We have recently remodelled our kitchen and moved from a gas hob to an induction hob. In general it cooks much the same as gas and you get similar levels of control over the temperature. One style of cooking that is not recommended is 'slide' cooking as this will likely scratch your hob surface - this can be mitigated by putting a piece of parchment paper under the pan or lifting the pan off the hob. we don't use a wok and can't see how we could with our hob.

The surface of the hob gets hot but not as hot as it would it it were gas or electric this means that spilt / spattered food doesn't generally burn on to the hob surface and it is much easier to clean.

The hob is touch control and so far we've not had any problems with this. If you lift a pan off the heating zone it will switch itself off automagically after a certain amount of time. Before this happens if you put a pan back on the zone it carries on cooking. If there are no pans on any active zones then the whole thing switches off after 2 minutes.

We chose a NEFF Flushline hob that sits in a natural black granite work surface and the whole thing is positively beautiful and a pleasure to work with.


It is just pastrami-flavoured corned beef.

A restaurant I used to work at, we made our own pastrami, corned beef, and Montreal-style smoked meat. Pastrami is smoked corned beef, essentially, but the smoking process induces textural changes as well, and results in a drier meat than plain corned beef.


Wine sediment clinging to top of bottle?

Sediment is normal in "older" wines, it can simply be small particles of yeast that was not caught by the filtration.

As time goes by, the particles will stick together and fall to the bottom of the bottles.

Most of the time it will not affect the (taste and flavor) quality of the wine, but will show up more when not being cautious when pouring the wine.

Just be more careful when pouring wine; you can also use a decanter.

Slowly pour the wine into the decanter from the bottle to let the sediment get caught in the shoulder of the bottle.

If there are sediments, you will loose maybe 1 teaspoon of wine; but you will be assured that the wine in the decanter will be free of sediment and when pouring for friends at the table there will not be any sediment in the glasses.


What is this black stuff coming off my George Forman grill?

Most likely your problem is caused by your dishwasher detergent. Many of them will cause aluminum to oxidize creating the issue you are experiencing.

I would suggest that you hand-wash and remove the oxidation as it looks quite extreme. (You don't want any of it to come off in the dishwasher and be deposited on other dishes.)

While it technically may be 'dishwasher safe', to prevent the oxidation from reoccurring I would recommend going forward that you hand-wash. The other option may be to try different dishwasher detergents to see if you can find one that does not cause this reaction.


Purpose of hole in stove leading to oven

A simple Google search yielded the following

https://www.shopyourway.com/m/questions/1019973

All ovens are vented one way or another. You would not want to heat up the air in a sealed chamber because of thermal expansion. It would explode due to the heat expanding because it has no way to vent. A vent is also needed to vent fumes and by products that burn off during the self cleaning process.

A vent is necessary and should not be blocked


I left pickled ginger left out of fridge

Food safety guidelines would say a definite no. The temperature "danger zone" is between 40 degrees F (slightly warmer than your fridge temp) and 140 degrees F. Assuming you keep your house around a normal temp your ginger was most definitely in that range for at least 2 hours (the max allowed time a food is considered "safe"). There's no way to guarantee that the pickling liquid was acidic enough to keep it safe, especially since you don't know if the original label said that refrigeration was required. Commercial products that are pickled and canned are not the same as an opened product, because the canning process creates a vacuum (the lid "pops" when you open it).

All that being said, you may keep it and eat it and never get sick. That's up to you to decide, but for peace of mind, I'd throw away what you have and spend the extra few dollars to buy a new jar.


There are three things to consider. The first two are food safety.

Temperature: You say warm oven, but in order for food to be held for extended periods of time safely they need to be held at over 140° F. (source)
Time: Once you are no longer maintaining a safe temperature you have a short period of time before it is considered unsafe. Approximately 4 hours. This includes time it is sitting out for service.
Dried Boiled Potatoes: If you keep the potatoes in the oven they may dry out. although this is fairly preventable by covering and adding a touch extra moisture. This is also the least important of the three concerns as it doesn't constitute a danger.

I would recommend doing the boiling shortly before service. The actual cooking is not the hardest part of making boiled potatoes. The peeling and cutting is. Simply prep your potatoes in advance (even the day before) and store them in cold water to prevent them spoiling. Then rinse and boil just before. You shouldn't need more than 30 minutes to an hour for that quantity.

There is also another option (pointed out by GdD in comments), of preparing them in full and refrigerating them. Then it is a simple matter of reheating them just before serving. This may be your most ideal option because almost all of the work can be done before hand.


Butter cream icing substitutions for covering the cake with fondant

Butter cream consists mostly of almost water-free fat (butter or shortening) and sugar. Whipped cream has about 30% fat, the remaining part is solids and mostly water.

Everything that has significant amount of water will dissolve fondant since fondant consists of sugar. For example, cream, yoghurt, cream cheese, mascarpone and pudding (custard) are out. You have to use an icing with a very high fat content.

I am assuming that your buttercream is a meringue-based buttercream or custard-based buttercream (because you stated that you don't have much time to do a time-consuming cream). You could make a simple buttercream (also known as American buttercream) which basically consists of just almost water-free fat (butter or shortening), sugar, some flavour (e.g. vanilla extract) and a tiny bit water/milk. Making this buttercream is (almost) as fast as whipping cream.

A website (sorry, in German) says that you can use ganache, some cream creese icings with a high butter/shortening content (and white chocolate to increase the fat content), or warm jam (not cold jam due to possible condensation!). I don't know how high a "high butter/shortening content" has to be, so I would stick to the simple buttercream.


If the sand is significantly smaller than the grains, rinse the grain in an appropriately sized sieve. If the sand is denser than the grain, perhaps the grain would float and the sand would sink in a large amount of water?

If neither of those ideas work, then you may need to find another brand.


Cooking chicken breasts in Buffalo sauce, cast iron

You could just add water instead of extra sauce. The water will cook off just as much as the sauce would have, leaving you with essentially just sauce by the end. If that's not spicy/saucy enough for you, then it means you did actually need some of that extra sauce you've been adding.

Alternatively, you could try lower temperature. If it's all cooking down and drying, you're presumably boiling it, but it only needs to be simmering to cook the chicken. If you're trying to get some browning, you can always increase the temperature at the end. It will probably take a bit longer to cook this way, though.

All that said, I know you said you want to use this pan, but it also kind of sounds like the pan might be too big. Extra surface area means liquid boils off faster. If it were crowded with chicken and sauce in the gaps, then it wouldn't boil off as quickly, and there wouldn't be room for sauce to dry onto the pan.


Why is butter incorporated into the dough last when making Brioche?

The reason is that butter can inhibit gluten formation.  It 'coats' the proteins that would form gluten.  You knead the dough first to get gluten, and then add the butter afterward around the already formed gluten.

You can add it earlier, you just end up with less gluten and a more tender dough.

Creaming isn't usually done with bread, as its purpose is air bubble formation.


What is the difference between white and green asparagus?

Yes, there is a difference in taste. I think it's the chlorophyll, but I may be wrong. But the green asparagus has a "vegetable" or "grassy" taste which isn't present in the white asparagus. The white one has its own distinct aroma, which is less pronounced in the green one.

As for texture, Caleb already said it. White asparagus is more tender, if you buy it fresh enough. On the other hand, non-tender green asparagus is snappy and somewhat brittle, like a normal stalk. Non-tender white asparagus is tough and stringy. When I cook white asparagus, I remove the lowest part (the most stringy one) and peel it (the outer layer is especially string prone) and sometimes, if it turns out to be low quality/old, it still has an unpleasant texture. The green one seldom requires removal of the lower part, and never peeling.

Violet asparagus is like white one in both taste and texture, but not as common.

Oh, and what Caleb says about both being the same plant is correct, but I have never heard of little shades. All farmers in Germany grow white asparagus underground. They make mounds of earth above the place where the asparagus is planted, and it has to grow a lot before it reaches the surface. They also cover the mounds with black foil to get the earth warm in spring. The harvest starts sometime in April and ends by tradition on June 24. It is done by hand, because machines would break the rods. This makes it a quite costly vegetable. And it should be eaten fresh, because the longer it spends outside of the earth, the stringier it gets.

I don't share the common German enthusiasm for white asparagus ("royal vegetable" etc.) but think that it is a good vegetable in its own right. If you can get it fresh, it is worth eating now and then.


How do HK restaurants keep wok-fried scallops white, with no visible sear marks?

Your scallops are (beautifully) seared on the outside because they are cooked all the way through in a very hot pan. The scallops in the Chinese stir fries stay pale because most of their cooking is done at low heat.

They are likely cooked twice: first they are velveted (meaning marinated and oil-blanched) and then very quickly stir fried to reheat. In more detail, we have three steps:

marinate in a mixture of cornstarch, wine, and egg whites
blanch in oil at a very low temperature (at most 300F/150°C)
make the rest of the stir fry over high heat, and add the meat at the very end of cooking

Unfortunately, velveting is an involved project. It involves an oil-blanch which leaves you with a lot of waste oil. For home cooking, some recipes suggest to replace the oil-blanch with a water blanch.


I would not mind using a Cava in the Brut range.  To me that would be like substituting hints of pears with hints of green apples. French onion soup can be made with different stocks, so I am assuming you are using a chicken stock recipe, which typically calls for a dry white wine.  If you are using a beef or veal stock, a low sugar Lambrusco may work, but I can't imagine the flavor.

I use the wine while frying the onions (and not just in the recipe :-).  The alcohol helps creates new flavors and it also dissolves some extra ingredients. I find the resulting flavor is richer.  As the onions are just as important as the broth, I like the technique Kenji López-Alt's developed after frying 20 lbs of onions.  Dashes of wine add sugar and water as he suggests (one can skip the baking soda part for the soup).

With the French onion soup I like Pinot Gris, which reminds me of pears, green tea, and lemons and is not too sweet, with under 12 grams of sugar per liter.  I find that the wine flavor does not blend if it is too sweet.  The flavors of a Cava are more green apples and spices and their sweetness levels can vary dramatically.  They go Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, and Extra Dry, with the extra dry being the sweetest with 12 to 17 grams of sugar per liter.


How to stop sushi nori tasting too strong?

It does sound more like a balance of flavours issue... Are you adding rice vinegar, sugar and salt to your rice once it is cooked? If not your rice will be less flavoured and therefore the nori would taste stronger in comparison.


How to fry Rösti so that it stays together?

Get rid of the water. That's probably why you have had better luck with the prepared rosti. After shredding, salt the potatoes and wring the heck out of them using a clean towel. America's Test Kitchen has a fun little trick in their recipe for latkes. They wring the salted and shredded potatoes over a measuring cup. After a few minutes, the starch from the potato settles in the bottom of the cup. Carefully pour off the water and add the starch back into the potato. As Bridget says, "You know the amount of starch is right, because it came out of the same potato."

Also, par-cook the potato after wringing, before frying. A microwave works well for this, you can also use an oven at a moderate (350F, 175C) temperature, covered with aluminum foil.

For French fries you want to remove the starch (that's why a water soak is recommended) but of course with French fries you're not trying to keep them stuck together. You want rosti to stick to itself, but not the pan. Keeping the starch but eliminating the water will help.


Why does adding sugar to sour things cause them not to be sour?

Sugar does not cause sour food to be any less acidic. The difference is purely one of perception; we are wired by evolution to prefer sweet tastes and tend to perceive less of other tastes when a high sugar concentration is present.

Sugar does not ionize - it is not basic or acidic. Acidity itself is a chemical property, and only a base (such as baking soda or trisodium citrate) can actually neutralize it. Two other compounds - miraculin and curculin - actually alter our mouth chemistry and really do cause sour foods to taste sweet, without actually sweetening the food itself.  But plain sugar does nothing at all - there is no chemical reaction happening. It's just masking other tastes, not neutralizing them.

The reason sugar doesn't mask bitterness as effectively as sourness is that sweet and sour have roughly similar taste thresholds, while most humans are extremely sensitive to bitter tastes. We can detect quinine (the reference solute for bitterness) in solution at 0.5 ppm, whereas sucrose isn't normally detectable at levels below 5000 ppm. The amount of sugar needed to mask a significant bitter taste is simply not practical.

If you want to neutralize a bitter taste, use salt instead.


Is it OK to wash other things than dishes with the same sponge scrub?

Yes, it's ok to wash other things with the sponge. You can easily use it for counter-tops, the sink, stove top, the floor - anything like that wthout a problem.

The sponge will become dirty, of course, as you clean with it, but the same is true of washing dirty dishes with it.  If you can clean a sponge well enough to keep using it on dishes until it's soft and thin, you can clean it well enough to also use it on counters, sinks, and so on, the cleaning process is just the same.  You will find the sponge is worn after fewer dishes, specifically - but the absolute amount of cleaning should be the same, just the extra wear and tear happened while cleaning other things.

While you can use the sponge to clean most things without issue, if you're using the sponge to wash dishes and food preparation surfaces you should be very careful if using it to clean messes that aren't people-safe, in case the sponge should become contaminated with enough non-food-safe substances to leave a residue.  The aforementioned sink, counters, stove, and kitchen floor and in fact most household areas should all be fine, they are surfaces that you come in contact with regularly and should not leave anything on the sponge that regular cleaning won't take care of.  But you might want a separate sponge if you're regularly using it for things like paints and solvents, mechanical lubricants, motor oil or adhesives, heavy chemicals, pesticides, or anything of that nature - that is, things you wouldn't allow in your living space without extra precautions.


I assume you mean sherbet, which is made by mixing 1 cup of powdered sugar (also called icing or confectioner's sugar) with 1 tsp of baking soda (also called bicarbonate of soda) and 1 tsp of powdered citric acid. Altering the proportion of soda (alkali) to citric acid makes it more or less fizzy.


This is due to the proteins in the yolk denaturing and aggregating - basically the same reason the white (albumen) turns white from clear.

Think about the color that would result if you mixed a dark yellow color with some of the color white (i.e. I'm not talking about mixing yolk with albumen here, just colors) - it would lighten to make a lighter yellow


What dough recipes are suitable for "shaping" with a piping bag?

I can't answer the question about piping so much (but see my comment about recipes meant for cookie presses), but I think I can help you with your problem.
Depending on how firm the dough is, you might be able to reduce the time that it takes to shape the balls, and thus increase the number of balls that you can shape before the dough gets to be sticky:
First, I would chill the dough in logs, rather than just the whole bowl.  Place it over waxed paper or plastic wrap in a bit of a line, then roll the paper (or wrap) around the dough.  You can sometimes tighten it up the log by folding the wrap in half, then pushing on the log with the edge of a sheet pan or cutting board before you roll it up.
Then, you can take a single log out of the fridge, unwrap it, and cut it into bits, and then roll each one.  For more problematic dough, you can cut up half of the log, and then return the uncut half to the fridge while you shape the others.  I've even cut up a log (using a table knife, so I didn't cut through the paper/wrap), then put the whole thing back in the fridge to cool back down.
As moscafj has mentioned, gloves might help.  But because the dough might not stick to them as well, but they'll also insulate your hands so the warmth doesn't affect the dough.  You can also try rolling the balls in your fingers, rather than the palms of your hands, as your palms are warmer.  Depending on how sticky the dough is, you can sometimes roll balls out on the counter or cutting board, using just one hand, which might also help reduce how much you warm them.


How long does it take to cook frozen peas in a slow cooker?

Adding frozen stuff directly to a slow cooker drops the temperature of the whole pot, which takes some time to recover.

I don't often use peas in mine but I've never had a problem with them if I pour boiling water over them and wait a few minutes before draining them and stirring them in, when the rest of the dish is finished.


Does eye contact with the cooking food make it more delicious?

I can think of two potential things that might affect how delicious food is:

If you're the one cooking, constantly watching the food makes sure you don't burn it or do something else that might adversely affect it.

For everyone involved, cooking or not, it can help to build anticipation.  You'll smell the food cooking, and may trigger physiological changes (stomach rumbling, anticipatory salivation, etc.) as your body prepares for food.

As your body has an opportunity to start thinking about the food and there's a period of denial (as the food hasn't been served yet), the food may seem more delicious than food that's only set down before you just as you're preparing to eat.  (Although, if the food quality is lacking and doesn't match what you've been anticipating, it's possible that your enjoyment would be worse)
To know if it's truly eyesight that's required, you would probably have to do some experiments -- watching someone cook behind a glass window or via closed circuit TV so you can't smell it being cooked; being blindfolded so you're in the same place to get the smells but can't actually see the food being cooked, etc.


Meat and Poultry Changing Color in Marinade?

At least in the case of marinades containing acids (such as vinegar or lemon juice) or certain enzymes, especially from papayas, kiwis, or most commonly (at least in the US), fresh pineapple juice, a certain amount of denaturing of the proteins will occur at the surface of the marinated meat. This will turn it opaque rather than translucent--chicken will look kind of white. This is perfectly normal, and safe.

Depending on the color of the marinade, and the particular cut being marinated, some of the marinade may also penetrate into the meat, changing its color as well.

These are normal effects, and assuming you have otherwise respected good practices (keeping the meat refrigerated during the marination, not holding the food uncooked longer than would be safe without the marinate, and not cross-contaminating and so on), the product should be safe to eat.

In the case of your meat marinated triple the planned time, the outcome will depend on the nature of the particular marinade.  If there was active enzymatic action, it could be very mush to the point of unpleasantness. On the other hand, if the marinade was mostly for flavor, rather than highly acidic, it might just have a more intense flavor from the marinade.

Edit:
I should add for clarity, when safe above means when properly cooked...


How do I bake chocolate chip cookies like Subway?

It would help if you could supply a complete list of ingredients (including the type of flour you used) and the temperature you are using to bake your cookies and even what shelf in the oven you are baking on.  Were the cookies wrinkled when they came out of the oven or did they wrinkle as they cooled?

A lot of different factors determine how CCC's behave in the oven.  Wrinkly cookies usually mean that the cookies expanded during their bake time then contracted either inside or outside of the oven.  What causes that behavior could involve how much fat is in your cookie dough or how much egg white vs. egg yolk you used or how much leavening you use (more leavening doesn't necessarily mean more rise - sometimes if you have too much leavening your cookies can over-expand then collapse leaving a wrinkly top).  There are other possibilities, but it's hard to make a useful recommendation without knowing the rest of your cookie equation.


How do I pour from a dutch oven without making a mess?

Some dutch ovens are easier to pour from than others; it depends on the how the edge or lip of the pot is curved.

If you have one that is not easy to pour from, minimize the amount of pouring that you do by transferring the content out with a ladle... or since ladling can be slow.... I use a glass measuring cup as a scoop.  These tend to pour quite well, hold a lot (I have three sizes, including one that holds a quart or liter) and have a handle so you don't get your hand messy.

Once most of the content is transferred, you can pour the last part.  Usually this will not make as much of a mess, but if it does still drip down the side of the oven, there was much less of the product involved.

Lastly, do the transfer in or over the sink.  This won't save you from having some of the content escape, but it does make cleanup much, much easier.


Go to sunbeltpackaging.com and look under "options for lids".  It's a company I found on the internet while looking for "how do I seal ice cream containers with plastic film".  There are many choices there.


Sugar and yeast proportion while making sweet bread

No, there is no "conversion rate" because in baking there is no fixed ratio of yeast to flour or other carbohydrates from the start.

Simply put, the time your dough needs to rise is a function of yeast's growth rate over time - if you start with little yeast, you need more time until you reach the same result.

The growth rate can be influenced by ambient temperature, available food (sugar or flour) and inhibiting factors like salt.

You might be tempted to add sugar or more yeast to "speed things up", but frankly, you probably don't want to. Too much yeast will result in a distinct "yeasty" taste in your finished bread, too fast a rise results in uneven bread structure and "flat" taste. With yeast, slow and steady is usually the better choice.

So yes, you may absolutely decrease the amount of yeast (at least if you start with a typical recipe from the Internet or similar sources), especially if you add sugar. I usually at least halve the amount without batting an eye, but whatever you do:

  Don't judge rising times by a looking at your watch, but by looking at the volume of your dough.

A good recipe should always define rising by volume, e.g. "until doubled in volume" or similar, not just give a fixed time.


The non-vegan ingredients are the egg and the ghee (clarified butter, browned to develop the nutty flavours).

For the ghee you can substitute the same quantity of olive oil, possibly with some loss of flavour.

The egg is harder to replace. You could try a commercial egg replacement: these are powdered starch (one product uses potato and tapioca flour, so is gluten free) with assorted emulsifiers. A substitute widely recommend on the web for savoury pancakes is a gel made from flax or chia seeds: mix 1 tablespoon of seeds with 2.5 tablespoons of water and leave for 10 minutes for the seeds to fully hydrate.


Making Prosciutto with skin off (Wrapping in butcher paper?)

I don't want to discourage you, but given your other question on pancetta, it appears that you are both new to curing and lack the ideal curing conditions.  Making a prosciutto is much more challenging. Ideal conditions are necessary. To specifically answer your question, you definitely want the skin on.  Think about it.  A cured ham has to hang for a year or more.  You are going to want that layer of skin to help regulate the drying and protect the fat and meat. If it were me, I would either enjoy it fresh, or (depending on what you have) butcher it into smaller muscles, cure, tie, and hang those.


Why tandoori chicken does not dry out despite the high heat

The chicken stay moist because it cooks quickly (very high temperature); it does not have the time to dry out.

I would imagine that the cook time must be controlled because it can over-cook very quickly.

The yogurt marinade will impart some flavor and help tenderize the meat.


Its all about protein.

Protein content (and to a lesser degree, fat) is what will determine the yield when making curd from milk. Obviously it is also important for its nutrition.

Soy has almost double the protein of most other beans. It is around 17% vs 9% for most other varieties.
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/beans-legumes-highest-protein.php

Because of its high protein and oil content and high yield it has become an agricultural staple. Because of this, as saj14saj said, it is very inexpensive at an industrial scale.

For these same reasons it has also been important in Asian diets for centuries. Soy milk also has a tradition behind it that I assume would make it easier to market than other milks.


Does glucose used is added to sugar quantity in recipes like ice creams?

You can substitute sugar straight over for glucose but you need to increase the wet ingredients or decrease the dry ingredients as glucose absorbs more liquids than regular sugar. Take a look at this article and this one! But mixing sugar and glucose is done in baking for the texture!

  In pretty much every other regard when it comes to cooking/baking, glucose acts exactly like regular sugar BUT it is not a direct substitute for sugar and works best in baked goods when combined with other sugars. But it adds texture.

I remember I did mochi last week, filled with chocolate, green tea and anko paste. To do the anko paste (which i ended up throwing to the bin due to the honey) I needed glucose for the exact same thing: texture. I did not find glucose anywhere so I used regular honey, the same quantity as glucose, and it quite ruined the anko paste. That is because honey is not glucose. Honey also has fructose and depending on the honey, in different quantities. I would use 2/3 or even 1/3 honey if you substitute it.

In the end, I find baking and cooking quite like chemistry. If you do not measure this kind of things well, it is obvious the result is not gonna work!


Baking Turkey Meatloaf with/out glass cover

Putting the lid on will tend to steam your meatloaf on top, rather than baking it, as the moisture that evaporates from it will have no where to go.   This will inhibit getting those nice crispy brown bits.

If I were to double a meatloaf, I would not simply put it in a larger casserole.   Instead, I would make two... erm... loaves.  This would:

Ensure that they cook at approximately the same and expected rate, as predicted by the recipe
Provide more surface area for the delicious brown bits.


What are the key ingredients in Worcester Sauce?

DO I has to? Nobody learned it?

Garum, a fermented sauce made with anchovies as the principal ingredient, was the Romans' legacy to Britain when they left GB for home. They put the stuff in everything - Roman Fricassee of Dormouse would be naturally adorned with garum, Roman asparagus would have to be served with garum ...

There was a sauce, Worcester sauce, that had disputed origins - but was obviously based on an English version of garum,. So there was a historic Dickensian precedent a la Jarndyce v Jarndyce between Lea and Perrins, who sold Worcestershire sauce to avoid argument, and Hammonds of Bradford who sold something very similar marked "Yorkshire Relish", which they acquired when they bought Goodall, Backhouse of Leeds.

What happened was that Hammonds won, in that for a brief period they sold WORCESTER sauce without dispute about the name, instead of calling it Yorkshire Relish. Just after that they were taken over by some multinational who didn't give a tinker's cuss about that valuable TM, just the market share. Some brands, including Yorkshire Relish, were sold to an Irish company who are still making the "thick" Yorkshire Relish brown sauce in Ireland, but not the "thin" version we are discussing here.

Lea and Perrins are still selling Worcestershire sauce. The Hammonds Sauceworks brass band are still performing, although the factory produces no Yorkshire Relish. There is a factory somewhere producing Henderson's Relish, which is very similar to Worcester sauce, but made in Sheffield with no Garum - never seen an anchovy.

At least Lea and Perrins still produce the closest thing to a traditional product which goes back 2,000 years.  Whatever they do with the anchovies, that component is said to be left for three years to mature.


Nonalcoholic Substitute for Marsala Wine

I have cooked quite a few times for Islamic guests and finding non alcoholic substitutes for wine is never easy. In general you find a lot of solutions floating around on the Internet based on grape juices, but I have never been quite satisfied with the results that brings me.

My best results have been achieved through using non alcoholic wine instead of grape juice. Especially the brands of non alcoholic wine that are produced by chemically extracting the alcohol from the finished product come quite close to behaving like regular wine in sauce recipes.

Since you are from the US you might want to check out these guys: Ariel

Specifically for Marsala I have found some recipes calling for the following substitutes:

¼ cup white grape juice

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1-tablespoon nonalcoholic vanilla extract

As said, I would replace the grape juice in this recipe with non alcoholic wine for the optimal result.


Temperature to disable enzymes in soy beans

According to this  Lipoxygenase is a crucial enzyme to deactivate.

And in this paper they use 60°C for 30 minutes after soaking the beans. But the pH may also be important. For normal water pH is around 7.


Theoretically, you could use a wine, apple, or or other heavy-duty fruit press to press 10-20lbs of citrus at a time.  But you wouldn't want to.

Both the peels of the citrus and the seeds contain bitter and/or intensely acidic compounds (those essential oils WS talks about in the comments).  If you press citrus in any press that uses pressure on the whole fruit, then those compounds end up in your juice, making it taste bad.

This is why even juice factories do split-and-squeeze(video) instead of using straight pressure.  If this is something you often do, you may need to invest in an automatic-feed juicing machine.


Why can't whole milk be substituted for cream in caramel sauce?

Quite simply, it's the fat content.

Whole milk or "full-fat" milk is 3.25% fat by weight. Heavy cream is 36-40% fat by weight. These two products are at opposite ends of the fat spectrum, and there's very little difference between 1% and 3% when it comes to an item such as caramel sauce, for which the optimal ratio is about 50% fat. (A little butter can boost the fat content from 40% to 50%).

You might be able to substitute standard/single cream (18-20%) or maybe even coffee cream/half-and-half (10%), but any lower than that and you're just making sugary milk.

Other alternatives to (possibly) get it thicker:

Use (much) less milk; I'd advise not attempting a direct substitution, just find a recipe based on milk. Even the best milk-based caramel sauce will still be substantially runnier and/or grittier than a cream-based sauce.
Considering that butter is 80% fat and homo milk is 3.25%, you could use a mixture of (approximately) half milk and half butter that would emulate the fat content of heavy cream. I've never tried this personally, and I suspect that the flavour might be a little off, but at least it would be closer to the expected texture.
Try a reduction (simmer off the water in the milk). You'll be simmering a long time, and you'll have to watch it very carefully to make sure it doesn't burn, and you'll probably have a nasty stuck-on mess to clean up in the pan afterward, but it will thicken.


Can a "regular" eggplant be substituted for a chinese eggplant in a recipe?

The Chinese eggplant will have a thinner skin, less seeds (read: less bitterness); as a result, it will have an overall more delicate flavor.

You can substitute a globe eggplant (the kind usually sold in American grocery stores) equally; just be aware you'll get extra "eggplant" flavor.

Since the recipe you're using has strong flavors already, this should not be a problem. However, if the recipe were using more delicate flavors, it would not turn out quite as the recipe author intended.


How to clean stains from rice cooker element?

Many rice cookers use an aluminum disk as the heat transfer element. Aluminum discolors easily, but it's also soft and subject to scratching. Scratches will reduce contact between the heating element and your cookpot.
Unless the stains form actual bumps on the surface of the element, you're better off leaving them alone.


frozen meat and pork kept in freezer for 4 years never opened

It is fine to eat but it's all going to be flavorless from freezer burn, most likely. Freezing periods for beef and pork are about 4-5 months, ground meat 2-3 months, and poultry about 6-8 months.


I’m assuming you’re using a standard recipe and process (where you dip the dougnut in the warm glaze).

If your cooling environment is quite cold, rapid cooling of the glaze can cause cracking. Another popular reason is movement, once placed on the cooling rack, it is advised that you don’t move them around.

A third reason I can think of is inadequate liquid. If all above fails you should try slightly increasing your liquid ingredients.


Do household ovens ventilate heat to the outdoors?

I've never seen one that vents to outside, and I've used kitchens in several countries.

In many places we need to heat our houses for quite a few months each year, and the waste heat from cooking is very welcome. I try to avoid using my oven in summer, choosing other things to eat instead.

Note that modern ovens are designed to be well sealed and well insulated, but many have a fan to cool the space in which the oven is installed; that's the source of warm air into the room with the door shut.

You can minimise the heat produced (i.e. the electricity used by both the oven and the air conditioning) by opening the door as little as possible, and by only preheating if you really need to. A well-insulated oven can be turned off a few minutes early for many dishes as it will retain enough heat to carry on cooking. In other words - cook as efficiently as possible.  The benefit of this is greater if you're using air conditioning.


Why cooking times for rice are different in different locations

Humidity and altitude both can have very large effects on cooking times and methods, especially with methods that are moisture-sensitive, like baking, braising, etc.

In your case, since the altitude difference is negligible, the rice is probably being affected by the ambient humidity; in Indiana, the rice is in a less humid climate and will thus be drier; it will require more water than rice which is stored in a naturally wetter climate like Louisiana. The difference in cook time could be either due to a difference in your stove's efficiency in heating the water, or possibly due to drier rice being more efficient at absorbing water, I'm not sure (and can't find any real references either way).

I live in a place which is high in altitude (around 4800 feet/1460 m) and very dry (it's classified as a desert), so I have to heavily adjust any recipe involving rice, baking, etc to use more moisture and often cook longer (boiling rice I usually add about 25% more water and it takes about 25% longer, sometimes more, than the instructions specify).

Generally, if you move from one climate or elevation to a very different one, you have to experiment a little to figure out how to adjust for your specific circumstances.


Should a Pound Cake be stored in the fridge or the freezer?

This is going to depend on how long you want to keep it for. If you're serving it soon (say, same day, maybe next), then don't refrigerate it at all, though some people seem to think it gives better flavor to refrigerate overnight.

If you've used e.g., buttercream frosting, you'll need to refrigerate or freeze it, unless you're serving immediately after frosting. Some fillings may also require refrigeration.

If you're storing short term, up to maybe a week, refrigerate it.

If you're going to be storing it long-term (more than a few days, up to three months), you'll need to tightly wrap it once its cooled, and freeze it. After more than 3–4 months, flavor will be lost, but it'll still be safe to eat, as long as its stayed at 0°F/-17°C or below.


I have a recipe that calls for 5 leaves of tarragon, how much dried should I use?

The general rule when substituting dried herbs for fresh herbs is to use a third of the amount (because it shrinks and becomes concentrated). However, tarragon doesn't shrink when it is dried and your recipe only calls for 5 fresh leaves, so I would say just use 5 dried leaves.


Baking maple syrup on cold smoked almonds

Have you considered using a maple syrup reduction.  This should lower the amount of moisture you have been applying to your nuts.


Minimum 3 days, technically safe for 5 and personally I'd be happy for 7. This applies to all soup pretty much, not just mushroom.

So to answer your question, yes you are more than safe doing it today. I did mine yesterday.


Difference between chicken and duck eggs?

I ran across a good resource while looking into duck eggs. I'll let it speak for itself:

  The higher protein in Duck Eggs means
  they mustn't be overcooked, or the
  whites will go tough and rubbery. Some
  people say they will be too tough if
  you completely fry them: they advise
  to rather partially fry them then add
  a few tablespoons of water to the pan,
  cover and let the steam moderate the
  heat and finish cooking them. Most
  people, though, seem to say they don't
  notice a difference between fried
  chicken and Duck Eggs.

  Swapping Duck Eggs interchangeably in
  recipes for chicken eggs: some people
  say you can't; others who substitute
  all the time say nonsense, it's fine.
  When the Duck Egg whites are beaten
  they will come up a bit higher owing
  to the protein. They take a minute or
  so longer to start frothing up, but
  then make up for lost time.

There's a great deal more information on the page as well:
http://www.practicallyedible.com/duck-eggs


Do both large and small fish bones soften with pressure cooking?

The bigger the bone, the less you will be able to soften the bone.  You can increase the temperature at which you pressure cook or can the fish, and that will allow for more softening on larger bones. Your results will depend on the tools you use, hot hot you can get them, etc. Give it a try and you'll figure out how big of bones you can soften.


Is it possible to make a jam-setting gelling agent at home?

The book Putting Food By (Hertzberg) has a recipe:10 lbs. apples yields 1 pint pectin. Seems jam & jelly specific.


The fresh 'grassy' taste is typical from Japanese green tea (sencha), where the leaves are steamed before dried. This prevents the oxidation during the drying process leading to a bright green colour and a vegetable grassy feel. In opposition, Chinese green tea is dried directly and therefore oxidize during the process, giving it the smoother taste.

Maybe you want to avoid buying sencha green tea.


How long does a pack of raw, dried Indian papad keep once opened?

I haven't really experimented, but if imagining how dry that stuff is and the amount of salt that goes inside one those, I would say in the months/years range. Just keep it in a cool dry place..


Plain Greek yogurt with finely chopped green onions dip

Chives or scallions would substitute nicely.

Garlic, shallots for a bit more flavor.

The trinity always works good; - onion, celery and green pepper.  And of course fennel for a twang.

onion celery and carrot is another classic.

asofetida maybe?  for something weird.


I had (have) a similar problem with my GE profile range oven.  I finally put a probe thermometer in there and tested it for at various settings.  I found the oven took much longer than it claimed to actually equilibrate to the set point.

For example, setting at 400 °F (~ 205 °C), the oven would announce it had hit set point in about 15-20 minutes.  The probe said otherwise - it might briefly hit 400 but within 5 minutes of the burner going off it would drift down around 340, and with similar or analogous results at other set points.  It took almost 40 minutes of preheat time to actually stick around the set point.

So now I either start the preheat earlier or set it 50-75 degrees high, wait 5 minutes after it claims it has hit set point, then put the food in and kick the set point down to the right setting.  Seems to work out well.

In another oven I had similar trouble but found out that was my fault.  I have 3 fairly heavy pizza/bread stones and used to store all 3 on the bottom rack.  The oven would hit set point but the stones would suck up all the heat.


what is the difference between butter spread and pure butter?

Usually things titled butter spread are actually made from largely vegetable oil.  They can be a replacement for butter in recipes where the fact that there is fat in the recipe is all that matters (quick breads, brownies, muffins, etc.).  In general if you have a recipe where melted butter joins the wet ingredients and those wet ingredients get mixed into the dry ingredients, you should be able to get by using butter spreads (at least the oil-based kinds).

On the other hand, butter spreads aren't going to work well in baking that requires the creaming method (where butter and sugar are creamed together) because the texture is "firm out of the refrigerator, softens quickly" (source) as one spread maker says.  The bubbles needed to make baked goods rise using the creaming method won't hold.


How to store a Christmas pudding to make it drier?

A storage method that will dry out your pudding will essentially be staling it. Starches retrograde (lose moisture) fastest between 17F and 46F (-8c and 8c). Unfortunately, this not only causes the starches to release moisture, they also revert to their crystalline form which can make them unpalatable. If you still want to do this, the refrigerator is the perfect place to keep it in this temperature range, but it will still take some time to lose moisture.

Alternately you could speed evaporative moisture loss by storing it somewhere warm and dry (a low oven or over a pilot light?) Again, this will probably make your pudding dry in an unappealing way as the outside will dry faster than the interior.


How do I properly cut a bell pepper into a medium dice?

My favourite knife for this application would be a French Knife because they are large and have good finger room under the handle when doing chopping.

What I would do and always have done is start by cutting the top and bottom ends off of the pepper and remove the inside ribs and seeds from the pepper.

After you cut the tops and bottoms off, keep them and then make i slice through the pepper to open it up into a flat open position.

Lay the pepper down on the outer side UP and make 2-3 length-wise cuts across the pepper to make long strips of pepper also, do this with the ends of the pepper as well.

Next I would simply cut them together or separate, depending on sharpness and size of knife as well as your skill and comfort and cut across the strips and make consistent sizes cuts all the way down.

In my experience of cutting peppers this is my most desired and effective strategy. It also helps with efficiency and consistency of the cuts.


Generally, freezing and re-freezing is not a big issue. Some things just shouldn't be frozen (certain fruits and veg), because when frozen the water contained in the cell structure expands and in turn bursts the containing structure, which causes mushiness. Meats can be refrozen with a slight moisture loss. From what I was taught by my old pastry chef, this whole notion of freezing and refreezing being dangerous was started when electric freezers were just coming into the market (first half of the 20th century), and the cold storage and ice companies were scared of the potential loss of their business (which absolutely happened). It was them that advertised that this refreezing could be detrimental to health.  Truth is, refreezing just sends the item into a (mostly) inert state, where bacteria can't harm the item by propagating.
However, your question is about the taste and how refreezing pertains to cookie dough. It's not a matter of the refreezing that has an effect on the taste, rather how long things stay in your freezer. You can thaw, refreeze, thaw, refreeze as much as you want. Happens all the time in commercial kitchens and bakeries. The key is to not make so much that it stays in the freezer too long.

Here's and article I found, haven't looked for any others:

Safe food practices


How should I fry onions without burning them?

You may need to use a little more oil/butter, but the biggest things are to not get them too hot, and to stir them fairly often. Once they're sizzling that's hot enough. Some cookers will get keep getting hotter for quite a while, so you may need to turn them down preemptively. Heavy pans will do the same but overall tend to make gentle cooking easier. You can put a lid on with quite a gentle setting, opening the pan to stir. This makes for more even cooking, but you have to turn the heat down even lower than when not using the lid.

Recipes often imply that softening onions is quicker than is really the case, so be patient.


The number of available thickeners is very large. Some work for high temperatures, others for low temperatures. For your filling I would use Iota Carageenan (Its used for thickening in many commercial ice cream products). It might be a bit difficult to find. Your second choice would be Xantham Gum.

When using these thickeners be sure to hydrate correctly and measure thickener weight as precisely as possible (to the gram). Between 0.5% and 1% of the liquid's weight is a safe bet but it will require some testing.


What are the advantages of using a stove instead of an oven?

You are relying on very different forms of heat. Conduction vs Convection vs Radiation

Heat transfer, and the first law of thermodynamics
Principles of Cooking
Basic Cooking Methods

What happens when you heat something? A number of things.

Proteins Coagulate
Starches Gelatinize
Sugars Caramelize
Water Evaporates
Fats Melt

Depending on how you cook it, you're going to get different forms of each of those at different rates. On a stove, you can avoid too much moisture and fat from leaving your food by cooking it extremely quickly (in a stir-fry). . You can't sear something in an oven and you can't roast something on the stove. The two are simply not the same, because fundamentally the two are not the same, you are not going to get the same results. It's really as simple as that. You can't take two entirely methods and argue that you get the same results.


Whenever you want grill marks. Or, perhaps, if you want to ensure fat rendered out of meat drips away. Why you would want to do this I do not know.


How dangerous is mold at the bottom of container with fat

I would toss it. The only thing where it's generally considered safe to eat around the mold is hard cheeses. In general there will be mold spores in lower concentrations throughout the container, but you only see the areas with high concentration with your bare eyes. The lower concentrations can still make you ill.


Should you wrap chicken in foil when you steam it?

Don't wrap the chicken in foil.  Instead you can use a steamer basket inserted in a pot with the lid on (making sure your liquid does not touch the chicken) and steam it that way.

If you don't have a steamer basket and what you are trying to do is replace one, instead of wrapping the chicken roll that foil into balls or strips and use it to elevate the chicken above the cooking liquid in your pot.

If you wrap in foil, the chicken will be cooking via the heat transfer from the foil rather than from the steam.


Is Indian sandwich bread meant to always be grilled or toasted?

As Jefromi already mentioned in a comment, the sandwich bread common in the Western part of the world is soft and often sweet, ready to eat.

When you search online for 'indian sandwich bread' you will only get images of roasted bread with various fillings.

I think the bread you refer to is in a half baked form, which you can find in supermarkets here sometimes too: it is used here mostly for baked sandwiches with cheese. The bread is only ready when going through another baking cycle.


Induction surface started making a barely noticeable high-pitch whining noise, even when it is not in use, is this dangerous?

Glad you are getting this checked out.

As Steve mentioned, it sounds like the power supply or the supporting electronics for the hob is starting to fail. To be on the safe side, I would isolate the power to it if at all possible (UK hobs are required to have a wall mounted isolation switch).

Certified electrical appliances are designed to "Fail safe” so the risk of fires etc. is small, but your hob is sending you a clear warning sign that it is not very well and should be turned off. Depending on the nature of the fault, this may eventually result in absolutely nothing at all (apart from mild irritation), a totally dead hob, a small bang, or indeed a big bang. The greatest risk you are probably taking is that your insurance company will not cover you should something adverse happen and they prove you continued using the device despite being aware of it malfunctioning.


How do caraway and ajwain differ in taste and use?

Ajwain is a plant in the family apiaceae, and its seed, which is used (especially in south Asian cooking) for its thyme-like flavor while caraway is a biennial plant, native to Europe and Asia, mainly grown for its seed to be used as a culinary spice.

Ajwain is used more for saviory dishes for it's thyme like qualities, while caraway is more used in baked goods similar to how aniseed is used.


Can I make grain-free noodle/ravioli/dumpling dough?

You could look into cellophane noodles. They're made from starch (often yam or potato), so it sounds like they'd work for you.

If you have a decent Asian grocery store around, you may well be able to just buy them, too. You'll just have to be careful to check the ingredients, as they are sometimes made with corn starch too. (I'm not sure if it's whole corn or even the starch that you can't have.)


If uncooked rice is soaked for 2 days, is it still safe to eat (after it's cooked)?

No, certainly not.

Food is generally not safe to leave at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Foods which are shelf-stable (can be left out, it doesn't matter how long) are the ones which have had some of the necessary bacteria growth factors removed.

Rice is a food which doesn't grow bacteria because it doesn't have enough water to sustain a colony. Once you add the water back in, you remove the exact circumstance which protects it from spoiling. It is certainly not safe.

Besides, "after cooking" doesn't matter, as you can't turn unsafe food back to safe, not by cooking or by anything else.


For ripe peaches the main thing is avoid handling them.  They bruise very easily.  I leave them in the box and just slide the box in a shelf in the fridge.  You are only going to get a few days out of them.

Never in a drawer as too much handling.  Don't stack.  Dry.  I would never wrap or seal to keep mold down but that part is more opinion than hard evidence.


What can be done to thin chocolate for dipping?

Most fats work (this is why cocoa butter works) most people recommend Crisco but a small amount of low flavoured oil (or flavoured for that matter) is fine.

I like ganache so personally extra thick double cream does it for me.

Either way it's easier to add more later than take out! Start with a little bit.


http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/season1/Chocolate/ChocolateTranscript.htm

As Alton describes. As you beat the cream bubbles of air get worked into the mixture. The beating makes the bubbles smaller and smaller until the fat globules touch and the mixture becomes stable.

As you mentioned- if you whip it a little more then the fat will coalesce and squeeze out all the water and air and you have butter.

Time is a factor in this process (when done mechanically) in that it is required for homogeneously sized and distributed bubbles. The fats have to stay plastic.

The fact that it can be done very quickly is easily seen with whipped cream chargers. The gas is pressurized into the cream- upon release expands into the tiny bubbles we need.
How does a whipped cream charger work?


Can I use unpasteurized store bought miso to make more miso?

Maintaining a Koji culture is considered difficult, even commercial operations rarely do this. Meredith Leigh talks about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X-96_FFLyI&t=11m35s
I think I may have read somewhere that the new Koji Alchemy book has good info on culture maintenance.
Most of my books on Koji don't even mention culture maintenance, although The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz does. It seems to be important to make sure there are plenty of nutrients. In Japan they add ash for this.

"When rice has cooled to body temperature, before inoculating, mix in sifted hardwood ashes, about 1.5 percent by weight of the quantity of dry rice you cooked. The ash provides potassium, magnesium, and other trace elements that promote healthy mold growth and sporulation."

Don't use white rice and do cook your substrate until it's quite soft.

Good luck!


With the information you have provided I would guess that you are getting 'crumbling' because you have insufficient fat in your recipe (or are loosing some to the your process).  Make sure your volume and temperature of melted butter is consistent. You will also want to let your melted butter cool slightly before adding it to dry stuff (after melting let your butter rest till it is below 130°F(55°C). If these are still 'too crumbly' increase the amount of fat. Not all fats are created equal here. If your recipe does not include egg (at all) then I would bump the butter by 1 tablespoon (up to one half the current measure of butter) If there is already 'some egg' start with adding one additional egg YOLK (no more white).

Consistency is going to be the most important part of addressing this issue. In the kitchen insanity is doing something different and expecting the same results.


You're wrong in your observation to begin with. There are tons of things with meat and seafood:

Cajun food often combines sausage, chicken and seafood (e.g. gumbo and jambalaya)
"Surf and turf" is a catchall term for red meat plus seafood in American-ish cuisine, and comes in all kinds of forms (each separately, one stuffed with the other, a burger with both, both over pasta, etc)
Asian food often combines shrimp and pork (e.g. dumplings and spring rolls)
Paella often has sausage and seafood

(thanks to Catija for most of the examples)

That said it might be somewhat less common for a few reasons:

Seafood tends to cook very quickly, while meat and poultry take a bit longer, so sometimes it's easier to not mix them.
Related, seafood is often much softer, so it doesn't match textures as well as various meats and poultry. (This is especially true of fish.)
In many areas seafood is more expensive so when people do use it they'll try to make it the star of the show, rather than combine it with other things.

And of course, simpler dishes tend to be more common, so you'll see much more with one kind of meat. Sure, there are more seafood-only dishes than combinations, but there are also more poultry-only and meat-only dishes than combinations


On a naked chicken (skin on, but no coating, batter) is there any benefit of double frying?

I believe you are referring to this article? https://www.seriouseats.com/2012/01/the-food-lab-how-to-make-best-buffalo-wings-fry-again-ultimate-crispy-deep-fried-buffalo-wings.html

Funny enough, I was reading this yesterday. And if you go through the end, Kenji gives a very scientific explanation on how double-frying your wings can make them more crispy.

Basically, frying first in a 250°F will melt the colagen in the skin, transforming into a gelatin and adding a ton of moisture and juiciness. Then, frying into a 400ºF oil will dehydrate the skin, making it crispy.


Xanthan Gum v. Guar Gum v. Cellulose Gum v. Glucomannan

Methyl Cellulose is the same stuff used in wallpaper paste. Food grade, with no fungsides added (etc) obvious.

A notable property is that it thickenes as you heat it. And it thins as it cool. The oposite of most gels. This let's you create things like 'hot ice cream'

Guar and Xanthan gums are ment to be pretty interchangeable in baking (I think). I find that Guar gum when used in sauses/gravey can be a bit slimy to my taste.
(I haven't tried Xanthan gum for that yet)

I haven't used glucomannan before.

There are a few other gelling agents you can look at:

Sodium alginate. Made from seaweed. This is the thicker used in MacDonald's apple pies. It is temperature stable. (Same thickness hot or cold) Adding calcium causes it to thickened more. This let's you make 'fruit caviar' by dropping slightly thickened juice into a bath of water with calcium added.

There are kappa and iota carrageen. Also made from seaweed. I forget which but one is a very brittle gel (think like jello or egg white) the other is a not brittle (think soft boiled egg yoke)

There is gelan. It is very clear. Good for making fancy cocktail jelly's. Haut couture jello shots!

There is pectin. Made from citrus. This is what makes jam thick. Nuf said.

This site has some good info, recipes, and a shop for these gelling agents etc: http://molecularrecipes.com/


A gravy tastes like gravy because it has salt and glutamates, which is what yeast extract has been formulated to deliver. There is no vegan replacement. The only good way to produce glutamates in your kitchen is to sear meat.

You can certainly make a veloute sauce instead of a gravy. It is made from stock and roux. Roux is a combination of fat and starch - the standard is flour with butter, but any fat and any starch works. A veloute sauce has great texture, but the taste is quite bland. You can strengthen the taste by using mushroom stock instead of vegetable stock, use flavored oils (e.g. macadamia nut oil), and herbs and spices. It will develop a complex aromatic profile, but it will stay very far from the rich umami of a gravy. The aromatic oils and fresh herbs also tend to be somewhat expensive.

If you are set on making a gravy, you could use pure MSG instead of the yeast extract. This will give you a very good taste, but I don't know if it will improve your situation. First, MSG is not so easily available, and I don't know if they also offer it in guaranteed animal-free versions. It isn't usually derived from animal products, but as a vegan you are probably sensitive for the possibility of contaminations. Second, if you don't add the salt by yourself, you will still be missing out on taste. This is not that bad by itself, because maybe you are OK with a product which has a higher glutamate to salt ratio than what you can get with yeast extract or bouillon cubes - personal preferences for salt vary. But, if you are avoiding salt, chances are that you are on a low-sodium diet. And MSG is a sodium compound by itself, so you'd have to restrict it too. If that's the case, you're better off using small amounts of yeast extract and living with less taste than combining MSG and salt by yourself.

You could finally try to get umami from plant sources, but this is not so easy. The only two plants in question are tomatoes and mushrooms. Concentrated tomato puree makes great sauces, but they taste like tomato, not like gravy, and there is no way to remove the tomato taste from them. So you're left with mushrooms only, preferably shiitake and relatives. They're OK, but they are mostly water. You'd have to get dehydrated mushroom powder and use it in copious amounts. Because dehydrated mushrooms aren't that smooth, you'll never get a perfectly smooth texture. Your sauce will also be quite expensive. On the upside, the compound in shiitake which gives them their umami taste is not sodium based.

Your last options would be seaweed and wheat-based fake beef flavoring agents. I don't know where you could get hold of seaweed or how you'd have to prepare it, and also whether you can make a gravy with it without a fishy smell. The fake beef flavoring agents are an industrial food additive, I've never heard of it being available for consumers.


Telling if small pieces of meat are cooked - blind or colour blind chef

Texture. Although I can see perfectly, I use texture to tell me if pasta is done, for example. It's obvious for spaghetti but I do it for macaroni too, or any shapes. Just stirring a pot full of boiling water with raw macaroni, then stirring a pot full of boiling water and cooked macaroni, is a very different experience. Stir frying raw meat, partly cooked meat, and cooked meat will also feel different. Grilling meat is definitely a time for everyone to use texture, probably some variant of the press-the-ball-of-your-thumb rule.

To a lesser extent, smell. This is what I rely on to evaluate baked and roasted things, long before I open the oven to look at them or touch them. It won't help you grill a steak though.

FYI, I asked Christine Ha on Twitter, and she replied

  By feeling the texture of the meat… And also not being afraid to taste

Which is as close to "from the horse's mouth" as it seems we will get in this thread.


How do I work out how large a cake tin I have?

You are looking at a 8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5" (or 7.25" x 4.5" x 3.5", high sided model) bread pan.  If you are looking at using a different shape, it might affect the texture of the cake, but you'll have to calculate the volume difference from there.  Something around 100-114 cubic inches. (Length x width x height).


What can I do with soft biscuits due to air exposure

You can normally refresh them in the oven.  anywhere between about 150°C (for 6-8 minutes) and 190°C (3-4 minutes) should work, ideally taking them out just before they start to brown any more though of course that's a matter of guesswork
Leave to cool on a wire rack, and put in an airtight container as soon as they're cool.
In future, either put the twisted packet in a closed container, or clip it closed, though it may just be that you tried to store them for too long in high humidity.


Homemade pop tarts coming out too dry / crumbly

It sounds like your pastry dough was overworked, so that the butter was too incorporated.

To get the flakiness you desire, when the dough is rolled flat, there should be layers of whole butter sandwiching floury layers.

If the butter is worked too far into the dough, instead you will get a sandy or crumbly texture.


How to brown the sugar for pumpkin flan?

A medium saucepan would probably be in the 8-10 inch range.

Your sugar isn't colouring because the heat isn't high enough or it's high enough but not long enough. Just keep cooking, the change will happen. You can try less water but if you're not familiar with working with sugar, better to err on the side of caution; I do work with caramels a lot, and when I know I'm liable to get distracted by other things I have on the go I purposefully use more water than needed to give myself breathing room.

Are you using the correct size of dish as specified by the recipe? Some of the caramel will dissolve into the filling as you pour it in and as it cooks; I wouldn't worry about the thickness at this stage.

Beyond that, I would personally stay far, far away from anything done by RR. I don't criticise cooks lightly, and I generally try to cook some of their recipes before I'll pass judgement. The recipes of hers that I have tried, both from 30 minute meals and the website, are uniformly awful. Poorly written, ingredient quantities are off, and generally they just taste nasty.


Is water necessary when cooking meat in a pressure cooker

After some research, I threw a trivet rack in the bottom with a cup of water and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar; they came out fantastic.


Should bubbles be forming only in center of pot when simmering? (Dutch oven on gas burner)

The reason is almost certainly, as you suspected, because the flame is small.  Neither the ceramic coating nor the cast iron body of a Le Creuset dutch oven are going to conduct the heat around the pot very much; it will go into the food basically right above the flame.

The temperature differential in the pot from right over the flame to at the perimeter is doing neither the quality nor safety of your sauce any good.

You want the entire contents of the dutch oven at a safe temperature (at least 140 F, 60 C) as it stews, simmers, braises, or whatever.  It sounds like this is certainly not true for you right now.

I find the best way to do this sort of cookery is not to use the cook top (hob), but rather place the Dutch oven in a slow oven (about 300 F, 150 C).  This will envelope the entire pot with heat, and transmit to the food inside all around.  It will cook more evenly, without much risk of burning, and is very low maintenance.


How to predict and adjust the spice level of dal?

Firstly, it has to be said - the way you learn to judge quantities is … practise.
However, there are several factors at play here…

"Indians" [sorry, I'm generalising a whole continent into one word for convenience] don't eat mouth-stingingly-hot food at every meal.
Some food is mild, some is 'go-for-it'. Some is rich, some is bland, some has heat, some has aromatics.
There is a North/South divide on 'spiciness' or 'heat' with the Southern continent going for hotter examples, Northern more dependant on aromatics.

Western "Indian" restaurants have tainted our view of what "Indian" food is.

Dal can be pretty bland anyway.

Your recipe is towards the bland end of the spectrum of possible dal recipes. The 'Sri Lankan-ness' in it is really only the coconut & perhaps the mustard seed.

So, that done with, in a broad sweeping generalisation kind of way, to your issue.
The recipe as written is missing a lot of what I would consider a 'basic' dal.
For a whistle-stop basic chana dal…
Boil dal with turmeric for half an hour
Fry cumin, garlic, onions
Add tomato, ginger, green chilli
Add chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala [or supermarket 'curry powder' depending on availability], asafoetida, coriander powder, dried methi
Add to dal mixture
Simmer until happy.
If you want to trick this up to feel more Southern or Sri Lankan, substitute coconut milk for some of the lentil boiling liquid, sub coconut oil for the ghee, add curry leaves & black mustard seed. Chillies, fresh green or ground red to taste.
Some of the ingredients you can add more later. Chilli powder, garam masala or 'curry powder' if you want a quick boost.
Other aromatics such as cardamom & clove, if you cheat & use them in powdered form, you can boost at any point. They're not as potent as whole, but they're a quick fix.
Another cheat is garlic powder, which is used by many restaurants rather than fresh - again, not the same as fresh, but can be used as a pep-up at any time [watch it doesn't go lumpy, make a thick slurry with water first to be safe.]


Should I mix vanilla sugar with wet or dry ingredients?

You should use it as the sugar the recipe calls for.  In this case, whip it with the eggs and oil.  The vanilla in vanilla sugar is for flavoring and does not really alter the sugar.


What is the best method for stick-free cooking of bacon in a stainless steel pan?

First of all, it is difficult to get right. Don't be disappointed if you need some time to learn how to do it well.

As for your method, there are two things in your description you can improve on. One is the fat. You need a lot of fat to fry in a stainless steel pan. The bacon grease is unreliable even if you have the rest of the process perfected, and makes it much more harder at the beginning. So adding fat will be a good place to start. And you probably need more than you think - at least 3 mm thick, better 5 (assuming we are talking thin slices of bacon and not cubes or slabs).

The other thing is that you lowered the temperature. This was the wrong thing to do. You want a heating rate at which your bacon's proteins start shriveling up as soon as they hit the fat, as opposed to slowly gumming up against the bottom. This tends to be higher than most people first try, and certainly higher than the heat you can use with a nonstick. Sadly, you can also overshoot and have the bacon burn and stick at the same time - that's one of the major difficulties with getting it right, learning how to recognize if you are in the proper range of heat - but if in doubt, you probably have to go up rather than down. And preheat for a good long time before laying the first strip in.

Another thing to consider is the bacon itself. Some brands are sweetened, and the sugars stick like crazy. They also burn at temperatures where the meat does just right. So, look at the ingredients, and if you notice any kind of sugar - could be fructose, corn syrup, maple syrup, or something else - choose another brand. Also get something which is packaged dry, these which are wet enough to have something marinade-like in the package will stick more.


"Instant" coffee typically is disolved in hot water, so I'd think that just stirring it into a cold product would be less than ideal.

You might try making a coffee syrup (as you're adding sugar anyway) or try steeping the instant coffee in hot milk or water first, cool it down, then mixing that into the yoghurt.


I love food and the public but my body can't handle it anymore

I think you're out of luck preparing or serving food. Obviously butchery is also very physically demanding. Depending on how much you can handle physically, you could consider sales, leading to a management position.

Another career that would take networking skill to "get into" would be writing about food.

As a blogger, you'd need strong writing skills and photography skills, but your career "ceiling" would be of your own making. I'm not aware of any well known blogs that center on butchery, that could be an option, but you'd really need to work hard at it to make a living at it. Take a look here for a bunch of books on the subject, and here for internet sources.

To work for somebody else as a food writer, they're mostly going to be looking for candidates with an apprenticeship background or formal education. Again, your butchery background could be a bit of an "in" if you're slick about it.

I can tell you from experience that you can learn A LOT about food writing by throwing yourself into this site. It will also help you to define exactly where your expertise lies. You'll find that the community gives excellent feedback, both positive and negative.


Can Grapeseed oil be considered edible after it has passed the expiry date?

It has a decent glass bottle, and airtight cap? It wasn't in bright light for two years, and doesn't look like it has polymerized deposits or smell rancid? As a polyunsaturated oil, grape seed is susceptible to oxidation/polymerization/rancidity. If it hasn't done any of these things, by the evidence of your senses, it should still be OK.

-moved from comments


Use a vegetarian alternative! I just ran across these recently myself, and I am finding the idea really intriguing. Not sure how they compare in flavor or texture, so your mileage may vary... http://www.vegecyber.com/cgi-bin/vege_item.cgi?detail=10416

(photo by Rainer Zenz, source)

Asian cultures have figured out how to make vegetarian and mock meats of all kind, since buddhism and vegetarianism in general is so common in their parts of the world. I love the diversity of it all.


As long as your normal marinating time isn't significantly less than the defrosting time, then I believe that'll work fine. If the normal marinating time is much smaller, then you'll end up over-marinating your meat; if the marinade is acidic that would produce undesirable results. If it's the same or longer, then you'll be marinating for the right amount of time, and it'll be defrosted when you're done. Note that you should expect it to marinate a bit more slowly, since the outer part of the meat will have to thaw before the marinade can start doing its thing.

Jay suggests in the comments that extra water from the chicken thawing could be a problem. If it really is a large amount compared to the volume of the marinade, I guess it could be. Your options at that point would be: make a more concentrated marinade, increase the volume of marinade, or compromise and thaw partially, drain, then marinate while it thaws the rest of the way.

(I've not actually done this, and don't cook much meat, but since time is an issue, hopefully this answer is better than nothing.)


Can home-made mozzarella be made in small batches (quart of milk instead of gallon)?

I've done this and it'll work, but your yield will be small.  With a gallon of quality milk, my yield is about one pound of mozz. Divide that by four and it ends up being about 4 oz.

Use an appropriate size pot and microwave container... And use a thermometer.

I've only used liquid rennet and I don't think there's much difference in dissolving the tabs.

I've also found the process to be somewhat forgiving on close but not exact measurements of ingredients when using good quality (non UHT - NOT ultra high temp pasteurized) whole milk. Other milk not so forgiving and UHT milk just ended up as ricotta.

The microwave process heats the curds to extract as much water out of them as possible, then they become soft and stretchy and can be pulled and kneaded like dough. Heat, extract, pull, knead, repeat.

Don't be discouraged if the first batch isn't quite perfect. It'll take longer than 30 min. your first time - you're going to keep wondering if your doing the whole microwave process right or if it's hot enough.

A great site for questions and instructions is http://www.cheesemaking.com.

Their FAQ addresses reducing the quantities in half (#5) and how to dissolve and reduce the rennet tab - http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/242-FAQ-Mozzarella.html.

Their 30 min mozz instructions with pictures to see how everything looks along the way http://cheesemakinghelp.blogspot.com/2010/12/making-mozzarella-with-anya-age-10.html


Where can I buy bulk wild meat in Montreal?

From what I have gathered searching for an answer to this question, caribou, seal, and hare are the only actual wild game meats that can be purchased in Canada. Due to low demand, hare and seal may be very difficult to find, even in-season. All other "game meat" including "wild" boar, venison, bison, and rabbit is farm-raised and butchered. There is no farmed moose in North America. A recent  web article from the CBC, makes it seem like there may soon be a chance to find some trapped wild game on a limited number of Montreal menus, but not necessarily in stores anytime soon.

In the US we have similar restrictions that may vary slightly state-to-state. The venison, bison, ostrich, turkey, pheasant, and quail available for purchase is all farm-raised and often imported from other countries. Wild boar from Texas, though, may be wild/feral and is trapped by permitted individuals and butchered at USDA approved facilities. USDA regulations require ante- and post-mortem inspection, meaning that the animals must be delivered to the slaughterhouse alive. These regulations limit the number of domestic wild boar available, even though we have a huge wild hog problem throughout the South, California, and Hawaii.

It seems that the only way to get actual game meat is to be a hunter or know a hunter who is willing to share the fruits of their labor.  In my experience, many hunters don't know what to do with large portions of the meat, and just grind almost everything but the loin and tenderloin into burger. It might be easier to get some of those tougher cuts from the front and hind limbs, especially if you offer to share some stew, a slow roasted shoulder, or some braised neck medallions.

Sources:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/410204
http://forums.egullet.org/topic/37573-wild-game-restaurant-in-montreal/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g155032-i51-k7231237-o20-Serving_wild_game-Montreal_Quebec.html

Place to try contacting:

Boucherie De Paris Enr, 5216 Avenue Gatineau, Montréal (514) 731-6615
Volailles Et Gibiers Fernando, 106 Roy E, Montréal (514) 843-6652
Also Kivalliq Arctic Foods in Nunavut (867) 645-3137, see if they can cold-ship it to you


Canned cheddar kept for many years - does it get better and for how long?

Cheese aging or cheese ripening is influenced by a variety of factors, ranging from the microflora to the curd, and others. The enzymatic process is the most crucial process for all cheeses, although bacteria plays a role in many varieties.

You can see the same process with certain cheeses (parmesan, amsterdam): store them properly in the fridge and they will eventually dry out and harden, while the flavor gets more intense.  Hard cheeses are already slow to ripen, taking from months to years, so the canning process definitively prolongs this process (since there are no external contaminants and limited oxygen for bacteria to grow).

As with anything, it will stop developing flavor when there's nothing else to develop: the flavor components are all already combined, so ingredients are spent. According to the website you linked it's more than 30 years, it will depend how slow does the development happens, how well sealed it is, temperature variation, etc.


Why does my red palm oil seem to have such a low smoke point?

I've found a couple of sources differentiating red palm from palm kernel oil & quoting smoke points from 150℃/300℉ to 235℃/450℉ depending on how refined it is.
One can only imagine if you got a 'straight from the farm' type then it will be unrefined.
I'd use it only for low-temperature cooking, don't let it smoke too much.
Refs:
https://www.evolvingwellness.com/post/guide-to-red-palm-oil-health-nutrition-sustainability-brands
https://nutivauk.com/red-palm-oil-faq
http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/oilchart.html


What really matters is the thickness of the cake, i.e. the depth of the batter in the pans. If you use two 7 inch pans instead of two 9 inch pans, you have 7^2/9^2 or about 60% the area, and you're putting in 50% as much batter, so you'll end up with the batter about 5/6 as deep. That means the baking time will end up slightly shorter, but in the same ballpark - and just as important, you'll still have layers of a reasonable thickness! The recipe says 23-27 minutes, so you might start checking around 18-20 minutes to be safe.

(If it were giant you might to worry about the diameter/width of the cake too, but not for something like this.)


I would first try cooking them longer. Raising the temp can also work, but you run the risk of burning whatever oil you are spraying onto the waffle iron, which can taste off (not a big risk) and will smoke up your home.

Without knowing about your batter, I'd suggest adding more sugar in some form. That's often the culprit in homemade pancake/waffle batters, we neglect to use enough sugar. More sugar will allow the outside to caramelize more, which is the browning you see. (Ok, it's a malliard reaction)

Browning occurs when sugars and proteins (in the flour, eggs, milk, etc) interact under high temps. So not enough of either, and you will end up with a paler product no matter what.


This is a difficult question in part because you've listed so many things -- for instance, a cream sauce is going to be difficult, as cream sauces may break when frozen.  Cooked chicken, on the other hand, I go quite frequently.

But the thing with the chicken is that I'm cooking it to use as an ingredient in other things; I think you may have more success in that way -- compromising between the two by prepping and freezing some items to minimize the amount of work needed for each day's cooking.  Some foods benefit from preparing in advance (stew, chilli, soups, etc.) that may could from once a week cooking.  You'd likely want to bring things back up to temperature and then adjust seasoning on the day of.  (possibly adding fresh herbs for the ratatouille and/or a splash of extra acid to brighten it back up)

I don't know what sort of food truck you're operating; if it's one with a kitchen, or if it's the type that prepares food in a canteen and does no cooking on-site ... I'd assume if you're cooking on site, this could be a problem as it'll take more time to cook from a frozen state.

It's probably worthwhile to do some taste tests -- make a recipe, then put some off to freeze, then thaw it back out a week later to compare to fresh and/or canned.


Traditional white sugar is pure sucrose...Molasses, which is the difference between brown and white sugar is also pretty much pure sucrose (at least the sugar part is). But according to your link, there is a significant amount of inverted sugars and water in jaggery...That sounds more like honey to me, and it'd be a pretty significant change in the chemical behaviour.

I don't think you're going to get a direct substitution, but I think a combination of some strong honey, white sugar, and blackstrap molasses might get you a bit closer...Blackstrap molasses is the most strongly flavoured molasses, so use sparingly, but I think some of it's odd flavours might add to the complexity of your sugar mix.


According to this website, 5 to 7 days in the fridge.


How can I effectively time a short thawing and brining of a a turkey?

I can't remember how many times I've remembered to take out the turkey much to late for a full proper defrost. Yes, you can probably thaw it in cold water. But I would go a step further if you're brining it anyway. Alton Brown posted a blog post yesterday with exactly the same problem as you. Apparently Professional food people forget to defrost their birds too.

  The solution (see what I did there) is to thaw the bird by unwrapping it and submerging in a brine contained in a large bucket or cooler or other food safe vessel, covered and tucked away in a closet or garage or … wherever. I slap a probe thermometer in the brine with an alarm set to go off if the temperature of the solution rises above 40 degrees F. That said, I typically go with a 2 day soak and have never had an instance where that temperature has been reached. By the time the bird is thawed, the brine has done it’s job (two jobs actually) and I’m ready to roast.

In short, if it's still frozen, I'd probably just toss it straight into the brine and let it sit for 2 days. (Assuming you have some place that can keep it under 40F/4C until cooking day). The brine will defrost the bird much quicker and brine the meat simultaneously. One less handling of the bird. It's what I've done every time I'm in this predicament of trying to defrost a bird in time to cook.

Edit: To emphasize Jefromi's comment. He's absolutely correct. Especially if you place the turkey in a brine in a cooler and put it in your garage/basement, etc... you definitely need to make sure your brine stays between 0C (32F) and 4C (40F). The easiest way to do that is to put the turkey in the brine and periodically monitor the water temp, adding ice to drop it back to the safe range. A thermometer that can warn you would be ideal. If you manage to find enough space in a fridge that would certainly be safest, but I assume most people don't keep enough space for a turkey in a pot.


I think you are not doing yourself any favors by pre-blanching.

A whole tomato is a rather durable product. It is alive, and protects itself from bacteria - they can't penetrate the skin, and if a few of them come inside, the living cells have some limited protection. It can keep for a long time at room temperature.

A blanched tomato loses all its protection and turns into a highly perishable product. The skin is gone, the damaged cells are welcome food to all bacteria. It can't be kept without refrigeration. Which is your first problem, as the taste of tomatoes deteriorates a lot with refrigeration, some of the strongest tomato aromas undergo irreversible chemical changes when stored under a certain temperature (I think the limit was around 10 celsius). Even if you store them in the fridge, they are likely to get unpleasant after 3 days, I don't think that stretching it to 5 days is a good idea.

You can of course freeze them, which will make them more durable. But 1) you will still have the taste deterioration problem, and 2) you mentioned in a comment that you don't want them to become soft. But there is no way to prevent plant matter from becoming soft after a freeze-thaw cycle, as far as I know not even industrial flash freezing will keep it in the original state, and you can't do this at home anyway.

You can choose between tasty or convenient tomatoes, but you can't have both.


When to add Milk powder while preparing a cup of Tea (Chai)?

Some powders mix better with cold water than hot, and milk powder seems to be one of them.  Making a paste using a small amount of water also helps.

You can make a paste of cold water and milk powder in the cup before adding the tea, or you can make the paste, add the tea, optional sugar and more water, then boil.  You may be able to put the powder in the cup, ad a small amount of tea and make a paste, then add the rest of the tea while stirring.

I do something similar with instant hot chocolate (which contains powdered milk) if making it in a mug. Another approach (which I use with instant hot chocolate when taking it out hiking) is to use a vacuum flask like a cocktail shaker: put the powder in and half fill with water, shake hard, then top up the water.  Unless you want the tea in a flask this is just a way of making more washing up.

As an alternative, milk-based powdered whiteners sold for tea and coffee have more soluble ingredients than milk derivatives, and don't form clumps.  The ingredient list for one I could easily buy is Glucose Syrup, Coconut Oil, Stabiliser (Dipotassium Phosphate, Sodium Polyphosphate), Milk Proteins, Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids), Anti-caking Agent (Silicon Dioxide), Colour (Beta-Carotene).  Other whiteners have no milk in them at all.


Cut the pecans a bit smaller than whole, fry up a bunch of bacon, super crispy. Crumble that up and mix it in: meaty, protein-y snack, ... or sprinkle it on salads, veggies, and stuff. The bacon will set your senses up for a smokey burned flavor, and unless the pecans are completely carbonized, it'll taste great.


How long should a 4-5 pound rib roast take in an infrared cooker?

I'd use the recipe they have on their site for pork shoulder as a guideline, since it's very similar in terms of size and shape to a beef roast (just not as heavy).

They estimate 10 minutes per pound, which is more or less consistent with the per-side estimate of most broiler recipes (which is very similar to infrared cooking).

So start with an estimate of 40-50 minutes but do what they recommend and monitor the temperature very carefully.

I have to point out that 4-5 pounds is very heavy/large for high-heat cooking methods like broiling or grilling (or infrared); it's not the same as infrared "frying" a turkey or a leg of lamb which has a very high surface area/weight ratio. Steaks would no doubt come out great this way but larger roasts respond better to roasting, so don't be too surprised if your roast starts to get seriously charred on the outside before it's sufficiently cooked on the inside.

You might want to consider starting with smaller, 2-3 lb roasts, and move up the weight next time if those come out perfectly. Based on their claims, it should take roughly the same amount of time for one large item vs. two smaller items anyway.


My banana Muffins won't rise like I want - Why?

Did you preheat the Oven?

At our facility we preheat to 400F then lower to 360F just as soon as we close the door. Why? Muffins do not rise enough (we feel) in a warm oven. The time the oven door is open also cools the oven itself 30-40 degrees. So we preheat, then it's at the right temp as soon as the door is closed.

We try to cook fast in a hot oven rather than slow in a warm oven. You have to achieve the chemical reaction part rather quickly or it fizzles out.

That is only one of many reasons for small round tops, as you're finding out. Here is another article that may also help the train of thought.


What happens when I boil 2 pots of pasta in the same water back to back?

There should be no issue with doing this, restaurants often do this; the only thing that will happen is that the water will have more pasta starch as you cook more pasta in the same pot.  Obviously, basic food safety rules apply here - you need to keep the water out of the "danger zone", but otherwise it should not be a problem.

This could be a good thing as far as helping the pasta bind to the sauce, but will possibly make the pasta a bit more sticky if you don't sauce it right away.


I made a flan, added lime zest and grated ginger, and it was a flop. What is happening?

Sounds like a classic case of too much acid or putting in your acidic ingredients at the wrong times. If you haven't already, try adding your lime zest to your water and sugar at the beginning and the ginger to the warmed milk.


Adding additional water to already simmering bone stock

I have never seen a stock recipe that recommended 3 days. In my experience, after 12 hours the bones gave up all they had and would crumble when touched.

Even so- simmering with the lid off will cause quite a bit of evaporation. Definitely add water whenever you notice it is low.

I've had stocks dry up completely and it smells absolutely horrible when they burn.


What is the term for "plain" non-flavored ice cream

It's called "sweet cream" ice cream. If you make your own ice cream with something like milk, cream, eggs, and sugar, and you don't put any additional flavoring in it, it's called a "sweet cream base".


No because:

The environment you describe is not oxygen deficient and therefore not favorable to botulism growth. Simply being under a tray doesn't make an oxygen-free environment.
Plain oil provides almost no nutrients to support bacterial growth. You need another food source for bacteria to grow in significant number.

But let's take the worst case scenario and assume you've got a big botulism farm going on under that tray. Fine, clean it up with a sponge and some hot soapy water, or any of the many antibacterial kitchen cleansers that are available if that makes you feel better. Your botulism farm will be washed safely down the sink along with all the spores they produced. Toss the sponge in the dishwasher for a cycle to make it Felix Unger clean.


I added more water to my ciabatta dough by accident

Your recipe should call for the dough to be folded a few times during proving. Do this on a thick bed of flour, and sprinkle more flour on top as you fold, and you'll find it will come together more and more with each fold. Remember, when it comes to bread, the wetter the better!


Adding more sugar to a small amount did fix the issue.  I think that boiling down the coffee/sugar mix would go a long way toward increasing the SG without making it sickeningly sweet.  Next time I make a batch it's what I'll do.


Arugula is very salty, and doesn't look like arugula

Round-leaf arugula is apparently an actual variety that exists.  However, it is not noted for having a particularly salty flavor.
Given the strong salty flavor, and the appearance, it's more likely that you got orach instead.  A nutritious and tasty green, Orach is known for its high salt content, making it excellent in salads (just don't add more salt to it).


Why pre-mix baking soda into 2 tsp of milk?

Mixing it with milk (or liquid in general) is probably just to remove clumps. It clumps easily, especially when things aren't perfectly airtight (probably more common in your grandmother's time), and mixing in a small amount of liquid is an easy way to make sure it all breaks up.

I'm less sure about the alternating. It is pretty common to alternate wet and dry as a way of getting things evenly mixed and avoiding lumps, so it's possible it's a variation on that. The paste might be too thick to easily mix into the wet, but also wet enough that it'd tend to stay as a lump if you mix it straight into the dry, so alternating wet-dry-paste might get you more even mixing? But if you're able to mix the paste smoothly into the wet, it's completely fine to just do that.


Why does industrially produced tagliatelle come in nests?

When making egg pasta at home if it's not used right away it's common to flour slightly and wrap into nests to dry. This is a simple and effective way to do dry your pasta without it hanging over every cupboard door, door knob, your dog, etc. I suspect that manufacturers package this way for marketing reasons to make it feel more authentic.

When I make pasta I generally dry it in batches by hanging for just long enough to not stick then I create nests on parchment paper until more dry. These are also easy to store and pop into a pot of not as much water as previously taught by everyone.


How long can we preserve yogurt using a refrigerator?

This link should help you. It should be ok at least a week or two past the use by date.

http://www.eatbydate.com/dairy/yogurt-shelf-life-expiration-date/


extracting banana flavour for an iced coffee

Consider making a banana consomme via gelatin filtration. As described in Harold McGee's 2007 NYT article, this technique produces liquids with the taste of all sorts of foodstuffs that are otherwise full of texture and color. A tomato consomme, for example, is clear and watery, rather than red and pulpy, while retaining the flavor of a tomato juice. The same technique can be (and has been) done with breads, meats, vegetables, fish, etc.

The process is to make a loose banana gel by mixing a banana with water, adding gelatin, and heating until the gelatin is dissolved. The mixture is then frozen until solid, then suspended in a strainer over a bowl in the refrigerator for a couple of days until the liquid essence distills out and the solids are left in the strainer trapped in a gelatin net.

The particular advantage I believe gelatin filtration will give you in this case is that it will give your coffee a full banana flavor without making it thick, pulpy, or cloudy.


Eating food from a slightly rusting cast iron dutch oven...is it safe?

You're going to die horribly from cooking in a rusted pan!

Just kidding! A little iron in your food isn't going to hurt you, and can actually help prevent anemia.  To quote On Food and Cooking (pg 790): "Excess iron is readily eliminated from the body, and most people can actually benefit from additional dietary iron."

Now, to back this up further:

You won't get much iron out of the pan unless you cook something acidic in it.  Rust is insoluble in water without acid present, and in order to become soluble you have to convert to iron nitrate, sulfate, or chloride, according to the solubility table.  Nothing you cook in there is likely to cause the necessary reactions to render it highly soluble.

I found a source quoting specific numbers for iron from cast iron cookware, if you are concerned.  The gist is that most cooking in cast iron added from 1 to 5 mg of iron to the food, with the highest numbers coming from acidic foods with tomatoes.  Applesauce was the highest, good for about 7 mg.

This level of iron intake is quite safe and healthy. To give you a point of comparison, the FDA suggests iron intake of 8 mg/day for men, and 18 mg/day for women, and 80% of the world may be iron deficient.  Iron toxicity occurs at about 45 mg/day.  So, as I initially stated, you're perfectly safe cooking in your cast iron, and are probably helping your health rather than hurting it!