How do I make sure that the meat cooks well and yet stays juicy on a bbq?

Common noob mistakes:

Cooking things too long. Meat dries out when it's cooked to too high an internal temperature. That's the whole thing, and it's true no matter how you cook something. If you like your meat to be completely devoid of pink inside, it will be dry. No avoiding it. Find out what's a good temperature for the doneness you desire, and use an instant-read thermometer to find out when you get there. You will also find that some cuts of meat want more cooking than others. A skirt steak wants hardly any cooking because it dries out easily. A New York strip, with good fat marbling, can withstand more cooking because it has that nice fat to keep things moist.

Cooking with too much heat or too little. When the heat's too high, you burn the outside before the middle can get to the temperature you want. If it's too low, you never really get a good sear on the outside, and miss out on much of the grilled food experience. And you'll need to learn to tailor your heat to the needs of what you're cooking--fish typically needs less than chicken, which needs less than beef or lamb.

Putting the meat on too early. You need to wait for the charcoal to ash over and stop flaming. If you don't wait for the coals to get right, you run a much greater risk of flare-ups and scorched food, not to mention off flavors from unburned wood or fillers in your charcoal. This is a non-issue with gas grills.

Not preheating the grate. You need to put the grill grate over the coals as soon as you can so it preheats well. If your grate isn't preheated, you won't get grill marks, and your meat is more likely to stick. You need to do this if you have a gas grill too--maybe more so, since they typically don't get as hot.

I'd recommend that you find a basic book about grilling. Any of Steven Raichlen's books will give you the general tips on how to do things. I'm not wild about his overuse of rubs and sauces--I think they're totally unnecessary most of the time--but he does know his way around a fire and a grill grate.

However, if you want your meat well-done, be prepared to eat a lot of dry (and likely tough) meat. Your only option at that point is to switch to low-and-slow techniques that cook things like pork shoulder for a really long time at a low temperature (traditional barbecue). The meat gets fully cooked, but because it has a lot of fat and connective tissue to render, retains a moist mouthfeel. But this isn't grilling, per se, and takes many hours.


Butter helps to set whatever you're incorporating it into more firmly. It's also delicious.

Cream is liquid and will remain liquid, unless whipped and incorporated.

Honestly, it all depends on what you're making. Sometimes they can be interchangeable and sometimes they definitely cannot.


Are red lentils and split red lentils the same?

They are not the same, there is a difference.  Red lentils can be purchased whole or split. Most red varieties are skinless, those that do have skin don't appear very red.

The measurements aren't going to be affected much, you'll get slightly more lentil in a cup of split lentils than a cup of whole lentils. The cooking time will be more dramatically different. Split lentils with the outer skin removed will cook faster than whole lentils, particularly those that still have the outer skin.

I looked at a few recipes for Moussaka with lentils, and they all called for cooked lentils. So whatever lentils you choose, follow the instructions on the package or your knowledge of the product.

Whole lentils will maintain their shape more (although the red varieties won't stay whole), split lentils will break up more. Which you choose should be a matter of personal preference.


refried beans, or just skip the avocado?


Can frozen raw meat be defrosted and frozen again

It's perfectly safe if the turkey wasn't kept in the danger zone for longer than the maximum recommended time.

If it was kept appropriately cold for the minimal amount of time possible, there's nothing "unsafe" about refreezing anything.

What you do lose with refreezing is quality. Freezing is a damaging process for many products, meat included. The reason you're warned to not defrost and refreeze is generally for quality reasons, not for food safety reasons.


When I freeze tomatoes, the main thing I worry about is getting the skin off. To do this, score the bottom with an X, then blanch. After cooling in ice water, pull the skin off. I haven't ever worried about the details you mention, or about cutting them up, and I have had great success.


Why not to cut into the meat when scoring duck breasts?

The little bit (about 4 - 5 grams after cooking) of fat in the breast itself will render out faster, and you could end up with a dryer over-crispy duck breast by the time it's done in the center. A tiny ding shouldn't present a problem, but if you actually get the whole or most of the edge of the blade into the breast, you'll have to pay close attention to heat as you cook it. If you score it that deep, you're probably better off poaching it in butter after searing.

The juices in the breast make it moist, and you definitely don't want to lose those either, but that tiny bit of fat in the breast once you've rendered out what's in the skin makes it delicious. You really want to keep that in.


How to get a cake or pie like flavor with tea?

From looking at several companies that sell cake and pie flavored teas, it appears that they use a couple of techniques that you may have uneven success with at home.

First off, you want to create a tea base that is as sweet as possible and creates a base flavor profile for you to use. Most companies achieve this by adding things like vanilla and rooibos to the tea. Vanilla is obvious, and rooibos has a smooth, slightly sweet, flavor reminiscent of pipe tobacco. Many also have dried fruit or spices added, as fitting for the flavor you're working toward.

Beyond this, some of the companies use natural and artificial flavorings. As the website for David's Tea states, "The fact is, flavouring is the reason some of our favourite blends taste so great. We couldn't create the juicy melon flavour in Luscious Watermelon from dried melon alone."

You can add flavorings to your tea at home too, but they are very strong, so it may be hard to do it on a cup-by-cup basis. You may have better luck mixing the flavoring into a larger batch of tea. For things like cake and pie, I'd suggest adding butter flavor to mimic the pastry element, and an appropriate fruit flavor for pies. There are an amazing array of flavors available though, everything from "birthday cake" flavor to rosewater. Though they only sell to food service establishments, Gold Coast Ingredients' website illustrates some of the crazy flavors available. The teacup is your oyster!


can someone tell me what exactly is msg used for?

Mono sodium glutamate. Think of it as somewhere between salt and sugar. It's flavour is called Umami. Msg is present in many natural products mostly from fish like anchovies.

The reason many restaurants have "no msg" sign is because of the bad press and stigma it has received for health reason such as hyper activity and weight gain. Chinese restaurants have especially received a lot of flack for over using it in their take away food.

For a more informative read I highly suggest checking this out It’s the Umami, Stupid. Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow


How to clean molten plastic from a pizza stone?

For anyone interested: I ended up scraping the stone with a butter knife and some steel wool, removing all visible plastic, after which I put it in the oven and heated it up to about 275°C. After about an hour it stopped fuming, and from what I can tell there was not much left on it, although it was still kind of black, but not as black as it was when I put it in the oven.

There were no problems with the oven, as for the plastic, I am still not sure if there isn't some plastic in the pores of the stone, but since it is not fuming I guess that most of it is gone. I will use the bottom side of the stone in the future and hope not to poison myself with plastic.


What is the lowest temperture I can use to cook fresh pasta?

Cooking pasta at a full rolling boil (100°C at sea level or less at higher altitudes) is just conventional, it is not the boiling the cooks pasta but the temperature:

pasta cooking is influenced by three factors: water penetration inside the pasta, gelatinization of the starch (it normally occurs at a temperature between 60°C and 70°C for wheat starch) and the denaturation and consequent coagulation of gluten (at 70°C-80°C).
A temperature above 80°C for a certain time (slightly longer than what you'd need at 100°C to compensate for the slower penetration of water into the pasta) should guarantee a perfectly cooked pasta.

This is the same for dried pasta and for fresh pasta; fresh will cook in less time, and you should probably taste it during the cooking process to find the right texture.

The rolling boil helps to keep the pasta well separated and to avoid sticking, but a water circulator would probably take care of that too


How should I store vacuum-sealed sliced salami?

You can store the vacuum sealed bags in the refrigerator or the freezer.  It would have been better to leave the salami whole for long term storage, simply to reduce the impact of oxidation and flavor loss. The only other thing that changes with slicing is the potential that you contaminated it, either by touching it or because your equipment was not clean.   If this is the case, you will observe mold forming on the salami.  If that happens, discard.  Otherwise, the only worry you have is flavor loss.  Frozen, I would say you have several months.  Refrigerated, you'll experience flavor changes after a few weeks.


While you can certainly substitute powdered carob for cocoa, the flavors are distinct enough that you will likely need to adjust your ratios and sugars to make carob blend into a recipe better. Use less sugar than you would for powdered chocolate.

I found this description http://www.natural-health-restored.com/what-is-carob.html of Carob, and this comparison http://www.natural-health-restored.com/carob-vs-chocolate.html of carob vs. chocolate.

A note about the source http://www.natural-health-restored.com, I have never used this site personally, and can't vouch for its accuracy. It also seems to be centered around Vegan eating, so read into the site's commentary what you will.

Additionally, with powdered chocolate, you can never get quite the same reconstituted flavor with other fats/oils as you can with dark solid chocolate (the fats/oils are different from the solid chocolate's original fats). I suspect the same to be true for Carob, however I have no proof.

So (without exact ratios):

use less sugar than for a chocolate recipe
be aware of the flavor difference (don't think that it's spoiled just because it doesn't taste like chocolate)
oil or butter ratios may need adjustment

Personally, I used carob at a 1:1 ratio and found my carob muffins to be drier (more oil?), stronger in flavor (less carob powder?), and a touch on the sweet side (less sugar?).

My suggestion would be to find a recipe made for carob instead of just substituting in one for the other.

Good luck!


Can I use brown sugar in No Bake Cookies instead of Granulated Sugar?

In many recipes, brown sugar and granulated sugar can be substituted for each other fairly freely. Keep in mind that brown sugar will add both color and flavor, and it has more moisture. If your recipe has a narrow moisture tolerance, you'll want to decrease the moisture elsewhere. Also, brown sugar tends to be more hygroscopic than granulated, so the product will remain softer over time.


How to tint powdered sugar (icing sugar)?

From my experience coloring regular sugar with ordinary food coloring, drying it, and then crushing it in a mortar yields good results. Be careful to not use too much food coloring though, or it will never dry properly! I haven't tried to see if cornstarch might save it, but as long as you do the drying properly and don't overdo the amount of color it shouldn't be necessary.

As for the powdered food coloring option you suggested, I found a source that said they don't have to be wet to take effect, but it doesn't say anything about whether the eaters will be colored =)


Cooking boneless skinless chicken thighs

Quick and tender do not typically go hand in hand.

I get this is not really a direct answer but I slow cook 4 or more at a time and refrigerate.  Then microwave for like 30 seconds as needed.  I use skin with bones (cheaper) and then remove the skin and bones after cooked.  Cooking in the fat works better in a slow cooker and tenderizes.  Yes the chicken does absorb some fat.  But you also melt off all the surface fat.

For direct cooking I would saute with red wine.

I don't have one but a programmable pressure cooker may be your best option.


What to look for in an induction stovetop?

If you like to cook using 3 or more elements at once, ensure you buy a sufficiently powered model. There's nothing more frustrating than upping the power on one element and watching another one reduce at the same time.
Touch controls look nice but they're horrible from a usability standpoint. I always had problems with responsiveness with wet or greasy fingers.
Cockroaches love induction.  I don't know if the frequency attracts them or it's just the heat but they will come and eat out the wiring, even if you've never spotted one in the house before. It's a common problem as it's hard to seal the electronics for thermal reasons. Board replacements are expensive. It's one item I would consider an extended warranty on.
As for any 2" cooktop, larger pot/pan sizes can't be accommodated if you're using 3 or more elements. Go 2'8" minimum.


How to make a jellyish sauce for plate design

Hmmm. this will be tough. Most sauces that are dolloped and smeared are based on heavily reduced vegetable base, or a bean or legume, or a 'mayonnaise' or aioli base.

To get a thick, smearable sauce with jelly or gelatin is tough, as it will want to 'set' to thicken, which will not allow smearing.

There are new thickeners like Xantham Gum and Carageenan that might help. Cook's Illustrated has a nice piece on Xantham Gum and alternate uses here:

Xantham Gum at CI


reheating leftover omelette on stove in pan without overdrying or making it too oily?

There is no way to reheat an omelette & arrive back at 'a fresh omlette'.
You serve it just before it's completely cooked, so it arrives at the table correctly finished. Five minutes later hopefully it's been eaten, before it's past its best.
Anything after that is going to be rubbery.
Reheated is going to be rubbery++, no matter what you do.
To be perfectly honest, if you really want to reheat one, put it in the microwave for 30s to 1m. It's never going to get any better than that… & it will add no oil.
Re-heatable 'omelette' might best be considered as 'Spanish tortilla', which is never meant to be light & fluffy in the first place & microwaves rather well. If you keep half for tomorrow, or buy one in a supermarket, ready-cooked, then the microwave is actually the best way to get it back to temperature. Re-heating in a pan is a) slow & b) will over-cook the outside before the inside is to temperature.


Can you make oven proof and microwave safe pie dishes using cardboard and who supplies them?

I'm not sure whether they are sold for consumer use, but I can say that Amy's brand pot pies come in a cardboard pie pan with instructions for microwaving or baking in a conventional oven. So they do exist.

Whether such pie pans are suitable for start-to-finish creation of a pie is another question, I'm fairly sure the Amy's pies are partially prepared and then transferred to cardboard pie pans (possibly after they're frozen).

For home cooking, a glass pie pan would be an option if you need to bake a pie in the oven and then heat it later in a microwave. Depending on your oven, you may need to be careful to place the pie pan on a metal tray, or put a metal tray on the lower rack below the pie pan to prevent radiant heat from over-cooking the lower crust of the pie. (Edit: On second thought, a baking stone would probably provide a better radiant heat barrier.)


I saved the geletinious material from roasting the turkey. Is this appropriate for use in turkey soup?

Yes it is appropriate, and should be used within five days for freshness.

The gelatinous material from roasting the turkey is often used to make homemade bone broth soup.


Non-dairy substitute for cheese on baked potatoes

We've used Daiya dairy-free cheese to make pizza and it's pretty close to the real thing.
http://us.daiyafoods.com/


Can you make sourdough starter without throwing any away?

I just asked the exact same question here!:
Why throw away so much sourdough starter? Tartine Book no. 3

I found a pretty good answer online. It actually would be easier and cheaper for you to throw it out, as you don't have to buy as much organic flour in the future to feed your starter. Imagine buying 5 cups each day to feed your starter when you could just use 100 grams!:

  During the "initial" development - and by this I assume we're talking
  the first several days of your brand spanking new starter, what you'll
  be throwing away is likely not even "starter" but rather flour soup
  wherein there's a fairly good chance you're also growing a few
  less-than-desirable cohabitants. This would explain why you'd want to
  chuck it out rather than use it.  You also cut back on your starter so
  you don't end up with gallons of it since quite early on you do begin
  to make your feeds at a ratio of 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.  For illustrative
  purposes, let's follow the 1:2:2 ratio and just assume we're using
  cups (easier to visualize) although you really would be weighing, of
  course. So let's say  on day 1 morning feed, we begin with a half cup
  of starter. Half a cup sounds like nearly nothing, right? To that we'd
  then need to add twice that amount of each water and flour, so we add
  1 cup water and 1 cup flour for a total of 2.5 cups. Still not that
  bad. Day 1 evening feed, we're not reducing so we need to add to our
  2.5 cups of starter 5 cups water and 5 cups flour for a total of 11 cups. Set it on the counter, hope it doesn't overflow everywhere and
  go to bed. Day 2 morning feed, we're still not tossing away so to our
  11 cups we have to add 22 cups of water and 22 cups of flour. We now
  have 55 cups of starter or about 3.5 gallons. Remember, this is only
  the third feed and we started with just a measly half cup yesterday
  morning. At tonight's feed, we'll have 312 cups or 19.5 gallons of
  starter. Just enough to fill up four of those white Home Depot buckets
  although you'll want at least eight of 'em so the starter can double
  in size. By morning of day three, you can fill your bathtub, if it
  holds 97 gallons; it very well may not, and definitely won't hold the
  expanded starter. By afternoon, you'll also be borrowing an additional
  four neighbour's tubs for your 488 gallons.  How soon before you need
  to move this out to a local swimming pool to continue? Well, by the
  end of day five, you'd be the proud owner of 305,175.8 gallons of
  starter. Or 4.8 million cups. Seriously. An Olympic size pool is about
  600,000 gallons. By the morning of day six, you can fill two and a
  half of them, with leftovers. And it hasn't even been a full week yet.
  And that's why you cut your starter back down to a manageable amount
  each time. It's a lot cheaper to toss a little bit out than to keep it
  and feed it.

Source: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12467/throw-away-half


How to prevent overcooking of eggs in Carbonara sauce?

Cook the pancetta on a large pan, so that it fries in its own fat. It must turn red, but don't cook it too much as you are going to cook it a bit more later on.

Open two eggs. If you like the color of the carbonara intense, throw one white away, and keep one white and two yolks. Put them in a bowl, then add grated parmigiano and mix with a fork. The amount of parmesan should be at least the same volume of the eggs, maybe even more (twice does not hurt). This will give you a rather firm but still flowing compound. Firm is better than too liquid.

Cook the pasta. Spaghetti is the norm for carbonara, but also penne is a good choice. Get them "al dente" or some second later, as you prefer. Drain the pasta and put it in the pan you used to cook the pancetta (where the pancetta still is). Pour the egg/cheese mix on top of the pasta and put the pan on gentle heat, while you continue moving and mixing. Detach any layer of cooked egg from the bottom of the pan while you mix. The perfect carbonara must not be liquid, and it must not be clumpy solid, so keep mixing or you will get a pasta omelette.

Once you are done, turn off the heat, and take spaghetti up with a large fork, so to disentangle them while you transfer them on the dishes. move them in the dish with a small oscillating movement to disentangle a bit more. Continue like this for all the dishes you have to serve. At the end you will have the pancetta remaining in the pan, and you put it on top of each dish.

Add more grated parmigiano and some ground black pepper and eat as soon and hot as possible !

Additional notes: try to stay a bit scarce on salt in the pasta water, and do not add salt to the egg. The fact is that the pancetta is already pretty salted, and you risk to obtain a very salted final result. Carbonara should be salty, but not too salty.

I heard about modification with butter and cream, but I have never seen them used, at least in my family and circle of friends.


What does ginger lose if puréed or ground and left over time?

It'll lose its "spiciness"; you will still have the ginger taste and aroma, but you'll lose the kick that fresh ginger gives out.


US patent EP0020011 A2 describes a process of packaging shelled hard boiled eggs where the egg is dipped in a citric acid solution to prevent discoloration of the yolk at the white-yolk interface. I would guess that’s what is going on in this case.


How can I create a varied (or at least tasty) menu for a 12 day hike whilst using as few ingredients as possible?

We take home-dehydrated cooked meat (beef, chicken, ground beef) along with spices, tomato leather to make tomato sauce, pasta, rice, dehyrated potato-and-sauce (eg scalloped potatoes) from the grocery store, home-dehydrated vegtables, and dried fruit. From that you can make stew, pasta-with-meat-sauce, curry-on-rice, and so on. You might also be interested in making your own english muffins since bread products squish and don't keep well: http://www.gregcons.com/canoe/muffins.htm.

Backpacking is tougher than canoeing but as long as you can be sure of plenty of water, you should be fine with dried products. We usually bring a little frozen meat for the first night, and frozen bacon for the first morning, well wrapped in newspaper, but those might be too heavy when hiking.


How do I make tasty seitan in a pressure cooker?

In my experience a pressure cooker does not greatly influence the taste nor the texture of seitan.
The same recipes apply for cooking in a regular soup pot and in a pressure cooker, but here are some suggestions that might help:
Texture:
The sponginess can be reduced by making a bit dryer (less hydrated) seitan dough and kneading it a little more, which makes it more compact and chewier.
Also I find that the next day (after the cooked seitan was sitting in broth) the texture tends to be a bit better.
Flavor:
If the broth is too weak (cause of diffusion) the flavor gets washed out of the seitan ... so I always make quite a strong broth (i.e. on the spacier/saltier side). Adding something like some shiitake can help add more richness and umami.

I had great success with variants on this Miyoko's recipe for "unturkey" ... at least the proportions/ratios of spices/salt/soysauce are quite good ... but then you can experiment with different spices (I like it with a bit of smokiness and heat, so I usually add some chipotle chiles).
What this recipe also suggests is:

adding a little bit of chickpea flour to the active gluten (1/4 cup chickpea to 4 cups of gluten), and
pre-baking the seitan before boiling

both also contribute to a nicer texture and crust.


Cooking steak in frying pan, problem with oil splatter

You need to realize that oil doesn't splatter, water does. In fact, you could heat oil until it catches fire without any mayor movement.

But the moment water reaches the oil, which in a hot pan is way beyond the boiling point for water, it will instantly turn into steam, expand and pull oil drops with it.

So apart from lowering the heat - which is not what you want to do for a well-seared piece of meat - you want to make sure your meat is as dry as possible on the outside. Kitchen towels to blot off your meat would be my first choice.

In cases of wet marinades, remove the marinade and either grill your meat or lower the heat of your pan a bit. But not because of splatters, but because the marinade may burn.

The more oil you use, the more can splatter. A thin layer, possibly even just brushed on with a silicone brush will suffice in most cases. You may also oil the meat instead of the pan. For the type of oil, just stick with an oil that can handle high heat (save your extra virgin olive oil for a salad), canola is fine and so is peanut and some others.

And finally, there are splatter-guards on the market that can catch those propelled oil droplets. They are made from a fine metal mesh and placed on the pan like a lid. My prefered "hack" is using an inverted round cooling rack with a single layer of kitchen towel for these "will certainly splatter" cases. It lets steam escape better than many of these fine-mesh splatter guards and the towel absorbs moisture, which then can't drip back into the pan. Besides the rack can go in the dishwasher while at least some splatter guards need hand washing (if only because the mesh tends to catch debris from the water).


Can I cook a pre-made meatloaf from frozen?

Yes, you can cook a meatloaf from frozen. At 350F (175C), it will take about 1.5 times the length of time it would take to cook a non-frozen meatloaf of the same size. You will get more of a crust cooking a meatloaf from frozen, so consider that while considering whether to cook the loaf in a pan or not, also whether to glaze it. The crust will be somewhat inhibited by covering for the first half of cooking, so consider that as well, that's a matter of personal preference. If you use a glaze, let the meat cook for a half an hour or so before you apply the glaze. If you glaze before you put it in the oven, you'll risk burning the glaze.

MOST IMPORTANTLY

Use a thermometer, either instant read or leave-in - using both is even better. The meatloaf will be done when the thermometer(s) reading the very center of the loaf reads at least 160F (71C). Let it rest for a few minutes before serving.


What are good counter-top oven settings to reheat french fries soggy from refrigerating overnight?

They won't be as good as when fresh (of course) but generally:

You want the oven pretty hot. How hot depends on the oven, size of fry, etc., but a good first guess would be 425°F–450°F. On most toaster ovens I've seen, that'd be as hot as it goes. Let the oven preheat. Unfortunately, heating the oven is going to take longer than your five minutes, probably ten to fifteen... But as long as you stay nearby (just in case) you can do something else while its heating.
Spread the fries evenly on your piece of foil. Fold up the edges of the foil a little to keep them from sliding off when you move it. (Note: A plain, uncoated aluminum quarter sheet pan probably fits in your toaster oven, and can be had for under $10.)
They won't take long. Listen for them to start to sizzle. Once they've sizzled for a little bit (say, 30 seconds) pull them out and flip them. Put them back in and let them sizzle a little longer. Take them out, sample one, put back in if not done yet. I can't give you a time (other than "a few minutes") because it's going to vary a lot based on the fry, and even how much it has dried out in the fridge. Judge when they're ready based on the sound (sizzle), smell, color (browning), and taking one out and tasting it.

Notes:

You may find adding some salt helps them a lot. Same with some finely ground pepper. Or other powdered seasoning mixes like Old Bay.
If the center isn't warm enough by the time the outside is browning, use a lower temperature next time. If the center is overdone (e.g., dried out) before browning sets in, use a higher temperature.


What to do when one thing on a plate cooks faster than the others?

You could try adding a little water before the juice, to start the  process of braising and loosening any meat juices from the pan. This would be much less than the volume of juice, but would still lower the surface temperature of the pan in case instant scorching of the juice is your issue. Then when the water has almost gone you can add the juice.


Is a blowtorch suitable for browning/caramelising steamed food?

Browning with a blowtorch is the standard method for finishing meat and fish cooked sous-vide.  I see no reason why it couldn't also be used for microwaved or steamed dishes, with the caveat that dishes that have too high of a water content will never brown properly (instead, the surface will pop and boil).  I'd advise experimenting a bit, to see which side of the "too much water" each dish is on, and whether simply blotting the surface dries them enough for browning.

UPDATED TO ADD: I'm also going to advise you to get a hardware store blowtorch, not a culinary blowtorch.  A standard plumber's blowtorch is cheaper, and has significantly more flame and a larger fuel tank.


This is almost certainly due to cooling. Serving on heated plates will buy you some time. If (at home) you use microwave plate warmers you can place them under the plates after you've used them and the residual heat will keep the plates hot. You need to strike a balance as you don't want it to cook too much after serving.

Cream thickens on cooking (unlike butter which solidifies as it cools). So cooking the sauce for a shorter time might help as well. In fact the recipe I've got for this cautions against overcooking the cream (without saying why).

You don't say how much parmesan you add in proportion to the other ingredients, but you may be onto something with reducing it. Unfortunately this will reduce the flavour, and it's not like you can replace it with a much tastier cheese.

The other thing that's commonly done is adding a little pasta water to the sauce. If you're stirring it together, this can simply be a matter of not draining the pasta too much (this also depends on the shape). If you're spooning it over the top, taking a little of the starchy water just before you drain the pasta, and adding it to the sauce, could be worth a try. Again I don't know your exact quantities (like how big your glass is) but anyway it's a matter for experimenting. A tablespoon or two might be a good place to start. You probably need to put it in slowly while stirring.


There's no chemical difference between the two, assuming they are both sea-salt originally. Kosher salt tends to be more in flakes composed of small crystals than coarse sea-salt, which is a more rough individual crystalline form.

Both should work just fine in your grinder, though the spacing between the two surfaces of the grinder might affect how well each type grinds in the mill.


When making lemon/poppy seed icecream, how should I include the poppy seeds?

Poppy seeds have a very pleasant aroma and a bit of heat is going to do wonders to extract their flavour and aroma. I would dump them right into the end of the cooking process after you remove your custard from the heat. You don't want to cook them because you'll boil off volatiles and lose some flavour much like vanilla.
I think if you can get some lemon zest to appear in your finished product, or even as a garnish, along with the flecks of poppy it's going to look beautiful if you leave them in. Sort of a more sophisticated vanilla bean ice cream vibe.


Dried tomatoes vs. dried tomatoes in oil

I would probably substitute roughly by volume. 24 ounces in oil looks to be 2-3 cups, based on my memory of jars I've bought and a quick Google image search to confirm.

But I wouldn't do that with them fully dried - I'd rehydrate them in water or stock (the ones in oil tend to be less thoroughly dried out), and then cram them into your measuring cup (because they're certainly crammed into the jars with oil) and aim for 2-3 cups.

I might also add a tablespoon or two of olive oil to the soup to compensate for what's inevitably in the tomatoes even if patted dry.

I tried to find a good conversion by weight based on nutrition facts (usually works!) but unfortunately sun-dried tomatoes in oil are sold by weight including the oil, but the USDA nutrition facts are for drained tomatoes. For what it's worth, based on a label from a specific brand (found a photo here), the ones in oil are 6/19 carbohydrates by weight (and does seem to be including the oil - it says they're also 5/19 fat), while the USDA says dried without oil are 55.76/100. The carbohydrates are all from the tomatoes, not the oil or any additional water, so that should indicate how much tomato there is.

So: 24 ounces * (6/19) / (55.76/100) = 13.6 ounces. But I'm not terribly confident about that estimate, because it's based on so little evidence, and there's a lot of room for variation here. It's at least in the right ballpark, though - I have about 6 oz of dried tomatoes that look to be about 1.5 cups, depending on how packed they are.


How can you make a sauce less spicy/hot?

In general, it is a good idea to go light on spices when trying a new recipe, if you're not intimately familiar with the flavor and spice combinations in question.  It's a great deal easier to add spice later than it is to mask it once you've added too much.

Assuming you are reading this because you didn't do that, and have now ended up with a sauce that's far too spicy, then read on.

The pertinent question here is where is the spiciness coming from?  There are actually several kinds of compounds that can produce that general aroma and/or sensation.  In most dishes they'll tend to fall loosely into one or more of the following:

Piperine, which is the active alkaloid in black pepper.  This has poor solubility in water, however, it has better solubility in alcohol.  If you can incorporate wine or better yet, brandy or vodka or some other strong alcohol, this can go a long way toward reducing the heat from pepper.
Capsaicin, the heat-producing compound in most types of hot peppers, is the highest on the Scoville Scale; extremely piquant and can produce a "burning" sensation in very small quantities.  It is also poorly soluble in water, but is far more soluble in fat, especially oils.  Adding some olive oil or a good quantity of butter to your recipe is a good bet for reducing capsaicin/capsicum heat.
Garlic, onion, and other members of the Allium family put out a volatile sulfur compound called Allicin.  Although this is not "spicy" in the same sense as pepper, many people perceive it as such.  Like piperine, it is more soluble in alcohol than in water.  However, and here's the catch: That allicin breaks down into various polysulfides when cooked, and those polysulfides are fat soluble.  So if you're trying to mask a strong garlic or onion flavour, it's best if you can add alcohol and fat to cover all your bases.
If you've added too much Ginger - another ingredient often perceived as spicy - then you're dealing with Gingerols and Shoagols, the latter of which pack a much bigger punch.  One of the things you can actually do with ginger is cook the spice off which converts those into much milder Zingerone.  In other words, add some water to the sauce and then boil it to reduce the sauce again - you'll lose some flavour but in the process you'll break down the ginger spice.

Alternatively (for ginger), all of the above compounds are alkali soluble, so if you add a buffering agent - say, Trisodium citrate (additive E331), it will improve the solubility a great deal.  If, like most people, you don't happen to keep food additives in your kitchen, you can try using something like baking soda, but too much of that will completely ruin the taste, so be careful.  In fact, don't add too much of any buffer because the acidity of most sauces is an integral part of their flavor.

I think that about covers it for common "spicy stuff" that goes in sauces.  If you want to fix a dish that's too spicy, you need to know where the spice is coming from and choose what's most appropriate for that particular sauce.

You can also try to mask or balance the spice with something sweet, for example roasted vegetables or plain old sugar.  That will not eliminate the heat at all, but does seem to make it more tolerable for many.


How do you know that the cast iron seasoning does not leach into your food?

Have you ever had the experience, when cooking in stainless steel, of the oils browning onto the edges of the pan?  You know, the brown gunk that is really tough to clean off...it usually takes a scrub pad, some elbow grease and some abrasive cleaner.  That is polymerized oil.  The idea behind seasoning a cast iron pan is to create a surface of polymerized oil. It's not burnt oils. It is really a pretty tough surface when done correctly.  On top of that you would typically add some fat (for example when searing), though that might not be necessary depending on your cooking method.  The idea that the seasoning would somehow contaminate your food is hard to imagine.  A well seasoned cast iron pan will generally hold up to deglazing...and even a light washing with soap and water.  This is how I think about it as an informed cook.  I would welcome a more informed response from any one with expertise in the actual science.


Freezing partially cooked hamburger patties

It would be possible to come up with a protocol to do this safely, however the more time that meat spends in the so-called thermal danger zone the more you need to thoroughly cook it at the end. It's hard to understand what you would be gaining by doing this.


Just found this in my donner kebab, can you identify what it is?

I strongly suspect that you are looking at a capsicum seed. In other words, you either had a piece of jalapeño, pickled pepperoni, or a sprinkle of pul biber (crushed red pepper). They are flat, about 2mm wide with that little tip.

The “worm” is actually the embryonic part of the seed. There are a few edible seeds which seem to have a “worm”, e.g. this Q/A on our site.


What is the difference between saute and caramelizing toppings?

Caramelising is a chemical process in which sugars decompose under the influence of heat (pyrolisis). It happens to any heated sugars, no matter if they are free (as in heating refined sugar for making candy) or bound in something else (such as the sugars naturally occurring in an onion). The outcome of the process are compounds which have a dark color and pleasant aroma.

Sauteeing is a cooking technique. It consists of frying small pieces of solid food on very high temperature with very little fat while shaking the pan all the time, so they won't overheat and/or stick.

Many people don't know the technical meaning of sauteeing and use the word for plain shallow frying at medium temperature and without shaking the pan. This seems to be the definition your employer was using.

In fact, you were shallow frying both kinds of vegetables, which resulted in caramelisation plus other changes for the onions and in these other changes only for the vegetables which don't contain significant amounts of sugar.

Cooking recipes frequently avoid saying just "fry the onions", because onions have to be brought to a different state for different recipes. So they usually use a word which implies a desired final state, such as "caramelize". For many other vegetables, which only have a single usable state of doneness, they specify the technique instead. This is why different words can be used for the same process - one describes the technique you are using, the other describes the changes which are happening, it is like saying 'I am going sunbathing' or 'I am going to catch some tan', which are indeed the same process.

Incidentally, true sauteeing is a bad idea if you want to caramelise onions. Low and slow is the way to go if you want caramelised onions, while during the high temperatures used in sauteeing they go from translucent to burnt without passing a nice caramelized stage. But just leaving them in the pan for some time is a good technique.

You also say grilling. This is a completely different technique, and it is done on a grill instead of in a pan. I can't imagine how you would caramelize cut onions on a grill, unless you put a griddle on the grill, which is equivalent to frying.


A typical brisket / pulled pork sandwhich has around 225-250g of meat on it, but to play safe I would overcount.


Should dry beans be washed before soaking?

It's always a good idea to wash and "pick over" a bag of dried beans before soaking them. You never know what sort of grit or weirdness you might find. It's a lot more difficult to find the stuff-that-isn't-beans once it's all been soaking together for a long time.


I agree with @rumtscho that you are unlikely to get the desired results from canned corn as you really probably need raw.  If you do try canned, make sure it is whole kernel type and that might improve your results.  If you cannot get fresh corn, frozen, uncooked corn might work, but even that is usually blanched which might be enough to change the results too much for your desired results, and I would again try for whole kernel, not cut.

Digging around a bit, I found a blog claim that a medium ear of corn yields an average of 3/4 cup of kernels.  Ears of corn vary substantially in size, for a recipe that gives a measure in ears, not in volume or weight, I would immediately say that exact amount is not critical, you just need a very rough amount so I would use the 3/4 cup as being roughly correct.  If weight works better for you, a cup of corn kernels should be about 4.5 ounces or 125 grams (from another blog http://www.veg-world.com/articles/cups.htm), so your three ears would be ballpark of maybe 275 grams with an assumption that exact measurement is not critical.

ETA from @Jolenealalaska, adding a part as creamed corn may very well get you some of the missing goodness in both canned and frozen corn.  I might even try a higher cream corn ratio than their 3-to-1 suggestion.  A bit of experimentation may get you close to your target.


Is it ok to use an enamelled Dutch oven on an electric stove top with the older ring burners?

Oh sure, you can use an enameled Dutch oven on that type of stove. That type of burner (hob) is still the most common in the US; I haven't had anything but that type (in my home) in my adult life. An enameled cast iron Dutch oven will discolor when used on any stove, but it wont crack unless allowed to burn "dry" or if the pan was defective to begin with.


How to know when to stop churning ice cream?

If the ice cream mix is setting up but tending to leave a buttery coating in your mouth the best thing would be to try cutting back on the cream and replacing it with whole milk or half & half.

If it's a recipe that you've used in another machine with great success but it doesn't seem to in this one, it's probably a case of how long the frozen bowl is staying cold.  I have used the freezer bowl ice cream attachment for KitchenAid machines and have been frustrated more times than not as it doesn't freeze up as it should.

Too much sugar can also be a culprit in the mix not freezing quick enough.  Sugar doesn't freeze so a really sweet mix is going to be softer.  You might try decreasing sugar content slightly....not too much or you will end up with an icier result  (If adding fruit to ice cream, combine the chopped fruit with some sugar and cook just a little to allow the sugar to dissolve and the moisture to evaporate.  The sugar soaking into the fruit will keep the fruit softer in the ice cream instead of forming icy chunks of fruit.  Or, just mix in fruit preserves.)

Make sure that the mix is VERY cold, ideally chilled for several hours or overnight before it goes into the the freezer.  If time isn't on your side, then quick-chill it in a metal bowl or container in an ice bath and stir frequently to help chill it throughout.

The primary indicator for most ice cream freezers is that the dasher starts to sound labored in its attempt to stir the mix.  Or if cranking by hand, you start to sound labored in your attempt to crank it!

Another factor that can affect freezing of ice cream (although probably not the case in your instance since you don't have control of the speed) is the speed of the machine.  In the case of the KitchenAid insulated bowl for freezing ice cream, they warn not to go faster than "stir" or the mix won't have a chance to freeze to the side of the bowl before the dasher scrapes it.

I would try one of their recipes with it to see if it freezes up firm enough without turning to butter and then compare differences between your current recipe and theirs, adjusting sugar, milk to heavy cream ratio, etc.


Walk away.

No, really - it works.  Once you add the water to the sugar, it will likely harden and clump up (I don't know how to stop that happening).  But once it does, you can just walk away, and leave it to sit till it cools down.

A lot of the sugar will just dissolve on its own, given time and enough water to dissolve into.  Some mixing (occasional stirs as or after it cools) will dissolve some more.  And at the last, when most of it has dissolved, you can gently start heating the pan up again, stir it around, maybe bring it to a boil for a bit, maybe add a bit more water and heat some more to get at those last undissolved chunks...

It's sugar, in water.  It will dissolve until the water's saturated.  It takes time to dissolve on its own, and that's annoying if you want to use it right away - hence measures like heating, or stirring, or crushing the dried caramel to stir into water that way.  But it really works just as well, and is less tedious, just to give it some of that time and let it dissolve away.

I did this when making a caramelized burnt-sugar syrup, and it worked.  Adding the water was pretty spluttery at first (the caramelization had to be stopped pretty fast), but I did notice the caramel hardening to the bottom of the pot once it had settled a bit.  I gave it a few stirs, and walked away to take care of something else - and by the time I got back to it, most of the lumps were well on their way to dissolving.


What will happen if I put cut vegetables or roasted peanuts in a Salzburger grain mill or a mock mill?

Don't do it.
a] it won't work properly &
b] you'll ruin the machine. It is supposed to take bone-dry grain in the top, grind between two flat(ish) granite plates - actual millstones - & pour fresh-milled flour out of a spout. It will not only clog the mechanism & not pour through, it will ruin the millstones by getting them greasy &/or wet.
Don't ruin a €600 mill trying to do a job you could get a dedicated machine for €35 to do better.


Can lamb chops be light fried\sauteed to fully done and how long does it take?

If you're aiming for fully done, it may be best to not try to cook too fast. If you use high heat, and your chops are reasonably thick, then by the time the center is fully done, the outside will be overcooked. High heat and thick cuts works much better when you're aiming for, say, medium rare, so that you aren't trying to heat the center as much and thus don't need to overcook the outside as much to get it there. (Maybe this is why you thought pan-cooking was for thin cuts only?)

You can avoid this by cooking on lower heat for a longer period, possibly even adding a bit of liquid and covering so that it braises/steams and heats from all sides, not just the bottom. Then, if you also wanted the browning from cooking on high heat, you can increase the heat briefly at the end. (If you used water, make sure it's all cooked off or that won't work.)

Overall, the time to cook will depend on the thickness. It might generally be faster in a pan than broiling (UK grilling) because the meat's in direct contact with a hot pan, so there's faster heat transfer. But specifics of course depend on how close you're getting to the element when broiling and how hot you have your pan.


Forgot to feed my 6-day old sourdough starter yesterday, can I just carry on today?

Carry on!  If you find that you are going to go a while between bakes, store it in the fridge and feed weekly.  The Perfect Loaf has a nice primer on starters.


Could I substitute Anaheim chilies for Guajillo Chilies in a curry paste?

Anaheims would be OK, but their flavor isn't just milder with respect to heat, but just generally weaker.  Pasilla would be closest in flavor.  Ancho is usually pretty easy to find and is fairly similar, just not as hot.  Chile de Arbol would be a good substitute, as would plain old cayenne if you can find dried cayenne peppers.  Heck, red pepper flakes (made from cayenne) might even do the trick, but getting the amount right would be tough.

Alternatively, Amazon (of course), Penzeys, and other online food stores sell dried guajillo chiles.  Then you won't have to worry about it!


Can fermented products (yoghurt, creme fraiche etc) be added to a ravioli filling?

There is no reason not to do it in the sense of the food police arresting you or your oven exploding. But still, many people prefer not to do it (and some of them may feel that this gives them the moral obligation to become said food police :) )

The scientific reasoning behind it is that when the dairy proteins, when heated in the presence of the acid produced by the fermentation, curdle. The clumping is reduced if they are mixed with something else - e.g. you are using a dairy product that's high in fat, like creme fraiche, or your filling is not made mostly out of fermented dairy. But if you just dump yogurt into your ravioli, it will curdle during the cooking, basically turning into a kind of tvorog. The filling will be grainy and swim with whey.

If you are bothered by that change, don't do it. If you are not, you might still find your ravioli easier to handle if you fill them with tvorog outright instead of using a filling predominantly made of fermented dairy. There will be small differences in the result however, and if you find out that you like it, then there is no reason not to do it.

If you have a filling mostly made of something else, and want to add small amounts of fermented dairy, you probably won't notice any unusual effects happening anyway.


Do potatoes and rice lose significant amount of fiber when overcooked?

No, fiber is a very hardy beast chemically. There is no fiber lost at all, no matter how much you overcook them in a dish. You would have to throw them into a furnace and take out crisps of carbon no longer recognizable as food to change the fiber.


For the US, try Local Harvest.  They list farms, farmer's markets, CSA, etc, and try to keep track of what sort of things are sold from each place (fruit, meat, etc.)

update : other places to ask around : the local farm extension office or your local farm bureau.  When I lived in Europe, it was easy -- they were large enough that everyone knew where they were, and it seemed that there was at least one per town, and there could be a dozen for larger cities.


Is the aluminium foil usable in this condition?

That's just aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and it's harmless as:

it's insoluble in water
it's nearly insoluble in alcohol.
is very hard (Basically the same material as a ruby or a sapphire)
it's chemically nearly inert
Is basically the same substance as the non-shiny side of the Aluminium foil

So it's definitely useable for all intents and purposes. (including cooking ;-) )


What are sometimes referred to as Idaho potatoes are generally russet potatoes, a variety of mealy potato commonly grown in Idaho. Mealy potatoes are one of the two broad categories of potatoes: Waxy and Mealy. Mealy potatoes are more dense, higher in starch and lower in sugar and moisture than waxy varieties. Mealy potatoes are used in dishes such as baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and french fries as they maintain a lighter, mealy texture and don't brown too quickly.

Waxy potatoes include most red skinned potatoes and are less dense with less starch and more sugar and moisture. Waxy potatoes maintain their shape better when boiled so are preferred for that preparation method as well as sauteing and roasting.

Some potatoes exist near the middle of these two extremes and are sometimes referred to as all-purpose potatoes as they will work in a wide variety of preparations. Yukon Golds are probably the most widely available example of all-purpose / medium density potatoes in the US.

There are a huge variety of potatoes grown throughout the world. The trick is to figure out if your senora's recipe requires mealy or waxy potatoes and then purchase the a variety from that category. If you don't know whether the variety in question is mealy or waxy you can check by placing the potato in a brine made of 1 part salt to 11 parts water. If the potato floats it is waxy, if it sinks it is mealy.


Do centrifugal juicers destroy vitamins through friction?

Short answer is no. Vitamins are organic compounds (that is, compounds based on a carbon skeleton) which are pretty small: most of them are formed by 20-30 atoms, not more than that.

Mechanical stress, as well as thermic stress, can indeed interfere with the structure of big organic compounds such as proteins or DNA, which are called macromolecules and are formed by thousands or even millions of atoms connected in complex 3D structures. However, this is not the case for vitamins.

So, in substance, continue to drink your orange juice and you'll be fine!

EDIT: standing what I wrote, it is also interesting to consider that certain vitamins can be enzymatically degraded. This is for instance the case of vitamin C: this article demonstrates how vitamin C degradation could happen when processing broccoli at <60°C, due to the action of an enzyme called vitamin C oxydase. Of course this does not necessarily apply to other vegetables/fruit or to other vitamins.

Personally, I think that the passage of a fruit in a juicer is sufficiently fast that I really doubt there would be enough time for the vitamins to degrade. Would be an interesting experiment to do though.


How much foreign substance can I add to processed cheese?

I would experiment with more cheese and less added liquid to make it more firm, making sure the pureed mushrooms are as tiny as possible (Pacotize, homogenize, etc.), and if that still gives an inferior texture try adding some sodium citrate. It sounds like you want to add a minimal amount of liquid and enough emulsification to make sure the water-soluble parts of the mushrooms and flavoring stay put.


Which fuels (burning materials) can be used in a wood fired oven?

Regarding the use of pallets, the link below is to a site that gives good examples of why not to use them for any type of repurposed project due to unknown chemical treatment, e-coli contamination, mold, fungus and other nasty things that could leach from the wood.

We use hardwood branches from known (chemical-free) sources for smoking meat.

http://www.organicauthority.com/sanctuary/repurposed-wood-pallet-toxic.html

Here is an additional link to a pizza oven manufacturer's site with their wood recommendations.  They do not recommend using any wood that has had any sort of chemical treatment.  If you do not know the source of the wood, there is no reliable way to verify that it is chemical-free.

http://www.fornobravo.com/pizza_oven_management/choosing_wood.html


Perishable food left at room temperature (such as a turned off oven) for more than about 2 hours should be discarded.   The ham has well exceeded that time.


First of all, cooking times are always only guidelines. The rule is always, "Cook it until it's done". The USDA suggests a finished internal temperature of 165 F (74 C).

  USDA recommends cooking whole duck or goose to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F as measured using a food thermometer. Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. When cooking pieces, the breast, drumsticks, thighs, and wings should be cooked until they reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

So, the answer to your question is that you cook it until enough time has past that the goose is 165 F...

With the caveat that your target temperature may be lower than the USDA recommendations because we all love eating rare meat. From an episode of The Splendid Table, Hank Shaw mentions his recommended target temperatures for different parts of a goose:

  HS: The first thing you need to know is the sweet spot of cooking a goose breast is somewhere around 135 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature.
  LRK: It's pink?
  HS: It's pink, yes -- medium-rare to medium. The sweet spot for the legs is somewhere around 175 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take, they're pretty forgiving. That's a huge spread in temperature.

He achieves this temperature difference by removing the breasts half-way through cooking and returning the rest of the bird to the oven until the higher temperature is reached. Note, the temperature of the breasts is below the recommended temperature, so there is likely some amount of risk with eating it this cool.

The entire method is explained in the link and it's pretty fascinating. While he gives estimates of time (45 minutes for breasts plus 45 minutes more for the remainder) which are quite a bit lower than your two recipes despite being for a lower oven temperature (325 F) and a larger bird 12-16 lbs, it's possibly due to the target temperature being so low for the breasts and, once they're removed, the remainder of the bird would probably cook more quickly.

To address the methods you're looking at, I'm going to convert the recipes to be in the same units:

Ramsay - 450 F for 10 minutes followed by 9/15 min/lb at 375 F

Food Network - 450 F preheat then 20-25 min/lb at 350.

Now, let's look at your two recipes...

Ramsay:

  Stuff the zested fruit and the herb sprigs inside the bird and set aside for at least 15 mins. Can be done up to a day ahead and kept refrigerated.

Food Network:

  Rub inside cavity with lemon juice. Place apple, potato, orange and celery inside the body cavity. Truss the bird like a turkey.

I'm going to guess that the apple, potato, orange and celery combo may be more dense than seven lemons/limes. If it is, it's probably going to retard the cooking time a bit. This may explain some of your difference in cooking times, so you should keep that in mind. I don't know how you're planning to prepare your bird but the filling may change the cooking time.

Also, that big 450 F burst for 10 minutes is a big difference over simply raising the oven to that temp and immediately lowering it. When you open the oven, a lot of the air will leave, causing the air temp to drop a bit. If you immediately lower the temperature, it will drop to 350 F pretty quickly.

With Ramsay's method you're actively cooking the bird for 10 minutes at 450 F. This means that the oven will bring itself back up to 450 F and stay there for a few minutes before you drop the temperature to 375 F and it will take longer for the oven temperature to drop (assuming you have a well-insulated oven). The goose will start warming up more quickly with this method, which is reflected in the shorter cooking time.

Plus, when you're talking about 2 hours or more, a 25 F temperature difference does change the cooking time.

So, in the end, I think the methods are quite different but I think that (if you follow the actual method including the filling) both will give acceptable results... but that doesn't matter because you should at least find a recipe that tells you what temperature to aim for rather than what time to cook for and refer to those recipes' internal temperature recommendations and use your meat thermometer to know when you've reached them.


Is wasabi considered to be spicy or to be a spice?

In my book, this is pretty trivial. Wasabi is absolutely a spice - it's something with a very specific flavor, derived from a plant, that can be used in fairly small quantities to add flavor to something.

It's not spicy (spicy hot, piquant) in the normal sense, though. It doesn't contain capsaicin. It is hot in some sense: it contains allyl isothiocyanate, which we obviously have a very strong reaction to. This is the same compound that's in horseradish and hot mustard. The reaction is very different from capsaicin, though. Capsaicin causes you to register heat at a much lower temperature than you normally would, so you're actually feeling heat, like you would if you were burning your tongue. It's quite literally hot, as far as your body is concerned. It's also an oil, so it can't be washed away easily with liquid, and the burning tends to linger. Wasabi, on the other hand, doesn't produce an actual sensation of heat, you feel it mostly in your nasal passages, and can easily be washed away with liquid, so it tends to be a brief sensation. So sure, "hot" is a reasonable way to describe it, mostly because we don't have a word for the actual sensation, but it's definitely not the same thing as a hot pepper.

I'm sure you can find plenty of people who would say that these are just two different kinds of spicy hot (piquancy), but arguing over definitions isn't going to get us anywhere. The important thing is that there's a fundamental difference, and there's no way you could substitute one for the other. If you want to understand why I think this (and it's not just a personal definition), go to any recipe site, search for "spicy", and see how many things with wasabi/horseradish/mustard supplying "spiciness" you find.

Edit: To stave off further debate in the comments, let me just repeat: arguing over definitions is not useful. There are probably a lot of people who think "spicy hot" should include this, and a lot who don't. I wouldn't generally expect anyone to think of wasabi without context when you say spicy hot, but you're welcome to use the terms however you and the people you talk with understand them.


What is the acceptable vanilla:vodka range for homemade vanilla extract?

According to this recipe, the federally mandated minimum is 0.8 oz per cup - the recipe recommends at least 1 oz per cup for anyone who isn't extracting it with industrial equipment, or about 30g of vanilla bean per 250mL of vodka.

There isn't an upper bound given, but while I have seen "double-strength" extracts containing twice the vanilla, I haven't seen anything stronger, so I would say 60g per 250mL alcohol would be a reasonable upper limit.


Most anything that can heat a pot or wok to 180-220°C CAN be used to deep fry, with the appropriate caution.

With all stovetop deep frying, use a thermometer, avoid straight-sided vessels like stockpots - boil-over events are a far greater and more dangerous mess if there is oil involved, do not leave things unattended, be prepared to deal with a fire, be VERY prepared to handle a boil-over, be careful adding water-rich things ESPECIALLY at low temperature.

The question is what such modes really do. They could enforce an upper limit to temperature - which I would consider unreliable unless there is a sensor IN the oil. The temperature range useful for deep frying is ~140-210°C, whereas upwards of 230°C things start to get dangerous.
Alternatively, they could just DISABLE a temperature limiter that would usually not even allow the pot to get as hot as it will get in deep frying (significantly above 100°C usually indicates the cooking vessel has boiled dry).
In either case, it is doubtful whether there is a safety benefit vs any other non-flame stovetop deep frying technique.


There is really no way to reduce the acidity in a marinade or sauce without creating undesirable flavor compounds. Adding a base would neutralize the acid but would also produce salts which don't taste so good.

If you are making a marinade then simply add less acid to it, however if you are using bottled sauce then you have a few options to deal with the excess acidity:

Add some water: thin the mix out, and you will reduce the acidity. You will reduce the overall level of flavor but at least it won't make the chicken too vinegary
Marinade using less sauce: Less sauce = less acidity
Marinade for less time: this will mean less acidity, but less penetration of the flavors into the chicken
Add some sweetener: this will not reduce the acidity but will balance it out

If it were me I'd combine some of the above, I'd add some sugar and maybe a bit of water until it's a bit weaker.


What are the authentic traditional ingredients for Naan bread?

Naan traditionally is plain flat bread made using bread flour, Yeast, salt and water. Its cooked in tandoor.

Salt could be optional if you are having naan with a curry. (Cause curry usually has salt and the bread might not need it).

Variations like milk or yogurt is used instead of water to make dough soft and fluffy. This would change the texture and flavor of the bread.

It is possible to use baking powder instead of yeast, because they both act as a leavening agent. Don't use them together.

IMHO eggs are not part of the traditional naan ingredients.


Does marinading preserve food's freshness

Marination is a process defined as soaking something in a flavorful liquid to impart that flavor into the object being marinated. Marinating is really only working with the outermost layers of the food and is normally a quick process (hours). The liquid in which you are marinating is the real difference maker. A highly acidic liquid CAN have an effect on the preservation of the food and can also have effects on the texture (think ceviche). However, in most cases marination is not used as a preservation method, that is primarily done through curing in a high salt environment where moisture loss is promoted to prevent bacterial growth (i.e. charcuterie, bacon, etc.).

But as for the food safety portion of the question, as long as it still smells ok and has been kept in the refrigerator for that time I believe you should be alright.

http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/techniques/cooking-class-marinating-00400000002287/


Fresh tomatoes for home-made pizzas, is it worth it?

No, it's not worth the bother. Get a few cans of crushed tomatoes and simmer them slowly with whole garlic cloves and some chopped onion for a few hours until it's thickened (but not like paste). Season and you're good to go.


What does it mean if human DNA is in hot dogs?

There is definitely no food safety concern here. While the report you cite makes a big deal out of this, implying that there's some kind of serious problem being detected here, in their FAQ they say:

The most likely cause is hair, skin, or fingernail that was accidentally mixed in during the manufacturing process.
It is unlikely that human DNA is harmful to consumer health. In general, we consider human DNA a hygienic issue that degrades the quality of food more than a public health concern. Human DNA in products in our opinion speaks more issues [sic] of truth in advertising, pricing, and overall transparency.
What most people don't know us [sic] that some amounts of human DNA may fall within an acceptable regulatory range. That means that some human DNA is often allowed, regulatorily speaking. The amounts we detected in our research all fell within the acceptable regulatory range as we understand them.

It seems they're saying that this is all totally safe and allowed (by the people whose job it is to keep our food safe), and that the issue is one of transparency. I guess they think that food manufacturers should tell us that, as permitted by regulations, there are possibly tiny and completely safe amounts of human cells in food. But that seems pretty over-the-top; it's true about all food, so we'd have to slap that label on everything we eat.
Bottom line, food is not produced in a clean room environment. It's not a bunch of workers in bunny suits, being careful to not let a single skin cell float into the air and end up in your food; that'd be incredibly expensive and not provide any real benefit. So naturally, there's an opportunity for small amounts of human skin and hair to end up in your food.
And as Stephie pointed out, this is basically a DNA testing lab. Of course they have very sensitive equipment (which they also brag about in the FAQ), so they're able to detect things at a level that really shouldn't concern you. So as Lars also mentioned, it's kind of incredible that they were only able to find human DNA in 2% of samples. That means that 49/50 hot dogs are actually produced to a significantly higher standard than required!
Frankly, I think that report is presented fairly dishonestly. They deliberately neglected to mention in the initial results section that this is all safe, and instead implied that it was a problem you should worry about. Saying in the FAQ "What most people don't know..." hammers this home; they know that most people don't know this, and still didn't bother to say so.


Can ganache with butter be frozen, thawed and reused?

I have frozen ganache and used it later as a topping with no problems. Just ensure that it is warmed enough to become semi-liquid before you use it for topping your cake.

As a note - it's also delicious scooped frozen from the container. Perfect with icecream.


How to use oleoresin capsicum (chilli extract)?

If you really want to, I suspect you can add it to oil to dissolve/dilute it before adding to your dish. I know you said you tried that, but it really should work if you mix the oil well (possibly with heating), and incorporate it well into the dish. If it still doesn't work, then perhaps the extract you have doesn't have the right balance of compounds.

But even if it works, at that point you might as well just use chili oil, or really any spicy sauce that you like. There are plenty that are hot enough to not need tons, and get your food plenty hot. It'll be less fussy to use, and less risk of accidentally throwing everything off with a drop too much.


Making cake balls with a not-so-sweet frosting

Coating your cake balls is a good idea, it will help them retain their moisture and shape. There are plenty of not especially sweet options, I would try a cream cheese based frosting with less sugar or a medium-sweet chocolate ganache.


How do I flip an egg when preparing it "over easy"?

The best thing I've figured out about turning eggs is: do not do it too early. You need to wait for the cooked part of the egg to develop a strong texture before it will support its own weight. It's very difficult to turn a floppy, soft egg, where it's comparatively easy to flip an egg that has been cooked more completely on one side. I also use a relatively high heat, as this "crisps" the cooked surface. It also makes the egg more attractive.

The spatula you use can make a difference, also, though I believe this is minor. The spatula you want is a plastic one with a relatively thin, flexible blade. The really heavy spatulas tend to be too tall, in my experience, and push the egg rather than sneak under it.


Bread - Liquid proportion in french toast

As Adele's comment suggests, it's really milk+eggs that matters (along with any other significant liquids in your recipe), not just milk.

The type of bread might have some effect: denser breads might not have as much room to take up liquid. But most people use some sort of reasonably light bread, so it can get a good amount of the custard in it - that's kind of the point. Nothing too open, like ciabatta, but also nothing too dense. So really, the amount of liquid is just the amount of free space in the bread, and that doesn't vary that much from bread to bread. If you're asking this in the context of looking at recipes, and the recipes in question specify a number of slices, the size of your loaf of bread and thickness of slices will far and away be the biggest factor.

What does have a bigger effect is how full the bread gets. A lot of people make it by dipping a slice of bread in the liquid mixture for a few seconds on each side, enough to soak up a decent amount of liquid, right before frying in a pan. This might not be long enough to really let it soak in, so it'll use less liquid. But I'll go out on a limb and say most people like it if the custard is thoroughly soaked into the bread. The answer you linked to is a great way to do that. You can also make it by soaking the bread for a longer period in the fridge (an hour to overnight). It'll have time to take up a bit more liquid that way. (You can then fry it as normal, or bake it to get something similar to bread pudding, except in slices.) Either way, the important thing is that the bread pretty much gets saturated.

So as long as you're really letting it soak in, there aren't really a lot of variables: the bread will get full of the custard mixture. If it's critical to plan ahead and get quantities exactly right, find a recipe you really trust. Otherwise, just wing it - if you're dipping the bread in, just mix up a batch, keep going until you run out of liquid, and if you want more, mix up a bit more. You can call this trial and error if you like, but honestly, it's what I do every time. It'll come out well if you let the bread soak up enough.


Try silicone molds, I use them for ice cubes and they are much easier to release ice from than plastic trays.


Converting a recipe from 6qt Instant Pot to 8qt

The answer is you may have to experiment.

I believe the problem lies in the fact that more water takes longer to reach temperature, given the same burner arrangement.  This means whatever you have inside the pot is exposed to the lower grade heat for a longer period and by the time you reach full pressure, the food may already be over cooked.  I have not tried this myself but consider using preheated water at the beginning in order to shorten the overall cook time.


Techniques for cooking beef shin in the piece

I've never used beef shin, but it's probably a good candidate for braising. Brown the outside in a pan, add aromatics (carrot, onion, celery, herbs) and beef stock, cover and let gently simmer for about 3 hours or so, until it starts to fall apart.

Once it's done, you can separate it from the juice and reduce the braising juices to a sauce that you can serve it with (you might add a bit of cornstarch slurry or a roux if you want to thicken the sauce more).

This basic technique works well for types of meat that have a lot of connective tissue.


How to reheat pork belly: keep the crackling crackly?

I would recommend separating the crackling from the meat and re-heating both separately. The meat can go into the oven (or the microwave), the crackling can go under the grill (aka broiler).


If you strain the oil using a coffee filter inside a funnel, it will catch even the tiny bits that would slip through a wire strainer, making your oil super-clean. Store in the refrigerator, ideally in a glass bottle or jar, and it will keep for at least six months. I haven't stored it undisturbed for longer than that, so I can't speak to how well it keeps past that point. If you use and then re-filter the oil, you can start the six-month count over. I have only repeated this twice, so again, I can't speak to how the oil keeps when you do this many times.

One more item: I don't know if it matters, but I use grapeseed oil. I would assume that this also works for other frying/deep-frying oils, but I can't say for sure.


So, after a quick literature search:
There is no published evidence of cast iron seasoning carrying any special carcinogenic elements, aside from those carried by any kind of high-heat cooking in any kind of cookware.  If there's a danger from cast iron, it's folks who season their cast iron in an unventilated kitchen, since the burnt oil fumes are not good for you, and the fact that folks sometimes heat cast iron to higher heats than they would other cookware, just because they can.
For that matter, quality modern nonstick cookware in many countries also lacks known carcinogens.  Teflon coatings used to consist of PTFE and PFOA, of which only the PFOA is a known cancer risk.  For that reason, most manufacturers in the US and Europe have made PFOA-free nonstick cookware since 2013.  PTFE, the substance that actually resists stickiness, is so inert and harmless it's used to coat medical instruments.  Like cast iron, the main danger is if you overheat the pan, which does release substances that are bad for your lungs (also ruins the pan).
Heck, you can even today choose from an array of pans that have a non-PTFE nonstick coating.
Given all this, there are many reasons for you to chose cast iron vs teflon cookware (or even carbon steel, or many other options), but cancer risk shouldn't be one of the reasons.


How does your hand/stand mixer's speed effect the texture of your cookies?

Speed would impact in so much as rapid speed helps incorporate air bubbles. These bubbles are important, since they capture and hold CO2 during the rising portion of baking (essentially I like to think about baking in 4 phases: mixing, heating and rising, setting, and cooling).

Usually you use a spatula vs a hand mixer when you A) are using an incredibly dense dough which could damage a mixer, or B) you are concerned about the formation of gluten. Gluten is essentially a good thing in breads, but a bad thing in cakes, and muffins.


What type of chocolate is used for molding?

The dough-like texture you mention makes it sound like you burned your chocolate. Remember, a bar of chocolate will melt in your pocket so it really doesn't require much heat to melt.

To use a microwave, break the chocolate into small pieces and stir every 30 seconds even if the chocolate is still solid since the microwave will heat the pieces unevenly; it shouldn't take more than about 90 seconds in total.

Using a water bath, make sure that the bowl is not in contact with the boiling water (to be honest once the water has boiled you should be fine leaving the bowl in place and taking it off the heat, letting the residual heat warm the chocolate).

Additionally, I would recommend 'How to Cook That' and its YouTube channel for good clear videos about how to melt and then use chocolate. In particular if you want to mould your chocolate you will need to learn about tempering it, and the guide on that YouTube channel is comprehensive and reliable.


How much onion?  It doesn't take much time to chop onion.  The only way to store chopped onion for 2 weeks is to freeze.  However, once thawed, the texture will not be good.  The best answer partly depends on what you are going to use them for.  I would say a day in  advance is the most you will probably want to do.  If they are going to be a raw condiment or part of a salad, you will want them freshly chopped.


There are three ways I know of to cook the egg all the way through without turning it:

Break the egg into a hot pan and turn the heat down, wait until the egg is cooked all the way through - this would probably be considered over-cooked sunny side up.
Break the egg into the fat left in the pan, or the fat that has been put into the pan (there needs to be a lot of it), once the bottom firms up a bit, use the spatula to sweep the hot fat over the top of the egg, cooking it on top with the hot fat while the bottom cooks from the burner/fire whatever.
Break the egg into the hot pan then cover the egg(s) or the entire pan with a lid and turn the heat down a bit; this will steam the eggs, cooking the top and the bottom at the same time - this is called smothered eggs.

All that being said, understand that undercooked and raw eggs are eaten regularly by many people; some examples are Caesar salad dressing, raw egg in milk shake (protein booster), steak tartare, sunny side-up eggs to name a few.


The only difference between something that would be called "hot sauce" and a "chili paste" is the consistency, and perhaps how finely ground the chilis are (though harissas are usually pretty finely ground.) They can both be used to cook with, and they can both be used as condiments.

If there's a specific type of hot sauce you're looking to replicate (e.g. Tobasco,) you're probably going to fail. Despite the fact that there seems to be more in common than differences among hot sauces, there's a tremendous amount of variation in how they're made, and the processes tend to be counter-intuitively complex. What peppers? Fermented or fresh? Cooked or raw? Vinegar, oil, or another base? Is there an added thickener? How hot? Is it sweet? What's the salt content?

For example, my favorite hot sauce, Azorean Piri Piri sauce, is made by keeping salted peppers between two wooden crates while they drain and ferment. Nando's famous piri piri marinade (which could certainly be considered a hot sauce) is completely different, using cooked, pureed peppers. If I had some sort of piri piri chili paste, it would not be suitable to make either of these sauces.

However, If you're looking to make any sort of hot sauce at all, I'd highly recommend experimenting with small amounts. You might just need to loosen it up with some vinegar and/or water, and salt. Maybe add a touch of sugar to round it out. Maybe puree some garlic. Maybe add some smoked paprika for more depth. Keep in mind that it will probably be a bit harsh when you're tasting it directly (you may want to get a box of bland crackers to use,) but whatever you're putting it on will almost certainly drastically mute the hot/sharp/pungent notes significantly.

Good luck!


How to soak no boil lasagna noodles in water without them sticking to each other?

Layer them between wax paper, parchment paper or microwave cling film.


Is there a special way to dry bread out to make breadcrumbs?

You don't want to dry it on the counter... put slices or small pieces in the oven on low heat or grind it in a food processor and toast it in a skillet until it's crisp and brown.
Stale bread is not "dry"... it's stale and it's only on the surface. If you want truly dry bread, you need to toast it and really get rid of all of the moisture.
From Serious Eats, they discuss the difference and Kenji explains their preferred method (though this is for stuffing, the information is the same):

Drying involves the evaporation of moisture from within a piece of bread. The structure of the bread remains more or less the same, though it becomes less pliable because of the moisture loss. Dry but not stale bread will be crisp like a cracker and crumble into a fine powder.
Staling is the process by which moisture migrates out of swollen starch granules and into the spaces in the bread. The moisture-deprived starch molecules then recrystallize, forming tough structures within the bread. The moisture may remain trapped within the structure of the bread, giving you a loaf that's simultaneously moist but stale. It'll taste leathery and chewy, but not cracker-y or dry.
Staling occurs most readily at refrigerator temperatures, so it's best to store bread either on the counter or in the freezer (well wrapped, to prevent drying).
So, knowing this, we realized that despite all the recipes that call for stale bread for stuffing, what we're really after here is dry bread—bread that has had plenty of moisture driven out of it, giving it more room to absorb flavorful stock. Staling takes time. Luckily for us, drying is fast.
I dry my bread by toasting it in a low (275°F/135°C) oven for about 45 minutes, tossing it a couple of times halfway through. By drying the bread like this, you make enough room in two regular-sized loaves (about two and a half pounds of bread) to absorb a full four cups of chicken or turkey broth. It's so much broth that it almost tastes like you baked it in the bird, even if you decide to do it in a separate pan. I recommend starting it with foil on top to trap some moisture, before removing the foil and crisping up the top.

So, please don't waste your lovely home-made bread by leaving it out to go stale. Dry it using heat.
Also, I'm going to hazard to say, if your recipe doesn't already call for truly drying your bread, you might want to find a better one.
You can always make lots of it and freeze it... my dad's been freezing his breadcrumbs for decades and they work great.


Is it safe to use non stick cookware over a flame?

Are you using non-stick cookware?

Beware because there is a well-documented medical effect caused by the fumes released when various non-stick components are heated starting at about 300 °F (149 °C) and beyond.

Polymer fume fever

You should always have something in a non-stick pan when it is over a flame.


Can a rice cooker be used to evaporate remove all water in a soup?

Just to be clear, you want to remove all the water from your soup? In other words, you want to make dehydrated soup powder, or a solid disk of dehydrated soup crust, out of your homemade soup?

The way I understand rice-cookers to work is they shut off as the temperature begins to climb above that of boiling water. Pretty sure that the temperature at the bottom of your soup would begin to climb above the shut-off level before the point where absolutely all water was removed from the rest of the pot. Judging from what happens on the stovetop when you burn your soup, it heats unevenly, and the bottom scorches while there is still plenty of liquid on top.

Even when your rice-cooker cooks rice, it doesn't remove all the water from the rice. So perhaps if you started with soup, the rice-cooker might possibly make a pretty good condensed soup concentrate (?). ...On the other hand I wouldn't count on it.


Quick breads in disposable foil is the lifeblood of bake sales across the land.

There are loaf sized foil pans you can use. The 'plate' that you mention sounds like a pie-plate, which would make a very different shape and therefore baking time.

If you use a loaf pan that looks like a regular steel or aluminun pan, then your cooking time,etc will be very similar. I would advise checking it 5 minutes earlier than you are used to, as the thin pan will allow faster energy transfer.


What is the purpose of dry aging a steak?

I go into a lot of detail regarding steakhouse quality steaks in my answer here.

Excerpt:

  Any steak you buy in the grocery store is minimally wet aged. The finest steakhouses dry age their beef. The difference? Wet aging consists of simply vacuum packing the meat (as in a whole side of cow) and refrigerating it for about a week. After that, it's cut smaller and sold to stores. Dry aging is a more complicated and expensive process. Dry aged beef is hung for at least two weeks in a refrigerator. Moisture in the meat is allowed to escape and evaporate, which concentrates the beef flavor of the beef. The beef also grows a moldy rind which is cut off and thrown away. After the aging is complete you're left with 75-80% of the meat you started with. This commands a premium price.

Please note that the dry aging happens long before you purchase the steak. The entire cow is dry aged before it is even cut. You cannot truly, safely dry-age steaks in your home. There are refrigerator aging approximations, but they are just that, approximations.


In baking, the term "shortening" alone is used to mean any fat; "vegetable shortening" is a fat made from vegetable oil to be solid at room temperature.

Most vegetable oils, such as corn oil, peanut oil, soybean oil and so on are liquid at room temperature because they are unsaturated fats:  their fatty acids do not have hydrogen bound to them.

Vegetable oil is converted into vegetable shortening by hydrogenating it, forcing hydrogen to bind on to the ends of the fatty acids.  This is done by forcing hydrogen to bubble through the oil under pressure, heat, and in the presence of a catalyst.

Compared to vegetable oil, vegetable shortening is solid at room temperature, white in color, and much less prone to rancidity as it is a saturated fat.  It has essentially an unlimited shelf life.

It is also very neutral in flavor, so is often used to grease pans. However, any fat will do for that purpose.

In baking, it performs very well in making North American style pie crusts, where it helps promote a flaky crust, but it has little flavor.  It also performs very well in deep frying.

As a solid fat, like butter, it can also be creamed with sugar to help leaven baked goods, although it does not give the flavor benefits of butter.

Note that margarine is essentially an emulsion of vegetable shortening (about 80%) and water (about 20%) plus colors and flavorings, meant to imitate butter.

See also:

Are there any substitutes for Shortening?


Should I flip a roasting chicken in lieu of having a rotisserie?

There are two general approaches to making chicken juicy in the oven. The first is to cook a short time at a high temperature. For example, Barbara Kafka's recipe for roast chicken
calls for cooking the chicken at 500 degrees F for less than an hour.

The second option is to cook at a low temperature for a very long time. This recipe calls for cooking for an hour at 250 degrees F, with a high heat sear at the beginning and end of the time. Even more extreme is this recipe, which cooks at 140 degrees F for 4-6 hours. However, low heat will not give the yummy crisp skin.

Neither of these requires flipping the chicken.

However, if you really want the crispiness of the skin, flipping is the way to go. Two recipes from Cooks Illustrated (one and two) both call for high heat and a couple of flips. (As does Barbara Kafka's recipe for cut-up chicken, which I make all the time. Season the chicken, and put in a 500 degree F oven for 10 minutes, flip, 10 more minutes, flip, and 10 or more minutes or until the skin is crispy.)

If you want to go with the classics, Julia Child's recipe for roast chicken from also calls for turning the chicken onto different sides. She also bastes frequently, although the above recipes don't call for it.


Id suggest turning the heat down to 300 and giving them around 3 to 3 and half hours. Keeping it low means if the buffet is late which is often the case they won't dry out left in the oven.


From this site

  Make Ahead Tips

  The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. After 2
  days, tightly cover the dough in its bowl with plastic wrap to keep
  the surface of the dough from drying out. You can also freeze the
  dough in well-wrapped 1/2-lb. balls for up to 3 weeks. Thaw overnight
  in the refrigerator before using.


How to avoid burned layer on seared hamburger?

Make sure you flip it reasonably frequently; that'll actually make it come up to temperature faster inside, so the outside won't have as long to burn.

Also make sure you haven't made your patties excessively thick. 10-15 minutes on medium sounds like a fairly long time for normal sized burgers, so possibly yours are on the thick side. If you do really want thick patties, you're probably better off using a more gentle cooking method like the oven for some of the time. You can bake until nearly done, then sear to finish, or start with a sear then bake til done.

Beyond that, if it's burning on the outside before it's done on the inside, the normal fix is to simply reduce the heat, so you cook more slowly, giving the heat time to reach the center without burning the outside. But at 10-15 minutes already, maybe you don't want to go much slower!


Can raw egg yolks gelatinized from being stored be saved by blending and for which uses?

Finally reporting back, once I noticed I hadn't written this up yet.

The reconstituted egg yolks work, with a few quirks.

After blending them with water, I had let them sit for a while - to make sure all the yolk from inside the lumps had a chance to re-hydrate.  After a while (half hour or a bit more), I noticed the mixture had become thick.  I added a bit more water - I thought I had added less before, after all I didn't remember offhand how much volume four egg yolks was supposed to be and maybe I had underestimated them.

All told, the yolks took up maybe half a cup of water more before I was really, really sure that it was more water than the yolks would have started with - and they were still settling at a thick paste, given time to sit.  At that point, I said never mind and just made the sauce.

The sauce in question used a cupful of cream and some spices.  I made it, heated the cream, added to the yolks and spices, then heated the whole until it until it thickened (as the recipe required).  It worked just fine, giving a nice, flavorful, runny sauce.

About a half-hour, forty-five minutes later, it had thickened again.

So, the egg yolks definitely did not lose their thickening power.  On the other hand, they thickened a lot more than regular egg yolks - four egg yolks in a cupful of cream (and perhaps half again as much water) would normally not set up as a thick paste... at least, it didn't the next time I made the recipe, it's usually fairly pourable as a sauce.

This was not a problem for me, in my recipe.  I didn't mind the thicker sauce (it clung better), and anyway it stayed thin long enough to serve and plate when made, and re-thinned easily with a few spoonfuls of water each time I tried if I had needed, or wanted, the sauce to be thinner - it just didn't stay thin - and it didn't interfere with the flavor profile at all.  Even with the extra volume, it didn't taste watery or weak-flavored (perhaps because the water was locked away in the paste).  And while it looked just a bit gritty or grainy, it didn't feel like it on the tongue.  So I was pleased by it, and the fact that the sauce slathered rather than poured just made it easier to control.

So, egg yolks that have dried out and gelatinized can, in fact, still be used - for flavor, for thickening if one doesn't mind a tendency to keep thickening up, for emulsification, and so on.


How can I use Rosemary bulbs in cooking?

I don’t know what you dug up, but rosemary doesn’t have bulbs so do not eat this!

For plant id questions (which is outside the scope of this site), I recommend our sister site Gardening SE.


Those look like jujubes (not to be confused with the candy). They're also known as Chinese dates, and are frequently found dried.


Adjusted cooking time for an already-baked pie shell

Most pie recipes that begin with a high-temperature setting and then lower it are to bake the crust.  It isn't necessarily for frozen crusts only, but also for fresh-baked crusts that often need high heat to set and create the "flaky" pastry texture that many people desire.  (Also, unbaked crusts can absorb too much liquid on the bottom before they set without this high temperature step.)

If you're using a pre-baked pie shell, you're correct that this high-temperature step likely isn't necessary.  In fact, it's probably better not to use a high-temperature step on a pre-baked shell unless a recipe calls for it, as excessive crust browning is a problem with many pies that bake a long time to begin with.  (Which is why people often use foil or pie covers toward the end of baking.)

Anyhow, your plan sounds reasonable -- bake for a bit longer than the original total recipe time to account for the decreased temperature, and then begin checking periodically for doneness.  (And as there are a number of pumpkin pie recipes that use graham cracker crusts, I assume they should be fine for most recipes.)


Can I increase my iron intake by eating food cooked with cast iron?

Can you get leached iron from cast iron?  Yes

Is it consistent in the amount that you get?  No

Is it dependent on the food in the pan?  Yes

How much?  It varies hugely dependent on the food.  More liquid, acidic foods leach more.  How long its in the pan also plays a role.  3 oz of spaghetti sauce could leach as much as 5mg - that's almost 1/3 of the daily recommended 18mg.

So you can cook with cast iron to get more iron, but it will vary wildly on what you cook in it.  It will also likely increase/decrease based on how well the pan is or isn't seasoned.


Interpreting a recipe from Mrs Beeton: "rather a brisk oven"

To give oven temperatures in degrees is a fairly modern invention:

In our (great...) grandmothers' time, ovens didn't have thermostats and dials, but were heated with wood or other fuel and adjusting the temperature depended on the skill of the cook (more or less wood, more or less air..) and hence recipes gave "classes" of temperature, e.g. high heat or low heat. I even have a German cookbook from the 1930 that still gives verbal descriptions ("bake at moderate heat") instead of temperatures.

Another verbal scale used "speed terms", refering to how fast the food cooked. A fast oven for bread, a brisk oven for cookies, a slow oven for delicate confectionary or long braising and so on.

There are many conversion tables for the cool-to-hot phrases, but I couldn't find one explicitly including "brisk".

But if you note that brisk is slower/cooler than fast and fast = hot, this places brisk in the moderately hot category, or, plainly put, around 200C. A few degrees more or less will be your choice and depend on your preference for lighter or darker biscuits and also a bit on your oven. Look for visual clues like browning or rising.

This fits modern recipes, that suggest a similar range for cookies. So I suggest you give it a try and adjust according to your preference and test batch.