Food safety rules are written around the ways bacteria reproduce, not around the chefs' convenience. There is no difference in the speed of getting unsafe between different types of meat (or any other type of non-shelf-stable food). Yes, the lamb is also meant to be defrosted in the fridge. And cooking from frozen is indeed not an option.
So yes, you are meant to defrost it in the fridge. You could do it whole, or you could remove parts of it while still frozen and defrost these, then cook, while the rest stays in the freezer. If you don't have the equipment to do either of that, then your kitchen is simply not ready to deal with buying a whole lamb.
I don't doubt that there are many people who buy it and defrost it outside of the fridge, they just either don't know the food safety rules or make the decision to not follow them.


I wouldn't advice either one.

If you sous vide from frozen, your cooking times are going to be off.  You might end up with it undercooked in the middle unless you significantly increase the cooking time.

And I've only done it in the packaging once.  Never again, as there was little to no flavor to it.  (no browning, no seasoning).  The only time that I might be willing to re-try it would be if I went to the partially-prepared section, and got the ones with marinade already in the bag.


Can I use edamame pods to make a vegetable broth?

I wouldn't expect them to have much effect on your broth either way.  The pod shells are fairly fibrous and don't have much flavor of their own.


From the picture and your description "Inside It was like cucmber. Some seeds and soften stuffs", I would say that it is most likely a zucchini. Zucchini come in white (which is actually a pale green), green (which is pine green) and yellow, and the inside looks cucumber-like, although it is not as pleasant to bite into while raw. A further clue would be the hardness of the rind - zucchini slices as easily as a cucumber, while other related plants (including gourds) have a rather hard outer rind which requires some pressure to split.

If it is not a zucchini, there is probably no better way to classify it. There are tons of cucurbitas and hybrids between them, and cooks don't have precise names for all, only for the most commonly eatem ones. So "pumpkin" might be the best you are left with. You can of course also say "white pumpkin" if this is the preferred name regionally, but don't be surprised if you ask somebody from a different region for a "white pumpkin" and you get either a puzzled look or a random pumpkin-related plant with whitish skin.


Long story short: It's the acid, and any acid will do.

Food colourings are a type of dye known as an acid dye. Their effectiveness relies on hydrogen bonding which only works in an acidic environment.

It's not that the vinegar does anything special - not exactly. Rather, adding a few drops of food colouring to a large amount of water would give you something that's not acidic at all, which will diminish or totally eliminate its effectiveness as a dye. Including vinegar in the mix simply allows you to stretch your rations, so to speak - to dilute the colouring in a whole lot of liquid without making it useless as a dye in the process.

Basically, you're creating a dyebath, which is a well-known term in the textile world, as it's used to dye wool and other fabrics. Warm temperatures (140-180° F) also aid in dye absorption, and apparently - although I'm no expert in textiles - a small amount of Urea also helps.

You could definitely use cream of tartar, citric acid or any other acid, but the recipes using vinegar are generally aiming for a specific pH, so you'll want to adjust quantities of any other acidifier to match. Presumably, vinegar is just the cheapest and most widely available acidifier.


Why did my Creme Brulee end up with lots of oil?

If the custard over baked, the liquid could have separated from the solid. The creme will look loose, or semi-liquid, when it is removed from the oven after gently baking bain marie (created by the water poured around the ramekins, placed in a larger container).  The custard sets during cooling, first on a rack and then in the frig. The sugar may have absorbed the liquid, and became more of a caramel as it was heated, rather than the burnt (brulee) crust.


According to Kenji Alt's experiements (admittedly with beef), the major effect of the bone is insulation, which matters in a high-heat cooking environment, but not in sous-vide.  See: Do Bones Add Favor To Meat

For sous-vide cooking, the bone adds little value, other than appearance.

It may also make it harder to put the product in your bag and seal it without a puncture.

Still, there should be no harm in leaving it on if you choose to.  In his ultimate steak method, Kenji Alt does leave the bone on for the sous-vide process.


What is the difference between a poolish and a biga?

I had to consult my copy of Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart to be sure, but here is a quote:

  There are two types of firm, or dry, pre-ferments and two types of wet
  pre-ferments. The firm pre-ferments are known as pâte fermentée and
  biga. The wet pre-ferments are called poolish and levain levure.

  ...

  Biga, an italian style of firm pre-ferment, differs from pâte
  fermentée in that it doesn't have any salt in it. Also, rather than
  cutting off a piece of finished bread dough to hold back as an
  improver, a biga is made specifically to be used as a pre-ferment.

So, it seems the main difference lies in the hydration of the dough, where a poolish is made with a ratio of equal water and flour.  There also seems to be a few other differences. A biga apparently uses .5 percent yeast to flour, while a poolish uses .25 percent.

Mr Reinhart does not say anything about a concrete difference in final result between these methods - just that a 'wet' pre-ferment is faster. Faster in the sense that in the same time-frame a poolish will develop more flavor and character than a dry pre-ferment.

Sadly I've personally only used a wet pre-ferment, since it is easier to handle. Just whisk it prior to bed time with a wire whisk and mix in the rest of the ingredients the next day. Having a full blown dough makes it more difficult to incorporate the rest of the ingredients.


Not only is this possible, I have done it. One of my favorites, in fact. But the most palatable version I've made varies a little bit from apple pie - rather than just tossing cinnamon sugar with the filling all willie nillie, I slice the squash very thin, line it against the edge of the crust, and keep working to the center. Think of it as like a tarte tatine - all lined up in a row (only this is not upside down like a tarte tatine).
Also, instead of just relying on caramelization on its own, I make a raw egg custard (just 4-5 egg yolks, a volume of sugar roughly equal to the quantity of the eggs, and some cream whipped together), add my nutmeg and cinnamon and other warm spices, and pour the raw custard all over the sliced sweet potatoes. I like to garnish with some additional nutmeg. Sometimes I like to add a splash of rum to the custard. It is so delicious, especially with a gingersnap based crust.
It's also possible (and encouraged) to brulee the top when the custard is done, and line the edge with some candied pecans.


Are these Red Beans or Red Kidney beans?

Though people seem to consider them 'the same thing' they are actually not. There is a 'red bean' distinct from a kidney bean.
What you have there, though, are kidney beans.
I found a couple of sources of comparison. The first, in text, from an actual bean company, Randall, which I thought gave it some added authority.

Kidney Beans
Of the three [they were including pintos, which we don't need here], kidney beans are noticeably the
biggest and plumpest. Looked at side-by-side with other beans,
kidney beans also have a much more distinct shape that isn’t as round
and oblong and looks more like a kidney. Go figure! Their thicker dark
red skin makes them ideal for and commonly used in lots of dishes that
are cooked over long periods of time like chili, baked beans, and
jambalaya where they are great at soaking up and absorbing other
flavors in the dish. But, they are also a great hearty and healthy
protein topper for salad too.
Red Beans
While many people think kidney beans and red beans are the same, they are actually two different kinds of beans! When you put
one next to the other, the visual differences are immediately
apparent. Where kidney beans are one of the largest beans, red beans
are much smaller and retain the classic oblong shape. And while both
are red, kidney beans have a darker, more crimson shade while red
beans are much brighter, almost pinkish, shade of red and have a much
“beanier” taste. Despite their differences, red beans do often go in
similar rice and stew recipes as kidney beans and pinto beans.

…and another source with pictures… Difference Guru
Kidney beans

Red beans


How can I check if a blind baked dough is done?

assuming you put a piece of foil between the crust and rice, just lift up an edge to check it..


Chopped onions in metal or plastic containers

The key thing to look for is that the container closes as tight as possible. Metal or plastic doesn't matter. However, I would probably use metal or glass, since plastic can absorb some of the flavour of the raw onions. This would then make that container unsuitable for storing other things.


I want to make a mug cake, can I use hot chocolate mix instead of cocoa?

You definitely want to use cocoa powder if you can...but...

I've done it in a pinch. It's not as good as cocoa powder though because hot chocolate mix is usually also sugar & sometimes powdered milk. But it's still something to fix a chocolate craving when you don't have much else in the cupboard.

I've added hot chocolate mix to waffle mix/pancake mix and always found it delicious, though of course not as chocolate-y as with pure cocoa powder.


You have basically made tea-flavoured vodka.

The tea tree (for essential oil) is unrelated to the tea plant for the beverage.

Commercially, tea tree oil is produced by steam distillation of the leaves of the tea tree, specifically Melaleuca alternifolia. Though possible to obtain leaves and perform the distillation, it's probably not practical on a small scale outside of the tea tree production regions. For completeness, tea tree oil is toxic; you don't want to eat it.

What you used was conventional tea leaves. The tea beverage is made by steeping (soaking in hot water) leaves of the tea plant, which have been dried or otherwise prepared (e.g., fermented, roasted, etc.).


How to make/preserve popcorn so that its taste and texture doesn't deteriorate within a day or two?

Unless you coat the popcorn (with caramel, etc), I know of no way, other than SAJ's vacuuming idea, which is quite a good one, imo.


Freezer warmed to -6C. Safe to eat the food?

In your question, does "go bad" mean food quality or food safety?
As for safety, you were nowhere near the "danger zone" either temperature-wise or time-wise.
Initially safe, properly stored, frozen food that warms to -6C (or 22 F) for 30 minutes will not render it unsafe to eat.
In terms of food quality, freezers (most of which these days are self-defrosting), go through temperature cycles regularly.  The problem with this is not food safety, but the accumulation of ice crystals in foods, which degrades quality.  Freezer burn is the extreme example.  Of course, attention to packaging (vacuum sealing, for example) helps.


Could rice or pasta be cooked without hot water?

Wetted starch is not the same thing as cooked starch. If you want to see the difference in a simple experiment, make two starch slurries, boil one into a pudding, and leave the other one cold. Starch only gelates at high temperatures (I think it starts around 70°C, but needs even more to complete the process).

When you have a grain of rice, you have the problem that the starch is very closely packed together, and water can't penetrate into the center of the grain too well - the outside layers soak all the water they come in contact with, and so water only seeps into the center of the rice after the outer part has been hydrated. It is similar for pasta. In the worst case, when you cook rice, the time needed for cooking will be enough to heat the whole grain to the gelating temperature, but not enough for the water to hydrate the innermost part of the corn. This is fine if you want hardish-cooked rice, but if you want soft, mushy rice, you should presoak it so the inside is already hydrated when you start cooking it. I suppose you can do the same with pasta. This is the reason why some sources will advice you to presoak.

But, as I said, this is not the same as cooking. Yes, the rice or pasta will get soft, so you won't break your teeth if you try to eat it. But it will still be raw starch. I don't know if it is unhealthy to eat raw starch (my mother certainly told me so, but it could have been a myth; I asked a question about that and got no conclusive answers). But it will probably taste unpleasant, similar to raw potatoes or raw flour. I would try to get other sources of food for this time period. Or, as @justkt's comment suggests, it is easy to get an electric kettle in a brand new house before the kitchen is installed. You can use it to pour cooking water over "instant" versions of pasta and rice. These have been pregelated and then dehydrated, so don't need a prologned cooking. They are usually available as instant hot soup or rice meals in sachets and cardboard boxes, I haven't seen them as pure ingredients.


Foamy cakey layer on top of lemon squares

I make my lemon squares the same way and get this top.  I haven't noticed it effects the end result.  I lowered my oven temp a bit to help with it, and it doesn't eliminate it, but it's thin and not overly browned.  And once the powdered sugar is on top, no one is any wiser.

The only way I've seen to not have this is to do a stove top version that's finished in the oven.


My oven seems to cook the outside faster than the inside

so I have used a laser temperature probe pointed at the chicken and adjusted the dial so that this value is 180C

That's not how you are meant to do it. 180 C is the oven temperature, not the temperature of the chicken skin. If you turned it up until the chicken surface became 180, that's way too hot, and of course it causes the exact symptoms you describe.
You should just set your oven dial to 180 C and use it that way. If it continues to burn on the outside, go down in the temperature until you find one at which, when you wait until the inside is done, the skin is not burnt. Then write down the time and (dial setting) temperature it needs, and continue using that, no matter what the package says.


If you zoom in and take a look at some of the striation marks running through the suspect stuff:

... you can see that something was able to scratch through it easily, probably flatware or a knife. I personally use the same chainmail scrubbers that I use on cast iron to clean that sort of stuff off of stainless. It won't leave 'tracks' like steel wool / Brillo might.

Whether or not it's mold would be up to a field test to confirm, but I highly suspect it's just some muck / soot from a pan, you generally don't see mold settle in sinks outside of ring seals around them or the drain.

Some hot water and a good scrubbing should be all you need.


How to stop sugar syrup from crystallizing?

According to this recipe, you will need about a gram for each kilogram of sugar. Roughly, this is about 1/3 to 1/4 of a teaspoon.

Try that and see if it works. If it doesn't, increase the amount slightly.


How to make a restaurant style meatless Hot and Sour Soup

For heat, I recommend chili oil as opposed to a paste. That and white pepper should give you a pretty solid heat component. Even though the thought initially made me go EEEEEEW, ATK does recommend a a 50/50 combination of Balsamic and red wine vinegars as a replacement for the ideal Black Chinese Vinegar, which is probably what great Chinese restaurants use. Do you eat eggs? If so, I'd certainly use one. Here's the technique, again from ATK " Without stirring soup, use soupspoon to slowly drizzle very thin streams of egg mixture (1/2 tsp corntarch, 1 tsp water beaten with 1 egg) into pot in circular motion. Let soup sit 1 minute, then return saucepan to medium-high heat. Bring soup to gentle boil, then immediately remove from heat. Gently stir soup once to evenly distribute egg."

You probably should considerably up your soy sauce. Consider too your mushrooms. "Assorted" can mean just about anything. Some mushrooms are very strongly flavored in a way that just plain clashes with Chinese Hot and Sour. That could very well account for the barnyard odor you describe. I'd recommend sticking to shiitake/oyster/woodear if you can.


How to optimize the order of ingredients for crêpes batter?

You really don’t want a “paste”. What you’re seeing is gluten formation. In combining flour with a small amount of liquid and repeatedly stirring, you’re essentially making bread dough and then watering it down.
Combine and mix the dry ingredients. Combine and mix the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.


How do cooks prepare belly pork in a restaurant?

No trick. It's par-cooked, cooled, and held cold until service. Then when it's on order, you finish the cooking. That is true for most long-cooked dishes.


Are there particular palate cleansers for particular foods?

Pickled ginger is the proper palate cleanser to use with sushi, which helps keep flavors from mixing when you're trying several different kinds of rolls. So at least with sushi there's a specific palate cleanser, and I imagine there are others for other types of food.


What type of sausage for bangers and mash?

The good thing about Cumberland sausages is that the meat is supposed to be coarsely chopped and in of itself has a very high meat content. However, all good sausages have this quality also!

So in essence look for a sausage with a high meat content (80%+) and you can't go too far wrong.


Is there something better than mineral oil for cutting boards?

"Better" might be a matter of interpretation. The oils will behave a bit differently, however.

Mineral Oil is a non-drying oil, which means that it will not polymerize (form a plastic-like substance) over time. This is good for oiling cutting boards because it will stay a bit liquid in the wood and flow into cracks and scratches. It is also food-safe and won't go rancid or support microorganisms.

Linseed Oil (AKA Flaxseed Oil, or Flax Oil) is also a good choice, for a different reason. Linseed Oil is a drying oil, which means it will fully polymerize and form a harder plastic layer. This is why it is about the best oil for seasoning cast iron pans. It may be more durable than mineral oil, but lacks the ability to "flow".

A blend of the two sounds like a fine idea. My favorite, Howard's Butcher Block Conditioner is a mix of Mineral Oil and natural waxes like Carnauba and Beeswax, which add a bit of that "durability" that Linseed Oil could add.

What would be a bad choice are most food oils like Canola, Olive Oil, Lard, etc. Unsaturated fats will oxidize (go rancid) and affect your food. Even oils high in saturated fats may have too many anti-oxidants (which are bad in this case), which will prevent polymerization and leave a gummy surface. These semi-drying oils are of no use here.

Whatever you use, make sure it is intended for food (Linseed Oil is a common woodworking finish, and not all versions are intended for use with food). Mineral Oil is probably more convenient for quick daily wipe-downs, while some of the blends are probably a bit more suited toward occasional re-finishing. Either way, regular application and keeping the board dry while not in use will make more difference than the exact type of oil.


I have had some success with this recipe: http://awesomepickle.com/pickled-herring-recipe-how-to-fillet-a-fish/

The fish should keep for a couple of weeks once pickled, but I always tend to eat mine in the first few days.


A true bain-marie actually has a fitted rack or platform that allows water through, which you can lift out with handles. It's very convenient.

If you're just using a baking dish filled with water, I'd suggest getting yourself a mesh roasting pan with handles, like this one:

Then you can put all your ramekins on top and just lift out the whole rack when you're done.

If I don't have one of these on hand, I usually use a wide shallow bowl to scoop water out; you don't need to scoop it all out, just enough to firmly grip the top of the ramekins.

Some silicone oven mitts might also help; they don't get "wet" like regular oven mitts and so they'll protect your hands from the hot/boiling water just fine.


Water vs. milk/cream (or nothing) in traditional (French) omelets

Americas test kitchen has tested this in a prior issue.  I cannot put my hands on the issue right now which explained their process and the results.  It also contained a good deal of explanation about the science of the process. They tried all sorts of liquids in their omelette and scrambled eggs recipe. They found that water did make the eggs slightly fluffy but did not slow the coagulation process. This led to a tougher scramble than milk. They wanted the same result for an omelette with a denser texture.  The end result being that butter was better for an omelet.

However, some of the result was later reported in a Smithsonian Magazine Article.  It is a much more compact summary but fairly on the nose for your question.

Their answer was as follows:

  Add milk to scrambled eggs, frozen butter to omelets: If you want
  scrambled eggs, most of us know to throw in a bit of milk or butter
  while scrambling. That’s because the lipids in the dairy coat the
  proteins in the egg (11 percent in the whites and 16 percent in the
  yolks) and slow down the process of coagulation, a.k.a. when the
  proteins are denatured and unfurl, releasing much of the water in the
  mixture. Adding fat helps keep some moisture in and fluff up the final
  product. But the same does not go for omelets. “While scrambled eggs
  should be fluffy, an omelet is more compact,” the authors write.
  While milk works for scrambled eggs, it can add to much moisture to an
  omelet. The chefs recommend frozen bits of butter instead, which melt
  more slowly and disperse more evenly. And it turns out you can go
  ahead and salt the eggs before you even cook them up. Because salt
  affects the electrical charge on the proteins, it weakens the bonds
  between them, preventing overcoagulation. Bring that up at your next
  brunch.

The Science of Good Cooking: Tips From America’s Test Kitchen


For me, the popping is most often from water.  It could be in your oil, under the pan, between the pan and a handle, etc.  In some pans there could even be more than one layer to the pan and moisture could have gotten between the layers.  In this case, I would tend to replace the pan.  Thin pans, especially those of aluminum, present another source though, they warp while heating.  For things like boiling, this is not a big deal, but such a pan I would not use for heating oil.  If a pan warps with hot oil there is a real potential for splashing or splattering which could result in burn or a fire.  Oil applications such as deep frying I stick to heavy pans only


What are the qualities of a good French Bread?

From Retrodor:

  The Bread Decree issued in France on September 13, 1993, defined the characteristics of the baguette de tradition française, the traditional French loaf.

  This baguette resembles the best of those made in the 1930s, when the baguette reached its peak in the major French cities. The Retrodor stands out in particular because it is made from high-quality flour; no additives, chemical products, or other “improvers” are allowed.

  What makes it special? You can recognize a baguette de tradition by specific qualities that appeal to all five senses.

  Here are the cues that will help you identify the ideal baguette.

  As soon as you go into the bakery, you’ll detect aromas of caramel and toasty, nutty hot cereal coming out of the oven.

  First, you’ll judge the loaf’s appearance by sight: it will have a smooth, earthy golden crust.

  Take it in your hand: you’ll see right away that, at 300 grams, it is more robust and generous than the classical baguette

  When you touch it, the appealing crust, thin and crisp, will crack under light pressure; it won’t be hard or brittle.

  If you tap on the bottom of the baguette, you’ll hear a distinctive drum-like sound; this comes from the tension created in a well-cooked loaf during the baking process.

  After cutting off a piece, you’ll look carefully at the crumb (the inside part).

  It adheres well to the crust. It’s cream-colored, not white; this shows that the bread was made with an exceptional flour, then kneaded slowly and with care. The little cavities or air pockets (alveoli), extremely variable in size and unevenly spaced, are the memory sites of a successful fermentation and harbingers of sensory pleasure.

  The crumb has good elasticity: it will spring back to its initial form after you’ve pressed it gently with your fingers.

  When you can no longer resist the temptation to bite into it, you will immediately discover reassuring signs: both delicate and sturdy, the bread is easily chewed and swallowed as a result of the perfect marriage of crumb and crust. The impression in the mouth is promising, at once round and long.

  When you finally taste this baguette, you’ll detect aromas of hazelnut and butter, with scents that are fruity (black cherry, dried apricot) and floral (acacia, verbena). There is no hint of acidity. Its light yeast content keeps it tasty and fresh.


Why do different pasta shapes taste different?

Different forms of pasta are going to have different surface-to-mass ratios, which will affect how the pasta cooks; the cross-section may affect how much starch gets rubbed off as the pasta boils.  (I can only assume that more's going to stay in a spiral or a tube than will on something that can rub up against other pasta)

But I'm going to assume that you're not eating the pasta plain ... and the different shapes will hold sauce differently, and that can be quite significant.

The other thing that Tom Gullen mentioned is variation in cooking -- I personally avoid capellini (aka angel hair), because I've had it overcooked so many times ... overcooked pasta is disgusting, in my opinion.


How to sprout quinoa (and other grains) safely

As you stated above that you have used every possible method, i use simple method for grain sprouting. First i wash grain properly to remove dust and then soak them in normal temperature water for at least time mentioned in recipe.The first step in preparing quinoa is to remove the saponins, a process that requires soaking the grain in water for a few hours, then changing the water and re-soaking, or rinsing it in ample. So, continuously changing water after ever 3 hrs to keep them fresh. Then followed by your usual sprouting method. But for sure there must be the problem with the quality of grain batch which may be due to fertilizing,soil or any other reason. You better purchase from some good quality grains then follow the usual procedure of sprouting.
It happens sometimes, i had been through same once but till that stock lasts in my kitchen. There after i went to have good quality grains and issue resolved. Hope it would help you out.


How to cook ground turkey so it remains more clumpy and chunky?

How to do this partially depends on the way your turkey is ground and how loose or tight it ends up in the package, and whether you want to add flavors to it.

If the ground turkey is tightly packed and doesn't fall apart easily then what I'd do is to put the while slab of it in a hot pan with some oil then press it out as flat as I can, creating a browned crust which will keep it together, then break that up into chunks for your pizza

If it's pretty loose then it's not going to clump up on its own and it needs some help. Or if you want to add flavors in the act of mixing is going to loosen it in which case your best bet is to make a sausage by mixing in your herbs and spices along with some breadcrumbs to bind it all. This would end up being turkey meatballs (I suggest sage and marjoram as they go well).


How do I keep my enchiladas from getting soggy when they cook?

Two things:
(1) Pass the tortillas through hot oil first, for just a few seconds. That will soften them and also "waterproof" them. It is the traditional technique.
(2) Consider making them on a griddle instead of in the oven; preheat the sauce and the filling, soften the tortilla, fill, heat for just a few more seconds, place on top of the sauce on a preheated plate.


How to (cheaply) maintain a plentiful herb supply

Grow them! It's easy, cheap and they'll always be available. NOthing you'll ever grow will give so much back for so little input.

Many herbs - especially rosemary, sage and thyme - are woody perennials and once established in a sunny corner of your garden, they will grow and spread and you'll have them all year round, if your winters aren't too harsh. Better still the woody herbs actively prefer poor, free draining soils with lots of grit mixed in, so they will grow, look good and be fragrant in sunny, high traffic spots such as the edge of a path, where other plants, even grass won't easily grow.

Buy a couple of growing pots from a good local garden centre and have a go. Parsley is a little harder (it germination can be erratic), but it's a binannual (which grows one year and flowers the next), so once you have a root established you'll get a couple of years out of it. Like coriander leaf it needs sun, but more moisture. If you have a moist, even slightly shady spot, and plant chives and mint, you'll never get rid of them as they are hardy and prolific.

Basil will grow very well on a sunny windowsill if you keep it in moist and rich compost and frost free.

Good luck. Nothing steps your cooking up to the next level like everyday access to fresh herbs.


Definitely cool off your roast first. Putting hot or warm food into your refrigerator a) shortens the life of your fridge because it has to work harder, and b) introduces heat into the fridge that can affect other items in the refrigerator. Shortening the usage date on milk is the most common. A third consideration has nothing to do with food but may impact your ability to purchase roasts in the future: your electricity usage. You're going to have to pay for every kilowatt-hour of electricity you waste on fridge-chilling food that is too hot.


How to avoid vegetables sticking on heat-resistant glass dish?

Butter has a fairly low smoke point, and may be burning in the oven. You could try using one of the "yellow oils" like canola (rapeseed), peanut, soybean or corn oil.

Aside from that, it's not completely unexpected for cooking vegetables to stick to the edge of a dish. It may just be normal behaviour. My apple pies will always stick slightly to the edges of the pie dish.


How to Make many pizzas for large party?

Yes, preparing discs of dough ahead of time, separated by parchment, wax paper or clingfilm does work. The biggest risk is that the dough tends to dry out a bit, so keeping the whole mass wrapped up in clingfilm and possibly in wide closable containers may be worthwhile.

I don't know how long it would take you to pre-portion 20 pizza doughs; I'm not super-efficient on that yet so it would probably take me a good solid hour. That might be short enough so as not to require additional retardation.

Most pizza joints at least pre-portion the balls of dough, and they let them relax at (oven-) room temperature, so that they're easy to stretch.

If this is a casual party with friends, rather than a formal dinner or a catering gig, though, you may consider involving your friends to do the work; they may appreciate the social aspect of throwing/rolling dough together (depending on your technique preference), and even topping the pizzas themselves, with your guidance. You may want to make a bit of extra dough to accommodate errors.

I've actually been to an event where everyone brought their own preferred dough recipe to test it out on a wood fired oven, which was a leisurely several-hour event with many successes and a few "failures" (or lessons learned; brioche dough doesn't love 700F ovens). We all just grabbed space on the bench when it was practical, and queued up for the oven when practical.

An alternate strategy is to have plenty of dishes out on the table that aren't time and temperature sensitive, and let people nibble casually while you prep. Marinated vegetables, cold cuts, cheeses, bean dishes, etc. Then spend time chatting with each person you're making pizzas for while you prep them, maybe three or four at a time, to tweak to their preferences and whims.


For starters, it is not the expriy date. For anything perishable, it is only relevant for the sealed bottle (and that not only for condiments) and does not have a meaning after you open it. If it is nonperishable, it is simply a best before date and irrelevant for safety.

So there is no single answer to your question. Some will be highly perishable and fall under the 3-5 days rule for cooked foods, others will keep forever, and some will be in the middle. You have to look everything up in a shelf life database like StillTasty.


Here's how I learned from my great grandmother:

cook the bacon/salt pork/home/whatever 'til crispy
beat the eggs (she used whole eggs) with a little black pepper
drain the cooked pasta, and immediately mix the pasta with the eggs; if it's too dry, add some of the pasta water.
Add fried pork product and mix a litle more.
sprinkle cheese on top while serving.

...

But I've also been known to mix everything but the pasta together (maybe not the pork if it's still too hot), and then toss it all together while the pasta's still hot, kinda like if you were tossing to mix the dressing on a salad.  (tongs work really well)

...

Either way, you do end up with the fried pork bits at the bottom of the pot you were mixing in.  The easy way around this is to save 1/3 to 1/2 of it, and sprinkle it over the top when serving.


How long will homemade Pico de Gallo last in the refrigerator?

The Pico de Gallo I make (plum tomatoes, white onion, fresh jalapeno peppers, lime juice, a tiny bit of olive oil and chopped fresh cilantro, salt and pepper) will last approximately 1 week if kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator.  Over that time the tomatoes will get a little mushy and the cilantro will wilt.

Perhaps you can have everything else mixed and just add the chopped tomatos and freshly chopped cilantro when you are ready to serve?


Adding salt to the oil making potato chips

Potato chips have to be fried in lots of oil. If you are using little, you are doing it wrong and your chips are less tasty than they could be.

As Preston Fitzgerald mentioned in a comment, salt doesn't dissolve in oil. It could be that it will fall to the bottom. Alternatively, the convection in the hot oil could move it around. But still, the salt will tend to stay in the oil and not cling to the potatoes. Even if an oiled flake meets the potato, it will not stick, the oil will lubricate it enough to prevent sticking. If you salt the raw potatoes instead, the salt will dissolve in their wetness and coat them evenly.

Your popcorn is entirely different. There, your small amounts of oil, including any salt floating in them, will cling to the popcorn. This is different from frying, where only a tiny fraction of the oil will stay on the potato. Besides, you can't salt corn kernels before popping - the salt will just fall off the hard dry surface. The potato is perfectly salted before.


Is it a self-cleaning oven?

If so, running the cleaning cycle according to the instructions should leave nothing but a fine ash on the oven, which is easily removable with just warm water.


How long do you let a turkey rest after cooking?

The purpose- as with any cooked meat- is to let the meat firm up so it doesn't release juices when you cut into it.

In the case of a turkey it also helps to let it cool enough to not burn you when you are carving and eating it.

Both of these goals will be met in 30 minutes to an hour.

I don't know why that chef would recommend 3 hours. At that length of time the turkey would start to approach room temperature and would be less appealing to eat as well as start the clock on the danger zone.


Accept that it will never look pristine white ever again.
Whatever you do, don't wash it in Persil. That stuff is designed to make your clothes bright & nicely perfumed, not something you need in your turkey - "seven day freshness" isn't quite what they meant in the adverts. At least it doesn't have fabric conditioner in it, which would be even worse. No-one ever bought Comfort for how good it tastes;)
Unless you want to invest in some pure soap*  - flakes or liquid at various prices from reasonable eg Wilko's to truly ridiculous "they saw you coming & laughed" then you'll be fine just washing it in regular washing-up liquid, or give it a soak in bleach first, so long as you rinse it afterwards until you can no longer smell it. [I'd just go with Fairy myself & put up with the staining].
*& run it through the washing machine all on its own, wasting an entire wash cycle for one cloth.


I've heard that sugar, and especially brown sugar, loses its flavor over time. Is this true?

White sugar is generally sucrose and has been heavily refined, so it won't undergo any chemical changes over time.  In fact, sugar is actually used as a preservative.

Brown sugar is a bit different.  It gets hard simply because it loses moisture - i.e. the water evaporates - and that won't cause the taste to change.  However, some people have reported brown sugar actually fermenting on its own (also here).  This fermentation is more likely to happen than in white sugar due to the presence of molasses.

It takes a long time for fermentation to occur, but it can definitely occur, and that will most certainly change the flavour.  I'm not sure if I'd call it "losing" the flavour; some might argue that the presence of alcohol is a good thing, although fermented sugar obviously will not be as sweet.

I would not worry about the flavour of brown sugar that has merely hardened; if it smells like alcohol, though, you might want to be more careful.


Why throw salt over a barbecue before cooking?

Salt is a good means to control/suppress flames and flareups without having a cooling effect on the coals.


If you try to fry them, you'd do well to coat them with breadcrumbs (using egg as an adhesive). Depending on the size of the mushrooms you may even need to do 2-3 layers.

If you don't coat them, they'll probably loose too much water and taste weird. I have deep fried coated muchrooms before (delicious!) at 170°C, however I never tried it with stuffed mushrooms. Personally I disliked them deep fried without coating, but I guess to each their own.


Aw, you youngsters, spoiled with your Nestle Quick... :)

To mix cocoa powder with a liquid (or really, to mix any powder with a liquid - salt and granulated sugar aren't powders), you need to make a slurry by mixing a small part of the liquid into all of the powder. Then you can dilute the slurry with the rest of the liquid.

Note that if you're using sugar for sweetening, it helps to add it to the cocoa powder before you add any liquid, because the sugar helps the dissolving. However, since stevia is so much sweeter than sugar, you use too little of it to make any difference to the dissolving process. Thus, you can go ahead and add it afterward, so you can adjust the sweetness better.


What role does salt play in pumpkin pie?

Salt is fundamental to our sense of taste, leaving it out will definitely affect the flavor of a pie (or a cake, or a steak, or whatever) negatively. However, leaving it out shouldn't have affected the texture, you would need to use much more salt than I imagine your pie filling recipe called for to affect the texture at all.


Do sodastream PET bottles have normal 28mm threaded caps?

No, the sodastream caps are big enough to fit a standard bottle cap inside it entirely. Practically everything about the sodastream is made in a proprietary manner to make sure you use their products as intended and never interchange them with something else (and can only purchase replacement parts from them)


Can you beat eggs inside their own shell?

Someone made an instructable on how to make what they call a Japanese Golden Egg (although a search for that just gave me lots of hits on Angry Birds); they spin the egg quickly, breaking up the internal structure, and then boil it to get a scrambled-egg-colored boiled egg.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Scrambled-Eggs-still-in-the-Shell-/


How do you cook grass-fed beef so it is not tough?

This is total nonsense: grass fed ribeye should absolutely not be tough. Toughness is, however, affected by the cow's breed, it's age, by how stressed it was when it was slaughtered, by ageing of the meat, and I'm sure a bunch of other variables too. Something made the meat tough, but it wasn't grass feeding - the combination of strong beefy flavour and toughness might suggest an old cow, for instance. Next time choose grass-fed beef raised by a different farmer.


Generally with a 1L siphon it’s advised to use 2 or 3 charges. If you scale down your ingredients, you’ll create a much larger gap in the canister, this would mean you’d have to use even more charges which is not really safe at all!

If you’d like to scale down your recipe, you should also scale down your canister size too. Try using 0.25 or 0.5 liter canisters I’d say.


Resources for determining cooking substitutions

This one from AllRecipes.com is pretty comprehensive. I remember finding one a long time ago that was laid out in categories though. Maybe someone else can find it.


How much thermostat "range" in oven temperature is too much?

This is fully normal. Ovens are not stable, temperature-wise, and I have frequently seen such large amplitudes in temperature. Of course, it is much nicer if your oven can hold a constant temperature, that's why some people will accept the expense of an Aga. But in principle, baking recipes can handle that. Note that from a historical point of view, people used ovens with solid fuel, which had much larger temperature amplitudes and no temperature display, and their baking goods were still tasty. Ovens are not temperature-accurate, and recipes are robust for that.

As for the recipes which are no longer reliable, the most likely explanation is that your old oven was also inaccurate, but in a different pattern. Another possibility would be a different mix of radiant, convective and conductive heat, which means that the same recipe in the same pan can require a different time. In general, a recipe which specifies time is reliable for a specific combination of pan, oven and amount. If you bake until ready instead of waiting for a time given in the recipe, the problem disappears.


Can I substitute gluten for eggs in coconut flour pancake recipes?

The primary reason coconut flour recipes (especially a high hydration recipe like pancakes) end up tasting like eggs is because they are primarily eggs with very little flour.

Coconut flour is extremely absorbent, which means two things:

For the same amount of liquid, you need less coconut flour compared to other flours like flaxseed meal, almond flour, etc. Because you must use less of it, there is less flour "flavor" that comes through to the final product, if that makes sense.
For the same amount of coconut flour compared to other flours, you need more liquid. Because coconut flour has very little protein compared to other flours, that liquid tends to be eggs, which have the necessary protein to provide structure.

Take a muffin recipe for example (I've omitted all other ingredients besides flour and eggs for sake of clarity).

Flaxseed meal version:

¼ cup flaxseed meal (28 g)
1 jumbo egg (63 g)

Coconut flour version:

2 Tbsp coconut flour (14 g)
1 ½ jumbo eggs (95 g)

Now let's look at the baker's percentages of eggs to flour in both of these recipes. In the flaxseed meal version, we see that the weight of the egg is 225% compared to the flour (if the flour were considered 100%). In the coconut flour version, the weight of the eggs are 642% compared to the flour.

Something that uses 642% eggs is likely going to taste a lot like eggs. But wait, we're not done yet. Most pancakes recipes are simply flat griddle-cooked muffins, though they tend to have even more liquid than regular muffins. That likely means even more eggs, and egg ratios upwards of 800-900%. At those levels, it's more like an omelette with the coconut flour just going along for the ride.

Whether you can substitute vital wheat gluten (VWG) in place of eggs is really going to depend on the rest of the recipe. Without knowing what the other ingredients are, it's hard to make suggestions. If eggs are the only ingredient providing moisture, then substituting with VWG alone won't work without also adding a source of moisture. My gut feeling is that VWG would tend to exacerbate the requirement for moisture (it's also very thirsty), and tend to make leathery pancakes. Actually, I suppose it might theoretically be possible to replace the function of an egg by combining a small amount of vital wheat gluten (say, 6 g) with a non-egg source of liquid like buttermilk (say, 45 g). I'll have to try experimenting with that and report back. Until then, this is how I approached solving the "eggyness" problem:

EDIT: since posting this, I've developed a coconut-flour version of my low-carb Buttermilk Pancakes #12 recipe, which I'll include here. While I know this isn't a recipe exchange site, I think this recipe can help show how I approached solving the OP's original problem of too much "eggyness":

Buttermilk Pancakes #12 (Coconut Flour + Whey Protein Isolate)

3 ½ Tbsp coconut flour (*flour*)                          42.98%  24.5 g
1 Tbsp psyllium husk powder (*flour*)                     14.91%   8.5 g
¼ cup, packed, unflavored whey protein isolate (*flour*)  42.11%  24.0 g

¼ tsp baking powder                                        2.02%   1.2 g
1/16 tsp baking soda                                       0.51%   0.3 g
1 Tbsp Splenda (non-nutritive sweetener)                   2.96%   1.7 g
3/8 tsp Kosher salt                                        1.84%   1.0 g

1 jumbo egg                                              110.53%  63.0 g
1 cup buttermilk                                         429.82% 245.0 g
1 Tbsp unsalted butter                                    24.86%  14.2 g

A couple of things I'll note. First, this recipe has around 475% hydration, so it's still quite high, but it solves the eggyness problem by  using only 1 egg. To make up for the structure and liquid that the egg would normally provide, I replaced it with several ingredients which work together to function like an egg. First is the unflavored whey protein powder. When mixed with the buttermilk and cooked, it will set up similar to how an egg might set up. However, being a pure protein powder, it is an extreme "drier" (similar to egg whites), and would produce an inedible dense pancake by itself. To balance that out, I added a moisture retainer in the form of ground psyllium husk. The psyllium husk also acts like a binder and holds everything together similar to how an egg might. The end result is probably the equivalent to around 3 eggs or so without tasting like an egg.

P.S. I originally posted this recipe along with 3 other low-carb flour variations over on reddit.

Regarding the carbs in buttermilk (and yogurt): While the nutrition info for 1 cup (245 g) of buttermilk and 1 cup (245 g) of whole plain (unsweetened) yogurt will say around 12 g of carbs from sugars, in reality, that number is actually much lower. The reason for this is that most of the milk sugar (lactose) in buttermilk and yogurt has been converted by the bacteria culture to lactic acid. As doctors Jack Goldberg and Karen O'Mara explain in their book "The GO-Diet", you can count a cup of either of these as 4 g of net carbs rather than 12 g. (See this website for more info: http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/yogurt.html).


You do not need the fancy equipment of a typical bakery.  It helps, but it is not necessary.

What will likely take your bread over the top is some sort of pre-ferment, which I see you've already found in your recipes, but I have a slightly different suggestion than those recipes provide.  The simplest way to do this is to make a small amount (perhaps 1/3) of your dough one night in advance.  Let it rise once, then retard further proofing in your refrigerator overnight.  Before making your full dough, remove it from the fridge and let it warm to room temperature for about an hour.  Cut into several pieces.  Add to your dough when you add the liquid.  The pre-ferment gives your dough something similar to what a bakery with a 9 hour full cycle for making a baguette would have.  Your dough should go through an additional proofing plus rising time after shaped.  When shaping your dough, be careful to degas it as little as possible.

For a good texture, bake your baguettes on a pizza stone with plenty of corn meal underneath.  Pre-heat a thick, ovensafe metal pan with your stone.  When you put the bread in, put a cup of boiling water in that pan to add steam.  This will help create a great crusty bread crust and oven spring in your dough.  I have found that the same baguettes with oven spring taste 100% better than those without - something about that key activity during the first minutes of baking really brings the tastes over the top.

More information on amazing bread can be found in The Bread Baker's Apprentice or, for whole grains, Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads.


Tough question - there are a lot of non-scientific ways to measure small/medium/large potatoes and nobody seems to agree on exactly what weight each is.  However, there are a few ways I identify large vs medium at home.

In my experience, a large potato is about the size you would get in a restaurant (I know, not very specific).  That is, when I cook at home, the potatoes I purchase tend to be medium - round (not oval) and about the size of a tennis ball or baseball.  When I'm at a restaurant their potatoes are noticeably larger, and generally more oval shaped it seems (closer to a sweet potato in shape and size), which makes them great for stuffing like for a loaded baked potato.  Luckily most of the recipes I have at home that involve potatoes don't require precise measurement, so I just stick with my eyeball measurements and don't even bother weighing them.

I found a source online that says this:

  According to Shape magazine, eatbetteramerica.com and prevention, a medium potato is the size of a computer mouse, so somewhat bigger than that.

And I think I can get behind that answer.  I'd say your average computer mouse (like, one you would get with a new PC, not a fancy third-party mouse) is about the size of an average medium potato.  Another way to eyeball: I'm a 30 year old male with hands that are neither very large or very small.  The medium potatoes in this bag are about the size of a loose fist for me.  So a large potato would be bigger than either of those things.

As for measurements, I have a bag of medium potatoes and it says they're 5.3 oz (150g) a piece.  I weighed one and it was closer to 6.5oz (185g).  Based on that I'd say a large potato would be anything over 8oz (225g), pushing as high as 12oz (340g).

I found a way to search online for this info: calories.  By searching for "large potato calories" I was able to find pages with weights and measures:

3 to 4 1/4 inches in diameter
300 grams (about 10.5oz)

So, in short, it seems like I would consider these good numbers:

Medium potato: 2 to 3" in diameter, 5-8oz (140-225g)
Large potato: 3 to 4.25" in diameter, 8-12oz (225-340g)

Below is a picture of the medium potato from my bag, compared to some common household/kitchen items.  The gift card is the size of a normal credit card, and the knife is a common steak knife from my utensil drawer.  Apparently a medium potato is almost exactly the size of a 1 cup measure!


Can I substitute "green beans" for "string beans"?

In most countries string beans and green beans are exactly the same thing (see wikipedia's entry for green bean). They are both words used to refer to various unripe cultivars of the common bean Phaseolus vulgaris. The phrase string bean is older and dates back to when beans had a fibrous string down the pod that you could peal off. The first stringless bean was bred by Calvin Keeney in 1894, and hence the newer name for this product was the "green bean" to emphasize the lack of the fibrous string. Both names are still in wide use today, even for cultivars where the string is not present (most cultivars). I am unaware of any credible evidence that suggests that green beans are unsafe when eaten raw. Some toxic compounds are present in green and string beans at very low levels (the same compounds found at much higher concentrations in uncooked dry beans). However, note that these trace amounts of toxic compounds are considered safe and that most foods have similar trace amounts of toxic compounds.

So when going into a grocery store, if you see the word green bean (at least in the US) you can safely substitute it for any recipe calling for string beans.

Edit: As pointed out by rackandboneman, the species Vigna unguiculata can be eaten raw and is the usual bean used in "Som Tam". However, when translated to English Vigna unguiculata is rarely translated to "string bean". The most common english name for this bean is "yard long bean", "long bean" or "cowpea bean" (see the wiki entry for the bean used in "Som Tam"). Similar to green bean, there is no credible evidence that such pods are poisonous when eaten raw, and "green beans/string beans" do make a good substitute for Vigna unguiculata in dishes where you plan to cut the long bean anyways.


Should I add water to my homemade orange juice?

Does water affect the conservative value:

I doubt adding water would noticeably hurt the conservation value, but you could always add it to an actual serving, instead of pre-mixing it.

Does water affect the nutritive value:

It would of course go down per serving. Less juice in the same serving means less of the nutritional / healthy stuff in said serving.

What kind of water:

I would just use plain water. Mineral will dilute the taste even more than regular water, and actually create a different kind of drink.

My take on it, and thus a personal con:

Don't do it, unless you really can't take the acidity of fresh orange juice. The cheaper hotels tend to do it to create more bang for the buck (from their perspective), and I absolutely hate it. The taste suffers, and, for me less important, the nutritional value suffers. To my mind, orange juice with water lacks everything that makes orange juice delicious.


What is the spicy kick in "Kraft Tangy Spaghetti" box meal?

I love the Kraft Tangy Italian spaghetti sauce seasonings and I just experimented with several of the suggestions listed above. I added some dried crushed red peppers into a blender along with Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dried parsley leaves and an off brand "Italian Seasonings" blend of dried herbs and blended them all together. That was a good start, but then I added a little white vinegar and blended up some mushrooms and poured it all into an 18 quart roaster because I needed to make enough spaghetti and sauce for 50 adults. I began with 1 29 oz. can of canned tomato sauce and also added to it 1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes with onion basil and oregano already in it. That was close, but needed to add some pepperoncini peppers about 1/2 of one per the above measurements of sauce. I added a teaspoon of powdered onion soup mix and a drop of Worcestershire sauce a drop of Louisiana hot sauce and 3 drops of soy sauce and then it tasted really close to it, or so much so that my wife and kids as well as my own tongue could not make out the difference. Hope this helps and works for you as well.


Can mashed bananas be bagged and then frozen?

It depends on the recipe.  Freezing and thawing bananas will result in a softer banana purée, significant separation of liquid, and browning. The longer they are in the freezer, the more pronounced each of these effects. For some uses (smoothies, banana bread), they should be fine for up to a few months, though the color will be affected if you care about that. You may want to just break them up into chunks rather than puréeing them before freezing, as chunks are much easier to separate than a big block of frozen purée, and much easier to portion out than full (peeled, of,course) bananas.


Bread crusty outside and super soft inside

You need steam.  For the first 10 to 15 minutes of the bake put a tray of water (about a cup full) in the bottom of the oven.  Alternatively cover the loaf with some form of loose dome to trap in the moisture from the bread, again only 10 to 15 minutes then uncover.

Leave the steam for too long and the crust will get leathery.


Can extra virgin olive oil be used for stir frying, roasting, grilling?

That oils' smoke points can be generically classified solely according to their type is a myth.

Robert Wolke, a professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and food columnist for the Washington Post, claims that the smoke point for an oil varies widely depending on origin and refinement.  While the smoke point does generally increase with respect to the degree of refinement of the oil, Wolke notes that generation of the nasty tasting free fatty acids is a function of time, i.e., the longer you cook the oil the worse it tastes.  Therefore, if you are going to be using the oil for a quick fry/sauté, it doesn't really matter what type of oil it is.  (I'm not sure if I'd use an unrefined oil for a long roast, though.)

Alton Brown, a US cooking celebrity who specializes in the science behind cookery, agrees:

  Now many charts and tables attempt to quantify smoke points, and I'm here to tell you they're all complete hooey. The truth is, there are just too many factors going into a smoke point to make such concrete claims. I will tell you this. High heat will destroy the fruity goodness of an extra virgin olive oil or the nutty goodness of a walnut oil. But you can sauté with just about any oil, as long as you work fast.[Emphasis is mine.]

I wouldn't recommend using an Extra Virgin Olive Oil for high heat applications, not because you're likely to get off flavors (if you work fast), but because it's a waste of money: You'll be losing the fruity notes for which you're paying a premium.  Throughout Southern Italy and Spain, though, it is very common to use olive oil for frying (even Virgin olive oil).  For example, Mario Batali (another US celebrity chef who is a widely acclaimed Italian chef) did it all the time in his old TV show.


Stone is a much worse heat conductor than iron. It warms much slower from vigorous pounding than iron, and actually cools whatever is being ground. This is often desirable, as you don't want to warm whatever you are grinding - some spices contain fats which are viscous or solid at room temperature, but get liquid somewhat above it, so they would be seeping their aroma and converting to a paste if warmed while ground.

Another argument for stone will be the smooth surface. Seasoned iron isn't as smooth as marble or granite can be polished, and if left unseasoned, you will need to remove rust from time to time (another problem of iron which harwig already pointed out), disturbing the surface. The mortar surface should be as smooth as possible.

Also, the stone will require no maintenance apart from washing. Iron will have to be kept from rusting, so you'll have to season it. The grinding action will probably slowly eat away the seasoning layer, so you'll have to reapply it periodically, which is lots of work (well, the complete stripping first is what makes it lots of work, seasoning not so much). But if you use your mortar as seldom as I do, this shouldn't be a problem.

On the other hand, iron's density is about 3 times higher than marble or granite, resulting in a much heavier pestle. While this means some more fatigue for you, it will result in a better grinding result.

Another problem with stone is that it can crack if you happen to drop it on the floor. Luckily, a mortar is not easily dislodged from the counter, and granite breaks nowhere as easily as earthenware, but the chance exists. If you get stone, don't go for the tulip-on-a-stem shapes. While it may be convenient to grip the stem, it is also a weak point.

You must also consider possible chemical reactions. Granite won't be a problem, but marble is acid sensitive. So making a pesto with lots of lemon juice is probably a bad idea in marble. It won't cause a comic-book like Chinese syndrome, but it will attack the surface, making it less smooth. Seasoned iron has some acid resistance, but strong acids are bad for it too.

To me, the "tradition" argument isn't very strong. People have used abacuses for thousands of years, but I prefer a TI-42 simulator when I have to make a calculation too complicated for my brain. Both iron and stone will work. And as harwig says, aesthetics are individual - not that I need much of that in kitchen implements.


How can I incorporate brown lettuce into something appetizing?

Brown lettuce may or may not be harmful to you, it depends on how far gone it is.

We get a lot of questions on this forum asking about how to use ingredients which may be past their prime, and the advice is almost always not to try - mixing bad ingredients with good ingredients is almost always going to ruin your good ingredients and waste time and money.

So don't try to incorporate it into anything, either make a dish that can stand on its own or throw it away. If it's not smelly, or slimy, or looks rotting then taste it. Try each type of leaf in each bag, if they taste ok then you could try making something out of it.

Personally I'd chuck it. I wouldn't want to be served brown lettuce, and I wouldn't serve it to anyone else.


Is it safe to eat butter after it has crossed its expiration date? Does butter ever spoil in fridge?

Butter can go bad.  The oils will go rancid if exposed to too much light and heat for too long.  This accelerates the process of oxidation, which happens even if you keep the butter in the fridge.  Even in the fridge your butter will eventually go bad.

Personally I follow the dates on all packages.  I do so with an awareness that they usually tend to be conservative, which keeps me comfortable.  Rancid butter in a taste test won't kill you, though.  It'll just taste bad.  So you should be able to taste this butter to see if it is bad.

While I recommend following the dates on packaging, here are signs that your butter has actually gone bad:

discoloration
melting (which will happen outside of the fridge, you probably wouldn't see it)
sour smell
sour and unusual taste


Based on your description and some of the feedback from comments, I think the most likely candidates for your mystery gourd are white pumpkins of the Cotton Candy or Valenciano varieties, possibly also Lumina or Silver Moon (though those tend to be flatter and larger than you describe).  Here's a link with some further comparative description.

The dark color of the flesh that you describe was more likely a product of the growing season than anything else, though you might have some luck asking farmers at local pumpkin patches what specifically could cause that result.  How you cooked the mash could very well have contributed too.  Here's an excellent post from the community blog with instructions for producing quality, richly-flavored "orange goo".

Should you be completely unable to find a similar specimen, you may need to consider substitution.  Possibly the best one I can think of is butternut squash.  This has a very rich flavor, quite similar to pumpkin, and it gets richer as it ages.  Look for ones with dark skin - the darker the outside, the darker and sweeter the inside will be as well.


I have made larger cakes by doubling the recipe with no problem. Often when changing a recipe, the ratio of dry ingredients to wet can change, but it will remain the same with simple doubling.

However, do NOT double the cooking time. It's going to cook for longer, but not nearly twice as long. After the regular time, start checking it with a cake tester or toothpick to see if it's completely cooked.


Well, I usually add quite a lot of fresh lemon juice on it. This acid environment should kill most pathogens. However, you have to use the most fresh meat possible, when I eat raw meat (very common in Italy) I eat it the same day I bought it from the butcher.

Tell to your family butcher that you're going to do carpaccio (or generically that you will eat it raw), so that he can give you the appropriate cut.

Absolutely never use raw chicken or pork meat!


How do I cook a chicken to make it really really really soft?

How you prep the chicken is also as important as how you cook it. Cooking method is only half of the answer. Brining the meat in a salty/sugary/acidic solution will go a long way in adding flavor and making the meat moist and tender.


Is cornstarch and AP flour really a good substiture for cake flour?

It all revolves around gluten and gluten chains.

Cake flour is low protein, and bread flour is high protein, and everything else lies somewhere between. Individual brands have different levels of protein depending on their formulation. That protein, when combined with water, is what makes your stretchy gluten chains, and those are the difference between soft crumbly cake and a french baguette that could serve as a weapon in a pinch.

As with many chemical reactions in cooking, however, you can interfere with the "natural" reactions by means of some clever chemistry. Cornstarch works very simply...Corn just doesn't have any gluten, so you're just "watering down" the gluten content of your flour.

Acid retards gluten formation. Water is critical for gluten formation, unless you use a whole lot of it, in which case it weakens it (a wetter dough will make for a less gluteny final product). Mixing makes more gluten (helps the little proteins make friends with each other), so mix MORE for more gluten, and less for less.

But fat is your friend. Fat waterproofs your flour, and keeps gluten from forming.

Long story short, pick a method you're comfortable with, and stick to it. If you're used to using AP flour, you're going to have some headscratching moments when the cake flour doesn't behave the way you expect it to. On the other hand, cake flour will be more forgiving if you overmix.


When you cook spaghetti, do you add olive oil to the boiling water?

Yes, it is true that we don't add oil to the boiling water. I'm not aware of any good reason to waste extra-virgin olive oil that way! Some oil is always added at the end, over the sauce, when the pasta is already in the plate! It has to be raw, so that it retains its fruit nuances and texture.

If you are doing cold pasta salad and want to avoid sticky pasta, adding oil in advance won't help. You have instead to wash pasta under cold water to wash the starch away (you can put the pasta in the colander directly under the running cold tap).


How should I cook a 1lb bottom round roast beef in the oven?

Given your lack of tools, we're going to have to get MacGyver on this roast.

You'll need some sort of flavorful liquid (or a combination of them).  Chicken stock or beef stock would work.  I'd normally also recommend using something acidic like red wine or tomatoes, however, using this method (which is based on tinfoil), acids can react with the aluminum to produce off flavors.  If you want to cook with wine or tomatoes, you can transfer the meat to your casserole after you brown it. (More on this below.)
You'll also need some type of mild tasting oil.  Vegetable, corn, canola/rapeseed, peanut, light olive oil, will all work.
Salt.

That's it in terms of software.

Hardware:

Paper towels.
Tinfoil (preferably the big, wide kind, and heavy duty).
An oven.

That's it.

Algorithm:

This is basically the same technique that Cos Callis proposed, just using different tools.

Adjust your oven's rack to about 6 inches from the broiler.  Turn on your oven's broiler on its highest setting.

Lay out two layers of tinfoil on your counter.  Make sure the tinfoil is big enough such that if you were to place the roast in the middle of it there would be a border of tinfoil around the roast that is at least as wide as the roast itself.

Optional: Put the tinfoil on a large sheetpan or cookie sheet.  This will help you in transporting the device to/from the oven, and it will also ensure against spillage in your oven.  If you do things right you won't have to wash the sheet.

Pat the meat as dry as you can get it and put it in the center of the tinfoil.

Pour a bit of oil on top of the roast and rub it all over.  You only need enough to barely coat the entire roast.

Generously salt both sides of the roast.  I prefer using kosher salt, because it is less saline by volume, so you can more evenly distribute it without over-salting.  You'll probably use a good tablespoon or so.

Put the roast under the broiler.  Wait about 5 minutes, but that number isn't exact.  Use your eyes.  Just wait until it looks good and brown and crusty and delicious.  Just don't blacken the entire thing.

When the top side is browned, flip it over to the other side.  The best tool for the job here is a pair of tongs, but a fork will do.

Brown the second side.

Remove the roast (which is hopefully on top of some type of pan for your convenience).

Turn off your broiler and reset your oven to 275 degrees F.

Fold up the sides of the tinfoil around the roast to make a sort of pan around it.  Try to leave as little room around the roast as possible.

Alternatively, if you want to use acidic ingredients, you can transfer the roast to the casserole at this point.  The reason why you couldn't use your casserole from scratch is that it is probably not broiler-safe.

Pour in enough of the beef/chicken stock to just barely cover the roast.  It shouldn't require very much liquid.

Once the liquid is in, fold the tinfoil on itself to seal the top, such that you end up with a tinfoil package containing the browned meat and the stock.  Try and make it airtight.

Stick that in the 275 F oven.

Just let it sit in there for ~3 hours.  You don't need to touch it.

After ~3 hours, take it out.  Hopefully the tinfoil didn't leak.

If you did this correctly, all the cleanup you need to do is crumple
up the foil and throw it out.

You can also experiment with adding other vegetables (e.g., thinly sliced onions or whole garlic cloves).  You can even add them from the very beginning.

As I mentioned in a comment on Cos Callis's answer, bottom round roasts have a lot of tough connective tissue which needs to be cooked low and slow (<300F) in the oven in order to become soft and tender. However, if you were to cook the beef the entire way at that temperature the meat would end up being gray and tasteless. The reason is that the Maillard reactions (which are what turn the meat golden brown and make it taste more meaty and delicious) don't really occur below ~300F, which is the purpose of the initial sear.


As far as I can tell the "pluma" consists of the cervical and thoracic rhomboid muscles.  Those muscles are not standard cuts in the US.  It would likely remain attached to the whole loin or as part of blade end loin chops.

The article you linked to states that "the pluma should not be confused with the blade end of the loin or the 'butcher's filet' which is the caudal (tail-ward) cut of the loin."

There is a video on how the pluma is butchered available on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H_HNjStwsk


Can you make a French Buttercream in a food processor? (Experiment Results)

YES YOU CAN!!

As I said in the question, I used this recipe: Joe Pastry - Julia Child .

Before I embarked on the experiment, I whipped egg yolks with my hand mixer and in my food processor. Since there seemed to be no difference, I proceeded.

The first picture was before whipping, the second was whipped for 5 minutes with the food processor, the third picture was whipped for 5 minutes with a hand mixer. Prior to whipping the yolks measured 1/3 cup. Both whipping methods yielded just over 1/2 cup after transferring the yolks to a measuring cup which broke the biggest bubbles.

While the yolks were whipping, I made my syrup and pulled it off the heat at exactly 148F, and transferred it to a pyrex measuring cup. It was at the next step that I first saw an actual advantage to the use of the food processor vs a stand mixer. There was no need to stop the machine, pour, stop again, pour... I just poured in a slow steady stream until all the syrup was incorporated. One thing I noticed after that is that it was taking forever for the mixture to cool, so I wrapped the bowl in a cold damp towel.

WHOOPS! This isn't supposed to happen!

See the hole at 2 o'clock? That's a finger press mark in the still not quite cool mixture. At this point I figured I was toast, but I'd come this far so I kept going. I turned off the machine, took off the lid, and just waited for it to completely cool. When the mixture was completely cool (almost an hour later), I restarted the machine and started dropping in the softened butter. After about a stick I used a butter knife to scrape off the hardened mixture that was still adhering to the blade and bottom of the bowl, and just kept going. When the hardened bits finally dissolved (at about halfway through the butter), I switched from the metal blade to the plastic blade of my food processor. I should note at this point that I found the same advantage to the food processor here as when I incorporated the syrup, the feed tube and lid made it really easy, I only stopped the machine once to scrape down the sides.

OOH! It's starting to look like buttercream!

The peaks in the bowl were created sicking in the whisk and pulling it out. Because the camera was giving me a hard time, the pictures of peaks were actually taken 10 minutes after the peaks were created.

At this point the frosting was delicious and of a perfect constancy to frost cupcakes by the dip and twist method. Since what I really wanted to do with it is use it as a filling, I took SAJ14SAJ's advice and gave it a 3 minute whip with my hand mixer. That did give it a slightly more matte finish and a bit more structure.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. EEK is that a BOXED cake?? <hangs head in shame> I refrigerated the bottom layer with the filling (which of course significantly solidified the filling) before placing the top layer, then I let the whole thing come to room temperature, frosted the cake, refrigerated, and smoothed the frosting with a hot spatula.

The chocolate frosting in the final picture was made with the experimental buttercream mixed with melted bittersweet chocolate and powdered sugar.

I don't think that I'm going to have replaced my stand mixer in time for the next time I want buttercream, but my results with this experiment are such that I think I will do it again. The one thing I will do differently next time is that I will stop processing every 3 minutes during the cooling stage, remove the lid, and refrigerate for 2 minutes, repeating until the mixture is cool. That was the only point at which I became less than optimistic. If I do it again, I will update with the results of the procedural change.


How long will a vanilla bean stay potent?

It depends highly on how fresh the vanilla is when you buy it. At least here in Germany, vanilla beans from the most common super market brands are mostly parched and IMHO already out of order when you pick them up in the store. For several years, I have ordered my vanilla in larger batches from an independent importer (current price is about 30US$ for 60 beans) and I've at least kept them for a year and a half or perhaps two. The quality of course deteriorates with time, but they are not going bad as in "cannot be used anymore".

One problem is however that if the beans are too fresh, they are a little bit tricky to store properly. As scientifics already wrote, it is usually recommended to keep vanilla in an air tight container to prevent them to dry out. If the beans are very fresh and still moist, this will cause water to condensate and I suppose it is not good for the beans to soak in water for a longer period of time.


I trim the stem and remove the outer leaves till they snap to get to the fresh inner core and steam them the night or morning before grilling so they are cold and moist. I prefer steaming because I want all of the nutrients to remain in the artichoke. I cut them in half for the grill, remove the choke and brush them with grapeseed oil where they come into contact with the grill. First, facing down grill them till they feel hot on top then; flip them over to keep the yummy inner side tender. fill the cavity with garlic butter and... lemon if you wish. I prefer the brown color to the lemon flavor. I cook them till the butter melts. I like mine barely smokey because artichokes take on the smoke too easily and will taste burned. You can't taste the flavor of the artichoke if it gets too smokey.


How to ensure that eggs get hard boiled on a gas stove?

Just watch the clock, it's the most (if not only) reliable way. And make sure the water stays at or just under boil of course. There's no difference between cooking them on gas or electric, it's just a different way of heating the water :) Depending on how firm you want them, 5-7 minutes should usually be enough in boiling water.


How long do you have to cook wild morel mushrooms for them to be safe?

I've looked through a number of recipes, and the vast majority of them indicate that you should cook the morels thoroughly (preferably in butter) first, before using them as a pizza topping or in an omelet.

I did find at least one recipe for a morel omelet that did not call for pre-cooking the mushrooms, however.

I must admit that I did my research a bit late, as I had already decided to risk it and made an omelet with morels, as I had not yet received any answers to my question.

I added the morels to the raw egg, rather than putting them in as a last-minute filling just prior to folding the omelet, so they did cook a bit during the process.  The result was actually quite delicious (I also used some fresh garlic, chives, and Gruyere cheese), and I did not become ill.

However, it does seem that some people react differently, and alcohol consumption can greatly enhance any negative reactions to wild mushrooms.

Given the information I found on the Internet (none of it terribly authoritative, as the vast majority of quality information was on small sites maintained by wild mushroom hunting clubs and enthusiasts), I would not repeat my omelet without pre-cooking the mushrooms, nor will I make pizza without pre-cooking them.

The consensus seems to be that they should be sauteed once until "thoroughly cooked".  At least one site (amid heavy cautions) specifies that this is usually 8-10 minutes, although I suspect that this is for intact mushroom halves, rather than small pieces (morels should always be sliced lengthwise to ensure that you can remove all the insects from the hollow center).

It needs to be stressed that even with the proper cooking, it seems some people have strong reactions to wild mushrooms, so use caution and moderation when trying them for the first time, and do not try them with any form of alcohol until you are sure that you can eat them without problems.


Pasta relies on gluten development for its strength and structure.  Only wheat and its close relatives have the necessary precursor proteins, glutenin and gliadin, from which gluten is formed.

You simply will not be able to make pasta from 100% oat flour using a recipe designed for wheat flour, as oats do not contain gluten (well, technically, its precursors).

If you desire a gluten free pasta, you should search for recipes specifically for that purpose.  They are often bound together with xantham gum or other hydrocolloids.

If you are just looking for an interesting pasta as an alternative to the more traditional ones, you need to make sure you have enough gluten available to support the structure (and overcome the weakening that will come from using oat flour, which will physically interrupt the gluten strands).  I would suggest making sure you are using high protein wheat flour (such as bread flour), and only substituting a portion (no more than say 25%, and you might want to start with smaller amounts to see how it works) with oat flour.  I haven't tried this, so you will need to experiment to find a good balance between oat flavor, and the ability for the pasta to hold its shape and structure.


Can I make lemon curd more sour/tart after it's cooked?

I have used both citric acid (food grade, sold for canning and jam making, not the descaler) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in similar cases when only the acidity of a dish was insufficient. Sometimes lemons are just not sour enough.
The powder comes in very fine texture and can even made finer with a mortar and pestle. A very small amount will go a long way and that’s why it won’t affect the ratios of a dish and a can be stirred into even thick preparations like lemon curd. You can gently warm up your curd so that the butter in it softens, if necessary.


What are some ways to season that don't rely on garlic and onions?

Aliums (the garlic and onion family) can be a trigger of both allergies and food intolerance.  Unfortunately, they're two of the most common flavorings in foods.  There's already a question on here about removing aliums: Replacement for alliums?

Tomatoes, are a separate problem, but it's not particularly prevalent in Asian cooking, other than on the Indian sub-continent.

I'd recommend looking for Jain cooking (an Indian caste that doesn't eat anything that's grown below ground), as there are lots that don't use tomatoes.

You might also want to look for FODMAP-friendly recipes.  It's a new-ish restrictive diet for people with severe food intolerance.  It's not 100% alium free, though, as they allow garlic flavored oil (so long as you remove the garlic) and they allow the greens from the alium family.  After you've been off aliums for some time and your wife isn't having any problems, you can try adding back one or the other and see if your wife can tolerate them.

As for your comment about vinegar -- sour is one of the under-appreciated flavors, and it can really help to perk up bland dishes.  You might want to consider citrus juices, such as lemon or lime to add more flavor to dishes.  Pineapple and other tropical fruits may also help.  But I'd also be careful about too much acidity -- that might be why your wife has issues with tomatoes.  (And if it is ... you might try finding yellow tomatoes at farmers markets, as they tend to be lower acid.)


There's nothing really special about a bouquet garni.  Don't let the French name make this seem more intimidating than it is.  It is just a bunch of herbs.  It has no special function other than making the herbs easier to remove than if they weren't bundled together.
So then the meat of this question is really: can you substitute dried rosemary and dried sage for fresh rosemary and fresh sage in a bean soup?
The answer is: probably
Dried herbs can vary more in quality than fresh herbs, since it's possible that the dried herbs have been sitting around for a very long time. Very old dried herbs will have lost much of their flavor and should generally be avoided.
But if your dried herbs are relatively new, they'll probably be fine.  Here's what Cook's Illustrated had to say about dried rosemary and sage:

In all but one application, tasters preferred fresh herbs to dry. Chili was the exception; in this dish, dried oregano was the favorite. A common criticism of dried herbs was that they had lost many of the subtleties and nuances of fresh herbs, tasting “dusty” and “stale.” Meanwhile, fresh herbs tasted “clean” and “bright.” Still, there were a few instances in which some dried herbs, though not preferred, were a passable substitute. In addition to oregano, dried rosemary, sage, and thyme fared reasonably well in recipes involving fairly long cooking times (more than 20 minutes) and a good amount of liquid.

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/9261-science-substituting-dried-herbs-for-fresh
The recipe linked in the question calls for 18-20 minutes of cooking, which is slightly less than Cook's Illustrated recommends there.  I'd be surprised if a couple of minutes made much of a difference, but if you're concerned, you could cook this soup for longer.


Why is my bread dough rising this quickly?

My kitchen isn't unusually warm, so that can't be it

That may be so, but what is the environment of your kitchen like in comparison with Jim Lahey's when he originally produced/tested the recipe? Two major variables in fermentation are temperature and humidity (https://www.polygongroup.com/en-US/blog/the-importance-of-humidity-control-in-bakeries). All other things being equal (e.g. ingredients, technique etc.) these would appear to be the most obvious culprits.
The YouTube baker Bake with Jack (https://youtube.com/c/BakewithjackUk) stresses this point in his training videos to the extent that he states the temperature in his kitchen for all of his recipes, so that people may compensate accordingly. I don't recall any else going as far as actually stating that, but it has certainly helped me achieve more consistent results as a result.


Why not make it how you like it at home? Here's your best bet (and a very simple suggestion); buy a good thermos. You can get a 24 ounce one for about $30 which will work incredibly well, and last you a lifetime unlike most cooking appliances. When you properly prime a thermos with boiling water, it can keep beverages piping hot for upwards of 12 hours. This lets you avoid trying to come up with a complicated solution at work.

Boil water and put it in the thermos, and seal it. Leave it alone for a few minutes while you brew your tea exactly as you want it. When your tea is ready, dump out the boiling water and pour in the tea, and reseal.

We do this daily for my wife, since she is unable to brew tea at work. She just uses hot water, but it stays hot enough that she can actually drop in a teabag or two midway through the day and brew with no issues. Here is the one we use:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008FK9NIC


Microwaving frozen tofu before marinating

According to this page http://www.ehow.com/how_6514671_change-texture-tofu.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_6514671_change-texture-tofu.html
freezing and micro waving will change the texture.

But it seems the author actually prefers the texture change...


What is meant by "place 4 inches apart on cookie tray"?

It means to have a 4 inch gap between each cookie. Of course, if you use less dough per cookie, you can put them a bit closer together.

Normally, if you put cookie dough on the tray, the surface of the cookie won't be very big (perhaps an inch). So it would not make a very big difference if you would've placed the cookies 4 inches apart center-to-center. Just be careful during the first batch. If you see you have a lot of space between the finished cookies, you can put the dough closer together for the next batch (if you use the same amount of dough per cookie).


How is one supposed to properly eat multi-level hamburgers?

The trick to eating a large hamburger the size of a McDonald's Big Mac (or even a Double Big Mac with four patties) is to grip the burger firmly while crushing it down a bit. It may take a big of practice to get right, but it's something most eaters of hamburgers seem to do instinctively. So much so I can't really describe the technique in a lot of detail, but the basic idea is you're both making the burger somewhat smaller and holding it together firmly. You want to grab it in both hands with your thumbs underneath. Your fingers should be spread out over the top, compressing it down, while your thumbs pin everything in place.

If you watch pretty much anyone eat a hamburger, even normal sized ones, this is how they'll eat it. There's really nothing special in how you need to hold it, the trick is applying the right amount of pressure. Bigger burgers will need a more firm grip, while normal sized burgers can be held fairly loosely (though you'll still see people crushing them anyways). There's a limit to how big of a burger you can eat this way though. It should work with pretty much any burger normally sold by the big fast food chains like McDonald's or Burger King. There are however restaurants that sell enormous burgers that can't really be eaten in any sort of normal way unless you have really big hands.

I should also point out that you sometimes do have the option of going wider rather than taller with hamburgers. For example the Big Mac has two 1.6 oz (45.4 g) patties, while the Quarter Pounder with a single 4.25 oz (120.5 g) patty is both bigger and easier to eat.


Why add in the eggs last when making chocolate chip cookies?

In home recipes the eggs are added whole. They can't be added until after the creaming step or else they will dissolve some of the sugar. They are added before the flour to make sure that the yolks and whites are completely blended.

In this video- the process has been simplified for industrial quantities.

In the step that can't be skipped, the fat and sugar are creamed. All the other ingredients are then added at once and mixed. You can see that the eggs have already been blended with the vanilla so no extra mixing is needed for them.


Black bean paste is also incorporated into Asian cuisine, and has a similar flavor, although earthier.  Add a little sugar, maybe a little ground cashew or peanuts for nuttiness.  It won't be the same, but it should work well enough.

Since black beans are more common, this may work well enough for you.


How Long Is Mint-Infused Water Safe to Drink?

I recently asked this question to my dietitian friend at work, and she advised fruit/herbs last about 3 to 5 days in water in the fridge before becoming soft and mushy. If your mint leaf still looks nice and pretty, you are most likely OK. She also recommended a website to me: www.infusedwaters.com/faq for recipes and advise.


Vegan crepes that don't fall apart when turning

First be wary of language barrier. In some regions/countries people are making crepes and calling tham pancakes. What in US is called pancakes in some regions/countries call for buttermilk and is called (for example) "Racuchy".
Anyway - use aquafaba. Just yesterday I made some crepes with it. They are nice, soft, "rolly" and apart from a little darker color there is almost no difference in texture. There is a little in taste but if you add any flavouring agent it's not palpatable.


What mechanism causes a butter crock to function better than other options?

Butter, like most fats, is actually quite resilient to microbes. The problem you are more likely to experience is rancidity. Fat goes rancid by oxidation. Exposure to light, heat, and air cause oxidation and accelerate the process of butter going rancid.

Putting butter in your refrigerator addresses the heat and light, but does nothing for the air. The paper that butter sticks are wrapped in are quite porous. You can see evidence of this as a rind that develops on your butter after a couple of weeks. Butter can also absorb odors in your refrigerator through this wrapper.

A butter crock, as shown in the accepted answer to this question actually serves to protect the butter from air, light, and heat. Butter does not need to be kept below 40 F to stay fresh. The butter crock referenced there will keep butter fresh up to temperatures of 80 F, and likely higher, but the butter will be too soft and slip out at higher temperatures.

A plastic or ceramic butter dish are similar in function to the paper that wraps butter. Ceramic is unlikely to seal at all, so the butter will still be exposed to air. Plastic, while capable of a great seal, will still trap oxygen in the container with the butter, allowing oxidation to occur.

A butter crock really does seem to be the best of all worlds. You get easy access to soft butter, with little risk. Mold will eventually grow on the butter, but this should take weeks at room temperature. If you don't use a stick of butter within two weeks, you're doing it wrong. :-D


It is perfectly safe to eat (when produced, transported, and so on under sanitary conditions, just like any other edible meat).

In some cultures it is considered a delicacy; in others, it is not considered appropriate to eat, but those issues of cultural norms, not of safety.

The news is because it is a violation of trust (truth in labeling) in a cultural background where horses are not normally eaten.  Personally, I might wonder what other shortcuts the purveyor had taken if they are lying about content...


Harissa and Ras El Hanout (North African staple spice blends)

Harissa - I have only ever bought/used harissa paste. I have a tube in the pantry (brand: Le Phare du Cap Bon) that I bought in a
Tunisian store and it can last on the shelf for years.

When I discussed the powder vs. paste matter with the guy in the
store, he said that they always use the paste at home, which I got
confirmed also from many other people. Anyway, I guess from the
amount you usually add to a dish, powder shouldn't make an enormous
difference as most ingredients in most harissas are dry (chilies,
cumin, coriander, salt, ...) and you can always reconstitute it into
harissa paste.

The paste I have is alright to add some heat, but it is not
particularly fancy ... there are definitely some more artisan
products available. However, for really tasty results I recommend
making your own at home - it will be so much tastier ... there are
tons of good recipes online (I personally like to add some more
cumin) - depending on the ingredients this might need to live in the
fridge, but in general harissa should be fine on the shelf.
Ras El Hanout mixes - they will have mostly the same ingredients (from the meaning "head of the shop" you can already guess that it
will include probably most of the spices from an arab spice shop ;-),
but there can be quite big variations in proportions of ingredients -
which might make them taste quite different. If you walk along a arab
market you find that Ras El Hanout varies quite a a bit from shop to
shop, and then between different towns, countries you get again
bigger regional variations ... and at the end it depends on your
taste buds which one you prefer.

But to start with - my guess would be that no matter which one you
get they will all add a similarly nice North African/Middle Eastern
touch to your dishes - if you feel adventurous enough you can get a
couple different ones for comparison (you can always give them away
as presents if you end up hating them ;-)
Saffron has a very specific flavor that you will very likely pick out, no matter how many other spices/flavors you add. But is it
really necessary to have it? - No, but it will certainly add to the
dish. And I guarantee that you will be able to find a ton of great
totally authentic North African recipes that have no saffron. And
about the expense - it really is not so expensive considering how
little is required for flavoring a dish and it will last for a long
time (stored dry in an airtight container).

Just an idea (in case you end up liking this cuisine) - make bigger batches of preserved lemons, so you won't need to wait for another batch to be ready. I make mine in a 5 liter spring top jar - so they last me for about a year (and a month or so before they run out I transfer them and start a new batch in the big jar).

Now the rest is just some hints - trying to answer your (broader) question before your edit:

Some spices that are quite traditional North African/Moroccan/East-Mediterranean (and are already often included in the available spice mixes) would be:

cumin
turmeric
paprika
chili
sumac
coriander
saffron
sesame seeds
cinnamon
cardamom

some spice mixes will also include:

cloves
caraway
fenugreek

Some herbs that come to mind:

mint
cilantro
parsley

With this spices and herbs often some fruits and vegetables like lemons, olives, garlic, onion, fresh chilies and eggplants (often roasted or toasted to some extend) are the ones that add to the authentic flavors.

The savory dishes are often balanced out with some sweeter elements like raisins, dates and honey.

Some good condiments would be:

Dukkah ... it is super nice sprinkled on couscous.
Zahtar ... eaten with olive oil and bread.

Another nice ingredient is tahini  - sesame paste that is often used in arab countries (important ingredient in hummus and baba ghanoush).

There are some popular signature dishes that can be found in different subsets of the North African/East-Mediterranean countries: tajine, falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, ful, kibbe, shakshouka, kebab - meat skewers, tabouleh, mujadra and others.

Food is often eaten with different kinds of flat bread, couscous, sometimes bulgur or rice.

This is just some stuff that you can start with and slowly build on - and use in addition to your super exciting preserved lemons =D


Safety Question about making stainless steel flat-top

In my years of cooking in restaurants i do not remember seeing a stainless steel flattop. so i did some poking on the world wide inter tubes and found this quote from

  wikipedia "The vast majority of commercial grade griddles are made from A36 steel, though some are stainless steel or composites of stainless and aluminum".

It goes on further in the wiki to confirm what you said about 304 stainless.

  "Type 304 stainless steel is medical grade with a low level of porosity that reduces the penetration of cooking products into the surface, which causes sticking and flavor transfer – important performance metrics for commercial applications".

So i do no know if there is a correct answer for the question. I keep a remnant of carbon steel 3/8 thick in my oven as a heat sink and under my pizza stone.

As suggested, try some remnants form work.

For your final choice you definitely want mass, commercial ones are 3/4" to 1" thick.
Go to a restaurant supply house and get a grill scraper and porous carbon scrubbing brick ( not sure if you use that on stainless ).

Oh the memories of standing over the hot flattop at the end of the night with oil and carbon brick scrubbing the day of the grill.