Peanut oil with maybe some residue of raw egg I  poured too much oil into the measuring cup, so I poured some back into the bottle.   However, the measuring cup was used for eggs before measuring the oil. I rinsed it from  the eggs but didn't wash it properly with soap, just water. Did I contaminate the whole bottle of oil, or is it safe to use? I put the bottle of oil in the fridge after that and the color and texture changed

If you heat the oil to around 95C, any egg residue should solidify and the oil should be sterilised at the temperature. You can then strain the oil and decant off any aqueous phase. If you want a more certain clearing, make a small amount of brine say 5% salt by weight, pour it into the oil, shake it up, let it settle and separate out, decant the oil phase and heat it to 95C and strain.

addendum: there is a somewhat related method here


What is the preferred method for sanitizing the kitchen? I'm aware of a number of ways for sanitizing.

Soap.
Ammoniac.
Bleach.
Sodium bicarbonate.

Which of these is the preferred method of sanitation?
Which concentrations are recommended?
How can you test whether the levels of concentration are correct?

Another route for day to day cleaning is vinegar.  I use a spray bottle with half white vinegar and half water at night on my counter tops before bed. (Use soap after cooking or prepping.)

The vinegar does a good job cleaning bacteria, mold, and germs. Once you get accustomed to the smell of vinegar, you will realize it deodorizes after the vinegar smell goes away.

A nice touch is rubbing a lemon on the counter beforehand, but it really doesn't do much other than smell nice and break down oil.


How to get raspberry flavor into a smoothie without seeds? I often enjoy (when it's not dead of winter) a fruit smoothie for breakfast; generally I use orange juice or some other juice flavor (V8 has a few with fruit flavors masking veggie tastes that I sometimes use), yogurt, and fruit I've frozen myself (removes the need for ice, leading to a thicker smoothie). Typically I use strawberries and bananas; however, when I purchase smoothies, my favorite flavors involve raspberry. I've tried purchasing frozen berries and tossing some in, but the seeds irritate me to no end.

How can I get the taste of raspberries, preferably from raspberries themselves rather than extract (seems healthier), but not the seeds?

There are a couple common ways to deal with seeds in berries:

Use a food mill, which uses a rotating blade to crush the berries and force them through small holes. They're designed for this sort of thing - removing seeds or large pieces of pulp.
Do what the food mill does, but by hand: push them through a reasonably fine strainer/sieve. Unless they're really soft, you generally want to puree them first. You can also incorporate other ingredients first, to give more liquid to work with, so you don't have to do as much pushing.


Completing an unattended to apple cider vinegar Two and a half months ago, I started making apple cider vinegar using apples, honey and water; all were organic, filtered and no metallic utensils were used. I did, however, added a small piece of a cinnamon stick and some cloves for flavor. Covered it a,, with cheese cloth and forgot about it until tonight.

When I uncovered the cheese cloth I saw part of the top surface was covered with some stuff that I have a hard time  describing and for the longest time I hesitated whether or not to even bother with it; I thought it may be mold. In the end I strained it through clean cheesecloth to another clean glass container. I tasted it even before straining, it was very very tart but didn't have any other flavor that would alert me to mold, mildew or anything like it.  It also smells like vinegar.

My questions are:

How should I proceed?
Is it possible it was moldy and I just didn't recognize it; it's my first attempt at making ACV.

Thanks a lot in advance.

If you are making your own cider vinegar, you might want to be come familiar with what you are likely to see by doing some research first.

I have to assume that you are referring to the "mother" which is a standard, normal part of the vinegar fermentation process. Say hello to acetobacter, they are doing the work you require. Even if they do look a bit slimy and disturbing en masse.


Why do frozen greens get fibrous and tough in the microwave? When I microwave frozen spinach or amaranth greens to cook them, they sometimes get tough and fibrous.  There doesn't seem to be a consistent pattern in when this happens, so I can't figure out how to avoid it.

So I ask you: why do frozen greens get tough and fibrous when cooked in the microwave, and how can I avoid it?

Microwave ovens cook primarily by spinning water molecules. Frozen water is less susceptible to this affect. I would guess that with certain vegetables, as frozen water turns to a liquid, it is quickly heated to the point that it boils and evaporates. The heating is less even than cooking frozen vegetables in a pot and leads to areas that are somewhat dehydrated and fibrous.

Try cooking your frozen vegetables in a container with a lose cover and additional water. This will allow them to cook or steam from the the outside in much like in a pot.

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


What precautions should be taken while cleaning silver utensils? I have silver cups, plates, and bowls too.

Is it safe to clean them with normal washing powder? Or Does it need some extra attention?

Also, how do I clean the layer of black tarnish/patina without damaging it?

Dish soap will not damage silverware. To remove tarnish you can get special silverware cleaning solutions like tarn-x. Note that the tarnish itself is a form if damage caused by the oxidized metal, so by removing it you are essentially scraping of a tiny layer of silver every time.

Edit - A good tip I forgot to mention: tarnish is self-limiting (meaning that only the surface of silver can get tarnished). This means that the best way to prevent tarnish is by leaving on the existing layer of tarnish. If you leave silver for 100 years and remove the tarnish the silverware will lose one layer of silver, then it will be good as new. But if silver is de-tarnished every month for 100 years, you'd have to remove 1200 layers of silver. So it's not good practice to de-tarnish too frequently; only do it when you need to.


How can I preserve large quantities of garlic? I have a lot of garlic that is still fresh. How can I preserve it easily so that it can be used for a variety of uses later?

Peel the garlic bulbs and mince (or food-proccessorize) them.  Then portion the minced garlic into usable units and freeze those on a cookie sheet.  Once they're frozen, keep the lumps-o-garlic in a convenient vessel in the freezer.  You can then pull one lump at a time out of the freezer and use it.


Can I substitute powdered walnuts for all-purpose flour in a cake? I saw a recipe where ground-up walnuts were a substitute for flour but this was for a cake that you do not cook (it was a recipe for chocolate cake made  out of zucchini.

Can powdered walnuts (grounded by a food processor) ever be used as a substitute for flour in more normal cakes, particularly ones that contain flour and are baked?

Here is the recipe http://cookingalamel.com/2013/03/raw-chocolate-cheesecake.html

Sort of. Nut flours are the base of many "flourless" cakes and torts. This one from Joy of Baking is typical, and uses almond flour, which is more common than walnut. Here's one that specifically uses walnut. Note that these are not examples of using nut flours as a substitution for flour, they are recipes developed for nut flours. Both of those recipes start with whole nuts that are ground in a food processor or spice grinder.

Wheat flour behaves very differently, if you want to bake a cake using nut flour in combination with or instead of wheat flour, search for recipes that call for nut flour. Trying to work out an actual substitution would be fraught with peril. Nuts are full of fat and non-gluten protein, wheat flour has starch and gluten forming protein (although a high gluten level is not usually desirable in cakes, that's why cake flour is lower in protein than AP, so that it creates less gluten).

Now I see from the edit to the question that the zucchini/chocolate cake that led to the qustion is actually a kind of cheesecake. Cheesecakes generally don't contain flour, in the case of your recipe the nuts are actually replacing a portion of the cream cheese. In other cheesecakes you might see nuts in the crust or garnish, but I've never seen flour in the filling.


Caramel sauce tastes too sugary what went wrong I tried a recipe to create caramel sauce, where the instructions were basically slowly heat sugar to 350F / 176c then take off heat, add cream, put back on heat, then mix and it's ready.

When finished the sauce looked like caramel and had the right texture but tasted sugary instead of having that caramel flavour.

Is it that it was undercooked or it's just that a caramel sugar and cream recipe always tastes sugary and I should add something else to get that distinctive flavour?

By 'cream,' I am assuming you mean heavy whipping cream, which is normally used in caramel sauce, and not sweetened condensed cream, which some people use in place of sweetened condensed milk in certain recipes.
 The whipping cream in itself, is not sweet, so I'm not sure what the issue could be. Did you accidentally put too much sugar in? Or maybe next time try replacing the cream with butter, or try adding just a pinch of salt to the mixture to combat the sweetness.


pieces of wood in cinnamon I recently bought some organic cinnamon (not ground, broken pieces for a hand mill) and saw what looks like pieces of wood in the mix (they don't have the same color as the rest of the pieces). Is this normal and/or safe, or should I return the product?

As Megasaur said, the spice cinnamon (or often, cassia, which is quite similar) is the inner bark of a tree.  As a natural product, there is going to be some variation in the color in any case.

I would look quite closely at the texture and grain of the differently colored pieces compared to the more normal pieces.  If they show the same pattern or structure, you probably just have normal color variation.     If they are substantially different, then perhaps the product should be discarded or returned--or just those pieces picked out.

The purpose of this inspection, such as it is (and I am not botanical expert) is try to determine if the different pieces are still the inner bark, and not something else.  I would suggest only buying spices from a reputable source in the future.


Is there a Pyrex baking dish that can fit a packaged dry lasagna noodle? Pyrex baking dishes all seem to be 9-inch by 13-inch, and many sites recommend that as the ideal size for lasagne.
As a result, the most tiresome and messy part of making lasagne is getting the standard sized 10-inch ready-to-cook dry noodles to fit into the 9-inch baking dish.
(I'll refrain from asking why "they" make things this way.)
Is there a 10.5" Pyrex baking dish available anywhere?
(I'm in Ontario Canada, but suspect this problem is not specific to here.)

There certainly are baking dishes that are sized to more easily fit lasagna noodles. Different brands & styles of noodles come in different sizes--so there is no one-size-fits-all baking dish.
The standard size Pyrex-brand glass baking dishes aren't specifically made for lasagna, and I'm not aware of them making a 10.5-inch size in that style (at least not in North America). I also find that the sweeping rounded corners, and sloping sides make the traditional Pyrex pan to be not great for lasagna--a personal opinion based on the fuss of trimming corners to fit, and each layer being wider/taller.
Pyrex does make this stoneware pan which is a 5-quart stoneware baking dish that measures 10.5x18.5 inches. It has the same rounded corners, but the sides are slightly straighter.
While it sometimes takes a bit of hunting to find a baking dish that is "just the right size," I've found that stoneware style baking dishes are often a bit more varied in size, and while you might not find a Big Name Brand pan in exactly the right size, I found a no-name stoneware pan with straight sides & sharper corners, which I find to be perfect for lasagna.
You might find hunting for stoneware pans in your preferred dimensions (and whatever other requirements are important to you!) will be easier to find the one that is right for you, rather than looking specifically for a Pyrex or glass pan.


Which sugar is used in pastry more often, white or brown? Which sugar is used in pastry more often, white or brown? Which sugar provides more taste/flavor?

For a short answer, I recommend using brown sugar in your case.

Brown sugar has more of it's own flavour, while white sugar is very plain, so when you ask "which one give more taste", you probably want brown. Brown sugar tastes this way because it contains molasses (a juice from the sugarcane).

An alternative to brown cane sugar is "raw sugar" (also known as "natural brown sugar", "whole sugar", or "unrefined sugar"). There are also similar sugars not made with sugarcane, such as maple sugar and coconut sugar.

There may be cases where you don't want the molasses to interfere with the other flavours (such as chocolate). You can use white sugar, while golden sugar (or light brown sugar) is in-between. However, I personally prefer brown sugar in most pastries. It works very well with cinnamon, apples, and raisins. You can also add additional molasses if you want the brown sugar to taste stronger.


Slow cooker tips when on high and others remove the lid I cannot use my slow cooker as designed, as I try to cook for my elderly parents. They do not rise before 11a.m., the kitchen is located upstairs with them, so they will hear or feel everything-and waking them at 8a.m. is NOT what I want. I end up preparing a lot of their food AFTER I eat brunch so I am forced to use the high setting.

And then, if I turn my back for a moment to do something else, they take the lid off! Apparently, it just had to be stirred - so I lose a good 1/2 hr. right there - each time! So really, it only slow cooks a couple of hours, in reality.

What can I do the able to use the slow cooker as I want?

Five hours is still a pretty long time for low and slow. Many recipes will work within that time without modification.

For ones that won't, the best way to cut time off is to heat things through in a pot on the stove first. Slow cookers are pretty good at the low and slow part, but that means they're really slow at getting to the point where they're actually cooking. Depending on your recipe, you may be able to skip right past a couple hours of initial heating by bringing things to a simmer/boil before dumping in.

Also, don't worry too much about the lid getting taken off. If it's left off, yeah, that's not great, but if it's just opened to stir and it's full of food/liquid, the temperature is not going to decrease that much.

If after all that, it's still not enough, I'd look to suggestions like those in Kate's answer - sidestep your timing constraints by prepping the night before and finding a better place for the slow cooker so you can start it earlier and avoid the lid getting opened. If you can get a small fridge outside the kitchen, you really could do it all without ever going into the kitchen in the morning.


What are macaron "feet"? This question mentions macaron "feet".  What are macaron feet?

Take a look at this photo:

The feet are the ruffles on the edges.


Olive oil vs almond oil for frying ground beef? I need to fry some ground beef with some spices (black pepper, mustard seeds, cumin, cinnamon, salt, garlic, onion).  I have olive oil and also almond oil.  What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each for this purpose?

Technically, either would work.  Almond oil has a higher smoke point (495° F, vs. 350° for olive oil), but the flavor of olive oil would probably be a better fit with those spices.

However, for ground beef (unless it's extra-lean, which I wouldn't use for this), it should have enough fat on its own.  If it looks like it's drying out while cooking, add a couple tablespoons of water instead.


Fresh milk curdles when added to hot coffee and tea Came in to work this morning and made a round of coffees, the same as yesterday.

To freshly washed and fully rinsed mugs, I added instant coffee, and the milk then filled with boiling water and the milk instantly curdled and all the bits floated to the surface.

Thinking it was just bad milk (the milk didn't smell off at all but I remember seeing it sat on the side at some point yesterday) I bought fresh milk and repeated. The same thing happened.

We are using the same kettle as yesterday, the same mugs, the same instant coffee.

To be sure it was the milk, I made a coffee with just coffee and water, it was fine, I then added the milk and it curdled.

To eliminate bad luck with 2 different jugs of milk, we've poured the milk into a glass to inspect and drank it and it is fine from both milk jugs.

Please help, I had a few beers last night and need my coffee!

Boil the milk on its own in a clean/rinsed container (microwave).  If it curdles, it's the milk.

Otherwise either there is a decalcifying agent in the kettle or something in the coffeee is making it too acidic.  It takes very little, after decalcification, we usually have to pass about a gallon of water through the coffee machine before the steam wand stops curdling milk.

If you're in a jam, boil your water in a cup in the microwave and avoid the kettle.


Measuring Oven Temperature: Surface or Air? I've noticed in my convection oven, there is a difference between the air and the surface temperature of the metal baking pan on the top shelf.

Which is the better reference for measuring oven temperature?

And, does the answer change depending on what is being baked and the method of baking?

Notes:

In this specific case I'm baking baguettes on said metal baking pan.

I use an IR gun for the surface temp of the pan and an oven thermometer hanging from the same top shelf for the air temp.

If I place the oven thermometer on the pan then both show the same temperature.

Generally speaking ovens are controlled by a thermostat that (to a first approximation) measures the air temperature.  This is what recipes expect. It's also why for some very sensitive baking it's not sufficient to preheat until the thermostat says the setpoint is reached, as the metal inside (e.g. shelves) hasn't yet warmed up (and a reason for sometimes preheating a dish or using a pizza stone).  A lot of heat in the air is lost when you open the door, heat in solid contents much less so. Note that not all the air is at the same temperature anyway.

I would expect the temperatures of the air and a pan to converge over time, if you can avoid opening the door: the element heats up the air, the air heats up the pan. There may also be radiative heating of the pan from elements either visible or embedded in the walls/floor of the oven. For element you can also read "flame" in a gas oven.

If heat is mainly transferred through the air, the air temperature will rise faster than that of the pan (possibly much faster), but once the air temperature reaches the setpoint the pan temperature will catch up.

If radiative heating of the pan is significant, it could heat up ahead of the air and therefore exceed the setpoint, but once the setpoint is reached and the element switches off, it will cool to the air temperature.

If you keep opening the door to measure using the IR thermometer, all bets are off, so to track convergence you'd be best using two oven thermometers, one in the pan and one suspended from a rack.  Make sure you can read both without opening the door, and make sure they read the same.

Although it's the air temperature that matters, if coooking something sensitive you should preheat until the metal and air are close to the same temperature, and then the air temperature will recover quickly after you (quickly) put the bread in.


How long does it take for sugar to get to the hard ball stage? I tried to make nougat but just could not get to the hard ball stage.

It's not a question of "how long" as much as it's a question of "how hot." Sugar reaches the so-called hard ball stage somewhere between 250 and 265 degrees F. How long it will take your sugar to reach that temperature depends on a number of variables including the power of your cooking range and the type of vessel the sugar is being cooked in.

Use either a candy thermometer or the tried and true water testing method from which the stages get their names. When dropped into cold water, the sugar will literally form a hard ball when rolled between your fingers.

You either did not apply enough heat or you applied too much heat. The most reliable way to troubleshoot this problem is with a thermometer.

There's some great information in this article titled How to Test Stages of Sugar on RecipeTips.com

Pictured below is the example image from that article of what hard ball sugar should look like when dropped into cold water:


I lose the flavor of basil when I make pesto sauce Okay, I am writing this question as a result of a long experience in trying to make pesto at home :p I like pesto sauce alot and that is why I have decided that I should make this at home. But for some reason when I make the pesto sauce I almost completely lose the flavor of the basil. It tastes more like oil. And yes I have tried varying amounts of oil and basil and still it tastes atmost like oil with grass in it. Here are more details:

1- I stay in UK at the moment so my basils are nearby and they seems to be grown in Wessex if what is written on them is true. When eaten as a leaf they have quite alot of flavor.

2- I have tried using a blender, mortar and pestle and also manual chopping to create the basil paste. After the chopping is complete, I tried tasting the basil paste before mixing it with oil and other ingredients and it tastes like grass more or less, with very little flavor left. I wash the basil leaves before making the pesto as the package itself says so. I use the mediterennian type basil.

3- It tastes slightly better when it is cooked a little bit or left in oil for some weeks but I have seen instances where freshly made uncooked pesto also tastes great, so I must be doing something wrong.

4- I have never grown the basil myself however to increase freshness I have tried buying already grown basil plants in pots.

Since I have exhausted all possible methods of pesto making it seems to me that either:

a- Since its quite rainy and not so sunny in UK the basil leaves from here have too much water content and to little plant oil content and they need to be dried for some time before being chopped. This might be supported by the observation that when I chop them on wooden board I get quite a lot of wetness marks on the board. And when I use fresh basil from the pot they are usually well watered.

b- UK basil is not good for pesto?

c- I am somehow mistreating the basil, I should put much less pressure when using a blade or mortar.

Any suggestions is most welcome :)

I don't have a definite answer, but here are a few thoughts on things that might help.

First, are you drying the basil after washing it?  Shake out the extra water, and pat it dry, maybe let it sit for a bit to evaporate.  The extra water will dilute the pesto a bit, and not be good for the flavor - and if you think the problem might be too much water in the basil, no need to make it worse with extra water on the surface.

Also, are you adding basil stems?  Depending on your variety of plant and the steps you take in your recipe, the soft stems or tips might have more flavor that you're loosing by leaving out, or more plant matter to dilute your basil paste if you leave them in.  Taste the stems, and check your process, and consider if it would help to take the stems out/leave them in once and see if that helps.

Also, it might help to check your salt content.  Some pesto recipes use salt, others use salty cheese, I don't know what your recipe calls for - but salt brings flavors out, and one symptom of under-salting is "watery" flavor, so you might just need a bit more.  Adding salt might help your basil paste taste like "basil" instead of "grass".

I was wondering, given your comment on seeing a lot of water on the cutting board from the basil, if you might be losing flavor from the basil juice when cutting.  Preparing the basil on the cutting board seems the method most likely to have this problem, but even if using the mortar, if you crush ingredients separately then mix in a different container, you might be losing some of the flavor in juices.  On the other hand, most blender recipes (and some mortar and pestle ones) make the pesto in one container, which means the flavor should still be in the mix and not lost- so that might not be the problem, or at least not the only problem.

If the basil is just too mild for your tastes, or has a higher water/flavor oil concentration than you'd like, you might be able to address this by letting the basil dry a little, maybe till wilting, before making pesto to concentrate the flavor a bit.  You might also consider adding some dried basil to strengthen the flavor - I would think completely dried basil would not give the right consistency, but a mix of fresh paste and dried flakes might give the flavor profile you're looking for.

If the basil tastes like the basil you expect when you take a leaf and taste, and grass after it's made into paste, then the flavor must lost somewhere along the way - then you can look at your process and guess where the flavor is going (like sap left on the cutting board, or whatever).  If you taste the leaf and find it doesn't taste basil-y enough to begin with, then it might just be you prefer a stronger basil or a different variety, and doctoring your basil paste with flakes (or even other herbs/spices) might be the only way to get the pesto you want if no other basil varieties are available to you locally.


How are green and ripe plantains used differently? I see both green and black (ripe) plantains for sale. I'm assuming they aren't used interchangeably. What kinds of dishes or techniques are appropriate for each type? Are the different types favored in different cultures, or do some cultures appreciate both?

Like many fruits and vegetables, the sugar level in a plantain increases as it ripens.

Green plantains are very starchy and hard. You must cook them to eat them. They can be used much like a potato (think chopped & put in soups or mashed as a side dish). Fried green plantains are referred to as "tostones."
Yellow plantains still require cooking, but they are sweet (unlike green plantains). These work pretty well for frying and steaming.
Black (super-ripe) plantains do not have to be cooked; they can be eaten raw. They have soft flesh and a scent like a banana, though still not as sweet as typical bananas. When these super-ripe plantains are fried, they are referred to as "platanos maduros" (ripe plantains) or "platanos fritos" (fried plantains).

Regarding use by different cultures:

  Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras and Jamaica: the plantain is either simply fried, boiled or added to a soup.
  Kerala: ripe plantain is steamed and is a popular breakfast dish.
  Ghana: boiled plantain is eaten with kontomire stew, cabbage stew or fante-fante (fish) stew. The boiled plaintain can be mixed with groundnut paste, pepper, onion and palm oil to make eto, which is eaten with avocado.
  Southern United States, particularly in Texas, Louisiana and Florida: plantains are most often grilled.
  Nigeria: plantain is eaten boiled, fried or roasted; roasted plantain, called booli is usually eaten with palm oil or groundnut.
  (source)


How can I keep streusel topping from getting soggy? I make this Sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving, it has a streusel like topping. Usually I can bake this at the destination, but this year I need to bake at home and take. I have a baking dish that has a heat resistant plastic cover and an insulated carrier. I know that the topping will get soggy if it is tightly covered after baking. How can this be avoided?

Assuming that you want to serve the casserole hot and the streusel crispy, keep the casserole and the streusel separate until almost serving time.

This means you will have to bake the streusel on a cookie sheet until crisp and ready, then let them cool uncovered and transport them in a separate container.

Your casserole base contains eggs, so it must be baked. You want to avoid a "skin" or "crust", so cover with foil at least part of the time or even the whole 30 minutes. (Depends a bit on how wet the mash is.)

Depending on the logistics at the destination, either keep your casserole warm in your carrier or pop it in the microwave for a bit to gently(!) reheat it.

The right time to put the streusel on top of the base is a short while before serving - long enough that the hot mash can warm them up and that they can get a tiny bit soft at the bottom (more authentic!) while staying crisp on top. A few minutes should suffice, but a quarter of an hour would still be fine. But keep the casserole uncovered.


Making hard cheese from milk by vinegar I tried to make hard cheese from raw milk by a common recipe: heating milk to about 190 F, then adding vinegar to curdle. However, I faced three issues:

Different recipes suggest 1/4 - 1/8 cup of vinegar for one gallon of milk, but in my case, the milk does not curdle with less than 1/2 cup for a gallon of milk.
The cheese produced is very soft. When I try to squeeze the cheesecloth (even think and double layer), the cheese is coming out of the cheesecloth pores. Then, I cannot remove more water from the cheese to make hard cheese.
When I separate the whey, it still contains cheese, and after heating the whey, it produces a lots of cheese (even more than the first step).

Is there anything wrong with my method?

The cheese produced is quite good, and I just cannot go further to make hard cheese. A possible source of problem can be the size of my curds in the milk suspension, which is smaller than those shown in the vidoes posted on the internet (not forming big lumps; but I have no idea what can be the reason.

Hard cheese usually uses rennet, and a mechanical cheese press to extract as much whey as possible, and usually a long aging (drying) time to make it hard.

I think there may be a discrepancy between the original poster's definition of "hard" cheese and what is generally known as hard cheese like Grana Padano, Cheddar, and others.

The process the OP is describing sounds like how one would make fresh paneer, and "hard" in this case might be more like the texture of "firm" tofu.


Cake; To freeze or not to freeze? I need to make a wedding cake, the wedding is in 5 days. Can I bake it, stack the layers, crumb coat it and the freeze the crumb-coated layers? Ideally, I want to finish decorating the cake on the day of wedding, we are traveling to the wedding site two days prior to the wedding.
I know I won't have anyway to refrigerate the cake once I arrive at the venue the day before the wedding, so I was thinking the frozen cake would have time to thaw and acclimate before I apply the final buttercream. There won't be any fondant on this cake.
I've never tried freezing like this ... can I get away with it, or will the condensation kill the cake?

For the 1st question: can I freeze the crumb coated layers?
Yes, you can. I've tried it before and afterwards you can smooth it out further.

As for the thawing frozen cake within 2 days, that would heavily depend on your buttercream type.
If the climate is hot and you don't use a stable buttercream, I definitely won't recommend it.
In my experience meringue based buttercream holds better than american type buttercream.
Hope this help.


How do you calculate volume of pasta from its weight after cooking down? I am hoping to make two 3 quart casserole dishes worth of macaroni and cheese. The recipe I have calls for using two pounds of pasta, but doesn't indicate the volume of food that it will yield after cooking down, or after combining with sauce.

Assuming I will use either small shells  or fusilli (haven't bought the pasta yet because I don't know how much I will need), how do i translate poundage of pasta to volume?

Because of the different shapes, different pastas will occupy different volumes of space both before and after cooking.

There are two answers that readily occur to me, one simple one more complex.

The simple solution, of course, is just to make too much.  Cook your pasta, put in the casseroles with sauce or adding the sauce after, depending on your recipe, and if you have too much (you should, you planned for it) let it cool, add mayo, mustard, onion, some pickle relish and make pasta salad.  Or throw in soup.  Or ....

Option two is to measure your pasta by volume when dry, assuming that it approximately doubles in size.  So you'll need to fill one of your casseroles with dry pasta, and that should give you enough to make two casseroles worth, once you have cooked the pasta.


Sharpening scissors with microserrations I own Sabatier Proffessional scissors (like those). One of the blades has microserrations along the edge (see the picture below). How should I sharpen them? I presume that I'd destroy the serrations if I just tried sharpening it the same way as I do with non serrated edge?
As far as the tools go, I own Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener (which I like very much) and Spyderco Sharpmaker (which I was not able to use to its full potential, hence replaced that with WSKT).

My experience is that you can't sharpen microserrated blades effectively, and generally end up damaging them.
I recommend contacting Sabatier instead, or talking to a professional knife sharpener.


Does the temperature increase the longer the food is on the stovetop? My physics knowledge is nonexistent, so I'm sorry for the ridiculously simple question.

When you're cooking on a stovetop (say on medium heat), does the temperature continuously increase the longer you're cooking, or is there a point where the temperature levels off? I know for the slow cooker, the temperature is kept constant once it reaches a certain level. Is the science the same for stoves?

In your oven, or any cooking method which has a thermostat marked with temperatures, the heat source is designed to turn on and off as needed to keep your food [somewhat] constant at close to that selected temperature.

On the stovetop, with say the burner on medium heat, the heat source just keeps putting heat into your food at a steady rate until you turn off, or adjust, the burner. However the temperature of your food doesn't just keep increasing forever, because when you cook on top of the stove in a pot, you usually have some water in there with your food.  When that water gets up to its boiling temperature, it can't get any hotter. It starts sucking up heat to become steam & starts boiling away. At that temperature, the water will take any heat that your burner puts out and use it to turn into steam & leave the food. So your pot stays at that temp, about 100 degrees C. until all the water is finished converting to steam, and the contents of your pot are dry, and free to begin increasing in temperature beyond that boiling point. Pretty soon after that the food starts to scorch and burn.

So to answer your question, yes the temperature levels off at the boiling point of water, but not because your stove guarantees it, it's because the water surrounding your food guarantees it. After your water boils away, the temperature of your pot is free to increase until it matches the temperature of your burner, at least on the bottom.


Is the meat curry powder mentioned for use in Malaysian curry puffs similar to western chili powder I was going to make some curry puffs following this recipe, in which some "meat curry powder" is used to flavor the fillings. I was just gonna use the regular store-bought curry powder I can find in my local supermarket, but then I started wondering if there is a significant difference between what I have and what is used in the recipe. The mention of "meat curry powder" in the ingredient list may suggest that it is a particular brand of curry which is especially suited for meat? As you can see from the images below, there is a slight color difference between the two at the very least.

Can someone with experience of Malaysian or similar cooking let me know if there is something in particular I should pay attention to when choosing the spices for the fillings?

The curry powder depicted in the recipe:

The curry powder I wanted to use

Store brands of curry powder sold here in the UK (and I assume most western countries) don't usually contain chilli powder at all. Chilli is generally added separately to taste, because many westerners can't handle the heat of a hot curry mix. The typical yellow colour of these mixes is because they contain turmeric.

However it looks like the Malaysian curry mix in the photo does contain chilli.  After looking at the bright red colour, perhaps it contains Kasmiri chilli powder which is very red, but quite mild, or perhaps it even has red food colouring in it.

Chilli powder alone doesn't make a curry, it needs the other spices commonly found in curry mixes such as, corriander, cumin, clove, cinnamon, black pepper, fenugreek, etc, etc.

When I want to make my curry extra red, I use Kashmiri chilli powder together with either regular curry powder or garam masala. It not only has a wonderful vivid red colour, but it's fairly mild and yet still flavourful, so I can afford to put more in the curry without making it totally inedible.

I have had a couple of Malaysian curry mixes given to me by a friend, and when I checked the ingredients I did notice food colouring was an ingredient, also their curries also have a distinctive star anise/fennel seed taste, so it might be worthwhile adding these spices too, if they aren't in your store bought curry mix.


Would using milk powder better than fresh milk when poaching? I read this question - What is the effect of poaching fish in milk? and was surprise that one can poach fish using milk.

However, I was wondering if the milk will be spoil if it is continuous being cooked? And also would it be better if milk powder is used instead of just fresh milk?

Poaching is a gentle process - the milk isn't boiling so there is no risk of it burning or the like. It will of course not spoil in the sense of it going off, that's a totally different process.

Fresh milk is better because, well, it's fresh. Powdered milk would probably work, but if you have fresh, use that.


Is it common for slow cookers to heat unevenly? I have a CrockPot brand slow cooker that is less than one year old.  I have recently realized that it heats rather unevenly, being considerably cooler on the side near the controls than on the opposite side.  For example, when I cook a batch of chili, I can see it bubbling bubbling near the warm-side wall, but not on the opposite side.  If I cook dumplings in my chili then those on the warm side are done in about the amount of time I expect, but those on the cool side are still decidedly undone at that time. For what it's worth, I usually use the "low" heat setting, but I think similar behavior occurs on "high".

Questions: Is this kind of uneven heating typical for slow cookers?  Does it indicate that mine is broken?  Do you have any advice about how to deal with it, beyond stirring and/or occasionally turning the crock within the heating unit?

It is not typical for the heating to be that uneven in a slow cooker, it sounds like it is broken. If it's less than a year old send it back and get a warranty replacement!

If it's not under warranty if it was me I'd take it apart and fix it if I could, they aren't very complicated. I'd either fix it or replace it rather than try to use it because one of the big benefits of a slow cooker is to be able to leave it unattended. You could stir things occasionally, but slow cooker temperatures are very low and you'll lose a lot of heat each time so it's not recommended.


What to look for when buying muffin tins? Because honestly, I wouldn't be nearly so in love with my dutch oven without the advice I got on this site. And I really believe in getting one good lifetime tool, rather than a bunch of cheap ones.

I'm kind of creeped out by Teflon, and will probably skip coatings. I've read here that baking with the silicone cup-type things isn't necessarily any better than a metal pan.

Are there any metal types or finishes that give better baking results?

In general, the darker the color of the metal of the muffin tin the more it will brown its contents.  You also want to look for a thick, durable metal as this will aid in even cooking.  Finally, look for a tin with large, wide handles; the last thing you want to be doing is sticking your thumbs into a muffin when trying to insert/remove the tin from the oven!  Most muffin tins these days are non-stick, so it may be hard to find one that is not.  With that said, non-stick technology has advanced a bit since the Teflon-only days.  For example, many modern non-stick pans/tins instead use other metals and ceramics that are not known to be harmful.  Furthermore, some modern muffin tins are marketed as "metal-safe", meaning that one can use a metal utensil on them (e.g., to extract the muffins from the tin) without damaging the non-stick coating.  Finally, muffin tins will likely never be heated to the temperatures at which the "dangerous" non-stick coatings release harmful gasses.


Making sourdough starter with bread flour Since all of the sourdough starter-receipes call for "flour", sometimes ryr flour, sometimes what flour, or "regular" flour, can bread flour be used instead, to accommodate a bread machine?

I ask because the bread machines call for bread flour, and not regular flour. Is mixing the (regular) flour made sourdough, with the bread flour in the machine problematic? Will bread flour work to make a starter, or must regular flour be used?

The difference between flour marketed as Bread Flour and flour marketed as All Purpose (at least in the US) is the type of wheat from which it is milled, and therefore the protein percentage in the flour, a p/l value close to 1 which gives proper plasticity to the dough, and a large enough falling number to allow long fermentations.

At least the US, all flour marketed as either All Purpose or Bread Flour should be suitable for bread making, although bread flour will permit greater gluten development due to the higher protein level.

The yeast or bacteria in a bread starter eat the starch (after it has been converted to sugar by enzymes present in the flour), which is the bulk of the grain, whether the wheat is winter or summer, hard or soft, red or white.

Also, the way the bag is labelled is as much a marketing issue as a technical issue.  For example, in the US, King Arthur brand all purpose flour is nearly as "hard" (high in protein) as other common brand's (such as Gold Medal) bread flour.

Use either all purpose or bread flour, as you choose.


cooking pastry for bottom of pie using cold filling Sometimes my meat pies do not cook properly on the bottom.
I usually put the filling in cold rather than hot.
Should I cook the bottom pastry blind before adding filling and top.

There are two techniques (that I know of) that will help you. I often use both...

A thin layer of fat on the inside (the "top of the bottom") will prevent the water from the filling from soaking into the crust and allow the crust to 'cook through'. I use butter but shortening, lard or cooking oil will do.
Par baking with pie weights will allow the crust to begin cook
before the filling is added.

I don't know if this helps with 'cooking properly' or not, but I use vodka to replace half of the water to mix the dough. This inhibits the production of gluten and makes a 'flakier' crust. (based on a tip from Alton Brown specifically for apple pie, but it works all around...)


Brining before dehydrating? I dehydrate my own pressure cooked chicken for camping trips where I add them soups and stews. I cook the chicken in a pressure cooker (rather than baking it or poaching it) to make it more tender and hydrate better on the trail. I wonder if brining the chicken for a couple of days before I cook it and dehydrate it would make the chicken even more tender? If not, why? And, what else could make the chicken hydrate quicker and better?

Brining is a process that hydrates...or forces liquid into the cell structure of the product...to slow or prevent dehydration. This would certainly slow your dehydration step, perhaps dramatically. Adding extra water and then eliminating as much as possible doesn't seem to make sense. Why not just dehydrate less in the first place?

Basing my thinking on the quick method for rehydrating dried beans, I would suggest using boiling water...or stock (maybe hard to come by on the trail)...to speed rehydration.


Waxed cheese oozing oil I have waxed cheddar and Gruyere, using black cheese wax, for about 4 months. When I turned it, I notice oil oozing. The Gruyere was from Bavaria.  How and why does this happen through the wax?

The cheese is or has been too warm.

Cheese must be kept cool to cold.

Incidentally you cannot get Gruyere from Bavaria.

Gruyere is an address in yes but from no.


How to imitate commercial fried chicken? I'm trying to develop my own "secret" fried chicken recipe, something that is similar to Popeye's or Church's. I'm a LONG ways from getting there. Here's what I did in my last experiment:

Chicken was marinated in buttermilk with Cajun spices and Tabasco
sauce for 24 hours
I used a deep fryer and canola oil. 175C.
Prior to "dressing" the chicken, I let the excess buttermilk brine drip off the chicken. I then seasoned it with Cajun seasoning
I made a batter using an egg, self rising flour, milk, baking powder
I also tried using just plain flour for breading

Results:

Using the batter, the chicken came out looking burned and too smooth (didn't have that crunchy look). It burned too much that I couldn't finish cooking the chicken.
Using the flour, the chicken came out with a thin crust, somewhat crispy, but also too burnt.
Dipping the chicken in the batter AND then flour gave a bulky & crunchy look. However, again, the result looked too burnt.

Modifications:

I then changed the the breading. I used bread flour and corn starch. I dipped the chicken in the batter again, then used the new breading. The bread flour was a bit lighter. And the corn starch was even more lighter. But they were still burn looking (just lighter shades). I also dropped the temperature to 160C.

Results:

Burnt chicken whose crust wasn't really sticking to the skin/meat.

Questions:

Any suggestions on what I can do to improve? I'm guessing something in the batter is causing the burnt coat. What flour should I use? What can I do to make the coat stick to the skin/meat? Any other suggestions on what to do?

160C sounds about right for cooking oil temp. I typically shallow fry on the stovetop for about 10-12 minutes for the thighs and then transfer them to a 175C oven to finish cooking (if needed) and then repeat with the breasts. I would stay away from "battering" if you are looking to replicate something like popeye's.

A few things I do to ensure a nice thick crunchy crust:

Put your flour (seasoning or not thats up to you) in a very large zip top bag or paper bag will work too so that when you put the chicken in you can "tumble" it around to be coated like in a dryer. I find that this is cleaner and more effective in creating a crust.
pull out the dredged chicken, redip it in the buttermilk and then throw it back in the bag to tumble.
let the chicken rest on an elevated rack for 15-20 minutes (up to an hour ideally) to allow the dredge to set and adhere to the chicken well. This helps prevent the dreaded "skin falling off the meat" phenomenon.


Is there a vegetarian gelatin substitute that is as strong as gelatin? I've made several mold (shaped) desserts with both gelatin and gelatin substitutes, and the substitutes have always failed to hold the shape of fully domed chocolate molds and the like.  Are there any real vegetarian substitutes here, or only relatively weak alternatives?

The primary subsitite I've used is agar-agar.  Some others are suggested here, but I have no experience with them.  (A good comment below suggests that is not the best link b/c all the non-agar substitutes listed at this link are just thickeners.

This depends on what you mean by a gelatin "substitute".

What you have to understand is that while most hydrocolloids have gelling and stabilizing properties, they are not simply interchangeable.  You can't substitute one of them 1-for-1 where you need gelatin and expect everything to just work.

A great place to start would be the Hydrocolloid Recipe Collection which, despite its name, is almost more of a cookbook, because it has detailed information on the properties of each hydrocolloid.

Agar is actually a stronger gelling agent than gelatin in the sense of having to use less of it to get the same strength, but you need to use it properly.  The most important property of agar is that unlike gelatin, which gives hydration at temperatures as low as 50° C, agar requires a temperature of 90° C.  In other words, you need to heat the water all the way to a rapid boil before the agar will actually "activate".  A light simmer is not enough.

The other notable property of agar is syneresis, which is the loss of moisture over time.  Agar sets extremely fast compared to gelatin and above room temperature, but unless you combine it with a small amount of Locust bean gum, it will actually dry out.  Otherwise, though, you can absolutely, definitely substitute agar-agar for gelatin if you actually get pure agar (I made the mistake of buying the "dessert agar" once, which is not the same thing) and hydrate/set it properly.  In fact, the biggest concern with using agar as a substitute for gelatin is that you might end up with something too stiff, since gelatin produces a much softer gel.

Perhaps the closest hydrocolloid to gelatin in terms of its properties is iota type carrageenan.  Here's a side-by-side comparison of the most important characteristics (this is all taken from the HRC):

Property          | Gelatin   | Carrageenan | Agar
------------------+-----------+-------------+---------
Thermoreversible  | Yes       | Yes         | Yes
Strength          | Soft      | Soft        | Hard
Elasticity        | Elastic   | Elastic     | Brittle
Shear Thinning    | No        | Yes         | No
Hydration         | 50° C     | 70° C       | 90° C
Setting Temp.     | 15° C     | 40-70° C    | 35-45° C
Setting Speed     | Slow      | Fast        | Fast
Melting Temp.     | 25-40° C  | 45-80° C*   | 80-90° C
Viscosity         | Low       | Medium      | Low
Gelling Conc.     | 0.6-1.7%  | 1.0-1.5%    | 0.2%
Syneresis         | No        | No          | Yes

You should be able to see by this how much closer carrageenan is to gelatin; trouble is, it's difficult to find, and you have to get the right kind (the kappa type and other types have very different properties).

There's actually an even better type of carrageenan to use a gelatin substitute, if you can find it: It's called Ceambloom 3240 and it's specifically designed to be a gelatin replacement.

I'd like to also note for the record that the answer in your ochef link is not really appropriate for gelatin desserts that need to hold their shape.  Xanthan gum is a fantastic and versatile hydrocolloid but (to the best of my knowledge) it does not "set" the way that gelatin, agar, or carrageenan do.  It's more of a thickener/emulsifier/stabilizer, at its highest concentrations being used to produce foams (but not gels).  It's often used to stabilize other gels/foams but I've never heard of it being used to create a gel on its own.

Guar gum is also largely just a thickener, that you could use a stabler replacement for corn starch or arrowroot, which is also mentioned in that answer.  None of these are appropriate at all for gels (desserts), they are only useful as thickeners.


Use fry sieve to steam vegetables Can I use a fry sieve to steam vegetables in a pot? Does it work for the purpose of steaming collard greens? The pot lid doesn't seal when the sieve is in the pot.

Anything that keeps the product off the bottom of the pan, and allows steam to circulate, can be used to steam vegetables.  In this case a picture would be helpful, because fry sieves come is all different shapes and sizes.  As you point out, the key will be keeping the steam in the pot and around the vegetables.  You might try rolling a kitchen towel, placing it around the rim of your pot, and then placing the lid on top of that.  Be careful that the flame, or burner, and the towel do not come into contact. Do this after water is boiling and when you can turn the burner down.  Keep an eye on it.  This can form a seal in a steaming situation, where the lid alone won't do the job.


What is this for? A burger-press? I've "inherited" this thing a long time ago, and I have no idea what it is. It consists of a cylindrical porcelain bowl with the words "Mason Cash England" stamped in the bottom, a very sturdy cast-iron frame with a screw through and two circular discs of zinc-plated iron that fit neatly inside. I could half imagine it being use to produce a perfectly circular burger, but it seems like absurd overkill. Here's a couple of pictures:

What is it actually for - anything to do with cookery at all?

It appears to be a 'Meat/Cheese Press':
https://picclick.co.uk/Vintage-Mason-Cash-Cast-Iron-Ceramic-Meat-312233238612.html
I'm not sure why you'd press meat, but you'd use it with cheese to press the whey out.


Do shrimp really have sex with their siblings before being served raw in sushi? "The raw shrimp served in sushi all begin life as males—and then they all suddenly become females and have sex with their younger siblings." -Trevor Corson, The Story of Sushi

Is this true? Do all shrimp really need to go through this process before being served raw? If they don't have sex with their siblings should they not be served raw? Why?

Edit: After doing more research, I've found out that not all shrimp are born as males. So why are only the ones that are born as males used in sushi? Or is the guy that published this book full of S#i%?

That's not really true in any meaningful way, and has nothing to do with sushi. It sounds like the author was just trying to make it sound scandalous to attract attention.

It's a really, really sensationalized version of something true about at least some species of shrimp. They're essentially all born male, so before they can reproduce, naturally, some of them have to turn into females. The bit about siblings is essentially made up; sure, each shrimp has a lot of offspring, so some probably do randomly reproduce with a "sibling", but it's not like they're seeking it out. The younger part is true in a sense, though, since they turn from male to female but not back, so naturally the males are younger than the females. See for example this page.

I don't think those species are the only ones used in sushi, though, so all in all, the statement is essentially false. Not all shrimp change sex, in the species which do that, not only older ones (which have changed sex) are caught, and not all of them mate with siblings. I'm sure someone has eaten sushi made with a female member of one of those species which did happen to have mated with a sibling, but that's nothing to write a book about.


What pasta sauces can I make that don't include cheese? I've been making a fairly standard arrabbiata sauce for months, and I'd like to expand the number of sauces I can make.

However, many of these recipes involve cheese and/or milk, but I'm sadly lactose intolerant and would prefer to avoid these ingredients.

What others sauces could I be making, and what pasta should I use with them?

Tomato Sauce
Putanesca
Pesto (omit parmesan)
Bolognese (meat sauce)
Squash Puree (maybe with sage)
Olive oil infusions (fresh herb/garlic/chilis/lemon zest)
Roasted Red Pepper puree sauce
etc


Speculaas/Biscoff cookie low calorie aroma extract I love the taste of speculaas cookies and would like to add the aroma to foods. But one tiny cookie has ~50 kcal (~ 480 kcal/100g).

I tried mixing spices as suggested on internet but no luck.

How could I separate the fat (palm oil) and sugars from the blended cookies? How can I deemulsify the lechtins? I suppose I could add yeast for the sugar but that would take weeks right?

EDIT: Maybe the taste is partially due to caramel?

  The unique taste stems from the sugar’s caramelization during the baking process. And a hint of cinnamon and other spices add that special something. Biscoff Cookies are made with

The taste of a Speculaas is a lot more complex than just the spices.

So if you want to recreate it without crumbling up a cookie, you need:

The spices:
Probably the most obvious part, but finding the "right" mix can be a challenge. Spices vary greatly between brands and recipes, both in ratios and intensity. Where a simple recipe might use cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, others pull all stopps and also include pepper, ginger, nutmeg and possibly others. And of course "right" in this case is a matter of personal taste.
The sugar:
Yes, you want to save calories, but a major contributor to the flavour profile is the sugar. You need the molasses in the brown sugar, and the caramel, that is created during baking.
The butter:
Kind of obvious, but butter has its own characteristic flavour and yes, it is part of the speculaas taste. It may be easier to skip than other compounds, but when we are talking about mouthfeel and how the flavour develops when tasting a dish, it plays an important role. Many aromatic compounds are soluble in fat, not water.
The flour:
Part of the speculaas taste is what we percieve as "baked flavour" or "cookie" and apart from caramelization (which is covered to a greater extent by the sugar), we are also looking at the results of the Maillard reaction.

So if you start "building" the flavour or "removing" unwanted sugar or fat calories, you will probably end up with a meagre immitation of what you love.

Sometimes choosing the real thing and enjoying it in moderation can be more satisfying than feasting on a substitute, and in my personal opinion, this is one of these cases.


What to do with barbecue sauce We found a nice recipe lately for barbecue sauce and made 3 variations to test out. The problem is: now we have ~3 pints of homemade barbecue sauce that we need to use before it goes bad. (It won't last nearly as long as store-bought stuff with all of their preservatives).

What are some tasty ways to use up our new sauce?

I like to take a nice center cut pork loin and cook it in a slow cooker (crock pot) for 8 hours in homemade bbq sauce.  When it's done, take it out, use two forks to shred it, then put the shredded pieces back into the sauce to coat.  Mmmm...homemade pulled pork.  Freezes really well in individual portions, too.

Another option is to use it to marinade a nice rack of ribs or three, bake it on a very low temperature for a few hours (or as long as a day), and then grill or broil them to finish.  I'd say the rib meat probably freezes well too - but ribs never last that long in our house!


How to brownies from a box/mix with a flaky top? I buy and make box brownies all the time, but the top crust always ends up looking more like the topping of a cake, rather than the flaky top shown in the picture on the box.  It's pretty easy to follow the 4 steps on the box; is there something I am missing?

To get a shiny, flaky, crackly, light-colored crust on the top of your brownies, there are two effective changes you can make:

Beat the brownie batter for longer after adding the eggs.  Doing this increases the crust, which is actually meringue.  This is what you should try with your box mix, since the sugar is already included in  box.

Use white sugar (granulated sugar) with a from-scratch brownie recipe.  Brown sugar and corn syrup contain more moisture than white sugar, which will reduce the shiny crackly crust.


Why is Ginger essence hard to get hold of? Not been able  to get hold of essence of ginger for a while now and wondered why??.....is there anywhere in UK that still does it or has it been discontinued for some reason

I can see it on Amazon, Lakeland, and Ocado, but the major supermarkets don't list it on their websites (you have to be a little careful searching as it's also sold as a supplement/herbal medicine).

It's rarely necessary to use it in cooking over other forms of ginger, and I never have, which may explain why it's only available from specialist sources.  One time it is used is ginger icing; that's somewhere I've used the syrup from stem ginger in syrup.  This works in many sweet recipes using ginger in liquid form but also replaces some of the sugar and water.  It's therefore best for recipes that rely on feel or taste rather than accurately measured small quantities.

You can make your own from fresh root ginger.  The link gives two methods with different results, for the purpose of flavouring beer, but there's no reason why you couldn't use them in other cooking.  The strength may be different to commercial extracts.


What is the purpose of wrapping fish with aluminum foil? I was wondering what would be the difference if we wrap or don't wrap the fish with aluminum foil when baking. And also covering it with salt - how much of a difference would it make?

Cooking fish or other items in paper, "en papillote" is a technique used to lock in moisture and basically steam the fish in its own moisture and any aromatics you add.  Using foil is often done in the same way and to remove the fish or other items from more direct drying and scorching effects of heat while cooking, much as you might use foil on poultry breast to try to prevent burning while getting the slower cooking thigh up to temp.

If by covering with salt, you mean directly to the fish or other item and either using a bed of salt or burying them in it, one point is to flavor of course, but also to draw out some moisture.  Both in this case, and if the item has been wrapped so the salt does not actually contact the food, the idea I have always learned is to even out the temperature and turn it into more of an indirect heating.  The goal in this case is to try to get to temperature again without scorching or open drying of the item and get a more even heating in theory.


Can I replace pine nuts with other nuts in a pesto sauce recipe? Possible Duplicate:
  What is a good pine nut substitute for pesto?

Pine nuts are very expensive here. I'm wondering if I can substitute any of the following:

Walnuts
Sunflower seeds
Almonds

Would any of these be appropriate in a pesto sauce?

First, I'm assuming by "pesto" you mean "Pesto alla Genovese", given your question about pine nuts.  Basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and cheese is a delicious combination, but it's only one of many "pestos" (peste, actually), since pesto refers in general to any sauce which is made from crushed or pureed ingredients.  Mix and match to your heart's content.

Walnuts are actually a traditional alternative to pine nuts for Pesto alla Genovese; pine nuts have always been scarce, even in early-20th-century Italy.  As a caution, though, you need to get good, fresh walnuts and make sure to get all of the skin off the nuts, or the pesto will taste bitter and rancid.

Almonds could also work, although I'd think they'd be rather bland.  The herb pastes which traditionally have crushed almonds -- such as Romanesco sauce -- include some hot pepper.  Again, freshness and getting the skin off is important.

I'd think sunflower seeds would be kind of odd and oily, but you don't know until you try.  If you do, post a comment to let us know!


Pitas are paper thin on one side My problem is when the pittas do puff up, one side is paper thin, and tears easily when you try to put anything on it.  Any tips?

Uneven rolling of pitas can usually cause this problem. Make sure you shape even with roll pin & keep it half centimetre thick!


Removing the flavour of smoke I made something wrong and the food becomes a but (but not totally) burnt and tasted like smoke, what can I do with it? Are there any spices that can change its flavour?

There are a couple of specific cases where you may have some luck rescuing a portion of the dish.  THis is not removing the burned flavor, but rather removing the unburned portion:

For a large pot of something like chili or spaghetti sauce, if you realize it is burned on the bottom, you may be able to scoop off the unburned portion at the surface.  Don't stir and don't scrape the bottom.  You want to leave the burned portion on the bottom of the pan.

It still won't be as good as unburned, as some of the flavors will penetrate, but it may not be totally horrible.
For a large cut of meat, like a roast, you may be able to cut off the burned portion, and rescue the remainder.

However, in general, once something is burned, the smoke and acrid flavors will penetrate it pretty thoroughly and there is no real way to remove that.  Masking the flavor with additional spices would be extremely difficult, and almost certainly require an unacceptably large quantity of spice (unless you are a fan of Dave's Insanity Sauce, in which case you may not care).

You have to decide if the food is unpalatable enough that you just have to discard it.


How to cut peanut brittle I would like to be able to cut peanut brittle into neat squares. Everything I have tried does not result in a 'neat, straight cut', a quick Google search shows some very expensive 'industrial' machinery...but nothing for the 'home'.

Any good techniques for how to cut peanut brittle would be appreciated. I would also like a technique that would work after chocolate has been melted on top, although I could add the chocolate after the squares are cut.

Try using a finely serrated knife (I'm thinking like a dollar store steak knife). Move the knife back and forth many times, but apply little to no downward pressure that could cause the peanut brittle to fracture.


How can I make fizz free and alcohol free mojito? I want to make alcohol free and fizz free mojito. Is this possible? I don't mind carbonated water; but my family does not drink alcohol for religious reasons. We also avoid and have avoided fizzy sugar drinks for years due to harms. My family are just fizz paranoid so we are looking for some alternatives.

Can we make a mojito or something similar? My local takeway gets handfuls of strawberries and blends them up and then with carbonated water and fresh mint leaves serves them up and calls it a strawberry mojito.

Harms? Meh, that's silliness. You can make your own fizzy water if you're so inclined. Sodamakers.

If you really don't want fizzy, then just substitute still water in any of the recipes in a search for Virgin Mojitos. Choose recipes that use soda water, club soda or seltzer water, not ginger ale. Ginger ale adds flavor, you want recipes that stand without that flavor.

EDIT: Just to be clear; soda water, club soda or seltzer water are all just water, injected with carbon dioxide to make bubbles (carbonation). So by substituting regular water for soda water, club soda or seltzer water all you're losing is the "fizzy". (Club soda may have a tiny amount of something like baking soda to neutralize the decrease in PH caused by the carbonation, Slate gets further into it, but for all practical purposes, they are all just bubble water.)


What is room temp Butter Many of my baking recipes call for room temp butter.  In general this just means butter soft enough to be creamed with sugar, but is this a specific temp range? My kitchen stays cold enough in winter that butter doesn't really soften (and hot enough in summer that it would be liquid), but I can keep a small section of it at a constent temp, but what should it be set for?

Thanks

I, too, have the same problem - namely that in the winter we keep the house cool, and the butter is hard, etc..

In restaurants, I will microwave butter to get it to 'room' temperature when needed, but you must do it in short bursts, or parts will melt. Micro for 10-20 sec., then pause a minute, then do it again. As with any softening technique, the critical thing is that you don't want it to liquify in most cases, as it will lose the emulsion properties that make butter so awesome.


What's the beef cut with solid, thick bone? I need a cut of beef with very specific requirements. I'm interested in bone first:

It should have it medullary cavity approximately in the size of a small finger.
It should have compact (dense, cohesive) bone walls as thick as possible.
It should be cut perpendicularly to the bone, in a way that does not create fracture.

Seasoning and cooking it to preserve bone strength may be a  follow up question, but it is out  of scope for now. Now I want to know:

What cut I should ask a butcher for?

I want meat and bone, for specific aesthetic purpose. I want it to be edible, but artistic vision comes first.

You're doing it wrong™.

Your question is, essentially, "What code-word should I use to tell my butcher to give me a cut of beef with properties X, Y and Z?" Don't do that. Just go to your butcher and describe what you want.

Quite apart from anything else, the cuts of meat that, say, a British butcher understands will be different to the ones that and American butcher understands and you haven't told us what language your butcher speaks.


Bagel Failure - what happened? Last night we tried to make bagels. We used this quick video online to give us the basics in terms of process and then we used the measurements from this website.

We proofed the yeast for a few minutes in water and sugar and it was active, and then mixed in the flour. I kneaded the dough until it was really consistent - for about 15 minutes by hand. Then we let it rest for a little over an hour. There was a bit of expansion. The mass might have grown half again it's original size (150%)

I then weighed out the 65g balls and they rested in the fridge for a little over an hour. This was longer then that video recommended, but it didn't seem like going over by a half hour would do anything terrible. Next, we rolled out the ring shapes and let them rise for an hour... and then another hour. They didn't rise. The recipe called for putting them in the fridge overnight, but we chose to let them rest in a cool room, covered, overnight, just to give the yeast more of a chance. The trouble was there had been no change in size or consistency. They were almost tacky still, just as they had been during kneading.

This morning they had not changed at all. It was possible to re-shape them into balls with a few quick turns of the hand. I nonetheless boiled the water and turned the oven on. I lifted the first one and it stuck to the plate as tacky, unleavened dough would. They all went straight to the bottom of the pot, so I had to keep watch turning them. I boiled four and put them in the oven just to see what would happen, knowing it had been a failure. The results were "bagels" that didn't rise at all. Dense and chewy. They looked like dead piles of dough with seeds on them.

I read somewhere that you can't over kneed bagels, so I don't feel it was this. We weighted every ingredient so it can't be that. The yeast was active so it can't be that (or could it have been killed somewhere along the way?). All I can think of is that something went wrong in the proofing. But I can't figure out what.

Can anyone tell me what might have happened? Thank you!

It sounds like your yeast never really got started, and you may have killed most of it off. Sugar actually retards yeast, and salt kills it, so mixing sugar and salt into the water was not a good thing, in fact it didn't kill off the yeast completely it probably did most of it. So you started off with very little live yeast, which has knock on effects. Cold conditions make proofing much slower, and what yeast you had wasn't enough to make things rise.

Yeast can come back in some cases, providing there's at least some in there, you just have to give it time to reproduce. I've had bread take 3 hours to really get going when I've had old yeast or mistreated it, and the results were fine in the end. If I suspect I've killed my yeast I've had some success kneading more in with a bit of water, again giving it more time.

The message here is not to go for a time, but a result. If you expect a dough to double in size or more then don't move on to the next stage until it does. Home bread baking is not an exact science, so be prepared for things to move faster or slower.

A couple of things about bagels:

Bagels won't rise or expand much in the oven as boiling them cooks them, fixing their structure. If they aren't risen enough before boiling leave them be until they are, there's no oven spring!
Bagel dough is supposed to be dense, but you can overdo it. Don't add any more flour than the recipe calls for
You can over-knead any bread, but 15 minutes doesn't sound like too much to me

I've found that using a sponge is very good for getting consistent results, in fact I won't bake yeast breads without one anymore. A sponge is a 50-50 mix of some of the flour and water from your recipe plus all your yeast which is then set aside covered. This gives your yeast an ideal environment to get started, once it's really happy (generally 30-45 minutes) you then add the rest of the ingredients (salt last) and proceed as normal. If your yeast is dead you will know it within 15-20 minutes or so and you can start again, otherwise you wait until it's super bubbly. A sponge also adds flavor I find.


How to prevent dough from stopping food processor motor I have a Cuisinart 7-cup food processor. Whenever I knead dough for milk buns in it, it'd get stuck after about 45 seconds. If I shut it off, it resets after about 10 minutes, but it's a PITA. Here's the recipe and amounts I use:

240g AP flour (about 2 cups)
10g wheat gluten
5g instant yeast
3g salt
35g sugar
1 egg
40g butter
120g milk
3g white vinegar

The food processor doesn't get stuck with other doughs I've made (French bread and pizza). I'd prefer not to have to take the dough and the blade out every time it gets stuck, since that's a pain too. Any pointers? Thanks!

It sounds like this dough is more than your food processor can handle. You might try making a half batch, or if you have a quality stand mixer, adapting the recipe for its dough hook.

In the comments to the question, you mentioned another dough that you do not have trouble with.

Note that the dough you have problems with is at a hydration of about 50% (with extra gluten), and the dough you have no trouble with is at a hydration of 100%, so it is going to be much softer. Its not just the total volume, its the thickness of the dough.  The softer dough will give much less resistance to the food processor.

(Hydration is the amount of water in the recipe, expressed as a percentage of the weight of flour, so 1000 g of flour and 600 grams or mL of water would be a 60% hydration.)


Can putting items with high heat capacity smooth out heat changes in Sous Vide? So was recently thinking about the beer cooler sous vide method and had a thought:

While heating the water to put in the beer cooler, if you were to place an object with a high heat capacity (e.g. a ceramic coffee cup) in the water, heat both to the desired temperature and then place them in the beer cooler, would that help keep the water at a more constant temperature?

In other words, since you are replacing some of the water with a material at a higher heat capacity at the same temperature that would in turn keep the rest of the water warmer for a longer period, correct?

Water has one of the highest heat capacities available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_capacity#Table_of_specific_heat_capacities

Your ceramic is not going to hold nearly as much heat as the water bath itself.

If you are finding that your bath is cooling too quickly then you are better off investigating your cooler.


Cherries + 2% salt + 1 week at room temperature =? Around a week ago I had a tray of leftover cherries. I rinsed them, cut them in half and took the stone out, mixed them with 2% by volume Kosher salt and vacuum sealed them.

I then left them on a counter in my kitchen for a week at room temperature (North Wales, for reference), "burping" the mixture on day 3, 5, 6,7 & 8.

I've opened the mixture today - the cherries were sour as expected, however I'm not sure if that is from the liquid that's come out of them, which smells pretty strongly of alcohol.

What have I made here? I was working off from the Noma fermentation guide and guess I sort of expected lacto-fermented cherries?

Googling would suggest I have made something in between this cherry chutney:

https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/lacto-fermentation-recipes/lacto-fermented-cherry-chutney/

or umeboshi:

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

Any help gladly appreciated!

What makes you think they are not lacto-fermented cherries?  The Noma guide is, of course, a reliable resource. I assume you followed the procedure for plums (or the general instructions for lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables), as the book does not have a specific recipe for cherries. It could be that you just allowed them to go too far for your liking.  The book does talk about "watching the timing", and choosing a stopping point that suits your taste.  The specific fruit, and of course the ambient conditions, will influence the fermentation.

The two links you attached are also for lacto-ferments.  The chutney just has other ingredients added...so call them what you wish.  I would say you have lacto-fermented cherries.


Cooking ham in an oven with oven cleaner If a ham was cooked for 20 mins in an oven before realising that there was a layer of oven cleaner in the oven, is the meat safe to eat?

I'm not sure what kind of cleaner you used, but either way, the heat changes the molecular structure of the cleaner used and 'gases' it, allowing it to permeate into your food.  It is a shame, but throw it away.


Microscope for cooking I am looking to purchase a microscope to better understand the changes to the food items at a microscopic level. Does anybody have any recommendations as to the type/brand of microscope I should purchase (ideally it would be able to capture digital images)?

I've had good luck using a Dino Scope for a variety of things, although I've never used it on food, nor subjected it to high temperatures. It offers up to 200x magnification, and can take images, movies, and time-lapse movies.

Some sample images can be seen here: http://kenmankoff.com/photos/v/misc/Microscope/


Does this tinned food need to be cooked? I’ve recently started eating tinned chicken, specifically the Roberts brand as shown below.
When I open the can, it looks kind of raw and kind of tastes as such, but that could just be my imagination.
I have tried to contact the manufacturer for more information, but have had no luck.
Is the food in these cans fully or partially cooked? Can you eat it directly from the can, or does it need to be cooked? Is it safer to cook it prior to eating?
If it is to be cooked, how should one go about it (e.g. microwave, fry, oven)?  What is the point of these cans if they will need to be cooked anyway (I thought they didn’t have to be cooked)? Have I just got the wrong brand for ready-to-eat tinned chicken?

All tinned foods which are not dry (like flour or coffee grounds) have been sufficiently cooked and are safe to eat directly after opening. Once opened, leftover contents should be treated like any perishable food. Of course, some canned foods should be heated before serving, but that's a culinary consideration rather than a safety concern.


Pre-Cooking Steak in a bag, Any suggestions? I tried something on the weekend, and it seemed to work well, so I thought I'd ask for comments.

We'd planned to make steak for dinner, and it happened to come in a vacuum-packet plastic. So before opening the bag I dropped it into some hot water (about 170F) for a couple hours. The temp obviously fluctuated a bit, but I topped it off with hot water from time to time.

I like my steak "lightly seared", so pretty much "blue". So out the bag, into a bit of oil, then into the (very hot) pan. Maybe 60 seconds each side (probably not even that much). Out. Rested. Eat.

It was very soft - and perhaps predictably "warm through" - which was different as "blue" can end up being quite cold. Was very tender though.

So to my question - any suggested improvements on the technique? Would it benefit to keep the steak in the water longer? (I'm thinking of trying a 24 hour period next).

One down side is that marinading of the meat (in the bag) isn't possible - so good quality meat with good flavor is a must.

You've basically re-invented sous-vide cookery for steak.  Steak is about the easiest food to cook sous-vide.  You can find a lot of resources describing it on the web, but here's a few notes

1) 170F for 2 hours undoubtedly left your steak very well-done.  Not a problem if that's how you like it, but also not necessary.  You can get medium rare by cooking in the 130-135F range for two hours.  Cooking sous-vide below 130F (necessary to get steak rare) is not recommended for safety reasons, as temperatures that low can encourage the growth of dangerous bacteria.

2) With sous-vide, there's no need to rest a steak after searing it.  Resting grilled steaks is necessary to give heat time to move from the outside of the steak to the center, and actually get it cooked to the desired temperature.  With sous-vide, you already did that in the water.

3) With an impromptu sous-vide setup like yours, you probably don't want to cook for more than a few hours.  You risk your temperature getting too low overnight, and then you're down in the bacteriologically dangerous ranges.   You can get some great effects cooking longer (I had 24 hour marinated skirt steak last night that was amazing), but you should probably do so with powered equipment.  There are home sous-vide machines available (a bit pricy) or you can build your own.  There are dozens of different rigs described on the web.  I built mine for about $100.

4)Longer cooking times are better for tougher cuts anyway.  If you're just looking to do ribeyes and strips, then two or three hours is fine.

5)You can marinade, but obviously not in supermarket bags (unless the supermarket marinades, e.g. pork tenderloin).  To do so, you either need to purchase a vacuum sealer (not too expensive), or be clever with drawing air out of ziploc bag and sealing it very tightly.


What quantity of baking powder satisfies a mass of size x? I have always had a question when it comes to "how many grams of baking powder to use for that amount of cake I made." I would like to understand if there is any kind of proportion and if there is technique where I can always make changes based on it. Without ever having to rely on a ready-made recipe.

About 5g baking powder per 150g flour, or about 1tsp of baking powder per US Cup of flour (Source: Michael Ruhlman's Ratio app.) That will work for most chemically leavened batters, quick breads, pancakes, etc. This is a guideline, not a rule.
Sometimes more leavening is desirable— you might want a slightly puffier quick bread and you're using a dough with enough protein to handle it. Maybe you want less because you've got a batter that doesn't stay together on something you're frying.

Unless you're planning on doing some workshopping, I recommend using an existing proven recipe to get a good ratio of ingredients. After a while, you'll get a better idea of how much leeway you've got with each variable in the technique.


How to turn over large number of items halfway through baking oven What's the best way of turning over multiple items in the oven? For example when baking french fries or meat balls I turn them over halfway but it can be a bit tedious to rotate one at a time. Has anyone had luck just shaking the pan or is it really supposed to be a 180 degree flip?

Yes, it is supposed to be a 180 degree flip, you want both sides to be heated evenly.

If you are using a flat or low-rimmed baking sheet, and have a second one the same size: oil the second sheet with only a very thin layer of oil. Take the first sheet outside, cover with the first. Grasp at the two sides, flip both sheets with the food sandwiched between them. Bake in the second sheet (which is now on the bottom).

Of course, this has its downsides too. You cannot use baking sheets with too high a rim (else the food will slide inside too much), you have a second sheet to clean, and there is the danger of burning yourself while you wave a hot baking sheet around. But especially for large amounts of food, or multiple batches which are done in two sheets anyway, it might be less hassle than turning with a spatula.


Is it true that good pistachio nuts should have yellowish shell, purplish skin and greenish flesh? In China, where I live, most pistachio nuts sold on the market have very white shell, and yellowish skin and flesh, like this:

Today I read some articles claiming that these pistachio nuts were so white because they had been bleached using hydrogen peroxide, and good pistachio nuts should have yellowish shell, purplish skin and greenish flesh, like this:

So, my question is: have white pistachios been bleached? What colour do pistachio nuts in your country have?

The natural colors for pistacio meats are green, yellow-green, purple and/or red.  Shells are beige.  The Kerman variety, which account for 90% of the pistachios grown in California, are yellow-green to deep green.  Pistacios from Iran tend to be more in the red-purple spectrum, and are alleged by their partisans to be superior to California pistacios.  Personally, I like both the Kerman and the Iranian ones I've been able to sample.

Looking at the picture, I'd say that those nuts were clearly bleached, due to the excessive whiteness of the shells.  This seems to be a common practice in China, enough to cause the government to debate a ban on bleaching. Per that article and others, there is no health risk associated with peroxide bleaching, but there is thought to be a significant loss of vitamins due to bleaching.


What dish?: Japanese chicken skewer wrapped in a green leaf and sour red sauce In Japan, at two occcasions, I had chicken skewer with a green leaf wrapped around it, and in it was also some red sauce with a sour taste. Is there a specific name for this dish? Ultimately I'm looking for what kind of leaf (maybe Shiso/perilla?), sauce (possibly something with plum?) and marinade it was so I can try to cook this dish myself.

I had the dish at two different small local grill bars near Nijo Castle in Kyoto.

Edit:
An answer suggested the name "shiso chicken". Googling that brings up mostly pictures of different combinations of chicken and shiso leaves, but a few do show something similar to what I had, this is one of them:

It looks like tsukune/tsumire chicken with shiso, search terms are chicken tsukune, ooba and plum. This yields some recipes, more without the plum, basically take minced chicken, add egg mirin soy sake potato-starch, divide, wrap in leaf and cook. Google translate/rikaichan will help you. For the plum sauce, basic recipe is to take Japanese plum pulp and add soy, not sure it is easy to do otherwise since it requires the special sour and salty plums.

More assistance with translation can be found on the Japanese Language Stack


Triple cooked chips: Removing moisture by cooling Triple cooked chips (French fries) are made by:

Boiling the chips, then cooling them in the fridge/freezer to remove moisture
Deep frying at a low(ish) temperature, then cooling again as above
Deep frying at a higher temperature

The intermediary cooling steps are for drying and removing water content. How does the fridge/freezer remove water, rather than just changing its temperature/state? Wouldn't, say, sun- or air-drying work better?

There are a lot of things going on to change the starches in the potatoes besides drying too; see rumtscho's answer for more on that. However, the drying matters as well, and these are indeed good methods of drying.

Refrigerators and freezers are notoriously good at drying things out. You might've noticed food drying out in your fridge if it wasn't well-covered, and freezer burn is a huge deal.

The air inside fridges and freezers is kept pretty dry, and it's circulating, pretty much ideal conditions for drying. Freezers really need to be pretty dry, since they're trying to prevent frost formation. But fridges are dry too too: the air is only a little above freezing, and the cooling coils are below freezing, so moisture is drawn out. Either way, it's still air-drying, just at a cool temperature.

Hot air is also good at drying things out, but I don't think you actually want the drying stage to further cook your food. Leaving it at warm room temperature with a fan would dry it pretty well too, but then you'd have a food safety issue.

The main alternative would presumably be a dehydrator, running at a bit over 140F, thus keeping things safe while avoiding further cooking. But that wouldn't accomplish the same changes in the starch, and that's not something most people have, so the fridge/freezer seems to make a lot of sense as a common, effective method.


Which spices should be bought whole vs. ground? I have a coffee grinder which has been excellent for grinding spices, and I'm currently transitioning my pantry from having many packaged ground spices to more whole spices which I can grind as needed. Are there spices that I should still buy pre-ground?

For the most part this is a question of convenience and how quickly you go through a fresh supply of spices in the quantities you buy.

Pretty much every dry spice will last better and be more aromatic and flavorful  if it is stored whole. That applies to leaves, seeds, bark, you name it.

Some really hard spices like nutmeg may not be appropriate for the coffee grinder (maybe if you break it up some first?), but those are at least large enough to get a good grip for hand-grating.

One exception for me would be specialty pre-blended spice mixes which sometimes have ingredients that would be really hard to track down, or which you might have to buy in much larger quantities than you can reasonably use. (If you can get all the ingredients easily then it is probably better to blend it yourself to your own preferences and in the quantities you need.)

Another exception in my kitchen is hing (asafetida) which is a resin that in its pure form is extremely pungent and I find it difficult to work with. Commercially-prepared hing powder is generally diluted with rice flour and is much easier to use in appropriate quantities.


Prevent uneven browning with breadcrumb chicken? I love pan-fried breadcrumb chicken, but I don't know how to get the breadcrumbs to brown evenly. I dip the chicken breasts in egg, then cover them in breadcrumbs, melt butter in the pan on medium heat, and then put the chicken breasts in the pan.

By the time the first side finishes, however, all the butter has burned off and when I flip the chicken breasts, the other side cooks very unevenly. I could add more butter, but it seems like I'm using too much already.

What can I do to get the breadcrumbs on each side to brown evenly

I would try to solve this with a couple of extra flips early on in the cooking process. When perparing similar dishes I put the product in the pan for about 30 seconds, then flip them over and slide them along the surface of the pan to pick up the butter remaining on the pan's surface. It does mean having to flip your meat four times instead of two, but in my experience it works.

It's quite likely that the breadcrumbs on the side you cook first absorb more butter than they strictly need to cook and brown nicely. By distributing your butter more evenly you can get more consistent browning without having to increase the amount of butter used.


Why did apple filling in the pie turn to mush? I'm not talking about the crusts. Those came out fine.

But the fruit of my apple pie came out dark brown without any crunch at all. They turned to mush, like a thick pudding or sauce.

I used 2 pounds of Granny Smith apples sliced thinly, 3 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon allspice, 0.25 teaspoon salt, 0.25 ground nutmeg, 0.25 teaspoon kosher salt, 2 tablespoons all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons ground Saigon cinnamon, and 0.75 cups of sugar.

I didn't cook the apples on a pan, just mixed the apples with the sugar and the flour and allspice and stuff and let it cook in the pie in the oven for 90 minutes(the first 30 minutes at 375 degrees and the 60 at 350 degrees.

Hold back a bit on the lemon, or toss 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in the filling. I don't see any other cause for the apples to have completely macerated in your recipe other than the acid content to cooking time. 90 minutes is a rather long time, but I'd expect them to hold up quite a bit better than 'mush'.

You could also try blind baking your bottom crust for 15 or so minutes so the final cooking time is shortened, which presents less opportunity for the apples to soften. Ideally, you want to be in the 45 minute to one hour range.

If it were me, I'd probably try both. Keep trying and experimenting, bringing a fresh pie to the table is one of the most satisfying ways to delight your friends and family :)


The role of the gluten in an acid environment When you make sourdough bread, you usually want more sourdough if you are using a flour with a low percentage of gluten ( minor strength ) and less sourdough if your flour has a good strength .

Now there is a clear connection between the acidity of the sourdough and the gluten ( or protein ) in order to achieve the perfect balance: what is the actual link ?

The link you are looking for is the balance between structure provided by gluten and structure provided by starch.  When there is a lower percentage of gluten, starch has to remain intact to give the bread structure. So, when using a lower gluten flour to make bread you use more sourdough starter so that you can develop a higher level of acidity. This acidity reduces activity of the enzyme alpha amylase and leaves more of the starch intact.  Not developing significant acidity quickly enough will lead to a gummy dough that will collapse during baking.


How do I store untempered chocolate? My chocolate tempering was a flop! I am left with half-tempered Easter chocolates for my daughter.
Since this is my first time and she doesn't really care, and another question said it's OK to leave these as-is for home consumption, I'm going to just give them to her like this and try again another time once I buy a thermometer.
I know they are more likely to melt in this state, so how do I store them so that they remain  solid? I am concerned about putting them in the fridge due to picking up moisture.

They are not that much meltable. Also, there is some chance they will become actually more pleasant, since the unstable crystals tend to turn into the next higher type over time.
So, I would just keep them at room temperature and not worry much. If milk chocolate (or worse, bad quality milk chocolate) doesn't spontaneously bloom in your place, your untempered chocolate shouldn't melt either. And it does melt slightly and then re-sets, it won't be that much worse for eating than plain untempered chocolate, maybe it will just have some added fat bloom. I have eaten many advent calendars in that state.
The fridge is also best avoided for great quality chocolates into which you invested lots of money or effort, but if they are already in the "I'll eat it so I don't have to throw it away" state, it doesn't matter that much. You can therefore use the fridge, if you prefer it over the room storage. They won't actively soak up any kind of moisture while they are cooled. What will likely happen is that you will see some condensation when you get them out for consumption and they warm up again. They are perfectly edible in that state too.
Bottom line, people tend to pay great care to perfectly-tasting chocolate, but once it is less than perfect, it is unlikely that you can make it significantly worse by storing it in the wrong place.


How do I bake chicken breast? The kitchen queen marinated three whole chicken breasts in the refrigerator today. She left a note saying to bake them. I have no idea what I'm doing. Should I slice them in half to make them thinner? What temperature do I cook at? How long do I cook approximately? What type of dish do I use? Should I cover said dish?

Chef Joe

The exact time and temperature will depend on the size of the breasts and your oven. You should always use a meat thermometer to verify that the chicken is cooked all the way through. For breasts, you want to make sure they're around 160 F on the inside (they're actually safe to eat a bit earlier, but 160 F leaves you with a margin of error). If you don't have a meat thermometer, you'll need to cut them open to make sure they're not pink on the inside, and the juices run clear.

I'd start the oven at about 375 F, and start checking on them after about 30 mins.