How long do eggs last outside the refrigerator and out of the shell?

Eggs in their shell, uncracked

One day on the counter at room temperature is approximately equivalent to a week in the refrigerator.  When I used eggs at a rapid rate, baking every day, I always kept them on the counter, since they would not have to be brought to room temperature to beat easily to the ribbon or whatever.

They should be good in the refrigerator for several weeks past their sell by date, or on the counter for several days.

6 hours is fine, (but thats in shell, not cracked)

Eggs OUT of their shell

Out of the shell, eggs are highly perishable--what the health codes call a "potentially hazardous" food.  Don't hold them for any length of time at room temperature.  I would say no more than 30 minutes to an hour, less if you can.

Lots of egg facts, but they do insist that the eggs are refrigerated.


Most of the aromatic compounds contained in vanilla are highly volatile and / or degrade in high heat, so I would add the vanilla after caramelization.


That will work just fine as long as they are handled safely before you cook them, then chilled down as quickly as possible after you cook them.  I would let them cool briefly after cooking (a couple of minutes), place them in a zip type bag, and put them in an ice bath until chilled, then refrigerate.


How to taste a real ranch dressing outisde of the US

I use this copycat recipe to make it at home. Depending on who's coming for dinner, I change up the herbs and the type of vinegar I use, and I usually use half black pepper and half white pepper. Other than that, just use it as is.


if you fry nuts in vegetable shortening is there still nut allergy risk?

Depends on exactly how sensitive the allergic person is, but there is some protein/allergen transfer. So there is an allergy risk. (Depends on the particular person whether it'll cause harm or not—but there are reported cases where it has). To avoid transfer, you need to thoroughly clean out the fryer/pan/etc. and use fresh shortening.

See, for example, http://www.foodallergy.org/file/cross-contact-poster-set2016.pdf


What modifications would I have to make when substituting veal for pork?

In the particular recipe you've provided no change in the cooking method is required. The only thing to keep in mind when cooking veal is that it is a drier meat. In your case however, the recipe cooks the meat in liquid which moisturizes it. Keep an eye on whether it is cooked all the way through and always note recipe times vary!
Hope that helps!


Does it matter what type of wine is used to make mulled wine?

Speaking from personal experience mulling wine many times:

In general, you want a dry or semidry red, of innocuous flavor profile.  You do not want anything with strong tannic, acidic, alcoholic, brett or sweet flavors; these will become concentrated while mulling and quite unpleasant.  Your ideal mulling wine is an inexpensive, inoffensive, young merlot, burgundy, petite syrah, tempranillo, beaujolais, or other "middle-of-the-road" wine, maybe slightly on the sweet side.  Cabernet sauvignon, chianti, rioja, and similar wines tend to be poor choices, although of course it depends on the individual wine.  Also, look out for high-sulfite-added wine which also can develop off flavors.

I'll contradict Sarge here and say that you do not want a wine which is turning towards vinegar; you'll end up with a very sour crock pot full of mulled vinegar.  However, mulling is an excellent thing to do with wines which have been oxidized (but not vinegared) and lost a lot of their flavor, either through being open too long or too long on the shelf.  Certainly if you spend more than $9 a bottle in the USA for wine for mulling, you've made a mistake.

This is very similar to how you would choose a sangria wine.  The main difference is that for sangria you want bright and acidic flavors, whereas for mulled wine you want heavier, darker flavors.


Why would I turn canning jars upside down for 15 minutes after removing from the water bath?

That passage is suggesting an entire canning/processing method, one that may not be safe. It will generally work to create a seal, as they say, but it may not fully sterilize the contents and the seal will not be as likely to hold. I would not follow their instructions, and instead process your chutney according to a trusted canning recipe you find elsewhere.
See for example this USDA source, which says:

Some other methods of sealing jars call for inverting a closed, filled jar of hot product for anywhere from thirty seconds to one hour. (Inverting is turning the filled jar upside down on its lid.) While this inversion process can be successful in producing a sealed jar, it works best with very hot product. Individual variation in practicing this procedure or unexpected interruptions can result in delays between filling jars, getting lids screwed on, and inverting the jars. If the product cools down too much, the temperature of the product can become low enough to no longer be effective in sealing jars or preventing spoilage.
When the inversion process does work, the vacuum seals of filled jars still tend to be
weaker than those produced by a short boiling water canning process. A larger amount of
retained oxygen in the headspace may allow some mold growth if airborne molds contaminated
the surface of the product as the jar was filled and closed. More complete removal of oxygen
from the headspace also offers some longer protection from undesirable color and flavor changes with some types of fruit products. A weak seal may be more likely to fail during storage.


Simulating Orville's Cracked Pepper and Salt Popcorn

I doubt the cracked pepper flavor in the popcorn actually comes from cracked pepper. Food technologists tend to use extracts for flavors, and then enhance the visuals. The popcorn you like is likely flavored by some sort of pepper extract (probably oil suspended) with some cracked pepper flakes thrown in for visual effect.

You may very well be able to re-create this if you take the same approach: get the flavors working and then worry about how it looks. This makes things easier in a way, you can use whatever works to get the right flavor rather than trying to get it from one ingredient.

Pepper and chili flavors are both oil-based, and you'll have the best luck trying to get the flavor into an oil and then coating the popcorn in the oil than trying to add the flavor directly to the popcorn. Try adding your pepper dust to oil or butter and gently heating it for 20 minutes or so.

You can then try using this oil to pop your corn, this may or may not work properly as pepper tends to burn and get bitter, however if you've extracted the flavor into the oil it may work. If it does turn bitter then the oil would need to be added after the popping. Adding some cracked pepper flakes to the oil at the end ought to give you the visual effect you want as the oil will help it stick to the corn. You could add the salt to the oil or simply sprinkle it on.


I'd suggest Consumer Reports as a starting point.  They specifically investigated the food safety of chicken in 2010 and found that (among other things):

Campylobacter was in 62 percent of the chickens, salmonella was in 14 percent, and both bacteria were in 9 percent. Only 34 percent of the birds were clear of both pathogens. That's double the percentage of clean birds we found in our 2007 report but far less than the 51 percent in our 2003 report.

Store-brand organic chickens had no salmonella at all, showing that it's possible for chicken to arrive in stores without that bacterium riding along. But as our tests showed, banishing one bug doesn't mean banishing both: 57 percent of those birds harbored campylobacter.

Among all brands and types of broilers tested, 68 percent of the salmonella and 60 percent of the campylobacter organisms we analyzed showed resistance to one or more antibiotics.

The same issue seems to come up over and over again in food safety questions, and I really can't stress this enough: Salmonella is not the only dangerous bacteria in food. Campylobacter is just one of many others and produces heat-resistant enterotoxins that simply put, can make you very, very sick.  Perfringens is also common, and raw chicken has also been found to harbour Listeria.
I've seen a number of articles and blogs claiming that people "worry too much" and most of them cite Ippuku in SF, which generated quite a stir by serving chicken tartare. It's legal in many countries for a restaurant to serve raw or undercooked food, provided that there is informed consent (the customer is specifically informed or specifically orders that their food be undercooked). However, legal is a very long way from safe, especially when we're talking about raw meat.
Steak tartare is more acceptable because, for some reason, Campylobacter don't like it and the incidence of E.coli is extremely low at only 0.26%.  Raw beef isn't totally safe but most healthy people who eat it will not have complications afterward.
So, to summarize:

Raw chicken: ~20% salmonella (depending on source), ~60% campylobacter (any source)
Raw beef: Less than 0.1% e.coli, ~2% campylobacter (any source)

Conclusion: If you eat raw beef (steak tartare), you're a risk-taker. If you eat raw chicken, you have a death wish. Just say no.
At an absolute minimum, please don't serve this to your dinner guests with assurances that it will be safe. What you do to your own body is your decision to make, but it would be grossly irresponsible to serve anything made with raw chicken to anyone who hasn't been made fully aware of the risks.

P.S. Some of this data may be U.S. specific, but the problem is worldwide. For example:

A New Zealand study showed a 36.7% contamination rate for salmonella and 84.3% for campylobacter,  (thanks TFD!).
A Canadian study showed a 37.5% incidence rate for salmonella and 75% for campylobacter.

So don't expect to be safer simply because you don't live in the U.S. If you're planning on doing this, you should check what your country's regulations and current statistics are regarding salmonella, campylobacter, C. perfringens, and listeria, for farms and plants producing chicken meat. That is your actual risk.
Buying "organic" might help, or might not, since organic is currently not a true legal or regulatory category in most regions.


Unopened unrefrigerated kraft shredded cheese

The cheese will not be safe to eat if it has been at room temperature for two weeks. On the package, it should say "KEEP REFRIGERATED". Hy-Vee states the food should be refrigerated here. The  note is there for a reason, the cheese will spoil if at room temperature for too long.

Kraft includes the note because they know it is likely if someone doesn't keep the shredded cheese refrigerated, the person could get sick and sue them for not disclosing it needs to be refrigerated.

It's certainly possible you won't get sick if you eat it. But two weeks is a long time and I recommend not eating it.


Canning tomato sauce for the refrigerator

As you state, you have not followed any canning procedures, so you don't get any more storage time than the standard recommendation.  Glass vs plastic doesn't  matter.  So, I would just recommend freezing.  Tomatoes, and tomato based sauces for that matter, freeze nicely. If you use freezer, zip-style bags, you can freeze them flat.  They will then thaw rather quickly.


Will my baked potatoes be ok cooked longer at a low temp?

They should be perfectly fine if cooked for that long. If you are still uncertain then you can try adding some liquid to the pan to help boil the potatoes.


"Universal" aka "Bristle" Knife Blocks: Blade Damage and Hygiene

Yes, very sharp/thin edged blades (think of something like a yanagiba or laser gyuto) will take damage because they will bite lengthwise into the plastic straws and get dulled and/or deformed/chipped. Also, an overfull plastic straw block can bend the edge out of hone because of uneven pressure applied to its sides.

ADDITION: Example experiment I did: Take Takamura HSPS (not the pro version), sharpened to the same angle these come with from the maker (around 18 degrees inclusive(!!). Very delicate knife but usable on a cutting board with care.), arm hair sharp. Stuff it in a bristle knife block a few times. No longer arm hair sharp.


I've had good luck using a finer grade steel wool, though don't press too hard. For smaller stains I really like "magic eraser" type sponges which work wonders on the hood as well. I don't know what country you are posting from, but the magic erasers are like a very high density foam sponge. They are amazing on soap scum too.


My family does this with lasagne every year for Christmas.  It works with most casseroles that are prepared in advance:

Make the casserole in advance, then either chill (if night before) or freeze (if a week before).
Place the cold dish in a cold oven, covered in aluminum foil, then turn it to medium-low heat (about 300°F/150°C).
Heat until the center of the casserole is sufficiently warmed through.
Turn the heat on the oven down to 'warm'

Just before guests arrive, make the bechamel.  Keep it on low heat on the stovetop, stirring every 10-15 minutes or so.

(20-30 mins before service) uncover the casseroles
Top with some of the bechamel (reserving the rest so people can add extra as they wish)
Crank the oven to 'broil' or 'grill' or whatever they call the 'top only heat' setting in your country, and cook the top to desired brown-ness.  If you don't have a broil/grill setting, move the casserole as close to the top element as you can without the food actually touching it, and turn the heat as high as the oven will go.
Remove the casserole and let rest to firm back up.  (take notes on how long this time, as that'll affect the exact time when you start broiling the next time you do this).
Place the reserved bechamel in a gravy boat.
Slice & serve

Note that there's also bechamel in the lassagne we make -- so you just make a little bit less when making the casserole initially, if it's needed for middle layers as well.


How can I make a "lighter" cheese sauce?

I see two options for you.

The author of this Q How would I produce (stable) foamy bechamel sauce? reports success using gelatin. That Q is Bechamel sauce, which is the base of Mornay.

or

Use of an immersion blender to incorporate air into the sauce, making it a lighter texture. You can immersion blend at two points in the process: after the milk was thickened by the roux and/or after melting the cheese in. (I believe this is where @Pat Summer's answer was leading to)

(immersion blender)


What special knowledge or skills about coffee do baristas have?

What you're asking is no different than: what special knowledge or certification/license do bakers have other than operating the oven? Many people know how to work the oven, but can they bake an artisan loaf? Do they even know the different kinds of bread?

The same answer applies to baristas.  Some chains like *bucks have their own training program. Specialty shops chase baristas like the Neapolitan pizza parlors chase pizzaioli.

The special skill? Besides the latte art which seems more of a North American thing, it is very difficult to pull a great espresso shot and choose good beans. I personally have been pulling shots on a pro machine daily for 7-years and still take my hat off when I meet a good barista. What you get from one of those Nesspresso or other superautomatics is the equivalent to microwave dinner lasagna vs Mario Batali's.


Are these vestigial seeds in a "seedless" orange?

I'm from the garden/landscape section of the site, but post your question there anyway, regardless of my answer - you may get a better/different one!
Navel oranges, technically, are parthenocopic, which means they produce fruit without fertilisation, and that's why they are seedless. However, if the blossom is pollinated by a suitable donor, then seeds may form. These are usually, as you've discovered, vestigial seeds and may not even be fertile. The cause of the pollination (if the fruit is grown in the States, usually) is beekeepers bringing bees to orchards where other varieties of orange may be growing, or other varieties growing too close to parthenocopic varieties, usually out of ignorance by the grower when planting. Quite often, the navel fruits with seeds are of a smaller size, though not always.


Lobster, steamed Saturday afternoon, eaten Monday night?

According to stilltasty.com two days is the max, so you'll be fine as long as you refrigerated it within two hours of cooking.

Other sources claim durations of 4-5 days. As sarge suggests, use your nose.

Other sources:

http://www.lobsterhelp.com/lobster-facts.html
http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5887e/x5887e01.htm


Can coconut cream be made from coconut flour?

Coconut flour is what remains1 when extracting the milk from coconut. So I doubt you can make anything resembling coconut milk (much less coconut cream) from it, unless the manufacturer has done an exceptionally poor job of doing so already!


How do I adjust cooking time when temperature may be off by 5-10C?

Rounding to the nearest 10C is more accurate than your thermostat probably is anyway (don't round up, round to the nearest).

Conversion isn't your issue, your thermostat is much more likely your culprit.

Use an oven thermometer, not your dial.

And keep in mind that ovens hover above and below their set temperature by switching on and off.

Use Google or whatever to do your conversions, and then your oven thermometer to keep your thermostat honest. The natural variances you'll get from rounding are fine.

You should also be using a meat thermometer; pull a roast to rest when it is 5F below your target temperature.


How can I word "add bread crumbs until it feels right"?

I see two things to address, first identify a few physical properties of your ideal meatball mixture, and second have a verifiable way for the reader to compare their current mixture to what the meatballs are "really" supposed to be like at that stage.

Depending on how many words you want to use for this part of your recipe, outlining a very simple "test" for the reader to try may be helpful. Maybe a sidebar section on the page with some instructions would visually unobtrusive, allowing those users who've already made your recipe to focus on your other recipe steps when needed.

What comes to mind is using a tablespoon to scoop out a quantity of the meatball mixture, followed by inverting that spoon onto a surface(not slamming, inverting).  The ideal meatball mixture probably behaves in a certain way(doesn't spread out more than "x" centimeters/won't leak moisture/etc...I suspect you can come up with the right variables to emphasize).

Another example would be to say, "...when the mixture is right, a golf ball sized portion should be easy to roll into a ball and not begin to sag within "x" timeframe(seconds?), or something like that. Pick out the physical properties of the mixture that make the consistency or shape right.  Work backwards, try a few trial run "tests"by making a tiny batch that has too much  or too little water/fat/breadcrumbs/etc.  How does that incorrect-ratio-mixture behave with your tests?

Off the top of my head, the easiest descriptors to identify would be: moisture content(how easy is it to squeeze out liquid & how much should come out), consistency comparisons(how much sticks to your hand/feels like wet spaghetti/whatever),and height/spread under specific conditions.
Hope this was helpful.


Difference between burritos, chimichanga, and enchiladas?

An enchilada is a corn tortilla wrapped around some filling (often meat and/or cheese), covered in sauce. The sauce is really defining here: the word is derived from a verb meaning "to season with chili". The sauce usually involves chili peppers, but doesn't always, especially for Tex-Mex and American Variants. Since it's covered in sauce, you eat it off a plate presumably with a fork. The tortillas are usually 6-8 inches in diameter - small enough that you can put a few enchiladas in a row on a plate.

 from Homesick Texan

A burrito is a flour tortilla wrapped around filling, with the ends closed. In the US, they're often pretty large and substantial. They're generally just the tortilla-wrapped thing, so you can hold it in your hand and eat it. They are also sometimes served "wet" or "smothered" in sauce, but that's a variant. The tortillas are usually bigger to allow folding around a decent amount of filling. You'll see "burrito size" tortillas that are as small as 10 inches or so in stores, but the kinds you get in restaurants might be easily 13-16 inches. The big ones are also called Mission burritos, and are often wrapped in foil for easier eating. (That's the tortilla diameter; the actual burrito is substantially smaller after the folding to close the ends.)

from Los Altos Taqueria on Yelp

A chimichanga is a deep-fried burrito. It often comes with queso and/or sauce over the top, but that's not a defining characteristic. Usually they're served on a plate, with the idea being to cut into it with a fork and knife.

 first from Wikipedia (completely covered), second from Trudy's in Austin via The Fat Artery (visibly deep-fried)


Melt the kind you want. Sugar doesn't melt at the temperature chocolate melts, and wouldn't dissolve in chocolate anyway. Commercial chocolate bars are smooth because they are conched. If you mix chocolate with sugar, it will be sandy.

Alternatively, you can glaze with a ganache, and dissolve the sugar in the cream first. But it is still better to make the ganache with the type of chocolate you want, instead of adjusting sugar or fat.


Why does yoghurt need to feed on milk products? Why not plain sugar?

Lactobacillus is the genus of the bacteria responsible for making yogurt.

These bacteria consume sugars and excrete lactic acid. The acid denatures the proteins in the milk, causing them to coagulate into a delicious gel.

Lactobacilli can consume sugars other than just lactose.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus

The reason they eat lactose when making yogurt is because that's what they have. There is more than enough lactose in milk to make yogurt. There's no reason to add other sugars.

Lactobacilli are also responsible for the fermentation of pickles. In that case, even though they still produce lactic acid, they are consuming the sugars available in the vegetables, not lactose.


Is ginger a good substitute for galangal in Thai green curry?

Scottish,

Use equal amounts of ginger to substitute for galangal.  And yes, it is the best substitute available from your average non-Asian grocery store.

If you can get your hands on dried, powdered galangal, however, you can do better.  Add about half the amount of ginger, and around midway through cooking add a teaspoon of powdered galangal for every tablespoon of fresh in the recipe.  The combination of fresh ginger and powdered galangal will be very close to fresh galangal in flavor.

Also, if you make a field trip to an Asian market, peeled galangal cut into chunks freezes quite well.


Where can I find left-handed serrated knives?

We have been selling left handed products now for 50 years this year - supplying the vast majority of specialist left handed stores around the world.

I can confirm that Left handers do indeed need knives that are sharpened / scalloped / serrated on the opposite side to a right handed blade. So, holding the knife in your left hand - pointing it away from your body - the scallop / serration / etc should be on the right (nearest your body). This will dramatically improve the way that you cut meat / veg / etc - and be safer for you as well.

You should be able to find Paring / Vegetable / Cook's / Bread / Cheese knives - and many more at any good left handed specialist store.


What kind of foods react with aluminium pressure cookers?

Aluminum isn't exactly toxic or harmful to the same degree as lead, but it's not exactly good for you either.  And as you've identified, aluminum is fairly reactive.  Higher acidity, salinity, and cooking time will all contribute to further reaction and absorption in any aluminum cooking vessel (or utensils for that matter).

This is an issue for three primary reasons:

Absorption of aluminum is, as noted above, not necessarily healthy.
Absorption of aluminum can result in a metallic flavor in your food, which is generally unpleasant.
Absorption of aluminum into your food also corrodes the cooking vessel.

That third is probably of the most concern here, since you're talking about a vessel that's under pressure when in use.  Sufficient corrosion and the resulting structural weakness could (in very rare cases) cause a rupture and sudden pressure release, i.e. hot stew explosion.  This would take a long while to occur, and you'd almost certainly notice the corrosion on the inside of your vessel before it became truly dangerous, but this type of problem is exactly why modern pressure cookers have such fancy pressure-sensitive locks and come with warnings all over them.  They can pop if abused, and they do this in your kitchen, possibly while you're nearby.

So, extended cooking of certain acidic items (what if you wanted to make, say, tomato sauce in your pressure cooker?) could be dangerous with long-term use, hence the warning.  Such foods will also contain more aluminum than they would otherwise, and taste like it as a result.  Here's a thread with information on the general pH levels of common foods, which may help you identify specific items of concern.

Another good way to avoid this is to select a stainless steel model instead of aluminum.  Stainless is more expensive and doesn't heat up as quickly, but it's not as reactive as aluminum either, so there's less concern when cooking acidic ingredients over a long period.  Here is a decent buying guide with comparison of features and some more specific recommendations.


French (?) pastry on the cover of a book

To me it looks like a minimal tartelette au fraise (little strawberry tart).  These usually have a custard layer and are normally completely covered in strawberries, but I have seen them with far fewer strawberries.  Mixed fruit (tartelette au fruit) or raspberry (tartelette au framboise) tarts are also common.

Here's a youtube recipe video (not my favourite recipe format!) of tartelette au fraise with lots of custard and a single strawberry. The crème diplomate used here is similar to crème patissiere but with whipped cream and gelatine added.  I've found a few similar pictures, and the versions with more custard and less strawberry seem to be more popular these days among North-African French chefs than in the bits of France I'm familiar with.  My French is passable but my Arabic is sadly lacking so I can't get as much history from the recipes as I would like.

The pâte brisée/shortcrust pastry case may be sweet or plain (even slightly salted).

As the book in question is an 1960s English translation I suspect tracking down the source image will be tricky, but 1950s/60s French books on patisserie would be an interesting place to look - though I wouldn't expect them to have many colour photos.


how do you rest your steak after cooking

Place the steaks on a wire cooling rack over a half sheet pan and cover with foil.

Additionally heat your plates in either a low oven or your dish washer on the plate warming setting which will help keep the steaks as warm as possible once plated.


Why must the oven be preheated for a Pyrex glass pan?

While an oven preheats, the heating element or gas burner will be running at full output. For an electric oven in particular, this will generate a great deal of radiant heat. Radiant heat increases the temperature of the objects it shines on, without directly changing the air temperature.

So, if you place a pyrex dish in a cold oven and then turn it on, some surfaces of the dish will be exposed to this intense radiant heat for a long period of time as the oven heats up, while the air temperature in the oven the rest of the dish is exposed to will still be much cooler.

If the dish is placed in the oven after it has preheated, it will still be exposed to the radiant heat as the oven cycles on and off to maintain the temperature, but it will be for shorter periods of time and the ambient temperature the rest of the dish is exposed to will not have such a large differential, resulting in less thermal stress on the glass.


Why is my boneless beef tough and unedible?

Without knowing the cut of meat, thickness, etc. it is very difficult to fully answer, but take a look at this chart for steaks:  http://chicolockersausage.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/cook-a-steak-blue-rare-medium-welldone.jpg (Putting link, not pic in case of copyright issues.)  To summarize though, a medium steak is about 135F and still has about 25% pink in it.  Med-well is about 150F and still has a hint of pink.  That is the highest you should be able to reach in a 150F oven and for many cuts would definitely be too tough for many people's tastes.  No pink at all is 160F plus, is not reachable in a 150F oven, and is almost always going to be dry and tough for most cuts.  Lamb chops number will be roughly the same.

Their comment on well done as being a waste of a quality steak is their statement, but one I and many others would share, and definitely towards a lamb chop.  I would never, ever intentionally cook one to no pink through, and certainly not without expecting it to come out dry, tough, and chewy.  I would also almost always sear before putting in the oven if at all possible to form a nice crust and help hold in some juices.

Now, as to your temp stated, a well done cut of meat, one with no pink through, is one that is 160F or more.  If you are really cooking at 150, this should not be possible.  The only way at that low of temp to get all pink out would be to cook so long that all liquids drain except possibly rendered fat.  If cooked for hours that way, something like a pulled pork or a pot roast might be tender, but only because most connective tissue has broken down.  A far more typical practice would be to sear-seal the meat first and the finish in a heated, higher temp oven to allow the meat to get to your desired temperature/doneness without cooking away all the precious fluids that allow it to stay tender.  You normally are cooking working muscle groups and they will very much have a tendency to become tougher the more you cook them unless using a method like braising that will start to break down the connective tissue with time.


My parchment paper soaked in oil after finish baking cookies

Some recipes will normally leach the fat in the recipe. Some recipes just do it some of the time, other recipes are notorious for doing it all the time. Generally, it's nothing you have done wrong, fats just do that sometimes.


How much can I change the height of a cake?

I have found that, for most cakes, variations in the height of the layers doesn't cause any problems. As you noted, you need to keep any eye on them for proper doneness. If the layers are substantially thicker you may need to slightly decrease your oven temperature to ensure proper doneness without drying the cake out.

I use the same batters regardless of the size of the pan or thickness I am looking for. I have 7, 8, 9, & 10 inch cake pans and I regularly vary the diameter and/or thickness of the layers depending on the end result I am looking for, how I want to present the cake, etc.

Regarding my remark about most cakes, there are exceptions. For most cakes, I want a moist cake that doesn't crumble when cut or eaten. Variations don't hurt these layers.

However, I use a different batter when making super thin layers (10 - 12 layers will result in a 4" to 5" tall cake).  This batter results in a dryer texture which works well because they get some moisture from the frosting. Being so thin, the level of moisture works out very well. If the layers were moist to start with, the cake would turn to mush. You wouldn't use this batter for any normally thick layers, cupcakes, etc. as it will crumble terribly.

Hope this helps. And, just an observation here (could be my imagination), but it seems like people think thin layers are more special. Maybe they think you put more work into it
or maybe it's just that it's more unusual these days to see thin layers.


That looks pretty tasty.

If you only need a few hours you can just put the dough in the fridge when it does its first rise.

The cold will make it rise more slowly and buy you some time. Make sure to put the dough in a little bit over-sized bowl so it doesn't explode out if it rises more than expected.

In general letting dough rise for extra time like this will result in a more open texture. This can be good or bad depending on the style of bread but it seems like it will be fine with this particular bread.


I have been experimenting with this very thing, which is how I stumbled on this conversation. Real meat (I'm not a vegetarian so I can easily compare) has a different mouth feel. Deli meat feels stretchy and fatty, which seitan never does. It's just stretchy. Adding oil to the mix just seems to make the seitan more brittle. My best luck so far is using the Chicago Diner (famous old vegetarian place) method which is to make the seitan straight, cook it, and THEN modify it. So they make and simmer their basic seitan, then slice and THEN marinade based on how they want it to come out. Different marinades for gyros, corned beef, or turkey. I'm having decent luck marinading my veggie ham (that's been cooked and sliced) in oil.


Why do chicken wings turn chewy if cooled between cookings?

Your temperature is too high. Go for 78ºC (172F) instead of 82ºC. 3 hours seems a long time for chicken wings. Get a thermometer and take it out when it reaches 78ºC. After cooling, before frying, do you dry the wings? That could be an important step.

Lastly, instead of frying them as is, try panning them with flour or breadcrumbs.

If you're going to fry immediately, aim for 75ºC instead.


Is it ok to leave Christmas cake batter to sit for 3 hours?

I‘m not sure how much leavening the baking powder will really accomplish in this recipe but anyhow, that’s your „critical ingredient“.

To be on the safe side, I would recommend you prepare your recipe until „day 2“, then on day three split the cherry mix and the remaining ingredients in two and do the final mixing in two batches so that you can bake them right away.

If you choose to finish all batter at the same time, just let it sit at room temperature, or, if you want to be on the super-safe side (eggs, > two hours) you can put it in the fridge, but that’s going to increase the baking time and aggravate the „burnt-edge-raw-center“ issue.

Now some might argue that for food safety reasons the raw eggs should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours, but as you are going to bake the batter for a quite long time, anything that might have grown will be pasteurized and the time frame is too short for the production of toxins.


I believe you will want to use the lowest setting on your oven and have the oven door propped open so the moisture has a place to go and to keep from cooking the meat.


pressure cooker overflowing while cooking soup

Simply put: it's happening because you're now blending the vegetables prior to cooking.

All vegetables are composed of plant cells, which have relatively rigid, fibrous walls composed of various starches; these trap the moisture and nutrients that the plant needs to survive, and provide structure. As you cook (applying heat) those starches will soften and become less rigid. Some of the cells will burst and allow their interiors to leach out, but on the whole the structure slowly deforms and collapses as you cook. Once softened, the structure can be easily pulverized/blended.

If you blend your vegetables prior to cooking, the starches are too tough to completely destroy; they get shredded into small fibers instead. If you then apply heat, the fibers (and various proteins contained in the plant) will still link up with one another, and are still tough enough to provide some structure while also being extremely light. As a result, they'll form bubbles that trap steam as it boils out of the solution, producing the foam that you're seeing.

You could try adding an enzyme like pectinase to break down pectin, one of the compounds responsible for the foam. This will only be partially effective because there are other starches which contribute to the foaming effect, and pectinase works on pectin only.

You could also try reducing the heat and letting your blended vegetables only come to a bare simmer; that will reduce the steam being forced out of solution, and thus reduce the number of bubbles that form. This wouldn't really be an option in the pressure cooker, which relies on higher heat to produce pressure and thus faster cooking.

But really, the easiest way to avoid this would simply be going back to your old method of boiling before blending. The foam is tricky enough to deal with that you won't gain much in terms of convenience by just boiling once. And if you want to preserve the nutrients from the raw vegetables, blending first may do more harm than good because you're exposing them to additional oxygen and heat which break them down. There's not really a lot you can do to protect those nutrients from the high heat of a pressure cooker at any rate. If you want to preserve them as much as possible, you'll want to try a juicer or some other process that doesn't involve the application of (much) heat.


Effects of elevated storage temperature on bread quality

Summary:

If the loaf is kept at an elevated temperature in a plastic bag for a period of 6-12 hours I believe you will see little to no difference compared to storing at room temperature.

Stored at an elevated temperature in a paper bag the loaf will start to dry out to a noticeable extent.

Note that the answer below does not address possible food safety issues.

Long-winded details:

My previous answer provided some information up to 36°C (97°F). Since the question asks about the temperature range 35-55°C I did some amateurish experimentation of my own.

Using my fan assisted oven at the lowest setting, I halved a store bought sourdough loaf and placed one half in the oven overnight and kept the other half at room temperature (25°C).

I should note that my oven temperature fluctuates between ~37°C and ~47°C (99-117°F) measured using using a Thermapen at various intervals. I'll also note that I wrapped the loaf-half that went into the oven in a tea towel to protect it from the oven fan.

In the morning I taste tested the two loaf-halves. The room temperature loaf had started to stale slightly but the half from the oven had also started to dry out. It was noticeably more difficult to cut through the loaf-half from the oven and I saw about 8mm of visibly dried bread extending inwards from the outer surfaces.

This test was quite obviously flawed in that you would neither use a tea towel to wrap your bread whilst in the car, nor would you first cut the loaf in half.

The next experiment I did used 5 smaller loaves of the same variety, from the same store. I placed two in a plastic bag and two more in the paper bag in which the loaves were purchased. The fifth loaf I kept at room temperature in order to compare later.

Using the same oven setting I kept the bagged loaves in the oven for 6 hours. After six hours I removed two loaves, one from each bag, and taste tested.

Comparing a small slice of the loaf from the plastic bag to a slice from the room temperature loaf I sensed no obvious difference. The loaf from the paper bag was noticeably drier. I marked the loaves from the oven and saved them for comparison again later.

Keeping the remaining two loaves in the oven for a further 6 hours, I did another taste test this morning.

The loaf that had been kept at room temperature had now slightly but noticeably started to stale. Comparing this to the 12 hour loaf from the plastic bag I noticed hardly any difference. I really couldn't say whether one was less stale than the other. Comparing the 12 hour loaf from the paper bag, once again drying was pronounced.

I also made a second comparison using the loaves that had been taken out at 6 hours. Again I sensed no obvious difference between the loaf from the plastic bag and the room temperature loaf. The 6 hour loaf from the paper bag was no less dry than it had been 6 hours before.

Update:

I followed up on @Athanasius question from the comments and did another test with the oven fan switched off. This time I had to fight with the oven thermostat to stay within the temperature range but managed to stay just under 130°F. I tested three small loaves of the same variety and from the same store as the previous tests. Again, I kept two in the oven in paper and plastic bags, and one at room temperature (also in a paper bag). As well as taste testing I also weighed the loaves before and after the test. Here are the figures for weight loss after 6 hours:

Elevated temp, plastic bag: no measurable weight loss
Elevated temp, paper bag: ~7% weight loss
Room temp, paper bag: ~4% weight loss

While I don't have any objective means for comparing dryness from the previous experiment (I didn't weight the loaves in the previous test) it does seem like the oven fan led to increased drying. As a subjective measure I offer the fact that following yesterdays testing I discarded both the 6 hour and 12 hour loaves from the paper bag, but this morning I found the loaf from the paper bag good enough for breakfast despite the drying.

The words in the summary are, however, still correct: stored at an elevated temperature in a paper bag a loaf will start to dry out to a noticeable extent.


How do I clean these gloves so they do not leave marks?

Clean rubber gloves can still leave marks. My guess is that the finger pads are more wornout (at microscopic level) and you've reached the not so smooth 'meat' part of the rubber that will stick and rub off on things.

Try with new gloves, or surgical latex gloves, or if marks on glass drive you nuts (like some of us), you can try microfiber gloves over rubber gloves.


One of the most popular things I've seen sage used for is tea.  You just dry the leaves, steep as you would regular tea leaves (personally I like it with ginger root if I have some handy), and then maybe a little honey or lemon.  Sage is anti-bacterial, which is a nice bonus.

Meat-wise, I like to use sage with pork chops, either as part of a marinade or just chopped and rubbed onto the pork and then grilled.  Sage also goes great with chicken.  Roll the sage in your hands to release the oils, then either chop very finely or mash with a mortar and pestle.  Mix with a little salt and rub onto chicken breasts, and sautee in oil or butter (or grill it).

Veggie-wise, I think it pairs very well with sliced, sauteed carrots.  It goes very well with potatoes, try sweating some onion in a pan with a little oil or butter, adding some potato slices, and right before they're ready add fresh chopped sage.  It's also a great ingredient in stuffing, dried or fresh.

I had sage-laced cornbread once, it was pretty delicious.  Wasn't there for the making of, so not sure if there was any special preparation needed, but the end result was nice.  In fact, a friend of mine a while back who was a baker loved using sage in various breads, but baking is one of my weak spots so I can't really give you any specifics other than "this combination works, check Google for recipes" :)

At one point, I heard someone refer to what they called "sage fritters", which were basically sage dredged in seasoned flour and egg, then quickly fried in oil.  I did a quick search to find the source, and didn't see it, but did come across a very interesting idea: Sage and Apple Fritters (these are much more of a true fritter than what I first mentioned).

If you get tired of it while it's fresh and you're running around like a lunatic trying to find uses for it, there's always freezing.  I freeze or dry any large quantities of herbs at the end of the summer, there are a few methods available.  You can reference this question, I feel like there's a better one about specifically freezing herbs on this site but I can't find it right now.  The short of it is, some people have good luck freezing whole leaves as they are, some people prefer to chop them or put them in the food processor with some oil or stock, and freeze into cubes.  Both methods have advantages and disadvantages.

Alton Brown has a great method for drying described in this episode (text transcript).  Essentially, you layer an air filter (like you'd use in your central air unit) with an herb.  Place another filter on top, layer it again.  Continue as much as you want, then strap them all to a box fan.  Instead of weeks to months, you should have dried herbs in a couple days, max.  You can watch the video here, skip to about 2:30 in.   Bonus: the same episode describes his method of freezing herbs, that's about 1:00 in on the same link.

Speaking of Alton Brown, he recommends herb vinegar - you'll find how he makes it on the (text transcript) link in this paragraph.

There are also a TON of medicinal uses and has been used for thousands of years for various remedies.  Since this is a cooking site I'm hesitant to list them all (there are a lot), but you can read more about the most popular ones here, here and here.

This is non-culinary, but you can use it to "smudge", which is often tied to cleansing rites, but can also be considered just a simple incense/potpourri.  I had a hippie friend once whose house always smelled like smoldering sage.  More details can be found here.

Can you tell I grow sage and generally have an abundance at the end of the season?


Whole wheat flour isn't going to absorb the same amount of water as white flour, so that's probably the source of the problem. You can either add a bit more flour until you get the right consistency, or reduce the amount of liquid. Margarine counts as liquid as the majority of it is water, so reduce that and maybe add less egg. If it was me, I'd just try adding a couple more tablespoons of flour and see if that fixes it, don't add too much extra right away as you'd be surprised how little flour it takes to change from gooey to firm.


Slow cooker tips when on high and others remove the lid

Five hours is still a pretty long time for low and slow. Many recipes will work within that time without modification.

For ones that won't, the best way to cut time off is to heat things through in a pot on the stove first. Slow cookers are pretty good at the low and slow part, but that means they're really slow at getting to the point where they're actually cooking. Depending on your recipe, you may be able to skip right past a couple hours of initial heating by bringing things to a simmer/boil before dumping in.

Also, don't worry too much about the lid getting taken off. If it's left off, yeah, that's not great, but if it's just opened to stir and it's full of food/liquid, the temperature is not going to decrease that much.

If after all that, it's still not enough, I'd look to suggestions like those in Kate's answer - sidestep your timing constraints by prepping the night before and finding a better place for the slow cooker so you can start it earlier and avoid the lid getting opened. If you can get a small fridge outside the kitchen, you really could do it all without ever going into the kitchen in the morning.


I'd actually add more cabbage rather than an entirely different vegetable.

Despite what grandma believed, potatoes are not this magic salt-absorbing sponge: the advice to add potatoes to oversalted foods stems from the fact that more food with the same amount of salt equals less-salty food. In other words, potatoes don't absorb salt, they dilute it; and pretty much anything you add to a dish will serve that same dilution purpose, as long as what you're adding doesn't contain salt already. Thus, to dilute the salt in a vat of cabbage, I'd add more cabbage. Yes, this will result in some of the cabbage being more-fermented/softer than the rest, but depending on how long the sauerkraut has been going already, it may not be a noticeable difference in the finished product.

You can also try removing the salt by pouring off some of the brine that has developed and replacing it with water, but you'll be diluting the cabbage taste as well as the salt.

Another option is to just let the sauerkraut ferment, knowing that it'll take longer because of the increased salt levels, and when you're using it, rinse the bejeezus out of it.


Why does day old rice make for a better tasting fried rice?

The goal is to sufficiently dry it, so that you get the right texture of your fried rice. You want it to be noticeably dry, so that it will fry rather than steaming, and not clump together. It's okay if it's clumped up as it dried, as long as you can break it up without it sticking back together.

It does not actually have to be stale (changes in the starch that happen over time), just dry. So it's not exposure to oxygen, it's just moisture evaporating, i.e. exposure to air that's going to happen no matter how it's stored.

There are a lot of ways to accomplish this, including refrigerating for a day (or even 12 hours). There's no need to leave it uncovered. That might let you get away with a shorter time, so you could try it as a way to rush, but be aware that it may pick up smells from your fridge.

You can also use a fan to dry it quickly at room temperature. Simply leaving it at room temperature for a long period is unsafe, though, so I wouldn't recommend that.

See this recent answer and the Serious Eats article on fried rice it's largely based on for more details and related information.


In case you are interested, the magic comes at least partly from the milk.
I accidentally forgot to add it (but other than that, I followed the recipe to the letter), and I ended up with a regular vanilla cake, no layers at all.
I imagine this cake part should've been the (partly) the upper layer.

As milk is heavier than some of the other ingredients, it sinks to the bottom and creates the custard layer. I would like to expand this answer, with a remark on what we call 'flantaart', translated as 'custard pie'. There is one batter, and after baking, a well defined crust and a custard on top. I'll look it up when I get home, to look for similarities between the two recipes.


Is it safe to wash meat packaging before throwing it away?

Rinsing or washing the container is no worse than rinsing or washing a plate on which you have let your meat rest. But do it when you take your meat out, not a couple of hours later, to avoid spoilage starting.
If you send yours to landfill, cleaning it is for your comfort.
Where and when I grew up we would never bother, but we did accept that bins smell of spoiled food. If you want to keep your bin from smelling you may want to clean it.


How can I keep a cheesecake from cracking?

To make a good baked cheesecake, I was taught the following, and it has ALWAYS worked:

Start with room temperature ingredients.
DO NOT over-mix. This is a significant cause of cracking, as the incorporated air tends to souffle.
When baking, always bake in a bain-marie (put your cake into a water bath for insulation).
Bake half an hour at 300° F / 150° C.  Then, turn off the oven, open the oven door, and rest for 30 minutes.  Then, close the oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes more at 300° F / 150° C.

My first pastry chef taught me this, and it always works.

Also, over-baking will definitely lead to cracking (due to the loss of moisture), and, as stated, over-mixing will as well.


Do free range eggs have different cooking properties?

True free range eggs are noticeably different in terms of yolk colour (a much deeper yellow) and taste. Free range chickens are allowed to supplement their diets with naturally found grubs, inscets etc.

You might find this of interest:

Nutrition – Free-Range vs. Battery-Cage Eggs: Hens with Outdoor Access Produce More Nutritious Eggs


Can “quick cook” brown rice be cooked in an Instant Pot?

Instant or Quick Cook rice (whether white or brown) is partially precooked, meaning part of the cooking time is already completed to cut down on the wait time for the end user. So it can be cooked more or less the same way you would regular rice in an Instant Pot... just for less time.
There's a blog post that goes into a great deal of detail about parboiled rice in an Instant Pot, but the instructions boil down to:

Parboiled White Rice: pressure cook on High Pressure for 6 minutes.
Parboiled Brown Rice: Pressure cook on High Pressure for 8 minutes.
Once pressure cooking is complete, do a natural pressure release (NPR) or a 15-minute natural release if you're short on time.

Well-known brand Minute Rice has a shorter time recommendation:

Brown Rice: Use equal amounts of rice and liquid. Stir. Use the “manual” setting with High Pressure. Set timer for 5 minutes. When cooking time has elapsed, use the “Quick Release” to vent all the steam. Remove lid and fluff rice. Serve.

It looks like in the case of Minute Brown Rice, the stovetop cook time is 10 minutes, so an Instant Pot on High Pressure would cut the cook time in half. Since your rice's instructions call for 15 minutes, an 8 minute cook time would be more appropriate.


How to make muesli/granola bars crunchier?

I would use the oven. The dehydrator will obviously remove water, but it won't toast the granola like an oven would.

You could always try super-dehydrating half a batch and ovening another.


So I wanted to offer an update for anyone who has run into this issue. I let the chicken thaw/rest in the fridge for 3 days (the first day was thawing). I then dry roasted it in the slow cooker for the night (Same effect as rotisserie cooking). It came out perfectly!

So for anyone who has NOT rested their meat before freezing there is hope and your meat is not ruined. I will try some other cooking methods to see if it was the resting post-freeze or the super slow cooking that tenderized it.


Chefs are really fast at cooking.  It's what they do.  A chef can almost effortlessly crack an egg with one-hand in about a second.  Scrambled eggs would be pre-cracked and beaten prior to the cooking-shift.


Is there any way to kill bacteria in food without using heat?

As Lars Friedrich already wrote, curing with salt is a way to kill bacteria. A high sugar content and the removal of water in general alters the water activity.1
Some chemicals are toxic to bacteria (and to some extend also toxic to humans) like borax (which is used to preserve caviar; I'm not sure if it only inhibits the growth of bacteria) or ethanol (drinking alcohol). Sulfites are used - not exclusively - in wine making and on dried fruit.
You can alter the pH. I doubt the food will be edible as-it-is.
Last but not least you can irradiate the food to sterilize it. Irradiation is also commonly used to sterilize (disposable?) medical equipment.

Please note that freezing does not kill any bacteria.

Side note: There are some other bacteria that survive even in such adverse environments but they are not common as foodborne pathogens. If you really want to be sure that the food is sterile without cooking, you have pressure-sterilize, "poison" it or irradiate it.
You can also preserve food even with bacteria and fungi: A sourdough has an almost indefinitely shelf-live. It basically only consists of flour, water and a mix of many different bacteria and yeasts. Cultured milk also has a very long shelf life.
For further reading: The FAT TOM rule describes the six favorable conditions required for the growth of foodborne pathogens.

1 Caveat: (Botulinum) spores survive in honey. Do they count as bacteria?


It is not simply a matter of strong versus weak.  Rather, different qualities are extracted from the coffee over different parts of the brewing process.  The most volatile components are extracted early in the brew, and the less volatile components come out over the length of the brew.

So the distribution of flavors varies over the brew.  Total brew time is carefully calibrated in quality coffee makers to extract the most desirable flavors possible, and minimize the least desirable.

By taking some out early, you are guaranteed a bad first cup, and are consigning the remainder of the pot to be less than it could be.

For best quality, you should wait for the entire brew, so that the flavors are balanced from the entire brew time.


Is it safe for me to eat a salmon/tuna packet that's been in the car all summer?

The standard processing for this type of "flexible can" or "retort pouch" packaging is a certain amount of time at 250F or so to completely sterilize the contents. There's nothing alive in there to cause spoilage, or the process would not work at all.

As such, I find the comment stream remarkably uninformed - will 130F damage the package? If so, it would never have made it out of the factory...and the widespread precursor to the civilian application of this package (as mentioned in a more informed comment) is the MRE, and you can bet those go through some roasty-toasty temperatures in desert war zones.

If the packages are sealed, they are still sterile. Nothing that happened in your car is anywhere near the temperatures that were used to sterilize the contents in the first place.


What kind of apple fermented drink did I just make?

What you made is a watered  down version of a fermented or hard cider - the natural yeasts in the apple produce CO2 and alcohol, the sugar adds a bit of extra food for the yeasts, as does the honey which also contributes to the flavor, like the cinnamon stick and fennel.
In short, you used the spontaneous fermentation like it’s traditional for wine and cider, just with a diluted fruit mash.
For tweaking:
The sugar (or honey) is necessary as you added water to the apple juice. The spices are optional.
I currently have a batch of something quite similar on a shelf, where I first fermented apple peels and cores in water  (using up leftovers) and now am fermenting it a second time to make vinegar.


What additions can I make to my basic white bread recipe to increase its fiber content?

You can buy wheat bran at health stores. Before adding to bread, soak for a while to rehydrate. It will change the character of the bread somewhat, but the recipe should still work with something like 1/3 cup. The bag I bought was fairly coarse, so I put it in the blender and pulsed to powder it.

You can also buy soluble fiber (i.e. benefiber in the USA), although some of what is sold might be a scam. I imagine something around 1/4 cup added wouldn't mess up the recipe.

King Arthur (and perhaps others) make a white wheat flour, made from an albino wheat with husk that is ground very finely, and can generally be subbed in for white flour yielding higher fiber product. You might want to start half and half white wheat and white.


Why do my cookies deflate when coming out of the oven?

What are the primary causes of this?

The steam and other hot gasses that were puffing the cookies up either escapes or condenses. Without heat to create more steam, the cookies deflate.

You get exactly the same effect with bread, quiches, and other baked goods. You can hear bread start to make a crackling sound almost as soon as it comes out of the oven, and the sound continues for some minutes until the bread has cooled a bit. Quiches are always quite puffy looking when they're in the oven, but they start to shrink a bit as they cool.

If you want your cookies to shrink less, you might try cooking them at a slightly higher temperature, or cooking them a bit longer, or perhaps not chilling them so much prior to baking. Bumping up the amount of egg white in the cookie may help, too. The idea is to get the structure of the cookie to set a bit more by the time you remove the cookies from the oven. That will, of course, cause the cookies to be less chewy and more crunchy.


Skim milk is whole milk with the cream removed so it can be sold separately.

Simply add heavy cream. The ratio is about 1/3 cup of cream per quart of skim milk.

Keep in mind that whole milk has been homogenized. Your cream has not and will separate out again if left undisturbed. This is not really an issue for cooking just if you plan on drinking it.


It's pretty normal in many cultures to prepare vegetables for the evening meal in the morning, or even the day before. This has a long recorded history, at least to Roman times

Typically, vegetables that brown badly in that 24 hour period are either stored under water, or coated with a suitable dilute acidic solution (orange, lemon, or lime juice)

Cut potatoes stored underwater do not seem to suffer any detrimental effect over a 12 to 24 hour period. There will most likely be some starch and other nutrient loss to the water, but not to a level that anyone notices


brunch for sixty people - how to estimate amounts?

There are two parts to your calculation: how much egg or tuna goes into a "helping" at your buffet brunch, and how many helpings you are likely to need.

For the first part, you probably know how many egg salad sandwiches you can get from a certain number of eggs. Let's say one egg makes one sandwich. Are people likely to put that same amount on a bagel? Or will it be more? Less? Let's say a can of tuna makes two sandwiches. Same questions.

Next, how many bagels-with-something will a person eat? Maybe two, right? Especially since there is kugel. So 120 bagels would be a LOT of bagels. You could then take your guesses from the first part and estimate what you need for 60 bagels of egg and 60 bagels of tuna. Sure, one may be more popular than the other, but some people may eat only the lox, right?

If you've never done this before, I wouldn't make up 60 bagels of egg salad mix in advance. You can make maybe 20 worth, and as it disappears, make more. That is assuming a relatively informal get-together where you are the host and friends and family are happily gathering, and will watch you stir up some more egg salad (using eggs you hardboiled in advance, and veggies you chopped in advance) as needed. Things would be different if you were the paid caterer. Not doing it in advance means that if you don't use all the eggs or veggies, you'll have a chance to use them in something else instead of egg salad. Same for the tuna - open the cans as you need them after some initial inventory of tuna salad is made.


Sear pork belly before or after cooking in a pressure cooker?

If you sear the meat in the pressure cooker before putting the lid on, then the flavoring from the seared tidbits and caramelization will assist in bringing a fuller flavor to the finished recipe.

This is the same technique I use when I cook something in my Dutch Oven (as a substitute for my slow cooker). Instead of trying to transfer everything into the slow cooker, I simply slide my Dutch Oven into the oven and set the heat (for the equivalent of high or low).

I don't see any reason that the same principle shouldn't work for you with your pressure cooker.


Bread: Hydration change for making Wholewheat bread with oats

If you try to make a bread exclusively or almost exclusively out of oats, you are missing good gluten formation. Oats are gluten-free(1), so won‘t be able to develop the network that traps the CO2 from your yeast like a wheat bread does and what you made was (slightly sloppily phrased) baked oatmeal. Most bakers will tell you that you need a minimum percentage of wheat (or wheat relative like spelt) for a good bread. That’s not true, as some bread traditions that are based on rye have shown. Oat is not a classic bread grain, though.
Now, it would be too easy to simply say „you can‘t make bread out of oats alone“. It is indeed possible, but you need to use a few tricks along the way - and accept a few differences. I am basing this answer largely on the experiment of one German baker and blogger that I usually trust, so I will be paraphrasing the core findings in this post. He used an oat sourdough, a pre-soak/autolyse step for 1/5th of the oats and a comparatively low amount of yeast (which is probably more of his trademark than essential). Overall, he works with a hydration of 125%, which is lower than your 140% and still ends up with a quite wet crumb, so perhaps that would help you getting closer to your desired target - you were perhaps a bit overzealous when amping up the hydration?
The dough is quite soft and sticky (I don’t think classic kneading would work too well here), and is left to rise in a pan until almost fully proofed, then baked with a standard falling heat from 250°C to 250°C. The high hydration means it needs a significantly longer time to fully bake, aim for over an hour (65-75 minutes) and a core temperature of 98°C.
If you look at the photos, you will notice that the bread doesn’t have the light structure of a wheat bred, but is indeed still rather wet.

(1) Not going into the finer details of food chemistry and all that.


You certainly can prepare cake-like foodstuff in the microwave. One such application is a sponge cake. These are quick and easy, though you'll be hard-pressed to make something that's not just a poor substitute for the real thing.

That being said, cook one of these up and drop it on a plate with some fresh fruit and maybe some whipped cream and you'll have an instant dessert.

This LifeHacker article suggests:

1/4 cup melted butter (50 g)
1/4 cup sugar (50 g)
1/2 cup flour (50g)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk


Salt in dry ingredients versus salt in water?

Yes it does - here's the reason why:

Yeast need some salt to grow properly, but they only need a very small amount (see 3rd para of intro). When you added the salt to the wet mix (sponge), you made it into a high enough concentration to inhibit the growth of the yeast, so it didn't reach the log-phase growth that you would expect when generating a sponge mix. This delays how the yeast behave later in the process by altering the slope of the growth curve and allowing it to reach the stationary phase (where an essential nutrient is depleted) without ever growing at a fast enough rate to make the dough as you expect.

The reason there was no further improvement with longer incubation, is also due to the depletion of that same essential nutrient. Basically this is rate limiting, so the gas generated from growth is equal to the rate at which the gas is escaping from your dough.

When you mix the salt into the dry ingredients this volume change relative to the wet mix, dilutes out the salt to a concentration where the yeast can grow effectively, but they are still limited by what has happened during the sponge growth. Where the log-phase is delayed, it will take much longer to start growing rapidly, and there isn't enough free water in your dough to allow the yeasts to easily reach log-phase in the full dough, so this limits what happens with the final product.


How should I clean, or care for, a banneton (brotform, proofing basket)?

A stiff brush and a set out in bright sun is about all I've felt the need to do with mine.

Normally I'll just tap out any extra flour.
If I've got a dough that sticks (like last night when I didn't flour enough), then I just take a stiff brush and get all the bits off.
If they do get a bit wet, dry them with a towel and then in a warm oven.
If I think there's been enough moisture to be concerned about something growing, I'll set it in bright sun (or my UV exposure box).  Strong UV is a good inhibitor for much of that.


Why did my piece of beef harden on crock pot?

It wasn't cooked long enough. A long cook time in the crock pot dissolves the collagen in the meat and causes it to get tender, but before this happens the meat fibers will tighten (think an egg firming in the frying pan) and the meat will be tougher.

Here's a chart of high vs low cooking times on the Crock-Pot website. As you can see, cooking times on the low setting are around double the times on the high setting. So you can think of your sirloin as having cooked 6 hours on low, which is on the short side.

It's also worth mentioning that that hour set on high was largely spent getting up to temperature, so overall it was probably cooked less than the equivalent of 6 hours on low.

Try setting it to low and leaving it for 8 hours next time if you want to serve it in slices, and more if you want to shred it.

HIGH : LOW

3 : 7

4 : 8

5 : 9

6 : 10

7 : 11

8 : 12

*** It is not recommended to convert recipes with cook times less than 7-8 hours on "Low" or 3-4 hours on "High."


How can I avoid my patties bulging in the middle?

When you create the patty, make a slight indentation in the middle.  That way, the "bulge" will result in a flat patty.  If you purchase patties from the store, and cook from frozen, the only solution will be a weight or heavy pan on top as they cook.


Use the refined coconut oil. And not only for temperature reasons...
I admit to not liking the taste of coconut in many cases... but I particularly don't want my french fries tasting like them. That may not be universally the case for all people, but if you want a neutral-flavored oil, unrefined coconut oil is not that. You will end up tasting only coconut, not french fry.
This site seems to agree:

Don’t get me wrong: I really dig the occasional coconut macaroon or coconut cream pudding. But I don’t want coconut flavor invading my scrambled eggs, fresh popcorn or homemade chicken broth. And neither does the rest of my family.
We tend to eat more coconut oil when it’s refined and flavorless, because it’s so much easier to blend into any kind of dish.
If you love coconut-flavored anything, then this probably isn’t a big deal. But if you’re like me, refined coconut oil simply fits into your life more seamlessly. Frankly, we’d barely touch our coconut oil if it was the unrefined variety. So I choose refined because I know we’ll actually use it.
Extra virgin coconut oil has a relatively low smoking point of 350 degrees F. This is pretty low as far as a cooking temperature goes. If you’re eating your oil raw or using it mostly for baking, this is probably not an issue. But for stovetop cooking, this is generally too low of a smoking point.


I bake a lot with gluten free (I cater for a wheat allergy) and as a direct result a lot of my batters are runny but I still get a fluffy final cake. Bread doughs are more like batter than bread too.

You mention folding in the comments, which prompts me to wonder if you're making a red velvet cake, given the recipe points mentioned.

If that is the case, you need to aerate the egg whites separately, and fold them in last, taking care as to not lose the air you put in.

If you edit your post to include the recipe that would help with diagnosis a lot more.


Are there any differences that need to be accounted for when changing a hamburger from grilled to griddled?

Does your burger recipe rely on the center of the burger being medium rare?  If so, you may have a problem with the spice ratio because your cooking technique will produce different types of doneness on the grill vs. the griddle.

With the grill you get a higher quantity of crispy burny bits (the Maillard reaction) than you will on a griddle (temperature generally in the high 300s F, as opposed to much higher grill heat).  With the grill at home you can go for a rare to medium rare center. with a lunch truck, you had best go for medium well for safety's sake (and possible legalities).

The easiest way to know how your recipe will work under griddle conditions is to test it.  Make up your burger, pat it thin and cook it all the way through in a medium heat fry pan (not my favorite way to have a burger, but classic griddle approach).  If all is well, you're done.  If not, well, you've already perfected it once, you'll need to decide what changes need to be made.

But I'm betting that perfection will carry through to the griddle burger just fine.


What’s the science behind thenkuzhal (its a crispy snack, crispy hollow tubes)?

I think the hollow comes from air expanding while frying the dough.
At first I thought it was made like an Italian bucatini (with a die), but watching videos showing how Thaenkuzhal is made, I think it's only air expanding


Cooking with sugar makes pan very difficult to clean

Melted and re-hardened sugar (including caramel) is very difficult to remove through mechanical action, but trivial to remove by soaking. Just pour in enough hot water to cover the sugar and wait an hour or so. (If oil was used, add some dish soap.) For a quicker turnaround, you can simmer the pot with the water on the stove; 10 minutes should be enough to remove even a thick coating.


How to caramelize white sugar without burning it?

It is perfectly normal for sugar to turn dark brown when making caramel. If it turns even darker, it is because it has been burning too hot.
The final temperature should be around 234 F, so you want to get there gradually.
As for the color, many recipes call for cream to make it smoother and tender, but only incorporate it after the crystals are fully dissolved and you're ready to take it off the burner.

I've seen a few youtube videos with just sugar and water for sugar cages...


Fish generally should be frozen as soon as it's caught. Maybe that's what your mom is referring to?  The marinade itself shouldn't make any difference, unless the fish sat in it a long time, like more than a day.  Hopefully you have been marinating it in the fridge?


If it is turning to "slime", losing shape, and becoming sticky again, you are probably not building enough strength in the dough.  First, I would try the same recipe, holding back 50 - 100 g of the water.  Work with a slightly lower hydration until you get the feel for things.  Then, make sure your initial kneading/stretch and fold takes at least 8-10 minutes.  Subsequent slap and folds should be 1 set (to me that is like four folds, which reshapes the dough into a sort of ball), spaced by about 30 minutes. I use no flour on counter, even with very high hydration. Initially, with a wet dough, you will get a lot sticking to fingers. This will reduce with time and the building of the gluten structure.  For final shaping, either a very light dusting of flour (often none), but a wet bench scraper and wet hands usually does the trick.

High hydration dough is tricky. I really had to work up to it to understand the behavior of the dough.


It depends on the time of year (and, of course, sales).

One book I read said that since many chicken farmers raise extra birds to be slaughtered around holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter are the big ones), often they'll have shortages of smaller eggs (which often come from smaller chickens) around those times. Since USDA regulations give a minimum weight for egg types, but not a maximum, the chicken farmers tend to fill out orders with larger eggs. You can always weigh the eggs in a pack of small or medium eggs to see if they are actually that size or larger.

According to the USDA standards (see page 29 of the document), the minimum weights for a dozen eggs are:

Jumbo: 30 oz.
Extra Large:  27 oz.
Large: 24 oz.
Medium: 21 oz.
Small: 18 oz.
Peewee: 15 oz.

(It's a bit more complicated than that, since they actually weigh them by a lot case, which is 30 dozen eggs. But that's close enough for most purposes.)

You can actually figure out per egg cost at home based on circulars, and then weigh at the supermarket to see if the eggs are truly what they're labeled or if they're running big in that lot.


I would try simmering or braising until they are tender, which will make it easier to then skin them.  Stewing them slowly, like you mentioned works well especially if you're making a soup.


Sharpening scissors with microserrations

My experience is that you can't sharpen microserrated blades effectively, and generally end up damaging them.
I recommend contacting Sabatier instead, or talking to a professional knife sharpener.


You can' "cook off" acidity, but you can balance it.  Typically in marinara, that is done with a small amount of sugar, or, better yet, half of a grated carrot per 28 oz can of tomatoes, sweated with your onion.


How long do you cook the vegetables in a pasta salad recipe?

My answer would be "not at all". My pasta salad involves only raw vegetables - carrots, peppers, celery, and similar things you would put in a leaf salad. The contrast between the soft pasta and the crunchy veggies is part of the appeal. Just a data point.


I wouldn't– in my experience, the paste won't puff well if it's been sitting around even for a couple of hours. Baked choux paste freezes very well though– your best bet is to make it into profiteroles or eclairs or gougères or whatever and freeze those if you've got the space.


Does chlorine evaporate from water when cooking?

Water treatment often uses chlorine or chloramine to kill germs or algae. If you are smelling it it's more likely to be Chloramine than Chlorine. Chlorine will dissipate from water over time naturally, but boiling for 20 minute will drive it out. Chloramine will also dissipate naturally, but in a much longer time frame, and would take over a day to boil out.

So boiling water will get rid of chlorine but not chloramine (at least not in a useful time frame), and boiling will concentrate other minerals in the water which is usually undesirable. It will also de-oxygenate the water, making it flat. Flat water isn't great for cooking - compare the flavor of a cup of tea or coffee brewed with flat water as opposed to fresh and you'll see what I mean.

Your best option for water treatment chemical removal at home is an activated charcoal filter unless you want to invest in a UV treatment system, which would seem to be a bit OTT. You could also use a reducing agent from a brewery supply company, but if all you want is some fresh tasting and smelling water then the filter is your best option.

Homebrewing SE has a thread on this which is worth reading.


Why does food cook differently in a double-boiler?

The double boiler maintains a steady, even temperature due to being heated by the surrounding liquid. Basicallly, (assuming the two pots don't touch) the heat in the internal pot will never exceed the boiling point of the water surronding it. Further, the liquid surrounding the internal pot has an insulating effect that makes temperature changes more gradual. When exposed to direct flame or heating element, the pot can do so easily, and temperatures may fluctuate more quickly.

The steady heat provides a good environment for tempermental foods/sauces that require a very specific temperature. Chocolate and Hollandaise are good examples of this.


How can I make a chocolate cup that looks like the seaweed on a sushi roll?

"Plastic chocolate" is a form of chocolate used for modeling and shaping decorative elements such as chocolate roses, ribbons and other elements for cakes and desserts.

Take about 1 lb. of bittersweet chocolate and melt over a double boiler.  When chocolate is melted, stir in 2/3 cup of light corn syrup. Mix until evenly blended and then set aside to cool.  When it firms up, wrap tightly in a heavy gauge plastic bag or wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Let sit for several hours or overnight.  No need to refrigerate it, ambient temperature is fine.

Cut the plastic chocolate into smaller size chunks that will be easy to knead.  Begin kneading to soften it.  If it gets sticky, use a little cocoa powder but be careful not to dry it out.  Knead until pliable and then roll out to desired thickness and cut as desired to shape your sushi rolls, decorative elements, etc.  You can roll it through the roller of a pasta machine to help get it to an even thickness.

If you're wanting the rough look of nori then press some crumpled foil into it after rolling as previously suggested.


How do I reconstitute vacuum sealed Tibetan Barley Wine?

I wonder whether something was lost in translation, as @Echerwal points out and also suggests that your packet may be yeast.

From a Tibetan friend in the US, here's how he makes dru-chhaang, the barley wine.

Briefly wash the barley before putting it in a large pot and adding twice the volume of water as you have barley. Simmer until the water is absorbed, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool for 30-45 minutes.

Using a clean dish cloth (or plastic wrap)a, spread out the barley in a layer, and sprinkle evenly with distiller's yeast (also called wine yeast or phap). Mix gently with your hands. Put the mixture into a container with a lid. Wrap with a towel or cloth, and put in a warm, dark place. The barley will begin to ferment in several days, although it could take as long as 4-5 days. You'll know from the smell when fermentation has begun to take place, and the longer it goes, the stronger the wine.

When ready to use, make a well in the center of the mash, scoop out the liquid the settles into the well and strain it through a cloth into a clean container. Add enough water to the mash to cover, let sit for another day, and repeat the process of scooping out the liquid and straining (add to the first batch). You might be able to get a third round. Store in the frig, but remember that it's alive and will continue to ferment and can erupt in some containers (like plastic).


Is it possible to determine if fish caught from fishing is safe to make into sashimi or sushi?

The biggest concern with fish caught in the wild is the presence of parasites. You'll have to look up which species of parasite are present in the species of fish that you wish to use, and treat it accordingly. Tapeworm is common in salmon, and several other varieties of fish have various parasites capable of infecting a human host. Most sites I've seen suggest that you need to freeze the fish at -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 Celcius) or colder for 7 days or -31 Fahrenheit (-35 Celcius) for 15 hours to guarantee any parasites are dead. Many home freezers may have difficulty keeping temperatures this low. Also the freezing process, if done in a home freezer, has a good chance of ruining the taste and the texture of the meat. You may want to look into flash freezing methods to avoid this.

Supposedly there are certain species of fish that do not have any parasites, or at least no parasites capable of infecting humans. You will want to do your own research on this to be certain.

Beyond parasites bacteria are the other biggest concern. Make sure you put the fish into a cooler immediately, and freeze it as soon as you return home.

Sources:
http://seafoodhealthfacts.org/seafood_safety/patients/parasites.php
http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_concerns/sushi_parasites.html


I would suggest a dark, dry caramel. If you make a dark caramel and add just a tiny bit of cream or butter to it at the end, it will be firm and dry (at least, as much as ganache is) and not "sticky", as you say in your question.  The trick will be adding enough butter or cream that the caramel remains pliable, but not so much that it is sticky; you may have to experiment some here.

A dark caramel will also add some bitter notes and contrasting flavors that would otherwise be missing in the chocolate-free bars.


Emulsifier: is it safe to cook mayonnaise?

The mayonnaise itself is only a stable emulsion in certain temperature ranges. If you are talking about standard mayonnaise (made with egg yolk), it will split when heated, and won't help your new sauce at all.

If you are planning to use one of those vinegar-oil emulsions sold in supermarkets under the name mayonnaise, I cannot predict how they will handle. They may or may not split. But they are not in principle supposed to be heated, so you can experience weird results. And the emulsifiers in them are calculated to be in the proper ratio for the mayonnaise as sold, so there will liekly be too little of them to sufficiently emulsify a sauce when added to it.

Mustard won't help you at all. It is only a physical emulsifier, so only works with limited success. The cayenne flesh is already doing some physical emuslification, if that's not enough, mustard won't make it better.

All in all, if you plan to heat your mixture (why?) then mayonnaise is unlikely to help you as an emulsifier.


how to use CSA vegetables most efficiently

Have you tried roasting the vegetables? For example, from your October basket, cutting up beets, carrots, and squash and then roasting at 400F until tender. Nestle in some bone-in chicken breasts, roast a pork tenderloin in the oven along with the vegetables, or another protein of your choice.

You could also stuff the peppers with ground beef or lamb along with sauteed garlic, parsley, kale, diced tomatoes, etc. Then roast the peppers for 10-15 minutes in the oven.

I'm not sure these count as strategies, but I'm hoping this helps.


Does it make sense for a cake icing recipe to call for vinegar but not baking soda?

It's fine as written.

Combining vinegar with baking soda (or any acid with any base) is usually done in baking to produce gas, which can lighten the finished product. This is an icing, which is applied after the baking process; it's not set to capture air bubbles, so any effect would be largely temporary and more easily produced through beating.

The vinegar here is intended to mimic the tangy flavor of real cream cheese. The lemon juice has the same effect, but apple cider vinegar adds a different mix of acids, better matching the flavor of the real thing.


Can you mix oat and wheat flakes into bread mix?

I mix all kinds of things into my bread, so yes, you can do it.
Things to note: if you add things that draw water, you may want to either soak them first (i.e. seeds) or add more water to your dough (i.e. oat flakes, which would loose their structure when soaked).
I don't know how you raise your bread, but in case let the dough raise, then knead again for a second rise:
You may want to put in your additions after the second knead (to make sure your yeast stays undisturbed for the first).


Handling raw poultry turns my cuticles black!

As a student of medicine I've never heard of any condition similar to the one you describe, but then there are still a lot of diseases, conditions and genetic prepositions unknown to man (and to medicine students).
First I thought, it might be an allergic reaction to poultry proteins, but our skin normally doesn't have many immune cells on the outside (but can still result in a rash or excema) and you would probably have a really strong alergic reaction when eating poultry (that does not seem to be the case).
What I would like to know is how long does your skin keep being black? Does your hands' colour change slowly or in a few seconds to a black? Do you have any other symptoms during contact to poultry or in general?

Anyhow there are few possibilities. Either something's really wrong with the meat you're buying (and I doubt that) or something's not alright with your skin. Maybe you have some kind of weird bacteria growing on your skin. There a lots of different bacteria physiologically growing on everyones skin ... stil this not seem normal to me.
You should consider seeking professional help and talk to a general practitioner.
Meanwhile I suggest using latex or nitril glove (you should be able to buy them in a drug store). This should prevent your hands from turning black and they still allow you to handle the meat precisely.


We love to using Baking Soda and water to gently clean cookware. A little bit of hot water seems to work best.


Assuming you didn't do some kind of "flavor injection" treatment, there is absolutely no reason why one part of a bird would taste radically different from another. I'm going to go with "Bad Duck."

Cooking the bird slowly seriously reduces the possibility of a "hot spot" causing some kind of local taste variance. Breast meat will become overdone at the point where dark meat is still tasty, but that wouldn't explain smell or taste, and unpleasant smells are almost always related to bacterial issues.

If it was discolored, it could have been local bruising, which would cause some taste issues, but, again, wouldn't explain the smell.


Is it safe to use non-sashimi grade fish to make gravlax?

IMO.

Gravlax is not technically "raw" it is cooked (cured) with salt and sugar, both of which have been used to preserve food for eons.

In any case, use as fresh as possible fish you can find from a reputable fish monger.

Yes; as long as you properly cure the fish and properly store the fish in the fridge.
Was it safe before ? The "traditional" gravlax, was fermented salmon buried in sand. don't know, there are still Scandinavian people, so I assume it did have such an impact.
They so it the same way we do it, with salt and sugar, and vacuum pack it. (I cannot find the ingredients list for it online); maybe they add a little bit of preservative, but I would be surprised.


You generally don't stir cake batter at all.

Where I learned to bake, we were taught that if you want a light and fluffy cake, as is generally the case, then you should fold in the dry ingredients (including flour).  That means using a flat surface - a silicone spatula works great but you could even use your hand in a pinch - sliding it down the edge of the bowl, and using a turning motion (i.e. folding) to incorporate the flour, repeating several times until there are no longer any large clumps of dry ingredients.

When you fold, it's very difficult to over-mix.  And particularly with cakes and quick breads, under-mixing a little is actually OK, because the batter tends to be quite moist and eventually the moisture will seep through to any unincorporated flour - and if it doesn't, you'll get a nice spongy texture.

Commercial mixers actually have paddle attachments for folding large amounts of batter.  You don't need a special mixer, though; you just need to be gentle and conservative with your mixing.

Not every cake is the same, and some recipes may specifically call for you to whisk the batter (for which you should use a balloon whisk, not a spoon or spatula) instead of folding, but if it just says to "mix" the batter then I would using the folding technique.


Why are nectarine pits different colors?

They are not different species (all nectarines belong to the species peach), they are different cultivars. It is normal for different cultivars of a fruit to look and taste different.


How do I keep eggs from sticking to a pan while cooking?

This combination is never going to work - it will stick no matter what.

If you want to keep this method of baking, you will have to switch the pan. A nonstick pan will work, and while it is new, you might even be able to slide off the eggs without any crust sticking to the pan (while later it will be just easier to clean from the stuck stuff). You might also decide to switch to a glass pan - it will also stick, but you will have an easier time cleaning it, especially with a bit of a soak. Using glass in a toaster oven will make the eggs stick a bit more though, because it creates a stronger crust.

In both cases, there will be some time involved in cleaning that's more than just cleaning, say, a bowl in which you reheated some soup - there is no way around that with your chosen method of preparation.


I am assuming your couverture was real chocolate, since you haven't said.

While I don't know the effect of alchohol on chocolate, small quantities of water can easily seize chocolate.  It becomes a nasty, pasty, stiff mess.

Typical 80 proof vodka would be 40% alcohol by volume, and so approximately 60% water, so your homemade extract would have had significant water in it.

According to Harold McGee as related in The Kitchn, this sounds like what happened:

  The process of refining cocoa beans into chocolate gets rid of all the
  moisture, and so the final product is actually incredibly dry.
  Technically, even melted chocolate can be considered a 'dry'
  ingredient despite its liquid state.

  For this reason, adding water to melted chocolate has the same effect
  as adding water to flour--it turns into a paste. Food science Harold
  McGee explains that "the small amount of water acts as a kind of glue,
  wetting the many millions of sugar and cocoa particles just enough to
  make patches of syrup that stick the particles together..."

You may be able to still use the chocolate for ganache by adding cream, or adding more water so it becomes smooth again, and use it as sauce... but it almost certainly cannot be recovered for covering confections any more.

To prevent this from happening in the future, don't get your couverture wet--from any source.

Note that the flavoring in truffles is normally in the ganache filling, not the couverture; you haven't said you are making truffles, but this gives you a hint:

One way to keep the couverture dry and still have your mint flavor is to add your mint flavoring to the filling.

Another would be to make your homemade mint extract with grain alcohol rather than vodka, so that there is no water in it.


How to bake baking soda to produce sodium carbonate?

The temperature needs to be high enough, that's all. 450°F should work fine.  (2-5 hours is a little silly, since the reaction is pretty quick once the baking soda itself is up to temperature.)

If you want to check that everything's gone okay, you can weigh the powder before and after. If it's converted properly, its mass should decrease to 63% (EDIT: fixed miscalculation, Matthias' number is the correct one) of the original. (Possibly a little further if there was some moisture in it.)


How to get cheese sauce to stick to meatballs

A very hot sauce that is thin and runny will thicken as it cools down.  That's why one makes a sauce thinner in the pot than one wants it on the plate.  A solution to your problem might be as simple as serving the sauce at a lower temperature.  If you're serving the sauce on a heat source, lower it.

If you can't alter the serving temperature for some reason, an alternative is to increase the thickening agent, whatever it is.  Increasing something like flour (starting with more roux) or cornstarch wouldn't affect the flavor. Or possibly a different thickener would be better for your recipe. Arrowroot might be a better alternative if it's an acidic environment, for example.  There are lots of choices.

A thicker cheese sauce is easier to scorch, though, so that's something to look out for.


How do I clean a pot after boiling eggs?

Put some water in the pot
Add vinegar or citric acid (whatever you can get your hands on more easily). (Sorry, I have no measurements, I always eyeball it. I guess up to 5% for vinegar is fine, or one or two teaspoons of citric acid depending on the pot-size...)
Heat to a rolling boil... (do NOT put your head over the pot to see it it works, especially when using vinegar)
After it has boiled for a minute, turn off the heat and let things cool down.
Rinse the pot
Enjoy the (hopefully) shiny pot :)


Squid ink is used to make black pasta, no reason it wouldn't work with butter. Good fishmongers should be able to source it for you.


Are sweet potatoes and yams treated different in terms of cooking?

It depends on what you mean by "yam".

Once upon a time, in the deep south of the US, there was a tuber known as the sweet potato, and it was good.   And then one particular grower decided to sell theirs under the trade name "yam" to get better marketing recognition.  This lead to some folks in the US calling sweet potatoes by the name yam, especially in the context of candied yams (a sweet casserole of spiced sweet potato).

So if the word "yam" is being used to mean a variety of sweet potato, then they are culinary identical.  Sweet potatoes of all variety are, well, potato sized (or a bit bigger than the average potato), and their color can range from whitish through yellow, orangish or reddish.  Most grocery store varieties are fairly orange in color.

True yams originate from Africa, and are far more starchy and fibrous than sweet potatoes, no matter what they are called, and are used in entirely different ways.  They can be very large, football to basketball sized or larger.  There are also a tremendous variety of true yams.


Usually that would mean potatoes that have been simmered to fork tender, but you could use potatoes that have been baked too. It's faster to dice the potato before simmering, but for some things it actually tastes better (tiny difference) to simmer first, then dice.

Be careful if you dice first, they will overcook and become waterlogged quickly.

If the recipe doesn't specify, you can use peeled or unpeeled potatoes. I almost always prefer scrubbed, unpeeled potatoes.

Don't forget to salt the water!

EDIT: One more little note. 1/4 inch dice is small for simmering potatoes. If you do it that way, get them out of the water just before they are completely tender, carry-over cooking will get them the rest of the way. You might also want to rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking.


How to make caramel sauce that doesn't taste bitter?

I would say there are 2 problems here: the lack of water, and the constant stirring. Try adding 1/4 cup of water to the sugar - this should stop it catching and burning.

You should avoid stirring caramelising sugar because you run the risk of flicking bits of it onto the side of the pan. These isolated bits cook faster and thus burn, then drop into the rest of the sugar. Result: bitter caramel. Stirring also promotes crystallisation, which is not what you want for a smooth sauce.

If you have to stir it, do it slowly, carefully, and infrequently - only as much as necessary to distribute the water evenly through the sugar.

I would also use a sugar or probe thermometer to ensure you're not over-cooking the sugar - get it to 350ºF, then take it off heat. This will take 6-8 minutes, and it will be a dark amber colour. Let it stand for 1 minute before whisking in your cream (I normally gently heat the cream beforehand by the way, and add a teaspoon of sea salt to it, because salted caramel is effing gorgeous).


In boiled syrup candies like this one, glucose is often used as an insurance policy to keep all the rest of the sucrose in the recipe from crystallizing. The dissimilar sugar molecules in the solution interfere with the sucrose crystallization and they instead form smaller crystals and the candy has a smoother texture.

You can easily use glucose syrup in this recipe. As it adds a little water you will have to boil the syrup a little longer to reach the desired concentration (and thus temperature.)

As far as the ratio- You can look at the label of your syrup to see the glucose content and use that as a starting point but don't worry about being too exact in your conversion. As the glucose is simply for interference small variations aren't going to make much of a difference. Often when I am making candies like this I will just eyeball a tablespoon or two depending on how much candy I am making.