Does keeping a fridge/freezer full significantly help energy efficiency? This is one of those statements I frequently encounter, but I've never really seen evidence to support it.  The advice often goes even further to say that if your fridge/freezer is relatively empty, you should add something (e.g., bottles of water).

Such statements have appeared here too, as in answers to this question, this question, this question, and most recently this question.

I'm assuming that there may be some minor energy savings in some circumstances, but is it significant enough to actually care about?  Moreover, is it enough to offset the energy lost in, for example, cooling or freezing water (or other things) just to fill up the fridge?

Note: I've been doing some of my own research and was going to post it in the question, but I think it will be more appropriate to provide what I've found in an answer below.  However, if anyone has reliable sources that give a different answer (and preferably actual measurements or studies to back it up), I'm very interested.

EDIT: After writing my answer, I just found this, where Cecil Adams argues strongly in favor of the full-fridge hypothesis.  I rarely disagree with Cecil, and he makes reference to a number of studies, though no citations.  So I'm interested if someone can point to some of these studies.

SUMMARY: Unless I'm missing something here or you're doing very odd things with your refrigerator, you'd at most save a couple dollars per year by keeping your fridge/freezer full.  Moreover, stocking up on water (or other things) to fill up fridge/freezer space won't save you much at all unless you're keeping it stored there for a VERY long time, since it costs so much energy to cool the water in the first place.

There are valid reasons to do this:

if you need to survive intermittent power outages (as TFD notes), having a lot of ice or food in the fridge will keep it cool longer
a larger amount of food in the fridge/freezer will make it easier to chill or freeze new food more rapidly, which may sometimes aid in food safety/preservation
similarly, having more food may help to minimize small temperature fluctuations when opening the door frequently, again perhaps aiding in food safety/quality in some cases
if you have a very inefficient fridge that cools unevenly or is not well-insulated, having more food will prevent as much cycling on and off (though packing a fridge too full can also prevent it from cycling correctly)

All of these are perhaps good reasons to have a mild preference for keeping the fridge a little more full.  But, from an energy perspective, there isn't a rationale for deliberately filling your fridge with excess food/water, since the energy required to cool any solids or liquids is usually many, many times the amount needed to cool air.

Also, if your main concern is cold air "falling out" of the fridge when the door is open, I'd suggest filling it with empty containers that have only air in them.  They'll give you the benefit of not losing that excess cold air, but without the energy expenditure to cool a liquid you don't need to.  (But again, the likely benefit is probably a couple dollars per year at most.)

Details below.

I tried searching for some reliable stats, and though I find many, many sources which make this claim, I don't generally see actual numbers regarding energy savings or even a theoretical calculation to support the logic of the practice.

In fact, it sometimes seems to appear on "myths" lists of energy groups, such as here:

  MYTH: You can save energy by keeping your fridge full, closing it quickly, and regularly cleaning the coils.

  Actually, all three of these actions are not worth your trouble. In
  the study done by Balsnik it was found:

Total use from ALL fridge door openings adds up to <50 kWh/yr, or about $5.
Putting water bottles in your fridge to keep it full adds up to <0.1 kWh/yr.
Cleaning coils – no actual savings found.

Or from this document (on ultralow temperature freezers' efficiency):

  URBAN LEGEND?
  A full freezer takes less energy to operate: An
  ostensible reason for this idea is that the thermal mass takes longer
  to warm up, so the compressor doesn’t have to work as hard. Think
  about it: while the contents take longer to warm up, it also takes
  longer to cool down so the compressor works just as long every day.
  The fundamental insulating factors of wall thickness and gasket
  integrity do not change with a full or empty freezer, so why should it
  make a difference to heat transfer? While cycle frequency will go
  down, cycle duration will go up. The heat entering the cabinet will
  not change. There is a nominal power spike at the beginning of each
  compressor cycle, so more cycles could plausibly increase energy use a
  little bit. Data has not been widely shared, so it remains in urban
  legend status for now.

The logic of this last reference seems to address the question of whether an unopened freezer/refrigerator will be more efficient when it is full (as is sometimes claimed -- that the fridge will have to "work less hard" somehow).  Obviously that doesn't make much sense, as this quote notes.

However, to judge this accurately, we'd need to take into account what happens when you open the fridge/freezer.  Here's a report from an energy-savings group that tried a number of tests (including opening the door for various amounts of time).  They concluded that top freezer models of fridges did use less energy when full, though they note in their analysis that it doesn't include the additional energy required to cool the extra food in the first place.  But once that food is cool and the fridge is full, there is some energy benefit for top freezers.  (How much is unknown, since their graphs don't have numbers.)  For other types of freezer models, the results of the tests were mixed, so there was no clear benefit of an empty vs. full fridge.  Their conclusion: "So our advice is to not worry about keeping the fridge full, and focus more on keeping the door closed."

For a theoretical perspective on fridge opening, let's try some reasonable assumptions:

The average fridge size in the U.S. is around 20 ft3.  If we assume that the fridge isn't packed full and half of the air present is replaced by room temperature air when the door is opened, that would be roughly 10 ft3, or about 0.28 m3.

Using stats from here, we can calculate that cooling that 10 ft3 of air down by 20°C (e.g., from "room temperature" of about 25°C to 5°C) would require about 6.8 kJ of energy, or 0.0019 kWh.  For a freezer of similar size, the temperature of the air would likely have to be lowered about 40°C, rather than 20°C, so these numbers would be doubled.

If we open the fridge door 20 times per day, over a year that would add up to about 13.8 kWh for a fridge with 10 ft3 of empty space, or 27.5 kWh for a freezer with a similar amount of empty space.  The stats in the first quotation above estimate 50 kWh/yr for all fridge door openings, so the numbers seem to be in the right ballpark.  Basically, it costs a couple dollars every year in energy loss for opening the fridge.

Now, suppose we instead loaded up that 10 ft3 with water instead of air.  (This is a ridiculously large amount of water, but I'm using it to keep the occupied volume the same for a comparison.)

The amount of energy required to cool water from room temperature can be calculated similarly from these numbers.  Cooling 10 ft3 of water by 20°C would require approximately 23,000 kJ.  Freezing it to -15°C from 25°C would require about 120,000 kJ.  (This number is significantly higher, due to the excess energy required to turn liquid water into solid ice.)  The effect of adding large amounts of water was shown clearly in the study mentioned above, where the addition of 150 lbs. of room temperature water caused the fridge to spike to about 65°F and take almost a day and a half to return to normal temperature.

To put these numbers in a more useful form:

You'd have to cool down air in the fridge about 3500 times to "pay for" the amount of energy expended cooling the same volume of water.
You'd have to cool down air in the freezer about 9000 times to "pay for" the amount of energy expended in freezing the same volume of water.

UPDATE: As Joe rightly points out in comments, I assumed dry air here to simplify the calculations.  But real kitchen air will be moist, and its effect is not insignificant.  (I assumed the error would be less than 50% or so, but under reasonable assumptions, it's probably off by a factor of 1.5-3, depending on your kitchen humidity and how humid your fridge is.)

Anyhow, assuming we start with a relative humidity of 50% in the kitchen at 25°C, and we assume the refrigerator cools to 5°C in the fridge and -15°C in the freezer while maintaining 50% relative humidity at those temperatures (which would obviously require water vapor removal), here are some updated stats:

- You'd have to cool down air in the fridge about 1800 times to "pay for" the amount of energy expended cooling the same volume of water.

- You'd have to cool down air in the freezer about 5500 times to "pay for" the amount of energy expended in freezing the same volume of water.

[See calculations below for details.]

Basically, depending on how often you open your fridge and the room temperature, you will probably need to refrigerate water for at least several months before seeing any energy savings (at all).  You'd likely need to keep (the same) water frozen for at least a year to get any energy savings.  Even then, for reasonable quantities of water (e.g., a few gallons), it's unlikely that you'd save more than a few dollars per year in energy costs (and likely less).

A final note about full fridges: even supposing you manage to save a few cents per year with a full fridge, my practical experience tells me that I hold the door open much longer when the fridge is full than when it's nearly empty, since I often need to move stuff around or take things out temporarily to get things in the back.  So would this theoretical savings ever actually materialize?  I don't know.

For those who are interested, here is the "work" for the calculations above.  I assume a volume of 10 ft3 = ~0.28 m3.  Note that various approximations were used here to get a "ballpark" figure -- in particular, densities and specific heats were assumed to be constant over the temperature range, which might introduce a 5-10% error for the air calculations, and much less for the water calculations.

(1) Cooling (dry) air by 20°C

0.28 m3 of air × density of 1.205 kg/m3 at 20°C from table = 0.337 kg
0.337 kg × 20°C [same as 20 K] × specific heat of 1.005 kJ/(kg K) = 6.8 kJ
6.8 kJ ÷ 3600 = 0.0019 kWh

(2) Cooling (dry) air by 40°C

Same weight of initial air
0.337 kg × 40°C × 1.005 kJ/(kg K) = 13.6 kJ

(3) Cooling water from 25°C to 5°C

Same volume of 0.28 m3
0.28 m3 × density of about 1000 kg/m3 = 280 kg
280 kg × 20°C × specific heat of 4.18 kJ/(kg K) from table = 23400 kJ
NOTE: Obviously one cannot and should not fill a home fridge with ~600 lbs. of water, but I used the same volume here to make the energy required for comparable volumes, since it's asserted that replacing air by an equivalent volume of water will make a difference.

(4) Cooling water from 25°C to -15°C

Ice is less dense than water, so to achieve a final volume of 10 m^3, we must start with less water.
0.28 m3 × density of ice of 916.8 kg/m3 = 256 kg
Cool to 0C: 256 kg × 25°C × specific heat 4.18 kJ/(kg K) = 26800 kJ
Freeze: 256 kg × heat of freezing 334 kJ/kg = 85700 kJ
Cool ice to -15°C: 256 kg × 15°C × specific heat of ice 2.108 kJ/(kg K) = 8100 kJ
Total cooling energy: 120,700 kJ

(5) Cooling similar amount of water to air in fridge = 23400 kJ ÷ 6.78 kJ = about 3450 times greater

(6) Cooling similar amount of water to air in freezer = 120700 kJ ÷ 13.6 kJ = about 8900 times greater

(7) Cooling air at 50% relative humidity by 20°C:

We get weight fractions of water vapor in air at 50% humidity from a Mollier diagram.  Here x at humidity of 0.5 is about 0.0098 kg/kg at 25°C and about 0.0026 kg/kg at 5°C.
We then follow the calculation of enthalpy (H) of moist air as found at Joe's link here.
At 25°C: H = (1.005 kJ/kg°C)(25°C) + (0.0098 kg/kg)[(1.84 kJ/kg°C)(25°C)+(2501 kJ/kg)] = 50.1 kJ/kg
At 5°C: H = (1.005 kJ/kg°C)(5°C) + (0.0026 kg/kg)[(1.84 kJ/kg°C)(5°C)+(2501 kJ/kg)] = 11.6 kJ/kg
Delta H (change in enthalpy) = 50.1 - 11.6 = 38.5 kJ/kg
Moist air is slightly less dense than dry air: using figures from here, moist air is about 1.199 kg/m3 at 20°C.
Mass of air using above volume assumption of 0.28 m3 is 0.336 kg
Energy required to cool = change in enthalpy × mass = 38.5 kJ/kg × 0.336 kg = 12.9 kJ
Note that various numbers here may vary slightly over the temperature change, but as in Joe's link, we can assume they're constant enough that it won't affect the final answer by more than a few percent.

(8) Cooling air from 25°C to -15°C in freezer

Using the Mollier diagram linked above, we get a weight fraction of approximately 0.00055 kg/kg for 50% humidity at -15°C
Use similar calculations to above
H at -15°C = -13.7 kJ/kg
delta H from 25°C to -15°C = 63.8 kJ/kg
using mass and density as above, the total energy required to cool is = 21.4 kJ

(9) We calculate the ratios as above, ending up with 1800 times more energy to cool an equivalent volume of water in fridge, and 5600 times more energy to freeze it.

(10) Relative humidity can vary in both the kitchen and fridge, so these calculations should only be taken as a ballpark figure, perhaps varying by a factor of 2-3 in either direction in extreme cases.  Regardless, the amount of energy needed to cool even moist air is insignificant compared to that required to cool any liquid or solid food.


How can I stop fish from sticking to a stainless steel pan? I think Anne Burrell lied to me. She said fish will always stick to a stainless pan. This is true. No matter how well I lubricate my pan, my fish will always adhere like cement. She also said that the pan will release the fish "when it's ready." Maybe meaning it will eventually become unstuck when the fish is done cooking? Well, I've tried that, and it never works. No matter how long I wait, it never becomes unstuck. Most recently I gave it as much time as I could. When I finally chiseled it off the pan, tearing it apart in the process, I saw that it was starting to burn on that side. I've started going back to non-stick until I get this figured out.

Are there any tips? Am I heating the pan wrong? Does it help to slide the fish around a bit after putting it in the pan?

I used to have this fish sticking problem in my Aluminum wok.

The solution (accidentally discovered) was to put the fish in the wok only after the oil is hot enough.

Que: How do you decide whether the oil is hot enough?
Ans: Drop one Yellow Mustard Seed in the oil. If it cracks immediately then your oil is hot enough for the fish to be dropped in. If not, then you may like to wait for few more minutes and try the same with another mustard seed.

Yellow Mustard Seeds start cracking in very hot oil only as opposed to Cumin seeds which do turn brown in non-so-hot oil too.


Soak clams with cornmeal: yes or no? Many cook books advise that fresh clams should be soaked in salt water with a bit of corn meal added.  The purpose is that the clams will consume the corn meal, thereby cleansing their gut of sand.

However, I've seen it said elsewhere that this is unnecessary for farm raised clams since they are raised on a medium suspended above the bottom and therefore not exposed to sand.

My question is twofold:

1) Is the first advice valid at all?  Does this soaking improve the taste and/or quality of the clams?

2) If #1 is true, does it also apply to farm raised clams or is the step unnecessary?

According to Ask A Chef the cornmeal is not necessary.  It is the salt water that actually causes the clams to purge themselves:

  The thought behind using cornmeal is that it is an irritant that
  causes the clam to "cough" and expel all sand that may be in its
  shell.  There is also a thought that it helps to change the flavor of
  the meat and make them less fishy (I can't say I have noticed a flavor
  difference between a clam purged with cornmeal and one without).
  Whether you use cornmeal or not you will need to use saltwater.
  Soaking the clams in saltwater for an hour or two will allow them to
  cycle clean saltwater in and out of the shell and purge the sand.
  Using cornmeal to purge is common and is thought to aid in the
  complete expulsion of the sand, but it really is not the real reason
  the purging will happen.

As far as purging farm raised clams, some (perhaps even most) suppliers purge them for you before sending them to market, so doing it yourself may not be necessary.   However, I could not find an authoritative source that indicates this is always true.


Possible to over-knead dough? It will be my first attempt to bake with yeast this weekend and I'm interested to know how you know when you have kneaded dough enough. Is it possible to over-knead dough?

If it makes a difference I'll be making croissants.

Thank you :)

Cookbooks describe the state as "smooth and elastic" I think this is a reasonable description.

When the dough is first mixed it is very wet and sticky. As it is mixed you can see a lot of clumps and heterogeneous textures.

As the proteins in the flour mix with water they form gluten and the kneading folds the elastic gluten over itself again and again making sheets. The dough becomes less sticky and wet and more springy. The texture becomes completely homogeneous.

Kneading by hand it is impossible to over knead this type of dough. I have read that it is possible to over knead in a machine. In this case, supposedly, the protein sheets eventually rip up enough that you lost what you created and the dough reverts. I have kneaded in a machine for a long time and never personally seen this effect.


What's an acceptable substitute for Pandan Leaves? When preparing Sri Lankan cuisine (especially curries) one of the key components is the Pandan Leaf (also known as a Pandanus Leaf).

These aren't readily available where I live so I was wondering if anyone could suggest an alternative?

If you have an indian market nearby, you can get kewra extract/essence.  Kewra is the indian name for pandanus plant and kewra essence is featured in a number of indian desserts.  I don't recall seeing kewra leaves in my local indian market, but I use kewra essence regularly.  (Careful, sometimes it's sold as a very concentrated oil extract and sometimes as the more dilute kewra water; so how much you need to add will depend on which form of kewra you buy).

Not too long ago, I made a Thai custard (usually served with sticky rice) that called for pandanus extract.  It was researching where to purchase that when I discovered that I already had it in my cupboard.  Great stuff.


Is there a way to properly steel-cut oats yourself? I'm fond of porridge for breakfast. This used to have something of a weirdo reputation here in Germany, but actually seems to be taking off in popularity recently.

Trouble is, everything I was able to buy so far labelled Porridge/Haferbrei turned out to be, in essence, ridiculously overpriced rolled oats. Which is funny, because a) rolled oats in many different varieties have always been easy to come by, and b) they are IMO greatly inferior to the steel-cut variant, when it comes to making porridge.

Steel-cut oats, alas, I only ever find sold as a specialty cooking ingredient (Hafergrütze) and in pitiably small quantities. Hence I have so far ordered a lot of the stuff from abroad, but I find it a bit ridiculous to order staple food from the internet.

What is again relatively easy to find are whole oat grains. I have already tried processing these to steel-cut myself in various ways, but with little success – my immersion blender will grind half of the stuff to flour while there are still lots of untouched grains left, and with a knife it takes forever to get through a noteworthy amount.

Am I missing some trick that would give a decent consistency, or is it just not feasible to do at home?

Seems like you should consider investing in a grain mill.

They come in a wide variety of options from manual to electric and they have different settings for how fine a grind you can get. While many of them may not grind as coarse as needed for cereals, there are many, particularly the manual mills, that do.

You probably want a burr-style mill... they're essentially the same thing as most pepper mills or good-quality coffee mills. Find one that does very coarse grain milling... perhaps check with homebrewing groups to see which they recommend, as milling is part of the brewing process.

I'm not sure you'll get the same results as a true steel cut, as it's a factory process but it will certainly be more consistent than your current results.


Storing olives that I seasoned I bought vacuum packed green and black olives in brine. I drained them, seasoned with garlic, oregano, and dried chili. I put them in sterilized mason jars, topped with olive oil, and sealed the jars.  Can i keep them over winter?

No.  You run the risk of botulism by creating an anaerobic (oxygen free) environment.  It is possible that the garlic, chili and herbs could be the source of the spores that potentially produce the toxin.  Sterilization of the jars is irrelevant.  You can refrigerate and use the olives over the short term (4 days) but storage at room temperature is potentially problematic. For longer storage, you could freeze.  Frozen, this would be safe for several months (though freeze/thaw could potentially impact the texture of your olives).


How to create very slimy natto? Natto makers - I'm looking to make natto with plenty of "neba-neba".  This is natto's characterist slime/string/goo.  I read somewhere online that adding some japanese yam during the inoculation stage helps, and if true, I wonder if this provides the natto bacteria with 'special' nutrition, and I wondered if that would be some kind of sugary starch?

I've also read online (natto dad blogspot website) that using store bought natto as a starter makes better natto than using pure spores as a starter.  This makes me wonder if there is a connection between this, and using an added ingredient such as yam.  Can anyone provide any additional information about this please?  Thanks a lot.

In order to make natto we need to eliminate starter cultures - same goes for making kombucha, yogurt, sauerkraut etc. Which came first the chicken or the egg? At some point in time we need to become self sufficient so that if the time comes where we can't access these said cultures, we can still produce these fermented foods.

The Japanese used Rice stalks.  There is nothing inherently special about rice stalks that separates them from other vegetation because all vegetation contains Bacillus subtilis. you could use a corn stalk, grass clippings, dried edible weeds, or even a bale of hay. As long as it's dead and dried out and not poisonous anything is fine; you could use dried out cabbage leaves, etc. Right now I'm using dried banana leaves. (not banana peelings).

The rice stalk or whatever you choose to use is boiled for around 10 minutes. It is very important that this boiling is done at the threshold of boiling.   You might be thinking that this would be for sterilization to eliminate foreign invaders from taking over the ferment, but in actuality, it is this temperature that wakes up the Bacillus subtilis.  I personally don't care for the idea of boiling because it imbibes the dried out vegetation. I find even after I remove all the water possible from the beans, the dried vegetation will still be saturated from the residual leakage. That is inevitable, so I live more dangerously making my natto just like it was made the very first time it was made by the Japanese. If you're interested in considering this process  proceed at your own risk.

In order to obtain a good amount of neba I apply the vegetation that I'm using. I use a pressure cooker to cook the beans and as soon as they are done, I get those beans out as soon as possible. I make sure I drain them completely. I want no standing water; this is all done very quickly so as to keep the beans as hot as possible.

As soon as all water has been removed, a bed of the dried vegetation has already been laid down in a large plastic or glass container (like one you would make lasagna in).

The hot drained beans are poured into this container on top of the dead dried vegetation that entirely covers the bottom of the container. The heat from these beans in contact with this vegetation is what wakes up the Bacillus subtilis. Immediately afterwards another layer of dried dead vegetation is put on top with the lid put on top and almost sealed (I leave it slightly open in one corner).  It is now placed inside a huge styrofoam cooler that already has a standard heating pad in it turned on and it is heating up a similar sized container of water. The container of beans rests on the container of water so that the heating pad is not directly in contact with the beans. The lid to the styrofoam container is closed and it will remain around 100°F to 108°F  for 24 hours. The closest thing to store bought natto will be made with soybeans or garbanzo beans; although a lot of other beans can produce natto, the flavor will vary. Lentils don't make natto.


Storing Pizza Stone in Oven I have heard that you can leave a pizza stone in the oven all the time, essentially storing it there.  What are the considerations to keep in mind when doing this (type of oven, placement of stone, etc.)?  I currently have a gas oven with the element located inside the broiler drawer below.  Can I put the stone directly on the bottom of the oven, or should I keep it on the lowest rack?  Are there reasons to remove the stone from the oven, if you're cooking certain things?

Actually I do this, and I do it because my oven is old and tempermental.

Adding a heavy heat-sink (like a pizza stone, or a half dozen fire bricks) to your oven will increase your pre-heat time, but it makes your ovens temperature much more stable. It's a good thing to do if you're planning on cooking anything that is really temperature sensitive.


How to make extremely dry pork more palatable? I cooked a pork shoulder sous-vide for 24h and sadly It came out extremely dry. I think it's due to cooking it in a citrus heavy marinade and removing a bit too much of the fat cap.

So now I have a few pounds of really dry pork and I'd rather avoid losing it.

How could I further process/cook the pork to make it less dry and more palatable?

I was thinking stew or chilli, but I'm not sure if that will dry the meat even more.

I'd use it as barbecue. It should shred fairly easily; if not, I'd gently steam it until it does. If it's so dry that it can't be shredded, it probably can't be saved, though you might be able to get satisfactory results with chopping.

All it needs is to be warmed in the barbecue sauce, requiring no further cooking. Include some of the juices and fat that came off of the pork during the initial cooking. Serve on white bread or soft sandwich rolls.

The same procedure would work with many different sauce profiles. A Mexican-style sauce would make it a great burrito or enchilada filling. An Italian-flavored tomato sauce can be served atop pasta. Mix it with a curry sauce and serve on rice. In each case, it just requires shredding/chopping and heating in the sauce.


Is there a way to speed up the process of making preserved lemons? I really like preserved lemons, but I often find that I don't plan properly and don't time the month long wait properly. Is there a way to speed this process up?

  Preserved Lemons

  Quarter lemons Cover completely
  with kosher salt Refridgerate one
  month To serve, remove pith,
  leaving just the rind. Chop and
  include in sauces, etc.

Based on the first two answers, it's worth noting that the end result here is not dry. Since the lemons still have their juice, they soak / cure / marinate in a wet medium. They soften a bit and the flavor mellows significantly, but they do not dry.

Yes, if you have access to sous vide equipment you can make them in less than a day. Here is the process I followed and it worked perfectly.

http://svkitchen.com/?p=614


Is butter required to caramelize onions? Caramelized onions are great but I've only seen them prepared with loads of butter.  Can you caramelize onions without butter and still achieve the same effect? Or is butter what creates the caramelized effect?

Onion can be caramelized without butter. Or any other type of oil. However, unless you are actively avoiding using fat, there really is no reason not to.

The main benefit of using oil when caramelizing onion is the fact that oil can reach a higher temperature than water. To caramelize onion you need to reach about 230F. Water boils at 212F and will not go higher than that. So to caramelize without oil, you would first need to draw out the water and "dehydrate" the onion a bit before they reach temperatures that can caramelize the onion. Note: Never put water into the pan if you wish to caramelize onion.

The reason you very commonly see butter used is because it can reach temperatures above 230F and it's flavor profile works really well with the savory sweet flavor of caramelized onions.


What are speed ovens (combo microwave / oven) good or not good at? We're considering a speed oven as a 2nd oven, probably 27". Our main range is an all gas 30" range. What are those microwave / traditional ovens combo good at? What are the best uses? Conversely, what should they not be used for?

Microwaves are fine for veggies and for reheating most leftovers.

They are notoriously bad at anything having to do with bread, or anything crunchy. Nothing will make a nice crispy coating go soggy faster than a microwave.

Some people like them for rice, I do not. I think they ruin rice.

You can quickly achieve an edible potato, but it won't have that fluffy interior or crispy skin of baked. By cooking a potato until almost done in the microwave, and then finishing it in the oven, you can get (most of) the best of both worlds. It won't be quite as good as a fully baked potato, but it'll be pretty close. I would think a combo oven would be a good choice there.


Is there a quintessential Italian hot sauce? Fill in the blank: Franks is to America what Cholula is to Mexico what Sriracha is to Vietnam what ______ is to Italy.
One of my recipes which is a spin on Orichiette with Rapini, calls for hot sauce. I usually use Sriracha since it tastes good but I do find it's a clash of flavors sometimes. I'd like to replace it with an alternative that's representative of Italy. I have no experience with Italian hot sauces, what are the popular ones?
I know "sauce" has an additional meaning when it comes to Italian cuisine: I'm not looking for arrabiata or red sauce or anything like that. I mean something that comes in a bottle, perhaps crushed peppers and chilis with vinegar.

Bottled hot sauce is not much in demand in Italy. I'm in central Italy, but I think in the south where spicy food is popular, chili is added fresh or dried to a dish rather than through a bottled sauce. I did find one example from Delizie di Calabria which is a common brand: http://www.deliziedicalabria.it/notizie/145-nd-sauce-la-salsa-piccante-senza-compromessi but I wouldn't call it typical. In my local supermarket (Tuscany) the only hot sauce available is Tabasco! Again, I welcome anyone from the south to correct me if I'm mistaken, but hot sauce is definitely not a thing here.


Cabinets at the top of the wall, what goes there? I recently got a new house and (unlike my current house) the kitchen has cabinets going all the way to the ceiling. These cabinets are unreachable without a ladder and each one has windows so you can see inside and each has a little light to illuminate the interior, so the intention appears to be that you would put a kitchen item in there to be seen, but not often used.

What would go in a place like that?

The intention, I think, is that you'll use them for your most ornamental presentation dishes, that are saved for best.

If you don't have such things, I'd suggest using them for the rarely used items rather than for pretty things, but that's because I have more rarely used gadgets than decorative kitchen-/table-ware, and am of a practical nature.

In practice I also use my more inaccessible kitchen cupboards for reserve ingredients - the spare packs that I'll need next time I use a large quantity, the cupcake sprinkles, anything that I'm not likely to want suddenly.

But it's very much a matter of personal taste - what do you like about your kitchen? Its appearance? Its place as the centre of a home, where delicious things are made? It also depends how much you need the space - in an oversize kitchen you can use them for purely decorative items, whether that's vintage china or jars of dried chillies you selected for show.


How do you Tell if Home Made Pasta is Dry Enough to put through the Cutter? When making Pasta with my new pasta maker I had the following Steps:

Make sheets from the dough using the roller part of the Pasta Maker
Let these sheets dry to a certain extent
Put the pasta sheets through the spaghetti or linguine cutters

It seemed if it wasn't try enough the pieces would stick together to much and if it was too dry it would break up a little and be a little hard to get started in the cutter.

What qualities do you look for in the pasta sheets to tell when it is the ideal dryness to pass through the cutter?

The real answer is that you learn by feel. So what you do is, start feeding it and if it is a little sticky, dust some flour on it. Conversely, if it is too dry and starts to crack, spritz it with a little bit of water from a spray bottle. Soon you will learn when to make these adjustments.


How to draw peanut flavor into rest of dish? I've tried on many occasions to cook with peanuts into curries just by roasting them slightly and allowing them to simmer with the rest of the dish, and no matter how long I wait, the peanuts themselves always taste flat and the rest of the flavor just disappears.
Is there a conventional way to pull this off? The peanuts I'm using are stale which is part of it I'm sure, but when I eat them raw they still taste like peanuts.

If you want the full peanut flavour, use peanut butter; crunchy or smooth.
If you still want the texture effect of whole nuts, add them at the end.
It's a bit like using coconut oil to lift up the taste of coconut that you just can't get in any other way.


Difference between yellow and gray bacalao (salted cod)? In her book on Spanish cooking, Jenny Chandler writes that a cook should prefer the gray bacalao to the yellow fillets which she seems to imply are of lesser quality, the supermarket version of the authentic bacalao found in market stalls. What's the difference?

According to the Norwegian Cod lobby, a grey-blue cast indicates that the cod was caught in the deep sea, as opposed to cod caught in shallower, warmer waters.  Presumably the deep-sea cod tastes better.  Based on my own experience, salt cod which is too old or poorly stored will also turn yellowish.  For example, the supermarket cod in the little wooden box, which is insufficiently dried and salted, is often yellowish with ageing.  Again, based on my experience, this cod is noticeably inferior to the cod I used to get in the Sao Paulo Mercado Municipal, which was snow-white in color.

That said, if the yellowish stuff is all you can get, it's better than no salt cod.


How to extract mouth numbing effect from Sichuan peppercorn into a syrup? I tried following the recipe here to try to create a Sichuan peppercorn simple syrup. The recipe is basically to add slightly crushed peppercorn to sugar and water, allow to simmer, take off the heat, and repeat. The end result was tasty, but it did not have the same mouth numbing effect that I was hoping for except for with the leftover peppercorn in the syrup.
How can I get the mouth numbing effect into a syrup, and why did the above method not work? The Wikipedia article on hydroxy alpha sanshool suggests you can extract it with a distillation method although that seems like a bit of overkill when I am just trying to make cocktails at home (and when I don't own a condenser or distillation flask).

The reason you didn't get the numbing effect is because the hydroxy alpha sanshool is an alcohol that is largely soluble in oils not water.
When boiled it will come off in the steam and escape the boiling process in that manner. If you distill it, it will collect as an oil not as an ethanol/water soluble product. I doubt that putting the lid on the pot will collect significant amounts, or if they do collect enough to form droplets, they will be as fine oil layer on the surface of the liquid or on the lid of the pot.
I note that the extraction protocol mentioned on its wikipedia page includes ethanol and notes that the yield is low (~60%) of the available chemical. Boiling alone in water is not sufficient to extract any significant quantity.


Safe to use some vanilla pods that have been fished out of another recipe? I have used some vanilla pods that I bought on a farm in Mauritius to make crème anglaise. Because the pods are a bit special, I have fished them out of the cream and left them to dry. They smell as amazing as before, and they look fine.

Is it likely to be safe to use them in a second recipe? Any suggestions about what to cook?

(Obviously if someone says they're safe and they turn out not to be, it's my fault, not theirs!)

No, I wouldn't use something that had been in cream and then dried at room temperature. There is nothing to protect from bacteria growing. Used vanilla beans in sugar might not work since most of the flavor has been removed. It would have been ok in the fridge for a couple of days. One way to store vanilla is in brandy.


Are there culinary applications for carrot tops/greens? The family members who taught me to cook have always tossed carrot tops/greens into the compost pile or the trash (and my regular grocery store carries carrots without tops), so I've never really thought about cooking with them before. Today, however, I bought some carrots with fresh, green tops, and it seems a shame to waste them. Can I safely cook with them, and if so, how?

I've never had them, but they are indeed edible. Due to the high amount of potassium in them they can be bitter. The World Carrot Museum (lol) even has an entire page for carrot greens, including several recipes.
Excerpt:

They ARE edible and are highly nutritive, rich in protein, minerals and vitamins. The tops of the carrots are loaded with potassium which can make them bitter, so the use of them in food is limited, but there some ideas and recipes below.  The tops are antiseptic and can be juiced and used as a mouthwash.
However, it is edible, so you may mix some in with a mixed lettuce salad. You may also use it for garnish. Combine your common sense and your creative skills, and invent something! That's what makes cooking fun. It is a form of art.  Carrot greens are high in vitamin K, which is lacking in the carrot itself.
Carrot tops are an outstanding source of chlorophyll, the green pigment that studies have shown to combat the growth of tumours. Chlorophyll contains cleansing properties that purify the blood, lymph nodes, and adrenal glands. Scientists have been unable to synthesize chlorophyll in the laboratory, but green plant foods contain sufficient quantities to protect the human body.


How to know if water has evaporated from curry/stew? I am trying to get a curry to be thick and less watery.  At the moment I am removing solids, boiling water off and then adding solids back in later.  Unfortunately some green vegetables I put in are not practical to move and so as the water lessens they can sometimes burn without constant movement.

Is there a way to know if most water has evaporated and hence further cooking isn't neccesary?  As an example I realise when there is more water there is more boiling so when boiling has turned into small bubbles maybe that means it's enough and one doesnt need to cook further?  I can of course just take a spoon of liquid and test it seems oily rather than liquidy but just wondering if you have any other ideas?

Rather than making the whole dish then boiling off the water, you might have more success by changing the order of your steps. For example, you could:

Add all of the meat and resilient vegetables
Then reduce the sauce until you've achieved the desired consistency
Add the leafy greens right at the end

As far as knowing when it's reached the right consistency, that can only really be achieved by stirring it and keeping an eye on it. You're also better reducing it at a simmer rather than a boil, as the higher heat can take it past the point you're looking for very quickly.


Is there an inexpensive substitute for truffles? I recently had a hamburger whose main ingredient was Truffle shavings ($50.00 btw) - I loved the flavor, but can't afford to buy the real ones, any substitutions with similar flavor?

They're so expensive because there really isn't anything else with the same flavor, and they can't be cultivated.

However, they do take some of the smaller ones to make truffle oil, which is much more reasonably priced, and more easily available.


Substitute for Palm Sugar What is typically the best substitute for palm sugar? I've been getting away with brown sugar or molasses if I really have no time to get the actually stuff.

Honey, granulated sugar, maple syrup are others I've tried but they don't seem as effective as the main two I use.

Am I forgetting an obvious substitute or is there a simple way to make palm sugar that's fast that I should be doing instead?

I don't think you can any better than light brown soft sugar!
It has a similar taste, similar moisture content (though palm sugar varies hugely in moisture content from a thick honey texture to a solid block), similar color and caramelizes in a similar way.

An ever closer option is jaggery, which is almost identical to palm sugar, just made from sugar cane rather than palms. It is probably more difficult to get hold of though, and the difference is rarely noticeable in a finished dish, so I would say light brown sugar is your best option


Stovetop Waffle Iron vs Electric Waffle Maker I can't decide between buying a waffle maker (electric appliances used to cook waffles simply by pouring in the batter and turning the device on), or waffle iron (cast iron devices used to cook waffles over a fire or over your stove top). This link presents convincing arguments and counterarguments. I assume no significant price differences.

Have I overlooked anything beneath? Can someone please counsel which to buy?

Waffle Iron

Easier to clean.
Can control temperature.
Can save space by being stored away.
Longer lifetime.  The Waffle Maker will stop working after 5-10 years.

Waffle Maker
Requires less human control and skill, and so better for amateur?
Simultaneous; more exact, uniform heating on both sides.

In the past, I've used both but haven't used a waffle iron in the last 30 years even though I still own one. (OK: TBH: the waffle iron is hanging on the wall as decoration and a reminder to my grandmother)

There's just no substitute for a real Belgian Waffle maker because the plates are interchangeable and you can make:

Brussels waffles
Liège waffles
Waffle cookies
Fruit waffles
Croque Monsieur
and so many more yummie Belgian things

whereas one waffle iron can only make one kind of waffles...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯


My oven cooks unevenly My oven is a Westinghouse. The serial numbers are as follows:-
POL660S*02
230-240 V a.c.
SERIAL: 52610542
APP NO: S/91

The problem is that it cooks unevenly and burns the base of everything no matter what rack I use.
The heating element is on the bottom and fully exposed (which I have never seen in previous ovens I have used.)  As I am in a rental I cannot replace the oven.
Is there a solution to this problem?  TIA

One solution is to use a baking stone.  There are lots of variations available, from thick ceramic baking trays to pizza stones to bit of tile or stone scavenged from contractors or construction people.  The point is, the (well cleaned) stone goes in your oven, and stays there.  It takes more time to heat up, and also to cool down - but in exchange for this the temperature is more consistent since it takes longer to change.

People use them to avoid or lessen the effects of the kind of cyclic heating ovens normally use (heats up until it senses the temperature, stops heating until it cools enough to trigger the sensor, heats again) a style of heating which means oven temperature is usually a wobbly average, not an absolute temperature.  The stone also helps lessen the effect of hot-spots and areas, since the heating element preheating the stone, lets the stone be used as a sort of secondary heat-distributor... one which collects and distributes the heat more evenly, since it doesn't have the same hot-spots as the original element.  Hot spots from the top element might still happen, but the stone helps.

In your case, the heating element on the bottom would have to be buffered through the heating stone to reach the food - so the whole stone would heat more slowly, and more heat would cook the rest of the food instead of just getting the bottom burned.

Some dishes which use a shorter cooking time will cook a little differently, since being in contact with the hot stone means they will heat up a little faster (cookies, for example) - but it usually isn't a big problem, and dishes which cook longer will have time to even the heat back out.


What do you get from boiling dough I was wondering about what happens to bread dough under various cooking conditions.
More explicitly: what do you get when you boil dough?
I know baking gives you bread and frying gives you donuts. And since I really don’t know so much about cooking, the one thing missing was boiling.
I think microwaving is going too far.

When you boil bread dough, you get a type of boiled bagel, I don't think it has a name in English. Dumplings are more likely to be made from other types of dough, like pasta dough. And while you don't have to boil your dough in a torus shape, it is the most convenient one since you cannot shape it thick and expect to cook through.
By the way, when you fry bread dough, you don't get doughnuts, that would be a different dough (although some bread doughs like challah might produce a doughnut like result). With standard bread dough, you get mekica/Lángos.


How do you cut/process a whole pineapple? I wanted to cut up a whole, fresh pineapple, but wasn't sure exactly where to start without butchering it up badly - I wanted to cut it up into nice pieces!!  Are there any techniques that would work that would enable me to be able to cut it up into nice chunks?

First, you have to peel the pineapple.

Cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple and set it upright on your cutting board
Using a sharp knife shave the skin off from top to bottom, following the contour of the fruit

You then have two ways to cut it into either rings or chunks:

Pineapple Rings

Next, you lay it sideways and cut it into slices as thick as you wish.

You then use a paring knife to cut out the corky centers of each slice. You now have a pineapple ring.

Pineapple Chunks

Next, cut it lengthwise down the center. Cut out the exposed corky center. This can be done with a V-shaped cut. You can then break down the fruit into chunks as desired.

Here is a step-by-step guide with photos: http://howtocutapineapple.com/

Here is a step-by-step guide on video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJJ-iQkbRNE


will a mortar and pestle be sufficient to grind fish bones? As the question states.  I believe a mortar and pestle is more for things like nuts, seeds etc.  is that the case or will it easily make fish bones e.g. sprats, sardines into small particles?If there is a specific  material of mortar and pestle I need?

Just to add, when answering this question you should imagine the bones are raw or have been boiled for 20 minutes i.e. not fried, pressure cooked or other methods. i know for example fried sardine bones crush easily, but i doubt raw or boiled bones break easily.

Small fish like sardines, pilchards, etc., yes you should be able to pestle these down with no problem at all (although they tend to break down naturally when you mix them with other ingredients.  When I eat sardines and pilchards, the bones are hardly noticeable.

Larger fish would be another matter though.

As with any unknowns, waste a little to learn a lot.  Just try mashing up a few fish and see what the state of the bones are afterwards.


What is "Food Grade" Stainless-Steel or Aluminum After a comment by @Blacksmith37 after the question Are trace amounts of lead in seasoned bakeware safe? (comment in response to answer given by @SomeInterwebDev)

  Blacksmith37 says:  "Food Grade" got my interest , since I have never seen it in a
  specification. I checked the ASTM index , there are no :food grade"
  material specifications.

I've heard the term for years, but never really 'looked into' what it meant, rather taking the name at face value. Was further surprised to find no such question already present on SA...

What makes a metal, specifically stainless steel or aluminum, "food grade"?

EDIT: I guess I need to clarify, What I want to know is what qualities of these various grades and combinations make something "food grade"? Why is 304 or 10/8 food grade and 303 (assuming there is a '303') 'not food grade'. I found those articles that are being quoted so far and have 'the list' of 'food grade' stainless and aluminum. Also would like to know if there is a reference, at least for the US) where the FDA/USDA/NASA...whoever...blesses 304 etc and not others.

Here's a description for Stainless Steel. It applies in Canada, but is likely similar elsewhere:

Grades of Stainless Steel that are Safe for Food
There are 150 grades of stainless steel, but your container, cup or plate should be made from one of these (check the label):
304
The most commonly used food-grade stainless steel; it is used in food, dairy, brewing, hospital and sanitation applications.
316
The second most commonly used food grade, it has the same uses as above, but has better corrosion resistance because it includes more nickel than 304.
430
Products made from this food grade generally have less nickel content and a lower resistance to corrosion and temperature. It’s best to dry these containers right after washing.
You may also notice that products will say 18/8, 18/10, 18/0 beside the grade. The first number is the percentage of chromium that is contained in the stainless steel. The second number is the amount of nickel. The higher the numbers, the more rust resistant the product will be. Nickel is safe in small quantities but can provoke a reaction in people with an allergy to it. The average adult consumes between 150 to 250 micrograms of nickel per day. Small doses of chromium, like iron, are good for your health, but can be harmful in higher amounts—50 to 200 micrograms per day is considered safe. One meal prepared with stainless steel equipment (such as stainless steel pots and pans) gives you about 45 micrograms of chromium, according to Health Canada.

And Aluminum is typically Alloy 1100:

Alloy 1100: This grade is commercially pure aluminum. It is soft and ductile and has excellent workability, making it ideal for applications with difficult forming. It can be welded using any method, but it is non heat-treatable. It has an excellent resistance to corrosion and is commonly used in the chemical and food processing industries.

Personal Opinion
It sounds like one of the biggest factors is corrosion resistance. My understanding of food grade materials is that they are mostly looking for material that is free of toxic materials (like lead, or nickel and chromium in higher quantities), and are resistant to harboring bacteria. By their nature, new aluminum and stainless steel meet these criteria, but the ones listed above provide more resistance over time.
I also couldn't find an official requirement, these seem more like guidelines that are followed by the food industry, possibly encouraged by a discerning public. Canadian Family, for example, recommends to check the label, suggesting some manufacturers don't follow these guidelines.


Dumping hot water without steam burns Does anyone know a technique to prevent rising steam from burning you when you are dumping hot water into a sink?
For example, putting a strainer into the sink and pouring off water from spaghetti.   The rising steam hits your hands and face.  I have tried running cold water into the sink as I pour off the hot water.   Helps some, but not enough.

Do not hold your hands (and especially not your face) over the strainer. Hold the pot to one side, and don't turn it upside down, just tip it. If you need to look over to be sure the water is headed to the right place, pour slowly until you've established that, then move your head out of the steam and pour more quickly.
If you can't keep your hands away from the rising steam (because of the size of your pot or your sink or whatever) then wear oven mitts on your hands as you hold the pot to drain it.


What method of extracting oil from almonds preserves the most almond flavor? Which would be the best way to extract oil from Almonds preserving the strongest flavour of Almonds?

You can make your own extract easily using vodka/neutral spirits and crushed almonds, filling a glass jar with half vodka/neutral spirits and half crushed almonds, letting it sit for a month or so to extract the flavor and oils, you can make a vanilla extract in the same way.


Botulism, Garlic, Cold pressed Olive oil and mason jars I make a product I invented called Maybe It's Marinade. Cold pressed extra virgin olive olive, pressed garlic as the base in three varieties, AoliOliO, Dill and Cayenne Pepper, garlic powder, and titch of salt. I package it in a 250 ml mason jar. I also place the jar in a celephane bag as part of its packaging. Recently, a public inspector noticed the product and sunk his teeth into it concerning Botulism risks.

I've been making this for eighteen years. No one has ever gotten sick. I designed the product to be stored in the cupboard. Using cold pressed olive, extra virgin olive oil I have never found the product to become awful, discolored, smelly, and I set some aside in my house on several occassions for months and tested it on myself and found nothing wrong.

The product is not a method of storing garlic in the oil, with the other ingredients in the recipe, it becomes a bread dipping oil, cooking tool, pasta sauce accessory.
The use of the mason jar provides a secure lid but a very reusable easy to open situation. I do not fill the oil to the top, so that the product can be shaken. Its a very interactive product if that makes sense, in the way that it's spoon accessible.

Can you provide some sort of pro and con overview? I only see articles on storing garlic in oil, not as an ingredient in a recipe? If there's a chance i will make people sick afer eighteen years, I may have to stop making it.
Thanks a heap.

As a health inspector for over 20 years, I am astounded by the lack of awareness that food safety controls are based on science and not on individual inspectors' personal fears and bad moods. Botulism control is based on some of the following facts: botulinum spores are commonly found in soil and on vegetable surfaces, botulinum grows in low or no oxygen envt., botulism has high virulence. (Virulence is a technical term for the fact that a high number of botulism victims end up dead (like Listeriosus of raw milk fame), in contrast to other food borne illnesses like Staph or Campyllobacter.) When considering the fact that botulinum grows slowly, and food borne illnesses whack people more often with weak immune systems, such as the elderly, the ill, and the very young, the food producer may have just been lucky that the product never created a problem, or the very real option that a problem was never narrowed down to the product.

As to the argument that old time recipes have been made for centuries, as in this case, (I am a bit of a foodie and Italian), the big difference is that many products were never made for mass production and or to stick around on shelves for long periods of time, and if so, any data, let alone food safety data, is unavailable for historic food products. In fact, the link between bacteria and illness was scientifically proven by Koch as late as the late 1800's. Another fact is that the CDC's data shows that outbreaks over the last 50 years are fewer, involve much higher number of victims and are more often associated with mass production and distribution of food.  My health dept. receives notices of food recalls at least once a week.

In the case of botulism and fresh garlic in oil, it's considered so risky that acidification is required nationwide.  In California, there is a state lab that specializes in evaluating botulism safety for commercial operations. (It's funded by taxes to keep cost to businesses low and is considered a public service.) I would recommend that producers contact their State health depts. and work with them to identify any and all options available for the canning and sale of any low acid food - including acidification, using dried ingredients, temperature control, flash heating (called a "kill step"). The majority of us inspectors truly focus on how to sell food safely and do not approach their jobs as stopping people from making a living. And surprise surprise we don't always think alike, just don't get me started. However, I'll finish with the following consideration of the implication that "life has it's many risks" argument that we inspectors hear often.  When it comes to death, the public, the politicians and the members of responsible industry itself does not tolerate "a little death."


Turkey bacon a good stand-in for bacon? On a kosher diet, I can't eat bacon. Someone who knows this recommended turkey bacon as a close substitute. Is it really? That is, does turkey bacon truly have the taste and texture of bacon? Is there any particular kind of turkey bacon I should get for this purpose?

(I see that the question "Non Pork Bacon Alternatives" implies that turkey bacon is not a good substitute for bacon, but perhaps the asker simply ate the wrong turkey bacon.)

From a 'culinary' perspective, you can use turkey bacon anywhere you might otherwise choose to use real bacon. It is fine with eggs or on a BLT. You can crisp it, crumble it and put it in a salad or an omelet. I have even wrapped a filet with turkey bacon. While my personal opinion is that the result was not "as good as" the real McCoy it also was not "BAD".

The only 'real' answer to this question is for you to answer the question "Do I LIKE turkey bacon?" If you like it, does it really matter if it is a 'good stand-in'? Conversely, if you don't like it, would it matter if the whole of "Seasoned Advice" rang out in a single voice, "Yes"?


Desalinating dried/smoked fish In the metropolitan area where I live, there is truly a great selection of dried fish in various ethnic food stores, my favorite of which is herring.  However, it is always very salty and I have a somewhat high blood pressure so the doc said keep my salt intake under control as well as I don't really like salty food very much.

Is the saltiness essential to the preparation of dried fish?  Can the fish be as nicely dried/smoked without using so much salt?  Finally, the most important question is, is there a way to desalinate the dried herrings that I otherwise like so much?  E.g. I would make eggs with minced dried herring and not add any salt to the eggs, hoping that would neutralize the saltiness and the mix is still so salty I can barely eat it.

You are correct in that salt fish are very salty. Where we live salt herrings are a tradition. The way to remove the saltiness is to soak them, changing the water every few hours.

The trick here to really getting the saltiness out is to split the back. (The belly should already be split.) This is really important.

I once had someone cook them for my family and they were so salty you could barely stand to eat them. When asked if they had soaked the fish they replied that they had soaked them for two days! Then someone asked if they had split the back and, of course, the answer was no. They didn't know to do that.

If soaked properly the fish should not be totally fresh but should taste like fresh fish that you seasoned with salt.


Why does aluminum foil on a pizza stone ruin the pizza? I have a pizza stone and I have a problem with burned dough sticking to it. So I tried to use aluminum foil on the stone for easy cleanup. I wrapped the stone as tightly as I could with the foil and then used it according to the instructions.

The foil ruined the pizzas, instead of getting a burned crispy bottom I got uncooked dough on the bottom with the top cooked. I first thought that this was because the foil wasn't perfectly tight and the air cushion between the stone and foil acted as an insulator. So I removed the wrapped foil, and used instead a loose sheet of foil to allow the air to escape. But this didn't help.  When I then removed the foil entirely and used parchment paper instead everything worked fine (a loose sheet of parchment, like the loose sheet of foil from the 2nd attempt).

Why does the foil ruin the effect of the pizza stone, but works excellent in a press toaster?

To understand what's happening here, we should first have a look at what a pizza stone does.

A pizza stone is made from a semi- permeable material with a high thermal capacity, or, plainly put, can store heat and soak up humidity. This means it ensures constant heat at the bottom, plus it buffers the wetness of the dough, giving your pizza a crisp, yet fluffy bottom.

This is why your foil causes the problem. Where the stone can absorb water (and steam), the foil is watertight. Which, as you noticed, can mean a soggy bottom - the humidity from the dough and sauce has nowhere to go on the underside.

Unlike the foil, the parchment is not completely watertight (especially not "steam-tight"), so the stone can still do its job.

If you have trouble with sticky pizza and like easier cleanup, parchment is the way to go. Alternatively, a generous dose of (coarse) flour, semolina or corn flour can help a lot. And don't worry if your stone gets a few stains, there is no need to scrub and clean it every time, just give it a quick wipe once it's dry again. From time to time, you can also burn off residue, if it bothers you.

A press toaster has a different working principle: Its plates are smooth and you are roasting your food only for a comparatively short time. And if you looked closely, you might have noticed a lot of steam either during toasting, but especially when opening it. So the foil has roughly the same properties as the toaster plates, hence you'll get the same result with or without it.


Obtaining flavour with less fat/sugar/salt Focusing on the health side of eating: how can flavour be enhanced without incresing fat, sugar or salt in the food (or fatty, sugary, or salty ingredients)?

It just seems that you have to choose between bland healthy/tasty unhealthy.

You certainly cannot get the same taste response with low fat, sugar and/or salt, although you can do better than just take any old recipe and cut out the fat, sugar and salt from it.

Human reactions to taste is a combination of "hardwiring" and learning. Everybody is predisposed to like a bit more sugar, a bit more salt, a bit more fat. That's why these things get overeaten in the first place - our nervous system's reward response to them is exaggerated in comparison to their "usefulness" in the diet. But people are also remarkably flexible in learning to like whatever they are accustomed to. And this doesn't mean that you get so accustomed to something that you stop grumbling - I mean actually starting to enjoy it.

So the first thing when switching from a diet high in these ingredients, is to not react with "oh, this is bland, I hate it, I will never be able to eat like that". Put yourself in the best context for learning (including well prepared food, social rewards, etc.), eat mindfully, and continue making progress towards acquiring the taste without having the quick rewards of eating chips or having a sugar rush. Feelings of dissatisfaction in the initial phase are completely normal: first, one's expectations are not being met, and second, the body's reaction to food goes beyond taste. If you are accustomed to a sugar rush and it doesn't happen, you will have a feeling that something is amiss. There is nothing to do but acknowledge the feeling and weather it out until it doesn't bother you.

On the preparation side, just make sure to add enough other flavors, no matter which ones. Instead of salting, use a bunch of herbs - preferrably fresh ones, but dried ones will do. Instead of adding a pat of butter to mashed potatoes, make a mixed potato-sunchoke puree, which is more interesting in taste. And so on.

Also, find out what the eater is accustomed to looking for in a dish. Some people, especially supertasters, find aroma especially enjoyable, and actively look for new combinations. Others are aroma-centric, but have a firm set of aromas they expect, and don't like novelty. A third class is very texture centric, and you could add tons of subtle layered aroma, they will dismiss everything until you provide a satisfying crunch. So, pay attention to this kind of preference and make sure that the food delivers in the aspects important to the eater.

Another thing to do is to find tried and tested recipes which were designed with little sugar, salt or fat in mind. As I said in the beginning, just cutting out fat or sugar doesn't work, salt is more forgiving. Substitutions are also a difficult thing to do well, they require both good understanding of food science and a process of experimentation, more so in baking than in cooking. So, go around, look for good recipes with the nutrient balance you like, and cook these.


How to crack walnuts? I got a large batch of walnuts and started cracking them using a standard hinged lever nutcracker (ostkaka from IKEA). It is pretty messy and either the whole thing gets squashed to pieces and it's hard to pick out the nut pieces from shell pieces.
Or it can be split in two, but than the nut is still stuck in the shell and it's a long process to carefully get it out of there (even if I don't care to keep the nut intact)
Does it just take more practice or is there a technique or better tool to crack walnuts?

At my house we use a butter knife. At the bottom of a walnut, there's always a small crack that we can slip the tip of the knife through, then twist the knife by the handle and the shells come apart. The little separator in the shell can also be easily removed with the butter knife.
But other than that, we sometimes opt to simply grab two walnuts, and with our two hands, crush the shells against each others, and one of the two walnut shells will Crack and give way. Disclaimer: this method can get messy.


What does ginger lose if puréed or ground and left over time? I know with certain herbs and spices once you cut them open or grind them they can lose aroma, volatile oils and vitamins.
I’m wondering about ginger. People either use it fresh, use a prepared version which may already have been on the shelf, or a ground one which has been on the shelf for a while.
So what is the difference between freshly puréed and ground, and/or puréed or ground and then left for a while?

It'll lose its "spiciness"; you will still have the ginger taste and aroma, but you'll lose the kick that fresh ginger gives out.


What makes it possible to store this uncooked fish product in the fridge for up to a month? I have bought what looks to be a defrosted raw salmon product in airtight packaging:

On the back of the package, it is written that this product can be stored in the fridge for up to a month from the day it was thawed, which is given.
Usually, this is not possible. For example, according to this great answer, raw proteins, specifically fish, can be stored in the fridge for 1–2 days.
I was unable to find more information on what makes this possible. I would like to learn what could make it possible to store uncooked fish in the fridge for up to a month.
I tried searching the internet, but I could not find any information regarding this, including in the Food Safety FAQ here.

I feel I must offer a contradicting opinion to @rumtscho's answer.  The product you seem to have is indeed shown in the catalogue at the page of "smoked salmon" products, but note that it is the only one not being named "cold smoked", but "marinated".
And just by the looks of it I assume this is actually Gravlax: raw salmon, preserved by "pickling" in a marinade of lots of salt and sugar (and traditionally dill, but that's only for taste).  It will not taste like smoked salmon at all, because it isn't.   The marinade will be enough to prevent immediate bacterial growth (all the fluids go out by osmosis, and will turn into a highly saline brine), although in industry there are probably additional substances involved.
Gravlax is also easy to make on your own, in comparison to smoked salmon.  Just get a raw salmon filet of good quality, google the right proportions of sugar, salt, and dill, and massage them onto the meat.  Then you pack it in foil and leave it in the fridge for a couple of days.  (I wouldn't leave it for a month, though.)  You'll notice that the meat doesn't really cure, but gets stiffer, somewhat darker in color, and a bit "glassy".


Forgot to feed my 6-day old sourdough starter yesterday, can I just carry on today? I just realized that yesterday I forgot to feed my 6-day old sourdough starter, can I just go about feeding it as usual? I know there are some similar questions on here but they are a little vague. I want to be specific that it's a brand new starter and I've never done this before. I've been feeding it consistently for the other days but had some things come up yesterday that made me forget.

Carry on!  If you find that you are going to go a while between bakes, store it in the fridge and feed weekly.  The Perfect Loaf has a nice primer on starters.


Creme filled doughnuts? Ok at room temp? So this is probably more of a food-safety question but we purchased some various Krispy Kreme doughnuts yesterday and I ate some of the leftovers today. Some were creme filled and it didn't really dawn on me until now that "maybe" that wasn't a good idea?

So that leads me to ask does creme filled doughnuts need to be refrigerated? I feel like I've eaten tons of leftover doughnuts (creme filled or not) the next day and never gotten sick.

But should I be storing these in the fridge?

Per https://s3.amazonaws.com/kkd-e1-images.kktestkitchen.com/ecomm/nutrition/11329-nutrition.pdf, everything in the 'creme' (ugh I hate that word; it is a cream, crème is French) in a Krispy Kreme doughnut is shelf-stable. You're fine.

Also, you don't in general want to refrigerate bready/cakey/pastry-y products, unless you will be warming them before eating, due to how moisture and starch interact--you'll end up with a very dry-seeming product.


How do you know how large or small your cut pieces should be? I was making a curry and I'm having a hard time deciding how large or small I should cut my ingredients. Advice?

Particularly I'm looking for how the taste is effected depending on how large or small your cut pieces are

Conventional wisdom suggests cutting ingredients so that it results in bite size pieces so that it is easier to eat, either with spoons, forks or chopsticks.

Vegetables usually do not shrink that much, but meat and fish/seafood will shrink a little bit.

I'd say cut raw meat in to 2 cm pieces.


How to change this frosting recipe to get a thicker result? Making chocolate cake and frosting per recipe below from Hershey's recipe. The frosting we made is a bit too liquidy to put on the cake, more like icing. is there a way (or even hack) to make it thicker, short of adding a cup of powdered sugar to cut the ratio of the liquid ingredients?

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.

Add small amount of additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Cream Cheese.

Whip in as much as you need to...

It won't be perfect Le Cordon Bleu, but it will be pretty good.

Bon Appetit


Detergent fragrance tasting bread A friend of a friend gave me some bread for a thank you present. But it tastes like detergent fragrance! Why does this happen? Is it safe to eat? I only use unscented products in my home. And in my opinion the bread is ruined.

One time I was making a focaccia and instead of spraying a water mist in the oven I accidentally sprayed kitchen cleaner in the very hot oven! This did not go well. I got a face full of super-heated kitchen cleaner and the bread smelled and tasted of chemicals so I had to throw it away.
I doubt very much that this is the case with your friend's bread though. Most likely the taste is from an ingredient in the bread that has a strong flavor. Spices like aniseed, fennel, cardamom, or herbs like lavender are very aromatic and add strong flavors as well which some would say are very chemical-like. Some people like this, some people do not and it's fair to say you are one of the latter. Those ingredients are safe to eat, just not to your taste.
A test of whether it is an ingredient or an actual cleaning product causing the smell and taste would be to pull a bit of the bread from the center and taste it in isolation. Take your sample to a different room away from the other bread to test it. If your sample tastes like detergent it's in the ingredients, if the smell and taste is only on the outside of the bread or close to the surface then it's likely actual chemicals.


Please can someone help me identify this? Please can someone help me find out what this is

This is a Chaenomeles speciosa, commonly known as flowering or Chinese quince, sometimes also as Japanese quince (but not to be confused with the smaller shrub  C. japonica, also known as Maule's quince).

It is edible, but very sour (lots of vitamin C!), very hard and often slightly bitter. Culinary uses are similar to regular quinces (Cydonia oblonga), but due to the high pectin content they are especially suited alone or mixed with low-pectin fruit for jams and jellies.

The plant itself is - at least in the western world - typically planted for the showy flowers as ornamental hedge (C. japonica is smaller and often planted as solitaire), not primarily for fruit. In fact, many gardeners don't realize that chaenomeles are edible.

The fruit in your picture are far from ripe, they need at least another two months and will turn yellow and fragrant with dark kernels. They remain hard and if picked before the first frost and can be stored for months. Harvesting after the first frost gives you slightly softer fruit with shorter shelf life, but even better aroma as some of the bitter components are destroyed.


Poaching a whole fish: kettle or foil? Some friends and i would like to poach a whole salmon, weighing four to five kilograms. There are two ways we could do this: in a fish kettle, or wrapped in aluminium foil in the oven (is that "en papillote" when it's a whole fish, wrapped tightly?).

I raised the possibility of using a dishwasher, but that was not well received.

What are the relative merits of these approaches?

Using foil means we don't need to find a kettle, and we don't have to wash it up afterwards, which are nice practical benefits.

But is there an effect on the actual cooking and eating? Does one take longer? Does one risk not cooking the fish properly? Does one make it harder to add herbs and so on?

There's not really a whole lot of difference here; in either case you're talking about poaching a whole fish, it's just a question of equipment.

The fish kettle is a quite specialized piece of equipment, so the main drawback I can see is: where are you going to find one? I can't think of any restaurants I've worked in that had one of these (and good luck getting them to loan it to you if they did). If you know where to get one that will fit your fish, then the second drawback you've noted is that you'll need to clean it after use. There are two main advantages with the fish kettle: it's spacious enough to accommodate extra cooking liquid if you choose to add some, and since it's a solid piece there is minimal risk of liquid leaking out.

By contrast, aluminum foil is readily available, though you need enough of it and a large enough size for a double layer underneath the fish with enough to wrap and seal over the top. Since the metal is thin enough to tear easily, and you're "building" it to suit the fish, there is always the possibility of leaks or tears. For this reason I wouldn't recommend adding more poaching liquid like you can with the fish kettle. Placing your aluminum foil package onto a sheet pan if available would help with transport and any small leaks that may occur. Since the foil is thin, your package might heat through marginally more quickly than a heavier solid kettle, but probably not enough to affect the cooking time.

If you had a smaller fish, you could also consider a large, solid baking pan with high sides:

This has some of the advantages of both kettle and foil: they're readily available, solid enough to minimize the possibility of leaks, and deep enough to add liquid as desired. You'd need some foil to tent over the top unless you can find a dish that comes with a lid, and unfortunately they don't tend to come much larger than about 13 by 9 inches; this will almost certainly not fit a 5-kg whole salmon. I mention this mostly as a generic answer for smaller fish, or in case you're considering cutting off the head/tail or cutting fillets instead.

A side note regarding the dishwasher: while this is possible as demonstrated in the linked thread, the demonstrated technique is really closer to sous vide cooking than traditional poaching. If you're willing to consider the dishwasher you could also consider a full sous vide approach, assuming of course that you have a sous vide heater and a large enough vessel/bag.


How can I prevent my house from smelling like the food I've cooked for hours afterwards? Often when I cook on the stove top, it will involve something fragrant like garlic, onions, seared meat, etc. I'm fine with smelling it while it cooks, but it seems to permeate the air and linger for hours afterwards. To make matters worse, my house has an open floor plan, so the smells spread to the living areas as well.

I have tried running the vent fan, which is connected to the outside, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. It's also very noisy, so it's not pleasant to use. (Maybe something is wrong with it?) It gets cold here for every season except summer, so opening windows is not ideal. I clean up the dishes while or immediately after cooking, so it's not a dirty kitchen that's causing the smells.

What can I do to prevent these smells or get them to dissipate promptly? I own my home, so solutions that involve modifying or replacing something are fine.

When using a hood you need to think about where the fresh air comes in to replace the extracted air.  It has to come from somewhere. If the rest of the house is completely sealed the fan will be useless.

Opening ventilation close to the source of the smell can mean that air is drawn from the inlet to the hood bypassing the cooking.  So what I find most effective is to leave open the trickle vents over the windows in the living room, and close the ones in the kitchen (not exactly open plan but open double doors in between).  Leave the fan on from when you start cooking until after the heat is turned off, by which time most foods will be covered, and the waste dealt with.

Cleaning or replacing (as appropriate) the filters in your cooker hood can improve airflow quite a bit and may even reduce the noise.  Unfortunately they usually are noisy, but mainly for the cook.  In an open plan house that's an issue because you probably want to hear your guests.


Substitution for marjoram in beef birria What can you use in place of marjoram when cooking beef birria?

Oregano is the closest herb, though distinct, as the two plants are related.


How do you cook pork chops without drying them out? Every time I cook pork chops, they come out dry even though I only cook them to 150 degrees.  I broil them btw, like they said to at the store.  Is there a way to prevent this?

First, the recommended minimum cooking temperature for pork is 145 so you can cook them a little less than you already are.  Also, keep in mind that meat continues to cook after it is removed from the pan/cooking element.  The residual heat will produce what is known as "carry over cooking" which can range from 5-15 degrees, depending on the size of the item and how long it sits.  Pork chops aren't going to continue rising as high as a large roast that has a greater amount of residual heat built up.

Also, it is very difficult to get an accurate reading on temperatures for chops and steaks with a thermometer so it's really best to learn to determine doneness through touch.  For pork you're looking for a medium doneness so touch your middle finger to your thumb.  That will contract the fleshy part between the thumb and index finger on the same hand.  Poke that with the index finger from your other hand.  It should feel somewhat springy with just a little firmness.  That's how your pork (or medium-done steak) should feel when it's ready to be removed.

As for other things you might consider....Brining will pull moisture into the pork so that it's less likely to dry out during the cooking process.  A brine is a mixture of water, sugar, and salt.  Additional flavors may be added but this would be a basic moisturizing brine.  Through osmosis, the liquid is pulled into the cells of the meat.  As the meat cooks it retains it's juiciness due to the fact that salt helps to retain water.  The flavor is enhanced through any seasonings that were also introduced to the brine as they will be carried into the cells of the meat as well.

Basic Brine:  1 qt. water, 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar.  Add the sugar and salt to the water and stir until dissolved.  Submerge meat in brine and refrigerate if brining for an extended period of time.  Plan on about 1 hour per pound of meat.
When you're ready to cook, remove the meat from brine, pat dry and then season as you normally would and rub with a little oil before broiling, grilling, searing, etc.

I hope that provides some help!


Why does horseradish paste "curdle" when cooked? I once made a tuna marinade that included some imitation wasabi paste. Usually when I cook like this, once the fish is done I cook down the marinade into a thicker sauce. In this case, the sauce quickly clumps when heated into a goop with a similar appearance and texture of cooked chicken fat. Obviously then I can't use it, so since then I just throw out this marinade since I can't use it without heating it (it had the raw fish in it.)

Why does horseradish do this? I'm assuming that's the culprit ingredient since it's the only unusual thing that I don't have in others that don't have this problem. And in any case, is there something I can do about it, or do I just have to throw this one away?

Not sure what else is in your marinade that could be reacting to the horseradish, but since it's an imitation wasabi paste it may have things like corn starch or arrow root in it which will clump if not mixed well and then heated. You might want to just try whisking the heck out of it while it's cooking or using an immersion blender on it when it's done.


Substituting white wine vinegar with red wine vinegar Can I substitute red wine vinegar for white wine vinegar when preparing a vinaigrette with grilled salmon?

You can add any kind if vinegar you'd like, that's a matter of taste, as long as you add an equal quantity. White wine (and white wine vinegar) usually goes better with light foods like fish, but there will be no impact on how the vinaigrette will come together if you use red wine vinegar.


Am I supposed to eat frozen cherries directly I just got a bag of frozen cherries.

Are they supposed to eat directly, or after they are unfrozen, or after I cook them?

I have never eaten frozen berries before, but just fresh berries.

Frozen berries as noted elsewhere have a mushier texture than fresh, so perhaps aren't great for eating in the hand; but they are excellent to pair with plain yogurt.  My wife eats plain yogurt with cherries or blueberries directly out of the freezer, not fully thawed, all the time.  She usually microwaves them briefly to take the chill off and partially thaw them, but I don't believe she fully thaws them.

Smoothies are the other main use I have for frozen berries, they go directly in and make the smoothie nice and cold.

Fully frozen cherries would be too hard to eat really, you could suck on them I guess but that seems like a stretch.


How to preserve vitamin of fruit juice when making fruit jelly? To create a jelly, I always use hot water to dissolve synthesized-flavored gelatin.

Today, I want to create a more exciting jelly.  It uses real orange juice.
I put a no-flavor gelatin sheet into a cup of orange juice in room temperature.
It doesn't dissolve.

Therefore, I put the cup into a microwave, pick it out, stir, ... until it all dissolved.

The final jelly solution is very hot.
Although the final result is far more delicious than the synthesized-flavour one,
I believe most vitamin in the orange juice was destroyed.

Is it possible to preserve most vitamin (and other nutrient substance) of fruit juice while making real-fruit-juice jelly?  How?

Take either some of the juice or some water (or other liquid), heat it up and dissolve the gelatin in it, cool to lukewarm and then add the rest of the juice, pour into the mold, etc.

I'm recommending this based on a method I used to use for making probiotic gummies with water kefir. The heat would kill the probiotics in the kefir if you melted the gelatin directly in the kefir, so using water/juice to melt the gelatin and then afterwards stirring the kefir into the dissolved gelatin mixture preserved some of the probiotic benefits.

To be more precise, you'd need to check the heat-stability of the particular vitamins you are concerned about and then ensure that the temperature of the gelatin mixture is lower than that temperature when you add in the juice.


Pre-making pretzel buns. I've recently learned how to make my own pretzel buns, and was planning on using a similar technique to make pretzel dinner rolls for thanksgiving dinner next month.

The only problem is that I want to bake the buns at the house where they will be eaten, but I won't be able to boil them in the baking soda solution on site, as there will likely be no room on the range.

Will there be any problems with pre-boiling the pretzels and allowing them to sit, possibly overnight, before baking them?

If you are unable to boil them in the baking soda solution on site then pre-boiling the pretzels shouldn't be a problem. I also agree with Fabby's comment above about wrapping them individually in a foil and keeping them refrigerated overnight. Note that I haven't tried this myself but am pretty confident that it should be fine, good luck.


What is the point of roasting salt? This recipe for ginger-garlic paste roasts the salt before putting it in the paste. Now, I never thought I've seen someone roasting salt before. What is the point of this? How does it change the flavor or properties of the salt?

The recipe calls for heating a "pan" on medium heat. Without knowing what type of pan this is, there is no way of knowing what reaction is going on there. Let me venture a guess, though.

I guess the pan is cast or mineral, seasoned, iron. The salt will react with some of the compounds from the bottom of the pan, making it "change its color".

Other types of pans will, most likely, do nothing. Non-stick, steel, aluminum don't react with salt.

As to the function of browning the salt, I can only guess that the flavor changes slightly from whatever you sautéed in the pan. You could pick up fish or meat or vegetable flavors.

As a side note, salt is used to clean cast or mineral iron skillets.


Make Jello as firm as agar-agar I have made jelly using both Jello and agar-agar seaweed.

Jelly made with agar-agar is firm. Using concrete-pouring terminology, the agar-agar jellies that I made would have a slump of more than a foot. Whereas, my jellies made from jello would have a slump height of only about 4 inches.

That is, I estimate that I could make a 1 cubic foot block of jelly from agar-agar and it would still hold, whereas the the max size of a jello block is only 4 cubic inch before it starts crumbling. Just an estimate, have never tried making a cubic foot block of agar-agar.

Is there a way to firm up the jellies made from jello? Would adding tapioca flour help? But adding tapioca flour would destroy the pretty translucence of jello.

Also, agar-agar has a nice firm chewiness whereas eating jello is like eating yogurt.

There is a modified form of tapioca that gives a clear solution, but it is not easily available and I do not think it would help in this case.

The obvious way to firm up Jello is to use less water than recommended - use somewhere between a half and three quarters of the amount specified on the packet.  But you are comparing agar with gelatin here, it is like comparing chalk and cheese. Gelatin is extracted from bones, agar-agar is extracted from seaweed.  They are chemically very different, the big common factor being that they form an edible jelly.

I'm not going to discourse on those differences, beyond saying that mixing chalk and cheese is not a good idea. I am just going to point out that, since much of the gelatin comes from pig bones, Muslims object to gelatin. OTOH Muslims like jelly, so in every Halal shop you will find a range of commercially produced fruit jellies which are mostly based on seaweed. Since vegetarians also object to gelatin, you get those jellies in health food shops and other vegetarian outlets as well.

Get some Halal jelly and start from that, you should be able to adjust the texture as desired with agar-agar ...


Does oil promote browning of foods? Recently I've started to roast vegetables without adding oil in a bid to eat healthier. However, they end up coming out of the oven looking more dry instead of crisp and browned, with not as much of that roasted flavour. Casual googling has lead me to the Maillard reaction, but is this reaction affected by the amount oil covering the food?

The Malliard reaction is quite complex. The article I linked defines it as

  many small, simultaneous chemical reactions that occur when proteins and sugars in and on your food are transformed by heat, producing new flavors, aromas, and colors.

Oil does not necessarily need to be present, though, especially with regard to meats, fat is often there.  If you scroll down to the comments, someone does ask the author about oil and marinades.  He replies that "fats, under high heat, produce their own separate browning reaction."

Maillard is not a reaction of fats, but the browning of fats works in tandem with
the Maillard reaction to produce flavors and aromas.

Oil does promote caramelization of vegetables in a roasting situation, which is what it appears you are missing. It doesn't take much for the desired effect.


Does anyone know what it is in my apple cider vinegar? I bought it in December. Is it spoiled? I hadn't noticed that until today. The smell is normal.

The mass in your picture is the mother - cellulose and bacteria that convert the cider into vinegar.  It may not have been there when you bought it, but can develop over time.  It's safe to consume, but you can filter it out with filter paper if you want.


Do tinned foods go off (stale)? This morning I found a tin of baked beans with a best before date of August 2014. A colleague of mine told me that it's perfectly safe to eat, and that tinned foods never go off.

Can this be true? Do tinned foods last forever?

Assuming the can was canned properly and has not been damaged, the contents are effectively sterile, because the food is boiled in the can after it's sealed. There might be some degradation in texture and taste, but in terms of food safety, they are effectively safe.

Note that the date on your tin is given as Best Before, not Use By. That generally means it's safe to eat after the given date, but it won't be at its... best. Given that you're only 12 days out of August, and with the proviso of exercising due caution (don't eat them if they're green), you should be just fine.


Will 93% lean ground beef stick in a non-stick skillet without oil? I often cook 85% lean ground beef in a non-stick pan.  When I first started doing this, I always added some oil to the pan before I cooked it, but then I learned that the beef had enough fat on its own, so I started cooking it without adding any oil.  I just put the beef in the skillet and turn on the heat, and it turns out fine.

I bought 93% lean ground beef today, and I plan to make food with it tomorrow.  But I'm not sure if it has enough fat to cook it without adding some kind of oil to the pan.  If I try to cook the 93% without oil, will I run into problems?

There isn't a way to predict this. Non stick pans are produced in different quality and can be anywhere from "water pearls off the surface" to "as bad as enamel". And all of them lose their non stick properties over time, at wildly different rates depending on quality and usage patterns.

If you want to know it for your case, you'll have to try it. Worst case, you'll have to thoroughly clean a pan from clingy residue. If it burns onto a white ceramic coating, it can also leave a permanent discoloration, but this is a purely cosmetic problem.

Update: You can certainly save your meat even if it starts to stick. Use Joe's method from his comment, or simply stir it constantly with a flat edged spatula (I don't know which method is better). If it is patties, loosen them again and again using a spatula, maybe turning them often.


What are some things to consider when choosing a salt? What attributes are important when selecting salt for a dish?

Specifically where you would use sea salt, kosher salt or plain table salt?

I can often find sea salt (iodized and non-iodized) in places I cannot find kosher salt.

Most of the issues come down to the additives and the shape of the salt.

Some people find that iodized salt gives some off flavors, while sea salts will have regional differences in their mineral content that affects the flavor.

In my mind, the bigger issue is the shape of the salt:

Kosher / flake salt : See Darin's comments for examples of some of the benefits.
Pretzel salt : large crystals, gives a crunch when eating it.
Popcorn & Pickling salt : fine crystals; will disolve in room-temp water and stick well to relatively dry items.  Pickling salt is uniodized.
Rock salt : good for salting paths and salting ice to bring down the temp when churning ice cream.

For general baking, or salting water for cooking, I tend to stick with cheap, old fashioned table salt, in part so I don't have to convert recipes.  And I use iodized, because I don't eat out much, or eat much seafood or processed foods.

For general cooking, I tend to use kosher salt, mostly because I keep it in a container I can easily get a pinch of.

I've never bothered with most gourmet sea salts ... maybe I'm not using enough, but other than smoked salts, I don't really taste the difference.