How to release pungence out of onion for salads without cooking? I have been making a pretty standard Mediterranean-style potato salad but replacing the standard vinegar with lemon juice, which I like better. However, I noticed that, when used, red wine vinegar does more to soften the uncooked union and seems to release the pungent juices from it so they spread to other ingredients. Lemon juice tastes better but I don't think it treats the onion as well.

Because I would rather not mix vinegar and lemon juice, I was wondering if there are any way other than using vinegar to treat raw onion so that it releases more juice and also make the onion more palatable?

A simple way is to, upon cutting, place your chopped onions into a bowl of ice water for 10-15 minutes before tossing into your salad (sans water, of course). I find this takes the 'spicy bite' and pungency out of them and leaves the crunch - whereas acid seems to affect the texture of the onion.


How can i make food have a more desirable smell? I am cooking a wrap with avocado, chicken and vegetables such as carrots, cucumber, capsicum, red onion etc.

However, once I make these, they don't have any smells to it. So I was wondering how do I make it smell better?

More spices on the chicken?

In general, cold and room temperature food need more seasonning as the volatile compounds that make up odor (what you smell) will not be as, erm, volatile.

There is not set rule on how much to add; experience plays a big role here.

When cooking your ingredients, in your case, chicken, you can add a little bit more seasoning, herbs, spices, salt.

Just be careful not to add too much as some herbs and spices can become bitter in larger quantity.

For your specific case, I would add cilantro and lime to the wraps.

(In my taste, ) I would skip the carrots and cucumber as they are not that flavorful and add water to the end product; make a side salad with them.


How can I keep fruit salad fresh longer I eat every morning fresh fruit, so every morning I peel and cut it.
What can I do to prepare a big bowl and the fruit will stay fresh for a few days and which fruits are best to keep.

There is actually no way to keep fruit salads fresh for days, but at least you can make fruit salad and eat it the the next day.

At times I also make fruit salad at keep some for the next day. The biggest problem is that some fruits like apples and bananas oxidizes and turn black very quickly, while fruits like pawpaw and watermelon goes mushy when left to long. To counteract that, add a little lemon or lime juice to your fruit salad to stop fruits from oxidizing, and keep your fruit salad in the refrigerator to keep it from going mushy. This should keep your salad "fresh" for at least the following day

On your question which fruits are the best, there really is no exact answer to that. Freshly cut fruit don't last long, either refrigerated or covered with fresh lime/lemon juice. It still stays the best to make fruit salad and consuming it as soon as possible. And why compromise and leaving out your favorite fruits because they won't last a day or two in your salad. And making fruit salad is always a pleasure


Why is the pasta often cooked in the sauce in al'arrabiata recipes? I looked up some recipes for pasta al'arrabiata, and one part I find a bit confusing is that most of them finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. So you cook the pasta separately until it's almost done, and then mix it with the sauce and finish cooking. I'm used to simply cooking the pasta and the sauce each for themselves, and only then mix them.

I'm an inexperienced cook, and this part adds some complications where I'm wondering if they're worth it or if I should simply cook the pasta and the sauce separately as usual. I'm comfortable with cooking the pasta alone to something resembling al dente, but mixing them both just before they're finished and then cooking both together makes this more difficult. I also usually use a rather small pot for the sauce, so I'd have to adapt that as well.

So, I'm wondering what the purpose of this step is, and whether I should just cook sauce and pasta entirely separately.

While Italian cuisine is defined regionally, the majority of Italian pasta dishes have one cook the pasta until almost done, then finish in the condiment. While there are exceptions that include thick, long cooked sauces like Bolognese or sugos, finishing in the condiment serves several purposes: (a) the pasta and the condiment can be combined, (b) the pasta finishes cooking, (c) it absorbs the flavor of the condiment, and (d) the condiment (sauce) thickens and emulsifies from the addition of the starchy pasta cooking water (this can be controlled by adding cooking water and/or allowing it to cook off). Yes, it is more difficult than cooking separately, and it can be a little nuanced, but it is not very technical.  With a bit of practice, I think you will find this step worth it.


mashed potatoes - fixing undercooked potatoes I decided to do  mashed potatoes.
I boiled the potatoes (needed 3-5 min more, the were in about 30 min)
I just realised they're undercooked
I  cut the potatoes into smaller pieces (2-3 cm chunks) and put them in the warm pan that I used to boil them

What should I do now. Can it be fixed?

I would suggest microwaving them on to complete the cooking without getting them waterlogged, unless you have a huge volume of potatoes.   They should still be quite hot from the previous cooking, so should not take long to begin cooking in the microwave.

If you don't have a microwave, you could try continuing to boil them, but you don't want to add cold water and have the starches begin to crystallize, so I would try to keep them as warm as reasonably possible while bringing the water to a boil in an electric kettle or another pot.


If I shun molasses and sugar, can I still copycat Outback Steakhouse's bread? Outback Steakhouse doesn't unveil the recipe for their bread, but Copycat Version of Outback Steakhouse Bread Recipe lists

  Ingredients

  3 packages dry yeast
  1 1/2 cups warm water (divided)
  1 tablespoon sugar
  1/2 cup dark molasses
  1 tablespoon salt
  2 tablespoons neutral oil (vegetable or canola)
  2 cups rye flour
  2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour

What happens if I must eschew the sugar and molasses for medical reasons? I don't care if the color changes.

The taste will change. It will not taste sweet at all, so it wouldn't really be a copy cat recipe any more. It will rise slower. Yeast feeds on sugar, so if you omit the sugar it will only feed on the carbs from the flour and hence rise much slower. And it will likely be less dense. In my experience, adding molasses to a dough makes it denser. It may also become too dry. The molasses especially is a large enough ingredient that omitting it will affect the hydration level of the dough.


What can I do with shredded wheat shreds? At the bottom of the box of shredded wheat squares, there's quite a bit of 'loose' shredded wheat; it used to be in cereal form and is now just loose.

What interesting recipes or dish modifications can you suggest?

One idea was a sort of crisp/struedel topping, (mix with butter and bake on top of a fruit dessert)

There's a middle-eastern dish called Kataife that uses loose shredded wheat rehydrated with sugar, walnuts, cinnamon and a few other things. My grandma makes it and it is fantastic.


How should I care for my knives? I've finally put down the money to buy a quality knife and it's sharpness is amazing!

How do I take care of it so that the edge lasts and the knife stays sharp?

Technique

Always use a cutting surface made for a knife, particularly a wooden chopping board/block. Avoid contact with hard surfaces such as metal, glass, or stone; these will quickly cause dulling or even chipping of most knives. Also avoid cutting frozen items, for the same reason.

Use the dull end ("top") of the knife for scraping food off surfaces, or use a scraper or spatula instead. Knives are meant to cut straight, along the edge; scraping one sideways across any surface will misalign the edge very quickly.

Do not use more force than necessary. A sharp knife should cut with very little effort. The more pressure you apply, the faster it will dull.

Use a cleaver for bones or other very hard foods. General-purpose chef's knives or smaller knives aren't appropriate for this task, and may chip or even snap.

General Care

Wash or rinse knives promptly after use. The moisture in many foods can be acidic and/or corrosive to the metal (fruits, onions, etc.).

Dry knives immediately with a soft cloth or towel. Stainless steel is resistant to rust and corrosion but not immune. This goes for all metal but especially knives, because even an imperceptible amount of rust along the edge will drastically hinder its ability to cut. Air-drying may also leave you with stains or "spots" due to salts and other trace minerals in the water.

Store knives in a dry, open area, away from other objects, to avoid moisture build-up, impacts, and secondary rust.

Do not put a knife in the dishwasher. A knife in a dishwasher is subject to impacts, corrosion, and warping of the wooden handle/joint. Quality knives should be hand-washed.

Honing
Honing a knife is a good way to restore a slightly dull knife. You will need an honing steel (sometimes misleadingly referred to as a sharpening steel), which can be bought inexpensively. Note that there are differences between steels; the best value tends to be in the $30 (USD) range.
Honing is not the same as sharpening. Honing helps to align the existing edge, which becomes skewed or "curled" after regular use. It will not help to create a new edge if the knife is damaged, e.g. if it is corroded or chipped due to not following the "General Care" advice above.
To hone a knife:

Keep the honing steel vertical.
Hold the knife at a slight angle to the steel.
Stroke downward and towards yourself.
Alternate strokes, and do an equal number of times on both sides.

Here is a video illustrating the technique.
Sharpening
Knife sharpening involves a whetstone (AKA sharpening stone) and is an art unto itself. Some knife manufacturers do explain the process, however, the technique takes a long time to master and most home cooks will prefer to leave this to a professional.
If you find that regular honing is no longer effective at maintaining a knife's edge - and if it's been well-maintained, this should take several weeks or months - then it's time to get the knife sharpened.

An alternative to professional sharpening (or learning to use a whetstone) is to use a good-quality motorized electric sharpener, such as the Chef's Choice. This will obviously not yield the same result as a professional sharpening, but it is very convenient and fast.
Some people believe that all electric sharpeners will damage your knives. This may still be true of the cheaper, single-stage sharpeners, because they do a lot of grinding and generate a lot of heat. However, the more modern, higher-end sharpeners operate very quickly, have precise angle control, and use multiple stages mimicking the manual process (grinding, steeling, stropping).
The "grinding" stage on a multi-stage sharpener should only be used if the knife is already badly damaged, and will actually create a new edge. If your knife is in reasonable shape, then it's fine to use a good sharpener on a semi-regular basis as long as you don't grind too much. (Honing should still be your primary form of maintenance).

Yet another option, if you're on a tight budget, is to use sandpaper. Follow the link for additional information on technique, grit, and tutorials.


Resting Lebkuchen dough overnight - OK? Fridge or room temp? We've got a few questions about resting dough  but most relate to yeast-based baking. I'm interested in a dough using baking powder. I've been looking at lebkuchen recipes, and many want the dough to be rested e.g. BBC recipe: an hour. I understand this will make the dough roll out better and hold its shape on baking. These are both good things.

Is there any downside to resting it overnight? I want to cut out and bake them in the morning, then decorate them later the same day. I could keep the dough at room temperature or in the fridge - which would be better?

The recipie I use from my grandmother says to put it in the fridge directly after making the dough, and leave it there for a minimum of one night. Two is better. The liquid ingredients should be allowed to cool to room temperature before mixing in the dry ingredients.  The cookies often taste even better a few days after baking as the flavours mingle and mellow.
I'm not sure about the recipie you're using, but I'm pretty it means the batch makes 50 cookies. I know my recipie certainly makes a lot, though I've never sat down and counted the exact amount.


Garlic brown spots, safe to eat the rest of the bulb? The spots are bruises that bacteria have infected right? There is a slight discolouration into the "meat" of the garlic. Ok to eat the rest? With a bit of discolouration? Without?

If there were mold visible, should i have thrown the whole ting then? And if it were a cloved garlic, should i judge the cloves individually or the bulb as a whole?

Edit: Similar question to Raised brown spots on garlic but they dont ask there if u can/should eat the rest of the bulb or clove.

Yes you can eat it. It is the same as a potato. You get brown spots on your potato you just cut the brown out. This is the same for garlic. If it is molded I would through it all out. I have eaten garlic and potatoes that have had brown spots for years. I'm still alive and kicking. I hope this helps.


What is this in the beef stew? To make beef stew, I start by simmering a chopped onion, add cut up top round beef, add water, and bring to a boil.
In about 15 minutes, millions of bits of horrible looking gunk appear in the water.  Picture below.  What am I doing wrong?

This is protein that is coagulating in the water simmer environment.

Most beef stew and braises in general start with a high heat sear of the meat, often dusted with flour or starch to begin a thickener.

Simmering any animal protein in water will produce this curd like gunk. If you continue, and add other ingredients, and reduce the liquid, it will eventually incorporate,more or less, bt will look like that for a while.

Wondering what recipe or, more importantly, technique you are trying to use.

If you provide more details about timeline and technique, more can be said, but simmering meat in water makes this curdy mess.


power failure and a slow cooker I put a beef stew recipe in to my crock pot this morning at 7 am and set it for 8 hours on low. At 1 pm, the power went out for a few minutes. When power was restored, the slow cooker did not come back on.

Also, at 4 pm my wife noticed the crock pot was off and turned it on for an hour. It is now 6:40 pm. The middle of the stew is 155 degrees F, but close to the outside is 140.

Is it ruined? Unsafe? Can I just cook it for the remaining 2 hours?

The important temperature would be what temperature it was at when the power was turned back on.

The official recommendations are to keep high risk foods out of the 'danger zone' of 40°F to 140°F for longer than 2hrs (cumulative).  If portions of the pot were at 140°F after being heated for an hour, and there was the time for it to cool down.  (and the time for it to have heated up initially), from a health department perspective, it may not be safe.

Personally, if it were me, I'd have turned it up to high to try to get it back up to ~200°F (about where most crock pot's 'low' setting is), and then depending on how close it was to done, either switched it back to low, or left it on high so it might be ready in time for dinner.  (however, I've also been known to eat raw beef and things that have been in the fridge for longer than the health folks recommend)


What are the visual signs of uncontaminated margarine spoilage? What are the safety thresholds for uncontaminated margarine? How does the type of emulsion system affect its shelf life?

Margarine should be stored in a refrigeration situation.  While not a safety concern, the main risk is rancidity.  This can happen as quickly as over night, if margarine is left out of the refrigerator.  Visual signs of quality degradation are a dark, hard, or waxy appearance. In this case, it might smell like soap or old microwave popcorn.  Also a possible sign of spoilage is water droplets on the surface of margarine (except if it had been frozen.  In this case it can be re-mixed.). Given the high concentration of saturated fat, margarine is a difficult medium in which to grow mold, which would be an indication of spoilage. Typically the mold is growing on bits of food left behind in the margarine.  In this case margarine might become a health risk and should be discarded. You can find more information here.  Safety is not about the type of emulsion, but the ingredients in the emulsion, the water activity in the system, and the storage environment.


Why do some creams/fats whip better than others? Wikipedia makes whipped cream look very simple: gas bubbles are trapped in the fat and create a colloid. However, we all know that you can easily come across "whipping cream" that just won't whip even with all the necessary precautions. Meanwhile a different cream will whip up in a matter of seconds even at room temperature. This is despite both having the same fat content and ingredients.

Furthermore, in my experience, if you take a product with the same or higher fat-content but with animal of vegetable fat instead of butterfat, then the consistency of Chantilly cream will be impossible to achieve. (With, perhaps, the  notable exception of coconut cream although I can't say it worked well for me.)

Why does this happen? What is the physics/chemistry behind this discrepancy? Obviously, something sets real whipping cream aside. Something other than just fat content which allows the colloid to appear.

NB. I know, the Internet is full of lists of "whipping cream substitutes" ranging from nut butter to pureed onions. I'm pretty sure, however, that most of these will not incorporate air and fluff up anywhere near as well as homogenized heavy cream.

Cream itself is a colloid made up of butterfat & water. That colloid is uniquely suited to have the air incorporated to create whipped cream.

The chemistry of whipping cream is more complex than just "fat + air = whipped cream". If you're trying to whip olive oil or lard into "whipped cream" then each fat will have some unique additional steps to make it hold the structure.

For example, adding a dash of acid and an egg yolk (which contains lecithin, an emulsifier) to olive oil will help create a colloid when whipped. In this case, the resultant colloid isn't whipped cream though--it's mayonnaise.


Why do catered baked deserts have a yucky aftertaste? Baked desserts from home and fine restaurants leave no bad taste in my mouth. But catered deserts at my workplace or those purchased from a grocery store leave a nasty aftertaste that I can't stand. I've noticed this consistently for years with food supplied by multiple locations. Frequently I resist the temptation to indulge because the yuck factor after is not worth the initial yum. What ingredient could it be that leaves such a terrible taste in my mouth that has me scrambling for a toothbrush and toothpaste?

It's possibly whey or something like that. People don't usually use it at home, but it's in lots of stuff at the store. I've heard it can cause issues for some, but I'm not sure about taste.

It may also be the kind of oil they use. Stores are known for using more kinds of oil than consumers usually do, in my observations. Oil can definitely affect aftertastes, in my experience.

The leavening agents they use may be different.

Maybe preservatives of some kind are causing the aftertaste.

It could be the substance or method they use to prevent the baked deserts from sticking to the pan. I imagine they don't always do the same stuff there that cooks at home do.

It's possibly not an ingredient at all that is causing the aftertaste. It may just be unfamiliar fungi and bacteria coming from all the people hovering around the food making unfamiliar byproducts that you smell after you eat the food. This is just a hypothesis, but I do sometimes notice a similar phenomenon around food on tables at indoor parties in other people's houses and such, when it's left to sit more than a half an hour or so, especially if people are talking over the food. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, but it can be unpleasant. If it's at my house, or if other people aren't around, it's not normally an issue, if so.

However, it might rather be a contaminant, like maybe wood alcohol (which is said to be in lots of stuff, due to contamination) although I don't know that wood alcohol contributes an aftertaste.


Benefits of Grill Pans When looking at tips/advice for frying steak I often see that Grill Pans are recommended over standard, flat, frying pans. Often this is recommended for other meats as well, such as chicken and pork.

Other than getting the appearance of Grill lines on the meat what are the benefits of using a Grill Pan over a normal one? I can't tell what difference it would make....

There's two (positive) reasons I'm aware of:

Aesthetics - those grill marks evoke fond memories for a lot of people, so the food looks better.  Studies have shown that when food looks better, people think it tastes better. This is why plating is so important in fine dinning. However - if grill marks don't evoke fond memories or you grew up with a griddled burger - then frankly these just don't matter.
They rise the meat up out of the oil that its releasing.  This gives a burger, for example, more of a grilled texture and flavor as its not sitting in its own fat.  On a flat pan, the burger will release fat and then start to fry in the fat.  Its just a different taste.  No better or worse to me, just different.

There's (at least) three negatives that I'm aware of too:

There's less browning from a Maillard reaction because there's less surface area exposed to the direct blazing hot metal.  And frankly, the crust from the Maillard reaction tastes goooooood.
They are a serious PITA to clean.  If you've got one with fairly high, narrow ridges like the cast iron Lodge grill pan - if something gets stuck between the ridges it is really, really, REALLY hard to clean.
They smoke like crazy and you're indoors.  If I don't set off the smoke alarm with my grill pan, I know I'm probably not using it right.  Generally, you're trying to replicate the high heat of a real grill and you're often cooking something with enough fat to drip down and create wicked amounts of smoke.

For steak, I've really come to appreciate the taste of more crust from the Maillard reaction of a flat pan actually.  Not to mention then you can do great stuff like basting it in butter!

Since getting better with my flat pans and griddles - I rarely use my grill pan.


How to Reheat Beef Tenderloin? I have a Tenderloin that was roasted to medium and seared. How can I best reheat it without it getting dry and tough?

Bring it back to the old school, which is place a covered plate in a 125-200 degree oven until just warmed through.  It was the option of choice pre microwave, and still the best way for roasts and pastas IMO. It should come out steaming after about 20 minutes, depending on temp.  You lose less moisture the lower you go, but it takes longer so you get to choose the median point between those that's good for you.


Can you inject carbon dioxide/nitrogen into a dough/batter to provide leavening? Or use dry ice/liquid nitrogen? Can you use carbon dioxide/nitrogen directly to provide leavening? It's known that vegetable shortening is actually pumped with nitrogen bubbles to aerate it, so maybe there's a way you could use them like this in baking? The two options I see are either injecting them in or using them as solids or liquids.   Thoughts on this please, thanks.

It is not uncommon to use an ISI whipper for this purpose.  For example, tempura batter can be placed in a whipper, and it can be charged with CO2.  I'm not sure if that is more advantageous than simply mixing rice flour with seltzer water, but it is done.  Liquid nitrogen would freeze your batter, as would dry ice.  Dry ice would leave your batter somewhat carbonated upon thawing.  Your approach likely depends on what you are trying to accomplish.  I don't think this would be an effective approach dough, and for baking.  It might make sense for some batters.


How do you score pork skin? We cooked some pork belly over the weekend and part of the recipe is to "score the skin".

We have some sharp knives but nothing really worked well. It was really a battle to cut the skin. We even tried out some sharp scissors!

If you don't score the skin, you don't really get decent crackling.

Is there some technique to doing this?

I recommend (and use) a utility knife.

Not only are they fairly tough and sharp, you can adjust the blade to the depth you need (you don't want to cut too deep). And the blades are cheap to replace...

As others have noted in the comments, be careful with this as you would with any knife: the blades may be small, but they're quite sharp.


Is there an alternative and less toxic way to clean an oven than using oven spray? I have drippings that have caked on to the botton surface of my oven. Now, every time we use the oven, they start to smoke and set off the smoke detector.

What are some natural ways to clean the oven? There's probably some major scrubbing in my future. :)

(Note: Someone at DIY Stack exchange https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/1890/672 suggested that I cross post here)

Using a bicarbonate of Soda paste is a good way to clean the oven and does not involve any nasty chemicals.

Also, as you need to clean the base of the oven, it can help if you remove the door if it is a drop down door.  This makes reaching inside much easier.  Most doors are designed to be removed easily.  Sometimes your manual will provide instructions on how to remove the door for cleaning.

Otherwise this video on removing oven door may help as it covers four different types of hinge.


Name of an herb or spice that is small, dark spines My question is about an herb that my mother used in her spaghetti sauce, and that I did as well using her recipe... And neither of us can remember what it actually was.
I remember the flavor, but could not describe it.
I believe I recall how it looked. Namely, small thin spines, black or dark green. Sharp enough that they could get stuck in your gums.
I have looked through herb shelves, and couldn't find anything that spurred my memory. I've looked through lists of herbs, and none of them jumped out at me.
Does anyone know what it is I'm remembering, or am I just imagining that such an herb existed?
Thank you

The description as "black or dark green" makes me think this is a leafy herb, rather than a darker brown spice. Many dried herbs start out a dull green when they go into the sauce, but after cooking for a while they darken and become dark green or nearly black.
I assume you've already considered and rejected basil and oregano, which are the most commonly used herbs in spaghetti sauce. Both tend to have fairly flat pieces of leaf, which are usually approximately square or circular, or at least not very much longer in one dimension than another.
Other, less commonly used herbs in spaghetti sauce include:

Marjoram
Tarragon
Thyme
Rosemary

Marjoram
 (image source)
Marjoram looks a lot like oregano; the pieces are usually flat and round, so it's not a great candidate. But if you have a poor quality batch of marjoram with lots of stems in it, those could definitely get caught in your gums. Or if your mom put a lot of marjoram in her sauce, there might end up being a noticeable quantity of stems. It has a fairly mild flavor, so you could get away with a pretty large amount of it without overpowering the other flavors of the sauce.
Tarragon
 (image source)
Tarragon tends to come in pieces that are longer than they are wide, but usually still flat. It looks a bit like dried grass clippings, if the grass blades dried flat, without curling at the edges. But the edges could certainly curl in on themselves while cooking, which would give you more of a needle-like shape.
Thyme
 (image source)
Thyme leaves are pretty close to round when fresh, but once dry they do become rather skinny and pointy. I often notice them as a slightly annoying texture in finished dishes. They could definitely get stuck in your gums. They tend to be a fairly light green in color, but maybe they would darken when cooked in tomato sauce, which is both acidic and quite dark in color.
Rosemary
 (image source)
Rosemary leaves look a lot like pine needles, but they also tend to be thicker that what I would expect to get caught in the gums. The end of the leaf that was attached to the stem is much pointier than the tip of the leaf, so it could be the stem end pieces that got stuck your gums. It's not a very common addition to spaghetti sauce so it might be something you overlooked. A spaghetti sauce with rosemary in it has a distinctly different taste from a "normal" spaghetti sauce seasoned with just oregano and basil, but if you add only a very small amount it's difficult to tell that the different flavor is rosemary. Certainly rosemary by itself has a more herby and aromatic smell than the final sauce, so if you haven't tried adding it to a sauce you should try that.

Since memory is rather malleable, it's possible you're combining the memory of several different herbs and spices. You might be remembering the smell or flavor of one herb/spice, but that's not actually the one that got caught in your gums. If that's the case it will be very challenging to narrow down. But you can expand your search parameters, eg, maybe the spice you remember wasn't actually green. If that's the case, consider long skinny seeds, like cumin, fennel or anise seed.
If you're remembering the smell/flavor of multiple herbs, you can test for that by sniffing two different jars of herbs at the same time; just hold them next to each other and inhale while moving them back and forth under your nose.


Safety of Blue / Green Garlic My mother pickled a bunch of garlic recently and it turned blue soon after. She has had this happen once or twice before where some turned green, but this time all of them turned really blue.

I tried Googling it, but only found mentions of it being a chemical reaction (that much is obvious) and mostly just speculation as to the causes and prevention, but little discussion on the safety of blue/green garlic. There are a couple of of question here about cooked / old garlic and onions turning green, but they have the same information as the other pages.

The few mentions of safety that I can find only go so far as to say that “it’s safe”—we assumed as much when we didn’t die after eating some last time—but they do not give any sort of explanation or proof to that effect. Chemical reactions are by definition change, which means that something that was safe can become not so.

Does anyone know of any information as to the safety of blue/green garlic (particularly pickled) that expounds on “it’s safe”, perhaps with some sort of test or experiment?

The answer is anthocyanins, the same that can turn ginger blue and are responsible for purple snap beans and cabbage. The reaction occurs relative to pH and is perfectly safe. Anthocyanins are present in their range of colors in many foods including cabbage, ginger, garlic, and berries. When used as an additive, they have the E number E163.


What color grapes are "Malaga grapes"? I've got an old (~1920's) fruit salad recipe that calls for Malaga grapes. My grocery store has "white" and "red" (and occasionally "black") -- which would be the appropriate substitute? Or is this not referring to a color, but rather a region that grows a lot of particularly nice grapes? (I'm finding lots of Google hits for Malaga wines...)

I also googled it and it seems that sweet white or green grapes are, indeed, probably the closest answer. Since it is a fruit salad, you may want to choose whichever of the grapes is sweetest rather than choosing by color.

Winemonger's page on malaga says that it is a white wine grape and can be called by the following names:

Hunter Riesling (Australia)
Blanc Doux / Chevrier / Semillon (France)
Boal / Wyndruif (South Africa)
Green Grape (United Kingdom)
Semillon (United States)

The wikipedia link for Sémillon describes that as a sweet, golden grape.

This interesting Chicago Tribune article from 1890 about what people in NY fruit markets were calling Malaga grapes also indicates that it is a "white or pinkish white" grape, and not the true Malaga grapes, which that article claims were too delicate to ship.


Espresso Machine coffee amount I have a DeLonghi EC-155 espresso machine. I can operate the machine, but I don't know how many shots I can make with one load of coffee.

How much ml has a shot to be?
How many shots I can make?

The EC-155 comes with two coffee filters and a measuring spoon; the smaller filter one is for one shot of espresso and the second filter is for two shots (see user manual at, e.g., here).

Fill the smaller (or larger) filter with one (or two) loosely filled spoons and press lightly using the disc that is attached to the machine.

A single shot is considered to be about 30 mL (1 US fluid ounce) but this is really a matter of taste and personal preferences. For a single shot in a standard size espresso cup, I would suggest starting with filling half a cup and then adjusting the amount of coffee that you pour to accommodate your taste (and need for caffeine...).


How can I rehydrate a dried navel orange? I have a lot of navel oranges which are slightly dry inside. Is there a way to rehydrate these? How?

Nothing I know of will make them juicy to eat on their own. Likely they were under-watered or picked late.

Can infuse with alcohol -inject or marinate- and have cocktails.

Or find a compote recipe. Peel still good.

I have tried adding a bit a water to cut halves to 'rinse out' more flavor when juicing but it was not worth the effort.


no-knead pizza. When is it supposed to raise? which flour is the best? I tried a "bonci style" roman pizza. I followed a recipe that is basically a no knead 24hrs pizza "in a baking dish", in the sense that is not cooked in a brick oven but in a home oven. The directions say roughly to mix part of flour, water+yeast for a bit, add salt, more flour until combined. Hydration is 80%. The flour I used has the German classification 550, with 12% proteins. I do not have the info about its strength W.

Move to a board and give a few folds within the next hour, then lock it in an airtight container brushed with olive oil and store it in the fridge for 24 hours at between 5 and 7 Celsius degrees. After this time, let it reach room temperature and spread it with the help of hard wheat flour. The recipe goes by describing a certain way to spread it in order to keep the bubbles in the middle of the dough and not on the edges, which are supposed to stay flat.

But I didn't get to this step because, after some hours in the oven with the light on, it didn't raise at all and its manipulation was impossible.

I realize that the question is very vague, but when is such a dough supposed to raise?

edit:
ingredients:
500 g flour as above
400 g cold water
20 g olive oil
10 g salt
1g dry yeast, that doesn't need to be activated first

So the recipe in baker's percents:

Flour               100%
cold water           80%
olive oil             4%
salt                  2%
instant dry yeast   0.2%

This looks like a high-hydration Sicilian-style dough that's calling for a 24 hour cold ferment (CF). As you can see in such a recipe, the yeast level is very low -- so low that you're unlikely to notice any appreciable rise in only one hour, even if it's at room temperature rather than refrigerated.

It sounds like the recipe is calling for an autolyse at room temperature for an hour or so, during which time you should try to make a few stretch and folds. I'm sure at this point the dough is going to be very wet and sticky, as there has been little gluten development. It most likely won't resemble anything like a pizza, and it certainly won't be able to be handled like in the video you linked to: that's what the cold ferment is for. You should follow the directions, ball the dough in an airtight container (a plastic bread bag works great, twist the end of the bag closed and tuck underneath the dough ball), and place it in the refrigerator at the specified temperature.

(The yeast level is low and the dough underdeveloped in a CF recipe because it's intended that it will take the entire 24 hour time period to accomplish what could take an hour or 2, were the dough fully developed with a higher yeast level).

During the CF, further autolyse will help more fully hydrate the dough improving gluten development. The dough will also undergo biochemical gluten-development from yeast activity. During this 24 hour period you should notice the dough rising, albeit very slowly.

After that 24 hour period, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to warm up to at least 50ºF (10ºC) before trying to open the dough up as he is doing in that youtube video.

What I see in the video is him opening up the dough and preparing to bake it. That dough is only workable like that because it's been given the full 24 hour period it needs to develop.

One last thought: I would caution against using too cold of water (I'm thinking it should be at least above 50ºF (10ºC)), as that could potentially shock and kill the yeast, which would then release glutathione into the dough. Not only would the dead yeast not provide any fermentation and biochemical gluten development, the glutathione would make gluten development more difficult.


What is the difference between a 63-degree egg and a regular poached egg? Recently on Master Chef one of the desserts featured a 63-degree egg - what is the difference between that and a regular poached egg?

A 63-degree egg is slow cooked in the shell in a water bath of 63 degrees celsius. The shell is removed after the cooking process. A poached egg is removed from the shell before cooking and cooked in simmering water for a short amount of time. According to this experiment, cooking eggs at slightly different temperatures in a water bath seems to make a difference. Perhaps the more exact cooking temperatures of a 63 degree egg give it a different texture than a regular poached egg.


Help with hand tossed pizza dough (like domino's) I keep fresh dough ball in the refrigerator for 6 days to slowly ferment. I bake pizza in conventional oven at 245C for 6 minutes.  On the 1st and 2nd days they bake perfectly, but I start to have problems on the 3rd through 6th days. They rise well, and stretch well, but do not bake at all. I use CMC powder for preserving dough moisture. I work the dough well. How can I improve baking on days 3–6?

the problem is that a dough made to last 6 days of refrigerated fermentation should be different that one made to be baked after 24 or 48 hours.

If you use a stronger flour (W=350) your dough will be great after 5-6 days, but not perfect before; to have a great dough after 24 hours you should use a medium flour.

If your flour does not indicate the W value (that can roughly be considered proportional to the protein level) try adding a bit (1/3) of Manitoba Flour to your next dough (but consider that it will be less good the first day)


How do you reduce wine when deglazing without burning the fond? I have found that by the time all the alcohol has evaporated, my fond turns from beautiful brown to charcoal black.

Why does it happen?

Prior to adding wine (or any liquid), you have browned meat and/or vegetables.  Ideally, you are looking for a dark browning.  Once you've removed those items from the pan, you add wine or other liquid. It should begin to boil. Immediately begin scraping up the fond (the brown bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan).  They should scrape up with a little force.  It is best to use a straight edged wooden spoon.  Once the fond is scraped up and incorporated into the liquid, there should be little chance of burning, unless you evaporate all of the liquid.  You can also turn the heat down a bit for more control.  Why does it happen?  Maybe your heat is too high.  Maybe you are not scraping all of the fond off the pan.  Maybe you are not using enough liquid.  I would bet there is some fond left on the pan, which has not been fully incorporated.


How can I remove moisture from my onions? Currently, I prepare onions to put on a pizza by using a food processor to chop them, then strain them and let them dry.  Then, I put them in containers before use.

However, the onions have been too moist lately, and make the pizzas soggy when they're put on them.  How can I remove some of the moisture so they don't do that?

One technique for removing water from a vegetable, which works very well for onions, is to salt them liberally.  Then give them some time to sit, preferably in a shallow layer.

The salt will extract water from the vegetable, due to the osmotic gradient between the salt outside and the vegetable inside.  Some of the salt will go into the vegetable, but much will remain outside; you'll need to figure out how much salt you can get away with using before your vegetable is too salty, but it's typically a large amount in my experience.

Once enough water has been extracted, rinse the vegetable off (to remove the excess salt), and pat it dry between two parts of a towel (or two paper towels).  The vegetable will now have much less moisture in it, which will both lead to crispier and quicker frying, and less moisture coming out in the cooking process.

A second option, in your specific case, is to store them in open containers.  The refrigerator will dry the onions out over time.  This is usually a bad thing, and you intentionally close containers to prevent this; but in your case, depending on the length of time you're talking about, it could be a good thing.  I wouldn't do this for more than a few days (as it will really dry the onion), but it might be worth testing to see if it helps.  This may leave your refrigerator (and its contents) smelling like onions, of course.

Alternately, you can store the onion on a mesh or grate which allows moisture to slip down below the onion; it may help prevent some moisture re-absorption and improve your results.


Is the "gamey" taste of venison just a polite name for "rotten"? I have had a theory for a long time that it is the blood in the deer which causes the gamey flavor.  Hunters gut the deer soon after a kill, but they don't bleed it or chill it for hours or days.  It takes time to haul it from the woods, then drive home and wait until the next day before visiting the processor.  It seems that the blood would be the first part of the animal to spoil.

It is my opinion that the bad reputation of venison’s “gamey” flavor comes from poor processing habits and the serving of meat that is actually rancid or at least borderline.
The key to fresh tasting meat it to get it cool and skinned as fast as possible.  Leaving it hot or leaving the hide on will cause it to rot quickly and leave your meat tasting quite “pungent” (i.e.: rotten).  This is important whether you plan to butcher the animal yourself or are taking it to a pro.  If you leave the hide on longer than necessary or don’t cool the meat quickly, it will have a bad flavor.

http://lazyhomesteader.com/2012/08/21/the-gamey-taste-of-game-meat-part-ii/
Is it true that the gamey taste is caused by spoiled blood in the meat?

According to the University of Minnesota Extension (emphasis added):

What causes the wild or gamey taste in venison?
Venison refers to the
meat of antlered animals such as deer, moose, elk and caribou. The
'wild' flavor of venison is directly related to what the animal eats.
Corn fed deer will have a milder flavor than those that eat acorns or
sage. The 'gamey' flavor is more noticeable in the fat. Removing the
fat, connective tissue, silver skin, bone and hair during processing
lessens the 'gamey' taste. However, undesirable strong flavors are due
to inadequate bleeding, delay in field dressing or failure to cool the
carcass promptly.

So while some gaminess is simply due to the diet of the wild animals, improper dressing or treatment can be a contributing factor.


How to avoid chicken getting too tender when cooking in a crock pot? I'd like to cook chicken in my Crockpot but just about every time it comes out so well done that it shreds when you try to cut it.  How can I make it so it's not as well done; more like it comes out when cooked in an oven?

Funny you should ask about this as I have just been experimenting with tough old chickens.

Your chicken is falling apart because the connective tissues in the meat are being turned into gelatin.

Cooking meat in a wet environment at low temperatures causes the connective tissues (collagen) in the meat to dissolve into delicious gelatin and makes the meat more tender. Cooking at the lower temperatures means that the meat can cook for longer without over heating and maximize the gelatin conversion.

This is often a very desirable thing. Cheap, tough meat can be made delicious. Crockpots are designed to make this very easy.

Roasting in the oven is hot and dry. The meat cooks faster, not very much gelatin is converted and the meat holds together better (or is tough depending on the meat).

The solution is simple: Don't cook your chicken as long.

To taste done, your chicken needs to reach 140F. To be safe from bacteria, your chicken has to get up to 165F. (Actually, it can be safe at as low as 135F but you have to hold it at those temperatures longer to kill the bad bugs. This document has the whole time chart.)

You should use a thermometer to determine when the interior of your chicken is done and then stop cooking it. How long it will take to get your chicken to those temps will depend on your recipe, how much meat there is, what shape it is, and the properties of your crock pot.

Keep in mind that a crockpot is still wet cooking (braising) where an oven is usually dry. The outside of the chicken will never be as browned or crispy from a crockpot as from an oven.


Shaken, not stirred...but why? Most people are probably familiar with the line from James Bond, "Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred." What I have never figured out is "why would it make a difference?"

I have tried making martinis both ways and perhaps I don't appreciate the subtleties of a fine martini to notice the difference, but I don't.

What difference does it make between shaking and stirring a martini and how is that difference (if any) created?

Wikipedia has a whole article dedicated to this question! Various possible reasons for Bond's preference are given; the last paragraph in this quote seems like the most solid explanation:

"Shaken, not stirred" is a catchphrase of Ian Fleming's fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond, and his preference for how he wished his martini prepared.
[...]
Scientists, specifically biochemists, and martini connoisseurs have investigated the difference between a martini shaken and a martini stirred. The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario in Canada conducted a study to determine if the preparation of a martini has an influence on their antioxidant capacity; the study found that the shaken gin martinis were able to break down hydrogen peroxide and leave only 0.072% of the peroxide behind, versus the stirred gin martini, which left behind 0.157% of the peroxide. Thus a shaken martini has more antioxidants than a stirred one. The study was done at the time because moderate consumption of alcohol appears to reduce the risk of cataracts, cardiovascular disease, and stroke, none of which afflict Bond.
Andrew Lycett, an Ian Fleming biographer, believed that Fleming liked his martinis shaken, not stirred because Fleming thought that stirring a drink diminished its flavour. Lycett also noted that Fleming preferred gin and vermouth for his martini. It has also been said that Fleming was a fan of martinis shaken by Hans Schröder, a German bartender.
A part of Ian Fleming's James Bond character was based on people in his surroundings. One such influence was his friend Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld, who drank his vodka martini as Bond did, always shaken, not stirred.
Some connoisseurs believe that shaking gin is a faux pas, supposedly because the shaking "bruises" the gin (a term referring to a slight bitter taste that can allegedly occur when gin is shaken). In Fleming's novel Casino Royale, it is stated that Bond "watched as the deep glass became frosted with the pale golden drink, slightly aerated by the bruising of the shaker," suggesting that Bond was requesting it shaken because of the vodka it contained. Prior to the 1960s, vodka was, for the most part, refined from potatoes (usually cheaper brands). This element made the vodka oily. To disperse the oil, Bond ordered his martinis shaken; thus, in the same scene where he orders the martini, he tells the barman about how vodka made from grain rather than potatoes makes his drink even better.
Other reasons for shaking tend to include making the drink colder or as Bond called it, ice-cold. Shaking increases convection thus making the drink far colder than if it were to be stirred. Shaking is also said to dissolve the vermouth better making it less oily tasting.
While properly called a Bradford, shaken martinis also appear cloudier than when stirred. This is caused by the small fragments of ice present in a shaken martini. This also brings into question the movie versions which are never cloudy.
[...]
Through multiple letters in New Scientist's Last Word section (June 5–11, 2010), the mystery has been solved. When Ian Fleming was writing, most vodka was produced from potatoes and potato vodka has an oily aftertaste. Today's grain vodka has no oily aftertaste. Experimenters found that potato vodka shaken with ice tasted less oily than did potato vodka stirred with ice.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaken,_not_stirred#Purpose_of_shaking

On a side note, that Wikipedia carries weighty articles like this should be reason enough to give in to their yearly pleas for a donation. ;)


Pressure canning at odd pressures I recently acquired a Presto pressure canner model 01781 (23-Quart) which comes with a weight designed to regulate it to 15 lbs of pressure. I also purchased a variable weight regulator (part 50332) which allows pressure to be 5, 10 or 15 lbs.  After leafing through the recipes in the instructions I found that they are almost all invariably written with some odd pressure like 6 lbs or 11 lbs.

Can anyone explain how to achieve a stable pressure at one of these odd pressures?  Why would the recipes provided all be written for pressures other than what this cooker is designed to produce? Should I simply can at the next highest pressure, e.g. 10 lbs if the recipe calls for 6?

I considered possibly adding a washer to the weight regulating at some in-between pressure but I'm just a bit confused about why I would even need to do that.

I just spoke with someone from Presto - apparently, the pressure is meant to be maintained by adjusting the heat source, and the weight provided with the canner is meant only to build pressure and not as a regulator. They also recommend against adjusting the weight in order to achieve in-between pressures. Not sure why on that last point - I'll follow up here with more info when I hear back from them.

They also sent me a separate recipe book meant to be used with the variable weight and I found that all of the 6 lb recipes are the same when used with the 5 lb weight.  And likewise, the 11 lb recipes are the same when used with the 10 lb weight. My best guess is that they are adding 1 lb to the recipes for use with the dial gauge to err on the side of safety, whereas the weight holds a more consistent and predictable amount of pressure.

UPDATE: Spoke with another rep at Presto who indicated that because there is a certain margin of error with the gauge that it would be unsafe to calibrate a weight by reading the gauge. I personally feel that you should be able to logically deduce the achieved pressure with a bit of trial and error using known weights, but I can understand the importance of safety and accuracy when it comes to knowing what pressure you are dealing with.


Will newspaper covering a cake pan catch fire in the oven? I need my cakes to bake flat. I have been told to cover the cake tin with newspaper secured with sellotape, but wouldn't this catch on fire in the oven?

Cakes are not normally baked a temperature high enough to ignite paper, although the newspaper will probably singe and brown, and possibly produce an unpleasant odor--some of which may be transferred to the cake.  If you are going to go this route, I would recommend using baking parchment, which is intended for the heat of the oven, not newspaper.

There are several more common methods for ensuring even cake layers:

Simply cut off any doming with a knife
Use an inverted  flower nail at the center of the pan to better conduct the heat of the oven to the center of the cake
Use cake strips to cool the edge of the pan, again evening out the cooking

In truth, unless you have a very special application, cutting off any doming is often the simplest, most straight-forward solution.


Sous vide whole salmon at what temperature? If I'm doing salmon fillets then I'll normally do 50c for 25 minutes, but a whole salmon is a different kettle of fish. I've done sous vide whole salmon on several occasions and I do 55c for 3 hours which works fine but dries out the fish a little more than I'd like.

I'm not really comfortable cooking anything at a temperature lower than 55c for long periods of time but I'd like a less dry whole salmon.

Does anyone else have any views / science on this one? Could I get away with doing a whole salmon at a lower temperature?

Whole salmon simply isn't a great candidate for low temp cooking in a water bath.  While you can achieve excellent results with portioned salmon, cooked at 50C for well under an hour, this timing is impossible for a whole fish.  It would be necessary to cook much longer.  The problem is you would probably have to cook the whole fish for a couple of hours.  This causes the enzymes to break down the flesh and you get a mushy, unpleasant product.  Alternately, as you experienced, raising the temp to speed things up results in a dried out product.

I would choose a different cooking technique for the whole fish...or portion your salmon into steaks or fillets and look here: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-salmon--2


Will peeling and slicing potatoes prevent them from sprouting further? I have some potatoes that are starting to sprout. Nothing crazy, but I'm worried about them all sprouting worse before I get the chance to turn them into breakfast.

I'm just going to be frying them anyways. I was thinking of peeling all of them and chopping them up. Perhaps just peeling them will do the trick?

In my own experience, yes you can peel and slice your potatoes if they are beginning to sprout. I know in many of the kitchens where I've worked it's common practice to store peeled potatoes and potatoes that are cut for chips submerged in cold water in the cooler. This will help the potatoes keep longer and prevent the peeled surfaces from browning and drying out, also the cold and lack of oxygen will prevent further sprouting.


Proper ratio of Water to Rice When making rice, what is the proper ratio of water that I should use?

Depends on the rice, of course - here are the most common types:

White rice: 2:1
Brown rice: 1.5:1
Jasmine rice: 1.1:1
Wild rice: 4:1, but immediately wash with cold water and drain when done.


How quickly does soy lecithin lose its effect? I bought a box of soy lecithin at a store yesterday, only to discover that it is past its "use by"-date. The date was a month ago. Now I am wondering whether to take the hassle of returning it to the store or just to go on using it. It is sealed, so I don't want to open it before I know something about the usability of the powder.

Thus, the question is how quickly lecithin degrades?

The FDA defines a “Use-By” date as the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product. After the "Use-By" date the product loses potency and/or freshness.  "Use-by” dates usually refer to best quality and are not safety dates.

FDA Product Dating

The product is likely safe to use after this date, however, it will be less effective or fresh.  As these dates are set by the manufacturer and vary wildly by manufacturer.  Soy lecithin degrades very slowly as noted by SAJ14SAJ.  You likely have a good amount of time (up to 24 months from date of manufacture) before the product is degraded sufficiently to require recipe adjustments.


In what recipes can I use a thick coconut milk kefir? Kefir has been a big part of my life since childhood because it's a staple item in my birth country and commonly consummed in my house growing up. So when I found out I can make it home with relative easy and minimal expense, I was beyond excited.
Since I've started, my grains have really grown into a healthy culture that keeps multiplying faster than I know what to do with. So I decided to put some to use to make some coconut milk kefir. I wasn't sure which coconut milk to use - the boxed stuff or the fatty canned stuff. I thought the fat in the canned kefir may be necessary to make up for the thiness of typical coconut milk, so I went that route.
Turns out that wasn't the best route, because now that it's developed it still has that canned coconut milk taste (not the most pleasant to drink) and it's somehow developed into a substance that's slighlty thicker than even solid yogurt.
So I was wondering, since I don't want to drink it so much, can I substitute it for coconut cream in any recipe (e.g. in curry soup or heavy cream substitue in baking)? Or does anyone have any general or specific recipes in mind where the coconut kefir may play well?
I should note, I used lime in the second fermentation to give it a bit of flavor, but it's not a very strong presence in the final product

If you're okay with the added acidity in a sauce, that would be fine, but for baking I would recommend looking for a recipe that calls for yogurt or buttermilk.
As far as I know, coconut milk does not curdle like dairy or other nutmilks might in the presence of acid or heat. It might separate, but should re-emulsify well enough.
However, baking usually involves some form of leavening, which means chemistry. If a recipe calls for sweet cream and you use an acidified substitute, you could change how it rises and end up with a dense final product (I've discovered this by adding too much lemon juice to cake recipes in the past...) But that's probably the worst that would happen. If the fat content is significantly higher, it will come out rich and moist, which may or may not be a good thing.
It might be interesting to give kefir cheese a shot with this coconut version. You could then mix it with butter or cream cheese and citrus friendly seasonings and sugar to make a nice spread.


How can I break an emulsion making carotene butter? I am making carotene butter by mixing clarified butter and carrot juice.

The idea is that I now need to separate the carotene infused butter from the juice. The only problem being that they are very well emulsified together.

I tried blending it more until the heat and friction would break it, but that has not happened, even after more than 5 minutes of blending on high (my blender's limit.
I tried heating the liquid to a boil but this did nothing either.
Lastly, I tried decanting it, but it barely separates even after a long time.

How can I break the emulsion?

Chill it.

The butter will solidify and upon remelting the emulsion will be broken.

I've never had a butter emulsion not break after chilling.


Is my refrigerator temperature too high? I bought a packet of ready to eat chicken legs, ate a couple, and placed the rest in fridge. Today there are icicles on top of them.
My fridge temperature is set between 3 and 4.  Is it too low?

There is no way to answer your question as it is stated.  Get a thermometer and measure the temperature inside your refrigerator over a few days.  It should hover around 37F (2.8 C).


What can I do if I forgot to cream the butter and sugar in my cookie recipe? I got distracted and forgot to cream the butter and sugar before making sugar cookies.  I baked half and they were dry, tasted like flour and smelled like flour (although rolled in sugar and cinnamon).  I still have half of the batch left in the fridge.  What can I do to make it taste better?  I'm sure it was from not creaming first.

meh; I have used the “reverse” mixing method for sugar cookies; which is essentially what you did; just need to add more butter and/or cream cheese to pull together now.

The only thing you can't recover from is if you over-mix the flour; if your cookies are glue'y then you over-mixed and you need to throw away.

I find that the details are much more important in sugar cookies; type of flour, type of sugar, butter, ratio; etc...

Letting the dough sit over night will allow autolyseae to happen; as a added bonus.

My recipe:
2 1/2 cups flour; sifted
3/4 cup supppppeeeerrr, superfine sugar (usaully blended in ninja)
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces & softened
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Blend dry ingredients; add butter cubes until desired consistencey; cream cheese to pull dough together.


Do I roll sushi with or without gloves? So I was rolling sushi the other day and I noticed how much easier it is to do with out plastic gloves on.  The stickiness of the rice dose not accumulate all over your hands as fast as it does when you are wearing gloves making it much easier and faster.

The conundrum here is.. If I don't wear gloves I can make sushi much faster, keeping customers happy but according to the sanitation department, restaurant employee's must wear gloves if the food they are touching is no longer going to be cooked any further.

What do I do?

As the comments already cover, thou shalt not trifle with the sanitation department rules if you want to stay in the business.

You might try tighter gloves or gloves of different (but still acceptable to the sanitation department) plastics/rubbers, or with different surface textures. Many "food service gloves" seem to the purchased on the one size fits none plan. Wiping your gloved hands frequently with a clean damp cloth may help, or rinsing them frequently under the sink.


How does boiling remove vitamin C from food? It's generally known that boiling vegetables removes a large fraction of vitamin C, but in what way?

Does the high temperature destroy it?

Is it merely absorbed by the boiling water?

It isn't really "absorbed" by the boiling water; more precisely, it is leached into the water. As kiamlaluno said, Vitamin C is water soluble. An important thing to note is that the leaching of vitamin C into water, by itself, doesn't destroy the vitamin C. It's still there; it's just in the water rather than the vegetable. If you consume the liquid you cooked in, you'll reclaim some of the "lost" vitamins.

High heat can reduce the vitamin C content of the vegetables, and when heat and water are combined, as they are in boiling, you can see significant reduction of vitamin C. (One study found that boiling reduced the vitamin C content in broccoli by 45 to 64 percent.) This is because the vitamin is first leached out of the food into the water, and then degraded by the heat. Heat alone will cause some reduction in vitamin C, but not as much as when combined with loss of nutrients through leaching. Steaming and microwaving are recommended cooking methods for preserving as much of the nutrient content as possible because they involve minimal exposure of food to both water and high temperatures.


Advantages of cooking vegetables before or after freezing them I'm putting all vegetables in the same bag in the hopes that a general rule of thumb can answer many individual vegetable questions, but if at the end it depends on the vegetable, please answer what criterion you would use to decide wich order to use.

Suppose I have vegetables such as pumpkin, and I want to eat it in a month, suppose it will get bad if unfrozen. I want to eat cooked pumpkin someday. Should i cook today and freeze or freeze now and cook someday?

I want to know if cooking a vegetable before freezing it provides advantages or differences with respect to the other order, from a food preservation and vegetable eating quality standpoint, or from a flavor viewpoint. (See this accepted answer's cited block) for a example of cooking before freezing.

Some vegetables will need to be blanched (parcooked) for best results before freezing; freezing them raw results in enzymatic decay that affects quality.

Freezing a finished dish has the advantage that you can work with the ingredient as a fresh one, eg you can match cut sizes to the dish and it might stay more firm while cooked.
Freezing ingredients gives you freedom of what to do with them later, albeit preparing them optimally can be trickier - freeze fine cuts and you can't have large pieces when needed, freeze big pieces and they might freeze slow (affecting quality) and can be difficult to cut smaller (cutting frozen veg is hard, thawing takes time).


Cracking open a pistachio Is there a special tool available just for cracking open pistachio nuts? I'm asking because as I have gotten older, I have developed severe arthritis and joint pains, making opening them with my fingers very painful. I've always loved pistachios and hate having to ask my wife to crack them open for me.

I have tried using regular nut crackers, but the pistachio either slips out without cracking or the nut inside gets crushed.

i usually use half of a previously-opened pistachio shell! use the tip of it as a bit of lever: slip it into the opening of the one you're working on, and rotate it, and it will open it as easy as pie. the downside is that you will be able to eat many, many more pistachios this way. i usually end up with a mouth raw from all the salt, haha.


Troubleshooting a soggy baklava with torn sheets I've attempted to make Baklava just once in my life and the results were pretty disasterous.

Some issues I have questions about when making the Baklava:

How to handle the Phyllos dough sheets? These sheets were so thin and delicate that I inadvertently crumpled or ripped about half of them with my big meaty fingers. Is there a trick to holding them for some of the clumsier people? i just grabbed it by its corners but I usually ended up ripping off these said corners.
How to handle the butter? The recipe didn't specifically mention what state the butter should be. Should the butter be really melted so that it thoroughly soaks into the phyllos or should it be just barely melted so that I can spread them on the sheets. Also when adding the butter, I always seemed to inadvertantly crumple up the sheets below it. How can I apply the butter without messing up the bottom layers?
When I poured the syrup into the baked Baklava, all the syrup seemed to flow to the bottom and made the bottom way too soggy and goopy. This made it hard to cut and separate into individual pieces. (I ended up eating it almost like a pie) Did I do something wrong?

And finally, the whole layering, buttering, and adding the nuts took me over an hour. Are there general tricks to that will allow me to make Baklava faster?

1- To work with phyllo or yufka sheets the key is to keep them from drying out. A damp, but not dripping, towel laid over the sheets is essential. Cover it after each time you take out a sheet. They dry out very fast and then just disintegrate.

2- The butter should be melted but not hot. Many recipes call for it to be clarified as well but I don't personally notice a difference in baklava so I skip that step. Its main purpose, besides flavor, is to keep the layers separate during baking. You don't have to spread it or work it in. Just brush it on gently.

3- The baklava is cut into diamonds, almost all the way through, before baking it. It can't be cut after it is baked and crisped. If it is cut all the way through before baking then it will pull itself apart. Pouring the syrup evenly over the whole thing will help. The top layers will soak up some but will definitely be drier than the bottom. It is supposed to be sticky and syrupy on the bottom- that's pretty much the whole point. The soaked pastry should still be chewy and distinct. Not crisp necessarily but candied. If it is too soggy then you might not have baked it long enough.

4- You can get faster at it with practice but not too much faster. It is a long process but it is fun to do with help. We make it as a family.


Is there any way to make crepes without a proper non-stick pan? I unfortunately ended up in situation where I tried to make crepes in a regular pan - needless to say, I was unprepared and it didn't end up well (they would get stuck to the pan and burn)

I tried using both butter and (canola) oil in the pan to avoid sticking, and in varying quantities, cleaning the pan after each failed attempt (so there isn't any burnt stuff from the previous attempt to cause issues), and varying the amount of milk/flour in the batter

Was there something else I should have tried, or was it a hopeless endeavor to being with?

Crepes were made long before teflon was invented.

I use a quality steel pan and non stick spray. I reapply the spray every 3rd or 4th crepe to avoid sticking.

Everything else is temperature control. If your temps are too high then the crepes will toast and burn before they set on top. If the temp is too low then they are more prone to sticking. It takes some trial and error and the first few are usually wrong- I eat those.

The temperature is always very low though- between low and medium-low on my stove.


Coconut sugar flavor I bought a lot of coconut sugar (and have since given it to my MIL).  I baked cupcakes with it and the entire batch of cupcakes fell (there was a crater-like indention in every cupcake).  All of my cane sugar cupcakes rose nicely.  In the cupcakes, I didn't notice much of a different flavor (they still tasted really good despite sinking in the middle).  But when I made fresh lemonade with the coconut sugar, all I could taste was burnt sugar.  Does coconut sugar normally taste burned or could it have just been the brand I bought?  I can't believe coconut sugar is so popular if it all tastes burned.

Pretty much all sugar, regardless of source, has to go through a series of refining steps in order to remove moisture and produce crystals.  Common white "table sugar" that we're familiar with in Western countries is the most refined, having gone through a whole series of steps to precipitate and "wash" the crystals to produce a brilliant white.  This process removes the molasses, which has a very distinct burned or toasted flavor, leaving a very pure sweetness.
Coconut sugar is produced from a different source (the coconut palm, obviously) and is reduced down to produce crystals in a similar way, but it's typically less refined afterwards.  It doesn't technically contain molasses, but it does have similar impurities that produce a similar flavor.  In fact:

Coconut sugar is subtly sweet almost like brown sugar but with a slight hint of caramel. However, since coconut sugar is not highly processed, the color, sweetness and flavor can vary depending on the coconut species used, season when it was harvested, where it was harvested and / or the way the "sap" or "toddy" was reduced.
Source: Wikipedia

Brown sugar, by the way, is commercially produced by blending molasses back into refined sugar.  Less-refined sugar, which can have a brown hue, is often marketed as "raw" instead.
So: coconut sugar can vary, and the specific brand that you tried may have been one with more of a bitter, burned, or caramel-like flavor.  You may have better luck with another, but keep in mind that most coconut sugars don't go through refining steps that produces a very pure sweetness like you'd be used to with common white sugar.
As for why it's popular... well, supposedly it's a bit healthier than cane sugars, particularly if you're concerned with blood sugar levels.  Products made with coconut oil seem to be enjoying a trendy popularity, as do alternative sugars (like palm sugar) and it's a fair bet that coconut sugar is benefiting from both fads.  It all comes down to marketing.


Adding Pulses (Legumes) in Powder Form to Bread I would like to add powdered pulses (dried and ground) to the bread flour and experiment on the flavour of bread.

Does anyone have any experience with this?
Will fermenting the powdered pulse (with bread flour) have any bad effect (like toxin formation, bad taste, etc...)?
What pulses do you recommend to begin with?

I live in India. And I can only experiment with locally available pulses. But feel free to talk on any pulses!

Start with dried fava bean flour, or chickpea (garbanzo) flour.  Best to buy the pulse flour pre-ground, as it tends to be difficult to grind finely with home equipment.  Use initially only a small amount (<5% of total flour by weight) for flavoring, and gradually increase to taste.  Some other pulses can be bitter, and also be aware that any larger quantities can reduce the gluten content, which is less critical for flatbreads, but essential for risen loaves.


Is there an upper limit to the "room temperature" at which eggs should be stored? (Unwashed) eggs needn't be stored in a fridge. Well, depends where you live and if the hens get vaccinated against salmonella, that is.

Basically eggs come with a type of natural coating - the cuticle - that protects them from going bad even at room temperature (and seemingly higher) for several weeks (see this question and answers). It's kind of self-evident from the fact that hens will take some time to breed fertilized eggs - at ... and usually above room temperature - and it would be odd for the nutrients to go bad while the embryo (chick) needs them to develop.

However, you may have noticed my use of room temperature in the above paragraph. Just like with red wine that's kind of a stretchy term. So since I live in the Northern hemisphere and it's summer time here, I was wondering if there is a rule of thumb of what ambient temperature should not be exceeded for non-refrigerated eggs? (Please cite your sources for the rules you give in your answers!)

NB: Yes, I am aware that by refrigerating eggs early on can considerably prolong the duration until they go bad (even though the eggs are being sold off the shelf; i.e. without refrigeration). But my question is more about trying to find out if there is an upper limit and how the ambient temperature influences the tendency of eggs to spoil. For example if I know that I can easily keep a carton of eggs at up to 30°C for a week, that'd save me quite some space in the fridge when I plan to bake within a week of the grocery shopping.

100°C would definitely be too high.

145°F/63°C -- Egg whites begin to thicken
Same link:

  Keep in mind salmonella is killed instantly when subjected to a temperature of 165° F.

I think the limiting factor for letting eggs sit out is going to be salmonella growth rate. Looks like that maxes out at 19 degrees C (66°F).
Knowing that, I'd refrigerate.


Can I reuse an alginate bath for reverse spherification? Can I REUSE an alginate bath for reverse spherification? If I use a solution of alginate today, can I use the same solution next week? How should it be optimally stored? How long will it keep. How many "spheres" can be produced by a batch of alginate?

This site say you can use it again, just make sure you strain it before you store it
http://www.molecularmixology.co.uk/index.php?act=viewRecipe&recipeId=34

This site says you can store it for a couple of days in the fridge
http://www.molecularrecipes.com/spherification/7-tips-making-spherification-caviar/

As for how many spheres can be produced - I'm afraid that would be completely dependent on how large you make your spheres.


Is it possible to repair damage to the non-stick surface? I thought I signed up before writing that post, but I can't edit it! Sorry for screwing up. I want to provide details here. Thank you so far for assistance!
I used that pan JUST on Electric Cook Top in my house. I never knew overheating can damage non-stick surface! Someone asked how do I heat it? I usually oil the surface with Sunflower or Safflower Oil —  because they have high smoke points! I usually just use medium or medium high heat.  SOMETIMES  I crank up the cooktop to max heat — if the pan holds many ingredients and the food is cooking too slowly — or if I want to stir fry rice, noodles, vegetables, seafood like Asians.
At max or high heat, I NEVER leave the pan empty or dry on high heat!!! On low to medium heat, the pan can be empty or dry when I am offloading ingredients and onloading new ingredients. Like if I finish stir frying ginger and rice at high heat, I turn down cooktop to low heat. Then I pour out vegetables. Now pan is empty. Then I pour in my raw vegetables and crank back up to high heat.
Now I have a question. I paid $129.99 + 13% tax in Ontario Canada = $147 for this pan. Can someone fix this damage? Is it economical to fix? Or smarter to buy a new pan? I contacted Zwilling about a replacement.

no you cannot practically repair teflon damage. In theory you could probably spray more teflon over it, but you would likely want an even coating, which would mean stripping the pan anyway. Plus, the teflon would be very hard to get a hold of, you'd need spraying equipment, and then a curing oven to bake it at something like 400°C.
Personally I don't recommend spending a ton of money on frying pans. The expensive pans don't really offer anything worthwhile over cheaper pans. You can get tri-ply teflon (brand) pans from ikea for $30-40. if you want high heat cooking I'd recommend stainles/carbon steel or cast iron


Flavor profiles of Steelhead Trout versus Artic Char I haven't found too many places that sell Artic Char, but how different is the flavor profile of an Artic Char when compared to that of a Steelhead Trout?

Hard for me to differentiate in words, but Arctic Char should taste about closest to brook trout which for the US would be its common relative.  Taste though will vary greatly according to wild/farmed, diet and water temperature.  As the name implies, an AC is a cold water fish naturally, and a wild one or even one that is farmed in its native range will typically have very red/orange flesh tending towards translucent. The color can to some extent be faked by farmers using dyes in the feed though as is done with farmed salmon and steelhead.  If farmed, to my personal taste, it is still better tasting than most farmed trout, in part because it often comes from colder water farms.

Steelhead is indeed a rainbow trout.  The differentiation between them is naturally, a steelhead is the anadromous from of the rainbow, that is strains that evolved to be born in rivers and then go to the ocean to live and come back to the rivers to spawn like a salmon.  Many though, including many location fishing regulations, simply define it as a rainbow under a certain size, and steelhead over that size.  They have been transplanted all over the world and in many places are steelhead if they originally came from steelhead rivers.  In large lake systems they will often use the lake as if it is their ocean.  Farmed steelhead differ from rainbow trout only in size if raised in fresh water.  Those raised in cold waters and especially salt water will tend towards more orange or red flesh, but it really depends on diet and again, can be faked.  They flavor of a farmed one tends to be similar to a farmed salmon.

Anecdotally, my experience is that the farmed steelhead I usually find is higher quality than farmed salmon and a cleaner, fresher taste.  I speculate that they are from a better sourced farm with cleaner water and more access to crustaceans and less reliance on manufactured feeds, but that is speculation and personal experience and may be far from universal.  The flavor is consistently much higher than that of farmed rainbows that often have white flesh and are consistently fed commercial feeds in my experience.  I have rarely found char for sale, so most of what I have had was wild Alaskan char which I would put as very comparable to cold water brook trout which is by far my favorite trout (really a char).  A very clean taste, firm (for trout/salmon) flesh and bright color.

Any fish that is not orange or red, or if that color does not tend towards translucent is likely farmed, fed a commercial feed, and may be from warmer waters.  Either fish is high quality if wild or raised in near wild conditions but will have differences that are difficult to describe.  Each person would have their preference according to their own tastes though.


Can gluten-free flour be cooked and eaten as a hot breakfast cereal? I'm talking about single flours, such as quinoa flour, amaranth flour, and buckwheat flour, not flour blends or hot cereal mixes.

Yes, you can do it. It will taste more like a pudding (not necessarily wheat pudding) than like a cereal. The consistency will depend on the grind size, and can get down to standard starch pudding, or be a bit gritty like semolina pudding.

Most people won't find the taste of a pure flour + water or even flour + milk pudding interesting enough, so you can experiment adding stuff to it. You're only limited by your own imagination.


How does repeatetly moving food from freezer to fridge and back every day affect it? My fridge and freezer makes noise to the point that it is hard for me to sleep (even with earplugs) so I have began to shut off the power to the fridge and freezer during the night. My fridge is set to 1 degree celsius and my freezer is set to -18 degrees celsius.
When I go to sleep I move all the fridge items such as milk, cheese, butter, meat, kefir to the freezer and shut the power off for 9-12 hours when I sleep. When I wake up again, I turn the power back on, wait about an hour or so and put my items back in the fridge. The freezer temperature when I turn the power back on is around 3-4 degrees.
I don't feel ill when I eat the food, all I have noticed is ice crystals in the milk and that the cheese is a bit harder to slice. I am wondering about the long term effects of this process, both the food safety aspect and the quality of the foods. Is there any food items that are less safe to do it with?

I assume you have no food that needs to be kept frozen. If you do that's your greatest concern.
If, as suggested by your measurements, the fresh food never gets above the recommended maximum fridge temperature, the quality is going to suffer, possibly quite a lot, but the safety shouldn't, within the use by dates.
You may be able to keep the quality better by leaving the food in the fridge, but transferring a lot of ice from the freezer. I'd freeze several large plastic bottles, about 3/4 full of water, when the freezer is running, and move those into the fridge when you turn it off, leaving the food in there. Refreeze the next day. This is the approach used in many camping coolers, and it sounds like you have the ability to ensure the temperature doesn't get too high.
If it's so noisy that it's keeping you awake through earplugs, even if it's right next to your bed, that is quite likely to mean it's on its way to failing completely. The fact that your freezer is warming so fast is probably partly the unfrozen food going in and partly that it's empty of frozen stuff. It may also be a further sign of imminent failure.


Recomendations in Freezer Use I know that vegetables can be frozen.  Which vegetables respond well to freezing?  Which don't?  Are there specific recommendations for what vegetables freeze well?

Lay them out in a single layer in a pan and freeze until they are solid and then transfer to a labelled freezer bag. I freeze fruits and veggies in my chest freezer because it is so much colder than the little freezer in the house. Speed is the key- the faster you can freeze them the less damage there will be.

When I garden I freeze a lot of peppers and okra that last for years without losing (too much) quality.

Root vegetables I don't bother to freeze unless they are cooked into something. Potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, etc. are so cheap and last so long not frozen that I don't bother.

Raw potatoes in particular are a nightmare when frozen. Gray and rubbery. Avoid at all costs. shudder

Leafy vegetables like lettuces will not be recognizable when frozen. Spinach is the only one that would be reasonable as it is so meaty- but, I'm sure you've seen frozen spinach, it isn't pretty.


What is the difference between using hot water and cold water when making regular pastry? What difference in texture and taste does using hot water make to pastry? How would this compare with a standard recipe (flour, butter, salt, egg, a little cold water)?

For shortcrust and puff pastries, the aim is a light pastry. This needs the flour to stay well mixed with the fat, and as little gluten development as possible. Therefore we add as little water as possible, and keep the pastry cold. Using hot water would just melt the fat. So I would not recommend it.

On the other hand, hot water pastries use a larger quantity of boiling water. Here it is deliberate that the fat melts. The result is a much stickier and malleable pastry. Typically it is used for savoury pies where a robust cover is essential.


What can I use in place of shiitake mushrooms? I would like to know what can I use instead of dried Shiitake mushroom for stock/broth making, a small deviation from the original flavour is acceptable but please share something pocket friendly.

While shiitake mushrooms do have a distinct and identifiable flavor, the reason dried skiitake mushrooms are added in broth and stock making is for the umami.  The flavor of umami is the result of the glutimates available in dried mushrooms (as well as other ingredients).  While shiitake mushrooms contain a lot of glutimates, any other dried (or even fresh, though you will need more) mushrooms are a suitable substitute.  Barring that, you could use other ingredients high in glutimates, such as tomato, or the rind of an aged cheese, like parmesan.  Alternately you can add a sprinkle of MSG, as that is simply the sodium salt of the glutamic acid that is naturally occurring in the ingredients mentioned.  Don't go too heavy on the MSG, though, as your broth will take on the flavor of dashi...unless, of course, you are making dashi.


How to make Grape Must I just bought some grape must - it's a must on spinach salad! I am thinking of turning some of my own homemade concord grape juice into the same. Any advice, other than to reduce by slow boiling? Can I can the results in a hot water bath? Will the acid level change by reducing the liquid?

Based on the wikipedia article, it sounds like you want the pulp and skin as well.  It sounds like you won't get the same texture, consistency or sweetness by only reducing grape juice.

However, I found this cool how-to page on how to make grape must jelly.  I think the hand-crushing grapes part will be the most relevant to you.

You could use some kind of pressing machine, such as an OJ squeezer, to get the same effect without red hands.  I'd stay away from blenders and puree machines, as cutting foods doesn't have the same effect as crushing them.

I don't think I've had grape must, so you'll have to be the judge on how much or how little of the pulp goes into your final product.


Use of braiser for frying In our large commercial kitchen, which is seldom used, how long can we keep the oil in the large tilt braiser that is used for French fries and fried fish?
Can this oil then be disposed of in the floor grease trap?

Uh...NO!

While running some 'minor spillage' down the floor trap is not a big deal washing a large amount of oil down the drain would be BAD. As the oil cools it will form a solid clog that would be very difficult (and probably expensive) to clear.

(there is no information about where you are from, so this may or may not apply to you...)

[In the U.S.]
Local fire departments will allow for the disposal of waste petroleum products (like this or motor oil).
Most restaurants which do a serious amount of frying have oil disposal services that come by and collect used fryer oil.


Food Safety mould on raw beets I opened my bag of beets and there is a bit of mold on some of them.  Are they safe to cook and eat.  Also are they safe to use for pickled beets?

If you can cut out the moldy parts and the mold has not moved deep into the beet then yes. Just make sure you cut it all out.


Are ice tea in bottles considered as carbonated drinks like coke? Are ice tea bottles like Lipton considered to be carbonated drinks like coke and 7up?
I have issues in my GI (Gastro Intestinal) tract and I cannot tolerate coke and other carbonated drinks, I am just wondering if ice tea is a carbonated drink  that might cause me discomfort.

The word "Soft drink" stems from drinks with No alcohol in them. ice tea is a "Soft drink" But is not carbonated.


Is bolognese better cooked with the meats being seared or just simply sweat without being seared? Some recipes I have seen just sweat the meat then inserts the vegetables in them (so the meat is gray colored), but some recipes say you have to have them browned to have the maillard reaction give extra flavors.

I have watched several youtube videos regarding Bolognese recipes and all have different styles.

"Better" is a matter of opinion.  Recipes for bolognese vary widely. Both methods are possible.  Try it both ways, see which one you prefer.  My practice is that the meat is not seared.  Because of the nature of the recipe, I usually have a lot of meat, it would certainly take longer to sear it in batches, as opposed to dumping it all in with the sweated vegetables.


Why is my toffee grainy in cracker-toffee "Crack"? I have made this recipe to good results (creamy, chewy toffee), and more often, to disappointing results texturally (grainy toffee).

It is :
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar

Cook for 2-3 minutes stirring constantly. pour over saltine crackers on a greased foil lined cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. top with chocolate chips, spread when melted.

I have read many versions of this recipe with more cooking time and more baking time (and people with burnt results from the longer baking). I know traditional toffee made with white sugar is not to be stirred, the whole pastry brush thing, but this one is different. I wonder if I am not cooking the toffee on the stove long enough, eg to soft ball stage.

Also wonder if using ordinary brown sugar is ok.

It tastes good no matter the texture, but I would like to be able to nail it more consistently re the texture! Thanks.

Brown sugar can be used to good effect in candy making.

With the texture issue, something is crystallizing the sugar. Try using your ingredients with the more classic method.


Tasty vs Mild vs Mature Cheddar Cheese I expect Cheddar to come in Semi-matured, Matured and Vintage.
Each indicating increasing amount of time maturing, and increased sharpness.

The term Mild also makes sense.

However, alot of cheese, in Australia at least, come in what is called Tasty.
On one brand (shown below), both Tasty and Mild claim to be "Full Flavoured".
What is the difference between them?

Other brands sell both Matured and Tasty and market both as a mature cheese
To me, they all taste, much the same as the Matured.

Further, there is also Extra Tasty in some brands.
One brand I found says its Extra Tasty is matured for 18 months and its Vintage is matured for 24 months.

Is it just that Tasty is used instead of Matured, for Marketing Reasons?
Is it that there are special requirements to be able to label your cheese Matured,
so cheeses that have failed to meet the technical requirements,
but taste much the same hare labelled Tasty instead?

According to Dairy Australia, an Australian industry association (emphasis added):

  Cheddar Classifications

  Mild Cheddar - matures for one to three months.
  Semi-matured - matures
  for three to six months.
  Matured or tasty - matures for six to 12
  months.
  Vintage - matures for 12 to 24 months.


What are the effects of salting a thin steak that's grilled on a pan? What are the effects of salting a thin (1/4" to 1/2") beef steak right before being seared on a pan, compared to not salting at all?

(there are no other spices used, salt or nothing).

Does the exact method of preparation matter to the differences (e.g. searing almost-frozen steak vs. thawed out)?

Obviously, I'm interested in effects other than imparting salty flavor.

Related answer to the question Is it okay to salt beef before or while cooking it?

TL;DR: Salting the steak right before searing does not noticeable affect the tenderness.

Concerning the (semi-) frozen or thawed steak: Is it bad to cook frozen meat without waiting it to be unfrozen?

Since your mentioned steak is quite thin I don't think the semi-frozen steak goes "bad".


How to "fill" a cake made from a cupcake recipe I have several cupcake recipes.  I know it's easy to convert to a cake (just adjust baking time and figure out correct pan size).  My question is many of the cupcake recipes have a filling that is (for the most part) just sort of stabbed into the baked cupcake using a squeeze bottle. These fillings are usually between artificial maple syrup and pudding in consistency/thickness.  If I want to use the filling, how would I incorporate it into the cake other than repeatedly "stabbing" the cake in various places?  A google search only tells me to tort the cake, but I'd like to leave it in a single layer if possible (plus I don't think the cupcake fillings would hold up to be filling layer in a layered cake).

A syringe (or baster, but a syringe will be better) A LOT of holes, and frosting to hide the holes (though they will be pretty small if you use a syringe.)

Given the comment that  "I don't want it to be like several filled donuts joined together where it's not consistent" in combination with a refusal to consider layering it, you need

a dense pattern of holes and
a measured amount of filling in each hole.

So, for a 9x13 pan, you might be looking at 8x12 = 96 holes an inch apart, starting 1/2 inch from the edge, each filled with 1/96th of your total amount of filling. Adjust as needed for other size cakes and how well an inch apart suits your idea of "consistent" - you could go to 17x25 holes 1/2 inch apart and 1/4 inch from the edge, but it's going to be rather tedious.

Or you could TRY a more cake-centric approach - half the batter, the filling, half the batter, bake. It might fail miserably, it might "work" for some value of "work," it might require changing the filling to get a better value of "work." Certainly marble cakes and pudding cakes do things of this nature at the batter stage before baking.


my chest freezer is going out. Thermometer says 30 degrees and has for about a week. The corn on the bottom shelf looked terrible and was pitched. Most of the meat was thawed but looks ok, which I plan to cook and refreeze. Green chili's, some were partially thawed some completely thawed. Should we refreeze? Are they ok to eat? Color is good on them.

Derobert's inference that your freezer is fully broken is almost certainly correct.  30 F would be about the temperature you would expect inside as the frozen food thaws.

So for some period of time, what you have had, in effect, is a refrigerator, not a freezer.

The question is, for each individual food in the freezer, would it still be safe if held at refrigerator temperatures for a full week.

You can get good estimates for many foods from these sites:

Still Tasty
Eat by Date

I would discard foods that are beyond their good life, or foods that would not be palatable when frozen, thawed, and then refrozen.

In the specific case of the green chilis (I am guessing whole), Still Tasty says about one week, so you are on the border.  You should use or re-freeze them quite quickly.  On the other hand, they have already sat for a week, and suffered the degradation from one freezing cycle.  As chilis are not normally terribly expensive, it may not be worth keeping them.


How can I reduce the amount of hooch my sourdough starter is making? Sometimes my sourdough starter goes hooch (the brown liquid, alcohol) nuts and produces a ton. Other times it goes days and produces very little.  I've never been able to isolate what causes this.

What promotes and discourages hooch growth in a sourdough starter?

Hooch formation is a sign of a starving sourdough starter. I've never actually had hooch forming on a regularly fed sourdough mother. So this is the short answer.

I've sometimes spotted something similar to hooch, but it's just a false sign; Twice a day I feed my sourdough starter (it's at room temperature), and I clean my glass jar each feeding. Sometimes a small amount of water is left in the jar, and when I pour in my sourdough it doesn't incorporate the water. This water over time moves on top of the sourdough and looks like hooch, but isn't. This might or might not be the problem. Remember, a room temperature sourdough should be fed twice a day. I don't have much experience with cold-storage sourdough, but once every second day should be good.