Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge? I heard that putting really warm food in the fridge right after cooking it is not the right thing to do. It might cause bacterial growth? Is this true?

This is a myth left over from the days of iceboxes. Go to any official food safety resource online, like the USDA or FDA, and you will find that they are all in agreement: it's perfectly safe to put hot food in your refrigerator. In fact, unless you are using some more direct cooling method, like putting your food in an ice bath, waiting to refrigerate your food is often a health hazard.

For example, see

FDA — Despite what some people believe, putting hot food in the refrigerator doesn't harm the appliance.
FDA — A lot of people think it will harm their refrigerator to put hot food inside—it's not true. It won't harm your refrigerator and it will keep your food—and you—safe*. (Page not found)
USDA — Hot food can be placed directly in the refrigerator or it can be rapidly chilled in an ice or cold water bath before refrigerating
Washington State Department of Health — Fact: Hot food can be placed in the refrigerator.
Partnership for Food Safety Education — Fact: Hot foods can be placed directly in the refrigerator. (Page not found)
Alaska Food Safety and Sanitation Program — Myth #10 "I can't put hot food into the refrigerator. The food will spoil if I do." —
The food will spoil if it is not quickly cooled! The leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States is improper cooling, such as leaving cooked foods at room temperature … (Page not found)
Florida Department of Health — Hot food can be placed directly in the refrigerator if you divide large quantities into small, shallow containers. (Page not found)

These are just a few links I found in the first couple pages of a search; there are obviously many more. IMPORTANT NOTE: Particular precautions should be taken for large quantities of food; see below for details. But there are three common objections: (1) it will "overwork" the fridge, (2) it will heat up other food in the fridge to unsafe temperatures and cause it to spoil, and (3) somehow, the uneven cooling of the hot food in the container will cause it to spoil. Let's take these each in turn.

"It will overwork the fridge" — False in most cases

Lots of people worry about putting a quart or two of hot food in their fridge, but they wouldn't think anything of filling their fridges with multiple gallons of room temperature drinks to chill them, even if it might require the same amount of energy to cool.  Anything that is above the temperature of the fridge will require energy to cool.

Now if you plan on putting a very large amount of hot food into a small fridge all at the same time, it might strain the fridge. If you do it once in a while? Probably not an issue in a modern fridge, as long as it's not excessive. If you plan to do that on a regular basis, you should consider using ice baths or other cooling methods to pre-chill the food before putting it in the fridge.

It will cost more energy to cool hot foods in the fridge. If you are looking for the most energy-efficient method, it is probably to use a cold tap water bath, replacing the water a few times to bring down the temperature as fast as possible to room temperature. Then refrigerate.  Chilling with ice water is safer and faster, but it's not the most energy efficient, if that's your concern.

Also, in most cases it probably makes sense to wait until the food actually gets into the "Danger Zone" (below 140°F or so) before refrigerating; there's little safety benefit in putting a boiling pot directly into the fridge. Unless you're monitoring the temperature of your cooling food, though, it still is safest to move it to the fridge as soon as you can.

"It will heat up other food in the fridge to unsafe temperatures and cause it to spoil" — False in almost all cases.

This is the real myth that comes from the icebox theory. In an old icebox, you just had a block of ice, and no air circulation. If you put something hot in there, the ice would melt, the food wouldn't even get cool, and everything else would warm up and spoil.

That just doesn't happen in a modern fridge, as can be found out on reputable food safety websites, such as mentioned above. I've actually tested it myself. I once put a gallon of very hot soup in the fridge just to see what happened. I checked the fridge every 30 minutes or so by measuring surface temperatures of other foods with an infrared thermometer.  My fridge is generally around 35–36°F.  There was one item which was almost touching the metal pot that maybe reached 44°F or 45°F for a short time—above ideal refrigeration temperatures, but hardly enough to cause a lot of spoilage. All other items in the fridge—even many on the same shelf—stayed within a few degrees of the refrigerator temperature, 40°F at the most.

And this wasn't in some fancy fridge: it was actually at least 10 years old and a rather cheap model. The air circulation is enough to keep most other foods cool, unless you're actually touching them to the hot container. The radiative heat coming off the hot container will raise stuff around it by a couple degrees for a couple hours, but in a fridge kept at a proper low temperature, this should not be an issue at all.

If you have a very old fridge that doesn't work properly, or some weird new fridge that is super energy-efficient and doesn't cool properly, you might have an issue. But for anyone with a normal modern fridge, this is not an issue.

EDIT: Another question was posed in response to my comment here, and I documented there a more detailed experiment I carried out by placing a gallon of boiling water directly into my home refrigerator (admittedly a newer model than in the last experiment).  My results, in summary, were that even food items placed within a couple inches on the same shelf of the pot of boiling water were only heated by 3–4° for a few hours.  Other items in the fridge (on other shelves, etc.) barely changed temperature, moving maybe a degree or two at most.  These temperature fluctuations might be a minor concern around highly perishable foods like raw meats, but it is probably common sense to keep raw meat away from hot food and warm food in general.  Other items in a well-functioning modern refrigerator are unlikely to be negatively affected. If you don't believe me, here's another documented similar experiment with a large hot cheesecake put directly into the fridge from the oven.

"The uneven cooling of the hot food in the container will cause it to spoil" — Certainly false, compared to room temperature cooling.

In fact, leaving your container out on the counter at room temperature has a much, much, much higher probability of causing faster spoilage.  With some dishes, it is actually quite irresponsible.  There's a common belief that cooked food is "sterile," and by leaving it out with the lid on, it won't get contaminated.  But there are a lot of microbes that produce spores which can even survive boiling or near-boiling temperatures.  Many of them are kept at bay by competing with other microbes during the initial cooking phase, but after cooking, all that's usually left are nasty spores.

Rice, for example, is commonly infected with Bacillus cereus, which forms spores that aren't destroyed during normal rice cooking.  Leave a rice dish out on the counter for too long, and you'll start growing a lot of that stuff, which can produce persistent toxins that won't be destroyed during reheating.  This sort of thing is actually the cause of a lot of food poisoning from eating things like leftover Chinese food: if the rice was cooked earlier and not held above 140°F, and then was allowed to sit in a take-out container for many hours, it could grow a lot of toxins.  It's often more likely to get food poisoning from the leftover rice than from a lot of other dishes that might seem more "dangerous."

Rice and Bacillus cereus are just one example.  You really want to get food down to refrigerator temperatures as quickly as possible after cooking.  Don't just leave it on the counter.

If you have a large quantity of hot food, break it down into small containers, and then refrigerate. Not all stacked together though; let air circulate around them.  Or put your pot into an ice bath or cold water bath.  Stirring periodically in an ice bath will make it cool even faster.

It's true that in a large pot of chili or something, the temperature of the center of the food will go down much more slowly and potentially could allow bacterial growth compared to outer layers.  That's the reason that large pots of food should be broken down into small containers.  But note that leaving a pot of chili out on the counter will make this bacterial growth even worse than if it is refrigerated immediately.

Even if you don't do any of these things and leave all the hot food in one large pot, it's still a safer strategy to put it directly into the fridge rather than leave it out on the counter at room temperature.

Important Edit: For large quantities of hot food, I am NOT advocating the practice of placing a large container in the refrigerator.  It may take WAY too long for the large pot to cool completely, and the food in the large container may be unsafe to eat.  Either break it down into smaller containers or use an ice bath.  However, it's still unlikely to harm the food in the fridge or the fridge itself unless it's in direct contact with the hot container.  And it's still safer than leaving the food on the counter to cool.


Identify this dessert One of the best desserts I've ever tasted came from a restaurant which no longer exists, and I am trying to identify what it might be called and how to prepare it myself.  It looked sort of like a colorful flan--pie shaped with about four fruit-based layers stacked on top of each other.  I would call it a tart, but it had no crust.  The bottom layer was quite thin (maybe .5 cm) and contained passion fruit and probably some lime juice, and it was about the most delicious thing I've ever had.

So the questions are:

What should I call such a dessert?
Can someone suggest a recipe for the fruit layers (especially the passion fruit layer)?  The layers were stiff enough to stand on their own, but soft enough to be cut with a fork.

Edit: In response to comments:

The texture and consistency was about like a brownie---but maybe slightly softer and smoother.  There were no chunks or slices of fruit visible.
I don't know other flavors specifically, but I'm pretty sure there was a berry layer (raspberry maybe?).  Lemon might have been another.  The flavors were not declared explicitly on the menu, and the only reason I know that passion fruit was in the dessert is that I was so impressed I asked the server what the flavor of the bottom layer was.
It was served at close to room temperature, maybe slightly chilled.
I would describe the restaurant as "trendy modern cuisine".  It was in a mountain resort area, and typical plates ran $20-$30.  I think the main dish I had that evening was pan-seared medallions.

The best I can guess is that this dessert is, in fact, a layered flan.
(or other free-standing baked custard, I suppose).

There are a lot of recipes for fruit flans, including passion fruit (with or without lime juice), lemon, raspberry, and others.  In that case, the individual recipes would be the key to search for, rather than the whole confection - once the custard mixtures were made, it would not be impossible to somehow layer them into individual molds before setting, for a similar effect as you describe.  Very impressive in a restaurant, and efficient enough in time and effort when they can make full batches of each custard, since they end up making many individual portions.

In any case, you would likely have to find recipes for passion fruit flan (you can check for lime juice, or not, as you prefer), and either simply find a recipe you like, or slowly tweak to match the taste you remember.

Just to give examples - here is one for passion fruit and lemon flan, here is a softer but tasty looking no cook version, This one claims an intense enough flavor to not need vanilla (quite the claim), Here's one with lime in the recipe.  This is completely different flavors, but shows an example of a layered flan jelly.  A pastry case can be omitted (or inversely, added), the flan can still be cooked and set.  Caramel can be omitted, possibly replaced by (fruit) syrups after cooking if desired.

Of course, how close this comes to your expectations depends on which recipe you start with and your desired results, but I had some thoughts on tweaking recipes to match your description - no guarantees, it's mostly speculative.  It sounds like this dessert of yours was fairly stiff if it was comparable to a brownie - a higher proportion of egg will make a flan stiffer, obviously liquids will make it softer and looser.  Using a recipe witch includes pulp (smoothly pureed, for consistency) will probably make a thicker end result than one only flavored with juice.  Using cream vs condensed milk vs cream cheese or egg yolks vs whole eggs should help tweak rich and soft versus firmer and drier.

Some recipes are thickened with gelatin, and it may be possible to further thicken the recipe with starch or even flour (if it ends up well cooked) to make a batter, which will get you a bit further afield from most flan recipes, but might help if the texture is not quite what you wanted.


Toss Pizza Dough to Shape Possible Duplicate:
  How to throw a pizza dough?

When I make my pizza dough and let it rise for about two hours, I then shape the dough for the round pizza pie.  I have tried numerous times to toss it in the air and spin it on my fist to get the shape but to no avail.  My dough just rips, and its easier for me to just shape it on the counter.

Whats the trick to this??  Is the problem my actual dough?

Tossing is a technique better suited for a video demonstration than a narrative. Fortunately we have Alton Brown (yet again...) In the Good Eats Episode "Flat is Beautiful" AB goes into a great pizza crust recipe and demonstration of tossing and stretching your pizza.

The link I provided goes to an outside site that has both part 1 & 2 of the "Flat is Beautiful" episode.


How do I prevent sugar from burning/sticking on cast iron grill? I've got a Lodge reversible cast iron grill/griddle (this model). The griddle side works great, and I've had no problems with food sticking or burning. But I've had less luck with the grill side. Specifically, any time I grill meats that have been marinated in a sugary marinade, the sugar burns and sticks to the grill.

Is that to be expected? Is there some kind of technique to grilling foods with sugar on cast iron I should be using?

I encountered this problem making Bulgogi. I found that the surface should be well oiled/greased, and as much marinade drained from the meat as is possible. Baking soda and vinegar did a bangup job cleaning off the residue - my griddle was fine, but you may need to re-season.


Can you use cooked fish heads and bones in stock? Is there any reason not to put the heads and bones from cooked fish in stock?

Nope, go ahead. I do it all the time, and in fact some stock recipes call for roasted bones. Just make sure to store the heads/bones safely to keep a nice taste between the original cooking and the stock-making.

If you season the fish heavily during the original cooking, it may influence the taste of the stock.


Starch Content of Dehydrated Potatoes Good day!

I've been wondering this for years.
I'm from Nova Scotia and we cook a Traditional meal called Rapure.
The way it's made is by taking about
15 lbs of potatoes and processing them to remove their liquid.
Traditionally this was done by grating them by hand and squeezing out their juice.
The modern way now is to process them through a juicer and collect the pulp inside
the juicers centrifuge.

This is then mixed with chicken broth in order to create a thick gelatinous mass.
Many people believe that most of the starch is removed when the potatoes are "juiced."
However this thickening would suggest that most of the starch remains.

Could someone please clarify ?

Thanks!

Dan

All potato cells contain starch. When you cut or rupture the cells, the starch is released

So grating a potato will release some starch, but only as much as the cut surface cells contain

Industrial potato starch processing use very large macerating machines and hot steam to break all the cells open, and release most of the starch


How to cook popcorn from frozen popcorn kernels? I'm in a part of the tropics where weavels and other similar critters seem to get everywhere. Last time I bought popcorn kernels, they'd somehow got infested before I'd even opened the packet (same thing happened once before with ants in an unopened pack of sugar).

I've read that a good fix for such (potential) infestations is to keep grains in the freezer, which kills any eggs and prevents any more getting in, and it seems to work.

Can I cook the frozen popcorn the usual way in a pan straight from the freezer, or do I need to adjust the recipe and approach in any way?

I've got a feeling thawing the corn is probably a bad idea as it might result in moisture and soggy popcorn, but I've not tested it yet.

I've done this a few times now. It works, straight from the freezer, no defrosting required.

Here are some observations, based on cooking the kernels in a stove-top metal saucepan with a little medium-hot oil over a moderate heat:

More steam than usual comes off the frozen popcorn during cooking. Without a pretty big gap between pan and lid (bigger than usual) for all the extra steam to escape, the popcorn can come out not soggy, but soft and less-than-crisp. It's a little tricky to get the right gap without letting popcorn pop out the pan. Holding the lid flat about 2cm above the pan with one hand while moving the pan with the other seems to work.
Even after doing this, the cooked popcorn is still a bit less than crisp immediately after cooking. If I leave it in the hot pan for about 5 minutes, with the stove off, no lid, moving it around occasionally, that seems to be enough for any extra moisture to evaporate and the popcorn to finish up nice and crisp.
I tend to use small amounts of oil for popcorn, so spitting when I added the frozen corn wasn't a big problem. Certainly, there was less spitting than, for example, stir-frying frozen vegetables. That said, it's still worth having the lid in the other hand ready to hold over the pan immediately, but primarily to stop any fast-popping corn, more than to shield from spitting oil.

Apart from that, and maybe taking very slightly longer to pop (not nearly as big a difference as I expected, and some seem to possibly pop faster, which doesn't make much sense), it seems to cook exactly as normal straight from the freezer, no defrosting required.

So I wouldn't keep popcorn kernels in the freezer unless (like me) you need to, but if you do need to, it's no big deal, just slightly less convenient.


There a Difference between Chinese parsley and cilantro Is there a difference between the two? It looks almost like cilantro?

It is just another name for cilantro AKA coriander, Latin name coriandrum sativum.  There is another herb also labelled "Chinese Parsley," but it does NOT resemble cilantro.  This herb is Salt Helioptrope, Latin name Heliotropium curassavicum.

See the picture below for comparison to cilantro:


Best way to dissolve caramelized sugar I have a chocolate syrup recipe that calls for around 1 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water. I have found that the recipe turns out better if I caramelize the sugar. However, when I add the water to the caramelized sugar, the sugar immediately hardens (due to the temperature difference, I assume). I have tried boiling the water, which helps, but the problem still exists(the melting point of sugar, according to wikipedia, is 320F, so there is still a significant temperature difference). Stirring until the hardened sugar dissolves is tedious and often leaves me with small, undissolved chunks. Is there a better way to dissolve caramelized sugar without it hardening?

Walk away.

No, really - it works.  Once you add the water to the sugar, it will likely harden and clump up (I don't know how to stop that happening).  But once it does, you can just walk away, and leave it to sit till it cools down.

A lot of the sugar will just dissolve on its own, given time and enough water to dissolve into.  Some mixing (occasional stirs as or after it cools) will dissolve some more.  And at the last, when most of it has dissolved, you can gently start heating the pan up again, stir it around, maybe bring it to a boil for a bit, maybe add a bit more water and heat some more to get at those last undissolved chunks...

It's sugar, in water.  It will dissolve until the water's saturated.  It takes time to dissolve on its own, and that's annoying if you want to use it right away - hence measures like heating, or stirring, or crushing the dried caramel to stir into water that way.  But it really works just as well, and is less tedious, just to give it some of that time and let it dissolve away.

I did this when making a caramelized burnt-sugar syrup, and it worked.  Adding the water was pretty spluttery at first (the caramelization had to be stopped pretty fast), but I did notice the caramel hardening to the bottom of the pot once it had settled a bit.  I gave it a few stirs, and walked away to take care of something else - and by the time I got back to it, most of the lumps were well on their way to dissolving.


Can I use Basmati Rice for fried rice? I have some left over boiled Basmati Rice in the fridge and I was wondering if anyone has ever used it to make Chinese Fried Rice given that the recipes generally call for Jasmin rice? Does it have huge flavor differences or should it be ok given that other Asian flavors like Soy sauce and sesame oil add flavor to the dish?

Absolutely you can! It's a popular choice with Chinese and Indian flavor profiles. You can just treat it exactly like you would any other leftover rice. It's a lovely ingredient to work with. The nutty Basmati flavor works beautifully however you choose to season fried rice.


How to get rid of boiled chicken breast smell? I boiled sliced chicken breast in plain water for elders. It's their meal. Raw chicken was fresh, but cooked chicken smells not nice. I know it should smell, but I feel bad for them eating this thing.

Is there any tips to get rid of the smell? Thanks!

There are a lot of simple hacks that you might try to get rid of the smell in the finished dish, which involves adding small amounts of herbs or spices etc. But of course, it needs to ensured that no-one will have any adverse effect with the additives.

Some ideas:

1) Add lemon juice (fresh squeezed is better) and some ground black pepper near the end of boiling. This is a classic combination.

2) Add Bay leaves and whole black peppers in water when you start boiling.

3) Add sage/thyme during the boiling.

Just keep in mind one thing: The smell and taste capability of many elders are diminished, and the plain boiled chicken might not smell too bad for them. and they might be more interested in avoiding anything that might upset their stomach than a better-smelling chicken.


What is the difference between a salsa, a sauce, a gravy, and a chutney? Growing up, it appeard that these accompaniments all had their distinct areas and never were there lines crossed.  However the more I live/eat, the more the lines separating them appear to get blurrier and blurrier.

I've had "salsas" that are almost liquid smooth (what I would call a sauce), I've had salsas that are chunks of fruit/vegetables and almost no liquid. Granted, "salsa" is spanish for "sauce" but in American cooking a sauce and a salsa are generally regarded as different things.  I've had chutneys that span the gamut from liquid to something thicker than "chunky salsa".  So, if I call a sauce something that is liquid smooth it wanders into the territory of gravy.  I just want to know how to compliment the chef!

So, what separates these because it appears that whenever I guess just looking at a dish without a description I'll say "nice sauce" and get corrected that it's a gravy, or a salsa or whatever else.

So, if we were to quantify what exactly a sauce, gravy, salsa, chutney, etc. are what are the differences?

In their various parts of the world, all of these words mean sauce, at least some of the time.

They come from different cultures, though, and carry different connotations at least in US usage.  Short answer, though:  there are no absolute differences that you can count on.

Salsa

This is a generic term in Spanish, and in South American cuisines.  It can cover everything from a thick, dark mole, an adobo, a light and piquant salsa verde, or the typical tomato, onion and pepper sauce often served with chips in the US.

Some salsas are smooth; others are chunky.  They can be cooked or raw.

Many people use the word to indicate the red, fresh or lightly cooked tomato salsa with onions, garlic, peppers and usually cilantro often served in Mexican restaurants in the US, but this is only the beginning of what salsas can be.

Sauce

The generic term.  Almost any flavorful liquid put on another food to enhance it.  These range from elegently smooth (such as hollandaise) to quite chunky such as putanesca sauce.

Gravy

Gravy tends to be a sauce made from meat drippings, and thickened to serve with the meat or its accompaniments.

In Italian-American usage, it often covers "Sunday Gravy" or a ragu made from tomatoes and one or more (or many meats) that in some communities was traditionally made on Sunday; and more generally, any sauce with meat in it.

I am told that in Italian in the context of pasta sauces, the actual word is (forgive my spelling) accompanimento, an accent for the pasta which is the star.

Chutney

The word chutney derives from the India/Pakistan region, where again there are a myriad different sauces that carry the title.

In the US, it tends to be used for a chunky, acidic sauce made from fruit and/or vegetables.   This overlaps considerably with jam or preserves, in this sense, although chutneys tend to be much more strongly spiced, and may contain complex combinations of complimentary ingredients.

Still, this doesn't cover the full range such as a chutney of pureed cilantro and/or mint, which is much more thin and sauce-like than the above more typical US usage.

Conclusion

You cannot really draw strict distinctions among these categories.  You have to know what the specific sauce or item is that is being discussed to strongly draw inferences about it.


Bought a new pre-seasoned cast iron and not sure if seasoning is good Noob on cast iron skillets here.

I've been in love with this type of cooking for a while and just bought yesterday on amazon my first skillet.

It's not a Lodge but a Utopian Kitchen (Chinese manufacturer).

I've used it yesterday for the first time and since it's pre-seasoned I didn't do anything before usage, just a quick wash with cold water.

I've noticed that on the first heating a circle in the skillet appeared. And it's still visible today after cooking some meat yesterday.

I'm not sure if the "circle" means that the pre-seasoning is not "well-done".
By looking at other questions here, a common practice is to season again the skillet.

Is it what I should do in my case?
What are the parameters to evaluate if a seasoning is good or bad?

I've seen similar things on a couple of pre-seasoned pans (one of them a Lodge). My suspicion is that the uneven heating of the pan leads the seasoning in one area to burn, while the other area completes the polymerization that began during pre-seasoning.

The number one thing that people do wrong with cast iron is worrying too much about the seasoning. Seasoning will basically just happen eventually; manually seasoning the pan is just an optional means to shortcut a longer period of natural seasoning through cooking; actual problems with the surface (rust, caked-on carbon, and... I think that's it) are thoroughly obvious.

Seasoning is as seasoning does. A cast-iron pan will never be as non-stick as a teflon-coated pan, but it should display superior food release compared to a bare steel pan. So just... cook with the thing. Differences in shininess should be ignored; differences in stickiness should not be.


Can I mix food grade lye (sodium hydroxide) with water to make kansui? I have food grade lye (sodium hydroxide) from pretzel making and I want to make chewy noodles, either ramen or Chinese noodles. Many of these recipes call for lye water or kansui.
I have found many resources about making your own kansui from baking soda (for example Can I substitute baking soda for kansui powder?), but none that start with lye.
I've found that kansui has a pH of about 12.6 and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) has a pH of 14. Using a pH calculator, I should get a pH of 12.6 with 0.04 moles of NaOH in 1 liter of solute (water). That's 1.5 grams per liter. (It has been a while since high school chemistry so please jump in here if I'm making a massive mistake)
Is this a valid approach to making lye water or kansui? What might I be overlooking?

80% potassium carbonate, 20% sodium bicarbonate at some concentration https://omnivorescookbook.com/kansui is likely to behave very differently than your sodium hydroxide.
Kansui is probably strongly buffered, while your pH is
likely to wander. That sort of thing is liable to wreck recipes.
I'd find a good how-to online, and make the stuff right.


The secret to hash browns / home fries / breakfast potatoes I have never been successful in making pan-fried potatoes àla the American diner.
It seems like such a simple concept, but they never turn out right! Usually undercooked & oily, with some parts getting burned...

Ideally, I'd like to produce potatoes that are crispy and golden brown on the outside, fully cooked and soft on the inside, and not excessively oily. What are the important factors to ensure this?

Some variables I've considered:

Type of Potato
Shape of cut (grated, thinly sliced, cubed, etc.)
Cooking technique (parboil first, or straight in the pan? How much oil, what temp, etc.)
Type of oil

I have yet to find a combination of values for these variables that produces proper hash browns... What are your guidelines for making breakfast potatoes? Which of the above variables are important? Are there any other keys that I am missing?
It seems so simple when diners do it; I can't figure out where I am going wrong...

Edit: I was afraid this would happen... terminology clarification: apparently I'm looking more for "home fries" or something to that effect. I do not want a solid potato pancake àla McDonald's hash brown; I am looking for pan fried potatoes; the pieces should be seperate (although they may stick together a bit in places). Some pictures I've found that seem to be more in line with my thoughts:

NOT:

It sounds to me like the issue may be that you're crowding the pan.

Basically, to get everything nice and brown and crispy, you need enough space for all of the steam to escape.  That picture you showed has potatoes stacked on top of each other -- that means as the bottom items cook, they're going to end up steaming the items above them.

At a diner, they have a large griddle to work with -- they can really spread things out.  You're not typically that lucky in a regular kitchen, as you don't have as much space, and you have a lip on the pans that'll hold the steam in.

So, either work in smaller batches, or consider recipes that use an oven -- using sheet pans instead of a pan on the stove solves much of the problem.

One other trick is that most diners don't start from raw potatoes -- maybe with hash browns, but not for home fries, you're not going to get the nice soft interior in a reasonable amount of time unless you start with a potato that's already been baked or boiled.  (If you're doing things in the oven, you might be able to, but not in a pan)

Just for reference ... I have a 14" cast iron skillet that I use for home fries ... and it's about the right size for cooking a single large potato, which might be two servings, maybe three for kids.  (I tend to cook carb-heavy meals).

update : I probably should've stated this directly -- you want the chunks of potato to form a single layer in the pan, with space in between them.


How can I store root ginger for maximum shelf life? I have root ginger which sometimes dries out and goes a bit wrinkly.  Currently I just store it on the side in a bowl.  Is there a better way to store it to maximise its shelf life?

It will definitely last longer in the refrigerator than at room temperature.  You can also freeze it whole and then grate off what is needed as you need it.


Why skim "scum" from the surface of a simmering stock? I've been reading various Googled recipes and techniques for stockmaking, as I made my first stock tonight using raw chicken bones. Just about every article/recipe I read says to skim the surface of the stock in the beginning, while it is simmering. Different articles variously refer to the skimmed substances as "scum", "impurities", and "proteins".

I had started out throwing all the vegetables in at the beginning, and probably had it at too high of a simmer, so I never actually got to see any foam or collections of anything other than apparently oils/fats from the chicken appear on the surface. This got me wondering: what is that stuff that floats to the surface? Is there any reason other than aesthetics to remove it from the stock?

Skimming is for aesthetic purposes.

The scum is denatured protein, mostly comprising the same proteins that make up egg whites.  It is harmless and flavorless, but visually unappealing.  Eventually, the foam will break up into microscopic particles and disperse into your stock, leaving it grayish and cloudy.  The more vigorously your stock bubbles, the faster this process will occur.

If the grayness or cloudiness bothers you but skimming is not an option for some reason, you can always remove the micro-particulates later through the clarification process used to make consomme.


Sugar Free Chocolate Cake Too Dense Yes, I know it's almost impossible to get a good sugar-free chocolate cake, but I won't give up trying,as my husband is a diabetic, and I want to make something nice for his birthday.  This recipe is good-tasting, but too dense, with a fudgy layer at the bottom. I've been working on this for quite a while, but I need the help of professionals with this one.

Sugar-Free Black Magic Cake
Good tasting, but too much moisture, and a fudgy layer at the bottom

½ cup coconut oil (115 g)  2 ¼ cups Splenda (56g) 1 medium banana (½
cup when mashed) (59 g) (try leaving out)  1 teaspoon baking soda  1
large egg plus 3 large egg yolks (117 g total) (save whites for
another use) (try 2 yolks)  1 cup full-fat Bavarian-style buttermilk
(240 g) (try ½ cup lowfat buttermilk)  1 tablespoon pure vanilla
extract  ¾ cups unsweetened natural dark cocoa powder(63 g)  ½
teaspoon baking powder  ½ cup nonfat dry milk powder(g) (try 1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt  2 teaspoons freshly ground cardamom  1 cup
self-rising flour (125 g), or convert plain flour to self-rising,
sifted twice (try cake flour)  1 cup strong brewed coffee (240 g), or
1 cup water plus 4 teaspoons Nescafe instant coffee  Dark unsweetened
baking chocolate (190 g) (try leaving out)
Preheat oven to 300º F. Grease and flour two double-parchment-lined (bottom only) 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch sides. Prepare brown paper collars for the pans.
In a small saucepan set over low heat, melt together baking chocolate, cocoa, coffee and coconut oil, whisking to combine. Set aside.
Using a fork, mash banana with baking soda on a plate. In the bowl of a mixture, add banana mixture, eggs, Splenda, buttermilk, vanilla and the rest of the ingredients, except flour and chocolate mixture. Whisk thoroughly, using whisk attachment.
Switch to mixing attachment. Bring chocolate mixture to a boil.  Add flour and boiling chocolate mixture. Mix again on medium speed, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl, until batter is well mixed, a couple of minutes.
Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Tap pans gently several times on the counter to remove air bubbles. Bake on middle rack 20 to 25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
When just out of the oven, remove the cake from the pan and place both cake and the parchment it was baked in, on a rack and then straight into the freezer for at least 30 minutes. After this time, wrap with plastic wrap, then foil, and place back into the freezer until ready to frost.

Notes:

For best flavor and sweetness, banana should have dark spots on the      skin. Try adding ¾ cup cornstarch to lighten the cake 1 ½ recipe for     2 (9”) cake pans.  If using 1 (9”) pan, bake 40-45 minutes.   Wet       ingredients should be at room temperature before mixing. Batter       should be no more than 2” deep Try Bain-marie-Place cake pans into a     bigger pan of water.  If using cake right after cooling, flip the top    layer over so that the domed top becomes the bottom of the cake. Flip    the second cake so that the bottom becomes the top of the cake,       slicing some of the dome off if necessary to make an even cake.  If      making one cake, cut in half horizontally and flip.

There's a few things that could be happening here, you could have too much moisture in the batter, not enough leavening agent (unlikely in this case) but my money is the oven temperature - it seems low. I'd usually bake a cake at 350F.

When baking a cake you first get a rise from the action of the leavening agents and the expansion of air and water vapor due to heat, next a crystalline structure forms which holds that shape. If your oven is too low that crystalline structure won't form in time to hold the rise, the leavening agents will run out and the steam and air will escape, and your cake will collapse leaving it dense.

In addition to the oven being low the baking time might be too short, if the baking time is too short the batter won't have time to crystallize and it will collapse when taken out of the oven, again making it dense.

I'd try upping the temperature a bit and see how it goes. Also, the toothpick check isn't the most reliable, use a touch bounce test and a digital instant read thermometer. Most cakes are done when they read between 200-210F in the middle of the cake.


Is there a term for "mildly scrambled" eggs? I'm of the impression that "scrambled eggs" means the eggs are completely beaten to where the yolk and white are completely blended before being cooked.
And "over easy/medium/hard" is where the yolk is intended to be unbroken.
Assuming that's true, is there a specific term for when the yolk is intentionally broken, but not beaten/blended with the egg white, then cooked? So there ends up being distinct areas of white and yellow in the cooked result.
E.g. in the following picture, I cracked eggs right into a frying pan with a little bit of oil, then broke the yolks - and let them run where they wanted, flipping the eggs over once or twice to get it cooked all over - but did not try to blend or homogenize the yolk and egg white together.

To me that's a "fried egg with a broken yolk", or fried egg, flipped & broken. I make them a lot, but never thought about a name for them. They go really well in sandwiches, without turning them into a banjo*.
It doesn't qualify as 'scrambled' because it has none of the method of 'regular' scrambled, it's not broken & whisked/stirred outside the pan. It has no salt/pepper/water/milk. It's not heated gently whilst continuing to stir.
It's just a "fried egg with a broken yolk".
*For why a runny egg sandwich is called a banjo - see Forces.net - Ever Wondered Why It’s Called An ‘Egg Banjo?' [just watch the video, it's short]
For why I don't think it's "country eggs"… imnsho, anything with 'country' tagged on is because no-one knows what else to call it. Google 'country eggs' & you see a million different cheerful 'farmhousey' things you can do with eggs ;)


Substituting soy milk for regular (cow) milk in crepes/pancakes I normally make my Swedish pancakes with soy milk because my SO has a dairy sensitivity. But today I used cow's milk, and I noticed that my pancakes seemed to brown a lot faster than they usually do, resulting in an unattractive dark brown shade.

Is there anything to this, or was I imagining things?

(I checked out this question, which pertains to baking, and this question, which focuses on pasta and mashed potatoes, but I figure that pancakes/crepes might have a slightly different answer.)

Browning depends a lot on available sugar: if soya was unsweetened and skim milk was now used (higher lactose than 3%), I could see quicker browning.


Why did my steak marinade not make a difference? I recently discovered the joy of cooking and I have no idea what I'm doing but I've been experimenting.

Recently, I took two beef shoulder steaks, both just under 3/4" thick, both purchased at the same time from the same source. For the first one:

I made up a goofy marinade with 2 cups whole milk, 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1/4 cup extra virgin light olive oil, and various seasonings (but no salt here).
Marinated the steak for 12 hours in the fridge (pyrex container, covered with plastic wrap).
Blotted dry then salted, both sides.
Let sit for 45 minutes.
Added some more seasoning to both sides.

For the second one:

Straight out of packaging, no marination.
Salted, both sides.
Let sit for 45 minutes.
Added same seasonings as first steak, plus the same seasoning combo that I put in the first steak's marinade.

Seasonings were a weird combination of chopped garlic, curry powder, freshly ground pepper, parsley flakes. Salting was done with himalayan sea salt and alderwood smoked salt. (Much to my surprise this all turned out OK).

I cooked both in the same way (although not at the same time):

Small amount of olive oil (extra virgin, light) in cast iron skillet, pre-heated at medium high until oil was watery.
Seared for 2 minutes on one side.
Flip every 30 seconds until internal temperature ~140F (about 5-6 flips).
Removed from heat, sit 5 minutes, enjoy.

However, I found virtually no difference between the two steaks. Both came out good, but had exactly the same texture. The only difference in appearance I noticed was that the unmarinated one leaked noticeably more juice onto the plate afterwards; the juice was brown compared to the smaller amount of redder juiced leaked by the marinated one. The only difference in texture I noticed was that the few thin fat strips in the marinated one were edible, while the strips in the unmarinated one were tougher.

In both steaks the meat itself was equally tender and had the same texture. Also the flavors were basically identical.

I had expected the marinated steak to have a deeper flavor, and to taste slightly more like the marinade ("creamy", acidic), and to have a more "melt in your mouth" texture than the unmarinated one.

My question is, why were both of these steaks virtually identical? What did I miss? Things I can think of are:

My marinade wasn't effective due to the ingredients (or time, but 12 hours seems good from what I've read?)
My preparation or cooking process destroyed any effects.
The differences were just too subtle for me to detect.
My expectations were too high.

What could the "problem" (if there even was one) have been? I expected two vastly different results.

There seem to be two general expectations for the marinade here: (1) it would tenderize the steak, and (2) it would result in more flavor.  The first of these is basically a culinary myth, and the second was probably undermined by what you did to the second (unmarinated) steak.

It's important to be clear about what marinades do and don't do.  Marinades don't penetrate deeply into the meat.  In fact, aside from salt, most of the other flavorings or ingredients won't get more than a millimeter or two below the surface of the meat.

If you want to see this clearly, have a look at this page, where you can see colored dye was added to the marinade for various meats and other foods.  In the case of solid meats like beef, larger molecules like flavorings (and colored dye) won't get beyond a millimeter or two.  Salt is a smaller molecule and has other properties that allow it to penetrate deeper, though that process is quite slow too.  As the link says, if you really want to see the effect (or non-effect) of a marinade on the interior, try comparing marinated and non-marinated thick pieces of meat, but cut off the outer 1/4" or so before eating, being careful not to get any of the exterior spices or juices on the interior.  Assuming both meats were salted, the interiors will generally be virtually identical -- no differences in texture or flavor.

Marinating is basically a surface phenomenon, and it should primarily be done for flavoring purposes, rather than tenderizing.

So why do so many people think that marinades tenderize meats?  Well, marinades can make the surface of meat mushier and sometimes juicier.  Since the well-done outermost layer in a seared steak is often the firmest part of the cooked steak, anything that makes that layer easier to chew can make it seem like the whole steak is more tender overall.  Also, the outside layer usually contains the most interesting flavor components, both from seasoning and from browning reactions -- so anything that makes that part juicier or tender and ready to burst open when you bite into it will be much more noticeable from a flavor perspective than altering the interior.

But the tenderness aspect mostly goes for steaks that are already quite tender.  In that case, searing will potentially make the outer layer tougher, but the interior is already tender.  If we can use a marinade to keep the outer layer tender, then the exterior will continue to match the overall steak.

If your case, shoulder steaks are most likely somewhat tough to begin with, so that small alteration in the outer layer may not have made a huge difference in the final product.

Regarding the flavoring, if I read your instructions correctly, you used the same spice blends in the marinade and then on both steaks.  You also salted both steaks in advance.

You don't mention any salt in the marinade (unless it was included in the "various seasonings").  In any case, heavy salting 45 minutes before cooking will likely cause moisture release.  If you hadn't really salted either steak before that, they will both release their moisture in the outer layers, but the brine which forms will start to break down the outer layers of the steak a bit (rapid tenderization), and the brine will be largely absorbed back into the steak along with other flavor components present.

Effectively, your pre-salting step probably influenced the outer layers (again, only a millimeter or so) in 45 minutes almost as much as your marinade did in 12 hours.  Thus the tenderization and flavor differences between the two steaks were probably lessened significantly.

In sum, marinades can break down the outer layer of the meat and add flavor to it, so when you bite into it, the outer skin gives you a burst of flavor.  They can also cause the outer layers to retain a little more moisture (which is probably why you saw less juice from the marinated steak).  However, 45 minutes of a dry rub, particularly with salt, will have similar effects.  My guess is that whatever spice blend you used was strong enough to overpower the more subtle flavor notes from the milk, lemon, and oil, which only would have been on the surface anyway.  Since you treated the surfaces of the steaks the same way for the final 45 minutes, including salting which could cause more rapid changes than your other marinade ingredients, the differences in the final product were not large.

(EDIT: By the way, if you really want to tenderize meat, enzyme action will be much more effective than a small amount of acidity in a marinade.  There are natural meat tenderizers available with these enzymes, often derived from various fruits or vegetables.  However, be aware that they too will mostly affect the exterior surface.  They'll just do it much better than a marinade, so the effects will be more noticeable and could even make the meat excessively mushy.)


Using cueritos (Pork Rinds) for ground beef Can I use cueritos as my fat to make burger? I usually use pork fat but my butcher was out today so I bought 2 pounds of this delicious stuff.

Sure. You want to grind the cueritos with leaner meat to make a higher fat ground meat? There is no reason that wouldn't work. You might find it necessary to remove the very outer skin, but I'd try a small batch without taking that step. The grinding might eliminate any textural problems (or it might not, so try a little bit first).


De-meatifying lasagna, casseroles Is there a good, satisfying ovo-lacto substitute for meat for recipes like meat & cheese lasagna? Or can I just skip the meat and expect the dish to satisfy without it?

I understand that tofu would add protein - but would it add flavor?

Meat lasagna minus meat will not be as satisfying - it'll be missing both a flavor and texture component. And tofu by itself does not have much flavor, especially compared to the rest of the lasagna.

Substituting for meat is a broad question, as you'd see if you'd tried searching for vegetarian lasagna. If you're determined to make something that's as close to lasagna with meat as possible, then you probably want to use something that's actually intended to be a ground meat substitute. There are various options, but they're generally soy- and gluten-based, with some sort of flavor. This will be good for vegetarians who wish they were eating meat.

But for vegetarians who don't feel the need to pretend they're eating meat, and especially for ones who don't want to feel like they're eating meat, you're asking the wrong question. Don't ask what to replace the meat with. Ask how to make a good vegetarian lasagna-like dish. The flavor of mushrooms works well (including plenty of umami - note that mixing varieties gives the broadest flavor) and provide some nice contrasting texture to the rest of the dish. Peppers and onions also have great flavors, and don't drift too far from the original flavor. I tend to enjoy spinach and eggplant too. Just try searching online for vegetarian (or vegetable) lasagna, and you'll find tons of variations. They're not all for everyone, for various reasons, but there's plenty to look through for something that works for you.

As for tofu... there's already a ton of cheese in a lasagna, which does have protein. Unless you're really worried about protein intake, I don't see focusing on protein as the route to a pleasing dish here.

(And this advice is pretty much all general; it applies to most flavorful casseroles that might normally contain ground meat.)


Why do recipes have the instruction to fry in olive oil? Can someone please tell me, why do cooking instructions have you frying in olive oil? That doesn't make any sense as olive oil has a very low smoking point.

I would suggest three reasons:

The smoke point of olive oil, while lower than many oils, is higher than most items you would deep fry (375 - 490 F or 190 - 255C, depending on the olive oil).
Tradition - if it is the oil that is most plentiful, it is the oil that is used.
Flavor - olive oil imparts a distinct flavor (as other oils do).


Is Sous Vide Oil Infusion with fresh herbs or garlic a practical technique to avoid botulism risk? I've been experimenting with flavoring olive oil using dried herbs.  So far, I've only used dried herbs in my home infusions because I have read a number of articles which claim there is a botulism risk to leaving fresh garlic or fresh herbs such as whole rosemary sprigs in olive oil.

I had an idea since I have a chamber vacuum sealer and an immersion circulator to put the olive and herbs in a vacuum sealed bag and infuse them at a pasteurizing temperature sous vide.

Has anyone heard of sous vide oil infusion techniques? Is it feasible? Are there any best practices (time / temperature) to get optimal flavor results?

Thanks in advance for any help, suggestions or references.

Pasteurization will not do anything to reduce botulism risk. Botulinum spores are very hardy, requiring high temperatures (250f) to destroy them. If you use the method you describe, any spores that may exist will still be there, and a nonacidified, oxygen-free environment would be ideal for them to become active. So my recommendation would be to not take this approach.


"Odd" flavor in some white fish - how to predict? I am able to taste a flavor in some fish (usually white fish) that most other people do not (I also can smell the asparagus pee smell, and am a strong taster ... but not supertaster?... of bitter flavors). What I would like is a way to predict whether a given piece of fish will have the flavor, so I can avoid it. I don't think that I can detect it as a smell. I find it unpleasant, but not intolerable. It doesn't seem to be a result of spoiling. At a guess, I'd say I encounter it in less than 20 percent of white fish. It occurs across species, so I might find it in cod, haddock, halibut, sole, etc. If I'm cooking up some fillets from the supermarket, that flavor might be in one piece, but not the next. My wife and I will often swap portions if I detect it in mine, and she notices no difference, where to me it's as obvious as if I'd popped a chunk of 80% dark chocolate in with a bite of fish.  Not to imply that I dislike choco - I love it.

I don't ask everybody that I meet, so there might be others who detect this flavor, but I can't describe it, except... hmm... one-dimensional, the way a taste of metal would be one-dimensional... though it doesn't seem to be a metallic flavor either.

Anyway, would be obliged if somebody else knew what I meant, and especially if there's a way to tell if a piece of fish will be affected BEFORE I buy. Oh, and it's only in fish. No other food that I've encountered.  Not affected by method of cooking. Not affected by seasoning.   Anybody?

I have had this problem and thought it was the taste of tin-foil that I used to rolled up and put into the belly of the fish to stand it up in the oven. So, I was very interested to hear an interviewer on the radio 3RRR in melbourne, talking to a chef who mentioned fish, like Snapper, are susceptible to that metalic taste if they are caught and die too slowly. The slower they take to die, the more stress the fish goes through and the stress hormone accumulates in the flesh particularly around the belly. I think they said a pinker snapper is better than a pale one for taste.


What is a better-tasting substitute for baking powder? My wife complains that baking with bakeing power results in a bitter after-taste. We were wondering if there's a good substitute for it that tastes better. We sometimes use beaten egg whites (in pancakes for example) to substitute for the BP, but in drier recipes that might not work so well (like scones) and even in pancakes the results are less than great.

Any ideas?

You might look at what the specific chemical agents are in your baking powder; it's possible that you have one that uses sodium acid pyrophosphate, which can leave a bitter taste.

Some people avoid the various aluminum based ones, as they can give a metallic taste, but it's likely preferable to bitter.

You can use baking soda and an acid, but it'll then be single-acting (it won't give a second rise when heated), which might affect your baked goods, particularly if you don't get it straight into the oven after mixing.


What causes the black discoloration on this plastic electric teakettle? In the break room at work, there is a tea kettle that has some unappealing discoloration. I would like to use it, and lots of people do, but I find it terribly unappealing.

I can't remove it with soap, and my fingernail has no effect. I can't even feel it, so it doesn't seem like buildup. What causes this, does it adversely affect health or water taste, and is there a way to remove it or improve this teakettle?

See this previous post that explains how to clean an electric kettle. The suggestions include boiling citric acid, vinegar, or descaling solution in the teapot.

Presumably these are impurities from the water that have solidified on the plastic. It is possible that the lack of texture that you mention is because the impurities have bonded with the plastic.


How can I substitute Egg Noodles for Rice Noodles in a Pad Thai? I'm unable to get rice noodles right now but I've never used egg noodles before. What is the difference in how I should cook it?

Usually, you would just soak the rice noodles in hot or boiled water for a minute/couple of minutes according to the packaging and then mix them in the with other cooked ingredients.

With egg noodles, you should cook them until al dente according to the package instructions and then add them in when you would the rice noodles according to the Pad Thai recipe instructions. Most likely, you'll boil them in water for a few minutes, drain them and then add them to the stir fry pan.

You'll probably get a lo mein-like dish with Pad Thai flavoring.

Here is a recipe that uses fresh egg noodles for a Pad Thai dish.


How to triple the quantity of ingredients in order to make 12 standard sized muffins? I found an interesting recipe and I would like to triple it in order to make 12 standard sized muffins.

These are the ingredients and based on this recipe, it makes 4 muffins.

  1/4 cup butter
  1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  1 egg
  1/4 cup sugar
  1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  1/4 cup chopped pecans

How can I triple the recipe and make twelve standard-sized muffins?r

Triple means "three time". Multiply all the ingredients by 3.

To double a recipe you would multiply everything by two.

To halve a recipe you would divide all ingredients by two.

(and so on)


What is a 'dough spatula'? I got a new baking book for Christmas; in it, I found the following sentence:

  [To bake this bread] you will need the following kitchen tools: a digital scale for metric measures, a small scoop for flour, a thermometer, a wide bowl for mixing, a rubber spatula, a dough spatula, and a bench knife

(emphasis mine)

What is a dough spatula and how does it differ from a rubber spatula? What do I look for when I go to the store? Google shows me many products, all of which look entirely different from one another.

ETA: The first mention I see of it indicates I use it to... clean my hands? "Use a dough spatula to clean the clumps [of flour and water] off your hands and tidy the inside of the bowl"

My first thoughts are this which is actually a scraper but I wouldn't use a metal scraper in a bowl. Being flexible plastic, it flexes and molds itself to the inside of a bowl and allows easy removal of dough.


How well does freshly baked sandwich bread fly? I'm going on vacation soon and wanted to take homemade bread with me, but I'm unsure as to how the bread would last through the long plane flight. How does bread usually fare when flying?

About the same time it fares not flying.  Flying is not something the bread is aware of.


When breading and frying, to which ingredient do I add spices? I'm breading and frying tofu, and the recipe calls for adding spices. Do I add the spices to the flour, the egg, or the (panko) breadcrumbs?

The recipe calls for the spices to be added to the panko coating, but I'm uncertain that the spices are going to get distributed evenly that way.

The best thing to do is to season the tofu itself (after pressing & drying it).

I'm going to use a bunch of example fried fish recipes here, but the same principles apply to tofu, or frankly anything you coat and fry.

Many recipes for breaded and fried whatever have you season the flour or the batter, and not the item.  This is generally a mistake, because seasoning the flour or the coating means that you have no real control over how much seasoning ends up on each piece, and that the item ends up rather bland (particularly a problem with tofu), and you waste a lot of spices when you throw away the leftover coating.  This is why I almost always use the following procedure:

Dry the item to be fried;
Season it with my seasonings;
Flour, batter, and/or coat it as applicable.

So, why do recipes have you season the flour, batter, or coating?  There's a few reasons for this:

It's traditional (check the back of a box of Zatrain's Fish Fri), and people don't think about what they're doing, they just follow the recipe.
Seasoning the item seems like an extra step in what's already a 4-step process.
The breading is heavy, and they want it to be spicy, not just the contents.

Only the last reason makes any sense.  You can see a good example of thinking about this in this fish recipe, where the author seasons the fish and then seasons the coating as well.  This helps ensure that the thick breading is flavorful as well as the fish.

So, in conclusion: season the item, not the coating, unless the coating is heavy breading, in which case you should season both the item and the breading.


How can I make a sugar free strawberry syrup? I make strawberry syrup using the follow ingredientes.

1 pound of strawberrys;
half lemon juice;
1 cup of sugar.

How can I make a sugar free (or at least using less sugar) strawberry syrup?

Hmm, you might omit the sugar, reduce the lemon juice (maybe by half or so), and blend the strawberries very thoroughly with the remaining lemon juice, and that way you will get a nice flavorful strawberry sauce.

If, you then strain the sauce very well, and reduce the (basically) strawberry juice to the desired thickness (I'm picturing a honey-like consistency), you will end up with a translucent, thick, and smooth strawberry not-syrup - since syrup is defined by the added sugar, as others mentioned, and assuming the natural sugars in the strawberries don't end up counting enough to make it a "real" syrup.  I don't think it will reach a really syrup-like stage without that straining, since the berry fibers will turn it into a paste instead when the water is too low for a sauce.

This strawberry not-syrup would be much more strongly strawberry flavored, for the same consistency, since the extra sugar needed to make it syrup-thick is substituted with extra strawberry juice, minus water.  You will also get much less syrup out of it, between the volume of the missing sugar, the missing half of the lemon juice, and the loss of the extra water needed to make the final product thick enough.  But, it should act, and store, much like a strawberry syrup would.


What kind of cookware can melt in a microwave? Is it safe to eat food cooked in a melted cookware? We were trying to prepare a chocolate cake using a Panasonic Microwave. We set the oven to auto mode for cake preparation. There was a time for preheating (180°C) and then asked us to place the cake tin inside which would cook for 35 minutes, but when it was just six minutes after process started, the vessel started to melt.

We first used the vessel provided by Croma which  melted and then we tried using the vessel provided by Panasonic for microwave, that also melted.

What was the cause for this and can we eat the cake that was in the melted vessel?

The cause is that the dish was not intended for use in convection mode.

Plastic melts under heat, period. "Convection" as used by oven manufacturers means that the air in the oven gets heated to the temperature specified (actually, ovens are so badly calibrated that it can be considerably more - I have seen an oven overheating by 40°C - so a considerable safety margin is needed). Any solid objects heat to high temperatures in this hot air, with the surface coming close to the air temperature. You cannot put plastic in a 180°C oven.

A microwave oven operates on a different principle. It heats certain types of objects from inside. Water (and some other nutrients, e.g. fats) get hot when irradiated by microwaves. Plastic or air don't get hot. Therefore, a plastic dish does not get hot when used for cooking in a microwave oven, and the air in the oven also stays cool and does not melt the dish.

What you have is actually two ovens in one. They use the same heating container, but with two different heaters. The plastic dishes supplied with the oven, as well as any other specialized microwave cooking dishes, can only be used in microwave mode. The convection has to be turned off when you use them, else they will melt.

If you want to cook with convection, you have to use a pan from a material which doesn't melt. For a traditional oven, this would be borosilicate glass, ceramic, silicone or metal. I would not use a metal pan. I have heard of combo ovens which don't turn off the microwave part when switched to convection mode (even if the user manual claims otherwise!), and even if yours does, it is still a safety risk because you might forget it and turn on the wrong mode. Metal gets much hotter than water in a microwave, up to the point where it can explode.

Summary: use oven-safe glass, or ceramic. If your glass dish has a plastic lid, remove it before baking in convection mode.


Rinse meat after marinating in yogurt? I have a few recipes that require marinating meat in yogurt (usually poultry), but none of them are particularly clear on what to do with the meat after marinating, but before cooking. For example, I have a chicken tikka masala recipe that essentially states:

Remove chicken from marinade
Put on skewers and grill; begin cooking sauce
Remove chicken from skewers and add to sauce

In this example, every time the chicken goes from the grill to the pan of hot sauce, the excess yogurt on the chicken immedietely curdles, giving the sauce an almost gritty look to it. Given this dillema, I have a few questions regarding the yogurt marinade:

As a general rule, are you supposed to rinse the yogurt marinade off of the meat prior to cooking it?
If not, what is the best way to prevent the excess marinade from curdling in the pan?
Is there any particular type of yogurt that is better for marinades?

Don't Rinse

You should not need to do more than shake the excess marinade from your chicken, or if you want to be very thorough, pat it down with towels lightly.

If you rinsed, you would be washing away from of the flavor developed by your marinade, and the seasoning at the surface of the chicken.

Cook on

The goal is to not put the chicken on the grill with so much left over marinade that it fails to cook through and dry.  By the time you are done grilling, the chicken should be essentially dry at the surface with nothing left to curdle.

The other goal of the grilling (or putting in the tandoor, I imagine, if you have one) is to develop the nice browned and delicious flavors, and that won't happen if there is still liquid yogurt on the surface.

Type of yogurt

The particular type of yogurt you use should not be a factor, since it should be fully cooked in the grilling phase.

However, in general, very high fat dairly products (like cream, or a yogurt made from full cream).


Green line in chicken? The family is eating home roasted chicken tonight. I cut into it, and found this bright green "line". What is it?

I believe the most likely cause from the look is a condition known as Deep Pectoral Myopathy, also known as Green Muscle Disease.  If you are interested in an explanation of the condition, here is a reasonable write-up or just search on that term.  The basic issue is an internal injury to the muscle of the bird that results in blood restriction, typically in the "tender" area of the breast and is more common in modern broiler chickens and broad breasted turkeys that are popular with home growers and almost exclusively used in many areas such as the US for commercial birds.  Green and blue coloring in the muscle is the result of the damage and the cells dying from the damage in that area, while the bird remains healthy.  Normally the damage is not detectable by any inspection until the chicken is cut up, so missing it is not an inspection issue.

When I have researched it before (I raised meat chickens for a few years and did have a couple instances of it.), the claims I could find places like the Center for Food Safety claim safe.  Not something I would personally chance in any case myself.  Reports I have found claim the effected meat tends toward stringy, woody, and lacking in taste.  To me green meat means do not eat, so I personally discarded those claims and am not sure why others chose to take such risks, but risk is a personal choice I suppose.


Minimal tasty preparation of raw chayote I've got a couple of chayotes that I'd like to try raw. I've never had chayote before, but from what I've read, they're pretty bland when raw and require significant seasoning to be tasty.

How do you prepare raw chayotes minimally to make them tasty as a dish?

Shredding or slicing, sprinkling with salt and resting for about 10 minutes, then squeezing out excess liquid is a good start. Then mix in lime juice, plate, sprinkle with ground chilies for a bit of heat and color.


Mutton shoulder versus mutton leg - any difference in length of cooking? I cooked mutton shoulder like advised in the answer for this question. It was under the foil and was cooked in the oven for like 3 hours.

Now I have mutton leg instead of shoulder. The size is similar. Should the cooking time be different?

Leg is usually leaner than shoulder and so doesn't benefit from a long slow cook. A quicker, hotter roast is generally best, something on the order of 2-2.5 hours @ 220C for a good-size leg. Let it rest for a good half hour afterwards.


Why is my white bread with poolish dough very loose? I previously asked a question about the White Bread with Poolish from Ken Forkish's book Flour Water Salt Yeast. My first attempt with a flour that had 10% protein resulted in dough that hold its shape, but the poolish didn't expand enough so flavor wasn't as great. So, I decided to use flour from my bakery and asked for baguette flour. I don't know anything about its protein content, but I imagine its bread flour. When using this flour, my dough gets good elasticity when I am folding it and a poolish that nearly triples in size, but after the bulk fermentation it's no longer as elastic which makes it impossible to shape. I know bread flour absorbs more water so if that is the case then shouldn't it be firmer and more elastic. I measured everything by weight.  Should I go for a poolish with bread flour and try the rest with all purpose? But, it doesn't make sense why would it be less elastic. I imagine the only explanation would be that the "bread flour" has less than 10% of protein. Any thoughts? The hydration level of the bread is 75%. The bread tastes good in the end, it's just a hard crust. Anyone else done this recipe?

Update: the bread rose perfectly and the crust was thin, but I still have no idea how to shape it. It looks good for a non-shaped loaf.

The protein content of your flour may have something to do with it, but it may also be the fermentation of your poolish. The more fermentation a dough goes through, the more the yeast turn starches into acid. Acids can denature gluten and gluten-forming proteins, leading to a less elastic dough. When you're adding your poolish to the rest of the ingredients, you're also adding its acid. The poolish is always going to be goopy and loose, so switching to bread flour for the poolish may not have the effect you desire.

Unfortunately, I'm more or less in the same boat. Like you mentioned, a higher protein content may help. That said (if I remember correctly), Forkish recommends AP flour for all of his recipes. Perhaps a shorter poolish ferment, or shorter bulk ferment.


Is raw brined pork with a very slight yellow tint and is no longer limp spoiled? I put some pork chops in a brine solution almost 48 hours ago, put it in a metal bowl, covered the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and stuck it all in the fridge.

I pulled it out to wash, but I was washing I noticed that there was a very slight yellowing of the meat further from the bone.  As I washed it, I also noted that the pork chop held its form and didn't really flop around like I would expect raw meat to.

Is it still good to grill?

Color and texture are not reliable indicators of food safety.  You have to think freshness, temperature and environment.  If the pork has been kept in the refrigerator the entire time (under 40 degrees F), then it is likely safe to eat (given that you haven't kept is around for days before you brined it)...add to that, a briney environment...relatively high in salt content...You are not going to grow anything nasty in that.  I would say they are safe to grill, although, that's a bit long for a brine on pork chops. "No longer limp" tells me that you've begun to cure them in the brine.


How can I make a super-thin, yet strong, calzone crust? I am a relatively experienced amateur when it comes to making pizza, especially pizza doughs. I recently went to Italy and enjoyed some calzones with super-thin crusts.

My standard recipe for a pizza crust is essentially the following:

1.5 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
0.5 cups semolina flour
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. quick-rise yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive (or cooking) oil
1 cup warm water
More water or flour to achieve a mostly-elastic (but slightly sticky) dough

I typically add some of the following seasonings for fun and flavor:
 - 1-2 tsp. minced garlic
 - 1-2 tsp. onion powder
 - 1-3 tsp. oregano
 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes

The above recipe works great for crusts thicker than a few millimeters. When I roll it out thinner, however, it isn't strong enough and tears when forming a calzone.

How can I modify that recipe to get a crust that's strong enough for making a calzone? I expect substituting bread flour for the whole wheat flour would help, as well as not adding extra ingredients. Perhaps I could add a few teaspoons of gluten?

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Don't use whole wheat flour if you want a strong or thin crust.

The shards of bran in the whole wheat flour will cut the strands of gluten, weakening the crust, which prevents it from being stretched very thin.

You can verify for yourself by performing the windowpane test.


Adding a smoky flavour without adding spiciness I rather like a strong smoky flavour in some of my food - I've tasted some rather lovely smokey vegetarian Mexican bean wraps for instance. However, I've struggled to replicate this in my own cooking without making things rather hot!

I've tried smoked paprika, which is lovely but the smoky flavour simply isn't that strong in any that I've tried. Cumin didn't seem to do much, and Chipotle has a lovely smoky flavour - but unfortunately a fair punch of heat to go along with it.

Is there anything else I can try to get a nice, strong smoky flavour but without the heat?

Depending on what food you are trying to imbue with a smoky flavour, you have multiple options. I here focus on methods that will just give you a smoke flavour, rather than smoked ingredients.

Actually smoking the food seems an obvious suggestion. The internet will suggest any number of ways to set up a smoker at home, although you might not want to go through the effort or have to deal with the smoke.
Cold smoking is often done with cured meats and fish. As the name suggests, this is smoking (actual smoke from actual fire), but without the heat, often accomplished by creating some distance between the fire and the food, and having the smoke travel from the former to the latter. This guide seems quite comprehensive, including some ideas for a home setup. Cold smoking has similar drawbacks to hot smoking.
Some companies make 'smoke guns' such as this one by Breville/Sage, that accomplish the idea of a cold smoker on a much smaller scale. Thus, no need for elaborate setups, nor the risk of smoking up your whole house.
Finally, you can look for ingredients or additives that give you a smoky flavour. Liquid smoke is reasonably common. I have also seen powdered versions of this.


Additional dipping sauces for cheese fondue? I have the fondue set pictured below (picture is of the box of the set):

I will be using it for the first time and see that on the picture of the box there are saucers with additional sauces/dips. I was wondering if this is really done for cheese fondue and what sauces would be appropriate for it?

I was taught to make cheese fondue in Switzerland and also have a fondue cookbook and I've never seen or heard of sauces being used with cheese fondue. I would fill the containers with bread for cheese fondue, sauces for meat fondue and fruit and cake for chocolate fondue.


Using both whipped egg whites and egg yolks vs whipped egg whites only? Would you get more leavening if you used both whipped egg whites and egg yolks and folded them into a batter (pancake batter,for example)compared to using whipped egg whites only, and would it make a noticeable difference? If yes, then why is it more common to use just the whites?

Whipping egg whites is usually done to make a batter lighter and fluffier. In such a case, adding in egg yolks will likely make the batter denser and less fluffy.
On the other hand, if the recipe has substituted  egg white for egg in order to make a recipe healthier by reducing fat content, you can revert to using whole eggs (1 for every 2 egg whites). The texture will still be different, but that might be what you want.


Mashed potato: start with hot water or cold water? I've always been told to start root vegetables in cold water to ensure that the dense structure heats evenly and you don't end up with a mushy exterior. With mashed potato I'm going to tear it apart anyway, so is it worth starting it from cold instead of using water from the kettle?

TL;DR
Start with cold water if you boil potatoes. Peel and chunk medium starch potatoes or use whole unpeeled starchy potatoes.
Start with boiling water if you steam potato chunks, rinse with cold water halfway through cooking (starchy or medium starch potatoes).

If you submerge the potatoes, start them with cold water with salt, bring just to a boil and simmer until done. This method works best with russet potatoes whole and unpeeled, or preferably less starchy potatoes like Yukon Gold, which are fine peeled and chunked.
From America's Test Kitchen (Sorry, Paywalled, but they do offer a 14 day free trial)

For our mashed potato recipe, we quickly found that russet potatoes produced too much amylose because they are so high in starch. One solution was to boil the russets in their jackets. This inhibited water absorption, and without water absorption, the starch granules didn’t swell, burst, and release their sticky amylose. However, this technique requires you to peel hot potatoes just before serving⎯hardly an easy task.

If you have a less starchy, more waxy potato like Yukon Gold, peel and chunk them. Then one option is to simmer them as in ATK's Buttermilk Ranch Mashed Potatoes

Place potatoes in large saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 inch and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes break apart when paring knife is inserted, about 18 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to saucepan set on still-hot burner.

ATK's other favorite method, which works for high or medium starch potatoes is steaming, rinsing them in cold water halfway through cooking.
(from the first link above)

We found that boiling them still introduced too much water into the starch granules. Instead we tried steaming. The hot water vapor efficiently cooks the spuds, but doesn’t allow them to soak up water the way boiling would.
We also rinsed the steamed potatoes halfway through cooking, taking advantage of another bit of chemistry. By rinsing, we allowed the potatoes to cool halfway through cooking. And by cooling off, some of the amylose still inside the starch granules formed insoluble crystals. Those insoluble amylose crystals stay trapped inside the granules and therefore can’t escape and turn the potatoes gluey. Better still, any amylose that did escape during the first half of cooking was simply washed away.

ATK's Fluffy Mashed Potatoes

Place metal colander or steamer insert in large pot or Dutch oven. Add enough [salted] water for it to barely reach bottom of colander. Turn heat to high and bring water to boil. Add potatoes, cover, and reduce heat to medium-high. Cook potatoes 10 minutes. Transfer colander to sink and rinse potatoes under cold water until no longer hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Return colander and potatoes to pot, cover, and continue to cook until potatoes are soft and tip of paring knife inserted into potato meets no resistance, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

Leave it to ATK to make mashed potatoes fussy, but I tried the steaming/rinsing/steaming method as above, and it really did work great.


What are the keys to leopard-spotting pizza crust? What are the most important factors to achieving leopard-spots on pizza cornicione?  I've tried so many different things but still can't get to the level of consistent leopard spots that I've seen others create.  I want a pale crust except very distinct charred leopard spots.  I do not want the whole crust to be brown or charred spots >1".  What am I doing wrong?

Recipe:

500g Antimo Caputo or KA Bread
360g-380g Water (72-76% hydration)
16-20g Salt
1g Active Dry Yeast

Process:

Day 1 Combine either by autolyse, stand mixer, or hand knead
Day 2 Ball into three equal parts ~300g/ea
Day 3-4 Hand stretch being careful to not push the cornicione much, bake at 1,000°F (dome), 800°F (floor) for 90-120sec in a Blackstone oven (yes it is possible in this oven)

This is what I've been able to achieve thus far, the pizza on the left is close but I ended up with 3 big burnt areas out of the frame that were undesirable:

This is what I'd like to achieve:

Images from pizza_jew and fortina pizza

I would guess the secret is having your dough be irregularly textured.

The spots have to be cooking, and scorching, before the rest of the crust is even browning.  You might be able to achieve this by deliberately texturing your dough, but I expect the original reason was gas bubbles trapped just under the surface of the dough, which blistered and burned quickly due to thinness of the dough and heating faster than the rest of the crust.

So how to get this blistering?  you would need very well developed gluten, to hold thin, fragile bubbles right on the surface.  You would need very gentle handling for the crust - resting and raising again might let your dough puff up again from rougher handling, but it would probably tend to be smaller bubbles and even puffing, not great surface ones.  And you would need very active yeast, to raise great bubbles on the surface.

How exactly you get these factors will depend on your recipe and your tolerance.  You might make your dough from a preferment or a series of them, so the yeasts have time to develop better and will be more active, or you might use more yeast in general to make the dough rise more quickly to form bigger, irregular bubbles instead of small even ones.  Kneading your dough better for good gluten development might help it trap the gas bubbles, even right on the surface.  You could try long, cold rises for your dough, which should develop gluten and yeast activity better than shorter, warm rises.  You might handle your dough very carefully around the edges, using your hands to stretch rather than a rolling pin or similar, to keep as much air trapped in the crust as possible.

You might just cheat, and pinch up knobs, slice flaps, or inject air into bubbles (with a syringe, maybe, I know they're available for injecting marinades) to artificially texture the surface of your crust with thinner or upraised areas that will brown and blacken quickly - which will get your your dark spots with probably less effort than reworking your dough texture, but may not get as much of the texture or taste you're looking for, that happens to go with your spots.  It's all up to you.


Finding good bamboo shoots I recently tried to make a soup recipe that called for bamboo shoots. I found some canned shoots from a local Asian supermarket and attempted to use those---but they were awful. They had a bitter, metallic taste from the can, and no other discernible flavor. I'm pretty sure that's not what bamboo shoots are supposed to taste like, but how can I find good ones?

I'm not asking for specific shopping recommendations, but more general advice.

Do frozen bamboo shoots exist? Are they better than canned?
Am I likely to find fresh bamboo shoots at the Asian market if I ask?
Is there some other recommendation for finding a good brand that I can use?

Fresh bamboo shoots are available at Asian markets but the quality control of those can vary greatly by market and turnaround (if you have a "reputable" one nearby like a Ranch99 I'd check them out).  They tend to be more tender and sweet than canned bamboo shoots.  It's worth a shot, though.  Ideally you'd be able to eat them straight without cooking.

However, in most general cases, I agree with TFD's comment.


Burning crumpet bottoms When I cook crumpets because the pan has to be so hot and the heat has to remain hot for the bubbles to form. How do I stop the bottom of the crumpets from burning?

The pan has to be hot, but this doesn't mean that it has to be the hottest setting you can get. There is a temperature at which you can get bubbles without burning them, you have to play around with the temperature until that happens.

Beside using the correct temperature - hot, but not unreasonably so - try getting a very smooth heat transfer. It works best with an iron pan. You should preheat it well, not at the highest temperature, but wait for a while at mid-high. An evenly heated iron pan will give all of your griddle cakes great surface without burning them, you only need the correct heat setting - quite high for crumpets and galettes, somewhat less for crepes, schmarrn and american pancakes. The worst thing you can use is an aluminum pan, I've never had good results in one of them despite their quick heat transfer. I suspect that they are just so heat conductive that their surface cools down when the cold dough hits them, so the major heat "border" is transferred just below the pan surface, instead of being just above the griddle cake surface, but I have no proof of that.

You can also try making them a bit thinner. A good strategy would be to make your dough somewhat wetter, so it will rise more in the pan, allowing you to have a somewhat thinner initial height for the same height in the end product. It will also make the crumpets somewhat softer.


Chicken on a Brinkmann Smoker N Grill I've been trying to smoke chicken for many days now, but the problem is that most of the time the chicken tastes like a match.

I've done everything, soaked the wood for a long time, cooked it with indirect heat with a pan of water in the middle. I have tried both wood chips and big pieces (soaked and dry) and, of course, all that with charcoal. Can anyone please advise me?

Sounds like you've may have two issues. Too much wood and incorrect expectations.

First it sounds like you've "oversmoked" your chicken. Depending on what kind of wood you use too won't need much for chicken (remember it's a lightly flavored meat.) try less wood next time.

Second that "ideal"temperature is great off you want pulled chicken but it will not do god things to the skin. Try either smoking at a higher temp for a shorter time, discarding the skin or finishing it on a grill.

Lastly if your meat had a bitter flavor it could be that you had live flames rather than embers as you smoked. Remember that you want to avoid flareups as much as possible.


How do I clean a pot after boiling eggs? After boiling 8 batches of eggs, how can I clean the build up of calcium off the bottom of the pot?

Put some water in the pot
Add vinegar or citric acid (whatever you can get your hands on more easily). (Sorry, I have no measurements, I always eyeball it. I guess up to 5% for vinegar is fine, or one or two teaspoons of citric acid depending on the pot-size...)
Heat to a rolling boil... (do NOT put your head over the pot to see it it works, especially when using vinegar)
After it has boiled for a minute, turn off the heat and let things cool down.
Rinse the pot
Enjoy the (hopefully) shiny pot :)


How to keep a cheesecake layer seperate from filling during baking? I want to make an (dutch) apple pie with a layer of cheesecake.
As far as I know I have a few options:

Bake a cheesecake, then simply add a layer of apples.
more or less like:

However this is not what I want.
Use a known recipe with a result like this:

Option 2 is exactly what I'm looking for and exactly the type of pie. I want to have crust on the bottom, sides, and top.
In the picture you can see what is to be expected. The layers will combine.
But I want to have a layer like option 1.
Is this at all possible without the layers combining during baking?
Apples on top seems to moisten the cheesecake layer too much, if they don't already sink to the bottom eventually.
Cheesecake on top might have the same issue, but less I guess.
I'm also not sure how the stripes of dough would hold up above this cheesecake layer.

Any tips on how to proceed or is this mission impossible?

Edit:
An example of a layer with some sort of merengue (with added starch), added before baking. To give a better picture of what I'm trying to achieve.

Hmm.... I'm not sure if this really deserves to be an answer, because I haven't done this specifically, but one thing that comes to mind is an Apple crumb cake I made from this recipe right here. Yes it says strawberry, but apples are if anything better.

The point is I think there is at least one thing you could try that might help without changing your exact recipe.

You could change the way you cut your apples, or at least part of them. If you slice the apples very thinly, you can layer them together to form a kind of platform, which can help to prevent uneven sinking/mixture. You could either stick to that method, which can lead to a very pretty, layered pinwheel presentation if there's no other topping, OR once you've got a decent layer of sliced apple to provide this platform, you could put the rest of the apples, in chunks, on top if you want that look to it. If you use the sliced apples, you will get a different texture though.

Beyond that, you'll have to modify your recipe. As a commenter stated, you need to consider things like density and surface tension. My suggestion above is a way of playing with surface tension--Less weight distributed across a broader surface means less sinking, but if your cheesecake batter is as liquid as my usual recipe is, it might not work regardless. If you switch to a simpler, denser recipe (possibly just by leaving out some or all of the cream), you should have no trouble regardless of how you cut/place your apples.

In the recipe I link, the cake batter and cream cheese layer are both very, very thick. This is what prevents a great deal of sinking/mixture and produces those pretty layers in the final product.

To sum up: Yes, I think this should be totally possible, but I can only offer suggestions, not actual experience with this precise cake here.

EDIT: Looking at the recipe, it already seems to be a fairly dense cheesecake-- no cream. The only liquid is one egg to hold things together, so you wouldn't need to change anything there, I don't think. The only reason there seems to be sinking and mixture is because of the way the apple is cut and the amount of it compared to the cheesecake. The apple layer is 1500+ grams, while the cheesecake layer is less than 1000. You'll still have to experiment, but I would think you could pretty easily cheat by using a thin layer of sliced apple.


Has anyone tried placing a steel plate in direct contact with the heating elements in an oven? I've been cooking pizzas at home almost every day for months now, I figured that was as good as they get and dare I say they are quite good.

Recently I had an opportunity to use an oldschool wood fired oven though and that thing could get HOT. I'm not sure how hot exactly since there was nothing I could use to measure the temperature but it could cook a pizza in around 2 minutes as opposed to the 20 minutes it takes at home in my electric oven.

I gotta say, the difference it makes in my usual pizza dough is huge, the ones I made weren't just good but sublime pizza excellence once I got the hang of it.

Now I know for sure that I need to get hotter at home too. I looked around for high temperature ovens but they are damn expensive around here so I figured I could maybe tweak my current oven.

The simplest idea I had was to place a steel plate in direct contact with the bottom heating rods and cook my pizza on that. I'm looking for a suitable plate right now but I'm curious, has anyone tried this? Did it make the required difference?

Using a baking stone is the more traditional approach than steel plate.

Here’s a video showing how to use a pizza stone.

There are some who say it doesn’t foo that much, though.

You can purchase them online or in store at many stores.


Cloves vs. Nutmeg in Chili Recipe I have a recipe that calls for a scant amount of cloves. Would nutmeg be a good substitute?

In my opinion, yes. Go easy, you can always add more, but you can't take it away.

I would actually grab nutmeg for chili long before I would consider cloves.


What is the difference between a gugelhupf pan, a bund(t) pan and a rodon pan? I searches around a bit and found that the same manufacturer often offers forms under all three names, so I don't think this is a synonym. Also, I found a forum thread (in German) suggesting that there is a difference, but not explaining the difference.

So, what is the difference between the three pans? Is it the proportions (height vs diameter vs inner cylinder diameter)

Gugelhupf:

Rodon:

Bund:

Wikipedia to the rescue.

Gugelhupf is the generic german name for Bundt which is how it's known in the USA.

Rödön is a village in Sweden where they claim to have invented the 'sandwich cake' (even though this cake doesn't seem to resemble the Bundt at all).

If you read the article about Bundt, you'll see that the designer took elements of Scandinavian pan designs, so there might be a relationship with Rödön.

In Dutch, these are called 'turban pastries' for the shape of the pan.
The German word Gugel means hood.


Can I carve up a suckling pig like you would an adult pig? I found this video of a butcher carving up a half adult pig (not gory) really interesting and would like to learn how to do this on my own.  However, I could never eat a whole adult pig.

Would a suckling pig have all the same cuts of meat that an adult would? I'm wondering for example if you'd still be able to make bacon from the meat, or if there just wouldn't be enough fat there.

A suckling pig would have the same cuts as an adult, but they would obviously be much smaller and thus fiddlier to butcher.

Wikipedia reports that suckling pig meat is also quite gelatinous, so you might take all the time to butcher the thing and end up with meat you don't want to eat.

You could always start with half a pig, since they are obviously symmetrical, joint it up and then freeze and/or give away the various cuts. Cuts like the belly could be cured, and other cuts could be ground/minced or turned into sausage.