texts:
I used a new cupcake recipe. It has raving reviews about how moist it is. Mine turned out moist but it's very crumbly. Any suggestions?

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (16-oz.) package light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended (about 5 minutes).
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate; beat until blended.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.
Gradually add hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla.


texts: How do I properly cut leafy herbs like basil?

texts: I often cut herbs to top off my dishes or as a core ingredient in salsa, sauces, guacamole, or any other similar use. For most purposes I would want a fine chop but in some cases more of a strip is called for to top or garnish.  What type of knife should I use and how should I cut it?  I'm most interested in the techniques associated with efficiency and safety.


texts: How many peppercorns to a 2 litre Beef Casserole?

texts: In slow cooking I would like to know the amount of peppercorns to add to a meat stew or casserole please, I don't like it too peppery.


texts: Why/when would grapes (and other fruits) have better flavor/texture when served chilled?

texts:
I thought fruit would be more flavorful if served at room temperature. However, recently I had the opposite experience with a bunch of grapes. I'm wondering "why?"

I bought a bunch of unrefrigerated, room-temperature, grapes at the local market. I tried eating them right away, but was very disappointed by the texture and flavor: mushy, and not very sweet. I thought the grapes were from a bad batch, or had been out too long (in the sun?). Or maybe the grapes needed seeds to be flavorful (I think these grapes were bred to be missing the normally huge, bitter seeds).

Anyways, I put the grapes in the refrigerator. A few days later, I was surprised by the totally different texture and flavor when chilled. They had the more solid texture I had originally expected, as well as the sweet grape flavor. There was a tangy/tart flavor that had originally been missing when I ate them unchilled.

Can anyone explain my recent experience? Usually when I try the same fruit before refrigeration and afterwards, the unchilled fruit tastes much better, or at least the same (with peaches, for example). I think I've even eaten room-temperature grapes without a loss in flavor.

The exact type of grape I was eating were Kyoho grapes ("Geobong" grapes in Korean)


texts: Does anyone know the name of this Mexican Breakfast / Brunch dish?

texts:
I remember eating this delicious breakfast while traveling a long time ago and since it was a to go order, I never really remembered the name.

The dish had eggs (scrambled style) mixed with rice. There may have been tortilla chips but I don't remember if they were mixed or on the side.

There may have been other ingredients and I can't remember them but if someone can point them out it may jog my memory.


texts:
I am planning to have my first attempt at making sushi by myself in a few days. Right now, I am still struggling with the rice and it's cooking. Many recipes/tutorials call for a rice cooker which I don't own, so I can only cook the rice in a pan on top of my stove.

I know this also can be done and the results can be quite good, but what is the best method for this? What ratio of water : rice should I use, how long should I cook the rice and at what temperature? How long should the rice rest? Anything I really have to take care of in general while cooking?

Cheers


texts: How long can deep fried chicken kebab be stored in freezer not fridge

texts:
How long a kabab of following mixture that
Tomatoes,onions, lemon and minced chicken be stored in freezer rigth after deep frying it to maintain its taste and free of bacteria


texts:
Can you point me to some good source where I can find exact food category of a food item.
Example;

Homestyle Potato Salad -> food|deli|ready_to_eat_meals|prepared_deli_salads|potato_salad
V/K Veggie Egg Rolls -> food|frozen_food|frozen_snacks|frozen_egg_rolls

There are many foods which are straightforward, but there are some which creates confusion.
For example, where should "Pre-Sliced Barbecue Chicken Breast" should go ?


texts: How to avoid herbs getting burnt in the oven

texts:
I was making baked pita chips as a healthy snack. What I do is mix olive oil and a dried herb seasoning blend, spread that on the pita bread, cut it into triangles and put them in the oven at 400 F for 7 min (I got the temperature and the time from an online recipe).

What always happens is that the herb blend gets burnt black and the chips get done perfectly. I tried reducing the time in the oven, but that just results in chewy rather than crispy chips.

I thought I could add the herb blend after the chips get done by sprinkling it on the chips, but it always falls off when I store it.

How can I get the pita bread to become crispy while not burning the herbs?My instinct would be to reduce the temperature of the oven, and bake for longer, but by how much?

Also, I had the oven on the 'Bake' setting instead of 'Broil' would that make a difference?


texts: What exactly is 'osobaya sayanskaya' in House of Cards S03E03?

texts:
In the S03E03 of House of Cards, the Russian president brings this vodka for the US president. Is this real or just a made up vodka since I couldn't find any results on google.
Cheers!


texts: Looking for meal-planning / grocery list software

texts:
I'm looking for software (either PC-based, or web-based) that can be used for meal planning and generating shopping lists. What I'd like is for it to store recipes that I have, including their ingredients. At the beginning of the week, I would like to select recipes and side dishes for dinners and have it generate a shopping list of things necessary for those recipes. A nice feature would be for it to calculate calories, fat content, etc., for the week.

Is there such a thing out there?

Thanks.


texts: Fermentation Brine Percentage and Tannins

texts:
This is probably a 2 part question.

When determining how much salt to add to my brine... what is the best method? Is the percentage based on the weight of the veggies or is it the weight of the water into which the veggies will be fermenting?
Where the heck can I find things like grape leaves, oak leaves, etc to add tannins to keep my veggies crisp?

Edit:
So... to further clarify... would it be "advisable" to determine how much water I need to cover my X grams of "things to be fermented"... the weigh that water and calculate salt percentage... or, can I just take 1L of water... weigh that... calculate my salt... then cover what's in the vessel?


texts: What does adding water during the cooking process do to a curry?

texts:
I am learning how to make chicken tikka masala. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_weLAzB1nFk.

In this video he adds water many times to the curry. Many of the other videos I watched I did not see them do this.

What is the effect of the water? Does it prevent the ingredients from burning, and then cook off by itself? Doesn't it dilute the flavor? If the heat is too high, can you reduce the heat and forgo using the water?


texts:
What role do eggs play in baking?
Why do we use eggs in cake baking?


texts:
I work at a busy bar and every Thursday we have mojitos for $5. I am curious if there is some sort of way that we can pre make some of the drink to make the preparation easier and faster.
Thanks!!!


texts: How to keep vegetables and herbs fresh for longer?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to Store Fresh Herbs
  How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?

Due to my lifestyle it's hard to tell in advance whether I will be cooking during some weeks. I love food though, and when I get back home after being away (or some weeks I just don't have the time), the food is not as fresh (we're talking about 3-7 days).

What are the best tips for prolonging freshness of vegetables and herbs? I'm not asking about meat or fish, because I presume the only way to store those is to freeze them, which I don't do, though refrigerators – I tolerate.

Can ingredients be grouped according to how it should be stored?

Edit: I live in Eastern Europe. Continental climate, mild. For most of the year humidity isn't a concern.


texts: What Can I Make in a Rice Cooker Besides Rice?

texts: I received a rice cooker as a gift. I like to know if anything else I can done with it other than, cook rice. you have some ideas?


texts: Are there any dishes that utilize burnt garlic?

texts:
I was reading a question and in it, burnt garlic was a topic in which the answerer said that burnt (very brown, not black) garlic is bitter. They went on further to say that any dish with burnt garlic is ruined, and you should throw it out and begin anew. I was first curious if there was any way to save the dish (a couple sources said no), but I was then curious as to dishes that utilize that burnt flavor.

I know a lot of dishes like to capitalize on the most bitter aspect (I know a few with bitter gourds), so I'd like to see if this is something that can be capitalized on.

Do dishes exist that capitalize on the "burnt" flavor (very brown, not actually blackened burnt) of overcooked garlic?

Note: I wasn't sure about the closability of this. If it's off-topic, please let me know and I'll delete it.


texts: How much salt and pink salt do I need for pork sausage?

texts:
How much salt and pink salt (in grams) do I need for 50kg of pork sausages?

I have worked out for 50kg of pork meat I will need 1200g of salt and 155g of pink salt. Is this correct?


texts:
I bought some pork sausage and baked them in my oven.  The taste was good but the sausage casing were a bit hard to chew.

Should I remove casings before I bake sausages?


texts: 3 day old steak turning brown from the inside out

texts: I have a 10oz. steak I cut 3 days ago. It was stored on peach paper, which is oxygenated. It is beginning to brown from the inside out. The exterior is fine, no slime, no odour. But when cooked, it looked medium well at 120*F. It also tasted dry. I get that age would make it dry. I`m just wondering why it is browning on the inside. Any ideas what would cause this?


texts:
I would like to know what to use and how much, in place of flour to thicken the sauce in the following recipe and make it keto.
This is the full recipe:

2 Tbsp butter
1 small yellow onion, diced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless breasts sliced into 1/2 inch filets
1 cup half and half
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 oz coarsely chopped spinach
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting (more). When the display reads HOT add in the butter. Once the butter is melted add in the onions and saute for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add in the chicken broth, garlic powder, pepper and salt. Stir. Add in the mushrooms (if using) and chicken.
Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 6 minutes (this is the cooking time for the 1/2 inch pieces of chicken breast, if they are thicker than that you may need more time). Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and then move the valve to “venting.”
Remove the lid.  Use tongs to place the chicken on a platter. Loosely cover with foil. Turn the Instant Pot to the saute setting. Warm the half and half up in a pyrex measuring cup for 45 seconds in the microwave. Whisk the flour into the half and half until it’s smooth. Whisk the mixture into the Instant Pot. This will thicken up the sauce in a few minutes. Add in the parmesan cheese. Add in the spinach. Salt and pepper to taste. If using pasta, drain any water off of the pasta and stir into the pot.


texts: How to use meat from bones when making stock

texts:
The scenario is that I am starting with very meaty chicken bones/carcass. I want to get the most out of my bones. I know that stock does not usually need very meaty bones, but doesn't suffer from it either. I am thinking of doing the following:

Starting my stock per usual, adding my raw very meaty chicken parts.
Simmering for one hour. Then skimming before removing the stock from the burner, and carefully/slowly as to disturb it as little as possible, removing the bones/meat. Cleaning the meat from them.
Skimming the stock again, then carefully returning the bones to it, bringing it back to the heat and simmering per usual.

Meanwhile, I would take the meat I salvaged and either make a soup, casserole or some other dish with it. Later, I would use bones up to three times mixing used bones with unused bones until they are spent.

Is there another method for this? Basically I am trying to figure out how to reuse the bones and salvage as much as possible from the chickens I buy.


texts: Essenial cookware/utensils to buy from scratch for sustanence in the US?

texts:
I am a guy from India going to settle in the US(Houghton, MI) for higher education for a period of 2 years.
I have been bombarded by a variety of stereotypes for cooking (You won't get this and that in the US, etc).

Since my university is located in such a remote area, I don't think there would be any shops selling cookware/utensils locally. So I have to rely on Amazon/Walmart only.

So my cardinal question is, for a student creating his kitchen from scratch, what are the essentials that should be bought and from where i.e. locally or online.

I am not going to recreate Indian food there, rather would be interested in learning local cuisine and preparing the food prepared in households in the US.

I would also like get some advice on this topic i.e. whether I should bring some utensils from India or I can totally rely on Amazon/Walmart for my cooking needs?

PS: I am getting an oven and an electric stove in the apartment I would be living in.
Sorry if this question is off-topic here, please redirect me to the correct location.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How to succeed with making omelette

Omelets continue to elude me... It appears to be such a simple concept, but I always end up making scramble eggs with the mushrooms and cheese. Here's what I do

Mix egg and milk
Pour into skillet on low-med heat, and it fills the entire bottom
let it cook a little, then throw on the extras (mushroom, or meat and blackbean)

Then it goes awry... i see uncooked egg so I'm hesitant to fold it over, and if I leave it to cook i'm scared of burning the egg. I'll eventually fold it with runny egg, then i think to flip the whole thing to cook it some more and then i breaks apart. or i'll watch it then it gets really questionable in the area of over-cooked, so I mash it up into scrambled eggs..

What should I be doing? Any tricks or secrets to the basic task of making an omelet?


texts: What styles of barbeque exist in American cuisine?

texts:
I'm originally from the Michigan thus i don't know much about barbeque due to the lack of barbeque establishments.

From my understanding (correct me if i'm wrong), there are several regional variations or styles of BBQ in the US. Each of type is defined by a BBQ technique or method: Texas (Brisket style), St. Louis, etc.

Thus my question; what other types of BBQ currently exist and what defines it?


texts:
Someone I know really likes cheese, so in lieu of any other ideas, and because there is a local market having a cheese event in the near future, I'm considering getting him cheese as a gift.

The trouble is, I'm not quite sure what cheeses make good/bad gifts, for example is it highly perishable, how much is an appropriate amount, which cheeses are actually impressive and worth pushing the boat out a bit for?

(I'm aware this isn't a perfect fit for this board, however of the Stack Exchange website this was the most appropriate)


texts: How can I bake crunchy chocolate chip cookies?

texts: Since I'm British, I'm used to biscuits that are crisp, dry and crunchy all the way through, with no soft chewy centre. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes are trying to do the exact opposite. How can I bake chocolate chip cookies with a more British texture? Essentially, I want the exact opposite to the answers to this question.


texts: How is baby bok choy cooked in Shanghai?

texts: During many business trips to Shanghai I often had baby bok choy that was served in a thin (unthickened), pale yellow sauce or broth - common in restaurants in Shangai.  Very delicious!  What kind of sauce would this be?  It had a nice flavor, but not distinctly lemony or chicken-brothy or anything I could identify. And how can I cook it this way?    Thanks!


texts: What tasks require or work best with a knife point?

texts:
Most kitchen knives have pointed tips. I can imagine trying to improve safety (e.g. if they're accidentally dropped) by rounding the tip. For example, a paring knife might look like the one on the right instead of the one on the left:

But I wonder what is lost on the culinary side? I cannot think of a recipe where the tip is essential. Usually when I need a pointy thing a fork works better than the tip of a knife. Certainly there are knives with less pronounced tips such as the Santoku stye knife and carving knife.

The first has a less pronounced tip but could still cut through your shoe. The second had a rounded tip but is a more specialized kind of knife.
Imagine you don't have any knives with pointed tips. What tasks become more of a hassle to accomplish?


texts:
I use the chocolate chip recipe on the bag but double the vanilla and add more chips than called for. I also add a bit more flour.   What I want to achieve is that old time chocolate chip cookie that is chewy flat and wide.  Can you offer a suggestion.  I still would use more chips and vanilla unless that might cause a problem.
I am so glad I came apon your sight.


texts: Keeping the bubbles in sparkling gelatin desserts

texts: I've had a few attempts to make gelatin desserts (jelly if your English) using sparkling wine. While I get the flavour of the wine coming through I struggle to keep the bubbles. Is there a technique for doing this?


texts:
Am getting sick of adding the wine, then waiting for it to reduce, then adding the broth and waiting for it to reduce, and then adding the butter and waiting for it to do its job thickening...

Actually instead of wine I'm using vermouth because it lasts longer in the fridge.  And I'm using a whole milk/corn starch slurry instead of butter because it's lower in fat.  But above is the general idea.

So, noticing a bottle of barbecue sauce in my fridge and how easy that is to use, I'm now looking for guidelines on how long I can keep pan sauces I make this way, any tips on how to prepare them so they last longer in the fridge?

Barbecue sauce has vinegar in it, that because of it's acidity, is supposed to make that sauce last longer.  But my pan sauces have wine in them that should help longevity?

I know Wikipedia is no expert on cooking, but I noticed on the demi-glace page they claim that stuff lasts 6 months in the fridge or almost indefinitely frozen.  It can't possibly last that long, can it?


texts: When a recipe calls for Wine, does it make a difference what wine to use?

texts: In other words does it make a difference in the event that a recipe calls for a Red wine you use a Merlot, Cabernet, Shiraz ect..?


texts:
I have used the same pound cake recipe in the same pan for years.  The last two times I made it; the cake was a hot mess.  The cake overflowed the pan onto my my freshly cleaned oven.  It was very giggly.  I continued to cook it, and when finally done, it sank.

6 large eggs
1 cup butter
1 cub buttermilk
3 cups all purpose flour
1.2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1.4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat butter, then add sugar, add eggs one at a time and beat for one minute after each/scrap sides, add lemon peel, juice, and vanilla, add flour and buttermilk alternately, start and end with flour.  Bake 55-60 minutes at 350 degrees.


texts: How to get rid of the bitterness in home-made mustard

texts:
BASE FOR Q:
I took 2:1 yellow, black mustard ratio, i dry-grounded only yellow part. Mixed all together. Made brine 1:1 apple cider vinegar/water. Added sugar and salt to taste a poured this liquid over the above metioned mustard mix. Let it soak.
It tasted bitter. I read billion of opinions. After week I got upset and just spread the entire batch in 1cm layer over big tray and let it breathe for 3 days. It did mellow big time. I put it into glass and it did mellow further over next months.
I wanted hot mustard so no cooking. Cooking makes mustard not hot.
Q:
Is it just time and air, or is there anything else and better scientific with explanations, what mellows and finally removes bitterness in homemade mustard?
How are theese super hot mustards made wiyhout being bitter at all?
EDIT: Superhot is when you dont cook the mustard at all, or for just a short time.


texts: What is the difference between traditional Mexican cooking and Tex-Mex?

texts:
Most Americans (including myself) have grown up on Tex-Mex thinking it was traditional Mexican cooking. I was able to eat traditional Mexican (I thought) at a small cafe in downtown Denver. It was delicious and savory.

My question is what is traditional and what is Tex-Mex? What spices are used, etc?

I see sour cream, cheese, etc., in Tex-Mex but the traditional was a taco platter, stewed meat or meat in a sauce, a bit of garnish but absolutely delicious! Simple but great flavor. Thanks!

(To clarify my statement to avoid confusion, I like Tex-Mex but the "traditional" Mexican I believe I experienced was delicious, simple and different. I was seeking spices used to differentiate, ingredients used in traditional and not used, and example dishes)


texts: Which part of a cow does UK "frying steak" come from?

texts:
UK supermarkets often sell cuts of meat with ambiguous names that don't resemble the cuts on a butchery diagram:

Where would I find frying steak on that?


texts:
Generally I have heard that most recipes are designed for baking in metal dishes. I have also heard that glass will get hotter than metal, and thus I should cook it at a lower temperature for longer.

Does anyone know whether these statements are true? Am I going to burn the edges if I leave it at the same temperature? What is the truth behind this?


texts: These metal tubes are open on one side and hang from the handle suggesting a frying use?


texts: What's the difference between orange extract and orange blossom water?

texts: I bought some extract for dessert making and got the blossom water on a whim, since it was right next to it on the shelf. The blossom water smells a little sharper, but they both taste the same straight and I haven't played around with them enough to get a gut instinct on which one goes in what. What's the base difference between the two and how they're used?


texts: What is the name of the sauce served with fried rice in Indian restaurants

texts:
I have noticed a lighter sauce like liquid (watery) with green chilies cut in it served along with fried rice in Indian restaurants. It tastes slightly like soya, and has visible round pieces of cut green chilies in it. (It's definitely not mint chutney.)

Does anyone know the name of that sauce?


texts: What is the difference between using nibs or liquor for making chocolate bars?

texts: For making chocolate bars. Nibs or liquor, why use one over the other?


texts: Problem with crepe batter collecting on spreader

texts: Ok so here’s the deal, I’ve already read the thread someone else posted about “how can I spread crepe batter before it cooks”. I’m having a different issue and I’m at my wits end. Here’s what I’m using... Krampouz CEBIR4 crepe griddle, wooden spreader, Krampouz round greaser, 14” long thin steel spatula, 230°C (445°F), griddle HAS been pre seasoned as per Krampouz instruction, using exact krampouz sweet crepe recipe AND have also tried the Pancake-world.com French crepe recipe (both from scratch and made to the exact recipe method including resting in refrigerator). After a lite greasing of the surface I pour the batter on and as soon as the batter hits the griddle the first problem begins which is an almost boiling of the batter. Then upon attempting to spread with the spreader, the batter litterally collects on the spreader creating an impossible to spread clumped mess. Yes the batter is smooth before I begin and yes the spreader was resting in hot water before I begin. This happens every single time. I’ve attempted to adjust the temp down... no change. Attempted to add more milk...same result. If I’m following every last detail about this process to the letter, why in the hell is the batter sticking to the spreader??? Oh and yes I tried a steel spreader too... same result. No I am not pressing down on the spreader. Trying to cover all comments people are going to ask me. Anyway, someone please help. Thanks.


texts: What changes can I make to a bread recipe to prevent it collapsing when rising overnight in fridge?

texts:
I'm trying to rise bread overnight in the fridge and sometime it collapses.

What changes could I try in the recipe to try to stop this from happening? I think I need to retard the yeast action (I'm using fast-acting) but I'm not sure if I should add or remove salt, sugar, or use less yeast. Do I need to add another agent to control this process?

I want to make good loaves overnight and bake them in the morning. If I could I'd leave them in the oven overnight and use the built-in timer, but I suspect that's not going to work at all (aside from it definitely over-proving it'd be the same as putting it into a cold oven then switching it on).

Update: The Recipe...

650g strong white bread flour
10g salt
5g sugar
15g soft butter
7g sachet easy bake yeast
400ml warm water; 1 part boiling 2 parts cold

In summary, it calls for baking it at 230c (no mention of fan ovens), and claims that it's suitable for overnight rising. It's a single rise method.


texts: Seasoning advice for seitan to replicate gyro meat

texts:
I am looking for a seasoning recipe to flavor seitan so that it tastes like gyro.

I have tried products on the market but all have been disappointing. The most successful recipe I have tried is the vegan gyro at the Chicago Diner in Chicago.

Has anyone made this? Any tips on how to get that salty savory depth of flavor?


texts: I'm going to be grilling some asparagus which I have never done before.  How long should I be having them on the grill so that they're not all mushy and soft?  Is there something I should be doing to them beforehand to help them retain their crunchyness?


texts: I forgot to boil the milk before I added rose milk essence in it. Could I boil now? I have been keeping the mix in the refrigerator for 5 hours now. I am not sure could I boil the milk now or not.


texts: How to reduce the chewiness of fruit leather

texts:
I have found out quite a lot on fruit leathers.  I have researched on Google about them but from my research it appears everyone loves the fact they're nice and chewy and I can't find any website which explains why they're chewy.

My issue is, when I do them with passion fruit, they are far too chewy (as in they get stuck in your teeth). The only other ingredient I use is the fruit and sugar, but I do let it reduce in a pan first.

How can I make the fruit leather less chewy?


texts: How can I know if it's worth cooking a Very Old (10 Years) Chili Bean Mixture Containing Red Kidney Beans?

texts:
I had 24-oz. bags of chili mix beans that consist of red kidney beans, navy beans, cranberry beans, and black beans, and which have been stored in our pantry in their original, unopened, plastic bag packages since I purchased them about 10 years ago. I just tried to prepare half (about 12 oz.) of one of the packages by:

Rinsing them thoroughly and repeatedly in a strainer,
Soaking them in plenty of water in a metal pot in my refrigerator for approximately 48 hours,
Draining off the soak water, and rinsing the beans in three to five batches of fresh water,
Boiling for a total of two to four hours, adding water as needed
Letting sit in the hot pot on the stove a while,
Another hour of boiling time
Adding 1/2 tsp of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to the pot of boiling beans during the last 10 minutes of that,
Another hour of boiling time, bringing the total number of hours the beans have boiled to four to six hours,

I decided to stop after testing a kidney bean and other smaller beans for softness again, and discovering that, although the bean skins started dissolving off of the beans after I added sodium bicarbonate to the bean and water mixture, the interior of the beans were still hard.

I have learned that very old beans, may never be cooked to softness due to chemical changes that have occurred within the beans's cell structures.  However, some people on the Internet advise that very old, dried beans can be cooked to a soft texture if, when you are soaking them prior to cooking them, you add 3/8 to 1/2 tsp of sodium bicarbonate to the soak water.  One person also said that, if your beans are very, very old, you may also have to add sodium bicarbonate to the cooking water.  I also learned that, if your cooking water is very hard, you will probably have to add sodium bicarbonate in order to be able to cook your beans to softness.

I have decided to throw away these long-boiled beans, as I am now convinced that they must be so old that they will never soften up, something I have read about during my Internet search.  However, I am wondering if I can salvage the remaining 1 1/2 bags of the same chili bean mixture by soaking the rinsed beans in water to which I have added sodium bicarbonate.  Maybe soaking them in sodium bicarbonate water for a very long time, say 24-28 hours, will work, whereas just boiling them in sodium bicarbonate water wasn't good enough.

Do you think trying this again but soaking the beans in sodium bicarbonate water prior to cooking could work?

I'm also concerned that red kidney beans must boil for a minimum of 10 - 15 minutes, and better yet, for 30 minutes, just to be on the safe side, in order to break down and rid them of the toxins that can make one very gastrointestinally ill.  If you have boiled red kidney beans for more than 30 minutes, yet the interiors of the beans are still hard, are they safe to eat, or are the toxin levels in them still too high?  In other words, are kidney beans safe to eat after they have boiled for a minimum of 30 minutes, no matter what, or do they still have high levels of toxins as long as the interiors seem uncooked because they are still hard?


texts: Why do you need to cool the filling of a meat pie before adding to the pastry?

texts:
Sometimes I don't have time to cool the mixture before adding to my pastry but I can't see a major difference in outcome - the pastry does seem to be a bit more soggy when the mixture is not cooled first.

I'd love to know the specific reasoning behind it.


texts: How to cool 8 liters of cooking oil quickly for transport and disposal

texts:
I am running a small market stall where I have a Winco EFS-16 Fryer which holds 8L of oil.

Since I have to be out of the park about 1 hour after we turn off the equipment, what is the fastest  and safest way to transfer and dispose of the oil after we turn off the fryer?

The fryer does not have an easy way to drain oil, so I would have to spoon it out, or pickup the inner pan out of the fryer and pour the cooled oil into a metal container or funnel into a drum of some kind. It then has to be cool enough to carry in my car and disposed in a commissary.


texts:
I made rice cakes for my toddler: rice, quinoa, shredded potato, eggs, bread crumbs, cheese  onions, corn and cilantro.

If I wanted them to hold together better would it be advisable to add water or egg? To avoid an eggy flavor do I use the yolk or whites?

Thanks


texts: Food to bring to work and heat with a microwave

texts: As I'll be soon moving from a small town in which I can come back home for lunch everyday to a bigger city in which it would be best to bring lunch from home to work, I was wondering: do you know some good recipes that are easy to transport and also are microwave-able or reheatable?


texts:
The Chinese technique of velveting works. It creates a lusciously tender bit of meat, and I'm a complete advocate of making the small additional effort. If you've ever done it, you're already a believer, it's amazing. (I usually do it this way BTW)

I'm velveting shrimp as I type this, and once again I am wondering what is taking place. How does this work? At its simplest, velveting is nothing but marinating in egg and starch. How does that translate into lovely, tender pieces of all types of meat?

EDIT: A little history here would be interesting too. How long ago and how did this technique start?


texts: How can goat milk be prepared to reduce the 'hairy' after taste it has?

texts: I have bought goat milk as an alternative to cow milk. Others and myself say that there is a strong 'hairy' after taste which makes it less pleasant. Adding sugar does not dilute/reduce that taste. Is there any way of preparing it or adding something to it to make this after taste softer?


texts: Are kidney beans that split and wrinkle during soaking process safe to consume?

texts:
After 5 hours of soaking I find my dried kidney beans' skin wrinkled and some split in two, however my main concern is phytohaemagglutinin and the fact now that some beans are split open and lost their skin (shell) microbes have access to inside.

Safe as in not causing any illnesses, upset stomach and life threatening situations.


texts: Should vacuum sealed food be exposed to air when thawing?

texts:
Must food packaged and vacuum sealed be exposed to air while thawing?

I seal chicken or fish in a vacuum bag. I freeze the same. I transfer to the refrigerator to thaw with the expectation of cooking sous vide. Should I cut the vacuum bag while thawing and then reseal after thawed?

My fish monger's policy always is to thaw so the product is exposed to air, saying that salmonella grows only in a vacuum.


texts:
I have seen so many of these cheeses but I don't know how to cook or eat them.

I am new to Europe, and have never seen this in my country of origin before.

Could you tell me how to cook the cheeses? Is it just a matter of cutting and eating?

By looking around, it sounds like this is called Gouda Cheese (but I am not sure)


texts: Cooking one-handed: things to watch out for

texts:
I'm temporarily without the use of my left, non-dominant, hand (broken shoulder after a bike crash). Obviously my cooking will be rather limited but I still want to make some home made food. What should I be careful of?

I'm mainly thinking of main meals - baking is right out. For example a veggie chilli. Safety is my main concern, but I wouldn't want to be stuck with something I couldn't move half cooked.

Some things I've thought of:

plan how to avoid moving heavy dishes
don't reckon on chopping hard veg, or veg that rolls (buy frozen ready-chopped etc. when possible)
everything will take longer

But I'm sure I've missed a lot, the question is what.


texts: Can I grill a chicken/turkey breast in the night and eat it 12:00 and 18:00?

texts:
First of all, I'm sorry for my English, I'm not fluent.

I'm on a diet where I can eat only chicken breast and ground muscle (don't know the right word for this but I tried) as the meat (and fish, but I don't like it). Since I work like 10 hours a day and I don't come home for lunch, I have to take my food to the work. So I usually cook the meal at night and I have lunch for like 2 days.

But when I tried to grill the chicken, the taste wasn't very nice. The only condiment I'm using is salt. So, here is my question: can I grill a chicken breast at night and eat it at 12:00pm and 18:00pm? Are there any risks of getting food poisoning or something like that?

BTW, can someone give me some tips about maintaining the chicken/turkey breast in the refrigerator (and not in freezer)?


texts:
I like the taste and consistency of danactive drinkable yogurt. Google searches on making drinkable yogurt suggests adding water or milk to store bought "set" yogurt. Another said to use kefir and just blend in fruits for flavoring.

There was one post on how to make drinkable yogurt from scratch:

  For making the stirred yogurt or the drinking yogurt we need to make some changes to the process for a less firm texture.

  The use of different strains and balances in your yogurt culture will change the texture of the final product.
  Less initial heating of the milk (170-185F) will be another major control point, as well as little to no hold time in at that temperature before cooling. Lower temp and time will result in less changes in the whey proteins and thus less linking of these for a thinner yogurt.
  Stirring of the yogurt part way through the final cooling stage (at 65-70F) will break up the firm yogurt texture into a much looser mass. The fruit and other additions can be added at this point.
  Finally, the yogurt should be cooled to its final temperature of 36-39F.  http://www.cheesemaking.com/yogurtplus.html

I've tried adding water to set yogurt and that taste pretty nasty, At the consistency I like, it tasted more like yogurt flavored water. No tartness, not sweetness, just ugh... Am I doing something wrong, or is that what I'm going to end up with if I want really liquidy yogurt? Will any of the other methods be better for what I'm looking for?


texts: Do some breeds of chicken have particularly red meat when cooked?

texts:
Tonight, my friend and I ordered a fried chicken special at a restaurant with a local food theme. It was a great dish.

Both of us got very pink chicken. I am pretty sure that my plate had three drumsticks. Upon noticing the color, my colleague returned the dish to be more thoroughly cooked. I did not return mine, since last week I read the USDA fact sheet on poultry preparation. It says that temperature and not color should be used to test for safety, and that cooked poultry can be pink - especially when young. As I kept eating, I came across meat that was quite dark red - this was probably the pinkest chicken I have ever eaten. Other than the color, the texture and color of the meat did not seem raw.

I have a few questions:

Might the exceptional color be due in part to the breed (e.g. are there heritage breeds that have exceptionally red meat)?
Should I have been concerned (since I did not have a thermometer) (and should I have sent my chicken back?)
Is undercooked (pink) chicken more likely to be unsafe than undercooked (pink) beef? (Answers to previous questions seem to provide give conflicting answers: "no" as discussed in Why isn't it safe to eat raw chicken?; "yes" as discussed in Is it safe to prepare Chicken Tartare?)


texts: Is there a low tyramine substitute for tamari?

texts:
Help replacing miso and tamari for health reasons

I am a non-junk-food-vegan for health reasons.  Technically I'm "whole foods plant based" (WFPB).  It basically means I stay away from animal products and processed foods (like oils and sugars).  When our family made this change, some of us experienced remission of serious conditions  (like: hypothyroidism, anemia, angina with cardiovascular disease, and one is just beginning to fight diabetes and obesity with the lifestyle. So far so good.--You go Sis!)

But one health problem I had remained: headaches.  Then I discovered I had a sensitivity to tyramine.  Poof!  Headaches and brain fog gone!    But, avoiding tyramine has pushed me to avoid nuts, seeds and anything aged.  Aged ingredients, like many cheeses, vinegar, tofu, dried fruit, are very high tyramine.

I've been able to substitute for some high tyramine items:

• allspice for nutmeg

• lemon juice for vinegar (ok in small amounts)

• butternut squash for sweet potatoes

• very fresh bananas for fully ripe bananas

• blended cannellini beans for tofu (in sauces)

BUT... many of the recipes I have call for aged ingredients to provide that awesome savory/umami taste.  (Tamari and miso for example.)

I have considered substituting Redmond's Real Sea Salt and liquid smoke for tamari.

Is there another (non-nut-based) seasoning that would help?

NOTA BENE:  I know I haven't said what I am using the tamari for. I'm just looking for some ideas to keep on hand.  Tamari and miso would usually be added to bean soups, mushroom gravies, dry-sautéed onions, hummus, or even a savory oatmeal with spinach. (Scrumptious--who knew!)


texts: How long does breakdown of collagen etc. take for sirloin cooked sous vide?

texts:
I want to cook a sirloin steak cut (2cm thick?) sous vide.
Based on my preference for medium-rare and some prior experiences with beef at 60 C, I will put it at 55 C.

How long would it need to break down collagen? Will it ever break down? The reason I am asking is that I see higher temperatures referred when collagen breakdown is discussed.


texts: I tried making feta cheese yesterday. I used a mesophilic culture from a well-known cheese supply house and it doesn’t have the “bite” I like with feta. The company I ordered my original kit from is no longer in business. What culture is recommended for a feta cheese, or what did I do wrong?


texts: What are some good substitutes for salt for those on low sodium diets?

texts:
I try to keep my sodium intake fairly low to ensure that my blood pressure doesn't get too high.

Salt is such a common part of cooking, and it's especially difficult to cook Asian-style food without a lot of salt due to its reliance on salty sauces such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, etc.

I have tried salt substitutes such as potassium chloride but that can be particularly nasty on the palate, giving the food a chemical taste.

What are some good substitutes for salt in food?


texts: I'm a big Heston Blumenthal fan and I'd like to try one of his recipes, which requires pop rocks. The problem is that I live in Brazil and nobody seems to have heard about pop rocks and I really don't know where to get it. Any suggestions for a replacement?


texts: Do I need clarified butter to make mac-n-cheese?

texts: Ok, someone mentioned Mac-n-Cheese. Which led me to a mornay sauce. Which requires a bechamel. Leading to roux. Dropping me on the doorstep of clarified butter.  I haven't ever used or made it.  Is there a reasonable way to make it?  Can I make a huge batch and keep it forever? Should I even bother for a mac-n-cheese?


texts:
I just got myself a pressure cooker, one of those modern ones with both "sautee inside the cooker" functions.

The problem is I'll be cooking pretty much for myself, and that most recipes I saw are for 4-6 people. The pressure cooker itself looks like it's meant to be used for no less than 1 portion.

My question is, would halving/thirding/quartering the recipe still be alright with these huge pressure cookers? I imagine with less water, the meats will be less likely to be covered fully, and things like that. Would the pressure just magically take care of everything, and cook things evenly?


texts: How to avoid too hot pan that causes fire

texts:
I've start cooking large batches of food on Sunday in preparation for the week.
One item is cooking chicken at a high temperature on my cast iron skillet until it is cooked through. Last night as I removed the first batch to put on the next I added some oil as it was needed. It'll probably come as no surprise that the skillet became alight with a grease fire.

How can I avoid this in the future?
Would it be best to let the skillet completely cool, add oil then, and cook the next batch? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance.


texts:
There’s a Phillipino grocery in our neighborhood that specializes in seafood. They sometimes have beautiful heads-on shrimp. I’ve no doubt that they’ve been frozen, then thawed, as we’re in the middle of a landlocked desert. It’s hard to resist them, though, as they’re only $6.99 a pound, compared with $9.99 a pound for frozen shrimp at the supermarket. And they’re heads-on!

Can frozen, then thawed shrimp be re-frozen? I’d sure love to scoop a couple of pounds and keep it in the freezer, for when I’m really craving shrimp (which is always).


texts: Supermarkets sell cleaned, prepared cobs of corn. If I pick my corn from the plant, which parts are there, and how are they cleaned?


texts: I know you have to cut off the ends to make the pickles not soggy when making cucumber spears...but if this is the case how do people pickle whole cucumbers?


texts: Why did my toasted acorn squash seeds smell like chocolate?

texts:
I recently toasted some acorn squash seeds in my toaster and, to my surprise, when I opened the toaster I got the unmistakable aroma of chocolate. A friend readily confirmed that they did indeed smell like chocolate, so I'm pretty sure this wasn't just wishful thinking on my part. Alas, they didn't taste like chocolate...

I didn't do anything fancy to the seeds before cooking them - I just washed them and broiled them in my toaster at 450F for about 5-10 minutes.

I assume that there is some chemical reaction taking place that produced the same compound in the seeds that also occurs in roasted chocolate, but I have no idea what it is or why I'd only have this happen with acorn squash seeds and not, say, toast.

Any ideas about what caused this?

Thanks!


texts: Why is it recommended to leave the last segment of shell on a shrimp?

texts:
The question title pretty much says it all.  Many recipes (such as this one) specifically recommend that the tail/last segment of shell be left on when preparing shrimp.

Is there any reason for this?  When I'm eating shrimp I generally prefer having all the bits of shell removed by the chef so that I don't have to stop and manually remove the tail from each shrimp in the dish (which can get messy when eating, say, a Thai curry with shrimp in it).

Why should tails be left on if the shrimp are easiest to eat when all of the shell has been removed prior to cooking?


texts: Brined cheese behaves almost as if carbonated

texts:
I bought (at least what I thought was) some Bulgarian/Turkish-style brined soft cheese today, and when I got home I noticed the container seemed over-pressurised (it's sold in a kind of tall tin can/metal cylinder, and both ends bulged noticeably).

Upon opening I, hardy surpricing, got the soda bottle effect (and a bunch of brine over my shirt). The whole thing smells kinda strange (I can't think of a better word than "chemical") and the brine behaved almost as if carbonated (it "fizzed" when I took out a bit of cheese), but there's nothing visibly strange about the cheese itself.

I tasted a tiny piece (taken from the inside of a block and after quickly rinsing it), and it has a very strange, rather acrid taste. I've bought similar soft cheeses from the same producer before (a couple of different kinds), and they've always been fine.

As I'd feel silly for throwing out 1kg of cheese due to being uneducated I'd like to know whether the cheese is simply off or if it's of some variety unknown to me. If the latter case, what is one supposed to do with it? In the, arguably, more likely case that it's simply contaminated/gone bad, I'd be curious to know why it's behaving the way it does.

Some additional info:

Just noticed it has expiry date today. That being said, I can't remember having any problems with similar cheeses even few days after the expiry date, and then after having been opened several days earlier.
The ingredients list is as follows: "Pasteurized milk, salt, starter culture, vegetable rennet"
There's a large label in some language Google Translate identifies as Turkish, but more or less fails to translate:

  Bildiǧiniz lezzet, özlediǧiniz peynir!

  Onbir ayin sultani

  RAMAZAN'A [iFTAR'LIK VE SAHUR'LUK] öZEL PAYNiR


texts: Why do my homemade tortillas turn hard at first but then become soft?

texts: I suppose this is more curiosity than a problem, but why do my homemade (corn) tortillas start hard as soon as they are off the pan and then quickly turn soft? They seem quite dry immediately after being cooked, but stacking them with a plate on top and bottom will the leave plate quite steamy (presumably more moisture being released from the tortillas). Again, after leaving them alone for a while they are softer and moister.


texts: Squash Casserole: Reducing the water content?

texts:
I love squash casserole, summer squash or zucchini.  I notice when I use the zucchini, there seems to be a much greater water content and it makes it hard to set.  The summer squash, although there seems to be less water content, still has a little.  The recipe I use calls for boiling the squash first before making the mixture for the casserole.

Any suggestions on when boiling squash, how to reduce the water content?
I suppose I could grill them instead?  Are there any tricks to be known?


texts: How risky is it to eat raw flour, as in uncooked dough?

texts:
Does eating raw flour or doughs containing raw flour pose a significant food safety risk (i.e., greater than other dry goods or ingredients in your kitchen)?  If so, are there particular cooking or baking processes where we should be most concerned about this risk?

Background:

There has been a flurry of news headlines in the past few days over the FDA's latest food hazard warning, claiming that raw flour is a significant concern and consumers should be warned not to consume any raw dough made with flour.  For some reason, almost every mainstream news source has chosen to focus on raw cookie dough (even though the FDA's warning applies equally to any raw dough or batter, whether for cookies, pies, bread, pizza, cakes, waffles, etc.), with the New York Times for example claiming that the "F.D.A. Ruins Raw Cookie Dough for Everybody" and Smithsonian Magazine noting "The FDA Just Declared War on Cookie Dough".

I've been aware for several years that flour bags in the U.S. now come with the warning "Do not eat raw flour, dough, or batter," I assume in response to the 2009 outbreak of E. coli from prepackaged cookie dough, whose source was ultimately traced to the flour.  The new FDA warning is in response to the present E. coli outbreak, which has apparently been confirmed as originating in flour and has resulted in the recall of 10 million pounds of flour.

I obviously don't wish to downplay the seriousness of this outbreak.  But I am interested in the rationale behind the FDA's warning.  In particular, is flour (and raw dough) actually a higher-risk food hazard than any other uncooked ingredient in a kitchen?  For example, we all know that raw vegetables and fruits have been responsible for hundreds of outbreaks, but the FDA has not issued a general warning against consumption of raw vegetables and fruit.  (Instead, the warnings tend to be against the specific batches of contaminated food, as well as a few specific high-risk raw vegetables like sprouts.)

And outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli in the U.S. have been linked to almost every conceivable type of uncooked food.  For example, a whitepaper from a flour mill that produces heat-treated flour for safety notes that just among low-moisture foods, "Salmonella has been implicated in several foodborne outbreaks in low-moisture foods, including chocolate, powdered infant formula, raw almonds, toasted oat breakfast cereals, dry seasonings, paprika-seasoned potato chips, infant cereals, and ... peanut butter," and that was only up to 2004.  That list has grown significantly in the past decade.

Raw flour, like most of the dry foods listed above, has generally been considered extremely low-risk as a cause of foodborne illness.  (See for example this thread from a couple years back, where two different people reported asking state food safety experts about this issue and were told there's absolutely no reason for concern over raw flour.)

So, to sum up, is raw flour actually a higher risk?  99% of foods that you bring into your house with intent to eat raw and don't heat to 160F could conceivably be contaminated with bacteria, as numerous outbreaks have shown.  In most instances, the problem is traced to a specific source.  So why has raw flour been singled out for a general prohibition (as opposed to a warning about a specific contaminated batch, which applies to most fruit and vegetable outbreaks, as well as most of the dry goods outbreaks mentioned above)?

Is there some new information that justifies this broad and sweeping FDA prohibition on the basis of a couple outbreaks?  (And if contaminated flour is such a big deal now to justify the recall of millions of pounds of flour, what makes this new situation different from most wheat flour, which has been known for decades to have high rates of E. coli and Salmonella contamination, occurring in something like 13% of samples of flour?)


texts:
I'm quite new to cooking, but nonetheless I have been experimenting in the kitchen for a while to try and make some sauce from tomatoes. But all my attempts failed: I usually get just a bunch of fried tomatoes or something similar.

I have tried the following:

Chopping and just throwing on the pan, this one seems like the correct way.
Grating the tomatoes - this one sounds odd and, well, it is.

I just really need to find a simple method to generate sauce from tomatoes and I haven't found anything that worked for me. I'm obviously doing something wrong.


texts:
Which food books (and I'm thinking books on food and cooking rather than recipe books) do you find on your bedside cabinet rather than on the kitchen shelves?

McGee on Food and Cooking: An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture keeps creeping back as it answers all those questions about why something works, or doesn't;

Anything by M. F. K. Fisher as I never tire of her simple, witty prose and sheer love of food.


texts: What is the use of a convection broiler?

texts: My oven has a convection broil setting. Why? Under what circumstances is it useful to have a breeze blowing over food under the broiler?


texts: How to prevent minced chicken from sticking and forming a single lump?

texts:
I am not an expert in cooking, so I would like to ask for advice on how to cook minced chicken so that it doesn't stick together. What I want is separated minced chicken as small particles that I can spoon and use for pasta sauce or other dishes.
Thanks!


texts: If a recipe calls for Pectin NH can I use other pectin?

texts: I am making this yule log for christmas which requires pectin NH for the glaze.  Can I use any other normal pectin instead of the pectin NH and have the same glossy finish?


texts: When is it necessary to cover food with aluminum foil during baking/roasting?

texts:
Often a recipe calls for covering a dish while it bakes. I understand that this can help to trap steam.

How do you know when it's necessary to use aluminum foil when baking a dish without a recipe?

What are the other advantages of using aluminum foil to cover your dish while it's baking?


texts:
How can I store stored chicken of the woods?

Last year I tried dehydrating but it really doesn't bounce back too well. Could these be sauteed and then frozen for later use in sauces? They only come around once a year so I don't want to screw them up this time.


texts: How do I sweeten a mulled or spiced wine that is too tart?

texts:
I prepared a spiced wine according to a recipe last night using Cabernet with a mix of Pinot Grigio and Rum. I suspect the Cabernet caused it to come out on the tart side after reading this question.

The recipe called for brown sugar, which I used, but it doesn't seem sweet enough. Should I add more brown sugar or is there a better way to sweeten the wine and temper the tartness?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the danger of salmonella in 'home laid eggs' and how should I clean them?

texts:
I have a question additional to this question How does salmonella get into eggs. This tells me that salmonella is mostly found on the shell of an egg. However, eggs are treated (typically washed) such that most egg shells do not contain any salmonella anymore.

I eat eggs which I get from my mother-in-law who has her own chickens, so these eggs are not 'treated'. I was wondering a few things:

What is the risk that these eggs contain salmonella? Is this risk negligible?
Should I use supermarket eggs to make food with raw eggs in it, for example chocolate mouse, and only use these eggs for food which is heated?
If there is a risk, how should I clean the shells? (using hot water is not an option for eggs, of course).

A related question might be Is it safe to eat raw eggs?. The answer seem to be yes, but here it also seems that it is about 'supermarket eggs'.


texts: I want to make zabaglione and think that the taste could benefit if I sweeten it with honey instead of sugar. But I am not sure whether the sugar crystals have a physical effect on the fluffing up. Can I do it, or will it be flatter without the sugar?


texts: What are the positive effects of adding celery to a sauce?

texts: Many sauces include celery. It's not a flavour I'm particularly keen on, particularly in sauces so I'm wondering why it's included. Is it included simply as a flavour or does it serve some other purpose?


texts: When I peel sweet potatoes for a meal, why do some go black? I peel them about 1 hour or half an hour before I cook them


texts: Is this a good way to grind beans for espresso?

texts:
I use a Hamilton Beach grinder.  It's a rotating blade type.  I want the best possible grind.  Here's how I do it: after placing 1 tbs of beans in the grinder I begin grinding to a count of 5 (approximately five seconds), then I turn the grinder upside down, I then grind for 4 counts, again I turn the grinder upside down, and then grind for 3 counts.

Does that sound about right?


texts: Is induction cooktop supposed to heat with pauses?

texts:
I came to think about this today. I was using my Prestige Induction for 1 year. When the power is upto 500, the heating doesn't work continuously. It heats for 4-5 seconds, then pauses for 1 second without any error message. This didn't irritate me actually, as I thought it is the function. Same doesn't happen when temperature is higher than 500. Heating works continuously.

So is it really a function/feature of induction cooktops? Or is it technical problem with induction or cookware?


texts: what does it mean to incorporate in recipes

texts: I am reading a recipe and I noticed that in it it says "mix to incorporate" I am baffled. What does that mean?


texts: I bought some precooked whole shrimp. Do I need to peel and devein them before eating or is it possible to leave this step out? I intend to saute them in garlic butter.


texts: What is the difference between enchilada and marinara sauce?

texts: I am wanting to know the difference between marinara and enchilada sauce please.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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


texts: I have some Harissa at home but I will probably never use it up as I do not cook meals that are that hot too often. As I think that it's hotness tastes a bit like the hotness of Hot Sauce (as known in the US) I would like to know if and how it's possible to turn Harissa paste into something that resembles Hot Sauce. (Since Hot Sauce can be added to any meal individually after cooking easily it's much more likely that I will be able to use up some Hot Sauce than the Harissa.)


texts: How can I make coffee with a minimum of equipment and maintenance?

texts:
My household doesn't regularly drink coffee, but we occasionally want to provide coffee for our guests, or need to use coffee as an ingredient in other dishes.

We do have a coffee maker (a "free" one with a subscription to mail order ground coffee beans) - but it's been sitting the garage for ages.  It's now dusty, and requires too much cleaning and counter space for the intermittent times when we do want to use it.

What's the bare minimum of easy-to-maintain equipment that I could use to produce plain old coffee?


texts: Does pasta boiled in tap water absorb chemicals?

texts:
Apparently chlorine goes with boiling but I'm not sure if this is true.  However I know that chloramines also exists in tap water and concentrate more with boiling.

Will the chloramines absorb into the pasta?


texts: Does poking steaks and other meats cause flavor loss?

texts:
I was barbecuing, during which I was testing my steak for give using the tips of my thongs. But I didn't pierce the meat or jab too hard. A friend said that I'm ruining the steak and that it causes flavor and juice losses. Is this the case?

I've read on the Food Lab that testing meat this way doesn't cause juice loss. But it didn't mention flavor loss. I asked my friend how it alters the flavor and he mentioned that it shifts the juice in the steak, causes it to bruise, and gives it a "dead taste." I looked on here and didn't see a question that addresses this. Also, I looked online and mostly it was about moisture loss in the meat. My instinct is there is nothing wrong by prodding the meat.  I mean butchers smash cube steak with tenderizers. But just in case, am I altering the flavor of my steaks?


texts: Nonalcoholic Substitute for Marsala Wine

texts: For personal reasons I won't purchase alcohol or have it in my home, but I'm a bit of a foodie and love Chicken and Steak Marsala.  I've found decent nonalcoholic substitutes for dry and sweet white wines and burgundy (Meiers Sparkling Juice), which covers most of the recipes I've wanted to make, but I've never found a good substitute for Marsala.  Are there any non-alcoholic versions that would pass in a recipe, or a decent mix of other juices or ingredients that would pass, even if I have to process it somehow?


texts: Why does fish broth made with frozen fish lack flavour?

texts:
I do not know culinary terminology; so I use 'piscine' to mean 'with a positive flavour of fish' (because 'fishy' connotes negativity).

My friend drank some flavorous fish soup with a milky white colour at  his favourite Cantonese restaurant, one of whose chefs recommended using a fish called 黄鮨斑, which a laborious Google search revealed as yellowfin grouper (abbreviated as YFG).

My friend could not find live YFG to purchase; so he bought some frozen heads. He pan-fried/seared one head which turned a golden brown, then simmered it (over low heat and an electric oven) in around 4 litres of water for around 2 hours. The final product tasted like water (lacked any piscine flavour) and resembled water (lacked the desired milky white colour). The fish itself tenderised and still retained flavour though. How can my friend correct the problems?


texts:
I have been looking for a whipping for a while, but I am a bit put off by the N2O and CO2 cartridges as they don't have great reusability but can only be recycled, also because of the small size recycling is not very effective. Especially since I would have to ship the cartridges a long way to get recycled.

Are there any more eco-friendly alternatives?


texts:
I want baking my own bread loafs, specially things like sourdough baguettes, ciabatta, flatbead, and multi grain loaf bread.

I've been researching this for a few days, but as usual, there is a tremendous information overload, and I'm not sure if/which book I should get, or is there an online place that would have me better covered.

I'm the kind of person that do actually enjoy knowing the whys and hows of how things work, but I also appreciate quick recipes, so a mix of those two would be great!

Is there any specific book/author/resource that you recommend?

Thanks!


texts: What is the liquid often ladled onto the grill top in restaurants?

texts:
At some restaurants, I've often seen the cook place something like vegetables onto the grill top, ladle a small amount of liquid on top of them and then cover it with a lid. My assumption is that this is water so that the steam will help cook the food faster, but my fear is that it's just a bunch of oil.

What is this liquid?


texts: How do you clear food that sticks to the cutting knife?

texts:
I am now typing this with 1.5 hands because like a moron I cleared parsley that stuck to the knife with the edge towards my hand. After a quarter cup of blood it is a powerful lesson to never clear the knife with the edge towards my hand.

But how then do you clear the knife? My first guess is to always point the edge away from the hand, but even the greatest knife masters will forget every once in a while to clean with the edge in the opposite direction.

How then should you clean the food that sticks to the knife?


texts:
I attempted to make nougat today and it was an epic failure. The instructions for the sugar and honey solution was to mix it together with 2 tablespoons of water and stir it over heat without boiling until the sugar dissolved. Then wipe any granules on the sides of the pan into the solution and bring it to the boil without stirring at all until it reached 164'C. However the solution smelt burnt before it became of temperature. When we beat it into the egg whites it was in deed burnt and resulted in a rather brown looking charged gooey mess.

I am wondering if it is possible to get the sugar and honey to that temperature without it in fact burning. We did note that it took quite some time (12ish minutes) on a moderate heat to reach the 164° C and even seemed to plateau and dip slightly in temperature while cooking. Would it help if we tried to reach the targeted temperature faster?

I have the ingredients and want to try again tomorrow. Hopefully someone here will be able to prevent a further failure!


texts: Food safety with broken glass in dried tomatoes

texts: I have a very large jar of dried tomatoes and somehow the lid broke so that broken glass fell into the tomatoes. Is there any safe way to be able to eat them?


texts: Can I use freeze dried fruit in a Sangria mix?

texts:
I want to make a few little gifts for some friends, and I had the idea of creating little bottles of all the things needed for different drinks. I was hoping that people would be able to hold on to these until they wanted to make them. So far I have mulled wine.

I want to include a recipe and the ingredients for a homemade Sangria. I was wondering if I could replace the normal fresh fruit normally found with freeze-dried fruit instead.

Any help or other ideas would be much appreciated!


texts: With few items, it easier/safer to use the fridge for everything, are there trade offs?

texts:
I don't keep much food in the house, and generally use the fridge as a general purpose store for all kinds of food, as a way to slow down chemical reactions and lifeform growth alike, as well as spending less time considering the type of storage for a particular item.
However I've recently experienced some potential pitfalls, some honey has solidified into what could be a crystalline sugar solution, and a recent, official peanutButter/marmite mix developed a thin, non-fury, jelly like, yellow layer on some of its surface, apparently these are due to keeping the foods in an environment that is too cold.
Is it true that there are trade-offs either way regarding heat?


texts: Help with ground beef seasoning: flavors are weak

texts:
So I routinely serve up very simple style burritos in my apartment (beef, sour cream, cheese and white flour tortillas), and I've grown well past the days of using pre-mixed seasoning packets to flavor the ground beef.

However, after a particularly tired night where I reneged on that and used a packet that I had leftover sitting in the pantry, I realized just how much flavor it managed to impart into the beef comparative to what I normally get out of my manually done spice blends.

Typically speaking, I use a blend of:

Chili Powder
Chipotle Powder
Cumin
Mustard Powder
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
Touch of Salt
Cinnamon (just a touch for some
sweetness)

I brown the beef, drain off the fat, and then get it back in the pan to simmer in a mix of red wine vinegar and water for volume. When about half of the liquid is gone, I then add the spice mix.

Generally I get the heat just right with the chili/chipotle, but it's not quite salty enough and the cumin flavor doesn't seem to really impart itself enough to the point I'd like. Likewise, there's only a hint of the vinegar flavor, which isn't necessarily a bad thing when all of the other flavors are weak, but if the other flavors came more to life, I'd expect the vinegar flavor to be at least a bit bolder as well.

Is there an ingredient I'm missing for this type of cooking that aids in making those flavors really stick to the beef? Or is this possibly just a case of "add more X"? Possibly a technique / timing issue? Alternatively, is there a spice out there that you could recommend as a stronger version of any of said ingredients? I'd really like to NOT overload the salt levels, and I'd also prefer to keep straining off the fat from the browning process.

Thanks in advance!

edit: Thank you all for the suggestions! I'm making them again tonight and will be trying a combination of Bob's and Mrs. Garden's answers. Going to be adding Worcestire Sauce, replacing water with Beef Stock, upping the amount of Cumin and using some fresh minced garlic towards the end of the simmer (and maybe some onion powder as well). I'll update when the verdict is out.

edit 2: The fresh garlic and extra cumin definitely brought out some more flavor, and the Worcestershire definitely gave a bit more punch than I would have thought it could possibly do. The flavor was fantastic, albeit a bit overpowering, but that I'll attribute that to having to readjust the amounts of everything with the new ingredients / ratios. Thank you all for your suggestions again.


texts: Can you freeze bagna cauda? (cream basically)

texts:
Yesterday we had bagna cauda at a friend's house. It was too much, so everyone went home with a leftovers bottle (around 1 liter).
Will it ruin if I freeze it?


texts: How do people make fried onions as an ingredient as opposed to a snack? Should I coat them with flour, milk, and spices?

texts:
A Pakistani dish I am learning to make calls for fried onions as an ingredient. The recipe says "golden fried onions" and later "fried onion paste", referring to the same thing. The video shows a clump of yellow brownish fried onion slices dumped into the pot. I don't think it is really a paste, more like clustered fried onions.
I know normally when you make fried onions you use spices and flour. Googling "fried onions" leads me to hundreds of recipes of fried onions as a snack or appetizer. Not what I need. Should I milk-dip and flour-coat them? How do people make fried onions as an ingredient in South Asian/central Asian cuisines? Simply deep fry?
Wikipedia's "fried onion" page has a picture of "Iranian fried onions" which I guess should be close to this ingredient in a Pakistani dish?


texts: How to proceed when you have a marinade of beef in spices, tomato, vinegar and onion?

texts:
I followed this recipe of beef vindaloo, last night, triple checking everything written there. Since I don't have a spice grinder, I put the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, salt and spices in a mixie and converted it into a fine paste. Then poured it into a container which had 1kg cleaned beef pieces, poured 250ml of vinegar (the recipe says 250ml for 0.5kg beef, but I felt pouring 500ml for 1kg of beef is too much).

It's been marinated in a fridge overnight. Today morning the beef seems a bit tough when I squeeze it. I thought it's supposed to turn tender.

Anyway, now the recipe asks me to use the marinade for frying the beef a bit. This confuses me.

How is beef going to get fried (even though there will be 8tbsp of oil), when the marinade contains a good amount of water from the tomatoes and onions?
Every other recipe I have known, the tomatoes are only added after the frying takes place. I've never known tomatoes being used in marination. Is this really something that works?
Every other recipe calls for the onions to be fried along with the spices. Is onion really blended into a paste and used for marination?
Now that I have a rather large quantity of marinade full of onion and tomato, will that ruin the taste of the curry because the onion paste might not actually get fried?
Should I (instead of trying to fry the marinade), take some fresh onions, chop them up with some ginger and garlic and fry them in oil until golden brown, and take the beef pieces separately and fry it for a while (until the outsides are brown) with the onions, ginger and garlic and later add the entire marinade to make a curry?

Somehow I feel that if I just follow the rest of the recipe on that page, the curry will get messed up.


texts:
I'm new to this whole cooking business. Not - can only cook spaghetti bolognese new. More - "Frozen pizza? Nope - that's hard. Order in".

However - there's hope for me yet! I recognize how much of a life skill cooking is and before I  get too far along in this whole aging process I should really start acquiring it.

I've started looking around at cooking classes in my area but from what I've seen everything appears to assume some prior knowledge and is specializing in dishes from some country or other that the West thinks themselves better than.

What kind of classes are appropriate for me? Is there a 'term' for basic cooking classes that I'm missing (I did try searching for "basic cooking lessons" but Google in all its power returned nothing).

How do I learn these utter basics so I can start enjoying food I've prepared, not purchased?


texts: When is it better to fry with oil and when is it better to fry with butter?

texts: I usually see people frying eggs with butter and sometimes with soy oil - for example. But there are a lot of other ocasions in which these two options appear. My guess is that there are kinds of frying, for example: When you want to fry eggs, it's better to do it with butter, this is a kind of lighter frying. But when you are frying chips, it's better to do it with oil, this is a kind of heavy frying in which the food much receive more heat for a long time (I guess that oil can reach temperatures higher than butter).


texts: Why would I ever use my oven's 'bake' setting when it also has a 'convection bake'?

texts: Whenever I bake something I use the convection bake setting of my GE range because the fan is supposed to make for more even baking. The range also has a 'bake' setting. I'm just wondering why would I ever want to use 'bake', the setting without the fan and supposedly uneven heat? Interestingly, there is a 'convection roast' setting but no corresponding 'roast' setting!


texts: What does "combine dry ingredients through cloves" mean?

texts: I see in several recipes for spice cake to do things like "combine dry ingredients through cloves" or "add flour through cloves". What does that mean? I'm looking at this recipe. It calls for 1/2 tsp - can I use ground cloves instead of whole cloves?


texts: How do I get my chocolate chip cookies to turn out thick and soft?

texts: How can I get my chocolate chip cookies to come out thick and soft?  I always use real butter; is this a problem?


texts: Please can someone help me identify this?

texts: Please can someone help me find out what this is


texts:
We have a carbon steel pan that we love and use a lot. We get boxes from Hello Fresh lately and we seem to have the same problem over and over: We will get a recipe that calls for pan roasting a piece of chicken or beef or whatnot and they expect you to make a pan sauce with the fond.

In our case, however, by the time the meat is cooked acceptably (and for beef that's medium rare and for white meat chicken that's 155+ in my book) the fond in the pan is invariably charcoal, and totally unusable for a pan sauce. We wind up either cleaning the pan and reducing the sauce "nude" from the remainder of the ingredients or accepting a muddy black colored pan sauce that isn't very appetizing.

What are we doing wrong?


texts: I am fond of bulgur wheat and often cook it with lots of veggies and season it with fresh herbs. What turns me off is the stickiness. It turns out to be too sticky when completely cooked. I want to cook bulgur wheat but at the same time keep it moist and dry. Someone please guide.


texts: I used a pre ferment of yeast flour & water kept for 3 hours to ferment. Later kneaded this into whole wheat dough I had kneaded earlier. Then rising, rolling it , rising again over 2 hours. Till here all was going well with dough puffing , rising etc. For last proofing, I shaped the dough, slashed and placed in pan to proof. It did not rise much over 1 hour. Then I baked it. The bread came out Moist, Chewy, elastic like the everyday sandwich breads with airy holes but still tasted uncooked & tasteless!!!! Its also heavy to hold unlike light airy slices of bread!!  It stayed moist next two days also.... but did not taste so good as claimed about slow rise breads. I still cant understand whether the uncooked tastelessness is because I used doughs separately & kneaded them. Or is it that I kept it for 5-6 hours for rise.


texts: How do I get the ground spices to mix into my curry?

texts:
Here is how I made my curry. In my frying pan I did this:

Added olive oil (maybe one and a half teaspoon)
Added garlic (minced from a jar)
Added about one teaspoon of ground turmeric, ground coriander, and ground cumin
Added veggies

I stirred and after a while I noticed there was something odd. The ground spices on top of the veggies wouldn't go away, no matter how much I tried to stir and how much more olive oil I added.

What did I do wrong?


texts:
I'd like to make a colourful dish from mixed dried beans. After soaking the beans overnight they still have rich and varied colours and patterns, but I'm told that beans should always be cooked before eating, and after simmering for 30min or so the beans all just turn brown. Is there any way to safely serve dried beans which keeps them visually interesting, such as for a legume salad?

The beans are probably a mix of borlotti beans, green split peas, black eyed beans, red kidney beans, various lentils, cannellini beans and chickpeas.


texts: Is it safe to eat a dish made with vinegar if the vinegar lid had black stuff on it?

texts: I stored some vinegar in a salsa container. When I opened it, I noticed some black stuff under the lid. The vinegar liquid looked good, so I used a little and started to cook with it. When I washed the lid, the black stuff under the lid dissolved. Is my dish safe to consume?


texts:
Why is it that when I check google images for Direct heat, I see pictures of a flame under a grid like surface?  Is that direct, or indirect?

And what'd you call sticking a marshmallow directly in a flame to toast it? no grid at all. Is there a unique name for that?


texts:
I started making apple cider vinegar using the second method listed on http://thehealthyeatingsite.com/apple-cider-vinegar-recipe/
It's been little over 4 months and my mix is looking really weird. There's some white fluff on top of what looks like a vinegar mother. The more was to be expected (it's part of the reason why I went with this method, so I could get a mother for use in future batches). But the white fluff is worrying me a little bit.

Is it mold? If so, are the batch and mother salvageable?

There's also some odd, brown, tree like organism growing in the middle. That one is really throwing me off.

(click for full size)


texts:
This question does not have to do with home brewing but I figured someone here would be able to answer.

Does scotch whiskey go bad if kept in standard home freezers for a few days?
Does it also matter that the air-tight seal has been broken? In other words for opened bottles.

It does seem to bubble very slightly when poured out but tastes fine. Just wondering if there is a big 'don't do that' attached to this.


texts: To what temperature should you take candied citrus peels?

texts:
I have been examining scores of recipes for candied citrus peels and I am unable to find an answer to this question. Most recipes indicate pretty standard candy making instructions; heat sugar/water solution to 230, add orange peels, cook for some amount of time or reduce by some amount.

But that's the part that I'm having a hard time with. Time makes a big difference with candy making. Wouldn't leaving them cook for, say, an hour, produce drastically different results than 30 minutes? Why does there seem to be no recipe out there that uses actual candy making terms for this recipe?

I just need some idea of what temperature to take the sugar solution up to. I'm going to guess firm or hard ball?


texts: What does flour smell like when it goes bad?

texts:
I've got about 15lbs of saphire unbleached white flour left from my 25lb bulk purchase from 2 weeks ago. While preparing a wonderful zucchini bread recipe I noticed a "sour" smell from my flour.

It's been tightly sealed in the heavy duty bag I purchased it in and stored in the pantry at 70-85°F.

Has my flour spoiled?
What are the storage guidelines for flour?


texts: What ingredients to use to prevent steak from drying out on the grill?

texts:
I know from experience that finely crushed onions mixed with vinegar, work well on keeping the meat from shrinking while on the grill. I also know of honey, but have yet to try and incorporate it into the marinating mixture, since I'm unsure whether or not it might clash with the taste of onions.
There is also this study which mentions quite a few spices which contain Protease, the enzyme which breaks down proteins. Chief among which seems to be Black Cumin.

There also seem to be a number of fruit like papaya and pineapple, but I am lost on how these will effect the taste of a steak.

So my question would be what ingredients work best and in what technique should they be employed during the actual Grilling part of the cooking, in order to keep the steak juicy, even while it's past well-done.


texts: 1/4 cup of rice not measuring to be 45g, turns out to be 30g

texts: I have used two different rice cooker measuring cups, and I know the kitchen scale is correct, but the rice packaging for various rices say 45g = 1/4 cup, but if I fill it up to 1/4 cup, the weight of the rice turns out to be 30g. What am I doing wrong? I even put a little more than 1/4 cup but still it's like 32-33g. I know different grains weight different, but I think 15g off is too much right?


texts: Sourdough starter stopped growing, is it normal?

texts:
I posted a question a few days ago. This was my first sourdough starter: My sourdough starter split in 2 on the 3rd day. What should I do?

and I decided to only keep the foamy part and throw the other half away. After another day that sourdough stopped growing and became kinda liquidy and I threw it away and started another batch.

2 days after and I am in the same situation. My sourdough starter split in two, exactly the same as in the above link. But this time I decided to simply stir it and feed it as usual.

After the 2nd feed, the starter kept splitting in two and the foamy part started to get smaller and smaller. The bottom part stopped making bubbles and simply stayed the same way.

6-7 hours before the 3rd feed the starter looks like the below picture. It stopped growing and it seems that only the top layer has bubbles. Is this normal?

It is also weird that two different starters have the same exact evolution, maybe there's something wrong with the flour?

EDIT:
So after 7 more days of feeding and three attempts here is my latest result:

Thank you for your advice!


texts: How much can I change a NY cheesecakes recipe?

texts:
My sister recently started making NY cheesecakes (Baked) according to an online recipe she found. I assisted her in doing so, and every time I mentioned any kind of change we could make in the recipe she refused to even think about that stating "you should be loyal to the recipe" and "don't make comments about things you don't know".

So I'm wondering: how much can I change a recipe for a different result?
Can I swap "petit beurre" biscuits with "digestive" biscuits?
Can I use any other kind of starch instead of corn starch?
In general, is it wrong to make drastic changes in a recipe?

P.S.: I am the kind of a person that tries different things to find the right way to do things, more of a trial and error kind  but with the recent spike in the prices in my country and the economy we have I can't afford trying and failing no more, so I have to ask about everything beforehand, even the simplest things.


texts: What's the difference between brioche feuilletee and croissant dough?

texts: There are two similar laminated doughs, but recipes make them slightly different, but overall what are the main differences between brioche feuilletee and croissant dough?


texts: Glass drink dispenser for vinegar long term storage?

texts:
I presently buy both White Vinegar (containing acetic acid 5%) and Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) in bulk, at five litres at a time. I go through the White Vinegar in about three weeks, while the ACV takes far longer - anything up to six months!

The vinegar comes in a plastic container ((HDPE ♴) High Density Polyethylene, with a plastic cap (PP ♷) Polypropylene) as it's considered food safe and suitable for up to one year of storage.

I find however that pouring from the large plastic containers is messy and awkward and am looking into a glass dispenser system as used at parties with lemonade and such. However, unlike a normal glass container, a dispenser has weak points: such as a metallic tap, silicone gadgets, as well as a rubber lid.

Long time canning experts Kilner offer a robust looking glass dispenser in just the right volume (five litres) but I'm unsure of the following:

1: The trademark orange rubber seals used at the top mouth opening of the jars: will the acid and oxygen mix dissolve this? The vinegar is unlikely to be in contact with the rubber as I will use the tap at the bottom, but the fumes may eat away at it?

2: The tap at the bottom is not so robust (if Amazon reviews are to be believed) but aftermarket option include more robust version in both brass and stainless steel:

Brass: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XPG4VR2?psc=1

Stainless Steel: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XPG2CLS?psc=1

It seems that white vinegar is used to clean brass, but I wonder about permanent contact, so I'm unsure which to rely upon?

3: I'm informed that even glass itself has a lifespan when storing vinegar (it's an acid after all) and am fearful that the glass walls may even wear down?!

I would like the convenience of a tap, with the reliability of an inert material like glass, but will the vinegar simply wear everything out?


texts: What is the real difference in lo mein, chow mein, mei fun, and chop suey?

texts:
Prompted by the question  How to cook Lo Mein?  and some of the answers regarding types of noodles, I started wondering what the real differences are in the 4 named dishes.

I know what the differences are in American Chinese restaurants and I understand that there are variations. (E.g., lo mein is usually wheat noodles while mei fun is usually fine rice noodles.) So, that is not what I'm looking for.

I would like to know, if I was in China and ordered each one of those dishes, what would I expect and what would be the difference between them? I understand that there may be variations based on region but I'm just asking for the fundamentals.

Also, did chop suey really originate in China?

Edited to clarify: I'm just asking a basic question, not for ingredients, per se. For example - Dish "X" is stir-fried vegetables (with or without meat) in sauce served with soft rice noodles.

I understand that much of the difference is in the type of noodles used and how they are prepared. However, I've always heard that much of the American-Chinese cuisine was loosely adapted and not really the same thing or possibly didn't originate in China. So, I'm just trying to find out what is authentic.


texts: What is the key to a shiny crumb in bread?

texts:
For example:

My breads seem to be turning out dry instead of looking like that. (I use whole grains typically; does that matter?)

I have read that using higher hydration helps. Does the glossy look just come from extra moisture in the bread?


texts: What can I use instead of Sriracha if I only want to make a dish non-spicy, but similarly flavorful?

texts:
The specific recipe I'm making is http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/08/spicy-noodles/ (copied at bottom for posterity).

I'm a big fan of the spice, but my guests and partner are often not. Since the sriracha is a critical part of the sauce, and makes the noodles quite spicy, I'd like to somehow avoid the spicy effect, while keeping the flavor, texture, and if possible color, reasonably similar. The dish is alright if you simply remove the sriracha and keep the soy sauce and brown sugar, but it's not as flavorful. Is there anything that is similarly flavorful that I could use, but that doesn't have the spice?

I've also tried an equal amount tomato paste, and holy crap was that a mistake. There might be some other way to use tomatoes, though.

  Ingredients

  4 oz. lo mein noodles $1.13
  2 Tbsp butter $0.20
  ¼ tsp crushed red pepper $0.02
  1 large egg $0.25
  1 Tbsp brown sugar $0.02
  1 Tbsp soy sauce $0.02
  1 Tbsp sriracha (rooster sauce) $0.08
  1 handful fresh cilantro $0.22
  1 sliced green onion $0.06

  Instructions

  Begin to boil water for the noodles. Once the water reaches a full boil, add the noodles and cook according to the package directions (boil for 5-7 minutes).
  While waiting for the water to boil, prepare the sauce. In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar, soy sauce, and sriracha.
  In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat. Add the red pepper to the butter as it melts. Whisk an egg in a bowl and then add to the melted butter. Stir gently and cook through. Once the egg is done cooking, turn off the heat.
  When the noodles are tender, drain the water and then add them to the skillet with the cooked egg. Also add the prepared sauce. Turn the heat on to low to evaporate excess moisture, and stir until everything is coated well with the sauce. Sprinkle the sliced green onions and cilantro leaves (whole) on top and serve!
  ```


texts: I need to convert cocoa powder into unsweetened chocolate squares

texts: So if I  need 2/3 of a cup of cocoa powder and I don't have it how much semi sweet chocolate squares do I need in place of the cocoa


texts: How do you manage the water that tomatoes generate when they're cooked?

texts:
I love tomatoes, and I like to put them in stuff like omelettes or to sautee them with sweet potatoes and other vegetables.

However, they "leak" so much fluid when they cook. When you sautee them in particular, they probably leak 50% of their weight in water. No matter what else you cook them with, they turn everything into a gooey mess.

What I've taken to doing is sauteeing them by themselves, then draining them, and setting them aside on a folded paper towel to absorb some water, before dumping them back into whatever else I'm cooking.

Is there a better way to do this?  Am I doing something wrong?


texts:
I'm a new owner of a Sous Vide circulator, and I'd really like to make a leg of lamb for Easter. Making leg of lamb the "old" way (in the oven) I always get a better result if the leg is with the bone attached. However, all the recipes I find for Sous Vide calls for meat without the bone (typically 55 C for up to 48 hours). Is there anything I need to do different to make it on the bone?

(My circulator is the drop-on kind and can handle 40 liters, so I can fit the leg. Also, I have vacuum bags by the roll, so as long as I can find a leg which is quite thin, that shouldn't be a problem either. I plan to sear the meat after Sous Vide with a propane burner)

UPDATE

Just wanted to say how it turned out: 55 C for 48 hours made the meat tender... VERY tender. Almost liquid ;) I'll go for 24-30 hours next time :)


texts:
I have been considering buying a hip flask for some time now. I have been holding off from getting the cheap varieties because I hear they impart a metallic taste to the alcohol. If I had my druthers, I would get a pewter flask, but I can't justify the cost.

A couple of weeks ago I happened upon a brass flask. The cost is between the cheaper ones and a pewter flask. From this price point, I would assume the quality to be somewhere between the two. I have not been able to find any literature about brass flasks.

Does anyone have some information on them?


texts: Why salt AND pepper and not salt and/or pepper

texts:
Which is to say--narrowing things down--do the two actually have any mutual enhancement effect, such as, say, in the manner in which salt can fool the tastebuds into perceiving sweet as even sweeter? (thus reducing cost for sweetening)

I have never "observed" any such effect of salt and pepper used in tandem...at least I don't think so. Is it simply that the two are typically found together, and handily so, in most any food prep area? (The recommended reading elicited by the question suggests such an interpretation but does not address the aspect of s&p mutuality when shaken, used, or tasted together)

If there is, in fact, no such mutual complementary effect, it will suffice to simply say so--I will accept that as an equally affirmative answer.


texts: What is a good substitute for Kecap Manis

texts: Several Indonesian dishes that I've been thinking about making call for Kecap Manis, a sweat somewhat viscous soy sauce. I've seen several potential substitutes online involving normal soy sauce, but I'm not convinced that they would actually make a decent tasting substitute considering how much of the dishes flavor comes from the Kecap Manis. What other sauces would you consider substituting that might give the dish the same Indonesian flavor?


texts: What is a economic way to store/buy ingredient for salad

texts:
Given that many ingredients in salad will go bad after several days, how can you store leftover salad so it is not wasted? Many vegetables such as beans lose their freshness after opening the can/package.

For vegetables, one is too much already no matter if it is a whole lettuce or the prepackage stuff, and I can only consume 1/3 a can of beans each time and I might not want to eat salad everyday ( even once a day ).

Will it help if I put the remaining beans in a sealed bottle? What about the vegetables? will they last for 2 weeks?


texts: How to sharpen knife with chunk missing?

texts: Is it better to grind off the whole blade or should I find someone to add metal and then sharpen it again?


texts: What are those cakes called which don't have an icing on them?

texts:
I have eaten some home made cakes which never had any icings, they still tasted brilliant.
What are those cakes called which don't need an icing on them? I heard they are called "Sponge cakes". Is that correct?


texts: Are there any 27" residential ovens that can accomodate a 3/4 sheet pan?

texts:
I am moving into a house that needs a new oven.  We aren't going to renovate the entire kitchen; we just want to swap out the oven.  The current cabinet space for the oven can hold at most a 27 inch oven.  I know that most modern 30"+ ovens are big enough to hold a 3/4 sheet pan (which measures 21" x 15"), however, most 27" ovens I've seen are not big enough.  We are currently in the process of scouring the stores, pan-in-hand, to see if any are large enough, but I figured I'd ask here first. Are we out of luck?  Are there any 27" ovens that are wide enough to accomodate a 3/4 sheet pan?

Edit: Should I mark this community wiki?

Update: The KitchenAid True Convection Architect 27" has interior dimensions of 22" width, 16" height, and 18.75" depth, which appears to be just big enough for a 3/4 sheet pan.

Update #2: It turns out my cabinet was just wide enough to actually fit a 30" oven, so this question is now pretty much moot for me.  I'm going to leave it open for a while in case anyone else was interested in the answers.