Can fish stock be left simmering for a long time without damaging the flavor? After reading this question regarding how to make a Cantonese fish soup I was considering adding an answer expounding on the fact that fish stock shouldn't be left simmering for too long, or you'll get a "glue flavor" in your soup because of bad tasting compounds being released from the fish trimmings.

However, upon googling for some sources to validate my claim I came upon this article, which among other things claims that

  If no flat-fish bones are used, the stock can cook for four to six hours; this slow cooking extracts all the gelatin from the bones and makes a wonderful, rich broth.

Is it correct that it is only certain kinds of fish / fish trimmings which will create a bad tasting stock if left to simmer for too long? If so, are there any other kinds of fish than flat-fish which can create this bad taste?

I am a European trained chef. This is a very interesting question and there are quite a few answers. In my opinion and experience, the simmer time of a good fish stock is 100% based on the type of fish bones that you are developing the stock with. I remember asking the question many times on my travels through Europe and North Africa. I will share my preferred methods for a few species of fish.

Turbot, 20 minutes after it comes to the boil, bay leaf only in the stock.
Dover Sole, a full mirapoix, simmer for 30 minutes.
Salmon, bring to boil and shut off, a full mirapoix is needed
Northern Hake, 45 minutes full mirapoix
John Dory, 45 minutes full mirapoix, white wine may be added if desired.

I hope that helps you out. Regards.

Michael


Is there a difference between freezing meat at 26°F and 0°F? According to this answer, you are allowed to market turkeys as fresh as long as they haven't been frozen below 26°F. What is the purpose of this law/regulation?

Water freezes at 32F, but turkey contains more than just water. Alton Brown answers this question in his original turkey episode of Good eats. The meat freezes at 26F, so they can call it "fresh" if it's kept at say, 30F (below the freezing temp for water).
The USDA recognizes "frozen" for a turkey as having been brought down to 0F. Apparently the middle range is called "refrigerated" (frozen, but not quite as rock hard as a bird at 0F).
More information here.
Edit: The rules themselves make sense I think. At 30f your turkey meat isn't frozen. Now whether the transport and stores have it at 25f or 27f I don't know how strict they are. I could see turkeys crossing that 26f threshold because of human error.
Edit 2: As Ben pointed out. Surface ice is very likely as the bird itself is below the freezing point of water. Condensation will freeze on the surface as normal. It is the quality of the meat that is of concern.


What adjustments when doubling a cheesecake recipe? My cheesecake recipe calls for a 9 in pie dish. I want to double the recipe and bake in a single, glass 9.5 in pie dish. I make it about every year for Christmas, but last year I made a pumpkin cheesecake in a 9 in pan, and it called for 32oz of cream cheese. It was awesomely thick! I was just wanting a thicker cheesecake. The recipe states to bake at 325 F for 35 minutes. How should I adjust?

The original recipe is as follows:

1 c crushed ginger snaps
3 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
16 oz cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c sour cream
2 eggs
1 c apple pie filling
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c toffee pieces

Bake at 325 F for 35 minutes

At first, I was mislead by your "doubling" subject line ... which lead me to think of doubling an entire recipe.

Here's what I would do:

1 c crushed ginger snaps -- *no change*
3 Tbsp melted butter -- *no change*
Sugar 3/4 c.
16 oz cream cheese  -- *double*
2 tsp vanilla -- *double*
1/2 c sour cream  -- *2/3 cup* (almost double but not quite)
2 eggs  -- *3 eggs* (almost double but not quite)
1 c apple pie filling  -- *no change*
1/2 c chopped walnuts -- *no change*
1/2 c toffee piece -- *no change*

Then... pay special attention while baking. Bake to vicinity of original time, but monitor and change as needed because minor adjustment + or - time will be needed.

Also... keep good notes. That way you can repeat again, or come back here with Q's.


"Sludge" at the bottom of matcha/green tea latte When I get a green tea latte from Starbucks, the drink is uniformly mixed from top to bottom, no matter how long it takes me to drink it.
I prefer to make my matcha lattes at home, though, because its faster, cheaper, and better (both health and taste, as I prefer my lattes far less sweet than Starbucks makes them and I prefer to sweeten with honey) than running through the drive through every morning.  However, every morning, no matter how fast I drink my morning beverage, I wind up with a layer of green sludge at the bottom of my cup.
From what I can tell, the matcha is falling out of solution with the rest of the drink, despite being thoroughly mixed to start out.  I do wonder if it has something with the amount of sugar, or the use of water to dissolve the matcha in.  But since the whole thing comes together and tastes wonderful (until the last bit), I'm not sure.  The only way around it I've found so far is to stir the drink well before every sip, which is unnecessary with coffee house versions (as I've had them other places and do not recall winding up with sludge at the end of the drink) and annoying while I'm at work.
Why do my matcha lattes end in green sludge, and how can I fix it?  The green sludge at the end is bitter, thick, and unpleasant to drink, so I want to make my latte more like the ones from a coffee shop.
Recipe and method:

3/4 - 1 cup milk (depending on mug size), heated
1 slightly heaping teaspoon matcha powder
1 - 2 teaspoons honey
~1/8 cup hot water (a minute or two off the boil)
Force matcha through a sieve into mug to remove lumps, add hot water.
Blend (using electric whisk/milk frother) until dissolved.  Add honey,
blend again to dissolve.  Froth milk, then add to mug.  Blend to mix
milk and tea/honey mixture.  Drink.

If you are making your drink with real matcha, that matcha is very finely ground green tea leaves. There are parts of the tea leaves that will always be insoluble in water, and therefore eventually fall to the bottom and create this sludge to which you are referring. The only solutions to that issue would be either 1) filtering the solution to remove the insoluble solids or 2) allowing the insoluble solids to settle to the bottom and the decanting the beverage above that sludge into another container. Straining is not enough when you are dealing with very fine particles, as the openings in strainers would just allow those particles to pass right through.

If, however, you are not using real matcha and it is completely water soluble (maybe a freeze-dried preparation from brewed tea) there will be no sludge. I would suspect that Starbucks is not brewing green tea with real matcha for every serving.


Omiting salt in baking recipes that use chemical leaveners? I'm trying to reduce my salt intake.  I've noticed in baking recipes where baking powder is used they add salt.  Can I omit the salt or would the recipe fail?

I completely agree with Cascabel's answer. I do want to add a bit.

Salt is an amazing flavor enhancer and most (sweet) baked goods use very little (1/4 to 1 tsp) considering that most of the recipes make 12-24 servings (more for cupcakes/cookies etc)  but it does make a difference. Most baked desserts gain quite a bit from having the added salt... and they don't even have to be baked.

Even in things like buttercream frosting, adding a little salt greatly helps to balance the overwhelming sweetness of the frosting and makes it more palatable to adults. All of my favorite buttercream recipes have a small amount of salt.

Anyway, removing the salt won't cause the recipe to fail... I'm sure I've accidentally omitted it several times in the past when I'm in a rush to get stuff in the oven... it can just make the flavors not as strong or remove some of the flavor contrast, so things can taste a bit flatter.


Are bay leaves dangerous to (unwittingly) eat? When I first started working as a cook, I was instructed in no uncertain terms to only use whole bay leaves when cooking so that when the leaves were removed, still whole, one could be sure that no pieces had broken off and remained in the stew (or whatever).

I was told that eating dried bay leaves was akin to eating broken glass in their potential effects on the digestive system.

Yet, just the other day I was eating a rabbit pie and I discovered a whole bay leaf in it. I asked the server, and she said that it was common practice for that restaurant to leave bay leaves in situ.

I guess they can't be that bad for you if restaurants can serve them hidden in the middle of a pie?

There is no reason to worry. The worst thing which can happen is that a piece of bay leaf, being somewhat hard, can lodge somewhere in your digestive system, necessitating a trip to ER. But a medical paper on the topic starts its discussion section with the sentence "Reports discussing ingestion of bay leaves have been exceedingly scant". They only cite 10 references in the period 1950-1990, and most of these are general studies of foreign bodies in the esophagus, not specific studies of bay leaf ingestion.

Given how often bay leafs must find their ways into people's digestive systems (they feature in our food), it is safe to conclude that only a tiny fraction of ingested bay leafes cause problems, else there would be more studies mentioning such cases. The same is true for side effects different from mechanical obstruction: if this had happened, somebody would have published it.

The paper I mentioned is "Bay Leaf Impaction in the Esophagus and Hypopharynx" by Stephen K. Buto, MD; Tat-Kin Tsang, MD; Gerald W. Sielaff, MD; Laurie L. Gutstein, MD; and Mick S. Meiselman, MD. Sadly, it isn't freely available (I could read the full text because my uni has a subscription).

I guess that if you are working as a cook, your workplace may decide that even if the chance for a customer choking on a bay leaf is something like one in a million, they'd rather instill removing bay leaves from dishes as a policy. Probably prudent, although there are more important risks to care about.


Is shime saba safe for 2 days only? I have read various recipes for making shime saba, the pickled mackerel commonly found in sushi restaurants. All of these recipes require starting with a fresh caught fish and recommend keeping for at most 2 days refrigerated.

This sounds potentially difficult to do for restaurants. Is there an alternative method for doing this (whether under home or commercial conditions)? Is it possible to extend the shelf life, or can no more than 2 days pass from catching to eating for it to conform to safety rules?

I did some more additional research on this question and what I found out was that in the US all raw seafood is frozen due to FDA recommendations. The FDA rules are only recommendations, but the restaurants nearly all follow them, because of legal liability. In other words, if somebody got sick and the restaurant did not follow FDA "recommendations" it could open them up to a law suit.

There are two basic types of freezing. In high-end restaurants they use nitrogen flash-freezing, although this style is becoming more common even among common purveyors. In lower end restaurants or supermarkets, the fish is frozen with dry ice down to -5 F or below and kept that way for at least a week. This will kill parasites such as anasikiasis.

Once the fish is deep frozen and sealed from sublimation, it will last essentially forever, so the sushi you are eating in a restaurant might actually be months or even years old. To thaw it, it is soaked in water. Once it is thawed, it has to be prepared immediately.

In Japan freezing is less common and the most high-end restaurants serve fresh fish. This does result in a significant number of cases of parasite problems in humans.


My milk kefir molded.. What should I do I put my dehydrated kefir grains in one cup fresh whole milk and after 24 hours I change the milk and rainse the grains. But after three days they become molded. Befor this I put my kefir grains in near spoild milk and its color turned out with a bad smell so I threw them away.. What should I do now? Should I throw both the milk and the grains away?

The only safe thing to do is to throw it away. Preferably with a bottle or jar it is in, if you don't care for it. If you want to keep that jar, use dishwasher on it's hottest setting. I would also use sanitizers, but I have them readily available in my kitchen due to beer brewing. You can probably go without them.

Seriously, mold is really hard to get rid of, and it will get on other things in your fridge quite happily if you let it. Get rid of it as soon as possible.

To address what you didn't ask but probably should have, if spoil problems are common in your kitchen, it's time to clean it thoroughly, and then use some no-rinse sanitizers on it. Mold spores can stay in what appears a clean kitchen, too. And it never hurts to sanitize your fermentation jar and tools you use. Better safe than sorry! And it wouldn't be nice to have more failures.


What are some vegan thickeners for beverages? I need a vegan thickener that dissolves well and doesn't have any flavor. I tried tapioca flour the other day and it didn't dissolve very well and left a powdery mouthfeel. Cornstach is not bad. Arrowroot seems to work like cornstarch but it seems like you need more arrowroot to do the same job as cornstarch.

I'm specifically looking for answers involving personal experience with hot and cold beverages - not a list of thickeners I can find online. Hot chocolate and chai are two drinks that I've been doing with non-dairy milk but I would like a creamier, thicker mouthfeel like you'd get from whole milk or cream.

I'm aware of xanthan gum, agar agar and carrageenan, but they're all relatively expensive so I have not personally tried any of them. Personal experience with those would be cool. I really like this Bolthouse Farms cold chai protein drink, which is vegan and lists carrageenan as an ingredient, so I was thinking about trying to get some of that. Also guar gum? Cellulose gum?

Xanthan gum may be more expensive than you like, but consider that you so VERY LITTLE of it that it will last a long, long time. There's a reason why it's used in industrial production so much, I think -- it's very cost effective.


How can I use bitter or hard water for cooking and specially in soaking beans? How can I use hard water (with a bitter taste) for cooking and especially to soak dry beans.

Normally beans do not soak well in hard (bitter) water. In that case, what should I do?

In most countries, hard water is caused by Calcium and Magnesium Carbonates.

These can be easily removed by using an ion-exchange apparatus (best results) or can be converted by adding an acid to the water.  In the case of vinegar:

  2 CH3COOH + CaCo3 → Ca(CH3COO)2 + CO2 + H2O

So the Calcium is not gone: it's just converted to Calcium Acetate but that is much more soluble in water than carbonate, so it'll seem softer.

The same is true for MgCO3.

How much vinegar and how long does this take?

Overnight should do the trick unless you live on one of the poles.  ;-)
How much??? I cannot tell you over the Internet so experiment:

Start with 20 drops per Litre
Use less if that's satisfactory until it becomes unsatisfactory.
then go back up one drop and that amount will be the best volume for your water...


Starch accumulating as sediment during shallow fry Since I was shown how to make tatsutaage (a particular type of Japanese fried chicken with grated ginger in the marinade), I've been tweaking things in the recipe here and there, and this week have arrived at one that produces results I'm very happy with. The only problem is that the starch I coat the chicken with before frying it is accumulating as a thin layer of sediment in the oil which after a while starts to smoke, forcing me to pause, dispose of the oil, wipe everything down, then begin the process from scratch to finish, making the whole process far more time consuming--not to mention impractical for serving big groups that require several batches.

Here's the gist of the process: chicken thighs are sliced into pieces roughly 25 sq. cm on the smooth outward face, and about 2 to 3 cm thick. These are marinaded for 2 to 3 hours in a blend of usukuchi, koikuchi, tamari, sake, mirin, and grated ginger. I place a cast-iron skillet on medium-high heat and put about 1.5 cm worth of light olive oil (dat higher smoke point), and when the oil reaches 120C, I start adding the chicken.

The chicken is tossed in tapioca flour and lightly shaken of excess, then placed in the skillet, flipped once, then removed when internal temperature reaches 74C and placed on a plate with paper to let extra oil drain off.

The issue is that because the starch isn't clumped together in any significant way, the excess coming off is not even visible in the oil until it accumulates at the bottom, by which point it has browned and shortly after, things start to smoke. I am confident it is not the oil I use, as I monitor temperature closely and use a significantly lower temperature for this shallow fry than I do for the deep fry method I initially used, which did not cause the oil to smoke.

Any suggestions for managing this that don't require me to stop everything in its tracks, clean up, and then wait for a cast iron skillet full of oil to get back up to temperature before I can finish a batch?

Its your temp. The high temp of your deep fryer is exactly why your starches are staying put. Why did you choose a cooler temp for your shallow frying?


Thawing vacuum-packed fish I purchased vacuum-packed Flounder and the individual wrapped filets bear the following statement:
Must remove from packaging before thawing. Do not refreeze.

Now, "do not refreeze" is straightforward.  We were taught in grade school, don't re-freeze meat or food poisoning can result.
Does "must remove from packaging before thawing" have a similarly health-oriented cause?  Or is it simply less damaging to the filet to remove it from vacuum-packing while it's frozen?  This advice is contrary to the simplicity and neatness of thawing the fish while it's still vacuum-packed.
My question is, is there a health-related reason not to thaw it while still in the vacuum-pack?

Typically the plastic used for vacuum packed food is polyethylene, which has a low melting point, depending on the plastic it could be as low as 110°C, or 230°F. Once it melts you have liquid plastic on your food with the nasty flavors and potential health concerns.
The big thing here is microwaving can very quickly cause the plastic to reach that temperature (actually it raises the food to that temperature which heats the plastic), but explaining the dos and don'ts is complex so they just make a blanket statement so they can't be blamed if something goes wrong. In reality you can safely thaw fish in the plastic using any method you want as long as you are careful not to reach that temperature. If you microwave thaw do it on low and check it often to make sure you aren't overheating it.
Regarding re-freezing I won't cover it here as there's already a very good question and answer on this site here. The short answer is refreezing can be done safely as long as it's within certain parameters.


Make a buttery sauce less oily There is a sauce that I make that uses browned butter as its base. I love the taste but it just feels incredibly oily.

Is there anything I can add that will fix some of the oil feel or is there a different base for the sauce I can use that will taste similar but not be as oily?

Edit: Ingredients and approximate amounts -

1/2 c Salted Butter - Browned
1/2 lb Shiitake Mushroom
1/2 Yellow Onion
2-3 Cloves Garlic
Pinch Thyme
Pinch Oregano
Soy Sauce and Lemon Juice to taste (approx. 1-2 tsp each)

This is added to ~3/4 lb pasta. I have tried adding more pasta, but that just dilutes the taste. I need some way to keep the same pasta/sauce ratio while reducing the sauce's greasiness.

You want emulsification.

Emulsification is the breaking up a fat and dispersing it into a liquid (or vice versa, dispersing a liquid in a fat). A classic example of an emulsification, also known as an emulsion, is mayonnaise.

There are at least two good ways you can emulsify your brown butter, soy sauce, and lemon juice. One way is called shearing, which is just what it sounds like. You're basically cutting off slices of droplets, making them smaller and smaller. The smaller the microdroplets, the more stable the emulsion. You can accomplish a short-lived but great textured emulsion with just energetic whisking of your liquid and fat ingredients. You can make the micro-droplets even smaller and your emulsion more stable by using a blender or immersion blender.

A second thing you can do to bind your liquid and fat ingredients into a much firmer and more stable emulsion is to add an emulsifier, an egg yolk being a very solid candidate for the job. Energetically whisk in about half of an egg yolk while slowly bringing the cool sauce to just above perfect serving temperature. If you like where the sauce is going, and would like it to be even more like that, temper, then add the other half of the yolk. Mustard is pretty effective too, for a different flavor.


How to keep cream cheese for a long time? I discovered that I can buy cream cheese at 1/4 the price per pound, but only if I buy it as a solid 10 cm x 10 cm x 40 cm brick. Assuming I only eat 1/10th of this brick per week, is there any way I can store it so it does not go moldy in the meantime?

The "best before" date is usually way out. Cut it in slices that you will use within a week. Still Tasty recommends that you use opened, refrigerated cream cheese within a couple of weeks. Very well packed (well wrapped or preferably vacuum packed) cream cheese really should last longer than that. I'd try for keeping a month's worth, refrigerated, in well wrapped packages that you won't open until the last one is gone. Freeze the rest. Frozen, it will lose some creaminess, but will still be good in cooked applications. Again, Still Tasty is a bit (IMO) overly conservative. They suggest (for quality only, not safety), keeping opened cream cheese in the freezer for only two months. I'd allow at least three, if not four. Of course it will stay safe in the freezer indefinitely. In the fridge, just watch for mold, toss the whole thing if it develops mold. You can't just cut off the moldy parts like you can on hard cheese.

EDIT: Just FYI, some places in the US that sell the 48 ounce brick also sell 50 count, 1 ounce packages. Quite a deal for less than $2 more, epecially if the sell-by date is well out. (This picture is from Sam's Club, but I think the other big warehouse store carries the small packs too.)


What is the difference between genoise sponge and victoria sponge? Just wanted to find out the differences between Genoise sponge and Victoria sponge. In particular, I was interested to find out which one turns out softer.

Here are the 2 recipes for comparison.

Genoise sponge - http://eugeniekitchen.com/chocolate-swiss-roll/

Victoria sponge - http://utry.it/2013/11/decorated-coffee-swiss-roll-with-step.html

The Victoria sponge recipe has you mix the egg white (albumen) mixture separately from the yolk mixture and then fold them, while the Genoise sponge has you beat the eggs whole. I was under the impression that the Victoria sponge method would turn out a much softer sponge because of how much air is worked into the whites. Is that true?

If I recall correctly the differences are slight, but significant.

Both have a subtle, delicate flavour with an exceptionally light texture.
The Victorian is usually regarded as the healthier, lighter of the two, but I believe this is mostly due to the Génoise usually being rendered as a layer cake with a lavish buttercream filling, though if I remember right it can also be used as a base for madeleines and ladyfingers. The Victorian can be baked thin and carefully rolled with cream for Swiss rolls.
The main difference is the Victorian slices disorderly and 'crumby' while the Génoise retains its form neatly.
Both are accompanied well by, and are traditionally served with hot beverages namely tea and coffee.

The Italian creation is undecidedly the more complex one to prepare.

You're right about separating the egg whites and beating them separately aerating the mixture further, but I'm not certain if it would make a noticeable difference in case of sponge cakes but I'd love it if someone could comment on this.


Did I store these potatoes incorrectly (found a bug inside)? I have a 3 pound bag of 'Idaho' brand potatoes that I bought a few weeks ago. They all looked good (firm and no sprouts) when I went to get them the other day except for one. This one had a white patch on it about 2 centimeters in diameter, and then a small red insect just crawled out of it! It was about a centimeter in length and was very dark red in color.

So my questions were:

Have I been storing these incorrectly? I have them in a kitchen cabinet since that is the darkest place I have and left them in their original bag.
Is it safe to eat the other potatoes? I threw the one in question out, but I am wondering if it's a good idea to throw the others out as well.

Potatoes and the plants foliage are a feast for a lot of insects, some good some not so good, but as far as I'm aware none that will do you any harm. As bmargulies said, don't worry overly about it.

If you're 'really' interested, you can take a look at this site, see if you can spot your 'badguy' :)

Potato Homepage


Do other ingredients in brines penetrate the meat? I always thought, that only salt is able to penetrate deep into the meat.

However, there are many brine recipes, calling for additional falvors to be added.

How can they penetrate the meat, if only salt can penetrate the meat?

I also recently found the following question: How deeply will the flavors in a brine penetrate chicken?

The answer argues, that some flavours can indeed penetrate the meat, however food color can not.

So which one is it, is marinade a surface treatment only, or do other ingredients apart from salt also penetrate the meat, and if yes which ones?

Good Eats describes what happens in a brine very well

Essentially, the thing that penetrates the meat is water. Because water is a solvent it can carry things with it into the meat. Salt and sugar are the two most common ingredients in a brine. Salt is required and sugar dissolves really easily in water and adds complexity to the flavor profile. But you can add anything that will be carried by the water into the meat. If your brine isn't penetrating your meat past the surface you aren't doing it right.


How to reproduce beef flavor & texture I love beef, but as a food source it is decidedly problematic: even aside from the ethical concerns of eating animals at all, farmed cattle are environmental disasters on hooves, and red meat just isn't that good for you.

Unfortunately nothing quite romances my tastebuds the way beef does. I find myself straying away from my half-hearted exclusive relationships with wholesome chicken chicken breast and vegetarian options and having mouthwatering but unhealthy affairs with beef. Perhaps achieving a similar gustatory experience with non-beef foods will help me cut down on my beef cravings, so I'm here for some help. How can I break up with beef but not the beefiness?

I'm looking for suggestions for how to prepare other foods so that they substantially reproduce the flavors and meaty qualities that set beef apart. Substitutes can be other meats, preferably those both healthier and less environmentally harmful to raise, as well as vegetarian options.

My ultimate personal target for this question is the transcendental experience of eating a medium-rare loin cut (e.g., tenderloin, NY strip, or sirloin), i.e., beef-flavorful, umami, lean, smooth-textured, and tender-- but still with a little substance to sink my teeth into (the mignon can even be too soft for my preference).

However, I hope this post can be broader than that and cover beef products in general, in order to be helpful for a range of dishes, recipe adaptations, and stricter dietary substitutions.* For that reason, for each suggestion please try to identify specifically what characteristics of beef your substitution achieves and why. Food science is welcome!

How can I reproduce beefiness, especially flavor and texture, with other foods?

*For those interested, check out some of the many related questions out there:

How to reproduce meat flavor? (vegetarian)

How can I reproduce "gamey" flavor?

Substituting different cuts of beef for each other ("Beef parts interchangeability")

If you are loving cows in particular, because they are nice and give us milk, you could substitute some other hooved animal.

I cannot really tell the difference between farmed bison and beef.  You can get bison meat in a lot of grocery stores now.
Venison or elk can be ordered from specialty groceries and also have that serious meat taste.  Or maybe you know a hunter?  Or maybe you can become a hunter!  There are too many deer in a lot of places and it is a waste to just have them get hit by cars.  Some localities are practically begging hunters to come and help with the excess deer.
Goaty goaty goat meat is arguably the most environmentally sound big quadruped meat.  Goat curry Jamaican style is awesome and now I have a serious goat jones.  Thanks.
Horse meat is hard to come by in the U.S. but apparently polish horse meat was called beef and fed to British people and they were happy until they found out.  You would think after mad cow they would be happy for a beef substitute.
I had camel meat once in Australia.  It is very much red meat with a serious meat taste.  I see you can order camel meat in the states.  I am thinking of all these camel is the best solution for you.


Mixed instant and cook and serve pudding Mixed cook and serve and instant pudding into dessert ingredients but didn't realize until dessert completed.  Is it safe to eat uncooked cook and serve pudding?

If you are interested in food safety alone, there is no problem. You might get a bit of a "starchy" or "floury" taste, but not necessarily so. The main ingredients are some kind of starch, sugar or other sweeteners, flavour and possibly some additives. None would pose a problem if eaten raw.

But the real issue is that the texture of your dessert may be off:
The main ingredient in an old-fashioned pudding mix is starch. That starch needs to be heated to gelatinize or, in other words, to thicken the liquid. To achieve good gelatinization, you need to boil the starch for a few minutes.  For instant pudding, the starch is pre-treated and often other thickeners are included, so you can skip the cooking step.

Depending in the recipe, using the type of pudding that needs to be cooked instead of instant, will likely result in a more liquid or soft dish. As you don't give the recipe you used, it's hard to say, how much it depends on the pudding for consistency, so you could end up with anything between a total failure and perfectly fine.


Does oil boil just like water does? When one heats oil in a pan, there comes a time when it starts boiling (bubbles coming up) just like water.

Now I know that water bubbles are formed to the the increase in the K.E of molecules and thus the breakage intermolecular forces.
Does the same happen with oils?

Oil does boil like water, at least in theory, but in practice you should never see oil boil during cooking. The temperatures cooking oils will boil at is much higher than their smoke points. You never want to heat oil to (or above) its smoke point as - aside from generating smoke - it also has a big negative effect on the flavour of the oil and will spoil whatever you're trying to cook.

Even worse, as you heat oil beyond its smoke point you run the risk of reaching its flash point, where the oil can catch fire. A fire which can easily get out of control and result in a disaster. So if you see oil smoking in your pan you want to immediately turn down the heat, not just so you don't ruin your meal, so you don't risk ruining your kitchen.

Finally the bubbling you see when frying things in oil isn't the oil boiling. It's water vapour from whatever you're cooking. Since when frying the temperature of the oil is significantly higher than the boiling point of water, any water the hot oil comes into contact will turn into vapour.


When should I add proofed yeast to a bread machine? I like to use proofed yeast when making bread. I want to use a bread machine but all
the recipes call for adding dry yeast to the dry ingredients before adding the liquid.  Since proofed yeast is basically a solution of water and dry yeast, when and where should it be added to the ingredients?

It depends on why your bread machine is having you keep your yeast dry:

If it's because you're putting a bunch of ingredients in the night before and setting the machine to have bread ready for breakfast (e.g., on a delay), then you have to use dry yeast. The yeast needs to stay dry so it doesn't start growing until the machine is ready to start.
If its because the machine does a preheat cycle to warm up the flour/water/etc. before mixing, then add in the proofed yeast when mixing is about to start. That also means you'll probably want to wait until shortly before that to proof your yeast.
If its just to make mixing easier, then combine it with the wet ingredients instead.

Remember to count the water/sugar/etc. from proofing the yeast as part of the total in the dough (e.g., if you proof in 100g of water, add 100g less water than the recipe calls for).


Safe pH range (acid vs base) for food One of my molecular cookbooks goes into the use of acidity / alkalinity in cooking. What it doesn't describe is what safe pH values are that you can still serve food at.

Note: I am not looking for danger or 'cooking at the edge'. I'm a chemical engineer by training and won't be likely to mess this up, and yes, I'd have access to litmus paper or similar tools.

If the 'safe' range is broader than a (commonly) accepted range where food still tastes good, that'd obviously be good to know as well.

According to this neat chart on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PH_Scale.svg

Lemon juice is around 2, and baking soda around 9. Our digestive juices are around a 1, so it's probably safe to go a bit less than 2, but you wouldn't enjoy it. Baking soda is 9, and milk of magnesia is 10...both of which are safe to consume in small quantities, but I wouldn't want to serve a dish in that range.

So...I'd probably stick with 2-9 as an acceptable safe range. As far as taste goes, we're not really wired to enjoy the taste of alkaline. Between 2 and 7 (acid to neutral) is the tasty range.


How long can I keep a dessert out of the fridge? Recently an uncle of mine taught me how to make Γαλακτομπούρεκο, which contains eggs and milk. When I asked him how many hours after it is baked should I put it the fridge, he said that it is Ok for a couple of days out of fridge.

But I'm not really sure, since it contains milk and eggs, like I said. So, how long is a dessert like this good for out of fridge without it getting bad?

Since it is a custard, you should probably refrigerate it as soon as it is cool.

A very sugary or acidic custard may be able to resist bacteria for a couple days (see Bismark donuts), but unless the recipe was specifically developed to be stable at room temperature, then there is some risk of it going bad.

If you have a fridge, there's no reason not to use it.  It may make the dough a little soggy, so you will want to find a way to store it to reduce condensation.

Better yet, make just as much as you are going to eat/serve at one time, and don't worry about this problem.

Link 1 (search for custard on page)

Link 2 (about pies, see portion on Custard pies)


How to keep baked meringue from shrinking away from pie crust? I've tried this three times now, but have not yet had success.
When making pies like chocolate cream pie or lemon pie and topping them with meringue, after baking said meringue it inevitably shrinks and pulls away from the pie crust, in cases becoming somewhat loose over the pie filling.
These pies are using unbaked filling, in that I'm pre-baking the crust and then adding the filling afterwards (for instance, custard that is cooked on the stove and then poured over the cooled pie crust).
I should note that I am not using the unstable French meringue, and have come to this situation using both Swiss and Italian meringues.
The last couple of times I have paid extra attention to spreading the meringue all the way to the pie crust, 'anchoring' it to try and avoid shrinkage.

Is it wrong to let the filling cool before adding and baking the meringue?

This has generally been my process, but checking some recipes around most do not seem to indicate that these steps can or should be taken separately (as opposed to, say, topping a pie with whipped cream).
I often cool the pie (filling and all), occasionally even overnight, leaving the meringue topping to be made, spread and baked the next day.
EDIT:
I made a coconut chocolate cream pie with meringue topping.
This time, I prepared the meringue, then immediately prepared the chocolate filling, then immediately poured the still-hot cream onto the pie crust and leveled it, then immediately spread the meringue over the hot filling and anchored it to the pie crust edges, then immediately baked it.
I should note that I spread the meringue far to the edge of the pie crust.
The meringue still shrunk as it cooled and was subsequently refrigerated, at points pulling away from the pie crust.
However, it is not so visually dramatic, I guess because I had spread it farther outwards.
The big win though is that the meringue is not loose on the pie filling in this situation.
It feels securely anchored to the filling and cuts without wobbling or sliding around.

Meringue will shrink when it's cooked, there's no way to avoid that.
There are two common options for dealing with that:

A very thick layer, such that as it shrinks, it's still big enough. (Think of the pies that have a two inch thick slab of meringue)
Less connected, more complex shapes, such that as they shrink, they don't all add up to a change that pulls it apart (think of pies with many nicely formed dollups like https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/02/d8/43/02d84386535246553b3f4e8463e3047e.jpg )


Heating part baked baguettes in lid-covered pyrex Short question (TL;DR)
Is it possible to heat part baked baguettes (or part baked bread in general) in the oven, but keeping it inside a pyrex container with a lid? If yes, is there any change in baking time? (without the lid it would be 8-10 minutes) Would the baguette taste differently or would it be less crispy if baked like this?
I provide details and also motivation below (just to anticipate questions like "why don't you bake it normally?").
Details and motivation
Because of hygienic and health reasons I would prefer to put only containers with a lid in the oven, as the previous flatmates misused it and now even after professional cleaning there are still traces of potentially toxic black dust and I don't want it to fly over my food when heating it.
But regarding part baked baguettes, there is no information on the web about whether it is possible to bake them in a lid-covered pyrex container. I also looked for more general information about baking bread in pyrex, but the existing recipes usually say to use a lid for some time and then to remove the lid and put back bread in the oven for some other time, which would not work for me.
What a part baked baguette is
@Max A part baked baguette, also known as bake-at-home baguette, is a baguette which is already partially baked but still needs further 8-10 minutes baking at home in order to taste like freshly-baked bread. It is usually very long-lasting if its package is not opened (it may last for months) and it does not need to be refrigerated.
This is an example of part baked baguettes.

I would expect the cooking time to increase significantly, and the texture to be very different (probably not very baguette-like. To mitigate this, you could preheat the pyrex container (put it in the cold oven, turn the oven on, and leave a few minutes after the oven claims to have heated up). I would also look for a way to ventilate the lid, like a wooden spoon sticking out.


What is the best temperature to roast a spatchcock chicken? From your own personal experience, what was the best temperature and time it took to roast a whole chicken in the oven? Im doing a spatchcock. I want to know what temperature worked best for you to obtain the best result.

Thanks!

I use a fairly high heat of 500F (260C) to render fat and crisp skin (after chicken has been air drying in the refrigerator overnight). Most of the time, for me, a whole chicken takes about an hour and 15 minutes.  Depending on size, a spatchcocked bird will take about an hour.  Use a thermometer to gauge your preferred doneness.


Can I coat a very soft cake with royal icing before I cover with fondant? Im preparing a very soft tender cake for covering with fondant. I need it to be really smooth but I also don't want the icing to be too heavy on the cake. I'm not familiar with ganache can I use a coating of royal icing?

I don’t know that I’d suggest it
There are a few variations on royal icing, and many of them set quite hard.  This would be a problem for fondant coating, as you want the buttercream layer to act as a mastic to adhere the fondant to the cake
If the cake is especially soft, you’re not going to be able to use smoothing tools without crushing the cake
You might be able to use royal icing on the top of the cake if you use a ‘flood fill’ technique. I’d actually do it in two layers:  pipe a ring of stiff icing around the edge of the cake, then flood with royal icing and let it firm up. When you’re ready to apply the fondant, flood again and then set you fondant on the cake
By doing this, I hope that the first fondant layer will act to distribute force to a wider area, and the second wet layer acts as the mastic and deforms if you press too hard
To deal with the possibility of this being too sweet, you can use lemon juice in your royal icing to counter some of the sweetness


Substitution for hoisin sauce I'm making chicken lo mien and I"m out of hoisin sauce. Is there a substitute for hoisin sauce? Can I replace it with sesame oil?

Sounds like you don't want to go to a store, so if you're stuck with what you have on hand, probably soy sauce and sugar are as close as you'll get. It won't be thick, but it'll at least have the umami, salty, sweet taste. You could thicken it with corn starch or even flour if the liquid volume is a problem.

Beyond that, the flavor depends on the specific variety, but you might want a little chili and garlic if you have it, and possibly five spice. See also the Wikipedia page on hoisin sauce, which lists some common ingredients.

(Sesame oil doesn't really sound similar at all.)


Can I par-bake French bread? According to this website, to par-bake bread, you must

Bake as usual, but cut the time by 1/4 ... The goal is to completely bake the bread internally to a temperature of 185 degrees without browning it at all on the outside. Once it's reached that internal temp, take it out.
Let the bread cool to room temperature..., put it in a plastic bag [and freeze] until later.

And to finish it,

Preheat the oven with the cast-iron skillet inside. Boil 2 cups of water. When you put the bread in, pour the boiling water into the skillet. ... Bake for 20 minutes or so, until the loaf turns brown.

My French bread recipe calls for baking for 15 minutes at 550°F, and the point is to bake the crust quite quickly. Is there a method for par-baking a traditional baguette? Should I make the dough as usual but do a short, low-temp, relatively dry par-bake, then when I am ready to completely bake, then do the high-temp, high-humidity baking step?

I've never tried doing this with crusty bread myself (I've only par-baked rolls and such), so my answer is not based on personal experience, but rather what I know about the theory of par-baking, along with advice from Michel Suas in Advanced Bread and Pastry where he describes par-baking (pp. 163-167).

Anyhow, the brief answer is that you should basically do what your link in the question suggests: initially bake as usual, but cut roughly 25% off the baking time.  You should be able to get away with around 180F as minimum internal temperature, since the gluten structure should be stable at that point.  But you might need to experiment.  Ideally, the best par-baked results come when the bread is baked just until the structure is set and won't collapse during cooling.

Since you bake at such a high temperature, you might consider lowering it just a bit to avoid early browning, but I would NOT recommend a "low-temp" par-bake.  That would inhibit proper oven spring.  I also would NOT recommend a "dry" par-bake -- assuming you already use moisture during your standard baguette bake -- since adding moisture to your oven in the first 10 minutes or so does at least five things: (1) it inhibits early browning, (2) moist air transfers heat faster, so it enhances oven spring, and (3) it keeps the crust soft and moist for a few more minutes, which delays hard crust formation and thus allows even more oven spring, (4) keeping the crust at a lower temperature for longer also allows increased enzyme activity which will ultimately enhance browning during the final bake, and (5) it helps create an attractive shiny exterior in the final crust.

Michel Suas recommends high-heat par-baking for small or thin loaves (as in your case).  If you're having trouble getting the interior up to temp before browning occurs, you might consider either reducing your bake temp slightly (I'd perhaps try 450F or so rather than 550F) or venting your oven a bit after the first half of the bake to lower the temperature rapidly, and let the interior come to 180+F in the lower oven.  (Suas recommends this high-temp then low-temp approach particularly for larger loaves.  So if you wanted to make larger crusty "French bread" rather than baguettes, that might be more relevant.)

Basically, what you want to end up with at the end of a par-bake is a loaf that's exactly the size and shape of a finished loaf, with all the finished internal texture.  The only thing that needs to be completed is browning.  If you have inferior oven spring or internal structure during the par-bake, it will remain in the finished loaf.

You may have to experiment a bit with the re-heating step, but high heat and steam (to prevent moisture loss) are both generally useful.  Michel Suas also suggests baking on a perforated sheet pan rather than a hearth to avoid an excessively thick and hard bottom crust.

However, if you're concerned about bread quality for par-baking, what happens between the bakes is also very important.  Par-baked bread needs to be cooled to room temperature without excessive drying out (no fans or breezes around, since it's more vulnerable to moisture loss without sufficient crust).  And then it needs to be frozen as quickly as possible if you plan to store it longer than a day or two.  Any excess time spent in the range below room temperature and above freezing will degrade final quality and cause staling.

By the way, the reason I personally haven't tried par-baking with crusty breads is that I've read stories online of people who have tried it with somewhat inferior results.  It likely could work well for a baguette that you intend to heat and eat within one sitting while it's still a bit warm.  But without the commercial processes for handling (e.g., blast chillers to freeze bread as quickly as possible between bakes), the sense I get is that the bread produced at home just isn't as good after the final bake, particularly after it cools.  It can stale faster and the crust just isn't the same as a fresh-baked loaf.

This thread, with people who have actually tried par-baking and compared it to other methods, suggests the much easier approach of simply (1) bake loaf as usual, (2) freeze, (3) thaw at room temperature for a few hours or overnight, and (4) refresh crust by heating at ~325F for a few minutes.  I've done this too, and the result is very good.  And no worries about modifying recipes or gambling with getting the right doneness when finishing.


Why is a pressure canner needed when canning? I keep reading the same tip, when it comes to preserves, which essentially is:

Botulism spores can survive 100°C and require hotter than boiling water temperature.

Source: https://www.thespruceeats.com/boiling-water-bath-versus-pressure-canning-1327438

What I don't understand is, why a waterbath in my oven set to 150°C is insufficient to achieve this effect? Or simply a water bath on the stove?

What stops me from heating the content of the jar to above 100°C without a pressure cooker?

Physics stops you from heating up liquids that consist of mostly water to temperatures above (roughly) 100 C.

The temperature of your heating element can be set higher, but neither the temperature of the water bath nor the liquid in your jars can go higher than the boiling point where water changes from liquid to vapor  - which is 100 C at normal pressure 1. To raise the temperature, you have to increase the pressure, so that the new boiling point is at or above the temperature required for safe canning. A pressure cooker may be suitable for the purpose, provided the model is designed for the specific pressure and allows setting/reading the specific pressure or alternatively, temperature. Pressure canners on the other hand are specifically designed for that purpose and marketed as such.

——

1 Note that 100 C is correct only at sea level and given a few more constraints. At higher altitudes the boiling point may be significantly lower. For the answer here, 100 C is close enough. (Or far enough from safe canning temperatures for non-acidic items.)


How to prepare rice in a very real emergency - no boiling (no electricity or alternatives)? Earthquakes and typhoons are as plentiful as rice where I live.

The power distribution system is incredibly sturdy here and power outages tend to be managed well, though they happen.

Many people keep a nice supply of rice on hand, but only have electricity for cooking and have no access to gas. For these people (me included) if there is an extended power outage, the main source for calories (rice) can not be cooked.

In the very unlikely situation where no way to boil water is available, is there any possible, known way one could prepare dried rice so that it could be safely eaten for its nutritional value?

note: I understand that one could build a fire, but really that's impractical in large apartment buildings.

Do not eat raw rice, you might get very ill. From LiveStrong:

  Lectin is a protein that serves as a natural insecticide with a strong affinity for carbohydrates. Found on uncooked rice and beans, this protein is one of the top 10 causes of food poisoning and can lead to nausea, diarrhea and vomiting when eaten in abundance.

There are also Bacillus Cereus which is a bacteria that can be poisonous in a similar way and cellulose which is indigestible fiber. All of these make cooking rice a very important step for consumption.

Even if you wanted to ferment it, you'd still have to cook or steam it first. So I'd say you either pack pre-cooked rice or choose something else to eat.

On another hand, if you have access to electricity you can cook your rice in the microwave almost the same way as with conventional heat. Add rice and water to cover in a microwave-safe container, put a lid on it (leave a small opening so steam can escape) and turn it on for 10 or 15 minutes.


How can you maximise the shell life of milk in milk bags, after having opened them? My grandmother buys milk bags as they cost less, stores each milk bag in a pitcher as such, but can drink only 1/4 of the milk bag daily. So after opening each bag, she must close and fasten the milk bag, and to do so she has tried using a rubber band and a binder clip.

The problem: Rubber bands and clips fail to be secure enough, since the milk always start to spoil on the 4th day.
So what else can be used to close the bag, to increase the endurance of the milk in the refrigerator?

Nothing at all. It doesn't matter how you close the milk, 3-5 days in the refrigerator is the time it will last in the refrigerator.

If your grandmother wants to spend less money on milk, she will have to buy it in smaller packages. Even if they cost more per unit, she'll have to calculate the price when taking in account the waste from the bag.


Cooking safety and cricket flour I'm looking into starting to cook with cricket flour as a way to easily consume protein on the go. I'm currently considering various options such a smoothies, muffins and/or granola bars. However, I was wondering:

How should I store my cricket flour?
Does cooking baked goods with cricket flour mean I have to refigerate them?
How long can I store baked goods in a sealed container at room temperature if baked with cricket flour?

Contrasting the answers to these questions with comparisons to regular flour would be appreciated to get a sense of the differences.

Probably like any other dry good, in a cool dark room temeperature, sealed container.  Since it is dessicated, it should be essentially shelf stable.   You might get a longer shelf life in the freezer, but that should not be necessary.  In any case, you should follow the manufacturer instructions.
That depends on the item, and how much moisture it has.   Very dry cracker like items no.  Very moist items, certainly.  In between, you probably have a day to two days, just like any other baked good.
According to one Thailand based manufacturer (breeder?  farmer?)  the shelf life is two years.  They do not indicate refrigeration is required.


Freezing or drying "hardy" herbs I have some decently sized herb plants in my garden. In their respective prime I like to chop and freeze herbs like chives and parsley, while stuff like basil is only really good fresh.

"Hardy" plants like sage, laurel and rosemary though? I have no idea. Would you rather chop these or leave them whole, and rather freeze them or dry them (and how do you dry herbs at home?)

My goal would be to preserve the flavour of the herbs as much as possible, to be able to make anything from sage butter to rosemary oven potatos.

Sage, Laurel and Rosemary can all be dried and retain a lot of their flavor. In fact, for laurel, the flavor is enhanced by drying. There is little to be gained from freezing these, and I suspect that chopping beforehand would decrease their flavor components significantly.

For Rosemary and (Bay) Laurel - washed sprigs (twigs with leaves attached) can be bundled and hung in a warm, dry environment (from the ceiling perhaps or in a hot-water closet/cupboard if you have one) until dried. You can then pull off the required amount and use, or pick out the stems and store the leaves as you would any dried herb.

For Sage, I would pluck the leaves, wash, then spread on an absorbent surface (paper towel, clean and dry towel etc.) and allow to dry in a warm, dry environment. The dried leaves can then be stored as-is, or crumbled and stored in a bottle. This also works for Oregano and Thyme, though the soft stems can also be included for each of these.


how is flaxseed processed for consumption What part of flaxseed plant is actually consumed? What processes are done after harvest? Just want to know what we eat and how it is procured.

Seeds are inside the dried fruit capsule. There is a wikipedia acticle on flax which covers harvesting and processing.

Seed capsules are harvested by cutting and thrashing and broken to release the seeds, not really any processing other than cleaning and separation.

Another link.


Do I need to grind Ceylon Cinnamon sticks for coffee/tea, or can I add them whole? I got some Ceylon Cinnamon  sticks, but I haven't purchased the coffee grinder yet. I was wondering if I could add the sticks whole when I brew coffee or tea.
If so, how much per cup?
Do I need to boil the stick for prolonged period of time, or can I just put it with the coffee grindings and pour boiling water over it?
Also, would it be wasteful compared to grinding the stick into powder before brewing first? I.e., will a stick release its compounds fully, or will a lot of them remain inside the stick?

Most people just use ready-ground cinnamon.
It's much cheaper & just stirs in with no chewy, twiggy bits.
Of course, it looks a whole lot better with en entire stick of cinnamon bark sticking out of a tall, elegant glass/mug, but the amount of flavour you're going to get from it is going to be minimal in comparison.
If you're cooking with cinnamon, it will simmer for several hours, after which you pick out the bits & throw them away. You could see how much flavour you get from one steeped in hot water for 15 minutes or so & it might be enough, but I'd save the sticks for a long-cook, or for when you need the look, rather than when you just need a hint of cinnamon in a tea or coffee.
I have never actually tried it myself [I keep both in the cupboard, ground & sticks], but I doubt you'll get a smooth-enough powder from any home-grinder if you try to DIY.


Stretchy Lebanese flatbread? When I used to get donor kebabs in Brisbane, Australia, the store I would frequent would serve them in a particular stretchy flatbread, who the store owner told me was a type of bread from lebabnon.

The distinguisihing features I noticed were the complete lack of brown spots commonly found on pita breads and middle eastern breads, and that it was stretchy.

I've begun making my own kebabs at home in the style of the Australian ones, and have been completely unable to find a recipe for anything like this bread. I've been to Turkey, Israel, Lebanon and live in NYC, and I've had no luck even finding a bread I could buy that was similar.

What was this mystery bread?

Is there any middle eastern bread known for being stretchy and completely white?

In Melbourne, Australia, there are several types of flatbread termed Lebanese and one I know is stretchy-like.  If you check out Australian chefs for recipes - Donna Hay, Greg Maloof and you'll need to check others online. If I find out what the brand is I'll put up another note.


What are some different ways of preparing flax seeds? I recently got to know the nutritious value of flax seeds.What characteristics of these seeds should I know about and how can I incorporate them into my cooking?

The tricky thing with flax seeds is to grind them fine enough. I've found that my coffee grinder, for example, won't do the job because the seeds have a very hard coat. You can buy vacuum packed pre-ground meal and that may be a good option.

Once you have ground flax seeds, they can be added in small amounts to baked goods very easily. Adding say 1/4 to 1/2 cup to a muffin, quickbread, or yeast bread will work nicely and add a nutty flavor.

They can also be sprinkled on salads or grain dishes. You could add a little sea salt and use them somewhat like gomashio.


What is the difference between enchilada and marinara sauce? I am wanting to know the difference between marinara and enchilada sauce please.

On face value this question would seem not useful because the two sauces have very little in common.

I think it's worth answering because I've had too many awful pot luck enchiladas where the cook obviously had the same confusion.

Marinara is primarily tomatoes reduced and flavored with onion and Italian herbs like basil and oregano.

Enchilada sauce (which means 'in chili') is primarily pureed, rehydrated, toasted, dried peppers, flavored with a little tomato, onion, and Mexican spices such as cumin.

Enchilada sauces should not taste much like tomato at all. They should taste like chilies.

Marinara is generally sweeter from the sweet herbs where enchilada is spicier, both heat and spices.


What is the meaning of the letters after the expiration date? I've noticed letters after the expiration date on milk bag tags.
Product: Neilson Milk Bag
Location: Canada
Please see the photos below. Sometimes there are letters after the expiration date and sometimes not. You can see the letters C, E and F after the expiration date in the example tags.
What is the meaning of the letters after the expiration date?

I've searched online and Canadian Food Inspection Agency website but couldn't find anything relevant.
I haven't noticed this in other products but the milk bag tags might be more noticeable. There are also extra numbers in some tags.

I have found a website that should explain this:
https://datecheckpro.com/2016/09/16/%E2%80%8Breading-food-expiration-date-codes-effectively/
This is what it says:

In coding, if letters are used to signify months, “A” will indicate January all the way to December ending with “L”. Next to these letters will typically be numbers indicating the day and the year. However, sometimes the numbered year will come before the letter. On the other hand, if numbers are used to signify the month, 1-9 will represent January to September, while the last three months will be assigned the first letter of their name, respectively (O for October, N for November, and D for December).
Codes may also be comprised exclusively of numbers typically presented in the standard order of MMDDYY or YYMMDD (e.g., September 12, 2016 would be 091216 or 160912). Some codes also abide by the Julian calendar, which assigns a number to each day of the year from 1 to 365. In this case, September 12 would be 255.


What should I use to clean out a plastic bucket I am planning on using to store food in? I want to store some rice in a plastic bucket with a lid that I picked up at the hardware store.
But the plastic bucket hasn't been cleaned out, and I don't know what is safe to clean it with given that we would eventually be boiling, but then eating the food.  What cleaner would be safe to use on this?  I thought bleach would do the trick but I'm not sure.

What, if anything, was in the bucket before?
I prefer to stick with food grade buckets, most easily found from foodservice operations that get food in buckets.
For those, hot water and baking soda are key for removing the smell of the previous food if it was smelly, after washing with soap for basic cleaning. i.e. olive kegs are handy, but I can wash them by hand repeatedly, in the dishwasher repeatedly, and still tell that they were olive kegs by sticking my nose in and sniffing. But a few iterations of hot water and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) left to soak and they don't smell like anything any more. Also works for peppers, pickles, molasses and other odors that soak into plastic.
A hardware store new empty bucket that wasn't used for anything, but which is not marked as food grade (such as the "fork and wineglass" symbol being molded into it) is probably OK for storing rice, but I would not use one for wet food storage (pickles, etc.) and would prefer a food-grade bucket even for rice, myself.
A bucket that had non-food chemicals stored in it I would not use for food storage at all, no matter how well cleaned out it was, barring some sort of post-apocalyptic scenario where I could either starve or use a cleaned out paint or grease or detergent bucket to haul food in.
Another option is to put the food in food-safe bags, and put the bags in the (non-food-safe) bucket for ease of moving and protection from damage, rodents, etc. The food only touches the bag, not the bucket.


Sourdough getting too brown I am baking loaves of sourdough using this recipe: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/

I cook my loaves in a staub cocette and after the allotted time, they're very, very brown, verging on blackened on all sides. Otherwise, they're great (good crumb, etc). I have tried lowering the oven temperature somewhat (and verified it with a oven thermometer), but by the time they are done internal temp-wise, they're still just as brown. Any advice on how to adjust would be helpful.

I am at a bit over 5k elevation and in a dry environment, if that matters.

Some people find very brown crusts on sourdough desirable. Judging from the first picture at your link, the author of your recipe may be one. If you don't, one thing to try is to remove the loaf from the cocette something like 10-15 minutes before the end of baking time. This way the crust isn't directly exposed to the heat of the cocotte itself and will brown less. (We started doing this when the bottom crust was getting too dark by the time the top crust, after removing the lid, was browned to our liking.)


What is the shelf life of Ultra Clear rice protein powder? I have some Ultra Clear rice protein powder that is a few years old that has never been opened and has been constantly refrigerated. Is it still safe to use? I am nervous about using it, but the current cost of the product is over $60, so I am also not happy about throwing it out. If there is a danger - then I will throw it out, and forget the cost. Otherwise, maybe I can use just a teeny bit - to test it out. I don't want to end up in the ER though. Can you please advise.

I suggest that you contact the manufacturer of the powder and ask them. You will get an answer that is specific to your product and possibly an explanation as to why the product is safe to use or not. Doing so will also help avoid any online speculation by others that may result in you becoming unnecessarily ill.

As for contacting the manufacturer, I believe that UltraClear is produced by Metagenics and you can contact them online here. If that doesn't work, you can call them toll-free (more information about calling them can be found at the online contact form).


I bought Mainland's vintage cheddar, it tastes... stale? Normally I bought a cheddar slice, which I've been eaten since child. It has a smooth and milky taste. This time I wanted to try something premium so I bought the pricier, but same kind of cheese. (cheddar)

However, when I taste it the texture was very crumbly, the edge of cheese is riddled with white spots (is that germ/fungis?) and the taste is considerably "sour" and with bitter aftertaste. I can't believe this is the same "cheddar" cheese I have eaten!

The expiry date is next year.

So is this what they called vintage, crumbly texture and "with real/sharp bite"? What is "bite" anyway? When I searched for it all returned was cheese bites (the snack). Do vintage cheddar cheese normally taste like this? What kind of cheese I have to buy if I want a flavour more closer to sliced cheddar?

You have been lied to. I wouldn't call those things at the top of the page cheese, let alone cheddar. I'm not trying to be dismissive of your situation or culture, merely dismaying that British heritage has been misappropriated so poorly.

You are not the first person I've met who's had a strong first reaction to real cheese.

Kraft slices might technically be cheese but they're a hyper-processed abstraction of what traditional cheddar cheese really is. Like a cheap burger to a well matured steak, or a Lada Riva to a Porsche 911, the two cheeses are made from similar stuff, but they clearly aren't the same.

Real cheddar has been allowed to mature. It's sharp and strong and sour and a little crumbly. It is available in a wide selection of strengths, traditionally defined by the length of time it sits maturing (up to 24, even 36 months). It sounds like you've gone straight to most mature end of the scale!

Hard cheeses sweat and dry out and crystallise and that could explain the spots you're seeing:

Paler spots are more likely to be salt or protein crystals, but
Coloured spots, and fur could easily be mould and fungus.

If in doubt, just cut it off. A hard cheese is quite a resilient substance so unlike soft cheeses and yoghurts, you don't have to chuck them at the first sign of contamination. The sweating also means you need to look after your cheese properly. A paper layer before an air barrier is usually a good idea to wick away any surface seepage.

But cheese is amazing. I'd really, strongly suggest you stick with it though. Cheeses have amazing variety and have something for everybody (except the lactose intolerant, I guess). Visit a cheese shop, hand them a bunch of money and ask them to show you what you've been missing out on. You  think I'm enthusiastic about cheese? You haven't seen anything yet!

Oh and if you've got a big block of mature cheese you can't bear to eat raw, try grating it and having it grilled (toasted sandwich, on pizza, etc). It loses a lot of its harshness but it's still delicious.

Terms like "bite" and "tang" are probably a regional variant on the strength scale I've been using: mild, medium, mature, extra mature and vintage. In short, it gives people a better idea of what they're buying.


How to mimic Giordano's Pizza SAUCE? (Part 2) I am trying to mimic Giordano's pizza at home, as stated in part 1 I need to learn how to make both the crust and the SAUCE. I think I can manage the rest...

I am looking for advice on how to make a pizza sauce to mimic Giordano's.

I can make a 'pretty good' pizza sauce, but I can't seem to get the seasoning quite right to match Giordano's. I would call garlic the most pronounce flavor, but I can't seem to meter the seasonings 'just right'. In my attempts the garlic either overwhelms the flavor or is not as pronounced as I think it should be.

If your grocer doesn't have Pastorelli Pizza Sauce in stock, have him order some for you. They supply the pizza industry and will allow you to make an authentic Chicago style pizza.


Substituting oil in baking? I have a cake recipe which calls for 1 1/3 cup of vegetable oil.  What are the essential properties of vegetable oil in baking?  What changes would be expected if I were to substitute peanut or canola oil for the vegetable oil?

Peanut and canola are vegetable oils. Vegetable oil is a catch-all term, it's not asking for a product labelled "vegetable oil" although you can buy it in the store. Oils labelled vegetable oil are blends and can be any proportion of things like canola (rapeseed), peanut, corn, sunflower, etc. Just don't use Olive oil, it is a vegetable oil but it won't be good for cakes!

Different vegetable oils will give different properties although most will give you about the same result. Canola is flavorless and relatively light while peanut is a bit richer and, well, peanut-y. The differences in your cake will be subtle, however.


What's the difference between bacon and gammon? What is the difference between Gammon and Bacon? Would it be generally reasonable to substitute the two as required?

I did my internship for culinary school in London, and if I recall correctly from what I saw in the markets there, what you call Gammon would be equivalent to our Ham - both coming from the pig's rear leg.

What we call bacon is what you'd call "streaky" or "streaky bacon" which is made from the pork belly.

Streaky would be the best substitute in recipes calling for bacon.


Temperature range for seasoning a carbon steel pan I have this pan, but the seasoning that I created with flaxseed oven method is very brittle and flakes off easily into my food. I have not been using anything acidic in the pan, so I think I just need to start from scratch.

Most information on seasoning is geared towards cast iron. I want to know what temperatures can I use with the carbon steel pan without it warping. Can I strip the old seasoning with a self-cleaning cycle or is that too hot? What temperature should I use during the reseasoning?

For Carbon Steel seasoning I would rather use a gas burner until all of the cooking surface has changed color.  Then apply a high oleic oil either pour directly or using a rag/paper towel before allowing to cool.  This process could be repeated if desired.

If you need specific answers to the question you raised, it would be better directed to the vendor or manufacturer.


Why is bolognese cooked for so long? Most bolognese recipes advise to simmer the sauce for 4 hours, some even advise to simmer longer than that.

Until I heard about that, I had a recipe, which was a total of maybe 45min of cooking, which worked well for me.

Since then, I have tried to do it the right way, but somehow I always end up with a sandy texture, firm ground meat and overall there is something wrong with the whole thing.

What am I most likely doing wrong here? Simmering at too high of a temperature? What does the long-simmering aim to achieve anyway? Break down the vegetables?

Also I very rarely notice the caramelization on the pot at the level of the sauce. Somehow I am probably not achieving the caramelization as well.

My current procedure goes like this:

Sweat the vegetables, until they are lightly colored, but not quite golden.
Put in the ground meat, increase the heat some and cook until the meat starts sticking to the bottom.
Deglaze using any wine available, usually red.
Add chicken stock, milk and tomatoes or tomato sauce or other sorce of tomatoes.
Season a bit, let it cook until it reduces a bit, then let it simmer with open lid for a couple of hours.

My previous procedure:

Brown the meat with high heat
Add vegetables
Deglaze
Add tomato sauce
Reduce for 20-30min
Season and done

There are several phases meat goes through when simmering - a better-educated chef than myself could probably give them all names, but with no formal education, this is what I've noticed over the years.

If you're going to cook mince for a long time in a sauce, you'll not be interested in the first one - that's more for a burger.

When first fried until a good brown, you could eat it just like that - tender & 'just done' - fine for a burger, not for a long-cook in sauce.

Once you mix it into the sauce & bring it to simmer, it's then going to spend the next hour not smelling all that good & if you taste it, it's decidedly rubbery.

This next bit can depend on temperature - much longer in a slow cooker than on the hob.
Somewhere between there & about the 4-hour mark the rubbery gives way to 'just right' then goes too far & becomes 'grainy' - the 'sandy' texture you alluded too.
This 4-hour delineation seems to be the same whether it's mince or chunks of casserole steak.

So, my best guess is you're cooking it too high.

If your ring won't drop to 'barely, barely visible bubbling' at minimum with the lid on then I'd invest in a simmer ring to put underneath [$£€ 2.50 on eBay] You may need to actually lift the ring temperature with one of those on, or consider it a poor-man's slow-cooker, as you can get it cool enough to be bubble-free with one under the pan.

Once you can get the heat down, your 4 hours should then be fine. Cooking with the lid on means you don't have to watch over it so much in case of evaporation; but you do need to reduce your liquid levels slightly to accommodate that difference.

I tend to consider my bolognese [or chilli, shepherd's/cottage pie, or any long-cook on tomato &/or onion] to be done when the onion pretty much disappears when you stir it in.

One additional note.
If you get your mince from a supermarket, these days they all tend to add the 'legal maximum' extra 10% water, which means it won't fry properly at all if you add it to your sautéd veg.
My workaround for that is I blast it on full-flame in my largest frying-pan, separately to the veg, which can be ticking over nicely in the saucepan at the same time.
Once you can evaporate your 'free water' from it [I never pour it off, I evaporate it all away], then you can get a brown on it. [This would be 'overdone' compared the the 'burger-ready' first phase from above & already into the 2nd phase].
I tend to find if I drop my onions etc first, I can get the meat fried in about the same time it takes for the onion to be ready for it. I deglaze the frying-pan, of course, after that & add it to the saucepan.


How to deal with mold on pickle? I made a pickle by placing cucumber in a solution of water+vinegar+salt, and left it for 3 weeks. When I opened it, it was covered with white mold all over the solution.

Can I skim the mold from the solution and use the pickle? Does it go inside the solution and cucumbers?
What is the reason for the formation of mold, and how can I avoid it in the future?
Can it be kahm yeast? If yes, how can I tell it from mold?

If your solution grew mold, it would indicate that either the container wasn't sufficiently sterilized before sealing or (probably and) the solution wasn't sufficiently acidic. This can usually be ensured by following a recipe that is known to be good, which should have factors like acidity and water activity accounted for.

As for kahm yeast, it seems that this occurs more frequently on cultured vegetables which would spend some of their time in a less acidic environment (while the culture develops and acidifies). I suppose you could culture it and test it, but when in doubt I'd just toss it.


How Long Can I Store Seasoned, Vacuum Sealed Chicken I'm trying to optimize making food for the week and one of the things I want to do is season chicken breast with salt/pepper/herbs/etc in advance and vacuum seal them individually so I can just drop them into a sous vide water bath and cook them on demand.

So, my question: how long can I store chicken (or steak) vacuum sealed after seasoning it, but before cooking it?  Or is it better to just cook the meat all at once and store it for the week in a cooked state and then reheat as needed.

Since you're cooking by sous-vide anyway, why don't you put the vacuum sealed, seasoned chicken breasts in the freezer? You just put the still frozen packs into the circulator a half-hour or 45 minutes sooner. Then you will always have a no-muss no-fuss dinner at the ready.

Here's a YouTube video of exactly that.

Season differently and vacuum seal several family packs at once! Save money and hassle.

For frozen boneless chicken breasts, figure 141F to 148F (60.5C to 63.9) for 2+ hours, longer for bigger pieces. (I like 147F)

You can do the same thing with steak, don't raise the temperature, just add some time at your preferred temperature.


Effect of undutched cocoa on baking I'm trying to add unsweetened non-dutched cocoa powder to a biscotti recipe (this one).

I've read that this type of cocoa is strongly acidic. Will I need to make any changes to the quantities of baking powder? Should I just use baking soda instead of the baking powder? Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Note:
I put in the biscotti recipe as an example. My actual question is quite generic as I tend to add cocoa/chocolate to everything! must.. resist..

According to David Lebovitz:

  Because natural cocoa powder hasn’t had its acidity tempered, it’s generally paired with baking soda (which is alkali) in recipes. Dutch-process cocoa is frequently used in recipes with baking powder, as it doesn’t react to baking soda like natural cocoa does.

So, if you're using non-Dutched (natural) cocoa, you can use baking soda for leavening, but you don't have to. As I mentioned in comments the vast majority of recipes for chocolate biscotti in fact call for baking powder. I suspect that part of the reason for that is that many people don't know the difference between Dutched and non-Dutched cocoas, and in some places outside the US, Dutch-processed is the norm. There is no harm in using additional acid (like natural cocoa) with baking powder. The effect of additional acid is not enough that you're likely to even notice it.

Also note that if you use baking soda for leavening, you have to bake right away. Baking soda, like single-action baking powder, causes the release of carbon dioxide only when it is first mixed with the liquid (and acid, in the case of soda) in the recipe. It doesn't react to the heat of the oven. So, its leavening action is short lived.

Baking powder is roughly one-third baking soda, so if you do choose to substitute baking soda for baking powder in a recipe that contains plenty of acid, you want to use about a third of the amount of soda as the recipe called for baking powder.

EDIT: I just came across this answer: How can I identify dutch process cocoa? by hobodave. That excellent answer has more information that you might find helpful. Of note as it relates to your question is this paragraph:

  There is a bit of misinformation that floats amongst bakers that the pH of the cocoa can affect the leavening of the baked good. Many recipes will actually sternly suggest using either Dutched or natural cocoa depending. This makes sense since leavening is a sort of balancing act that involves both acids and bases. However, it has been experimentally shown that this does not actually occur, and baked goods made with both Dutched and natural cocoa powder showed no differences in leavening.

So he concurs. While it is fine to substitute baking soda for baking powder when introducing natural cocoa, it is unnecessary. No modification of leavening agent is necessary.


Can I make my own malt? The malt that I found in the store is barley malt.

I have a bread recipe that calls for rye malt.

I have whole rye grain. What do I have to do to make rye malt? Would it be the same with any malted grain?

** edit **
Related to this answer:
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/21691/2001

I have sprouted and then dried wheat to use as a sweetener in bread. What process should I use to produce diastatic malt at home? What temperatures should be used?

I don't see why not, it's the same process

Many commercial brewers make a barley and rye malt for beer (< 10% rye). A good brewers supply shop should have rye malt too

Rye is around ~40% carbohydrate, while barley is ~45% carbohydrate, so rye is not as sweet, but has a more interesting taste (IMHO)

The differences for making malt rye over malt barley, assuming you have hulled rye:

Rye absorbs water faster, so steep for less time (~30% less)
Do not let it go mushy or it will not germinate
Rye is more fragile with no hull and a thin "skin". So must be handled more carefully once steeped. If it is damaged it wont germinate
Lower germination rate (due to above), so less conversion, so less sugars and flavour

Otherwise just follow the normal malt barley process, which is well documented


Device to install on a bottle to only spill drops When heating up cold food in microwave it oftens comes out pretty dry, and I like juicy food. So I add 1 or 2 teaspoons of olive oil on the food before heating it. I'd be easier though if I had some kind of small device

What you are looking for is pretty common and can be bought in most markets in the kitchen section. Or ordered online by search "olive oil bottles".  They look like this:


Brining...at high temp? I read that brining makes meat moister by causing protein cells to absorb water from the brine via osmosis (Wikipedia) So I thought, hmm, why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone: brine + slow-cook (sous-vide) at the same time for 12 hours or so (temp at 158º-160º). Boy, was I wrong, the pork came out tough and dry! :(

Is the effect of brining the opposite at higher temp?

UPDATE: I should also mention that later on, I slow-cook another one but this time in its own juice instead of brine and it turns out better.

Brining works at a cellular level; if the solution does not have the time to act and reach inter-cellular gaps then you won't get the benefits.

How does brining work (from same wiki article):

the meat cells have water and solutes (sodium, chloride, potassium, amino acids, ...etc)
the brine has salt (sodium, chloride)
the salt ions of the brine diffuse into the cells
the osmosis cause the cell to absorb water
some other stuff happens to the proteins (denaturalization) causing the water to be trapped

This is a slow process, in particular for the salt ions to diffuse into theat, for the osmosis to happen, for the protein to coagulate ...etc.

How is brining different from curing:

the concentration of solutes (e.g. sodium and chloride) is different
curing is usually mostly done with salt (sugar/molasses/...etc optional)
the concentration being higher, the osmotic pressure draws water out.

Slow cooking in the brine just didn't give a chance for the meat to absorb and trap water. Since you describe the meat as tough and dry, I would say this is mostly because of salt concentration seems too high (wet-curing).


How to mask the taste of iron? Right, so this is an odd one. Due to a person's combination of iron deficiency, a not-so-sturdy stomach and no particular interest in eating red meat or the like, that person essentially handed me a bag of heme iron supplement and an enquiry as to whether or not I could make this supplement palatable. The supplement is a powder, smells vaguely of iron and tastes like blood – because that's essentially what it is, I suppose. It can safely be heated and mixed with acids and bases.

My patron predominantly likes sweet, sour, and burnt food, but I'm open to any suggestion which answers the question: How do I mask – or, I suppose, complement – a teaspoon or two of dried blood in a meal?

Agree with the above posts as general guidelines but considering the taste buds it sounds like the "patron" does not like savory/umami flavors.

Best luck I've had for hiding the flavors of iron supplements is making smoothies; Citrus or some other very over-powering fruit.  Then the "meaty" flavour disappears in the smoothie thickener.

ie:
pineapple
Chocolate banna
orange
Berry (black berry, strawberry, etc...)

A homemade v8 blend / Bloody mary would be perfect also; if they love veggie taste.


Can I change the flour type of my sourdough starter? I started my sourdough starter with rye flour.

But after some months I continued feeding it with wheat flour. I feel like there is less life inside than before.

Might it be due to the change in flour or must there be some other reason?

Robert Cartaino's answer hits a main point: sourdough cultures are adapted to what they are typically fed.  When switching flours, it may take a while for the culture to adjust.  The starter may seem a bit sluggish at first.

That said, I would NOT recommend trying to start a wheat culture if you already have a healthy starter that began with rye.  There are two main reasons.

First, rye is particularly rich in certain sugars and food that natural yeasts tend to like, so rye starters naturally tend to look more "lively" than wheat starters, especially in the early stages of a starter.  Part of what you may be seeing in your transition to wheat is simply less activity produced because the food source is less rich in nutrients, not necessarily because the yeast and bacteria can't digest it.

Second, a lot of recipes to generate new starters recommend using rye at the beginning, regardless of what you ultimately plan to feed the starter.  Because it provides a strong food source for young cultures, it's usually a lot easier to begin with rye (perhaps this is why you did).  In my experience, it tends to take new wheat starters at least twice as long to get strongly established compared to rye, and there's a higher chance of failure if you don't use a good recipe.

For both of these reasons, some people even recommend always feeding your starter with rye flour, even if you tend to make wheat-based bread.  Since many people have success doing that (and I have personally), I don't think you need to begin a whole new culture with wheat alone.

If your starter really is sluggish (and not just a little less active than it was with rye), you can help your starter to adapt to the new food.  I'm not sure what your typical feeding routine is or what the hydration level of your starter is.  But the general thing to do in these circumstances is to dilute your starter and feed it large quantities of the new food.  For example, if you maintain 200 grams of your starter normally, I would discard all but maybe 40-50 grams and then add enough new flour and water to get back to 200 grams in whatever your usual proportion is.  (Some people would be even more extreme in diluting the starter and cut the starter proportion even further.)

Within a few days of feedings like this, you will have strongly selected the yeast and bacteria that thrive on whole wheat and your starter should be strong again.  After a week of feedings like this, I doubt you could distinguish the performance of your starter from one that was begun on wheat.  (Note that the specific microorganisms may still be slightly different, but your starter should do a fine job raising dough and providing flavor.)


Do not saute baby spinach I read in a cooking magazine that baby spinach should only be eaten raw because ooking it results in slimy texture. Regular spinach can be sauteed/wilted without any issues.

Do many culinary sites state the same? I am looking at making spanakopita as well as Tuscan chicken and some others.

I've sauteed baby spinach many times and I've never had it become slimy. I've never seen a cookbook or article that stated that either.


Cake yeast rolls recipe missing part of flour measurement My mother has a cake yeast rolls recipe, but she can't remember it. She's 101 so don't expect it. I have part of the recipe, and it is:

2 yeast cake in 1/4 cups of warm water
1 cup scalded milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 salt
3 eggs
3 1/? cups flour

My dilemma is how much exactly is the partial cup of flour?

The only practical options are 1/4, 1/2, or 1/3.  I would start with 3 and 1/4 cup flour.  If it feels to sticky, add 1/4 cup more flour.


Doubling a soup recipe with a smaller than necessary pot In doubling a squash soup recipe, I've got all the ingredients in the pot except for the doubled amount of liquids (broth and water). I wonder whether I can wait to add the remaining 5 cups of liquid until I reheat before serving, or should I add it during the overnight storage of the soup? Or should I divide what I've got so far and add the remaining liquid and heat it up before storing? My concern is for the flavor melding aspect.

You should be fine adding the water whenever it's convenient, as long as there's enough water in it already that you were able to cook it properly (and purée if necessary and so on). You're basically just making concentrated soup just like what gets put into lots of cans; water will mix in just fine.


Can I subsitute crushed tomatoes with tomato puree? I am making tortellini tuscan soup. Recipe calls for can of crushed tomatos I guess I grabbed puree instead. Recipe further calls to mix with 1 box chicken stock....can I use the puree or is my dinner ruined?

You've substituted tomato for tomato (both precooked). It might not be exactly what you were intending to make but it will be fairly similar (very similar in flavour, less so in texture). It will certainly be edible. You might want to adjust the quantities of other liquid ingredients, or cook for a little longer before asking the pasta (if that's an option at this stage) just to thicken it a little.

This is the sort of substitution some people might choose to make to suit their tastes so you don't need to worry about it.


why does toast smell and taste different than bread? Besides the obvious fact that toast has less moisture due the toasting process, how is it different than regular bread?  Why does bread taste different in toasted form than it regularly does?

Mailliard reactions. I'm going to guess there's already another question for this one and this will prove a duplicate, so low-effort answer.

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

Basically (and I don't claim to know any better than that) it's alterations in the proteins brought about at elevated temperatures (there may also be carmelization, but that's a different-yet-similar process.)


My banana Muffins won't rise like I want - Why? So I just tried this recipe for banana muffins. They taste great (even directly after baking) and the texture is really nice and soft - like a muffin is supposed to be.

The problem: They don't rise like I want them to do.

This how I want them to look:

And this how they look like (not my picture, but identically):

I already found this: Why don't my muffins rise and develop tops properly?
The accepted answer has many great hints, but I truly don't believe any of these points target my problem. I thought that I maybe didn't fill the forms enough, but the recipe is for 12 muffins and I made, using 100% of the batter.

I baked them on the middle tray of my oven, using heat only from the top and bottom, no ventilation.

So I think that maybe they don't rise that nice because of the banana? Is it possible that the banana makes the dough so heavy that is gets soft but doesn't rise that much? Or do you have any other ideas what could cause this - is it allowed to post the recipe?

Edit: Ok, so here is the recipe:

180 g flour (I used Type 550 wheat flour)
120 g brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
75 g melted butter
4 ripe mashed bananas
1 egg
some vanilla seeds

First I mixed the sugar, the egg, the butter and the mashed bananas together and added the vanilla seeds. Into a separate bowl I sieved the flour, baking powder and the baking soda, then I added the salt. After that I combined the dry-mix with the wet-mix. At that stage I notice some bubbles in the batter which was a good sign I believe. I put the batter into my muffin form and baked it approx. 20 minutes at 180 °C.

Did you preheat the Oven?

At our facility we preheat to 400F then lower to 360F just as soon as we close the door. Why? Muffins do not rise enough (we feel) in a warm oven. The time the oven door is open also cools the oven itself 30-40 degrees. So we preheat, then it's at the right temp as soon as the door is closed.

We try to cook fast in a hot oven rather than slow in a warm oven. You have to achieve the chemical reaction part rather quickly or it fizzles out.

That is only one of many reasons for small round tops, as you're finding out. Here is another article that may also help the train of thought.