Are there advantages of soaking rice overnight as opposed to only for 30 minutes? All these years I've just washed rice, put it into a pressure cooker (a regular pressure cooker; not a rice cooker), added the right amount of water and cooked it until the first whistle. Both for brown rice and white rice.

But when looking up this page on Basmati rice, the author does two things differently.
1. She pre-soaks the rice for 30 minutes.
2. She brings the water to a boil before adding the rice to it.

On searching for more info, this site and this site recommend soaking rice overnight! This completely perplexed me.

Assuming that I want to cook my rice with soaking, how do I choose between soaking for 30 minutes and overnight? Is soaking overnight a safety concern? Is it better to soak it overnight in the fridge? Wont an overnight soaking make it absorb a lot of water and make it less suitable for cooking in a pressure cooker?

In my experiments with steamed rice and broken steamed rice so far, I haven't found any disadvantage to soaking rice overnight. The rice can be kept on the kitchen counter-top (no need for refrigeration). The rice absorbs a bit of water, but that didn't seem to make any difference in the cooking. It absorbed the usual amount of water (4 cups water for 1 cup rice) when cooked in a pressure cooker.
Given what Jean says about arsenic, it's probably better to soak rice overnight, especially if it is being steamed, rather than boiled.


Is Julia so off re roast leg of lamb I followed the recipe

overshooting for the duration (2 hours) to aim for medium-well, but dispensed from using my (too slow to rise) thermometer. I ended up with

which is less than very appealing.

I know "individual ovens vary", etc... but this is off by a mile. Can you suggest how this might have happened?

Update

Please comment on the use of 350F for roasting a leg of lamb. One might roast at 425F, and keep in the oven for 60-90 minutes. Alternatively, one might use 275F, and keep the roast overnight in the oven. But what kind of cooking would you be aiming for if you used 350F?

Update 2

Yes, yes, she's a goddess. We love her. She inspired and inspires us. Etc.

But I'm not looking for a defence of Julia's wisdom. Nor am I looking for variables in the recipe (after reading "individual oven varies" on a thousand recipes, it sinks in to take it with a grain of salt).

Would you care to critique the recipe? George M says to up the temperature. That's a good start. What else would you change to get a lot of flavor yet a perfectly tender roast?

There are a lot of variables here:

Oven temperature: As you mention, this definitely can be plenty off, but honestly most newer ovens are all right and meat isn't the most sensitive thing to baking temperature. You'd probably have had other issue before if it were the cause here.
Meat weight/shape: Bigger means longer cooking times. The weight is a good first approximation, but the shape matters too: if the recipe was based on a flatter piece of meat, it'd have cooked faster.
The starting temperature: If the recipe was based on room temperature meat, but yours was chilled or previously frozen, it'll certainly take longer.

I'd guess your issue was more than just oven temperature, but it's hard to guess whether it's weight/shape or starting temperature or both.

In any case, as everyone seems to already be aware, the only real way to be sure is a meat thermometer. You're never really going to be able to find recipes that match your exact situation well enough to avoid this kind of thing otherwise.


Is there a way to experience pepper's endorphins effects without the burning sensation? When preparing dinner, my friend and I sometimes argue over the amount of pepper. It is often ‘too hot’ for him while I enjoy the heat effects (endorphins) of capsaicin (chili peppers) and piperine (black pepper). Is there a way to experience the endorphins effects of pepper without a burning sensation?

According to my research, the effect of capsaicin that causes the burning sensation is indirectly responsible for the pleasurable release of endorphins, which are the brain's way of counter-acting the pain sensation. If you don't feel any burn, then you probably haven't consumed enough capsaicin to trigger the endorphin rush.

This source from Northwestern University provides the most succinct summary:

  Capsaicinoids trick the brain into thinking it is being burned, which is a painful experience, through the transmission of neurotransmitters [...] The brain responds by releasing another type of neurotransmitter known as endorphins. Endorphins are the body’s natural way of relieving pain by blocking the nerve’s ability to transmit pain signals.


How to know if a recipe is acidic enough for storage/bottling? I've made some hot sauce that consists of:

Whole large white onion
Jalapenos (about 5, seeds and veins)
Poblanos (about 3, seeds and veins)
Sweet Peppers (about 6, seeds and veins, unknown name, small and bright colored)
Can of roasted tomatoes with garlic
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
1 Cup of White Vinegar

I blended all of the hard ingredients together until it was a fine puree, then added the vinegar, and blended some more. Then I simmered on the stove in a covered pot for about 20 minutes, until reduced, then blended again before using a wire mesh strainer and plastic funnel to put into cleaned squeeze bottles (most solids removed).

Similar questions such as How to determine if canning is safe? seem to indicate it's all about the acid content.

As does: http://foodinjars.com/2010/08/canning-101-why-you-cant-can-your-familys-tomato-sauce/

My concern is if I don't have enough acid content, or if the tomatoes have caused there to be a risk.

I would ideally like to store my sauce in the fridge for a few weeks (or longer, if conducive to proper home bottling) so that I don't have to think up 101 dishes that use hot sauce all before it spoils.

I've read that a pH of 4.6 is "good"... should I get pool water testing strips and test it against that?

How do I determine if my recipe has enough acid content to safely store longer than a couple of days in the fridge?

Excellent question! I understand wanting to experiment with your own recipe. I hate following recipes and would much rather develop my own.

Virginia Tech has a PDF file that I consider invaluable to download at Boiling Water Bath Canning. In the downloaded file it says

  Only high-acid food with a pH of 4.6 or less can be processed using the boiling water bath method. This is because only high-acid foods  prevent the growth of spores of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum which can't be killed by boiling. Foods with a pH more than 4.6 allow the spores to grow.

Everything that a home canner would need to learn and know how to successfully can using a boiling water bath method is included in this 15 page file. It even includes jam and jellies and some information on fermenting foods with advice about possible problems.


What is this really tasty part of a chicken found in a cavity in the hip? About once per month, my mother prepares chicken with rice and a currysauce with pineapple. I don't know exactly what the method of preparation is of the chicken because it's prepared by one of those traveling grilling trucks.

However, what I do know is that there is a small (like 2 cm wide and half a cm deep) cavity in one of the hips of the chicken that's filled with really tasty meat. The cavity is open on the  inside and I think it's the best part of the chicken. It appears to be some kind of organ meat, but I'm not sure what exactly it is. I also don't have a picture of the meat, sorry.

What could this meat be?

Those are the chicken oysters -- muscle meat, not organ meat. I'm glad you've learnt to enjoy them by intuition, as they are indeed a prized portion of the chicken.

Wikipedia tells me the French call this portion sot-l'y-laisse: "(only) a fool leaves it there", because it is little known, easily missed, and much prized.


Why are there no PETE reusable cups? I'd like a reusable lightweight cup for the microwave, so I compare the melting temperature of plastics (#1 through #6 in our recycling codes) and would think Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is the best

So, why is Polypropylene (PP) predominantly used instead?  I would even guess PET is cheaper to manufacture since most one-time bottles are PET.  Is it really just a public perception preference for PP?

I'd guess there are many factors. For instance, in manufacturing, small differences in raw material cost and process requirements can have a big impact.
However, in this case, I'd say it comes down to temperature resistance: polyester (PET or PETE) does not do well at high temperatures, PP does. A reusable cup for microwave use is going to have hot (probably boiling) liquid in it.
From Plastic bottle - Wikipedia:

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, PETE or polyester) is commonly used for carbonated beverage, water bottles and many food products. ... This material does not provide resistance to very high temperature applications—max. temp. 200 °F (93 °C).
Polypropylene (PP) is used primarily for jars and closures and provides a rigid package with excellent moisture barrier. One major advantage of polypropylene is its stability at high temperatures, up to 220 °F (104 °C). Polypropylene is autoclavable and offers the potential for steam sterilization. The compatibility of PP with high filling temperatures is responsible for its use with hot fill products. PP has excellent chemical resistance, but provides poor impact resistance in cold temperatures.

Here's an additional source: The 7 Most Common Plastics and How They are Typically Used. In summary: PETE is easily recyclable but breaks down under both heat and light exposure. So it gets used for one-time-use applications but isn't suitable for reusable containers.


Will sugar alcohols thicken a sorbet? It’s sorbet season again, and the local Lidl started stocking xylitol, which made me wonder: could you reduce the calories in a sorbet by using a sugar alcohol instead of (some of) the other sugar?
I usually use all invert syrup for sorbets in my super cheap churn, but I’m not sure how much leeway I have despite its excellent thickening power. How do sugar alcohols compare to sugar when it comes to binding water?

Well, I got around to braving this and potentially sacrificing a box of strawberries at ‘rona prices, and going half xylitol half syrup at ~25% added sugars of total it turned out… fine. Not as creamy as using all syrup but not sandy the way my early all sugar batches did - at a guess, it behaved barely different from table sugar for me. 1 part substitute : 2 parts syrup might be better, but at that point it seems like mostly a pointless complication and expense - xylitol has 60% the calories of sugar, cutting the calories of the sorbet by all of 13%.


Why let your pie cool instead of eating it hot? I like most of my foods nice and hot. Is there a culinary reason for waiting for your pie to cool before serving? Or is it just to prevent burns?

It definitely needs to cool to prevent burns - the filling is likely even above the boiling point of water, because it has so much sugar in it and has been in a hot oven. Eating it pleasantly warm is one thing, but it takes a long time to cool from over 100C/212F down to a nice warm/hot temperature somewhere around 50C/120F. (It's not like a cookie, which cools quickly enough so that you can (carefully) eat it fresh out of the oven. Pie has plenty of thermal mass.)

Besides that, most pies have a filling that will set as it cools. With a fruit pie, the sugary syrupy part will be pretty runny when it's hot, but it'll gel up a bit (like a jam - plenty of fruit and sugar) as it cools. And of course custard pies definitely need to cool to fully set!


Cooking boneless skinless chicken thighs What's a good approach to cooking boneless skinless chicken thighs relatively quickly if tenderness is a priority?

I know some people like a somewhat chewy texture with chicken thigh but the person I'm cooking for is quite sensitive to it

Quick and tender do not typically go hand in hand.

I get this is not really a direct answer but I slow cook 4 or more at a time and refrigerate.  Then microwave for like 30 seconds as needed.  I use skin with bones (cheaper) and then remove the skin and bones after cooked.  Cooking in the fat works better in a slow cooker and tenderizes.  Yes the chicken does absorb some fat.  But you also melt off all the surface fat.

For direct cooking I would saute with red wine.

I don't have one but a programmable pressure cooker may be your best option.


Can I use sous vide instead of pressure cooking In a recipe, I have to pressure cook vegetables in mason jars in duck fat. I don't have a pressure cooker but I do have an Anova Sous Vide Immersion Heater - can I use that instead?

Any other factors I should be considering, or alternate methods to pressure cooking?

UPDATE:

Place vegetables in 500ml / 16 oz Mason jar no more than 3/4 full, cover with duck fat. Screw lid on jar tightly, and then loosen 1/4 turn to allow expansion of air during cooking
Pressure cook at a gauge pressure of 1 bar/15 psi until tender, about 20min
Strain duck fat through sieve and reserve

If this is a recipe that will be served immediately, you may be able to use an alternate cooking method. If the reason is to store in your pantry, NO, do not use any method other than pressure cooking.
From Pressure cooking Wiki

The standard cooking pressure of 15 psi was determined by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1917. At this pressure, water boils at 121 °C (250 °F).

You need this higher temperature to safely process certain items for storage.

From Fresh Preserving.com

  When preserving vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood, safety is key. To keep what your canning safe to eat, and fresh tasting, you’ll use the Pressure Canning method which heats the contents to 240º F eliminating the risk of foodborne bacteria. You should also know that if even you’re mixing high acid foods with low-acid foods you must use the pressure canning method


In how much water do I need to put ramekins when cooking au bain marie in the oven? I have been given four ramekins and a cooking book with 30 recipes for eggs in a ramekin as a present.

Everything is explained very clearly:

Preheat the water for the bain marie dish in the oven at (I think) 180°C
Put the eggs in a ramekin
Add other ingredients
Place the ramekin in the bain marie dish in the oven
Get the ramekins out when you see the egg white is starting to coagulate

I have never used ramekins and I have never cooked au bain marie in the oven, but I believe the amount of water you use is pretty important. Unfortunately the book doesn't mention this.

So how high should the water level be for the ramekins?

Ideally, the water level should be just as, or a bit above, the egg level. So, you fill the ramekin to maybe 1.5 cm below the rim, place it in the dish, and fill the dish until it is 1 cm below the ramekin rim. You can deviate a bit, if you must - if you had a bit too much custard and filled the ramekins more, you shouldn't get the water too high, because you don't want to get water splashed onto the custard if it should start boiling (actually, you want to avoid a roiling boil in your bain marie, but it can happen). Even if the egg is slightly higher than the water, it will still be OK. If you have the water level too low, you risk to overheat the upper portions of your custards.

This assumes the souffle-cup-like ramekins usually sold to home bakers. If you have very flat ones, like crema catalana dishes, it gets more complicated. You have to have the water close to the rim, and bake at lower settings. It can help to put them high in the bain marie, e.g. on a cake cooling rack, so that they are cooled from below rather than the sides.


Proper Technique for Rolling Sugar Cookies I have an old recipe of my grandmother's for sugar cookies and I'd love for them to turn out just like hers. However, whenever I try to roll out the dough, I find I either can't get it thin enough, it is too sticky or it ends up tearing. What are the proper tools and techniques I need to roll out sugar cookie dough?

There's a lot of things that can throw off baking recipes --

Regional variations in flour hardness.  'All purpose' flour from the US South tends to be softer than brands from other areas.
The humidity and temperature.
Altitude (affects the boiling point of water, which will require adjusting baking times and possibly leavening agents)
How you measure your flour -- I'm lazy and use scoop & sweep -- my mom, however, would use spoon and sweep.
Size of your eggs.  Most recipes in the US assume 'Large' eggs unless otherwise specified.
Type of salt used.  Most recipes in the US assume table salt unless otherwise specified.
How you mix the dough, and how long you mix it.
How long you rest the dough before rolling out.

In your case, for rolled doughs:

temperature of the dough. (you want it chilled, but not so cold that it crumbles)
work surface / rolling pin material (specific to your problem, will affect how much things stick, and how they retain/transfer heat)

You might also want to see Baking 911 : Cookies Problems and Baking 911 : Rolled Cookies


Sous Vide long cook meat prep? Do I need to do anything special to prep a flat iron steak for an overnight SV bath?

I have seen some references to dunking in boiling water for anti microbial effect, but am not sure what the best practice is?

I am getting my meat from a cert reputable local butcher, if that matters?

Thanks!

Nope. Haha :)

Brining will give you a softer texture. I have brined duck for varying times (depending on how much of a rush I was in) and brining really does help with the texture.

You can sear it beforehand, some Maillard reaction will help in flavour development, but when I cook sous vide for more than 8 hours, I don't bother: the meat will go green/grey, which means I need to sear afterwards anyway. So I usually just sear at the end.

If your meat doesn't have that much fat, or anything to keep it moist, it can go dry. Adding some butter, or maybe rendered Wagyu fat in the case of your steak, might help.

As for bacteria, the longer you cook sous vide, the more you kill off the nasties.

It so happens that Douglas Baldwin has a short bit about flat iron steak: http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Beef

Hope that helps :)


Choosing a Flavorless Oil with Specific Qualities I'm looking for a cooking oil that's flavorless.

Many people like coconut oil, but I think it has too strong of a smell. Olive oil, while noticeably less pungent, is still noticeable. I'm also trying to avoid most nut-derived oils, to avoid possible unwanted allergic reactions.

I'm leaning towards something that's low in trans fat and relatively high in polyunsaturated fat. Something that'll stay liquid (even when kept in the fridge) would be nice.

You could try Rice Bran oil. It is virtually flavourless and I've used it for anything from salad dressings to frying. It has 37% polyunsaturated fats. The smoking point is 232 Celsius.


Biscuits with Egg and Butter - how long will they keep? I have a biscuit/cookie recipe that involves egg and butter - after I bake the cookies how long will they keep, at room temperature in an air-tight container?

(edit: In the USA cookies are (sometimes?) made with egg, is that right? In which case I'm just asking how long cookies keep)

edit: If context helps: my daughter has epilepsy and is on a medically supervised ketogenic diet. What she eats has to be carefully made and carefully rationed. I'm making her a batch of biscuits based on this recipe and so I'm wondering how big a batch I can make in one go based on how long they will keep. I imagine all the ingredients are pretty long lasting except for the eggs and butter.

Basically once cooked and if stored in a dry container cookies will keep for a couple of weeks at room temperature and several months (perhaps a year) in the freezer.

The biggest problem with these cookies will be degradation of the fats in the almonds and butter resulting in rancid tastes - these are not dangerous, just unpleasant.

There are few risks with food safety regarding cooked cookies as the temperature of cooking is enough to kill all potential pathogens and typically lowers the water activity within the cookie to a point where few pathogens are capable of growing. It is hard to say what the exact water activity of your cookies will be, but I suspect fairly low.


Grape vinegar vs wine vinegar Is there a difference between the two? Also, does the commercially available wine vinegar contain any alcohol?

As Blessed Geek indicates, vinegar is made by fermentation of ethanol by "mother of vinegar", a bacterial culture.  This is true of all vinegar, not just wine vinegar.  The unique flavor profile of various vinegars is the result of other flavors in the base wine or spirit used to produce the vinegar.  (Well, some vinegars like true traditionally produced balsamic vinegar get flavor from the casks in which they are produced and aged, but that is a special case.)

Finding definitive and credible sources on the amount of remaining alcohol in the final product after fermentation is difficult.  One of the more credible sites indicates no more than about 2% alcohol content remains; other sources seem to indicate about 0.5%.

Unless you are concerned about the laws of Islam, or the possible affect on a recovering alcoholic, this is trace alcohol almost certainly negligible.  I am not qualified to comment on what it might mean for those two areas of concern, though.


Why did I end up with mushy corned beef? I cooked my first ever corned beef brisket. I think it was a point cut by the shape of it. I won the darn thing and the package did not specify.

Anyway, I brought to a boil then reduced to a simmer for three hours. The taste is good but the texture is mushy. It seems a little fatty. Did I overcook it?

Take everything I say with a grain of salt (pun intended) as I am writing from Texas where we do nobler things with brisket. A true corned-beef-expert would be of Irish or Jewish descent, and from New York.

The meat should have relatively tough individual fibers that separate easily because of the long, wet cooking. It is pretty difficult to overcook brisket as it is so tough. Like Chuck Norris but tastier. Three hours would definitely not be enough time.

It can be fatty and that will be pretty much up to how much of the fat was trimmed off when it was butchered. An untrimmed brisket has a solid layer of fat that can be as much as a half inch thick. Obviously trimmed briskets cost more. The fat can be nice for smoking but the corned beef I have seen is not as fatty.

Fatty and mushy are not the same thing, of course. If the meat is actually mushy then I suspect that it was packed with a meat tenderizer as well as the corning salt and seasonings. If this is the case then there isn't much you could have done differently. Just don't buy that brand next time. Better yet, next time, corn it yourself.


How does my pre-cooked Costco chicken breast not expire for another 5 weeks? I bought some "fully cooked chicken breast strips" that are seasoned and has grill lines on them. They're quite tasty. Ingredients also include salt, potato starch, and vinegar.
The label says "best before" a date that is 5 weeks from now. I don't think there is enough salt or vinegar to preserve these since the chicken tastes like normal chicken and these aren't "cured" or pickled or the like. My understanding is cooked chicken usually goes bad after about 5-7 days.
How is this possible?

Keep in mind that the best before date is only valid until the package is opened.  Once it is opened, you must treat the chicken strips as if they were fresh and consume them within a few days.
Most likely the chicken is using 'modified atmosphere packaging' (MAP).  It's a very common method used to extend shelf life of meats and vegetables but since it doesn't look a whole lot different than regular packaging, many consumers aren't aware of it.  Wikipedia has explained the process fairly well.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_atmosphere


Restaurant kitchen supplies that are also really useful in a home kitchen? What are some good suggestions for the kinds of cooking tools and supplies you might normally see in a restaurant kitchen, but are also super useful in a home environment?

While there isn't one specific brand that is common to the cooking tools and supplies you might normally see in a restaurant kitchen, the items will undoubtedly be certified by NSF International (NSF stands for 'National Sanitation Foundation' - NOT 'National Science Foundation' here).  It is probably a good idea to get in the habit of looking for that certification when you shop:  sometimes the letters are stamped into metal supplies or the logo will be clearly printed on the packaging of other tools and equipment.

http://www.nsf.org/consumer-resources/what-is-nsf-certification/home-products-appliances/home-product-appliance-certification/

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/84/NSF-Certification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSF_International


Is there a way to bring a loaf of bread that's gone dry, back to life? It seems that some of the whole grain loafs seem to dry out very quickly, even stored in a plastic bag - if it hasn't started to turn green, is there a way to restore some of the life back into them?

Yes. Throw it in the oven on about 200 F for 20 minutes or so. The staling process is called retrogradation, and reheating can reverse it to some degree.


What is this fungus/lichen in my Garam Masala? (“Trifle”/truffle?) I just bought a lovely bag of Garam Masala, and was all ready to grind some when I got home!  But when I opened it, I found something I didn’t recognise — at first I thought something had gone mouldy, but there’s enough of this in there that whatever it is, I presume it’s supposed to be in there.

It looks to me like a fungus or lichen of some sort.  The list of ingredients includes “trifle” — could that be a mis-spelling for some Indian species of truffle, perhaps?

It seems to be an edible lichen.  It looks very like one described online as (black) stone flower in English and dagad phool in Hindi, which seems to be a not uncommon ingredient in various spice mixes; e.g. on the left in this photo from an Indian food blog:

[Edit: photo removed as I’ve just realised the author of that blog specifically requests not redistributing their content.  It’s a nice photo + site, though, if you follow the link!]

Having found these names, it’s now not hard to find a lot of websites mentioning it, especially in blogs/forum threads; but I can’t find any site in English that gives much detailed information.  Even its purpose in the mix is a bit unclear: some blog commenters describe it as having a unique earthy, mushroom-y flavour; others, as being similar to star anise; Wikipedia even seems to suggest it might just be a bulking agent.  (I don’t get any particular scent off it, at least not dry.)

So I think this is probably the right identification; and I’m reassured that it’s not something wrong with the mix; but I’m still quite intrigued, and would love to hear more about this ingredient from someone who knows it better!


Steaming and steam temperature With a boiling pot of water with lid on, can I get different steam temperature? This is without the use of a pressure cooker.
I understand the phase change process of water to steam and that steam contains higher energy than boiling water. But is the steam maxed at 100 deg C by boiling a household-pot of water and a lid? Or can I increase the steam's temperature further by applying more heat on the pot? Or will that just increase the production rate of steam?

No, it is impossible. There is a physics law which tells you how the temperature and pressure of a gas are related. If you try to heat a gas up, its pressure also increases automatically. If the gas is enclosed in a hermetically closed system (like a pressure cooker) then the pressure of the system becomes higher. That's actually how (and why) pressure cookers came into widespread use - not because people wanted higher pressure, but because they wanted higher steam temperature.
In a pot with the lid, the momentarily increased pressure lifts the lid of the pot, some steam escapes, and the pressure (and temperature) fall back, until a little bit more of pressure is built, the lid is lifted again, and so on, until something changes (you turn off the stove, or the water in the pot is spent). This process is frequently observed in kitchens - experienced cooks know they have to rush to a rattling pot and reduce the stove setting before something happens.


How to measure egg boiling time? Which factors influence the moment of soft-into-hard egg during the boiling?

size of the egg
putting egg to cold/hot water
colour of the egg
atmospheric pressure (water boiling temperature)

How to accurately find the point when egg turns hard?

Colour of the egg shell does not matter. Pigmentation is deposited, or not, depending on the breed of the bird.

There is in fact an astonishing amount of research devoted to egg cookery, as it is such an interesting topic. Whites coagulate at around 54C, yolks at about 62C. Which presents some interesting problems of course.

Here are some links that will be of interest. One is to a collection of links, often with further information in the comments.

http://www.metafilter.com/69134/Herv%C3%A9-This-the-man-who-unboiled-an-egg

http://blog.khymos.org/2009/04/09/towards-the-perfect-soft-boiled-egg/

http://openkitchenconcept.blogspot.com/2010/08/for-perfect-soft-boiled-egg.html

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_p046.shtml


Gluten Free Challah not keeping shape I use the following dough recipe, it tastes okay, but is very difficult to shape and never holds its shape.  Advice please

15 g      Dried Yeast (Green Tin when make in Machine / Yellow Tin when make by Hand)
20 g      Salt
900 g    Light Spelt Flour
150 ml  Honey
118 ml  Oil
3           Eggs
350 ml  Luke Warm Water
Flour for shaping, egg for painting and sesame seeds topping

Spelt flour is not gluten-free. Light spelt flour has less protein (gluten is a protein) than regular spelt or strong bread flour, but it's still there (5-8% from what I've seen), so if you need gluten free you need to pick another ingredient.

To answer your question, there are limitations to what you can do with low or gluten free doughs. Bread made with gluten is stretchy and keeps its shape because the gluten strands relax and become intertwined with each other, if you take the gluten out you lose that stretchiness and body. Dough improvers like xanthan gum can help give some stretchiness but not to the point of being able to make something like challah. Low or gluten free doughs are always going to be a bit crumbly - it's the nature of the beast - so my advice is to pick bread types where that's an asset.


How to make caramel sauce that doesn't taste bitter? Tonight I made a simple caramel sauce by using:

1 cup granulated sugar
6 tbsp butter
1/2 cup cream

I caramelized the sugar (without any water), stirring constantly. When it was fully melted and had no lumps in it, I put in my butter and stirred until it fully melted. Finally I took the mixture off the heat, slowly added cream, and whisked until the mixture was smooth.

At no point during the process did I smell burnt sugar, but when I tasted the caramel sauce, it tasted a lot more bitter than I was expecting.

Is there anything glaringly obviously wrong based on how I made my caramel sauce, or is there something else I can do to ensure my caramel sauce tastes less bitter?

I would say there are 2 problems here: the lack of water, and the constant stirring. Try adding 1/4 cup of water to the sugar - this should stop it catching and burning.

You should avoid stirring caramelising sugar because you run the risk of flicking bits of it onto the side of the pan. These isolated bits cook faster and thus burn, then drop into the rest of the sugar. Result: bitter caramel. Stirring also promotes crystallisation, which is not what you want for a smooth sauce.

If you have to stir it, do it slowly, carefully, and infrequently - only as much as necessary to distribute the water evenly through the sugar.

I would also use a sugar or probe thermometer to ensure you're not over-cooking the sugar - get it to 350ºF, then take it off heat. This will take 6-8 minutes, and it will be a dark amber colour. Let it stand for 1 minute before whisking in your cream (I normally gently heat the cream beforehand by the way, and add a teaspoon of sea salt to it, because salted caramel is effing gorgeous).


New crockpot cook times rule? Apparently many people really do not like the "newer" and "hotter" crock pots. With the temperature being hotter, many people are reporting their food being burnt.

Thing is because most of the recipes are for the old style crock pots.

Is there a good rule of thumb when it comes to cooking with the newer and hotter crock pots? I bought an oval 6.5 quart (6 l) crock pot but I'm half scared to use it because I don't want it to get burnt.

There's no right answer to this, every brand is different. Plus, you are assuming that you will have this problem when you don't know if the pot you bought is hotter than normal. In any case as long as you have enough liquid in it and use a low setting you shouldn't have to worry about anything burning.

My advice is to try a standard slow-cooker recipe and see how you do. If it cooks too fast then try bigger chunks.


What is Canadian-style sour cream? I recently bought a container of what was labeled "Canadian-style sour cream" at a produce market in the Bay Area. Being from Canada, I was curious to see what it was, since all the sour cream I've had in Canada was the same as the sour cream I've had in the US.

But when I opened the container, it sure seemed to be regular sour cream. So what's the difference?

From this discussion it appears to be a way of differentiating it from Russian-style sour cream
or smetana.  Maybe it came about during the Cold War and it couldn't be sold as "American-Style" so they called it Canadian-Style... or maybe it's just a marketing ploy.


Can I re-cook potatoes stored half-roasted in the fridge? The other day I roasted some new potatoes in olive oil, with some thyme and garlic and added some lemon later. The only problem was I didn't roast them for long enough, I roasted them for 45 mins at 200C, it should probably have been an hour. I ate some of them anyway but they were quite hard. I stored them in the fridge, they've been there for about three days.

Can I re-roast them? They look very nice with the thyme and garlic and lemon. Or should I throw them away? What's the best way to cook them if I do keep them?

Theoretically roasting them more should cook them further, however after cooling and drying in the fridge they may not come out with a very nice texture. Try microwaving a few of them before you roast them, if microwaving cooks them to they are done and you still want to eat them afterwards then roasting is a good option. If microwaving them doesn't work out roasting isn't likely to either.

When roasting potatoes I prefer to par-boil them before roasting, it really gives a much better result! See my answer to this question for some more details.


Can I use Yellow Croaker for fish and chips? I bought some fish called Yellow Croaker. Can this be fried with batter to make fish and chips or will this type of fish not have the right type of texture for fried fish?

What type of fish is traditionally used to make fish and chips, and generally what type of characteristics in fish would make it a good candidate to be used as a fried fish?

Generally any non-oily fish is fine for deep frying. A relatively meaty fish (though not too meaty like monkfish) with a good thick fillet is best, because this allows the batter to cook without overcooking the fish. As Yellow Croaker is not an oily fish, you should be fine to batter and deep fry it provided you have a nice thick fillet.

Traditional fish and chips usually uses cod or haddock.


Shelf stable caramels How can I make caramels at home that are shelf stable?

My research confirms the first comment by @Chris H; that is, homemade caramels are shelf stable.  From a safety concern there is no problem.  However, some home candy makers describe a graininess that occurs over time, making the candy less pleasurable. Some folks have experimented with different types of sugars to attempt to combat this effect. Moisture absorption over time is another problem impacting quality.  Suggestions are to wrap individually, then place in an air tight container. There is actually quite a bit of discussion about caramels on the internets, if you want to compare your recipe to what others have tried.


What is the purpose of Whiskey rocks? My friend puts cold rocks in his whiskey to cool it down.  Is it to look fancy?

Can he just put the bottle in the fridge to cool it down without needing to put rocks in it?

It is to cool it down without dilluting it - ice cubes would melt.
And yes, you could simply cool the entire bottle, but it wouldn't look that fancy.

Note that some purists would wrinkle their noses and insist that whisky1 is best enjoyed at room temperature and perhaps with a small dash of spring water.

1 And I'm soooo not going into a whisky vs. whiskey debate here.


Possible to freeze jam in glass? I have read on multiple canning sites that you can freeze jam in glass jars. Has anyone actually done this successfully? Under what circumstances would it be preferable to putting the jam in plastic containers?

It just doesn't seem very safe to me (I fear the glass would break).

Previously, I have bought plastic containers to freeze jam in, but they did not seal very well. I'm wondering if glass could perform better? Or, should I just find better plastic containers?

Yes, I've done this.  The key is to ensure that the jam isn't filling the glass container completely so that as it freezes it has room to expand.

I used a typical Ball canning jar, which sealed well enough to keep ice crystals out for several months.

From what I understand, freezer canning is useful when you don't have a pressure canner but want to can lower acid items which otherwise might be dangerous to your health (if not pressure canned).


Is it possible to bake a cake without an oven? I don't have an oven; is there any way to simulate what an oven does with any other tools available at my home? In particular I would like to be able to bake cakes.

Microwave + Coffee Cup = Awesome

A few years ago I was looking for a project for some cub scouts when I came across this recipe to make chocolate cake in a microwave.  It's delicious and easy. Best of all you can make it in the office.

Check out this link: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_Cake_in_a_Mug


Using gas cooker now having problem cooking food I have a new world gas cooker bur I am finding following recipes cooking guidelines results in undercooked bases of i.e. scones, fruit pies, or Xmas fruit loaf. When baking blind, the top of food looks cooked but the bottom is soggy and uncooked. I tried changing position of shelves and cooking longer on lower heat, but my normally good baking is no longer.

On many gas ovens, the calibration of oven temperature is fairly slack - the manual for mine says it can be off be 30 degrees either up or down. Invest in an oven thermometer, preheat your oven until it shows the desired temperature, and see if this gives you better results.


Why are my cookies crumbling after I bake them? I make the Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies recipe and swap out the flour for gluten free flour.  I'm trying to figure out why the cookies crumbled after I made them. The butter was very soft; could that be the reason, or do I need an additional egg in the recipe because of the flour substitution?

Gluten-free flour is not a perfect substitute for wheat flour. Each mixture out there is designed to mostly work in certain kinds of recipe, but not in all of them. And yes, it is perfectly normal for a gluten-free cookie to be crumbly, since it is the gluten itself that holds wheat cookes together.

I suppose the prepared flour mixture you have is just no good for cookies. Instead of making substitutions in an existing recipe and hoping for a miracle fit, just find a gluten-free cookie recipe (which is likely to use correct proportions of starches and binders, not the unknown mixture you get in the supermarket) and bake that. Troubleshooting substitutions is rarely worth the amount of work you have to invest, and the end result is not the same as without the substitution anyway.


Corn Starch vs Potato Starch One of the recipes I am trying out asks me to use Potato starch to help thicken the sauce. A majority of the recipes I found online for it say to use Potato starch but at the store I mainly found corn starch.

I was wondering if there are any really big differences other than the obvious one that I should be aware of when substituting between these two starches. Are they interchangeable or is there a big difference?

They are interchangeable 1:1, with virtually no changes needed. There shouldn't be any difference in the final sauce except that the cornstarch thickened one will be a bit more opaque. If you substitute the other way (use potato starch instead of cornstarch) don't let it hard boil (not for safety reasons, just aesthetics). In what country was the recipe developed? Could the need for potato starch instead of corn starch in your recipe have to do with Passover rules?


Raw meat or prepared food? Which lasts longer? - Short term Let's say you buy all the ingredients for your meal. You choose a recipe which is using meat.
From the shop, you get raw grinded meat that is still good for a week. (label says so.)

Which will last longer?
A) The raw meat in the fridge (and prepare it when you want it.)
B) Prepare the meal, cool it down properly and put it in the fridge.
C) Freeze the meat and unthaw when you need it the next few days.

(C is an extra option, as I doubt it's a handy option if you just want to prepare the meal the next day or the day after that. But again, I couldn't find any evidence back anything up.)

Option C lasts longest, then option A, with option B being the shortest.

When you have no other information, the official fridge life of any cooked meal is 3-5 days, starting from the day you cooked it, and no matter how old or fresh the ingredients were.

When you have information from the producer, as in the case of your label, then this information supplants any standard assumptions. So your raw meat will last for a full week, assuming you cook it all at once. This is longer than the 3-5 days.

The information on the label assumes that the package stays closed. The moment you open it, the date on the label becomes irrelevant, and you are left with the typical fridge life of ground meat, which is 1-2 days. So you cannot cook small portions every day for a week.

Freezing "stops the clock" on shelf life, so it lasts as long as you want it to.

The answer about "This helps to kill bacteria which will otherwise make the meat go bad." is based on oversimplified reasoning which is not in line with food safety standars. For more info on this and other typical myths, see https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info.


Can I store suet or home-rendered tallow at room temperature for a year? This weekend I will be in possession of 100 lbs of beef suet (which I'll be getting from a butcher friend) and plan to render it into tallow. I can't even begin to imagine exactly what this amount of tallow will look like, but I'm absolutely certain I won't have nearly enough room in the fridge or freezer to store it.
I was told large quantities of rendered tallow can be stored at room temperature for up to or even a year; possibly longer if I keep it in my cool, dark basement.  Rendered fats never last long enough in our house to know for sure. Apparently canning isn't an option because the heated fat will keep the jar from sealing, but it will be fine in a well sealed glass (Mason-style) jar.
A quick Google search turns up some anecdotal evidence but I'd prefer some science.
Can I store my rendered tallow in well-sealed glass jars in the basement for up to (or over) a year? More importantly, why or why not?
I've been operating under the assumption that the rendered tallow will be safer to store for a long period of time. I just saw on StillTasty (which doesn't have a tallow entry unfortunately) that commercial suet can be stored for a year in the pantry, opened or unopened. That seems really strange to me - is that true?  I would expect fat to go rancid quickly in an opened container in the pantry. Is it because it's "commercial" suet? Is there anything I could do to my suet so I could store it unrendered?

Tallow does not need to be refrigerated and can last a year or longer. I would not worry greatly about decomposition, but oxidation can be a problem. Make sure to store it in an airtight container and you shouldn't have a problem.


How to to prepare red deer haunch without using high temperature, so that its not dry? I am trying to perfect the method of preparing red deer haunch, and so far I was unsuccessful to make a really good one. I already learned to tenderize it with vinegar/papaya/kiwi for 24 hours before cooking, and although it makes it more tender, after cooking the meat still comes out dry.

What method of cooking to use to so that it doesn't come out so dry?

Because of health concerns of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) I'd prefer to use as low temperatures as reasonably possible while still achieving a tasty meal. Similarly out of health concerns, if possible I'd also prefer not to use alcohols or sugars during preparation.

Some tip I've been told is to completely immerse the meat in goose fat and cook on low heat several hours. Is this a good idea or is there a better way to do it?

As far as i'm concerned the secret is low temperature and patience. First of all, let's state that when cook a piece of meat as lean as red deer haunch, it is truly hard work to avoid a dry texture, given how little fat there is in your base product.

The way I handle this type of cut is to quickly sear it and then put it in an oven below boiling temperature for a LONG time. Just keep it at about 90 C and it will be good after about 5 hours (and still be good after 7)

Make sure the meat is covered in stewing liquid and there should not be any loss of moisture from evaporation. Give it that much time and the meat will become tender and moist despite missing the fat.

What I do to avoid watery flavour is to spoon some of the stewing liquid (about a liter) out into a separate pan an hour before serving and reducing it all the way down. You can then work it up to a sauce to have a creamy texture tasting like a concentrated versionof the stewing liquid. This will work regardless of the what you put in the stewing liquid, and does not require alcohol or sugar to produce a flavorsome sauce.


How long does bicarbonate soda (baking soda) keep? I am thinking of baking biscuits for presents for Christmas.

However, the recipe calls for baking soda, and I cook from scratch fairly rarely, so I'm worried the leftover bicarb will go strange in my cupboard.  And since people use it for all sorts of purposes, it's one of those products generally not available in the small quantities called for in cooking.

If I do buy a packet, how long is an expected shelf-life for it?  Based on this question I probably should find an airtight container to store it in, which may assist.

(Note if relevant: I live in Sydney Australia; Christmas here is mid-summer, and often fairly high-humidity and 35-40 degree C heat.)

StillTasty provides a very conservative answer: 6 months at best quality. In my personal experience, it can last much longer and be just fine, though I think the longest I ever kept a box was a couple years, not 5 years like riotburn. StillTasty suggests that the concern after more than 6 months is lost potency, but I believe the potential to take on odors from the surroundings is much more of a concern; store it in something airtight like you said, and you should be pretty safe from that.

So I'm sure it'll last at least until next Christmas. And if you do get into baking, you might go through a box faster than you'd think. Otherwise, it's fortunately pretty cheap, and it does have other uses (e.g. cleaning) so it won't hurt you too much to just go for it.


Sliced citrus in a pie? I've been considering making an orange pie - but something generally closer to e.g. an apple or pear pie than a key-lime. Something with distinct slices, not a custard(-ish) filling. From a cursory search, though, I can't find anything of the sort - no baked slices or chunks of any citrus. Is this a thing that can reasonably be done?

Try searching for shaker lemon pie. You can also find a couple recipes for "shaker orange pie" but the lemon version is the more common one.

It definitely works well with lemon. If the recipes specifically with orange don't work out, you could also try starting with a shaker lemon pie recipe, replacing the lemons with oranges, then adding lemon juice and reducing the sugar to rebalance the sour and sweet. (I don't think you can just cut the sugar really drastically; there's generally enough of it to contribute to the texture, not just sweetness.)


What is the most effective way to extract mint flavor for a Mojito? How can one prepare mint for a Mojito a way that will optimally extract its flavor? Are there any other factors that are important while making the drink?

The best way I've found to get full flavor out of the mint is to infuse your liquor with it. I do this for mint juleps. Simply take a handful of mint, bruise it (you can just crush it in your hand or stick it in a bag and whack it a couple of times with a wooden spoon), and place it in your liquor of choice (white rum in this case) and leave it for a day or two. You'll need to experiment with the right amount for your drink, but I loosely pack a mason jar about half full to do bourbon.

If you want the actual leaves in your drink, then you need to make sure you muddle the mint rather than just putting it in. What you want from the mint is the oils in it, these are released better when you bruise the leaves. So just chopping and throwing it in won't work well. You actually need to crush them.

It's also important to use the lime rind in addition to the juice. And again, muddle it. The reasoning is the same. There are oils in the rind that are released during muddling that have a decidedly different flavor than just the juice.

To finish out, pick your sweetener. I like to use simple syrup, but you can also use sugar (or anything sweet, if you want to change the flavor, try a flavored syrup). And then top it up with something non-alcoholic. I particularly like sprite, but also use lemonade or sometimes just soda water. Be careful to balance the sweetener based on whatever you're adding; Sprite obviously needs less sugar added than soda water.


Used Sweetened yoghurt in savoury dish - how to correct? While making lamb and spinach curry, by accident I used sweetened natural yoghurt, instead of unsweetened. How can I disguise the sweet taste? I have added more spices, and also lemon juice.

You cannot disguise or remove the sweetness, once it is in there it isn't going to go away. You can balance it out with acidity, however if it is very sweet then you will need to add a lot of acid, and then the dish will be intensely sweet and sour, which probably is not what you want.

You aren't going to be able to regain the character of the dish, but you might be able to produce something tasty. I would try to add some bitterness, like fenugreek if you have it, and see if that makes it work. There is a point of diminishing returns where you can spend more time and effort adding more and more ingredients to rescue a dish than it's worth, at that point it's better to start over or feed it to people and tell them it's your grandmother's recipe - nobody will ever tell you it's bad then.


Which kind of icing should be used? In reading about baking one comes across many different type of icing; royal, buttercream, fondant etc. What is the difference between these? What determines the choice of icing used on a cake?

Fondant is nearly solid -- it's rolled out, and placed onto the cake (with a buttercream underneath as an adhesive).  The advantage is that it goes on really quickly and smoothly over large items.  It can also be cut into shapes with rather clean edges (modeling chocolate gives sharper edges, but it's not flexible enough to cover a round cake).  You often see it on professional non-traditional cakes (more novelties, when they need a solid color or something that's strangely shaped.

Fondant can also be used to give a solid background can then be piped into (with buttercream icing, generally) or painted. As it's nearly solid, it can also be worked like you would clay to make decorations.

Royal icing dries hard as it has no fat in it.  It's generally only used on cakes as a drizzle where you're not attempting to cover the entire cake.  You'll often see it used on bundt cakes, but you more frequently see it used for cookies when you're doing a flood-fill.

Buttercream icings (commonly called 'frosting' in the US) is likely the most standard for non-professional stacked cakes.  It's spread on, so it takes a little more work to get a clean smooth surface. (the trick is to wait 'til the surface has hardened, put down some waxed paper, then smooth out all of the spatula marks ... you need to wait 'til the waxed paper doesn't stick, but not so long that it hasn't set up completely).  You can also use buttercream in pastry bags to create flowers, ropes, basketweave and other decorations.

...

And then there's other frostings/icings, too, but they're not as general purpose.  They generally go with specific types of cakes --  caramel and other cooked frostings (eg, used in 'German Chocolate Cake'), cream cheese frosting (for carrot and other spice cakes), whipped cream (used in black forest cake & strawberry shortcake)


Is it worth putting potato skins in chicken stock? I like to save vegetable scraps (carrot tops, onion skins and ends, ends of celery etc.) in my freezer and once I have a chicken carcass and a full bag of scraps I will make chicken stock out of them. I often have left-over potato peels and I've thought of putting them in. Will they contribute in any way to the stock?

I personally would not put potato skins in my chicken stock. The flavor does not complement the other elements, and the starches you will get will cloud the stock and make it a bit grainy.


How much of a shrimp is meat? How much of a shrimp is meat, in percentage?

Read on google that the head is 35%, shell is 15% and meat 50%,

is this correct?

From my own experience with weighing, 50% meat is correct.


How to stop sugar syrup from crystallizing? How much cream of tartar do you use to keep sugar syrup from crystallizing?

According to this recipe, you will need about a gram for each kilogram of sugar. Roughly, this is about 1/3 to 1/4 of a teaspoon.

Try that and see if it works. If it doesn't, increase the amount slightly.


Measuring temperature of diced chicken I purchased an analogue instant-read meat thermometer (link to the precise product).

I fried some diced chicken in a little lime juice and olive oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat. I periodically measured the temperature by sticking the end into the centre of a piece of chicken.

At no point (even after 10+ mins) could I get the thermometer to read above 40 C (whereas it should reach at least 68 C), even increasing the heat had little effect. I ended up overcooking the chicken in an attempt to increase the temperature measurement.

I stuck the thermometer in boiling water to check it was working properly and it indeed gave a reasonable measurement.

Question: Can anyone explain what I may have been doing wrong?

Is there a knack to performing the measurements? Are the thermometers intended for measuring large pieces of meat only? Or did I likely fail to heat the chicken correctly? In which case, what should I do to get the temperature up? Like I said, even on a high heat still wouldn't push the temperature above 40 C.

Here's a technical explanation as to what happened. An analog thermometer works on the principle that different metals expand more than others when heated. There is a bi-metallic strip in the pen part of the thermometer in the shape of a spiral coil, which is attached to a piece of metal which turns the pointer. The outside of the strip expands more when heated and contracts more when cooled than the inside, so when heated the coil will twist the pointer in the direction of the spiral.

As the pen part of the thermometer heats up the coil changes shape and adjusts the temperature. As you can see from the picture the sensitive area of the thermometer is the length of the coil, that entire area needs to be heated up to the same temperature in order to read correctly. In your case what you were trying to measure was too small and had to compete against the ambient temperature of the air.

Digital thermometers work on a different principle entirely, using an electrical device called a thermocouple on the end of a probe.

The bead at the end is the actual sensor, and as it is much smaller it is therefore more precise than a bi-metal coil. However, I still think one of these wouldn't work because again the size of the meat isn't enough to heat the probe's sheath enough for the sensor to read correctly.


Do you need to sterilize jars when making yogurt? I recently bought an Instant Pot and am curious about its much-touted yogurt-making capabilities. From this video it looks simple enough. What the video doesn't address, though, is the question of sterilization. Do I need to sterilize the yogurt jars, as though I were making jam? My guess is no, since you can also make yogurt in the steel liner, which isn't sterile, but it seems prudent to make sure.

Just clean with soap and water. Sterilization is not necessary.


Substituting buttermilk powder for buttermilk I made a banana cake with ripe, pureed bananas and substituted pineapple juice mixed with buttermilk powder instead of the buttermilk in the recipe. I used the same amount of juice as you would water listed on the package. The cake tasted great, but was very dense. Will the powder and juice mixture affect the consistency of the cake? Thanks!

Cakes are chemically leavened with baking powder or baking soda. They have a narrow pH range in which they work.

Pineapple juice is very acidic. It probably reacted with your leavening and deactivated it.

You can use buttermilk powder for the cake, but you have to mix it with water, not fruit juice. Then it will work as usual.


Indian Curry: Frying spices vs marinating the meat in them I'm on a bit of a quest to make a great lamb vindaloo, and through my research I've seen two pieces of advice (often given together) that I can't quite reconcile.  First is to marinate the meat in the spices for up to a day beforehand.

The second is that when making any curry, you should toast the spices separately first and then add the meat afterwards to brown it.  It seems impossible to do both!

Any recommendations?  My current thought is to toast and grind the whole spices, then marinate the meat with the powder.  Then fry the onions and brown the meat from there.

Many thanks

For Vindaloo, it is not customary (nor necessary) to fry the spices before marinating.

Curries vary quite a bit within and across parts of India. Many do not require the roasting of spices before addition.


A substitute for carrageenan? We are trying to make nondairy cheese. The recipe calls for Carrageenan and we have arrowroot.  How much arrowroot should we use in lieu of the carrageenan?

I doubt very much that you'll be able to substitute any amount of arrowroot for carrageenan. Arrowroot can substitute for other starches, but carrageenan is a gum.

If you want to be able to melt the cheese easily, gelatin is your best bet, and you should be able make a 1:1 substitution (although the process is obviously different - you need to bloom it first, be careful not to overheat, and give it plenty of time to set).

On the other hand, if it's meant to simulate a hard cheese (which is likely if the recipe calls for kappa as opposed to iota carrageenan) then agar-agar is probably a better choice; you'd use about 1/3 of the amount of carrageenan (or less) and, again, it's a different process, you'd basically need to boil it for a few minutes to get decent hydration.

If you're of the mind that gelatin is not vegan (it's technically an "animal product", although it's so heavily refined that the definition is practically meaningless) then you can try the agar-agar substitution, just don't expect it to be exactly the same.


What is a halogen burner or (?) cooktop? How does it work? I often order from a restaurant supply store for commercial quality items. I just received a new fry pan and on the label it noted that it was safe for electric, gas, and halogen.

I haven't ever heard of halogen burners or cooktops. I looked up "halogen burner" and the results were for stand alone burners that are electric (plug in).

So, I guess I want to know if halogen burners would have a commercial purpose and what the benefits or downsides would be. And, how do they work?

Halogen hobs are a type of electrical resistive hob which work just like a halogen incandescent bulb. In fact, the reason why incandescent bulbs are being phased out is that they are so inefficient, giving off most of the energy they use as heat instead of light. A halogen hob uses the same kind of tungsten filament as the lamps, instead of the iron found in the widespread electrical hobs.

The benefit is that it warms up quite fast, much faster than iron.

I haven't shopped for resistive cooktops in recent years, so I don't know how the market is. It's possible that they are very rare and expensive, or that all the new ceramic cooktops use them and the manufacturers don't mention it on the label, so the public is unaware of it. They don't work differently than standard burners, just faster, and they don't look much different from the outside. You also don't need any kind of special cookware for them, I have no idea why the manufacturer of that pan decided to tell you that it works on both "electric" and "halogen", when it is the same thing where pan suitability is concerned.

Update as per ChrisH's comment: Because the halogen works mostly with radiant heat, it's important that you don't use a pan with mirroring bottom, that's probably why the pan was labelled as suitable for halogen besides "electric". This is probably important for iron-heating ceramic cooktops too, because the ceramic also lets a significant part of the iron's radiant heat through.


Can I use citric acid instead of lemon juice when canning? I am making wine jelly and have run out of lemons. I have some citric acid in the pantry. Can I use the citric acid instead? The jelly calls for half a cup of lemon juice. If I can use it, how much citric acid would I use?

Yes, you can.  In fact, many canning and jarring recipes specifically call for citric acid.

Presumably you are using citric acid in its dried, crystalline form.  In that case, a solution of around 4% citric acid (e.g. 4gm in 100ml of water) should be around the same strength as lemon juice.


Are long brines neccesary for sous vide? I'm looking at a recipe which calls for two weeks of wet brining followed by 48 hours of sous vide for beef tongue. I've seen similar recipes for other tough cuts of meat such as brisket.

It seems to me that if we're going to stick it in a vacuum, the meat can't really dry out that much in any case, so I'm not clear on what the brine, especially such a long one is accomplishing.

What am I missing? Are long brines for tough cuts really necessary if you're going to sous vide them afterwards?

Typically brines are for tenderizing and penetrating flavour into the meat.

The use of the brine would be to break down the tough meat

Though a sous vide does tenderize mildly with the long cooking time you stated, you don't want to over cook it, hence the brine.

Nor would the sous vide alone add as much flavour as the 2 week brine.

The brine is more for a tenderization than to prevent drying out.


Additives to make bread soft and moist? Given a recipe for bread/buns, what can I do to make it softer and more moist? From what I have gathered in various recipes on the net:

scald the milk
use buttery sweet dough emulsion
use diastatic malt powder
use bakers special dry milk

For #2, #3, and #4 -- are there any guidelines on how much to add for a recipe that doesn't already include these?

Recipes will generally call for either dry milk or fresh milk. You can (and probably should) always scald fresh milk. You can freely substitute dry milk (either regular non-fat dry milk or "bakers dry milk") for fresh milk by reconstituting the dry milk per package instructions. You can also substitute the other way (liquid for dry) by replacing an equal amount of the water in the recipe.

"Buttery sweet dough emulsion" is not a bread product. It adds butter flavor and sometimes other flavors (usually vanilla) to sweet baked goods like cakes and danishes.

Regarding diastatic malt powder, you should check the label on the flour that you're using and make sure that it doesn't already contain it. Most "normal" bread flours are just wheat, but be aware of any mention of malt or barley in the ingredients. Those words would probably mean that there is already diastatic malt powder included. Assuming your flour is all wheat, you can replace a very small portion of it with diastatic malt powder. Figure 0.5% to 2% by weight, don't go any higher than that.

If you're just getting started with bread, look for good recipes first. Altering bread recipes is fraught with peril if you're not an expert.

These sites are good places to start:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/


When should I add the garlic to a roasted leg of lamb? I'm going to roast a leg of lamb. Here is how I plan to cook it:

Cover it with kosher salt
Let is rest in the fridge for two days
Make 10 or 12 slits, and stuff them with garlic sort of like this recipe.
Cook

Would there be any benefit to putting the garlic into the lamb before it rests in the fridge? My goal is to make it tasty. Will the garlic flavor maybe infuse better somehow?

There's no benefit to putting the garlic in as slices from a flavor point of view, it's the cooking that brings the garlic flavor out. I've found that no matter how you do it the garlic flavor pretty much stays with the garlic rather than spreading throughout the meat - you don't get some even garlic hum throughout, instead you get parts with intense garlic flavor, which if you like garlic is a good thing. The only way to get it more even is smaller garlic slices in many more slits, however loads of slits will lead to the meat drying out.
From a food safety point of view cutting the slits and putting garlic in them that long before cooking can introduce bacteria or botulism spores deep inside the meat, and the temperature you cook it to may not be enough to make the food safe. If you use this method it's prudent to wash the outside of the meat, the knife, the garlic and of course your hands before you do it to reduce this risk.


How much does a tuppenny loaf weigh? I recently found an old recipe dating from (we think) the mid 19th century.  It states to, "grate a stale tuppenny loaf".
How much is that?  Pounds, ounces, kilograms --  I haven't been able to find a weight that I can use, and none of my older relatives know.
Location could be Cornwall, but that's based purely on where my family came from, rather than any knowledge or certainty
Does anybody on here know?

Depends when.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assize_of_Bread_and_Ale
The price directly related to the cost of the wheat so would have fluctuated over time, and even where the bread was sold.
There were also several types of loaf. I think this would typically refer to white bread, the most expensive.
This is from 1765 in London

I'd say around 'one pound', but it's massively variable and not really answerable without much more context.


Trouble making corn tortillas I have tried a variety of experiments to make corn tortillas, but the results have been far from satisfactory

The only masa I can get this corner of the world is imported from Mexico or USA and is chilled or frozen

The masa and water mix goes soft after I let it stand for 30 to 60 minutes

I use a typical tortilla press, but it never gets them really thin, just flat, say match thickness?

The main problem  is that using a well seasoned cast iron comal they take longer to cook than I would expect (more than one minute), and tend to dry out too much, and don't like being bent. If I stop cooking them after a minute they taste very uncooked

They taste so so ... the kids will eat them all day made up as Quesadillas

Where am I going wrong?

They may be too thick. You can try placing several pieces of paper or thin cardboard into your tortilla press to get thinner tortillas. (If you aren't already using plastic or wax paper to press the tortillas, then you'll have to start, so that the paper doesn't stick to the tortilla.) Experiment with several different thicknesses until the cooking is more uniform/faster but they're still thick enough to support the food.  (You'll also need to modulate the heat.)  Once you find the right thickness you can just leave the extra sheets of paper/cardboard in the press for future pressings.


Turning Harissa into Hot Sauce I have some Harissa at home but I will probably never use it up as I do not cook meals that are that hot too often. As I think that it's hotness tastes a bit like the hotness of Hot Sauce (as known in the US) I would like to know if and how it's possible to turn Harissa paste into something that resembles Hot Sauce. (Since Hot Sauce can be added to any meal individually after cooking easily it's much more likely that I will be able to use up some Hot Sauce than the Harissa.)

The only difference between something that would be called "hot sauce" and a "chili paste" is the consistency, and perhaps how finely ground the chilis are (though harissas are usually pretty finely ground.) They can both be used to cook with, and they can both be used as condiments.

If there's a specific type of hot sauce you're looking to replicate (e.g. Tobasco,) you're probably going to fail. Despite the fact that there seems to be more in common than differences among hot sauces, there's a tremendous amount of variation in how they're made, and the processes tend to be counter-intuitively complex. What peppers? Fermented or fresh? Cooked or raw? Vinegar, oil, or another base? Is there an added thickener? How hot? Is it sweet? What's the salt content?

For example, my favorite hot sauce, Azorean Piri Piri sauce, is made by keeping salted peppers between two wooden crates while they drain and ferment. Nando's famous piri piri marinade (which could certainly be considered a hot sauce) is completely different, using cooked, pureed peppers. If I had some sort of piri piri chili paste, it would not be suitable to make either of these sauces.

However, If you're looking to make any sort of hot sauce at all, I'd highly recommend experimenting with small amounts. You might just need to loosen it up with some vinegar and/or water, and salt. Maybe add a touch of sugar to round it out. Maybe puree some garlic. Maybe add some smoked paprika for more depth. Keep in mind that it will probably be a bit harsh when you're tasting it directly (you may want to get a box of bland crackers to use,) but whatever you're putting it on will almost certainly drastically mute the hot/sharp/pungent notes significantly.

Good luck!


Why is my purple sweet potato brown? So, I've seen a previous question about brown spots in purple sweet potatoes, but I have baked a potato that actually has a large brown... area. Is this spoilage? I ate a bite from the "top" area, where there is no brown blotch, and it tastes okay... but the "varied" color of the rest makes me nervous.

That's a yam, not a sweet potato. Looks like tropical rot. Probably had one or more insects get into it in the monsoon season. Looks like a fungus infection to me. Too wet a soil.


Frozen Asparagus after thawed became extremely soggy and wet, any way to salvage? So I bought a bunch of asparagus from Costco and because I didn't want to use them immediately, I froze them. This week I decided to take them out to thaw in the fridge so I let it sit overnight.

What ended up happening was the ice melted and the whole bag got soaked so now they are all wet and a little mushy? Is there a way to salvage them? I plan on just baking them but idk if they are okay to eat anymore. Or is it okay if they are wet? After reading how to actually store asparagus, I probably know now I don't need to thaw them.

It probably won't be an appetizing texture to eat whole by itself no matter what you do to it at this point, though you can try draining and cooking - your tolerance for mushiness might be higher than mine!

I'd personally blend it into a soup, so the texture isn't an issue. Things like cream of asparagus just need the flavor, which should still be okay.


How to use oleoresin capsicum (chilli extract)? How do you use the food additive oleoresin capsicum? How to enhance its spiciness?

I made a few attempts with 1-2 drops per person in dishes already spiced with lots of chillies. However, the additive seems to cause more stomach pains than heat in the mouth...

I have tried:

Mixing the few drops in a very thick base sauce and then add it to the rest of a more liquid (watery) sauce.
Mixing a few drops in oil. They mix quite well, but not entirely. Then put the oil in the dish.

My guess is that the oleoresin does not dilute or dissolve well in the dish and stays confined in fat globules, so that they go straight through the stomach without interacting much with the mouth.

If you really want to, I suspect you can add it to oil to dissolve/dilute it before adding to your dish. I know you said you tried that, but it really should work if you mix the oil well (possibly with heating), and incorporate it well into the dish. If it still doesn't work, then perhaps the extract you have doesn't have the right balance of compounds.

But even if it works, at that point you might as well just use chili oil, or really any spicy sauce that you like. There are plenty that are hot enough to not need tons, and get your food plenty hot. It'll be less fussy to use, and less risk of accidentally throwing everything off with a drop too much.


Baking maple syrup on cold smoked almonds I've been smoking almonds for years using a combination of maple syrup and seasonings, but recently I've discovered cold smoking gives a much nicer and deeper smoke flavor.

I have a great soy wasabi almond recipe that I think is even better than Blue Diamond, but that's easy--just apply the wasabi paste after the nuts are smoked.

My traditional sweet and spicy recipe requires a good dose of maple syrup and other sugars, and I am not sure how to finish the cold smoked nuts without losing the crunchy texture. Is there a low heat way to do this?  I normally use a Cookshack smoker for these. Thank you.

Have you considered using a maple syrup reduction.  This should lower the amount of moisture you have been applying to your nuts.


How to make good looking cake pops? I've tried to make cake pops a few times but they never came out as beautiful and tidy as the pictures I found on the web. I would love to try more and more to nail the goal but I think I must know some rules or what-to-do's to make progress. So please anyone who has the experience share the important points here, I really appreciate it. Please note that for me, the taste is as important as the look.

The following questions are what I'd like to know:

Does it matter what kind of cake you use, greasy or sponge or something else?
What about the icing? Here the question is, do I have to add less sugar in my cake batter to make it less sweeter so that I can use any kind of icing without worries?
Does it make a big difference what kind of  lollipop stick?

I tried googling the subject "how to make cake pops" and read a few search results but most of them used special brands for different uses (e.g. candy melts) which are not available in my country.

Here is an example of some amazing cake pops:

There are two ways to get the shape. One way is to bake them spherical, the other to crumble the cake and to roll the crumples with icing.

To bake them spherical, you need a mold that goes into the oven, or an appliance for the task.

Your basic cake recipes are what you want here, nothing fancy. White cake, yellow cake or chocolate cake, there's no reason to make it more complicated, considering that your presentation is going to be novel anyway.

A simple buttercream frosting would be fine for rolling the balls (if that's the way you choose to go), but you would want more of candy shell on the outside. Sure, Wilton brand candy melts are an option, but you might find almond bark easier to find. That comes in chocolate and white, and will set more like the candy melts, less soft and melty than real chocolate would be. White bark could be colored how ever you want (use gel coloring, not liquid). Here's an article you might find helpful about better choices than real chocolate for this kind of shell: Love from the Oven

The sweetness of your cake and icing is totally up to you. One thing to consider instead of reducing the sugar would be to possibly add a bitter element, like lemon zest.

The best thing you can use for the sticks, if you can find them. would be the plain paper ones:


Are there any scientific advantages to using a cork to stop a wine bottle? Although I am by no means a connoisseur (I don't really even drink it) I have been investigating the various means by which wine bottles are stopped up.

This was prompted by a negative reaction by a more dipsomanic friend to a screw top wine that I had purchased from my local off licence. The impression I got from him was that a bottle with a cork was less... tacky. And that somehow a bottle with a screw top gave him the impression of teens in parks drinking Lambrini through straws.

I have read a few articles online here, and here which seem to show some benefits to screw top bottles (namely that they aren't affected by TCA and are easier to open).

I have not been able to find any resources which show an actual benefit to the wine that comes from using cork. The usual pros listed include the fact that it supports natural cork plantations (an ethical consideration) or that it just seems to be more sophisticated.

So, is there any reason (when only considering taste) that cork should be used over a screw top?

If a wine maker loves their wine, and their customers, they will use screw caps. All the studies have come back positive for screw caps. See screw cap initiative for starters.

Some main points are:

Corks taint the wine
Corks, real or synthetic, have a very high failure rate. Screw caps are basically 100% effective (maybe too effective)
Wine ages better with a screw cap, as there is no chance of seal failure or tainting
Screw caps have been physically tested for over 30 years, and are designed to last longer than that
You can cellar wine bottles at any angle
The energy used in making a recyclable (aluminium) screw cap is significantly less than used in making a cork
Most corks aren't made in ethical plantations
No special tools are required to open and recap a bottle (cork knives can be a serious health hazard later in the evening).
Wines age more safely. Corks do not breathe, but they may shrink and let wine out (bottles stored on side). Good vineyards will re-cork cellared wine every 20 to 25 years, or when corks start failing. The wine is topped up to the correct level, and often the wine/cork gap is flooded with nitrogen to avoid oxygen contamination which will "soften" the wine.

All in all, some pretty convincing reasons to go with screw caps.


Adjusting dessert recipes to accomodate a larger slow cooker I have a recipe for Mississippi Mud cake that calls for a 3.5 qt slow cooker. I own a 6 qt. Do I need to double the recipe?

If your cake batter is to be poured into the slow cooker without the addition of a pan, yes, I would double the recipe to fit your larger vessel.


Brownies without egg My son has a severe egg allergy. We've tried a couple of egg-less brownie recipes but they always end up terrible. I've tried making a batch with an egg replacement and one without. In both cases, the brownies start to rise a little, then completely collapse in the center. The result ends up being a oily brownie that has no moisture and doesn't taste very good.

Any suggestions on how to make good tasting egg-free brownies that are moist and flavorful?

Update

The egg replacement we use is called "Egg Replacer" made by Ener-G Foods, Inc. It's gluten free, wheat free, and nut free. My wife just reminded my that using this left the brownies in a liquid state for the most part and never really hardened.

I have used the flax method as detailed in the New York Times with good results.  I make a lot of chocolate chip cookies and I haven't found anyone that can really tell the difference.  Some claim to be able to tell but also say that it is just different and not better or worse.

2 tablespoons ground flax seed mixed with six tablespoons water (or 2 eggs)

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/replacing-eggs-with-flax/

Actually for cookies I typically use slightly less that 5 tablespoons of water.  This makes the cookies a bit thicker rather that thing.  Do what you like.


Issue starting a sourdough starter I'm making my second attempt at a sourdough starter. I tried once in the past and I now know that I just didn't stick with it long enough and had a bad bread recipe, but with a little more knowledge, I've had the urge to give it another try.

I came across a tutorial when browsing instructables.com, by user name ItsJeremy. He uses half AP flour and half of another flour, but said you can use straight AP. That's what I had, so that's what I used. I spaced out on the very first start up. Instead of using a 2:1 ratio, I used a 1:1, but since many other people use this, I figured it was okay. I went to the 2:1 every 12 hours after that. If my starter got too thick, I'd add a little extra water and if it got a little thin, I'd add a some extra flour. I tried to keep it pancake batter consistency.

After a couple of days, I started seeing bubbles forming. Not like you'd expect of a good starter, but it was a start. I started it on Sat morning and on Monday, I had made it a little thicker that day and when I got home from work, it had risen about 1/4". That wasn't much as in the container I had it in, the starter had begun at ~1" deep. So I got a 25% rise.

However, the next feeding haven't risen at all as far as I can tell. I'm still getting some bubbles, but not a massive amount. I haven't tasted it, but I have been smelling it and I don't smell an odors besides flour and water. Now, at 4 days into it and 7 feedings, I'd expect more progress. We do have the AC on in the house, but I imagine daytime temps are around 75deg. Nighttime probably gets cooler.

I do live in the south east and temps are hot and humid. I don't know that I shouldn't stick it on the covered front porch in the shade. I have a couple of extra containers and I might try that as well as another I saw a chef on youtube.com do, where they did a 1:1 ratio, put plastic wrap on it and let it sit 24-36 hours with no feedings till it bubbled.

I'm just looking for some guidance here. Is it not taking, do I just need to keep with it, should I find somewhere warmer. I mean I'd at least expect some sour smell after 4 days. It's not like I'm adding bleach instead of water. Thanks for the help.

Edit: I didn't mention it above. I'm on well water, so there is no chlorine.

Don't over think this.

If you know somebody who already makes sour dough, they need to refresh their culture once or twice a month. Get their "throw away" starter and use it to start yours. I bought a starter from King Arthur about 10 years ago. Still using the same starter today. King Arthur still sells sourdough starter. Their crocks work well too.

You can start a starter simply by putting out a bowl of water in the summer air. The yeast that's in the air will find its way into the water. You should then add some of that water to perhaps a half dozen jars of water flour mixture. Not every jar will start but the ones that start bubbling are worth keeping and nurturing. It may take a day or so at room temp before you see bubbles. After about two days the mixture will stop bubbling. That's when you need to add more flour/water mixture.

I use King Arthur unbleached bread flour in the light blue bag. Use 1 cup flour and one cup tap water and 1 cup starter. You can boil it if you want but I never do. Just make sure you don't add boiling water to the starter or you'll kill it. Tepid or lukewarm is fine. I don't worry about chlorine, add honey or lower the pH. If your water is unusually alkaline you may need to do something about it but first you would need to know if it's alkaline or acidic. Inexpensive pH test strips are available at pet stores that sell tropical fish, especially if they sell saltwater fish. Running your water through a carbon filter will remove the chlorine (Brita, PUR, ZeroWater). You can boil it too but then you have to wait for it to cool down. Simply leave the water in an open container and the chlorine will evaporate out...not sure how long that takes.

You'll need to repeat this a few times until you get a stable culture. Throw away one cup of starter mixture then add back one cup water and one cup flour that's been mixed together.

When you mix a fresh batch, leave it out on the counter for a few hours. It will double in size so make sure you have a big enough container. Starter over flows are a pain to clean up. From there, put your covered starter in the fridge for 2 or 3 weeks and then rebuild your starter again. I go 4 weeks maximum. Always put a date on the jar so you know when to do the refresh. Starter is like a pet, you have to take care of it and it's a long term commitment.

At 4 weeks, your starter will have a layer of black water on top. In general, don't worry about. The water will contain some alcohol as the yeast give it off as a by-product. When it's time to refresh, just pour off the layer of water. Give it a smell. It will have a sourdough smell. You'll quickly learn what that is. As far as I know I have never had a starter culture go bad. At one time I kept two cultures for white bread and one for rye. Now I just keep one culture for white bread.

When it's time to make your bread, grab 1 cup of starter for your bread and use the other cup to rebuild...one cup starter, one cup water, one cup fresh flour. Keep it simple.

You don't need added sugar for sourdough but some recipes may call for it. Authentic sourdough is much like authentic French baguettes...flour salt and water is all you really need. Baguettes use added yeast instead of the yeast in the starter. FYI, by French law, authentic French baguettes can only contain flour, salt, yeast and water, nothing else.

Over time, your starter, and your sourdough will develop their own special character/taste based on the yeast in your area.

Good luck!


Batch Cooking Meatballs I'm after batch cooking mini meatballs in sauce for my kids, so I'm wondering how best to prepare the meatballs so they can be frozen and reheated? I'm assuming it wouldn't be good to soak the breadcrumbs in milk? But I'm very much a beginner so not sure how best to go about it. Thanks :)

Meatballs can be pre-formed, frozen, then cooked....or cooked then frozen, then reheated with minimal if any loss of flavor.  Soaking breadcrumbs (or not) is irrelevant.  If it were me, I would form, cook in sauce, portion, freeze, reheat when ready.


Is a stainless steel french press good to make coffee? My less than 1 year old glass French Press broke down today.  There's a small circular piece of the glass which came off at the bottom.  After doing some research, it looks like glass French Press breaks regularly.  I've seen some stainless steel version, are those more solid and make good coffee?  If not, should I keep buying glass versions every year?

Thierry,

Stainless steel French presses work fine.  In fact, you can construct a French press out of any chemically inert material: stainless steel, class, ceramic, high-temperature plastic, enameled copper, even marble, and it will make perfectly good coffee.  I myself have a collection of porcelain and stoneware presses.  What material you choose is really a matter of aesthetics and how you use the press.

All of that being said, my experience is that high-quality glass carafes do not break regularly unless you drop them (which is, admittedly, an issue).  I'm wondering if you bought a cheaper carafe with inferior glass, like one from Ikea.  I have a Bodum which is at least 8 years old.

Also, for brand name presses, you can usually buy replacement carafes, since breakage (due to dropping) is a frequent issue.  Sometimes the replacements cost as much as a whole new press, but you should at least check it out.


Damage to freezer food after a power outage My freezer went without power for 70 hours while we were out of town.  The power was restored before we returned and refroze everything.  The unit was full and did have some solid ice packs within.  Is anything safe to consume in this freezer?

If this was an upright freezer with cooling coils in the shelves, there was frost on the shelves before your trip, and after you came back there was still frost on the shelves, then you can intuit that things never got above freezing. Otherwise, there's almost nothing you could be sure of, except perhaps by pulling the plug, waiting 70 hours, and then testing the temperature.


Why stir sourdough only with wooden spoons? When reading about sourdough (in german texts at least), they almost always say to stir it with a wooden spoon.

Why do they do that? Does metal or plastic somehow interfere with the sourdough?

This is not true anymore, and modern recipes omit that part.

Back then, when silverware was made either from silver or pre-stainless-steel-alloys the acid in sourdough (and other foods*) would interact with the metal and corrode/color the metal and/or spoil the food.

So put your sourdough in your (stainless steel) mixing bowl and knead it in your kitchen machine as you like.

  *examples (thanks to @Stephie): eggs (there were special egg-spoons made from  horn or tortoise shell and later bakelite or plastic to
  prevent the sulphur in the eggs interacting with the metal),
  marmelade/jam (special spoons, jam would get runny if it got in
  contact with the wrong spoon), potatoes (there is a rule to not cut
  them with a knife).


Can I store soft serve ice cream in my regular freezer? I was gifted with a soft serve ice cream dispenser. however it's such a pain to always keep the machine on and running each time I want ice cream--more so that it highly consumes electricity. I wish to know if there is a way I can produce my soft serve in a large quantity and store it in my freezer so I can always remove and take a scoop each time I want soft serve. I tried it once but it went hard as a rock and lost its texture when I allowed it to defreeze.

Is there a trick to keeping it soft and close to the consistency in the freezer?

The standard recommended temperature for a home freezer is 0°F (-18℃). Regular ice cream keeps best at -5°F to 0°F. However, the proper storage temperature for soft serve ice cream is 18°F (-7℃).

While you could raise the temperature of your freezer to accommodate this, it really wouldn't be recommended for the rest of your frozen foods.

Short of that, your best option would be to get a tiny freezer just for your soft serve so that you can keep it at at higher temperature without risking the quality of your other food.


Why can't I heat water properly on a new glass cooktop using a stainless steel pot? I have just started using a glass cooktop and my RACO stainless steel cook pot takes ages to heat and won't boil unless on the highest setting.  It makes a scummy mark on the cook top. I thought that RACO was a brand that was recommended.  Any ideas about what is happening?

One possible reason for this would be if the cooktop used induction, where rather than heating up, it used electromagnest to cause the pan to heat up.  For this to work, the pan must be ferrous and able to be magnetized.  Although stainless steel is made from iron, it isn't strongly magnetic, and thus will not work well on an induction cooker.

To test if this is the case, you can try pans from other materials and see if they have similar problems.  Aluminium, copper, or ceramic cookware simply won't heat up at all.  You can also try turning an element on high without a pan, and waiting a minute or two.  If you can hold your hand above the element without feeling any heat, it's either an induction cooktop or defective.

If you place a cast iron or carbon steel pan on the element, wait another minute or two, and test again but can feel heat, then it's induction.

As you mentioned it's a new cooktop, if it's new because you bought it (and not because you've moved), find the manual, and if it's an induction cooker, it should proudly proclaim that fact, and list what types of pans are recommended.

...

The next possibility is that if you're coming from a gas cooktop you may not be used to the speed of electric cookers.  With a glass-topped cooker, it's difficult to see the size of the elements, and so you may only have one or two elements on the cooktop that are rated for fast boiling or other high-heat applications.  You can try each of the burners in turn, and see if some of them heat up faster than others.

... but there's also a chance that the element is defective.    I'd suggest calling their customer service number, or e-mailing them to ask about the cooktop.


Refrigerator drips water inside My mom's refrigerator drips water inside.  Is it because she is opening it too often, holding the door open, or is there another possible reason?  At times it's so bad there are pools of water.  She lives in Missouri where it has been extremely hot and  humid.

Warm moist air goes into the fridge and condenses. This is where you get the moisture. Normally, there's a drain, perhaps below the veggie drawers, that ducts the excess moisture away to a tray below the evaporator coils.

It's common to have this drain clog. You can try pouring in boiling water to clear it, but you may overflow the bottom tray and need a mop.

You can also try soft copper wire, like 14 gauge stripped electrical wire, which should not poke any holes in anything yet still be stiff enough to clear the jam.


How to properly freeze cake I have a cake project coming up and have to bake a few different cakes. I'm not much of a baker and was anticipating having to bake all of these at roughly the same time. I was thinking that I could save some time on the day I need to actually prepare the cake by baking the cakes ahead of time and freezing them so I don't have to prepare the batter, bake, cool, and then decorate all in the same day.

First off, what are the adverse affects of freezing a cake?

How should one go about preparing a cake in order to freeze it and minimize any damage?

When I say cake I am talking about unfrosted cake layers.

Most cakes will freeze and keep fine if prepared properly - obviously they will not have the same "fresh baked" attributes that a freshly baked cake would bring to the party, but it should still taste nicely.

Wait for the cake(s) to be completely cooled before preparing them to be frozen.
Use one of the following methods/materials to wrap the room temperature cake before placing in the freezer:

greaseproof paper (wax paper, for example), wrapped thoroughly around the cake and taped shut
aluminum foil with plastic wrap/greaseproof paper underneath it, thoroughly secured
vacuum seal bag (caution: too much pressure may cause the cake to loose it's shape)

To thaw: Unwrap the cake, place it on a wire rack in your kitchen and let it sit for about two hours (more/less time depending on size of the cake) at normal room temperature. It is important that you do not microwave or reheat a frozen cake in any way, or you will ruin it.

More details are available here: http://www.wikihow.com/Freeze-Cakes


Noise level of convect back microwaves Are all convect bake microwave ovens noisey while using the oven for baking?  My current oven sounds like the microwave is engaged while baking.

A combination microwave/convection or microwave/infrared oven will have a special fan to cool the circuitry while the non-microwave heating is engaged. This can be quite loud.


How to add panko to chicken without frying the chicken? I like to make chicken katsu and curry, but want to avoid eating fried food. Is there another healthier way to prepare the chicken, but that will still work with getting the panko breading to stick on the outside?

You could oven bake them.

You bread the chicken the same way you do when frying them but instead you put them on a baking sheet; cook and mid-way, gently flip them over.

It is a little bit like making Shake'n'Bake chicken.