If you let the whey sit with the milk at proofing tempreatures (about 42 to 49 C for lactobacillicus bulgaricus, somewhat lower for bifidus, streptococcus delbrueckii and some other strains), you'll get yogurt again.

In order to get your type of "curds" (corresponding to Russian tvorog, or German quark, or Indian paneer), you need to use acid and heat together. The yogurt whey is a good source of acid, yes. But you definitely have to follow the process as it is, including the heating.


How can I pit cherries easily and neatly?

This is one of the rare cases where I tolerate unitaskers in my kitchen:

A hand-held cherry pitter like in the photo below (or a similar model) needs little space in a drawer and works for olives as well. Unless you plan to pit cherries by the bushel, it is totally sufficient.

 (Source)

For a more "hacky" aporoach, some use a bent open paperclip, but I find them too flimsy and hard to grab. A classic hairpin is a lot sturdier:

Push it in from the stem end, circle the stone to separate it from the flesh and pull / pop the stone out.

If your cherries need not be whole, cutting them half open with a paring knife is an option, use the same technique you'd use for pitting plums. But it's a bit of a fiddly work and, unlike with the methods above, you risk cutting yourself because the juice makes the fruit, the knife and your fingers slippery.


The way to cook vegetables that keeps most of the nutrients

I prefer the microwave oven - you can cook vegetables in the quickest time in the minimum amount of water.

More taste even than steamed veg!


How long should it take my refrigerator to recover from adding new food to it?

Your fridge's recovery time will depend on the manufacturer and quality of appliance, how full your fridge is before adding new items to it, the density of those items, and the temperature, density, and volume of the new items.

If your fridge is normally pretty empty it's a good practice to put empty bottles in it (or better, bottles filled with water or other liquid — or, better yet, a bunch of beer :o).

Every time you open your fridge or freezer all the cold air falls out, so the less air there is to fall out the faster it will recover and the less energy it will use.

If your fridge is filled with items with a high thermal mass (such as potatoes, not that I'm suggesting you store potatoes in the fridge), then it will have an easier job recovering.

Never put hot foods directly into your fridge. If you make soup for another day, e.g., chill it in ice water first (obviously in a heat-proof container first) and then refrigerate it. If you put hot foods directly into the fridge it will warm up everything else in the fridge and cause the other foods to spoil faster. If you don't have ice then cold water from the tap will cool your items. If it's food that won't spoil quickly (such as a pot of beans with no meat) then letting it get to room temperature on your counter, covered, is fine.

In the case of soup or broth, putting it into smaller containers first will let you cool it more quickly and easily.

Also, make sure that the air vents for your fridge are not blocked. If you block them the fridge will not be able to chill itself very well.


Place sugar on baking sheet spread out
Place into oven on the lowest temperature for 30 minutes or until no longer damp*
Remove from oven and let cool
Place into bags the amount you plan to sell
Break up any clumps by pinching the clumps in the sealed bag

*if you used an excessive amount of flavoring, you may need to add more plain sugar to the mix.


How to get that crispy skin on a roasted turkey or chicken

Place bird on a rack over a pan.  Salt skin, do not add oil or marinade.  Place in refrigerator, uncovered, for up to two days.  This will help remove moisture from the skin, which will allow it to crisp more readily in the oven.


How do I get the butter out of my chocolate fondue?

The short answer is:  you cannot get the butter out.  The milk solids from the butter will be throughout the mixture, and the sheen on top may not be just milk fat from butter, but some cocoa butter as well.   Even if you do try to skim the butter off the top, the remaining chocolate will never have the same quality as it did before.

Some options:

Reheat it for more fondue based enjoyement
Add cream or milk, and use the remainder as a sauce over ice cream or another desert
You have not mentioned if there are any other ingredients in the chocolate fondue mixture.  Assuming it is only chocolate and butter, estimate the ratio of chocolate to butter.  You could then probably use it to replace some proportion of butter and chocolate in certain brownies or cookies.

Truthfully, either of the first two choices are your best option.  It should also freeze fairly well if you want to hold it for a future fondue party.


What is the functional difference between imitation vanilla and true vanilla extract?

Yes, you can detect the difference. How much of a difference will depend on the quality of both the imitation and of the real thing.

That said, it's difficult if not impossible for me to pick out the differences in baked goods. So I keep both around, and use the (much cheaper) imitation stuff for baking, and the real stuff for sauces, icing, custards, milkshakes, etc.

Incidentally... In a pinch, bourbon makes a half-decent substitute for vanilla.


How to keep chicken juices in the chicken when cooking in the oven?

Use a meat thermometer. If you overcook the chicken, it will dry out. The standard temperature for chicken breast is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.


Brine can be stored in the fridge pretty much indefinitely. It might even be safe at room temp, but you'll want it to be cold when you use it anyway. If you used whole seasonings (which are, indeed, pretty pointless,) strain them out, especially if you plan to store your brine for more than a week.

I have kept a half-gallon jar full of brine in the fridge on weeks when I want to use it for several small items over a week or two. Brine-making never seems worth it for a pork chop, but my pork chops definitely benefit from a 24-hour brine soak, so it can be worthwhile to have some on hand.


It is really common to brush a pita with some oil prior to heating for an extra crispy treat. We sort of do that at my house, except be coat the heating device (a frying pan) with oil instead of the pita itself.
From kontos.com:

Pre-oiled Greatness
Our pre-oiled breads are infused with extra virgin olive oil for flexibility and rich taste.

So pre-oiled pitas have more flexibility, so to be more convenient for wraps, and pre-oiled pitas have a richer flavor and crisp better when heated.


Why was there not enough foam in my garlic foam with soy lecithin?

Just an idea... I've had problems making foam because of hard/basic tap water (a lot of chalk in the water) - making frape though, not garlic foam:) Foam will more easily form in soft water as you can easily test with a piece of soap. If you have hard tap water you could try using boiled water (some of the chalk in the water will react and leave a residue on the bottom of the pot) or bottled water with pH 7 (neutral). Another idea would be to add just enough acid for neutralisation but I imagine that could be a bit tricky and you'd risk the milk curdling so I wouldn't recommend it.


How long can french buttercream last in the fridge/freezer?

According to a recipe from Serious Eats, French buttercream can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks and frozen for up to several months. For the best texture, warm to 72°F and re-whip in a stand mixer before use.
This is slightly at odds with the FDA recommendations suggesting that cooked egg dishes be refrigerated and used within 3-4 days. It is possible that something else in the buttercream inhibits microbial growth, allowing longer storage, but I don't want to speculate. To be conservative, you should follow the FDA guideline or freeze immediately.


Are the bake and broil elements in my Frigidaire oven interchangeable?

You do not list any product model so there is no way to provide a definitive answer.

All I can say is that the majority of bake heating elements are a single large loop around the bottom of the oven, while the broil element is usually densely looped back and forth with support struts holding the loops together.

There is likely no overheating safety hazard as the shorter length bake element is going to be of lower wattage than the longer broiler element.

The main concern I would have is if the bake element has any support hanging from the top vs setting in the bottom. It was not designed to hang from the top, so if it is unsupported except at the back, over time the metal may droop down into the oven cavity and create a contact burn hazard.

,

For cooking purposes, the lower wattage bake element will fail to be an effective broiler element because of the large empty area in the center of the single loop.

Broiler elements are used for browning and so you will get browning only in the area where the bake loop passes close, but everything else far from the loop will not brown. It will be an annoying experience requiring food to be constantly shifted to be near the bake loop.

Just buy the correct broiler element and do it right.


How do I determine the amount of water I need to use with my eletric rice cooker

Rice cookers usually use the "absorption method", in which by the end of the cooking, all of the water has been absorbed into the rice.

If, by the time the rice is the texture you want, there is still liquid in the pan, then you used too much water. But it's OK; just pour the excess away and leave it a couple of minutes for the rest to absorb/evaporate.

If there is no liquid left, but the rice is not as soft as you would like, then you did not add enough water. Sprinkle with boiling water and allow to cook for longer.

With the absorption method, rice is pretty foolproof: twice as much water as rice -- by volume, and one teaspoon of salt per cup of rice. The packet will tell you how long your rice should take.

Things that can go wrong when using the absorption method in an ordinary pan:

burning due to having the heat too high when there's not much liquid left. Once the water is boiling, you only need the tiniest amount of heat.
burning due to cooking for too long - don't forget to check when the time's up!
loss of water as steam - due to cooking without a lid, and boiling too vigorously. Turn the heat right down, leave the lid on, don't peek until towards the end of the cooking time.


Pre-made seasoning to add to rice in rice cooker to make rice more flavorful?

You can combine it with practically everything, so the question is somewhat broad. So my answer is equally broad: rice pairs well with fresh tastes and acidity, or with moderately sweet components. Or you can just underline its own slightly nutty notes. Below is a list of specific examples, but it is impossible to make it exhaustive.

For fresh tastes, use herbs. Summer savoury and spearmint are the classics, I never make stuffed peppers without them. But other light tasting herbs are also a good choice - lemon balm, oregano. Rosmarin is sometimes good, but somewhat overpowering, it is better for a dish where the rice is cooked together with veggies (eggplant, zucchini).

Beside herbs, you can try more exotic seasonings. Lemon zests are good, finelly chopped grape leaves and shoots are great.

Coriander powder should give you a similar taste profile to cilantro, but it is easier to keep at hand for when a quick dinner without much planning is needed.

The sweet option is also interesting; if you don't overdo it, it is OK to serve it as a side dish for a savoury meal. The easiest way to achieve it is to cook the rice together chopped dry fruit. Sulfured raisins are popular, the dish will be somewhat si milar to pilaf. But others work too, I especially like dried apricots because they are slightly tart.

Other methods for sweetening don't really fall into the "dry seasoing" category, but are  worth mentioning. You can add fruit juice to the cooking water (apple or other slightly sour juices are best; this will affect the starch in the rice, causing it to cook firmer than usual) or you can add a small amount of sweetener to the cooked rice (prefer aromatic sweeteners lik honey or C grade maple syrup). Or if you prefer it spicier, mix it with a sweet chutney, like mango.

If you want a subtler taste, combine the rice with nuts (cook them together). Always use nuts with the brown skin removed. I have found unroasted, finely chopped nuts to work better this way. Hazelnuts and almonds are a very good choice. Para nuts also pair well with rice, but are seldom availablr blanched+chopped. This works especially well if you use the parfrying method for the rice, frying in the oil of the nut used. However, I don't know if you can parfry rice in a rice cooker, I always make mine on the stove.


The pressure cooker gauge was wrong for cans of soup I processed in the past 5 weeks. What can I do with the soup?

I personally to be on the safe side would freeze it in another container.  To freeze it inside the jars you would have to make sure you left enough room for expansion, which all foods to when frozen.  If you didn't leave enough room to freeze in the jar, I would worry the lid would pop-off.  That is why I feel your best bet would be freezing them in another container, leaving room for expansion.

The pressure cooker has the ability to sterilize, but it takes time. Clinical sterilization can only be  achieved by running a pressure cooker that reaches 15 PSI at high pressure for 30 minutes – pressure cookers that do not reach 15 PSI, like most electric models, will require even more time.

Few pressure cooker recipes actually need 30 minutes of cooking time. Pressure cooking food for less than 30 minutes is not going to kill any more bacteria than bringing food to a boil (212F/100C). However, just like boiling without pressure, bringing a cooker to pressure will kill most bacteria responsible for cases of  food poisoning like, Salmonella6, Campylobacter7, Lysteria8 and E.Coli9.

Read more: 3 pressure cooker nutrition myths that just won’t go away… ’till now http://www.hippressurecooking.com/3-pressure-cooker-nutrition-myths-that-just-wont-go-away-till-now/

I found this on Pressure cooking for Dummies:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/pressure-cookers-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

Temperature-Pressure Ratios for Pressure Cooking
The following table translates the pressure setting on your pressure cooker to temperatures and pressure levels:

Pressure Setting    Cooking Temperature Pressure Level in Pounds per Square Inch (psi)
High pressure   250 degrees 13–15 psi
Medium pressure 235 degrees 10 psi
Low pressure    220 degrees 3 psi

Should you try the freezing method, make sure you get as much air out of the container as possible to minimize ice crystal formations at the top, and freezer burn.  I bet you can use the puree to make some great recipes over the winter, even bread depending on the kind of spices you added.
Good luck


How do high-end restaurants promote such intense flavour in vegetables?

You actually answered your own question, it's the quality and freshness of the ingredients which makes the food in a great restaurant so good. A heritage variety beet which has been hand weeded and cared for before being picked at the optimal time and cooked within a day will be a totally different eating experience than an industrially grown variety that has been picked for volume and pesticide resistance, grown for size over flavor and then takes a week between being picked and appearing in the supermarket.

Top chefs spend a great deal of time, effort and money sourcing the very best ingredients. Often the chef personally hand picks their ingredients, and some even control their own supply chain by having large gardens or even farms. Of course great chefs also are very good at preparation and flavor pairings, but with such simple dishes the ingredients have to stand up by themselves.

In order to get high quality ingredients you need to find a source other than the supermarket. Supermarkets rely on volume, and the varieties they stock are chosen for volume and shelf life - they are all competing on price so the longer the food lasts and the more that can be grown for less money the better. You aren't going to find the most flavorful varieties in the supermarket, and they will have been picked before they are at their peak so they don't rot before they get on the shelf. Farmers markets, food co-ops and the like are often good sources for high quality vegetables. You can also go to the same markets the chefs do (depending on where you live). Not all suppliers will sell straight to the consumer, but some do. Just be prepared to get up at stupid o'clock and be prepared to open your wallet wider than usual - the best does not come cheap! If you live in the countryside another option would be to drive to farms in your area and see if you can buy direct. A farmer can sell you produce for half the price of the downstream supplier and still make more profit.

Another option to get great vegetables is to grow them yourself, there's nothing better than a tomato picked straight from the plant and it's not hard to do. Growing your own is also incredibly cheap, you just have to be willing to put in a bit of time.


Old family recipe has cryptic measurement for flour

Has anyone located Grandma's canister and looked to see if she marked it?  It might be that simple.  Otherwise... this is a shot in the dark, but without any other clues to go on, I'm going to guess it means 2 1/2 pounds, or 9 to 9 1/2 cups.  Typically, flour canisters will hold 5 pounds of flour (a standard bag), with a little headroom.  I don't know what kind of bread recipe you're looking at, but if the amount of liquid is in the neighborhood of 2 1/2 to 3 cups, it's probably around 2 1/2 pounds of flour.

I know "around 2 1/2 pounds" and "1/2 canister" sound terribly imprecise, but an experienced baker knows that imprecise measurements are a way of life when it comes to baking bread.  Ambient humidity -- as well as the moisture content of flour -- are in a constant state of change.  I'm guessing Grandma baked a wonderful loaf of bread, which is why you're trying to duplicate it.  She, like any good baker, would have started with slightly less flour than she knew she would need, then gradually added more as she mixed and kneaded it until the dough reached the desired consistency.

You have tried this a few times already, right?  I suggest that you simply take what you've learned so far and guess a little low for the volume or weight of flour, mix it thoroughly, then add a bit at a time until you arrive at a workable dough.

Oh -- one more thing: many of us are not perfectly consistent in recording our recipes (especially when using scant, rounded, or heaping measurements).  Some improvements we simply remember and don't take the trouble to jot down.  Grandma might have left out a detail or two, so don't beat yourself up if your best efforts to follow a recipe don't yield the expected results.  With experience, you'll figure out how to make results more to your liking.

Good luck -- and happy baking!


Why didn't my clarified herb butter solidify?

I can only guess that something from the herbs has "disturbed the balance of the mix" and is preventing it from setting.

Putting my chemist's hat on, the problem is similar to what happens when a solid reaction product forms an emulsion and refuses to precipitate. When that happens, there are ways to induce precipitation, but not all of them can be applied to food.

Try adding a pinch of salt - mix, and wait.

If that fails, smear a knife blade with some fresh butter and stir the mix with it.

If that fails, try cooling it.

If that fails, try mixing in a pinch of bicarbonate of soda.

There are other suggestions, but I assume you want to eat the butter once it solidifies. Ideally, you want to find that happening after one suggestion has worked. If it takes a succession of suggestions to find a way to solidify it, this is about as far as you can go without the product starting to "lose its intention".


How do olive oils differ, and what should they be used for?

I can't really tell the difference between most of the big label suppliers of olive oil within the same grade of oil. The actual grade (virgin vs extra virgin) speaks to the processing of the oil and how many times the fruit is pressed.

I think the flavor is somewhat different between the grades with the extra virgin being somewhat more flavorful on its own.

In the US, there are also smaller boutique vendors of olive oil that basically treat olive oil like wine. You can go taste different oils with different olive varieties as their base. The flavor does vary quite a bit.

I think whether the cost is justified comes down to how you are using the oil and how much you care. The less you will process the oil through cooking or addition of other flavors, the more likely its worth using the best oil you can get. I wouldn't use an expensive oil to cook the potatoes of a tortilla española, but I may in a simple salad dressing or a dish where the oil is a major independent flavor.


How can I thicken my smoothie without frozen ingredients?

My favorite smoothie thickener is chia seed.

A tablespoon will thicken a blender of smoothie into pudding. According to the internet it is also a low FODMAP food.

It is a small, black seed which will change the texture a bit. With raspberry or strawberry or vanilla they are lost among the other seeds.

It has the added benefit of being neutrally flavored and high in fiber, protein, omega 3 fatty acids, and various minerals.


Does beetroot and chorizo work together in a dish

As you go further west from Russia the borscht often has pork sausage to replace the beef shin etc. If you like it spicy, often chorizo is then substituted for the plain/spiced/smoked pork sausage

It's not everyone's ideal of a meal, but with a good dollop of sour cream it's great!


Is it okay to eat gorgonzola cheese mold?

Gorgonzola, like any other blue cheese, is supposed to have mold. It should have blue mold radiating from "veins" through the middle, like so:

Normally this pre-existing mold actually helps prevent other molds from growing, but if you see more than one type of mold (especially a different colour like green or black), then you should throw it out, because it is a soft cheese. If it's just the blue, it's perfectly fine and expected.


As far as I know, raw tuna is not usually salted and/or pre-treated.

What may be happening is a case of perceived salinity.  For example, there are numerous studies that suggest foods with certain odors can be perceived as much saltier than they actually are.  If you have access to that second article (it is copyrighted and behind a paywall, so I can't post it here), it has a great figure on page 3 depicting the perceived sourness, bitterness, sweetness, and saltiness of a number of common foods, including tuna.  The aroma of plain tuna alone ranked higher than soy sauce on the saltiness scale, for example.  Tuna is relatively high in fat, and other studies suggest that high fat foods can also increase perceived saltiness.  Perhaps you were using a fattier part of the fish?

Finally, there is evidence that dehydration increases the saltiness of tuna (which actually seems somewhat intuitive), especially if extra salt is added before cooking.  Was your tuna previously frozen?  Freezing—especially if done improperly and/or if there are multiple freeze/thaw cycles—can act like dehydration.


Any strategies or tips on how to make juice into creams for filling cakes?

There are many thickeners that can make fruit juices into thick fillings.

You can make a traditional egg custard, as bob1's reply to your answer mentions.

You can make a non-egg filling using other thickeners, like gelatin or starches. Popular starch thickeners to use for pastry fillings are corn starch and tapioca powder. Any of these will work well with liquid flavoring ingredients like fruit juice. Corn starch is very cheap, at least here in the U.S.

Yams already contain a lot of starch and very little liquid, so you will need to add liquid (milk or cream should work well) if you plan on using additional thickeners (which may help achieve a smoother, less chalky texture). I do not recommend gelatin for yam filling because I don't believe the textures will go well together.

"Yam" is a word that is applied to a bunch of different roots, but I think it's worth looking at this Portuguese Trutas recipe. These sweet potato pastries are amazing and don't require additional thickeners. Note that the yam or potato should be pureed, not mashed.


Why would I prefer carbon steel (rust prone) kitchen knife?

Carbon steel is more malleable and less brittle than stainless steel.   This means that it is easier to hone on a knife steel, to maintain an extremely sharp edge.

Some folks feel that the benefit of that sharp edge–for example, in easily slicing tomatoes, and other very fast prep tasks–is worth the compromise of more persnickety maintenance.


Substitute for Nestle Semisweet Chocolate Chips in Australia?

Semi sweet equates to our garden variety dark choc chips in Australia. If like me You're wanting a bit more of a cocoa hit try looking for 70% cocoa cooking chocolate or choc chips. I know Aldi get them from time to time and our Super IGA gets them so I'm guessing the other supermarkets will maybe have them or try european style delicatessens for them.


How can I color pasta during cooking or afterwards, preferably using natural coloring?

You are not stating whether you are making the pasta yourself or if you are using premade pasta. I am going to assume it is the former.

For red pasta, I would recommend substituting some of the liquids with beetroot juice. You will need to experiment with it to get the color right.

I would also recommend trying it in pasta both with and without egg, as the yolk will play a role in how the color develops.


Accent seasoning seems to be mostly Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). You can try to find another MSG-type seasoning in your normal store (I don't know what brands might be available where you are so just look for things with MSG as the main ingredient), find pure MSG which is sometimes available in Asian grocery stores, or you could just add a cube of bouillon or two to help round out the flavour a bit.

MSG basically tastes a little salty and helps make the flavour fuller or more intense. Bouillon does the same thing, so it would be an acceptable substitute in most dishes.


How to cook a 2-inch thick steak to medium?

I think this question is hard to answer exactly. The easiest way to estimate the duration of the steak in the oven is to cook the steak at ~260°C and after >3 minutes each side (altogether >6 minutes) to measure the inner temperature of the steak. 57-60°C should be medium rare. Of course this his method requires a thermometer. (source: here and here)


How to prevent chicken from having a chalky texture?

Your temperature of 68 to 71 Celsius is very high for white meat. This is what makes the mini clumps in the breast you perceive as "chalky". If you cook it to a lower temperature, you will not have this effect, 60 to 65 Celsius makes "medium" doneness chicken meat.

Note that food safety is a separate consideration, chicken is considered safe starting at 73 Celsius (https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html). So you are lowering the temperature at your own risk.


How can I make Chinese chicken fingers like in the northeast USA?

I tried this out the other night. It's extremely close. As michelle suggested, self-rising flour seems to be the key. The recipe I used was:

1/4 cup self-rising flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water (or a little less)

Sift dry ingredients into a small bowl. In another bowl, slowly mix dry ingredients and water, being careful to avoid adding too much water.

It's meant to be really thick. As in, if you lay a small strip of chicken on top of the batter, the chicken should not sink.

Heat up oil for deep frying (360F to 375F). Slice chicken into thin strips, batter them, and deep fry until golden. Check one or two to make sure the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with duck sauce, if you can find it (ask a local Chinese restaurant if you can buy a pint). Nom nom.


Reformulate a marshmallow recipe to remove lactose and HFCS

I think you're taking an overly complicated approach to this, I've had great success with a recipe from the DIY Cookbook from ATK, in their version, they use:

confectioners’ sugar,  cornstarch, unflavored gelatin, corn syrup (not high fructose), granulated sugar, salt, vanilla extract

The only non-vegan ingredient in this manifestation is the gelatin, which you can sub using many different vegan gelling agents.

Here is one website detailing the recipe procedure: http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2012/11/how-to-make-homemade-marshmallows/

As well as a post on "The Feed", an ATK website with a video: http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/do-it-yourself/2013/01/how-to-make-marshmallows/


What are those cakes called which don't have an icing on them?

In English, all cakes are called just cake, no matter if iced or not. Sponge cake is a name for a cake made from a specific type of batter - it consists of one part fat, one part egg, one part sugar, and one part flour, made by foaming the fat and sugar (with creaming instead of foaming, a batter from the same proportions is called pound cake, at least if you follow the classification established by M. Ruhlmann). You can make other types of cake - angel food cake, chiffon, genoise, etc - and not add icing, they are differentiated by the type of batter only.
In other languages, there is a difference. In German, the ones without icing are called "Kuchen", and the ones with rich, decorated icing are called "Torte" (and usually seen as a subset of Kuchen"). But in German, a pie is also considered a type of "Kuchen", so this is more of an umbrella term, even though the standard thing someone pictures upon hearing the word "Kuchen" is some kind of iceless cake, usually on the lines of a marbled Gugglehupf. But in English, there is no special term for a cake without the icing.
In some sources, English speaking authors use a category for the opposite of what you are asking. However, it is not centered on the baking attributes of the cake, but rather on its purpose - I have seen authors create bookchapters called "celebration cakes", "wedding cakes", "birthday cakes" etc. It is implicit that they place the richly decorated cakes in these categories, while the plainer ones stay as "everyday cakes", in UK sources sometimes as "tea cakes" or even get no special name at all. In the end, the same cakes which fall on the "celebration" side in this categorization scheme tend to be the ones that are called "torte" in German.


HELP! My Crock-Pot lid was Slightly askew while cooking my roast!

We don't know from your question how long it was on low with the lid askew (we don't know your time zone) so it's hard to say for sure.

But usually a small crack on the lid isn't going to really really drastically reduce the temperature. You're in a better position to tell than we are:

If it was still bubbling and steamy inside, even with the lid offset, then you're probably fine. Maybe it took a little longer to come up to temperature and will be done slightly less quickly, but it's unlikely to be a disaster.
If it wasn't, then you have to worry about food safety too: if it was like that for more than 4 hours, it may have been in the danger zone (under 140F) for that long, and thus be unsafe.


Portable induction cooktop with cast iron pans, will using these together break or scratch the cooktop?

Induction tops are usually glass or ceramic, and they will scratch over time no matter what pans you use. Cast iron works very well on induction, and is inexpensive. It is heavy though, if you drop one on your induction top you could crack it.


Can I use an avocado instead of a banana?

Why and how the banana is being used in your recipe is important. Sometimes, bananas in baked goods are used as "mix-ins"---not to change the qualities of the batter, but to add interest, in chunks or slices. Other times they're used as a substitute for eggs, mashed or pureed and meant to replace the binding, leavening and moisture of the egg. Based on your dietary motivations and the absence of eggs in the recipe, I'll assume the banana's mashed (wholly or partly) and used as an egg replacer (though applesauce is also used as an egg replacer, and this is hardly your typical drop cookie recipe).

You won't get the same result substituting avocado for the banana in any proportion. You might still get a result that you find acceptable and enjoy, but avocado is about 15% fat by weight, where bananas contain almost no fat at all. Avocado also has less sugar. You can substitute volume-for-volume or weight-for-weight, since either is about as dense as the other. If you make this substitution, I would expect a firmer cookie. At first I thought avocado would have less moisture as well, but the data indicates they have about the same moisture; it's hard to say how the cooking time might be affected without experimenting.

I would probably try a lower oven temperature for the first batch. The problem you may run into is that the oats need a certain amount of time to cook; if your cookie is firmer (because of reduced sugar), the batter may be more likely to become dry or burn on the outside before it's done on the inside. Reducing the oven temperature would help even this out a bit, if it would otherwise be a problem. Less sugar also means it'll be hard to get a chewy-crispy texture.

Messing with the applesauce at the same time... I don't know. You can make your own applesauce out of the least sweet apples you can find (not necessarily Granny Smith) but I don't think you'd see much of a benefit. The applesauce is your only real source of sweetener and moisture in this recipe and both are pretty important to a cookie dough. You'll have to experiment on your own there, maybe with an artificial sweetener and some vegetable puree that has less natural sugar.


Tricks to preserve chips (french fries)?

Here is an excellent recipe by the guys over at Cooking Issues (and also a follow up report) with almost everything you'd ever want to know about chips.  That first recipe is supposedly good even after they've cooled off:

  Our standard fries are good even when cold.

Another option is to cook a lot of chips but stop after their first frying and freeze them; when you want to eat them, simply put the frozen chips into the fryer for the second frying.  This also has added benefits:

  Freezing acts like partial dehydration. When the frozen fries are finished, they liberate water freely, leading to rapid dehydration and good crust formation with a porous interior. Pre-frozen fries are crunchier than fresh and stay crisper longer after they are fried, but they tend toward hollow fry.


What went wrong is that you mixed up your terms and made the wrong recipe.

There are many custards. The common thing is that they are all a liquid thickened by mixing it with egg yolks and cooking them until they are just right. But from there on, you get countless variations, and they can have different names.

The name "crème anglaise" is used for a liquid custard. It is somewhat thickened (not as liquid as pure cream), and is used as a kind of sweet sauce, poured over pastries. A typical use would be to eat it with an apple strudel.

Yours turned out more liquid than in the original recipe because you had 40 g less fat and 40 g too much liquid. But even if you had not done that, the recipe is still expected to stay runny.

If you want to fill a tart, I suggest that you use a different custard, for example a crème pâtissière. It is a cooked custard (not baked like a flan) and sets as a spreadable/pipeable mass. It will use the same ingredients as a crème anglaise, but in different proportions, so the taste will be very similar.

The "don't do substitutes" thing still applies. In baking, the amount of fat and sugar in recipes is what creates the final texture, and cannot be changed due to dietary considerations. If you try, you will end up with food which is too dry, or too runny, or in some other way different from the original.


You are overcooking them. When the shrimp turn pink at the end of your second step, they are done. When you add your remaining ingredients and continue to cook them, you are overcooking the shrimp.

I'd suggest cooking the shrimp until they are pink, then setting them aside. Cook your remaining ingredients in the pan until done, and then toss with the shrimp and serve.

Regarding the oil, it shouldn't make a difference that you are using sunflower oil. Regarding the frozen prawns, unless your mom was purchasing them direct from an oceanside market, she was likely buying once-frozen prawns too. Most prawns found in supermarkets are flash frozen at the source, and are only thawed and put on ice at the supermarket.


Curing pork belly for bacon - how much juice should come out?

I make bacon and other cured meats frequently.  I find that the amount of liquid released from pork belly varies.  That is not a useful measure of how the cure is proceeding.  Bacon, in particular, is usually cooked after the cure, so I don't worry too much.  I use the salt-box method, coat the belly in cure mixture, place in large zip lock, place in container slightly larger than belly and put in fridge.  Flip every day or so for a week.  What I look for next is a firming up of the belly.  I pinch it.  If it has firmed up after a week, I move on to hot smoking (or you could use your oven).  If it still feels soft, I give it another day or two.


Choux pastry recipe spreading and deflating

A successful pâte à choux / choux pastry depends on a combination of

Gluten development
Water content
Baking environment

Let me show you how they work together:

The gluten, which helps to trap steam during baking and create the large holes, is developed during the phase where the water-fat-flour mixture is stirred in the pot on the stove. (There is a reason it is called "burned dough" in German, for example.) It needs to be cooked until it forms a smooth ball and a white layer is visible on the bottom of the pot. During that roasting step, some water evaporates as well.
The eggs add protein and liquid to the flour ball. It is essential that you add them to the slightly cooled flour mix slowly, one by one (or a bit at a time), always stirring well, until the dough is completely smooth before adding the next. Do not add the last bit of egg without checking the dough first. For your recipe, add the beaten eggs in about four portions. There will be a stage when the dough becomes stretchy and gets a glossy sheen, that's when you have reached the right spot. It can be piped or spooned easily, but won't be runny. Depending on how much water evaporated in step 1 and the size of the eggs, you might have to leave out the last bit of egg or use all of it.
The consistency of an eclair or cream puff depends on a balance of steam "blowing up" the batter and the flour-egg mix solidifying in the oven heat. With choux pastry, steam is an important factor. You need good heat to generate steam quickly, yet not too hot or the outer crust solidifies before the steam does its job. Some swear by generating extra steam by adding a bowl of water or spritzing the oven walls. And that is the reason why opening the oven door is so fatal. Piercing or cutting the baked puffs to release excess steam helps preventing sogginess.

So to improve your flat puffs:

Meassure your ingredients, especially the liquid carefully.
Bring the water-butter mix to a rolling boil, cook the dough ball well.
Add only eggs until the right consistency.
Choose the right baking temperature.
Do not open the door before the baking time is (almost) over.

And finally: Don't use sugar in the dough, even for sweet fillings. The sugar could influence the texture negatively. Choux pastry is neutral and can be used with sweet or savoury fillings.


How to do icing swirl effect (a bit like marbling)?

I can't be sure, but it looks like there are two different things going on here.
For the ice cream cake, notice that there is no white chocolate in the bottom swirl (the white there is a reflection of the light). So I expect they are using an implement (quite possibly the tip of a spoon) and swirling it from the dark side to the light side. Then they lift the spoon and let it trail across and then smear from dark to light again, leaving behind some of the white on each successive row.
For the rectangular cake, I think they've iced the entire thing in the light color, then added a thin layer of dark to half of the cake. Using a two pronged tool, they can then smear from dark to light and reveal the lighter color on the dark side before trailing the dark across the white side.


Covering a pan slows down evaporation of the water. As evaporating water takes a lot of heat, covering a pan will make the contents boil earlier.

If the recipe tells you to cover the pan, it's to make sure there's enough moisture for the full duration of the cooking; without the lid, you might end up with a dry (and usually burned) mess.

When cooking rice, the proteins and starch dissolving in the water will cause the bubbles that form on boiling to be more resistant, so they form a foam that lifts up the lid and escapes. Usually after the first foam is destroyed, you'll have no more problems (but do keep the fire low). And for at least one method of cooking rice, you want to keep the pot well covered, as the amount of water you add is just enough to fully cook the rice (the water is absorbed by the rice and makes the starch grains swell, without water the rice would stay very hard).

It all boils down to how fast you want the water to evaporate.


Too big tin for meringue cake recipe. How to solve?

Both solutions will work.

If you are making more mering, then make sure the thickness of the meringue layer in stays the same as for the small tin. If you scale the recipe correctly this happens automatically.

I think your math is off though. The area of your 24 inch tin is only 1.77 times larger than the 18 inch pan.

Assuming your pan is round: The area of the large pan is pi*24^2 and the area of the small is pi*18^2 the ratio is therefore pi*24^2 / pi*18^2 = 24^2 / 18^2 = (24/18)^2 = 1.77 .

If your pan is square the (almost) same computation will give the same result.


OK to "recook" partially cooked poultry?

Although this is an old question, its a good question.

My recommendation for this case would be to break the bird apart and continue roasting the pieces. It might not be the best presentation of a nice turkey dinner, but it will allow the bird to finish cooking to completion.


How can I safely jar up my homemade salad dressing?

If you're going to sell it, you need to consider "legally" as well as "safely" (here, as in a number of situations, they're related). Check out the report "Cottage Food Laws in the United States" from Harvard Law School, or this report on the California Cottage Food Bill. Basically, with limitations, you can create and sell "non-hazardous" foods in home kitchens, but the phrase "non-hazardous" means different things in different jurisdictions. For instance, the Harvard Law report says that the 2009 FDA Code lists the following as potentially hazardous foods:

  meat, poultry, and eggs; fish and shellfish; cooked vegetables; dairy products; mushrooms; cut melons; unmodified cut tomatoes or mixtures of cut tomatoes; untreated garlic‐in‐oil mixtures; baked goods subject to spoilage (such as cream‐ filled pastries or others that must be refrigerated); reduced sugar jams and jellies; pickles and salsa; and, raw seed sprouts.

The basic theory seems to be that "cottage foods" must be intrinsically safe, so that even with poor preparation and storage they won't result in a dangerous product. So, even if you could make your salad dressing safely, if someone could potentially NOT make it safely then it probably wouldn't be considered a legal "cottage food".

The California Department of Public Health gives a long list of approved foods, and none of them match your dressing idea.

The Wikipedia article gives the primary ingredients of Miracle Whip as water, soybean oil, vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, and dried eggs. It also includes potassium sorbate, but I'd still be concerned about the resulting product's safety, and your lawyer may as well.

(Not a lawyer or a food safety expert, YMMV, void where prohibited, use no hooks, etc. etc. etc.)


How to prevent egg muffins sticking to non-stick muffin pan?

Non stick only goes so far, and eggs are some of the stickiest ingredients you can have. My advice would be if you can to heat the pans up first before spraying with oil and adding eggs, that way the egg won't adhere. If that's not an option then use cake release or butter and flour the pans, spraying oil isn't good enough, you need more of a barrier.

There's a related question on the site here.


Mixing condensed and evaporated milk for fudge?

This is the label information from the reduced sugar sweetened condensed milk made by Nestlé:

That suggests to me that there is more to creating a lower sugar sweetened condensed milk than simply reducing the sugar. I have made sweetened condensed milk from evaporated milk (goat's milk actually), and I found the experience a bit more advanced than simply slowly stirring simmering milk, and the sugar seemed very crucial to the operation. Cajeta with powdered goat's milk? Or evaporated? (Experiment Results)

For comparison sake I looked at the ingredient list for regular Nestlé sweetened condensed milk (La Lechera). The ingredients of that product are milk and sugar.

I won't go so far as to say that it can't be done as you hope, nor will I say that the fudge wouldn't be tasty, but I have serious doubts.


Is there a guide to traditional culinary knives by cuisine?

A good start is probably wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_knife.
There you will see the main types of knives and their name. If you recognize one, I'd suggest you to google it.
I haven't found a comprehensive guide for all of them.


I have personally made felafel with split peas (both green and yellow) as well as chickpeas and several other types of bean. I have not tried red beans as I don't like them. While not exactly the same as chickpea, the split pea felafel were felafel, not something unrecognizable as felafel, though the green ones were quite green ;-)

I don't use canned beans for felafel, I use soaked dried beans.


We regularly use the King Arthur Flour recipe, and consistently get waffles that are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. A couple suggestions:

Make sure the waffle iron is completely preheated before adding the batter.
This recipe does need the waffles to cook for long enough; they'll be slightly dark. If you're only cooking them to a light golden, they aren't done enough.
Don't stack the waffles between cooking and serving, or the steam will make them soggy - put them in a single layer, and if you can't serve them immediately put them in a very low oven while you're making the rest of the waffles.


Is it OK to just have two cutting boards: one for stuff to be heated, another for other stuff?

The exact number of cutting boards isn't critical, the important piece is minimizing cross contamination. You can use one cutting board safely as long as you're using it in a food-safe order (cut vegetables, then proteins), and follow good sanitation practices (wash & sanitize the board between ingredients). A quick scrub with soap and water and a spritz with a bleach, alcohol, or quat solution between ingredients will minimize your need for different boards.


Ingredient selection for Canadian Poutine dish

Hello @Phrancis and welcome to Seasoned Advice! Poutine gravy is a beef gravy made with beef or veal stock. Here is a link to a  recipe . There are many other recipes online, as well.

You can buy the prepared sauce online  here  or a gravy mix on  Amazon .

By the way, you were on the right track, just not quite there yet! :)


Use any other shortening, Spry is just a brand name (not being produced any more).

We discussed Spry just a while ago in this post: Mystery ingredient in cookies with cream tartar


How does foil protect a sandwich in the [toaster] oven?

I don't think it's just one thing:

The foil reflects radiant heat, meaning that the only remaining way to propogate heat is through conduction and convection.
The foil is an impermeable barrier which helps to keep the moist air (created by boiling off the moisture in the surface of the bread) near the sandwich, which reduces the rate at which the bread dries out, and we need dry items for them to burn.

It's possible that retention of the moisture within the foil slows the heating of the enclosed system as there's less loss of thermal mass, but I doubt that's a significant factor in most situations.

You might be able to test which of the other two is the more significant factor by running a test with foil that's been perforated such that it's not a good barrier but would still be reflective, and see how that compares.


What are the main differences between a stand mixer, a countertop blender and a food processor?

While two of the three items you mention are similar (though not identical) - the food processor and blender - the third is completely different - the stand mixer. There's actually a pretty awesome, in-depth guide to these and more kitchen tools on BuzzFeed. I'm going to reference this some and use images from it.

Stand Mixers
A stand mixer is not a cutting implement, which the other two are. It doesn't have a blade at all. It's closer in equivalence to a hands free hand mixer.
It usually comes with two or three options for mixing - a "paddle", generally a stiff, heavy, flat metal piece; a "whisk"... which is a large balloon whisk; and a dough hook... which is generally a hooked shape attachment that helps knead dough. Here are what the attachments might look like, though they vary based on the model.

Which attachment you use depends on what you're making and will usually be indicated in the recipe. But, in general, you'll use the paddle for most cake batters and cookie doughs, whisks for whipping up frosting, cream, and egg whites, and the dough hook when you need to knead dough.
Many of the brands of stand mixers, particularly Kitchen Aid's various models, have secondary attachments that can be purchased separately. This includes things like pasta makers, choppers, grinders, sausage stuffers, etc.

Food Processors
I find food processors more broadly useful than blenders - I don't actually own a standard blender, preferring to use an immersion blender instead. They're generally larger but they won't have the vortex action that you really need for things like smoothies. Food processors all come with a blade that spins, chopping up all of the stuff in the bowl. You can use it to quickly chop vegetables or grind meat, though your results can be a bit mixed. It's also great for making pie dough (my preferred method) and making dips and sauces like hummus and pesto.
In addition to the main blade, many brands either come with or sell separately a collection of slicing and shredding discs. I find these to be lifesavers when you're trying to make something like Scalloped potatoes. You can slice the potatoes perfectly evenly and paper thin and then swap out the slicing disk to the shredding one and shred your cheese in 10 seconds.

You can certainly do some of the same things in a blender - making (thinner) hummus and pesto, for example, but it's not going to have the discs and you're not going to want to try and make pie dough in it or anything you just want coarsely chopped.

Blenders
As I mentioned, I don't personally have a stand blender because I rarely make the thing it's really good at - smoothies (and frozen drinks like margaritas) - and it's more convenient to use an immersion blender for soups than to try to transfer boiling hot soup from the pot into a blender bowl.
From the article:

A blender makes soft creamy liquids (purées). For example, you'd put a bunch of cooked vegetables it in with stock to make soup. But if there's not enough liquid in the blender, the blade won't make enough contact with the mixture being blended to churn it around and purée it evenly. Translation: without enough liquid, ingredients in a blender won't blend, and the motor will burn out. So, blenders are better for anything with a thinner consistency, while food processors are better for thicker mixtures.

So, do you need all three? No, not really... you don't need any of them. They're time savers and convenience tools. Anything that we use them for now, we could still make before they existed... but I personally don't want to spend twenty minutes with a whisk and a copper bowl making meringue or trying to evenly slice potatoes for gratin, or actually... maybe smoothies would have been pretty impossible before a blender... but there's always Jamba Juice.
To decide what you need in your kitchen, think about what you cook and bake (or would like to) and go from there.


Possible causes of soggy calzones and their fixes.

The oven is too hot. It seems counter-intuitive, but this browns the crust to golden perfection before the internal temp of the stuffing reaches an ideal point. It won't get hot enough for long enough to steam out the sauce and ingredients. Cook at a lower temp for longer and broil to perfection if needed.

The ingredients have too much water. If you're tossing a ton of onion, mushrooms, green pepper, tomatoes, etc into the diaper, you'll have to adjust your cooking parameters compared to drier protein stuffings. You might want to saute the ingredients before incorporation to give them a head start on temp and water loss.

The sauce is too runny or under-cooked at the start. Make sure to use a thicker sauce, even than with pizza. Pan-heating commercial sauce before baking will help. You can even turn spaghetti sauce into calzone sauce if you simmer it long enough.

The crust is too greasy. While it tastes and looks great, if the crust is too greasy, it can seal in steam instead of allowing it to permeate and escape. While eventually the moisture will find a way out with swelling/bubbling and "geysering", a lot of water vapor will condense on the non-leaky spots and drip to the bottom; think about the sweaty lid of a rice cooker. You can also simply add vent slits in the crust (like buttery pie crusts often sport) if you have otherwise-good results with your current recipe.

Generic methods of reducing moisture include baking/resting on a rack instead of a plate/pan, opening sooner after cooking to allow poofs of steam to escape before it becomes liquid (many restaurants serve them split in half), and resting them upside down to hide some of the juice in the thicker less-soaked top crust.


More efficient way to cook fresh caught fish while camping

As you will have the freshest fish possible and only limited equipment and ingredients in your camp, why not choose a preparation that is in its simplicity highlighting the fish, needs almost no equipment and creates no trash:

Plank cooking, also known as Loimulohi.

The cleaned fish, filleted or butterflied, is nailed on a wooden plank, either with ordinary nails or wooden pegs. Then the whole board is either stood up vertically around a (blazing) fire, leaned forward towards the fire or placed over the embers, depending on your preferences.

You can use basically every untreated, non-poisonous wood, in the Pacific North West, cedar is traditionally used because of the aroma it imparts.


Do successful french macarons really need precise weight measurements?

I can tell you that yes, every part of the process, including precise measurement, has really low error tolerance. Do something a bit wrong, and you end up with an edible cookie, which does not resemble a macaron in shape or texture.

My explanation for the different ratios you found is: the really important thing about the ratio is the final moisture content of the batter. Different recipes exist, because there are different ways to reach the same final batter moisture.

both sugar and almonds bind moisture from the egg whites. So it isn't enough to look only at the almond:eggwhite ratio. The recipes with more almonds probably use less sugar, if the process is similar.
the process itself matters a lot. Making an Italian, French or Swiss meringue will have an influence on the amount of liquid available for the almonds to absorb.
almond flour does not have a standard moisture content. If a chef has his almonds cracked daily and processed into flour, they will absorb much less water than if he buys a pack of almond flour at the supermarket.
aged eggwhites will behave slightly differently than unaged, some recipes will be written for aged eggwhites and other for fresh ones.
finally, not every recipe out there is a good one. It's very possible that a few recipes from your sample will never produce a good macaron.

You are, of course, welcome to try it without the precision. Especially after you have mastered them, you can play around and see if a different recipe gives you a slighlty different texture which you prefer. But if you already have a recipe which is supposed to work, I'd avoid changing anything about it.


A metal pan will not crack simply from cold liquid.  If you heat it up to a very high temperature and submerge it in cold water, that's not such a good idea.  But deglazing is just a tiny amount of liquid.

Now, aluminum is another story - if it's hot enough and you pour cold water (or cold anything) on it, it can warp, even with a relatively small amount of liquid.  And for Teflon and other "coated" cookware, you can ruin the coating that way.  But heavier steel or cast iron - no way.

If you're really concerned, just keep the deglazing liquid at room temperature.  Deglazing is usually done with vinegar and you keep that at room temperature anyway, right?  I deglaze my CI all the time with cider vinegar and have never experienced even the tiniest crack in 10 years.  I'm pretty sure it's safe.  It's great, actually; CI deglazes very easily, you just need a small splash of vinegar.


Why doesn't my conventional-oven Naan bread taste authentic?

The flavor you want is from the high heat of the clay oven (around 900F, much like a wood-fired pizza oven). Probably nothing you can do to truly replicate it at home, but here are some things to try:

Use a pizza stone in the oven, and turn the oven to MAX, as hot as it will go (above 500F). Let it preheat for 45 min at least to get the stone to full heat. Put the dough right on the stone (either by hand - risky but traditional, or with a pizza peel or upside down sheet pan covered in corn meal). The naan will cook much quicker, maybe 3-5 minutes at most. If you can get the oven hot enough, you'll get a little of the "char" that is part of the flavor.
After mixing the ingredients, let the dough rest overnight in the fridge. The next day, pull it out, let it warm to room temp and resume the proofing process. That will let more sugars be created from enzymes converting starch to sugar, and will slightly improve browning (part of the flavor you are looking for).

Of course, if you want to get fun, you could look into one of the many tutorials on building a wood-fired oven in your yard. Lots of great baking to be had there, including a more traditional naan bread. For more tips, read up on all the things people do to their home ovens to bake better pizza - they will all apply to clay oven baking as well. Things like hearth inserts, faking out the "cleaning cycle" and other tips are common.

Based on comments and some more thinking, my first recommendation would be a grill - charcoal if you have it, gas if you don't. The procedure would be similar to making grilled pizza (well described in Peter Reinhart's "American Pie"). Using a charcoal grill with hardwood charcoal, a dough that is stiff enough to not immediately slide through the grate on your grill (may mean slightly less water in your dough), and making sure to brush the surface of the dough with oil or ghee before flopping down on the grill, you could probably get even closer to the clay oven. It still isn't the same thing, but you might get more of the smoky charred flavors you seek.


How to dry homemade pork sausages with proper humidity and temperature?

I'm assuming you're wanting to make classic dried sausage such as the salamis and saucisson of Italy and France.

Common salt is certainly the key to the drying process and a quarter pound per 10 pounds of meat is a pretty commonly used ratio, but you must also use a curing salt which helps protect against some of the truly nasty food poisoning bugs such as Clostridium botulinum. This just loves the warm, oxygen-free centre of a curing sausage and produces the botulinum toxin which kills around 5% of people who contract the illness.

Sodium nitrite (often called pink salt) or sodium nitrate (Insta Cure #2 - which converts to nitrite over time in the sausage and the nitrite then does the actual curing) are two commonly available salts.

One-half ounce per 10 pounds of meat in addition to the regular salt is a commonly-used ratio. Don't use more and be sure to keep it away from kids and your regular salt - in quantity it is very dangerous.

Something else I always use in dried sausage (but not hams or bacon) is a live starter culture such as LS-25 or one of the various stains sold as Bactoferm. Added to your mix at  two ounces per 10 pounds of meat with say three ounces of dextrose sugar and they will feed on the sugar and excrete lactic acid (just like the bacteria that you add to milk to make yogurt). This lowers the pH of the sausage which makes it even harder for dangerous bacteria to grow. It also produces that delicious acid tang to fermented sausage. If you use this, you hang the sausage in a really moist warm place for the first 24 hours to give the bacteria you added a head start (I have a tall old box with a lightbulb in the bottom).

As far as temperature and humidity goes, 60F and 70 percent humidity are ideal. Humidity below 60 percent can dry out the casing and meat surface too fast which can then harden and prevent the centre from drying (which will then just rot). You could try hanging the sausage above a bowl of water to increase the general humidity in the room.

Your sausage is ready when it has lost at least 30 percent of its original weight. Dry white mould on the casing is good, fuzzy black and green is bad. If you see a little you can rub it off with a cloth dipped in strong brine. Any sign that it is more than just on the surface and you'll have to bin the sausage and start again.

So to recap. Chill your 10 pounds of meat and mince it to your taste. (at least 20% fat gives good texture and flavour). Dissolve the LS25 in a little water and then add it, a quarter pound of salt, a half ounce of Insta Cure #2, up to a couple of ounces of spice of your choice (ground chilli and paprika for chorizo or fennel for something more Italian) a half ounce of finally chopped garlic, a glass of red wine and mix it really well. Then stuff into soaked casings, pricking out any air bubbles with a pin. Hang in a warm place for a day to get the good bacteria you added going, and then hang them in a cool, dampish place until the sausages have lost at least 30% of their weight.

I hope I haven't put you off - it's really as simple as baking a cake and homemade dried sausage is a tremendous thing of joy and beauty - but you really must get the ratios of salt and curing salt right.

If you want to be safe and make fabulous cured sausage I can absolutely recommend Cooking by Hand by Paul Bertolli and Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn which are both available in the US and Europe from Amazon.

But please don't eat your current batch. Throwing it away won't hurt like paralysis that starts with the face and slowly descends to the rest of the body, bringing death by respiratory failure...


Mung bean sprouts developed a slight purple color on day 3?

The sprouts developing a purple tinge is fine, it's a sign that they were exposed to light - they will even start turning green if they recieve more light.

This is like with white asparagus: As long as the stalks remain completely covered in the soil, they stay white. If they start to break through the surface, they develop a purple tinge in a very short time.

See the picture below:
Some stalks are still white, some slighltly purple.


Substitute for Kirsch in Leckerli (Basel Lackerli) cookies?

I would use any uncolored brandy made from distilled fruit. Himbeergeist, sliwowitz, or what you can lay your hands on.

Kirsch doesn't taste much like cherries, and I suspect that it functions more as a solvent for some of the aroma in the spices than for adding its own taste. Even though it does contribute a bit, the taste will be subtle, and other slight fruity notes from a different fruit brandy will blend with the heavy spices just as well.

In a pinch, you could use a colored brandy too, like Chantre. But it will add more of its own flavor, and while it can make a good combination, it will be further from the original than a random obstwasser.

I would avoid any liqueurs, they will add way too much foreign taste, and also won't have enough alcohol to solve the spices in the same way.


Water bath issue when doubling a cheesecake recipe to make bars

The water bath for a cheesecake is to control the temperature of the thick custard in the springform pan (cheesecake is technically a custard) - you don't need to worry about the moisture of the oven in the absence of a water bath.

The equivalency you stated of your pan volumes is a problem, though.    The two pans are not as comparable as your volumes suggest.  The area of a 9" round pan (your springform) would be π x r² = 3.14 x (4.5")² = 64 in.² (roughly).  The area of a 9" x 13" rectangular pan would be 9" x 13" = 117 in.² which is roughly twice the area of the springform pan.  What that means is that the same volume of cheesecake filling would fill a 9" x 13" pan roughly half as full as a 9" springform pan.

Unless you have a huge amount of filling, the custard should set-up much more quickly in the larger pan and should not be as much of a problem to bring-up to temperature evenly like a thicker cheesecake in a springform pan.  As long as you aren't planning to bake your bars in a scorching-hot oven and you remove them from the oven before they look fully set, you won't need the water bath.


What are the advantages of using agave sweetener instead of sugar?

Agave sweetener has a higher level of fructose (as high as 92% versus table sugar's 50%). You can use less than 16 grams of agave sugars and have it be as sweet as 16 grams of cane sugars. Lower calories for the same sweet taste.


Muffin mix should be a pourable batter, not a thick dough, your mix is too dry. If it's too dry and claggy it won't be free to expand, and you don't get a rise from water vapor. Try adding more cashew milk until you get a pourable batter, and try it again. You want it to be ribbony, not so loose it evens out right away.


It should come out of the bath with the button up and as it cools, the button will pull in with a satisfying pop.
If that doesn't happen the jar might be sealed, but there just isn't a good way to know short of forcing the lid.
If the lid is stuck firmly, without jam having leaked out onto the seal, I would be confident in the seal.
If you really want peace of mind, you can clean the rim, replace the lid with a new one, and process the jar again.


Why is there so much baking soda in scones?

When I made scones for the first time, I also found the taste a bit unusual. The recipe I used specified a total of 11 g baking powder and baking soda per 250 g flour, and also 5 g salt. I used less salt, but the taste is definitely unusal for people accustomed to continental Kleingebäck.

I can see two reasons for this. First, the dough for scones is quite unusual, something between cookie and pastry. It is a lot tougher than the usual soda-leavened dough. So I guess that it needs additional leavening power in order to create a light texture, unlike the semiliquid batters which raise without a problem. Plus, it gets no help from egg whites the way some cakes do (in fact, my recipe specified egg yolks only).

The second point is one you already mentioned in the question. It seems that the English tradition is to eat scones with cream and jam. I tried it with my own scones, and the combination was quite good. I don't eat much jam, as it is too sweet for my taste, but the pairing with the bland scones was really nice. A sweeter or richer vehicle would have made the whole thing overwhelming.


How do I clean a vintage carbon steel pastry cutter?

Look up what has been written on restoring carbon steel knives, similar techniques apply.

To clean up loose rust, steel wool, sandpaper and wire brushes will help; afterwards, you might want to try and build a patina by treating it with a food-safe acid (vinegar, lemon...).


I'd say 3 to 5 people, depending on the heaviness of the sauce, the meatiness of the rabbit etc.


Keeping "active yeast + sugar solution aside" is for the purpose proofing the yeast:  that is, determining that it is still alive, active, and is going to give a good result for your bread.

If you don't see significant activity (foam or bubbling) in 5 minutes, 10 at the very outside, then the yeast is no good.  Otherwise, you can use it as soon as you see the foam.

The second question about rising times is not answerable in the general case.

It really depends on the bread you are making, and the method you are using.  The answer could range from as short as 15 to 30 minutes for a fast bread or pizza dough, to several days for certain artisan style or no knead recipes.


How can I fix a dish that has been over sweetened?

For desserts, you can always add a sauce or topping that is bitter or sour to balance out the sweetness. Citrus, roasted nuts, dried chiles, dark chocolate, or coffee would all help a cloying dessert.


Do I need to sift flour for quick breads?

quick breads are typically dense and do not require sifting, they also do not require kneeding. They are supposed to be quick and easy :)

If the recipe calls for "3 cups of flour, sifted" then you would measure 3 cups of flour, and sift that. I have never seen a recipe call for "3 cups of sifted flour" but if it did you would have to sift, and then measure. Hope this helps.


Some recipes will note 1 scoop of vanilla sugar is required and also somewhere else mention the measurement to be 1 serving size. So for example, 1 Serving of Vanilla sugar would generally be two Tablespoons as seen in the recipe below from here :

"...a little whole wheat flour, a scoop of vanilla sugar, a bit of baking powder, and a pinch of salt."

Pancakes

2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
2 T sugar (I put my vanilla pods in mine so it infuses the sugar, but regular granulated will work fine)
pinch of salt
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c chai concentrate (Not a sweet one!)
1 egg

enough milk, coconut water or milk substitute until desired consistency
oil or butter for the pan

To Garnish

sliced strawberries (enough for pancakes and to garnish)
1/4 c sour cream + sugar (I used rose) to taste
brandy syrup (boil 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 c water until dissolved, add 1/2 c brandy, cook 5 min to cook out harsh alcohol flavor)

Although this may vary from one recipe to another, I would recommend if the measurement is not explicitly provided looking for other recipes for similar dishes which call for the same ingredient.  Reasoning for this would be since it is not outlined, it is probably meant to be considered the common measurement of that ingredient.


Can the Cadbury Creme Egg's filling be bought independently?

The keyword you are looking for is "fondant".

Fondant is a soft candy characterized by a smooth texture that comes from small sugar crystals.

It can be as simple as sugar and water boiled to the right temperature and allowed to cool undisturbed. Kind of like fudge without the fat and chocolate.

The filling of Cadbury Creme eggs is called "poured fondant" vs the more solid "rolled fondant" that is often used to decorate cakes.

There are many recipes for fondant online and it can be purchased premade.

See this question:
What is Fondant?


Having now been able to watch the videos, they do seem like what I've seen. The first isn't very clear but looks like cloth rather than paper towel to me. The second looks a bit more manufactured, but again familiar. It's a (presumably cotton) cloth, possibly cheesecloth, rolled, and kept rolled with a crimped handle or foil. A cotton or linen tea towel (AKA dish towel) would work too. The handle also means less oil getting on the cook's hand. The only slightly odd thing is the foil at the bottom.
Cheesecloth is primarily meant for use in contact with food, and tea towels for contact with cooking equipment. Lint isn't an issue after a few washes.
The reason they don't burn is the very brief contact time, combined with a lot of the heat going into the oil; they're saturated by being kept in a dish of oil. This is a quick way to get a sufficiently even layer. If you look closely you may see that the spreader is used in a brushing motion so contact between any one part and the griddle or pan isn't continuous, meaning even less time to scorch. And after all, a cotton cloth can be used as an oven cloth.


When you fry fish or meat, does the interior fat stay inside or does it come out and the surface absorbs the cooking oil instead?

Chemically, yes. Heat turns solid fat to liquid form once it reaches its liquid phase temperature. That's why meat turns dry and chewy once oil dissolve (unless it gets cooked long enough the meat or protein chain decomposed into stew). People seared meat in high heat or breaded meat in deep fry in relatively short time to shield both the juice and marble fat from excessive dissolving and evaporation.


Yes.  In fact, many, many people believe (falsely) that adding salt before or during cooking will keep beans hard (a myth addressed in your first link), and most of these people have been cooking perfectly good beans for many years without adding salt until the beans were fully cooked.

The cooking time may vary slightly.  In some circumstances, the texture of the beans and/or their skins may soften at somewhat different rates than with salt.  But the beans will still cook fine.

(One note: some chefs have claimed that cooking beans without salt causes people to add even more salt afterward to create a flavor that tastes "properly salted."  Beans are generally enhanced by adding flavoring components early enough in cooking for the flavors to penetrate.  But you can always add salt afterward too; the resulting flavor distribution will just be different.)


Can a beef brisket be tenderized by cooking a second time?

Yes, you can cook it a second time and it may help. When you cook meat two things will happen (well, more than two...).

One is that it will lose moisture. The longer you cook it the more moisture (i.e. water) you will lose, and there's no getting it back.

The second thing that happens is that the connective tissues break down to collagen, which is what you are perceiving as being moist and tender when you cook it for a long time. If it is cooked but not to the point where these connective tissues break down then it is likely a second cook will make it more tender. It will also continue to dry out the meat.

After your second cook, be sure to let it rest. I would also suggest slicing it thinly against the grain after cooking as this will make it easier to chew, further helping with the mouthfeel.

Finally, be aware that the amount of time the meat stays between 40°F-140°F the more risk there is of food poisoning. Cooking a second time does not eliminate any toxins produced by the bacteria up to that point (it will only kill bacteria), so be sure to eat it right away as letting it cool and reheating it again introduces more risk. Guidelines say meat should be kept for only one hour between 90°-140° (up to four hours 40°-90°, but less depending how much time was spent above 90°).


you need to temper the eggs, which basically means pre-ccoking them slightly so they can withstand the higher temperatures of the oven without curdling. getting your cream to the simmering point then whisking it into the eggs achieves this goal. there is no need whatsoever to let things cool down; bring cream to boil w/whatever flavourings you're using (e.g. vanilla beans), pour in a slow but steady stream into a bowl of your whisked-to-pale-yellow-ribbon egg yolks & sugar, pour through a very fine mesh strainer, skim off any foam, pour into ramekins, bake.

(For reference, I've made approximately five thousand creme brulees in the last year, this is the method I use every time).


Can I bake my bread in a loaf pan instead of baking sheet?

Just use a thermometer and bake to an internal temperature of 190F (88C) ...or 200F (93C) if the dough is enriched with butter, eggs or milk.


What does it mean when powdered ingredients get thin strings?

I think you are right to figure it is some kind of insect. Little thin threads of cocoonish material in containers of stored food are a pretty clear sign. The strings make themselves noticeable by catching the dust particles from the food. Although it might seem strange to find insect activity in instant coffee, there are tons of different kinds of insects, each one with its own set of tastes. I have found little tiny crawly beige bugs in baking soda even, really.

When this happens, you need to go through everything, discard every infestation you find, and completely re-do your pantry storage system. Lots of advice available on this site and elsewhere on how to rid yourself of these pests.E.g.:
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/search?q=How+to+get+rid+of+weevils%3F  ,
and many others. Even though your bugs may not match the exact insect species addressed (maybe they aren't really weevils for example), bugs are bugs, and you don't need a precise id to get some good advice on extermination.


How much dried lemon zest to substitute for "zest of one lemon"?

Use one teaspoon of dried zest for one tablespoon of fresh zest, which is about what you get from a lemon.

Most foods dry to about a third their original size, so I would use one third of the amount called for. Lemons vary a great deal in size, but the recipe probably means one tablespoon of fresh zest, which is normal for "medium" sized lemons.

Something to watch out for is that most cheap "dried lemon peel" products are actually made from the zest and a bit of the pith, which will both give you a bitter flavor and short you some of the lemon flavor you expect. Look closely at the zest you buy, if you can see that the individual pieces have two distinct layers, or a pale yellow or white color, steer clear of that brand. This is probably a "get what you pay for" situation, so spring for the higher end lemon zest.

I have also had great luck drying my own lemon zest. Unless your kitchen is humid, it will probably dry in a day or two just sitting on a plate on the counter.


When cooking meats such as pork chops in a toaster oven, is it better to use butter or some type of oil to coat the pan?

Also depends on how hot your toaster oven gets. Butter burns at 350 F, most oils dont burn until at least 400 F.

Heres a list of temperatures at which different oils burn http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CookingOilTypes.htm

Usually Ill start with oil and add some butter towards the end for flavor if Im cooking on a high heat.


Can bitter almonds(or other nuts containing amygdalin) be made edible?

I think it most likely that the methods you describe are theoretically possible, but risky and not particularly cost-effective.  Whatever the mechanism that could be used to render the almonds safe for consumption, it seems difficult to confirm this in a home preparation, leaving you with some potential (even if small) that they'll still produce some cyanide upon consumption. This doesn't have to be acutely toxic; chronic consumption can also be harmful in ways that you might not even notice immediately.

So then the question becomes, why take this risk?  Bitter almonds aren't likely to be a significant food source; in this way they differ from things like cassava which provide a staple crop (and thus more incentive to develop effective, reliable ways to detoxify them).  Even if you did develop a method, if you can't be certain that someone will follow it to the letter and could get sick as a result, it seems irresponsible to share your steps.  Far safer just to avoid consuming bitter almonds.


Origin: Wikipedia

James Salisbury was an American physician and chemist known for his advocacy of a meat-centered diet to promote health, and the term Salisbury steak for a ground beef patty served as an entree has been used in the United States since 1897. Today, Salisbury steak is usually served with a gravy similar in texture to brown sauce, along with various side dishes. It is a common item in supermarket frozen food sections.
Dr. Salisbury recommended this recipe (somewhat different from modern Salisbury steak recipes) for the treatment of alimentation:

Eat the muscle pulp of lean beef made into cakes and broiled. This pulp should be as free as possible from connective or glue tissue, fat and cartilage...previous to chopping, the fat, bones, tendons and fasciae should all be cut away, and the lean muscle cut up in pieces an inch or two square. Steaks cut through the centre of the round are the richest and best for this purpose. Beef should be procured from well fatted animals that are from four to six years old.
The pulp should not be pressed too firmly together before broiling, or it will taste livery. Simply press it sufficiently to hold it together. Make the cakes from half an inch to an inch thick. Broil slowly and moderately well over a fire free from blaze and smoke. When cooked, put it on a hot plate and season to taste with butter, pepper, salt; also use either Worcestershire or Halford sauce, mustard, horseradish or lemon juice on the meat if desired. Celery may be moderately used as a relish.


Sous Vide Pork Butt Char Siew (Chinese BBQ)

If you're concerned about safety, then 135 degrees is definitely not "safe". The FDA recommends pork be cooked to 145 degrees farenheit, and due to the law of thermodynamics your pork will never reach that temperature. You'd need to make sure that your broiling would finish cooking your pork to a safe temperature.  Of course, the FDA guidelines always err on the side of caution, but it all depends on what you're looking for when you mean "safe" :).  However, according to this site (http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/en-us/sousvide_cookingtemperatures.htm), your alloted time seems safe. The nice thing about sous vide is, as long as there are no hotspots, your meat will only ever reach the temperature of the water (135), and so won't overcook, so you can err on the side of caution

Another concern I have is, at this temperature the fat will not be able to render out properly at this temperature/time. Not a huge problem, but perhaps a problem nonetheless.

Lastly, the best part of char siu is the wonderful smokey flavour and the glaze you get from grilling it for an extended period and basting repeatedly. I'm not sure how successful doing this at the end with just a broiler would be.

However, I will say I've never tried making char-siu this way, and these thoughts are only based on my own experience, so I would be very interested to hear how this turns out!


Does it matter if I freeze dough before proofing?

I can honestly say I've done this on many occasions. Especially for pizza dough, I defrost in the fridge for 24 hours in a cling filmed bowl which allows it to prove slowly through the day. Never once had an issue with it.


Vinegar Alternatives and rice combinations in making sushi rice

I have never made, but I have eaten Arborio sushi, with Italian flavors and here in DC I have had latin-flavored sushi.  It was all great.   The Arborio sushi seemed like plain Arborio rice to me.

The rice vinegar is sweet and less acid (4% versus 6%), so if you try different vinegars you may want to dilute it a bit first and then compare for sweetness.  Say you have 2 tablespoons of vinegar at 6%, then add add one tablespoon of water to it to bring it down to 4%.


How do I make this quick-bread recipe less moist?

Not sure what done is for this; maybe you just need to bake it longer? That should drive out water—though possibly it will cause other problems. But probably it'll be OK since you can grill it.

I think getting some water out of the shredded carrots is the first thing to try—they have a lot of water (like all vegetables). Patting them dry will remove some. Pressing them between dry towels/paper towels will remove more. Roasting (or sautéing) them can remove even more (and will change the flavor). Or you could use a food dehydrator or low oven to just dry them.

Reducing the amount of carrot may help too, but that will again alter the flavor.

Another thing that might help: I suspect you have the eggs for binding & richness. That's mostly the yolk—you could try leaving out some or all of the whites (using the yolk only).


Creme Fraiche is more comparable to sour cream than it is to heavy cream, and it sounds like what you have is if anything even further from cream. You could certainly make a tasty quiche with it, but it would probably require the addition of additional liquid, and there's a chance it won't turn out well. If you're OK with risks and experimentation, go for it!
Otherwise, I'd suggest using it for something you'd usually use yogurt, sour cream, or cream cheese for.


Can using a poolish or biga preferment help me make a less dense wholemeal bread?

I think I solved this myself in the end.

Basically I used the same recipe as before, however instead of a biga as I had planned, I decided to try my hand at sourdough. I had started making a starter a while go and thought it was time to give it a go.

This is the second time I tried sourdough, but the first time my starter smelt disgusting so I threw it out.

To activate my starter, I fed it the total amount of wholemeal that I was going to add. Let it sit for 2 hours, and it doubled in size.

I also added a touch more water at 75% hydration. I used the stretch and folding method instead of machine kneading - 4 folds every 30 minutes, 5 times in total. It had a long proof in the fridge for 16 hours, then an hour to come to room temp, shaped and stuck it in a proofing basket, and about 2 hours after shaping it rose again. Also took care when shaping not to knock back too much, keeping as much gas in it as possible.

The result seems almost perfect, even though I say so myself. It's light and airy and bubbly, and delicious, very mild, hardly any sourness at all.  I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised.  It took a while though, almost 24 hours really.

I think the same would have happened with a biga/preferment, I think the key must be long proofing, giving it time to ferment, and stretching and folding to develop the gluten.  I will try it with a biga another time I think.


Well, that depends on the individual Thai dish or Indian dish and how it was cooked, of course.  But I understand what you're talking about.  However, the difference in heat sensations is not due to the kind of pepper employed. It's all about fat, really.

Frequently Thai dishes are made with fresh peppers, and have a lot of acid and salt in them (from citrus, tamarind, and other flavors) but very little fat (comparatively).  Because of this, many Thai dishes have an instant burst of intense hotness which goes away realtively quickly.  The paragon of this is probably Thai salads, like larb or green mango salad, which are highly acidic and very very spicy.

On the other hand, most Anglo-Indian food (familiar to Americans and British) is in the form of "curries" which use a slow-cooked dairy base (butter, milk, and/or cheese), and are spiced with dried ground or whole chile peppers.  As a result, when you first taste them the fat conceals the capsicum from your tongue, gradually revealing it as your saliva breaks it down.  Hence the "slow burn". (I've tried to find a medical reference for this to link, but have not been able to yet).

Similarly, Thai coconut milk curries can build up heat slowly and that heat sticks with you -- because of the hot peppers cooked in the fat of the coconut milk.

Incidentally, there isn't one kind of chile pepper used by either culture.  The Thai have dozens of varieties of hot pepper and Indians have hundreds (as well as a dozen different regional cuisines, a few of which are not spicy at all).  In the USA, these tend to get narrowed down to a handful of different pepper varieties (and substitutions like jalapenos) because of limited availability.  The spice you call "red pepper" could be any of a half-dozen different ground dried peppers of varying hotness.


Depending on the animal, blood would impart a somewhat metallic taste and a certain “richness” - not really the umami-meatiness of red meat, more like the earthiness of liver - with a slight sweetness.

The flavor profile will be quite different depending on the animal, with pork being more neutral than the more intense and metallic beef.

A substitute would depend on the recipe. But the acidity of red wine is very much not what blood would contribute to a dish. If the binding properties are to be ignored, think “beets plus sautéed mushrooms”, as a very, very vague flavor approximation. But if your sauce is rich per se, you can probably just skip the blood without doing much culinary harm.


Based on the recipe you provided, it's kinda like concentrated broth. It's produced by cooking the chicken covered in a double boiler, effectively steaming it and collecting the drippings.

I have no idea if that's exactly what's being sold in those nutritional supplement bottles, but given that people think the homemade version is, well, the homemade version, it must at least be close.


Do fresh ramen noodles come in a curly form, or only instant?

The short answer is yes, they can come in a curly form. There are several types of fresh noodle used in Rāmen, which can be classified mainly according to thickness and shape.

Noodles are classified in shape into the straight sutorēto-men (ストレート麺）, the curly chijire-men（縮れ面）, and the more rare flat hirauchi-men（平打ち麺） . With the exception of the flat type, these are further divided into several degrees of thickness: the extra thick gokubuto-men（極太麺）, the thick futo-men（太麺）, the middle thick chūbuto-men（中太麺）, the middle thin chūboso-men（中細麺）, the thin hoso-men（細麺）, and the extra thin gokuboso-men（極細麺）. The thin types are also further differentiated in the amount of water they have in their dough.

Which shape and thickness of noodle is used depends on the style of ramen and on the chef's preference. For example, hakata rāmen（博多ラーメン）, of the sorts served by Ippūdō in their Japanese stores, usually uses straight gokuboso type, but the same franchise uses chijire gokuboso type for their spicy rāmen and chijire gokubuto for their tsukemen. Likewise, yokohama tonkotsu-shōyu （横浜豚骨醤油）, also known as ie-kei（家系）, uses chijire-gokubuto.

The choice of noodle is related to many factors, but cooking time is an important one. In hakata rāmen, where the practice of topping up your noodles (kaedama／替え玉) is common, one has to be able to cook the noodle quickly, and hence the very thin noodle. Thicker types of noodle need longer cooking time (aprox. 10 min for gokubuto-men), and are only used by rāmen traditions that do not offer a noodle refill.

Another factor affecting the noodle type is the type of broth. Thicker broths ask for straight type of noodles, and thinner broths for curly noodles.

These are not rules etched in stone, however, as rāmen itself is a sort of creole food born from a mix of Japanese and Chinese cuisines. Some would say that there is not right or wrong in rāmen, and that anything is possible. However, what I have described above is what is customary and what you will find if you go to rāmen shops in Japan.

By the way, not all rāmen dishes in Japan use fresh noodles. There is a type of rāmen that originates from Chiba prefecture and is called takeoka rāmen（竹岡ラーメン）, which was originally cooked by part-timer old ladies hired from the neighbourhood, and uses dried (what you would call instant) noodles because they are easier to cook.


How to line this cake pan with parchment paper?

You can't effectively line a Bundt pan with paper. My favorite method is to mix cake release and keep it in the cabinet. It lasts for months and months. Just mix 1 part vegetable oil, 1 part shortening and 1 part flour (roughly, by volume). Brush that mixture in the pan, getting all the nooks and crannies. It doesn't make the mess that traditional flouring does, I always end up getting flour everywhere doing it that way. I think the mixed ahead release works better too. It also doesn't show up on the cake as unmoistened flour. With your non-stick pan plus the cake release, you'll have no trouble.

OXO makes a silicone pastry brush that's great for this and all kinds of tasks, I use mine all the time. It goes in the dishwasher, it's heat resistant, it doesn't shed. It's a very handy little item. Look for the strips of silicone in between the bristles with holes that hold on to sauce.  You can see that in this picture using the magnification tool. OXO Pastry Brush


How to use herb extracts or essential oils in drinks

Sugar will bind with the essential oil, allowing you to produce a flavored syrup that you can use to sweeten the drink in place of sugar. This is a commonly used practice in drink-making since a syrup is much quicker to integrate than dry sugar.

For a typical simple syrup recipe, you combine equal parts water and sugar and heat them until the sugar dissolves. With a flavor extract, I typically add the extract to the sugar first, let the sugar absorb the extract, then add the water and proceed as normal. You'll need to experiment with the amount of extract to achieve your desired level of flavor.

Keep the resulting syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator; it will keep for at least a couple weeks. If you increase to two parts sugar to one part water (sometimes called "rich simple syrup") or add a small amount of alcohol, you'll get much longer shelf life.

Your other option is to bind the oil with some other emulsifier; egg white is commonly used in cocktails for its ability to form stable, thick foams (which is just an emulsification of air in liquid). The disadvantages with using egg white are that it's difficult to measure in small portions, it will change the texture and flavor of your drink somewhat, and you'll need to agitate (i.e. shake) the drink in order to emulsify the proteins in the egg.


Can I use microwave turntable glass plate in convection mode?

Assuming you do not have access to the instruction manual, and/or the manual does not specify whether it is safe to use the glass in convection/grill mode, I would assume not.

Are there any labels and/or writing embossed on the glass?

As I described in this similar question, "regular" soda-lime glass is not heat safe.  Given that the glass was obviously designed for a microwave, it is probably tempered glass, so it can withstand some amount of heat.  Therefore, I would treat it like a Pyrex baking dish and not heat it to over 500°F.  Your microwave's convection mode likely does not get that hot, so you are probably fine with that, but no guarantees.  I would not use the tray in grill mode because even Pyrex is not broiler-safe.


I'm not clear on what you are trying to achieve with the dehydrator.  I see three options for you.  Option 1: no dehydrator, just deep fry in oil.  This is probably the most traditional.  Option 2: use the dehydrator briefly (a matter of 10 - 30 minutes) to dry the potato slices. This would create less splattering when frying. Option 3: Cook the potato slices (this will gelatanize the starch), dehydrate until "plastic like", then fry.  This should allow the potatoes to puff when fried. In all scenarios, the potato must be cooked at some point to crisp them, which will not happen in the dehydrator.


What is the proper ratio of heavy cream to chocolate for a thick ganache?

Normal ganache is 1:1 indeed. You can make a more caramelly one by adding honey and butter:
try 14 oz cream, 12 oz chocolate, 2 oz honey, 6 oz butter diced into small cubes.

Boil the cream and honey together, pour over the chocolate, stir until melted, melt in the butter.


How long before intended date of use can a ham be purchased?

I don't believe it will make any difference, and here's why -

You may be buying the ham a few days earlier, and the ham may be part of a shipment that was received and stocked at a certain date, as opposed to a later date, but it's doubtful there is a significant difference in the dates that a ham on sale today, and a ham bought Wednesday next week was processed and packaged. That's a mass-produced product, with a huge bump in production near the holidays.

It's highly doubtful that the store would make a huge (with, assumed on my part, a certain volume discount or seasonal sales price) purchase of hams for the holiday, and then order more hams, not as part of that order, to be stocked before the same event/holiday.

What you will also see, depending on how well they gauged demand, is that hams will be deeply discounted a week or two after the holiday, as the remaining hams from their mass order start getting closer to the product expiration date.

Your best bet for determining how long before a holiday is (if you're not going to freeze it) looking at the "use by" date.  Any pre-holiday ham sale is going to have hams with a "use by" date that goes past that holiday.


Substituted for Angustura bitters in a lentil recipe?

If you are keen on incorporating the flavor profiles of the Angostura bitters try putting a bit of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. When cooking the alcohol content will evaporate either way, so the only thing you're really after is the herbal taste of the beverage. Hope that helps :)


Bacon in sealed package, 4 days at room temp

Modern bacon is insufficiently cured to preserve it--or perhaps it is more accurate to say that you are not guaranteed that it is sufficiently cured.

You should discard this product.