What kinds of apples are suited to be filled with cranberries and baked?

In his in depth review of pie apples, Kenji Alt points out:

  Well, there's another thing that acid does: it strengthens pectin, the
  cement-like glue that holds together the cells of fruit. So looking at
  this arranged spectrum of apples is actually a pretty good indication
  of how well each fruit is going to hold up during baking. The further
  right along the browning scale, the firmer the apple should be in the
  finished pie.

This same affect will apply to baking apples filled with cranberries:  you want an acidic apple, as they are going to hold their shape best when baked.

While I don't know the varieties available to you, he points out that the more acid the apple, the more slowly it browns when cut:

  [A]cid can inhibit the browning oxidation reactions that take place in
  fruit flesh when it is exposed to the air. For this same reason, cooks
  will store trimmed artichokes in acidulated water—it prevents
  browning.

The slowest browning, and most acidic of the US apple varieties he tested was Granny Smith.  This Whole Foods recipe for cranberry and almond stuffed apples concurs.

This goal of having a sweeter apple to counter-balance the cranberry filling is at odds with needing a more acidic apple to contrast with the cranberries.

Instead, you may be better served by adding sugar to the cranberry filling.  Since both cranberries and apples are assertive flavors, they will stand up very well to a sweet filling.

Time and temperature for apples are pretty flexible.  A survey of baked apple recipes shows options from 325 F (160 C) for about 45 minute to an hour to 400 F (205 C) for 15 minutes.  The important thing is to take them out when they have become tender when tested by pushing a knife point through the body.


As far as food safety goes, you are fine:
Neither was the fish in the danger zone for the thawing, nor did you store it in the fridge for too long, even considering the second thaw in the future.

However, the food quality suffers from each freeze/thaw cycle:
Ice crystals damage cell walls and causes loss of liquid, which you then find in the freezer bag or in the pan instead of in your meat, meaning your fish can end up drier than unfrozen or after one cycle. Proper freezing technique minimizes that effect.
Note that sloppy cooking technique can be far worse with regard to dry fish... so unless you do repeated freeze/thaw cycles, you will probaby still very much enjoy your fish.


Does store-bought salsa have an expiration date/shelf life after being opened?

Like all shelf stable foods, it's fully packed with preservatives... And how long it lasts after being opened, that generally depends on the processing and preservatives in the product.

Being on the safer side, I'd say, even after opening and kept sealed airtight, within 1-2 weeks you should be done with it. But I'm sure, the manufacturer has the right information, written somewhere on the jar...


How to determine quantity of baking powder for baking simple cake?

For doubling a recipe, yes, you double the amount of baking powder.  Issues with increasing a recipe rarely cause trouble until you get to 4x or more.

For baking though, you do want to make sure the depth of the cake is the same as for the original recipe though so that it bakes properly in about the same amount of time.

This recipe from Bon Appetit is a sponge cake for a 13"x 9" pan or a 9" round cake pan.  It mentions that you can double it for a two-layer cake with no other adjustment for the baking powder.

A common mistake may be to also double mixing time -- which you do not want to do since that can cause gluten development.


How long does fresh parsley keep in the fridge?

If you stand it up in water like a flower, these guys say 7 to 10 days. I say 2 weeks, even.

That link has a freezing technique, but I think thawed parsley is worthless. Dehydrated is okay when you've no option, but it's very bland and too earthy, to me. Where I live, it's cheap, so I just stay stocked up on fresh stuff. Both parts of this advice goes for bundles of cilantro leaves as well.


Pulled Pork in a slow cooker. To brown or not to brown?

A few things...

I brine for 12-24 hours. It really does make a difference.
Don't bother browning the meat... you don't want a crust, you want the meat to break down.
Make your own barbecue sauce! There's a zillion recipes, and it always tastes better. When I make pulled pork, I take the cooking liquid (you are cooking in liquid, yeah?) and reduce it right down to almost a demiglace, and use that as the base for my bbq sauce.


How to neutralize the flavor of vanilla?

I think it depends on how much is too much vanilla.  If your recipe called for a teaspoon of vanilla and you added a tablespoon, it probably won't be too big a deal.  I often use more vanilla than is called for in recipes.

If you are looking for something to "balance" the flavor a little bit, you could maybe try salt or lemon juice/extract.

If you just prefer that vanilla not be the dominant flavor, there are plenty of things that go nicely with vanilla that would result in a more complex flavor.  Personally, I love combining vanilla with the flavors of fruit or almonds.


Speculaas/Biscoff cookie low calorie aroma extract

The taste of a Speculaas is a lot more complex than just the spices.

So if you want to recreate it without crumbling up a cookie, you need:

The spices:
Probably the most obvious part, but finding the "right" mix can be a challenge. Spices vary greatly between brands and recipes, both in ratios and intensity. Where a simple recipe might use cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, others pull all stopps and also include pepper, ginger, nutmeg and possibly others. And of course "right" in this case is a matter of personal taste.
The sugar:
Yes, you want to save calories, but a major contributor to the flavour profile is the sugar. You need the molasses in the brown sugar, and the caramel, that is created during baking.
The butter:
Kind of obvious, but butter has its own characteristic flavour and yes, it is part of the speculaas taste. It may be easier to skip than other compounds, but when we are talking about mouthfeel and how the flavour develops when tasting a dish, it plays an important role. Many aromatic compounds are soluble in fat, not water.
The flour:
Part of the speculaas taste is what we percieve as "baked flavour" or "cookie" and apart from caramelization (which is covered to a greater extent by the sugar), we are also looking at the results of the Maillard reaction.

So if you start "building" the flavour or "removing" unwanted sugar or fat calories, you will probably end up with a meagre immitation of what you love.

Sometimes choosing the real thing and enjoying it in moderation can be more satisfying than feasting on a substitute, and in my personal opinion, this is one of these cases.


This also happens with common unsweetened instant coffee (without chicory) if you allow it to cake and then try to heat in a pan or any other kind of heat that is concentrated on a specific spot or surface.

Instant coffee (a.k.a. soluble coffee) is made by spray-drying brewed coffee, and not by finely grinding coffee grains. You are not dealing with a moist powder that can be dried by local application of heat, like when you have wet flour or wet coffee grounds.

The coffee was partially dissolved by the moisture but it lacks the crystalline quality of other solutions that naturally form grains or crystals - like salt or sugar - it then becomes an amorphous mass and when you try to heat it up, it melts instead of crystalizing. This will also happen if you try to heat it up in the oven.

You can still use it as is - it will take longer to dissolve and need more stirring than you usual powder. The only way to fully recover it is to replicate the process used to make it - re-dissolve it and spray-dry (which is very difficult to do in a domestic setting)


What additional ingredients and steps to take to make fast cooking oatmeal from oats?

I use large flake oats. Two-to-one by volume tap water to oats in a bowl. Don't even stir, you'll have to do something with the wet spoon if you do. Handful of dried raisins and/or cranberries. Microwave for 2 minutes at 70%. Add a few shakes of salt (salt is really important for oatmeal) and give it a good stir. When you take it out of the microwave it will look done, but stirring will reveal there are less cooked oats under the ones at the top.

Give it another 2 minutes at 70 and stir it well again. I often stir in a little milk at this point, which can cool it as well as making it creamier. If you find you would like it sweeter, a little brown sugar or maple syrup over the top and not stirred in work wonderfully.

If instead of large flake you have quick oats, you'll need less time in the microwave. Instant oats need only boiling water, but they generally only come pre-flavoured and sweetened. If you did get plain instant, you'd probably want to cut your dried fruit small so it would be ok with just boiling water. Steel cut oats need significant cooking - most people I know use a slow cooker over night. If you're not sure what you got from the bulk store, either experiment with different cooking times until you're happy, or look for pictures of various oat forms until you know what you have.


Based on the description given in the manga (specifically "I rubbed it on the meat before boiling" [emphasis mine]) I would guess that this is not actually an effect of tenderization at all.  Instead, the effect is possibly closer to that of velveting.

The velveting technique is typically done with a thin coating of corn starch, and my working theory is that this seals in the natural juices of the meat while preventing the outer layers from drying out. Being thick and viscous, honey might have much the same effect. As a result, the final product seems more tender, but that's just because it's been more delicately cooked - not due to any special tenderizing power of the honey itself.


How much salt is absorbed by meat during brining?

Cooks Illustrated apparently sent some brined meat off to a lab for analysis:

  We were also interested in finding out how much sodium penetrates
  during the process. To answer the question, we brined natural pork
  chops and boneless, skinless chicken breasts in standard quick-brine
  solutions of 1/2 cup table salt dissolved in 2 quarts of cold water.
  After 30 minutes, we removed the pork and chicken, patted them dry,
  and cooked them in different skillets. We also cooked an “enhanced”
  pork chop (injected with a saltwater solution) and a kosher chicken
  breast that had been salted during processing. We sent the samples to
  a food lab to measure sodium content. The brined pork chops had a
  sodium content of 245 milligrams per 100 grams of meat (just under 1/8
  teaspoon per serving); the enhanced pork had a bit more, with 268
  milligrams. The kosher chicken breast weighed in at 252 milligrams of
  sodium. The brined chicken came in with the most sodium of all, at 353
  milligrams (just over 1/8 teaspoon per serving). The USDA recommends
  limiting your daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams, about 1
  teaspoon. Why did the chicken absorb more salt during brining than the
  pork? The loose white muscle fibers in chicken absorb salt water more
  quickly than the tighter muscle fibers in pork.


Is there any way to avoid grease splatter?

Use a deeper dish. Fries shouldn't be fried in a skillet. Use a 4+ quart pan.
Then cover with a metal screen to reduce the splatter.


How can I reheat a roux-based (alfredo) sauce in the microwave without separation?

Sunflower lecithin (sorry, best link I could find) is gaining in popularity as an alternative to soy lecithin because it is widely perceived to have a neutral taste and actually has superior emulsifying properties.  It's a little on the expensive side, though.

Soy lecithin by itself doesn't taste horrible if you buy it as a food additive (as opposed to a nutritional supplement).  It's common to find in a lot of popular frozen pasta-and-sauce dishes, such as Michelina's, which obviously must be microwaveable without the sauce curdling or separating.

Another option is Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, if you can get hold of it.  This one adds a little sweetness which is generally pleasant-tasting, or at least inoffensive.  You'll find it used most often as a dough conditioner or in baked goods, but another popular use for it is in commercial sauces, although unfortunately I can't find specific examples right now.

But probably the best emulsifier for what you're trying to do here is xanthan gum.  It's also used as a gelling agent, but in small quantities works as just an emulsifier.  You can find it, for example, in this Bertolli Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce - exactly the sort of thing you're making.  It's also used in the Stouffer's Alfredo sauce.

Mix in a little lecithin or xanthan gum as an emulsifier while the sauce is fresh or cooking and it's very unlikely that your sauce will separate, either in the fridge or in the microwave.

As for what you can do to specifically prevent separation while reheating, if you didn't add any emulsifiers in the first place... I really don't think there's anything you can do.  If you're a slow enough eater the sauce will eventually separate right in front of you; that's just what happens when you have water and fat in the same sauce.  Best to reheat on the stove top in that case, and stir frequently to prevent any further separation.


How long do I have to submerge an egg in a specific temperature water to boil it?

In theory you should be able to reach your goal, sort of, borrowing from the Japanese Onsen egg and the Sous Vide technique. Serious Eats has an article detailing the results of slow-cooking eggs at different temperatures just around your given 70 C for further reference. You should aim to keep the water around the egg as high as possible and do so for the better part of an hour.
But let’s be honest - even with constant re-filling of 70C water you won’t end up with a solid egg and every degree lower will give you more and more watery whites - which I suspect you mean when you write “gross”. So while you can safely eat the egg, it remains to be seen whether you want to. And it’s a huge hassle, just for a soft egg.

But let me suggest an alternative, using the microwave you mentioned. Eggs in a microwave are doable, if you take the egg out of the shell. If you are really limited to a glass - assuming it’s a plain and reasonably heatproof one, otherwise it shouldn’t be used in your original setup either - use the glass. Pour about half a cup of water into the glass (or small bowl, if you can find one, for a nicer shape), add a generous sprinkle of salt. Crack your egg into the water and microwave the whole thing for about a minute to the desired doneness - no need to actually boil the water, actually you want to rather avoid boiling, but it’s not the end of the world if you do get bubbles. This should give you a nice poached egg. Zapp it a bit longer for a solid yolk. Of course, each microwave is different, so a bit of experimentation is in order, but this method should get you closer to your goal than the water dispenser one you were considering.


Why are mushrooms safe for everyone to touch at the supermarket?

A major reason produce can be sold loose without tongs is that you're supposed to wash it just before preparing it anyway.  You couldn't wash your baked goods. How effective this washing is, is of course another matter now we don't have to wash the mud off and a token rinse is probably typical.

Some produce, including mushrooms but also strawberries etc., could easily be damaged by tongs anyway.


The difference between beet sugar and cane sugar

White beet sugar and white cane sugar are virtually identical in composition, but there may be very small differences (~0.05%) which some cooks find affects caramelization. Reportedly, cane sugar will caramelize better than beet sugar in many cases.

The bigger difference is when you look at brown sugars. In beet sugar, molasses is added after refining to make the brown sugar, as the molasses that comes from beet sugar is not fit for human consumption. Cane sugar is simply a less-refined product where the molasses has been left in the product. So when baking with beet brown sugar, often the molasses hasn't fully penetrated the sugar granules and "rubs off".


Hardly a queer question.  We marinate in acidic liquids because it tastes good, really.  As Alton Brown said in the Good Eats episode, "Raising The Steaks":

"Acid doesn't tenderize meat nearly as well as enzymes.  But acids can help you tenderize your own food.  That's because acids taste tangy, and tangy tastes tell our saliva glands to do their stuff, and saliva is full of enzymes."

As that same episode shows, we generally don't marinate in enzymes, as it would turn meat to mush, and not in a good way.


When you make an acidic mustard paste it can take a long time before you get the pungency of mustard, but the benefit is it will last longer in the fridge.

If you used just cold water and not wine or vinegar, it will get mustardy more quickly, but the product will also have a shorter shelf life.


What is the percentage by weight of meat in a split chicken breast?

The USDA NAL has this to say:

  Refuse: 20%   Refuse Description:   Bone

In addition, you can compare the serving size weight of the breast with skin (145 g) to the weight of the breast with meat only (118 g), each derived from 1/2 chicken breast, so the skin accounts for about 18.6% of the deboned breast and 14.9% of the bone-in breast (accounting for the earlier 20%).

All in, it looks like a bone-in breast with skin is slightly more than 65% meat.

Breast meat is generally the most expensive part of the chicken to buy, even bone-in; if economy is really a factor here than you really should consider using the whole chicken.


Is acid-marinated raw chicken still safe after several days?

This would be a bad idea.

Chicken should be cooked 1-2 days after refrigeration according to the USDA and other food safety agencies, and will tend to get noticeably slimy and pungent after 3-4 days in my experience.  5 days is really pushing it.

I understand the rationale for the question - lemon juice can kill the surface bacteria - but that's just the problem, salmonella bacteria don't only exist on the surface of chicken, they're crawling around the interior as well.

In order for this to be considered safe, you would need to be absolutely sure of all the following:

The entire marinade had a pH of significantly less than 4.  Lemon juice is considered to have a base pH of 2-3, but that is fresh lemon juice and undiluted.  Unless you actually used a pH tester, you cannot be 100% positive of this.
The marinade completely penetrated every part of the chicken that may have been contaminated.  This is literally impossible for you to measure.
The chicken itself was relatively fresh before it went into the marinade - unless you got it farm-fresh, you don't know this for a fact, so even if the marinade completely penetrated the chicken, the interior bacteria may have already left behind some nasty protein toxins (which the marinade can't kill because they aren't alive).

If you had said 3 days, maybe 4, I would say, practically, that you'd probably be OK.  But any more than that and you're playing with fire.

As the old chef's saying goes: When in doubt, throw it out.

If you are intent on eating it anyway then please, at least be responsible and don't serve it to any guests.


Tsukeman ramen basically means "Dipping Ramen" which consists of a bowl of ramen noodles and a bowl of broth (dipping sauce) and other edibles such are meat and vegetables.

I have been using David Changs' Momofuku book to create ramen broth, tare, and pork. He has a recipe to make the ramen noodles in there but suggests if you don't have the time just to go buy them. I also store all of this in the freeze until it's time to make ramen dishes.


Does it make a noticeable difference if I don't prepare the Turkish coffee in a Turkish coffee pot?

No, you don't strictly have to, although having a pot with a similar shape helps. For people who want to have a clean pot of the right size at all times, it makes sense to have a dedicated pot. Whether to use a traditional one or not is a matter of taste.

Nowadays, it is likely that you have a smallish pot in your kitchen which is clean (not soaked in old grease like the typical clay cooking pot in a medieval Ottoman kitchen), so there is no pressing need to dedicating a copper pot to the task.

What is convenient to have is a pot with one long grip, because you can pour the coffee through the strainer easier than when you have two small handles like on a soup pot. You also want the surface to not be too large. The coffee should be at least 2-3 cm deep, else too much water will boil out during preparation, and the coffee may overheat and scorch. If you are drinking small cups, you will need a smaller pot. The material is not important, as long as it is suitable for boiling water on stovetop.

But as long as the pot allows you to have your coffee deep enough, and you feel comfortable enough with pouring, any pot will do. My father has been using a smallish saucepan for decades and has always been happy with the results.


Well of all your listed ingredients the only two that can really 'spoil' are the fresh basil and fresh mint. Honey never goes bad, and nearly any dried spice can last for a long time with just a degradation in flavor.

I'd say that if you washed and dried (sanitarily) your basil and mint before addition to this mix that you could get at least 1-2 weeks out of it unrefrigerated, and at least 1-2 months out of it refrigerated.

Please note that this is just a ballpark estimate and you may have to do some trial and error to determine a more specific window. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a significantly longer shelf life out of it than my estimates.

Update - I think the presence of salt does enough to "extend" the life of it.

Another Update - Some Googling has informed that honey is in-fact a preservative. Apparently honey is a rather hostile environment for bacteria due to the production/presence of hydrogen peroxide.

I still think my estimates are accurate, albeit a little conservative now. The best thing you can do is trial and error.

Sources:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/132772675.html

http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/honey_as_a_natural_preservative


How much meat should I serve per person?

About 8oz or 225g/person is probably a good place to start.

Think about when you have a standard steak or a piece of chicken in a restaurant. The pre-cooked weight will usually be in the region of 8-10oz.


How can I tell if the food inside a pressure cooker is done cooking?

Smell.

Every time the whistle of a pressure cooker blows, you get a mild aroma of the food along with the escaping steam. The aroma is usually a good indicator of how good the food has been cooked.

Besides smell, the only other thing is time.


Does the par-boiling first then frying work for sweet potatoes as well?

I have done this with boiling and then baking sweet potato fries. They turned out alright, but didn't come out as crispy due to the baking having more moisture to pull out (that's my post-facto hypothesis, anyways). I have to admit I'm not a fan of this method for french-fries either – I find that some restaurants who use it tend to give soggy or mushy fries.

If I recall correctly, it cut the baking time from ~50 minutes to ~25 minutes to get enough of a crust to make them worth eating. For frying, I would expect a similar reduction in cooking time as par boiling cuts for russet potato frying.


Can I subsitute crushed tomatoes with tomato puree?

You've substituted tomato for tomato (both precooked). It might not be exactly what you were intending to make but it will be fairly similar (very similar in flavour, less so in texture). It will certainly be edible. You might want to adjust the quantities of other liquid ingredients, or cook for a little longer before asking the pasta (if that's an option at this stage) just to thicken it a little.

This is the sort of substitution some people might choose to make to suit their tastes so you don't need to worry about it.


Does ginger infused honey or vodka ever go bad food-safety-wise?

Crystallized (or Stem) ginger preserved in honey is a known thing. Shelf-life is supposed to be about 3 months for the homemade kind, and I'd say twice that (at a minimum) for store bought...Those are both pretty conservative. It should have been properly prepared/canned at the start, which would reduce the possibility of some nasty microbial infestation, but obviously your mileage may vary depending on who prepared it and how it was stored.

Honey is a known reservoir of C. botulinum endospores, but C. botulinum doesn't really grow in honey (the low water activity (.6) makes it an extremely unfriendly environment for microorganisms). Honey by itself has an indefinite shelf-life.

Vodka pickled ginger is also a known thing. Shelf-life estimates are all over the map, from three months to forever. Three months is definitely low: ginger is a tough, astringent root, and lasts three months without any particular preparation at all. Soaking it in high proof alcohol should easily multiply that.

Any alcohol of at least 80 proof in sufficient concentration should be sufficient to prohibit the growth of micro-organisms. Concentration is critical, however, and insufficient alcohol is no barrier to bacterial growth.

I'd say that 2-3 years is pushing it. And if you see anything that doesn't look normal, I'd toss it. Botulism is one of those things that you can't always detect via smell.


Does milk make cakes lighter or tougher?

Some people say that it gives a lighter texture, while others say it
  gives a more rubbery/tougher texture (due to more gluten being
  developed).

I would challenge the notion that these two aspects are necessarily opposed.  Lighter doesn't necessarily mean "softer" or "more tender"; in cakes, it generally means "rising higher with more air."  The way that cakes rise higher with more air is partly by having a stronger gluten structure, along with more gas released during baking to inflate the batter.  Yes, having a stronger gluten structure will increase "toughness," but cakes already tend to have a very high amount of fat and sugar, which both serve to soften the texture.  The two options being compared here are not "lighter" vs. "rubbery."  Rather, if milk is added, the cake may be both lighter and stronger in structure, which may make it slightly more "spongy," rather than a cake without milk that is denser and more crumbly.

Also, the question as asked brings up an implicit, "Compared to what?"  If one doesn't add milk, what is added to replace it?  Because most cakes need a certain amount of moisture/water, whether that comes from water or from components milk or eggs, etc.  In the CIA's Baking and Pastry book where the role of ingredients in baking is described, they state:

  Water acts to dilute or liquefy water-soluble ingredients such as
  sugar and salt. [...] In addition, water helps to develop the proteins
  in flour, necessary for proper leavening.  Water also acts as a
  leavener when it changes to steam and expands.

  Milk performs many of the same functions as water, but because of its
  additional components (fat, sugar, minerals, and protein), it also
  serves a number of other functions and adds flavor as well.  [...] The
  lactic acid in milk has a tightening effect on the proteins in flour
  that serves to increase stability, resulting in a product with a fine
  grain and texture.

In sum, milk, like water, will thus help to develop the proteins in flour (gluten), but that's a necessary step to some extent to produce a "light" cake, rather than a dense and crumbly one.  It adds steam which also helps the cake to rise more.  But milk, unlike plain water, also comes with things like fat and sugar that will mitigate some of the "toughness" that comes with the added structure of gluten.  The protein in milk will provide both some structure and tenderness.  Furthermore, the acid component helps create a fine structure that adds to the sensation of a softer, more cottony texture.

I think the perception that milk (and water) contribute to "toughness" or a "rubbery" texture comes out of pastry-making, where adding too much can indeed produce a tough product.  As Harold McGee writes in On Food and Cooking regarding pastry:

  Water is essential for binding the flour particles into a dough, and
  the water content is especially critical because there is so little.
  Pastry cooks say that as little as 1/2 teaspoon/3 ml variation in
  water in 1 cup/120 gm flour can make the difference between a crumbly
  texture and a tough one.

McGee (and others) note that in pastry-making, milk is often a better choice for the reasons stated above: it contains fat and sugar and acid that improve effects on dough, in addition to the water it provides.  However, it's important to remember that cake batter is a lot different from pastry dough.  The low water content of pastry dough is essential to allow the fat/flour mixture to maintain its integrity and create the flaky layers most prized.  A little more water will cause the dough to mix too much, gum together, and remain tough after baking.

Cake batter, however, has a significantly greater amount of moisture, which (as noted above) not only develops gluten to allow a higher rise, but also produces significant steam during baking that contributes to the leavening effect.

So, the question is: if not milk, where are you getting that water from in your cake batter?  Some ingredients (like plain water) may be worse than milk in creating more gluten structure while providing less fat/sugar/acid that softens the dough, but other sources of water (like eggs, buttermilk, various forms of cream, etc.) may provide other benefits that come from their additional components.  The choice really depends on the specific type of cake, as well as the desired flavor and texture.


Pepperoni is basically just a spiced pork and beef salami with some smokiness in it, you could achieve a similar flavor by using some smoked chili powder like paprika or chipotle. You also aren't going to get very far trying to make a salami spicy by adding pepper to it beforehand, like injecting it with some sort of spice mix as there's not enough moisture to allow the spice to mix in. You'll have to add spice to the sliced salami, the question is how to apply that seasoning so the flavor seems to come from the salami when eating the pizza. Chili powders will burn in the high temperatures of a pizza oven, producing off flavors and an unappealing look, so sprinkling them on top of the salami slices is not the best idea.

You have 2 good options:

Add the spice to the pizza sauce: this will make the whole pie taste of the spice and may not be what you want. It's the quickest and easiest solution though
Rub one side of each sliced salami piece with the spices, and then put them on the pizza spice side down. This will localize the spice around the salami slices, and put the salami between the spice powder and the heat source so it doesn't burn. This is a bit of extra work but I can't imagine it being that big a pain

Personally I'd go with option 2 as you'll get a nice hum of spice around the salami and some on it when you bite. It won't be quite a pepperoni but I bet it will be very close.


Can evaporated milk be converted to "regular" milk?

Yes, you could certainly reconstitute evaporated milk by adding water.

The outcome would give you similar but not identical results as fresh milk, due to the change in flavor the milk underwent while being cooked down to the evaporated state:  it will retain the slightly cooked, caramelized flavor.  This may or many not have a significant effect on a given recipe.

Milk also freezes, and still is suitable for most cooking purposes, should you choose to do so.

Finally, if you use milk very rarely, unless you are making a dairy dominated recipe like custard or cream soup, you may not have to use milk at all.  Water or another liquid might perform similarly or well enough—it depends on the specific application.


The cook time and temperature I need is not an option on my crockpot

Go for 8 hours on Low.

2 more hours on low shouldn't hurt anything too much, for many slow-cooking extra cook-time can actually be beneficial. More cook-time usually means a more tender finished product.

Whatcha cookin? That would help us answer this question better.


Can anyone tell me what kind of squash this is?

To me, it looks a bit like a birdhouse gourd, albeit a different variegation.  Or perhaps a kabocha squash, which to me has a rather mild and mediocre taste and texture.

I guess you've ended up with some wacky gourd hybrid, resulting from open pollination of your desirable (F1?) hybrid. As is the nature of hybrids, the result could be caused by pollination either with itself, or something else in the area.  Either possibility could be responsible for the Frankenstein's monster you produced.  If you started with a zucchini, you've probably got some Cucurbita (e.g., vegetable marrow as @NBenatar suggests).

Have a look at other links from Wikipedia's list of gourds and squashes, or one of a number of gourd identification charts such as this one that will help you narrow it down based on the nature of the inside of the fruit, leaves, etc.

On the bright side, you may have a squash on your hands that has never existed before!  On the other hand, it may not be worth much at the market. :)

"It's alive!!!"


Mortadella does need to be refrigerated.

As for the proscuitto ... if it's real cured ham (and not the fake 'cured' stuff you get in the US) and was trimmed with a clean knife and wasn't otherwise contaminated when being cut, and it's not the middle of the summer where you are, it's likely fine being stored in a cool area of your kitchen.

Mind you, the US FDA would't agree, and you would get cited for health code violations if you were a restaurant.  You may also want to be more cautious if you're going to be serving the meat to people with compromised or otherwise weak immune systems (eg, small children or the infirm).


Ways to separate kefir grains from thickened kefir, how big are the kefir grains?

First off, not all kefir grains are alike.  Maybe they're all descended from the same family tree long ago, but kefir grain activity will change significantly even in the same house from season to season (due to temperature and other environmental fluctuations), and depending on what you feed them (type of milk), and on the feeding schedule.  So, in order to maximize your particular desires ("thick," "sparkly," more alcohol, etc.), you'll likely have to do trial and error a bit with your batch.

Anyhow, your main question is about straining.  And there it really depends again on what you're looking for.  You are correct that kefir does spawn tiny grains that break off and gradually become stable encapsulated "baby grains" over time.  If you use a strainer with big enough holes, it will let a lot of those go through.  Whether or not this is a problem depends on what your intention is with those grains.

When I first experimented with kefir, I strained through a relatively fine mesh strainer too, because I didn't want to lose all of those grains.  I eventually found that all too much work, because rinsing the fine strainer and being sure to get it clean can sometimes be annoying.  Also the rough handling during straining can break up your larger grains a bit more (particularly if you have to stir it a lot to strain, as is true with very thick kefir).

Later on, I decided to simply use a tablespoon to pull out the big grains (and just plop them into the new milk), and I don't worry about the "baby grains" any more.  Usually in healthy kefir the big grains will often float near the surface, so they're often easy to locate.  But if you know how many you have, you can also just dig around for them, assuming you're not making large quantities at a time.  The benefit from my perspective is that the remaining kefir stays relatively "intact," so it actually has a consistency close to thick yogurt until you start stirring it.  But it's not the ideal method for maximizing alcohol and "fizziness," which often requires intermediate stirring.  On the other hand, the few actual grains can grow much larger over time due to the more delicate handling.  So you might just have 2 or 3 large grains you use to ferment actively, rather than a bunch of smaller ones.

Anyhow, in terms of straining, it really just depends on your goals.  Personally, I don't worry too much about losing the "baby" grains, because I'm not trying to maximize grain production.  But if you're trying to grow the amount of kefir grains you have, probably using a fine strainer for a while is the best course, since large individual grains only tend to grow larger over longer time spans.

EDIT: One last thing I thought of -- if you use my method of just pulling out the largest grains with a spoon or something, realize that sometimes you'll have tiny grains or even occasional larger bits that broke off of the big grain left in the kefir.  Some people find it unpleasant when eating or drinking kefir to encounter a grain, which is generally rubbery and somewhat slimy, sometimes extra sour, and sometimes has an odd flavor.  If you want to avoid that experience completely, you'll have to use a relatively fine strainer.


How long will a sauce last for when placed in a refrigerator and in a freezers?

If it's sugary, or contains enough protein, a -20°C freezer won't stop problems. Sugar epimerization, taste change, happens down to -70°C. You find those units in labs, not homes. Generally a freezer is good against bacterial and fungal growth. But you'll still have freezer burn after a year or so.Even with freezer bags. Actual containers work better, as 5-8mil plastic is fairly water permeable.


When should I add red chili to an omelette?

Chili powder will never dissolve in eggs. What you're aiming for is a suspension: the chili particles evenly distributed in the eggs. The chili will eventually float to the surface of an egg mix, so the best you can do is mix it properly right before pouring it into the skillet, and hope it sets before the chili separates too much.


Which fruits and vegetables should be kept in a fridge, and which outside?

Apples, pears, and many other fruits are kept in cold storage after harvest, and keeping them in the fridge after buying them will help them keep longer.  Pears, peaches, and other fruits that are sold on the green side, should be removed from cold storage a day or two before using, to allow them to ripen a bit more.  Berries should be unwashed and refrigerated, and only washed right before using them.

Only a few fruits and vegetables are hurt by being refrigerated.  Bananas will turn brown, and tomatoes lose flavor.

Some veggies, such as winter squashes, have a long shelf life outside of the fridge, and refrigeration does not really add to that.


How to avoid onion sweetening when sautéing?

From The Times of India:

Add a hint of tanginess:
Adding lime juice can to your dish can balance out the sweetness. In case, you don't want too much of tanginess in the dish you can also add vinegar white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar.


why does my beer batter seem to hold too much oil?

I've found that when my oil is not hot enough to seal what I'm cooking immediately, the batter picks up a lot of oil. The same thing happens if I batter something frozen and then let it sit for a minute or two before it goes into the fryer.


I found a reference searching on how to cool your mouth after eating a pepper.

Eat starches. Eat starches if your mouth is burning from ingesting
chili peppers. They should give you some relief.

Although starches
like rice and bread aren’t going to be as effective at dissolving the
capsaicin as fats, oils or alcohol, they will help cool the burn.

There is a reason that many cultures serve spicy food alongside white
rice (or potatoes). This is common in many Asian and Indian cultures.

According to this starched dissolve some of the capsaicin.
Personally I would skip the banana and go for a less hot pepper.  You are using one the hotter peppers.


Adapting graham cracker crust to all-natural graham crackers

I have used Midel brand ginger snaps, graham crackers, and lemon snaps in crust recipes and they all happen to perform well in standard recipes. They do in fact have a better taste with respect to the snaps; the graham crackers I didn't notice much return on investment. The wholesome ingredients are not detrimental to their ability to be pressed into a shell.

I would recommend trying the recipe as-is first with the Midel cookies. My guess is that you are concerned that they will be too dry or something to that effect, or would crumble rather than bind together. For a shell like this I would be sure to parbake and grease the pan with shortening rather than any kind of spray. When you remove the crust, if it seems drier than usual, I would brush a minor amount of canola oil over top.

If you want to improve on this with respect to things you can likely buy at a natural food market, I would begin by greasing the pan with coconut oil and brushing with walnut or almond oil oil. This will also add $3 to the cost of your crust.

In general, Midel bakes well as far as my experience has gone.


Why do they put sulphites in vinegar when vinegar is a preservative?

Fermentation naturally causes sulfites, sulfites are a by-product of the yeast activity . Sugars, particularly beet sugar is often bleached with sulfites. Even common table salt (iodized) contains sulfites, the list goes on and on.

Per the Wiki Article: "In the U.S., labeling regulations do not require products to indicate the presence of sulfites in foods unless it is added specifically as a preservative; however, many companies voluntarily label sulfite-containing foods. Sulfites used in food processing, but not specifically added as a preservative, are only required to be listed if there are more than 10 parts per million (ppm) in the finished product."

It is not hard to find sulfite-free vinegar, it will often be labeled organic.


There are two factors to consider, both related to the evaporation of water from the cooling dish:

Evaporative cooling:  if the water vapor can leave the container, the food will cool faster, but may dry out slightly
Condensation:  if the water vapor cannot leave the container, it will condense on the lid, and possibly drip back down onto the food

Modern refrigerators are very powerful, so if a little water dripping back is not a problem (which it would not be for a bolognese for example), go ahead and cover the item and place in refrigerator.

On the other hand, if water dripping back onto the dish would mar the surface (of a pumpkin pie, for example), you will want to cool it without a cover until it is no longer steaming.


What is special about pork that makes it so suitable for curing?

I suspect that this is because in Europe, the pig has been a fairly common household animal. For example, in the past in Poland, all families that didn't live in closely packed towns would have their own pigs. Some of the reasons for keeping pigs is that they don't need much room and can eat almost anything - you can easily feed them household scraps, or anything else you can find.

For most of history, pretty much everyone has been very poor. Thus, people need to keep an animal that can eat anything. For a pig you don't need to find grass or keep hay like you do for cows and sheep. And likewise you find a way to use every part of the animal no matter what. You also no doubt get a bit bored of pork all the time, so a variety of different methods of preparing and preserving would be developed.

So basically, I think the number of European preparations for pork is due to our long and close relationship with pigs due to their practical nature.

Further to support the idea that this has a Northern/Eastern/Western European cultural cause, Halal butchers will apparently sell beef bacon, and pastrami is traditionally beef, and comes from the Mediterranean area (more or less) so I suspect that there are simply a range of beef and perhaps lamb products that many Europeans either don't know about or don't consider as essential or main-stream.


The quickest way to get rid of leftover wine is to think of it as flavoured water.  In many if not most recipes that call for water - especially stovetop recipes like sauces and stews - you can simply substitute wine for the water or stock that the recipe normally calls for.

We actually had a similar question recently: In what kind of recipes can I substitute stock for water? and I'd recommend you take a look at that, as many of the points there apply equally well to wine.  Probably the best summation was in bikeboy389's answer:

  I'd consider stock to be just another flavorful liquid (thanks Alton Brown), to be usable in exchange for others like wine, etc.  You need to be conscious of the gelatin aspect and mindful that some substitutions will be more successful than others, flavor-wise, but it's always worth considering if stock might be a good substitute for any other flavorful liquid.

Just swap the terms "stock" and "wine" and you're good to go.  Even though wine doesn't contain any gelatin, you actually do need to be mindful of the gelatin aspect when substituting wine for stock, because you might have the opposite problem if the liquid is supposed to thicken.

Similarly to stock, I also wouldn't recommend using wine in anything that you plan to refrigerate or freeze for a long period, for a different reason obviously - because it can go sour over time.  So try to only use it in recipes that will be consumed in the near future.

Other than that, just experiment; whenever you're making a savoury recipe that calls for water or stock, try using some wine instead.  You'd be surprised at how much character it can add to otherwise simple dishes.  Some examples of places where you can replace some other liquid with wine:

Rice or risotto
Soups and sauces
Deglazing a pan (for a pan sauce)
Salad dressings (this is an especially good use for sour/fermented wine)
Marinades
Poaching liquids (for eggs, chicken, etc.)

There really are no rules, and any time you find yourself tossing plain water into a pot or bowl, you should keep in mind that you are potentially missing an opportunity to add flavour (which a good wine will add plenty of).


What were the popular cookbooks of the 1950s?

Elizabeth David (or was it davies) is another classic author who is is often credited with the food revolution in the UK.  She may have been slightly later than 1950s however.

Her books include "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking".


How to use meat thermometers with big needles for thinner meat pieces?

When taking the temperature of a thinner steak, I pick the steak up with a set of tongs and insert the thermometer into its side. Aim to position the tip of the probe in the coolest part of the steak - probably the center and away from the bone, if it has one.

Your goal is to find the coolest temperature inside the steak.


How much citric acid to preserve my juice

Short answer: Enough citric acid to get the pH below 4.2, then pasteurize. One mM citric acid solution has a pH of 3.2, but it's essentially tribasic with pKa of 5.21, 4.28 and 2.92, so figuring it out on paper will take some work. It might be easier to just add some acid and see what the pH is, repeat as necessary.

References: Tetra Pak White Paper on Pasteurization, Citric Acid wikipedia

How much additional storage time will you get? I cannot answer that, there are multiple other ways foods can spoil, storage conditions are not mentioned (temperature, storage vessel, etc.), and generally without lots of careful work one cannot achieve at home the storage longevity of commercially-produced items.


Challah rolls open up when baking in the oven

This is a very common problem with challah (and any braided bread).  As mentioned in comments, it seems likely that the splitting happened in the oven because the bread continued to expand too much after the crust had set.  But the braids also complicate the reasons why this may have happened.

Here are a few common things to try:

Be sure not to braid too tightly.  The gluten can only stretch so far, and if the braid is too tight, the yeast expansion in the oven will have nowhere to go.  When you braid, start with the strands spread apart a bit, and don't stretch and pull excessively to make the braid tight.
Be sure not to braid too loosely.  This seems less likely to be your particular problem from the photo, but sometimes if the strands have big gaps between them during the rise, they won't properly join together.  When they are put in the oven, they can pull back apart.  (Generally, this only is a major issue when there's some other problem on this list.)
Be sure dough is fully proofed.  If a large loaf has not risen enough before you place in the oven, the interior will continue to expand for quite a few minutes.  If the crust sets before that expansion has slowed, it can result in bursting.  Also, don't depend on time to determine when rising is complete.  Changes in humidity and kitchen temperature can easily double the necessary rising time on occasion.
Try increasing the humidity in the rising conditions.  When a braided loaf's surface dries out, it can develop a dry "skin" before going in the oven.  Sometimes this can prevent proper expansion in the oven, and the strands don't bake together properly, leading to bursting.  If your kitchen is very dry, you might try to find an enclosed space (or even make one out of a random box), and place the dough in it along with a cup of very hot water.  Replace the water with fresh hot water periodically if the rise takes a long time; this will keep the surface moist.
Use egg wash right after braiding.  This is related to point (4).  Egg wash can help maintain a wetter, softer crust and avoid the "skin" formation I mentioned.  You might try applying it both immediately after braiding and then again before putting in the oven (to avoid light gaps of color that are too big).  That said, being overly aggressive with egg wash can sometimes lead to the strands becoming too melded together, which leads to a final product with less distinction.
Be sure oven is not too hot.  Many ovens have inaccurate thermometers.  With a very hot oven, you can often increase oven spring.  But it can also cause the crust to set more quickly.  For large braided loaves, the interior rise can continue too long after the crust has set.  This may also be a particular problem if you tend to refrigerate braided bread to rest it before baking, which means the interior lags even further behind the crust in the oven.
Don't be aggressive in stretching strands.  I've read about this being a problem for some folks, though I'm not quite sure whether this is a real problem that could lead to bursting.  Basically, if your strands are springing back excessively while rolling, you might have a tendency to try to "force" them and thus tear the gluten.  Some people say this can lead to weird things happening on the edges of the strands and thus separation in the oven.  In any case, tearing the gluten isn't a good thing in general, so if you are sensing a lot of resistance, let the strand rest for a couple minutes and let the gluten relax before stretching it further.
If all else fails, try a different braiding pattern.  In particular, there are some braids (like one six-strand variant) that are quite flat and have more "joints" between strands on the top.  When you only have a couple places for the bread to break apart in the oven, it puts a lot of stress on them.  With more strands and a flatter braid, the stress can be relieved in more places, making it less likely to get big separation in any particular place.


I think the medeberry is goji, so that's edible. You can eat lotus seed and Longan pulp. I am familiar with those "packs of dried things" and usually you can eat all of the stuff, but I usually leave the twig-looking stuff.


Blending a smoothie without changing the taste

You actually made me look up „smoothie“ because I wanted to double-check for some kind of definition.
^_^

Your current ingredient list is

Mango, frozen
Ice cubes

If you throw that in a blender (provided yours is powerful enough, many are), you get some kind of ice slush - like a frozen smoothie. The trivial suggestion would be to use water instead of ice (substituting all or some of the ice cubes), but you ruled that out as tasting too watery - unless this already solves your problem. Using (softened/thawed) mango alone will probably be too thick, but it’s a matter of taste.

Personally, I am not the greatest fan of adding plain water or too much ice, simply for the reasons you stated: it can be a too prominent taste, especially if the water isn’t “tasteless” from the beginning, which is the case in some places of the world, either because it’s chlorinated or very mineral-rich, or it can dilute the fruit flavor. My standard approach is to use parts whole fruit, parts juice, either from the same fruit or something  that goes well together. The options are endless and I feel smoothies are a good area for experimenting with flavor combinations. If you feel adventurous and don’t like dairy, you may consider coconut water as liquid, for example.


Bamboo isn't a tree, it's a grass ;)

A bamboo shoot is just the budding new bamboo that's harvested before it grows and becomes hard and stringy.

Bamboo shoots are generally available in 2 forms, fresh and canned.
Fresh ones are sold whole and generally used in stir fries.

Canned bamboo shoots are precooked and packed in water. You can find canned bamboo shoots sold whole, shredded, or sliced. For hot and sour soup (which I assume you're making) you'll probably want the shredded ones.

There are also jarred bamboo shoots. You probably don't want these as they are often fermented and add different seasonings to the shoots.

I'm not sure where you are so I don't know how available they would be, but you can generally find canned ones in the asian section of major supermarkets.  Fresh ones are a little harder to come by and I believe only seasonal


If you want to cast a wide net, searching for gluten-free bread might be your best here, even though is a wheat allergy rather than gluten intolerance, since removing the gluten necessarily means removing the wheat. Soy isn't too common an ingredient in breads so you should still be okay.

And yes, you can make plenty of kinds of gluten-free bread at home, just search for recipes. Since gluten-free food is a big thing these days, a lot of people have put a lot of effort into figuring out recipes for gluten-free bread, so you should be able to find a variety. The tricky thing will then be finding the necessary flours. Bread normally depends quite a bit on gluten for structure, so it takes some effort to make recipes work well without it, and following them exactly is pretty important unless you're prepared for some serious trial and error. So when a recipe asks for white rice flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and powder, you want to either find those things or find a different recipe to try.

I don't know a lot about names of traditional wheat-free breads that you might be able to buy as-is, unfortunately, but I'm guessing that a lot of them will have a pretty different texture from wheat bread, so you might not be as happy with them. Of course, if you like Lithuanian black rye bread, you could certainly look for recipes for it or other rye-only breads.


How to bake crushed peppermint into cake?

Adding the crushed peppermint to the cake batter, you run the risk of the pieces sinking to the bottom of the cake (from personal experience). I had luck with sprinkling the crushed pieces over the top of the batter once in the pans. The pieces sunk into the batter, but not all settling onto the bottom. Were dispersed wonderfully into each bite :)


Will a Sourdough starter from one locale change to yeasts of current locale over time?

Short answer: YES, a sourdough culture can change when moved to a different location.  But the amount and types of shifts are unpredictable, and other factors (feeding schedule and regimen, kitchen conditions like temperature, nutrients from flour, etc.) can also cause significant changes.  Also, environmental conditions can include not only  microorganisms in the air, but also contaminants from kitchen surfaces, baker's hands, etc., which can all contribute to or detract from the stability of the culture.

In your case, unless you've kept your five starters apart with laboratory-level hygiene and precision, it's very likely that many of them have interacted or become similar in various ways.

Long answer:

This is one of those questions that comes up periodically, because it gets at a more fundamental question of where exactly the organisms come from in sourdough -- do they come from the air, the flour, the water, the baker's hands, the surfaces of other kitchen equipment that come in contact with the dough, etc.?  There are literally hundreds of scientific articles in food science journals about sourdough microorganisms, and the precise answer is still not fully determined.

What we do know is that there are many factors which influence how a starter initially develops and how stable an existing starter is.  Changing the flour, for example, may introduce new microorganisms that could come to dominate and/or change the nutrients available (which may starve old microorganisms while giving new foods to others).  Changing the feeding schedule, temperature of fermentation, or other aspects of the feeding regime may stress various microorganisms while allowing others to flourish.

That said, starters in many artisan bakeries have shown to be remarkably stable over years or even decades.  Of course, in most of these situations we can assume a more-or-less consistent procedure for propagating the starter, somewhat consistent ingredients, and a consistent environment surrounding the starter.

It's that last factor that gets to this question.  A recent review article from 2014 summarized a few related experiments that may shed some light.  One experiment took seven traditional sourdough cultures and propagated them for 80 days in a laboratory while they were also propagated in their home bakery environment.  Some bacterial species thrived in both environments, while others died out gradually or quickly in the lab:

  Permutation analysis based on bacterial diversity, assessed through
  culture-dependent and -independent methods, showed that in five out of
  seven cases, sourdoughs propagated at artisan bakery and those
  propagated in the laboratory diverged. This may be explained probably
  by incomplete control of relevant factors and by the influence of
  house microbiota, whose level of contamination is supposed to be much
  higher in the bakery than in the laboratory.

Another notable observation is the fact that baker's yeast often shows up in bakery starters (presumably because it is present in the bakery in various places, even if never deliberately added to the sourdough starter), but it will die out in lab conditions.

In another experiment discussed in the review article that studied bacteria, various species present in the starters were detected in the air of the storage and work rooms, on benches and the dough mixer, on the hands of the baker, and in the flour of the bakery.  (Different bacterial species tended to show up in different places, suggesting different media contributed different species for transmission to the dough, whether the flour, the air, the baker's hands, or the equipment.)

In concluding this section of the review:

  Despite the use of different flour batches and possible variations in
  flour characteristics during subsequent propagation of the sourdoughs
  analysed, those strains appeared to persist in the doughs over at
  least 3 years of sampling. This persistence may be the result of the
  continuous use of the same fermentation parameters and of
  significant contamination from the environment of propagation.

  Overall, the results of this study suggest that bakery environment, because of its usually high level of microbial contamination, may be
  the source not only of yeasts, but also of LAB [lactic acid bacteria]
  that, by virtue of their intrinsic capacities, may or may not dominate
  traditional sourdough.

There seems to be conclusive scientific evidence in a number of studies that a specific baking environment can have a significant effect on the stability of a sourdough culture.  But the amount of variation will vary significantly from case to case.  Most home bakers, for example, may not bake often enough or use their equipment regularly enough to transmit bacteria and yeast on the scale that happens in a bakery.  And certain strains of bacteria and yeast tend to remain dominant in cultures even when moved out of their "home environment," while others may die off, thus making some cultures inherently more stable than others.  Given that the concentration of microorganisms on surfaces and in ingredients is significantly higher than in the air in general, it is often likely that your specific home environment will play a greater role in your sourdough culture than the general region you live in.

In summary, baking environment is a factor in culture stability, but its contribution in particular cases will vary.


Can I adjust the cooking time and temperature for my braise?

This answer may be too late for you, but in general a braise can be done at a lower temperature as long as the food doesn't stay in the "danger zone" for too long.  See this answer for more information on the danger zone.

For example, this recipe advise to have the oven at 300 F for an and hour per pound.  In the tips section, it states that the author sometimes drops the temp to 250 F.

Braising is fairly forgiving and is typically a method used on tougher cuts of meat, so going slightly longer shouldn't be a problem.


Why this cooking pot not working on my Induction?

An induction pan must be flat to work properly, if it is bowed up in the middle even if it does work you aren't going to have the right efficiency. Many pans say induction ready, some say it because they are made of steel or iron, but not all of them have been tested so you won't always know before you try it.


Hints on storage of vegetables and fruit

This can actually get into a lot of detail. Especially if you consider that advice for your home may not work for mine. In England I could store butter on the counter, whereas here I need to keep it in the fridge lest I come home to a small puddle.

Some of the very basics off the top of my head:

Leafy greens are best stored at 12 degrees Celsius. For those in warmer climates, better 4 degrees than 24.
Salad vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, carrots etc.) can be stored in the fridge for longer life. In my experience this doesn't affect their flavour.
Root vegetables (onions, potato, beetroot etc.), except carrots, can be stored at room temperature, even when it's warm.
Potatoes should be stored in the darkest place possible.
vegetables from the solanum family (tomatoes, aubergines and peppers) should be kept apart from the squash family (cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins). I can't remember why this is, though it causes the squash family to spoil faster.

There's plenty more, but I can't think of them right now.


How to make a strong mug of filter coffee without any Coffee machine?

Chicory is completely a matter of personal taste.

Trying to make a coffee concentrate and then dilute it with milk is a very unusual practice (at least without an espresso machine).  I don't know if the water will become saturated, but you might try brewing in a much larger volume of water, and then adding cream after which is a more typical practice.

6 minutes is a little long for most peoples' tastes; 4 minutes is more typical.  You may be getting a more bitter cup than necessary due to overbrewing.

6 ml to 260 ml total beverage is very weak; you may try closer to 30 ml to 200 ml as a more typical starting ratio, which you can then adjust according to your taste.

Other than that, make sure your water is at appropriate brewing temperature (without a thermometer, bring it to a boil, then turn it off for a few seconds).  Don't use metal glasses, which lose heat  quickly; use something glass or ceramic.

See also:  Coffee Geek discussion on rations (in metric)


Can I turn a can of red kidney beans into red bean paste for Japanese Style Red Bean Paste Buns?

Welcome. According to the excerpt below from  this page , kidney beans are an acceptable substitute.

  azuki bean = adzuki bean = Tiensin red bean = aduki bean = asuki bean = field pea = red Oriental bean = feijao bean = red chori    Equivalents: 1 cup dried yields 3 cups cooked beans  Pronunciation:  a-ZOO-kee   Notes:   The Japanese use these small red beans to make sweet red bean paste, but they're also good in rice dishes or salads.  Azuki beans are sweet and relatively easy to digest, so they won't make you as gassy as other beans.  They also don't take as long to cook.   Substitutes:   black azuki beans OR red kidney beans OR Tolosana beans

That said, while you may be able to substitute them you may need to make adjustments to end up with a similar bean paste. For example you may need to add more sugar as adzuki beans have a natural slightly sweet flavor.

Also, even though you have canned beans, they may require a bit of cooking to get them to the right softness. (Adzuki beans tend to have a very creamy texture.) Note that dark red kidney beans tend to be more firm than light red.

All said and done, you can probably make adjustments and end up with a slightly different result. But as for me, I would get the adzuki beans.


How does (Goya) Sofrito sauce compare to salsa?

Sofrito can be thought of as similar to a mirepoix: a base mixture (sort of a sauce, but not exactly) that you use to then cook other things.  It has some spice, some acid, but overall it's something to be added onto, not something to be eaten by itself, just like you wouldn't eat a dice of carrots, celery, parseley, and onions by themselves either.

Salsa, on the other hand, is a finishing sauce in most cases.  It's often chunkier (Sofrito is not a liquid, but it's a smooth texture), and should have more pow to it - it's something that is complete by itself (to be eaten with chips for example) or is a finishing note on a taco or similar food which perhaps has several bland ingredients combined with one other powerful flavor.  Salsa would be inappropriate in dishes where it might compete with the major flavor of that dish, while sofrito would not.

That said, it's possible a less strongly flavored salsa could be substituted for sofrito, if it's what you have available.  Really depends on the dish, though.  If I were making a paella for example I probably wouldn't want to do that unless it was something that I'd be happy to add the salsa to afterwards.  But enchiladas work pretty well with salsas in my experience (and often recipes just call for salsa instead of starting with a sofrito -> enchilada sauce).


What kind of rice should I use for frying?

It depends how you like your rice. Personally I like my fried rice to have a few sticky lumps through it to add texture. Others may like it completely 'separated'. It's really up to you. I usually use a combination of long grain and Basmati.

Another point is to make sure your rice is safe - it needs to be cooled relatively quickly, and kept cool, to prevent the growth of Bacillus cereus, which can cause serious (no pun intended) food poisoning.

As it happens, fried rice is much better when cooked with cold rice and very hot oil anyway, so it's a good idea to keep it cool in any case.


Is there a term for this distinction of sweet categories?

No, there is no standard categorization on these lines. You are just creating a personal categorization in your head (which is not a bad thing in any way - that's how everybody's mind works) and you are attaching an association to brightness/darkness which is mostly personal, but might be close enough to a shared experience/language use that other people could understand it if you gave them sufficient examples.

The prototypic quality of your "dark" category seems to involve the presence of caremel-like notes and maybe some phenol-based tastes. (To check if phenols are defining, ask yourself: is liquorice a good example of the category, maybe a better one than pure sugar?) The presence of fat also seems to play a role.

The prototypic quality of your "clear" category seems to require the combination of sugar and acid, and also having water present, as opposed to fat.

I said above that these are not usual categories, but they are to some extent recognizable when explained. More common descriptions are for phenolic compounds to be associated with "earthiness", to some point maybe also caramel may have that association. Fats tend to be associated with density and heaviness. The coloring of many caramelized or phenol-containing foods is also dark. So I think that this makes your category name somewhat intuitive.

As for the "clear" category, on some occasions acid is indeed called "bright". And water is indeed clear visually - which might strike you as irrelevant, but actually our brains overlook this kind of separation when building associations.

So I would think that your categories are intuitive enough in the sense that, if you were to give people examples from above and then pressed them into assigning a bunch of new items to these categories, there will be a noticeable correlation in the assignments. But if you also ask the people if they use these categories or know of them, I would expect that almost nobody does.

The closest widespread classification which is somewhat similar is the division of "top", "middle" and "bottom" notes in perfumery. But besides not having made it into cooking, that categorization only has some overlap with yours - they are related, but not too closely.


Do I have to tie my turkey legs together?

If you're following a particular recipe to the letter, and it specifies tying the legs together, then you might want to consider it. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Trussing a bird will pull it together into a more compact shape, the reasoning for cooking being that it will cook more evenly if it's closer to a uniform spheroid shape, rather than having leg and wing bits sticking out all over. The argument against it is that it decreases total surface area, increases total cooking time, and causes the outside parts (particularly the white meat, which overcooks sooner) to cook more before the inner parts are done. The variations in your oven and in the turkey itself will cause just as much (or more) error as trussing.

That can be risky with stuffing, which will be the last to fully cook, and might have soaked up all those yummy raw turkey juices. Leaving the legs open (not to lewd) can give the stuffing a bit more surface area, and will expose the thin flaps of skin on the sides to allow even more heat to get to the stuffing sooner.

As far as keeping the stuffing inside, I doubt it will be a problem unless you have a very dry and loose or very wet stuffing - and if some spills out, so what? Extra crunchy bits.


Dry stainless steel parts should not rust, and should not need any oil for storage

For non-stainless steel parts, use any food grade oil as a rust preventative coasting. You can wash this off before use

Most meat grinders need a drop or two of oil on the bearing surfaces before you start grinding. Use any food oil you have handy as you will be washing it off when finished


How can I make my sauces shelf stable, other than adding acid into it since my recipe doesn't include much of it?

There is no way at all to do that.

If you made up your own recipe, pressure canning is out of the question. It is only safe for recipes which have been developed and tested with pressure canning in mind.

Water bath canning is generally also only advised with recipes which have been developed and tested for canning, in order to ensure that you have both the proper acidity and proper thermal behavior. If you have the skills and tools to measure pH, you might decide to go with that and do water-bath canning of your own recipes with testing each batch before and after canning. This might do it for you personally, but 1) you will have to develop recipes that taste pretty sour (which you don't want to), 2) you will still have to use proper canning jars (as answered to your previous questions, both pressure and water bath canning require Mason or Weck style jars, jars with twist-off lids as in your picture are not safe) and 3) if you are selling, your local food safety authority might not agree that it is safe just because you say you measured it.

The only feasible storage option available to you as a home cook is freezing, which makes it almost impossible to operate as a cottage food producer - you would have to ensure that the jars stay frozen the whole time until they reach the customer and the customer would have to consume them within 3-5 days of defrosting, plus it is likely to mess with the texture of some sauces.


What to do with the olive oil from canned sardines?

First, if you are going to use it, do so within a few days, and if you are not using right away, put in another container and store it in the refrigerator. As for uses, you can employ it anywhere you would use oil, and where the flavor works.  Certainly a vinaigrette or dressing.  I've seen suggestions for using it when roasting potatoes, and even on focaccia.  So, no need to dispose of it.  It is not going to be the best quality olive oil, and in some cases it is other types of oil.  However, if you enjoy the flavor and have a near term use in mind it can be used.


Sausage discolouration - is it safe to eat?

My question is: what causes this discolouration

Many meats are dyed to make them look fresher. They add red, cause meat is red right? Well no. Most meat will "brown" or "gray" as it is exposed to the air and the blood dries up (or drains out). This is not, in any way, a sign of bad meat. In fact it "may" be a sign of good, natural meat.

A YouTube Video that explains it

  and, have I needlessly thrown three very tasty looking sausages in the bin?

Yes, probably.

Important note

When in doubt throw it out. A week in the fridge (not freezer) is border line for me. I would have probably cooked it, but I wouldn't fault someone else for not cooking it.

You can usually look for smell or slime to tell if meat is bad.


If oil in a frying pan gets displaced, say by too much liquid being sweated, will the meat be unevenly cooked?

Not in my experience. The water will spread out through the pan and meat will still cook evenly, just slower.  You shouldn't have this problem with most meats, but it can be a problem with chicken breasts in particular, and if you also have vegetables in the pan they can release a fair amount of water.

The basic problem with too much water releasing from meat (or anything else) when frying is that it reduces the temperature of the oil down to the boiling point of water. That kills the advantage oil has over water, that it's boiling point is much higher. (Higher in fact than the temperatures typically used in cooking. The bubbling you see when frying are caused by the vaporization of water.) That's what oil makes more efficient at heat transfer, it's temperature is higher.  This also means that it still should cook evenly, just slower, because the oil will be at the same temperature as the water. You're basically just simmering the meat instead of frying it.

When this happens the simple solution is to temporarily turn up the heat. It takes a lot more energy to convert water into steam than it does to keep oil alone at a desired cooking temperature. You won't have to worry about burning anything, because the water in the pan will automatically regulate the temperature, keeping it at or below 100 C (212 F). Once enough of the water has been evaporated you'll start to hear normal frying sounds again and you can turn back the heat to normal.


Slow cooker - start from 'cold' or boiled?

Bringing it to the boil is standard practice and recommended by most manufacturers along with preheating (the latter isn't as necessary for metal inner pots as it is for crockery ones).

It's a good idea as the heating power is rather low, and it will take a long time to get up to temperature (as I found when using one for mulled wine, which isn't a hazard kept warm).

However your simmering for 10 minutes isn't usually necessary (kidney beans should be boiled for 10 minutes, or even 30 in some sources so they're an exception). The surface of items in the liquid has already reached almost boiling point by the time the dish comes to the boil, and the interior of each piece won't heat up appreciably faster on the stove than in the slow cooker. The interior temperature is much less of a concern anyway; think how long it takes a roast joint of meat to cook through.

There are plenty of foods that are suitable for just putting in and adding boiling liquid, without bringing the whole thing to the boil. These are generally low risk and low thermal mass, like porridge oats, then of course there are things that use no liquid like jacket potatoes. Slow roast meat (like a whole chicken) is generally nicer if browned before putting it in, but there isn't any liquid to bring to the boil - preheating is more important then.

I often assemble hot ingredients in mine using it as a reserving dish and giving the final stir, but we're talking about adding fried veg, then boiling stock, beans etc. (I can't remember the last time I cooked meat in mine, though I sometimes use meat stock). At all times the food in it is above the danger zone.


Substitute for baking soda low low sodium for baking

Before modern baking soda, Ammonium carbonate (baker's ammonia) was used as a leavening agent.
You should use it with caution though, it is not only toxic but also might impart an unpleasant smell if what you’re baking is moist or thick. It’s better to use for thin dry baked goods like crackers and cookies. So that the gasses can completely escape.

Another alternative is Potassium Bicarbonate, most recipes call for 1:1 substitution. You can expect similar results as for leavening, it has a bitter aftertaste though.


Margarine is essentially 80% hydrogenated vegetable oil, the rest being mostly water and a touch of coloring and flavoring.

Shortening is essentially 100% hydrogenated vegetable oil.

That means that to truly substitute shortening versus margarine, you would need 5 units of margarine, versus 4 units of shortening plus one unit of water.

However,  in many, many applications substituting 1:1 is well within the tolerance of recipes.  This applies to almost all savory cooking, and most baking including breads, quick breads, cookies, and cakes.


The way you describe it, it sounds as if your oven uses microwave radiation while you are baking the pizza. This is obviously a bad idea, but a manufacturer could just add "pizza setting" as a selling point, without making a reasonable implementation. Or maybe the oven is OK, but the user interface is confusing and you somehow don't switch on the right setting.

First, try to find out if the oven is supposed to turn off the radiation while baking pizza. If this isn't described clearly in the users' manual, call technical support and ask them. If it is not supposed to turn it off, your last chance is that the oven has the possibility to manually override the setting and turn off the radiation. Else, this oven is not suited for pizzas or any other kind of dough.

If the oven is supposed to turn the radiation off, and you are sure you have selected all the correct options for it to do so, but your crust is still too hard, then the oven is probably defective and radiates microwaves when it shouldn't. Sadly, I don't know any way to test for that (theoretically, you could put a small piece of metal in it and look for sparks, but you risk damaging the oven that way.). Maybe if you have a friend with access to a physics or a sepcialized photography lab, they could find you some microwave sensitive film, but the probability is slim.

If you somehow find out that the microwave definitely isn't nuking the pizza, the only other problem I can think of is that it probably gets too dry when baking. You could try baking a thicker pizza (put two pure bases on each other and roll them a bit with the rolling pin, they should combine) and/or adding more sauce and fluid toppings/cheese. Or reduce the baking time. But it would take a lot of drying to make the crust unpleasantly hard, so I am 90% sure your problem is caused by microwaves.


Why does this custard say to boil milk cool and boil again

I can't say about this particular recipe, but 'scalding' milk was a commonly used to change the milk (cooking proteins, deactivating enzymes, etc) in the days before pasteurization ... but that was normally done when the milk was to be used at a non-boiling temperature.
It's possible that this 10 minute cool down gives it sufficient time for the desired changes to the milk to happen, without the problems of boil-over and evaporation that might happen if you tried to hold the milk at a boil for an extended period.
It's also possible that this is related to another question on here in which someone noticed that re-boiling milk was less likely to foam up.  (but then couldn't re-create it, so there might be something else going on)


I believe your question was addressed in part of an answer here: How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?

"What about mold?

[...]
Mold can grow even on refrigerated foods, and even those high enough in salt or sugar to deter bacteria."

The rest seems to indicate that you won't get much past the 3-4 day "cooked food" range no matter what.

As a guess, you won't deter mold unless you use enough salt to make the food inedible without washing.


In what kinds of dishes is asafoetida traditionally used?

asafoetida is a digestion aid and helps to prevent 'gas'.  It is typically used in lentil/bean/pulse dishes in indian cuisine, with a pinch being added to the boiling pulses.


What is meant when a spice is water-soluble?

"Water soluble" vs. "fat soluble" refer to the flavor of the spice, rather than the physical leaves, seeds, or grains.  That is, if you put a bunch of basil leaves (especially dried ones) in a glass of warm water, and leave it for a few minutes, the water will continue to taste like basil even after you've strained out the leaves.  With fat soluble spices like whole cumin seeds, you generally need to "bloom" them in hot fat (like butter or vegetable oil) for their flavors to spread.  As a rule, all spices are fat-soluble but some are water-soluble as well.

Of course, in reality almost all spices are both water and fat soluble to some degree.  It's just that some spices spread their flavor much better in fat that in water.


What to do with leftover whey from vinegar-based cheese preparation

The use of vinegar in the cheese production is irrelevant. Cheese made with the acid from vinegar or cheese made with the acid from a bacterial culture should be similar.

The difference is in how high the milk was heated when the cheese was made. The albumin in milk denatures and precipitates at about boiling temperatures. If the milk was boiled before the acid was added then you are correct that there will be no ricotta.

Many quick cheeses, such as fast mozzarella, call for the milk to be warm but not boiling. You can make ricotta from that whey regardless whether the milk was acidified with bacteria or any other acid.

As for spent whey- it is very high in acid and vitamin B. You can use it in bread in place of water.

I had read of Scandinavian desserts made from condensing whey. I tried that once and found it inedible.

Roses like acidic soil. That's where most of my spent whey goes.


What is a good online resource for purchasing high quality sea salt?

While their selection of salts isn't the broadest ('only' eight or nine varieties) I'm a huge, huge fan of World Spice ( http://www.worldspice.com ) here in Seattle; I've never mail-ordered from them but every time I've dropped in to pick something up the staff has been immensely helpful and knowledgeable.


All we can tell you that is provably true is that heating any oil or fat past its smoke point causes rapid oxidation and more-or-less mimics the effect of rancidity.

You should do your own research on sites like Google Scholar or just ask your family doctor or dietitian if you want opinions on whether or not this leads to longer-term health complications. There's certainly plausible evidence in favour of the claim, but the jury is very much still out on most of it, and we are all the time discovering new health risks and/or refuting previously-hypothesized ones.

Meantime, think about whether you really want to be cooking with burnt, rancid oil, and consider preparing your omelettes at lower temperatures and/or not wasting your expensive EVOO on high-heat cooking.

Personally, I can't remember the last time I used anything other than butter or bacon fat for an omelette, and I've never gotten either of them to smoke in my pan, despite unclarified butter having a lower smoke point than EVOO. Not sure why you think you need the pan so hot.


How to avoid too hot pan that causes fire

Not likely that pan itself was hot enough to ignite. The auto-ignition point for cooking oils is 400 to 435°C (750 to 815°F).

You must have splashed some oil and it contacted an ignition source (e.g. flame).

One option would be to kill all flames before adding any oil.  Note that on an electric stove, it'll take some time for it to cool down, so you'd have to kill it and wait.

Have a proper lid on hand to smother a fire.

A deeper pan will help.

Pour only what you need from a measuring cup.

Most important - stop cooking so hot.  The oil will splatter more, the oil will be more volatile/flammable, and you have a bigger ignition source.

How Hot Does Cooking Oil Need to Be Before It Catches Fire?


How to find/substitute dry corn with shell removed for stews?

The closest thing you are likely to find in the US is posole which may also be labeled as "nixtamal" or "mote pelado".  Posole can be found dried, canned, or frozen in most latin grocery stores or online.  Look specifically for ones that say they contain corn processed with some alkali such as lime, cal (sodium hydroxide), lye, or sodium carbonate.

The problem in the US is that the term hominy has many meanings, as the Anson Mills website explains:

  In America we know hominy as dried whole kernel corn that has been first steeped and then cooked in a culinary lime solution to remove the outer clear coating of the corn kernel, or pericarp, and also to work a miraculous nutrition and flavor transformation within the kernel in a process called nixtamalization. Fresh hominy can be used as is for stews (posole in Spanish), or it can be ground, still wet, to masa or chopped into fresh hominy grits (an extinct foodway). Or it can be dried to make whole hominy (also known as posole or hominy). Dried hominy can then be milled to grits or cornmeal (both are extinct in the United States), or to flour (called “instant masa”). This next definition of hominy is arcane: hominy grist (not “grits”) is any fresh-milled corn grits that comes out of a stone mill. The last statement about hominy is a classic Southern take on confusing terms: the popular Southern term for a dish of freshly prepared coarse grits is “hominy.” In New Orleans and now fading in other Southern ports, whole hominy is called “big hominy” and freshly prepared coarse grits is called “little hominy.”

Additionally, many canned hominy product's available in the US, such as Manning's (and even some claiming to be "Mexican Style" like Juanita's) are steam peeled rather than by soaking in an alkali solution like most traditional hominy and posole.  These will often try to turn this into a positive by claiming "never processed with lye".


Is there a close substitution for shallots?

Depends on what you're doing with them.  Shallots have very fine layers (allowing them to blend into sauces and dressings), and have a flavor between garlic and onions.

If you're mincing them fine and sauteeing them or whisking them in as the foundation for a sauce, I'd suggest substituting pearl (boiling) onions or the white parts of green onions and maybe half a clove of minced garlic.

If you're slicing and frying them, regular onions should do, although I'd look for smaller ones and slice thin.  Red onions have a flavor more like shallots than yellow or white ones, but may add an undesireable color to the dish.

If you're chopping them, or cooking them peeled and whole for Southeast Asian cuisine, again pearl onions are probably the way to go.


+1 @megha Grating frozen (or very cold refrigerated) butter is the way to go here. It's best to add the grated butter to the mince after the meat has been ground. Grating butter is easily done in a food processor (industrial or home) - we did it all the time at an old restaurant I worked at and I still do it at home for pastry crust.

Random source:
http://people.com/food/grated-butter-burgers-recipe-food-hack/

Alternative idea - America's Test Kitchen did a Butter Burger bit awhile back that people claim is amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAUpelESAXo


How to incorporate grape flavor in a chiffon cake?

Grape juice, purchased as such, is often diluted with water and sugar and other juices. Additionally, many varieties of grapes, especially table grapes, don't have very much flavor at all.

Using grape juice concentrate will add a ton of sugar which you might be able to compensate for in the recipe. Unfortunately, in a chiffon cake, the sugar plays a role in stabilizing the egg foam.

Fresh, undiluted, unsweetened, Concord grape juice has a lot of flavor and color and is not overly sweet. I don't know where one can acquire it as I get it from neighbors who grow it. Perhaps homebrew supply store might have some for small wine batches.

Failing that, grape extract could most easily be used, as renisis commented above, but the flavor will be less fruity and simpler- like grape candy.


Cooking Small White Navy's giving me issues

Sounds like your beans are too old.  Buy a new pack in another store and start over.  It really shouldn't take more than an hour or so for beans to cook, especially if you have pre-soaked them (overnight in cold water, or an hour in boiling water).


How long would a no-bake cheesecake last?

I wouldn't keep it more than 3 days, 5 at the most if I was desperate for some cheesecake. I agree with your statement though I have never had a no-bake cheesecake last more than a day in my family.

You could freeze it and I have tried with a piece, not a whole pie before and mine turned into cheesecake soup when I thawed it and tasted terrible. I am by no means an expert freezer of food though.


Is there a non-alcoholic substitute for rice wine?

The first choice would be a non-alcoholic mirin such as Honteri mirin, made by Mizkan, or the Kikkoman Kotteri, mentioned in the comment above. I have a bottle of Honteri mirin and on the bottle it states that it is a non-alcoholic mirin.

However, it should be noted that any of these products containing fermented rice can have trace amounts of alcohol. Even soy sauce can contain alcohol. From  Kikkoman :

Is there any alcohol in Kikkoman Soy Sauces?
Kikkoman Soy Sauces contain greater than 2% alcohol by volume. The alcohol is not added, but is a result of the fermentation process. Like wine or beer, our soy sauces are brewed and they are made from wheat, soybeans, salt and water. During fermentation, the wheat starches are broken down to sugars and part of the sugar is changed into alcohol.

So, while you may not see it listed as an ingredient, products may contain alcohol as a result of fermentation processes.
If you want absolutely no alcohol, there are a few other options such as white grape juice, a broth that complements the dish, or an additional amount of another cooking liquid used in the recipe. If your recipe only calls for a small amount, you could replace it with water.


Actually did this last night while roasting a chicken, made some schmaltz from the fat I trimmed off the quarters, large diced them and coated them with the clarified chicken fat, S&P on hot cast iron and into the oven @ 375 with the chicken about 20 minutes before the chicken was done. Raised the temp to 475 and took the chicken out to rest. Raised the rack to the top for another 15 mins+/- finished under the broiler. Nice and crispy outside and fluffy but not mushy i.e., over cooked. Very similar to cooking FF or Pommes Frites 2x in 2 different temps of oil


What's this white strip on the top side of my boneless skinless chicken breast?

Structurally it is similar to silver-skin on tenderloin and other red meat muscles, some connective tissue marking the muscle boundary.  I have seen it be a little tough on older, non-broiler birds but even then not normally worth messing with, IMO.  If you chunk the meat you might find spots that are thick enough to be worth removing especially near the shoulder joint, but otherwise probably not.


As with almost anything you can purchase ground, you can also purchase sumac berries whole:

You may be able to buy them whole locally, you can certainly buy them whole online, as that picture is from Amazon. Spices lose their flavor quickly once ground, it's almost always better to grind your own.

If you don't have a spice grinder, I recommend checking out local thrift stores for a used, rotary style coffee grinder. Even new, they're very inexpensive, and then you'll always be able to grind your own spices.


How can I make oatmeal cookies softer/more chewy?

More crunchy without eggs to moisten.

Another factor is how long the mixture sits to absorb the liquid egg before baking. Longer = chewier

I use molasses and white sugar in place of the brown sugar and that also makes them more tender less crunchy.

Also adding 1/2c more oats to recipe will be chewier if they aren't over Baked/dry.


I have been cooking yogurt cakes in the US for a while and each time it has to cook for an extra 20 min. Why?

My first suspicion would be your oven. Home ovens are notoriously inaccurate, and it may be that yours is just slow, which is to say that it doesn't quite reach the temperature to which you set it. If you don't already have one, buy a good oven thermometer (the kind you leave in the oven all the time) and use that rather than the indicator on the oven knob or the oven's display. You may find that when you set your oven to 350°F, you actually only get 310°F.

The second suspect would of course be the ingredients, especially the flour. Flour varies a lot between countries, and the fact that you're using American flour and also changing the quantity could impact cooking time. You also didn't mention what type of flour you're using -- common types in the US include all purpose flour, bread flour, and cake flour, and these each differ in protein content. One thing you could try (after checking your oven temp, of course) is to use French-style flour and see if that makes a difference. If that does the trick, then you might experiment with blending two flour types (like all purpose and bread flour) to approximate the protein level of the flour that you're used to. Yogurt also seems to be different in different countries, and it could be that ours has a higher water content than what you're used to.

All that said, if you like the cakes you're making, then perhaps there's no need to adjust anything. A good cake is worth an extra 20 minutes of waiting.

Note: as Sobachina points out in a comment, altitude can make a difference. King Arthur Flour has a summary of changes to expect if this could be a factor.


A Google search for "lemon zest machine" and "lemon zest machine commercial" found this and this. Both will surely zest faster than a hand zester, but probably will not zest
better than a hand zester. The caveat of zesting a lot of fruit in house is that you will then have a lot of peeled fruit that you will also need to find a use for. This frequently works well for places making custards or fruit curds where they will need both the zest and juice. If only the zest is needed, it would be much easier to just get the zest from a produce company or frozen food supplier.