texts:
new here and amateur home cook.
I'm trying new fudge recipes and got one down that works extremely well when I'm not using chocolate. When I use chocolate, it... Seizes I think. It becomes crumbly without becoming crystalized.
Recipe is:

Bring  6oz. evaporated milk and 1.5c sugar to a boil until 224°F (I live a mile above sea level)
Pour it onto a greased pan (greased with vegetable or canola oil) that has been sitting in the freezer and throw that into the freezer asap
In a stand mixer bowl, add 5-7oz. of morsels (semisweet chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc), 6 tbs. of room temp unsalted butter, pinch of salt, and dash of vanilla extract. Set aside.
When the syrup is at 120-130°F, pour into the bowl with stuff in it and mix on low until combined. With the peanut butter morsels, I was able to let it go for a while and made some night light and fluffy fudge.

The chocolate fudge, however, comes out crumbly for some reason. I use basic semisweet morsels. One instance was clearly the chocolate seizing; when I pressed it into a pan, all the fat from the butter seeped to the surface like a sponge. Another time, I put the butter in the pan with the milk and sugar, and it still became crumbly through the fat didn't seep out almost at all.
Help? I've tried a lot of testing on the sugar syrup up to this point practicing the recipe and have since had the chocolate fudge attempts fail everytime.
EDIT: Solved! I simply pre-melt the chocolate morsels, make sure the syrup reaches 50°C/120°F, mix together and incorporate butter after the syrup and chocolate are mixed fully! It's been consistently working well.


texts: Gyuto knife - What it can & can't cut? What cutting techniques?

texts:
I bought a Gyuto knife but now I am unsure what I can cut with it. The manufacturer says I shouldn't try to cut bones or frozen things with it, which seems clear to me.

But how about raw potatoes & sweet potatoes? They also can be pretty hard. And what about an avocado or mango where cut along the stone in the center of the fruit? Is a Gyuto the right tool for that?

Also, is it ok to firmly press garlic on the cutting bord with the side of the knife?

And what about the technique? I know how to use a Santoku or Gyuto with the "cutting motion", but what about chopping? Actually I thought all japanese knifes are made for chopping, but I heard someone that the blade can break.

Info about the knife: The center of the knife consists of VG-10 steel, coated with a chrome alloy. The blade is 24 cm long, HR is 60.


texts: I was given a cork bottle stopper as a gift. Should I clean it after each usage? What is the appropriate way to clean cork? Since cork is porous, I would be concerned washing it could encourage bacterial growth.


texts: How should i supposed to bake cookies in gas oven? Like my gas oven burner burns from one side at a time either from bottom or top. Should i bake cookies from bottom and top equally or how should i suppose to bake it because I'm a learner.


texts: What are the best types of apples to use in Charosset?

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What are the best type of apples to use when making Charosset for Passover?

I'm torn between something more neutral like Gala vs something tart (which might work well with the sweetness of the rest of the dish).


texts: How cold can a brining turkey get before freezing?

texts:
If I brine a turkey in a solution of 1/2 cup of salt per 1 gallon of distilled water, how do I tell how cold it can get before the brine freezes?

Here in America, we all know water freezes at 32 degree Fahrenheit... if pure. Salt reduces the freezing point of water, which is why we salt our roads to melt ice in winter.

Since my fridge is fairly full, I would prefer to keep the brine bucket in the garage overnight. However, it may get as cold as 26 degrees F tonight. Will a brine with 1/2 cup salt per gallon distilled water freeze at that temperature? Is there a good way to calculate the temperature to make an answer applicable to multiple brine ratios and temperatures?

Wikipedia has a page on saline water and its freezing points but this requires calculation of molar masses and more chemistry than I am capable of - is there a way to simplify this in the context of cooking proportions? I.e. cups and gallons, not g/cm3 and other measurements.

To be more specific, I am using Alton Brown's brine recipe. 1 quart of store-bought vegetable stock mixed with one gallon of water, 1 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Boil to dissolve/mix, then chill in the fridge. Combine with another gallon of chilled water and store chilled (fridge or outdoors in a cold climate, in a detached garage in my case). However, a good answer will not assume a specific recipe: it will specify ratios and explain "X cups salt, Y cups sugar, Z gallons water = W% brine concentration" since not everyone uses the same brine. I am looking for an answer that anyone can use to convert cooking volumes (cups/gallons) into temperatures: "I put X cups of salt into Y gallons of water, how cold can it get before this freezes and the brine fails to do its job?"

Actual results: the brine appears not to have frozen. When I checked in the morning it was liquid without any ice chunks floating in it. I am still interested in a more scientific approach to planning this, however.


texts: Adding Something Besides Water to Buttermilk Powder

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I have some Saco buttermilk powder that works great. It calls for one cup of water per 4 tbsp of powder for a cup of buttermilk. I'm wondering if you can use a liquid besides water and get the same results. Two liquids I have in mind: milk and carbonated water. Theoretically, I would envision the first creating a richer buttermilk and the second adding some extra fluffiness. Does anyone know anything about this?

Edit: To clarify, I would be using this buttermilk for baking, especially for pancakes (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/162760/fluffy-pancakes/)


texts: Why aren't my vanilla beans imparting vanilla flavor?

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Has anyone noticed the lack of vanilla flavor in vanilla beans?

I have tried several varieties, from different countries and suppliers. While there is a hint of vanilla, I am using triple the beans plus extract and gain some but not much effect. I have taken all the beans, (new ones) and made vanilla paste, which should be omg this kitchen reeks with vanilla! But it does not.


texts: Fried gnocchi with spinach, bacon, cream sauce in a single pan

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If I only have 1 hot plate and 1 pan, what is the best order of cooking these ingredients.

The tricky part is the spinach.


texts:
I made meatballs yesterday in the oven and I'm going to add them to pasta sauce tonight to heat them up and add them to spaghetti. My question is how long should I boil the meatballs for in the sauce before adding it to the pasta and serving.

The recipe I was looking at didn't use the oven so they cooked the meatballs in the sauce for 20 minutes without stirring and then another 20 minutes while stirring. So I would assume I just have to boil the meatballs long enough to heat the sauce and the meatballs. However contrary to this while looking up how long I should cook the meatballs for I came across one recipe that cooked the meatballs in the oven and then cooked them in the pasta for one hour even though the meatballs were already cooked.

So my question is how long should I cook the meatballs in the sauce? What are the benefits to cooking them for a longer or shorter time? Can you cook them for too long and if so what is too long?


texts:
A couple of days ago I made a first attempt at dessert sushi. Everything went reasonably well except for the salmon roe which I'd planned to make from orange jello. I made my own mould from plasticine covered in plastic wrap and imprinted all over using a small plastic sphere. This didn't work out; the wrap burst in several places; the jello clung to the wrap too well and the few jello 'eggs' that came out in one piece were only half spheres.

Granted that some of these problems are surmountable, the last problem of producing a perfect sphere is, for me, a conundrum. Does any one have any better ideas?


texts: how does the fryer oil filter machine work?

texts: Working at a restaurant and wondering how it even works and what's inside  of the filtering system and how it works when you plug it in.


texts: Can I substitute corn syrup for honey in bread?

texts:
I have a white bread recipe I use frequently I'm pretty happy with. It calls for 3tbsp (64g) of honey. I have a bottle of karo light corn syrup "with real vanilla" that I would like to use up, instead.

From the label, honey and corn syrup have the same calories per tbsp. Searching the web, they seem to be 1:1 substitutes for one another. But bread is a bit special, right? The sweetness isn't just for flavor—it also has to feed the yeast so the dough rises.

Is a 1:1 substitution (by weight, if it matters) appropriate here, or should I add more corn syrup than I would have honey?


texts: What utensil (material) to use in Convection + Grill mode of Microwave Oven?

texts:
My Microwave Oven (Samsung DE68-03387M) has three modes: Microwave, Convection and Grill. It has various combinations of those.

There is a Pre-heat option which uses Convection and Grill modes simultaneously. It has maximum temperature of 250 degrees centigrade.

Now, I have, at home, only Microwave Safe plastic bowls and a Baking Tray/Pan {Maybe aluminum? Some kind of non-stick color.}.

I want to make this recipe: Mac and Cheese. Where I have to bake the dish (Picture point number 34). My mother generally uses Microwave + Convection mode and Microwave safe plastic to bake the cakes. Since, it says preheat(see above), I'm concerned that the grill will melt plastic? Is this possible?

I don't want to just Microwave + Convection because it will not brown the cheese on the dish.

I saw somewhere that Borosil glass is fine but doesn't let enough infrared (convection) heat pass through. Is metal allowed in Microwave + Convection mode?


texts:
Has anyone experienced with post-marinade (or seasonings?) meat in the following way?

1) Cook meat in sous vide just with salt. Goal here is allow saltiness to spread through the entire meat and avoid adding any acidic ingredients.

2) Once the meat is cooked, cool it in ice water bath and then marinate the meat for a few hours (Not just a few minutes)

3) Then, sear it.

I tried making meat in sous vide with marinade a couple of times but the acidity denatured the proteins to an uncontrollable extent that the texture got too mushy.

Any thoughts on this?


texts: How to cook beef shank so that it is fall-off-the-bone tender?

texts:
I bought several one-inch beef shank cross-sections from the local supermarket.
It looks like concentric circles, with a inner circle of bone and an innermost circle of marrow.
I put the shanks in a pot, covered it with water, and braised it for 12 hours at 200 F in the oven.
At the end, the collagen had converted into gelatin, but the meat seemed quite tough and chewy.

Is it possible for beef shanks to be super tender?
If so, how do you cook them that way?


texts: I asked for "brown" flour at my bakery and they gave me this but I am not sure if it is whole wheat flour since it isn't white enough like I thought it would be. Is this whole wheat flour or something else, it's also pretty coarse compared to other flours. Any thoughts?


texts: Can anyone explain what's going wrong with my beignets? The first time I made them they were perfect. Since then they've come out completely hollow. Like just a shell with nothing at all inside. As far as I know I'm doing everything the same, and I'm using the same recipe as it's written. I switched brands of yeast after the first hollow batch happened, then the next two batches did the same. What causes this? This is the recipe I'm using(which worked great the first time) https://addapinch.com/beignets-recipe/


texts: How can you judge when a non-stick pan is the correct temperature for pan frying?

texts: With stainless steel pans you can perform a water test to see if the pan is the correct temperature for frying but how do you tell with a non-stick pan?


texts: Did I kill my chili's heat by processing the tomatoes and onions together?

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I made this chili: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ9eY0_DoEk

I ended up with a chili that, while robust, only gave a mild heat and a heavy tomato/meat flavor, even after excessive salting and peppering. This recipe has two whole jalapeños and half a habanero, so I am not positive this is intended.

There's a few things that could have gone wrong. First, I have never made chili from scratch, so I may have simply under-cooked it. Also, I accidentally added 2 tbsp cornmeal to the spice paste. But, I feel like these are unlikely.

The last difference is what I suspect to be my culprit - I had to blend the tomatoes and onions together in a food processor, due to somebody in the household being a picky eater who can't stand the texture of them. I added it in around the point the tomatoes are added in the recipe, opting to add only the peppers and garlic where the onions would have also been added.

Did this kill my chili's heat? And, if so, how do I avoid this from happening if I make it again? Or did something else do it? Am I missing something?


texts: How to avoid collapse of yeast-raised dough?

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I prepared yeast-based bread with both hand and bread machine. The dough looks perfect, but when I try to bake it whether in bread machine or oven, it starts to collapse upon heating.

The dough preparation was based on common bread recipes, e.g. 300ml water, 450g all-purpose flour, yeast, sugar, salt. The process was conducted by bread machine within 90min (programmed for dough preparation).

What is wrong? And how to avoid collapse of yeast-raised dough in the course of baking?


texts: Had a small oven fire, how do i get the smoke smell out of the oven?

texts: I was baking a buttermilk pie. I accidentally spilled it as i pushed the oven rack in. The oven caught fire. Now there is a slight smoke smell in the kitchen. I need to get rid of that smell.


texts: Used sesame oil instead of soy sauce - can I rescue marinade?

texts: I am making panko chicken, for which I marinate the chicken in low sodium soy sauce and lemon. I ran out of the soy sauce and needed an additional 2 tbsp of it. I remembered I had bought a small bottle of it but it was a different brand. I accidentally poured sesame oil. Now I don't know what to do. Can I make something else from the mixture, and what other ingredients should I then put in?


texts: if a recipe says Asian toasting seeds how can I find out what is in the mix? Is there a definite selection of seeds and in what ratio? I have seen pouches for sale on the net but would like to make up my own if possible


texts: What is the difference between light and dark soy sauce?

texts: I heard on a TV show dark is just for colour and light is just for flavour?


texts: I've been making a chili oil and green onion oil for my friends for months with a lot of interest in buying. I want to start selling it at farmers markets & stores but want to ensure it is properly preserved. Can anyone advise on how to do so? How can I find the expiration date?


texts: Can I store raw gnocchi dough in the fridge?

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I made gnocchi dough earlier this evening. It was my first time, so I took a bit of dough and made myself some dinner with it. It was great.

But I still have some dough left over. Since it's quite late: can I store it in the fridge and continue making gnocchi tomorrow?


texts: Is Sous Vide Oil Infusion with fresh herbs or garlic a practical technique to avoid botulism risk?

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

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

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

Thanks in advance for any help, suggestions or references.


texts: Is there anything wrong with soft shrimp?

texts: Once in a while when I'm thawing and prepping frozen shrimp, I'll come across one that's quite a bit softer than the others. The flesh is a bit floppy and not firm like the others, and even the shell seems thinner and flexible. Other things like size, color, and smell are all fine. Is there anything wrong with these shrimp? Maybe they were sick or malnourished in life? They seem to be fine after cooking, indistinguishable from the rest.


texts: How much shorter is the turkey's cooking time if I increase the temperature?

texts: I'm baking a turkey in a bag, the brown grocery store type of bag. I love this recipe but I don't have time to cook it at the specified temperature. If my recipe says I should cook my 9 pound turkey at 325 for 4 1/2 hours, how long should I cook it at 350 in a regular/conventional propane oven?


texts: What kind of bread crumbs is being used here? (picture and video)

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I am trying to make Gordon Ramsay's Bloody Mary Linguine. The recipe here has a nice close up picture of the finished product. There are big pieces of white bread crumbs, fried to golden brown in a pan. In his video, he pours out a big fluffy pieces of white bread crumbs from a jar.

What kind of bread crumb is this? I went out and bought a bottle of "plain bread crumbs" but it turned out to be very fine, sand-like crumbs that looked like this. I understand that the color comes from the brown crust, but what about the texture?

Because the crumbs are too fine and sand-like, it seems pointless cooking them like what the recipe recommends. What kind of crumb would give me the same texture?


texts: Can I layer Lemon curd and Lemon Mousse?

texts: I have a friend who really wants me to make then a cheesecake that has a layer of lemon curd that is then covered in a layer of lemon mousse. I think this sounds great but will the lemon curd curdle my mousse?


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I normally purchase sesame oil from an Asian market, but this time I bought it from the grocery store. I primarily use sesame oil for making stir-fried cashew chicken in a wok on the stovetop.

Kadoya Brand
100% Pure Sesame Oil
Ingredients: Sesame Seed Oil

La Tourangelle Toasted Sesame Oil
Ingredients: 100% Pure Sesame Oil

The new bottle (toasted sesame oil) says on the back that it is best for low to medium heat, including stir-frying, baking, dipping, dressings, or drizzled on finished dishes.

So, what is the difference between sesame oil and toasted sesame oil? I do not taste a difference.


texts: what are the small black things that fall from top ceiling of my grill?

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I have quite an old cooker, and when I put foil paper in I notice little black things fall onto the foil from the top of the grill (I think broiling in US) compartment. Even when I don't cook if I put something in and hit the ceiling/gas heating element I can see these little black things fall.

I'm concerned it might go onto food and I'll eat them without knowing.  Do you know what these are likely to be? Is it a hazard, or maybe time to get a new grill?


texts: Are small baskets for french fries actually used to cook them or just to serve?


texts: How do I strain ginger powder to make ginger tea?

texts: I was thinking maybe a coffee filter would work, but then it might not have enough time to fully brew the ginger. I don't know what other ways to filter are good. The powder is very fine-grained, and dried ginger is really expensive right now.


texts: How can I keep my jam from overcooking while I process it?

texts: As we've rolled into fruit season this year I've started canning up some jams using a traditional boiling process in my big stock pot (though I'm getting pretty close to investing in a pressure canner at this point) and I'm running into a problem: I wind up with too much jam to process in a single batch (which comfortably handles about 7 4-ounce jars or 4 8-ounce jars), so I'm forced to do one batch, then sterilize a new set of jars before I can process another batch — and in the meantime, my jam is continuing to cook down, pushing past 220F/105C and taking on a much thicker, taffy-like consistency.  Is there any way of keeping my texture consistent across batches, or should I just be making smaller loads or accepting the difference in results?


texts: What situations are pressure cookers not appropriate

texts:
I have now pretty much replaced all my long slow cooking dishes (chilli, stews etc) from either cast iron in an oven or stove top to pressure cooking due to the time saving.

Are there any these sorts of recipe where you should not use a pressure cooker?


texts: does leaving the pizza dough longer to ferment compensate for putting too low amount of yeast?

texts: I don't have measuring cups or anything to measure how much dough:yeast ratio there should be. Is it okay to leave the dough for a longer period of time for lower amount of yeast to compensate?


texts: How can I reheat coffee without imparting bad flavor?

texts:
I have a carafe of coffee brewed today that is still mostly full, and I would like to serve it tomorrow.

How can I reheat it without negatively impacting the flavor?


texts: Home-make yogurt: add sugar / something else with the starter?

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I've read some recipes in the internet and this question about how to make my own yogurt.

Some recipes say to add a little sugar with the starter, so that "bacteria would have something to eat".

So, I've tried adding some sugar, in variable amounts, but I couldn't find a relation: sometimes my yogurt gets thicker, sometimes not.

Does someone knows if adding sugar (or something else) with the starter leads to a better (more thicker, less acid) yogurt? How much should I add? Is there a recommended kind of sugar for that?


texts: How do I smoke on a propane grill that has a separate smoker attached?

texts: My friend has a propane grill that has a separate smoker attached to it, and there is a rack that can be raised or lowered under it. It is a huge grill with the smoker compartment on the side. How do I use it? I want to smoke a brisket but she doesn't have instructions on the grill. Do the wood chips and water go on the rack? Does the meat go on the grill or smoking compartment? Help me please!


texts: My recipe called for 250g of chestnuts, blended with 125ml of cream and 125ml of milk that you then blended together to make a puree. When i went to the supermarket I discovered they had tinned "Chestnut puree" so I grabbed that instead I am now wondering how much of that I should add ?


texts: Banana bread edges are burnt, top and middle is underdone

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I use a recipe from Food Network for banana bread, no modifications. I bake it in a glass pan which has a nonstick coating on it (I think it's an Anchor Hocking pan). Every time I make it, by the time the regular baking time is up (1 hour at 325F), the top of the bread is still gooey and runny. A toothpick comes out with batter stuck to it. I bake it for an additional 15-30 minutes in order to get the top done properly. At that point, the bottom quarter of the loaf is getting burnt.

What can I do to ensure the loaf bakes evenly? Most of what I've seen online has been to prevent the top from burning, which is the opposite of my problem. Is it as simple as doing the opposite of what the solution is to that problem? That is, moving the oven rack up one level? My oven rack is set to the middle of the oven, and I am not sure how accurate the temperature setting is.


texts: Ways for success on cast iron crepe pans without cooking spray

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I get good results making crepes on non-stick pans.

It's quite easy to flip a crepe, but it's hard to get the surface to be golden. The color remains closer to white, as you see in the picture above.
On ceramic-enameled cast iron, I can get the heat considerably higher, but crepes will stick.

I see on the market cast iron pans marketed specifically for crepes, and I'm wondering whether the polymer cover from a good seasoning makes it easier to prepare a batch of crepes.
Is there a way to avoid cooking spray when preparing crepes on a cast iron pan? One reason for my failure on enameled cookware (I'm guessing) is that it's hard to add fat to the pan. Here I'd like to avoid using cooking sprays with a multitude of ingredients. I'd like to use butter only. Adding butter on the hot pan will brown (burn) the butter too quickly. Hence it's necessary to remove the pan, cool off for a few seconds, add the butter, then return to heat, which makes the process too time consuming. And even then, the butter is not a uniform coat. Using a brush, whether made from hair or from silicone, is a way to melt the brush.
The batter already has fat (butter). On non-stick, no additional fat is needed. On either of the other two, it's necessary.
Asked another way, what is the secret of making crepes on a (well-seasoned) cast iron pan?
Related:

Does cast iron enable making crepes with no additional fat (besides that in the batter)? (that would be nice!)
Is the Leidenfrost point relevant?


texts: Why does baking bread in a closed pot make a good crust?

texts:
I just tried a recipe for bread that suggests baking it in the oven a casserole pot with a lid (Dutch oven?)
Suddenly I have a loaf with a wonderful crust which I have never managed to do with an oven or bread machine.

I'm guessing it's something to do with moisture levels - any idea why having more humidity should produce a crust? You would think that humidity would make the bread soggier.


texts: What is a good substitute for oyster sauce (for someone with a shellfish allergy)?

texts:
I've recently developed a shellfish allergy, and I'm not sure what the best substitute for oyster sauce would be. I've read that the flavor of it is not really easily substitutable.

What is the best way to substitute the flavor without inducing an allergic reaction?


texts: Can I chop up a white chocolate baking bar or melt it all and then fold it into vanilla cake batter? I'm wondering if that could make me a white chocolate cake.


texts: How much of "wasabi" is actually wasabi in the United States?

texts:
After looking at wasabi's Wikipedia page I was shocked to find out that real wasabi loses the majority of its flavor in 15 minutes if left uncovered and that in the United States "wasabi" is actually horseradish, mustard, starch, and green food coloring.

This made me wonder about much of the wasabi-flavored foods I have had such as wasabi peas, and the ingredients list of Trader Joe's Wasabi Peas confirms that their "wasabi" is nothing more than mustard. However, another brand of wasabi peas simply lists "wasabi" in their ingredients list which makes me wonder if it is legal in the US to label horseradish, mustard, and other things that clearly are not wasabi as wasabi. It also makes me wonder if I have ever had real wasabi in my lifetime living in the United States.

Does anyone have any insight into how much of the wasabi-flavored foods in the United States are authentic and how to know what is the real thing? I am also very interested in knowing more about the regulations that pertain to foods being labelled as "wasabi" when there is no actual wasabi in them.


texts:
I got a new otg and I found a bit of discrepancy with oven temperature.. When I preheat, the temperature is fine but after keeping the cake/ cookie, it shows a lower temperature.
Example:
I set it at 180°C and preheated for 20 mins - my thermometer records 180°C. After opening and keeping my trays inside, I set the timer (I did not change the temperature knob or the baking mode) and I see that it is 150°C. It's the maintained at 150°C throughout the entire baking process. Is there anything wrong with the otg or is it normal?


texts: In what container should I put lemon water for storage?

texts: I have a polypropylene water container and some large PET bottles. I don't know if it's OK to put lemon water in there. I read from somewhere that you shouldn't put lemon water in plastic or aluminum as acid in lemon can leach contaminants out of the container. What containers are safe for storing lemon water?


texts: Almond milk: pasteurize almonds and water before sealing?

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I make almond milk regularly. One time, my whole-almond soaking period extended to 4 days instead of the usual 2 days. This batch soured and curdled sooner than the other batches.

I have also seen souring and curdling with storebought almond milk, however well-after opening and being kept inside the refrigerator.

I wonder if it's an option to pasteurize the almonds and its soaking water together in a pot, before storing in a jar? Regardless of the fact that it will later be recontaminated in my juicer and a subsequent decantation (part of my own process) -- maybe it can still lower the microbial load?

What bacteria rots the almond milk anyway?


texts: Besides getting them to stay together, what other reason would there be for adding breadcrumbs to meatballs. Do they impart any particular flavor or texture?


texts:
Weeks ago I made a chutney of local ground cherries with onions and raisins. It came out very syrupy but I figured it will still be good in small doses with meats.

I was recently on vacation when hurricane sandy hit our east coast home -luckily nothing major occurred to our home-, and we were without power for several days. Anyway, I got back yesterday and noticed today that my chutney is not totally frozen.

I'm wondering

If chutney can spoil in the freezer if not totally frozen, and also what would cause the chutney to not completely freeze?
What are the signs of a spoiled half frozen chutney?

Any thoughts are welcome, thank you :)


texts: Can I use low fat greek yogurt to substitute mayo in sauce that is going to be heated up (broiled)?

texts: I'm planning on making like a crab dynamite crusted salmon. Usually, the dynamite sauce is made with kewpie mayo or regular mayo. I try to stay away from mayo, so I thought about subbing the mayo for low fat greek yogurt. But, is it okay to heat greek yogurt up? Because I plan on putting the crab mixture on top of the salmon and broiling it but I wasn't sure if heating greek yogurt would cause some issues? I don't normally cook with it.


texts: Effecient way to dab grease from dehydrating meat without paper towels

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I have read the question here but that question doesn't help me, since the options available in that situation, are not applicable in this situation (see "Limiting factors").

Problem
I love to make jerky with my dehydrator. The instructions for making jerky with any type of meat specify to dab off excess oil from the meat several times during the drying process.
The problem is that there can be a lot of excess oil on the meat, especially with fattier meats like beef. If I use paper towels to collect the oil, then I will soak at least 5 of them every time I dab off the drying meat.

Limiting factors

I must collect the excess oil during the drying process, and several times.

The meat must stay in the dehydrator during the drying process with the exception of being removed for a few minutes at a time for this de-oiling process.

There is no way to make the meat de-oil itself in the dehydrator. It is in an enclosed environment (as it must be for the dehydrator to work), and the meat is on racks with plenty of space for oil to drip off.

There is so much oil!

Possible solutions

A dishrag?

For some reason, I thought it was bad to wash things with lots of grease in the washing machine. Is that true?
I'm not sure if one dishrag would be enough for a batch of jerky, since there is so much oil. If I needed to use two or more rags per batch, it wouldn't be worth it to me.

Paper bags?

I've heard someone mention this, but they used it to place under their food to catch grease. I'm not sure the material is pliable enough for me to use it to dab the jerky.


texts: What is it that makes bacon so delicious?

texts:
I am aware of many of things that bacon has going for it. It is high in fat, high in salt, and smoked.

But taking a potato, frying it, covering it in salt, and sprinkling on liquid smoke, does not taste like bacon. (Yes I've tried. I try liquid smoke on everything.)

So what is it that yields that characteristic bacony flavor? Obviously it can be isolated since there are a plethora of products that are marketed with a bacon flavor.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/brain/whereisit.cgi?t=bacon&x=0&y=0

How can I impart some quantity of beautiful bacony flavor to other dishes while avoiding all the saturated fat and nitrates? I am asking specifically about isolating the flavor- not more healthy bacon substitutes.


texts: How to cut an egg without the yolk sticking to the knife?

texts:
I cut a number of eggs for a salad and had most yolks stuck to the knife. The problem, to me, is that the egg falls apart. The yolk is loose and the white as well.

Does anybody know a way to cut the egg without that happening?


texts: How to bake bread and desserts without an oven?

texts:
Preface: I already read Is it possible to bake a cake without an oven? and Baking pizza without an oven.

The package of many prearranged, UNcooked frozen flour products presuppose the use of an electric or microwave oven. However, how can these desserts be cooked without them?
I have available an electric stovetop, pans, and also a rice cooker.

I exemplify frozen flour products with the following: ACE Bakery Frozen Bake Your Own™ Baguettes, Flatbreads, Focaccia   and Waitrose Frozen Cheesecakers, Pies, Tarts.


texts:
Recently, I tried to make naan using this recipe:

  Combine 375g flour, 75g yoghurt, 200g water, 6g sugar, 4g salt, 15g oil, and 2g yeast and let rest 20 minutes.
  Knead 1 min then rise 45 min, repeat.
  Divide the dough into 5 pieces, roll into balls, let rest 30 min.
  Bake on preheated pizza stone 2-3 minutes and brush on garlic butter.

However, I let the dough rise overnight in the fridge rather than for an hour and a half at room temp, and had to punch down and quickly knead the dough two extra times. The next day, when I went to stretch the dough balls out, they tore easily and did not stretch well, like the dough had been overworked. Is this a result of the additional punch downs?


texts: Why is my homemade bread molding after 2 days?

texts: I sell bread at farmers markets. It gets moldy very fast. How can I get them to last longer?


texts: Sugar and yeast proportion while making sweet bread

texts:
Should I decrease the amount of yeast I add depending on how much sweet I add (I use jaggery) while making sweet bread?

I understand that sugar (and by extension jaggery) helps yeast multiply at a very fast pace, faster than the rate of multiplication in flour alone.

So is there a rule or ratio by which I must decrease the yeast for every unit of sugar added?


texts: Should you make horizontal cuts (parallel to the board) through the halves of an onion before dicing?


texts: What is the best way to store ground coffee?

texts:
I know it's better to use freshly ground beans and not store it ground at all, but if I have no other choice, how can I best preserve ground coffee?

This question sort of asks the same thing, but the answers focus on storing whole beans, and the answers addressing ground coffee make it pretty unclear whether a cool cabinet, the fridge, or the freezer is the best place.


texts: Savoury version of caramel or sugar cage

texts:
I am a hobbyist cook, who has recently taken to attempting elegant plating and presentation.

I particularly like to make "gourmet" versions of classic dishes (nothing novel about that I know).

My question is as follows:

I made a take on Peking Duck with plum sauce the other day and instead of a prawn crackers I made a potato tuile. It inspired me to make more decorative elements to my meals and was wondering if anyone had a tip on how to make a savoury version of a sugar or caramel cage as in the picture below. I've searched in vain on Google and have come up short.

Many thanks!


texts: I have heard this term frequently used, but I haven't been able to find a definition, even in the extensive Wikipedia Article on Schnitzel.


texts: I tried a bottle of San-J tamari for the first time today. It tasted salty and bitter. I found that adding a pinch of sugar with the tamari to smooth out the bitterness made it taste more similar to soy sauce. But, wanted to get your thoughts? Is tamari and soy sauce a 1:1 substitute?


texts:
I've recently begun making cheese at home. In this answer it was suggested to reserve the whey to be used in curries. I've done this, and I have about 3 cups of whey sitting in my refrigerator for two weeks now. It's appearance and odor have not changed.

How long can I expect to keep this stuff around? Does it go bad? I couldn't find anything on StillTasty, my usual resource.


texts: How would you fine people replace the alcohol and sugar in a fruit cake with? I personally don’t like alcohol at all, so I’d like to try a alcohol & sugar free fruit cake as I’m diabetic and a tea totalar.


texts: Why do they put sulphites in vinegar when vinegar is a preservative?

texts: If vinegar is a preservative, how come they put sulphites (also a preservative) in it?


texts: What caused the spoilage of my homemade mayonnaise before 48 hours

texts:
I followed all steps I saw online but the mayonnaise looked good at first but spoiled the next day. What would also cause the oil to separate from it??

I seperated the eggs first, putting the yolk in a mixing bowl. I added vinegar,lemon juice and water.. Then I heated for about 2 minutes, I removed and cooled. I added dry mustard,salt and cayenne pepper Then I mixed together. Slowly, I added vegetable oil teaspoon by teaspoon till it reached proper consistency.

I stored the mayonnaise closed and indoors. But there was a slight oil seperation, and water separation at the bottom of the jar. Then followed by a characteristic foul smell hours later.


texts: Can you cook a digorno's pizza after its been thawed for 1 day

texts: is the pizza still ok to eat  after being thawed for 1 day


texts: Can I use pancake mix (just whole wheat flour and baking powder ingredients) instead of regular flour to make a cake? (I have a recipe for whole wheat chocolate cake). Would I just leave out the baking powder or add less baking powder? Thanks!


texts:
I've been making chocolate sponge using some Swiss hot chocolate - because I happened to have that in the cupboard. But now I've run out. So I need to go out and buy something.

So is drinking chocolate actually the best way to flavour a cake? Or is there something better I could try?


texts: How do I know if a black banana is too old to be eaten?

texts:
From time to buy, I buy too many bananas. For the future, I am considering refrigerating them instead of eating them, but they turn black.

How can I know whether a black banana is still edible?


texts: How to cook a fish to make its bone as soft as those in sardines?

texts:
When eating fish, accidentally swallowing the bones is a nightmare for me.

Currently, eating sardine is the only solution due to its soft bone.

I am worried that my health may suffer in the future if I continuously eat sardines that might contain "not so friendly" chemical substances.

I want to learn how to cook fishes to make their bones as soft as those of sardines.

Is there anybody here who knows the secret of making soft bones without "artificial and dangerous" chemical substances?

Do I need a special cooking apparatus to make fish bones soft?


texts: 4 tablespoons of butter is how many tablespoons of coconut oil

texts: I am making macaroni and I need 4 tablespoons of butter, but I don't have any butter. I am going to use coconut oil as a substitute but do I use the same amount of oil as butter? Or should I use something else as a substitute?


texts: Why is the butter gradually melting and only the top of my butter cake done?

texts:
I didn't use melted butter like liquid. I only used softened butter and mixed it with sugar in my blender. It became like cream. I also used 1 cup and a quarter of flour and other ingredients.

I baked the cake with grill mode in my convention oven, but the cake wasn't baking. Only the butter was melting and melting. When I switched to combination mode because grill mode is too long, only the top is finished and the other part is unfinished. What should I do?

Please give me suggestions.


texts: Completing an unattended to apple cider vinegar

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

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

My questions are:

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

Thanks a lot in advance.


texts: What do "virgin" and "extra virgin" mean in regards to olive oil?

texts: I have seen the terms "virgin" and "extra virgin" on bottles of olive oil. What do these terms mean, and how do they affect the flavor and cooking properties of the oil?


texts:
We're experimenting with making black liquorice from scratch. We've been using backstrap molasses, liquorice root powder, aniseed powder, and star anise. All the recipes we've found say equal part molasses to equal part flour, to thicken. The flavour has been great, as well as consistency, but we can't seem to get it as hard as we'd like. We're going for the thickness of a Finnish Panda liquorice, not a very chewy or hard. None of the recipes we've found seem to stress a temp. Has anyone tried this and have a temp they can advise? Get the sugar to 130C before adding flour, for example?

Thanks for any help.


texts:
I've been making some scones and they are either falling away to one side or just sort of staying flat.

I'm currently just baking them on a tray in the oven at 220C

The recipe is:

450g self-raising flour
1 tbs caster sugar
80g butter, cubed, at room temperature
250mls milk, at room temperature

Are there any tips or techniques I can use to make them rise evenly?


texts:
I made a simple chicken marinade from a Nigel Slater recipe the other day: some olive oil, maple syrup, soy sauce, chilli flakes. I marinaded it (1 piece of boneless chicken breast) overnight. When I cooked it, it had tons of flavour but it was too soft.

How can I marinade a piece of boneless chicken breast so that I get tons of flavour but it isn't too soft?

The piece was frozen and then thawed in hot water. Not sure if that's relevant.


texts:
I have got fresh garlic cloves. I want the brown rice to have a garlic flavor.
Please mention the garlic quantity needed for the 5 table spoons of uncooked brown rice.

What is the best way to infuse garlic flavor in the bland brown rice?


texts: What flavorings do you use for sour pickles?

texts:
I'm making sour pickles (salt water brine, no vinegar) and do not have dill, so I've got garlic and black pepper.

What other suggestions do you have for flavorings?


texts:
What is this Ceramic Container?

I found this at a goodwill and have no clue what it is ??


texts:
I made this strata recipe, but in my haste, forgot to grease the pan. The ingredients are nicely layered at the moment, but Im worried about sticking. Its currently sitting for 8hrs to soak up the egg, but Im trying to decide if I should:

Just bake it
Dump the contents into a bowl, grease the pan, redump
and bake a distinctly less beautiful non-strata strata.


texts: I want to make a coffee cream filling for a mocha roll cake. If I dissolve instant coffee into heavy cream will it cause cream to not whip up properly?


texts:
I've recently started making my own bread, and would like to try to make pumpernickel bread. A friend of mine once mentioned that this uses pumpernickel flour, but I'm unable to find this. The recipes I've seen for pumpernickel bread use rye flour and molasses (or other additives).

Is there such a thing as pumpernickel flour? If so, is it a darker flour that gives its color to pumpernickel bread? Or is traditional pumpernickel bread made with regular rye flour, and is dark because of a very long baking time?


texts: Assuming the fish is prepared properly and is sushi grade, how many times per week can I eat sushi without having to worry about mercury poisoning and/or health concerns? I'm not sure if the kind of fish is important, but I generally eat salmon, white tuna, and yellowtail.


texts: How to adjust refrigerator temperature/power?

texts:
On my refrigerator, there's a wheel (1-5) to adjust temperature/power, but there's no indication about it - is it power (1 is low power and 5 is max power with max cold) or are those numbers the temperature?

It not the first time I come across refrigerators with that kind of setting, and I eventually always try a low and high number and try to compare between them about how it feels.

I have a simple refrigerator of Electra, and it has no indication I can see about a model.

Is there a standard for this? How can I know what the wheel numbers mean?


texts:
In Japanese restaurants, I always see the chefs doing crazy things with fire, and seeming to make very good grilled vegetables by lighting things on fire. I know most of that is for show, and that the volcano probably doesn't really cook the onions, but Can I light my frying pan on fire next time I'm making a stir fry and get well cooked vegetables?

Of course on the safety side, besides not being stupid with fire, are there other safety concerns I might not expect?


texts: Stock vs Broth - What's the difference in usage?

texts:
I've now learned (from this site) that broth and stock are not the same product (see this great answer).

So, in any given scenario, why should one use stock rather than broth, or vice versa?
i.e. What's the practical difference?

EDIT: I'm mostly looking for when to use one vs the other.


texts: Is it OK to marinate chicken and pork together?

texts: I just want to minimize dishes taken to a BBQ--marinating pork chops in a lemon/herb/olive-oil baste along with some chicken skewers. Is there anything to worry about with trichonosis when preparing pork in same dish with other meats at room temperature? I can't imagine it's a problem, but you never know...


texts: How to prevent filling getting squeezed out of chocolate coated candies?

texts:
I made some chocolate coated peanut butter candy-eggs, and after I dipped the first egg in chocolate and set it on the rack to cool, the filling is getting squeezed out. How can I prevent this?

For context, here's the recipe I'm using

2 lbs (.9 kg) confectioner's sugar
16 oz (453 g) peanut butter
12 tbsp (170 g) butter
1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla

Mix those ingredients, add milk as necessary until it becomes a thick cream
Chill in the fridge for an hour, form into egg shapes, chill in the fridge for another hour
Just barely melt some semisweet chocolate chips, dip the eggs in there

Here's what the filling looks like as it's getting squeezed out


texts: How can I aquire (not avoid) sour blueberries?

texts:
If I'm specifically looking for sour blueberries, what can I do to best avoid the sweet ones?

If buying from the store, do I just look for berries that are more red?
Perhaps there is a particular time of year when they'll be more sour?


texts: If roasting meat doesn't generate much juices, why do gravy recipes assume it does?

texts:
The accepted answer to this question states that you shouldn't expect a roast to generate much in the way of juices left behind in the pan, and that accords with my experience (which admittedly has always been very small roasts).
But if that's the case, why do (British) gravy recipes very commonly expect you to have significant quantities of meat juices to start to make gravy with? For example, here ("up to 200 ml meat juices") and here (unspecified amount of juices and "2 tbsp meat fat").
It feels like I'm missing something obvious that these recipe writers expect readers to understand. Any thoughts?


texts: First time making fudge. Will it be okay if I forgot to add vanilla?

texts: My mom always made chocolate fudge, unfortunately I never learned how she did it. I tried making it for the first time and I forgot to put the vanilla in. Will this be okay. Should I toss it and start over?


texts: If a frozen ready meal states 9 minutes microwave cooking, how do I work out cooking time for two identical meals?


texts:
Amazon Link

There is a traditional cookie that is pretty much just a thick sugar cookie that is baked and then put in a covered bowl with the candle overnight. I ran into it because I was looking at candy recipes, and some of the Thai candies called for sugar smoked like this.

Other than smoke, what flavors come from one if these? Are they ever used for savory applications?


texts: I know that a rice cooker is the easiest way to make sticky rice, because of the way it is steamed. However, I don't have a rice cooker: what is the most effective way to make sticky rice using regular kitchen tools and appliances, i.e. ones which most people would have? (I am not against getting a rice cooker: I just don't want to invest in an appliance which I would probably not use that frequently. So I'm interested in learning how to make sticky rice with your average kitchen tools and appliances.)


texts:
Is it as easy as taking a few shavings of truffle, and chucking them into glass bottle filled with olive oil, and then sealing it up and waiting a few months?

I'd rather not mess this up, as they are pretty pricey!


texts: Is it normal for parts of fresh ginger to be chewy?

texts:
I have been trying to select fresh ginger by buying hands which are not wrinkled, light brown, hand peel-able, etc.
What I have found is that on some days eating raw ginger complete melts in my mouth and an other days bits of it remain chewy.  Some parts also feel like strings.
I'm wondering if on those days bits of the ginger feel more chewy did I buy a less fresh piece or is it normal for parts of the ginger to be chewy so long as it's not the whole piece and therefore parts which feel like strings or chewy are still fresh so long as most of that piece was chewable?


texts:
I'd like to have plates with the following characteristics:

Don't break when you drop them on the floor
Do not get hot in the microwave (like normal china)
Durable and washable (not paper plates)

Do such plates exist? If so, where might I obtain some?

(edit) Ideally they would also look more or less like standard dinner plates.


texts: How can I use molasses without making a mess?

texts: I love using molasses in many different recipes, but I have found it difficult to avoid making a mess when using it. Both spooning molasses from the jar and trying to pour it out wind up leaving molasses trails on the jar and my working surface, which if not wiped off immediately dry into a mass that is almost impossible to clean.


texts: I'm looking to make potato gnocchi again but won't have a potato ricer. Is there another way to make the potato flour with it? Will a fine cheese grater work on a baked potato?


texts: Can I soak liver in milk overnight? And if yes, does it matter if I soak it for 2 hours or overnight, or will there be no difference?


texts: What is the difference between using hot water and cold water when making regular pastry?

texts: What difference in texture and taste does using hot water make to pastry? How would this compare with a standard recipe (flour, butter, salt, egg, a little cold water)?


texts:
Friend of mine had a dry goods mix that included things like flour, salt, sugar... it kept indefinitely and could be used in proper portions for any number of bread type items - muffins, pancakes, and so on.

Can I make such a mix at home? Where can I find sources describing it? And how can I use it?


texts: Substituting fresh vegetables/fruits for canned

texts:
I've made a commitment this year to reduce the amount of waste coming out of my home. This includes cooking and buying in smaller portions so less is composted and paying attention to what kind of packaging my food comes in, so it can be eliminated wherever possible and recycled other times. Part of this is I'd like to drastically reduce the amount of canned products I buy. I know cans can be recycled, but I figure it takes energy to convert that can into something else, so it's still better if I buy less of them.

In attempt to reduce the amount of failed trials with trying to substitute fresh produce for canned, does anyone have any tips as to where my efforts may not be worth it?

For example, my sister is telling me that if a recipe calls for canned tomatoes, it's usually better to just listen. Another recipe I tried to sub fresh pineapple for canned in a dessert and learned that the acid in fresh pineapple destroys the gelatin proteins so that is why my dessert didn't set. [Edit: It's the enzymes in pineapple, not the acid. I actually knew that and just mis-typed, but thank you, Joe, for the correction!]

If it helps, I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada (to give you an idea of what is grown locally during what season). I have not ventured into canning endeavors yet, but I do have a stand-up deep freeze so I freeze a lot of stuff myself. I do not have a garden, so everything is bought from a store that sells organic, local-whenever-possible groceries.

Thank you in advance!


texts: How do you raise your dough in cold seasons?

texts:
It is winter down here in Australia and I find it challenging to find a warm spot to raise my bread dough. What I have been doing is placing the dough in the oven (not switched on) with a pot of hot water, replacing it once or twice. The oven becomes a warm and moist environment for the yeast to do its magic.

What other alternative spots are there to raise the dough in cold seasons?


texts: How to store hard boiled eggs that are peeled so to avoid moisture build up?

texts:
On the weekend I usually make 10 hard boiled eggs and peel them so I can eat 2 every morning during the work week. It's a big time saver in the morning, but when I store them in a plastic container in the refrigerator, a ton of moisture accumulates. I've tried putting a napkin in the container to soak up any water that appears but it doesn't help much. Does anyone know how you should store hard boiled eggs that are peeled? Is peeling them going to reduce how long they stay good? And does anyone know how long peeled and unpeeled eggs should stay good for?

In case anyone is wondering. I make the eggs by putting them in a pot with water, then bring it to a rolling boil, remove from heat, cover the pot and let it sit for 12 minutes. I then crack the eggs and dip them in water to remove any small pieces of shells, and then finally dry them.

Thanks!!


texts: How do you season/prepare a wood plank for Plank Grilling?

texts:
I wanted to Plank Grill a Salmon, after hearing about how much Jarrod enjoyed it:

Besides salmon, what other meats can be grilled on a cedar plank?

How do I season a cedar plank in order to use it for grilling?  After it's seasoned any tips on the actual grilling technique?


texts: I'm just wondering if you can ferment spinach in a similar way you can ferment cabbage leaves? Would this have appealing results at all?


texts: Cast Iron Bread Tin is Leaving Black Spots on Bread?

texts:
Im using cast iron baking tins for my bread recipe (just standard whole wheat flour, yeast, salt).

I notice that after baking the bread it will have black spots on the bottom and sides.  If I bake the bread further they only get worse.

What is this?  It looks like mold, but I highly doubt that is what it is.  I clean the tins after each use and keep them seasoned and oiled.  Anyone else have this problem?


texts: How can you safely remove 9x13 pans/dishes from a hot water bath?

texts: I like to bake my corn pudding in a bain marie but I have difficulty removing it from the pan.  Any suggestions?


texts:
Plums are sour (especially the peel). Prunes are dried plums (with the peel, I presume). Then why are prunes only sweet, with no sourness?

Note: I'm asking about standard American prunes, not unusual varieties like sour prunes.


texts: Deep frying without schnitzels sticking to each other

texts: How do I avoid the phenomenon of pieces of breaded schnitzel sticking together inside the deep fryer


texts: Oil that had dripped from a bottle of vegetable oil got on the shelf of my kitchen cupboard. I didn't notice it then put a tray on top, several months later I find a sticky mess under the tray. Is this a botulism risk from any possible spores on the shelf with oil under a metal tray? I didn't store garlic or anything else there.


texts: l always have had great success with pavlovas.  Recently l bought a new double oven.  l made a pavlova and put it in the small oven.  A complete disaster.  l made another and put it in the bigger oven - same thing.  The meringue was coming away from the sides and it was flat and soft.  Have tried another three times with the same result.  Is it the oven ? ? ?


texts: Why is my baguette type bread coming out almost flat?

texts:
I bake bread almost every day.  Mostly French baguettes, old stretch and fold every 45 mts. method for 1st proofing, couche for 2nd rise. Make sourdough too.  But my bread loaves, which were coming out very good, but wanted to make better, are now (last two weeks) coming out almost totally flat when out of the oven (oven temp ok).  They actually look nice and fluffy (Too "marshmallowy") after 1.5-2 hrs. proofing on top of counter on tray covered by dry towel.  Used to proof for 1.5 hrs. but the 2 hrs. gave a nicer, puffier (but soft) look.
What happens:

So, when I score the bread, simple center cut, it starts to deflate a little.  I bake it with plenty of steam yet no oven spring, it's FLAT! BUT...the taste is great, only has little crumb but it's NOT DENSE...

What I've tried:

I use plenty of steam with pot in bottom of oven and boiling water, lightly spray the loaves.

I am pre-preparing everything (this is new, could it matter?), including sifting flours (half AP/half bread) the night before, the rest in separate containers.

This bread uses a 24 hr. poolish, which is was checked and it's fine.

QUESTION:

How can I proof for 2nd rise if I can't use my oven, which is being heated?

I have tried keeping it in the oven until last minute, finish proofing on top of counter (cooler temperature) in order to preheat oven for baking the change in temp seams to start to deflate dough.

How can I tell that the dough is ready for baking and proofed enough? (tips!) I tried poking it, but just left a hole in the formed "baguette" shaped loaf which didn't spring back at all.  Felt marshmallowy:(  When ready to bake is it supposed to feel firm or very soft?

Is there a chance I could have OVER-kneaded the dough in my KitchenAid? I mix for 2 min. in speed 1 and up to 7 min. in (varies) speeds 2 and 4. (Recipe calls for 2 min mixing and 3 min. on speed 2) I have been kneading say about 3 min. on 2 and 4 on speed 4.  Then I manually knead for about 10 min. (not too hard).

My house is coolish, 70 degrees, open kitchen.  I can't afford a proofing box.  All other breads proof and bake perfectly well.  None of them use the stand mixer (!) Only this one has given me problems.  I have also tried different recipes, same problem - but it seems to work for everybody else. Please help? Thanks and stay safe!:)


texts: Overnight cooking: Is sous-vide safer than electrical oven?

texts:
I am a fan of bone broths, but always have a problem with the overnight cooking part.

For the overnight cooking part I have the following options:

Interrupt cook, let the pot hot on the stove, continue in the morning (this is what I am doing now)
Cook overnight on the stove (this seems to be a bad idea)
Cook in an oven overnight. Some people say, that this is a lot safer, than the stove, but I am not willing to do it.
Stand-alone stove on the balcony. I actually believe, that this should be pretty safe.
My latest idea: Put the bone broth pot in a big container full of water and heat the water with a sous-vide circulator.

Since sous-vide circulators can not reach as high temperatures as an oven and since they are, after all, in a container full of water, is it safe to assume, that overnight sous-vide is safer than overnight oven cooking? I could make it even safer, by putting the whole thing on the balcony, however this would probably increase energy consumption dramatically.


texts: Freezing lasagne made with previously frozen meat

texts:
It has always been assumed at our house that if you make a meal with previously frozen meat that the meal cannot then be frozen itself and reheated at a later date.  Is this true?

So, just to be clear, I've got some frozen mince, I defrost it, cook it in a lasagne then want to freeze the left-overs.

Advice would be most welcome.


texts:
I'm making pork stock for the first time from raw pork bones I bought at the store, and I just opened a spiral cut ham to cut it up. Can I put the cooked ham bone in with the cooking pork bones, since it's all pork anyway?

Also, in some cultures they consume whatever is soft on meat bones such as the marrow. Is this safe to do with the ham bone, or is it not cooked enough?


texts: Is nonstick cookware safe to use after overheating

texts: I know that nonstick can release chemicals / gasses / toxins after being overheated but is it safe to use again once cooled? I have a frying pan I like a lot but it got overheated a few times - there are no signs of damage although the pan is very so slightly warped (not visible unless you put a ruler over the back)


texts: Is copper cookware really better than stainless steel?

texts:
This is somewhat related to the question about copper vs. cast iron, but this is about copper vs. pure stainless steel.
I had an old stainless steel stockpot that warped (it was very, very cheap stainless steel, paper thin) and have to replace it ASAP.  I have a family member with a few connections that gets a deep discount on one of the more expensive brands.  I asked her to look into getting me a copper stockpot (lined with stainless steel, of course, so the reactivity problem more or less goes away), and got this response as an explanation to why it is apparently unavailable here:

[...] there is apparently no advantage cooking-wise to using copper, and people just buy it for the look.
[...] None of our big accounts, including [XYZ] etc even had any interest in stocking it, which is why we never brought it in.

Note that these stores do carry the same brand of stainless steel products, just not copper.
Now, I am taking this with a grain pile of salt because (a) this family member never cooks and (b) the advice came from a marketing manager who obviously wants to push the products that are available locally.  Nevertheless, I think it's worth asking people with knowledge/experience:
Is there actual evidence confirming any of the advantages of copper cookware (durability, conductivity, heat spread, etc.)?  Has it actually been proven anywhere that copper is (or is not) superior to stainless steel?
Or are articles like these just parroting a bunch of myths?
I'm looking for strong evidence here, so please answer only if you are prepared to back it up.
Clarification (with apologies to Ward): I am looking for evidence of the practical benefits.  It's obviously indisputable and easy to look up the fact that copper is a better conductor than steel, and lighter; the question is, does this matter with respect to responsiveness, hot spots, and so on?


texts: Help?! 2nd thoughts on oven purchase - no non-fan option!

texts:
It occurs to me I’ve never actually bought an oven before! After a fair bit of deliberation I found a Westinghouse in our price range that seems to have good reviews. So we bought it yesterday. Only thing is for some reason it doesn’t seem to have a non-fan option. Isn’t this weird? It’s an electric single oven and functions it has are: Grill, Fan Grill, Defrost, Light, Fan Forced Cooking.
I’ve been cooking on a very old, very basic upright gas oven up until this point. Can’t think of many occasions I’ve used it without the fan, even while baking.
The next option up at the store was an additional $200 with these options: Fan grill, Defrost, Traditional bake, Pizza, Rapid heat, Grill, Fan forced cooking, AirFry and a digital display rather than knobs. Seemed a waste of money given the basic stove I have been using up until now has no options (besides fan), yet I make a wide variety of food in it, including pizzas and baking. I suspected it might be one of those things where the options end up being largely unnecessary.
What’s the deal, foodies? Do I need a non-fan option?!


texts: Substitute for chicken broth in tomato soup

texts: In this recipe, how can I substitute chicken broth?


texts:
During the thickening of my sauce I accidentally poured too much flour into my sauce. This resulted into lumps of flour.

Is there a way to get rid of these lumps?


texts: I use my Marcato Atlas 150 for fettuccini and occasionally to make lasagna noodles. One side if the fettuccini head has a spaghetti roller. I've used it a only a couple of times because the pasta is so thin it appears to be angel hair or capellini rather than spaghetti. Am I wrong in my assessment?


texts: Should I use dried or fresh chilli/ginger in chai tea?

texts: Well, the question is in the title really. What are the pros/cons? I'm making some concentrate by cooking it for a long time.


texts: What are some easy methods to cook a top blade steak without stock or wine?

texts: I would like to ask about cooking a top blade steak. I am currently out of stock and wine, and am curious about slow cooking it in an oven, although not really familiar with slow cooking. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.


texts:
This is a question not about home cooking, but about working out how an industrial food is cooked — I’m not a regular here, so apologies if it’s judged as off-topic.

Extruded snack seems to be the technical term for manufactured not-quite-chips snacks like Cheetos, Cheese Puffs, Wotsits, Twisties, Cheezels…  It comes from the way they’re manufactured, by extrusion from a press.  It may also involve other technical details beyond this, I’m not sure.

Are the popular British snacks Twiglets an example of this, or are they produced in some other way?  Also: pretzels?  Rice cakes?  Hula hoops?  Pringles?

(Twiglets are rather love-it-or-hate-it, flavoured with yeast extract, so a bit like Marmite, except that even people who love Marmite may hate Twiglets.)

Carried over from this english.se discussion.


texts: Why exactly is it recommended to store cooking oil away from sunlight? How does sunlight accelerate spoilage?


texts: Do long-cooked pasta and brown rice lose more minerals than short-cooked types?

texts: There are many different types of brown rice and whole grain paste that one can buy. Some need to be cooked for 25 minutes while others only need to be cooked for 8 minutes. I was wondering if rice or pasta that needs to be cooked for longer will lose more of the minerals as these may leach into the water.


texts:
I am making a rhubarb meringue pie by first blind-baking a short pastry, afterwards I put the rhubarb-compote onto the cake and the meringue on top, and then bake that again for a short time.

However, after and while baking, the juice of the rhubarbs starts leaking en masse. What can I do to prevent that from happening?


texts: Why did my storebought spaghetti sauce bubble out of the jar?

texts: Tonight we were having meatball subs we open store bought spaghetti sauce and put it on our subs. We just spooned it out of the jar, no heating. We looked away for a moment, then once we started eating I looked at the sauce and it had bubbled and run over the sides of the jar. The top looked like lava with bubbles busting air. Anyone ever hear of this? What happened? It was sauce with Italian sausage.


texts: How to avoid chicken getting too tender when cooking in a crock pot?

texts: I'd like to cook chicken in my Crockpot but just about every time it comes out so well done that it shreds when you try to cut it.  How can I make it so it's not as well done; more like it comes out when cooked in an oven?


texts: Why is glucose not used in many cake recipes?

texts:
Glucose is used in some recipes to make a cake soft and fluffy (for example, this Strawberry Shortcake recipe video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc6F_dLJo8o).

What is the reason glucose is not widely used in other cake recipes?


texts: Substituting instant imitation flavored pudding mix and cake mix in Bundt Cake recipe

texts: Nothing Bundt Cakes makes delicious dark chocolate and white chocolate with a raspberry center. Thrilled to find copycat recipes online, both call for imitation flavored pudding mixes and cake mixes. Can I use a similar recipe for very rich (with sour cream and butter) dark or white chocolate cake from scratch, adding raspberry sauce swirled in the middle? Reading the ingredients of the instant pudding mix, I could add cornstarch, finely chopped dark or white chocolate chips, vanilla flavoring, and anything else?


texts: Amount of Chocolate-chips in a Chocolate-chip cookie?

texts:
I've been making chocalote chip cookies for a while and I just can't decide how many chocolate chips to put in each cookie. So maybe once and for all I can get a good answer to the question:

What is the best percentage of chocolate-chips for a chocolate cookies? And what are the pros and cons for putting more or less chocolate chips?


texts: Why doesn't any of the Instant Pot recipes I find use the preset buttons (Rice, Bean/Chili, etc.)?

texts: I bought an Instant Pot pressure cooker recently. One of the features is its "Smart Cooking Programs" that can program the settings with the touch of a button. I haven't seen any recipes the use of these buttons, and even the book that came with the Instant Pot uses "Manual" for everything. Should I use them?


texts: Can I still use a Tagine that was outside for a while?

texts:
I have a ceramic Tagine that I used regularly to make Middle Eastern dishes.
However over the last few months I didn't use it and it sat outside on the balcony for a while, collecting rain water and dirt.
I took it inside and cleaned it thoroughly but I am still not sure if it is a good idea to use it.
Will the rain / dirt / etc. have any lasting effect that may not be visible and ruin any dishes (e.g. having absorbed a foul taste) or am I fine after cleaning the Tagine?


texts: How to prevent beef muscle meat losing water during storage in the refridgerator?

texts:
I am storing raw beef muscle meat (for example tenderloin), in the refrigerator (just above freezing 0°C / 32°F), just for several days. I put the raw meat in a canning mason glass jar and screw the metal lid tightly so its leak-proof. Then submerge the jars in a bath of water and ice in a chest freezer set to not freeze, but just keep around 0°C.
By confirming there is both water and ice in the ice bath, I can be sure the beef is around 0°C all the time, the lowest temperature I can get before ice crystals start forming which would cause meat cells to rupture and lose water.
Yet, after I take the meat out of the jar, there is a considerable amount of liquid - red-coloured water with myoglobin, in the jar (about 50 mL in a 1 L jar which was packed with about 1 kg of beef tenderloin). So I am losing about 5% of meat mass to liquid during a few days of storage. Note that no liquid was dripping from the meat when it was being put in the jar, and the jar was empty and dry.
How can I minimize this loss of liquid?


texts: I have already cooked a common sole once before, and have skinned only the upper side (the dark side). The result was quite tasty. However, some people say that there's no need to skin it. For what recipes would you pan-dress a sole by skinning it, and for what recipes would you leave the skin on, and why?


texts: I often struggle with sequencing specific cooking activities in the kitchen, and either panic, screw something up, or more often than not the dish takes a lot longer to cook. I've tried prepping more, but I find that takes long and my cooking is delayed. If I follow a recipe, things usually turn out well, but when I'm free-cooking I tend to run into trouble. I know this problem is relating to something called sequencing. Does anyone have any good basic pointers that I could start with for sequencing so I can be more capable in the kitchen?


texts: What's this salad of gray lumps in white dressing?

texts:
I can identify the green lettuce at the bottom, but not the physical matter under the red maraschino cherry. I happened upon this on Open Rice for a popular Western cuisine restaurant in Central, Hong Kong.

What are the gray lumps?

What white dressing is this?


texts: What should I look for when buying a ramen bowl?

texts: I live in Italy and I love ramen, but I can't seem to identify the characteristics that make for a good Japanese hot noodle serving bowl. What's a good capacity? Is there a well-known substitute that I'm unaware of?


texts: How to make a good pie dough like the industrial one?

texts:
Whenever I follow a pie dough recipe the result is not great. The dough is tearing easily while rolling it, impossible to make it as thin as the on you buy in the supermarket.
And when it's cooked, it's crumbling very easily. The texture in mouth is rougher and "sandy".
The last recipe I used was:

200 g flour
½ cs salt
100 g butter room temperature
0,5 dl water

Mix flour and salt, add butter, mix well.
Add water, knead until smooth looking.
Keep it in the fridge for 15min.
Roll it out.

At this point, moving the dough from the the work surface to the baking sheet was tricky due to how fragile the dough was.
How is industrial dough made to be so different from the homemade flour+butter+salt+water ?


texts: Please help me identify this Jamie Oliver cookbook

texts: My wife wants a Jamie Oliver cookbook for Christmas.  All I know is that "it's the one with the pizza dough recipe."  Does anyone know which one this is?


texts: Which type of charger for soda syphon batter

texts: I'm looking at a recipe for batter using a soda syphon.  Since the term soda syphon, as opposed to cream whipper, is used I'd assumed the cartridges should be CO2 (recipe doesn't say).  But I've found a few online posts saying that it's better to use NO2 cartridges. Any advice here?


texts: How to reduce Phytate in pea protein isolate?

texts:
I have found that pea protein isolate has high phytate content that inhibits mineral absorption. Some articles from a company that sells it quote a low number but other research does not confirm it. I wanted to use pea protein isolate in a shake.
Now what kind of cooking treatment will be required to reduce the phytate content of pea protein before using it in a shake?


texts: How do I make the beef in my beef stroganoff more tender?

texts:
Tonight I prepared some beef stroganoff with a recipe from allrecipes.com as a rough guide.  It came out really well, except that the meat was very tough.

I bought the meat pre-cut as "stew meat," as recommended by the guy at the meat counter at the supermarket, and thus not specifically chuck roast. I bought it last weekend, expecting to prepare it that day, but plans changed, so I didn't prepare it until now.

I covered the meat (~1 lbs, cut up) with some white flour, then browned it until it was maybe 70% brown (a little red still visible), prepared the rest of the sauce, then let the sauce and meat simmer for an hour.

Did I brown the meat too fast?  Did letting it sit in the fridge for a couple days make it more tough?


texts:
First, a confession: I work in software, so I'm probably paying way too much attention to the state of liquid that is "a simmer". That written, I love to cook, and no recipe direction gives me more confusion, sadness, and googling than "bring to a simmer". Accept no substitute. I find this to be the most vague direction in all of culinary science, and it drives what's left of my organized mind insane.

So here's the setting. I'm making vichyssoise, because I'm intrigued by the possibility of making a dish that has no color at all. I've been instructed to "bring to a boil and simmer the soup for 35 minutes."

The internet is filled with unsatisfying and at times contradictory answers. My research yields a few prototypical examples:

"Simmer" means "low or off position," suggesting basically no heat at all.
To "simmer" is to heat to a temperature point just off boiling, generally acknowledged as somewhere around 95 degrees C or something like 195 degrees F.
"Simmer" is something like a "soft boil," a vague state that appears to be between "not bubbling" and "roiling", but which by definition must boil in some way, since you know, it's bubbling.

Each of these examples mean fundamentally different things. As far as I can tell, a "simmer" is a phase transition whereby the suspension in question, whatever the soup, sauce, or solid (apparently you "simmer" bratwurst, you never boil it) may be, cooks in a way that only years of experience or training can identify. Hence, my question:

What does "simmer" mean? Does it differ per recipe or is it universally defined?

EDIT: Did a bad copy/paste job from another window.


texts: What is this Asian dish made with boiled vegetables?

texts: Does anyone know which is the dish where we have a pot/pan of boiling vegetables/meat in the center and people sit around it with their noodles and soup bowls and keep picking things from it and eating?


texts: How to get quesadillas to stick closed without cheese

texts: Recently, I’ve tried making stove-cooked quesadillas without any cheese. I’ve used hummus in place  of alright, though the quesadillas often fall apart when flipped. Hummus doesn’t have the same ‘glue’ like quality that cheese has when it’s heated. So how do I get quesadillas to glue together, while not having cheese?


texts: What's the difference between Santa Cruz Rum and Jamaican Rum?

texts: Reading through a book of cocktail recipes from the late 1800s, I notice some recipes call specifically for Santa Cruz rum and some call for Jamaican rum. Is this a mere place of origin reference, or is there some qualitative difference? For example, would one of them be what we now call spiced rum? Or light rum vs dark rum?


texts: I have ghee in clear glass jar on a shelf in my kitchen, would it keep for longer if I try to store it in a dark place? Does light speed up oxidation?


texts:
Given the recent research on the taste of metals in cutlery (flatware) and their potential food pairings, is there any food unsuitable for stainless steel, or is this the universal make do metal?

Has anyone tried metal/food pairings for specific dishes?

We do use the heirloom silverware for delicate desserts, but that's about it!

Some references:

Institute of Making - Sensoaesthetic Properties of Materials

Fine Dining Lovers - Cutlery food science


texts: How can I tell if a COLD cooked chicken breast is fully cooked?  I poached chicken last night, (single layer of breast in a large pan, covered in water and brought to a boil, then covered the pan and then simmered for about 15 minutes. But then I turned off the burner and let it steam for an hour or so.)  I can't use a thermometer anymore, since it's cold! It is white, not pink, and it tears really nicely - not tough at all.  In fact, it's super tender.


texts: Low-calorie alternative to Lao Gan Ma spicy chili crisp?

texts:
I've become obsessed with Lao Gan Ma brand chili sauces. This "Old Godmother" brand sauce is apparently a phenomenon in China and feels like it's about to break out in the export market similar to the rise of Sriracha.

  With its signature red label featuring an image of its unsmiling founder, each jar of Lao Gan Ma contains a mix of chili flakes and onions soaked in soybean oil and some combo of garlic, fermented cabbage, mushrooms and black beans, depending on the varietal.

Lao Gan Ma is less of a hot sauce, more of a slightly tingly umami flavor. Salty and savory. The large crisp chili flakes also provide a satisfying crunch.

I would put it on everything I eat. The only problem is that the first ingredient is Soybean Oil. A typical serving, in the way I want to eat it, will be hundreds of calories and many grams of fat.

By contrast, the Nutrition Facts of many other chili/hot sauces such Huy Fong Foods Sriracha and Chili Garlic Sauce are 0 calories, 0 fat.

Are there any condiments that give the tingly/salty/fermented/umami flavor of Lau Gan Ma but without the oil?


texts: My freezer is filled with ice - is it safe to to use it as is?

texts:
I have just discovered that my freezer has a significant amount of ice coating.
Is it safe to put meals in there for storage?
If so, what would be the recommended way for defrosting those meals?


texts: How to know when meringue has been over-whipped?

texts:
I have seen many recipes, SO's and videos where the baker/chef/etc put egg white in a machine and whip it on high speed for anything up to and over 10 minutes.

I have been warned about over whipping my egg whites when making meringue...

Though I will start adding sugar from the stiff peak stage, how do I know if I have over whipped the whites?


texts: What can I do with shredded wheat shreds?

texts:
At the bottom of the box of shredded wheat squares, there's quite a bit of 'loose' shredded wheat; it used to be in cereal form and is now just loose.

What interesting recipes or dish modifications can you suggest?

One idea was a sort of crisp/struedel topping, (mix with butter and bake on top of a fruit dessert)


texts:
I've been making sourdough recently and trying to get the knack of using a really wet dough. I've watched a number of YouTube videos, and I do all the stretch and folds and periodic reshapings, and this all seems to work - the dough builds up some tension and becomes much less sticky to the touch on the non-seam side. I do all this in a pyrex tray.

The problem comes when I tip it out onto the bench to do the final shaping. Then, although I flour the bench, it starts to stick to it quite badly, and then when I try to pick it up to put it in the proofing basket it just turns to slime, loses its shape and becomes very sticky again.

I then leave it to proof overnight in the fridge, and while it rises perfectly it sticks to the proofing basket, which causes it to deflate in the oven. This is despite covering the basket with large amounts of flour beforehand. I'm assuming this is partly because I've messed up the tension in the dough by not picking it up properly.

My questions are (1) is there something I might be doing wrong that's causing it to stick to the bench and become very difficult to pick up, and/or (2) is there a special technique for picking up wet dough off the bench? In the videos people seem to just deftly scoop it up into their hands and it doesn't look especially difficult, but I might be missing something.

In case it makes any difference, our bench top is made of metal.


texts: What does an American recipe mean by “1 tablespoon vanilla”?

texts:
I have a recipe for a self-saucing pudding that separates into a sponge top with a custard layer beneath, rather like Lemon Surprise Pudding. It calls for one tablespoon of vanilla.

For an idea of the size of the recipe, it starts:

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar

This is surely not ground vanilla pods or vanilla extract, as so much would be overpowering.

Is there something similar in the English pantry that is similar, or can someone provide an equivalent amount of vanilla extract?


texts: Unopened refrigerated Feta cheese over a year old

texts: I wanted to find out if the feta, discussed in a prior question from 2015, that was almost a year old was eaten without any gastric issues. I too have unopened feta that smells, tastes, and looks fine. I wanted to know if the person who posted ate the feta without being sick?


texts: Storing (freezing) spare falafel: cooked, shaped, or just the mix?

texts:
I'm currently soaking chickpeas to make falafel for the first time - rather more than I need for this evening, so I'll have some spare mix, probably enough that I'll want to freeze at least some, rather than using it later in the week.

I know it's not supposed to hold together very well formed but uncooked, so I assume either cooking and reheating, or storing the unformed mix is the way to go, but which is better? Is there any difference if I'm freezing rather than refrigerating?


texts: We're all familiar with the ring doughnut as an American confection. One thing I've always been curious about is why they have holes in them (or are toroidal in shape). What advantages, if any, does this shape have in the preparation process, and are there any other historical reasons for this shape?


texts: Fingernail can scratch cooking board = too soft?

texts:
I was using a lot of elbow grease to sand down my cheap cutting board to remove the deep grooves caused by my knife. Then I questioned myself if it's even worth the effort and just get a new better quality cutting board. I recently realized can scratch my cutting board with just my fingernail. Is that sign that it's too soft?

American Test Kitchen recommends the Proteak cutting board because it's not too hard or soft. I will get this board if it's truly worth the money.


texts: I have a recipe that calls for 2 cloves of garlic, but all I have is minced garlic. How much minced garlic do I use per clove?


texts: Can I substitute whole eggs for egg whites in cake mix?

texts: A box of white cake mix needs three egg whites.  If substituting whole eggs for egg whites, how many whole eggs would I use?


texts: What to do with dehydrated potatoes tainted black?

texts:
I had many potatoes I wanted to preserve for a long time. Usually the potatoes I keep in my kitchen get rotten after a month or two (and I don't have a cellar to keep them cool), I decided to dehydrate them. So I grinded them in a food-processor and put in a food-dehydrator in 65 Celsius. After several hours they became dry but also got colored black - a strong black color on the (previously) white potatoes and a weaker color on the red potatoes.

Is there anything useful I can cook with these potatoes that turned black?


texts: What is the difference between grills when frying a burger?

texts:
I'm new to cooking and I saw that there is several ways to fry/cook a burger. Saw it with a stone grill, pan, iron griddle; Would like to hear other types also.

But what is the difference in the flavor? What is the influence in the preparation, all I can see is the time that it takes to get it done. Could I get a more juicy or rare burger choosing one over another?


texts: More efficient way to cook fresh caught fish while camping

texts:
I am camping over the weekend in Idaho. Plan on catching primarily trout. Will keep the fish fresh and alive until dinner time. A camp fire will be maintained through out the day to ensure hot embers to cook on.

Ingredients and utensils I will have:
• box of kosher salt
• an abundant amount of tin foil
• tongs
• a half sheet pan
• clean towels
• lemons
• fresh herbs from garden; thyme and sage.
• butter
• garlic

I plan on cooking the fish wrapped in foil after cleaned, salted and stuffed with condiments stated above.

What else should I bring?
Other techniques on camp fire cooking?
Will be out there for two days, so a salt cure?

My time spent is fishing and cooking so plenty of time to play around and get technically with my preparation.


texts: How to make stronger colors in three part pannacotta?

texts:
This weekend I tried to make a three part pannacotta. It was one layer of rasberry pannacotta, one layer of vanilla and one layer of mango/lime.

The taste was a positive surprise but I was not very happy with the colors. The yellow color of mango/lime was almost white and the rasberry layer was not very intense in the color.

I'm looking for more natural colors. Anyone got any ideas?

If there is some kind of fruit with very compact color or something would be awesome.


texts: 40lb.round of opened grana padano cheese

texts: I bought a 80lb. round of Grano Padano cheese and had it opened horizontally to use 1/2 of it for wedding. We "chunked" out a good portion of the center so the guests could nibble on it while tasting wine. The other 1/2 we would like to save for another wedding that is 3 months away. We want to keep it uncut and do the same thing for the  Pre-dinner wine tasting. My question is: What is the best way to preserve it? I might be able to cryovac the whole piece and freeze it, but I understand it might lose some flavor and become crumbly. I can also refrigerate it. Would wrapping it in wax paper, then heavy duty aluminum foil, be the best way? I would be grateful for any answers!


texts: Every time I have garlic powder around, it always ends up forming into a hard sticky lump. Is there any way to reconstitute this into a usable form? Placing it in warm water seems to take forever and it never really dissolves.


texts: I have a recipe for Dutch apple raisin cake that calls for a half teaspoon of allspice, which I don't have.  Would ground cloves or nutmeg or a combo of both work? I know that allspice is a spice unto itself.


texts: How to make more than one good cup of coffee with a moka pot?

texts:
I have a moka pot

I'm really happy with the coffee from this.  However, after I've poured the first cup out, if I leave the heat on (however low), the coffee gets a metallic taste to it.  If I turn the heat off then it goes cold.

So, my questions are: is this kind of coffee maker only good for the first cup?  If not, how can I avoid either outcome?  Also, can anyone tell me why it gets this metallic taste to it?


texts: How do I effectively rub spices into fish?

texts:
I did a fish rub for the first time last night. I mixed the spices and then put the thawed tilapia fillets right into the bowl. I noticed two problems:

The spices tended to clump up and became difficult to work with.
After cooking I noticed that there were some VERY concentrated pockets of flavor; not at all uniform. Sometimes these were unpleasantly strong.

Any advice for next time?


texts: How to make rice crispy treats with no marshmallows, eggs or gelaten

texts:
I'm trying to make rice crispy treats but I have no marshmallows, gelatin or eggs
What can I do


texts:
I've got about 200ml of Double Cream (48% butterfat apparently) that I don't think i'll use before it goes off.

What simple (~5 minute) things can you make with cream so that it can be frozen?

At the moment I'm thinking along the lines of chocolate or toffee sauces.


texts: Will agitated already set custard re-set again?

texts: Assume that I will put cream/yolk mixture in to a water bath (in a container or a bag) let it there on 80C for an hour. Cool it. This will set. If I agitate this liquid to make it pourable. Will it undisturbed set again? And what will be the level of "firmness" to original first setting. Colloid gels when agitated behave like liquids, left undisturbed do set. Im just avoiding experiment at first, if there are experiences already. Its the basis for use to make creme brule from a big batch custard already set and not being helped with anything added, nor the need of oven setting.


texts:
To make beef stew, I start by simmering a chopped onion, add cut up top round beef, add water, and bring to a boil.
In about 15 minutes, millions of bits of horrible looking gunk appear in the water.  Picture below.  What am I doing wrong?


texts:
I want to cook about 300 g of parboiled frozen octopus.  I am sorry to say that the parboiled octopus is white, not translucent but good quality, freshly produced.

The octopus therefore needs to be boiled to soften.

If I have a microwave, can I put the 300 g octopus in a glass dish and cook it for two to three hours in a microwave to soften?

Any recipes and formulas to convert the microwave output to percentage setting and time will be appreciated.


texts: Can one use butter to replace cream or milk in drinks?

texts:
While many liquids exist that serve as an alternate to milk for the lactose intolerant, I'm wondering to what extent can butter melted and mixed with water serve as a milk substitute, even if an imperfect one.  Specifically I'm considering drinks, such as coffee, hot chocolate.  Drinks that often don't require cream of milk but which personal preferences often include adding some or replacing water with it.
If I'm out of almond milk or non-lactose creams for my coffee, would mixing in a little butter make it creamier?
If I'm making hot chocolate and want it creamier than when made with just water, would a little butter help?
I've read questions on here that there is limited success mixing buttermilk and butter to get cream but it doesn't work for all uses, but that seemed to be focused on baking and whipping cream and not drinks.


texts: Why do I need to put sablé dough in the fridge?

texts:
I made a sablé base for a cake last night. It was the first time I made this, so I used a basic recipe containing butter, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and egg yolks. After everything is mixed the recipe says to put the dough in the fridge for two hours so it can rest.

I wondered why this is necessary? There is no yeast in the dough that would let it rise.

My only idea would be too cool down the butter so it can be rolled out more easily, but then I think two hours would be pretty long for the amount of dough I got out of the recipe.


texts: I used my moms sugar cookie recipe that our family and I have used for years. For some reason the dough was real dry and crumbly. I took it out and formed it and it was real hard. It calls for at least 3 hours refrigeration. Well now it is even harder. It usually is on the stickier side. Is there a way to save it?


texts:
Am wondering how to make palatable dinner with canned (European) corned beef (aka bully beef, not the same as American corned beef).

This is for camping/hiking, so preferably not involving too many exotic ingredients and simultaneous operations. Assume a stove, a frying pan, a couple of pots.

Have seen suggestions for mixing it with left-over fried potatoes, but that assumes you have left-over fried potatoes.

Am looking for general suggestions, not detailed recipes.


texts: What are the chunks of connective tissue on soup bones? (And can I use them?)

texts:
I just finished making a beef broth stew with a big ol' soup bone. I left the random scraps of muscle and stuff attached to the bone while it cooked, and now I've fished out the non-muscle bits. They were white (or pale) and stretchy, and now that they're stewed they're more grey and gloppy.

So, what are they? I assume they're not fat (they would have melted) so they must be... tendons? Ligaments?

Are they edible? Palatable? Useful in some other cooking project?

Edit: Adding an "after" photo.


texts: How can I make my Chocolate Mousse fluffier?

texts:
I regularly make Chocolate Mousse with an egg yolk, sugar and dark chocolate base folded into whipped egg white or whipped cream (or both). It's tastes pretty good and has a nice mouth-feel. Now I want it to look good. What I have looks something like this:

Instead I want it to hold a form and have a delicate velvety texture like in the image below.

The recipe associated with this picture uses a lot of butter. I've seen other recipes include gelatin.

What are my best bets?


texts: How to "toss to coat" ingredients in a sheet pan?

texts:
I've been trying new recipes lately, and I often see instructions along the lines of:

Put ingredients in sheet pan
Drizzle oil over ingredients
Add seasonings to ingredients
Toss to coat

I understand the purpose of this is to evenly coat the stuff in the pan with oil and seasonings, but I don't understand  how to physically do it. If I try lifting the pan to literally "toss" the contents, they all go flying out. I've tried stirring instead, but the pan is too shallow for that to be effective. I've started putting everything in a bowl or bag first and mixing it there, but that's clearly not what was intended.

I tried doing a Google search, but it mostly told me that "toss" means "mix" without giving a good technique on how to do this in a sheet pan. What am I missing? How do I quickly and easily "toss to coat" food in a sheet pan?


texts: the sugar content of raw corn on the vs cooked corn on the cob

texts:
Is the sugar content of cooked corn on the cob higher than the sugar content of raw corn on the cob? I had a nutritionist tell me uncooked corn on the cob was like eating a non starchy veggie.
true or not true?


texts:
I've come across a number of recipes (the most recent of which was this) which suggest various combinations of adding hot melted chocolate to a mixture that contains eggs.

The problem that I have here is that if I let the chocolate mixture go cold, it hardens and can't be mixed, and if I don't, it cooks the eggs.  I've tried stirring the mixture as the chocolate is added, which seems to be the most common suggestion, but it makes no difference.  Can anyone offer any other methods of avoiding scrambled egg cake?


texts: I left fully cooked lasagna out all night

texts: I left fully cooked lasagna out on the counter all night. My house is 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius). Is it safe to reheat and eat?


texts: Suggestions for convenient and safe methods of transporting a few meals without a vehicle?

texts:
I'd like to prepare a few meals for a cousin who recently gave birth. She lives about an hour and a half away, and I will be walking and taking public transportation to get there.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips for convenient ways to tranport the food? I am looking for sturdy, easy to carry bags that will keep the food from sliding around and will keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.