When left out in an open container, what % abv does vodka retain at room temperature? If I pour vodka (40% abv) into an open glass, and then leave it out overnight (or for some time), what percent ABV does it stabalize at? Or does all of its alcohol content evaporate (leaving just barley-water in its wake)?

Also, as a followup, does the same behavior apply to other alcohols, like whiskey? And finally, at what rate roughly does vodka lose ABV at room temperature?

As a chemist I'd say that the question is really impossible to answer as given.

The gist is that for a water/ethanol mixture both components will evaporate. So if the liquid is left out long enough, the liquid will evaporate completely.

The atmosphere contains essentially no ethanol so an equilibrium between the whole atmosphere and the ethanol in a glass can never be reached. There is water in the atmosphere (aka humidity) so the evaporation of water could be retarded, or prevented entirely if the "local" humidity is 100%. But unless the "local" humidity is already 100% then an equilibrium between the liquid and the atmospheric water won't be reached either.

Pure ethanol has a higher vapor pressure and thus evaporates faster than pure water (in 0% humidity). So the gist is that as liquid evaporates the water/ethanol composition of the liquid will change. Thus the relative rate of evaporation of water and ethanol changes too.

In terms of the rate of evaporation there are a number of unspecified parameters.

How much volume compared to the exposed surface area? So liquid will evaporate more slowly from a tall narrow glass than a short wide one.
Temperature? The higher the temperature the faster the evaporation.
Air currents? If you use a fan to blow air across the glass evaporation will occur much faster than if a fan isn't used.


Room temperature "rest" for fresh mayo? On the mayonnaise episode of Good Eats, Alton Brown recommends letting homemade mayo sit at room temperature for 4-8 hours before refrigerating. The idea is to let the acid in the mayo kill any bacteria that might have been in the egg yolk. Sound crazy, I know, but I'm not the only one who saw it, so I'm pretty sure that he really did say that. AB has a pretty good track record, so I'm inclined to believe him, but I haven't been able to find similar advice anywhere else -- even Harold McGee fails to mention it.

Is there any evidence to support this idea? And is the acid in lemon juice or vinegar really so much less effective at 38 degrees F than at 68F that it makes sense to bother?

There has been thorough scientific research done on this question.  The main problem with Alton Brown's recommendation is that his room temperature "rest" is not long enough, since the scientific literature recommends 24-72 hours at room temperature, depending on acid concentration.

The most common acids used in mayonnaise recipes are acetic acid (vinegar) and citric acid (lemon juice).  Vinegar is more effective at killing bacteria, but either can be used.  Both acids are less effective at refrigerator temperatures than at room temperature.

For a general review of the literature, as well as specific advice on lemon juice (along with lab results), see this article.  The take-home message, which you can see from the data (Table 1 in the link), is that the only successful sterilization of the mayonnaise that eliminated Salmonella bacteria occurred with at least 24 hours at room temperature with reasonable amounts of lemon juice.

The authors determined that the minimum quantity of lemon juice necessary to achieve this result was 20 milliliters (about 4 tsp) per egg yolk for 72 hours at room temperature, or 35 milliliters (about 7 tsp) per egg yolk for 48 hours.

Room temperature was necessary for sterilization: even after a week, all samples stored at refrigerated temperatures still tested positive for Salmonella, even with a high acid content.  On the other hand, after a week, no samples at room temperature tested positive, even those that contained only 10 milliliters (2 tsp) of lemon juice.

A previous study concluded that vinegar was also effective (and more effective than lemon juice).  Subsequent studies have indicated a dose of at least 20 milliliters (about 4 tsp) of standard white wine vinegar should be effective at 24 hours at room temperature -- though 72 hours was recommended if possible.

Other studies have shown that the addition of garlic and/or mustard will increase the sterilization effect, while salt inhibits it.  The type of oil also matters: as documented here, "olive oil with garlic or basil showed the fastest rate of death, followed by soya, grapeseed, rapeseed, groundnut, sunflower, hazelnut and a blended olive oil."

It must be emphasized that all of these studies, without exception, recommend 24 hours at room temperature MINIMUM for effective killing of bacteria.

Before concluding, I suppose I have to address the mistaken assumption that mayonnaise is unsafe at room temperature in general.  It is well-known among food safety experts that commercially prepared mayonnaise is perfectly safe at room temperature (for example, see the quotations at the end of this helpful brochure).  The acidic environment and previous processing stages are plenty to keep mayonnaise safe -- you refrigerate mayo to keep it fresh longer, not because it is unsafe at room temperature.

In fact, adding sufficient quantities of mayonnaise to meat-based dishes like chicken salad or ham salad can actually slow growth and even kill Salmonella and E. coli on the meat and thus make the dishes safer.  In the linked study, meat salads with mayonnaise held at room temperature for five hours had very little growth of Salmonella, compared to what would be expected without mayonnaise.  Note that refrigeration in such cases is still recommended, since the meat pieces can still spoil at room temp and the acidic sterilizing effect of mayonnaise is somewhat diluted when mixed with other things.  (Mayonnaise--along with any liquid or semisolid food--when handled improperly around contaminated food, can lead to cross-contamination of bacteria in mixtures that dilute its sterilizing effect.  But that's not a property unique to mayonnaise at all.)

In the past, homemade mayonnaise did not have the necessary processing to render it safe, which is the impetus behind the many studies I've cited here.  These studies show what you need to do to make it safe.  After 24-72 hours (depending on factors listed above), the homemade mayonnaise can be safely refrigerated to maintain its quality for longer than storage at room temperature.

[EDIT: One additional corollary to the research above is that homemade mayonnaise is actually the most dangerous when it is fresh.  I've occasionally heard people say, "I make homemade mayo, but I always use it right away, so it's safer."  In reality, as discussed in the linked articles, the acid will stop Salmonella from further growth and eventually cause it to die off in undiluted mayonnaise, even with significantly less acid than the recommended quantities.  Most egg-based food poisoning is caused by contamination from the shell, where Salmonella bacteria is commonly found and will grow once it comes in contact with a liquid medium.  This requires time, so fresh egg dishes are generally safer.  (Note that in the U.S., unlike almost everywhere else in the world, eggs are washed and their exteriors are disinfected, so Salmonella infection from egg shells is much rarer.)  With mayonnaise, though, the growth of small numbers of shell bacteria accidentally introduced into the mixture is inhibited by the acidic conditions.  Instead, the concern is the much smaller number of eggs (estimates usually say about 1 in 20,000) where Salmonella is present in the interior of the egg, and the liquid medium may already contain a high enough population of bacteria to make someone sick.  Those rare types of eggs will make you sick even when eaten fresh, which is the reason some restaurants have warnings about sunny-side eggs or runny omelets.  The average person will only encounter one of these internally infected eggs a few times in his/her lifetime, so the risk is pretty small.  But considering that thousands of people probably make homemade mayonnaise worldwide every day, these rare eggs will still occasionally cause sickness.  While the acidic recommendations above are well-researched, I personally would still use pasteurized eggs in making homemade mayonnaise for children, elderly people, pregnant women, big parties, etc.  On the other hand, if you eat (cooked) runny egg yolks on a regular basis, you shouldn't be concerned about mayonnaise, which actually has a lower risk if it sits for any period of time.]


I'm using steel cut oats flour to make bread and muffins but the insides are mushy and wet I bake them in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes but it seems the insides refuses to harden and dry
any advice?

PS: The mixture is (oat flour, baking powder, mashed banana, Jam, milk, maple syrup, honey, vanilla extract, nuts)

Thanks

This recipe is way too low in gluten, or even gluten free. You need wheat flour (or flour of other very closely related species such as spelt) to get a batter which can rise and bake normally. Any flour which does not contain gluten is not capable of trapping the bubbles created by the baking powder, and the moisture of the batter cannot escape the dough through the solid, bubbleless batter. The mashed banana and jam made it worse.

The best thing to do would be to add pure gluten in proportions common to AP flour (9 g gluten to 91 g oat flour). You will get normal batter.

If you don't want to do that, you can try to engineer a gluten free recipe using xanthan gum or other thickeners capable of producing a gloopy texture. The engineering process will take anywhere up to a dozen tests to get the texture right, and you will need to work with precision (normal scale to weigh all ingredients, small-amounts scale for the xanthan intself). Most home cooks prefer to use an existing recipe instead of going through this.


"Acetone" smell on bread I sometimes buy a brand of multi-grain salt-free bread *. After 2-3 days, it gets a very distinct smell of acetone, like paint stripper or nail polish remover. If I toast the bread, the smell goes away.

The bread is well within its sell-by date, so I don't typically put it into the fridge. This is not a one-off thing - I've noticed it many times for this type of bread.

I am confused by where acetone would come from in the typical grain/yeast mixture used for bread. What could be causing this? Is the bread still safe to eat?

* example: Trader Joe's Sprouted Multi-grain Salt-free Bread

I wouldn't see it as safe to eat. I cannot imagine that the acetone was present when you bought the bread (QA should have caught this if it happens every now and then), so it must be the byproduct of some microorganism chomping down on the bread. Especially if you say that it develops over time.

On the chance that it is mold (this is more common in bread than bacteria), try keeping it with less humidity. If it is in a plastic bag or in a bread box, stop doing that. Use a paper bag or leave it naked, and not in the direct way of fumes (e.g. a shelf above the stove).

Seeing that this bread has sprouted grains in it, it could even be moist enough to have bacteria colonizing it. Still, the remedy is the same. Store it in a dry location.


Is there any difference between a given cream and mix of different milks resulting in the same fat percentage? Is there any difference between a given cream and mix of different milks resulting in the same fat percentage?

For example, is there any difference in a half-and-half cream, say 16% of fat, and a 50% mix of skim milk and 33% fat heavy cream?

What is the application?

For most uses, no, there would be little to no effective difference.

Dairy products are a mixture of water, sugars, minerals (which the dairy industry calls ash, because they are left as ash when burned in a calorimeter), proteins, and fat.

If the product is not homogonized, the fat globules will eventually rise to the surface (where they can be skimmed as cream, giving rise to the term skim milk for when the cream has been removed).  If the product is homogonized, the fat has been forced into much smaller globules which form a stable emulsion, and will not rise.

Whipping non-homogonized cream is much easier, but most of us (at least in the US) do not have easy access to such a product.

Additionally, most dairy products are pasteurized in one of the various methods, slow or fast, which can affect the flavor.

Other than these differences in flavor or whipability, you can mix them with little difference for most applications.

Note:  to your specific question, your mixture of smim milk and cream may actually be richer than commercial half and half, which is often about 12% milkfat, but it would function very similarly.

Of course, all the above only applies to fresh products--basic milk or cream of various fat percentages.  Fermented products like yogurt, creme fraiche, cottage cheese, buttermilk, and so forth have entirely different charactaristics.


Why does store-bought peanut butter in a jar have so much more oil than fresh ground? When I buy fresh ground peanut butter, it has a very dry, paste-like texture with almost no oil. It can sit on my shelf for a week in warm weather and no oil separates out.

When I buy peanut butter in a jar, it has a layer of oil on top. Once this is mixed in, the texture is creamy and oily at room temperature.

The label claims that the jar contains only dry roasted peanuts, nothing more. This seems to be the case for all brands I've seen. Where does all the extra oil come from?

Having recently made peanut butter by hand,
(Using an hand cranked food processor).

I can say after looking at the result, over the last few weeks.
My peanut butter is much more oily than store bought.
It has also separated more.

The only trick to making your own peanut butter is the process it more than you thought.
When you think you are done, keep going.
I thought it was done when it was a kinda smoothish but crumbly texture.
But I thought i would give it a extra half and hour (Hand cranked remember).
Then it really became the oily smooth peanut-butter we know and love.

Peanuts are incredibly oily.
But exactly how oily is going to depend on several factors.
Things like growing conditions (Tempurature, soil etc),
and things in preparation -- how much (if at all) were they roasted (at what tempurature), how fine was the grind, what excess oil separated off.

Commerial peanut butter can control these things by sourcing peanuts from same set of farms (or by just combining such a huge number that you have the average peanut of a nation), and by using consistent processing.


Can I get more overrun despite single-speed machine? I love making my own ice cream, and have been doing so with a frozen bowl machine for years. I love my machine and the outcome. But over time, I discovered that I still frequently buy cheap supermarket ice cream just because I enjoy the variety of textures that frozen desserts can have. While my machine is very good at making dense ice cream as in parlors, it cannot get the foamy texture found in a tub of heart brand ice cream.
I know that the default answer to "more overrun" is "increase the churning speed". But I have a dedicated machine, not a stand mixer attachment, and the machine does not allow me to regulate the speed. I don't want to purchase a second machine (or an attachment), as I don't have the space for such extravagance.
Are there any tricks to try to get high overrun at home? Even if they are gimmicky/high effort, I would like to hear them and try them out.
I simply wrote "ice cream" throughout the question, but I'm actually interested in a wide variety of ice cream and frozen masses, including frozen yogurt, sorbet, etc. It is fine if you have an answer which is applicable to only one of those - and even better if you have a general suggestion.

For dairy based frozen dessert try incorporating more air prior to adding the mixture to your machine. Remember cold is your friend, freeze a mixing bowl then using a mixer, whisk or stick blender beat the mixture like you are making whipped cream. You should get additional volume, then churn as usual.
I’m not sure if this would work, but you may be able to whip additional air into the mixture after it’s finished freezing. You would need to work quickly, with very cold implements that could handle the resistance.


How to prevent chocolate from melting? It is tough to store chocolates during summer season. Is there any way to prevent chocolate from melting ?

I store mine in the freezer. It keeps it hard and thaws without an issue.


Can seasoning be eaten without being cooked? I use the steak seasoning for cooking steak (season on steak before being cook)

I love the seasoning so much that, even after fully cooked, I still add a lot to the steak, is it okay? Are there any side effect?

There is no need to cook it, it's fine to eat straight out of the grinder. It's just green, black and pink peppercorns with dried garlic, salt and dried onion (ingredient list from Amazon).


What accounts for Dutch Oven price variation? I have recently been looking to buy a good Dutch Oven that will last a while, and I am a little lost since there is so many options at many different price points.
I recall a few years ago I bought a cheap cast iron skillet and it was terrible, the season wouldn't last, the finish was very rough, and the edges of the pan to the bottom were not smooth which made washing very difficult; all of that was solved when I just bought a more expensive, brand name skillet.
Is the same true for dutch ovens? I find many options on Amazon for under $100, but there are also ones by Staub and Le Creuset up to $700; and ofcourse there are options at every price in between. They all seem to have the same weight in the specifications so I would assume the classic heavy lid is not a factor, would appreciate any insight into what accounts for this price variation, and if it is a notable factor.

I have owned many brands of cast iron and ceramic coated pans, here's the factors I've seen that effect the price:

Quality of materials: better quality coatings last longer and give better results
Refinement: some brands are more aesthetically pleasing, better designed, and have better finish than others. Some of these refinements may improve the cooking experience, some may just be looks
Name: This is a huge factor these days, some brands like Le Creuset have hiked up their prices enormously in the past decade to the point they are absolutely eye watering, yet their products haven't changed in design or quality

Of all these it's name that seems to have the biggest effect on price. I have some Le Creuset that I bought or got as gifts some time back, and I have since bought some department store branded ones (Linea, House of Frasier's own brand) which are 1/3 of the price. The department store ones look good, deliver good results and wear just as well as the Le Creuset ones. There are many brands to choose from, it's worth doing some research on what's available around you before you spend money.


Culinary uses for honeycomb? On a whim, I bought real honeycomb (not the cookie type dessert) from a local shop. I tried eating it plain, but the wax makes it unpleasant and chewy.

What can I do with it?

The comb, which is beeswax, holds the honey.  Honeycomb is used for decorative desserts, placed on or along side nicely arranged fruit, is used as a spread on toast or bread or crackers and is served with cheese platters.

As a child I loved honeycomb, would pop a hunk in my mouth and chew like gum until all that was left was the wax, and either spit the wax out or swallow it.

You say the wax is unpleasant and chewy.  The wax will remain chewy, the melting point of beeswax is somewhere around 60 C/140 F.  If the wax has a bad flavour, would suggest tossing the whole thing and trying again.

Don't know of any use other than eating it raw.  Was in the US capital a while back eating across from the bar association national headquarters and had an excellent appetizer platter which had bits of meat, cheese, preserved and fresh fruit, olives, different breads and honeycomb; it was very good.

Bottom line is if you eat it plain, you wind up with hunks of wax in your mouth that you have to do something with.  If you eat it with other foods, the wax isn't really noticeable, kind of like eating the rind on cheese; it just gets ate up.


How long should bread dough warm up after cold fermentation? I'm trying to experiment with cold fermentation. I've put dough in the fridge and I see that it slowed down. However how long should it ferment afterward before final kneading - is ~10 hours out of the fridge good enough (this way I can put it out before I go to work and bake after I return)?

If it makes a difference it's sourdough whole wheat/white/rye in equal proportions fortified with nuts and seeds.

...as long as it needs to, depending on a wide variety of factors.

You can shape it for baking, put it in the fridge, let it rise, pull it out of the fridge and put it in the oven - no warming up time at all.

If you are going to punch down/knead/form after it comes out of the fridge, you can do all that cold, and let it rise as long as it needs to before baking - which will depend on the dough and the room temperature.

Or you can let the bulk dough warm a while.


Cooking at low temperature on induction cooktop I started cooking recently on induction cooktop ,minimum temperature on it is 120 C but i want to cook my dish at 50 C for 15 minutes but the temperature is increasing rapidly.How do i maintain its temperature?

You can use a water bath and see if it will stay low enough for the desired time. You can play around with the water amount to achieve more consistency.

Even with the water bath, you won't get actual 50 degrees for 15 minutes, rather you'll have some slowly rising temperature which will stay in a hopefully acceptable range for the 15 minutes. This is because a cooktop is simply the wrong tool for the job, and especially the induction ones can be worse than the oldtime ones.

If you really want low temperatures for a sustained time, use an oven (if yours goes that low) or an electronically controlled cooking device.


Does flax seed lose its nutritional properties after it's ground up? I am from Santiago, Chile. Here, there's a rumour that smashed (ground) flax seed loses its properties in around 4 hours. Do you know anything about this?

Basically, the rumors say that the flax seed loses its nutritional properties, and that it can even be unhealthy once it is ground — but, if you grind it yourself and eat it right away, it's OK.

Any seed that has been damaged, cut, smashed, milled, or ground starts to lose flavour, texture, nutrition, and eventually will go rancid due to oxidising oils.

Four hours is too short a time for anything noticeable to happen. Some types of nuts and seeds show a noticeable change over a day or two, but most take many days or weeks.

Milled flax seed is reasonably tough; it should last for a week or so without a noticeable flavour change, and many weeks before going rancid. For more information and sources, please see: https://www.goldenvalleyflax.com/flax-facts/health-research-articles/flaxseed-storage-baking-stability/


Does honey have a bitter component? I've heard Jeffrey Steingarten, on Iron Chef America, mention that he finds honey quite bitter. I've never noticed that myself. Maybe if I really try I can notice a slight bitter finish, but for me the sweetness and floral aroma dominates. Is honey actually bitter in some quantifiable sense? Are some particular varieties of honey better known for this characteristic?

It depends on what the bees had for lunch :) . Acacia honey is extremely sweet, with no bitter aftertaste. Chestnut honey (easy to find in Italy, don't know about elsewhere) is dark and has a strong bitter note. I personally love how the bittersweet goes with butter and bread, but some people hate it. Generic polyflower honey usually does not have a bitter note.


what reasons would you give regarding the unsuitability of butter for deep frying? If a student brought butter to your class for use for deep frying food, what reasons would you give regarding the unsuitability of butter for deep frying?

The milk solids in the butter will burn and render the butter bitter and whatever you want to dry.
Best fix would be to clarify the butter to remove the milk solids.


Syracuse Salt Potatoes - what's the deal? Recently I've learned about salt potatoes, which is a regional dish from Syracuse, NY. Basically, you put about 1 cup of salt to 6 cups of water and boil unpeeled potatoes in that water. I've also watched this video before trying to cook - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IochM2MoIDA.

What I got as a result was very tasty, however, the thing is that, apart from lightly salty peels, my salt potatoes tasted exactly like regular ones.

In Wikipedia it is said that:

  The resulting potatoes are creamy, as the starch in the potatoes cooks more completely due to the higher boiling temperature of the extra-salty water.

My question would be--what sets apart (in terms of taste) salty Syracuse potatoes from regular ones, and how can I understand that I've cooked them properly? Maybe I've just used too little salt, maybe the salt shouldn't be regular kitchen salt. Maybe I should boil the potatoes longer (I was afraid that peel would burst and the potatoes would get over-salted).

In other words--again, apart from salty peeling--how can an experienced blindfolded gourmet recognize salty Syracuse potatoes?

I've made these before, and in fact found them to be as you describe; well-salted new potatoes, but not somehow substantially more creamy than standard boiled baby new potatoes.  You don't say if you used actual new (young) potatoes, but I did, and did not get different results from yours.
Should it have been different?  Well, first, how much "higher" would that boiling point be?
Boiling temperature of water increases by 0.5 C for every 116 grams of dissolved salt per kilogram of water, so for the Chef John recipe, we are looking at an increase of ( 273g / 116g ) * 0.5 / 1.18l, or an increase of just about 1C.  This seems unlikely to make a substantial difference in starch texture -- starch conversion temperature ranges are much broader than that.
So, what's the appeal of Syracuse potatoes other than just being salted?
I think I can answer this using quotes from Good Eats:

The consensus among the true believers is that “new” is also an important part of the perfect salt potato equation. New potatoes are simply immature potatoes of any variety, usually harvested in the spring and early summer. Key characteristics of new potatoes include their tender, parchment-like skin, which never needs to be peeled, and their moist creamy texture. Note that new potatoes are not the same as small potatoes.
As the potatoes cook, the supersaturated salted water forms a subtle crust on outside and somehow seals the potatoes so they never taste water-logged like ordinary boiled potatoes often do. They have a unique texture closer to fluffy baked potatoes, only creamier.

I have to say that "somehow seals the potatoes" is a disappointingly unscientific statement from Alton Brown, particularly since we know already from brining that heavy salting affects how various cooked foods absorb and release water.  And that is different here, because normal cooking time for small new potatoes is more like 10-15 minutes and the salt boil allows the potatoes to boil for more than 50% longer without becoming waterlogged and mushy.
But here's another important part:

Back in the 1800s, blue-collar Irish miners in The Salt City headed off to work each day with a small bag of substandard potatoes.

Note the "substandard" potatoes, which might include young potatoes that are too green or too hard.  Likely for those the extra 8 minutes of cooking time makes a much larger difference that it does for the near-perfect baby potatoes I bought.
So, my conclusion: the primary reason to do Syracuse salt potatoes is because they come pre-salted out of the pan.  The secondary reason is because the longer cooking time benefits the texture of the potatoes in subtle ways, but this difference is very subtle indeed if you start the recipe with high-quality potatoes that would have been creamy anyway.


Is it possible to freeze Eggplant Parmesan? If so, better to freeze before or after baking? I made a delicious eggplant parmesan dish last night and now my wife wants to repeat it and then freeze it for another occasion.

What's the best advice for freezing it? Is it better to freeze it before or after baked?

Here are the ingredients: eggplants pre-baked so they are soft, tomato sauce with green peppers and a sliced fresh tomato, paste of Quark Cream Cheese mixed with olive oil and fresh basil.

I have frozen eggplant Parmesan before with good results. I breaded the eggplant, fried it, then put Parmesan on top while it was still hot enough to melt. I let them cool and then froze the fried eggplant slices separated by pieces of parchment paper. When I needed to use them, I put them on a sheet pan, still frozen, and threw them in the oven until the cheese was melted and slightly browned, then proceeded as I normally would.


Labeling Food for the Freezer I freeze stuff. Anything from Bolognese to stew. I portion these meals, after they've cooled, into meal-sized Tupperware boxes and stuff them randomly into my crowded freezer.

The problem is that it's difficult to tell which stews are which, and also when they were made. So far, I've been using memory. But I'd like to delegate the task to a system of written or visual aids - so that I don't have to remember.

Has anybody got a good suggestion for a system of frozen food labelling that doesn't suck?

The obvious answer is freezer-safe sticky labels. I fear that these will be annoying; that they will ruin my Tupperware boxes, and that I will be wasting money buying them and writing on them and then having to stick over them.

I'd like some more innovative suggestions, preferably ones that have been tried with success.

As mentioned in comments, masking tape is an excellent solution. It's cheap, it holds well yet comes off easily, it can be torn off at whatever length you need, and you can write on it with just about anything.

Both at home and working at restaurants, I've used masking tape and permanent marker for labeling items for storage in the pantry, fridge, and freezer for years. Just about its only disadvantage is that it's not aesthetically pleasing, but presumably you're not usually showing off your collection of frozen meals. It can also sometimes leave behind traces of adhesive after being stored for a long time, but that's easily scrubbed off by hand.

A couple extra tips:

The regular beige stuff is fine; there are blue "painting tape" varieties that claim better adhesion and easier removal, but they're not worth the extra money. Plus, if you're writing in black marker, beige offers better contrast.
Labeling is easier if you tear a strip off the roll before you write on it. I don't usually have problems with the marker bleeding through, but you probably want to write on a non-decorative surface in case of stray marks.
Where possible, stick your labels on lids (if you'll be reheating in the same container) and pull them off at room temperature. Excessive heat or cold seems to increase the chance of residual adhesive, and you probably don't want even a mild, temporary glue cooking in your oven or microwave.


How to wash amaranth before cooking> I have tried several colanders and fine mesh sieves to wash and rinse amaranth before cooking. They all failed me - the grain is so small that much of it falls through even the smallest mesh I found in the store. Cooking this grain is time consuming as it is, and cleaning isn't much easier...any suggestions on the right brand and style of mesh would be appreciated. Thanks

It sounds like the only problem is the amaranth grains are too small, nothing else?

You might use a cloth instead of (or as well as) a colander or strainer.  Cheesecloth might do, especially in layers, but even a fine woven cotton or linen cloth will be just fine, as long as it's clean.  You can line your colander or sieve with the cloth, wash the gains as you need, and let the water drip out, or wring it out, as much as you need, and then proceed to cook. The cloth can be simply upended over your cooking pot, and any remainder brushed out while still wet, or it can be allowed to drip dry until it comes cleanly off the towel.

Alternatively, if the seeds sink rather than float - you can wash them in a bowl of water, rub them around, and wait for the grains to settle in the water, and then decant the extra water from the top of the bowl.  You might take two or three changes of water to be sure the grains are clean, between the need to rinse and the difficulty draining all of the water out when you drain it - but again, you can scrape into a bowl while drained and wet, or pour into a bowl (with whatever water or liquid the recipe calls for).  You might even use this step to pre-soak your grains a bit, that might even help with the extra time cooking you mention.


please help fixing my portugese sauce (a kind of korma-like non-spicy curry sauce served in hk and macau) The original recipe generally advise on pan-frying the sauce with oil. I want to avoid that and still make it taste good  by just putting everything in a pressure cooker...

Here is the everything in my recipe when first put in pressure cooker for 20 minutes:

a carrot (cut by food processor)
two small or 1 big potatoes (cut by food processor)
one small or half a big onion (cut by food processor)
a big block of curry roux  (equivalent to 2-3 small block of curry roux)
a teaspoon of salt
a teaspoon of sugar
5 teaspoons of chicken consomme
200ml yogurt
1.5 teaspoon of tumeric
1 cup of water
(coconut milk made by putting 5 table spoon of coconut fine and half a cup of water in a mixer)

After 20 minutes, I stir the mixture and add 0.5 cup of water and cook for another 15 mintues.

After 15 minutes, I stir the mixture and add another 0.5 cup of water depending on how thick the mixture is.

The result is not satisfactory. I try adding a can of cream of corn soup from campell. It does not help.

Any recommendation would be welcomed. Thanks

At a guess, though you need to clarify - not 'rich' enough & probably thin in both flavour & texture, with a grainy edge.

Yoghurt adds acid, rehydrated coconut is absolutely no substitute for coconut cream.

Rehydrated coconut won't provide either the flavour or the texture of coconut cream. It will leave the sauce thin yet slightly 'gritty'.

Yoghurt is going to add an acid edge that this sauce doesn't need.

Pressure-cooking rather than frying off in an open pan then allowing to simmer will keep too much liquid level in the sauce, exacerbating both the above points.

Once you've corrected those, if you want 'more curry but no more heat' then try adding some garam masala.
I'd also add garlic & a little light soy sauce.

If you're not having this with the traditional chicken, then you're also missing the ingredients the chicken would have been marinated in - soy, shaoxing, ginger - so maybe some of those too.

You're also missing the oil that the frying would have added, but if you don't want to add that, the coconut cream will have to be the only fatty mouth-feel ingredient. Lose all the fat, lose the mouth-feel of the sauce, I'm afraid.
You could cut the coconut cream to coconut milk, but I think that would still come out too 'skinny' in taste & texture.

Personally, I'd double the curry roux, but I just like more kick than traditional in this type of sauce ;) It will help the texture, though.


How to store crumble cake I've just made a rather delicious raspberry "crumble cake". It consists of a thin layer of cake with whole raspberries, topped with crumble and baked. I get the impression crumble is more of a British thing, so for those that haven't come across it, crumble is basically a rich, buttery, sugary crumb topping that goes nicely crunchy when baked (flour, sugar and lots of butter).

After eating as much as we could today, there's still quite a bit left. I'm now wondering how I can store it so that:

It maintains the textures as well as possible (cake stays moist and crumble  stays crunchy)
I don't give anyone a bad stomach

I've always been told you should store cakes at room temperature as putting them in the fridge ruins the texture and generally isn't necessary if they're eaten within a few days. Would the same apply to my crumble cake?

Also, will storing it in a closed container cause the crumble to go soggy due to absorbing moisture from the cake? I've stored some scones overnight in a tub before and by the morning their crunchy outside had gone all chewy.

Any thought appreciated.

A lot depends on the climate and your ambient conditions. It is perfectly fine and common to keep it under a bell jar in a NW European climate other than at the peak of summer whenever that may be, but it would not last half a morning in the tropics where a sealed container with silica gel is mandatory before you put it all inside a chiller.


Can frozen peaches be made into jam or other things? I have over ripe peaches.  I have scaled them and pitted them and they are in lemon water.

Can I freeze them to make jam later?
Can I put them in the refrigerator to make jam later?

You absolutely can make jam from frozen fruit.

Freezing is like "stopping time" (or at least slowing it down almost to a stop) for the frozen food. Freezing water breaks cell walls, that's why thawed fruit is mushy, but so does boiling when making jam, so no problem at all here. You can also freeze leftover fruit before it spoils and combine various fruits in your jam or make flavour pairings with fruits that are in season at different times.

You can either puree your fruit and freeze it in a ziplock bag or flat container or freeze chunks on a tray, then transfer to bags. Good wrapping is essential, as with all frozen foods.

Personally, I often freeze puree because a) it needs less freezer space and b) we prefer smooth jam. I pre-meassure one batch and cook the jam when I have time.
Freezing individual pieces, on the other hand, has the benefit that you can choose later how much fruit you need for a recipe. This is also good if you haven't decided about your recipe yet or love to combine flavours. These pieces are also usable for other dishes.

Storing your prepared fruit in the refrigerator is not without risk. Overripe fruit spoils quickly, even in the refrigerator and "later" quickly can become "too late". So unless you are absolutely sure that you will cook them tomorrow and they have no "dubious" (e.g. mushy, about to get moldy) spots, just freeze them.


Pie Crust Partially Cooked I was given a pie at a food bank,it is not out of date, how ever, when I cut the pie the bottom crust was raw, how can I fix this, can I bake it for awhile, I need an answer, I really don't want to throw it away, It is a Pineapple Upside Down Pie, it looks really delicious.

Either eat everything but the crust, or consider placing pie & dish onto a skillet/pan to apply heat to the pie crust.

Note: as the pie is cut, the filling or any sugars may liquefy and seep into the crust and potentially burn.


Anise Cookies: Why 12-hour rest before baking? I have a recipe for an anise cookie that I've made several times. The ingredients are: flour, baking powder, salt, anise, eggs, vanilla. No butter or oil. The dough is rather sticky. The unusual thing about the recipe is that once the cookies are put onto a parchment-lined sheet, they sit for 12 hours (not in fridge) before baking. The results are excellent, especially for a no-fat cookie.  After the 12 hours, they still rise during baking and result in a delicious, chewy (not soft) cookie, my favorite cookie texture.

My question is: Why does it require a 12-hour rest on the counter? What is the purpose of the wait period? What creates the chewy texture?

[Today I decided to make them with 50% buckwheat flour. And I only let them rest 6 hours rather than 12. The result is tasty but not chewy. Buckwheat doesn't have gluten so this makes me wonder if the chewiness has to do with gluten development. Did I just answer my own question???]

There are different types of anise cookies. One particular type is a common guest on my German family's Christmas cookie tray. The recipe I use calls for a over night rest, too, and has a similar ingredients list to yours, so i assume you want to achieve this kind of cookie. It basically looks like a french macaron.

The resting time allows the cookies to dry out a bit and build a kind of skin. This is the reason for the chewiness, as the moisture is preserved during the baking time a bit more than it normally would (same as in bread making). However, it also creates a little signature "foot" (see french macaron). During the baking the cookies rise a little bit, but can't expand as they usually would, because of the skin. So instead they create the little foot.

My grandma was a very impatient person and didn't let them dry over night. She instead dried them in the oven at a low temperature (<100°C) for about 15-20 minutes before baking. However, I like the texture more with the longer drying period. I find it produces a better moisture to crispiness ratio.


When to add salt in sourdough bread mix? I was reading around and seems that a lot of forums are saying to delay adding the salt in your sourdough mix.

I dissolved the salt in water and then I poured the sourdough starter in the water and gave it a light stir and then I poured them in the flower and mix them all together. Did I just killed the yeast? Will my bread still rise?

The salt doesn't kill the yeast but slows it down. As well as lacto bacteria producing the acidity.

There's even a name for the conscious adding of salt to the sourdough in German: Monheimer Salzsauer-Verfahren (in English):

  The salt inhibits yeasts and acid formation. The maturation is delayed
  with intensification of the aromas. At the same time, the processing
  properties of the dough (influencing the proteins) improve. The bread
  gets a balanced taste with fine pores of the crumb .

  Especially for the hobby bakery, this type of guide is suitable to
  produce breads with a balanced, mild flavor and flavor, without
  complicated and time-consuming work processes (as in the classic
  three-step guidance ).


Non-plastic cutting board that can be cleaned in a dishwasher We currently have the following dilemma:

My wife does not want us to use plastic cutting boards because of the potential negative health effects of ingesting microplastics.
I really really do not want to wash cutting boards by hand. Yes, I'm aware that there is no alternative for sharp metal knifes and non-stick coated pans, but I don't want to add another item to that list of annoying exceptions.

We tried standard wooden cutting boards, but they tend to bulge and crack after a few rounds in the dishwasher.
Is there some alternative cutting board material that we could use which satisfies both requirements as stated above? Are there maybe special types of wood that are more "dishwasher compatible"?

There are 2 non-plastic cutting board options that I'm aware of that are dishwasher safe and aren't damaging to knives like glass boards.
First, there are the rubber cutting boards popular with commercial kitchens, sold under brand names like Sani-TUFF. While some sources (e.g. KaTom Restaurant Supply) claim these have to be hand washed, they are popular in commercial kitchens because they can handle the heat of the commercial sanitizing dishwashers without warping or melting, and they don't pick up scratches as easily as plastic. They are also generally anti-microbial, I assume because they are non-porous. Although these are usually synthetic rubber, they are much harder than plastic cutting boards -- though not too hard on your knives -- and the likelihood of you consuming any part of them inadvertently should be pretty small.
Next, there are wood fiber composite cutting boards. The brand I know best of these is the Epicurean label. They are made from various specific materials, but the Epicurean label is made from a paper composite called Richlite. Assuming it's the blend discussed on the Richlite page, it is 65% recycled paper and 35% phenolic resin. While that is a synthetic polymer, it's much harder than your typical cutting board and is unlikely to melt (up to 350°F) or react with anything it's likely to come into contact with in your kitchen. These boards are also quite dense, so again, the likelihood of you consuming any of it unintentionally is exceedingly low.
Both of these products are also "workable", meaning you could cut them to custom sizes or shapes and sand them if they ever get scratched up enough to need it.
For what it's worth, environmental sources of microplastics are a much stronger vector than anything in your kitchen, and many of these are practically unavoidable. However, if you are concerned about plastic from cutting boards, both of the above options are far more durable and less likely to introduce plastic into your food but are more convenient than wood in terms of cleaning. Of course, I encourage you to research these on your own and use your best judgment.


How should I prepare the coffee to be used in my tiramisu? I'm making tiramisu. Coffee is a large component of the recipe, so I imagine that the choice and preparation of the coffee used will have a big impact on the final taste.

Or will it? I'm not a coffee expert; perhaps all the sugar and other ingredients will overwhelm it to the degree that you can't taste the difference. If that's so, using fancy coffee would just be a waste.

Will there be a noticeable taste difference if I just use instant coffee to soak the ladyfingers in, or is it worth using something of higher quality? If the latter, how should I prepare the coffee that is to be used?

Someone will be able to notice.  In matters of taste, there is always variation.  Some people can't taste the difference between stale Folgers and fresh high quality coffee.  However, many can.

I the case of your dessert, without more data, I can't tell if you would be able to tell or not.  But, for sure, someone would be able to tell.  That being the case, it's worth doing with the best ingredients you can reasonably use.

My personal opinion for my cooking is any ingredient that isn't high enough quality to stand on it's own shouldn't get used.


How to Make Hazelnut Roasted Coffee I live in Madrid and am about to run out of hazelnut-flavored coffee beans brought over as contraband from the last time we visited the States. I am desperate for my hazelnut-flavored morning fix, but am unwilling to pay $20/pd. to import beans from the UK or risk having a shipment get caught in customs in the next care package from the States.

I would love to know if and how (1) I can roast coffee beans in my apartment and (2) how to make them hazelnut-flavored.

I am not interested in flavored syrup as an alternative.

Thank you!

There's a number of different ways you can add flavouring to coffee. As previously suggested, you can add syrup to the beans or to the finished coffee but the problem with syrup generally is that whilst adding flavouring it also adds sweetness which some may not want.

You could try adding hazlenut essence or oil to the pre-roasted beans and leave for a few days for the flavours to infuse before grinding and using.

Or you could try adding whole hazlenuts to pre-roasted beans in a ratio of about 2:1 beans to hazlenuts by weight and leaving for a few days for the flavours to infuse and then grind and use.

You'd need to experiment with quantities and leave time to find what works best for you.

I don't think it's practical to roast beans in the home.


How to cook Lo Mein? I just moved to China and I would like to cook some lo mein ( chinese noodles ), this is the easiest way to get some veg. food here :)

The lo mein I bought are not the fresh ones but the dry ones.

I'm Italian so at the first I have tried to cook them in the same way I usually cook spaghetti: boil them and then remove the water and then put them in the wook with the other, already stir-fried ingredients (oil, garlic, tomatoes etc ... ).

This does not look to be the proper way since the result is overcooked and the lo mein is sticky, so I guess I'm doing some big mistake.

Any hints?
(I'm attaching the image since I'm not 100% sure what kind of noodles I bought, probably they are made of rice since they are very white)

Update
I kept photo of other available noddles, maybe you can suggest me something better that my first choose.

UPDATE 2:
After spending 4 years in China I came to the conclusion all supermarket noodles are simply not very good quality or at least not good for my purpose ( I am used to italian dry pasta and the chinese equivalent are too different ).
The best noodles you can get are the fresh one in the local market, their quality is very much the same as the fresh pasta you can buy in italy as we copied it from Chinese long time ago :) )

OK I can read Chinese and let me tell you the answer: the noodles you bought are made by eggs. They're not made by rice. (FYI, there are TWO kinds noodles called "Rice Noodles", they are actually made by rice. The two kinds varies in thickness).

You can first make soup noodles to grasp the texture of the noodles you bought. Try undercook and overcook a bit, see if you can find the sweet spot you want.

Now, to go with other ingredients, here's how Chinese "fried noodles" are made:

Prepare a pot of boiled water (must be boiling at 100C, not just hot)
Add a bit of salt into the water. This helps taste and prevents the noodles absorbing too much water.
Add a bit of oil into the water. This prevents the noodles from sticking together later in the process
Put the noodles in and cook them for 30s to 1 min. Never (very important!) cook them for more than a min.
Take out the noodles. They should be undercooked now, which is good. Use a scissor to cut the noodles, otherwise you'll have very long noodles later in the process. There is no need to rinse them using cold water if you use this method.
You can turn off the heat to the water pot now. But don't throw it away.
Add oil to a hot pan, cook the spices (e.g. onion, green onion, whatever you use)
Cook the meat ingredients in the pan.
Add a slight amount water from the pot (which has salt and oil in it) to the pan. Also add sugar, soy-sauce, etc. for final adjustment of taste.
Now put the noodles into the pan. If done correctly, all the water (should look like soup by now) should be absorbed into the noodles right away.
Cook the noodles a bit.
When the noodles are around 80~90% done, add the vegetables.
When the vegetables are done the noodles should be done as well. Finish!

As for Lo Mein, it's not a kind of noodles, rather a style of cooking noodles. When making "Lo Mein", the noodles are only cooked by hot soup. A "Lo Mein" dish is where the noodles are cooked by a minimal amount of water. It's like serving soup noodles but without the soup. The procedures are largely same as above, except the noodles are put into the pan at a later stage and only briefly fried, or not fried at all. I personally consider "Lo Mein" a more difficult dish than "fried noodles" (aka "Chow Mein").


Why does my ice cream leave a waxy texture on the roof of my mouth? I made a batch of ice cream using the following as the base:
1 pint cream,
1 cup milk,
4 egg yolks,
½ cup sugar,
2 tsp vanilla extract

I simmered that until just boiling and then cooled it for a few hours before finishing it up in my ice cream maker for 20min.

I've used this base a few times and add different fruit and spices based on what I want to make.

The problem I'm having is the ice cream leaves a waxy coating on the roof of my mouth. It still tastes great, but the coating is unpleasant. Should I use a different recipe to start with? Am I doing something wrong when I make it?

Try heating the cream and milk to just below a simmer. Right before adding the milk mixture to the yolks whisk the sugar, vanilla, and eggs together. Pour the hot milk mixture into eggs very slowly. It's best to strain it through a fine strainer. If you use vanilla bean make sure to add it after straining it. Let cool a little before putting it into the fridge. It should be cold before making the ice cream. It's not necessary to fully temper ice cream base like crème anglaise.


Creme Brulee did not set, can I fix? My Crème Brulee did not set.

Recipe:

2 cups heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup light brown sugar

Directions
Heat cream in heavy saucepan just until bubbles form around edge of pan.
In double boiler top, with electric mixer, beat yolks with granulated sugar until thick and light yellow. Gradually stir in cream.
Place over hot, not boiling water, cook, stirring constantly, until mixture coats metal spoon, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla.
Strain custard into shallow 1 quart baking dish. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
Before serving, carefully sift brown sugar evenly over surface. Set dish in baking pan, surrounded with ice. Run under broiler just until sugar melts slightly & caramelizes.

Instead of a 1 quart dish, I used smaller serving dishes.

After three days they have not set. Can I save them?

I see several problems here. First, the recipe only has 3 yolks per cup of liquid, that's the bare minimum for thickening and does not produce a really thick custard like the one expected in creme brulee. Second, it is a stirred custard, not a baked one, which is a method for producing pourable or at least creamy custards, not "spadeable" ones where you can take out a piece with your spoon without the sides slowly flowing to partially fill the hole. Third, it does not give you a temperature, but suggests you to use time and a visual clue ("coats metal spoon") and that clue is also consistent with a liquid custard like creme anglaise, not a thick one like creme brulee.

The best thing to do is to pick a different recipe for next time - one which uses more yolks and directs you to oven bake the custard in a water bath. Aim for 83-85 Celsius internal temperature (under 80 it will stay too soft, over 90 it will go grainy, so if you don't have a thermometer, it is very difficult to get it right). It will take several hours, that's normal.

For this batch, I wouldn't bother reprocessing it in any way. It is edible as it is, use it in whatever calls for a custard sauce. It's easiest and ensures that you won't run into additional trouble.

If you really insist on trying to make creme brulee out of this one batch, add more yolks and bake in the oven in a water bath until proper internal temperature.


Secret to takeaway curry It's become something of a quest for me to find a curry recipe that tastes like the curry you get from an Indian Takeaway.  I'm getting close with the consistency, but can't get the taste right.

I won't list the various and numerous things that I've tried, but most of the variations that I've tried include:

tomatoes (I've tried fresh, tinned and purée), onion, yoghurt (although this doesn't seem to affect the flavour, so I stopped using it), cumin (tried seeds and ground), mustard seeds, coriander (fresh and ground), ginger (fresh and ground), fenugreek (fresh and ground), garam masala.

I'm pretty sure that I'm missing one or two ingredients that restaurants and takeaways use as a matter of course, but I haven't been able to find it.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

EDIT:

I didn't realise that they differ, but I'm in the UK - so that's the takeaway I'm referring to.

I appreciate curry's vary in taste, but there seems to be an underlying taste to all the tomato based ones.  For the purpose of clarity, I'm trying to make a Rogan Josh.

Here's a sample of the sort of thing that I've been trying:

4 - 5 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 Onion chopped
1 lb Diced Lamb
2 - 3 Garlic cloves crushed and chopped
2 tablespoons of Garam Masalla
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 inch root ginger grated
Oil

Slowly heat the mustard and cumin seeds until the pop, then add the onions and garlic and fry gently until soft.
Add the meat and up the heat to cook.  After about 10 mins add the other ingredients and leave for an hour or until the tomatoes have turned into sauce.

Another thing that I've tried is puréeing the garlic, spices, tomatoes and ginger and adding that after the onions are cooked.  This helps with the consistency, but doesn't really affect the taste.

EDIT:

The best single answer that I had to this was cream.  However, cloves did also make a difference.  I still haven't managed to get the takeaway flavour, but thanks for all the suggestions.

Use double or triple that volume of spices, and gentle dry roast them first

Use ghee (clarified butter) instead of oil

Use loads of cream to finish the gravy


Does boiling meatball remove some flavor I want to cook some meatballs by boiling them in plain water.  Does this remove flavor from the meatballs?

I have a instantpot pressure cooker and I thought it would be way easier than baking for example.

You can certainly poach meatballs.  I wouldn't boil them, as the rolling action could tear them apart. It is more common to poach in a sauce, however water can certainly be used. You will lose some flavor (taste the water afterward, you will see), however, it wouldn't be a reason to avoid the technique if you have a purpose for it.  Lots of things are poached and still have flavor.


Is filtering Japanese matcha green tea drink recommended? When pouring Japanese matcha green tea drink into cups, is filtering with a filter cone or something equivalent recommended? Why?

Matcha is supposed to be thick and frothy - one of the reasons it is traditionally prepared with a whisk is to froth up the texture - and filtering it would remove both the texture and the powder that has taken considerable effort to get properly suspended in the tea.

Matcha tea is very expensive because it is exceedingly high quality, and carefully ground smooth and stored well, and this is because the powder is all meant to be ingested.  If it was meant to be filtered out and removed, then it would simply be green tea, and it would be much easier to have larger flakes and lower standards.

Smaller particles will brew faster, that is pretty much the advantage of powder, but they will also overbrew very quickly and can introduce off flavors (compared to whole leaf tea) if the quality is not very good.  Teabags make this tradeoff, using crushed powder (fannings) which are meant to be steeped very quickly and removed, and usually end up being made of lower quality because it;s use is that steeps fast and strong, and the finer qualities of high quality teas are usually not preserved through the process.  Matcha makes a different tradeoff, if it is to be worth using only the highest quality leaf, the results must be much, much better than regular green tea for it to be worth the extra effort and expense - so the leaf is carefully selected and drunk whole for a very different experience than regular green tea, not strained out (which would give a teabag-like experience).


Red and blue Antimo Caputo 00 flour What's the difference between the flour in the blue bag vs the red? I'm not even sure which one I have since my local Italian shop re-bags it, but I've seen the red bags in the store, so I kind of assume that's it. I've used it with great success in making pasta, but I'm thinking of trying pizza dough. The blue bag is labeled "Pizzeria Flour", but the red bag also claims that it is good for pizza. What's the difference?

Caputo Rosso (red) might have a slightly higher gluten content (~12-13%) than Blu (blue) (~10-12%) and higher stability. But mostly the blue one is just more of a niche product meeting the highest standards for traditional Neapolitan pizza.

Here are spec sheets directly from their web site:

BLUE: http://caputoflour.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/00-Pizzeria-SPECS.pdf
Extracted from their page:
"for the demanding technical pizzaioli", "recognized by the leading Neapolitan pizza certification associations", "ideal for classic Neapolitan Pizza in wood fired, gas or electric ovens", "produces a very soft and flavorful crust with optimal hydration", "high-quality protein and gluten result in a consistent long-rise dough.", "milled specifically for use at temperatures above 700°F", "Growth: 1’50”-2’00”; Stability: 8’-10’; …"
RED: http://caputoflour.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/00-Rinforzata-Flour-SPECS.pdf
Extracted from the page:
"higher protein and gluten content and water absorption is ideal for long-rise doughs", "obtains soft texture", "ideal for pasta, pastry, specialty breads and pizza", "Growth: 2’00”-3’00”; Stability: 12’-14’; …"

And since they both say ideal for pizza - nothing can go wrong ;-)

And if you don't know what the differences in stability times mean ...
I find this page quite informative:
http://www.wheatflourbook.org/p.aspx?tabid=33
Flour science is almost like airports ... with all the arrival and departure times =D


How do I clean burnt milk from a glass-ceramic stove? I have a glass-ceramic stove (Ceran), and I did spill some milk on it,  which of course instantly burnt itself onto the surface. It seems resistant to any mild way of removing it, and I'm not sure how harsh I can try to remove it without damaging the glass-ceramic surface.

What is the easiest way to remove such burnt milk from a glass-ceramic stove without damaging it?

There are a couple things you can try.  I'll list them from most conservative to

Let it cool. Squeeze some cleaning paste on it, and cover with a
paper towel. Wet the towel, let it soak, then buff it with the paper
towel or a non-scratch scouring pad.
Magic Eraser-type melamine foam sponge
Plastic razor blade scraper, sometimes called "Safe    Scraper" sold
at hardware and automotive stores
Metal razor blade scraper


How am I supposed to heat a pie-iron-style pizzelle iron? I found an old pizzelle iron in one of my cabinets. It looks like this:

Most of the pizzelle recipes I found — for example this one — are for a "George Foreman"-style pizzelle iron, and are self heating. What should I use to heat this pie-iron stlye pizzelle iron? An open fire?

It is not originally for camping but for using with a real flame or fire.  Used it for years. It is the only kind I have.  Works great on gas stove burners.


Is it okay to salt beef before or while cooking it? I recall reading that you should not salt beef until after it is cooked or it will dry the beef. Yet I see recipes that call for salt in a beef marinade.
Is it true that you should only salt beef after it is cooked?

Several sources as Cook's Illustrated, Alton Brown, and Anita Lo practically insist that you salt steaks before cooking them.  I don't think McGee experiments with or discusses exactly when to season/salt a steak in his books, but he has reportedly stated that he is also in favour of pre-salting.  The fact that so many people seem to prefer this technique would seem to indicate that there's at least some merit to it, even if the science isn't well-understood.

All of the arguments I've heard against salting steak (or beef in general) before cooking seem to be anecdotal in nature.  When pressed for an explanation, many of these people claim that the salt draws out moisture which will subsequently dry out the cut.

In practice, the amount of moisture it draws out is practically negligible unless you actually cure it, which means using lots of salt and letting it sit that way for a long time.  I don't know anybody that does this.  Well, hardly anybody (warning: do not follow the advice on that page unless you are fully prepared to ruin a perfectly good steak).

When pressed, most of these people (including Anita Lo, above) say that the water it draws out to the surface will inhibit the Maillard Reaction.  This is true - the presence of water does inhibit the Maillard reaction and any significant quantity of water will give you a steamed gray steak instead of a delicious seared brown one.  But the key word here is significant.  No reasonable amount of seasoning will draw out so much moisture that you actually end up with a puddle of boiling water underneath the steak, and even if it did, you would simply pat the steak dry before searing it.  You do pat your steaks dry, don't you?

Also note that this applies to dry seasoning.  When marinating a cut of beef it is another story entirely.  Salt in a marinade really does create brining and that will tend to make the meat juicier.  When meat brines, it absorbs extra moisture - the meat still loses moisture when cooked but the added moisture from the brine helps to offset it (this, again, is all in McGee).  A saline solution also dissolves a portion of the tougher proteins in the meat, resulting in a more tender result.  Salt is a great thing to have in a marinade, which is why some of the simplest of marinades - soy or teriyaki sauce - are so effective.  Just, again, make sure to pat that beef dry before pan-searing it if you want to get any sort of browning going on.

Anecdotally - for what little that's worth - I find that there's very little difference in tenderness whether seasoning with salt briefly before or shortly after cooking (before resting).  I've done both and I honestly don't think I could identify which was which in a blind test, except perhaps for the consistency of the "crust" that forms when you really pile on the salt - this is a favourable result for many, and I'll often do this if I'm in the mood.

But all in all, the scientific data on this subject is scant; the results are very inconclusive.  And it just doesn't matter that much; the debaters seem to put entirely too much emphasis on this point when there are far more important factors in preparing a great steak or roast, such as additional seasonings, what it's seared in, temperature and heat distribution of the pan, and let's not forget the cut and grade of meat.  These things have profound effects on the final result, and if I were obsessive about beef to a fault, then I would concentrate my efforts more on finding better quality ingredients and equipment rather than fussing over the salt issue.


Hot tea to iced. Safe? I want to boil tap water and use tea bags but since summer is coming I want to make it cold.
Is it safe if I let it to get to room temperature and then put it in the fridge?

Please see Food Safety News:  Did You Know Iced Tea Safety which gives the very strict FDA guidelines for iced tea as:

  Iced tea sould be brewed at 195 F for 3-5 minutes.
  Iced tea should be stored for no longer than 8 hours.
  The tea brewer, storage dispenser, and faucet should be cleaned daily.

while pointing out that "Tea is a beverage with little history of disease transmission."

Applying some common sense, assuming that you:

Keep all of your tea equipment "impeccably clean" as Julia Child used to say
Do not leave it very long at room temperature
Refrigerate it thereafter

given that tea does not have a huge number of nutrients to encourage pathogen growth, the risk should be minimal, although non-zero.

You must assess your own tolerance for risk, but this is not an activity that is inherently highly dangerous.

Finally, please note that modern refrigerators perform very well, and there is minimal heating of the other foods, even if you put a fairly large volume of tea in the refrigerator to cool.  See:  How effective are modern home refrigerators at keeping other foods cool when hot food is introduced to the space?


Why do spring onions curl up when placed in cold water? Thinly sliced spring onions (aka green onions, scallions, etc.), usually sliced on a bias, curl up when placed in ice water, making them a rather photogenic garnish. Why does this happen? Does this have to do with how it is sliced?

This happens because the inside of the stem soaks up water, increasing its volume. The outside cannot soak up water, and stays at the same volume. This is pure physics/geometry and happens in many other occasions - dandelions come to mind when thinking of plants, but the same happens in stockinette knitting. It is  because it is a shape similar to a flat sheet, but one side of the sheet is larger than the other one and tries to "expand".
The relationship to "how is cut" is minimal. Sure, if you cut it into a different shape, the effect may be so small that you won't notice it. For example, if you cut the onion stems into ringlets, the pull will be symmetrical in all directions and the outer layer will be too stiff to allow even the two cut ends to curl. If you cut them into small squares instead of long strips, you will get less curl and more of a saddle shape - but it is not that something different is happening, the same things are happening in all ways of cutting, and the geometry of it determines which effect will dominate the others.


Can you keep chicken warm in a crockpot? I'm making a chicken dish that is baked but I want to do most of the cooking the day before the party. Can I pre-bake the chicken and then keep it warm in the crockpot? Should I add some chicken stock to keep it moist?

I would not do that, it will be overcooked, even if it is just kept "warm" and adding liquid will not help if the chicken is dry.

Do your cooking a day before and put it in the fridge and re-heat the day of the party.


My cooking pot keeps smoking The cooking pot just keeps smoking when I put it on the element and I don't understand why because I used it on my moms stove before without any trouble. But when I put the temperature to MAX it starts smoking and setting off the smoke alarm. When I take the pot off and look at the bottom it's white but it goes away when I wipe it off. I THINK it's a cast iron pot, so is this normal to be smoking? Because when I put the temperature to 7 it cooks fine with no problem.

There are a lot of variables here that can cause smoke.

Are you oiling the pan before use? Direct contact electric stoves set to high or max typically cause light oils (olive oil) or other oils with low-ish smoke points (coconut oil) to smoke pretty quickly.
There could be crud on the bottom of the pan as noted by a previous ans.
There could be crud on the heating element itself.
Cast Iron will smoke if it's seasoned well and placed on a direct heat source. The fats in the pan and oils that keep the cast iron from rusting (and also give it the smooth, stick-free surface, and excellent flavor profile) will cook off under high direct heat, causing smoke.

To tell if it's a cast iron pot, look for raw, exposed iron. If not, it could be enamled cast iron, which would not smoke like a seasoned cast iron pot or pan.

note: cast iron should not be heated rapidly under direct heat, you can crack the pot... heat cast iron gradually


Do I need hard or soft brown sugar for brownies? I found a recipe for brownies I want to try. It calls for

  1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

How can I recognize if they mean hard or soft brown sugar? And how much of a difference does it make for the completed brownies if I use the wrong type? Should I just adjust the amount of sugar or other ingredients (and if yes, by how much)? Or do I have to try to make a substitution? I found a question which explains how to make soft sugar, but it requires a food processor, and I don't have one.

Edit Here is a picture of sugars, as Jay suggested per comment:

In Germany, the only type found under the name "brown sugar" (brauner Zucker) is the one in the upper right corner. But I have heard that American recipes might need the kind in the lower right corner, which is not normally available here.

The in the US, light brown sugar always means the one in the bottom left.  The bottom right is dark brown sugar and has a higher molasses content.
In the US, I typically see the 'brown sugar' in the upper right referred to as 'raw sugar' or the brand 'sugar in the raw'.  If you're using a US recipe, it needs the bottom left.

If you don't have any and its an ingredient like in brownies, try adding the molasses and sugar as separate ingredients.  1 Cup of sugar + 1 tablespoon of molasses is about the right ratio for light brown sugar.

If you can't get molasses...try dark corn syrup, honey, or depending on the flavor your want, maple syrup.  (A comment from @JasonTrue above mentions that beet syrup is an option as well, althought I haven't tried it.)


flaw in stainless steel I just purchased a chafing pan from Sam's Club by Bakers & Chefs. The second pan in the stack appears to have several black scratches or gouges in the material. I'm wondering, since it is not marked with a metal grade such as 18/10 but instead claims "restaurant quality", if this is junk?

The scratches appear as black marks, not simply scratches in the stainless steel, and do not rub out with scrubber or baking soda. Is there only a very thin metal coating over something inferior that I do not want my food to touch?

The surface is also a dull grey, not a bright shiny color as I am accustomed to in my other stainless steel cookware.  I've had all my other stainless steel pans for 30+ years and never seen anything like this. I smell a rat!

Please comment on whether you'd return this set and look for a higher quality set. My purpose is to slow roast tomatoes and I want to avoid contact with reactive metals and also make most efficient use of my oven, as this takes 10-12 hours.

I'm big on reading reviews of products before I decide. Sam's Club has several chafing dishes available on-line, with varied reviews. The Bakers & Chefs dish only has two reviews with one review echoing your complaints.

I assume this is yours?

Considering the better reviews, the appearance, the product descriptions, and the apparent flaws in yours, I'd definitely consider upgrading to one of the other Sam's Club chafers.

Images from Sam's Club.


What is the secret of making a really juicy burger? As the title says; What is the secret of making a really juicy burger?

Use only good beef, salt and pepper. The beef should be a good fatty cut, with a ratio of 80% meat, 20% fat. Chuck is ideal. Any good butcher should grind it to order for you.
You need to keep the ground meat as cold as possible, to prevent the fat melting out of it before you cook it. Do not salt the beef prior to shaping, just use pepper. Shape your burgers, then put them in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Generously salt the outside of the burgers about 1 hour before cooking.
Get a good pan (preferably a cast iron griddle) really, really, really hot. Brush one side of the burger with vegetable oil, then slap it on the grill. DO NOT PRESS IT WITH THE SPATULA, EVER. You squeeze out all the juice.
Turn the burger and cook the other side. Timing will depend on how you like your burger. A good way of testing doneness is to insert a thin metal skewer into the centre of the burger from one side (not the top), leave it for a few seconds, then take it out and touch it carefully to your lip. If it's hot, it's just about done. Or if you have a good digital thermometer, use that.


How can I make a vanilla ganache which does not taste of white chocolate? I've been baking for quite a while, but now have started venturing myself onto the chocolate world. I'm very very intrigued by Laduree's vanilla ganache on their vanilla macaron as it doesn't taste like white chocolate! In fact, it tastes like a super concentrated vanilla ganache, which is so light and delicious at the same time!

I already tried all sorts of vanilla ganache (from Pierre Herme to Doris G - by the way, Herme's vanilla ganache took more than 30 hours to set up because of the cream-chocolate proportion).

Does anyone have any clues on how to achieve a vanilla ganache without the taste of white chocolate being too intrusive? I asked the lady at Laduree and she said it's a ganache and not a buttercream or creme de beurre.

Use a soy and vegetable-fat based white chocolate like Oppenheimer Kosher white chocolate chips. They are quite sweet, but lag behind on the chocolate-y taste. They temper well and behave in most ways I've used them like regular chocolate chips, except that for white chocolate taste they are a bit bland. These would make a good vehicle for a lighter but still sugary vehicle for vanilla.


Which oil is best for Zeppole? Which oil is best for frying Italian doughnuts?

I've made thousands of Zeppole throughout my career.

Don't use olive oil, you'll impart the wrong flavour profile.

Veg/Canola/Peanut, or any other neutrally flavoured high-temp oil suitable for frying will work.

PERSONALLY, I prefer Zeppole and other choux paste products baked on a parchment sheet, with a light mist of cooking spray.


Freeze Soup very quickly Without Destroying the Content In Fridge? I am trying to finish soups faster. I have very heavy iron kettle and it takes years to become cold. I use a water container with ice with it but the hot water still takes a lot time to become cold. I have already put ice cubes into the soup and some cold water but it is still hot! How can I freeze my soup fast without destroying the content of my fridge or freezer? It is now almost two hours waiting it to become colder but with this heavy iron kettle and a lot of hot water, it is taking years.

Could I put the soup into small plastic bags and the plastic bags into the cold water and then the cold plastic bags into the fridge (I have no special plastic bags, perhaps they will break)? I need to somehow make the soup smaller to increase the area, to get it cold faster. By increasing the area, I am sure I can get it cold faster. Ideas to do that?

I have "ice packs" which are encased in plastic (some hard, some soft), that I keep frozen. It won't quite bring your soup down as far as you want, but dropping a few of these into your soup will help cool it off. Just remember to clean them before returning them to the freezer.

The other thing I do it put the stopper in my sink and add cold water and ice. The whole pot goes in the sink--surrounded by cold water and ice it will cool much faster than in the fridge (or freezer). Add some salt to the ice-water and it will get even colder. Stir it up a bit every once in a while both inside and outside (use separate spoons!) to keep the temperature distribution even.

Alternatively, you could use one of these :)


Fat contents from different types of ground beef when drained At the grocery store, they've got different types of ground beef:  ground round, ground chuck, ground sirloin, etc.  They each have different fat percentages.  Anything from 70/30 (30% fat content) to the extra lean 90/10.  The less fat content, the more expensive per pound.

I have heard that you can get the fattiest type, drain the grease as normal, and then rinse the meat with water in a colander to make it equivalent to the extra lean fat content.  I'm not sure I buy that, and it seems this would rinse off any seasonings used also.

From a health perspective, the extra lean would be best, however, it can be double the price per pound compared to the cheapest / most fat content.  If I am going to be using the meat crumbled in a casserole or for tacos, and drain the grease after browning the meat in a skillet, how much does the fat content matter?  Is getting the cheapest and then rinsing it with water truly equivalent?  Is there a better method that would enable me to save money with the cheapest or perhaps 80/20 but still get the low fat content of the meat I actually eat?

I have heard that you can get the fattiest type, drain the grease as normal, and then rinse the meat with water in a colander to make it equivalent to the extra lean fat content. I'm not sure I buy that, and it seems this would rinse off any seasonings used also.

That sounds terrible. Cooked ground beef should be drained if necessary, but not rinsed. It will rinse away a lot of flavor, and I doubt it makes it the equivalent of having bought lean meat in the first place. There is still plenty of fat present in the meat itself.

If you want low fat get extra lean. If you want flavor get 80/20 or 70/30 and drain thoroughly for as little fat as possible. Do yourself a favor though and don't rinse it with water.


Cast iron pan flaking My cast iron pan has started to give off tiny black flakes after 3 months of use.  Are these dangerous in any way?  Are we ingesting iron?  There are patches on the skillet that are now a little lighter than their surrounding areas.

That is just the seasoning - the nonstick carbon that is formed after years of use - coming off. If big pieces are dropping in your food or you are freaked out by it, simply give your pan a good scrubbing with some steel wool and soap then re-season it.

To season the pan:

Take a paper towel and soak a bit of oil into it
Coat the inside of the pan with oil
Put in a 250F over for about an hour
Repeat each day until it has a nice shiny non-stick coating once again

Remember not to wash the pan with soapy water if you want the pan to stay non-stick. If there are bits of food in it from frying or such. Scrub it out with hot water and some coarse kosher salt, just nothing like steel wool, non-stick safe scrubbers are OK.

Adam


Is it okay to mix bread flour and all-purpose flour when making a pizza dough? From where I'm from, I can't find 00 flour or semolina flour. The flours we have from local markets are just bread flour, all-purpose flour, cake flour, and wheat flour (with no classification).

I'm experimenting and recently created a dough mixing bread and all-purpose flour (both 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon).

I'd like to know if it's okay/safe since I don't have culinary background. :)

I'm planning to start a pizza shop sometime this year once I figure out a recipe for dough and pizza sauce that's not costy but still produces a tasty pizza. :)

Thanks for all your help.

That is absolutely fine. 00 flour is super-overpriced here, so much so that it is hardly ever used. Semolina is often used on the pizza peel, but really not all that often in the dough itself.

There are more recipes for pizza dough than probably anything else on the internet. Some use all-purpose flour, some use bread flour, and some use no wheat at all. You can get away anything with some experimentation.

Serious Eats has some of the best instruction around on everything pizza.

You don't say where you are from, but know that "all-purpose" flour has a different meaning to some people in India, and will behave differently than the medium-gluten wheat flour that is "all-purpose" to most of us. That doesn't mean you can't use maida (what is sold in much of India as "all-purpose" flour), just that it will behave differently.

There is no safety issue at all to mixing flour types. Assuming that the flours are safe individually, they will be safe combined.


Pans with ceramic coating useful? being a passionate home cook I of couse like working with good kitchen tools... Besides my precious knives I need good pots and pans...

Lately I've seen a lot of advertisements for pans with a ceramic coating, and today I saw those pans in my kitchen supply store...

They are (according to the advert) cast aluminum pans with a ceramic coating on them... they are said to be useful for every kind of stove, from gas over electro, ceran or induction... and they are said to be extremely robust and should cook evenly and so on...

But before buying one I wanted to ask you whether you have experience with those kind of pans? Are they really indestructable? Will working in the pan with forks or knives harm the coating? Will dishwasher usage harm the pan?

What results do you have with those pans? Is food sticking to the pan or is it really going off like nothing?

Would be great if you could provide me with some information and experience about those pans...

Thank you!

I have two ceramic-coated skillets (one aluminum, one cast iron; both coated on the inside with ceramic) and they are decent. There is still some sticking of food, but it is very manageable. It also doesn't (so far) peel off like the Teflon (or other non-stick coating) always did, so I feel much better about preparing food without the negatives of that stuff getting into my food.

As far as cooking, one of the skillets (standard shape/size) cooks very well. The other is a large skillet that is almost wok-shaped (but not quite) and it cooks things very differently from what I am used to, but I am pretty sure that's due to the pan style and not the material.


Why put cinnamon in chili? We had an office chili cook-off recently (I didn't enter). Two of the chili recipes presented used cinnamon predominately, perhaps even overpoweringly (IMO). Given that they also heavily sweetened their chili with honey and sugar, both had a cinnamon dessert flavor profile mixed with a bland tomato/beef profile. In a word, "yuck!"

In searching today, I've seen several recipes around calling for the use of cinnamon in chili. I could see it maybe being a background flavoring to add a mild spicy bite and a touch of earthiness. But, some recipes seem to be pretty heavy in it's use.

I'm assuming the office cooks didn't develop the right flavor (unless going for a dessert chili was their objective). What kind of flavor profile would be the right one to develop when using cinnamon in chili?

Cinnamon adds a different spice profile than chili powder or red or cayenne pepper would. It is a common savory spice in Indian food and I believe it's also used in savory dishes in Chinese cooking. It's a very versatile spice :).

We also use cocoa powder in our chili as it provides a real depth of flavor (dark bitter flavors which are quite good in chili).

Both of these add some curiosity and difference to the chili without themselves adding sweetness. Usually they get added as a fairly safe way to add something "different" to standard chili.


yeast subtitution in a recipe with no water I have found this recipe, but I want to use dry active yeast, rather than easy blend. My question is can I proof (right word?) the yeast in the milk? and how much should I use?

Yes, you can proof the yeast in the milk. Heat the milk gently to around 120 degrees F (use an instant read or candy thermometer to check).  I would use all the milk.


The mystery of heating up canned beans- What the tin says Cans of beans say "Heat for 3-4 min. DO NOT BOIL". Does anyone know why canned beans should not be boiled? Surely they were boiled when they were first cooked, so where's the problem?

Beans in the can are already well cooked--they are essentially pressure cooked as part of the canning process.

While only a speculation, it is highly likely that they are now fragile and bringing them to a full boil would mar their appearance--fewer whole beans--from the agitation.

There is nothing I am aware of from a safety aspect that would contraindicate boiling the beans again.


Is it safe to eat venison tartare from an animal that was harvested in the wild? I recently watched a cooking show on how to prepare venison tartare.  There was an explanation given by the host stating that the venison was acquired at a local deer farm.  There was no mention regarding meat that was harvested in the wild.

Deer farming keeps the deer in a controlled environment where their diet is controlled as well as the deer receiving the proper vaccinations.

Since wild deer don't have a controlled environment or vaccinations, would it still be safe to eat raw meat from deer harvested in the wild?

If you really want to eat that raw, freezing the meat at -4 deg F (-20°C) or lower for 30 days or more should kill most if not all the types of parasites found in deer.

Different parasites die at different temperatures, for example:

Anisakiasis (fish worms) can be treated at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 7 days (total time).
Trichinellosis (pork worms) treated by freezing pork less than 6 inches thick for 20 days at 5°F (-15°C) to kill any worms.
Venison -4°F (-20°C) or below for 4 days.


In reference to baking bread, what is a "mother culture"? I saw this question entitled "How can I bake bread using a mother culture?", but I have no idea what a "mother culture" is.  Can someone explain what the term "mother culture" means?

A mother culture is sometimes known as a starter dough and is a fermenting dough that is used to 'start' the fermentation process in the bread you are going to make by adding a bit of the starter dough to the dough you are making.  Mainly sourdough I think, but I believe you can use different mothers for different breads.

The starter dough is 'fed' flour and water to keep it alive and going, and then used everyday to make the days bread.  The mother can then be kept going for many years and gives the bread made using it a distinctive flavour.

At least that's my understanding, I'm hoping to get a more detailed picture from this and the answer to my question...

Some information here and also on wikipedia


Is Shochu an acceptable alternative to Awamori? Some recipes I was looking at (Okinawan) use Awamori, but I can't find it.  I can find various forms of Japanese vodka (Shochu), and sake.  Would Shochu be the closest to Awamori?
EDIT: Was looking at this recipe specifically - Rafute (Okinawan Braised Pork Belly) ラフテ

I would say yes, both are distilled rice alcohol.
There might be some differences in the raw (uncooked) alcohol, but if used in a recipe and cooked, the differences will be less.
Curious, what recipes are you looking at ? it might help us find a better alternative if it exists.


Can opened cooking cream in frozen state go bad? I opened this cooking cream 2 months ago and it stayed in the refrigerator in an almost fully frozen state (right under the cold air blowing fan). It also has lost its flavour (not bitter, doesn't have a taste) and doesn't have an odour (slightly smells like flour). When I first opened it 2 months ago, it had solidified into some kind of thick whipped cream (probably age gelation). 5 minutes ago I gave it a stir and now it looks like this:

Typically cream that you buy from the supermarket is homogenized and stabilized so that the cream looks and behaves uniformly when you want to use it. If you get milk from a cow, the cream tends to separate from the water component and create a layer of fat (the cream) on top of the water (largely milk).

The reason it separates is that it is full of small lipo-spheres (think tiny ball-shaped droplets) of fat which are less dense than water, so they float and interact with each other to form larger balls which then from the top layer, kind of like when you shake a vinaigrette and the oil separates at the top over time. When you have homogenized cream, this doesn't happen because the lipo-spheres are even tinier and too small to interact effectively or even to float well.

Now you  are probably wondering where I am going with this - well, what is happening in your frozen cream is that the water component (about 70% of cream) freezes and creates ice crystals and these crystals disrupt the tiny lipo-spheres allowing the fats to again interact and separate out from the water when defrosted. This is a bit patchy in how it happens so the cream appears clotted and looks funny as not all those tiny lipo-spheres are disrupted, so some remain in suspension and still won't interact effectively, while others come apart and form the clumps that you see.

If it was frozen while still cold from when you first opened it, then it should be fine to use, just give it a shake to break up the lumps as much as you can and then beat as you would normally.

As you indicate that there is no smell, this is probably fine to use (I know this advice is late for OP, but maybe it will help someone else later). If it had a smell, that was sour or "bad", then like always, I would advise not to use.


Is it safe to use a grill to cook when chemically treated wood was burned in it? my son burned chemically treated wood in my grill for a bonfire. Can I still cook in it, is it safe? or do I need to buy another grill?

Timber is treated using CCA (chromated copper arsenate). It is not safe to burn or eat food cooked over this timber. The main risk with this compound is that the smoke and ash will contain arsenic ("As" is the abbreviation for the element), which is a risk for acute and chronic arsenic poisoning as a result of short or long-term exposures respectively.

A quick search of the literature indicates that the release of copper and chromium is negligible in burning of CCA treated wood, however one paper has this to say:

  These results indicate that the open burning of CCA-treated wood can
  lead to significant air emissions of the more toxic trivalent form of
  As in particle sizes that are most respirable.

I only found one paper on the use of CCA in cooking which showed a weak positive correlation between the use of CCA treated wood and urinary output of copper, chromium and arsenic, so the risk is real!

I believe that these compounds will not accumulate in the grill, so I think if you (wearing respirator and PPE) were to clean the ash and soot out of the grill and dispose of it according to local regulations (check with your council/state/country), as well as washing out the interior of the grill, you should be safe. I would still advise that you get some expert advice on this before using the grill again.


Cooking an egg without oil or butter I like scrambled and fried eggs but the butter or oil probably add unnecessary calories. How can I fry an egg with no butter?  I tried in a Teflon pan but it was a mess.

Well, frying means to cook in oil, so technically you can't. Fat also is delicious, so you'll lose something in the process besides just calories.

If you are using teflon, ceramic, or some other non-stick, don't bring the heat up too much. Scrambling your eggs with milk will make them more fluffy, and I bet less likely to stick. Use (sigh) PAM or another aerosolized cooking spray. Or just 'wipe' the pan with an oiled paper towel. It would impart minimal calories.

It's sad, but microwaving eggs will cook them without adding calories (or anything else). You can also make absolutely delicious eggs by soft-boiling them, which adds nothing at all.

My more general advice is to learn to love a little fat and to consume a variety of fresh, unprocessed foods which taste great.  It's much healthier in the long run than just cutting away at a number.  Better to go for some walks/runs/lifts then sacrifice flavor.  And fat leads to fullness, which leads to less wasted calories on junk later in the day.


Cheesecake Cooking Time Change with Pan Change? I've made many cheesecakes before using a 9" spring-form in a water bath, and have always loved the result.  For a party coming up, I'd like to make individual-sized cheesecakes using a muffin/cupcake pan (Including liners).  So the question I have is what do I do to the cooking time?

All the recipes I've found for muffin-pan cheesecake say about 30 minutes (for example: Cupid's Cherry Cheesecakes).  But the recipe I plan on making (a modification of White-Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake) has a cook time of 55 minutes (in a normal spring-form).

So, what I was thinking is to only bake for 30 minutes.  I don't want to open the oven too often to check (and risk cold-shocking the cakes), so I'd prefer to get some insight.  I'm also planning on doing a water-bath below the muffin pan.

What do you think?

The 30 minute cooking time is somewhat similar to my experience with mini-cheesecakes in a muffin tin, although I would recommend checking between 20 and 25 minutes with a toothpick.  In my experience mini-cheesecakes were cooked until set entirely in the middle, but if your recipe is for an NY-style cheesecake that seems to wobble a bit, things might be different.


Difference between Welsh rabbit and beer cheese dip When I have looked at recipes for Welsh rabbit (rarebit), and beer cheese dip / soup, they seem very similar. Does one make a decent substitute for the other?

The similarities…
Fat, flour, cheese, milk
The differences…
Welsh Rarebit - English mustard, Worcestershire sauce
Beer cheese dip - garlic, paprika, dijon mustard, beer [optional in rarebit]
You might swap one for the other, but warn your diners first which they're getting.
If I got garlic in Welsh rarebit I'd probably not eat it, wondering what the heck was wrong with it. if I knew it was meant to be there beforehand, I probably would.
Similar could be said for the Dijon [too vinegary] & paprika [odd colour even before tasting].
I'd eat either & probably enjoy it, so long as I knew what I was getting before I tasted it; otherwise you get that odd mental trip-up like when you think you've been served tea but it's actually coffee. It's revolting until you realise, then it's fine.
BTW, rarebit works really well for Philly cheesesteak ;)


Why is Tsuyu sauce for cold Soba noodles served on the side? Why are they always served separately as a dipping sauce, instead of mixing it into the noodles like they do with soup?

The simplest reason is texture. The point of cold soba noodles is to taste them at the ideal texture for soba.

In a party situation, I've served cold soba with pre-mixed sauce, and there's a variant called wanko-soba in some parts of Japan (particularly Iwate prefecture) that is often served premixed in small bowls, but unfortunately, this results in the noodles softening fairly quickly. They'll never be as good as they are when you dip a few strands at a time as you eat them.

In fact, hot soba noodles deteriorate in texture as well, but this can be partially mitigated simply by slightly undercooking the noodles, since they will continue to cook in the broth.

Since soba is generally a quick lunch in Japan, you'll notice the quality decline in a hot noodle dish, but you'll probably eat fast enough to avoid terribly soggy noodles (unless you're one of my toddlers, but even they can plow through a bowl of soba faster than they will almost any other food).

Cold noodles will get soggier, but they will not "cook", so undercooked noodles aren't practical in that case.