How to pump same amount of paste every time?

This thought came to me, and is so different from my first answer I don't think it makes a good edit to that...

If the product is really

  made of pepper flakes in an oil

rather than mix a batch at all, measure out a bottle's worth of each, funnel in the flakes, pour in the oil (and seal/heat-process if that's normally done.) Might need some vibration/shaking, but two easily dispensed components mixed in the bottle might be a lot easier than getting the mixture nicely dispensed.


hand cranked ceramic conical burr coffee grinder?

As much as your question in its current form might be off-topic, I like this grinder so much as to answer the question anyway. :) Hopefully not too much shame on me...?

Hario is a brand with many good manual and ceramic burr grinders. I like this one. You say effort is okay, but it will take a lot of effort to get beans down to Turkish-level powder.

That said, a web-search for "manual ceramic burr coffee grinder" returns many results. We're you not happy with those, or wanted reviews? For my cost-benefit equation, I'd buy the tin of pre-ground.


Mix parmesan cheese & garlic into sourdough bread dough before or after first rising?

My initial reaction is that adding cheese and garlic could affect the rise, unless you are using a recipe calibrated for their presence.  Cheese would probably affect the texture of the bread, interfering with an even rise.  Garlic is fairly astringent and has some antimicrobial properties; this could very well mess with the health of your yeast.

If you're going to try adding these, it would probably be best to knead them in rather than trying to add them during the first rise.


How can I prepare bread dough to be cooked the next day?

Make the bread all the way through.  You can even let the first rise happen.  Drop your yeast to about half.  Oil a bowl, drop in the dough, spin once to get the ball of dough covered with the oil and then put plastic wrap over the bowl, or a damp cloth...and plastic wrap.  Put the bowl in the refrigerator.

The refrigerator slows down the yeast without killing it, which also increases the flavor of the bread (over night cool low yeast methods for bread are considered the "right" way to make bread).

In the morning, pull out the bread, press out any large bubbles, roll it around and let it come to life again.  I usually punch it down one more time and then let it rise in the pan or on a sheet depending on what kind of bread I am making, then bake as normal.

In your case, because you're doing a stuffed loaf, assuming there is a rise before the stuffing, THAT is the point where you will start the morning.  Everything before the pre-stuff rise, the refrigerator IS the pre-stuff rise, pull it out, let it warm, punch it down, stuff, put in the pan, let rise, bake.


How can you know that your bread is done?

Very simply, bake it for the recommended time in the recipe. Then if it looks golden brown (note that if the air in the oven is not humid enough the bread may stay pale, on a side note a humid oven helps to develop a good crust), tap it in on it's base and if it sounds hollow its done. If it feels soft in the base and not hollow or If its still not golden brown, put it back in the oven for a few minutes then try the tap check again. Although you stated you dislike the thermometer technique, for others reading the bread should have an internal temperature of 200F or 94C, if not return it to the oven for a few minutes until it is.


It sounds like your custard was overcooked, causing the proteins to break down. This can easily happen when you make custard in a pan. By the time you realize it's happening it's too late. Try using a double boiler instead, or improvise one using a pot with water and a bowl.

Also, don't cook it too long, it should still be somewhat runny when hot. If you cook until it gets really thick that's too long, cook it only long enough that you see a change in consistency.

If it does start to curdle pour it out into something else right away, and use a stick blender on it, that may save it.

Here's a good page that gives examples of typical custard problems and how to avoid them.


What is the problem with using a flavored kombucha as a starter?

There's two reasons for preferring the original instead of the Synergy version:

Most people make kombucha with a neutral base and then put in additional flavors when bottling. By starting with a pre-flavored kombucha, it gives you less flexibility in the flavors you might chose for yourself. For example, if you wanted to make a strawberry & basil kombucha, that might not want the raspberry and ginger in the Synergy bottle you selected.
The original version, since it's 100% kombucha instead of having other juices in it, gives you the best chance of forming your own mother as quick as possible. The Synergy should still work, but may take longer to generate a useful mother.

In any case, the Synergy bottle should still work, and after a few batches I doubt there will be much residual effects from the juices in it. It's just that using the original will give you a neutral kombucha base faster than the other bottle.


How much shorter is the turkey's cooking time if I increase the temperature?

You can typically roast a turkey anywhere between 325 and 375, so 350 should not be an issue. AllRecipes provides cooking times for an oven set at 350. Note that a stuffed turkey will take longer to cook.

4 1/2 hours is longer than than most references indicate for a 9 pound turkey at 325.  If you have successfully made this recipe in the oven you are planning to use, you may want to budget in an extra 30-60 minutes.

I have found that the easiest way to keep track of the the status of the poultry is to place a leave-in meat thermometer into a thigh (but not next to the bone). The thermometer probe will stay in the meat and measure the internal temperature as it cooks.  The turkey is done when the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 160 (FDA recommends 165) and the juices are clear when slicing the thigh.


Why is my Mango Pickle foaming with Gas after 3 days, it is beginning to overflow, even though I left 2" from the cap

This "pickle" has no acid whatsoever, which is needed to pickle preserve the mangoes.

I can only infer that it is intended to be a fermented pickle (perhaps akin to saurkraut, given the high level of salt), where bacteria break down the sugars in the mangoes and produce acid (typically lactic and acetic), and carbon dioxide.   The off gassing of the carbon dioxide can be seen as bubbling as the mangoes ferment, and would be a normal part of the process.

The fermentation process would normally take several days to a couple of weeks (depending on temperature, mostly, and the size of the mangoes).   Is that what your recipe suggests?

If this is not meant to be a fermented pickle, then you are seeing signs of very aggressive spoilage.


You can let it ripe at room temperature.

If you want to slow down the ripening process, put it in the fridge, although this will affect the mango negatively. If you want to speed up the process, put it in a bag with a banana.

When the mango is ready to eat, it will be slightly soft if you press it and you can smell the mango flesh through the peel. The green colour will not totally disappear.


What is coriander root and where can you get it?

It is just the root of the coriander plant. Certainly at least here (UK) you can buy living coriander plants in the supermarket; you could pull one out of the pot and use the root from that.

Apparently you can also subsitute 2 stems of coriander for every piece of root called for in the recipe, but I've never tried this.


Sometimes, when planning a new kitchen, you'd want a motion diagram.
With bigger (restaurant/hotel) kitchens, we might pick some of the more complex recipes, and map how the staff would go about making them.

It's basically a diagram of the kitchen with who needs to go where and how often, derived from the recipe. Note that where maps clearly to what the person is doing at the time, so it goes "get stuff from fridge, go to mixing machine, use counter space (to lay out dough), move to ovens etc.

You could add diagrammatic notation for the activity fairly easily, but probably not for the foods themselves. If you do decide to draw up that many diagrammatic icons for foods and cooking activities, let me know and I'll happily use them.


How do I incorporate chiles into a chocolate cake recipe?

An easy way of incorporating a spicy kick into any existing chocolate cake recipe that uses actual chocolate would be to substitute a portion of the called for chocolate (with a matching chocolate type; i.e. dark and dark, milk and milk) that already has cayenne or some other hot pepper ingredient. Of course, you will need to experiment to get the right level of heat.

Adding straight cayenne powder while the chocolate is melted, or shredded would also be an ideal time to ensure even distribution of the spice. In the event your recipe does not use an actual chocolate base, but rather something that replicates the flavor, the time to add the cayenne would be when the 'flavor packet' is added.


Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are almost the same thing.  The only difference is the amount of fat they contain.  Heavy cream contains about 36% fat, while whipping cream contains only about 30%.  (That means that heavy cream actually produces better, thicker whipped cream!)

Since this is going into a cheesecake, I think that this will be an acceptable substitution.  The amount of cream included in cheesecake recipes is usually quite small, and used primarily for thinning the mixture.  Cheesecake is already high in fat, so the addition of a little more is unlikely to matter, especially in such a small quantity.  I would not expect any difference in flavor or texture in the finished cake.


Can any harm come of eating watermelon seeds?

Um, no.

You can even buy them.

The only common potentially dangerous seeds I know of belong to almonds, apples, apricots, peaches, plums, cherries, and other stone fruits. These contain a cyanide and sugar compound known as amygdalin. When metabolized it breaks down into hydrogen cyanide (HCN). In all cases the toxin is inside the seeds and will not be exposed to the body unless the seeds are chewed. Of these, the only seed commonly consumed would be the apple seed, usually inadvertently, or by daring children. It would take a large amount (can't find a reliable reference - one source said 1 cup) of well chewed seeds to poison you. Regarding almonds, only the bitter almonds have cyanide levels to be concerned about (we eat sweet almonds).

So, besides the apple, these all belong to the Prunus genus of plants. Cyanide is just their thing. Watermelon belongs to the Citrullus genus.


What kind of seaweed do I need for Japanese-style seaweed salad?

Because we don't do recipe requests around these parts, I'm going to treat this as an ingredient question.

Japanese markets (and some online merchants, including Amazon) often sell dried versions of the seaweed mix that many restaurants use. It'll be sold as kaiso salad or seaweed salad. Some versions are better than others; some contain a ton of dyes that make the salad look unnaturally neon to my eyes, although the taste and texture is similar. Such blends typically contain wakame and other seaweeds, including agar agar noodles, for example.

If not included in the package, you can make a simple dressing based on toasted sesame oil and Japanese vinegar, in roughly a 1:3 ratio, or use sesame oil and lemon juice (maybe 1:1-1:2 ratio since it's more acidic). You may want to include soy sauce or salt. This is loosely in the category of sunomono, so it doesn't typically contain emulsifiers like mustard, but if you find it hard to blend you can use a touch of mustard or something like lecithin or a stabilizer like xanthan gum.


Can I use the same kind of tools to sharpen my knives as I do my chisels?

Yes. ~1000 then 5000 is a common progression to get kitchen knives to a good working sharpness. Diamond plates can leave undesirable deep scratches, so I would not recommend someone inexperienced in their use (note that the OP is by his own statement NOT inexperienced) to take them to an expensive knife. 5000 might be slightly too fine for a Wusthoff (depending on the vintage and exact steel/temper used) - if the edge turns out unstable, try to omit the 5000.

By the way, some traditional japanese cooking knives (eg sashimi knives) ARE sharpened in a way very similar to you chisels.


What type of flour should I feed my starter with?

Once my starter was established (started with organic whole wheat flour) I've been feeding it with unbleached AP flour (King Arthur) and that's worked fine. I do this simply because it's the flour I buy in large quantities to stock my pantry, and so it's generally the cheapest flour I have on hand.

If you want to "switch over" to a different flour you can always scoop out a bit of starter a couple days before you bake, and feed it with the different flour. Start with a small amount so you don't have to throw any away; just double the volume with each feeding. I don't usually bother, though.


What to do when too much liquid added to flour mixture?

If everything is already combined, you can't really boil off the liquid without also cooking the flour, killing the yeast, and ruining your dough. If you don't want the large amount of dough you would have from just adding flour to what you have, your best bet is to just throw away a portion of what you've made, add flour to the remainder, and proceed. In the future, try adding 75% of the water, then adding the rest as needed. Sometimes this is the only way to account for additional moisture your flour may have absorbed in humid environments.

In the case of pizza dough though, if you have too much, if you portion it, lightly oil the portions, and freeze them individually, they should keep fairly well.


The issue here is how long do you steep the tea, at what temperature, and under what conditions do you store the used tea bags? The reason "sun tea" has been discouraged has been because of the likelihood that the tea leaves that are in the bags are contaminated with bacteria such that a long soak in luke-warm water such as that of the "sun tea" causes them to multiply to the extent that they become a serious health risk. Tea leaves are not typically pasteurized during their processing, and may carry viable bacteria and/ or bacterial spores.
If you were to soak the tea bag in warm water not hot enough to get a good bacterial kill initially, there may be enough viable bacteria in the tea leaves to grow during that 5 hour interval such that the next cup may be seriously dangerous (some may divide every 15 minutes, for example). However, if you were to adequately kill the bacteria and spores off by a nice hot soak (for this example, you would need to use a pressure cooker since some bacterial spores are not even killed by boiling water at atmospheric pressure), refrigerate the tea bag afterwards, and then reuse it 5 hours later it would likely be perfectly fine.
I think the final answer to your question comes down to your own personal risk tolerance and the conditions above. If you brew in luke-warm water or for a very brief time and then leave the bags out at room temperature you are just asking for trouble and eventually you may hit the loaded chamber in your own personal Russian roulette game.
For empiric answers, take your particular brewing temperature and time and compare it to the USDA tables for pasteurization. Then, look up the growth curves for the major pathogens at your storage temperature and figure out how many would likely be present after 5 hours (20 generations at 15 minutes per generation or 2^20 times more bacteria than viable after the brewing event at the end of the storage interval).


The paragraph you quoted is utter nonsense.

Milk contains absolutely no factors which will tenderize anything. Tenderization is a process whereby protein strands are broken down, resulting in shorter strands, resulting in a more tender product. A lot of substances and physical processes will tenderize, to a greater or lesser extent, sometimes subject to other factors: acids, bromelain, a similar compound found in mango, physically pounding the meat, etc. Milk is none of those things.

Further, simply limiting the cooking temperature to under 212F/100C will not, in fact, guarantee a tender and moist result. To see this for yourself, boil a chicken breast in water or milk for a while. It will never go over the boiling point of water, but if you leave it too long? Dry, nasty chicken.

As Mike said in his answer, braising will result in a more tender end product; the length of cooking time plus the liquid medium helps to moderate the temperature and cook the protein very, very slowly. This retains more moisture within the product, and prevents protein strands from bunching up very tightly (which, really, is the same thing: protein strands force water out of meat as they constrict; prevent or ameliorate the constriction and you will have much moister and more tender meat). It is also worth noting that braising is always done at significantly below boiling temperatures; one braises at a simmer at most, more in the 60-80C range.

Milk is often used with certain proteins due to its facility in absorbing unpleasant odours or flavours. Liver is the classic example, but milk is also often used with sweetbreads and fish (amongst other things) to help draw off the funkier aromas before cooking. I do not know the specific scientific mechanism behind why this works; I suspect it is something to do with the fat molecules in the milk itself, which suggests that any fatty liquid would have the same effect.

So, for the short answer, see my first sentence.


Is a smoked pork shoulder a suitable substitute for ham hocks?

Ham hocks are used to add a variety of properties to beans as well as other vegetable dishes like greens and stews.  Ham hocks predominantly add smoky flavor and salt. In dishes where the ham is cooked for a prolonged period with water you also get an improved mouth-feel from gelatin that dissolves into the stew.  Aged hams also add the distinct flavors that accumulate from the curing salts and the aging process.

Using a smoked shoulder will provide the smoky flavor as well as some gelatin (provided you use a prolonged cooking method) but you may need to increase the amount of salt you use and you will be missing some of the "ham-y" flavor that you get from using a real aged ham hock.

Other options include bacon (especially dry-cured), ham base, or bouillon.  I have gotten a few free prosciutto hocks from the local deli (they were just going to throw it away) that added great ham flavor but no smokiness.


Bob's Red Mill website states that one cake is the equivalent to one packet of dried yeast (0.25oz or 2.25 tsp):

  One (1/4-ounce) yeast packet of dry yeast OR 1 cake fresh, compressed yeast EQUALS 2- 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast (active dry or instant active dry)


What is the reason for the automatic fruit and nut dispenser on some bread makers?

Fruit and nuts can potentially soak up some of the liquid. The liquid is then removed from the hydration of the bread during rising/proving, so you might end up with a mix that is too dry to form a loaf or that is unable to be kneaded properly or to rise properly.
Adding the fruit and nuts after some mixing and kneading means that there is much less available liquid for them to soak up, as the liquid is bound in with the flour already.
Edited to add: In many instances bread machines are on a timer, so that the bread is ready when the person wants it to be. If fruits were added into the liquid before a timer-controlled loaf, then they may well not only absorb a portion of the water, they may over-swell and become so soft that they disintegrate into the bread during kneading. This is generally not the desired end-point of having fruit in breads, where most recipes have the fruit as visible pieces.


Yes, from the book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman

  Quick Bread = 2 parts flour: 2 parts liquid: 1 part egg: 1 part butter...Recipes vary considerably on how much baking powder to use. I've found that a good working rule is one teaspoon per 4 ounces of flour (a scant cup), or 5 grams for every 110 grams of flour.


Camellia sinensis var. assamica in Yunnan?

I find nothing to indicate it's a different cultivar, and several sources saying that it's var. assamica. My favorite couple:

An article (with photos!) on a tea merchant's site, from a guy who says he was actually in Yunnan for a year just for the tea.
A toxicology paper, with Chinese authors (though not from Yunnan).

This doesn't rule out the possibility that there are subdivisions of assamica, leading to some tiny differences between the plants. But I can find no evidence of such subdivisions. Further, given the degree to which things vary simply based on the region they were grown in (due to climate and soil) and the effects of the subsequent processing, even if there are actual differences in the plants (beyond those caused by their environment), they're unlikely to be meaningful in terms of the tea you ultimately drink.

One caveat: this is all about what's most common. But people drink all kinds of things as tea, so it's possible that you'll find tea that was made from a different cultivar with the same processing as pu-erh, and it may well be labelled as pu-erh.


Corn starch is a thickener, but not right out of the box. It needs to be heated to gelatinize, which also gets rid of the chalky taste.

If you tried to cook your random sauce now, you'd get a very thick mass that could easily be a prop in a bad sci-fi or horror movie, but not a dipping sauce. And the sheer amount of starch would "absorb and eliminate" most of the flavours you added.

Long boiling and vigourous stirring can break up the bindings again and so can freezing the cooked sauce, but with half a box of starch in what I assume to be a relatively small quantity of other ingredients, you are more likely to burn the "sauce" during cooking before you get to that stage.

As a little starch goes a long way in binding liquids (rule of thumb: 20g for two cups of sauce), you'd have to add a lot of liquid tomget that ratio, which you stated is neither practical nor economical - who's going to eat all that stuff?

But there is one property of starch that could save your sauce:
In cold liquids, uncooked starch sinks towards the bottom. So pour your mix into a container (preferably something rather narrow or conical), and wait an hour or so. The thinner your mix, the faster the starch will settle.
Then pour off the liquid, leaving the concentrated starch in the container. Do not discard it yet.
Gently heat your sauce in a pot, stirring carefully and watch it thicken as it nears boiling temperature. You will most likely have enough starch left in the mix to reach the desired thickness. If not, add a bit of the reserved starch slurry, a teaspoon or so. Remember that a hot sauce with starch will still be liquid, but thicken a lot when it cools down.

You didn't elaborate on you other ingredients, so be aware that not all ingredients or ingredient combinations take well to being heated - they might curdle or break down, for example. In this case, sorry, you will have to discard your experiment, write off the cost and start over. Perhaps with a tested recipe and work from there. We'll be here if you need help in tweaking it.

You might want to have a look at this Q/A, what went wrong there could help you.


Well, I can at least show you what ALDI in Germany considers a bunch:

It weighs about 200g and if I wrap my hand around it, my finger touches the middle joint of my thumb, which according to JBergen's comment, makes it a medium bunch.

And in this bunch are....

Seven onions!

But the exact number is probably not really important. Cooking can be a pretty exact science occasionally, but most of the time, a bit more or less won't make or break a recipe. So use common sense and the 7 onions / 200g per medium bunch as a guideline. If your onions are especially pungent, you might want to cut back, if they are mild or you want a bit of a punch, be more generous.


How can I replicate authentic German potato dumplings?

I am German, let me try to help, I've made many dumplings:

There are four types of potato dumplings. They are called Klöße in northern Germany and Knödel in the south, both words mean the same.

-Rohe Klöße (Raw Dumplings). These are made from raw grated potatoes. They are the most difficult to make. The surface is shiny and a bit slimy and you have pieces of potatoes sticking out, which gives them a rough surface texture, see image below. The inside is chewy and you can just barely feel the individual slices of potatoes.
They are soft, when you cut them they flatten and the surface is gluey and sticks to the knife.
The basic recipe is to grate raw potatoes (1 kg) into a bowl filled with water. Then pour the mixture through a cheesecloth and press the cheesecloth in your hands till the mixture is very dry. Let the drained off water stand for a few minutes, the starch will collect at the bottom. Mix starch and potato mixture.

Boil some semolina (grieß), maybe 10% of the potato weight, in milk till it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Mix semolina with potatoes and one egg and form dumplings.

Some people use sulfur to give the dumplings a whiter color
What’s the sulfur in dumplings for?

-Gekochte Knödel (Cooked Dumplings). These are made from boiled potatoes that are mashed while hot. Add about 10% starch and one egg yolk per 500g. These are simple to make.

-Halb und Halb, Thüringer Klöße (Half and Half). Mixture of grated and mashed potatoes.
Do as for the raw knödel with half of the potatoes. The rest is boiled and mashed while still hot, I have something that looks like a huge garlic press for this

Mix the mashed potatoes and the dried grated potatoes and the starch. These dumplings don't use eggs or semolina, but you might want to add some extra starch if the dough is too sticky.

-Quark or Topfenknödel (Dumplings with fresh cheese (Quark))
Made from mashed potatoes with fresh white cheese. Tastes wonderful when filled with plums or apricots or with strawberry or rhubarb sauce.
Unfortunately Quark is extremely expensive in the U.S.

The picture you showed looks like Rohe Knödel or Thüringers.

*Many people buy a mixture that comes in perforated bags that you throw into boiling water.

 These are ok, but the ones you make yourself are more fun.

*In Germany potatoes come in three color coded varieties, firm, mostly firm and starchy. For all kinds use mehligkochende Kartoffeln (starchy). These often have irregular shapes and break apart when you boil them. It won't work with firm potatoes.

*Often Knödel are filled with roasted pieces of bread.

*You always have to prepare a Probekloß (Test Dumpling) first to check the composition and maybe add some flour.

*In general the dough has to be sticky, use wet hands

*Some use egg yolks and some entire eggs.

*I am to lazy to get the starch out of the water, I use regular bought starch.

Make sure that you are using the right potatoes (starchy). To me it sounds you are using too much flour and the wrong potatoes. Better use starch instead of flour.


To manually pull taffy, either you can stretch out the taffy between your arms by gripping one end of the taffy with each hand and extending your arms. This is extremely strenuous, and a lot of work especially when the taffy is cold or when starting.

Another option is to get a Taffy Hook, which looks like this:

It doesn't have to be anything specialized, any stainless-steel hook you can mount on the wall or temporarily attach to a surface will suffice. The idea is to hook the taffy on the loop and pull towards you or the ground, re-loop and repeat until the taffy is the desired consistency.

There are a number of home contraptions in various price ranges that work either by a motorized system or a hand-crank:

Youtube video of a hand-crank taffy puller

There are even homemade taffy pullers that you can find by searching the internet if you are more mechanically inclined.


Pulao is usually a "dry" dish without any gravy/sauce left in it when it finishes cooking. If the rice seems to be fully cooked and the individual grains do not seem to be under cooked or slightly crunchy then I think it is probably correct.

Many people serve raita (I like a simple yoghurt-onion-tomato mix with some chili powder and salt) and green coriander chutney along with pulao or biryani which helps to make the overall experience less dry. I usually cook the marinade as well to make a gravy/salan to serve on the side when I make chicken biryani.


Whats causing odd flavour in reheated chicken?

I will assume you mean you are microwaving your soup when reheating.

Microwaving effectively boils the water within food, mostly at the surface, and will at a minimum leave it dryer than it was before.

As for the smell, the water removed from the chicken could be unmasking a certain smell in the food or even carrying it out and delivering the smell to your nose.


This happened to me a few weeks ago. Two mangoes just plain would not ripen.  I tried the window sill and paper bags. I bought two later and they ripened fine. So I took the first two back. The manager of the fruit department said the pallet is treated with ethylene to ripen the fruit, and sometimes the ethylene does not get to some spots.


I believe the primary reason is that the pasta water is already hot. When you need to thin your sauce on short notice, you add hot pasta water and it will not cool down your sauce. Secondary benefits are:

The pasta water has nice salinity, so you're not diluting the salinity level of the sauce. This assumes you salted your pasta water. You did, right?
There is some starch in the pasta water. However, since the pasta water has already achieved a high temperature, any thickening benefit would already be achieved. If your pasta water is anything like any I've ever seen, it's just about as runny as any other water. So this benefit is probably negligible. Perhaps it has more of an effect once the pasta water added to the sauce has reduced.


How can I tell if a steel rod is for sharpening or honing?

If it's a rod, it's for honing, not sharpening.  As stated in this article from Serious Eats:

  One of the biggest misconceptions about the particular type of kitchen tool you see above is the belief that it's a knife sharpener. It doesn't help that many manufacturers sell their honing steels as such. But a honing steel is not a sharpener. Ridged, rod-like honing steels, or "stropping irons," as they're sometimes called, do not sharpen blades; they realign them.


The rice can make the difference. The rice:water ratio can make the difference.
I don't know the figures for Jasmine, but quite famously half the bags of Basmati sold are not, in fact, Basmati. See The Great Rice Scam.
The images shown on that site give the impression they do aim for 'slightly sticky' so you can pick up with chopsticks.
First tests would be…
Reduce your water content.
Let it sit an additional 15 minutes once finished.
Experiment with leaving the lid on vs removing it & placing a sheet of kitchen roll over the top with the lid on just enough to hold it flat. [Greek/Turkish method]
Personally, I never rinse rice & I never use anything other than a regular saucepan. Perfect rice every time, in 30 minutes.
1 : 1.6 rice : water. [more than a pressure cooker of course]
Drop boiling water onto ready-salted rice in a pre-heated pan. This causes a flash boil which immediately separates the grains.
Quick stir once. Heat to minimum, lid on.
15 minutes at lowest heat.
Switch off. Leave 15 minutes more.
Done.


Why is my chocolate fudge not that dark?

It's possible that you need to add more chocolate, or use a different type of chocolate.  Dutch process cocoa has a much darker color than natural cocoa, for example.

It's also possible that the color is being lightened by microscopic air bubbles.  This can happen if you use a fluffy ingredient (such as marshmallow cream) or if you mix a lot of air into the fudge.  Although, I imagine it would take a lot of air to make a big difference.

If all else fails, try dipping pieces of fudge in dark chocolate.  I know that's cheating, but who's going to argue with chocolate covered fudge?  Sounds good to me!


You need more vinegar for it to thicken.  I make salad dressing with cream as the oil and when I stir in the vinegar, it becomes quite thick.  Unfortunately, it will probably have a strong vinegar taste in your recipe (which turns out to be okay in a salad dressing).


What can I safely put between my cast iron skillet and induction glass top stove to prevent scratches?

You could use a thin disc of copper...

Copper has a much higher melting point than does aluminum (1,984ºF or 1,084ºC vs 1,221ºF or 661ºC), is not ferromagnetic, and a thin (.025" or less) sheet should not have a profound effect on the magnetic field induced in the iron skillet.

I have not tried this method, but it is scientifically plausible as well as cost effective at about $25.

The copper surface could be sanded smooth and could be used in a similar way as a heat diffuser. It should get no hotter than the bottom of the cast iron skillet, since the induction 'burner' should not induce any magnetic field in the copper sheet itself. The only heating of the copper would be from conduction or radiation from the cast iron pan.


What cultures can be added to pasteurized milk to allow it to clabber like raw milk?

I have made something like a yoghurt using just kefir and pasteurized milk. One of the two bottles was in equilibrium. Sour and with bubbles. Not so lucky though with the other bottle as it was more like yeast in taste.


What should I do if I bought prime rib roast too early?

Typical refrigerator temperature is a bit too cold for true dry aging. I don't think you will perceive much of a difference, even under ideal conditions, in only two weeks.  So, for me, the decision is based on whether or not I want a prime rib taking up prime real estate in my refrigerator.  I would freeze until a couple of days before your meal.


How does produce grading in the US work?

Is everything graded on the same scale (with the same labels)?

No.  Grading is specific to every kind of fruit or vegetable, and often grading can be different depending on the form of the produce (fresh vs. canned vs. frozen vs. juice vs. headed for further processing, etc.).

Also, different nomenclature is used for different produce: some use "Grade A," "Grade B," etc.  Some use "No. 1," "No. 2," etc.  The number of grades can vary.  And some use other nomenclature like "Fancy Grade" or "Commercial Grade," either by themselves or in combination with the numerical/letter grade system.

And is all produce graded, so that for example I can go to the store and find out what grade their supply of a given fruit is?

Grading is voluntary, and it generally costs producers to do it.  Unless there is a complaint about quality, many domestic producers won't bother, particularly if they are selling at a local market or something.  For marketing agreements, they are often required, though.  And international shipments are required to be graded, but only small samples from a given shipment are generally inspected.

What characteristics do the grades generally depend on, and what characteristics do they ignore?

You really can only tell by reading the individual grading policies for specific produce (there are guidelines for well over 100 different types/forms of fruits and vegetables).  The guidelines for fruits are here and for vegetables are here.  Also, note that these are only national USDA guidelines.  States and regional markets can also set their own grading policies, so a "medium" tomato sold at a state farmers market might be the same as an "X-large" tomato on the USDA grading scale.

But in general, grading often covers things like:

Size (sometimes specifying different size grades or minimum size for grading)
Appearance (color, shape, "mature" enough to ensure proper ripening if not ripe already, proper trimming if applicable, extraneous pieces like stems on small fruit, etc.)
Texture (firmness, smoothness, general "ripe" characteristics, etc.)
Defects (blemishes, dirt, decay/spoilage, pest damage/disease, damage from sun/heat or cold, foreign material, etc.)
Allowable tolerances (allowed deviation levels in above characteristics or percentage of pieces allowed to be non-compliant in various characteristics)

Characteristics generally NOT covered by grading:

Flavor/taste
Interior of produce (since grading generally focuses on exterior inspection unless there is suspicion of unseen rot, disease, etc.)
Packaging (beyond some note of packing that is likely to damage produce)


Brining Turkey - 4 Days in Fridge - Partially Grey

The color is likely due to other intensely colored ingredients in your marinade, notably balsamic and pomegranates. They can discolor other items so I wouldn't be too surprised if this happened to the skin and outer surface of the turkey. I doubt that it indicates a hazard.

4 days is longer than our typical guidance on food storage (which in turn comes from governmental food safety agencies) would say is strictly safe. 1-2 days is generally about the limit for uncooked poultry, but all the acid in your marinade should make a fairly unfriendly environment for microbes, so this is kind of a grey area.

Personally, I'd be okay with eating this so long as I wasn't serving it to the pregnant, the elderly, or anybody else with a compromised immune system.

You don't mention whether you intentionally let this marinade for the full 4 days, but if you did I'd advise you to back that off to 2 days at most next time. The acids present can also affect the texture of the meat, and will probably completely cover the flavor of the turkey itself. You'll have a more pleasant result and one that doesn't run into questionable food safety territory next time if you reduce the marinating time.


How to get quesadillas to stick closed without cheese

Quesadilla literally means "little cheese." A quesadilla without cheese isn't a quesadilla. It's a tortilla folded in half with stuff inside.
To get a folded-in-half tortilla to stick together without cheese, try eggs. Put the open tortilla in the pan, then pour a thin layer of beaten eggs on top. Cook slowly until the eggs start to solidify but are still wet on top. Then fold the tortilla in half. The raw layer of eggs should stick to itself when it finishes cooking.

Note: I haven't tried this myself, so I don't have exact quantities and timing figured out. This idea is based on a recipe for breakfast egg wraps where the eggs are poured into the pan first, then cooked until somewhat solid but still wet on top, then a tortilla is placed on top so it sticks to the raw eggs. Then the whole thing is flipped over, so the tortilla gets nice and crispy and the egg finishes cooking. That recipe used one egg per tortilla (but didn't specify what size of tortilla). The challenge with the modification I suggested above will be getting the eggs fully cooked without burning the tortilla. It's a bit like cooking an omelet, but with an omelet you can put on a lid and use steam to help cook the eggs, whereas you probably don't want to do that here because it will make the tortilla soggy. I think it should be possible with a low heat and a very thin layer of eggs. If you get it to work, please share what combination of timing, temperature and quantities worked best.


Caffeine pills don't dissolve in hot tea

If it really has to be pills, then I guess you need to mix in something that dissolves more easily than the caffeine powder. Powdered sugar seems like a good candidate. I found a couple references to people using it as a binding material for other pills, so presumably it'll work.

Depending on how you're making your tea, you could also add the pill while you're boiling the water, to give it more time to dissolve, and to make sure it gets the full heat.


Yoghurt making : effects of temperature and duration

First, about the holding time: It is a safety feature. It is meant to ensure that the number of non-culturing organisms that survive is so low that the culturing organisms can overtake them and create a colony of their own, without pathogens. If you reduce it, sometimes nothing will happen, and sometimes you will get a dangerously high growth of pathogenic bacteria. To keep your yogurt safe, you have to do the 30 minutes.

Second, fermentation time and temperature. When you stay close to the prescribed temperature for a given culture, then you can trust that a higher temperature will give you the same sourness in shorter time, or more sourness in the same time. If you go far away from the prescribed temperature, your fermentation process again becomes unsafe (because some other bacteria are likely to take over before your culture multiplies enough to establish itself). From experience, a deviation of 2C from the optimal is close enough to still make good yogurt, so you can experiment with all three temperatures. What happens if you use 36 C is that you get less tangy yogurt, and at 40 you get more tangy. The length of time you use is pretty much a matter of trial and error, until you get the taste you prefer.

Note that, for establishing your preferred time, you should use an established culture. That is, you should either always use a new capsule of lab-bought culture, or you should first do a few generations of reinnoculation at constant conditions, and then start experimenting from there. This is because the first few re-innoculations from a new capsule are a kind of "adjusting" fermentations, and your yogurt will be changing its tanginess and consistency even when you keep the conditions (time and temperature) equal.


What makes bourbon a decent substitute for vanilla?

Bourbon, by legal definition is aged in a fresh oak barrel. The oak heartwood naturally contains aromatic compounds including (you guessed it) vanillin—the primary flavor component of vanilla itself.

But beyond the already-present aromatics, the wood is further treated to produce even more flavor. About 20% of the oak's mass is made of lignins. When exposed to temperatures of 750° F  the lignin breaks down to more aromatics including, once again, vanillin. Your bourbon barrel is charred in an open gas burner for 15—45 seconds, making these flavors ready for extraction into your bourbon. The alcohol will then be able to further break down some of the solid mass and dissolve the aromatics.

So bourbon is a good vanilla substitute because of the relatively high portion of vanillin that it contains


What should I cover bread dough with while it's rising?

The goal is to keep the surface of the bread from drying out.

A wet towel works fine but plastic wrap is cheaper and easier than constantly cleaning wet towels.

I have used both methods and haven't noticed a difference in the bread produced. In very dry climates, when I made bread with multiple rises I sometimes had to redampen the towel which was an added inconvenience.

Lately I have been proofing large batches of bread in a large stock pot and just use the lid of the pot as the only cover.


You could use ground pork, ground beef, ground lamb, or ground chicken.  These would slightly alter the flavor of the final product, depending on the other ingredients in your sauce.


Why does my cheese sauce taste like flour/paste?

It seems like you are not cooking the roux. Even a white roux should be cooked. A roux made with butter froths when it is cooked, after that you can add the milk. You can try adding it gradually, if it works for you, I find that dumping it at once and stirring vigorously is better for me - else the first small amount of milk gels the roux into too-hard lumps which the next portion of milk doesn't dissolve. Also, "until thickened" is a bit of a hit-or-miss. I wait until I see bubbles of cooking - not the rapid small bubbles of boiling water, but big, slowly rising bubbles plopping here and there, only then I stop cooking the sauce.


How can I achieve large bubbles in my bread?

In order to get large bubbles like you see in a Ciabatta you want to knead your bread as little as possible. Literally I mean knead it till just smooth but no longer. You really don't want to stretch any of the gluten. The more you stretch it the stronger it gets which is not what you want when trying to create nice UN-even air pockets.

On top of this, you DO NOT want to be knocking it back at all. I tend to prove my Ciabatta style bread on what ever I intend on cooking it on. That way I don't risk over handling it.

Also you want to let it gently prove, at room temperature. No hot box or heat lamps at all.


How much coffee do I need to grind per 4 cups of coffee?

The answer is that it will depend on your personal preference for the strength of your coffee, the beans themselves, the type of brewing, and so on.  Many coffee bean bags have a reference on the side of them.

The standard guideline for most medium roast coffee bean bags is 2 tablespoons per 6 fl. oz. (3/4 cup in your 8oz liquid measuring cup).

The Specialty Coffee Association of America has some interesting info on this, per this link.

  What the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has to say:

  A cup is defined as 6 ounces of water before brewing. This will produce 5.33 ounces of brewed coffee. Or 125 ml & 110 ml for Euro style coffee makers

  The SCAA defines 10 grams or .36 oz per cup as the proper measure for brewed coffee if using the American standards. If using Euro standards the measure is 7 grams per 125 ml.

  To further confuse things I will add a few more measures:

  3.75 oz per 1/2 gallon

  55 grams per liter

  2.25 gallons per 1 lb.

  If you want to know more check the SCAA's web page at www.scaa.org.


What is acceptable tolerance for heat distribution in frying pan

You say the heat source doesn't matter, but it's probably the biggest effect.

Gas tends to give a hotter ring, possibly with a central burner giving a central hotspot on big burners.
Electric (resistive) depends on where it makes good contact - and both pan and ring probably aren't perfectly flat.
Induction should be quite even over the element (if the pan is good)
Halogen should again be fairly even over the element, though there's often a cooler spot in the middle.

In almost all cases a pan that overhangs will be cooler at the edges, which may or may not be a bad thing. Often a pan exactly the same size as an electric ring will be cooler at the edges, because more heat is lost there. On gas this may be reversed due to hot air rising up the sides.
The contents will tend to reduce the difference in temperature. This is obvious in boiling, where you've got convection and hotspots are limited by the water. In frying there's less to even it out, but moving the food around has the same effect when that's possible. Crepes (similarly omelettes), after distribution of the ingredients, of course don't get stirred, but still usually cook evenly.
I suspect in your case the ring is smaller than the pan; you may also find it gets more even with longer preheating. For some things, especially on gas, it can be good to preheat on maximum then allow the temperature to drop to what you want - part of the dropping is heat spreading out.


Can you use a convection oven to make a Soufflé?

Yes, you can. In professional kitchens, virtually all ovens are convection, and they work just fine. You may need to reduce the heat about 25 degrees.


Is non-stick aluminum foil safe to use on the grill?

I'm not certain what a "non stick aluminum foil" is, something like this?

Whether in the oven, on the grill or anywhere in between, Reynolds Wrap® Non-Stick Foil gets the job done anytime and anywhere. You can cook, cover, freeze and store with ease.

Usually, when using aluminum packets, we cook them on an indirect flame.
If your grill has 2 burners, you close one up and keep the other one open and put the packets on the closed burner side.
It'll act more or less like a regular oven.
The link above says that it can be used (with a link to recipes) for grilling.


Time has nothing to do with cooking risotto -- you cook it 'til it stops absorbing liquid.  I don't even cook by amount of liquid added, as it's more a cook-it-until-it's-done type recipe.   When the rice stops aborbing liquid well, it's generally done, but an occassional check for texture never hurts.

Type of rice will affect things, as will elevation from sea level, temperature of the cooking vessel, and surface area of the cooking vessel.

See :

Why do I need more time and liquid than my risotto recipe calls for?
How should I prepare Risotto


From your description, these are IQF (individually quick frozen) chicken parts.  They are blast chilled at the processing plant, before being put together in the bag.  They don't stick together because they are so cold that there is no liquid water make them stick.

You can repackage them into any freezer safe set of packages that you prefer, in portion sizes that you prefer.

I suggest using small zip-type freezer bags, with one meal's worth per bag.  You definitely want the type that are rated as freezer bags, as they are less permeable to gas and water vapor, and will keep the the contents in the best condition.  You can squeeze out the excess air, but I think using extra foil or trying to suck out air with a straw is more than you need to do.

(If you really want to ensure there is minimal air, place each bag in water after you fill it, letting the water squeeze out the air, so you can zip it up.)

If you use place all of the small bags in a much larger freezer bag or a sealable freezer safe plastic container, you should get very good protection for each piece, while still being able to use them in small portions.

The extra layer is just for additional protection, it is not strictly necessary.


What should I do with too-dry vanilla beans?

You can still use them in most of the recipes you would otherwise.  In custards, like ice cream, just soak the whole bean in the hot liquid (that will eventually end up in the final product) for a moment and it will re-hydrate enough to use easily.  Many, many recipes are such and you'll just need to soak them a moment in the recipe's liquid.

Worst case - bust out the booze and roll your own extract.


Substitution for hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles for bread)

Hagelslag is fideos de chocolate in Spanish, the coloured sprinkles are fideos de colores.

You should find it with the cake decorating stuff in at least the larger stores or online. (e.g. here or here)


What does cream of tartar do in baking recipes?

As @rumtscho said, it is an acid and in your recipe above it is for activating the soda.

However, in general, recipes almost never call for cream of tartar for this purpose. Modern recipes, if they need acid to activate the soda, will call for baking powder instead which has the cream of tartar already mixed in.

Almost every time I see cream of tartar called for in a recipe it is when making a meringue. The acid denatures some of the egg white proteins and makes the eggs froth up faster and makes a stiffer meringue. Cream of tartar is good for this as it is dry so it doesn't throw off the liquid content and it has little flavor of its own.


Need Help on Cooking Thick Pork Chops to Temperature

You're almost there! Yes, start with a good hot pan and get a good sear. You might even want to get the sides, render some of that fat. Incidentally, the biggest mistake most people make when searing chops is to move them too soon. Give them at least 3 minutes before you sneak in to check the color. Get them good and brown.

For chops an inch or less thick, that might be enough after resting if you're OK with medium to medium-rare (and you really should be). More than an inch thick? You're going to need some oven time after browning, 350F for 20-40 minutes. Aim for 140F internal temperature before resting. Ideally, you should be able estimate by feel before you go poking around with a sharp thermometer, but that kind of comes with experience. When in doubt, poke with a sharp thermometer.

When you've reached 140F, allow to rest for 7-9 minutes before serving. That will bring them up to 145F.

Finally, consider brining. This is a good recipe for the brine, and a great basic recipe for thick pork chops.Thick Pork Chops by Tyler Florence.


Chicken: How to prevent spices/seasoning from burning on Pan?

Stoves vary greatly in their heat output.  Cooks need to learn how their stove and pans respond together, and learn how to control the heat supplied to the ingredients you are cooking.  If your ingredients are burning, the heat is too high.  You can achieve a good crust without burning and by using lower heat, it may just take longer.  You are correct in that this is a balancing act.  It's not necessarily the high heat that keeps your food from sticking.  Use lower heat, and enough oil to coat the pan.  Don't move your chicken until a crust forms. It it is smoking or browning too quickly, turn the heat down, and/or remove the pan from the burner.


Have these potatoes started to sprout? According to this article from Caroline Wright, a lecturer in horticulture, "there can still be a bitter flavour to potatoes that have begun to grow." Exposure to light produces solanine. Solanine is a bitter toxin and even when pared from the potato, can have imparted bitterness throughout the spud.


Pretty sure it is congealed pig's blood. It's commonly seen in SEA (South East Asian) countries and Hong Kong. It is used as an ingredient in some dishes and in Malaysia, I have seen it been used in soup as well as soup based noodles.

One way to identify them is that they are always sold in cubed form.

update: sometimes, chicken blood is sold/used in the same form.


Are chalk labels on food jars safe to use in the kitchen?

There certainly will not be enough chalk-dust-kick-up to warrant any safety concerns through inhalation or otherwise. The only concern I could think of would be to have to constantly rewrite labels after handling!


Adding sauce without microwaving the chicken

That won't make it non-safe as long as it gets hot all the way through.

MICROWAVE (PREFERRED METHOD)

Place bag of sauce in a bowl with warm water to thaw.
Open bags of chicken and broccoli and empty into a microwave safe container.
Microwave on HIGH, uncovered for 3 minutes.
Open bag of sauce. Stir in sauce and heat for 3 additional minutes or until hot*.

NOTE: MICROWAVE OPERATING AT 1200 WATTS. MICROWAVES MAY VARY, ADJUST COOK TIMES TO INDIVIDUAL MICROWAVE.
*Internal temperature should be 165°F for at least 15 seconds. These instructions are guidelines only since individual cooking equipment vary in temperature.

From the manufacturer
It's the 165F (74C) for 15 seconds that is actually relevant for food safety. That's just quite hot all the way through, and is almost certainly an overly conservative recomendation anyway.
They specify not heating the sauce as much as the chicken because it's not necessary to heat the sauce for safety. The sauce can burn more easily than the other ingredients, which of course would affect taste, but it's not a safety concern.


The second pack is a very slightly higher fat content, but as chocolate is cocoa solids+cocoa butter+sugar, we still can't be sure about the total cocoa content.

The melting point of cocoa butter isn't well defined, but two different dark chocolates will have a very similar melting point, so both will melt in baking, and solidify when the cookies cool.

The solidifying behaviour of chocolate is interesting in that it cools to around body temperature while still liquid, than solidifies rather slowly, which is why it can seem cool but still be gooey in freshly baked cookies.

In the end, if you bake the cookies then serve them almost straight away, both will still be molten. If you let them cool fully, both will eventually solidify. In between, you can probably make more difference by serving them on a warm plate, or leaving them to cool in a warm kitchen rather than a cool living room.  The more expensive ones may end up nicer overall (on texture or flavour), but unless you want to arrange a blind taste test, there's no obvious reason to pay the extra.


Sourdough bread keeps cracking underneath. What could be the reason?

Cracks around the bottom are said to be caused by cold baking sheets. Something about the temperature gradient needs to change. Try baking on a preheated pizza stone.


Any advantage to kneeding down pizza dough 3 times

The series of folds you're doing serve to degas the dough so that it can ferment longer (thus developing more flavor), and to help strengthen the gluten. A third fold wouldn't hurt most doughs, but in the case of a pizza dough it could make it too tight to be easily workable. I would suggest spacing out the other two folds longer in the future. If your dough looks like it will collapse if it rises any more, punch it down and fold it but  be sure to give it a long time to relax before using it.

If you just punched it down, you could transfer it to your fridge at this point to slow it down. Just give it time to warm up again before using it.


This is kind of a holy war question, oddly. The official party line is "Two hours, just like any other food" but there has been an informal and impromptu Easter-driven experiment in progress for the last two-thousand years or so which most people have participated in and which argues strongly against the hard two hour rule. This doesn't mean the two hour rule is wrong: it's just really conservative.

In a nutshell, cooked solid protein tends to be quite resistant to bacterial contamination. Historically, cooked meat was stored for days with a low (but non-zero) chance of significant contamination. Even today, raw meat is "aged" for several weeks in some circumstances without ill effects.

So yea, it's probably not going to kill you, but if you want to be 100% safe, you should stick to two hours. If you're willing to take some risk, use your senses. Eggs stink when they start to go off, and the human nose is very sensitive to spoilage.


The fourth option is the correct one. The problem is that if you start with oil in the mortar, the pestle will slip and you will not be able to properly mash the rest.

What you usually do is:

Wash the basil in cold water. Put the leaves on a tea towel and leave them to dry (you can delicately pat them with another towel). You don't want extra water in the pesto, so be sure the leaves are dry before starting. Traditional pesto is made with Genovese basil.
Start with the garlic (traditionally Aglio di Vessalico) and a few grains of rock salt in the mortar. You would generally put 1-2 pips of garlic for ~50g basil leaves, but obviously that is up to your taste (if you were to make Provencal pistou you would probably go for a higher garlic to basil ratio). I generally remove the inner part of the garlic (the anima) before mashing it.
Now add the basil and mash them with a circular movement. You have to be quite delicate when doing this. You'll see a green liquid forming at the bottom of the mortar.
Now add pinenuts and/or the walnuts and finally the cheese. A mix of 36 months-aged Parmigiano Reggiano and pecorino (sardo or romano) is perfect for pesto.
Finally add the extra-virgin olive oil slowly, while mixing.
Put in clean pots, let it rest for half an hour, then if necessary cover with some extra oil.

Whether you do this in batches or all at once mainly depends on the size of the mortar and how much pesto you are making. If you are making a big amount or have a small mortar repeat the steps for every batch (I would wash the mortar each time, as it will be oily. Remember to dry it throughly before restarting).

Most informations taken from: http://www.mangiareinliguria.it/consorziopestogenovese/pestogenovese.php (in Italian)


Is burnt ceramic frying pan safe to use?

The frying pain is still safe to use (unless the ceramic chipped or cracked badly as well). A bit of vinegar (white) and a soft scrubber may get the rest of those burnt bits out as well. Either way, though, as long as the ceramic is intact, you can still use the frying pan safely.


Canned Stewed Tomatoes without lemon juice

Unfortunately you should start over. The lemon juice (or citric acid) is necessary to get them acidic enough to prevent botulism growth, since tomatoes aren't quite acidic enough on their own.

That means completely starting over, in particular clean and re-sterilize the jars.

You can reuse the lids, though. It does mean slightly increased risk of them not sealing quite properly, but it's still pretty unlikely, and you can just test the seals to catch it and keep whatever doesn't seal in the fridge or freezer.


Can an old rosette “iron” that's starting to stick be reconditioned?

I am going to assume that your chrusciki is cast iron.  I have been collecting and using vintage cast iron for 30 plus years and use the following method for reconditioning pieces which have lost their seasoned finish. Your irons must be able to separate from their handles, unless the entire piece is cast iron.

Separate all non-cast iron pieces from the cast iron pieces.
If there are crusty bits stuck to the cast iron remove these.  I use a variety of methods including fire, scraping, and soaking in a hot water bath for 15 minutes or so.  Soapy water is only okay before skillet is seasoned, never after.    Keep the cast iron off porous surfaces during the soak as rust may form and be difficult to remove from them
Dry cast iron pieces and apply heavy coat of fresh cooking oil to entire piece.
Bake  on a foil covered cookie sheet in a hot oven (350-375) for up to 1 hour.
Let cool, pieces may be sticky and this is normal.
Store on wax paper until first use.
Use as recipe suggests.  Clean up irons using hot water only and a cloth of          some type.
To keep seasoned, dry after cleaning, wipe with a paper towel dipped into fresh cooking oil,  store away from moisture. Pieces don't need to be dripping with oil, just lightly covered completely.  Can repeat steps 3-6 once yearly.


Is it normal that I keep burning my seasoning off my cast iron?

No, this isn't normal. A little flaking, perhaps, when you go over 600°F, but 500°F shouldn't do anything. It shouldn't even smoke.

Something is wrong with the seasoning on your pan. From the fact that its smoking, I'd guess its not sufficiently baked on. Alternatively, maybe the pan wasn't clean when you applied it.

If its just not baked on, I'd remove all the flaking bits (with some harsh scrubbing, sand paper even), clean it thoroughly, then bring it to around 300°F (stovetop or oven). This will make sure it is completely dry. Spread a thin layer of high-iodine value oil (flax seed is great, soy is pretty good and cheap and easy to find: look for the bottle that just says vegetable oil and check the ingredients, it's probably soy). Spreading is easy with a paper towel.

Next, toss into a very hot oven, 400–500, smoking is expected. Bake for 90 minutes, then turn the oven off. Allow pan to cool with oven. Once its cool, touch it. If its at all tacky, put it back in the oven, and bake for another hour (once again, allowing to cool with oven). It should be a shiny black at this point, and not at all tacky.

You can repeat the process to add more layers. Two should be reasonably non-stick to start cooking on.

If it still peels off after this, you're probably going to need to strip the seasoning and re-season the pan, after stripping it to bare metal. See What's the best way to season a cast iron skillet? to season it from bare metal.


Food safety of meat vs. veggies and fruit with mold on them

No, the mold on meat isn't especially bad. It won't eat your insides. But still, moldy meat is worse than moldy plants.

Mold itself isn't a strong health concern. It can't cause an illness, and doesn't grow in the human stomach. There are some kinds which produce metabolic byproducts poisonous for humans, and this means that you shouldn't eat moldy food, because you don't know which type of mold it has, unless you know that the type is benign, such as in a piece of Roquefort cheese. But if you see a moldy vegetable and throw away the moldy part plus a generous part of the healthy-looking tissue (mold "roots" are invisible without a microscope, what you see on the surface is only its "flowers"), you have a non-neglible risk of ingesting a small amount of mold, but the probability of it containing toxins strong enough to cause symptoms is very, very small. So it is reasonably safe to eat the healthy parts of plants which had mold growing somewhere on them.

The problem is that mold grows in the same conditions as bacteria do, only more slowly. When food is stored under improper conditions (or for too long a time under proper conditions), if a mold starts growing and reaches a stage where it is visible, in this time all the bacteria capable of growing on this food will have multiplied into unimaginable numbers (remember, bacteria grow exponentially, with a generation cyclus often as short as 20 to 30 minutes).

Both plants and meat in our food supply have some chance of contamination with pathogenic organisms like salmonella, E. coli, and something-resistant SA (it isn't only MRSA which is bad for you, a staphylococcus can be resistant to any number of antibiotics besides methicillin). But these grow on protein, not on vegetables (insofar, your logic for the mold holds). So you are reasonably safe eating a thoroughly washed vegetable - even if it does have some human pathogens, there will be only a handful of them, even after days of non-refrigerated storage, and almost everyone's immune system can cope with that. But if you eat meat which was left in microorganism-friendly conditions for long enough that mold creates visible spots, you are eating colonies of bacteria numbering in the billions, even after cutting the moldy part away. If one of these colonies happens to be a pathogen, your risk of getting ill is very high.

Actually, it was probably high enough hours or days before the mold became visible. Heating to the guidelines temperature doesn't ensure that all bacteria die, it ensures that out of a hypothetical contamination, only one in 1 000 000 is left alive. But if left in a pot full of food, these bacteria left can start multiplying and reach their previous numbers after a few generations. So be mindful of the time cooked food spends in the fridge, even if you don't see or smell any alteration. But if you see mold on meat, it means that every reasonable risk limit for eating it has long been crossed. Just throw it away, period.


If you could provide your ingredient list, it would be easier to give suggestions based on your formulation.
If you are making a straight dough gluten free bread, I would recommend temperature 80-100F and humidity 60-80%. The proofing time totally depends on proofing temperature and your formulation (ex. sugar/yeast).
Baking temperature also depends on what type of flour you are using. Starches/flour gel at different temp, so it is hard to say what is the optimum temp as per your recipe. Where you located also matters, if you live in high altitudes place, baking needs slightly higher temperature.
I would suggest you to start with 350F baking, if the bread seems under-baked after an hour, you can increase the temperature sequentially by 25F.
I also agree with Joe, using psyllium husk is much better choice than xanthan for bread recipe.


How do you dry fruit slices in a humid environment?

...a dehydrator.
Unless you have some other constraint you've failed to mention, it's what they are made to do. When we had a gas oven with a standing pilot, that kept the oven warm enough to use as a crude dehydrator; now I just use a common electric heat & fan model.

images are examples, not endorsements.


What needs to be added to quinoa flour make it "behave" like all-purpose flour?

Quinoa and Amaranth are from the same family and are quite similar in makeup and constitution. You’ll probably want to add some stabilizers and extra binding power to make up for the lack of gluten.

This recipe for amaranth bread adds rice flour, tapioca starch, arrowroot, and xanthan gum - which in my opinion is a bit of overkill. I would probably stick with just agar-agar for the mouthfeel, egg yolk for extra binding and xantham only if it’s too crumbly.

And on a side note, lightly toasted quinoa with bittersweet cocoa powder is a great (and classical if not downright tasty) addition to your breads. Good luck


Rolling out after or before the leavening process?

In making bread or pizza dough, there is no step called "leavening."

While there is some variation in method, depending on whether a preferment is used, in general, the active culture (whether it is sourdough starter, commercial yeast, or a combination) is added very early in the development of the dough.

The dough is then kneaded to develop gluten structure, and proofed to allow flavor to develop.   This is normally described as allowing it to rest until it is doubled in bulk.

Then, it is "punched down", deflating most of the rise that happened during the proofing stage, and shaped into its final shape, and possibly placed into a mold or form.  It then rises again to a greater or lesser extent before baking begins.

There is no before or after the leavening.


If oil is even in contact with the wires the unit is defective or has been modified, making it impossible for the oil to be the cause of electrical failure of a correctly working, unmodified unit. In addition, most oils are mostly non-reactive, that is why they are used for frying applications and can be used repeatedly.  Some exotic oils may be a bit more reactive, but are not used for deep frying.  The fryer units are made with the expectation they will have oil in them most of the time.  Letting a unit sit too long may result in spoiled or contaminated oil, but not issues with the unit.  I would respectfully suggest that your bother is mistaken and attempting to cast blame where it does not belong.  I say respectfully as the actual words that come to my mind are more harsh.


How can I render bacon fat without frying it?

Chop bacon finely...or even use a food processor.  Place in a pot.  Add just enough water to cover the bottom of pan and prevent initial sticking.  Place on very low heat.  You might even need a heat diffuser.  You don't want frying, just low, gentle heat. Too much heat produces off flavors. It might take a few hours.  You will have rendered fat, but also the cracklings (the stuff that doesn't render).  Strain.  Use both the fat and the cracklings.  Really, it's the same process for rendering beef, pork, duck...any type of fat rendering.


What squeezes out juice better, auger or press?

Looks like the top apparatus gets my vote:
takes care of breaking up the juice vesicles and the pressure of the top plunger helps squeeze it out.

I find so many unpopped juice vesicles in my Mexican citrus press (bottom picture). Too much pressure and I get unwanted bitterness from oils of peel


How do you stop latkas from sticking to the baking sheet when cooking them in the oven?

You could try using silicone pads such as the Silpat.  I've never tried it with latkes, but we've used it to make Parmesean crisps, cookies, etc.

But I agree with Michael that frying them is the best. :)


Can I deep fry in my Le Creuset dutch oven?

The enamel coating is put on by a high temperature process, much higher temp than the 300-400 F that you would deep fry in, so it will be safe to fry in.

The concern that this raises for me is the difficulty in cleaning if you fry repeatedly. After a few batches, there will be a film of oil that will form just above the level of the oil in the pot you are frying in. If you thoroughly clean it, it will not be a big deal, but left alone it will build up.

Also, deep frying in a heavy  pan is unnecessary, as you really want to get hte oil hot, and the extra thermal mass of the pan would just take extra heat. It is not bad to do so, but a thin aluminum pan works just as well for frying.


Can I create cream of tartar with tartaric acid and potassium hydroxide?

Potassium hydroxide is not something you'd want to eat.  It's caustic (the base form of corrosive), and you ABSOLUTELY should not mix an anhydrous (pellet or powdered) form of it directly into food, whether or not you mix it with another powder first.  Also, if you get the proportions off and the acid and base do not fully react, you could end up with a corrosive result.  That's not something you want in food.

The chemical synthesis of potassium bitartrate (otherwise known as "cream of tartar") is relatively straightforward.  Usually, you'd have a solution with a high concentration of tartaric acid, to which you'd add a solution of potassium hydroxide until the salt (potassium bitartrate) begins to precipitate out.  You'd then continue to titrate to obtain maximum precipitate.  Lastly, you'd filter out this precipitate and dry it to have powdered cream of tartar.

But I cannot advise you to attempt this on your own unless you have chemistry training.  First, as another answer points out, industrial chemicals are not generally designed to be "food safe," and although they are relatively pure, the small impurities may not be something you'd want to ingest, depending on how they were manufactured.

Second -- and more important -- it's potentially DANGEROUS unless you know what you are doing.  Read the MSDS sheet on potassium hydroxide, particularly the section on acute health effects.  (Note that the health hazard rating is '3', which is on a scale of 0 to 4, with 4 being the most hazardous.)  You should generally wear gloves and goggles when making a potassium hydroxide solution to begin with.  And even if you safely handle the stuff, you need to ensure it is properly reacted and the resulting cream of tartar properly filtered and dried, or else you could be putting a caustic agent into your food.

Basically, the potential for injury is high if you don't know what you're doing and mess something up.  I wouldn't recommend it for home food applications unless you're a trained chemist.


How can I tell if my raw meat has been pre-brined/injected?

I always thought that the pre-brined meats are sold as being enhanced, usually followed with a percentage and what they are "enhanced" with.


What vegetarian substitute for prosciutto could I use in Carbonara?

I'd recommend thinly sliced and seared shiitake mushrooms for an umami boost and appropriate texture. Really get a nice brown crust on them.


How to properly use a butter stick's wrapper?

I would suggest one of:

1) Cut the butter with a sharp knife (if cold enough) and throw away paper on portion you use. Then take a small square of aluminum foil to cover the end (or cellophane).

2) Do the above but don't worry about the foil. Butter will keep fine in the fridge uncovered.

3) If you're not keeping your butter in the fridge then I'd suggest just getting a porcelain butter keeper for it and use what you need. I've tried the ones that you put into water and I ended up with a disgusting mold factory.

4) Use a butter keeper in the fridge. I clean mine with hot water and then dry with a towel and put a new stick of butter on it while it's still warm. The bottom of the butter melts slightly and then sticks to the porcelain so it's easier to cut off a piece when cold.

5) I've seen Gordon Ramsay use the aluminum butter wrapper to wrap a piece of veal that he then puts into the oven. Who knew?


What ingredients are used in peri peri Powder?

Both are similar, and there are varied recipes for peri-peri powder, as well as sauce. What they have in common are peppers (one or more varieties) and the seasonings and spices. The sauce, of course, contains liquids. Although not meant to be comprehensive, here are many of the ingredients you'll see in basic recipes for both.

Peppers: peri peri, red chiles (cayenne), birdseye chiles, thai chiles, serrano, sweet red pepper

Seasonings & Spices: salt, sugar, garlic, onion, black pepper, lemon peel, cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, paprika, chili flakes, oregano

Liquids: water, vinegar, oil, lemon juice, lime juice


What kinds of pressure cookers are there, and what are they good for?

Types

There are many different designs, but in general they all achieve the same result. The style you get comes down to personal preference

Personally I do not like the type with the lid that is captured under the internal rim on the pot, as they seem awkward to get the lid on and off

The quarter turn screw down lid (like a jar lid) seems easier to me

Pressure cookers work by increasing the internal atmospheric pressure so water has a higher boiling point, therefore you can fully cook something in water/steam in a shorter time frame. That's it, there is no magic. High pressure wet steam is very effective at transferring heat, so it cooks very evenly and rapidly. The pressure increase is not enough to significantly change the way things cook in terms of flavour absorption

Most pressure cookers come with at least two different pressure settings, medium pressure around 110°C, and high pressure around 120°C. Other than that, get the size you want

There are also the Electric pressure cookers, which are normal pressure cookers with built in computer controller heating and timing systems. These appear to be good idea, but the usually warning of fiddly electronics right next to heat and moisture apply. Some models have a variety of multi-stage cooking timers; including cooking while releasing steam (browning), keeping warm, time delay etc. A common complaint is that they cannot get hot enough, and are often rated at only 110°C

Cooking With

For cooking their main use is the "set and forget" type cooking, with the main goal being to save cooking time and energy consumption

Example #1: To cook a large (1Kg+) frozen corned beef, add about 500 ml water, two whole onions, spices and lock lid down. Place on stove on high heat until pressure come up (indicator pops out), and then set to medium heat and leave for a fixed time and it will be fully cooked with nothing raw or burnt. That takes about 50 minutes per 1Kg in our cooker; each cooker is different depending on exact pressure

Example #2: To cook rice risotto quicker. Use your pressure cooker pot to fry rice and get to the point you would normally start adding stock. Add stock and any other ingredients you would use in the first two thirds of your normal risotto cooking process time into the  pressure cooker, lock the lid down, and quickly bring up to pressure. Cook for less than half the time that step would normally take. Run cold water over the lid to release the pressure and remove the lid, and continue your normal risotto recipe. This process can save a whole 10 minutes! Don't get too excited with this one, unless you have a lot of separate risotto batches to do, as you can bulk the pressure cooker step, and then finish a few separate risottos

Preserving With

In some cultures it is popular to preserve food using pressure bottling (canning). This should be the recommended method for anything without a high acid content (e.g. fruits)

Pressure cookers designed for preserving are significantly larger and stronger than their cooking counterparts, and will have a pressure and/or temperature dial on it. The idea being you can load a number of jars or cans into it at once, and bring it up to a higher pressure and therefore temperature. Most of these can be used for cooking too, if you have a large volume of food to do

For safe bottling (canning) of non-acidic foods you need to know that the entire contents of the jars have been brought up to a sufficient temperature for sufficient time to destroy all the bacteria. Typically this is just over 120°C for at least three continuous minutes for the entire contents of the jar. The whole pressure bottling process involves slowly and steadily raising the temperature to this point, and then slowly returning it to room temperature. Sudden changes in temperature will cause problems such as jar seal leaks.

Altitude has an effect on pressure bottling, and must be taken into account. Your local government food safety department should publish guidelines on the temperature and process suitable for your environment and culture

Notes

The main thing that tends to go wrong is that the lids pressure seal deteriorates over time (10+ years). So at the same time you but your cooker, order a spare and store in an airtight bag in a dark place until needed. They might not be available in ten years’ time!


Salt is very soluble in water, and during the cooking process will tend to diffuse within the liquids of the food and permeate inside. Having a salty flavor throughout the food I find tends to help curb salt usage. A good example is pasta, where if you add salt you can achieve a salty taste for the pasta and largely decrease salt you add at the table. My grandmother always said add the salt while you are cooking so you don't have to add twice as much later.


Kneading and rolling fondant icing without air bubbles

It's most likely (in my opinion) that the air (and subsequently air bubbles) is being introduced into your fondant at the kneading process rather than anything to do with your rolling method or surface used to roll on.

Perhaps experiment a little on a more gentle but firm (as opposed to vigorous) kneading method and see if that removes those air bubbles in your fondant.

Are you kneading the fondant in the same way as instructed on the course?


This is impossible to say if it is good or not for sure. There are many many factors that come into this, which make it impossible for us to tell - How long it was left out? What you did with it before (did you pour out or dip a spoon in, leave the lid off? etc.). How long has it been stored since you opened it? These are just a few of the more obvious questions... Note that I'm not expecting you to answer these, as answering them still won't allow us to give you a definitive answer.

However for informational purposes:

There are some factors for food safety that play a role here - namely the water activity of the food stuff. This plays a role in how likely bacteria and other contaminants are to grow in the food. Basically the lower the water activity, the less likely they are to grow, and this is due to the availability of water in the food for the contaminant to grow.

Most bacteria need a water activity around 0.9, but can go as low as 0.7 (1.0 is pure water, pure sugar would be 0.0), yeasts and fungi can grow as low as 0.6, depending on the substrate in which they are growing.

Based on this document (PDF file), the water activity of your sauce is likely to be about 0.8 (basing this on chocolate syrup in the table), which means that most bacteria will be inhibited, but many yeasts and molds will not be so inhibited.

Yeasts will happily (and rapidly) grow at room temperature, while molds are generally slower growing and less obvious until they reach the fruiting/sporulating stage. In the mycelial phase molds will penetrate large areas of the food before showing the obvious sporophytes (the green/blue spots you might find on spoiled fruit or bread). Picking the sporophytes off does not remove the mold, which will have extended several inches beyond the visible spots.

While yeasts usually only make food less palatable and odd-looking, they are opportunistic pathogens (i.e. if you are sick they are more likely to colonize and make you sicker). Molds on the other hand can produce mycotoxins that can make you very very sick, and even kill if you consume enough.

So - it is possible it is fine, but we can't say for sure. The general rule is: "if in doubt, throw it out".

Edited to add a bit more on yeasts and molds.


Don't use flaxseed oil, it's one of the worst.

Something I only discovered recently is it's not just the smoke point you should be concerned about, it's the iodine number. This is important when it comes to the oil's polymerisation to make your coating. The lower the iodine number, the harder the resulting polymer finish. The smoke point should be used as a reference only for what temperature you should season at. If your oven can't reach the smoke point, pick an oil that it can.

To get the hardest, most durable surface you want an oil with the lowest value you can get. As this is actually coconut oil [about 8], you may not want to work with that aroma, so the lowest value odourless/flavourless oil is palm kernel oil [about 17]. You're probably good to a value of maybe 50 before things start to go downhill. The higher the iodine number the softer & more sticky the resulting polymer is.

Flaxseed is about 200, literally at the other end of the scale. [It's not actually on that wikipedia list but you can search it independently].

As you currently have a soft layer, which may or may not be completely polymerised, I would suggest stripping it & starting over. Once you have the correct oil, make sure you get your oven hot enough to polymerise the oil. You need to be above the smoke point - which means you need ventilation. Each layer takes an hour to 'bake' then at least an hour if not two to cool. You then repeat the process up to 6 or 8 times.  Your oil application each time should essentially be 'hardly enough to even tell it's there. Light, light coats & repetition are the way. If it pools or drips, you will get an uneven result with soft areas that didn't fully polymerise.

After comments, refs:
This first is the one most people go to for 'proof' flaxseed is the best - but if you read the comments underneath you'll find many people get a sticky or flaking surface with this method. - Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning: A Science-Based How-To

Flaxseed is specifically mentioned as not recommended in this one - SeriousEats; How to Season a Cast Iron Pan (It's Easier Than You Think!)

Rumtscho's answer on What oil is best for seasoning a cast-iron skillet

For my final test - which I'll have to get back to you on - I'll be using either coconut oil [which I already have] or palm kernel [which I've yet to source] for a new pan I know I'll be opening on the * 25th *.
I'll let you know how it goes, compared to be previous attempts.


What are the nutritional data for water kefir?

Well, the only thing I can offer as an answer at this point would be to use a hydrometer.  Measure the specific density before and after.  You could then be able to tell how much in sugars you have left.

I can't really think of any good way to tell what bacteria and yeasts will remain in your strained water kefir.  I know there has to be some since it will continue to ferment.  There really should be some sort of rough guideline that can tell you about how high your probiotic count is based on time or the change in specific density.

I asked a yogurt maker at the store (were I work the cooking school) and he said it would be to hard to work out as it depends on how good your cultures are and so on. Each batch could be so different. He said it likely that your talking a probiotic count in millions-billions per cup and you would have to have each batch tested individually. Which yogurt makers don't really do. Yogurt is not kefir but it is similar so it should be close if not more.

As far as other vitamins and nutrients. You should see some B and C vitamins from the folic and acorbate acids. You can increase the folic acid (B vitamins) by fermenting for longer periods of time but then you will also produce more acetic acid (vinegar). You should be able to get more acorbate acid from more sugar and/or fruit but if you add a lot more you may need to add more kefir grain so it doesn't have to ferment to long(and have a risk of acetic acid again). It seems that this would likely produce more ethanol as well so you would have a slightly higher alcohol content (i have seen some people say they have gotten close to 2% alcohol by volume, but I think most recipes give you in the .2-.5% range).

Any other nutrients seem to have to come from the water (like a mineral water), the sugar (raw sugars tend to have more trace minerals), and the dried fruit.

On a side note, aside from the complex carbohydrate in the sugar, kefir is going to need calcium, magnesium, and potassium to continue to thrive. I remember talking to someone a few years ago that said they let there grains ferment/breed in a mixture of eggshells, raisins and some other things I don't remember now and again to get the grains back into tip top shape.  But she also sold the grains so I don't know how needed doing that actually is.

Not sure you will find this to be useful, as I think you might have been looking for something more concrete. And the only DIY test I could find was for vitamin C and it wouldn't even tell you how much, you could just run a comparison before and after and see if it is more. It just seems like there are to many variables involved and not many people seem to do just straight sugar water. Hopefully maybe this will be useful to other people reading the question for at least a starting point on possible adjustments they can make.


Do you need to remove a bunch of burnt-on stuff as well as the season? If the pan is clean but not rust-resistant or non-stick like you want, I'd suggest just treating it like you were doing it for the first time and just season over the old. It's not like you care about hurting the old season--you'll just be thickening it and filling in gaps.

If you need to get it back to day zero, there are definitely questions here with good answers about how to do it.

But the first thing I'd try, since the day zero cleaning methods are fairly drastic, is to make sure it's as clean as you can manage, then just go ahead and season. I have had good luck rehabilitating pans that were poorly seasoned but otherwise OK by doing this.

Based on your response in the comments, I would definitely heat up the pan in the oven as high as it will go, and let it go until it stops smoking (put the cold pan in the cold oven to start). That should burn off/dry any excess oil, which it sounds like you have. Then I'd let it cool enough to handle, then season as if it were new. I don't care for the "tacky" seasoning because it's too easy to get a buildup of unseasoned grease. So I'd cook that down/off and start over. And I always rinse with the hottest water my sink makes, to prevent buildup--no soap, though.


Gummy candy is essentially just water, sugar, gelatin, and a few other additives like food colouring.

Gelatin's gel strength1 is partially dependent on its concentration.  The more concentrated, the harder it gets.  Gummy candies left sitting around will lose water due to evaporation, which makes the gelatin more concentrated and thus harder, and if you watch carefully you'll notice that the moisture loss also makes the gummies shrink.

To soften them, you need to rehydrate them.  Toss them in a bowl of hot or warm water (don't use cold water - gelatin is only soluble in warmer water) until they reach the desired consistency - usually around 20 minutes or so.  The longer you leave them in the water, the more water they'll absorb, the more they'll grow and the softer they'll get.


Your coffee maker puts water into the grounds at the same rate regardless of how much ground coffee you have put into the filter. The water will stay in the filter area for the same amount of time regardless of the amount of coffee in the filter.

If there is less coffee in the water, then there is less of the flavorful soluble coffeeness (various amino acids, caramelized sugars and aromatic oils) for the water to pick up. The same amount of soluble material becomes more dilute in the greater amount of water. Some coffee makers adjust for this and release less water at a time if you are making a smaller amount of coffee.

If the water sits longer in the grounds of will pick up more flavor, but not all of it is going to improve the flavor. If it sits too long in not enough grounds it will become more acidic and more bitter.

Alton Brown has a great episode about the science of coffee, BTW. http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/good-eats/2-series/true-brew.html


"Soften" ice cream to make ice cream bars

You just need the ice cream to be soft enough to mold.

Your recipe is referring to store-bought ice cream that tends to be very hard. A little time on the counter will soften it a bit without melting it completely.

A microwave is right out. It would melt pockets completely which would solidify to icy chunks.

If you are making the ice cream yourself then your situation is simpler. Homemade ice cream is still fairly soft when churning is finished. It has to be frozen solid in the freezer.

Just churn completely and mold.


Sage (Salvia officialis) is a staple herb in various cuisines. It pairs with veal in an Italian Saltimbocca or pork in the British sage and onions stuffing and is eaten even on its own, e.g. battered and fried. So yes, it’s clearly edible. However, personally I would not serve it as a salad leaf, it’s probably too pungent to be truly enjoyable, but taste is of course personal preference. There are recipes that use sage in vinaigrette, though.
As the flavor is quite intense and a little goes a long way, most consumers will never nibble on enough to get in the range where the thujone content matters (similar to the amygdalin in apple pips). But let’s do a rough estimation to get a ballpark number. The amount of oil that can be extracted from S. officinalis leaves is between 0.5 and 1 %. That oil can contain up to 50% thujone, so we can just use the 0.5% as thujone content of fresh leaves. Considering that the LD50(mice) of thujone is 45mg/kg and that 30mg/kg gives a 0% mortality, a healthy 75kg “average person” could probably eat 2g of thujone or 400g sage leaves and be fine - but it wouldn’t be a good idea nevertheless, taste-wise. Excessive, especially habitual/long term use is sometimes discouraged.
The EU has limited the amount of thujone from sage a food product may contain to 25mg/kg. That would equal 50g sage leaves in 1 kg prepared food.
Conclusion: Enjoy cooking with your sage, forget about the salad leaves idea.
————-
Further reading: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20727933/


Why does rice get sticky as it cools off?

The reason is simple, starch will first hydrate in water and then it will gelatinize with heat. Once it cools down it will set causing it to stick.


I'm fairly certain the prolonging effect of glazes on baked goods is simply due to the glaze forming a barrier between the pastry and the atmosphere, in effect "sealing" it and preventing the goods from going stale. Thus, the appropriate characteristics would be a glaze that coats the product evenly and thickly enough to prevent moisture loss and oxygenation.


Is "blooming" cocoa necessary in baked goods?

The interaction between the liquid and the cocoa during the blooming process and inside of the cupcake batter during baking is not the same.

During blooming, there is only the liquid and the cocoa interacting in a free-flowing liquid matrix, and in the baking, both liquid and cocoa are trapped in a coloidal matrix. If you bloom before you add to the batter, you make the aromatics in the cocoa more available for the taster.

Keep in mind that not everyone has the sensory acuity to notice the difference, so it is up to you if you want to invest the time for that


What is water temperature after electric kettle switches off?

Seconds, not minutes. Just the act of pouring the water will cool it slightly. At sea-level pure water will be 100C at a full boil, the temperature will drop immediately when it's no longer being heated.

This is unscientific at best, but just for giggles I put an accurate digital thermometer into a room temperature mug, and brought a couple of cups of cups of filtered (not distilled) water to a boil in a saucepan. I poured the water into the mug and held the thermometer in the center of the mass of water. In the time it took for my thermometer to stabilize on a reading (30 seconds), the water was at 92C.

I repeated the mini-experiment using a hot mug that I had heated by boiling some water in the microwave, and pouring it out just before I poured in the boiling water from the saucepan. This time after the 30 seconds it took my thermometer to stabilize, I got 96C.

I'd say that just by doing this (with a warmed ceramic teapot), you'd have your 96C if you moved quickly.

Photo from Instructables


What is the closest substitute for the cheese in urnebes?

Wikipedia, as well as all 12 serbian recipes I found specify full-fat white brine cheese (cow or sheep milk). Only one of them called for a type of cream in addition to the cheese.

In Western Europe, Turkish groceries can carry typical Balkan white brine cheese. If you don't have access to one, buy feta. Cow and sheep cheese are considered substitutes in Balkan cuisine - the cooks are aware that they have a difference in flavor, but they use what they have at hand, similar to the way that an apple recipe will call for crisp apples, but won't specify Pink Crisp or Elstar apples. So both cow and sheep feta will do in principle. But I have noticed that supermarkets sometimes carry expensive real Greek feta, which is high quality, and only cheap western-made cow feta-style cheese, which is of inferior quality and has a rubber texture. If you are not sure of the quality, go for the real imported feta (which will be sheep), not the feta-style.


What effect does closing a lid in some recipe do?

It holds in steam.
This increases the air temperature in the pan, which allows for more even cooking instead of just cooking the the food in contact with the pan.
It also slows down how quickly the food drys out, and may have other secondary effects, such as how fat renders from a piece of meat.


If doubling a chocolate mousse, should gelatin be doubled as well?

You need to double the gelatin, as it’s responsible for the texture and “stiffness” of your mousse.

You don’t have to double the water, but you can, of course. The water is no essential ingredient, it’s just a means to dissolve the gelatin. But of course the gelatin will dissolve easier, if enough water is present, so I personally would use perhaps 1.5 times instead of double the water amount.

Please note that this answer is only valid for the kind of recipes where gelatin is dissolved in a small amount of water and used to thicken a larger amount of cream / mousse / cream cheese or similar. For recipes that dissolve the gelatin directly in the liquid, e.g. a gelatin dessert or jello, this liquid is an essential ingredient and must also be doubled.