Licorice root can be simply simmered in water to make a basic licorice extract, but it's quite weak, and not very "zesty"

Modern commercial licorice root extraction uses ethanol under pressure and heat, and a form of ultrasonic "distillation". None of this is very likely in the home kitchen :-(

You could try using a water and ethanol solution (say basic vodka), in a closed pot, and simmer below the boiling point of ethanol 78°C (172°F). Do this outside and wear protective face wear in case of a flash fire

Here is an old patent which may provide more clues http://www.google.com/patents/US3131175


How can I thicken heavy cream without changing the flavor?

There are several ways to thicken without turning it into whipped cream or imparting other flavors:

Boil until reduced to desired thickness (whisk constantly, do not burn which will cause the flavor to change)
Add and incorporate gelatin
Add and incorporate corn starch or flour

Your desired thickness will dictate how long you boil or how much you incorporate.


What do I do with the egg that contains a crack while curing in brine?

The instructions mean that the quality, safety, or both, will suffer when you use cracked eggs. You are expected to throw the cracked eggs out and go on with the whole ones.


What kind of bakery items do not get horribly affected by electricity going off when the item is still in oven?

On a different tack to those above you can stabilize your oven temperature by using heat absorbing materials such as brick and stone, which will absorb heat when the oven is on, then release it when the power goes out. It does mean for longer pre-heating times as it takes lots of energy to get the stone or brick up to temperature, however it could save your cakes. Just make sure to use fireplace brick and not regular, as regular can crack. Better yet, get a piece of scrap granite or marble, that way you can use it as a bread stone as well.


Necessary to empty my pellet grill auger when I'm done grilling?

Mike, I also have a pellet grill and we keep pellets in ours after we are done cooking but we also keep it covered and out of the weather.  I think the wood pellets could absorb moisture and expand if they get wet and possibly plug your auger.  :)


I don’t know if it has an official name, but it’s a spaghetti tool. The holes are for measuring portions and the tines are for stirring in the boiling water and for serving after it’s strained.


I would say that recipes technique sounds ok, but when I have cooked duck before I have always cooked skin side down on a medium heat till the fat all runs out and skin is golden but this always takes longer than 3 minutes more in the 10 minute range.

Maybe this is because I use a lower heat.  the recipe doesn't say how hot the pan should be.  The aim is to render most of the fat out from under the skin of the duck.

I usually baste with the fat whilst it is cooking then finish off under the grill (broiler - not underneath the BBQ :)), but some times finish in the oven too.


How can one test if a vegetable is organic?

No, there is no (reasonable) way to check it for yourself.

There are thousands of toxins in the world, and any of them could land on your vegetables. Some of them might be easily discovered, but most of them would require a complicated lab test. Even if you had the knowledge required to conduct such a test, and the equipment needed, you would have to run hundreds of tests on each batch of veggies. There are attempts to develop easy tests (full text behind paywall) for consumer use, which cover a few common pesticides, but I don't think they have been turned to a commercial product yet.

This is why there are regulations, and government organs which enforce these regulations. Sure, they don't have the capacity to test each tomato field for pesticides. Their control is based on levels of risk - for example, each slaughtered pig should be tested for parasites dangerous for humans, but for organic vegetables, they are only taking random samples. It is expected that the risk of fines and other financial loss will deter farmers from using pesticides on vegetables labelled as organic. Additionally, independent eco organisations run their own tests and expose producers who sell contaminated vegetables. This results in a functioning system, where only a small fraction of organic food is actually contaminated.

If you have reasons to suspect the vegetables you aren't in fact organic, you could always pay a lab to run tests for you. It would probably cost a lot more than the price of the vegetables, so I can't imagine a situation where this would make sense.


Cook steak in oven with tray meant for deserts?

To answer your question directly, if the method of cooking is what I think it is, the pan you use should be fine, even if it has a nonstick coating on it. You can read the second section to see if my assumption about your cooking method is correct.

It's important that you don't use nonstick cookware for extremely high heat cooking. If the nonstick coating gets to the smoking point, it releases gases that are toxic enough (as a friend tragically learned) to kill pets. This includes pans that go in the oven, and on the stovetop.

Since the temperature at which you're cooking the steak isn't that much hotter than you'd use baking cookies, it should be fine. If it does have a nonstick coating, you should not use it under a broiler, which is much hotter than just sitting in the oven while it bakes.

Even though it's not exactly what you asked, since you don't seem to be super confident in what you're doing, I'll give you a little more info on what I believe is the technique you're trying to pull off.

I think what you're referring to is the method of cooking where you cook a steak slowly in the oven until the internal doneness (rare, medium rare, etc.) is just how you like it, and then you give it a good hot sear in a pan so you form a flavorful crust on the outside. It's pretty intuitive when you consider the following:

Making sure steak (or chicken, or pork chops, or other quick-cooking cuts of meat) is cooked through simply involves getting it to the desired internal temperature. The more consistent the internal temperature throughout the meat, the more consistent the texture and juiciness.

The best way to control the overall internal temperature of the meat is to use gentler lower temperature methods of cooking so the inside has time to warm up before the outside gets overcooked.

Getting optimum flavor in a steak requires a nice sear/crust on the meat.

The best way to get a nice crust on your steak is to add a decent amount of salt, and use a high-heat cooking method to trigger the Maillard reaction (what's happening chemically when browning occurs) and perhaps some charring.

You can see where the conflict lies between these two needs.

Using the method you read about, you can use the oven to gently bring it up to temperature so it's consistently cooked inside, and then you can use a pan (which does not have a nonstick coating) to give it a nice hot sear after it comes out of the oven.

It is easy to overcook steak if you're not particularly experienced, especially using more complicated dual-cook methods. Nobody wants to eat a tough, dry mess. Though it's tempting to rely on cooking times you find on the internet, time is usually the least precise method to determine how cooked something is. I highly recommend using an instant-read thermometer to check the actual temperature inside.


How do I dehydrate Ganoderma Applanatum?

As the generic simple answer that works for most mushrooms:

Cut them in cubes of 1 cm³ (0.061 inch³)
Put them on parchment paper in your oven at 110°C (230°F)
for 1 hour (½ Shí).

doesn't seem to work on this particular mushroom, you'll need special (read: expensive) equipment to be able to dry these before being able to grind them to powder and that is:

Freeze drying
Vacuum drying

Sorry!  :-(
Note: Or bring a few six packs to someone owning this equipment already and drink the beers while waiting for the process to finish


Why do my snickerdoodles always come out flat?

While I haven't made this specific recipe before, I have made the Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen recipe many times. As you say, it is very similar - it uses slightly less flour and it uses white sugar exclusively.

One thing I will say - Snickerdoodles are, in general, pretty flat cookies. There are dozens of photos out there that show this to be the case. This site follows the CI recipe and you can see that they're pretty flat from the image at the top of the page:

This recipe does not turn out cookies that look like the ones in the photo you've posted. Never has in the 5+ years I've been making them. The tiny changes in flour and sugar are unlikely to have that much of an effect on the outcome.

Now, I do think that you may have a bit of trouble because they do seem a bit flat, even for snickerdoodles.

I find the biggest error that gets made with this cookie is overbaking. To stay soft in the center, these need to be just barely baked, the edges just beginning to darken and crisp. The only brown on the underside of the cookie should be from the cinnamon.

If they look undercooked in the middle, that's good. Generally, when I bake them, they get really shallow at the edges and have a poof in the center, which flattens out after baking.

If they have any snap after fully cooling, they're overbaked.

It is also possible that the overcrowding is part of the issue. When the cookies glom into one giant cookie, they can't cook all around evenly, so the signal to look for I've mentioned (and that is mentioned in the recipe) to tell that the cookie is done can be either delayed or never come at all... which means it's easier to leave them in too long.

Bake times are averages. You really need to use them as a guideline and focus instead on the signals the cookies give, like fragrance, browning, and shape.


When to bring eggs whites to room temperature?

It doesn't make much difference to the end product whether you separate them cold or warm as long as the egg whites are room temperature when you whip them. Cold whites won't get as fluffy and therefore you'll get a denser cake. Oxygen will cause chemical changes in the white as it warms up to temperature, but that's minor.
It is easier to separate eggs that are at room temperature as the whites run much more easily, so if my eggs are refrigerated I would bring them up to room temperature first, then separate and put the yolks in the fridge. You can do this quickly by putting the eggs in a bowl of tepid water.


What is the minimum and maximum amount of salt to water ratio to make a brine?

This is a very complicated question--in the chemical sense, salt dissolved in water is a brine, but they can vary in concentration (usually measured in percentage of salt by weight).

For the culinary purpose of seasoning and helping meat cuts stay moist, it varies considerably; the stronger the brine, the shorter the brining time, in general, although below a certain threshold you are going have little effect.  Too much salt in the brine, and it will get to the point where you are are wet curing, and the product will start to take on hammy textures and flavors.

A good range for culinary brines is about 3-5%, depending on the length of time you intend to brine, and the size of the cuts being brined.

Does brine have to be boiled? I've seen some brine recipes that call for the solution to be brought to a boil, then cool. Can't I just stir the solution until the salt and water are fully incorporated?

No, you don't have to boil the brine; doing so is for ease in dissolving the salt (and possibly sugar).

For safety, you only want to brine in cold brine, so you would then need to cool a previously boiled brine.  This is usually done by boiling half the water weight with the salt/sugar, and then adding the other half of the weight of water as ice after.

Some brine solutions add ingredients other than salt. When does such a solution become a marinade instead of a brine? And what's the difference?

Marinade is not defined scientifically, so there is no formal distinction.  It is a matter of culinary purpose.  My personal take is that brines are made of water, salt, and sugar, and possibly one or two flavorants; marinades often have an oil, dairy, or acid (such as orange juice or vinegar) base, although there is considerable variation.

Marinades are about adding flavor (usually), and possibly tenderizing (when acid, or an enzymatic actor such as pineapple juice is present).  Marinades act at the surface of the food product.

If the primary purpose is to help the meat stay juicy, and to season it, the application is brining, so call it brine.  Brines, with enough time, will affect deep into the meet, although there is some argument over what the exact scientific mechanism is.

The thing is, despite the myth, brining does not help flavor (as opposed to salt, for seasoning) enter the meat--adding extra ingredients to it beyond salt, sugar, and water is not generally helpful, as these flavors will not pass the cell walls (they are too large at the molecular scale), so they don't actually have much if any effect on the meat other than at the very surface.

Here is a link to an article from Virtual Weber Bullet with great information on brining, and a myriad links to even more resources.


Is Glass and Ceramic cookware suitable for high-heat frying and stir-frying?

Speaking as a potter:

No.
Yes.

Stovetop glass and ceramic stovetop cookware are sold and used all over the world, and come in a variety of different types, including earthenware, flameware, stoneware, borosilicate glass, and high-temperature ceramic materials like vitrelle.  They have several advantages over metal cookware, primarily for slow, even cooking, like braises, stews, and oil-poaching.

All of them should be either heated slowly, or with a large quantity of liquid/food inside, to prevent them from heating too quickly or unevenly, which can cause them to crack.  Earthenware pottery like cazuelas are even soaked in cold water before heating.

This means that high-heat, empty-pan techniques like stir-frying or dry pan searing just aren't a good idea.  You can get glass and ceramic cookware up to high temperatures, but you need to make sure to get there slowly ... and also to cool off slowly.

References:

La Tienda's cazuela FAQ
My Kitchen in Spain, Cazuelas
How
to make sure your Pyrex doesn't shatter
Tagine cooking tips


Why is it advised to freeze meat before eating as opposed to eating it fresh?

What kind of meat is it, maybe pork?

There are many kinds of pathogens in meat. One type are bacteria. They don't die from cold temperatures (not even freezing), but die from high heat. Unfortunately, heating the meat throughout so it's hot enough to kill all bacteria will turn it into a shoesole. So, meat is cooked to slightly lower temperatures which are capable of killing most, but not all bacteria. And the surface of the meat comes into contact with the pan, so it gets much hotter than the inside. Because the surface is where the bacteria are (they came onto the meat after it was butchered), they die in the hot pan.

But there are other pathogens beside bacteria. One class are parasites. They also die from high heat. But they don't sit on the surface of the meat, they were living inside the tissue of the animal before it was slaughtered. So, if you bring a contaminated steak to 55 Celsius internal temperature, but accidentally stick your thermometer in a too thin part of the meat - or don't use a thermometer and hope that you can judge meat doneness by feel - it can happen that a parasite snuggled in the thickest part survives. And some domestic animal parasites can also use the human as a host, causing all kinds of ugly health problems. A prime examples would be trichinosis, a disease caused by a pig parasite.

Parasites are rather rare in industrial food production, because there are ways to heal them in the living animal. You almost never get into contact with them, while each piece of meat you buy is teeming with disease-causing bacteria. So parasites are not in the spotlight of food safety, the typical rules are created to protect against bacteria. Given the lack of trichinosis epidemics lately, it seems to work.

But if there is a high chance that you get contaminated meat, you can consider freezing the meat. Unlike bacteria, parasites die when frozen solid, and stop being a danger to you.

I haven't heard of such a wave of advice in the media, it could be that there was a single high-profile case of parasite illness in your country, or that there has been a slowly growing epidemic. Or also that there always has been some danger due to the way animals are typically held (your description of eating right away reminds me of a family slaughtering pigs they raised themselves, in which case there is no vet inspecting the meat), but that consumer rights groups have started a media campaign to bring the situation into public attention.

Beside pork, there is high parasite risk in wild hunted game, as well as many kinds of sea food. Sheep can also carry some, but they are more likely to be in the organ meat, not the muscle (e.g. liver flukes). AFAIK, beef and chicken are not typical hosts to dangerous parasites. Update: As Mischa Arefiev points out, there is a type of tapeworm which lives in beef. Freezing is effective against it too.


How can i achieve the same texture as Soft baked Pepperidge Farm cookies?

I don't really TRY to bake soft cookies, but in my experience the easiest way to get them is to use margarine or shortening instead of (or in addition to) butter, which is consistent with the package label. Additionally, putting them in an airtight container while they're still warm will have the effect of steaming them, which will result in a softer texture.


What are these spaghetti-like strings in the rice I got from a Turkish shop?

It's toasted vermicelli.
This dish is called şehriyeli pilav in Turkey, riz bi sh’arieh in Lebanon and Syria, shehrehi yeghintz in Armenia, and reshteh polo in Iran.
The basic idea is that you brown the noodles in a little bit of oil or butter, then add rice and cook basically as you would cook steamed rice.
Below are four sample recipes.  Note that the Persian version (the last in this list) is more complicated, uses a different noodle (a kind that's more common in Iran) and has a crispy bottom.
şehriyeli pilav
riz bi sh'arieh
shehrehi yeghintz - and if you read that article (it's worth a read), you'll learn that this dish was also the inspiration for Rice-A-Roni.  More like the "Yerevani treat"!
reshteh polo


Can active dry yeast be substituted for a compressed yeast cake in baking?

Yes, those cakes are typically 0.6 ounces, and when substituting you should use one packet of active dry yeast.


When and how much flour do I add when mixing dough?

I'll convert my comment into an answer, based on your request for help or suggestions.  Bread formulas are created using the "Baker's Percentage Method".  It is expressed in the amount of liquid in ratio to the amount of flour.  This percentage varies according to the style of bread, but within each style produces accurate results when using weight measurement.

Using volumetric measurement, especially for flour, is highly inaccurate because many variables can influence how much flour fits into a measuring cup (grind, humidity, compaction...etc).  That is why these kinds of recipes often suggest a range, and put the baker in the position of guessing.

Using a scale, and weighing your ingredients according to the baker's percentage of a recipe, removes the guess work.


What electronic tools are recommended for a cooking journal?

For simply a time investment, you can use one of the free blogging services (blogger is pretty popular).


What do I need to get started with American style Barbecue?

My recommendations would be as follows.

First, buy a cooker that will do everything you need, but is priced reasonably. You will want something that fits the following criteria:

Provides direct grilling capabilities.
Convects heat fairly evenly, so that you can use it for low-temperature, long-time, indirect-heat cooking (what most people in the US would consider barbecue).
Has the capability to control temperatures easily.
Has plenty of cooking area.

The basic Weber 22.5" (57cm) kettle grill fits all these needs, on a modest budget at that. You can set it up for high heat grilling, low heat barbecue, and just about anything in between, just by how you arrange your fuel. When you close the lid and arrange all your fuel to one side of the chamber, the parts of the chamber that are not over the fire heat very evenly, allowing you to cook things like pulled pork and brisket. The vents make it easy to control temperature by limiting or expanding the flow of oxygen to your fuel. Finally, there are numerous after-market accessories available to if you decide you want to expand your horizons, such as cast iron grates, pizza stones, inserts that make your grill into a pizza oven, etc. So you can start off with a small investment, and then build on piecemeal with accessories. I would recommend the 57cm model, as the 47cm one makes it difficult to cook with indirect heat. Link here: http://www.weberbbq.co.uk/product/one-touch-original/

Once you have your tools, make these sites your bibles:

http://tvwbb.com/
http://amazingribs.com/

Both are full of great information for making good food on the grill.

This is exactly how I got started. Eventually, after I felt proficient enough with my Weber grill, I purchased their Smokey Mountain smoker, as well as a couple of additional grills. It's become an obsession, and one that I have been able to get into fairly cheaply.


The beets probably contributed more liquid than planned. I would try blending them, then straining them through a chinois (use the back of a spoon to push out even more liquid after you allow gravity and a pinch of salt to do its work), and then blending the rest of the ingredients together using your hand-operated food processor.

Adding more flour at this point is just going to expand an already engorged gluten network resulting in really chewy gnocchi, so I wouldn't do that. I don't think there's a great way of saving the batch you had.

So, dis-engorge the beetroot prior to starting by cutting it into slices, lightly salting it, processing it, then straining it, and you should find your instincts to add more flour have diminished the next time you try it.


Acmella oleracea (Szechuan buttons) - active chemical for mouth sensation?

From the Wiki on Acmella oleracea, I get Spilanthol as the major compound in Jambu, an extract of the plant used culinarily for exactly the sensation you describe.


Will cooking a beef topside joint on a very low heat overnight make it dry?

If you add some liquid to the pan as well as covering it tightly, it should be fine. I'd suggest browning the joint well in a frying pan, slicing plenty of onions, resting the joint on them in the roasting tray, and then adding an inch or so of water to the pan before covering. This should keep the joint moist. With a bit of luck you'll also get some nice confited onions out of the arrangement as well.


What should I look for in an alternative to crème fraîche?

You can make your own crème fraîche. Just inoculate heavy cream with buttermilk. From The Splended Table:

  Ingredients

  1 to 2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk
  2 cups heavy cream (pasteurized, not ultra pasteurized or sterilized, and with no additives)

  Instructions

  Combine the buttermilk and cream in a saucepan and heat only to tepid (not more than 85F degrees on an instant reading thermometer). Pour into a clean glass jar. Partially cover and let stand at room temperature (between 65F and 75F degrees) for 8 to 24 hours, or until thickened. Stir and refrigerate at least 24 hours before using. The cream will keep about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

The results from doing that are so close to "real" crème fraîche that I can't tell the difference unless I'm tasting them side by side. If you want absolute authenticity, you can order the Real Culture, follow their instructions, then use that crème fraîche to culture many further batches of real Crème fraîche.

EDIT: HA! :) Here's Kenji's $.02 on the subject: Serious Eats


They don't taste identical at all, and even more important, they don't smell the same. White pepper has a distinct "barnyard" odor. People do indeed use them when black flecks might be unpleasant, but in most cases I'd rather go pepperless or just live with the color.


Is plastic wrap safe to use when tempering chocolate?

Most microwave suitable plastic wrap (cling film) still says you should avoid contact with the food and just use it as a cover. But of course in that case the food is intended to get properly hot, and of course you don't want much heat. If you do get local hot spots the film may well soften. At that point it might impart flavours to the food. It's probably only slightly more likely than getting a flavour of the plastic bowl you otherwise use.

I write this from the point of view that you're more likely to spoil the flavour than harm yourself by slightly misusing a product that's generally accepted as food safe.


When to add diced vegetables when cooking rice

It depends a lot on the vegetable. For frozen peas, I add them just when the cycle finishes; fold them in and close the pot, and 3 minutes later they are steamed to perfection. For a harder vegetable, like a raw carrot, or one where you want more breakdown, like onion, add it at the beginning.

You don't really want to open the rice cooker a bunch of times during the cycle as it loses steam and may affect your results, but if you have vegetables that you feel need something in between, I wouldn't hesitate to open it once, midway through.


Brownies are denser then cakes in general. This is achieved through the different cooking methods and some slight differences in ingredients.

The main difference in ingredients is that chocolate cakes tend to get their chocolate flavour from cocoa powder, whereas brownies use melted chocolate (and possibly some cocoa powder). Melted chocolate gives a denser texture than cocoa powder.

Brownies tend to be prepared by simply melting the butter and chocolate, and stirring all the ingredients together. A chocolate cake tends to either cream the butter with sugar or whip the sugar and eggs until fluffy, and then just fold in the remaining ingredients. This adds air to the cake which the brownie lacks, leading to a cake that's less dense than the brownie.

All that said, chocolate flavoured baked goods come on a texture scale from really dense (a very fudgy brownie) to really fluffy (a chocolate angel food cake). Many recipes are somewhere in between and it's up to you whether you call it a cake or a brownie.


Sticking could be because the dough is either too warm or too wet. So it's possible you're not letting it chill fully. It's also possible the dough's too wet because you added too much water in order to get it to come together. I suppose it's also possible that your definition of a generous amount of flour isn't actually very generous, and you're letting either the surface or the rolling pin get sticky, but that seems less likely.

If it breaks in a crumbly way when transferring, it's probably too dry. That could happen if you add too little water, or perhaps if you let the ingredients get too warm while you're mixing it up, so it seems to come together thanks to the fat melting, but then once chilled it's too dry and ends up crumbly. If it's just tearing easily, you could be rolling it too thin, or even just letting it hang under its own weight too much.

So it's hard to tell you exactly what you've done wrong, and it could well have been different things each time. It's even possible that some of the recipes you used were actually bad. For what it's worth, this recipe has worked reliably for me. If the recipes you've used are significantly different in any way, that could've been the problem. (It calls for a food processor, but even doing my best imitation with a pastry blender it's always worked well.)

Beyond that, all I can really do is try and give some generic advice:

Check your measurements. Consider using a scale for the flour for more precision.
When mixing flour and butter, make sure the butter is well-chilled and work quickly. Use a pastry blender, or a food processor if you have one, so that your hands aren't adding heat. If the room's warm, be extra careful about this (or crank up the AC, or do this at a cool time of day instead).
Add only enough water to make the dough come together. The amount in the recipe should be pretty close, but sometimes there's a range. If you have to really force it all together and it's threatening to crumble, you probably have too little. If it comes together really easy, without having to push it into a ball at all, you probably have too much.
Chill the dough thoroughly before rolling. You probably need at least a couple hours in your fridge, but you can be extra sure by giving it several hours or even overnight.
Work reasonably quickly when rolling it out. Especially if the room is warm, taking a long time to roll the dough lets it heat up too much, so it'll get sticky. (Again, AC or cool time of day if possible.)
Make sure to roll somewhere close to a circle. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if you're way off, you'll have to roll it too thin in order to make it big enough to fit your pan.
Make sure you really are using enough flour. You don't want it bathed in flour, but you do need to get a thin layer across everything, and it's fine to add more if it starts to stick. You shouldn't need any tricks with wax paper or plastic wrap; a decent amount of flour on the work surface and rolling pin will do just fine. It can be hard to dust evenly enough, so if you notice it's patchy, rub it around to make sure things get covered. (You can swirl the disk of dough around in the flour before starting, then flip it over and repeat. When you add flour on the rolling pin you can rub it around with your hand.)
When transferring the dough, be sure you're lifting it securely. Get both hands under it (shouldn't be hard if it's floured). You can also roll things out on a flimsy plastic cutting board and just slide them off into the pie dish. (That's especially useful for lattice tops.)


Baked 2 cakes simultaneously. One sank in the middle on cooling

It sounds like you underbaked the cake to me, the structure hadn't crystallized and therefore couldn't support the weight of the case. Non-fan ovens often have warmer and cooler spots, the cake on the left was likely in a warmer spot than the one on the right, and cooked faster. Or the cake on the left was slightly smaller and cooked faster because of it, either way when you opened the oven door all the heat went out, lengthening the time it would take to finish baking the remaining cake and you just didn't give it enough time.

Next time test the doneness of the cake using the appropriate method for that cake. I use a spring test and/or an instant read thermometer for most cakes. I don't usually use a toothpick test as I've found it to be inaccurate.


What is the bright red ingredient in Japanese chicken curry katsu?

This appears to be a Japanese pickle mixture, made with daikon radish amount other things, called Furkujinzuke.

  Fukujinzuke is a mixture of Japanese radish (daikon), lotus root, cucumber and eggplant which are preserved in a soya sauce and sweet cooking wine (mirin) base. The sweet brown or red relish is served as a garnish to Japanese curry (kare raisu).

Source: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2349.html


Why am i unable to season my pure iron wok?

You cannot season it because you are not yet adept at seasoning. This is pretty normal, I also needed many, many attempts of seasoning pans and also many times of cooking with a badly seasoned pan and observing how it changes while cooking different foods to learn how seasoning should work. It is not impossible that it works from the first time following a description, but that is just luck.
Here are pointers to how you "read" the symptoms of wrong seasoning.

Underpolymerized. if it is too light, and/or too thick, and/or somewhat sticky, your seasoning is underpolymerized. Possible solutions can be the use of more heat (either higher temperature or a longer time, or both), applying thinner layers of fat, or using a fat which creates a better, less gummy finish - these tend to be saturated fats with low iodine numbers.
Burned. if it is too dark, and possibly comes off in thin flakes reminiscent of the ash of burned paper, then it is burned. Next time, use less heat.
Newly seasoned pan sticks a bit too much. If the coating looks good and does not feel gummy when cold, but your food sticks more than it should, then you may be trying to do difficult foods too early. Seasoning gets better with use, the process you followed is just an initial "nudge" in the right direction. So at first, use foods and techniques which don't have too much chance of sticking. Make sure to use sufficient oil and proper temperature when frying, and avoid things that will stick a lot, like fish or sugar-glazed food, until the pan's seasoning has gotten really good with use. Try to frequently use it for foods which improve the seasoning, such as crepes.
Buildup of charcoal-like flat patches on the surface of the seasoning You are using an improper technique when frying starchy foods. Use sufficient oil and heat it to the right temperature. Maybe you also have a badly made recipe, consider using a different recipe.
You see patches or rust appearing. This can be a bit tricky for a novice to recognize, since the color of rust and the color of underpolymerized oil can be similar. But the rust is generally dry to the touch, while the polymer is sticky and will rather peel off than disperse as sandlike particles if you try to sand it away. If you get this, the reasons can be 1) the surface was not perfectly clean before applying the oil, 2) you introduced something in the seasoning process that shouldn't come close to bare iron, such as acid or salt, 3) you put your pan through the dishwasher, or 4) your seasoning was less good than you thought, and moisture or slightly acidic food found cracks to get to the iron.

If you want to improve the seasoning, in cases 2, 4 and 5 you have to strip the pan and redo the seasoning (in case 5, you also have to remove the rust). The first case, underpolymerization, might be worth a salvage attempt by applying more heat (as you tried), but there is no guarantee it will work, so if that fails, you again have to strip. For point 3, just restrict the types of food you use the pan for until it improves. With experience, you will start getting better results. The more attentively you observe the pan during seasoning and use, the more experience you get per time unit doing these things.
The process applies pretty much the same to different kinds of pans, woks and dutch ovens, no matter if they are cast iron, forged iron, or blue steel. The smooth ones are somewhat less forgiving of improper seasoning than are the thick rough cast iron ones, you see flaking earlier. But all work best with a well-done seasoning. So it is unlikely you will see improvement if you change the pan or wok. You just have to continue learning the skill of seasoning.


Can you really keep feta for 3 months in a milk bath?

I'm not sure when that about.com article was written, but if it was posted less than about about 8 months ago, it may have plagarized The Culinarian: A Kitchen Desk Reference by Barbara Ann Kipfer. In that, Kipfer provides "Hints" after the description of what feta is (p. 224-225; you can view it on Google Books):

  Consumers who dislike feta's salty taste may soak the cheese in fresh water to leach out some of the salt...Feta cheese is best when eaten fresh, so always check the date. If you will not be consuming it immediately, store feta cheese in a brine or milk bath in the refrigerator. The milk bath will reduce the saltiness and help keep the cheese moist and mild in flavor. Properly stored in brine or milk and refrigerated, feta cheese will last for up to three months. Feta cheese is not a candidate for freezing. Barrel-aged feta sold straight from the barrel may be wrapped in lightweight paper, then wrapped in a plastic bag or plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator. Keep the feta in paper, even when the paper gets soggy from the cheese moisture.

Emphasis is mine to show you that the bit about the milk bath matches about.com's article word for word.

Since The Culinarian was published by Wiley & Sons, a reputable publisher that puts out a lot of textbooks and academic and trade journals, I would assume that it was properly fact-checked. Given that Kipfer talks about salt leaching out into regular water and the milk bath reducing the saltiness of the cheese, I would guess that there's a strong chance enough salt leaches into the milk bath to act as a preservative.

Take all this with a grain of salt, though (no pun intended); I've never tried keeping feta in a milk bath myself.


Non-coconut substitute for coconut cream?

There is absolutely nothing unusual about that recipe except the coconut cream and the nearly dessert like sugar level.  Use regular dairy cream instead, which would be more standard anyway.

See also:  Are there any general principles of ingredient substitutions?


How do you quickly prepare tomatoes for pizza?

If I want to top a pizza with tomatoes, I generally only add them in the last two minutes of baking. The texture retains some character and they get warm to hot in that amount of time. Basically I just take the pizza out a minute or two before I expect the pizza to be fully cooked, top the pizza with sliced or chopped tomatoes, and stick it back in briefly.

Alternatively, if you don't mind the tomatoes being lukewarm or colder, you can slice them and add them just after baking is complete and serve. If I have particularly good quality tomatoes, I'll typically skip cooking them.


How does one stop sushi seaweed wrapping being too chewy?

In addition to what Jason says above, which is absolutely correct, nori needs to be toasted to be crispy.  Sometimes you buy it ready-toasted, but sometimes it's not toasted and you need to toast it over an open flame yourself.  How to toast nori instructions and video.

Additionally, I've found that if you live somewhere high-humidity (like San Francisco, where I live), you sometimes need to re-toast nori even if you're buying ready-toasted packets, because it becomes moist.


Yes, you can, and this the way you are most likely to exsperience the textural difference of this type of salt; most people cannot detect any flavor difference for various mineralized or natural salts under test conditions, but this is the manner it is most likely to make a perceptible difference in flavor.


I can address a few of your points.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) is the third most slippery substance known to man (the first two being incredibly expensive - an alloy of aluminum and Diamond-like carbon).  There is nothing used in home cooking that is more non-stick.
Teflon pans are NOT highly vulnerable to normal use with metallic utensils.  Just don't aggressively scrape them.
Teflon's safety is related to off gassing under high heat.
Ceramic is a loaded term.  There are many, many coatings that are ceramic, and they all have different properties, where as PTFE is exactly one type of coating.  Judgements of 'ceramic' are not really reliable.  A specific pan or coating technique are the only tangible thing that can be judged.


What is the correct French word for brisket?

It's not that simple. Every culture cuts their beef differently (or not at all!) and therefore has different names for it

Around the Belgium, Dutch, French low lands they call what the US call brisket and flank, just flank. And what other parts of France might call brisket is not always cut separately, it is just part of the chuck

Confused, we are...

Many butchers in cities receive partially processed carcass parts, so parts like the chest (brisket) may have been removed for processed meat etc

So you need to take a cutting diagram to a butcher whom displays whole carcasses and you should be able to get what you want

As I understand it the brisket extends from in front on the fore legs, between the forelegs and a short way past them? When we have a beast killed most of that goes into the salamis, yum!

Edit: Some common words used are:

Flanchet
Plat de côte
Poitrine
Tendron

A popular brisket cut is a long thin (10mm) strip of the full width of the brisket (left to right). A serving is a single slice slowly grilled and topped with a chunky sauce


I would personally use them exactly like chives, though their flavour may be more intense.


It's not a standard.  'Antipasti' (before the meal) would be the typical replacement for 'appetizers'.  Quite a few of the categories on the menu could be classified as antipasti:

Olives
Salumi
Formagi

As Catija points out, the items all seem to be vegetable dishes intended as a starter.

In my opinion (having taken courses on classification & thesaurus design), the menu's a bit of a mess.  I suspect that it's in part from mixing lunch, dinner & bar menus, they have starters, salad & soup courses, small plates (which includes stuff from the starters), main dishes ... and even one category (vegetariano) which mixes both main & side dishes.

They're also inconsistent on the text after the title ... sometimes it's a translation (Coppa Classic / Fragrant Spiced Pork) or description of the item (Taleggio / Cow's Milk, Nutty, Aromatic, Semi-Soft), some list sides it comes with without translating the main ingredient (Stracci di Grano Arso / Broccoli Rabe, Tomato, Onion, Garlic, Red Chili, & E.V.O.O) or (Veal Osso Buco / Gremolata).

(Note that this says nothing about the food itself -- it might be excellent ... it's just a confusing menu)


Good way to prevent grease build up in kitchen?

If a dishwasher is present, get dishwasher-safe boxes with a lid on them, and store less frequently used items in these boxes. Whenever doing a "deep clean" of your kitchen, put the boxes in the dishwasher while sorting out the contents.


Gluten & MSG free substitute for Parmesan?

No, there is no such substitute, sorry. The flavor of parmesan is dominated by both the tyrosine and the MSG it contains. If these two are triggering migraine, then there is no alternative which will be even close to the original in taste. Everything one can suggest as a substitute (marmite, certain fungi) is high in MSG.

You can of course use "substitutes" in a recipe just to provide bulk or a texture contrast, without attempting to match the taste at all. What you choose in such a situation will depend on the recipe itself and your personal preference for taste combination. It will be more like giving a completely new twist to the recipe than trying to imitate the original. We cannot give you a blanket recommendation on "what will work" for that case, because there is no such single thing.


What are the names of these food dishes?

Yes, those are spears of green asparagus resting on some kind of dough, pastry or bread and, crucially, there is a hint of a yellow sauce that has been drizzled over the asparagus and come to rest between the asparagus and the underlying pastry/dough/bread. I am hazarding an informed guess that the sauce is a classic hollandaise sauce which is one of two or three ways of serving asparagus as a dish in itself. It maybe termed asparagus Benedict as in eggs Benedict. *The sauce is not made in an oven so I remain cautious. The layers on the left look like filo pastry.

Larousse Gastronomique is the "bible" for these sort of things.


Veal cows are male.  So the best place to get them would be from a dairy farm.  You know they have milk for the calf and they have little use for bulls.

This article lists some farms and source around the US.  In most parts of the US there are farmers that will try to treat their stock humanely, but they tend to be local organizations (for now).


Have you considered using 100% rye bread as your beginning and going from there, rather than pizza crust?  Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice has a 100% rye sourdough bread that might suit your needs, although it will be a time consuming process.  A preview is online in Google Books.  The recipe is similar to a Neopolitan pizza dough - just basic ingredients with no fat.  Because of this, I'd roll out the pizza very thin, New York style, for a crackling crisp crust.  If you don't want to buy the book, many local libraries carry it in the US, at least.


Ideal fridge temperature accounting for temperature spikes

Another possibility to consider would be adding ice blocks from a freezer during the times you want to not be running the compressor.


Cooking fruit with or without sugar solution

It is a case of osmotic pressure. If you heat it in plain water, the sugars inside the cell want to cross the cell membrane and try to equalize their concentration inside and out. With sugar in the water, the osmotic pressure is already equal so they don't need to leave the fruit.


How long can coconut milk last in the fridge?

There are 2 ways of looking at it; how long it will be safe to eat (ie from food poisoning) and how long it will still be appetizing and taste alright (ie not gone rancid).

As you've taken it from the tin it won't get that tinny flavour but as time goes on may absorb other flavours from the fridge so make sure you keep it away from anything that is strongly smelling. Also as around 87% of the coconut milk is fats it will soon go rancid, so keep that in mind, (you'll know when it does by giving it a quick sniff).

In terms of food safety, if it's UHT which most are, then it could probably last for a long time (as long as UHT milk) so about 2 1/2 weeks I'd say. Otherwise if it's not UHT then not as long. I would say about the same time as fresh milk so around a week as it contains sugars and fats and so is a very compelling proposition for any bacteria.

Other sites discussing this: http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=14563, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/291163 and http://forums.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/t-418419.html.

Hope this helps!


Take a clean kitchen towel (not a terry towel, a dish towel), place the peanuts on it, fold it up, then rub the peanuts vigorously through the towel. The friction should remove the skins. You can then pass the whole lot through a colander to winnow out the skins.


container for bulk fermentation/proofing

Surface area. If the container is too wide, larger surface of the dough gets into contact with air. Dough can dry out, yeast/sourdough culture can behave differently (during aerobic fermentation the cells multiply, during anaerobic fermentation the yeast cells produce alcohol instead of multiplying).


The recipe specifies a two hour proof after the twelve hour fermentation. Depending on the activity of the yeast and the ambient temperature this might be too long. In overproofed bread the gluten network is fragile and unable to support the loaf through baking. The result is a soggy or dense loaf and crust, consistent with your observation that the crust isn't chewy or crunchy.

Also there are no instructions to slash the loaf before baking. Slashing helps the loaf expand and gives more variety to the crust since some parts are more exposed to the heat of the oven then others.

Finally you mention that the crust is best straight out of the oven. After baking the loaf is still slightly moist: cutting into it immediately will prevent it from drying fully. Again I suspect this leads to a soggy crust.


A vast array of surfaces exist but most people end up with either butcher block, stainless steel, or a natural stone such as marble.

People choose stainless steel for its ease of cleaning and it's sanitary properties. People choose natural stone because it is typically colder (great for pastries), dough tends not to stick to it, and it looks great. People choose butcher block because they want to prep/cut directly on it and because of the cost.

In your particular situation, for dough work the best general recommendation I have is to use natural stone. You really can't go wrong with it.

If you aren't replacing or installing a brand new countertop, there are many options such as the very typical pastry/kneading board with a built in lip(example), by purchasing "scrap" marble pieces, or a silicone mat such as the Silpat or Roul'Pat(example 1, 2, 3).

Finally, the surface matters somewhat, but far and away the key to working with high hydration dough is your technique. Make sure you nail that down and you should be relying very little on the surface itself.


You're right in that you don't want to use oats or flour.  Your best alternative is some other form of ground nut.  Almond was actually the original macaroon, with coconut coming later.

Rather than trying to modify the recipe directly, I'd recommend searching specifically for an 'almond macaroon' or 'amaretti' recipe.  Beware of 'macaron' recipes, which is the spelling the French use; it'll work, but they're typically intended as two halves of a sandwich cookie.


Skin irritation from Victorinox Fibrox handle

Black Fibrox is a trademarked brand name for Thermoplastic Elastomers, or TPEs.  This is a common plastic substance used to produce "grippy" plastics that feel rubberized, for a variety of applications.

Thing is, TPEs were largely invented as an allergy-free alternative to latex.  Studies have, to date, not turned up any naturally occuring TPE allergies in test subjects.  So you may be the first patient with a TPE allergy!  Lucky you.

To verify this, do you have any wearable electronics?  Items like the Fitbit and various smartwatches frequently use TPEs as band/covering material.  If you have one of these, and you are allergic to TPEs, you should be reacting to it as well.  Or go to your dermatologist, now that you know the substance you think you are reacting to, he can do targeted tests.

I can think of two short-term solutions for your knives.  One is to sell them any buy the versions with "rosewood" handles, which I believe are non-TPE.  The second would be to coat the TPE handles in something durable, like silicone.


The thing about lasagna is that it really only needs to be heated through.  All of the components (pasta, the sauce or sauces, the cheeses) are already cooked, or don't need to be cooked.

So baking the whole lasagna heats it through and helps the flavors to meld.

A 4" thickness not tremendously thicker than some more traditionally proportioned lasagnas, so you should expect it to bake through in about the same time any casserole of that thickness would require.  I would start at about 325-350 degrees, for about 1 hour to maybe 1:15.   You may need to leave it covered for most of the baking period so that the top doesn't overly brown or dry out.

In the end, you can test the casserole with an instant read.  It should probably get up to about 150 or 160 F internally to be enjoyable

Lasagna should be very forgiving.


Can the freshness of butter affect taste of cooking?

Butter can/will turn rancid if not stored properly; using rancid butter will completely destroy a recipe as it will have a strong smell and taste; probably why people use ghee instead of butter; smell it before using it.
In that particular recipe, I would imagine using more butter will not change much in term of taste or texture; unless you really messed up measurements from 2tsps.
This would be somewhat impossible to explain, adding butter will add more fat and some additional unctuosity to a dish; in that case, I imagine not much change will happen since there is also a lot of water and the cashew paste in the recipe.
As in any recipe, using fresh ingredient is the key to making a recipe work; even fats like butter or oils.

To keep butter fresh as long as possible:

Buy only what you need (if you cannot store it properly)
Keep it cold in the refrigerator. (and properly wrapped).
Freeze unused butter (cut it in smaller chunks before, so you can only take out small amount at a time).
Use a butter "bell" that will keep the butter in water (don't forget to change water regularly).


What is the inside texture of a Japanese croquette?

There are two common categories of Japanese korokke, one made with potato or another starchy vegetable (kabocha, a Japanese squash, is also common), and the other made with a roux, typically with corn and/or crab, called a cream korokke.

In a vegetable-based one, which may have additions like ground beef, sesame seeds, certain pickled vegetables, or other seasonings, the basic texture is the same as any other vegetable puree or mash. The cream korokke should have a texture of a thick bechamel, but when hot, will be "almost" melted, and should come across as creamy.

For the vegetable ones, the texture is trickier to master than it may appear. Mashed potatoes are deceptively simple; mash at too high a temperature, and you may end up with a gluelike texture that isn't pleasant. Mash at too low a temperature, and you'll end up with hard, dry chunks instead. There's a magic temperature range, which if I remember right is around 160F, at which mashing produces a very nice texture. I may add salt and pepper while mashing, but usually not other ingredients. I prefer to use a potato ricer for this now, though I have done ok with a fork in the past. Once mashed, I'll integrate the other fillings.

If the texture of the potato mash seems too dry when you've prepared it, you may consider adding an egg yolk to the puree, which I've done on occasion. Too much may make the dough hard to form into balls, so be conservative about it.

Although it doesn't appear to be the specific case you're concerned with, for the cream korokke, the ideal balance of the thickness of the bechamel is probably subject to some debate, but basically you want to balance the illusion of liquid creaminess with the ability to work the chilled bechamel into a shape that's sturdy enough to bread and not prone to exploding in the fryer.

For reference, there are also variations with boiled eggs in the middle, and there are some made from okara (soy mash leftover from tofu making) but that's another story.


If the cheesecake was fresh when you bought it and your refrigerator is running at 40 degrees or lower, you should be able to freeze it without a problem. Make sure you wrap the cake very well before freezing. I recommend wrapping tightly in plastic wrap and then placing the cake into a bag that you can either seal or tie shut. This will prevent the cake from drying out in the freezer. To thaw the cake, place it in the fridge for a day or two and it should come back to life without a problem.

The downside of freezing and thawing is that your cake may be slightly watery in texture and the crust might lose some of it's crispness. If the cake is wrapped well, the taste should be fine, despite the change in texture.


What is the difference between light and dark soy sauce?

Light soy sauce: "is a thin (low viscosity), opaque, lighter brown soy sauce, brewed by first culturing steamed wheat and soybeans with Aspergillus, and then letting the mixture ferment in brine. It is the main soy sauce used for seasoning, since it is saltier, has less noticeable color, and also adds a distinct flavour."

Dark soy sauce: "a darker and slightly thicker soy sauce made from light soy sauce. This soy sauce is produced through prolonged aging and added caramel, and may contain added molasses to give it its distinctive appearance. This variety is mainly used during cooking, since its flavour develops during heating. It has a richer, slightly sweeter, and less salty flavour than light soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is partly used to add color and flavour to a dish after cooking, but, as stated above, is more often used during the cooking process, rather than after."

It's probably similar to the difference between run-of-the-mill balsamic and aged balsamic. In that case, the "light" or regular balsamic is an everyday condiment while the aged stuff is thicker and has much more concentrated flavor.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_sauce)


Does the freshness of the ingredient impact the longevity of the cooked dish?

It Depends.

First off, by 'goes bad' I'm assuming you mean both 'stale and unpalatable' and 'moldy and not food-safe'. And for both of those, it's going to greatly depend on what ingredient, what you're making, and how you're making it.

In the case of tomatoes, if you take your batch of 'last-legs' tomatoes (and I'm assuming you mean there's almost an unsafe level of bacterial/mold growth on them), and thoroughly cook them into a sauce, i.e. bring to a boil for an extended amount of time, you'll (hopefully) kill of the microbes, and inactivate the toxins created by those bacteria, you will have a generally safe-to-eat sauce. Compared with a similarly cooked sauce from fresher tomatoes, it will probably get moldy at roughly the same average rate.

However, it will probably taste worse. The 'last-legs' sauce will get to unpalatable faster than the fresh one.

Generally, if you're able to cook something thoroughly, you'll generally 'reset' the microbe growth timeline back to the starting-point.

With meat, however, you usually don't want to cook it to the point of sterility. (If you don't believe me, boil a steak for an hour. Then try to eat it.) So if you have a last-legs steak, I wouldn't cook it, then store it for a week in the fridge. Making a stew might be a good move, however.


Why is there malted barley flour in all purpose flour?

Note - label on my bag says all purpose flour, not all purpose wheat flour. So you can take that strawman (#4) for a long walk on a short pier. You won't find it in the "100% whole wheat flour"

Purpose (#2) - malted barley is yummy yeast food (or the makings of beer.) So, not surprising that you find in in flour intended to serve the needs of yeast baked products.

What is it? (#1) Barley (a grain) that has been malted (sprouted) which converts starches to sugars by enzymatic action, and is then kilned (dried) to stop the process, then ground into flour.

Percentage (#3) no idea, but likely closer to 1 than 30.


Is One Of These An Appropriate Substitute For A Stewing Hen For Making Chicken Stock?

From Poultry Meat Processing by Casey M. Owens and Christine Alvarado:

A stewing hen is the 52 week old breeder bird.

I can only guess to Roux and Peterson's suggestion, but it is probably based on size, and/or maybe that the maturity brings flavors to the stock that a young hen does not.

I would avoid the Cornish hen. They are very young and small.

Out of the options you list, you'll be OK with a large Baking hen.

Suggestion, if you have any Asian supermarkets nearby:

check out their poultry, sometimes they have better than the factory fed chain stores
pick up some chicken feet and add them to your stock, they add a great color and flavor


Why doesn't my bread rise in the oven? (Not first rise)

Oven spring is caused by the air pockets in the dough expanding from the heat. (Dough rises from gasses released from the yeast.)

After the shaping and final rise, often times there is a light, dry "skin" over the dough. By slashing a dough before it goes into the oven, you break this skin, and the bread is able to expand. If the loaf is a "fancy loaf" and you can't slash it without ruining the appearance (like a braided loaf), try to keep the loaf from drying out with a light mist of cooking spray after shaping and before the final rise.

Perhaps the bread is cooking too quickly when it hits the heat of the oven, essentially cooking a crust before the air pockets get heated enough to expand? Baking in a moist environment should help with that. Place an empty, sturdy pan (I use a cast iron skillet) on the bottom rack of the oven (or directly on the floor of the oven) before preheating. When you place the bread in the oven, pour about 1 cup of very hot water into the empty pan. This will create a bunch of steam, and help prevent the bread from crusting before it gets its "spring."

If you have a pizza/baking stone, use it. Having a hot surface to set your pans on helps with the rise. Think about it... you open the oven door, and out goes a lot of the heat... even though the walls of the oven are retaining the heat, it will take a little while before that heat reaches the bread. Setting the pan on the stone will give you that instant heat on the bottom, causing dough to rise from the bottom up, rather than just getting a small rise from the top area.

If you don't have a stone, invert a heavy baking sheet, cast iron griddle, or something similar, and heat that up in the oven the same as you would for a baking stone. Invert the sheet pan so it's easier to slide your bread pans on and off the hot pan without having to deal with a small edge.

If you haven't got equipment to do the other options listed above, you can try the "cold oven method." Just put the loaf into a cold oven, and set the temperature. Don't preheat. The gradual heat from the bottom of the oven as it preheats will give you some of that "oven spring."

I use a baking stone and steam, but I have had great success with using an inverted aluminum sheet pan with steam before I got the stone... and before I learned that trick, I used the simple cold oven method (no steam as the oven is cold!).


I've had better luck freezing bread dough before it rises, or at least right after punching it down.  At normal household freezer temperatures, the yeast may keep growing very slowly.  If you freeze the already-risen bread, you risk getting a yeasty-tasting flat pancake :-).

And of course you're right to look at the defrosting process too.  If you try to push this too fast, you could end up killing the yeast entirely.


This has happened to me on occasion when I got lazy and tried to skip steps. My pastry walls were melting and sliding down the pan before they were able to set.

There are several best-practices that will help solve this:

Keep your dough chilled. If the dough is warm or if it is built into a warm pan it will melt in the oven before it has a chance to set.
Make a better lip (if there is one). A more substantial edge around the pastry will give some physical support to prevent falling.
Use foil and pie weights to reinforce the structure during the beginning of baking.


You can almost always adapt recipes to use other meats, but, obviously, the flavors are going to be different, so it might not turn out as you expected.

I'd be very careful about substituting beef stock or broth instead of chicken.  Beef broth is generally more assertively flavored, and usually carries a bit more salt as a counter-balance to that, so changing that flavoring might do a lot more than just alter the flavors slightly.

To illustrate my point, America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated, in their "best beef stew" recipe wound up using chicken instead of beef broth, because the beef broth was a bit too much.  And that was for a beef stew (the recipe is fantastic.  They were looking for more rich flavor than just using water, but using beef stock/broth wound up being too much).

EDIT/Addendum - What I was originally going for and lost track of is this - If you have a dish that has a lot of other seasonings or flavors that define the dish, you will probably have better success with a substitution.  If you have a dish where the other ingredients compliment the pork or the pork flavor is the key to the dish, you probably won't be as happy.


How can I cut lots of cherry tomatoes in half quickly and evenly?

Yes there is. It's called a knife. I use a Shun 10" chef's knife, but you could certainly make do with a much cheaper one.


How should I read a thermometer when it's got an extra indicator line?

The problem is that such gas bubbles tend to affect the shape of the liquid around them in unpredictable ways, so it's not sufficient to just try to "add" the small bit of liquid to the large one if accuracy is desired -- the surfaces on these bits of liquid may be bent in various ways, making it hard to get a reading.  Also the expansion of the liquid and the gas bubble may be affected, creating a little more inaccuracy.

If you only need rough accuracy (say within 5-6 degrees F or about 3 degrees C), you can probably continue to read the thermometer at the top of the solid red column, then correcting a couple degrees upward.  It's really not ideal.  (And I'm simply guessing based on a cursory look from the photo.)

If you want to fix it, though...

I can't tell what the rest of this thermometer looks like.  Sometimes the problem can be corrected through simple shaking (swinging in a slow arc is often better than frantic jerking) or tapping.  If not, the way to solve this problem in a chemistry lab is one of two ways:

Cool the thermometer to the point that the liquid all contracts into the lower bulb (sometimes called the "contraction chamber").  Once the main body of the liquid gets down there, you can often shake the thermometer a bit to encourage the gas bubble out.  Depending on your thermometer and where the liquid gets down to the chamber, you may be able to do this with only an ice water bath, or a salt/ice bath.  Use caution if the liquid begins to freeze: if not careful when it thaws, it can make the problem worse.
Most decent lab thermometers have an "expansion chamber" at the top in case of overheating.  I have no idea whether this one does or not, though it's a common safety feature.  One can also heat a thermometer (gradually) to the point that the separated portion of the liquid gets to the expansion chamber, at which point the gas bubble can be simply "tapped" gently out.  (Note: if you try this, be very careful to heat gradually and slowly, never placing the thermometer in direct flame.  If you force too much of the liquid into the expansion chamber, you will break the thermometer.  Also, many organic liquids in thermometers these days are flammable.)

In either case, after correcting the problem, place the thermometer in an upright position and allow it to come to room temperature gradually.

Chemists tend to have little problem dealing with stuff like this, but if any of this sounds too complex or dangerous, I'd just buy another thermometer, given how cheap they tend to be.


How to not dry out precooked meat in a recipe

You're not expecting the same texture if you re-cook, that's why many re-cook recipes involve shredding the meat before the second part of the process - separating it as long fibres.
Chicken Tinga, Pulled Pork, etc use this as the basis of the texture of the dish.
Using fattier cuts can mitigate the drying out.

Personally, if I have a long cook that's going to be using chicken breast, I often don't put the chicken in until near the end, so I can get it 'first time' rather than second. It will affect absorption of other flavours though. Something like a curry you can tweak this approach by marinating the chicken in a similar spice blend. Sometimes I just make the call based on experience with a particular dish, or try it both ways & see which I prefer.

If you par-cook the meat, you will then have an extended period where the centre is in a completely unsafe temperature zone.
Don't do this.

From comments
For a pie - so long as it's going straight in the oven, you can flash-fry chicken chunks to get some good colour then finish in the oven, in the pie-mix. So long as the mix doesn't start from cold, temperatures ought to remain in the safe zone throughout.


What factors affect collagen to gelatin conversion?

I was unable to find information that might tell what happened to your dish, but found some extremely interesting and detailed sources of information on collagen and gelatin which I think are worth sharing.

I did find that the pH is unlikely to be the major contributing factor, as there are both acid and alkaline processes for gelatin formation--see the Science of Cooking, Gelatin.co.za, and Hydrolization references below.

Since you have read On Food and Cooking, you almost certainly already know the basics of what affects the conversion rate.  To paraphrase one of the articles, it is a high energy stochastic process so:

Gelatin conversion is time and temperature dependent, with higher temperaturs permitting faster conversion
Requires the presence of water, as it is a hydrolization of the denaturing collagen proteins

Of course, it sounds like by braising for hours, you have met these basic criteria.

Here are some sources I found:

why use a pressure cooker for collagen to gelatin conversion? Related question here, on why pressure cookers are effective at gelatin conversion
Gizmodo article on duck confit, with really nice scientific introduction for someone not already familiar with the topic.  No references.
Science of Cooking suggests that acid actually aids in the process by breaking covalent links.  Has references to more sources.  Nicely balanced on the science without being impenetrable to the layperson.
http://www.gelatin.co.za/gltn1.html indicates there are forms of gelatin from both acid and alkaline environments, so the pH of the cooking medium was probably not the major contributing factor.  Extremely detailed including information on chemistry.  Has extensive references to primary sources, but no description of the site itself.
Gelatin Manufacturer's Industry Association article on manufacture, process, uses, chemistry and more.  Extensive references.
Hydrodynamic properties of gelatin: studies from intrinsic viscosity measurements  Introduction has some good summary information on gelatin, and then full on science of the viscosity measurements.  Lots of references.

At this point--I stopped, as I have learned more about gelatin than I need to know as a cook!


Where can I buy a transparent frying pan?

Corning made a Visions pan - I had a set and used it for years. You might find them on eBay or at a garage sale. I didn't really like it as a pan - took a long time to heat up and then stayed hot, thus making a gas stove into an electric and making an electric even less responsive. It's not completely clear, it's kind of brownish.


Does food at room temperature spoil faster if refridgerated beforehand?

The short answer is no, that is a myth. Food spoils because of chemical breakdown and microorganism activity, both of these are slowed considerably by refrigeration. When you take food out of the refrigerator and it warms up these chemical and microbial processes speed up again, but they don't work faster because the food was previously refrigerated.
Some foods shouldn't be refrigerated, like bananas and avocados, but that's a different question.


Are the claims legitimate linking botulism to vacuum prepared foods?

There is absolutely real truth to improper sous vide cooking and botulism.  Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic organism - it grows when there isn't oxygen - like in sous vide vacuums and canned goods.

The risk is that sous vide cooks both without oxygen and at temperatures so close to the perfect repoduction rate for the organism.  If you cook it a little lower than recommended, you could be creating a perfect place to reproduce.  Clostridium botulinum dies around 126 F (52.222 C) - so most sous vide won't go lower than 130 F (54.444 C).

The opponents state that the temperatures in general are far too low and if we were cooking for a few seconds, it would be.  Luckily, pasteurization is a function of temperature and time.  This is part of the sous vide magic.  Bacterial death is a result of heat and time - if you have a high heat you may only need it for seconds.  If you have lower, but sufficient heat, then as long as you cook it long enough (see recommended reading below) - then you can still pasteurize the food.  Sous vide often cooks foods for hours and hours - either for taste and/or pasteurization sake.

A great resource for information here is Douglas Baldwin .

Additional, real, danger comes from if you store your finished product in the vacuum bag at improper temperatures (not freezing).  Botulism spores need to reach 250 F (121.111 C) to die (this is why, in canning, some food needs to be pressure canned).  You won't hit that in sous vide cooking.  If you cook the food, cool it, and then store it in a non freezing temp - there's a real risk that the spores could eventually become active and reproduce.  If you're going to keep sous vide food after its been cooked, generally freeze it and then reheat (quickly, in sous vide terms) in an eating temp sous vide bath to consume.


Repeatedly softening ice cream in the microwave

It's perfectly safe to do this, it's not great for the ice cream's consistency to keep warming it and cooling it as you'll start to get big ice crystals. I'd suggest you get a metal ice cream scoop and put it in hot water instead.

If you have to thaw it to use it I'd leave it on the counter for 10 minutes instead of nuking it so you get an even thaw, using the microwave tends to melt one spot and leave another solid.


Substitute for calcium oxide (lime) to keep pumpkin from falling apart

Your problem is that you're looking for the wrong kind of lime.

Calcium oxide, or Quicklime, is indeed only used for building and chemical purposes.  You want Calcium Hydroxide, otherwise known as Pickling Lime.  You can but it online, or from any store that sells pickling supplies.

And it's a good thing you didn't try the calcium oxide, there's a good chance you'd have blown up the stew.  It heats up when hydrated.


What is this green, bulbous, leafy vegetable?

As was mentioned, this is a kohlrabi. I felt more explanation should be given based on the fascinating nature of this plant.

Kohlrabi is one of the handful of cultivars of brassica oleracea. Others include:

  cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, savoy, kohlrabi, and gai lan. Brassica Oleracea (Wikipedia)

Brassica oleracea has been cultivated in many different parts of the world to appear almost like entirely unique plants. However, each of the listed plants are, in fact, the same species with slightly varying traits. Kohlrabi, for example, has been bred to have lateral growth in the meristem while broccoli has been bred to have a large, flowering head.

Kohlrabi can be eaten either cooked or raw. It's often used in salads and slaws, and can be interchanged with collard greens or kale.


Further research using Google has provided the information I was seeking though not in the form I had posed my question. It might be helpful if I first state what I'm ultimately trying to achieve:

I want to make chicken nuggets using only chicken thigh meat (and possibly chicken skin).

On my previous attempt, I used whole egg as a binder and achieved less than satisfactory results: over here I found a recipe mentioning that using the egg white, which has much more protein than the yolk (mostly fat), would give me the best shot at succeeding:

Lean Poultry Patties:

Unlike beef, ground turkey and chicken, either alone or in combination, benefit from the addition of egg whites when forming burger patties.
The egg whites help the lean meat to bind together, especially if you're using additional ingredients such as chopped vegetables.
To form patties made with ground poultry, use a food processor to chop vegetables such as onion, pepper or mushrooms into small pieces.
Use one egg white per 1 pound of meat.
A tablespoon of savory flavoring to the meat mixture, such as soy sauce or barbecue sauce, adds body and moisture


What is the highest melting temperature of chocolate?

The typical tricks used by chocolate manufacturers is to change the viscosity of chocolate by adding a gel like xanthan gum or glycerine. The other trick is to incorporate more water into the chocolate with the aid of an emulsifier such as lecithin. All these techniques are hard to do at home as they require many hours of stirring the chocolate to avoid grittiness. Patents often give recipes.

One can buy chocolate with higher melting points. Callebaut Volcano melts at 55°C, the highest melting point for a commercial chocolate that I know of, but is not yet on sale. Many of the commercial chocolate bars, such as the wartime Hershey's Tropical Bar use chocolate that incorporate these techniques as do the Nestle Toll House morsels.


Joe is essentially right.   Bubbles form in a liquid at what are called nucleation sites -  small irregularies in the container or in the liquid itself.   If you look at the bottom of some beer glasses, there are little nodules (often in the shape of the brewer's logo) that nucleate bubbles of the CO2 that's dissolved in the beer.   Much the same occurs with water - to nucleate bubbles of steam requires nucleation sites and, without them, the water can superheat to beyond it's normal boiling point of 100 C.   When you then disturb the liquid, and so provide nucleation sites, a whole lump of it can turn to steam in an instant.

Permanent damage to the oven is possible but I'd leave it for a few days and then try again.


Could I use orzo instead of paella Rice?

It's not a direct substitution, but you can use orzo in place of paella rice as long as you vary the liquid. When I make a paella I use 3x the liquid as the rice by volume. With orzo that may be too much - if it doesn't absorb it you'll have a watery paella.

My approach would be to add 1.5 times liquid to the pasta by volume (not including your tomatoes) and see how it goes. If it starts to dry out and the pasta isn't done you can add small amounts of liquid until it is cooked.

FYI, any short grain rice will do for paella, you don't have to buy rice specifically saying paella rice.


I'd say you probably brined the salmon for too long. Gravlax goes generally from 12 to 48 hours in a dry brine.

You have to know that

The longer the salmon is left in the brine the more it gets cooked
and firm. Try shorter brine time (12-48h).
The more saltier the brine is, the firmer the salmon will end up. Try increasing the sugar ratio in your mix.

If the result is uneven, you should flip the fish each 12 or so hours. After the brining and removing all the salt under running water, let the fish rest (dry) for a few hours to let the flavors balance inside the fish.

For the smoking, you should take care of cold smoking it (fish temperature should be kept below 37°C [100°F]) as to maintain gravlax properties. However as it was mentioned in the comments, it should then be called smoked salmon instead of gravlax as the gravlax is generally not smoked. Inserting a thermometer in the fish is helpful to control temperature during the whole process.

A trick to maintain gravlax properties and confection, but to add some smoke flavor is to add some smoked tea to the brine.


You'll definitely want to freeze the cake. Once it's frozen, use a spatula to apply a layer of ganache to the side that will be the bottom of the cake, then return it to the freezer. Once that has set, put the cake, ganache/bottom down on a cooling rack on top of a sheet of parchment paper or acetate. Slowly pour your melted ganache over the cake, guiding it with a spatula if necessary to make sure you get it all covered. You'll want the ganache to be just beginning to cool for a thicker coat. Once it's coated, you can roll it in nuts or whatever you like. You'll have a grid pattern on the bottom (depending on how solid the first ganache froze), and possibly some "feet", but the feet are going to be almost unavoidable.

Any extra ganache will be on the parchment or acetate and can easily be stored until you need it again.


Do Ice Wands have an advantage over a homemade solution?

Putting it simply, the nalgene ones are probably only more expensive than regular water bottles because they are more specialized and there is a smaller market for them. That makes it easier for the companies to justify a higher price, especially if they think it will mostly be used for commercial purposes.

For efficacy, you simply want something that will transfer and remove the heat quickly, like a heat sink on computer components. Part of the effectiveness comes from the material used (and its thickness), part of it is the surface area that is exposed, and how much of the cool material (in your nalgene ones, the water capacity) is there to pick up the extra heat before the temperatures have equalized.

I think the actual difference between a plastic water bottle and a plastic water-filled ice paddle/wand is mostly in the shape (and possibly in the thickness of the walls). Probably, using several frozen food-safe water bottles would be fine, but you might need to agitate them a bit more to get the same effect due to a cylinder having less surface area than the paddles.

In homebrewing, I use an immersion chiller, a copper coil that gets hooked up to the sink faucet with food-grade tubing. You run cold water through the coil and it spirals through the hot soon-to-be-beer (wort) and copper, being an effective conductor, transfers heat into the cold water which comes out hot at the other end into the sink (or into your garden). It works very well, but it's also pricey because it's copper, and it uses a lot of water (which in the California drought means I need to try to recapture it).

As the comments note, an ice-water bath in the sink also works well. Fill the sink with cold water, add ice, add your pot. Stir a lot in the pot for maximum heat transfer and use a separate spoon or your hand to stir the water in the sink. Replace ice cubes as they melt.

Another option for quick cooling is to transfer it into shallower containers with more surface area and put those in the fridge. More dirty dishes and more chance for spills, but it will let it cool faster in the fridge than in your stock pot (if you have room on your shelves for a bunch of shallow trays).


Can I use a nonstick or stainless steel pan to bake a cake in a microwave

No, but you can cook in microwave safe cups or basically anything that is microwave safe. If you don't have anything big enough to cook a cake do you maybe have a large based jug?


How to make cakes/scones that won't go off, for display purposes

We used to make "display bread" using salt dough. Basically you add as much salt as flour (eg. 3 cups) to make it uninteresting for bacteria. To make the end result hard enough to last, you can add either hot water and a little oil or cold water and a spoon of wallpaper glue. Add as much water as necessary to form a bread like dough. Add anything (eg curry, blueberry sirup, ink instead of water - anything goes since you are not going to eat the result!) to color (parts of) your dough. Wholemeal instead of white flour will give you a stone or concrete like color.
Do not use yeast or anything else that will change the shape of your dough. Yeast probably will not work in all that salt anyway.

Then shape your cakes and let the result dry for a day before baking it. Not in direct sunlight (it might dry too fast and crack).

To see some results, search for "Salzteig" on German Google Image search. :-)


Dense pizza dough- need help! How to make lighter and more airy pizza?

I think you might not be giving your dough enough time between shaping and baking.  Proofing lets little bubbles build up in your dough, letting it rise as you mentioned - stretching and shaping will deflate the dough and let the little bubbles loose, even with careful handling.  Some methods of shaping will deflate the dough more than others, and if you're stretching by hand you should try to be careful not to handle too roughly, especially around the edges where you want a fluffy crust.  Letting the dough rest after shaping and before baking will help the dough recover.

Also, you didn't mention your proofing method much, but it sounded like regular counter-top proofing.  Several recipes I looked at prefer a cold ferment for new york style pizza, citing more complex flavors and better gluten development, and also that stretching cold fermented dough tends to produce a fluffier crust (since it holds the pockets of gas from rising through the stretching better).  The pictures look quite convincing that this will let you have an airier crust.  Since this would involve making your dough several days in advance, and letting it rise in your fridge, it may not be your ideal solution - but if you don't mind planning ahead (best results apparently 3-5 days), it may help.

Also, you might want to check how long you knead - a dough that isn't kneaded enough will end up dense and heavy.  You might make sure your dough is kneaded enough to pass the windowpane test - stretch a marble-sized ball of dough between your fingers, it is developed enough when you can get it thin enough to be translucent enough to see your fingers through.  This article talks bout the importance of kneading (and also suggests using a food processor for better gluten formation quicker), since having well developed gluten should trap the bubbles from rising better and give you a more airy crust.

Of course, getting more heat in the oven might help - it might even be all you need, and if your problems are solved after getting a pizza stone, so much the better.  But these tips I found might also help you get the effect you're looking for in the meantime - or possibly stack several of them to get the pizza just the way you like it.  Good Luck!


Can I mix anything into cheesecake batter?

There are plenty of recipes that do. You don't want your added ingredients to be too wet, and if they're strongly coloured the colour is likely to bleed into the mix whatever you do (e.g. blueberries).

The results will be different for baked cheesecakes and chilled cheesecakes, but in both cases it can work. I suggest you keep trying to find a recipe that adds them to the mix, a baked one as that seems to be what you feel like making. Or just try it. Here's a recipe with blueberries to get you started (not tested).

For chocolate chips specifically, you can just stir in the desired amount after mixing and before pouring it onto the base. They may sink though, depending on your recipe. But this isn't too bad. Citrus zest can also be added to taste (but it needs to be fine).

If you add a lot of weight or bulk, your cooking time might increase a little.


How to make the sour cream that some restaurants serve with quesadillas?

There are many variants of sour cream. I am not quite up to date on the naming of dairy products in Belgium, but don't you find sour cream labeled as "zure room" (Dutch) or "crème aigre" (French)?

Mexican sour cream (Crema Mexicana) has however a higher fat content than the sour cream commonly available in European countries. A close approach is crème fraîche, but it might not be just as sour. If you want to make it yourself, you can add living bacteria culture (e.g. from yogurt) to heavy cream (fresh cream with >35% fat) and keep it at roughly 37°C until it reaches the required thickness.


What you are making is a pound cake. Or maybe a sponge cake, depends on the order of mixing the ingredients. Of the two, the sponge cake is somewhat lighter, so if you have been making pound cake (cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then flour), you can switch to sponge (foam eggs and sugar, add flour and fat). But both are hearty homemade cakes, they are supposed to be dense.

The iced cakes you get in a bakery are much lighter, because they use a different type of layer. Most types of cake are lighter than pound and sponge cakes. Try making genoise, chiffon, or angel food cake layers, they are all light. And yes, using cake flour will help too, or replacing part of the flour in the recipe with pure starch (usually cornstarch or potato starch, you can also use wheat starch if you can get it. Tapioca or arrowroot aren't that well suited). For a real "pro" taste, also throw in some lecithine, it makes the mouthfeel softer and smoother - but if you don't feel like hunting around for lecithine, don't bother, a good homemade cake doesn't really need it, I only mentioned it because you asked about "cake made by a pro".


How do I make the chicken absorb more salt by freezing it?

I think your best bet is to change your recipe. While trying to figure out the exact process that sometimes makes your soup work does indeed sound like an interesting science project, it doesn't sound like its going to yield a reliable recipe. Especially since you've got to deal with supermarket chicken from suppliers that may change their processing procedures whenever it suites them—maybe even from package to package, depending on which plant it came from, or the specifics of the chickens the plant processed that day.

There are easy, reliable ways to get salt into chicken. The following two will get you salty chicken, every time you do it:

Put your chicken (chopped up or whole) in the fridge submerged in a 13% brine for a day, and you'd at that point have chicken which would be (once cooked) inedibly salty (among other problems).
You could chop your chicken fairly thin, and pack it (again in the fridge) in kosher salt. Then it'd become dry, and also very salty.

Of course, that'll be far more salty than you want. So you'll want to scale back—use a 5–6% brine, put it in only for a few hours, etc. But that will get flavorful chicken every time.

Then, to keep your soup base from being salty:

rinse the brined or salted chicken before adding to the soup (to remove any salt resting on the surface)
keep salting of the soup to a minimum.
don't overcook the chicken, that'll force more liquid from it.
make sure to use low-sodium chicken broth. Normal store-bought broth/stock is pretty salty.
if too much salt leaches from the chicken, cook the chicken separately and drain it.

</rant>

edit: random suggestions since the above apparently doesn't work

Commercially, many things are quick-frozen (e.g., fish) to prevent ice crystal damage. It would seem to follow then, that since you're trying to cause ice crystal damage, you want to freeze as slowly as possible. Easy way to do this would be (assuming your chicken is already under 40°F e.g., in the fridge) to insulate it before throwing it in the freezer. So, put it in a freezer bag, but then wrap the freezer bag in some kitchen towels, then toss that in the freezer.
In previously-frozen (commercially) chicken, there may be some anti-ice-crystal additives, I have no idea. Previously-frozen isn't always sold frozen. Check the package, it should say (probably in tiny print).
You could try a second thaw/freeze cycle (just make sure to thaw in the fridge, or in cold water, not the microwave, for food safety reasons—keep it under 40°F). This will certainly increase the effects of freezing (and would normally be avoided for flavor and texture reasons)
This isn't freezing, but may accomplish the same goal: you could try one of the 40+-blade meat tenderizers.

Also, as a final note, it turns out that a lo of how we (humans) perceive flavor has nothing to do with the food. The ambiance, how we're feeling that day, etc. affect perceived flavor substantially. Keep this in mind, since you're not using e.g., a salinity meter, its possible you're chasing down differences that aren't due to the food itself.


Cleaning a clogged espresso machine Portafilter

I alone on the planet seem to have solved the endless problem of cleaning the fine holes of an espresso portafilter, or a Moka express fine steam filter.  None of the liquid or abrasive cleaning apps work, period.  Instead, in the past, one had to use a pin to poke out the minute holes — task so laborious and hopeless than most espresso and Moka machines in the world are hampered by limited filtration.

No longer.  The pin-holes are plugged with coffee fibre, which burns.  Place the filter over a gas flame, either side, for 10 minutes, tapping it with tongs occasionally, and bingo...
A CLEAN FILTER.  All the minute coffee fibre plugs burn or pop out.  Best to use a small coffee pot rack on top of your smallest hob gas burner for this.  And metal tongs.

Will I be knighted for this?


I may be jumping the gun here and making unwarranted assumptions about what this sauce is being used for, but assuming it's something like a marinade, rice, stir-fry, etc... I usually use some combination of the following:

Soy or teriyaki sauce (or both)
Toasted sesame oil
Honey or brown sugar
Chili oil (small amount, obviously)
Grated ginger
Grated garlic (very small amount, that's strong stuff)
Rice wine (usually I skip this, actually)
Water!

Sometimes the combination of oil and water doesn't hold together so well; if you add a little tapioca starch and heat it up, it will thicken and bind.  I use this all the time in stir fries.

Also, if you happen to have any prepared oriental sauces like hoisin or black bean or chili garlic sauce, those can be used in a pinch to cut the salty taste of soy sauce.  Fine-tuning with pure ingredients to get the exact taste you want is always better, of course.


Garlic press with minimum force required

Not really an answer to your question, but a possible alternative - why not frozen garlic?

I use a lot of fresh, but there are 2 different sorts of frozen I use too - one is Indian in origin & comes as a bag of 'cubes' of frozen paste. It loses some of the punch of fresh, but you can simply add more if required.
UK pricing maybe £1.10 for 500g.

The other type is 'european' & is finely chopped & loose in a bag. This is more expensive but still retains the full flavour & aroma.
It doesn't cook down quite as well as the cubes. Even though the aroma is better for a short cook, if I'm doing a long cook where the garlic should 'vanish' I will use the cube-paste instead.
UK pricing closer to £1.50 for 100g.

Either is close enough that no-one could tell once it's cooked into a dish.
Effort required == zero in both cases.

I found a fairly random supermarket link with both alternatives - Tesco UK

Re comments on the question...
Both of these are significantly closer to fresh than anything you can buy in a jar.


What's the best way for inexperienced cook to finely cut cabbage?

You can try using a good long sharp knife and a large wooden cutting board like Michael mentioned but it can be slow if you're inexperienced. Other cutting boards will dull your knife quickly which is why I mentioned a wooden one.

The only other way I know is to use a mandoline. You'd have to first cut the cabbage small enough to use but I know for myself, it would be a lot faster than using a knife. (And I'm an experienced cook too!)

If you do much food preparation and cooking, a mandoline is very useful to have. I'm not sure if you'd consider $50 (rough estimate as I don't know where you live) expensive. The best, in my opinion, for a home cook is a Börner mandoline. It's German made and does a great job! I'm not advertising their product - only stating that I think it's one of the best. You can check this video that compares a number of different reasonably priced mandolines.
https://youtu.be/I15-htHJF_I


Does anthocyanin still exist once the purple beans have changed to green during cooking?

The anthocyanins are still there; they've just changed color. They're an indicator, like litmus, except that they range in color from red to purple to blue to green to yellow, depending on how acidic or alkaline the liquid is that they're in, instead of just pink or blue.

Red cabbage will do the same thing.


Looking to add some texture to my tomato soup recipe

Croutons. They are a cinch to make at home, and just top with lemon and garlic. Or, if you are pressed for time, get some at the store.


It is impossible to calculate. Alcohol is more volatile (in a chemistry sense volatility is a measurement of a substances tendency to vaporize) than water, but it doesn't disappear anywhere near as fast as many people think, especially when it's mixed in with water.

You are adding the alcohol to a wide pan on high heat and stirring a lot, which is certainly a good combination for alcohol loss, but the finished dish will still have some alcohol in it.


The "Arby's we grew up on" was a Steamship Round. That is the entire "round primal" shown in diagram. However, several years ago they went to a processed version in order to make production more uniform, I believe it is likely still 'mostly' round that has been pressed and shaped.

You are unlikely to find a steamship round on your grocers shelves, you will need to go to a butcher. The 'whole round' is usually only purchased for restaurants and caterers, it is the cut you are most likely to see in a 'serving line' (think Furr's/Luby's etc.) as it is a very large piece. Commercially the round is broken down into smaller cuts, tri-tip, rump roast, eye of round, etc. for sale in the market. If you want to make it at home the closest you can probably get is an eye of round roast. You will definitely want to slow roast it in order to get it tender.


Should rendered pork lard be melting at only 85° F?

The melting point of lard can vary quite a bit: Wikipedia claims as low as 86F, depending on the type of pork fat used.  (I don't know what their source is, but that sounds about right to me.)  That number will also vary depending on the exact rendering and processing method, particularly cooling which will affect crystalline structure of the solid.  Rapid cooling will generally produce a fat with a more disorganized crystalline structure and thus a lower melting point.


I don't know if this helps, but according to Food Network site

  Smashing whole garlic cloves is the best way to peel them: Place the cloves on a cutting board, hold the flat side of a chef's knife on top and give it a firm whack with the heel of your other hand. Use just enough force to split the skin and crack open the cloves; if you pulverize the garlic with a heavy-handed thud, it will be harder to peel.


How fine is "Fine Mesh" for removing lumps from custards?

From this website:

  What does mesh size mean?
  Figuring out mesh sizes is simple.  All you do is count the number of openings in a one US inch of screen.  The number of openings is the mesh size.  So a 4-mesh screen means there are four little squares across one linear inch of screen.  A 100-mesh screen has 100 openings, and so on.  As the number describing the mesh size increases, the size of the particles decreases.  Higher numbers equal finer material.  Mesh size is not a precise measurement of particle size.

For custards and other desserts where you're making sure you don't have lumps, the lumps are most often pieces of egg that have scrambled because of the heat.  A 60 mesh strainer has 0.0098 inch sqaures that material can get through, which I believe would be plently to catch any bits of egg.