Can I substitute cocoa for semisweet chocolate?

Cocoa powder is made by baking the cocoa beans and then removing all the fat from them, then milling the rest to a powder. In fact, semisweet chocolate is a solid sol (a colloid formed from homogenically dispersing solid particles (cocoa dry matter) in a solid (cocoa fat)). What you should add is not water, but fat.

Before you start, you must be aware that cocoa fat has some very special properties. It melts at a very convenient temperature, so it is solid in the air and melts in the mouth. Plus, it has a very special form of crystalline structure, which allows [tempering].1 This means that the substitution won't work for some very specific uses like making Belgian chocolates. For chocolate cake or brownies, the texture will be somewhat off, but not too much, so it should deliver acceptable results for the home cook. The taste will also be different (there is a reason why pure chocolate is so expensive, it only uses real cocoa fat, bars with other fat types like Milka can't compare with the original).

There is also the question of choosing the fat. It should be solid by room temperature. Butter is often used in desserts and has a really good taste, but it doesn't mimic cocoa fat that well, because it isn't a pure fat, it is an emulsion of ~17% water in milkfat. So texturewise, shortening is probably a better choice. You can use either, based on whether texture or aroma is more important for you, plus your camp in the this-type-of-fat-is-bad-for-you debate.

"Semisweet chocolate" is a loose category. I usually count anything with 40% to 60% cocoa mass as "semisweet". So on average, your mixture should contain 50% sugar.

The ratio of cocoa powder to fat is trickier. Luckily, I have a 90% chocolate bar here and can tell you that it contains 55 grams of fat (as given on the package). This means that pure chocolate mass has 60.5% fat. Assuming that your cocoa powder has 15% fat ("weakly de-fatted powder" is my best attempt at literal translation) and that you are using shortening (100% fat), we arrive at a ratio of 54% fat to 46% cocoa powder. You probably don't have to be that exact, especially considering the fact that the fat content of cocoa powder isn't exactly 15%. I'd just go with a 1:1 ratio - easy to measure, and it gives you a bit more cocoa taste.

So the final proportions should be 1 part cocoa powder, 1 part vegetable shortening, and 2 parts sugar. If you feel very mathematically inclined, you can calculate it more exactly for butter and a specific cocoa powder fat content.

It is also important to note that in baking, you can't just throw everything in and mix. Different mixing sequences result in a different air distribution in the batter, which has very important results on the final texture. So don't try to imitate chocolate by mixing above ingredients somehow and then dumping them into the bowl. Your recipe already has a correct technique for combining the ingredients, e. g. by creaming the butter with sugar and then slowly adding the flour. It also describes a technique for adding tempered chocolate to the batter, and this one won't work for a homemade mixture of sugar, cocoa powder and shortening.

To achieve best texture, stick to the recipe's technique for the components. Whatever they say to do with the original butter in the recipe, do it with a mixture of the butter and the chocolate-substituting fat. Use the original sugar amount together with the chocolate. Treat cocoa powder like flour, best mix them in a separate bowl before adding to the rest. Your result won't be exactly like a recipe created with real semisweet chocolate, but only the most discerning eaters will notice it, and most cake eaters are not that discerning.

A last word of caution: throughout the answer, I assume that you have actual cocoa powder (I'd use non-dutched for a stronger choco taste, but this is a matter of personal preference). Instant drink powder like Nesquick doesn't contain much real cocoa and is unsuitable for this kind of substitution (or for any baking purposes).


How to ensure that the chicken meat is not over cooked or under cooked?

It is fairly atypical to cook large, bone-on pieces of chicken—including breasts—directly in soup.  After all, who wants to find bones in their soup?  (Making stock is another story....)

Bone on chicken breasts difficult to cook evenly, due to their shape.  Some parts are thin, and will cook through rapidly, and other parts are thick and require a much longer time to cook.  This makes it easy to have overcooked and undercooked areas.  They are also a little unforgiving in soup if overcooked, as they tend to become tough or stringy in texture.

Normally, chicken would be pre-cooked via another method, and then cut up or shredded, and placed in the soup in the last few minutes in order to heat through for service. My favorite method of preparing chicken to use in soup or other recipes is to roast it, still skin on for flavor, but any method will do.  The skin can be removed prior to adding the chicken to the soup, if you desire.

Note that this method will not add the flavor and gelatin (for that rich texture) from the bones to your soup.  Instead, as cook chicken parts for other dishes, save the bones and other scraps in the freezer.  When you have several pounds (a couple kilograms), you can use them to make chicken stock.  Homemade chicken broth is a fantastic base for soup, and will help you achieve an excellent flavor.

If you absolutely want to cook chicken breast directly in your soup, I recommend that you de-bone it.  Cut it into bite sized pieces.  As one of the last finishing steps in preparing the soup, reduce the pot to a simmer rather than a full boil, and drop in the chicken pieces.   This will permit the chicken pieces to poach gently in the broth.  Your soup is ready for service. once they are cooked through—my guess is about 15 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces, but check them occasionally.


Transfer the contents of the large bottle to several smaller bottles.

Fizzy drinks go flat because each time they are opened & re-closed, the gas is released from the liquid until parity pressure is reached in the container, preventing any more from escaping.

Once you've reached about the halfway point in any size bottle, you're on a losing run from thereon in. Every time you release the pressure, whether you drink or not, you have a lot of gas to release from the liquid to reattain parity pressure.

If you continue to re-use the smaller bottles, the planet will send you a big green hug too ;-)


This is not a good idea for two reasons:

140 F is at the very edge of the "danger zone" for holding food.   These warming drawers are unlikely to be very accurate, so you could possible end up incubating your food and allowing pathogens to grow, not cooking it.  This could promote food-borne illness.
140 F is probably not high enough to get a quality and palatable result. It won't thicken starch thickened sauces, which require about 180 F. It won't cook green beans very well at that temperature, leaving you a somewhat raw and nasty casserole.

For some context on this, this recipe from Sous Vide Supreme for sous-vide for green bean casserole uses 185 F.  The water in sous-vide transfers heat to the target food far more effectively than air does in an oven or warming drawer.

If you are short on oven space, buying or borrowing a counter top oven may be the better solution.


Any Kitchen I worked in –that does a bit of butchering– has one (any butcher also). It's for sawing bones.

At the time you would not throw anything out of an animal, and a lot of people would make their stock or put a piece of bone in a stew or soup for taste. But, as far as I know, they usually look like a hacksaw not like a the one you're showing.

Maybe the illustrator did not know what a kitchen saw looked like. He's been asked to draw one and did a hand saw by mistake.

This type of saw could be also used in a pastry shop. At some stage (and still, apparently according to @divi) wedding and other momumental cakes, but also smaller ones, were consolidated with pieces of wood or other non comestible material.


The way fish (shelfish included) is dispatched impacts both its flavor and texture.  The Japanese have a long history of this knowledge.  This type of fish killing is called ike jime.

Dave Arnold did some interesting research on this.  You'll find it here: http://www.cookingissues.com/index.html%3Fp=5731.html

Bottom line:  How you kill a lobster does impact its flavor.


How do I prevent dougnuts deflating when moving them into the pan?

I suspect @Stephie is correct in thinking they may be over proofed. Having said that, you could try the method that is used when making crullers.

Place shaped donuts on parchment paper that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Cut the paper into individual squares (each donut should have enough space to raise without expanding off the paper). Let raise.

When ready to fry, just slip the paper with donut into your oil, it should release right away and you can remove the paper from the oil with tongs.

Here is a link to a video showing how it's done with crullers.You can skip the first 3 minutes that shows the mixing and piping of the crullers.


What other English names are there for dried grapes?

Reading your question and all of the comments (that include some valuable information that should be in your question  ;-) ) answering what you really need as knowing the English words only will definitely not help you when in Hungary as I've seen many translation errors reading ingredients even in sophisticated multi-language countries like Switzerland and Belgium:

Languages re-ordered by alphabet as I got a few additional ones:

Dutch / Flemish / Afrikaans: druif/druiven, rozijn(en), krent(en)
English: grape(s), raisin(s), sultana(s), currant(s) (except black/red/whitecurrant)
French: Raisin(s)
German: Traube(n), Rosine(n), Sultanine(n), Korinthen
Hebrew: צימוק
Hindi: किशमिश
Hungarian: szőlő, mazsola
Italian: Uvetta, Uva, Sultanina
Russian: виноград, изюм, кишмиш, султанша
Sanskrit: शुष्कद्राक्षा
Spanish: uva, pasa


What are the effects of salting a thin steak that's grilled on a pan?

Related answer to the question Is it okay to salt beef before or while cooking it?

TL;DR: Salting the steak right before searing does not noticeable affect the tenderness.

Concerning the (semi-) frozen or thawed steak: Is it bad to cook frozen meat without waiting it to be unfrozen?

Since your mentioned steak is quite thin I don't think the semi-frozen steak goes "bad".


I believe that if you cut/scrape off the mold the rest  will be fine.

With a huge chunk of wrapped and refrigerated parmigiano reggiano, for example, I have been scraping it off before grating it for over 18 months now with no ill effects.


What green chilli is being referred to in an indian lamb sheek kebab recipe?

For reference, a sheekh kebab is spiced minced meat pressed onto a skewer and barbecued. There are no binding agents like egg or breadcrumbs in a traditional recipe, so you want to avoid any extra moisture in your ingredients or it may not hold together.

An authentic recipe will call for green chilies, not green peppers. The chilies need to be the your birds eye style, narrow tapered chilies with thin walls, not thick walled chilies like jalapenos because they contain too much moisture. Bell peppers are not a substitute for the same reason.

There are many green chili varieties which would work in the recipe, and they vary from mild to tonsil-searing. Which to use depends on how hot you want the result to be and what's available in your local area. If you don't want that spicy and all you can find are hot ones then de-seed them and just add less - it's all getting pureed anyway.

Tips for making good meatballs and mince-based kebabs:

Microwave and then eat a small amount after mixing the ingredients to make sure you get the right levels of salt and heat from the chili. Keep adjusting, microwaving and tasting until it's right. Keep in mind that the spices won't necessarily come out right away which is why you do 2.
Let the mix rest in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably several, to let the flavors combine. It also helps the kebabs to stick together


It's not about chemicals on the outside of the fruit; washing the fruit well should take care of that. Whether we eat the skin of any given fruit basically boils down to whether it a) tastes good and b) has a pleasant texture. For example, some people eat the skin of the kiwi, despite it having a hairy texture that many people find unpleasant. Many people do not eat the skins of mango because it tastes bitter and has a tough, fibrous texture, but if you don't mind the texture and enjoy that taste, go ahead, enjoy :)

Note: I'm seeing sources that say if you're particularly sensitive to poison oak, you should not eat mango skins, as they contain one of the chemicals in poison oak but in a much lesser quantity, so it might cause an allergic reaction. You'll probably also break out from touching the mango skin to peel it, so take that as a warning sign. This doesn't apply to the OP, since if you've been eating them all your life you're obviously not allergic, but might apply to other people googling this question.


I'd trust the butcher if he is recommended; perhaps check on him by asking safe cooking temperature? 145°F by the way, it's been revised since old days 160°F. He isn't talking about all pork, he's talking about the specific cut from a specific source, that's been handled in a specific way.

Even if meat gets a smell, there are different smells and if it isn't sort of a fermented sour smell, it's good. Same for color.
Easiest way to deal with the situation is to marinate it wet or with a dry rub. I usually do this with most of my meats the day I purchase. Some thicker cuts, especially pork, can take 4-5 days to take the flavor. Salt, pepper, chilés, mustard and a host of other spices help as preservatives.

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/fdoss/data/annual-summaries/2015-report-highlights.html

Single food categories associated with the most outbreaks:

Fish (34 outbreaks)
Chicken (22 outbreaks)
Pork (19 outbreaks)

Restaurants (469 outbreaks, 60% of outbreaks reporting a single location of preparation), specifically restaurants with sit-down dining (373, 48%), were the most commonly reported locations of food preparation.

There were 30 multistate outbreaks, including the following types of foods linked to them:
Vegetable row crops (4 outbreaks)
Seeded vegetables (3 outbreaks)
Grains, such as flour (2 outbreaks)
Herbs (2 outbreaks)
Mollusks (2 outbreaks)
What, no pork?

CDC reports salmonella in local sources as leading reason for illness from pork, but it's half as likely as getting it from vegetables.


The USDA FSIS puts out Time-Temperature Tables for Cooking Ready-To-Eat Poultry Products (PDF). They recommend holding the fattest parts of a chicken at 140°F/60°C for 35 minutes to ensure safety.

The time is increased greatly as you lower the temperature only a little (for example, it becomes 53 minutes 138°F, a mere 2°F lower). If you raise the temperature a little, it's much shorter (23.5 minutes at 142°F). As he says in the video, the food safety agencies recommend a higher temperature—the normal recommendation is 165°F.

The 165°F is to allow a safety margin, in case:

Your thermometer is off. As you can see, a few degrees make a lot of difference.
The spot you probed wasn't actually the coolest part of the bird.

The recommended times in the tables are for the worst-contaminated bird the USDA believes you could run into, which is probably far worse than the bird you're actually preparing.

As to the juices, its doubtful they run clear at 140°F. But the color of the juices is not a reliable way to determine if chicken is safely cooked.

It's up to you (and the people you're feeding) how much safety margin you're willing to remove. But note that if you use an accurate & calibrated thermometer, probed in several spots to find the coolest, and take the bird to 151°F, then leave the thermometer in as it rests, as long as it stays ≥150 for 4.2 minutes (≥149 for 5.4 minutes, or…), FSIS says its safe. That's still going to leave you pretty juicy chicken, though not quite as much as at 140°F.

Beware, it will not have the texture you expect!


Can coconut cream be transformed into coconut milk, or vice versa?

Short answer: you can let coconut milk separate and skim it to get a little coconut cream, but can't convert coconut cream back to coconut milk.  Diluting the cream just produces something runny and disgusting.

Long answer: Coconut milk is made by grating coconut and running very hot water through it to extract oils and flavor, then straining out the coconut pieces.  It is a mix of water soluble parts and fats, and can emulsify just like normal milk or thicken sauces similarly to milk cream.

If you allow coconut milk to sit, the fatty part will rise to the top.  This part is skimmed off to make coconut cream, which is much richer in fats.  It cooks very differently because of the higher fat content, and does not emulsify or thicken well; however it is quite delicious!

If you're looking to substitute for coconut milk, but only have coconut cream, the best substitution will probably be a little coconut cream + a lot of heavy (milk) cream.

Note: Some people refer to the liquid contained in fresh coconuts as coconut milk, but it is more accurately called coconut water. This confusion has ruined many a recipe!


Keep your wines between 45-65 oF (7-18 oC). Wine that is too hot will age faster and frozen wine can expand and push out corks or shatter bottles.
Keep the temperature relatively consistent: avoid large swings in temperature.
Keep the wine out of UV light (sunlight and some types of fluorescent light) which will age the wines faster.
Humidity levels shouldn't be so low that the corks dry out or so high that mold can form. Keep between 50-80% roughly.
If the wines are stoppered with cork, keep the bottles on their side to keep the corks moist. You don't want the corks to dry out and lose their seal. Bottles stoppered with screw caps or plastic cork don't need this treatment. However storing bottles on their side is pretty space efficient. (Also, it really sucks to remove a dry cork from a bottle of wine, which can be a problem if you buy cheap wine from places like Trader Joes where they are not always stored properly.)
Keep the wines away from vibration. (This is why storing wine on top of a fridge is a horrible idea, it's hot and shaky up there.) Excess vibrations can disturb sediment.
I've also read that you should keep wines away from strong odors because corks are porous. So maybe don't store garlic and vinegar with your wine collection.
Enclosure shouldn't matter a huge deal... if your wine stoppered with a cork is tainted, it was tainted before you aged it in your cellar for such a long time. Screw caps and synthetic corks prevent the taint from happening in the first place.
You don't need to rotate your bottles, which disturbs sediment.
Not all wines age well, especially many whites. (Although there are definitely whites that do age well.) I have suffered the problem of storing many of my own Sav Blancs for several years without tasting to make sure they were still good, then having to pour out several bottles when they were over aged. So if you have many bottles of a single wine, drink a bottle every now and again to see how it's holding up.
Finally, here's an interesting article I just read about aging champagne. Apparently it's not always a bad idea.


What are the correct ratios for eggless mayonnaise?

My go to ratio for eggless mayo: 1 cup oil, 1/2 cup full fat milk, 2 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice. You can adjust the taste with other seasonings.


What to consider when learning to make sushi at home?

There are a few tools you should have that are out of the ordinary in a typical American kitchen:

Sushi rolling mat - It's really the only way to make maki (rolls). Pro tip: when you use it, put it inside of a large zip-loc bag. This helps prevent the rice sticking to the mat.
Wooden sushi bowl - This is essential in helping the rice turn out properly. The one I linked includes a free mat. I don't own this particular brand; I bought mine from an asian grocery store near me for like $30, it came with a paddle. If you don't want to commit to this large uni-tasker then I recommend using an equally large shallow-ish plastic bowl/dish. The sushi chef that taught me said plastic was OK, but to avoid glass or metal.
Quality rice cooker - A quality rice cooker makes life amazingly easier. I own the one linked and it is amazing. I use it for cooking all of my rice. The quality of Zojirushi is simply unsurpassed and it quickly pays for itself.

The single most important thing is a very sharp knife. It makes cutting the maki SO much easier. I can't stress this enough. A chef's knife is just fine, but it should be well cared for and very sharp.

For beginners nigiri-zushi is by far the easiest to make. You simply shape a small amount of rice in the palm of your hand and slap a piece of fish or other seafood on top of it. Cutting the fish for nigiri is an artform and cannot be adequately conveyed here, but if you just hack out a thin piece of the right size it will taste fine. Tuna and salmon are relatively cheap cuts to use for this.

For maki I suggest starting with spicy tuna rolls and California rolls. All you need for a California roll is: avocado, cucumber, and imitation crab meat. For spicy tuna mix you need: tuna, kewpie mayo, and shichimi togaroshi (or nanami togaroshi).

You may also want some tobiko and/or masago roe for the outside of your rolls.


Markings/smudges/wear on steel springform pans

Looks like normal markings on well used baking tins. It's fat that polymerised from heat (same procedure as for seasoning cast iron, just unintentionally). It's perfectly safe to use the pan like that. It can theoretically be removed with outrageous amounts of elbow grease and heavy duty cleaning chemicals, but it's not worth the effort in my opinion.


Vintage West Bend Slow Cooker number settings verses hi low settings

You should consult the owner's manual for your slow cooker.  According to one manual on West Bend's website:

  There are five numbered heat settings on the heating base, 1 to 5.
  Heat setting # 1 should only be used to warm dinner rolls, muffins,
  etc. Heat setting # 2 should only be used to keep warm cooked foods
  for serving, whereas Heat Settings #3, #4 and #5 are to be used for
  actual cooking of foods. Set the dial directly at the numbered heat
  setting or midway between the numbered heat settings for complete
  temperature control. DO NOT USE A HEAT SETTING BELOW # 3 FOR ACTUAL
  COOKING OF RAW FOODS AS SLOW COOKER DOES NOT GET HOT ENOUGH TO COOK
  FOODS AT SETTING #1 OR #2. Set heat setting and cook food for
  recommended time as given in recipe. As a general guideline, most meat
  and vegetable combinations need 7 to 10 hours of cooking at Setting #3
  (low), 4 to 6 hours of cooking at Setting #4 (medium) or 2 to 3 hours
  of cooking at Setting #5 (high).

Your particular model might have different instructions.


How to calculate the pH of a lye solution?

The exact number will depend on what exactly your lye is composed of. Lye usually refers to either sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH). For the purposes of the calculations I'm going to assume that it is sodium hydroxide.

Because molecules are really tiny things, chemists use larger units to count them, namely the mole. One mole of a compound contains 6.022 x 1023 molecules of it. It is like how a dozen eggs means 12, except that instead of 12, it's 6.022 x 1023.

One mole of sodium hydroxide happens to weigh 40 g (Ctrl-F "molar mass" on the Wikipedia article). So, the 40 g of lye that you are using contains one mole, or 6.022 x 1023 molecules, of NaOH.

Each single molecule of NaOH dissociates, or splits up, into one sodium ion and one hydroxide ion: Na+ and OH−. The hydroxide ions are responsible for the corrosiveness of strong base, as well as the slippery feeling if you accidentally get some on your hands. In this solution, you're therefore going to have one mole of hydroxide ions.

You can now transform that into a concentration, which is defined by the amount of a substance, divided by the volume that it is in. Here, the amount is 1 mol and your volume is 1 L, so the concentration of OH− is (1 mol)/(1 L) = 1 mol/L. Concentrations are commonly denoted with square brackets, so it's common to write [OH−] = 1 mol/L.

Finally, we come to the last bit. The pH of a solution is given by pH = −log10[H+], where the square brackets [H+] denote the concentration of hydrogen ions, H+. There's a slight problem: the pH is looking for [H+], whereas we only know [OH−]. Thankfully, it's also a known fact that whenever you use water as a solvent at room temperature, the following relationship holds true:

[H+] x [OH−] = 10−14 mol2/L2

Therefore, [H+] = (10−14 mol2/L2)/(1 mol/L) = 10−14 mol/L. Taking the negative logarithm of this, you get pH = 14.

If your lye is actually potassium hydroxide, you'll need to run through all those steps again. The end result isn't very different, though; you'll get a pH of 13.85.


What to do with dehydrated potatoes tainted black?

Throw them away. I would not expect potatoes to go black in the dehydration process, and although they may be safe to eat I would not expect them to be palatable, or inviting in any way. You cannot be sure they aren't toxic, and you wouldn't put them on a guest's plate, so chuck them.


How long can I keep raw-egg based salad dressing refrigerated

Without testing samples regularly to track the rate of growth of harmful bacteria, this is a hard question to answer, doubly so without proportions of ingredients.  Salt and vinegar will slow bacterial growth, but will not stop it unless you add unpalatable amounts.  Garlic has some antimicrobial activity, but it has not been well quantified, and does not operate against all bacteria.  Refrigeration also slows growth, but each fridge is different, and how the family uses the fridge (staring at the contents while deciding, for instance) can alter the true effectiveness.

Personally, I would treat the salad dressing the same way as plain raw egg yolk -- four days if kept well chilled.  The salt and vinegar probably buy another day or two, but I would not count on it.


Substitute celery seed for fresh celery in soup

If it's one stick in a pot serving several people (as it sounds from your question), it's not a major part of the flavour.  The seed also has a different flavour to the sticks and can be quite strong*, so I'd be sparing and use a pinch, crushed.  Serious eats also talks in terms of pinches, though they think it tastes "exactly like celery" or "very similar".

If there's quite a lot in there, the substitution probably isn't a good idea as the differece in flavour will be more apparent and it will also affect the texture.

*The last time I used celery seed it was home-grown which might taste stronger than bought.


It's possible that your new brand of self raising flower has more raising agent. This causes a initial raise to happen faster resulting in large 'bubbles' that are less stable. The cake rises higher and then is more prone to falls.

Fast changes in temperature or air pressure will cause the cake to collapse. That means every time you open the oven, or if your oven isn't very air tight every time you open an close the kitchen door. Loud slams of doors are especially bad.

Higher levels of raising agent are especially an issue if you live at a higher elevation or if there is low air pressure that day.


How to adjust the ingredients when recipe asks for salted peanuts and unsalted butter while I have the opposite?

Using the information from the links you provided and the information found at the Planter's Nuts website (your mileage will vary depending on brand...) and little math (for the peanut's sodium per 100g) we learn that per 100g of each ingredient the sodium content is:

Nutralite: 786mg/100g
Amul: 836mg/100g
Salted Peanuts: 430mg/100g

If the recipe calls for (using the Amul):

4 cups of salted peanuts(@150g/cup => 600g peanuts => 2500mg sodium)
and
2 tablespoons of butter (@14g/tablespoon => 28g butter => 234mg
sodium)

So, loosing 2500mg sodium from the peanuts and only recouping 234mg sodium we need to add 2266 mg of sodium...now, sodium is only about 40% of salt...meaning that we need 5.6 grams of salt...at 6.375g/teaspoon means we should add about a teaspoon of salt.

Mathematically, this 'makes sense', however given that the peanuts are probably to be added at the end I would suggest salting the peanuts directly and then mixing the peanuts(with the salt added) as directed. The process of creaming the butter may distribute the salt a little differently in the mix. I would suggest starting with 3/4 teaspoon of salt then adjusting taste.


There are literally  keto stew recipes when you search keto stew on google.
From
Delish.com:

When making keto stew:

choose low carb vegetables
replace potatoes with less starchy root vegetables
use onions and garlic judiciously
small amounts of colorful vegetables add visual appeal
add the vegetables at the last 40-60 minutes of cook time

Also, you can add heavy cream to your stew as the thickening element.


Ways/techniques to make things "fluffy/foamy" like whipped cream?

There is no single, universal technique for making random food "fluffy". And you may have to live with significant changes in the recipe and in the final results if you try it.
Classically, you have three types of foams. One is fat-based, the other is protein-based, the third depends on sudden gas production/dissolving.
The fat-based foam is only possible in liquids which are an emulsion of fat in water, and only functions within a certain range of fat/water, a favorable temperature range, and a proper size of the fat globules. This is what whipped cream is. Besides cream, you can whip that way a few other things such as ganache or mayonnaise (although mayonnaise is a bit more complicated, since it also has protein). It is almost impossible to make at home an emulsion which will behave that way, you may succeed with lecithine and very good equipment (a lab-style homogenizer will be preferable over blenders and other kitchen staples), and you will be very limited in the ingredients you use.
The protein-based foam happens when proteins link. This is also possible with only a few ingredients in the kitchen, most notably egg whites, aquafaba, and, under the right conditions, milk (that's what cappuchino wands do). It is even more finicky than fat-based foam.
The third one is the (more-or-less sudden) release of gas. This is e.g. how beer foam happens. They are always very short-lived for liquids, although in principle a sponge cake and similar baked goods are a batter that has been set into this bubbled-up state by baking.
None of the three types above are applicable to a random liquid or sauce. They all require that you start with a known ingredient that creates foams, and whip it under the proper conditions, with the least amount of additions.
A fourth, more modern way, is to try forcing a gas into the liquid from outside. This is how soda stream works, or whipped cream siphons. This can in principle work with a wide variety of liquids, but you have to do quite some food engineering before the resulting texture is acceptable. Most liquids won't hold the foam as-is, if they whip at all, so you have to add a binding agent.
So, if you want to really make a random sauce into a foam, the way to do it will be to purchase a siphon (don't forget to invest into enough charging cartridges, you will need a lot for your experimentation) and a variety of gums and other binding agents. Then you will have to experiment to determine the proper binding agent (and the proper amount of it) for your sauce. Since you probably don't want to run many hundreds of experiments per sauce, it is advisable that you also get the proper literature on the functioning of binders, and gain some hands-on experience by first following existing, optimized recipes for foams. After that, you can start designing your own recipes, and will probably get away with a dozen or two of experimental runs per sauce, depending on your level of experience and how exact your expectations of the outcome are.


Resources for reheatable meals, specifically fish?

A few principles for re-heatable food that I've found over the years:

Things with or in sauces heat nicely
Dry things don't heat as well (plain rice, for example)
Liquid distribution in the dish is important for even heating
Dryer things like meats heat better when they have glazes or toppings (keep steam in)
Things you can stir up mid-heat are nice for even heating
Flavours improve over time, use this to make reheated dishes better
Food continues to cook in the microwave (and dry out), so avoid overcooked.  This goes double for noodles (nothing worse than mushy noodles)
Thickened sauces (especially with flour) reheat thicker than when cooked


As an answer to your first question:  what chemicals do the white and yolk contain?

Unlike the yolk, which is high in lipids (fats), egg white contains almost no fat, and carbohydrate content is less than 1%, it contains water, protein, trace minerals, fatty material, vitamins, and glucose. wikipedia

To get this kind of soft eggs:

Whites set at 155°F (68°C) and yolks set at 158°F (70°C). For best results, heat water to 180°F (82°C) as measured on an instant-read thermometer. After adding eggs, adjust heat to maintain temperature at 180°F for about 6 mins (+/- 15 seconds). If you do not have a thermometer, keep the water at the early simmer stage when tiny bubbles are just beginning to break the surface. food-lab-science-of-how-to-cook-perfect-boiled-eggs

So I guess what you have read is true. Hope to enjoy.


Are the white crystals on my American Cheese safe to eat?

It is calcium lactate crystals.  It is safe to eat.  On regular cheeses it is a sign that it is aged well.  For packaged, sliced american cheese I am not sure I would care for it.  But it is a matter of personal preference.


What to use on top of a baking stone: parchment paper, a silicone sheet or a thin steel tray?

Ideally you'd use nothing.  Direct contact with the hot stone delivers the heat to the food best. Spilt food on the pizza stone can be scraped off when cold and any residue will be sterilised when the stone is preheated, as it should be for some time.  It's best to leave the stone in the oven after removing the pizza (or put it back in) as the considerable residual heat will help char the residue to a loose charcoal/ash mix that can be brushed off, leaving what's effectively a seasoned surface.
Although I store mine in the oven, I usually take it out when I'm using the oven and not the stone, as it's 5kg of granite and that takes a lot of preheating, slowing my cooking and increasing energy consumption.  If I'm not planning to use it for a while, or haven't used it for a while, I might leave it in while baking bread, being sure to preheat generously.   You can also bake off residue by putting the already-hot stone under the grill (broiler).  This can get a bit smoky though.
Having said all that, I have been known to use non-stick cooking liner, when I want to cook something on the stone but don't want to risk imparting a flavour to it (or picking up a flavour from it), or when cooking a really sticky dough like naan.


Is it ok to make mozzarella from pasteurised milk?

Yes, you can make mozzarella from pasteurized milk. You will want to avoid the so-called "ultra-pasteurized" milk if at all possible.

The reason the ultra-pasteurized milk should be avoided for cheese-making is because the extreme heat denatures the proteins and they will not solidify into curd.

This is US based, but is informative:

  "The minimum legally required temperature for pasteurization [145°F], basically has no effect on the protein," explains Metzger. "But when you get to the 170, 175°F point, the casein and the whey proteins actually start to interact with each other." Those whey proteins, he elaborates, "are similar to the proteins in eggs—when they get too hot, they start to aggregate, and they take the casein proteins with them. What you're left with are proteins that won't coagulate into the kind of curds needed to stretch mozzarella cheese." (Source)


You have to get the skin off and the flesh cooked.

The easiest way is to cut the gourd into chunks and steam it. When cooled the peel can be easily removed.

Roasting takes longer but results in a far more flavorful product. The pumpkin is more concentrated and if it browns it has more depth of flavor as well.

I have sometimes peeled the pumpkin with a peeler before cooking because I didn't want to wait for it to cool (and I'm not a huge fan of handling slimy cooked pumpkin more than I have to.)

After cooking the flesh can be mashed.

Avoid boiling. The flesh will be waterlogged and in order to make it useful for baking it would have to be reduced/settled+drained, etc. Not good eats.

Hmmm. I'm afraid one of my kids' jack-o-lanterns is going to find itself in a pumpkin curry soon.

** Edit **

I should also note that I have never produced cooked pumpkin that was overly similar to canned pumpkin. I haven't tried. The homemade pumpkin is still recognizable as having natural origins. Canned pumpkin has its place, I prefer it in pie for example, but I wouldn't consider canned pumpkin to be the goal.

** Edit part deux **

Derobert has written a beautiful blog post on this subject that puts this answer to shame:
comestible-orange-goo-making-puree-from-fresh-pumpkins


What I learned researching this question:

Brown sugar has anywhere from 3.5 - 6.5% molasses depending on whether it is light or dark brown sugar. Molasses is what makes brown sugar brown.  Brown sugar has a smaller granule than white sugar.

What all this means to a cinnamon roll filling:

When brown sugar and cinnamon (and butter) are used in the filling, the brown sugar becomes more liquidy and less gritty than white sugar.  The flavor is richer and more complex.  When I make rugalach or almond rolls, I prefer white sugar, cinnamon and butter for the filling which lets the almonds or walnuts bring the flavor to the pastry.  Cinnamon rolls do not usually have nuts so the pastry requires more flavor from the filling ingredients (and the icing, of course!)

Here's the site where I read about brown sugar:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_sugar


How do I prevent smoke problems indoors?

As SAJ14SAJ said, the best solution is to simply not live in a place like that - it can be a bit dangerous.

But since you're there, about the only thing you can do is get a decent fan and use it to direct air out of the kitchen toward rooms with open windows. Depending on the layout (and the fans) you may need multiple fans, and might want one of them to be a box fan in the window helping push air out.

For things you think may be smoky, you might also consider cooking outside if possible, on a hot plate, a camping stove, or a small grill. (Or you could just not do them at all.)


Maximum oven temperature for glass cookware

A glass casserole dish, with a casserole in it, will be safe at any temperature your oven can reach.

As Ring mentioned, the issue is not absolute temperature, but fast changes in temperature, leading to a temperature differential and thermal stresses inside the dish. Your oven cannot heat the dish fast enough to cause a problem, and the wet food inside will prevent the dish from going far above 100C, meaning that cooling it down afterwards will also be safe.

If you're using the dish to roast dry ingredients, or otherwise won't have food keeping the dish cool, it'll still be safe, but afterwards make sure to let it cool a bit before running cold water over it.

And remember the first rule for avoiding burns: HOT GLASS LOOKS LIKE COLD GLASS. Pay attention and don't pick it up with your bare hands once it's out of the oven.


Post harvest treatment of organic limes vs conventional limes

It's a common misconception that organic produce doesn't use any kind of pesticides (insecticide, herbicide or fungicide) or other 'chemicals'. Unless you're buying apples from someone's back yard, there is some form of pesticide on it. Organic produce is simply limited on which types of pesticides they can use. Your limes will certainly have an 'organic' fungicide on them. You can read more about the requirements for calling produce organic in the EU here.


How to replace water in meat (chicken, beef) with another liquid?

No, there isn't. And you're probably not actually asking the question you mean to ask.

The first problem is that, to a first approximation, lemon juice is water—approximately 92%. Chicken breast is approximately 64% water, so even if you could remove that 64% water and replace it with lemon juice, you'd get chicken with 59% water and 5% sugar and other lemon juice components. It's rather silly to remove all the water, when your end result is to reduce it a small amount.

The second problem is that the chemistry inside the cells in the meat depends on that water. Removing it would destroy the meat—the cells would all collapse and likely eject their contents, proteins would be denatured in weird ways or broken apart, etc. Even beef jerky, which you'd think of as dry, is approx. 23% water. Flour is approx. 12%. Dried rice, 10%. You're asking for drier.

Likely, what you're actually trying to do—at least, if you're cooking, not performing chemistry experiments—is get lemon flavor into your chicken. In which case, obvious ways are marinade, flavor injectors, and squeezing it on after cooking the chicken.

(BTW: You can find water content of foods by either using the USDA nutrient database, or asking Wolfram Alpha)


What is the difference between malai paneer and paneer?

Raghavan Iyer's book, 660 Curries has recipes for both Whole-milk cheese (doodh paneer) and creamy homemade cheese (malai paneer).  The only difference between teh two recipes is that the Malai paneer uses half-and-half while the doodh paneer uses whole milk.


Does salt prevent water from absorbing nutrients and falvours from food?

As a chemist, I'd say that you have it all wrong.

You add salt to pasta water to have the salt infuse into the pasta. So as the dry pasta absorbs water, salt comes into the pasta too. Salted pasta tastes better than unsalted pasta.

Salted soup tastes better than unsalted soup. Salt enhances our perception of the flavors in the soup, but it does not extract the flavors.


Does dissolved sugar really help to extract fruit flavours?

In sum: YES, sugar DOES really help to extract fruit flavors.

The answer quoted in the edit does NOT imply that "absorption is slowed down" in general.  It merely states that in a sugar solution, sugar will generally not move out of fruit; it doesn't say anything about what else happens.

Osmosis is simply a process by which the stuff on both sides of a barrier tries to come to equilibrium.  Increasing sugar content in a solution will only decrease the amount of sugar that comes out of the fruit, but it will often simultaneously increase the water that diffuses out (along with many things dissolved in that water, like fruit flavors).

In other words, in a plain water solution, sugar will diffuse out of fruit to raise the water's sugar concentration.  However, in most cases when a sugar solution is used, it is deliberately higher in concentration than the sugar content within the fruit cells (as in the strawberry example mentioned in the question, where there is basically no water at first outside the fruit, so water is forced out to bring the system into better equilibrium).

Sugar is very hydrophilic, which basically means it attracts water.  If the sugar solution has a higher sugar content than the moisture within the fruit cells (as is true in most recipes using this technique), water will diffuse out of the fruit.  Anything that is water-soluble, such as various flavor components, will come along with it to some extent.  Meanwhile, sugar will also be forced into the fruit, changing its texture -- when done in excess over a period of time, such a process can actually preserve the fruit by lowering the water content substantially (driving it out into the solution) while raising the internal sugar content of the fruit, resulting in candied fruit.

You may note that candied fruit generally lacks many of the flavors of fresh fruit.  This is because many flavor components were extracted along with the water by the sugar solution.

Regarding questions that were raised in comments, the same process occurs with alcohol in a solution.  There's almost no alcohol inside the fruit, so alcohol's presence outside the fruit will force water out of the fruit, carrying flavors along with it.  Alcohol also tends to dissolve certain flavor components that water doesn't dissolve as well, so it will gather different sets of flavors than water alone.  Note also that different flavor components will come out of the interaction of this osmosis process with the cell membrane compared to, say, simply crushing the fruit, again partly because some flavor molecules are more soluble in alcohol.


Best potato varieties to use for mashing

The variety of potato used for mashing really is a matter of preference, and the style of product you desire.

Light, Fluffy Mashed Potatoes

The best potatoes for light, fluffy, very smooth and elegent mashed potatoes are starchy varieties, such as the US Idaho.

Dense, Creamy Mashed Potatoes

For dense, creamy mashed potatoes (which also hold longer), a waxy potato like a Red Bliss or a fingerling is more ideal.

Middle of the Road

You can also get excellent results with middle of the road potatoes which are between the starchy and waxy extremes, such as the US Yukon Gold.


Lavender subsitute for Grilled Eggplant Nicoise

You can certainly try it. I don't know if the tulsi flavor will be what you want or not, though.

I also don't think I've ever heard of eggplant niçoise with lavender (and couldn't find a recipe with it) so it's probably also fine without it if you don't think the flavor's going to be what you want.


Why does my invert sugar always crystallize?

The crystalization is to be expected, that's what inverted sugar does. It is the same thing as with honey, which is chemically nothing but a contaminated inverted sugar. So, you are not doing anything wrong. In an inverted sugar at sucrose ratios, you will get sucrose crystalizing back out of the solution, just as you are observing now.

If you really need it smooth, you can try changing the ratio by adding some fructose, as such a mixture is less prone to crystalizing.

The one thing that puzzles me in your description is that you cannot get it back smooth by heating, this should in principle be possible. Maybe try adding a bit of water to the syrup itself during heating, so it can dissolve again.


How to eliminate rubbery texture in pan fried veggie burgers made with vital wheat gluten

The rubbery texture can be from over-kneading when combining the burgers. For some recipes, I have pre-baked at a low temperature then grilled to get the right texture on the outside. This would work with a recipe with a resting period as well as one that just dries.

Also, if the egg replacer is not binding correctly (I am assuming you are using Ener-G), try using a chia or flax egg (1 tbsp of either milled, then combined with 3 tbsp water and set to congeal). This will raise the moisture in your patty, which likely already has a good amount based on your recipe, so you can use other wet ingredients instead of adding water.


Commercial cocoa is frequently "dutched" or treated with alkalai, which increases the dispersibility of the powder.

"The process darkens the cocoa ingredients, changes the taste by reducing bitterness, and increases the dispersability of cocoa powder for various applications such as beverages".

Source (paywall, sorry): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18710243


Gas production is one of the biggest signs of botulism. Botulism also doesn't like strongly acidic solutions. Your pickled peppers sound safe.


Does a strong smell when cooking spinach indicate anything?

True, you may have cooked it too much and spinach is cooked when it reaches 160 degrees F.  If the spinach overcooks, it does not necessarily mean it is bad, it is just overcooked.  In my opinion, eat it, I have because mine did not taste bad as I understand yours did not taste bad.

Now, another idea is that when you have smelly spinach, you might have cooked in on very high heat and you burned it or overcooked it, you could still eat it.  Again, if it does not taste bad, it is ok to eat it.

Another idea is that you used rancid oil, which using the rancid oil on the spinach would taste bad and you would then get rid of it. That would taste bad.

Also there is the problem of listeria, which is some kind of a bacteria, I think, and the spinach is bad to begin with and will or might make you sick.  Please look that up, lettuce also has that problem.  I think the spinach would have a blackish hue to it and taste bad. Get rid of it.

Lastly, what I read about spinach is that you do not re-heat cooked spinach, eat it cold.  I make big batches of creamed spinach, my family loves it, takes it to their homes, nukes it, and nobody has gotten sick.  I am no doctor, so take that info for what it is worth.

Lastly secondly, I use frozen spinach to make dips.  I make too much of that also and I make my own creations of that.  My family likes to take that home also.  What I do with any dip is put out smaller portions at a time and fill up as necessary.  It is time consuming but as a safety issue it makes me feel good and when you feel you are doing your best to keep people eating safer, it is worth it.

At very Last, use your judgement, don't take chances.  When in doubt, throw it out.  I do what I do because I have a lot of experience, but that does not mean I don't get into trouble once in awhile.  Good Luck


Would it be a good idea to mix brown sugar with white sugar in bread?

Brown sugar is equivalent to sugar plus molasses. If you mix brown sugar and (white) sugar, you'll get slightly brown sugar. Any benefits you were expecting from the (white) sugar, you'll still get. Any benefits you were expecting from the molasses, you'll get less of.


Will swapping the red wine in my spaghetti bolognese with port wreck the dish?

In short, using port as a substitute for red wine will not wreck the dish.

Though the flavour is different (and richer) and will make your bolognese taste different as a result, the taste should not be bad. I frequently do this as I am not a red wine drinker, and port keeps far better in an open bottle. I would recommend using slightly less than when using red wine, but this is highly subjective.


Flank steak came out chewy this time. What's to blame?

Perhaps it's because you used grass-fed instead of corn-fed beef. Grass-fed beef tends to be more chewy and flank steaks aren't exactly the most tender of cuts when stir-fried.

It also seems that the slices may have been in the pan/wok a tad too long, especially when they aren't particularly thick.

You could try using a fruit-based marinade that includes pineapples or papayas. They're known to have enzymes which break down meat fibres exceptionally well. I've found that they're far more effective than purely acidic marinades when applied to meats.


Apple pie making...how to add the crumble crust on top of the mound of raw apples?

According to the crumb recipe on the Epicurious Website, the crumb mixture should be the texture of wet sand and then packed down on the mound of filling:

  1 cup all purpose flour

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

  1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

  Blend first 5 ingredients in processor. Add chilled butter cubes;
  using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles wet sand.

  (After mounding the filling in the crust, pack topping over and around apples. Bake pie on baking
  sheet in pre-heated 400-degree oven, until topping is golden, about 40 minutes (cover top with foil
  if browning too quickly). Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until
  apples in center are tender when pierced and filling is bubbling
  thickly at edges, about 45 minutes longer. Cool until warm, about 1
  hour. Serve with ice cream.


Where to source Tapioca balls for Homemade Milk Tea?

I would personally go buy them at an Asian grocery or online (Amazon or something similar), but you can make them. It seems fairly straightforward if you have the tapioca powder.

Recipe One

Recipe Two


Is raw brined pork with a very slight yellow tint and is no longer limp spoiled?

Color and texture are not reliable indicators of food safety.  You have to think freshness, temperature and environment.  If the pork has been kept in the refrigerator the entire time (under 40 degrees F), then it is likely safe to eat (given that you haven't kept is around for days before you brined it)...add to that, a briney environment...relatively high in salt content...You are not going to grow anything nasty in that.  I would say they are safe to grill, although, that's a bit long for a brine on pork chops. "No longer limp" tells me that you've begun to cure them in the brine.


Pureeing onions makes them release a lot more of their water than just chopping them, and if you added extra water on top of that, you probably had a very wet paste. That makes it take a lot longer to cook - while you're just boiling away water, it's not hot enough to brown much.

So cook it as long as it takes - it's not going to become bitter. (If anything, it'll get sweeter!)  And if you want it to cook faster, don't add extra water. If you watch carefully, you can also turn the stove up hotter at the beginning to boil off water faster, then reduce the heat once it's drying out enough to avoid burning it.

If whatever you used to make the puree doesn't work well without the extra water, you can still use it; just know that it'll make it take longer to cook. Otherwise, you could try grating the whole onion on a cheese grater, which does a surprisingly good job - it'll still be really juicy though!


What is the advantage to using a knife beveled on one side only?

For vegetable knives, the main advantage of the front-side single bevel is that it's easier to make super-thin cuts. For example, a test of knife skill involves paring daikon radish to remove the peel, then continuing to cut to make a long continuous paper-thin strip, longer than you would be able to make if you just sliced it. See, for example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLZUJGyuhQM

People who have mastered this skill can also make remarkably fast matchstick cuts after making the long piece, and the lack of back bevel may reduce the amount of food that sticks to the knife. Some of these single-bevel knives that features a slightly concave backside (urasuki), which may also reduce the amount of adherence of food to the knife.

For crab knives, the honing is on the opposite side to the hand (the back of the knife), which may reduce the amount of shell fragments that could embed themselves into the meat, and probably allows the meat to cut more cleanly.

In practice, though, most Japanese households use dual-beveled knives. Single-bevel is more common in professional kitchens, especially in the Kansai area where fancy cutting techniques are used in presentation to a greater extent than in Tokyo or north Japan.

Although I have a nice nakiri knife and a cheap santoku, both are dual-beveled.

Knives meant for cutting regular fish or meat are usually, but not always, dual-beveled, the exception again mostly being for professionals. (I think yanagiba and sushi knives are usually single-bevel, but are again mostly used in professional kitchens and almost never at home). I thought sobakiri and udonkiri were typically single-bevel to help push the cut noodles away, but more recently I am less sure that the single-bevel is as common as I had previously thought for soba or udon knives.

The Japanese wikipedia entry for usuba knives suggests that the single-bevel edge is more durable, so, if true, that would be an advantage in high volume restaurant use. In my experience a thin, well sharpened Japanese blade may chip more easily than a thicker blade, so that resonates with me, even though I'm not 100% sure the notion that a single bevel is more durable is more than received wisdom.

With practice, I think you can get slightly higher precision cuts with a single bevel than with dual-bevel knives, however, I don't think they are as easy to use for cooks with average knife skills.


Convert weight of Confectioners sugar to caster sugar

In general in recipes measuring by weight, you can use the same weight, as 50g of one kind of thing is usually the same amount as 50g of another kind of the same thing (in this case sugar).  With volume measurements this is not the case, as certain kinds of things will pack into the measuring cup differently (flour is notorious for packing, for instance, and no two cups ever seem to come out the same).

In your specific case, however, a direct substitution may mot work as desired.  Confectioners or powdered sugar often has a small amount of cornstarch mixed with the sugar to prevent clumping.  Its possible that a no-bake style cheesecake recipe may be relying on that, so you may want to substitute a few grams of cornstarch for some of your caster sugar. I would try 45g sugar and 5g cornstarch.


How can I improve my barbecue sauce recipe?

I use a similar recipe, unfortunately I don't remember the original source, but I've changed over time anyway.

Things I don't use that you have in your recipe:

Sugar
Jack Daniels
Cider Vinegar
Worcestershire sauce
mustard

Things I do use:

Lots of fresh ground spices. Typically 4 or 5 cloves, teaspoon of cumin seeds, tablespoon of fennel seeds, black pepper and salt.
Fresh herbs, including Rosemary, Bay and thyme
Balsamic vinegar - about half a bottle of inexpensive stuff
Orange zest - zest of one whole orange
Smoked Paprika - about 4 heaped teaspoons
Olive oil - about 4 tablespoons

grind-up the spices and place in the marinade tray. medium fine chop the fresh herbs (leave the fresh bay leaves whole) with the orange zest and a whole bulb of garlic, then add to the spice mixture. To that add juice from an orange, the Balsamic, followed by the ketchup and olive oil. Mix well.

Score the meat well and add to the marinade tray. rub the marinade mixture into all the scores so that the meat is well penetrated.

Cover the tray with foil and cook in an oven for about an hour (depends on the meat and the amount) once it's out of the oven it can be placed on the barby.


As the instructions on the box say, you shouldn't put fresh pineapple (or kiwi-fruit) in the Jell-O. Apparently pineapple has an enzyme called bromelain that breaks up the gelatin into its component amino acids.

You can use canned pineapple instead as the pineapple is cooked during the canning process and this denatures the bromelain.


Some background

Unlike animals, which have large amounts of fat and related substances throughout their body (cholesterol for example is a major part of the animal cell wall, the insulation of nerves also contain lots of fat), plants have cellulose based cell walls and very little fat in most of their tissues. They use fat mostly for energy storage for their seedlings, and sometimes to bribe animals towards their seeds. So, meaningful amounts of oil are practically always restricted to the seeds, with some exceptions (olive, avocado) found in the fruits. Fat does exist in other parts of plants, but in miniscule amounts.

The economics of oil making

Traditionally, oil has been made by pressing. For this, people used edible seeds, preferring those which are rich in fat, large, and easily separated from non-seed matter. That's how you get traditional oils like sunflower, walnut or peanut. With industrialization, seeds as byproducts of other food became available (e.g. rice bran or grape seeds) and methods were developed for getting oil out of seeds which are lower in them, for example chemical extraction. So the palette of available oils grew. Nowadays, you also get speciality oils which are not traditional, for example argan oil and pine nut oil. They tend to cost more because 1) there are no economies of scale, 2) there is less demand, and 3) the traditional oils are the low-hanging fruit in yield.

By the way, even though you tagged this with "vegetables" and stores use "vegetable oil" as a catchall term for different oils, the oil is not made from the plant parts we eat as a vegetable. Corn oil, safflower oil, etc. are all made from the seeds, not from the green parts of the plant you would usually cook as a "vegetable".

Making oil at home

You obviously cannot start a huge production with hexane extraction and whatnot, so you will have to keep to traditional methods, which is basically pressing. This can be fun, but you also have to consider what it is not:

it is not going to save you money. Because of the logistics involved and the economies of scale for industrial producers, the seeds used for 1 liter of oil will cost you more than buying one liter of oil of the same time. That's before you start counting opportunity costs.
it is not going to be convenient. The logistics of having a large oil press sitting around, or dealing with large amounts of raw material and spent pomace for small amounts of oil, or spending time to make the oil, are considerable.
it will not give you access to more exotic oils. As discussed above, with home methods you are constrained to certain oils, and these are the same oils which have been popular since preindustrial times and thus widely available. Even when you think of plants which have a good oil yield but are not traditionally used for oil, you only have to search a little bit online and you will find that the oil is probably easier to obtain than the raw material. Good examples are argan oil or hemp oil. If they seem costly, read the points above - they will be even costlier when you make them yourself.

I am not trying to tell you not to do it, but to point out the realities of doing it. If you still want to do it, go ahead - sometimes the joy of having learned something new, or of making the things you consume with your own hands is worth the hassle.

A rough list of good plants to use

I will restrict this one to nuts, because 1) it is much easier to obtain nutritional information for them than for other seeds, and 2) it is unlikely that you will find a good source for other kinds of seeds. So here is what a simple search on nutritiondata yields for nuts high in fat. Note that it is not perfect, because it depends to some extent on the preparation of the nuts. Also the categorization isn't perfect - the list includes some not-exactly-nuts like coconut and sunflower seeds, but not others like peanuts. Note that you can buy the oil from practically all of these. The ones I have not seen as oil are hickory nuts and butternuts, but I have never seen the actual nuts either, so I suspect that in areas where you can get the nuts themselves, you will probably also find the oil.

Macadamia
Pecans
Coconut
Pine nuts
Brazil nuts
Walnuts
Hickory nuts
Hazelnuts
Butternuts
Sunflower seeds
Almonds
Sesame seeds


What is an easy way to turn a heavy-ish cake?

Well, the obvious answer is to buy a metal cake pan. Otherwise:

You could try putting a jellyroll or cookie sheet under it. Then grab the cookie sheet to rotate. Beware that depending on what the pan is made of, it may affect browning especially on the bottom of the cake. Adding some insulation (e.g., parchment) may help.
Plain aluminum foil may work too. That'll slide fairly easily on the rack, and again you can grab it easily. Especially if you pull the pan out of the oven, aluminum foil surrounded by air will cool quickly, and you'll be able to grab it without the inflexible mitts.
Similarly, a sheet of parchment paper under the pan. Same principle as the aluminum, except even at oven temperatures you can grab parchment briefly.


How to make XXL Watermelon Jell-O Shots without falling apart?

I'm totally retracting everything I said in comments. Doing this with just Jello (no unflavored gelatin) works just fine. The key is A LOT of Jello.

After reading your question I researched the question of "How much gelatin is in a box of Jello?" The only answer I was able to find was that a 4-serving box of Jello contains as much gelatin as a .25oz packet of unflavored gelatin powder (Knox). So, in order to test the ratio of the recipe with one 4-serving box of Jello, I added 80ml each of boiling water and vodka.

Unbelievably, it worked. The firmness of the gel seems just right for the purpose.

This is cherry Jello, so the color is too burgundy. Unfortunately, I had to do it again to say for sure that the flavor is OK. I had no Jello, but my next door neighbor had some sugar-free. I so fully didn't expect it to work that I didn't care that it was sugar-free even though I knew full well that aspartame at that concentration was going to be inedible (and I was right - UGH).

So, I went to the store today and bought an 8-serving package of Jello. This time I used strawberry flavor with real sugar. In a bizarre coincidence, I saw something else in the store that I had never before seen in the state of Alaska: Mini Watermelons.

WOW, so I got one of those too.

Here we go again. I mixed the double sized box of Jello with 160ml of boiling water and whisked until dissolved (that took a couple of minutes), then I mixed in 160ml of vodka. As that cooled on the counter I scooped out most of the flesh from half of the watermelon.

After chilling overnight, it's all over now but the cutting.

The only reason I felt the need to lean the slices up against the custard cup in that shot is that I sliced them too thin. I was trying to make up for the fact that the watermelon is tiny. Cut these suckers a good inch thick (2.5 cm) and they'll stand just fine.

So, it works. Use 6 8-serving or 12 4-serving boxes of Jello to 4 cups (946ml) each of boiling water and vodka.

I had just enough jello/water/vodka mixture left after filling the watermelon to make a shot of that plus a shot using the same ratio of Jello/gelatin/water/vodka as in the original recipe.

This stuff is so boozy, that I think the additional flavor and sugar of the all Jello version actually tastes better than the original recipe.

I'm shocked, but you don't need unflavored gelatin to make this silly thing.

EDIT: 24 Hours later, I've got to add this. As I was carving the flesh out of the watermelon rind yesterday, I realized that I was being silly to be so thorough, especially at the ends. I really only needed the center slice for the experiment and a photograph. So just now I knocked off the Jello from one of the end pieces to eat some watermelon. That was really good! It had absorbed some of the vodka and flavoring, but the texture was just like fresh watermelon. So if you do this, do it a day in advance and leave some of the flesh of the watermelon. You'll thank me :).


Throw it away. It could be safe, especially if you thoroughly cook it as that will kill any parasites and break down any toxins present. However, even if may not hurt you it's probably going to taste pretty awful.


Having trouble getting gluten free bread to rise

I imagine you have tried recipes already with an appropriate quantity of xanthum gum and starches... are you making any substitutions, or omitting ingredients?

Substitutions really change the game significantly, even unwitting substitutions like sweet rice flour vs white rice flour, potato flour vs potato starch. Substituting an alternative flour directly for wheat flour in non-GF recipes won't work (unless you find a GF flour blend that specifies so - for bread, I haven't).

And when I started GF baking I omitted some tiny amounts of ingredients as I didn't want to go out and buy a whole packet/bottle of something just to use a few grams. Turns out some of those little things were absolutely essential. Don't skimp on them. Also, if using yeast, you can take a little bit and proof it to make sure it's not the dud.

Try finding a specifically gluten-free bread recipe with many positive comments, so you are sure it's not the recipe that's the issue.

Personally, my first proper attempt with no subs or omissions at making bread (my first GF bread, and first bread loaf ever - so it had to be foolproof for me) was with this recipe and it rose nicely, much to my relief and delight. Maybe give it a try, and once you got the rising bit down, work on other recipes from there?

If they are not working even though you are following them to a T, perhaps temperature is your issue - is the water too cold or hot for the yeast? Are you leaving the bread in a cold spot? I have a cool kitchen, so when my oven is pre-heating while rising I place the loaf above the stove to rise, as it receives ambient warmth from the heated oven.


Can you make popcorn in a pressure cooker?

I never tried it, but I don't think it is a good idea.

The point of popcorn popping is that you cook the inside of the kernel within its hard shell until the internal pressure increases so much that it breaks the shell, releasing the starchy liquid inside as a foam. You need a pressure gradient, with higher pressure inside the kernel than on the outside. So, introducing high pressure outside the kernel is counterproductive. It will certainly result in more duds. I don't know if some kernels will be able to pop, but if yes, I expect them to take longer to pop, and create a denser foam, not light and airy popcorn. So, while I guess you could experiment with it if you don't have anything better to do, theory predicts that the experiment outcome won't be good.

Why did you want to try it at all? Popcorn doesn't take long to pop.


How to make a beef or vegetable broth more dense?

You're very likely going to need a thickener, especially if you don't make your own stock. (On a side note - I highly recommend making your own stock at least once. You end up with a vastly different stock/broth when you do, and in this case, it might achieve the consistency you're looking for, because a good animal based stock has gelatin in it already.)

Gelatin shouldn't generate "blocks or blobs" when incorporated correctly, but if you don't want to use gelatin, you can also add corn starch, arrowroot powder, potato starch, tapioca flour, or other starch to thicken the broth. (Flour is an option, too, but I prefer other thickeners, since in my experience, it often takes more flour to thicken something, especially later in a cooking, and the dish takes on some of the flour's flavor and texture.)

Gums (the compounds often used to give non-dairy milks their creamier qualities) can also work. Xanthan gum is pretty easy to come by, though you may also be able to find guar gum. These usually only require fractions of a teaspoon, so shouldn't be enough to affect taste or most of the other properties of the broth except thickness.

For all of these, the usual way to incorporate them correctly, so they don't create blobs, is to thoroughly dissolve them in some water before adding them to the cooking pot. You'll want to use a whisk or similar utensil, to ensure any blobs are broken up.

If you want something more akin to stew, as opposed to gravy, you should only need to cook down the liquid in the broth for a while, or just drain off some of the broth when serving. The increases the ratio of vegetables and meat to liquid, which gives the dish as a whole a heartier and more filling feel, without actually making any of the components thicker. This is essentially how tomato sauce vs paste works -- the sauce has a higher water content than the paste. Because the tomato puree doesn't dissolve in the water, the result is a thicker or thinner solution. You can puree the ingredients in the soup (vegetables, meat, etc) to get a tomato sauce/paste kind of consistency.


The only thing I have ever found basting a roast does is increase the time it takes my food to cook because I keep opening the oven door.  I don't buy that it helps with flavor or moisture.


How long do I sous-vide a 5.5lb veal breast?

It depends on the thickness of the meat and how well done you like it.  There's an excellent reference here: http://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Beef


Well, if it comes directly from Southern Italy you could use it to make some Southern Italy specialty like pastiera napoletana, sfogliatelle napoletane or cannoli siciliani, all of which require candied fruits.

Traditionally pastiera is done with a mix of candied citron and orange peel plus candied pumpkin (cucuzzata) which however is not the easiest ingredient to find.

Citrus is definitely a must for sfogliatelle. There are two types of sfogliatelle ricce and frolle. Sfogliatelel ricce are better tasting in my opinion, but can be challenging to do at home.

Sfogliatella riccia

Sfogliatella frolla

Cannoli traditionally only have candied orange peels, but I guess citron would do well in them anyway.

Cannolo siciliano

Note: the pastry in the Wikipedia photo for pastiera seems way too thick and crumbly. The pastry should be very thin, there just to keep everything together, and should not be the dominant taste.


How to substitute unsweetened coconut for sweetened coconut?

Assuming you want to keep the recipe as close as possible to the original, you could simply replace the 3 cups of sweetened shredded coconut by sweetening yourself 3 cups of unsweetened shredded coconut.
Here, as an example, this is a recipe to sweeten 1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut. You can find the details and adjust the recipe to make 3 cups. Keep in mind that it is designed for organic unsweetened shredded coconut, so the quality of your coconut should play an important role in the result. As a quick summary of the recipe they provide this image

PS: If you plan on storing some, remember to allow to dry as the recipe says.


They just look like gimmick frying basket used for serving.

When you fry things, you need to have "space" in the fryer to have a good consistent frying so that you have as much surface of the ingredients touch the hot oil as possible.

If the ingredients get clustered together, they will stick and probably not cook evenly.


How to re-season only the "high" sides of a cast-iron pan

The first picture looks like rust. The second picture looks like the sides are oiled but never really cured properly through proper levels of heat for drying and polymerization.

For this I don't think you need to strip your pans, but you do need to create a proper finished seasoning.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Using regular dish soap, hot water and a green scrubby, scrub the pot until it's smooth. Get any rust and food deposits off, but don't worry so much about the oil, it's ok if it's left thin. Don't scrub off the good seasoning, just polish it a bit with the scotchbrite.

Place the pot in the oven until all the water has been driven off the pan. This will warm the pan up, let it expand some and if any of the metal is actually bare, will allow the oil to also warm up and fill any pores if they are exposed.

With a pot holder or folded towel take the pan out and using a strong paper towel, smear your favorite seasoning oil and wipe it around the whole pan, inside and out, and in and around the handles very thoroughly. Makes sure you get all inside the handle where the peg hole is for hanging the pan.

Once it's covered thoroughly with oil, get a fresh paper towel and remove all the oil that you can. You don't want any oil to be able to form any drips during the curing process.

Put a cookie sheet on the bottom shelf, and then place the pan upside down on the top rack. Set your timer for 1 hour.

When the timer goes off take a look at the finish of the pan, does it look dry? Does it feel dry or does it feel gummy or tacky? If it's not dried solid, put it back in the oven until it is completely dry. Your choice of oil will be the significant factor in how long it takes to dry. Oils with low smoking points will dry faster than those with high smoking points. Olive oil will smoke much cooler than peanut oil for instance, and therefore will dry faster. That's not necessarily a good thing, but choice of oil to season with is a whole different topic, and it's a complicated topic with more than one factor, so let's not worry about that here. If you want to choose a different oil, it may make sense to strip your pans to start over from bare metal, but I don't recommend that to anyone except zealous advocates who insist on it.

Once it's dry, wipe on and wipe off some more oil, and put back in the oven. This time set the timer for however long it took before for the pans to dry completely. Repeat this between 4 and 9 times. After 9 times you aren't gaining anything more and if you care for your cast iron in the proper way, your seasoning will thicken and harden naturally without needing a dedicated seasoning process. It's good for the seasoning to cycle through the cooking process getting hot and cold, wiped clean and re-oiled.

Always wipe your pan down while it's still hot so the oil left over from cooking can glue itself to the hot pan and polymerize the next time you preheat your pan.


Tips for getting a meat loaf to come out just right?

You'll likely do better first trying a recipe, and see how it comes out and we can tell you how to adjust it for your preferences, but a few things to consider when making meatloaf:

Don't squish the meat or work it too much while you're mixing it; you'll end up with a rather dense meatloaf.  (unless of course you like that sort of thing).
Some people prefer on fattier grinds of meat for a 'juicier' meatloaf ... I personally go with 85/15 or fattier.
Mixing types of fat with different melting characteristics will also change the texture; for this reason, some recipes call for adding pork sausage, or a blend of ground pork, beef and veal.
Vessel is important -- some people will cook their meatloaf in a loaf pan; personally, I like a little crust on mine, but because of the grease that comes off during baking, I use a broiler pan.
Shape will affect the crust and cooking time -- a larger cross-section will need a longer cooking time, but the top may crust up too much; you can either tent with foil while cooking, coat with a glaze, top with bacon strips, etc.
Mixing the meat while chilled will keep the meatloaf less dense, but allowing it to warm up before cooking will allow it to cook more evenly.  (so the outside isn't overcooked while the middle's still cold; especially important if you're not going with a glaze or similar)
Almost any vegetables can be added as a filler, if you pre-cook them to soften and remove most of their moisture so they're not overly wet.  Onions, bell pepper, carrots, cellery, dark greens (spinach, chard, etc), summer squash (eg. zucchini, yellow squash) all work well.
To speed up cooking time, or if you're living alone and know you won't eat the whole thing, consider making smaller loaves.  You can even make it in a burger patty size & shape for individual servings.


How long can I soak red kidney beans for?

Stir and watch for bubbles.

Beans tend to start fermenting after a day of soaking. It's not sure they will, but they often do. They will still be edible, if slightly sub-par if they just began, but a day more and you should toss them.
If you see the soaked beans to "fizzle" like carbonated drink, toss them. If they barely release a minimal amount of bubbles or none at all, cook them thoroughly and you're good. Also, if they start minimally fizzling, make sure to wash them thoroughly. Most of "spoilage" is in the water and on the surface.


How to shred carrots without them getting mushy

The best method I've found for this is to use a vegetable peeler. This results in nice, beautiful ribbons with no mush at all.

I recently used this method when making homemade cole slaw and it gave a wonderful texture and presentation. I'm not sure if it's the size you're looking for, but given how well it worked with the cole slaw I made, I can't imagine it couldn't be used successfully for a salad.

To do this, you'd simply peel the carrot, discard any dirty peels, and then continue to "peel" the carrot. The strips you get will be even, clean, and without any mush at all.

If this method is not to your liking, certain food processors have attachments which may be able to give you results similar to the shredded carrot you can find pre-packaged in the store. Yet, I couldn't say if this would result in a mushy consistency, as I haven't used that method myself.

Update: Note my comment below. There is a device known as a "carrot shredder" which may be what you're looking for. It looks like a vegetable peeler, but has notches on it. This results in shreds instead of ribbons.


Try to put your silicon tray in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes. I had the exact same problem and it worked fine for me.


What you have is rust.  You'll want to strip the grates down and re-season them

I've had mixed-luck over the years with cast iron grates on gas grills -- yes, they cook things really well, but if you leave the burners on high to burn off any food bits left on the grates after cooking, you'll risk burning off the seasoning ... which then leads to rusting.


How to make salt in burger permeate throughout the entire meat?

This 'trick' is used by many a fine chef. Meat is salted, wrapped and refrigerated hours or even overnight, prior to cooking. Yes, salt will draw moisture from the meat initially, but over time that moisture will migrate back into the meat taking the salt with it! The salt also breaks down the protein structure in the muscle rendering a more tender steak.
The steak is rinsed and dried (a wet steak will steam not char), seasoned, and fired.
Ground beef can be handled in the same fashion. Using a medium or coarse salt and erring on the less salty side, you can find the right proportion to suit your taste. Season before forming or after. Some contend that the seasoning is made bitter by the heat and flame of the grill. Go figure.

Other tips: The meat should be mixed and formed with a gentle hand — use only as much pressure as it takes to hold the patties together. For almost foolproof rare or medium-rare meat, go right from fridge to grill.


It's possible that the breading/spice mixture has been revealed, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. They also provide a full recipe here, though as far as I can tell, the solid part is the spice mixture, and they're filling in the rest of the recipe.

They say it seems to be a good match... with the addition of MSG:

  But more important, did it taste like the Colonel’s secret blend of herbs and spices? It came very close, yet something was still missing. That’s when a reporter grabbed a small container of the MSG flavor-enhancer Accent (how did that get in the test kitchen?) and sprinkled it on a piece of the fried chicken. That did the trick. Our chicken was virtually indistinguishable from the batch bought at KFC. (Does KFC add MSG? A KFC spokesperson confirms that it does use it in the Original Recipe chicken.)

The full story: a nephew of Colonel Sanders spoke with a reporter and showed him a recipe he claimed was the original recipe, then later downplayed it:

  "That is the original 11 herbs and spices that were supposed to be so secretive," he says with conviction.

  (In a subsequent phone interview with a Tribune editor, Ledington dialed back his certainty and expressed reluctance about sharing a recipe that — if it's legit — ranks among corporate America's most closely guarded secrets. "It could be; I don't know for sure," he said about the handwritten list of ingredients, adding that this was the first time he'd shown it to a reporter. "I've only had that album for four years, since my sister passed away.")

KFC's official responses were of a "neither confirm nor deny" flavor, so it's pretty hard to say if this is real or not, but it certainly could be. The clearest they said was:

  "Lots of people through the years have claimed to discover or figure out the secret recipe, but no one's ever been right."

The handwritten recipe:

Transcribed:

  11 Spices - Mix With 2 Cups White Fl.

  1) 2/3 Ts salt
  2) 1/2 Ts Thyme
  3) 1/2 Ts Basil
  4) 1/3 Ts Origino
  5) 1 Ts Celery Salt
  6) 1 Ts Black Pepper
  7) 1 Ts Dried Mustard
  8) 4 Ts Paprika
  9) 2 Ts Garlic Salt
  10) 1 Ts Ground Ginger
  11) 3 Ts White Pepper


What alternative gelling agents can I use for jam and marmalade?

Tapioca Jelly is interesting stuff:

  A typical recipe for tapioca jelly can be made by washing 2 tablespoonfuls of tapioca, pouring a pint of water over it, and soaking for three hours. It is then placed over low heat and simmered until quite clear. If too thick, a little boiling water can be added. It can be sweetened with white sugar, flavored with coconut milk or a little wine, and eaten alone or with cream.

Of course, not all tapioca jelly recipes are yummy at first go, so you'll have to experiment.

Powdered tapioca starch is the starting material of choice, not the pearls or cubes etc.


Why did my fresh pasta come out pasty and lumpy?

Fresh pasta cooks in just a few minutes, so taste it early. It should be al-dente just like properly cooked dried pasta. Let your fresh pasta dry (I hang mine over the back of a chair) for half an hour or longer before you cook it, so that there's some crunch for the al-dente feel.

Most recipes advise "type 00" flour, which is milled extra fine. You should be able to tell when you've kneaded enough - it just needs to feel perfectly smooth in your hands. You don't need to knead for ages like bread dough, but you do need to have mixed the liquid and the flour completely thoroughly.


How to differentiate a ceramic pan from a teflon one?

Have never seen white teflon coating on cookware (even if white teflon exists in other applications); if you want to minimize exposure to teflon fumes in case of overheating accidents (eg if you have pet birds in the house), be aware that some ceramic lined pans have a teflon protected outside.

Some black/grey/patterned "ceramic" coatings, however, seem to be hybrid (teflon reinforced with ceramic dust).

If in doubt, check whether there is a manufacturer and product name for the coating mentioned on the packaging - this is common with good quality coated cookware, you can then look up the specs for it on the internet. If such research yields unclear results, that does not speak for the quality of the coating.

Be aware that the average ceramic coating you'll find on cookware is far from equal to teflon in nonstick properties, seems to be more sensitive to thermal shock or other damage - while it will not come off, it will quickly lose the nonstick properties. Also, white ceramic coatings can stain.


How to prepare Stevia leaves for consumption?

Stevia leaves are commonly cut, then hung for drying, then either ground up into little flakes and used sparingly in drinks such as teas or recipes. The leaves themselves are also very commonly used unground as garnish in drinks as well as added to recipes.

Just remember to compensate accordingly for the extra sweetness they will provide, and you really cant go wrong with some experimentation at first.

In terms of a particular recipe I'm not really sure what to recommend so hopefully this is still helpful.


Homemade yogurt hygiene; can the results be dangerous?

Food safety for homemade yogurt works basically the same way as cooking: you are safe as long as you respect the needed time and temperature restrictions.

Yogurt food safety risks

The reason yogurt is safe after staying at room temperature is the same as in all fermented foods. It has a live bacterial culture of benign bacteria, and these fill all available ecological niches, or "spoil" them with products which humans can eat (lactic or acetic acid), so no pathogens can grow. The two risks are

if you have a large colony of pathogens before you introduce the yogurt culture, the yogurt culture cannot grow and overtake the ecosystem
if you start with small numbers of both yogurt culture and other (potentially pathogenic) microorganisms, but expose it to an environment that is not well suited to the yogurt culture's needs, it can happen that the other microorganisms multiply quicker and become the ones that overtake the ecosystem.
You can avoid both risks by simply following the proper process.

A nice thing about yogurt is that its fermented nature means it typically spoils by molds instead of bacteria (at least when kept in the fridge), and molds are visible. So, if you have old yogurt (that was safely made) and it's not moldy, you can consider it safe.

The safe process for making yogurt

Start with safe milk, don't try to "rescue" old milk by yogurting it. Not even if you can't detect any spoilage.
Pasteurize the milk (which has the double purpose of reducing bacteria and changing the milk protein structure) - if you leave that out, it is not safe
Let cool down to the proper temperature - for safety, don't let it cool down below that then reheat, continue as soon as it is cooled.
Add the culture. Here, the safety-relevant thing is to add sufficient amounts of culture - don't try to make 5 liters of yogurt with only a teaspoon of old yogurt. 20-50 g of old yogurt per liter of milk is a good amount, or if you are using industrially packaged culture, it will have the amount stated on the package.
Incubate at the proper temperature, for the needed time. Here, you can in principle deviate without much trouble safety-wise (although if you do it for too short a time, you'll still have milk instead of yogurt, which will have a shorter storage time in the fridge), but the taste won't be good if you go too short or too long.
Inspect for signs of improper fermentation.
Refrigerate the yogurt.

The proper temperature will vary with the culture you choose, the widespread ones are mesophilic (usually bifidobacteria, need 37-40°C, or 98-104°F) and thermophilic (usually lactobacilii, need 43-48°C, or 110-119°F). You have some leeway with temperature, obviously - else mixed cultures wouldn't be able to grow at all - but don't overdo it. If you were to incubate your yogurt at very low temperatures (say 30°C or 86°F) or very high temperatures (e.g. 55°C or 130°F), that would be unsafe.

Do inspect your yogurt when it is done fermenting. It is normal to notice some things which are not usual in storebought yogurt - it might have a skin of either fat or caseine, it might have visibly separated whey, it might have a slightly less smooth texture. But if it is very strange - very liquid, or smelly, or discolored, or has curdled into something closer to quark - then it is not safe to eat.

Hygiene when making yogurt

There is no need to go to extremes, such as sterilizing your equipment. You can still do it if you prefer, but yogurt is still good without it. If you use the same hygiene standard as you do for other cooking and eating utensils, that's sufficient for typical yogurt-making and yogurt-eating habits.

Stronger hygiene can help you in three ways:

to give you a larger safety margin (not strictly needed, but can make you feel better)
to give you longer shelf life. I can personally attest that for me, yogurt from the same culture made under the same conditions, resists mold for longer if made in individual containers (sealed airtight before fermentation) than when made in a large container that gets opened and closed to take yogurt out, about 3 weeks vs. 10-12 days.
to keep your culture pure/usable over more reinnoculations. If you reinnoculate with the same culture, it picks up wild bacteria over time and at some point, it's time to abandon it, because it has lost its taste and texture, or just doesn't work well. If you allow fewer wild bacteria to join, the culture will keep pure for longer. This is only a concern if obtaining fresh culture is difficult or expensive for you, or if you have some very special tasting culture you want to keep really pure for many innoculation cycles.

Instant pot yogurt

I must admit that I have not compared the Instant pot yogurt process specifications against industrial standards, I just trust the manufacturers to have chosen a safe process. The yogurt it makes turns out comparable to making it in a sous vide setup where I can control the temperature and time precisely. So, I think it should be a safe method. An advice that is unrelated to safety: use a separate gasket, else your yogurt will taste like stew.


Can I cook chicken in the over after leaving them sitting in the oven all night?


Is it safe to heat a sauce pan containing a glass bowl over an electric cooktop?

I don't think there's enough clarity in the video to answer definitively. So, a couple of critical points:

The glass bowl should be floating in the water. Otherwise, it could contact a much higher temperature at the bottom of the pan than whatever temperature the water is at.
The water should be heated with the glass bowl in it already. If the water is already very hot and an ice-cold bowl were dropped in it, the glass could crack or break.

Of course, different types of glass have different resistance to thermal shock. But regardless of the type of glass, treat it gently and with respect. Just because it's designed to withstand abuse, doesn't mean there's any good reason to subject it to abuse, and plenty of good reason to use reasonable precautions. :)


How does altering the fat-to-flour ratio affect the pastry?

Flour (+ water, either directly or from other ingredients such as egg white) gives the pastry structure. As you knead the flour, the gluten network develops and results in elasticity. When cooked, water evaporates from the dough leaving a rigid gluten skeleton.

Fat does not mix with water and thus stay in blobs in between the gluten network. This weakens the gluten structure, making the pastry crumble.

For this reason, you often see in recipes for shortcrust to avoid overmixing the fat. Buttery biscuits such as shortbread crumble more than crackers, which have more water. The same rationale applies to puff pastry. The thin fat layers are impermeable, so water steam gets trapped and exercise pressure upwards, lifting the pastry up.

Quoting @GdD in the comments, the punchline is:

more fat = crumblier, less fat has more structure.


If I only want to use part of a can of beans, what are my options with the rest?

As rfusca says, they'll be fine for a few days in the fridge; HOWEVER, if you want to transform them into something more delicious and less perishable to go with eggs,  you can cook them into black bean fritters.

First, cook the beans with garlic, minced onion, and chile powder to soften them.  Mash or puree, and reduce until thick, then add salt. Done right, this can be pan-fried into something delicious to go with eggs.  Probably one of my favorite breakfast items from a summer in Guatemala.

Depending on how much water you remove from the fritter base, it should be fine in the fridge for 3 days to a week. It can also be shaped into patties, stacked between layers of wax paper or baking parchment, and frozen indefinitely.


Seeing your recipe would be useful; though I'd be tempted that with just the small amount of information you provided that wine & onion, blended, then fried off again to reduce moisture content would be a solution to your problem.

Alternatively, bulk with breadcrumb, though I'd prefer the first solution.


How much is a "round" of butter? This is in an old pound cake recipe

Looks like a misprint for Pound. The point of Pound Cake is that you use the same amount of each ingredient - for example, a pound.


How do I season an iron griddle on an induction hob?

You don't.

I've tried to do this. It doesn't work.

The problem is that the induction hob heats a cast iron pan to very hot temperatures, even on the lowest setting. And when it doesn this, it doesn't heat evenly, you get a coil-shaped hot spot.

We have had a question about seasoning cast iron on stovetop, and somebody reported good results provided that it is done "low and slow". I can imagine this working. But on the induction, there is no way to go low and slow. The pan gets too hot after half an hour at the latest, the oil burns on the hot spot and stays liquid outside of it.

The easiest version might be to season it at somebody else's place (parents, friends) and then use it normally at home. Once the seasoning is done, there is no problem with that. I haven't done that; I started seasoning in my toaster oven. Even when the pan is too large to close it, the results are still better than on the induction hob.


Smoke alarms go off now that we have a gas stove didn't when we had electric

There are a variety of types of smoke detectors. Those that are most prone to being set off in the way you describe are the ionization type. As you burn gas on your range or in the oven, it produces carbon dioxide and water vapor, both of which can trigger the sensor on an ionization-type smoke detector. These detectors are, however, cheaper to buy and operate as well as more sensitive to fast burning fires that produce little visible smoke.

In areas such as the kitchen or directly outside of a bathroom with a shower it is advisable to use a photoelectric smoke detector in order to avoid false alarms.  These detectors are triggered when visible smoke interrupts a light beam, so they are better at detecting smoking, smoldering fires.

Other tips:

Always use the exhaust fan: Cooking is one of the biggest sources of indoor air pollution, so use your vent hood.

Make sure the detector you are tripping isn't a dual smoke/carbon monoxide (CO) detector.  Improper combustion from a gas range or oven can create carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless, poisonous gas. If it is a dual detector and you decide to replace it, make sure to install a dedicated CO detector in the kitchen area. If it goes off you will need to have your range and oven serviced or replaced.

http://depletedcranium.com/the-war-against-ionization-smoke-detectors/