What can I substitute for Mayonnaise in a traditional potato salad?

Direct substitution options would include sour cream, plain yogurt, or cottage cheese pureed in your blender to do a one-to-one substitution, but I don't know that these would necessarily solve your issue of having the salad sit out with ingredients that could spoil.

This question has a whole list of substitutes.  Tofu is one that might suit your needs, although it would change the flavor profile.

Consider instead a German potato salad, which does not have mayonnaise to begin with.  Yes, this departs from your original recipe, but it will definitely solve your issue.


How to avoid cinnamon sludge in a beverage?

The cinnamon "sludge" is fiber. The fiber that came from the cinnamon is soluble in water.

10 grams of cinnamon is about 8 grams of fiber (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon).
It is safe to eat / drink (fiber!) in moderate amount (Chinese cinnamon or cassia is not safe in high dose because of its toxic component called coumarin).
Of course, cinnamon sticks won't produce so much sludge.
If you use a hot drink, stir it so it doesn't sit at the bottom.

Ceylon cinnamon ("true" cinnamon) is different from Chinese cinnamon ("cassia") and may have different properties with regard to solubility and water. Check out your container that doesn't sludge, and compare with what you have been using in your grinder.


Difference between Fleischkäse, Mortadella, and Parizer

Your instinct is correct, all your favourites fall into one category of saussage: Brühwurst.

This means that they follow the same principle when made, which is

Mincing the raw meat and fat with ice or ice water, salt, often curing salt and various spices until a smooth paste forms. This is what you refer to as "pinkish mass".
Shaping the saussages (or loaf in case of Fleischkäse) and sometimes smoking them.
Heating the saussage until the core reaches around 68 C / 154 F, either by scalding in hot water, baking (for Fleischkäse) or roasting. Sometimes this step is left for the customer, e.g. in the case of Fleischkäse that can be baked in the home oven, raw Bratwurst for grilling or Weisswurst.

The differences are in the spices and additional ingredients (pistachios, mushrooms, cubed fat for Mortadella...) details in preparation (coarser chopping or smoother mass, smoking or no smoking, shape) and the percentages of meat / fat / water (typically around 50%/25%/25%).


Same spaghetti sauce recipe for over 30 years

I'm assuming multiple people are tasting the acidity.
Different tinned tomatoes can have widely different acidity. These seem like a much more likely source for acid than any other ingredient, even the red wine. The soup is likely to be fairly neutral. The onion, garlic (and probably other soffrito) are somewhat alkaline. Can't imagine you've lacto-fermented your chicken broth or your meatballs.
OT but there's some great threads on balancing acidity already.


Is reusing bones for stock better than once cooking longer with more water?

I would think this would result in thin stock under normal circumstances. I would go for a longer, single boil instead if the fear is there is remaining goodness in the bones.


Do burgers cook better when close or far apart?

On the grill, most of the heat will be coming from underneath the burgers (you already knew this)

Having a gap between them will let air flow between them and increase the temperature around the meat.  If they are touching, the airflow will be hindered and you won't get even cooking.  When the burgers are all squashed together, you're effectively cooking one big burger and not many individual ones.

ie)  The spot where the meat touches will cook slower than the outsides where there is now more heat.

Purist grillers will tell you that the "best" way to cook on the grill is with the top open, if you do this, you'll get even less heat in bunched up areas.

Separating them more than an inch apart won't really affect cooking time.


How can I cook trout without generating horror stories?

First, about the temperature. Your safest option is to use a gun ;) The correct temp for shallow frying is between 150 and 190 degrees celsius. So if you have an infrared "gun" (a thermometer which neasures the temp of the surface at which it is pointed), use it to determine the stove setting at which the temperature of the dry (not ptfe coated) pan stabilizes in this interval after longer heating. If you don't have it, use the typical tricks for determining the pan temp, they are described in other questions here on SA.

Important: different stoves heat to different temperatures. Don't let the numbers at the knob to fool it into thinking that a given temp is "medium high" because it has the number 7. My own stove stabilizes at ~180 degrees C at setting 2 (out of 10), with setting 3 pushing 230. On the other hand, the minimum temperature for cooking fish is 50 deg. As stoves rarely go below 80 degrees, there is practically no chance to set your stove to a temperature so low that the fish stays undercooked (but it might need unreasonably long times on very low settings).

As for the spraying: the fat at frying temperature will always spray. You can still reduce your problems. First, the bubble explosions at the lower temperature will be less violent. Second, surface moisture promotes spraying (which is produced by water being instantly turned into steam in the oil). So pat the fish dry with paper before frying it. If this isn't enough, you can also drag it through flour. This will make the crust crisper. As the spraying won't be eliminated completely, don't throw in the pieces. Take a flat spatula with a long handle, place the piece on the working end, step back from the stove and slowly lay the fish into the oil, gradually pulling the spatula from beneath it. The turning should produce less spraying, so using a fork or spoon to press the fish against the spatula isn't a problem (or kitchen pincers, if you have those).

All of the above applies to everything you are shallow frying, not only fish. Only the flour is unsuitable for some vegetables.


How can I make crispy potato wedges without frying and oven?

You will never achieve the same results without an oven or deep-frying.

Just pan-fry the potatoes in a little bit of oil; I'd par-boil the potatoes and finish them up in the pan.


Is there any trick to make sweet potatoes as regular potatoes?

White potatoes and sweet potatoes are very different varieties of tuber, you can't get rid of the sweetness and distinctive flavor of the sweet potato. If there's something in particular your family doesn't like then you can work on that, you can also try the LoB (Lots of Butter) technique, or you can try using them in a dish like sweet potato pie or a curry. At the end of the day if they just don't like sweet potatoes then it may be better to just make something they do like.


What is the best way to keep fresh food good for a long trip?

Pasta does not freeze very well, so I would advise against asking the restaurant to freeze it. I would ask that they provide the sauce in one container, and the (uncooked) pasta in another. Those two will keep just fine in a cold box with ice for ~10 hours. If you're very concerned about food safety, you can keep a thermometer in the cold box and make sure it doesn't exceed fridge temperature. If the temperature starts to increase (unlikely in 10 hours with a decently insulated cold box) the car can stop for more ice. On arrival, you boil the pasta according to instructions (it's most likely fresh pasta, so it should only be boiled for 2-3 minutes) and gently heat up the sauce in a pan before combining and adding any toppings like cheese.


Does Turkish Delight have to be this difficult?

I've just had a go today. I only stirred until all the lumps of cornstarch lumps had gone, about 20 mins. It was getting very thick then! Note that the lemon juice with the sugar and the cream of tartar in the cornflour mix will convert some of the sugar to invert sugar, which is supposed to help reduce the growth and size of sugar crystals (I learnt about this whilst making fudge, which starts with the same sugar heated to softball stage, and marshmallows, which are like the Turkish delight mixture if made with gelatine, just whipped to incorporate a lot of air.) Overall the process is quite simple, as you say, it is time consuming. Good luck with future trials. Chris


Considering even the possibility of litigation, that is, if someone were to get sick and then make the correlation, I think the wiser move as an entrepreneur would be to simply give the stuff away before it expires. I'm sure the regulars would enjoy it. Plus, if you think quick enough on your feet you may be able to come up with a way to use the giveaway as a promo for something that actually brings in revenue ...perhaps a DIY Irish Car Bomb with Bailey's provided at no charge, worth the sale of Guiness and Jameson's.


Sugar forming tiny bubbles in microwaved coffee?

Upon addition of sugar to the superheated coffee, the formation of bubbles (phase transformation) occurs because the fine particles of sugar provide sites for the heterogeneous nucleation of gas from the liquid.

When the introduction of a fine inoculant (such as sugar particles) results in sudden fizzing of a liquid, it is an indication that there has been minor superheating of that substance.

Superheating tends to occur more in microwaves than on stovetops because people use metal saucepans/kettles on the stove, while generally using glass or glazed ceramic containers when heating a volume of water in a microwave oven.

When water is heated in a glass or glazed ceramic container rather than a metal one, the very hard surface of the container means that there are few scratches on it to act as sites for the heterogeneous nucleation of gas. Fewer heterogeneous nucleation sites means less heat loss through the transformation of liquid to gas.

This university site also makes a good point about the tendency for stovetop heating to cause localised superheating in the vicinity of the container walls... However, I think that this would tend to cause more boiling due to localised heating to the point that homogenous nucleation can occur (with the homogeneously nucleated bubbles then acting as further heterogenous nucleations sites) – not because of stirring of the water.

With regard to why your bubbles remained present for the duration of drinking, I would hypothesise that this perhaps has something to do with the oils in the crema of the coffee, and/or reaction of the dissolved sugar to form something that increases the surface tension of the water. (Not sure what you would call the opposite of a surfactant effect).

A final thing I would like to mention is that (as indicated on the UNSW page), microwaving liquids has the potential to result in violent reaction, or even explosion, of the liquid — in other words, you are risking serious burn injuries by taking a shortcut to heat it up.

Adding a powder (like sugar or instant coffee) to superheated water is particularly bad because in doing so, you are introducing millions of nucleation sites at once. That said, you should also be aware that since gas bubbles themselves promote heterogeneous nucleation, simply placing a spoon in the cup can be enough to cause an 'explosion'.

If you really need to microwave a liquid, (e.g., if you are cooking something), consider heating it in a microwave-safe plastic container that has been washed a few times (and is therefore abraded on the inside). You should also stop the microwave to check the temperature of the liquid at regular intervals, rather than nuking the fluid for an excessively long time.


I don't know how big wild coconuts typically are, but the USDA says that one medium coconut has 397 grams of meat. Good enough for back-of-the-envelope calculations, perhaps?


Advantages of metal vs glass stockpot lids

They don't break if you drop it on the floor. That about covers the advantages of a metal lid here.

The "heat kept in" is largely a matter of the steam condensing on the lid, and is pretty much exactly the same for metal or glass lids, or a sheet of tinfoil over the pot. If they are on, it is, if they are off, it's not.


If you have a blow torch or a brûlée torch, just burn the hairs off.

If this is not an option, I've heard that you can use a normal safety razor. In this case I would definitely choose a razor without a lubricating strip along the top.


Heavy cream can be frozen but only if intended to be used in its liquid form (soups, sauces, etc.) It will not whip properly once frozen.

I agree with Pointy that there's really no point in freezing it because it's usually dated about 2 months out from the time I'm purchasing it.  Additionally, if kept cold and not left out on the counter unnecessarily (as with most dairy products) it will keep well beyond the date on the carton.

I'm not a milk drinker but use it baking/cooking.  If I have a recipe that requires milk I use a 50:50 ratio of heavy cream and water and haven't had any issues yet.  If I was using milk it would be whole milk so it's kind of like making your own version.


Does food get spoilt if it catches moisture?

There's different things here -- loss of texture/freshness (ie, stale), and unsafe to eat (spoiled)

There's lots of things out there that aren't unsafe to eat, but you might not want to -- eg, the brownies that have become so hard that you might be worried about chipping a tooth.

Some things can be saved after they've had issues -- it's possible to reheat corn chips or deep fryer to crisp them back up.  Limp carrots will come back if wrapped in a damp towel and left in your crisper for a day or two.  Limp lettuce might revive in an icewater bath.  Day-old bread (slightly stale, not rock hard) can be put in a dampened paper bag and put in the oven on low heat to revive.

... but all of these assume loss of freshness, not rotted / covered in mold / etc.  If it smells funny, there are bugs crawling all over it, it's now fuzzy, or it's taken on new interesting colors ... it's time for the compost or trash.

Sometimes, slightly less than fresh item are great in other things -- vegetables past their prime can go into making stocks; stale bread for croutons, french toast or bread puddings.


When should I add proofed yeast to a bread machine?

It depends on why your bread machine is having you keep your yeast dry:

If it's because you're putting a bunch of ingredients in the night before and setting the machine to have bread ready for breakfast (e.g., on a delay), then you have to use dry yeast. The yeast needs to stay dry so it doesn't start growing until the machine is ready to start.
If its because the machine does a preheat cycle to warm up the flour/water/etc. before mixing, then add in the proofed yeast when mixing is about to start. That also means you'll probably want to wait until shortly before that to proof your yeast.
If its just to make mixing easier, then combine it with the wet ingredients instead.

Remember to count the water/sugar/etc. from proofing the yeast as part of the total in the dough (e.g., if you proof in 100g of water, add 100g less water than the recipe calls for).


What kind of wood puts the most flavor in the meat?

The strongest wood is not always the best wood. Mesquite is by far the strongest smoke wood. But it can be a disaster on anything but beef or fast-cooked foods. Hickory is a good complement to barbecued pork, and is the traditional wood for Carolina barbecue. I like to use hickory and cherry with pulled pork and ribs, myself.


I've baked bread in a convection microwave with some succes. It's a far cry from what you can achieve with a good electric oven, but you can get some decent results. Certainly a poor to average microwave-sized electric oven will perform about the same as a decent convection microwave combination.

Just remember to turn the microwave funtion off entirely. I once accidentally microwaved a loaf instead of baking it, and I have never seen so much smoke in my apartment.

So if you're expecting to do a lot of baking, I'd ditch the microwave aspect and buy a good microwave-sized electric oven (the Rowenta OC7868 or the Breville BOV800XL are good options). Since your current microwave still works, I'd only go for a convection microwave if you absolutely only have room for a single microwave-sized appliance.


I'd go with "certainly not safe" - and probably rotten.

Even for fermenting foods like yogurt or sauerkraut you need to follow a certain protocol to ensure the end product is safe. Yes, a pot of milk that was left out can turn into a delicious soured milk if the right bacteria grows in it. It can also turn into a nasty rotten mess.

If you want to ensure a specific product, you should add the appropriate bacteria, the traditional way would be a spoonful of an established product. Alternatively the bacteria can be obtained in liquid or dry form. This would give you a safe product.

While it is possible to ferment coconut milk with "yogurt bacteria", it's pretty unlikely that the "desired" bacteria mysteriously appeared in your milk. So no, your coconut milk is not safe. And if you write "slimy", I assume it's simply rotten.


Questions about battering and frying chicken

Some recipes call for dipping the chicken in egg before coating with flour while others call for milk (or butter milk).

Egg provides a lot more protein and will produce a thicker, more stable crust. Milk is obviously much thinner, contains much more water, and won't cling to the meat as much. Buttermilk is a cultured product that's thicker than plain regular milk (more like a thin yogurt) and clings more heavily to the meat than plain milk.

You should also consider other options for breading. Seasoned flour is fine if that's what you want, but various other ingredients are often used. Because wet ingredients like milk or egg don't stick well to moist meat directly, the meat is often dredged in flour first, then dunked in milk or egg, and then dredged in seasoned breadcrumbs, panko, cornmeal, crushed corn flakes, or other dry crunchy ingredients. The combination of flour and milk or egg creates a sticky layer that helps bind the breading to the meat.

  I've seen some recipes that call for dipping in egg and flour twice. I'm assuming this just makes the skin crustier?

Again, the order would be: flour, egg, flour. The first layer of flour helps the egg stick to the meat, and the second layer of flour creates the crust.

Harold McGee explains that the crust provides a bit of insulation that protects the meat from the high heat of the oil in which it's fried. Considering that, you can build up a thicker crust if you want to, but a thicker crust provide more insulation, and you might risk having the crust become too dark before the meat is sufficiently cooked.

Note that meat is sometimes floured even without milk or egg, especially for stewing or quick sautéing. In those cases the flour browns a bit in the fat and adds flavor, and some end up in the pan where it can be used to help make a pan sauce.

  It can be sort of a time consuming process and I've wondered about doing some of the prep work the night before I cook.

If you're cooking at home, you probably don't have capacity to deep fry more than a few pieces of chicken at any one time -- you don't want to overload the fryer because you don't want the oil temperature to drop too much. Frying is all about managing the oil temperature. What people usually do is to start breading the chicken pieces as the oil is heating up. Then you (gently!) drop a few pieces into the oil to cook, and continue breading while each batch cooks. With a little practice, you'll be done breading the parts well before you're ready to cook the last batch.

I've breaded meat ahead of time without trouble, and it seems to work well especially for thin cuts like pork or chicken cutlets. I'm not sure I'd do it a full day ahead though. The risk is mainly that the flour can become fully hydrated and may not stick to the meat as well, and then the breading may separate from the meat. If the meat releases enough liquid (remember, seasoned flour and breadcrumbs usually contain salt) the coating could be fall off before you even get it into the fryer.

If you need to stack pieces after they've been breaded for any length of time you should place a sheets of waxed paper between layers to keep them from sticking to each other.

  I realize that I could probably figure this out through trial and error, but was hoping to figure it out without wasting any food.

You don't have to do all your trials in one go -- try different recipes on different nights and make notes about the results you get each time. There's certainly no need to waste the food.


This seems like a tasty recipe for chicken, but it doesn't strike me as a carne asada (would that be pollo asada?) type of flavor.

For the marinade itself, you might try adding any or all: fresh garlic; cilantro or coriander (same plant, former is leaves; latter is seeds – will have different results in flavor impact, see which or both you like best); chipotle peppers; paprika; oregano.

I also like to use more than one citrus in mine, usually either lemon and lime, or lemon, lime and orange juices. Always fresh-squeezed; if they just aren't available now where you live it's worth waiting until they are.

Some oil added to the marinade would help the marinating process and deepen the flavor. For beef, I'd use peanut oil; for chicken, maybe grape seed or avocado. You could go with EVOO if you're attached to it, but it seems the strong flavors of whatever-meat asada would drown out the subtle notes of a good EVOO.

To punch up the umami you could add some dried porcini mushrooms just before you throw the already marinated chicken into the pan. Either very finely ground and lightly sprinkled over the meat, or reconstituting the mushrooms and using the reduced liquid in the marinade.

Personally, I would prefer grinding the dried ones into a fine powder. This also gives you an opportunity to layer in more flavor by adding any or all to the mushroom pieces in the grinder: garlic crystals, peppercorns, dried chipotle peppers, coriander seeds, smoked paprika, dried ginger.

If at all practical where you live, it will always taste best charcoal-grilled, even worth huddling in the freezing cold of winter to tend the barbecue.

And one last note, you can never go wrong using fresh, whole seed forms of your spices, lightly toasting, then grinding them just before use. They keep a lot longer than the powdered versions too, so it's a worthy investment even on a tight budget if you're able to pick up a new one or two here and there.


I've never heard of anyone trying to de-fuzz a peach, so this isn't a direct answer:

It might be simpler to just use nectarines.

It's a myth that it's a cross between a peach and a plum. They are the exact same species, the nectarine is just a peach with the fuzzless recessive genes.


This is a tough question. Fresh fruit puree is very unsuitable for incorporating in custards if you want a strong flavor. It contains tons of water, and dilutes your creme brulee a lot, and also brings the pH balance out of whack, interfering with the setting. You can only incorporate small amounts for color and a hint of flavor. Don't forget to add sugar to the puree when you are doing this, it strengthens the fruit flavor perception and reduces the negative effects on texture.

If you want a strong flavor, here are your options when having access to normal kitchen equipment, in order of closeness to the ideal of getting real strawberry flavor into otherwise typically-textured creme brulee:

Purchase strawberry aroma and use it. Don't forget to color the creme brulee, either with food coloring or with small amounts of puree.
Use freeze dried strawberry powder. You might have difficulty finding the real thing (pure strawberry juice freeze-dried) as opposed to maltodextrin-based powders, read the description carefully. An alternative is to grind strawberries which you have dehydrated yourself, but that will give you inferior results.
Cook down your own strawberry simple syrup and use that. This works with any fruit. Start with pressing juice of an amount roughly equal to your dairy base - if your recipe uses 350 ml of cream and 150 ml of milk, you need 500 ml of strawberry juice. Depending on your juicer, this will need 1.5 - 2 kg of strawberries. Make the juice, then add sugar at 1:3 ratio (so 165 g sugar for 500 g of juice). Cook on a low flame until a candy thermometer shows 104 Celsius. Let it cool to room temperature before using in the creme brulee. Quick alternative with somewhat worse taste: use a store bought jam, preferably a smooth spread without chunks.
Use liqueur. This is usually done with other fruits where there are traditional brands of liqueur, such as cassis, grand marnier or frangelico. But if you can find a good strawberry liqueur, try that. Alcohol is a great flavor carrier and will give you aromas you can't get from cooked down or dehydrated fruit. For best results, combine the alcohol with one of the other solutions here.
Instead of putting the flavor agent within the custard, go the traditional route and pour a fruit sauce over it. You can use the reduction from the previous point for that, or make it in some other way.
Again, instead of flavoring the custard itself, pour it over whole strawberries in the mold. This works better with poured custards or puddings rather than creme brulee, since the strawberries won't take kindly to baking.
Instead of making creme brulee, make a strawberry sabayon, using fruit puree or fruit juice as the liquid to be thickened by the yolks. This dessert has a strong fruity flavor, but a very different texture, and it also brings out the egginess of the egg yolks.

As an aside, these methods are useful beyond creme brulee, you have the same options for all creamy desserts (including panna cotas, starch puddings, cheese based cremes) and many types of cake icing, especially buttercreams.


What is the difference between genoise sponge and victoria sponge?

If I recall correctly the differences are slight, but significant.

Both have a subtle, delicate flavour with an exceptionally light texture.
The Victorian is usually regarded as the healthier, lighter of the two, but I believe this is mostly due to the Génoise usually being rendered as a layer cake with a lavish buttercream filling, though if I remember right it can also be used as a base for madeleines and ladyfingers. The Victorian can be baked thin and carefully rolled with cream for Swiss rolls.
The main difference is the Victorian slices disorderly and 'crumby' while the Génoise retains its form neatly.
Both are accompanied well by, and are traditionally served with hot beverages namely tea and coffee.

The Italian creation is undecidedly the more complex one to prepare.

You're right about separating the egg whites and beating them separately aerating the mixture further, but I'm not certain if it would make a noticeable difference in case of sponge cakes but I'd love it if someone could comment on this.


What is the difference between tripe and offal?

Offal is a general term for any parts of the animal's innards which are not the conventional cuts from the muscle and bone.  It would vary by cuisine, but could include liver, kidneys, heart, brains, stomach, or tongue.  Those particularly fussy about what they eat might even extend it to things like tail and neck, although most wouldn't regard these as offal per se.

Tripe, on the other hand, refers specifically to the stomach. It's usually washed, and often bleached, then slow cooked, although again, the preparation varies by region.  Common tripe dishes come from the stomachs of cow and sheep, and despite falling out of favour as a cheap alternative to regular meat, it's still quite popular in some parts of Europe.


What causes dough made from coconut flour to not stick together?

Gluten is what makes a dough stick together and have structure. Coconut flour has no gluten, so the resulting dough will be a crumbly mess. Intentionally gluten free recipes usually contain any number of special additives to compensate for the lack of gluten.


Unfortunately, no, at least not if you want to use the end product as milk.

As this answer to a previous question of yours suggests, once the sugar is dissolved in a liquid or purée, there is no way to get it out. You can technically separate the sugar from the liquid (See this question and its answers on the Chemistry stack exchange) but I don't believe any of the suggested methods (such as evaporating off the liquid, or fermenting out the sugars) will work for you here.


What is the best way to make Kopi Luwak coffee?

I found someone posted out some suggestions here. http://www.realkopiluwak.com/perfect-cup/

I had it once before as espresso and it's a very smooth coffee. I reckon it isn't too hard to make a good one, but I reckon using siphon may be a good idea. It's best to get its natural flavor out.


Pressure cooked stock out overnight, still safe?

No, it is not safe.  As soon as a pressure cooker loses pressure it is not hermetically sealed. Stock, in particular, is often used as a culture medium in petri dishes to GROW bacteria.  They love the stuff.

Pressure cooking or pressure cookers do not confer magical powers to food - once the pressure is gone all the regular food handling rules apply:

Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours (1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F).
When in doubt, throw it out.

Here's a little story about Bending the Rules on Bacteria and Food Safety, wherein a cookbook author feeds lethal week-old stock to his family - and the expert opinion on why this is NOT ok.


Your answer of "everything except arrowroot" is spot on. You should use a corn starch slurry in all likelihood. It is less expensive and more commonly available and will not create a "slimy" consistency; corn starch is also purported to have a creamier texture.

Arrow root also may have been overcooked by your preparation as described in your comment as it has a lower temperature that it needs to reach relative to other thickeners. Keep it handy for your acidic sauces, but keep to corn starch for the dairy. A benefit of arrowroot in clear sauces is that it won't make the sauce cloudy as will corn starch; however with dairy this is not a concern.


Per the Foodsafety.gov, since sprouts must necessarily be grown in warm and humid conditions, they are unique among produce items in presenting a risk of food born illness.

  Since 1996, there have been at least 30 reported outbreaks of
  foodborne illness associated with different types of raw and lightly
  cooked sprouts. Most of these outbreaks were caused by Salmonella and
  E. coli.

You will have to decide whether you feel this level of risk is acceptable to you.

They suggest the only real mitigation is thoroughly cooking the spouts.

Savvy Vegetarian suggests:

  Start with very clean containers and utensils, preferably glass - no plastic.
  Rinse the seeds or beans before soaking.
  Use purified water for rinsing and soaking.
  Keep the soaking seeds in a cool place away from direct light.
  Soak for no more than 12 hours.
  Drain and rinse once or twice while soaking seeds.
  Wash your hands before handling the sprouts.
  Rinse several times a day while growing sprouts.

However, I am not sure I can concur with their assertion that these precautions render spouts as safe as any other produce, as only spouts are grown in warm, moist conditions.


Cauliflower: mildew, or just darkening with age?

It's just oxidation from the cauliflower aging. In the state the cauliflower in the picture is in, I wouldn't even bother removing the spots unless you're preparing it in a way that makes you think they'd be unsightly. If the curd/florets are still firm, you're good.


No, it doesn't have to thicken, at least not in the way custards like creme caramel thicken. "Coat the back of the spoon" is just a misnomer, a term known to experienced cooks which confuses everybody who learns to cook on their own.

For "Coat the back of the spoon", read the comment riotburn left at the question What is the correct consistency of a cream soup?. It says: "The best way to describe 'coat the back of a spoon' is where if you dipped the spoon into the soup, take it out and holder over the pot, you'll find thin film (<1mm thick)."

For the ice cream, heat to between 80 and 85°C. I've explained it somewhere else, but in short, this gives you enough thickening without overcooking. If it is really gelato and not French style, it should be thickened with starch anyway. Also, watch videos on the Internet for how to make ice cream, they show the correct consistency. I think Allrecipes had a good one, but their search is so strange, I can't find it and don't know if they have it or not.


How long do I boil store bought or canned tomato sauce for spaghetti?

If the canned good is already "spaghetti sauce", it simply needs to be heated.  There is no need to cook it for hours.  If you are beginning with canned tomatoes, and making your own sauce, 20 to 30 minutes is usually enough to cook a basic Italian tomato sauce.


Can I make panna cotta using a flavored, non-gelatin "Jell Dessert"?

Yes! I was able to make a panna cotta using this product in a standard recipe with some minor changes. Just incorporate the Jell Dessert powder where the gelatin is called for and subtract 1/4-cup from the prescribed sugar.

I started with this recipe on JoyofBaking.com.

The recipe, like most I've seen, calls for one standard 1/4-ounce packet of gelatin. From what I've read (e.g. here) this amount is used to gel 2 cups of water in standard application. The preparation directions for the Jell Dessert also call for 2 cups of water, so it probably contains an equivalent amount of gelling power to a standard packet of gelatin.

The main ingredient in the Jell Dessert powder that isn't a gelling agent is sugar. As sugar is also a major ingredient in panna cotta, I figured that I could try cutting the sugar by the sugar content of the Jell Dessert. I estimated this amount by observing that the Jell Dessert is two thirds sugar by weight (14 g of each 21 g serving, according to the Nutrition Facts), measuring the total volume of the powder at a bit more than 1/3-cup, and assuming that all of its ingredients are of similar density. A little more than two thirds of 1/3-cup is 1/4-cup.

So, I made the following substitutions to the standard recipe:

When the recipe calls for sprinkling the gelatin onto cold milk, I instead mixed the Jell Dessert powder with the milk. I mixed instead of just sprinkling because I was afraid that the additional ingredients would clump around the gelling agents and prevent them from getting properly wet, otherwise.
I cut the powdered sugar to cook with the cream from 1/2-cup to 1/4-cup.

The result was, as far as I could tell, a successful, strawberry-flavored panna cotta. I'd never tasted panna cotta before, so I didn't have a basis for comparison, but it set nicely, was pleasantly creamy, didn't taste too sweet to me (at least, as served with semi-sweet chocolate sauce), and was, in my opinion, delicious.

I expect that the same substitutions would work for this product in other panna cotta recipes. I'm not as sure whether other prepared Jell Desserts (including Jell-O) would work the same way or not.


Can I use ground beef meatballs in stews like Boeuf Bourgogne?

It would be a different  dish, but that's no reason not to try it. Unless they're very picky, I'd  make it as a family meal first  before trying it on anyone else. You may need to make some adjustments. I suggest  browning the meatballs first then not cooking them for as long in the stew, in the hopes that they don't fall apart. The rest of the ingredients may still need a long cooking time, so you might want to add the browned meatballs  partway through cooking if you cook the stew in an oven or on top of the stove. A slow cooker is much gentler and shouldn't be opened during  cooking, so I'd put them in at the beginning as normal  in that case.


Use orange juice instead of water for syrup to make Orangettes?

Letting the peel simmer in the syrup is to candy the peels, as they are too bitter to be eaten as is. In my opinion, adding orange juice to this syrup won't make that big of a difference. The peels in themselves has a much stronger orange flavor than the juice has. If it makes you happy, you can replace some of the water with juice. When not wanting to waste, I just eat the oranges.

As to the syrup, I understand you do not like to waste stuff, but it is just water and some sugar (with some extra flavor now), so I usually discard it. However, if you really wanted to, you could use it in several applications, but make sure you account for the correct ratio (orange sauce for a duck breast, maybe you could add it to a cake if the water is no problem, you could make turkish delight with it, etc.)


trying to rescue bland chicken soup that is already quite thick

I always equate "depth" with "time".
The longer it simmers, the more depth it gains.
Adding anything you mentioned at the end may punch up the flavour, but I'd consider it to be 'top end' rather than 'depth'.
My first thought would be to drop it in a slow cooker & see how it is in 4-6 hours - with or without your added ingredients, though definitely half the salt you are considering adding if it really is under-salted. Salt during the process seems more effective than at the end. However, you can always lift it a little more at the end more easily than taking it out again if you over-do it ;)
I'd also consider 'cheating' with a good chicken or veg stock cube.
I'd be wary of vinegar, I'd be more inclined to butter &/or cream.


The seal, the pot, none of it really matters.

You don't sterilize food when you cook it, you pasteurize.

Even if it was perfectly sealed, there's still baddies that didn't get killed.  Pasteurization brings food bateria to a safe level, not a 0 level.  Once food gets back in the 'danger zone', it can start growing pretty quick again.

This is the same reason you can't cook a sous vide meal and then leave it on the counter forever.


Cooking Chemistry: lemon juice/soymilk buttermilk substitute turning bitter and 'rising'

Soy milk is bitter. Enzymes in the beans (lipoxygenase) combine with fats in the presence of water to produce what is usually described as a "beany flavor"; bitter and grassy.

The solution to this problem, although not done in many traditional soy milk preparations, is to cook the soy milk long enough to destroy the enzyme. Many, but not all, soy milk manufacturers will cook the milk as well as add a lot of flavorings to mask the bean flavor.

When enough lemon juice is added to soy milk it will coagulate but in my experience it does not produce flavors more bitter than the milk itself. I have, however, found that, regardless of coagulant, soy milk declines in quality very quickly and, even when I thoroughly boil it to deactivate enzymes and "beany" compounds, it will go from sweet to bitter in just a few days. I have also had homemade soy milk start to turn after a relatively short amount of time developing rancid flavors or activity that implied fermentation such as independently souring or clabbering.

I don't have any proof but based on my own experience I suspect that the lemon is not the culprit. If your milk has become so bitter as to be inedible then I think your soy milk may have spoiled.

As for the foaming- in your comment below you mentioned that the soymilk in question was Silk. Silk is one of the most modified soymilks- they definitely err on the side of flavor rather than simplicity and have a lot of additives for flavor and texture.

One of the additives is Calcium Carbonate. Calcium Carbonate gently coagulates soymilk and is sometimes used for making silken tofu. In Silk it is no doubt used to make the product more creamy.

The existence of Calcium Carbonate in your milk could explain your foaming as it can form CO2 in the presence of acids.

Notes

Soy milk does not coagulate well with lemon juice. It requires a lot of acid to coagulate and so is overly sour and it abruptly produces a very fragile curd. I agree that the advice that you read must have been for baking. If you can't use real buttermilk then in such a dish I would recommend silken tofu for the creaminess and don't worry about the acidity.
In general the way to temper bitterness is to add salt.
As a rule of thumb food that is bitter is often poisonous. I don't imply that that is the case here but you should trust your tongue better and not feel forced to eat questionable food.


Sourdough starter - Have I been doing it wrong?

You're fine. The reason to discard starter when you feed it is so that you don't end up with exponentially more starter and rapidly run out of room for it. You can slow down the growth of your starter and thus the need for frequent discards by keeping it in the refrigerator and feeding it once a week rather than every day. I've been doing this for about two years now.

If you prefer, and if you have time, there are a number of things you can make with the "unfed" starter, rather than discarding it. I personally like the pancakes/waffles (same ingredients, different technique) from King Arthur Flour.


The core technique is prevent the food from getting cold.

With sous-vide and other low-temperature cooking methods, pre-warming your plates is essential. Also, sauces etc. should be pretty hot and you plate the coolest food (the meat or fish) last. Serve immediately.


How do I make my Thai curry with paste taste better?

If available, add Kaffir Lime leaves to the coconut milk.
They go a surprisingly long way in adding a more authentic Thai taste.  It adds more sweet & savory flavor; not like something like Bay leaves at all.


Should I cook frozen salmon differently from fresh salmon?

Once you thaw the salmon, you can treat it like you would fresh salmon.  Freezing may degrade the texture of the fish a small amount (it may not even be noticeable if they were commercially frozen in a blast chiller), or allow a little moisture loss, but otherwise the fish is essentially unchanged.

If there is any weeping or moisture coming out, pat the filets dry with a lint free towel or paper towel before high heat cooking methods like broiling or pan frying.

If the filets are thin, you can even cook them from frozen without pre-thawing them; they will thaw as part of the cooking process.

The best way to thaw them is to put them in refrigerator until they are thawed.   You can then proceed with your recipe like you normally would.


Sugar syrup with orange juice foams excessively

I don't know what exactly it is about citrus - whether a particular combination of proteins, essential oils, lots of small particulates, or something else - but in my experience this is common to many citrus fruit.  It seems to be a general property that they capture gas bubbles very effectively, leading to froth.  Citrus froths impressively whenever it's heated, shaken, or carbonated, and it probably didn't help that your syrup would have been fairly viscous.

I suggested in another answer about excessive foaming that reducing the heat can reduce the amount of gas escaping from solution, and thus reduce frothing. (This is also recommended in the marmalade recipe provided by @Debbie in comments.) But I suspect this would slow or interfere with your attempts to reach a soft-ball consistency.

Another thing that helps is clarification - removing small particulates seems to reduce citrus' tendency to foam. There are several methods being used by leading bartenders to clarify juices for carbonation, the easiest of which is filtration.  You could run your juice through a fine coffee filter, which would take a while but be easy to do for small amounts at home. If you want to get really serious about it, you could also try something like agar clarification... but that's almost certainly overkill for a spontaneous decision to use a spare 50 g of juice. Maybe if you were producing this at commercial scales...

At any rate, the foaming probably won't ruin your syrup.  Any effects due to uneven heating are likely to come out in the wash of other factors, such as the added proteins and acids in the juice. Using a taller pot and stirring well are probably the simplest ways to deal with this as a minor annoyance, unless you need a more rigorous solution for working in larger amounts.


I've made rather good bread with Hoegaarden, so I assume any witbier like Blue Moon would be fine. There is a noticeable flavor contribution, but it isn't overpowering or unpleasant (unless you don't like witbier, I guess). I don't think I'd use the shandy, but it wouldn't necessarily be overpowering - the bread would probably just taste somewhat lemony.


Choux pastry (Chocolate eclairs) doesn't rise

It's actually been a few years since I made éclairs, so I might be forgetting a few things, but here are my immediate reactions to the recipe:

"Plain flour" (by which I assume they mean all-purpose flour) is not appropriate for choux paste.  You should be using bread flour (AKA "strong flour"), you need the extra gluten for this.  That is probably the most important reason why your choux paste didn't turn out right.
The ratio of fat to water is off.  You want a 2:1 water:fat ratio.  Use 50 g of butter or shortening for every 100 mL of water.  For reference, if you're going to adjust the ratio then you also want to use approximately 2.4 eggs per 100 mL of water.  The recipe mentioned in the question is close, but slightly short, so be careful if scaling up.
The ratio of flour to water is blatantly wrong, for both the posted recipe and what you say is the cookbook recipe, and you should never ever use volumetric measurements for flour in such a sensitive baking recipe.  You want to measure out 75 g of flour per 100 mL of water.  For a cup of water that's about 175 g of bread flour.  Don't even try to calculate the volume, weigh it.  This is extremely important, if you don't use enough flour then the choux paste won't fully gelatinize!
A "pinch" of salt is probably OK at this small scale, but if you ever decide to scale up then you need to be accurate; use 2% salt (2 g per 100 mL of water).
The recipe is correct in warning you against letting any of the water evaporate, and telling you to cook and stir the roux until it clears the side and forms balls when shaken.  You should also see a white film on the bottom of the pan.
One thing that the recipe doesn't mention that is extremely important is that you need to wait for the roux to cool before adding the eggs.  Whole egg coagulates at 65° C (149° F) so it is absolutely imperative that the roux is cooler than that, otherwise you will end up with scrambled eggs.
Make sure you completely incorporate the eggs.  Scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary.  And don't try to cut corners by adding all the eggs at once; you really need to add them one at a time, otherwise you'll end up with lumps.  Missing this probably won't cause failure to rise, but you don't want lumps, trust me.
When you're done, you should have a paste that resembles the consistency of a meringue, but heavier.  That is, it holds its shape, even against gravity, but is still soft enough to spread.  I check with my finger.  If it's too stiff, you can add milk to soften it, but if it's not stiff enough, then you didn't get enough of the flour gelatinized and your paste is ruined.  (So don't overmilk!)
I don't agree with their "very hot oven, then lower the temperature to 180° C" instruction.  180° C is a very low temperature for baking choux paste, and I don't think that the 10 minutes of "very hot" temperature (whatever that is) are going to compensate for it.  I have always baked choux paste shells at a straight 200° C (390° F) for 30 minutes.

That's about it for tearing apart their choux paste recipe.  I'm not even going to touch their "custard cream" recipe, which is just not even remotely close to the chantilly cream that éclairs are supposed to have.


Is it possible to keep puff pastry dough in the fridge for future use?

The dough will keep 2-3 days only in the fridge. Freeze and defrost when you need it and it will keep for a month or more. Just wrap it well to prevent off flavors and freezer burn.


How can I make creme fraiche quickly without waiting for it to curdle?

True creme fraiche is made by a biological process.  Within certain limits, fermentation may proceed faster at warmer temperatures, but in the end, you have to wait for the culture to grow and do its work of emitting the acid that thickens the cream.

I would be cautious of raising the temperature above more than a very warm room temperature, however.

My survey of recipes (you didn't provide the one you used) indicates that should be usable after eight to twenty four hours, but it will be thicker the longer you wait.  Even after the fermentation period, several recipes indicate that it will continue to thicken and improve for several more days under refrigeration.


Are steel containers good for storing food in the refrigerator?

There is no problem with storing food in (stainless) steel containers. In fact, most gastronorm containers you see used by professional kitchen are made from stainless steel.

This doesn't mean that they are somehow "the best" - they are as much suited for storing as many other types of container. If you have some special requirements, you have to find out what offers the best tradeoffs for your preference. If you don't, then it doesn't matter if you get stainless steel or something else that is suitable.

The above assumes that your containers are non-reactive. This would include stainless steel, or containers which are surface treated, for example emailled. Naked blue steel will likely react with many foods, so it is not a good choice. Blue steel which has been seasoned at home will also have some reaction with food, even though more slowly than naked, so it is used in pans, but not in storage containers.


This is simply the nature of erythritol. In my testing, I wasn't able to create any kind of viscous, syrup-like consistency by mixing it with water and heating it to reduce; rather, it would always form a hard crystalline structure. This most likely has to do with the fact that, unlike regular sugar (sucrose), erythritol is not hygroscopic at all. (Things that are hygroscopic like to hold onto moisture for dear life; erythritol simply lets go of the moisture and you end up with a hard crystal).
If you are in the US, I'd recommend looking into allulose. It's extremely hygroscopic and I've successfully used it to create a syrup-like consistency. (On a scale from 1 to 10 — 1 being the least hygroscopic and 10 being the most — if erythritol is about a 3, allulose would be a 9 or 10). Be careful, however, as it burns much more easily than regular sugar does. Some downsides of allulose are that it's more expensive than erythritol and it isn't approved in the EU.
I have less experience with xylitol, but I believe it is also hygroscopic enough to be able to form a syrup, but I'm not positive. (Just a note in case anyone wasn't aware: xylitol can be fatal to dogs and cats). I did one test with xylitol but had problems with it crystalizing, but after reading the guidelines at https://willamettetransplant.com/xylitol-simple-syrup/, I realized I likely wasn't careful enough in creating the syrup. It seems any undissolved crystals or stray crystals that come in contact with the syrup can serve as seed crystals to hasten re-crystalization.


This is a recipe that we used for the concierge lounge when I was a chef in the main kitchen of the Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa:

Paneer

5 cups whole milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Bring the milk to a boil, add the lemon juice so that the milk separates    into the curds and whey.
Add a bit more lemon juice if necessary.  Let set for approx. 5 mins.
Line a strainer with a cheesecloth and strain the milk.
Reserve the whey to use in curries instead of water.
Squeeze the excess whey out of the curd and fold the cloth around
 the paneer to form a 4-inch square.  Place the paneer on a
plate and place a heavy weight on top to squeeze out excess whey.
Leave for about 4 hours to set.


What is the typical composition of English Breakfast tea?

Well, blending is not easy and to do it in order to have a consistent product it requires quite the accurate nose. There is a reason why blender (for whatever product) is a very specialized job requiring natural disposition and years of training.

And of course, the final product composition from both big and small companies is a very well guarded secret.

Here are some suggestions, you should try it out and see what you like.

Assamica's Indian version of English Breakfast

Steepster forum (Tea lovers) discussing their own blends


Underside of dough in proofing basket pulls apart

An initial thought would be that if it doesn't affect the final outcome, then is there actually a problem(?). But still, an immediate fix would be: it should be possible to "stitch" the dough - by pulling, stretching and then pinching strategic parts of the dough.

Maybe what you're seeking is to be achieved during the forming and tightening stage where there are the two steps / actions of:

Rounding the dough, via a cupping and turning motion
Tension pulls, to create a "skin" and seal the seam

This can be done more than once with a 10 minute bench rest between each stage. Normally the initial rounding and tension pull stage followed by a second such stage, with the 10 minutes in between is sufficient.

And so ultimately, and not discounting the nature of the dough you're working with, the rounding action and the tension pulls.


How to keep cream from separating in milk?

Homogenization is the process that breaks down fat particles in milk so that they will not separate.  The least expensive hand-held homogenizer I found on Amazon is over $700US. I would say your options are (a) buy a homogenizer, (b) agitate your milk regularly, (c) buy less milk more often, (d) skim off the cream and use in another way, or (e) ignore the separation.


Safety of glues in wooden chopping boards

My research led me to the fact that it is the glue that gets the FDA food-safe approval or not.  The Wood Whisperer's website addresses the different kinds of glues used for cutting boards:

http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/articles/food-safe-glues/


Mustard is one of those simple condiments to make, and is fun to experiment with. At it's most basic mustard is two ingredients:

Mustard Seed
Liquid

There are endless variations from there.

Mustard seed comes in white, yellow, brown and black variations. I suggest buying whole and grinding them yourself using either a mortar & pestle or coffee/spice grinder. (Don't use a coffee grinder that you use for grinding coffee! You'll end up with mustard flavored coffee).

Liquids can be water, vinegar, wine, or even beer. Using vinegar/wine will help it last longer than water or beer would.

Once you've fine ground (of course there are coarse ground varieties too) your mustard simply mix it with the liquid until it is the desired consistency.

Additional ingredients can be added to taste. Honey, turmeric (gives yellow mustard its color), sugar, etc. are all possibilities.

Update: I forgot to mention that mustard needs time for the flavors to mix. This can take anywhere from a few hours to weeks. A fresher mustard tends to be hotter, but an aged mustard can often taste "better" with a slight loss of that initial heat. Refrigerated mustard will keep it's heat longer. Also note, mustard made with water should definitely be refrigerated and consumed quicker than others.


Double-yolked eggs are the result of an anomaly in the egg generation process in the hen.

They can happen in any breed of hen, on any feed.  It is a result of two ova being generated at the same time, and then encapsulated in a single shell.  According to My Pet Chicken, it happens more often with younger hens.

I am not aware of any process to intentionally foster double yolked eggs, but that doesn't mean such a thing doesn't exist.

They are safe to eat, although they may be visually startling.


My french bread dough did not rise on the second rise after forming the loaves

There are many variables that could be at play here - some of the obvious ones have already been suggested, e.g., ambient temperature.  The yeast fermentation process is very temperature sensitive, and can vary 100% in time for a change of less than 10 degrees Celsius, depending on your yeast strain.  Other factors might include moisture level - if the dough is too loose, it will not "rise" in a jelly roll pan, but rather "spread" as it expands.  There is also a possibility that if the dough has over-fermented (too much time spent on the first rise), the gluten breaks down, and cannot sustain the subsequent rise - this is sometimes known as the dough "going to rags" (excuse my English).  In the case of lower gluten flours, particularly rye, the second rise may actually occur, but not seem as evident as it did when in the bowl.

If you are working in winter in a particularly cold or drafty kitchen, you can raise the temperature of the dough slightly if you very carefully turn the oven to 100-110 degrees Celsius (gas mark 1/4 -  200-225 F) for a short time, 4-5 minutes MAX, then TURN THE OVEN OFF.  Cover the dough with aluminium paper to keep the crust from drying out, and place dough in the warm (NOT HOT) oven for an hour or so - this boost in warmth gives the yeast a wake-up.  The interior of the oven should be no more than 50-55 degrees Celsius, or you will kill the yeast.


Are these courgettes overcooked, if so how can I avoid it?

I think the biggest issue is you're baking them instead of roasting them. In order to roast them, you'll need a much higher temperature. 230c or 450f is about right. As Joe pointed out, the pieces are a bit thin for roasting. Spears or large chunks will serve you better. Roast them skin side down and brushing on a little olive oil will prevent the skins from drying out.


What are some seasonings that can spice up a bland frozen chicken alfredo?

Well, an Alfredo sauce is supposed to taste mostly buttery, with the addition of the umami taste that comes from Parmesan. You could always add spicy stuff to it, but that will change the taste into something completely different. If you want to stay true to the basics of an alfredo dish, try adding a handful of freshly grated Parmesan and (to add to the rich umami taste) some chopped sundried tomatoes. Herbs that go well with this dish are oregano and sage.


According to Harold McGee, using olive oil to fry is basically a waste of money. "After I’d heated them, none of the olive oils had much olive flavor left. In fact, they didn’t taste much different from the seed oils."

According to a Spanish study I have access to, you could use high oleic sunflower oil for frying as it degrades better.


How to I need to treat dried green lentils?

Your suspicion is correct about "far less mass than a chickpea" means you don't need to soak them as much. Chickpeas seem to need lots of soaking, but you don't have to soak lentils at all. I guess there are lots of kinds of lentils - the kind you have, the big ones with the skins on; the little peeled orange ones; the smaller dark colored ones with skins on, but I don't know of any kind of lentils that need to be soaked at all before cooking. This is the big advantage of lentils over other dried beans: you don't need to plan so far ahead.


How long can you keep pizza dough in the fridge?

"Will it be okay" could mean a few different things.  Are you concerned about safety?  Flavor?  Other dough characteristics?

In terms of food safety, it's not the best practice to do with dough that lacks preservatives (added or natural, like in sourdough), but a week under refrigeration is pretty unlikely to result in anything really bad happening to dough unless it was already contaminated with bad bacteria or something.  If it's very moist and stored in a way that accumulates moisture on the surface, I suppose it's possible to start growing some mold, but even that's pretty unlikely to be significant within a week.  If you want to be extra cautious, be sure to cook the dough thoroughly (though generally with pizza you're unlikely to end up with raw dough in the center anyway).

Regarding flavor, here's where growth may cause problems.  Excess yeast growth may result in a flavor that's overly yeasty or alcoholic in tone, perhaps a bit "off."  More likely, you will probably get some lactic acid bacteria growth starting, resulting in a slight "sourdough" kind of flavor.  However, mature sourdough cultures are meant to be relatively stable, where the lactic acid bacteria will easily outcompete other microorganisms in the dough and sour it enough to prevent other things from growing.  Your dough (presumably made with commercial yeast) hasn't stabilized into a cycle like sourdough, so it's also possible that other things will grow during the week, potentially leading to various "off" or "funky" smells or flavors in the dough.  Again, I think the most likely outcome is a "sourdough" flavor that will probably be somewhat good, but it's a bit unpredictable when you store dough this long.

Finally, you might be concerned about how the dough will behave.  Generally, about three days is the maximum for most typical dough mixes before yeast start to use up their food and other microorganisms might start to interfere with further yeast growth.  There's usually a gradual decline starting after day three or so: by seven days, you may get significantly less yeast growth if you take it out of the fridge and expect the dough to proof before baking.  (I don't know what your procedure is.  With my pizza dough, I typically degas and shape thoroughly after removing from the fridge, then let my dough sit for a few hours at room temperature to grow more bubbles before baking.  You may not be able to get much rise out of this dough after so long, so you might consider how you want to handle it.)  On the other hand, it really depends on how much yeast was in the original mix and what starts growing over the week.  A thorough degassing and redistribution of the yeast could actually reinvigorate the dough and allow it to proof fine even after several days.

If the dough is not tightly sealed or has some areas more exposed to air, they may dry out after so long.  This can lead to tough spots in the dough.  Perhaps of a greater concern is the effect of acid, alcohol, and other waste products in a dough this old.  While unlikely to cause a lot of problems after a week in the fridge, my experience with overproofed doughs at room temperature and overproofed sourdoughs is that eventually you'll start to see breakdown in the gluten structure, which can cause the dough to tear much more easily or not stretch evenly when making pizza.  (I once had an overproofed sourdough pizza dough that literally tore apart into about three or four pieces as I was trying to load it into the oven; all the acid made it much more fragile.)  Again, this is probably not a huge concern for normal pizza dough with commercial yeast, but be prepared for the dough to behave more erratically when stretching and preparing for bake.  Seven days of fermentation will also change various chemical characteristics of the dough (like sugar content, enzyme breakdown of some elements, etc.), so be prepared for the baking to be a little different.  In particular, browning may happen at a different rate than you normally expect.

In general, it will probably be fine, though it might have somewhat different flavor notes and will rise less.  However, it's a bit unpredictable, which is why most people don't retard dough for more than around three days.  If this situation recurs, I'd strongly recommend simply freezing the dough: pizza dough can be frozen for at least a couple months with few concerns about quality.  A few hours to defrost and you're likely to have a much more predictable experience.


Cook as close the the presentation as possible. Then separate into a batch for the presentation, and another batch to be immediately refridgerated (or placed in a very cold cooler). Reheat that batch when it's ready to be eaten.

Otherwise.. good luck, glad I don't have to judge that contest.


Bulk ingredient for keto/low carb flour substitute mix with gluten

Konjac flour, which consists mainly glucomannan gum, is a natural low-carb bulking ingredient. I have never used it in baking, but I ate noodles made of it. It does have its taste though, so you should probably try eating some shirataki noodles before ordering and baking with this flour to know if you can tolerate the taste.


Celeriac (aka: Celery Root) Skin - Edible or Not?

I too have that Jamie Oliver book (try the roast beef then make the Rendang, amazing), and you are reading the recipe correctly. There is no problem leaving the skin on providing you've washed all the soil off. In this recipe it adds to the 'zombie brain' look, but if you cooking something a bit more refined you might want to take it off so it looks better.

Also, many celeriac recipes involved mashing it, in which case taking the skin off aids that process.


how does bread fermentation change in relation to inital yeast weight, time and temperature?

Long fermentation allows for enzymes to breakdown starch molecules into sugars used by the yeast. This breakdown adds complexity to the flavor of the bread, and loaf color produced during baking. http://www.thescienceofbreadmaking.com/enzymes.html


Are there any tricks to making a light-textured "whipped cream cake"?

If the directions say that you should beat your cream and sugar until you have peaks, then whisk in eggs then that may be a possible cause of your results. You've just put loads of air into the cream, then you're supposed to beat eggs into it, which will punch some of the air out. What I would do is beat the eggs separately (I'd not just beat them until mixed but beat them until they start to turn pale, that adds more air), then fold them and the flour into the cream.

Be careful not to overbeat the cream as well, if you overshoot stiff peaks you'll start to turn it to butter, and then you've lost your lift. I'd stop a bit short of stiff peaks, leave it a bit looser.

Leaving that much sugar out without reducing the amount of cream would mean that you've got too much liquid in your cake. If you have too much liquid it won't be able to crystallize and the cake, while it will rise, will not be able to hold shape and will collapse. I would compensate by leaving some of the cream out. If you weigh all the dry ingredients you can work out a ratio of dry to wet ingredients (the eggs and cream separately). Then if you weigh the amount of sugar you plan to remove you can work out how much of a percentage of each wet ingredient to take out. Or you could just wing it and use 1 1/4 cups cream and 1 3/4 eggs and see how it goes, that's probably about right anyway.


I'd be a little concerned about mixing aluminum foil with acid foods. Aluminum acetate has an astringent taste. I'm not finding it on the internet, but aluminum citrate (from citric acid in the lime juice) likely has a similar flavor.

Here's a recent, and seemingly reputable look at cooking acid foods in Aluminum foil (PDF file): Risk Assessment of Using Aluminum Foil in Food Preparation

Using parchment paper rather than aluminum foil would avoid the possibility of producing bad tasting metal salts.


Jam with honey & without pectin has a saucy consistency always

Jam is set with pectin or it is syrup. Period.

If you are not adding pectin then you are relying on whatever pectin is available in the fruit you use. Strawberries don't have a lot. Oranges have a good amount but it's in the peel- thus the existence of marmalade.

Pectin requires sugar and acid to set. The sugar is not going to prevent a normal jam from setting.

If you boil it longer you will just be removing water which will thicken your syrup and maybe it will be thick enough for your tastes but it still is unlikely to gel like jam.

If you are deathly opposed to purchasing pectin, you can make it yourself by boiling tart apples. It's a lot of work and you will end up with a product that is no better than commercial pectin but you will have control of the process.


Cooking time and temperature for one oven and two different dishes

Heat ham at 275.
Remove ham and hold. Covered with foil and maybe towels to hold heat.
Raise oven temp, bake mac & cheese.
Ham should still be warm when mac and cheese done.

If it were me, I'd return the ham to the oven for the last fifteen minutes or so to crisp the skin a bit with the higher temperature.


I don't think it's shiso, as that tends to have a more jagged edge.  I suspect it's the botanically related Korean kkaennip (aka 'sesame leaf', which is also of the family Perilla):

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/07/seriously-asian-perilla-leaves.html
http://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/perilla-leaves

(but I can't discount bitter leaf, as that's not something I'm familiar with)


Pickled onion cider instead of pickled onions

The situation you describe sounds like natural Lacto-fermentation.

There are many airborne yeast around us all the time. Every culture on earth (no pun intended) has a some tradition of fermentation for storage purposes. It would seem that you have just the right conditions for that to occur.

This can be a good thing. It creates a product with properties than many find healthful. A few resources are here:

Red Onions

More Red Onions

Same principle for white onions. If you submerged the onion goodness you have going on with a clean disc of some sort you can finish the fermentation and have a yummy condiment !


Discard the contents of the pan in the trash.

Wash the pan with hot water and soap.

All will be well once you've done this. There is no reason to be concerned about which particular pathogens you tossed in the trash and washed down the drain. You can safely assume it was a few of all of them.


Harsh tap water could definitely cause problems. It doesn't take much chlorine to kill bacteria- that's why we use it, of course. An easy experiment is would be to rinse your jars in filtered water after washing them in your chlorinated water.

Another likely culprit is the new source of your starter. From what I was able to find, Fage yogurt is imported from Greece. There is going to be a lot of variability in its freshness shipping to different states and stores in the US. The cultures in Yogurt, even refrigerated, will eventually consume the available lactose and die.

You should try using some other brand as a starter- preferably something produced closer to you so you can have more confidence that it is still viable.

You should also double check your thermometer. If your thermometer was made somehow inaccurate after the move- if your milk doesn't cool below 130F your starter will die. If your milk cools to below 100F or so you starter will be too slow.

Additional Notes

The change in pan is certainly not the problem. Stainless steel will work just fine for yogurt making.

The climate shouldn't make that big of a difference. The relative humidity won't matter as the whole thing is liquid. The local bacteria shouldn't play a major role if your equipment is clean (and you'd notice spoiled milk if competition was a problem.) Altitude wouldn't even matter very much as it would affect boiling temps but not incubation rates AFAIK.

In your process, you mention that you bring your milk to 180 and then immediately cool it. This won't affect your incubation and so I don't think it's your problem but the description, as written, is inadequate. It takes time at a certain temperature for the change in the proteins to happen. See my other answer. The short story is, at only 180F you have to hold the milk at that temperature for 30 minutes to see the intended benefit.

** EDIT **
You added the comment above that the milk didn't change and was like you had just warmed it.
This means that your bacteria were entirely inactive.
Chlorine residue on the bottles might inhibit some bacteria growth but I wouldn't expect it to be able to completely stop it. Likewise, if your thermometer was off and your mix was too cool the bacteria would still do something, just slower.

Your bacteria was dead. It's possible the milk was too hot when you mixed in the starter and killed it but in my experience it's more likely that you had a bad starter.


Whats the difference between white and yellow corn meal. and all cornmeal or half flour half cornmeal

The problem here is that you're comparing two very different recipes: Northern cornbread (yellow meal, equal parts flour, a tablespoon or so of sugar) and Southern cornbread (white meal, no or little flour, no sugar).  There's no real point in trying to mix and match or interpolate between the recipes, any more than than it would make sense to make something halfway between cioppino and bouillabaisse, since they are both just fish stew.


Shiraz / Persian / Wild Figs - How to eat them right? How to extract as much flavor as possible?

Shiraz figs are figs grown in Shiraz, much like Florida oranges are oranges grown in Florida.  You use the Shiraz figs, in this case dried ones, as you would any other fig.

You can either eat the whole fruit, or peel them should you choose (that may be difficult with dried figs, but easier after reconstituting them.)

According to Health Food Made Easy:

  Since it’s sometimes difficult to find fresh figs, dried figs are a
  good option. They can be eaten as is for a sweet treat.

  Dried figs can also be soaked to soften them, or cooked by themselves
  or with any other dried fruits. They are good stewed, and are usually
  sweet enough to require little or no sugar.

Soaking overnight will give them plenty of time to re-hydrate and plump up, should you choose to do so.

I have not heard of making homemade fig extract, or fig extract at all—but if you wish to try it, you would use essentially the same method used to make any homemade extract or liquer.

Cover the figs in vodka (or rum, but that brings the rum flavor), and allow to infuse in cool dark place for several weeks, shaking occassionally.  This will be facilitated if you chop the figs prior to beginning the infusion.

You might also try making fig liquor, adding some sugar syrup to the infusion.  You will find multiple recipes of you google; the linked one is only an example.


Are N2O and CO2 chargers interchangeable for culinary purposes?

N2O is more stable than CO2. Mixing N2O with water or cream won't create diffetent molecules. If the liquid you add N2O is not very thick (as water) the gas and liquid will separate in two. If it is thick, as with cream, the gas will get trapped in it. You can see the proccess with more detail in this question.

CO2 reacts with water (H2O) making H2CO3 (carbonic acid). It makes soda water, which has a slight acid taste, and get bubbles of released CO2 if the pressure of the soda water falls. CO2 can be used for whipping cream, but it will give acid taste to it. You can get some more information from the Wikipedia entry.

None of them cools liquids. The  chargers get cooled down when opened, as the gas inside them decreases pressure. But that gas goes to the cream whipper or the soda siphon, which theoretically should increase its temperature, but having a much larger volume than the charger makes that increase unnoticeable.

When using pressure gas to make espresso, you arent pouring that gas to a closed recipient: the water escapes thru the coffee puck, so it won't cool the water. MyPressi V1 put the gas in the middle of the water chamber, so it could only be used with N2O. V2 of the device puts the gas in the top part of the chamber, so it is not mixed with the water, making it suitable to be used with CO2.


Adding a starchy substance such as rice or noodles to boiling water increases the surface tension of the water. When it's just plain water boiling the surface tension of the water can't hold back the force of the steam rising and the bubbles burst. Starches increase this surface tension making the bubbles more elastic/pliable (essentially creating a foam), thus requiring more force for them to burst. This makes the bubbles last longer which allows them to build up and eventually boil over.

It's more likely to occur with anything starchy like rice and pasta.

A lower temperature should help to control a boil over as it will allow the water to cool somewhat and slow the boil.

I'd assume that, from your quoted text, that if you use less water you're still imparting the same amount of starch making a thicker solution. More water would dilute this and bring it closer to normal water. In my own experience, small amounts of water allow lots of bubbles to form but nothing really boils over, it just splatters a bit. But reducing temperature and tilting the lid to let some air in has helped me in the past.


How to keep insides of calzone from being too runny

Cook's Illustrated really has the definitive guide to making calzones which aren't soggy.  Since that one requires a subscription, check out Serious Eats recipe, which does not, although it doesn't have as much of the science behind making crisp calzone.

To summarize their points on avoiding water:

No eggs
Drain the ricotta
Par-cook and drain vegetables before using in the filling (e.g. blanch, squeeze out, and blot dry spinach)
Add a melty, low-moisture cheese like dry mozzarella or provelone below the ricotta
Cut 2-3 slits in the top and make sure they're open all the way

You can shortcut some of the work by simply using much drier ingredients.   For example, I've been known to make calzone with ricotta salata, which is dry enough to absorb moisture from other ingredients.

Also, if "as hot as it will go" on your oven is more than 500F/250C, you might turn it down a bit.


How should I organize making a cake days ahead?

I wouldn't make the layers fully in the freezer.  It will be hard to seal up and may dry out.  Also, frozen layers are easier to work with.  The freezer will dry out unsealed cake extremely fast.

I'd bake all the cake, trim and level them, wrap tightly and freeze on Thursday.  Make the sauces and creams on Friday and put them in the fridge.  Assemble all on Saturday.


Do I use half as much "double concentrated" tomato paste?

I would not change the amount.

Tomato products are graded as following:

pureed tomatoes (passata di pomodoro), up to 10% dry mass
tomato paste (concentrato di pomodoro) single, 14 to 22% dry mass
tomato paste double, 28 to 30% dry mass
tomato paste triple, 36 to 40% dry mass.

These are German numbers. Other countries use somewhat different prescriptions, but are in roughly the same range. There are higher concentrations of tomato paste too, but they are not commonly sold in supermarkets.

My first reason to not use it is that singly concentrated tomato paste is rarely sold. So I would assume that whoever wrote your recipe intended to use either doubly or triply concentrated paste. It is unlikely that, by changing the amount, you will get closer to what the recipe author used. You may even be already on the low side of tomatoes (if the author uses triple), so you'd make it even less authentic if you try to compensate.

Second, as you see, this is not some simple mathematical doubling of everything. Not even the dry mass jumps exactly double as much, and a tomato is not simply dry mass. If you really wanted to be closer to the recipe (if it has been designed for singly concentrated), you would have to reduce by less than half. And even then, you cannot be completely the same in taste, since the heat/pressure concentration process changes more than just the amount of water.

Third, tomato paste is an ingredient that is used when you want your dish to have lots of tomato flavor and little water. If this was not the case, the author would probably be suggesting the use of tomato puree or canned tomato pieces. Even if the recipe was originally developed for singly concentrated paste, it is rarely wrong to add more tomato flavor by using doubly concentrated. So just throw the whole amount in and see what happens - chances are, you'll like it.


When do I add the chicken stock in this recipe? The author doesn't specify

After the wine.

Let the wine almost reduce, then add the stock. Follow the recipe then from "reduce by two thirds", reducing the now wine-flavored stock.

You might as well be quoting any of 1000 recipes for mushroom risotto. It's basically a typo, the author has seen it so many times before that he doesn't see it.

I can't know exactly the author's intentions, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that those are pretty close.


How should I store leftover uncooked lasagna sheets?

Anything airtight is fine. If the sheets will fit in a Ziploc, that would be perfect. Another option that would certainly be big enough is a bread bag, well sealed. If you still have the box the pasta came in, you can put the bag inside the box to give the pasta a small measure of protection against breakage.

I checked with Still Tasty and they didn't have anything to really add to that.


My curry is going funny I don't know why

Without the recipe to refer to, I would say that this is due to whatever dairy product you are adding (Butter, cream, yoghurt, coconut milk etc.) splitting due to excessive heat.

If you are using home-made ghee or butter, it could also be due to the milk solids having not been properly separated/removed from the mixture.

The temperature you add dairy, the type of dairy, and the length of time it is exposed to heat are critical factors in not allowing a sauce to split. I would:

Reduce the amount of oil/ghee you use in your recipe, and also look into using a high smoke point oil (e.g. rapeseed) instead of ghee or butter. This will eliminate any solid fat coming out of solution when the liquid is added. This type of splitting can also occur when using hybrid spreads (part fat, part oil) for cooking, which is why pure oils (or high quality ghee) is preferred.
Add the water/stock etc. and gently simmer rather than boil until the ingredients are cooked to the desired amount.
Add the coconut cream etc. towards the end of cooking and do not allow the sauce to come to a boil.


What would happen if I add an extra egg yolk to some cookie dough?

Pecan Sandies are sometimes basically shortbread (flour, butter, sugar, little to no water, no eggs). Other recipes include eggs and baking soda, which will give a softer, more cakelike cookie. If you add an egg yolk to the second type, it probably will make little difference. I'm not sure what the effect will be if you add an egg yolk to the shortbread type. However, I did find a shortbread recipe that includes egg yolks, so I don't think it will be a problem.
I found this article that recommends adding hard-boiled egg yolks to "scones, shortbread, biscuits, cornbread, and cake doughnuts." A shortbread-type Pecan Sandy recipe would fit the bill. Crumble the cooked egg yolk by using a spoon to press it through a sieve.

What happens is this: The tiny bits of cooked yolk intersperse throughout the batter and get in the way of the gluten network that forms when flour mixes with wet ingredients. Gluten is necessary in baked goods to give them structure, but too much makes for a tough, chewy crumb that’s generally undesirable in the pastry world. Cooked egg yolks prevent too much gluten (a.k.a. toughness) from developing without weighing the batter down. The result is a cake, cookie, or biscuit so tender that it feels like a mass of buttery crumbs just barely held together until they dissolve in your mouth.

Of course, now that your egg yolk is out of the shell, it's a bit late to boil it as a normal boiled egg. But you can poach an egg yolk in gently boiling water. The yolk has a sort of membrane that will keep it intact if you handle it gently. Here's a recipe for a soft poached egg yolk, but you will want to cook it until it's hard (maybe 5 minutes, but that's a guess).


You are not giving very much information to provide a quality answer.  From a safety point of view, yes, you can absolutely cook them like steaks.

From a quality and palatability point of view, that may not be ideal, depending on where the roast from which the steak were cut came from on the animal.

The question is, are they better suited to rapid, high heat cooking (grilling, pan frying, and so on) or low and slow technique (such as braising)?  Observe the cut steaks:  are they full of connective tissue, and interspersed fat, which appear white or pale?   If so, you probably (unless you have a very expensive piece of meat like prime, which you have not mentioned) have something suited to low and slow.  If they are fairly uniform in red, meaty color, they are probably suited to grilling or pan frying.

For low and slow:  I would suggest a braising technique, as for pot roast.

For rapid:  I would suggest grilling them or pan frying them at high heat.  Cut them across the grain if you can see and identify it.

This is not a very detailed or satisfying answer, because you have not given enough information on what you have, and roasts can come from all parts of the animal, and yield steaks with very different characteristics.


Can I make a Cheesecake without using cream cheese?

Cheesecake is essentially a baked custard with that substitutes cream cheese (and often some sour cream) for the dairy ingredient.
After all, a basic custard recipe is just milk, sugar, and eggs with some kind of flavoring added.
The cheese is the thing that gives cheesecake it's distinctive texture. Substituting cream and corn starch is going to end up with a much more pudding-like consistency.
All that being said, there are a number of recipes that substitute the much milder Mascarpone cheese in place of about half of the cream cheese. This may be sufficient to get you a milder sour flavor without drastically altering the texture. You could also give it a try with all Mascarpone, but you might be pushing into that pudding texture again.
Also, be prepared for the added cost with Mascarpone, which tends to cost 2-3 times as much as cream cheese.


What's the easiest dough for a Lemon Pie that still tastes good?

Well... Pie dough? Flour, fat, salt and water. I recommend lard for flavor and texture.

Alternately, a graham cracker crust can be had by putting the crackers into a plastic bag and rolling with a heavy rolling pin until fine crumbs. Then mix in butter, press into a pan, and bake until fragrant.


How to clean an octopus - and is it worth it

This a a great video that explains every step. She cuts the head off by slicing above the eyes, so removing the beak is a part of cleaning the tentacles.

These are your first cuts.

Cut the head off above the eyes, and slit the head open. Rinse out the guts, there will be some connective tissue that needs to be cut away or broken to get to all of the yucky stuff. Rinse thoroughly and peel. It's easy.

Cut the tentacles away below the eyes (the slice now that contains the eyes can just be tossed). That will expose the beak, which is at the center, where the tentacles meet. That just pops out.

The tentacles can just be rinsed and cut as desired.

Easy, and totally worth it. Good luck.

Of course you can keep the octopus "whole" by slicing out the eyes in a kind of pie wedge shape cut, exposing the beak and guts to be cleaned away but keeping the connection between the tentacles and head intact at the "back", otherwise following the instructions in the video.


I would suggest using a can punch. Punch a hole on both of the shorter sides on top, one to pour with and the other to allow air flow.

If you are unsure what a can punch is.... here is a pic

Hope this helps.


Is it possible to destroy the seasoning on cast-iron by getting the pan too hot?

As Jolene linked to in comments, one can certainly burn off cast iron seasoning at a high enough temperature.  The exact temperature where it will begin to disintegrate depends on exactly what the seasoning layer is like (composition of oils etc. used to treat it, thickness and number of layers, how thoroughly the oils may have been polymerized, etc.).

Depending on the exact seasoning layer composition and thickness, you'll see a number of different possible scenarios -- the layer could effectively "evaporate off" mostly through smoke, it could flake and degrade, and/or it could turn into a layer of powdery ash (sort of like what one sees after a self-cleaning oven cycle).

There's a lot of kitchen "lore" surrounding cast iron seasoning, even on websites that claim to be based on "science."  Everybody has their favorite seasoning methods and materials.  So, I'm really not certain of all the chemical details here.  But my personal experience is that a "young" seasoning that is rarely or never heated very hot is more likely to "smoke off."  A very old seasoning that is quite thick will often leave ash residue (and will require a higher temperature to strip down to bare iron).

No matter how good your seasoning is, though, it will be destroyed by heat long before you get close to damaging the actual iron structure of the pan.  There's an old traditional method of stripping seasoning off a cast iron pan that involves throwing the pan into a hot campfire.  So this is a very old practice.


Does nutritional yeast expire or go bad?

Your question: is it good to use. My answer: yes.

You say it smells and looks normal. That's an important clue.
We are talking about a dry product. No moist means no growth, no toxins...
Best before date. Wikipedia:

  Most shelf life dates are used as guidelines based on normal and expected handling and exposure to temperature. Use prior to the expiration date does not necessarily guarantee the safety of a food or drug, while a product is not always dangerous nor ineffective after the expiration date


You don't have to use any water at all.

Just heat it in a pot or pan, stir to keep it from only cooking on the bottom. It'll likely release enough water to end up essentially steaming itself, and yes, it'll be green water you can drink if you like.

You can also steam it if you like. If you use a very small amount of water to start, then the water released by the spinach will supplement it, and you'll end up with a bit more diluted water, but still probably green.

If you really want to boil it, you can use as little water as you like - a really small quantity will be enough that once it wilts it'll all be submerged. Of course, it's going to be substantially more diluted than if you didn't use water.

And yes, all of these will soften the spinach just as much and release plenty of the flavor and nutrients into the liquid, as long as you cook it long enough. Most people would likely regard that as overcooking, but you can cook as long as you want.


There are really only two main varieties of black pepper, Tellicherry and Malabar.  They are processed the same, and in general (though you might tell a difference in a side by side comparison) have the same flavor profile.  What could easily change the flavor and/or "spiciness" is freshness of the spice, and the grind (both how coarse/fine, and how recently the pepper was ground).  Further, heating the pepper in a pan before grinding, also brings out more flavor.  It also turns out that terroir is a factor in the flavor and aroma of pepper.  So, where your pepper comes from certainly impacts your experience.  The coloration is simply a composition of the inside and outside of the seed itself when it is ground and mixed.


What I would suggest is rather than adding a syrup, to take some of your cooked beans, cook them a bit more, then liquify them in a blender. This should give you a thick sauce that tastes like the beans, therefore compliments them perfectly. You can then thicken them very slightly if the consistency is still too runny, be sparing with the flour though.

In fact, you could probably make something satisfactory by simply using less thickener. If you have a pasty, sticky sauce it's a classic symptom of too much thickener. Try making a roux with some butter and flour, cook it awhile for a dark roux which gives deeper color and more flavor. You can then add the roux in small amounts to your cooking liquid until you get the right consistency.

If you are pressed for time and have some available a couple big spoons of refried beans may just do the trick too.


Less sweet / lower sugar alternative to icing?

It's loaded with fat but less sweet: Cream cheese icing (example recipe) goes very well on some cakes (like a rich chocolate cake).  It does however need to be refrigerated so is best for use on cakes that are to be eaten up when they're served.  It can also be flavoured, e.g. with lemon/orange zest, with will further reduce the sweetness (and provide a nice contrast if the cake is too sweet for your tastes).

Another option is one of many variations on Cornflour buttercream (example). These use cornflour (UK)/cornstarch (US) and possibly flour, together with milk, to thicken a buttercream.  A simpler version is just to replace a little of the sugar in buttercream with cornflour, but I haven't tested whether you can significantly reduce the sweetness without affecting the texture.


What's a good fondue alternative that would fit in a social gathering of fondue eaters for someone who dislikes all kinds of cheese?

Chocolate fondue is well known but not really an alternative, more like a dessert (if there is any appetite left!)

There are other dishes which involve having the guests dip some solid food in a mostly liquid component themselves and immediately eat the result:

Chinese hot pot (incidentally called “fondue chinoise” in French)
Fondue bourguignonne (beef) and bressane (turkey) use more or less the same principle but with hot oil instead of broth. Because hot oil can be dangerous, you need another type of fondue vessel.
Another type of meat-based “fondue” involves cooking meat in hot spiced white or red wine (I've personally never tried it and just found out about it while researching this answer), cf. the French-language Wikipedia articles on red wine fondue (usually with red meat) and white wine fondue (with fish) and some info in English.

While they are very different in terms of taste and ingredients, it could fit the concept of the event and offer an alternative for people who cannot or do not want to eat cheese. The setup is somewhat more complex than a cheese fondue though.


How can I make the tops of my macarons smooth?

The meringue should be glossy and form soft peaks. When you take your whisk out of the meringue it should look like this:

The French say that when you take the whisk out of the meringue, it has to look a bit like a bird's beak, hence the way the meringue forms a soft peak slightly pointing downwards.

But to be honest, I don't believe that is you problem. I guess you just undermix your batter. People often say it has to fall like a ribbon or like magma, but I always thought that is hard to imagine. You can take a knife and cut through the batter. If it flows back immediately, it's ready. But let me tell you: One or two strokes too much with the spatula and the batter becomes unusable.

And one tip I can give you: The process of transferring the batter into the piping bag also 'mixes' the batter, so maybe don't go too far if you are unsure.

And as already said, it is important to tap the the tray from the bottom after piping as it helps to remove any air bubbles in there. Also, always pipe straight from the top (90° angle). This also helps the batter to smooth out.

I wouldn't recommend you to chance the amount of powdered sugar, as the French use Tant pour Tant (TPT) for their macarons, which means fine almond meal and powdered sugar are mixed proportional to each other.

When mixed perfect, it looks like this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WhPHUKwckUw/S4WP1eBE7pI/AAAAAAAAB00/gYqFjGOvEiU/s1600-h/5.jpg

When gone too far, it looks like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_WhPHUKwckUw/S4WP-q8RrdI/AAAAAAAAB08/7R6uO1uGfBQ/s1600-h/6.jpg

Maybe try counting your strokes while mixing, some people say that it helped them.


How to prepare summer squash without the peel becoming rubbery

So it sounds like you're saying that you prepare the squash by slicing it in half, removing the flesh, leaving just the peel, then you return the flesh back to the empty peel. You then bake this as a whole. You want to make the peel crisp/crunchy but not rubbery.

Because the peel and the flesh have different compositions, (i.e. water content, density, etc.) and you're trying to achieve two distinct textures (tender flesh and crunchy peel) you could consider using two separate cooking techniques, one for the flesh and one for the peel, rather than cooking both together, once both have been cooked then you can reassemble them. You could bake the flesh just as you've been doing because it sounds like you're satisfied with that texture.

You might need to experiment some with the cooking technique for the peel to achieve your desired texture. One possible solution would be very quickly deep-frying the peel, this should soften it, but allow you to keep it crisp.
You could also investigate pickling/lacto-fermenting the peel, this would allow you to get a crisp texture, while softening the peel.
Another interesting option is the use of slaked lime (aka Thai red lime paste, Thai pickling paste, cal, or more accurately as Calcium Hydroxide, see here for more details). It is commonly used in food applications to cross-link the pectins that "cement" the cell walls of fruits and vegetables together, thus it preserves a crisp texture that will stand up to intense cooking methods. This is used in South-East Asian cooked fruit desserts and in pickles.

If you don't wish to cook the peel and the flesh separately, then you could use a two step cooking method, like first baking them with the cut-side facing up, then once you've achieved the desired flesh texture, flipping them over and quickly broiling them. The broiling will affect the peel significantly more than the flesh in this approach because you will have flipped them so that the peel now faces up and is closer to the broiler (which provides intense, top-only heat).