enough to accompany that much starch, so the experience isn't as good as smaller or longer pastas. If you are going to fill them then you'd have a filling and a sauce, the filling would need to be relatively thick in order to help the pasta keep its shape. The most frequent fillings would be meat and/or cheese based, for instance ricotta or a thick meat sauce. The pasta will often be topped by another sauce, this one a typical pasta sauce, often contrasting with the filling. If the filling is cheese the sauce will be tomato, for example.

However, the possibilities are pretty wide open really, use your imagination. Fill them with small chopped sauteed vegetables and top with a olive oil drizzle and fresh parmesan, or fill them with mozzarella and top with pesto.

If you do want to just do a single sauce with no filling then thicker is better so you get as much to adhere to the pasta as you can. Think giant shells 'n cheese, or a thick and chunky tomato sauce.


Cooking time and temperature for one oven and two different dishes I want to warm a 9.6lb spiral ham (275- 15 minutes per lb) and cook a macaroni and cheese casserole (375 for about 30-45 min) in the same oven and have them ready at the same time.  How do I do this?

Heat ham at 275.
Remove ham and hold. Covered with foil and maybe towels to hold heat.
Raise oven temp, bake mac & cheese.
Ham should still be warm when mac and cheese done.

If it were me, I'd return the ham to the oven for the last fifteen minutes or so to crisp the skin a bit with the higher temperature.


Is chocolate still "tempered" even after it has cooled since bringing it up to working temperature? The usual process of tempering (dark) chocolate involves bringing it up to 45°, then down to 29° and back up to 31°.

If I leave the tempered chocolate in a piping bag for a while and it cools down, would the chocolate still be in temper and set nicely (assuming it was still fluid)?

Without chocolate tempering machines or melting tanks it's hard to keep chocolate at working temperature.

The point of tempering chocolate is heating it before it "breaks" - thus tempered chocolate has that "snap" to it you always want to keep intact.
If you've done your tempering (understand melting) correctly there is nothing to worry about. Work the chocolate as long as you can - meaning as long as its pliability caters to your needs. Once that train has passed you need to re-temper the chocolate (here is where, again you can loose the "snapping" properties).
Hope that helps :)


What is size 2 pasta? I have a recipe requesting pasta #2 as an ingredient.  What is pasta #2?  I searched in several places but found nothing useful.

Is it possible that the recipe calls for two pounds of pasta?  I have seen recipes where the # symbol is used as a notation of pounds.


Dehydrating herbs - leaves vs. stems I use my dehydrator to dehydrate herbs such as parsley and dill. I use low temperature (95 F = 35 C) to preserve the taste. The dark-green leaves are usually completely dry after several hours, but the light-green stems remain slightly wet.

At one time, I made the mistake of putting everything together in a jar; it caught the mold in several days and I had to trash it.

I tried to cut the stems from the leaves and dehydrate them separately, but it turned out to be a very tedious task as each piece has a different length so I had to cut each piece separately.

What do you do?

Don't dry the stems is the answer, simply discard them. I strip the leaves off the stems either before or after drying for the same reasons you describe - they don't dry well. For many herbs there isn't as much flavor in the stems as the leaves, so less value in drying them anyway.


Is pad thai actually Thai? More like meta-cooking question, but I believe it fits here better than on travel stack.

All around the world, one of the symbols of Thailand is Pad Thai. And multiple versions of curry.

But when I wander around Bangkok or other Thai cities, I see pad thai served mostly in tourist areas like Khao San Road and its surroundings, around the Royal Palace, etc.
When I look and most food street carts there are plenty of sticks (meat/fish/sausages/balls/seafood put on short wooden sticks and grilled over fire), soups (tom yum based, clear soup with noodles, wonton's), many kinds of meat, seafood, noodles (though not strictly pad thai I think) and so on.
Not that many curries either, but in more in-house restaurants you can find them.

So my question is - is the pad thai really Thai? Maybe I'm just overlooking it, or search in wrong places. Or is it a dish once found by a western traveller, made famous in the West and then its renown came back with the travellers.

It's Thai, but it's a relatively new dish as it doesn't date back when the country was called Siam, and it uses Chinese style noodles and preparation (with Thai flavors).

There was a coup against the monarchy in 1932; in 1938 Plaek Phibunsongkhram (aka Phibun) came to power as prime minister.  Phibun ordered the creation of a new national dish, "Gway Teow Pad Thai" (Thai fried rice noodles).  The thing was, noodles weren't popular in Thailand before that, but there are stories that as this coincided with World War II, it was a way to get people to eat less rice.  (although, it's rice noodles, so I don't understand that part)

The government pushed for the dish, including subsidizing food carts (and banning non-Thai food cart vendors, so there wasn't competition from the Chinese noodle vendors)

...

But they're not the only country where foods we associate with them are relatively new -- potatoes and tomatoes are "new world" crops, not European, and untrusted (as they're part of the nightshade family along with capsicums (peppers), eggplant, and tomatillos).  So Irish and Italian cuisines before 1500CE (aka 1500AD) were extremely different from what we think of as their cuisines today.


What are the advantages of using a stove instead of an oven? Are there any advantages to using a stove instead of oven?  As a woman of science, this is a question that has been lingering in my noggin for a very long time.

The main points I'd like to see answers for are as follows:

Time
Heat Spread

If possible, provide facts and examples to prove any advantages claimed.  I would prefer if answers are not provided as experiments that I can perform, because I have a very busy work schedule.

You are relying on very different forms of heat. Conduction vs Convection vs Radiation

Heat transfer, and the first law of thermodynamics
Principles of Cooking
Basic Cooking Methods

What happens when you heat something? A number of things.

Proteins Coagulate
Starches Gelatinize
Sugars Caramelize
Water Evaporates
Fats Melt

Depending on how you cook it, you're going to get different forms of each of those at different rates. On a stove, you can avoid too much moisture and fat from leaving your food by cooking it extremely quickly (in a stir-fry). . You can't sear something in an oven and you can't roast something on the stove. The two are simply not the same, because fundamentally the two are not the same, you are not going to get the same results. It's really as simple as that. You can't take two entirely methods and argue that you get the same results.


How much weight of a whole life chicken is a supermarket whole chicken? If you buy a whole chicken in the supermarket it is defeathered, without head and feet and with the inner organs removed (sometimes you get some organs in a bag but I'm going to ignore that for this question). What I would like to know is how much, in terms of weight of a living chicken is a whole supermarket chicken? How much weight are the various pieces that are removed? If this makes a difference, assume the supermarket chicken weighs 1.5 kgs (a little over 3 pounds).

Broiler chickens, at least in the US, are bred to grow quickly.  They are usually slaughtered when then weigh about 4 pounds, which is at about 7 to 9 weeks.  In general, a grocery store broiler weighs about 3 to 3.5 pounds.  As the comments above suggest, this is a very general response.  It would be difficult to be more accurate.


What is a good way to cooldown my food and drink without a fridge? So I'm out camping, and I don't have a fridge, what are good ways to cool-down my food or drinks?
I've tried mixing salt and water to create a endothermic reaction, but it didn't work too well. What are your tricks?

If you're near a creek or a lake, usually just sticking your drinks in the water gets them well below the ambient air temp.


How to thin chocolate for dipping How do you make chocolate thin enough to dip strawberries?
If I make it thin enough to dip (with butter) will that affect allowing it to set-up and harden?
I saw another question about the thickness but nothing about hardening.

How do you make chocolate thin enough to dip strawberries?

Melt it. I'm not trying to be funny here -- you should have no problem dipping strawberries or pretty much anything else (that's solid) in melted chocolate. When candy makers coat things in chocolate, that's all they're using -- they don't add anything to make the chocolate thinner. If you're really having trouble in this respect, then perhaps your chocolate isn't fully melted, or perhaps it's something other than real chocolate.

If you want the chocolate to be "tempered" when it hardens/dries/crystalizes, you're going to have to read up on tempering and be pretty careful with the temperature (but you'll end up with a superior product if you do).

  If I make it thin enough to dip (with butter) will that affect
  allowing it to set-up and harden?

Yes, that will definitely affect the way the chocolate sets up. When chocolate hardens, the cocoa butter contained in the chocolate forms crystals. The crystals can actually take several different forms, and only one of those forms makes for the best appearance and hardness. That's why you temper chocolate, btw. Adding other substances, particularly another fat, will affect or prevent that crystallization process.


How do I cook frozen pastry I bought it from a farm shop (meadow fresh) as pictured. I know it goes in the oven.
But what temperature or duration.

Unfortunately it came with no instructions and I forgot to look for some when I bought it.

Update:

I followed the instructions from the answer below, and these things expanded to 3 times their size overnight, and 5 times their original size when cooked. They were fantastic. Leaving out overnight, then 10 mins at 190c was just right.
(the clue was in the packaging, as the website did contain instructions as suggested.)

Trader Joe's sells frozen mini-croissants. The instructions for them are, as far as I remember: set them out overnight (or equivalent) on a lightly greased cookie sheet to "proof" (or "rise"). In the morning you may want to brush a thin coating of egg wash on them before cooking to make them shiny & beautiful (this is optional). Then cook in preheated - 350 degree F - oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until croissants are quite golden brown. (TJ's says that if they are just light brown they are not done on the inside.) Then they should cool for 10 minutes before serving.

The "mini-croissants" are actually fairly big in my opinion. Not sure exactly the size of the items you have, but if they are significantly bigger than those "mini"s, you might need to add a teeny bit of time, but 15 - 20 minutes is pretty vague anyway, so I would say just watch the color. Dark chocolate-brown is a little too done; and pale beige is not done enough.

Alternatively, have you checked the website listed on the plastic bag they came in? Maybe there are instructions there. I can't really read it in your photo, but it starts out "www...."!

OK, new UK info; in case these are "Field Fare" all-butter croissants,

https://field-fare.com/product/all-butter-croissant/  says:

"Cooking Instructions

Spread out on a baking tray and leave to prove overnight at room temperature.  Egg wash and bake in a pre-heated oven at 190°C/375ºF/Gas Mark 5 for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.

Important Information

These cooking instructions are a guide only. Your appliance may have a different power rating, so please adjust accordingly"


What does cream of tartar do in baking recipes? I am making the following recipe for a birthday party: Pinata cookies!, and it calls for cream of tartar in the dough. This is the first time I've seen that in a cookie recipe and I can't figure out what the purpose of it is. Anyone know what cream of tartar does in baking recipes?

As @rumtscho said, it is an acid and in your recipe above it is for activating the soda.

However, in general, recipes almost never call for cream of tartar for this purpose. Modern recipes, if they need acid to activate the soda, will call for baking powder instead which has the cream of tartar already mixed in.

Almost every time I see cream of tartar called for in a recipe it is when making a meringue. The acid denatures some of the egg white proteins and makes the eggs froth up faster and makes a stiffer meringue. Cream of tartar is good for this as it is dry so it doesn't throw off the liquid content and it has little flavor of its own.


Thicker gelatin layer at the bottom of the dish When I make Jell-O (fruit-flavored gelatin or jelly), I often get a patchy skin of "thicker" gelatin on the bottom of the dish. The color is the same, but the "skin" has less flavor and a much harder texture.

My assumption is that some of the gelatin granules aren't getting completely dissolved; however, I can't see any granules remaining (or I'd keep stirring it). Am I right about the cause? How do I prevent or reduce the problem if there isn't any visual cue?

If you pour jello into dishes while it is still very warm, the mixture has time to start layering and separating a bit, leaving the layer you describe on the bottom of the dish. In my experience, the best way to avoid it is to not pour the mixture into the dish/es until it is cooled to nearly room temperature and considerably thicker. While it's cooling, you can stir it periodically to prevent layering, and then it should set quickly enough that it won't separate.


Why does fresh coriander deteriorate so quickly? I realize that, as I live in a northerly climate, I cannot expect to have fresh herbs like coriander always available at my beck and call.

Yet, yesterday I bought a lovely, thick bunch of coriander at the cheapo-supermarket closest to my home and it was fantastic: profuse, aromatic, and fully tumescent.

Now, 24 hours later, even though I refrigerated it in an vase with water (it has the roots still attached) it is looking like sh*t.

I know that greens deteriorate over time but the turn around time in this case seems ridiculous to me. Italian parsley, AFAIK, is also imported yet it lasts for weeks in the crisper.

Is the only reason coriander looks good on the shelf is that it is spritzed every 90 seconds?

Theory 1: moisture

Were the leaves wet at all?  I worked in a restaurant before, tending to the fridge.  I had to make sure the salads were washed and thoroughly spun.  Wet greens wilted and rotted faster and we had to toss them.  The roots can be wet and exposed to water, but make sure the leaves stay dry.

Theory 2: freezer burn

This link mentions that cilantro can be damaged by freezing temperatures, which could be an explanation for what you're seeing?  Is it so cold in your area that your refrigerator actually dips into freezing temps because the air around it does?

Meats can get freezer burn or taste off after freezing.  One explanation I've read is that water freezes as sharp crystals in and around the cells.  Upon defrosting, these sharp crystals can cut through cell membranes, causing cell contents to leak out and alter the meat structure.  In theory the same could apply to anything organic.

Theory 3: dehydration

The link above and others I've read suggest storing cilantro as you do in the fridge, but covered with a plastic bag.  Some wrap their cilantro in a paper towel.  Either way, this creates an enclosed or somewhat-enclosed space that slows down moisture escaping from the leaves.  The air in the fridge is generally dry and can suck moisture out of the leaves.  I know this sounds like the opposite of too much moisture, but there's a window for how much moisture plants want--neither too little nor too much is desired.

I'd try to resolve this in the order above.  If you left the leaves wet, I'd say that's a very likely culprit.  I'd check your fridge temperature next: you could put an ice tray near where you put the cilantro to see if it freezes or starts freezing overnight.  If it's still wilting fast, try doing what you did with a plastic or paper bag over the leaves--making sure the bag isn't crushing them.


How to get sour cream & onion potato chips flavor? I've noticed that when eating common 'sour cream & onions' potato chips, there is a distinctive, cheesy-like flavour that distinguishes the chips.

What gives it this flavor? Is it simply MSG, or is there a way to achieve this using natural ingredients, such as black pepper, Worcestershire sauce etc?

To give more context, I am intending to use this in a home-made ranch dip.

First things first: If you're trying to precisely replicate the flavor, you'll probably fail. Food scientists put an incredible amount of time, money and effort into developing those flavors and have ingredients and equipment that we don't have access to. Often, the flavors themselves are byproducts of industrial processing, and they've been combined in a way to make them pleasant. So if you're looking to get that exact flavor in your dip, you're going to be disappointed. If you're really just looking for a ballpark approximation which might be a little closer than what you've got now though, you've got a good shot at it.

If I were you, I would first try using dehydrated or freeze-dried green onions or chives which can often be found in glass jars in your grocery store. Mix them with your dip or make them into a powder to toss with your chips. Perhaps pureeing a product like chive cottage cheese which is made with dehydrated/freeze-dried chives might get you there. For the more industrial products, you'll have to look on the internet. Commercial chips almost certainly use sour cream powder (among other flavorants you probably can't find on Amazon) in their sour cream and onion chips. You could even try some sour cream and chives powder to see if that gets you closer, with less work.

Good luck and happy dipping!


Can/should I use rapid rise yeast for longer proofing? More generally, what are the limitations of rapid rise yeast compared to other types of yeast?

Rapid rise yeast has enhancers added to make the yeast more active and lower the amount of time needed to proof the dough.

I wouldn't use it if I wanted a longer proofing time because I think the dough would rise too far wouldn't result in a good crumb or flavor.  That being said I think you could use rapid rise yeast with a longer proofing time.  Maybe you would want the larger volume of dough and other effects.


What is real caramel? This comment suggests something about the true definition of "caramel":

  Actually, caramel is not made with "milk and/or cream, butter, and sometimes vanilla". While US recipes are fond of adding these things to caramel, they are not an essential part of the definition.

I am very interested in what a true caramel recipe and production is. What actually is the definition?

Also, I want to toy around with butterscotch, caramel and toffee - I like them all. Is there something along this line that uses molasses, even if it's not caramel per se?

When heated, sugar will caramelize and turn into caramel. No other ingredients are required.

According to Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking published by Scribner, 2004, p. 688:

  Caramel is first of all the brown, sweet, aromatic syrup produced in caramelization, which may be used as a coloring and/or flavoring ingredient in many preparations. But cooks use the same word to mean the combination of caramelized sugar and various milk products, ideally cream, which are mixed while the sugar is still hot so that the milk solids are browned and generate color and aroma as well.


Bake and then Broil instead of flipping? If I wanted to cook a meal - ie chicken wings - in a baking tray evenly on both sides, instead of turning them halfway through the cooking process, could I just switch from bake to broil midway so that both sides cook evenly? This is using a conventional oven with a heating ring on the top and bottom.

The reason for turning the food when baking is so the side that is in contact with the pan can get hit by the hot air. In the case of turning on the bake and then turning on the broil, you would still have the medium of what ever your food is sitting in.

If you are willing to elevated your food above a drip pan, turn on just the bottom heating coil (if possible), and set the food directly on the rack you could eliminate the need of turning halfway through the process.


How often should I change oil if reusing daily? At the moment I'm frying chips and protein 3 times a day daily using a fry machine. I'm using sunflower oil though could use others if needed but right now that's easiest to use.

The oil stays in the fry machine, not sure if it's air tight but i dont think it is and it also sits near the window.

I notice food particles in the fryer and fry basket but i guess i could clean that\pull it out with a sieve every 2-3 days.

Considering my heavy usage, how often should i change the oil and how often should I be cleaning the food out, will simply removing with a sieve be enough i still imagine there would be small particles remaining.

Also,  think I read that if it smells of other food you should change it.  However if you cook chicken in it it ay quicly smell of chicken, does it have to be changed in this case or can one just livewith the smell?

Oil does not wear out.  Unless burnt.  Try this. Drain or pour the oil into a coffee filter holder with the fine screen. Warm oil. It will remove most crumbs from the oil. Into a large mouth jar. Put lid on jar.  To supper clean oil run threw the paper filter. But that is slow to do. I do not see in America oil cans. With the filters in them of fine screen like used in small motors. Pour out remaining oil in bottom of fryer last. Wipe clean. The more crumb build up in the bottom the faster your oil turns dark as it burns.  Oil should last 6 months if filtered after use. Crumbs removed. By just adding oil lost.  To remove taste fry potatoes in it last.


Substituting pumpkin for butter Can I substitute canned pumpkin for 6 Tbs of butter in a muffin mix (bought)?  What ratio?
The mix also requires 1 egg and 3/4 cup of milk, would I need to change those?

I suspect this idea comes from the fact that you can, without horrible results, sometimes substitute apple sauce for the butter or oil in some quick breads or muffins.  For an explanation on why this works with apple sauce, see Aaronut's excellent answer here:

Why can applesauce be used in place of oil?

Like apples, pumpkin is fairly high in pectin (and furthermore, it is variety of pectin with extremely good gelling qualities).  Therefore, pumpkin is likely to work as well as apple sauce for this type of substitution (which in my mind is not that well, but that is a decision for the baker....)

Unfortunately, as Aaronut points out in his answer, there isn't really any way to prescribe a precise substitution ratio.  It would require experimenting with the amount of liquid (perhaps reducing the milk) and the amount of pumpkin.  Trying to replace only part of the fat instead of all of it would likely be far more successful.

So, while with some effort, you are not likely to have a horrible result, but it won't have the same quality as making the mix according to its directions with butter or oil.  Of course, it also will taste strongly of pumpkin, which is a much more assertive flavor than apple.

Depending on why you want to reduce the butter, there are a couple of alternatives to consider, based on the fact that most muffin recipes (and mixes) are quite tolerant of changes in some of the ratios (which is also why the applesauce/pumpkin substitution is possible).

If you simply want to reduce the fat (and calories) in your muffins, try cutting the butter by 1/2 or so.  The muffins likely will not be quite as delicious, but should still turn out fairly okay.

If you are trying to avoid specifically the dairy fat, substituting a neutrally flavored vegetable oil of your choice 1:1 should work fairly well, although you lose the flavor of the butter.


What is this cotton-like stuff growing on my pizza sauce? The sauce was to expire in Nov 2013. I kept it in the fridge all the time. The thing that grew on it was white in color (just like cotton). There was a greenish center. The overall "ball" was about 1 cm in diameter, and they were all over in the bottle.

I don't have a picture of it, because I had to throw it out. I don't know what it was, or how it started growing.

What was it? Why was it there?

It's mould. You've probably seen it growing on bread. Refrigeration slows it down, but eventually it'll grow.

You didn't say when you bought it and opened it. Perhaps your fridge is not set cold enough?


Lessen the acidity of fruit shrub syrup I made a strawberry/cherry shrub for the first time with a 1:1 ratio of fruit juice to white wine vinegar, about 5 cups total, and it turned out just a little too strong for my taste. Is there anything I can add to lessen the vinegar flavor about 10-20%?

You could simply change the ratio by adding more fruit juice; otherwise you're into experimental territory by adding alkali almost at random.

Baking soda would reduce the pH, but I'm not hopeful for what it would do to the taste, or look.

Whatever you decide, I'd test it in small portions first.
You may end up just liking it mixed with tonic water... or gin... or...


Can this tool be used to open cans? Target has a tool called can opener.

Can it be used for opening vegetable cans, tuna cans, ..., which don't have pulls on their tops?

How can it be used?

I asked because I only used a can opener that looks different to the one above, and looks like this one.

Those two versions of a can opener operate on exactly the same principle. The difference is that the simpler one has a cutting "blade" that's basically just a part of the main body that's been bent at right angles and maybe sharpened a little bit, while the nicer one has an actual separate circular blade.1 Both will serve the purpose of opening cans, but the simpler one will probably need more physical effort expended.

1I think - it's actually hard to tell, given that the picture is from the least useful angle imaginable.


Hiding the taste of cornstarch in gluten-free bechamel I tried a few times to make gluten-free béchamel, by using cornflour instead of wheat flour because I have some in my cupboard (for thickening sauces, even though it's somewhat considered cheating!). Now, when I did that, the resulting béchamel was decent, but always with a heavy floury taste, as if I had used wheat flour and put way too much of it. I've read this question and the answers recommending alternatives such as xanthan gum. However, I don't have many of those, so I'm wondering: how could I hide the taste of cornstarch my sauce (without reintroducing gluten, of course)? Right now, I'm thinking more nutmeg, but I doubt that'll be enough…

In an answer to another question, someone else was looking for answers on dealing with thickening dairy. If you want to address thickening with corn starch, here are some beginning steps;

Use the right ratio of corn starch slurry to liquid: 1 tablespoon corn starch thickens 1 cup of liquid
Use the corn starch in a slurry: although you didn't mention clumps (which slurrying prevents), I mention this as a best practice for many applications - whisk the corn starch in an equal amount of cold water then pour in slowly while stirring the pot
Heat the corn starch through: you need to heat the liquid until you can no longer taste the starchiness. Unfortunately with a bechamel boiling isn't preferable, but heating it for an extended period of time at a high temp will cook away the starchiness

Although I understand you are looking for a common thickener, be aware of the possibilities as you may have one on hand one day from some other purpose. If the three steps above don't solve your problem, I think that you may be putting in more effort than just buying some more apt thickener. Even so, corn starch should do fine, it sounds like the problem may just be in the completeness of your preparation.


How to reduce bitterness of Basil? I had some fresh Basil which was going dry, so I decided to make it into a sour cream dip (don't ask me why I didn't think of making a simple pesto before I added the sour cream).. The final product (sour cream, basil, salt and pepper) which I then blitz into a dip like consistency, has a bitter and slightly astringent after-taste from the basil..

So I am wondering what caused that.. Was it the basil itself? Did I use the wrong parts of the basil (both leaves and stems)? Or was it the ingredients? And how can I avoid it?

And the 2nd question is how can I reduce this bitterness now?

I personally don't use the stems directly, and I suspect that might've been your problem.

As for bitter flavors ... salt will help to mask bitterness (it's considered a 'competitor' against bitterness, not an enhancer), but it's frequently paired with sugar and/or an alternate flavoring to further hide the bitterness.


How do I make cake batter from scratch without butter? I need to make a cake, but I don't have butter, I could go buy some, but I don't have time because i need to do this cake right now and finish it in an hour so i can give it to someone.

One option is an angel food cake, it's butter-free and doesn't require any other butter substitutes.  On the down side it will take a full hour to finish and another 45 minutes to be ready to eat...

Basic Recipe


Is "quick brining" as effective as an overnight soak? I recently came across this article, Quickly Brine Chicken When You Don't Have Much Time, which suggests 2-3 hours in a 10% brine, followed by a 1-hour rest. Does this work? If so, are there any trade-offs over compared to using a longer, weaker brine?

Given the source (Michael Ruhlman) and that it was linked by Seriouseats, I am willing to bet cash money that not only does it work exactly as stated, it will provide spectacular results.


How to adjust an oven to accommodate two items with different cook times and temperatures? For dinner this evening we are cooking a roast beef and intend to serve a baked brie appetizer. Unfortunately, we only have one oven. To reach medium rare the roast needs 3 hours at 325° while the brie needs to be cooked at 400° for 20 minutes.

Is there a way to cook both of these items in the oven at the same time? Is it a matter of adjusting the length of time the brie needs to be in the oven?

I would cook the Brie at that same temperature for 30-35 minutes and it should be okay.

Alternatively, you could cook the roast fully, remove it from the oven, tent it with foil and then cook the Brie.  The meat can rest while the Brie is cooking and being eaten.  Prior to slicing the roast, heat up the pan drippings to a sizzling temp and baste to ensure a crispy crust.  But if the appetizer course happens to last for 20-30 minutes, then the roast will have been resting for 40-50 minutes and could lose too much internal heat.


Kosher alternative for butter as emulsifier Jewish Law prohibits the mixing of milk and meat in cooking. However, butter, a milk product, is a kitchen staple for most cooked emulsions (eg. pan-sauces, sauces béchamels, or roux-based sauces). While I use appropriate cooking fats for making non-dairy versions for meat dishes, this frequently doesn't work.

What is a non-dairy fat which may be used to as an emulsifier or roux ingredient?

Sauces like pan sauces and Roux-thickened sauces like bechamel or veloute are not traditionally finished in the same way.

Pan sauces, like for steak au poivre involve deglazing, reducing (still primarily water-based liquid,) and either reducing further with heavy cream, or adding cold butter directly and not heating anymore, so it stays emulsified.
Roux sauces like bechamel and Espagnole are made by adding hot liquid to hot roux in a pan. Though roux does a bit of emulsification— which is bonding fat based liquids with water based liquids— its primary purpose is still as a thickener. The starch cells in the flour explode, thickening the liquid. An uncooked version, beurre manie works the same way.

Roux itself simply involves toasting flour in fat, in approximately a 50/50 (by weight) mixture. From what I understand (I don't have my copy of On Food and Cooking around to double check,) the primary purpose of the fat in the roux is to keep flour from clumping up as the starch cells expand in hot water-based liquid, so the water and milk solids in the butter doesn't aid that goal in any way; in fact, in my experience, it causes some of the starch cells to explode prematurely, which makes butter roux a little more difficult to work with.

As the commenters pointed out, roux can be made with any fat— I've made it with many fats— so I'm guessing the trouble you're having with it might just be technique related. Since you said that you needed to add a water-based liquid to the roux to get it to work out, maybe your fat/flour ratio might not be right so it's too clumpy? As soon as you add a water-based liquid to a roux, you've stopped making a roux and started making a sauce with the roux.

Roux troubles aside, if you're looking for a parve emulsifier which adds a bit of richness— something to replace the role of butter in a pan sauce– letting your sauce cool a bit, whisking egg yolks into it and heating it to around 175F would work really well. If you don't have a thermometer, look on google images/youtube or whatever how to determine if a sauce is 'napé'... something which I think you have to see, rather than have it explained to you. Keep in mind that heating it to anything much above 180F and you'll have scrambled eggs. This would be my go-to for something like a kosher steak au poivre pan sauce.

You could always go the food nouveau route and use a glace— a heavily reduced stock. Boxed stock won't do, but if it's for a special meal, a pressure cooker or crock pot stock will work beautifully.


How much does knife thickness matter? I was looking to buy myself a chef's knife, and was interested in either the Richardson Sheffield V Sabatier range, or their Sabatier Trompette range. Now, the latter is a bit cheaper, and the only difference I can see between the two is that one seems slightly thicker than the other. Neither is flimsy, but the V Sabatier's blade is about a millimeter thicker.

I am looking for a good quality knife that will last me, but I don't want to spend more money than is necessary. Is the extra thickness worth a ~£10 premium?

Extra thickness can be useful, but it can be quite annoying too.  We have some real knife experts here who will probably go into more detail, but as a kitchen amateur (using the sort of grade knife you're looking at) I tend to use a thinner knife for most things.  Much of what you use a knife for is slicing, and a thick knife adds nothing there. It can even mean that slices break or fall away before you're ready.

A thick, heavy knife is useful for various  things, like fine chopping at one extreme, or getting through a butternut squash at the other, but I wouldn't want to only have thick knives (my thickest knives are tucked away in the second knife block).


How to freeze mango puree? This last season, I tried freezing mango puree. My google research told I me I can just freeze them as is. But when I thawed them, puree had lost its taste. What did I do wrong?

I usually freeze mango slices in a ziplock (note that it's best to place it in a single layer in the freezer)

then I let them thaw for a few minutes (3-4 minutes) before I blend them and that's my go-to mango smoothie/puree recipe.

The issue with your method might be that you let it thaw completely for a long time which is not really needed. Another issue could be the freezer bag you used which probably is not airtight, that also could affect the taste.


Are all emulsifying agents created equal My question relates to the 5 of 6 emulsifying agents I am aware of for stabilizing emulsification.
namely; egg yolk, garlic, mustard, tomato paste, honey, and cream.

I haven't personally used each of these as as emulsifying agents but that's the extent of my list. Anyways. So my question is, for any given particular emulsion does there exist a most useful emulsifying agent to Stabilize that particular emulsion? For instance, if I am making an oil in water emulsion, like a hollandaise sauce where the emulsifying agent is the egg yolk or whatever, would egg yolks yield an equally stabilized emulsion if used in an water in oil emulsion like a vinaigrette? Or would an alternative absent be more appropriate for that type of emulsion?

Again, not interested in any specific case, more of the general answer. I imagine the emulsifying agent is useful because it has both a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic side, kind of like dish soap, which lends it to uniting oils and waters so well... I don't know though if there are particular characteristics about specific emulsions that would make mustard more appropriate in one case but not as desirable in another.

Obviously this is assuming all other variables being equal, and with out consideration necessarily of taste... I mean this is cooking so everything has to do with taste but you know what I mean

From a chemistry standpoint, yes, there is a difference. That depends on the desired effect and composition of your emulsion, so there are more appropriate emulsifiers for water-on-oil than oil-on-water, and also depends on what size of micelles you want forming, texture and etc.

A complete explanation is a whole course in university and depends on a lot more details, so that's the condensed general version.


What are some good homemade foods that are the easiest to prepare? I live in a country where street-food is hazardous, 99% restaurants are unhygienic and the rest of 1% restaurants are either extremely expensive(as compared to my level of income) for everyday-meal or unavailable in the neighborhood, and, packed foods(like cereal, cornflakes, etc.) are also unavailable. I am also not a food-enthusiast and very lazy to cook.

I have gas stove. I don't have oven.

Readily eatable vegetables are not available. For example, tomatoes, lettuces, broccoli and cucumbers are not available. Fruits are totally imported and consequently very expensive. Even if they were available, raw vegetables or fruits do not stay in the stomach for long and eating only raw fruits gives acidity.

Cheap available foods are rice,  broiler-meat, lentils, wheat-flour. Mutton and beef are expensive. Liquid milk is unavailable. Powdered milk is expensive. Fish is very messy to buy and cook. Eggs are not healthy to eat thrice a day. All types of spices are available but packed spices are little expensive. Vegetables are available but takes time to sanitize, but, I fear peeling.

Can anyone please tell me what kind of foods can I adapt for my everyday life that are cheap, need least effort to prepare, healthy, keep me working for a long time and do not need freezing to preserve?

Please suggest me some single-pot meals that are easy to cook. Unattended cooking must be the priority.

Usually cheap and fast don't go together. For example the cheapest cuts of meat can be the most delicious if cooked slowly for a long time. Root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips) are delicious roasted, especially in olive oil (frankly everything is, even large summer squash that is almost tasteless transforms in the oven) but they need about an hour. If you have an oven and a microwave, I suggest cooking in the evening (perhaps after eating) and then reheating that the next day for you your lunch and dinner.

The other direction would be pasta (bought or made; it takes time to make it but you can make it one evening and cook it the next) or rice with a sauce made from canned (or cooked by you the previous day) ingredients. The sauce should either have a little meat, or have something to complement the grain protein: that will be either legumes (beans, lentils etc) or dairy (cheese, yogurt etc).

I think your best bet will be to do something each night after dinner that works towards your next night's meal. That will give you quick meals when you're hungry, but with the yumminess that time-of-cooking can provide.


Is it okay to use these oregano leaves? I have an Oregano plant and I have rarely used fresh oregano. Is it safe to use the oregano leaves shown in picture?

It has some white thing on top and at the bottom it’s a bit dark

The dark underside is normal for some varieties, but the white on top is another matter. It could well be powdery mildew which while seemingly not toxic will spoil the eating qualities, or it could be mould from damp storage. I'd look for better leaves elsewhere on the plant. Here's a little more detail


My cake crumbled on the top and took very long time to cook This time I didn't have much white sugar, so I added half cup brown and half cup white sugar to my carrot cake.

I observed that the cake crumbled on the top with large cracks, and took very long time to cook as compared to previous same cake in which I had used just white sugar.

The change that I did to the cake was to add half cup brown sugar. The taste was same as before.

Can brown sugar be the culprit here?

Brown sugar contains molasses, which is acidic, and probably threw off the acid-base balance in the cake. It also contains more water than white sugar, but neither contain much, so that probably didn't matter.

Did the cake rise as expected? I'm guessing “no”, which is probably what changed the baking time.

Quickly looking it up, between ¼ tsp and ½ tsp of baking soda would neutralize the brown sugar, if you feel like trying again.

Other possibilities:

your baking powder or soda is too old; how long ago was the last cake? Baking powder especially has a limited shelf-life.
mistakes (oven temperature set wrong, measured wrong)


A strange problem with BWT Initium 2.5 l filter's scale Is there anyone, who has BWT Initium 2.5 l filter and can explain me, what is going on with their scale?

When I fill it with water and wait until it filters out to exactly 1000 ml mark and then pour this water to another vessel with scale, it turns out, that I actually have 700-800 ml. By analogy, when I filter exactly 1500 ml on BWT Initium scale and pour that water out, I can get 1,2 liter at most.

Is there anyone, who could explain me this magic?

I've been using many filters before BWT Initium and when filter scale showed 1500 ml, I could pour 1,5 liter kettle to the top. This is my first product, that has so strange scale.

Reply just received from pot's producer. In case someone would be interested about "the magic":

The scale with 2,5l just applies to the empty jug without funnel and cartridge. So the funnel with cartridge inside displaces the water in the jug. I just tried this out with my own Initium jug.
If you fill in 1000ml it´s the same amount of water, but it will be e little bit more at the scale.
I know, this is a little bit confusing, because the measurement can be read as the amount of filtered water. I´m very sorry for that. But I guess this explains the “magic” in this case.


Why does readymade food always have so much flavor to it? What am I doing wrong. When I make food it's never as flavorful however much seasonings I use.

Readymade foods use flavour enhancers, artificial flavours and other additives that improve the mouthfeel and appearance of their product. Most ingredients lose much of their appeal during industrial processing so this kind of trickery is necessary.

Undoubtedly you can make food that tastes much better than readymade. There really is no substitute for freshly made food made from in-season fruit and vegetables. It's difficult to give general advice on how to do this. There is a great deal to learn before you can cook flavourful food consistently. I have been serious about cooking for about four years now and my cooking, if I'm to be honest, is still a bit hit-and-miss.

I suggest you start with some good, dependable recipes. The recipes on the America's Test Kitchen site are developed with simplicity in mind and don't compromise too much on flavour. I started cooking with a recipe book from Heston Blumenthal which was technically challenging but also a great way to learn a lot about cooking in a short space of time. There are more cookbook ideas in this (closed) question.

Try a recipe. If it doesn't turn out as you had hoped, do some research and try again. If you are still having trouble you can always come back here for more specific advice.


How can i keep ice cream without a freezer I would like to keep ice cream overnight, but I only have a refrigerator. When I've tried to store it in the refrigerator it looks like soup the next morning.  Is there a way to store ice cream using only a refrigerator.  Possibly with ice?

This may seem obvious but you have to keep the ice cream below freezing. Obviously the fridge is too warm.

You could try packing it in ice and salt in a cooler. The ice cream will be soft but not soup. I don't know how much ice would be needed to last all night.

You could put it in a cooler with dry ice. This would be more expensive for the dry ice but would definitely work if you had enough of it.

If you had an ice cream churn you could let the ice cream thaw in the fridge and then re churn it in the morning.

I think the very best way to keep it frozen is to leave it in the freezer at the store and buy it the next day.


Vacuum-packed (or not?) bacon, safe to use? I purchased a 3-pack of bacon a week ago, basically 3 vacuum packed (is that the right word for this?) bacon, stripped together (probably made together, seems like the plastic was just sealed between three clusters of bacon.)

I have discovered that one of the packages is not void of air, but it is apparently airtight, I can squeeze on the package and it doesn't give in or seem to vent any air, it just contains air, whereas the other package (I have already used one) is void of air, which is what I expected it to be.

So my question is, is the package that contains air safe to use?

The expiration date on the packages are middle of next month, so they're well within their intended usage, but I'm just not sure about the air.

Does anyone know?

Considering they were cheap packages, I will probably just toss it, but since I planned on using the packages for dinner today, I probably need to come up with a backup plan, unless, of course, it is entirely safe to eat.

So what's the verdict?

The existence of gas in a vacuum-sealed environment could be a sign of microbial activity.  I would assume that, since the package appears to be sealed, that the gases in it were introduced from within.  I would toss that one and feel OK using the other two.


Storing Cream Cheese Icing What's the best way to store cream cheese icing to make it last as long as possible?  How long will it be good for?

The icing is made up of

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup cream cheese
3 cups icing sugar

It will freeze indefinitely (say a year) if you take two steps;

1) Seal it up good, no air exposed surfaces. Ideally a freezer bag and then suck all the air out.

2) After it thaws re-whip it just before applying. If you can, thaw it by throwing into the fridge the day before so you have more control over the temperature as you approach the time when you will use it.

Also worth pointing out that the faster it goes to frozen the more stable it will be (less separation of fat/water content, crystals etc.) so put it in the coldest part of your fridge for at least a few hours, then transfer it to the coldest part of your freezer so it makes a fast transition.


Why exactly is thawing via hot water bad? I read all over the internet and labels that you shouldn't thaw with hot water? However, tons of people leave meat to get to room temperature, so how is thawing with hot water bad?

For instance, when I buy some Pork Loin and it's kinda frozen, I run it under hot water for 5 minutes, it defrosts, then I start to cook it. I'm unsure of the danger in that? Yes It may "start" to cook running it under hot water, but I'm about to cook it anyways.

Or is this a case where they mean thawing with hot water and letting it sit there for hours?

Edit: I am using a Slow cooker however, I'm going to put it on high. (The only reason I even thawed it is because it was frozen "stiff" and was too long for the crock pot, once I thawed it could bend in).

But it seems like a Crock Pot for instance would keep things at a "below" cooked temperature for a little bit anyways as well....(at least on low) before it started to cook things. So why don't crock pots make us sick?

Thawing in hot water is unsafe for exactly the same reason that thawing on the counter is unsafe. You'd be very quickly raising the exterior temperature of the food to the danger zone (4-60° C), and allowing it to stay in that range for an extended period of time, in many cases more than the prescribed limit of 2 hours, and actually considerably less than 2 hours at "hot" temperatures.

Hot water or even warm water is arguably much worse than defrosting on the counter, because the exterior will heat up much faster than the interior. This might be OK for something like a 1/2" steak or a single chicken breast (even though it's still contra-indicated by every food agency) if the defrosting time is very short; but if you only have a small portion and want it defrosted quickly, you're far better off using the microwave which will do it just as quickly but much more safety and evenly. And for something like a whole chicken or a leg of lamb, it's almost guaranteed that the interior will still be nearly frozen by the time the exterior is above room temperature.

The reason for using cold water is to keep the entire item either below or at the very edge of the danger zone, where it can be held safely for several hours without much risk of bacterial contamination.


How can I make my sourdough bread more sour? I am having trouble getting my German Farmer Rye Bread (Bauernbrot) to taste sour enough. I have a good rise and good structure but the flavor is not sour enough. I tried making the starter less watery and letting the finished dough rise in the fridge overnight but it still lacks the classic German Bauernbrot sourness. Comments?  Thanks!

I've just been dealing with a similar issue. My sourdough starter wasn't producing sour enough bread. In my case Russian black bread which is also rye. It was rising well but tasted like regular bread.

I did a some research and experimentation and fixed it.

I'm sure you are aware that a sourdough starter has both yeast and bacteria. The yeast consume sugar and produce CO2 and the bacteria consume sugar and produce acids including lactic and acetic. Acetic acid in particular (ie. vinegar) is very pungent and sour.

The type of bacteria you have will strongly affect the flavor and acidity of the bread.
After feeding, yeast is active early. As the acidity rises the yeast activity falls off and the bacteria become more active.
Yeast is also more active at cooler temperatures.

As your starter was bubbling well your yeast was obviously active. If it isn't sour then you either have mild tasting bacteria or they aren't active enough or both.

Several variables made a noticeable difference:

I started keeping my starter in a warmer place.
It was early spring and my kitchen was cool. The yeast was active at those temperatures but the bacteria were very slow.
I introduced different flours.
I started feeding my starter with freshly ground wheat flour and rye. I was trying to get new microbes. The day after feeding with a new flour the starter changed flavor noticeably.
I fed my starter less frequently
The recipe I was following said to feed the starter twice a day. This meant that my yeast was just finishing up their most active period when I fed again. The bacteria never really had a chance to take over. I read several articles that recommended leaving the starter a little longer and not feeding until the starter actually fell. The yeast weren't as active and the starter collapsed. After this point the starter would rise less but would become sour very quickly.

While I'm still not an expert, I found that I can now tweak these variables to tune my bread. If I feed more often and keep the starter cool it will rise more vigorously and be more mild. If I feed less often and in a warmer place then the bread will rise more slowly but be much more sour. I'm still trying to find a balance that I like but I know what variables to tweak.

The black bread I made this week was startlingly sour and delicious.

Addendum
I saw some blog posts that suggested that since the strongest flavored bacteria were producing acetic acid that one could simply add vinegar to the bread dough to achieve the same effect.
I tried it.
As you would expect it tasted sour but also flat and boring. I won't be cheating like that again.


What is an appropriate humidity for separating curds and whey? Does anyone have guidelines for an appropriate humidity for separating curds and whey to make cheese (I'm doing it from kefir)? Specific temperatures are available, but sources I've seen just throw in "and humidity can affect the outcome too" without giving anything concrete.

I'm not sure if wetter is better, dryer is better, or, more likely, if there is a specific range.

86 degrees Fahrenheit (with citric acid added before the heating process, if you want mozzarella/ricotta curds) or a culture added after this point (if using a culture give it 1 hour to start reacting and forming acids) rennet will need to be added in both cases. The temperature should be held at 72-77 degrees during the separation process. Humidity will not really have any effect on your cheese or kefir during the separation process.


Roasting corn in the oven I am trying to roast the corn in the oven, by:

leaving it in its husk
wrapping it in tin-foil

There are results, but far from real-grill roasted corn.

Any pointers on how to really do it?

EDIT:

Cooking times, temperatures?  (Celsius please)

There is always a debate on in-the-husk versus out-of-the-husk with roasted corn, but I fall firmly on the out-of-the-husk side of the debate.  When you roast corn in the husk, the steam that is created stays largely next to the kernels.  When you remove the husk, your corn is cooked with dry heat, which provides a really nice texture that has the significant difference from boiling that you're looking for.

  Editing to add: the reason this prevents development of 'roasted' flavours is that dryness is needed for caramelization processes to occur. Excess moisture prevents browning from happening, and either the husk or the tinfoil will trap too much steam; you are essentially steaming the corn (wet cooking) as opposed to roasting it (a dry method).

To keep the kernels from completely drying out while still charring nicely, slather with softened butter and season to your preference.  You can also use a Mexican Corn-style sauce.

I would also use the broiler to simulate more of the kind of heat a grill provides.  Using the broiler (set to high) you only need to cook for a few minutes until you reach the desired char - ten or so.


Why does coffee taste awful after reheating it in a microwave oven? I brew my coffee with a percolator using finely ground beans and it comes out great when it is still hot. However, I have to brew at least two cups in the machine. So if I make coffee in the morning, the afternoon cup is cold and I have to reheat it.

If the coffee gets cold and then I reheat it in a cup in the microwave, it tastes terrible! Why?

It has nothing to do with the microwave and everything to do with the volatility of aromas and flavors in coffee. Even coffee kept warm for 4 hours won't taste very good. In my experience, stale brewed coffee results in a more pronounced acidity, if left out to cool, or a woody, muddy, bitter kind of flavor, sometimes with more pronounced acidity, if held warm. If you were to make a straight espresso, it's optimal to drink it within 20-30 seconds. Brewed coffee can usually be held warm around 30 minutes before pronounced deterioration becomes obvious.

A popular Japanese TV show suggested perhaps stirring a pinch of salt in to stale, reheated coffee, which may trick your tastebuds enough into tolerating it. I've found that tactic less than adequate, but your mileage may vary.

There's a ton of information on coffee flavor compounds and other coffee-related research at: http://www.coffeeresearch.org/science/aromamain.htm


Faulty recipes: omitted ingredient or unused ingredient I'm looking at ways of enhancing the production of my recipes, and a couple of quality control items have come up.

I've seen recipes where there's an ingredient that never gets used; and some where the instructions call for an ingredient that was never listed. There are also problems I've seen with bogus amounts (eg 7lb instead of 7oz) or amounts expressed in units that don't get used that way (eg 27 tsp of something or 1/32 cup of something).

Is anyone aware of any guidelines or software for recipe-writers to address things like this? I have seen a page at https://diannej.com/2010/7-more-most-common-recipe-writing-errors/ which identifies some editorial problems, but I'm looking at more concrete technical approaches.

To enhance the quality of your recipes, you need to have someone proof read them and execute the recipe; the second part, you should be there and record everything the testers do or not with your recipe.

To pick up errors and typos in existing recipe, you just need to proof read the recipe and apply whatever experience you have to fix them (for example if a cake recipe seems off with 25 cups of sugar, maybe by looking at the other ingredients it is actually 2.5 cups.

Same kind of analysis for either missing or wrong ingredients; if a cake recipe  lists lemon zests but is not in the recipe steps, you need to decide with your own experience one way or the other it it should be used or not.

Anecdotal, there was a TV show (usa or canadian)  a while back where they tested recipes from recipe books just by "executing" the recipes literally (no adjustment, no "maybe if we changed that")

There were tons of typos in quantities or missing ingredients or even oven settings (for example recipe forgot to say to turn on the oven) that a novice cook would not see, but a seasoned cook would pick up and adjust automatically.


Does it matter what type of wine is used to make mulled wine? I had mulled wine at a French restaurant I went to for dinner last night, and it was a very dry wine - which was interesting, since there was definitely added sugar and the spices are typically something I think of as paired with sweeter flavors. It resulted in an odd (but not unpleasant) mixture of flavors.

I know that mulled wine / glühwein / glögg varies depending on region and culture, but is there a class of red wine that is typically used to make mulled wine? Or does it depend entirely on personal preference or what's available?

Speaking from personal experience mulling wine many times:

In general, you want a dry or semidry red, of innocuous flavor profile.  You do not want anything with strong tannic, acidic, alcoholic, brett or sweet flavors; these will become concentrated while mulling and quite unpleasant.  Your ideal mulling wine is an inexpensive, inoffensive, young merlot, burgundy, petite syrah, tempranillo, beaujolais, or other "middle-of-the-road" wine, maybe slightly on the sweet side.  Cabernet sauvignon, chianti, rioja, and similar wines tend to be poor choices, although of course it depends on the individual wine.  Also, look out for high-sulfite-added wine which also can develop off flavors.

I'll contradict Sarge here and say that you do not want a wine which is turning towards vinegar; you'll end up with a very sour crock pot full of mulled vinegar.  However, mulling is an excellent thing to do with wines which have been oxidized (but not vinegared) and lost a lot of their flavor, either through being open too long or too long on the shelf.  Certainly if you spend more than $9 a bottle in the USA for wine for mulling, you've made a mistake.

This is very similar to how you would choose a sangria wine.  The main difference is that for sangria you want bright and acidic flavors, whereas for mulled wine you want heavier, darker flavors.


Why must the oven be preheated for a Pyrex glass pan? This Pyrex glass safety label says "Always preheat oven".  Any idea why?

While an oven preheats, the heating element or gas burner will be running at full output. For an electric oven in particular, this will generate a great deal of radiant heat. Radiant heat increases the temperature of the objects it shines on, without directly changing the air temperature.

So, if you place a pyrex dish in a cold oven and then turn it on, some surfaces of the dish will be exposed to this intense radiant heat for a long period of time as the oven heats up, while the air temperature in the oven the rest of the dish is exposed to will still be much cooler.

If the dish is placed in the oven after it has preheated, it will still be exposed to the radiant heat as the oven cycles on and off to maintain the temperature, but it will be for shorter periods of time and the ambient temperature the rest of the dish is exposed to will not have such a large differential, resulting in less thermal stress on the glass.


My Shrink Wrapped Steaks are Brown when I thaw them! My parents bought a slab of steaks from my cousin who personally shrink-wrapped them. But when they thawed them out they were brown!

Are they still good to eat? What's going on?

My dad didn't cook them.

I assume the steaks were frozen or packed in ice:

The freezing process, especially slow freezing damages the cellular properties of organic material. This results in discolouration, texture changes(it'll be tough) and flavour loss. Snap freezing, using the Birdseye process (The company and the process are named after Clarence Birdseye) reduces cellular damage and preserves flavour, resulting a better preserved product.

If your meat is frozen sufficiently it should keep for around one year. But the texture and flavour will never be as good as a fresh steak. It should be fine.