texts: Cleaning a commercial-grade grill surface

texts:
Here is a griddle.

Most weeks, it's used to cook for a community dinner where I live. And, most of those weeks, I'm the volunteer who cleans it.

Based on instructions I inherited, I've got, for tools, a 4-inch paint scraper and a supply of blades, and then a stack of micro-fiber rectangles with a handle and pad I can use to apply elbow grease.

I warm the thing up, I scrape it with the scraper (leaving, always, some small scratches), and then scrub it until clean. Then a quick rinse and a coating of cooking oil.

Last night, it seems that one of the cooks had gone postal -- there were some metal divots sticking up from the surface that blocked, and dinged, the scraper blade. I eventually removed them with a wad of stainless steel 'wool' that is usually used on pots. But, even afterwards, it seemed to me that the scraping process was causing more scratching than usual.

So, for those of you with actual professional experience, what's the story? Is the main problem here that the Terminator was wailing on the surface, or am I taking the wrong approach in part or in whole?


texts: How long does unrefrigerated shredded cheese last?

texts: I left an unopened package of shredded mozarella cheese out unrefrigerated last night after going grocery shopping, and found it today, 16 hours later. Should I toss it?


texts: Mixing cheesecake batter with an immersion blender

texts:
I have read various recipes suggesting that when adding eggs to cheesecake batter, it is better to incorporate them with as little mixing as possible, to avoid aerating the mixture.
The idea is that cheesecakes are meant to be dense, and if too much air goes in this would compromise the texture (and also possibly cause cracks during/after baking).

This had me wondering if using the immersion blender would be a good way to knock air out of the batter when mixing.
Since I've never seen it mentioned in any recipe, I wonder if there's something I'm missing and this is just not a good idea.

What do you think?


texts: How long can I store pork shoulder in the fridge if cooked with high content of salt

texts:
I cook usually 1kg block at 65°C for 6 hours with 40g (4%) of salt, 10g (1%) of sugar, and a good amount of white and black pepper.

After cooking it, I cool it in an ice bath, then I store it in the fridge; first, one day uncovered, so it dries out a bit, and then in a Tupperware.

It tastes like ham, and I slice it for my breakfast sandwiches.

My question is, for how long would it be safe to keep it? I tried it up to 6 days after, and I don't feel any change in the taste or the texture, but I don't know if I am pushing the limits. On the other hand, I guess that the high content in salt may help to preserve it.

Any ideas?


texts: What is the proper technique for torching a creme brulee?

texts: Should you ever have your torch face downwards? When I do that I get huge flames. I try to torch it from the sides, but the sugar caramelizes very unevenly.


texts: How can I make sauerkraut to best preserve the probiotic elements?

texts: I know that making Sauerkraut is basically putting layers of cabbage and salt in a jar and then filling with water. However, I have been told that doing this at home can allow generation of good bacteria (probiotics) in the sauerkraut. How can I promote this growth while keeping the sauerkraut edible and tasty?


texts: Will any sugar substitutes brown in a crumble topping?

texts: As a diabetic (but unfortunately with a sweet tooth!!), I would welcome any recommendations for a sweetener as a substitute for sugar which will allow browning as in the topping for a fruit crumble.


texts: What kind of mortar and pestle is most food safe?

texts:
Even after conditioning/seasoning one can expect microscopic chips from using a mortar and pestle.

Intuitively it seems that a metallic M&P would be more inclined to shed not so healthy chips, in contrast to a combination of a hard mortar (granite) and a (food safe) soft pestle (wood) whose chips are non toxic.


texts: How can I stove-cook meals for groups of 6-8 with only one burner?

texts:
I often host dinner parties for groups of 6-8 people at my apartment. I usually cook simple meat-based entrees using pan-frying, sauteeing, braising, poaching, etc., usually accompanied by rice/salad.

The challenge is that my apartment has a very small kitchen area with only 1 stove burner:

(I have no oven -- just a microwave, rice cooker, and water boiler.)

I have this frying pan (which measures 12 inches across the top, 9 inches across the base, and is 2.5 inches high):

Is this an ideal size? Or is it too big for my stove burner? The only alternative I see is to cook my meals in 2 batches, but that seems like it could make it hard to time things properly.


texts: Can bad potato salad be made into something good?

texts:
I was lazy the other day at the grocery store and bought potato salad from the deli instead of ingredients to make my own. That was a mistake. Now I have a big tub of bad potato salad.

It is apparent that the water used to boil the potatoes was under seasoned - severely underseasoned, perhaps not salted at all. The potatoes are slightly undercooked, and the dressing is bland.

I can't afford to be throwing away food, so I want to try to turn this potato salad into something I might actually eat. It doesn't need to continue to be potato salad; I'm open to ideas that might completely transform it into something else. Of course I would also be interested in ideas to turn bland, undercooked potato salad into good potato salad.

A quick online search brought me to a recipe that is probably pretty close to what this was supposed to be (had it been prepared correctly): http://paleoleap.com/dill-potato-salad/. I'm pretty sure that the potatoes in my salad are russet, not Yukon Gold.


texts: What happens if I use my sourdough starter too soon?

texts: What happens if I use my sourdough starter before all of the good yeast and bacteria are fully developed? Would the bad bacteria make me sick? Or would cooking it kill all of the bad bacteria and make, whatever it was I made, safe to eat? For instance, I hear that you can make pancakes from the stater you would normally throw away during feedings. I'm not entirely sure my starter is ready for its debut, I just began growing it 5 days ago from course flour and water.


texts: Infrared thermometer for oven temperatures

texts: IR Thermometers read surface temperatures. Can they accurately read the interior temperature of my oven through the glass panel? Or will it be reading the surface temperature of the glass rather than the interior?


texts: There is moisture in my vegetable bin. What can I do to prevent this? I do not have a separate control for the drawers. The refrigerator temperature is set at the manufacturer's recommended setting.


texts: Substitute peanut butter for cookie butter?

texts: I'm trying to make mug cookies and it calls for cookie butter, which I don't have. Can I use peanut butter instead?


texts: Chocolate bars - Actual shelflife vs expiration date

texts:
The owner of a local chocolate store made me an offer I actually can't refuse: For a price that's really a bargain, I get one bar of every bar chocolate he as on stock - that would be about 40 bars.

I know how to store chocolate for baking (mostly Callebaut callets) and from my own experience I can tell that when stored in an airtight container in a dry, dark and cool place away from things with a strong smell (e.g. coffee) most chocolate can be used even after expiration date (only for private use of course).

But what about chocolate bars - is it the same?

I don't care about blooming, I just don't want the the chocolate goes bad before I can try them.


texts: How long can I keep eggs past the sell by date and still eat them?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  How long can I keep  eggs in the refrigerator?

I've got some eggs in a carton (regular Grade A eggs) in the refrigerator.  The "sell by" date on them is October 2nd.  Today is October 19th, so that's about two and a half weeks past.  Generally, foods are good for a couple weeks past the sell by date, but how many weeks do I have before they aren't edible (spoil or generally get "the funk").

If I made french toast in the morning and used them, would they be good?  I'm more concerned with 100% safety than them being 10% less awesome tasting after a certain time.


texts: In desserts like panna cotta or crème brûlée, why do you always boil the milk/cream? What does boiling do to the milk?


texts:
I want to bake edible bowls that go with e.g. salad or snacks, that is, I need a non-sweet, bread-like dough that gets reasonably hard when baked but is still somewhat edible.

Is there some classic technique, a special ingredient, or just a general direction to go for a such dough?


texts: Best way to Sous vide two steaks to different temperatures

texts: What's the best way to prepare two steaks via sous vide if you want to cook a medium rare and a medium steak? Is it best to cook the medium steak first at its temperature, then lower the temperature, leave the medium steak in and cook the medium rare steak?


texts: I added half a cup of barley to a vegetable (medley) soup and now the soup only tastes of barley. I made the stock from yesterday’s roast chicken. What can I add to counteract the floury taste?


texts: What is the proper cooking time for steaming whole stone crabs? Is there any reason to avoid them?

texts:
In several pages of Google results, I found no information at all on cooking time, average market prices, recipes, etc. for whole stone crabs. I made my own estimation for cooking time last time I tried, which worked sufficiently well, but would like to hear a more authoritative answer for food safety reasons.

Additionally, what's the reason for the lack of information? I have heard the assertion that they're not very palatable offered as a reason for why they're rarely eaten, but I found them perfectly tasty, though quite different from blue crabs. There was quite a lot of meat in the body, and it seems unlikely that I'd be alone in finding them palatable. I also understand that in Florida it is illegal to land whole stone crabs, but there is no such restriction in many other areas, where they're commonly sold. Is there any reason why one should not eat whole stone crabs?


texts: How can I add flavor to meatballs which taste stale from being frozen too long?

texts: My pre-cooked meatballs must have been frozen too long, they taste stale. I tried mashing them up and making sloppy joes but they still tasted stale. How can I season them to make them more edible?


texts: Can you use cooked fish heads and bones in stock?

texts: Is there any reason not to put the heads and bones from cooked fish in stock?


texts: Do rice krispie treats need to be refrigerated, or can they be stored at room temperature? I'd like to know both whether leaving them out is safe, and whether refrigeration will affect their flavor and/or texture.


texts: How to reduce bitterness in silken tofu 'cream' soup?

texts: I made a 'cream' soup using silken tofu,  vegetarian soup stock, (pre-packaged) fried onions, and a bit of white balsamic vinegar.  It was pretty good but had a bitterness at the back of the palate.  What can I do to remedy that?


texts: Effect of liquified hazelnuts on chocolate tempering?

texts:
I would like to ask if roasted and liquified hazelnuts will negatively affect the tempering of milk chocolate?

I have hazelnuts that I have roasted and liquifed by using a high-quality blender. Subsequently, the hazelnuts were passed through a strainer to filter out large nuts.

During the high-temperature phase of chocolate tempering, I plan to add the liquified hazelnuts and the 1/4 unmelted chocolate (seeding method). Will my temper be negatively affected?


texts: Time and Temperature to bake small fruit cakes

texts: I want to bake fruit cakes in foil pans holding about 1 1/4 cups of batter. Should I use bain marie ? What temperature oven will be best and for approximately how long


texts:
Is it a pasta or a dumpling and what is the difference?

To me, a pasta is smooth and shaped and doesn't have any "filling" (but can have ingredients added to color or flavor it before it is shaped)  and a dumpling is either a dough of some sort either cooked in a stew-like liquid or filled with something and then cooked.
When I saw spaetzle prepared,it seemed like a pasta to me. What distinguishes pasta from dumplings?


texts: I'm doing a nice beef roast in the crock pot today. Normally I roast the carrots and potatoes together in the oven but due to other things I need the oven for I'm going to add them with the roast. I really want to avoid mushy vegetables but not sure how long before the roast is done that they should be added. I'm using "baby" carrots and diced potatoes about the size of a golf ball. I'm looking for cooked but firm. I have very little liquid in the bottom of the slow cooker as well.


texts: Cooking Time vs Burner Size on an electric smooth top stove

texts:
Say I'm cooking using a smooth-top stove. A burner area has a small burner, which is surrounded by a larger burner area.

If I have a small pot on a large element, with a 1-2 inch radius of the large element not touching the small pot (the outer edge of the element)... does this extra heating area go to waste completely? Wouldn't the element heat up the glass cover, which would then be reabsorbed into the nearby pot's metal?

Or would the heat be mostly lost into the surrounding air?

I'm asking because I notice that my soups generally cook alot faster when they are using the large burner instead of the smaller burner, EVEN THOUGH the soup is in a small pot, that only covers the inner small burner area.


texts: How do I bake 'Sugar Cookies' but my oven does not go high enough?

texts:
I am trying to bake sugar cookies but the recipe I am using says to bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes. My oven only goes to 200.
Could someone help me and tell me what to do?


texts: Do nutritional facts take into account the inedible parts of certain foods?

texts:
I was wondering if the caloric values of leftovers of certain foods (may the best example be bones, when eating chicken) that are never eaten, taken into account when calculating nutrition values of prepared meals. Most importantly when vendor/food outlet is obligated to put them on the packaging/leaflets.

I can't find a paper with detailed methodology of such calculations nowhere in the internet.


texts:
I have seen recipes for easter egg dyes that call for 1/4 cup vinegar per cup of water and others that call for 2 teaspoons per cup of water. That's a pretty wide range--what practical effect does the amount of vinegar have?

More generally, what is the role of vinegar in dye recipes? What would happen differently if it were left out?


texts: Extremely hard layer after cooking the burger on the grill

texts:
It was the first time I tried making burgers at home. I did some research on the subject. I just put salt and pepper into the ground beef.

Then I heated the iron grill well and applied a small amount of olive oil on the hamburger patties and baked each side for 7 minutes.

I share the photos of hamburger meatballs before and after cooking.

What do you think is causing this situation?

1- Minced meat is too fat?
2- Cooking time?
3- To put olive oil on it before cooking?
4- Iron Grill?

I will be grateful if you could help me. I don't want my next attempt to end like this.

Thank you.


texts:
So i've taken it on me to make fresh mozzarella. I've read up on the task in some articles and with multiple recipes but for some reason I never succeed. The seperated curds always stay little crumbs and never take up the shape of solid blocks/curds/strands.

This is the recipe i'm following:

I use 1L pasteurized organic non-skimmed milk. It's non-homogenized milk but I don't know the pasteurisation temperature. I've used different brands. I dissolve a teaspoon of citric acid into 5 tablespoons of water. Adding this to the milk brings the pH to around 5.8. I've measured the amount of citric acid necessary to lower the pH of the milk to this acidity.

I then heat the milk to 30C. (i've also tried adding the citric acid to the milk at 30C instead of from the start). Once it has reached 30 degrees I take the pan off the stove, add 10 drops of microbiological rennet. The rennet is around 200 IMCU. Stir for 30 seconds.

Put the lid on, wait for 5 minutes.

Drain with strainer.

Result: poor crumbly curds, some even so fine they slip through the strainer. Cutting the curds is something i can't even think about.

Any mozzarella specialists here who could help out with this one? I don't want to give up on this endeavour but not sure if I want to keep wasting all this milk.


texts: Why do peanut butter sandwiches become hard and how to prevent that?

texts:
I've done this with many different types and brands of peanut butter and bread, after a few hours (I typically pack them in the morning as a snack for the afternoon) the bread gets rock hard. I'm curious why this happens, but mostly how to keep them from getting hard ?

The bread is never toasted, I just spread the butter. I've tried keeping it in a plastic bag, in the fridge, outside the fridge, wrapped in paper towel...nothing.


texts: Pre-Cooking Steak in a bag, Any suggestions?

texts:
I tried something on the weekend, and it seemed to work well, so I thought I'd ask for comments.

We'd planned to make steak for dinner, and it happened to come in a vacuum-packet plastic. So before opening the bag I dropped it into some hot water (about 170F) for a couple hours. The temp obviously fluctuated a bit, but I topped it off with hot water from time to time.

I like my steak "lightly seared", so pretty much "blue". So out the bag, into a bit of oil, then into the (very hot) pan. Maybe 60 seconds each side (probably not even that much). Out. Rested. Eat.

It was very soft - and perhaps predictably "warm through" - which was different as "blue" can end up being quite cold. Was very tender though.

So to my question - any suggested improvements on the technique? Would it benefit to keep the steak in the water longer? (I'm thinking of trying a 24 hour period next).

One down side is that marinading of the meat (in the bag) isn't possible - so good quality meat with good flavor is a must.


texts: Why are salt and pepper the "classic" dinner table seasoning?

texts: Is there a reason we use salt and pepper on so many dishes and they can be found in any kitchen table at dinner time? Does it have to do with their flavor synergies, or were they just more available "back in the day"?


texts:
In the student dorms I'm limited to a microwave. So I microwave the rice, put in a colander and drain it. But the rice is not fluffy, tried different rices but it just doesn't texture right.

What am I doing wrong?


texts:
In many high quality ready made popcorn, the popped grains are almost perfectly round, while home popped grains are the usual irregular shape.

How is that lovely round shape achieved?


texts:
I love the weak tomatoes that you get at fast food restaurants like Subway. Whenever I buy tomatoes from the grocery store or the farmer's market, they're too strong and I end up throwing them out.

Do restaurants like Subway use weak breeds of tomatoes, or do they have some kind of process for making their tomatoes weak?


texts: Gritty Mouth Feel from Moroccan Spice Blend

texts:
I made a tagine style chicken dish that was very tasty, but the sauce had a subtle but fine gritty mouth feel that I'd like to eliminate the next time I try this.
I haven't experienced this with most cooking before, but my thought is this mouth feel comes from the one of the spices named below, and I'm thinking it may be from the ground cinnamon.
The spices used were: salt, coriander, turmeric, paprika, black pepper, ginger power, cumin, and chili powder. Some dried fruit, added toward the end of cooking, was simmered in a pot of water with sugar and cinnamon.
For what it's worth, all of my spices were pre-ground except for the black pepper and coriander, which I fine ground in a coffee grinder.
Is this gritty mouth feel to be expected? (I think I would have noticed it when eating this sort of dish at a restaurant.) If not, what might I do to fix it?


texts: Would pressure cooking stock create a different result?

texts:
I have always made bone stocks by simmering them for a long, long time, either on the stove or in a slow cooker. My new housemate insists this can be done in a pressure cooker. I'm sure this is true, but not sure whether the result would be different, other than that I wouldn't be able to skim it in a pressure cooker.

How does pressure cooking affect stock? Would a stock have different properties when slow-simmered vs. pressure cooked?


texts: How do I carbonate a drink that originally isn't carbonated without altering its taste or the process taking more than a few hours? I've seen some methods that use yeast, but that requires about two days and the taste changes, so that won't do.


texts: I have a bread pudding recipe I like, but would like to make it firmer.  How would I go about this ?


texts:
My brownies always end up the same size after cooking as they were at the beginning, even though they rise by 100% during preparation. How can I keep them from sinking when they cook? The recipe:

375 g chocolate with milk
350 g butter

I melt those and let them chill.

In another bowl I mix for a long time:

4 eggs
380 g of sugar

Then add the chocolate and butter, mix a lot again and add:

130 g regular flour
90 g of sweet cocoa
5 g of rising powder.

Again I beat in a lot of air but even though they rise, they come out exactly as they entered the oven.


texts: When making Eetch, is it necessary to sauté the onions and simmer the tomato products? Are there differences if using quinoa rather than bulghur?

texts:
When I make Eetch, the recipe I use calls for sautéing the onions and then adding the tomato products and simmering for a short time before adding to the bulghur.

A woman my husband works with told him that she also makes it but that she does not heat any of the ingredients. She just prepares and mixes everything together.

All of the recipes I've seen call for pretty much the same method I use which does include the sautéing and simmering steps. (Note that I am not saying that there aren't any that are different, just that I have not seen them.)

It seems like it would be a time saver to skip the sautéing and simmering steps. That is unless it would take additional time for the bulghur to absorb the liquid.

Are there really any time or other benefits to either method?

I'm also wondering if anyone has tried using quinoa instead of the bulghur and, if so, what were the results? We're any adjustments needed to the recipe, e.g. more or less liquid or seasonings, etc.?


texts: I recently visited a restaurant and was served this gorgeous lemon meringue tart. Can you help me identify which plant this green garnish belongs to?


texts: Small emulsified breakfast sausages in Dutch countries

texts:
Halo!

We are in the midst of our honeymoon, and are traveling from Amsterdam to Brugges to Paris. Upon our first breakfast in Amsterdam we were presented with small (about 1.5 to 2 inches in length, about .75 inches in diameter) sausages. They were a regular breakfast item in Amsterdam, and then again in Brugges.

They are very light in both color and flavor. If I had to guess, they contain a mixture of chicken meat and pork fat. The contents are definitely emulsified. They are in natural casings, or at least they certainly were in Amsterdam. As I said, they are served with breakfast. In Amsterdam the sausages were very dense so the casi g would brown and pop open, whereas in Brugges the casing was much less full, which provided a pillowy, soft texture.

Does anyone know what these sausages are called? I'd love to make them for myself when I get back to the US.


texts: Tart Taste to Hot Bath method canned Vegetable soup

texts: Why does my homemade vegetable soup cooked for at least 3 hours and then I put into canning jars in a hot bath for 45 minutes taste tart? What can I add to take the tart taste away? It has been sitting for about a month on shelf. Smelled okay when I opened up to warm up to eat.


texts: Accidently reduced salt in pickling recipe - are these pickles still safe?

texts:
A dill pickle recipe called for 1.5 cups vinegar, 1.5 cups water, and 2 tablespoons salt. I doubled the bring, but forgot to double the salt before canning my pickles. I ended up with:

3 cups Apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
3 cups water
2 tablespoons pickling salt

Will these pickles still be safe to eat? There is a wide range of vinegar:water:salt ratios online, and I'm not sure what is safe.


texts: How can I improve sealing of bags for sous vide?

texts:
I am occasionally using my vacuum machine to pack bags for sous vide cooking. The model is the FuturaVac clamp-style table model (see e.g. http://www.sousvidenorge.no/produkt/sous-vide/vakuum/futuravac-bordmodell)

Recently, I have experienced that the sealing of the plastic bag does not function as it ideally should. This morning, for example, I was packing three frozen chicken breasts. They had thawed a little in the fridge, but still had some ice crystals on them. I added some oil to the bags and vacuumed them using the machine. The seal for two bags was not 100%. I even tested it by packing one bag within another, and I could see liquid (oil) moving up towards the machine in the innermost bag, which it should not had the sealing worked as it should.

My question is this: How can I avoid this poor sealing? Are there any tricks one can use?


texts: What is the difference between coffee grinds/beans labeled as "espresso coffee" and ordinary coffee?

texts:
I was reminded of this curiosity just moments ago when I got a craving for coffee and couldn't find any normal coffee beans/grounds (owing to the fact that I don't normally drink coffee at home anymore).

I unwittingly purchased this so-called espresso coffee at a supermarket in the heart of the Italian district here, and most of the writing on it is Italian; I didn't even realize my mistake until after I had used it three or four times to brew normal coffee and saw, in very tiny letters, the words "espresso coffee" written on one of the sides.

So I shelved that coffee until today; even though it seemed fine, I figured I might have been using it inappropriately.  After my act of desperation today I decided to look this up.  According to Wikipedia:

  Espresso is not a specific bean or roast level; it is a coffee brewing method. Any bean or roasting level can be used to produce authentic espresso and different beans have unique flavor profiles lending themselves to different roasting levels and styles.

This is what I had always believed.  The answer to What factors lead to rich crema on espresso? does hint at a possible difference, though: It says that darker roasts are better for producing crema.  However, the coffee I have does not seem to be particularly dark a roast; it's dark, but I've had "normal" coffee that was darker.

Needless to say, I'm a little confused, and the internet is helping me a whole lot.  Maybe it's because the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.

Is there an appreciable difference between coffee beans or coffee grounds labeled as "espresso coffee" and plain, ordinary coffee?  If so, what is it?

Perhaps more importantly, is espresso coffee suitable for use in a normal coffee maker or press?


texts: Making bread in a bread maker using regular yeast not bread maker yeast

texts:
With Fleischmann's bread yeast, how much regular yeast in a packet is required for a recipe calling for a packet of breadmaker yeast?

We have three at least different kinds of Fleischmann's yeast - one for bread dough makers, and two others - I had one of the others and had no way to tell - the bread came out dense.


texts:
I've got 10 cans of jalapeños opened and emptied into Tupperware  because the cans are the right size for a project, but I don't need the peppers.  I'm trying to use the peppers, and I thought jelly might be a way to do that.

Can I use jalapeños from a can when the recipe calls for fresh, or will it not come out right?


texts: I have had a glass top stove for about three years now.  I have two spots that have stained black. The stains look like a patch of burnt food, however they are flat to the surface.  I have tried to use the white ceramic cook top stuff you can buy (to no avail).  I have tried to scrape it off with a razor (also to no avail, and this is why I know that it is flat to the surface of the stove).  Any ideas?


texts: I have a cake recipe which calls for 1 1/3 cup of vegetable oil.  What are the essential properties of vegetable oil in baking?  What changes would be expected if I were to substitute peanut or canola oil for the vegetable oil?


texts:
What are the reasons to throw pizza dough beyond putting on a good show?

Related: How to throw a pizza dough?


texts: How to explain why aluminum won't work on an induction stove?

texts:
Those cooks who use induction ranges love them, but some lament the limited type of pans available. Alas my powers of explanation are not good enough to explain how an induction stove works well enough to explain why aluminum is not suitable.

Now I think I could build one, but apparently I cannot explain them simply.


texts:
I have tried molasses cookies with the following recipe:

3/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup yoghurt
2 tbsp oil
2.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
cinnamon and spices.

The cookies are soft and cake like. How can I make them less soft?

The original recipe called for 1/2 cup white sugar. I reduced it to 1/4 and still find the recipe too sweet.

I want to keep the recipe eggless.

Thank you for the help.


texts: How to make hamburger buns as fluffy as in McDonald's?

texts:
I make buns and they comes out soft, but not as fluffy and light as the ones they have in McDonald's. Is there any specific ingredient or technique I should use to achieve the desired fluffiness?

Here's the recipe I use:

3/4 cup water
2 large eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Knead for 10 minutes on medium speed, put in large bowl and let it rise for couple of hours; shape buns and let them rest for another hour; bake in oven for 12-15 minutes at 425°F.


texts: Homemade coconut milk in coffee compared to store bought

texts:
I've been making my own homemade coconut milk recently because I don't like the list of ingredients (thickeners, emulsifiers, etc.) typically found in store-bought coconut milk.

The problem is, I really like the taste of store-bought coconut milk when I use it in coffee, because I think it tastes remarkably similar to real milk. So, I would actually like to mimic the store-bought version at home. I don't care as much about the consistency as I do about the richness and flavor (or lack of flavor, actually).

At first, I thought I could just water down the coconut milk I usually make and that would be the end of it. However, it's still not quite the same. The homemade version tastes fine by itself, but when I use it to make lattes in the morning there's a certain bitterness/sharpness I can taste. (Note: when I make homemade almond milk, I can also taste that same bitter/sharp flavor as soon as I pair it with espresso). The store-bought version tastes smooth and clean by comparison, just like real milk. I know it's not the espresso at fault, because it tastes good when I make an Americano or a regular dairy milk latte.

So, apart from the thickeners, emulsifier and fortification, store-bought coconut milk must be processed differently. In short, how do they take the coconut taste out of coconut milk while still keeping somewhat of a rich creaminess?


texts: Is it okay for cork to look a bit "moldy"?

texts:
I just opened a bottle of "white red wine" (a Blanc de Noirs) from 2010. I must confess, I really don't know much about wine.

The cork looks weird to me, as if it was "moldy". It's a bit blueish-green around the edges. The wine smells pretty good, and the cork doesn't smell bad as well.

Is there anything to worry about?

The cork looks like this – click to enlarge:


texts: How long does it take to smoke a chicken?

texts:
I have tried to smoke chicken twice now and both times have taken at least 6 hours. I put the chicken (about 6 lbs) in my smoker with about 40 coals and add some wood. I also periodically add coals and wood.

Does it really take 6 hours to smoke a chicken of that size?


texts: How to prevent Orecchiette from sticking to each other while cooking? How to separate in water?

texts:
This shape of pasta easily nests inside each other. A lot of times if you just pour it directly from the bag/box into boiling water, you will get stacks of them together.

Once they are cooking this way it is a major endeavor to separate them. The pasta won't cook evenly because they are stacked together. The ones stacked in the middle will have more al dente centers.

How do we prevent this? (One way is to make sure they are separated before entering the water.

Once they start cooking and some of them are stacked, what is the best way to separate them?


texts: Why are my metal tools scraping off the patina of my wok?

texts:
Here's a picture of my wok and the scratches on the patina I seem to be making when I clean it with my metal spatula and my bamboo brush.  I've only used it about 4 times, but the food seems to stick to it a little more each time and this time, it was pretty tough to get the sauce off of the wok.

Why is this this happening?

Is there something wrong with the way I seasoned my work?  I've been using vegetable oil over medium heat for 10 minutes and then repeating that 2-4 times after cleaning.  Tonight I tried crisco for the first time.
Am I only supposed to use metal and bamboo brushes on it after I've used it for a few months?
Are these scrapes normal and unrelated to why my sauces are sticking to the bottom?

For reference, here's the only 2 recipes I've used on my wok.  Perhaps they're too vinegary to be used this soon?

Beef and Broccoli
Kung Pao Chicken


texts: Why does sauce go watery after freezing?

texts:
If I freeze a sauce, particularly something with mince in it, when defrosted it produces excess water.

The sauce before frozen is nicely thickened.

I think it might be because the proteins in the meat are damaged in some way by the ice crystals so that they are unable to retain as much water.

EDIT The sauce I'm referring to is bolonaise and the only thickening agent I used is a bit of tomatoe puree.


texts: Is a broccoli that already turned yellow anyhow harmful?

texts:
After I bought a broccoli I placed it into my fridge. Today I rediscovered it and wanted to eat it. Now the crown of the broccoli already turned yellowish (it's actually a yellowish-greenish-brownish color).

Is it still safe to eat the broccoli (after cooking) or are there any health harming issues I should consider before eating?


texts: Best way to preserve a meat without using refrigerator

texts:
I don't have refrigerator in my apartment, this is because I want to prepare myself from traveling to many countries, doing job-related and church related activities. My most common problem is how to preserved meat without using refrigerator?

So far this are my workarounds in order to preserve a meat.

First Option:

Chop the meat in small pieces.
Put a very little salt on it.
Deep fry it
Put again a salt (this time is a little more)

And that's it. :)

Sometimes I can use it again after 4 more days.

Do you have a much better way of preservation?


texts: How can I tell if a glass saucepan lid is oven safe?

texts:
I have a set of saucepas.
I recalls from when I got them that the silicon handle is oven safe, so that you could put them under the grill to finish.
But I don't recall if the glass lid is also oven-safe.
Its handle is also silicon, but that might just be to match
I am considering if I could use it to cook bread in the oven, as the particular bread I am using calls to be cooked in something with a lid, e.g. a cassarole dish, and my dutch oven is too large.
Related: Is there an easy way to tell if a pan/pot is oven-safe?


texts:
Relating to the history of food and cooking, I have two questions pertaining to this quote by the (rather) late Philip Stubbs:

Questions:

What would constitute “meat of hard digesture” in 1583?
Would there be any way to prepare such meat to make it palatable to 21st century genteel, possibly even considering the employment of honie?


texts: Is there such thing as "almond tofu," and if so, is it a misnomer?

texts:
I just read a restaurant review in the New York Times that mentions "almond tofu."

  Made from almonds, it has the luxurious texture of a custard rather than the rubbery bounce of bean-curd tofu.

Wikipedia refers "Almond tofu" to the "Almond jelly" listing and notes that it can also be called "Almond pudding."

Still, however, I have coworkers who maintain "there is no such thing as almond tofu. Tofu has to be made out of soy!"

Are they correct?

Update:

Pete Wells, restaurant critic for the New York Times, responds via Twitter:

  It's analogous to traditional Japanese goma tofu, made from sesame.


texts: Does refrigerating Diet Pepsi (Splenda + AceK) meaningfully extend shelf life?

texts:
Suppose I fill a refrigerator with aspartame-free (Splenda+AceK) Diet Pepsi that has a nominal expiration date of July 7, 2018. If it's continually kept refrigerated at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less, how much additional shelf life am I likely to get compared to storing it at room temperature (~74 degrees, give or take)?

I know that with ASPARTAME-sweetened soft drinks, refrigeration makes a HUGE difference to shelf life... and conversely, storing it at "Florida garage" temperatures will dramatically accelerate its decomposition.

Does Splenda + AceK enjoy the same huge increase in shelf life from refrigeration (vs 75F room temperature) as aspartame? Realistically, if cans of Splenda+AceK-formula Diet Pepsi with nominal expiration date of July 7, 2018 were purchased in late April and kept refrigerated to 40F thereafter, how much additional shelf life could I reasonably expect to see (vs the nominal July 7 expiration date)? September? October? God forbid, Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Can soft drinks sweetened with partially-decomposed Splenda+AceK be resurrected by adding fresh Splenda (AFAIK, AceK isn't available in the US for purchase as a separate product... though I'd love to be wrong...), or is it like aspartame, where the decomposition product ruins the taste regardless of how much fresh sweetener you add?

Why it matters: Pepsi recently switched Diet Pepsi back to their old, disgusting, "diet-tasting" aspartame-based formula. For me, the old aspartame-based formula is NOT a viable alternative. Prior to 2015, I drank Pepsi One almost exclusively (and paid a small fortune for it, since it was only available in cans, from a few stores... and when it finally went on sale, those stores usually didn't even have enough 12-packs in stock to meet their minimum purchase requirements to GET the sale price, let alone stockpile enough to last until the next time it went on sale). When Pepsi made Pepsi One's formula the new "aspartame-free Diet Pepsi", I was delighted -- finally, I could get the one I liked in 2 liter bottles, buy it in abundance when it went on sale, and get it from "normal" stores & vending machines. Now, they've taken it away from me again, so I'm trying to stockpile as much as I can get my hands on to buffer me until a viable alternative becomes available.


texts: What is the place called where cheese is aged?

texts: When cheddar cheese is made, it is kept on shelves in a climate controlled place and each wheel is turned over once per week. What is the place called where the cheese is kept during this aging process?


texts: I had meat fondue last night: beef, chicken, and shrimp cooked in a simple vegetable broth at the table. When we were finished eating, the broth was thrown away. I could only help but wonder: are there any typical dishes made with the used broth?


texts: Why did mango lose sweetness after pureeing

texts: It is mango season and I am pureeing Mangoes. I used Malgoa mangoes which have a very sweet taste. The mango pieces taste sweeter than the puree. The puree is still sweet, but less. Why is that?


texts: On the topic of eating raw fish and sashimi

texts:
So it has been widely accepted that raw fish or "Sushi-graded" fish must be frozen below $-37C$ for a certain period before they can be defrosted and eaten raw. I have heard that even fresh fish must go through the freezing process to ensure bacteria are killed

I am just wondering can't we do this with just regular frozen fish in the supermarket provided it doesn't have other preservatives?

I mean in ancient times, the Japanese people didn't have commercial freezers and thermoeters to make all these measurements, so what did they do to ensure that their fish is "sushi-graded"? Something tells me the answer is simply just eating it fresh and raw.

Any sushi-chefs or someone who prepares a lot of sashimi can help?


texts: Is it necessary to keep vinaigrette in refrigerator?

texts: I made vinaigrette which is composed of red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Does this need to be refrigerated, or is it safe to leave it out of the fridge?


texts: Do German or Japanese knives hold their edge longer?

texts:
I want to buy a chef's knife, but I can't sharpen, and I don't plan to learn it. I will have to send my knives for sharpening, so I obviously prefer this to happen as rarely as possible.

I am leaning towards a Solingen style knife, probably a forged Zwilling. But I read in an answer herethat the Japanese style knives like Global need less frequent sharpening. This surprised me, as I seem to recall reading the opposite somewhere (but don't recall where).

Assumed that I hone the knife after use, which type will need less frequent sharpening?


texts: Does soaking dry beans before cooking prevent flatulence?

texts:
There are all kinds of opinions on whether or not soaking beans helps decrease flatulence.
Some say adding things like baking soda, lemon juice, salt, or other things to the bath helps the effect. Some say soaking them in a warm-water bath is more effective than a cold-water bath. Others say there is no effect whatsoever. Opinions of food-column editors and bloggers (and even users of Seasoned Advice!) seem to diverge considerably.
This tells me there might be little consensus in the general public. But what do the scientists who study this say?
It makes sense that this could be difficult to study, since flatulence production depends on the type of bean/legume, other food ingredients (e.g. cinnamon, garlic, ginger, sulfur-rich foods, etc.), diet, the person's individual GI response to chemicals and fiber, and probably other factors.
I've collected a number of sources:
Sources claiming soaking has little/no effect on flatulence

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-dont-soak-dried-beans-20140911-story.html (cites several experts)

Sources claiming warm-water soaking helps prevent flatulence

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1992.tb08093.x/abstract
http://jacknorrisrd.com/part-2-soaking-beans/

Sources claiming that flatulence shouldn't be a big deal

http://nutritionfacts.org/2011/12/05/beans-and-gas-clearing-the-air/

Sources claiming soaking with additives helps prevent flatulence

An article from the Pakistan Journal of Nutrition (PDF) (cited from https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/32385/24698)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1980.tb07571.x/abstract

Other Soaking Sources

What can I do to help prevent flatulence from beans?
http://www.vegfamily.com/dietician/0806b.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16478251
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/why-you-must-soak-your-beans/

Is there a scientific consensus on how to reduce flatulence from beans and/or legumes in general (if possible), and if so, what is it?
Please include multiple sources to peer-reviewed articles in your answer!


texts: Does adding salt help water boil faster?

texts: I've always heard adding salt to water makes it boil faster.  Is this true?  If so, why?  If not, why do people do it?


texts:
I see this instruction when making rye bread: let it proof until soft. How can I tell when it's soft? I keep baking Jewish rye and letting it proof longer and longer and it certainly starts to feel pillowy and smooth (not sticky) but I don't know how long that should go on for. I ask because my bread is splitting down the sides which suggests to me that it's under-proofed. It tastes good and isn't gummy but the loaf is flat(ish) and splits.

I wonder if it's worth mentioning that I'm proofing this loaf in a parchment paper 'couche' supported by kitchen towels. I pick up the paper and set it on a baking sheet that goes into the oven. The paper is typically at least a little stuck to the sides of the loaf when it goes in.


texts: What method of coffee preparation gives the most caffeine in the finished cup?

texts:
As the question asks, which method from the list below will give the most caffeine in the final product (ie. a cup of coffee).  Assume the same beans with the same grind (while the different techniques should use different grinds, lets try and keep things simple) and as much as possible assume things are kept constant - Aiming for a 200ml cup of coffee made from (if appropriate) a double shot of espresso, the rest made up by water. :

Professional Espresso maker (i.e. in a coffee shop)
Aeropress
Stovetop espresso maker
French Press
Consumer grade capsule coffee machine (e.g. nespresso).  Once again assume that we can find the same bean in a bought capsule.


texts: Can I substitute powdered walnuts for all-purpose flour in a cake?

texts:
I saw a recipe where ground-up walnuts were a substitute for flour but this was for a cake that you do not cook (it was a recipe for chocolate cake made  out of zucchini.

Can powdered walnuts (grounded by a food processor) ever be used as a substitute for flour in more normal cakes, particularly ones that contain flour and are baked?

Here is the recipe http://cookingalamel.com/2013/03/raw-chocolate-cheesecake.html


texts:
I recently discovered that eggs are outstanding in front country hiking:

inexpensive
nutritious
richer flavour than boiled
cooks in 10 minutes
just add salt.

The only problem is that they explode!

One thing I tried is vary the heat. My conclusion is that directly putting the egg onto feeble embers works best. This probably corresponds to having strong embers under an elevated grill.

Another thing I tried is punch a hole into the top of the egg - to relieve the pressure. Sometimes is works correctly, with the catch that relieving the pressure is equivalent to significant portion of the egg white falling into the fire. Other times the whole solidifies and the egg explodes anyway.

Assume the lack of a closed top barbecue, but availability of aluminum foil and basic dishes.


texts: Can I use an oven instead of a dehydrator to prepare lentils for milling at home

texts: Can I use an oven instead of a dehydrator for grains and pulses?  Dehydrators are not so common in my neck of the woods.


texts: What are some kid-friendly dishes from Kenya?

texts:
Background: Last year, my kids' school play was The Sound Of Music. I was asked to make food for the cast party. No problem. My family is from Austria; I made schnitzel for 75. It's mentioned in one of the songs and, of course, I did not make it with noodles because nobody in Austria eats it that way.

The cast party was such a success (and everyone was thrilled with the themed food) that I was asked to do it again this year. My problem is that this year's play is The Lion King. What do I make? This is middle school in the US, so it's 6th - 8th graders.


texts: Cooking multiple dishes at once in the oven

texts: What is the rule of thumb for adjusting temperature and cooking time when cooking multiple dishes in the oven at the same time? In particular, if the dishes have different required temperatures and/or cooking times, when and how is it feasible to cook both at the same time?


texts: Should I preheat my bread baking containers?

texts:
I have read that artisan breads turn out better when they are baked in a container that can trap the steam. Examples I have read are baking bread in a dutch oven, a ceramic, lidded bowl, or even a covered roasting pan.

The instructions that I have read for baking bread on a stone always call for the stone to be preheated with the oven to maximize the oven spring when the bread is introduced.

Should I do the same with other containers and preheat them with the oven? If so are there any tricks to getting the dough into the container without burning myself?


texts: How can you change the environmental factors to change the proportions of sourdough microbiological cultures?

texts:
How can you increase/decrease the proportions of lactobacili and yeast in a sourdough starter. For example, if I wanted a more acidic bread, increasing the lactobacili, or if I wanted a less acidic bread, then less of them.

Is this possible to control or will it always revert to a state that is preferable to it?


texts: Please help!!  I am making a dessert, I make this all the time and this is the only time I have ever done this. The recipe is supposed to be stirred but I pulled out my electric mixer. I need the texture to be clumpy and kind of  dry because I am making a crust.  The recipe reads: “In a mixing bowl, stir together the cake mix, melted and cooled butter, and 2 eggs. Line a 9x12 baking dish with parchment paper and press the dough into the bottom in an even layer’. How can I fix this? I didn’t realize what I’d done until I was removing the mixer from the bowl and thought, “this doesn’t look right, what happened?”  The dough was almost in liquid form and I need it to be solid. I would appreciate any help.


texts:
Once the coconut is opened , it is attracting fruit flies and other flies. Also, the white color changes to brownish, rendering it unusable.

Is there any way we can "save" an opened coconut. I do not have a  refrigerator yet, so techniques that don't involve a fridge are appreciated.


texts:
So my parents got a knive set from St. Moritz, and wanted to give them to me. I'm an hobby cook, who just likes cooking simple stuff. I have barely any knowledge about knives or treating them, so here I am. I just had some questions about the knives, since I'm not sure if these are legit.

Here's a picture of the knife set:

Whenever I google the knives, I only get shady sites and stories about people being scammed. Is this brand legit? The booklet that's included says the entire set is worth around 730 euros, but I can't find anything online.

And assuming the knives are legit, are there any tips on treating/using them? Can these be put in the dishwasher when cleaning, or should I refrain from that?

I have a magnetic bar on my wall to store knives, but is it bad to put 'good' knives on them?

They are kind of blunt at the moment, but I have barely any experience sharpening them, should I bring them to a special shop or something?

Thank you for your help! Just figuring out how to use these, if they're legit to begin with.


texts: Home made ranch dressing has bubbles. Is it bad?

texts:
I recently started making my own Ranch dressing. It tastes great, but last night when I took it out of the fridge I noticed it had a few bubbles at the surface--similar to what you might see with some fed bread starter.  It smelled fine, so I ate it anyway!  It was about a week old.

Today, I don't feel so good.  Should I not have ignored those bubbles?  The mayo, sour cream, and milk it was made from are all still just fine, is what confuses me.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Ingredients: 1 Cup Sour Cream, 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise, 1/8 teaspoon Ground Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder, 1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder, 1 teaspoon Parsley, 1/2 teaspoon Dill Leaves, 1/2 cup Whole Milk. No salt.


texts: What has happened to today's chicken compared to the chicken in the 1950's - 80's?

texts:
In the 1960's, 70's and up until now, my dear parents prepared their chicken the same way as have I.  We bought it, washed it, cut it up, cooked it and served to family and friends who never got sick eating it.  True we washed our hands and the areas we used because we were clean but not like I see how many are scared especially about getting deathly ill.

My own younger family members use gloves and pans that they throw out after the chicken touches...but they don't wash the chicken first from the packaging, afraid of chicken contamination on their sink.  They tell me when they cook, bar-b-que, or bake, then the chicken germs die.

What has happened to the chicken today that these younger people are afraid of the chicken?  Funny thing is they love eating fried chicken or chicken kebab when I cook it or when I prep it at my house or theirs.  Also, we never used special cleaners to clean up, especially my parents (who were alive and cooking 2 years ago and 4 months ago both gone now) and they even used the same wooden board to cut everything with.  I have always used big plates to cut my bread, raw meats and veges up but not my parents.

I do hear about people getting sick, so what has happened or changed with today's chicken?


texts: How do I melt the chocolate in a s'more?

texts:
It is an age old question.

How can I ensure that the chocolate in a s'more is properly melted. Even when assembling them quickly the marshmallow just doesn't have enough heat to melt the chunk of chocolate.

Any solutions are welcome but I would especially like to know how to do it with no special tools- just a campfire and a stick.


texts:
I've run into several recipes which asked for a "splash of" water, soy sauce, etc.  How much is a "splash"?  I assume if it's something more concrete like 1/4 cup, they would have said so.  Since it's a "splash", I just poured some (1/2 a cup) water into a coffee cup and poured once around the pan, although, my control isn't that good so I probably ended up pouring 1/4-1/3 of a cup.

Everything still tasted ok but I'm just curious what a "splash" is.


texts:
I keep losing the flavour of garlic when I cook. For example, I chop up a lot of garlic and put it in a baked bean recipe or I make soup. I have been putting an enormous amount of garlic in these recipes and still can't taste it and I wonder if I'm preparing it incorrectly.
I just put on some chicken to go in a soup. Should I be chopping it up and putting it onto the chicken so that the chicken fat interacts with the garlic or wait to put the garlic into the broth?

In general, should garlic be prepared by having it interact with meat fats or should it be put on top at the end or boiled with other vegetables?
Is there a spice that will help make the garlic flavour more prominent?


texts: Is there a rule of thumb on vinegar's abilities as a preservative?

texts:
To follow up on the storage of ketchup in particular, many items in cupboards and refrigerators have vinegar listed as a key ingredient. The first things that come to mind are hot sauce, mustard, ketchup. With respect to vinegar as a preservative, is there a rule of thumb in understanding the following:

how does vinegar work as a preservative; is it solely by virtue of its acidic content?
aside from the presence of sugars or artificial preservatives, is there a kind of ratio (or other metric) of foods containing, or whose base is, vinegar to know whether something needs to be refrigerated to keep from spoiling?
what components can act to counteract vinegar's ability to preserve food?
upon combination, can vinegar stabilize anything that otherwise would spoil? (If yes, you can answer generally, don't worry about a laundry list)

Note: This is asking not about specific jarring/pickling or other long term preservation methods, but rather to the on-use storage of food items in the kitchen and their ability to keep outside of refrigeration without spoiling.


texts: Carb, fat and protein changes in vegetable fermentation, specifically a ballpark reduction arc in carbohydrates

texts:
I have been fermenting vegetables, kimchi for the most part, for a few years and am familiar with the general arc of the process, as well as observing how active my ferment is.
Yesterday, I started a half gallon of sauerkraut, a half gallon of white kimchi, and a couple pints of fermented beets. Today, I am working up nutritional values for each in support of a Keto eating plan. I've had no trouble working up the raw calories, fat, net carbs and protein for each recipe. Yet I know that fermenting will change the carbohydrates and perhaps other values.
I am aware there is no one-size-fits-all for this calculation, rather the opposite, it seems the number of variables is too broad to pin down any kind of equation. Case in point, I have three ferments going, all burning at a different pace. That said, I'm looking for any kind of rough approximation based on experience.
Two facts seem certain. One, that the fermented product will have a lower carbohydrate value than the cumulative raw ingredients. And two, the resulting carbohydrates will never reach zero. That leaves the rate of burn. Based on your experience, what would you expect the carbohydrate burn to be in a highly active ferment for something like Napa Cabbage, Red Cabbage, or Beets?
Less important, but of keen interest, should I expect the other values (cals, fat, or protein) to change as the result of fermentation?


texts: Could plastic or metal cans damage my oven?

texts:
Is it possible to put vinyl plastic and metal cans in the oven at 200 degrees F for roughly 5-10 minutes?

More specifically, I was came across DIY Vinyl Bowls where you place the vinyl record over a metal can for 5-10 minutes in the oven, it should become really flimsy and then take it out to form it into a bowl.

I can easily watch over the oven for the time duration but I'm mostly concerned that there would be some sort of plastic explosion or something that might break the oven.

Thank you!


texts: Does anyone know why when we add vinegar to rice its texture changes? I would like to understand "chemically" what happens

texts: I'm trying to improve my brown rice recipe, and although I put some vinegar in it, I still don't understand how it works. Does it make the rice stickier or looser?


texts:
I just opened home-canned blueberries and blackberries. They are probably 5 years old, and taste like alcohol. Are they safe to eat? I don't know anything about the original canner's intent.

The blueberries still have their skins and seem to be in juice.


texts:
Should I introduce the milk hot or cold when making white (béchamel) sauce?

Searching around I found multiple opposite opnions, like on this answer (see the comments).

Also different advice from famous chefs:

"heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil" - Mario Batali
"a great tip is to make sure your milk is really cold, this will stop your sauce from going lumpy" - Gordon Ramsay
"if you have a hot rue, you have cold liquid; if you have a hot liquid, you have a cold rue" - Marco Pierre


texts:
Whenever I use mozarella in a pasta dish, and attempt to mix it in like you would cheddar or anything else, I end up with one giant clump of mozzarella.
Ex) I cook some pasta, and add the cheese/milk right after draining and attempt to mix.

Is there a way to thoroughly mix this hardheaded cheese?


texts: What is the meaning of the numbers on the back of green tea boxes?

texts:
There are 4 or 5 digit numbers on the back of each green tea box. I know they are used to classify the type of tea and its quality, but I have never found how to read them. How do I figure out which one is higher quality than another one.
Here are examples:

Chunmee tea Series:
41022AAAA, 41022AAA, 41022AA, 41022, 4011, 9371, 9370, 9369, 9368, 3008, 34403

Gunpowder Tea Series:
3505A, 3505B, 3505C, 9372, 9373, 9374, 9375, 9475, 9575


texts: Is it contaminating the spice to touch it after touching raw meat?

texts:
When I cook raw meat, especially chicken strips, I have it spread out on the chopping board with a few bags and containers of spice to the side. I don't actually use too many shakers for spice. Since my fingers can only hold so much spice at once, I often go back to the bag and grab some more and rub it on the meat. But this is after my fingers have touched the meat. Does this contaminate the spice in the bag or container?

Also, chefs on TV shows frequently make it that way, does this mean it is a safe practice?


texts: Is it possible for a foreign object to be embedded in a piece of pork?

texts:
A couple of days ago I made a sweet and sour pork dish, and had some leftovers for lunch today. While chewing I noticed something hard. When I took it out of my mouth, there was a diamond stud earring, about 3/8" (1 cm) long.

Now the ingredients were pork shoulder strips purchased at a local supermarket, under a well-known name brand. I cut them into 3/4" cubes. The vegetables were cut up from whole so clearly they weren't the source. All the other ingredients were liquids or powders like flour.

Nothing was otherwise noticed in the original batch or in the leftovers. I am scratching my head but my only conclusion is that it was embedded inside a piece of the pork.

But how could it get there? The clasp was still on the earring so it didn't fall off someone's ear. I know pigs eat anything, but...

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am asking if anyone had had such experience, and if so, what was the explanation for it.


texts: Adjusting an instant-rice recipe for regular rice

texts:
I'm trying a very simple beans-and-rice recipe, but I noticed it calls for instant brown rice, and I'm using regular.

The recipe has me cooking the rice within a quick sauce (tomato, black beans, seasoning), but I'm worried (albeit with no actual specific foundation) that the sauce might not work well under a much longer cooking time. Whereas stirring it in mid-cooking sounds like a Not Good Thing for rice.

Do I need to do anything special to make this substitution work?


texts: I have had a tupperware of sauerkraut I bought from the grocery store in my refrigerator for almost two months. When/Will it ever go bad?


texts: Proper Order to Incorporate Ingredients in Pound Cake

texts:
When making a pound cake, this is the usual order I use:

(1) Cream butter
(2) Add sugar and beat it in
(3) Gradually add eggs and beat them in
(4) Gently fold in flour, alternating with liquid (if there is liquid in the recipe)

I would like to try separating the egg yolks and whites. In what order should I then add the ingredients? Please include an answer for recipes with and without liquid.


texts:
I want to make flatbreads like in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbZ123IwD9w

I use the same ingredients (water, flour, yeast, salt) and make a 70% hydrated dough. I let it rest for like 7-8 hours and gently stretch it into the final shape trying not to press out the bubbles. Then I bake them in my Uuni Pro at about 400°C.

However, I have two problems:

Mostly the bread puffs up like a baloon. I want it to hold its shape, just like in the video.
The bread gets very chewy, especially when it gets cold.

How can I achieve a wonderful fluffy and soft bread just like in the video?


texts:
I've tried frying potatoes (generally cubed small, like 1/4") in my cast iron pan but they frequently stick very badly. Badly enough so I've got to resort to scraping with a metal spatula. The pan is not like 50 years old and perfectly well-seasoned or anything, but I have no trouble with any other kind of food sticking.

They generally come out ok but just not very brown and crispy, as you would like fried potatoes to be.

Anyone have any advice? Temperature ranges to try to improve the results?


texts: What types of meat should I pound and why?

texts:
I know people sometimes pound their meat. I never do, and I am interested in what I am missing out on. Basically it comes down to a three part question:

Why is meat pounded, what is the result that one wants? I'd be happy to learn both the gastronomical purpose, and what really happens do the meat (fibres etc)
What types of meat should I pound? What types would possibly be a bad idea to pound?
What should I think of when pounding to get a good result?


texts: Will artificial sweeteners work in a coffee syrup recipe?

texts:
Here’s the recipe for coffee syrup

Ingredients for 1 cup of coffee syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup strong coffee
Directions
Mix sugar with the coffee
Boil mixture down to the consistency of thick syrup
To use put 1-2 teaspoons in a cup of hot water and stir it around a few minutes.

Would sugar substitute work with this recipe as written?


texts: Can I know if lemons are safe to eat whole (peel and all)?

texts:
Is there any way to tell if lemons contain a residue of something that is harmful to humans?
The last two winters we have been buying oranges in bulk through a website, directly from the farm and i really like it. I would like to buy lemons in bulk too.
They say their lemons are not treated with anything but I would like to have a little more reassurance. The fruit is not certified organic.
When buying in a store I assume the person buying the fruit for the store tests occasionally and consumer organizations and governmental organizations also sometimes test.
But now I will be buying directly from the farm, without the middleman so to speak.
Related:
Lemons and oranges coated with imazalil
EDIT:
The type of answer I am looking for is how can I test, at home, in the kitchen if the fruit is covered with something like fungicides. I know citrus is often waxed, but that can be washed off, and I will wash the fruit anyway before eating.
Alternatively, maybe pesticides and fungicides are so expensive that farmers are likely to avoid it if they can. Remember, these fruits are shipped straight from the farm, only fruit that is in season is sold, so there is no reason to keep them long.


texts: Use Avocado instead of Butter to bake a cake?

texts:
This may sound extravagant, but I have tried a very nice chocolate pudding made of avocado, chocolate, and some other ingredients. You could not tell there was avocado in the pudding and the texture was just perfect!

So I was wondering if avocado can be used instead of butter to bake cakes too.

Has anyone tried this before?


texts: choux pastry, keep mixing while waiting for the roux to cool?

texts:
I made some choux pastry last night, however it didn't come out quite right for what could be various reasons.

After making the recipe, I came on here loking for some tips and came across this:

Choux pastry (Chocolate eclairs) doesn't rise

In here @Aaronut suggests waiting for the roux to cool to below 65° C.  One of the issues with my choux pastry was that it tasted rather eggy and salty, so while the mixture didn't look like it scrambled (though i'm not sure how that might look), the taste suggests it might have.

While waiting for the temperature to come down, should I continue mixing the roux in my stand mixer or let it sit?


texts: Oven semi-baked semi-fried potatoes starting from raw (for the lazy cook)

texts:
The objective of this question is to avoid spending time in front of the stove, moving a stove-top method to the oven to enable, in particular, quadrupling the amount that can fit in a skillet, without also quadrupling the cooking time.
My batch of peeled russet potatoes now sits in salted water for about an hour, to absorb the salt. The idea is that fried potatoes are, from experience, tastier and crunchier when the salt is deep inside, not just on the surface.

Next, I'll cut the potatoes into wedges and fry them. Deep frying is unnecessarily unhealthy. My standard method is to parboil and fry in the same pot/skillet. For that I mix water and oil, boil the wedges in the water/oil base semi-covered until the water evaporates. Frying starts on its own once the water is gone. The remainder of the time I must be near the stove—to turn frequently. This method doesn't scale easily (cooking quadruple the batch takes quadruple the time in front of the stove). Worse, it requires a teflon coating, which I'm trying to move away from.
This all works well, but I'd like to do nearly the same in the oven, to avoid the labor of standing in front of the stove, and to be able to handle a larger batch for a larger number of guests.
How will the following work out?

After cutting into wedges, air dry for a few minutes in a colander—long enough to dry, but not so long as to turn color.
Coat the wedges in oil. I'm planning on melted coconut oil, imagining absorption into the outer layer of the starchy potatoes.
Bake in the oven at 425F for an hour (in glass).

When I see semi-baked semi-fried potato wedges at restaurants, I'm sure no one stood in front of a stove, turning frequently in small batches. Am I on the right track? Is turning halfway (or, worse, multiple times) absolutely necessary? What stops the oil from falling all the way down; or, alternatively, how can I encourage absorption to make this an oven method?
N.B.: I know I can do this using a bag from the supermarket. I'm avoiding hydrogenated oils.
Results
1
I'll put here pictures of experiments using the ideas suggested in the answers.
Using Max's answer (parboiling wedges, briefly air drying, coating with oil, then baking) produces the following.

The texture and taste were perfect. The only fault perhaps is that baking (in a preheated oven) did not seem effective. It was necessary to broil on low. This meant that the labor to produce the fries, even though less than turning over the stove, was still more than I wanted. In particular, it would be nice if the amount can be doubled with only doubling the necessary parts (peeling, if done, etc).
2
I see that Willk anticipated the broiling step. What's odd in aiming directly at broiling (rather than as a rectification) is that the oil will navigate down, hence the top, the part with the least oil, will be the side to broil. Is there then no higher oven temperature (450F? 475F) to experiment with that enable full-surface oven frying, foregoing both the frequent check-if-they-re-burning and the turn-them-over steps?
In the following experiment, the potatoes are sliced rather thin (~4mm; ~1/4") to ensure they cook through. They are then brushed with oil on both sides, and are turned halfway under the broiler.

The outcome is somehow not quite as satisfying as the first (parboil). Perhaps it needs fine-tuning. Mainly, though, this doesn't scale. If instead of cooking for two people you want to suddenly cook for eight, thin slicing will mean that your oven time will quadruple, which would sort of make you yearn for deep frying.


texts: Can someone elaborate on chappati flour from an Indian grocery store. Is it considered a hard wheat or soft wheat? And is it really whole wheat because it looks more like white flour to me. Could I use it for muffins or pancakes?


texts: What does it mean when a recipe calls for coring a tomato?

texts:
When I was making gazpacho, I looked up a video, and found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDt0L1-SaRg
In this video, almost the entire interior of the tomato is removed.  I followed this video, and ended up with a less gazpacho than I thought I should have. (I asked this question Cored tomatoes measured before or after coring? assuming that that first video was the correct way to core a tomato).

Now I think that maybe that first video was deceptive--other videos suggest that the core is just the tough part right near the stem.

I assume that there may be a good reason to core a tomato both ways, for different recipes, but if a recipe just calls for coring a tomato and doesn't specify further, is there a consensus on what part is meant, the part by the stem, or the entire interior?


texts: Why would gluten-free chicken meatballs involve pre-cooking 1/3 of the chicken before frying the formed meatballs?

texts:
I am looking at this recipe for gluten-free chicken meatballs and found this step to be odd.  Anyone know what the purpose is?  Is it related to the lack of gluten or somehow helping the balls to stay bound together?  If so, how does it work?

  Add 1/3 of ground chicken and cook just until cooked through, breaking up any clumps. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool slightly. Add remaining chicken meat, salt, and several grindings of black pepper. Mix just to combine. Wipe out pot and add remaining Tbsp. oil. Heat over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Form meat mixture into 8 meatballs each about 2–2 1⁄2-inch in diameter and add to pot (mixture will be soft). Cook until light golden brown on all sides, 6–8 minutes total. Remove meatballs to a plate; set aside.

Thanks very much!


texts: How do I clean up my utensils after cutting extremely hot chillis?

texts:
As a corollary to a previous question:

How to decide how much to dilute extremely hot chillis

Are there any precautions or cleaning methods that I have to take when cutting said naga chillis? I've had chilli linger on surfaces before but they were never this hot.


texts: Pasta Salad+Chicken freezer storage for a week?

texts:
Maybe this is silly, but im a bit paranoid when it comes to spoilage and me and my wife are doing this new "make lunch for a week" thing to save money and stop us from eating out.

Anyways this week is home-made pasta salad with home-made italian dressing + Baked Chicken (Had a very easy marinade for a couple of hours as well)

Anyways, since Pasta Salad/Cooked Chicken typically lasts 3-5 days in the fridge apparently (and i'd rather err on the side of caution) I said we should just stick it in the freezer and then take out our little Tupperware (we just made individual portions for the week)

Anyways my wife thinks this won't work or will make it taste terrible, I figure a week shouldn't affect anything? Plus we get the added benefit of it not going bad?

Does this seem like a good plan? or just dumb?


texts: Should I use raw beets in my smoothie recipe?

texts:
I have a smoothie recipe which requires beets, and having never prepared raw beets, but only ever pulled the, from a pre-canned jar, I'm wondering how to proceed.

I'm reading the cookbook  "100 Best Smoothies & Juices" and making Beet, Pear and Spinach juice from page 96.

The part I don't understand is the ingredient named 1 beet, trimmed, peeled and chopped.

No where does it say to cook the beets; but everyone I've asked about this has said that you have to biol them first.


texts: Molasses - “Full Flavor” vs “Mild Flavor”

texts:
What is the difference between Full Flavor and Mild Flavor of molasses?

Is it produced differently? Contents differ? Is the mild a diluted form of the other?

When to use which one in what kind of recipes?

The examples shown here in this photo are both unsulphured.


texts:
I am making a Blue Cheese Souffle today and because I live in the Mile-Hi city, I am a little concerned about it not working.  Are there any special tips - specifically for Souffle's at high altitude or elevation?

I have tried everything imaginable for my favorite chocolate cake and the only time it did not sink it tasted very bad, so I have learned to live with a sinking cake.  I would like to balance the flavor with the rise, so please include side effects for any suggested tip.

Thanks!


texts: How does good pasta dough feel to the touch?

texts:
I have just been given an Imperia Pasta Roller as a present and have wasted no time in trying to make pasta. As advised in the instruction manual, I have made a small batch of pasta just using water and passed this through the rollers in order to clean any factory impurities or debris from the machine. I noticed that the pasta (eggless I hasten to add) was quite soft, much softer than shop bought fresh pasta. I worked some more flour into the dough and the pasta held up quite well to being passed through the rollers. This was then thrown in the bin.

The next batch that I made, following a recipe by Jamie Oliver, called for 100 grams of flour to 1 egg. I am using Tipo 00 flour. The resulting dough felt firmer and very slightly sticky to the touch but when cooked was very soggy and flabby in texture, not very appetising at all.

For my next batch I added a little extra flour and kneaded it for longer. The dough was dryer than the previous batch and when I took a few strips and put them in boiling water, they cooked perfectly. However the remainder, when I went back to it a couple of hours later had stuck to itself and turned into a solid mass that was really difficult to separate. I had dusted it with fine cornmeal to stop this happening. I was advised not to coat it in flour.

Can anyone please give me some advice on how the dough should feel when correctly prepared (how stiff, how moist or how sticky it should feel) and also some advice on how to stop it from forming a solid mass before I have time to cook it.

Thank you


texts: I would like to use my Miele steam oven to cook a steak and kidney pudding. How long should I cook it for?

texts: I would like to make Nigella's steak and kidney pudding on New Year's Day. I've successfully made it before lots of times by following her recipe to steam it in a steamer on the hob for 3 hours but this time I'd like to use my Miele steam oven. How long should I steam the pudding please? Also, does anyone know where I can find conversion charts?


texts:
I moved to a new place and I have an ancient gas cooker that I can't replace just yet. As the heat source is at the bottom of the oven (rather than the top), would a baking stone help even out the heat and help stop burning?

I’ve found lots of information referring to the beauty of baking stones when using an oven with the heat source at the top but cannot find anything that helps me.


texts: How can chicken offal be cooked to be as tender as possible?

texts:
Tonight I cooked a dish involving chicken hearts and gizzards, but I found conflicting instructions on the internet, so I essentially parboiled the offal, diced it, and then cooked it in butter in a covered pan for probably about 20 minutes.

The texture isn't too bad, but a little rubbery. Is this normal, or did I cook it badly? What cooking method will make chicken hearts/gizzards/livers etc as tender as possible? (And will it work for other kinds of offal?)


texts: I put my dehydrated kefir grains in one cup fresh whole milk and after 24 hours I change the milk and rainse the grains. But after three days they become molded. Befor this I put my kefir grains in near spoild milk and its color turned out with a bad smell so I threw them away.. What should I do now? Should I throw both the milk and the grains away?


texts: Convert vitamin powder to something edible

texts: I would like to add a vitamin powder to some food I have but unfortunately the vitamin powder(I have read) degrades when I attempt to put in water for more then a couple days it looses its benefits according to this question.  What options do I have to add the powder to some food I have such that it doesn't involve heat/water?  I can't simple sprinkle it on top because well it the food I am trying to add it to is round and isn't an ideal solution.  Think trying to add it to check mix.  I am trying to prepare the food in advance if that isn't clear.


texts:
I know there are already similar questions but I thought I would share my baking process to get more specific advice.
I'm currently using a variation of the French dough recipe that came with the bread maker. Also I am cooking in the oven rather than the bread machine.
The original recipe uses:

400g flour
250ml water
1tsp yeast
1tsp salt
10g butter

I have replaced the butter with lard, but most importantly I am using a sort of starter instead of the dry yeast.
This is basically a loose dough made with a tiny amount of yeast, water and flour. I feed the starter every 2 days with flour, water and sugar.
I use 2 spoonfuls of the "starter" for a loaf. The taste is good but the texture is quite inconsistent.
I am probably doing the proofing wrong: 2-3 hours at room temperature to get it started, then overnight in the fridge. Next morning I knock it down and wait for it to grow again. It's ok but not fluffy enough. The crumb is too compact.
This time I let it proof overnight at room temperature because the fridge was full. I wasn't too worried because when I went to bed it hadn't started raising yet.
In the morning the dough was doubled so I cut it in half and made two loaves. I waited 3 hours for a final rise but when I touched the loaves they collapsed.
I had a go with one hoping it would raise in the oven but got a "flat".
So i added some flour (100g) and water to the second one and let it proof 1 hour. It seem it had doubled but after cooking I found the crumb was very compact.
How should I proof my bread?
I'm attaching pictures of the 2 loaves.


texts: I don't want to be ridiculous but I'm uncertain at what point I can freeze tamales.  Do I steam them and then freeze or do I assemble and then freeze?  I would like to make a large batch and freeze since they are time consuming.  Also, when they come out of the freezer then what?  Any help is greatly appreciated.


texts: So my brother who's pretty inexperienced brined his ribs, smoked them for an hour, put it back in the brine/fridge, and plans on sous vide+searing them. Is there danger in putting the cooked pork back in the brine if he uses sous vide? I told him how unnecessary his steps/processes were, but he's stubborn. I ask this bc I worry for his health.


texts: I am making a dip that requires 'pizza sauce'. The store doesn't sell anything called 'pizza sauce' that I could find. Instead, I got plain tomato sauce. What do I need to add to it to make it 'pizza sauce'?


texts: Does searing cause more or less oil to be absorbed than frying?

texts:
Let's assume that I have two identical pans, with equal amounts of oil in each, and two practically identical slices of tofu (or whatever else, but I'm referring to items that would be more spongiform like tempeh, seitan, etc). Further, I would like a crisply browned, non-oily filet to come off the pan.

In this experiment, the independent variable is that one is heated to medium  (a generally specified temperature for frying tofu), and one is nice and heated up for searing;

If I apply the tofu to both pans and let each one stay on the heat for as long as it takes to brown equally, will one absorb more oil than the other?

For further detail;

Does the moisture level impact oil-aversion?
If so, will a wetter block cause less oil absorption?
Would a dusting of flour or quick rub of salt benefit one or the other method?


texts: Benefits of boiling meatballs before frying them

texts:
I was watching a cooking show yesterday where the chef used a process I have never seen before, without explaining why. I've been wondering about it and can't come up with a satisfactory answer, which is where you guys come in.

The recipe revolved around meatballs (in this case made from minced chicken, egg, breadcrumb and green herbs) which the chef boiled until cooked in a pan of water and then afterwards browned in butter.

Can anyone tell me what the benefits would be of this reversal of the normal process where you sear/fry the meatballs first and then cook them in a jus, sauce, or oven?


texts: What is the name of this style of knife?

texts:
Several years ago I found this knife at a thrift store:

I like this knife a lot because it is very effective at transmitting force to the food I am cutting. But I am anxious because I do not know how to find a replacement if this one breaks or is lost. Does this style of knife (where the handle is directly above the blade so you can transmit force vertically) have a name I can type into a search engine?


texts: How can I get unsweetened gluten-free chocolate brownies to hold together?

texts:
I would like to make a chocolate brownie which has no added sweetener. It would be great if it were gluten-free as well, but that is less important.

I tried a recipe from Dinah Alison's "Totally Flour-Free Baking" which had as ingredients:

140g butter, 215g sugar, 2 eggs, 75g ground almonds, 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 200g chocolate, 85 g walnuts, 1/2 tspn of vanilla essence and 50g choc chips.

I adapted this by losing the sugar, replacing the choc chips with more walnuts and using pure "cacao" from this site:

http://williescacao.com/fine-chocolate/products/

The result was quite nice to eat, but much, much too crumbly. The brownies just had no cohesion.

I tried a second attempt by adding cocoa butter - figuring that I hadn't got enough fat in - but that didn't help much, and the cocoa butter made it less chocolatey.

What am I doing wrong? I suspect that maybe her recipe doesn't have enough egg, but is there anything else I should adjust?

Note that its really important there's no sweetener. "Sugar-free" recipes on the net all seem to have something else - bananas/dates/sucrulose/apple mash. The recipe above is as sweet as I ever want it to be.

Edit: the flour-free nature of the recipe is a plus but not vital. If I can get a plausible sugar-free brownie working then I can worry about the flour later.


texts:
Most chefs stress the fact that white button mushrooms, and others, should not be washed to be cleaned. They say to either lightly brush them or just pat them with a cloth or paper towel to get the "dirt" off to clean them, and then cook or eat them raw. Do not "wash" them, to clean them, because the chefs says the mushrooms get waterlogged, and they believe something happens to the taste.

Well, as a little girl my Dad took me to a mushroom farm. It was disgusting because of the smell of manure.  The mushrooms were in trays, enveloped totally in the manure in trays, that were stacked high according to the sizes and I don't remember what else.  We were in darkness, and my Dad would go from one area to the next buying trays from all over. Years later, I became the buyer and I don't remember much other than the awful smell, the sizes, the darkness and how much I still loved to eat mushrooms. To prepare I washed them with water, got off all the excess manure, and depending on how the mushroom was to be prepared, stuffed, quick boiled in lots of salt then kept in that same salted water to be eaten with sour cream, fried with butter, prepared them many ways.

My question is, why do chefs insist that you should not wash, only use their method, lightly brush or towel off the mushroom? Isn't safety a reason to wash? And washing doesn't change the flavor, right?


texts: Does a Romanian omletă ţărănească (peasant omelette) have standard ingredients?

texts:
I am currently travelling in Romania and have been enjoying a breakfast each morning of "omletă ţărănească", which can be translated to English as "peasant omelette".

What I'm wondering is whether it has a standard fixed list of ingredients or is it one of those dishes where you throw in "whatever is laying about" (or at least typical Romanian ingredients laying about).

The one I just ate seemed to contain at least tomato, mushroom, bits of bacon, and those pale green bell peppers common in the Balkans.

There doesn't seem to be an article on it in Wikipedia and I've seen it on the menu of two restaurants in the same small town which makes me think it should be a typical dish.


texts: Bone broth ruined because I didn’t fully cool down before I put in the fridge?

texts: I made a great bone broth recipe in slow cooker. Well I strained it and put in an air tight container. It wasn’t cooled to much. So is it ruined? Can I reheat to a certain temperature to make sure there aren’t any bad bacteria?


texts:
I just made a batch of macarons. This is my third total batch of them, and they become increasingly better - alas compared to my previous batch, these don't show much if any improvement even though I've changed how much I mix the macaron mass and how I pipe them.

Recipe:

  ~150g egg-whites
  ~70g finest sugar (not powdered!)
  Mix with an older Kenwood chef until stiff and glossy
  1 very flat teaspoon of vanilla extract (so about half a deep spoon)
  ~3g of powdered green food coloring
  More mixing with the Kenwood until well mixed, still stiff and glossy

  ~150g sifted almond meal
  ~250g sifted powdered sugar
  pinch of salt
  Mix well

  Mix the almond/sugar stuff into the egg-whites using a rubber spatula until the consistence allows me to pour a figure-eight without globs breaking off

  Pipe onto trays, let sit some 10-15min and rap every ~5min (rap 4 times, turning tray 90 deg after a few hits/raps)

  Bake for 20min, middle height of oven1, at 150C

The first tray went into the oven as soon as the latter hit 150C:

The second tray had to wait for some ~20min while the other baked, during that time I rapped it a few times more but mostly let it sit:

What can I do to prevent my macarons cracking / how to change my recipe and/or process?

I see that there are positive results by letting them sit for more time, so I'm thinking about letting them sit ~1 hour next time I make a batch, and def rap them every 15min or so. What other changes/improvements should I make to my recipe?

1what's that called in english? I call it "Mittlere Backofenrille" in German


texts:
I've a Wusthof classic ikon knife which i've had for about 5 months, it seems to be losing it's edge. It's regularly honed with a grooved honing rod, but I'm unsure if I'm doing it correctly.

I've watched several videos on how to do this, keeping the blade at a constant angle of around 20 degrees. So, what is the norm for sharpening knives? Have I been doing it incorrectly which has resulted in the knife losing its edge, or is this normal?

Parts of the knife seem sharper than others, for instance the heel, whereas the tip seems pretty dull


texts: Why re-boiling milk doesn't boil over again?

texts:
When I heat milk, at some point it begins to boil over.
When I reheat the same milk after it has reached boiling point once before, it doesn't boil over again, it just boils "normally". Why is this?
I haven't done extensive testing, and I can't seem to find information about this anywhere; be it in English or in my native language. But here is what has happened to me:

I make a homemade hot beverage with low fat milk, cocoa, sugar and coffee (a pseudo-Mocha). Enough for 2 cups.
I boil the pseudo-Mocha, and hope to pay enough attention to prevent it boiling over, but there is still the "rising bubble" phenomenon occurring.
I pour out one cup, the rest of the liquid stays in the pan.
A few hours later, I boil the pseudo-Mocha again.
This time, no bubbly phenomenon occurs, just "classical" boiling.


texts: Peel first, wash first, or don't peel at all vegetables?

texts: Which vegetables should be washed before peeling them? Which should be washed after peeling? Which can (and should) be eaten without peeling them? What is the logic behind this?


texts: Is there a way to "neutralize" the sweet vanilla smell of almond milk?

texts: I always buy Alpro's vegetable milks that don't have a sweet smell (I think it's vanilla). This week I couldn't find it. I want to make a white sauce for potatoes. Is there anything I can do to improve this smell?


texts: Are there any general principles of ingredient substitutions?

texts: When trying to determine if an ingredient can be substituted in a recipe, are there any general principles or guidelines that apply?


texts: My bread recipe book isn't linear with its ingredients?

texts:
The book that came with my bread maker machine has bread ingredients and quantities in the back but I note that they aren't very consistent in terms of quantities. Take a look at this sourdough:

I note that the 1.5lb loaf uses the same amount of sugar as a 1lb loaf, but a 2lb loaf uses 3x the amount of sugar as a 1lb loaf

I'm hence wondering if I should use 2tbs of sugar, this being the halfway point between the 1lb loaf's 1 tbsp and the 2lb loaf's 3tbsp?

Similarly they all use the same amount of yeast; does that seem right? By that pattern I could make a tonne of sourdough using only 1/3tsp of yeast! :)


texts: What percentage of sugar gets converted into CO2 with yeast fermentation in any baked item?


texts: When talking about flatware, what exactly does a Hostess Set include? How many people does it serve?


texts: Is foreigner-grade VB sold within Australia?

texts:
As a gift, a friend of mine was given a collection of Australiana. It included some iconic Australian foods, some other knick-knacks, and a can of Victoria Bitter. I suspect that they're from a single pre-prepared bag of Australiana.

While I know that VB's advertising is very famous and regarded as very Australian, I've heard rumours that the VB that's sold overseas is inferior to the VB sold in Australia. Is that true? If so, is foreigner-grade VB likely to be sold in collections of Australiana within Australia?


texts: Why do my egg whites separate after whipping?

texts:
Every time I try to whip egg whites, I seem to end up with the same problem. After a good bit of strenuous beating with the whisk, the egg whites finally reach the "firm peak" stage. I then go grab something (last night, it was the chili peppers to coat in egg), and right away the egg has separated into fluffy white peaks on top, and liquid on the bottom.
What's going on? Is there a trick to keeping the egg white a uniform texture?


texts: What makes cooking wines and cooking sake considered only for cooking? My thoughts would be how cooking sake has more spices added to it but I'm not sure for wine.


texts: Can I make invert syrup in situ when making candy?

texts:
There are a couple recipes out there for invert syrup that basically say add some acid (citric acid or cream of tartar) at 0.1% w/w bring it up to 240 °F/116 °C then let cool. However, is there a way I can be lazy when making candy and in one pot invert about a quarter of the sugar to avoid having to make and store invert syrup and worry about if I have any?

The fact that many of the invert syrup recipes also say to not go past whatever temperature, is a bit curious, will it begin to caramelize at a lower temperature (240 °F vs. 300 °C) or what's the issue?  I'm not sure if I could just add 0.025% w/w tartaric acid to straight table sugar and call it good when I go up to 280 °F or 300 °F for soft/hard crack.


texts: How can I make these cookies less sweet without ruining the texture?

texts:
I've finally found a snickerdoodle recipe that results in cookies with that perfect "bite": a crispy outside -- not crunchy, but an almost-infinitesimal stiffness that resists your teeth just a little before "letting them in" -- leading to a chewy-soft inside that is neither too chewy nor too soft, but perfectly in between. The cookies also have a perfect balance of cinnamon vs. vanilla: they're snickerdoodles, not cinnamon cookies. (Well, unless you accidentally use the 1/2 tablespoon measure instead of the 1/2 teaspoon. Don't ask me how I know this.) The problem is, the cookies are just too sweet for my taste. They're not so overly sweet that I can't eat them, but every time I do eat one, I find myself wishing it weren't so sweet.

How can I modify this recipe to make the cookies less sweet, without ruining their texture?

Ingredients:

  1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
  1 cup sugar
  1 egg
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  2 tablespoons milk
  1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon for dipping

The method is the usual: cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla, then the dry ingredients, then the milk. Chill 30 minutes, then form into big balls - 1 1/2 inches, dip in the cinnamon sugar, put on parchment- or silpat-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes.

(I followed the recipe almost exactly1, except for substituting 3/4 cups of the AP flour with WWW [white whole wheat] flour.)

1OK, so I followed the recipe almost exactly the second time I made it. The first time, well, let's not talk about that. Stupid capital T vs. lowercase t.


texts: Does freezing food reset the amount of time you can put it in the fridge?

texts:
Just read this which basically says you can freeze and thaw food in the fridge any number of times. How dangerous is it to refreeze meat that has been thawed?

I'm still unclear on one point. If I had food which would be good in the fridge for 4 days and i put it in the freezer after 3 days, when I put it back in the fridge is my food good after its thawed for another 4 days or 1 more day?


texts: What strategy can I use to identify a cookbook with a torn off cover?

texts: My mother left me a cookbook that is the most amazing one I have ever seen. It is approx 1700 pages, the last pages are missing on my copy. I remember the cover, which is long gone, was green. It is definitely American as it has instructions for dressing American game. Also includes canning, preserving and pickling. As well as freezing, menus, diet patterns, a homemaker's handbook for purchasing fruits and vegetables. Also instructions on stretching the food dollar. So my question is how or where can I find out the name of this cookbook?


texts: Will fresh bell peppers give stew a red colour?

texts: I know ground paprika from red bell peppers does give a red colour to a stew.  Just wondering if the bell peppers are fresh cuts and not ground, will it give the stew a red colour?