texts: How fine is "Fine Mesh" for removing lumps from custards?

texts:
Many recipes for custards and similar deserts like lemon curd suggest passing the completed custard through a "fine mesh strainer" to remove lumps. When looking up strainers and sifters I see a wide range of different mesh densities often characterized with a "mesh number" such as "60 Mesh" with higher numbers being smaller holes.

What would be an appropriate mesh number for a "fine mesh" strainer to smooth out custards?

At the moment I only have tea strainers and two different sized bowl shaped strainers with what I would consider "normal" density meshes.


texts:
When I try to make garlic bread or, in general, something where the garlic is not in a liquid, it sometimes turns green while cooking! It's worth noting that the taste doesn't seem to really be "off", but the color certainly isn't appetizing. Without doing a ton of experiments myself, does anyone happen to know what causes this?

What I'm doing for garlic bread is as simple as slicing the bread, buttering it, putting crushed garlic on it, and baking. Is there something I'm doing wrong, or perhaps something I should be doing to prevent it?


texts:
I'm a pro at dicing an onion. My issue is always peeling it. The papery skin is so tough to get off, and I'm never sure just how many layers to peel off.

Does anyone have any sure-fire tips on how to peel an onion in 2.5 seconds every time?


texts: I'm cooking a turkey for thanksgiving for the first time. I've got a beautiful 11 lb turkey and according to the websites I found, I should cook it for about three hours. When I asked my girlfriend's experienced cook mother though, she said that time was really low. Just looking for a second opinion.


texts: What qualities to look for in a cut of beef destined for "well done"?

texts:
The major cooking advice is to buy a certain cut (sirloin, etc..) and cook it to rare-degrees.
However, my guests don't like beef that has any pink inside or "blood" (I know it isn't blood) oozing out. I don't assume the same cuts still produce the tastiest steak?

What are the properties of raw beef that result in a great well-done steak and which cuts normally present these properties?


texts: How long should I wait until I put new jars in?

texts:
Currently canning some banana peppers. I have a large stock pot set up with a 3 jar canning rack. I just finished a round of jars in the stock pot and the water was boiling. How cool should I let the water get before I put the next round of jars in to start heating up? I don't want to break my jars by putting them into the pot when its too hot.

I realize this is an inefficient way to do this, but I don't have another pot big enough to heat my jars (the only other one that is close currently has my hot vinegar solution in it).


texts: Correct oven temperature for chicken tikka at home

texts:
To make chicken tikka in oven, should I bake at 350c for about 40 min and then broil it on high for 2 min?
I don't expect same taste as if it was a tandoor oven, but hoping for something close.

Assume I have the ingredients for proper marinade?


texts: Why do spots appear on iceburg lettuce during cold storage？（0~4℃）

texts:
Why does round lettuce appear spot during cold storage？（0~4℃）Is it still edible?

I would like to extend the storage time.

Lettuce is packaged with other vegetables, like red chicory, NewZealandspinach, Romaine Lettuce, etc.

May be my expression is not clear, my English is very poor, please forgive me. I want to know the reason of the spotting, so I can avoid it.


texts:
I'm a recent convert to the fermented cabbage dish Sauerkraut which I know is popular in Germany and Poland.  On TV I've seen this served on hot dogs in The States and was wondering whether it is traditionally washed to produce a milder flavour before being used?

Also, is anything else (usually) served on a hot dog when sauerkraut is included - mustard/ketchup for example?

Cheers!


texts: Why does this recipe call for so much yeast?

texts:
Kindred’s milk bread is delicious. (Here's an alternate link in case that link doesn’t work for you.)

I’m curious though: the recipe calls for two tablespoons of yeast (for 5 cups of flour), more than I’ve ever put into a dough before. Why does it call for so much yeast?

Does an enriched dough always require more yeast? Or is it that this recipe kills most of the yeast by stirring it into hot liquid? Or is it probably just a typo, and 2 teaspoons would be fine?


texts: What sous vide parameters for entrecote?

texts:
I want to cook an entrecote using my sous vide waterbath. The piece is approx. 5cm thick and currently frozen. I would like it to come out as medium-rare. It has a quite a bit of fat on it. At what temperature and for how long should this piece be cooked?

My own guess would be 3 hours at 57, but I after googling my eyes out, I see several different numbers that diverge to a confusing extent.


texts: Chopped tomato-onion-ginger-garlic into paste vs sliced tomato-onion-ginger-garlic when making curry base for indian dish

texts:
When cooking chicken curry and other curries it is required to have a curry base that will me made from onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and perhaps a few other things. I have had this problem that either the onion would be fried too less or burn or the tomato would not fully dissolve to become paste. Thus at the end I did not have a full paste as I would expected.

I solved this problem by buying a chopper and putting in these ingredients and chopping them into a paste and then putting this paste into the pan, this gave me quick curry base.

Since I am not able to follow the first method to perfection as many people, can you tell me if there is a difference in taste/texture of the curry created by these 2 methods? Which is considered superior?


texts:
I'm getting my friends a wok as a wedding gift and I'm concerned that it will be unusable on their ordinary gas stove.

Can woks be used with everyday gas stoves? If not, what is the extra equipment needed to use a wok at home?


texts: I've heard that by coating bread with a solution of water and sugar can preserve it from mold. Is this true? If not, then my Science Fair Project will be a bust.


texts: Why are there egg whites over my yolk when I try to make a sunny side up fried egg?

texts: When I cook fried eggs I've noticed that when I put a teaspoon of water and cover it with a lid, the yellow part gets covered by cooked egg whites when I'm done and it doesn't look much like a sunny side up egg anymore. However when I see others cook and employ the same trick, they don't have this issue. What am I doing wrong?


texts: How long can boiled eggs be stored in the fridge?

texts: I boiled some eggs one week ago and forgot to eat them, so they stayed in the fridge. How long will they stay consumable in there?


texts: Which spices should be bought whole vs. ground?

texts: I have a coffee grinder which has been excellent for grinding spices, and I'm currently transitioning my pantry from having many packaged ground spices to more whole spices which I can grind as needed. Are there spices that I should still buy pre-ground?


texts: What is a good book on the chemistry of cooking? I am looking for a book that discusses fermentation chemical reactions and reactions that occur when food is heated.


texts: Why do brownies made from commercial mixes form a flaky top?

texts:
When I use brownie mix products such as the standard Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines - the ones where you just mix up the ingredients, and then put it in the tray and bake it - I notice that the top just magically becomes flaky and delicious.

What causes that? The top is composed of the same mix as the bottom and sides; I realize it's exposed to the air, but how does that make the difference?


texts: What should I look for when buying a pasta roller?

texts:
I'm looking to buy a pasta roller but I have no experience with them at all.

What things should I look for to make sure I get a good one?

Can they be made of different materials?
Are there left-handed and right-handed models?
Do some have different available thickness settings or a different gearing ratio on the crank?
Is price a useful indicator of quality?

What things should I look for to make sure I don't get a bad one?

Are there features that turn out to be very bad, such as a motor driven roller?
Are there indicators of bad quality, such as gaps between parts that should touch?

Do they come with any optional extras or attachments and if so, which ones are most useful?


texts: What's the line between salsa and guacamole?

texts: I know there is guacamole dip you can buy in the store refrigerator case. I know there's guacamole itself. I know there's jarred "guacamole style salsa" which is a smooth salsa with avocado in it. But where is the line where guacamole becomes a salsa and a salsa becomes guacamole?


texts: I recently inherited a very old but complete set of Luster Craft stainless steel waterless cookware. I know I can use barkeepers friend to clean but what should I use to polish the steel and the handles?  I already have a set of chef’s ware and plan to restore/refurbish the Luster craft for my daughter and keep them in the family.


texts: Problems with rapid melting ice cream. Making it without a machine

texts:
I know this has been discussed before, but I am approaching the problem from another angle: I don't have an ice cream machine.

So I made Alton Browns Philedelphia style ice cream

I made the base, put into a freezer bag, froze it for approximately 7 hours, removed it from the freezer, into a food processor for 30 seconds or until the texture was creamy and then back into the freezer where I kept it overnight.

The result was a very delicious ice cream. However, it melted very easily and I am wondering what I can do to prevent that. It is my understanding that fast melting is a result of too much overrun. But I didn't have a machine so the only overrun is the result of my food processor breaking up the crystals?

I might have stored the base for too long in the freezer. After 7 hours, a lot of crystallization has taken place and I could hear the blade in the food processor beating the crystals while the mixture was in there. For next time, I thought about storing the mixture in the food processor container and just put it into the food processor every 30-60 minutes while it is being frozen.

What can I do to prevent the rapid melting of the Philadelphia style ice cream, given that I don't incorporate an ice cream machine in my process?


texts: Will the ingredients of "baking powder" store indefinitely?

texts:
I don't bake as frequently as I used to, so if I decide to bake on some random evening, there's a good chance my baking powder has already lost much of its leavening ability — another trip to the store.

If I just keep baking soda and cream of tartar on hand, will they create "full strength" baking powder, even if they're left to sit around for months or even years (sealed, dry, etc)?

Baking Powder

1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar


texts: When making french fries, can I precut them before baking or frying them?

texts: We are going on a skiing trip & are staying in a Condo. Can I precut potatoes &/or sweet potatoes into 1/4-inch matchstick fries before our trip then bake them there?


texts: White spots of mould in the blue mould on the outside of my blue cheese

texts:
There are white spots of mould in the blue mould on the outside of my blue cheese. Is this normal?

My cheese cave runs at 60F with 85 to 90% humidity. I took this pic today, after the cheese has been in the cave for 20 days:

Contacted Mad Millie and received the following reply:

Are you able to provide a photo of when you cut into the cheese?
It’s looking pretty good!!

The white mould growing is fine, as white mould is not bad for you. It is the dark mould that you need to be more concerned about. Just wipe the mould off with a cloth, do not salt the cheese.


texts:
Do I have to roast peanuts before grinding them or after grinding them?
Does it matter?

May I roast the peanuts with their papery skin on?

What should I expect from the output if I make the peanut butter with the peanuts with their papery skins on?


texts: Different ways of making the gravy in butter chicken.. which is better?

texts:
Can someone tell me the science behind the following scenarios:
a. Boil tomatoes, onions along with other dry masalas and then make a puree
b. Stir fry tomatoes, onions along with dry masalas and then puree
c. Make the onion, tomato puree and add then put it in the curry pot with masalas.
How will taste be different in each case?


texts: How can I make a sugar free strawberry syrup?

texts:
I make strawberry syrup using the follow ingredientes.

1 pound of strawberrys;
half lemon juice;
1 cup of sugar.

How can I make a sugar free (or at least using less sugar) strawberry syrup?


texts: What is a substitute for going to culinary school? Is there?

texts: We live in the information age. What can I do to learn everything that I would learn in culinary school, but use the available resources that are out there?


texts: Is there a cholesterol-free substitute for egg noodles?

texts:
As the title says, I am looking for noodles that I can use to replace Japanese egg noodles, that are also low in LDL cholesterol.

Can someone please suggest an alternative that is similar to egg noodles (in taste and consistency) but with low levels of LDL cholesterol?


texts: Oven Spring when first stage of recipe includes a ten hour first rise

texts: I am baking Swedish Limpa Bread. The recipe calls for mixing rye flour with a molasses/ anise seed, salt and water mixture and letting rise overnight or nine to ten hours. Does this exhaust the sourdough starter, leading to little rise in the bread? How can I rectify this problem?


texts:
I have a microwave "pot" that I use for steaming vegetables. The instructions say it can also be used for cooking pasta, which seems sacrilege to me.
Does anybody know if the result would be a good al dente pasta if cooked in the microwave?  I'd hate to waste a batch of my home made pasta just to try it.


texts: What wines pair well with spicy, citrus chicken?

texts:
I will be preparing a stir-fry entree, served with rice, consisting of:

Chicken, seared after applying the spice rub, then sauteed with citrus (lemon and lime).
Red and yellow bell peppers, carrots, and (possibly) baby corn
A sweet, thin chili sauce, applied sparingly; the stir fry will not be swimming in it
Spices (dry), used as a rub for the chicken and (lightly) applied to the vegetables during frying: salt, garlic (only a little), ginger, several different kinds of pepper (mostly hot)

This will be a substantially hot dish, enough so that the average restaurant patron would complain and send it back. The citrus also comes through quite strongly in the chicken. The dish works quite well, with the main tastes being hot and acid, accompanied by an undercurrent of sweetness.

I'm entertaining and a wine is required, but, as I don't often drink it with this style of cuisine or flavor profile, I don't know what would make a good accompaniment. I'm leaning towards something mildly sweet, dry and crisp, but I'm unsure how it would get along with the citrus.


texts: Cork-like flavour in "tasteless" Xanthan Gum

texts:
I recently discovered xanthan gum and bought a jar to try this amazing thickener for myself. When opening the jar I however noticed a slightly "corked" smell to the powder itself. I made a thick (~5g/1L) mixture with water to see if the taste was noticable, which it was. It was also noticeable in a thinner sweet cherry dessert sauce.
All sources online refer to xanthan gum as being completely tasteless - did I just get a bad batch? For reference, the brand and specific product is Sosa Pure xantham gum.


texts: Do cocktail onions need to be pressure canned

texts:
I've decided that the cocktail onions I can buy pale in comparison to some that I've had in better establishments.  They're tiny and lack crunch, even when I try to buy something top-notch.

So, I think I'd like to try my hand at making them.  There are a ton of recipes out there, like https://www.marthastewart.com/1144099/cocktail-onions.  I've never done any canning before, and it's a bit intimidating, so I'm reading up on this.

Now, I've come across things that say since onions are low-acid, they should be vacuum canned. Do I need to do that for pickled cocktail onions, even though the recipes I've seen don't say to?  Does the acidic pickling have anything to do with this?  If I do need to vacuum can, will that make the onions mushy?


texts: What is the best way to store fresh berries?

texts:
I have been buying fresh berries from the store on the weekends, and am looking for the best way to make them last throughout the week for use as either a snack or as a component for salads.

The blueberries last the longest, and I can usually salvage enough by Thursday or even Friday, but the blackberries and raspberries seem to either get moldy, or turn to mush, before Wednesday is over.

I've been storing them in the refrigerator in the plastic vented clamshells they come in.

Is there a better way of storing them that will extend their shelf-life another 1-2 days or more?


texts: Appropriate process for bulk sauteing onions?

texts:
In doing some bulk cooking for a vacation, I needed to cook 12 sliced onions and later 6 minced onions for two different dishes; both as a first step in a sauce. In both cases, I used a large Le Creuset dutch oven. I found that the evaporation of the liquids shed from the onions couldn't keep up with the volume of liquids and I seemed to be boiling the onions rather than sauteing.

For the sliced onions, I ended up removing half the volume, draining off the liquid, cooking the onions, and boiling down the liquid to add back to the sauce at a later step. The onions boiled / simmered for 30 mins before I took that action. The dish was fine, but was a curry, so had lots of other flavor. It was also distinctly better after I added the boiled down liquid.

With the minced onion, the liquid eventually boiled off and I continued to cook them. It felt like it took a long time to get to that stage though. The dish was fine, but the texture of the onions was different than how I normally prepare them.

Are there appropriate steps to take when cooking mass quantities of onions as a first step in a dish? Is it ok for them to go through the boil / simmer phase? Should they be cooked in batches? What recipe adjustments should be made?


texts:
I got a SV wand for X-Mas, so have been doing alot of that this month.

I did a flank steak today, which I cut into 3 parts, 3 bags, and did at 52 Deg C for 4 hours.  I then Ice Bath'd all three pieces, and 2 went in the freezer, and one went in the fridge.

For dinner, I pulled the fridge version, and warmed up at 48 Deg C for 30 minutes while preparing Lomo Saltado fixins.

When I was slicing the steak, against the muscle grain, I ran into 2 or 3 small blood spots (bright red pockets in the meat - maybe 1" across and spread across 1" worth of slices.  I took them out, but was wondering if anyone knows what they are, and what that means?  I've cooked many steaks in my 30+ yeas on this earth, and had never seen that.

Second, follow on question: if I want the other 2 steaks more well done, can I pull from the freezer 90 minutes before another meal, and SV at 54 Deg C, or does "twice cooking" them introduce new problems?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!!!


texts: Why does bread taste raw if you stop baking it and continue after it has cooled?

texts:
Unlike, for example, almost anything that is made on the stove and even cakes (of course, as long as your cake doesn't fall as you take it out of the oven), if you stop baking a loaf of bread for some reason before it's thoroughly cooked it will never lose that raw taste, no matter how much you bake or toast it later.

Why is this so? Is it a property of bread? Is it something to do with gluten?


texts: Beef meatballs look red inside but quickly disappear

texts:
Spaghetti and meatballs are red on the inside, but disappeared quickly. Is this just a chemical reaction, and the meatball is still thoroughly cooked? Meatballs are 1 inch in diameter, maybe 20-30 g.

I made some beef meatballs (fresh ground beef shank, red onions, parsley, bread crumbs, 1 egg). I sauteed them on the pot with olive oil, then simmered them with crushed tomato sauce and red wine for 25 minutes. Should I have simmered longer?

One meatball, where I must have not noticed the red phenomenon, tasted just like any regular hamburger meat (quite dry on the inside, actually). Some of the fat and fascia were getting caught between my teeth and some I wanted to spit out.

Edit: so I put it back on the stove and simmered (maybe even almost boiling) for a solid 45 minutes, which I should have done to begin with, because the sauce improved further and thickened. It was reheated served the following day. The meatballs still had the red-inside phenomenon!


texts: Does the choice of peppers affect the 'flavor of the heat'?

texts:
Working with a variation of this chili recipe I meticulously cleaned my peppers of seeds and veins to produce a 'milder' chili. Unfortunately this batch was almost 'too mild' (heat wise, the flavor was very good). I am thinking that next time around I will leave in some of the seeds/veins to give it just a bit more 'kick'.

The question is, given the choice of Anaheim, poblano and jalapeno peppers would it matter to the flavor which pepper I allow to be the source of the heat? I know that each pepper has it's own unique flavor to offer and each is going to provide a different 'level' of heat, but will the 'heat' taste differently based on the choice of pepper?

[for anyone interested, the variation that I apply is to substitute buffalo for ground beef and fresh tomatoes for the canned, I don't believe either should affect this question.]


texts:
I want to make ice cream, put them into pint containers (or, hopefully of any custom size in the future) and have the containers be sealed with a film like Häagen-Dazs does.

A machine would be ok. Manual would be fine too. I just want to know where to get the equipment and/or some instructions. Thank you.


texts: What are the costs to consider when making jam?

texts:
I am trying to dertermine what kinds of jam are particularly cost-effective to make at home.

I have been given a few bits of equipment for jam making, and am looking forward to getting started.

We don't have a garden at the moment so can't grown our own fruit. I have seen blackberries growing wild near us so I will be trying that, but I would also like to try other kinds of jam.


texts: Is it normal for collard greens to be red?

texts:
The collard greens that I have received are red. Is this normal/healthy? Image attached.

Google searching this gives me zero results that are anywhere near relevant. I also can't find any images of red collard greens, they are always green in the image search.


texts: Can I use sunflower oil to season my cast-iron pan? I know the oil needs to be able to tolerate high temperature and I'm not sure if this oil is fit for purpose.


texts: Can you use coffee or tea instead of water in a sourdough starter?

texts: Can I use coffee or tea instead of water when making a sourdough starter?


texts:
I am making chestnut cream madeleines from almond flour. The recipe calls for baking at 320F/160C for 30 minutes, which almost burns the outside but leaves the inside baked.

I baked a second batch for 26 minutes, which leaves the outside a nice golden madeleine color, but the inside is underdone.

If I left them in the oven any longer, the outside would start to burn.

My goal is to get the outside and inside as correct and delicious as possible.

If I bake another batch, would I have more likelihood of success baking at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, or vice versa (high temp/shorter time)?

When I read recipes online, there is a wide variety of baking times and temperatures for this cake, and they use wheat flour, not almond. So I appreciate any advice relevant to baking with that type of flour.


texts:
I've had various successes (but mostly failures) with the little birds. I'd like your advise on making it tender as can be.

My technique is mostly to sear the outside and then cook for about 20' in a flavor full broth (onions, wine, other vegetables & spices).

Am I cooking it too long (or short)?


texts: Uses for the Bulgarian/Balkan condiment "lutenitza"

texts:
I saw a jar of this condiment called 'liutenzia' on sale at the supermarket here in Los Angeles. The ingredients say that it has tomato paste, pepper paste, carrot paste, and spices. It looks/sounds delicious but I'm not sure what I would do with it.

I've half a mind to try it, but how is it commonly used? What dishes or appetizers would go well with it? I thought fresh bread or pitas would be tasty dipped in it, like a sort of hummus, tapenade or caponata.

Where can I learn more about it? Any ideas, links (articles or books) about Bulgarian cuisine (in English), specifically liutenzia-related?


texts: Can I make this bread recipe gluten free?

texts:
My fiance has celiac disease and so I have been trying to get better at baking gluten-free lately. I have made the following recipe many times and it is soooo delicious; I was wondering if someone more knowledgeable than myself can help me with the proper conversions to make the recipe gluten free? The recipe is found here, but I have also copied it below. My initial thoughts are trading the bread flour and whole wheat flour for a mixture of buckwheat and garfava flour with maybe 2 tsp of xantham gum. Thank you for any help!

Ingredients
Night Before:

* 1/3 cup bread flour
* 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/3 cup lukewarm water
* 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Soaker:

* 1/4 cup toasted cracked wheat
* 1/4 cup water

Day of:

* 2 cups bread flour
* 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
* 1 cup lukewarm water
* 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
* 1 cup roasted potatoes and onions

Method

The night before you want to make this bread add all the "night before" ingredients
together and mix till smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the counter for
12-16 hours. In a separate bowl combine the "soaker" ingredients together and cover
with plastic wrap and leave on the counter for 12-16 hours. In the morning chop a few
potatoes and place in a baking dish. Cut about a half a onion and mix with the
potatoes. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and some thyme roast in the oven till
golden brown. Cool before using in the bread. Prep all the ingredients you will need
ahead. This will help to make things move faster. In a large bowl add the "night
before" mixture, the soaker, water, salt and instant yeast. Mix together. Add whole
wheat flour and have the bread flour. Mix till the batter is smooth and well blended.
Allow to sit uncovered for 15 minutes. Sprinkle some of the flour onto a flat surface
and pour out the dough. Top with some more flour and begin to knead slowly adding in
the rest of the flour. Add a little at a time till the dough is smooth and elastic.
Plus, a little on the sticky side. You will need to knead the dough for about 8 - 10
minutes. Take the dough and flatten it out a little. Add the roasted potatoes and
onions to the top of the dough. Now, knead in the potatoes into the dough. Knead till
the potatoes and onions are well incorporated. Add a little olive oil to a bowl and
place the dough into the bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest
till double in bulk. Pour out the dough onto a flat surface. Cut dough in half and
shape each piece into a ball. Sprinkle some cornmeal onto parchment paper. Place the
pieces of dough on top and dust with a little whole wheat flour. Cover with plastic
wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour. Remove the plastic wrap and score the top of the
bread with a sharp knife. Place into a preheated 440 degree oven with a baking stone
or on a cookie sheet. Create some steam by placing a cast iron pan on the bottom of
the oven the same time that you turn on the oven. Once you place the breads into the
oven pour about a cup of boiling water into the hot pan and close the door. Bake for
30 -35 minutes or till when tapped on the bottom of the loaf it sounds hollow.


texts: Canned (shelf stable) pickled eggs that don't require refrigeration?

texts:
Terminology: when I refer to "canned eggs", I'm referring to pickled/marinated eggs that have been processed, and can be stored at room temperature long term (i.e. shelf stable). When I refer to just "pickled eggs", I'm referring to pickled/marinated eggs that have been processed, but require refrigeration.

I've been pickling eggs for years now (eggs plus hot peppers and garlic plus a tiny bit of beet for red coloring), and a neighbor recently gave me a large amount as she can't sell them at the local market for the next several weeks (i.e. hundreds of eggs), so she gave them to me. I'm planning on making several dozen jars of them. I've used the process described by the "Kuntz Family Picked Eggs" article I found online years back, and never had any problems.

However, the page, citing the NCHFP, notes that it's not recommended to attempt canned (i.e. shelf stable and no refrigeration) pickled eggs. It goes on to describe a recipe that should be safe for canned eggs, provided they are kept in a dark, cool location. I've also found a lengthy StackExchange:Cooking discussion that arrives at the same conclusion: canning eggs is a no-go.

I've recently discovered a brand of pickled eggs, "Nanjo's", that is sold at the local grocery stores, and it's' canned pickled eggs (room temperature, no refrigeration). They also taste quite good.

So, is there some trick to making shelf stable pickled eggs that I don't know about (i.e. pressure canning versus just hot water boiling) that makes them guaranteed shelf stable (i.e. by a reputable authority on the subject) and safe to store (i.e. at least for 6 months) without refrigeration? I'm skeptical that such a product could be sold in major stores if it had a serious risk of botulism contamination.

Thank you.

Edit:

I found some posts by the author of the first web site I linked:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1931142/canning-eggs-is-this-safe
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1933723/canning-pickled-eggs-can-be-safe


texts: Is It Possible to Make Elbow Pasta At Home?

texts: I love making egg, semolina, and wheat pasta at home, but my home pasta maker (a KitchenAid attachment with a roller and two cutter blades) does only basic fettucini and spaghetti shapes plus whatever I cut the sheets to myself.  Is it possible using either a by-hand technique or another machine to make elbow pasta or other round shapes at home, or is this something I have to stick to buying?


texts:
Not sure where I went wrong

3 layers cake, cutted the top (levelled)

Cooled overnight

Did buttercream in between and on the sides

Fridge for 3hrs

It's offside!

Any future suggestions?


texts:
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/33892/6168

  For longer storage, keep white flours in the refrigerator in an airtight container. All-purpose and bread flour will keep up to two years at 40 F in your refrigerator, according to the Wheat Foods Council. They can be stored indefinitely in the freezer.

What is the best way to store the whole wheat flour for daily usage?

Should it be stored in the fridge and taken out daily for usage and then kept back?


texts: Can you add rice flour to pastries to make them flakier?

texts:
The goal with many pastries seems to be limiting gluten development, by reducing the amount of water (e.g. replacing water with vodka in pie doughs) or reducing the time that the dough is handled to slow gluten development.

Given that rice flour has 0 gluten can I just substitute a quantity of all purpose for rice flour? what percentage should I swap out to achieve flaky pastries? Does rice flour have other effects on the finished product that I need to account for?


texts: How is flambéing different from just adding alcohol?

texts:
A wonderful recipe in a book says:

  Slightly roast pepper with oil, then deglaze with brandy and light it up immediately, wait for the flame to go out. [Then add other ingredients]

Since that process felt quite dangerous, especially if the pan is hot and the alcohol vaporises quickly, I was wondering:

What is the difference between just adding brandy to burning it with regard to taste?


texts: I am making clam chowder and the recipe calls for black pepper, salt, parsley and red pepper (1/2 t).  SHould I use ground cayanne pepper or red pepper flakes?


texts: Can I flavor powdered sugar with vanilla beans or citrus zest?

texts:
I'm asking specifically for macarons (the fussiest cookie in the known universe),

so I wouldn't be interested in trying if it would negatively affect the way the sugar behaves in a macaron recipe, but a subtle flavoring could be pretty cool. I would try just burying the zest (in big easy to remove pieces) or the vanilla bean in the sugar and letting it sit, covered, for a couple of weeks.

I wouldn't mind if it required a bit of a whir in the food processor, as long as the sugar sifted and otherwise acted like it should in the recipe.

Advice? Caveats?


texts:
Okay.. so I watch this video in youtube where this guys seem to have done their homework. They have this fried egg dancing on the pan like skates on ice:

https://youtu.be/-suTmUX4Vbk

So we don't have this brands in Spain,  so I start searching for carbon steel pans at the hood and find this 3 pan set for 8,50 euros  (bout 10$) at the dollar store with carbon steel written on the label.

So what's the deal? Is carbon steel always the same or is there anyway of recognizing good vs bad. As everyone I guess, I don't like to pay extra just for the brand. Will this cheap pans do the egg job if I season them properly?


texts: Can you make tortillas/pitas on stainless steel?

texts:
Most tortilla and pita bread recipes I see specifically call for cooking the dough in a cast iron skillet. At the moment, I only have stainless steel.

My only attempt at making pita bread in a stainless steel skillet failed miserably. For the first batch I used a thin layer of oil and the dough ended up 'fried' (very crispy and oily on the outside). Then I tried with very little oil and the dough stuck and burned.

Should I expect the same problems with making tortillas, and is there anything I can do differently?


texts: Is it possible to can lemons in a simple syrup as opposed to using salt?

texts:
I would like to know if its possible to can/preserve whole meyer lemons in a sweet simple syrup, much like you would can peaches or cherries.

I haven't been able to find a recipe for canning lemons that isn't savory and doesn't use salt, but I want to use these lemons for baking so the whole salt canning method isn't going to work. I'm down to the last of my precious meyer lemons for this summer and really want to preserve them so that I'm able to whip up a cheesecake or what have you any time of the year using preserved sweet lemons.

If anyone has had success with this and wants to share their experience i would appreciate it.


texts: How do you properly drain the grease after browning ground beef?

texts:
Whenever I try to drain the grease from the pan after I have browned ground beef, I always end up spilling a little here and there. I usually just take a spoon and "spoon out" the grease into a bowl.

Another technique my mother use to use, but only a few times, was to take a baster and remove the grease that way. But, the downside to this is that the grease is extremely hot and the rubber part of the baster would get really hot.

Is there an easier or better way to do this?


texts: Risks of allergen cross-contamination (and how to avoid)

texts:
Is there any evidence regarding the risks of allergen cross-contamination in a typical residential kitchen environment?

Specifically, I'm wondering about situations like:

1) If a seasoned cast-iron skillet comes into contact with an allergen (e.g. gluten, soy), does a risk of cross-contamination still exist after washing/rinsing it? (it seems like it would be unavoidable that some residue gets incorporated into the pan's seasoning layer?)

2) A typical dishwasher may only use a few gallons of water and only perform 2 rinses in a cycle. Is it possible that some low concentration of allergen get "distributed" onto all the dishes and remains after the cycle is complete?

3) For non-porous surfaces (stainless steel, plastic cutting boards), is there any risk of allergens still being present after soap/water cleaning?

4) What about for porous surfaces (wooden cutting boards, wooden stir spoons)?

Ultimately, I'm trying to decide if a food allergy requires that my kitchen be completely devoid of the allergens (or anything that has ever come into contact with them), or if methods like soap+water washing are known to be sufficient to reduce allergen concentration to a safe level.


texts: Tiny beads/flecks of uncooked dough all through my bread

texts:
I'm not sure exactly what aspect of my bread-making is at fault here, but this is close to my tenth loaf, and each one has turned out a bit differently as I've tried to work on my technique to produce better results. A couple of times the loaves have been perfect but the last three have consistently had these little doughy flecks all through the loaf, surrounded by a nice well-cooked texture.

Here is a picture of today's loaf:

I live in Brisbane, Australia, and most days during this learning curve have been at the very least in the high 20's, and often around the 30-31C mark (85-90F). The humidity can get quite high too, often 60-90%.

I'm using a crusty white bread mix from Laucke Mills, which is basically bread flour with some kind of bread improver mixed in. Here are the steps I take:

I activate the yeast by adding it to the specified quantity of water (tepid, roughly lukewarm) along with a teaspoon or so of sugar, mix it up and let the yeast activate (5-10 mins)
I add the specified quantity of flour to the mixing bowl and add the activated yeast and water mix a well in the middle, then mix with a large metal mixing spoon until a have a sticky hunk of unkneaded dough. It generally looks like the pictures in other guides I have read.
I flour the breadboard with a thin-ish layer of flour (I have a really large breadboard, so there's enough space), spread the flour around with my hands and then tip the rough, sticky doughy ball into the middle.
I start kneading, and have been trying to speed up the rate at which i fold, knead and turn, because, despite using the exact quantities of flour and water specified, I find the stickiness of the dough makes it stick to my hands really quickly, and if that happens, I end up having to rub my hands to uncake the dough onto the side (I'm not letting the caked bits get back into the dough, so that can't be the issue). Even then, it's hard to knead the dough to a point where I get that thin gluten window every guide out there claims that I should be able to see after 10-15 minutes of kneading.
Eventually the dough ball seems consistent enough, so I then proof it in a lightly oiled mixing bowl for 40 minutes or so, as that's how long it takes in this weather to roughly double in size.
Next I punch the dough down a bit and then upend it back onto the now-clean breadboard, flatten it out a bit to try and release the gas, then shape it into a roughly bread-like shape.
I allow it to rise in the tin (with baking paper) for roughly 30 minutes, as that's how long it seems to take to get a significant rise, then I put it in the oven, which supposedly should be around 220C by now. I also put a tray of boiling water at the bottom of the oven, as various guides seem to recommend.

After about 40 minutes, the result is what you see in the picture. On this occasion I tried to put it back and each time I pulled it out, I cut off a test slice to see if the extra time had been the issue. The doughy bits did cook a bit more by the third replacement, but eventually the crust got too brown and hard and I knew it was time for a postmortem.

Would greatly appreciate any advice.


texts: No one is immune to injury in the kitchen. Cuts and burns especially are common and can be severe. I love cooking with kids and I feel that it's my responsibility to be prepared for potential accidents. Accidents happen in professional kitchens too, and dinner service doesn't stop because the chef cut himself. To be prepared, what items should be found in every kitchen?


texts: Prevent scrambled eggs from sticking to stainless steel

texts: I'm having the hardest time preventing scrambled eggs from sticking to stainless steel cookware. I've tried bringing the eggs to room temperature before cooking, slowly heating the pan, loads of butter (tasted great, still stuck), adding milk to the eggs. How can I prevent scrambled eggs from sticking to stainless steel?


texts: How to package fresh pasta and fresh pasta sauce

texts: I want to start selling my pasta sauce and fresh pastas (gnocchi and tortellini) in refrigerated compartments of departmental stores. Does any one know how stores package their sauces and fresh pastas? is it vacuum sealed or something else?


texts: Would it be alright to substitute white balsamic vinegar for wine in risotto?

texts: I'm really craving risotto but I don't have any wine in the house at the moment. I do have white balsamic vinegar, however.


texts: Substituting Dried Cranberries for Fresh/Frozen

texts:
I have a slow cooker recipe (for meat) that calls for 4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries. Fresh are out of season, and frozen out of stock at my usual stores.  All that's available are dried cranberries.

I'm wondering about the advisability of getting the dried cranberries and re-hydrating them in the other fluid ingredients of the recipe (e.g. apple juice) over the stove, and using them in the slow cooker as usual.

Is this a reasonable thing to do?  If so, what measure of dried cranberries will substitute for 4 cups frozen?  And how much fluid will that amount of dried cranberries require to re-hydrate to 4 cups?


texts:
I've been a bit lazy in the last couple of weeks and left some ash in my grill. I was cleaning it today and noticed a hard cement-like substance. I believe this is the dreaded corrosive 'cement' I've read about which is the result of ashes absorbing moisture.

I've scrubbed it with paper towels but it's not coming off.

Any recommendations on how to clean it?


texts: Will botulism growing in my home-canned vegetables pop the lid?

texts:
I remember that in my biology class in high school the teacher told showed us a puffed up can of pineapples which he claimed had botulism in it.

Is that remotely true? and if so, can I tell if my canned ketchup has botulism in it through the same "method"? and if so how long might that take?


texts:
I made carrot cake but it turned out very heavy. Is this normal?

I followed this recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp each: cinnamon, salt, vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup each: grated carrots, sweetened coconut, raisins, various nuts
2/3 cup oil
1/2 stick butter
1/4 applesauce

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl,  all other in separate bowl.  Add wet to dry and stir until combined.

Bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees F.  Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then get it out and cool it on a rack.


texts: Can I double the pizza dough recipe for my bread machine

texts: I have a Panasonic SD-ZB2512 bread maker and I like to use it to make pizza dough. It does a good enough job but only makes enough for one pizza at a time. Can I double the recipe? I'm pretty sure it would fit but worry the recipe might not be scale-able for other reasons. Would I be risking  horrible dough or a damaged machine?


texts: What is cold pressed method to extract Juice?

texts: Yesterday I came to know about the term when I was looking for some juice. They were stating that we will deliver cold pressed Juice. So that make me wonder about what is Cold Pressed method and how can we extract juice using that way.


texts: How should I keep date palm fruit at my home?

texts:
My neighbour gave us date palm fruit, its colour is not that black, kind of brown, not as sweet as the date palm fruit I ate before. I'm not sure if it's ripen already, but it's sweet enough, so my family and I just enjoy eating it.

Now I'm confused of where I should keep it. Should I keep it in the fridge? Or should I keep it outside the fridge? Won't ants come to get it if I don't store it in the fridge? I once kept date palm fruit in the fridge, but the fruit became firmer/tougher to bite, I'm not sure if that's better.

Advice? Help? Thanks.


texts:
All types of fresh whipping cream or Half-and-Half that I have found have an ingredient called Carrageenan, which interacts really weird with my dad (makes him feel jittery).

As I was Whipping Egg whites the other day, I thought maybe I could use that as a substitute. Is there some way to cure egg whites so as to remove the possibility of salmonella, while not ruining the "stiff peaks" property so that I can add sugar and use it as whipped cream?

Can I add milk or something else to it to make the taste similar to that of real whipped cream?

Thanks for your ideas and time!


texts: What are substitutions for coconut in curry?

texts:
I'm allergic to coconut - this is a new allergy, so I really miss Thai and Indian curry! I also have issues with dairy.

Would it work to use roasted cauliflower puree as a curry base instead of coconut? Maybe with a little raw cashews pureed to add creaminess.

Are there other options to satiate my dreams of curry without coconut or dairy milk?


texts: Pumpkin pie, how long does tin foil need to be around the pie while baking?

texts: How long does the tin foil need to be around the crust when baking?


texts: What is the best method for determining when a roast chicken is done cooking? Many of the methods I have seen online provide approximate time ranges for cooking dependent on the weight of the chicken. I don’t usually have a scale handy when I cook, especially if I’m only cooking part of the chicken. Are there any precise approaches I can use that are easily accessible?


texts: This is my first time preparing chicken and I'm affraid i might've undercooked it. There's a small red spot in the middle of it. I've seasoned it so it might be from that


texts: How do you make truffle salt at home? I tried with just a jarred black truffle I got at the stores. I finely grated it over a microplane and then mixed it with salt and let it sit for a while. It doesn't taste at all like the truffle salt I buy at the store. I can't find anything online either. What kind of truffles do I get? What do you look for? How do I prep them? What is the ratio of salt to truffle? What are the instructions? Thank you.


texts: How can I get hash browns to bind without using egg?

texts:
I don't want to add egg to bind hash browns. What is the best way to bind hash brown without the eggs?

My first thoughts are should I still grate the potato, or boil first to soften to enable them to bind?


texts: Is there any benefits to grinding meat at home regarding safety? From my understanding, the reason a cut of meat can be cooked rare is that the outside ,which may be contaminated, gets cooked fully. Whereas with ground meat, there is no "outside", so it is always recommended to cook to 160. I could pick the cut of meat to grind. Are certain beef cuts (maybe away from internal organs) considered lower risk with regards to E.Coli and other contamination?


texts: How do I prevent coconut milk from separating in Thai curry?

texts:
It seems like every single attempt I've made at making a Thai-style coconut curry ends up with the sauce mixture separating. Although it usually still tastes good, the coconut ends up looking like it has curdled.

My question is what could I be doing wrong?  I've mainly been following the recipe on the side of the curry paste I have (Thai Kitchens brand, IIRC).

Stir some of the paste with a can of coconut milk (I've been using Chao Koh) until that boils.
Add some fish sauce and chicken broth along with the meat and vegetables
Simmer until cooked.

My suspicion is I may be using too much chicken stock. I usually use about 1-2 cups. The vegetables I add(typically bell peppers and onions) will also contribute additional liquid to the curry.

My family and I love this dish, but I would really like to perfect its preparation. What steps can I take to prevent the coconut milk from separating from the curry?


texts:
I'd love to get something approximating the nicely uniform chopped peanuts you get when you order a sundae at McDonald's.

I have tried manually chopping the nuts, and they come out all sorts of shapes and sizes.  I bought a manual nut chopper, and while this is closer, there's still lots of peanut dust.

Short of buying a commercial nut chopper, is there any trick to get the nuts chopped evenly and with minimal dust?


texts: I was recently watching a friend sauté vegetables (specifically artichokes and broccoli) and instead of using olive oil, she used water. What's the difference between using oil as compared to using water to sauté? How do I know when to use which?


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Does oil in the boiling water prevent the spaghetti from sticking together?

Since time immortal I have added a couple tablespoons of oil to the water when cooking pasta. I have recently heard statements to the effect that there is no justification for the practice. Is that true? If not, what is a legitimate reason for adding oil to the water?


texts:
I have this idea of curing fat that comes from my biltong making. I'm wondering if this would be Lardo and whether it is a good idea?

I want to take a nice piece of pork backfat (or maybe belly) Salt it (2 hours) with koshering salts off course. Use a vinegar bath to get all the excess salt off the fat. Cover it in a good amount of spice over night and then afterwards hang in the dispensary for two weeks.

Is this a good idea? Will this make Lardo? I'm wondering if the vinegar bath that works for the meat will work for the fat. I suspect the vinegar and the fat may not mix well.


texts:
I frequently run across recipes in books that require "fine-ground cornmeal", which isn't a classification that exists in the USA (particularly baffling when the cookbook was published in the USA).  This leaves me unsure of what to substitute; whether I should be using medium-grind cornmeal, or corn flour.  As such, below is a listing of types of cornmeal in the US, as labeled by flour mills*.

Coarse Ground Cornmeal: usually yellow, otherwise known as Polenta, 1mm large grains used mainly for boiling.
Medium Ground Cornmeal: usually yellow, a rough grind larger than wheat flour and about the same size as pasta semolina.  Used for cornbread.
Corn Flour: cornmeal, usually yellow, ground to the same consistency as wheat flour.
Corn Starch: superfine ground husked corn flour, usually white.

So, when a recipe asks me for "fine ground cornmeal", what is it asking for, if no other information is supplied?  A US recipe?  A British recipe?  An Australian Recipe?

I am looking for a generic answer here for each nationality (or region), because I have seen this in multiple recipes, not an answer for a specific recipe.

(* there's also grits and various grades of masa, which aren't relevant for this question)


texts: Is it doable to cook over the flame of a cooking gas stove at home. Is it dangerous? Couldn't it be even better as an open fire over coal or wood, since gas is cleaner?


texts: Omiting salt in baking recipes that use chemical leaveners?

texts: I'm trying to reduce my salt intake.  I've noticed in baking recipes where baking powder is used they add salt.  Can I omit the salt or would the recipe fail?


texts: Since I live by myself, I tend to not cook a whole pound or two of say, ground beef or chicken thighs at once, since I can't eat that all in one meal. If using a spice mixture recommended for 1 or 2 pounds of meat, will the spices retain their punch if the spice mix contents are reduced by half or even a quarter? Do spice mixes scale with the rest of the recipe? This is probably a very basic question, but I was wondering if anyone else had experience with reducing recipes for eating in one sitting.


texts: How do I keep a store bought "hot roasted chicken" moist to eat later in the evening?


texts: Thai Curry seems more watery over the last year?

texts:
I've made Thai Penang Curry probably ONE THOUSAND TIMES.  Not quite weekly for 25 years.  No joke.

Over the last year or so, I've noticed it's surprisingly watery, however I haven't changed my method or my brands of ingredients so what could it be?  Has the world standard for coconut milk simply changed, I wonder?  (Something similar happened in the US when wheat varieties were changed practically nationwide over a few years; I hear they planned the switchover to be gradual so as not to surprise people.)

I've always used Mae Ploy Panang Curry Paste, usually in envelopes but sometimes in the big plastic tub when I had a bigger refrigerator.

I've always used Chaokoh or Aroy-D coconut milk.  Sometimes I've used western brands and never noticed a difference up or down.  One time by mistake I used LITE coconut milk and it sucked big-time.  The difference I'm seeing now isn't that difference.  (Aside: in Hong Kong, they don't allow the product term "lite" and when an importer brings in products labelled for other countries, which is quite common, they paint over the "lite" part of the label.  That's good as it doesn't fool people into thinking it's low-calorie, but it's bad that the taste is utterly different.

My method varies a little bit but doesn't affect the results.  I always use chicken breast, same day I bought it if possible, sliced and fried in vegetable oil or sometimes the cream from the can.  It doesn't seem to matter which.  I used to always add a thin-sliced garlic and 5 or so Thai chilis and fry until fragrant  before adding chicken, but now that I have kids I don't bother.  I've NEVER fried the paste as is often recommended; I just pour in a can of coconut milk and put in the envelope of roux and squash the lumps out for a few minutes.  Oh: also julienne 10 lime leaves as finely as possible after removing their spine.  Also I boil a dozen pea eggplants 10 min in water separately, then add them to the curry.

OK so for the last 12-18 months, it just seems more watery than I remember.  Either my memory is somehow slipping, and it's always been like this, or something has changed (such as the world standard for how much fat coconut milk has).  I've actually taken to sprinkling just a tiny bit of flour as a thickener and boiling briefly.  Any ideas?

UPDATE: I've now tried Merito brand "Certified Organic" Coconut Milk in Japan.  Ingredients include only processed coconut and guar gum (the thickener missing from Chaokoh brand coconut milk, at least now in Japan, not sure about the past or in other countries).  I added a whole small can of coconut cream (I forget brand and size) but no joy.  Still seemed watery.  And I've verified there's no water in the pan from the chicken that would be watering it down.  I'll try a different brand of cream next time and report volume and brand.


texts: Convert chocolate chip cookie recipe to chocolate chocolate chip cookie

texts:
I have a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe. I'd like to convert this recipe to have a chocolate dough (ie make chocolate chocolate chip cookies). How can I convert it without losing the texture of chocolate chip cookies?

Here is the recipe, if that helps

2 1/2 cups flour
¾   cup sugar
¾   cup brown sugar
Tbs vanilla
tsp baking soda
pinch salt
2   eggs
1stick of margarine (more can be added for better taste)
½   cup chips (chocolate/vanilla)

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips.
Add chips to dough
Make balls of EQUAL SIZE
Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes (or until they begin browning)
Let cool before eating


texts: How can I keep delicate food from sticking to the grill?

texts: When I grill fish or chicken, often much of the meat and/or skin ends up sticking to the grill. What's the best way to avoid this?


texts: Temperature needed to make crunchy toffee

texts: I'm trying to make chocolate nut toffee and all the recipes I've found tells you to boil the toffee until it's dark brown. What temperature does it have to reach to achieve that?  The toffee should be crunchy and not sticky.  Thanks!


texts:
Every time I try to make crispy orange beef, I try to integrate orange(juice, concentrate, zest) so that orange flavor stands out, but it never does.

Does the orange in crispy orange beef refer to it as a garnish only?


texts: I rarely clean the old oil from my slow-cooker, is it OK?

texts:
I put some chicken/beef into my slow-cooker, pour some olive oil and cook it for 4-5 hours. After that, if some meat is still left in the cooker, I may heat it up again the next day or the day after the next day, etc.
Then, when all meat is finished, I just throw away the oil & meat juices from the cooker but don't wash the cooker with water. I put new raw meat, pour some fresh olive oil and repeat again the cooking process. Is it bad that some residues of the old olive oil from the previous cookings are present in my new cookings? Is there carcinogenic stuff in the old oil?


texts:
I'm not able to purchase agar-agar (yet), so is there a rule for replacing the quantity? I've seen a recipe with 0,5 spoon of agar-agar for 1 spoon of gelatin. Is that the usual proportion?

Additional: is there a difference in treatment to activate the agar-agar or gelatin?


texts:
I've been making my own pizza dough for years but almost always the results are stodgy and thick dough. Ideally I'd like to make thin, crispy pizza bases with those bubbly bits.

Measurements for flour and water always go out the window when my hands are sticky so that might be one issue. A friends advice was to add a tablespoon of semolina to the flour to add texture.

It's safe to assume that the measurements I'm using are probably wrong so I won't list them.

I mix the flour, water, salt, olive oil and yeast together.
Add more
water or flour depending on stickiness.
Fold and knead it for around
10 minutes.

Once I'm happy it's well kneaded and there's no pockets of dry flour I put it in a bowl and put a damp cloth over the top. I leave it in a warm place like an airing cupboard to rise for 3-4 hours.

Normally the dough rises a lot, maybe too much? I roll the dough as thin as possible. I've sometimes tried pre-baking the bases for 5 minutes before putting the sauce and toppings on. This helps getting them a bit crisper.

I've also tried roasting vegetables before putting them on top since I fear they make the dough soggy if added when raw.

Will using a pizza stone make a huge difference?

Please give me details of your method, the ingredients, measurements and equipment you use


texts: What is this? Fresh Kale looks to have small sprouting seeds, although looks similar to insect eggs

texts:
Picked up from farmer's market yesterday. Not sure if organic.

No smell. Slimey texture. Strong grip. A few have started to sprout.

About 4 on this one leaf. Other leafs have none.

Any idea what they could be?


texts: I wanted to buy some SPAM for my zombie apocalypse survival kit, and I noticed that it had an expiration date in 2013. Should I be concerned? I've heard it will last more than 25 years.


texts: Unfreezing and cooking steaks like ribeye or club steaks

texts:
We usually buy club steaks or rib eye steaks and freeze them for cooking them at a later day.

Then a few days later we take the steaks out of the freezer to make them on a pan or in the oven.

One of the issues we have found is that the steaks seem to be a little chewy, meaning that the meat seems to get cut in pieces like if it was rubber, instead of the cut that it has when it is fresh from the day.

Would anyone have an advise for the unfreezing and cooking of steaks so they taste almost like fresh?


texts: How to make home made jam retain the fruity taste?

texts:
Today I made a pulp of 2 strawberries, half apple, 4 orange pieces, and 1 teaspoon jaggery.

The pulp was tasting fruity.

To make jam I put the pulp in a frying pan and cooked on low fire for some time till some of the water dried up.

The resultant jam was not thick, it was runny. That is totally fine.

Problem is that the fruity taste was gone. It seemed a bit sour. I am just concerned about the fruity taste.

How can I retain the fruity taste in home made jam?


texts: How long are egg-free dressings like Just Mayo okay to eat after sell by date?

texts:
I recently ordered a jar of Just Mayo from an online store and was sent a bottle that has a sell by date for about a month ago. The obvious complaint aside, it got me wondering how likely it is that such a product would actually be unsuitable for consumption. I mean, products like Just Mayo or Vegenaise don't have any eggs or dairy in them (its kind of their selling point). So they wouldn't 'turn' nearly as quickly as traditional mayonnaise, right?

My question is, how long would it take for an egg-free mayo to actually go bad? I've seen similar questions here about condiments and sell by dates, but whenever it comes to mayo, the eggs always come up as a key factor and that's not an issue with the products I'm talking about.

Here are the ingredients of Just Mayo:


texts: What is the conversion ratio from whole potatoes to potato flakes?

texts: I have a recipe for butternut squash soup that calls for 2 potatoes which will be pureed in the end. I only have potato flakes. How much of the flakes do I use to equal the 2 potatoes?


texts: Caramel made with coconut milk tastes burnt

texts:
I'd like to be able to make caramel without using any dairy products for my friends and family who are lactose intolerant or vegan. Usually when I make caramel, I use a recipe close to this one with a few small alterations:

I substitute 1/2 cup of light brown sugar or 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar for the same amount of granulated sugar because I like the flavor.
I use salted butter instead of unsalted butter and salt because it's convenient.
I add some lemon juice to the sugar before cooking to prevent crystallization.
At step 4, I heat the caramel to 250° F and at step 6, to 235°.

This generally yields good results for me. I read elsewhere that coconut milk can substitute for the heavy cream, but when I tried substituting coconut milk and coconut oil for the cream and butter respectively in my recipe, I got burnt toffee instead of chewy caramel. Also, it looks like the oil pooled on the surface instead of staying mixed. Why does my caramel feel like it was cooked to hard crack? Does coconut milk burn at a lower temperature than heavy cream, and if so, what temperature should I be cooking this caramel to? Is there a better vegan substitution that I can use here?

EDIT: I've found other recipes which use coconut milk instead of heavy cream, but I've noticed that they tend to make recommendations which run counter to the ones in my normal recipe, like stirring the syrup continuously, mixing everything together at the start instead of adding the fat after heating the syrup, and heating to lower temperatures. I would like to understand the reasons for these differences.


texts: Is it possible to make caramel that does not taste sweet?

texts: Since sugar turns into caramel when heated, caramel is not sugar. I suppose then, that caramel still tastes sweet because of the uncaramelized sugar mixed in the caramel. Is it practically and/or theoretically possible to remove the sugar from the caramel, so that it won't have a sense of sweetness anymore? How would that taste?


texts: The difference between green, red and yellow bell peppers

texts:
Is there any difference between green, red and yellow bell peppers, barring the color?

Normally when I buy a pack of 3 I always leave the yellow till last. It's normally due the coloring looking less appealing in the dish.


texts: Why does the pasta I make with my extruder always stick together?

texts:
I've tried a few times now to make pasta with my Kitchen Aid extruder and EVERY time it sticks together and tears when I try to separate the strands. What am I doing wrong?

I am new to homemade pasta and although I've tried several times I've never actually gotten an edible product. I started with 4 eggs 2 cups "pasta" flour but the dough didn't end up picking up all the flour. It wasn't sticky and I let it rest about 30 minutes before putting it in the extruder.


texts: Why does the "almost no knead bread" recipe use beer? Can it be replaced?

texts: In America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated they have a recipe for an almost no knead bread that has beer as one of it's ingredients. What does the beer add? And can it be replaced by something else (that's not alcoholic)?


texts: What do you use to measure the weight of ingredient?

texts:
I don't have a single tools to measure the weight of ingredient.
I came across recipe with different weight:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound dried spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
1 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
Salt (optional)

There are already 5 units, how do you measure them separately? If you use a scale, do you translate the unit?
Also, do you have any picture for the size of cup/tablespoon/teaspoon/etc? I have spoons in different size. And cup, to me, is also unknown in size.
I also welcome recommendations of scales and alternative methods to weigh the ingredients.


texts: Garlic Overflow — Why won't my olive oil stay in its jug?

texts:
I'm the kind of chef who chops up whatever the local bazaar has that week, adds a random amount of seasonings until the color suits my fancy and then cooks it. Somehow. Most days I don't go hungry.

The other day, fresh garlic was really cheap so I bought a bunch. The housewares shop had some little jugs with corks, so I picked one up. Back at home I chopped up a few heads of garlic, stuffed it the jug, then filled the jug with olive oil. Bread for the next two days had had a great dipping sauce! However dipping bread in oil uses up a lot of oil and not very much garlic, so on the second evening when it was about half empty I topped off the jug with fresh oil. I corked it, wiped off the drips from around the top with a paper towel and left it on the table.

This is what I found in the morning. (click for larger)

I am certain when I corked it the level of oil was below the bottom of the cork because I tipped it to see how the garlic was getting an and remember the air moving around in the jug. I am also certain the top was clean having wiped it off, and of course there was no puddle. Even stranger, as I have left it there today it has continued to drip.

The only clew seems to be garlic mixture seems to be producing periodic bubbles that float up through the oil. This does not explain to me how the oil got out, but it does seem like it must be producing

I see three fields for questioning:

Casual kitchen tinkerer: How should I safely store my garlic and olive oil? Is there danger to storing this in something that seals better than a plastic cork? Is it safe to eat?
Amateur chemist: Is there a chemical reaction going on between the garlic and the oil? Would it ever explode?
Wannabe physicist: How did the oil get out? This seems like a gravity defying stunt. Note the current oil level is about ½" below the cork.

Somebody please tell me why my day's adventure at the bazaar made this much mess and how to make yummy things with garlic and olive oil safely!


texts: This seems to always be the case for me.  Any time I'm marinating a salad or pickling vegetables it always seems that the raw onion bite is very much diluted after soaking in vinegar.  Is the vinegar 'cooking' the onions in a way, or are the offending chemicals water soluble and just dissolving into the liquid?


texts: I get black flecks on my butter when I grease my pan

texts:
I recently bought a Teflon-coated pan and have been using it without cause for concern, but while greasing it tonight I found the butter stick I used came away with grey flecks / residue.

I typically handwash it, but I have also used steel wool in the past to get burnt food out quickly. Have I somehow removed the coating? Is it safe to use this pan?


texts: Can I use a flavored liqueur to make vanilla extract?

texts: Is it possible to make the extract with Crème De Cacao instead of vodka? I ask because I have some Crème De Cacao that I used in making a Grasshopper pie, but it is only "17.5"% (35 proof)" I don't know if this will be strong enough to do a good job, or should I half it with vodka?


texts:
What is the ideal way to prepare (and the type of) beef for a homemade meat pie?

I'm really interested in ..
1. whether there is a certain preference for the type of cut to use.
2. how much you should cook (if at all) the meat before you put the pie in the oven.
3. Is there a certain size that works best (for cooking purposes more so than eating).
4. Should I remove all of the fat content before searing?
5. Is there an ideal ratio of meat to gravy in the pie?
6. I want a meat pie where the meat content is still a bit tender, but the gravy is hot. any tips?


texts: How much dry cake mix, water, oil and eggs to use for two 4in round cakes?

texts:
I have a 15.25oz Betty Crocker box mix. On the back it says to use it all with 1 cup of water, 1/2oil and 3 eggs and that makes two 8 in rounds or 24 cupcakes.

I don't know how much I need, please help.


texts: Contamination implications of eating peanut butter with a spoon

texts:
Say I'm eating peanut butter out of a jar with a spoon, thus presumably transferring some of my saliva into the bottle.

Some research indicates that this sort of double-dipping might be a health hazard if the food is then going to be consumed by others.

But are there any meaningful risks of contamination if I'm the only one who will be eating the peanut butter?


texts: Do I roast leg of lamb differently when shank is still attached?

texts:
I am going to avoid using the terms american or frenched because I don't fully understand what they mean.

But I am going to be roasting a full leg of lamb, including the shank.  Most of the recipies I am looking at don't really make any distinction, they just say leg of lamb.  In general, do I need to prepare anything differently when I am roasting a full leg of lamb vs just the upper part of the leg?


texts: Is lots of red juice normal when making sous-vide steak?

texts:
So I made a 1lb hanger steak via sous-vide the other day and cooked it for 45 minutes at 130F.

After I seared in a cast iron pan, I took the meat off of the pan and let it sit for a few minutes and then sliced it up(against the grain) into smaller portions.

I noticed a lot of red juice in the plate as I was slicing it up but after I put it on a plate and it was sitting at the table, the meat almost ended up swimming in red juice.

When I order medium rare steak at a restaurant and it comes out pre-sliced, I don't usually notice this much red juice.

Is this normal?

UPDATE:

Found this great article explaining what was going on:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/how-to-have-juicy-meats-steaks-the-food-lab-the-importance-of-resting-grilling.html#continued

He has another article about sous vide ( http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/03/how-to-sous-vide-steak.html ) where he claims that you don't need to let the meat rest after searing. This is the one that originally led me to not need to rest the steak.

Looks like there is some resting that is required. Will post up with results next time I make some steak.


texts: Mushroom soy sauce, brand identification or substitution

texts:
I am hoping someone knows what brand this.  A few years ago I found this mushroom soy sauce.  It was exceedingly thick, very darkly colored (almost stained one's fingers, it was so dark and concentrated, and dripped black on lightish foods till it diluted down to merely dark brown), enormously savory and salty enough to make a person shiver.  It is the best soy sauce I've ever tasted.

I bought it from a small asian food shop where I was at school, which has since closed down.  I remember it was called mushroom soy sauce, (possibly descriptors like dark or superior(?) in there), but I don't recall the brand, and I don't have a picture.  If it helps the bottle label was pale, yellow or gold or tan, non-english characters, with a red cap, and the bottle looked brown but was actually clear, just glazed with sauce inside.

So, I would like to know how to get either  this or some similar kind of soy sauce.  Some of the various brand's mushroom soy sauce descriptions I find online include different descriptors or reviews that mention terms like sweet, or light, or bitter or sour, which I'm not looking for or recalling in the sauce I had, and descriptions are not always consistent across reviews. Soy sauce in the grocery stores seems pretty thin and sloshy, even tamari which is reportedly on the very dark and savory end of soy sauces. I wouldn't mind liquidy if I knew the flavor would be quite strong, but I don't know how to tell.

I would really rather not buy a half-dozen different soy sauces to find what I'm looking for.  I would like to know what sauce (brand) this is, or what product(s) might be generally available^ that would be very close^^, if the original is not findable or not commonly available.

^ Preferably in regular non specialized grocery stores (USA, PA if that helps), or large, easily findable and navigable online websites with non-exorbitant shipping.

^^ thick, dark, strongly-flavored, salty, savory.  Preferably not sweet.  Would take a product that's liquidy or non-mushroom if it's also strongly flavored, salty and savory.


texts:
I like to hard boil eggs because they are one of very few foods that help when my sugar levels are too low.

But now Im a little paranoid. The other week I read online that if you take an egg out of the refrigerator and shake it, if you can feel stuff moving around inside then its not safe to eat.

I just did that with all 12 eggs I have and according to what I read, they're all bad.

But the usedby date on the carton says 21 August. So, are they safe to eat? How else can I determine if they are safe to eat without cracking the shell and without boiling it first?


texts: How long should pearl barley be boiled for?

texts: Different recipes that involve boiling pearl barley recommend boiling pearl barley for different periods of time.  How long should pearl barley be boiled for, and why do different packets of pearl barley recommend different cooking times?


texts:
I've heard that cooking with olive oil is bad for you and can be toxic.  Is this true?  If so, to what extent?

I see no warning on the container of my olive oil that states that it would be bad to cook with olive oil.


texts: What to do with left-over rices from Chinese takeouts?

texts:
Nobody here eats much of the rice, that Asian restaurants include with take-out orders. Three people can finish their entries sharing a single box of rice. But we don't like to throw out food either.

There are currently five boxes of cooked white rice aging in the refrigerator -- is there something cool I can do with it to make it palatable to the rest of the family? Thanks!


texts: Is it difficult to make a béchamel sauce for 15 persons? Is the process different than preparing 2 or 3 servings, and how can I have it come out the same?


texts: Trying to adjust a recipe to recreate Peruvian "Tres Puntas" rolls

texts:
Having visited my family I fell in love with "Pan de Trigo" that we call "Tres Puntas."  This is a wheat bread that appears to be folded over to have three points.
After baking, it puffs up and a large hollow exists in the center; the bread "shell" itself is chewy and slightly sandy in texture. I believe the hollow exists due to the folding. It reminds me a bit of a focaccia-style roll flavor and texture.
I found a recipe a while ago on a site that is no longer active, and have copied it here for comparison. I'm sorry that it's partially in Spanish but I am posting it here as I found it.  I did try to make it but it didn't resemble what I was hoping to create.
It had more of a crumb than a "hole" (if that makes sense) but this may be due to my method more than anything. Having mentioned focaccia, I was thinking of reviewing the process and recipes for this style of bread and combining the two so maybe this is the trick.
Could someone more knowledgeable in bread making review this recipe and see if I'm on track?  Could this recipe create what I've described provided I adjusted my technique?
Here is the recipe.  Note that this is not the wheat version that we prefer.  I'm concerned that a wheat version would be even heavier if not done correctly.
PAN DE TRES PUNTAS
INGREDIENTES:

1 lb flour
1/4 C + 1 t sugar
3/4 t salt
2 packets active dry yeast
1 C water
2 Kilos de Harina sin preparar
1/2 taza de azúcar
1 y 1/2 cucharadita de sal
70 grs. de levadura fresca
2 tazas de agua

PREPARACION:

En 2 tazas de agua tibia disolver la levadura con una cucharadita de azúcar. Dejar fermentar en un sitio tibio por una hora.
Agregar el resto de la harina hasta conseguir una masa que desprenda de las manos y la mesa. Dejar reposar por 1/2 hora en un lugar tibio y cubierta por un plastico.
Aceitar la mesa de trabajo y comenzar a tomar pedazos de masa. Hacer bolitas de mas o menos 50m gramos.
Sobre latas aceitadas darles la forma de 3 puntas y dejar levar por 1/2 hora mas.
LLevar al horno de panaderia por 10 minutos con calor fuerte


texts: What is the fastest appliance/utensil to cream butter and sugar with?

texts:
I have:

but even with the whisk on the stand mixer, it seems to take for ages compared to when I was a kid and used a:

I'm using room temp butter and mix it for 10-20 seconds before starting to add the sugar. What's the preferred tool?

Information requested by @Ward:

Cake batter is what I'm creaming the butter and sugar for.

The 10-20 seconds I just do initially before adding the sugar to spread the butter around. Probably not needed. I could be going for up to 10 minutes after that with the sugar before I give up, unhappy with the fluffiness, concluding that I must have too high expectations. I also find the resulting cake too dense as well.

Update

Just tried using the paddle but at night when it's not so hot and had better results. I think using room temp butter before during the day saw the butter melt before it started to cream.


texts:
The bottom sheet of a springform pan typically has bumps and a raised lip. Should the lip go up or down?

I've probably done it both ways in the past. Is it just a matter of personal preference?


texts:
Yesterday, my wife baked a cake. Unfortunately, it was a disastrous fail. Instead of fluffy and juicy it turned out to be a compact and painfully chewy mass (not to say mess). It is so compact that the raisins lying around started orbiting it.

Now we were discussing on how to utilize it. Flushing it down the toilet is no option, since it is still food and we are worried about the damage it might cause to the pipes. The organic waste bin might be a way to dispose of it, however, I'd feel sorry about throwing out all the valuable ingredients. It basically consists of semolina, yogurt, quark, sugar, eggs, carrots and milk.

Do you have any suggestion on what to do with it, eventually how to reuse it culinarily (chopping it is still possible, I got the right tools)?

EDIT:
Thank you everyone for your ideas. Dehydrating worked quite well. I added some of it into my crunchy Muesli mixture and I'm keeping some of it for the ice cream thing. Since it was quite a bit, farmer friends of ours were pleased to get the rest of it as chicken food. We got some fresh eggs in turn for baking a new cake.


texts: Any advice to help me form and shape stuff more uniformly?

texts:
I get frustrated by recipes which call for the cook to shape or form little balls out of a dough or cake or biscuit mix.

The recipe will say something like "form into little walnut sized balls ... should make about 16".

I always seem to end up with some larger than others. Individuals may look and taste good but it's a shame if they don't all look identical.

Anyone got any advice?


texts:
I've found a recipe for a lemon tart: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/380616/greggs-tangy-lemon-tart

Everything looks fine to me and I get what to do exactly, but I don't understand the part that says:

  Line the tart with foil and fill with rice or dried beans. Bake for 10 mins, then discard the foil, and bake for another 20 mins until biscuity.

I have got two closely related questions:

What is the purpose of this step? What would happen if I omitted it and baked straight for 30 minutes?
What type of foil should I use? I suppose it's not the plastic one since it would not survive the baking temperature of 160C. Or would it?


texts: How do I adjust cooking time when temperature may be off by 5-10C?

texts:
Over the holidays, my mom tasked me to prepare a Crown Roast of Pork for our Media Noche (basically it's the meal you have as you approach the New Year with fireworks)  meal. All of the recipes I found on youtube used the Fahrenheit. The procedure would go:

Preheat Oven to 450 F
Roast Crown Roast for 20 minutes
Reduce heat to 350 F and wait for another 130 minutes

Our Convection Type Oven has a Celsius Degree Scale. Converting those temperatures to Celsius, I got:

450 F = 232.2222 C ~ 240 C
350 F = 176.6666 C ~ 180 C

Now, the dials (yes, our oven has an old school rotary dial for time, temp, and function) are only divided into 10s, from 50 C to 250 C, so I didn't have a clear 232 and 176. What I did was I rounded up to the nearest tens instead and then used the same cooking time, thinking that the Fahrenheit equivalent of the rounded up Celsius values wouldn't be too far off.

When I took the Crown Roast out, the outside was charred a bit but the inside was cooked well, although a bit dry. My siblings described the char to still be edible and didn't have that bad and bitter burnt taste.

So, after almost botching our dinner, I rescaled my values back:

230 C = 464 F (originally 450 F), cooked for 20 minutes
180 C = 356 F (originally 350 F), cooked for 130 minutes

Now, we see that there is quite a disparity between the new Fahrenheit values, and being cooked at a higher temperature dried up my pork and burnt the outside.

My question is, is there a "time-scaling" rule to follow when converting Fahrenheit to Celsius? What I mean by this is that for example, in my case, it might be:

450 F for 20 minutes or 230 C for 25 minutes or 220 C for 18 minutes

Wherein after converting the temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius, the time you cook it in that temperature would also change since the temperatures or not the same. The temperature may have been decreased or increased in order to accommodate the limitations of the cookware.

Sorry if this winds up being an opinion based question or something that can only be discussed but not answered. As much as possible, I'd like to see if anyone tried something with regards to this, may it be from experience or from a book or a class or a show and if others have used the same method.


texts: Can I combine two methods of making Dulce de leche from a can of sweetened condensed milk?

texts:
As I gather, there are various methods of making Dulce de leche from a can of sweetened condensed milk. I've actually tried boiling the can for 3-4 hours twice, and the results not entirely to my satisfaction. I don't get the caramelized dark color. As I opened the can, and the color was lighter than expected, I did let the can boil for another hour but no significant changes in color was observed! Today I was googling to find out more about this method, I get familiar with another method which is to make Delce de leche in the oven. So what I want to know is, is it possible to put the undone dulce de leche I made in the pot two days ago in the oven to finally achieve the desired caramelized and dark color?

This question is quite informative, but not very helpful solution-wise.


texts:
So I attempted my first loaf of bread tonight and I blew it.  It's flat and way wide (I tried a free pan loaf).  It's about 2 inches tall and very spongy.  It has roughly the consistency of a corn muffin.  It's vaguely edible, but not very breadlike.

So is there anything culinary I can do with this or should I just chuck it on the compost pile?


texts: Am I overcooking whitebait in water by using scum as a measure for doneness?

texts:
I understand that small fish like whitebait should be cooked in two minutes and anything above is probably overcooking. Of course a better guide is to go by temperature and the fish being opaque.

Well I understand that once the fish is at 145f/63c it is done however this is also the temperature at which those white bubbles(scum?) come out of the fish?
Therefore I went with the ide that once the scum starts rising to the top the water the fish is cooked.

To be safe I allowed the scum to rise to the top(which started after 5 minutes of simmering) then switched the heat off and removed the scum.  I noticed the water still tastes unusual i.e. perhaps I had overcooked it.

Am I still overcooking it?  Why would using the scum rise to the top not be a good way of assuring that the heat reached the required temperature?


texts: Is it safe to expose a painted metal mug/pot to high heat for cooking or, even more frequently, boil water? My concern is how the paint responds to heat and whether it affects the food safety.


texts:
I'm using a recipe from a video (see below), at the right temperature (350°F). I don't know what the problem is, but the edges are always burnt. Should I try putting the pan over a container with water?

Carrot bread recipe:

2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
2 tsp of cinnamon
2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 cups of oil
4 eggs
3 carrots
1/2 cup of nuts

Method:

Preheat @ 180°C or 356°F
Bake 1 hour

More:
my pan is 26x29

I have this problem when making brownies (following the box recipe).


texts: What causes curdling and how can you prevent it?

texts:
Some sauces are more at risk to curdle than others. What exactly (ingredients, techniques, temperature...) causes this curdling? What can you do to have the curdling risk at minimum?

I'm not asking for ways to fix this, that's already asked here.


texts: How to keep Hollandaise sauce from "setting" before serving

texts:
I have been making Hollandaise sauce using a Gordon Ramsey recipe (https://youtu.be/vyd6PluAH3k); and while it is good and tasty, if I don't make it as the very last thing it seems to "set" or become more like scrambled eggs if I leave it, even for just a minute or so.

The recipe above is basically egg yolks, white wine vinegar, mix, put over roiling water, whisk until thickened, add butter, whisk, add salt/pepper/lemon, serve.

I have tried:

-Reducing the heat while whisking and turning it off completely

-Putting just the bowl aside (not over the hot water)

-Putting the bowl in cold water (Not ice water, just cold tap water)

In all these cases, the sauce seems to set or keep cooking and becomes scrambled eggs. As I'm writing this, I realise that I haven't tried putting it in a fresh bowl, which I guess I will try next.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to keep my Hollandaise from setting? Am I making it wrong?


texts: Trying to re-create Chinese deep-fryed brown sugar-flour flowers

texts:
My wife is making these, and they break after frying.  She looked around online but nobody makes something like this using oil in the batter; only her (late) father.
Here’s what she did:
First, make syrup:
400 g dark brown sugar
200 ml water
50 g lemon juice

This was cooked for about an hour, low enough so just one little bubble came up at a time.  Cool overnight to room temperature.
main dough:
1000 g all-purpose flour
400 g cooking oil. (She used common canola oil today)

Heat oil to 250°F. Combine with flour and syrup.  Let rest for a few hours on the counter, so it’s room temperature.  (About 78–80° in the kitchen area)
At this stage she noticed it was too flakey.
This is rolled out and folded and cut to make a flower shape of dough ribbons that I measure to be just over ¼ inch in cross section.
This flower shape is cooked in hot cooking oil (seems about 375°F, same as we used for other things).
Here’s the problem: they crack when touched while still in the oil, trying to lift out. If they survive that, they crack later or in the following steps when handled.  They are too fragile.
final step
After cooling a few minutes on a paper towel, transfer to warm honey syrup (90 to 110°F) and let soak for 3 minutes. Remove to wax paper or metal mesh.
The honey syrup is
400 g Brown sugar
200 ml boiling water
50 ml lemon juice

3 TBL honey

Make syrup as above; add honey after it cools to target temperature.
question
What factors influence the dough’s final properties? How can it be not too brittle to cook and handle?
p.s.
Using a lower frying temperature seems to help.  (But too low and I know it leaves a greasy unfried cookie, so that’s a work-around not the right solution.)


texts: What features should I look for when buying an espresso maker?

texts:
I got a $30 espresso machine a year and half ago to see if we would actually use it much. It gets used several times a week (and we haven't bought anything from Starbucks in months), and the gasket in it's cap is leaking, so we're looking to buy a replacement.

The price range is truly impressive, and I have no real understanding of what the difference between a $30 machine and a $500 machine. What are the features that I should look for that make one machine better than another?


texts: How to prepare pie dough in bulk at home?

texts:
Common knowledge dictates keeping the fats cool and the tools chilled. But when you are preparing more than 8X quantity, this poses some difficulties, or at least some stress. The ambient air, the size of home blenders and food processors--it’s all a mess.

I worked out an answer a week ago, so I'm posting it. But I would love to see a better answer.


texts: How can I fix a dish that has been over sweetened?

texts: I often made a mistake while cooking that my sweet dishes gets over sweetened.(specially while making sweet rice,sheer khorma and custard) Is there any way/trick to fix the over sweetened dish?


texts: How to store a banana that was cut in half to preserve the other half?

texts:
I can usually only eat about half of a banana, and usually when I get sick of it I just throw it away. In the past, I've seen bananas cut in half at hotels and other places that provide breakfast, etc, and thought maybe I could do the same - just cut it in half, eat one half now, and eat the other half later.

My question is, how do I need to store a banana that is cut in half like this? Obviously the bottom part of the banana is exposed to the air and not protected by the peel. As well, how long can I keep a half banana around before it just plain goes bad? Or does the fact that it's cut in half even affect how it should be stored / how long it keeps?


texts: Well, the title says it all really! Can I freeze unbaked scones, or am I better off baking them and then freezing to reheat? Thanks


texts: Is sour cream in super markets made in the traditional way?

texts:
Is sour cream in super markets made in the traditional whey? (Ha ha, just kidding.)

The traditional method of making sour cream is easy to describe: milk is spun using a centrifuge so as to extract a heavy cream, which is 1 part cream, 9 parts milk. (Cream for butter is lighter than this). The heavy cream is then cooled to thicken it, then the temperature is increased to about 85F. A small amount (1:20) of sour cream is added to initiate fermentation and the cream is gently stirred for 2 hours, then allowed to sit for 6 hours or to taste. When it is sour, it is refrigerated. In this state it can last for 2-3 months.

Modern recipes I have seen for home cooks obviously do not follow this method, because it requires having a milk separator and raw milk. Instead these recipes mix in buttermilk with light cream, or other methods, which are not true to the original method. However, I am wondering if store-bought sour creams follows the traditional method, or do modern commercial processes use light cream also?


texts:
Hey. I'm in Vermont. We have lots of apple ciders and lots of amazing apples (let me recommend this year's lady apples...bet on 2010 Cider! )

I've been roasting local chickens, and then deglasing with apple cider, but the cider is too sweet. Any suggestions for how to keep the cider, but make the dish more palatteable. Thanks.


texts: What is the best type of machine for making smooth nut butter?

texts:
I want to make nut butter from soaked cashews or soaked pepitas. I am wondering what type of machine will get the smoothest product?

I am currently using a food processor which is great for cashews but I'm wondering if I can do better.  Other possibilities include a blender, nut butter machine, and some type of grinder (perhaps a wet grinder?).


texts: What do you make of these ingredients in Ice Cream?

texts:
konjac flour, as well as guar gum, vegetable glycerin, carrageenan gum, and locust-bean gum.

What type of ice cream would this make?


texts:
Do I need to do anything special to prep a flat iron steak for an overnight SV bath?

I have seen some references to dunking in boiling water for anti microbial effect, but am not sure what the best practice is?

I am getting my meat from a cert reputable local butcher, if that matters?

Thanks!


texts: How to prepare rice in rice cooker so it won't become sticky or clumpy, like Indian takeout in the US?

texts:
When I get Indian takeout (US), the white rice is not at all sticky or clumpy. Even over the next few days it can be essentially poured out of the container as individual grains. This is unlike the rice in say, Chinese takeout, which is much stickier and in a single mass.
I have a very simple rice cooker. (It has the settings "white rice" and "brown rice".) How can I use this rice cooker, and any necessary preparation/finalization steps or types of rice, to produce rice like I get from Indian takeout? Ideally that can be eaten straight out of the rice cooker, but I'm willing to be flexible if necessary.


texts: How does the meat in Weisswurst get so white?

texts:
I have looked for the answer online, but no luck so far.

Does the ice "burn" the meat and it gets white?

How does it work?


texts: I use an old convection oven. I usually preheat at 180°C for 10 mins. Recently I bought an oven thermometer and found that the oven temperature after the said duration was higher than 180°C, around 210°C-220°C. Is this normal?


texts:
I just put a piece of parmesan cheese into the freezer part of a fridge. Is this practice good or bad? I did this because when I bought the cheese, I could not back to home immediately and the cheese stayed in room temperature (30 degree celsius maybe) for a day, I was afraid that the cheese would be soften, so I made a though of putting it into the freezer. Then I did it and haven't taken it out yet. In addition, the package of the cheese is not yet opened.

Also I was afraid the lower part of the fridge would be open frequently and some air will condense within the fridge, so I thought put the cheese into the freezer maybe better, because the cheese was frozen.

Any comment?


texts: Where are the missing speeds in my KitchenAid mixer

texts:
I have an artisan KitchenAid mixer, model KSM150, everywhere on the internet, including in the KitchenAid site it says that there are 10 working speeds, but the speed selector on my mixer has only 6 working position (and another one for off), there are also corresponding markings on the mixer which are fitting the same number: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.
See in this picture from the internet:

Where are the 3, 5, 7 and 9 speeds?


texts: Storing onions and potatoes in the same cellar

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Potatoes and onions have the same storage guidelines: store them in a a well-ventilated area in the pantry.

However, I have read that onions should be kept away from potatoes as onions will absorb moisture from the potatoes, causing the onions to spoil.

Since my cellar is quite small, I wonder what distance should be kept between the onions and potatoes so that they don't hurt each other?


texts: How can I fix brownies that I accidentally added ketchup and pepper to?

texts: When whisking eggs with flour, I accidentally added about 3 tablespoons of ketchup (I know, I know - I was making pizza at the same time and mixed up the two doughs). I also added ground pepper. I'm afraid I messed everything up irrevocably - the brownies are already in the oven, but I tried the dough and it was salty/creamy. Is there any way I can counteract the saltiness/creaminess? Should I add more chocolate?


texts: Does it matter how fast you crank up your blender?

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Cars aren't blenders, but I wonder if this analogy assists. "[W]hen you floor the gas pedal, your transmission will try to turn the axle abruptly just like trying to throw a bowling ball with the maximum force.". So you oughtn't constantly floor your car's accelerator pedal that can strain the drive train and fatigue the material.

So ought your notch up your blender slowly? Ought you always start at 1 and slowly notch up to 10? Will you damage your blender if "floor" your blender by starting the dial at 10?

If so, what's the safest "acceleration rate"? 1 integer/s (e.g. for the Vitamix below, you'd need 10 s to throttle up to 10)?

Full disclosure : I'm not affiliated with Vitamix.


texts: Microwave more than one container at a time

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If package says to microwave 7 minutes for one container, how long for three?
I want to cook all three packages at one time but it doesn't give me multiple microwaving times. Microwave shouldn't be multiplied by three, I know that.