texts:
I am interested in making America's Test Kitchen's French Apple Cake. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of Calvados. Oh for heaven's sake, that's the worst case of 1/4 cup of squab stock syndrome I've seen lately. I've called around to see if I could find applejack or generic apple brandy for a reasonable price, but no, even those products are out of my price range for something I don't think I'd particularly enjoy finishing off. I can't find extract either. It does seem though that the recipe begs for a bit of extra flavor. How about reducing some hard or soft cider? Any other great ideas to boost the apple flavor?

Other ingredients of the cake are:

1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup (5 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup (7 ounces) plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg plus 2 large yolks
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar


texts: How long can I keep a dough made with powdered skim milk outside the refrigerator at room temp. before it goes bad because of bacteria?

texts: I want to keep my dough where one of it's ingredients is powdered skim milk, as long as I could out side fridge before the milk goes off. How many hours are possible?  Also if the dough is put in fridge will that stop it from rising? Thanks


texts: I have a frying pan that was dropped and is now bent making it where the lid doesn't sit correctly on it.  Is there a way to fix this?


texts: Vitamin B-12 deficiency (used to be called "pernicious anemia") is a risk of being a vegan. Are there any plant-based sources of Vitamin B-12? If not, why? Can one "grow" Vitamin B-12?


texts: What is the fastest way to cook a Meat Salad?

texts:
Meat salad is made with large sized sausages, chopped into thin pieces like carrots or cucumber; then steamed and fried a bit, then served together with regular salad stuffs.

Looking to specific alternatives, what is the fastest way to cook a Meat Salad (Beef/Buff) using a Microwave Oven? I have grill, convection and microwave modes in my Microwave Oven.


texts: Left Grill Knobs ON and LP Tank Valve OFF-Why did it mess up the tank where valve screws in?

texts:
Scenario:  I left the KNOBS on my gas grill in the ON position.  I turned OFF the VALVE on top of the propane tank.

Now when I turn propane tank to ON via the valve on top of it, it spews hissing gas out through the area where the valve screws into the top of the LP tank. It is coming out around the actual threads of that screw in valve.

Someone please explain what might have happened.  Thanks.

(I am going to swap out the tank at the store where I got it, hopefully for free cause it was darn near full, but I am just very curious about what happened.)


texts: What is your training regimen for developing your palate?

texts:
Hope this question isn't too broad, but one area I have struggled with is developing the ability to identify and isolate flavors in dishes.

How do you train your palate to recognize those flavors? More specifically, do you have a training regimen you'd recommend going through to learn differentiate between such flavors?

Thank you!


texts: Why do recipes call for the vanilla to be added last?

texts:
In this case it is a banana cream pie, but also in candies. The simple argument I've heard is that the alcohol in it will boil off, but in my case my imitation vanilla doesn't even contain alcohol. (Uses propylene glycol, not really an alcohol, right?)

But either way, why would we care about the alcohol boiling off. It's the vanilla flavor we want right? Does cooking it affect the flavor? (Cakes and such seems to counter that thought) are these recipes just misguided?


texts: Air fried sweet potatoes have black dots on them

texts:
I attempted to air fry some sweet potatoes and over cooked them a bit. I noticed that they had black dots all over them which I havent seen before. Is this normal or was there something wrong with the potatoes to begin with?

Sweet potatoes picture on imgur

a better image

I bought the store, pre-cut package from the veggie section.

It is on all of them (about 40 pieces) and I havent eaten any yet in case it was some type of mold or other craziness that got air fried


texts: How to make a firm loaf from pancake batter mix?

texts:
I have two questions. One specific. One general.

First:
I am a beginner at cooking. But, I have learned a few things. I try to experiment without going crazy. I have found that altering a recipe can be a good thing at times. Here is one thing that I have tried recently that I'd like a little bit of help with:

I have some boxed pancake batter mix. It is pretty good. (Sometimes you have to get out of the house quickly and early in the morning. Sometimes convenience is more important that making something from scratch. That is one of the trade-offs with cooking, right?)
I made a loaf with the box mix. It came out soft, like pancakes. No surprise. That result is fine. It tastes good when I pop a slice in the toaster oven in the morning. And, the toasted crust that forms is kind of nice.

Like I mentioned before: I am a bit new to cooking. I don't know all the nuances. What can I add to the batter mix to firm it up? I think it is eggs. But, I'm not sure.

Edit/Added: The loaf mixes and "from scratch" muffin batter loafs I have made in the past were denser. This loaf from the pancake mix was more cake-like. I want it a bit denser like the muffin batter loaves.

Secondly:
Where can I learn about things like this? I have what I think is a big good basic cookbook. It has instructions about all the different cookware and utensils. It has listings of cooking terms and what to expect with different herbs and spices. It also has a section at the end of each chapter about how to cook things like different cuts of meat and how to choose the right baking pan. But, I can't find out how to firm up batter.


texts: How do you prevent salmon from falling apart when frying?

texts:
I have tried frying salmon filet and besides the fact it was very raw on the inside it fell apart when I tried to flip it over. Why?

*Skin was on.


texts: How to collect slime pass through rice cooker cover when cover on?

texts:
I have often the following situation when boiling rice and meat in rice cooker.
However, I do not like it because the meat cannot then reach the high temperature.
I know that I could boil rice and meat (chicken) separately to minimise the problem.

Fig. 1 Wood stick between cover and the rice cooker

I know that you can prevent the slime formation by washing the rice first but I cannot do it easily because I have only this machine to warm food up; also, I need to filter my water to purify it.

Is there any measure to collect the slime passing through the cover of rice cooker?


texts: Mixing cooking chocolate with normal chocolate

texts: I have some cooking chocolate and I have some chocolate seashells. I've had the chocolate seashells for some time now and I want to use them because I don't want them to go to waste. So, I was thinking of mixing some of the chocolate seashells with the cooking chocolate to make chocolate cups (melt the chocolate together and use it to make chocolate cups) and then filling them with panna cotta. The question is if mixing the 2 types of chocolate a bad idea or if mixing just a small amount of chocolate seashells with the cooking chocolate work?


texts: What ingredients can be used to make fried rice slightly sweet?

texts: I regularly buy fried rice from my local takeaway and I would like to recreate something similar. It is slightly redish in color (that's most likely chilli, but might not be, as it's not too hot) and tastes sweet and sour. I'm wondering what kind of ingredients they might be using to achieve this type of flavor, as the rice I make at home usually tasted pretty one dimensionally salty from the soy sauce. Could they be using something like tamarind juice, that's often used in Pad Thai recipes? What else can give fried rice a similar flavor profile?


texts: Can I add frozen vegetables to my thawed chicken meat in a slow cooker?

texts:
I accidentally added frozen instead of thawed vegetables to my Chicken Alfredo meal I'm cooking in an Instant Pot (slow cooker mode). It's currently cooking right now, but I'm not sure if I should throw it out.

I didn't add any boiling hot water. I just added some room temperature alfredo sauce, refrigerated heavy whipping cream, thawed chicken, and frozen chopped veggies.

Is this safe to eat?

EDIT:
I have not made this recipe before. Usually 7 hours works with plain chicken + room temperature vegetables, and sauce but this is the first time I'm using frozen vegetables. I left it on overnight so I think it's finished now but haven't tried it yet.


texts:
I've found when making spicy sauces they usually taste better when they've had time to rest in the fridge for a few hours, for example curry or chicken tikka masala. To obtain full flavor I've debated on making the sauce in a batch and canning it in a ball jar using balls recommended canning process but because these two sauces have cream I was wondering if this is safe?

All sauces would be consumed or tossed if not consumed in six months. Also, not wanting to add any preservatives. The sauces do have acid which is more than the dairy but I'm unsure. Can a dairy based sauce that contains dairy be canned?

All sauces would be cooked. If this isnt a good idea the other alternative is to bring to desired vacuum sealing temp, bag, vacuum seal and freeze but prefer to can if I could.


texts: What qualities should I be looking for when making the best French Toast?

texts: Should it be a thick slice of bread? Should it be made with challah bread? Should it be slightly crispy and brown on the outside but mushy on the inside?


texts:
I've tried two somewhat improvised recipes for mustard, and so far they've both seemed pretty lacking. I did small batches to prevent waste.

#1 was:

1 tbsp water
1 tsp white wine
1 tbsp cracked brown mustard seed
1 tbsp mustard powder
(wait 10 minutes for heat reaction)
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp grated horseradish
salt

#2 was:

2 tsp water
2 tsp white wine
1 tbsp cracked brown mustard seed
4 tsp mustard powder
(wait 5 minutes for heat reaction)
1 tsp cider vinegar
1.5 tsp grated horseradish
salt

Both times, after about 6-12 hours in the fridge, they tasted like almost nothing. I got a bit of the horseradish heat, but very little of anything else. It was plenty thick, so it's not like a too high liquid / mustard ratio.

I really just wanted to check here, but I have a strong suspicion that 12 hours is not long enough to wait to judge the true flavor. I've heard that it can take a few days for it to be good, but I've never read anything about what's bad about it right away (too hot, bitter, etc). Is that my only problem here or does my recipe need further tweaking?


texts: How do you keep dehydrated broth (powder) from clumping?

texts:
I have some dehydrated store-bought broth mix (chicken and vegetable) that has clumped into a large solid block. I haven't been able to find any information on the Internet about how to fix this.

I suspect it is a matter of hydration (too hydrated or too dehydrated). I could experiment by adding drying agents/water, but I figured I should ask first before making my broth go funky.


texts: Substitute for margarine in graham cracker crust

texts:
I have a recipe for cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, and the crust recipe calls for melted margarine.  I'd like to make the recipe without hydrogenated oils/trans fats.

I have butter and a non-hydrogenated oil shortening (palm oil).  Can I substitute one of these for the margarine in the crust recipe?  If not, is there something else that would be a good substitute for margarine here?


texts: Should Pickle Slices be Above or Below the Hamburger

texts:
When making hamburgers that will be eaten in a bun should the pickle slices be placed above the hamburger like this:

Or should they be placed below the hamburger like here:

Of course, there are ancillary issues concerning lettuce, onion, tomato, fried egg, ketchup, mustard and mayo but let us just consider this for a hamburger with pickles and maybe a little ketchup.

Is there an objective reason to choose one or the other?


texts: How can I substitute for unsweetened chocolate in a frosting?

texts:
I've found a recipe for cupcakes that I want to try. The ingredient list of the frosting is this:

3 ounces (90 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (120 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

However, where I live, unsweetened chocolate isn't available. I do have dark chocolate (cacao percentage is about 40, but I don't know how much sugar is in them).

I believe the frosting would be too sweet (even for a frosting) if I would use my chocolate. A simple solution seems to put in less sugar, but I think I'm going to end up with a different consistency.

So, how can I make the frosting so that it comes close to the original?
I'm willing to experiment (if for instance there would be a way to split the sugar from the chocolate).

Note: I have cacao powder at home, but I rather not use it for the frosting. The cupcakes themselves contain it and the combination of the two types of chocolate seem nice to me.


texts:
I do a lot of cooking with 100% freshly ground whole wheat, and have noticed that it often is not very well conditioned. For example: My whole wheat tortillas are never flexible, even when I under-cook them. Bread dough is always really tough to knead and never really becomes flexible.

I am wondering if anyone knows of good dough conditioners. I am looking for something that is hopefully not too expensive because I use whole wheat really often.

Thanks so much!


texts:
I watched a TV programme that was talking about a particular combination of three spices which are often used together, especially with chicken.

The TV presenter said that they were used together so often that they were referred to as 'the three Cs'.

I know one of them is cumin, but I can't remember the other two.

Does anyone know what they might be?


texts: What kind of meat is used in cheese steak?

texts:
I want to do some cheese steak at home. I was wondering what kind of meat  should I buy.
What part?


texts: Non-alcoholic substitution for dry white wine in bolognese sauce and other tomato sauces?

texts:
What is the purpose of dry white wine in a recipe like bolognese sauce? I need to substitute something non-alcoholic for the wine and while I've found many great lists of possible substitutions, the actual selection depends on the role the wine plays.

Is it there for acidity? Is there an alcohol soluble flavor I will miss if I don't use real wine? What purpose does it play and what would you substitute it with?

I'm making my favorite lasagna bolognese recipe for company later this week and some of the folk coming are in recovery. Out of respect for my guests' wishes I want to use something else, not just cook the alcohol off before adding the wine. It's too late to switch to something other than lasagna... I'm fixated. Lasagna and salad, followed by apple pie and pear, ginger, cranberry pie.

How do I make this work? Thank you for any and all input.


texts: I like to use papaya powder in my kitchen. Green papaya doesn't have a long shelf life, so I'd like a method to dry it in my oven and make my own papaya powder.


texts:
Good evening all. I am going to try something tomorrow night, I wanted to see if anyone had done anything similar to give me some hints.

Background:

I enjoy making a buttermilk custard pie.
I enjoy making shoofly (molasses) pie.
I enjoy eating them together- they sort of give a "buttermilk biscuit with molasses" flavor combination which is tough to beat.
However, serving 2 slices of pie at one time is tough. If they are big enough not to fall apart, then they are too big to eat in one setting.

Solution:
Tomorrow night, I am going to make a deep dish buttermilk/shoofly pie, but keep the fillings separate...? The theory is that both pies are cooked in a partially prebaked shell, at the same temperature, for the same amount of time. When I prebake the shell, I am going to

Build an internal circular wall in it, approximately the height of the pie dish (so I have an inner "crust" circle inside the shell).
Figure out some way to arrange the pie weights and bake it off
Cool crust, leaving 2 separate locations for filling.
Pour a half batch of the custard on the inside, a half batch of the molasses on the outside (or vice versa), and cook

I imagine the very tops of the 2 fillings will sort of merge into each other, but if all goes well most of the fillings will stay separate.

This is a wild experiment- thoughts and suggestion (especially if you've tried anything similar) would be appreciated! I'll update this thread tomorrow with pictures.


texts: Is it actually possible to send food to a lab to get the recipe?

texts:
I've seen this trope on TV shows from time to time. Well now, I know someone who actually has some bbq sauce that they want to send to a lab to find out what the recipe was.

Is this actually possible, and if so, how would we find a lab that can do it? Or is it just a silly TV trope.

Googling turned up nothing.


texts: What is the difference between crème anglaise and crème pâtissière?

texts:
I am amateur and novice baker. I cannot differentiate the two recipes. Are they only different in proportion?

I know that the two are egg-based, mixed with sugar and starch and tempered with milk (or occasionally fresh cream) previously boiled with vanilla bean and then heated until it thickens. So what is the difference between the two?


texts: Is "vanilla extract" the same as "pure vanilla extract"?

texts: My cookie recipe says to use 1 tsp of vanilla extract. I have "pure* vanilla extract. Do I still use 1 tsp of it or should I use less?


texts: I'm trying to become more proficient in my understanding of pork cuts.  I've heard of the "chump" (mostly from Brits) and pork sirloin.  They both seem to come from roughly the same place on the pig and I've heard their qualities described similarly.  Are these two different names for the same piece of meat?


texts:
I see it done by TV chefs, or just people who are more experienced at me with cooking; as they're cooking they rarely use a spatula to turn or mix the contents of their frying pan, but rather toss the contents of the pan instead.

Are there any techniques to tossing food in a frying pan well? I'm talking about food in general – be that vegetables, bits of meat, rice (not necessarily something obvious like pancakes).

I guess the main outcomes you want from tossing a frying pan include:

Turning the food and doing so that it is cooked on both sides.
If there is a lot of contents in the pan, moving it about so different parts of it are in contact with the surface of the pan.
Moving different parts of the food from hotter bits to cooler bits within the pan so they are all fairly evenly cooked.

Is there a technique to it, or am I over-analysing the process?


texts: What's the best way to store lettuce in the refrigerator?

texts:
What is the best way to store lettuce in the fridge?

Should I store it in an airtight container, or an open bag?
Should I wash and cut it first?
Should it be stored wet, or patted dry?


texts: Does dirt sink or rise in boiling water?

texts: I need to clean a lot of sunchokes (for winter freezing), and was wondering if the dirt will fall off the tubers if I boil them long enough, before sending them through a potato ricer.


texts: What Sampling Bread to use for Pulled Pork, open faced?

texts:
I'm making a bacon based chili with smoked pulled pork (orange juice marinade by injection, smoked dried pusilla/ancho/guajillo rub) where I reserve all the liquid at the end of the process, roux it up into a gravy and fold it back in.

I am entering this stuff into a bacon recipe comp and am looking for a good bread suggestion. I am considering a monterey sourdough loaf wedge for each of the six judges bowl-plates (i.e. heel up and out for effective scooping).

The texture and fit of the bread is great and it is very available, I
am somewhat concerned about the flavor though. For my palette it is
great, but I am looking for additional suggestions on what style of
bread might have that bite of sourdough but maybe match the other
dominant flavors more effectively.
Also, should I back off of the sour, or push it even further?

Additional dominant flavors will include mustard, honey, brown sugar, jalapeno, tien tsin pepper, chocolate, coffee, malty beer, carrot puree and shreds.


texts: Can I cook ribs by starting them one day and finishing the next?

texts: I am serving ribs at a party, but I can't be at home that afternoon. If I cook them the day before and then finish them off right before party, will them still be tender?


texts: Why is vinegar not applied to rice used for onigiri like rice for sushi?

texts:
So sushi and onigiri (rice balls) are similar to a naive eye to me wherein there's some shaped rice.
Sushi usually gets some vinegar for taste and to help it stick to my understanding.
Yet onigiri doesn't? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onigiri At most the rice gets plainly salted?
I was wondering if there are particular reasons whether for construction, taste etc for the difference in handling. Both can be eaten hand held so my possible theory of sticky vinegar undesired for onigiri doesn't make sense.
Is it a cultural or traditional reason?


texts: What previously manual techniques should I use a stand mixer for?

texts:
I recently added a KitchenAid to my kitchen on Valentine's day, so that's the source of my question.

I know plenty of things can be done by hand or with a stand mixer. But recipes don't always mention when it's an option. So what general manual techniques should I try using the stand mixer for instead? And if I do, are there any adjustments I'll commonly have to make, or can I just throw things in and let it go?

For instance, when making pie crust I used to just dice a stick of cold butter and slice that into 8 oz of flour adding water a drizzle at a time until I got the consistency I wanted, then I would roll that up into a ball. But it can also be done with the stand mixer. I was making pie crust for chicken pot pies, and halfway through I said... hey, that's why I got a KitchenAid. I just tossed the whole unfinished mess into the mixing bowl and let the flat beater do it's job at speed 1. It seemed to work just fine and I rolled out perfect crusts. But the recipe in the instruction book was different from my normal crust (more ingredients).


texts:
The manual for my oven states that only warm water should be used for cleaning.

I've followed this so far but it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep the oven in a respectable condition.

Does anyone have any experience using natural options such as baking soda and vinegar, with ovens that require 'product free' cleaning?


texts: I'm making a recipe for tandoori chicken, and it told me to "drain" 1 cup plain yogurt "for 15 minutes in a fine sieve or cheesecloth." I did as it asked and absolutely nothing happened, yogurt did not move through the cloth. I'm using yoplait, which I know and it's pretty thick—but wondering if anyone knows what it was expecting to happen and what the result for the marinade might be.


texts: Where does the green part of the scallion start and the white part end?

texts:
I've been using Hello Fresh for a while now and many of their recipes include the step: "Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens."  Looking at a typical scallion, I see a clearly green part, a clearly white part, and a relatively substantial greenish-white no man's land in the in the middle.

In the recipes, the greens are used as a garnish or sometimes in salsas, so I feel like the super green, super thin parts are most desirable there.  The whites, on the other hand, are usually used as a cooked ingredient, sometimes, but not always in something lightly colored like rice.  In my gut, the greenish-white part feel like it should be considered a white, up until the part where it loses it's white-ish moisture and softness.  Are there any problems (flavor, cooked texture, etc) I should worry about by using that middle section as whites, or where should I draw the line?


texts: Bread and butter pickles without mustard seed?

texts: I'm making bread and butter pickles and I ran out of mustard seed.  What can I use instead?  Or do I just skip it?


texts: Can I bake 2 small cakes at the same time?

texts:
I have to bake 3 small white cholocate mudcakes and put them together to make the final butt shaped cake, which I will ganache and fondant. I have to bake 1 rectangle cake (for the back) and 2 half hemisphere round cakes (for the cheeks).

I have one rectangle pan 13cmx24cm and one 16cm half hemisphere round pan. I was wondering if I could bake the rectangle and one half round cake at the same time in the middle rack of my fan force oven or will that be a risk and make the cakes dry or undercooked? I usually bake them at 150 degrees.


texts:
So i'm trying to make sushi rice and i know the essential component is the vinegar/sugar/salt mixture (with the optional kombu, which i don't have access to, so i omit entirely). I would like to hear your opinions on the ratios of the vinegar to sugar to salt. I have seen several but have not chosen my favourite yet. Also does anyone know for certain if salt is added to make the overall flavour sort of bitter-sweet, or... ?

On a related note: how important is the fanning of the rice? I mean, come on, to me sitting besides the rice and fanning with a giant palm leaf to fend off the excess moisture from your rice-pharaoh just seems utteryl ridiculous. In cooking there always have been supposedly imporatnt fancy techniques that are considered essential by every blogger, ever, yet in reality have little to no impact on the quality of the dish.


texts: Chef's knife for someone who uses it harshly

texts:
I have a loved one who uses their chef's knife in ways that really taxes the knife: prying stuff open, chopping hard straight up and down, etc. As you might imagine, this person's knives quickly dull and bend in ways that create safety issues, and s/he is often getting small cuts. The person is unlikely to change his/her technique.

Is there some kind of knife that has roughly the size and shape of a chef's knife, but can better tolerate being used in this way? I'm envisioning something with a very wide spine and a shallow blade angle that won't dull or bend as quickly.


texts: What is a good way to cut potatoes into wedges?

texts:
I have tried making potato wedges before but can't seem to find a good way of cutting them up. My pieces always seem to be of assorted sizes - so when they cook, the thinner ones burn and the thicker don't cook through.

Does anyone have a good method of chopping potatoes into wedges?


texts:
I love Long Islands.  In fact, all I make are Long Islands.  Yet every time I make one, I have to independently mix the four liquors I use:  Vodka, Tequila, Gin, and Rum.  (plus I add lemon juice and splenda)

It seems to me it would be easier for me if I could pour all four bottles into one container and just pour my drinks out of that.  (and store this container in the fridge indefinitely until ready for use)  That way I don't have to worry about proportion (since I always mix them equally anyway).   Is there any downside to doing this (aside from the obvious downside that I can no longer pour any other mixture)?


texts: Is asking for a "Chinese menu" in a Chinese restaurant a common way to get more authentic dishes?

texts:
At a Chinese restaurant I went to in Sydney, Australia, I asked for a Chinese menu in addition to the default menu supplied. The "Chinese menu" had dishes' names written in both English and in Chinese, and I found that the dishes listed there were ones I had encountered less often, and seemed more authentic, compared to the default menu supplied.

However, I don't know if this trick only worked for this restaurant, or is a commonly accepted way of politely asking for more authentic dishes rather than the "dumbed down" dishes frequently offered that won't scare off ordinary customers.

The following is what I mean by dumbed down, even though it's talking about the USA, not Australia:

  "Chinese-American cuisine is 'dumbed-down' Chinese food. It’s adapted... to be blander, thicker and sweeter for the American public"

Is asking for a "Chinese menu" a commonly accepted way of asking for more authentic dishes in a Chinese restaurant?


texts: Can soda bread be successfully frozen, either baked or in dough form?

texts: I have to cook for one and soda bread is better for my diet.  Can it be frozen once baked, or in dough form so that I don't feel I have to pig out!?


texts:
One day when I was young, we went to the doctor’s office for a checkup. While we sat in the waiting room, I was struck with curiosity by another family that was waiting. The children were eating some kind of food or snack (which I got the feeling was homemade, not store-bought). It looked just like a grapefruit (same size, shape, and color), except that instead of peeling it or cutting it in half and eating it like a regular citrus fruit, they were just taking bites out of it like an apple, right through the rind (assuming there was a rind of course). I got the distinct impression that it was dry, light, porous, and had a crunchy texture (I think I even recall an actual crunching sound), something like potato chips or cheese-puffs.

Over the years, I have often wondered what the heck they were eating. I have tried searching for it (the current top several Google results are a bust), as well as trying to figure out how it could have been made. Assuming it was indeed a grapefruit, I considered that it may have been deep-fried (yuck‽) or “cheese-puffed” or candied or something, but none really seem plausible.

I’d love to try one, so it would be great if anyone as any leads on what it is or how to make it.


texts:
I'm trying to write up a recipe by weight and include both the "cleaned" weight and the "uncleaned" weight. I can't find a good word for "uncleaned" and I'm hoping someone here knows one. "Raw" means "not cooked". "not cored or skinned" is awkward.
For example:

60 g   celery, trimmed (start with 1 stalk, uncleaned)
70 g   onion, skinned (start with 1/4 onion, uncleaned)
50 g   granny smith apple, skinned and cored (start with 1/2 apple, uncleaned)

Is there such a word?


texts:
I canned some pepper sauce. It had peppers and green tomatoes. After 3 days of being refrigerated , the peppers are floating on top and has blobs of cloudy material stuck to the peppers. The tomatoes are on the bottom.
I am wondering if adding olive oil has caused this and are they safe


texts: How to thaw soup without noodles going mushy

texts: I made a great vegetable soup in which I also put noodles and beans. Fresh, it was perfect. I froze most of it in small containers to thaw as I needed them. The problem is that when I thaw them, the noodles seem to get overcooked (they were "just-right") when the batch was fresh. I thaw the soup in a pot on the stove. I don't cook it exceptionally high, just hot enough to melt and warm the soup. Is there a better way to do it, so that the noodles (and to a lesser extent, the beans) won't get mushy when cooking to thaw?


texts:
Normally, milk itself takes about two weeks to expire, at least from my experience buying it from our local grocery store.

However, after buying a carton of soymilk, I noticed a shocking thing; it takes more than 2 months for it to fully expire (I bought it at the end of May, it expires on "August 23rd, 2013").  So what's the reason behind this? I'd assume that most soymilk and milk don't use preservatives, which would rule that out, but what could possibly allow soymilk to take longer to expire?


texts: Can I use fresh okara without cooking it?

texts: I started to experiment with home-made soy milk, which means that I have a lot of okara and I am looking for various ways of using it. I grind the soy beans before boiling the milk, so that the okara I get comes from the beans that have just soaked in water overnight and boiled for one or two minutes before grinding. Can I use such okara directly in spreads and other recipes without boiling it or steaming it? Can my body use the proteins and other nutrients?


texts: Beurre Blanc and Beurre Monte difference

texts:
I know that beurre blanc is made with shallots, an acid and butter, while beurre monte is made by just whisking butter in a bit if boiling water.

However, I cannot find a source explaining the difference of where you would use the one but not the other. Is one more a finished sauce, while the other an intermediate step for for other dishes?


texts: How to prevent home-made apricot marmalade from going mouldy

texts:
I made a decent amount of apricot marmalade about a month or so ago and canned them in a clean and new containers and the lids appeared to be air-tight. A few days ago I opened one:

I did a Google search and decided to toss them away. How could I prevent it? I also read about it, some people suggested freezing that doesn't sound like the best solution to me. What's your suggestion?

Ratio of apricot to sugar was 2/1 and approximately half of the sugar I used was light brown sugar. I'm not entirely sure but it probably wasn't hot-packing.


texts: What do you call this Chinese Popcorn Cooking mechanism?

texts: In this video they have this really cool popcorn pressure cooking thing,


texts: How to make extremely dry pork more palatable?

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

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

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

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


texts: When a recipe calls for X cooked amount of something is that before or after it has been cooked?

texts: I think I know the answer to this and realize that it is similar to this question about nuts, but I wanted to verify my instinct. When a recipe calls for 1 ½ cups cooked X, is that recipe calling for that ingredient measured before or after cooking?


texts: How long after the expiry date can I use Chipits Skor toffee bits

texts: The expiry date is 10.2015. Are they ok to use or should I throw them out ?


texts: Temperature of Heavy whipping cream in NY cheesecake?

texts:
I don't know if this question has been asked earlier, but tomorrow I am going to attempt making a New York style baked cheesecake for the first time. The recipe I am planning to use uses a combination of heavy whipping cream and sour cream (I will substitute it with plain Greek yogurt), and every post on the internet advises to have all ingredients at room temperature. I was wondering if whipping cream and Greek yogurt also have to be at room temperature?

I am sorry if it is a silly question but I am really intimidated by the thought of making a cheesecake. Thanks for your help. :)


texts: What does "may contain milk" mean on the side of my cocoa butter container? Is it not pure cocoa butter?


texts:
This weekend, my wife and went camping. I tried to impress her with a surprise meal (much more than the usual smokies or hotdogs roasted on a stick). I went for steak, potatoes, mushrooms, salad and a corn on the cob. Everything turned out great --- except for the potatoes.

ISSUE

Potatoes were only cooked after 4 hours in the coals.

TECHNIQUE

Got the fire food and hot (at least 350F, used an infrared thermometer to check). I put the potatoes (Yellow, baking potatoes if it matters) in the hot coals. I have made them like this before, and it typically took 2 hours. And I rotated them periodically (so as to not let the foil burn from prolonged contact). As I mentioned above, I've made potatoes like this before...but never had them take so long to cook.

By the way the rest of the food turned out just fine (actually better than fine, it was the best back country camping meal I had ever made). We ended up using the potatoes for hashbrowns the next morning because we didn't want to wait for them to finish before making/eating the rest of the dishes.

QUESTION

Given the above technique, why did my potatoes not cook like they should.


texts: What can I do with a lot of fresh tarragon?

texts: My tarragon plant has gone nuts and I need ideas for using it.


texts: Preserve peppers before smoking -- freeze or dehydrate?

texts:
I would like to make some chipotle (smoked red jalapeno peppers) at home. Currently I am building a smoker in my garden, where I also I grow a few jalapeno plants.
My problem is that the peppers are turning red already, but the smoker is not finished yet. All the chipotle recipes that I found put fresh red jalapenos in the smoker.
Can I preserve the peppers somehow before I finish the smoker? I believe it should take me about a month to finish. I was thinking about either freezing them or dehydrating them -- which way is better? Or is there some better way?
I found this question that says that it is certainly possible to smoke dried peppers, but the result does not have the smoky aroma as intense as if you make it out of fresh peppers.
I've read that you can substitute the smoker with a grill, but I'm not sure I'll have access to any, so that's not really an option for me.


texts:
More and more I see "natural" or "all natural" labels on the slightly-cheaper alternatives next to "organic" products, and I find it somewhat confusing. I know that (for example) tofu does not occur in nature, so obviously "natural" does not refer to the whole product, but to the ingredients. But many common ingredients do not occur naturally in the processed forms that we use either.

Today I saw an ad declaring the "first all-natural burger in fast food". This seems like a pretty specific claim for something so nebulous, so it led me to wonder: What exactly does "natural" mean in the context of food? Are there specific rules, or can anyone slap a "natural" label on anything?


texts: What do I do with leftover egg whites? How long are they safe for?

texts: I made two Leche Flan the night before last, each calling for 10 egg yolks...so, I was left with about 20 egg whites. I've stored them in the fridge in a tupperware container. How long are they good for? What can I make with them (other than scrambled egg whites and frosting)?


texts:
I have a new cast iron skillet. It came unseasoned, but I seasoned it using the flaxseed oil method that seems the new (recent?) hotness. When I then cook bacon in it some of the bacon is nailed to the surface. I could scrub it out but it will take the seasoning with it (that is, I tried this once, removed the seasoning, then had to re-season the pan. For my second attempt I used electrolysis to completely reset the skillet.)

Should I just leave some of residue, including the brown bits of bacon that are stuck on, add a thin layer of oil and toss it back in the oven

EDIT: My thought on tossing it in the oven again with a new layer is that what bits are on the pan from bacon are just going to carbonize, which I've read is part of the idea of seasoning.


texts:
What kind of shaoxing wine should I be looking to buy?
My supermarket has shaohsing rice cooking wine which has salt added.
After looking online, there seem to be people saying that the added salt is to get around selling it without the need for a liquor license and that it is similar to other cooking wines. I am also worried that the extra salt may ruin the recipes I find online.


texts: What is the name and preparation style of this type of tofu?

texts:
I am looking for the name of and the preparation style of a type of "shredded tofu" found in Vietnamese vegetarian style garden/spring rolls.

This is the style of roll I am talking about.

Shredded tofu vegetarian garden/ spring roll

This tofu has a rich meaty texture and deep umami flavor I enjoy. I have not been able to find it at "traditional" Vietnamese restaurants and have only seen this style at vegetarian / Buddist style restaurants.

Can anyone tell me if this stuff is available for purchase (I have not been able to find it at my local Asian market) and if not what the preparation and recipe is?


texts: Most pans are black (arbitrary example: https://www.hood.de/i/pfanne-20-cm-81718656.htm ). What advantage does a black pan have as opposed to other pans? Why are there fewer gray pans, aluminium pans or white pans? Why?


texts: How can two pies made and baked identically have differing flavor qualities?

texts:
Two pies were baked at the same time, in the same oven, on the same cookie sheet. They seemed to be equally close to the center of the oven. There was a third pie on the rack beneath them. That pie was pretty much in the center of the oven, also on a cookie sheet.
After baking the same amount of time several people who sampled both pies all noted that the tastes were different. How could this be? The filling came from the same mixing bowl. The filling was ladled in, not poured, and when filling the two crusts I ladled in alternately so I do not think there was a difference in the composition of the filling going into the pies before baking.

The filling was a melange and it was meant for the flavors to blend but still be recognizable individually or notable as undertones. Everyone had the same comments; one pie had flavors which seemed "crisper", more "distinct", and more "alive". The flavor combination in the other pie seemed more "muddy" and "muddled".
The only difference I am aware of is the pie crusts. Each crust was a crumb crust made from Sweetzel's Spice Wafers crushed with a rolling pin (If you're not from Philly the closest thing to compare to is a ginger snap)  and combined with melted margarine, orange and pineapple juice, and vanilla and baked at 325 for 10 minutes.

For Pie A (the "crisper", more "alive" flavor) the crust slumped on the sides and puffed a bit while baking. So when I made the crust for Pie B I added more crumbs to the mixture and after pressing the mixture into place in the pie tin I placed another pie tin filled with water inside it to try to keep the crust from slumping/puffing while it baked. I left that inner pie tin in place after baking and during cooling while I prepared the filling.
The filling is largely from the pumpkin pie recipe on the canned pumpkin label (Libby's I think). The changes are no sugar is added but rather orange-pineapple juice is substituted at 1/2 the volume. Also added are mashed bananas, mashed canned sweet potatoes, raisins, and minute tapioca.

When it came time to ladle the filling mixture in the baked crusts I observed that crust B was definitely moister than A, I presume because the inner pie tin prevented it from drying as much during baking and cooling. Crust A obviously had a longer cooling time and didn't extend as far up the sides of the pie tin (though I certainly think B's cooling time was adequate).

Other than the above I can think of no differences in the two pies and I am not at all clear how even those differences could account for differences in the quality of the flavor that were consistently noted by multiple tasters. What is the explanation? This is my first post so please tell me if I've presented this case properly or if more or less is needed.

Because I had more filling left over I ladled the remainder into a store-bought shortbread crust and that could be called Pie C and it baked concurrently on the rack below Pies A and B. Being slightly less full it was removed a few minutes earlier than the other two. Pie C has not been sampled yet but I could provide updates when it is if that will help confirm or refute hypothesis testing.

I appreciate the thoughts and help from the community on this.


texts: Why exactly is thawing via hot water bad?

texts:
I read all over the internet and labels that you shouldn't thaw with hot water? However, tons of people leave meat to get to room temperature, so how is thawing with hot water bad?

For instance, when I buy some Pork Loin and it's kinda frozen, I run it under hot water for 5 minutes, it defrosts, then I start to cook it. I'm unsure of the danger in that? Yes It may "start" to cook running it under hot water, but I'm about to cook it anyways.

Or is this a case where they mean thawing with hot water and letting it sit there for hours?

Edit: I am using a Slow cooker however, I'm going to put it on high. (The only reason I even thawed it is because it was frozen "stiff" and was too long for the crock pot, once I thawed it could bend in).

But it seems like a Crock Pot for instance would keep things at a "below" cooked temperature for a little bit anyways as well....(at least on low) before it started to cook things. So why don't crock pots make us sick?


texts: I left two big pans of roast (about 20 lbs) in the oven at 350 over night - from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. Is this still safe to eat and serve.


texts: What is the difference between a guajillo and a cayenne pepper?

texts: They look the same to me but I can't find literature on how they are different.


texts:
A blooming onion is a deep fried onion which opens up during frying to resemble a flower.

Obviously, I start with a giant onion. How do I cut it?


texts: How to make a mustard sauce for salmon steak?

texts: I'd like to make a sauce for salmon steak, using a whole grain mustard. I would make a roux-based white sauce but I'd like something healthier because the roux has a lot of butter in it. Any ideas of what else I could use to make the sauce?


texts: I just opened a pack of baby bella mushrooms that I bought yesterday. They were firm and in good condition, but the one on the bottom had wispy white threads growing out of the top. I thought it could be mold, but it also seems possible it was the mushroom's own mycelium growing out. None of the others had it. I threw it out along with the ones touching it, but I wonder, could anyone else more knowledgeable in mycology tell me if it was unsafe mold or not?


texts: When making chocolate chip cookies, I forgot to add white sugar while I was creaming the butter and brown sugar. I creamed the butter and brown sugar, had just cracked the egg into the mixture when I realized that I forgot the white sugar. So I added it and mixed it in along with the egg, mixing it a little longer than normal. I proceeded as normal with the recipe. The dough is currently refrigerating overnight. What effect will this mistake have on my finished cookies?


texts: Steel Pan non-stick improvement by polishing

texts:
I recently started to research into my cookwares and decided a stainless-steel pan was a good budget investment to learn to cook better my steaks and other items. I cooked my first steaks over the last few weeks and they were great, they didn't stick and came out delicious.

FYI: usually I cook the steak by seasoning it with some olive oil rubbed in then salting
and peppering it and letting it rest till it is at room temperature. To cook it I bring the
pan to high heat until droplets of water slip on it as if they were mercury, add a tbsp of
oil and place the steak on, reverse it after about 3min with tongs and remove after about
another 3 min. The cuts I use are often thin.

However there is one problem I have not been able to get over; the steak does not stick but its seasoning will and over the cooking period burns. This causes smoke and a real headache to clean while trying not to use a scourer side of a sponge or metal wire as I have been adamantly told it will ruin the pan's surface (this got me thinking... read on)!

So over to my question which may be a little out the box, I am a materials engineer with access to metal work machines, to my knowledge a perfectly flat surface offers less surface area to stick so if I were to buffet the pan until it were nicely polished on the surface (currently I can see all the circular grooves from the fabrication process such as you see on brushed steel) would this help reduce the sticking? Or can I simply improve the way I cook the steak and avoid the seasoning sticking and burning?


texts:
Will the black color from squid ink spaghetti bleed onto other ingredients?

I was recently given a package of squid ink spaghetti. I haven't used it before and I want to try something creative.

I was thinking of separately cooking some regular spaghetti and mixing the white and black together after they are cooked separately. This won't look good if the black bleeds onto the white. It would just turn everything gray.


texts: Device to squeeze last yogurt out of carton

texts: When you have a viscous liquid like yogurt in a tetra pak carton it is difficult to get the last of it out. What is the name of press which can be used to flatten the carton and squeeze out the full contents?


texts: What is the best way to store homemade sauces?

texts: Sometimes I make korma, satay, masala or pasta sauce for meals in advance. What is the best way to store these, once they're made? Ideally the sauce won't go off within a week and I want minimal loss of flavour. I would be grateful if anyone here can tell me the best method of storing them.


texts: Is wheat gluten (wheat protein) an acceptible cooking substitute for soy protein powder or rice protein powder?

texts:
I'm trying a handful of vegan dishes, and have found a broth recipe which requires a small amount of soy or rice protein powder (1Tbsp).  This eventually makes 30 cups of broth, so overall is a very small component.

I have wheat gluten available, and am wondering if it would be an acceptible substitute; or if I would be better off leaving it out altogether, or with another substitute (presuming the protein is used to slightly thicken the broth, would corn starch be a 1:1 substitution)?

Full recipe here


texts: Will vegetables and fresh herbs last longer in the refrigerator in a plastic bag?

texts: Is there a difference between how long fresh herbs and vegetables last if they are in a plastic bag or in the open?  If it does, is there a break-down of which ones it does make a difference for - example: cilantro seems to get mushy very quickly in a bag but last for a week in the open, but scallions last much longer in a plastic bag and deflate almost immediately in the open.


texts: Why do you  slice whole ducks in half when roasting but not for other poultry?

texts:
Last time I made a roast, I used a recipe from BBC good food. Since I have had luck with those recipes, I decided to go for their roast duck recipe.

That recipe involves cutting the whole duck in half and roasting the halves with the skin pointing up. I have never roasted a bird like that before, and I am wondering why someone would do it. Does it have to do with the flavor of the meat? Proportion of fat? I don't think I'd ever do that to a chicken because I'd be afraid the meat would go dry. But obviously the flavor of duck is different, and maybe if I know why people do that, I can use it intelligently in my cooking.


texts: Why is my sassafrass root bark tea always so bitter?

texts:
I've been on a quest for a while now to make my own root beer. I've tried all sorts of recipes using all sorts of ingredients, and I now have this huge collection of spices and roots and leaves... but no root beer to show for it. It always comes out bitter and kind of gross.

I tried to get down to basics. From what I've read, sassafrass is the key ingredient, so I thought I'd make a tea out of just that and see how that goes. (Yes, I know there are claims that sassafrass has a cancer causing agent, and that it's not used anymore, and people use wintergreen or sarsaparilla instead. But, health concerns aside, everything I've read seems to have a consensus that sassafrass is the original flavour for root beer.)

When I open my bag of sassafrass root bark, it has a smell lightly evocative of root beer, but also kind of earthy (I'm bad at describing smells). Most recipes I've seen call for steeping the sassafrass for about 20 to 25 minutes, with a ratio of about one tablespoon of sassafrass for each cup of water.

Starting with that basis, I've tried various combinations of adjusting times and ratios, and also two different brands of sassafrass, but the fundamental problem remains. It's always bitter. Too bitter to cover up with any amount sweetener or other ingredients. Sweetener and other ingredients (cinnamon, vanilla, star anise, allspice...) don't cover bitterness, they just exist alongside it.

When I look on Amazon at reviews by people who have bought the same sassafrass root bark that I did, there are all these statements saying "we made root beer and it was great!" or "brought back childhood memories of home made root beer!" and that sort of thing, accompanied by five stars. But all I have is a brown liquid that is on one level a pale imitation of root beer, and on another level has a bitterness that won't go away.

Where am I going wrong?


texts: Is the advantage of wagyu and other fine beef obliterated when formed into minced burger patty?

texts:
The best thing about wagyu and similar cuts is its fine marbling.  I've recently seen a 'wagyu-beef-slider' on a menu at an upstanding and well respected establishment.  Upon internal reflection of appetizer selection (which I recommend all must do) I came to the startling realization that ground wagyu beef, which is the foundation of this slider, might in fact taste the same as any other pedigree with the same fat concentration. I got french onion soup.

Was I right that with ground beef, there's likely no advantage to using wagyu?


texts: Why doesn't mayonnaise taste like pure oil?

texts:
The mayonnaise I tried making myself today (first try ever) wasn't entirely bad but there was something off-putting to the taste too, as if eating a spoon of pure oil. Now if I had never had store-bought mayo I would think that's normal, considering that by far most of what goes into making mayo is pure oil. But I don't recall experiencing a similar off-putting taste in any store-bought mayonnaise, including the one I have in the fridge at the moment. So why is it that mayo (at least store-bought) doesn't seem to taste like pure oil?

My current hunch towards explaining this (after some Google'ing) is the following. Mayonnaise is an emulsion of a large amount of small drops of oil in a small amount of something watery (vinegar, lemon juice, …). The bigger the drops, the more the mayo still resembles pure oil, and hence tastes and feels like it in your mouth. Conversely, the smaller the drops, the less it resembles pure oil and (for some reason I don't understand) it tastes different or just gives a different mouth feel. Does that make sense? It would mean that next time I try to make mayonnaise I should whisk it more vigorously to get smaller drops of oil? Does that mean mayonnaise is better if you make it with a blender, as it's easier to get smaller drops?

I also considered it might be that I just don't like the taste of the oil I used ("salad oil", the fine print says it's "100% canola"). But I don't think that's it, considering that another store-bought mayo which I like is also made with canola oil (found the ingredient list online, the store-bought mayo I have in the fridge right now is another brand which vaguely says "vegetable oil" in the ingredient list).


texts:
I've made some fudge from a paleo recipe using almond butter, coconut oil, honey and cocoa powder.

Following this recipe, I find the fudge far too rich to eat -- the cocoa requirement was for 6 tablespoons in the recipe, but I feel this is too much. Is there any way I can now correct this after I've formed the fudge and refrigerated it?

I'm loathe to bin it all, but figure I can let it soften again and tweak it somehow.


texts: How to reheat a Croquette without it getting soggy

texts:
Yesterday, I had to prepare some croquettes and transport them. I thought there would be no problem to reheat them in a toaster oven. However, the croquettes turned out soggy. The flavor was alright, but the texture was off.

I thought that would happen in the microwave, not in a toaster.

Any suggestions on how to reheat a fried food item?

Cheers.

Edit: Such a lot of questions, and good ones. I guess the problem really was that the toaster was closed so moist couldn't escape.


texts:
I have a mini-oven with a tray I use to fry my bacon for breakfast.

Quite a bit of fat leaks out from the bacon onto the tray. It sits there, in room temperature for a day or two, then I put more bacon in and fry it again. Eventually I'll collect the fat for other use or even just wash it out, but that's definitely not something I do every day.

How long can I go safely without washing the tray, just letting more fat collect, before I risk it goes bad, and need to get rid of it?

Would switching the oven on every day, whether I use it or not, just to heat the fat, to kill developing germs make this time longer?


texts: How much beef broth can I make with 800g (1.75 pounds) of bone marrow bones?

texts: I got 800 grams of raw bone marrow bones from grocery store. There are 5 bones, cut in about 2 inch lengths. How much beef broth can I make with these bones? Presumably I can't make 15 litres of broth from 800g of bones, but I am also hoping to get more than a litre... What is a reasonable bone to water ratio?


texts: What are the requirements for a dish to be kosher?

texts: I see a lot of restaurants and grocery stores advertising kosher food.  What qualifies a kosher dish?


texts: What would happen with food stored in a sterile environment?

texts: Imagine I get a heat-proof plastic bag or other convenient container, put a chicken in it sealling it completely and bake it. All bacterias/living thing should be dead and the food should rely inside a sterile environment, right? Could I be able to store it on my kitchen shelf and leave it there for a long period of time without spoiling it? I have a feeling it's not possible otherwise we would be using this technic for a while, but why itsn't it?


texts: Preheating Onida convection microwave oven

texts:
I am using Onida's microwave oven. There is no option to preheat on that. Please give me some advice how should I bake things without preheating the oven.
It's a 20 litre grill microwave oven.


texts: Can I eat a sauce that ruined my carbon steel pan seasoning

texts:
I cooked a sauce of dry spices, coconut milk, ginger root and lemon grass in my steel carbon pan. I finnished the sauce of with the juice of one lime fruit.

I thought that the coconut milk would protect the seasoning by neutralizing the acidity of the lime juice, but when I cleaned out the pan, the seasoning in the bottom was destroyed -- down to the steel.

It is a deBuyer pan Mineral B type.

The seasoning is from flaxseed oil, Sheryll Canter style with six layers of oil polymerized on top of each other in a 250 degree Celsius oven etc.

My question is: is it safe to eat the dish with the corrosive sauce, in the sense that it contains the residue from the corroded seasoning?

Cheers
Mats


texts:
Baked potatoes are great as everyone knows but what is fastest way to cook them (obviously preserving the taste).

Normally I do about 10 minutes in the microwave and then in the oven till the top starts to crisp.

But is there a better way?


texts: Tiny bit of mold on maple syrup—can I still bottle it?

texts:
If there's a tiny bit of mold on nearly-finished maple syrup (like, a tiny patch in a pot of 1.5 gal), and it's removed and the syrup is brought back to a boil, is there any particular pathogen that would make it unsafe to bottle? Wikipedia says botulism toxin "is destroyed by heating to more than 85 °C (185 °F) for greater than 5 minutes." But is there any other information I'm missing?

I'm fully expecting a lot of "better safe than sorry" comments. Short answer to that is, "yeah I know."


texts:
I make a point of taking a few minutes to look around for the stuff whenever I go to a new supermarket / farmers market / ete etc and I haven't been able to find a source here. At the same time, I'm not wanting to import anything from the States, because it defeats the purpose of having a cheap supply of a goood salt.

Surely there is a place one can obtain Kosher salt in London, no?


texts: Cut food with fork and sharp knife - metal in food?

texts:
I cut up some sausages with a fork and a fairly sharp knife then wondered if the knife cut the fork and tiny bits of metal got in the food. The fork looks a little scratched/barely gouged but may be partially from regular wear and tear.

Should I never use a fork when cutting up food with a cutting knife? Or is this a non-issue? It's sort of like this question but a bit different I think. Metal dust/shavings in food from knife wear?


texts: What is the optimal height and depth for a hood fan?

texts:
In a perfect ventilation world I would have a 27" deep and high powered hood fan that sits as close as possible to the stove (18"?). Unfortunately, this would be tricky as the hood fan would be so deep and low that I'd have trouble seeing the whole stove and I could hit my head on it.
This leaves me with two options:

A low (18" above the counter) and shallow (e.g., 18" deep) hood fan, or;
A high (e.g., 32"-36" above the counter) and deep (e.g., 27") hood fan.

Which of these two options would be most effective at eliminating unwanted odors and gases? Let's assume in both cases that the hood fan extends beyond the edges of the stove on both sides (e.g., a 46" hood fan over a 36" stove).


texts: Is it possible to get American-style cream cheese in the UK?

texts:
As far as I can tell, the "cream cheese" in UK supermarkets isn't much at all like the foil-wrapped cream cheese blocks I remember from my youth in the U.S. (not even the ones sold under the Philadelphia label). The UK cream cheese is more of a spread, definitely seems much more processed, different texture, and different — though similar — taste.

I have several reasons for wanting it: Baking a cheesecake, a couple of other recipes² that use it, and I frankly just prefer it.

Other than from absurdly-expensive¹ American import boutique shops, is it possible to get U.S.-style cream cheese in the UK? Some other term for it or...?

¹ (along the lines of £24 for 1.3 kg)

² ("recipe" may be a bit over-the-top for one of them: taking the block, dumping salsa over it, and eating it with tortilla chips)


texts: what is the ingredient that makes my takeout lo mein smoky tasting?

texts: Have a great place for Chinese takeout.  Love their Lo Mein.  It has a great smoky taste.  Alas when reheating left overs, the smoky taste is gone.  Would like to replace/add to the Lo Mein, but not sure what the seasoning is.  Can it be toasted sesame or something else.  It really is a great enhancement to the dish.  When asked, the Chinese restaurant said they make their own Lo Mein sauce...no help to me.


texts: My recipe calls for 1 packet active dry yeast. All I have is rapid rise instant yeast. How much instant yeast do I use in substitution?


texts: Is there a guide to traditional culinary knives by cuisine?

texts:
I went to a nearby supermarket that caters to a Spanish South American and Brazilian/Portuguese clientele. In addition to their excellent onsite fishmonger and butcher, the cookware section had a broad array of culinary knives in patterns I had never seen before. I know about the various patterns of French and German knives, and about the wide array of Japanese knives and their various uses, and about the Chinese chef's cleaver, and about the Indian bonti (with and without coconut scrapers) and chakku and gandasa...

Is there a guide to traditional culinary cutlery patterns? I can recognize a number of Thai knives, but I don't have names for them. Google is failing me. Help?

Knife nerd in trouble!


texts: Pressure Cooker vs. Slow Cooker for Moist Meat

texts:
This question: Why does meat in the crockpot always end up dry? discusses challenges and potential solutions to getting moist meat while cooking with a slow cooker.

If I were to switch to a pressure cooker, would that be another method to keep meat moister?  Or, if I'm not following the suggestions in the above post (in particular, using the right kind of meat), would a pressure cooker not really help me much?


texts: File powder isn't sold locally. I know it is made from Sassafras leaves, but I don't recall ever seeing those locally either. What are my options for a something that is more common that I might use as a substitute?


texts: How can I incorporate powdered peanut butter into a boxed banana bread?

texts:
My husband has made this boxed Gluten Free Banana Bread Mix a number of times. It's easy, always comes out moist, and stays fresh for 3 or 4 days.

Ingredients:
1 package Banana Bread Mix from Anna
2 jumbo eggs
⅓ cup oil
3 ripe medium bananas pureed in a food processor or blender
(approximately 1 cup)
⅔ cup chopped nuts (optional) (He leaves these out.)

Directions:
 1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set rack to center.
 2.  Grease 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch. loaf pan.
 3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix all wet ingredients
until creamy.
 4. Add Banana Bread Mix from Anna™ and stir until well
blended. Fold in chopped nuts.
 5. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until
center tests clean with a toothpick or knife. Let cool in pan 1 hour before slicing.

To add some additional flavor, he'd like to incorporate powdered peanut butter.
The powder contains only organic peanuts, organic coconut sugar, and salt. (When making peanut butter, the ratio is one tablespoon water for each two tablespoons of powder. That ratio makes a thin consistency of peanut butter, similar to many brands bought off the shelf.)

Obviously he can't predict the level of peanut flavor, as that would be a matter of trial and error, but he'd like to start by adding 2 tablespoons of powder into the pre-made mix. His concern is that the banana bread will be dry. To avoid that, is there a way to adjust the other ingredients?

Here are some pictures of the peanut powder:

It's a light, loose consistency which looks like this:


texts:
I recently made a large batch of mixed vegetable pickles (cucumber, onion, carrot, peppers, cauliflower, garlic) with a brine of 1 cup white vinegar to 3 cups water and 1/4 cup salt. I used a clean, not sterile method, and didn't process the jars. Ten days later some of the jars are cloudy, and some of the lids are fizzing.

I've pickled a lot in the past, sometimes using a water bath to process and sometimes not. This time I skipped the step thinking the acidity would be enough to prevent nasty things like botulism.

I'm belatedly researching and learning the difference between fermented pickles and vinegar pickles. I had simply assumed the process was similar and adding vinegar would keep it safer by increasing the acidity.

My question now is, will the high acidity and high salt (works out to 1 tablespoon per cup of brine) prevent botulism from growing and keep them safe to eat (as long as they don't smell bad)?

Reading about fermented pickles, I see that cloudiness is a good sign. Can the cloudiness be lacto-fermentation, or would the vinegar disrupt that process?

Another thing that might explain the cloudiness is the iodized salt (I didn't have access to pickling salt).

I want to experiment with fermentation and would definitely do things differently next time, but for now, I'm just wondering if I can salvage anything, and what would be a clear indication that they're unsafe and I should throw out the lot.


texts: Does incorporating whipping cream in a chocolate syrup extend its shelf life?

texts:
We bought a box/carton of whipping cream a few months ago and it sat on the freezer for some time and we used it earlier to create a chocolate sauce/syrup for a cake. However, we didn't need everything so there was some left in the carton. We looked at the carton and it says that the whipping cream would expire in 2 days (the 20th of March).

What would happen if we decided to use it all up for chocolate syrup? Would our chocolate syrup's shelf life extend beyond the 20th? Or it wouldn't, since one of the components would expire already?


texts: Can you use CO2 cartridges in a N2O dispenser?

texts:
UNlike this post (Are N2O and CO2 chargers interchangeable for culinary purposes?) I want to know whether you can use the same dispenser for both carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
I see that the heads look aesthetically similar but is there any technical difference between downward- and upward-facing spouts?
i.e. what would happen if I put water in a cream dispenser and used a CO2 cartridge instead of cream and a N2O cartridge?


texts: In what stage should the temperature of meat be taken?

texts: The temperature of meat is different when it is in the pan, when it's just out and starts resting or when it's done resting. When a recipe or safety recommendation calls for a specific temperature, in what "stage" of the meat preparation should it be taken?


texts:
My new range has a 17000 BTU burner (natural gas). It my first gas range. I have the feeling it is not that hot.

I can barely keep pasta water boiling (8 cups of water) with the broiler on high. I expected I'd have to lower the heat in order to avoir overspils.
I was not able to burn hamburgers in a cast iron pan. Not that I wanted to burn them, but I again I expected I'd have to lower the heat. I kept it on high for several minutes without any serious damage to the meat.

Q1: How can I test if the burners are as hot as what they should be?

Q2: Can something be wrong with the connection?

Maybe my expections are too high after everone told me how amazingly hot and fast gas ranges are. The flames are blue so that seems to be ok.


texts: How long can I safely keep a thawing pork shoulder in the fridge?

texts: I purchased a rock-hard, six-pound pork shoulder at the farmers' market on Sunday and have been thawing it in the fridge since then. As of this afternoon, it's still not completely thawed, and I'm starting to wonder if the thawed outer layer of the shoulder might go bad before its inner layer thaws. How long can I continue to safely thaw it?


texts: Can I do Chow Mein without rice wine nor substituting it?

texts: I mistakenly bought "rice wine vinegar" instead of "rice wine". Now I am missing this ingredient from the recipe but I still want to do it. I could replace with red wine but I guess it's not a good substitute. I don't have any of the common substitutes for rice wine (gin, sherry, apple juice...).


texts: Is pouring hot stock into a blender safe?

texts:
I have a "ThermoResist Glass Blender" attached to a mixer. It is supposed to be safe for blending hot liquids. I'm rather new at this and I'm not sure about how is it supposed to be used and how hot can the liquids be.

Can I prepare stock for soup over a stove top, cook vegetables in it, then pour it directly into the blender's goblet and mix?


texts: How can I tweak this (US) Southern themed cocktail?

texts:
It periodically falls to me to produce thematically-sound cocktails for wife's Book Club meetings.  Tomorrow, we are serving the Southern Discomfort (for 'Gone Girl'):

2 oz blood orange juice
1 oz Bourbon (Maker's, this time)
0.5 oz Aperol
0.5 tsp agave syrup (too lazy to make simple)
dash of Scrappy's Aromatic Bitters

It's almost there... still, just a little 'meh' - what suggestions to round this off?


texts:
I'm about to buy some ingreadients for a bread recipe which calls for quick yeast.  I looked up some info and basically it looks like quick yeast is instant yeast, so first off if I could get a varification on that, that would be great.  But assuming they are the same leads me to my actual question.  I'm looking at two yeast products to buy, both look like their from France.  One is almost two and a half time more expensive, but the more expensive one is the exact same product used in the recipe.  So I'm wondering does it make a difference?  Here are the two products:

Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch

Doves Farm Quick Yeast (125g)


texts: Drying fruits with a household dehydrator

texts:
I have a "small" household dehydrator, it is similar to this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_dehydrator#/media/File:Tomato_in_food_dehydrator.jpg

Now, I've tried to dry fruits (mainly bananas, cut into thin slices) with it several times. Usually I let it run for 6 to 8 hours at 70 °C (the machine has  a power of ~ 250 W). This is the drying time indicated in its manual. But the end result is always still somehow soft and not comparable to the dried banana I buy (which I assume is dried in an industrial-sized dehydrator). One difference for example is that my dried slices stick together when put into a container.

Is it possible to try fruits with a household-sized machine much more? Should I just let it run for 12 hours or even a day? What else could I do to favour evaporation? What do industrial dehydrators do differently?


texts: Is there a non-alcoholic substitute for rice wine?

texts: I'd like to cook something that calls for rice wine, but alcohol is prohibited for me. What can I use as a substitute for it?


texts: I'm wondering if there is a way to turn store-bought caramel fudge pieces into a caramel sauce?  Would that be possible?


texts:
We opened our turkeys and put them in a bucket of ice water.
I have not added herbs and salt yet, but there is a week before Thanksgiving.
Will the turkeys be ruined if I add the brine now? Should I add the brine just a day before Thanksgiving?


texts: I refrigerated fresh baked chocolate chip cookies over night. Will they recover?

texts: I refrigerated 6 dozen fresh baked chocolate chip cookies over night, then discovered that baked cookies should not be refrigerated. They are at room temp now, but my question is, will they recover?


texts: What's the difference between confit and fondant potato?

texts:
So they both seem to always require relatively long cooking in some kind of liquid containing fat. The only difference I seem to be able to find is the shaping of the potato and colouring of it by frying of the fondant potato.

Is this correct? Is this the only difference?

I'd also like it if someone can provide a generic definition of both!


texts: How to make XXL Watermelon Jell-O Shots without falling apart?

texts: I was trying to make XXL Watermelon Jell-O Shots but the Jell-O was not firm enough and fell apart. Should I use more Jell-O and less water next time? The recipe requires unflavoured gelatin but I can't find it in the grocery store nearby, hence can I use more Jell-O so its more concentrated and thus more firm?


texts: Why specifically use Passata, rather than tomatoes, in Ragu?

texts:
When making real Ragu, what really is the specific difference between

using tomatoes (so, for say 1kg of meat, a big pile of tomatoes, chopped and cooked-in for many hours as the last step)
using Passata (so, for say 1kg of meat, a few cups of Passata, cooked-in for many hours as the last step)

What really is the specific actual difference in outcome or perhaps in procedure?

Is Passata really just for convenience?  That is to say: if the "inventors" (so to speak) of Ragu simply had lots of fresh San Marzano tomatoes on hand, they would simply use the fresh tomatoes and say "naturally, that's better than Passata".  Or is there actually some difference?


texts: Should I par-boil my pickled potatoes before roasting them?

texts:
I am attempting to make some pickled fries, similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnRvRDUtgY4

However, I don't have a frier (nor do I want to fry on the stove top), so I was thinking of cooking them in the oven like I do usually with potato wedges - par boil for 5 mins, season, then add to roasting tin with hot oil.

This yields nice crunchy wedges.

My question then - my potatoes are pickled, should I par boil them before I put them in the oven? Or will this in some way... de-pickle them?


texts: As the title says, how long can I keep pureed root ginger in the fridge?


texts:
I’m exploring different recipes and tweaking a few things to make a result I’m happy with. I finally found a perfect ratio for a vanilla cake but when I tried to alter it to chocolate I got a very brownie like result. How do I fix this?
Recipe contains: AP flour, CoCoa, BP, salt, milk, oil, butter, sugar and 2 eggs


texts: How do I cook large quantities of Boston pork butt?

texts:
I am cooking approximately 30 lbs of boston butt pork roast.  (one roast is a little over 15 lbs and the other is a little over 16 lbs)  Should I cook the roasts together in one big roaster at about 250 degrees or seperate them?  I am doing pulled pork for a crowd.  How long do you think this might take?

Thanks in advance for your advice!  :)


texts: Preheat or do not preheat an enameled cast-iron dutch oven?

texts:
I am ready to make a pot roast in an enameled cast-iron dutch oven. I know I should brown the meat on the stove before putting it in the oven. I have heard conflicting advice as to whether or not to preheat the dutch oven before putting the oil in it to brown the meat. Which advice is correct?

As a follow-up question, should the meat be at room temperature before putting in the dutch oven to brown?

(General advice about making a pot roast in a dutch oven also welcomed! I have a 2 lb. roast and some potatoes.)


texts:
My husband had a heart attack. Quite a few of his medications have a prohibition on both onions (all types including chives, shallots, leeks, spring onions, powders, etc) and garlic. We both enjoy the flavors but I'm not taking any chances with his health.

Is there anything I can substitute for onions and/or garlic that TASTES like either or both of those? I even make his hummus from scratch and it just doesn't taste right without garlic.


texts:
What causes static in a coffee grinder's receptacle?

The question of how to reduce static has been asked multiple times on cooking SE (see https://cooking.stackexchange.com/search?page=1&tab=Relevance&q=coffee%20static). However, I can't find a legitimate answer as to why ground coffee has static build up. Some discuss moister in the beans, but how is that related to static?


texts: How much salt do potatoes absorb when being boiled?

texts:
My mashed potatoes are always bland. I’ve googled recipes and a lot of them say to put a teaspoon or so of salt in the water to boil them. I’m a bit worried about using so much salt.

What I’d like to know is how much of that salt actually goes into the food, and how much is left in the water?

Thanks.


texts: Is it safe to cook pork chops that thawed on counter overnight?

texts: Is it safe to cook pork that thawed on the counter overnight?


texts: How to choose appropriate drinkware for cocktails?

texts:
How do I choose the appropriate drinkware for cocktails?

Is there really a difference between something served in a highball or shaker glass, and something served in a hurricane or Martini glass?

How does the drinkware selection affect the taste, flavor or other properties of the cocktail?


texts: How many teaspoon of milk is needed to melt 50g of chocolate?

texts: I am melting some chocolate on pan so I read that melting with water cause some lumps, and told that to use milk. So I want to know how much milk I need to use. I am using normal Cadbury Diary Milk chocolate bar approx of 50g.


texts: What to do with seized / split chocolate?

texts:
My kids love making brownies, but every now and then the water gets into the bowl while they are melting the chocolate. The chocolate then seizes or splits, and you have a sodden mess.

Can this chocolate be used for anything?

At the moment, it just goes in the bin.


texts:
From here: http://www.devans.in/mediumcoffee.html

  Medium roast of Plantation "AA" brings out the full compliment of aromas and results in a coffee that has moderate acidity, tangy flavor and good strength.

What does acidity mean in terms of coffee? How does it affect taste?


texts: What kind of peppers are used in Gochugaru (고추가루)?

texts: I'm trying to make kimchi, but I don't have any chili powder (gochugaru  -고추가루). Does anyone know what type of chili pepper(s) this is made from? I'm trying to find it at a normal western grocery store (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Remke...) I figured if I knew what type of peppers it was made from I could find something equivalent.


texts: I maintain to a high protein diet and consume a lot of eggs. No, seriously, a lot of eggs. I want to make the switch to Omega 3 eggs but I'm not really able to find these in bulk through your average grocery story. Whenever I ask for bulk eggs, they always show me the box of 5-dozen eggs from unknown origin - yuck. Is this something that a restaurant supplier would carry? A local farm? How would I go about finding Omega 3 eggs in bulk?


texts: Why does my coconut sauce lack a strong coconut taste?

texts: Why doesn't my coconut sauce have a strong coconut flavor similar to what is served in Thai restaurants? Do they use real coconut or coconut essence or coconut oil? I use a can of coconut.


texts: I had ripe bananas so I peeled them, put them in Rubbermaid cont and in the fridge. Are they still ok to use?

texts: They are darkish in color but not black. Still ok for bread?


texts: Can I use parboiled basmati rice just like ordinary non-converted basmati?

texts:
tl;dr Do the cooking time, behavior, taste, and texture of parboiled rice differ significantly enough from non-converted rice such that a simple substitution will yield undesirable results?

I accidentally purchased a large bag of parboiled basmati rice. I make a variety of dishes with basmati rice, but I've never tried any of them with the parboiled version. Can I just use the parboiled rice in place of the non-parboiled? Or do I need to make various adjustments to cooking times, steps in a recipe, methods, etc? And will the results (taste, texture) be different from non-parboiled even with said adjustments?

For example, here is my basic basmati rice recipe, which I make in a pressure cooker. Will this recipe work with parboiled?

Rinse 1 cup rice until it runs clear
Let drain ~15 minutes in colander
Heat 1 tbsp oil or ghee in pressure cooker
When hot, sauté the rice for a minute or so
Add 1.5 cups of water or vegetable stock
Close pressure cooker lid and wait for full (high) pressure
Manually pressure cook for four minutes.
Let pressure come down naturally
Fluff and serve.

Also, the directions on the bag say to soak the parboiled rice for an hour before cooking. I don't typically have the time for this: the whole point of rice is that it's easy and quick to make. But plenty of recipes using basmati, including ones for just plain basmati by itself (i.e., white rice with no added meats or veggies, as in the preparation above), ask for the rice to be soaked, and I never do; I just wash it and let it drain for about 15 minutes. Is soaking de rigeur for parboiled?

Finally,  I'm worried that cooking times for more elaborate dishes will be thrown off by the parboiled rice, resulting in unevenly-cooked mixtures of rice, veggies, spices, and (on the rare occasions I cook it) meat; and that the resulting dish will be significantly altered in taste and texture as a result of using the parboiled rice instead of white.

Are these concerns valid?


texts: Buckwheat flour. Can it be used for pizza dough, and what other uses/properties does it have? I remember making crepes from buckwheat flour and I'd like to use it more often. I'm fond of pizzas, the child that I am, and was wondering about why do you hear so little about alternative flour being used for pizza dough.


texts: Whipping heavy cream with melted chocolate

texts:
This morning I put 60g dark chocolate (pieces) into a glass jug and heated it in the microwave for bursts of 10 seconds, while stirring, to soften it.

I then added a table spoon of cold, extra thick cream and gave it a couple more bursts/stirs to melt and mix them together.

Obviously, the mixture was fairly warm but as there was not much cream involved I thought it would be ok to mix and whip.

I added ~300ml of cold, extra thick cream, mixed it until smooth and evenly chocolate coloured and then whisked with a hand mixer.

The result was 10-20 seconds of smooth, but not "whipped" chocolate cream and a sudden change to lumpy, mud-like chocolate cream.

I tasted it and found it to be palatable, but not aesthetically pleasing as it was clearly not "whipped". If I wanted an edible scene which included a muddy garden I'd be winning. (I don't.)

Do I need to re-chill the chocolate+cream mix before attempting to whip it?

Did I curdle (and thus should avoid eating) the cream?

EDIT: I finally got it to work by melting chocolate into a small amount of cream with the most minimal microwave heating. This was the refrigerated and when I returned (after work) it had completely solidified, so I heated for 10 seconds and whipped into the rest of the cream. This worked perfectly.


texts: I have a recipe for ravioli filling that calls for a head of spinach. Can anyone translate into ounces or bunches please?


texts: I found some old bread dough that I had left, sealed in tupperware, in my fridge. It has a powerful fermented smell, but doesn't appear to be moldy or otherwise bad. Is there any use for this fermented dough? The dough was water, salt, oil, sugar, and yeast and has been hanging in my fridge for about 2 months.


texts:
I just got some canned chicken and fried it with a little water I.e. pan fried without oil and just adding little bits of water as I go.
The chicken tasted like the metal pan itself if you know what I mean?  Why did this happen and how can it be avoided?


texts: Three day old pancake batter with grey spots

texts: I know from experience and Googling that day-old carrot cake can result in green carrot bits due to oxidation but remains perfectly edible. Has the same thing happened to my pancake batter? Or are these grey spots speckled throughout mold? It doesn't smell nor taste off.


texts: How to interpret the date on these eggs?

texts: My organic eggs have a date of June 24 on them; today is June 28. Can I still cook them?  (I am not used to purchasing organic eggs.)


texts: water temperature affecting bread rolls texture!

texts: I'm doing food tech coursework, and I'm really confused on how temperature of water affects the texture of the bread. If someone can answer scientifically that would be great : ) thank you!


texts: I’m new to slow cooking and wanting to slow cook some chicken breast. I put in potato’s, onion and herbs along with whole chicken breast. Will this just burn onto the crock pot with no liquid in or will steam keep the moisture in the meat?


texts: What's the kind of cake that have liquid frosting that drips when you open the package?

texts:
I've seem videos of such cakes where the frosting is in molten/semi-liquid form sitting on top of the cake, and held up by packaging (usually a piece of hard plastic wrap around the cake). Upon lifting the wrap the frosting flows down and covers the cake, which is beautiful to watch.
I was searching hard on the internet but couldn't find the right keyword. What are these kind of cakes called?


texts: What to do to get tender, edible steak instead of it being rubbery?

texts:
I've seen this, but it does not answer my question.

This is with regard to the Kerala beef fry or even Kerala beef curry; not the western way of cooking steak.

The steak pieces: 1kg bought from a local beef shop where they just take a random piece of meat, chop it into little pieces of around 2 or 3 cm in size and give it to you.
What I did: Kept it in freezer for two days, took it out today and put it in water and heated the water a little. Pulled apart frozen pieces slowly in a span of an hour and allowed it to reach room temperature.
Recipe: Added spices as per this recipe and left for marination for an hour.
Pressure cooker: Put beef in cooker and heated on slow fire for 35min until there were 4 whistles/steam-let-outs that happened in a span of 2 minutes. Allowed pressure to go down and after around 20 min, opened the cooker to find the meat very rubbery. Appeared slightly cooked on the outer layer for 1 or 2 mm, but the meat inside seemed raw and when I try to tear it, it feels tough and rubbery and extends a little like when you start pulling chewing gum apart with both hands.

Beef meat ends up like this every single time I try to cook it in a pressure cooker. I'm sure I didn't overheat it and it certainly wasn't cooked for too long. Or is it wrong to cook it in a pressure cooker and instead boil it in an open top container? I hadn't added vinegar or wine or lemon juice during marination. Could they have made a difference?

ps: I continued heating the beef with its gravy for another 20 min on low flame, but it didn't seem to make the meat any better. So I separated the gravy and roasted it as in this recipe. The taste turned out excellent but the meat was still rubbery. So it would be much appreciated if you could help with info on ensuring that the meat is tender and well cooked when we start cooking it itself.


texts:
I would use boiled or fried potatoes inside other recipes like the Spanish tortilla which has usually a salty taste. Depending on how I cut the potatoes however, sometimes there is too much contrast between how salty mix and the potato chunks.

I wonder if there is a way I could salt the potatoes correctly before adding them to de mixture.

For instance, for the tortilla I mention, the spuds are cooked in olive oil for about 30min. Adding salt to the oil while cooking had little effect. I was thinking about leaving them in salty water for a while, but that would take a long time and pre-boiling it, doesn't seem to fit the recipe.. so..?


texts: What's the difference between cooked and uncooked eggnog?

texts:
I am planning on making eggnog for the first time, and in looking across recipes I am finding both “cooked” and “uncooked” recipes. For example, Alton Brown's eggnog recipe on Food Network has both an uncooked variant (first half) and a cooked variant (second half).

I do not have much experience seeing eggnog made and have not tasted it before. I grew up in a country where eggnog is not a thing (Australia) meaning I have not grown up around people making it, and am living in another where that still seems true (the UK).

What's the difference between cooked and uncooked? What should I know when making a choice between which version to make? Is this just a personal preference thing?

Chef Treble comments on cooked having a richer flavour, at least for one recipe. I have read about people recommending pasteurised eggs for eggnog, and UMN says in their article about making safe eggnog that “using a pasteurized product means that no further cooking is necessary.” Should the uncooked version only be using pasteurised eggs, or something like that?


texts:
I am making tortillas with masa harina corn flour according to this recipe.

Can I make it a few hours in advance and cook the tortillas just before they are to be eaten?

Or should I cook them after making the dough and then reheat them just before they are to be eaten?


texts: What research is there on tea preparation?

texts:
I'm a fan of modernist cooking, and its emphasis on precise measurements and consistency. I'm curious how to apply this to tea preparation - in particular, several things:

It seems to be well established that different types of tea should be prepared at different temperatures - black tea and fruit infusions with boiling water, green tea at 80 degrees centigrade, and so forth. Where/when was this established? How do we know it's optimal for each tea?
Likewise, durations to steep tea seem fairly well established. Is there any research on this? People seem a bit fuzzier on this than on temperatures, with some variation.
There's a lot of variance on the amount of tea leaves per litre of tea, varying between 2 grams per cup (8 grams per litre) and 15 grams per litre! Obviously, this depends on how finely cut the tea is, too. Is there any way I can determine this more objectively than just trying different amounts and tasting?
There seem to be several theories on how best to prepare iced tea. Some suggest using more tea and steeping for longer, some suggest preparing it cold, and so forth. Has anyone determined objectively which are better?

I realize this my come across as rather pedantic, but given the huge variation in preparation suggestions, I'm interested in trying to figure out which work best. Most of the questions above could be answered to some degree, too, with an explanation of what it is - chemically - that makes one batch of tea better or worse, providing a foundation for making these sort of decisions.


texts: How do I determine the amount of water I need to use with my eletric rice cooker

texts: I just realized that I don't know if I should add more or less water next time. What sort of signs would indicate that I should add less water and what signs would indicate that I am using too little water right now?


texts: how to unstick dried pineapple chunks that are stuck together

texts:
I have a jar of dried pineapple chunks which are stuck together.  How do I get them apart?

Thank you for your kind assistance!


texts: How to estimate Scoville level of home-made pepper sauce??

texts:
I am making a sauce that has:-

3 Ghost peppers,
1 Cherry Bomb pepper,
1 Jalapeño pepper,
1 Habanero pepper,
1 Lady Finger pepper.

It also has Tabasco sauce and Cayenne pepper.

My friends want to know what the Scoville level might be.


texts: Making pie or crisp out of thawed fruit that is mostly juice

texts:
Can I make pie or crisp out of thawed berries that the juice has come out?  Should I use more corn starch?
Phil, Thank you for your reply.  I don’t have a recipe.
Should I drain off some of the liquid,
Or leave it all in? I will make a crisp rather than a pie. I usually dredge fresh fruit in a mixture of sugar and flour or sugar and cornstarch. I add spices, then add the crisp. This is the first time I have tried to use frozen fruit that is in a big puddle of juice!  My question is, should I drain off some of the juice, or just add more if a thickening agent?
Thank you.
Edith


texts:
Help! This is my first 2D carved cake and I am very frustrated. Do I need to have the cake stacked and dirty iced or dry stacked to carve?

I know to freeze the cake but I hate to make all that buttercream icing and blue berry filling just to carve it away. It's a Betty Boop. What should I do?


texts: I blend methyl cellulose for cosmetic products (I use the fine powder). Is methyl cellulose edible?  I want to make an edible gel without sugar; just stevia and fruit flavours.


texts:
A tortilla bread recipe calls for 3/4 cup milk, is it okay to use yogurt which is thinned by water?

  Flour 2 cups
   Baking powder 1 and 1/2 tsp
     Salt  1/2 tsp
  Oil 2 tbsp
  Warm milk 3/4 cup

Many other recipes call for water instead, but I believe milk makes the bread softer and affect the texture. That's why I'd use yogurt.


texts: Keeping steaks hot after cooking in a cast-iron pan

texts:
I have been using my cast-iron skillet for some time with good results.

Essentially, I bring out the meat from the fridge with time so it gets at room temperature, then I heat up my pan until it smokes and then I place the meat (with some salt and pepper and a little bit of oil) and cook it so it comes out medium-rare.

My issue is the temperature of the meat. As soon as I let it rest for 5 minutes after cooked, the meat cools down and it's no longer hot. I assume, since it has only been cooked for 3 minutes per side, that explains how fast it gets cold.

Is there any solution for this? How do restaurants do to keep the meat warm when it gets to your table?


texts:
I'm in Australia - and for my birthday I ordered some British tea - Yorkshire Toast and Jam. (Picture below.) Which was really nice, but at about 80c per bag, a little hard to justify.
I gave some to my wife and she said:

"That's just Berry flavoured tea added to normal tea"

That shattered my illusions a little bit, but then I got practical. I started mixing strawberry flavoured teas and English Breakfast tea to get that "toast and jam" taste. For the cost, it was pretty close, and I'll probably order some for my birthday next year.
My wife likes their other product - Yorkshire tea 'Malty Biscuit'.
So I thought to myself "I can engineer this one too!" But then I was dumbfounded. Short of breaking up actual malt biscuits to attempt to mix them with tea (leading to a crumby tea problem), how would you do this?
Now I imagine you can try adding some kind of original malt ingredient to it. But again you end up at the 'crumby tea' problem.
When I look at the ingredients list of both they just say "tea, flavouring".
My question is: What is the 'malty' flavour added to tea to make it taste like biscuits?


texts: I'm brewing hard cider - what can I do with the yeast afterward?

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I currently have a largish bottle of cider fermenting away in my kitchen. I will rack it in the next weeks. I prepared the batch from mashed apples (not juice) and I expect some sediment of yeast and apple leftovers.

Any ideas what I can do with that? Any recipes that make use of this yeast?

I will store part of it for the next cider, but certainly not all. So I'm looking for other uses around the kitchen.


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Getting ready for some New Year’s eve cooking. I want a hearty black eyed peas casserole, which I’ll be throwing into the crockpot tonight with a couple smoked ham hocks (a first try for me). I want the casserole to be fairly meaty, for which I got some smoked ham to throw in dices. I plan to get the meat from the hocks after and mix that in as well.

I intend to cook the dish overnight and keep it warm to serve in the early evening. Would throwing the diced ham into the mix from the beginning ruin that component’s texture, or can it benefit the casserole as a whole? Would I be better off cooking the BEPs with the hocks and adding the diced ham in the morning to sit with the casserole on warm for 10 hours?

Many thanks for the pointers!


texts: how to make "Creme Caramel" coffee flavored?

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I tried it Vietnam 3 years ago.
I prefer the Vietnamese version, there they made it with coffee flavored liquid on top
Thanks!


texts: How to fix the protein content of my minestrone?

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I love minestrone, but am concerned that it doesn't contain enough protein. It usually contains pasta, tomato, zucchini, savoy cabbage, carrots and garlic.

What could I add to enhance the protein content while retaining the taste and feel of the soup?