Pie and tart are regional (North American versus Western European) terms for essentially the same thing.  Some will argue that the pans make the difference (see below), but I don't buy that story.

There are some stylistic differences that appear quite often, but nothing that makes them truly different things:

Pies tend to be deeper, and have more filling
Pies tend to be made in a shallow, sloped sided baking pan called a "pie pan; whereas tarts tend to be made with only a ring, or a tart mold which consists of an outer ring with a removable bottom plate.  Tart pans or rings tend to have vertical sides, not sloped ones.
Tarts usually only have a bottom crust
If the recipe is from France or cooks of a French cooking tradition, it tends to be called a tart; if it is from North America, it tends to be called a pie
Pies often feature a flakey short crust, or a crumb type crust, whereas tarts often feature a pate sucre type crust, but again this is far from universal
Pies are usually served from their pan, where tarts are almost never served from their ring—this may be as close to a defining difference as there is!

Both tarts and pies can be made in a variety of sizes, including appetizer or finger food sized, personally sized, or family sized.

In North America, sometimes a turnover (like an empanada or pastie, but hand-sized) which is baked or fried is also sometimes called a pie, hand pie, or even fried pie.

The word pie is also used in England and North America for a class of casseroles made with a top crust, such as shepherd's pie (mashed potato crust), steak and kidney pie, or chicken pot pie.

There is also the gallette which is a pastry made free form without a pan or mold, by making a crust, adding filling, and folding the sides partially over towards the center.  This is essentially a free form tart or pie.

Quiches are a savory pie or tart whose filling is based on an egg based custard, often with cheese as well.

Oh... and if it is from New York, made with a yeast raised crust, and covered with cheese and hopefully pepperoni, it is definitely a pie :-)


If the meringues are coming out of the oven sticky, you might lower the temperature slightly and extend the drying time (to avoid browning)--they should feel quite dry and very light coming out of the oven.

Sugar is hydrophilic--if the air is humid, any condensation--even when you cannot see it--on the meringues will dissolve the sugar, and then they will start to feel sticky, and the downward spiral will begin.

According to all my searching, it is best to make them on a low humidity day.  Of course, where I live in the summer, we pretty much don't get those.

If you are having trouble with them in storage, you might try to buy some desiccant packets, and put them in the container.  Most desiccant is not food safe, so it should not touch the meringue.  Amazon has lots of options.


When do you add bok choy when cooking stir fry

Bok choy should be the last ingredient you stir in; it is the ingredient that take the less time to cook.

but,

I would do it in two steps.

Stir fry the bok choy first, set aside and stir fry the other ingredients and add the bok choy back at the end to bring it back to heat.

The reason I would do it like that, is that bok choy will release lot of humidity when cooking, you do not want to start steaming ingredient.


There's nothing magical about garlic that causes it to be especially prone to botulism - it's just commonly found as an example because it's commonly used to prepare flavoured oils.

All low-acid foods must be acidified or pressure-canned before long-term storage. Storage in oil creates an anaerobic environment which further promotes botulism, and room-temperature storage is even more risky.

Chili peppers are low acid, like all peppers, so yes, they're a risk.


Why do some recipes recommend Kosher salt?

As Kosher salt goes there is also a difference in the types.  Many chefs (myself included) recommend and prefer Diamond Crystal brand Kosher salt.  Diamond Crystal (owned by Cargill) uses a patented process of producing salt known as the Alberger Process.  In in the interest of keeping the explanation simple, essentially it creates flat salt crystals with a hollow diamond shape and jagged edges.  The hollow shape provides for quicker dissolution and the jagged edges help it stick to food better rather than bouncing off as is the nature of the cubic structure of basic table salt.  For this reason many seasoning and food manufacturers use Alberger salt as a "dry emulsifier".  I was on a tour with Paul Prudhomme at his seasoning plant near New Orleans and he explained that the jagged edges help to keep it suspended and blended with other seasonings and dry ingredients.

Morton's kosher salt is composed of large crystals that are rolled to flatten them.  They are flat but not hollow so take a bit longer than Diamond Crystal to dissolve.

Morton's Kosher salt also has Yellow Prussiate of Soda added to it as an anti-caking agent ("when it rains it pours") which tends to leave a slight bitter (not as bad as iodine) taste in the back of the throat.  Diamond Crystal brand is simply salt.

Alberger salt has a lighter bulk weight than granulated salt so 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal salt is going to be less salt than either table or Morton's kosher salt.  Look at the two packages side by side in the store sometime.  They are both 3# boxes but the Diamond Crystal box is much taller due to the increased volume of the hollow crystals.  Looking at the nutritional information panels you'll also notice the serving size for each is 1/4 teaspoon but the Morton's has 418 gr. sodium per serving vs. about 200 for Diamond crystal (again, due to hollow crystals).  Some people recommend increasing salt by 25% when using Diamond Crystal in recipes.  In cooking you can easily salt to taste and know that since it dissolves more readily you should be able to determine seasoning by taste without oversalting.  In baking I typically use it measure for measure and haven't had any major issues yet.  In yeast doughs however you must be cautious to make sure that the crystals do dissolve in the liquid so as not to cut through the gluten strands during the kneading process (as well as to evenly disperse).


No, you can't wash it off. Part of it is probably that washing methods are not fully effective, another part is that there is diffusion into the fruit, and the diffusion is strongest in the uppermost cell layers. In oranges, this is the peel.

From Kruve, A., Lamos, A., Kirillova, J., & Herodes, K. (2007, September). Pesticide residues in commercially available oranges and evaluation of potential washing methods. In Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Chemistry (Vol. 56, No. 3, pp. 134-141).

The same paper found 0.64 mg/kg imazalil content in orange peel and 0.04 mg/kg in orange pulp before washing. The regulatory allowed limit is 5 mg/kg. So if your fruit starts out with more pesticide than theirs - and it can legally be sold with 8 times more - the residue will be even higher.

If you want to follow safe food preparation practices, you have to use organic citrus fruit for zest. Non organic fruit can have pesticide residue from the growing period and still be labelled as "untreated" because it was not treated post-harvest.

If you are eating only the zest, you can happen to stay under the WHO acceptable daily dose, which is 0.05 mg/kg (human weight, not fruit weight). So if you're a 75 kg man1, you can eat a bit over half a kilogram of orange peel (if it doesn't exceed regulatory limits) and stay under the limit. But 1) you're also taking in the pesticide from the pulp, and while there's less in it, you're eating much more pulp than zest, 2) regulatory limits might be laxer where you live than in the EU, and 3) you're still poisoning yourself, even if it's not enough to become alarmed about it. Why consume one more carcinogen when you can avoid it?

1 it's less for women of childbearing age and children


What kind of dish/pastry consists of white bread with ice-cream or some sort of mousse inside?

This is almost certainly Brioche con Gelato, which is Brioche, a sweet and rich bread with gelato a rich ice-cream made with whole milk and sugar.


What methods are appropriate for preparing a 'chow chow' (chayote)?

In my experience, this is most commonly known as chayote; if you're looking for recipes you might have better luck searching for that. (Chow-chow isn't actually on Wikipedia's list of names for it.)

You can generally treat it like any other summer squash. It's a bit firmer and juicier than the usual western summer squashes (yellow squash, zucchini) - maybe somewhere between squash and cucumber in texture - but it has a similarly mild flavor. The skin is also a bit tougher than most summer squash, but it's quite edible, and you may not even notice if it's sliced. So just like other squash, you can slice it and fry or saute it, or boil/steam/bake it whole (and even stuff it). Where you go from there is really up to you; whatever you like to do with summer squash will work fine.

Some people also like to pickle it, or marinate in lime juice; the firmer texture helps it hold up to this.


Why can heating things in a microwave make them soggy?

Microwaves specifically heat water molecules in the food. This turns them to steam, and because the air in the microwave is actually cool, the steam then condenses. There is often not proper air circulation to move the steam away from the food. Often times the outside edges of the food will not be soggy, but rather burnt, because they receive more energy and the water can totally vaporize.

For better results when reheating food, do not reheat your food on "high" or the default power. Reheat it at a lower setting for longer time. For pizza specifically, I heat it in the microwave only to room temperature and then finish it in the toaster oven or in a pan.


When mixing eggnog with brandy, which is poured first?

I think we are talking about viscosities here. In industry, mixing fluids with different viscosities seems to be a real problem. According to this:

Combining liquids with different viscosities can be much more difficult than combining liquids with similar physical properties. Adding a high-viscosity liquid to a low-viscosity liquid is usually easier than adding a low-viscosity liquid to a high-viscosity liquid. A low-viscosity liquid that is well-agitated can become turbulent, and the turbulence can act to disperse the high-viscosity liquid. Once the more-viscous liquid is dispersed, it can dissolve in the other liquid, eventually achieving a uniform blend.

But eggnogg-brandy is a whole different problem.  link

The alcohol is an comparatively very acidic solution, so when you're first adding a milk product to it, you are exposing the milk (and the casein micelles) to a very acidic environment, and they will immediately start binding together.

The right way to do it is by pouring the nog first, and then slowly pouring in the booze while stirring. Finish up all the whisking of the cream, sugar, and eggs, and at the end, add in in the bourbon (and/or rye, rum, brandy, etc). Add acid: It's a law of the lab. In this case, it uses a high volume of fat content to give you the highest chance of clot-free success.


Is sambal generally more, or less spicy than the pepper it's made of?

By logic, I would assume the Scoville rating of any sambal to be at most the same as the peppers it's made of. It can never get hotter than it was, and in general, and certainly for store-bought sambals, there will always be stuff added, lowering the (perceived) hotness.

Badjak always implies fried peppers.
It also tends to include onion and garlic, and whatever else the local tradition or family recipe dictates. And it tends to be milder than the Oelek (or Ulek) variant, both because of the frying, and because of the additions.

The Oelek/Ulek variety is plain, hardcore, grounded peppers, with most likely a touch of salt and a souring agent for preservation. Oelekan/Ulekan actually is the "pestle" part of a mortar and pestle. For store bought oeleks, I simply look at the ingredient list and percentages, and take the one with the highest amount of peppers, and least amount of additions. Current record is 96%, with salt and vinegar making up the remaining 4.

Wikipedia actually has a very nice article on sambal.


Why is my vegetable stock bitter, but the chicken stock not?

I notice that your recipe doesn't include any salt. That's important, because salt decreases the sensation of bitterness. Chicken contains a certain amount of salt, and I suspect that's making the difference. (The "umami" -- brothy -- taste of chicken may also decrease the sensation of bitterness, though as I understand it there's still some disagreement about that.)

Try mixing 1/8 tsp of salt into one cup of your vegetable stock as a test. I suspect that'll decrease the bitterness to a comparable level.

Oh, and if you want to make your stock less bitter without making it more salty, use parsley stems and leaves instead of parsley root, and celery (including leaves) instead of celeriac. Those two roots will be the primary sources of bitterness.

Incidentally, I very much approve of you not salting your original stock, and instead salting whatever you use it in. Unsalted stock is more flexible, and is more forgiving if you decide you need to concentrate it.


Should I use my microwave's 'popcorn' button?

A better instruction would be "do not rely entirely on the functionality of the popcorn button on your microwave, since microwaves vary widely as do bags of popcorn." But that's longer, and kind of complicated, so they abbreviate it "do not use popcorn button".

There's no problem with the power setting of the popcorn button, only with the timing. You should hang around near the microwave, and when you hear the pops slowing, stop it, no matter what your popcorn button thinks. And if you get a lot of unpopped kernels, and the popping didn't slow before the button said the microwave was done, consider doing it yourself next time and letting it pop for a little longer.

The problem with leaving it in too long is that the corn scorches (usually from the centre out) and the whole bag is inedible. If the energy is no longer going into popping kernels, it's going in to scorching what you already have. Get it out before that happens.


For pretzels or "things with a pretzel crust" an alkali is used in the water they are boiled in before baking. That may be food grade lye (sodium hydroxide), food grade sodium carbonate (commonly found as washing soda, but not food grade), or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda - can be converted to food grade sodium carbonate by baking it.)

Not used for leavening, though there's also no particular reason you could not use both yeast and chemical means for leavening.


Candi sugar problems around 130°C — what happened?

I think you heated the sugar too quickly. Try again with a slower increase in temperature and you should have better results.


When freezing jalapeños, can I leave the seeds in?

You can certainly leave the seeds in (there is no food safety issue), but the peppers themselves will be affected by the freezing.  Peppers have a tendency to be somewhat mushy when thawed out.  That's usually fine in when they are cooked or put in something soft, but may not be great on something like nachos. Blanching is only needed if you want to peel the peppers or if you're cooking them after thawing them anyway.


Undercooked areas in chicken breast even though thermometer reads 165 degrees in thickest part

If the raw spot was in a thin area, I'd suggest that it was caused by the pan frying method.

A thin spot could leave a gap between the surface of the pan and the meat itself, and so not absorb much heat.

To reduce these indentations, you can mechanically reshape the meat before cooking (e.g. squash down the higher parts).

In addition, or instead, as soon as you start cooking, it's a good idea to use the spatula to briefly press the meat onto the pan's surface.
This will flatten the bottom face of the meat and give it uniform contact with the heat.

By the time you turn it over, the meat will have become firm, so you won't be able to fully flatten the second face against the pan, but that's okay as the thin parts will already be mostly cooked and the parts that still need heat will be in contact with the cooking surface.


The bottom of my black cheap pan has worn off and I can now see the metal below where food would go. Is that pan safe to use anymore?

I'm going to assume that this is a non-stick coated aluminum (maybe s/s) pan and specifically Teflon or one of the common knock-offs; those are the only types of pans I've seen that are white under the black coating. If you had well-seasoned cast iron, it would be grayish colour (well, iron).

It's not unsafe in the same sense as eating raw meat is unsafe, but there are some things you should know:

The base metal (under the coating), if it is in fact aluminum, now has a reactive surface. That means you won't be able to cook anything with vinegar, wine, tomatoes, or anything acidic, without further damaging the pan and leaching metal into your food.
Once a non-stick coating gets scratched, if there's any left, it also starts to peel, and once it starts peeling then it's very easy for it to get into your food. According to DuPont, the chemical PTFE is inert as long as it is not heated to extreme temperatures, so you shouldn't get seriously ill if you happen to eat a few flakes of it by accident. Make your own decision.
Your non-stick pan almost certainly isn't going to be non-stick anymore, which means that even though it probably won't harm you, it will be a truly awful cooking surface.

On the basis of #3 alone, I'd suggest that you replace it with a new one, especially since it was cheap to begin with.


What oil or fat to use for different purposes?

"Commonly used" depends mostly on the culture, I'd assume.  There's a lot of different oils, so I've organized by use rather than try for a complete list.

Some of the ones that you might find in a "typical American" foodie's kitchen include:

For frying: something with a high smoke point : peanut, sunflower, soy, extra light olive oil

For baking (muffins & cakes): something with a mild flavor : corn, canola, "vegetable", soy

For baking (biscuits & pastry, or greasing a pan) something solid at room temp : butter, shortening, lard

For general pan cooking: olive oil (any kind), butter, anything from the "baking (muffins)" list.  update: this assumes sautéing heat or lower; see 'frying' for higher heat applications.

For salad dressing: any nut oil, mild oil, or virgin / extra virgin olive oil

For sauces: Butter.

For finishing: something flavorful to drizzle over at the last second... odds are, it's extra virgin olive oil, but possibly sesame or a nut oil.

Now, there's regional differences -- in the south, it's pretty common to save your bacon grease for cooking and to use shortening for frying.  Lard's still popular in hispanic (and likely other) cuisine, schmaltz (rendered poultry fat) is used in both Jewish and French cooking.  Ghee (similar to clarified butter), is used Indian cuisine ... and the list goes on.

If you're looking for a 'must keep on hand' list -- a mild oil, extra virgin olive oil and butter will get you through most anything.  Add shortening if you like baking, and sesame oil if you like to cook asian food, and you'll be prepared for most anything.


For patting dry meat, what is a substitute for paper towels?

There are only four ways that I know of other than towels (paper or otherwise) to dry meat:

Air circulation
Time (in a relatively dry environment).
Heat
Momentum

Most people avoid the heat approach, as you'll start to cook it once it's hot enough to be safe for long-term storage of meat.  Some recipes may start in a low oven to dry the surface, then remove it, let the oven pre-heat to a higher temperature, then finish cooking.  (as it's difficult to give recipes that know how quickly your oven heats up).

For momentum, you basically have to flick the meat such that the water gets flung off.  Which is prone to lots of problems (letting go of the meat, plus the spraying of contaminated liquid everywhere).  You could use a salad spinner, but if you did, I'd recommend keeping a separate one for meats, as you don't want to risk contaminating other ingredients that would be eaten raw.

For the airflow, you can set it under a low speed fan ... avoiding high speeds so you don't end up aerosolizing the moisture and flinging it through the kitchen.

Or you can place the food in a ventilated container and leave it in your fridge overnight ... possibly with a battery powered fan in the fridge to improve airflow.

As all of these ideas have drawbacks (food safety, time, etc.), most people just accept the waste of using paper towels.  There are a few times when one of the others might be used (food dehydrating, trying to get a glaze to set up (eg, peking duck), dry brining, etc.), but they're relatively rare.


Conflicting instructions from different sources: roasting chicken

One is pointless, and the other is very specific.

Keller's approach - bringing the chicken out of the fridge 45 minutes before - is pointless, because there's no way in hell any significant proportion of a chicken is going to get from fridge-cold to room temperature in 45 minutes, or any other time that still allows it to be safe to eat. Point 1 in this article from the Food Lab is about steak, but that only reinforces my point. If a steak barely warms up after 1.5 hours, a chicken will do no better.

The Lucky Peach approach seems to be using the fridge mainly to dry out the skin in order to give a crispy result for that particular 'lacquered' recipe. That approach may well work for a chicken without all the lacquer as well.

Personally, I go more or less straight from the fridge and use a digital probe thermometer to ensure I don't overcook the bird, and have generally very satisfactory results.


You want to use egg whites for binding.

Science notes:

About 1/20,000* eggs has salmonella. For infants & toddlers I would suggest cooking thoroughly or pasteurizing the eggs with sous vide if they won't be fully cooked.

Egg whites comprise water (88%) and protein (11%, mostly albumin). Egg yolks are water (48%), protein (17%), and fat (33%). (There are some other things that make up the full 100% of each.) The yolk makes up about 33% of the egg.

The chalazae (the "gross" stringy parts of the egg white that holds the yolk away from the shell) is made from the same protein as the rest of the white. It may look weird but it tastes exactly the same.

*this is the number estimated by the CDC.


What can I do with lots of plain sweetened yogurt?

I like to spice up Yogurt with Garlic. For 200ml of Yogurt, take about two tea-spoons of olive oil, one crushed garlic clove, a pinch of salt, pepper to taste. Let it steep for at least an hour. Then use it to dip in slices of Baguette or grilled meat.


It appears to be curly endive which is a lettuce. It is crisp and has a bitter flavor. Dole Know Your Lettuce


Safety of coffee in thermal flask, long periods of time

Coffee in a container is approximately as safe as boiled water in a container. While it may be unpleasant tasting, the water in coffee and tea is almost universally boiled, and the scalding liquid is placed directly on the grounds/tea leaves. There is a little nutritional value in coffee and tea extracts, providing some support for new microbes introduced after the boiling, but not much.

There is no reason to be wary of coffee kept in a clean, sealed container for a day.


Please name me an easily accessible chilli pepper which is low heat, sweet and aromatic?

UK stores do not have much variety of chili powder in the low heat range, however you can get good quality paprika in almost all stores. Paprika is low heat, sweet and aromatic (provided you get decent stuff). Some stores sell Spanish Pimentón, which is good quality paprika. Pimentón comes in dulce (sweet) and picante (spicy) although picante isn't really very spicy.

I have found chipotle powder from specialty stores which is also a good choice, it's basically a smoked Jalapeño. I have found Ancho as well, which is red poblano, neither is particularly spicy.

There's a lot of chili powder on offer in the UK that is in the hot range from Indian, Pakistani and Caribbean influences, so many stores have sections for each cuisine, it's worth having a trawl through there to see what you can find as occasionally you'll see mild chili powders for sale, and they are good value.


I can't speak for all restaurants, but those where I've been served obviously home made croutons also served similar bread with other dishes. Bread is cheap and readily available. Why would a restaurant bother doing anything more difficult? If you can get day old bread from a bakery it's even better, because that's really cheap, and works at least as well as fresh

As for making them from scratch, I would indeed start by making a loaf of proper - yeast-based - bread (I like soda bread but the texture doesn't work here and it would fall to bits).


I find that baking spray with added flour in with the oil works a little better for me than spraying and adding flour. I think because the oil tends to collect in some places and then you get a lot of flour in that one ridge and not evenly coating the pan. If you use butter or solid shortening that tends to be easier to evenly coat, but the flour is still not going to be as even as with the baking spray, so that might help.

If you're making something like a pound cake (with lots of butter), it is likely to come out of the pan better if you let it fully cool first. If you're making a cake with vegetable oil, I think it comes out of the pan more readily when it has cooled some (about 10 minutes or so) but not completely.

I sometimes run a thin, flimsy plastic knife along the edges to loosen things. I also put a plate on  the open part of the pan (what will be the bottom of the cake) so that I am supporting the cake as I turn it over. This works best if the cake rose to fully fill the bundt pan, otherwise the middle ring will cause the cake to be suspended over the plate, which is what I'm trying to avoid. (If you're in this situation, you could roll up a clean kitchen towel or two and make a ring out of it and use that to fill the gap, but you may want to put some parchment or wax paper between the cake and the towel.) I want the cake to be fully supported first by the pan and then by the plate. I can then tap and jiggle the pan and see if it is coming loose, and if it isn't, I can abort and let it cool a little longer.

Another thought, though, is that some cakes hold up better in a bundt form than others. Pound-cake styles work really well for me and show the details of the mold very well. Light and fluffy cakes don't tend to hold themselves together as well to release as well from a highly detailed mold unless you are really careful with the pan prep and temperatures.


Meatballs in tomato sauce using a rice cooker

What's the unit's usual cycle time for white rice? 20-30 min? That should get the sauce boiling, and the meatballs hot (70°C, plus) all the way through. I'd not trust a rice-cooker's 'warm' setting to eliminate bacteria in even pre-cooked meat.


My KitchenAid mixer head will not lock in the down position.  How can I rectify this?

Lift the head all the way up.  On the top of the stand, just next to the mixer itself you will see a little square hole.  Check if that hole is obstructed.

If it looks clear, then check that the set screw on the right side of the stand is not missing (as suggested here)


What to do with too-dry sun dried tomatoes?

Firstly, you should be extremely careful preserving anything like tomatoes or garlic in olive oil, because you are asking for botulism that way.

Secondly, if something is too dry, you should add water. Try steeping the tomatoes in hot water for 20-30 minutes.


When you buy a burger from a fast food restaurant you are buying a product that has been engineered to provide absolute consistency, be very fast to cook, and be as cheap as possible so it can be offered at a low price for a reasonable profit. The grill marks are engineered in, and they are given coatings which will give the right appearance when cooked. They also have flavorings added so they taste as the designers (yes there are burger designers) intend. It's not a simple bunch of ground beef at all. Most frozen pre-made burger patties are similar, they use cheap cuts of beef (and sometimes reclaimed meat) and artificial ingredients to produce a consistent and inexpensive product. They also tend to be very thin and are easy to cook all the goodness out of by accident.

If you want a really good burger then you need good burger meat, it's as simple as that. You can't make a good burger out of low quality meat no matter what you put into it. The simplest way to make a good burger is to find a local source of good quality ground beef and make your own patties. Making patties is very easy and quick, just get your hands in there. Many supermarkets have perfectly good packaged products (I get mine from a local grocery store and it makes good burgers), so that would be my first port of call, next would be butcher shops.

If all else fails and you want to make your own (or just give it a try) then you're in luck because the best cuts for burgers are also the less expensive ones, like brisket, chuck, short rib, and round. Round has great flavor but is very lean, and working cuts like brisket and chuck are also lean, so you'll want to add some fat. Many burger nuts say you need 30% fat by weight, personally I'd aim for 20% as 30% is too much for my taste, but that's up to you.

As for frozen versus fresh, freezing does cause some loss of flavor, however it's not much. You are much better off with frozen good quality meat than fresh low quality.


As long as they are designed for cooking/smoking (not treated wood pellets that you made yourself), no problem.  If it were me, I would ignite a small portion and allow to burn for 5 to 10 minutes, blow out the flame, then add fresh pellets to the already burning portion (without smothering).


What can you add to water to make it hard enough for tea?

You are going to need Epsom salts, baking soda and Calcium chloride to make a run of the mill hard water. You can easily find these in food grade and small quantities at your local homebrewing store. I live in Seattle and we have notoriously soft water, but I don't mind it for my tea. But for brewing, I use these minerals all the time.

Get 500ml of distilled water
Add half tablespoon of Epsom salts stir until dissolved
Add half a teaspoon of Baking soda stir until dissolved
Add half a teaspoon of calcium chloride until dissolved

Wait a bit until everything dissolves. Voila instant hard water!

If you are really serious, there are plenty of resources out there, especially around the homebrewing community. Here is an online Brewing Water Calculator


How to properly mix cooked noodles and vegetables?

I'm assuming you mean cooked asian noodles and not Italian pasta as the two problems are different. One thing is to make sure you are boiling the noodles in plenty of water as this will reduce the starch on the noodles which cause sticking, or rinse the noodles after cooking to wash the starch off. Next, make sure the stir fry mix isn't too dry, moisture will help the flavors distribute and lubricate the noodles, helping keep them apart. You can always add a small amount of water, it won't ruin anything. Last, use two spoons to mix the noodles up, grap bunches of noodles to pull them apart. Alternatively you can use tongs, the result is the same but I find 2 spoons quicker.


Those are "standard" green chilies. They might be Anaheim, California, New Mexico or Hatch. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the varieties are interchangeable. Just know that the New Mexico or Hatch varieties are hotter.

It may be a Chinese recipe, but I'm guessing that the chili is New World.


Assuming the cookie you mean is basically a filled chocolate chip cookie baked in a muffin tin with a chocolate filling:

With one exception all of the top recipes call for chocolate chips as the filling (the exception using a commercial fudge product).  Some used regular, one used milk chocolate chips.  Given the way the recipe works, any chocolate chip—or for that matter, chopped bar chocolate—will work, although you will want to select quality brand that is actually true chocolate if you can.

You cannot keep chocolate from re-hardening when it cools.  This recipe is meant to be eaten warm from the oven, when the chips are still melted.

If you have used a brand of chip that is true chocolate (with cocoa butter, not a replacement fat), you may have some success reheating them in the microwave, to remelt the chocolate.  The fat in the chocolate chips will absorb microwaves better than the surrounding cookie dough, so the chocolate should melt relatively quickly.   This may or may not work with chips where the cocoa butter has been replaced with other fats.


As far as I know, generally the problem with corn based doughs is cohesion.

Cornmeal only mixes tend to be very crumbly and the resulting consistency weak, hence the addition of flour to increase gluten content and help improve agglutination.

That being said, upon a little research there seem to be plenty of flourless recipes around, originating more towards the south of the United States where apparently it is more common to use less flour.

A quick Google search will probably yield lots of recipes for no flour cornbread.

Most just seem to compensate with the inclusion of additional eggs, more sugar, milk or other ingredients to help with cohesiveness.

You may also not adjust at all and simply assume the fact that you will end up with a crumblier consistency and "sandier" texture. It is mostly a matter of personal preference, so if this is not an issue give it a try if you have a chance. Maybe you enjoy the slightly stronger flavor and coarser feel.

In Portugal we have a traditional type of cornbread called Broa which is closer to an actual bread, rather than a quickbread or cake. It is made with cornmeal, combined with rye or other cereals, and the ones considered higher quality generally have less wheat flour. It generally tends to be a heavy bread with dense consistency, dark brown crust with a cracked appearance and a slightly crunchy feel.


GF Wonton/Dumpling wrapper tip from pintrest (lasagna noodle + egg)

It definitely seems like you were supposed to purchase fresh Lasagna noodles, as Elenna123 said in a comment. If the noodles are hard, they're not fresh. Fresh noodles would be pliable enough for you to fold them like dumplings, for example.

If you really wanted to make use of the dry lasagna you purchased, you could attempt to cook them (follow the instructions on the box) and then after a small amount of drying (maybe about 15 minutes in an oven at 200-250, if I had to guess?) attempt to prepare them using the egg brush and folding them. You would normally whisk the eggs and brush that on the edges, like you expected.

Hope this is helpful, but really, my best suggestion for what to do with the dry noodles is simply to make some normal pasta. Lasagna is pretty tasty, after all. :)


This is a collection of identifications from existing answers. If you know what something is, please add it here, rather than adding yet another answer - and remember to explain how you use it!

1. An egg scissor. Lee Valley used to sell some as recently as this century. You hold it like scissors, open the blades, put the circle over the top of your hard-boiled egg (which is sitting upright in an egg cup) and close the blades, neatly cutting off the top of the egg. The chicken motif reinforces the purpose. It's gold coloured because it's an entirely showing off tool that nobody genuinely needs.

2. Fork for sardines

3. A pair of tongs for asparagus. Thumb goes in the top ring, two fingers in the rings underneath. Just for asparagus. Yes, it's silly.

4. A butter or cheese knife with an integrated fork. Cut a pat of butter, use the fork to transfer it wherever it's going.

5. Knife for oranges

6. Another butter/cheese knife+fork.

7. Sugar cube scissors. Used to pick up and serve sugar cubes.

8. A cherry pitter. Insert cherry, work the action, no more cherry pit.

9. A pair of butter churns. Pour cream in jar, crank paddles, get butter. You can move the top from jar to jar.

10. A bbq-type fork. It has a little piece of machinery integrated to push whatever it is you've skewered off again. If you squeeze the little handles sticking out at the top, the scissor action will push the end down. I guess it removes the need to use another utensil to do the job...? (It's either that or something designed for easy fire-roasting while you sit at a comfortable distance.)

11. A strawberry stem remover. They still sell these: http://www.shop.thekozynook.com/Strawberry-Huller-5582.htm  OR Tweezers to remove fish bones, such as from salmon. OR Tweezers to pluck feathers from birds.

12. Stand for fruit knives

13. A sugar spoon with integrated caster. Take a bit of sugar from the bowl, then use the hole to drizzle it over your food.

14. Device for holding game at cutting (put it on one of the critter's legs, lock it with the screw)


Are ice tea in bottles considered as carbonated drinks like coke?

The word "Soft drink" stems from drinks with No alcohol in them. ice tea is a "Soft drink" But is not carbonated.


How can I get Italian meringue to thicken?

Try this: separate the white from the yolk 3 or 4 days before you want to make meringue. Keep the white in an hermetic box in the fridge and take them out of the fridge one hour before you begin. So the egg white foam will be more stable.

Another trick is to add some drops of lemon juice to the egg white right before you beat them.


How to save a bread without enough water

Yes. It is certainly possible to rescue a too dry dough this way. The amount of water absorbed can shoot up very quickly. I suggest you copy Gérard Rubaud's technique and knead very gently, using stretch-and-fold, so that some of the air from the first rise stays in the bread.  Then give it a final rise as usual.


classical sauce-making with induction cooktop

Cookware has nothing to do with sauces, you can make great sauces with whatever equipment  you have on hand, pan material (steel, aluminum, cooper...) or heat sources (gas, electric coils, ceramic induction or wood burning)
Most sauces need to be reduced to gain the most flavor, so responsiveness is not really an issue.


It depends. The chicken cannot be at above 40 degrees for more than 2 hours. If it is frozen, and kept on ice it might be fine. I would store it with a thermometer and periodically check that it is still an appropriate temperature. If it stays frozen or refrigerator temperature for at least 6 of those hours, then you're fine.


Interesting use for Okra as the main ingredient in a dish?

Okra + tomato is halfway to gumbo and other similar dishes. In fact, this is what I intend to do the next time I can get okra.


Cast iron, forged iron or carbon steel pan for induction?

Induction cooking works by generating an electric current in the metal cooking vessel and converting that current into heat, which requires a resistive material (i.e. a poor conductor).

It's a bit of a catch-22, because you need a good conductor to actually distribute that heat. This is why some of the best induction cookware is clad metal - two layers of (magnetic) steel around an inner layer of highly-conductive aluminum or sometimes copper, sometimes layered multiple times this way. The thick magnetic sheets generate heat, and the thin conductive sheets transfer it.

Thicker metal means that the surface is slightly farther away from the magnetic field source, but also has significantly more resistance (since resistance is proportional to length, and we are talking about doubling or even tripling that), so theoretically it should be much more effective at converting the electric current to heat, and heat up faster.

The disadvantage of a thicker metal - assuming that there is no additional heat transfer material - is hot spots. This doesn't matter at all for a skillet, but if you're trying to cook with, say, a cast-iron stock pot or dutch oven, you'll find that the hot spots are even worse on an induction cooktop than an electric or gas cooktop, since the surface heat is generated very rapidly but takes forever to spread.

Carbon steel is a pretty good compromise, which is why it's generally the material of choice for woks, and that's the material I'd choose for an induction cooktop for any vessel other than a skillet or frying pan (assuming I had to choose a single material; again, copper/aluminum-clad stainless steel works better). For pans/skillets, you want the heat to stay focused on the surface, which makes heavy/thick cast iron a better choice.

I can't honestly say that I've had much experience with forged iron, but all my instincts are telling me not to bother with it because it would be combining the worst of both worlds - lower resistance at the surface but still relatively high resistance up the sides. The only caveat to this would be a possibly significant difference between the magnetic susceptibility/permeability of forged vs. cast iron, but this is likely going to vary from vessel to vessel anyway (not all cast/forged iron is the same) so I think your best bet there is to try sticking a magnet to it. If it sticks much harder to the forged than cast iron (doubtful) then it might be good for surface cooking; I still wouldn't choose it for a larger pot.


Can I substitute a biga or poolish in recipes that call for a sourdough starter?

It depends on whether the recipe relies only on the sourdough starter for leavening, or if it also includes commercial yeast. If it relies on the starter for leavening, you cannot substitute a biga or poolish, as they will not provide sufficient leavening power (even if the biga contains a small amount of yeast). If, however, you find a recipe that uses both a starter and commercial yeast, you can substitute a biga or poolish with a similar hydration level for the starter. I'd recommend a biga with a touch of yeast to provide leavening like the starter would provide.


Can you make tortillas/pitas on stainless steel?

Tweaking your technique, rather than pan choice, may help a bit - people often use whatever is to hand to make recipes, and what you have is what you have as far as pans go.  I've used the same techniques on a a cast iron thaava and stainless steel griddle, and it was workable on each of them, for what it's worth.

I usually don't find using a lot of oil helpful when heating tortillas or pitas.  The oily/fried crispy outside is a familiar thing, even with a cast iron pan - for some recipes made with tortillas it can be nice, but for making the tortillas themselves it's less useful.  Using very little oil, or even using none at all and dry-roasting on the pan, is a better tradeoff for me - though the possibility of sticking and burning is there, and needs some work to avoid.

The oil used should be very little (if it is being used), barely brushed onto the pan, or rubbed on and off with a paper towel (one dab on a towel will last a whole batch).  Sometimes, it might be easier to brush just a bit over the tortillas instead and leave the pan dry.  If your recipe has oil in it, or if you just don't want the added oil, you can also just dry-roast the tortillas (and probably pitas, but I have less experience with those) - I tend to do it this way the most, since the wrong amount of oil can even encourage sticking by making the pan tacky.

If I'm dry-roasting the tortillas, I find it really helps if the surface of the tortilla is quite dry - perhaps you could lightly dust it with a bit of flour if the dough is on the moister side (and I don't even mean damp, just slightly tacky might let it catch and stick more), you want it just slightly dusty on the surface.  When the pan is hot, I sort of sweep the pan with the tortilla for a few seconds at first - that is, lift the tortilla by one side and rest a half or so on the pan for a second, dragging it forward.  Then, move my grip to the other side of the tortilla, and repeat.

What exactly this five second dragging-about step does I'm not quite sure, it may dry the very surface just that little bit more, it may prevent sticking while the surface of the dough is warming, but when I do this, the tortilla tends to sit loosely on the surface of the pan, and I can skitter it around with my fingers while it warms up and starts roasting.  As long as I can keep it moving for those first seconds, it rarely sticks and never badly, it's always easy to pry up (or tug away from) any little areas that catch before they become problems.  Half the time I keep skittering it around with my fingertips as it cooks, it doesn't seem to cause a problem in its cooking and I'm right there with nothing else to do - but once the first few seconds of cooking have dried out the surface enough so it won't stick, you can just as easily leave it alone for the few minutes cooking takes.

It also is usually only the first one or two in a batch that can get tricky, and try sticking... usually once the batch gets going the later ones don't cause problems (though I'm not sure if that's because I've worked out the variables for this batch of dough, or if the pan gets seasoned or heated to the right amount as the cooking goes on).

(I'm not sure if it actually matters, but while I have worked with tortillas, I am actually a bit more familiar with chapati... so my techniques or perspectives may be colored by that background)


Cleaning a moldy Ninja Blender so it is again safe for use?

Bleach is safe to use, rinse well and air dry. I would be sure to use diluted bleach so as not to damage any rubber parts.
 You can also use vinegar but it will not remove stains as bleach does.


Is it safe to throw frozen meat in marinade?

Yes, it is perfectly safe (as long as you continue to thaw the meat in a safe manner, as in the refrigerator).

The marinade will not begin to have much effect until at least the outer layers of the meat are thawed, but it will not otherwise have any side effect.  It may get slightly better penetration due to the changes in the texture of the meat from ice crystals, but the effect should be negligible at best.

In fact, you can freeze the meat in its marinade if you so choose, and know what you are going to use it for when you thaw.  It will get the benefit of marination time until the outer layers are frozen, and then again during the thawing.


Turns out I hadn't left them to cool long enough. After I left them for about 2-3 hours and tried again to peel the case off, it came off perfectly and nothing stuck to it.

Sorry about the false alarm but I never thought that not leaving them to cool long enough would have caused this kind of problem.

Thanks for all your answers!


What is the maximum temperature to use when cooking with flavor oils?

There is a huge difference in using oil in a pan to cook something and mixing it into a sugar solution for candy-making. I have been using that brand of oils (and others) for decades when making candy and, depending on the end-product (i.e., soft caramel at 246F and a hard-crack candy like toffee at 300F) have never encountered a "smoke-point" problem.

Hope this helps!


How to make smooth ice cream flavored with fresh fruit?

Preface: I'm not a big fan of fruit-flavored stuff (I like fresh fruit by itself, just not in stuff...) so I can't speak to these from personal experience.

For fresh fruit, puree in a blender or similar.  Moist fruits can probably be pureed in their own juices; otherwise, you'll need to add some.  You'll probably want to add some sugar, but offset this by reducing the sugar you add to the ice cream mix.  (Seeds might be an issue too - get seedless if possible.)
As Manako suggested, you can also cook it down and then puree, though this will result in a wetter mixture than with their natural juices alone.  This will also present a different flavor profile from the fresh fruit, so experiment to find what you like.
Another possibility would be to cook out some of the water from your puree.
In any case, you'll want to reduce the liquid ingredients of your normal recipe by roughly the same amount as the pureed fruit you're adding.
In light of the previous item, you'll probably want to use a higher-fat cream than normal, since the fruit will add a lot of water.
Unlike "chunky" additions, you don't really care that the ice cream should be at a thick consistency before you add them.  (for suspension)  I'd just add it directly to the mix before you start churning.


Macronutrients and cooking temperature of beans?

This is going to be a bit of a Zen answer (as usual for me).

I would venture that it doesn't matter. Normally, when you're making a bean stew or a chili bean casserole, you won't be discarding the liquid anyway. When you're eating the final dish, it doesn't matter to you if the protein is in the bean or the liquid, as you're eating them both.

It has, however, been my experience with white beans and chickpeas, that if you cook them more slowly, the water gets gloopier (higher viscosity), which means that proteins have moved from bean to water.


Beginning cooks often ask for the "temperature" they have to use to cook their food. What matters in reality is not the temperature, but the speed of heat transfer. And that is dependent on a lot of variables: type of food, amount of food, how much is it piled, pan size, pan material, and of course how much energy your stove is pumping out, which is correlated (but not 1:1) to how much energy your stove is consuming from the power socket or gas pipe. Aside from a narrow choice of pans, the only thing you can control during cooking is the amount of energy your stove consumes.

So, you could look up the BTU, but it won't tell you much. You can try turning the knob to the middle, but that rarely produces a medium heat, because all the other variables would have to be right. In the end, there is no "medium heat" stove setting. What people mean when they say "medium heat" is the setting in which the food happens to cook in a certain way, between searing and stewing in its own leaking juices which don't manage to evaporate in time. If you are talking liquid instead of dry pieces, it is the heat which can sustain a strong simmer or slow boil. It takes a bit of experience to recognize when it is happening.

The "food gets done in 10 instead of 5 minutes" is irrelevant. First, the time can vary with variables you have no control with. Second, recipes give bad timings for a plethora of reasons. Some have a wrong feeling of how long it takes and jot it down, others may have timed it for a smaller portion, third can have literally been told by the marketing department to round down aggressively, fourth may do it because a myth has been established and they believe it more than their own experience (see the infamous Slate complaint on caramelized onions). Whatever the reason, the times given in a recipe don't matter much. You recognize that your food is cooking at the correct speed if its state is changing the way it should (which requires some experience) and that it is ready by noticing that it has reached its desired state (which requires either experience or a thermometer).

So, the conclusion: your cooktop has the proper power for home cooking - basically all cooktops sold to home cooks do. You simply need to turn the knob until the food is cooking the way it should, regardless of any considerations about how much it should be turned or how long your food should be taking.


I'd go with Bird's Eyes, or as they're sometimes called, 'finger' chillies.
I'd define it as skinny, thin skin, lots of seeds - finger tend to be larger, green; bird's eye smaller, red.
The trouble with chillies is that they can all look a bit alike & trying to buy one very specific type is really not easy. Is it a jalapeño, is it a fresno or a serrano… what's the real difference? Can you tell just by looking, or even tasting?
You can easily tell the difference between a scotch bonnet & a jalapeño, of course, not only do they look completely different, they taste & smell completely different, but a lot of the others come in much finer distinctions.
Finger chillies & bird's eyes are close to being the same thing. They're not identical, but to the consumer it's really tough to tell them apart. Supermarkets tend to call the larger ones finger & the smaller ones bird's eye - they taste the same. See https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/lifestyle/food/a-guide-to-chillies for how the supermarkets very, very broadly differentiate.
BTW, I can tell the difference between a jalapeño & a fresno… but not if the ones the supermarket is selling this week look like something half-way between the two.
Late thought - cayenne looks like a 'finger' variety too; All I can think is they call them finger if they're green & cayenne if they're red. They never really tell you exactly what they are.


If you bought your salmon frozen, and kept it frozen this entire time then it is safe to eat.

Foods actually remain safe indefinitely when stored below freezing. You should be aware that safe does not necessarily mean palatable. As food ages, even when frozen, it degrades in quality via oxidation and other chemical processes. This degradation in quality will definitely affect the taste, and even the nutritional value to a degree.

For salmon, it will taste best within 7 to 9 months.

Source: http://stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/18246


Yes. You can dissolve your pomegranate candy in plain water and cook it to a more usable consistency. A candy thermometer is useful here. But if you have any instant read thermometer for cooking, you should aim for around 220°F (104°C) max. If you get to 230°F (110°C), you'll be making candy again.
If you don't have a thermometer handy, I recommend getting a cup of ice. As you recook your syrup and notice it start to reduce, take a spoonful and drip a little onto your ice. That will chill it quickly and allow you to see where the final product will be texturally.


I cannot find a tea that matches your description, because the combination of Japanese style flavor and color and whole, small leaves is conflicting.  I'm trying to find more information about Nepalese and Bhutanese green teas, but unfortunately they're not as well known or documented.

Perhaps we can work together to coax your memory and pin it down more?

I have four immediate questions to help pin it down more:

Was the brewed tea yellowish at all, or a true green shade (less common)?  I'm assuming you meant a true green when you said "green" but it isn't terribly specific.
Were there any sweetness to the tea?
What was the "nice aftertaste" you describe like?
Can you think of any other flavor or smell descriptions that apply?

Here's what I get from your description:
The use of whole leaves, not fragments and not pearls, rule out several categories of green tea, and is probably the most useful information. It is also unusual for Japan, which tends to fragment the leaves and roll them into little spikes called sencha rolls.  Many Japanese teas include parts of the tea plant other than just the leaves (buds, twigs, etc).

The lack of a yellow tinge to the brewed tea suggests a Japanese, rather than Chinese, style green tea. This is the result of cooking the leaves in processing using steam (Japan), rather than a hot pan (China), the latter of which produces "aroma molecules characteristic of roasted foods (pyrazines, pyrroles) and a yellow-green infusion" (On Food and Cooking, pg 437). If there were grassier notes, that would further suggest a Japanese tea.  Ceylon green teas are  kin to assam tea, and tend to be darker in color, so that's right out.

The energetic effect and bitterness suggest a higher caffeine and phenolic compound level than normal for a green tea, and rule out something like Dragonwell which is naturally quite sweet. Which is a shame, because Dragonwell is phenomenal, and varieties can have the color and leave shape you describe.

EDIT: Try sencha!

Based on your description, I think it's the best way to go forward, followed by kabusecha. "Grassy" is a descriptor usually attached to the Japanese way of preparing green teas.  I always think of it as the flavor of sencha, although it applies to other Japanese green teas.  I think your best bet would be ignoring the problem of leaf rolling (there may be some tea manufacturer with an eccentric way of handling it) and trying a variety of top-quality senchas to see if you can find one with a similar flavor.  The best ones will be made from very young, small leaves and buds.


Do you need to cook a casserole with raw eggs before you freeze it?

This is absolutely fine, especially if the eggs are pasteurised. I've seen plenty of recipes that have raw egg in them that say it;s fine to freeze them. You can even freeze eggs (that have been mixed up a little) for up to three months. So yes, I'd say freeze it as soon as possible. Also, if you were concerned about freezing the quinoa that will fine as well (a lot of people don't know you can store grains in the freezer).

Enjoy!


You might give shrimp-based things a shot. If you have any kind of Asian grocery store around, you can probably find dried shrimp, shrimp paste, or even shrimp powder or bullion. You might find some of these things in Mexican grocery stores too, and shrimp broth-related stuff is sometimes sold in Western grocery stores too.

You could also try other seafood-based condiments. For example, furikake comes in a lot of varieties, including some with shrimp (ebi) or fish (bonito). There are likely to be some Asian liquid sauces that you'd like too, though I'm not sure what to specifically recommend there.


How do I convert a recipe from a stew to use a slow-cooker

Stewing or braising is essentially what slow cookers do, so there is not a huge difference in converting a stew recipe.

There are two main issues to consider:

Flavor development.  You may choose to sear or brown your ingredients separately, and then deglaze for your base sauce.  Most slow cookers cannot create the browning, so it would need to be done separately.
Liquid level.  If your original recipe stews with an open lid, you will get less evaporation in the slow cooker, so may want to reduce the liquid slightly to compensate.


Stock: Canned, Bouillon Cubes and Powder

Commercial stock or broth products come in several categories.  Of the ones you ask about:

Canned

Bulky, but ready to use.  May be the highest quality product of the three you asked about, with the best flavor.  Especially low salt versions contain less salt than the cubed or powdered alternatives.

Cubes

Contain lots of salt.   Must be dissolved in hot water before use.  May not be as high a quality product as canned.   Requires little shelf space.  Often inexpensive on a per serving basis.

Powder

Essentially the same as cubes, but not yet pressed into cube form.  Somewhat easier to dissolve than the cubes.

Concentrate

While you did not ask, concentrated stocks are also available on the market, which are almost like a jelly that you can add to thicken and enrich sauces, or reconstitute with water to use as a soup base.  These tend to be marketed at commercial kitchens, and may be a higher quality product than some of the others.


What is the difference bewteen stewing and boiling?

‘Boiling’ usually means a rolling boil, where all the liquid is at the boiling point. In a simmer, small bubbles of steam will occasionally rise from the bottom of the pan, but the liquid as a whole is below the boiling point. Stewing entails cooking for a long period of time at a simmer.


Can I use sourdough starter (kvasek) to produce kefir?

No, you cannot. Kefir grains are a unique Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY). Kefir grains are a gelatinous mass of microorganisms including Lactobacilli, Leuconostic, Acetobacter, and Saccharomyces. By looks, it is more like Ginger Beer Plant than sourdough starter.

It is not possible to create kefir grains from scratch. You will have to buy a starter, or get a donation from someone you know.


If the honey has always had a water content below ~18% and is continuously stored in a sealed container (for instance a glass jar), it is perfectly safe to eat as long as you are over 1 year old. In fact, pasteurized honey is inferior in quality. The pollen and spores will remain in there either way, even if they're dead and can only be removed by (expensive) filtering. So if you got an allergy to that, don't eat honey. But they (pollen, yeasts) are not generally harmful. Botulism is not a concern unless you take medication that reduces the amount of acid your stomach produces.

Acid inhibits the growth in the stomach, your (good) bacteria in the gut (after the acid has been neutralized) will then continue to protect you. Since infants don't have sufficient/stable composition of bacteria yet, they are in (higher) danger of getting botulism. But even then, they rarely get infected. No point in taking the risk, tho.

Honey is hygroscopic, meaning it will draw moisture from it's surroundings (hence the sealed container). This effectively prevents pathogens to grow, preserving the honey as long as the water content of the honey remains at or below 18%.

In fact, here in germany, honey may not be subjected to temperatures higher than 40°C, it may contain no additives at all and the only thing you can do to it is filter the pollen out. We still don't have waves of botulism from honey here. In fact, I have never once heard of one.


For adult beef, the area of the cow you're talking about is poitrine, though that covers the "brisket" as well as the front part of what in the U.S we'd call "plate" (i.e., into the "skirt").  If you ask for milieu de poitrine, that should get you closer to an American brisket cut.  That's typically for beef, though.

For veal, I believe poitrine de veau (veal breast) is a traditional cut that is probably close to what you want, though again the cut may go back a bit farther than the standard brisket.  I don't know whether it is common nowadays to debone the veal breast in France; in the U.S. (unlike adult beef brisket) it often comes with some ribs attached.


What is the role of oil in gluten free baking? (Can I substitute applesauce for oil in gluten free recipes?)

Most gluten-free recipes tend toward the dry and crumbly, because the binding and elasticity of gluten is missing. Oil contributes a certain amount of binding and moisture of a sort to the finished product. As far as I'm concerned, using all oil as a compensation is unwise, as it can greatly increase the fat content of the recipe. Xanthan gum or locust bean gum (my preference) can supply some of the missing elasticity and binding without increasing the fat content, so you may benefit by experimenting with proportions of gums and oils to get the texture you want.

I would not advise using apple sauce as a substitute for oil, as the moisture will mostly evaporate during baking, so the apple sauce will not provide moisture or binding.


I will assume that your question is really "My oven is at 350 degrees, but I won't need it for another hour. Should I leave it on for the hour, or turn it off and then back on when I actually need it?". (This is more physics than cooking, but since you asked the question here, and I like physics...)

The answer is that you will use the least total energy if you turn your oven off, and then reheat it back to 350° at the last minute. Here's why.

If the oven temperature is 350° at the beginning and end of the hour, then the only thing the heating element needs to do during the hour is to replace the heat lost through the walls and insulation of the oven. The higher the oven temperature, the faster heat leaks, so having a lower average temperature (as it cools off during the hour) will reduce the heat leakage, and thus reduce the energy.

Calculating exactly how much energy you'd save by doing this would be pretty complex, although my guess is the answer would be "not all that much, electricity-cost-wise".

Edit (to add way too much information on this not-all-that-important topic, but as I said I like physics):

Think of your oven as a bucket with a small hole at the bottom. Fill the bucket with water (heat the oven) and the water (heat) will leak out the hole (insulation, door, etc). The deeper the water (higher the temperature), the faster the leak (rate of heat loss).

Say the bucket is full, and you need to have the bucket full at the end of one hour. Since you want to save water (heat/electricity), do you want to keep adding water to keep the bucket full (leave the oven on), or stop (turn the oven off) and refill it at the end of the hour (turn the oven back on)?

The key is the leaking water: whatever amount leaks is exactly what you'll have to put back into the bucket. So, the less that leaks, the less you have to put in. Since the lower the water level, the less that leaks per time; keeping the bucket full (leaving the oven on) will always leak more total water (heat/electricity) than if you let the bucket drain and then refill it (turn the oven off, and then on at the end of the hour).

The size of the leak (how good the insulation is), and the size of the bucket (how much heat mass the oven has) will affect how much water (electricity) you save, but in the end you will always save at least some water (electricity) by stopping and then refilling at the end of the hour (turning the oven off, and then on).

(OK, I'm done.)


If the taste is similar to yogurt, cheese, or sour milk as you describe then your kefir is likely good.

On the other hand, if it seems moldy or rancid, it is bad.

This site describes proper storage, shelf life and how to tell if it is bad.

And this site describes kefir gone bad if "f there is noticeable fuzzy mold growing on it, if there are pink or orange spots on it, or if it has turned pink or orange. Your body knows when it is bad, it should literally be revolting to you if you attempt to ingest it."


How can I make my icecream soft as it is too hard to carve straight from the fridge?

If you really don't want to defrost it, you need to do something that will make it less hard when frozen. One choice, if it doesn't conflict with your allergies or your flavor profiles, would be to add alcohol - a liquor of your choice will make it freeze significantly less hard.

Another option would be to make it less susceptible to crystallization when refreezing, so that you can defrost it on the counter (or 20 seconds in the microwave). Try adding about 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to a quart of ice cream base, that should reduce your crystallization problem a bit. You may need to reduce the agar a little to compensate. (I learned this from pastry chef Dana Cree).


Why does handling peeled chayote make your hands feel numb/rigid?

This problem can occur with several foods including squashes, pumpkins, zucchini, and even cucumber. From what I’ve read, it is caused by a sort of sap that the fruit emits when it is cut, and it’s worse in fruits that aren’t fully ripe. (Fruit is used in the botanical sense.)
Remove by  simply soak your hands in warm soapy water for about 5 minutes. Then scrub them with the scrubby side of a sponge. Be sure to scrub any surface area that had the film on it. You can soak your hands longer and less scrubbing will be required.


That is an enameled cast iron pot. I often have the same issue and find that it fairly easily comes off using a green 3M nylon scrub, a little dish soap and some elbow grease. If necessary you can also apply some baking powder or Bar Keeper's Friend.

It shouldn't take too much effort to get it off.


Having worked in Institutional Kitchens, I'd bet the rent that the garlic came from kilo plastic jars of the minced preserved variety.

Restaurants of some quality cut up there own raw as needed for each sauce or even for each order. A paste of roasted garlic can be made daily with several heads of garlic covering the needs of a dinner shift.


Preventing discoloration when making fresh mint liqueur

Idea 1:  Assuming the leaves are oxidizing: you could add an antioxidant.  Vitamin C is handy and will scrounge up oxygen radicals.  Crush up some pills and shake them in.  It will make it a little sour too - ascorbic acid is vitamin c.

Idea 2: deplete your alcohol solution of dissolved oxygen first.  When you heat something to near boiling, the first wave of bubbles is gas coming out of solution.  Do that with your alcohol.  Add it steaming hot to your steeping vessel (maybe heat up vessel first with warm water so it doesn't crack!), put in mint and then cover it airtight.  Maybe that will exclude enough O2 to keep things green.  Also would serve as the blanching step in linked article.

I was pleased to see the vitamin C idea was listed in the linked article about keeping pesto from turning black.

https://www.thekitchn.com/good-question-w-4-12832

Pesto is made with basil which is a mint so the same issue as you have.  The other recommendations from that article are blanching the basil (yah!) and adding lemon juice (vitamin C!).


Is there a difference between the grocery store package of chow mein noodles and the package of lo mein noodles?

It becomes quite confusing when talking about the difference between chow mein and lo mein mainly due to the error in translation.

In Chinese chow mein literally translate as "fried noodles." However when buying chow mein at a chinese restaurant, you get vegetables with a side of deep fried noodles. Somehow the title of a dish is referring the to side rather than the main dish which leads to much confusion.

When talking about chow mein at a grocery store, it also gets confusing because you can get two types of noodles. The first kind is a fried noodle that looks something like this:

This is definitely not what your recipe is referring to. The second type of chow mein you will find is very much similar to lo mein. It should be a raw noodles that is still semi-soft. It should look like this:

If the chow mein you have at your grocery store resembles the second type of noodle, then you may use that as a substitute. If it resembles the first type, don't. The first type is used as a topping sort of like chinese croutons.


Can I substitute a beef round rump roast for brisket?

Pretty much no, they are totally non-alike. The beauty of brisket is that it is full of connective tissue and other odd stuff that translates to succulence when cooked low and slow. Round is pretty much the opposite, it has very little in the way of interest.


Any suggestions on caps for Bakers and Chefs plastic squeeze bottles?

The product you link has the cap in the picture.

The idea is that you cut off the tip on the apex of the cap to the point where it is the width of your desired opening.

You could use an uncut cap, or just cover the tip with foil if you need to refrigerate for some time.  The kind of things put into a squeeze bottles are rarely highly perishable, so simply placing them in refrigerator (for a reasonable period of time) is a normal practice.

Squeeze bottles are not meant for long term storage. I certainly would not go to the trouble of special ordering caps.


Not something I've ever come across, but you have to remember that paneer is a vague word meaning cheese, not very specific, and it runs through a range of IndoAsian languages with slight variations in meaning - like in parts of the US "gravy" means any kind of sauce, but in UK gravy is always brown.

Go to the end of my street and ask for paneer, you will be given a prepacked piece of something with a texture somewhere between soap and parmesan that tastes like cheddar. That's what you get in West Yorkshire, which is like the Punjab/Kashmir border with buses.
Cut into cubes, serve with sauce and peas, it makes a perfect motar paneer.

I did a search for recipes and the first one I found used a pressure cooker, and made the paneer from scratch, with a video. I could see that the process worked for those cooks. But it doesn't work for you, and I think the reason is that you don't have a local herd of buffaloes.

Buffalo milk is preferred in most parts of India, they use it without specifying it. You will not get the same results with cows' milk. You might get good results if you start from mozarella, the best types of which are also made with buffalo milk. Remember how hard it is to get mozarella to melt when you put it on pizza, and you might begin to understand why I'm suggesting it.

Referring to the pressure cooker - that is used to establish a high starting temperature for the syrup. The cooks I saw made a syrup, added the pieces of paneer, heated the cooker until the weight lifted, then switched off the heat and left the pieces to soak for exactly five minutes before removing them. I would guess that the start temperature would be around 122 degC, but that really is a guess. You just have to establish a procedure that gets enough syrup into the pieces without them falling apart - trial and error must be your guide, because it is evident that there is a big variation from the source of the curd.

Once you've established something that works, you might find it interesting to try flavouring that "soaking syrup" by adding rose cordial or similar ...

Postscript: I went past the end of my street to the supermarket around the corner. They cater for Indoasian tastes and Jamaican tastes. The cheese selection is very boring, the best pick is a very expensive mature red cheddar/dunlop cheese from Jamaica, and they sell the "soapy" paneer pre-cut into cubes in packets. They also sell half a dozen forms of mozarella style paneer, mostly canned in brine, and a strange French product in rectangular cartons labelled in squiggle - Arabic or Urdu, you guess, but it shows the product being sliced on the pack. Most are labelled as being made from cows' milk, one is goats' milk, but nothing marked explicitly as buffalo milk - then again, that doesn't surprise me.

You can buy pre-prepared rasmalai, rassmalai, and rasomalai in there. I bought the rassmalai because it is locally produced by Mumtaz, a company who have a restaurant I have visited without being poisoned. The rasomalai is produced by Royal, who have a nationwide reputation as a supplier of Indoasian sweets.

I was disappointed - the cardamom and saffron were undetectable, there were only two pieces of swollen curd in a sauce of condensed milk and cream with just enough pistachios added to give visual evidence, as opposed to flavour. £1.85 might be a fair price in a restaurant, as a street price it was a rip-off.

I can see why Sobachatina's wife would like the stuff, but I know I could do better, so I understand why he wants to put some effort into the dish. I don't have the time right now, but I will put some exertion into this in the future.


Can you get drunk off alcohol vapor? Absolutely. Apparently in the early 2000s, a alcohol vapor device was invented and subsequently banned in some American states, see Wikipedia here.

However, if you cook with alcohol, e.g. deglazing a pan with some wine, sherry, etc., the amounts are not that high, and I doubt you stand above the pan and completely inhale every part of the alcohol vapor. Still, if you want to avoid getting tipsy, just let the alcohol evaporate, maybe set your range hood (correct word?) to a higher setting so it draws away the vapor quickly.


There's a number of different ways you can add flavouring to coffee. As previously suggested, you can add syrup to the beans or to the finished coffee but the problem with syrup generally is that whilst adding flavouring it also adds sweetness which some may not want.

You could try adding hazlenut essence or oil to the pre-roasted beans and leave for a few days for the flavours to infuse before grinding and using.

Or you could try adding whole hazlenuts to pre-roasted beans in a ratio of about 2:1 beans to hazlenuts by weight and leaving for a few days for the flavours to infuse and then grind and use.

You'd need to experiment with quantities and leave time to find what works best for you.

I don't think it's practical to roast beans in the home.


Are Pyrex casserole dishes safe for use on electric stovetops?

NO! It would not. They will break, possibly violently. Unless they are labeled for that use, don't do it.


Well you're kinda right about it lasting a long time due to the sugar content.  That will help the preserving process to the extreme.  However, to be pratical you should be looking at how long the butter fat will survive in the fridge before it starts to take on funky flavours and loses it's moisture.

You'll be fine in an air tight tub for a month or so but then flavour will suffer.  If you freeze it (it can be done but the quality will really suffer later) you can get away with 4-6 months before freezer burn kills it.

Honestly, I'd just do smaller batches and enjoy the higher quality product.  For what you save on time doing the larger batch, you'll give up on taste and quality later.


can maple syrup be refrigerated after it was out for a few days?

Unless you left it open to the air it should be perfectly safe.  Maple sap is thickened into syrup via boiling so any bacteria/etc. originating in it will be killed off.

Thick sugary syrups also make it very hard for bacteria and mold to grow.  Despite the plentiful food source, the concentrated sugar is dessicative:

  OK, maple syrup is wet, but it’s also extremely high in sugar. All that sugar has the effect of pulling water out of cells, and the vast majority of fungi can’t grow in maple syrup at all [...] maple syrup typically has a water activity of about 0.87 to 0.88, pretty hostile to most molds.

Syrup doesn't have the other nice properties honey that make it virtually immune to nasties, though, so I wouldn't continue to leave it out.  If you are particularly concerned you can always boil it.

For anyone else wondering about "fake" table syrup:

  fake maple syrup resists molds through the miracle of chemical preservatives (usually sodium benzoate and sorbic acid)


Based on what you’ve written, i can think of two possible reasons why you’re getting thick tempered chocolate.

As the ratio of cocoa solids increase, the viscosity of your melted chocolate will increase. If your chocolate is high on solid content, you might need a bit more cocoa butter to decrease viscosity.
Even though, you have a water-free heating device; due to the moisture of the environment and condensation caused by cold could introduce some water into your chocolate. Adding something to bind the water might help, the go-to emulsifier to bind some water is Lecithin. 0.5% to 1% Lecithin could help with binding the water, thus reducing the viscosity in a couple of minutes.


Cook's Illustrated has demonstrated that different baking sheets can cook differently.  They found that some of the sheets would cook unevenly or would even cook faster than other sheets, in the case of a double-layer one they tried.  Their results were that finish (light or dark) was not as important in determining how a sheet behaved. More important was thickness and material.  Sheets that were thin would cook faster than thicker sheets (overcooking the bottom in the time it took to cook the top) and aluminum sheets behaved better than steel sheets.


What is the difference between Yoghurt and Curd

A curd is a transitional element obtained, once milk starts to coagulate, the other being a water substance called whey. These are separated and cheese can later be made from the curd, via the addition of other ingredients, such as rennet. Or in the case of cottage cheese and paneer, an acid.

Yoghurt is a finished product, produced by by heating milk, then adding a live 'starter' culture. It's then kept at a stable warm temperature for a number of hours, followed by cooling.


How to save failed pie crust dough (warm butter)?

There's a recipe I saw a while ago that uses butter that's thoroughly incorporated into the flour instead of the usual cold chunks.  I think it creates a butter/flour paste, then cuts fresh flour into it just prior to adding the water (the idea being that instead of layers of tricky-to-work-with pure butter separating layers of water-dough, you would have more workable layers of butter-flour paste separating layers of water-dough).

In that case, assuming your mention of 'the dough coming together before you added water', means you have mostly butter and flour in the bowl at this point, you might add more butter to it so the ratios work out, and treat your whole first batch like that butter/flour paste.  You will need to cut fresh flour into it, since the paste is only supposed to contain 2/3 of the recipe's flour and all the butter, so it might take some math to figure out how to make what you already have fit into the ratios neatly.  Then add the water and gently bring it together into a dough, refrigerate for a couple hours, and roll as normal.

This might still work even if you've added water, maybe making a smaller portion of the butter/flour paste to cut into the dough, and adding a balancing amount of flour and water afterwards - you should still get some of the texture benefits, although not as much as if the whole batch were done the same way.

You will end up with more dough in either case, but you can either chill the leftover dough, or pre-divide and store the leftover portion of the butter-flour mix, and it should store pretty well (both flour and butter store well in the fridge).

(I have found the original recipe, it can be found here, and the sciency-rationale over here, at seriouseats.com)


How do I grind almonds for making marzipan?

A processor can be used if it has sharp blades and is decently powered. Drop almonds into boiling water less than 60 seconds then introduce to an ice bath immediately. the almonds will literally pop out of skins when squeezed. DE-skin all almonds and dry thoroughly with a tea towel or paper towels. Add dried almonds to processor and pulse until a very small grind is achieved then add powdered sugar slowly while pulsing until desired paste is attained. I use a masticating juicer to make a smooth almond butter before putting it in a processor to blend in the sugar or sweetener of choice.


What is the toothed side of the blade on a Fantastique veg cutter used for?

Either for rough chops on veg/herbs, or maybe decorating with icing/chocolate design?

Regardless, this seems like a poorly thought out tool?


The difference is that compound chocolate is a low-cost substitute of lower quality than real chocolate. Accidentally, I am not sure that your "basic chocolate bar" is real chocolate either, the standard brands like Milka in Europe or Hershey's in the USA use a lot of foreign fats too.

Is it a good idea? Only you can tell. If the compound chocolate is good enough for your taste, then it is a good idea (and don't let snobs tell you that your taste must be wrong). If you want the flavor and texture of pure chocolate, you'll have to use pure chocolate.

If you want something softer than pure chocolate, you can try making a ganache, which also lowers the cost. But you can't dilute too much for a product meant to be picked with your fingers.

You can generally mix different types of chocolate bars, including compound chocolate, without a problem. (I am talking of solid bars here, not ones like Bounty which have a nonchocolatey filling).


Why is butter usually labeled "Sweet Cream"?

It means the butter is made from cream that hasn't been fermented. Butter made from fermented cream is known as "cultured cream butter", and it has distinct sour, lactic acid notes. Sweet cream butter tastes, well, sweet, and if it is from really good fresh milk you may be able to taste grassy notes. Both are good in their own way.


There isn't that much more you can do. Fresh figs are perishable items, and before you get them you don't know how they've been stored. Moisture is your enemy here, the drier they stay the longer mold will stay at bay. The containers you buy them in often trap moisture so I would remove them from that packaging and store them in the refrigerator, on a shelf, uncovered.
Also, keep in mind that a bit of mold outside does not mean spoiled inside, I know it is unattractive but you can still cut them in half and scoop out the good stuff, provided that is still fresh enough.


Why do uncooked frostings that contain milk not need to be refrigerated?

Microbes need available water to grow, and sugar reduces the availability of water to them. In addition, spread as a thin layer on cake, water evaporates (further reducing water availability).

You can find out more about factors influencing microbial growth in the FDA's Bad Bug Book.

As the book notes, generally, you can only know from experiment if a particular recipe is safe, and also that often they're just slowed not stopped. So it'd probably be prudent to minimize the amount of time you store your icing/glaze.


There is a lot of ambiguous and misused terminology in cooking... added to that, different countries have specific legal definitions for foodstuffs that vary from one jurisdiction to another.

Gammon vs. Ham

Some sources call it gammon if it is raw, while others claim gammon differs from ham because it is cured with the belly and then detached, whereas hams are detached from the rest of the animal and then cured (a nearly useless distinction); also the words gammon, ham and bacon are sometimes used interchangeably.  In the US we call it ham when it is cured, whether it is cooked or raw; and we call it fresh ham if it is uncured (We pretty much call anything from the hind leg of a pig ham).

Fresh vs. Raw vs. Cooked

Raw does not mean that no processing has been performed, it just means that it hasn't been cooked or the proteins haven't been denatured chemically. Curing, smoking, marinating, freezing, and drying, and milling can all be performed without cooking.

Generally, "Fresh" means no processing has been performed. In the US and UK, the term "fresh frozen" has gained a foothold more as a marketing term than actually providing useful information.

There are a number of cured hams that are eaten raw and are safe. For example prosciutto, jamón ibérico, jamón serrano, and some country hams in the US.  Most of these are dry cured and may or may not be smoked.

Types of smoking.

The more commonly known type, and what most people call "smoking", is actually hot smoking. Hot smoking is what happens when the item being smoked is kept in a smoker at a temperature high enough to cook the item, usually in the 225-250˚F/105-120˚C range.

The other type of smoking is cold smoking.  During cold smoking the smoker or smoking chamber does not get hot enough to cook the item being smoked, usually 100˚F/38˚C or lower. This type of smoking used to be much more common as an added protection and flavor for cured foods as well as food that are more delicate.  These include gammon/hams, fish, cheeses, bacon, and seafood. Just as many foods that were previously dry cured are now wet cured, many of these products are now produced industrially using "wet smoking" or smoke flavor additives instead of cold smoking methods.

As with cold-smoked meats, some "wet smoking" yields a product that is technically raw, because its proteins have not been denatured by heat. Instead, liquid smoke or smoke flavor is added to the brine or applied as a coating before cooking.

Cold smoking has had a bit of a resurgence lately with the invention of smoke guns, which allow you to add smoke without the need of a large cold smoker.


Is it possible for a potato to catch fire after 10 minutes in the microwave?

"Should be fine" is like saying 'well, there's really low odds of something going wrong'.  I have no idea what the odds are, but yes, it's possible.

I had microwaved potatoes many times, and then had a rather strange incident that I described in another question about microwaving potatoes, and included links to other incidents of people mentioned it happened to them.

I've since had a few years to think about what happened, and there's a few possibilities besides what I originally mentioned:

I don't know how old the potatoes were.  They might've been older and a little bit dry.
I was half asleep, and it's possible that I didn't poke them a few times.  I don't know if that could've led to the skin separating from the meat of the potato and that drying out & catching fire.


As seen in simplest form here, the FDA has deemed the temperature danger zone at between 41°F and 135°F inclusive.

Meanwhile, also in its simplest form here, we see again from the FDA that the internal temperature of pork must come to 145°F in order to be considered safe.

Finally, consider the following, as found here

  Crock pots may vary but generally, the LOW setting is about 200
  degrees F. and the HIGH setting is about 300 degrees F.

These three pieces of information in combined form make it certain that you're in no danger of having spoiled your cut of meat by cooking it only on Low for 30 minutes.


Why does this sunflower butter exude green liquid?

Sunflower oil turns green in the presence of bases, such as baking soda. Most tap water in the US is alkaline with a pH value around 8, so that could also turn the sunflower oil green.


What is the history of the standard sheet (bun) pan?

I don't have a definitive answer.  But I can at least narrow down the time period a bit and likely manufacturing source with the help of Google Books.  Unfortunately, there's only so much one can do here online, given copyright restrictions mean that almost everything from the 1920s-1950s or so is only available in "snippet view."

But here are a few observations:

This source from 1941 references a "standard bun pan (18 x 26 in.)" and elsewhere has another reference to "Use 18x26 in. sheet pans..."  I see other books references around the same era to a "standard bun pan" or similar phrases; these may suggest that the size was considered at least one possible "standard" by that point.
There are multiple references to "Wear-Ever Seamless Bun Pans" as early as 1932 with the 18"x26" dimensions.  (And possibly fractional sizes, though I can't seem to tell through Google Books.)
Earlier references (e.g., from the 1920s) don't seem to indicate a standardization of pan sizes yet.  For example, this book (which is before the magical copyright date and has full-text available) has references in various recipes to pans with sizes 18x25x1, 18x24x1, 17.5x11.5x1.5, 18x25x1.25, 18x11, 15.5x26, etc.  There does seem to be a preference already for sheet/bun pan sizes in a particular range, though, which (if I had to speculate) might be related to some standard oven sizes of the time.
By the 1950s, there are multiple references to cabinet racks and other large food racks on wheels which were built specifically to accommodate the sizes of "Wear-Ever bun pans."
The brand history of Wear-Ever includes the following information about its popularity: "By [1941], four out of five homemakers preferred WearEver cookware and it accounted for more than 40 percent of the aluminum cookware business in the United States."
I don't see references to 9x13 pans showing up commonly in recipes until the 1950s, when they seem to become standard.  There are a few mentions of a "9x13 inch pan" in the late 1930s and 1940s, but very few in Google Books, so I don't know if this was a standard size by that point or if these are just random pans.
I would note that cake mixes were first marketed in the mid-1930s, and they became very popular following World War II.  So it's not surprising to me that standardized mixes (with a specific batter volume) and standardized pan sizes might happen to become popular together.  Mixes could have been related to widespread adoption of already existing size standards, particularly in the adoption of some commercial standard full-size pan and its equal divisions into home cooking.  (I'm not saying I have proof of a connection here, only that the historical periods of popularization roughly correspond.)
To respond to speculation in comments, if this page is to be believed, the first ovens with rotary racks were invented in 1964, which is probably a couple decades after standard full-size sheet pans became 18x26.

In sum, it seems that Wear-Ever standard full-size pans started to become common in the 1930s, and since they were one of the most dominant manufacturers of aluminum cookware, their sizes apparently became adopted as standard in the 1940s and 1950s.

As to the question of why the precise 18x26 size was first chosen by Wear-Ever, I haven't yet been able to sort that out.  I haven't found evidence of standardized commercial deck oven sizes in the 1920s and 1930s, though their widths do seem to fall in the right range that would make a 26" width a good large size to accommodate.

Since Wear-Ever was tied closely to ALCOA and early aluminum production in the U.S., I could also imagine there might be a connection to standard aluminum sheet manufacturing sizes, which could then be stamped out into these pans, though skimming through some aluminum processing manuals from the early 1900s so far hasn't given me any clues.  I would also note the ratio of length and width is close to "ideal" rectangular ratios that were common in paper manufacturing, etc.


My guess is that what they call French couscous is really Lebanese couscous in marketing disguise. The Lebanese speak French, and calling it Lebanese might put people off due to their political leanings. French is probably just more palatable. Kind of like creating the term canola oil in favor of trying to market rapeseed oil.


It causes the pepper to steam a bit, making it easier to remove the charred skin.

(resting might also be a factor ... I've never done a side-by-side comparison of covered vs. uncovered)


How is south african paprika different from Hungarian paprika?

The variety of the original pepper might be slightly different giving out different result when dried and ground up.

There might be a difference in spiciness.
There might be a difference in smokiness (if the paprika is smoked).

Hard to tell.

Just try it and report back.


Did I do anything wong when making fries?

I haven't noticed regular potatoes being sweet when overcooked, undercooked, or even raw. So I don't think the sweetness was due to cooking time.

However, according to

http://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-cooking-potatoes-2

(and many other places on the internet), potatoes stored in the refrigerator will turn sweet as their starches convert to sugars at the cold temperatures.

Is it possible you kept these potatoes in your fridge for a significant time after purchasing them, or maybe they were kept refrigerated at Tesco for a while before you got them? If so that could explain it. I routinely keep my potatoes in the fridge, and when they go sweet, it's really noticeable. I happen to like them OK that way, but they are really quite a bit sweeter than you would expect.


For really wet dough, wetting your hands works (that is, quickly dip them in a bowl of water, let the water drip off a little, and keep doing that as you work the dough). Depending on the dough, you could also oil your hands (see the "Is there a reason to NOT use no-stick spray (Pam) for handling dough?" over to the right in related questions). Also helps to be quick; keep your hands moving and the dough sticks less.

And to some extent, you just have to live with it being a sticky mess.


How do I hold my knife to prevent blisters when chopping?

Friction blisters are usually the result of continuous rubbing on skin that hasn't toughened up.

If you are getting blisters with normal amounts of chopping, either your knife is moving in your hand more than it should, or you are exerting more force than you should need.

Focus on your technique. Are you pushing down with the whole palm, the front of the palm, or the back of the palm? Are you guiding or forcing with your thumb and forefinger? Is your knife sharp and heavy enough for the materials you are cutting through? Are you using a circular motion to chop?


When cooked correctly, the texture of chicken is tender and juicy. When overcooked, chicken becomes dry and stringy.

The regular chicken you get at the supermarket doesn't have any distinctive smell or taste by itself, and it really depends on what you add to flavor the chicken.


Substitute fresh garlic instead of garlic powder?

I'd say about 1 clove for every half-teaspoon of garlic powder. There isn't going to be anything particularly scientific about this, since garlic cloves vary in size, strength and flavor but that will be in the ballpark.


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

Commercial kitchens use a few methods that are hidden from the camera during kitchen shows. First, there are cutting boards for meats, and separate cutting boards for vegetables. These are often color coded so they aren't mixed up. If there is room, raw meats use an entirely different table. Any possibly contaminated board is sanitized before reuse.
Second, the cloths you see are stored in a bucket of sanitizing fluid which kills microbes on contact. When a surface is wiped down, or hands are cleaned, they are being sanitized by the liquid on the cloth. Finally, there is usually more than one person working behind the scenes and labor is divided so the raw meat people are not the same as the green salad people.

At home, planning is the key. Try to do all of your non-meat prep first. Then you can contaminate your cutting board without having to wash it again. Then try to take care of all of your meat prep, so you only have to wash your hands once. And remember that if you drop a vegetable on your raw chicken, it's not a big deal if it's all going to be cooked.


What is the purpose of baking soda in chocolate-chip cookies?

Baking soda also raises the PH of the product resulting in better browning.

Soda can be left out. Many recipes- especially for chewier cookies- don't call for any leavening besides the eggs.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html

Cookie recipes often call for the dough to be chilled so that it spreads less in the oven before it sets. This creates a taller, less crispy cookie. Cookie recipes don't typically have very much water in them for the soda to dissolve into. Much of the water is tied up in the butter and won't be available until the dough melts in the oven.