texts:
I have some cracked wheat, some bran flakes, wheat germ, bread flour, and whole wheat flour (among other various things).  How could I, using those ingredients and whatever basic principles (what I'm looking for here) apply, invent a new recipe that at least worked reasonably well?  What are the principles I could use?

How do I decide how much of the non-flour type grains to add so that the bread both tastes decent (I know first attempts are not going to be perfect) and doesn't collapse or explode?

How do I know approximately how much water I'll need to add short of slowly adding until it feels right, or is that the only way?

If there is no water estimator, how do I soak the cracked wheat without going past the moisture point of the whole bread?

In other words, what are the things I need to know in order to be able to throw together things I have available that seem like they might make a good bread?


texts: Is there a lamb dish that is as easy to prepare as steak?

texts:
I need to cook a romantic dinner and my wife wants lamb, which I've never cooked before.
Usually I make us steaks in a cast iron - it's easy, tasty and quick.
Can I do something similar with lamb? What is the name of the cut I need to buy?


texts: How to line this cake pan with parchment paper?

texts: This weird-shaped cake pan is difficult to use when it comes to the step that I must line it with parchment paper. How should I do it properly so that the cake will easily be removed from the pan?


texts: How to cook a pot roast without it tasting like vegetables

texts:
I usually cook a beef pot roast by putting the meat and vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions) in a slow cooker with a little bit of water and letting it go for ~8 hours on low. This works well int hat everything is well cooked, the meat is moist and tender, etc.

The one issue I have is that the meat tends to have an overly strong taste of vegetables. I don't really know how to describe it beyond that. Particularly from the carrots. I prefer my meat to taste more like meat. What can I do to accomplish this? Should I try browning the meat first to try and "seal" it up? Add the vegetables later?


texts: Why did my fresh pasta come out pasty and lumpy?

texts:
I just got a pasta machine, and had my first try at making fresh pasta yesterday. I used the recipe in the booklet that came with the machine which called for 2 cups Semolina flour, 2 large eggs, and a bit of water and olive oil. Making the dough, rolling it out, and cutting the pasta went well, but I ran into a couple issues.

Actually cooking it. I know how to tell when boxed pasta is done, but I'm not sure what the texture of fresh pasta should actually be like. Should it be similar to that of "Al dente" boxed pasta? Mine was weirdly soft and I'm not sure if it was under or over-cooked.
The cooked pasta had a very rough, lumpy texture rather than the smooth texture I would expect. Is this due to the semolina flour, or did I maybe just not knead the dough enough?


texts: Does waiting for bread to rise before baking change its nutrient composition?

texts: Does waiting for bread to rise before baking change the amount of standard macro- or micronutrients present? I imagine that baking would evaporate any alcohols produced by the yeast fermentation. So the final product would simply have less sugar. Is this correct? Or is there more to it?


texts: Extrusion pasta maker versus roller: which one makes the best pasta?

texts: Roller pasta makers require you to work the dough by hand and then run it through the roller multiple times. Some extrusion pasta makers don't even require mixing the ingredients before placing them in the machine. I have a hard time believing that the extrusion models can produce the same quality pasta because the dough is not kneaded or sent through the roller. What is the difference between the noodles produced by each method?


texts: Converting bread recipes for an overnight rise?

texts:
I often find myself with an urge to bake things in the evening, but without enough hungry mouths left to justify actually producing anything substantial by the time the recipe is done.
As such, it'd be handy to have some guidelines for how to modify a recipe so that I can do part of the preparation in the evening, leave the dough to rise overnight (either at room temperature or in the fridge), and continue with the recipe the next morning.
Things I imagine might come into play:

A conversion from counter rise times to fridge rise times - does 90 minutes at room temperature correspond to a certain duration at 40F? Is the risk of over-proofing more or less, if I sleep in and miss my target?

Reducing the amount of yeast in a recipe by some fraction, so that it doesn't rise as quickly (but what fraction?)

Specific features of a recipe that make it an especially good or bad idea to try this kind of modification - certain ingredients, cooking temperatures, whatever.

Any advice along these lines would be appreciated! Interested in guidelines for both bread and other yeast-based doughs (rolls, buns, pizzas, etc.).


texts: Can I dissolve mint in water and drink it?

texts:
I like mint and sometimes put some in a cup of water. My question is can I grind the mint into a fine powder and dissolve it? Maybe if the water is warm? Usually mint like in this pic

just settles on top of the water and the flavor slowly seeps into the water. If I grind it up even finer will it dissolve? What should I use to grind it?


texts: How does one tell if a jalapeno is spicy?

texts:
It seems like it is always hit and miss when it comes to eating jalepenos.  What are some ways to tell if the jalapeno is hot or not, besides tasting it?

Thanks.


texts: Cake Cooking Time: Burning on outside - raw in the middle

texts:
I am doing some work in a volunteer kitchen and as part of our meals we provide cake that we bake in a big tray, we can only fit two on a rack in a commercial gas oven at a time.  Full gastronorm trays I think they are called.

All our recipes call for a temperature of 180 degrees C (356 F) 40 mins - we rotate them in the oven after 20 mins.

The depth of the cake mixture prior to baking is about 5cm (2 inches) - not unusual.

The cakes are vegan - no egg or butter, we use oil. The lack of egg would affect binding which may be relevant.  Essentially the recipes are vegan variations of a pound cake. (roughly by volume: 2 parts flour, 1 part each of oil, sugar, soy milk. Add in flavor, fruit etc. )

The problem is that by the time the cakes are cooked in the center, the outside is always burned. This seems to occur regardless of recipe to the point that our floor staff consider it normal to have to carve the burnt bits off the cake before serving.  It works - just not a good solution...

Things I have thought of:

1) Use a lower temperature - but longer time.  I don't want to go below 160 degrees or no maillard reaction (browning). But can't work out how much extra time I would need if I dropped the temperature by 10 or 20 degrees.

2) Chaining up the nameless idiot who keeps opening the oven door to see if the cakes are cooked yet. Said idiot swears that if he had an answer for number 1) then he would be able to restrain himself...

The tray size must have something to do with the problem, but I can't figure out what. I looked at the diffusion of heat - but it seems that the heat would be dominated by energy coming in from the top and bottom.

Possibly diffusion of steam?

Any other ideas?


texts: How do I fix the issue with white film on utensils in dishwashers? Is it okay to use dishwashers if water hardness is 900 ppm?

texts:
I've purchased a Dishwasher from Bosch (SMS60L18IN). We were very satisfied with it's first wash when it gave us clean utensils without any problems. We put a 3 in 1 tablet then. Now, I use a special salt, detergent and Rinse aid... all from Finish.

From the 2nd wash onwards, it started giving white film on almost all utensils and food residues are not cleaned on some.

I tried all workarounds that I found online like changing detergent amounts and using the venegar trick.

The issue I was thinking and the company engineers suspecting is the water hardness which is around 900 (or 920) ppm. They changed the hardness level in the machine of to H7 (this is the max one for 8.9mmol/L hardness that the company specified) suggested me to run the machine for a few cycles to get rid of water residue from previous cycles.

I've already ran four cycles and the issue still persists. Is the water hardness the cause alone? Would be there other issues like the detergent or salt?

Following are the things that I observed:

The first wash was perfect. We haven't used sale here. Second and
third washes are a bit okay.
In the second wash. We put a 1.5 kg of specially recommended salt (it's brand is Finish)
Issue worsened from the fourth wash.
I realized that I haven't filled the salt resorvoir with water (the company recommends to fill it with water when you use the machine for the first time) and then filled it with a glass of water.
The company technicians said that is not a big issue as the machine will itself dilute the salt with water after 2 or 3 washes.
I ran the machine by pouring a cup of vinegar as suggested in some articles and I found that the white layer on the machines door was gone and utensils in the next wash are somewhat clean. Also, I tried changing detergent amounts, rinse raid quantity settings and switching hardness levels with each wash.
Tried changing the size of the load with each wash
Even if we purchase a budget softener like this, it may have low output rates and that gives new problems.
And an important thing is that we believe it's too noisy (it gives knocking sounds while rinsing) like a cloth washing machine. The company staff said it is normal or I guess it is not that loud when they are around:)

More details

Name of the detergent, salt and rinse-aid's brand is Finish
Am I still using all-in-one tables? No

The company staff recommended water softeners (of a different brand as they don't sell softeners). But I fear if it brings new issues like the change in flow rate (individual tap softeners have low flow rate, i.e., 2 litres per minute where as the dishwasher requires 6 litres per minutre). Ours is a rented house so I can't install a permanent or full house water softener.

Could anybody tell me if you find any other issues here other than the water hardness? Any suggestions or solutions are welcome.


texts:
I am aware of the bakers percentage used in bread, and I have used it successfully.

I am baking cookies at home as a hobby. I have collected few recipes from blogs, and they work great.

As I am now aware of the ingredients used for cookies, is there any bakers percentage which we need to keep in mind?


texts: How to separate meat from vegetables in a soup?

texts:
I love to make a nice chicken soup.

I take some chicken legs, carrots, leak and celery, a few herbs and of course salt and pepper, and I just let it boil for like 4 hours.
I then sift the soup to take out all the vegetables, skin, bones and meat. This way I get somewhat of a clear soup.
Then I take the chicken and put in all the chicken meat back in to the soup.
The thing is, I often have a hard time separating the chicken and vegetable "mash".

My question: is there an easier way to do this? I was thinking about putting the chicken in some kind of net, but couldn't find cooking nets online.

Are they maybe called different?

Is it an option to do half/half? Boil the chicken in 1 pan and the vegetables in a second one?


texts: What are these sweets from 16th century?

texts:
I keep seeing them in old European paintings from 16th - 17th century. I think they still must exist present days.

White irregular shaped sweets on the left hand side.


texts: Is ice-encrusted frozen shrimp ok to eat?

texts:
I bought some frozen shrimp on sale but didn't notice that there was a lot  of ice build-up on the shrimp (and in the bottom of the package) until I got home.

Does this indicate that the shrimp has thawed and been refrozen, or is this build-up just an indicator that the food has been in  a freezer for a long time?


texts: How to modify a bread recipe to accomodate longer proofing times?

texts:
I used to bake a lot but since I've switch jobs, I do not have enough time in the evening anymore. But I work really close from home so I can go home for lunch if needed.

My idea is to start the bread in the morning before work, then return for the second kneading during lunch, then I can bake it at night. I know that I need to lower the temperature during the proofing, so I though of putting the dough in the refrigerator.

Will this work? Is there other ways to achieve what I'd like?


texts: Substituting red beans for adzuki beans?

texts:
I've recently gotten into making mochi and really wanted to try my hand at daifuku (red bean paste-filled mochi) and I'm finding that there is an upsetting lack of adzuki/azuki beans available in my area.

I've seen suggestions for using dark red kidney beans as a substitute, but I want to know if I could  possibly use the small red beans I have in my pantry already.


texts: How do I get my cheesecake bottom not to crumble?

texts:
I made a triple chocolate cheesecake. The bottom is just crushed Oreos (no filling) and melted butter which is baked to make the crust.

But once I was done making the cheesecake and tried to serve it, the crust is sufficiently crumbly that it like leaves a trail every time I serve it.

My Question

Is there a way to reduce how crumbly the crust is?

I don't need it to be perfectly congealed, but I'd like it to not get everywhere when I serve it and so a more congealed crust would be preferable.


texts: Blending a smoothie without changing the taste

texts: I am interested in making a mango smoothie. So I purchased frozen mangos and made some ice cubes. However I believe while blending you need a liquid so that all cubes can be blended, however if I add water it tastes, and if I add milk it tastes weird. So I am wondering if there are any other ways to fully blend the mangos and ice cubes without adding liquid?


texts: How do you decide when to deviate from baking ratios?

texts:
I've just started studying baking ratios. I like to learn to cook/bake on Youtube, and as I've been analyzing alot of the cooking/baking ratios I notice that quite a few of these youtube chefs do not follow the baking ratios. For example, in a muffin recipe, instead of the 2:2:1:1 ratio with flour:liquid:fat:egg, it was a 1:.6:1 (no liquid but add sugar) ratio (flour:butter:egg). Also does a ten percent deviation between ratios make a major difference? I also noticed that most people are making cupcakes when they make muffins.
Also: Does something like cream cheese fall under a "fat"?


texts:
I'm the bar manager at Taj Bengal, Kolkata, India.

Just wanted to enquire if it's okay to serve Baileys Irish Cream after the "best before" date listed on the bottle.

I would be glad if I can get the answer soon, as a complete batch is about to pass its "best before" date tomorrow.


texts: Legume-based pasta and phytohaemagglutinin

texts:
Most legume-based pasta specify a cook time of fewer than 10 minutes. Is that sufficient to deactivate the phytohaemagglutinin?
I initially thought that the bean flour may have been precooked before being formed into pasta, so to confirm this, I contacted one of the manufacturers (Tolerant Foods) and they replied "our raw material is not precooked."


texts: Freezing potato mash made with root and fresh vegetables

texts:
I regularly make homemade mash using the following ingredients

Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots
Cabbage (2 varieties)
Onion
Leek
Butter
Cream
Cayenne Pepper / Paprika

This is the first time I have made a 4-5 litre batch and would like to freeze it.  Will it be safe to eat despite having fresh cabbage mashed into the recipe?


texts: Ideas to cook dry beans fast in halogen oven

texts:
I am planning to cook beans in an halogen oven i recently acquired. Where i am in an  office, I have no gas cooking facilities and don't want to venture into electric cooking to weight on electricity bills.

I was reading on various methods of fast cooking dried beans. but couldn't get any

What is are your experiences?  I thought of soaking dried beans, bake in the halogen oven before cooking. Earlier, i tried cooking with 250Degrees after over-night soaking which took a bit longer to cook.


texts: Is there any point in considering sous vide for unskilled newbie cook?

texts:
I was considering sous vide as a present for someone, but - being wholly unfamiliar with that cooking method myself except it being trendy - don't know how use(ful|less) of a present that is for them.

Is there any point in considering sous vide for unskilled newbie cook who doesn't have too much time to devote to cooking?

Specifically, by that I mean someone who doesn't have the time, drive, or natural inclination to be a more expert cook. They don't even use thermometers. They don't cook fancy (or even simply complicated) dishes and most of the time cook same simple staples (steak, stew, soup, simple pasta, roast fish, stir fry, etc...). As far as I'm aware they never cooked a sauce, or anything requiring two stages of cooking. They don't usually have the time to cook anything that requires constant supervision for more than an hour; they are at home for 2-3 hours after work 6 days a week; during which time they are busy.

Assuming such a cook continues in the same vein of skill and interest of improving that skill and time commitment; what are the tangible benefits; if any (or downsides, if any) of their having and using sous vide?


texts:
I used to work with two people from Peru.  One day, they brought in a dish that they called "Planta", although I think that just referred to the fact that it had a lot of mashed plantain in it. What I remember from it is that there was a base of mashed plantain, and I think it was fried into a patty of some kind.  On top of it was ground meat and vegetables.  It was quite good, but searching for "planta" yields basically nothing.  The closest I've found seems to be "Majado de Verde", but that seems to be a vegetarian dish that's for breakfast.  This was definitely a lunch/dinner thing.  It also had a nice sauce with it.

Any ideas?


texts: Gas leak (and flames) around burner intake

texts:
I've been reassembling a friend's old BBQ and one of the three burners seems to be leaking gas where it connects with the gas intake. When I turn it on, there's a flame and I can see/smell something burning inside, so I turn it off immediately. Anyone know why, and how to fix?

Here's what it looks like in action https://imgur.com/BcrmBYF, and here's the inside https://imgur.com/a/tZAMwhE


texts: How to rise and bake a sourdough loaf in the least amount of time?

texts:
Sometimes I need to bake a loaf or loaves of bread as soon as possible with my sourdough starter.  For example my few tablespoons of starter needs to become bread within the next three hours when dinner is served.  I'm happy to enrich it with sugar, salt, fat, eggs, etc as required, so a really developed sourdough flavour (while fine) is not necessary.  I would still like most of the other aspects of good sourdough, such as enough gluten development to hold a nice airy rise.

In other words, I am not interested in cultivating the lactic acid bacteria in the sourdough, only the yeast, but without negatively affecting other characteristics of the loaf.

Assuming I always start with a few tablespoons of starter, what methods and conditions would I set up to increase the yeast/CO2 production in the least possible time?

My thoughts so far relate partly to bread in general and partly to just sourdough:

maintain a firmer, more frequently fed starter?
drier dough hydration to reduce baking time and possibly kneading time to allow more rise time?  (would this have other effects?)
rise at a very warm temperature - 25 degrees celsius?  (but would this accelerate acid production and gluten breakdown too?)
add salt last?
add fats last?
several brief kneads during the first rise?
longer final rise after shaping?
bake from a cold oven instead of a preheated one to allow a slightly underproofed loaf to rise as much as possible before gluten structure sets? (what other effects would I anticipate?)
shape baguettes or rolls instead of loaves to reduce baking time and allow more rise time?


texts: How to thicken buttercream without adding more sugar

texts:
I made some buttercream frosting for brownies using this recipe.  Because The frosting is going on brownies, it needs to be thicker than what it would be on something like a cupcake.  We typically frost the entire pan of brownies and then cut the brownies into bite sized squares.

But this recipe comes out thinner than I would like for the brownies.  Our usual recipe calls for twice the amount of sugar, but that makes it really sweet.  With this recipe, the sweetness is overpowering.

Is there anything else that I can use to thicken the frosting without making it overly sweet?


texts: Black spotting/dust in stainless steel utensils.Is this mildew?

texts:
I moved into this house a couple of months ago and bought some high quality stainless steel utensils with me from my house. I am noticing some black spots that don't go away with scratching or washing or baking soda. All my stainless steel kitchen utensils have this and some plastic containers have black dust which could be wiped with a dry paper towel.

My mum has been using the same set of utensils for years and has never observed anything like this. The only difference is that I wash my utensils with warm to hot water(and fairy dish soap).These spots also seem to increase in number(not in thickness) day by day. Have any of you heard or seen anything like this in stainless steel utensils ? What could this possibly be?

(There is a lining of black mold in the sealant lining the wall near the sink and also some in the shower which was scraped away when I moved in)


texts: How to bake low carb bread in a Zojirushi bread machine model #BBCC-x20

texts:
In a Zojirushi bread machine model BBCC-x20, what cycle would I bake a low carb recipe on as it does not have a low carb setting?  Also, where would I find low carb recipes for low carb bread specifically for this machine?  I have already checked the Zoji site and there are no low carb recipes.
Thanks!


texts: Removing white Corrosion on my rice cooker heating element

texts: How do I remove it or is it safe to just leave it?


texts:
I find I always have trouble scaling the amount of time the eggs should be boiled, cooled, etc. for different-sized batches of hard-boiled eggs.

I've heard a variety of "folk lore"-type rules for how it should be done, but what's really the right way?


texts: Brand new KitchenAid Professional 6500 makes clicking/ticking noise when under load

texts:
I bought a brand new KitchenAid Professional 6500 from "kitchenaid.com" just a week ago and set it up today, I used the flap beater attachment to make cookie dough.
When mixing butter with sugar and eggs until it creams, no clicking noise can be heard.
But when adding 3 cups of flour to the mixture, clicking noise can be heard.
All of the above was done at speed: "stir".
I do not like this annoying clicking noise for a $500 mixer, completely absurd.
Had I knew about this "normal, common, not-a-big-deal" problem among the KitchenAid mixers (specially in the "professional" series) I would've originally spent $700 for a Bosch or an Ankarsrum mixer.
What exactly is causing this clicking noise when under light load such as cookie dough?
Is it the gears or the retaining pin bumping with the attachment connector? Thinking to return this...
Thanks!


texts: What sort of tea is this and how is it drunk? It doesn't look like any tea I am familiar with.


texts:
Recently I have been making white sauce by:

heating the milk in a pan until nearly boiling
mixing corn flour with a small amount of cold milk
removing milk from stove
add corn flour mix to hot milk
stir until thick.

This is very fast and never produces lumps, but what are the disadvantages versus using the traditional roux approach?


texts: When boiling sausage, I notice a gray, foamy residue that floats on top of the water. I was told that this is unhealthy to eat and should be removed.  Is this true? Does anyone know what this foam is?


texts: If I put peanuts in a coffee grinder, will I get peanut butter or peanut powder?

texts:
I know there a thousand different products you can make with peanuts. But, my local supermarket has one of these,

I'm wondering if the effect will be similar if I use my mini coffee-bean hand grinder.. You can find a picture of it here,


texts: Lightly defrost chicken in microwave to separate them

texts:
I had two pieces of chicken breast in a tupperware container in my freezer. I wanted to separate them and put one in the fridge below, so I put it in the microwave on defrost (fairly weak machine, and defrost was the second lowest setting) for about 30s.

When it came out, the thinnest edges of the chicken became bendable, but still stiff. The other parts of the pieces were still stuck together, cold, and rigid.

I separated the two pieces by hand (it actually took a bit of force to bend them, and rip them apart because the thin transparent skin layer and the fat bound the pieces together when freezing), I then put one piece back in the same container, back into the freezer, and the other piece in another container into the fridge below.

I just bought them today, and the best before date is not for another 5 days. Before freezing, I rinsed them under very cold water, and patted them down with some Bounty towels.

I've been told to never refreeze meat after defrosting in the microwave. Is this still safe to eat or am I just being paranoid?


texts: Does the foam head affect the taste of cola?

texts: I was reading the other day about the importance of the head when pouring beer, and I wondered if there are any similar considerations when pouring cola's? I'm a huge fan of good Coke, and I'm just wondering if I can improve an already great tasting drink!


texts:
Due to my affinity for baked goods, I decided to try creating key lime pie filling from scratch. I've done so twice now using two recipes. The first of which calls for key lime zest as a primary ingredient. The second of which does not, though a recommended modification of the recipe, which I followed, does call for it.

Timing the process, it took me about 20-25 minutes to grate 3 tsp. of zest from my key limes using a planar grater/zester and a small ceramic bowl. I would like to significantly speed up this process if I can, but the size and texture of key limes makes them difficult to zest for more than a pinch at a time.

Is there a faster way? I was thinking of doing something crazy with my food processor or investing in a proper zester, though I'm not sure how much this would speed things along. There also seem to be rather expensive products like the Spin Zester out there, but they seem of dubious applicability to this problem.


texts: Is it safe to eat chicken that is still frozen?

texts: I ate half of a pre-packed chicken sandwich before realizing it was still partially frozen. Is there anything to worry about, and can I eat the rest?


texts: How did rust appear on my cast iron in a matter of minutes?

texts:
So this has been an on-going saga the last few days, and I've already posted several related questions here, and I am feeling quite defeated.

I have/had a beautiful 16" cast iron dutch oven from Cabelas. I took it out for a test spin the other night (I had completed all seasoning steps that the Google Gods recommended). Then:

I tried (and failed spectacularly) to cook a pork roast in it, but cooked it at way too hot a temperature and burned/charred/fused the animal fats/juices into the oven, whereby it basically baked into the cast iron (related question here)
I tried cleaning/scrubbing it with coarse-grained salt -> did nothing
Then I tried cleaning it with dishwashing liquid + salt -> did nothing
Then I let the whole thing soak in a vat of a 50/50 mixture of water + white vinegar -> took all the tarry slude off, stripped some seasoning off (revealing bare iron), but in 80% of the burned/charred areas, still did nothing
Then I went to town on it with a steel wool and salt and dishwashing liquid and was left with some smooth, properly seasoned surfaces, and some more areas stripped down to bare metal
I decided to just re-season it. So I scrubbed it one last time (about 1 hour ago) with a steel wool and some water, got all the rust and remaining crud off (finally), and built a fire.
I placed it on the hot coals of the fire and let it sit there for 15 mins. My intention (whether misled or not) was to burn off all the remaining water from when I had previously washed/scrubbed it, then let it cool off, then season it with oil, and then bake it for a few hours.

So I just took the oven off the fire and opened the lid...and the entire inside is covered in rust. An hour ago there was none. When I put the oven into the fire 15 mins prior, there had been none (yes, I checked) This just came out of nowhere.

I'm ready to give up, unless anyone can offer some concrete set of steps for me that will salvage this $100 rust bucket. How can I get rid of the rust and then re-season this before more rust sets in? Meh...


texts:
I left some potatoes cut in half, oiled, cooked to a high temp and left in a toaster oven overnight. Is this safe to eat? If not, what is the mechanism by which the potatoes go bad?
Can bacteria get into a sealed oven?

Note to the quick close voters: This is specifically about cooked food left in an oven, not the same as the linked question


texts:
At restaurants, I know that meats are often cooked by searing or grilling the meat to "mark" it, and then it is put in an oven for some time to be cooked. I also understand that this is done partly for consistency, partly for convenience, and partly for speed.

I've been cooking chicken in a similar manner at home, especially now that it's winter. I season the chicken, then sear both sides in a little bit of oil in a pan (a few minutes per side), and then I put the whole pan in the oven at 425 or so for about 10 minutes.

The chicken always comes out nicely moist and flavorful, and I am happy with the results.

However, when asked what kind of chicken it is, I have no idea what to call it. I'm not really baking it, I'm not frying it, I'm not broiling it, and I'm not roasting it.

...

Or am I?

What is this cooking method called?


texts: Substituting Diced Canned Tomatoes for Fresh

texts:
The recipe calls for 1.25Lbs of fresh plum tomatoes. They are to be simmered with hydrated whole dried chiles and other seasonings for 20 minutes, then pureed and strained.

This time of year it's nearly impossible to find fresh tomatoes (plum or otherwise) that have any flavor at all and I can't see any reason not to use what I already have on hand - all the Hunts Diced Tomatoes I could possibly need before spring. As most diced tomatoes do, these contain calcium chloride to preserve the shape of the dice, but it won't matter since the sauce/marinade is to be simmered, pureed and strained anyway. What concerns me is the second ingredient after tomatoes - tomato juice.

EDIT: The core of the question is how much "extra" liquid is typically used to can tomatoes? It would seem that lightly (as in no "pushing" on the solids) strained tomatoes would have approximately the same liquid to solid ratio as fresh, is that right?


texts: What's this white strip on the top side of my boneless skinless chicken breast?

texts:
I am aware that there is a tendon which connects a chicken breast to it's tenderloin...what I"m curious about is the other white strip on the top of my boneless skinless chicken breasts as shown in this picture:

I always cut my chicken up into small pieces so I always cut it out, but I realize that this can't really be done when baking or poaching the entire boneless skinless chicken breast.

Can anyone shed some light on to what it is and whether I am wasting my time removing it?  Does it dissolve when the chicken is baked?


texts:
I like the taste of sunflower seeds, however I really dislike the process of shelling them. The bags say "Eat. Spit. Be happy." But I have found that shelling it in one's mouth is not only messy, it also tends to splinter the shell and hurt gums. I have tried shelling them out by hand, but that is exceedingly time-consuming.

I know they can be purchased shell-less but I was wondering if there is some trick, as I like some of the seasoned kinds, just not a fan of the process. Any trick to unshell multiple sunflower seeds efficiently?


texts: I have a packet of cottage cheese ( paneer ) and it advises me not to deep freeze it? I can't understand why. Any help? I had it deep frozen right from the time I bought it. It is also 3 days past its 'best before' date. Can I still use it?


texts: Adjusting cooking time and temperature when making smaller portions

texts:
I'm perfecting a recipe for queijadas de leite - a traditional Portuguese custard/pastry. It's a mixture of eggs/sugar/milk/flour, very liquid in its raw form. The original instructions call for 30 minutes baking at 350 ºF, and this works quite well when using full sized muffin pans.

I'm trying to adapt it to mini-muffin pans (which are about 1/3 the volume of the full sized), and find that without any modifications they get overdone. Any suggestions on how to adjust the temperature (and perhaps duration) without having to do 10 different batches?

Part of the difficulty is that milk is added at near boiling temperature. If I make lots of batter and try different settings for smaller batches, I'm afraid the cooling of the second, third, etc batches prior to baking will affect the results.


texts: Turning Left Over Broth From a Roast Into a Soup Or Stew

texts:
Two nights ago, I made a roast. Not wanting to waste anything I kept most of the left over beef broth (about 3-4 cups).

My current idea is to turn this beef broth into a soup or a stew. Here's what I was thinking:

Skim the fat chucks off the top of the broth (left there by the roast)
For a stew I would add in carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and use a potato to naturally thicken the broth as it cooks.
For a soup, I would probably just add the vegetables mentioned above minus the potato and then thicken a bit with some cornstarch.

Is this the best way to go about it? Is this a good use of the left over broth?


texts: How long can I leave kefir and oatmeal at the room temperature?

texts: Thinking of making oatmeal kefir overnight and bringing it for lunch in school. Will it be safe to leave this inside my bag for 5-6 hours?


texts: so I was trying to make cinnamon rolls about a month ago and used the active dry yeast exp 9/21 that was in my fridge. And it was proofing. Then I bought another one which exp date was 10/21. I'm trying to do the same thing and it's not proofing. I'm not sure what's wrong. Please help. Thank you


texts: Can you cover an angel food cake with fondant?

texts:
can anyone tell me if I can cover an angel food cake with fondant or is it too heavy for this sort of cake?
What is the best for this kind of cake...


texts: How to make pancakes/crepes without eggs nor any liquids besides water?

texts:
I am looking for a way to make pancakes/crepes (the very thin ones), with the following limitations:

no eggs
no liquid ingredients besides water
cheap ingredients only

I've been trying something like:

360 g wheat flour
40 g corn flour
850 g water

But the problem is that they turn out non-baked inside and too crispy on the outside, besides being too thick. I've been trying on lower heat, but then it takes like over 5 minutes for each pancake, and the inside is still not baked. I read that it should take 1 minute to bake 1 pancake.

Any changes to the ingredient list, or tips for baking procedure? What might be the problem that it takes so long, and the inside gets not-baked? I try to pour the batter on the pan as thin as I can, swiping the pan with a sponge made of toilet paper dipped in rapeseed oil before each pancakes, and its a thin-edge pancake Teflon-coated pan.

OK, maybe some clarifications: I am not vegan and have no allergies.
The motivation is completely different: life on the road and for extended periods away from any sources of anything other then tap water.

The motivation is decreasing the weight and volume of stuff I need to take with me. Liquids are not good because they are heavy. Unless I need really little of them. But even then once I open the carton I probably need to use it up quick, because no fridge available.

So I am looking for ways of making pancakes out of ingredients which take up little volume and weight, and added to water can improve my pancakes. Powders are good, provided I have to add little of them. Also it has to be as low-budget as possible. Corn flour is cheap, baking powder is cheap, things like soy milk are not cheap.


texts: I got stuffed mushrooms at the butcher's today with minced meat inside them. Would it be a good idea to deep-fry them; and if so on how many degrees would you do so?


texts: How to keep fresh lemon juice for a week without a change in its taste?

texts:
Are there any way to preserve the juice of lemon for, say, one week without a change in its taste?

Even deep-freezing it makes it little bit bitter!


texts: Adding rolled-in seasonings to pita bread

texts:
Usually when I make flatbread, I roll-in seasonings (ie: minced garlic and celery) before cooking. There doesn't seem to be a problem with the dough being too wet or doughy if I only use about a teaspoon of seasoning per ball, and only roll the seasoning into the dough once or twice.

The rolled-in seasonings are my favorite part about flatbread- I prefer the thickness and fluffiness of pita much more. I tried combining the two by using my favorite pita recipe and rolling in seasonings before cooking. This completely changed the texture of my pita, and ended up a doughy mess (ie: it was slimy while cooking and tasted too wet after coming off the skillet- pockets did not form at all).

Has anyone tried this with different results, or found a way to successfully add seasonings into pita dough with real pita bread results? Or is it a lost cause? I'm wondering why it continually works with flatbread dough but not with pita.


texts: I have a large frozen haggis that I'd like to use for dinner Saturday night.  when do i start to thaw it, and whats the safest method of thawing to prevent both food borne illness and to preserve quality of the product?  I already read the question about cooking haggis from frozen, and decided I don't want to do that.


texts:
I have a recipe that calls for rice and green lentils to be cooked at the same time in a rice cooker. I do this and everything cooks nicely, then I add the rest of the ingredients and things taste good.

The problem is that the rice and lentils end up very 'sticky' and the recipe I'm replicating has them being very separate and nice.   Once or twice, as if my magic, they have come out great, but I have NO idea what is being changed when I do that.

How do I make 'unsticky' rice and lentils in a rice cooker?

Will more water help?
Less Water?
salt?
sugar?
oil?


texts: How can I thicken heavy cream without changing the flavor?

texts: I am trying to make a thickened heavy cream that would be the same texture as "Creme Fraiche", but have not yet come to a desirable solution. As you guys know Creme Fraiche has a tangy taste similar to Sour Cream which is not what I am looking for. Please advise how I can make thickened heavy cream (not whipped cream) either with any available cultures in the market or individual experiences. Thanks everyone.


texts: Why is Pizza Hut breadstick seasoning and garlic butter not a botulism risk?

texts:
I've read all the bad things that can happen from garlic infused oil like homemade. How is this different than let's say Pizza Hut's garlic butter, or their (dry) breadstick seasoning with cheeses and dehydraded garlic? Do they in fact have a safer method that literally reduces the risk or what?

I see the garlic butter has citric acid in it so that makes sense but what about the seasoning? That is just cheeses and dehydrated garlic as well as other things.


texts: Can I make ravioli dough with only all-purpose flour or do I NEED semolina flour?

texts:
This is the exact recipe I'm talking about: https://selfproclaimedfoodie.com/butternut-squash-ravioli/

I'm not a very strong cook, I'm only 22 and have very little experience. I've got working with yeast down pact so I thought I'd try and make a pasta dish and I wanted to try this recipe but I can't find semolina flour ANYWHERE at my local stores. I really don't want to pay for special flour and have it shipped to my house.

Can I use more all-purpose flour in its place? What will happen if I don't use it? Will it ruin my dinner? Should I just find another recipe?


texts: Vacuum packed salmon fillet (non-smoked) sat in fridge that turned off for undetermined amount of time. Can it still be eaten?

texts:
As the title says: the vacuum packed salmon fillets have been sitting in a turned off fridge for quite some hours. The packs only felt a little cooler than the room temperature of +/- 20 degrees Celsius (68℉). They have been put in a working fridge immediately after finding out. If they weren't vacuum packed, I'd have thrown them away already.

Can I still safely eat them if they do not smell bad, or should I throw them out?


texts: What temperature is 'High' in a 950 watt microwave?

texts:
A recipe asks for a teensy cake to be cooked on High for 70 secs in a 950 watt microwave.

What temperature would 'High' be? like in Celsius or Farenhite


texts:
There's a Mexican restaurant in my hometown that serves (their term) 'Arroz con pollo'.  The dish itself seems incredibly simple -- it's pretty much just rice, chicken, and an incredible cheese sauce.

I've spent countless hours on google looking for a recipe for something resembling this sauce, but there doesn't seem to be one definitive version of arroz con pollo, so I haven't had much luck.

Can someone point me in the right direction?


texts: Why should I boil pretzels in baking soda water before baking?

texts:
This weekend I made pretzels from Alton Brown's recipe.

This recipe, and others I've seen, call for dipping the pretzels one by one in boiling water with baking soda for 30 to 60 seconds.

I assume the boiling water will help the pretzels come up to temperature more quickly so they cook thoroughly, is this correct?

What benefit does the baking soda bring - is it important in forming a crust?  If so, why?


texts: Can I substitute teriyaki glaze and baste for teriyaki sauce?

texts:
I have some teriyaki glaze and baste, but my recipe calls for teriyaki sauce. Can I use this and just add some soy sauce to it to "water" it down. Currently it is the consistency of ketchup, but it should be like soy sauce, a liquid.

I guess my question is, can I turn teriyaki glaze and baste back into teriyaki sauce?


texts: What variety of tomato is typically used in Italian, canned, peeled tomatoes?

texts:
I'm experimenting with different brands of canned tomatoes and I just bought some Italian peeled tomatoes, the brand it Petti.  Here is a image of the can.

I was looking into what variety of tomato was used in it, but I couldn't find this info anywhere on the can... nor is it explicitly stated on the website for this particular product.

Unless it's otherwise stated (such as san marzano), what variety should I assume is used in Italian canned tomatoes?  I'm leaning towards assuming they are Roma.  Or is this unusual that the variety of tomato is not listed on the can?

  Note: I'm living in Europe, in case that is relevant for EU foodlaws.


texts: How can I make my sourdough crust chewier?

texts: I'm making sourdough bread and am pleased with the results except that the crust is too hard and crunchy. Inside it's great, moist and a good even crumb. It makes great toast too, but I would sometimes like a chewier crust. Could the oven be too hot? I'm baking at 200 C Fan (the recipes usually suggest 220 C but that burnt my loaf! I think my oven might run hot.


texts: Does an electric crepe maker require a hood and ventilation?

texts: I have an electric crepe maker and was wondering whether it is required to have a hood with ventilation to the outside of the building?


texts: What happens to an acorn squash when its skin turns orange?

texts:
I purchased an acorn squash at the farmer's market quite a while ago and its skin was initially dark green with a small patch of orange.  I have been keeping it in my pantry.  Over time the skin has turned completely orange like a ripe pumpkin.  I am assuming that the squash is ripening as well but it appears unchanged except for the color.

Is my squash still good and can I use it like I would a normal green acorn squash?


texts: Where do I buy food additives (not in bulk)?

texts: I occasionally want a pure food additive for various reasons (pure potassium chloride for sports drinks, pure MSG for everything), but I can't find any decent places to get them except amazon.com. Now I'm looking for disodium inosinate, and even Amazon doesn't have that. I expect I'll be looking for weird things like this in the future, so I'm wondering where people buy food additives (besides bulk suppliers).


texts:
I have recently been mixing batches of sherbet using Malic acid, colour, flavouring and granulated sugar. I add all the ingredients and mix it for 10 minutes in a stainless steel drum.
The flavor is very strong to start with, but over a period of 2 weeks it loses all its flavoring.

I am unsure of the reason why, and wonder if anyone could help?


texts: Do pizza restaurants usually make their own pesto or use commercial acidified pesto? Found pesto squished between plates this morning (about 11 hours old) and concerned about a low-acid situation and how to clean it up safely. Or this this a non-issue even if not acidified?


texts: Looks curdled, but it wasn't - my bad alfredo

texts: I made some alfredo sauce (evoo, heavy cream, homemade pesto, Parmesan cheese) and decided to throw in some chopped tomato. Instantly, it separated. Was it the acidity of the tomato or the extra water coming in from the tomato? How can I get tomato in my alfredo, is it at all possible?


texts: Is it possible to use self raising flour instead of all purpose and letting it raise with yeast? Also, is it necessary to add baking soda to self raising flour?


texts: Difference between "Sweet" , "Yellow" ,"White" and "Chives"

texts:
So I am working on this recipe here. I have previously used this meal service, but I loved it so much I am making it again. But I don't want to pay for all the ingredients again.

I have a small farm and have grown my own lemongrass just for this purpose. But, I have also grown my own "Sweet onions" as well.

They look similar to this, but are not done growing. They have a larger bulb though (And on the picture of the seed bag, it showed a much larger bulb).

So, can I use my garden onions or are these different? The tops of my onions are hollow (Not sure if that means anything).I heard that Yellow and Sweet are the same, but I thought they were not. I live in Texas, and I think it might be a kind cultivated in the area? Or not. I don't know.

Also, what exactly is a chive. I am not sure. All these onion things are confusing me.


texts: How can I portion out frozen cookie dough?

texts:
A friend's kid was doing a fundraiser, and I now have two 3 lb tubs of cookie dough. It's frozen, which is great on one hand because it keeps for so much longer, but...when I want cookies, it's a bit of a hassle.

I don't really want to thaw the whole tub, as I don't need that many cookies at once. I thought about thawing it and then portioning it into cookie sized pieces and refreezing it, but I was concerned about possible illness and such, because, well, it's raw cookie dough.

If that's not an option, what's my best way to carve out just as much as I want of the frozen stuff? I tried a spoon and a fork, but that just left me with bent cutlery. My ice cream scoop didn't really work any better. I tried knives, but with how it is within the container (and so far I've not had a lot of luck getting it out to slice, either), I can't really get any purchase to slice through it.


texts:
When looking at tips/advice for frying steak I often see that Grill Pans are recommended over standard, flat, frying pans. Often this is recommended for other meats as well, such as chicken and pork.

Other than getting the appearance of Grill lines on the meat what are the benefits of using a Grill Pan over a normal one? I can't tell what difference it would make....


texts:
I am tyring to cut refined sugar from my diet and I have Celiac disease so no gluten is a must. Both of these things make baking a challenge. I have been using a mixture of coconut palm sugar and pure maple syrup and am liking both the flavor and the results.

So, I find a pumpkin oatmeal cookie recipe and get to making it before I realize it has no eggs.  The resulting cookie is okay, not bad really, but not "cookie texture" to say the least.  I want to add an egg next time to add structure and chewiness but since the batter is already quite wet, what should I add (more flour? more oats?) so that the cookie dough isn't a gummy mess?

1 cup quick cooking (GF) oats,
3/4 cup flour (GF),
1/4 tsp sea salt,
1 tsp cinnamon,
1/4 tsp nutmeg,
1/4 tsp ginger,
1-1/2 tsp baking powder,
3/4 cup pumpkin puree,
1/2 cup maple syrup,
3 Tbs coconut oil (melted and cooled),
1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then stir to combine.
Bake on in a pre-heated, 350 degree oven for 11-15 minutes.  Use parchment paper to avoid cookies sticking to the pan.

NOTE: I do not need exact measurements to try - I have baked all my life.  Just an idea of what to increase, add or subtract.


texts: What can I substitute for butter in a custard-based pie?

texts:
This weekend I made a great buttermilk pie.  Creamed butter/sugar add eggs / flour flavoring buttermilk and bake.

I want to reduce the calories.  Is there a substitute that I can use with this custard like pie?

The recipe uses 1 stick of butter to 1 3/4 cups sugar

This is the complete recipe
Buttermilk Pie

1 3/4 C. sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 C.) room temp.
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3 T. all purpose flour
1 C. buttermilk
1 9" pie shell, unbaked

Cream together the sugar and butter till well blended. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, until the mixture is nice and smooth. Add in the vanilla, salt and flour. Beat in the buttermilk until well combined. Fill the pie shell with the buttermilk mixture, just to the top of the shell. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes – Let rest before serving


texts: What causes the difference between Maine and Canadian lobsters?

texts:
In a first-season episode of the US TV show Kitchen Nightmares, the well-known chef Gordon Ramsay states that there's a "big difference [in] taste and flavor" between Maine lobsters and Canadian lobsters.  He gets into an argument about it with a restaurant owner who claims that they're really no different.  (If you're in the US, there's free video of the argument in question here, from hulu; start at about 16:33.)

Admittedly, I don't know whether Maine lobstering waters and Canadian lobstering waters border each other, though Maine waters and Canadian waters certainly do.  And Gordon Ramsay owns more Michelin stars than I own plates, so he's clearly the expert.  But I also find it hard to dismiss the owner's points — if they're true — that both lobster types are the same species (Homarus americanus), and come from the same North Atlantic waters.

So, what is the cause of the difference in taste/flavor/quality between Maine lobsters and Canadian lobsters?


texts: "Cream Biscuit" a little raw in the middle

texts:
After having some problems initially, I managed to get my "cream biscuits" to rise by measuring the ingredients correctly according to this recipe.

However, after 15 minutes of baking, the inside is a little bit under-cooked. It still tastes good and is light and fluffy but I felt it could have been cooked more.

Should I simply leave it in the oven longer? Or am I doing something wrong that could cause the inside to be not-so-cooked?


texts: Sugar in canned sweet potatoes. can I remove it simply at home?

texts:
I have canned sweet potatoes that have sugar added.

Can I boil / bake / soak / ANYTHING to remove the added sugar?


texts: Can I refrigerate bread dough after the first rise and bake it later?

texts: I do not have enough time to bake my bread.  Can I refrigerate it or let it sit on the counter and bake it later in the day?


texts: Caffeine pills don't dissolve in hot tea

texts:
I'm drinking Rooibos Vanilla Tea and I like to dissolve an 80 mg caffeine pill in it. I hand press the pills myself from pure caffeine powder. However, the pill doesn't dissolve very well in the tea. Instead, it either breaks into smaller pieces which float around or it doesn't dissolve at all.

Is there a creative way to make them dissolve, such as using some sort of binding agent? I already tried to use capsules, but I don't like the idea very much, because you have to open them and pour out the powder.


texts:
This morning I found a tin of baked beans with a best before date of August 2014. A colleague of mine told me that it's perfectly safe to eat, and that tinned foods never go off.

Can this be true? Do tinned foods last forever?


texts:
I have been following instructions from KAF to start my own sourdough. On day 3, some small patches of blue/green mold appeared on the surface. The starter was fairly since the last feeding, increasing in volume about 30% or so. I carefully scooped off the moldy bits and went ahead with the next feeding.

So my question: is it safe to continue with this batch? In addition to the mold, it definitely smelled a bit tangy/funky. However, I've never worked with starter before, so I'm not sure what it's supposed to smell like at this point.


texts: How Does a Hot Water Whipped Pie Crust Work?

texts:
First time poster here. I was wondering if someone could help me better understand the science behind a hot water whipped pie crust. I know if someone's never made one, and knew anything about the science of baking, they'd think it was a bad recipe.
However, my sister won a state pie bake off using the water whipped method, with homemade butter flavored shortening (we add 1-2 tablespoon butter flavor extract to the shortening).
We usually don't share this info with people, but when we do they can't comprehend how it was made with hot water and shortening because its so flakey and buttery.
How does this method work? Doesn't the fat need to stay a certain temperature to layer up, or does the shortening have such a high melting point that 214 degree boiling water doesn't break it down as much as it would butter? If thats the case, it makes sense that whipping it would create air pockets allowing layers to form.
Anyone one with more baking insight would be helpful!


texts: Can I use thicker pastry dough in place of fillo / wonton wrappers / lumpia wrappers?

texts:
I just concluded making bourek (sp. var.) yesterday and everyone commented how great it was.  I have also made the Filipino appetizer lumpia, and some sort of triangle pastry with pine nuts (I forget the name), using wonton wrappers in recent past as well with some success.

But my greatest anxiety in cooking (more than anything, including deeply cutting myself with a 12 inch dull blade when I am chopping) is working with this very thin fragile dough.

Can I use a thicker dough for such a recipe?  Is it entirely necessary for the dough to be paper-thin?  Is it a taste thing?  Why is it necessary to use this dough for this type of appetizer / dish?


texts: Recipe calls for Aleppo Peppers, I need the right substitution amounts for cayenne and paprika

texts:
I'm making Mexican chorizo, but it calls for Aleppo peppers. I'm not able to find them around here, so I looked up the substitutions (four parts sweet paprika to one part cayenne pepper).

The recipe calls for "2 tablespoons and 3/4 teaspoon crushed Aleppo peppers", so I'm trying to figure out exactly how much Paprika and Cayenne Pepper to use in place of that. If I go a bit higher, that shouldn't be a problem--as some people said that it needed a bit more flavor.

Thanks for any help that you can provide.
Patrick.

P.S. I'm leaning towards something like 2 Tbsp Paprika/1 tsp Cayenne Pepper, but if that's not right, I'd like to know what is.


texts: Can bananas really be ripened through oven baking?

texts:
I am following a diet for IBS called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).
Only bananas that are ripe, i.e. well spotted, can be consumed. Green and non-spotty can not be due to a difference in sugars.

I've seen a few posts on facebook saying that bananas can be ripened simply through baking them in the oven.

Does this really lead to the same change and resulting sugars as a ripe banana?


texts: Celeriac (aka: Celery Root) Skin - Edible or Not?

texts:
I have recently become extremely fond of cooking - I have no idea why! - and I recently discovered celeriac (celery root), too.

Following a Jamie Oliver recipe called Zombie Brain, I roasted a whole celeriac (after cleaning and washing) with the skin on and it was delicious; however, my question is this:

Is it "better" - in terms of eating experience, I guess - to remove the skin of a celeriac before cooking or is it just as nice to cook the celeriac with the skin on?

Personally, I have only ever cooked celeriac the once and found the resulting meal to be quite delicious.  However, I have also read a lot of other recipes which almost conclusively advice that the skin is removed before cooking (I am now thinking that perhaps I'd read the recipe wrong, but it hasn't done me or my wife any harm, so I'm not too worried about that for the time being).

Many thanks


texts: Partially tough pulled pork after 12 hours

texts:
So, after grilling a half picnic roast of pork (about 5lbs) for around 12 hours at about 200 - 250 (F) I found half of the final product to be tender and half tough. I sprinkled it with salt the night before, and then put on a dry rub over a splash of water a few minutes before it went onto the grill. I had planned to keep it on the grill (propane) until the internal temperature to had risen to about 200.  10 hours into the cook I kicked the temp up to about 300.  The internal temp was about 192 when I took it off.

In the end, a large part of the roast pulled apart nicely like I expected, but some sections would not and seemed to be very dry. Only about half of the final pulled pork was edible.

I was monitoring the temperature with a dual probe thermometer, one probe in the meat and one in the nearby grill air. Unfortunately due to lax attention and some shifting weather that day, the grill temp did drop below 200 several times during the day, once for over an hour (I know thanks to the fancy history chart in my thermometer).  The internal temp stalled at about 140 for over an hour but for the most part it was progressing nicely.

Did I overcook this by letting the grill run too cool for too long?  Or was it from spiking the temp to 300 at the end?


texts: Is it normal that I keep burning my seasoning off my cast iron?

texts:
I use cast iron, a lot.  But I've got a problem, whenever I do something that requires high heat or really anything over medium (which is somewhere around 450-500F on my stove according to my IR thermometer), the seasoning burns off my pan!  There's smoke and all that and then by the end of the cooking, large parts (mostly in the middle outward where its hottest) of the pan don't have any seasoning left and I can see the bare cast iron. Above 600-700F, I definitely expect it but it happens just above/around 500F for me.

Am I doing something wrong?  Is this normal?  Is there a way to season the pan that keeps this from happening?  I've just been using canola oil.


texts:
I want to make some Beef Kebabs with onion, sirloin and peppers. I'm using metal skewers (if that helps). How long should I let the Sirloin cook on the kebabs? There is bite size pieces on a grill at 350 degrees F. I want to cook 6 kebabs. Any ideas?

Edit:

I like my meat medium-rare.
My grill itself is 6 inches from the heat.
The pieces are no bigger than 2x2 inches.


texts: I am sensitive to Caffeine, how could I prepare a chocolate-like sauce?

texts:
I am sensitive to Caffeine as I suffer from a rare sleep disorder; I don't consume anything with caffeine rather on rare occasions.

I miss the taste of Chocolate sauces such as Hersey's.

How could I prepare a (vegan) decaffeinated chocolate-like sauce for pancakes, ice cream, and similar foods, if it is even possible by food engineering in December 2019?


texts: How to keep battered (tempura) goods from sticking to the deep frying pan?

texts:
I really like deep frying shrimp and veggies in tempura batter, but every time I put these goods in the deep frying pan they stick to the net that is in there to make the goods easy to put in and take out. It then fries around the bottom of the net and when I try to take the item out of the net it will tear off half the batter coating.

This is both incredibly messy and a bad for the look of the final product, which is now only half coated.

Is there any way to keep this from happening? I don't want to take out the net, because then the food would touch the heating coil, which will probably ruin the food and/or the fryer. I'd like to avoid frying in a regular pan because it uses huge amounts of oil and I can't easily reuse it, which makes it expensive and wasteful.

So ideally I'd like to know of a way to deep-fry tempura coated shrimp and veggies in a regular deep-fryer without sticking to the net.

(For reference and due to possible language issues, an image. I have one of these)


texts: 1946 Horehound Beer recipe - what is "capaicine"?

texts:
I was researching Horehound Beer recipes on (the old newspaper website) Trove.  I found the name of an ingredient - perhaps a herb, that I did not know: "Capaicine".
As best as I can read, this recipe is:

HOREHOUND BEER
Ingredients are: 4-lb. horehound herb,
18-lb. sugar, 1½-lb. licorice extract, 1½-lb.
treacle, 4-oz. quassia chips, 10-oz. crushed
ginger, 2-oz. coriander seeds, 2-oz. capaicine,
4-oz. caramel, 2-oz. tartaric acid,
¼-pint brewer's yeast. Suspend the horehound,
ginger, coriander and quassia in
a muslin bag in a copper and boil in
about 15 gallons of water for half-an-hour,
Add sugar and than other ingredients.
Strain off into fermenting vat,
Strain sufficient water through herbs to
bring up to 24-gallons. When at 80-deg. F.
break up yeast in a basin of brew and
stir into the bulk. Allow to ferment for
about 24 hours, skim off top and filter.
Fine down with one pint ale finings.

NOTE: Australia used imperial measurements until 1966.
As stated, I am unable to identify the ingredient "capaicine".  I don't think it's misspelling of "capsaicin".  I wondered for a while if it was maybe a misspelling of "cinnamonmum", but have since given up on this idea.
I could of course, be reading the old newsprint incorrectly.
NOTE: This particular beverage must be delicious, since it is to be made in ~100 litre batches.
Bonus question: Is the "caramel" referred to, a browned sugar-syrup (perhaps made from condensed milk) or a colourant?  A lot of recipes add "burnt sugar" for colour.


texts: Scalloped potatoes and oven fried pork copsihave scl

texts: I have scalloped potatoes that need to cook at 450 for 25 minutes and ocean fried pork chops that need to cook at 425 for 25 minutes.  How much longer will scalloped potatoes need to cook at 425?


texts:
I have an event coming up and the person who usually brings the popular 'Ghost Pepper Cheese Dip' can't make it.

I've order some 'Smoked and Dried Bhut Jolokia Ghost Chili Pepper Pods' but I have not idea how to deal with them.

I figure I need to soak them, then mince them and integrate them into a queso.

But that seems to too simple...insanely hot peppers, meat and cheese.

I'm thinking Velvetta, 80/20 hamburger, rotel, cumin...and maybe sour cream (to kill some of the fire)...

I'm make shots in the dark.

Any advice would be welcomed.


texts: How to decode some less common food Expiration Date/Date Manufactured codes (US)?

texts:
I was cleaning out and found some snack chips with date codes that are not in an obvious Day/Month/Year format.  For example:

028 B2 A1 (Bloom's Potato Chips)
021 T B4A1 (Lieber's Tortilla Chips).

Further complicating, neither says if it's a Best Used By date or a Date Manufactured (see pic).

How to decode these?


texts: Freezing Hazelnuts, before or after peeling and roasting?

texts: I've got 3 pounds of raw, unpeeled hazelnuts. I probably won't use most of them right away so I'm inclined to freeze them. I'm going to peel them using the boiling with baking soda trick, then toast them. Will it make a difference if I freeze them before or after peeling/toasting?


texts: Does canning stock raise its temperature too high?

texts:
I've read that the ideal way to make stock is to:

crack the large bones
place the carcass in a stock pot
cover with water
bring it to a simmer (not a boil) on the stove
place the whole thing in the oven on 180F for 6+ hours (possibly add vegetables an hour before you're done)

Apparently the temperature is key. You don't want it to go over 180F because that ... does something to the stock. Harsher flavors or cloudy stock. Can't recall what.

After all of this cooking of stock is done, you want to preserve it.  Canning seems ideal because it frees up freezer space. But would the canning process raise the temperature of the stock above that 180F mark that seems so critical?


texts:
If I cook a pan full of pasta and then put it in the fridge, is it safe to eat it cold over the space of several days?

I'm all about the convenience and don't want to have to rely on putting boiling water back over it when it's already cooked.


texts:
I like Poke, but prefer to avoid tuna (due to sustainability concerns).

I tried with salmon and it was a mixed result. The taste was good, but too many bones and hard stuff, at least in the particular piece I got. Is there a way to avoid that with salmon, maybe a particular cut?

Otherwise, what would be a good meaty fish alternative? Halibut, perhaps?


texts: How to cut a cooked chicken, including the bones, with a cleaver?

texts:
I'm interested to know the proper way to cut a chicken into pieces using a cleaver, without cutting around the bone.

When I go to Chinese restaurants, they often serve chicken neatly cut with a cleaver into pieces including the bone.  However, when I search for videos about carving chickens, they all say the same thing:

Cut off the drumstick
Cut up the middle of the breast bone, pull the breast off and slice it into pieces.
Cut off the wing

I'd like to know how to cut it, using a cleaver, with the bones in tact.  Thanks everyone, and any advice will be greatly appreciated!


texts: I mistakenly baked my Carrot Cake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes as opposed to the correct temperature of 325 degrees for the same amount of time.  What will happen?  Do I need to throw it away?


texts: Baked goods with Teff flour turn out gritty. How can I prevent this?

texts:
I like the idea of using Teff flour for its health properties but find that results are unpleasantly gritty.  It's as if I am using sand as a medium.
This is the Teff Date Bread recipe I tried, and I tried several different ones.

Can anyone suggest a solution?  Is it the brand that's faulty?
Thanks


texts:
I've been buying the same kind of Brie every week for the past six months, but this time was different. I got it from a grocery store I've never been to before, and I live in Kenya, where it's common for power outages to knock out refrigeration for from time to time.

The cheese hasn't hit its expiration date yet, but it's more gooey than every, with stained packaging from leaks, brown spots areas, and the smell of peanut butter. Usually, it's pretty tame and cream-colored. It's funkiness is more like bleu cheese than nuts.

I've read that Brie is rather robust when it comes to resisting harmful bacteria, and, of course, cheese is supposed to be funky! But contamination can happen. What methods can I use or sure signs can I observe to figure out whether this Brie has gone bad?


texts: What's the difference between CO2 and N2 used in food packaging?


texts: How long will Duck Fat last before going bad

texts: I've drained the fat from a roasted duck, placed it in a closed container, saved it in the 'fridge, not quite sure how long it will last??


texts:
I'm looking at a recipe for pot roast, and one of the ingredients is this:

  3 carrots, unpeeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

Am I supposed to remove the peel on the carrots, or not?


texts: What is the difference between normal oils and cooking oils?

texts:
I am not proficient in cooking but I have one question which I am not able to figure out.

I have read on internet some oils should be used for dressing, other for cooking.

But to me, they all look same. I mean what will happen I use same oil for

Cooking
Deep frying
Dressing

I mean, what's the difference and why is there a difference in cooking and dressing etc. in oils?


texts: Do I need hard or soft brown sugar for brownies?

texts:
I found a recipe for brownies I want to try. It calls for

  1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

How can I recognize if they mean hard or soft brown sugar? And how much of a difference does it make for the completed brownies if I use the wrong type? Should I just adjust the amount of sugar or other ingredients (and if yes, by how much)? Or do I have to try to make a substitution? I found a question which explains how to make soft sugar, but it requires a food processor, and I don't have one.

Edit Here is a picture of sugars, as Jay suggested per comment:

In Germany, the only type found under the name "brown sugar" (brauner Zucker) is the one in the upper right corner. But I have heard that American recipes might need the kind in the lower right corner, which is not normally available here.


texts: Salt in dry ingredients versus salt in water?

texts:
Food:

Baking focaccia.

Ingredient and step in question:

3 grams of salt called for pre-mix.

'Problem':

Normally I put the salt in the dry ingredients. Yesterday I put the salt with the wet mixture (1/2 tsp yeast, 2.5 cups water, 2 tbs honey). Noticed a less-than-normal rise at about the 8 hour mark, with no improvement at 10 or 12 hour mark.

Question:

Is this expected behavior for putting the salt in the wet mixture? Does salt in the wet mixture impede growth more than salt in the dry mixture?


texts: We are trying to make nondairy cheese. The recipe calls for Carrageenan and we have arrowroot.  How much arrowroot should we use in lieu of the carrageenan?


texts: Why did my devil food cake come out flavorless?

texts:
Here is a picture of my devil food cake . The recipe is in this video (there is no written recipe). Just by looking at the cake, could you tell what mistakes I have done baking it?

Recipe:
400g butter mixed with 2 1/4 cups white sugar (I didn't use room temp butter so I let it mix a LOT with the sugar).

Add 4 eggs each at a time. Add 3/4 cup dutch process cocoa (didn't have dutch process so I used regular cocoa with 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda to reduce the acidity of regular cocoa) with 3/4 cup hot water and 3/4 cup 15% sour cream + 113 grams of bittersweet dark chocolate.

Then add 2 cups (240 grams) white flour. Mixed everything and put in a buttered and dusted pan. Baked in oven for 180 degrees (350 f) for 35 minutes (recipe called for 45 but it would have burned if I cooked that long. I also made sure with a thermometer my oven was at the right temp). Let rest for 15 minutes then take out.

It was supposed to come out choclatey, brown, fudgy and moist. Instead it came out dry, black, flavorless and it also broke into two pieces when I took it out of the pan.


texts:
amazon returns almost 50 hits for "tomato sauce" and just 3 for "tomato paste"
Do "tomato sauce" and "tomato paste" mean the same thing?


texts: Green gooey stuff when removing head from raw shrimp

texts:
When removing the head from a raw shrimp, I usually expect orangey goo to come out / be visible (the yummy stuff when you suck it of a prepared shrimp, I suppose :) ). I also usually have fresh shrimps. Today however I bought frozen ones, and some of them have green instead of an orangey goo.

The "green ones" all look fresh, and, IME usually more important, smell fresh (taking in to account the defrosted seafood nature of things).

Question is: Are they good to eat? Does this happen "naturally"?

The box in which they came didn't look like frosting-defrosting-re-(re-)frosting happened, and wasn't over the expiry date.

Personally, I think it's due to the diet of the shrimps (I'm close to 100% certain that they're farmed, but I don't have the box anymore), and that it's the color of algae I'm seeing. While removing the digestive tract of the "green ones", they seemed to share the same uranium like hue of green.

For posterity:

Without waiting for an answer, and being the dare devil (and hungry guy) I am, I'm going to move diligently forward. For all those reading this: Should there not be an accepted answer, let it be known not to eat shrimps with green goo coming out when taking of the heads.


texts: HELP! My Crock-Pot lid was Slightly askew while cooking my roast!

texts: I started my pot roast on low at 6:30a... I just realized the lid was askew, just a bit. I have cranked it up to high...with it be done by 6:30p It is not a big roast...maybe 2-3 lbs.


texts: What is the 'cleanest' way to roast eggplants indoor?

texts: Whenever I've tried to roast eggplants on the oven, it takes more time to clean than to cook. Any suggestions?


texts: Is there a way to make jam or chutney without Gelatin / Pectin?

texts: I was wondering if there is a way to make jam without going through a gelatin type product. There is no real motive behind that question, except for curiosity


texts: Do I need a stand mixer to make good pizza dough? If so what should I get?

texts: A lot of recipes I read for pizza dough call for a mixer. Is that the best way? If so, which mixer should I get? I've seen the kitchen aid and a electrolux. What else should I consider?


texts:
I have a recipe for a steamed egg and ginger pudding. It can be eaten hot or cold, and I prefer it cold. The problem is that it starts to separate in the fridge (liquid accumulating where I've scooped pudding out, or sometimes around the edge of the bowl). How do I prevent that?

I did look at this discussion, but I can't tell whether it's relevant.

Recipe, in case it's relevant

2 C water
4 oz. ginger root
4 oz. Chinese rock sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
2/3 C milk
a few drops vegetable oil

Set up a stovetop steamer.
Slice ginger.
Bring water to a boil; boil ginger 2 min. Discard ginger slices.
Dissolve rock sugar in boiling water.
Remove pot from heat.
Add milk to the pot; whisk in eggs and vegetable oil.
Pour into bowl or bowls and steam 12 min.


texts: Is a stainless steel french press good to make coffee?

texts: My less than 1 year old glass French Press broke down today.  There's a small circular piece of the glass which came off at the bottom.  After doing some research, it looks like glass French Press breaks regularly.  I've seen some stainless steel version, are those more solid and make good coffee?  If not, should I keep buying glass versions every year?


texts: How to remove a smokey/ charcoal taste from food?

texts: I just cooked a huge batch of burrito filling.  Everything seemed okay, but then it turned out to have a really disgusting charcoal aftertaste.  I think maybe some burned bits got stirred in while I was cooking it.  Can you tell me how to remove the taste? I find it inedible, but it's about $50 dollars of ingredients.  Any advice would be hugely appreciated.


texts: Can I substitute whole anchovies for anchovy paste?

texts:
I have several recipes that call for anchovy paste; I think they're typically vinaigrettes.  They don't carry the paste at Trader Joe's so I bought a small can of whole anchovies.

Can I substitute the whole (presumably chopped/smashed/pureed) for paste?  I assume I would use the same volume?  And for others, can paste be substituted for whole in recipes where the whole anchovy is going to be pureed anyhow?

Oh, and since I'll have leftover anchovies from the can, I assume they will freeze fine for further anchovy paste substitutions?


texts: How does cooking food changes its content of carbohydrates and sugar?

texts:
When cooking for diabetics it is important to keep the amount of carbohydrates and sugar low. So I am wondering how cooking food - particularly vegetables - changes the amount of carbohydrates and sugar.

For example when simmering tomatoes slowly for a long time they gain a lovely sweet taste - but does really the amount of sugar increases? And if so, does the amount of other carbohydrates decrease proportionally? Or do slow cooked tomatos become through cooking more dangerous to diabetics?

How to calculate it? Are there lists somewhere available showing carbohydrate and sugar content for vegetables in raw an cooked state?

ps: I did find a similar question about onions - From the answer I deduct that in the case of onions the  sweeter taste is a perception effect not a real change in sugar or carbs.


texts: I have recently noticed a rather large amount of small worms in the fresh cod I am buying. I have tried to take them out as much as I can and of course have spoken to my fish supplier about them, but he assures me they are harmless. However, I don't believe my customers would be as assured. Is it okay to serve this fish, taking into account I might miss a worm or two?


texts:
I have tried making hot cocoa with melted chocolate. Here is how I did it:

Heat up some milk in a mug until it is hot(ceramic tends to do better in microwaves than glass does because it doesn't conduct heat as well as glass does.)

Put half milk chocolate and half dark chocolate(I was trying to go for that bittersweet and semisweet chocolate by using milk chocolate and dark chocolate) in a small thin glass container and melt it completely(not to the point of separation though)

Put a little bit of the hot milk in the chocolate to temper it(same way you temper eggs).

Stir the chocolate into the milk. Now this chocolate was hershey's brand and I used 4 pieces of the milk chocolate and 4 pieces of the dark chocolate.

Keep stirring until it is the same color as chocolate milk or darker.

Now doing it this way I thought "Milk has fat and water and chocolate has water soluble components and fat soluble components so it should be all good with no separation.

However it did separate and there was a little bit(about an 1/8 of an inch of cocoa butter at the top.

However you can't homogenize chocolate like you can homogenize milk.

Now my thought on why it didn't work is because I used 2% reduced fat milk(which means fat is reduced by 2 percent not to 2%) and so there was too little fat.

Even though it was only reduced by a little in terms of fat content, that little bit it was reduced by might be important to prevent separation. However I didn't want to go with organic milk because I know that organic milk separates into water and cream.

So if I want to make hot cocoa using chocolate or make chocolate milk should I go with whole milk and melt the chocolate over the milk in a double boiler or what?


texts: Why do many recipes instruct you to oil or grease the pan at the start of the recipe?

texts:
I've noticed that most recipes that end up in a pan in the oven will have me grease or oil the pan at the start of the recipe. This is long before I have anything else to put into it. The pan just sits waiting for me to do the rest of the recipe. Here's just one example: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/3073

Why is this? I'm partly just curious and partly interested if I can leverage this some more.

Does the grease (or oil) work better if it ages in the air? If so, what is the ideal time for aging?
Does the recipe author just want to be sure that I have a pan and some grease that I can use before I prepare the rest of the recipe? If so, then I think I'll just wait to do it.
Is it to make sure the pan is cooled to room temperature by the time I get to it, in case it came from the dishwasher?
Perhaps a historical reason?


texts: What is a mealy tomato, and how would one use one?

texts:
When people say a tomato is or isn't mealy, what does that really mean? I've never had a tomato that was grainy, as it's sometimes described. Is that even possible? That sounds like a tomato with sand in it. How would you personally describe the consistency without using the dictionary definition?

Also, what are mealy tomatoes good for?


texts: My pizza dough has risen for a second time

texts: I had already made the dough into a pizza and while waiting to put it together it has risen. What should I do?


texts: Why and when does a skin form on heated milk and how can I prevent it?

texts: When I heat milk, sometimes a skin forms on it, which I'd like to avoid. I originally thought that this happens above some specific temperature, but after paying attention more closely, it seems to me that the skin forms while the milk is already cooling down again. Also, it does not happen every time, though I don't know what I do differently.


texts: When should a blender be used instead of a food processor or instead of a juicer? I'm planning on investing in one of them. I would use if for making smoothies and beverages. I've got a Magic Bullet which I put frozen berries in, but find the consistency is too thick to drink.


texts:
I bought some Frozen Crab.  How long should I boil it for before eating it?

(I have some snow crab and King crab legs)


texts:
My dad asked for picante sauce at the store. I never heard the phrase, and asked if he meant salsa. He told me no, he meant picante sauce. He wanted Pace's picante sauce:

This was opposed to Pace's salsa:

Now I thought the first one was a "salsa", just a special type of salsa. However "salsa" doesn't appear anywhere on the jar. Furthermore on www.pacefoods.com, there is a distinction between salsa and picante sauce. This led me to believe that "picante sauce" is NOT a type of "salsa".

If translated literally to Spanish, "picante sauce" just means "spicy sauce" and "salsa" just means "sauce".

So technically speaking; ketchup, barbecue sauce, A1, ranch dressing and Tobasco are ALL salsas. However if you ask me to buy some salsa you obviously don't mean A1.

According to http://www.ehow.com/facts_5770035_difference-between-salsa-picante-sauce_.html:

  While the two terms are commonly used interchangeably in English, they are not synonymous, because picante sauce is a specific type of salsa.

So picante sauce IS salsa according to this website, however there is a contradiction because it says:

  Picante sauce, on the other hand, has one distinguishing characteristic that sets its apart -- its intense heat.

Pace (who apparently was the inventor of picante sauce) sells mild, medium and spicy picante sauces along with salsas.

I know the stuff inside the jar that says "picante sauce" has a different texture and tastes different than the stuff inside the jar that says "salsa", so I'm not really asking what the actual culinary differences are. I know those. I'm asking about a definition.

  Are "picante sauces" a subset of "salsas"? Does a tomato based sauce have to be spicy to be "picante"?


texts: Why do some plant based milks require more emulsifiers than others?

texts: I used to making milk from sunflower seeds and I always add the same amount of xanthan gum. I made my first raw quinoa milk and the water separated - but just a bit, maybe 1/4 of an inch - despite the fact that dry amounts of both sunflower seeds and quinoa and resulting liquids were pretty much the same. Next time I added a bit more of xanthan gum and it was ok. I'm thinking that could be because sunflower seeds have higher fat contents? 36% vs 2%.


texts:
I inherited a bar set. It has a wide variety of glassware, all of which I recognize except this piece

The bottom portion holds a 1/2 cup. There is a small hole connecting the top and bottom. The top section is about 2in in diameter with a 3/4 inch opening between the top and the bottom. It is awkward to pour out of it and impossible to drink out of it. There are 12 of them, along with all the other glassware.

There are no markings on the glassware or the bar itself. The bar only contains liquor glasses (Collins glass, cordial glass, old fashion glass, shot glass) and no wine glasses or beer glasses.

What is its purpose?


texts: What is the impact of high heat on wine?

texts:
I usually use wine in my tomato sauces, which are usually slowly simmered on the lowest heat setting.  I'd really like to make this recipe from The Pioneer Woman blog. However, I'm concerned about boiling the wine, especially over direct heat.  Will it ruin the flavor? Is there any difference in quality/taste by heating to a boil using low heat vs high heat?

Update:

This article on The Academic Wino website gives some good data but still doesn't address intentionally heating the wine to a boiling temperature.  To the current commenters, it is my thought that the pan deglazes rapidly and by the time you've poured the liquid, the pan temperature has dropped substantially. Even still, the fact that wine is used at high heat doesn't mean that it doesn't experience ill effects from that exposure.

I'm really looking more for the Alton Brown nitty gritty science of what, if anything, happens to the wine when it hits high cooking temps.

As a side note, the recipe was out of this world good, and I did in fact boil the wine I used.


texts: Right way to make cake batter that asks for butter and oil

texts:
One method says to cream butter, oil, and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour.

Another method says to cream the butter, and sugar, add the eggs, and mix. Add buttermilk and oil and mix well. Then add the dry ingredients.

Which should be the more proper or scientific method?


texts:
I'm baking something that I might end up sending on a very long trip. For this I would want to make ganache, but it may be in transit for as long as 10 days so I don't want to use cream.

If I do make these, the ganache would between sandwich cookies. What could I use for that, stable at varying temperatures, for as long as 10 days, possibly even longer?


texts:
I'm interested in making emulsified sausages like hot dogs. Most guides suggest using a food processor, which I don't have. I do however have a high-powered blender. Can a blender be used to make emulsified sausage?

I can imagine it working, but since this is not something I've seen in books or guides I have my doubts. I'm also confused how a food processor can create a true emulsion, but that is a separate question!

Would I also need to grind meat before I put it in a blender? Or could I put meat chunks straight into a blender?


texts: I want to cook different kinds of breakfast but I always use eggs because I feel it is easier to digest in the morning. What other kinds of protein could I use instead of egg? Some people recommend me to not consume any protein at all, but I feel I need protein in the morning, but something that is not heavy on the stomach.


texts: I'm having a friends family over for dinner next week, Ang they have numerous allergies or sensitivities.  Corn,  gluten,  soy, rice and citrus.  The dinner I planned on making,  contains quick cooking tapioca. Any ideas on what to to use in substitute for that?


texts: What nutritional differences are there between honey and table sugar (sucrose)?

texts:
My girlfriend has been putting honey in my coffee instead of sugar. She says it is better for me, but she can't give me an explanation I understand. I think she is being influenced by someone she works with.

What nutritional differences are there between honey and sucrose? Are they digested differently?


texts: I am trying to make marbled rye bread, but around here I can't find rye flour. All I can find is all-purpose flour, bread flour, and maybe cake flour. Is there some way I can substitute stuff to replicate rye flour without actually having any?


texts: Is neccessary to store christmas cookies in the fridge?

texts:
If I want to have a Christmas cookies e.g. in a different room than the fridge is, how long I can leave them at room temperature without worry that it will be spoiled?

This types of cookies mostly contain butter (not good for leaving outside of a fridge) but also alcohol and sugar (good for leaving outside of a fridge).

I have for example this types:

Shortcrust pastry (first picture)
Wasp nest (maybe known only in my country I am not sure, see the second picture)
Gingerbread


texts: Authentic Asian Sweet & Sour Sauce - Recipe

texts:
Although its a well known fact that the Sweet & Sour sauce we have come to expect is not really an authentic sauce served in Asia, its one that we have come to love in North America. The problem is sourcing that perfect recipe.
Although I live in the Asian capital of British Columbia and have an extended network of colleagues in the food industry, I am still stumped and cant find the recipe for this sauce. There are plenty of hacks available online, but still nothing that compares.
If there is anyone with an Asian culinary background that is willing to post and share a recipe for this sauce, I would truly appreciate it if they could post it here.
Thank you & kind regards in advance.

Mark


texts: I want to make this cake with this style of icing and I can't find anything on it. Can someone please tell me what style it is or give me a link to a tutorial? I'm more interested in the icing on the cake, it is a dripping effect that I like. I'm unsure of what icing was used and how to get that look.


texts: What is the magic in packaged pudding mixes?

texts: I have tried making pudding from recipes that have cornstarch and one with flour. Neither has the same smoothness of the cooked packaged mixes. What is the magic in the packaged mix? I am looking for a more smooth pudding recipe.


texts: Should I add flour to dough if I already weighed the amount?

texts:
I am using this recipe for pizza dough, and I received some seasoned advice from other members of this site to use a precise kitchen scale for weighing the flour and water. The question is, if I already precisely measured for weight ie 1LB flour and 11 oz water - do I forgo following the direction to add more flour as needed?

  As you knead, add more flour or water as needed to produce a ball of dough that is smooth, supple, and fairly tacky but not sticky.


texts: Should I scrape out portobello gills to avoid sogginess?

texts:
I am not worried about the dark staining of everything else on the plate; rather, keeping the caps from going soggy.

Yes, a hot pan and a bit of salt helps, but does scraping make much difference for sogginess if the gills are newly opened and rather dry? How about older, moister gills?


texts: Picking through dried beans - many discoloured ones - moldy?

texts:
I was picking through some dried white beans and found a lot of discoloured ones, way more than usual. They smell fine. Does this mean that they are old (best before date is a long way away) or just poor quality? They are organic beans.

I don't want to be eating beans with mold toxins.


texts:
Here is the recipe. http://www.handletheheat.com/2013/10/ultimate-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
It looks completely different from the web-site.What could be the cause of this mistake? too much eggs? Baking powder? or maybe not enough flour?

However, I live in south east asia. Do you think the temperature here could be one of the factors or maybe conversion from cup to grams are different?

Thank you


texts:
I have a recipe that calls for

a Duncan Hines butter cake mix
4 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 cup Wesson oil
8 ozs sour cream.

Cook in preheated oven 1½ hours at 300.

I have made numerous cakes like this and they turned out beautiful until Duncan Hines changed the cake mix from 18oz to 15oz. Since then I have not been able to make this cake without problems.

I added ⅓ cup of another mix and it ran over and fell.
I made a mixture of 1½ cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda and added 6 tablespoons of this mixture to my cake mix and it still ran over and fell. This one tasted fine but was not pretty.

Do you have any idea what I can do to make it where it won’t fall and run over?


texts: How can I save my curry - it's way too oily!

texts:
I cooked a chicken curry in the slowcooker last night, I came down this morning and its way too oily.  I think because of this the coconut milk has separated a little too.

Any way I can save this, even a little?

Thankyou


texts:
I buy basa frozen (note, not the same as bass). It's not something readily available here but I like it because it's affordable and easy to prepare.

I go through the appropriate steps of fish prep by defrosting it in the fridge and rinsing the filets before use.

I've made it in many different ways and even purchased it from different places but my husband says it still tastes strongly of mold. I can't taste that in it at all.

Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Note, I know it's not the same as getting fresh fish but I wonder is there an extra cleansing step I missed? Does mold survive the cooking process to rain in taste?


texts: Baking maple syrup on cold smoked almonds

texts:
I've been smoking almonds for years using a combination of maple syrup and seasonings, but recently I've discovered cold smoking gives a much nicer and deeper smoke flavor.

I have a great soy wasabi almond recipe that I think is even better than Blue Diamond, but that's easy--just apply the wasabi paste after the nuts are smoked.

My traditional sweet and spicy recipe requires a good dose of maple syrup and other sugars, and I am not sure how to finish the cold smoked nuts without losing the crunchy texture. Is there a low heat way to do this?  I normally use a Cookshack smoker for these. Thank you.


texts: Veloute consistency after being refrigereted

texts: Not been into French cuisine much so I started to try to make the mother sauces for some fun.  I cooked up some chorizo in clarified butter and used that fat to make a roux, blonded it, then stirred in some chicken stock.  Turned out to have an excellent velvety texture.  What will happen to the consistency of the sauce after being in the fridge for a night?  Also, my sauce had the consistency of tempered chocolate, is this on par or thicker than what would be considered 'normal'?


texts:
So, I've finally accomplished making mayo. But it has a yellowish hue to it, obviously this is the case because of the egg yolks.

My question is this:  Why is store mayo white?  What makes it white?

I'm fine with mine being the color it is, but now it's driving me crazy as why it's white in the stores. Is it a preservative thing?  Is it an appearance thing?


texts: Can I still cook on my propane grill with rust?

texts: I busted out my propane grill which I haven't used in over a year and noticed as I was cleaning it that there was a bit of rust on the grill.  I tried to get it off but it doesn't seem to want to.  Is it safe to grill with some rust on there?


texts: Seasoning a granite mortar and pestle, with intuition for the steps and their order

texts:
There are many procedures for seasoning a new unpolished granite mortar and pestle from Thailand.

Some sites recommend:

Wash without soap and dry completely
Crush garlic, maybe with salt and peppercorns. Let it sit for 30 minutes to 24 hours, then
rinse, and dry.
Add either wet or dry rice into the mortar and mash the rice to a paste/powder. Repeat until rice paste/powder remains white.

Another site recommends:

Rinse with clean water (no soap) and let it air dry.
Grind a small handful of white rice. Discard and repeat until the
rice grinds white.
Add 4 cloves of garlic, mash and muddle them together.
Then add 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of
pepper to the garlic. Grind it all together and discard.
Rinse once more (without soap) and allow to air dry.

Cooks Illustrated just recommend dry white rice.

What is the best way to do it? What is the logic for each step and the sequencing?


texts:
Is there a way to remove the sour taste from hearts of palm (which, I assume, are not sour intrinsically)?
I tried washing them off and then roasting them, but that didn't help, they were still sour.


texts: I could only find a couple of written tutorials and they weren't very good.  Can anyone explain it to me or provide a good tutorial?


texts: Will fresh strawberries make a cake soggy?

texts: I'm decorating a two layer butter cake and I was thinking of adding a layer of sliced fresh strawberries in between the two layers together with some strawberry flavored Bavarian cream.  I will be serving the cake in two days.  Will the strawberries give out too much liquid and make the cake soggy?


texts: Why is it that every time I try to heat raw milk in a microwave it curdles and becomes like ricotta after a few seconds?


texts: Is it possible to make homemade mascarpone?

texts: I had a piece of tiramisu that had a layer of mascarpone that really balanced the other flavors out perfectly.  At the grocery store it's sold in such little/expensive containers I was looking for an alternative homemade version - any ideas?