texts: What is the liquid that forms after chicken goes through the freeze-thaw cycle, and how can I extract it more efficiently?

texts: When I vacuum seal chicken pieces, freeze them, and then thaw them again, there is always a small amount of liquid in the bag after the thaw. When this liquid hits hot oil, it forms a crispy, airy puff that is absolutely delicious. I'm trying to figure out what the liquid is, and how I can extract more of it, so that I can make crispy fried chicken liquid for garnishes.


texts: What kind of meats are good for quick or cook ahead preparation, and are reasonably priced?

texts:
This year I plan to eat more meat, and fatty meat preferred. I'd like to know the general level of price per unit weight so I can judge if it's "worth it", compared to how much I like eating it. If it makes a difference, I probably will be eating the meat all by itself (just adding some leaf veggies on the side, and that will be my meal).  You will probably ascertain that I'm not experienced in culinary ways at all, but simply would like to get data in this area of food availability/suitability.

For instance, I believe that beef rib eye is great to eat, can be prepared very quickly, has a nice amount of fat, but is pretty expensive.  Pork back ribs take a long time to cook tenderly, can be cooked ahead and be tasty and fatty.  But because of the bones, I don't know where that falls (more expensive/less expensive) with respect to rib eye.  There's also fatty fish, like salmon to compare.  All the way to canned or those little bags of tuna.

Optimally, I'd like to find a list of meats (cuts of meat) that included a price range (per edible weight vs with bones), the range of fat typically found in the meat.  The list would include the whole range of source animals (not just beef, or not just fish, etc, but all available in the US).


texts:
I follow this recipe to make biscotti and replace 1 egg with 50 gms of butter. So I end up adding 2 eggs and 50 gms of butter.It is always incredibly yummy but I have 2 issues and would be great if I could get some tips or help:

I never get uniform sized/shaped slices like in the picture on the website. They are very small on the ends and very long in the middle even though I try to make a very uniform looking logs before baking.
Some of the biscotti slices are very crumbly and break when I slice them. I do use a very good serrated knife to slice the log.


texts: Chicken has a strong, offensive chemical odor when boiled.

texts: I purchase grocery store chicken and boil it for chicken and dumplings, as well as to feed my dog.  It has a strong chemical odor that doesn't go away in spite of seasonings, etc.  How do I get rid of that odor?  I tried soaking it in vinegar, but that didn't help.


texts: How do cooks prepare belly pork in a restaurant?

texts:
In a similar style to the question on preparing risotto in restaurants..

When cooking belly pork, to a texture that's soft, tender and still moist, long cook times at a low temperature (around 150 degrees celsius for 3 to 4 hours) are generally required, yet when ordering it in a restaurant it obviously doesn't take that long to arrive at the table!

My question therefore is, what tricks or techniques do restaurant chefs use to serve belly pork on demand. Can it be cooled and re-heated later, or is there another "trick" that's used?


texts: Fried Chicken Thigh skin always ending up soggy? Why?

texts:
I am making Japanese style fried chicken, so I'm using chicken thigh with skin on, bone out. My problem is the chicken skin on the fried chicken is always ending up soggy. I've searched the web for some info, and some says it is because the oil is not hot enough. Or could it be that my cooking time is not enough, making the skin soggy?

My chicken thigh are as follows:

Sliced into 2 inches cubes.
Not battered, just starched with sweet potato starch (unsifted)  after marinated for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Marinade used is salty, 2 tablespoon soysauce and 1 teaspoon salt.
Is at room temperature (not coming from the fridge) when fried.
My usual method involves frying 4-6 pieces at a time on 330F for 1-2 minutes placing them on a cooling rack to settle down. Afterwhich, I fry again a second time on 356F for a minute or so until it's golden brown placing them back on a cooling rack. Cooking time is suggested in one of the recipes I found online.

I tried experimenting with 350F initially for 1-2 minutes, and second fry at 360-370F at a minute or so. Somehow this improved the crispness but still not quite as expected and somehow the outer layer tastes like burnt starch but not really burned (outer color is dark golden brown). Any deep frying expert here can shed some light? I'm at my wit's end.


texts: I made pulled pork and added too much brown sugar. What can I add to dilute it so it's not so sweet? Tried not adding barbeque sauce, but that didn't help.


texts: How do I scoop ice cream into spherical scoops every time?

texts:
During the coming summer months, I for once want to have a couple of home-made ice cream sundaes with proper spherical scoops of the type you get at an ice saloon or restaurant. The problem is that I can't get my scoops to be anywhere near spherical. I tend to get large curls, sometimes toroids if I'm lucky, flat chunks of ice cream if I'm unlucky, plus the ice cream that remains in the container gets all sorts of crevasses and is harder to scoop the time after. Because I can't get the scoops spherical enough, I tend to eat more ice cream than I should, the toppings are harder to add and the overall eating experience isn't as fun.

I don't know if it's related to the brand of ice cream I buy, the size of the container, the scooping method, the type of spoon or even how I store the ice container in the freezer. What is the trick to getting properly spherical scoops of ice cream?


texts: Bread: Hydration change for making Wholewheat bread with oats

texts:
I make 100% whole wheat bread with 80% hydration. I want to experiment by replacing some whole wheat with oats. How should I change the hydration level?
I replaced 50% whole wheat with oats and made hydration to 100% as oats absorb more water, and the bread was fine!
Next I tried to replace 80% whole wheat with oats and made hydration to 140%, and the bread was quite gooey (soft and sticky) from inside while the crust was hard!
Any suggestions? I think I should decrease the hydration.


texts:
The other day, I made waffles for the first time in a long, long time. I had no recipe to use, so I found one online, and used it almost verbatim. When fresh, the waffles were very nice, however, the day after they were cardboard-like and lacking in flavour.

I made a double batch. The original recipe calls for:

2  eggs
1 dl sugar
2 dl skim soured milk
1½ dl low fat milk
1 dl water
350 g plain flour
1 ts baking powder
½ ts baking soda
1 ts vanilla sugar
½ ts cardamom
125 g butter

The original recipe told me to mix all the wet ingredients except the butter, then mix the dry ingredients separately before mixing them together to form a smooth batter. It then called for leavening for 15 minutes, before melting and mixing in the butter and cooking.

As I said, I made two changes. One was that I left it to leaven for three hours, in the fridge. The other is that I kept a little of the melted butter - approximately 20 grams - outside of the batter to grease the waffle iron.

In scaling the recipe, I simply doubled all proportions.

Any ideas?


texts: I just heard that putting milk in eggs make it more fluffy, but is it really a good idea? Some people say putting milk/cream in eggs makes it more fluffy, but some people say that it makes the eggs loses flavor. So, is is it true that putting milk in eggs make it more fluffy?


texts: Ground beef burger patties turn gray not brown

texts:
Every time I try to cook burgers or meatloaf, my ground beef just ends up turning gray/white, instead of normal charred dark brown. I cant understand why.

I have tried buying lean ground beef and regular ground beef and I always get the same result.

I have tried cooking them in the oven and on a cast iron pan.
I have even tried leaving them in the cast iron pan till they start to burn. (The meat just develops a sort of thin burnt, light brown crust, on top of the gray patty, which you can essentially peel off. The whole burger doesn't develop a nice dark brown crust)

I have tried making the burgers with egg, with breadcrumbs, and without either. I get the same result each time, just a unappetizing gray lump.

The patties are never crowded, I have even tried doing one at a time.

None of my raw ground beef is gray either, it is nicely red. It just slowly goes gray when cooking.

Please explain why this keeps happening.

Edit:

I have seen this link already Cook Burger on Stove - Turns Gray

This does not help me as I have already tried putting oil on the burgers and putting extra oil in the cast iron pan for them. Frying them does not make them dark brown either.

I also already mentioned I have tried making the patty without egg and breadcrumb.

I also mentioned I tried different variants of fat content. My supermarket only has mince labeled as lean, regular, and fatty (which is more fat than meat) . There are no fat percentages on them. I have tried Lean and regular separately, and I have tried mixing the two.

My cast iron pan is a large 30cm pan and is utilizing the largest gas plate on the grill, on its highest setting, therefore the temperature must be hot enough.

If there is something I seem to have missed from that "duplicate post", I would appreciate it if you could kindly point it out, otherwise can someone please possibly shed some insight as to why this happens? My burgers always end up as a gray lump throughout, sometimes with partial light browning due to overheating/crusting.

Thank you


texts: What is the difference between a lemon pound cake, a lemon loaf, and a lemon bread?

texts:
Cream Cheese Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake (http://www.thesugarcoatedcottage.com/cream-cheese-lemon-blueberry-pound-)
Lemon-lavender greek yogurt pound cake (http://www.bakeyourday.net/lemon-lavender-greek-yogurt-pound-cake/)
Glazed Lemon Pound Cake Loaf (https://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/glazed-lemon-pound-cake-loaf/)
Lemon Loaf Pound Cake Starbucks Copycat (https://www.melaniecooks.com/lemon-loaf-pound-cake/11235/)
Lemon Blueberry Bread (http://thelittlestfunk.blogspot.com/2017/06/rainy-day-baking-lemon-blueberry-bread.html; or with lemon glaze: https://www.recipesinstant.com/2019/02/lemon-blueberry-bread.html)


texts: I was given a frozen ham roast from a friend who bought a hog.  I have a smoker and was wondering how to smoke a raw ham roast...


texts:
I just tried eating kale for the first time, raw, in a salad without any dressings, and to my surprise it did not taste bitter at all unlike descriptions of its taste that I've seen online. In fact it tasted a little sweet. Is it possible for raw kale to taste sweet? Did I buy a different variety of kale?

If it helps at all: I am in New Zealand, and my taste buds are usually extremely sensitive to bitterness.


texts:
So I am making some chili for a work contest, and I decided to use a new recipe/approach for some reason. It was largely based on the food lab's chili.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/01/how-to-make-the-best-chili-ever-recipe-super-bowl.html

Here is what I did...
edit: To be clear, I did not follow the serious eats recipe. I just used elements of it and then used the steps that I have listed below.

reconstitute some dried chilis in chicken broth (and a fresh jalapeno). Blend this later to make part of the liquid base
brown some beef chuck in a dutch oven
Add some chopped yellow onion and some garlic that I grated on a microplane
add tomato paste, continue to brown for a bit
add chili broth, more chicken broth, oregano, salt, pepper, some cumin, and a single square of bitter chocolate
stew for several hours before adding some beans

The results are really just now coming together, and it honestly tastes a lot like a beef curry. That's not a bad taste by any means, but I'm wondering if it is the best thing to submit to a chili cookoff. Do you guys think there is anything that I can do to bring it slightly back to a more typical chili taste?


texts: Why did my roasted butternut squash ferment?

texts: I roasted some butternut squash, then stored it in the refrigerator for a few days before I had time to puree it all.  When I pureed it I discovered that it had fermented.  What caused this to happen?  It smelled and looked fine, but the bag I stored it in kept puffing up and it tastes strongly fermented like I added yeast to it.


texts: I've just bought a new BBQ grill "Sunday One Tower". I am beginner to grilling and now I wonder how to prepare rice pilaff on my grill. I think I need a Soap stone with Frame and then place a bowler on it. Is it right?


texts: How can I make my kefir milk smooth and creamy instead of watery and grainy?

texts:
Just started making kefir last week.  My kefir comes out grainy and watery.

Here is what I'm doing:

I have about 2 tablespoon of kefir
I add about 4 cups of 2% organic milk
Leave it for a day on the counter (26 degrees centigrade)
It separates by this time (clear liquid at the bottom) but not much
I run it through a plastic sieve.

The resulting kefir compared to store bought kefir (my only point of reference) is:

seems watery instead of creamy
seems grainy: tiny grains almost like yogurt particles
has a sharp taste/smell

I still drink it and enjoy it.  But I was wondering how I can improve it...

Update

I haven't gotten the timing right yet...however switching to whole milk is producing much better kefir.


texts: What would be a good accompaniment for Ostrich fillet with Port and Blue Cheese glaze?

texts:
On the heel of @ElendilThetall's question: Accompiniments for satay, I'd like to know the following.

About a year ago I found this great recipe for Ostrich Fillet, which is basically flash fried in the pan and then the leftover juices is cooked along with port and blue cheese to create a great-tasting glaze.

I haven't had the chance to make this very often, but it's an amazingly tasty, quick and easy thing to make. The problem I have is figuring out what would go well with this.

At the moment my favourite is a baked potato and roast vegetables, however I'm not so good with the roast veggies. I've also worked under the assumption that anything that goes with regular red meat, like chips, works well, but this is such a unique tasting dish that I'd really like to do something different along with it.

Unfortunately I don't really have a knack for pairing side-dishes with recipes like these, so any help would be appreciated.


texts: Dry milk in bread: purpose, and substitutions

texts:
I've been looking for a good 100% whole grain bread recipe that I like, and came across one that looks promising in the book Home Grown Whole Grains (pp. 152):

  1 package active dry yeast
  1 tablespoon sugar
  ¼ cup warm water
  2 cups warm water
  3 tablespoons oil
  6 tablespoons honey
  1 teaspoon salt
  5 cups whole wheat flour
  ½ cup dry milk powder

  Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the ¼ cup water and allow to stand until the mixture begins to bubble. Add the 2 cups warm water, oil, honey, and salt and then begin beating in the flour. When you have about half of it worked in, beat in the dry milk, a little at a time, taking care to break up any lumps. Then beat in the rest of the flour....

What is the purpose of the dry milk?  And what guidelines can I follow to replace the powdered milk with something more "self sufficient"?  Perhaps normal milk, and a little less water?


texts: I used to have a very simple egg scrambler, metal,  a kind of flexible wire spiral with a handle. As you beat with it, the flexible spiral would somewhat amplify your hand motion. Cannot find another one anywhere.


texts: How to make profiteroles without a visible hole?

texts: I get the choux pastry and how you put filling in it, but there's always a hole left and the filling shows. Does anyone know of a sure-fire way to make a profiterole that looks completely intact from the outside while the filling is in?


texts:
Recently I had some shrimp scampi from a restaurant and the shrimp were unnaturally white, a very bright white, and the skin of the shrimp was a bright red, not the usual dull orange. The meat of the shrimp was quite tough, more like a lobster than a shrimp.

Is this some special species of shrimp, or was the shrimp treated by some chemical process to make it that way?


texts: Caramels without cream or condensed milk?

texts:
I have a chocolate caramel recipe that I love, but I'd like to tweak it to not use heavy cream, which I don't keep for anything else. However, I always have butter. Any thoughts on how I would need to adjust the ingredients, to not need heavy cream? Here's what I have now:

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup light corn syrup

1 tablespoon oil

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream


texts:
I combined acacia gum, apple cider vinegar, l-glutamic acid, egg white protein,  flaxseed oil, and blackberry / citrus selzer water in a closed container.... it electrocuted me when I tried to drink it! Why did this cooking reaction happen?

I researched hydrophilic and hydropholic reactions with seltzer water but I'm still confused.


texts:
I typically use a little white vinegar to hold my poached eggs together better while cooking (plus, I like vinegar).

Recently, I ran out of white vinegar and swapped in red wine vinegar instead. The egg white nearly dissolved while cooking, leaving behind only the yolk.

Is this due to the change in vinegar? Or might there be other issues at play (heat, pot, egg quality, etc.)?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Why are there so many different pasta shapes?
  What makes a pasta shape pair with a sauce?

When getting ingredients for a soup recipe, I couldn't find the type of pasta the recipe called, so I just bought a spiral type pasta. It seemed to work fine in the recipe, but it got me thinking about pasta. Forgive my ignorance, but it seems like most pastas taste the same.

The only thing that seems to make them unique is there size and shape;

Is there any reason I should use one pasta over another if it is relatively the same size as the type of pasta a recipe calls for?
Do certain pastas cook better in soups, and others require to be drained from liquid?

I realize I am asking a bunch of questions, but they are mostly to support expanding answers to my main question: What is the significant difference between pastas?


texts: How does the caramel in creme caramel stay liquid?

texts:
Recently, I made a creme caramel, and it came out fine. The recipe used made the caramel sauce by cooking water (30ml) and sugar (55g), then adding water (30ml) again when the caramel looks good. I thought that made sense for the water to stop the cooking and dissolve the caramel and so it remains a syrup after refrigerating.

But most other recipes don't call for adding water after the caramel is cooked. Does liquid in the custard mixture dissolve the caramel back into a syrup?

Is it better or more traditional to add water after cooking the caramel?


texts: Recently, I've bought a bunch of chinese parsley which I've used for garnishing and etc... However after storing it in the fridge for about 3-4 days most of the parsley had turned yellow and I have to throw them out. I was wondering does wrapping it with paper towels actually extends its life? Or rather, what is the best way to store chinese parsley?


texts: Should I cook in the old carbon steel skillets I just bought at a flea market? And can I use them for campfire cooking?

texts:
I just bought two carbon steel old pans, numbers 43 and either 6 or 9 (orientation?), at a flea market. One of the skillets has a lot of burned on flaky black very hard something - outside, mostly, on sides and bottom, and some around the top edge of the inside sides. I need to clean them, but they appear to be seasoned okay. The super hard stuff on the outside and inside has me worried. How can I clean that off and start out well?

Also, I bought them to use over a campfire, on a grill grate, so they won't rest on coals or wood. Is this acceptable for carbon steel, and if so, are there any parameters for heat or closeness to the fire?

At home, I cook almost completely on cast iron and coated cast iron. Are cast iron and carbon steel skillets the same basically in regards to seasoning and cooking on electric, or should I use them more like stainless steel?


texts: I am wondering if you are supposed to put water in all slow cookers? I saw my roommate put water underneath the ceramic insert and would like to know if that is the proper procedure? I have never owned a new one and my ceramic inserts tend to break often, would like to know if that is why?


texts: How do I recognize whether a Gorgonzola has gone bad?

texts: Is there any way to know when moldy cheese (in my case, Gorgonzola) is no longer good to eat, without trying it?  Mine is about three weeks old and I really can't tell any difference.


texts: Utensil materials - plastic, metal or wooden?

texts:
I'm just starting to cook for myself in college, and I'm curious what the best material of cooking tools are for pasta in a metal pan and stir fry in a non-stick wok. To make this question more general, when should you use plastic, metal or wooden cooking tools?

Are there reasons not to use a certain type sometimes? For example, is it unsafe to use wooden tools with raw meat in stir fry?


texts: What is this "spatula" called, and what is it for?

texts: I have this "spatula". The split in it perplexes me. It was inherited from a roommate who left it behind after moving out. It has a partner, that is a bigger spatula/flipper, with a hole in the middle. While the hole is large enough to be occasionally annoying, there doesn't seem to be anything abnormal about it. Based on the shape of the handle (and compared to the other (not pictured) spatula), the surface in the photo would be the "top".


texts:
What is "Buttered Sugar"? Is it something specific?

I got the term from this image floating around the net. I'm trying to understand what specifically the different sugars are.


texts: What's an inexpensive substitute for Port wine?

texts: Is there a good substitute for port? It's for a slow cooked pork loin recipe. I'm not concerned about the alcohol, but I would like to keep the cost down.


texts: How can I repair a pasta maker that was washed with water and has started to rust?

texts:
My girlfriend has a pasta maker, pictured.

Alas, it was accidentally cleaned with water, which is explictly forbidden (!!!) by the directions, which state:

  After using, clean with dry cloth or brush. Occasionally apply a few drops of oil to cylinder ends, turning cylinders to distribute oil evenly.

  Never use water on this machine.

Alas, it has begun to rust, as shown here:

More photos.

Is there anything I can do to recover the sanctity of my beloved's pasta maker?


texts:
I put roasted almonds through a food grinder — first on coarse grind then on fine[1] — thinking I would wind up with almond butter. I wound up with a fine ground instead. I haven't tried, but it appears somewhat spreadable; but I'm afraid that if I spread it and stand the bread on end it will fall off the bread. I'm seeking something creamier — I mean, more like commercially available peanut butter. What can I do to my ground almonds to achieve that?

[1] There are only two settings. It's a stand mixer's attachment.


texts: Why is the texture of my chocolate chip cookies foamy?

texts: The last couple of batches of my chocolate chip cookies went from delicous to foamy tasting although I was using the same recipe and ingredients and sam measuring methods. I'm confused as to why the texture changed so drastically.


texts: Should I take the cake out of oven immediately after it is baked or leave it in oven for some time

texts: I follow all the recipe guidelines, but very often my cakes crumble and tend to be either moist of heavy inside although they appear nice brown and light outside and the tester comes out clean. I have a doubt that it is because I remove the cakes from the oven immediately as they are cooked.


texts: How do I properly use a ceramic honing steel?

texts:
I have a set of Global knives and I went ahead and ordered their G-45 ceramic honing steel as well.

I cannot find a good picture of it, but the rubber piece on this steel has a flat edge. I want to make sure I am not honing my knife improperly. If I were to rest my knife against this flat edge and then press lightly and move downwards, would that ensure that I am honing at the proper angle?


texts: Is old Bailey's Irish Cream safe to drink?

texts: Will it poison a person to accidentally drink some Bailey's Irish Cream that is way past the expiration date? I am wondering if it will make me ill?


texts: What are the rings on the bottom of a frying pan called and can you use them on a glass cooktop?

texts:
I got a 12" frying pan as a gift and it has many raised, concentric metal rings on the bottom, on the outside, where it would touch the stove.

I don't know what this type of bottom is called so I can't find anything useful about it online. But since the pan's bottom is full of high and low points instead of being smooth it seems like it wouldn't heat very evenly on the glass cooktop?

Can anyone tell me what the official name is for the ringed-ridges on the bottom of the pan and if they can be used on glass stoves?


texts: What are the preferred uses for different sharpness of cheddar cheese?

texts:
As I eat nachos and cheese with some medium cheddar (dipping the nachos into melted cheese,) I notice the cheese is congealing differently than sharp cheese does and seems to be more elastic, not to mention the flavor difference.

What tasks are the different sharpnesses of cheddar cheese best suited to? Examples: dipping, eating with wine, quesadillas, etc.  Bonus if you provide scientific explanations.


texts:
I've tried baking bread several times and I seem to always have the same problem. The dough seems fine, until I shape it and let it rise a second time, and then when it rises, instead of forming a nice tall round shape, it flows outward into a pancake shape. It bakes fine, not the best bread but reasonably fluffy crumb with a crisp crust.

Yesterday's recipe:

150 g whole wheat flour
350 g white AP flour
300 g water
10 g salt
2 tsp dry yeast

I mixed it with a dough hook on speeds 2-4 for a few minutes, then covered the bowl with a warm wet dish towel and let it rise for about 6 hours at room temperature. Then I lightly reshaped it by hand into 2 long strips and put it on a baking sheet into a warmed oven (turned the broiler on for about 30 seconds). When it came out of this proofing 2 hours later they were shaped like long pancakes, about 5 inches wide but only an inch tall.

Is this because of the whole wheat flour? I'm seeing other posts about it destroying gluten / surface tension. I tried to use little enough to minimize any problems. Do I need to knead longer?


texts: My parchment paper soaked in oil after finish baking cookies

texts: Is this normal? I noticed that sometimes it can get really wet and I can even see the yellow liquid on my paper. However, sometimes it isn't wet at all and I can re-use my paper 2-3 times. What could be the cause of this?


texts: Can I add uncooked noodles directly to soup?

texts: Most noodle soup recipes that I see call for boiling and draining the noodles separately, then adding them to the broth already cooked. Is there any reason that I can't just add the dry noodles 10 minutes before the soup is done, and add a little extra water or broth to compensate for that the noodles take? Doing it this way would allow the noodles to take up some of the broth's flavor, and also save dirtying an extra pot and a colander.


texts: What's the difference between stroganoff and goulash?

texts: I know there are variants of stroganoff and goulash that are quite similar - to a point I could not tell one apart from the other. What are the defining properties of each that set them apart as different dishes?


texts: Please explain my meat dry curing observations

texts:
I am currently testing dry curing.  I noticed that within 2 days most of the water had dropped out of the meat and subsequently there was no more water loss.  I know because I placed some newspaper underneath the items, caught the water, removed the paper and then placed some new paper underneath the cured food which is showing no signs of being wet at all.

Since no more water is being loss after 2 days does that mean no point curing further( I have been told to cure for at least 2 weeks).  Although there is no further water loss I notice that the meat gets more red and harder over the days, what does that mean?

Also I notice some smaller pieces have had little to know water loss.

Does that mean I didn't put enough salt in( I thought I put quite a lot) or is there some other explanation.

Thanks


texts: Can I use an avocado instead of a banana?

texts:
I have a great recipe to make cookies but it requires a mashed up banana. I am on the anti-candida diet so I cannot have bananas. I would like to replace it with avocado but I wasn't sure of the measurements or whether it would even work properly. This recipe calls for three very ripe bananas. Do you think it's doable? If so, how many avocados should I use?  3 also?
I'm also not sure if it will work because it calls for applesauce. Is there any sugar free to substitute for applesauce?
The recipe is:

3 ripe bananas
2 cups oats
1/4 cup peanut butter (I will use almond butter)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla


texts: In an attempt to streamline my weeknights I plan on baking several mini calzones and freezing them for later. How would I go about this without ruining the crust? Should I bake them before I freeze them?


texts: Can I make cranberry sauce from frozen cranberries and re-freeze it?

texts:
I have cranberries which were fresh, and then accidentally placed in the freezer.
They are now frozen. Can I make cranberry sauce with them and then freeze that until Christmas?


texts: Lorraine Pascal made some macaroons, and added a readymade sugar syrup. Would this be liquid glucose or sugar syrup made earlier and stored. I know how to make sugar syrup, but a ready made one would be much easier when making several flavours.


texts: How can I make the exterior of my croissants less hard and more flaky?

texts:
My croissants look good and they taste fine but they have an extremely flaky/hard exterior, it is like a biscuit even though they are light in weight and have the bee caves inside as supposed. I would like to have the one that is really flaky but not toasted.

I use

2 cups of bread flour
2.5 tsp active dry yeast
2.5 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp of butter inside the dough
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water

I knead it long enough and then I leave it to chill overnight. The next day, I place butter slab, make 3 simple layers with 15 minutes freezing in between, and finally let them chill for the last time for 1 hour plus in refrigerator before I shape them and let them proof for 2 hours at room temperature. I bake them at 400F for 10 minutes and at 370F for another 10 minutes.


texts:
Has anyone succeeded in using Bob's Red Mill in brioche? I am looking to make babka with it.
Additionally, how much of it do you use when it calls for large eggs?


texts: Tofu substitute in no bake chocolate cake

texts:
I recently tried a no bake chocolate cake which used tofu to give it its consistency. It would have been great if it didn't have that slight tofu taste.

What could I uses as a substitute for the tofu to avoid the tofu taste but keep the consistency similar?

The recipe I used:

2 parts butter
3 parts dark chocolate
3 parts soft tofu
2 parts sugar

Melted together and mixed until smooth then set to cool.


texts: Shelf life of items stored in vacuum containers vs airtight non-vacuum ones?

texts:
I was planning in investing in a set of vacuum food containers, something like these with the pump to remove excess air.

It took me a while to find the ones I wanted, and in the process I started questioning the benefits.

I've found references that it prolongs the time food can remain good for up to 3-5x times as opposed to storing at just in a fridge. However I haven't found any references related to what are the benefits compared to just using an air sealed container without pumping out the air out.

Sure, there would be some air left in the regular one, but does it provide that much of a difference? Would like to hear your thoughts/experiences :)


texts:
In all the recipes I see for making creme fraiche, the ingredient amounts--though all over the place--are something like 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to 1 cup of cream and many variations thereof. However, in 'Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques', they show 2 cups of buttermilk to 1 cup of cream.

I can't find any errata online so I'm wondering if there is a reason for that. Is this a French thing or possibly an uncaught typo (though the book is several years old)?


texts: How to reproduce the smell of the ocean in cooking?

texts: How might I recreate the smell of the ocean for cooking?  I was out today fishing on a Pier in San Francisco and caught both a smelt and crab.  The smell of both had that romantic smell of the sea. (I threw both back)  I'd like to experiment with that smell and taste in cooking, so any proposed solution should be non-toxic. Thanks in advance!


texts:
I tried my hand at making dosas for the first time this weekend.

I was following this recipe for the dosa batter.

I soaked the dal and fenugreek seeds together and the rice by itself. The rice and dal were then blended together. They were then fermented.

At this point real life happened and I didn't have time to actually make them. They fermented for two days. By this time the batter was very aerated and fragrant.

I then used non-stick spray on an electric griddle and cooked them similar to crepes- spreading them thin with the back of the ladle.

They were delicious! More sour and nutty than restaurant dosas but they had entirely the "wrong" texture. Where restaurant dosas are smooth, shiny, brown, and crisp; mine were much paler and, although they could get somewhat crisp, they were never smooth or shiny and didn't stay crisp for long.

Indian coworkers have told me that there are variations in traditional dosas and just one style is used in restaurants.

Is there a tradition style of dosa that ferments longer and is more sour?

I would like to perfect this recipe and make my dosas more like the restaurant style. Obviously the batter fermented far longer than required. That would account for the aeration, acidity, and minimal browning.

Is the fermentation also responsible for the lack of shine and crispness?

There are a few variables that could also come into play:

Cooking on a griddle is not traditional (I think). Could the cooking temp be wrong?
The pan is usually oiled with an onion dipped in oil. I used non-stick spray.
I was unsure of the batter thickness.
At one point I thinned it with water. This may be hard to answer, but what consistency should the batter be? Would thinner help?
I've read that the ratio of rice to dal greatly affects the texture. I followed the proportions from the recipe. Is the ratio in the recipe to blame?


texts: What precautions should be taken while dropping cold vegetables in a hot Teflon cookware?

texts:
So, I use Teflon saucepans for cooking vegetables, only.

Tomatoes have to be added after the onions are done. Tomatoes have inherent water in them and are obviously below the pan's temperature.

I am afraid that in the long run it may ultimately damage the Teflon cookware.

What's the way out?


texts: Do chillis impregnate a wooden chopping board?

texts:
After chopping away at a chilli earlier today (well, 10 minutes ago) I then went through my normal ritual of scrubbing my hands to remove what traces the chiles leave on my fingers.

And it made me wonder - is whatever is difficult to get off my finger having any long-term effect on my wooden chopping board?

I clean/scrub the board regularly, and there is no visible staining, but we all know hidden problems exist..


texts: Using kalpasi (which is also known as Black Stone Flower) in a biriyani?

texts:
Can we ground kalpasi (also known as Black stone flower) be added to a masala for marinating chicken/mutton for making Hyderabadi Biriyani?

Will it taste really good; does this spice add good flavoring and aroma to the Dum Biriyani?

Are the results better if you first cook the kalpasi in oil before adding it to the marinating mixture?


texts: scaling of kneading when scaling bread recipies

texts: I usually make a pizza dough for 3 pizzas, from 500g flour, but once I made a double sized portion, with doubling everything in the recipe and I was not totally happy with the result. Since then I have read that scaling should work the way I did it, with proportional amounts of everything, so that should be fine, but I was wondering: if the recipe says X minutes of kneading, then if I double the amounts should I knead for 2X minutes or the same amount? Are there any good advices for scaling?


texts: I am trying to design a pie, but I'm not sure what to take into consideration

texts:
I think a blueberry salmon pie with goat cheese would be delicious, but I am not a professional baker - just an amateur with a decent amount of experience and a good pie crust recipe.

So here are my questions:

Am I insane, or would that actually be tasty?
What things do I need to consider?
Chemistry.

Basically, if you were trying to make such a pie, what considerations would you take into account?


texts: Induction cooker hot on inner circle only

texts: My induction cooker has two circles marked on it, a small one and a big one. It came with a set of small and big pots that match the size of the circles. After a year, all the pots have a small circle burned into them. Does that imply that the the outer circle on the cooker is not working? Or could it be because the pots have warped - the centers all bow up a little now (about 2mm).


texts: What is the authentic way to cook pierogi?

texts: I've been buying pre-packaged pierogi from Trader Joe's and local Polish delis. But I can't seem to get a straight or consistent answer on how you are supposed to cook them. Should you steam pierogi, boil them, or saute them with butter?


texts: Non-spicy substitute for chili peppers when making a Thai curry paste from scratch

texts:
I'm making a green Thai curry paste from scratch. I'm very happy with the recipe, and I've made it with much success in the past, but today I am cooking for someone who can't take much heat. Or well, only very little; I can put a single capsicum annuum ('standard' red chili pepper?) in a  dish for 4, let's say.

But the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of green bird's eye chilies. That's definitely going to be too hot, even if I de-seed and trim the insides. However, a significant part of the paste comes from these (there's about 11 Tbsp of ingredients in total, so 1/3th to 1/4th is the chilies) and leaving them out entirely probably doesn't do it any favour.

So my question is, what would you replace them with? I could get a green bell pepper, but I imagine that'd be quite watery. I also have access to jalapenos, which are a bit milder (and green, as far as that matters) but I imagine could still get quite spicy. Or perhaps I do leave them out after all. What would you go for?


texts: Is nigella oil (black cumin or black caraway) aromatic?

texts:
I have a weak spot for aromatic oils. Not essential oils, but the cooking oils like hazelnut oil and avocado oil. I love making dishes where they are the primary flavour component (e.g. a veloute sauce poured over something bland).

Just now, I was shopping in a Turkish grocery store, and they had nigella oil (I am not sure which plant it is exactly. The label says Nigella big, then Black cumin in the English translation and Schwarzkümmel in the German translation. Schwarzkümmel is usually translated to English as Black caraway). I almost bought it, but at the steep price (14 Eur for a 250 ml bottle) it would have been too bad if it turned out to be a neutral tasting oil.

Has somebody tasted it? How strong does it taste? The stronger, the better (for my purposes). Does it taste at least as strong as avocado oil, or is it a weak aroma, like grapeseed oil, or even neutral, like sunflower? Also, if it has a taste, is it a taste most people are likely to accept (like macadamia, or almond oil) or one which is at best an acquired taste (like the overly bitter flaxseed oil)? For reference, I like black caraway seeds as a spice.


texts: How much xanthan gum should be used to thicken a large 24 quart pot of hot tamrind chutney to get a smooth pourable tamrind chutney when we cool?  Currently use 2 lbs of corn starch but it spoils the taste of the chutney.


texts:
I need 1 more ounce of 60% bakers chocolate, but i only have unsweetened. How much powdered sugar should I add if I add 1 ounce of the unsweetened?
I'm trying to make a ganache.


texts: What kind of cheese is the result of boiling milk with vinegar at home?

texts:
With this recipe http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cheese-at-Home, which out of the following required cheese will I get at home?
http://www.food.com/recipe/incredibly-delicious-cheese-garlic-bread-spread-18914


texts: How can I restore and keep a built-in cutting board in good condition?

texts:
I have somewhat recently bought a house that has a cutting board as a part of the counter. I have had no experience with this and haven't found anything online really.
I know that there are ways to season a wooden cutting board, but I don't know if that applies to this.

There are a few gaps between the boards - can this be fixed with regular wood filler?
Do I just season the counter top as if it was a regular cutting board? If not, how would I go about protecting it?


texts: Converting teaspoon/tablespoon measurements to mL?

texts:
I have been looking at curry recipes on an American web site and it gives measurements in teaspoons and tablespoons.  I am not familiar with these measurements as we do not use them locally.

Does teaspoon/tablespoon refer to the size of the spoon or its purpose?

If I have spoons that measure only mL, how can I convert a teaspoon/tablespoon measurement to these?


texts: Can you eat beans after using them as pie weights?

texts:
I'm making a recipe that involves using pie weights when pre-baking a pie crust, and suggests using dried beans as an alternative if you don't have purpose-made pie weights.

Can you eat the beans after using them for this purpose? Does it change how long you'd cook them or anything else about how you'd prepare them?

If not, can you re-use them in subsequent pies?


texts: Caramelised onions seem easier to make in large batches, so could I make a big batch then freeze them in say, ice cube trays, for later use?  Or would this have a detrimental effect on them?


texts: What is the internal temperature a steak should be cooked to for Rare/Medium Rare/Medium/Well?

texts: I'd like to know when to take my steaks off the grill and please everybody.


texts: Must rice always be cooked with some oil or lard?

texts:
I'm a totally amateur "cook" and I was always taught that before I cook rice, I have to add some oil or lard to it and cook in that.

But why is it necessary? Once I forgot it and everything was the same. Only the bottom layer was burnt just a bit, but I think that was not necessarily because I forgot the oil. Also, I didn't have much left at the time and I needed that to fry.


texts: I have a box of raisins in my cabinet that have been there for many years. Should I discard them or can they still be salvaged for use in baking or cooking?


texts: Order of combining wet and dry ingredients when baking

texts:
I've always learnt that you add the wet ingredients to the dry ones.

Looking at some recipes:

"Combine the dry ingredients, the flour ... Add the other wet ingredients, melted butter ..."

"Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined"

"Mix dry ingredients together, Mix wet ingredients together, and Combine wet and dry together and bake!"

"Make a well in the dry ingredients and then pour the wet ingredients into the well and mix"

Is there a reason to always add wet to dry and not the other way around?

Are there any types of recipes that , in fact, reverse the order?


texts: Making flour tortillas softer and more elastic

texts:
I would like to make a tortilla that is softer and more elastic, allowing for large burritos with lots of filling

I've been using the following recipe below which yields good results, however it is not soft or elastic enough to handle large amounts of filling.

1/4c butter
1/2c water
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 3/4c flour

I knead the dough and then immediately cook.

RESULTS

The tortillas taste great fresh, but after sitting in a zip-lock bag for a few hours the become much less pliable.  I generally re-heat them with a damp towel in the microwave which makes them pliable enough to wrap filling in.

I've read this question about how to make "Big, Fluffy" tortillas, and it notes letting the dough rest is a key step.  I did try this, and I ended up getting more air bubbles but other than that they are pretty much the same.

I would like to figure out how restaurants like Moe's make and prepare their tortillas which are suitable for large burritos. I am open to suggestions in technique or ingredients.


texts: I recently had a grease fire - the pan caught on fire from a little fat that spilled over the skillet. Is there a safe, quick way to put out a fire like this?


texts: What is the purpose of creaming butter with sugar in cookie recipes?

texts:
I got distracted while assembling the dry ingredients for a cookie recipe and added the sugars, which were supposed to be creamed with the butter first. Fortunately, the sugar was added last and I was able to salvage enough to cream it.

What does creaming the butter and sugar actually do? Had it been on the bottom of the bowl under the flour etc, could I have just beat everything together?

The recipe is simple and just calls for creaming and then adding egg, and after that, dry ingredients. It's nothing fancy.


texts: What's this brush for a reuseable stainless steel mesh coffee drip filter?

texts: I saw this on Amazon. What does this brush do?


texts: Breaking down fruit with sugar and water for cookies

texts:
I just made some amazing date cookies. They were made swiss-roll style; you make the date-mixture, then spread it on a rolled-out layer of dough, and roll it; then refrigerate, and cut into 1/4-inch cookies.

Yum.

For the filling, the recipe required me to take two cups of pitted dates, and cook them on medium-low with half a cup of sugar, and a cup of water. As a result, the dates (which were dry, sticky, and very firm) ended up becoming a nice, sweet brown paste.

It occurred to me that perhaps I can apply the same method to other fruits. Does it work? Are there certain fruits (or classes/categories of fruits) that will break down well on a low heat with some water and sugar, and can hold their own inside swiss-roll style cookies?

Ideally, your answer should not be a laundry list, but some sort of general principle I can apply to any given fruit to figure out if I can use it or not. But a laundry list is okay too of which fruits will work well and which ones won't.


texts: Is there any reason against using red onion, or a mixture of red and yellow onions to make an onion soup?

texts:
Should I use yellow onions, red onions or even a mixture of both to make the best onion soup?

I realise this is a subjective question, but is there any reason I shouldn't use red onions or is there an advantage to using a combination of onions?


texts: How to prevent sweet thick glaze/sauce from setting after cooling?

texts:
I attempted to make a sweet balsamic glaze/sauce from a simple recipe that called for 1 cup balsamic vinegar and half a cup of brown sugar. To my own tastes I added a bit of Worcestershire sauce, a splash of soy sauce and a little bit of rosemary. I may have added a bit too much sugar, I was doing rough measurements.

Regardless, I cooked the mixture for about 8 minutes on high heat until the syrup coated the back of a spoon.

The issue is that after the glaze was done, as it cooled, it entirely set. It ended up being more like a soft caramel, sticking to your teeth.

Did I add too much sugar? Or did I cook the mixture too hot or too long?


texts: Yeast 101: Active Dry Yeast, Instant Yeast, Baking Soda, Baking Powder. Differences and Info

texts:
I'm a little confused as to what are the difference between them, when should I use which?

Also, how long is the lifespan and proper care after opening of these products? If I don't bake that often can I just keep a small can in the pantry for a long while? Can they be substituted for each other?

Thanks!


texts: Plastic containers exposed to heat while cooking

texts: I was making soup, and it involved removing some of it to reintroduce after pureeing. Not thinking, I just tossed the cooked mushrooms back into the plastic container they came in raw. After finishing everything in the pot, I tossed the mushrooms back into the soup, and noticed that the bottom of the plastic container they were sitting in was slightly warped. It is a #1 plastic (PET), and the mushrooms went into around 3L of soup. Do I need to just throw out the whole batch?


texts:
I put a beef stew recipe in to my crock pot this morning at 7 am and set it for 8 hours on low. At 1 pm, the power went out for a few minutes. When power was restored, the slow cooker did not come back on.

Also, at 4 pm my wife noticed the crock pot was off and turned it on for an hour. It is now 6:40 pm. The middle of the stew is 155 degrees F, but close to the outside is 140.

Is it ruined? Unsafe? Can I just cook it for the remaining 2 hours?


texts: Why does my Yorkshire Pudding always flatten within minutes after I remove it from the oven? I always use a very hot oven and make sure the batter is at room temperature befor I put it in the oven. It rises beautifully in the oven but falls as soon as I take it out.


texts: What are the principal components of coconut taste, and how do they differ between fresh and stale coconuts?

texts:
I was used to drinking coconut milk and finding that it is nice, a bit sweet, and a bit bland.

One day i had a normal supermarket coconut, that tasted like Malibu essence inside. Is that what a very fresh coconut tastes like?

I am a chemist, and I am want to know if coconut aromatics vary a lot in between fresh and old coconuts, and if so, why?


texts:
The bread I make has been inconsistent in how it turns out each time. I follow the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" method for making bread. Sometimes it rises really nice, other times it barely rises at all. I know their methodology uses regular all purpose flour, however due to a food allergy, I can't have any malt. So I usually use Gold Medal Organic All Purpose flour that does not have malt listed as an ingredient. Somehow I think these are related, though I don't know for sure.

I realize malt is a sugar that the yeast feeds on. Could this be why I have inconsistent bread from time to time? What can I add to make up for the lack of malt in the bread?


texts: Should I thaw cherries for a sour cream cherry pie?

texts:
I have a bag of frozen cherries and want to bake a pie with them, adding creme fraiche. I'll probably use a recipe intended for sour cream, as they are easier to find. But they tend to use fresh cherries, so they don't have recommendations on how to add frozen cherries.

What will happen if I add them from frozen? If I add them thawed? Which is likelier to taste better?

If it matters, I am planning this to be an open pie (no upper crust).


texts: Is it possible to cook millets without having to grind it into a powder?

texts:
Am considering Ragi as a substitute to rice to avoid the spike in blood sugar each time I eat rice. Purchased 1kg of Ragi seeds and found that every single recipe makes use of Ragi flour. Even friends in India say they are unaware of recipes that directly use the seeds.

Is it really necessary to grind/mill millets? On searching, I found one lemon millet rice recipe, but I'm not sure if it can be applied to Ragi, since Wikipedia says the bran is bound tightly to the endosperm. Am hoping it would be possible to cook it like in the lemon millet rice recipe at least if the Ragi seeds are sprouted?


texts: Why do you need buttermilk to marinate chicken before frying?

texts: Why do fried chicken recipes recommend marinating the chicken in buttermilk before frying? Is this absolutely necessary? If so, then How long should you marinate chicken in buttermilk before frying?


texts: Does caramelizing increase the amount of sugar in a dish?

texts:
I love caramelized onions. But I'm not sure I should have them often.

I've recently learned that the browning associated with caramelized onions and baked apples is a product of either the Maillard reaction or the pyrolysis of sugars.

The chemistry on these pages goes a bit over my head, so I thought I'd ask - does caramelizing / baking increase the amount of sugar in a dish? Or does it just transform one type of sugar into another?

If my reading is correct, pyrolisis is actually breaking a slow carbohydrate into a fast one (i.e.: sugar)? So it would be correct saying the dish has "more sugar", informally?


texts: How to prevent a cookie from becoming spongy like a cake?

texts:
I was following the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/
and the cookies came out a little like cake rather than cookies. It's NOT crispy, not crunchy. It's a little spongy but tastes good actually.

Is the temperature and timing off? 350F seems a little low. I'm not sure if it's visible from the below picture but still.


texts: Using yellow instead of green zucchini in vegetable soup

texts: Can I use yellow zucchini instead of green zucchini in vegetable soup or is there a significant difference of between them?


texts:
My biscuits are burning around the outside edge of the oven trays.
How can I stop this happening?


texts: Are there any scientific advantages to using a cork to stop a wine bottle?

texts:
Although I am by no means a connoisseur (I don't really even drink it) I have been investigating the various means by which wine bottles are stopped up.

This was prompted by a negative reaction by a more dipsomanic friend to a screw top wine that I had purchased from my local off licence. The impression I got from him was that a bottle with a cork was less... tacky. And that somehow a bottle with a screw top gave him the impression of teens in parks drinking Lambrini through straws.

I have read a few articles online here, and here which seem to show some benefits to screw top bottles (namely that they aren't affected by TCA and are easier to open).

I have not been able to find any resources which show an actual benefit to the wine that comes from using cork. The usual pros listed include the fact that it supports natural cork plantations (an ethical consideration) or that it just seems to be more sophisticated.

So, is there any reason (when only considering taste) that cork should be used over a screw top?


texts: How good a substitute is callaloo for spinach?

texts:
I have seen some good recipes using spinach and have heard over and over that callaloo (amaranth) can be used in place of it.

There is confusion about callaloo the plant and callaloo the dish I am refering to the plant amaranth.

I have never tasted spinach and I can not get it to buy where I am from, callaloo is easy to come by, I am hoping that someone here who have tasted both can tell me if this is true that callaloo can be used as a substitute for spinach. If i can get an answer here it would be a bit better than experimenting.

I have seen some substitutes for spinach on the Internet but unfortunately all fall in the hard to get category for me.


texts:
I want to make some anzac biscuits which calls for golden syrup, but don't really want to buy a jar (what's the fun in that?).

What are some good recipes?  A google search shows a wide variety - from using corn syrup to adding lemon/lime slices.


texts: Why do vegetables cooked with freshly ground spices taste better than those cooked with powdered spices available in the market?

texts:
I used to use powdered spices (purchased from market) for all my vegetables. Lately I have started grinding the spice seeds myself to use in the vegetables.
I have noticed a remarkable "taste" difference.

I wish to know the reasons.
P.S. I am NOT referring to the smell, but to the taste.


texts: Can I substitute unsweetened cocoa powder for unsweetened baker's chocolate?

texts:
I'm using a recipe for chocolate crinkle cookies  and it calls for 4 squares of unsweetened baker's chocolate. Can I substitute cocoa powder for the baker's chocolate?

Recipe


texts: How do I substitute stevia for sorbitol?

texts: I have a cake recipe that calls for 1/2 cup of sorbitol. I would like to use stevia instead since I am concerned about the side effects of sorbitol. How do I make that substitution? I could just add water to the stevia equivalent for the sorbitol amount to bring the stevia to 1/2 cup of volume. But I don't know if that will have the same effect as using the sorbitol. I know that using unsweetened applesauce will help with moisture retention. Any suggestions?


texts: Is it safe to put a baking steel directly on oven's floor?

texts:
I have an electric oven with concealed heating elements, I am considering putting my baking steel directly on the oven's floor for the purpose of doing some cooking experiments.
Is this safe?
Would it damage the oven?
Manual here.


texts: What's a good substitute for onion for someone with an onion allergy?

texts:
I am an allium lover with a strong allergy to all alliums. It is technically a sensitivity, as it isn't an instant reaction, but spending an hour in the bathroom because of one stray piece of red onion warrants a scarier word then "sensitivity". For those not familiar with plant taxonomy, alliums are the plant family that holds garlic, onions, chives, and leeks.

My allergy is progressively getting stronger and I can no longer lie to myself. I need a good substitute for that fantastic allium taste. Right now I can still eat garlic in reasonable amounts (thank god), but red onions are out, and everything else from white onions to leeks is somewhere in between. Any and all preparations of allium trigger the allergy, so no onion powder.

I am desperately looking for a non-allium onion substitute. My hope and dream is something that tastes like onion but isn't an allium. I would accept any strongly flavoured class of plants to switch addictions to.


texts:
I was thinking of making up the candy syrup and saving it to coat the apple later. I could take the candy syrup, and pour it on a buttered parchment paper, let it cool it bit and then blend a food color in it at that time, too.

I want to make little batches of different colors, not one huge batch of one color.  Is this workable, somewhow?


texts: Can I do anything to make my gas oven better?

texts:
I have an old gas oven at home which is generally pretty rubbish at most things.  The temperature in the oven is wildly off compared to what the dial says it should be; there are hot/cold spots throughout; the top temperature is adequate for most of my needs, but on occasion I've wanted a really hot oven and it's never been able to get there.

Is there anything I can do to make my oven better? How can I hack it?   I've just bought a probe to use with my digital thermometer and the oven, but I was wondering if anyone could recommend anything else?  I've considered the following options, but unsure if they are good ideas or not:

Putting a fan in the over to help circulate the air around.
Getting a pizza stone to put in the bottom of the over to keep heat when opening the door

** edit **

I would replace the thing but my kitchen is really small so I'm stuck with having to buy a very narrow oven which severely reduces the selection I can choose from.


texts: using cooking propane torch held sideways

texts: I have acquired a Benzomatic torch to attach to a propane tank to use as a cooking torch. There is a warning that the tank must be kept upright during its use. The explanation is that if tilted the liquid below the gas contributes to the flame making it extra hot and adds non-combusted hydrocarbons to the food which can be tasted and may be unhealthy. Can anyone give me some guidance? It is extremely difficult to try to use the torch in an upright position for cooking.


texts: How can I make a vegan turkey-skin substitute?

texts:
I recently tried to practice making a Seitan based vegan turkey tube using this recipe. To test results for different cooking methods, I split the final dough in half before baking, made one that was just turkey-dough and one that was a turkey-dough and stuffing roulade.

Both turkey loaves came out well. However, the recipe gives instructions on fabricating a kind of "turkey skin." Basically, once the turkey is done baking, remove from oven, place on a pan, wrap with yuba (bean-curd skin from making soy milk, similar to spring roll pastry), brush with sesame oil, and bake until browned (about 45-60 minutes, brushing on more oil occasionally). The results were basically a distracting pastry shell wrapped around a seitan loaf; it did not appear to adhere to the surface of the loaf at any point. It was difficult to cut and had a difficult texture compared to the ease of the seitan.

To give an idea of the results, here is a picture of some scraps from the plate:

The instructions did not give a specific detail as to what to expect, or really how to qualify the results of the "turkey skin." As such, I am at a loss as to how to improve the results.

So:

Have you made or had a yuba wrapped item, where the method above was somehow applied but with a more successful result (as in, the yuba adhered to the surface of the loaf, the yuba cut easily, or had a more delicate texture that didn't contrast as much)?
Of the three fails (adherence, cutting, texture), what methods would work to improve them? (E.G. Would brushing oil on the loaf before help or hinder yuba sticking to the loaf, would it help soften the yuba?)
Is there any method of softening the yuba and making it more delicate before applying it? Would this be beneficial to the desired result? Why?
Could tweaking the temp:time of baking with the yuba wrap help? (i.e. Lower-slower breaks down fats, connective tissues in animals... is there a similar compound I am shooting for in yuba?)
Can yuba be prepared to mimic the soft-toughness of turkey skin? How?


texts: How should I alter a chocolate cake recipe to make plain/flavoured cake?

texts:
I have a really good chocolate cake recipe. It's so good that I want to use it as a base for all my cakes. How do I alter this recipe to make different cakes like vanilla, lemon, coconut, etc.?

I tried converting it to a vanilla cake last night, but it came out too floury. All I did was replace the cocoa with flour.

Here are the recipe ingredients.

2 cups raw sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup boiling water


texts: What natural ingredients can be used to color food blue or green?

texts:
I've been experimenting more and more with "natural" food colorings - meaning spices and other ingredients that naturally impart color as opposed to a commercial food dye made specifically for this purpose.

For example, I've let scallops (among other things) sit in a beet puree, and they get a brilliant pink color.  I plan on trying turmeric and saffron for more yellow/orange/red colors.

Are there other ingredients that I can try that might create a green or blue color in scallops? And would these work for other foods as well?


texts:
I recently cooked beef in a pan, and it came out pretty leathery. I came to cooking.SE to find some advice, and found this:

"The cut is important for both techniques. For sauteing, you need a lean cut - fillet, sirloin, or good rump steak. These should be cooked quickly over a high heat" from Cooking beef: how to make it tender? (most of the advice on the page seems to be "high-heat low-time")

My question is for a bit more follow-up on this. Most importantly, how will I know that the beef is cooked well enough to be safe, without it losing its tenderness? Also if it makes any difference, I'm using a non-stick pan (cooking it in olive oil is okay?)


texts: What is an appropriate humidity for separating curds and whey?

texts:
Does anyone have guidelines for an appropriate humidity for separating curds and whey to make cheese (I'm doing it from kefir)? Specific temperatures are available, but sources I've seen just throw in "and humidity can affect the outcome too" without giving anything concrete.

I'm not sure if wetter is better, dryer is better, or, more likely, if there is a specific range.


texts: So, I eat a lot of eggs, and I’ve fallen in love with omelettes, but it seems that they want to fall apart. I normally just use eggs, and the stuff I want in there, but I don’t get the restaurant kind of look, or stability of it, I mean it’s just as good, but I’d like to impress a special someone with cooking possibly, and yeah, I don’t want it falling apart. So, I’m curious if I need to be adding something like cream cheese or something to hold it together better. Maybe I can up it from two eggs to three?


texts: Teryaki sauce becomes viscous after boiled

texts:
I recently cooked chicken in a Teryaki sauce/marinade, and it turned out great. I cooked the chicken on both sides, and then cooked it in a bath of Teryaki for about 3 minutes. The Teryaki bubbled a lot.

I let the Teryaki sit there in the pan, after cooking, for about 24 hours, and it turned into a tar-like, viscous substance. It reminded me of a video of a guy doing the same with coca cola, which had the same type of affect, which brings me to the question: is this a problem, or a harmless effect expected to happen?

Also, is it bad practice to cook it in a bath of Teryaki like this? Would marinading it be a better alternative? How long should I marinade it for?

This is Yoshinoya's Sweet & Sour (Teryaki-like) sauce, from Costco. Very tasty.


texts: How do I use a Convection Microwave Oven Hybrid?

texts:
I just moved to a small studio apartment, and it has a convection microwave/oven. The top half has a metal rack like you would find in an oven, while the bottom has a round glass rotating thing that you would find in a microwave. What kind of plates/pans are okay to use in something like this? Is microwave safe the same as oven safe in this scenario? If it's microwave mode does that mean microwave safe plates/bowls are allowed? Or should I only use what would be okay inside an oven?

I'm incredibly new(read:inept) to cooking and can barely handle frozen pizza in a normal oven, much less this cyborg hybrid monster. So ANY tips at how to use this at all would be greatly appreciated :D

It's GE if that helps. It has a rotating knob in the middle and some preset buttons as well.


texts:
Tiramisu is a well-known dessert based on mascarpone and coffee, and I love it :)
What are tips to have a compact mousse instead of a soft/liquid cream?

Do you have any special derivative from tiramisu that you experimented?
I tried a tiramisu with a forest fruit mix instead of coffee/cacao and that was delicious.

Any other variant?
Different alcohol?
Maybe even different biscuits?


texts: What is Zwieback toast and where can I find it?

texts: I am baking a black forest cake and it calls for zwieback toast.  I cannot find this anywhere.  Does anyone know what this is or where I can find it?


texts: how to ensure carrot pieces stay longer in the refrigerator?

texts:
I blanched a big carrot and cut them into pieces and stored them in a airtight container in the refrigerator. I ate them for about 5 days - one piece out of the container for each meal. But after that, they've gone stale - some sour liquid leaking out of the pieces, and sour taste and smell. I had to threw them out. What can I do next time to make them stay longer? What sauce should I sprinkle to the pieces for better preservation? Would it be better if I put them in the freezer? Would it be worse?

This is a big/thick carrot, so it needed to be cut to pieces before a human mouth & teeth can handle it. They don't sell thin weaponized carrots like in Shoot Em Up where I live.

By the way, that sour taste and smell, I encountered the same taste when I blanched nappa cabbage and stored it in an airtight bag in the refrigerator. I was probably making the same mistake.

Edit: I should mention that I haven't used salt when blanching them. I also forgot to put the vegetable in cold water after. Maybe the problem was I didn't blanch right?


texts: Ovearheated/burnt my copper pot, is it still usable?

texts:
I burnt porridge to the bottom of my copper pot. It was too hot and it dried out so now the tin feels rough and has bubbled somewhat.

Is it still usable like this? Or will I need to get it re-tinned?

My main concern is that bits of tin will come off into the food/food will get stuck on the bottom.

Thanks for any advice!


texts:
I don't tend to keep any white wine in the house for cooking and have a bottle of rice wine vinegar to use up - only used it once and don't know what else to use it for.

Could I use rice wine vinegar at the start of cooking a risotto?


texts:
Does anyone know  the name of this candy?
It comes in a pink wrapper with an airplane on it


texts: I'm 16 and I'm making lasagna for my family tomorrow. I have got mince, onion, white sauce, red sauce, lasagna sheets, tinned chopped tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, and grated cheese. Not looking to add anything else; how do I assemble that into a lasagna? Do I have to cook the lasagna noodles first?


texts: Using noodle cooking water to loosen sauce?

texts:
One of my guilty pleasures is perusing my wife's Real Simple magazine for recipe ideas and cooking tips. In the March 2013 issue one of the cooking tips has me a bit confused. In the Three Steps to Knockout Noodles article step 3 recommends:

  Reserve ½ cup of the [noodle] cooking water. The starchy, seasoned liquid is great for loosening up cheesy, creamy, or tomato-based sauces.

What is being recommended here:

to use the cooking water in the sauce?
to use the water as a cleaning agent on plates?


texts: Thawing frozen seafood mix is a lot of work

texts:
I buy 1-lb bags of frozen seafood mix from Trader Joe’s. It includes shrimp, calamari, and scallops. I usually want to fry it in a pan, so I first need to thaw it and remove as much water as I can — otherwise it becomes boiling (or soup) instead of frying.

My process right now is:

Separate the 1-lb bag into two bowls
Put both bowls in the microwave oven in “defrost” mode, which takes about 9 minutes.
Drain the water from both bowls. Mix the seafood in the bowl to make thawing more uniform.
Put both bowls in the microwave oven for another round of defrost mode.
Drain the water from both bowls. Mix the seafood.
Put both bowls in the microwave one more time for another round of defrost.
Drain again.

That seems like a lot of work, taking about half an hour before I even begin cooking it! I find it hard to believe that everyone who buys this mix goes through this — but I really do get a lot of water after each round of defrosting, so I don’t think I can skip it.

Am I thawing this seafood in the best way?


texts:
I've always love eating this dark eel sauce that goes with eel rolls at our favorite sushi restaurants. It's got a dark color it's sweet, a little salty, and slightly savory.

What is in eel sauce? What makes it sweet and so concentrated with flavor? Also, why is it called eel sauce?


texts: Calculating Salt/Sugar additions for Mushroom based Jerky

texts:
I'm working on a mushroom based jerky recipe and there are a couple questions about water activity that I am having trouble finding answers to.

What salt and sugar content should I be aiming for to maximize moisture (avoiding a rock hard mushroom cracker) and stay under the .85 water activity level?

My understanding is that salt and sugar both lower water activity but I have not been able to pin down a specific formula or method of determining how much of either is sufficient outside of sending it off to a lab.
Thanks in advance.


texts:
We just made ceviche with ahi tuna, lots of lime juice, avocado, onion, cilantro and jalapeño. It's wonderful. Unfortunately we made too much. Now, I've never made it before and want to know about how long I should keep it in the fridge, if at all?

Note: this is not super high quality sashimi grade fish. Nor is it the freshest fish in the world.


texts: How to add flavouring ingredients to steamed or boiled veggies?

texts:
I'm a newbie cook from to prepare the nightly dinner for my wife and I. I usually have a meat and stream or boil sweet potato, corn, Brussels sprouts, asparagus or broccolini.

It occurred to me that I was adding a little bit of butter and salt to everything that I cooked. I know if I bake something I could add rosemary etc, but how can I season / flavour food different steaming / boiling? Adding herbs to the water??


texts: How to scale a recipe for Neapolitan Pizza?

texts:
I wanted to hopefully make the best Neapolitan pizza in my modest home. I attached the link which contains the recipe for preparing the pizza.
However, the used amounts are too much for me. I wanted to prepare 2 pizzas, so I wanted to scale down the used amounts by Chef Johnny.
Chef Johnny used 30 g of salt + 1 Kg of flour + 600 ml of water + 1 g of fresh yeast. With these amounts he said in the video he could make up to 8 pizzas.
So should I use a quarter of the amounts?


texts: What replaces egg in vegan sponge cakes?

texts:
I already know there are a few vegan egg replacements, such as:

Aquafaba
Coconut milk
One tablespoon of apple puree with 1 tablespoon of dense oil (coconut oil or corn oil I guess)
Chickpea flour with some starches

I know that each one of these, as well as others I don't know → aren't multipurpose as eggs are and thus and should be used for different groups of recipes respectively.

What can replace eggs when making a vegan sponge cake?


texts: How to keep meringue white while baking?

texts:
I made pavlovas last week from 4 egg whites and about a cup of sugar whipped together to a SUPER form meringue. I piped them on to a tray and baked first on 120 degrees for an hour and then on 70 degrees for another hour.

Somewhere in the middle of baking the pavlovas turned brown. They were stil tasty, but how can I keep them white, like I see in restaurants?


texts: I'm making this Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup recipe and I wanted to know what can I use as a substitute for celery because it'll be difficult to get it before tonight.


texts: What should I look out for when cooking with truffles?

texts:
My birthday is coming up, and we saw some black truffles at Whole Foods, so we thought it was time to try cooking with this rather expensive ingredient. I've never cooked with truffles before, and it's $30 worth for a dinner. That's probably the single most expensive ingredient I've ever used in a recipe. So it's making me more than a little nervous.

How should I treat truffles while cooking with them? Are there any pitfalls to avoid?


texts:
When I'm baking regular white bread: wheat flour+water+yeast.  I often find my first rise to do well, but my second rise halts prematurely. It does not double.

I think/guess the reason is mostly because of a drying out effect on the outer layer, impeding the rise. I don't think it is the yeast running out of steam; when I cut the loaves before the oven, the cuts makes a significant change in the rise.

Would the drying out effect be lessened if I added oil or butter to the mix?

If so, how does this effect the wetness of the dough?

This is the result of 2 hours for the first rise, 50 minutes for the second.

Update: Following the advice provided gave me a wonderfully light and smooth giant loaf of bread. I used oil and cling wrap instead of kitchen towels for both proofings.


texts: Can I substitute...whole wheat for all-purpose flour for baked goods?

texts: If we do any kind substitution in between whole wheat and all purpose flour, then what will be the effects on baked goods?


texts: Uses for a sushi mat other than making sushi

texts:
I recently tried sushi for the first time by making it myself. While I loved the rice and insides, I sadly did not like the flavor of the seaweed. I don’t think I will make sushi for myself in the future. (I will, however, be making lots of other ‘sushi’ like recipes!)
Because of this, I now have a sushi mat that I don’t have much use for. So is there anything I can do with my mat (cooking or otherwise) other than make sushi?


texts: How to cook very large Brussels sprouts?

texts:
My normal cooking method for Brussels sprouts is to steam them in a microwave steamer like this:

I usually get a bag of the pre-cut sprouts, but this year I bought a stalk and I have some very large sprouts in the mix, so I'm concerned that they won't cook evenly throughout: either they'll be raw in the center, or they—and the smaller ones—will be overcooked on the outside.

Is there a better method I can use?  Or could it be as simple as halving or quartering the large ones and cooking them as normal?


texts:
I'm trying to get a crunchy crust on a thin steak - is this possible? Online recipes on pan-searing steaks and basting require a 3/4" inch steak at minimum, but this is pretty hard to get at the supermarket for me. They're generally just under 3/4" and more than 1/2".

I find that the outer edges of the surface of the steak in contact with the pan char far more quickly than the inner area. It doesn't seem to be an issue with the steak curving and doming slightly, since this happens on both sides of the steak.

Any idea why this happens, and how to fix this?


texts: How to make the bottom of breads bake a little slower so that the whole bread could stay longer in the oven?

texts: When I bake a bread in my oven, I sprinkle some flour on the pan. But when it's half the baking time, the bottom of burger buns or baguettes become far too brown when the bread itself is not done yet. I wonder what can  I do to keep their bottom less brown and be able to let the bread stay more in the oven for the surface to turn goldish brown. Is it because of flour sprinkling? Will greasing the sheet pan help? Any advice would be greatly appreciated


texts: Why can soda be used as a substitute for eggs when using a boxed cake mix?

texts:
When making a cake from a box mix, I see that soda can be used instead of eggs and oil. What is the science behind this, and what are the properties of oil and eggs that the soda is replacing?

Here's an example of this substitution being mentioned (from ehow)

  Reduce the fat in a cake by using soda to replace the oil and eggs, as
  well as the water. The cake will still have a tender and moist crumb,
  but will be somewhat chewier than usual. A diet soda may be used
  rather than regular soda, which will further reduce the total calories
  in the cake.

Edit: Here are some links to similar recipes

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/diet-soda-cake-recipe/index.html
http://www.food.com/recipe/diet-coke-cake-224794


texts: Are arborvitae branches safe to use as a seasoning?

texts:
Back in old times (really old times), when people would get scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) on long voyages, Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) was used as a treatment/cure to help folks recover from scurvy. That shows that it is useful in some amounts, and can be ingested.

So if it is healthy/safe, what amounts can be used as a seasoning/flavoring, and can it be used in place of (or mixed with) any common herbs/seasonings?


texts: Why did my "Turkish Delight" turn into a horrible goopy mess?

texts:
I don't normally make a lot of confections but decided recently to try a few new things.

Yesterday I used this recipe for Turkish delight which I originally found on the Hydrocolloid Recipe Collection.  It uses agar as the gelling agent and appears relatively easy to prepare (that's why I tried it).  Basically you just dissolve some agar in warm water, orange juice, and lemon juice, add sugar, simmer it, then cool and refrigerate to set.

Unfortunately, what I ended up with after refrigerating overnight was closer to the consistency of jam or marmalade than a Turkish delight.  It was far, far from delightful.

When I prepared this I didn't actually follow the source URL and noticed a few differences that may account for the problem (but I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking):

The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of agar; the one in the collection specifies exactly 1.2 g.
The original recipe specifically says to cover with a cloth; the collection recipe is not so specific, it just says to cover (I used plastic wrap).
The original recipe says to refrigerate in an ice-water bath; the collection recipe does not (I just put the dish in the fridge).

Other issues that may have been causes:

It turned out that my scale wasn't precise enough to get exactly 1.2 g.  The amount I used could have been anywhere between 1 g and 2 g.  In retrospect, I wish I had checked the original recipe and simply used the 1/2 teaspoon that it called for.
I got the agar from an Asian grocery store, and the packaging clearly said "agar agar", but I did notice that it had two ingredients, the second one (after agar) being vanilla.  I'm not sure whether this is normal or whether it might have been diluting the agar mix.
I did notice that it did not seem to be gelling at all while it was coming down to room temperature.  It was basically a soup until it had been refrigerated.

Can anyone identify the most likely reason why this didn't work out?  Did I use too little agar?  Too much?  Could some of the differences between the two recipe versions be important?  Could it be something I haven't thought of yet?

And equally importantly for the purposes of this question, can I fix it or am I going to have to throw it out?


texts:
In Indian restaurants you get usually Papadum as appetizer. It is often served with 3 sauces, one green sauce with a light peppermint taste, one red a bit sweet sauce and one very hot sauce.

These sauces seem to taste often (but not always) very similar regardless of the restaurant. I tried to copy them (especially the green one) but so far the results were a bit disappointing.

Does anyone have an idea what these sauces are called or how they are made?


texts: What are some methods to deal with cleanliness when working with raw chicken, pork, etc.?

texts:
I'm super paranoid when prepping/cooking chicken, pork, etc...especially now that we have an 11 month old crawling around. So, I'm constantly trying to be vigilant about keeping the raw meat prep area confined and I'm constantly washing my hands with hot soapy water.

When you watch chefs on TV, they basically wipe their hands on their aprons, wipe down cutting surfaces with a cloth, etc. I don't see any system or methodology for keeping things sanitary.

Any recommendations on methods, techniques, etc.?


texts: Pork butt roast: slicing temp vs pulling temp

texts: At internal temp of 170F,  will the pork butt slices be very tender and moist or should one continue to higher temp closer to pulled of 195F to achieve?


texts:
Is there any risk damaging my nice large Boos cutting board to make fresh pasta on?  Each recipe/video/tutorial I see on fresh pasta just says "work surface", but does not mention how to properly clean it afterwards.

I have an oversize plastic board as well, would that work? Would an alternative be to make it directly on my granite countertop?  I love pasta, but don't want to damage anything of value in my kitchen making it.


texts: Compact steel toaster ovens without glass?

texts: Are there any compact, counter-top, steel toaster ovens that do not have glass windows? The closest I've been able to find are Wisco's pizza ovens, but I would like something smaller (sandwich/pannini size). Is there a name for such ovens? (They use them at Taco Bell for making small quesadillas or toasting tacos.)


texts: Does cooking break down both fibers in food vegetables and if so is are some cooking methods better for this purpose?

texts:
Does cooking break down/soften the fibers in vegetables such as greens(kale, spinach, lettuce) , potatoes and carrots?

Does both the macro-nutrient fiber as well as the visible fibrous parts of vegetables get softened/broken down or is it just one type of fiber?

Are particular cooking methods e.g frying, boiling, grilling better suited to softening/breaking down fiber/s over other cooking methods, if so which ones?


texts:
I wanted to make licorice ice cream, but I don't want to use existing licorice candy (which probably contains preservatives, starch, gum etc which I want to add myself if needed). I realized I should probably go for cooking licorice root into some sort of extract or syrup and add black food coloring to the ice cream.

What would be the optimal way (traditional?) to extract flavor from a licorice root? Cut into thin strips and cook with a little water and sugar? Macerate in alcohol for a few weeks?

Or is the root not good for candy at all? Should I use anise seeds instead, for example?


texts: What's the minimum amount of oil for making popcorn?

texts: My wife makes popcorn by adding the corn to a pan, then tilt the pan and add oil until the popcorn is just covered. This seems to be a lot of oil. Does anybody know how to make popcorn with less oil?


texts: How to prevent light-colored macarons from browning?

texts:
I have a problem with baking yellow macarons, or any light coloured macarons.

The yellow (or any light colour) ones always brown, always!

I tried lowering the temperature, I bought the best colours I can get in the UK. The colours are powdered, to reduce the liquid content.

Does anyone have a method they could suggest that is fool proof.


texts: Taking it to the next level, systematically

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Books that explain the science of cooking?

Hi there.
I really like to cook, and I also like to experiment a bit with spices and ingredients, but I sometimes feel that the complexity of it all is overwhelming: How long and at what heat do I heat this? Which spice should be added at the beginning, which at the end? I feel that blindly experimenting will take ages to yield useful results.

What I don't like about most standard cook books is that they tell you step by step what you should do, but never explain why it is done. If they would tell, I could then start applying this knowledge in other places, I would understand which steps I could alter to achieve variations in taste and which steps are absolutely essential to avoid disaster.

Are there good resources that really teach and explain the art of cooking?


texts: How can I get the most smoke flavor from Lapsang Souchong tea?

texts:
When I open a bag of Lapsang Souchong tea, it has an overpowering aroma of pine smoke. After brewing, there is still a smokiness in my drink but it is far more subtle, and in particular seems to vary fairly widely from cup to cup.

I wonder what factors would cause this inconsistent extraction, and, more to the point, how I could focus my efforts to tweak the final product. For example, if I steep hotter, or cooler, or longer, or shorter, or covered, or stirred, etc.


texts:
Recently I went to a restaurant where they served home-made pasta with a soft-cooked fried egg on top, and then proceeded to stir and mash the egg and whisk the pasta into an incredible dish in front of us. (This Italian restaurant's most popular dish).

In the movie Spanglish, with Adam Sandler, he mades a club sandich, with a soft-cooked fried egg, that then breaks and goes through the sandwich. (Youtube is filled with videos imitating this scene).

This seems to be such a popular concept (and commercially lucrative). (I admit I love it.) I wondered if there was a food term for it.

My question is: What is the term for serving a soft-cooked fried egg that breaks when the meal is consumed?


texts: What should I do with a turkey after roasting but hours before dinner?

texts:
I work overnight, from 12 AM to 8 AM. When I got in, my only instruction was to check the turkey by 1 AM. I was also told by the co-worker I was relieving that she put the turkey in at 9 PM. And the temperature was set for 350°.

I researched online and read that it should be 165° at the thigh without touching the bone. It's now 2:30 AM and it's still at 160°.

I don't know what to do when the turkey is done, where do I put it, what should I do to it? It's not going to be eaten for at least 12 hours.

I don't even know how big it is. It looks like a 20 pound turkey, but I don't know. It's in a disposable pan, covered in foil.


texts: Biscuits (cookies) turning out more cake-like than biscuity

texts:
Yesterday, for the first time ever, I tried baking some biscuits. I found a suitable recipe for some malted milk biscuits (I love malt), and followed it almost exactly; I endeavour to make everything sugar-free (and when I say 'sugar', I mean fructose), so I substituted the sugar with Xylitol. This is the recipe and method I followed:

125g butter
2.5 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup xylitol
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3 heaped tbsp malt extract

I mixed the butter (room temp.) & xylitol; then added the egg; then added the flour 1 cup at a time, followed by the salt; then the malt, 1 tbsp at a time. I then chilled it for half an hour, cut into shapes, chilled for another 15 minutes (it was pretty warm), and then put in the oven at 160c (fan) for 15 minutes.

They came out fine, but they had definitely risen (they were rolled out to about 0.5cm and rose in the middle to about 1.5cm) and the texture was more like a stiff cake than a snappy biscuit (they should be more like a stiff, crumbly ginger-snap texture).

I suspected it might have been the self-raising flour, so I did a second batch with plain flour, and although they didn't rise, they still came out just as cake-like.

I've read (at least) three different things that apparently affect the texture of a biscuit:

The temperature is usually hotter and baked faster (180c for 10 minutes, for example);
Adding more sugar (although, since xylitol has a 'cooling' mouthfeel (as well as other effects...) I don't want to simply dump more in);
The creaming method.

I've seen the creaming method mentioned a few times, but never with any specifics or directions, and unfortunately, as a biscuit-baking n00b, I don't know how to fix this issue.

tl;dr my biscuits aren't snappy - how do I fix?


texts: Is there a good alternative to Marsala wine?  particularly in this recipe


texts: What does cleave mean with regards to a pan of batter?

texts:
When pouring a Japanese Cheesecake into the baking pan recipe states do not "cleave"...
I have never seen this term Ina recipe.. Please advise!!
Thanks


texts: How large does an oven need to be to fit a 18 lbs turkey?

texts:
Can anyone tell me the interior oven dimensions needed to comfortably fit an 18 lbs turkey?

I've searched around on the internet, but seeing as Thanksgiving is an American holiday, where most people have large, built-in ovens, I haven't had much luck pinning down an answer.

I don't know much of anything about cooking or turkeys or ovens, and I am living in China where ovens are rare and the sand-alone ones you can purchase tend to be small (more of a large toaster oven than what we're used to in the states).


texts: When buying blue potatoes how can you tell what color the flesh will be?

texts:
Most of the time when I purchase blue potatoes they have blue flesh. However, once in a while I get some that have a creamy golden flesh. Looking at them I had no idea they would be different.

I know there are many varieties but usually in the grocery store we are not provided that information. I've tried asking the produce clerks but essentially they are stockers with very little knowledge about produce.

Is there a way you can tell without opening a bag or damaging a potato to get a look?


texts: I would really like to go to bed, but the slow cooker isn't done

texts:
I've got a 6.5qt slow cooker going, with about 7lbs of corned beef in it.  I had put it on HIGH around 4:30pm, figuring that it would take six to eight hours to cook.  Well, it's half-past midnight, and it's not done: the meat is chewy in exactly the way corned beef shouldn't be, due to an abundance of insufficiently cooked connective tissue.

What do I do now?

If I put it on LOW and go to sleep, it will be eight more hours of cooking, which seems like rather a lot.

I'd been planning on cooking the cabbage in the broth, after the meat was done, overnight.  I could fish the meat out, put it in the fridge, and go ahead and cook the cabbage, then tomorrow morning, swap out the cabbage and continue cooking the meat.  Since I have a commitment tomorrow, that means I'm still going to be stuck leaving the meat in the cooking for an additional 5hrs minimum.

Should I leave the meat in there on WARM overnight?  Will that (1) be safe, and (2) be sufficient to cook it?

No, I don't have a slow cooker with a timer; no, I am not waking up in the middle of the night; no, I can't take the ceramic liner out and park it in the fridge (it's bigger than my fridge.)


texts: How to get puff pastry to cook right through

texts: I often use bought puff pastry to make a topping for a chicken pie. However, I tend to find that the pastry is fully cooked on the top but the underside of the pastry remains almost raw. How can I avoid this?


texts: How do I fix improperly seasoned cast iron pans?

texts:
I'm quite new to cooking as a whole.

A few months back I bought a set of VonShef cast iron pans. When seasoning them, I unfortunately made two errors. First, in my naïveté, I used vegetable oil as the seasoning; and second, I didn't remove the excess oil, leaving a sticky and uneven finish in the pans. After a couple of failed attempts at cooking with this situation, and some food sticking to the pans, I've been putting off using them to avoid further catastrophes.

So how can I go about rectifying my mistakes? I've watched a few videos on YouTube about the proper way of seasoning, and it seems you can clear seasoning by either sanding it down or burning the pan. But how would you also clear off burnt food stuck to the pan?

I hope you can see what I mean in the below pictures.


texts:
I am looking for a good system to make loose leaf tea at my workplace. The main requirements are that the tea tastes good and it is easy to clean in the toilet sink without much equipment. Bonus points if it's microwaveable, since I find that slightly more practical than an electric kettle.

I have considered:

cup with a ceramic or glass strainer. Doubts: is the mesh fine enough, or would it let the smaller leaves through?
steel strainers. Doubts: do they affect the water taste? Can they be closed tightly, or would they let the smaller leaves through? Is the steel mesh microwavreable?
cotton strainers. Doubts: do they dry in a reasonable time? Do they get dark and dirty after a few uses?
fillable disposable tea bags. Doubts: are they viable for a single person? They look quite expensive
French press, ingenuitea, or other similar contraptions. Doubts: they don't look easy to clean at all. Are they microwaveable?

What is your experience? Do you recommend (or suggest to avoid) one of these methods, or a new one?

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texts:
This may be a difficult question to answer but if you have any recommendations, I would greatly appreciate it.

I’m going to be opening up a small a home owned desert business and I would like to sell mini crème brûlée. It’s hard to keep the top crunchy and if you pre-torch it and leave it in the fridge the topping will be ruined.
I was thinking of torching them right before the customer picks an order up, but if they decide to put it in the fridge, when they go back to it and bite into it it’ll be really soggy. Or if they order a dozen of them for a party the next day, the next day the topping will be super soggy.

I was just wondering if there was a way to keep the crunchy sugar top crunchy for long-ish periods of time especially because the dessert itself needs to be refrigerated and can’t really be outside the fridge for too long. Please help!


texts:
My understanding is that a lot of the technical knowledge around sous vide was developed in the prepared foods industry by Bruno Goussault of Cuisine Solutions.  This makes me wonder whether some of these techniques might be used with a home sous vide setup.

I'm a novice at sous vide, but chicken breast is easy and has been a definite crowd-pleaser.  Unfortunately, it adds another 45 minutes to an hour to preparing the meal, which we don't have.

I was thinking I could make my own chicken nugget/finger things without all the salt and sugar and other junk.  Is there any resource I can use for techniques around this, assuming its feasible?

I could just prepare them, and then do a reverse sous vide in an ice bath and then into the freezer, but I'm just guessing.  I can also imagine them being a soggy nasty mess.  I'm wondering if some of the sous vide techniques that are used in industrial food preparation.  For example, I know how to sous vide and brown chicken for immediate consumption but I'm looking for how that might differ if wanted to have the food finish in the oven with similar results.