Is there a significant difference between pizza ovens and conventional ovens with pizza functionality?

The linked question in comments makes some general points about dedicated pizza ovens.

However, to address the final question about temperature differences, the general answer is that it depends on the style of pizza you'd prefer to make and the dough/topping characteristics.  Some doughs and pizza styles are designed to be cooked at lower temperatures for longer times.  If you like thick-crust or "deep dish" style pizzas, an oven that is too hot can burn the crust and/or toppings before the pizza is fully baked.

Assuming that you intend to bake thin-crust pizza, generally the hotter the oven, the better the results.  Traditional Neapolitan pizza has official regulations requiring a minimum cooking surface temperature of 430°C, with an oven temperature at a minimum of 485°C.  (Note the Fahrenheit conversion temps are swapped in the document from what they should be.)  They are also required to have a bake time less than 90 seconds.

It's doubtful that one could achieve that in a traditional home oven or even most dedicated pizza ovens for home use.  There are lots of minor changes that happen with such fast cooking, such as the slight charring patterns on the bottom of the crust and on the edges, more significant oven spring, more rapid drying of the dough which alters the texture, etc.  However, by varying the dough composition (type of flour, other added ingredients besides yeast, salt, and water, such as oil/fat or sugar), one can create other styles of pizza that have some characteristics baked at lower temperatures.  Some people, for example, like to put a little sugar and oil into their crusts to change texture and flavor -- baking those pizzas at 500°C would likely produce excessive browning and charring.

A final thing to note is that temperature is often not as important as heat transfer rate in achieving pizza results.  Many people recommend making pizza on a preheated stone to increase the heat transfer rate.  However, in a home oven with a maximum temperature of 250-285°C or so, there's only so much you can do to raise the temperature of your cooking surface.

On the other hand, you can increase the rate of heat transfer into your pizza by doing things like (1) using a large thick hunk of steel to bake your pizza on (which can transfer heat much more quickly than a stone) and (2) turning on the broiler after the oven has hit its maximum temperature, which will increase radiant heat transferred into the top of the pizza (beyond that conveyed from the air in the oven).  The combination of maximized heat transfer on the top and the bottom of a pizza can bake the pizza a lot more quickly and achieve results that would normally require a much hotter oven.  It won't quite get you to Neapolitan-style pizza in a home oven, but it can get significantly closer.

(I can bake a pizza in roughly 3 to 4 minutes in my home oven using these techniques, a lot longer than 90 seconds, but significantly less than the 8-10 minutes or longer most people take with standard stones.  But the major noticeable differences aren't the cook time -- but rather significantly increased oven spring, better texture, and better browning.)


What is the white sediment / residue found in ginger juice?

This white sediment is just something that happens with unfiltered ginger juice. Don't worry--it wasn't contamination, nor any unusual chemical reaction with your equipment.
This happens with fruit juice, too. Fresh fruit juice separates and needs to be shaken to get things reincorporated. If you leave citrus juice long enough, you'll get pulp floating at the top, then also get a watery layer and a cloudier layer.
What you are witnessing is the exact same thing, but with a smaller scale particle. When you allow ginger juice to sit, a white gluey texture layer will sink to the bottom with a more watery juice on top. You would need to use a very fine filter to separate out these solids, or you can just let them settle out naturally and pour the liquid off the top like you did. However, that white stuff has a lot of the good yummy gingerness in it, so I would want to make sure it got stirred into anything I made with my ginger juice. If you look at the fancy cold pressed juices at the grocer to find to ones with ginger in them, you'll notice they likely have the same white stuff on the bottom of the bottle (with instructions to shake it up before drinking!).


Yes.  The National Center for Home Food Preservation recommends low temperature pasteurization for fermented pickles, where you put them in a 180F water bath for 30 minutes.  This avoids softening the pickles through cooking.  Make sure that they have completed fermenting before this, as the pasteurization will stop the fermentation process.


Cold Smoking in the Tropics - Condensation

Condensation occurs when the temperature of humid air drops below its "dew point". In other words, at ambient temperature (35° C), the amount of water in the air is 85% of what the air can hold. But the air near the copper will be quite a bit cooler, enough to make that, enough to rise the relative humidity to 100%.

So with that rough sketch in mind, back to your meat. While the condensation is collection on your copper because the copper is cool, your meat should be warm throughout the duration of the smoke--about the same temperature as the air in fact--which would not cause the humid air to condense on it.


I have leftover baked chicken - can I reheat it on the grill?

You can, but you'll likely end up drying it out if you just slap it on the grill.

If you're just trying to warm it up while grilling something else, I'd put it in a (relatively flat) foil packet, and use low or indirect heat, so you're just warming it, not heating it so far that you overcook it.


I would think the likely problem is that you used double cream, so the butterfat content was too high. Half and half cream is more like UK single cream.


does leaving the pizza dough longer to ferment compensate for putting too low amount of yeast?

In short and general: yes.
There is a dependency between the amount of yeast used and the required leavening time. However as a natural growing process it is not following a linear function but an exponential function to the basis of the Euler constant. But before doing an in-depth mathematical analysis of this problem, I would rather recommend to carefully watch your dough. As soon as it has roughly doubled in size it should be ready to use or to swap it in the fridge. In general long fermentation helps to develop more 'complex' flavours.
I personally use for most of my doughs 2-2.5g of fresh yeast for 1kg of dough, let it rise for 4-5h on room temperature and another 20-44h in the fridge.


Well, you can always add some broth -- chicken would be good. That would allow you to control the salt more so than using boullion crystals.

As far as cooking the vegetables, it depends on whether there are already pieces of vegetables in the frozen soup. If yes, then you may want to cook your add-ins first so that the stuff that's already in the soup doesn't get mushy. If no, you could cook them in the soup.

(However, I have a caveat as far as cooking noodles in broth. When you cook noodles, some of the starch from the pasta transfers into the cooking liquid. This is why pasta water is often used to help with the texture of pasta sauce. If you don't mind having the starch in your soup, you can go ahead and cook the noodles there. If you are bothered by that, cook the noodles separately, drain, and then add them.)


How can I create the equivalent of a fresh cake yeast from my sourdough culture?

Food Grade Yeasts, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 44 (3) 407–415 (2006) describes the process by which yeast is commercially prepared in good detail for an overview.

There are several stages of cultivation and growing and increasing the yeast biomass, culminating as its final steps:

  Treatments and packaging The yeast in the final trade bioreactor is
  concentrated by centrifugation and finally harvested by a filter press
  or a rotary vacuum filter, until it contains 27–33 % of dry cell mass.
  The yeast cake is blended with suitable amounts of water and
  emulsifiers and cutting oils (soybean or cottonseed oil) to obtain its
  extrudable form. The yeast is then packaged and shipped as compressed
  fresh baker’s yeast, or thermolysed and dried to form various types of
  dry yeast. The dried yeast is packed under vacuum or nitrogen
  atmosphere. The packaging method varies among manufacturers and
  depends on the type of yeast product.

Note that this process requires assorted items of industrial or laboratory equipment which may not be suitable to the home environment, including centrifuges and filter presses or vacuuum filters.

If you really only want to preserve your starter strain without maintaining an active starter, simply drying a sample and then storing it in the freezer may be a better option.  This process is described at Breadtopia.


So, if you've has sushi in the USA, you've had sushi that's been previously frozen.  US regulations do not allow serving raw-from-the-ocean fish.  For that matter, even in Japan, salmon is frozen before serving as sushi, because as a fresh-and-salt-water fish, salmon has multiple parasites that are directly transmissable to humans.  Don't eat it raw.

Speaking from personal experience, I have had actual raw sushi while in Japan (some fish and shrimp were even killed in front of me).  It does make a difference in taste and texture, especially for toro (fatty tuna) and ebi (sweet shrimp).  Beyond that, it's a bit hard to tell the difference between the effects of freezing and the effects of quality differences in fish (I had raw fish in the Tsujiki fish market), and unless you can get "caught yesterday" fish you don't want it raw anyway; fish degrades quickly.

So, so sum up: if you have access to caught-this-morning, ocean-only fish (not salmon), you should try it raw for sushi, but previously frozen is still pretty good, and safer.


Can I make potatoes sweet by cooking them?

A raw potato is 79% water, 17% carbohydrates (of which 88% is starch) and 2% protein. So your question is essentially: can starch be turned into sugar?

In theory the answer is clearly 'yes': this is what plants do when they break down the starch created as the final product of photosynthesis, and what happens in the human digestive system. Starch degradation is a complicated process involving several different amylase enzymes.

In practice, I think the answer is 'no'. In a raw potato, starch is present in many small granules. When cooked, the starch gelatinizes: the granules burst and water is absorbed. This is a irreversible chemical change that obviously has a big effect on taste and texture. But it does not produce significant amounts of sugars.

A closer match to the starch degradation process in plants occurs in brewing. When beer is brewed from barley by heating a 'mash': the natural amylases present in the grain convert starch to sugars; these are then fermented by yeast. The exceptionally sweet-toothed might try to mimic this process with potatoes, adding something like wheat, barley or sweet potato that has natural amylase. You could then boil the potato 'proto-beer' to extract the sugar.


Part of your problem, as stated, is attempting to convert volume measurements to mass measurements. You cannot do that without knowing the bulk density of the materials and tossing that factor into the equation ie. a tablespoom of cornstarch (UK corn flour) does not have the same mass as a tablespoon of fine salt. (In the USA, think weight instead of mass though it is technically incorrect)
One great little program I use for conversions is found at https://joshmadison.com/convert-for-windows/. It is free!
If working with a Roolander's recipe, try to remember that their tablespoons have 20ml volume not 15ml as is common in much of the rest of the world.


Making sorbet with fruit frozen before processing

Thaw just enough to easily remove the tops and cut into halves or quarters, then puree while still semi-frozen. That will give you a head start on the chilling of the sorbet mixture. You want that super cold anyway, before you put it into the machine.


Avocado substitute in blueberry muffin recipe

In general, when making muffin recipes, you can replace around 1/2 of the oil (sometimes up to 2/3) with applesauce or mashed banana without significant problems.  I don't know if you could get away with it in this particular case, as avocado would be a solid fat, so it might adversely affect the texture.

I'd personally try replacing the avocado with either mashed banana, coconut oil (mashed up some, but not melted), or a combination of the two.


Substituting sugar with a liquid stevia concentrate in a cake

Use dextrin.

On the theory that dextrin (insoluble fiber) is molecularly similar to sucrose, I made chocolate chip cookies and substituted dextrin 1:1 for all the sugar, sweetening the dough with erythritol (and regular chocolate chips).  I used the CVS brand dextrin which is sold with fiber supplements like Metamucil.  A brand name for dextrin is Benefiber.  It is very much a bulking agent exactly as you request.  It has no flavor.

The dough was the right consistency and the end product was more the consistency of shortbread than a toll house cookie, but they were good.  No GI issues either.


What is the shelf life of my home made coleslaw dressing?

Your coleslaw dressing is almost certain to be sufficiently acidic as to have an essentially unlimited (call it at least a month or two) in the refrigerator.   Commercial mayonnaise is acidic enough off the shelf to discourage bacterial growth pretty well, and you have enhanced its acidity with the cider vinegar.

The balsamic dressing--it is difficult to say.  It depends on how acidic it is, and that depends critically on the recipe.

See also:

Room temperature "rest" for fresh mayo?
Making "long(er)-life" homemade mayonnaise


How do I reheat a casserole in the oven?

There is no single answer.  It depends mostly on thick the casserole is, and how cold it is.

For a not-frozen casserole, I recommend starting with about 3/4 of the original bake time at about 350 F, and then seeing if it is hot enough.  An instant read thermometer in the center should read about 150 F to 160 F for service.

You may need to put foil over the top to prevent over-browning, or increase the heat at the end to about 400 F to encourage more browning, depending on the nature of the particular casserole.

Since you are just heating it through, generally any temperature from about 300 to 400 F is going to work, with an appropriate adjustment to the time, if there are other items in the oven that need a specific temperature.


Toasted nuts keep their flavor pretty well, the way to keep them is the same way you'd buy them at the store, ie a sealed container.

What you get from freshly toasting nuts is more aromatics than flavors. Most of the aromatics go pretty quick so there's no preserving them, it's use 'em or lose 'em. Could you substitute pre-toasted nuts? Sure, it won't be quite the same, but it will be close.


Using an ice cream maker with its own compressor

Usually with compressor machines you just turn it on and get it super cold, then make sure the dasher is spinning before pouring in the mix. Make sure the mix is below 40°F (4C) beforehand. I also chill down the spoon, container I’m putting the ice cream in, and any add-in’s I’m adding to it. Then spin it until the motor starts slowing down, or until it gets to a firm soft-serve consistency. Enjoy!


Out of personal experience and out of personal taste I'll give you the following:

If you like it moist 55 degrees C for 4 hours.
If you like it to feel like steak: cook it like steak.
If you like your meat to feel more like fish cook it like steak for 20 minutes. Then drop the temperature by 10 degrees C.


Why should a stock be simmered and not boiled?

Well there's a few things.

First, higher temperatures mean more volatile aroma and flavour compounds will be released, leaving a flatter-tasting stock.

Second, boiling means more motion within the liquid, which makes it harder to skim off the protein scum which forms on the surface while a stock is cooking. In addition, some of the scum will just become reincorporated into the stock via a process similar to emulsion.

Third, boiling induces faster breakdown of proteins and other particulate matter, leaving you with a cloudier end product. This is of course of very little concern for stocks which will end up incorporated into (opaque) soups or sauces.

Of the three, only the first is of any real concern to home cooks. The other two issues aren't a huge deal at the restaurant level (modulo need for clarity in consomme etc), particularly if the restaurant uses Superbags or algae filtration for clarifying stocks.


Meat thermometer doesn't "stop" measuring. How to know actual measurement?

To answer the "how far" part of the question: you want the tip of the probe dead center, where the meat is thickest, that's where it'll take the longest to heat up.

Otherwise, as the comments mentionned, heat transfer from the meat to the probe is not immediate. Give it a good 20/30 seconds.


What's the best way to learn what each seasoning is?

Spices can sometimes taste different when their context(other spices and foods) or preparation is altered.  Other than trying known recipes, I occasionally taste an unfamiliar spice in several states over a period of time:

raw in cheek for a little while
Infused (like tea).  Try some plain, some with salt, and some with sugar, (an acid like lemon juice or vinegar may be a third option).
Cooked and raw with a grain like brown rice. Try some plain, some with salt, and some with sugar.
Cooked and raw with meat.

Some spices have surprised me, such as turmeric, which was familiar to me with savory dishes, but which I had never previously tried with sugar.  Some spices taste about the same everywhere raw or cooked but you'll find new uses, like cinnamon in broth, while others will only be useful cooked or uncooked.


Should I fry the chicken first or should I pressure cook it first?

Frying the chicken tends to set the muscle fibers by drawing moisture out. An example of this would be taking a thin (1cm) cutlet and frying it until both sides start to turn golden. It will be pretty dry and hard.

Pressure cooking it on the other hand tends to soften the muscle fibers without drawing moisture in (if anything, its putting moisture in).

So, ideally, you should boil/pressure cook your chicken prior to frying in oil (though do make sure to drain the chicken first to prevent splatters!). Additionally, you should undercook the chicken slightly in the pressure cooker since you'll be finishing it in the fryer.

If you are broasting the chicken, then you are going about the recipe incorrectly by frying then pressure cooking it. When broasting, you should pressure fry - if that makes sense.


How to avoid juice flowing out of meatloaf when puncturing it with a thermometer?

If you have the ability to do so, cook the meatloaf with a probe or thermometer in it. That is certainly the approach I take when I have to cook a pork or poultry meatloaf or something of the like.
Otherwise, I would recommend a high angle of attack (think 30-45 degrees) from outer corner towards center of mass and you may get away with some plain-ole physics of the juices not having an efficient exit.
Good luck!


Should I crush the spice for Chai Tea Latte?

The way we make Chai in India ( there are lots of variants of the spice mix) is to use the spices whole while brewing the tea and to strain the tea before drinking.

Though for cardomom you should crush it to release the flavor. I would suggest using your hand or the broad side of your knife blade.

If you decide to use ginger, it might be a good idea to grate it to increase the surface area so that the flavor is absorbed quicker. (Ginger chai is really good in winter :))


Can I make choux pastry with an electric hob?

I really don't think it's necessary for this application, Didgeridrew's advice regarding the pastry seems spot-on to me. However, if you really want an instantaneous temperature change for any reason and you're stuck with a problematic stove, you can make that change if you can control individual burners separately.

Keep another burner set to "high" while you're working on the burner set to "low". Then when you want a quick increase in the heat level, you just switch burners. (Hobs = Burners, right?) You only need to keep the "high" burner on for the length of time it takes to heat, or just keep a pot of water boiling on the "high" burner until you're ready to make the swap. Of course, the process works just as well in reverse.


That would be a difficult substitution, because egg whites and egg yolks have very different roles in baking. It is even worse that the recipe is already not a robust standard recipe, but a lowfat, low-sugar recipe, where all tolerances have probably been used up in engineering a texture which works with the current substitutions. It is doable, but it is not a matter of "one look and one can tell what will work out", you would have to go through a process of trial and error.

To kick off your recipe redoing, start with the eggs only. The closest results will be by obtained by using two whole eggs. This will certainly give you a different outcome than intended by the author, it will be wetter, and may bake differently. If you don't like it that way, for the following attempts, start reducing the applesauce in 10% steps. This will dial back on the wetness problem. If that doesn't work and the change in applesauce amount only moves you between a dry, crumbly texture and wet, soggy texture, you might have to dial back to using only one whole egg and adding one or two egg whites, doing half the substitution so to speak. Another improvement may be gained by adding more fat back in, for example in the form of using cocoa powder with a high fat content.

In the end, it also depends on your personal preferences. For some people, only the best texture will do, and then the task is very difficult. For others, any brownie is a good brownie, and you can just drop in those whole eggs and enjoy.


Corelle Visions Covered Versa Pot 1.25 L

No, Visions cookware is made of glass, which does not conduct electricity.  Induction cookers require conductive cookware.


I have "The Cookery of England" by Elisabeth Ayrton, and it seems to meet most of your conditions. The introduction is a brief history of traditional English food, there are historical anecdotes interspersed in the text, and yes, it has a recipe for scones, and also for cheese scones, but there is little food porn - sadly, the only picture is on the cover.


How can I mask the flavor of frozen vegetables in soup?

What you are describing is often worst when the vegetables are thrown together without care as to what vegetables will do well stewed for a while, and which vegetables only need to be heated through and will suffer if they are cooked longer.

A great example of that is in the case of typical "frozen mixed vegetables". Carrots are never nicely tender in mixtures like that. Lima beans are downright chalky and peas are total mush. If you want to use frozen vegetables, avoid mixtures.

Pick the vegetables that you actually enjoy, and add them to your soup at a time appropriately distant from the time that you actually want to serve the soup. So bring lima beans to a hard simmer before you add corn, bring that to a hard simmer before you add frozen potatoes, add frozen carrots, bring that to a hard simmer before you finally add peas just before you serve - your soup will be better than emptying a bag of mixed vegetables into broth.


Rice cooker problem: film appears after cooking

It is perfectly okay to eat. I am going to assume when you cook rice, the rice comes out a bit too moist. The "film" is literally the water and the starch from the rice that has dried and turned into a thin film of rice starch.

If you like your rice the way it currently is, then there is nothing to worry about. But if it indeed is too moist, then decrease the amount of water you use to cook the rice.


Can I finish cooking a pork roast next day after partially cooking it

This is an instance where sous vide really works well.
You can pre-cook your pork roast to 140 for 4 to 6 hours in the sous vide the day before.  Chill in an ice bath (still in the bag that you cook it in) to bring it down to safe temperature quickly, and then into the fridge.
the next day you can sear it in a number of different ways (broiler, on the grill, in cast iron, either whole or cut into chops and sear individually), and that should be plenty of heat to re-heat it nicely.


Is there a loss of taste when pressure cooking bitter gourd?

Taking into consideration your purpose for eating bitter gourd, and your objective of cooking it quickly, to “lessen the cooking time”.

The fastest way to cook it is to stir fry it, with eggs, meat or just by itself with some oil, garlic and shallots. from prep to eat time is about 20 minutes. Or add it to a chicken broth for a quick blanch before consuming it as part of a soup.

From experience, pressure cooking it will not save any time, rendering the bitter gourd into something lumpy and not as palatable.  Part of the older generations belief is that it also loses its “medicinal” and nutritional benefits.


Can you ferment tomatoes in a fermenting crock with water seal?

Ripe Tomatoes

I've fermented ripe tomatoes, not on their own but in mixed vegetables. They get very soft. I used a mason jar, but I imagine a crock would have similar results.

Note that this was a brine style ferment (submerged in salt water), not a kraut-style ferment (mashed with salt and submerged in its own liquid).

Personally, I won't do it again—but then I prefer ferments that are on the crisp side, so maybe it's a matter of preference. I feel fermentation works best with hardier vegetables, though it's possible that some salsa and chutney recipes may involve fermenting red tomatoes.

Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes, however, are a different story and ferment wonderfully. With garlic, dill, bay leaves, coriander, and black peppercorns, kosher green tomatoes are one of my favorite ferments.

The only catch is that they can be hard to find, even at farmer's markets. But at this time of year (fall), I always have some left on our tomato vines, and I find fermenting is easier than fried green tomatoes. If you don't have tomato plants, maybe friends or neighbors do.

"Undecided" Tomatoes

This is completely anecdotal and includes some guesswork, but may still be helpful:

This fall I put up four jars of green tomatoes to ferment. Three had major problems with kahm (benign yeast). Even though I aggressively managed the kahm, removing it at least daily, those jars ended up with an off-putting taste and I ended up discarding them... tears in my eyes.

I used the same procedure for all four jars that I've used several times before, But in the three failed jars I included a few tomatoes that were half ripe. I suspect, but don't know for sure, that the extra sugar in the ripe tomatoes made the kahm more likely. So it's possible that ripe tomatoes, as a relatively high-sugar item, could risk more yeast issues.

Safety

I can only say that I've had no foodborne illness problems, and I'm aware of nothing that makes tomatoes more susceptible to these issues than other vegetables when properly fermented (enough salt, kept below the liquid, etc.).


How to make sure teapot is safe after being on fire without water

It's probably just limescale stuck to the bottom of your pot that blackened. I don't think burnt limescale is harmful, but it shouldn't be too hard to remove. You can try cleaning it using standard means to remove scale from kettles, like using vinegar.


How can bitterness from dried mushrooms be avoided?

My advice: ditch the soaking liquid.

Here's what I just tried. I divided my dried mushrooms up into 10 bowls: 5 with dried chanterelles and 5 with dried porcini. I added equal amounts of water to each at the following temperatures 10°C (directly from the tap), 40°C, 60°C, 80°C and 100°C (or as close as I could get).

After soaking for 15 minutes I sampled the soaking liquid from each bowl.

All samples tasted astringent and bitter. Naturally the taste was less pronounced for the colder liquids, but not so much as I had expected. The liquid that the porcini soaked in tasted somewhat better than that of the chanterelles. None of the soaking liquid tasted good enough that I would add it to a stock; I was almost gagging when the experiment was complete.

I wrung as much liquid as I could out of the rehydrated mushrooms and used them to make a vegetable stock. With the flavor of the soaking liquid fresh in my mind I could still detect a note of bitterness. This was easily dealt with using a little salt.

The bitterness from the soaking liquid, I know from past experience, cannot be completely removed with salt.

Update: Looking at messages from an online forum here that deals with the same problem, I thought I'd look at some suggestions made there.

  Mushroom dust is the cause of bitterness.

There was an amount of dust in the dried mushrooms I purchased. However, I rinsed the mushrooms before starting the experiment described above, so dust doesn't account for the bitterness.

  Bitterness is due to bruised fruit that has oxidized before it dried.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but wouldn't bruising change the color of the mushroom? I didn't notice any discoloration. Anyhow this is a quality issue and I've more to say about quality later.

  Water is the problem; use a water filter.

The water in Stockholm is neither chlorinated nor laden with minerals (I have had the same kettle for years and there's not a hint of mineral deposit inside). This is not the problem.

  Mushroom quality is the issue. Use mushrooms that have been dried and stored properly.

Quality seemed like it could be an issue to me. My impression is that supermarket dried mushrooms in Stockholm don't have a high turnover and could have been on the shelves a good while. The mushrooms I used in the tests above had quite a lot of dust in their packages and that surely isn't a good sign.

Today I looked around for something of visibly better quality and found cloud ear and shiitake mushrooms in the local Asian store. These mushrooms look pretty good and their packages contained almost no dust. The dried shiitake were vacuum-sealed in a package together with an oxygen scavenger.

I soaked these mushrooms at 10°C and 80°C for 15 minutes. Cloud ear mushrooms don't have a strong smell and the soaking liquid didn't taste of much after soaking. The little taste I could detect was slightly astringent and not particularly pleasant. Incidentally, cloud ears don't rehydrate well in cold water and were still quite solid after soaking.

Dried shiitake, in contrast, have a strong musty smell and the soaking liquid was relatively strong tasting. I did taste some pleasant mushroomy flavors and for a time I had to weigh whether I liked the taste or not. Unfortunately these flavors were mixed with some definitely off tastes, among them the familiar bitterness. In the end I couldn't stomach more than three tablespoons of the liquid.

I had a notion that mushrooms soaked in cooler water might retain their mushroom flavor whilst leaching their bitter taste. To this end I drained the mushrooms that were soaked cold and added boiling water to them. After a further 15 minutes I taste tested again. Comparing this second soaking liquid to that of the shittake initially soaked at 80°C, the flavor was much more dilute. I'm sad to say that mushroom flavor is lost even when soaking cold.

My advice for now remains the same: discard the soaking liquid. If that strikes you as wasteful I would at least urge you to taste a tablespoonful of the stuff before you decide to add it to your broth.


Oven temp for dishes with different nominal cooking times?

Roasting carrots at 400F for 20 minutes, according to this Food Network recipe: Roasted Carrots

I haven't followed that specific recipe, but changing your temp and time accordingly shouldn't create any problem.


Is yogurt plus milk considered buttermilk?

Technically, this is not precisely buttermilk, but it's pretty close in both composition and usage.

The term "buttermilk" can actually refer to a wide range of fermented milk varieties.  Traditionally, buttermilk was produced by allowing natural bacteria present in cream to ferment some of the sugar lactose into lactic acid.  This made churning butter from the cream easier and also helped protect the cream from spoiling.  After the butter was churned and removed, the liquid that remained would be your buttermilk (today referred to as "traditional").

Nowadays, mass-produced "cultured" buttermilk is produced by taking pasteurized low-fat milk and introducing bacterial cultures to produce lactic acid in a similar fashion.  That's similar to how yogurt is produced, but yogurt is generally allowed to ferment for longer until the milk proteins set and thicken.  There are many varieties of yogurt with slightly different cultures from each other and from cultured buttermilk, and the beginning fat content of the milk can differ too.

So, technically these are distinct, but if you use milk to thin out yogurt, you're producing a beverage that (like buttermilk) contains lactic acid, producing that distinctive tangy flavor, and which (like buttermilk) is somewhat thicker than milk.  Your identified ratio is the same as other recommendations that I found while searching around, so you can definitely use this to substitute.

There are also other substitutions available.  This thread also covers similar information, in addition to being a colorful exploration of related terms.


How can I make macarons with "feet" in my oven at home?

http://joepastry.com/index.php?title=troubleshooting_macarons&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

The point of leaving the cookies to sit on the pan is to dry out the skin so it'll solidify better. I'd suggest resting longer (up to 50 minutes) or using a hotter oven.


By what reactions do moisture and light steal away my coffee's freshness?

There's a really nice write-up on this topic on Black Bear Coffee's website (which Aaronut linked above).

Though it's not mentioned in your question, oxygen is actually the first culprit in loss of freshness:

  Separation from oxygen has been the primary strategy, with good
  reason. Oxidation obviously contributes significantly to flavor
  degradation and loss. Ambient air contains 19-21% oxygen and only 14
  cubic centimeters of oxygen (or 70 cc of ambient air) are enough to
  render a pound of coffee dead stale....A common myth is that coffee is not able to take on oxygen immediately after roasting due to carbon dioxide degassing. However, Michael Sivetz estimates that instead of 21%, about 10% oxygen surrounds degassing coffee –certainly enough to initiate oxidation.

The article doesn't specifically mention the effects of light on the freshness of coffee, so I would assume that light's role is mostly related to increasing thermal energy.

  The common thread in all deterioration processes is thermal energy.
  The rate of staling will be a function of the thermal energy applied
  to the coffee and how it is distributed. An important mechanism of
  thermal energy distribution is moisture. Roasted coffee will also
  absorb water at any time it is exposed to humid conditions, especially
  in the presence of high temperatures. Water quenching can add
  additional water and some of the deterioration processes themselves
  create water as a by-product. Within whole bean or ground coffee,
  water will take one of two forms: free or bound.

  "Free" water is mobile and can increase staling processes by retaining
  and delivering thermal energy and oxygen to the aromatics, acids, and
  oils, or bringing together sugars and protein to initiate
  non-enzymatic browning. "Bound" water (bound to surfaces) is not as
  mobile or available to solvate reactants. The ratio between free and
  bound water is called "water activity." It is increased any time the
  coffee comes into contact with humidity or high temperatures ("bound"
  water often becomes "free" water upon heating). A relatively low
  ambient humidity of 25% can cause roasted coffee to increase its
  moisture content to 5%, with water activity also increasing. Lipid
  oxidation is accelerated at heightened water activities, but is not
  usually measured in coffee, despite its effect on freshness. Studies
  show that a water activity ratio of above 0.5 contributes
  significantly to increased rates of non-enzymatic browning and lipid
  oxidation. More studies on water activity and its relation to coffee
  freshness are currently being conducted.

"Freshness" does indeed appear to be a subjective term, so I'm not sure there's a canonical definition about the chemical components of freshness. The Black Bear does provide an example, though: "Coffees known for their delicate and sweet aromas (such as certain East African coffees) depend on aldehydes for their unique flavor and are not good candidates for open bins or ground sales."

Other sources allude to the chemical components of coffee's taste but do not always enumerate them or distinguish "freshness" from the overall "coffee"ness. Here's one such statement from a reprinting of an article that appeared in Chemical & Engineering News:

  A thousand volatile compounds have been identified in coffee, though
  just 40 or so of these substances "have been demonstrated to
  contribute to the alluring smell," Hofmann noted. They include
  β-damascenone (which has an aroma like cooked apples), 2-furfurylthiol
  (sulfury, roasty), 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy), guaiacol
  (spicy), 2,3-butanedione (buttery), and
  4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone (caramel-like).

  The flavor and aroma compounds derive from multiple chemical
  reactions, including the Maillard reaction, caramelization, polyphenol
  degradation, polymerization of carbohydrates, and pyrolysis.

The closest I could find to someone identifying the chemical compound responsible for "freshness" is further along in that article:

  "Unfortunately, the pleasant fresh-coffee aroma cannot be simply
  preserved," Müller said. Once again, it's the sulfury-roasty aroma
  quality that suffers during storage of coffee beverages. "This is
  mainly due to the decrease of the coffeelike-smelling compound
  2-furfurylthiol (FFT)." [said senior scientist Christoph Müller.]

The findings of this article reiterate Black Bear's claim that water activity is responsible for loss of freshness, and these processes are actually determined at the time of roasting as much as the storage conditions you have after you purchase your beans.

  Once beans reach the desired degree of roast, they are cooled rapidly
  with air or water. Air-cooled coffee beans contain just 1–2% water,
  while water-cooled coffee beans contain as much as 5% water.
  Baggenstoss studied the effect of the beans' water content on the
  stability of flavor compounds during storage. He found that aldehydes,
  pyrazines, and diketones such as 2,3-butanedione were unaffected by
  bean water content.

  On the other hand, compounds such as dimethyl trisulfide formed faster
  and reached higher levels in beans with higher water contents.
  Dimethyl trisulfide is formed by the oxidation of methanethiol, which
  is broadly related to the perception of coffee freshness. "Therefore,
  the coffee with higher water content seemed to lose fresh attributes
  faster than air-quenched coffee," Baggenstoss said. Furthermore, "some
  of the impact compounds are more rapidly degraded during storage of
  coffees with higher moisture content."


How can you measure the caffeine content of a liquid at home?

If you can find Ethyl Acetate (some nail polish removers), you can probably do this.


Alkaline ramen noodles shelf life in uncooked state

I don't do this in a restaurant situation, but I make plenty of noodles at home.  They last quite a while frozen, and, like pasta, can simply be cooked from their frozen state.  Can you portion and freeze, then cook from frozen?


How to smoke chicken without it coming out tough?

Chicken is difficult to get right in a smoker. Cooking at really low temperatures can result in a rubbery skin. Chicken is one meat where I've never seen the need to go low/slow.  Brine the bird if you're worried about drying it out or if you want to get some extra flavor into the meat, but it's not necessary. In any event, make sure you get the skin dry before cooking. Overnight in the fridge should do the trick. I like to rub the skin with vegetable oil and BBQ rub (or sometimes just salt & pepper) and cook it at around 300-350f on the smoker. Not only does it cook faster, it also doesn't take on an overwhelming amount of smoke.


Waverly Root (1966) "The Foods of France" ... is referenced in Sari Edelstein's "Food, Cuisine, and Cultural Competency for Culinary, Hospitality, and Nutrition Professionals" (2010) when talking about dividing France into butter, fat & oil.  (see page 135)

... but I suspect it's a typo for "Waverley Root" author of "The Food of France".


Can I make milk hot chocolate out of dark chocolate and sugar?

Your premise appears to be that the difference between milk chocolate and dark chocolate is merely milk and sugar content, such that if one blends all three together, in any order or manner, the results would be 'the same' (or at least, taste the same). This is not the case. Not only would the ultimate ratios of cocoa-sugar-milk end up being 'off' dark chocolate contains ingredients that are not used in milk chocolate, lecithin (from soy or milk) to emulsify the chocolate liquer and sweetener in order to create a smooth product. This is a different process than simply melting solid chocolate into milk.

While you could ultimately end up with two similar products they would not taste 'the same'...at least to a discerning palate.

For some additional information see: What is the difference between Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate?  and Milk vs. Dark vs. Semi-sweet vs. Bitter-sweet chocolate?


How common are worms in dried mushrooms?

It must be pretty widespread (at least in morels) as evinced from this pretty extensive list of references to worms in fresh (and dried) morels.  From what I've read, the presence of worms seems to indicate that the mushrooms are of lower quality and might have been harvested too late.

  Dave Fischer's North American Mushroom Basics - Some fungi have
  evolved to take advantage of multiple food sources. For example, the
  Oyster Mushrooms you can buy fresh at many grocery stores break down
  and digest cellulose, but they have also developed mechanisms for
  literally trapping and then eating tiny little "worms" called
  nematodes; this gives them access to extra nitrogen...".

  Mycological Society of San Francisco - Avoid morels whose caps are
  soft or mushy, or become granular when rubbed: they are too old and
  wormy. Morels occasionally contain insect larvae that drop out during
  the drying process. The mushroom-lovers we know have disregarded this
  aspect of morel enjoyment. After all, they are very small worms.
  Because of the irregular nature of its surface a morel cannot be
  rubbed or brushed. You may find this worrisome, wondering about what
  kind of things lurk in the dark pits ready to jump into your b'chamel
  sauce...

  Sandy’s April Product Report - When purchasing morels, check carefully
  for worms and excess sand. The worms should be easy to spot as they
  are white, in contrast to the dark mushroom. To clean, gently brush
  off any sand or dirt with a soft pastry brush.


Edible Non Toxic Pencil Alternative for Baking Stencils?

Plain pencil is what is normally used.  The trick is that you draw on the reverse side of the parchment, and then flip it over so the food is on the non-written on side.


It's simply not ripe yet.

Don't buy avocados or any other fruit and vegetable in pre-packed bags, because you cannot tell what state they are in.

Buy from a local grocer whom you can trust, and therefore can get honest answers on the state of the produce.

Avocados are usually sold unripe for shipping reasons. Buy ahead of need, and let them ripen at room temperature (2 to 7 days). They will keep in the fridge if you need them later than that.

To recover a peeled unripe avocado, you can cube it, and then cook it in the microwave in short bursts to soften it. It's only good for salsa or sauce at that point though. One advantage of slightly cooking avocado is that the green colour becomes more intense; I suspect this explains the guacamole colour from many fast food vendors. :-)


Why should one always use the same kind of coffee for an Espresso machine?

There are a lot of good detailed answers on this page already, but I guess I could add my own $0.02 to the conversation and maybe a different angle to the answer..

I have been home roasting and brewing for about 2 years now and I think the #1 thing I've learned about pulling espresso shots is that it is all about consistency.

In order to effect consistency you have to control your variables, and the more variables you get control of, the better chance you have of maintaining consistency.

Over the past two years I have continuously refined my process by modifying the entire chain of coffee production, whether it meant ordering a new piece of hardware or changing how I did something.

For instance, I installed a PID on my Racilio Silvia in order to control brew temperature, I bought a naked portafilter to get better feedback on the quality of my shots, and bought a pressure gauge to make sure I was getting proper brew pressure at the group head, the list goes on and on.

So when I saw your question about "always using the same coffee" I interpreted it as just another one of those variables that you can get control of and that will effect the quality of the shots you pull.

In the beginning I stuck with the same coffee and roast to try to minimize the number of variables I was working with. Once I was more familiar with how each variable effected my shot and how I could manipulate them to get what I wanted, I began to experiment.

So I guess for me keeping the coffee the same boils down to removing some noise from the system to make it easier to manage...


What are natural alternatives to Nong Shim noodles?

Questions of health and nutrition are out of scope for this site. However, the question "what are alternatives to these instant noodles" is pretty straightforward.

Instant noodles are typically preserved by flash-frying in oil. They arose as a quick-to-prepare and long-lasting alternative to fresh or frozen noodles. Thus, fresh or frozen noodles are a great replacement. Though they need to be refrigerated or frozen, and may require a longer cook time, they are typically made without oil.

In particular, both noodles in your question appear to be instant Korean ramyeon, which is very similar to Japanese ramen. In the United States, Sun Noodle produces fresh Ramen noodles that are commonly available at supermarkets or Asian grocers.


How does hydration of a sourdough affect baking features?

Note: This answer goes in a bit more detail than necessary to answer the question. If you truly only care about the hydration, please only read "Water/flour ratio" and "Flavor of the bread". I have added the other information as well since the effects are similar to that of a change in hydration.

I've frequently baked (about once to twice a week) with sourdough for 4 years now. I'm not a professional. The only thing I can take a bit of pride in is that a professional baker who tested a loaf of my sourdough bread told me that it's "fantastic, considering the little possibilities available to control the conditions the sourdough and loaf are exposed to at home". So while far from perfect, I'd consider my sourdough breads and knowledge pretty good.

Most of what I'm writing now was first read on the internet somewhere and confirmed through testing it with my own sourdough culture (I'm still using the same one I started out with).

Apart from the flour you use, there are several factors that affect the taste of the resulting bread:

Temperature

This has, in my experience, the biggest impact on the taste. The following rules apply:

Anything over 40°C is deadly to the microbes in your sourdough.
Lower temperature: More acetic acid, less lactic acid, yeasts develop more slowly.
Higher temperature: More lactic acid, less acetic acid, yeasts develop more quickly.
Lactic acid bacteria prefer temperatures at around 30-35°C
Yeasts like temperatures around 25°C best

Note: Your sourdough can be 1-2°C warmer than the environment due to microbial activity. That can be important to keep in mind.

Water/flour ratio

Most of the time, people use a ratio of 1:1 water/flour for the sourdough and that will give you good results, but you can play around with that ratio to change the taste to your liking:

Lower water content causes more acetic acid production and less developed yeasts
Higher water content will make it easier for the yeasts to grow and increase the lactic acid content
I've found that having more than 1.5 times the amount of water compared to the flour will hardly have any effect on the dough anymore and I'd recommend stirring the dough every couple of hours with that much water.
On single staged sourdough, using less than 0.75 times the water compared to the flour is also not a good idea and you will probably be required to add yeast in the bread dough.

Salt and oil

Adding these, especially salt, to the sourdough already will have a considerable impact on the sourdough taste. A sourdough made with salt in it will taste quite different from one without it. I'm not quite sure about why this is, but it may have something to do with the yeasts growing more slowly (more information below).

Both salt and oil will slow down the growth of the yeasts, but don't have much of an effect on the lactic acid bacteria.
Adding oil mainly affects the mechanical properties of the dough (it will be softer and more ductile). It also helps with the structure of the bread (the air bubbles in the bread will be smaller and more uniformly distributed), especially in the presence of an emulsifyer (lard is both fat and an emulsifyer, so it works well in this regard). For this reason, it doesn't make much sense to add it to the sourdough already.

Of course, if the fat isn't tasteless, it will also add to the taste of the bread (I love using natural olive oil in my wheat breads).

Flavor of the bread

Sourdough actually has some pretty complicated chemistry that I know little about. However, here are some effects that I do know:

Lactic acid will give your bread a mild, sour taste. This works very well for wheat breads.
Acetic acid gives you a stronger, more sour taste (very noticable while eating). This works great for rye breads
The amount of yeast in your sourdough also has a big impact on the smell and taste of the bread. Yeast is beneficial to the bread not only for it's leavening properties. Apart from CO2, it also produces ethanol, which will esterify the lactic acid to ethyl lactate over time, which in turn has a strong flavor.

Okay I think that's it. I hope this helps you.


How do you make the wishbone break easier?

Simple, you dry it.

If you want your kids to be able to snap the wishbone on the spot, save one ahead of time from the last chicken or turkey.


How can I clean dark non-stick pots (e.g. Calphalon)?

I'm gonna assume you're talking about pans with a hard anodized exterior and non-stick interior...

The anodized exterior will pick up stains over time, and you probably shouldn't worry too much about trying to get them back to factory condition. That said, you can find some tips on How should I clean anodised cookware? - I use baking soda and elbow grease for routine jobs, and occasionally resort to Ajax (scouring powder) for touch-up around the handle.

The non-stick interior is probably just wearing out. AFAIK, some Calphalon non-stick pans have a texture to them that is supposed to improve browning, but over time even smooth non-stick surfaces develop pits and scratches that create opportunity for residue to hold on to. I use a bit of baking soda and a bit of salt to scrub these clean, but once something gets stuck on to the point where serious scouring is necessary to remove it you'll just have to give up (since that would take the non-stick coating with it). Non-stick pans - even well-made ones - do tend wear out faster than ordinary pans, and there's no getting around that.


Restaurant: How long can prepped food (cut vegetables, garnishes, etc) be stored before it has to be thrown out?

Many chefs and restaurants follow food storage guidelines obsessively, at least in part because they're required to. Using ingredients that have been stored longer than considered safe can result in customers getting sick, in which case they probably won't return, they'll tell their friends or use social media to spread the word, and they may take legal action if they got really sick. If a health inspector catches such violations, they won't be happy either, and they have a number of potential penalties to impose.

Food cost is on par with labor as being one of the largest costs of running a food service business. I've always heard the "rule of thirds" as a guideline for operating costs in a restaurant setting: 1/3 food cost, 1/3 labor cost, and 1/3 profit (which is not always pure profit and may involve reinvesting back to the business). Industry benchmarks bear this out as well.

My point with all of this is that chefs have two strong, competing incentives:

Do not waste food, because it's expensive in the short term!
Do not serve bad or spoiled food, because it's expensive in the long term!

Obviously there are bad chefs out there who simply don't care. They may not be invested in the business, poorly trained, or just checked out. And many of us have seen reality TV exposes that show how awful some kitchens are.

But, the good chefs that I've worked for and with have a couple different approaches to using up prepped ingredients and avoid throwing things out:

Good labeling and storage. This is really fundamental anyway if you want to ensure that you know how old everything is. Some ingredients (blanched or hearty vegetables) will easily keep for a day or two after being prepped if they're kept cold. All you need do is store them correctly (which depends on the exact food) and use some easy, reliable labeling system to keep things straight in the fridge.
Recycle them into a different dish tomorrow. Lots of restaurants have specials or rotating items. If I shelled a bunch of beautiful fresh peas for a risotto on the dinner menu and I simply don't sell many, I can turn the extra peas into a delicious soup tomorrow. If I'm smart, I'll also use up some of the ham that I diced for a different dish, and the vegetable stock that I use everywhere and have to make more of anyway. On which note:
Turn them into basic or pantry ingredients. Some chefs are really good at this. There are certain things that you can use everywhere: stocks, breadcrumbs, etc. And they aren't necessarily picky about their base ingredients being in prime quality. I might make vegetable stock every couple of days using whatever pre-prepped vegetables I've got on hand, supplemented as needed with fresh (also an excellent way to use up odds and ends that can't be served on their own, like celery stalk bottoms). I might take a surplus of julienned carrots that would have been garnish and pickle them for later use. I could take fresh herbs that are starting to wilt and use those in a marinade for meat. This is a really defining quality for a great chef for me: cleverness with a broad range of ingredients and preparations, and a willingness to experiment. After all, if those pickled carrots don't work out, I would have had to throw them anyway.
Compost them. Not feasible for everybody, but growing their own food is something of a trend and obsession for certain chefs. Rather than having things go to waste I can do what a smart home gardener would, and turn my sad wilted vegetables into healthy compost for my rooftop herb garden.

Most chefs who do these sort of things are also very good about monitoring how much they sell and doing their best not to order or prep more than they need, so they don't have tons of waste in the first place. Chefs who aren't as passionate simply wind up throwing more out. This leads to the curious assertion (but I've seen it quoted from Gordon Ramsay as well) that you can learn a lot about a chef by going out back and checking the dumpster.

Oh, and since your question asks specifically about line and prep cooks: ideally, they are doing exactly what the head chef tells them to. That's basic kitchen discipline. If they go off on their own and prep three times more potatoes than they were told to, they won't be prepping potatoes or anything else for too much longer.


How should I order unknown wines in a tasting

Light first, see e.g. this list for ordering them by varietals, if you have old world wine you need to decode areas to probable varietals :-)

So for reds that would make a list like this.

Pinot Noir
Sangiovese
Tempranillo
Grenache
Zinfandel
Merlot
Shiraz / Syrah
Cabernet Sauvignon


What are the differences between Coconut Milk, Coconut Water, and Coconut Oil?

Coconut milk:

  is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts.

Coconut water:

  is the clear liquid inside coconuts.

Coconut water is typically extracted from younger coconuts. The milk contains both coconut water and ground-up coconut flesh.

Cocunut oil:

  is an edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of mature coconuts harvested from the coconut palm.

So, the milk also contains some coconut oil.

There will be little to no coconut oil in coconut water. The question "is there milk in the oil?" makes little sense given the above, as the oil is one of the components of the milk. This is like asking if there is milk in milk fats.


Can you separate out the Gliadin from Gluten?

The difference between gluten and gliadin is the one already explained in your question: Gliadin is a precursor to gluten. You could say that gliadin is to gluten what grains are to porridge. Gluten is the result of glutenin reacting with gliadin in the presence of water, just like porridge is the result of grains "reacting" with milk in the presence of heat.

I don't understand why you are asking for separating them. It would be hard to do, and will achieve no good purpose.

First, I don't know if there is a way to extract the gliadin from wheat. There are industrial processes for extracting "gluten" out of wheat, but I don't know if they produce a mixture of glutenin and gliadin (which could be further purified) or if they already cause the glutenin and gliadin to bind a gluten. But note that the remaining flour will not be gluten-free, as these methods cannot extract every last molecule of glutenin and gliadin. So you cannot remove the glutenin from flour and stay with gliadin-containing flour.

Second, assuming that you can extract the gliadin, you can add it to some gluten free flour like cornflour. But there is absolutely no reason doing so. The definition you cited only says that gliadin is "essential" for rising, but not that it alone produces rising. It is the gluten itself that produces rising, and the gliadin is essential only because without it, there would be no gluten. Gliadin alone does not have any benefits.

Third, if you add gliadin to a gluten free flour, you will not have removed any of the problems inherent in using gluten. People who are allergic to gluten will still be allergic to the gliadin.

To sum it up, gliadin is a structural part of gluten, and if you can find a method to extract it without the glutenin, you will experience no benefits of baking with it, or prevent any undesired side effects like triggering allergies or celiac.


Can I replace treacle with molasses in my fruit cake?

In my experience, any "liquid sugar" (warning: colloquial, not very accurate term) can be substituted well without texture problems. Mollasses, treacle, sugarbeet syrup, liquid glucose, golden syrup, and even agave syrup all seem to work well as substitutes. I suppose corn syrup or sorghum will work well too, but haven't tried them.

You get differences in taste, but in most recipes, the taste of the substitute is a good fit. Most of these tastes rely on caramelization anyway, so you should try to use something of the same darkness because roughly, two "liquid sugars" of the same darkness have the same taste intensity. Using a lighter substitute is mostly OK too, although you will lose a little bit of aroma. Using a dark substitute in a recipe which calls for a light one can result in the taste of the sweetener overwhelming all other tastes. For example, pliable ganache is made by adding liquid glucose to the ganache; I would never use sugar cane syrup as a substitute there.


Can I use a tagine on a glass cooktop, and do I need a heat diffuser?

My name is Tom Wirt, with Clay Coyote Pottery.  I'll try to shed some light on the intricacies of clay cooking pots, especially tagines.

You can use any flameware tagine directly on the glass stovetop.  This includes, Emile Henry, Le Crueset, and Clay Coyote flameware.  These are pots with either a metal base (Le Crueset) , or a type of ceramic called flameware (Emile Henry, Clay Coyote which is formulated and made to take direct heat.

Normal stoneware clay pots and earthenware pots will not do this.  Stoneware should never go on a direct heating source, gas, electric or glasstop.  It will crack with or without a diffuser.

Earthenware ceramic pots, typically identified by a reddish clay color and some absorbency by the bare clay (typically the bottom), do need a diffuser and should be started over a low heat.  They can crack if used over sudden or too high a heat. Remember that these pots were originally used over charcoal fires.

Metal, obviously is fine.

The flameware ceramic pots, are designed for direct heat and are actually especially good on glasstops as the top spreads the heat better than electric or gas.
Clay is a insulator, not a conductor.  Thus the heat doesn't spread much, but, with a highly liquid food like a tagine, the liquid spreads the heat.  Basically a tagine is cooked at a simmer, even though the pot would take the heat.
Induction stoves require a metal plate with ceramic cookware to turn the electromagnetic force into heat.

You can find more info on my blog.


Do I need to grease, grease-proof paper?

You don't need to grease the paper. However, if you really want to, you can grease it, but beware that the bottom of your cookies can bake quicker due to the extra fat that transfers heat.

In most cookies, there is already a lot of fat which prevents them from sticking on their own.


How long does it take to smoke a chicken?

While cooking low and slow has its advantages, 6 hours is a bit too long. You should be able to complete a 6 pound chicken in 1 1/2 - 2 hours @ 275°F [135°C].

Some things to remember that might help you out:

You are going for an internal temp of 160°F [70°C] in the breast
meat and 170°F [75°C] at the thigh.
Every time you open the smoker you are allowing an ENORMOUS amount
of heat to escape, this prolongs the cooking time. (If I were to
bet, it would be that you are checking it too often)
Almost all the flavor your going to achieve from smoking is reached
in the first 30 minutes. You may want to smoke it for 30minute - 1
hour and then transfer it to a 275°F oven if you are having issues
maintaining the heat in your smoker.


How do I prevent curd from getting sour?

As you already said yourself, cooling it will be easiest. Either use a cooled lunchbox with an ice pack insert, or, if taking it out of the refrigerator at morning, carry it in a thermos flask.

Alternatively, you have to get it out underfermented and let it ferment properly during these 4-5 hours. If you are taking just-ready room temperature curd, you can instead start the curd later, or start with cooler milk, or use less starter. If you are taking it from the fridge, you can start putting the curd into the fridge before it's done, so it reactivates and finishes fermentation in your bag. In any case, you will need lots of experimentation until you have the process such that the curd is properly done by the time you eat. Also, a few degrees Celsius difference in your environment will make it necessary to tweak the parameters.

Theoretically, the third option to try would be to kill off the culture when the curd is done, by heating it. But too little heat and the culture will survive, while too much heat and you will end up with quark. So this is only used in industrial settings.


using coffee filters to filter home pressed olive oil

I have picked and processed hundreds of kilos of olives for oil. I store the cloudy oil in plastic water bottles in a dark cupboard and wait.  The sediment will fall and then you just drain off the clear oil. The remaining oil with the sediment in it I use for tools, hinges etc and other DIY uses.


Most Japanese varieties of pumpkin do not need to be peeled. More precisely, most Japanese are content to eat most Japanese varieties of squash unpeeled (maybe rough peeled where knobs are present). I can't really recall treating red kuri any differently, but I don't find it very often, so I can only speak from limited experience.

The typical preparation of any squash in Japan is nimono, in which squash pieces are gently simmered with kelp, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and salt until tender. The regular kuri variety (the green one with some occasional knobs) is well suited to this, but is even accommodating of being deep fried or roasted skin-on, and I've used that variety for soup and other preparations with the skin on. I would be surprised if red kuri weren't at least suitable for nimono skin-on, as I don't think the Japanese market would be particularly accepting of a squash that you would have to skin.

There is, for what it's worth, a site that suggests that the skins are harder on red kuri than normal kabocha varieties, and that the skins are not eaten. And the same site says that regular Japanese kabocha skin is not eaten, so they appear to disagree with basically all of Japan.

At least one soup recipe in Japanese for the red kuri squash says that the skin should be left on.

Anyway, the short answer would be: Try it and see. The worst possible outcome is a texture that you're not fond of, or perhaps some bitterness.


How can I make fresh burger buns like Hardees?

As a starter, Hardees lists the ingredients for their Soft Baked Buns on their website.

From there, we can gain that the main ingredients are:

All Purpose White Flour
Water
Sugar
Soybean Oil
Yeast

Additionally, it contains less than 2% of:

Wheat Gluten
Salt
Maltodextrin
Food Starch-Modified
DATEM
Xanthan Gum
Whey
Dextrin
Mixed Triglycerides
Enzymes
Ascorbic Acid
Acesulfame Potassium
Maltitol
Neotame
Turmeric
Annato

And their Egg mixture for Basting:

Whole Eggs
Citric Acid diluted with water

I would probably knock out the following:

Wheat Gluten
Maltodextrin
Food Starch-Modified
DATEM
Dextrin
Mixed Triglycerides
Enzymes
Acesulfame Potassium
Maltitol
Neotame

Which leaves as the "less than 2% of" list:

Salt
Xanthan Gum
Turmeric
Annato
Ascorbic Acid
Whey


Quality of the beans aside, it's likely that you soaked your beans for too long and they have started to ferment. Gypsum is basically tasteless so it should not have an effect on the taste.

When soaking soybeans for soymilk you will want to soak them for no longer than six hours (four in the summer or areas with high humidity). If you soak them for too long, they will start to ferment (thus producing the sour taste), which is likely to be the cause of the sour taste. If you may also want to consider soaking them in the refrigerator to prevent fermentation.

Consider tasting the soymilk batch you produce to ensure that the beans you used has not started to ferment.


Is there a trick to turn old bread into almost-new bread?

While it is never possible to restore bread to its fresh baked glory, toasting can help.

The main staling mechanism in bread is the re-crystalization of the formerly gelatinized starches, making the bread seem hard and dry.

Toasting heats the bread up, and helps the starches re-gelatinize, and so can help mitigate the staleness, although it is not a complete cure.


Vacuum sealed ham left out for 9 hours, is it still safe to eat?

If the seal isn't broken I'll eat it without hesitation...

Don't forget the purpose of making ham is to preserve the otherwise perishable pork... so that the meat can be maintained and eaten over a much longer period...

The ham houses may have temperature & moisture controlled rooms to enhance flavour (and it's NOT fridge temperature)... but the butcher shops hang the hams in display... for much longer than 9 hours...

If ham cannot withstand being kept in room temperature, it's not ham... The kind you described contains a bit more moisture, but the salt level is just as high... way high... high enough for retarding bacteria even if it was out of the package for 9 hours...

If it was on my counter overnight, I'd definitely pan fry it with some mushroom for lunch, and eat it with cranberry sauce !!


Should I purchase and use a grease or oil splash screen?

They are one more item to clean, but they are a lot easier to clean than the walls and stove.

I have several in different sizes - very worthwhile in my opinion.


What you are looking for is typically considered a kitchen mistake:
Overkneading.

Not-so gentle handling of the dough and some kneading plus a bit more eggs or a dash of milk will add density.

There is actually one special use case where bakers go for that more elastic and less crumbly dough: Cornish Pasties
Straight from the Cornish Pasty Association, comes this recipe.


How do I lessen the effects of thickening caused by roux?

I believe that rather than "diluting" your gravy with stock, you could instead use less roux (fat and flour) with the same amount of juices (and perhaps a bit of stock).

The extra tablespoon of butter, for example, meant you were "bumping up" the thickness of your final gravy to the next level. Here's some typical ratios from an earlier Question I had about what makes a white sauce "medium":

  Medium refers to the thickness level of the final sauce, and is
  controlled by the ratio of roux (butter/flour) to [liquid]. For 1 cup of
  [liquid]:

  thin = 1 tablespoon each flour/butter
  medium = 2 tablespoons each flour/butter
  thick = 3 tablespoons each flour/butter

So instead of using 2.5 tablespoons of fat and 2.5 tablespoons of flour, you could leave out the butter; a 1.5/1.5 tablespoon roux with the same volume of liquid might give you a texture closer to what you're hoping for.


What is the proper way to use corn starch to thicken sauces?

When making the slurry, stir cornstarch into cold water until it has the consistency of cream. This can be set aside until it's needed, but be sure to stir it briefly before you pour it into the sauce to redistribute the starch granules in the water. You should pour it into your sauce toward the end of its preparation.

According to McGee you should use roughly 2/3 as much starch as you would flour. If you aren't using a recipe, add your slurry a bit at time until it's a thick as you like it. Also remember that the sauce will thicken a bit as it cools, so it should be a little bit thinner on the stove than you intend to serve it.


All the cold pressed virgin sunflower oil in shop is in transparent bottles. Does it mean it is already rancid?

I'm fairly sure the manufacturers and supermarkets are not in the business of exclusively selling rancid oil.

Sunflower oil has a shelf life of around two years. The turnaround time for oil is fairly high, so the bottles probably haven't been out on a relatively bright shelf for all that long. Check the use by date and as long as you have, say, a year to use the oil, it will almost certainly be fine.


What are bologna and hotdogs really made of?

I doubt you will find a specific ingredient list that identifies particular cuts or parts of meat.

As an example, here is the ingredients for Oscar Mayer bologna: Mechanically Separated Chicken, Pork, Water, Corn Syrup, Contains Less Than 2% of Salt, Sodium Lactate, Flavor, Sodium Phosphates, Autolyzed Yeast, Sodium Diacetate, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrite, Dextrose, Extractives of Paprika, Potassium Phosphate, Sugar, Potassium Chloride.

Similarly, you can probably look up the ingredient lists for other brands and products.

Making an emulsified sausage (hot dogs, kielbasa, bologna, mortadella, etc.) from scratch is not that difficult.  You would probably not want to make it exactly like these companies do.  They are mass producing and need to ensure shelf life, as well as safety.  There are a lot of things on that ingredient list above, for example, that you would not need if making this at home. Additionally, these companies weigh quality against cost efficiency.  At home, you would likely use higher quality ingredients.  Although, there is an argument to be made about the parts of the animal that are desirable vs. not.  This could just be your preference.  I'm not sure how you are defining "premium."  I assume that in general, the parts of the pig, cow, and chicken, that can be sold at higher prices are not used to create emulsified sausages.

In the end, you probably get what you pay for in terms of quality.


Why is the nutritional composition of tofu different from soybeans?

They were literally thrown away, physically removed from the whole.

The basic steps of making tofu are:

Make soy milk out of the soy beans. The residue after straining the milk, called okara, is not used in the tofu. It contains lots of carbohydrates, especially insoluble fibre.
Curdle the soy milk with epsom salt.
Separate the curds from the whey and press them. The whey (which also gets thrown out), also contains some carbohydrates. The proteins stay in the curds, they are actually the stuff that curdles. The fat is water insoluble, it stays with the curd. The soluble carbohydrates are partly trapped in the curds, and present in the whey which doesn't get pressed out (if you press out completely, you end up with an inedible block of rubber), so there are some carbohydrates left. The rest goes away with the whey.


Is there a difference between preheating temperature and baking temperature?

There is no default temperature. The recipe is telling you the temperature: 350F. You preheat the oven to 350F so that it's already fully hot when you put the cake in, and then you leave it at 350F to bake the cake.

The whole point of preheating is to have the oven already at the temperature you want to bake at. If you preheated then changed the temperature, then you wouldn't have preheated properly: the oven would be at the wrong temperature.

If a recipe actually wanted you to change the temperature, it would explicitly say so, something along the lines of "preheat the oven to 550F, put the bread in, then reduce the temperature to 500F". That'd cause it to be baked at closer to 550F at first, then closer to 500F later once the oven cools down. But that's not something that comes up much; most things just get baked at a constant temperature.

Bottom line, just do what the recipe actually says to! If it doesn't say to change the temperature, don't.


What effect does heat have on cooking oil shelf life?

As I know almost all cooking oil become unhealthy and toxic when the "smoke point" is reached. Every oil has a temperature point that should be never reached, as follows:

For mechanic extra virgin oils:

flax, safflower and sunflower oil - 107 C
walnut and peanuts - 160 C
coconut, soy, corn and sesame oil - 177 C
extra virgin olive oil - 190 C

The regular cooking oils have "smoke point" even higher like over 235 C so it's better to use those for cooking and let extra virgin ones for salads and cold dishes.

Or just be aware to not see smoke while cooking with oil:)

Me, I'd suggest butter instead, because at higher temperature butter turns to "ghee" which is quite healthy.
 - avocado oil - 190 - 204 C
 - almonds and grapes oil - 216 C
 - palm oil - 235 C


What natural preservative to use to prepare homemade tomato paste for a 2 year shelf life?

I regularly make passata (tomato puree) home, and use a simple hot bath sterilisation (instructions below). I can usually keep it for about a year, but the result is not consistent and not 100% reliable: every 20 bottles I make, one leaks and gets spoiled. There are more sophisticated sterilisation methods that use a pressure pan (similar to an autoclave in the lab). Both of these methods rely on killing the bacteria naturally present in the preparation as well as in the residual air inside the can / jar.

However, as pointed by @Jefromi none of these techniques are 100% reliable for home preparation.

To be certain, you should use an acidity regulator. Lowering the pH of your sauce will prevent
a big class of bacterias to develop. A cheap option which is commonly used in the industry is citric acid, which you might find in supermarkets and surely in brewing shops. If not available, you could also use vinagre or lemmon juice (less ideal). In any case, note that acidity alone will not do the job. Always use together with sterilization.

For a reference, see this link for tomatoes in general, and this one for tomato paste specifically (thanks @Jefromi for these references).

Simpler water sterilisation process:

Before putting your mix in the jars, wash them carefully with hot water and soap.
After they have been filed, put your jars in a large pan.
(optional) Put a towel between the jars to avoid them hitting each other.
Pour water until the jars are completely covered.
Bring to boil. Low the fire so boiling is not violent. Boil for 30 minutes minimum.
Remove the jars and leave them to cool with the lid down. Turn them once cooled.

For this to work well, you need to be sure the lids are tight and no air can enter/scape. Be attentive to any leakage and use good jars.


How do they extract kernels from sunflower seeds in mass production?

By using a dehuller machine. See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hegzzj9Rzk
or
http://www.buhlergroup.com/global/en/products/dehuller-dgba.htm

How does a dehuller work? I don't know, but it seems that Google does:

  The most popular decorticator for sunflower is proposed by the Bühler
  Cie. It consists in a rotating blade that propels the seeds by
  centrifuge force against a wall. It functions on one impact. It is
  designed for partial removal of hulls because due to its principle, it
  is not able to carry out a good dehulling without increasing the force
  of the impact. The kernel oil content is so high in sunflower that
  under the violence of he chock, some oil can be transferred to the
  hulls and is lost. Moreover, increasing the rotating speed of such
  dehuller drives to increase the production of fines that are difficult
  to separates from hulls. Another mono-chock kind of dehuller is
  air-jet impact where the propelling of the seeds is done by a strong
  current of air. Multi-chocks dehullers like the Ripple mill improve
  the dehulling quality because they carry out several impacts on the
  achene with milder violence and enable en enhanced separation of hulls
  without generating an excess of fines.

See: http://www.creol.fr/CTMSite/creol/us/travaux/img/dehulling_3.pdf

See also: http://www.buhlergroup.com/northamerica/downloads/DGBA_Sunflower_Dehuller.pdf for some schematics of the inside of the machine and some insights about the way it works.


How to take care of a sourdough starter?

If some of the starter is not removed, it becomes overly acidic.  Too much acid reduces the leavening effect of the starter.  Removing and feeding keeps the acid in balance.


What temperature range is suitable for grill smoking?

Don't let the tail wag the dog. When smoking, you want to figure out time and temperature first and worry about smoke second. This can obviously vary widely. That said, there are things you can do to get more smoke going:

If you can smell it, you'll get some smoke flavor. If you can see it, you'll get more. If you're not getting (much) visible smoke then you need some combination of 1) wetter wood 2) lower temperature 3) larger wood. You get less smoke when the wood just goes up in flames. Chips are particularly prone to do this. Larger chunks smolder better. Things also smolder better when they're very wet or the fire isn't so hot. But again, you want to figure out your temperature and then get smoke, not make large temp changes just to get smoke.

If you're doing very low and slow (225F), sometimes that's not enough heat to get your wood smoking well. Smaller chips or higher temperature are the only things I've found that really solve this problem.


How long can halloumi be stored in refrigerator?

Halloumi by itself can last a long time in the fridge.
The problem is the couscous which should last at most 1 or 2  days (or less) in the fridge depending on other ingredients in the preparation..


When does the rule "only flip meat once" not apply?

I believe the goal is to get the best sear possible on each side of the meat. Moving the meat around too much could cause it to cook completely without getting a good sear on the outside.

Clearly this doesn't apply when doing anything "rotisserie" style, as you're trying to do the exact opposite: slowly cook the interior of the meat without burning the outside to a crisp or unevenly.

Also, see this similar question: Grilling burgers: flip once, or keep flipping?


Generally speaking the same element is used for both broil (grill here in the UK) and convection.  In the latter mode a fan distirbutes the heat evenly around the oven, but for tall items in particulart the top heat from the element can be a little fierce.  I've got 2 Panasonics that work this way, and when investigating those all major rivals seemed to be the same.


Question about roasting green beans and cherry tomatoes

I would roast the tomatoes until they're nearly at the desired caramelisation, and meanwhile blanch the beans. Then pop the beans in with the tomatoes for 5-10 minutes at the end so they can get to know each other.


Why double fry French fries after blanching instead of just blanching and frying?

The double fry process is to make a crisper potato chip. Tests have indicated that less oil is absorbed too, so this is a general health benefit

The blanch process is mainly for mass production reasons to stop potato chips from sticking together when packed. It removes all surface starch. Cold water rinsing is all that is needed for home, small scale production

Cooling and drying the chips between steps generally makes for a better chip

The quality, and suitability of the potatoes is still probably got more to do with it than the cooking process

Interesting experiments at http://www.macheesmo.com/2010/02/the-great-baked-fry-experiment/


Is the cover of Parmigiano-Reggiano edible?

It would be edible (for true Parmesano Reggiano, anyway), but it may not be very pleasant, as it is where most salt from the brining period will be, and it is dry and hard.

It is traditional to use pieces of it in soup to add flavor to the broth.


What's the difference between black currants and red currants?

Blackcurrants and redcurrants are simply subspecies of the same berry-producing shrub.  Besides their color, they differ only slightly in flavor; red are somewhat more tart than black.  For most purposes, such as in jams or baking, they're basically interchangeable.  When dried they're also easily substituted for raisins or sultanas.

There's really no basis for recommending one over the other beyond personal preference.  For your cereal, museli, granola, whatever, try both and see what you like.


Before microwaving (or baking, for that matter) a potato, I always poke it deeply with a fork several times to let steam escape.  I prefer the taste of a baked potato to a microwave potato, but will often speed up baking a potato by microwaving it for a few minutes first.  You can definitely microwave until done.

After it is done, butter and salt and pepper are good, simple accompaniments.  Shredded cheese melts nicely over the warm potato, but a crispy melted cheese poured over the potato is really amazing.  Other good toppings would be sour cream, bacon, chives, green onions, and caramelized onions.


Does vegetable soup made with chicken stock last longer if the stock was made fresh vs from a stock cube?

It's probably OK but there are a lot of variables here so from where I sit, it's difficult to be certain. Cooking will kill most bacteria. If the soup went from the pot, hot, to the container and capped immediately, the risk of airborne bacteria getting in is reduced. It takes more than a couple bacteria to get you sick but when conditions are right, bacteria multiply exponentially in a short period of time. If the container was at 72F, that's better than if it was at 90F...as if it was outside in the sun.

You can give it a sniff to check if it smells OK. Reheating to a boil will kill most bacteria, but depending on the specific bacteria, not all. What's more, certain bacteria leave behind toxins that are not easily destroyed. If you have a pressure cooker, that's the best way to kill whatever bacteria might be in there. You would need to keep it in the cooker for a period of time...30 minutes perhaps. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to.

Dry bouillon cubes should not have any bacteria...assuming a clean manufacturing plant. Same goes if you used dehydrated chicken. It's more likely bacteria got in if fresh uncooked chicken was used. Unwashed hands, contaminated utensils, used hand towels, unclean work area...all that stuff comes into play. You probably already know about cross contamination.

But here's the thing? Why risk it? Salmonella will not likely kill you but your stomach will be churning and you'll be spending some time in the bathroom. There are other bad actors out there and they are worse than Mr. Sal Minella... Staphlococcus, E. Coli, Botulinum.

My answer is, to be safe, toss it.


What kind of rice should I use to make Persian/Indian/Middle Eastern rice-based desserts?

(Disclaimer, since I don't read/speak Farsi, I only looked at English references)

Authenticity is in the eye of the Beholder.

Iranian and Indians cooks probably use whatever rice is available in their local store; and some will use the same rice variety that their mother and grandmother used without knowing the reason.

You can look at this which talks a little bit about rice in Iran, so does the wikipedia page about Iranian cuisine.

For example, the Domsiah is related to Basmati rice.

That being said,

Most recipes for shole zard, as you say, just say white rice, or either Jasmine or Basmati rice; I've also seen recipes with short grain rice; so pretty much use what you have on hand.

For firni, most recipes call for Basmati rice which looks to be most common in India.


what is an alternative for baking powder?

Before chemical leavening, traditional cakes were usually made with one of three methods: (1) yeast, (2) foam created by beating eggs, (3) creaming butter and sugar together to create a fine foam.

It's generally much easier to choose a style of cake from one of these methods, rather than trying to adapt an existing recipe to work without baking powder/soda.

Yeast-based cakes aren't very popular in the U.S. these days, though certain traditional types still survive in Europe.  The problem with yeast-based cakes is that the additional rising time generally allows gluten to form, making your cake more "bread-like" in texture.  For advice on trying to make a more tender and lighter cake with yeast, you might have a look at this previous question.
As for egg foams, there are plenty of cake types which still use beaten eggs as the primary leavening agent.  As Joe mentioned, angel food and chiffon cakes are two obvious ones, but there are many variations on these types of cakes.  Many sponge cakes can be made without chemical leavening.  The general recipe format is to beat eggs (or sometimes just egg yolks) with sugar first to form a foam.  Sometimes the whites are beaten separately and folded in at the end, creating a very light texture, but these recipes often require care so they don't collapse before the structure is set.
Traditional pound cake is the most common example of the butter/sugar foam method, but there are lots of ways of making pound cake variants.  These cakes won't be as light as most egg foam cakes, but they can be richer, with a finer (but still lightly-textured) grain.

In addition, you also have the option of the many types of cakes which don't really "rise" much at all, including various "flourless" (or low-flour) cakes, "molten chocolate" type cakes, cheese cakes (if you consider them "cakes," which some people wouldn't), etc.


What main course Indian cuisine I can make out of potato with sweetness in nature?

Use them with sago to make microwave sabudana khichadi. The dish is a nice blend of flavors and one of the ingredients is sugar. Just reduce the amount of sugar to 1 teaspoon or less, depending on how sweet the potatoes are, instead of the stated 1 tablespoon.

My experience with that particular recipe, by the way, is that the given 2 minutes total of microwave time is too little. I have a recent model microwave with 1100 watts of power but it still takes three minutes microwaving on high power + five minutes standing time for the sago to be cooked. I also prefer to use dalia (roasted chana dal / bengal gram) rather than peanuts, although peanuts are traditional.

As an aside, sabudana is sometimes erroneously called "tapioca". The Wikipedia page on sabudana notwithstanding, sago and tapioca are not the same thing. Sago is made from the pith of the stems of sago palms, tapioca from cassava root. They're both starches and the pearls look more or less identical, but they behave differently. For one thing, sago takes about an hour of soaking; tapioca, about four or five at minimum. Soak sago that long and it will fall apart.


Cooking shakshuka without burning the tomatoes

I have a few suggestions:

Use room temperature eggs so they cook faster. Egg white cooks at 150°F (65°C), room temperature is usually about 70°F and refrigerator temp 45°F. That difference is close to 50% more cooking time
Add a bit of water. Maybe your mix is too thick, if there isn't enough water in the mix it's more likely to burn, this dish depends on having enough moisture
Make your dents deep, get the egg as close to the pan as you can. Also, make the dents big enough that your eggs spread about a bit, more surface area means the egg cooks faster
Use smaller eggs so they cook faster
Keep the heat up more. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but if your pan is too cool you will lose a lot of heat at the top due to evaporation, the top will be cool but the bottom hot. Try a medium heat, but pay attention to 2.
You could cover the pan, I don't like this because you want the dish to lose moisture, but you could try it. If your canned tomatoes are very thick you may actually have too little water, so you could try keeping the heat low and covering it
Bake it instead once you put the eggs on, this will give an even heat on the top. It's not a traditional way to make it but if if you are results driven it may work for you


How can you cook milk without it burning the pan?

Double boiler.
You can buy a purpose built double boiler and if you are going to do this often you should.  But for now you can fake it the way I do.  Here is my setup.

The little saucepan is floating in the water that is in the larger pan.  Because of the water, the temperature never gets higher than 100°C unless you boil all the water off.  Milk at 100°C will boil but it will not scorch.  That is milk gravy (white sauce) in the small pan which happened to be in there and which I thought was a good illustration.
Float a small pan in a larger pot of water and cook your milk in the small pan.  If you like it, buy a double boiler.  Sometimes the floating pan is too heavy and some water comes in over the side.  Not a big deal for milk but a total loss if you are using the setup to melt chocolate chips.


How do you grill meat and potatoes so that they finish at the same time?

Nuke or boil the spuds first to get them 75% to 90% done before they hit the grill

I wouldn't use foil either, they grill much nicer bare skinned. Root vegetables suck up the smoke and get tasty dark patches from the grill, just keep and eye on them, and turn as needed


Digital meat thermometer that does not cause juice losses

While I heartily recommend a remote probe thermometer that you can leave in your meat and have a readout outside of the oven, it is only for convenience. Piercing the meat with a thermometer (or fork, etc) isn't going to cause any significant loss of juice. You may rupture a couple of cells right where the thermometer went in, but that's it. Your meat isn't just a water-balloon of juices waiting to be popped, so you needn't worry.

Myth: Never use a fork to turn meat

Is it ok to probe my meat?


How do I avoid hot fudge turning my ice cream into a soupy mess?

I don't have any direct experience to share, but it seems a little logic may be applicable. I suggest that your hot fudge is too hot and your ice cream is not icy (cold) enough.

Rather than microwaving the fudge, try a hot water bath on the stove. Yeah, it's slower, but you also won't burn the bejeezus out of the sugar at the edges. Taste occasionally while stirring until you get that pleasingly warm mouthfeel. Stirring frequently* will help distribute the heat.

Alternately, microwave in small bursts, stirring* as you stop and taste.

*Sanitary practice compels me to advise you to use a fresh spoon every time you stir and taste in order to avoid contamination. But it's your house.

The hot part being taken care of, make sure your freezer is actually freezing cold. Don't take the ice cream out ahead of serving so it doesn't soften. Best way to scoop hard ice cream is to use a metal scoop dipped in very hot water. Cuts through like buttah.


The three types of appliances you have listed have different primary uses, and best purposes, although they have some overlap in their capabilities.

Blenders. Good at, well, blending:  making smoothies, pureeing soup, grinding nuts to butter, and at the high end, making frozen ice drinks.

By far the best device for this purpose, but not very versatile.
Immersion Blender also known as a stick blender.  You didn't ask, but this device is very good at most basic blending tasks, although far less powerful than a full sized blender, especially the top of the line ones.   They are very effective at pureeing soup in the pot, or doing a quick puree on a tomato sauce, for example.  They are also good for small quantities of smoothies (at least the kinds without ice) where you can blend them directly the glass.

Convenient and often less hassle than a blender for small blending tasks, although not as powerful overall.
Juicers Good for extracting juice.  The main difference from a blender, which simply purees everything, is that juicers attempt to separate the solids from the juice.

I have never heard of a juicer that operates on frozen produce.

I won't comment on specific types of juicers as I am not expert in that area, and that really should be a question of its own.
Food processors Very versatile, depending on the blade or disk.  Can do almost everything a blender can do except frozen drinks, although perhaps not quite as well.  Can also slice (much like you would on a mandoline), shred, and chop.  Also useful in some bread and pastry making for working the dough.

Note that if your frozen berry puree is too thick for your liking, a different appliance is unlikely to change that.  Instead, you will want to either add some other liquids (like water or apple juice or yogurt) or let the berries thaw a bit.

You will have to decide which appliance will best suit your needs.  Based on your comments on what you will use it for, a blender might be your preference, although you might prefer the convenience of an immersion blender if you are not blending frozen drinks.


I've used a french press with good success when a steam wand was not available.  Pour some warm milk in and froth away.  You're not going to get the same shimmery-silky texture that a steam wand will do, but it'll be pretty decent.

The combination of a wide surface area and lots of small holes is excellent for introducing lots of air into the milk and keeping the bubbles really fine.


Wax paper sticking to homemade taffy - what to use for wrapping?

I have a similar issue with caramel coated nuts that I have been making. What I have found works well is to place the nut clusters in a large bowl (which has a lid) containing a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon, seal the bowl and shake 'vigorously', remove the remaining powder and shake again.

In your case you may not wish to use the cinnamon, and perhaps only cornstarch rather than powdered sugar. The powder coat will provide a non-stick barrier to your taffy, which should be only slightly sweet (powdered sugar) to neutral (cornstarch) and dissolve in the mouth very quickly. Depending on the flavor of your taffy you may find that adding a touch of cinnamon (or perhaps powdered ginger) might provide a bit of 'extra flavor'.


What is the difference between Greek yogurt and plain yogurt?

Greek yogurt is thicker. You can turn not-so-greek yogurt into it by letting it strain. Put cheesecloth into a colander, dump yogurt in, and allow to sit. Not too long, or you'll accidentally achieve paneer instead.


What's the difference between dried split peas and dried snack peas such as wasabi peas?

Recipes for homemade wasabi peas involve soaking, boiling, and then low-temperature roasting (essentially dehydrating) the peas.  Split peas are produced by simply drying the peas after they're harvested and then removing their skins.  So the reason is that the snack peas are cooked while the split peas are essentially raw.  The cooking process breaks down cell walls and makes the peas tender, even after they're roasted to draw out the moisture again.