Can I substitute cocoa for semisweet chocolate? If I have a recipe that calls for semi-sweet chocolate (melted), what could I use along with unsweetened cocoa powder as a substitution? In other words, what quantities of sugar and cocoa powder would I need to use, and since it is more dry, should I add butter or milk? (This would be for something like a chocolate cake or brownies)

Cocoa powder is made by baking the cocoa beans and then removing all the fat from them, then milling the rest to a powder. In fact, semisweet chocolate is a solid sol (a colloid formed from homogenically dispersing solid particles (cocoa dry matter) in a solid (cocoa fat)). What you should add is not water, but fat.

Before you start, you must be aware that cocoa fat has some very special properties. It melts at a very convenient temperature, so it is solid in the air and melts in the mouth. Plus, it has a very special form of crystalline structure, which allows [tempering].1 This means that the substitution won't work for some very specific uses like making Belgian chocolates. For chocolate cake or brownies, the texture will be somewhat off, but not too much, so it should deliver acceptable results for the home cook. The taste will also be different (there is a reason why pure chocolate is so expensive, it only uses real cocoa fat, bars with other fat types like Milka can't compare with the original).

There is also the question of choosing the fat. It should be solid by room temperature. Butter is often used in desserts and has a really good taste, but it doesn't mimic cocoa fat that well, because it isn't a pure fat, it is an emulsion of ~17% water in milkfat. So texturewise, shortening is probably a better choice. You can use either, based on whether texture or aroma is more important for you, plus your camp in the this-type-of-fat-is-bad-for-you debate.

"Semisweet chocolate" is a loose category. I usually count anything with 40% to 60% cocoa mass as "semisweet". So on average, your mixture should contain 50% sugar.

The ratio of cocoa powder to fat is trickier. Luckily, I have a 90% chocolate bar here and can tell you that it contains 55 grams of fat (as given on the package). This means that pure chocolate mass has 60.5% fat. Assuming that your cocoa powder has 15% fat ("weakly de-fatted powder" is my best attempt at literal translation) and that you are using shortening (100% fat), we arrive at a ratio of 54% fat to 46% cocoa powder. You probably don't have to be that exact, especially considering the fact that the fat content of cocoa powder isn't exactly 15%. I'd just go with a 1:1 ratio - easy to measure, and it gives you a bit more cocoa taste.

So the final proportions should be 1 part cocoa powder, 1 part vegetable shortening, and 2 parts sugar. If you feel very mathematically inclined, you can calculate it more exactly for butter and a specific cocoa powder fat content.

It is also important to note that in baking, you can't just throw everything in and mix. Different mixing sequences result in a different air distribution in the batter, which has very important results on the final texture. So don't try to imitate chocolate by mixing above ingredients somehow and then dumping them into the bowl. Your recipe already has a correct technique for combining the ingredients, e. g. by creaming the butter with sugar and then slowly adding the flour. It also describes a technique for adding tempered chocolate to the batter, and this one won't work for a homemade mixture of sugar, cocoa powder and shortening.

To achieve best texture, stick to the recipe's technique for the components. Whatever they say to do with the original butter in the recipe, do it with a mixture of the butter and the chocolate-substituting fat. Use the original sugar amount together with the chocolate. Treat cocoa powder like flour, best mix them in a separate bowl before adding to the rest. Your result won't be exactly like a recipe created with real semisweet chocolate, but only the most discerning eaters will notice it, and most cake eaters are not that discerning.

A last word of caution: throughout the answer, I assume that you have actual cocoa powder (I'd use non-dutched for a stronger choco taste, but this is a matter of personal preference). Instant drink powder like Nesquick doesn't contain much real cocoa and is unsuitable for this kind of substitution (or for any baking purposes).


Why does a plastic lunchbox tend to be more greasy than glass one? I always have a difficult time washing greasy plastic lunchbox. I wonder if it is because some chemical or physical reaction between the container and the oil?

There are few reasons why this happens.

Plastic get dull much faster than glass. Just one wash with sponge make the difference. Making more surface oil can stick to and harder for detergents to go in grooves and wash it away.
Oil reacts with plastic as both are (In very very layman terms) the same. Plastic is made from oil. So when you have warm (or even hot) oil put into container (or warmed up in that container for example in microwave) you start reaction called polymerisation. The same that you use to create non-stick surface on cast iron pans.
But here the bonds from oil bond to plastic. So you make the plastic surface oily and non-stick forever. The better quality containers have this process made during production so the polymers will "fall off".

To avoid this:

Don't put hot food in plastic container.
Don't heat up food in plastic containers. Especially ones that have dying agents (famous "tupperware after one turmeric")
Don't wash them with rough sponge. Usually a little bit of dish soap and hand is enough. Dishwasher might be safe from temperature point but the container is moving in the rack.


Olive oil "shelf" life and summer camping I am about to car camp one week and I am wondering if I may safely carry some olive oil in a glass bottle - I expect day temperature to peak around 30 degrees Celsius.

I would like to know ahead of time if the oil is going to get rancid, or to deteriorate in any way.

Thank you very much

Olive oil will degrade over time, but that is measured in months and years if stored out of the light, and in cool conditions.

If you leave EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) in a glass container in sunlight, it will start to loose some of it's amazing flavour, astringency, and smell, but again this will take many days to be even slightly noticeable. It will still be safe to use.

Just don't leave a glass bottle of oil in the sunshine, keep it in a cool place (like under the seat in the car), and it will be OK.

If you have a few hours read up on it: http://static.oliveoiltimes.com/library/Olive-Oil-Storage-Conditions.pdf

The key point is that it takes 3 months at 37°C to ruin EVOO.


Making spice pastes with a food processor I've had call to make spice pastes by using a food processor. Rather than using the full-sized bowl, which is way too big, my food processor has a milling attachment designed for coffee beans. However, whenever I try making spice pastes in this, it only gets so smooth before becoming clumpy and the blades effectively spinning at nothing. (Ginger and coconut are particularly bad at not reducing down further than grit.)

Adding more water usually helps to make a finer paste, as it forces everything together somewhat and causes the mixture to act more as a liquid than a powder. However, that makes the paste too wet (it's a paste, not a sauce, after all!)

Is a food processor/mill not the right tool for the job, or am I just doing it wrong?

It sounds like you are doing it wrong! :) Grind spices in a spice grinder first (a rotary coffee grinder works fine for that). See How do you finely grind coriander seeds?

Garlic, ginger, fresh herbs and coconut are fine in a small bowl of a food processor, but they need some time and a few restarts after cleaning the sides of the bowl with a spatula. After processing the spices and other dry things in the rotary grinder, you can add the spices to the moist things after they have been processed. The food processor will be fine to mix the dry and moist parts, after they have been ground/processed separately.


What temperature does the Maillard reaction occur? There seems to be a lot of disagreement about the temperatures and conditions under which the Maillard reaction can occur.  Cooking professionals reference all sorts of "minimum temperatures" -- I've seen sources say 350°F (175°C), 310°F (155°C), 300°F (150°C), 250°F (120°C), 230°F (110°C), and boiling (212°F/100°C) all given as a minimum.  Many sources say it cannot occur in the presence of water.

Previous questions on this forum that have discussed the Maillard reaction have also included statements about temperatures, often in disagreement with each other.  (See, for example, here, here, and here.)  Many answers and comments on answers also have conflicting information.

It's clear that the Maillard reaction requires proteins and a reducing sugar.  It is also clear that it will happen at neutral pH or higher, but acidic conditions will significantly inhibit it.

But what temperatures can it actually occur at?  Are there examples of the Maillard reaction occurring at lower temperatures?

(I will offer my own answer, but I would certainly be interested in hearing of other examples and information.)

The Maillard reaction can occur at a wide range of temperatures, but the lower limit is not well-defined.  It can even occur at room temperature, providing some flavoring components (for example) to ripening cheeses and Seranno ham.  At high temperatures (over 300°F/150°C), it will noticeably occur on many foods in a matter of minutes, so you can actually watch things "brown."  At lower temperatures, it may take hours, days, or even years for the effects to be noticeable.  Water inhibits the faster reactions, but at lower temperatures it actually can help the reaction by allowing proteins and sugars more freedom to circulate.

In Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking (revised ed.), he states (p. 779):

  There are exceptions to the rule that browning reactions require temperatures above the boil.  Alkaline conditions, concentrated solutions of carbohydrates and amino acids, and prolonged cooking times can all generate Maillard colors and aromas in moist foods.  For example, alkaline egg whites, rich in protein, with a trace of glucose, but 90% water, will become tan-colored when simmered for 12 hours.  The base liquid for brewing beer, a water extract of barley malt that contains reactive sugars and amino acids from the germinated grains, deepens in color and flavor with several hours of boiling.  Watery meat or chicken stock will do the same as it's boiled down to make a concentrated demiglace.  Persimmon pudding turns nearly black thanks to its combination of reactive glucose, alkaline baking soda, and hours of cooking; balsamic vinegar turns nearly black over the course of years!

Note that while alkaline conditions help, they are clearly not necessary (e.g., balsamic vinegar).  Another standard example for non-alkaline conditions is traditional pumpernickel bread, which is steam baked for 12-24 hours usually at oven temperatures ranging around 225-250°F (110-120°C).  The interior of the bread does not get much above normal boiling temperature, but a significant color change can clearly be seen in such a humid, relatively low-temperature environment.

Interestingly, despite the information in many cooking sources, many of the earliest studies of Maillard reactions were in systems varying from room temperature to slightly above body temperature, from the browning reactions that create the color of soil to internal reactions in the human body that are now thought to contribute significantly to the aging process and some diseases.  Maillard reactions also play a role in the natural changes in moist food observed to happen at room temperature when stored over years, like when you discover a jar or can of food in the back of the pantry and find that the food has turned brownish.

At very high or very low temperatures, Maillard reactions are often secondary to other processes such as caramelization and enzymatic browning.

To summarize, here's a helpful poster that shows effects at various temperatures.  Briefly:

Above 400°F (200°C) - mostly caramelization, with the possibility of burning with prolonged heating
~330°-400°F (165-200°C) - increasing caramelization with higher temps, which uses up sugars and thus inhibits Maillard at the high end of this range
~300-330°F (150-165°C) - Maillard progresses at a fast pace, causing browning noticeably within minutes
~212-300°F (100-150°C) - Maillard gets slower as temperature goes lower, generally requiring many hours near the boiling point of water
~130-212°F (55-100°C) - Maillard requires water, high protein, sugar, and alkaline conditions to advance noticeably in a matter of hours; generally can take days
Below 130°F (55°C) - Enzymatic browning is often more significant in many foods than Maillard, but Maillard will still occur over periods from days or months to years, with progressively longer times at lower temperatures

(In some cases, certain reactions can be activated by a short time at a high temperature, which then can lead to faster browning below boiling or even near room temperature.)

One final, but very important, note: the Maillard reaction is a very general process that occurs between all sorts of amino acids and sugars.  It thus also can produce a lot of different flavor components and products, in addition to the browning.  Different reactions between particular amino acids and sugars will also occur at different rates depending on temperature.

This, I think, may be part of the reason for the confusion among various professional cooking sources about the "minimum" temperatures.  Many of the reactions that produce the classic "Maillard taste" and "Maillard smell" components don't really begin to happen appreciably until about 250°F (120°C), and they won't happen fast until 300°F (150°C) or so.  Maillard reactions at lower temperatures produce different taste and smell components, which often could be characterized as more "earthy."  While browning still happens at a slower pace, the results will actually taste different.  But because reaction products will always depend on the exact amino acids and sugars involved, as well as other conditions (moisture, pH), it's difficult to divide temperature ranges into clear flavor zones.


Making liquor with normal milk instead of UHT milk I would like to make a liqueur, using alcohol with 40% and other ingredients. Two of those are (according to the recipe) UHT-milk and UHT-cream. Unfortunately I could not find any source for them where I live at the moment. Thus I was thinking of replacing the UHT milk with normal milk.
Would that work? And how fast would I have to drink the liqueur now, assumed the alcohol content (~20 % in the final product) does not keep the milk fresh?

This should be a comment but I have no reputation so I apologise if not much of help.

Anyway if you're trying to accomplish something like a cream-based liqueur, sure you can use normal milk.

I've prepared a Baileys-like liqueur with normal milk and uht crem and results were amazing!

The lifetime of the product was unaffected by the use of a fresh product (storage lifetime in fridge was something like 3 months due to alcohol and sugar added to the mix)


What's the best way to store asparagus? What's the best way to store asparagus so that it stays fresh and crisp, rather than getting droopy?

In a cup with water. You place them straight up in a small cup with a little water. Just like you would if you were storing flowers.

You'll want to store this in your chill chest on the top most rack; to avoid any cross contamination from other possible food products (chicken, etc).

You may want to leave the rubber band on to allow it to stay tidy. If you must you can cover your asparagus cup with a zip lock bag on top.

With this method we usually can store asparagus for 5-7 days.

If you must keep them longer it maybe better to just freeze them in an air tight bag. after they're dried out.


Why do dumplings float when they are ready? Most dumpling recipes—including those discussed on this site—claim that the dumplings will be ready when they float to the surface.  I have two interrelated questions:

Does this rule ever fail?  For example, might there be certain recipes or conditions (e.g., altitude) where one should allow the dumplings to cook further after they have floated?  Conversely, are there certain recipes/conditions where one should remove the dumplings before they float?
If this is a relatively universal rule, what is the science behind it?

I will quote here the bible of cooking science, Harold McGees "On Food and Cooking":

  "Dumpling doughs are minimally kneaded to maximize tenderness, and benefit from the inclusion of tiny air pockets, which provide lightness. [...] This  tendency to rise with cooking is due to the expansion of the
  dough's air pockets, which fill with vaporized water as the dumpling
  interior approaches the boiling point and make the dough less dense
  than the surrounding water."

Following this, your dumpling must be a proper dumpling - dough that was only minimally kneaded, while altitude does not matter.

Why does this coincidence with being ready?

  [...] the starch granules absorb water molecules, and swell and soften as
  the water molecules intrude and separate the starch molecules from
  each other. This granule softening [...] takes place in a temperature
  range that depends on the seed and the starch, but is in the region of
  140-160°F/60-70°C. The tightly ordered clusters of amylose molecules
  require higher temperatures, more water, and more cooking time to be
  pulled and kept apart than do the looser clusters of amylopectin
  molecules.

So, altogether, the starch molecules do not absorb much more water as they are done, so the remaining water can vaporize and fill the air pockets, which makes the dumpling float then. Or, in other words, a floating dumpling is actually overcooked and so guaranteed to be ready (if the preconditions are met).

Does this rule ever fail?

Yes. Your dough needs to have sufficient air pockets for floating. Your dough needs to be made out of starch that is willing to absorb water. A dough made out of waxy potatoes has a fair chance to not float in time. This does match with German recipes for potato dumplings using waxy potatoes, that warn about the dumplings falling apart due to overcooking, if there is too much water in the pot (as it takes too much time for the dumpling to rise).


Using ostrich and emu eggs Every time I venture to whole foods I notice the ostrich and emu eggs for sale. The one obvious difference is size. Do the eggs taste the same as chicken eggs? Are they any different nutritionally? Can they be hard-boiled?

i have a friend who has 8 ostriches, and he eats their eggs all the time. the taste is (apparently) different from a chicken's... richer somehow, but not different in a bad way. he has hard-boiled them, but as roux says, it takes a LONG time to do it. i think he boils them for an hour, but don't quote me on that one. his most regular method is to drill a hole in it, drain it into a big bowl, blend it, and then makes scrambled eggs a cup or so at a time. he has found that he can freeze the leftover egg for eating later. as roux also said, one ostrich egg is about 2 dozen or so chicken eggs, so be prepared!


How can I get a very thick or viscous paste (e.g. caramel, ganache, thick mayonnaise) into small-necked squeeze bottles without heating it up? This is a problem I've had with several types of food/sauce.

I'll make a big batch of something like a thick caramel sauce or an extra-thick mayonnaise and it simply won't pass through a funnel into a squeeze bottle.

I want to be able to transfer the sauce (or whatever) into a narrow-necked squeeze bottle so it's easier to decant. Even though it's very thick, it'll still come out of a bottle under pressure.

Is there some kind of in-line pump or similar method which I could use to pump these thicker liquids from a bowl into small-necked bottles?

I know such pumps exist for industrial applications but I want something usable at home.

(My only idea was to use a sausage stuffer, fill it up with the sauce, and apply pressure with the pusher from the top to dispense it from the end like sausage meat, but the pusher would need to be air-tight and I don't know which ones are or not.)

What about a piping bag?  Fill the bag with a spatula, pipe into the bottle.


Is it possible to store Homemade pie crusts - if so what methods are there? I wanted to make pie crust for a cheesecake recipe but didn't want to make all of the actual filling at the same time ( doing it for two different events that are about two weeks apart), is it possible store the extra crust, and if so how?  Crust is a simple sugar, cracker variety...

When preparing regular pie pastry, first chill the standard 30 minutes in the refrigerator before freezing.  Chilling of pie pastry does two things:

Relaxes the gluten that has developed during mixing
Hydrates the starch granules (the more moisture the starch granules absorb, the more
tender the final result)

Placing pie pastry right into the freezer either for "quick-chilling" to be able to better roll out right away, or for long-term storage, results in the water freezing and not having the opportunity to full hydrate the starch.

Instead of dividing pie pastry into two balls as many recipes direct, instead divide the dough but shape into 1-inch thick disks that are then wrapped, chilled, and frozen, if desired.  The disk shape will allow it to chill more quickly, thaw more quickly (do so in the refrigerator to avoid excessive condensation between plastic wrap and dough) so that the exterior doesn't get too soft before the interior has softened, and it will be easier to maintain a round shape while rolling.

When making cracker crumb crusts as you indicated that you're doing for the cheesecake, I'd recommend freezing the bulk crumb/sugar/butter mixture in a freezer bag.  If you're going to be baking the crumb crust you could just thaw it on the countertop until the mixture is soft enough to manipulate with your hands.  Otherwise, microwave it for about 20 seconds at a time to melt the butter and then press and shape in your pan.  If you were to shape the crust in the pan and then freeze, you're going to have a good chance of the crust possibly ending up damaged while in the freezer.


Eggnog: After adding egg yolks, does chill time make a difference, before having added the egg whites? I am following Alton Brown's Eggnog Recipie (following the procedure for cooked eggnog).

Currently the bowl has Egg Yolk, Sugar, (non-pasturized) Milk & Cream, Bourbon, & cinnamon, allspice.

I am now about to chill the eggnog before adding whipped egg whites, and then it will be ready to serve.

What kind of difference in the finished product could arise by varying this initial chill time? I could wait anywhere from 1 hour to 1 day before adding the egg whites.

The real issue, I think, is that you want to add the egg whites immediately before service, as they will begin deflating once they are whipped and mixed in.

So instead of holding the mix a certain period of time, instead you hold the mix until prior to service, and then fold in the whites, which should be freshly whipped.


What are some good ways to Roast Peppers I'm looking for a safe method to remove the skin.

If you have a gas range, just fire up a burner. Make sure to have some tongs ready if you can't rest the pepper at a good height above the flame. (You'll probably want them to turn the pepper anyways.)

Once sufficiently blackened (and not on fire mind you) toss in a paper bag and close it. Let it rest and the residual heat inside the pepper will continue to steam it from the inside out.

Once cooled, remove the skin.

Feel free to use water to cool or help remove the skin, but you may wash away some flavorful oils.

I prefer this method as it lets me keep an eye on the pepper the whole time instead of having to peek at a hidden broiler. Plus, you can make sure you get an even roast.


How can I imitate a coffee yoghurt? I used to enjoy coffee yoghurts and eat them often... However, where I'm currently living coffee-flavored yoghurts are unavailable. I've tried to sort of make my own by adding a bit of instant coffee mix and some sugar to plain yoghurt, but it doesn't taste nearly the same. Are there any other ingredients I can try adding? Has anyone ever tried this?

"Instant" coffee typically is disolved in hot water, so I'd think that just stirring it into a cold product would be less than ideal.

You might try making a coffee syrup (as you're adding sugar anyway) or try steeping the instant coffee in hot milk or water first, cool it down, then mixing that into the yoghurt.


Thick noodle soup minus cornstarch/cornflour? How do we thicken noodles soup without using cornstarch? List of ingredients at hand:

Onions
Tomatoes
Worsterchire Sauce
Soy Sauce
Salt
Ginger& Garlic(fresh)
Star Anise
Cilantro
Noodles

Cook the noodles using as little water as possible and use that water for your soup, or cook them directly in the soup, so that you get all the starch from them.

If that's not thick enough, the only other thing on your list that can really help is the onion and tomato: if you grind them smooth they'll at least add some substance to the soup. You could take it a step further by cooking them down to get rid of excess water and get a thicker paste.


Why is my Taiyaki (Cake that looks like a fish) too hard and dry? I was making taiyaki, and most of my friends said that the dough is too hard and dry. I have:

2 cups cake flour
4 tablespoons sugar
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup of milk
1/3 cup water.

I use an electric whisk to combine the dry first, then add the liquid ingredients.
I use the electric whisk/mixer again for around 30 rotations at the highest speed and let the dough rest in our refrigerator.

I heat one side for 2 minutes in a taiyaki pan and then the other side for 2 minutes.
Can you kindly help this newbie serve better taiyaki to children and friends?

I have never made these, but this is what I observe from comparing your recipe to the most readily found online ones:

Your mix is dry. Other recipes tend to have up to twice as much liquid as yours, by proportion to the flour.
Your mix has no egg. Every recipe I found included egg, in quantities
ranging from 1 egg per 1 cup flour to 1 egg per 1/2 cup flour.
You include water in your mix. Other recipes I've found contain no
water.

These recipe differences mean that your mix has much less liquid than most and also, importantly I think, much less fat. Eggs and milk both contain fat which will give a more tender result.

You also mix all the ingredients directly together. Recipes I found recommended whisking the flour, salt and baking powder together then beating the egg in a separate bowl, creaming the egg with the sugar then adding the milk and only then gently combining the wet and dry ingredients being careful not to overmix. I'm not sure how much difference this makes, but mixing the sugar and dissolving it into the egg rather than putting it directly into a lower hydration mix will allow you to capture tiny air bubbles into your batter which will also tend to make the crumb more tender.


Food Safe 3D printed Jello Molds I am purchasing a PLA/ABS/etc. 3D printer for various projects and a friend asked me to make a Jell-O mold. I am aware that PLA degrades into harmless lactic acid and there are Food Grade varieties for purchase but that isn't the only issue.  There are other potential issues such as contaminates from the printing device (maybe from the metal or remnants of other plastics) and bacterial growth in the rough surface of the plastic.  That being said, one internet article from 3 years ago is probably not complete.

For cookie cutters (no friend; I want those), I intend to try putting aluminum foil or saran wrap on the cutting part. This would decrease any detail of a Jell-O mold but it might be the correct direction to go.

Is there food safe way to print cooking tools intended for repeated use at low temperatures to moderate temperatures without a printer specifically designed to be food safe?  If I am not comfortable my tool is food safe (say it needs to be ABS or bright purple), is there a way I can permanently or temporarily coat such a tool to make it food safe without sacrificing excessive amounts of detail or functionality?

I'd recommend using ABS for food tools, as well as cleaning in the dishwasher. The heat from the dishwasher will kill whatever contaminants you might encounter and the ABS plastic has a high enough melting point to avoid being ruined. PLA will just melt in the dishwasher and some cookie cutters have details you won't be able to clean properly by hand without risking damage to the cutter, or loosening pieces that could break apart in the food unknowingly.

I'm no biologist or anything so I don't have any scientific evidence to support this claim. It's just the info I got when I asked this same kind of question to things4thinkers.com before ordering some cookie cutters from them. They're all 3D printed and the ones I got were ABS because I asked for them that way. So far I haven't noticed anything fishy about the cutters and they have held up in the dish washer fine.

I wouldn't do the foil thing personally. It seems like a lot of effort that will probably alter the mold you're trying to make. Or just end up being a pain when trying to cut cookies. Plus you still risk fragments of the foil being left behind in the food as well.

By the way, ABS plastic can be purchased from any number of manufacturers. Some may not be considered "food safe" where as others specifically state they are. Look at this "food safe" filament. Just make sure your printer can handle that filament, though if yours can handle ABS it should be able to handle this. Not an expert though.


How to store batter (contains raw eggs) under 41 degrees F? We had a food inspector come by today and they had recommend that we store our batter (contains raw eggs) in an ice bucket at 41ºF (5ºC) or below at all times.

I feel that this process is a bit tedious and feel that there's another way. How do most establishments store their batter? Are there equipment that can satisfy these requirements?

As stated in this answer for a somewhat related question:

  The ideal refrigerator temperature is 35°F (1.6°C). You're not hugging the danger zone like you would be at 40°F (4.4°C), and you're distancing yourself sufficiently from 32°F (0°C) that you don't freeze half the stuff in your refrigerator. That said, the temperature within your fridge can vary rather significantly with normal usage.

The reason for the quote is that most domestic refrigerators are able to be set to a temperature of less than 40ºF. As you are not talking about domestic but it sounds more industrial/professional, I doubt you would have a refrigerator that can't store at a temperature below this.

Therefore I would imagine storing it in the fridge would be fine and more convenient than the ice bucket suggested.

However the temperature within different areas of the fridge can vary depending on how frequently it is accessed (which is why you shouldn't keep eggs or other easily spoilable foods in the fridge door) so this could potentially be a problem depending on your exact situation, how frequently it is opened and where in the fridge you keep the batter.


Optimizing for efficiency: boiling frozen salmon without defrosting Background: I'm trying to eat healthier - not necessarily optimizing for taste but for cooking complexity/time and health.

I have frozen salmon filets (small/thin) I'd like to cook in boiling water, doing nothing else than boiling water, setting timer and returning to a cooked meal.

How do I know salmon is done? At the moment whole process (dropping salmon into boiling water and cooking for 20 minutes) seems alright but I'm afraid of not cooking meat thoroughly. I found oven cooking thermometer but it doesn't seem to be designed for use in water

The problem will be one of temperature difference. The outermost mm of your salmon will thaw immediately but the innermost one will still be raw.

Some meat thermometers will work in water but i doubt that they will be accurate in a thin filet as they are mostly for use in large chunks of meat.

So the only good way to check fore done-ness is to cut the filet in two and check the texture yourself. If it starts to "flake" (i.e. the meat fibers start to separate) it is done. Ideally you will be able to "break" a filet cleanly in two. But do that too often and you'll end up with salmon soup.

So my recommendation: oven-roast your salmon. There will be two advantages: one is that you can easily check the inside and pop it back in the oven if you are not satisfied. On the other hand its easier to make tasty salmon in the oven. You can even work in a herb-crust or something like it.
Health-wise they are exactly the same as long as you don't start drenching the fish in oil.

Another option could be to poach the fish in a ziplock bag. It will take a bit longer as the heat circulation will be slightly worse but locks in the flavor, gives you the option of adding some herbs and the option the measure the done-ness without creating a mess.


pan size and cream pull candy I am making cream pull candy. Recipe is usually made in a 4 Qt. pan. Can I use a 8 qt. pan as long as  candy thermometer is submerged enough or will the different size--e.g. more surface area  especially width-- interfere with the candy formation?

Absolutely. Make sure that you brush down the sides of the pan a few times with a pastry brush soaked in water before your syrup reaches the soft ball stage to make sure there's no crystalized sugar left on the sides of the pan (which will trigger recrystalization once it's melted and make your sugar grainy.) After it reaches soft ball give it a swirl every few seconds to make sure it's heating evenly. You should be good.

Good luck!


Can you use woks on an electric induction cooktop in an apartment? Can I use woks on my electric  induction cooktop at home? My guess is NO. Because  woks are designed for Chinese restaurant gas ranges with tremendous BTU, and woks must rest inside the range and the flame envelops the wok. If I use a wok on electric induction cooktop, induction just heats the bottom, not the side of, the wok.
I live in an apartment. I don't have a gas wok range like Chinese restaurants.

Yes, but it depends on your wok and your induction stove.
First, please understand that Cantonese restaurant cooking, with the huge 150,000 BTU gas burners is not Chinese home cooking, nor is it what "woks were designed for" (discussion in video).  Those really are a restaurant-only thing, just like a 100,000 BTU salamander is an European restaurant-only thing.  What you should be aiming for is "Chinese home cooking", which is achievable.
You're going to want a compatible wok.  I recommend a flat-bottomed carbon steel wok like this one.  You need the flat bottom in order to get good contact with the induction surface.  It's also a good idea to get a smaller wok; 30cm/12" or 35cm/14" diameter, not 16" or greater, because the induction contact simply won't produce enough heat to heat the whole wok (this is a general problem on home ranges, not just induction).
Many guides also recommend the Lodge Cast-Iron Wok for its induction-friendliness, but I recommend against it based on experience.  Not that it doesn't work well with induction (it does), but because it's a terrible wok. A big part of wok cooking is taking advantage of the fast responsiveness and steep temperature gradient of the wok, and the Lodge has neither of these.  I have one; I use it exclusively for deep-frying.  Clearly, though, others disagree with me.
The next challenge is harder to control: it's the question of whether your particular induction stove can heat the small flat bottom of the wok adequately, since that's the only part in contact with the stove. Some can, some can't, and there are too many variables in induction stoves for you to figure this out via stove stats.
But, since woks can be heated dry, this is easy to test:

Borrow a flat-bottom carbon-steel wok
Put it on the induction element and turn it to max (both temp & power)
Wait 1-2 minutes
Use a contactless thermometer to see if the wok bottom gets to at least 225C/450F (it will also smoke at this temperature)
Take it off the heat and oil it

Speaking of which, you will need to do any initial wok seasoning over a gas flame or on the grill, since seasoning requires heating the whole wok.
Also: if you're going to use a wok in an apartment, regardless of heat source you need a hood or other fan ventilation.


Does cooking octopus in salt or pastry crust produce juicy octopus? I've been reading up on octopus preparation and the different methods used to tenderise the meat. Rustic recipes call for a good beating against a rock until soapy, others talk of a long boil or braise. Papaya has been mentioned as has a pre-cook freeze. Sous vide is obviously a popular one (times and temperatures vary).

Before I put my experimenting hat on, I wondered if anyone has tried a salt-crust bake or a pastry crust? I feel the juices would be kept in, the temperature would be consistent but I am worried about the salt content.

ok, so octopus either needs to be cooked for a very short amount of time (just until it's barely cooked through) to keep the muscle tissue tender or for a very long amount of time (2 hrs plus) to break down the connective tissue. The tenderization methods that involve beating it against a rock or whatever are usually for short-cook methods like grilling from raw.

So if you're baking it in a salt crust or pastry crust, that wouldn't be particularly conducive to short-cook methods... it's going to need to be cooked for at least two hours. The main problem I see with cooking octopus using this method is that octopus gives off a TON of liquid when slow cooking, and it would a) dissove enough salt to make it inedibly salty, b) dissolve the salt crust completely leaving you with a salty mess, or c) both. With a pastry crust, you wouldn't have to worry about the octopus being salty, but you would have to worry about the crust becoming a juice-soaked sloppy mess.

Frankly, I'd just give up on the salt crust. You might be able to fashion a crust using salt and egg whites which would stick together, but I really do think it would be inedibly salty.

If you pre-slow-cooked the octopus and made a gravy out of the cooking liquid, you could definitely get in into a pastry crust. That seems like it's more work than what you're looking for though. Good luck!


What is the best way to cook the beef cut "nerveux gite"? In France, just bought a beef cut of meat named "nerveux gite a bourguignon", planning to cook it in the slow cooker.  However, it seems incredibly tough!  What's the best way to prepare it?

Welcome! Braising would be the preferred cooking method for that cut of beef. The long, slow cook will result in falling apart, tender, moist meat.

Because of the name of the cut, the first thing that comes to mind is beef bourguignon. From  Wikipedia :

  It is a stew prepared with beef braised in red wine, traditionally red Burgundy, and beef broth, generally flavoured with garlic, onions and a bouquet garni, with pearl onions and mushrooms added towards the end of cooking.

If you decide to make beef bourguignon you can do a search to decide on a recipe. Julia Child's version is quite famous.

However, the bottom line is that you want to braise the beef. So you could use it in any recipe where braising is the cooking method called for.


Do I have to cure a fresh ham before smoking? I have a fresh ham. Do I need to cure it somehow before I put it in the stove-top smoker?

Trying to smoke a fresh ham will result in something that tastes like cooked pork.  You may impart some smokey crust on the outside, but it will still taste like cooked pork.

Curing and then smoking is the only way to give a true smoked ham flavor, and please learn about curing a fresh ham, a cure applied to the outside of a fresh ham will not penetrate to the bone of a ham.

Roger


How should soda made with "ginger bug" smell/taste? I recently fermented a ginger soda using a ginger bug that I made. The bug seemed good to me - no funky mold growing on it, and it fizzled when I stirred it. The soda I made was good, but tasted extra "yeasty" and had spots on top that I couldn't differentiate between fizz or small colonies.

Is this how a fermented soda using a ginger bug should taste, and if not any suggestions on what went wrong?

Ginger bug

250 mL (filtered) water + 3 tablespoons grated ginger (skin on) + 3 tablespoons sugar

Contents were mixed in a jar, with a lid placed on top but not screwed shut. Left at room temperature for 5 days, with daily feedings of 1 tablespoon ginger and 1 tablespoon sugar, as well as frequent mixing.

Soda

120 mL ginger syrup + 240 mL filtered water + 1 tablespoon ginger bug liquid

Contents poured into swinglock bottle, left at room temperature for 2 days. Bottle was "burped" after 1 day to relieve pressure.

if it tasted extra 'yeasty' you're probably just fermenting too far. try starting with less of the bug per liter of liquid, and stop the fermentation sooner.


How to find out flour protein content? I went out to buy flour for making regular western bread (perhaps sourdough if I can make the starter) and the only flour I could find was a 5kg Chakki Atta (medium) from a generic brand in my local supermarket. The package has no extra information about the contents.

That got me thinking: how do i find out what's the protein percentage in a particular flour without resorting to the package label? For sure there must be a scientific way, but how can I do it at home?

The lay person's procedure is: Take your flour and weigh a sample, then wash away the starch and weigh the sample.

Here is a video showing a procedure that you can do at home. I would suggest doing this procedure with a control sample (a flour where you know the protein content to determine your accuracy) before doing with your target sample.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6oQNo4gpeE

Here is a more scientific approach:

The amount of protein in a food material is usually determined by measuring the nitrogen content of the material and multiplying that value by a factor. The nitrogen content of a given protein varies depending on its source. For milk products a factor of 6.38 is used, for most cereal grains the factor is 6.25, and in wheat products the factor is 5.70. These factors depend on the percentage of nitrogen in the respective proteins.

The flour protein content is an important parameter for bread flour. Flours containing higher protein contents are more expensive than flours of lower protein content. Likewise, flours with very low proteins for cakes are also more expensive. There is usually, but not always, a good correlation between protein content and bakery performance of a flour.

The classic procedure to determine the nitrogen was the Kjeldahl procedure. This involved digesting the sample in concentrated sulfuric acid, then neutralizing the acid with concentrated sodium hydroxide, followed by distillation of the ammonia (derived from the nitrogen in the protein) into a standard acid. The procedure worked well, however it was an environmental nightmare. In addition to the strong acid and base, the catalysts used to speed the digestion included such materials as mercury and selenium. It should surprise no one that the procedure is seldom used today.

The Kjeldahl procedure has been replaced by the Dumas combustion procedure. In the original Dumas procedure the sample is mixed with cupric oxide and heated in a stream of carbon dioxide in a combustion tube packed with cupric oxide and copper metal. The organic material is converted to carbon dioxide, water and nitrogen. The gas stream is led into 50% potassium hydroxide. This absorbs the carbon dioxide and any oxides of sulfur, leaving only nitrogen as a gas. The volume of nitrogen is then determined. Various machines have been developed to carry out the analysis automatically. The percent nitrogen is then converted to protein using the appropriate factor. Both the Dumas combustion and the Kjeldahl procedures estimate the quantity (total amount) of protein and not the protein quality. As discussed elsewhere, the quantity of protein is extremely important in the baking performance of a flour.

source: https://www.ndsu.edu/faculty/simsek/wheat/flour.html


How to keep biryani hot and moist for a long time I am looking forward to opening a biryani stall in my area, but my supplier of prepared biryani is far away. What method can I adopt to keep biryani rice fluffy, moist and hot for longer period of time? I want to keep it hot in a prepared condition for eight hours.

A Holding Cabinet

I'm assuming by your supplier being far away, you mean you can only get a delivery once per day. Keeping food overnight and then serving it all day is probably unfeasible.

While 8 hours might be a stretch, it sounds like your best bet would be a warmer cabinet. Here's an example. They're temperature and humidity controlled.

  The Hatco Flav-R-Savor® Portable Energy Efficient Holding Cabinet is capable of holding an array of hot foods at optimum serving temperatures for extended periods of time, saving you money through increased energy efficiencies, and allows for advanced preparation ahead of peak-serving periods.


missed out cream of tartar in chiffon recipe I forgot to add cream of tartar to my egg whites as inwas making a chiffon cake. what happens if you missed out adding cream of tartar to the egg whites for your chiffon cake recipe. will it alter the taste, texturre or fluffiness ofvthe cake?

It will most likely turn out fine.  Cream of tarter is sometimes added when beating egg whites to enhance the stability of the foam that you form.  The egg whites beat into peaks on their own, but the cream of tarter is an accelerator of this process and also a bit of a preservative of the structure when you're folding in the rest of the batter. A bit of an "insurance policy" if you will.

And no, it won't affect the taste either.


Butter usage in fudge I have a number of questions relating to fudge. Thank you in advance for your help. For anyone following this I have as requested broken the question into parts. My main question here is Why do some recipes put the butter ON the fudge once its hot whereas the professional videos (i.e. youtube mackinac fudge shops) seem to show the butter in the boiling mix?

Other questions I've opened:

Use of whipping cream in fudge
Why is my chocolate fudge not that dark?
Commercial fudge recipes
Refrigerating fudge v leaving it out

If there are any professional fudgers I'd especially appreciate your response :o)

I'm not a professional fudger, but here is my theory: one should add it to the boiling mixture.  The reason is that butter has milk solids that are said to  “burn” at low temperatures (somewhere in the range 120C-150C or 250F-300F) which just above the soft ball stage (113C or 235F) needed for making fudge.  I interpret the burning to mean that those milk solids (sugars and proteins) get a chance to contribute to the Maillard reaction that gives caramel (and its grained cousin the fudge) its great and rich flavor.   Given how unique and varied the flavors arising from butter are, I would not want to miss their contribution by adding them after the heat is gone.


How long can chocolate be held at temper? I just got a chocolate melter and have held some tempered pure chocolate (Lindt Excellence 90%) for a day at 33C.

I intend to make up 3 or 4 truffles, a few times a week.

What’s occurred to me is I can just keep this chocolate at temper indefinitely, adding 50g at a time as the level gets low.

The question is, how long will the chocolate last like this? Will the cocoa fat oxidize quickly or will there be some other problem?

I wonder if this were a chocolate factory, whether the chocolate would be kept at temper 24/7 or whether the machine would be periodically emptied and cleaned for some reason.

I am not an expert in tempering, but I think the long standing time at 33˚C can contribute to V crystals reforming as VI (after all, they do this at room temperature over time). If this happened then it would cause the tempered chocolate to thicken and require melting and tempering again.

Will look forward to more answers on this.


Can you boil vegetables along with eggs? When boiling eggs if you also want to boil vegetables it might be more efficient to boil them with the eggs rather then use more water and another pan.
Is it safe to do this or should one boil the vegetables in another pot?

Yes, you can do this. Be aware that:

if you add lots of cool items to boiling water it will take longer to start boiling again, which may impact cooking time a little.
I can imagine vegetables with very strong colour (beetroot) or flavour (garlic?) might diffuse through the eggshell and give you a pink or slightly garlicky egg.


How best to use gluten free all purpose flour? In the grocery store mixup, I got a bunch of gluten free flour. I don't have additives like xanthan gum but would like to bake bread and other recipes so I don't need to go to the store for a few weeks while all this plays out.

Should I try mixing this with regular all purpose flour that I already have? Or should I use it on it's own, or any other advice.

Thanks in advance for all thoughts!

You don't need xanthan gum or other thickeners; they are already in the mix you bought.

These mixes don't behave much like standard, gluten-containing flour. Don't bake bread with them on their own, the results are very disappointing. Also don't use it for standard cake recipes, or for most pastries or cookies.

After all these don'ts, here are the things you can actually do with it.

If you want to keep using your existing recipes without change, I suggest pancakes and crepes. There, gluten free mixes seem to perform as good as flour with gluten. There is a slight noticeable difference in texture, but it's not unpleasant.
Use it in applications where the flour is not needed for the bulk of the texture. For example, if you use stew recipes which are thickened with a spoonful of flour before adding the liquid, it will work quite well there. Or use it for flouring pizza stones, cake tins, etc.
Find recipes intended for gluten free mixes, especially from the brand you bought. They are specifically engineered to work.
If you want to mix it with normal flour, that's also OK. But then mix it in cases where you want to lower the gluten content. So not in bread baking, more in places like cakes or pie crusts, especially if the recipe directs you to use pastry flour, or to mix flour and starch.


Is there a reason for storing ground spices separately (unmixed)? I always use the same spice mix for dal. Instead of taking 1-2 tsp of each, I would rather keep a special container for the dal of the ready made mix in the proportions I want.

Is there any reason not to do so? Shelf-life, aggregation, ..?

I'm aware of three reasons that you might not want to do so:

You tie up spices that you might want to use in other dishes individually
You don't always want to add the spices at the same time.
You can't always keep spices well-blended.

If you only tend to cook one dish or you leave some of each spice in reserve, the first one isn't really a problem.

The second one is a function of the dish being prepared, which I'll assume isn't the case here.

The last one is less of a problem with ground spices, but can be significant for whole seeds -- as you jostle the container with use, some spices will tend to float to the top, while others sink to the bottom.  The end result is that when you go take your measure of mixed spices, it might not have the same proportion as what you had expected.

You can partially mitigate the issue by taking your container and rolling it around on its side for a bit before righting the container and taking your measurement.  It's not perfect, but it will help in re-distributing the spices.

If there are certain spices that would be a major problem if they weren't help in balance (eg, ground hot peppers), you can blend everything else and leave that one item separate.


What is the difference in taste between San Marzano and 6 in 1 ground tomatoes? I've been looking at some recipes for Chicago style pizza recently, and the consensus seems to be to use 6 in 1 ground tomatoes for the sauce.

Generally, when I make sauce, I use San Marzano tomatoes. How would that affect the taste of the sauce?

I would guess that the difference is negligible, especially if you are making a cooked sauce and it is the ingredient in a Chicago style (I assume deep dish, lots of toppings) pizza.  You might be able to taste a difference in a side by side comparison of sauces, but even then the difference is likely not going to be critical for any final product.


Problem in cake baking tray I have purchased microwave safe cake baking pan but as soon as I use the pan in the microwave the spark is coming. What may be the problem ? In which mode should I keep that?

If it is sparking then it is not microwave safe and you should get your money back. No change of mode is going to help, it is the material and construction of the pan which is the problem.


What can I do with Hazelnuts and Walnuts? Recently I got some hazelnuts and walnuts to snack on, but I got too many. What interesting things can I do with them before they go bad?

A great idea is to make nut butter. Mix it with chocolate--and you've got Nutella!


Is it okay for cork to look a bit "moldy"? I just opened a bottle of "white red wine" (a Blanc de Noirs) from 2010. I must confess, I really don't know much about wine.

The cork looks weird to me, as if it was "moldy". It's a bit blueish-green around the edges. The wine smells pretty good, and the cork doesn't smell bad as well.

Is there anything to worry about?

The cork looks like this – click to enlarge:

The cork is normal.  Over time, some of the pigment chemicals will embed themselves in the surface of the cork, starting by the edges.  To my eye, the resulting zone has a bluish brown color.  For a full red, the cork will turn a brown-purple, and eventually black.  All of this should have no relationship to whether the wine is still good.

Some things to look for that will signal a bad bottle:

A change in color of the wine (e.g., pale yellow turning deep gold)
Indications that air entered the bottle or wine leaked out
The smell or taste of wet cardboard in the wine
An ammonia-like smell from the wine
A vinegar taste

Hopefully none of these applied to your wine.


My water is boiling too fast Every time I try to boil a pot of water to make spaghetti, I leave the kitchen to go do something else (I am very busy lol). Sometimes I come back to find the pot boiling over and a mess on my stove! Is there some way I can make the water boil more slowly so I have more time to run my errands?

Turn the temperature down - Once the pot reaches boil, it takes a lot less energy to keep it boiling, turning the temperature down it will keep it from boiling quite so violently.

Don't overfill your pot - Makes sure you are using a pot large enough to handle all the water and pasta

A teaspoon of oil will also help - This helps keep the water from building the bubbles causing it to foam over.  When you cook spaghetti, do you add olive oil to the boiling water?


How can I tell whether my potatoes are waxy vs. floury? Once in a while I get hold of a bunch of potatoes without any labeling and the least I want to know is whether they are waxy or floury. Is there a way to determine whether raw potatoes are waxy or floury?

Cut one in half and rub each halves against each other. If water shows up the potatoes will hold together after boiling.
If the halves stick to each other and the juice is more cloudy than clear then the potatoes are starchy and "floury".


Stews coagulating after freezing I often make stews with meat and veg such as beef and mushroom, cassoulet, etc. I normally eat one portion fresh and then portion and freeze the rest of my stew, to be eaten on a later date. However, often I find that when I defrost my stew portion it has coagulated - it has a jelly like consistency, even when hot. I try to solve this by adding a little water and giving it a good stir, which does give it more of a pourable consistency, but it doesn't bring back the smooth velvety texture the stew had when fresh.

I normally just use a spoon of flour or cornflour (cornstarch) to thicken my stews, so the only ingredients are meat, veg, oil, flour, some liquid (stock, often beer or wine), and seasonings. Would a different thickener prevent my stew getting this coagulated, jelly-like texture after freezing?

Experiment and see if flour acts the same as cornstarch. I find that cornstarch tends to "set up" in such a way that food remains a gelatinous blob after reheating. It does this after being refrigerated too, so I don't think it has to do with you actually freezing it: just cooling it down.

I think flour works a little better to reheat which is why I tend to try to use that for things which I know I will want to reheat and eat again later.

Lastly, do make sure you get it piping hot when reheating as this will help to smooth it out and will also melt and gelatin that comes from the meat.


Substitute agar-agar for gelatine in no bake cheesecake I realise that there are similar questions but I'm confused by the quantity I should use.
Various cooking websites say anything from equal quantities to 8 of gelatine = 1 of agar-agar.
Maybe the ones who say 1:1 haven't heated the agar-agar to near boiling point so it isn't fully dissolved whilst the 8:1 sites have boiled it in some liquid for 4-5 minutes, but this is unclear.
My current recipe uses about 6 leaves of gelatine or about 1tsp of gelatine powder.
Being a lemon cheesecake it also contains the juice of 3 lemons. Some sites say that acid can reduce the effectiveness of agar-agar.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Since posting the original question earlier today I have experimented with using 1 tsp agar-agar and it seems to work. I have been requested in one answer to post the whole recipe. Here it is in both gelatine and agar-agar forms.
Lemon Cheesecake
300 gr biscuits
75 gr melted butter
2 X 340 gr tubs (family sized) ordinary Philadelphia cream cheese
1 250 gr tub Mascarpone
Zest and juice of 2 lemons (maybe 3?)
100 gr caster sugar
6 leaves of gelatine (or one sachet of powdered - possibly only ½ is enough)
OR 1 level tsp agar-agar powder

Put the semi-sweet biscuits. 200gr digestive + 100gr other Hobnobs, almond biscuits,
ginger nuts etc. (or it could be all digestives) in a food processor and blitz
to a fine crumb. Add melted butter, blitz, scrape down, blitz again until
it's fully mixed.

Take a 24cm loose bottomed (springform) cake tin, use the loose bottom
as a template to cut a circle of greaseproof paper / cooking parchment
and assemble with the disk in the bottom. Add the biscuit mixture and press down
into an even layer. Use whatever you like, finger tips, knuckles, spoon, bottom
of a jar or glass. Put it in the fridge to firm up.

If using gelatine, separate the gelatine leaves and put them in a bowl of cold
water to soak. Not necessary if using powdered gelatine or agar-agar.

Put the cream cheese and Mascarpone in your food mixer and beat at high speed
for about 2 minutes, speed consistent with keeping the cheese in the bowl .
Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the sugar and lemon zest.

Squeeze as much water as possible from the gelatine leaves and add to the lemon
juice in a small bowl, or just stir in the powdered gelatine, making sure there
are no lumps. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of water (not too much, just enough to partly cover
the gelatine). Microwave at full power for 30 sec or until the gelatine has fully
melted when stirred into the liquid.
OR
Put the lemon juice + 1 or 2 tbsp water in a small glass bowl and whisk in the
agar-agar powder with a fork. Bring to the boil in the microwave, 1 minute at
full power then, stirring occasionally, run at low power for another 3 minutes
to keep it boiling.Check you don’t boil dry! Add more water if necessary.

Stop the mixer, add the gelatine / agar-agar / lemon juice scraping the bowl
to get it all. Cautiously restart the mixer. The contents will now be a lot more
liquid you won’t be able to run at full speed without it sloping all over the place!

When fully incorporated, pour the mix into the now chilled cake tin.
Scrape the bowl, shake the tin to get the top flat.
Put it back in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
With agar-agar the mixture will set much more quickly even at room temperature,
you need to work quickly.

Whole recipe would be useful.
Going by various popular vegan no-bake cheesecake recipes,  I see 1 to 3 tsp of agar powder.
Higher ratios of fat will need the higher amount of agar.
Lemon juice as a flavoring in this case shouldn't be an issue. Even half of the liquid being lemon sets up fine as in these bars:
https://thehiddenveggies.com/vegan-lemon-bars/
Personally, I prefer kappa carrageenan over agar in stove top dishes as there is less boil time and partially sets while hot allowing for last minute tweaking.
ie test amount removed to cool surface.


Is sous vide better for lean meat or fatty meat? (Apologies if this is already asked, I tried searching and, surprisingly, nothing came up).

I’m unclear as to whether the benefit of sous vide (over conventional methods) is greater for lean meat or for fatty meat.   I do have some theories / guesses but would really like expert views.  (I’m fairly new to SV cooking, but have read a bit about it).

[Didnt want to over complicate this, but there is a third element, connected tissue.  ]

A big problem with traditional fatty meats such as brisket, pork butt, or such is that Sous Vide temperatures don't get the meat hot enough to render the fat. Lean meats are hard to get tender because of the lack of fat, so Sous Vide is better for lean meat.

I would argue that for things like Brisket and Pork Butt that low and slow without using Sous Vide will always give better results.

For steaks, you can sear after Sous Vide, but just trim the excess fat because it will be easy to get the steak too done if you try to let it render all the fat.


Spilled vegetable oil Oil that had dripped from a bottle of vegetable oil got on the shelf of my kitchen cupboard. I didn't notice it then put a tray on top, several months later I find a sticky mess under the tray. Is this a botulism risk from any possible spores on the shelf with oil under a metal tray? I didn't store garlic or anything else there.

No because:

The environment you describe is not oxygen deficient and therefore not favorable to botulism growth. Simply being under a tray doesn't make an oxygen-free environment.
Plain oil provides almost no nutrients to support bacterial growth. You need another food source for bacteria to grow in significant number.

But let's take the worst case scenario and assume you've got a big botulism farm going on under that tray. Fine, clean it up with a sponge and some hot soapy water, or any of the many antibacterial kitchen cleansers that are available if that makes you feel better. Your botulism farm will be washed safely down the sink along with all the spores they produced. Toss the sponge in the dishwasher for a cycle to make it Felix Unger clean.


Does active dry yeast really expire? I was cleaning out my spice cabinet and deep in the back I found two packages (e.g., six envelopes) of active dry Red Star yeast that expired in March 2009, 15 months ago as of writing this question.

With the thought that dry yeast is basically freeze-dried and should have a decent shelf life, I proofed one envelope in warm water with some sugar to see if it really "expires". It foamed right up, so it seems like the answer is, at least for one year after the marked date, no.

Although in this case, does "expired" really mean "less effective" or "will taste funny"?

I've used yeast that was even older than yours and although the taste of the resulting bread was fine, and it foamed up properly when tested, I found I had to use about 50% more of it to get the same density of the bread.  In the end, I threw it out because it was too much trouble to experiment with it every time.


Why is my pizza dough sponge failing? I have tried a number of times to make my own pizza dough.  Where I am falling down is the sponge.

In general, I am mixing a packet of yeast with about 2/3 C of flour, and 3/4 cup of very warm water.  Let rise in a warm place.  I no longer have a gas oven.  I leave it in the oven with the light on.

After the first 30 minutes, it looks like it is starting fine.  I then add a cup of my flour/salt mixture, and a cup of cold water, then return to the lighted oven.

After 30 more minutes, it does not look right at all.  It looks somewhat spongy, but not enough.  It hasn't gained in volume, and judging from previous attempts, I abandoned making dough because it hadn't risen before.

Do I need to add heat somehow?  For the process outlined, I was cooking on the range.  Would that residual heat have been too much for the inside of the oven?

Might be temperature, might be technique. While the dough will proof faster at the optimal temperature, you can also proof it for longer. Some recipes proof the dough in the refrigerator (See Using low oven temperature to accelerate proofing). So you can compensate for a lower temperature by extending the proofing time.

Technique is also important. I don't know why you split the process into 2 parts, but my guess is adding the salt without a buffering agent is killing off the active yeast.

I have had a lot of success with no-knead recipes, which you can modify if you prefer to knead your dough. Add your flour to the bowl, 1 Tsp salt and mix well. Add your yeast (1/4 Tsp packet or bread machine yeast), and mix well. If desired you can add sugar and some olive oil. Add your blood temperature water (~ 38C) a 100ml at a time, reducing the quantity towards the end. You want add sufficient water to hydrate the flour until it just comes away cleanly from the bowl. Your dough is ready to be proofed when it just comes together and is neither too sticky or too dry. You can then cover and proof for between 2 - 18 hours or until it doubles in size. You can tell by the "stringiness" of the dough how well it has proofed.


Can I use an avocado instead of a banana? I have a great recipe to make cookies but it requires a mashed up banana. I am on the anti-candida diet so I cannot have bananas. I would like to replace it with avocado but I wasn't sure of the measurements or whether it would even work properly. This recipe calls for three very ripe bananas. Do you think it's doable? If so, how many avocados should I use?  3 also?
I'm also not sure if it will work because it calls for applesauce. Is there any sugar free to substitute for applesauce?
The recipe is:

3 ripe bananas
2 cups oats
1/4 cup peanut butter (I will use almond butter)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

Why and how the banana is being used in your recipe is important. Sometimes, bananas in baked goods are used as "mix-ins"---not to change the qualities of the batter, but to add interest, in chunks or slices. Other times they're used as a substitute for eggs, mashed or pureed and meant to replace the binding, leavening and moisture of the egg. Based on your dietary motivations and the absence of eggs in the recipe, I'll assume the banana's mashed (wholly or partly) and used as an egg replacer (though applesauce is also used as an egg replacer, and this is hardly your typical drop cookie recipe).

You won't get the same result substituting avocado for the banana in any proportion. You might still get a result that you find acceptable and enjoy, but avocado is about 15% fat by weight, where bananas contain almost no fat at all. Avocado also has less sugar. You can substitute volume-for-volume or weight-for-weight, since either is about as dense as the other. If you make this substitution, I would expect a firmer cookie. At first I thought avocado would have less moisture as well, but the data indicates they have about the same moisture; it's hard to say how the cooking time might be affected without experimenting.

I would probably try a lower oven temperature for the first batch. The problem you may run into is that the oats need a certain amount of time to cook; if your cookie is firmer (because of reduced sugar), the batter may be more likely to become dry or burn on the outside before it's done on the inside. Reducing the oven temperature would help even this out a bit, if it would otherwise be a problem. Less sugar also means it'll be hard to get a chewy-crispy texture.

Messing with the applesauce at the same time... I don't know. You can make your own applesauce out of the least sweet apples you can find (not necessarily Granny Smith) but I don't think you'd see much of a benefit. The applesauce is your only real source of sweetener and moisture in this recipe and both are pretty important to a cookie dough. You'll have to experiment on your own there, maybe with an artificial sweetener and some vegetable puree that has less natural sugar.


Is neccessary to store christmas cookies in the fridge? If I want to have a Christmas cookies e.g. in a different room than the fridge is, how long I can leave them at room temperature without worry that it will be spoiled?

This types of cookies mostly contain butter (not good for leaving outside of a fridge) but also alcohol and sugar (good for leaving outside of a fridge).

I have for example this types:

Shortcrust pastry (first picture)
Wasp nest (maybe known only in my country I am not sure, see the second picture)
Gingerbread

Butter biscuits (cookies) and gingerbread both keep well for days at room temperature in an airtight container.  Some gingerbread will keep for much longer. For most cookie recipes it's a matter of the quality spoiling rather than food safety. Pastry and biscuits tend to spoil by going soft absorbing water from the air, so they really do need to be sealed up.

Don't forget that the keeping properties of the finished product will be different from those of the base ingredients. So have a look at the recipe. A decent recipe book should have storage instructions for the recipes; if it's a family recipe and you don't have this information it might be worth consulting a similar recipe online or in a book. In addition it's a bad idea to keep soft biscuits (like some gingerbread) in the same tin as crisp biscuits (like shortbread or butter biscuits) as the crisp ones will soften and the soft ones dry out. So you might want to keep each type in its own container.


Why do Irish & British sausages have soft casings? Growing up in Ireland has given me a certain expectation about how a sausage should taste. Travelling the world however, has taught me not only that most Irish and British sausages tend to have softer casings than elsewhere, but that this is actually the exception, rather the norm. Indeed it seems that in most places, tough casings are actually preferred, and that my personal preference is actually the aberration.

But enough preamble; what is the reason that British and Irish sausages tend to have softer casings?

There are many potential variables here, particularly if the sausages are made with natural casings.  More likely it has to do with the actual casing source.  Casings from beef are different consistency from casings from hogs and from lambs.  I have found that hog casings are the softest that I have used, but I am in the US, not in Britain or Ireland.  I have also found that casings from different suppliers are different.  The ones I can buy locally in small quantities tend to be much tougher than the ones that I purchase online from a commercial provider.

I am guessing you have a situation where the sausage makers in Britain and Ireland have access to very high quality casings that are softer.

Some of this may be due to the diet of or the breed of animals that provide the casings.


Fat content in homemade stock First of all, I don't know the difference between stock, broth and bouillon in english (not my native language), but what I mean is when you cook for example a chicken carcass with vegetables for a couple of hours to use the liquid, discarding everything else. My question also applies for when you cook any other type of meat which haven't been pre-cook, meaning it will have quite a lot of fat remaining.

However, when you make your own stock, how much fat will there be in it? I'm mostly interested in the fat content after you've removed the "lid of fat" after refrigeration, but also immediately after sieving, if anyone has answer to both questions.

And naturally, I know it's hard to determine the fat content without doing an analysis, but I'm not calling for an exact answer on the gram, just if it's around 0–5 %, 5–10 %, or 10–20 % or whatever – just be as precise as you can.

When buying stock in the store, it usually says 0 g fat, but I guess they have some method of removing all of the fat, lowering the risk of it going rancid and increasing shelf-life. In my stock, I can see quite a lot of droplets of fat.

One way of attacking the question can be: Doesn't all the fat have to come up the surface ("the lid") since fat and water are unmixable? If fat is still in the broth, a) has it cooled down before all of it was allowed to rise (can be difficult in gelatin rich stocks)?, or b) can a stock hold fat in an emulsion?

See Stock vs Broth - What's the difference in usage?

Like most cooking words there is no global definition. Fat content varies by ingredients and recipe. Some fat is retained in suspension, and some will be chemically attracted to components of the stock and be difficult to remove

Some people stir in the fat, most people skim it off

Commercial stock may have been centrifuged to get the fat content down to zero. This is not that practical to do at home, but can be done


Baked 2 cakes simultaneously. One sank in the middle on cooling I have a gas oven. I have raised a question regarding it before, Baking in gas oven does not brown the top. This time when I baked I placed a aluminum foil in bottom rack and baked 2 same size cake on the top rack. The cake on the left baked evenly and was fine. The cake on the right though browned more sank in the middle on cooling.

I had heated the oven to 180 C and baked the left cake for 30 minutes and since it got baked I removed and shifted the cake on the right in the middle as it was wobbly in the center. I baked it for 5 minutes more and then took it out. It looked fine first but when cooled it sank in the middle.
What could have gone wrong here? How can I prevent it?

Thanks!

It sounds like you underbaked the cake to me, the structure hadn't crystallized and therefore couldn't support the weight of the case. Non-fan ovens often have warmer and cooler spots, the cake on the left was likely in a warmer spot than the one on the right, and cooked faster. Or the cake on the left was slightly smaller and cooked faster because of it, either way when you opened the oven door all the heat went out, lengthening the time it would take to finish baking the remaining cake and you just didn't give it enough time.

Next time test the doneness of the cake using the appropriate method for that cake. I use a spring test and/or an instant read thermometer for most cakes. I don't usually use a toothpick test as I've found it to be inaccurate.


How do you coat almonds in wasabi and keep it spicy and crunchy? (my wasabi paradox) I've been trying to make wasabi and soy sauce almonds, like the ones you find at the store (Blue Diamond) but the only recipe I've found (food.com) is very underwhelming. Despite using varying increasing amounts of wasabi, the spicy factor is non-existant.

I suspect the heat from baking causes wasabi flavor to lose it's intensity, so it must be added at the end. But, I haven't been able to find anything to coat the almonds to the outer shell and maintain the roasted/crunchy almond exterior.

Since wasabi powder is "matured" [and activated] with water and a short (covered) resting period, refining it into more powdery makes it stick better but still not spicy.

How do I get my wasabi almonds to come out spicy?

Note: I have also tried horseradish on almonds (which is just wasabi without food coloring) and baking it off.

Wasabi can also be activated by oil. So. Make yourself a nice intense wasabi oil, add equal part by weight of maltodextrin, stir. Voila, a nice sticky powder perfect for adhering to your almonds.


what can i add to wings that were frozen in a soy sauce to save them i was making stickey wings and the party was put off for a week, so I froze the wings in the soy sauce based maranade now im fixing them ans the salty taste is horrible, is there anything i can add to them or do to get ride of the high sodium taste

If there's sauce stuck to them, you could just wash them thoroughly. If they're seriously overmarinated, salty all the way through, you could try soaking in water to try to pull some of it back out.

If none of that works, Joe's suggestion of adding bitter flavors could work, up to a point, but it won't be the recipe you had in mind originally.

You could also add or serve with something bulky that isn't salty at all. This is a bit tricky with wings; it might have to be a sauce, since you can't exactly just toss in potatoes or vegetables and expect to eat it all together easily.


Looking to start cooking....but I'm a total noob. Where should I start? Possible Duplicate:
  What recipes should every high school graduate know how to cook?

So here's the deal: I've told myself on at least 10 different occasions that I was going to learn how to cook.  I've either given up or lost motivation on all attempts.  Now that I'm living in my own apartment, it's essential that I stop eating hot pockets 24/7.  But where do I start?  When it comes to cooking, I'm lazy as heck, and I don't know anything.  So a good recommendation would be for something that is:
a) Incredibly easy to cook
b) Tasty (to an average college student)
c) Quick

Maybe once I learn to cook a few incredibly basic dishes, I'll be able to move up to something more advanced.  Where should I start?

What @ElendilTheTall suggests is indeed the usual way, and has worked for countless hobby cooks. But the way you describe it, your problem comes from lack of motivation rather than the difficulty of cooking. So you probably need to change your attitude and discover a side of cooking which is fun for you. Then everything will be easier. I, for example, have always been fascinated by cooking as a creative process, but there are different types of cooks.

A book which is likely to help you is "cooking for geeks". You don't need to fit the media stereotype of a geek to like it. It just has a very systematic approach to cooking, explains things like the way meat changes under heat on pop science level, and deviates into this special kind of experiments a down-to-earth person like my grandma doesn't get, but a typical tinkerer/engineer/geek loves. Prime example: cooking fish in the dishwasher. It starts with the very basic things and is chock full of useful everyday advice. It also has some recipes, although it will probably a good idea to also get a recipe collection book for beginners after you've got started. If you are a stackoverflow user, chances are that you'll like the book. Still, it is a very specific style, so make sure you can leaf through it or have a return right before you buy it.

Of course, the usual motivation advice counts for cooking as with everything else. Start small, with simple things. Promice yourself a schedule, e. g. "Cooking once a week" and stick with that until you have worked yourslef into a habit or enthusiasm. No sense in declaring "I have to cook dinner every day so I can save XXX until Christmas" and then getting tired of it after a week.


Is there a safe way to remove items that have fallen into a Garbage Disposal? I've always been told to never reach into a garbage disposal, for obvious reasons, but always seem to drop items in that I don't want to risk ruining the blades with by grinding them.  Is there a tool(s) that can be used to efficiently retrieve items from a disposal?

Circuitry can't just turn itself on; the machine is controlled by a switch.

If the switch is not flipped on, the circuit is not complete and the machine will not run.

Our switch is up on the wall, under a cabinet. There is no chance of something hitting that switch accidentally, so I just reach in when something falls down the drain.

If I thought there was even a chance that the disposal could turn on, I would never reach in there.


How to store bread dough in the fridge for proofing? My bread book says that I can store the shaped loaves of white bread with sourdough starter and yeast in the fridge overnight instead of just leaving them to proof for two hours outside under a moist cloth. It also says I should put them in an air-tight container.

But if it's already shaped, it will stick to the container and the shaping will break. Also it's very hard to find an air-tight container that can fit a short baguette. Instead, I have just put it onto the baking sheet, including paper, and wrapped it in cling foil.

In general that works well, but it's tedious to wrap the thing in a couple of meters of foil, and it will sweat underneath. The baking paper will be damp, it's hard to open it up again and the cling foil clings to the loaf.

Is there a more efficient way to leave the loaf to proof in the fridge overnight? Does it need to be air-tight?

I'm talking about a home-size fridge and baking sheets for a home-size kitchen oven.

Using the refrigerator for the first rise is absolutely easy, but that is not what you are asking about.

For a second rise, tweaking your current approach a bit, I suggest:

Place yout bread(s) on a baking tray or similar or use a well-floured banneton (basket).
Find a plastic bag large enough to fit the entire tray or the banneton plus a bit extra room inside.
Lightly "blow up" the filled bag and close with a clip, rubber band or similar. You are not creating a "ballon", just enough to have the bag "float" a bit over the loaf.
Another option would be placing a glass, can or similar object next to your loaves to support the foil tent from below.
You need not create an air-tight seal, but you want to limit the loss of moisture to keep the surface of the bread from drying out.
For a single boule, an inverted bowl can protect the loaf enough, or if you use an appropriately sized Tupperware or similar bowl in lieu of a banneton, just  close the lid.

A few additional thoughts:

For round loaves (boules) a banneton or in a pinch, a bowl, helps to keep the loaf in shape. Especially for long proofing times the tension created by shaping the loaf might not be enough to hold over hours, causing the loaf to "flow" sideways. Flour the basket well and don't worry about excess flour at the bottom (or top, depending in technique) of the loaf, simply brush it off after baking.
You don't need to put parchment under the loaf if you transfer them to a pizza stone or pre-heated tray. Don't try to lift a baguette by hand, use a sword-shaped baguette peel or, in a pinch, a cutting board and roll the baguette onto the peel and back onto the pizza stone or second tray.
That said, damp paper isn't much of a problem unless it is so wet that it will simply tear.
Rolls or other small items are easier to pack into a plastic container - plus they bake quickly in the morning, which may add a bit of convenience (or allows for a few extra minutes of sleep).


Can I make baked veal more soft? I usually cook meat in a steamer or multicooker, and it gets very soft. This time I've decided to experiment and baked a big chunk of veal stuffed with garlic in the oven.

Not that result was dissapointing, but it is definitely far from what I've expected. It tastes more like, well, cold boiled pork. So its very dry.

My question is - can I "save" the situation and convert already baked chunk of meat to something that tastes let it put this way more soft?

Depending on how far overcooked it is, then you might be able to resuscitate it by cutting it into smaller pieces and cooking it low and slow in some liquid.

For example, you could use it as the meat in a stew, or slice it thinly and then braise it with some vegetable to make a pot-roast.

This also gives you an opportunity to introduce additional flavor, as it sounds as if that may have been lacking as well.


Is this yeast classed as instant yeast? I want to do this recipe which contains these ingredients for the bread part..

250g/9oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
5g salt
8g instant yeast
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
135ml/4½fl oz whole milk
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

and the method...

Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the butter, milk and egg and stir the mixture with your fingers until it comes together as a dough. Continue mixing until the sides of the bowl are clean and the dough is soft.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-6 minutes, or until the dough has stopped feeling sticky and has a smooth, silky exterior. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with cling film and set aside to prove in a warm room for at least 30 minutes and up to one hour.

Its asks for instant yeast - I have this yeast described as Dried active baking yeast, suitable for hand-baking only.

Is this the same thing? I couldn't find 'instant yeast'. Can I use this yeast in this recipe and can I use it exactly as described in the method?

No, that is just normal dried yeast. Allinson do an instant yeast (they call it Easy Bake yeast) that comes in a green container.

You can still use your dried yeast though. Use double the amount, and instead of adding it to the flour, add it to the milk (which should be warmed very gently first - not hot, just 'finger warm'). Let it sit for 5 minutes and get bubbly, then proceed as normal.


Undercooked bread - does temperature over 165 mean it's food safe? I made a white bread recipe with whole spelt flour, probably didn't knead it enough, etc. and it didn't rise much. So it was undercooked inside and very cooked outside. I stuck a meat thermometer in the bread and it was 160-165+ degrees. Does the temperature mean it was food safe while at the same time being undercooked/heavy in the middle? (Because I kept tasting it in the vain hope it was getting edible as I cooked it again and again). What I am trying to understand is can something be undercooked tasting and in consistency but be food safe due to temperature? Thanks!

First off, there's not a lot in the ingredients you list that is likely to pose a hazard anyway.  (It is possible for flour to be contaminated with bacteria, and if the bacterial count is high enough, it could pose a risk in raw dough.)

However, pasteurization to safe levels at 160F doesn't take more than a few seconds in most foods, and it's likely the interior of your loaf was above 130F (where bacteria will gradually start dying off) for quite some time.

I'd definitely consider it safe to eat right after baking, though it may not be particularly pleasant.  However, underdone bread sometimes is prone to earlier spoilage, since it generally has a higher moisture content that might promote some mold, bacterial, and yeast growth after baking.  The chances of it becoming actually hazardous without noticeably spoiling are probably rather low, but it's possible, particularly if the moisture content is high enough.  It's much more likely that the bread would just spoil normally through the appearance of surface molds, etc., though.  If you wanted to be extra cautious, you could store leftover bread in the freezer or fridge.


I'm cooking a Romanian meatball soup for 60 people. How much of this soup do I need to feed 60 people? This is the recipe (in Romanian) for the meatball soup.
Here is the ingredient list translated:

Servings: a pot of 5 L

Ingredients - savoriurbane.com

2 carrots

1 parsley root

1 root parsnips

1 celery root (medium)

2 tablespoons of oil

1 onion

2 potatoes

500 ml broth of tomatoes (of the house) or the tomato paste to the box (mashed) or 3-4 fresh tomatoes (summer)

approx. 500 g vegetables of your choice: pod of beans, peas, florets of cauliflower, diced turnip, etc.

1 small bunch of thyme dry

For the meatballs:

500 g minced pork (or mix with beef)
50 g rice (about 2 tablespoons)
1 small onion chopped
1 tablespoon of oil
salt, freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika (paprika)
1 teaspoon dry thyme, chopped
1 egg white raw

In addition:

sour cream tart for dres soup
1 raw egg yolk
lemon juice, vinegar, bors or dies
a handful of greenery (leaves of parsley and dill)
optional: chopped leaves of lovage

Additional translations re the amount of water and the total amount of soup the recipe makes:

I added the rest of the roots and I dropped everything with 4 L of hot water.
From the ingredients below we obtained a soup pot of approx. 5 L.

After looking at many very similar recipes (in English) for Romanian sour meatball soup, or Ciorba de Perisoare, I'm inclined to think that this recipe does indeed make 5 liters.

Most all of the recipes I've looked at start with 500g of meat and have pretty much the same ingredient list. This recipe found on  CookingGlory says to :

  Add about 12 to 16 cups of water (about 4l).

Based on this, I find it easy to believe that the finished soup would easily be 5 liters. (Also, in the translation provided by another user, it shows an amount of 5 liters.)

Also, translated from the link provided in the question:

  From the ingredients below we obtained a soup pot of approx. 5 L. You can reheat without problems and it is tastier every day (kept in the refrigerator lasts for 3-5 days).

And:

  I added the rest of the roots and I dropped everything with 4 L of hot water.

The recipe on Cooking Glory states that it makes 8 - 10 servings.

So, basic math in hand, 5 L of soup, multiplied by 6 = 30 L of soup. That would give you sixty 500 ml portions.

The link above to the Cooking Glory page also gives a lot of information about the soup and its ingredients.


How to avoid cinnamon sludge in a beverage? When you grind up cinnamon (say in a coffee grinder) and use it in a drink, it ends up producing this thick sludge.

You can only prevent the sludge from forming if you leave it very course.  Why does it turn to sludge?  I swear I once had a container of cinnamon that did not produce sludge.  Am I buying the wrong cinnamon?

The cinnamon "sludge" is fiber. The fiber that came from the cinnamon is soluble in water.

10 grams of cinnamon is about 8 grams of fiber (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon).
It is safe to eat / drink (fiber!) in moderate amount (Chinese cinnamon or cassia is not safe in high dose because of its toxic component called coumarin).
Of course, cinnamon sticks won't produce so much sludge.
If you use a hot drink, stir it so it doesn't sit at the bottom.

Ceylon cinnamon ("true" cinnamon) is different from Chinese cinnamon ("cassia") and may have different properties with regard to solubility and water. Check out your container that doesn't sludge, and compare with what you have been using in your grinder.


What are some ways to reduce the bitterness of chicory? I bought some chicory today and made chicken with chicory in Marsala sauce. Everything turned out really well, except the chicory is way too bitter for my taste. I noticed that the recipe uses red chicory, whereas I bought chicory looking like this. Would getting red instead of "normal" chicory already reduce bitterness?

What are some other ways to reduce the bitterness of chicory?

First and foremost, for both types remove the white core, which is the most bitter part. Some recipes omit that bit of instruction, assuming the reader knows this.

Next, the bitter compounds are water soluble, so soaking the cut leaves for half an hour or - if applicable - blanching will remove excessive bitterness. (Yes, you will leach out vitamins, but it's either one or the other.)

Good produce matters in this case, too: fresh chicory / endive is only slightly bitter. If the heads have been exposed to light and warmth, they turn increasingly bitter. So if you can, buy them from stores where they are kept in dark boxes and choose firm, plump ( = fresh ) heads, then store them in the fridge at home. I would assume a similar mechanism for red chicory / radicchio, but it's not kept dark. But again, pick firm heads.

And then there is preparation: A quick stir-fry will keep the bitter compounds inside the leaves, long braising will tend to extract them into the sauce, making the whole dish being percieved as more bitter. If that's too much for you, blanch first.
Also, adding sweet or caramelly notes (a generous pinch to a spoonful of sugar in the frying pan) or aceto balsamico can mitigate the bitter taste.


What are the benefits of whisking when making muffins? What are the benefits of whisking when making muffins?

I think your question is been answered here

"Over mixing batter forms gluten, which in turn hardens the cake", @Theindependentaquarius.

"There's a difference between "don't overmix" and "don't mix" - you're supposed to mix enough to incorporate, just don't try homogenize it", @Aaronut.


Do foods labeled "non-GMO" only (and not "organic") have more pesticides in them? I know

organic = non-GMO + no pesticides (source);
non-GMO = pesticides possibly used;
pesticide-free = possibly GMO.

Do non-GMO foods actually have more pesticides in them?

No. "No-GMO" means exactly that. There is no Genetically Modified Organism in the content of your purchase.
In general you GMO your veggies and wheat (and others) so you don't need to use pesticides on them because they are designed to be more resistant.
So yes, your question

Do non-GMO foods actually have more pesticides in them?

come from that logic. You need to spray food from outside because it's not resistant on it's own. So the amount of chemicals per tone (or hectare) is higher in "non GMO" than it is in GMO.
Organic thought it totally depended on law. In EU to call something organic you need to stay below certain quota of pesticides per hectare (in big generalisation, you can read more here EU law on organic production)
BUT
There is doubt about what you call PESTICIDE. Because you can use synthetic one (Like the one Monsato is making) or natural one (like tobacco). The first one is more to be used in big industrial farms, while natural can be easily made in small farms where it's more financially better to have their own plot of natural pesticide.


Slightly bitter potatoes or onion I have got the same annoying result a few times now, when making potato gratin, and something known as "french potato cake" in my country (grated potato in frying pan).

I believe that it's the potato which has a slightly off taste; bitter/metallic/raw. Some googling leads to solanine as an explanation, but I'm not completely satisfied.

Things that might be related:

I rarely peel them (yet, I think that the same batch of potatoes, used a few days apart did taste fine the first time).
I think that it's worse when any piece of potato isn't in direct contact with heat (i e the center of a thick potato cake or gratin)
I almost always add raw, finely grated onions.
Sometimes raw garlic - my impression is that it makes it worse.
The potatoes are not green, at all, in any of these circumstances.

So my guesses are:

Solanine, in that case solution is to peel them?
Something related to oxidation, either in garlic/onion or perhaps catalysed by it. Solution, in that case?
Rawness - can potatoes be soft and still be "raw"?

My gut tells me that they are either under-done or need to be rinsed. Have you tried par boiling the  potato? I would try slicing the raw potato, boiling for a few minutes to draw out some of the starch - then rinsing them before adding to your recipe. Worth a try I think.

Good luck!


Should I start timer immediately after adding pasta to boiling water? When I add cold pasta or ravioli to boiling water, water stops boiling. It needs a couple of minutes to boil again. So, the question is
Should I start timer immediately after adding pasta to boiling water?
or Wait for water to boil again and then start timer?
This may sound silly but I always wonder when to start timer.

You should start it as soon as you dump the pasta in the pot. I personally also turn off the heat at the same time, as you don't need your water to be boiling to cook pasta. Anything over 180 degrees Fahrenheit will do the trick. You could stick a thermometer in the water to make sure it's still hot enough, but I doubt it's possible to drop the temp by over 30 degrees unless your pasta is very cold. If you wait to start your timer and the water is still over 180 degrees, your pasta will be overcooked.
This is not true for ravioli. The pasta will get done at 180 degrees, but the filling will not. Using more water will cause the temp to drop less when you dump in the ravioli, and you should definitely keep the heat up so it starts simmering again as quickly as possible. Hopefully that's not long enough to make a difference one way or the other for your timer, as the pasta will become overcooked if it sits in hot water for a few extra minutes. I'd still start the timer when you dump the ravioli in and then check it when the timer goes off, but expect that it might take another minute to finish cooking.