Seasoning a wok, have I burned on the factory oil?

I would say the opposite and you have actually burned "off" the coating.  When those woks come off the factory floor, they are dipped or sprayed with that anti-rust sealant you are talking about.  Most if not all instructions want you to get rid of this coating before use.  When using carbon steel/cast iron cookware, one must season the metal first.

Here is how I season all my carbon/cast iron cookware.

Very thoroughly wash the wok in hot soapy water. This will get rid of that layer of rust prevention coating from the factory. Some manufacturers say to even use some cleanser and really scrub the wok clean. We want the seasoning to stick to the wok's bare metal not the factory's anti-rust sealant.

Now thoroughly dry the wok off. You don't want any water on the wok, depending on your water, you can leave mineral deposits on the woks surface.

Turn on your exhaust fan/blower, close the doors to the rest of the house and open the windows in your kitchen. Better yet, do this part outside if you can. It will get smokey and smell badly.

Heat up the wok on low-medium heat. We want to slowly burn off any residual coating. This can take a while, and on an induction you most likely cannot get the sides of the wok. I recommend that this be done with a gas burner, just so you can get the entire pan seasoned, sides and all.

Let the wok cool off to where you can handle it again. Perhaps 1-4 minutes, unless you have a thick cast iron wok, where it will be a bit longer.  More mass, longer it takes to cool down.

Repeat steps: 1,2 and 4. When the wok is heated up this time, there should be less or no smoke at all. It should be a bare metal pan, no rust protection coating. Now that the wok is warmed up, we can safely turn up the heat to the highest heat setting. We are looking for the wok's metal to actually change color. The wok might be a shiny metallic color at first, but we want it to discolour, to a brown or even blue or black color. This is the start of the seasoning layer. Move the wok to get the heat up the sides of the pan and even heat up the handle area as well.

After the whole cooking surface of the wok has changed color, we cool it down again. This is where you want to oil season the wok. You want to use an oil that has a high smoking point. Canola, Crisco or best would be a grape seed oil. Do NOT use a low smoking point oil or fat, this will just burn and will not lead to a good coat. Do NOT use: olive oil, butter or lard.

Use a paper towel with just a drop or two of your oil, rub down both the inside and outside of the wok. The thinner the coat the faster and more even the seasoning. Too thick a coat and the oil will pool up burn and get sticky. Thinner is better. Now place the wok over medium heat to burn the oil into the wok, all the way up the sides.

Repeat as many times as you want. The thinner the layers of seasoning the better they stick to the wok. Too thick, and the layer will be sticky and will come off easier. I think the key is to really burn the wok without oil to open up the pores so to speak. This makes for that nice dark patina in the wok itself.

Tips on cleaning the wok: After cooking, you want the wok to cool down before you wash it. There are some people that say never let soap touch the wok again. I would say as a hard and fast rule, probably ok. But if you really feel the need for soap, by all means do it. Wash throughly and dry thoroughly, you don't want to store a damp wok, this will lead to rust. Heat the cleaned wok on the burner and then wipe down with the oiled paper towel. Let cool and then store. Protective oil coating is good. If you plan on not using the wok for a while, season it and wrap it in an oiled paper bag.

Tips on cooking with a wok: 1. Preheat the wok first. Medium fire at first, to where it's just barely smoking. 30-45 seconds 2. Adjust heat for recipe. Add oil to the wok, swirl it around to coat most of the woks inside.
3. Discard oil into a heat proof container, ceramic/metal bowl/cup.
4. Add new oil and wait just a second or four to heat up and collects in the center of the wok.  I prefer to swirl the new oil around the edges of the wok. 5. Now you are ready to cook. If you need more oil use that initial oil again.

I find that this method works very well. I have like 6 woks now.  My wife is getting a bit peeved.  But she doesn't cook that much so too bad.


Why does cooked chicken taste different after a few days in the fridge?

There are a few reasons why leftovers taste different. Here I will base my answer from the chapter on meat of On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee (Which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn the whys of cooking).

  At the same time that cooking develops the characteristic flavors of meat, it also promotes chemical changes that lead to characteristic, stale, cardboard-like “warmed-over flavors” when the meat is stored and reheated.

The reason this is observed in chicken earlier than with pork or beef is the following:

  The principal source of off-flavors is unsaturated factty acids, which are damaged by oxygen and iron from myoglobin,
  Meats with a greater proportion of unsaturated fat in their fat tissue (poultry and pork) are more susceptible to warmed-over flavor than beef and lamb.

Here are a few ways described in the book to minimize the development of off-flavors:

Season the food with herbs and spices that contain antioxidant compounds.
Use low-permeability plastic wraps to cover the meat, and eliminate air pockets in the package.
Reheat the meat properly.
Of course, eat as soon as possible.


How high (height-wise) should the oil be for frying chicken?

Deep fry and shallow fry both work.  At home, when using oil in a wok (safest way because of the sloping sides), I flip whether the oil is deep or shallow.  This is just to ensure even browning.  For shallow, I would use an amount of oil that is at least half the thickness of the chicken.


Raw meat or prepared food? Which lasts longer? - Short term

Option C lasts longest, then option A, with option B being the shortest.

When you have no other information, the official fridge life of any cooked meal is 3-5 days, starting from the day you cooked it, and no matter how old or fresh the ingredients were.

When you have information from the producer, as in the case of your label, then this information supplants any standard assumptions. So your raw meat will last for a full week, assuming you cook it all at once. This is longer than the 3-5 days.

The information on the label assumes that the package stays closed. The moment you open it, the date on the label becomes irrelevant, and you are left with the typical fridge life of ground meat, which is 1-2 days. So you cannot cook small portions every day for a week.

Freezing "stops the clock" on shelf life, so it lasts as long as you want it to.

The answer about "This helps to kill bacteria which will otherwise make the meat go bad." is based on oversimplified reasoning which is not in line with food safety standars. For more info on this and other typical myths, see https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info.


If your steaks were soggy and flavorless then the steak wasn't good to begin with. It's possible it was old as well, or had been frozen and thawed. It doesn't sound like your method was wrong (except not having your oven to temperature but that shouldn't make them soggy and flavorless), but meat itself wasn't good. You paid $6 per steak, I'd expect to pay triple that for decent meat to be honest.


You should just heat it (your first proposed solution), and not worry about changing flavor, because if buttermilk is going to change flavor with heat then it is going to change flavor when you cook the chicken.


What is the significant difference between pastas?

Pasta as you know is a simple egg and flour mixture.  You can add flavouring to it to give it a different spin or even a colour but at it's root it's just an egg dough.

The different type of shapes are "meant" for different types of sauces in a traditional sense.  I don't want to imply that you MUST use one type of pasta with one type of sauce.  What I'm saying is that a particular style of noodle shape just lends itself better to certain suace types.  I.E. penne, rigatoni, macaroni work really well with a sauce that needs a place to sit and hide so that each mouth full gives you the right amount of sauce to noodle ratio.  Mac & Cheese is a great example of this.

In a soup or salad the type of pasta you choose is probably going to reflect the need of the guest and how you plan to serve the dish.

With a soup you want to have a spoon that will carry the right proportions of broth, vegetables, pasta in each bite.  Because of that you select a small pasta shape like orzo.  However, as cooking is all about using what you have on hand, if you don't have orzo but you have fetticini then use that but break it up first so it will work the same way.

Hope that helps.


Freezing potato mash made with root and fresh vegetables

There isn't much you can't safely freeze, and your mash looks pretty straightforward to me. As long as you're following USDA safe freezing/thawing methods, I say, yes, freeze on!


Storing Whole Wheat and Unbleached Flour

Whole wheat flour has a lot of fat in it and will go rancid relatively quickly. It should be used promptly after it is ground or frozen for long term storage. Even if it will be used soon, keeping it cool and sealed from air and light is helpful.

There is no adverse effect from mixing flour types. Keep in mind that separately your white flour would keep much longer but your mix will only last as long as the wheat flour.


I left my non-stick pan in the oven while it was preheating, can I still use it?

From the T-FAL site:

  • Oven safe to 500°F/260°C if handles are all stainless steel. Oven safe to 350°F/175°C if handles have any phenolic, plastic parts.
  Oven safe to 400°F/204°C if handles have any silicone parts.

So the pan itself should be fine, but the handles can be damaged.  No need to toss it just because you're worried about the coating being changed.


Why let your pie cool instead of eating it hot?

It definitely needs to cool to prevent burns - the filling is likely even above the boiling point of water, because it has so much sugar in it and has been in a hot oven. Eating it pleasantly warm is one thing, but it takes a long time to cool from over 100C/212F down to a nice warm/hot temperature somewhere around 50C/120F. (It's not like a cookie, which cools quickly enough so that you can (carefully) eat it fresh out of the oven. Pie has plenty of thermal mass.)

Besides that, most pies have a filling that will set as it cools. With a fruit pie, the sugary syrupy part will be pretty runny when it's hot, but it'll gel up a bit (like a jam - plenty of fruit and sugar) as it cools. And of course custard pies definitely need to cool to fully set!


How to make low carb crispy fried cauliflower?

When I was low-carbing, I would use almond flour mixed with plenty of seasonings. I also used crushed up pork rinds that I would mix with freshly grated parmesan or the green container parmesan when fresh was not readily available.


The bundt pans come in 6 cups, 10 cups, 12 cups. I'd go with the middle size as most recipes call for a 10 cup pan. Non-stick is best, though I always give it a spray anyway. They are usually made of cast aluminum. I've had no problem with those. As a beginner, stick to a simpler pattern than one with a lot of nooks and crannies.


Heating Margarine in Pan = loss of calories?

No, because what is evaporating is water.


You can use Kosher salt or sea salt or even table salt but keep in mind that they are interchangeable by weight NOT volume. Volumetric measurements fail because of different sizes and shapes of salt crystals. Kosher salt crystals are, as you pointed out, larger and end up with larger gaps between the crystals when measured by volume than the smaller table salt crystals that settle together more closely (consider the tiny spaces between grains of sands versus the larger spaces between pieces of gravel). This means that a teaspoon of table salt actually contains more salt than a teaspoon of kosher salt. This means that if your recipe calls for a teaspoon of table salt you will need to use more than a teaspoon of kosher salt. They will dissolve equally well. As to when to add salt, add minimally at first then adjust the salt to taste at the end.

Edited to add: you can find a rough conversion of volumetric measurements of different salts here: http://www.mortonsalt.com/for-your-home/culinary-salts/salt-conversion-chart


What is this green cake with plastic-y texture, found at an Asian store?

Looks like Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake made with pandan and tapioca:

http://danangcuisine.com/recipes/recipe-28-banh-bo-nuong-vietnamese-honeycomb-cake/


What would you use to wash pretzel hot dog buns?

If you want the hardcore, traditional pretzel flavor and crust, lye is really the only way to get it. You can dip it in a boiling bath of baking soda or washing soda for a minute or so. This can have the downside of giving the bun a really thick, leathery crust like a bagel. Alternately, to do a lye dip, you add one ounce of lye to one liter of water (add the lye to the water, not the water to the lye), stir and give it a few minutes to dissolve. The dough can be dipped in or brushed with the cold lye solution then baked. This will give you the really dark, thin, papery crust with that distinct pretzel flavor.

While the lye certainly isn't a chemical to be careless with, if you obey proper precautions (keep it off your skin, don't splash it, etc) it's nothing to be afraid of either.


Can I freeze (raw) Brussels Sprouts to mimic the effects of frost?

I tried this recently. Washed & dried them and put them in a plastic bag in freezer for 30 mins only. It worked well for me - they were much tastier and a better texture.


What are "Honey Bubbles" and how are they made?

You can do this with an air pump, egg white powder and xanthan gum :)

http://www.molecularrecipes.com/culinary-foams-class/bubbles-air-pump/

  The “bubbles with air pump” technique consists of injecting air using a fish tank air pump into a liquid with some viscosity. It works great with light syrups and juices by just adding a little egg white powder and Xanthan gum.

Otherwise check out airs: http://www.molecularrecipes.com/category/emulsification/airs-emulsification/

  Airs are usually made by adding soy lecithin powder to a liquid and incorporating air using an immersion blender on the surface of the liquid.

Airs will make smaller bubbles, but you can do it with an immersion blender (stick blender) so you don’t need to find an air pump.


Stopping sous vide to drive to relatives, then restarting

I've done something similar for Mother's Day, but my mom's place is a bit closer (35-45 minutes, depending on traffic, and I was cooking chuck steaks at 131°F).

In your case, you're actually out of the 'danger zone' of 40-140°F, and it's typically okay to leave stuff out on a buffet for 2 hours, so there isn't that much of a problem.  And it's even less of a problem, as you've actually pasteurized the meat** before transporting it.

What I did for transporting is remove the immersion circulator, and put a tight-fitting lid on the water bath, and then transport the whole thing, slipping it in a cardboard box lined with bath towels (and then folding them over the top to close it in).  Of course, in my case, I sort of planned for that sort of use -- I specifically got two lids for the vessel that I use, and cut one so that the circulator can slide in. (it was actually so I could use it for food prep/storage if needed)

As for the tasting okay ... I don't think it'll significantly affect anything vs. having cooked it in one pass ... but taste is a pretty subjective thing.  (eg, if you added cilantro, then it will never taste okay, because it has cilantro).  There are also some other considerations for flavor when cooking sous vide

** Look at the 'table' links in the linked question for pasteurization times.


Resources for cooking for a person with type 2 diabetes

Recently diagnosed Type II Diabetes patients are frequently prescribed a low-carbohydrate diet. The type of carbohydrate ("slow" or "simple" are familiar terms) doesn't matter so much as the total number of carbohydrates.

A person with this dietary prescription would have learned to count gross carbohydrates and to eat the same number of carbohydrates at every meal. Their calories ought to come primarily from protein and fat, but also from a modest portion of carbohydrates.

Therefore, something such as a salad w/ dressing, a protein, a vegetable side, and a modest portion of starchy food would probably be most appropriate. Legumes, and other fiber-rich sources of carbohydrates, have the added benefits of being more satisfying and nutritious (as opposed to, say, white rice). They also sport a low glycemic-index.

For example: Salad, a reasonable portion of a creamy-type chicken dish, a steamed (non-starchy) vegetable side, and a modest portion of whole grains, legumes, or starchy vegetables.

Dessert, for the recently diagnosed, is probably too optimistic. Something along the lines of a low-sugar lemon sorbet might work. Sugar substitutes, although they taste bad, are medically acceptable.

You can find specific recommendations on the number of carbohydrates for diabetics on various websites, but it's probably easiest to just ask your client about their individual situation.

There is one extra consideration that is easy for a cook to miss: thickeners, such as cornstarch or flour, can have a very high carbohydrate content; certain vegetables, while they do not seem starchy, actually have quite a bit of sugar. If your client is seriously following the diet I've described, then such carbohydrate sources must be taken into account.


Does the preparation of chicken liver mousse require force feeding of chickens?

There's no need to force-feed the chickens.
Chicken Liver Mousse is just a posh word for a smooth paté, with sometimes a bit of extra aeration.
For every chicken, there's a chicken liver. The world eats a lot of chicken these days, so there's a lot of chicken liver to spare. All you need to add is butter for the extra fat content & resulting mouth-feel.
At its simplest, it's chicken liver, lightly sautéed in butter &/or oil, added onion or garlic, herbs & spices, alcohol, cream etc to taste, then whizzed in a blender until perfectly smooth. It's often not really a mousse, as it's not really fully aerated, but extra aeration makes it tend further towards an actual mousse, which the cooling butter will attempt to hold in place. You could go further perhaps using gelatine etc to hold the mousse as it cools.


The secret is to steam them partway. Sprouts are tough and dense, if you roast them the outside tends to dry out by the time the inside is done, even if you cut them down the middle. I steam them until a fork starts to want to go in, then I get them out and douse them in ice water to stop them cooking. I usually saute them in some olive oil and butter along with slivered almonds, but if you want a crispier outside I would use an oil with a higher smoke point and roast them in a hot oven.

Sauteing them can lead to some of the outer layers getting pulled off, roasting them leaves them more pristine looking, it's all about what look you are after.


How can I convert a muffin recipe to make crumpets?

English muffins and crumpets are very similar, the only difference being that crumpets are wetter to allow the bubbles to rise out of the side off the heat. Without seeing a specific recipe, it's hard to know exactly what adjustments to make, as some muffin recipes are also quite wet.

If you think your muffin dough is wet enough, you could just try cooking it as crumpets. If it doesn't bubble correctly on top, try making it a little bit wetter until it works.


Unless you are making a vegetarian braisé, I would suggest not browning the vegetables.

If you brown the vegetables and add them too early in the pot, then they will cook too much and be mushy in the end product.

I prefer not using flour when browning the meat too early because I tend to burn it; so I brown the meat, and after that, do a roux and re-add the meat and add liquid.

As for using beurre manié, for me it is just a thickening agent and is done at the end and should not really add additional flavour to the dish.


Ate raw beef patty that I microwaved for 2 mins first, Is it safe?

You can cook meat products in a microwave, and be safe, but you need to make sure they're fully cooked.

Microwave ovens vary a lot in both their power output and how evenly they cook, so 2 minutes may not really be enough to be certain of cooking thoroughly. Next time I suggest you cut it in half when you think it's done, and check that the middle is both brown and very hot to touch. A thermometer would be the gold standard, but you're  not running a restaurant, you're feeding yourself with limited equipment. If in doubt, cook a little longer, and you'll know for the future. Repeat the test if you cook extra another time.


Does Boiling Water, Instead of Warm Water, Hurt the Flavor of Tea/Hot Chocolate

Hotter water leads to more caffeine release and a more bitter flavor as it cooks the leaves. If you're serious about the taste of tea, set up four cups and pour water into them: The first boiling, the next after 30 seconds, and on down. Use a cracker between each sip; the later teas should taste slightly lighter and sweeter, and the middle two especially should have a distinct delicate green tea taste. For loose-leaf you normally use a slightly lower temp, while typical teabags need more coaxing to get the flavor out. There are websites that actually list perfect temperatures and steep times for each individual variety, but it's also a matter of taste.

Green tea snobbery can be a little like wine snobbery, the sky's the limit for how sublime you want to go, but at the same time anyone can drink and enjoy it.

Black tea on the other hand doesn't have such delicate taste because it's already pre-cooked. (Oolong retains a little of each nature.) How hot you should make it depends only on how much you like the taste of Bergamot (for Earl Grey) or whatever additives are in your tea, how bitter you can stand it, and how much caffeine you want out of it. The hotter and more bitter it is, the more the tea will cover up the flavor of any additives. Steeping time affects bitterness as well, of course. I'm not entirely certain, but I believe that bergamot oil will also start to evaporate if it's boiled, but I assume you don't boil your tea.

I have no idea how it would change the taste of chai, as I've never made a really good one myself. I typically make them from the powders, and I've seen no difference at all in taste between hot, warm, or even cold water, though the texture changes slightly - it doesn't mix perfectly in cold water. Those powders probably have most of the variability processed out of them. I assume this goes double for hot chocolate, since most of the mixes don't even have real cocoa anymore.

Aside from the possibility of boiling off oils or partially burning green leaves into black, I don't believe the water can get hot enough to change the chemistry of the drinks.


How much powder does 1 TBSP of Cumin seeds yield when crushed?

A little bit less than 1tbsp, maybe 4/5ths of a tablespoon.


Is candle wax and cheese wax the same thing?

Candle wax and cheese wax are quite different.

Candle wax is very stiff.  If it were flexible, you'd get bendy candles.

Cheese wax has additional ingredients to keep it pliable and prevent it from becoming brittle:

  This wax is pliable and will not become brittle as will pure paraffin wax.

It also has food-grade dyes.  Remember that candle wax is generally not designed to touch food.

As to brining.

The instructions on the About Waxing tab mentions that it's important to clean cheese before waxing to prevent mold growth:

  Before the cheese can be waxed, the mold needs to be removed. This can be done with a brine wash or vinegar wash. Both high acid and high salt will discourage mold from growing. I prefer the brine wash with ~ 1 tsp salt to a cup of cool water. As you can see in the photos, the mold wipes away easily. Photo at left shows the clean cheese ready for waxing.
  The cheese will dry and be ready for waxing in an hour or two.


Why does some cake make your tongue thick, and how to prevent it?

Meat fat/suet does cause similar effect on tongue and some “acidics”(e.g.lemon, vinegar, wine)  helps to balance it.
If that’s the situation this Q/A may give some ideas for the solution.

Why do fatty foods go with sour ones?


What's the best material for a durable muffin pan

First, I concur with @rumtscho that the pans may not be the culprit and second, I do not make muffins in anywhere near the quantities you report, but I have had great luck with silicon muffin trays. They clean well and release the muffins nicely.


How long should chicken wait in eggs before applying bread crumbs?

Spices or egg do not get absorbed into chicken, or any other protein in any significant manner given any safe amount of time

Some amount of sodium from a brine will get absorbed, but this is generally for different reasons, and is not a requirement for crumbed chicken

The easiest and safest method is to dredge in flour, dip in egg, dredge in crumbs, and cook (deep fry, pan fry, oven etc) all in one sequence of steps

The flour sticks to chicken well, and become a glue to hold the egg when it gets wet and hot during cooking. Egg alone will not stick well to chicken, see this post. The egg will stick to the flour well, and bread crumbs or Panko will stick to egg well see this post

For food safety reasons prepared foods should not be sitting around for too many hours. The normal process is to prepare and then cook. Also you should not save flour of crumbs for another day see this post

In my experience; it is best to allow the chicken to warm up a bit after being removed from the fridge, e.g. rest on bench 30 minutes before you plan to cook. Make sure the chicken is not wet, damp is OK. Line up your flour, egg, and crumb mixtures a short distance away from your cooking device of choice (for speed, simplicity, and safety). And in one continuous process; flour dredge, egg dip, crumb dredge, and then cook

Any waiting will generally cause coating failures. You do not need to be fast, but you don't want to have it sitting around. You fingers and kitchen will be messy, so no point stopping, get it all done in one go


Do meat grinders need to have cutting blade

Here is the relevent description on a site selling that particular meat grinder:

  The Game Winner™ Hunting Gear #8 Grinder grinds up to 4 lb. of meat per minute and features a powder-coated cast aluminum body, 3, 4.5, and 7 mm stainless-steel cutting plates and a stainless-steel cutting blade* for durability. The Cam-Lock locking mechanism and thermal reset button offer safe operation, while the feet-forward design helps prevent tipping. Full-power grind, reverse and off modes. 400-watt motor.

  Features and Benefits •stainless-steel cutting plates and cutting blade for durability

It definitely looks like you'll need the cutting blade and cutting plates.


Putting "precooked corn on the cob" on the barbeque?

Putting corn in water only makes sense if it is still in the husk, as that will keep the husks from burning. Soaking precooked de-husked corn would make no difference to you. You can barbecue it, but as it is precooked I'd keep the cooking time down to a couple of minutes, just long enough to heat it up and get a bit of color on it. Any more and it may be overcooked.


1 - Get the paste flat and very thin

Use what's available: pastry machine; wide, flat icing tip; jerky "gun"

Make sure the paste has as little water as possible when preparing, different methods will require different amounts of water

2 - Dehydrate it

Use a home dehydrator or look up home oven dehydrating articles on jerky or fruit leather


Pizza stone as floor pizza oven vs firebrick

Short answer: No.

Long answer: this could probably be made to work, but only for a short time.  At some point, and probably within a few uses, the rapid heat cycling from the fire would cause the pizza stone to crack.

Pizza stones are made from corderite or clay, sometimes with grog.  This offers a smoother surface than firebrick, but that smooth surface is because of a higher amount of vitrification and less airspace in the ceramic.  This means they are less resistant to cracking due thermal shock, and the fact that your pizza stone is 1/4 a thick as firebrick makes that worse.

In contrast, firebrick is a standard 2.5" thick, and made from higher-temperature materials with more airspace in the clay itself.  These properties give it both higher thermal insulation, and higher thermal mass (so that it cools down slower).  Both of these properties help it resist cracking.


Is it possible to transfer E-O157 from simply touching something with contaminated hands?

It's not unusual for a line cook to handle several things at once, but I can certainly understand your concerns. It would be preferable if the cook could pick up the burger with a seperate utensil, dedicated to the burgers. With someone else assembling the plate (bun, side dish and "fixin's").

The issue(s) with E-O157, as I understand them, are primarily a result of contamination during production. In NC, an establishment that grinds their own meat is allowed to serve the food product at any temp the consumer requests (even to the point of Steak TarTare - yum!). The reason is simply that they are in a more controlled environment and the risks are significantly lowered/eliminated. Businesses that have their ground beef processed off-site are limited to cooking it well enough to kill the bacteria. Typically, "well done".

Cross-contamination is a "thing", but a restaurant employee is more likely to think of it as: don't put the potato salad spoon into the spaghetti sauce, or don't stick the meat thermometer into the soup pot. Picking up lettuce and then reaching for a slice of tomato... is generally "ok". I do agree that it would be unappealing to see what you described.

The US Dept of Agriculture/USDA provides much more information on their website.


Any recipe which calls for you to bake, roast, or otherwise cook at a particular temperature, is expecting you to preheat the cooker to the specified temperature before adding the food, unless it specifically says otherwise.

"Roast" or "bake" never mean "microwave". If a recipe wants you to use the microwave, it'll say that. (There are, of course, things you can choose to do in a microwave or in some other cooker, like melting butter; that's up to you.)


I think your problem will disappear with proper technique. Zucchini and eggplant are indeed full of water.  You have to both salt them well, to draw out the water, and cook them long enough for the liquid to evaporate.

It sounds like you are both under-salting and under-cooking.  Try roasting for longer and/or at a higher temperature.  My personal favorite way to do them is on the grill, where the direct heat and lack of a 'pan' allows lots of evaporation and also delicious browning.


How to make cookies without using greaseproof paper or a baking tin?

You should use what you have available as long as it is flat. Thin is good, if you have no cookie sheets you could use any thin-bottomed pans you have (thick bottoms take too long to get up to temperature, leading to inconsistent results). A layer of tin foil will work in lieu of greaseproof paper in most cases, shiny side towards the cookie.


Raita is a side dish or condiment meant to go along with a variety of Indian dishes.  It's purpose is to complement the other offerings in the meal.  It is not specifically designed to give relief from spices, though some claim this is true.


This recipe is essentially sugar and salt added to a "normal drink," so the rest of the recipe ought to be fine assuming good quality ingredients.


What mammals' milks are drunk by humans?

Add to this answer...  Who and where, what it tastes like, how it differs, how it's used in cooking...

Human

Where: Worldwide

Uses: Nursing

Cow

Where: Most common source of dairy worldwide

Uses: All dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.)

Goat

Where: India, Bangladesh, Africa, France, common across Europe.

Uses: Milk, cheese

Sheep

Where: Across Europe

Uses: Primarily cheese

Camel

Where: Middle East

Uses: Milk

Note: Camel milk can be an important source of water in extremely arid climates or survival situations.  The milk can have a salty taste due to camels' high consumption of sodium.

Yak

Where: South East Asia, Mongolia, Northern China, Tibet, Nepal

Uses: Milk, Cheese, and butter; localized dairy products such as dahi, paneer

Water Buffalo

Where: India, Parts of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China, South America, Europe (best known in Italy and throughout the Balkan states)

Uses: Milk, yogurt, cheese (mozzarella and others), candy

Note: Water Buffalos are the 2nd most common source of dairy in the world.

Horse

Where: Mongolia

Uses: Kumis (lightly alcoholic fermented drink)

Donkey / Ass

Where: Mediterranean countries

Uses: Milk, yogurt, cosmetic and medical use

Reindeer / Caribou

Where: Scandinavian countries, Mongolia

Uses: Cheese, Butter

Note: Reindeer milk is 22% butterfat and produces extremely rich cream cheese which Lapplanders sometimes use in coffee rather than regular cream.

Moose

Where: Russia and Sweden

Uses: Milk, limited cheese production


Why do my Eisenhower Cookies turn out flat?

Have you tried using fresh baking soda? I really don't see anything else that could be off here, especially if the recipe has worked well in the past.


I was just looking into trying this myself (after a disastrous attempt at bundt cake - tasted fine but broke in half coming out of the pan) anyway, I found a great site with lots of tips https://www.justonecookbook.com/how_to/perfect-chiffon-cake/ but what I also found, were other chiffon cakes where this had happened, and rather than it being a failure, people would decorate the groove with fresh fruit and icing sugar. So as long as it tastes good, just embellish it.


Why buy ground cinnamon instead of cinnamon sticks?

Different applications, sticks are mainly used when you wish to infuse a cinnamon flavour in a dish, where the spices are removed at the end, a biryani is a good example.  Ground cinnamon is used when the spice is to be left in, or be present throughout a substance, like in cakes for instance.

Ground cinnamon will leave a stronger flavour partly because it is left in and possibly due to the flavour extracting easier due to higher surface area and broken structure.

Cinnamon is notoriously hard to grind smoothly, so people tend to buy both for their respective uses.


I almost never peel potatoes. I like the flavor and texture of the skins, even in mashed potatoes, and unpeeled potatoes are less prone to becoming waterlogged.

According to Tablespoon.com, the Idaho Potato Commission recommends that you leave potatoes unpeeled for boiling for reasons of flavor and texture, even if you intend to peel the potatoes after boiling.


Your question intrigued me and I'm curious to know what these rotis are like. I make rotis often and have for a number of decades but I learned how originally from a Punjabi family. I don't really make them the same way as I've developed my own method over time. I use a mix of white flour, whole wheat and soy flour with a handful of wheat germ added. I don't butter mine when finished cooking either. My rotis are soft and hold up well as I also use them as a wrap instead of tortillas or pita bread. So I'm thinking a certain difference in flours can affect how they hold up for wraps.

I did some searching online and found a recipe for Caribbean wraps and filling that's supposed to come from Trinidad. Looking over different Caribbean roti recipes, one thing I noticed is they all have baking powder in them. I've never used it myself for rotis so perhaps that also affects how they turn out. The recipe link I'll give also adds a pinch of yeast that might help. All I can suggest is to try a small batch and see how they turn out.

Here's the recipe link. The part for rotis is at the bottom of the recipe.Trini Roti recipe


May I use cacao butter in place of coconut butter?

Not knowing your recipe (but I did some general googling re. fat bombs in general), I'd say go for it.

The main differences are based on the higher melting point for cocoa butter, which can actually make storage easier. At the same temperature, the cocoa butter based treats will be firmer - again a matter of taste.

But: The coconut oil based fat bombs will probably give you a "cooling" mouthfeel, caused by a combination of high enthalpy of fusion and a melting point below body temperature, it's the key ingredient in "ice chocolate". Cocoa butter with a melting point around 30-38C / 86-100F will not do that.

The taste will differ a bit as both fats have their specific taste, in combination with other ingredients neither should be overpowering, though.


How do you get a nice yellow gravy color when making a chicken pot pie?

I've only seen that color in canned cream of chicken soup and I'm dubious of its source.
I personally don't feel like it has to be yellow.

If your goal is just color I would use turmeric- it is my yellow-stain of choice.


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

As you've clarified that farina is self-raising flour, you can use it in quick breads (soda breads). You can probably find a recipe that uses just this flour with no other leavening agents.

The plain flour would need something to make it rise. This should either be yeast or the chemical leaveners in the other flour, however if you just mix the two you won't have enough for much rise. So either add baking powder for a quick bread, add yeast for a traditional bread, or use it to make flatbread.


What is the purpose of turning a pot roast (and can I do without it)?

I've never seen any benefit to turning a roast. If you want to minimize the crust, use a roaster with a lid or a roasting bag, but the rule is always low even temperature and slow roasting for the best meat.

A crock pot is also a good way to slowly braise a tough roast.

Coming from a beef ranch, we'd put a roast in the oven at about 100-125F at 7 in the morning on Sunday, do our chores, go to church and come home at 1 to a well done, tender roast with no turning. It gets a good crust on it which you can amp up with a good dry rub if you feel so inclined, but there's no need for turning.

Just low, slow and in a container of some kind if you don't like a crust on it.

Now, in doing just a bit of Google due diligence I ran across this article that suggests that aging is more important with an inexpensive roast than the cooking environment. We hung our beef for 14 days before packaging, so this wasn't an issue for us.

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/howto/SO96_HTbeef.pdf

If you have a big back yard and a tolerant spouse I've had very good results with the Polynesian pig-roast style of roasting.

Dig a big hole, line it with rocks, build a fire to burn down to coals, wrap the meat in several layers of tinfoil and place on top of the coals, bury it with more rocks on top and leave for 8 hours. Delicious, fall off the bone beef from the cheapest giant Costco cuts we could buy on a boy scout budget.


How to correct bitterness in blended homemade salsa?

If the problem is just a little bitterness on the tongue, salt is usually the best foil. If you can find out where the bitterness came from by sampling other pieces of your raw ingredients, you can try upping the ratio of other ingredients to temper it.

Advice more specific than that would require a crystal ball, I'm afraid. If it's really quite noticeable, then you're probably better off making a new batch with new ingredients.

Good luck!


While I have never collected acorns to eat, only to feed to animals, I have foraged and served beechnuts and chestnuts, and the same principles apply.
Ripe acorns will fall - so picking them up from under the tree is perfectly fine, no need to climb and risk anything.
As for most nuts, fallen acorns are protected by the outer shell and can withstand being on the ground for a bit. As they need a cold phase to germinate, they will remain mostly unchanged during the autumn, giving you a generous window to go out and forage.
You want to pick large and plump acorns, leave small, cracked, soft or otherwise damaged ones to the wild animals. You should wash them when you bring them home1 or before processing them. This is also a good occasion to sort out the random hollow acorn, because they will float.
Then proceed as per your chosen recipe.
1 If you don’t process them immediately after foraging, make sure they are dry on the surface to prevent mold.


Why did my sweet potato hash turn soggy when frying in a non-stick pan, and crispy in a cast iron?

The theories that have come out in comments are most likely right on. Cast iron is special in how well it retains heat. Give cast iron ample preheating time, and you can drop in cold food without a significant drop in the temperature of the pan. That equals crispy. Even a pretty good and heavy non-stick pan is not going to give sweet potatoes the kind of crisp you can achieve with cast iron.

You mention higher sides in the non-stick pan. That alone probably wouldn't make much of a difference, but considering that you're already seeing a greater drop in temperature as you put in the potatoes, the higher sides would hold in more moisture in the cooler pan. That is not a friend of crispiness.

You say that you preheated both pans to about the same temperature. I actually hope your memory is a little off on that :) One of the great joys of cooking with cast iron is that you can and usually should pre-heat it to a quite high temperature without damaging the pan. Teflon, on the other hand, should never be preheated beyond a very moderate temperature for a very short time. Some people go so far as to say that you shouldn't preheat it all. So if your beginning temperatures were about the same in the pans, they shouldn't have been. After you put in the potatoes, forget about it. You'll never get the same kind of crispy sear with a teflon pan as you will with cast iron, even if you don't know how to best exploit the advantages of cast iron.


Why does soda bread preserve less well than sourdough or yeast based bread?

The only major difference between the two is moisture, soda bread tends to be wetter than yeast breads, more like a cake than a yeast bread in many ways. Bread gets stale partly because of the action of moisture, and mold needs moisture as well, so because soda bread is more moist than many yeast breads it will get stale and moldy faster than most yeast breads.

Keep in mind that just about all breads no matter how they are leavened are best eaten fresh, although they will keep for several days. This includes soda breads, which will keep for much longer than a single day. Stored properly you should get 3-4 days out of it. So the recipes saying that soda bread will keep for a day are not really that accurate.


In what recipes can I use a thick coconut milk kefir?

If you're okay with the added acidity in a sauce, that would be fine, but for baking I would recommend looking for a recipe that calls for yogurt or buttermilk.
As far as I know, coconut milk does not curdle like dairy or other nutmilks might in the presence of acid or heat. It might separate, but should re-emulsify well enough.
However, baking usually involves some form of leavening, which means chemistry. If a recipe calls for sweet cream and you use an acidified substitute, you could change how it rises and end up with a dense final product (I've discovered this by adding too much lemon juice to cake recipes in the past...) But that's probably the worst that would happen. If the fat content is significantly higher, it will come out rich and moist, which may or may not be a good thing.
It might be interesting to give kefir cheese a shot with this coconut version. You could then mix it with butter or cream cheese and citrus friendly seasonings and sugar to make a nice spread.


There's a misunderstanding possibly of what Heston suggested for the British Navy.  He suggested to sous vide it and then store it in the freezer.  They couldn't just toss it in the cupboard.  Sous vide food is not typically shelf stable.  It has been pasteurized - not sterilized.

Pasteurization reduces pathogens to a safe level, not to a 0 level.  It doesn't typically reduce botulism spores to 0.  Once the food is exposed to normal temperatures, any anaerobic pathogens will start to reproduce again.

To sterilize you'll need to pressure cook meat through to 121 C for 2.4 minutes - at which point its rather not tasty.  You might be able to sous vide at a lower temp for much longer, but I suspect it'll still be past the point of being tasty.  Sterilized meat tastes like your typical potted meat.


Temperature gradients in boiled/baked eggs?

Presumably the question is referring to temperature gradients within the egg, i.e. the difference in temperature between the outside and inside. That is actually pretty relevant cooking-wise, because it tells you how the yolk and white will be cooked.

tl;dr I'd expect to see a steeper gradient from boiling than from the convection oven, but the actual results from your lab will let you tell much more confidently.

This depends on how fast the heat transfer is, which is made most obvious by the temperature the shell is held at. You can also see it from total cooking time. If one method takes longer, then it's transferring heat more slowly, and thus you can expect a flatter temperature gradient inside the egg (there's time for the heat to propagate inward), while the faster one will have a steeper gradient (the outside heats much faster than the heat propagates in).

With boiling, there's really only one possibility: the water holds the shell at very close to 100C. You have very efficient heat transfer, the water is well-mixed, and it has a very high heat capacity, so it can easily do this. Hard-boiling eggs generally takes less than ten minutes.

With an oven, it's less clear. Without any convection, the shell will actually remain well below the oven's air temperature for quite a long time, because the air can't transfer heat rapidly enough. This is likely true even with a realistic convection oven: if you put the egg in, wait a minute, and then check the shell temperature, I highly doubt it will be at the oven air temperature. Baking without convection in the 350F ballpark generally takes around half an hour, and I believe convection only reduces that to 20-25 minutes. So I'm pretty sure the oven has less efficient heat transfer, longer cooking time, and flatter gradient, but if you had a powerful, hot enough oven with really good convection, that could flip around.

So overall, it's hard to say for sure just from your description. If you actually did an experiment, though, you can tell from the results. Egg whites are soft but solid at 155F, and totally set at 180F, while egg yolks are firm at 158F and dry/crumbly at 180F. A steeper temperature gradient within the egg means that the yolk will be less cooked compared to the white, while a flatter temperature gradient means that they'll be cooked more similarly.

If you noticed differences in cooking time, or differences in yolk vs white doneness, there you are.

All this said, dry vs wet heat does have other significant effects. Dry heat will dry out the membrane and even some of the white underneath. Given enough time, the white will shrink away from the shell and end up noticeably drier and tougher, and it can even brown. So the differences you notice in the resulting egg may not be only about temperature gradient.


How can you speed up a genoise cake mixing?

I suspect that the purpose of the double boiler is to bring the eggs up to room temperature, which isn't going to make that much of a difference. Most recipes would say that the process will take 10 minutes, but you may be able to speed things up marginally:

Use a bowl that concentrates the eggs in as small an area as possible so your beater blades contact as much eggs as possible per rotation. A narrow, tall bowl is better than a wide, shallow one. If you don't have that then tip the bowl you do have so it all concentrates in one area
Use fresh eggs, I've found that fresher eggs take air better. It's true for egg whites at least, so I suspect it will be for whole eggs as well
Let the eggs come up to room temperature before using them, that way you don't need the double boiler setup, which will give you more flexibility when it comes to bowls. If you don't have 20-30 minutes to let the eggs warm naturally then 5 minutes submerged in tepid water will do the same thing

Other than that the only thing I can recommend is to buy a stand mixer or cultivate patience. Preferably both.


Paring knife selection for work in the air?

'Air work' is an interesting term that I am not used to hearing, and I do a lot of it. The trick here is where will you be holding the knife as you work. A long thin blade will mean you are holding the blade as you work, which is not a problem, per se.

Small bladed and hook beak knives are well suited for this, as you can comfortably hold the handle. I love hook beak knives for mushroom garnishing, coring, small veg peeling and trimming, etc...

Small straight paring knives are the standard choice for this, if you don't like the hooked blade.


It's certainly safe. Butter, Oil, whatever, it's more about taste than anything else. Some people even push lard and butter as the "safe" options, because they require less processing than oil, and much less than margarine.

One thing which you should be aware of in regards to butter vs oil: butter has a significant amount of water in it, so you shouldn't substitute 1-to-1, or you will have a stronger flavour (and more fat) than perhaps you want.

If you're accustomed to salted butter, adding some salt will help ease the transition. If the flavour of olive oil is off-putting, there are plenty of more neutral flavoured oils that have a similar fat composition, or you can simply avoid extra virgin olive oil*.

*extra virgin olive oil in the U.S is largely a scam. In most of the world (countries that adhere to the IOC standard) this signifies "First Cold Press" olive oil. In the US it signifies "lamp grade olive oil with green food coloring". There are no restrictions on the use of terms like "extra virgin" in the US, so you can't guarantee that's what you're really getting just because it's on the label.


How do you prevent pesto (basil) from becoming bitter?

immediate consumption

You make genoese pesto

(indeed the linked recipe is ok for genovese pesto and not simply a genoese  pesto-like green sauce)

for an almost immediate consumption.

In such a case each of the ingredient can be responsible for a bitter taste or note. I would suggest checking each of them for their own taste. Some`hints are given by commenters.

Pine nuts can be sweet and well kept, or rancid (they have fats/oil). They can be perfect as those called "from Pisa" or less valuables. Check them and find the best from your local stores.

Extra virgin oil can be of extremely bitter taste. Extra virgin mostly refers to the extraction, not to the organoleptic characteristics, of course. But this should be clear for you as you probably use oil for salad etc.

Pecorino sardo (romano as by official definition) can be more or less salty and quite pungent.  Traditionally, when it goes into pesto formulation, is very old and harder than parmigiano to give an idea. This can be overly tasty to many. In this case reduce its amount and increase correspondingly that of  parmigiano reggiano (or grana padano).

Now comes the core: basil. You cannot easily taste it alone but relies on parfum. It should not be minty or herbaceous at all. The best leafs are small and pale green.

Here in Genova the basil is collected when the plants are about 12 - 13 cm tall.
Not sure about how many varieties of it can exist as obviously I stick to what is growing in my neighbourhood but for sure the tallness of the plants is s crucial point as for the biochemistry of the plant change after a certain level of maturity. Note that this has chemical basis. I.e. the essential oil composition change after a certain size.

However, rather than bitter a too big basil plant imparts a mint and/or herbaceous taste.

I suggest tasting the oil (if not done) as it seems to me the first suspect ingredient.

Related to oil: if you are using a blender (OP doesn't but let me stay general) be sure to work by very short pulses as for blending at high speed  can microscopically rise the temperature to "burns" ingredients. This is felt by some as a bitter/burned note indeed.

Later serving

In case you make pesto for a later consumption: this is somehow detrimental as for oxidation is basically unavoidable. You will always see pesto getting darker and less scented to some extent.

Unfortunately pesto is a delicious condiment only when is almost perfect. That is why long storage pesto items are disgusting as compare to other sauces in the supermarket shelves.

Nevertheless a home made pesto can be used within days if immediately frozen. Many families do that.  A nice trick is to use ice cubes racks so that the needed portions can be used at times.

In this case is clever to skip the cheese while blending. Grated cheese is very prone to oxidation or perhaps microorganisms attack (not sure exactly) and gets pungent and bitter very quickly.
So for postponed consumption better to prepare a cheese-free pesto and mix-in the cheeses just at the last moment, carefully working with a fork.

Extra notes:

once I read here that somebody warm up pesto in a quick cooking fashion. NO and NO.
pesto "has an ingredient" that is never mentioned because does not enter the mortar (or mezzaluna or blender) step. Just before serving the pasta, a very little nut of butter and drops of cooking water shall be added to each portion in order to get a more pleasant creamy texture of the sauce.

Buon appetito from Genova.


What is the difference (practically) between different types of rennet?

From what I've found it's pretty much a one to one ratio, if you are subbing vegetarian rennet for anmial rennet.  They act simmilarry in equal doses, so you should be fine just following the instructions for calf's rennet.

I do perfer using calf's rennet over vegetarian, but that may be just be me being anti-vegetarian.


Selling food online nationally (US based)

The threshold for needing proper nutritional labeling in the US is something like $500k and 100k units (not sure the exact level). If you're selling in low enough volume, you essentially fly under the radar, though certain retailers may refuse to carry your product.
If you're going to meet labeling requirements, there are no shortcuts--you need to have proper nutritional analysis done and follow all the rules for ensuring it's accurate. Using a co-packer to manufacture and package your product comes with the benefit of their expertise in this sort of labeling and quality control.
If you're going to be doing any significant number of sales, or generating a significant amount of revenue, you probably want to look into having proper business insurance and finding an attorney to help you navigate legal requirements related to your venture. But that's far beyond food & cooking, and gets to be off topic for this forum.


There's an additional complication to your question. Chimichangas are closed-ended while enchiladas are open-ended, so calling an enchilada a wet burrito isn't quite right. In fact, burritos often come drenched in sauce. For reference, the Chuy's Fajita beef burrito with ranchero sauce:

Other differences include size, which changes how many you're served. You're generally going to eat one burrito or chimichanga while you'll get 2-4 enchiladas (or more, depending on size).

I think the more similar fried (or baked), open-ended corn tortilla food you're looking for is a "taquito" or "flauta" (the latter is often with a flour tortilla, too).

  A taquito (Spanish pronunciation: [taˈkito], literally Spanish for "small taco"), tacos dorados, rolled taco, or flauta (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈflauta], literally Spanish for "flute") is a Mexican food dish that typically consists of a small rolled-up tortilla that contains filling, including beef, cheese or chicken. The filled tortilla is then crisp-fried or deep-fried. The dish is often topped with condiments such as sour cream and guacamole. Corn tortillas are generally used to make taquitos; the dish is more commonly known as flautas when they are larger than their taquito counterparts, and can be made with either flour or corn tortillas although using corn is more traditional.

Because it's crispy-fried, they're generally not topped with a liquid sauce, which helps preserve the crisp shell, particularly as they are generally eaten as finger food.

Some potato taquitos from Hilah Cooking:

Full disclosure: I enjoy dining at Chuy's but am unaffiliated with them. I know Hilah but found this image/recipe serendipitously in a Google search.


Can you make whipped cream with a SodaStream?

No, because the bottle would explode off the Soda Stream, spraying cream and foam all over your kitchen.

Per the Soda Stream FAQ:

  No. Only water should be carbonated in the SodaStream Sparkling Water Maker. You risk damaging your Sparkling Water Maker, not to mention making a big fizzy mess! The money-back guarantee and the warranty are both invalidated if you carbonate any liquid other than water in your Sparkling Water Maker. Stick with plain, cold water and adding any one of our fantastic flavors - AFTER the water has been carbonated!

Speaking from personal experience, the Soda Stream won't tolerate anything even a little more viscous than water ... not even fruit juice.  The liquid foams too fast and blows the bottle off the device.  Cream would be a hilarious mess.


Is there a way to keep chilled cookie dough from flattening while cutting it?

Use a length of plain dental floss instead of a knife to slice: Wrap the floss around the roll, cross the ends of the floss over each other, and then pull the ends down and out to the sides to slice through the log.


Will peeling and slicing potatoes prevent them from sprouting further?

In my own experience, yes you can peel and slice your potatoes if they are beginning to sprout. I know in many of the kitchens where I've worked it's common practice to store peeled potatoes and potatoes that are cut for chips submerged in cold water in the cooler. This will help the potatoes keep longer and prevent the peeled surfaces from browning and drying out, also the cold and lack of oxygen will prevent further sprouting.


How can I reduce the sodium/salt in Halloumi?

Soaking Halloumi might get rid of a bit of the salt in the cheese that's close to the outer surface, but it isn't going to do much for you. Chopping it up will increase the surface area and allow more salt to be drawn out, it's still not going to make it that much less salty. If you have concerns about salt intake then there is lower salt halloumi sold in places, however that doesn't taste like much.

A little halloumi goes a long way, you could just eat small amounts of it or pair it up with something else. I barbecued pineapple and halloumi skewers this past weekend with a 2:1 ratio of pineapple to halloumi and it was a very good balance. Everyone ended up eating one or two chunks of halloumi in the end, so really overall a moderate amount of salt.


Which cookware material should be used to retain the heat of the prepared tea?

If you had vessels of the exact equal shape, you could have gone by material. But in reality, you are likely to have different shapes and sizes, so there is no good way to tell which one to use. The general rules (each of which holds as long as the features in all the other ones are kept equal)

earthenware is better than glass, which is better than steel. Different plastics and resins have different insulation, but usually worse than earthenware and I believe glass.
a larger vessel filled with more liquid is better than a smaller vessel filled with less liquid
a smaller vessel filled with a given amount of liquid is better than a larger vessel filled with the same amount of liquid
a vessel with a narrower opening is better than a vessel with a wider opening
a vessel in which the width at the tea-air border is smaller is better than a vessel in which the width is larger
a vessel with a more compact shape is better than a vessel in which one dimension is larger than the others
a vessel with thick walls is better than a vessel with thin walls

If one of your vessels you have ticks all the criteria, it is superior to the rest. In the more usual case where one of them is better by one criterion and worse by another one, there is no simple way to predict which one is better on the whole. The simple number of criteria is also not guaranteed to give results, as a very bad performance in only one of them can "trump" the combined contribution of the rest. But in practice, it is probably a decent heuristic. So you could try choosing one which seems to fit the above criteria best.

The even better option (optimized both for material and for the other properties listed above) is to use an insulated mug or teapot. They are available in all sizes and shapes, and all of them are better than simple earthenware. Even an insulated mug without the cap will be better than a simple mug.

If you don't want to invest in an insulated teapot, or want traditional aesthetics, you can also use a porcelain or earthenware teapot in combination with an woolen cozy. You should really knit it in wool or another animal fiber like alpaca. Silk, plant fibers and artificial ones don't insulate well.

See also Ceramic vs Stainless Steel in coffee mugs for a related discussion.


Second quesadilla made on my panini press is not as crispy as the first

Probably its a panini-press-not-heated-enough issue, but with a caveat. I dont know about the inner wokings of the press, but it sounds like this: the thermometer that decides if the light for "ready" sign goes green is situated in a place that gets heated early, gives green, and cuts off the heat production (while the rest of the press is was still gathering heat.)

I am inclined to say that this is a not-hot-enough issues as, if you think about it, every new quesadilla you cook is actually a "second quesadilla", just with enough time lapse between the last quesadilla and this quesadilla.


Lorraine evidently used the Italian meringue method of making macarons. Italian meringue uses hot sugar syrup, not glucose syrup. As you can see from this question, sugar syrup can be kept for a few days in the refrigerator. Simple syrup is available ready made for use in cocktails, but do see William Shakespeare's notes in the commments.


How to minimise exposure to systemic pesticides while eating non-organic fruits and vegetables?

You reduce your chances of consuming pesticides by looking at the country of origin. For example, EU countries frequently have tighter standards than Asian countries, and even within the EU, there are differences in which pesticides are allowed, and at which levels. You would have to find out whose regulation you trust most, and then follow the relevant magazines about potential contamination/limit excess reveals.

This is usually in direct contradiction to your desire to spend less on produce, since the norms tend to be better in countries with higher labor costs, conformity is better in countries with low corruption, which also have a correlation with labor costs, and in general, it is impossible to keep low produce production costs without generous amounts of strong pesticides, because the farmer then has to absorb the losses from ruined crops. So if you can only afford the cheapest tier of produce, such as Spanish strawberries, there may be nothing you can do but eat it with whatever pesticides it contains.

What can also help is eating seasonal produce. Out-of-season produce is frequently delivered by mass producing, purely profit-oriented corporations who trim their production to efficiency. Smaller, traditional, more idealistic farmers tend to grow in-season, and even if they don't get an organic certification, some of them would reduce their pesticide use based on personal beliefs what farming is about. So on average, you will have a somewhat lower pesticide exposure, even though the actual levels will vary wildly per batch.


Why does my oven take so long to heat up?

There is a large collection or reasons, some are:

Differences in makes and models
Modern form over function problems
Crap EU standards (EN 60350 etc) that limit the amount of power a element can use. It's something like <= 0.25 W per cm2, and a typical domestic over is around 1100 cm2
For same standards the typical total KW/h of modern over is 3.5 KW/h, where ovens of twenty years ago where around 4.5 KW/h\


Grilling / broiling the potato after it comes out of the microwave is quicker than baking it and achieves the same crispy outside.

If you really prefer them baked though, you can speed this up by inserting a large metal skewer into the potato while it's in the oven


Keeping it in a regular refrigerator should suffice for most situations even for a couple of days, but for longer periods freezing is probably recommended.

As for transportation to your workplace I'd recommend a thermal bag, or insulated bag, or any type of insulated plastic box or container should do the trick well.


What is a useful search term for the sensation of flavor progression in a spoonful?

Your music theory analogy is apropos, because one of the common terms for what it seems you're after is flavor "notes."

Unfortunately, there's not a lot of standardization in terminology for the temporal perception of flavor.  The most common term is of course aftertaste, which is sometimes also known as the "finish" of a beverage or food.  The link gives a bit more detail on temporal perception and flavor dynamics.

The succession of taste perceptions is more commonly discussed in beverage tasting (particularly alcoholic beverages, though I've occasionally seen it mentioned regarding coffee or tea).  The first part of perception often occurs before you even put the food or drink into your mouth, since volatile aromatic compounds are a large part of what we think of as "taste" (but which are actually smell).  Those components are sometimes referred to as "the nose" or "bouquet," again particularly in beverages, those I've sometimes heard of the term applied to foods with distinctive smell profiles like chocolate.

Once the food or drink is inside your mouth, you experience the immediate taste sensations on your tongue, but the volatile compounds also waft up through the back of your mouth into your nasal cavities.  There are various technical terms for these components of flavor, including "sapictive" for flavor notes sensed in the mouth, "olfactive" or "olfactory" for notes sensed in the nasal cavities, as well as other elements that influence taste perception like hot/cold sensations or texture/chewing sensations.  Most of these terms are not commonly encountered in food writing in general, but you sometimes see them in technical studies of flavor or food science.

In some cases, as you chew, other flavor components are released (by evaporation of more volatile compounds or breaking down of the food mechanically through chewing or chemically by saliva), which again may be sensed in the mouth or the nose.  The only term I've commonly heard for these in casual food writing is "middle notes," and I don't know that people consistently use that term to mean the same thing.  The process of changing flavors during this part of tasting can be referred to as flavor "structure," "depth," or "development," among other things.  There's not really a standard term that I know of.  Once the food is swallowed, as I've already mentioned, the terms "aftertaste" or "finish" are used to describe any further taste experiences.  In technical literature, the overall progression is sometimes referred to as a "temporal profile" of flavor sensations for a particular food.

I know that this answer probably isn't particular helpful or specific, but that's partly because your question is discussing a relatively new area of research in food science.  There are a few books published just in the past couple years that deal with flavor science and the psychology of flavor perception.  While some of them deal with the temporal succession of flavor perception (and the nerve pathways and sensations that create them), I don't think there are common terms yet that have emerged which you could search for, other than the somewhat imprecise and casual terminology I've mentioned here.

EDIT: I realized after reading the comments that you mentioned that you may be interested in more technical terminology from food science; when I originally read your question, I assumed you were looking for more casual terms that average culinary folk actually use.  In any case, there are a number of terms for specific analytical techniques that reference the order of sensations, some of which are relatively new:

Time-intensity flavor profiling (TI)
Progressive profiling
Temporal dominance of sensations (TDS)
Temporal order of sensations (TOS)
Multiple attribute time intensity (MATI)

These tend only to be mentioned in the technical food science literature, and each has a different "protocol" for evaluating the interaction of flavor sensations over time.  Most are, as I said, relatively new -- older literature will usually employ a more generic term like "flavor profile" or perhaps "temporal profile."  Anyhow, searching for any of these terms is likely to turn up more technical articles on the kind of information you're discussing.


What do you call the flavor imparted from cooking at high heat?

I have frequently heard it said (or read) that "the flavor comes from..." rather than naming the flavor in particular. Each of the adjectives you listed (and more) can be used situationally to describe the flavor, but there is no established name for those flavors.

With sugars (fruits and other sweets) the flavor is caused by "caramelization" whereas with proteins the source is referred to as "the Maillard effect/reaction". I have also heard caramelization used to describe the browning of meat, while technically inaccurate the term still conveys the meaning. Some articles will confuse the terms (see Why Does Food Brown) but it is more accurate to treat them as separate reactions (see Caramelization: Why Food Turns Brown When You Cook It)


I'd say the difference between frying or even using a griddle pan is that compared to a grill [US] barbecue [UK] that the latter generates more heat all round the food as it's cooking, as opposed to mainly the portion touching the surface of the pan.

With that in mind, some possible solutions…

Fry then oven - would give you the surface texture plus enough time to cook the inside. [Oven then fry might work too, though the surface would then be more difficult to fry evenly].
Butterfly the chicken before marinating, or even just slice in half - half the thickness, quicker to cook to the centre, with double the crispy surface & more marinade on it. Stronger flavour & a change in the proportion of textures, but you may like it that way.
Broil [US] grill [UK] with a more controlled temperature. You could achieve a similar, though not identical result compared to the default grill/barbecue method. You can decrease cooking time slightly by using metal skewers through the centre, like a kebab.


If your crumb is not open you likely either underproofed, your dough is too dry, or you have not opened the dough up by cutting across the top. There are many very good questions about crumb on this site already so I won't go more into that in detail, instead I'll move onto shaping.

Bread will spread out and not up unless it's restrained, it's natural for it to do so as it's the path of least resistance. If you want it to prove in a certain shape you need to use a tin or a basket in the shape you want. Bread can be baked in a tin, however if you use a basket you'll need to turn it out onto a sheet before baking.


Does the type of sugar make a difference when making chocolate?

Speaking from making fudge, I have gotten the most consistent results using superfine / castor sugar.

I haven't noticed starch related issues from powdered sugar, but your mileage may vary; the problem I have had with it is due to clumping in spite of the starch (particularly in a frosting recently).
I have used granulated sugar to make fudge and it is grainy. I melted most of it, but got sick of stirring it as it got crazy thick. I suppose it's possible to get it to the point of a completely dissolved syrup, but that would take longer than it is worth since you are likely going to run the risk of scorching.

Relative to the taste and structure, you won't get anything special from the caster sugar. However, you will get a more predictable product, and less hassle waiting for it to dissolve. You will also avoid texture problems and reduce the risks brought on by extended time in the pot (i.e. too much heat, likelier to accumulate moisture randomly).


Does meat marinate while it is in the freezer?

Marinating steak - apart from very acidic marinades - will affect only the outer few mm of your meat. While these are the first to freeze, they are also the first to thaw, together with the marinade.

Your total marinating time will be

(time until outer layer is frozen) + (time since outer layer thawed, before cooking)

Unless you flash-froze your meat and thaw in a microwave, this can be a few hours. In frozen state, marinating is basically stopped. So do the math, according to your desired total marinating time. You can always leave the meat thawing/marinating in the refrigerator for a bit longer, if neccesary.


A steel is used to realign the edge, allowing it to slice cleanly. Sharpening a blade removes metal to produce a new edge on a dull blade. The process of realigning the edge is also called 'honing'. My electric shapener has three slots to perform various levels of sharpening. One of them is just to hone the knife. The steel rod with a handle that comes with most knife sets serves the same purpose.


I accidentally boiled away most of my soup, what can I do to recover it?

If you add preheated water, you don't need to reheat the soup--just mix in and enjoy!  Depending on how strong it is, you could also just eat it as-is--IMHO the best soups always reduce the stock anyway.


How can I achieve flavorful, gelatinous pork broth economically?

Good home-made stock is easy and cheap to make. All you need is an old stock pot (no lid needed, you want the water to evaporate), and a bunch of pork bones and connective tissue. The bones will add the pork flavor, while the connective tissue will break down into gelatin.

The best way to get the pot is a thrift store (charity shop to UK types), and the best way to get the bones is to make friends with a butcher - they often have loads of bones and connective tissue that go into the garbage and are happy to sell it dirt cheap.

To make the stock all you need to do is add the bones and connective tissue to the pot with enough water to cover them completely, and cook it down for hours and hours. Many chefs would recommend adding stock vegetables like onions and carrots at the beginning, and straining them out after an hour. After a few hours you'll have all the good stuff out of the bones and connective stuff, so strain them out and then simmer the stock until you have the consistency and flavor concentration you want. You can cook it down until it's a syrup if you want, although that takes a long time. You can then freeze it for months.

If the amount of gelatin you want isn't there you can simply add unflavored gelatin, it's very inexpensive and easy to use.

EDIT: As for smoke, I wouldn't add it in to your broth. You won't always want the smoky flavor and if you do it's easy enough to add some smoked pork or liquid smoke later if you do. Leaving it out gives you more flexibility later.


Please see this thread for general storage questions (edit: and this thread for questions related to leaving food at room temperature).

Since the fish had been sitting in an open, unrefrigerated sink for what sounds like several hours, I would generally regard it as unsafe by this point.  Putting it back into the refrigerator would not sufficiently inhibit the growth of any bacteria that made their way into the fish during that time.  But there is no way to know with absolute certainty.

I'll take a cue from rumtscho's answer to another safety-related question and note that we can't tell you here about what you should do.  Kitchen professionals generally err on the side of caution, but you must make your own decisions about the risk involved, and whether that outweighs any qualms you have about waste.


Egg used for breaded poultry added to other parts of the dish. Is this a health hazard?

As long as the egg is cooked to the doneness necessary to safely cook the pork, this is a fine process.

Someone will surely say that if the egg sits out it will be unsafe. In fact, you have a window of several hours, especially if it was cold to start.

The scenario of putting the egg in while the rice is in the 'Hold' phase DOES sound a little risky, though, as that stage probably does not go above 140 F

If adding to the rice do it with several minutes of full heat still to come, or scramble the egg in the frying pan and add it like that.


Like poultry, duck has fatter legs than breasts and also the meat itself is darker, adding a different flavor to the meal.
The fat in the legs will melt and the potatoes and onions will cook in it.

It would be great if you had some duck fat to add to the breasts or at least any kind of fat, for the flavor.
But if you like to eat learn unfatty meals, you can stick with the breast only.


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

I don't know about the brand, but flours which are sold for health purposes are often whole grain. If it has the bran milled together with the corn, there is no way around the grittiness.

I don't know if something like "teff cake flour" exists, as it is probably the opposite of what teff eaters want. You could try calling the producers of your brand and asking. Else see if cycling through brands helps. But for such a niche product, it might be that all brands do whole grain only.


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

Many of the chemicals in food responsible for how a it tastes are also the same ones which, as they escape into the air, give it it's smell.

These oils and aromatic compounds which give many spices their flavour break down or escape over time changeing the taste as they degrade.

Some spices stay fresh for a long time once ground, others are well worth (as you are finding) doing your self.

Many of these compounds react with the oxygen in air to become new ones, these would then potentialy taste stale. Other compounds may break down if light gets to them; especially natural light as ultraviolet breaks many chemicals down. Other chemicals just evaporate away.

All of these reactions depend on surface area... so the smaller the bits of spice the faster they lose the flavor/smell chemicals.

Very fresh powdered spices wouldn't have this issue. Also if you ground the spices yourself and then left them for a few week/months you would find much of the taste has gone from the powder.


Experiment and see if flour acts the same as cornstarch. I find that cornstarch tends to "set up" in such a way that food remains a gelatinous blob after reheating. It does this after being refrigerated too, so I don't think it has to do with you actually freezing it: just cooling it down.

I think flour works a little better to reheat which is why I tend to try to use that for things which I know I will want to reheat and eat again later.

Lastly, do make sure you get it piping hot when reheating as this will help to smooth it out and will also melt and gelatin that comes from the meat.


How are food dyes affected by heat and ingredients?

As @GdD has said, a lot of the liquid dyes sold in the baking aisles of supermarkets while adequate for icing etc, are not really designed for baking. If you are intending to bake with a colouring, the powdered food dyes used in Indian and Chinese cooking can produce very deep colours, but they are nearly always synthetic and have been linked to some food allergies. The post What makes food dyes heat-safe? explains more about heat tolerant dyes and lists some good alternatives.


Is it bad if a sponge cake sits out for a couple hours before cooking?

Yes, it is bad. Most baking powder will begin to produce co2 as soon it gets wet. If you let the batter rest before putting it in the oven, your cake will thus lose some of airiness.


Amchoor (mango powder), anardana (dried pomegranate), and, if you include pastes, tamarinde come to mind.

They all have a tangy/sour taste, and are used quite often in Indian curries, and cooking in other parts of (South East) Asia.

Apart from mango powder (which is rich in citric acid, I use it as a replacement for lemon when I want sour, but no additional juices), I don't have any experience using them outside the realm of curries, so you'll have to experiment your way through them ;)


I own one, and have tried it for both those uses, but with mediocre results compared to other techniques.

For crème brûlée, I get more even caramelization by placing the individual custards under a broiler. The only benefit I could appreciate from using the torch was that it was quicker, and I could monitor the caramelization more easily. (The broiler technique is the one recommended in this book for the perfect crème brûlée.)

For peppers, the torch dries out and blackens the skin without really cooking the interior. Again I have had better results in a broiler/hot oven, or on a grill.

The torch is most definitely fun, but so far I haven't found it to be necessary; I'll be interested, however, if someone else has found the perfect use(s) for a culinary torch.


What is the difference between white and pink ginger?

Although white ginger and red (or pink) ginger do exist, the different colors in sushi ginger are from a dye. The color in white sushi ginger comes from the pickling process and the red/pink color in ink sushi ginger comes from an artificial dye (usually E124 -cochineal red- or in other brands beet extract). The generic name for sushi ginger is gari and here's the Wikipedia page.

White gari/sushi ginger on the left and pink gari/sushi ginger on the right.


How to prevent separation/layers in panna cotta?

It sounds to me like you didn't get the gelatin dispersed properly.

Since the recipe you linked to doesn't explicitly mention it, and neither does your question, I'm going to assume that you didn't bloom the gelatin first.  You must do this if you want proper dispersion of any gelatin product.

To bloom powdered gelatin, just sprinkle it over cold liquid and leave it (cold) until it's visibly swelled. This usually takes about 5 minutes.  Then simply heat and stir (thoroughly) to disperse.

To bloom sheet gelatin, you do almost the same thing - soak them for a little longer (up to 10 minutes) in cold water a separate vessel, then squeeze them to wring out any excess water, and then add to your cooking liquid (in this case cream).

You might also consider use a stick blender/immersion blender to make sure that it is completely dispersed after melting. This is usually unnecessary for gelatin, but if you're blooming it and still can't get uniform distribution, that will help.

I'm certain that if you follow the proper preparation, your panna cotta will turn out fine next time.

P.S. Do be careful not to add too much lime or other acid; gelatin will not set properly at pH levels around or below 4.


I would cook on the largest burner available that is not too big for the pan or pot. The smaller the burner is the longer it will take to bring to temp and the more wasted energy you'll have from radiation from the pot and evaporation. I would also set the burner to its highest setting to bring to boil and then turn it down unless you are maintaining a boil in your recipe.


How do I make this no bake tart filling less runny?

Welcome to the site Elle! This tart filling is a custard as the thickening agent is egg yolks. If it isn't thickening up enough then one of two things is happening:

The mix isn't being brought up to temperature. The recipe's instructions aren't very good because it talks about a time rather than a target temperature. Egg yolk will set at about 70°C (160°F), if your heat isn't' high enough you may never reach that temperature. I suggest using a thermometer when making custards because it takes the guesswork out of it. If you reach the target temp and it hasn't thickened up enough then you don't have enough setting agent, which is #2
Not enough setting agent: A few things could be throwing off the ratio of egg yolk: your mango could be less thick, or you could be using smaller eggs than the recipe calls for. This is common when people in the US make UK, Australian and New Zealand recipes as US eggs sizes are smaller - medium UK/ANZ eggs are large in the US. Most UK/ANZ recipes call for large eggs, in the US that would be XL or even Jumbo

I would first try gently cooking down the mango a bit to thicken it up before adding the eggs. This takes more time as you'd have to cool the mixture before adding your eggs to it so they don't scramble and ruin it, it will also intensify the flavor. If you don't want to do that then add another egg yolk, or use larger eggs. Then I'd use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature to make sure it gets to the target. It should thicken up noticeably when it gets there. If it still doesn't add small amounts of cornstarch slurry (mix with a bit of your extra cream), holding the temperature there until it thickens up. Don't go overboard or you'll have too hard a filling when it cools!


How do I fix crystallized butter cream filling made with ghee?

One problem is, making a larger batch just may not work - especially since this recipe needs a lot of precision in timing.  Specifically, the need for it to be mixed while hot makes larger batches problematical.  The second point is, the recipe states it can't be made in advance - which makes maintaining it at temperature, or reheating if it cools too much during filling, very problematic.  For the future, I would recommend making each smaller batch sequentially.

Is there anything you can do to fix it?  Maybe not exactly as intended, but I think adding a bit, a little bit, of water may work - it should loosen the filling enough to reach creamy consistency.  At worst, this batch of cookies may have a softer filling - which is not a terrible fate, even if not ideal.  But if you use very less water, and heat the filling when re-mixing, especially with smaller batches, you may lose enough water to evaporation (in the heating and cooling) to minimize this effect.

I would suggest making a few very small test batches to see how the filling holds up to these ideas - how much water to add, if heating (post-water addition) helps the texture, if the taste is still good, even if the filling as-is would be okay once in the sandwich.


Does it matter which goes in the glass first when having half/half tea?

The answer of the question has little to do with cooking, and more with knowing how human cognition (= how do we know that we like something) works. To your brain, "X makes me think it tastes better" is the same as "it tastes better", no matter if X is the chemical composition of the drink or the knowledge that the sweetener went there first, or something entirely else.

It is possible that there is some objectively measurable difference in the drink. It is also possible that there is no such difference. In both cases, the outcome is the same - you have some reasons to like the drink sweet first better. Dividing them into "objectively measurable properties of the drink itself" and "anything else" is irrelevant to the outcome (your taste preferences). It specifically does not mean that, if your reasons turn out to be "anything else", your liking is somehow less real, or that you are being silly.

So, the answer is basically tautological. If for you it matters that the sweetened goes in first, then for you it matters that the sweetened goes in first. And it has nothing to do with whether if matters for your friend or not, whether you could taste the difference in a blind test or not, or any other possible tests of the "reality" of your feeling of liking.


How long you can store whipped cream for depends on how whipped it is. Lightly whipped cream will start to soften after a couple of hours, stiff whipped cream may last a day or so (in both cases, in the fridge).

When you whip cream, air bubbles are trapped amongst the droplets of fat, giving the cream its light texture. These naturally pop and 'leak' out of the cream over time.

As you guessed, this is one reason (the others being speed and reliability) that commercial kitchens use cream siphons. They force nitrous oxide through liquid cream as it is dispensed, so it's 'whipped' on demand. Cream whipped in this way tastes pretty much like regular whipped cream - nitrous oxide is used precisely because it is flavourless. Using, say, carbon dioxide as in soda would result in sour tasting cream.


Does soaking apples in baking soda for 15 minutes remove pesticides?

There seems to be some truth (and this ) that baking soda helps removing some pesticides.
You can wash your fruits under running warm water to remove most of the wax and some pesticides and after that, use baking soda.
If all fails, you can remove the skin of the apples.


Safe kitchen-ready materials to drill holes in for tofu press?

Aluminium doesn't rust, and neither does stainless steel.  In both cases this is a property of the material and not a coating.  While aluminium has a layer of oxide on the surface, this gets scratched in use and reforms naturally.  Either of these could be used, but aluminium is much easier to drill.

Non-stick pans are usually mild steel underneath the coating. This will rust, and the rust can give an off flavour to food in quantities that aren't dangerous.  Flakes of PTFE non-stick coating aren't hazardous (in fact I've seen scientific papers suggesting the same material could be used as a bulking agent in dieting) but don't look nice.  I'd avoid non-stick for that reason.

Other options include:

Wood: most woods in widespread use are food-safe.  My little cheese press (which I bought for tofu but also use for paneer) is some sort of softwood, probably spruce.  I occasionally oil it with walnut oil.
Plastic food storage containers.  Just be sure they aren't any rough bits that could end up in the food.  They won't harm you in small quantities (unless somehow burnt) but won't be pleasant.  Many small commercial cheese presses are made of the same plastics a food storage containers, just thicker and stronger.  Food packaging probably isn't stiff enough and can be multilayered (still all food-safe plastics though).


There are lots of things you can try, but the first thing I would start with is weighing your ingredients. Use a recipe that provides ingredients by weight and buy a decent kitchen scale.

Next I would look at your temperature and set that to be as high as your oven will go(mine goes to 550°F).

I would ensure that you aren't over topping. I know you mentioned that you aren't over topping, but I still would "top even less" until you can figure your crust out.

Other general tips that might help depending on your situation:

Use a steel/stone
Bring the dough to room temperature
Thin your dough further
Par bake the dough before topping
Proof the dough for longer
Use room temperature ingredients


How Rough Should the finish on a Pizza Peel Be?

Based on personal experience:
The critical issue is that the peel be textured enough to "hold on" to flour or semolina, allowing the pizza to slide off of it.  This means the ideal texture is the same as a new cutting board, oiled wood sanded to 120 grit or so.  It's not rough as such, but rather just not smooth like plastic.  I once got a bamboo pizza peel that was high-polished, and I found that 15 minutes with some steel wool was enough to make it usable.
The other issue you're going to have it that shellac is probably going to melt or catch fire in the pizza oven.  So, while a light sanding with 100grit paper or even steel wool would probably do it for "roughing up" the pizza peel, you might find you have to strip off all the shellac to actually use it.


First time cooking Ribs. St. Louis Style, membrane questions + more

The membrane will inhibit flavor penetration but not stop it completely. If you have the chance you could pull the ribs out of the marinade, peel them, then put them back and they'll get a bit more flavor. Otherwise peel before you cook them, you won't make anything worse by doing so.

As for the basting, there's a lot of opinion on this topic. Personally I've tried more basting and less basting and I've never found benefit in basting more than an hour from the end of cooking. The ribs have a lot of juice in them, basting them isn't going to keep them any more moist, what you are trying to do is impart flavor by building up a coat of the marinade/sauce on the outside. I've found that basting every 10-15 minutes in the last hour seems to give as good result as basting longer, and it's less work.


This seems to be a leavening problem. Normal pizza crust is leavened by the interaction of yeast and gluten, you admit you don't have any of those here.

You can of course try making a chemically leavened crust (with baking powder), but it will still have trouble working without gluten, that's why gluten free flours usually contain gums.

From your description, I can't tell if your "flavored flour" has leavener and gums. If it doesn't, look around for a recipe which uses tapioca flour from scratch and has those, and use this flavored version instead of the pure one. If it does, then it is a trouble with the balance of the two, plus the added ingredients. Are you sure you are making it exactly by the package instructions? If it says to use water, the fat you are adding could interfere.

In the end, it is quite difficult to get a gluten free dough to rise properly. You can experiment with gums and leaveners, but expect a long process of tweaking until you get it right.


What's an inexpensive substitute for Port wine?

Decent port is not necessarily expensive; you may find yourself spending more on the meat.  For example, Sandeman's Founders Reserve 750 ml runs about US$15 before taxes, Dow's Fine Tawny 750 ml is about US$13, and Graham's Six Grapes Ruby 750 ml is about US$8 (and this is just the start of the list).  These are, perhaps, not the connoisseur's choices, but they are hardly undrinkable.  Depending on the laws where you live, you (or your favorite wine shop) can order any of these online from a variety of sources.

Port has a unique character that is not easy to replicate with any other wine or fortified wine.  If you are trying to replicate a result, do not substitute.  If you really want something else that will serve the same role even if it will taste different, I would look to a Madeira, a cream sherry, or sweet Marsala (depending on your tastes).


What adjustments when doubling a cheesecake recipe?

At first, I was mislead by your "doubling" subject line ... which lead me to think of doubling an entire recipe.

Here's what I would do:

1 c crushed ginger snaps -- *no change*
3 Tbsp melted butter -- *no change*
Sugar 3/4 c.
16 oz cream cheese  -- *double*
2 tsp vanilla -- *double*
1/2 c sour cream  -- *2/3 cup* (almost double but not quite)
2 eggs  -- *3 eggs* (almost double but not quite)
1 c apple pie filling  -- *no change*
1/2 c chopped walnuts -- *no change*
1/2 c toffee piece -- *no change*

Then... pay special attention while baking. Bake to vicinity of original time, but monitor and change as needed because minor adjustment + or - time will be needed.

Also... keep good notes. That way you can repeat again, or come back here with Q's.


Peas are very sweet, especially when you eat them young. I don't think any others reach them, but I don't think I've tried every legume in the world, so it's possible.

If the natural sweetness of legumes isn't sufficient for you, they take very well to added sugar.


Low tannin dry red wine, good for sauces and stews?

The difference between red wines and white wines are that red wines are fermented with some of the skins, while white wines are not. Tannins come from the skins, and make people's mouth feel dry, hence more tannins mean a wine is called dry. So you cannot have a low tannin dry wine, as dry means tannic by definition. Much of a wine's characteristics come from the properties of the earth, water, and climate that the grapes are grown in (the french call the sum of these characteristics terroir), so you can get a dry wine from most grapes depending these factors. However, some grapes produce less tannic skins, and therefore overall produce less tannic, ie fruitier wines.

Common fruitier red varieties are pinot noir, garancha (granache), primitivo (Zinfandel), and pinotage. All these varieties should be available in US supermarkets. If you can find an Oregon pinot noir then that would be my choice, they are very good value and great tasting wines. California zinfandel used to be considered cheap plonk (because it was), but lately has had a resurgence and there are some fantastic wines from this grape.


Is there a difference in gnocchi between baking, steaming, or boiling potatoes?

There are several styles of gnocchi.  For potato gnocchi, use starchy, russet potatoes.  Boiling, steaming, or baking will all work.  I prefer baking, as it is easier to control the moisture content when mixing with eggs and flour.  Pass your cooked potato through a ricer or food mill before adding eggs and flour (though some folks use a fork and like rustic, small chunks of potato.) Try to avoid over-mixing for the lightest gnocchi.  Avoid waxy varieties.