Non-cow's milk replacement for Parmesan cheese in Genovese pesto

Finding a non-cow subsitute for parmesan is a difficult task - Grana, the closest, is made from cow milk as well so it's no good.
You can try using Pecorino which is made from sheep milk, and has a slightly stronger flavour.
I've never tried it personally, but it's not rare in some regions of Italy to make pesto with pecorino, so it's definitely worth a try!


Why did my organic chicken come out like rubber after roasting?

It sounds like your chicken was simply overcooked.  If you used a built in pop-up timer, these almost always are set to a temperature which will overcook your poultry.

Some authorities recommend cooking white meat to 170 F (77 C), but this will leave your chicken dry and overcooked.

My personal preference is to cook white meat to about 158 F (70 C) in the oven, and then let carry over cooking bring it up a couple more degrees while it rests.  This should leave your white meat much more succulent.

Similarly, dark meat should be cooked to a temperature (to my preference) of at least 165 F (74 C) although it is much more tolerant of being overcooked.  This can be tricky when roasting a whole chicken.

Some things you can do help cook a chicken more evenly:

Cut it into parts, and roast the parts (obviously, this is ideal as each can be removed when done)
Use a high quality probe or instant read thermometer, in the thickest part of the breast or thigh, to get an accurate internal reading.   To ensure accuracy, check a couple of spots, and apply the lowest temperature.
If you don't want to fully cut it up, butterfly or "spatchcock" the chicken
Brine the chicken (although I personally prefer simply to not overcook in the first place)


How do i make bubbles on surface of chips?

The bubbles are formed by gases expanding inside the chip as it is heated.

Do this slow enough and the bubbles will escape before the chip hardens (giving it that chip crunch).

Do this fast enough and the bubbles will be trapped.

You could try higher heat for a shorter period of time - or even very high heat to "seal" in the bubbles then finish at a lower temperature.


What is this rust-like stain on my aluminum pot, and how do I clean it?

This will be from an electrochemical reaction between the can (mostly iron I think) and the water and possibly the aluminum (a better chemist than me would be able to tell you).

Aluminum has a fairly impermeable mono-molecular oxide layer on its surface (incidentally this is why you can color coke cans and the like; the color is in the oxide layer). The oxide layer in the case of your pot has probably been compromised by the reaction between the can and water, possibly scavenging some of the oxygen from this layer.

To remove this you can do either of some scrubbing with a steel based scrubber - basically polish the pot surface, or you might be able to remove it by boiling the pan with a weak acid solution; vinegar is probably the easiest, but any acid should do. Note that both will make the pot shiny, and you should do a short boil with some water to re-establish the oxide layer.


How to compensate for high altitude when baking bread in a bread machine?

This site claims that you should add some extra flour and liquids while reducing yeast and sugar, while increasing temperature and reducing time. I'm not sure that I accept their reasoning behind increasing the amount of liquids (supposedly to counteract dryer air), but at the same time increasing the amount of flour.

You probably can't adjust either time or temperature in your bread maker, though.

A lot of their reasoning is based on the air being dryer at altitude, but I would have thought that the breadmaker would be sealed enough to maintain a humid enough atmosphere inside.

That is based on 3500ft above sea-level , but you're twice as high. At your altitude water boils at 92°C, which means that the bread will expand faster in the oven, but before setting properly.

If you can't change any other parameters, I would try to reduce the amount of dough in each batch, to ensure that it heats through faster


There is a non-zero risk of getting a salmonella infection from raw eggs.

However- with only 2 eggs that risk is very low. If you are only serving the dish to healthy adults then the repercussions of the potential infection are also minor.

You should understand the risks and then decide whether you are ok with them or not.

If you are not you can always use pasteurized egg product instead.

Personally I have no problem using raw eggs when I cook.


How can I obtain perfectly peeled boiled eggs?

Very slightly crack the egg with a spoon, stack with crack up, add salt, bring to boil slowly, and cool with cold water and ice.  Roll in your hand to crack the shell and keep rolling until the shell comes off.  Or kind of compress from side to top.  I worked as cook - I could just squeeze and open.


I bought a cast iron skillet and after washing it and then heating it I got a color like rust

This has happened because you didn't dry it thoroughly enough.

I would advise starting the seasoning process again. This is a good visual guide from Joshua Weissman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDTCgxvmShc


Sandor Katz's Art of Fermentation has a recipe for douchi (link).

  Soybeans (yellow or black) are soaked, cooked until soft, cooled, inoculated with Aspergillus spores or mixed mold cultures, and incubated around 80–90°F/27–32°C for about 72 hours, until the mold on the beans turns green, indicating sporulation. In contrast to the hamanatto method described above, in the douchi method the beansare not dried at this stage but rather washed, to remove the spores, which would impart bitter flavor. For the second-stage fermentation, the beans are fermented in brine, sometimes with sugar and/or hot chili paste, for four to six months, then dried.


As moscafj mentioned in comments, the baker likely changed something in the process or recipe.  If the general question is why big holes happen in lean artisan breads sometimes, there are several possibilities, some of which I enumerated in answer to a previous question.

In very general terms, the more bread is "handled" during the process of a rise, the more even the crumb will be.  (That is: "even crumb" = very fine small even holes.)  This can involve additional kneading or folding or "punching down" periodically during the rise.  The most relevant, of course, is handling and shaping before the final rise where the final air bubbles develop.

The baker is correct that many "artisan bakers" value a texture that has large (often irregular) holes.  And many consumers like that.  It may not be great for sandwiches, but that is not the only use for artisan bread.  If, however, the holes are not evenly distributed but are gathered in certain places (like the middle of the top of the loaf, as you mention in the question), that could indicate inferior kneading or shaping technique, as well as perhaps an overproofed final dough before baking.


What to do with dried vegetables that feel like a chewing gum?

Of course they will be the texture of thinly sliced rubber tires when eaten raw.

What you want to do is rehydrate them. Probably the easiest way would be adding them to a stew and simmer / boil them until the entire dish is done. You will need some extra water, though.

You could also try soaking them in water over night like one does for dried fruit / muesli, then drain and use them.


How can I bake crunchy chocolate chip cookies?

The best way to achieve what you are looking for is to lower the temp and lengthen the baking time. Lowering the temp will slow the edges from getting burned while the center is allowed to continue to cook.

Allow the top of the cookie to brown before removing from the oven. For soft cookies, the moment it starts to turn brown is the moment you are just a little too late for the cookies to stay soft after they've cooled. If you let the cookie brown just a touch, the cookie will harden on the cooling rack.


Forgot the yeast in a brioche bread recipe

I will sometimes add yeast late, for instance when I'm not finding a sourdough culture to be adequate for a decent rise, or on the rare occasion when I'm getting poor performance from a particular batch of yeast.

I typically dissolve it in a small amount of water (or milk for this recipe), work the mixture into the dough, and add a bit of flour if needed to compensate for the added liquid.

It works.


How to dry fruits without sunlight or a dehydrator?

The key to drying fruit is not temperature, but humidity - or rather, lack of humidity.

If you want to avoid mold,you need to speed up the drying process. And for that, you need to keep a few points in mind:

Place fruit in a single layer, not touching each other. Ideally you would place them on some sort of "drying rack", which could be either some kind of screen on a frame or even some metal mesh like the ones used for cooling cakes. This ensures that they can dry from all sides. Otherwise, turn them regularly.
Maintain a dry environment. If in doubt, always choose a cooler, but drier place over a warmer, but more humid one.
If available, constant air flow can speed up the process considerably. Perhaps a fan could be placed nearby?
If necessary, fruit can be dried in an oven, but at the lowest heat possible (40 to 50 C should be fine, use the oven fan, if you have one) and with the door slightly ajar.


How do I pick a watermelon at the supermarket?

I don't believe there is a fool-proof way to determine 'ripeness' without taking a slice out of it. The best you can do is look for certain signs:

Ripe melons have a hollow sound when you tap or slap the outside
Look for the patch where the melon would have been on the ground (called the field spot). If it's a yellow colour its probably ripe, if it's white, it's probably not.
It should feel relatively heavy when lifted
Weird areas on the skin aren't necessarily bad. insects may have tried to start eating the fruit because it is ripe, but have only marred the surface.

Unfortunately, melons don't continue to ripen once picked, unlike fruits such as apples, bananas etc. which contain ethylene. As a tip don't store melons with these kinds of fruit, they may well go 'soggy'.

Extra: NYtimes video on picking the right watermelon.


It could just be that it wasn't mixed thoroughly - little droplets of dissolved gelatin intermingled with the cool whip would certainly give you a grainy texture. Whisking thoroughly, or even using a hand mixer, could avoid some of this.

But failing that, it's possible that it's simply prone to separation. Cool whip is a sort of fake cream, emulsified fats and water, and the dissolved jello is pretty much water. They might tend to separate a little before the gelatin makes it all set up. If that's the case, you probably have to work a little harder for your mousse; if the gelatin is added straight to the creamy/custardy base, there's no water-gelatin mixture to separate out.


What is the way to use a readymade double boiler with whistle?

You are supposed to fill enough water such that you can heat the milk well, but not fill it to the top - you need a bit of space for steam to build up so the whistle will work. Fill it to a height somewhere half between the milk height and whistle height, you don't need to be exact though.

When the whistle blows, the water will be at full boil, so 100 Celsius. The steel of the inner vessel is quite efficient in conducting that heat, so the milk will be close to 100 Celsius, but not at 100 (that's why it doesn't boil over). I don't know the exact temperature and don't have tables for pasteurization times in this range, so in this case, you have to trust that the manufacturer has checked these tables, tested the product, and ensured that the milk is safe at the temperature reached in its pot.


Why would hot-packed green beans go bad when still sealed?

I know this is kind of old but unless green beans are pickled or processed as in the link below, they are considered not safe (NOT safe to waterbath unless pickled). So in answer to your question, if they were not process in a pressure canner at the appropriate pressure for your altitude and for the correct length of time for the jar-size, then that would be what caused them to go bad.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/beans_snap_italian.html

you said the jar is sealed and they are nasty smelling/looking - that specific problem is often due to a false seal from either stacking the jars or storing them with rings on. If the seal breaks for whatever reason, the ring being on can cause it to "re-seal" after letting air and whatnot in/out of the jar. It then gives the appearance of being sealed while actually being quite gross/unsafe. To prevent this, rings should be removed 24 hours after the item has been out of the canner.


Why is my first batch of cookies out of the oven too flat?

It may be that your oven is not up to temperature before your first batch goes in. If it's not hot enough your cookies will have more time to melt and flatten before they cook. Try giving the oven 10 more minute preheating time before putting your first batch in.


I have only a partial answer that you may find interesting anyway.

In case of your beef recipes you might be able to use the chemical composition of the muscle fibers and they way they react to heating and cooling to your advantage. When you heat beef, the muscle fibers contract, pushing out some of the moisture. A phenomenon every cook will have encoutered.

A little used fact in kitchens is that this effect is reversible. Once let the meat cool back down to below the 60C temperature point the muscle fibers extend back out and "suck in" some of the stewing liquid that it is in contact with.

I use this effect very succesfully with lamb stews and espcially Rendang and other Indonesian stew dishes. It is often used as a partial explanation for why stews taste better the next day (Others provided here), but I have found that you can achieve similar results on the same day by rapidly force cooling the dish and then gently reheating before serving.

I must admit I'm not sure if you can use this effect to its full potential with larger cuts of meat, but I am quite sure it will help some with flavour penetration.


In the end I tried it, or something similar.  I made a batch of mini puddings, but only 4 out of 8 individual pudding basins fitted in the slow cooker at a time.  So the second half of the batch went in the fridge for 7 hours while I cooked the first 4.  The second lot were cooked overnight, starting from fridge cold, but with the water topped up to as deep as I could go, straight from a boiling kettle.  The two batches are indistinguishable -- I've sampled both.

What didn't work so well were the few I made by microwaving in silicone muffin tins after I ran out of pudding basins before using all the mix.


whipped cream icing beforehand vs right before serving

Whipped cream can be made with unflavored gelatin, so that it will hold its shape for hours; that is how bakeries do it. I did not find it difficult to do the first time I tried it, and was really pleased at how reliably it held up.

http://ourbestbites.com/2015/11/how-to-make-stabilized-whipped-cream/

There are other techniques, but this is an example of how to do it.


Considering the amount of flour used, the basic bread proportions are:

Water: 60% the weight of the flour. Of course this percentage may vary among the different recipes (even above 100%).
Salt: 2%
Fresh yeast: 1%

It may seem a tiny amount of yeast, but the trick is that in order to make bread, you just need time. Time for the yeast to do its job. If you leave the bread to rest for a while (a couple of hours or even more in a banneton before putting it in the Dutch oven) you will get a better rise and flavour. Also, as Stephie said, use very good quality flours. Both things combined and you're done. No need to add sugar, fat or other things.

If you do not have the time, adding more yeast will reduce the resting (and rising) time, but the bread will get less flavour. But if your bread is going to be very hydrated (as it seems), I would really recommend to have patience in the process of kneading and letting rest the bread before cooking it.


What organic grains can I substitute for self-rising (Gold Medal) flour?

You might try whole wheat pastry flour, too.  It's usually used in things like pie crusts, and probably would be the closest in texture to white flour.

Any grain other than wheat will not have the same amount of gluten and thus may have a vastly different texture.


None of those items need to be heated to be safe, even if you eat them daily. Vermicelli is just pasta, made from wheat four, rice flour or mung bean flour. It may not be palatable under-cooked, but it won't hurt you unless you are sensitive to that ingredient. And if you are sensitive, cooking it won't help anyway.


Bread and butter pickles without mustard seed

Mustard seeds and other spices are there for flavor only; it's perfectly safe to leave them out. But don't mess with amounts of salt or vinegar given in your recipe--those are important for preventing bacterial growth.

If your recipe also contains bay leaf or grape leaf, those too can be omitted, but you pickles won't be as crisp. Likewise if you omit the calcium chloride or calcium hydroxide.


How the heck did people in the olden' days learn to beat eggs and other laborious tasks?

Accident and/or trial and error, with a bit of 'evolution'. Someone notices that cream gets a bit thicker when it's been stirred a while, they put two and two together and beat it. Then someone has the bright idea to use a whisk to get more air into it and make it even thicker, etc etc.

Though actually I imagine that whipped cream was actually discovered during the process of making butter (keep whipping cream and butter is what you get).


Any suggestions for cracking "black walnuts"?

A nutcracker won't work.  I've used a hammer with success.  Place the pointed end up on a hard surface and whack with the hammer.  Practice will teach you how hard you need to swing.


Raw lima beans do contain a compound, a cyanogenic glycoside, which would release cyanide if ingested raw.

(1) http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp8-c1.pdf

(2) http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/industry/Cyanogenic_Glycosides-Toxin_Which.pdf

(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24863488

(4) http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfns.20140204.21.pdf

Frozen lima beans are typically uncooked. The usual stories about cooking many varieties of lima beans quote boiling for at least 15 minutes and discarding the cooking water.

Now trying to unwind the folklore....

(A) What is the toxicity of cyanide?

Cyanide in the body is an anion, which has a negative charge. In order to balance the charge a cation, a positive charged ion must be present too. Since beans would be eaten let's look at the toxicity of sodium cyanide.

The dose of sodium cyanide which would kill 50% of the subjects (LD-50) is about 15 mg/kg of body weight for mammals. But by weight sodium cyanide is 47% sodium and 53% cyanide. So the lethal dose for cyanide itself would be about 7mg/kg.

So a 154 pound person weighs 70 kg (2.2 lbs per kg). 70*7 is approximately 500 mg or 0.5 grams.

(B) Does the cyanide content of lima beans vary?

Yes. Supposedly the varieties of lima beans consumed in the US (and presumably Canada) are specifically chosen to be low in cyanide.

Cyanide in "lima  beans [varies]  between  15  and  500  mg  HCN/kg  fresh  weight  (Bickerstaff,  2003)" quoted from:

(5) http://members.ecetoc.org/Documents/Document/JACC%20053%20Vol%20I.pdf

But I can find the original source by Bickerstaff in the article.

(C) How much does cooking reduce the cyanide?

There is a paper which notes that in other foods the cyanogenic glycosides are 100% destroyed by cooking.

(6) http://www.onlineresearchjournals.org/JBFSR/pdf/2013/jan/Onyeike%20et%20al..pdf

(D) How does the bean produce cyanide?

The cyanide in lima beans is present as "pure" cyanide, but a cyanide compound called a cyanogenic glycoside. Lima beans contain two such compounds, linamarin and lotaustralin

    Linamarin

    Lotaustralin

I'll quote Dr. G. Speijers of the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Laboratory for Toxicology, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

(7) http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jecmono/v30je18.htm

    The first aspect is the processing of plant products containing
    cyanogenic glycosides. When the edible parts of the plants are
    macerated, the catabolic intracellular enzyme ß-glucosidase can be
    released, coming into contact with the glycosides. This enzyme
    hydrolyzes the cyanogenic glycosides to produce hydrogen cyanide and
    glucose and ketones or benzaldehyde.

It seems that the human gut also has bacteria which are capable of hydrolyzing the cyanogenic glycosides to produce hydrogen cyanide.


Substitute actual vodka for storebought vanilla extract

No, vodka is nothing like vanilla extract.

Unfortunately the premise of your question is wrong. The thing that makes "true" vanilla extract true/pure/real is that it's made from real vanilla beans, as opposed to artificial flavors. Artificial vanilla is often just vanillin, one of the key flavor components, and it's been manufactured from another base ingredient (probably lignin), with no vanilla involved.

In both cases, the exact source of the alcohol isn't important, it's just that it's alcohol (ethanol) and water. I've mainly heard of using vodka for homemade vanilla extract, because as far as readily available liquor goes, it's about the closest you can get to pure, flavorless ethanol/water. It's hard to imagine that mass-produced commercial vanilla bothers insisting on vodka in particular.

Anyway, flavors. Artificial and real vanilla extract are really pretty similar, which is kind of the point. If you can't easily get the real stuff, or it's too expensive, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using artificial.

In particular, for baked goods, artificial is totally fine. The heat means you lose a lot of the flavor complexity, and the two end up indistinguishable, or close to it. Notably, America's Test Kitchen has done vanilla taste tests and says "It matters not a whit whether you use real or imitation vanilla, because you can’t tell the difference when you bake."

The difference is much more noticeable in things like icing/frosting, pudding, and ice cream, where you don't use much if any heat after adding the vanilla, so the complex flavors remain. So if you're making any of that, and you want it extra good, that's when you may want to splurge for real vanilla extract, or vanilla beans.


Glycerine's functionality is a "moisturizer", in that it's very good at keeping moisture for a long period. In the case of fondant, it will help to keep it pliable for a longer period and help to minimize drying out too quickly when working with it (rolling out, icing sugar/cornstarch, application). It also slightly helps any sugars from crystallizing, which as you can guess, fondant has a LOT of sugar.

Note: It's the same glycerine in the cosmetic aisle.


For a baking beginner, what cake icing you recommend?

Buttercream is pretty simple, start with room temperature butter, beat it until it's white, slowly add icing sugar, add small amounts of milk as needed to keep the consistency right.

For each 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter, use about 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar (sifted) and 3 Tbsp of milk.  You can do it in a mixer, a food processor, or just use a bowl and a whisk.  I used a whisk a few days ago when I realized my large stand mixer is overkill for the small amount of icing I wanted and I found that microwaving the icing for about 10 seconds helped me stir in the sugar when it was getting too thick.


How can I eliminate icicles from homemade ice cream?

With respect to the coffee: Rather than dissolving the coffee granules in water, try dissolving them directly in the cream.


To answer the question -- grilled cheese.

To not answer the question -- freeze it.  My neighbor has an account at BJ's (another similar wholesale club), and she buys it, then freezes it in more managable portions, and just thaws it out in her fridge as she needs it.  I can't do American cheese (dairy issues), so I don't know if there's any loss of quality from the freezing, but I'm guessing in melted applications such as grilled cheese, it'd be less significant.


What is this flat metal sieve that came with my pressure cooker for?

The sieve-like item is a steamer insert, used to cook things that do not cook well if submerged in the comparatively large amount of water a pressure cooker needs to operate. The wire is a stand for this insert, to raise it above the waterline.

Unless you bought it used: Pressure cooker makers tend to give free books away with their pots, often a classic about a spanish guy called Manual. Good reading while watching a pressure cooker.


I submitted an edit to fix up your question because it sounded like a product recommendation.  Can you also provide more info, like what you would be using them for?

Here are a few characteristics I looked for in my recent purchase:

Thickness - thinner spatulas would be easier to slide under food
Stiffness in the handle - better for stirring soups, stews
Blade shape - for getting into the corners and curves of your jars, bowls, and pans

Of course, read up on reviews of the products you're researching.  These will attest to build quality, construction, ease of use for other customers.


How long to keep defrosted vegetables in the fridge

The cell walls are now damaged from the freezing, so they cannot keep like whole, live vegetables. They are in the same position as if you had damaged the cell walls by heat = cooking them. So, apply the rule for cooked food.

They will be safe for 3-5 days.


Dried legumes, and sometimes grains, are commonly soaked 3-24h before pressure cooking them, and this feature would allow useful automation of that method.


What is the proper way to bake meat balls in the oven?

One technique I have used is to support the meatballs with toothpicks over a muffin tin. This allows the liquid to run off and collect. I forget which food network show I learned this from, but it has been a good technique for me.

  I'm trying to minimize the outbound
  loss of fluids

As fat is rendered to liquid it has to go somewhere. It is either going to be absorbed into something (like dry bread crumbs) or it will leave in the form of 'juices' oozing out of the meatball. I have to disagree with @Bruce's "breadcrumb slurry" as that adds an additional saturated element that leaves no place for fluids to go (other than to leave). Dry breadcrumbs will absorb those juices before they escape. One way to put that juicy goodness back into your dish is collect those juices, mix with some butter and an equal (total) amount of flour to create a rue and then either add milk to that to create a cream gravy to serve over the meatballs or add it to a tomato sauce to thicken the sauce in infuse the meaty/juicy goodness to the sauce and so it will stick to the pasta :o).


Are arborvitae branches safe to use as a seasoning?

My first instinct was no way, remembering that the branches and leaves contain a high amount of thujone, which is a neurotoxin and not without risks, especially if used over a long time or while pregnant. This is the same stuff that caused absinthe to be discredited for decades.

But Thuja oils typically contain 40% α-thujon, sage (salvia officinalis) up to 60%. Thuja's pungent smell would prevent ingesting too much.

So my conclusion would be:

do not use for a long time or when pregnant (most midwives caution against using sage, too, btw.)
use sparingly for health reasons, a limited amount is considered safe by health agencies world wide, see information on absinthe for example.
use very sparingly for culinary reasons, because the taste is quite "pronounced". I had to take a herbal medicine with thuja decades ago and still shudder to think of it. (It did work, though...)

When thinking of potential culinary uses, think of uses for sage or juniper - you will want to use it as a spice in foods that can "handle" the woody, bitter tinge. Dark red meat or even game perhaps? Complement with a generous amount of pepper and perhaps a good red wine.

Another approach that might be worth a try is sweetening it up - like "fir syrup" (is this known in American cuisine?).


What can be added to non dairy milks to extend shelf life?

This question has two facades:

First get rid of the already-there spoilage microorganisms.

Before blending the nuts, I soak them in vinegar for a while and rinse thoroughly. And always using sanitized equipment and boiling the water (and sugar if you're adding) is quite a good practice to kill the microorganisms you might have in your ingredients.

Prevent (or at least postpone) future spoilages.

If you have a sous-vide setup, using the lowest pasteurization temperature at 54C you can try to pasteurize. Please check some charts on this. It's hard to give an estimate without knowing your container sizes.
Some nut-milk can handle acidity, some can't you can experiment with that as well.


Okay, as mentioned in the comments, the easiest way is to use a broiler, but if your gas oven doesn't have one.....

When following the instructions for thin crust pizza from Cooks Illustrated (on a pizza stone in my oven), one thing they suggested to help the cheese melt and crisp a bit was to NOT put the pizza on the lower rack.

They figured the oven temperature was going to be high enough to cook the food, so no need to put it closer to the heat source that was below.  However, by putting it on the closest rack to the top that would still fit the food, there was some additional heat radiated back to the top of the pizza that was absorbed by the metal roof of the oven.

Whether that works well enough for your purposes or not, I don't know, but it seems to be a similar concept.


Fill a basin or hotel pan with water.

Place in your smoker. Ensure the smoker heat is set below 100C/212F (adjust as necessary for distance above/below sea level).

Um... smoke. An hour should do fine. More if you want more. Optionally strain through a superbag or muslin to remove any deposited particulate matter.


First thing to try is freezing, possibly in ice cube trays (once frozen, transfer to freezer bag). Freezing has the advantage that you can be confident the food is still safe to consume.

Unfortunately, cornstarch-thickened sauces often don't hold up to freezing. A couple of approaches:

Thicken only after thawing. Takes more time reheating, but not much.
Try arrowroot or tapioca starch. You'll get a different look and slightly different texture than you're used to.
Use "modernist" ingredients for thickening, such as guar gum and/or xanthan gum. The texture is probably going to be different than what you're used to.

Your BBQ sauce is not only low-pH it is also high-sugar. Both reduce microbial growth. It'd be difficult to know how long your pan sauce would last in the fridge without measuring those, and possibly doing lab work.


Baker percentages, weights, volumes, and such

If specific units are not given (i.e. you just have a ratio), then you should always go by weight, not volume.

Everything that happens in baking, every chemical reaction, is based on the actual number of molecules of a particular ingredient, which corresponds to its weight.  Volume is simply a rough approximation used in many home cooking/baking recipes.

Note that if using metric measurements (g or mL) then the weight vs. volume measurements actually are the same for water.  So consider using metric for baking, if you can, because that way the conversions are much easier and you can measure out your liquids in a measuring cup without having to do any conversion math.


If you put batches of cut kale into a ricer like the Oxo one shown below, and give it a good hard squeeze until a little of the kale juice comes out, it will make easier work of the massaging process.  You should see the kale come out broken down as much as when massaged by hand.  If not, squeeze again.

I do it over the salad bowl to capture the juices as well as any dropped leaves.  It seemed to work more easily with lacinato (dinosaur) kale than curly leaf.


Iranian Sweet Dish consisting of Lamb Paste

As confirmed in comments, the dish is khoresht mast.
According to this recipe and this video, the main ingredients seem to be lamb or beef neck, yoghurt, sugar, saffron, rosewater, and garnishes of pistachios and barberries.

The lamb/beef is simmered with onion and turmeric then mashed and blended, and mixed with an egg yolk, yoghurt, and sugar. This is gently heated, to which saffron water and and (optionally) rosewater are now added. The mixture is then chilled, garnished, and served cool. The video explains everything quite well.


can one use a toaster oven to bake cakes and cupcakes?

I don't know what a "mini oven" is, so I will skip this one.

You should not, under any circumstances, get a microwave. A microwave is not suitable for baking. There are models which are supposed to be a microwave and convection oven at once, but I have frequently heard of them not turning off the microwaves when in convection mode, despite the manual saying otherwise. If you happen to get such a model, you will not be able to bake cakes in it.

I have a toaster oven of this type:

It serves me well for all kinds of cake and bread baking. Whatever has gone wrong with my cakes, I never had the feeling that it was the oven which was the obstacle to them getting better.

As far as I am aware, you cannot use the tiny toaster ovens which are only about 15 cm deep. I have never tried it, but I would be afraid that the heating elements are too close, and also you cannot fit a cake pan in there.


I have done a lot of cooking with beans and I will usually soak them overnight and then slow cook them for an additional 5-7 hours. If I forget to soak them, I will usually have to put them on the stove and boil them on high heat for almost 2 hours stirring constantly.

As far as Chili goes, I have always preferred a mixture of Red Kidney Beans, Black Beans, And "Great Northern Beans" (white beans)


With industrial testing and equipment, it might be possible.

As a practical matter, for a home cook, no this is not possible.

The reason is safety:  long term canning requires ensuring that the product is shelf stable and safe for longer term storage, which means killing or preventing the growth of all pathogens that might be in the food.   Possibly the most difficult and dangerous to manage is botulism, whose spores are fairly ubiquitous, and which can grow in low-acid, low oxygen conditions—the exact conditions that prevail inside a canned product like this.

Even though your dressing may be acidic, the entire volume inside the jar including the pasta and other ingredients will almost certainly be insufficiently acidic to inhibit botulism growth.

The only way to know for sure that a recipe (and the associated canning methodology) is safe is with expensive industrial testing (the kind food companies use when bringing new products to market), or to exactly follow a recipe designed by a reputable source such as a University Extension program.

Unless you can find such a recipe (I failed to do so in a quick check, but it is hard to search for), you should not proceed; but even if you do, you would have to follow that recipe, and not use your own.


I do this all the time, I simply leave the yolk in the shell, then I use the shell to gently place the yolk into the spot I like. Dipping the shell into the broth and then letting the yolk float out will keep it together.

You could try heating the yolk in the shell by putting it in a hot water bath, seems a bit overkill to be honest. Chilling it also may help keep it together but then it won't cook the way you want in the residual heat. Room temperature is your best bet.


It sounds like you have emulsified the fat from the meat into the broth. This will happen if you don't skim the fat and then cook at a rolling boil. The oil droplets will become very fine and disperse light, which is what causes the broth to appear white. If that is in fact the cause of the whiteness, it isn't a safety risk.


How do you properly cook stuffed cannelloni?

I think your cooking method is fine and the problem lies in the stuffing. I see a few things that may be contributing factors to your issue.

Make sure you are using the minimum amount of olive oil you can. You don't want excess in your stuffing.
Spinach tends to release a lot of moisture when cooked. Wilt the spinach and squeeze out as much moisture as you can before adding it to the garlic.
Ricotta tends to have quite a bit of moisture. It can vary by brand. Try draining the ricotta through a strainer for a good while to let the excess moisture drain off.

You might also try reducing the amount of bechamel in the stuffing. If I'm looking at it right you are currently using as much bechamel as cheese.

And last but not least, a commercial trick I learned is to add a very small amount of bread crumbs or cracker meal. I've seen that done in both baked dishes and salads like tuna, chicken, etc. It's kind of a hack to handle extra moisture.


Substituting maltose for barley malt syrup in bagels

I would expect that substitution to work fine, in a 1:1 swap.

Both Brown Rice Syrup (what you're calling Maltose) and Barley Malt have a high amount of maltose-the-sugar, plus an assortment of other sugars.  Both are pretty close to pure glucose in their actual sugar content, while at the same time tasting less sweet because of their composition and some of their minority content.

Barley Malt is going to be a bit "darker", with more "roasted" flavors than commercially manufacturer brown rice syrup (although artisan traditionally made brown rice syrup would be very similar).  So it won't add quite as much flavor to the bagel dough as barley malt will.  However, speaking from experience, you can make bagels using white sugar instead of any kind of malt, and they still come out fine.

There's one exception here, and that's pumpernickel bagels.  These dark brown bagels depend heavily on the roasted flavors of dark barley malt (in either syrup or powder form).  I wouldn't try substituting with those.


Why does tomato not dissolve when I make curry

If Tomatoes aren't cooking quickly. What i do is heat enough oil to high temp and add finely chopped tomatoes and let them cook in oil. Do not add water. Tomatoes have natural water in it. keep stirring till they break down and dissolve. Let all of its water nearly evaporate. Once oil starts separating from tomatoes that means its done.


Chicken wrapper torn, meat is a little dry

Should be fine to eat, might be a little drier section of the meat if you go straight to cooking without like marinading.


How would I jar a sauce for keeping at room temperature without adding loads of vinegar or sugar?

You cannot use an oven for canning - while the oven itself can reach temperatures higher than 100 degrees C, it is difficult to get the internal temperature of the contents of the jars up to the same temperature. You'd be better off pressure canning, and  @Chris_H has already shown where you can read up on the technique in the comments to the question.

It might be useful to provide a quick explanation why using an oven is not reliable. Please note that I am in no way suggesting that OP's 140C is either the correct temperature or the only condition needed for safe canning.

Assuming that your contents are capable of being heated to 140C at atmospheric pressure for now, in text-book ideal conditions (assuming perfectly conductive glass), it would take 54 minutes to heat a jar of it of 10cm diameter and 10cm tall form 100C to 140C. 30 minutes is just too short.

At atmospheric pressure inside your 140C oven, your sauce will not reach too much above 100C since it is mostly made up of water. Vapourising water keeps temperature fairly constant at that, at least initially. As more and more water is evaporated, eventually, you might reach 140C, but your sauce would also be dehydrated with a very significant reduction in volume. For practical purposes, you will not see 140C for a few hours and not before your sauce is ruined. The only way to overcome that is by raising the pressure and thus the boiling point of water. This is why sterilisation needs an autoclave or at least a good pressure cooker with as high a pressure rating as possible. In any case, I have not come across a consumer type pressure cooker that would offer 3.6 bar or 52 psi to attain 140C boiling point.

edit

@rumtscho's comment below made a good point that the 140C mentioned here seemed to suggest that it was the right temperature for canning. Just to clarify, I was using OP's temperature just to illustrate the point that it would be impossible to attain that in a common oven without pressurisation. As for the need for pH control and other important conditions for safe canning, I have not attempted to address them here.


Cilantro is one of the herbs that doesn't retain much flavor when it's dried; it's unlikely to be particularly tasty when made into a tisane. On the other hand, the dried seeds of the plant -- called "coriander (seeds)"* --  have a pleasantly tangy and floral/citrusy taste.

They are occasionally used as a flavoring agent in beer, so it's perfectly reasonable to think of them as a candidate for tisane. The flavor of coriander is not dissimilar to chammomile, and might complement that. It would probably make an interesting mix with black tea, too -- in fact, it should be noted that coriander is sometimes an ingredient in Masala Chai, the sweet Indian tea-milk-spice drink.

*In the US, the leaves are referred to as "cilantro", whereas "coriander" most often means the seeds (although sometimes the leaves).


You could totally just grate courgette (zucchini) the morning of your lesson. It will be fine, you don't even have to put it in water. Just put it in a baggie. It would be fine at room temperature for several hours, it's not even going to notice two. If you want to grate it the day before, just put the baggie in the refrigerator overnight.


I'm going to supplement Cindy's answer,  by addressing this part of the question:

  When and why did cumin get associated with tacos?

According to Wikipedia, Serious Eats, and History.com, the cumin was brought by workers the Spanish imported to Texas from the Canary Islands in the 1500s, who themselves were the descendants of North Africans and hence had a love for cumin.  These workers introduced cumin into Tex-Mex cuisine, particularly Chile Con Carne, and when Willie Gebhardt created the first bottled "chili seasoning", it included cumin.  Many Americans encountered Gebhardt's seasoning a generation before they experienced any other kind of Mexican food, forever associating it with the cuisine.  And, for that matter, used Gebhardt's for taco meat, as my Oklahoma branch of the family did back into the 1930's.

The reason you don't encounter it in some Mexican restaurants it that the culinary staff are from Mexico, and not Texas or near Texas.  As such, they never "picked up" cumin.

(and yes, this does mean that Thrillist is wrong about the origin.  India was not involved)


How can I calculate the affect of cooking my food on its nutrition

Lentils (and other foods) expand when cooked - its not the same amount of lentils (and other food).

Some vitamins and such are destroyed by heat, but to be sure on exactly what, only a lab could determine.

For macronutrients such as proteint, fats, etc - whatever goes in, comes out.


Sous vide eggs - how to get a perfect soft-boiled egg?

Use fresher Grade AA eggs, this minimizes the amount of thin albumen. If this doesn't work you could perhaps try boiling it briefly when it's done cooking via sous-vide. I'd start with 60 seconds in boiling water, and going up from there to find the proper timing. I've never done this, but the boiling water should serve to quickly cook the runny whites.


Cleaning my cast iron from exploded battery and plastic

Lots of of abrasives. Electrolytes from the batteries won't soak into the iron, and lithium is not soluble in solid iron if they happened to be lithium batteries. If you can get all the plastic completely removed, the chemicals from the battery are water soluble so it will just wash off.

EDIT:

Depending on your battery type, you might want to dispose of the pan. If alkaline batteries were used, be aware that the electrolytes from the battery are caustic. They can cause tissue damage(topical burns), which should be treated with soap and water.

Either way, cleaning the pan could be dangerous, and you might consider throwing it out completely, because of the precautions you'd need to take. However the pan should not have suffered any corrosion from the battery, metal is non reactive with a base, and there is no compound in a alkaline battery that is reactive with metals. You can confirm this via the MSDS for most batteries. KOH is the only chemical that is corrosive, but its not corrosive to iron. In fact KOH is commonly used to clean cast iron, because it will corrode everything but the iron.


Can I substitute two percent milk for low fat milk and bourbon in a cake recipe?

While seeing the recipe might help (feel free to edit your answer to add the recipe and method), I feel pretty safe saying that you will be fine making this substitution.

It's likely that the fat percentage in the milk is to reduce the calorie content, not because it changes the final product. A one percent fat difference isn't going to change the outcome much, if at all.

The bourbon is likely there for flavoring, so omitting it will change the flavor of the cake but won't likely do much else. If you have another liquor that you like, you could substitute that, too. Something with a nutty flavor like amaretto would be good, or something commonly used with bananas, like rum.


What sort of tasks are you looking to protect yourself from?

If it's really messy stuff, or to wear while doing the dishes, you might want something that's non-absorbant, like PVC.  I've only really seen them at restaurant supply stores, but it's possible that you might be able to get them from chemistry supply places, also.  (and in this case, pockets are not a good idea, as they collect stuff that you've then got to clean out).

For long hours of grilling, I like something that's more insulating, which in my case would be a leather welder's apron, which you can get from welding supply stores.  I've looked around for something that might be more reflective of radiant heat, but haven't had any luck.

For just general practical use, something that cleans up easily is important.  Restaurant supply stores are a good bet for those sorts of things, but you can sometimes find them in stores that sell grills when it's that season.

For the decorative ones, you basically have two styles -- printed ones with witty/obnoxious sayings on them.  I typically find them online.

The other more frilly decorative ones ... you can find at most housewares stores, some department stores, and if you want something more one of a kind, try esty.

... as for features ... I'm not a fan of pockets, myself.  I guess they're useful for thermometers and timers, but mine clip on, or sit up on a counter or next to the grill, so I don't care.  What I do care about is that they cover the areas that you're trying to protect (an adjustable neck strap is so much better than tying a knot in the line around the neck so try to shorten it) and they don't have straps so long that they get snagged if I sit down for lean up against something.

And it should come on and off without too much difficulty ... which I've only really noticed is a problem with some designs of welder's aprons (it's hard to explain ... it doesn't just go over the neck, and attach in back) ... or if you have to tie off the top to shorten the neck opening.


According to this America's Test Kitchen video, you can get plump crisp and tender bacon by barely covering your bacon with water in a skillet over high heat, turning the heat down to medium when the water starts boiling and down again to medium-low once it has all evaporated and cook until ready.

Having water in your skillet will keep the cooking temperature low while preserving the bacon's moisture. As in explained in the video, once the water reaches its boiling point, the fat will be pretty much all rendered, so you'll be less likely to burn the meat while waiting for the fat to cook off.

It would seem the secret, whatever the method, is to preserve the moisture in the bacon to prevent it from going dry, while of course thoroughly cooking it. Perhaps cooking it covered with a lid would achieve something similar.


It will not go well, as I think you already have guessed.

The reason for this is that concentrations of sugar over about 4-5% are inhibitory to yeast growth in bread making. You need the yeast growth to make the bubbles of carbon dioxide that cause the bread to rise.

The only reference I could find for this is from Food and Feed Technology p. 729.

  ...sugar concentrations ~4% produce apparent inhibition...

The book then goes on to say:

  Consequently sweet yeast raised breads (15-20% sugar) contain very high yeast concentrations

Your concentration of sugar is about 13% (0.75/5.75), well above where it needs to be for the bread to rise with regular amounts of yeast.

I suspect that you won't be able to resurrect it by adding extra yeast at this point, it would be over-kneaded and probably won't rise all that well, or will rise and then collapse during baking. Your only sure way is to start again and follow the recipe.


Why does raw celery from a restaurant taste different than raw celery at home?

There could be two factors involved. First, the freshness of the celery. Restaurants, especially those that serve large amounts, are going through a lot of product. This means that you are more likely to get really fresh celery.

Next, storing in water is very likely an issue. I would suggest buying celery within a day or so of when you plan to use it. Wash and dry it thoroughly. Then trim and cut to your desired size. Then immediately place the celery in a plastic container or zipper bag and place in the refigerator until serving.

Each time you take it out for serving, remove the amount you plan to use and return the rest to the refrigerator. The 'leftover' celery should remain fresh and crisp for several days.


Can I just rinse the knife & cutting board, instead of washing it, after cutting washed vegetables?

As a general food safety rule/best practice, you should still perform active washing, rather than passive rinsing, even for fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables are still vectors for food borne illness and cross contamination. Wide scale recalls of vegetables due to listeria and e. coli are not uncommon. Active washing with soap and water will combat this. A quick swipe with a soapy cloth followed by a rinse will clean up much better than rinsing alone.
Fruits and vegetables also contain things such as sugars, which passive rinsing may not fully clean. This can result in spoilage and/or mold growth on your cutting board. A great demonstration of this would be to cut beets, which have both relatively high sugar and an accompanying red color, and passively rinse up vs actively washing. Washing will clean up much better. The same is true for other fruits and vegetables, though the lack of red dye makes it less easy to notice.


I can see three possibilities, though I don't know which is the actual case.

First, it is simply possible that the beans they source are, for some reason, very high in protein.   The general nutrition numbers are averages, and can cover some pretty broad ranges - a potentially significant difference might come from testing specific batch of organic black beans from whatever farming processes versus the generic averages of all black beans.

Second, it is possible that the processing of the beans into pasta does remove some of the carbs, for whatever reason - perhaps starches that get left behind in processing (in soaking water?), or the starches and proteins separated and recombined in different, predictable, ratios (possibly to account for the potential variability of bean batches).  Something similar is done with chocolate, the single ingredient is separated into constituent parts and recombined in predictable ratios, for a better and more consistent end product.

Third, it is possible that the ratio of carbs to proteins actually changes during the processing.  I'm thinking of gluten formation, specifically, where the gluten protein that is formed in the working the (wheat) dough wasn't there in the plain flour - and making something like seitan from it, which is very high in protein, by developing the protein already present and washing away excess starches. I'm not sure of the actual chemistry behind black bean pasta, but it may develop some protein, something, in the processing that wasn't there before, which might perhaps alter the ratios in the bean pasta as opposed to the simply cooked beans.


Books for very high level vegan cooking?

I'd recommend Crossroads, by vegan chef Tal Ronnen.  While not quite The French Laundry Cookbook, Crossroads is nevertheless on the very gourmet side of vegan.  And I can attest that the recipes are pretty good.


Toaster oven features - convection/rotisserie

Toaster ovens are awesome.  For a toaster oven,  there are three key features:

Big enough to fit the largest item you'll cook.
Convection, so food cooks quickly and evenly.
Enameled or stainless/aluminum interior.  This lets you use harsh abrasives to keep it clean.

It's a given that your oven should have bake, broil, and roast modes.

For size, you'll probably want it big enough to comfortable fit a 1/4 sheet pan, or a 9" x 12" brownie pan.  That will allow you to bake.  Much bigger and it will take up a huge amount of counter space and realistically you should use a full oven for the big stuff.  Too small and you'll have to fire up the full oven for everything, which defeats the purpose.

Convection makes a huge difference in toaster ovens; because they're so small, they are more prone to uneven heating than normal ovens, and leak heat out the front.  If you open them to move food, they'll lose most of the heat, and take a while to get back up to temperature without convection. Convection lets you cook faster and more evenly.

For cleaning and long-term use, you need to be able to scour off the burned-on crap with steel wool or other harsh abrasive.  Otherwise the oven will quickly become so unsanitary that it must be replaced, and nonstick finishes never last.  The bottom will, of course, be lined with aluminum foil for easy cleanup of drips.

Oh, and rotisserie is a useless gimmick.  I've had it on ovens, and never used it yet.  Other people may have different experiences with it, of course, but that's my $0.10.


Well, it's a vanishingly small amount of sugar lost to the CO2. Nevertheless, from first principles, I would say that the answer is definitely yes: the nutritional value of the yeast-plus-bread food complex will change as the yeast consumes the sugar. All metabolic activity comes at the cost of energy, and while the nutritional values of the other ingredients will not, from first principles, be altered merely by being consumed into a yeast cell, once inside the yeast cell, they will be broken down by metabolic activity; and in the case of sugars, the metabolic byproduct of sugar is CO2, the gas which causes bread to rise.

Thus, one rough measure of how much CO2 has been produced would be to measure the volume of dough at the beginning of yeast activation, before and after any punching-down of the dough, and then at the end. Once getting those measurements, you'd take the total increase in volume over the total baking process, assume that that volume is equivalent to the volume of pure CO2 produced inside the bread, and then calculate what number of moles of CO2 would be required to take up such a volume at the relevant temperatures measured. You'd then calculate the number of moles of sugar that needed to be fermented (not fully-metabolized) in order to produce that much CO2, and convert the moles likely first to dry weight and then to calories, and voila! You have your number, specifically (according to the below comments) 3.75g of sugar per liter of CO2.

One caveat about this measure (beyond merely its internal assumptions about CO2 volume) is that it assumes the yeasts are primarily using glucose/fructose as a power source. The reality is that the metabolism of unicellular organisms is complicated, and there may be other compounds other than these in there. However, these minor metabolic side-effects will be even smaller components of the nutritional loss than that of the sugar, negligible in scope.


Tips for cooking a whole lamb in a fire pit?

In the past when I've cooked in the ground I put rocks into the fire. Don't really know what sort of rocks, but I've been involved in sessions that use bricks.

Point is that you needs some way to "envelope" the heat around the thing you are cooking so what we did was put the rocks into the fire to heat them up.

Carefully remove the rocks before putting the lamb in and then put the hot rocks on top of the hessian covered meat before putting the dirt back on top.

Let it sit for a while and you should get a much more even result


Is there a Pyrex baking dish that can fit a packaged dry lasagna noodle?

There certainly are baking dishes that are sized to more easily fit lasagna noodles. Different brands & styles of noodles come in different sizes--so there is no one-size-fits-all baking dish.
The standard size Pyrex-brand glass baking dishes aren't specifically made for lasagna, and I'm not aware of them making a 10.5-inch size in that style (at least not in North America). I also find that the sweeping rounded corners, and sloping sides make the traditional Pyrex pan to be not great for lasagna--a personal opinion based on the fuss of trimming corners to fit, and each layer being wider/taller.
Pyrex does make this stoneware pan which is a 5-quart stoneware baking dish that measures 10.5x18.5 inches. It has the same rounded corners, but the sides are slightly straighter.
While it sometimes takes a bit of hunting to find a baking dish that is "just the right size," I've found that stoneware style baking dishes are often a bit more varied in size, and while you might not find a Big Name Brand pan in exactly the right size, I found a no-name stoneware pan with straight sides & sharper corners, which I find to be perfect for lasagna.
You might find hunting for stoneware pans in your preferred dimensions (and whatever other requirements are important to you!) will be easier to find the one that is right for you, rather than looking specifically for a Pyrex or glass pan.


Can I use a saucepan to cook non-liquid things, like making omelets?

Yes you can.

BUT.

Saucepans have high walls and will make handling something like an omelet more difficult; spatulas will have a hard time getting under the omelet.

The small surface area compared to a frying pan will not make it perfect if wanting to sautée vegetables (for example); if you put too many ingredients in the pan, then it will steam instead of browning.


The culinary impact of proteases are to tenderize meat and that, if uncooked, they will prevent gelatin from setting.

I have not heard of, and was unable to find, any recipe using avocados for meat tenderization.
I was easily able to find many recipes that use fresh avocado with gelatin.

Therefore, I don't believe avocados contain any proteases that are of culinary concern.


Without any details on the recipe, it is hard to offer any firm recommendations. That said, I have had success using a convection oven on 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit), and checking for doneness with a bamboo skewer.


Are there different qualities in prepared Hoisin sauces?

Think of it like barbecue sauce or chili powder: every company has their own recipe, and it's always hard to know the precise justification for a specific price. The high price on one may be part of their premium brand image, and have nothing to do with the quality of the ingredients. Ultimately, you just have to try a few brands and decide which flavor appeals to you, and whether you find the price reasonable.

  If so, would I be better served by making my own?

As far as I can tell, hoisin sauce does not need to be fermented, so it's going to be much easier to make authentic hoisin sauce at home than something like soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce. It's more like making your own barbecue sauce.

A few different websites have minor variations on this recipe: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/420/Hoisin_Sauce12082.shtml

Is it worth the effort? That's a matter of personal opinion. It's probably hard to justify on purely economic terms; do you really use more than a few cents worth of hoisin sauce in any given meal, and are the ingredients that much cheaper than the product itself? But of course, there are other reasons to cook than just to save money. I think you've just inspired me to try making my own hoisin sauce :)

  If I make my own, how long will it keep for?

Each of those ingredients can last months on its own, often without any refrigeration, and together would create a highly acidic and antimicrobial environment. The worst that might happen to homemade hoisin sauce in several months of refrigerated storage is it might separate a bit and have to be remixed.


Why are most juices sold for the same price?

In retail stores everything is "priced" to what the targeted consumer will pay. There is little relevance to production cost to final price

The cost of most food goods is not for "growing", but the energy for fertilisers, tractors,  picking, processing, storage, shipping etc. Your finally price is mostly the cost of energy used (directly or indirectly)

For fruit juice you are paying mostly for picking (fuel), processing (electricity for water pumping and cleaning, electricity to running machines), storage (electricity), and shipping (fuel)

Cranberry juice is significantly more expensive to grow and pick, so this does show as a different price

e.g. Apple Juice. Concentrate purchased at US$1,500 to US$2,000 per ton. Reconstituted 1:5 to 1:7. So one litre of apple juice costs US$0.21 at best case. Yet you buy it for US$2+ per litre!


How can I make fine powder from leafy herbs?

Mill them.
When you dry them very well ( so when you think they are dry put them in oven for 20 minutes at around 40 Celsius).

Then use mortar. This is it exact use in kitchen, to turn moist things into paste and dry things into powder.
If you don't have one use poor man hand mill.
Put leaf on large cutting board and then use smaller one on top. Move it in circular motion with little to no pressure.


What is my pizza cutter's handle made from, and how do I stop it from staining everything it touches?

Mystery solved!  At Catija's prompting, I managed to dig up the cutter on the website of the shop I bought it from, the Chef's Hat in Melbourne, Australia:

CUTTER PIZZA W/ALUM HANDLE 95MM S/ST ($6.60)

So turns out the handle is aluminum (aluminium), which can be discolored black if the alloy is not dishwasher-safe, which this clearly wasn't.  Time to ask a new question about what, if anything, I can do to fix it!


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

There are a variety of theories about what the most important factors are to control the sourness of a sourdough bread.  Many times you will find conflicting evidence from different sources.

General Considerations

Some starters are naturally more sour.  Some organisms produce more tart flavors, while others produce buttery notes. Some combinations of yeast and bacteria work together and push the process toward acid production, while others compete for resources (Article 3, page 21-22) yielding less acid.
Fermentation time counts.  Anything you do to increase the amount of time it takes to complete bulk fermentation will likely increase sourness.  Usually this is done by using a small amount of starter.  You can also increase sourness by degassing the dough and letting it rise again.
Flour type matters.  The ash content of the flour contributes to buffering the acidity and extending the flavors of the end product.  Higher ash content flours allow the microorganisms to keep working longer.  In general, ash content is directly related to extraction rate. Also, some starters "like" certain flours better than others, this is especially true for whole wheat, rye, or other specialty grain flours.
Fermentation temperature is tricky.  I have read many sources that go on and on about temperature and sourdough.  Some claim a lower temperature increases sourness, others claim that it decreases sourness.  I tend to find that proofing in my fridge increases sourness somewhat, but also makes rising take an incredibly long time.  According to some sources (page 22), many of the bacteria in sourdough thrive at temperatures between 85-105˚F, while the yeasts thrive at 75-80˚F. Strict control of temperatures within one of these "optimal" ranges can alter the mix of organic molecules produced by a given culture, but most home bakers do not have the equipment needed to maintain such specific temperature tolerances throughout bulk fermentation.

Articles

Squeeze more sour from your sourdough
How to develop sour flavor in sourdough
Sourdough: a tool for the improved flavour

Tip

No matter whether you want it more sour or less sour, always start with an active culture.  The microorganism milieu of your culture is dynamic.  If you try to start a loaf with a starter that is only semi-awake your results will be unpredictable and unlikely to be replicable.


Getting rid of a commercial/plastic taste in icing?

The ingredients they post are:

1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon Wilton Flavor (vanilla, almond or butter)
7-8 teaspoons milk or water
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon Meringue Powder
pinch of salt (optional)

I would make the following suggestions based on these ingredients:

It's not really butter cream icing if you're using vegetable shortening.  You'll get far superior flavour by using butter.  Pure butter may have trouble holding its shape, but you should have no trouble at all switching to a half-and-half mixture.  This ratio won't change the colour much either.
I've never personally cared for the Wilton flavourings and suspect that is a major part of the problem here.  If you're using the vanilla, it's not real vanilla, it's imitation vanilla extract; pure vanilla extract is dark brown and would colour the icing.  Their almond flavour also seems to taste nothing like normal almond extract, and the butter flavour is thoroughly pointless (just use butter!).

You can use real vanilla extract, but it will definitely darken the icing.  You can try to compensate with an icing whitener, but those things are intended for slightly-off-white icings and probably won't get you all the way to white.  Alternatively, you can use pure almond extract instead of the imitation; it is actually clear to begin with.

Or, better yet, you can just change your brand.  Lorann makes a bunch of concentrated flavouring oils that might taste less fake.  If you go to any baking supply store you'll probably see other brands as well.  Try a few until you find one that you like.
You don't say whether you're using milk or water, but use whole milk or even cream if you can; don't miss an opportunity to lay on the fat (and therefore flavour).
Finally, a lot of people (me, for example) find the taste of meringue powder to be disgusting.  You don't need it, and the vast majority of buttercream icing recipes don't contain it.

If you really want a meringue-based buttercream, as opposed to a simple buttercream without any egg products at all, then just go for broke and make it from an Italian meringue; whip some egg whites to soft peaks, then whip boiling sugar syrup into the eggs until the mixture stiffens, and afterward incorporate the butter and other flavourings.

I know, they're going to tell you that it won't be stiff enough.  But stabilizing a meringue is dead easy; just bloom some gelatin in the cold liquid (water/milk/cream) before you incorporate it1.  The more gelatin, the stiffer it will get.  Don't overdo it because if you add too much gelatin, you won't even be able to get it out of the bag (this has happened to me). A 1% ratio should be plenty.

Making a great-tasting decorating icing is easy.  Stiffness isn't usually the problem, colour is.  If you want brilliant white icing then you have to make certain tradeoffs.  If you're willing to settle for a cream colour (or slightly whiter, with a whitener) then you've got nothing to worry about.

1. If you're not starting with a hot meringue, then be sure to heat the liquid with bloomed gelatin to dissolve before adding it to the icing!


Can microwave with convection replace an actual oven?

You need to ask yourself what are you going to use more.

If you truly will never use the oven except for occasional baking, then go for the conventional/microwave combo, but if you are like me and use the microwave mostly as a tool to warm something or reheat something in quick order, then go for a proper oven instead, even if it's only a half size single rack oven.

I am not a big fan of microwaves. I use ours occasionally to soften butter or reheat left overs quickly and don't want to bother pulling out the skillet to do so, but those are both rather uncommon for me. I almost always heat up a skillet to reheat food under normal circumstances. I never actually cook in a microwave so take those as caveats to my answer.


Why do microwave ovens make bread rubbery?

It is simply that the microwave heats primarily the water molecules, causing the bread to steam. A normal oven heats all of the molecules of the bread, and by the time the water is heavily steaming you will have pulled it out of the oven.


What is the traditional accompaniment for Duck Confit?

In southwest of France, we serve confit with "pommes sarladaises", which are more or less fries cooked in duck fat in a pan. There is also garlic and parsley.

You can use confit in "cassoulet" as well. This is something like chili con carne with white beans instead of red ones, onion, carrot, tomato, garlic (and many other secrets which change from home to home).

EDIT: A variant of "pommes de terre sarladaises" includes mushrooms, in particular "cèpes" (Boletus edulis) together with potatoes.


If you're trying to salvage it, I think about all you can do is heat it until it's well melted and let it settle, stirring gently now and then. Hopefully the air bubbles will eventually all come out. I suspect it won't be perfect, and may take a while.

And in the future, just don't use a mixer. Everything should melt and meld just fine with gentle heat and stirring.


Can I still use my oven, even if it has melted aluminum foil stuck to the bottom?

I doubt you have melted aluminum foil at the bottom of your oven.  The melting temperature of aluminum foil is 660 degrees Celsius (1,220 degrees Fahrenheit) at standard pressure.  It is possible that you have a layer of grease between some foil and your oven bottom.  This combination will likely char and burn.  I would clean your oven well, and use as normal.


You can store fresh truffles in a kitchen towel and close it in a glass jar. Here (http://www.truffle-shop.com/storing-truffles) I even read that you can store the truffle with rice or eggs. The perfume will penetrate the egg shell and later you can eat truffle scrambled eggs without putting truffles on :-)


What is this attachment for on this veg peeler?

Anything you want to make thin strips of. Green beans, carrots, something small enough to fit in there. You drag it through and it is split into thin slices.

This is an "action shot" from a slightly more specialized version available on Amazon.


What is the best way to clean an electric fryer?

Restaurant supply stores carry degreaser, which will remove the brown baked on oil.  However, that oil isn't hurting your cooking at all.  It is the same thing that forms on cast iron skillets, but it isn't objectionable because you don't notice the color against the black of the cast iron.  If it works I'd continue to use it.

If you are thinking of changing, you might want to consider the cast iron Dutch Oven route.  They hold their heat better than consumer deep fryers and a Dutch oven can do more than just deep fry.  And they are easier to clean.


What "actually" tastes (and cooks) like chicken?

The problem is, the mass produced chicken  most of us are used to doesn't taste like chicken.

The expression 'tastes like chicken' is therefore used for most anything that's not particularly assertive.

There was an episode of Food Detectives, "Tastes Like Chicken" where they served a few different meats to professional chefs (Alex Guarnaschelli and Aarón Sanchez), who had problems identifying all of the meats they were being served ... I can't remember exactly what all of the results were, and I can't find a transcript; I remember Alex being distraught when she realized she was eating guinea pig).

And the cooking show Ham on the Street had a regular segment of 'name that meat', where he'd have hot dogs, or jerky, and try to have people guess what they were.

...

Part of the issue with substitution is going to be something that has similar cooking characteristics, but that you don't have a reaction to.  (I'm actually surprised that you're allergic to chicken, but then listed other poultry)

Turkey's likely the closest of the stuff you listed, particularly if it's the mass produced stuff, it's going to have a similar lack of flavor that most chickens sold in the US has; duck tends to be richer.  I haven't had any game birds recently, so can't comment on the pheasant.  Alligator I've only had a few times, and the only time in the last decade it was deep fried, so the meat didn't come through.

...

For substitutions, it'd depend on how you're cooking it, and what part of the bird.

For instance, in place of chicken wings, I might consider frog legs.  (although, it's probably been 25 years since I've had 'em, but I seem to recall them being chicken-like ... I just can't remember if they were like white or dark meat chicken) ... but they'd be closer in mass than turkey wings.

For chicken breasts, I'd go with turkey breast cutlets, so they're closer in size.  For ground chicken meat, ground turkey will work, just check to see if a recipe calls for a leaner or fattier mix, and get the appropriate turkey.  Chicken thighs and legs are a little more strongly flavored ... rabbit might actually work, or duck or pigeon if you have a source.


Chicken bones have a tendency to 'splinter' when 'mashed' (as in chewed upon), which is why you never give chicken bones to a dog. This applies equally to humans, if we gnaw on a chicken bone it is more like to create a harmful splinter that may find itself lodged in any number of places in your digestive system.

That said, as has been commented above, extracting the flavorful marrow and those 'last little bits' from the carcass can be achieved by making stock. If you are wanting to reduce the waste, I would then recommend drying and grinding the remaining bones to provide calcium into your compost.

[Edit] Interesting comments from @JohnEye & @Molot prompted a bit of research.
Here is an article from WebMD that supports my original statement.

Is Eating Chicken Bones Bad For Our Health

Other articles suggest that some people do this, but I would still conclude that it is not safe to do so, though apparently it can be done.


Can various fats be used as a strict substitute for pastry dough?

Apart from flavour, the two main issues you might encounter when substituting margarine for butter are:

Different fat content. There are margarines explicitly produced and marketed as low-fat options. For baking, you do not want these. As butter usually/always (depending on your location) has a fat content of 80%, you want to substitute an ingredient with a similar makeup.
Different kinds of fat. Margarine is made with vegetable oils, which contain less saturated fats than butter does. As a rule, saturated fats are more solid than unsaturated fats at the same temperature, which might lead to more 'melting' when substituting margarine for butter. However, margarine contains stabilisers making it more or less behave like butter; it is hard to predict how these will behave when baking, though.

You will probably be fine substituting full-fat margarine for butter, but if you want to err on the side of caution, my advice would be to look for a recipe that uses margarine.


You need fresh, creamy raw milk to start with. Pour it into a wide, shallow pan and leave overnight for the cream to separate out.

When ready, heat the milk, very, very gently for about an hour. It should never come anywhere near boiling. Leave overnight again, then you can just scoop the cream off the top.


"Place pan in a large pan; add 1 inch of hot water to larger pan." -- Why?

Couldn't I just use a lower temperature setting?

No, you can't. Ovens are very bad at keeping a constant temperature. Not only is the oven thermostat usually off, it also cycles around its mean temperature a lot. So your food is subjected to constantly changing temperature.

If you were to set your oven to 100C, you 1) won't get really 100C, and 2) won't get the crust to brown, as the temperature is too low. Instead, you can use the water bath described. In combination with a temperature setting higher than 100C, it will keep the bottom portion of the cheesecake at a constant temperature, and will allow the surface to bake well.

You will see water bath (i.e. bain marie) recommendations for many types of baked goods, including custards. But when it comes to a cheesecake, it has a second function. At each temperature, there is an equilibrium moisture in the oven air. As long as the equilibrium has not been reached, moisture evaporates at a high rate from every moist surface (your baking good). When this happens to a cheesecake, its top cracks. But when you have an open water surface, it is sufficient to saturate the air, and no (or very little) evaporation happens on the cake surface. You end up with a smooth cheesecake.


Sourdough dough collapsed, not rising again... Need help!

This sounds very much like overproofed bread. You should have baked it much sooner, or retarded it in the fridge, not left it on the counter.

You cannot "rescue" overproofed bread in the sense that the loaf will never have good texture. If you really want to save the ingredients, you can reuse them as a preferment in a new bread. But it is not necessarily worth it, since the overproofing process creates very sharp off-flavors.


My cocoa powder won't mix with melted butter

As others have noted, cocoa powder doesn't "dissolve"; it just becomes an emulsion in the carrier. Changing the water/fat content of the carrier could certainly change whether the cocoa particles stick together or spread out, changing whether they emulsify.


Can alcohol extraction be used to draw more of the spice flavors out in chai tea concentrate?

Your flavors can be grouped in water soluble and oil soluble. Alcohol now is a mixture - some oil soluble flavors are also soluble in alcohol. These are phenylpropanoids, like Coumarin or all flavors that are themselves based on alcohol, like Hexanol. Alcohol is not a better extractor for flavors, just one with shared properties of water and oil, without covering the whole range!

Now we get to the core of your question:

Those flavors, that are dissolved in alcohol/oil, are much more stable in alcohol/oil than in water. What you smell during brewing are actually oil soluble flavors that went: "I'd rather dissolve in air than water." When you use boiling water, you are losing flavor that could have been extracted with alcohol.

In order to pull most flavors out of the ingredients, you should therefore first extract most flavors with alcohol and then use boiling water. Also, there is no reason to not use fat/oil, too. While milk is unstable, fat itself is very, very stable. If you ever get one of those Asian cup noodles, you will notice that there is a small packet with fat inside together with dried spices. The fat is not there to increase the nutritional value, but contains the oil soluble flavors.


Why don't I have to season my cast-iron teapot?

You can season the exterior of the kettle to help prevent rust, if you like.

The interior of a cast iron tea kettle is often rust-proofed through chemicals that accrue during normal use. One of these is lime scale. Repeatedly boiling water, especially hard water, will build a coating of lime scale that will keep rust at bay.

Another set of chemicals that help reduce the occurrence of rust are tannins. The tannic acid in tea leaves will react with red iron rust on the kettle to produce a more stable, blue-black compound called ferric tannate. To "season" a brand new tea kettle you can save used tea leaves and bags then place several in the pot and adding boiling water. Allow the "tea" to sit for 20 minutes then discard and rinse.

As other answers state, a traditional fat-polymer seasoning of the interior is unnecessary because you do not need to prevent food from sticking to the kettle.


If your rolls came out too dark, you probably baked them too hot and/or too long.
Note that the recipe states 180°C to 200°C and some ovens run hotter than others. (A separate oven thermometer is a good investment in general, even more so if you see something like that occasionally.) So as a first step, reduce the oven temperature a bit and watch the time.
The steam (because that’s what’s created by pouring water into the oven) helps the rolls rise better by delaying the crust formation and can create the coveted sheen: Condensation on the comparatively cool dough leaves a thin layer of water that binds to the starch and gelatinizes to a glossy layer. A similar effect can be created by misting the rolls with water before baking. A bowl of water will not create a similar amount of steam.


Does waiting for bread to rise before baking change its nutrient composition?

No difference in nutritional properties. It is just the difference between bread and hardtack. The "fermentation" isn't to make ethanol, but rather to release carbon dioxide in the bread which creates "air" bubbles making the product soft.


Why does some bacon contain whey powder?

Whey powder is often used in processed meats for bulking and binding.  In the case of whole muscles, they are often injected with a brine (an ingredient of which is whey protein) to "enhance moisture and tenderness", as the document states.  I could also imagine it as a binding agent in turkey "bacon", where ground turkey is formed and sliced.


What kind of vegetable has pink and white concentric rings?

That is a chioggia beet, I believe, but watermelon radish is also colored similarly.


Impatience is very hard to reconcile with baking bread (or any other fermentation process, for that matter).

If it works, it still won't be a good choice. Yeast doesn't like sudden temperature shifts, the gentler the change, the better. So, the warm room will yield the most flavorful bread, and have the least chance of failure. Putting the dough somewhere slightly warmer than the room (in front of a radiator, or on top of a running dishwasher, for example) still works, although the fermentation might go a tiny bit off. You might or might not notice a difference in taste.

But the microwave is terrible at heating, and this will affect your dough a lot. Even if the yeast does not die (before reading Elendil's answer, I'd have thought this the more probable outcome), it will go through an unpleasant shock, changing its metabolism and producing who knows what - thiols and ammonia are two things that are typical in yeast colonies under stress. The microwave also heats in a very uneven way, so you will end up with unequally heated biga, another problem. And, if you are not slow and careful enough, you might give it just a bit too much juice - and there is no way to notice it when it is too much - and vaporise the cytoplasm out of your poor yeast cells, leading to dead dough and no rise in the oven, so total failure.

Frankly, using a cold biga might be the better solution when compared to the fussiness, unreliability and quality loss from microwave heating. Or just make a standard bread without biga.


Is Black/Cloud Ear Fungus toxic? Ought I shun it?

Cloud Ear Fungus is not poisonous, and is eaten by millions of people every day (mostly in China).  It is part of a whole family of "jelly fungus" which are almost all edible, and none of which are fatally toxic.
The article you linked cites two children who died of a bacterial infection due to black fungus which was soaked at room temperature for more than 2 days.  The article warns not to soak foods for too long.
You eat that black fungus dish every week?  Is this a medicinal regimen or something?


How much water to use when cooking pasta in an Instant Pot

You're correct, the water ratios may be slightly different between different types of noodles. In general, you're covering the noodles so that they will actually have a chance to soak up the water though, as with a pressure cooker, you don't have a chance to stir the noodles and ensure equal saturation.

When making pasta in the instant pot, you'll also need to keep in mind the layering effect of your ingredients. Tomato based sauces are prone to burns, so you want to keep them on the top of the pot. Put your noodles on the bottom, and if you feel that it's taking an excessive amount of water to cover them, you can leave the last 1/2 inch or so exposed, so long as you cover it with your tomato sauce, or some other liquid.


Thick noodle soup minus cornstarch/cornflour?

Cook the noodles using as little water as possible and use that water for your soup, or cook them directly in the soup, so that you get all the starch from them.

If that's not thick enough, the only other thing on your list that can really help is the onion and tomato: if you grind them smooth they'll at least add some substance to the soup. You could take it a step further by cooking them down to get rid of excess water and get a thicker paste.


What is the quickest way to defrost a vegetable curry without a microwave?

Extract it from the container (run the container under the hot tap to loosen up the edges if necessary) and put it in a saucepan.

Add a little bit of liquid (water, juice from canned tomatoes, milk... whatever would go with the particular curry you have) just to cover the bottom of the saucepan so it isn't getting heated dry.

Put it on the stove on a medium heat.

Use a sharp, serrated knife to saw the "frozen lump" into smaller bits, being careful if you have a non-stick saucepan not to scratch the pan surface (you can saw half way through and then prise the halves apart carefully instead of sawing right through the lump).

Keep stirring and turning the lumps over so all sides are getting heated. As the lumps start to loosen up, keep sawing them up into halves.

Within 10-15 minutes all the lumps will be gone and you can make sure it's thoroughly heated through before serving.


What are the two unnamed parts that came with new Char-Broil gas grill?

I just bought the same grill earlier this week. The second item is a match holder as moscafj mentioned. The first is used when assembling the bottom of the cabinet: the two pins slot into a pair of holes on each wheel mount, which locks the wheel in place allowing you to screw the wheel in. After the wheel is in, you remove the pin to allow it to freely rotate.


Garlic in pickling recipes is just for flavor.  It does not effect the chemistry of the pickle--either for vinegar pickling, or fermentation pickling (other than adding more vegetable mass to be pickled).

(This part of my little quest to close old questions with no answers, and no other substantive answer has been offered in the week since the question was asked.)


How to mix large amounts of sponge for bread?

Our local large bakery has mixers that have a tiltable bowl: mix, lift the bowl (with a kind of crane), dump the content out - wherever it's supposed to go. But we are talking about five to ten times the amount you asked about.

For 10kg in total, you don't need a mixer. Roll up your sleeves, wash your hand and give the poolish a good mix with your hands in a large tub. I have kneaded similar amounts of bread dough (60-70% hydration) by hand and know others who have done the same. Your 100% hydration poolish will be even easier to handle. Then scrape off what sticks to your hands and let rest as usual.

Note that a poolish doesn't need dilligent kneading, gluten development happens during the long fermenting phase, not during kneading. So if the poolish is somewhat "shaggy", it's ok.


The problem with black tea is that after a few minutes of brewing, the leaves release very bitter substances. There are 2 general ways to deal with this:

Short brewing time: remove the tea leaves or bag after about 3 - 4 minutes.
Saturation: if the tea water is saturated with non-bitter substances at 3 minutes of brewing time, it cannot take up much of the bitter stuff. Traditional turkish tea is brewed like that as well, so I suppose it should also work in a samovar.

The concentrated tea is an integral part of the system. You should not add any water to the svarka pot after initially brewing the tea or you give the bitter substances a chance to solve into the tea.

The tea brand is important, too. I'd propose to try an Earl Grey or another tea with a light taste. Ask a tea shop for advice, if you have one nearby.

The ratio of 1:10 sound about right. Most people have to get used to the idea that barely covering the bottom of the cup is enough.

Putting the diluted tea into the big kettle is a very bad idea and probably won't solve your problem. Every green and black tea will get more bitter over time, no matter how it was brewed. I think keeping the concentrate for a whole day is simply too long. 3 - 4 hours is the longest I would keep brewed black tea. You could make smaller portions to use up the concentrate in time.

Experiment with different brands and different amounts of tea, always keeping in mind that you're making a concentrate to keep the bitterness out of the tea. A splash of milk can neutralize a little of the bitterness, but the milk has to be very cold for it to work. If all else fails, brew peppermint tea instead ;)


The jury is still out (as far as I know) whether diced, raw potato in the water used to boil something like this will help draw out salt, but it's worth a shot. It won't help a lot, but it might help a little. You can then use the potato in another application.

Be sure not to salt the water you're boiling them in, and change the water if it gets salty.

Your best bet is to serve the pasteles with a sauce. Acid, a bit of sugar, and heat (as in peppers or cayenne) will all lower the sense you will get of the salt. Be sure not to salt (or at least seriously undersalt) the sauce!


No, this should work.

But you need to get that precise point between too hard and too soft to cut. And during cooking the fruit will soften from the outside inwards: You might find yourself handling the fruit during cooking, so either you have to touch hot fruit or interrupt the cooking, let cool, peel, cook again....

If you are aiming for quince puree, just rub off the fuzz, cook the fruit and then push it through a food mill or sieve. You'll need a pretty large pot though, if you want to cook whole fruits vs. smaller pieces.

On the other hand, if you have a reasonable sharp and heavy chef's knife and a sharp paring knife, I suggest you try cutting a raw quince first. You might find it less difficult than it's often said.


What should I look for in a cooking class?

It really depends on what you are looking for in a cooking class.  I can give you some thoughts from my own personal experiences, but I am sure there are many factors that you must consider, so you will get a variety of answers.

I am assuming you are talking about recreational (that is the industry term, as opposed to professional) classes; I don't claim to have good advise for choosing professional programs to become a line cook or patisserie on a career path to being a chef or pastry chef.

Facilities

The cooking school should tell where their class is taught.  A local community class in a high school home-ec room or in a community center will usually offer basic facilities (although I imagine some will stun you...)

Commercial cooking schools or businesses should have photos of their classroom for you to peruse, and will usually brag about the equipment they offer (such as Viking stoves...)

Look at the pictures, and ask if the environment will be comfortable for you.

Level

How advanced is the class?  If you already know how to temper your own chocolate, and own three dipping forks, you don't want to take a basic workshop in chocolate.  On the other hand, if you have never made a biscuit, you might not want to take an advanced pasty course where croissants and puff pastry the order of the day.

Choose a class that is at the level you desire--the course guide should make this very clear.

Cleanup

Find out if the school has interns, or other staff who do the cleanup.   Commercial schools tend to--otherwise, you might expect to be helped police and do dishes, especially in a community program like one hosted at a community center.  You should be comfortable with the expectation.

Curriculum or Menu

Good cooking classes list exactly what dishes or items will be taught in the class in their class guide or curriculum.  They should also specify the lessons learned or techniques applied.  Often there is a theme, like "Valentines Dinner for Two" or "Pastry Intensive"  Select classes that teach the techniques you want, and dishes you like.

Duration

Is it a one evening class, where you are in and out, and little is at risk, or a week long adventure where if you don't enjoy the format or the instructor, you have lost a week's tuition and a week's enjoyment.  I once didn't come back from lunch on the 2nd day of a five day course because I didn't like the instructor's style.

For longer classes, you might ask for guarantees of a partial refund if the instructor or style or presentation is not to your liking, before signing up.

For day long and longer classes, find out if lunches or other relevant meals are provided (at commercial schools, they often are, either cooked as part of your curriculum, or done by staff or interns for your enjoyment), or whether you bring your own.  Often there is not enough time to go out for lunch.

Presentation and Participation

There are several main ways cooking classes are taught; you want to be sure the style is one that you enjoy.

Presentation only -- the instructor prepares dishes at the front of the room, and the students watch.  Kind of like a cooking show on TV, but live and in person, so you can smell (and maybe taste afterwards), and ask questions.
Each person (or group) prepares some -- the class is broken up into groups or individuals, each of whom prepare one or more dishes from the menu.  You might not get to do the dish you wanted from the curriculum, but you will get hands-on for something.  Usually, the groups will share afterwards, so you get to taste everything.
Every person (or group) prepares everything -- you will get to prepare everything listed in the curriculum, and usually eat it.

Choose a format you are comfortable with, especially if you want to be sure you get to try a specific dish hands-on.

Pacing

When you evaluate the curriculum or menu, the manner of presentation, and the overall duration of the course, you should have some idea of how fast it goes.

Make sure you are comfortable with the pace.  If you like a slow and pleasant pace, you don't want to be a in class where folks are expected to knock out their dishes fast--although those are often more the advanced classes at commercial schools.

Ingredients

Find out whether you bring your own ingredients, or they are supplied.  (Most commercial cooking schools supply them, but community programs may not.)

Cost

Cost counts.  Need I say more?

General

Talk to the folks at the school's customer service line (if they have one) if you have questions.  Take a short class at the school to evaluate the facilities and their general style before splurging on a longer or more expensive class.

And bring your patience.  By the nature of the beast, you often sit through things you know, or repetitions, or have to wait through lectures and demos before the hands-on portion.

If you can, bring a friend to share the experience, gossip with, and generally have a good time, should you be so disposed.

Bon chance.


Removing turmeric colour from mortar and pestle

Turmeric is an intense stain. I would use a little bit of bleach, let it sit until the stain disappears, then wash the mortar very thoroughly. Another option is just to accept that the mortar may develop colors over time, and think of it as character.


A bucket of salty water is the best way to get rid of bugs. That said, I've never had a problem with bugs in store-bought cauliflower.

You need to completely submerge the head in water, so a bucket that can fit the whole head is best. Add about 2 Tbsp salt per quart warm water to get it nice and salty. Submerge the head, florets down (they float, so a weight to keep it submerged will help). Let sit 5-10 minutes, remove, rinse, and eat as you please.

The salt in the water helps to kill the bugs and encourage them to let go. It also might kill some surface contamination if it exists, but this isn't really the point. You should see bugs either floating or at the bottom when you remove the cauliflower.

If you don't need the head whole when cooking, core and cut into desired size prior to soaking.


Which cooking apparatus is best to make Croque Monsieur?

The device is called a "panini press" and they're available fairly small.  I've seen ones which aren't much larger than a toaster.