As you probably know, making Macarons is tough, especially making them at home. But it is possible as I have been able to create perfect macarons in my home kitchen, using Italian and french meringue. The Italian meringue always got me better results.

There are many reasons why your macarons don't come out like expected. First off, the meringue. It should be glossy and shiny like you say and also firm, but not too thick. When you take your whisk out of the meringue it should look like this:

The French say that when you take the whisk out of the meringue, it has to look a bit like a bird's beak, hence the way the meringue forms a soft peak slightly pointing downwards.

The consistency of the meringue mixed with the almond paste is very important. People often say it has to fall like a ribbon or like magma, but I always thought that is hard to imagine.
You can take a knife and cut through the batter. If it flows back immediately, it's ready. But let me tell you: One or two strokes too much with the spatula and the batter becomes unusable.

I always tried to make sure not to under-mix it. Then, every time making Macarons, I mixed it a tad more until I ended with an over-mixed batter one day. Since then I know how far I can go without destroying the better. Some people even count there strokes, maybe this helps you.

And one tip I can give you: The process of transferring the batter into the piping bag also 'mixes' the batter, so maybe don't go too far if you are unsure.

From my experience, making macarons with fan turned on always fails in my oven. For yours it could be different as every oven is different, but I only use top & bottom heat, 13 minutes at 150 °C in the middle of the oven.

When piping them it is really important to pipe them directly from the top (90 degree angle). Directly after piping them, I also tap against the bottom of the tray to remove any air bubbles.

You really have to experiment with the temperature and baking time. This process was really hard for me because even when the Macarons looked good from the outside, they could be hollow.

Although some sources say it's not necessary, I always wait a few minutes before baking my Macarons. When you touch them, they can be sticky but shouldn't stick to your finger. I never have tried baking them without resting.
Your first batch cracked, because the temperature was so high that the batter expanded too fast I believe.

What exactly do you mean with lopsided, do your Macarons look like this?

Or like this? (left one)

Maybe you should bake them longer at a lower temperature, you really have to experiment here, every oven is different. It took me a few weeks until I figured it out.

Also, make sure you let them rest enough.

Moisture could be a problem, but I don't think so. As long as they don't stick to your finger after resting and before baking, it always worked for me - even on rainy days.

So the thing I would try first is baking them without fan. If that fails, I would experiment with baking time and temperature.


Does marinating break down proteins the way brining does?

Brining does not technically "break down" proteins in meat. At least not the way marinating does.

Brining actually involves osmosis which carries salt and sugar inside the cell walls. This denatures the proteins causing them to unravel and interact with one another. This forms a matrix which traps moisture in the meat.

Marinating on the other hand actually does "break down" the proteins using acidity. The acid literally does consume the proteins and break down the texture of the meat. If the marinade has salt in it, then osmosis will occur as well and the marinade is also serving as a brine.

So, to answer your question: Yes, a salty marinade will brine your meat, but the protein breakdown that occurs is due to the acidity of the marinade.


I agree with many elements of the previous answers -- it could be due to the wet dough "resealing" and/or to the crust hardening too early and preventing further expansion.  Doing a more horizontal slash than a vertical one is helpful to get good "ears," and extra moisture will keep the crust softer for a little longer to get more oven spring.

Frankly, although I did it for years, I don't find the plant sprayer method to do very much -- and if you're opening the oven periodically to spray in the first few minutes, you could be losing significant heat that could actually reduce oven spring.  I concur with the steam pan method or using an enclosed pot.  Note that pots don't have to be cast iron: any enclosed pot will significantly improve your crust as long as it is oven-safe at the baking temperature.

That said, I think this particular problem is difficult to troubleshoot without observing your specific loaves and slashing technique.  Slashing deeper (whether vertically or horizontally) is definitely NOT always the answer and can actually deflate your loaves significantly if done incorrectly.  With proper hydration, shaping, and oven steaming, it's very possible for quite shallow slashes to lead to great expansion.  (As an aside, serrated knives are also about preference -- if you don't keep your straight-edge knives very sharp, serrated may be a better choice.  However, they can leave your slashes jagged on the final loaf, which may not be as pretty and may result in unevenness for shallower cuts.  I keep some of my straight-edge kitchen knives really sharp so they can be used for things like this.)

A lot of it depends on shaping and the stage of proofing your dough is in when you bake it, as well as the hydration.  If you do a very thorough shaping (i.e., preshaping, bench rest, then very tight shaping of the final loaves), the outermost skin of the loaf may be very taut.  Even a shallow slash could be enough to allow the loaves to open up significantly.  If, on the other hand, you do a very gently shaping (little or no pre-shaping, trying very hard not to deflate the dough at all), the "skin" will not have the same characteristics and deeper slashes may be necessary.  (As an example of this, you might consult the different advice given by Peter Reinhard and Jeffrey Hamelman -- the latter emphasizes detailed and tight shaping and thus advocates very shallow slashing; the former encourages gentle handling when shaping and advocates somewhat deeper cuts.)

The stage of proofing is also critical here: a loaf that is somewhat underproofed will likely have a more taut skin but will also hold its shape better even with deeper slashes.  If the loaves are somewhat overproofed, they have a better chance of deflating or at least losing height with deeper slashing.  The apparent moisture of the dough and its susceptibility to "reseal" the cut will also change depending on proofing stage.

Again, there are a lot of factors to consider.  I would pay particular attention to the behavior of the loaves right after you slash them.  Do the slashes spread significantly immediately (indicating a taut surface)?  Or do they just remain close together (and thus risk re-sealing)?  If you slash more deeply, does the loaf deflate?  And if it does so, does it seem to reinflate in the oven, or do your permanently lose height?  These observations can help troubleshoot the exact issue.  A final concern -- sometimes if the dough is likely to reseal, waiting too long between slashing and getting the loaf into the oven can be a problem.  A few seconds should not be an issue, but if you're taking a few minutes to slash and load a few loaves before getting them to the oven, that can be enough time for some cuts to close up again.


What vegetable might be called a Worchester?

Sounds like sliced water chestnuts to me, especially with the name similarity.


How to crack several types of nuts in one batch?

You really can't automate this. As you noted, each nut is cracked with a different technique and requires an individually independent amount of force.

Soaking the nuts won't accomplish anything desirable.


When canning strawberry preserves can you substitute lime juice for lemon juice?

No it won't be a problem.

For safe canning, time, temperature and sufficient acidity are the relevant variables. Neither is affected by your substitution.

Taste-wise switching from lemon to lime will change the results, but obviously that is exactly your goal. (Nice idea, that "Strawberry Margarita preserve" btw.)


Tempering chocolate is ensuring melted chocolate has a nice shine and there are a few methods to do that:

add grains of unmelted chocolate and stir (which is the seeding method you're referring to)
let it cool down while stirring
(which is the most labour-intensive method, but the easiest to do if you've never done this before)
which answers all of your questions as now you know what tempering is, how to get out of the chicken-and-egg situation, how to  very first chocolate was ever tempered etc...  :-)

As most chocolate recipes are made by professional Chocolatiers, they don't have time to perform the old tried-and-trusted granny method so they'll tend to use the seeding method...
This is what tempered chocolate should look like:

P.S. If this is the very first time you're making your own chocolates, drop this step entirely: it's just the look and feel that'll change as they will look very professional. (I never temper my chocolate as I only care about the taste and without tempering they'll look like they're "home-made")  ;-)
P.P.S. There is never any chicken-and-egg situation: if you think any of those situations through till the end you'll realise the egg was first because dinosaurs laid eggs long before there were any chickens! :-)


Grated coconut will probably be your best bet. However you will need to add a tiny bit of sugar so the taste is not thrown out of proportion.


Part one:

Yes, put oil in first then put on a low/med heat.  Generally cast iron should be heated gently,  depending on your stove it should probably take about 5 minutes to get to a good temperature.  The oil shouldnt evaporate - I've never experienced this.  As to the type of oil - I use various depending on circumstance vegetable or olive usually.

Part two:

I generally shake the pan gently - when the oil becomes more less viscous (more runny) then it is at a good temperature to start cooking.  You can also put something like a small piece of onion or bread into the oil - if it starts bubbling and generally cooking then its good to go.  Some people use a couple of drops of water to see when it spits but I dont like doing this partly due to the safety factor and also due to the fact itll splatter over the stove top.

It depends a little on what you are cooking - if you are looking to brown some meat for example you'd probably want it a little hotter than if you were just going to make vegetable soup.


Is there a difference between green and spring onions?

It's a regional preference on what they're called.

When you're buying seeds, they're also called "bunching onions", and I grew up calling them "scallions", although I think that scallion specifically don't have a bulb yet formed, while green/spring onions might.

update : A little research suggests that "spring onion" is the preferred term in the UK, AU and Canada, "green onion" in the US south, and "scallion" in the US northeast, however I'm not sure what the exact boundries are as in the US mid-atlantic, I'll see both "green onions" and "scallions" for sale, with "green onions" being larger (scallions with no bulb, maybe 12"/30cm long, while green onions might have a 2"/5cm bulb, and have over 24"/60cm of green top).  It's possible that "green onion" might be a polysemous term that varies by region.


Yes, you can, if you use a pressure cooker.  You can easily create stocks and bone broth in less than an hour. I prefer this method. I make all my stocks in a pressure cooker.  I save a lot of time, and the flavor extraction is excellent.  I ramp up the alliums, because their flavor tends to get muted in the pressure cooker.  Otherwise prepare as if you were cooking your stove the traditional way.  Then, cook at the highest setting for 20 minutes to an hour.  Let the pressure come down naturally.  Strain.


Recipe calls for Aleppo Peppers, I need the right substitution amounts for cayenne and paprika

Cindy is right, you can just make a bigger batch (particularly if you're planning to use this recipe multiple times) and measure directly out of your pre-mixed batch.  But, if you don't want to do that, you'll want to do some math.

First off, 1 tbsp = 3 tsp, so to simplify your 2 tbsp and 3/4 tsp, you've actually got 6-3/4 tsp of pepper.

Now, you're looking at 4 parts paprika to 1 part cayenne and we can set that equal to  6.75 tsp.

So, that means that you have five "parts".

Now, to find out how much is in each "part", divide 6.75 tsp by 5 parts. Which is 1.35 tsp/part.

We've found out one number! We need one part of cayenne, so we need 1.35 tsp.  This is closest to 1-1/3 tsp but if you want it in something actually measurable (because who has a 1/3 tsp measure, anyway) it's pretty close to 1-3/8 tsp (1.375 tsp).

Now, to get the measurement for paprika you have two options:

multiply 1.35 tsp by 4, which is 5.4 tsp. This, again, doesn't really give us a very useful number but it's pretty close to 5-3/8 tsp (5.375 tsp).
subtract 1-3/8 tsp from the total 6-3/4 tsp (or 6-6/8 tsp) to figure out what's still needed, which is 5-3/8 tsp (in decimals, that's 5.375).

So that's it.

5-3/8 tsp (or 1 tbsp and 2-3/8 tsp) of paprika.
1-3/8 tsp of cayenne.

That all being said, remember this is cooking, it's not a perfect science, so you can fudge things a bit if you like. Your thought to use 2 tbsp and 1 tsp is close.  It's slightly paprika-heavy but it's a lot easier to measure.


Appropriate oil to infuse with hot chillies

Either oil will work just fine for infusing with chillies, at the end of the day just about any cooking oil will work. Infusing oil with chilli won't change its cooking properties, and both those oils will store fine long-term.

If you are going to go for a cold infusion then it's highly recommended that you dry your chillies first so you get a long lasting result. If you don't dry them they will get mushy and rot in the oil, which isn't very pleasant. Drying them in your oven will stink up your house big-time, but it's worth it.

Alternatively you can make chili strings with them and they will air dry, or you can freeze them for years and they'll stay good.


What is the least amount of vinegar needed to fully curdle milk for cottage cheese?

Don't use vinegar at all.  Use citric acid, which you should be able to get from a brewing or cheesemaking store, or get it online.
Not only does it have a "cleaner" flavor than vinegar, it also allows you to control the pH of the solution more precisely. A given quantity of citric acid diluted in distilled water always has the exact same acidity, which is not true of vinegar.
If you really can't get citric acid, lemon juice is going to have a less pronounced flavor than malt vinegar.
In terms of using the least acid necessary, that's an interactive process of adding a little acid, then watching what happens.  Per Modern Farmer:

Many cheese recipes call for a specific amount of curdling agent – the juice of one large lemon, a quarter cup of vinegar, or one teaspoon of citric acid per gallon of milk is typical for farmer’s cheese – but the exact amount needed varies considerably based on the unique properties of each batch of milk (especially with non-homogenized, farm-fresh milk). It’s advantageous to use the least amount of acid possible to avoid an excessively tangy flavor. As soon as the curds form, stop adding the curdling agent.

I'll also add it's beneficial to use the minimum quantity of acid in order to get the softest curd texture.
Happy cheesemaking!


Irish Moss, Chondrus crispus, is a species of seaweed, rich in carrageenan, an emulsifier and hydrocolloid.

Evidently, you can buy modern extracts as well from brewing supply stores, for use as a kettle fining to help precipitate unwanted proteins.


Uncooked peppers and garlic in olive oil fizzled when opened

Without further ado, that’s an indication of biological activity. Both garlic and hot peppers are used for making fermented hot sauce, but using specific recipes known to (or designed to) stop pathogen growth.

I believe your intention was to infuse the olive oil with hot pepper and garlic aroma, it looks like it didn’t go well as some biological activity took place. I don’t think at this point you can be really sure what was growing inside the jars.

Taking the presence of raw garlic into consideration, and the oxygen-free environment created by the garlic being submerged in the oil, I’d be scared of a potential botulism pathogen growth as the olive oil itself won’t be enough to inhibit the growth of such pathogens. And raw garlic can host such bacteria.

And as a general rule:

  When in doubt, you should discard it.


Can you deep fry chicken in a 6.75qt dutch oven?

It depends on the size of the chicken, and how much you want to cook at one time.

Place the bird (or pieces) in your pot and fill the pot to about 3/4 full with water.

Remove the chicken and measure the water...this is how much oil to use.

If the chicken isn't covered in the water at 3/4 full (this will probably be the case) remove pieces and work backwards till the water and chicken are at a safe level). After replacing the water with oil you will need to work in batches (which is probably what you will need to do, you will probably be well served to do about a 1/2 chicken at a time.).

For what it is worth I recently purchased an infra-red propane 'fryer' that does an excellent job on a whole chicken (or turkey).


Does a 1500W blender produce a less viscous smoothie than a 400W blender?

The measure you should use for making the smoothest purées is RPM, not wattage. You could put a blender jar on a 4500 Watt floor standing mixer and it wouldn't do anything more than roughly chop some berries (or car tires with that kind of torque.) Assuming the canister and blade designs are good, and it's not drastically underpowered for its speed (something I haven't seen before,) higher RPM blenders will pulverize the contents of the jar much more smoothly than lower RPM blenders. If you're looking for a general puréeing tool, a high-speed blender is what you need; if you're just looking to make juice, a cheap juicer will give you more bang for your buck, and you won't have to strain particularly fibrous juices.

Edit to address your updated question:  Irritatingly, the difference between an expensive professional/prosumer high-speed blender and a reasonably priced standard consumer blender is significant. A standard consumer blender, within a reasonable amount of time, would make a slightly pulpy mixture out of soft fruits. In the same time, a high-speed blender could make a velvet-smooth mixture from raw carrots. Your mixture will be much smoother— so much so that some people find the smoothness unpleasant.  (As an aside, I'm not sure viscosity is the best word to use... The solid matter will still be there, it will just be in significantly smaller pieces. Uniformity or smoothness I think are better descriptors.)

Edit Again: As KevinNowaczyk pointed out in the comments, "Sheer" is the measurement of thickness in purees.


If you want them to taste like cashews, there should be no need to "replace flavor" - you can attempt washing and then drying in the oven - results may vary depending on how the "spicy" was applied. Probably they will remain somewhat spicy, as those flavors tend to be fat-soluble, so they will get into the nut but not come out with a wash (and I can't really see "washing in oil" as an effective or economical technique.)

Giving them to someone that likes spicy things would be another option, and more reliable. Then buy some that are not spicy for you.


How does imitation cinnamon flavor differ from real?

Imitation cinnamon is primarly pure cinnamaldehyde, or a related chemical. That's chemically identical to what's found in cinnamon sticks and ground cinnamon, so you're not consuming anything you wouldn't also be getting from real cinnamon. It's what produces the piquancy (burn) of cinnamon, as well as the scent and flavor.

It's actually probably derived by extracting it from cinnamon bark (likely poor quality cinnamon bark that wouldn't taste good added to baked goods), though that can be labeled "natural" rather than "imitation". "Imitation" may indicate that some of the other flavor chemicals in it are synthesized, or that they will include some synthesized cinnamaldehyde if that turns out to be cheaper.

Natural cinnamon is made by dissolving cinnamon bark in a solvent like ethanol. Imitation cinnamon will also come with a solvent, with the same concentration of cinnamyl. It also contains a few hundred other chemicals, some of which are known, some of which are unknown, that are also dissolved from the bark.

If you buy a bottle of "imitation cinnamon" it will have at least some of those chemicals added in as well. The imitation versions have a more one-dimensional version of the taste, while the natural versions are more well-rounded. Adding in other chemicals tries to give it a less one-note taste.

For commercial flavors, like those added to candies, they'll use different sets of additional chemicals depending on their desired flavor profile, and the cost. More complex mixtures are more expensive to develop and make. Cheap candies tend to have just a few: their goal is to hit you with the heat and with a really obvious "this is cinnamon" effect.


There is no safe number determined.

The position of the FDA is

  There is no evidence in the available information on methyl cellulose that demonstrates, or suggests reasonable grounds to suspect, a hazard to the public when it is used at levels that are now current and in the manner now practiced. However, it is not possible to determine, without additional data, whether a significant increase in consumption would constitute a dietary hazard.

(from SCOGS)

So, all you can do is to follow recipes and hope that they constitute "levels that are now current and in the manner practiced".


As the meat should eventually reach a temperature that will kill any germs that may be reintroduced by the utensil, using a new one each time is overkill. Using clean utensils to remove the chicken from the pot and portion it out is a good idea however. You may also wish to place the utensil on a plate in between uses rather than on the counter just to reduce the risk of contaminating anything else you might put there.


Why does my food taste like propane when i grill?

@Ross Ridge's comment implies that it can't happen, but it is happening.

That suggests incomplete combustion (since it IS getting on the food), which suggests either the fuel air mixture being set wrong, or being upset by having dirt/spiders/mud-wasps/etc. blocking the air intakes. The flames should be pure blue, no yellow (some instructions say "pale yellow tips") when the air mixing is set correctly. Any thing that blocks or restricts the air intake will tend to leave the flame fuel-rich, with yellow or orange colors, and all the gas may not be burned.

To solve, clean the burners completely, find the adjustment points for air (generally just after the gas orifice) and adjust for a clear blue flame. Your grill instructions should describe your particular version.

I'll still stick by the ultimate solution being charcoal, having tried it both ways. If you get away from the compressed coal dust briquettes, real wood charcoal is actually quite fast (which was the hook the gas grill folks always used to attract people away from charcoal)


Why does meat coated in oil cook better than meat not coated in oil?

What meat ? (beef, lamb, pork, chicken ? )

Oil (fat) facilitate heat transfer.

If your meat does not have oil on it, I assume it will dry out when baking.

Sometimes drying out is a good result ( crispy chicken skin, pork crackling... )


Yes, they will ripen off the vine (and gain capsaician in the process) because they are a climacteric fruit. They do this best in a paper bag, like most peppers. However, there is a limit to this because they will eventually wilt.


How to get rid of the raw tomato smell from tomato sauce?

Do you use tomato paste in your sauce as well? Starting your sauce by cooking tomato paste down (by itself) will give the sauce a more "cooked" smell because the sugars in the paste will begin to caramelize.

This guy references the technique. I picked it up from Mario Batali, but I can't find a reference for it. http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140049-frying-tomato-paste/


The concern with food is that if the food spends too much time above the danger temperature (40°F) then bacteria may grow, and if you then freeze it the bacteria will be there waiting to harm the final consumer. However, the USDA says that food thawed in a refrigerator for less than a few days can be safely refrozen.

Assuming these leaves are dry, this doesn't apply here: things won't grow on the tea while it's warm, and freezing won't lock in anything dangerous. So, freeze away.


Help with ground beef seasoning: flavors are weak

To get more flavor out of cumin, you can use whole seeds, and toast them briefly in a pan before grinding. If you don't want to put forth that extra effort, you'll just need to add more cumin. If it's not salty enough, the best solution is to just add more salt (sorry). Salt will enhance the other flavors as well. A bit of cornstarch would help make the spices stick, and dry out the mixture. I'm not sure how much water and vinegar you're adding, but you may just be watering down your beef too much. I usually add just enough to keep the spices from sticking to the pan, but not so much that there is a lot of extra liquid that needs to be reduced.

Your spice mixtures may also contain some form of MSG. You can get a similar umami "punch" by adding a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Edit: I don't know how I missed this, but the other answers point out the lack of garlic and onion. Your store-bought spice mixtures definitely contain plenty of those in powdered form, which you can use, but fresh is tasty too. Don't add fresh garlic too early, as it can easily burn and turn bitter.


Why do sprouted lentils take longer to cook than soaked lentils?

The biochemistry of the sprouting process is a little beyond me, but essentially the lentil converts stored energy (carbs) and protein into different proteins and fibre.

The new proteins are quite useful to our own biochemistry, which is why sprouted lentils are considered "better" for you.

It is the fibre, however, which causes the cooking time to be longer.
Generally, whenever something takes a long time to cook, it's because it has a lot of fibre in it. Conversely, fast food chains take as much fibre as possible out of the food, to shorten cook times.


Should I add baking soda if the yeast in bread dough is not working?

Adding baking soda won't help you at this point, for a variety of reasons.

First, it won't have any acid to react with. Technically, baking powder clears that bar, but since it fails at the next ones, it is not a reasonable alternative.

Second, you won't be able to mix in the powder properly in already-kneaded dough. If you really attempted to use it, you would have had to mix it in wiht the flour from the beginning, now you will get an irregular sprinkling of crystals (which may not even dissolve, seeing that the water is already bound by the flour).

Third, you won't be able to create the physical structure for a chemical leavening agent to create its work. Chemical leavening requires a very soft dough (actually it is meant for batters, I don't even know if it can work in doughs), and ideally also some amount of pre-existing bubbles which it can expand (that's why, for optimal chemical leavening, you either use a creaming process, or combine it with a physical leavening such as whipped eggwhites). The action of your baking powder will be minimal in a bread dough meant for yeast leavening.

Fourth, if you manage to get any chemical leavening going on somehow (which is almost impossible to do ad-hoc, I guess you would get some if you add baking powder instead of yeast in the beginning and overhydrate), it might just be enough for the inside of the rolls to bake through instead of remaining a wet clump, but it will be nowhere near a yeast bread in texture. It won't even be like a properly designed soda bread.

Fifth, maybe your yeast is not as dead as you think. If you give it time to work more (and this can mean a whole day), you may be able to scavenge the batch and get something edible, even if it's not great - but if you muck with the pH of the recipe by adding chemical leavening, the little action you may otherwise get from your underactive yeast will not happen.

So, bottom line, either leave the dough alone for a day and see if it does get a bit of rise instead of getting moldy, or throw it out. You can't revive it with baking soda or other chemical leaveners.


Is there a way to incorporate air into a gel made from starch and will the pockets of air stay when dehydrated?

You can create a "puffed" texture with methylcellulose.  Chef Jose Andres made a popular dish, based on this concept, at one of his restaurants, using beetroot.  Methylcellulose is whipped into the base, and it foams like whipped egg white.  Then you can pipe the mixture onto a dehydrator tray and dehydrate.  There is no need to bake or cook after that.  I am not sure how well it will work as a cereal. It might not hold up well in the presence of milk.
It is also possible to puff many grains simply by overcooking (to gelatanize the starch), dehydrating, and deep frying.


Where to get fresh rose petals( rosa demascena) that are organic and/or pesticide free

I bet a whole foods or organic market would be a good first place to look.

Alternatively, Ask anyone who grows them. From what I understand roses are very popular in the UK. I bet there is someone who doesn't spray and feed their roses with chemicals.


A spoon of spice is definitely a waste of spice since there is so little spice in a great quantity of water. If you want to add flavor when you're cooking sausages, you'd either at least triple the quantity of spice or you could rub the sausages in the spice and grill them instead, do you poach them and then grill them ? or do you simply poach them ?


What is the difference between "European Butter" and American butter?

Most butter in the US is sweet cream butter, meaning that the cream is not cultured before it is churned. European style butter is cultured by adding bacteria to the cream and giving it time to thicken and acidify before churning. This results in subtle flavor changes. European style butter also has a slightly higher fat content.

FWIW, imported and domestic cultured butter is becoming pretty common on US shelves. Expect to pay considerably more for it.


What type of noodles absorb most amount of liquid?

How much broth pasta can absorb is really a question of shape and how it was prepared, and not that much the type of pasta. The most absorbent pasta won't absorb anything if it was overcooked.

So how do you cook pasta perfectly and what is the golden rules

You should season the water, not the pasta. When cooking pasta, bring enough water to the boil to submerge the pasta. To that boiling water, add about a tablespoon of sea salt, not the fine salt you usually buy, that stuff just don't have a proper taste to it :-). Only when the water is boiling you should add your pasta.
Never add oil to your water when cooking pasta. Yes, it does help for pasta to not stick together, but it also make pasta less absorbent. Rather stir your pasta in the beginning to stop it from sticking. You should only add oil to your water if you intent to use it in a salad
Never rinse pasta before cooking. This removes a lot of starch on the outside, making your pasta less absorbent and it also removes the "glue" that helps your sauces stick to your pasta
Never ever over-cook pasta. Over-cooked pasta becomes mushy and doesn't absorb anything. Pasta should be cooked al dente. If pasta is going to be cooked for a second time, like in a broth or in a sauce, it should be Molto al dente, which means it should be slightly under-cooked. This will ensure maximum absorbance
Also, never rinse cooked pasta for the same reason as to not rinsing it before cooking
For the sake of taste, keep the pasta water and use it in your sauce or broth.

As stated before, shape also have a influence on how absorbent a pasta is. Macaroni is more absorbent than spaghetti as macaroni have a bigger surface area than spaghetti compared to if they are the same size.


Of course you can make gyoza with raw meat—that would be the traditional method.  You can find countless recipes, including raw meat ones, simply by googling "gyoza recipe".

While perhaps less common, you can also google "chicken gyoza recipe" to find many options using chicken such as this one, although there are some false hits mixed in that are not chicken based.

Gyoza (which are the Japanese version of pot stickers) are normally not much larger than bite sized.  This small size will help ensure that they are cooked through during the hybrid frying/steaming method that gives them their crispy bottoms, which is normally similar to:

Fry the dumplings, flat side down, until the bottoms begin to be brown.
Add water to the pan, and cover, creating a makeshift steaming environment to cook the dumpling through.
Allow the water to evaporate and the bottoms to re-crisp.

While it is is fairly difficult to take the internal temperature of a single dumpling (you probably can if you have a very high quality instant-read thermometer with a short probe distance, like a Thermapen), you can still judge their doneness indirectly by squeezing.  They will be quite firm.

The small size (even very big Chinese style pot stickers tend not to be more than an inch/couple cm wide, although they may be longer) helps make sure they can cook through very quickly; steaming is also a very effective method at transferring heat into the target food.

So yes, making gyoza with raw meat, done with some care, is safe.


Hitting specific color of orange in a sponge cake

You cannot just use random ingredients and have the cake "become" their color. Even if you used 100% carrot, the color would change during baking. So you really have to use a colorant.

The best way to do it is to purchase a good quality ready-mixed colorant like the Wilton paste colors, and use the exact shade you want, in sufficient amounts. You will have to test it only on a few cakes (or maybe several cupcakes within the same batch) to find out what amount you need for the exact orange you want.

If you want to match it from cheaper and more ubiquitous dyes which are available in few hues, you will have to work with color triangles to match. I won't go deep into that, but you will need about 66 samples per test round, and probably 2-3 rounds. Each sample can be a mini cupcake so you don't waste much material, but you will need exact measuring instruments and lots of patience.

Many people have an instinctive negative reaction to that and want so stay "natural" in their colorant choosing. In principle, you can also try to use strong natural coloring instead of azo dyes, for example colorant based on anato or a mixture of turmeric and beetroot. The problem is that in sufficient amounts, they will give an undesired taste to your cake. Also, you will have more difficulty matching the color, since the colors you start with are not as pure or as saturated. So expect more than just 2-3 rounds of color triangle work.

If you don't even accept plant matter which has industrially been turned to dye, and want to produce the pigment in your own kitchen, this will be very difficult to achieve at all, and much more fickle. Basically, the final color will most likely not be at all the shade you wanted it, it won't be colored through and through but will have specks of a solid throughout the dough, and it will have a strong taste of something not-cake-like.

This all assumes you want to color the sponge of the cake itself. You can always achieve a celebratory cake by decoration. Mixing in Wilton colors into icing is much easier, because you can see what the final color is going to be right away, so you can always add color or icing until you match the shade (unlike the sponge where you add once and then wait for it to be baked to see the result). Or you can forget the coloring and just sprinkle candied orange peel or something similar to get a nice decoration which has the color you want.


baking time adjustment when baking large quantity of fish

On a Single Rack
A preheated oven will cool down depending on the amount of food put into it, but will lose more heat due to the opening of the door.  As long as they are spread out enough, the cooking time will be affected very little.
On Multiple Racks
Assuming you do not have a convection oven: when baking on separate racks of the oven, the heat radiated by the coils is now blocked by the other food.  This will increase the time necessary and will also require you to rotate the dishes.


You are overproofing your dough. 2 teaspoons dry yeast, 600g flour and a warm rest of twelve hours sounds like a recipe for disaster to me - not to mention that half of the liquid is milk, which would warrant a closer look into food safety topics as well.

Also, any extended kneading (if used) is usually prior to bulk fermentation, possibly with an autolyse step before adding yeast, but not after a bulk rise. You might choose to "punch down" your dough depending on your desired crumb structure, but kneading renders the previous bulk fermentation moot.

Taking your recipe and environement into account, I would expect your first rise (= double volume) to be complete in under an hour. It seems that due to enzymatic and yeast activity your dough lost its internal structure and the gluten network started to break down. The fact that your dough tends to flow outward, not rise up is another indicator. You can slash and steam as much as you like, once the gluten network broke and the yeast is exhausted, an overprooved dough will not yield good results.

For cold fermentation in the refrigerator the rule of thumb is 1-2% fresh (cake) yeast / 0.33 - 0.66% dry yeast, based on flour weight. For your 600g, that means between 2 and 4 g (or between a generous 1/2 to 1 teaspoon). Use cold ingredients and rest for 8-24 hours. The shorter you want to rest, the higher the yeast ratio, obviously.


Is there a word for the flavour shared by onion, spring onion, shallot, leek, and chive?

Conversationally, "oniony". Everyone will understand that, and tend to say it naturally.

In a more serious cooking context, you could also get away with "allium flavor", though likely not in everyday conversation. There are a lot of alliums, including onions, garlic, scallions, shallots, leeks, and chives, so if you refer to the whole group, you're pretty obviously referring to the overarching common flavor. For example, On Food and Cooking has subsections called "The Flavors and Sting of Raw Alliums" and "The Flavors of Cooked Alliums".


My opinion is that it is a personal preference, but many people are very off-put by the texture of the skins.  Probably more in a smoother salsa than in a chunkier one.  Also, the skins can often be bitter and peeling eliminates that.


Can I prevent honey from congealing/hardening in the pantry?

Keep it stored in an airtight container, so that it doesn't absorb moisture from the air.

If it congeals, put the container in hot water until honey is liquid (~10-15 minutes).


What is the difference between a 63-degree egg and a regular poached egg?

A 63-degree egg is slow cooked in the shell in a water bath of 63 degrees celsius. The shell is removed after the cooking process. A poached egg is removed from the shell before cooking and cooked in simmering water for a short amount of time. According to this experiment, cooking eggs at slightly different temperatures in a water bath seems to make a difference. Perhaps the more exact cooking temperatures of a 63 degree egg give it a different texture than a regular poached egg.


The folks at America's Test Kitchen did a review of coffee grinders and found that the burr mills didn't result in superior consistency to blade grinders.

They found that if you stop grinding every now and then and shake the coffee grinder and grind for a total of 25-30 seconds, you get the best results.

From the video review:

  "Lots of people said that these blade
  grinders chop the beans unevenly. They
  also said they heat up the beans more
  because of the friction and that
  degraded the flavor of coffee. I had
  dozens of people tasting this coffee
  and no one picked up flavor
  differences between the blade-ground
  and the burr-ground. There were
  differences in the body but not the
  flavor... and we found a way to use
  the blade grinders to match that
  body.

From the text review:

  "We found we could improve the evenness of the blade grind either by grinding in short, quick bursts, with stops in between to shake the grinder to redistribute the grounds, or by shaking the grinder as it ground, much as you would a martini in a cocktail shaker."

Their favorite was the Capresso Cool Grind, Model 501.

They did note that you will need a burr grinder for espresso.


Fine, you're crazy. There's no time savings in shelling a lot of eggs at once .vs. shelling them as you need them, and there is a HUGE loss of storage life.

Once removed from the shell, 2-4 days is the official word, so a week - no.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/eggstorage.html

http://www.incredibleegg.org/cooking-school/tips-tricks/egg-storage/

The first site suggests the possibility that you might beat them and freeze them, but then fails to give a storage time for that particular option. The second site suggests that up to a year is acceptable, and further suggests adding salt or sugar to improve the texture of egg yolks that have been frozen. I have no practical experience with freezing eggs myself, they last quite long enough in the shell in my refrigerator for my purposes.


Partially defrosted chicken in cold water, then defrosted the rest of the way in the fridge

It should be OK,

You started it frozen and unless the ambient temperature was very warm, the water would still be cold, so the meat was not in the "danger" zone before putting it back in the fridge where it'll continue defrosting slowly.


need to convert US recipe calling for tomato sauce to equivilant in UK

Tell your friend to buy around a 450g jar of passata. This is finely crushed, sieved tomatoes. It comes plain, or most supermarkets carry versions with onions, basil etc.

Tomato puree is an entirely different thing and I wouldn't go down that route.

There are also various pre-made tomato sauce jars available from the likes of brands like Dolmio that have various flavour combinations. Depending on the ingredients in the tomato sauce you use, one of those may be more appropriate. They tend to be thicker and more heavily seasoned and flavoured than straightforward passata.


Ok, I‘ll bite.

While according to Today.com Butterball posted a recipe, my contradicting answer is

  You don’t.

At least not when you want a whole bird with crisp skin. Like this:

 (Source)

The inner volume of your microwave is most likely not big enough - for the experiment, I checked my freestanding 25l model: inner space is 215.0 x 337.0 x 354.0 mm, and the turntable has a diameter of 315mm.
No 25-pound bird will fit in that.
Cooking can therefore be done only in batches and you need to cut and portion the bird prior to any cooking attempt. The time needed to sufficiently heat the different batches (and reheating etc, so that you can serve your party) means you will not save any time.
Microwaves cook, they don’t bake or grill and they are notorious for uneven heating. So to get a food safe bird, you need to plan a lot of extra time to ensure heat distribution which will almost certainly mean you need to overcook parts to get the whole entity to a safe temperature. Plus you don’t get the coveted crisp skin (at least not without a few tricks and even then the results are more dry than crisp, believe me, I tried). This means that it will barely meet the “edible” requirement and “delicious” only to those with rather uncommon preferences or expectations.

So if you have only a turkey and a microwave, I see these options or a combination thereof:

Forget about the classic thanksgiving turkey dinner with the whole bird a showstopper on the table.
Find someone who has a suitably large oven, for a 25 lb bird, you will need one that can hold a 16 inch roasting pan and don’t underestimate the needed height. Alternatively, a grill or barbecue, a turkey fryer or other suitable equipment should do.
Cut the bird in parts, ideally separating various kinds of meat (breast, thigh...), find microwave recipes for the different types and prepare multiple turkey dishes.
Get a significantly smaller bird and follow the USDA’s instructions or the ones from Butterball.


How can I cool chocolate in a couple of minutes?

The short answer is: you can't.

The long answer: chocolate has very complicated thermodynamics. There is an optimal speed of the cooling process, and it is slow. Chocolate should be tempered to 33 Celsius (there is some variance depending on the cocoa content) and cooled in an environment between 27 and 20 Celsius. Then it looks and tastes good.

Chocolate which has been cooled in a cold environment will not have any shine, and the colder you get, the larger your problems will be. You can even get uneven distribution of the cocoa fat, with it pooling along the nuts on the inside and letting the outer layers unpleasantly dry. Besides, you will get condensation, which is ugly and makes the chocolate sticky to handle and watered down in the mouthfeel. In extreme cases, you may even end up with distempered chocolate, especially if you don't have seed crystals.

No matter what you are doing - truffles, chocolate dipped fruit, pure pieces of chocolate in a mould - you can't rush it and get good quality.


Is it reasonable to expect "spiciness" to fry off?

Capsaicin, the molecules that make chilis hot, is soluble in oil.  So when you're cooking something spicy in oil - you're most definitely taking away a lot of the heat into the oil.  This is assuming you're going to fry the turkey.  If you're not...good luck ;)

So yes, the recipe isn't that insane, it should be reduced in heat.  Like soegaard says though, test on a piece of chicken first and then fry that piece.


Why do choc chip cookies change with different temperature butter?

It all comes down to "creaming".

When you mix granulated sugar with solid (cold or cool) butter (creaming), the volume increases thanks to little-itty-bitty bubbles in the fat. That creates a kind of leavening. The bubbles get bigger as the item bakes.

Melted butter doesn't do that at all, and very softened butter does it very little.

So, different temperatures of butter in the batter make for different cookies, even if everything else is the same.

For an added factor in your daughter's experiment, try butter flavored shortening. It has a higher melting temperature and added emulsifiers. Shortening makes for more, but smaller, bubbles.

Here's a pretty good blog on the subject of The Creaming Method. The article covers temperature at length.

See also: What is the purpose of creaming butter with sugar in cookie recipes?


Is “ghee” clarified butter or beurre noisette?

Judging from those Wikipedia articles:

Clarified butter is rendered butter, which means that the solids are removed.
Beurre noisette is browned butter, which contains the solids.

Ghee is slightly-browned (it should have a golden color) butter that is rendered. So you melt the butter till it's golden. Then you remove the solids by pouring the top layer into a container. So you have a combination (if you like) of clarified and browned butter.


Will the ingredients of "baking powder" store indefinitely?

For all practical purposes, yes. Just don't let moisture get near them.

Both are a single chemical compound which does not react with air. The only thing you have to worry about is entropy, and it will not do anything bad for the next few decades. It doesn't matter if you mix and use the day after buying or years later, unlike the mix, which ages because the components do react over time.

But you still will have suboptimal results when compared to commercial baking powder. In baking, you want a slow and even leavening action, which continues to happen after the cake has started baking. This is why today's baking powder uses multiple ingredients, some of which react at once, others at high temperatures. You cannot do this with your simple mix here. It will still work reasonably well (a century ago nobody had slow-release baking powder and they still made cakes), but you should try and see if the result is good enough for your standards. Also you will have to be more stringent with the baking directions (working very quick once the powder is moistened, not leaving a batch of batter stand around waiting for a free place in the oven, etc.)


Extent of poultry denaturing via freezing(ice crystal formation)?

There's not really much chemistry happening here. It's just basic physics - ice crystals form when you freeze it, tearing through things a bit, and then they melt back into water when you thaw it. Some proteins are indeed sensitive to denaturing during freezing, but that's basically going to be a constant no matter how you freeze it. (Denaturing is just a destruction of the tertiary structure of the protein - so it will mess with its structural properties, but since it doesn't destroy the amino acids, it won't alter nutritional value. I don't know if structure-giving proteins in meat are sensitive to freezing denaturation, but I don't think there's anything you can do to affect it anyway.)

With respect to your first question: it's not the ice formation on the surface that matters. That's just sitting on the surface. It's the ice forming in the chicken that's tearing it apart. Amount of surface ice doesn't have an effect on the food underneath. It does mean that there'll be more water when you thaw it, though, and sometimes that's very undesirable (e.g. for bread) and sometimes it's just annoying (vegetables that you want to cook without much water). But all that matters for the food itself is the fact that it's frozen. This is the same kind of the thing that you see with fruit - if you freeze and thaw it, it'll be completely mushy, now that the ice crystals have destroyed its internal structure. This isn't so pronounced with meat, since it doesn't have as high a water content, but the texture is still somewhat altered.

For your second question: it's just a matter of how much moisture-containing air was able to get to the food. This is a common problem. The ideal case is a completely vacuum-sealed, airtight container: only the food will freeze, and there's no room for moisture to get to it and form surface ice. If something is airtight but was sealed in with normal, somewhat humid air, that moisture will create frost on the food. If it's not airtight, air will leak in, and humidity is brought in when you open the freezer, so it'll slowly accumulate frost.

For your third question: once something is frozen, it's frozen. It's not moving anymore. Pores aren't being opened. There's no effect from food being frozen longer. (Unless it's not airtight, in which case it can take on odors from the freezer - but that takes a while.)

I can think of two things which could conceivably have an effect: freezing at different rates, and freezing and thawing multiple times. The former is hard to mess with at home, but freezing very rapidly reduces the amount of destruction. In a home freezer you're already freezing very slowly; freezing more slowly probably wouldn't be significantly different. Multiple freeze/thaws should tear things up a bit more (though probably two freezes won't tear things up twice as much, since some crystals will just form in the same place they did last time).


How can I process Hot Pepper without killing the spice (capsaicin)?

My personal experience is that, if you cook the rocoto peppers together with other ingredients in a pan, like in this recipe, or better simmer them in a tomato, cider, or vinegar-based sauce, most of the hotness is retained.  Capsaicin vaporizes well above simmering temperatures, so it's mainly high-heat frying or roasting that will drive you out of your kitchen and make the sauce bland.  Any cooking method that keeps them at 100C or below will still be plenty hot.

However, that's just the capsaicin.  Rocoto peppers also have a delicate fruity flavor, almost like peaches or papaya, that is lost if you cook them at all.  This is why the standard Peruvian rocoto sauce involves no cooking at all, but instead pureeing them into a crema.  If you're going to use rocotos, this is my recommendation.


Court-bouillon: Why delay adding the wine and vinegar?

Court-bouillon is an old French broth designed for subtle seafood dishes (crayfish/lobster etc.). There is no "standard" for it

The finished product should have a note of the wine and vinegar (make sure you use a good quality wine and vinegar)

If you add the wine and vinegar too early they may have time to overly react with the other ingredients and make their flavours too strong (ethanol and acids strip good and bad flavours from vegetables and herbs). If you add it to late it may have an overly powerful smell of wine and vinegar

The simple trick is to add it nearer the end, and gently simmer for longer if the smell is too intense


Advantages of using vinegar as a salt substitute for enhancing flavor?

The advantage would be cutting some sodium out of your diet.  If you are like many in the western part of the world, you probably get more than your daily allotment of sodium regularly.  By making sure to cut sodium where you can, you gain the health benefits of a well-balanced diet.

Since salt is a flavor enhancer, a low-sodium diet can often seem bland.  Many look for alternatives.  Vinegar brings out flavors in a different way and adds a significant flavor of its own.  I'd start small, using just a bit of vinegar.


Are oven bags anything more than disposable dutch ovens?

There are differences between baking in a plastic bag and in a Dutch oven. If you have access to both, I prefer the Dutch oven.

What both do is to

Trap steam
This makes your food a bit moister, and keeps pan juices and additions to the roast, like a dry rub or mirepoix, from drying out into an unappetizing, carbonized spot. It is not as important for meat as for bread. I haven't tried baking bread in a bag, but maybe it will work.
Change the mix of heating processes
Baking in an oven involves heating by conduction, convection and radiation at the same time. The heating elements emit a lot of infrared radiation, which cooks the surface of the food, giving it a nice crust, but does not penetrate it to cook the inside. When you put the food in a small closed space, the material shields it from that radiation. Althought there is some secondary radiation from the shielding material itself, the amount of conduction heating goes up a lot. This gives you more even heating and the inside will be well cooked before the crust burns.

Be aware that if your bags are transparent or translucent in the visible spectrum, chances are that they let at least some infrared waves through and a Dutch oven will perform better.

Where bags and Dutch ovens differ is that only a Dutch oven gives you a buffer for temperature changes. Its large thermal mass and relatively low heat conductivity make sure that there are no rapid temperature changes when you open the oven. Using a Dutch oven will also help if your oven heats unevenly. As the oven heats the Dutch oven, the heat travels throughout the Dutch oven, and only then it heats the food on the inside.

This gives you a more even roasting process. In a logistically problematic situation, you can hold the food longer in the Dutch oven without it cooling on the counter or drying out in the oven. Remember to allow for residual heat transfer and turn off the heat 4-5°C earlier than usual.


Are there cheeses with less saturated fat?

No, there aren't such cheeses. All cheeses are made from the same basic product - milk - and there are no changes to the fat happening in the cheesemaking process. Whatever ratio of saturated to unsaturated fats goes in, the same ratio goes out.

There are cheeses made from milk of different animals, and they do have a different ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat:

cow: 55% saturated
sheep: 65% saturated
goat: 65% saturated

As you see, the difference is very small. Besides, the majority of cheeses you get in the West are made with cow's milk, which has the lowest saturation of the three. If this is too much for your dietary goals, then you don't have alternatives with less saturated fat.


When carefully separating eggs, what to do with the chalazae?

The function of the chord, that is attached to the yolk, is to hold the yolk into place. To have the most uniform baking possible, you remove the chord. However, I never do. I keep it in with the rest of the whites and I've never had any problems with the finished products.

So you can:

toss it
keep it with the yolk (a little bit of whites with the yolk is not bad, the other way around is)
keep it with the whites since it does not contain fat, it will not stop the whites from being whipped

It's up to you.


Why pasta keeps always damp and moist when I cook it?

Refrigeration does not improve pasta texture; on that front my advice is to cook only as much as you are going to eat each time.

Other than that, it sounds like you are overcooking the pasta, so "when you judge it done" appears to be in error, and you should alter your judgement to an earlier point if you find the pasta too wet/soft they way you have been doing it. The time needed varies depending on the shape. When it is done it should be removed from the water (or the water removed from it) immediately.

I find no benefit to adding oil to the water - save the oil for adding just after it's been drained if you want it to do something useful.


OK, to clear up some things here. The first thing: whatever you do, you will not have a shelf-stable product you can keep in the pantry. If you want to make that, you will have to follow a known-safe recipe with sufficient acid and sufficient sugar and proper canning procedures. It will still have lots of sugar though.

Let's assume that you don't need something shelf-stable, just a fruit preparation with little sugar in it. The expensive commercial "low sugar" jams are not diluted at all. They simply contain much more fruit than the others. So there is no way you can replicate them by starting with high sugar commercial jam.

So your options are:

Cook jam from scratch to the consistency you want. High-sugar recipes are shelf stable, mid-sugar ones need refrigeration once opened, low-sugar ones only hold for a few days in the fridge. Here you have to use the thickener suggested in your recipe.
Don't make jam from the fruit. If you want very little sugar and have to give up the convenience of preserving the whole thing, just use fresh fruit puree.
Eat commercial low-sugar jam with something else. OK, you can in principle cook a water-based pudding (that's what starch+water makes) and add the jam, but it is probably tastier to add it to pudding made with milk, or to yoghurt.

You cannot really reprocess commercial jam well. It is thickened with pectin, which cannot be re-thickened after heating. It is also sensitive to the amount of sugar and acid, so adding more pectin and water will probably produce something weird. And in the end, if you find some thickener which produces a texture you like, the product will neither be as shelf stable as proper jam, nor as sweet as proper jam, which for most people would not be worth the effort. If you really want to try, pectin should be the thickener to go.


Crushed tomatoes - sub with diced or whole?

Drain some of the liquid off either of those, whiz it in the food processor, add liquid back as needed to reach the "crushed" consistency.


The term "puck" is not in general use for food, but it seems to refer to a hockey puck-like volume of frozen spinach. (Spinach is commonly found frozen into blocks.) Presumably the author of the recipe had a particular brand - and therefore size standard - of spinach in mind. The spinach "pucks" in my freezer are about 4 oz each, but other sizes are also common.

Find a better recipe, or ask the author for clarification.


As a possibility, here's what I do for make-ahead sandwiches with (previously) frozen bread. I'd suggest only a couple things beyond what you are planning.

After the bread is out of the oven and fully cooled (8 hours or over-night as you did), I slice before freezing. This allows me to take slices out of the freezer a few at a time. (As an alternative, you could take the bread out several hours ahead of time, then thaw enough to slice; I find this less convenient. Slicing frozen bread is something I try to avoid!)

Once out of the freezer, I toast the bread. This both gets the chill off and gives the bread some added freshening and ability to stand up to holding contents for some time (e.g., so the bread doesn't get as soggy). Making sandwiches directly with pre-sliced, frozen bread is possible, but I expect it would exacerbate the sogginess.

Assemble the sandwiches and wrap in plastic, foil, or a bag (as you suggest) as tightly as convenient. This procedure, for me, works adequately for several hours of make-ahead.


Sauerbraten with a 1.1 pound beef rump roast

Sauerbraten is meant to be cooked low and slow (schmoren), not like an American roast which has to be removed from the oven as soon as it reaches a target internal temperature. Keep both the oven temperature and the 4 hour time, do not remove it after it reaches the target temperature.

For some background, read SAJ14SAJ's answer to How can you tell when a roast is done?. It is the section on low and slow roasting that applies to Sauerbraten.


Take a decent sized cling film, put the onion with the cut part down in the centre. Close the cling film over the round part and twist all the air out of the wrap.

The onion will stay good in the fridge for some days.


Dangers to continuing to cook an unfinished torte?

You haven't mentioned exactly what's in the torte, but I am assuming that the only potentially "unsafe" ingredient is eggs.  Thus, the only possible danger is that the eggs might be undercooked, posing a very minuscule (considering that most egg yolks/whites aren't contaminated in the first place) risk of salmonella.

But we're talking about a torte here, which isn't going to be finished until the eggs are set, and the setting temperature of eggs isn't that far off from the salmonella-killing temperature (63° C vs. 74° C).  Use a thermometer if you're concerned.

Of course, if you're using pasteurized eggs then they should be free of bacteria to begin with and you have nothing to worry about at all.

Most likely, the worst thing you have to worry about is the torte drying out a bit, since you'll be increasing your overall baking time to get it back up to temp.

Edit: With respect to quality of the finished product, I might worry with a regular (flour) cake, because increasing the total baking time gives it more time to develop gluten and dry out, but a torte has little to no starch, so you're not really in much danger there.  Just keep an eye on it, make sure it doesn't burn, and you'll be fine.


Well, if air is the only raising agent, simply add less of it by not beating the mixture as much. Failing that, beat as normal, then give the mixing bowl a couple of (careful) bangs on the counter top to knock the air out it again.

A bit of experimentation will be necessary to get the right results, I think: perhaps pour some of the mixture into the tin as is, then knock the air out of the remaining mixture and compare the results.


How can I get a takeaway style pizza base?

For a chewy pizza base, use bread flour.  Do not use oil.  Bread flour has a higher protein content that will help gluten form.  Gluten makes the connections that keep dough together.  Fat inhibits gluten formation.

A recipe of just water, flour, salt, and yeast mixed, kneaded, allowed to rise until doubled, and then rolled out will get you what you want.  Make sure to roll out quite thin.  Preheat your oven absolutely as high as it goes with a stone inside.  Put your toppings on maximum one minute before they go into the oven so that the sauce does not make your dough soft.  Place pizza on preheated pizza stone - cooking time at high temperatures will be quite short (max 10 minutes).


Mascarpone is very prone to curdling in mixtures like this if any of the ingredients are different temperatures. Generally, you whip the cheese to soften it and it warms up a bit in the process, then if the milk you added is colder than the cheese, the fats in the cheese will solidify again, causing it to appear curdled.

The best way to avoid this is to make sure everything is room temperature, and to add the liquids very slowly. To fix it once it has already curdled, generally you would gently heat it over a double boiler (or microwave it a few seconds at a time) while whipping it until you've whipped the lumps out. Once it's smooth, let it cool back to room temperature, stirring regularly, and rewhip it once it's cool.


Difference between different brands of same oil

In practice, the major refined oils are commodity products, and the two different brands may even come from the same factory, but with different labels applied.

Still, it is possible that they are from different producers, and have a different quality standard of refining applied; one may be more aromatic than the other (which is a defect in a refined neutral oil).

The only way to know for sure is to try the less expensive brand.  If it has no off-putting aroma, you have a good value.


Looking for an accurate nutrition database

You should generally trust the USDA. They've put a lot of effort into getting everything accurately measured for nutrition labeling, and in the US at least, pretty much everyone gets their nutrition data from them.

That's true in this case: the bodybuilding.com nutrition page says "This database contains data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service." So there's no good reason they should disagree with the USDA - if they do, I'd assume it's because their data is out of date, or they miscopied it from the USDA database.

That said, the differences are pretty tiny (pretty much insignificant in this case), so assuming they haven't made any big mistakes, you should be fine using either - it's supposed to be the same data. (Personally, I would much prefer the USDA's website or http://nutritiondata.self.com/ because they're a lot easier to read than that bodybuilding site.)


I don't have much experience of cooking with gluten free flour so can't comment on any degree to which that might be a factor. I would generally let a pancake batter sit for at least 15 minutes before use to let the flour fully absorb the liquid, that may be less necessary with gluten free flour.

However there are three main things that leap out at me from the description as being possible sources of the problem:

The recipe: pancake batter is quite thin normally, if you push the balance too far towards liquids, the batter can't form a cohesive pancake because the flour mix is too dilute, the bonds can't be formed. It will eventually form a solid, but not until heat has driven off the excess liquid. Your recipe already has a higher proportion of liquid than most UK recipes I've seen, and also less egg for the amount of batter than many. Obviously it works for you some of the time, which leads us to the next point...
Not measuring flour: Your recipe is for a pretty thin batter, that reduces the tolerance within which under-measuring still lets the batter function. I suspect that the times you see what you describe as 'separation' is when there just isn't enough flour to thicken the liquid.
Pan temperature. What you describe as 'fizzing' may be what others would just call sizzling, the mixture hit the hot pan surface and the liquid in it quickly turns to steam, causing the bubbles. This is going to be more pronounce the higher the proportion of liquid in your batter.

A minor thing is that in my experience some thing
s work better if you just whisk them together rather than using the chopping motion of the blades in a blender. I'd put pancake batter in that category, but that may be just personal preference.

I recommend that

you start measuring the flour to ensure that you achieve a consistent
batter
Use a small amount of batter to test the temperature of the pan before you start making the pancakes proper.
Try whisking rather than blending and resting the batter, though I think these are less likely to make a difference.

My personal preference would always be to cook pancakes in a buttered pan too. One of the benefits of that, apart from the flavour, is that because butter burns if the pan is too hot, you have to keep the pan temperature lower and that is generally a good thing for pancakes.


Most commercial bakeries pour simple syrup into their cakes and cupcakes after baking. To make a simple syrup mix water and sugar in equal parts by volume and heat on the stove, stirring until dissolved. The simple syrup should keep for about a month if you have any left over.


How long after baking do American chewy cookies get their normal texture?

The cookies will set (take on their final texture) about by 20 - 30 minutes out of the oven.  Coming directly out of the oven, cookies will absolutely be soft and squishable; which is why you should wait a few minutes before moving them off the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack (you can cheat this time if your cookies are all on a sheet of parchment paper, and you move the parchment paper as a whole).


What could cause a sudden loss of sour flavor?

It may have been the act of leaving the plums on top of the cake, covered overnight at room-temperature. This might have concentrated the natural ethylene produced by the plum enough to cause it to ripen by breaking down the starches and turning it into sugars.


Is it ok to store open cans in the fridge?

Short answer: storing food in an open can is normally safe for a short period, but inadvisable.

Longer answer:
There are three main issues with storing foods in an open can.  They are metal oxidation, contamination, and funk.

Oxidation.  As commenters have observed, cans used to be made of tin, which is toxic.  Modern cans are made from either steel or aluminum.  If the contents of the can are acidic, cans are lined with a polymer (plastic) inner layer.  If that layer is broken -- say, by a major dent in the can or by using a knife to scrape out contents -- then the acid can get to the metal and, over time, corrode it, and some of the now-oxidized metal will dissolve into the food.  As far as we know, the oxidized metal is not toxic, but it tastes horrible.
Contamination.  Any open container of food can become contaminated when an airborne water droplet (tiny -- microns wide) containing a nasty microbe drips or settles into it.  The major biological culprit here is Listeria, which can grow in any moist environment, including spaces refrigerated below 40F (5C).  Also, if juices from your raw meat drips onto an upper shelf, which later gets wiped inadvertently into your container of ready-to-eat food, you are likely to get Salmonella or E coli.  This risk can be mitigated if you keep your raw meats on the lowest shelf, but not eliminated.  Also, it is worth noting that contamination through this pathway is a relatively rare event -- but even so, it is not worth the risk.
Funk.  Have you ever put an ice cube in your beverage and notice your beverage tastes strange?  The chemical compounds that give food their flavor tend to be volatile (meaning they will readily leave the food into the surrounding air).  Also, the mustiness of a refrigerator/freezer is due to volatile compounds produced by mold and mildew.  Foods that are wet and/or fatty can be molecular velcro to these compounds.


How do you keep turkey from getting too dry?

I suggest using a brine. Lots of brining details can be found in the answers to this question:

  What are the basics of brining meat?

Alton Brown has a really great recipe for brined roasted turkey. You can watch the Good Eats excerpt on YouTube in which he covers brining turkey.

I also suggest reading The Basics of Brining (PDF) from Cook's Illustrated.


Safe to use pressure cooker for beer stew?

It is perfectly safe to add beer to any recipe in a pressure cooker. (well, any recipe you might use beer for outside a pressure cooker). While I've not done this with rabbit I have with venison (for chili), beef and chicken for various stews.

Assuming your concern is adding a 'carbonated' beverage, this question has been answered here: Carbonated Beverage in Pressure Cooker

Indeed one may easily find a plethora of beer in a pressure cooker recipes like these.


Glass baking lid broke - what to substitute?

One "hack" to try is to put a larger glass baking dish on top (e.g. 9"x13" over an 8"x8"). It is heavy enough to make a moderately decent seal.


I've sauteed baby spinach many times and I've never had it become slimy. I've never seen a cookbook or article that stated that either.


How long is it safe to store rice horchata for?

At least one recipe specifies “horchata will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days,” another “up to four days,” others more vaguely “a few days” or “several days.” Note that it also depends on whether the recipe you're using adds milk or not, if it “is made without milk it will keep in the frig for various days.” Probably the best piece of advice is this one:

Horchata will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days; use common sense.
From: http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/03/homemade-horchata.html


How do you reduce wine when deglazing without burning the fond?

Prior to adding wine (or any liquid), you have browned meat and/or vegetables.  Ideally, you are looking for a dark browning.  Once you've removed those items from the pan, you add wine or other liquid. It should begin to boil. Immediately begin scraping up the fond (the brown bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan).  They should scrape up with a little force.  It is best to use a straight edged wooden spoon.  Once the fond is scraped up and incorporated into the liquid, there should be little chance of burning, unless you evaporate all of the liquid.  You can also turn the heat down a bit for more control.  Why does it happen?  Maybe your heat is too high.  Maybe you are not scraping all of the fond off the pan.  Maybe you are not using enough liquid.  I would bet there is some fond left on the pan, which has not been fully incorporated.


How do you coat almonds in wasabi and keep it spicy and crunchy? (my wasabi paradox)

Wasabi can also be activated by oil. So. Make yourself a nice intense wasabi oil, add equal part by weight of maltodextrin, stir. Voila, a nice sticky powder perfect for adhering to your almonds.


Why did my French bread neither rise nor bake properly?

There are some previous questions with good answers like this one, or this that go into much more detail than I'm about to.

You said your bread didn't rise with the first rise, if you don't have a first rise you can't go onto the next step. If your yeast was old, or the temperature was cold in your kitchen or you used cold water in the dough, or the yeast came in contact with salt then its action could have been slowed down drastically and it would take much longer to get a rise. I've had a first rise take up to 4 hours in the past because of these factors. The times given in recipes are just guidelines, you have to be result-driven. Active dry yeast also takes longer than quick yeast to activate. When using active dry instead of quick yeast you would get better results by mixing it with the water before mixing in. I'd recommend using quick yeast as it's milled into smaller grains and you can mix it directly into the flour.

Of course your yeast may have simply been dead, or killed by salt or heat. Get some good fresh yeast and store it in the fridge to keep it fresh long-term.

Also, using all whole wheat flour isn't going to produce anything like a baguette. Whole wheat flour is very heavy compared to white flour and will take longer to rise. A half and half mix would work better. I'd recommend sticking to the recipe first, then gradually modifying it over time until you get your desired result.


How can I remove blood from snow goose breasts within a few hours?

If you wanted to make certain of getting all of the blood out of the the meat, then I would suggest going with the process used by Jewish people to make meat kosher as they are forbidden from eating meat with blood in it for religious reasons.

That process is basically to soak, dry, salt and then rinsed three times to remove the salt. For a longer description see the sources below.

  Jewish law prohibits the consumption of the lifeblood of the animal. All kosher meat and poultry must undergo a special process to remove it. The meat or poultry is soaked in clean water for thirty minutes, then removed to drip dry. After a few minutes of dripping, the meat is salted and left to hang for sixty minutes to further draw out any remaining blood. After sixty minutes of salting, the meat is washed three times in cold, clean water to remove any remaining salt.

Source

  A bird should be placed with its open cavity downward so that the liquid drains off as it is koshering, and similarly, a piece of meat with a cavity, such as an unboned brisket, should be placed with its cavity draining downward. One may stack meat that one is koshering as high as one wants, as long as the liquid can drain off the meat properly. After the salting is complete, the meat is rinsed thoroughly in order to wash away all the blood and salt. The poskim instruct that one should rinse the meat three times

Source

On the other I have eaten lots of elk meat where we soaked the meat and washed it to get almost all of the blood out and remove more during the cutting and packaging process, and having some blood still in it really isn't a problem.


According to Le Creuset's care and usage instructions for their enamel coated cast iron cookware, sudden drastic temperature changes may result in cracking.  Other anecdotal remarka on various cooking websites also agree that cracking can occur from sudden tempurature changes.

Le Creuset website


How to replace marshmallows in rice krispies cakes?

There are plenty of recipes for rice krispie cakes without marshmallows in them. Rather than trying to substitute in your recipe, you'd be better off making something slightly different but that's been tested.

Here's an example from tesco. The recipe we use is based on golden syrup, but isn't online. A search for "rice Krispie cake -marshmallow", possibly with the addition of "-chocolate" will find you a decent selection.


How do I prepare ash bolete mushrooms for recipes?

Every experienced forager knows that the first steps of preparation happen already at the place where you found the mushrooms. Most of what’s listed below is general advice for mushroom foraging, as it’s valid for your ash-tree boletes and hopefully helpful for other readers with similar questions.

In the wild:

Pick only what you consider fit to eat and what you can identify with certainty1. Leave overly old, mushy, damaged, half-eaten, maggot-infested... mushrooms right where they are. With a bit of experience, you will recognize these before cutting them off. Let them be food for animals and disperse their spores.
Check for hitchhikers like slugs, spiders and insects and remove them. A slimy trail left by a slug wandering all over the mushrooms in your basket is not pleasant.
The same is valid for larger bits of dirt and debris. Even if one kind of mushroom is dry, others can be sticky  (or get sticky during transport) and you’ll thank me later in the kitchen when you don’t have to painstakingly wash or pick of caked-on pine needles.
For some species, there are special steps recommend, e.g. removing the skin from slimy spike-caps. No specific treatment is necessary for ash-tree boletes.
Ensure freshness of your mushrooms by transporting them carefully, preferably in (shallow) baskets or, in a pinch, paper bags. Don’t pile them too high or delicate mushrooms at the bottom may get smushed. And don’t even think about putting them in plastic bags on a sunny day.
The jury is still out re. the “cut vs. twist” debate, but as you want to cut off the bottom part of the stems anyway, you can simply cut the stem, especially if you will be using the mushrooms more or less immediately.

At home:

Immediately after your return, do a second “hitchhiker and debris” check as described above. Use this also to make absolutely sure you have only edible mushrooms 1.
If you have a mixture of mushrooms (and large harvest), consider sorting them. You can go by species, but group will often suffice, e.g. boletes in one pile, chanterelles in another. From a cook’s perspective, you will probably want to use them for different preparations anyway.
Ideally, you will be preparing your mushrooms as soon as possible. Always consider the storage times for different mushrooms - chanterelles will keep in the fridge for a few days, a shaggy ink cap should hit the pan basically as soon as you come home. So plan accordingly. If you must store mushrooms, a paper bag in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator is best. You want to prevent drying out, yet avoid condensation.
Contrary to what you may have heard, mushrooms can be washed - but proceed with care. There’s a huge difference between a quick rinse to remove dirt and dust and soaking them in water. I personally would never wash very delicate mushrooms like the aforementioned shaggy ink cap, for example. For mature boletes, you may notice that the spongy hymenophore at the underside of the cap tends to soak up water (more on that below). A brush and a wet cloth or paper towel will come handy if you don’t want to wash your mushrooms. If you wash, do it before cooking the mushrooms, not before putting them in the fridge.
Next, take a paring knife and cut off all damaged or dried-out bits, stem ends (if not done at the forest) etc.
For some kinds, halving them lengthwise is recommend  - morels, for example, have hollow stems and I have removed more than one small slug that had gnawed a little hole in it and taken up residence inside. Boletes sometimes have lots of fly larvae mining through the stem and later the cap, a quick cut will help you gauge the degree and whether it’s usable. In general, if you see “pin pricks” when cutting crosswise, you may want to investigate further.
The spongy layer of boletes is often discussed. As described above, it soaks up liquids and becomes mushy, sometimes slimy during cooking. Some eaters find this very unpleasant. I suggest removing it for larger mushrooms and leaving it for young ones where it’s thinner and firmer. My personal rule of thumb: if you can squish it with your thumb, it gets removed. A teaspoon or melon baller is a good tool for this. If you plan on making something where the mushrooms are cut finely (duxelles) or puréed, you can ignore this bit.
For the ash boletes in the question, this is not applicable: their tube layer is hard to remove and as it’s comparatively thin, it won’t be much of an issue. For very old specimens, you could try scraping it off nevertheless. As I said, it’s largely a matter of taste (or rather texture, as the actual taste is not different).

Now your mushrooms should be prepared for whatever dish you planned. Cut as needed and proceed with your recipe.

As you asked about separating caps and stems, note that some mushrooms have stringy, fibrous stems. Boletes in the other hand are “use everything” mushrooms.

1 The importance of a proper id can’t be stressed enough. If you come across a mushroom that you want to identify at home or are unsure about, keep it separate from the general collection in your basket and observe as many details as you can. Consider digging out the stem instead of cutting and note the flora around. Photos help. Never taste an unknown mushroom and I have cleaned my knife after cutting “mystery mushrooms”. Exaggerating? Perhaps. But as they say, there is no such thing as an old, bold mushroom hunter."


Reliable Cookie-to-Butter Ratio for Crumb Crusts

I don't know that this is a perfect ratio, but I will say it's my favorite crumb crust. It's from America's Test Kitchen's Lemon Cheesecake.

5 ounces Nabisco Barnum's Animal Crackers or Social Tea Biscuits
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and kept warm

So, 5 oz crumbs, 1.5 oz sugar, 2 oz butter.


Whatever you do, don't eat the wax rind.

You may think this goes without saying, but the number of times I've seen people unfamiliar with a wax-coated cheese slice and eat with the wax still attached might surprise you.

(Source: lived in the Netherlands for 5 years, across the street from an incredible cheese shop.)


Does anyone pre-juice their fruit juice for sale?

There are.  There was a story on a local station about JRINK when they hit some anniversary a year or so ago.  (It might've also been about the owners ... being successful female, minority millenials)
They're doing some sort of 'single page app' thing on their website, so I can't link straight to their about page  or FAQ, but it confirms that they're juicing & bottling.  (so people can do the 'grab and go' thing) :

Why We're Different
...

Locally made every night, we delivery [sic] straight to your door and our stores daily.

...

How long will JRINKs last?
Because they are raw and cold-pressed, JRINKs will last up to 5 days if refrigerated and unopened.  Nut milks are ~3 days due to the fatty acid component, leading to higher rates of oxidization.  If you drink more than 2 a day, we suggest waiting at least 2-3 hours between each JRINK.  Once opened, please consume within the next 3 hours.  All our juices are date labeled upon producing and we ask that you JRINK responsibly (i.e. keep them cold!).

I have no idea what their process is, nor what the quality is ... I just know that it exists, and their model seems to be successful for the market they're in.


Can I use meat thermometers to measure room and oven temperature?

A meat thermometer is a device that can be left in food in the oven, the thermapop is not a meat thermometer because the plastic casing and electronic are not oven safe. If you put your thermapop in the oven and left it there you'd destroy it. You could use it to measure air temperature outside the oven without a problem, although you'd use up the battery quickly if you left it on constantly.

The two most widely available meat thermometer types are mechanical ones which stick into the meat and have a dial you can read, and electronic ones which have a probe on a wire which goes into the meat in the oven. Either type can be used to measure oven temperature, you just put the probe in the oven without being in meat.

Given how dirt cheap oven thermometers and room thermometers are these days there's not much net gain though, you may as well invest a small amount of money in the right tool for the right job.


Can a water bath be used to bake brownies?

For cheese cakes water bath makes more sense cause you want to avoid burning of the batter by keeping the heat contact directly from the tray.

For brownies the contact of the hot plate is required, and that is how you get a little solid outer part.

When you try to water bath brownies, they would have more or less like cheese cake texture, I actually tried it.


If you have a pre-cooked burger patty, I'd suggest heating it in a frying pan / skillet over a high heat, add a splash of water and then cover with a small heat-proof bowl (a cloche), or a lid on your pan. The water will steam the burger back into life, adding moisture and trapping the heat to more thoroughly warm it through.

I also use this technique when initially cooking burgers if you're not grilling outside - does wonders to melt any cheese you lay over the top of the patty in the pan!


The more exposure to air it has the dryer it will become over time, so keep it in some sort of sealed container or wrap it in plastic-wrap (or foil) immediately after purchasing to lock in the moisture.


There's some good advice here:

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/blog/advice/food-safety-tips-food-spoilage

In summary, everything goes bad, quinoa is no exception. To be safe, refrigerate when possible. Leaving food at room temp is asking for trouble.


I've never tried making a bread dough with that much sugar in it. You're up to ~80g sugar, compared to 140g flour (a "baker's ratio" of 57%).

It's possible that much sugar interferes with gluten development. Since you're already adding butter later (at around 4:07 in the video), the first thing I'd try is to mix the extra sugar and butter together, and add them both there. That's probably being done after some of the kneading because butter interferes with gluten development. So if the sugar does too, that may help.

Also, sugar definitely makes yeast more active (they're eating the sugar). So you probably need to let it rise for less time. Go by how much it's expanded (risen), not by the time.

Second thing I'd try would be a tad bit more flour. Knead in a little more and see if the stickyness returns to manageable levels.

Third thing would be to use some artificial sweetener. Those are substantially sweeter (per gram) than sugar, but of course have aftertastes... The combination of some artificial sweetener and still plenty of sugar will mostly mask the aftertaste.

Fourth, similarly, different natural sugars have a different sweetness level (per gram). Fructose, for example, tastes sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). A mix supposedly tastes sweeter still.

Finally... consider just serving it with syrup! Or icing or frosting it after baking.


Why are my homemade lobster rolls so much worse than those at the restaurants whose recipes I'm using?

Restaurants in general use WAY more salt than home cooks do.  I'd try increasing the salt and see what happens to the flavour.  The same is often true of butter.

Also, some restaurants that publish recipes, do not actually publish something that is faithful to what they serve.  I noticed it with a dish with which I was very familiar from a favourite restaurant. Certain ingredients were completely missing from the published recipe.

Edited to add:
The sweetness diminishes with storage time and the meat from the smaller claw is sweeter and more tender. (reference) It's also possible that a particular type of lobster or size of lobster is more or less sweet. Maybe you need to get multiple fresh lobsters and use only selected meat for your roll (and do something else with the leftovers)?  In On Food and Cooking, there is a suggestion that vanilla (normally used for sweet cooking) can be used when cooking things like lobster.  It doesn't directly state what the vanilla does, but it's possible that it might increase the taste of sweetness.  A bit of googling does turn up mention of lobster roll recipes with vanilla as an ingredient, so it might be worth experimenting.


How to reduce bitterness in silken tofu 'cream' soup?

The bitterness was likely due to one of two things: the vegetarian soup stock or the packaged fried onions.  The stock would be a like candidate if you used a concentrate or boullion, rather than stock-in-a-box, which tends to be too sweet, if anything.  Otherwise, look to the fried onions; if the ones you used are burnt or rancid, they would add an unpleasant bitterness to anything you added them to.  Try tasting the ingredients individually until you locate the bitter flavor, and then swap in a better quality ingredient.


Is it possible to bake bread or the like using a stovetop tagine?

I've cooked bread on the stove many times. My setup was a cast iron pan with a metal trivet inside and a small pot inside that, which is what the bread dough was placed in. I then had an old rice cooker pot inverted over the pan. That essentially created a small stovetop oven. The small pot was on the trivet so the pot didn't get direct heat from the cast iron pan - otherwise, the bread would burn on the bottom. I did this for many years to make one or two servings of bread every morning for breakfast.

You could likely do something similar in your tagine. Figuring out the timing for the bread was trial and error. There's just no other effective way.

As for flat breads, I cook them using my cast iron or carbon steel frying pan. I've tried baking naan, but we don't like the texture of it, so frying is the way to go for us.


You haven't really explained what you did, so it's a bit hard to give useful advice on how to overcome a failure, but my patê à choux pastries have always come out sized proportional to the amount of pastry I use.

Since choux doesn't tend to spread much, make sure your base is close to the diameter you're after; I just pipe inside out, creating a connected spiral, until I reach the desired diameter. I continue piping inward through the middle of the original grooves. My preference is to make tiny ones, but if I needed to make larger ones I'd just continue spiraling in and out as needed until I get to the point where I only have a "tip" left. With a typical Ateco extra-large tip you'll probably get about an inch of puff for each layer, so you probably just need about 3 layers, because you can probably compensate with an overstuffed filling. With more layers than that you may lose structural support.

Some "giant" cream puffs I've seen online just used a large ice cream scoop, but I think that'll probably only get you to about 3-4" diameter at the most. If you don't like the piping approach, you might cluster three scoops near each other and wet-pat them so that they touch.

From then on, it's just a matter of adjusting time and temperature. Larger ones likely need a longer baking time. Additionally, larger ones may benefit from a larger proportion of egg white to encourage a bit crisper outer layer.


Need advice re chance of damage to a stainless steel tray in a very hot oven

The temperature of boiling water is 100° Celsius or 212° Fahrenheit. This is considerably colder than the self-cleaning cycle in your oven. It would be perfectly sufficient to set the oven temperature to about 120°C/240°F to heat the tray. It would not take long to reach the desired temperature for the tray at those lower temperatures since metals conduct heat well.


How long should roast pork be cooked so that it stays light pink?

The important part of cooking meat to a safe range is a combination of time and temperature. The ranges that you often see from people like the USDA are a temperature at which everything nasty dies instantly. This is a much more definitive test than saying that you need to reach a temperature and hold it for a certain period of time. The US government has a great table showing time and temperature for cooking pork safely (just scroll down a little from the link). As you can see, it's safe to cook meat well below the often given 160F. In fact, it's instantly safe to eat at 144F. I assume that the reason for the 16 degree buffer on the often stated temperature is just to make sure people don't run afoul of the magic number.

What you must understand is that, at these temperatures, it's imperative that you don't mess about with the amount of time. They must be held for at least the time given. But, 140F only needs to be held there for a minute. Once you've got something all the way to 140F, residual cooking should hold it there for at least 60 seconds. Just don't play this one fast and loose.

Cooking something like a roast is slightly more complicated than just getting the meat to temperature though. Generally there's a lot of fat and intramuscular tissue that you want to rend and denature respectively. That's what makes the meat so juicy and tender. While this will begin to happen at lower temperatures, it takes longer. So the meat may not come out as tender or flavor full as you'd like.

I would suggest a little experimentation. As mentioned, the thermometer will be a huge help if you want to be able to do this consistently (due to varying sizes of meat). I'd throw it in the oven and run some tests. I usually do Boston Butt to 168F, and this comes out with some pink parts, but I'm not sure how pink you want the meat (or how much of it should be pink). I'd recommend starting at about 160F and then moving up or down in temperature based on how the meal comes out.


Using salmon in 2 days, freezer or fridge?

It depends. Temperature works on a scale, the cooler it is, usually the less active bacteria will be.

With this in mind, my fridge has a special zone for meats and fish, very very close to zero degrees. The food won't freeze, but bacterial activity will be slowed enough that I would put it there a couple of days without worrying.

Freezing goes way beyond zero, usually - 13 to - 21 in some fridges, but it changes the quality of the product, specially if not vacuum sealed.

If your fridge has a special zone for meats like mine, I would use it. If not, freeze it just to be safe.


How should soda made with "ginger bug" smell/taste?

if it tasted extra 'yeasty' you're probably just fermenting too far. try starting with less of the bug per liter of liquid, and stop the fermentation sooner.


Can I put a disposable aluminum pan directly over a burner?

I wouldn't risk it. Aluminum melts at 660°C and a gas flame is much hotter than that. Of course, the heat dissipates rapidly when you go away from a small flame, but these disposable pans are awfully thin and can quickly heat a lot. They are meant for the oven, which practically never exceeds 300°C.

If you really have no pan to melt it in think of some other alternative vessel. You probably don't need much melted margarine at once. Consider using a cezve, or a ladle (you will have to hold the ladle over the flame). Or you can try an oven-safe porcelain mug, but you risk discoloring the mug's bottom. It is less likely that a porcelain mug will be damaged than a thin alu disposable pan, but I still wouldn't risk an expensive mug.