Under-watered bread dough: specific effect?

The question is tough to answer in general for all possible bread types.  For most of the answer, I'm going to assume we're talking at least about a yeasted wheat-based bread, formed into something resembling some standard European-style loaf type.

  What would be the difference between a bread dough that had a
  sufficient water component, vs a bread dough that wasn't sufficiently
  moisturized, in terms of the end result baked product?

It really depends a lot on type of bread.  Very generally speaking, bread dough with greater moisture will generally end up with larger interior holes and will often rise a bit more. Too much flour tends to create strong gluten networks which toughen and, combined with the extra weight of the flour, won't allow the dough to rise as well.

  Would an under-moisturized bread become crumbly and dry on the inside?

Dry?  Maybe.  Crumbly?  That doesn't generally happen with standard wheat breads until they are a bit stale.

Most standard wheat-based yeast breads should basically never be "crumbly" on the inside.  Bread doughs tend to have higher gluten, which makes for chewy and elastic interiors.  Even when very tender (usually due to a lot of enriching agents like butter/oil, eggs, milk, etc.), bread interiors are rarely crumbly.  "Crumbly" is more of a characteristic of underworked lower-gluten baked goods (cakes, pastries, some quickbreads), which also tend to have a lot more sugar and enriching agents than bread doughs.  The whole purpose of kneading is to create and stretch gluten bonds, which will avoid crumbly interiors.  "Crumbly" also can occur in breads that are based on non-wheat starches with little or no gluten, or in breads that are packed full with other ingredients that prevent large-scale gluten formation.

Anyhow, if you end up with a (wheat-based) bread that is crumbly on the inside, it was likely not mixed enough to incorporate and hydrate the flour completely.  If the dough was dry enough for this to happen even with a lot of mixing, you'd usually see raw flour that can't even be kneaded into the dough, and the dough would be so stiff as to be unworkable.

  Or is this more of an effect of lack of humidity in the oven during baking?

Lack of humidity during baking is a desirable characteristic for many types of breads, particularly after the first 10 minutes or so.  During the first 10 minutes, steam generally is beneficial to most breads, since it keeps the crust hydrated for longer and delays its hardening, which allows greater oven spring.  After the first portion of a bake, low humidity allows crust formation and colorization (which increases flavor).

That said, there are some breads that are steamed or baked completely covered (effectively steaming themselves).  For enriched breads this can sometimes be beneficial in maintaining interior moisture.  But for lean doughs (e.g., baguettes or crusty French bread), high humidity will prevent a good crust from forming and may even leave the interior a bit "gummy" even when fully baked.  A lot of what we associate with "done" textures in bread is partially based on allowing the interior to dehydrate a bit as it cooks.

  Finally, what parts of a bread recipe or its baking process would yield soft, moist insides as opposed to a dry crumbly inside?

Higher water content isn't usually about a moister interior for the final product.  I've baked moist, soft bread doughs with anything from 60% to 90% hydration.  (Terminological note: that's the ratio of water to flour by weight, e.g., a 60% hydration loaf has a 0.6:1 ratio of water to flour.  That range covers almost all standard bread types.)  As I mentioned above, higher water content tends to produce more irregular (and larger) holes in the final product, also often increasing loaf volume.  By increasing the loaf volume, you also decrease the water concentration/humidity of the dough (since there's more air surrounding the strands of dough interior).  That means higher moisture bread doughs don't necessarily produce a higher moisture final loaf: in fact, the higher hydration doughs are generally used to create a crusty bread whose interior may still be tender but whose moisture content is low enough not to soften the exterior crust prematurely as the bread ages after baking.

So, if you want a "moist" and tender interior -- as you might find in standard white sandwich bread -- the easiest way to achieve that is with enriching agents, as discussed above.  Butter/oil, eggs, milk, and sugars to some extent, will all result in a softer crumb.  They also tend to decrease final loaf volume somewhat, which will effectively result in a more moist final product (even if the amount of water initially is lower than in a lean dough).

There are other more subtle ways to keep the interior tender, if you have a specific style of bread in mind.  But generally enriching agents will have a greater importance in tenderness and perceived "moistness" than the water:flour ratio.

All of that said, for most styles of bread -- if you decrease the water from a "standard" recipe for that type of bread, you'll often end up with a tougher bread.  Beginning bakers often make this mistake by (unintentionally) incorporating too much flour during kneading or shaping.


Most recipes for amaretti call for the sugar to be combined with the ground almonds and then added to beaten egg whites. When making meringue, on the other hand, the sugar is beaten into partially-beaten egg whites. What is the reason for this difference?

When making meringue you want clean equipment and to avoid oil or grease in order to be able to whip the eggs and obtain the correct foam with stiff peaks. Sugar is added in spoonfuls between the soft and stiff peak stage. See #2 for information about adding almonds.

Sources:

Felicity Cloake: "How to make the perfect meringue":

  "One of the golden rules of meringue making is that all of your equipment must be scrupulously clean, without a speck of grease, or it will be much more difficult (although not impossible, as is often claimed, according to the food chemist, Hervé This) to produce the desired foam with your ingredients.

  ...

  Most recipes call for the sugar only after the whites have been whipped to soft peaks – add it too early and you can kiss goodbye to a good strong foam.

  ...

  You need to put them in at 60C, 70C, overnight." You don't cook meringues so much as dry them out, apparently; evaporating the water to leave only the rigid structure of the egg and sugar mix, and the air bubbles in between.".

If you grind almonds by themselves they will become oily, so some or all of the sugar called for in the recipe should be added to the almonds.

Sources:

David Lebovitz: "What is Almond Flour?":

  "... To make your own almond flour, I highly recommend that you grind the almonds with some of the flour or sugar called for in the recipe (use the weight equivalent for better accuracy); nuts ground on their own can heat up during the pulverizing and get oily. Flour or sugar helps prevent that. Generally about 2 tablespoons of flour or sugar is the minimum you should use per 1 cup (120g) of nuts. Avoid processing more nuts than that at a time. If you need more, work in batches.)

  To make your own almond flour, put the untoasted nuts in a blender or food processor and pulse them with the dry ingredients until the almonds are pulverized. Grinding the nuts with the motor running in a continuous stream will make them oily so be sure to pulse if using a food processor, or run the motor with an on-off motion if using a blender.".

Note: In a comment someone named Lucie suggested: "To prevent almonds from getting warm and oily during the processing try to freeze them before". David replied: "That’s an interesting idea and would probably work ~!".

Casey Thaler: "Almond Flour: What You Need to Know About This Grain-Free Substitute":

  "Be careful to not let the nuts get oily (at that point, you might want to make almond butter). This can be avoided by doing a stop-start motion with the on and off switch. The continuous heat (if you leave the processor on) will start to make the nuts oily, which will not be ideal when making flour.".

Alice Medrich: "How to Make Your Own Nut Flours (Without Making Nut Butter)":

  "To pulverize nuts in a food processor without turning them to paste, be sure that the processor bowl and blade are dry and cool (not hot from the dishwasher) and the nuts are at room temperature (not cold from the fridge or freezer and not hot from toasting in the oven). Pulse until the nuts are as finely ground as you like, scraping the sides and corners of the processor bowl with a chopstick from time to time.

  If you follow these rules, there is no need to add flour or sugar from the recipe to keep the nuts from turning to butter, as is sometimes advised, although there is no harm in doing that either!

  p.s. You can also make a fluffy nut flour or nut meal in the processor, using the fine shredding disk instead of the steel blade: the same precautions about the temperature of the nuts and the disk apply.".

Eileen Troxel: "Italian Amaretti Cookies":

  "Combine the almonds, cornstarch, and powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the mixture until a fine powder. (The almond meal would become oily if ground on its own.) Transfer the almond-sugar mixture to a bowl. Using a wire whisk, stir the mixture to break up any lumps, and set aside.".

Other Info:

In the making of Macarons (almond-meringue cookie sandwich with filling) there are two styles explained on Wikipedia's webpage:

  There are two main methods to making a macaron - the "French" method and the "Italian" method. The difference between the two is the way the meringue is made.

  In the French method, egg whites are whisked until a stiff-peaked meringue forms. From there, sifted, ground almonds and powdered sugar are folded in slowly until the desired consistency is reached. This process of knocking out air and folding is called macaronage.[15]

  The Italian method involves whisking the egg whites with a hot sugar syrup to form a meringue. Sifted almonds and icing sugar are also mixed with raw egg whites to form a paste. The meringue and almond paste are mixed together to form the macaron mixture. This method is often deemed more structurally sound yet also sweeter and also requires a candy thermometer for the sugar syrup.

  Either Italian or French meringue can be combined with ground almonds.[16]

  A macaron is made by combining icing sugar and ground almonds into a fine mixture.[17] In a separate bowl, egg whites are beaten to a meringue-like consistency.[18] The two elements are then folded together until they are the consistency of "shaving foam", and then are piped, left to form a skin, and baked.[19] Sometimes, a filling is added.

  [15] "French pâtisserie technique: Macaronage". Le Cordon Bleu.
  [16] "How to cook perfect chocolate macarons". The Guardian.
  [17] "Macaron troubleshooting tips". Better with Butter.
  [18] "Macaroons". BBC.
  [19] "Macaron Myth Buster: French or Italian?". The World of Anges. February 22, 2015.

Le Cordon Bleu: "Making homemade French meringue"

Le Cordon Bleu: "A Fasinating Recipe: Lemongrass Macaron" (Almond meringue with lemon ganache)

Le Cordon Bleu: Video: "Making Macarons with Pierre Hermé at Cordon Bleu" (Italian meringue method)

IronWhisk: "Macaron Mania: The Recipes of the World’s Top Pastry Chefs" compares the recipe and technique of 5 of the world's top pastry chefs.

In all cases the egg is whipped to medium peak and then the dry ingredients are added. Doing it differently will provide a different (wrong) result, you won't have fluffy eggs; the whole point of meringue, and without which you simply have mixed egg whites.


Simple enough if it is lead which I greatly doubt : Put the stainless on a grill ( outside) and heat to just dim red ( 1100 to 1200 F) . Any lead will  have long since evaporated  and the stainless will get a tight grey oxide coating (at most), depending on the time it is hot. Of course anything organic will also be gone.


Things you can combine it with:

smoothies
ice cream
pancakes
oatmeal
tea
hot almond milk
rhubarb pie
fruit salad
dumplings (you can use the syrup as a sauce)

You can make ginger ale with it (or put some in regular lemonade), or cocktails (e.g. Dark Ginger Daiquiri; Ginger Rogers; here's a short list of cocktails containing ginger syrup). You can make cookies with it (e. g. this).

Ginger syrup is  basically ginger, water and sugar. So practically everything that goes with ginger, will go with ginger syrup.


reference: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/conductive-heat-transfer-d_428.html
Let's take a moment to look at the heat transfer equation. Looking at it, we can see the ways to get more efficient heat transfer
q / A = k dT / s

q / A = heat transfer per unit area (W/m²)
k = thermal conductivity  (W/(m·K))
dT = temperature difference (°C)
s = wall thickness (m)

use a material with a high thermal conductivity constant (like copper)
thinner (!) material
maintain a higher difference in temperature

The way these thawers work should now be easy to understand. (1) They are made of a material that has a very high thermal conductivity constant, like copper. The higher a material's thermal conductivity, the faster it can equalize it's temperature with that of the surrounding material.
Things that touch each other want to be the same temperature. When you put an ice cube on a sheet of room temperature copper, they are very different temperatures. But as soon as they touch, they want to be the same temperature, so heat transfer begins. Heat "flows" from the copper to the ice, increasing the temperature of the ice (melting it), and decreasing the temperature of the copper. Heat also flows throughout the copper itself, meaning that even the parts of the copper that are far away from the ice are losing heat.
With the copper losing heat, it quickly falls out of temperature equilibrium with the surrounding air. But the air and copper also want to be the same temperature, and so heat from the air "flows" into the copper, bringing it back closer to room temperature, which in turn allows the copper to heat up the ice some more.... But of course there aren't distinct steps to this process: all of these heat transfers happen simultaneously and continuously. And as long as the air has some circulation, you can consider it to be an unlimited supply of room temperature heat.
The top of the copper plate is probably flat, to increase the amount of surface area in contact with the ice. The bottom of the copper plate, however, is probably ribbed or finned, to increase the surface area with the surrounding air, but without (2) creating more thickness!
We could also address (3) and heat the copper electrically, above room temperature, but then we run the risk of heating part of the food to that temperature as well. The benefit of using a passive copper heatsink is that the temperature will never rise above room temperature!


If it's pretzel bread, it may be dipped in a hot soda solution before baking, or lye for the brave and very, very careful. That would mostly be about the crust, rather than the density.

Several sources suggest baking baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to convert it to (food grade) sodium carbonate for a stronger (than bicarbonate) alkali without needing to find (or handle) food grade lye (sodium hydroxide.) What is easily available varies by region, what you are comfortable using varies by person and over time. Washing soda is sodium carbonate, but is not food grade.

There are many ways to get dense bread:

Adding low-gluten or non-gluten flours (rye, oats, rice, barley, masa
harina, bean flours, (or non-flour items, such as boiled or baked
potatoes rather than "potato flour" or instant mashed potatoes,
cooked & mashed beans rather than bean flour.)
Not letting it rise as long. Letting it rise too long. The former is preferable.
Putting in more flour, especially if you tend to the "super-soggy
dough" end of the spectrum. Of course, if you are starting your
baking efforts with trying to replicate this, you may not have a
place that you tend yet. Aim for a firm dough that does not stick to your
hands when working it, which is considerably drier than most baking
instruction [which is chasing the elusive baguette] tends to want you
to go.
Cook a bit cooler for a longer time.


Any way to reduce the tangy taste of homemade coconut milk?

Best method is simply to heat the coconut.

My current method:

Heat shredded coconut and water (1:4 ratio). No need to boil.
Let the mixture cool. I usually forget about it and come back a few hours later
Blend and strain

Although someone had pointed out to me that tricalcium phosphate is used in commercial brands, today I would tell them this is a bad idea.

I have now tasted about every brand available to me and they all taste pretty awful. The worst in terms of taste have tricalcium phosphate.

Homemade is truly the best. Just use a bit of heat to mellow out the taste.

I have experimented with baking soda. This works rather well, however it does leave a taste/sensation of its own. Although I didn't put much I will try to use less the next time. Nonetheless, I am submitting this as an answer. I will try to get my hands on tricalcium phosphate -- if I can -- and report back.


how do you get sushi rice to not stick to your hands?

Keep your hands wet. I usually use a small bowl of water next to my prep area, and dip my fingers in whenever things get sticky.


Obviously I don't know your exact worker situation, but it seems like 5 minutes in advance for 1 person with a food processor should be enough to make more than enough 'crumbs'? This of course depends on your recipe for your crumbs, but if it's just rubbed butter and flour with salt, flavourings etc, it's possible to 'cheat' very effectively with a food processor.

In terms of chemistry, I'd guess your crumbs got too warm before they were cooled, so the fats in them had started to bond, and lumped together.


What are these little crystals in my Cheese?

To quote On Food and Cooking (Harold McGee), page 63, about crystals in Cheddar:

  In aged Cheddar, there are often
  crystals of calcium lactate, formed
  when ripening bacteria convert the
  usual form of lactic acid into its
  less soluble mirror ("D") image.

In blue cheeses:

  The white crystals often visible
  against the blue mold of a Roquefort,
  or detectable in the rind of a
  Camembert, are calcium phosphate,
  deposited because the Penicillium
  molds have made the cheese less acid,
  and calcium salts less soluble.

And, in other aged cheeses:

  In Parmesan, Gruyere, and aged Gouda,
  the crystals may be calcium lactate or
  else tyrosine, an amino acid produced
  by protein breakdown that has limited
  solubility in these low-moisture
  cheeses.

So, basically there are a variety of salts present in the milk, and formed from milk by the action of bacteria and molds.  As the cheese dries, and ripening micro-organisms act on the cheese, these salts fall out of the solution and crystallize.  Personally, I love the slight crystalline texture present in aged cheeses, as it almost always comes with a robust and mature flavor.


What is the benefit to using a paper filter in a moka pot?

Moka pots are essentially percolators meant for making espresso. As such, they are normally fitted with metal filters inside the pot that are capable of filtering some sediment, but not oils or Diterpenes (such as Cafestol). Diterpenes have been implicated in cholesterol increases associated with unfiltered coffee, but may also have cancer- and parkinson's-fighting properties.

The paper filter will also have a large effect on the flavor of the coffee produced. Paper filters are designed to remove oils from coffee, but the oils removed by the paper filter can be a substantial source of flavor for the coffee produced, as many of the flavor compounds in coffee are fat-soluble.

Coffee produced with a paper filter will have less sediment, fewer oils and, in the opinion of many metal-filtered enthusiasts (myself included), a more even, less robust flavor. That shouldn't be regarded as an inherent downside, however, as many people prefer the flavor of paper-filtered coffee, finding the mellower profile and lack of sediment/oilyness preferable. Crema is more pronounced in metal-filtered than in paper-filtered coffee.


No. The fat content of goose, like most waterfowl, is very high. This makes it unsuitable for brining. Brining is intended to bring moisture to meats that tend to dry out, such as chicken and turkey.

See my answer to "What are the basics of brining meat?" for more details.


I doubt very much that you'll be able to substitute any amount of arrowroot for carrageenan. Arrowroot can substitute for other starches, but carrageenan is a gum.

If you want to be able to melt the cheese easily, gelatin is your best bet, and you should be able make a 1:1 substitution (although the process is obviously different - you need to bloom it first, be careful not to overheat, and give it plenty of time to set).

On the other hand, if it's meant to simulate a hard cheese (which is likely if the recipe calls for kappa as opposed to iota carrageenan) then agar-agar is probably a better choice; you'd use about 1/3 of the amount of carrageenan (or less) and, again, it's a different process, you'd basically need to boil it for a few minutes to get decent hydration.

If you're of the mind that gelatin is not vegan (it's technically an "animal product", although it's so heavily refined that the definition is practically meaningless) then you can try the agar-agar substitution, just don't expect it to be exactly the same.


Is there any advantage of filleting a fish at home instead of buying a fillet?

When you cut any food you expose the cut surface to oxygen, which causes chemical changes due to oxidation. You also expose the cut surface to microbes and organisms which break down food. Both of these will impact the quality of cut meat or fish, so yes a filet cut from a whole fish just before cooking would be fresher and better quality than one cut some time before.

The effect is not great, however. If you had a whole fish and cut one filet from it the day before, then cut the other filet just before cooking both identically I doubt you would be able to tell any difference between the two.

To me the reasons for buying a whole fish as opposed to filets is cost and choice. A whole fish is easier to judge for quality than a filet, you can see whether the eyes are cloudy or clear, for instance. Buying a whole fish is cheaper than buying the filets off of it because it's much less work for the seller, so you can save some cash doing it yourself.

However, fileting a fish is not that easy. It's perfectly do-able at home and there's loads of how-to videos but it's still pretty involved and hard to do that well without lots of practice. It's also messy time consuming, so when you buy filets it's for the convenience of not having to do it yourself. The important thing is to make sure it's fresh whether it's whole or already prepped.


From what I've been told by a relative, Australia doesn't really have an equivalent of Graham Crackers. Given how rarely you can find them at the import stores, you're best off making your own. I use this recipe at King Arthur Flour.
 I like it because the measurements are adaptable between volumes and weights, so the recipe can work in any country. Any quality brand name of flour will work. It doesn't have to be KAF brand.


What do you call this Chinese Popcorn Cooking mechanism?

Chinese Puffing Gun

You can see one for sale on dhgate for $600

You can see it in use here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiD3YJD2RVU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baQT0pwvXKQ


Pretzel burger buns: how to make soft crust?

Since what you're making is a pretzel that you want to act like a soft loaf, I would try treating it like a bread.

To keep the crust on homemade bread soft, people brush the top with a fat of some kind (usually butter).  So you could try liberally brushing the tops of your buns with butter when they're fresh from the oven and still hot.  That should keep the "crust" of your mini-loaf nice and soft.


So I found the recipe that I'm assuming you were looking for? It seems to fit the description you've given.

From framedcooks.com:

  Pour the oil into a cold frying pan and swirl it around until the bottom is coated.
  Crack the eggs carefully into the pan, keeping the yolks intact.
  Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the eggs, along with the herbs and cheese if you are using those.
  Cover the pan and turn the heat on to medium low. Cook for 6 minutes with no peeking! This will produce eggs with creamy runny yolks – leave them on for another minute or two if you like them more well done.
  Run a knife between the eggs to separate them, slide them out of the pan onto plates and serve at once.

Enjoy your eggs.


High powered blenders (e.g. KitchenAid, 1800watts, 3.5 HP peak)

It is well known that the blades in high powered blenders create so much force that it can heat the liquids inside. In fact, I can put a can of tomatoes in mine and they will eventually become hot enough to be eaten as a warm soup.

That being said, creating this much heat takes time and also usually works best if you're starting from something already at least room temperature. A smoothie will not become warm because:

Smoothies only take a few seconds to make, therefore not enough energy is transfered to make it warn.
Ingredients often start somewhat cold from the fridge and don't heat up enough.
Ice is usually added, which makes things very cold.

You could make a hot smoothie if you ran the machine maybe for 5-10 minutes, which I wouldn't suggest!


Rocket has an inherent bitterness and not much sweetness, so any pesto you make from it will have that quality. You can try and balance it with sweetness, acidity, etc but that will only go so far. Basically, if it's going to be too bitter for someone's taste you're better off making something else, or using the rocket's strong flavors in conjunction with something like coriander leaf, cilantro leaf or basil.


Should I get masticating or a citrus juicer?

I have owned both a citrus juicer, a masticating juicer, and a traditional centrifugal juicer, for a few years now.

My feedback:

Citrus juicer

I have an industrial strength one (this one: http://www.israel-catalog.com/houseware/hadarit-zaksenberg-citrus-juice-squeezer).  It's large and heavy, but it is sturdy, and withstands the weight of a "proper" pull to press oranges.  I owned a number of cheaper smaller models like what you linked before, but never used them much because they would tip over, or didn't provide enough leverage to really juice an orange.

Pros: I love my citrus juicer - I use it to make fresh orange juice a few times a week, or anytime anyone in my family is sick.  From setup/juice/breakdown time is probably 3-4 minutes without trying - and all I have to do is halve my oranges (or grapefruits, pomegranates, etc), which I can do to 6 oranges in a minute.

Cons: It's only good for juicing citrus!  Also, if you are going to store it high up, it requires some strength to move.  I would prefer to leave it on my counter all the time, but my wife requires I cabinet it when not using it :)

Masticating Juicer

I use an Omega model (http://www.omegajuicers.com/juicer-8006.html).  I use this juicer to make Apple, Carrot, Beet, Celery and many other vegetable variety juices.  I also use(d) it to make Almond Milk, before I got a Vitamix, and have used it to make Almond, Peanut and Hazelnut Butter, and Banana/Blueberry "ice cream" by freezing the fruit then running it through the mastication a few times.

Pros: I love that this juicer is quiet.  Unlike my centrifugal juicer, which is extremely loud and I was having trouble with using after my kids went to sleep, I can use this juicer while people are watching TV!  It also allegedly makes better juice because it doesn't heat the juice as much because it's moving slow?  I haven't really seen a quality difference.    Also, the pulp comes out quietly and slowly, so it doesn't make a mess on the counter/cabinets of juice pulp spray.

You certainly CAN make orange juice here, but you will need to slice off the outside skin around the whole orange, and then segment into chunks (see Cons), so for each orange you're making 6-8 cuts, instead of 1 for the Citrus juicer

Cons: You have to cut all your veggies into small enough pieces to fit down the chute - which is especially a pain for carrots.   It also has a significant number of parts and takes 3-4 minutes to break down, clean and store, IMO.

Centrifugal Juicer

I have used a variety of Breville models from the juice fountain series (here: http://www.brevilleusa.com/beverages/juicers.html)  I've burned through 3 of them over about 5 years.

Pros: It makes juice REALLY fast (relatively speaking), and you don't really have to prep veggies and fruit, and just drop whole apples and carrots in there.  Also, these can be found on amazon for as little as $59, so a great entry juicer for someone who doesn't want to make a larger financial commitment.

You certainly CAN make orange juice here, but you will need to slice off the outside skin around the whole orange, and then segment into chunks (see Cons), so for each orange you're making 6-8 cuts, instead of 1 for the Citrus juicer

Cons: Oh wow, there's a few:  The pulp goes into a canister, but at the high speeds of the juicer, it sneaks out and ends up with a fine pulp-mist everywhere.  Also, the juice comes out a bit foamy because of the way the blades are setup, which can be a turn off.  Also, these things are very loud, and cleanup is a pain too (multiple parts, and over time the blade/basket assembly will build up sediment).

Summary:

If you just want to own ONE juicer to do it all, and don't have a big budget, get a centrifugal juicer.  If you want to own one juicer to do it all and have a bigger budget, get a masticating juicer.  If you have budget, a masticating/or/centrifugal + a good citrus juicer provides best of all worlds to juice the right stuff the easiest way.

Don't waste money on a cheap citrus juicer unless you don't plan to use it much, IMO.


What side dish should I have with saltimbocca?

I would venture to say there is no one specific traditional side dish.  If you go to Italy you aren't going to see saltimbocca with a side of anything on the menu.  You can pick you primi and contorni yourself.  I think s very simple mixture of roasted or grilled asparagus and/or squash would be very nice.

If your wanting traditional and you are making a roman style saltimbooca (saltimbocca alla romana) You can try to pick a primi and contorni that would be common and traditional to that region.  For example you can do "bucatini all'amatriciana" as a primi. With a nice fennel and orange and/or artichoke salad as a side  And of course to the season it is being prepared.  To me that is really what is "traditional" Italian cooking.


Are frozen onions any good? (And general advice with frozen veg)

My general rules are twofold --

Is the item something that can be frozen whole? (yes for corn kernels, peas, lima beans, etc.)
Is it something that I'm going to reheat, but not cook over high heat?

So, part of it's the items themselves, but the other part is how I'm preparing them ... and stir-fry just isn't something that I think lends itself to frozen vegetables in my opinion, as you want to cook them quickly, and they're not going to cook quickly from frozen.  Sweating, on the other hand, you might be okay with, I've never tried using frozen onions.

I typically use frozen vegetables for things like pot pies, soups, and such, where the vegetables don't need to be at their absolute prime.  Frozen peas hold up amazingly well; I'll even sprinkle them into paella or other dishes to add texture and color.

My suggestion for your onion problem would be to get larger onions.  You'll spend less crying over 1-2 large onions than 7 or 8 small ones.  At the very least, peel 'em all, then start cutting, so you're not exposed to the fumes slowly over a longer time.


How do you know when a cultured item is no longer safe to consume?

Cultured milk products rarely become unsafe.

Yogurt in particular is so acidic and teeming with bacteria already that it can't really go bad per se. It will get moldy as others have said.

I culture my own buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, cheese, etc. Many times they stay on the counter for days at a time. They get more and more sour (if they are the kind that incubate at room temperature) but they can't really go bad. Even sour cream doesn't become dangerous- the mold just tastes bad.

To second what kajaco said: if I do have cultured dairy get too sour or moldy I will wipe off the mold and bake something with it.

It should be noted that non-cultured milk is completely different. Of course it goes bad fast but after even a short time it is too bad to bake with. And never ever EVER use old milk to culture your own yogurt or cheese. The bad bacteria will overwhelm the good and you will end up with liquid that will haunt you in your nightmares!

-- Edit --

https://web.archive.org/web/20161129153701/http://nchfp.uga.edu:80/publications/nchfp/factsheets/yogurt.html (OR pdf)

I did some research and it seems that they can eventually go bad. It doesn't fit my experience but I'll defer to the scientists. Trust your nose.


Does an acid actually stabilize meringue and if so why?

Acids allow more air to be beaten into a meringue. In order to make meringue, the proteins in egg white must be denatured. In their natural state, the proteins are curled up into tightly packed balls. When the egg is beaten, they uncoil into long strands.

These strands then begin to coagulate, or join together, with the help of the sugar you add. The air you whisk in gets trapped between these joining strands, giving the meringue its characteristic light texture.

Acid delays coagulation, which means that there is more time for air to get trapped in amongst the proteins, resulting in a lighter meringue.

The acids usually added to meringue are white wine vinegar, lemon juice, or cream of tartar. Fresh eggs are more acidic than old ones, so these help too.

Some cooks use copper bowls to make meringue, because copper ions from the bowl bind to a particular protein (conalbumin) and strengthen it.


What is the magic in packaged pudding mixes?

The Industrial Product

By way of example, this is the list of ingredients from Jello Vanilla Instant Pudding and Pie Filling mix (a very common brand in the US):

Sugar
Modified Cornstarch
contains less than 2% of Natural and Artificial Flavor
Salt
Disodium Phosphate
Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate (for Thickening)
Mono- and Diglycerides (prevent Foaming)
Artificial Color
Yellow 5
Yellow 6
BHA (Preservative)

The ingredients that are not well known, or are that are relevant to the texture are:

Modified cornstarch.   The label does not specifically say how the cornstarch has been treated or modified, but it is likely that it is pre-gelatinized which is what allows it to be "instant pudding", thickening with the addition of cold liquid.
Disodium Phosphate.  Anti-caking agent.  This allows the mix to flow freely after storage.
Mono- and Diglycerides. Emulsifiers.
Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate.  Per Wikipedia:

  Sodium pyrophosphate is used as a buffering agent, an emulsifier, a
  dispersing agent, and a thickening agent

Note that this both emulsifies which helps create smoothness and uniformity, and thickness.

What you do not see in the mix is any true dairy or egg products.  The pudding is entirely a creation of these thickening agents, and the flavor only from the natural or artificial flavors (which might or might not include vanilla extract, but more likely are vanillin and other flavors).

Home Production

Puddings (at least in US usage of the word) are a variant on custards, where the thickening power of eggs in a basic custard is supplemented with a starch.

It is not really possible to achieve a consistency identical to that provided by the industrial ingredients, so if you are using that as your standard, you will fail.

Still, an extremely smooth product with a delicate mouth feel (which in my personal opinion is actually superior) is possible by creating a pudding based on:

Rich dairy, about 10-18% or more milkfat (half and half, or richer)
Egg yolks (but not the whites), for thickening.  The natural lecithin in the yolks contributes smoothness, and the proteins contribute thickness.  Omitting the egg whites removes the somewhat rubbery mouthfeel that the albumens in the white contribute to thickened dishes.
Cornstarch for supplemental thickening and to help bind the pudding.

The ratio is very very approximately:  1 quart (1 liter) dairy to 6 eggs yolks to 4 tablespoons cornstarch.

These puddings can be created stove top or baked in the oven, and can be flavored in a variety of ways.  In either case, you must use good technique to avoid curdling the eggs.

Beat the yolks to  light golden color.
Mix the cornstarch, sugar (and other dry ingredients) with a small amount of dairy, just enough to create a smooth slurry.  Then add the remainder of the dairy and egg yolks, and mix.
Bring to a slow bubble (about 180 F, 82 C) on top of the stove.
Strain and chill.


UHT cream storage - temperature extremes

I couldn't find any recent scientific literature on UHT cream, but I did find a bit on UHT milk.  And at least what's said about milk indicates that it should be fine being stored up to 37C.  This study says that shelf life is shortened above 30C, but that "shortened" still means 4-5 months.  And this one(pdf), from Sudan, found that a "room temperature" of 33C for UHT milk didn't hurt quality at all within 90 days.
However, that's milk.  What do we know about cream?
This old study suggests that UHT Cream has a significantly shorter shelf life than UHT Milk, and that it's a lot more affected by temperature.  In that study, you can see that flavor declines a lot faster at 18C than at 4C, and that separation of the cream happens at 18C in as little as 4 weeks.  While there's no data on storage at 30C, one would expect it to separate even sooner, maybe in as little as a week.  If you can get access to the Journal of Dairy Science, they may have more updated articles on UHT Cream shelf life.


How can I make carrot cake more fruity and fresh?

Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page has a large section on food pairings. For carrots they mention orange, ginger, lemon, basil and mint. I think any of these could work well, if done right. My suggestion would be first to use really good, flavorful carrots—preferably from a farmer's market. Second, I would tone down or even leave out some of the usual carrot cake spices so that you don't cover up the carrot flavor or the subtle flavors of your possible additions. Maybe fresh or candied ginger in the cake itself would be good. Orange or lemon curd and/or zest would work particulary well in offsetting the cream cheese icing. I'm thinking basil and mint might be better saved for another dessert.


How to prevent filling getting squeezed out of chocolate coated candies?

If I had to guess I would say your filling is not cold enough when you dip it so it starts to melt and pockets of air form when it comes into contact with the warm chocolate, which then doesn't cover the egg properly, causing filling to leak when it warms up a bit.
Try putting the fillings in the freezer for a bit (30 minutes to an hour) after you've shaped them, if possible. This will allow the chocolate to harden far quicker since the filling is much cooler, it should potentially stop the leakage (assuming the problem is the temperature).
For a nice looking coating of chocolate, try adding some cocoa butter to your melted chocolate. This will add a glistening sheen.


Why is herbal tea brewed at boiling temperature?

The problem is that "herbal tea" is a very broad category. Some herbs, like woody stems or roots, require a bit more "decocting," which the higher temperature helps with. Ginger or ginseng root, pine needles, rose hips, sarsaparilla, and similar plant bits all fit this bill, and some of those I'd honestly go ahead and boil for some time, not just steep. But there are other herbs that are much more delicate and benefit from lower temperatures. Lemon balm, for example. It makes the most incredible tea, but it's best to treat it like green tea with a longer steeping time. With boiling water it loses a lot of its fresh lemony taste.

Some more common herbal teas like chamomile and mint are a bit more middle-of-the road with this regard and probably respond well to a boiled steep, but you might find them better in a gentler infusion.

It's possible that two main factors are that manufacturers figure consumers can't be bothered to sort this all out and probably don't consume herbal teas consistently enough to work out these subtleties (at least relative to tea), and that the traditions surrounding most of these teas were oriented towards their use as medicine. Freshly gathered or home-dried herbs are usually clean and safe enough for a healthy person to consume without sterilizing them, but if you're trying to treat someone who's already sick and vulnerable, boiling your materials may be wise. Our modern culture and economy tend to radically simplify such traditions to make them sellable, and then even those less capitalistically inclined wind up repeating the same lines they've seen on the sides of chamomile tea boxes, and before you know it everyone's referring to using a single steeping method for a very broad range of very different plant bits.

I'd recommend experimenting to figure out what works best for any given herb, with the caveat that certain things like dried elderberries quite possibly should be boiled regardless. I'll nibble a few raw myself on occasion but sensitivities differ.


Their primary purpose is flavor, although (as mentioned by @David Richerby) they can also be used for thickening in some cases. If you don't like them, but other members of your household do, then it becomes a cost-benefit analysis of every dish.

If your hatred of onions is visceral, yet other family members would just kind of rather have them than not, not including them is easy. It becomes trickier if everyone else loves them.

Consider prepping onions by quickly soaking the chopped onions in cold water or giving them a quick pickle in vinegar and salt. That may remove flavors that you find offensive while still keeping those qualities that other members of your household may like.

Garlic provides much of the same flavor profile as onions. Can you add a bit more garlic when you eliminate onions?

You might find some types of onions less offensive than others. Consider supersweet onions like Vidalia, green onions (AKA scallions), and red onions that have been tamed a bit by soaking or pickling.

Consider asafoetida as a substitute, along with other substitutions found here: What can I substitute for onions?


What causes odd off-flavor/smell in tofu?

Going bad.

It's not necessarily unsafe to eat yet, but tofu can pick up a slightly spoiled flavor even before it goes bad.

Especially since tofu has so little flavor of its own, it's easy to taste if it goes slightly off.

You can mitigate this by storing it in clear water and changing the water frequently.


Emulsifying oil-soluble flavour compounds in homemade soft drinks

The emulsifiers are probably used to keep them mixed on the shelf, rather than to get them in to the mix in the first place. Traditional home made drinks such as still lemonade are intended to be mixed and served immediately, and plenty of stirring will disperse the oil in the water-based drink for long enough. Bottled drinks, whether ready to drink or concentrate, would separate in storage. There's also an aesthetic reason: people don't like to see a layer of oil on top of their drink.

Trying to extract the oils from the zest without steeping in further oils would be a good idea, because you'd have much less to emulsify or mix. Hot water would release quite a lot of the oil, and for some things an alcohol extraction would work (the amount of alcohol per serving would be miniscule if done properly).

In terms of replicating the commercial product you would be best off buying emulsifiers (lecithin perhaps). Reacting food grade sodium hydroxide with edible oils doesn't necessarily leave you with an edible product - saponification is a chemical reaction resulting in a new substance so we can't conclude it's food safe even if the reagents were. On top of this, soap in even tiny quantities is unpalatable.

There's so much rubbish written online about "natural" foods that it's hard to find much sense, but honey is reputed to have some emulsifying properties,and is a traditional ingredient in lemonade recipes.

To conclude, I'd try boiling the zest in water and straining, before mixing with the juice and water, then sweetening the lemonade with honey instead of sugar. Even if it doesn't work perfectly it should still be a pleasant experiment.


What is the difference between Alaskan King Salmon and Scottish Salmon?

Alaskan King, or Chinook, salmon is generally wild, generally caught in the Pacific Northwest, often but not exclusively in Alaska. Scottish salmon is generally farm-raised Atlantic salmon, and as far as that goes is essentially identical to farm-raised salmon from Chile or Norway.

Price: hobodave's comment is correct that the price will vary based on location, but in fact the king salmon will be more expensive almost everywhere. Generic farmed Scottish salmon is a commodity product that generally sells for about $1 more than other farmed salmon for no particularly good reason, but wild salmon can easily cost twice as much regardless. Short of actually being in the Pacific Northwest it's likely that the Scottish is substantially cheaper.

Taste: the quality comparison is the big one here rather than species. King is usually treated much better (shipped quicker, wild diet) because it's not a commodity, but not necessarily. Scottish will vary depending on the farmer, but I think you have to prefer the King to any generically-farmed Scottish salmon.

Cooking methods: no necessary difference. Smoked on a plank is a common method in the Pacific Northwest, but no real reason you couldn't do either in that way. Pick your favorite method.


It seems that the answer is yes...

The vast majority of the literature out there around saffron petals relates to the pharmacological compounds found in the petals. For normal use, the petals are considered a "waste" product from the production of saffron in the forms of the well known stamens used in food flavoring and coloring.

However, I have found that petals contain less of the flavoring and coloring compounds, but still contain some and are sometimes used as an adulterant (see Substitutes and Adulterants section near the bottom) in the commercially produced stamens. I also found a book Saffron production and processing, which states (see linked page 8 of chapter 1) that the petals could be used to generate natural colorings for foods, particularly anthocyanines.


Why does my colander feel slimy after I use it to drain pasta?

I'm Italian, we use colanders to drain pasta every day. It's the starch. You are supposed to drain pasta in the kitchen sink, right? As soon as you drain the pasta, pour the pasta on the sauce, or serve it and run cold water immediately over the empty but still hot colander. It will remove the starch without effort.


How to bake frozen breaded cod without breading sticking to alumnium foil?

One possible work around is to put a couple of chopsticks between the foil and the fish so that there is no direct contact with the foil, a cheap rack. Or you can roll up some extra foil into little rods to achieve the same.

Protein-laden water seeps out of the fish and makes a glue between the fish and the foil. By raising the fish, you get some air currents and the glue is kept away from the fish. Cooking from frozen exacerbates this because initially all the heat goes into the frozen water to melt it without raising the temperature of the fish above freezing point. There is little evaporation going on at such low temperature.


Is it necessary to rinse Chinese or other tea before first brew / steep / infusion?

Usually the first infusion is to remove pesticides and some dust that accumulates while aging the tea. Another reason is to let the dry leaves "breathe" to bring out their taste in subsequent infusions. You're supposed to drain out the water in seconds; so it shouldn't take away the taste.


what am i doing wrong since safe seems to be overcooked and cooked seems to be unsafe

You are doing nothing wrong, this is as it should be. It is the cooking which scrambles the proteins of both the fish and the bacteria living in it, making the food safe in the process. The fish is not safe at 42 C. I don't have charts here, but if you looked it up and saw it is safe at 63 C, then that's the temperature needed for safety.

You just have to decide what you want - safety or a given state of cooking - and cook your fish to the respective temperature.


You don't need to season an enameled pot.  The enamel serves much of the same purpose as building up a layer of seasoning.

Although the enamel won't ever be quite as slick as seasoned cast iron, it protects the vessel from rust, makes food less likely to stick (with a little help from some oil), and easier to clean up afterwards.


Does dry frying tofu really cause tofu to better soak up a marinade?

Pretty much anything that removes a substantial amount of water from tofu will help it soak up marinades and sauces. Both are essentially flavorful water, and if the tofu is already full of water, the flavor has to very, very slowly diffuse into the tofu, while if the tofu has been dried out somewhat, the sauce or marinade can simply soak directly in. Dry frying is one method for getting a lot of water out; baking is also pretty effective.

Pressing the tofu is also a good idea: place slices between two flat things with a decent amount of weight on top, tilt it so the water can drain, and leave it for a bit. It's an easy way to get some water out of it; it'll make any subsequent cooking step easier by reducing the amount of time the tofu boils and steams as the water escapes. And it does make some room for flavor to work its way in, though of course not nearly as much as mostly drying out the tofu by baking or dry-frying.

As for your request for empirical evidence... just try it. It's an extremely obvious difference.


Why would cooked spinach contain more iron than raw?

Iron is simply an element, so it cannot be destroyed by cooking (or generally temperature changes), as vitamins and other organic structures potentially can.

Cooked spinach inevitably has a much lower water content, thus the relative density of all other components must increase. So gram for gram, it makes sense that cooked spinach should have a higher concentration of iron (and possibly some other things) than raw. However, the actual process of cooking does nothing to change the amount of iron.


Babi Guling - Balinese Suckling Pig - alternative cuts of pork for it?

The pork fat is what gives the taste, so if you would take a less fatty cut of pork, just use a trusted method of preventing it from drying out and that is larding:

add most of the pork Babi Gulling filling inside the cut
smear some pork Babi Gulling filling around the cut
cover the cut with pork belly strips (=bacon) as well
use tooth picks to prevent the pork belly strips to fall off.


How long can cooked food be safely stored at room/warm temperature?

The USDA has this to say on it:

  Storing Leftovers
  One of the most common causes of foodborne illness is improper cooling of cooked foods. Because bacteria are everywhere, even after food is cooked to a safe internal temperature, they can be reintroduced to the food and then reproduce. For this reason leftovers must be put in shallow containers for quick cooling and refrigerated within 2 hours.

You'll find similar statements from government agencies around the world.  The safe limit for raw or cooked food is 2 hours in the danger zone (40-140° F or 4.4-60° C).

If you're a restaurant owner or cook, you must follow this rule, hold hot foods above 60° C and quick-cool other foods before refrigerating.  If you are not working in a professional capacity then you are not legally required to follow it, but if you are serving guests then it would be irresponsible (and possibly actionable, if someone gets sick) to do otherwise.

If you're an individual serving only yourself, then take whatever liberties and break whatever rules you want; it's your food, and your body.  But there's no table or chart anyone can give you; there's no single specific point at which a food transitions from "not entirely safe" to "probably will kill you" because it depends entirely on the food, the environment, your immune system, and a plethora of other variables. The rule is 2 hours, period; any longer and there is some non-trivial risk to your health.

Some hints, tips, and warnings:

The 2-hour rule is a conservative estimate with a safety margin. Don't ask what that margin is. It's like asking what the "real" speed limit is on a posted road; you might know from experience, but it could change depending on circumstances and exceeding it by any amount means you take your chances and accept the risks.
Don't put large, hot items (such as an entire pot of soup or chili) directly into the fridge. The residual heat will warm up and potentially spoil other items in the refrigerator.
To quickly cool large cooked items, use an ice-water bath and/or divide them into small containers. (Note: Don't use an ice-water bath for cast iron.)
Don't assume that re-cooking an improperly-stored item will make it safe. Most bacteria produce protein toxins, which are actually the primary agents responsible for food poisoning, and several of these toxins are heat-resistant. Cooking will not kill or inactivate these toxins and eating the re-cooked food will still make you sick.
Don't assume that cooking "kills everything" and that a cooked food or cooking surface is absolutely sterile. Cooking kills enough to make the food safe to eat, but some organisms - such as bacterial spores from bacillus and clostridium - can survive the cooking process and immediately start producing more bacteria. Sous-vide bags, crock pots, etc. are not safe environments for cooked food in the temperature danger zone.


I can't speak to your specific recipe, but I worked in a Chinese take-out restaurant for a few years, but that was a ways back....if I remember correctly, the process was extremely simple.

Start with a broth of hot water, white vinegar, salt and a drop or two of yellow food coloring (ancient Chinese secret - food coloring)
Get it nice and hot and add a small amount of cornstarch slurry, whisk and wait for it to thicken.
Meanwhile, scramble some eggs, just like normal. Nothing special. We used a fork and scrambled the eggs in a take-out soup container.
Pour the eggs into the broth at a steady rate while stirring the broth at a medium and consistent speed (roughly one rev/sec).

And that was it. As far as specific technique? I can't recall anything that really stands out. Like I mentioned, we used a take-out soup container and a fork to scramble the eggs, and cut a hole in the top to pour them. I suppose if you want to get really specific, we used a box cutter to make a triangular hole, roughly 3/4 inch per side. The soup was cooked in a round-bottomed wok, and stirred with what Google is telling me is called a hand-spoon - imagine a one-cup ladle, except bend the cup so it's more or less parallel to the handle.

Hope this helps. If you'd like any more information I'll try and see what I can drag out of the back of my dusty memory - it was about six-seven years ago, but I might be able to persuade my feeble old mind to provide some more details.


Could you show how nonstick Hard Anodized Aluminum is with an example? Say you leave pasta cooking for 1 hour

If you leave pots of pasta to boil dry and burn, please avoid non-stick cookware. Most non-stick coatings turn to nasty toxic fumes if overheated.

I doubt there is any difference, besides marketing, between "hard anodized aluminum" and "anodized aluminum". The anodizing makes the surface much harder than natural aluminum.

I do not find much anodized aluminum (AA) cookware with an AA surface available new. Much with non-stick cooking surface available. And some lined with stainless steel. Calphalon used to be the big player, until they stopped making straight AA cookware. Then started and stopped again.

Speaking from experience of having a set of Calphalon AA cookware for twenty plus years, I would not consider AA non-stick. When frying, sauteing, etc, most things will stick, unless adequete oil, butter, or grease is used. With adequete fats I have not had a problem with sticking, except for eggs. Those are tricky buggers.

AA cookware generally can't go in the dishwasher. I have not find them especially hard to clean by hand. The green Scotch-Brite scubber pad does wonders. An occasional scrubbing with Comet keeps them pristine.


This site will convert weights to volumes, and says that you should use .53 of a US cup.


Is there any way to sous-vide without a machine

I have succeeded using this beer cooler method described by Serious Eats.


Don't dry the stems is the answer, simply discard them. I strip the leaves off the stems either before or after drying for the same reasons you describe - they don't dry well. For many herbs there isn't as much flavor in the stems as the leaves, so less value in drying them anyway.


How does my pre-cooked Costco chicken breast not expire for another 5 weeks?

Keep in mind that the best before date is only valid until the package is opened.  Once it is opened, you must treat the chicken strips as if they were fresh and consume them within a few days.
Most likely the chicken is using 'modified atmosphere packaging' (MAP).  It's a very common method used to extend shelf life of meats and vegetables but since it doesn't look a whole lot different than regular packaging, many consumers aren't aware of it.  Wikipedia has explained the process fairly well.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_atmosphere


Seasoning during cooking always reduces the amount of seasoning needed when compared to seasoning at the table. That is the first reason, the second is that applying salt to the skin helps draw moisture out of the skin, and makes it crisper.


I don’t know to what degree things have changed over the years, but according to this article from The Independent in 2000 there is a lot of fraud in the rice business, with Patna or hybrid rices being passed off as Basmati.

Just as fraudulent dealers bulk up Darjeeling tea with inferior leaves, for some time now unscrupulous traders have been passing off inferior grain as basmati or adulterating it.
I contacted the Rice Association, a branch of the Food & Drink Federation, to hear that the Ministry of Agriculture exposed the scam over a year ago. Samples of 41 basmati rices were sent to Nottingham University, where the DNA "fingerprints" were compared with those of authentic basmati. No fewer then 19 samples were found to be adulterated.

Tilda have closer control over their supply chain than many other suppliers and, in testing, were not found to have substitute rice varieties being mis-sold.

Tilda, a leading rice importer which buys direct from the Punjab through its own agents, was responsible for seven of the 22 authentic basmatis in the test.


What's the use of the hexagon bottom in braisers?

The pattern on the bottom is to reduce sticking, as food is only likely to stick to the peaks and not the valleys.

It is also intended, with dubious effectiveness, in my mind to extend the non-stick lifetime of the pan as the non-stick coating tends to only wear off the peaks, and not so much from the valleys.

In my mind,  non-stick is not a feature I would look for in a dutch oven, where you want fond development for braises and searing.


What makes Kewpie (Japanese) mayonnaise so different from Hellmann's?

OK, I did it. The rice vinegar was definitely the biggest difference.  A pinch of MSG (Accent) sealed the deal. I found a recipe on Serious Eats. I tasted after every addition, saving the MSG for last. It wouldn't be as close having skipped anything that I used.

I didn't have real hon-dashi or Japanese mustard, but I had some instant miso soup powder and some Colman's mustard. It was close enough. I also used just rice vinegar, I didn't have any malt vinegar.

I don't have any real Kewpie to do a side by side comparison, but I can tell this is pretty close. It's definitely much closer to Kewpie than Hellmann's.

Everything that has been said here was right.


So far, the best reference I found is Wikipedia.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) has the following varieties:

Black pepper
White pepper
Green pepper
Orange pepper and red pepper

Cubeb (Piper cubeba), or tailed pepper

Long pepper (Piper longum)

Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum)

Pink peppercorn (Schinus molle, Schinus terebinthifolius)


Ice cream stabilizer - locust gum - use and cooking procedure

LBG hydrates at 80C (176F); which might be a bit high for eggs. You should simply the cook the milk+cream with LBG until it hydrates and thickens; then proceed with your recipe, i.e while tempering the eggs at the right temperature as the mixture cools down...

I would mix in the fruits at the end to the cold mixture, as heat can alter the taste of fruit greatly.


Is it possible to make homemade mascarpone?

Yes, you can. You'll require heavy cream, an acid (vinegar or tartaric acid), au bain marie technique and patience and a refridgerator.

Check out preparation here.


Why my meatballs sweated all of their fat?

Regarding the chemistry of what happened here, @rumtscho's comment addresses that very nicely.  Quoting from the relevant portion of the linked answer:

  This scum is made from proteins. Meat contains muscle fibers (the proteins actin and myosin) as well as some loose proteins swimming in the fluids within the meat (the cell plasma). When you cook meat, the protein-rich fluids are expelled (that's why overcooking makes meat dry). Under hot temperature, the proteins in the fluid coagulate, making it firm.

As to why that occurred in this case and what you can do about it: you've provided a list of ingredients that includes a lot of moisture, with very little to help bind everything together.  Eggs contain a lot of water, and onions will release quite a bit as they cook too.  This exacerbates the problem of fluid expulsion noted above.  This is why you will very often see breadcrumbs (and sometimes a dry cheese such as parmesan, especially in Italian recipes) included in meatball recipes.  They're not just filler; they help to absorb the juices expelled by the meat itself as it's squeezed out by the cooking process.  It's a little counter-intuitive, but the dry breadcrumb helps to keep the meatballs moist and shapely as they cook.

Next time consider reducing the amount of egg (you don't specify how much you used, but I rarely use more than 1 egg per pound of ground meat) and adding a bit of breadcrumb to your recipe: perhaps 2 tablespoons per pound of meat as a starting point, up to about 1/4 cup depending on other ingredients.  Given the onion and other things here, I would err on the high side of that.


Would these ingredients work for a Gift In a Jar?

All of those ingredients should be fine.  The only thing you really have to worry about is shelf life, so make sure to buy fresh ingredients and check your expiration dates, especially on the baking powder and baking soda and the almonds.  I would just tell them to use it within a year (or the earliest expiration date).

Oh yeah, and don't put the baking powder and baking soda next to the brown sugar.  There isn't a lot of water in it, but it might be enough to cause issue.


How can I achieve the same flavor and texture as roasted garlic without an oven?

You can get the same result by frying the garlic in a saucepan of oil.

Place peeled cloves in a saucepan and add enough light olive oil or canola oil to just cover the cloves.  Cook at medium to medium-low heat, stirring not too often until the garlic becomes golden brown.

Strain the cloves into a strainer or colander to remove excess oil, but save as much of the oil as you can.  It is now filled with the lovely roasted garlic flavor, and is wonderful for sauces, salad dressings, and drizzling over cooked foods.

If you don't mind a less-neutral base oil, you can use good extra-virgin olive oil instead of light olive oil. The resulting infused oil will have an even richer flavor.


Demerara sugar is a sugar made from reduced, crystallized cane juice.  That is, it is a form of brown sugar with the molasses left in during the refining process.

Regular brown sugar is actually made from pure white sugar, with molasses added back in for flavor.

They will have similar performance and flavor profiles so you can substitute freely, although demerara sugar may have less of a pronounced molasses flavor.  Your best substitute is light brown sugar.


How long can I store Cooked Turkey in Refrig before Freezing?

I'm going to say no.

We chill food in the freezer or refrigerator to slow bacterial growth. In general, the refrigerator will slow the growth enough that cooked meat can be kept safely for 3-5 days, and the freezer enough that cooked meat can be stored for 2-3 months. If you've already kept the meat in the fridge for a week, it is already unsafe to eat. Freezing it now will not reverse that.

In general, if you want to freeze food you should do so ASAP after cooking to maximize the amount of time it will keep in the freezer. After it's already unsafe is too late.


How to bake low carb bread in a Zojirushi bread machine model #BBCC-x20

According to comments I found on the internet about diabetics discussing this same question using this same model, one person recommended this:

  I changed the crust selection to light and reduced the flour by a tablespoon and the problem was solved.

You don't really need a recipe specific for this exact model, here is a low carb bread recipe designed for bread machines, you can also try the above tip.

http://www.food.com/recipe/best-low-carb-bread-bread-machine-102631


Is ground beef that was in the refrigerator for two weeks and has turned brown still usable?

First, do not eat that. Regardless what color the beef is, two weeks is entirely too long to refrigerate ground beef. It is unsafe and should be thrown out. Raw ground beef only keeps in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.

Ignoring storage time, regarding color, brown meat is as safe to eat as red meat. As others have indicated it is simply oxidation occurring. Many grocery stores, at least in the USA, [used to?] blast and wrap their meats with carbon monoxide which imparts a bright pink color that lasts well beyond the shelf life of the meat. If you freeze hamburger or steak for a few months there's a good chance it will come out much browner than when you put it in. This is because some oxidation still occurs in the freezer, unless you hermetically sealed it somehow. Similarly, as long as you're within the 3-4 month freezer period for ground beef, you're OK.


Does glass bottled orange juice taste bad because of leached metals?

My guess is that limonin is responsible for the orange juice in the glass bottles not tasting as good as the carton juice.  Limonin is a very bitter substance naturally arising from orange juice.  Removing it is difficult and limited by patents.  The Tropicana's of this world (which tend to sell in cartons) use centrifuges and these special beads to debitter the juice, but other companies resort to mixtures of Valencia juice (which doesn't produce juice that goes bitter after a few hours) with other less expensive cultivars that will add bitter notes.

The limonin develops a few hours after the juice is squeezed.  So if the juice is fresh, it is the balance of sugar and acid in the fruit that has the biggest impact on its flavor.  Also, commercial juice needs to be pasteurized, which add to the flattening of the flavor.

The soda-lime glass used for containers in the US and many other countries leach very little of their elements into a solution as acid as orange juice (recycled glass leaches more and glass with phosphates, less).


After full reseasoning of my cast iron, eggs are still sticking

I have a similar (but not the same) frying pan. Your problem is, most likely, a lack of heat, not a lack of seasoning.

I always set my frying pan, empty, on a low/medium fire. When it starts to come to temperature, I raise the temperature to high. [If I have something else to cook, I do that before cooking eggs. This way, I make sure the iron is hot]. When the iron is hot enough, the eggs should not stick.

Learning how to controle the temperature of the pan is quite the process, and I have had eggs sticking to my pan at times... and I used to be a professional cook. Just saying.

The Leidenfrost effect is your friend. See this question as well.


Are you supposed to eat the rind of Brie cheese?

It's a personal preference. It's certainly edible, and it won't hurt you. I find the texture a little weird. Generally you can eat the rind of almost any cheese. However, make sure you're not mistaking a wax coating for rind.


How to decide the baking temperature when recipe doesn't mention it?

Cooking temperature and time are determined by a number of factors. The idea is to get the inside of the product properly cooked before the outside dries out, becomes tough, or becomes unpleasantly dark or even burned. At the same time, you usually want the product to get nicely browned (adds flavor and looks nice) before the inside is overcooked. So it's a balance.

Factors which influence appropriate temperature and time include:

ingredients: High protein ingredients (like meat or eggs) easily become tough when overcooked. High sugar or starch recipes will tend to brown or burn more easily.
moisture level: For some products, such as popovers or many kinds of pastry, steam is an important leavening agent, and a high temperature is called for. In other products, like cookies, one of the goals of baking is to drive off excess moisture. And in still others, moisture is absorbed into the other ingredients.
shape: A fat, round loaf will usually need a longer cooking time and lower temperature than a thin, flat pizza or a long, skinny baguette because it takes longer for the center of the loaf to heat up.
pH: Changing the pH of the product will change how it browns.
leavening: Some chemical leavening, like double-acting baking powder, activates at a certain temperature.
personal preference: At the end of the day, the most important factor is whether you like the way the product turned out. If you like a crispier crust, change the temperature and/or cooking time to suit your taste.

Any baking recipe should specify the temperature and cooking time, unless perhaps it's from a book that specifies those things for a number of recipes at once. If not, find a similar recipe and use the temperature specified there, but keep a close eye on the product during the baking process. Learn how to tell when the product is done. For cakes, you usually go by color for the outside, and by temperature or using a toothpick or wooden skewer for the inside. (Briefly: poke a wooden toothpick into the center of a cake; if it comes out with wet batter, keep cooking; if it comes out clean and dry, it's probably overcooked; if it comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it, it's probably perfect.)


Is it safe to eat raw green beans which have been in brine at room temperature?

If you are at about 3-4% salt or higher and this sat around for a week, you probably have some lacto-fermented green beans.  They are technically pickled. Botulism will not thrive in a salt/acid environment.


Baking a Brie with the outer rind broken

You cannot really repair a piece of cheese, so your original plan will not work as-is.

One option would be to make a crusty baked cheese. For that, you make bread dough, roll out two discs like small pizza crusts, and pack the cheese in them, crimping the seam on the upper side. When you bake, any cheese getting out through a crack will stay packaged within the dough. It will still be gooey when you cut the dough, but by this point, you will be already eating it :) and the cheese inside won't get out in the oven where it dries out unpleasantly. Other crusts will probably work too (pie crust dough for example), I just said bread because this is what I am accustomed to. Only pick doughs which you can seal well, dry phylo sheets won't help, the cheese will come out if your seal is not perfect.

If you don't want to, or can't do it with dough, you have to buy another piece of cheese for baking and use this one in a recipe without baking, for example cut up into a salad or melted into a cream soup.


What are "fondi di carciofo" called in English?

(American English speaker here) To me, the picture of "fondo di carciofo" is a picture of artichoke hearts.

What you seem to call a heart, I call a baby with the outer leaves removed. Like this:

I don't think of that as a heart, I've always considered that a kind if a cheater thing since that's what you can buy frozen or marinated as "hearts". There is no, or very little, inedible choke:

That's because the choke develops as the artichoke matures.

So if I asked for "baby artichokes", I would expect to get what is pictured above.

If I want what I think of as "heart", I would eschew packages labeled "artichoke heart", because I know that what they would actually contain (in the US) is trimmed baby artichokes.

I LOVE artichoke hearts, I try to get plenty of stem too. I'm talking about the bottom portion of the mature artichoke, after you pick off the leaves and scrape off the choke.

This:

Which just has a small part of the choke removed.

On Food and Cooking supports this usage of "heart":

So, I guess "the bottom part of a mature globe artichoke, the base, what some people consider the heart and others call the bottom or even the crown, where the stem attaches" would be a way to say it in English and not be misunderstood. If, in fact, I am understanding the question.


You can use sour cream - tastes the same and won't break.


Does it make sense to take out the cake from the oven few times just to check whether it is done or not?

It's never the best of an idea taking the cake out of the oven during its cooking as you'll probably knock it a bit and knock the air out and then it'll cool down a bit and so take longer too cook. Saying that, the whole thing is when you take the cake out. As a rule don't take your cake out until at least half-way through the cooking time, that way the starch will have started to set. If you take your cake out multiple times 5 minutes before, say, it don't make to much of a difference as by then the cake is practically cooked.

Some cakes are more susceptible: foam cakes (genoise, chiffon, etc) are the most likely to feel the full force of you taking the cake out of the oven as it will likely deflate all of the air you've worked so hard to create, however, butter cakes (pound, fruit, etc) wil not be so effected as these are a lot denser and rely more on chemical leaveners.

There are lots of ways to check if your cakes done. If its a cake with quite a thin batter, open the oven door and give it a tiny wobble (not a great big shake to deflate it) and if it wobbles its definitely not done, if it doesn't wobble you can progress to the next step which is poking in a skewer or knife and if it comes out clean it's done, use this technique for all cake types. Another way is when the cake looks golden (unless it's a chocolate cake), press your finger down on the cake and if it springs back it's done. A lot is made about not opening your oven door, in modern ovens today, this doesn't make much of a difference as they can quickly get back up to temperature, particularly if you just open the door a crack. On a final point having a reliable oven temperature is one of the most important steps. Buying a little oven thermometer is a good investment, they're very cheap and will save a lot of hastle


How to keep boudin (blood sausage) slices from disintegrating when pan-frying?

It's best to cook the whole sausage, but you might get away with it

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Sauté sausage until browned all over

Put in oven to finish

Make Apple sauce

Combine the sauce with the warm boudin


What does it mean to "fold in" an ingredient into a mix?

"Folding" is a more gentle mixing technique than "stirring" and "mixing".  Stirring and mixing both denote a more vigorous action.

Folding is usually used for items where something has previously been whipped (such as egg whites or cream) or where tenderness is desired and thus less mixing is advisable (muffins & biscuits).

Folding is usually done with a rubber spatula (for liquid & dry ingredients) or with a wire whisk (often beneficial for whipped cream and egg whites so that the mixture gently incorporates as it falls through the wires).

To "fold" ingredients together:  Hold the spatula or whisk in your dominant hand and grasp the far edge of the bowl (side that is away from you) with your non-dominant hand.  Turn the bowl towards you with your non-dominant hand while simultaneously scraping around the edge (also toward you) and finish by folding the mixture over on top of itself.  Return both hands to the far side of the bowl and follow-up by cutting through the center of the mixture with your utensil and once again folding the mix over on top of itself (again, turning the bowl simultaneously).  Alternate scraping around the side and through the middle of the bowl until the mixture is just combined together.

Note that if an airy mixture such as egg whites or whipped cream start to go from soft and billowy to more liquid-like, you are overworking it and need to stop to maintain volume.

In the case of whipped cream and egg whites you typically add a small portion to the heavier mixture and actually DO stir this in.  While yes you're losing some of the volume of that portion, it serves to help lighten the heavier batter/mixture.  The rest of the whites/cream are then folded in to the mix in several additions.

Sometimes dry ingredients may be sift on top of whipped eggwhites before being folded.

The larger the spatula or whisk, the fewer strokes that will need to be made and the better the results will be.


It is not a problem to put whole potatoes for roasting in the oven while it heats up.  In fact, it's a good idea.

However, if you are following instructions or cooking times written for a preheated oven, you will need to add about 10 minutes to the cooking time (depending on how fast your oven heats up).

The rule of thumb I use for this is to add 1/2 of the time my oven takes to heat up to the recommended cooking time.  Since my oven takes about 20 minutes to get to 400F, that's 10 minutes.

However, regarding bell peppers it depends on why you are putting them in the oven.  If you're talking stuffed bell peppers, then it's fine to start with a cold oven.  However, if you are trying to char the peppers to remove the skins, you need to start with an oven that's as hot as possible, otherwise you will cook the peppers to mush before the skins are charred (and, ideally, use the broiler).


Premixed Bircher muesli (cereal) - soak overnight or ready-to-eat?

Both.

It’s just a matter of taste and convenience what you prefer.

The long-soak gives an overall softer, mellower result and requires a minimum of planning. The overnight-soaked version may be more digestible, but this largely personal, not necessarily a general rule. It’s also close to the “original” version.
The pour-and-eat method preserves the flavors of the individual ingredients and retains the “crunch” of some of the components. It’s also more convenient for packed meals, if the liquid component is added at a later time - not refrigeration necessary (except for the milk or yogurt, obviously).
You may even try out muesli cooked by a porridge method, but of course you’d be going against the philosophy of the muesli inventor...

The “original” Müesli popularized 1 by M. Bircher-Benner uses rolled oats soaked for 12 hours served with freshly grated apples and nuts. Modern mixes are typically based on a mix of grains, nuts and dried fruit. If a mix contains lots of “gets-soggy-quickly” ingredients like corn flakes or puffed grains, often combined with finer oats, it’s usually an indication that it was intended to be eaten immediately after adding liquid, but there is no absolute rule, your tastes matter.

1 But not invented. Raw oat- or wheat-based preparations have been a staple in many cuisines and Bircher-Benner reported that he learned about the dish in the alps.


Getting Potato and Turnip Patties to hold together... how?

My guesses:

First, if you're burning the outside before the middle cooks, you need to reduce your heat some. The outside will still brown over time at a lower heat, and the inside will cook better. If you start in and it looks like they're browning real fast, just turn the heat down (and maybe take the pan off the heat) until things get back under control. Then resume cooking at the lower temp. Getting the middle more thoroughly cooked should really help with them staying together, as the egg needs to be cooked to be an effective binder.

Second, make sure you drain the veg thoroughly before mashing. Any excess liquid may make them tend to fall apart. When they're drier they're going to be a little more stick-together-y in the first place, and then the cooking with the egg should bind it.

If neither of these things helps, I'd probably go for more egg rather than more flour. But I bet the other two options will sort you.


What can I use to replace eggs in the recipe?

It looks like you're basically making a cheese custard for the center of the bread. Flax seeds aren't going to give you a firm, egg-like texture. Instead, I'd use something that already has that cooked-egg texture, like tofu, which also won't impart any flavor (so you'll need to tackle that issue separately).

Experiment with different preparations, but I'd start off with a silken tofu, then purée the tofu in a blender with a bit of cornstarch (to help it firm back up when cooked). Once the tofu has been processed you can mix in the shredded cheese. and throw the filling in.  You'll probably  have to do several attempts before you get the ideal preparations and keep in mind that it won't taste like the original thing, but may bear enough resemblance.

EDIT: In response to the comment, I would say you could try using tapioca in a high concentration, dissolved in a bit of milk or cream. After cooking (hopefully) the tapioca will help to create the texture you want, and it will actually not affect the flavor.

The other (obvious) option is to just leave out the eggs and not replace them with anything. It won't be the same, but neither will any of these substitutions, and it will likely still be good.


How long does Marsala wine last, after opening?

Marsala is a fortified wine, that is, a wine to which extra alcohol has been added.

Therefore, you can store Marsala outside of the fridge, in a cool place (15-20 °C), away from direct light. In these conditions a bottle can sit there for several weeks/months with no obvious degradation, as you would expect for fortified wines.
Generally it is suggested to drink Marsala or similar wines, such as Porto or Banyuls, in the following 4/5 months, but I had bottles opened for a year or so and they were still good, although the flavour faded a bit.

As for Marsala all'uovo, it has pasteurized egg yolks in it, and even home-made recipes call for a pasteurization step.
In general I would store home-made one in the fridge to be on the safe side, but do not serve it too cold. Commercial ones may also have preservatives (aside from the added alcohol of Marsala) in them, and are safe to leave in a cool place for several weeks.


What is fine semolina? (For baghrir recipe)

I never have made baghrir, so I can't guarantee that this will work. But if your problem is indeed only particle size, I would suggest that you just buy your raw material ("semolina") from a specialized provider online. If there are none in Switzerland, I suppose that German mills may ship to you.

My suggestion would be to try buying Weizendunst. This is a grade of milling that is finer than Grieß (which is the typical translation for "semolina") but coarser than flour. This will give you a particle size that is smaller than what you can buy in the supermarket. Seeing that this kind of dish was likely traditionally prepared with home milled semolina anyway, you are unlikely to need something very exact in milling size. If that's too difficult for you, just try flour - Spätzlemehl might work better there, since it's coarser than baking flour.

The durum vs. soft wheat difference might be more important. I frankly don't know if original baghrir are made with durum or wheat flour, the term "semolina" is a bit unfortunate in English because it sometimes refers to the milling grade only, sometimes to durum flour only, and sometimes requires a combination of the right milling grade and durum wheat. If nobody else tells you which wheat is meant, you might want to get one pack of both kinds and see which turns out closer to the original.

The "didn't have many bubbles" and "stuck to the greased pan" parts don't sound like a problem with the flour size though, more like the wrong temperature. Make sure that the temperature is hot enough, that you have enough oil - not just brushing a bit of fat on the pan, use enough oil and if needed add after every pancake - and be prepared to sacrifice the first one or two pieces, they are always worse in any style of pancake.

To address the exact question in the title, "fine semolina" is not an oxymoron at all, there are just many milling grades for flour and semolina. The German Wikipedia defines them as:

coarse semolina: 600-1000 µm
medium semolina: 475-600 µm
fine semolina: 300-475 µm
Dunst: 150-300 µm (no idea what the English term is, likely they either label it as flour or as semolina, not recognizing a middle type)
flour: less than 150 µm

And above coarse semolina, you have other grades like bulgur and broken wheat.


Sugar in canned sweet potatoes. can I remove it simply at home?

If these are canned whole sweet potato, or pieces/slices in syrup or sugar then yes, you can remove the sugar by rinsing the pieces in water. Whole pieces of sweet potato don't absorb sugar, it stays on the surface. The sugar is there as a preservative, believe it or not, not to make the potatoes sweeter. They could use salt but then that would clash with the flavor of the potatoes. You may get a little bit of sugar remaining but it will be very small.

On the other hand if it is some sort of processed sweet potato mash then there's no way to get rid of the sugar, it's there for good.


Why use a sandwich press instead of an oven or pan?

There is really no advantage or disadvantage to using a sandwich press. This is more a choice of preference from person to person.

For me, a sandwich press is preferable as it toast the bread on both sides simultaneously, so you get an even toast on both sides, and it also presses the sandwich together so that it does not fall apart. A sandwich press also heats up faster than an oven (note, I'm talking about electrical ovens that is commenly used in RSA) and consumes much less electricity to do the same job.

So yes, this is all about what you prefer and what works best for you


Can you brew black tea in a macchinetta?

I highly doubt that this practice would damage your macchinetta.  It's a relatively simple device, and with simplicity comes durability.   If finely-ground coffee won't plug the baskets and filters inside, then it's doubtful that much larger tea leaves will.  As with normal (i.e. coffee) use, just ensure that the pressure release valves are unobstructed (you don't want to fill the bottom portion with water past the valve, for example).  You probably want to avoid over-filling the middle basket that normally contains the coffee grounds, too; tea leaves will absorb more moisture and expand more than coffee grounds.  That's the one scenario where I could see the pot becoming plugged, although in that case the lower pressure valve should release the steam before the pot gets damaged.

The temperature of the water inside is probably just about right for black teas, but way too hot for green and other delicate teas.  These can burn at such temperatures and should be avoided, since you can't control the temperature of the steaming water passing through the pot - it will always by definition be boiling.

Whether you'll get a good extraction compared to steeping is questionable, and it's possible that the pressure which builds up inside the pot will change how flavors get extracted.  A macchinetta does tend to extract more flavor and caffeine from coffee grounds than non-pressurized methods like drip brewing, so a similar effect with tea leaves wouldn't be shocking.  It's worth a try; after all, if someone hadn't tried brewing coffee under pressure, we wouldn't have the liquid nirvana known as espresso.

I say give it a try and let us know your results.


Ingredients or techniques to a more solid lasagna

I have the same preference. Three things that work for me:

(1) If you are using any vegetables, saute them to get as much liquid out as possible in advance. For spinach or other greens, actually squeeze the water out using a tea towel or potato ricer.

(2) Use less sauce or make the sauce thicker. You can accomplish the latter by starting with thicker ingredients (tomato puree vs. chopped tomatoes), or by reducing it on the stovetop somewhat first.

(3) For ricotta fillings, indeed add a couple of eggs to help them setup.

Here is my spinach and ricotta lasagna recipe, which as you can see from the picture, sets up very firm and sliceable. And I've also got a summer squash and portabello mushroom lasagna which illustrates points 1 and 2.


Somebody's going to tag this question as a "duplicate" pretty soon (as we have a lot of questions that address this sort of food safety issue before).

But let me just say briefly that according to standard food-safety recommendations, this is NOT safe.  Below around 130F, bacteria will grow in food, and many kinds of harmful bacteria grow the fastest in the range around or a little over 100F, which is where the center of this ham spent a lot of time.  Until the ham gets over 130F, those bacteria will not start to be killed off.

When you took the ham off the grill and put in the fridge, it will take the center a long time to cool back down, during which time it will grow even more bacteria.  And then tomorrow to heat it back up, it will likely take a few more hours, during which even more bacteria will grow.  It may end up spending 6-8 hours total in the "danger zone" where bacteria grow rapidly.  If the ham reaches a higher internal temperature for a longer period, that will kill off the living bacteria, but with so many hours in the growth zone with heating and cooling and reheating, those bacteria may leave behind toxins that won't necessarily be destroyed even with higher heat.

All that said, there are fewer bacteria in the center of a large hunk of meat, and cured meats with high-salt content, etc. will slow bacteria growth.  So, it's possible (even likely) your ham will be okay to eat.  The problem is without knowing how it was processed (and under what conditions), how long it may have sat at other times before you received it at temperatures that would allow bacterial growth, etc., you can't know whether it's safe.  That's why food safety organizations have strict recommendations, and they'd say your ham may be unsafe now.


How long is Miso Paste good for in the fridge after opening?

Miso paste lasts literal years in the refrigerator, although past a year it starts to lose flavor. It can also dry out if it isn't sealed well, which isn't a problem as you rehydrate it before drinking anyway - it just takes a bit longer to dissolve.


Using fridge for slow rise dough with eggs

From a food safety perspective, 48h in the fridge will be perfectly safe. (You may want to check out our generic post on storage times.)

Whether it’ll work with regards to intensifying or improving the flavor, I can’t say. Remember that the “more flavor” in regular slow-raise bread is based on enzymatic activity in the flour - which you don’t use. It may or may not be happening in the oat fiber and flax seeds. An experiment should answer that.


How to make an apple pie like KFC/McDonalds?

McDonald's' et al pies are essentially fried pies, a feature of Southern US cooking, adapted for cooking in fast food facilities. A Google search for 'fried apple pie recipes' turns up plenty of results. Try this:

http://southernfood.about.com/od/apples/r/bl90416c.htm


Why is there a 2 step heating process for making custard for ice cream

These steps are done to ensure that the custard in the end is the best it can be. The best custard has a smooth, and creamy consistency.

Warming the milk/cream with the sugar will ensure that the dairy and sugar are completely incorporated. This could be done with cold dairy, but you would have a higher likelihood of having sugar granules that do not dissolve, heading toward a gritty custard.

Whipping the yolks and sugar to a pale yellow does a similar thing. Well incorporated ingredients will be a recurring theme here.

Step 3 and 4 are more related than one might think. Step 3 is the first step in incorporating the diary and the egg mixture. By adding part of the warm dairy to the egg mixture, you are tempering the egg mixture. This means you are bring the temperature of the egg mixture a little closer to the temperature of the dairy. So, when you add the rest of the dairy to the egg mixture it won’t cook the eggs, leaving you with a lumpy, or grainy custard. If you were to add all the warm dairy right into the egg mixture up front, you may end up with a large amount of very sweet scrambled eggs. Not that appealing, really.

You already know that part since you mentioned it in the question; just trying to be thorough.

Step 5 cooks the custard. Since we are dealing with eggs, we want a minimum temperature: 155/160F. You don’t want to go any higher, though (sweet scramble eggs).

As you already know from experience, following these steps will give you great results every time.

To answer your final question…

You could just put all ingredients together and come up with a decent custard, and that would probably work when dealing with small batches. It could be worth experimenting with. If you are like me when it comes to baking, or delicate cooking… if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

Time wise, it may take a little longer. The reason I say that is because, in my experience, when you do the steps separately, you can do a couple steps in parallel. You can whip the yolks and sugar while the milk/cream and sugar come up to temperature. Also, you may be starting with a cooler mixture when you start to bring everything up to temperature if you do this all at once, that could slow you down a bit. Not that there is a race. But, if you are a professional cook, time may be a consideration.

Why did I mention this could work for small batches? Well, I have made custard in larger batches (3 to 5 gallons), and I just don’t think that doing it all at once would be any fun at all. Stirring 5 gallons of already mixed custard batter until it comes to temp seems like it would take forever, and almost guarantees I end up scorching something. There is some fun in preparation, but that is pushing it a bit. The recipe you have may have been adapted from somewhere they were typically worked in large batches (total guess on my part).

I think I covered everything. Hope this helps you!


I asked a few friends, and one linked me this website:

http://www.foodsubs.com/SpiceUniv.html

It says 1 tsp. of seeds for every 2 star anise (crushed).


How to know if water has evaporated from curry/stew?

Rather than making the whole dish then boiling off the water, you might have more success by changing the order of your steps. For example, you could:

Add all of the meat and resilient vegetables
Then reduce the sauce until you've achieved the desired consistency
Add the leafy greens right at the end

As far as knowing when it's reached the right consistency, that can only really be achieved by stirring it and keeping an eye on it. You're also better reducing it at a simmer rather than a boil, as the higher heat can take it past the point you're looking for very quickly.


Can I substitute chocolate chips for cocoa powder in my frosting?

You cannot substitute chocolate chips for cocoa alone, as they contain sugar and cocoa butter (fat), as well as cocoa solids—assuming you have quality chocolate chips that are true chocolate.  The ratio of these ingredients will depend on the exact chips you have.

A reasonable approximation for the general case per What's Cooking America assuming you have semi-sweet chocolate chips is:

  3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons sugar and 1
  tablespoon butter, margarine or shortening for every 1 ounces of
  semi-sweet baking chocolate.

However, frosting is a specific application, and your recipe almost certainly has its technique based on powder, not melted chocolate.  You would be better off looking for a recipe that starts with melted chocolate.

The easiest (and one of the best in my opinion) if you have cream on hand, and again assuming the chocolate chips are real chocolate, is to make a ganache; see Ina Gartner's recipe for reference.

See also:

The reverse question:  Can I substitute cocoa for semisweet chocolate?