As mentioned in comments, masking tape is an excellent solution. It's cheap, it holds well yet comes off easily, it can be torn off at whatever length you need, and you can write on it with just about anything.

Both at home and working at restaurants, I've used masking tape and permanent marker for labeling items for storage in the pantry, fridge, and freezer for years. Just about its only disadvantage is that it's not aesthetically pleasing, but presumably you're not usually showing off your collection of frozen meals. It can also sometimes leave behind traces of adhesive after being stored for a long time, but that's easily scrubbed off by hand.

A couple extra tips:

The regular beige stuff is fine; there are blue "painting tape" varieties that claim better adhesion and easier removal, but they're not worth the extra money. Plus, if you're writing in black marker, beige offers better contrast.
Labeling is easier if you tear a strip off the roll before you write on it. I don't usually have problems with the marker bleeding through, but you probably want to write on a non-decorative surface in case of stray marks.
Where possible, stick your labels on lids (if you'll be reheating in the same container) and pull them off at room temperature. Excessive heat or cold seems to increase the chance of residual adhesive, and you probably don't want even a mild, temporary glue cooking in your oven or microwave.


I'm using steel cut oats flour to make bread and muffins but the insides are mushy and wet

This recipe is way too low in gluten, or even gluten free. You need wheat flour (or flour of other very closely related species such as spelt) to get a batter which can rise and bake normally. Any flour which does not contain gluten is not capable of trapping the bubbles created by the baking powder, and the moisture of the batter cannot escape the dough through the solid, bubbleless batter. The mashed banana and jam made it worse.

The best thing to do would be to add pure gluten in proportions common to AP flour (9 g gluten to 91 g oat flour). You will get normal batter.

If you don't want to do that, you can try to engineer a gluten free recipe using xanthan gum or other thickeners capable of producing a gloopy texture. The engineering process will take anywhere up to a dozen tests to get the texture right, and you will need to work with precision (normal scale to weigh all ingredients, small-amounts scale for the xanthan intself). Most home cooks prefer to use an existing recipe instead of going through this.


There's no reason why you can't freeze it. Just try and expel as much air as possible from whatever container you're storing it in for maximum longevity.


To quote from your own source:

  It’s best to plan ahead for slow, safe thawing in the refrigerator. After defrosting bacon by this method, it will be safe in the refrigerator for 7 days before cooking. If you decide not to use the bacon during this time, you can safely refreeze it without cooking it first.

And, further up:

  It’s not important if a date expires after freezing bacon because all foods stay safe while frozen.

Let's look at what happens when you freeze food:

Due to the low temperatures, the growth of all1 molds, bacteria and other "nasties" is stopped or at least slowed down to an extremely slow rate. So from the perspective of your food, time is suspended while frozen. (Quality issues left aside, we are talking food safety here.)

So the clock starts ticking again once you defrost your food and can be stopped when re-freezing. Taking into account that your bacon was supposed to be good until the end of the month and freezing doesn't shorten that time, you should be fine at least until the original best-by-date.

In theory you could calculate

new date = thawing date + days left when freezing

But that's based on estimated bacterial growth, not taking possible quality issues into account - and we shouldn't always go to the limit, should we?.

1 "all" as in "all typical pathogens". Of course there are bacteria that thrive on ice, but those are not relevant here.


Eat My Brains has listed under trivia for the movie:

  Specially designed packets of 'Hog Lumps' were designed for the film by Edgar's brother, Oscar.

I don't think they're real, although there have been some claims online that there is a real product out there that markets itself as 'Hog Lumps' :

  They're real. Mr Porky's Hog Lumps and they're awful. Blech.


I would strongly doubt that the bubbles themselves would have any mechanical effect on flavor.  However, seltzer or soda water has a acidic pH, usually between tomato and orange juice. This could account for any tenderizing action. The addition of salts to some seltzers might also account for apparent changes in flavor.


How can I make a last-minute birthday cake without using artificial flavor or color?

The options are very wide. You are not telling us what kind of cake you have in mind, so I'll be making a few assumptions here. But once you start thinking outside the box that equals "birthday cake" with "cake with different colours of icing", a whole world of options opens up.

Birthday cakes need not be (multi-)coloured.
A one-tone cake that plays with texture can be very elegant, from luscious glossy chocolate ganache to swirls of light and fluffy frosting. You don't even need great piping skills (although it's a neat thing to master some day), heaping on the frosting and texturing into big fluffy "clouds" either with a spoon or a knife can be very beautiful and even my 7yo can produce very impressive results.
Find edible decorations for that pop of colour.
A bright red strawberry or raspberry on a white frosting, a few sprigs of mint or chopped pistachios for a touch of green. Some lemon or orange zest, perhaps. Even some jam or a fruit compote will do, put on top or served as a sauce on the side. Or go for a nature walk and find edible flowers.

Choose non-edible decorations.
Birthday candles aren't edible, so you can add more non-edible elements. Little flags on toothpicks or even a small garland held up by two or three large skewers come to mind. Perhaps spell out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD" on bunting? Print a photo of your dad and mount it on a skewer or two? I have in the past even used toy figurines as cake topper. As long as everything that actually touches the cake is food safe, you needn't worry. You can use some parchment or plastic wrap to create a barrier under a topper, if necessary. The flags in the picture below are made from origami paper, masking tape is very handy, too, because it needs no extra glue.


Is there a way to make this bread recipe's crust less crunchy?

I make the same Challah bread recipe every year, and mine says to bake at 350°f for 35 min and the crust is chewy but not crunchy or crisp.  I've never had it under baked either.


Storing potato water: how long can it be refrigerated?

Yes, shelf life would be similar to homemade stock. It has the same potential for cross-contamination, and natural contamination (with a slightly reduced chance for contaminates from ingredients, as there is no meat).

Be sure to cool and refrigerate quickly (cool pot in a sink of ice + cold water). If left to sit out, warm + starchy water is a great breeding ground for un-fun microbial life.


Can I dissolve mint in water and drink it?

No, mint won't dissolve in water (leaves are mostly cellulose), but it does make excellent tea.
Boiling water, steep 5-6 minutes.
For best results, I recommending purchasing whole leaf mint intended for use as a tea. That way you can experiment and determine which kind of mint you feel makes the best tea (or make your own blend, I like spearmint tea with a single peppermint leaf thrown in).


Pizza dough with a mixture of strong and plain flour turned out surprisingly well. Lucky? Better with lower gluten?

As you probably know, various flours contain varying amounts of protein.  When water is added, and the proteins are hydrated, gliadin and glutenin combine to form gluten.  Gluten provides the structure and allows for stretch and rise. That is why a rest period after mixing is important.  You might find this informative. The folks at Serious Eats took a look at various flours and their impact on pizza crust. While flours with different percentages of protein all work, the end result is somewhat different, and mostly boils down to preference.  I make a lot of pizza. I usually mix and let rest for 24 hours before portioning, waiting a couple of more hours, then stretching and preparing the pizza. A long rest and a light touch are important to maintain a workable dough.  I mainly use Caputo type 00 flour, but have also used AP flour and combinations of flours.  In my experience "stretchiness" has more to do with hydration, time for the dough to relax, and a light touch.  Type of flour impacts flavor, rise, and texture.


cooking pastry for bottom of pie using cold filling

There are two techniques (that I know of) that will help you. I often use both...

A thin layer of fat on the inside (the "top of the bottom") will prevent the water from the filling from soaking into the crust and allow the crust to 'cook through'. I use butter but shortening, lard or cooking oil will do.
Par baking with pie weights will allow the crust to begin cook
before the filling is added.

I don't know if this helps with 'cooking properly' or not, but I use vodka to replace half of the water to mix the dough. This inhibits the production of gluten and makes a 'flakier' crust. (based on a tip from Alton Brown specifically for apple pie, but it works all around...)


How can I best bake cookies from cold dough?

Bake it all and freeze some cookies.

Cookies freeze great.  And you can let them sit out overnight to thaw without worries.


How to slice bread thinly so it won't crumble?

What I've always found works for me is to skip the bread knife and use a very sharp, smooth knife instead - chef's knife or similar - and slice the bread gently so the sharpness of the knife cuts it, rather than relying on the force or pressure from the hand that can encourage crumbling.  It also helps a great deal to use a knife that's long enough, so that the slicing is a smooth, continuous motion and the tip of the blade doesn't pass through the bread - this can snag, and encourage tearing or crumbling.

I've cut slices with an edge a half a centimeter wide with this technique.  Any thinner than that and the corner of the crust may crumble or tear off entirely, usually at the bottom corner where the crust gets stiffer again and prefers to tear right off rather than cut.  Though to be fair I'm usually quite poor at judging crookedness of a cut and so the other edge tends to be a bit thicker.  If you can already cut straight slices, this may not apply to you.

The serrations on a bread knife tear the bread up more - you can get smooth cuts, but at the loss of all the bread under the knife (the knife's width) being processed into crumbs.  That kind of knife works better for really sturdy, crusty loaves where the extra crumbs are worth it to get through the thicker crust cleanly - and usually thicker slices are preferred to better enjoy the crustiness.  A smooth knife is better for cutting thin slices, especially if the bread is soft - though it also works reasonably well on bread that's dense or crumbly.

So what you do is, if the crust is stiff (or just because it makes a cleaner cut), use the tip of the knife to break the uppermost part of the crust (jab it in and saw sideways) to make a notched line in it where you want to cut the bread.  It should be deep and wide enough so that the edge of the knife will be through the crust when laid in the break sideways, as for cutting.  The crust is smooth and tough, and especially if the crust is smooth enough to slip, the crumb can squash down before it cuts the first width of the crust - undesirable, and more likely to crumble.  But once it's broken, the knife can cut sideways through the thin crust much easier.

Once the upper crust is broken lay the knife in the break, and gently, gently, start moving the knife back and forth.  You are using a sawing motion and cutting with the sharpness of the blade, not the downward force of your hand.  And once you reach the bottom crust, you will need to use a lot of pressure or force to cut through it cleanly, or it will remain attached at the edge and may tear - or else angle the loaf up a bit to slice though that crust diagonally.  Crust takes direct pressure against the flat of the crust well and bends before it breaks, but sideways pressure against the thin edge of the crust, poorly - that is why the top and bottom are particularly troublesome to cut.

You can, once the cut gets a little deeper, gently start pulling the slice away from the loaf, to give better access to the area being cut and reduce friction to the area already cut.  Obviously, this trick - opening the angle of the cut - works better and/or can be done sooner to a bread with a more flexible crust, since a stiffer crust or crumb may crack a bit under the sideways pull unless it is quite gentle or the cut is already quite deep.

It sounds very fussy, and the first few times it may take some concentration, but it is honestly easier done than said.  Stab the crust to break it, and after that use little downward force with smooth even cuts to make sure the bread is sliced with sharpness rather than torn with pressure.  You will still gets some crumbs, but it should be a lesser, more manageable amount.


The German „Mittelscharfer Senf“ ist pretty wimpy compared to the average English mustard that looks deceptively similar.
You need something that packs more punch, if you can’t get proper English mustard (the Coleman’s in the other answer is occasionally available in German stores), a Dijon mustard (Maille is a commonly seen brand) will do, or a „Scharfer Senf“ (strong/sharp mustard) of a German brand.


How to interpret "an ounce of ground coffee"

It's a weight.

It'd say fluid ounces if it meant fluid ounces, and fluid ounces are pretty much only used for liquid or liquid-ish things. Your package doesn't, and it's a solid, so seems pretty clear. Sometimes people are lazy about this in casual speech when it's clear it's a liquid, e.g. they'll say "a 20-ounce soda bottle", but even then the package will say fluid ounces, and in any case this isn't a liquid.

A kitchen scale is the best measurement method, and they're not that expensive and are useful for other things too. If you don't have one, I guess you could try to rig up a balance, and either use an existing 2.15 oz sachet or try to measure that much of something with a known density (e.g. water) by volume, but it's not going to be all that accurate. Measuring by volume is going to be hard for ground coffee, because the way it's ground affects the density a lot.


What should I substitute for dried anchovies and kelp in a stock

Some ingredients more effectively transfer flavor to stock in dried form than in fresh or pickled form. Mushrooms, kelp, fish and shellfish are examples of those types of ingredients.

You won't find an exact substitute for them, but they do keep for a long time, so it doesn't hurt to keep them on hand.

However, Japanese and Korean cuisine have many variations of stock starting from various combinations of dried ingredients. Although obviously Japanese and Korean taste preferences are quite different, it may be instructive to look at similar ingredients used in similar ways to see if you can adapt to what's available in your region.

Dried shiitake are used in some Japanese soup stocks, but years ago I noticed the similarity of aroma between smoked, dried katsuo (skipjack tuna) and dried porcini mushrooms, which may be more available to you in Norway. I was rather surprised to find that it was a rather compelling substitute for katsuo. There is some overlap between that and dried anchovies, though it won't be as close of a match.

Dried anchovies and dried sardines are as iconic as a source of flavor in Korean dishes as dried katsuo or dried sardines are in Japanese ones, so you won't get an exact result by substituting, but you may find a compelling enough alternative.

You may find locally dried fish that would help produce an effective stock. Stockfish, or dried cod, may be a reasonable local substitute in Norway. I would expect its flavor not to be as distinctive as dried anchovies, though.

However, you should do your best to find dried kelp, because the only reasonable substitute for that is MSG, which is purified to the point that the natural aromas of kelp are lost, so the flavor won't be as nice. It was quite reasonably priced, though, even when I was a starving student in Germany, even though it took a bit of effort to track down.

An inadequate but passable substitute for kelp may be a touch of MSG and simmered green cabbage. Cabbage is one of the few vegetables that old rural Japanese preparations didn't necessarily expect to be prepared in a soup stock, because it does a nice job of creating its own when simmered gently.


You should be fine. In fact, there is advice on preserving fresh herbs by freezing them in ice cube trays filled with oil - I tried it once, and enjoyed the results. So I'm pretty sure the flavored oil will also keep well. Maybe not as perfect as on the first day, but still plenty of aroma.


Can I substitute a 10 oz bag of large marshmallows for the same weight equivalent in miniature mallows?

Culinarily speaking, large marshmallows are identical ounce-for-ounce to miniature marshmallows, so for the purpose of an ingredient substitution, this should not cause you a problem. But there are a few things to consider:

Miniature marshmallows are obviously smaller… so if your recipe calls for using them whole, you may have to decide if the larger versions are appropriate for your recipe.

Miniature marshmallows are also easier to melt, so if you are adding larger pieces to a hot mixture, you may have to take extra care they are melting completely. And if you are melting them over heat, be sure the extra time required does not cause them to burn.

And just for the sake of completeness, marshmallows are also coated in corn starch to prevent them from sticking to one another. Since miniature marshmallows have a bit more surface area, you may end up with just a bit less cornstarch in your mixture. But it seems highly unlikely this will make a difference in your final product.


What is the cranberries/sugar ratio used in the American cranberry sauce?

For 12 ounces of cranberries, use about 1 cup of sugar. You may like to use part brown sugar. Lemon juice, orange juice, or zest of either are welcome additions. There is no absolutely standard American version; like anything else, every cook has their own variation.


What is the rise / fall / feed cycle of a sourdough starter?

For sure this method will work, but it can be risky starting with grapes as you're introducing more than just airborne wild yeasts. With so many bacteria strains active in a new starter, it very well might rise and fall multiple times, but an established starter will have one rise and fall cycle every 12-24 hours unrefrigerated, and then will need feeding.


What's the point of the first action in double-acting baking powder?

The first "action" is when it gets wet. This is the traditional baking soda + vinegar fizzing. The second rise in double-acting baking powder is when it gets hot.

In a baked item, such as a cake, this reaction to mosture helps create rise immediately, before the cake starts to change structure, solidify, and form a crust. This enables the center to begin to rise immediately. Without this initial rise, the outside of the cake could have already started to form a crust before the inside is heated enough to rise. This would result in "trapping" the center--either causing a denser unrisen center, or breaking/cracking the crust as it rises and escapes the crust.


Throw it away, it's not worth risking health issues over such a cheap staple. While the flour was originally dry, the pork juice introduced moisture into it, providing a much better breeding ground for bacteria.

Your concern should not be (just) the bacteria, but also the much hardier toxins that they produce--those could easily give you food poisoning, and normal cooking times and temperatures are very unlikely to adequately destroy them.


Stop marzipan drying out during storage (eg. on Battenberg)

Chill it in the fridge for an hour or two (aids slicing) before you open it, then slice it all immediately.
Wrap each slice separately & freeze.
I'm not sure I'd want to eat 2-week-old sponge cake whether it was wrapped in marzipan or not, kept anywhere except a freezer. This type of product is only shelf-stable until it's opened, after that its life-span is short.


This is actually quite a good question, and I think one you can only answer it properly if you have actually tried it yourself, so it would be nice if you can post your findings in a months time :-).

Here is my take on this, and also some considerations:

I would actually try to vacuum pack it rather than using an airtight container. There are always some air in an airtight container which can spoil food.

Also, I would rather make enough for a week, a month is quite a long time to store something like this. I believe it will last for a month if properly vacuum sealed and stored correctly, and if it does not get openend regulary. The only concern would be if it will keep its spicyness for so long. Vacuum sealed or not, frozen or not, food still breaks down at a certain rate. You can't stop it, but you can slow the rate of deterioration down.

Another issue that I see here is that it would also become another hassle of continueing opening and re-sealing your stock. This might and will most probably lead to that by the end of week 2 or 3 that your wasabi has lost its spicyness or even have spoiled to some degree. My advice would be to split your paste in say maybe 4 portions, a portion per week, and sealing them separately. You can even decide to split them up into smaller portions. I really do think that the key here will be to not open, seal, re-open and resealing your stock.


What flavors complement pistachio (pudding specifically)?

I have used orange as an excellent flavor pairing with pistachio in cakes, biscottis, panna-cottas, custards, etc. I always add the zest of orange and a few drops of orange essence.

I've also tried cardamom and saffron with pistachios specially in Indian desserts and it is a very popular pairing in India. Just use a few strands of saffron and powdered cardamom seeds in a bit of warm milk before mixing in the rest of the ingredients for color, aroma and flavor.


Is there such a thing as a single malt vodka?

I think you (and your friend) are confusing two similar terms.

"Single Malt" - the making of spirit from a single type of grain by a produced by a single distiller (for whisky, that's malted barley in the UK and malted rye in the US)
"Single Barrel/Cask" - the process of bottling each aged cask of liquor separately without mixing the casks together first.

"Blended" refers not to blending of the various casks from one batch together, but instead to blending together whiskys distilled by multiple distilleries or blending single malt with grain whisky. From the Wikipedia article on single malt:

To be called a single malt whisky in Scotland, a bottle may only contain whisky distilled from malted barley and produced at a single distillery. The regulations of other countries may allow malted rye.
If the bottle is the product of malt whiskies produced at more than one distillery, the whisky is called a blended malt or vatted malt, or pure malt. If a single malt is mixed with grain whisky, the result is a blended whisky. Single malts can be bottled by the distillery that produced them or by an independent bottler.

So, in the case of "single malt vodka", that apparently means

“So what is meant by single malt vodka?” Elena queried.
“Most often, single malt vodka is 100% malted barley as the only ingredient.”

If you look at brands of vodka that call themselves this, this seems correct. Valt,  Franciacorta Single Malt Vodka, East Coast Single Malt Vodka, and several others list the sole ingredient as "malted barley". Whether it's aged or not seems to depend on the maker.


can Tilapia replace salmon in recipes and taste good?

It depends on the recipe.

As Jefromi said, salmon does have a different flavor. Specifically it has flavor. Tilapia doesn't really have much flavor at all.

More importantly, salmon has about three times as much fat as tilapia. Salmon holds together better than more fragile white fish. This makes grilling salmon much easier than other fish which fall apart.

If your recipe highlights the flavor of the fish, or relies on the fat or cohesion of salmon then you should not make the substitution.

On the other hand if your recipe calls for baking in a pan and uses other flavorings, such as lemon, that can overpower the flavor of the fish, it would be a good candidate for substitution.


How are you supposed to eat ribbon candy?

The ribbon candy that I've had (and made) is an inch wide but only maybe 1/4 inch thick. It is very easy to break off just half a bend that fits in the mouth. There might be some errant shards but not full-scale shattering.

The appeal of ribbon candy over other hard candy is the appearance. Even when it is meant to be eaten it is made to be looked at first. I find it conceivable, if a bit unfortunate, that your ribbon candy was not intended to be consumed.

Another possibility is that it might be old. Hard candy can be still somewhat pliable when it is fresh. Depending on the climate, candy can dry and become more brittle over time.


They go into soup.  Or pot pies.  Or any of the other myriad industrially produced canned or frozen foods which require chicken stock or chicken flavoring and sometimes canned chicken meat.

The millions of cans of Campbell's have to come from somewhere :-)

For smaller home chicken farmers, they probably end up in the stock pot.  If you know people who keep backyard flocks, they may be willing to sell you their culls for a very reasonable price.


Water spinach, like other delta-grown crops, is host to a variety of parasites that can infect humans.  You should wash it in several changes of water; additionally some of my cookbooks (such as Asian Greens) recommend splitting the hollow stems to make sure they are clean on the inside.  Some sources recommend soaking it in salt water as well.

After that, it makes sense to blanch or steam water spinach for a couple of reasons; it kills any remaining parasites, and when frying raw water spinach without blanching, the stems tend not to cook all the way through.


Eucalyptus is technically poisonous, but it depends on amount.

Concentrated Eucalyptus Oil, like an essential oil, should always be kept out of reach of children and have a childproof cap, for example (http://www.poisons.co.nz/fact.php?f=27). It is a dangerous and confusing point because, like clove oil which is also poisonous in sufficient amounts, it is used in various remedies in small amounts. Of course, when you have a concentrated oil, "sufficient amounts" is relatively small. Putting a leaf in some tea is quite different.

There are a number of places on the web selling Eucalyptus tea and giving recipes, but the general recommendation is not to drink too much or make it too strong. The general recommended amount is 1/2 tsp dried leaves or one torn up fresh leaf per cup of water, and 1-3 cups per day.

This responsible looking website notes some safety issues: http://www.eucalyptusoil.com/safety

This website gives more details of the chemicals found in Eucalyptus, and tells you how to make a tea. It also gives a list of medical conditions which indicate you shouldn't drink Eucalyptus tea. http://www.livestrong.com/article/523149-what-is-eucalyptus-tea-good-for/

Another website also contraindicates eucalyptus for use with some drugs - 5-Fluorouracil, Pentobarbital, Amphetamine (I can't provide source because not enough reputation to post the extra link)

Note: Many things that are contained in various herbal remedies and so on contain active ingredients that can ... have all sorts of effects. So everyone should research them themselves or check with a Natural Health Practitioner or doctor first before taking them with medications, or giving them to small children, pregnant women, asthmatics or any high-risk health group.


Simmer it a while first. Red wine mellows a lot with cooking. A beef base like Better Than Bouillon can add more beef flavor without diluting the stew.

You might find that the stew is better the next day. So I would simmer it for an hour or so today, refrigerate it overnight, and then consider beef broth or base tomorrow.

Since you are going to simmer the soup, consider adding diced potatoes to deal with the "saltiness".

As long as you keep it at a simmer, you won't kill the barley or beef. Don't let it hard boil.


Can I use a cheeseboard as a cutting board?

You certainly can use a "cheese board" or other single-slab piece of suitable wood as a chopping board.

What you might want to consider is that there is a reason why even expensive, good-quality chopping boards are made from multiple pieces instead of one big slab:
Wood can warp and / or develop cracks if exposed to changes in humidity or when drying out. Using multiple pieces glued together in alternating directions counters that effect to some degree. This does not mean that your one-piece idea won't work, but that you should take good care of the board and avoid long exposure to water (don't soak it) or dry heat. Keep it well-oiled, clean and towel dry it immediately after use and leave it in a well-ventilated area between uses.


Can I freeze beef bones and use them to make a broth later on?

Yes, you can.  The advantage, as you point out, is that you can collect the bones until you have enough to make a flavorful stock.  They freeze well, but will last even longer (avoiding freezer burn) if you can remove as much air as possible from the package.  I often do with with chicken bones, necks, and skin until I accumulate a decent amount for a stock.


How can I achieve a good socarrat with paella cooked in the oven?

Putting the pan on the burner will deliver too much heat in too little time - aka a burnt layer.

You want constant heat from the bottom during the whole cooking time. In an oven, your pizza stone is an excellent start, supplying a thermal mass. I recommend increasing the heat from the bottom compared to the heat from the top, even if this could slightly increase the total cooking time:
Set your oven to "bottom heat" and / or put the pan on the lowest rack possible. A sheet of foil can also shield the pan from top heat.


When I boil cereals (rice, quinoa, etc.) to freeze, shall I drain water first?

There shouldn't be extra water in your grains. If they are cooked properly and there is extra water you're using too much. If you do have extra water, however, drain it. Maybe save it for soup since it will have good things in it that you don't want to throw down the drain.


How to prepare pie dough in bulk at home?

Keep the fats as cold as possible before you start. Done right, it will more than compensate for the warmth of hands, blender/processor parts, and ambient temperature.

Having somewhat chilled your choice of fats, separate them into small, 1 inch sized pieces, working with copious flour to keep them from sticking to one another. Place this in the freezer overnight. This allows the blade to chew up even near-frozen bits. I haven’t noticed much degradation with this method, though I wouldn’t the leave fats in for much longer than that.

Mix your dry ingredients together.

Put the thoroughly chilled fats in a blender/mixer, leaving some room. Then, using only as much dry ingredients as necessary, pulse the fats until you have pearls slightly smaller than fish gravel. This works especially good for blenders where the ingredients tend to get stuck at the bottom. If you get the chance, stow the blended stuff in the freezer while you work with the next batch.

Once you have completed the blending en masse, you can add the rest of the dry ingredients. You should have a uniform texture to the whole mixture. Add water until the dough comes together with limited kneading. Wrap and return to fridge as soon as possible.


How can I stop chocolate chips sinking to the bottom when I make cakes?

Coat the chocolate chips in flour (whichever type of flour goes into your cake).  Put a few ounces or two of flour and the chocolate chips into a zip-top bag, close tightly and shake.  The coated chips will then adhere and tend to "float" in the batter.  Subtract the amount flour used to coat the chips from the flour otherwise used in the recipe.

You could do this with cocoa powder instead of flour.


How to Remove Burned-on Grease from Stove

I'd try dish soap first with a scrubby sponge. Then, a cleaner like Formula 409 with a scrubby sponge if that doesn't work -- this usually works with a bit of elbow grease/a few tries.

And if that doesn't work, you can always go nuclear with something Easy Off Oven Cleaner (This is inconsistent with the manufacturer instructions, so I would not recommend it even though I've done it before and it worked).


Tiny beads/flecks of uncooked dough all through my bread

I think the real answer is this: cutting into the loaf too soon is the problem. When it's straight out of the oven it's still very moist and soft inside. A bread knife hooks tiny bits of the bread and squishes them together into beads because it's still very moist and malleable until it's had a chance to cool properly. Once it's cooled, the bread knife will saw through it properly, but until then, it doesn't have enough strength in the texture to properly separate while being cut. On top of that, during the cooling, it's still finishing cooking a bit on the inside, and the cooling allows that process to complete properly.

Edit: I verified this yesterday when I cooked two loaves of bread together. The first loaf I cut into almost immediately after removing it from the oven and encountered the exact problem I described in the original question. Later on after it had cooled I cut further into the bread and there were no beads of dough. In addition, the other loaf, which I gave to someone else and so was able to cool before being cut, was also devoid of doughy beads.

Also, it may have helped that these two loaves were the first two that I forced myself to stop being afraid of stickiness in the dough, and which I improved my kneading to stop squashing the dough so much (it's not a pancake!) and instead tended toward rolling and massaging it, with some lift-and-slap thrown in due to the stickiness. The stickiness eventually lessened, especially as I added a little more flour over time, and the texture of the final dough ball was fine.


Why are home canning jars made of glass and not metal?

Metal may be lighter and sturdier, but glass is nicely non-reactive and easily cleaned for re-use. It's also easier to see what it looks like inside without breaking the seal, to see if there is something that doesn't look right. It's a lot easier to do safely in home environments.

I'm not sure if the difference in the thermal properties of the metal ring vs the glass lip are important in water bath canning (e.g., the ring expanding more than the glass).


How to make Coconut/Chili Sauce (based on Photos)

UPDATE:

OK, I made my version of the sauce twice, I learned a little bit from my first attempt, so I'm going to walk you through my second. Although the ingredients in the stir-fry are vastly different (I had some left over chicken and I have a thing for frozen peas), I think the ingredients and technique I'm demonstrating here will work fine for you as far as copying the sauce. In the technique, I borrowed heavily from the traditions of other cultures, but the ingredients are all Vietnamese staples.

Weapons of Destruction

Notice what you don't see here? There is no soy sauce here. The Vietnamese do not use a lot of what westerners think of as soy sauce.

From Wiki:

  In Vietnam, Chinese-style soy sauce is called xì dầu (derived from the Cantonese name 豉油) or nước tương. The term "soy sauce" could also imply other condiments and soy bean paste with thick consistency known as tương. Both are used mostly as a seasoning or dipping sauce for a number of dishes. Vietnamese cuisine itself favors fish sauce in cooking but nước tương has a clear presence in vegetarian cooking.

Fish Sauce

This is a very highly regarded brand of Vietnamese style fish sauce (nuoc mam). Even though it is made in Hong Kong, it is authentically Vietnamese and easily found in the US. It's commonly referred to as Three Crabs. It is the preferred brand of one of my favorite food bloggers, the one who taught me everything I know about Vietnamese cuisine, so I'll take her advice and I do very much like the sauce.

Coconut Milk

I highly recommend this brand. It won the America's Test Kitchen tasting of coconut milk, and it separates readily. That will become important later. Whatever brand you choose be sure that it contains no added emulsifiers, and that it is a full-fat (not light) version.

Chili Sauce

These are all the same brand. They're made in the US in the Vietnamese way; the founder of the company got his start in Vietnam selling hot sauces. This brand is ubiquitous in the US. The sriracha can be added at the end if you think the sauce still needs more punch. The chili sauce and the Sambal Oelek are identical products except that the Sambal Oelek does not contain garlic, the chili sauce does. So choose one or the other. I used Sambal Oelek simply because I have a lot of garlic that needs to be used.

The Broth

The broth in the lower right is just low sodium chicken broth I kept at the ready in case I felt that the sauce needed to be thinned. I didn't use it, but I did mix it with the sauce I had left over to make a soup for another day.

The other broth is a flavor bomb! This particular one has a chicken broth base. If you're making the recipe with shrimp, making the broth is a good way to use use the shells. You could also add some clam juice or even bonito flakes (yes, wrong culture) to amp up the seafood flavor.  A key to the success of this sauce is that this broth should be very potent, and deliciously addictive on it's own. I started with 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth (use seafood broth if making it with shrimp), threw in the bones from the leftover chicken I used, a golf ball sized piece of ginger (roughly chopped), the zest of an entire lemon, a couple of cloves of garlic, and a healthy shot of fish sauce. If I had been able to get lemongrass and/or kaffir lime leaf, this is where I would have used them (and I would have skipped the lemon zest). I reduced the broth down to half the original volume, and strained.

Even though I used ginger, fish sauce and garlic later in the recipe, I used them here too because these ingredients are all subtly different after long cooking. It's a fancy-pants flavor layering thing.

The Stir-Fry

Whatever floats your boat will work here; get the ingredients just to your preferred level of doneness. Since mushrooms are such flavor sponges I sauteed some garlic and ginger before I started them, and stir fried them with little slices of red jalapeno (that's the red in the picture). Since I prefer mushrooms fairly well-done, I sauteed for a while before I added onions. The onions went for a while, then the zucchini and leftover chicken only briefly. I only added the thawed peas after taking the pan off the heat. The whole thing will be just heated through in the sauce when it's done.

The Seasonings

Minced Garlic
Ginger (it's micro-planed, so it looks like less than it is, plus there is a lot of ginger in the broth)
Dark Brown Sugar
Cilantro (this is just how I keep cilantro in my fridge, I make an all-purpose condiment when I bring it home fresh.
Missing I wish I could have gotten my hands on some Thai Basil. I would have chiffonaded 3 or 4 leaves and added them with the cilantro.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Cracking the Cream

This is actually a technique seen often in Thai curries. I don't know if it's seen often in Vietnamese cuisine, but it makes for a thicker sauce which I know you want.

Hopefully you've allowed your coconut milk to stand undisturbed in the can for at least several days, it contains no emulsifiers, and it is a full-fat (not light) variety.  If so, when you open the can, the top portion of the milk should be significantly thicker than the bottom. It's very much like how dairy milk separates if it hasn't been homogenized. Like dairy milk, the fat rises to the top. That's what we're taking advantage of here.

Scoop out the thick "cream" (the top third or so of the can) and put it in your skillet, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until you start to see the oil separate out. That's pure coconut oil. It may take several minutes for the oil to separate out. If it just looks like it isn't going to happen, add a teaspoon of neutral oil (or better yet, coconut oil) to the pan and pretend that it worked.

Saute your garlic, ginger, and chile paste or Sambal Oelek in that oil.

That's half the jar of Sambal Oelek, BTW. This is not for the weak of heart.

Reduce, Thicken and Simmer

In goes the brown sugar.

Cook it down over medium heat, stirring frequently, until you're left with an almost dry, thick paste.

Add your rich broth and the rest of the can of coconut milk.

Simmer that (stirring frequently) until it is as thick as you want. Taste for fish sauce, add as much more as you care too.

Add your stir-fry and fresh herbs and heat through. Taste for seasonings, I added sriracha. Now you're ready to plate.

EDIT: It bugged me that my sauce looked chunkier and less silky than the one in your picture, so the next day I strained the leftover sauce that had a little extra broth. That required just a bit of thickening with a cornstarch slurry to be thick enough, but now it looks just right. Both versions of the sauce are equally delicious.

Here's one more shot. The picture had been briefly lost. This is my first attempt at the sauce. It was delicious, but like my second attempt, perhaps it would have benefited from a bit more broth, possibly straining (if you really don't like chunks), and a touch of cornstarch slurry. It's less red because I wasn't in such a hot and spicy mood:

Just a couple of final notes:

If you make this with shrimp, I recommend that you don't stir-fry it. Velvet it instead. Velveting is discussed here: How does velveting work? and it makes for a lovely piece of tender, flavorful shrimp, perfect for this recipe.

This shrimp has been velveted. If you treat slices of chicken breast the same way, you can see a hint of a batter. You can't see that with shrimp, but the technique still "works".

If you follow the instructions in the link provided on that question, the shrimp will end up just shy of perfectly done, so they'll be perfect after being heated in the sauce.

As a matter of fact, I would recommend velveting any meat that you might use in this sauce.

Velveting is a Chinese technique, but I won't tell anyone if you don't.

Lastly, the formed mound of rice on the side is definitely the way to plate this instead of with the stir-fry over rice. There was something very nice about getting a bite with some just pure white rice and some stir-fry with sauce.

That's it. Let me know how it goes.


After researching this, I think there are a few possibly options you could try (though I haven't personally tried any of them, they seem worth experimenting with).
Isomalt
Apparently isomalt can be used in place of sugar in most cotton candy machines - though it should be ground and sifted so it doesn't damage your machine. Isomalt may be a better starting point than sugar to get you in the direction of savoury, as it has only 50-60% of the sweetening power of sugar.
Lactisole
This is an interesting chemical that interferes with your tastebuds and inhibits sweet flavours (it blocks the TAS1R3 sweet protein receptor). Apparently adding this at a concentration of 100 parts per million will block sweet flavours. In that same link it discusses Domino's Pizza using this so they could add sugar to their pizza crust for aesthetic reasons - to encourage browning while it baked, but inhibit the sweet flavour as obviously that isn't what most people are after in a pizza.
Adding Flavour
There seems to be a few ways people do this. The easiest option seems to be flavouring the isomalt or sugar using flavour extracts or essences. A quick google search seemed to indicate that pork essences/extracts exist, so this could be an option if you're after ham. One important note I saw in a few places was if it is a liquid essence, add slowly to prevent clumping, and ensure it is completely dry before attempting to use it. If you're adding a flavour that naturally has a lot of umami flavour, you could also try adding some MSG to bring this out even further.
Another approach to flavouring the isomalt/sugar seem to be simply mixing the sugar with other ingredients and letting it infuse over an extended period of time (this seems to work with things with strong flavours, e.g. herbs, spices, coffee beans, chillies, fruits, and other whole ingredients). You could also try blending more delicate ingredients directly into the sugar directly (those approaches are described here).
Though I don't have any references to support it, I have seen some discussion of further enhancing the flavour of infused sugar by heating the infused sugar to hard crack stage (146 to 154 °C, or 295 to 309 °F), then breaking this back down into a powder. I'm not sure if this does work, or how it would work with isomalt, but another potential experiment to try.
A quick warning: All of the suggestions I've given should work in a cotton candy machine in theory. In researching this I spotted a lot of discussion of different ingredients burning/damaging machines cotton candy machines in some way, but couldn't spot a consistent pattern of what caused this damage and what didn't. You might have to take a risk if you want to experiment enough! I'd love to hear your results if you do try it.


A few that came immediately to mind:

Blueberries
Purple potatoes (sort of blue-violet)
Blue corn (readily found in the form of corn chips)
Lobsters are blueish (until cooked when they turn bright red, so nobody thinks of them as blue)
Some edible flowers

An excellent answer can be found at Skeptics.SE, complete with lots of pictures.


What is this type of hot plate and how do I use it?

I used to have an electric oven with similar hotplates and while I can't find a reference because it was such an old model I recall it was a safety cut-off. It would simply stop supplying power to the hotplate once a pot was removed, something you could easily confirm by seeing what happens if you turn on one of the hotplates without anything sitting on top.

As for the question of usage electric hotplates often don't use a thermostat, they use something commonly referred to as a "simmerstat". They simply control the duty cycle of the heating element, so in your example setting of three it would spend approximately 30% of the time on and 70% off.

I've tended to spend most of my life cooking with them and can't really think of shortcuts to learning how to use one effectively other than experimentation and getting used to them. For example I was just cooking some dried chickpeas and while I started things off at around 7/10 to bring them to the boil I later dropped that to around 2/10 and as liquid evaporated it ended up spending most of the time at 1/10 and that was still a reasonably rapid simmer for a small pot.


According to Cargo Handbook (emphasis added):

  Broccoli is not sensitive to chilling temperatures and should be stored as cold as possible without freezing. When freezing injured, thawed buds will be very dark and translucent, and can later turn brown or may serve as sites for development of bacterial decay.

Note that they are describing how to store and ship broccoli which is intended to be consumed fresh.

To freeze broccoli for preservation, it is blanched first.


Can I use tartaric acid in making Snickerdoodles?

I've never tried it, but you might try 1/2 the amount of tartaric acid based on information from Nigella Lawson :

Cream of tartar is made by combining tartaric acid with potassium hydroxide. This partially neutralizes the tartaric acid, so cream of tartar is less acidic than tartaric acid.
If the tartaric acid is used in baking or added to egg whites before whisking into meringues then it should be possible to use cream of tartar in roughly double the quantities of the tartaric acid, though we have not tested this. However we would not recommend using cream of tartar as a substitute in any other recipe.


How to counteract excessive saltiness in dried fish?

The standard way to cook salt cod for dishes where you want to really remove the saltiness, such as brandade, is to soak it (for hours) in a couple of changes of water, and then simmer it in milk for half an hour to an hour.  This might work with the mackerel.  Not sure what you'd use it for after that, though.


How do you figure out how much oil to use for pan frying?

As you suggest, there are a number of factors, but the best rule of thumb I've found for pan-frying is to use just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan by swirling it around.  In general, you don't want puddles (you'll get splashed with hot oil), but if the pan isn't covered then your food might not get cooked evenly.

These days I mostly just eyeball it, and err on the generous side.  Using slightly too much isn't likely to hurt your dish - unused oil just won't get absorbed - but using too little will result in under-cooked or inconsistently-cooked food and probably a lot of gunk stuck to the bottom of your pan.  So if you're not sure, just add a little more than you think you absolutely need.


Adding rolled-in seasonings to pita bread

I think the issue is that flatbreads are a single layer whereas pita and similar pan breads (there is an Indian version as well [paratha]) develop a pocket in between the layers (usually due to trapped steam).

For pan breads, I've noticed the amount of heat is very important.  Too much and it burns and too little and you don't get the pocket/lift.

In this case, the added wet ingredients might be preventing the steam from building up and forming a pocket.  Either by absorbing the pan heat in the area or stitching the top and bottom by sticking to both sides.

You might be able to add the extra ingredients after you've flattened the dough ball and still get a pocket (carefully making sure there is layer of clean dough between top and bottom).  Or go for reverse, take a look at this vegetable stuffed panbread which does not have any pockets but looks yummy none-the-less.

Otherwise, if you keep baking the wetness out, you might end up with a workable focaccia.  In general, adding wet ingredients to baked breads throws the formula out of balance.


Poured boiling water over pork belly and then refrigerated

Assuming the marinade itself was room temperature or cooler, I wouldn't worry about it. The cooked/heated portions of the belly will chill quickly enough.


What can you make with Dried Lemon Grass?

Personally I don't find dried lemon grass that flavorsome and much prefer fresh (usually you can get several big sticks for cheap in the Chinese / Asian supermarkets).

But I'd probably try Thai based dishes - many of their noodle soups (e.g. Tom Yum, chicken noodle soup) will have slices of fresh lemon grass in.  I'd try adding the dry stuff when you are making the stock and see how it works out.

You could also try stir fries and looking around there are several drinks prepared with it (e.g. Lemongrass vodka (at the bottom of the page) and cooling drinks here).  Though I suspect again fresh would be better


What are the differences in bleached/unbleached flour for baking?

Good Answer Hobodave....tacking onto that:

Most southern U.S. brands (White Lily, Martha White) of all-purpose flour are bleached because southerners tend to make more quick breads (biscuits, cornbread, hoecakes, pancakes, as well as cakes, pie crusts, cobblers) where tenderness is desired.  White Lily has just started producing unbleached all-purpose flour as well.

Brands from the Northeast (King Arthur) and midwest are usually unbleached because those regions tend to make more yeast breads and the additional gluten forming capability of unbleached flour produces better results.

National U.S. brands (Pillsbury/Gold Medal) often produce both types or stick with unbleached.

Cake flour is always bleached (usually chlorine gas).

More information on differences in types of flour can be found in my article titled "Flour Power"


What is the name for this technique to prepare eggs?

I'd actually call those "over medium" or "over hard", not over easy. A perfect egg over easy would have all of the egg white totally cooked and solidified, but the yolk should be almost totally runny. Over medium would be a half-solid, half-runny yolk (more or less), and over hard ("over well" works too I guess, I've never heard that but maybe one of the two is a regional term) would mean the yolk is totally cooked through and solid.


Is there a way to make pink peppercorns properly grindable in a pepper mill?

Honestly this isn't something I've thought about before, as when ever I've used pink peppercorns they've been mixed with black, green and white ones. Which I assume help's dry out the softer and wetter pink corns stopping the grinder from clogging.

Moving forward my first and main suggestion would be to treat it like any other spice, and use a pestle and mortar. Asides from definitely not clogging with this method, you will also have much greater control over how fine/coarse the result is.

Another possibility would be a spice grinder though, probably no use for small amounts.

On a side note:

Apparently pink peppercorns can affect persons who are allergic to tree nuts.

They are also deemed as a toxic by the FDA, although not at a life threatening level

https://nutgourmet.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/warning-pretty-pink-peppercorns-can-be-dangerous/


Meat juices can they be saved for recooking meat?

Absolutely! There is a lot of flavor in juices and drippings and they can be used at a later time for soups, gravies, stews, braising meats, etc. You will need to store it in the refrigerator or, for longer storage, in the freezer.


Trouble tempering Valrhona Couverture Manjari (64%) Chocolate

A couple of thoughts...

Not commenting on Valrhona specifically but 12h at 131F seems like a very long time at a very high temp. Can you temper it on its own at a lower temperature? Cooling the chocolate to 84F without contact to a cold(er) surface won't seed it well. You can also try adding rough shaved tempered chocolate in sufficient quantities during the 82F-84F state.

What is the cocoa butter content of the Van-Heusen? I don't know anything about it but if it is extremely low, you may be creating a low cocoa butter chocolate that is difficult to temper.

Take all of this with a grain of salt (please don't add any). I worked in chocolate for 10 years but haven't for the past 15 and I may be losing my mind. These are the steps I would take if it were up to me.


How can I make sweet potato fries soggy?

the reason you haven't found any recipes for soggy sweet potato fries is because of one simple fact: soggy is the default state for oven fries, unless you do something to specifically make the crispy.
So, in search of non-crispy fries, here is a list of things you could try:

Cook at a low temperature; over 400°f makes crispy fries, so closer to 350°f will prevent crisping
Don't overcook them; oven fries must first dry out before they get crispy, so to avoid that simply take out your fries as soon as they are cooked through
Don't use too much oil; oil helps fries to ... "fry" ... use only a little to prevent sticking
Steam your fries afterwards; after you take them out of the oven they will be very hot and will release steam, simply cover with tin foil ... a lid ... a pan ... anything
Try cooking them in the microwave instead of the oven

hope this helps
p.s.
sriracha mayonnaise is a great dip for sweet potato fries


The decaf process alters the grind and other properties in the coffee.

You should first try a more coarse grind.

And don't use a bladed cutting grinder, to much clogging dust, use the grinders with two spaced ceramic disks for better results. Fine tune your grind size.


What can I use instead of Sriracha if I only want to make a dish non-spicy, but similarly flavorful?

There are a lot of things you could add that would deliver a similar pepper and garlic flavor.  One thing that comes to mind is Ajvar.  It's a Serbian relish made primarily from red bell peppers, garlic, and eggplant.  I live in the US, and the local supermarket carries it in both mild and spicy versions.  Aside from being a lot milder, the flavor profile is pretty similar to sriracha sauce.

If you don't mind doing some more work, you could roast, skin, and mash some red bell peppers yourself.  Then add some garlic, a bit of something sweet (optional), and some hot pepper (also optional).


Would trying to boil blood that's been treated with an anticoagulant in an electric kettle break the kettle?

The biggest issue I could see is that kettles usually aren't designed to be cleaned easily, and it would certainly need cleaning.

I'd expect some protein residue to burn onto the element (which would then smell dreadful if left hot for long).  This may lead to overheating as in the case of milk, but it would certainly be hard to clean and taint any water boiled in it afterwards.

For pasteurising you really wouldn't want it to boil - in fact one of the links in your comments notes that blood coagulates at lower temperatures than egg so you may have a very narrow window.  If an anticoagulant was used it would have to be not inly food safe but palatable.

In general, experimenting in the kitchen is easiest if done in easily-cleaned containers that are also easy to observe.  A kettle might be convenient but a saucepan is much more likely to be recoverable afterwards.


What are the advantages of a lid on a barbeque?

The lid can do one of three things:

Keeping the lid down increases the temperature of the air in the grill. This means that in addition to cooking with the direct heat of the coals, you are also cooking with convection of the air. This won't happen with the lid up.
In a charcoal grill, the temperature the coals burn is based on the airflow through the grill. Open is as hot as it will go (assuming the bottom vent is also open). By closing the lid and altering the airflow, you can control the temperature of the grill. My grill can keep fine temperature control between 200F-700F depending on how you set the airflow.
Which leads us to smoke. It seems obvious that if you are smoking, you will impart more flavor by trapping the smoke with your food rather than letting it float in to the sky. Additionally, you want wood to smolder not burn for your best smoke production. This works better at a lower temperature (see #2).


I've had good luck using a Dino Scope for a variety of things, although I've never used it on food, nor subjected it to high temperatures. It offers up to 200x magnification, and can take images, movies, and time-lapse movies.

Some sample images can be seen here: http://kenmankoff.com/photos/v/misc/Microscope/


What is this spoon-like kitchen utensil with a rubbery head and wooden handle called?

That is usually called a rubber spatula, even though they're rarely made of rubber. The ones I find most useful are made of silicone, and are heatproof. This one by OXO is one of my favorite gadgets.

They're for stirring and for clean scraping bowls and jars and such. The heatproof ones are great for use with non-stick cookware while sauteing.


Can panettone paper molds be used for other things?

Yes, they can be used for other dishes. I've never done it myself, so I cannot elaborate.

I scanned the Amazon reviews for a panettone paper. I saw people had used them for sweet bread, muffins, some used it for cheesecake. I imagine the papers could be used for souffles and quiches.

One Amazon reviewer mentioned you may need to increase the moisture in your recipe since the paper soaks up some of the liquid.

In any use, I would pan it in a way where spillage would be contained.


How long do oven elements last under high usage?

In theory the elements could last 10's of years, there is nothing in typical electric element design that limits their life. I would expect modern oven elements to last at least ten years with daily use

They may fail prematurely due to damage (being knocked) in the oven while hot, from surface oxidation due to improper cleaning, or because of slight manufacturing faults


What is the best way to convert recipes to gluten free, and how much xanthan gum is needed?

This depends of course on what you are using for gluten-free flour, but according to Khymos' Data (PDF warning) and corroborated by my own experience, 1.5% is about the maximum concentration of xanthan you would ever use, beyond which food starts to get really slimy.

The recommended amount for flour is going to depend on exactly what kind of "gluten free flour" you are using.  For example, you'll see at least two recipes in the link above, one using equal parts soy and rice/potato/corn starch and the other using rice flour and corn starch in approximately a 3:1 ratio (with tapioca starch added for what I presume to be heat stability).

However, xanthan gum is pretty forgiving, so you can experiment a little with the quantities and not have to worry too much.  Personally, I would recommend starting with 1% as a baseline (that's approximately 1/2 tsp per cup) as well as 0.5% guar gum (1/4 tsp per cup).  Guar gum has viscosity synergy with xanthan gum and will give you much more stabilizing bang for your buck.

If that's not stable enough, add up to 50% more (keeping the xanthan:guar in a 2:1 ratio).  If it's too sticky/slimy, lower the quantity.  Most recipes I've seen use close to a 1% ratio so that should be the best starting point.


The main rationale for the "room temperature rest" for homemade mayo is to kill off potential Salmonella in eggs.  Most other ingredients in mayo recipes should not be contaminated with bacteria, so I can't imagine any benefit from the room temperature rest when using pasteurized eggs.

In fact, given that mayo will degrade faster at room temperature (in terms of flavor and quality), it would keep the mayo fresher for longer if you refrigerate immediately.


What situations are pressure cookers not appropriate

By raising pressure, you get water to boil at a much higher temperature and thus speed up most of the physical and chemical reactions involved in cooking. Elevated pressure can play a smaller role too.

With higher temperatures, you can get faster caramelisation for instance which may not be desirable in some foods, dull and/or dark colours and bitterness are two properties that come to mind (bright green pea soup gets dull for example) With lower pressure rating cookers (below 15psi or 1 bar), there is less risk of runaway browning.

Another issue is with foods that either need fairly precise cooking or are prone to get overcooked. There is no easy way to open the lid to monitor or halt cooking abruptly. Related to this is the inability to stir and a very real risk of food getting stuck and then burnt even when there is still plenty of liquid (as it just happened to me moments ago). Heat control cannot always be casual.

Whatever you put into it, should either have a high water content (70% or so) or you need to maintain a certain amount of free water for it to work. I find that often I needed to use extra water and drain it off after cooking; that may not always be desirable. Making pet food for example can be awkward as you do not really want to get rid of the free liquid which has plenty of nutrition in it. You can work around it by putting your food in an elevated container and pressure steam it although you still tend to get free liquid from condensates in the container.


Cumin is related to the Parsley Family (surprise!) and is grown in many parts of the world. Therefore, depending on soil, rainfall, climate, fertilizers and other factors are likely to create subtle differences in the final seed flavors based upon where and how it is grown.  That all being said, it's the same plant wherever it is grown.

India has traditionally been the world’s leading commercial producer of cumin with 70% of the market, followed by Syria with 15% and Turkey with 5%. With the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East Syria and Turkey combined are now only producing about 10% of the world's total. India is now producing close to 80% of the cumin output.


I agree with the people who say it depends on the recipe. I'm going to expand a little on what has already been said.

Tomatoes are acidic but slightly sweet, and of course add some red color and (depending on the juice) maybe some thickness to a sauce or broth.

Tomatoes (and their juice) can be pretty distinctive, so you shouldn't expect any substitution to come out exactly the same as the original, and depending on what you're making and whether this is a beloved family recipe you are adapting vs something you found on Pinterest that you've never had before, you may care more or less about getting to exactly that original flavor/texture/color/etc. It may go without saying, but you will want to measure the volume of your replacement liquid AFTER any adjustments have been made to it. Some recipes are pickier than others about liquid volumes.

You could start with water, vegetable broth or apple juice (or apple juice diluted with water or broth) as a base to replace your tomato juice and add some things to adjust it to make it fit what you're looking for. Using a substitute other than water will provide a new flavor basis for the recipe, using water will make other things stand out.

Another option that might need less adjustment could be commercial, prepared Polish-style borscht which is generally a broth-like beet/vegetable soup, probably available at most grocery stores that have a good International section, or a reasonable Kosher selection. You will want to check ingredients, of course, to make sure it doesn't have anything you don't want in it, and if you get a style that has vegetable pieces in it you could either strain them out or puree the whole thing.

** Adjustments **

Salt level -

A commercially pre-prepared broth (or the borscht) will probably be a lot saltier than 100% tomato juice, but maybe similar to a tomato-y juice like v8. Either way, if you start from broth, you will probably want to significantly reduce or skip any other salt called for in the recipe.

Sweetness -

Tomatoes aren't extremely sweet, but they are a little sweet. If you start from anything other than the juice, I would add a little bit of sugar -- maybe 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon per cup of liquid, but you could also probably leave it out. Many dishes with tomato may also have added sugar in them to counter the acidity. If you are starting from a juice base, skip or reduce additional sugar in the recipe.

Acidity -

A pinch of citric acid (powdered crystals are available for canning or in some spice collections) is quite neutral in flavor.
Indian grocery stores also offer amchur (powdered dried green mango) which is also pretty neutral.
Slightly less neutral would be a bit of lemon juice (maybe 1 t per cup of liquid?) or vinegar (depending on which type you choose, it can have a strong effect on flavor).
Tamarind is available from many Asian markets and has a more distinctive flavor, and will also affect (darken) the color. If you're using tamarind fruit, you can get it in a number of forms, most commonly as pressed, dried pulp (usually still with the seeds) or as paste (a black, sticky substance more like a honey texture than a paste, IMO). If you use the paste, a little goes a long way, maybe just 1/4-1/2 t to a cup of liquid. If you use the pulp, soak a small chunk of it in hot water for 10-15 minutes and press it into the water. Use the resulting tamarind broth (ok if some bits of pulp get in). Use more pulp to get a stronger flavor, less for a lighter flavor. Don't soak it in more liquid than you want to end up with.
Another option from India is kokum, which is another fruit with a distinctive flavor which will also affect the color. If you can get "wet" black kokum it is easier to use than the dry kokum (and you need less "wet" than dry to get a strong flavor), but either way, soak a chunk of it in hot water using the same method as the tamarind.

Color -

If you are going for the red color, pureed roasted red peppers are a great option. These are available in tins or jars in your Italian section of the grocery store or at import food stores, or you can make them yourselves from fresh red bell pepper (capsicum). Again, they've got a distinctive flavor (although milder than tamarind or kokum). About a tablespoon of pureed red pepper per cup of liquid is probably good. This will also thicken the liquid, and of course you can add more or less to adjust the thickness.
A little bit of beet juice will also give a red color, and after cooking it is a little closer to the orangey red you expect from tomatoes. It also has a fairly distinctive flavor if you add enough to make it really red.

Thickness -

Pureed roasted red pepper, as mentioned before, will add some thickness and a distinctive flavor.
Mashed potato will add thickness without affecting flavor much. Other cooked, mashed root vegetables like sweet potato or carrot can thicken it up some but may affect flavor, color and sweetness.
Corn or potato starch are good, neutral thickeners if what you're making will be brought to a boil.


How long to cook 500g of boneless pork leg?

I highly recommend you invest in a meat thermometer. A quality one such as a thermapen. Probe thermometers (link to review site) are a very useful tool as well.

Roasting meat is not a as much a question of time, but of temperature. You are tying to cook pork to a temperature you desire: maybe 60 C (140 F) or 70 C (160 F) depending on your desired taste and recipe. How much time that will take is a function of a number of factors, including the cooking method, oven temperature (if you are roasting), and the size and weight of the pieces being cooked (something you did specify). Having a thermometer to measure the internal temperature will tell you much more about when the meat is done than how much time you are cooking it.


Crispier pizza crust. What surface to go for in a home oven?

The pizza stone, used properly, will work far better.  The heat stored in the stone will help brown and crisp the bottom crust.

The perforated pan just allows some better air circulation into the bottom, which has little effect.  Its only true value is that it is fairly dark, and will therefore absorb the radiant heat of the oven better than a shiny pan would.

Recently, it has become apparent that the extremely high thermal capacity of a small steel slab, preheated and used as a cooking surface much akin to the pizza stone, actually performs the best, providing an effective blast of heat to the bottom crust.  Sadly, these are currently being marketed at a much higher price point than the products you mention.

See also:
The Pizza Lab:  Baking Steel, Lodge Cast Iron Pizza


Using garbanzo flour instead of canned garbanzo beans

For this specific recipe, you may be able to get away with this substitution, since what you're making is a bread, but also because it's a bread there's less room for error than in many dishes. Rather than try to substitute in this specific recipe, I'd look for another recipe for banana bread made with garbanzo bean flour - a cursory google found many - and alter sweeteners and spices as needed or desired to get closer to this one.  (Most artificial sweeteners have established, standardized subsitutions for sugar, so that's going to be an easier change than using chickpea flour in place of canned garbanzos.)


Yes, you can, but ideally you should roast them first. I would peel them as well. You could leave them otherwise whole if you wish, to give you greater versatility when you defrost them. If you roast, peel, de-seed, then freeze, you could even make a passable (not great, but passable) Chile Relleno out of the not-quite defrosted pepper. Stuff and bread them while still partially frozen and they'll be easier to work with.

Here's an article on the subject from The Kitchn.


A couple of ideas you might try: using half cilantro and half parsley, and adding some very finely minced raw onion. I also sometimes add a tablespoon or so of drained capers. Some people also add a modest amount of fresh oregano leaves for their resinous punch.


Why does oil puddle in some non-stick frying pans but not in others?

All Teflon pans are non-stick, but not all non-stick pans are Teflon ;-)

Teflon, when new, is one of the slippiest substances known to man. Nothing will adhere to it, not even oil. When new, you can have a hard time getting an even coating of oil unless you make it deep enough to fill a base layer. The oil will be more attracted to itself than to the pan.

Once you've been frying in Teflon for a few months, the surface gradually does begin to get coated in carbon, from burnt ingredients &/or oil. I don't know quite what causes this - potentially the surface getting slightly damaged or roughened by abrasion; but an older Teflon pan will more easily coat in an even layer of oil.

If it pools in patches, then the best reason I can think is that some areas are more abraded than others, or the pan base may be going out of true. Most cheap frying pans will eventually bow one way or the other over time - some forming a 'moat' round the edges as the base has bowed inwards, others a 'pond' in the middle, as it bowed outwards.
A 'quick fix' for cheap pans affected in this manner is to put it [cold & clean] on a carpeted floor & gently stand in it. It's a bit rough & ready but it's not worth fixing professionally.

From comments - The Frying Pan Ballet Company…
[credit David Hoffman + 10 mins in Photoshop by yours truly]


Warming refrigerated butter at a table in a restaurant

Ask for a heated glass!
Glasses freshly out of cleaning should be warm anyway, so chances are they have one. Putting the heated glass over your (opened) piece of butter unter the turned-over glass should have the desired effect.


A best before date does not specify how long a food item will last. It merely gives a time frame within which an optimum quality can be assumed ( as given by the manufacturer).

Food does not automatically spoil after the best before date, so use common sense.

My gut feeling with golden syrup would be that it's fine unless a change in smell, consistency, color.... can be noticed. That stuff is so high in sugar, that bacteria would really have a hard time there. At my last move, I unearthed a few forgotten bottles of elderberry blossom syrup from (I'd better not tell here), that are still perfectly fine... I tried.

But: If you are planning to serve your syrup outside your family, that is, to kids that aren't your kids, other rules concerning food safety may apply. Check with your local authorities or play it safe and get a new bottle.


The questions already asked are key:  Will it be refrigerated and would you consider half cooked to be less safe than raw for a day?

To be safe, it would need to be promptly cooled to 40F or less and kept there.  But, I would have another question for you to consider, is it fresh bacon, cured, cured and smoked or oven finished?

If cured and smoked, or oven finished, then it has already been treated in a preserving way and then cooked to typically 150 degrees, so this largely answers your question on if it is considered safe.  It has already been done.  If it is cured but not smoked, it likely has still been cooked, or half cooked if you will to the same temperature, just without smoke, but even if not logic would follow that it would be considered safe as long as you followed refrigeration standards and promptly.  Fresh bacon though I would put in a complete different ballpark and I would be very hesitant to consider doing that, or even cured if it was slab rather than typical slices.

Now, the next question though is "Is it worth it?"  What does it really gain you?  If you properly cool half done bacon, now you have to reheat it from cold to serving temperature while finishing rendering the fat and cooking it the rest of the way without over cooking it.  In my personal opinion, the end result is likely to be inferior quality though I like bacon less crispy and dried out than many people prefer.  I would much prefer it cooked freshly, but as I make my own bacon I am pretty picky on what I consider good bacon.  Note though that it really is not that uncommon, especially in fast food places and some breakfast diners, for bacon to be cooked ahead of time and then just reheated often in a microwave.  I don't like it, but many are fine with it.

All that of course is assuming you are talking about typical US belly bacon.  I would be very much against doing any of that with say a good back bacon, but it might still be safe.  Just very low quality.


As you're already using lemon (I assume the juice), and considering the tart/sour taste of citric acid would pair well with your ingredients; I would go for citric acid.

However food safety, especially when you're planning to commercially sell these products, is not something you should get direct advice from strangers on the Internet...

I wouldn't follow the guidance for the amounts and the processes mentioned here (or anywhere else). You really need professional opinion on creating shelf-stable food products. And you should be following professional food preservation techniques.


Using a mild chilli vs giving a small amount of hot chilli?

I'm guessing that you're referring to chili powder when you say a "tablespoon of chili"?

Well, regardless of whether you're talking about powdered chili, or chili paste, or fresh chili peppers, the fact is that many people use specific types of chili peppers (or powder derived from different types of chili pepper) because of other flavors beyond the basic "heat."  Some chili peppers are more "fruity" and/or "sweet," others are "dark" and complex, others are strongly "vegetal" or "grassy" etc. in flavor.  Some of very aromatic; others less so.  Similarly, chili powders can vary significantly in their sweet or roasted or smoky or whatever notes.

If you're adding a lot of some form of chili, you'll be getting some of these other flavors too.  This is perhaps an advantage of adding a larger amount of a pepper type that's less spicy: you can actually taste some other flavor components of the pepper.  If all you're adding chili powder for is heat -- and particularly if you don't really want to taste the pepper -- you probably want to go with the purest and most concentrated form of capsaicin, thereby avoiding most of the actual flavor of the pepper (or the peppers a powder is derived from).


I'd avoid the whole reheating issue altogether and simply keep the uncooked pie in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, then bake it as normal when ready. The only issue you might have is if your filling is very runny, in which case you could par-bake it a little before filling to help it 'seal'.


Can I make a sourdough boule, freeze it then thaw it and bake it?

I think the closest solution you will find to this is baking the loaves, slicing, and then freezing the slices.

This is pretty convenient. You can throw frozen bread slices directly into the toaster, defrost in the microwave, or just let them sit on the counter for a while.


What can be used safely (e.g. basalt "hot stones") to fill volume of shallow pan for deep frying?

It's a neat idea and basalt is definitely a solid at 1000°C and is only a fluid liquid at 1200°C, so it's quite safe except it takes more time to heat up basalt than oil...  So the oil you're going to save while using a large pan containing basalt is going to be offset by the extra energy you need to pump into the system.¹

On a camping site when you don't have enough oil? Yeah, go for it!
In your own kitchen? Up to you, but I would just buy a smaller pan.

Note¹: Basalt is volcanic rock and also takes more time to cool down, so be careful when you do use it; leave the pan overnight on your counter to allow the basalt to cool off...


Assuming the cod was the same quality as before and you de-salted the fish in the fridge for 24 to 48 hours, then I would also guess overcooking.  Rendering the gelatin at 45°C (as suggested in the paper @yossarian uncovered) should prevent the fish from cooking and give enough time to get it into the oil.  You can always cook the fish in a separate step after you made the pil pil.

Modern techniques for salting cod use less salt and create a product that will not be edible by future archeologists, so store in a dry cool place (tightly wrapped in the fridge).


What should I look out for when cooking with truffles?

Ok, first of all make sure you are getting French or Italian truffles, not Chinese or Oregon. Some people like the latter but they are quite a bit different. Black truffles do well cooked, while white truffles are usually only used shaved raw over a dish. When I use them, I like to use them in a situation where I will really be able to taste them. A few classic ideas are an omelette, risotto, or pasta with a cream sauce. Those all carry the flavor and aroma of truffles very well. Chop some of it very fine and put it in the dish and then slice the rest paper thin (with a mandoline if possible) over the finished food right before serving.


Strawberries that keep in the refrigerator for more than two days

Your berries may already have mold spores on their outsides. If you kill the spores before refrigerating the berries, they should last longer.
This source recommends submerging your berries in a bath of 1 cup vinegar + 3 cups water, then draining and thoroughly drying them in a salad spinner lined with paper towels. Then they recommend storing them in a wide, flat container so they can be laid in a single layer rather than crowded together and on top of each other. Line the bottom of the container with paper towels and leave the lid ajar.
If you are out out vinegar, the same source recommends a quick (30 second) dunk in a hot water bath (120°F - 140°F). Then dry and store the berries the same way.
Other sources recommend rinsing the berries with plain water after the vinegar bath to remove the vinegar smell and taste.
If you don't have a salad spinner, dry them by spreading them out in a single layer on paper towels. I use a wide pan with edges at least 2" high (a sheet cake pan works well). That way you can gently shake it, so the berries roll around on the paper towels and get dried off on all sides.


Paper towel gets completely dark after I wipe my Dutch oven

You didn't mention what your meal was, but this may help...from the Lodge Cast Iron web site:

Occasionally when your seasoning works a little too hard with acidic foods or really high heat, you may notice some dark residue on your towel when cleaning. This is perfectly safe and normal, and will go away with regular use and care.


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

I would aim for the amount of flakes that would make 2 cups of finished mash. Add 1/2 to 2/3 of it and see where you are in terms of thickness of the soup. If the soup is still thin add more.

This also depends on what potato the flakes are made from, any additives to the flakes, etc.

Usually when a recipe is not specific with an agricultural product I assume I have a lot of margin for error.  Cooking requires a lot of experimenting, but using the flakes may actually make your life quite a bit easier here as you can add as much or as little as you want "to taste."


1/4 cup of shredded basil OR 1/4 cup of basil that is then shredded?

Volume measurements of herbs are hopelessly imprecise to begin with; what you actually measure as 1/4 cup depends entirely on how tightly you pack them, how wet the leaves are, even the size/shape of your measuring cup or spoon.  When given a measurement like that, you should always treat it as a rough guideline; don't worry about being exact, it's not necessary in this recipe.

That said, what it actually means is that you should measure out the 1/4 cup and then shred them.  Another example of this type of language is when you see something like "4 tbsp of vegetable oil, divided" - that always means you measure out the 4 tbsp and then divide into two portions, not measure out two separate portions of 4 tbsp each.

So measure it first, then shred it.  If you were supposed to shred it first, it would say "1/4 cup shredded fresh basil leaves" instead.  There is an appreciable difference as to how much basil you'll end up with, but again, you've been given a very rough measurement to begin with, so treat it accordingly, and don't worry if you've got a little extra or a little less.  The most reliable way to know if you've got the right amount is to simply taste it.


How can I tell which fruits etc. contain proteases?

Enzymes which degrade proteins, called proteases, are found in many fruits. There is no simple test for it other than holding some in your mouth and seeing if it "eats" your flesh away after a few minutes

Commercial test are not practical or portable as they require maceration, heating, centrifuging and using florescent dye markers. Or just make some in gelatine and see what happens :-)

A quick list would be:

Fig - Ficin
Ginger - zingipain
Kiwi fruit - Actinidin
Papaya (Pawpaw) - Papain
Pineapple - Bromelain

Also to a lesser extent

Banana
Guava
Mango

It is in many other fruits, but at levels where they will not be a problem, of course at different levels depending on the specific fruit variety etc.


My flatbreads are still doughy inside after cooking?

Your list of ingredients doesn't contain any kind of leavening agent. A leavening agent is an ingredient that helps to incorporate air and gas bubbles into the dough of the product. Without that inclusion of air bubbles, the dough doesn't have anything to lift it and make it lighter, so it will fall and become heavy, doughy and sad.

In many traditional flatbread recipes, such as Pita or Naan, the leavening agent is yeast. However, yeast-raised breads can be incredibly time consuming. That's why In some simple recipes it is possible to use baking powder or self-raising flour (which is basically flour mixed with baking powder) in the place of yeast, but know that this will cause a large difference in flavor and texture from the more traditional yeast-raised breads

In short, you'll need to amend your recipe to include one of the basic leavening agents. Here's a couple basic recipes for you, in case you need some inspiration. c:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/easy-flatbreads/#s5UQEEaz0CUakBp9.97
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/homemade-flat-bread-recipe2.html
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peppys-Pita-Bread/Detail.aspx?evt19=1


Same answer as always:  you don't want to eat any perishable food or food for which any part has spent more than about 4 hours cumulative over its lifetime in the danger zone (40 - 140 F, 4 - 60 C).

Do you know how the pizza place treated the calzones before you even received it?  It may have been sitting on a shelf at room temperature for an hour or two at the store before you ordered it, in addition to the transport time when you took it home, and all the times as you heated and cooled it when it was in the zone.

In general to reduce the quality degradation, and the amount of time food ends up moving through the danger zone, you normally only want to heat up the portion of food you intend to eat, and leave the rest refrigerated.

See also:  https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info


That would be a good idea since you want to be sure it works properly before putting a lot of food in it.
Water bottles should be a good volume, but I would not go by ice alone to judge the temperature since it is not accurate. Use a fridge thermometer to check for appropriate temperature.
And I would do this for a few days just in case some mechanical problem occurs. A freezer alarm would be a good idea too.


How does one tell if a jalapeno is spicy?

The only way to test for capsaicin besides tasting is chemical testing, namely liquid chromatography. Problem is, the same kind of chili can be quite different in heat, even on the same bush it can be quite different from my experience. No idea why, though.

Here is one tip on how to check the heat of a chili without actually eating part of it, but still cutting it apart: Cut through the chili below the stem, touch the membranes, touch your tongues, feel the heat.
http://www.chow.com/videos/show/chow-tips/78517/how-to-test-the-heat-of-your-chiles

You can adjust the amount of heat a chili adds to the dish by removing the white membranes. Just add the colored flesh, check for heat, and add membranes until the desired spiciness is obtained. Capsaicin is only produced in the white mebranes in the center. It may move inside the fruit, though. Areas closer to the membranes will be hotter (like, the seeds), than other parts.


The trick is that you won't want it to oxidize (although, red wine needs to 'breathe' to reduce some of the tannins, which is why @DanielBingham said it might improve.)  So, if you just need to hold it for a few days, store the bottle upright (minimize surface area exposed to air), and not on the door of the fridge -- it'll get jostled and mix air into it.

They also sell gadgets that inject nitrogen or other non-oxygen gas into bottles, or things to suck out the air, etc.  But if you're not much of a wine drinker, from your earlier comments, I wouldn't bother.  (hell, I don't even know if they work).

Oh -- boxed wine will last longer -- because there's a bag inside the box, when you pour out wine, the bag deflates, so air doesn't go back in (or not much of it).  You can hold boxed wine for a week or two, maybe even longer without problem.

If you're not much of a wine drinker, and only cook with the wine -- you might want to consider freezing it -- as with everything else -- an ice cube tray, freeze, transfer to zip-top bag.  Then, when you need little for a sauce, you can just thaw out of a cube or two.  It might not be as great as "fresh" bottle of wine, but if you're cooking with it, most people won't notice the difference, and it'd still be better than a dedicated "cooking" wine.


transfer pizza onto stone without sticking

I've worked as a pizza cook, so I can give you a hard-earned answer. Cornmeal, and plenty of it. If you aren't putting cornmeal (or flour, but cornmeal works better) on the peel before you put the pizza on it, start. If you are putting it on, use more. Then put the pizza on it and give it a shake and make sure the pizza is loose before you try to shove it in the oven. If it isn't, lift up the edge that is stuck and sprinkle more cornmeal under it, then try again. The pizza should be completely free-moving on the peel before you try to transfer it to the oven.


How to create a soup with frozen chicken?

I make stock from my leftover chicken bones and vegetable scraps. I just dump them in the pot still frozen, cover with cold water, and heat until it's a bare simmer. Simmer the stock for 2-3 hours or so, or until it tastes like soup instead of water. (But be careful not to boil, since the stock can get cloudy if you let it get up to a full 100C.) I have made this with both cooked meat and uncooked.

Uncooked chicken (whether frozen or not) will give you a mildly-flavored white chicken stock. If you brown the meat first, you'll get a stronger flavor and a brown chicken stock. (See here for a discussion.) If your chicken isn't cooked, you'll want to roast it to get all the nice brown bits from the Maillard reaction, which will defrost the chicken in the process.


Can anybody help make homemade pasta foolproof?

I have found that one egg per one hundred grams of flour works very well. However, the process is important. Here is what I do:

Combine the ingredients as you would, either by hand in a bowl, or in a food processor
Knead the dough thoroughly until it comes together - NOTE: At this point, it is usually a bit on the dry side
Wrap tightly in clingfilm, and put in the fridge for ~30 minutes
Remove from the fridge, and knead again, then fold and run through a pasta machine, folding and running through repeatedly, until the dough starts to become silky
Process the dough on consecutively narrower settings on the pasta machine

I always dust the dough with flour before running it through the machine, and then again as needed, depending on whether it starts sticking to itself, the machine, or the work surface.

As for the "foolproof" part of your question: foolproof is, in my opinion, a product of confidence. Build confidence by practicing, often and repeatedly. After a while, you will likely find that you stop measuring, adding ingredients by feel and instinct, rather than measure.


In quick breads, as opposed to yeast raised breads, it gelatinized starch that creates the structure of the bread, and holds the leavening.

However, according to my research, most spelt flour (which is in fact a variety of wheat) is whole grain flour, so the bran will interfere with structure development.

My quick research indicates that spelt flour recipes requires less liquid to hydrate than standard wheat flour.  According to What's Cooking America, this is because spelt flour is more water soluble than standard wheat flour (I interpret this to mean that the starches in it are).

If you google "spelt biscuits" you will find a variety of recipes that are tuned to its characteristics, such this one from All Recipes or this one from King Arthur.


Can you grind Cheerios and use it as flour?

This would behave like a literal gluten-free flour (as in, a flour that offers no glue proteins or other binders of any kind), NOT like a complete gluten-free flour substitute.

Also, unlike some raw starchy flours that have no gluten (eg rice flour), there is not much binding action from sticky starches that can still gelatinize, since whatever starches are in that kind of processed cereal are likely completely cooked - otherwise, the cereal would become thoroughly sticky when mixed with a liquid like milk. The only binding properties you could maybe expect would be from sugar getting dissolved and recrystallized or caramellized into a firm matrix.

So, this could act as a filler or flavour/texture addition, but not as the only constituent of a dough or batter.

BTW, grinding up broken product (when it is still hygienically acceptable, obviously!) and adding it to the next batch is a practice sometimes used in commercial (factory level) cookie making.


No.  Depends upon the construction of the microwave.  I spoke to an electrical/electronics engineer with over 40 years experience and he said. NO NO NO. Replace it straight away. It could be safe, however without it being in front of him he does not know.


How do companies find out how many calories are in their food?

These days, mostly software. In the good/bad old days, by actually burning it (or having a laboratory do that for them). Software is much simpler (unless you are writing it, though it is probably more tedious than complex.)

Input ingredients and quantities, out comes calories. For a restaurant that assumes that the recipe used for calculation matches the actual recipe used.

Here is a USDA database, for instance. Tedious to use, but gives the idea.
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/nutrients/index


How to cook multiple batches in a wok without things burning

I admit that I've spent too much time in Panda Express... but you can see their kitchens from the line and how they batch their food - often switching from a main dish to fried rice (with egg) and back to a stir fry and the solution they use is to quickly rinse out the wok with warm water and scrub it lightly with a brush before dumping it and reheating the pan for the next dish.

This is easy for them since they have sinks under their woks to catch the rinse water but you can do it at home, too. This is the process recommended here

  Wok cooking is done in many small batches to keep the temperature of the wok from dropping drastically when adding a lot of cold or room temperature ingredients therefore it is  often necessary to clean the wok in between batches. Use warm water and a brush to rinse out the wok, discard the water and dry the wok over fire until it just barely starts to smoke before adding oil to cook the next batch.


Most avocado's are the Hass variety, which will go very dark when ripe

It look like you have bought a Reed or maybe Gwen variety. They are perfectly fine. Their skin colour will not significantly change as they ripen, so to check, gently squeeze near the point, and if it is soft it is ripe. If not a few days by the window at room temperature will fix it


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

Perhaps your brownies could be saved, and even improved, by the addition of a caramel layer on the top, creating a salted caramel and chocolate version. Simply  boil sugar with a small amount of water until it's a deep golden amber color, take off the heat and whisk in several tablespoons of heavy cream and several of butter. Drizzle over the top, before or after cutting into squares, and let cool completely.


I made apricot/jalapeno jam in August, and I had directions from an experienced jam maker.  She said, after it starts to jell, remove the pan from heat, let it set a minute, then thoroughly stir before putting the jam into your jars for processing. Then the fruit doesn't float to the top. It worked quite well. I used liquid pectin for that batch, too, don't know if that was a factor as well.


In a brine, I would simply toss in the whole thing, stem and leaves, for parsley. In fact, parsley stems are quite flavorful. Thyme benefits from a bit of bruising to release the aroma and flavor.  So, I would roughly strip the leaves, not worrying too much if some stem was included.


What can I use for a Crème brûlée if I don't have a blow torch?

Follow these steps and watch very carefully...

Set your oven on Broil (high) and put your rack on the top shelf.
Let the oven get nice and hot (3-7 minutes).
Fill an oven safe dish with crushed ice and water and place your dishes into the ice/water bath.
The cold bath should keep the custard from cooking, but the sugar on top will heat till it caramelizes.
It'll only take 3-4mins.