Are frozen mussels/clams supposed to be slightly open?

You are right to be concerned.  The main reasons for frozen bivalves to be slightly open:

They were steamed before freezing.  This is common, and fine.  You should be able to verify this by thawing 1-2 of them and checking if they are cooked.
They were frozen very slowly.  This is bad, because the bivalves can die and go bad during the freezing process.
They've thawed and then been re-frozen.  This is also bad, because it also makes contamination much more likely.

If you check them, and it turns out that they are not precooked, then you are taking a substantial risk by eating them.  I wouldn't do it.

Sorry that I have no references for the above; I've searched the relevant literature, and the only thing I can find is some Reddit questions verifying that it's normal for bivalves to open on thawing.


Making cake icing look professionally smooth

Professionals ice on a turntable. Turntables for home use are affordable, and make icing much easier.

Your spatula should reach to about the centre of the cake when held steady and comfortable. As @rfusca suggests, heating it for buttercream is a good idea. You can also wet it for other icings, to make it glide smoothly.

For the icing process itself, start with the top of the cake. Apply a generous amount of icing; you will be thinning it out with the spatula, not smearing it right and left to get an even thickness. Hold the spatula to an angle to the cake, tip at the centre, and rotate the turntable. Let excess icing drop to the side of the cake. When you have done the top, smear icing thick on the side, hold the spatula vertically, the edge at 45° to the cake side surface, and again turn the turntable. When you have finished, you will have raised icing on the edge of the cake. To finish the cake, smooth these edges.

To do this, you need enough icing. "The professional chef" recommends 340 g (12 oz) for a 20 cm (8 in) cake and 454 g (1 lb) for a 25 cm (10 in) cake.

This all assumes buttercream icing or other spreadable icings such as ones based on whipped cream or creme fraiche. It is somewhat tougher for semi-liquid glazes such as ganache.


Is chocolate still "tempered" even after it has cooled since bringing it up to working temperature?

The point of tempering chocolate is heating it before it "breaks" - thus tempered chocolate has that "snap" to it you always want to keep intact.
If you've done your tempering (understand melting) correctly there is nothing to worry about. Work the chocolate as long as you can - meaning as long as its pliability caters to your needs. Once that train has passed you need to re-temper the chocolate (here is where, again you can loose the "snapping" properties).
Hope that helps :)


Is there an application for soft cheese rinds?

They are fantastic in veggie soups, for instance pumpkin soup.

Blend the whole thing, put back on the fire and add the cheese rinds, until molten (some pieces may remain, but it adds to the texture), very yummy!!!

It definitely works with Camembert and blue cheese, I have never tried with other cheeses but I don't see why it would not work.

Of course the amount you use it's entirely up to your taste, in general do not put the same weight of rinds that you would put in cheese, as they taste stronger.


You may just be cooking too much at once.  When I make lasagna or rolled pasta, like cannelloni, I cook 2 to 3 sheets at a time, building my lasagna (or filling the pasta) as I go.  I remove the cooked sheets to a clean kitchen towel.  Proceed with the construction when they are just cool enough to handle, then add more fresh pasta to the cooking pot.


Did tomato paste come in only one size of can in the 1950s?

From: http://www.ellenskitchen.com/pantry/cansize.html

  Can sizes change over time, important if you are adapting an older
  recipe. Prior to 1980's), #303 was the popular size for most fruits
  and vegetables.;

  No. 303 = 16-17 oz.(1 lb.-1 lb.-1 oz.) = 2 cups = 4 servings;

  Principal size for fruits and vegetables.  Also some meat products,
  ready-to-serve soups, specialties.

Tomato paste has, as far as I know, always come in size 1/2 (6 ounce) cans, at least since I began using it, starting in the mid 1960s.

Think this is what you are looking for.

There are lots of information bits on line, search; 'can sizes'.

cheers


Rule of thumb for cooking multiple things in a microwave at the same time?

For different food types there is no single correct answer, as it is very dependent on the specific microwave energy absorption and reflectance characteristics of each item (food and container) in the microwave oven

It's possible to put one item in which has a high absorbency and one with a low absorbency, and to have one fully cooked and the other still cold

e.g. A potato placed in a ceramic bowl, and a sausage on a glass plate, would result in a hot sausage, and a cold potato (assuming the sausage and potato are of the same weight)

For similar food types a general multiplication is required, but not exactly by weight, as each microwave oven has an 'efficiency to food and weight' exponential curve. You will find the result of this out by experience with the oven. This rule applies somewhat to normal thermal convection ovens too

e.g. 250 g of potato takes 6 minutes in your microwave oven, then 500 g may take 9 minutes not 12 minutes, and 1 Kg may take only 12 minutes, until you reach the equilibrium point of no further improvement (about 1 Kg for my domestic microwave oven)


Reasons to sweeten ground beef macaroni casserole

The only reason to sweeten a dish like this is personal taste, you could add less or leave it out, it's not essential for a beef casserole. It could be a substitute for molasses, although why you'd add 1/2 cup of molasses to a beef casserole it beyond me.

As for why it's in there who knows? It may be when the recipe was first made that some of the ingredients added bitterness or sourness and the sweetener was added to offset it. Some brands of canned tomatoes can be pretty tart, although 1/2 a cup of corn syrup seems a bit....excessive to counteract that. Or maybe her mom added sugar to get her kids to eat it. Or maybe someone in the family owned stock in Karo. Perhaps she served it to people she didn't like in hopes they'd go into a diabetic coma. You'll probably never know.


I think a lot depends on your use of the flask, but there are some considerations.

Aesthetics: Brass is likely to corrode and/or get a nice patina, so that could be a nice effect. You're not going to get the same effect from a chrome-plated or stainless flask.

Health: Copper, a major compoenent of brass, can be toxic in quantity -- especially with acid contact. You certainly don't want to put anything acidic in the thing -- certainly keep your margaritas and daiquiris away from it! In any case, I wouldn't store beverages of any kind in brass for an extended period due to oxidation or other corrosion. Copper [lined] stills are still common, so it's unlikely that alcohol itself is particularly bad for copper. Further, nothing besides booze is meant for the inside of a flask anyway. :)

Maintenance: Brass will corrode and you'll need to keep it more well-maintained (specifically on the inside) than other materials.

Durability: In my opinion and experience, I have seen cheaper (e.g., chrome-plated) flasks corrode at joints/seams and get at least unsightly and perhaps unhealthy. Brass should be more durable than that, especially if properly joined/brazed.

For my money, I personally like high-quality formed stainless steel... though there are certainly pro/con tradeoffs for stainless also.


What role does a stoneware bowl play in the baking of Artisan bread?

I don't see any reason to buy anything like that. It is correct though that steam is key to great crust!

You can simply use a spray bottle with water.

What I do, is preheat a flatish sheet in the oven at as high the oven goes (I usually go for 275 degrees C), on the bottom rack. Put the loaf on the pan, and mist the sides of the oven and quickly close the oven door. It's important that you don't have the oven fans on at this point (convection oven).

Reapply mist to the sides of the oven to create steam every 3 minutes or so for 15 minutes, or until you see a firm, nice crust forming. At that point, lower heat to 200 or so, and LET ALL STEAM ESCAPE. I set my oven to use it's fans at this point. Bake until finished (about 40 minutes more when I do my bread).

The reason I put it on the bottom rack is because the pan seals in moisture to the bottom of the loaf, or something like that. Atleast I get better results if I heat the bottom more.

Edit:

Of course, a preheated pizza stone is even better than the pan idea! I just don't have a pizza stone. Go ahead and use that, and you won't be disappointed. You could probably just set it in the middle of the oven, since the preheating will make the stone retain alot of heat.


This, I confess, is just a guess—I'd suggest adding some pectin.

Pectin is a thickener that occurs naturally in fruit, but its likely absent entirely in the fruit juice you've been using. However, it's probably present in the fruit purée used in the commercial products.

Pectin is, for example, the primary (if not only) jelling agent in jam, jelly, and preserves. In the store, Sure-Jell and Certo are common brands.

I'd try to get HM pectin (the one that isn't sold as "low sugar") to set first. It'll probably provide a firmer fruit snack. LM pectin may work, too, if you don't have enough sugar (I doubt insufficient acidity will be an issue).

I suggest, as an alternative to ice cube trays, use cornstarch molding. Basically, you press an indentation into cornstarch, and then pour the stuff in. Let it cool & dry in the cornstarch. Then remove the cornstarch. You can re-use the dry part of the cornstarch. This will deal with the stickyness, but the finish will be more matte.


Cooking Toad In The Hole - preventing "burn on"

I grew up in Yorkshire, that doesn't make me an immediate expert but my Mother used lard or beef dripping to coat the container for either Yorkshire Puddings or Toad in the Hole.
You should preheat the lard in the oven, it should be 'very' hot.

I suspect the issue with using the oil from the sausages is that you will get some water as well as the oil. This will not coat the batter and will evaporate quickly. Or the oil is not hot enough when put in the container. I suggest putting the residue from the sausage in a gravy not for the Toad in the Hole.

P.S. I don't know what (from the linked recipe) the sausage chunks means, but keep your sausages whole imo.


Do black metal vessels cook food more quickly than normal steel?

First, what you linked seems to be a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers cook completely differently from normal cookers, and yes, they are quicker, but not due to their color.

Now on to the actual question. The answer is: probably not. There are lots of factors involved, and the color isn't that important.

In baking, you get lots of infrared radiation cooking your food, especially in a small oven with uncovered elements (toaster oven). There, the color can have a significant effect on the rate at which your food is warmed, all other things being equal. Simple example: a steel pan and the same pan colored black. The steel pan will transfer more heat into the food in the same time period (even though the added dye layer already complicates it, because it reduces the effect somewhat).

But let's make the example more realistic. Steel pan vs. alumunium pan colored black. There, the material's thermal coefficient and its mass will be more important than the color. There are several factors acting in different directions here, so I can't tell you which pan will be able to output a specified amount of heat in shorter time (in fact, I suspect that if you wold plot the needed time against the specified amount of heat, the lines will cross somewhere). A really good explanation of everything important for understanding these factors is found here.

But your example wasn't for a cake pan, it was for a stovetop pot. And there, the color is even less important. On stovetop, the pan is in almost direct contact with a heating plate, and conduction plays a greater role in heating than radiation. The color only matters in radiation, not in conduction.

And last, let's say that you have somehow found a pan which outputs the same amount of heat in a shorter time only because of its color (this will probably be the black-dyed steel pot from my simple example). Does it mean that you will spend less time cooking? No, it doesn't. As a general rule, food which has been warmed gradually tastes much better than food which has been exposed to high heat. There are some exceptions (most notably, you don't get caramelization and Maillard below certain temperatures), but normally, you don't want to pump all the heat you have available into your food. You would end up with food which is scorched on the outside and raw on the inside. This is why most foods are prepared on a medium heat setting. And if you find a pan which transfers more heat to your food than usual, it doesn't mean that your food will cook faster. It means that you will have to turn down the heat to avoid burning your food. This can have its advantages - especially for your electricity bill - but it doesn't result in faster cooking.


This scenario is on the borderline, if the travel time were the only factor.   Generally, you don't want to hold foods in the danger zone (40 - 140 F / 8 = 4 - 60 C) more than about 2 hours.  However, you have indicated you want to cook the chickens earlier, so that adds on to the time they would not be at a proper temperature if you tried to keep them hot.

The safest method, then, is to chill them properly, and transport them in a cooler packed with ice.  Putting the chickens into zip-type bags will keep them from getting water logged.

See also:
How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?


I have dealt with the same situation - very warm in the kitchen and the butter gets super soft, sometimes with a very slight bit of melting. This has never negatively affected the outcome of my cake.

But, anytime you think it may be too warm in your kitchen, you can put a mixing bowl in the fridge or freezer and let it get cold while the butter softens. Then, when ready to start creaming the butter and sugar together, transfer the butter to the cold bowl. This ensures that the butter will not continue to get warmer during the creaming process.


More fat!

Your recipe has two dairy components (half and half and whipping cream). The half and half is half cream, half milk. To increase the fat, experiment with using more cream and less half and half.


Why didn't my pan-fried potato wedges turn out crispy?

By frying your potatoes then putting the lid on, you fried your potatoes then steamed them, so it's no wonder they weren't crispy. Although it takes longer, par-boiling the potatoes first is by far the best way to get crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside potatoes.

Par-boiling cooks the inside of the potato, so that all you need to do in the pan is crisp the outside.

Try this:

Cut your potatoes however you like. Place them in a pan of cold, salted water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5-10 minutes depending on how waxy your potato is (floury potatoes don't hold together as well).
Drain the potatoes into a colander and let them dry out for 5 minutes. Then give them a shake in the colander to fluff the outside of the potatoes - the fluffy bits will catch and crisp up beautifully. At this stage you can dust your wedges with flour or semolina for extra crispy results. You can also add spices and seasoning.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add plenty of oil - about 5mm depth. When the oil is hot, carefully add the potatoes - consider frying in batches if your pan isn't big enough.
Fry the potatoes until golden and crispy.


Is there any cut of beef that's close to Kobe beef?

The problem with you stating Kobe beef is its not a cut of meat. Kobe beef comes from certain cattle raised in Japan. In Canada your best bet will be to find the best quality beef you can. Depending on preference I'd suggest sirloin for a good all rounder, rib eye if you don't mind the extra fat (my favourite cut) or fillet steak if you want the most tender steak you can get. The problem with fillet in my opinion is the lack of fat which ultimately results in lack of flavour plus the price is stupidly high (in England at least)


Why does peanut butter become very hard when adding egg yolk?

Have you ever added liquid straight to tahini when making hummus?
See this quote from Cook's Illustrated:

'You’d think that adding a liquid would thin tahini rather than thicken it. Why the opposite? Tahini is simply sesame-seed butter, made by grinding hulled sesame seeds into a paste. Much of its makeup is carbohydrates, and when a small amount of juice (or any water-containing liquid) is added to tahini, a portion of each carbohydrate molecule is drawn to the water. As a result, clumps of carbohydrates appear. As the amount of water is increased, more clumps develop, causing the tahini to thicken overall. If you keep adding water, eventually you’ll cross over the threshold of thickening it; enough water in the system will cause the tahini to loosen and thin out.'

I believe the same is happening to you with peanut butter, and you would probably find it also happened if you added water rather than egg yolk.
I could be wrong...


If the supermarket farmed salmon says "Not for raw consumption" on the label, can I still use it to make sushi?

Can I still use it for sushi/sashimi?

Assuming you mean the standard raw-fish preparation method, no.
When the label points out clearly not for raw consumption, believe it or not, it's not even worth the risk.
Take my advice: Make some golden-brown crusted seared salmon!


What will happen if you bake seized chocolate into a batter?

Using seized chocolate in a cake recipe is going to impact the texture of the cake. The chocolate can't distribute properly throughout the batter, and it won't incorporate cleanly during baking, so you will end up, at best, with inconsistent flavor (and possibly color, depending on other ingredients in the recipe) throughout the cake.

Using chocolate that seized because of contact with water is not as likely to produce a grainy texture and shouldn't affect the overall flavor (except as noted above). Overheated chocolate, however, will affect the flavor and the texture, giving the cake a slightly burned taste and a grainy/gritty texture.

In general, you're better off just starting over with the chocolate than trying to use it after it has seized.


How do you cook pork chops without drying them out?

First, the recommended minimum cooking temperature for pork is 145 so you can cook them a little less than you already are.  Also, keep in mind that meat continues to cook after it is removed from the pan/cooking element.  The residual heat will produce what is known as "carry over cooking" which can range from 5-15 degrees, depending on the size of the item and how long it sits.  Pork chops aren't going to continue rising as high as a large roast that has a greater amount of residual heat built up.

Also, it is very difficult to get an accurate reading on temperatures for chops and steaks with a thermometer so it's really best to learn to determine doneness through touch.  For pork you're looking for a medium doneness so touch your middle finger to your thumb.  That will contract the fleshy part between the thumb and index finger on the same hand.  Poke that with the index finger from your other hand.  It should feel somewhat springy with just a little firmness.  That's how your pork (or medium-done steak) should feel when it's ready to be removed.

As for other things you might consider....Brining will pull moisture into the pork so that it's less likely to dry out during the cooking process.  A brine is a mixture of water, sugar, and salt.  Additional flavors may be added but this would be a basic moisturizing brine.  Through osmosis, the liquid is pulled into the cells of the meat.  As the meat cooks it retains it's juiciness due to the fact that salt helps to retain water.  The flavor is enhanced through any seasonings that were also introduced to the brine as they will be carried into the cells of the meat as well.

Basic Brine:  1 qt. water, 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar.  Add the sugar and salt to the water and stir until dissolved.  Submerge meat in brine and refrigerate if brining for an extended period of time.  Plan on about 1 hour per pound of meat.
When you're ready to cook, remove the meat from brine, pat dry and then season as you normally would and rub with a little oil before broiling, grilling, searing, etc.

I hope that provides some help!


Teryaki sauce becomes viscous after boiled

Teryaki has sugar in it.  If you bring it to a boil, the sugar will behave like it typically does in candy-making, and become viscous and possibly tar-like.

You often want this sort of behaviour if you're trying to make a barbeque sauce from meat drippings, but it sounds like you let it boil a little too long.


http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Lotus-Root.aspx

The link states it can be kept uncut for 2-3 weeks in the fridge, while cut pieces can last up to 5 days. I think since it's a root it should hold up much like a carrot or turnip or other like fleshed vegetable.


Greasing a pan with butter vs. with shortening

Both will do the job of greasing a pan but there are some differences. One of the big differences is that butter will add a very desirable flavor to whatever you are cooking—which especially complements sweet baked goods.

Shortening is pure fat whereas butter is only about 80% fat by weight. Butter may bring additional flavor to your recipe (even by greasing the pan) but it also adds some water which may not be wanted.

One final difference is that butter burns/browns more easily than shortening.


Buy almost-late eggs.

The worst-case scenario of egg-shelling is a farm-fresh egg. That annoying film that sticks to both the shell and to the egg will detach, the older the egg gets. The bubble at the fat end, too, will get bigger as the egg ages, which also makes the bottom cap pop off more easily.

Obviously, we don't want rotten eggs. We want the almost expired but not expired ones.
Roll the egg against the countertop, cracking it along the "equator".

This will give you lots of starting points, and it will weaken the shell in enough directions that the rest of the peeling becomes easier. Usually, the top and bottom caps come off in large and clean pieces, so don't bother cracking that part unless it sticks.
Start from the fat end of the egg.

After much experimenting, I've determined that starting from the bottom of the egg (the fat end) is the best way to do it. Give the egg one good whack on the countertop, and the bottom caves in quite easily. This gives you a really nice starting point. Now peel out from there in a spiraling pattern down the rest of the egg. The top cap still comes off quite easily in one big chunk, if the egg is old enough.


As per Stephie's comment, I'm adding this as an answer, even though it has to be largely conjectural.

10g of yeast is a lot of yeast for this amount of dough. With a five hour proof at room temperature, I think it is very likely that your dough is overproofed. This means the gluten structure over-develops and then becomes exhausted. So rather than a matrix of small bubbles you get a few big cavities in an otherwise heavy loaf.


Can avocado act as an egg replacement for vegan bread

I think this is not possible.
Avocado is a great source of high quality fat, but does not contain any protein. Egg contains copious amount of protein which enables it as 'binding' agent. When protein coagulates it 'binds' the ingredients together, giving them a different texture.

So, avocado - having a completely different taste, texture and macro nutrient composition could not act as egg substitute anywhere.

On a side note - egg is not a vital ingredient in bread. Bread gets it's elastic consistency from wheat protein, while the CO2 bubbles from yeast make it spongy and airy. If anything, adding the avocado would be like adding potato and oil to your bread. It would have a harder time rising and the texture would be moister. Don't know about the taste, though...


Can you thaw a frozen turkey in a dryer?

Ignoring food safety for a moment referring to an example like How Clothes Dryers Work in most dryers air enters near the top, is heated by an element at the rear of the dryer but the air is actually being drawn in / out by a fan at the bottom of the unit. The internal temperature of the air ends up being about 175C so most of what is "floating around" in the dryer will be steam in normal use.

While the electrical conductivity of pure water is very low the actual conductivity depends on contaminants. Those contaminants will be present inside a dryer but intuitively I'd say at they would be well distributed given the fast air flow. I'm not sure of the conductivity of turkey fat itself but it obviously remains a liquid at 175C and contains many contaminants.

So the real problem I'd see is turkey fat would splatter on the heating element and get within the evacuation fan. Both those events could change their electrical resistance, increase power draw in areas and cause hotspots that could cause a fire. It could also clog up the various vents leading to further overheating.

I guess the answer to that would be completely prevent the possibility of fat / juices escaping during the process. A regular oven bag probably wouldn't be durable enough but maybe a modified pressure cooker vessel of some form would be suitable if you didn't mind a bit of wear and tear on the drum of the dryer.

But getting back to general cooking method I wouldn't see it any different to using an oven to do the same. Results would either go from either dangerous from a food safety point of view to just nasty and overcooked on the outside, especially with something as large as a turkey.


When kneading bread dough, how sticky is 'too sticky'?

Having dough stick to your hands is not a sign of failure.

Stickiness is related to the hydration in your dough, no more and no less. A focaccia dough is going to be very sticky, and it is meant to be. Unless you knead with oil (a valid technique for sticky doughs) you will be cleaning dough off your hands, and a lot of it. At the same time, if you are making a drier dough that you know should not be sticky then it's a sign that your dough either hasn't incorporated the water, the gluten hasn't fully developed, or maybe you need a bit more flour in it. If you've been kneading 10 minutes and it's still sticky then a dusting or two might be required. If you've been very precise with your measurements (you weigh everything in grams, including the water) then this should rarely happen.

If dough on your hands bothers you then you can reserve some from the recipe and add it in as you knead it, it will keep the dough from sticking and make it easier to handle.

EDIT:
From the comments it sounds like you are reserving flour and only adding it after you let it autolyse. This isn't ideal, what will happen is that the yeast will operate on the water and gluten available, and the flour will soak up the rest meaning the available moisture is gone. Adding flour after you autolyse means it won't get incorporated. Add all the flour before you autolyse and don't add any after, except maybe a very small amount for dusting. I'd suggest if its still sticky try giving it a longer resting period or knead with oil instead.

You are also kneading before you autolyse, which is also not recommended, the right way to do it is to mix your ingredients until incorporated, then rest, then knead. If you knead it before you toughen it up too much.


How can I create a scotch egg with a runny yolk?

Timing and precision are key. First off, you need to boil your eggs for exactly 5 minutes, assuming they're large. They should be at room temperature before you start, and you should let them cool afterwards. This should result in a cooked white and a very runny yolk before you fry.

The oil you use to fry the Scotch eggs needs to be just the right temperature - too hot and the crust will brown before the sausage is cooked, too cool and the yolk will cook solid before the crust is browned. The oil needs to be 350F/180C; a cube of bread should take 1 minute to completely brown.

If the temperature is right the Scotch egg should take about 5 minutes to brown evenly, and you should have properly-cooked sausage and a yolk that's still runny.


There's a fairly comprehensive "How to Taste" resource here:

  The Olive Oil Source: How to Taste


Where are the missing speeds in my KitchenAid mixer

This is mentioned in the user manual for your stand mixer (the larger more detailed booklet, not the quick start pamphlet).

Those speeds exist on your machine, they just aren't labeled. The odd speeds aren't commonly used, so by design the lever is predisposed to "notch" at the evens, and the lever naturally wants to find a place there. However if you need more granular control of your machine, you can adjust the lever to stop in between speeds.  For instance, if you want to set to speed five you would adjust the lever to speed four, and then carefully move the lever forward until it sits between four and six-- that is speed five, and the lever will stay without snapping either forward to speed six or backward to speed four.


How can I rehydrate dried chillies more efficiently?

I had the same problem with floating chillis so I now soak mine in a cafetiere.


Why was my bread mix really dry and take ages to knead properly?

FLours differ in their ability to bind water. The reason why our recipes work with the AP flour in the supermarket is that the mills adjust the flour int he supermarket to behave in roughly the same way - and by "adjust", I mean they really measure several parameters of different grains and blend it until it performs in the usual way. (They have to change the actual blend frequently, because even with the same wheat cultivar, growing condition differences due to location and weather mean that each batch will behave differently).

I don't think there is some kind of deeper explanation here than just saying what you already observed - this flour is not formulated to behave like the typical AP flour, it produces a different amount/strength of gluten for the same amount of hydration. You might want to try baking the recipe from the package and see if you prefer it.


It depends on the context and the role that sugar is playing in the recipe, and the chemistry or properties of the particular sweetener you anticipate substituting.

In something like a jelly, where the sugar, acid, and pectin must be in the proper ratio in order to thicken the product, no you cannot simply make this substitution.

In most sugar-based candies, including hard candies like lemon drops, lollipops, or candy canes as well as softer sugar based candies like caramels, fondants, nougats, divinities, fudges, and so on, you cannot make the substitution because the sugar is the body of the candy, and its form and texture are critically dependent on the crystallization properties of sugar.

Similarly, many icings are critically dependent on the detailed properties of sugars.  Glazes and seven minute frostings would be difficult to substitute.  The type of so-called butter cream which is just butter or shortening beaten with powdered sugar might allow a partial substitution, but it would be tricky to get the right texture.

Meringues specifically require hot syrup to help set their texture, so it might work with a syrup made with alternate sugars like honey or maple syrup but not with other substitutes like stevia which do not provide the bulk and form syrups.

In a recipe like lemonade, where the only purpose of the sugar is to sweeten, yes, you can.  It will change the mouth-feel and yield, however.

In cakes and other baked goods, you can probably do a portion, but you sugar also performs a role as part of the structure and helps with moisture retention, so you don't want to go overboard in a recipe not specifically designed for alternate sweeteners.

See also:  When baking what works well as a sugar substitute?


Is it possible (and easy) to dehydrate meat in oven?

If your oven goes down to the correct temperature then you won't have a problem.  My oven goes down to 75C and I've done plenty of beef jerky with it.  If the oven isn't a convection oven it will take longer and it helps to flip the meat halfway through.
My previous oven was a gas oven that didn't have as precise control of the temperature, so I turned it off when it got too hot and back on again when it cooled down.  You do have to keep an eye on it then, but it is doable.


If it was frozen immediately or quickly after coming off the heat, then it's not much different from "fresh" stock. Food keeps indefinitely in the freezer, safety-wise, and the quality isn't going to be impacted very much because it's mostly water to begin with.

Just don't can any meat products that have been exposed to room temperatures for more than 2 hours, and follow the same safe canning practices (i.e. pressure-canning) that you would for any low-acid product.


Simply look at what the vast majority of waiters at restaurants use.  Speed and convenience is their top priority.  They mainly use the hinged, "waiter's corkscrew".  It is also the choice of most wine "geeks" I know.  It's what I use.  That, and an "ah so" cork puller for very old vintages/potentially damaged corks....With any corkscrew, some care has to be taken, depending on the bottle being opened.

(While I think this answers your question, the question may be flagged as opinion based.)


Can barley flour be used as a substitute for barley malt extract?

No, they are quite different. Barley flour is just the milled grain, but malt has been sprouted so it has much higher enzymatic activity and is much sweeter. It is usually used to precipitate an enzymatic reaction in your bread, which plain barley flour won't do. The recipe may work by just leaving the malt extract out, but it may brown less or rise more slowly.


Sage dries well, I dry mine by cutting off whole branches and hanging them up in a dry, warm place for a week. Once dried I strip off the leaves by hand. However, if I had a dehydrator I'd strip the leaves off the branches and then stick them in the dehydrator until they're crispy. It's no more complex than that.


What exactly is a boozy preserved egg and how are they made?

Here's a (slightly abridged) translation of the recipe you found:

(i) Select clean and fresh duck eggs with even shells.(ii) Other ingredients: glutinous (sticky) rice, wine lees, salt, brown sugar etc.
(i) Soak the glutinous rice in water - 24 hours at 12C, an hour less for every 2C increase in temperature.(ii) Drain and rinse the rice. Steam for 10 minutes, then sprinkle on some water. Steam for 15 more minutes, give it a mix, then steam for 5-10 more minutes.(iii) Rinse the rice with cooled boiled water to cool it down to 28-30C.(iv) Mix the lees with the cooled rice, and pack it into a fermentation crock. Sprinkle a layer of lees on top. [Using a rolling pin or similar,] create a deep hole in the middle of the rice. When the hole is filled with liquid, mix everything together. Age for half a month.
Using a piece of bamboo [or a spoon], crack the eggs very gently, making sure not to break the membrane.
(i) Sterilise a fermentation crock by steaming it.(ii) For 100 duck eggs: prepare 5kg rice wine [made in part 2]; 0.8kg 65% alcohol baijiu; 0.8kg brown sugar; 20g each of dried tangerine peel, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns; and 1kg salt.(iii) Combine the rice wine, the baijiu, and the salt and layer the mixture with the eggs in three layers and store at room temperature.
(i) Remove the hard eggshells.(ii) Soak the eggs in baijiu for 1-2 days until the egg white/yolk solidifies.(iii) Add the sugar and spices from before to the fermentation liquid, then add the solidified, peeled eggs back.(iv) Age for 3-4 months, stir, then age for a further 2-3 months, after which they are ready to eat.

As you can see, this is a very long and involved recipe. What you're doing in step 2 is basically making fermented rice or laozao- here's a good guide on how to make this. It's also very similar to Dunlop's description, so I think it's very likely that those videos you found are of what she's describing. You can see the shells have been removed to leave the membrane, creating a sort of "soft-shelled" egg. It's certainly possible to make at home, but quite complicated.


How can a Bavarian cream that includes orange juice thicken with so much liquid?

The egg yolks can thicken the liquid when you heat it, like in a standard egg custard (the home made version, not the one made from custard powder). But this is a fairly tricky procedure: if you heat it too much the mixture will separate. So best done on a double boiler ('bain marie').

And in addition, you have the whipped cream and the gelatine, which will help thicken the mixture on cooling*. I suspect that there's also a prescribed time in the refrigirator...

(*: as I've been taught, the swollen gelatine is first dissolved in a small amount of liquid, and the whipped cream is mixed with the rest when the gelatine just starts to set)


Which alternative fats, not butter or avocado, are good to make chocolate frosting

Pretty much any solid fat will work here. Since you're replacing something that's not just fat, you might prefer to whip the fat to lighten it up a bit, no matter which you choose.

Since your recipe already has coconut milk, coconut oil seems like a really obvious choice - it's common in recipes like this, especially vegan/paleo ones that want to avoid butter. Beyond that, you've excluded butter/margarine, but that still leaves shortening and palm oil. Shortening is one of the standard ways to make frosting (so maybe that means you're not interested?), but palm oil is pretty common too. (Some people may not like palm oil flavor-wise, though.)

There's also cream cheese, which again adds some flavor, but people like it in frostings, and you can find plenty of actual recipes using it, rather than trying to substitute in this one.

Cocoa butter, as Fabby suggested, is also an option, though along with having to add oil to get it soft enough, it's also pretty expensive. It's also maybe not worth it: you'll be adding cocoa powder and sugar to it, so why not just use actual chocolate? You can always use a combination of regular and white chocolate, if you don't want too much chocolate, and again you can find plenty of recipes for this kind of thing. But if you do want to try cocoa butter despite that, note that you'll want to try to test it at a reasonable temperature: just barely melt it so that you can add oil and mix well, then take a bit and cool it to see if it's soft but solid at room temperature. Borrowing a trick from jam-making, putting a small amount on a cold plate is an easy way to test.

The other main common solid fats are animal fats - lard, (beef) tallow, and so on. They'd work too, if you liked the flavor.

I could see peanut butter (or other nut butter) also working, if you like the flavor. For the firm, processed kind, you could probably use it directly, but for the softer kinds, you might have to combine with a more solid fat to keep your frosting from getting too runny.

Also, since your recipe already has coconut milk, increasing or decreasing the amount is another good way to adjust the texture, just as with basic frosting recipes you often add milk until it's right.

In that same vein, you could probably use pureed/mashed fruit to adjust, and even provide a little bulk if your fat is firm enough. Banana might be an obvious choice, since it mashes smoothly and easily.

Finally, if you really want to avoid "normal" solid fats, you might want to look away from normal fat-based frosting and toward things like bavarian cream, thickened with gelatin instead of just fat. That's more of a different recipe than a substitution, though.


I fancy making flavoured 'spaghetti', any tips?

Why actually, I have just the link for you.

http://www.eatfoo.com/archives/2007/12/recipes_more_spherification_wi.php

Is exactly what you are looking for.

And http://www.albertyferranadria.com/eng/texturas-gelification-dosages.html for supplies.


Is Irish buttermilk different from Estonian buttermilk?

Just to confirm what Joe said with some sources, the Estonian Dairy Association confirms that Estonian buttermilk or pett is a fermented product.  That is, one takes milk and adds a culture of lactic acid bacteria (similar to how yogurt is made, though typically buttermilk is fermented with slightly different bacteria at lower temperatures, resulting in a thinner product).

Meanwhile, Irish dairies seem to refer to Irish buttermilk as derived from churning butter.  And official documents and reports such as this one from Ireland define buttermilk as the following:

  Drinking milk comprises raw milk, whole milk, skimmed milk and
  semi-skimmed milk consumed in liquid form. Buttermilk is a derived
  product remaining after milk or cream has been made into butter.

Buttermilk derived from butter making can vary significantly in its composition, flavor, texture, etc.  Some butter is made by churning fresh cream, which produces a buttermilk with little acidity, while I assume much of Irish butter is made with cultured cream, producing the typical sour product that's superficially similar in some ways to fermented "buttermilk."  But how much butter solids and fat remain in buttermilk made from churned cream is up to the manufacturer and the process.  The color can also vary depending on that fat content, as well as the exact type of milk (breed of cows, feed, etc.).


Stew in the oven or on the stove, does it make a difference?

In the oven, that heat is coming from all directions more or less equally. On the stovetop, the heat is coming only from the bottom. This can potentially cause convection, and almost certainly requires occasional stirring (especially for larger batches), meaning that the ingredients are being moved around. The combination of the ingredients being heated more when they're at the bottom and the movement can cause them to start breaking apart, and generally cook unevenly.

Personally, I only find this to be an issue with beans and meat (and it's not something that's going to cause failure; it's really just a refinement) but if you are making an especially large batch of stew, you may want to try the oven.


Is it safe to eat expired hollandaise sauce mix

If it's a powdered mix, it's still powder (not clumped) and the pack is sealed, I'd go for it. Dried foods here are most likely to have a best before date, rather than a use by (real expiry) date. If it's clumped or the packet is damaged it may have absorbed water which wouldn't be good. It's possible that the flavour will have deteriorated a little. For example, powdered egg keeps for 5-10 years, most foods don't have longer than a nominal year on the label.

A wet sauce mix may also keep that long if it's packed in a way equivalent to canning (i.e. sealed then cooked in the packet).

If anything seems wrong about it, avoid it.


Difference between types of Thai black soy sauces (Healthy Boy brand)

I'm Miranti, the owner of the recipe for Pad See Ew in question (http://highheelgourmet.com/2013/04/18/pad-see-ew/) ...Hello everyone.

The sweet dark soy sauce isn't the "particular" preference for the dish. I used it because I don't want to use sugar. You can use dark soy sauce and add sugar too, as Puri mention in his comment. This dish shouldn't start off sweet. This dish or any Thai dish shouldn't start off sweet. Sweetness is just to "round up" the flavor but not the lead. We're not making dessert here.

When I cook stir fry noodles or stir fry anything that I need dark soy sauce to add color to the dish, I would pick sweet dark soy sauce instead of using dark soy sauce with sugar. The magic ingredient in the sweet dark soy sauce is the "molasses". The most sweet dark soy sauce would, in general, have higher molasses content than dark soy sauce.

The taste and flavor of molasses can add more dimension to the sweetness, not just bland one dimension like sugar. It helps if you cook with the household wok that might have non-stick coating or didn't have deep seasoning flavor in the wok like the restaurant's woks that has been through cooking over hight heat several thousands times and packed those "wok well season smell" on the surface. When you cook the noodle in those woks, the noodles would pick up the yummy smell and that completed the dish for me. (The flavor of an experience street chef's dish...even the replica is better than none). In order to mimic that smell, I used sweet dark soy sauce with high molasses content and omitted the sugar just because I can't have the restaurant wok! I also doing the same thing with my "Drunken Noodles" (http://highheelgourmet.com/2013/07/27/drunken-noodles/) too.

Another note about the brand, I use healthy boy brand, dragon fly brand, golden label (least favorite due to high MSG content), and a few others ALTERNATELY. I'm suspicious that there might be some kind of additive that quite foreign to our bodies or at least my body and I don't want to give it a chance to let them collect in my system. So, I keep switching the brand as soon as I finish one bottle (sound paranoid but I rather be paranoid now than later). I can adjust the taste because I taste test everything but I can't adjust anything when there is lump or tumor appear in my body.

My favorite brand is dragon fly but that also don't make me buy it more often than the other brands.

Sorry I should have seen this earlier but I was busy and just saw the link.

Thanks for explanation about the healthy boy brand. I would keep the link in case I need to refer to the different type of the soy sauce!


Cold Brewing coffee - does it use more beans?

Obviously, this will depend on your personal preferences and how you brew the coffee.

The canonical measurement is about 2 tablespoons of coffee per 6 ounce cup, or about 2 3/4 cups of ground coffee per gallon of water.

Typical ratios for cold brew coffee, such as suggested Chow are 1.75 cups of coffee to 3 1/2 cups of water for the concentrate, which would then be diluted by a like amount of water for drinking.  That is a ratio of 1.75 cups of coffee to 7 cups of water, or about 3 3/4 cups of coffee per gallon of water (I am generously assuming the ratio is based on measuring cups, not "coffee" cups).

So the cold brewing method uses about 1.35 times more beans than the traditional methods.

You will have to decide if you prefer the flavor of the cold brewed coffee enough to justify the increased amount of beans required.

As to whether you can produce enough, that depends on what equipment you have, how much trouble you are willing to go to, and how much storage space you have.  There is nothing about cold brewed coffee that would prevent you from producing the concentrate in large quantities.  At the volume you specify (assuming you mean a 6 ounce "coffee" cup, and it is three cups between the two of you), you would need about 45 ounces of concentrate for a week, which is about 1.5 quarts (or liters).

See also:

Bottling and Storing Cold-Brewed Coffee?

Concentrate should easily last you throughout a week, if you have room to store it.


What is the purpose of sugar in baking plain bread?

Sugar has a few effects in bread:

It helps make it soft and tender by absorbing some of the water and slowing down the formation of gluten strands.
It feeds the yeast, resulting in a faster rise.
Via caramelisation, it aids in the browning of the crust.
It acts as a preservative, keeping the bread fresher for longer (though 1tbsp probably doesn't make a lot of difference).
It does have some effect on the flavour.


If you feel that your brine, and the resulting kraut is too salty, once your kraut is fermented, you can rinse it before you use it.  In fact, there are recipes for sauerkraut (Julia Child's choucroute garni comes to mind), that rinses the kraut several times before braising.


Can I substitute Molasses for Honey in Baking Recipes?

Yes, you can substitute molasses for honey.  They're going to function essentially the same measure for measure since they are both syrups.

Keep in mind however there will be a difference in flavor (not necessarily bad, just different...which would be the case for one honey over another...different tastes).


Pasteurized milk is the standard way milk is sold in industrialized countries.  How it's packaged can depend on the country but it's perfectly safe to drink provided it's consumed by the "use by" date.
Pasteurization is a heat-treating process:

Pasteurization (American English) or pasteurisation (British English) is a process invented by French scientist Louis Pasteur during the nineteenth century. In 1864 Pasteur discovered that heating beer and wine just enough to kill most of the bacteria that caused spoilage prevented these beverages from turning sour. This was achieved by eliminating pathogenic microbes and lowering microbial numbers to prolong the quality of the beverage. Today the process of pasteurization is used widely in the dairy and food industries for microbial control and preservation of the food we consume.
Pasteurization is the reason for milk's extended shelf life. High-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurized milk typically has a refrigerated shelf life of two to three weeks, whereas ultra-pasteurized milk can last much longer, sometimes two to three months. When ultra-heat treatment (UHT) is combined with sterile handling and container technology (such as aseptic packaging), it can even be stored unrefrigerated for up to 9 months.

This means that most of the microbes in the milk are killed and the milk is perfectly safe to drink right out of the carton. In fact, there are many jokes in the US about chastising teenage boys and young men about drinking directly from the carton/jug of milk.
Milk in the US is regularly consumed direct from the gallon jug, see the note under Vitamin D that says "Pasteurized & Homogenized":

Milk in Europe is often in Tetra Pak cartons which don't have to be stored in the fridge until opened and generally have a longer shelf life due to the UHT handling (see definition above):


Shelf life and preservation of home soaked and drained black beans

It should be possible to store them in a food container in the freezer at -18°C for at least 3 months.


fluffiness of medu vada without baking soda

I believe baking soda was a recent addition to medu vada and is not a required or traditional ingredient. It helps to make the vadas fluffier and it might make it easier to have a good result if your batter consistency is to not quite right, but it isn't required. Personally I find that it affects the flavor so I don't like to add it.

I think you can just leave it out entirely.

The keys to having fluffy vada without extra leavening would be oil temperature in frying and the amount of water in your vada batter. Also, whip the batter again after adding the seasonings so there is a lot of air in the batter to begin with.

The oil should be hot enough that when you drop a bit of the batter in, it immediately puffs up and floats to the top and starts cooking. If it immediately starts turning color, the oil is too hot. If it doesn't float, the oil is too cool.

If the oil is too cool, the vada will soak up a lot of oil and it will be soggy and dense and won't rise. If the oil is too hot, the outside will burn before the inside is cooked.

The batter should be almost like a very soft dough. If you hold a clump of it in your palm you should be able to hold it and not have it run out between your fingers, and it should hold the shape you give it. You should also see that it is a bit lighter and fluffier when you whip it. If it has too little water, it will tend to stay clumpy when you whip it up.

If the batter has too much water, it will not hold its shape and won't support the rising action and will be soggy. If there is not enough water it will be too dense and not rise well, so it can be hard after cooking.

It is easier to add more water if the first one is too firm, though, so err on having too little water if you aren't sure and test the first one you make.

Here's a recipe with a video so you can see how the proper texture looks. I really like Manjula-ji's recipes and demonstrations, they are very clear and easy to follow, so hopefully this video can help with the batter.


When can you NOT replace milk with almond milk?

In baking, you can almost always replace cow's milk with a non-dairy product.  It's usually a matter of taste.  In stove-top cooking, you may have to experiment more, especially if making creamy sauces.  In that case, thicker, non-dairy milks should be tried.  Here, again taste will probably be important, but it is probably important to pay attention to viscosity as well.  Even foods based on dairy, like yogurt and ice cream, can be made with substitutes.  Consider that many non-dairy milks are sweetened, so you will want to factor that in as well.
If you are avoiding dairy, you can always find a work-around.  In some cases it will not be noticed, in others, the result might be a little different, but that doesn't mean it can't be delicious.
Having said this, scrambled eggs can easily be made with no addition of dairy, and most pizza doughs that I am familiar with do not use dairy either.  So, those preparations are easy enough to deal with in this regard.


Meat, as long as it's fresh, can be frozen without fanfare.  Vegetables are another story.  Usually they need to be blanched and cooled before freezing (to stop enzymes from causing them to mature past their prime).  However, peppers and onions are fine to freeze "as is". I am concerned, though, that you won't like the vegetable quality once they are defrosted.  You were on the right track: all vegetables, regardless of the type, sustain at least some cellular damage due to the freezing process.  So cooks usually only use the items in dishes that don't require a "showy" performance (like a small dice for salads, or in cooked products like soup).  The reason for this hit in appearance and crunch-ability is this: Veggies are mostly water (70-95%, while beef is only 55-65% water).  As veggies begin to freeze, the water expands, causing tiny shards of ice to break through the delicate cell walls.  The partial or total collapse = mush.

One additional concern is freezing the kabobs with the sticks still in.  Whenever freezing food, you want to keep all moisture IN and air OUT.  (Air changes flavors and distorts color).  This means that whenever possible, you want to pack items in air tight containers.  Obviously all the "empty space" that pre-threaded kabobs require would introduce all sorts of air into the storage container.

If I were you, I would disassemble the extras: freeze the meat to use however you like, and the veggies for less looks-dependent dishes.  Or -- just go ahead and grill up every last kabob, then send your guests home with leftovers.  (They'll definitely come back again this way.)


Red v White wine in cooking with a stomach issue

The way red wine is produced vs the way white wine is produced might give you some insight.

Red wine is produced from red grapes where the "mosto" (grape juice) macerates together with the skin of the grapes. This releases the typical red pigments and tannins.

White wine is produced from red or white grapes where the mosto does not usually macerate. If it's from white grapes, it can macerate with the skin.

This means the wine has less tannins (and pigments).

Basically, the only difference between the wines is the amount of tannins.

For some info about marinating meat in red wine, this post is interesting. Hint: it doesn't do much.


Using food as a cooking fuel to cook other food?

If you just want the concept, there are pasta sauces involving egg or egg yolk where the heat from the pasta is the only thing that cooks the egg. In that way you cooked your food with food, but you didn't have to do without either piece of it.


Preparing chicken burgers for sous vide then freezing while keeping shape

You're missing a binder of some kind. You're adding some fairly moist fillings to ground meat, which is already moist and whose structure has been destroyed. You need something to soak up the juices of your burgers as they cook, and that's the purpose of the breadcrumbs you're missing. I know you said you would prefer not to include them, but that is the easiest and probably best solution. Egg (or just egg white) is another common binder, but with all those already-moist ingredients and no breadcrumbs, I wouldn't recommend it.
However, there are a couple of other options you could try.
You could try adding a few tablespoons of cornstarch or potato starch to your meat mixture. That would have the effect of thickening up juices as they're released during cooking-- if the temperature is high enough for the starches to gel.
Another option is more of a technique (which I confess I've never tried, so I can't personally vouch for its effectiveness). This recipe uses no binders, no breadcrumbs or cornstarch at all. Instead, it calls for a portion of the ground meat to be fried off beforehand and then mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. The mixing in this case is actually kneading; the recipe specifies that kneading very very well is key to maintaining the structure of the finished patty.
In any case, as far as the patties being misshapen from the freezer goes, consider making an attempt to rearrange a flat spot for your burgers, at least when you first freeze them. Once they're solid, they can be moved to a more convenient spot in the freezer.


This is partly down to taste. When you make burgers much of the fat runs out by the time it's done, so you need to start with a high enough fat content that the burger isn't dry when it's done. I've made burgers with 10% fat when that's all I can find rather than 20% (my personal ideal), and they are very tasty as long as you don't overcook them. I find the extreme of 30% which I've seen recommended in places to be too greasy, but again that's my taste - I find too much fat covers the flavor of the meat.
Where you have to be very conscious of fat, whether minced or not, is in dishes where the fat has nowhere to go, like stews, braises and casseroles. Very fatty meat in these can end up with a greasy end result, which is not to most tastes. I use around 10% mince and lean cuts for those types of dishes.


Bread proofing times fridge versus room temp

Basic room temperature breads don't prove in 6 or 12 hours, 30 minutes to 2 hours is more typical. The overall process from start to finish including baking may be 6 hours. Sourdough breads and enriched doughs like brioche and challah can take much longer to prove at room temperature.

As for calculations no, there's no straightforward time conversion between room temperature and refrigerator proving because there are too many factors like actual room temperature and yeast potency which vary how long the bread will take to prove in other location. In home baking you prove to result, not to time, i.e. you prove until bread has doubled or tripled in size however long it takes.

Refrigerator proving really does slow it down by a very large degree, I don't have a figure for it but what I will say is that if you made a dough in the morning then put it in the fridge for 10 hours it still may not be fully risen. This isn't a bad thing, it means you have a lot of flexibility. I often make pizza base the night before then leave it in the fridge for an entire day before using it with excellent results (that won't work for all types of bread as it may be too much proving).

What that means for you is that you can be strategic with it; make the dough in the morning and then put it in the fridge to prove, when you come home if it isn't fully risen it's not a problem as you just take it out of the fridge and let it warm up on the counter until it has. Or you can make the dough in an evening, rise it overnight and bake it in the morning.


Can I really put frozen ramekins in a preheated oven?

I wouldn't worry about it too much -- those cold ramekins are still going to heat up relatively slowly over minutes.

Dunking super hot ramekins into cold water, on the other hand, will cool them down in a matter of seconds which is where you're more likely to experience catastrophic thermal shock.


How to get rid of extra flour on homemade pizza dough and tortillas

Although they are generally advertised as being for clearing one’s bench of flour, I’ve seen bakers use a flour brush of this sort to remove excess flour from scones etc.


When rendering beef fat for tallow, must the fat come from the cow's kidneys or heart area?

The source of the fat can make a difference in taste, texture, color, clarity, and fat composition.  (And that's not just the part of the cow, but also the breed of cow, how old it was, its diet, etc.)  The kidney fat, for example, is a particular area used from cows that produces a particular kind of desirable fat, but it's not necessary for making tallow in general.

As for odor, it's hard to say.  Rendering animal fats in general often tends to produce pretty smelly odors.  That's pretty normal.  You'll have to see whether the flavor is acceptable to you.  (I'd mainly be worried about odors from the fat before you started cooking it; in that case, it might be a sign the fat was old or even spoiled.  But odors during and after cooking can happen: a lot of smelly molecules are fat-soluble, so they may be released when it is cooked.)


You could simply change the ratio by adding more fruit juice; otherwise you're into experimental territory by adding alkali almost at random.

Baking soda would reduce the pH, but I'm not hopeful for what it would do to the taste, or look.

Whatever you decide, I'd test it in small portions first.
You may end up just liking it mixed with tonic water... or gin... or...


Do Pineapples Ripen After They Are Picked

Pineapple softens, but not sweeten on shelf ripening.

Fruit ripening is usually due to exposure of unsaturated hydrocarbons e.g. ethylene. This phenomenon occurs in fruit known as "climacteric fruits". Well known examples are banana, avocado, tomato, apple, pear, kiwi, to name a few.

Pineapple is not a kind of climacteric fruit. However, ethylene exposure will activate chitinase (which is a type of enzyme that breaks down chitin, a structural material inside plants), and cause softening of the pineapple. To achieve this a simple method is to place a ripe banana with the pineapple which release ethylene.


The butter and cream will lower the temperature of the sugar to the point where it can solidify. When you add it in, you need to keep the pan over low heat and keep stirring until everything heats back up and incorporates into a smooth caramel sauce. I personally take the pan off the heat when the sugar is caramelised, add the cream and butter, and then place it back on the turned off but still warm burner while stirring. It can take as long as a couple of minutes before the sugar has melted again and you have a smooth sauce, depending on how much sauce you're making.


Chef at restaurant seemed to be using really flimsy pans

Are thin-pans totally usable and it's just all in the chef?

Yes, and no.

As usual, skill matters more than tool choice. A bad cook won't turn out good food with a great pan. A great cook with a bad pan will usually outcook an intermediate cook with a great pan. But the same intermediate cook will turn out better food with a great pan than with a terrible pan.

The difference the pan makes is mostly the evenness of heating, and somewhat in the food layer which gets heated. A professional cook typically pays more attention to the food and knows how to react to uneven heating, e.g. by stirring/flipping at the best moment. The pan in the professional kitchen is also better preheated, instead of being taken out for the current dish only. In some parts of Europe, the home cook also cooks on a resistive stove, so each dent or warp is very problematic, unlike cooking on gas.

Then there come the cooking techniques. The thin pan limits you there. It is well suited for standard frying and stir frying. That is, you use enough oil and keep the food moving. Many home cooks love to apply an almost imperceptible amount of oil, which means that the pan's heating evenness is much more important. Also, if you want to leave your food sitting there, an overheated pan (or a pan with overheated spots) will burn it.

There are also results which I think not even a pro can achieve with thin steel pans. For example, I have never seen crepes get a beautiful even dark color when made on a thin alu pan, while mine get it automatically in the cast iron at home.

In the end, your purchasing habit is your personal decision. A thin pan is not equivalent to a thick pan in handling and outcome, and it is up to you to choose what tradeoffs you are willing to make.


Can I use oil spray as a salad dressing?

It won't have much flavor: unlike Olive, Canola Oil is rather bland, which makes it good for frying and lubricating when you don't want to add to the taste. You'll probably just end up with oily salad.


What is it that a filter Coffee maker can do that we can't do in a better or equivalent way at home?

The method outlined in the linked page is closest to French press brewing.   You also have perfect control of the of the temperature of the water, and the length of the brew time.

A French press works essentially the same way, but the plunger filters out the grinds by pressing them to the bottom of the pot.  If you pour immediately, the outcome is essentially the same.  If you don't pour the coffee out right away, some people believe that it picks up off flavors from the grounds at the bottom of the pot.  This method also produces coffee with a certain amount of grounds or sandiness at the bottom.

I have never heard of an automatic coffee maker that fully replicates the so-called straining method from that page.

After the French press, perhaps the most similar is the manual drip coffee maker, such as the famous Melita cone drip coffee maker or the Chemex.  Normally, with this type of equipment, you put the grounds in the filter in the cone, over the coffee pot.  You then moisten them, and slowly pour hot water through.  It seeps through the grounds, picking up flavor, and the drips into the pot.  The advantage of this is that you control the water temperature and pour time, which some coffee aficionados are very particular about in getting their perfect cup.

An automatic drip coffee maker essentially automates the manual drip process, at the cost of giving up control of the temperature and pour rate to the machine.   The manufacturers do try to set them close to what are often considered ideal values.  They are pretty successful for pour rate, but only the best machines do as well on temperature.

What you gain is a high level of convenience, which many people find an acceptable trade off.  These are probably the most common type of coffee maker in the world, due to their simplicity, effectiveness, and convenience.

Please note that coffee generates a lot of passion and excitement among its fans.  I believe the truth is that with quality coffee, and care, and reasonably good equipment, any of the brewing methods can produce a quality cup, although each of us may have our favorites.

If you like the so-called strainer method from that web page which is specifically about when you don't have specialized coffee equipment, I suggest you try a French press.  It is not automatic, but it can produce a very high quality result.


Does this still count as "scrambled eggs"?

I would think the definition of 'scrambled' comes from being constantly stirred as they set, which gives the final texture; not that they start as beaten eggs.

I've heard of an egg simply dropped into shallow oil [just as you would to make a regular fried egg] then stirred in the pan to produce a similar if less homogenous result, also called 'scrambled'.

I think the letting out of the egg mixture with water, milk or cream is just to produce a fluffier result, sofer texture. I don't think they change the definition of 'scrambled'.

From your two examples, I would call the first - beaten then left to steam, closer to an omelette rather than scrambled. 'Steamed' covers the cooking method, but it doesn't tell anyone what the end result will be like. An egg poacher will steam an egg, but the result is a whole cooked egg, not a beaten one.
The second, stirred as it's cooking, you could consider a type of scrambled.
I don't think the definitions are firm enough to really quantify much further. Call them a Chinese omelette & Chinese scrambled eggs, then a 'western' audience would be expecting something similar but not identical to what they would normally have for breakfast.

The definition of the word scramble, if you scroll down to transitive verb, 2a & b, is

  to toss or mix together in confusion : to throw into disorder

and more clearly

  to prepare (eggs) by stirring during frying

I consider that to be the defining distinction for scrambled eggs, separate from whether it is initially beaten or whole - the scrambling is what takes place at the time of cooking.

Having read the Wikipedia page, I'd be concerned that a British audience would be very confused if that was referred to as a 'custard'. Even qualifying it as an 'egg custard' a UK audience would still expect it to be sweet. Brits, almost without fail, think Bird's custard is custard.

Late thought: If it's already known in the US as "Chinese steamed eggs", then that's what people will have come to expect.
A rose by any other name...


Is my frying pan leeching metal into my food?

If anything is leeching, it would be stuff leeching onto your frying pan, not the other way around. It looks like the spots on the inside bottom of your pan are hard water deposits, maybe combined with residue from food cooked in the pan. Yes, at least in the photo it does have kind of a brownish tint to it, but I don't think it is rust, as stainless steel isn't normally supposed to rust, and the Cuisinart brand has a reputation to maintain. Real stainless steel doesn't leach metal into your food either.

I get a lot of this kind of staining on the insides of my stainless steel pots, especially with boiling beans, for some reason. I think the stains came from cooking activities in the pan, so the they won't poison you if you leave them on. But if they bother you, you can probably scrub them off. I followed the advice of someone on this site about using "Barkeeper's Friend", and it cleans that stuff off great (not Comet, not Ajax, not other abrasive household scrubbing cleanser, but "Barkeeper's Friend." It supposedly has oxalic acid in it, and it dissolves that stuff away with minimal elbow grease. Give it a try,... as they say, test it out on a tiny inconspicuous area first, just to be safe.


How can I buy black pepper with mainly black bits?

I'm not sure this is possible.  For the best flavor, buy whole peppercorns from a reputable source and grind yourself in small amounts.  You might even enjoy the flavor more if you toast the peppercorns lightly in a pan before grinding.


Doubling the ingredient of Japanese cheesecake: more time to cook?

It's really hard to say, there are many factors to consider: oven size and power, the recipe ingredients, pan size and shape, etc. The recipe calls for an 8" or 9" round pan, I will use an 8" pan in calculations. The main question is area, an 8" pan's area is 50 square inches (that's pi times the radius squared), while the area of a 10 x 10 springform pan is 100 square inches, double that of the 8" pan. Your cheesecake will actually be the same thickness as the pan the recipe calls for, so the the baking time is not going to be dramatically different. It will be a bit longer because the cake area is bigger, that could be just a few extra minutes. Keep in mind that recipes can often be way off in baking times. Other Japanese Cheesecake recipes call for baking an hour, not 30 minutes, for example.

The recipe does not say how to check your cake is done, which is not good. Baking times vary according to many factors, and you should always bake for a result using time as a guideline. Most recipes say to bake until it's a golden brown as your first guideline, given it's actually a souffle I'd use the touch test, ie push it down with a finger, if it springs back up it's done.

My advice would be to make this recipe smaller scale before doubling it, make sure you get the ins and outs right before you make it for dinner guests.


I think that someone was pulling your leg. You might be able to turn daikon into long, stiff, strands for decoration, but I don't think that any cooking process will yield something mistakable for pasta.

In fact, the recipe that the OP posted in an answer describes the situation as 'daikon posing as pasta.' The texture is not claimed to be even slightly similar; it's a visual pun.


The USDA suggests that "all plastic and wooden cutting boards wear out over time. Once cutting boards become excessively worn or develop hard-to-clean grooves, they should be discarded."

Other advice they offer for avoiding food contamination from cutting boards:

  Avoid Cross-Contamination The Meat and Poultry Hotline says that consumers may use wood or a nonporous surface for cutting raw meat and
  poultry. However, consider using one cutting board for fresh produce
  and bread and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood. This
  will prevent bacteria on a cutting board that is used for raw meat,
  poultry, or seafood from contaminating a food that requires no further
  cooking.

  Cleaning Cutting Boards To keep all cutting boards clean, the Hotline recommends washing them with hot, soapy water after each use;
  then rinse with clear water and air dry or pat dry with clean paper
  towels. Nonporous acrylic, plastic, or glass boards and solid wood
  boards can be washed in a dishwasher (laminated boards may crack and
  split).

  Both wooden and plastic cutting boards can be sanitized with a
  solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per
  gallon of water. Flood the surface with the bleach solution and allow
  it to stand for several minutes. Rinse with clear water and air dry or
  pat dry with clean paper towels.


Is there an easy way to trim the ends off green beans quickly?

I have found that scissors is the answer to this particular problem. Simply grab a few bean, snip the ends and then turn the hand over and snip again.  This doesn't wield beans that are uniform in length though, so if you need that, you will still have to do some cutting. I would say that you could blow through a batch of five pounds in a few minutes once you get the rhythm.

P.S. I say scissors but what I really use is tin snips a la Alton Brown.


Which cuisines (besides Hungarian) have a tradition of serving savory desserts?

In the big French meals, the sweet dessert is sometimes followed by the cheese course which is naturally savoury.

Also, in China, in big meals, a clear simple soup is served at the end of a meal. This is, I am told, to clear the pallette. My experience is Yunnan and Szechuan, and it may not be the same in all of China.


I don't do anything for my peels.  I only wash them if they get sauce on them, and then only with hot water and a gentle sponging.  Never soak them with water.  If you want to add a bit of water resistance, you could use some cutting board oil (a.k.a. mineral oil) to add some protection.


What can I use in lieu of white wine in this recipe?

Since the recipe call for sweet riesling, I'd replace the wine with white grape juice.


I have never had a problem freezing pastries and other dough dishes (inc. pot pies) in foil and saran wrap, however the trick is in reheating. If you are willing to give them another 3-6 mins at ~450 degrees F you should have a nice crispy crust (especially if you have an oven stone and flip the calzone* half way through).

*Assuming you make flat calzones rather than rolls, either way it's good stuff


Are Chia Powder and Ground Chia the same product?

I want to know if these are the same, and if it's safe to use ground chia in these aforementioned recipes (and vice versa).

The particle size may be different, and for some recipes that will be significant.

I am not aware of any regulations (US, EU or other) that regulate chia labeling with regard to ground or powdered chia. I believe manufacturers can do what they want with those two words.

An example of labelling standards (which I don't know exist for chia):

10x powdered sugar passes through a 200 mesh sieve
granulated sugar, 100 mesh

One person's grind nomenclature:

a fine grind, 80 mesh
medium grind, 28 mesh
coarse gring, 14 mesh

If your recipe is dependent on chia gelling properties (which are affected by particle size), that could be a concern.

If chia is in the recipe for nutritional factors, you should be in good shape with either.

I checked customer comments on Amazon. Someone said a ground chia product was granular. Another customer said chia powder was fine and prone to clumpiness.

Also: if you are using volumetric measures (not weight), you may experience large differences between a teaspoon of ground versus a teaspoon of powdered chia.


Replacing whole milk with sweetened condensed milk for cheescake

Sweetened condensed milk is approximately 40% sugar, so you would need not quite double the sweetened condensed milk, and you would have to deduct the additional sugar from the recipe.

You would need to multiply the amount of milk by about 1.7 to get the amount of sweetened condensed milk, and then deduct 40% of that (by weight) from the sugar in your recipe (you can assume that sugar is  7 ounces to the cup).

The thing is, sweetened condensed milk may have a cooked down taste, so you may not get the same pure creamy flavor that you would from fresh milk.

If you have additional cream or half and half in excess of what is called from in the recipe,while it may make the cake somewhat richer, you may have a better outcome using that in lieu of the milk.  You also will not have to adjust the sugar if you go that route.


In my experience, the difference between various salts has little to do with flavor, once you've moved beyond iodized table salt and bulk kosher salt, and assuming we aren't talking about salts that are flavored by additions like herbs or smoke during processing.

So limiting the discussion to natural, high quality finishing salts, the differences are mainly texture and color. Some salts, like Maldon, are flaky, while others are large pyramids or cubes, and others tend to a small grain size and hold on to a bit of moisture. Each of these textures can bring something special to a finished dish. For example, flaky Maldon adds a delightful crunch, while another salt might adhere better to a French fry.

Color, like the pink salt you mention, is used pretty much for the visual interest. And there is nothing wrong with that. Simply save it for a dish where it will be noticeable. For example, those pink grains would look amazing on a chocolate truffle, or a savory meringue.

If anyone thinks they can actually taste the difference among unflavored finishing salts, I'd challenge them to do a triangle test with those salts dissolved in water (in equal amounts by weight) so that texture and color isn't confusing the issue.


You could try using a vegetable dicer. This professional one specifically says it works for chicken breast. If you have a lot of chicken to dice it maybe worth it, but it won't be real quick to clean.

If this is too much machine for what you want to accomplish, smaller home versions are made, something like this home vegetable dicer might work for you.


Can I reprocess vinegar hot pepper jelly?

Yes, though to be clear, you unseal, empty the jars into a pot, heat & add sugar, (while re-cleaning/sterilizing the jars) then fill the hot jars and process. You don't just add sugar to the jars.

To suit the food safety fanatics, use new lids.

I, personally, figure that if I use old lids and they seal, it's fine, because it sealed, and I know that because the lid is designed to indicate that. Sealed is Sealed.

If I use old lids and they don't seal, I know they didn't seal, and treat appropriately, just as I would new lids that didn't seal. But the official recommendation is to toss the lids and use new ones every time, even if they were new until last night and have only been on the jars for a day (unless you are using "specifically made to be reusable lids.") I note that the official doom and gloom warns of failure to seal (which is obvious) not some dire subtle thing, so I choose to ignore them on this one point so long as a lid is in good physical shape. But it's not the official recommendation.


Effect of potato water on bread (early experiment results)

I found this, it's Ask.com so even though I'm posting it as an answer, I don't consider it the answer. I'd still love to hear what some of the expert bakers here have to say.
(emphasis mine)

As you begin to bake different types of breads, you will come across some older bread recipes that call for potato water. Potato water is the water that potatoes have been boiled in. The potatoes release their starchy goodness into the water as they are cooked. The potato water can then be used as a substitute for milk and it makes your bread deliciously moist.
To make potato water, wash and peel 2 to 3 potatoes. Cube the potatoes and add to pot. Cover potato cubes with water and boil for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Remove from heat and drain potato water into a liquid measuring cup. Let cool to warm before using in your recipe. The potatoes can be mashed with a forked and added to potato bread recipes.
Potato water can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. After this time, the potato water sweetens and can spoil the taste of your bread.

What that article doesn't cover at all is concentration. I'll try it, just adding water to barely cover the potato (it's a big one, it'll be more than enough). I'll update this with the results of that bread and the same recipe made with tap water.
EDIT and 1st experiment
I made two loaves per the recipe in the original question, one with highly concentrated potato water, one with filtered tap water. To make the "highly concentrated" potato water, I boiled 4X the amount of potato ultimately called for in the recipe, barely covering the cut up potatoes with water. After it settled (the starch settles to the bottom of the cup), I poured off half of the water, leaving just more than I needed to accurately weigh. I'd consider that the highest possible concentration without getting "extreme" about it.
With potato water:

With filtered tap water:

I carefully weighed all of the ingredients, the weather is unchanged and I started with the water at exactly 110F (43C). I used the first loaf to guide exactly how long I rested, proofed and baked the second loaf. Guided by a digital timer, I tented the second loaf at exactly the same point (and even using the same tent) as the first loaf. The final internal temperatures of both loaves were just shy of 200F.  I mixed and kneaded with a bread machine, so there is as little human variance as possible between the two loaves.
Tentative conclusions:
The color is better on the first (with potato water) loaf. Is that because of the potato water? It's too soon to tell. I can say that I could not discern any difference in the flavor or texture between the loaves.
Browning aside, the loaves seemed identical.
Next I'm going to try my often repeated, go to recipe for plain white sandwich bread. That one calls for milk. I'll try replacing the milk with high-concentration potato water.
BTW - That is an OUTSTANDING recipe. The bread is great. Just don't even try it without a stand mixer or bread maker. That is some of the stickiest dough I have ever encountered (I was warned by the website, and YOWZA they weren't kidding).


None of these is categorically true. Adding it early or late will give different flavor, adding it at the very end of cooking will usually leave you with an unpleasant raw spice taste unless it is a roasted variety of curry powder.

It does make a big difference whether the powder is added into oil, water, or an emulsion.

For the most "complete" flavor, add it twice - part goes in the oil when your aromatics are mostly done, before adding bulk liquids; part goes in a few minutes before taking the dish off the heat (optionally bloomed in oil).


Why do people put oil/butter in pan when frying ground beef?

Transfer of heat. First you need a hot pan (sprinkle some drops of water on the pan, it should sizzle). Then you add a drop of oil and swirl it around. When the oil forms a striated pattern, it's hot. Then you put the meat in.

The hot oil helps to transfer heat from the bottom of the pan to the meat. You only need a spoonful of oil.


Lump Charcoal vs Briquettes and variations in brands

When you're talking about briquettes, much of the "ash" you're talking about is actually clay and binders to hold the briquette together. That also tends to mean a cooler burning form of charcoal.

Overall, charcoal is made by taking wood (or a few other materials, but usually hardwood) and heating it to burning temperatures without enough oxygen for it to actually burn. The result is something that burns more cleanly and steadily than the original wood, which burns a fairly volatile way until it gets down to coal. That means that charcoal sort of "skips" the volatile burn and gets right to the steady cooking burn.

Briquettes are lots of little bits of charcoal, bound together with those binding materials into the little forms in the bag. Lump charcoal is just chunks of wood that go through the process and come out the other end still sort of resembling the piece of wood that went in.

Lump charcoal burns much hotter than briquettes and, since there are no binders or fillers, very little is left behind when you're done. However, it tends to burn out faster too, meaning for a long fire (like for slow smoking pork), you'll need to refill with lump charcoal more often than for briquettes.

Kingsford (which dominates at least the US market) is a company that comes directly from when Henry Ford really came up with the process for making charcoal. For most of that time, they've pretty much stuck to the same form factor with the binders, and focused on adding things like a few shavings of mesquite or pre-soaking them with petroleum-based lighter fluids.

However, recently, they've introduced a "competition" briquette that is actually much closer in how it burns to lump charcoal and has fewer of the binders in it. While I generally prefer to use lump charcoal, I wasn't nearly as disappointed when I tried these new briquettes.


Normally I'd post this as a comment, rather than an answer, but it's getting a bit long.  The problem is, this is conjecture.

I'm guessing it's the cloves, coriander, and/or anise that might be throwing off the flavors towards Indian.  You have a few options : (1) make it so so spicy that no one wants to actually eat large amounts of it, (2) smother the flavor with something else.  Unfortunately, chili is so strongly flavored, this can be difficult, or (3) try to meld the flavors more.

Letting the chili sit overnight will help with #3, but you can also add more alcohol and let it cook down.  Instead of going with a neutral alcohol like the recipe calls for, I'd add beer or hard cider.  For more of #2, I'd also be inclined to add more tomato paste ... it might help to smother some of the stronger flavors.

You might also have to serve it with cheese & sour cream.

Unfotunately from experience, the one time I really screwed up a batch of chili, I tried all sorts of things, and the only way to save it was to eat it lukewarm (which kept you from noticing all of the flavors), but with lots of hot sauce (which kept you from noticing it was lukewarm, and covered up the flavor).


Garlic Overflow — Why won't my olive oil stay in its jug?

I agree that fermentation from bacteria is the most likely explanation. So, to tackle your questions point by point:

It is unsafe, as the other posts already mentioned, due to botulism danger. Plant matter without access to oxygen is not shelf stable, unless it has been pickled with sufficient acid.

There will be some chemistry going on between garlic and oil, but not much of it. Most of it will be solubility stuff; some reactions will probably happen too, but nothing you will notice. Most important, there will be no oil-garlic explosions.
The results you are seeing are most likely caused by some microorganism (bacteria or yeast) gorging itself on the sugars in your garlic and burping out some gas, probably CO2. There is nothing strange about the gas building enough pressure to get a bit of oil out. Brewers can tell you that you never stopper a bottle or carboy in which something is undergoing primary fermentation, else your cork blows out or the whole vessel shatters. If you ever popped a champagne bottle, you know how much force you can get in there.

The gas from the fermentation could not dissolve in the oil (the way it would had happened with CO2 in a watery medium). It built up pressure against the cork. I suspect that the cork was not perfectly tight, else it'd have shot out. Instead, the foam probably pushed it up a bit until it could flow around it, and got out. The pressure fell, and the remaining oil stayed in the bottle.

As to making yummy oil with garlic safely, TonyArra already told you: you can keep it in the fridge and eat it up within a few days. Don't top it up with new oil! It is perishable just like mayonnaise or milk, but the ugly part about it is that you won't notice anything if there is a lively botulinum colony in there. No off smells, color changes or similar. Most bacteria which live in food don't survive without oxygen (c. botulinum is an exception) and the ones which make food smell bad will not be present even if you have botulinum in your oil.
If you want something which keeps, look into recipes which require pickling or freezing. You won't be able to get a garlic oil with them, but maybe a garlic spread will work for your bread too.


English term to describe "kompot", an Eastern European beverage made from berries

UK English would call it a cordial. Though typically strained as below:

Place 300g mixed fresh or frozen berries, 1½ cups white sugar and ¼ cup lemon juice in a heatproof bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Strain cordial through a sieve, pressing down with the back of a spoon, into a large heatproof jug.
Mixed Berry Cordial Recipe | Woolworths
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/recipedetail/4123/mixed-berry-cordial


I have never heard the water-pineapple thing. It may be a confused result of the fact that fresh pineapple cannot be put in a gelatin because there is an enzyme in pineapple (and papaya) that breaks down the structure of the gelatin and it will never set. Canned pineapple is fine to put in gelatins though, the canning process breaks down the enzyme. I have definitely gotten water on pineapple (in fruit salads from other fruits) though, and I didn't explode... It might also just be that pineapple doesn't need or benefit from washing and it turned into 'NEVER GET IT WET' at some point.


How do I know if a frying pan is suitable for a glass ceramic cooker?

From what I've seen, encapsulated-aluminum disk bottom pans and straight aluminum pans are simply prone to warping.  The aluminum is just too soft and can't take the mechanical stress, and the disk-bottom pans have problems with dissimilar metals.  Different metals expand at different rates, and thus will separate over time if heated and cooled repeatedly.

Now, it's possible to get a disk-bottom pan that won't warp or separate, but the outer jacket of stainless must be quite thick, at least 2 mm.  The disk in the bottom also has to be completely covered by the steel -- if you can see a different looking metal peeping out, the pan is a no-starter for you. It'll probably be a heavier, thicker pan, with fairly thick walls as well.

The simplest solution is to use a pan that's cast-iron, all-stainless, or multi-ply AKA clad aluminum/copper.  Cast-iron is too thick and rigid to warp, and is a homogeneous material, so it isn't prone to problems from dissimilar metals.  All-stainless is stronger and more elastic, and again homogeneous.  It has lousy heat conduction though.

Multi-ply pans avoid warping because they're better made and incorporate thicker outer layers of stainless, which hold the pan rigid against warping.  I think the process by which the aluminum or copper is contained in the stainless is also more robust.


Why would a pressure cooker shorten a braise time?

There really are a couple separate issues that come together here:

What is collagen to gelatin conversion?

When collagen converts to gelatin, it is not melting (which is the same type of molecule, just as ice and liquid water are the same thing).

Instead, it is being hydrated which is a chemical conversion process, where water is actually being added into the overall structure of the protein molecule, converting it into a different protein molecule.

This does not happen just because of temperature, but rather because a water molecule with the right level of energy to power the process (that is, moving fast enough) hits the collagen molecule at the exactly proper spot to interact with it and become part of the molecule.

The new molecule is called gelatin.

Why does a pressure cooker facilitate effectively higher temperatures than an oven?

Most foods contain a great deal of water.  On of the fundamental properties of water is that it takes a relatively large amount of energy to convert it from liquid water just at the boiling point (100 C / 212 F at sea level pressure) to vapor just at the same temperature.  This is called the enthalpy of vaporization.

When a food containing water is heated in air at normal pressure, even if the air temperature is much hotter than the boiling point of water, the surface of the food cannot get hotter than the boiling point, because any additional energy goes into converting the water into steam, and drying the surface.

Only once the surface is dry can browning and other processes that happen above 100 C begin.

However, in the inside of the food, which is still wet, the temperature continues to never be able to exceed the boiling point.  Very few foods are normally cooked to the point where the interiors are dry enough to get hotter than this.

In a pressure cooker, the boiling point of water is higher once the pressure is achieved (for brevity, I will not discuss why this is so).   For example, at 15 bar (typical of a pressure cooker, one additional atmosphere of pressure above normal sea level pressure), water will not boil until about 250 F / 121 C.

This permits both the surface and the interior of the food to reach higher temperatures than at normal pressure.  Some cooking processes are accelerated due to this difference.

Why does collagen convert faster?

Collagen conversion to gelatin is a time/temperature dependent process.

That is, the higher the temperature (within reasonable limits, before it burns or decomposes otherwise), the faster the conversion.

Collagen will convert to gelatin at 140 F, but it will take literally several days.  At 170 - 180 F (typical internal temperatures in sea level braising), it takes several hours.

In a pressure cooker, this time can be reduced, because the internal temperature can go higher than it can at sea level temperature.

The reason for this is that collagen to gelatin conversion is a stochastic process.  What this means is that it is essentially random.   As a gross over simplification, imagine that the collagen molecule is a giant molecule (it is) with a button on it.

All of the water molecules are moving around randomly, bouncing off one another.  The higher the temperature, the faster they move on average.   That is, at a low temperature, most molecules are moving relatively slowly, but some are almost stopped, and a very few are very fast.   At a higher temperature, they move faster on average, and a slightly larger number are moving relatively very fast.

Now imagine that the button will not be pressed until a water molecule happens to hit it while going fast enough to hit the button hard enough.   The higher the temperature, the less time it will take for this to happen on average, because more of the water molecules are moving fast.

Take this process over many, many, many collagen molecules, and you have the time/temperature conversion curve:  the hotter the temperature, the faster the conversion overall.

Conclusion

Collagen to gelatin conversion is faster in a pressure cooker because the internal temperature of the food gets higher than is possible at atmospheric pressure, and this higher temperature speeds the stochastic gelatinization process.


Millet is a small sized grain, and has a pretty mild, bland flavor. Lentils are legumes, and have a little bit more flavor to them.
To me the two things do not taste similar, but I guess that is a matter of opinion.

In some urban areas in the US, you can often find whole grain millet in food stores which have a "health food"/"organic" type orientation.


How Much Ammonium Chloride for Home-made Salt Licorice?

The percent of ammonium chloride listed is in regards to the total weight of the ingredients used. After making a few batches, I have found that adding the ammonium chloride along with the sugar offers great results. Finally, here is an equation to figure out how much ammonium chloride to use, given you know what percentage you want to have:

K = Known Weight of Ingredients (Everything in the recipe except for Ammonium Chloride)

X = Weight of Ammonium Chloride

Z = X's % of Total Weight of Ingredients expressed as a decimal (e.g. 0.06 for 6%)

T = Total Weight of Ingredients

Step 1: T = K / (1-Z)

Step 2: T - K = X

Step 3: Make some salmiak licorice.