texts: Why would a blended salad dressing change its color?

texts:
Yesterday evening we had a barbecue and I made a tomato/mozzarella salad. Since I couldn't find my dressing shaker, I used my hand blender (an ESGE M180S, in case it matters).

I got my dressing as usual, dark brown in colour, it was just a bit more smooth than usual, which I expected. A few minutes after pouring it over the salad, the colour went from dark brown to a very very light brown, looking as if I'd used cream in it. The taste stayed the same as usual, but the colour change I thought was weird.

So, why would a blended dressing change its colour while a shaken dressing wouldn't?

Probably the ingredients are important to answer this, so here's what I used:

Olive & sunflower oil (4 tbsp each)
Balsamic vinegar (2 tbsp) , malt vinegar (1 tbsp), apple vinegar (1 tbsp)
Hibiscus syrup (2 tbsp)
Dried basil (1 tsp)
Mustard (1 tsp)
Salt (1 tsp), sugar (1 tsp), freshly ground pepper


texts:
I am trying to buy a measuring scale so that I can stop using cups and start measuring by weight. I’m personally not sure which to buy. Here are two options:

Can some experienced bakers out there tell me which would be more convenient (in terms of time, dirty dishes, durability etc.)? If you prefer neither, is there one that you really do prefer?
Note: I’m currently deciding about the “type” of scale, haven’t decided on models or brands yet.


texts: Is it possible to "ripen" mushrooms after it's picked?

texts:
Quite recently my world was shaken when I learned that the common button mushroom and the much larger portabello mushroom are both the exact same species, Agaricus Bisporus, but at different stages of maturity.

I've tasted both portabello mushroom and button mushroom and can noticeably taste that the portebello have a much fuller and developed flavor compared to the much milder button mushroom.

Because the price of portabello are much higher than the button mushrooms, I was wondering if there was any way to ripen/mature these button mushrooms? I'm not expecting a tiny button mushroom to grow to palm size portabellos but is there any way to mature the button mushrooms so that it has a fuller flavor?

Note that the mushrooms marketed as baby portabello mushrooms (button mushroom with a light brown hue) are the same as the button mushrooms. In fact they are the original button mushrooms. The common white button mushroom is a mutated variety that has been propagated due to its desirable white coloring. So baby portabello mushrooms are not "ripen" white button mushrooms.

EDIT: In reponse to the comments, I would like to clarify that I want to know if there is a way to "ripen" the flavor of the mushroom similar to how fruits can ripen after its already been picked. The color is irrelevant. The only reason I mentioned "baby portabello" is to make it clear that I know it exist and that isn't the answer I am looking for.


texts: Can I make a cheese sauce with edam cheese?

texts: I love the taste if edam cheese and I want to know if I can make a sauce with it? Like the sauce with the roux+milk+cheddar can I replace cheddar with edam?


texts: Why does string cheese taste different when pulled apart than when bitten?

texts:
I enjoy string cheese, and there's definite tactile enjoyment in pulling it apart into thin strands and then eating them. I've found, however, that the taste when I pull it apart is clearly different from the taste when I just bite off a hunk; the thin strands taste saltier than the bulk cheese, which in contrast is somewhat bland.

Why is there a difference in flavor when the basic material is exactly the same?


texts: What were the main ingredients of the Thai cuisine before global trade?

texts:
The traditional Thai cuisine was very different than the current one in a holistic perspective.

At some point in history the Thai nation started trading globally, directly or indirectly with Indians, Iranians, Arabs and also Portuguese who brought several plant species to Thailand which today some of their plant parts use as fundamental ingredients in Modern Thai Cuisine; for example, from the Americas:

Chilles
Pappaya
Corn
Tomato
Green eggplants
Tapioca
Taro
Potato

And from other places:

Japanese teas
Roses (Gulab in Thai, as in Indian and Persian)
Indian spices and legumes (as well as legume flours)
Wheat flour (probably from China or Arabia) uses to make Thai breads
Date palms used in cookies (probably from west China or Muslim states)

My problem

I didn't find a lot of clear information about the main ingredients of non globally influenced cuisine (before the Thais entered global trade).

I assume that this cuisine was overall cuisine was more similar to modern Cambodian and Vietnamese cuisine but it might be hard to prove it.

My question

What were the main ingredients of the Thai cuisine before global trade (before Thailand traded with any country outside south east Asia)?
I thought Pad Thai was one but it feels to me controversial.


texts: I make fresh sausage that I won't smoke. I don't add any cure. How do I dry them without the cure in them?


texts: How can I create steam in a normal oven to promote bread oven spring?

texts:
Oven spring and a crisp crust on bread are largely due to high heat and high humidity.  Commercial bakery ovens have steam injectors.  How can I replicate this high humidity environment in my home oven?  I've tried spritzing and ice cubes and neither really work.  Pouring hot water in a hot pan is better but is still severely lacking.

Is there a way the home baker can replicate with without laying out a lot of money for a commercial oven?


texts: When is it best to do stretch and fold versus mechanical kneading?

texts:
I have recently starting making bread using the stretch and fold technique, getting much better results in terms of crumb than previously using my kitchen aid and mechanical kneading. I'm wondering what doughs/products this technique is NOT well suited to. Of particular interest are things like bagels, boiled fruit dumplings, hamburger buns and doughs rich in eggs and fat in general.

Are there particular types of products that benefit from SaF and some that inherently do not? I already suppose one indicator for SaF suitability would be high hydration and desirability of larger holes in the crumb.


texts: Is there an authoritative source on whether salt affects pasta stickiness?

texts:
The Seasoned Advice answer to Why add salt to the water when cooking pasta? is that it makes the pasta less sticky by inhibiting starch gelation. This seems to be a controversial question, with lots of improperly sourced answers spreading.

Is there an authoritative source, such as published experiments, chemical treatises or work by famous cooks, that gives a final verdict on whether adding salt really does affect the starch gelation, thus making the pasta less sticky?

(I was thinking about posting this on skeptics.SE, but I think this is where the expertise is.)


texts: Does proofing time depend on the quantity of dough?

texts:
One recipe, for example, specifies the dough should be left to rise for 4 hours. If I make halt the amount of dough, will the proofing time change?
I'm not providing the recipe because I will be trying and experimenting with many in the next few days.


texts: Where is a good place to buy food coloring in bulk?

texts: We use a lot of food coloring, not so much for cooking but for activities with my little one. Do you know of a good place to buy food coloring in bulk (either in store or online)? It can be quite pricey at the grocery store.


texts:
I am having trouble getting my gnocchi to behave properly. I nailed the recipe a few years ago but haven't made any in between and now they turn out sticky after cooking.
The dough behaves wonderfully. During cooking the gnocchi come to the surface as usual, I take them out, drop them in some sage butter and that's where they all stick together as one lump.

This is my method:

Bake potatoes
Peel while very warm
Rice
Add 10% flour (I also tried 20%, 25% and 30% - no change, 30% only made the dough fall apart)
Add salt and nutmeg
Knead gently
Roll, cut, shape ridges
Cook in boiling water

There is no egg in my recipe. Back then I did not use any and I have had plenty of amazing gnocchi without egg and in my experience egg tends to make gnocchi rather chewy.

I am aiming for a very light texture with just the right bite on the outside, as though there was an extremely thin skin on the outside.

That's actually almost what I get before cooking the gnocchi. What I am getting after cooking are very soft and sticky gnocchi with good flavour but they just don't have the right texture.

The dough in this recipe is a pleasure to work with. I am using waxy potatoes because the dough from starchy ones just falls apart.
Maybe that is the key to my problem: We had an extremely dry summer in Europe and potatoes do not behave as usual - I keep hearing that from my potato farmer as well as chefs.

Can you explain why this happens?


texts: How do I keep boiled pasta from getting sticky overnight?

texts: When I boil pasta and store it overnight in the refrigerator, it sticks to itself. Is there a way I can avoid this stickiness?


texts: How long is the cooking time for pork roast?

texts: How long should I cook 2 three pound bipork sirloin roasts for? I tried cooking one before for 3 hours at 400° but it came out real tough.


texts: What is the purpose of a spaced cross-hatch of grooves on the inside of a cast iron pan?

texts:
I have been on a tenacious pan hunt, lately, looking for something that won't leach, degrade, or require me to look up the meaning of any 3 or 4 letter acronyms.

Iron seemed like a safe bet, here.

In my search, I found a pan that has a strange cross-hatching to it, like this:

Why would someoen intentionally make their pan harder to clean?

I thought it might be to change the appearance of browned food, but I don't think something so thin would be the only reason for the grooves.

Is this to store seasoning or something?


texts: Is there a name for fried evaporated milk?

texts:
I have heard of a food that is made by heating milk until most of the water is boiled off (or alternatively the top of the milk is skimmed off) and then is fried until lightly browned.

My Turkish friend makes it and uses it as a dipping sauce for bread.

Does anyone know what this food is called?  Clarified milk?  Fried evaporated milk?  Neither of us know the name of it.

Thank you.


texts: My Danish almond cake glaze just melted and never thickened. What went wrong?

texts: A cake recipe I was trying called for an almond glaze topping made up of butter, sugar and, yes, almonds, all heated over medium heat in a saucepan for 3 minutes. It was supposed to thicken, but instead, it just turned to almonds and liquid. It didn't come together at all. Any idea what happened? Why did the butter do that? Did I cook it too high?


texts: 3 tier steamer: Will chillies in the bottom tier make veg in the other levels spicy?

texts:
I was wondering if anybody had tried this or if it's even possible, but I thought I would ask before failing miserably and wasting good ingredients. Is it possible to place strong tasting ingredients, eg chillies, ginger, garlic etc, into the bottom of a 3 tier steamer for the sole purpose of infusing the veg in the other tiers with the flavors as the steam rises through?

If anyone has tried this or knows the answer please let me know! :)


texts: Is it ok to cook beef from frozen in a slow cooker?

texts:
It's my first time cooking with frozen beef. I'm currently making a slow cooker stew which will be on high heat for around 7 hours.

Is it okay to use frozen beef?

I also add in a kettle of bottle water, before adding the rest of my ingredients.


texts: what is the purpose of adding oil to balsamic vinaigrette slowly?

texts:
I've been making a lot of vinaigrette dressing lately. Julia Child and Emeril both say that you need to mix up everything but the olive oil, then add the olive oil in slowly (ideally drop by drop) while whisking.

First, this is a pain because you need 3 hands. Ok you don't really, but it isn't easy to do with 2 hands.

Second, it seems like I still need to shake the dressing a lot before putting it over salad, especially if the dressing has been in the refrigerator.

Finally, the question: what is the upside of all this doing-it-slowly when you add the oil to the mix? As far as I can tell, it makes a tiny tiny bit of difference: there will still be some tiny tiny drops of vinegar suspended in the oil a few days later. Why would Julia and Emeril think this is such a big deal?


texts: I hear so many thoughts on Calphalon hard anodized pots and pans.  Are these safe to use?


texts: Why do frozen vegetables go bad more quickly after thawing than fresh cut ones?

texts:
I left a pack of frozen vegetables (brocolli, carrot, cauliflower, green beans) in the fridge so it thawed. It went sour and slimy after a few days, (maybe 5) -- why?

If I cut the same fresh vegetables and store it in a plastic bag or container, it will be fine in a week or more.

What's the science behind that? Why do bacteria grow more quickly in frozen veggies being thawed than in fresh cut ones?


texts: How to calculate optimal temperature to extract specific compounds from herbal teas?

texts:
When making any kind of tea, I understand that water temperature can make a big difference with flavor. I'm wondering if we can also use precise water temperatures to selectively brew for specific compounds in herbal teas.

Is it possible to calculate an optimal water temperature for extracting a chemical compound in a plant/herb based on other chemical information; like density, melting point, etc? If so, how?


texts: Red v White wine in cooking with a stomach issue

texts: As with many people, my husband has an issue with red wine, it gives him an acid stomach.  So, he drinks white.  However, not wanting to irritate the issue, but wanting to continue to cook with wine on occasion, is there a difference (apart from taste and color) to cooking with red opposed to white wine?


texts:
I just got a 100,000 BTU burner for wok cooking. Today when I used it, I got a very thick layer of carbon on the wok (see picture below). Is that normal? Should I remove it? If so, how?

EDIT - FINAL RESULT:

Ok so I took a combination of the advice here.

I used an old metal baby spoon to scrap as much of the loose carbon off as I could. Then I turned the wok burner up to high high heat and burned the crap out of the carbon. A lot of it actually turned liquid and I poured it out. What didnt' turn into liquid, loosened considerably and I was able to, with a hacking/chopping motion of the metal spoon, get all the thick carbon coating off. I was surprised how resilient the seasoning on the wok was, very little of the actual seasoning scraped off. Here's the wok after the burning/hacking with the spoon I used:

Next I used some very coarse sea salt and with my hand I scraped and scraped until the inside was smooth again. Then I wiped some grape seed oil on the wok where the seasoning and come off, and burned it over high heat with the burner. Below is the final result.


texts:
In my home, we're not very fond of capsaicin, and I put too much crushed red pepper (the dry spice, bloomed) into a vegetable soup[1]. What can I do to remedy the soup? (Obviously, I can cook another pot of soup and combine them, but I'd rather not. Any other remedies?)

[1] The soup was made roughly thus: I bloomed the crushed red pepper in a heavy-handed application of Pam and added onion and garlic to saute a little and then to sweat; then I added vegetables and water and seasonings, heated it, and let it simmer.


texts: How can I create this coconut milk, fruit, and veggie snack at home?

texts:
My baby and I both enjoy Happy Creamies.  I don't enjoy the price, however, and I do enjoy making food for my family.  I'm trying to figure out what the basics of a similar homemade item would be.

The snacks are about U. S. quarter sized around and shaped like large chocolate chips.  I imagine that's easy enough to re-create using a pastry bag or even a plastic bag.  The texture of the snack is similar to a vanilla wafer, only it melts a little easier in the mouth (similar to a Puff, only without the distinct rice puff texture).

The ingredient lists for the three different types of Happy Creamies are as follows

  organic sweet potato, organic apple puree concentrate, organic sweet pea, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic coconut milk, organic guar gum, organic tapioca starch, organic spinach, natural flavor, xanthan gum, malic acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), B. coagulans, pre and probiotics, organic kiwi, organic cinnamon

(apple, spinach, pea, and kiwi))

  organic sweet potato, organic mango, organic carrot juice concentrate, organic guar gum, organic orange juice concentrate, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic tapioca starch, natural flavor, xanthan gum, citric acid, B. coagulans, organic coconut milk, pre and probiotics

(carrot, mango, and orange)

  organic butternut squash, organic apple, organic strawberry, organic coconut milk, organic guar gum, organic carrot juice concentrate, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic raspberry, organic tapioca starch, natural flavor, citric acid, xanthan gum, B. coagulans, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), pre and probiotics

(strawberry, raspberry, and carrot)

It looks like the essential elements are some sort of starchy puree (butternut squash or sweet potato), coconut milk, guar gum, and tapioca starch.  Am I right?  How can I go from this information to a recipe, or at least a start on a recipe?


texts: Spaghetti sauce consistency / coating noodles

texts:
I made my home made spaghetti sauce this weekend, which I've been making for several years.  As always, the flavor turned out great, so I don't want to change my recipe too much.  However, I do have one concern.

Whenever I use store bought sauce, it always coast the noodles completely, or near completely, as well as anything I may add to the dish, meatballs in this case.  The noodles end up with a thick red coating of sauce on them.

When I use my own sauce, it just runs off the noodles.  It leaves enough on them to have a good flavor, but does not have the same visual appeal to me that I get with store bought sauce.

I used to use cans of whole tomatoes, but lately, I've been starting with fresh tomatoes.

Is the quality of sticking to the noodles something artificial and a result of the mass production / preservatives?  Or is it something to be desired in a sauce?

Should I be doing something different?  Would more tomato paste or less water help?  Or is there something else I should be adding?


texts: I heard its a must method for cakes. But is it also a must for cookies? Cakes i understand since it needs to be light and fluffy. But cookies? Like sugar cookies or tuiles?


texts: What determines how hard or soft a cheese will be?

texts: My knowledge of cheese making is extremely lacking, but what determines how hard or soft the final cheese product is when making your own cheese?


texts: I placed my fresh mussels in a too cold frig overnight and they are frozen. Are they still ok to be cooked and eaten?


texts: How much milk do I need to make 100 g Paneer?

texts: How much full cream milk do I need to make 100 g Paneer (Cottage cheese) at home?


texts: Bircher muesli: how to make oats soak liquid

texts:
Recently I've been making bircher muesli for breakfast, but oat flakes never seem to soak much liquid. They remain mostly a separate layer in a milk soup (separate from milk and from each other). And I'm looking to achieve more of a rice pudding consistency I've seen in a few cafes serving their own bircher muesli.

I use 1:1 liquid/oats ration (by volume), which seems to be the recommended one in most online recipes, whole milk, standard rolled oats and leave the mixture covered in the fridge for 12 hours. Is there anything I'm not doing right? (I'll give quick oats a try next, perhaps that will help)


texts: Are there health reasons for not using hot liquids in Ninja blenders, such as leeching of chemicals from the plastics?


texts:
I've heard that piranha is delicious (for some) and I'm curious about it. I live in Surrey, UK. I've checked various supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsburuy's, ...) and found nothing. Even Amazon says "No results for piranha in Grocery". General online searches seem to be about piranha as a dangerous animal, a pet, etc., but not about piranha as food. Also, buying a pet fish to eat seems rather expensive, I expect because live fish is more expensive to keep and transport to a shop.
So, is it possible to buy piranha as food in UK (preferably Surrey), how and where?


texts:
This is something I've planned on trying but haven't wanted to spend the $ for experimentation.

Buying sliced turkey for lunches at the deli is a tad pricey. At my local market I can get frozen turkey breast for a much better price per pound. But, the turkey breasts are 3+ pounds, and my household would use ~ 1# a week.

I figure I can just get a turkey breast, roast, make slices, and freeze a couple of batches for upcoming weeks. So, for the question. Do turkey slices thaw out ok in terms of texture and taste?


texts: Which chili peppers does one use in arrabbiata sauce?

texts: I want to make an infusion in whiskey with these peppers. I can't find which peppers are used. The peppers described are dried, long, and thin.


texts: I never worked with purple beans before this year.  I couldn't decide what to do with the bounty of veggies in my garden.  My family lives minestrone and vegetable beef. Problem solved. First I made 12 gallons of minestrone then 5 of the veggie beef. All spoiled over night. The only thing that I used in both that I never used before was the purple beans. Could they be the culprit?  I'm going crazy trying to figure it out


texts: My soft chocolate cookies are soft but still too crumbly. How should I fix it?

texts:
The taste is great and it is soft, a bit chewy and not dry, but it is still too crumbly. When I push it, it is too easy to break apart. Could you please explain how I should fix this.

Recipe

All purpose flour - 138g.
Melted butter / unsalted - 100g.
Baking powder - 5g.
Milk powder - 20g.
Cacao powder - 40g.
Melted dark chocolate (62%) - 30g (mix it together with the melted butter).
Brown sugar - 125g.
1 Egg.

Method

I use a flour mixer machine to mix the melted chocolate with the melted butter and brown sugar for 3 minutes (I mix them when the melted butter and melted chocolate are still warm).
Add the egg and beat for 2 minutes.
Add the cacao powder and milk powder and beat for 1 minute.
Add the flour.
Beat together for 2-3 minutes.
Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
Bake:

When I bake at 200C for 10 minutes, it is soft and a bit chewy, but easy to break.
When I bake at 200C for 10 minutes and 180C for a further 5 minutes, it becomes less breakable, but not soft.


texts:
I found this herb in an Asian supermarket. The label didn't actually say what it was, and the clerks at the store didn't speak English well enough to ask them.

My first thought was mint, but I would expect mint leaves to be more wrinkly than that.

My second thought was holy basil, which would be a pleasant surprise as that's generally very hard to find. I looked at pictures of holy basil online, and it looks pretty close, although these leaves look a bit more pointy than in those pictures.

Can someone identify the herb in the picture?


texts: Is it possible to make hoop cheese out of acid-precipated milk curds?

texts:
I've never tasted or seen "hoop cheese," a product that appears to have been made on a small scale years ago, and was popular in the South.

Is it possible to make this cheese by pressing and waxing salted curds made by a method similar to making paneer? I've done this before and it's rather easy, heat a gallon of whole milk slowly to the right temperature and add white vinegar. The strained, pressed curds make up paneer.

Do I need rennet to make the curds?


texts:
My son and I want to make a cake shaped like a frog.  Our plan is to bake two layers, cut them out into shapes, stack one on top of the other, and then finish carving the cake into the shape of a frog.

In the past, I've found it very difficult to cut and carve cakes into shapes.  The cake crumbles when I try to cut it.

I'm looking for tips on how best to do this.  Either ideas I can use during baking or techniques to use during cutting/carving would be great.

I usually use a mix when I bake a cake, and most of the mixes at the grocery store say "moist" and "pudding in the mix."  Would the cake be firmer if I used a different mix?  Is there something I could look for when selecting a mix that would give me a firmer cake for carving?


texts: How can I keep my buttercream from becomming grainy?

texts: I am making buttercream icing, but the powdered sugar does not dissolve with the butter and shortening. The icing is grainy. How can I prevent this?


texts:
I need to know: 5 pounds ground coffee soaked in 3.5 gallons of water for 18 hours, unheated. Resulting coffee liquid extracted is x.
How do I cut in half the water amount but still get the same amount of extracted coffee soluables into 1.75 gallons of water as would be in original 3.5 gallons?Can't allow reducing water amount by heat evaporation.
Thanks in advance,
AJR


texts: How much cream should I make for my mini Oreo cream pies?

texts: I'm making mini cream pies, in custard cups, and I just need to know how much cream to make to fill them all.


texts: What is salsa criolla campesina of Nicaragua?

texts:
I got some pepper seeds called criolla de cocina peppers. In the seed catalogs, they are said to be essential for "salsa criolla campesina", a condiment of Nicaragua.  However, I haven't been able to find a mention of this salsa anywhere, either in my cookbooks or via Google.
Is this actually a real dish?  If so, where can I find out more about it?
Note: "salsa criolla" is a general category of salsa across all of Latin America.  I'm looking for the specific Nicaraguan salsa that uses criolla de cocina peppers.


texts:
Is it safe to eat mouldy bread, even after cutting away the moulded parts?
And how can you tell if the mould is harmless or toxic?


texts: Why would rasagullas break while cooking?

texts:
My latest batch of rasagullas were a disaster. As soon as I dropped them into the cooker, they started disintegrating. I realized the entire affair will turn out to be a super waste of effort and time.

I did cut some corners last time:
1. Did I not dry the curd enough?
2. Did I not knead the curd enough?
3. Was the sugar syrup used for boiling not saturated enough?

Any clues?


texts: What happens when you mix whiskey and water?

texts:
It is sometimes said that to best experience the flavor and aroma of a good whiskey (or whisky), one ought to add a bit of water. This practice is said to release flavors somehow.

Is there any truth to this?
Assuming that there is, what is going on?


texts: Why did my coppa get spicier after being microwaved?

texts:
I wanted to put some spicy, crispy, crumbled coppa over a pasta dish. I put it in the microwave and it crisped up very well. It was however much spicier after cooking than before.

Why did it get spicier?


texts: What can I do to prolong vegetable and meat freshness in the freezer?

texts:
In an effort to improve my eating habits I am thinking of buying more vegetables and meats while at the store so that I have them to cook with.  However, with a busy schedule it is hard to try and find the time to cook something complex and needing to cut vegetables, meat, etc.  I don't want to use frozen vegetables either, as I want to start actually cooking more and not re-heating frozen items.

If I pre-cut all the vegetables beforehand, how long will the vegetables stay fresh before losing flavor and getting soggy or drying out?  Also, is there a preferable storage method, such as Ziploc bags, Tupperware containers, or glass bowls/containers with plastic wrap?

As for meat, is there a temperature that meats should be stored at in the freezer to keep them from getting freezer burn?  Currently, it seems that whenever I put anything in my freezer, it forms ice crystals the next day. I've tried lowering the temperature dial in the freezer a number of times, but I am afraid that if I lower it too much then it won't freeze the food and it will spoil.


texts: Are there desserts which use whole eggs (not mixing them in)?

texts:
It is my opinion that all savory dishes can be improved by putting a fried egg on top, and I've yet to find an exception.

However, the idea of doing that to a sweet dish seems totally foul.

Considering that eggs are ingredients in many desserts, like cake batters, curds, and meringues, why would that be? It's not just that they're not sweetened, because you can use, for example, unsweetened cream cheese in both a sweet pastry or a savory one.

Am I wrong in my premise? Are there sweet dishes with eggs that are used without mixing them into the other ingredients?


texts: Can fondant be frozen before covering the cake?

texts: I am making a shoe box cake for a birthday and am freaking out a bit about the sharp edges on the cake. So, I was thinking about cutting out fondant to exact sizes for the sides of the shoebox and freeing them before sticking them on the cake to get a perfect finish. But I am scared a bit of freezing the fondant because my friend refrigerated her fondant covered cake once and it started sweating. Has anyone ever tried freezing fondant and has any tips?


texts: I have been doing olives (mixed kalamata and jumbo green/mazinilla) with a salty brine with dehydrated galic and herbs with a layer of olive oil over the top.  Now is this safe or not?? i leave it to stand to draw the flavours and usually at room temp.


texts:
I've been attempting to make French macarons using an Italian meringue and aside from a few lucky hits, I've never gotten a perfect batch. Each time is roughly the same outcome; little feet (a quarter of the height most pictures show) and hollow shells. The last two batches tried also had cracked shells, first time for that one.

Aside from a possible faulty recipe, what could be the culprit? I live in GA (USA) so humidity can play a factor I know. I've baked them at 300/325F and I let them rest until no longer tacky each time to get the shell but they barely rise and always are hollow. I've never had a lumpy shell however which leads me to suspect that I may be overfolding the batter but wanted to get a larger audience opinion.


texts: How do commercial sauce makers have such red tomato paste?

texts:
When I make concentrated tomatoes, like for catsup, my paste comes out the color of salsa, a pale pinkish red, not the deep red you see in commercial tomato paste or catsup.

Is there a secret to making deep red tomato sauce, or are the manufacturers just adding a colorant?


texts: Maximum cooking time for beef joint in slow cooker?

texts:
I usually cook a joints of beef by browing it in a pan and then putting it in the slow cooker all day (about 8 hours) completely submerged in stock.

At the weekend I have family coming over, so the joint I have got is twice the size of the usual, and we are eating a couple of hours earlier than usual.

As I do not really fancy getting up in the early hours of the morning to put the beef on, I am thinking about putting it on last thing at night. This would be a cooking time of around 15 hours.

Is that too much? Is there a maximum time that beef joints (or any meat, for that matter) can be cooked in the slow cooker?

Would I be better to cook it the day before and then reheat it?


texts: Is it possible to oversoak wood chips for smoking?

texts:
I wanted to prepare for a long day of cooking and get the wood chip soak out of the way.  My barbequed brisket recipe calls for soaking the (hickory) wood chips for 30 minutes.

If I soak the wood chips longer, is it possible that they would become so saturated that they wouldn't smoke or would take so long to dry out as to become impractical?  Or should they already be fully saturated after 30 minutes?

My gut says that it shouldn't matter--given that one of the batches of chips actually sits in water on the grill.


texts: How can I keep the cheese from leaking out of my cordon bleu during cooking?

texts:
I use flour to coat, including the ends, and I use toothpicks to hold the wider part shut.  Even when I try to fold the cutlet envelope style, most of my cheese melts out. I cook them on the stove top with butter.

Is there another technique that would prevent that?

P.S. I use Swiss cheese.


texts:
We tried everything and there is no easy way to peel bell peppers without doing it with a very sharp knife. Peeled bell peppers are easier to digest (if you or someone in home suffers from Heartburn you should start peeling too :) )

Tried to freeze then dip into hot water, place in hot stove, and directly over a flame, hot oil works but then it gets cooked and soaked.

For those around world (like me), this is bell peppers.

Thanks for any help!


texts:
It’s sorbet season again, and the local Lidl started stocking xylitol, which made me wonder: could you reduce the calories in a sorbet by using a sugar alcohol instead of (some of) the other sugar?
I usually use all invert syrup for sorbets in my super cheap churn, but I’m not sure how much leeway I have despite its excellent thickening power. How do sugar alcohols compare to sugar when it comes to binding water?


texts: Is "swimming in broth" a common cooking technique for pasta and broccoli rabe?

texts:
In two "old school" Italian restaurants in New York, USA, I've ordered penne with sausage and broccoli rabe. Both times the pasta was served with a good 1/4 to 1/2 cup of liquid in the bottom of the dish.

I'm trying to figure out whether this liquid is chicken stock (it kind of tastes like it), and as such is part of the recipe, or whether it is leftover water from the cooking process (the broccoli rabe and penne were both overcooked).

A quick search of recipes for penne with broccoli rabe and sausage do not include stock as an ingredient.

Yet, the broth was quite flavorful, so I'd be surprised if it was only water.

Maybe "old school" Italian restaurants in NY use chicken stock in these dishes? Any insight?


texts: Structure of tomato, ginger and garlic after blending in a blender

texts:
Found a new recipe, and it called for blending two (average sized) tomatoes, about a tablespoon of grated ginger (15 grams let's say), and four grated garlic cloves. Blended it all, everything fine.

When it was time to use the blended result, I expected it to come out of the blender jar like a (thick) liquid, but instead it just stayed in the jar. It actually acted liked beaten egg whites (clinging to the container), and structurally looked quite like a mousse. When I scooped out the "mousse", upon touching the heat of the pan, it dissolved immediately into liquid components again.

Is this a known property of blending tomato, ginger, garlic in a blender (or any "high speed" mixing device for that matter) together? Or a combination of those components?

[Edit]

If it helps, I used multiple smaller sized tomatoes to make up for one "average" tomato. So more tomato peel was involved, if that matters. Weights for the tomatoes were not given, but the replacements I used quite accurately match what I would consider "An Average Tomato".


texts: When cooking okra in a bit of water, the water becomes gooey.  What does the okra release that makes the water slimy?  Would the goo have other culinary uses (as an additive to thicken sauces or improve the texture of ice-creams)?


texts: I was reading comments about oil or no oil. I use butter, but when cooking a 50/50 white/wholemeal loaf it is so soft its like cotton wool and nearly impossible to cut. Any ideas how get the loaf a bit firmer


texts:
Do hand operated can sealing machines work as well as commercial automatic machines in terms of seal quality and storage life?

Keen to give it a go, but can't locate any hand can sealing machines. Are there any suppliers of these that ship outside of North Amercia for order less than $1000?


texts:
I have read the answers to this question - How to thicken yogurt and I am not sure if my question is on topic or not - this is the procedure I followed to make yogurt in a mountainous region and I am not able to make yogurt twenty four hours after I started the procedure

1) Boiled unpasteurized milk
2) Cool the boiled milk to where when I touch the milk it feels warm.
3) I added three teaspoons of branded yogurt(3 % fat)
4) Stir for couple of minutes with teaspoon

I am not sure if you are required to put a lid over the milk as it ferments (I did not) but today morning when I looked it is half milk and half yogurt. It still tastes milk like. The bottom portion is yogurt and the top portion is milk. I am in a mountainous region and it is fairly cold right now(the coconut oil has frozen). I reckon it is around 13-14 degrees centigrade plus rain and I am wondering if my milk culture is "gone" or is there a way to rescue it ? In the morning I did wrap some woolens around it and did put a lid on top of the vessel. I am looking to know what I did wrong here.


texts: Why do French macarons need two types of sugar?

texts:
In most instructions for French macarons, you mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another. Then you fold them together.

Dry

Almond flour
Powdered sugar

Wet

Egg whites
granulated sugar

My questions are:

Why it needs two types of sugar?
Are both types critical to the overall texture/taste of the macaron shell?
can I forgo one of them, say the granulated sugar when beating the egg whites, to make the recipe simpler?


texts: butter fat on top of frozen roux. Is it still good to use?

texts: I made a brown roux and froze some. Now there is a thin layer of butter fat on top of the roux. Is the roux still good? Do I need to remove the butter fat, or just start all over again? Thank you.


texts: Making bread fast and with few ingredients

texts: so I'm writing a story where one of the characters is trying to make some bread with minimal ingredients in a short amount of time. I'm not having much luck with my normal means of researching so I came here for some help. I'd like to know what bread takes the shortest amount of time. Breads that can be made with minimal ingredients. And also I would just like to know if you have to knead flat bread.


texts: Substituting Dried Shiitake Mushrooms for Fresh

texts:
I have a recipe that calls for 12 oz of fresh Shiitake mushrooms.  Due to cost and availability concerns, I decided to get dried instead, figuring I would be able to find information about how to substitute dried Shiitake mushrooms for fresh, but I have been unable.

What would an appropriate ratio be for substituting dried shiitakes for fresh?


texts: Why does handling peeled chayote make your hands feel numb/rigid?

texts: When I peel chayotes and handle the raw flesh of the fruit, my fingers get sticky and a white solid "film" forms on my fingers. The film makes my skin feel restricted/tight. I washed my hands with soap but it doesn't go away. Is this normal? Is there a name for this chemical reaction?


texts: Safe to buy food baked in plastic containers:

texts:
I recently bought some baked goods (corn break I think) from Fred Meyers, and it seesm to be baked right in the plastic container it came in.

Is this safe?

This question makes it seems like this is unsafe?
How dangerous is it to bake food with plastic?


texts: Food safety after pork loin left in crock pot that was turned off

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How long can cooked food be safely stored at room/warm temperature?

I cooked about 2lbs of pork loin in the crock pot for 8 hours on low last night.  It was on low from 12:00am to 8:00am.  From 8:00am to 12:00pm, the crock pot was turned off, and at 12:00pm the food was 'warm' but above room temperature.

Is this still safe to eat?  The crock pot was covered, but its anyones guess (guestimating using some math) how long the loin was at the safe high temperature.  I immediately threw it in the refrigerator, but if I do keep it, should it be brought up to 135°F asap?

I'm waning towards throwing it out.  My wife is pregnant, and we have small children in the house too.


texts: I used margarine instead of butter and the margarine was mostly at room temp.  So I used a pasty cutter turned the bowl but the mixture just got thicker and thicker.  Is there something I can do to save the mixture to make it crumbly or a recipe I can make instead?  I used 2 cups flour and sugar and 1/2 butter along with the other dry ingredients


texts: What's the best replacement for "solid vegetable oil" in pastry recipes?

texts:
I want to make some chickpea delight. I don't know what it's called in English; it is a Persian recipe, and literally translates to "little chickpea confectionary" (شیرینی نخودچی, "shirini-e-nokhodchi").

The recipe has solid vegetable oil; I think it is hydrogenated/solidified vegetable oil.

I used butter instead, but my dough turned out a dry sand-like mess! No matter how long I kneaded it, it still didn't come together. (I finally added some olive oil to it! to get it together.)

What is a good replacement for solid vegetable oil available in US groceries?

EDIT: as also suggested by @derobert , it turned out that the main problem is with the chickpea flour, what I got here is raw (or at least not roasted), the one the recipe calls for is traditionally made by first roasting the chickpeas then grinding them and then putting them through a sieve to get a very fine flour. I would try to roast the raw flour to see if I can modify the recipe.

EDIT: I roasted the flour, it burns very easily, but with care and patience I managed to roast it well, although it's not as fine as I remember the traditional version is, it smells and tastes almost the same (I guess it needs some salt but I didn't add any salt).
I tried it again with butter and a couple of tablespoons of water, it went well (the dough was fine I could shape it) but the end result was not what I expected. It was a good tasting cookie but nothing like the traditional one, it's not even close in consistency, not tastes anything like what it should. I'll get some proper oil and try it sometime soon!


texts: Water came out cloudy after steaming chicken, is it cosidered a broth?

texts: I was surprised since the chicken never touched the water but I guess it dropped some of its juices in it, I was doing a small batch and I tried to taste it but after adding some salt it just tasted salty, so If I make a larger batch in less water and the result comes out more concentrated could this taste good and be considered a broth ?


texts: Does Domino's pizza's use mozzarella cheese for their pizzas? If so,is it also rennet-free?


texts: How does the "Suicide Sauce" from Hot Licks rate on the Scoville Scale

texts:
I bought the so called "Suicide Hot-Sauce" from Hot Licks about a year ago when I visited California. I forgot to ask how this sauce rates on the Scoville Scale, because I usually don't care that much about those numbers as long as the taste is good.

The topic came up in a recent discussion and I tried to find this information on the Internet. Many supplier provide this information, but I could not find anything, not even a rough estimate, about the Suicide Sauce. From what I have read so far this sauce is one of the less hot ones.

Can anyone who knows this hot-sauce give a rough estimate how hot it is?

Update:
According to their website the Hot Licks "XXX" sauce is three times as hot as the suicide sauce. In case someone has information about this one, this would help as well.

Edit: Is there a way to rate sauces on the Scoville scale? Does an index exist for sauces? Is there a way to measure the hotness?


texts: Pork tenderloin was put into hot oven which was accidentally turned off for 1 and 1/2 hours. Was it safe to finish cooking?

texts: I had a partially frozen pork tenderloin that I browned on all sides, then put into a hot oven at 365 degrees.  At some point the oven was accidentally turned off.  An hour and a half later I discovered the oven was warm, but off.  The internal temp of the pork at this point was 120 degrees.  I then turned the oven back on and finished cooking to an internal temp of 180 degrees. It was actually very tender.  Is it safe to eat?


texts: Can/should I use baking soda when cooking beans?

texts:
My recipe for hummus says to cook the garbanzo beans with a little baking soda to soften them. Does this work with other legumes?

I've often seen the advice against salting the cooking water for beans, as it supposedly toughens them. Will a different sodium compound, bicarbonate, have the opposite effect?

Would love to know the science of this issue.


texts:
I took a Thai cooking class offered by a restaurant I like a while ago, specifically hoping to learn how to make one dish they serve that I love. The class also came with a cookbook, including the recipe I had wanted.

My issue is that my sauce, which seems very simple, never turns out. The recipe calls for a 1:1 ratio of red curry paste and water (2 tbsp. of each, if I remember correctly offhand), gently mixed over low heat until it achieves the right consistency. A similar method worked for me in the class, but at home I was successful only once, and that involved some pretty wild ad hoc adjustments which I have not been able to reproduce. Usually the ingredients mix poorly in my saucepan, and no combination of heat, time, and attention prevents the outcome from being thick, uneven, and unpalatable.

I feel like I must be missing some essential step in the method, or the proportions of ingredients is simply not workable. Is this method, as presented in the cookbook, one that even sounds workable? And if so, what would more experienced cooks do to prepare this sauce?


texts:
Salt mills and pepper mills often come in pairs.  I understand the purpose of the pepper mill: It breaks open the pepper corn and releases the aroma.  But there is, to my knowledge, no such thing as a salt corn, at least on the macroscopic level

So what do I gain by grinding the salt at the table or at the stove instead of just buying the smaller version to begin with?

I understand that there are different kinds of salt, but it seems they ought to be independent of the size of the bits.


texts: how long can i microwave microwaveable plastic containers for?

texts: I've got a microwave container and no oven and looking to cook some stuff - is it possible to microwave a container that's marked as microwave safe for 40 minutes or so?


texts: Making Pickles - Confirming Sanitization Procedure

texts:
I'm about to make a batch of dill pickles. The recipe it pretty straightforward:

A batch of firm baby cucumbers
1 cup of water
1 cup of vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon of salt
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 pinch of red pepper flakes

The instructions are also pretty straightforward. Sterilize the canning equipment (jars, lids, seals) in boiling water for at least five minutes. Add the washed cucumbers to the jars, boil the water, vinegar, and everything else, and add it to the jar as well. Seal the jars, and then process them in a large pot of boiling water for five minutes. All to cool over 24 hours, and they're good for a year.

Does this sound about right? I don't want them to spoil.

Thank you in advance!

References

How to Make Pickles, Accessed 2014-04-02, <http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-dill-pickles-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-193350>


texts:
I will be baking a weight watcher friendly brownie https://sweetsweetrecipes.com/one-point-weight-watchers-sugar-free-chewy-chocolate-brownies
that calls for 3 egg whites. I want to use whole eggs instead. Is this doable and if yes, how many whole eggs should I use?
Thanks


texts: I have a book with several bread recipes that call for 1-2 tablespoons of powdered milk. This isn't something I usually use and I was thinking substituting it with normal milk, and putting less water to compensate for the added liquid. Would this be ok? And if yes, how much milk should I put for one tablespoon of powdered milk?


texts: Gluten-free Carrot Cake batter mixed with normal Carrot Cake batter

texts:
Yesterday I wanted to make 2 small carrot cakes (1 gluten-free for a celiac friend, and a regular one). For the gluten-free one, I literally just swapped regular wheat flour for corn flour (same quantities), and the texture of the batter looked alright (don´t know if I had to do any kind of conversion though).

The thing is, I ended up baking only the regular one (in a small mold), and there was some batter left. As I am not gonna see my celiac friend for a week or so, I was planning on just mixing the gluten-free batter and the little left of normal batter to eat the cake myself and my family (no celiacs here, don't worry).

Will that mess anything up?  Like flavour, timing in the oven, etc? Or will both batter types mix properly?

EDIT:

I guess I'll try this evening and write the result in here, but wanted to know the result beforehand to know if doing it or not in case it was a terrible idea!


texts: Does the "Game of Thrones" browned butter pie crust technique make any sense?

texts:
In yesterday's Game of Thrones episode ("Stormborn"), Arya Stark compliments the young character Hot Pie's most recent pie. He replies

  The secret is browning the butter before making the dough. Most people don't do that 'cause it takes up too much time.

For context, this is a double-crust meat pie. Game of Thrones is set in a world that is technologically similar to our European Middle Ages.

I've always heard that one of the most important elements of making a flaky pie crust is keeping the fat as cold as possible right up until the pie goes into the oven. Is there any technique for pie dough that includes browned butter that would make a great crust?

Notes: I thought at first that the browned butter must be an ingredient in the filling, but the reference to dough makes me doubt this. Also, Game of Thrones has had recipe advice in the past that sounded crazy but is actually based in real culinary practices, namely, Hot Pie's Cherry Crumble topped with ground cherry pits. Finally, in looking around for an answer, I came across this technique for making crust with a mixture of flour/fat paste + more flour, which sounds promising but doesn't mention anything about browned butter.

Added: This isn't part of the question, but I was originally interested in what makes such a technique work compared to a cold butter crust.


texts: Ultimate Grilled Cheese : Keeping it together

texts:
Maybe it's called something else, but to me a grilled cheese sandwich with extra stuff in it is an "ultimate". The extra stuff I'm referring to is generally tomato, onion (thin sliced raw or grilled) and bacon (already cooked).

The problem I'd like to correct is that often the cheese has difficulty fusing the sandwich together because it doesn't stick well to the other ingredients. I've tried a few different placements of the ingredients but they all usually end with on slice of bread not really "attached" the way a proper grilled cheese should be. For example: Bread, Cheese, Other, More Cheese, Bread : this tend to give me two separate slices of bread with cheese and some ingredients in the cheese.

Is there any special technique to keeping this thing together as one piece?


texts: Do grains sold as animal feed meet the safety standards for human food?

texts:
I don't know if the safety standards for human and animal food crops are different or equivalent. Also, if they are different, by what magnitude do the limits for toxins and the like differ?

As for laws, this is for Germany/Europe


texts:
I'm working on a vegetarian version of a brisket chili recipe. It takes 20 hours to make, so effort involved is not an issue.
I need a substitute for brisket fat. I render the fat, strain out the proteins, and toast the seed-based spices, along with salt, in the rendered fat. I then char the aromatics, and use this mixture to make a stock that is the base for my chili. It lends a noticeable "cured" body to the finished chili.
What can I substitute for the beef fat to make this vegetarian?


texts: Can clarified butter be used for beurre noir?

texts:
The first recipe of "The Nero Wolfe Cook Book" by Rex Stout is for Eggs au beurre noir. For the black butter sauce he gives the following instructions:

  "In a skillet melt [...] four
  tablespoons of butter over a medium
  heat. When white waxy particles have settled to the bottom, pour the clear liquid off into a bowl.
  Return the clarified butter to the pan and continue to cook until it has turned a deep golden brown..."

Now I have tried this recipe with unsalted butter, with salted butter, using a low heat, a medium heat, enough heat to create a fire hazard. I also tried different methods of clarification, all to no avail. The "deep golden brown" is only achievable, as far as I can tell, with unclarified butter. Indeed it appears to be the toasted butter solids that produce the golden brown.

I would have given up on this recipe altogether if it wasn't corroborated by other sources. It makes me wonder if, for example, American butter differs substantially from European butter. Does anyone know if black butter sauce can be made with clarified butter?


texts: Why are my stir fried pea sprouts too stiff, and turn into lumps?

texts:
I'm trying to make stir-fried pea sprouts as seen this photo), but without the mushrooms.

I used this kind of pea sprouts:

First I wash and soak them in salt water for 15 mins. I know that I mustn't overcook these pea shoots. 2nd I turn my stainless steel pan to high heat. 3rd I add oil and Shaoxing wine. 4th I add the pea shoots to the pan, and stir fry for under 30 seconds.
But they're too stiff/starchy to even chew. When I chew them, they turn into lumps that I can't swallow.
Is the kind of sprouts the problem? Are another kind of sprouts sold in Hong Kong?


texts: Breakfast burritos from 16 egg casserole, how to cook everything uniformly?

texts:
I am baking a 16 egg casserole that will be used for breakfast burritos and so I want the egg mixture to be cooked uniformly through. Once the breakfast burritos are made I will freeze them all. What is the best way to cook the egg casserole uniformly?

over the stove with a large skillet? large wok over stove?
baking with a casserole dish or metal skillet in oven? with lid or without lid? what temperature time (i.e. hot 350+ F and shorter time or cooler 250-300 F and longer) and how long?
(maybe you have another way that is not stove+skillet nor baking.)

I chose to go with baking because I think such a large volume of eggs is too difficult[1] to cook over a stove in a skillet/wok.

[1]
I say difficult because when I cook a 10-11 egg mixture over a stove with a 10 inch skillet the cooking requires stirring vigorously the entire egg mixture throughout the entire cooking process and the total time is something like 5-10 minutes plus or minus (I haven't measured how long I just look at the egg consistency). So after half way through finishing stirring you start to get tired and sometimes you get parts that get harder if you slack in your stirring. And so I can't imagine doing the same thing with 16 eggs I don't think I would have the stamina to cook stirring that long and I would be concerned about food safety with everything cooking through.


texts: Simulating the discontinued Lawry's Roasted Garlic Salt?

texts:
Lawry's Roasted Garlic Salt was simply the best spice I've ever had. And  had I known it was discontinued I would've bought a few cases.

If you're familiar with it can you recommend something similar.


texts: Distinguishing the size of tablecloths when folded?

texts:
Has anyone figured out a clever system for distinguishing the size of a tablecloth when folded?  Our dining room table is extendable with several leaves, so we have plain white tablecloths of three sizes. When the cloths are folded, they all look alike. So every time we entertain, we spend several minutes unfolding and re-folding until we find a tablecloth of the right size. An annoying waste of time.

Organizing them by shelf (in the closet) doesn't work because they invariably get moved around by whoever does the laundry that week. Personally I'd like to write a big "1", "2", or "3" on each cloth in indelible black marker, but my wife objects for some reason. :-)

Looking for a simple, out-of-the-box idea. Thanks.


texts:
Does toasting bread change the amount of calories in the bread?
i.e Does a slice of toast have more/less calories that a slice of bread?

I know that some moisture is lost in the toasting process but does the browning of the bread change its characteristics in such a way that it changes the calories?


texts: Indian recipes tastes awful with reduced salt. Can anything be done to make them more palatable? Are there dishes that taste OK even with low salt?


texts:
I've made a few batches of hard crack candy, but so far every batch i've made has come out stickier than I'd like. by too sticky, i mean that the candies will stick to the parchment paper i store them in so hard that the two become inseparable. this happens even in the freezer.

So far I've tried

letting the temperature go up a little higher on the candy thermometer (310-320)
adding powdered sugar after the candies have cooled down

as experiments but to no avail.
what can people recommend? is there an additive i could add to the mix?


texts: Does the weather outside make a diference in oven temp. for baking

texts: I know that the humidity can make a difference on how your bread might turn out. Do you ever have to adjust the temp. on the oven depending on the weather? I finally found a good bread recipe that my husband really liked. I made it again and the crust was really hard. I did every thing the same. It was colder out side when I made the first one. The bread tasted really good like the other one it's just the crust was very hard. I melted butter on it just like the first one. I always put melted butter on my bread when I take it out of the oven.


texts: Meringue - Dry Crisp And Impossibly Delicate

texts:
I am looking for a recipe for an impossibly dry/crisp baked meringue.  The baked meringue medallions, once cooled, are almost like oak log ash, and the medallions cannot be picked up by their edges, that's how delicate they are.  If you touch the dry meringue with your finger, it dents.  I'm talking about a white, dry crisp meringue cookie that is dry/crisp all the way through, and barely holds its form/shape when you pick it up, and melts on the tongue.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about?  Am I crazy?


texts: Why do some pie crust recipes include vinegar?

texts: I experiment some with pie crusts and have seen recipes that include vinegar as well as eggs. What does the vinegar do and what does the egg do.  I have heard the vinegar promotes tenderness but have read on one of the posts here that it speeds gluten formation.


texts: Can I use oil in marinades for dehydrated mushrooms?

texts:
I have a new dehydrator that I'm looking to use to replace some of my unhealthy quick snacks with better alternatives.  To that end, I think I've found a great base for alternative-snacking in dehydrated mushrooms--they have a mild, earthly flavor that could work great as low-calorie comfort-food with some spice or barbecue added to it.  I'm currently experimenting with making my own rubs for my mushrooms, but I'm stymied when it comes to marinating mushrooms before putting them on the racks.

Most recipes I see for marinated vegetables utilize oil, and my understanding is that oil does not work well in dehydration.  Calorie concerns notwithstanding, the oil itself will not dry and thus the results will require refrigeration and have a short shelf-life. I'm really looking for something I can toss in the pantry to be eaten later when I feel like a snack without having to worry about it going bad, so this is a non-starter.

Should I worry about oil spoiling my vegetables?  Is there a good way to substitute a drying-friendly alternative for oil in recipes I find?


texts: What is the most practical pan for a deep-dish pizza

texts:
So over the weekend I wanted to make a deep-dish pizza and ended up with a thick crust as the pan I have is only about half as deep as I would need and two inches wider than the recipe called for. For deep-dish should I bother with spending forty dollars on a black steel 2-inch high 12" pan (that would only be used for pizza basically), or would I be better served to pay half as much for a two-inch high cast iron Lodge skillet (which would be much more versatile)?

I really like the crust you get from a heavy aluminum baking pan (thick-crust must be some kind of nostalgia thing), and already have a large stone (so good to go on thin crust), so I am looking to round out my options. Is there an alternate material or pan combination that works as well as cast-iron but might be lighter or even less expensive?

Am I traveling the total wrong route to a great deep-dish, or do I just need some fine adjustment?


texts: I cooked a small boneless smoked ham after wrapping in foil about 2 hours and forgot and left it in the oven for about 12 hours after turning off the oven.  Then I put it in fridge. Is it safe to eat?


texts: Where can I buy bulk wild meat in Montreal?

texts:
I've been to marché atwater and they said that usually they have in stock in the winter. But one of the stores had Bison but it wasn't totally wild but still was walking in the forest.
I want to increase my wild meat intake but is seems so hard to find. Where can I buy it?


texts: Does wax on citrus fruit make the zest unsafe to eat or compromise its flavor?

texts:
A number of (chiefly British) recipes specify unwaxed lemons for zesting. Unwaxed citrus fruit are not widely available here in Sweden, so I have to make do by attempting to remove the wax before zesting. Recently I have had doubts regarding the extent to which I actually succeed in doing so, and now I wonder whether it is even worth the trouble.

Citrus fruit have a natural wax coating that is washed off along with orchard grime at the packing house. A new protective coating is applied before packing, and it is this that I am concerned about.

I have two concerns. First there is a food safety issue. Reading the FDA and EU food additive regulations, I see that some substances are permitted for citrus and fruit such as apples and pears where the peel is normally eaten. Other substances are only to be used on citrus or other fruit where the peel is not normally ingested. On the face of it this seems to suggest that the consumption of citrus peel has not been taken into account. I understand that this may not be the case, but since neither regulatory body clarify the issue (at least not in the linked documents), I feel my concern is warranted.

My second concern is regarding whether the taste of the peel is compromised by the coating. This is a tricky question for me to answer since I have no access to untreated citrus. There is the additional difficulty that there are so many substances permitted, and the supermarkets here give no indication of what is used. Presumably some types of coating taste better and others worse. I include this part of question with the faint hope that there may be someone reading who is not subject to the same limitations.

Is it worth bothering even trying to wash the wax of citrus?


texts: Is it safe to store raw meat alongside pre-cooked produce (ie. ready-made pies) in the fridge?

texts: Simply, as the title says I’d like to know if it is safe to store raw meat alongside pre-cooked produce (ie. ready-made pies) in the fridge. Given the ready-made pies still need to be cooked to a high temperature – would this be considered safe?


texts: What exactly happens during the sourdough ripening?

texts:
I am following a recipe from the well established Italian Baker Bonci, to make my liquid sourdough starter (with some success too).

In his recipe he says to refresh the starter with a 1:1:1 proportion every day for a month before it can be considered matured and ready to use.

I would like to know what happens during these 31 days and why this time frame is needed (the starter seems very active after a week or two and is capable of leavening bread already).

My understanding /theory is that the successive rounds of feeding, souring and re feeding help grow yeasts while acidity weeds out some of them, in fact selecting the right "genes" we want to keep in our starter.

I would like to know :

If my theory is correct and if it is
Exactly what traits/type of yeasts are we selecting for?
What are the typical proportion of a yeast types found in starter?
Is there any source describing the detail of this process (I'm interested in the selection part more than in the recipe part, but I don't won't a bio textbook)


texts:
I just sliced an onion and found that there is a large section of one of the layers that's black. What is the black substance? Is it safe to eat? If not, is the rest of the onion safe to eat?

The onion in question:


texts:
So I would like to make bao buns fresh on my food truck. What would be the best method of steaming. I proof, roll out and proof again then steam for 10 minutes. I guess I can't steam them to order, what would be the best way to go about this. Should I just make as many as I can in the morning? what would be the best way to store them to keep them soft and moist. Should I re-steam before serving?

I appreciate any ideas. Thanks!


texts: Transfer vegetables objects from cutting board to pan

texts:
I have one of those thick & heavy bamboo cutting boards that I just got.  Until now, I've been using a simple plastic cutting board that doesn't weigh much.  After dicing vegetables, I would simply lift the cutting board in my left hand and use my right hand holding the knife to transfer the vegetables onto a pan, bowl, or wherever.

My question is, how do I do this with a heavy cutting board? Obviously lifting it with one hand is not an option.  I couldn't find any youtube videos showing proper technique of using the knife and the other available hand to transfer the diced vegetables onto something else.

Thanks


texts: Do you have to adjust oven temperature and cooking time when cooking in glass loaf pans? My Ricotta Pound cake never seemed to get done in the middle (took another 10 minutes beyond recommended cooking time) and got overly brown on the outside. Then it broke in half when trying to get it out of the pan. Thanks.


texts: What is the best cut of beef to use for stews?

texts: What cut of beef should I use for a beef stew?  I heard that you want a little bit of fat in the meat, but what part the animal is best to use?


texts: What precautions need to be taken while using sour culture for setting yogurt?

texts:
The home made yogurt culture I have is sour.

Is it possible to get non sour yogurt from sour culture?
What precautions need to be taken while using sour culture for setting fresh yogurt?


texts:
So I left  my baked seitan out for 3 to 4 hours today. I was going to toss it but then I was like wait.. it's a dry product much like bread.. is my thinking ok and it's fine still?  I bake it in a non stick pan with aluminum foil over the top to keep the steam in. it's at 350 for about 35 minutes.   I use water, wheat gluten, about 30 grams of yeast flakes, 50 grams of almond flour and graham flour each and some spices. it's basically like bread right? should be fine since it's dry not wet?

this is not covered or related to the thing that I got flagged for. that does not answer this question


texts:
Two avocadoes may look the same size from the outside, but the one with a smaller seed will have more flesh and may thus be more desirable. So how do I tell which avocadoes have smaller seeds?

(Another fruit I can think of where the seed size can fluctuate significantly is the durian. Perhaps the trick for avocadoes and durians is similar.)


texts: Is it ok to microwave veggies without water instead of blanching them in a pot of water?

texts:
Whenever I see a recipe which requires me to blanch vegetables for a few minutes, I microwave them instead.  It's sometimes faster, I don't have to get a pot dirty, and I don't usually have to dry the vegetables afterwards.  The microwave seems to do a very good job of par-cooking any vegetable which is cut up into small, uniform-sized pieces.

However, I've never seen a mainstream cookbook recommend microwaving instead of blanching.  Is there a reason for this?  Am I losing flavor or texture I would get with blanching?  Or is this just one of those bits of propaganda one learns in Chef School, like how garlic presses are evil?

So, is microwaving vegetables to cook them a fine substitute for blanching them, or am I Doing Things Wrong?


texts: Should I separate grape skins when making jam?

texts:
Recipes for grape jam (e.g. from Gourmet) commonly say to separate the skins, puree the skins for inclusion in the jam, cook them, cook the pulp, and remove the seeds with a food mill.

Is there any reason one couldn't instead just cook the entire grapes for long enough for everything to intermingle (i.e. long enough to fully cook the skins), then use a food mill to remove the seeds and skins?


texts: Is it necessary to add vegetables to slow cooker pot roast?

texts: I like slow cooked roast for tenderness but hate the taste of 'pot roast' vegetables. Is it really necessary to cook vegetables with the roast?


texts: Why does my milk bottle lid have two dates

texts:
I'm living in Switzerland at the moment.
I've just come back from a short holiday and realise I've left some milk in the fridge.

The top oddly has two dates. One marked a which was yesterday and one marked b which isn't for another week.

Knowing that swiss milk tends to be nuclear and last a while I tried the milk and...it does seem a bit off. The water and the solid have seperated slightly in some places. It doesn't smell but it does taste odd.

I think it's fair to say I shouldn't use it. I should do without milk for a day.

However the question remains: what are these two dates?

I guessed best before and use before but that seems wrong.


texts: Does fresh garlic have any specialized uses?

texts: I have some fresh garlic that I have just harvested from the allotment, and am drying out.  I notice that the fresh garlic has a different texture from the shop bought stuff, and I was wondering if there are things that are more suitable for fresh garlic?  Does it slow roast better?  Is it better to use raw?


texts: What to do if pan/pot is burning (with or without food)

texts: To minimize the damage to an over heated pan (be it with or without food), do I let it cool off? Run it under cool water? Or is there different approach I'm supposed to take?


texts: How do I properly cut a chicken breast into strips or chunks?

texts:
I often cut fresh chicken breasts into strips for stir-fry or similar uses. What type of knife should I use and how should I cut it? I'm not trying to debone as I buy boneless cuts already.  I'm most interested in the techniques associated with efficiency and safety.

Some related questions that don't address my question specifically:

How do I cut out the vein/tendon from a chicken breast tendorloin?
Is it generally better to cut chicken breast with or against the grain?


texts:
I regularly buy Frico's Beech Wood Smoked Processed Cheese but there's this outer layer, kind of like a skin that I don't understand what it is really.
Label, just in case:

The cheese is, firstly, covered in some sort of protective, dark, plastic (?) layer that needs to be cut before it could be eaten:

(not shown is a clear plastic cover beneath this layer that also needs to be removed)
Then we get to the cheese, itself, however it has this dark... skin(?) which I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with:

It cannot be peeled, it seems to really be just the surface layer of the cheese and I have eaten it without problems, it isn't plastic or something like that, however when I melt the cheese the yellowy innards melt fine, but that skin(?) never melts and rests in the bowl looking like a waste product.
Does anyone know what it actually is and if it should be eaten?


texts: How to reduce cracking and increase browning in sourdough loaves?

texts:
Lately I've been learning how to make these delicious sourdough breads and I have managed to create very flavorful breads but I always get very ugly results...

The picture below is my latest try. Notice how my scores seem totally useless, since the bread just ruptured. Also, it's really hard to get even the slightest browning (I'm using only wheat flour with a bit of sugar hoping it would help in this regard) without burning the bottom.

I didn't follow any specific recipe but a combination of techniques I found around the internet:

Mix flour, water, salt, sugar (about 80% hydration) . Autolyse for 1h +-
Add starter and work the dough.
Stretch and fold method 3 times with 15 min rest in between.
Shape and (try to) build surface tension.
Bulk fermentation in fridge for around 10h
Score and bake for 45 min @ 250°C (no Dutch oven, but sprayed some water inside to make crust crisper)

Anyone have any tips to improve the appearance of my sourdough?


texts: Where to look for Vintage Cookbooks in Spanish?

texts:
I'm trying to find some vintage Cookbooks printed in Spanish from the 30's, 40's and 50's for a present. After many google searches I can only seem to find vintage Cookbook sites in English only. Likewise, the vintage book shops in town have nothing in other languages.

Would anyone know a good place to search? Thanks in advance.


texts: Beef dripping - how long can it safely be kept for in the fridge

texts: I buy beef dripping in tubs from the butcher - usually use a teaspoon when making a roast or a cottage pie.  It never seems to change colour, or smell; so how long is it safe to keep for?


texts: My parents leave cooked chicken overnight and then re-cook it?

texts:
My parents regularly cook meat such as chicken by first cooking it by itself, leaving it out for a while, then later cooking it again with sauces and such. This concerns me because the "leaving it out" part is at room temperature, and can be hours or overnight. The internet seems to suggest that this is very dangerous with meat. Somehow, none of us have never gotten sick eating this food. Can someone explain to me why this seems to contradict the usual recommendations of max 4 hours left out in the "Danger Zone" temperature range? Or have we slowly been reducing our lifespans?
FWIW our family is Chinese and cook Chinese cuisine.


texts: How best to cook frozen (homemade, not store-bought) blintzes?

texts: I made some blintzes from this recipe, and froze them as indicated in the note at the end. You'll notice that the recipe only gives instructions for cooking fresh blintzes, not frozen. When it comes time to eat them, should I thaw them and then fry them, or put them in the pan while they're still frozen and just cook them for longer?


texts: If I'm eating at a restaurant and a silverfish scuttles across the table top, what should I reasonably conclude? Should I be concerned about the food hygiene?


texts: Can I subsitute grapefruit for either lemon or orange in baking

texts: I want to bake a cake but i don`t have either an orange or a lemon. I have grapefruit. Can I use it?


texts: Other apple varieties for a Granny Smith fan

texts:
When I buy apples I tend to buy the Granny Smith variety. I've heard that it's more of a baking variety than one for eating directly, but I like it better than others I've tried. The only two names I can recall are  Red Jacket and Red Delicious. I know there are tons of types of apple that I'll never eat unless I make an effort. Which types should I, as a Granny Smith fan, go out of my way to try? As far as I can tell I like both the acidity and the crispness of the Granny Smiths.

Wikipedia tells me that Granny Smiths "The tree is thought to be a hybrid of Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic apple M. domestica as the polleniser." I've been unable to find European Wild Apples nor any other varietals that are derived from them.


texts: How to prevent curdling in a local vegan coffee creamer- aka- Post Apocalypse hippy coffee creamer?

texts:
Sorry, I got a few questions here.

1) I was at a vegan, locavore restaurant and their soymilk curdled in the coffee. Why did it curdle?

2) I thought, gee, they should use something like coconut milk, but that would clash with the (east coast USA) locavore them they have going on. So what will post-apocalypse hippies use in their coffee (or coffee substitute) for creamer? I've successfully made nut milk out of pecans and walnuts-- haven't tried it with coffee yet to see if it is curdle resistant, am I overlooking any options?


texts: What is the difference between good quality chocolate and cheap chocolate?

texts: There are many types of chocolate out there, some higher quality than others. What are the main differences between good quality chocolate and cheap chocolate? And in practical applications in baking and confections, what "benefits" do higher quality chocolate offer?


texts: Why would a pressure cooker shorten a braise time?

texts:
Say I'm braising a pork shoulder. As i understand it, the point is to maintain a temperature that will melt collagen, while staying below a temperature that would toughen the meat. A good temp for this would be 200 - 250.

I understand that the additional pressure raises the temp inside the cooker to 250 as opposed to normal 212 boiling point, but how is this different then simply setting the oven to 250?

furthermore, if it takes several hours to melt the collagen in the oven at 250, what is it about the pressure cooker that can melt collagen in 1/3 the time at the same temp?


texts: How long can uncooked brisket be refrigerated after defrosting?

texts: I purchased a vac packed piece of brisket from Aldi a week ago. I froze it a day after buying, then thawed it in the fridge 2 days ago until it felt soft to touch. I opened the pack, washed it under faucet, patted it dry with paper towel and covered in rich crust of spices.  I don`t really feel anymore like cooking it today, and would prefer to do it tomorrow. Am I running a risk here of having this piece of meat spoil or develop something nasty while it sits in the fridge (not vac packed anymore, but still) for the 3rd day in a row?


texts: Cutting marbled pork without it falling apart

texts:
I have a pork butt that is seared quickly then simmered on the stove in marinade for hours. I like to choose very marbled pork because it's just so much juicier. Anyway, the pork turns out real nice, melt-in-your-mouth texture, the problem is it's really hard to cut a slice without it crumbling to pieces because it's so soft. (Yes, I did wait until it cools down to room temp)

Is there a way to solve this?


texts: Is it possible to whisk egg whites too much?

texts:
Just a though that I had today while whipping egg whites in the tabletop mixer.  Can you whisk them 'till they separate, curdle, develop off flavour, strange aroma or texture ?

Suppose they could cook from the generated heat if you'd whisk them for an hour or so, but I'm thinking more short term.


texts: I was looking at a Hellman's real mayonnaise jar with whole eggs and yolks, and the nutrition label says there are 0 grams of protein. How is that possible? Is this common for mayonnaise in general?


texts:
I've always been told that if you see air bubbles in canned food, you should treat it like toxic waste. Today I opened a can of tomatoes and saw a few air bubbles form along the edges of the can. Is this what I was warned about? Or are they talking about food that looks like it's fizzing or oozing out of the can?

Here's a picture. There were ~2-3x that many bubbles when I first opened the can.

Notes:

I didn't notice whether there was a sound of air escaping when I opened the can. It was noisy in the room.
The can hadn't been extensively shaken or agitated before opening.
If it's hard to tell from the picture, that's enough of an answer for me. I just want to know whether this even remotely resembles what the "air bubbles" warning is talking about, or if it's totally unrelated.


texts:
Was wondering if you had any go to resources for finding a commercial kitchen that is suitable for producing food for the public (licensed, insured, inspected, etc)?

I searched around this site but didn't see any good answers.  Not sure if this is too general a question for the site, please let me know if it is.


texts: What other cookies/biscuits were traditionally baked in shell shaped forms like this one?

texts:
This is an old form I got from my German mother-in-law, here in Southern Germany. It is 10 cm (~ 4 in) long and 5 cm (~ 2 in) wide at the widest part. From the double shell shape, it appears to be a madeleine mold. Were there any other uses that someone knows of?
And yes, I use it to make southern German "Bärentatzen" - or "bear paws". I am just wondering if there is another use or two out there, since it looks so much more like shells than like paws :)


texts:
I've noticed letters after the expiration date on milk bag tags.
Product: Neilson Milk Bag
Location: Canada
Please see the photos below. Sometimes there are letters after the expiration date and sometimes not. You can see the letters C, E and F after the expiration date in the example tags.
What is the meaning of the letters after the expiration date?

I've searched online and Canadian Food Inspection Agency website but couldn't find anything relevant.
I haven't noticed this in other products but the milk bag tags might be more noticeable. There are also extra numbers in some tags.


texts:
I spilled coffee on my counter top and it went under my microwave.  It did not appear to me that it went inside the unit at all.  When I went to use it several hours later there was obviously a problem.  When I opened the door the microwave started working, turn table started going and light on.  I could still set the timer and use it but I did not.  This continued for approximately 24 hours.  It now appears that everything is back to normal but I am a bit worried to use it.  Is it safe to use?

Please help this frightened Grandma!


texts: Alternative Binding Ingredient for Sugar in Flapjacks? (British style)

texts:
First, I'm talking about oat bars not pancakes.

The basic recipe for these flapjacks is that you get some oats with a little flour and chopped nuts. Then you melt together butter, sugar and golden syrup. You mix wet with dry and oven bake.

I'd like to reduce the amount of sugar being put in, without making the flapjacks more brittle and crumbly. I intend to try using honey, but does anyone have alternative suggestions? I'm not concerned that they wont be sweet enough because I primarily want a more savoury nut and oat taste.


texts:
A friend of mine told me she uses sumac (I am not sure she was teasing me, or what).
Is sumac used in cuisine? If it is used, what is it used for?


texts: Is there any particular reason why quiches are usually baked in a fluted tin, rather than in a regular straight-sided cake tin?


texts: How to remove film from stainless steel pan

texts:
I have an unsightly film around my stainless pan as shown here:

What is causing this to happen?

And how can I remove the film? I have soaked it in soapy water, scraped it with a plastic scraper, and run it in the dishwasher several times, but I can't seem to get rid of the film.

UPDATE: the pan is an All-Clad stainless, fully-clad frypan: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00005AL8C


texts:
Sometimes I like to eat some (15 to 20 pieces) uncooked and dry spaghetti from the store as a snack.

Still, I am worried a little about salmonella and other such things, so my question:

How safe is eating uncooked spaghetti?

Thank you


texts: What are some cheap types of meat that are suitable for a stir fry?

texts:
I'd like to start purchasing more meat from organic farming for my stir-frys, but the price level for high-tier cuts like chicken breast is almost unpayable, so I'd like to look into alternatives.

I don't care about which animal the meat is from, and it doesn't need to taste perfectly good or be 100% tender. What would be some cheap options that can reasonably be used in a stir-fry?


texts: What are the characteristics required for a liquid be considered milk?

texts: I know that the liquid from animal (cow, etc) are considered milk. But how do you know feature a liquid to appoint as milk? There's the vegetable liquids (soy, nuts, ...) which are also considered milks. What liquid needs to be a milk? the juice is a milk, for example?


texts:
I like to saute green beans.  In case it matters for answering, I saute them in canola oil and soy sauce.  I always end up with some of my green beans perfectly sauteed, some overdone and some not quite done. I sit there and stir them every 3 minutes or so while they are frying, but they never distribute evenly.

Short of constantly stirring for 30 minutes, is there a good trick to get them to all cook evenly?


texts: Minimal tasty preparation of raw chayote

texts:
I've got a couple of chayotes that I'd like to try raw. I've never had chayote before, but from what I've read, they're pretty bland when raw and require significant seasoning to be tasty.

How do you prepare raw chayotes minimally to make them tasty as a dish?


texts: Is my wok carbon steel (it is magnetic)and how do I proceed - seems I am ruining it

texts:
I found what appears to be a new wok at Goodwill.  It came with a lid that is very light with a wooden knob on the top and it seems to be aluminum.  The wok however is much heavier, with two side handles of metal that are welded/stuck to the wok.  The outside of the wok seems ribbed in texture and the inside shows the rib lines but is smooth.  There is absolutely no marking/stamp on the wok or the lid.  A magnet does stick to the wok so therefore it is steel of some sort.  There is no Teflon at all.  I went about the process of boiling water in it to help release the manufacturer's coating as it appeared new and there was a film/residue inside the wok.  I then scrubbed with a metal type scrubber (not brillo but similar).  The bottom got a duller spot/s on it.  I repeated the boiling and scrubbing while hot and I am getting brownish spots all over the inside of the wok that appear black when boiling water in it, and brown when empty and in the sink.  This was a new wok for sure.  I can still see some of the film and it is spotty and I can't seem to remove any more.  Do I go ahead and season it or should I still try to remove more film?  Is there an easier/better way to remove the remaining film?  Is it possible I ruined this wok because it was not carbon steel?  It has a round bottom.  Not sure how to proceed but went vegetarian years ago and almost vegan a few months ago and stir fry has become a staple in my diet.  Need help please.  thank you.

the thin film that was uniformly all over the inside of the wok, and is still there in a multitude of places, was almost sheer. It was not a seasoning like I see described on the web where people use oil and heat to put a colored coating on the wok. Did I ruin this wok? It had no instructions with it, no name on it or label, nothing. I just followed the advice on the web. I also dried it by hand and heated it up dry before leaving it be for the night so it would not rust. I don't see orange-brown rust. I see what appears to be more of a bare metal now.


texts: Is it safe to use plastic wrap in boiling water?

texts: While I've come across one or two recipes that call for using plastic wrap in pots of boiling water (for example, to cook eggs), I've always been a bit wary of putting the wrap in boiling water. Can someone confirm or deny whether it is safe (or a good idea) to put plastic wrap in boiling water?


texts: How to prevent liquids from spilling when pouring from measuring cup?

texts:
One problem I've had that I know others have too is when pouring from those Pyrex glass measuring cups. I just saw it happen in the Binging with Babish video:

Is there any good way to prevent this? I've tried pouring fast and slow, but it always seems to get liquid coming from the sides, thus making a mess.


texts:
I am planning to make a white or dark chocolate mudcake and take it from Australia to India in a month's time. I also need to ganache and fondant the cake either before or after the flight. So, I need all the tips and help to help me take the cake safely to India.

So, based on the following, I would be grateful for any tips to help me travel with the cake:

I will be baking a white or dark chocolate cake in Australia where it is currently winter and I'm taking the cake to India where it will be hot and humid. I cannot bake in India as they have no oven there and it is a single tier cake.
I want to ganache the cake and I am really really keen on doing that here in Australia as all my tools are here and its just easy to do it in my kitchen. I think it will be ok as far as the food-safety of ganache goes until I reach India as the temperatures should be cold to cool. Once I reach India, it will be in a warm temperature once I get out of the airport and probably till I reach home, about 1-2 hours.
I will be taking a couple of packets of fondant with me with the basic tools I require to cover the cake.

My ideas are:

Take the ganached cake with me in a hand luggage, like a cake carrier, but I have no idea if that's a good idea.
If I can't ganache the cake here, take the cake in the baking tin and ganache in India.
Design the cake so that if I take a ganached cake and the gaanche loses its smooth finish, the cake still looks good - pebble stone look on the fondant.

I hope this helps answering the question.


texts: Steeping green tea leaves - how many times can I steep them, and do they lose flavanoids over steeps?

texts:
I order my green tea leaves in small vacuum sealed baggies from China.  They are crumbled up, but expand out once they become saturated.  I typically use maybe half a teaspoon of these dried tea leaves, and I usually steep them around 5-7 times.  Each time I steep my leaves (I use a personal french press for this) and I pour the tea into my cup, the tea is colored (obviously).  The color of the tea never seems to fade between steeps.

2 questions:

When I pour my tea, if it's colored still, does that mean I am still getting flavanoids from the leaves?
How many times can I steep my tea before it starts to lose the flavanoids?


texts:
I have scoured the net looking for answers but I can’t find any.
I’ve been making the Keto King bread and in my bread machine it just doesn’t rise much. It ALWAYS tastes great but doesn’t rise much.
So I’ve tried various different suggestions; changing yeast, water temp, ingredient amounts, proofing times..
None have worked. Someone I know has the same machine as me and their bread came out huge, I did it step by step (I found out I also hadn’t put as much honey in either so I matched that - 7g instead of the 4 I had been putting in) and it still came out small.
So I’m totally confused as to why this bread just wine rise.
The bread I’m making is here
The recipe:
1.25 cups of vital wheat gluten (190g/6.7oz)
1/2 cup of oat fiber (41g/1.45oz)
2/3 cup of golden flaxseed meal (70g/2.46oz)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (2.5g/0.088oz)
1 tsp salt (6g / 0.21oz)
0 - 4 Tbsp powdered Sweetener (0g-60g/0oz-4oz : 30g/2oz is a good amount)
1 Tbsp active dry yeast (8g/0.28oz)

1 cup slightly warm water (23C - 25C / 73.4F - 77F) (240ml/8.1oz)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 tsp honey (7g/0.25oz)
2 Tbsp butter (30g/1.05oz)

Any help or suggestions would be amazing, thank you.


texts:
I'm Italian, now living in the US for some months.
As you may know we like pasta. I tried Barilla here, our best known pasta brand. Well.. the taste seems a little bit different to me.
It is actually produced here and not imported, so it could be different.
Looking at the Italian/US versions of the package there doesn't seem to be a big difference, except for the fact that the US version is enriched with vitamins (which shouldn't change the taste).
To dig deeper into the question and avoid any other factor (cooking water, sauce, subjectivity) I want to bring a box back to Italy and run a test with a panel (10 friends basically).

I would cook the same quantity of the same pasta shape of Barilla (ITA/USA) in the same pan (keeping them separated of course), so same water and same salt amount. Then same sauce (same quantity) for both.
Suppose A is the Italian pasta and B is the US pasta.

Now.. how should I give it to the participants? Same amount of A and B in a blind test and ask whether they are different or not? Maybe give to some participants A-A or B-B (always blind test). Or maybe give A first (which they already know, so not blind) and then give someone (blind this time) A or B again and ask which one they think it is..

Looking for suggestions. I want to be as scientific as possible.
I also contacted Barilla, who claim the pasta is exactly the same.
Thanks


texts:
I know it won't spoil; the spoil by date is next week. I'm cooking it in 48 hours (Friday Evening).

It'll rest in the lowest part of my fridge as well.

My marinade consists of vinegar and salt.

Thus the questions:

Is it possible to over marinade (New York Strip) steaks?
Is it possible for vinegar to chemically break down the steak too long?
What is the optimal amount of time for vinegar to breakdown the steak?


texts: Which emulsifer to use for low viscosity emulsions of 10-20% fat and water

texts:
I'd like to create low viscosity emulsions of between 10% to 20% fat and ~80% water, the hope was to have a viscosity somewhere around that of milk or cream. Slightly thicker could be ok as well but my goal is for it to be as thin and fluid as possible. I'd like the emulsion to be quite stable. I'll also add that this is for a dessert. The typical culinary emulsifiers we all have around like eggs seem to me to not produce particularly stable emulsions at low viscosity (basing my conclusions here on salad dressings). I have Methyl cellulose (which is my current best guess) and a number of other food additives from various projects but I've typically used those as part of specific recipes; I don't know how to use those as part of a creative project like this.
I'll add that I'd like to maximize flavor release and that this will be cold. I feel like aside from viscosity sauces thickened with various thickeners have different mouth feels to them. I've noticed kudzu root is more gummy than corn starch for instance and xanthum gum seems to be particularly gummy. I'd like to minimize that perceived gummyness however imperceptible it might be at low viscosity. Perhaps thats just my imagination.
What emulsifiers will give me the lowest viscosity and remain exceptionally stable in the fridge? I'm willing to buy stuff off of places like modernistpantry if need be.


texts: Must this Bhut Jolokia (ghost) powder actually be cooked?

texts:
I've recently purchased this powder after having a small sample of Bhut Jolikia (ghost) powder previously in a miniature powder selection received as a gift (that one didn't come with this warning). This one has this warning on the back of the packet: "Must be cooked before eating".

Is this warning just there to ward off carelessness with this very seriously hot powder? Or would there be an actual reason this powder must be part of some cooking process?


texts: What can I do to make sure plaice filet doesn't get dry?

texts:
I just cooked myself some plaice in both butter and oil. It didn't feel like I cooked it too long, but still the fish tasted pretty dry.

Is there something I can do or pay attention to in order to prevent this from happening?


texts: Is it safe to eat white rice that turned blue/purple in the fridge?

texts:
I left the rice overnight in the fridge and it smells fine, and a sample tasted fine but the color looks unappetizing. Is it safe to eat?

In response to the comments, it was warm and white when I put it in the fridge. Here is a photo that appears less colored than it was. At the bottom underneath it was all purple and blue: