At what temperature should one bake a coconut crust for a Hershey Bar Pie? Today I plan to bake a hershey bar pie.

I have done this in the past but never really get the crust to turn out like I expect. I am wondering if I am not cooking it at the correct temperature since all the other aspects of making the crust have been followed.

What is or are the recommended temperatures for doing this?

My friend makes coconut crusts all the time and she bakes them at 350 degrees.  But AllRecipes.com bakes their crust at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.


Should I steam or boil zongzi? Wikipedia says they're cooked by steaming or boiling. Searching further, I've found plenty of people saying their way is the best way. Assuming they're well-made and won't leak when boiled, why would I pick one method over the other?

I have looked extensively and it seems that whether to boil or steam is determined by region and it is as subjective as the fillings used. See below from this  page .

  Other variations include using black instead of white glutinous rice, or precooking the rice and filling, or steaming instead of boiling, or even wrapping into a cylindrical shape or a flat paddle shape instead of a pyramidal one.

You may be able to make a decision based on certain factors of your recipe. For example:

Some recipes call for the rice to be soaked while others call for it to be cooked. If I was using soaked rice I would probably choose boiling as the zongzi may become too dry with steaming. Same idea for other ingredients.

Another consideration would be how well the zongzi are wrapped. If they are wrapped very skillfully, either way could work. However, if not, the filling could come out much easier with boiling.

So, in the end, I would say that there really isn't a really definitive answer. I think I would use the method called for in the recipe as there may be specific reasons the prescribed cooking method was chosen.


How can I maximize the cheese flavor in my pizza? I am using the best cheese that I can buy, but my pizzas still don't have much of a cheese flavor.  Is it something that I'm doing wrong, or has the cheese changed?

Top your pizza with 2 cheeses: whole milk mozzerella and skim milk mozzerella. (Pizza restaurant secret)


Putting cure in fry sausage? We made some venison sausage today. On the packaging for a smoked German sausage, it said do not put cure in if you will be pan frying. I've looked around but I can't find a reason why. We ended up having a little bit that wouldn't fit in the casings and ended up frying that to get an idea what it'll taste like after its smoked. Does anyone know why you shouldn't put cure in pan fry sausage?

Curing salts contain sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate. When these curative agents are combined with the amines in meat and exposed to high heat they form carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines.  As the linked article states, commercial producers often add Vit. C to counteract some of the nitrosamine formation, but the curing mix you have might not include it for economic reasons.


What would be considered thick milk in old recipe I have a cake recipe from my Grandmother that calls for thick milk?   Anyone know what this might be?  Not sure of the cake name, handwriting is hard to read.  Full recipe is 1 c sugar, 2 eggs, 1 c thick milk, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cream of tartar, 1/2 c butter.

I am pretty sure she means milk which went sour naturally, or spoiled milk.

Before refrigeration and even after refrigeration but before ESL and UHT milks, a milk that got sufficient microbial activity would visibly curdle and get thicker and somewhat sour. Such milk is unpleasant to drink, but people used to not want to afford to throw this milk away, and took the risk of using it within something that gets baked. The reasons for baking it are 1) to hide the taste, and 2) to reduce the risk of food borne disease.

My own family has this kind of recipes, and I still remember my mother using them in this way when I was a child (it was in the 90s, but food safety rules hadn't reached us yet). Also, this is how names like the German Dickmilch (which literally translates as "thick milk") came to be. So I think it's plausible that this must be the case here, given that your recipe is old. Also, if the recipe really has no flour, using soured milk improves your chances of getting something firm and custardlike (albeit grainy), as opposed to the much more finicky flans made with fresh milk. Although I must admit my mothers' recipes wouldn't be for a completely flourless cake - she had some that were used as filling for baked pastries, and a savory one which contains just a little bit of flour, gets poured into a pan and baked. It doesn't form a doughy texture, but rather something like a pie filling, or a quiche without crust and vegetables.

For recreating the recipe nowadays, I would suggest that you use the stuff that American supermarkets sell today as "buttermilk". This is milk soured by known-harmless bacterial cultures, somewhat similar to yogurt. If you live in a part of the world which uses the term "buttermilk" in its original meaning (the watery liquid that is left after butter has been beaten out of the current-american-meaning-buttermilk) try searching for similar cultured products under a different name, maybe "cultured milk" or "soured milk". If you cannot find any, appropriate substitutes would be kefir or yogurt thinned with milk, even creme fraiche thinned with milk for a creamier result. I am not a fan of adding acids to fresh milk as a substitute, in my experience this creates the wrong texture and it is difficult to get the acidity right. Do not let your own raw milk out, this is unsafe by modern standards, and our grandmothers were wrong in assuming that it will become safe by heating.


Does milk tenderize meat? In another question I suggested that milk might be used as a tenderizer. That generated an amount of scepticism, so I think it is worth breaking the question out.

The idea came from "The New Best Recipe" which has a small section entitled "SCIENCE: Why Does Milk Make Meat Tender?". I'll repeat a little of what it says:

  "...if you skip the browning and cook the meat in milk (or any other liquid) at the outset, you limit the temperature of the meat to around 212 degrees. [...] As a result, meat cooked in milk does not dry out..."

If I follow the argument correctly --and I'm really not sure that I do-- this means that milk has no advantage over water as a tenderizer!

Can anyone unravel this confusion? Does milk tenderize meat?

The paragraph you quoted is utter nonsense.

Milk contains absolutely no factors which will tenderize anything. Tenderization is a process whereby protein strands are broken down, resulting in shorter strands, resulting in a more tender product. A lot of substances and physical processes will tenderize, to a greater or lesser extent, sometimes subject to other factors: acids, bromelain, a similar compound found in mango, physically pounding the meat, etc. Milk is none of those things.

Further, simply limiting the cooking temperature to under 212F/100C will not, in fact, guarantee a tender and moist result. To see this for yourself, boil a chicken breast in water or milk for a while. It will never go over the boiling point of water, but if you leave it too long? Dry, nasty chicken.

As Mike said in his answer, braising will result in a more tender end product; the length of cooking time plus the liquid medium helps to moderate the temperature and cook the protein very, very slowly. This retains more moisture within the product, and prevents protein strands from bunching up very tightly (which, really, is the same thing: protein strands force water out of meat as they constrict; prevent or ameliorate the constriction and you will have much moister and more tender meat). It is also worth noting that braising is always done at significantly below boiling temperatures; one braises at a simmer at most, more in the 60-80C range.

Milk is often used with certain proteins due to its facility in absorbing unpleasant odours or flavours. Liver is the classic example, but milk is also often used with sweetbreads and fish (amongst other things) to help draw off the funkier aromas before cooking. I do not know the specific scientific mechanism behind why this works; I suspect it is something to do with the fat molecules in the milk itself, which suggests that any fatty liquid would have the same effect.

So, for the short answer, see my first sentence.


What is this kitchen tool - a handle, and coil of metal around a metal plate? I'm at a loss for what these things are for - they came in a bag with some other things I bought at a thrift store.

They're cocktail strainers, and they do what they sound like! More precisely, you use it to strain the cocktail on the way out of the shaker.

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


How does the caramel in creme caramel stay liquid? Recently, I made a creme caramel, and it came out fine. The recipe used made the caramel sauce by cooking water (30ml) and sugar (55g), then adding water (30ml) again when the caramel looks good. I thought that made sense for the water to stop the cooking and dissolve the caramel and so it remains a syrup after refrigerating.

But most other recipes don't call for adding water after the caramel is cooked. Does liquid in the custard mixture dissolve the caramel back into a syrup?

Is it better or more traditional to add water after cooking the caramel?

There is not supposed to be liquid caramel sauce in creme caramel. You pour the custard on top of the caramel to bake it, and in the oven, the custard dissolves the caramel. Since the whole package is not being disturbed, the dissolved caramel doesn't mix in the whole custard, instead you end up with a bottom of caramel-tasting custard and upper layers of custard without caramel. You get a tiny bit of exudation that lets you separate the custard from the baking pan and lets the surface feel slimy, but that's it. If you have a noticeable puddle of brown liquid on the bottom, you have overbaked your custard to the point where liquid separated out of the mixture and flowed down onto the caramel.

If you enjoy this state of the dessert (very firm, somewhat grainy custard shot through with channels, sitting in a puddle of caramel liquid), then you can go for it, but there is no reason to add any water to the caramel. Instead, just bake it to a higher internal temperature, about 90 to 93 C should be enough .

Adding water beforehand won't accomplish anything and will indeed probably be harmful for this kind of result. If you put dissolved caramel on the bottom of the pan, it will mix up too much with the custard, not leaving enough caramel for the whey to dissolve when it exudes. So you will have a thicker, but less concentrated, caramel tasting layer, sitting in a liquid that has a less caramely taste.


Beer batter fish, keeping the breading from peeling right off while eating? A few months back I made beer-batter fish.  I don't remember the exact recipe I used but I think I got it from foodnetwork.com.  I fried in vegetable oil at 350.  Everything came out OK, but the breading seemed to peel clean off of the fish while eating rather than sticking to it.  Are there any tricks for prep/cook to prevent this from happening?

I usually dredge the fish in plain flour first and then the beer batter. I actually made beer battered fish tacos for dinner last night and the batter stuck perfectly.

It probably also depends on your batter consistency. The recipe I use says the batter should be slightly more liquid than pancake batter.


Just found this in my donner kebab, can you identify what it is? I was just eating a donner kebab, not sure if it’s something to be alarmed about ( looks like a worm to me ) or if it’s just spice that is tricking me.

It’s about 2/3mm across and is very hard. I can’t see anything moving... yet [grin]

Thank you for your help in advance, hopefully this is in-topic :)

I strongly suspect that you are looking at a capsicum seed. In other words, you either had a piece of jalapeño, pickled pepperoni, or a sprinkle of pul biber (crushed red pepper). They are flat, about 2mm wide with that little tip.

The “worm” is actually the embryonic part of the seed. There are a few edible seeds which seem to have a “worm”, e.g. this Q/A on our site.


How to make kidney beans tender? The way I currently cook kidney beans is to soak them overnight. But still they have to be cooked for a long time on gas before they get tender enough to be edible.

Anything that can be added or be done in a different way to reduce the time over heat?

Adding a little bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to the beans when soaking overnight should help soften them.


Why does whip cream dispenser sometimes produce "ragged" cream? Sometimes I make whipped cream in my ISI cream whipper and it comes out beautifully fluffy and smooth, and other times when I dispense it, the cream looks "ragged" for lack of a better description. Any ideas what factor accounts for the difference?

When I first got my iSi I had wildly inconsistent results, including exactly what you're describing.  I'm not sure if you're just whipping cream or if you're whipping other cream-based preparations, but the most common reason for this happening is that the liquid going in isn't quite, er, liquid.  Any solid particles of any kind will almost assuredly cause sputtering, which is why they recommend that you strain everything through a fine sieve.

Other things I've learned about the iSi whippers to help prevent these inconsistent results:

Ignore everything the instructions tell you about how to charge it.  They're somewhere between very misleading and complete nonsense.  What I actually do is this:

Screw on a charger as described.
Shake it vigorously, as if it were a cocktail shaker.
Let it rest for a moment, then shake again.  Repeat the shaking 4-5 times.
Finally, remove the charger and screw the cap back on.

The instructions are full of ominous warnings about not being able to discharge it properly if you shake it too much because the nozzle will get blocked or something.  Never happened.  What's far more likely is that the cream doesn't actually whip fully or there are large air pockets.  Do not err on the side of caution here; many "external" iSi recipes such as those you find in the HRC actually tell you to shake frequently as the dispenser chills.  I'm not sure if I'd do this with cream (as opposed to a water-based foam) but I can't stress this enough, don't skimp on the shaking.
If you need to chill it some more after charging, make sure to chill it on its side.  The instructions are quite explicit about this and in this case they're actually correct.
Shake it again after you chill it and before you dispense any.  This is very important and conspicuously absent from the instructions.  You shouldn't need to shake as much as the first pass, but some of the gas does seem to separate over time.
Start by dispensing the cream very, very slowly, until you actually see some come out, then you can apply more pressure as needed.  If you squeeze the trigger as hard as you can right off the bat, you'll just end up depressurizing the thing before any cream has a chance to come out.  Every single time I've pulled too hard, I've ended up with spatters.
Finally, make sure that you actually thoroughly clean it all between uses, including the tiny horizontal hole in the metal tube that you screw the tips onto (I forget what it's called) as well as the socket that piece goes into.  Any blockages whatsoever, no matter how small, can cause at least minor sputtering.

Hope some of that helps.  If you do all of that, you shouldn't have any sputtering issues.  Last 7 or 8 times I've used mine, I haven't had any.


Which containers should I use for souffles? I want to make some individual zabaglione & fruit souffles, but don't have ramekins. Also, I don't have much experience with souffles (but I have made them some times).

I have at my disposal:

10 cm tartalette forms, nonstick, made from some very thin sheet metal, probably steel
 6 cm silicone muffin cups
 6 cm muffin pan paper liners. I have made muffins in them, stacked in twos on a rack. The muffins  flow much wider than when contained in a pan, but are still not too flat.
 plain porcelain tea cups

Which alternative will work best, and why?

Out of each of these I would say the tea cups although I really think you would be better to purchase/borrow a souffle dish. The souffle needs to rise and a vertical makes this far easier.

I wouldn't use anything metal is it may get too hot too quickly and overcook the outside of the souffle.

Something else you might want to try is to use a casserole dish but make sides from heavy duty aluminium foil (about 6 inches high should do) or use a deep baking tin.


Is dry rub necessary in making bbq ribs? Normally when I make bbq ribs in the oven at home, I have to prepare the ribs approximately a day ahead. I usually cover the ribs with a dry rub mixture (made of garlic powder, paprika, sugar, salt, pepper, etc.), wrap it up in foil and let it sit in the fridge for about a day, lather it in bbq sauce and stick it in the oven. While this method produces quite delicious ribs, it does require a lot of effort and planning. My questions are:
Is a dry rub really necessary in making bbq ribs?
Is there an alternative to this dry rub?
Will the ribs taste the same if I just lather them in bbq sauce and cook then straight away?

Your ribs will have a lot less flavor if you do not use a dry rub.  However you can minimize some of the time (and only a bit of the flavor) by putting on the rub, wrapping in foil, and immediately putting them in the oven or on the grill.  The process of putting your rub together probably takes only about 5 minutes - it's the fridge time that takes a while.

Sitting in the fridge allows some of the flavors to permeate, and if you used a more permeable material could allow your ribs to air out a bit.  These are good things, but for my rib recipe I don't put the ribs in the fridge and they still taste great.  I also don't put the barbecue sauce on until about the last 20 minutes of oven time, when the foil comes off and the sauce goes on.  Until then the ribs stay in the foil.

I looked up North Carolina (which uses a sauce that isn't tomato based in the eastern part of the state), South Carolina (a mustard sauce), Texas, Memphis (which uses no sauce), Kansas City (tomato based-sauce that is rather sweet) - all of them used a dry rub even with wide variations on the sauce and for both beef and pork ribs.


How does flavor transfer? A few days ago I was cooking some liver in a pan. My idea was to make some fried onions and fried apple halves to go with it. I wanted all of the flavors to combine, but alas the end result was that each ingredient did not inherit the flavors of the other.

What I did was start cooking the onions first, and then I took them off the stove and began the liver separately. I did this because I had a small pan and I didn't want the liver to over cook if I started cooking it with the onions since onions can take a while to become nice and brown. When the liver was almost cooked nicely, I put in the onions that were already mostly cooked and I put the apple in to add some flavor (in retrospect the apples should have been given more time since they did not soften up like I wanted).

My chef friend saw me doing this and after we tried my liver and onions he said that I should have used a non-stick pan because it keeps the flavor from going away. Also he said that I should have cooked the two items together from the start--instead of what I did, which was combining them for the last few minutes.

I had since done some experimenting and I have found that a non-stick pan definitely helps with keeping the flavor. Though, I also noticed that using cooking oil helps to transfer the flavor between ingredients and it seems to do this better than water.

That being said, I'd really like to know how flavor transfers. How can I ensure that when I'm cooking the flavors will mix instead of my first liver dish? Tidbits, tricks, and advice :).

There are two different types of flavors:

The fundamental tastes that are chemically detected by the taste buds directly: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and possibly "umami"
The flavors that are detected by aromatic molecules being detected through aroma, through the olfactory system--the nose has connections directly to the mouth as well as the outside world.

The first type of flavor can transfer directly by being physically transferred, or dissolved from one food to another, but I imagine that is not what you are asking aobut.

The aromatic types of flavors are usually more characteristic of specific foods.  To be perceived, they must be atomized into the air to be smelled; this contributes to the sense of taste.

There are several major ways that aromatic flavors can be dissolved, and thus let them become atomized:

In water
In fat
In alcohol

The flavor compounds dissolve in these vectors; the vector then physically transfers from one food to another.

Additionally, for finely chopped or pureed foods, the solid components of the food may be suspended in liquid or sauce, and thus physically transfer or adhere to another food in the same dish.

Non-stick pans differ from more traditional pans in that browned bits do not generally stick to the pan.   This can be either an advantage or a disadvantage.

If the flavor from browning is highly desirable, and you want it dissolved into a sauce (for example, in classic French dishes where the sauce is made by deglazing the pan with wine), flavor creation and transfer is facilitated by the pan.

In other cases, not having flavorful compounds stick to the pan will leave more of them in the food itself.


What are basic concepts of fusion kitchen? Are there any formal(izable) rules, or methods, or basic concepts in fusion kitchen cooking?

Fusion cuisine probably dates back centuries, as people and products migrated and influenced one another. Consider the development and spread of the noodle, for example.  However the term "fusion" cuisine was probably applied in the 1970s in France and, slightly later, in America.  The idea is simple.  Ingredients and/or techniques from different cuisines are combined to create something new.  In its best form, the result is unique, surprising, and delicious.  However, critics, especially when the combination doesn't work, have sometimes dubbed it "confusion cuisine."

It would be difficult, at best, to define any sort of rules or basic concepts.  Remember, the very idea of fusion cuisine is to break the rules or basic concepts of a single cuisine, by combining differing rules and concepts of two or more different cuisines.  I guess the only concept I can come up with is that the dish has to make sense from a flavor, texture, and visual perspective.  In other words, to be successful it must be appealing and delicious.


What would cause bubbles in confit garlic stored in oil? I made confited garlic. It was simply garlic simmered in sesame oil.  When I opened the mason jar at room temp, it bubbled fairly rapidly,  to the point where the oil overflowed.  My first instinct was botulism.  Could something more innocent cause this?

A jar of garlic in oil at room temperature (whether or not is was simmered first - pressure-canning might be different) is indeed a ripe environment for botulism. I'm not clear why you would store the product at room temperature if you have even a passing familiarity with botulism? If you store garlic in oil, it should be refrigerated. The second link includes a specific mention:

  The same hazard exists for roasted garlic stored in oil.

Chuck it. The fact that there could be benign fermentations going on is not worth the risk of the non-benign bacteria and resultant poisoning.


How do I add menthol flavoring to this gum? My boy's birthday is coming next week, and I was thinking of making some homemade. I read the ingredient of gum on the packet and one of them was menthol flavoring.

I'm using this basic recipe:

  Heat the ingredients. Place the gum base, corn syrup, glycerine, citric acid and bubble gum flavoring in the top part of a double boiler. ... Create a powdered sugar well. Pour the gum base into the well. Make bubble gum dough. ... Roll out the dough. Finish the gum.

So, how do I add menthol flavoring to this?

The recipe already tells you when to add the flavoring. The menthol gives it that minty kick ("cold" feeling) and is used in more than one bubblegum flavoring, like mint, peppermint, sometimes cherry.

For industrial applications it is easier to buy powder and then compound it into the flavor, but for home applications I recommend that you buy a mint flavor solution instead of just straight up adding menthol, since a mint flavor is more than that.


How common is it for people to not have the concept of certain ‘breakfast food’? I recently visited Ukraine with a friend. One night we stayed at a hotel that served meals. In the morning, we came down to breakfast and were surprised to be served a carbonara-type pasta dish–not what we would normally have considered breakfast food. We asked our guide, and he said that Ukrainians don't separate foods into different meals and just eat whatever, whenever.

How common is it for people to not have the concept of certain ‘breakfast food’?

This article goes through common breakfasts from different countries, but most seem to be uniquely breakfast-y (except for Korea).

This one claims that the US is in the minority in having unique breakfast foods and suggests that ‘poorer people everywhere, especially in places like India and China, eat the same kind of food for meal after meal’.

Ukraine doesn't get a mention on the Wikipedia article on ‘Breakfast’, so I can't even verify what the guide said about it–maybe it was just the hotel we were in's approach–to be fair, the hotel was in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone so I can imagine food options might be limited.

In Japan the word for rice is gohan, breakfast is asa gohan, meaning "morning rice". Dinner is ban gohan. You get the idea - rice is the traditional part of every meal.

Traditional Japanese breakfast food would be rice, fish, miso soup, vegetables, pickles. Which is a lot like a traditional lunch. More recently western breakfasts foods have been taken up some, so the concept of separate breakfast food is more of a thing.


How to make sorbet from fruit like watermelon? I've been playing with my - very cheap - ice cream maker and want to try sorbets. Already had some success with a strawberry-black pepper one, but I hear some berries and stone fruit are very forgiving because they're pulpy and the fiber acts as a stabilizer helps prevent ice crystal formation.

How would I go about improving my chances with lemon or watermelon or other fruit that's mostly juice? I've heard using corn syrup helps, but I'm not sure if the closest product we have here is the right kind - it has about 53% water, which I don't want to add too much, and added honey flavour to serve as a cheaper honey substitute. (While also being overpriced for sugar syrup.)

I can however easily get powdered fructose and glucose, which are available for baking for diabetics and such purposes. Would that get the job done if I blend them 1:1?

I've also looked into thickeners, but if I'm looking at what's available in grocery stores, it's either gelatin and pectin, and both require cooking to work which affects the flavour of the fruit. Could I mitigate that by only preparing the thickener in say 1/4th of the juice, and then stirring it into the rest?

Some suggestions in the event that the questions doesn't get closed as a duplicate...firstly, get a copy of McGee's book, as suggested in the first possible duplicate.  It is an excellent resource with too much information to reproduce here. Referring to McGee, you will want to decide what kind of texture and what level of sweetness you desire. The proportion of sugar in the mix and how fast it is frozen impacts the final consistency. It's not really about pulp content. Again, this is all outlined in McGee's excellent book. What McGee calls "moderately sweet ice" (20% sugar) becomes rock hard when frozen, and needs to be used before that state...or allowed to temper after.  Sweet ices contain about 35% sugar and need little, if any thawing.  Creating the desired texture is a matter of balancing acid and sweetness given a specific ingredient.  Watermelon and lemon will behave very differently, and McGee has a table that helps to see why.  The ratio of sugar to acid in lemon is 0.4.  For Watermelon it is 45. For example, he suggests the following for a sweet lemon ice: 1 C juice, 14 TBS sugar, 1 cup water.


What other cut of meat can replace pork shank? I have really been wanting to trying this recipe Braised Pork Shanks with Mushroom Dumplings, but I have not been able to obtain pork shanks.

Can another cut of pork meat be used instead?  I was considering using pork shoulder.

You could probably get away with pork shoulder, although you will want to consider that the texture may not be what you want -- it may either have too much fat and connective tissue, or it may fall apart too much, depending on how long you braise it for. You will probably have to alter your cooking times, I'd imagine.

Pork hocks are somewhat similar in texture to the shank, so that a possibility.  Though you will probably run into the same availability problems.

It may take a small amount of modification, but your best bet may be to go with country-style ribs. They are tender and flavorful when braised, and are readily available in any grocery store.


How much gelatine to use instead of xanthan or guar gum in ice cream I bought a Cuisinart ICE-30BC ice cream machine and I am experimenting with it. Some ice cream and gelato recipes ask for xanthan gum.

I can't find any of it in my county, but I read that I can replace it with powdered gelatin.

My question is, if a recipe calls for 3g of xanthan gum, how much gelatin should I use to replace it?? Is it less or more?

Gelatin is fine for a stabilizer it was used a lot in ice cream back in the day. Not sure the percentage to use but using a higher bloom strength could be recommend 200-250. Maybe start off using .005 of mix for a starting point and -+ after that for what you want.


How do I properly wash bugs out of green onion? How do I remove bugs from the inside and outside of green onions? I don't want to split open the green onion just to remove them, and washing them thoroughly in cold water seems to get the onions soggy.

I'd cut the root off (so you have a green onion 'straw') and run water through that. This would leave the onion soggy. At this point I would lay out some paper towels at the bottom of a vase and leave the green onions upright for about an hour - switching the paper towels every 20 minutes if they get too damp. After said hour, store in a cool place.

Do note that by cutting the roots of the green onion you considerably shorten their lifespan in storage. However, you can then take the roots and plant them (after soaking the roots in 1/4 water-to-root-height ratio) to get more green onions :)


Is it really necessary to avoid using soap on a cast iron skillet? Hello Seasoned Adviced community!

When talking about cast iron skillets, it is common to hear the advice "don't ever use soap to wash the skillet." However, I rarely hear specific reasons for why it would be necessary to avoid using soap on a cast iron skillet, and I can't think of a valid explanation for why this must be true.

An article on Serious Eats calls the "no soap" advice a myth, stating the the origin of the advice is the idea that since soap removes oil, the seasoning of the pan would be ruined by using soap. But, as the article states, the seasoning of the pan is a thin layer of polymerized oil, which is a plastic-like coating on the surface of the pan, and soap won't hurt the coating. There is a chemical bond between the coating and the pan which soap can't damage.

So, will using soap on a cast-iron skillet damage the skillet or is this a myth?

Here's the deal ... if your pan is seasoned correctly using an oil with a high iodine value, then no, soap won't harm it.

If it's not seasoned correctly, then it could need a strip & reseason.  If you're using a low iodine oil (the surface will be slightly tacky when the pan is cool), then it also might ablate the surface somewhat, and repeated cleanings could damage it.

If you think it needs a deeper clean, one approach is to always add a new (thin) layer of oil after cleaning the pan (and then heating it 'til it smokes) ... this means that you'll have a relatively thick layer of seasoning and if you lose an individual layer, it's not a big deal.  (and you'll add it back right after the cleaning).


Is Virginia creeper safe to eat? Spring and the Virginia Creeper is growing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia

It is native to North America, and common.  I read on Wikipedia the berries have "dangerous amounts of oxalic acid" and I have not tried those.  The leaves taste good to me; sour and much like sorrel.

I wonder if anyone knows if historically, anyone ate this stuff.  Rhubarb has oxalic acid but is good if cooked a little, and cooking is recommended for old sorrel.  One would think that back in the days that people ate pokeweed someone would have tried creeper; it is everywhere.  But my googlefu is pretty strong these days and I have turned up nothing.

Virginia Creeper can be toxic if eaten. Both the leaves and berries should be considered poisonous and not eaten.

According to poison.org:

  Although they are pretty, Virginia creeper and wisteria can be harmful if they are chewed or swallowed. Both plants can cause mouth pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea and should not be eaten.

Both the berries and leaves contain oxalate. While not everyone may have a severe reaction, it's difficult to predict when a reaction may happen, and thus it's best to never eat Virgina creeper.

Since you mention rhubarb in your question, rhubarb contains oxalate in it's leaves at toxic levels, only the rhubarb stalks are safe to eat. Rhubarb stalks do still have oxalate, but at lower concentrations, reducing the chance of illness or death.


Burger without patty? So I ordered a hamburger at a new restaurant and they brought me the burger but without a patty, with two slices of square salami in it.

When I asked them where the patty was, they said I should've asked them to put it specifically, otherwise the default is just salami.

Since burgers aren't something I eat all the time and not many restaurants have it around my place/country, I was wondering if that is even a thing? Is it true that the patty is optional in a burger?

If you order a burger, it should definitely come with a patty made up of ground beef. In some cases, the burger could be made of chicken, turkey, bison, etc. But, in that case the type of meat is generally specified. In the case of beef, the type of meat is generally ommitted from the details, and assumed the patty will be beef. Here is a picture of what you can expect to get if you order a "burger" in America.

I have never heard of a burger that comes with squares of salami instead of a ground patty of some kind. It's possible to have a ground pork burger, but not salami. It seems to me what you were serves is best considered a "salami sandwhich".


What can I substitute for Gruyère in quiche lorràine? Gruyère cheese is too expensive here and I want make quiche lorràine. Is there some other cheese that I could substitute for the gruyère that would preserve the original flavor?

There are a couple variations that if you're lucky might be cheaper: Beaufort and Comté. (I've only actually tried Comté, but I've seen Beaufort listed along with it and Gruyère.)

A bit farther away are Emmentaler and Jarlsberg. They both have the Swiss cheese flavor but aren't quite as firm nicely aged. Beyond that there's simply all the varieties of (American) Swiss cheese, which are generally roughly like Emmanteler but likely even softer.

If you use one of the farther away substitutes, I'd suggest adding in some hard aged cheese as well to make up for the difference. For example, I've used (American) Swiss cheese plus dry jack and parmesan and been pretty happy with it. The specific hard aged cheese probably doesn't matter a whole lot, as long as it has some nice aged flavor and not a lot of overpowering other flavors.


How long does it take garlic to germinate in the fridge? If left in the fridge, how long does garlic take to germinate? I have experienced the green sprouts in the past, and was able to chop them off and eat the remaining garlic. I am curious add to how long that takes as I cannot remember.

This way I will know how much garlic to keep in the fridge at my friend's house, based on how much is used per week, since my friend insists that it must be kept in the fridge.

If I plant the garlic that has germinated in a pot, will it grow? How do you grow it?

Germination of garlic is a gradual, slow process, and how long it takes depends a lot on how close to sprouting the garlic was when you originally bought it. Seems to me it would have to sprout faster at room temp, than refrigerated, anyway.

I routinely keep garlic in the fridge (shame on me!), and sometimes the garlic will keep in the fridge for at least a month without sprouting (That's about how fast I use it, so I don't have data past a month). On the other hand, I have seen nubby little green/purplish sprouts (abt. 3mm long?) on garlic which I had just purchased; cut them off; garlic was fine - just like your experience.

I guess the reason you want to keep the garlic in the fridge during your stay at your friend's house is to avoid unnecessary rancourous arguments - yes? So here's the thing: your friend may be wrong, but for the layman, it's not a huge deal to keep the garlic in or out of refrigerator, as he likes.


What should I do if I forgot to dry fries before baking? What should I do if I forgot to dry off my fries before putting them in to bake?
And now they're seasoned and oiled up.

Bake them anyway and accept that they might not be quite as good as they would otherwise be. A little extra moisture won't be fatal, and there's nothing you can easily do now. You could try patting them with a paper towel but it's likely to remove the seasoning more than it removes water.


What's the black thing at the bottom of navel oranges? Sometimes I'll cut into a navel orange and notice something black inside which originates at the bottom of the orange, where the navel is. What is it?

I have seen it get pretty far into the fruit too. Like almost half way in... is it safe to eat an orange like this?

I'm not as familiar with citrus, but tomatoes and peppers can develop something called blossom-end rot. This is caused by the plant not receiving enough nutrients (specifically calcium), whether b/c the plant isn't getting enough water and thus can't get the nutrients out of the soil or b/c the soil is deficient.

Regarding whether it's safe to eat, a tomato w/ blossom end rot is still safe to eat, once you remove the affected area.

I hope this is helpful!

Do you have a picture of the orange in question? That would help greatly with diagnosis.


Can avocado act as an egg replacement for vegan bread Can avocado be used to replace the eggs to make a bread vegan.  I have seen very little information regard avocado as an egg replacement and was hoping to find advice from anyone who has tried baking with avocados before.

I think this is not possible.
Avocado is a great source of high quality fat, but does not contain any protein. Egg contains copious amount of protein which enables it as 'binding' agent. When protein coagulates it 'binds' the ingredients together, giving them a different texture.

So, avocado - having a completely different taste, texture and macro nutrient composition could not act as egg substitute anywhere.

On a side note - egg is not a vital ingredient in bread. Bread gets it's elastic consistency from wheat protein, while the CO2 bubbles from yeast make it spongy and airy. If anything, adding the avocado would be like adding potato and oil to your bread. It would have a harder time rising and the texture would be moister. Don't know about the taste, though...


Is it important to let meat sit in oil before grilling/baking? You should put oil on your meat to prevent it drying out.  Does it make a difference if you coat then cook straight away or leave coated for a while, if so how long should you keep it for?

I've never put oil on my meat to prevent drying. I do sometimes cook a steak in a hot cast iron pan with a lot of butter, but that's more to develop a crust than anything.

The most important factors in preventing dryness would be cooking time and temperature.


Should tamarind pulp go into Pad Thai sauce? I'm making my own Pad Thai sauce and I'm not sure if I should strain out the tamarind pulp or if it can stay in the sauce. Or is there some type of prepared tamarind which dissolves into the sauce so there's nothing to strain?

The pulp is what you're actually trying to obtain from tamarind. What you should be trying to strain out is any seeds or any chunks too fibrous to be considered pulp. It is sometimes possible to add liquid and smash the tamarind several times to extract more and more (progressively diluted) pulp each time.


How can my breadmaker made wholemeal bread taste less salty? My wife makes my wholemeal bread as she insists. She says every recipe lists 5 grams of salt otherwise the bread will end up having missing patches in baked form- it has happened with early loaves. We live in Japan and the loaves here are rather small. The bread tastes salty. What are my options to reduce the salty taste while maintaining the result of a decent loaf of wholemeal bread?  I have heard that soy sauce can reduce salty taste in other foods. This recipe includes 50% wholemeal flour and 50%  self-raising flour.

Salt is an important part of the baking process, as your breadmaker instructions will probably state.  Most/All bread makers will come with Recipes and probably tips or guidance on baking.
I did experiment with low salt recipes, but have not kept my notes on that. From memory I had the best results with about half the standard amount of salt, but usually disappointing results if I tried to go salt free. Basically the salt tends to inhibit the yeast, so if you just reduce the salt content the uninhibited yeast activity causes it to over-rise, and then collapse to result in a loaf with a convex instead of concave top.
You need to counteract this by reducing the amount of yeast, or otherwise juggling with the recipe. Also consider the amount of sugar and the initial temperature of the ingredients to get consistent results it is best to watch all of these factors and record your results.  Also  note what oil/fat/butter is used and whether if butter it is salted or unsalted.
Here are some internet links I found

Davids Blog  Salt-Free Breadmaker Bread. That has a wholemeal and a brown bread recipe both with no added salt.
http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Yourlifestyle/Eatingwell/Yourfood/Salt-freebread another set of recipes, including wholemeal bread with no salt and suitable for a breadmaker machine.
This one is more of an explanation and discussion of the purpose of salt in bread-making https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/salt-in-bread-baking-how-much-and-why/ Note in the UK there are recommendations to reduce salt content.
https://breadmachinerecipe.net/low-salt-bread-machine-recipe/  although I wonder if the yeast quantities should be teaspoons not tablespoons


Baking with oven without bottom heating element My mom wants to do baking but her oven doesn't have bottom heating element. It only has an element on top, with a fan at the back.

She told me that she can't make me a good pizza or cake without it.

Is there any way around?

For things that can be baked for a short period of time, you can partially compensate by adding a baking stone in the bottom of the oven, then sufficiently preheating the oven.

The stone will release its heat, resulting in there being some additional heat coming from the bottom of the oven.

For pizzas, you can move the stone closer to the top element, so that you can get it very hot, and then lay the pizza onto the stone, so that the bottom will cook from conduction, not just radiant heat.

If this still isn't enough for cooking a pizza, you can put the naked crust on the stone, let it cook until it's developed a bit of a crust on the top, flip it until you've browned the bottom, then remove it, top the pizza, and slide it back in (right side up).

You can also just brown it and then flip and top it, but your pizza will seem strange, as the top is now the flat side of the crust ... and the toppings will be more likely to slide.


How to properly soak urad beans? So today I tried one of my (as I have recently learned not so genuine) Indian dishes: Dal Makhni (also Dal Makhani).

There are different recipes, some mix urad beans with red kidney beans, I went for one that only called for urad beans.

Anyway, I soaked them (at room temperature) for at least 16 hours (simple, cold, tap water) and yet in the ready dish we found little black dry beans whose husk seemingly hadn't been affected by the water. The beans had all been "subsurface", though.

It was the only disappointment when we wanted to enjoy the dish. So I am wondering what else I could have done? Is there perhaps a way to "identify" these hard beans after soaking, or even before?

You can soak them in hot water for 8-10 hours. And then pressure cook it(add salt and pinch of turmeric) for 4-5 whistles or until tender. If you don't have pressure cooker, you can cook in open vessel. It might take longer.


How is jin jun mei (a Chinese tea) made? I'd like to know whether jin jun mei (golden beautiful eyebrow, a Chinese tea) is kosher. To know that, I first need to know its ingredients and how it's processed.

What are the ingredients in Jin Jun Mei?
How are the ingredients processed?

According to Wikipedia, Jin Jun Mei tea is just a (unsmoked) Lapsang souchong tea or, in simpler words, a black tea. It is considered a black tea of special or extra high quality, but there are no indications that it is produced differently that "normal" black teas.

You might double-check with your religious authorities as the question of being kosher or not is off-topic here, but as I see it, the same rules apply as for any black tea.


Plantain were not ready to puree, can they be saved? I was planning in making plantain empanadas but the plantains were not really ready and after boiling them for a long time and trying to puree them they ended up being only a pile of crumbly plantain little pieces that will not hold together to make the dough.

Is there anything that I could do in order to "save" them and still use them for the desired purpose?

I was thinking to maybe blend them with some liquid, like water or even cream, but I don't want to try something doomed to fail without asking first.

Any recommendation will be welcomed and appreciated.

Assuming that you're making Empanadas de Plátano Maduro, You can't really "save" them.

In the course of ripening, plantains convert starches to sugars.  This change also changes the structure of the plantain flesh, from firm to soft & sticky.  This isn't a small conversion, it's a change in like 20% of the plantain flesh.  Nothing you can do is going to substitute for that sticky, ripe-plantain texture, and I can't find any verified way to make them ripen once you've peeled and cooked them.  Sorry!


Flourless cake didn't set I made a cake with butter, eggs, caster sugar and 70% chocolate today. The cooking directions suggest 30 minutes in the oven in a bain marie. I followed the instructions to a tee (as I have done in the past). However, for some reason, the cake didn't set. I left it in the oven for an additional 25 minutes, and then let it rest on the side and cool down for 2 hours. It was still extremely moist and hadn't set as it had done in the past.

I cannot think of anything different that I did. The butter was fresh, the eggs were laid by my own chickens this morning and the chocolate was cooking chocolate.

Is there any way to salvage the cake? The oven doesn't seem to have worked this time!

One other factor that might've been different, along with size variation in your eggs, is their freshness. Fresh eggs will have a higher water content than older eggs. The other times it set fine, did you use freshly laid eggs?


Off Garlic! Can we fix recipe? HELP!
My darling husband has started dinner for us, but upon tasting the tomato sauce for our lasagne, it seems the garlic was off! It tastes like damp, wet, mildew, blah! Is there anything I can do to fix this? I have tried adding a little sugar, but it hasn't made much difference. DH is willing to throw it, but I'm hoping it can be salvaged! Thanks

Unless your garlic has fungus growing on it or is badly discolored it's unlikely this flavor is from it. Garlic generally keeps very well and is still safe to use, and still flavorful even when it's a bit shriveled.

It's much more likely these off flavors are coming from another ingredient, and could be a sign of some sort of contamination, in which case you should chuck it. Even if it isn't you can't get rid of the flavor, so my recommendation should be to get rid of it and order some take-out.


Can “quick cook” brown rice be cooked in an Instant Pot? I have a package of “quick cook brown rice, and I am hoping I can cook it with my 2 quart Instant Pot. Will this work? How long should I cook it, what pressure level should I use, and what release should I use?
I’ve been able to find plenty of good information on cooking rice that is just normal raw rice or soaked, but not on “quick cook” rice.
Here is the package in question:

Instant or Quick Cook rice (whether white or brown) is partially precooked, meaning part of the cooking time is already completed to cut down on the wait time for the end user. So it can be cooked more or less the same way you would regular rice in an Instant Pot... just for less time.
There's a blog post that goes into a great deal of detail about parboiled rice in an Instant Pot, but the instructions boil down to:

Parboiled White Rice: pressure cook on High Pressure for 6 minutes.
Parboiled Brown Rice: Pressure cook on High Pressure for 8 minutes.
Once pressure cooking is complete, do a natural pressure release (NPR) or a 15-minute natural release if you're short on time.

Well-known brand Minute Rice has a shorter time recommendation:

Brown Rice: Use equal amounts of rice and liquid. Stir. Use the “manual” setting with High Pressure. Set timer for 5 minutes. When cooking time has elapsed, use the “Quick Release” to vent all the steam. Remove lid and fluff rice. Serve.

It looks like in the case of Minute Brown Rice, the stovetop cook time is 10 minutes, so an Instant Pot on High Pressure would cut the cook time in half. Since your rice's instructions call for 15 minutes, an 8 minute cook time would be more appropriate.


Smoothie - water as base liquid, originally? I am wondering, for termbase purposes, about the base liquid for smoothies: is it originally water?

I would appreciate your help as native English speakers, as we were considering equivalents in our language made using milk, yogurt, fruit juice as a base liquid for this drink.

Thank you very much!

Generally people don't use water, because they don't want watered-down flavors. Fruit juice, milk, and yogurt all provide some flavor, so people tend to like them more.

But you certainly can use water if you want. It'll probably work best if you have some good flavorful fruit, and you might end up wanting to add extra sweetness, but it's possible. (I personally don't mind using ice, to get it extra cold with more icy texture, but that's not universal.)

In any case, it's not a strictly defined term; if you have a frozen drink that tastes like it's made out of actual blended fruit (and dairy and whatever else), I'm sure people will call it a smoothie.


Mexican cheeses on otherwise Italian pizza Can one use any Mexican cheeses on an otherwise “Italian” pizza? I don’t know much about Mexican cheeses; which cheese or mix of cheeses would one use? Would a Mexican cheese change the flavor profile much?

The short answer is yes, you can. We keep a wide variety of cheeses on hand. Quesadilla or Chihuahua Mexican cheeses are a great substitute for Mozzarella or Provolone cheese. The have a light flavor and work well with Italian foods. We always have these on hand, but they are not always easy to find in some areas.

I often substitute simply because, while I might have the intended cheese on hand, there may be some that I need to use sooner than others depending on how long I've had them or how long they've been open. With mild cheeses, you don't have to worry about the flavor profile so much - it's more the melting. And the cheeses I mentioned melt well - just like Mozzarella or Provolone.

And to let you know, the reason I tried the other cheeses: I asked in a Mexican restaurant what kind of cheese they used and was told that it was "like American Mozzarella". So, I decided to experiment.

All said and done, all of these cheeses have a mild flavor and work in many dishes, regardless of the ethnicity. What you do want to stay away from are cheeses that don't melt well and are designed to keep their shape and texture under heat. One example would be quest fresco.


Would baking chocolate with baileys/kalhua cook out the alcohol? Good day. My friends and I are planning on making a skillet based smores but with a twist. I've seen tons and tons of recipes but the basic recipe is that there's chocolate at the bottom of the skillet, with marshmallows on top, lining it. The skillet is then placed in the oven at a certain temperature for a certain period of time. The recipes vary on how you want your marshmallows.

However, we find the basic recipes bland after a certain period of time, and we want to spice things up. A common idea we had was to borrow how some cakes are drenched with baileys or kalhua, and we want to incorporate that with our skillet smores. However, we are not sure how to go about adding alcohol in skillet smores.

Our idea is to lace the chocolate with liquor before adding the mallows on top and putting it in the oven. However, we are unsure what happens to the liquor's alcohol if it would burn out. As much as possible, we want to preserve the alcohol as we are not sure what happens to our liquor of choice when the alcohol burns out.

Can anyone help us, and give us and idea on how to go about liquor laced skillet smores? Thank you.

With your plans, you have encoutered some questions and problems. Let's tackle one after another:

Alcohol boiling off
Although often repeated and assumed due to the lower boiling point of alcohol vs. water, alcohol will not boil off completely. Even after a long boil not only traces, but a significant amount of alcohol remains. There is a question and a bunch of answers here on Seasoned Advice discussing this. However, loosing some of the alcohol won't be a problem, the taste should remain (mostly) unchanged, unless the heat is so high that sugars - and both Baileys and Kaluha are sweet - start to caramelize. Your chocolate wouldn't fare well at high temperatures as well, so that's not the route to go anyway.
Alcohol / liquor and chocolate
Those two are unlikely to mix as long as the chocolate remains solid. Even after the chocolate has melted, you'd have to stir to incorporate the Baileys and be at risk of the chocolate "seizing", that is, getting lumpy. If you were thinking along the lines of whiskey truffles etc., those are made with heated chocolate + cream + liquor, then left to cool and solidify.
Soaking the "cake" or in this case the Graham crackers (as suggested by another answer)
Typically, one would expect additional liquor to be added to the baked goods, because they are "willing" to soak it up. Now as Skillet S'mores use the crackers to scoop up the soft chocolate-marshmallow mix, soggy crackers won't do. Unless you are planning to divide the crackers into individual serving bowls and spooning the mixture on top (or baking in individual cups with a soaked cracker base), that is not the way to go.

So what?

You want the alcohol to go into the chocolate. The only feasible way is to gently(!) melt the chocolate, either in the skillet (don't burn!) or in a bain marie (a bowl set over hot water). Use dry utensils and stir carefully, do not let small drops of water get into the chocolate. If possible, gently heat your alcohol, too. Add enough liquid to prevent seizing, that means go for at least one tablespoon per two ounces of chocolate, possibly more. If you feel that's too much alcohol, add some cream. Stir well.

Pour chocolate into pre-warmed skillet (if not already there), cover with marshmallows, broil until marshmallows start to melt and bubble, enjoy!


How can I easily peel baby round potatoes? I was planning to try out a recipe for roasted baby potatoes, but I have noticed that most of the recipes involve slicing the baby potatoes in half and roasting them with their skins on. They turn out this way:

However, I want to peel them and roast so they turn out like crispy, roasted potato balls.

Does anyone know how to appropriately peel baby round potatoes bought fresh and with skins from the market?

I thought of blanching them and then pulling their skins off, but I'm not sure if they will work well with this variety.

(The above image is from https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/recipe/roasted-baby-potatoes-oregano-and-lemon-1/5626a63ca6d5b39610701a16)

As the skins are quite thin, use a (new) green kitchen scrubber.  This would give the same result as the potato peeling bowl for a Kenwood, and a whole lot cheaper.  Enjoy your potatoes...


Where can I Buy Kaima or Jeerakasala Rice? I'm trying to prepare an Indian Biriyani dish, and it calls for Kaima rice, also known as Jeerakasala. I understand that there are alternatives, like Basmati, but I really would love to try this particular variety. Where do you think I could purchase some (I live in the US, in  NC, ordering online would be great)?

If nothing else, could you suggest a rice that is extremely similar?

Thanks in advance.

You need to use Kali Jeera rice available in most Patel stores or big indian stores. We were also looking for this and avoiding Kali Jeera thinking it is some black rice whereas it is not. This is rice used in Nor Malabar chicken biriyanis.

And no need to mention that ghee rice or biriyani prepared with Kali Jeera rice tastes way better than normal Basmati rice.


Why is the dough in cheap pizza places so bad? I notice that in small, cheap "sub-shop" type pizza places the crust is almost always bad, what I call "spongy", having a rubbery texture and often little air bubbles.

Higher class, brick oven type places, like Bertucci's or Pizzeria Regina have a much better dough which is not rubbery.

Why is this? I know that Bertucci's makes their own dough because I can see them make it from flour. Is that the reason, the cheap places are buying pre-made dough and then freezing it or something?

Note that this question is about thin-crust Neapolitan pizza, not deep dish.

Well, the most obvious difference is that the two "better" restaurants you mention serve brick-oven style pizza, which is probably quite different from the cooking method in a "cheap sub-style pizza place."  Brick oven pizzas are generally cooked at a much higher temperature for a much shorter time, and the surface they are cooked on causes significant changes to the crust.  You'll get much greater oven spring, a crisper outer crust layer, a dryer bottom crust, and a softer interior due to the oven spring and short bake.

All those things already will make a huge difference in crust characteristics.  But the dough you're describing (rubbery, spongy, few bubbles) also sounds a bit underdeveloped.  Higher-quality pizza shops will often allow a longer time for fermentation (which also increases flavor, as well as producing better texture); the stuff you describe may be "rushed" somewhat.

Although you say "thin crust," I'm assuming you're not talking about the thinness of, say, NY Style, but rather an intermediate crust depth (not as much as "Sicilian" but not as thin as brick oven, Neapolitan, or NY Styles). At least that's the kind of crust I associate with the kind of "sub-shop" pizza you're describing.

If that's correct, there could be other problems too.  Places like that may not have confident workers stretching the dough, and they overcompensate to avoid tears or holes -- this means they often don't stretch the dough as thinly, may roll out the dough and deflate it a bit, may use a lower hydration dough (which is easier to handle), and may use a higher-gluten flour.  Lower hydration doughs can often produce a denser and less tender product.  Moreover, high-gluten flour will toughen significantly as the pizza begins to cool, and a thicker crust improperly baked may also have a "gum line" right below the ingredients where the dough isn't cooked as thoroughly.  The moisture from that gum line can also migrate down to the crust during cooling and toughen the crust.  Pizza packaging can also make a difference here: those rippled sheets some places put pizza on help to take moisture away and avoid some of the toughening in heavier crusts; without them, a dense dough can also toughen.

To sum up, here are a few things that may be contributing to the "rubbery" experience compared to your preferred brick-oven style:

higher gluten flour (when used inappropriately)
low dough hydration
inadequate fermentation time
inadequate rest after shaping
heavy rolling out of dough, rather than stretching
lower oven temp
less ideal baking surface
longer bake time
thick or medium crust not baked through
bad packaging

There are other possible causes, but I imagine these are part of the issues you've experienced.

As for the hypothesis of frozen or pre-made dough, that could be an issue, but there's no reason pre-made frozen dough necessarily will produce bad crust.  (There will generally be some quality loss, but it's mostly flavor.)  It's perfectly possible to make a tender, flavorful, non-rubbery crust with frozen dough (assuming the proper recipe).  Frozen dough might contribute to the problem if defrosting and proofing time is inadequate; while convenient, frozen dough needs plenty of time to thaw and get ready before baking.

That said, a final issue in some pizza places may be dough schedule.  A lot of small-scale pizza shops don't make new batches of dough every day, and if they aren't careful about storage and prep, the dough that's "too young" or "too old" may have undesirable characteristics, including bad texture.  (As mentioned above, your description sounds like "too young" dough, if anything.)


Possible to cook chestnuts on a wood burning stove? I know that if you have the right kind of device you are supposed to roast them over the open flame in the fire.  Unfortunately I don't have one of those, so I'm curious if I can throw them in a pan, set them on top of my wood burning stove and just stir them every once and a while. If so, can anyone suggest how hot I should get my stove and how long I should cook them?

Chestnuts can be rosted in the oven, no special equipment necessary. You should prepare them properly, though. First, soak them in lukewarm water for at least 30 minutes. This will soften the skin and help to loosen the fuzzy inner skin later. Then, use a small knife to cut either a slit or a cross on the round side. Place them, cut side up, on a baking tray and roast at 180-200 °C / 350-400 °F for about half an hour. The cuts should open when the chestnuts are done.

If you want to try this on your stove, prepare them the same way, then roast in the pan. Aim for a rather hot stove, mimicking the coal fire, stir them often. If possible, use a cast iron pan rather than non-stick, as the coating might suffer.  Some street vendors here add a dash of water to the roasting pan (over the coal fire) to create steam once in a while. As to time: see above, cuts should open and chestnuts can be easily pierced with a knife.

Did you know than you can also boil chestnuts? Prepare as described above, then boil for about 10 minutes.


How to cook pancakes without spreading that horrible smell of burnt oil? I live in a region where pancakes are considered traditional food and it's typical to cook them on some special occasions.

For example, right now someone has decided to throw a party in the office and is baking pancakes on another level of the building. I know this because I feel the smell of burnt oil with a slight addition of normal smell of just-baked pancakes. From my experience just about every time someone tries to cook pancakes there's this horrible smell of burnt oil dominating over the smell of actual pancakes.

I'm sure that's not the normal way of cooking pancakes but I don't know how to resolve this in a positive way.

What are exact steps and key factors to cooking pancakes in such way that there's mostly smell of pancakes, not smell of burnt oil?

Very simple: don't burn the oil.

Different fats start to burn at different temperatures (called "smoke point"). This can be as low as ~100°C for unrefined vegetable oils. Butter is also low, at around ~150°C, which is below frying temperatures. Refined vegetable oils have very differentn smoke points depending on the plant they were made from, some starting as low as butter, and going up to around ~250°C (safflower oil, rice bran oil). Fats meant for deep frying (palm fat, clarified butter) are also around ~250°C.

So the two things you have to do is 1.Choose the right fat, and 2. don't let the pan get too hot.

From a nutritional point of view, deep-frying fats are not so good, so I'd recommend using a vegetable oil with a high smoke point. If you can find refined safflower, it's perfect, but if not, canola is also a good choice.

About the temperature, the easiest way is to measure it so you will know how hot the pan gets at any given moment. I use an infrared thermometer when frying, and make crepes at 200°C. If you don't have one handy, you could try heating a pan with oil on a middle setting for a long time (20-30 min), look if it smokes. If yes, let it cool down, and start again with a lower setting. If not, increase the setting and wait again. When you have found out the setting where your oil doesn't smoke, you can use it, or you can try one setting above (the first where the pan starts to smoke) because the room-temperature batter cools the oil. It is time-consuming, but you only have to do it one to find out the correct temperature.

You could use a nonstick pan, but the typical PTFE coated ones lose their nonstick layer at about 250°C, and a pan used for frying quickly heats much more than that. It is safe when used at lower temperatures, but you cannot fry crepes at 150°C. So unless you have a ceramic-coated nonstick pan (but not the type which disintegrates from hot starch in oil!) or you are controlling the temperature of the pan closely with a thermometer, it is better to use a noncoated pan.

If you want your crepes to taste like butter, don't fry them in butter. Instead, keep a cup with melted butter in a water bath near the pancakes. As soon as one is ready, take it out of the pan and use a glazing brush to brush it lightly with butter on both sides.


Italian Sausage still a little pink? So im a little scared, I was cooking some italian sausage links on my cast iron skillet.

I cooked them 8-10 min a side on medium , then turned to low and cooked 7-8 minutes a side.

I checked the temp on the very middle and they all registered about 170 degrees (This was after they had been on low, at the very end)

Anyways I ate them, tasted fine etc...

But upon eating another one later, I discovered that there was still a pinkish color in the middle. (More towards the edges). It wasn't a lot....but the thing is I know this thermometer is accurate and I always use it.....Plus I cook them like this all the time. So I didn't understand why it was still a little pink on the inside.

Just for reference I stuck the thermometer on the inner most part, I made doubly sure. And they were all checked and all were 170-180 after they had been cooking on low (So it was prolly a high temp earlier when they were on medium)

Any ideas? Im kinda scared. For reference these were Sweet Italian Sausages (not sure if that would matter)

The salt treatment in sausage can cause it to retain a pinker color for a given temperature than would normal ground meat.   The fact that you used a trusted thermometer, and that the sausages were well in the safe zone (even conservatively 165 F is more than enough) indicates that the sausage was perfectly safe.


Can I refrigerate bread dough after the first rise and bake it later? I do not have enough time to bake my bread.  Can I refrigerate it or let it sit on the counter and bake it later in the day?

Yes, you can refrigerate bread dough, and in fact you will probably find that it will give you better, tastier results, because the yeast has more time to do its work. Any bread baker worth his salt (flour?) will tell you that a slow, cold rise is better than a fast, warm one.

You should refrigerate the dough immediately after mixing, not after a rise. Depending on the amount of yeast in your recipe, this can be for a few hours or even overnight. Allow the dough to warm up a little before baking.


Hot peppers in soup don't stay spicy My favorite chicken-and-mushroom soup recipe incorporates hot peppers and, on upon immediate serving has a lovely kick. However the reheated leftovers are entirely bland, almost as if the "hot" from the peppers dissolves away into the soup.

I've tried using more peppers and hotter varietals, but still can't get the leftovers to have any appreciable level of spiciness.

This is the general recipe that I'm following:

Poach chicken breasts in 6 cups water along with spices and garlic. Remove chicken, strain stock, discard solids.
Add chopped mushrooms (hen-of-the-woods or shiitake), chile pepper, chopped ginger, tbsp vinegar, tbsp soy sauce, and simmer.
After ~10 minutes, add back chopped up chicken breasts and simmer until meat is warmed through.

The original recipe called for 1 Fresno chile, thinly sliced. I've tried up to 6 Fresno chiles, but also, in separate tries, 6 serrano peppers and 6 habanero peppers. (My local supermarket doesn't carry anything hotter than habaneros.) When I slice the peppers, I retain the seeds and pith.

In all attempts, the broth itself doesn't become spicy, but on the first day the sliced peppers provide an ample "kick" and act like little pockets of spiciness. Regardless of the pepper type or quantity, the peppers in the leftover soup lose their kick, and the broth remains un-spicy.

My first instinct here is to remove the peppers from the broth and use them as a garnish; the fact that they're cooked with the broth however makes me think that the original recipe authors intended for the broth to take on some of the spiciness from the peppers.

Questions:

Why do the peppers lose their spiciness in the leftovers?
What are some possibly ways to adjust this recipe to make the broth take on the spiciness of the peppers?1

1 I ask this so that I can try and do what the original recipe author intended by cooking the peppers with the broth: making the broth spicy. If I can manage that, then I can service the hot peppers as a garnish and then not worry about them losing their kick overnight.

The perception of "spicy" is completely dependent on the person. And there is a "tolerance building" thing going on too: what is intolerably hot for somebody not accustomed to heat might not even register for somebody who eats hot frequently. As an anecdote, I had a friend who started eating hot. After a month, she started asking the cook to use pure tabasco instead of tomato sauce on the pizza. After another month, she complained that the pizza was made with tomato sauce and the poor cook had to let her taste her from the bottle to convince her that the pizza was indeed made with pure tabasco, it just didn't have the same "kick" for her after habituation.

From your description of your soup only feeling hot enough for you after adding six habaneros with the seeds, it seems that you have developed an extremely high heat tolerance. And this would be an explanation for what you observed.

Six habaneros will contain a certain amount X of capsaicin. When your soup is fresh, the pepper has enough capsaicin concentration that you notice it and enjoy it.

But when you leave it alone, the broth dissolves the capsaicine (unlike pure water, the fat and maybe also the solvents from the vinegar enable it to do so). So you end up with a kind of "capsaicine tea".

But remember that you have the same amount X of capsaicine, this time diluted in litres of soup, as opposed to sticking all in one bite of pepper. So, now that you bite on the pepper, you don't get the heat. But when drinking the broth, its concentration is so low that it does not register for somebody with a high heat tolerance. From your subjective point of view, the heat has "disappeared".

The original intention of the recipe author was certainly that the whole soup becomes somewhat hot. And for people with less heat tolerance, it will work well. They will be able to eat the broth and notice the heat, even with much lower quantities of hot pepper.

For you, it seems that you still haven't reached the dose which will work for you in a soup. So you can add more capsaicin - either use more peppers, or find a source for hotter ones. If the logistics are a problem, buy them dried. But note that at no point will the whole soup taste as hot as the single fresh pepper (due to the dilution), and also that you will become habituated with time, just like my friend with the tabasco pizza.


Oatmeal & Lactose Intolerance I work as a kitchen aide in an assisted living community. I assist the cooks in some aspects of kitchen prep (mostly non-cooking), but occasionally I help in the actual cooking of food. For breakfast, oatmeal is served every morning. The residents enjoy the creaminess of the oatmeal when milk is added, but for those who are lactose intolerant I cannot take that risk. So what alternatives to milk can I use to create a creamier oatmeal?

Almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, coconut milk (but not the kind from the can, something like So Delicious or Silk brand sells), hemp milk, oat milk, or many other nut or grain based milks will work.


How to store hard boiled eggs that are peeled so to avoid moisture build up? On the weekend I usually make 10 hard boiled eggs and peel them so I can eat 2 every morning during the work week. It's a big time saver in the morning, but when I store them in a plastic container in the refrigerator, a ton of moisture accumulates. I've tried putting a napkin in the container to soak up any water that appears but it doesn't help much. Does anyone know how you should store hard boiled eggs that are peeled? Is peeling them going to reduce how long they stay good? And does anyone know how long peeled and unpeeled eggs should stay good for?

In case anyone is wondering. I make the eggs by putting them in a pot with water, then bring it to a rolling boil, remove from heat, cover the pot and let it sit for 12 minutes. I then crack the eggs and dip them in water to remove any small pieces of shells, and then finally dry them.

Thanks!!

This is probably not what you want to hear on any front, but it is best to store your eggs in their shell.  Their original carton provides an ideal container.

If you do want to store them peeled, the standard way to do it is refrigerated in a bowl of water (changed daily).    Of course, you will then have to dry the egg before eating it the wetness bothers you.  This method is also used with poached eggs.

Lastly, you can do what you are already doing, and store them with some towels, but they will probably express some water.

The eggs should be good for about one week, unpeeled.  The Egg Board recommends they be eaten the same day they are peeled, but other sources indicate up to about 5 days.

See also:

Still Tasty
Eat By Date


rusty charcoal chimney starter, safe to use? My charcoal chimney starter is covered in rust inside and out, is it still safe to use?  The grill and grill grate are still rust free and new.

Yes, it's perfectly safe to use basically until it falls apart. It gets very hot in use, which prevents any sort of rust-proof coating from sticking, but the rust is harmless. You could try oiling it after use if you wanted to reduce further rust - that oil will burn off every time it's used, but will help to slow rusting when not in use - however, it's not really needed (could be regarded as a waste of oil.)


Reducing acidity in Northern Indian Cuisine (chana masala) I have been buying various spice mixes to make Pakistani/North Indian food myself. My issue is that in dishes with yoghurt and/or tomatoes, the end result always winds up being too sour. It happens with my karahis and also, most annoyingly, with channa masala.
I have tried various kinds of yoghurts, including plain low-fat yoghurt but also a Turkish one I found which had 10% fat. The result didn't change much. So, I don't think the type of yoghurt I am using is the problem.
Other than the acidity these dishes turn out alright. Which steps can I take to reduce the acidity of my dishes?

Update
I am restricting this question to chana masalas since that's what I have played around with the most. However, I am open for more general answers as well.
I usually put about half the amount of onion as tomatoes. Other than that, I usually follow the recipe on the box. The one I am currently using is this one.

Perhaps you could try using a smaller kind of tomato, like cherry tomatoes.
These are usually much sweeter in my experience and in general have a lot more to offer in terms of taste, compared to large tomatoes.
A mixture of both would also work if you don't have enough small tomatos at hand, since the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes will counteract the acidity of the larger ones.
If smaller tomatoes aren't an option, I would also go for high quality canned ones, as other people have suggested.


What's the difference between fajitas, enchiladas and tacos? I'm not familiar with Mexican cuisine, but I enjoyed the things I've eaten so far. To me, they are all quite similar. Is there a real difference between fajitas, enchiladas and tacos?

The taco is perhaps most distinguishable, because of the hard shell, but I've seen pictures of soft tortillas as well. But fajitas and enchiladas are both rolled up meat + veggies + sauce in tortillas, no?

I've checked some websites and pictures, but I can't find a good criterion.

Is there a real difference? If so, what is it?

Enchiladas are normally shredded meat and/or cheese rolled in corn tortillas, covered in red (or green) enchilada sauce and cheese, and then baked.

Fajitas are normally strips of meat either grilled or sauteed (often with onions and peppers). They can be used in tacos, burritos, or served on their own or with tortillas on the side (corn or flour depending on preference).

Tacos can be either hard or soft shelled and are usually meat (shredded, ground, grilled etc) with some sort of cold veggies (like lettuce, raw onions, pico de gallo, etc) and perhaps cheese etc.


iSi Gourmet Whip Plus - 0.5l or 1l? I'm buying a iSi Gourmet Whip Plus and I'm not sure which size to go for. The difference in price is only $4 so cost is not a factor. I'm a home cook and mostly cater for 2 or sometimes upto 6. I'm worried that the 1l is too big. Is there a minimum fill amount to successfully charge? Whats the smallest number of servings from the 1l?

I have an older 500ml/pint version and a family of 4; I find it more than adequate for my applications. If I'm doing whipped cream it's somewhat unusual that I go through it fast enough, so I can imagine it would not be helpful to have a larger one unless I was using it for catering or extreme holiday cooking.

For what it's worth, I usually find half-full the minimum useful fill line on the 500ml. (which is to say, about 250 ml). Some people really insist it needs to be full. The cream tends to get too aerated and not dispense properly if you use it for too small of an amount, plus you're going to use at least a full cartridge per use anyway, so it's kind of "wasteful" to use less considering the cost of the disposable cartridge.


Cook a frozen cobbler in a microwave instead of oven Here's my problem. We don't have access to a oven (we are out of town for a week and out hotel room only has a microwave and a 2 range stove top). I purchased a frozen Blackberry Cobbler and we want to make it. Does anyone know how long I should cook it and is it safe?

It would almost certainly be safe, as there is nothing in a cobbler that could not be eaten if you just thawed the cobbler and ate it raw.

It is unlikely to be as good as when cooked properly in an oven because:

The topping will not crisp up
The microwave will not cook evenly, and you cannot stir a cobbler; you will most likely end up with cooler spots where any thickeners in the filling didn't gel, and still taste a little starchy, and other spots where the fruit is overcooked

It is not really possible to give you a time to use because, even if there was some sort of "oven to microwave" conversion factor (which there is not):

Microwaves vary in power output
The size of the cobbler in question will make a big difference

If you can take it home frozen, I would cook and eat it at home once you have access to a normal oven.


Ideas for using garlic scapes (other than in pesto)? Does anyone have ideas for using garlic scapes? These are the green shoots that are the above-ground part of bulb garlic. Think of something a bit like a scallion in appearance, but thinner, firmer and curly. They are in season right now (July), and we have been getting some in our CSA box every week for the last few weeks.

The most common use for them appears to be in pesto. I tried that the first time we got some, but the result was just too strong for me, and I am a real garlic lover. (My six-year-old daughter adores classic basil pesto, but she thought the scape pesto was awful.) They are milder and much "greener" in flavor than bulb garlic, but they still have a pretty strong kick when raw.

Personally, I just throw them into stir fries or fried rice (add them near the end of the cooking time). I've also had them slightly stir fried with pea shoots in sesame oil. Simple but delicious.

Tofu666, an amazing vegan blogger, fries them often. Here's a sample:
http://veganmenu.blogspot.com/2007/06/seitan-and-lentil-stew-fritto-misto.html

This page has instructions for pickling them:
http://notwithoutsalt.com/2009/06/18/garlic-scapes/


Why does the custard in my lemon/lime bars always come out looking terrible and with bad texture? Here's a pic of the ones I made yesterday:
http://imgur.com/XTXBlk0

And here is a pic of the consistency that I'm trying to achieve: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3484/3314383525_1912d1d089.jpg

I've had similar experiences with lemon bars as well. The custard part just never comes out how I want. Any ideas?

It is very difficult to tell what is wrong definitively from your pictures, but the custard appears to be curdled, or have too much air, or both.

When you make the lemon or lime curd, you don't want to mix air into it, which will cause it to puff up, then collapse.

You also don't want to overcook it, as it will curdle like scrambled eggs.  You haven't mentioned whether the curd is made stove top or baked in the oven on top of the crust layer.  From the look, I am guessing they are baked, and were probably over baked.  Lemon curd wants to be cooked to about 170 F (77 C), which is a little lower than a standard custard, due to the high level of acidity making the proteins set at a lower temperature.


Which vegetables to use for stock? Which vegetables and/or fresh herbs should be used when making vegetable stock?

Are there any vegetables/herbs that should be avoided?

Can parts of vegetables that would otherwise be discarded be included (eg. potato peel, carrot tops, onion skins)?

Typically veggies are onions, carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, shallots, etc. Throw in some peppercorns, also, and a Bouquet garni. You can add most other veggies, too, and mushrooms, but avoid adding things that give a strong (bad) flavour after cooked for a long time (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, etc.).


How to lighten (or make less dense) pizza dough We're currently using

500g strong flour
1tsp salt
1tsp yeast
325ml water

This produces a usable / edible dough, but we're finding it very "dense" or "heavy". It's very filling when eaten, and has little to no air pockets. It's pretty hard work eating it, even when made thin.

How can we alter the dough to make one with more air? A lighter, easier to eat dough.

You really need the dough to double in size for it to not be overly tough.

30 min might be enough time under some conditions, but it's not always; if you're in a rush, you might be better off making a biscuit dough rather than a yeast dough.

To ensure a good rise, I'd recommend the following:

Make sure to use warm water.  I run the hot tap 'til it feels a little warmer than body temperature.  (I check it against the inside of my wrist).
If using a metal bowl, pre-warm it by filling it with hot water, then dumping it out.
Proof the yeast to make sure it's active -- Add the yeast to the warm water (possibly with a little flour or sugar) and wait 'til it foams up before adding the rest of the flour and other ingredients (especially the salt)
Allow to rise in a warm, but not too warm place.  Sometimes, a low oven is too warm and will kill the yeast.  In the summer, I leave it in a sunny place, in the winter, I put it on top of my radiator.  If you don't have radiators, but you have an electric heating pad with a low setting, you might try that.  Rather than turning on the oven, you can also put it in there, but rather than heat the oven, boil some water separately, and put it in the oven and pour it into a shallow tray to add some thermal energy.

If the dough has doubled, and it's still coming out too tough for your liking, you can try:

Add some oil (olive oil or neutral flavored oil) to the dough.  Try a tablespoon or two.  Add it before adding in the water, and just mix in what water you need for it to form a dough.
Switch to an all-purpose rather than a bread or strong flour, or a blend.  (or a blend of whole wheat and bread/strong flour)


Dangers to continuing to cook an unfinished torte? I made the mistake of assuming a torte would be done when the timer went off.  I removed it from the oven and turned off the heat.  Forty minutes later I discovered my error.  Is it safe to reheat the oven (sans-torte) and continue cooking from where I left off?  Are there any risks to doing this generally in baking?

You haven't mentioned exactly what's in the torte, but I am assuming that the only potentially "unsafe" ingredient is eggs.  Thus, the only possible danger is that the eggs might be undercooked, posing a very minuscule (considering that most egg yolks/whites aren't contaminated in the first place) risk of salmonella.

But we're talking about a torte here, which isn't going to be finished until the eggs are set, and the setting temperature of eggs isn't that far off from the salmonella-killing temperature (63° C vs. 74° C).  Use a thermometer if you're concerned.

Of course, if you're using pasteurized eggs then they should be free of bacteria to begin with and you have nothing to worry about at all.

Most likely, the worst thing you have to worry about is the torte drying out a bit, since you'll be increasing your overall baking time to get it back up to temp.

Edit: With respect to quality of the finished product, I might worry with a regular (flour) cake, because increasing the total baking time gives it more time to develop gluten and dry out, but a torte has little to no starch, so you're not really in much danger there.  Just keep an eye on it, make sure it doesn't burn, and you'll be fine.


Effects of making smoothies in advance Generally for breakfast I eat a smoothie containing 8oz soy milk, 1/2 cup berries, 1/2 banana, and 1 scoop protein powder. Unfortunately, however, my blender is very loud, and I will soon be moving into a smaller apartment with someone who is a light sleeper. If I make my breakfast the night before, and then put it in the fridge for the next morning, what will the effects be? I'd be concerned the protein powder would settle and get grainy, or that the ingredients would separate and lessen the overall flavor of the drink.

I make smoothies every morning for my wife and myself (and have for over a year now), and when working out also added protein powder.  The only difference between our recipe and yours is an inclusion of a few ounces of greek yogurt.

On the days when I knew the workout would run long (and potentially make me late for work), I was making them the night before with no problem.  As yossarian said, as long as you make sure the protein powder is fully blended/dissolved you'll be fine.  I've noticed no graininess/texture difference between night-before and morning-of.

The ingredients do separate a little overnight, but a quick shake or stir and they're back to normal.

I would say to try it and see how it works with your exact combination of ingredients.

Something to watch out for: my wife swears that sometimes, making them beforehand would cause a bit of a "sharp" edge to the taste of the smoothie - if this is true, my guess would be the interaction between the acid in the fruit and the base in the dairy.  But, not being a chemist I can't speak to that.  I can, however, say that I personally haven't noticed a difference based on whether it was made the night before or not.

I see that you're not using ice; I don't know if you're using frozen berries or not, but if you're used to a chunkier ice-like smoothie from frozen berries, you'll lose that texture of course.


Why are my beignets hollow? Can anyone explain what's going wrong with my beignets? The first time I made them they were perfect. Since then they've come out completely hollow. Like just a shell with nothing at all inside. As far as I know I'm doing everything the same, and I'm using the same recipe as it's written. I switched brands of yeast after the first hollow batch happened, then the next two batches did the same. What causes this? This is the recipe I'm using(which worked great the first time) https://addapinch.com/beignets-recipe/

I had the same problem too, and thought that I was going crazy because I’ve tried so many different recipes and always end up with hollow beignets!

What I eventually found out was that when I fried my dough in lower heat, the longer time allowed the dough to expand more, which resulted in bigger, puffy, hollow beignets.

When you cook them in medium heat, the quicker frying time allows the heat to expand just the outside and a little bit in the center- this is what makes it less hollow and more pillowy.


Does sugar give moisture? I have seen a discussion regarding a replacement for sugar in brownies to give moisture.

Does sugar give moisture when baking?

Sugar helps with moisture content and its mobility in baked goods.  Every industrial sliced bread has sugar as a major ingredient. It is there to slow down staling. It's not clear how it does it, but sugar seems to impede the modification of starch and the flow of moisture to gluten. Sugar also helps breads retain more moisture. This very obvious among breads, but it applies to cakes, which are breads with added fat and sugar.


Recommendation for thickening agent for use in basil seed drink, to prevent seeds from collecting at the bottom I was wondering what might be a good choice for a flavorless and clear thickening/gelling agent for use in a home made basil seed drink.

I am trying to imitate the commercially available basil seed drink products which mention a 'gelling agent' of sorts in the ingredients list and as such have a higher viscosity than regular water, which allows the seeds to be suspended in the liquid rather than sink and collect at the bottom of the container.

I was hoping to find recipes and ingredients which would not have any adverse or notable effects on health or detract from the flavorless nature of the basil seeds themselves.

I would really appreciate any thoughts and recommendations.

Many thanks

I use xanthan gum to thicken dressing.  Not sure how it would work in a drink.


How much of the oil will stay in french fries? Is there a fixed percentage of how much of the oil used to frying french fries will stay in the served french fries?

I guess that it depends on things like dimension of the french fries, frying temperature, oil type.

There's too many factors to have a set percentage of oil that will stay, but lets cover a few common things that determine the oil in your final product.

Heat of the oil:

Your oil needs to be plenty hot enough to actually fry in.  For fries, you'll typically want to shoot for between 350-375 F.  If you don't have a thermometer, then get one!  If you really don't want to get one, a white bread cube will fry brown in about 60 seconds at the right temp - but a thermometer is best.  If the oil isn't hot enough to fry in, it will start to absorb the oil.  So before you ever fry anything, get that oil up to temp (and make sure its that way between batches!).

Coating of the fry (or other fried food):

A batter coating is just going to hold more oil than a plain french fry.  If you're trying to be health conscious about french fries (but then again, why are you eating french fries!?!), avoid batter coating them and go with a 'plain' fry.

Post frying treatment:

Shake, shake, shake!  Give the basket a good vigorous shake.  Don't have a basket?  Use a strainer or at least a cooling rack with a mesh-type grate.  You're trying to physically shake as much oil off the fry as you can.  Additionally, I like to lay them on paper towels and then fold the paper towels on top.  See all that oil? Simple math, if its on the paper towel, its not in the fry anymore.

Crowding the pan:

If you crowd the pan you fry in, you'll lower the temperature of the oil and give the oil not enough circulation.  This means longer to fry and more time not at the right temperature.  This means more oil in the final product.  Its better to do some smaller batches than to try to cram it all in one batch.

The right oil:

The main thing here is that you need an oil that can fry hot enough without smoking.  This goes back to the right temperature.  (In case it hadn't sunk in yet, temperature is important!)  If you can't get it hot enough, then you're going to absorb a lot of oil.  Olive oil is a bad choice.  I usually use peanut or canola oil.


What would make a custard turn out looking like scrambled eggs? I made a batch of custard cups at home and they came out beautiful. When I followed the recipe at work, using the same method and a still oven like at home, the results were a disaster. The custard had the texture of scrambled eggs. Any ideas on what went wrong?

I've had this exact same issue when making Creme Brulee. If you heat the mixture too long it will turn to the consistency of scrambled eggs. I have figured out that if I gently jiggle the pan a few minutes before it is supposed to be set and you will see a slight wobble. Repeat this for the next few minutes until it wobbles less, then remove it immediately

This is the method that works best for me. There are so many variations due to the oven, altitude, number of eggs in your mixture, etc. to give you an exact time. It took me at least 15 tries to finally get my creme brulee recipe right but now I know what to look for when its done.


Why doesn't oil burn and produce smoke at restaurants? At home when you want to deep-fry something, if you leave the heat on for a minute or two more than you should have, the oil starts to burn and produce smoke.

Why doesn't this happen at restaurants and takeaways (UK)? Is it the specialised equipment they use? Or is there more to it? I doubt they turn off the heat on their deep fryers when not in use, cause if someone walks in and orders something that needs deep-frying, it'll take a long time for the oil to get to frying temperatures again!

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Restaurants have massive fans.

Commercial deep fryers have temperature control.
Example temperature control unit:

And massive heating elements (notice 4 temperature controls):

Massive heating elements allows for even delivery of heat. When you drop frozen fish it has to kick out some heat but it is careful not to get too hot via temperature control. The temperature gradient alone causes good mixing.  When you heat fresh oil you can see it stirring around.

If your oil is burning and producing smoke then your deep-fryer is too hot.  Even most home fryers have temperature control. Or you are possibly using the wrong oil.  A cheaper home unit will have a smaller heating unit so it will have more trouble with maintaining a constant temperature but a temperature controller near the heating element should prevent any oil from burning.


How to make lemon powder using lemon juice like milk powder? Recently I had a good lemon harvest , and I'm experimenting with it . I like to know if I can make lemon powder , so I can use them later . I tried heating , but it all went black and became unusable , is there a way to remove all the water in lime juice without harming the taste ?

The problem is that you likely cannot afford it. It is done by vacuum, so the machine (rotovap) will cost you about 10 000 dollars, or you can find a few Chinese noname suppliers for maybe 6 000.

It is an amazing thing to play with in the kitchen, but it will cover the cost of buying supermarket lemons for several lifetimes.

Any conventional ways of conserving the lemons will result in something entirely different. Certainly not lemon powder which can be rehydrated to something lemon-juice like. But there are other techniques for preserving lemons, which simply create a different end product with different uses. You could ferment them, or make jam, or preserve the peel only, etc. This is the more feasible way to deal with them.