texts: How to maintain my knife? What am I missing, and what am I doing wrong?

texts:
I've been cooking for a long time now, and I've been the proud owner of entry level chef knives for the better part of a decade now.

Last month I've ordered a new knife, a KAI Saki Magoroku Redwood, which is not their cheapest knives, but also not their Shun series. I figured, it was better than what I had, its steel is harder, and angle is steeper, and it will hold out better.

Nevertheless, I use my knife a lot (about twice over three days on average, maybe a bit more), cutting a lot of salads, meat, chopping garlic, etc. So you'd expect that the edge will lose its sharpness at some point.

And indeed, after four weeks, the knife no longer slices tomatoes. It started out great with tomatoes, then slowly it became an easy task depending on the point of ingress (so I'd run the knife gently, and it would eventually slice). But now the knife just can't break the skin. This is not only frustrating (who wants crushed tomatoes in their salad?), but it's also dangerous.

Everything else gets chopped very nicely. I don't have any problem with scallions, cucumbers, spinach, garlic, or any other thing I'd normally chop.

I tried my sharpening rod, but to no avail. It made an effect, but not enough to keep me from fearing for my fingertips. My sharpener is a pull-through "Victorinox Sharpy", and I fear that I will mess something up with the knife if I use it.

  What can I do better to maintain an edge for longer?

I'm cutting on a decent wooden board, nothing frozen, no bones, washing my knife immediately after use, and storing in its KAI blade guard in the drawer (in a way that also minimizes movement, just in case).

  How do I make it sharper?

The sharpening steel is a bust. Maybe it's because it's two years old, and wasn't the best quality to begin with. But maybe it's something else. I'm not sure if using the Victorinox gadget will solve this, because pull-through are normally set to a specific angle, and it might not be the right one.

The KAI manual website says to sharpen (on a whetstone) at a 15 degrees angle, but they don't specify the series of the knives. I couldn't find the angle information on any website, except one which said, oddly enough, 22 degrees. (This despite the KAI Wasabi series having 15 degrees angled edge. So I'm not sure if that site was right.)

My current line of thought is to buy a whetstone and learn how to use it with my old knife, and then sharpen the KAI. But that seems like a lot of work that I should be able to avoid.

Any advice?


texts: How many times is it safe to reuse deep frying oil?

texts: How many times is it safe to reuse deep frying oil for things like french fries, falafel, chicken etc.?  Does the food deep fried make a difference in that regard, i.e. is it safer to reuse oil that vegetarian foods were fried in than meats?


texts: Are Pyrex casserole dishes safe for use on electric stovetops?

texts: Would it be okay if a Pyrex baking dish is used on an electric stove top to reheat food?


texts: Cooking, freezing, recooking, and refreezing chicken

texts: I boiled a whole chicken, then froze the cut up parts. I then cook different meals but want to know if I can refreeze the leftovers from the dinners.


texts: Texture issue in homemade powdered sugar

texts:
The other day I was making marshmallows and ran into a multitude of problems -- broken candy thermometers, overheated mixers, syrup spill, you name it. I thought I'd escaped the clutches of fate and made decent marshmallows until I realized I ran out of powdered sugar.

Well, darn it. I had a big batch of marshmallows already made and ready for coating.

So I remember hearing you can make your own powdered sugar with granulated sugar and cornstarch. I gave it a try in my food processor and it kind of worked, but was still too coarse.

Is there any way to get around this besides to keep on pulsing and hoping for the best? Does a blender, coffee grinder, or another kitchen contraption work better?


texts:
Hi so after removing old seasoning on my wok with vinegar baking powder and a lot of scrubbing, i tried to season it again. But i could not get any good results ( https://imgur.com/gallery/9xHfndA )
As you can see the oil did not act as a layer but like some drops dripping.. I am sure i didnt use too much (it was really a thin layer) but once starting to burn, the oil grouped in these weird lines. Could that be the patterns of my towel showing off? I am really confused... I am doing it over the gas stove because i dont have any oven. If anyone can help it is really annoying because its the only pan i have right now and the small seasoning i made still peeled when cooking... Thanks!!


texts: How can you tell if if a meal is thawed?

texts:
I am planning to place a meal (salmon + rice) in a refrigerator after having frozen it.
How can I tell when it's thawed?


texts: Specifically, what is the difference between caramel sauce and caramel syrup? Whenever I see someone make a caramel mocha latte or any caramel coffee, they either flavor it with the sauce or with  the syrup. What the difference? And is it better to use one over the other when making an iced coffee vs a hot coffee?


texts: Cook lentils before or after shaping into veggie meatballs?

texts: I would like to make vegetarian meatballs out of green lentils. Will I get better results by grinding the lentils first into lentil flour and then forming into meatballs, or only grinding them after cooking them?


texts:
I've been watching some cooking shows, and they seem very keen on there thermometers.
They have prob thermometers, oven thermometers, meat thermometers, confectionery thermometers, oil thermometers...
(Possibly these are all the same device, I don't know anything about kitchen thermometers).

Only thermometers I ever saw in real life, was my mother's roast thermometer (and I've made plenty of roasts without owning one), and her confectionery one that I broke as a child (and I've made plenty of toffee, with just the cold water test.)

So I've got on for quiet a while without owning one, and I've never seen one (out side of TV) used to check the oven temperature, or the oil temperature.

I'm wondering what the big deal is?
Will using the right temperature change my cooking? Am I perhaps doing something unsafe in using any of the many methods for estimating temperature?


texts: Minimum preparation for baking a whole fish

texts:
I suspect that if one cooks a whole fish with the guts still in, the result wouldn't be good.

Other than gutting it first, is any other preparation needed for baking a whole fish, such as scaling it? When I've consumed whole cooked fish before, the skin has generally just lifted away anyway, so perhaps the scales wouldn't be likely to get into the meat if served carefully.


texts:
It is commonly accepted that bread goes stale faster in the refrigerator, does this also apply to other wheat flour baked items, such as cakes and quick breads?

If a cake is expected to last for 3-5 days is it best to keep it covered on a counter or refrigerate it? Will it get stale in the refrigerator?


texts: Why is this Surume Ika (Japanese Flying Squid) discolored? (Ingredient for Ika Somen.)

texts:
I've been very interested in making Ika Somen.  I found both a recipe online, and a recipe in "Pass the recipe", by Hiroko Nomura.  Today I bought a Surume Ika (squid) from the local Japanese market.  When I've purchased squid in the past, I've bought Yari-Ika.

When I cleaned the Surume Ika, the skin was blotched red in places.  The squid didn't smell bad, but also didn't smell ocean-fresh either.  I ended up discarding the squid, just in case.  Would someone know if this discoloration is normal, and if not, what is it?

Thanks!


texts: I am going to cut some potatoes tonight for a dish I am going to make tomorrow. Will keeping the cut pieces in water immediately after cutting preserve them? There are suggestions at other websites that say adding some lime juice to the water will help. Has anyone had experience preserving potatoes?


texts: Is there such thing as white wheat berries?

texts: I have been told that you cannot home grind white flour for white bread. Is this true, or is it just harder to find white wheat berries to grind?


texts: My boss wants me to half cook bacon, then finish cooking it the next day to serve our customers at breakfast. Is this safe?


texts: Is it true that natural peanut butter splits in cookies?

texts:
I was watching a video recipe about peanut butter cookies. The maker mentioned that you shouldn't use all natural peanut butter for making those cookies, because the oils would make your dough split. You should use the other kind (I have no idea what this is).

Is this true?

My peanut butter contains these ingredients: peanuts, vegetable oil, vegetable fat, salt. I'm assuming this isn't 100% natural peanut butter? Is it only natural peanut butter if it contains only peanuts?


texts: Using Greek farina (cake flour) instead of yeast for making bread whilst combined with general puproce flour

texts:
I have some leftover general-puproce flour and some farina, because are leftover materials and I wanna use them both (in order to get rid of them, but not throw them away) I thought on making bread by combining both of them.

Usually farina is used on making cakes, cookies etc etc and while is used, instead of general-puproce flour, yeast in not used because it has the tedency to expand by itself.

So in my case that I want to cook them, by combining them to both to my bread mixture, should I avoid using yeast or baking powder?

edit 1

By farina I mean a self-expanding flour used in cakes. Because of misunderstadning that "farina" word brings here is an image of it as sold in Greece and seen in Greek Supermarkets.


texts: Preventing my toast from becoming wet when I put it on the plate

texts:
Since I moved to my new flat, I have a problem when heating bread in any way. What happens is that if I put it on a plate, it gets very wet on the plate side. This is so acute that drops appear on the plate. If I put paper around the bread, both get wet. The only way I found to get dry heated bread is leaving it in the toaster/grill until it is cold... but then it is obviously cold!

What can I do in order to get warm and dry bread?


texts: substituting rosehip solution for lemon juice/citric acid

texts:
Syrup recipe calls for citric acid, 3Tbsp.

I want to use rosehips to achieve the same degree of tartness.

3Tbsp equals 2 1/4 cups of lemon juice. I can boil/steep dry rosehips to that subjective degree of tartness...

...or is there a more accurate way? Rule of Thumb?

Syrup will be stored in fridge so not crucial as preservative


texts: I steamed some clams seven days ago, and not all of them were eaten. I removed the shells and stored the flesh in a plastic container in the refrigerator. After seven days are they still safe to eat, since they were well cooked and refrigerated?


texts: How do you remove strong garlic odor from enclosed space (garage)?

texts:
I dehydrated garlic in my garage a couple of days ago and now I need to remove the strong garlic odor in the garage -- any ideas?

I have left the garage door open for hours and have run the dehydrator with a bowl of white vinegar.


texts: Detergent Contamination of Processed Foods

texts:
Today I bought a Jack Links beef jerky from a vending machine, and when I bit into it I got a distinct taste of something acrid and soapy. As far as I could tell the packaging was not damaged and the jerky was not rotten or spoiled. I have also had this experience once before with a package of fruit snacks, Welch's brand I believe, and when one of the pieces had a spot of something blue on it, and had the same horrible soapy taste, but only on the one piece.

My question is, are processed foods sometimes contaminated with cleaning products used to clean equipment in factories? And if so how often does this sort of thing happen?

I have already tried doing a bit of research on Google and have not found much other than a few scientific papers relating to bacterial contamination, but not contamination of cleaning products.


texts: chicken texture after precooking starts to break

texts:
Sometimes when pre-cooking chicken for a curry week, the chicken cuts doesn't keep its shape. It starts to get a bit stringy and losing the "smooth" shape that it was cut with, what could I be doing wrong, given that my favourite indian restaurants always have the chicken in a nice shape?

p.s: I'm confident this is down to method, as I have had this before, but it was a one off, anyway.


texts:
Why do some powders like flour or matcha green tea causes lumps in hot water while other powders like sugar or cocoa or wheat grass (triticum aestivum) readily dissolve? Wheat grass powder is green and easily dissolves in cold water.

Cocoa: http://imgur.com/ncmN1ki.jpg


texts: How to remove olive oil stains from cotton/wool cloths?

texts:
I think any cook have came across these nasty stains. What is the best home method of removing them from cotton/wool cloths? I know that the best method is to act proactive and wear protective clothing, but this has happened by accident after the meal was ready.

Thanks!


texts:
I read in a cooking magazine that baby spinach should only be eaten raw because ooking it results in slimy texture. Regular spinach can be sauteed/wilted without any issues.

Do many culinary sites state the same? I am looking at making spanakopita as well as Tuscan chicken and some others.


texts: Why do my cookies deflate when coming out of the oven?

texts:
Immediately after I remove my cookies from the oven, they start to deflate and lose some of their puffiness.  What are the primary causes of this?

This occurs with both old and new baking soda; though the effect is lessened with new baking soda. This happens with most kinds of cookies. I chill the cookie dough in the fridge while baking each batch.


texts: What type of cookie to use, when an Australian recipe calls for "crushed biscuits"?

texts: I have a recipe from my teenage years in Australia for a bar cookie called "Cherry Crunch". It includes cashews, arrowroot, cocoa and "biscuits", among other things. I know that biscuits are cookies, but have no idea what type of cookie to use. I'm assuming it would be something rather plain?


texts: How to properly use a butter stick's wrapper?

texts:
Rectangular sticks of butter usually come wrapped in a wax paper-esque wrapper that is folded over the stick.

How am I supposed to use the wrapper so that I can easily unwrap the stick, cut off a portion that I want to use, and then re-wrap the stick for preservation?

I inevitably end up tearing the wrapper, which makes poor seals for rewrapping and storage.


texts:
What's called for specifically is an "11- by 18-inch (rimmed) baking pan (hs note: or jellyroll pan)" in this recipe.  I made this once before and it was a hit, but I forgot about not having the correct pan, and I apparently guessed right last time.

Rather than fudge it (couldn't resist) again, should I just tally up the pans I have and approximate 198 inches?


texts:
The recipe below makes a small panettone cake. I would like to make a cake twice the size, is it ok to just double all the ingredients?

Yeast                 1⁄2 tsp
Strong White Flour    300 g (11 oz)
Sugar                 2 tbsp
Butter                15 g (1⁄2 oz)
Salt                  1⁄4 tsp
Ground Cardamom       1⁄2 tsp
Grated Lemon Zest     1
Medium Sized Egg yolk 1
Milk                  140 ml
*Mixed Peel           50 g (2 oz)
*Raisins              100 g (4 oz)


texts: Can you add emulsifying salts when making mozzarella?

texts: Pretty much what the title says, I want to improve the stability of melted mozzarella for a dish I want to make. Haven't made mozzarella before, but if I make it at home, is there a stage I could add sodium citrate (or sodium phosphate) like is done to make American cheese gooey like it is?


texts: French dressing will not blend or mix to be creamy

texts:
I make a french dressing >  I blend using a milk shake mixer. Usually as I add the oil, sugar and vinegar it mixes up to a very nice creamy thick dressing. Lately it will not thicken up and stays very liquid almost like a vinegar and oil.

Is there a sequence to mix the oil, vinegar, salt and sugar?


texts: I just ate a store bought roti (a flat Indian bread, like a tortilla) and baking powder is a listed ingredient.  Why does a flat bread need baking powder?  There are no bubbles to grow, are there?


texts: How do I get homemade mayonnaise to taste like store bought mayonnaise?

texts:
I recently made a batch of homemade mayonnaise, having found myself with left over egg yolk from another recipe. I decided not to flavor the mayonnaise with any mustard. The mayo ended up tasting like mostly oil. I decided not to use mustard since the store brands never taste like mustard. How can I adjust the flavor so that my mayo tastes like the typical mayo you get in stores (particularly Hellmann's brand)?

For the record, here is how I prepared the mayo:

For every 1 egg yolk I have, I added 2 table spoons of white vinegar to activate the emulsifier. Then I slowly dripped in vegetable oil until the mixture started to look a bit like yellow mayonnaise. At that point I started adding and stirring into the mixture large portions of vegetable oil until I got to my desired thickness (I like the thicker mayo). I should note that the color was still a very light yellow, perhaps not enough vinegar.


texts: Making corn bread pudding from corn bread

texts:
I have a large batch of corn bread that's about to go bad, a situation I'd like to salvage by turning it into corn bread pudding. Unfortunately, all of the recipes I can find online start from base ingredients, or corn muffin mix, rather than using completed corn bread as an ingredient. Recipes for bread pudding don't have this problem; they don't expect you to start from flour :)

Can I just substitute corn bread for wheat bread in a bread pudding recipe and get palatable results? I'm not at all sure. If not, what would people suggest I do to my corn bread, to turn it into corn bread pudding?


texts: For safe boiling water canning, can I substitute acidity requirement using lime juice instead of lemon juice?

texts: is lime juice as acidic as lemon juice and therefor uses 1:1 substitution with lemon juice to ensure low acid food is acidic enough for boiling water canning?


texts:
I wanted to try something new with chicken breasts, came across Chicken Alfredo which seems pretty simple. However, the two times I've cooked Chicken Alfredo the sauce seems to come out rather thick and the pasta is glue-ey, but still very much edible.

I'd like to make the sauce thinner so that the pasta isn't sticking together as much. First thought that comes to mind is cook the sauce for less, but in all honesty it does look too watery to leave.

Here's my steps to making the sauce:

Medium/low heat
2 Tbsp butter
3 Finely chopped medium-sized garlic cloves. Wait until start of browning
Add 1 1/2 Tbsp plain flour
Keep stirring until garlic and flour become incorporated
Repeat steps 4 and 5
Immediately pour up to a glass of milk
Keep stirring and gradually add another glass of milk until sauce thickens
Keep stirring and finally turn off heat
Place cooked diced chicken into the pasta pan and stir.

I realise how thick the sauce gets in the last step, which may be due to the drop in pressure from multi-tasking :P. Can someone share some wisdom about sauce making, or even specifically Chicken Alfredo sauce making?


texts: Can you make a French Buttercream in a food processor? (Experiment Results)

texts:
Unless I get a credible and resounding NO! very soon, I'm going to give it a shot. I've recently started using my food processor for more and more whipped egg (not whipped egg white) applications, and they have always turned out surprisingly well. My plan is to try a minor adaptation of Julia Child's French Buttercream recipe. I think I'll use the steel blade until it's time to add the butter, then switch to the plastic blade.

I don't have a stand mixer, and I have no desire to try it with a hand mixer. That leaves my food processor. The feed tube could make really easy work of it, if it works.

I should mention that I'm specifically playing with a potential filling for a dense, dark chocolate, flourless tarte. That being the case, high volume is not necessarily desirable.

If you know of any good reason to stop this madness, please tell me now!

Of course I will update with triumph, failure or anything in-between.


texts: How can I achieve the equivalent of "Slow Cook High" setting on my multicooker?

texts:
So a deal site popped up for this KitchenAid multicooker.

I've been meaning to get a slow cooker for a while, and after checking the details of this guy, along with the rest of the stuff it does, I went for it.

Today, I was planning on putting some pork in for 6 hours, on "Slow Cook - High", but the only option was "Slow Cook - Low". I'm not sure exactly what's wrong, but with the other settings of the thing, I think I should be able to achieve just about the same from another setting, specifically the Manual mode,

So my question is, to you slow cooking maestros, what setting should I be using to have "Slow Cook - High" equivalence?

(This pork roast is the recipe I'm trying to try)


texts:
This is specifically a question about chiles, but I hope it can be (semi)universally applied.

I was watching a documentary on how they make Tabasco and it was effectively: age chile pepper puree in oak (whiskey) barrels with salt poured over the top for about two years. Cut the resulting mix with vinegar. Strain. Bottle.

So I thought I would try to do something similar, but on a smaller scale and I found a 3 liter oak barrel online that I figured might do the trick.

My question: if I put three liters of chile puree in the three liter barrel and pour a bunch of salt on the lid like Tabasco does, will I need the same amount of fermentation time? My gut says no, but I have been wrong before. Also, if I do need less time, how can I figure out how much less time I need?


texts:
I used a vanilla bean in a water-based beverage and did not get any taste.

Further research showed that vanilla is apparently oil soluble, not water soluble.

I know that it is a common practice to make vanilla tinctures using alcohol, but if it is fat soluble, why not use oil? The problem with alcohol is that it gives bad taste to many things.

I see in vanilla ice cream there are the little black seeds. Do they just mix the seeds in the milk, and the milk fat absorbs the taste? How long does this take? If I want to add vanilla to a fat-based food, how long do I need to let the seeds sit in it for the flavor to spread throughout?


texts:
I want to do this recipe which contains these ingredients for the bread part..

250g/9oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
5g salt
8g instant yeast
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
135ml/4½fl oz whole milk
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

and the method...

Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the butter, milk and egg and stir the mixture with your fingers until it comes together as a dough. Continue mixing until the sides of the bowl are clean and the dough is soft.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-6 minutes, or until the dough has stopped feeling sticky and has a smooth, silky exterior. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with cling film and set aside to prove in a warm room for at least 30 minutes and up to one hour.

Its asks for instant yeast - I have this yeast described as Dried active baking yeast, suitable for hand-baking only.

Is this the same thing? I couldn't find 'instant yeast'. Can I use this yeast in this recipe and can I use it exactly as described in the method?


texts: Sugar in tea better if put after boiling

texts: I am a big fan of tea. I hail from Punjab, India. I like it with cardamom and milk and water in 1:1 proportion. And I like to boil everything together (this is the way its done in majority of Indian households). Recently, I noticed that the tea tastes much better if I put sugar in my cup after pouring the tea in it, rather than boiling the sugar with everything. It tastes so fresh this way that I have altogether stopped putting in the sugar while boiling. Is there anyone who shares this taste with me and can give me some scientific explanation on what is the difference?


texts:
Suppose that my jams and compotes are in an uninsulated, coldplace, i.e. -20°C in the winter.
Is it possible that they will be frozen, and the glass breaks, or not?


texts:
Many condiments such as katchup, mayonnaise and mustard (where I live at least) seem to love rounding all of their expiry dates to "60 days after opened".

Thing is, I never see any difference after the date, at least with mustard. It's easy to consume katchup or mayo under a couple of months, but I only like mustard for very few things, so I have some black mustard from ~3-4 months that tastes just as good.

What is weird to me is that they round the expiry dates. Are they just lazy and think "nah, nobody takes more than two months and it should last that long"?


texts:
Can I substitute a biga or poolish in recipes that call for a sourdough starter?
If so, what should I take into account? Will the resulting dough require a shorter leavening time?
If not, why?

I understand that substituting the sourdough starter with a biga or poolish won't give the same flavours to the dough, but I am not concerned about flavours. I am concerned only with the feasibility of the substitution without compromising the execution of a recipe.


texts: Coffee Grounds and Gritty Butter Cream Icing

texts:
Is there any way to dissolve coffee grinds once added to a butter cream frosting?

I used instant coffee crystals in the past and they have always dissolved when simply added to the butter cream during the mixing stage — without having to dissolve in any sort of hot liquid prior to adding.

I have made this mocha butter cream frosting several times in the past, but didn’t think it through when I decided to use regular coffee instead of instant, which I discovered — albeit too late — that I was out of.


texts:
I'm making flamenquin this evening and don't have any breadcrumbs available (apart from under the toaster, but some are suspicious).  Has anyone ever used polenta instead of breadcrumbs to coat meat?

Thanks!


texts:
From the Wikipedia entry for allspice:

  Allspice is also indispensable in Middle Eastern cuisine, particularly in the Levant, where it is used to flavour a variety of stews and meat dishes.

I am confused by this because I thought allspice was a Central American spice. Is this spice an American commodity that has been widely adopted in the Middle East (after the age of exploration), or is there a source of allspice that is native to the Levant?


texts:
I want to make a cake that involves a brownie layer with chocolate mousse on top. I just want to use my own trusted brownie and chocolate mousse recipes. I've looked it up and found a few similar recipes.

Now, I'm worried that the chocolate mousse might have a bit of fluids at the bottom that will ruin the brownie layer. Is there anything I can do to improve this (I was thinking of a small layer of chocolate that will prevent absorption of the fluids by the brownie) and is it generally a good idea to combine the two or am I better off making a regular chocolate cake layer instead of a brownie?

Thank you for your advice


texts: removing breast before roasting rest of duck?

texts: I ordered a duck to roast for Thanksgiving. When I picked it up, it was much larger than I had expected. Since there will only be two of us eating, I was wondering if it would be possible to remove the breasts for a later meal and still roast the rest of it. I was thinking since it would be breast down and with all the fat, plus basting; it would be fine. Or will it dry out? Any other opinions or ideas?


texts: I have an older instant pot pressure cooker (ip-lux50 v3) and am looking for a recipe for cooking plain white rice. For reasons I don't understand, different pressure cookers cook rice differently and I haven't found a recipe that works very well for mine. Does anyone have experience with this model or a similar one that can suggest a good recipe?


texts:
So this is my first time doing the turkey, and I am kind of freaking out. It's a 11 pound bird that I purchased and froze last Friday.

Monday evening, I took it out of the freezer and moved it to the fridge. I have a feeling I should have done this much earlier, but I goofed up.

Being concerned about my turkey not being defrosted when it comes time to cook it, I opened it up and found the inside had large ice blocks inside still. I opted to run cold water over the turkey for about a hour and already the ice has seemed to thaw. So I wrapped the turkey up in shrink wrap on a pan and put it back in the fridge.

But now I am reading that it should be cooked immediately after being defrosted in the above method. Now I am freaking out even more. Have I ruined my turkey? The last thing I want to do is get my family sick, and I feel like a dummy.

I know no one can really say for sure if this is a tainted turkey, but would anyone still have any words of advice for me?


texts: How do I get the butter out of my chocolate fondue?

texts:
In my chocolate fondue, I used butter to help it melt smoothly. Now, after the meal, I want to use the left over chocolate. There is a slight sheen of oil on the chocolate and, in the refrigerator, the butter settles on top and "freezes".

How can I get that butter out?

Bonus response: How should I use this left over chocolate?


texts: How do I fix my dough after I did not activate the yeast properly?

texts:
This is my first time making anything using yeast, but I decided to try making Dominique Ansel's At-Home Cronut recipe. Everything was going fine, but I realized that I had bought rapid-rise yeast instead of instant yeast. I tried subbing the rapid-rise anyways, using the same amount that was designated for the instant yeast. I added warm water and other liquid ingredients in order to activate the yeast, but instead of putting it in a warm moist place to rise I simply left it on my kitchen counter at room temperature. Now the dough has been sitting in my refrigerator since last night. I'd like to finish this tonight, but the dough didn't really rise for reasons that are now obvious to me. What is the best approach for salvaging this situation? I really don't want to start over since I need these cronuts for tomorrow, but I'm willing to go buy more yeast if I have to.

Would appreciate a reply on this ASAP so I can get moving on finishing this.

Thoughts?
Thanks!


texts:
I've seen some recipes that call for AP flour and bread flour. What's the point of that?

Assume AP flour has 10.5% protein and bread flour has 11.5% protein. If a recipe calls for equal amounts of AP flour and bread flour, you'll end up with a mixture that is 11% protein. Why not just find 11% protein flour in the first place?

Also, since the protein amount of flour vastly differs by brand, region, etc. -- how can a recipe make any assumptions about the final protein amount in the flour mixture.


texts: How do I remove a black residue after seasoning cast iron waffle maker

texts: I just seasoned a cast iron waffle maker.  It now has a black residue that is flakey in the thinner spots and somewhat sticky where it is thicker.  Should I just bake it longer, start over again, or something else?


texts: How does the Croatian system of flour categorization correspond to the systems of Western Europe and USA?

texts:
1) In my country we have following types of wheat flour - T-400/T-450 and these 2 are white, T-500/T-550 (also white), T-850 (brown) and T-1100/T-1600 (black), however when I googled this I didn't find anything and it seems that there is no such thing as "black wheat flour" so I'd like to know what is it's name in Europe and USA (black wheat flour is wheat flour with high ash content, in my country numbers after letter T represent ash content multiplied by 1000)

2) How are all these wheat flours produced?As far as I know wheat flour is made by crushing wheat grains.

3) What is the difference between whole wheat flour and black wheat flour (T-1100/T-1600)?


texts: How long is too long to cook meatballs in sauce?

texts: We use ground Chuck for the meatballs when making meatball subs. No spices or chopped onion, just meat and the meat sauce is a basic tomato based concoction. Then we cook the meatballs(raw) in the sauce in a crackpot for about 10 hrs! When we serve it, the sauce has cooked away by 95%. What I need to know is can you overcook meatballs and/or sauce (on low setting)? They always have a terribly strong and bitter taste that ground beef shouldn't have.


texts:
What is the best way to reheat a meat pie without causing the pastry to burn and go hard?

Wrapping in foil means it won't cook properly. Is it best to put inside a glass pie dish with a lid on?


texts:
I have been craving these for years, and I can't find a recipe.

Frito-Lay made Ketchup flavored Doritos a few years ago. Unfortunately they didn't sell very well and were discontinued not to long after being introduced. Me and a few friends were obsessed with them. I won't admit to how many bags I ate, but it consumed most of my snack budget :)

I've called Frito-Lay many times, and talked to a few of their delivery staffers about their lack of Ketchup Doritos, and the response was not good. The chance of them ever coming back is very bad.

So I turn to my last hope: Making them myself! Do you have a recipe for them? Even if it isn't the actual recipe, if it's your own proprietary blend I'm willing to give it a shot.


texts: If you microwave leftover egg shells is the salmonella dead on the shells

texts: I don't have any pictures. If you microwave leftover egg shells is the salmonella strain killed or not?


texts: How should I interpret this expiry date?

texts:
I have a just opened plastic 4L container of cranberry juice that I bought several months ago. The expiry date on the container is 14 DE 15. I don't know if that should be interpreted as 14 Dec 2015, or 15 Dec 2014.

In general I have this problem with many expiry dates and am curious if there is any kind of standard.


texts:
Do I need to adjust the oven temperature in a roast duck recipe if I want to put more than one duck in the oven at a time.

I suspect I should keep the same temperature but keep them in longer.
Should I cover each duck in foil individually or together?
Does it matter if they are on the same pan?


texts: What would make old fashioned fudge tough?

texts:
I've been making old fashioned fudge for years with great success. But today my fudge came out tough. It's not the normal I overbeat it and its grainy and a little hard. It's like trying to eat plastic. I have no idea what I've done wrong.

I made two batches and they both came out this way, I did slightly overbeat them but I've never seen it be completely inedible because of it... you legitimately can't eat the fudge it is so chewy.

Does anyone know what would cause this?


texts: Is Yellow coloring inside a fish normal?

texts:
I recently purchased a Bronzini fish from a local market.

From the outside  it looks great.

But on the inside, a portion of the fish is a mucusy yellow

The other side looks normal whitish/pink.

I was curious if the yellow coloring is normal or something to be concerned about.

Thank you kindly.


texts: For salad dressings, replacing mustard with lecithin as an emulsifier?

texts:
So every time I make a salad dressing, I can't help but rely on mustard (or sometimes mayonnaise) to emulsify the mixture.  However, oftentimes, I don't want mustard as part of the flavor profile of my salad.

So is there any neutral emulsifier that could help prevent my need for mustard?

My thought was lecithin since it's already a common ingredient in store-bought salad dressings, but I don't really know.  Ideally, the ingredient would be easily available online and easy to use in the kitchen (e.g., only requiring a scale).


texts:
I have seen a lot of meat roasting recipes that require using Dutch ovens, most of the cooks doing the presentations have enameled cast iron Dutch ovens.

When I looked into what a Dutch oven is I noticed some internet sites are suggesting that there are cast aluminium Dutch Ovens as well, They are popular in the Caribbean and are sometimes called Dutch Pots.

I have seen the question: What to look for when choosing a dutch oven?, with an answer suggesting two material options. Plain (seasoned) cast iron or enameled cast iron. Cast aluminium was not mentioned at all. I would like someone to talk about cast aluminium Dutch pots a little because pots made from that material are much cheaper and easier for me to get. The only reason why I would not bother with cast aluminium is if it does a very poor job with meat roasting and caramelization of sugar.

Here are some of the things I already know or at least think I know:

The thermal capacity of the  cast aluminium compared to that of cast iron will lead to a cast iron pot having superior temperature stability for the same thickness and size.
Cast aluminium is lighter than cast iron, volume constant hence lighter pot for same size.
Cast aluminium Dutch pots are durable and cheap and easier to care for
Cast aluminium will probably react with some food items while enameled cast iron will be safer in this regard
The melting point of cast aluminium is lower than that of cast iron

Have I left any key issues out?

What are the likely problems with my output if I choose the aluminium pot given the above points where aluminium does not do well and the fact that I need the pot mainly for meat roasting and sugar caramelization stove top?


texts: Does using wild rice in soup suck up all the broth if it is held after cooking?

texts: This is my experience with rice and pasta. I was wondering if wild rice is less ‘needy’ in this regard and would soak up less broth.


texts: How can I make cookies less dry and crumbly?

texts: I have made these cookies once before. I stuck to the recipe and really liked the flavor, but found that they were very dry and crumbly. I would like to make them again with better results. Looking over the recipe, it seems like it does not have any ingredients that really bind it all together. I am wondering what I could add (and how much) to improve the texture of these cookies. Thank you!


texts: What's the difference between green, white, and red onions?

texts:
Being a north Indian, the only onions that I have used and seen others using are red onions. These are used in all Indian traditional dishes.

I have seen green onions and white onions in the market sometimes (haven't noticed anyone purchasing them though).

How are the green and white ones different from the red onions I'm used to? Are there specific times I should use them instead of red onions, or things I should try them in to be able to tell the difference?


texts:
If I want to make blueberry jam, which type of blueberry should I use?

I just bought a pack of blueberry, but I found that the flesh/pulp of them is not blue, but light green in color. When people say "blue"berry, do they mean the color of the skin only?

How many type of blueberries can be bought in markets?


texts:
I have a sushi rice bag from Sun Rice. They write on it that we should only wash it for 5 minutes then boil it. But I know that sushi rice should be washed for more than that and soaked in water for at least 2 hours. I did it and left it for 2 hours. Then I boil it (1 cup of rice to 1 and 1/4 cup of water). But when I started making the sushi, the rice started to expand and not sticking to each other.

The problem is because of the 2 hours or I didn't left the rice cook until all the moisture gone ?


texts:
I've received the following seeds from one relatives, used in our for some recipes. I want to know what this seeds are.

They taste bitter like fenugreek seeds, and the person who bought it calls it Irani Seeds.

Any help would be appriciated.


texts: What is the difference between pectin and pectin NH?

texts:
I've seen recipes calling for pectin, others call for pectin NH, so there is a difference.

Could anyone please explain to me what is the difference between them and how to they behave different? Also is there any rule of the thumb when to use what?


texts: Is it possible to cook bacon without melting as much fat?

texts:
I love Bacon, but I prefer fattier pieces of meat. However, I cannot seem to find a way to cook the bacon without melting most of the fat off.

What I've tried so far:

Searing at high temperature - Maybe the best results?
Baking the bacon at 200*F(takes way too long, still melts)
Also baking at 300 & 400*F.

In the end, it may just not be possible to retain more fat. I just hate having so much bacon fat left over, and I cook enough that It would make no sense to save it all.


texts: Why would I want to use the creaming method in waffles?

texts:
All good chemical leavened waffle recipes I have had (the ones from New best recipe, Bittman, etc.) instruct me to melt solid fats before adding them to the waffle batter. I only once tried a recipe which uses the creaming method for adding butter to the waffle batter, and I didn't like it. The result was like badly baked cookies, with a crumbly texture instead of soft and elastic. I never found out if it was the method or the ratio which created this bad texture.

Now I bought a whole recipe book dedicated solely to waffles. It has many different recipes, savory and sweet (for the savory recipes, the butter is creamed without sugar, and the eggs are added to the creamed butter). All solid-fat recipes use the creaming method. I find this very strange.

Is it a good idea to cream the butter in waffle batter? How are creamed-batter-waffles different from melted-fat-waffles?

update An example recipe

100 g butter
75 g powdered sugar
1 sachet lemon essence
3 eggs
250 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
200 ml milk

Give the butter with the powdered sugar and the lemon essence into a bowl
and beat it into a foam. Add the eggs one by one, mixing vigorously.

Mix the baking powder into the flour, place it on the egg-butter foam, and
fold in together with the milk. If the batter is too thick, add some more milk.

This is the waffle part only, the actual recipe specifies chocolate glaze to dip the waffles in, and fruit salad as a side. Any language stiffness is probably due to the fact that I tried to do a very literal translation from German and should not be interpreted as incompetency on the recipe writer's side :)

Update 2
There was one obvious way to see if the recipe is any good. I made the waffles from the above recipe.

The result was not good. The waffles have a texture between cakey and gummy. Not directly crumbly, but not soft and elastic like normal waffles or pancakes. I also looked into the New Best Recipe and found a wildly different ratio. If normalized for flour amount, the NBR recipe has 1 less egg, half the amount of butter, no sugar at all, and 3.5 times the amount of liquid, as well as more leavening. Now I have to make this recipe without creaming and the NBR recipe with creaming to get a conclusive answer :( Unless somebody has already tried it and can answer it for me.


texts: Time and temperature for converting collagen to gelatin in chuck roast cooked sous vide?

texts:
I've been reading about the long low temperature cooking and its ability to convert collagen to gelatin.  For example, Doug Baldwin describes some data here.   I'm currently focusing on chuck roast since it's a tough cut and needs this conversion.   Is there a chart that describes the time and temperature for full conversion?

For example, my first attempt was 131 F for 30 hours and it was not enough time.


texts:
I saw this tool at a yard sale today. It appears to be some sort of slicing or cutting device.
The construction however seemed fairly lightweight, I couldn't picture putting something dense, heavy, etc. through it.


texts: What variety of green beans make the best pickled green beans?

texts: I grow bush and pole bean of various varieties, mostly to make pickled green beans. I want to find a variety to grow that is string - free, long and straight, bright green, with good flavor. I like my pickled beans to be crispy.


texts: Can I use unbleached flour in quickbread?

texts: I'm back with another question. I have been baking zucchini bread for a long time. I always used bleached flour. Now that I am trying my hand in yeast breads I use unbleached flour. Can I use unbleached flour in my zucchini bread? I bake at least 100 to 130 loafs of zucchini bread every summer and some in the winter (I freeze some zucchini for the winter) I make basic kind chocolate, lemon, applesauce and carrot it keeps me bizzzzzy My friends and family love them. I hope I can use unbleached I don't have a lot of space for all kinds of flours


texts:
TL;DR
If it takes 90 minutes to roast a leg of lamb at some temperature (perhaps somewhere from 350 to 450 °F?), and it takes 840 minutes to slow-roast a leg of lamb of the same exact weight at some other temperature (possibly 175 to 275 °F?), what is the temperature setting that one should use if one wants the leg of lamb to spend 420 minutes in the oven? Is it suitable to calculate the temperature using linear interpolation?
The mid-length story:
The purpose of the question is to avoid the tyranny of recipes, where I have to go to my tablet, computer, or book shelves to do anything. I'd like to understand the ideas (in this case, for roasting lamb or beef) well enough to be able to cook without the handholding of recipe authors.
In this era of internet-sourced recipes, recipes seem to be, by and large, copied, or inspired (possibly even sometimes plain plagiarized). For example, search online for "roast leg of lamb" and you will find a hundred pundits claiming to provide a recipe. Search for "slow roast leg of lamb" and you will find more results. But these recipes are not gospel. We should be able to do anything we want, so long as it's flavorful and healthy. Is there such a thing as semi-slow, average-slow, and rather-fast-than-slow roasting, or are we stuck with just "roasting" and "slow roasting"?
The long story:
Cooking a whole lamb, starting by defrosting it, will have to remain a 5- or 10-year project, when I will know that I can nail every detail right, and when I will know that a 40-or-so-large family reunion will happen, if they're ever in the same place at the same time.
At this time I have the much more modest objective of properly cooking a leg of lamb, defrosted for 36 hours in the fridge

and smeared with mustard, rosemary, and garlic

My intention was to leave it in the oven overnight at 275 °F / 135 °C. Slow roasting is much more of a foolproof method, because I don't have to calculate precise minutes-per-weight numbers. If it's in the oven two hours more or an hour less, it's still perfectly alright. (Yes, yes, no need to lecture me about food safety; I do make sure that the internal thermometer reading reaches whatever the thermometer says.)
Here is the problem: I really don't want the flavor, the texture, or, as mentioned above, the time sensitivity of roasting at 375 °F / 190 °C. I would like the fall-off-the-bone tenderness of 275 °F / 135 °C, but.
I was much too tired (tennis for just one hour did it) to think about standing on my feet for the 5-10 minutes that it takes to prepare the roast before going to bed. I'm starting to roast early in the morning instead, for guests who will arrive 420 minutes after the roast went to the oven.
If I need 90 minutes at 375 °F / 190 °C and 840 minutes (14 hours) at 275 °F / 135 °C, I am speculating that there is a precise temperature that I can use for 420 minutes, and the roast will be just perfect when the guests arrive. (Then the roast will rest outside during chatting and appetizers.)
How do I determine roasting temperature as a function of time? Would, for example, linear interpolation
375 + (420-90) * (275-375) / (840-90) = 331 °F

make sense?
N.B.: This might be a difficult question, in the sense that cookbooks do not discuss it. Feel free to "throw me a bone", figuratively speaking, and make a suggestion that I can try. If the roast is under-cooked, I can always use one of various remedies and apologize that I didn't get it quite right. The guests will be gracious. But if a better answer comes along later, it's fairer, and better fitting for a reference site, that I update the "correct" answer. Cooking is an art form anyway. There isn't just "right" and "wrong".


texts: I was using Coconut oil to fry up tostada shells and I was wondering if its safe to reuse the oil I used the night before to cook up more shells the next day?


texts: How do you prevent oatmeal from overflowing?

texts:
Whenever I cook oatmeal (whether steel cut oats in a rice cooker or pan, or rolled oats in the microwave), it always overflows. How do you prevent this?

Do you just use a bigger container? Do you just take the pan off the heat or bowl off the microwave when it's about to overflow? I've also heard that if you put dried fruit or something like that along with the oatmeal while cooking, that helps prevent it from overflowing -- is this true?


texts:
So... Since the lock-down everybody turned baker (can't understand why, since there is plenty of bread in the shops) and I can't find bread flour anymore.

Is there a way to use plain flour instead?

I have 1.5kg of strong flour left, can I mix it with plain flour and get decent results?


texts: Put two pork roasts in a crockpot overnight and forgot to plug it in

texts: I cooked a couple pork roasts earlier and took them out of the crock pot and then added two more in the still hot water/ juices etc.. Went to bed. Realized I must have unplugged the crockpot the night before when I got up in the morning to check them and take them out. Are these a definite throw aways?


texts: "1 cup, drained" - does that mean measure before or after draining?

texts:
I know this is similar to other questions like "1 cup chopped nuts" vs "1 cup nuts, chopped", but I wasn't sure about whether it applies to things that have liquid.

I was trying to make the pumpkin pie from America's Test Kitchen, and it calls for "1 cup of candied yams, drained".  If I follow the convention for nuts, then I would drain after I measure a cup.  But this seems imprecise, because there is a variable amount of liquid to begin with, so I would end up with a variable amount of yams afterwards.  It would be more precise to drain before I measure.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?


texts: Does meat marinate while it is in the freezer?

texts: Put a skirt steak in a plastic bag with a marinade and then promptly put it in the freezer.  It has been in the freezer for a couple of days now. I want to thaw it out for dinner tonight, but I'm wondering if the meat has had a chance to marinate in its frozen state?


texts: If a recipe calls for the use of two loaf pans, would it be ok to use a bundt pan instead?


texts: In the last months I cooked a lot of jelly and found an interesting pattern from my ceran stove top: When the heating unit barely fits under the pot the juice will boil over. However if I use the smaller circle (same place at the stove, same pot), it boils but does not overboil. Why does the diameter of my cooking field have an effect on the boil-over-behavior of my juice?


texts: I have recently bought, on a whim, a package of Cocoa Pasta ("barilotti al cacao"). Is it sweet? What sauce goes with it well?


texts: Why do my weighing scales have ml and g?

texts: My electric weighing scales allow me to set the weighing unit to various different units.  2 of the units are g (grams) and ml (milliliters).  However, considering 1ml at sea level should weigh 1g (and this is borne out in the scales' value; 100ml of water also weighs 100g), is there any particular reason these 2 units of measurement are separate rather than a combined "g/ml" measure?


texts: What is the best temperature to roast a spatchcock chicken?

texts:
From your own personal experience, what was the best temperature and time it took to roast a whole chicken in the oven? Im doing a spatchcock. I want to know what temperature worked best for you to obtain the best result.

Thanks!


texts: Julia Child - Mastering the Art of French Cooking - OK for Kosher?

texts: My fiancee and I love to cook. We love cookbooks, but often find that they are useless in today's internet world where all the recipe sites exist. Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a classic, which is not just a list of recipes (as I have found many other "cookbooks") but something more. I want to buy it for her--but the problem is that we keep a kosher kitchen, i.e. we don't mix meat and milk. Child is notorious for her ubiquitous use of butter and cream. Is this book useful in a kosher kitchen, or is it pointless since all of the recipes will call for mixing milk & meat? I have a sense that for many of the recipes, you can simply cut out the butter, but isn't the point of having a recipe to follow it?


texts: Is the caramel recipe wrong, or is it my technique?

texts:
Twice now, I've made the "Ultimate Tarte Tatin" recipe from the Food Network site. In both cases, the crust and apples worked out perfectly.

And in both cases, the caramel seemed to come together before adding the apples, but never really firmed up and remained a thin liquid throughout the cooking process and afterwards.  Tasty, but not really caramel at all, and not a successful pie.

The caramel is 3/4 cup sugar + 2 tbsp water, and 1/2 stick butter.  The instructions are brief, probably fine if you know what you're doing. I'm a caramel novice.

Any suggestions on better or more specific ratios, or more-foolproof techniques, would be appreciated.


texts: How to eliminate rubbery texture in pan fried veggie burgers made with vital wheat gluten

texts:
I like making veggie burgers, and one recipe that I use relies on vital wheat gluten (as well as egg replacer) to have a coherent burger. Here are the ingredients for one particular burger:

  1 cup TVP
  ¾ cup Vegetable broth
  2 tbsp. Tamari
  2 tbsp. Teriyaki Sauce
  1 egg Egg replacer
  1 cup Crushed pineapple
  2 tbsp. Brown sugar
  ½ cup Vital wheat gluten
  ½ cup Whole wheat flour

They are mixed together by hand and refrigerated to thicken up. Then the burgers are pan fried.

What I find is that the outer portion of the burger that makes contact with the pan on either side has an excellent texture, but the inside of the burger is very rubbery, being that it's practically raw and the gluten has that rubbery texture to it. If I pan fry the burgers much longer, they turn brown and get too crispy before the interior is fully cooked, even when I have the burner turned low. Is there a solution to this texture issue?


texts: Chocolate cake baked from recipe is too delicate/fragile

texts:
I tried baking a chocolate espresso cake from this recipe. The idea was to produce a cake that could be used for a layered cake, similar to the entire recipe itself.

I baked a single layer as a test, using a third of each ingredient. I used the toothpick test and found the cake to be done around 28 minutes, which is considerably earlier than the recipe called for. However, the cake came out almost sponge-like, very light and delicate. Removing the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake without causing it to crumble proved nearly impossible.

The cake didn't come out with the domed, cracked top which I suspect has to do with the oven time. My question is whether this alone answers for why the cake turned out as it did. In the video the cake seems much sturdier than the one I ended up with. My ingredients were weighted, except for the coffee which was measured to 180ml.

Is it a matter of letting the cake sit out longer in the oven, or is there something else I'm missing?

For reference, the scaled recipe was as follows.

Cream together in a bowl 115g softened unsalted butter and 150g light brown sugar using a handheld mixer.
Add one egg and mix with the beater.
In a separate bowl, sift 120g all-purpose flour and add 25g Dutch-processed cocoa, 1.4g fine sea salt, and 3.4g baking soda. Mix them well.
Add 80ml brewed strong espresso coffee (cooled) and half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and mix with the beater.
Add 100ml brewed strong espresso coffee (cooled) and the other half of the dry ingredients to the mixture, and mix with the beater.
Pour into the prepared circular 20cm light aluminum baking pan, smooth out the top, and place into the preheated oven (175°C).


texts: One night in Rome, I had the most amazing drink. It had cucumber and sugar, some unidentifiable alcohol (gin? Vodka?), and I believe mint. The menu identified it as tzaziki, but I've been unable to find it online, probably because of the eponymous sauce. Has anyone heard of the drink? Could you identify the mystery liquor?


texts: How do I encourage funnel cake cohesion?

texts:
I tried making funnel cakes this weekend.

The recipes I looked at were all very similar, basically pancake batter that is deep fried. I used this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/funnel-cakes-recipe-1947494

Instead of AP flour I used whole wheat.

I expected that the stream of batter would fry into a mass of crispy snakes as I recognize a funnel cake to be. Instead, when the batter was drizzled into the oil, it fractured into a million tiny drips. The result was more like crispy rice than funnel cake.

I tried cooler oil at 300F and hotter oil at 365F. I tried drizzling through thicker or thinner orifices. I tried letting it stream longer and shorter (more and less batter). In every case the result was the same. The batter practically exploded.

I realize that whole wheat flour has more fiber and less available protein than AP. In other recipes, I've only ever had that make minor differences in texture.

Was the flour substitution enough to precipitate this calamity or is there some other factor I should consider?

I will try again someday. At the moment I'm kind of put off the whole experiment.


texts:
I use this silicone muffin pan to cook things in the oven. It's supposed to be non-stick, but actually food sticks to it quite a lot.

Often I can just scrape dried food off with my fingers, but it's gradually building up brown stains and crusts that I can't remove even by scrubbing hard with a scourer. Is there some kind of trick to make it spotlessly clean again?


texts: How long does fresh parsley keep in the fridge?

texts: How long does fresh parsley stay good if kept in a refrigerator?


texts: We made some venison sausage today. On the packaging for a smoked German sausage, it said do not put cure in if you will be pan frying. I've looked around but I can't find a reason why. We ended up having a little bit that wouldn't fit in the casings and ended up frying that to get an idea what it'll taste like after its smoked. Does anyone know why you shouldn't put cure in pan fry sausage?


texts: How can I use these new findings on tomatoes to my advantage?

texts:
A new study appears to suggest that the characteristics that make a tomato most appealing when choosing one at the store also make it the least appealing when biting into it. Apparently, it is the very same gene that can either make a tomato uniform or tasty, depending on whether it is "switched on" or not.

It sounds promising, if the industry picks up the study's suggestions. But not that I, the consumer, have this information, is there anything I can do to get a better product? Do I just look for uglier tomatoes?


texts:
I can not find my favourite hot dog relish sauce recipe but it included cucumbers, cabbage, peppers, and onions. I know it had tumeric as it was yellow but I am not sure of the ratio of vinegar to sugar. I think it used brown sugar. I also remember putting in a bag of spices that I removed after I had cooked the relish. So I would like to know what the best ratio of sugar to vinegar is as I don't want it too sweet and what spices and ratios should I use .
Thank you.


texts: Using cream cheese instead of cheddar in a grilled cheese sandwich

texts: If I want to make a grilled cheese sandwich with cream cheese instead of cheddar, can I get it melted like cheddar?


texts: Mold on a single floating chilli seed in lacto-fermentation. Is this a problem?

texts:
I made my first attempt at lacto-fermentation and decided to ferment some chillis. I used a 3% salt water solution and currently 8 days into my first fermentation. I have encountered an issue and wanted to verify whether I should be concerned or these can be disregarded. The fermentation generally seems to be going well. However, there are very small white patches on one or two chillis (almost unnoticeable). Also there are two very insignificant instances of mold: One, on a single chilli seed that is floating on the surface, and another on a very small piece of freezer bag that is left outside the brine that I used to keep everything from floating. Are any of these issues? The two mold instances are each maybe 2 millimeters in diameter and are limited to the areas that have been left outside the brine.

Thanks in advance.


texts: I err.. made pan fried gnochi and it tasted like pancakes

texts:
I made pan-fried gnocchi for the first time today. I used the following:

Wholemeal plain flour
Leftover baked potatoes
Salt
A single egg.

I ran the potatoes through a cheese grater because I don't have a ricer. That got them into a super aerated pile. I added the egg and added flour until the whole thing was clinging together. I lifted it onto a floured surface, kneaded for about 4 minutes. I'm not a pasta adept so I don't know if I overworked - safe to assume I did.

I blanched in boiling water until they floated to the top, then I pan fried them in olive oil until golden brown on both sides. They were too chewy when they came out (No doubt wrong proportions of ingredients) but bizarrely, they tasted and smelt like English pancakes. I'm just wondering, is there something with the egg and the flour that would cause this?


texts: Why would using oil make muffins less sweet?

texts:
I've been wondering, what makes muffins less sweet when using oil? (instead of butter?)
In this case, a muffin mix tells me to use butter. The alternative (to make "american style" muffins) is to use (sunflower)oil. It would make it less sweet.


texts: I have a chocolate syrup recipe that calls for around 1 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water. I have found that the recipe turns out better if I caramelize the sugar. However, when I add the water to the caramelized sugar, the sugar immediately hardens (due to the temperature difference, I assume). I have tried boiling the water, which helps, but the problem still exists(the melting point of sugar, according to wikipedia, is 320F, so there is still a significant temperature difference). Stirring until the hardened sugar dissolves is tedious and often leaves me with small, undissolved chunks. Is there a better way to dissolve caramelized sugar without it hardening?


texts:
I dried the mango in sunlight, heated the oil and slightly roasted all masala before grinding it.
Now the problem is that masala taste bitter.

How can I fix it?
The masala I used includes salt, rye seed, methi [fenugreek] seed, saunf [fennel], turmeric powder and black seed [nigella].


texts:
I am trying to duplicate the chicken livers as made in South Africa (eg the Mozambique paprika livers Nando's has), but in my first attempt the livers appeared to partially disintegrate into an unappetizing ca-ca looking mush, yet with still some pinkish bits present.

Ideally they would be separate chunks, nicely browned on the outside and cooked through on the inside.

I threw them in with sauteed onions once the onions had cooked through so the pan was not extremely hot.

Is there a trick to this? Hotter frypan and just cook the livers first? Does washing the livers help? I did clean them to remove the fiber bits but didn't wash them particularly.

Update: Hot pan, washed and dusted with flour did the trick perfectly. Nasty spitting of hot oil- I think that's covered in another question.


texts: How does gumbo spoil while still cooking?

texts: I'm new to new to New Orleans style of cooking. I heard that gumbo spoils while still cooking. Is this true. I'm confused. Any answer would help.


texts:
I tried to make goat cheese following the recipe below, I did not use any buttermilk although a comment indicated that could be done. I kept the milk at the desired temperature for 10-15 minutes with no curdling occuring, took off the stove then added the reccomeneded amount of lemon juice and still no curdling occured.

http://guiltykitchen.com/2010/12/06/back-to-basics-culinary-fundamentals-goat-cheese/

My solution was to put the milk back on the heat until it started to curdle, and then take off the heat and add more lemon juice which produced curds, and then I was able to continue following the recipe. The result was a crumbly cheese that wasn't very spreadable. I used milk from a local farm, it did not have any indication of how pasturized it was.

What did I do wrong? Should I have left the milk on the heat at a stable temperature until is started to curdle?


texts: Homemade yogurt & flavours - Keeping it thick

texts:
I am getting a really thick yogurt with fresh whole milk + cultures.
What I do is:

get the milk (3,8% fat) boiling (95°C)
keep heating the milk, lowering the temperature to 85/90°C for ten minutes
Cool the milk down to 40°C
Add cultures and mix properly
Store the milk for 9Hrs in a recycled Easiyo thermos with hot water wrapped in a pile

Simply perfect

One day I have tried to add jam and sugar during step 2, however the yogurt didn't get thick at at all, although it had a perfect taste.
Conclusion: adding flavors may conflict with bacteria development.

So the question is, from your experience, what flavors and how much sugar can be added to yogurt allowing a proper thick yogurt? I have personally added vanilla powder at step 2

Share your experience!


texts: I made chili and it's too hot! If I cook it longer will the heat calm down?


texts: Is there a reason, besides the beautiful appearance, that cinnamon is added as a swirl instead of added directly to the dough? I heard once that it inhibited the yeast but I can't find confirmation of that.


texts: Peach sorbet is not setting at all and the mix is having a jelly texture when popped into the freezer

texts:
I am doing a peach sorbet following pierre herme recipe which literally said:

580g of peach puree
74g sugar
104g water
37g of glucose (I've used high quality honey instead)
4g of sorbet stabilizer which I couldn't find so I replaced it with 1 gelatin leaf.

I am using Cuisinart ICE 30-BC ice cream machine. I've used it once when I made vanilla ice cream and it worked great.

What I did is getting water and sugar to boil, remove from the heat, then added the honey and gelatin into the mix and pour it over the puree.

Pop it into the fridge at 4 degree Celsius for a night, and already putting the ice cream machin churning into freezer for 24 hours.

The sorbet didn't set at all. It has confit texture which is between a jelly and sauce textures.

To test if the mix will freeze without the machine, I moved it to the freezer at 14 degree celsius and woke up this morning to check it and it was like a jelly texture and it was not an ice block at all.

Did I add lots of sugar ? Or the gelatin leaf was useless and not the correct substitute ? But 1 leaf is 2g and 2g for 580g of liquid + 104 water is not too much at all.


texts:
I have been looking across the Internet to see if these two Thai dishes (Pad See Lew and Pad See Ew) are the same. I believe that they are and that they are just spelled different in different regions (possibly). But I’m not sure so I thought I’d ask for some seasoned advice.
Pad See Ew is sometimes spelled Pad Siew, Pad Siu or Phat Si-Io.


texts:
I think it is well accepted that beef round, which comes from a working part of the cow, is thus tough and needs to be handled properly.
From various sources, I've read that beef rounds (some say all three top, bottom, eye, some say just the bottom round) have lots of connective tissue and braising is a good choice of method for cooking them.
However, it seems that the braised round cuts feel a lot different from chuck, shank, or ox-tail, which really seems to get fork tender and gives unctuous mouthfeel, and still feels quite tough.
That said, is the source of toughness of round cuts same as that of chuck, shank or oxtail, which is a large amount of collagen that will eventually turn into gelatin? If beef rounds do have lots of collagen, then is the perceived toughness due to drying out easily due to lack of fat, which the other cuts seem to have plenty of?
Another thing that confuses me is that some sources say the telltale signs of collagen are thick muscle fibers (easily seen on beef rounds) and multiple muscle groups held together by natural seams. (easily seen on chuck or shank)
Are those two factors, the thick muscle fibers and bunch of muscle groups held together, going to play out differently when braised, which one giving a better mouthfeel than the other?


texts: Prebaking bread, which internal temperature would you go for?

texts: I've made a batch of Dutch Stollen and I want to pre-bake them in the oven and keep them in the freezer. I was thinking of baking them to 70ºC internal temperature. The yeast should be dead by then, and I was wondering if the gluten would be set by then?


texts: Adding parsley at the beginning of making chicken stock

texts: I've heard that parsley is supposed to be added at the end of cooking, but this article mentions using it in making chicken stock, and I can't imagine adding it at the end since it would just be strained out. Does it make sense to add parsley at the beginning when making chicken stock?


texts:
I'm trying out a recipe for a type of dinner roll. After kneading it on my mixer for 15 minutes, I put it in a slightly warmed oven to rise. I noticed that the dough was very wet, though. There is no way I'm going to be able to shape this into rolls. How to deal with this?

Should I have added some flour during kneading? (The next time I make this, perhaps I can just reduce the liquids: 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 5 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp oil).
Can I add flour after it rises? Basically, punch down the dough, incorporate flour and keep kneading until the dough is "shapable", then shape them into rolls and bake.
Something else?


texts: I want to substitute milk for the water called for in my recipe for bread. The recipe calls for 3 cups water. Home much milk should I use?


texts: Bacon in sealed package, 4 days at room temp

texts: I bought 4 packages of vacuum packed bacon 4 days ago, left them on the counter at room temperature by mistake. I opened them tonight, they smelled fine, color was good, bacon was not slimy. I cooked a piece and ate it, tasted fine. Is this bacon OK to eat? (too late for me...)


texts: How long do you let a steak from the fridge come up to temperature, and when do you salt it?

texts: Before cooking a steak, you're supposed to let it sit out at room temperature. You're also supposed to salt it. What is the proper timing for these steps? How long do you let the steak come up to temperature, and how long before you cook it do you salt it?


texts: Is it bad to be a 'board tapper', i.e. to tap your knife rhythmically when you're cutting vegetables?

texts:
I briefly worked in a restaurant kitchen in Hong Kong under a British chef.  He objected to the sound I made when slicing onions, and warned me not to be a 'board tapper'.  I duly spent the next weeks learning to slice onions his way, though I wasn't able to match the speed I'd been accustomed to using the method I'm more practised in.
I've lived in Asia for many years, and use a Chinese vegetable knife/ Chinese chef's knife (CCK - NOT a cleaver) to cut almost everything.  These tall, relatively straight-edged knives are used by Chinese chefs for the majority of tasks, and are employed using either a 'push cut' to force the blade through denser materials, a 'chop cut' in which the whole edge hits the board more or less parallel to it, or a 'draw cut' in which the tip of the blade is drawn back through softer materials, the angle at which the knife is held and the depth of the material being cut together determining how much of the edge's length does the cutting.
European chefs typically use French-/ German-style chef's knives with long, pointed, curved blades and favour a 'rocker' cut (during which the tip of the blade stays in contact with the board) for slicing medium-density ingredients like onions, as taught by Jamie Oliver et al.
The rocker cut is quiet and sustains high frequencies, although like the push cut it does require some vertical force from the cook's arm.  The chop cut also sustains high frequencies and requires little force, relying instead upon a heavier blade to let gravity do the work, but it is noisy.  (The draw cut is almost silent and can be very precise, but is slower partly because it requires the movement of the whole arm.)  Each has its different applications.
Through some cursory research, I found out that tapping one's knife on the board even when not cutting anything can serve a number of functions:

Activate muscle memory prior to cutting to avoid poor first cuts
Remove pieces of food from the blade after cutting
Warn others that a knife is about to be wielded
Attract attention (valuable to street-kitchen chefs)
Punctuate speech (valuable to television chefs)
Add flair to one's work/ annoy people around one.

Whilst this kind of non-cut tapping is a separate matter, its various reasons cast light upon the types of issues surrounding human sounds in the kitchen, amid the roaring and grinding and hissing, churning, and beeping of various machines.  Noise itself, clearly, isn't the problem.
I've come across the 'board-tapper' criticism elsewhere, in books, and often wondered whether this is mostly a tech thing (curved blades rock, straight blades tap), a culinary chauvinism thing (Asians tap, and cheap CCKs are not welcome in non-Asian kitchens), or a kitchen-hierarchy thing (chefs de commis should be seen and not heard).
As the extra noise probably equates to extra wear on the blade it could be a 'maintenance thing', and reasonably so were it not that most cooks don't sharpen other cooks' knives.  Although the vast majority of jobbing chefs in the West use standard, serviceable implements made by the likes of Victorinox, not artworks of folded steel by artisan knifemakers, a heightened awareness of luxury goods everywhere has inevitably led to a heightened interest how they should be cared for - but as the explosion of interest in craft knifemaking has been very much an Internet-enabled phenomenon, its roots don't go back far enough to explain the prejudice.  Outside of Japan, at least, using posh knives for mundane work is a relatively new thing.
Onions are onions everywhere...  So why does board-tapping matter so much to some people?


texts: Lemon juice as a natural preservative for soups

texts:
Can lemon juice be used as a natural preservative for soups?

Additionally, Russian soup Borsch has a lot  of cabbage in it, as far as I know that makes it last longer. Do you think cabbage can help a soup to be preserved longer?

What are other natural preservatives that can be used for soups?

There is this question Are there any natural preservatives that can be used in Soups or Stews? but the answer doesn't address lemon juice or cabbage or any other natural preservatives.


texts:
I have some apple and fig wood from trees that were pruned yesterday. The pieces range from sticks the diameter of your finger to about 3" in diameter.

How can I use these? Do they need to dry? For how long? Do I need to remove the bark?


texts: What happens to pasta dough when it is run multiple times through the machine?

texts:
Before, when I made fresh pasta, the dough would become a little "brittle" and was hard to work through the thinner settings of my pasta machine. Then I saw a tip on a cooking show to put the dough through the thickest setting several times (about 6 to 8 times), each time folding it onto itself.

The reason given in the show for the tip was that it would improve flavor/texture of the cooked pasta. However, it felt to me as if the dough became easier to handle (less "brittle") as well.

My question: what happens to pasta dough when you run it through the machine on thickest setting multiple times?

Some research I did before asking (that didn't give me an answer yet):

Remembering it may have something to do with gluten, I read through the Wikipedia article on gluten. It does mention elasticity in the "bread" subsection, perhaps the same thing is at work here?
Searching this Stack Cooking site I found this highly upvoted answer which mainly mentions gluten's effect on "elasticity" in the context of "chewiness", but doesn't related it to how well the dough can be handled.
Of course I tried to Google the answer, but that mainly results in recipes for fresh pasta.


texts: How to decide whether to reduce a sauce or thicken it?

texts: The approach I always adopted to thicken a sauce is to reduce it so the water can evaporate, leaving a sauce that is more concentrated. Earlier, I watched a video where the host was talking about thickening agents such as flour. Looking up on google, It seems that the thickening is a term commonly used when employing other substances to thicken the sauce rather than just letting the water evaporate. I wonder how to decide whether to reduce a sauce versus thickening it (or both)?


texts:
I just purchased a chafing pan from Sam's Club by Bakers & Chefs. The second pan in the stack appears to have several black scratches or gouges in the material. I'm wondering, since it is not marked with a metal grade such as 18/10 but instead claims "restaurant quality", if this is junk?

The scratches appear as black marks, not simply scratches in the stainless steel, and do not rub out with scrubber or baking soda. Is there only a very thin metal coating over something inferior that I do not want my food to touch?

The surface is also a dull grey, not a bright shiny color as I am accustomed to in my other stainless steel cookware.  I've had all my other stainless steel pans for 30+ years and never seen anything like this. I smell a rat!

Please comment on whether you'd return this set and look for a higher quality set. My purpose is to slow roast tomatoes and I want to avoid contact with reactive metals and also make most efficient use of my oven, as this takes 10-12 hours.


texts: Should rendered pork lard be melting at only 85° F?

texts:
I recently rendered a bunch of pork fat into lard.

Some of it I froze (after solidifying in refrigerator), whereas the rest I put in mason jars and vacuum sealed. I just left these on a pantry shelf with a closed door (i.e. they're in darkness).

It mostly solidified overnight, and putting it in the refrigerator absolutely solidified it to the correct texture... I had filtered it through cheesecloth, and the resulting product was white or just slightly off-white.

The problem is, the jars get liquidy again, semi-melting at ""room temperature"". We've had a few hot days, and the pantry they are in unfortunately got to about 85 degrees (outside the cabinet) - a tad above room temperature.

My question is, should my lard be melting at only 85° F? It's not fully liquid, just liquid-y.


texts: I recently moved to the US from Sweden, and one thing I sorely miss is idealmjöl. It is a very fine flour that is primarily used to thicken sauces. It has the property that you can just sprinkle it over your sauce and it will dissolve and thicken it (with a little bit of whisking), without making the sauce lumpy. I haven't seen anything obvious in my grocery store that will do the same thing. Is there anything similar here in the States?


texts: What's the difference between latte, mocha, and all the other drinks on a coffee-house menu?

texts: There are many different coffee-based drinks on an average coffee-house menu.  But what makes them different from each other?  What are the differences / distinguishing characteristics between: latte, caffe misto, cappuccino, mocha, macchiato, Americano, and Cafe Au Lait?


texts:
I'm making truffles, and my ganache keeps coming apart. The chocolate acts like it's overheating, but it's not. I've confirmed the temperature of the water in the double boiler several times, and the chocolate never exceeds 120 degrees. Here's my recipe:

20 oz of chopped chocolate (72%)
1 3/4 cups cream
1/4 cup Cognac
2 tbsp Butter
splash of espresso powder

I'm making this in a double boiler, as I find it usually turns out smoother. I don't know why this recipe isn't working today, I've made it twice and it's failed both times, though I've used the recipe many times over the years.

The only difference is the cognac, but I've used other liquid as flavoring. Is there something in liquor that changes the melting properties of chocolate? The liquid is going in with the chocolate, so it's not seizing.

I've destroyed $40 of Valhrona today, so needless to say, I'd like to know why this is happening.


texts: What are the pips and skin of an orange?

texts:
When the orange is soft and cold, cut in half and remove any pips. Process the whole orange, including the skin, until medium chunky

From: http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/baking/whole-orange-spice-cake

Is skin the outer thick orange coloured cover?
or the fibrous threads that orange pieces have?
or the thin skin that holds the juice and seeds?

What are pips and skin of an orange?


texts: Can I freeze soup in a pot (I believe it's made of stainless steel)? Are there any health risks? Is there any risk of damage to the pot?


texts: When macerating apples to use in a pie, what should you do with the liquid?

texts:
Because the liquid is so full of apple flavor, I usually cook it down into a caramel and put it into the pie filling.

I'm not sure this is good or even if I should be macerating my apples at all.   I originally started macerating to stop the pie filling from sinking, leaving a space in between the filling and my top crust.   Is there a better way to accomplish this?


texts: I recently bought a new meat grinder and they recommend washing it with hot water, drying it completely, and spraying a food grade silicone to prevent the stainless steel parts from rusting. Can I just use a light coating of oil like I do my cast iron to prevent rust?


texts: How do I make my bread heavy when baked?

texts: What ingredient do I add to my bread dough to make it heavy when it's out from the oven?


texts: Undercooked bread - does temperature over 165 mean it's food safe?

texts: I made a white bread recipe with whole spelt flour, probably didn't knead it enough, etc. and it didn't rise much. So it was undercooked inside and very cooked outside. I stuck a meat thermometer in the bread and it was 160-165+ degrees. Does the temperature mean it was food safe while at the same time being undercooked/heavy in the middle? (Because I kept tasting it in the vain hope it was getting edible as I cooked it again and again). What I am trying to understand is can something be undercooked tasting and in consistency but be food safe due to temperature? Thanks!


texts: Can I decrease salty flavor after brining a turkey?

texts: I brined my turkey but it came out tooooo salty. Any suggestions to save it?  It's really good, juicy and tasty.  I will cut it up and cook in turkey gravy, but is there something I can do to remove some of the salty taste?  I will not be using the turkey drippings from this bird. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Instant Pot -- how should I resolve conflicting sets of instructions?

texts: The manual that came with my Instant Pot says not to put the lid in the dishwasher. The Instant Pot website says that the lid is dishwasher safe. Which should I believe?


texts: Is it OK to deglaze your stainless steel pan with a dash of acetic acid?

texts: It's really effective and most of the acetic acid boils off. Sometimes I don't want the vinegar or wine tartness, but I still want to capture the flavors from the pan. Acetic acid is also much cheaper than vinegar.


texts:
There's a old wives tale of sugar cooking eggs. I was wondering if there's any substance to that or if it's merely a concentration of the egg as the sugars absorb water.

I was watching The Try Guys and on this pie episode the guest chef explains the various pitfalls of making a pecan pie. She goes on to say how letting eggs and sugar sit together too long will cause the eggs to cook the yolk and possibly ruin the dish. I've never heard of eggs being "cooked" from sugar so I did a brief overview.

Overall, I'm curious if this has any real validity or if it's just a misconception.

The episode is linked along with an article about it.
Try Guy Pie Ep @ 7:39
Article


texts: Michelin Three Star Restaurant; but if the chef is not there

texts:
When going to Michelin three star French restaurant in Paris, should I first find out if the star chef is actually cooking or at least present?
 I have been visiting a French restaurant in Paris that is highly rated and I never questioned myself if the star chef is actually cooking.  At my last visit and it was lunch time, I ordered from the grand menu, not express lunch menu.  I thought  something was different with food but was not sure what it was.  Then I was invited (the first time, it was my birthday that day) to the kitchen and was greeted by the those who are responsible for different parts (dessert, sauces, bread, etc) and the chief chef, who was not the Chef I wanted to meet (I didn't say that).  I go there because I like the food which is prepared by the Chef(at least that was I believed til then) but what is the point of spending the same money if the chef is not there and if the taste is not the same?  Is it a damn question to ask if the chef will be there the day I will be visiting?

P.S. I read the first few.  I'd like to thank each of you for taking time to reply my question.  All answers are exactly what I wanted to know!


texts: Why did my soy (Silk) milk suddenly become as viscous as rubber cement?

texts: I used about half of a quart of Silk Milk and returned it to my refrigerator.  Two days later the remaining liquid had been replaced with a colloidal mass with a gooey consistency not unlike rubber cement.  Why?  I see no signs that anything froze in the refrigerator which was in continual use.


texts: Cocoa powder stays stuck at the bottom of the cup

texts:
I am trying to make a warm drink using cocoa without much additions.
Basically I boil water and the slowly add it to a cup with cocoa powder while I stir. I also add some cold milk.
When I stir with a spoon, I see that it becomes sticky and liquid and looks like butter melted.
The problem is that when I fill the cup with boiling water and some cold mild and start drinking it, in the end most of the cocoa powder have stayed stuck at the bottom of the cup.
How can I make it so that it is completely dissolved but only using water and a bit of milk?
Please note, that I don't have a microwave


texts: transfer pizza onto stone without sticking

texts:
After I have made my pizza and put the toppings onto it, I find that I am unable to transfer the pizza on to the pizza stone in the oven.

When I try to do it the pizza goes out of shape, gets folded, the toppings get messed up and sometimes it sticks or rips. I have tried putting lots of flour under the pizza before I add the toppings but it didn't really help.

I am having to make the pizza on a metal tray and then put the tray onto the stone. Put I think that doing this prevents my pizza base from crisping properly.

What am I doing wrong? Is there some technique I should use, or am making the dough to wet, or to thin or something?


texts: My recipe calls for 100g of fructose, I don't have any. Can I use Glucose instead? If so would the amount be the same? If not what could I use instead of the fructose?


texts:
I used to have a Lodge cast iron griddle that fit over 2 burners but the middle wouldn't get hot properly so I put it in the closet.

Instead I bought 2 separate stainless steel demeyere brand griddles with a shallow lip around it:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31QS7WXC5QL.jpg

The more I think about it, is there anything that these stainless griddles could do that I can't do with a 12-13 inch frypan.

I'm considering buying 2 frypans instead.

Can someone help me please?


texts:
What is the biggest safe container for soup?  The soup comes out of the slow cooker at a high temperature (not measured), but I need to refrigerate it for storage, and that means that it needs to be cooled down rapidly.  That means small containers.

How small should the containers be?  They are standard plastic — I don't have anything fancy.

Currently, I put them into containers and place them in the fridge, but that is all.  Should I cool them in water?


texts: Hot espresso poured into a cold cup - is that dangerous?

texts: When making a flavored iced drink - for example a mocha - what is the correct steps to take in order to make the best drink. Is it ok to pour the hot espresso over the measured amount of chocolate at the bottom of a cold cup ?


texts: what is the difference between butter spread and pure butter?

texts:
first of all, basically what is the difference?

what are their uses and is there a big difference? for example is there a case where I should use pure butter for some things but never a spread or vice versa? When the recipe says butter which one should I use?


texts:
I am planning to buy a laser thermometer to measure the temperature of melted chocolate for tempering it. As I have found out, the thermometer I want to buy has a measuring tolerance of ± 2 °C. That means even if it shows the correct temperature on the display, the chocolate can be 2 °C too hot or 2 °C too cold. Will this cause any trouble? Do I really need a thermometer that has a smaller measuring tolerance?

FYI: 2 °C are about 36 °F

Edit: 2 °C are about 3.6 °F, thanks msh210!


texts:
My favorite chicken-and-mushroom soup recipe incorporates hot peppers and, on upon immediate serving has a lovely kick. However the reheated leftovers are entirely bland, almost as if the "hot" from the peppers dissolves away into the soup.

I've tried using more peppers and hotter varietals, but still can't get the leftovers to have any appreciable level of spiciness.

This is the general recipe that I'm following:

Poach chicken breasts in 6 cups water along with spices and garlic. Remove chicken, strain stock, discard solids.
Add chopped mushrooms (hen-of-the-woods or shiitake), chile pepper, chopped ginger, tbsp vinegar, tbsp soy sauce, and simmer.
After ~10 minutes, add back chopped up chicken breasts and simmer until meat is warmed through.

The original recipe called for 1 Fresno chile, thinly sliced. I've tried up to 6 Fresno chiles, but also, in separate tries, 6 serrano peppers and 6 habanero peppers. (My local supermarket doesn't carry anything hotter than habaneros.) When I slice the peppers, I retain the seeds and pith.

In all attempts, the broth itself doesn't become spicy, but on the first day the sliced peppers provide an ample "kick" and act like little pockets of spiciness. Regardless of the pepper type or quantity, the peppers in the leftover soup lose their kick, and the broth remains un-spicy.

My first instinct here is to remove the peppers from the broth and use them as a garnish; the fact that they're cooked with the broth however makes me think that the original recipe authors intended for the broth to take on some of the spiciness from the peppers.

Questions:

Why do the peppers lose their spiciness in the leftovers?
What are some possibly ways to adjust this recipe to make the broth take on the spiciness of the peppers?1

1 I ask this so that I can try and do what the original recipe author intended by cooking the peppers with the broth: making the broth spicy. If I can manage that, then I can service the hot peppers as a garnish and then not worry about them losing their kick overnight.


texts: Why do Asian savory recipes call for a few pinches of sugar?

texts:
I've got a few Asian recipes (e.g. Mongolian lamb and Singapore duck) that request only ⅛ teaspoon of sugar for a meal fit for 2 or 3 people. That feels too little to affect sweetness.

Are there particular ingredients common in Asian cuisine that require de-acidifying with sugar, or is the sugar used for another purpose?


texts: Better kinds of knives for elderly persons?

texts:
I'm doing research for my culminating undergrad project on what kind of knives are appropriate for elderly persons, aged about 65-75 years old, and I've got three main questions:

A gerontologist told me that the elderly usually prefer smaller knives, but why would that be? I would have thought bigger ones have more balance and more weight to cut through things.
I'm focusing on arthritis as well, because about 50% of people aged 65 and older have some form of it. I've seen those kinds of knives that look like an upside-down scythe where the blade is below the handle. What other kinds of handles are ergonomic like this?
Most importantly! I need advice on what kind of blade is high quality but long lasting (and keeps sharp for a long time). I've read that ceramic knives can break easily, so stainless steel is probably the way to go. Is carbon steel better, or a different material? And what about bevels? Do certain kinds stay sharper for longer than others?

Thank you!!


texts: How to compensate for diminished taste when cooking?

texts:
I have a condition known as hyposmia, or a diminished sense of smell. For instance, I cannot smell flowers unless I am within 1" or so of the centers, but I can smell bacon a mile away (Who can't?), and the perfume counter is a reek of alcohol that is overwhelming.

I also really enjoy cooking, but I am no better than a recipe follower as the sense of smell also affects and diminishes my sense of taste. As a result, any time I deviate or create on my own, the result is usually reported to be heavily under or over seasoned, even though it tastes good to me.

Are there known techniques to compensate for hyposmia and altered taste when cooking? (I read about a known chef who has no sense of taste, but the name escapes me).


texts: How is sockeye salmon available year round?

texts: I notice that smoked sockeye salmon is available year round in supermarkets, but the commercial fishing season in Bristol Bay, at least, is only during the summer. If they are only fishing during the summer, how is it that the smoked salmon is available consistently through the year?


texts: How long should I bake the pizza in a microwave oven?

texts:
I am making homemade pizza using a store bought pizza base. I know this is a fairly basic problem, but I am new here.

Anyway, I own a Samsung microwave oven which also has a convection mode. Do I simply microwave it, or use the convection mode?


texts: How frequently should I feed my sourdough starter?

texts:
I am growing my first sourdough starter. It is a week old, but it isn't very active. My concern is that I might be feeding it too frequently or too infrequently. I could see it going either way.

The process I have been using is to (initially) combine 100 grams of Breadflour and 100 grams of water in a bowl and whisk with a fork, then cover with a towel. Day two (at 24 hours), I added 100 grams of each ingredient to the bowl and mixed in without removing anything.

By day 3 (24 hours again), I had a slightly sour smell and noticed some bubbles. There was also a tan skin that formed over part of the starter, which I removed. I couldn't tell if it was fuzzy or not.

That evening, I watched a video where a lady was talking about how you need to feed your starter every 4-12 hours and then later in the video she said every 12 - 18 hours. I was wondering if I was starving my starter.

On Day 4 (12 hours later instead of 24) I divided the starter in half, fed one half, and decided to try making bread with the other half (I know it was early, but I figured I might as well try since I would otherwise be throwing it away). The bread actually turned out really well, at least it did for having a weak starter and having never made sourdough before.

Anyway, I went back to the 24 hour feeding schedule because the lady who said 12 hours also said that her starter doubles in volume during the feeding. Mine never changes in volume, it just gets some bubbles.

My concern is that if the yeast isn't bubbling a lot, that may mean that it isn't eating its food quickly. If it isn't eating its food quickly, then it may not be saturating the starter. So if I feed it to early, I would be diluting the starter more than I would be helping it grow. Like, you feed a well saturated starter and half that mixture is starter, the other half is food. Then you feed it again too soon and the starter (immediately prior to feeding) is only at 75%. But you feed it and now the starter makes up 32.5% of the mixture instead of 50%. then this pattern repeats until you eliminate the starter from the mixture.

Am I thinking about this correctly? Instead of time, is there something else that I should be using to determine when to feed instead of time? Is there some variable I am not considering?

-House is at a constant 70F
-Filtered water from refrigeratorstarter image from top
-Breadflour
-Feeding once daily (24 hour intervals)
-covering container with some type of cloth or towel


texts: When trying to fry onions, the edges burn instead of the onions frying up

texts:
When I fry onions, the edges burn and the onion never crisps up when I am using my fry pan.
Looks similar to this:

What am I doing wrong? New cook here. Thanks!!


texts: How do I neutralize a strong garlic flavor?

texts:
I recently made some pesto from scratch and my end result, while delicious, was overpowered by a strong garlic flavor, and not entirely in a good way. I'm talking about that sharp, spicy flavor that garlic sometimes imparts.

I would have added more basil if I had it on hand, but I used all of my stash in the first go-round.

What else could I add to lessen the flavor?  Is there a general purpose ingredient for this situation?