Is there a rule of thumb when replacing flour with whipped egg whites in a cake/muffin recipe?

While I suppose this is technically possible, I would never consider trying to make this substitution.

Muffins are are form of quick bread.  Their structure is based on gelatinized starch from the flour, leavened by chemical leavers such as baking powder or baking soda.

In chiffon cakes, sponge cakes, and angel food cakes, the whipped egg whites or meringue form the primary basis of the structure as a foam with mechanically beaten in air.  These batters are much much thinner than quick bread batters, generally, so that the other ingredients can be folded with the egg whites while maintaining the foam.

Instead, I suggest you take a different approach:

Find a better quick bread recipe--there are many, many good banana muffin recipes easily searchable.  If you don't find a muffin recipe you like, you can always use any banana bread recipe for muffins as well, since quick breads and muffins are the same thing, just baked in different shapes.
Find a recipe for a banana sponge cake or banana chiffon cake.  You can always bake these recipes in cupcake form if you like.

Finding a good coherent recipe will almost certainly by easier than trying to adapt a muffin recipe you are not happy with into something else.

If you are really wanting to transform recipes more generally, you need to learn the basis on which they work.  You might want to read Michael Ruhlman's Ratio, as a starting point--however, the ratios of ingredients are only part of the story.  The other part of the story is the method or technique by which they are prepared.

In the world of cakes and muffins and quick breads, these include the muffin method, the creaming method, the reverse creaming method from Rose Levy Berenbaum, and--I don't know a general name for this method--but the whipped egg whites folded with other ingredients technique.

Each of these methods works optimally with different ratios of ingredients, but also achieves different outcomes with the same ingredients.

So you would have to analyze the individual recipe, adjust the ratio of ingredients, and possibly modify the method by which the ingredients are prepared or combined.

Frankly, to lighten a muffin recipe, I would first ask:  are you measuring correctly?   Too much flour is going to lead to a dense outcome, and flour is very easy to mismeasure.  I would suggest always baking by weight, not volume when you can.   Reputable recipe sites for baked goods will tell you the weight of flour in addition to the volume measurement, or at least tell you what the standard weight of a cup of flour is.  If no such guide is provided, I find that using a 4.5 oz (US) standard cup for flour is pretty generally successful.

My second approach would be to very, very slightly increase the amount of baking powder, maybe by 1/4 tsp increments in two different trials.

If that fails, you might try reducing the flour by 25% or 50%, but not increasing the number of eggs; instead, change your method from the muffin method to the whipped egg white method, separating the eggs, whipping the egg whites, and then folding them into the other wet ingredients, then gently folding in the dry ingredients.

Still, when you do these kinds of changes, you need to test your recipes, keep careful notes, and so on.  I still would start by researching already tested recipes that achieve the outcome you desire.


Ready to eat food not suitable for microwave

Because it is made from pastry dough. Pastry dough (and any other kind of dough) gets ruined by a microwave. See this question for details of what will probably happen.

The only exceptions for dough in the microwave is pasta (which is supposed to be boiled in water anyway) and some kinds of very soft batter, which can be eaten immediately as a "microwave cupcake" (I think they get unappetizing if left to stay for a while). Any other kind of dough is destroyed by the water escaping the starch as steam.


Preparing pork belly: Odd barn yard flavor

Having raised hogs I can say that the actual feed can make a difference on the taste and  smell of the finished product.  Clean feed and a clean lot can make a difference.  There is also a difference in hogs fed on an open lot (grassy) v.s. a confinement.

Corn blend with soy protein - one flavor.  Alphalfa pellets, another flavor.   Open lot with wild onions or other strong products, another.   Wood lots (acorns etc) another.  It depends on what is desired, as these also will impact the texture and fat content percentage.


Preventing my toast from becoming wet when I put it on the plate

Warm your plate.

The moisture in your toast is coming off the toast and then is getting condensed into the cold plate just like a glass of ice water attracts the moisture from the warm air around it.

If you heat the plate, the moisture will not condense on top the plate.


Substitute for margarine in graham cracker crust

Use the butter; historically margarine is a simulated butter in the first place, and you will probably get a better product, since butter tastes much better.

You could use the shortening, but it will not help the flavor at all, and doesn't have the approximately 18% water that butter and margarine do, although this usually doesn't matter in a graham cracker crust.


What are the coloured pieces inside cupcakes called?

In comments, how you described what you're looking for is exactly what they are. It's dried fruit, usually candied or packed in syrup. Commonly seen in baked goods are dried candied cherries, candied pineapple, candied citron, currants and raisins. This Google Search will show you a lot of examples of fruit used like that. This Amazon page will show you the actual products the recipes ask for.


Is there a practical way to make belgian fries for four at home?

I would definitely not try this in a frying pan. Deep frying a lot of food can be dangerous, because if the oil overflows, it's flammable. I'm sure you've heard the horror stories of people deep-frying turkeys and the oil overflowing.

The minimal set up you will need is a large, heavy bottomed pot, preferably stainless steel or cast iron, though heavy gauge aluminum is cheaper and would probably work. You want the pot to be large enough to accommodate the oil, plus a lot of extra space because the large amount of fries are going to displace a lot of oil. To maintain the proper temperature, you'll need a good deep-fry/candy thermometer. Digital thermometers are a bit more expensive, but are easier to read. I'd recommend getting one that clips onto the pot. You're also may want a basket, because pulling them out with a spider or strainer will take a while and could lead to uneven cooking. You will need to monitor the temperature and adjust the heat on your stove regularly in order to maintain the proper temperature. You can get a stovetop fryer with a basket for under $30.

A professional fryer uses a thermostat to control the temperature more precisely, and is built specifically for this purpose, so it's pretty safe. Generally these are electric, so they're inexpensive to run. But the issue for you is, they may not accommodate enough food. You might consider getting two, though the good ones run around $80-100, and depending on the power needs you might need separate outlets/circuits to plug them into.

Lastly, if you have outdoor space, you might consider doing this outside. You can get yourself a turkey frying kit at a hardware store or online. This will work well since it should come with a basket. You can also buy a propane burner and pot separately, if you need a special size or what a heavier pot. You'll still need to use the deep frying thermometer. A propane burner will have a control knob to let you adjust the heat and keep it at the proper temperature. This is probably going to be the fastest method for you to heat up the oil, as propane burners put out a lot of heat (often 100-200,000 BTUs). As always, you'll need to observe the proper safety precautions, like keeping a fire extinguisher nearby, and making sure you don't have too much oil in there to avoid an overflow, etc. The burner can also be used for other purposes, such as cooking with a wok, or frying/boiling other big items. A lot of people also use them for homebrewing beer.

Lastly, you should check this video out - it goes through the process they use to prepare authentic fries at Pomme Frites, some of the best Belgian fries in NYC - and according to their chef who trained in Belgium - they're better than a lot of what you'll get over there!


How long to cook green onions relative to other vegetables

I typically chop up the white and green parts of the green onion, and add them at different times during cooking:

I'll add the white part fairly early in the cooking.  (not as early as I would with bulb onions, as I cut the green onions more finely).  I want them to cook for a minute or two to take out the harshest flavors, but not cook too much.  I generally add them a minute or so before I add the rice to cook.

After I've cooked the rice for a bit, I'll add the green part.  This lets it soften up just a bit, but not really cook down.


Can Wilton cake fondant be kept in freezer?

Yes, freezing fondant is fine if it is well wrapped, although doing so is not normally necessary as it is so high in sugar that it is essentially shelf stable.

The main issue is that when you thaw it, you want it to be well wrapped so that condensation does not get onto the surface of the fondant itself, making it sticky.


What is the shelf life of Pylsusinnep (Icelandic mustard)? Does it need to be kept refrigerated before opening?

After receiving my first batch, it appears that 6 months is the "best fyrir" ("best until") date.  It didn't come in any special refrigerated packaging, but I agree with Ecnerwal that it should be kept someplace cool to help extend the shelf life.


1- Remove the hard shell,

2- simmer them in a little liquid until the meat can be easily removed from the seeds.

Tamarind is very sweet and very sour. Tamarind chutneys are delicious for a starting point. You can find recipes but not many other ingredients are required.

You asked if you have to make it into a paste- I suppose not but cooking them is required to get the seeds out and cooking turns the meat into a paste.

Carmi is correct that you can add them directly to liquid but you need to be able to get the large, hard seeds out.


How do you properly soak and cook barley?

You probably misread the recipe. It's suggested that dry beans soak overnight so that they cook in a reasonable amount of time the next day (unless you use a pressure cooker.)

There is no need to soak barley, pearled or not. It's my guess that you mistook the bean soaking for barley in the recipe. That, or it's a typo.


Why is the butter gradually melting and only the top of my butter cake done?

Your problem is baking on grill mode. Or at least one of your problems. Grill mode is designed to brown the top while not cooking the rest too much. As well as burning the top this may have the side effect of spoiling the rise of the rest of the cake, but still getting it hot enough to melt the butter.

In general for baking it's important to use a mode that delivers even heat.  This is typically described as "convection"/"fan-forced convection", simply "oven" or some similar term.  Modes like "grill" or "top heat" cook some things acceptably, and are often used for finishing foods that are cooked through but need a little browning on top.  Baking is one time when preheating the oven is particularly important even on modern ovens -- set the desired temperature and a light will come on.  It will go off when the oven is up to temperature.  You may wish to wait a little longer at this point.


What can replace coconut oil in a chocolate cookie coating?

If really want to substitute for that coconut oil in this particular application, you want a pure, relatively flavorless, saturated fat.  This will be one that is solid at room temperature. That means commercial shortening, such as the US brand Crisco.

Update:  cocoa butter itself, of course would be ideal, if you can get it.  But, then you would want to temper it.  In that case, well, see below...

However, in my opinion:

Your best bet, if you are willing to do the necessary work, for a crisp true chocolate coating is to use... pure chocolate.  Nothing else.

The trick is to ensure that your chocolate is in temper.  (You can read more about it within the Wikipedia article on chocolate).  This means that it is melted and then cooled in such as way as to ensure the cocoa butter forms the most desirable crystals, which have a melting point near mouth temperature, and a smooth, crisp bite.

You can google many detailed articles on how to temper chocolate, with many variant methods.  For example, here is one from Serious Eats.

For small batches at home, I have found the following method to be very successful, using 100% real chocolate such as Merkens or Ghirardelli (or many other brands).  That is, chocolate that is made of nothing but cocoa butter, cocoa solids, sugar, flavoring, and maybe some lecithen.  You don't want other fats.  In general, you should avoid chocolate chips (which may not be true chocolate) unless you know your manufacturer actually uses 100% true chocolate in their chips (a small number do).

Break the chocolate up into small chunks (maybe 1/2 inch or 1 cm in size)
Place in a glass microwave safe bowl.  The purpose of the glass bowl is to absorb the heat from the chocolate, and then keep it relatively stable and warm.
Place the chocolate in the microwave at very low power.  I use level 2 on my microwave.  It will take a very long time, maybe 8-10 minutes, even to be partially melted.  This is okay.
Every so often, stir the chocolate so it is heating fairly evenly.  (The glass bowl also helps by adding thermal mass...)
Keep microwaving on low, until the chocolate is almost all melted, checking more and more frequently as you get close.
When the chocolate is about 90% melted, take it out and let the residual heat from the bowl and the chocolate melt the rest.
Do one last stir, so that the various crystal types and seeds are evenly distributed, just in case some small part of the chocolate went out temper in this process.

Again, I emphasize, patience and going slow here is the key.  This method trades time for complexity.

The key to this method is:  commercial chocolate is already in temper.  By barely melting it (and I mean barely), we keep it temper.  We don't have to do all the hard stuff with thermometers and carefully regulating the temperature up to melt the bad crystals, then down to seed the good ones and so on.

Once you have your tempered melted chocolate, you can use it to coat candies, cookies, or (one of my favorites) stir in a crunchy breakfast cereal, coconut flakes, or nuts to make little candies....    the applications are endless.


Why didn't microwaving a stainless steel spoon set my kitchen on fire?

Metal has a lot of potential issues in the microwave (electric charge buildup + arcing, and microwave reflection). There are too many variables to make general statements like "such-and-such metal is safe" or "smooth objects are safe" with confidence, hence the sweeping guaranteed-safe blanket advice to not put metal in the microwave.

The reason it didn't cause issues for you is likely the fact that it was insulated in a plastic container (thus preventing arcing to the microwave walls / magnetron) and that you also had some water in there to absorb any excess reflected energy (and maybe electrical energy through physics that I don't understand, but don't quote me on that one).

In fact a cursory search just happened to turn up this paper regarding sterilization of metal objects in a microwave, which mentions:

  Arcing back to the magnetron and damage to the microwave oven are prevented by placing a radar absorbent material within the oven and with proper insulation of the item to be sterilized

And you've got both of those things: A radar absorbent material (the water) and the insulation (a perfectly sealed plastic container).

The type and shape of your metal object is probably unrelated to the success of your accidental "experiment".

As an aside: It's worth mentioning that in the case where a microwave oven does catch fire, the NFPA mentions that 17% of those fires involved the housing/casing of the appliance itself as the first item ignited, where the danger is presumably excess energy reflected back to the appliance, rather than arcing (magnified by poor design or older microwaves that didn't have as good of an ability to absorb reflected energy). That's why, for example, the authors of the sterilization paper linked above included a radar-absorbent material, strange and unpredictable reflections off of metal can easily put the microwave under uneven energy loads it wasn't designed to handle (see also thermal runaway).

And of course, there's also issues with defective appliances or design flaws as well, e.g. that old GE spontaneous microwave fire lawsuit. While the causes of those fires aren't really related to the OP's situation, the point is making blanket statements about metals and such is further complicated by the potential for poorly designed or defective appliances.

Also, this answer isn't intended to say "insulation + water = always safe", it's just intended as an explanation for your specific experience. Even "safe" is flexible: A microwave fire doesn't necessarily lead to a kitchen fire or a burned down house or an injury, e.g. I suppose you could call a microwave fire hazard "safe" if you were standing there on the ready with a fire extinguisher and protective clothing.


Brand new - never been used stainless steel briage pot pitted with one 6 minute water boil on my gas range

This is not pitting, this is scale. You can't prevent it, no matter what kind of pot you buy.
Washing/scrubbing won't really help. Get a descaling agent - no need to go for the expensive ones, maybe just get some citric acid in bulk - and descale whenever it builds up enough to bother you.


Does it matter if I add cornstarch to my sauce instead of pasta water?

Flavor, that is all. The water left over from boiled pasta tends to have the flavor of the pasta, and a salty flavor. If you season your pasta water with salt, and I always do, why not bring some of that flavor into the sauce you are preparing? Better than just tossing it all down the drain.

Does it really matter? No, not really. But, if you want to use some of that water for something, add your starch to it.


As far as food safety is concered, simply warming smoked salmon or canned tuna is uncritical (tuna casserole, anyone?).

For all warm, cooked foods the two-hour rule applies: After two hours in the 40°F - 160°F (4°C - 60°C) it should be discarded. (see more here)

So it is irrelevant whether you stuff your onigiri with smoked salmon or pickeled plums, because the rice alone falls into the "potentially hazardous" category.

Now for taste:
If you manage to pack your onigiri with very hot1 rice, yes, the smoked salmon gets heated and it may be partially or fully cooked, loosing some of the "melt in the mouth" character. But unless you plan to keep your onigiri hot (which is rather uncommon, afaik), they should cool down quickly enough so that they won't overcook the salmon, leaving you with a dry center or dry flakes thoughout the onigiri. Note that the same problem would exist with pre-cooked fish. Canned tuna is beyond help anyway, as far as cooking goes...

1 And there is a limit to how hot your rice may be so that you can shape it with bare or even gloved hands...


In cookie making, Does creaming time change with the amount of butter used?

Yes, larger amounts will take longer to cream than smaller, how much time that really means depends on how you are creaming it. If you are using an electric mixer of some kind then I would expect the difference in time between 40 grams of butter and 80 to be pretty small as 40 grams or even 80 grams of butter isn't much.

I wouldn't use time as a guide to creaming butter and sugar, the times given in recipes are guidelines and vary depending on conditions and equipment. Butter and sugar are creamed properly when the mix gets pale and fluffs up, expanding to nearly double its size, this may take more or less than 2 minutes.


Homemade Pepper Sauce - Suggestion for a serving bottle

I go through a lot of hot sauce, and tend to just re-use old Tabasco bottles. The main choice you need to make is what size of orifice reducer do you need. I think that the best for most thin sauces is a glass bottle with the right size reducer. You know you've got the right size when one shake of the bottle dispenses about 1/4 of the amount of sauce that you want. That way a few shakes gets you all you need, but you don't risk overdoing it (a real problem with hot sauces). There are four common size ranges that you see in thin condiments:

"Tiny", like in standard Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, Pepper-infused vinegar, etc. These are great for thin sauces, or sauces where you have used a strainer or a food mill to remove the solids. I like my sauces thin so they get into the cracks of the food, so I strain my sauces to remove the solids. The solids go into one jar to use as a chili paste, and the liquid goes into a bottle with a "tiny" orifice reducer.
"Medium", like in Chipotle Tabasco or other slightly thicker sauces. These sauces are still thin, but are chunkier or thicker than a truly liquid sauce. Medium reducers still require that the sauce be largely free of chunks, but if you are including tomato paste or thicker elements, you need a larger opening.
"No reducer", like in many Dave's Insanity sauces, or any sauce that has chunks or is truly goopy. By the time a sauce gets this thick, I actually prefer a squeeze bottle for precision.
Squeeze bottles, like Sriracha, are good for sauces that are less hot (dispensed in larger quantities), and thick enough to justify it. Most plastics are fine with an acidic sauce, but may not want to be stored quite as long.

You can order hot sauce bottles from a variety of sources, such as SKS Bottles, including with a variety of orifice reducers based on your desired sauce thickness. I prefer glass, and the small plastic reducers are meant for the acidic environment.

http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin18aa.html


When curing sausage, which is more important temperature or humidity?

You ned to get your hands on a computer fan (they are designed to run 24hrs a day).  I simply mounted one of these inside wall of my curing chamber (down low - as wet air drops), cut a hole in the wall of the fridge with a hole saw - which allows the fan to exhaust the moist air from within the curing chamber.  I also cut a similar sized hole at the top of the curing chamber on the opposite side which allows dry air to enter the chamber as the wet air is exhausted.  I have it rigged up to a cheap humidity controller I purchased off ebay, so when the controller detects high humidity (whatever you set it at), it exhausts the humid air.


When dissolving natural organic yeast in water, is it supposed to bubble?

Based on your comments, it sounds like you're adding the dry yeast powder to water. The yeast typically won't bubble or do much of anything else at this phase.

Yeast are microscopic organisms that produce gas by consuming sugars and excreting carbon dioxide. This requires that they have sugar to eat, which plain water of course doesn't. The main purpose of water is to rehydrate the yeast and revive them from their dried state.

Once you mix the yeast into a dough (which does contain sugars in flour that the yeast can consume) they'll start producing gas, but this isn't a fast process. You may not even see visible bubbles, just the end result as your dough rises over the course of hours.

So there's not yet any indication of problems with your yeast. If you have issues once they're mixed into the dough, there are many skilled bakers here who can provide diagnosis.


Kale vs Spinach in Zuppa Toscana lasting

It's common to add the spinach to a soup like this by putting the raw spinach in a bowl and ladling the hot soup over it. This protects the spinach from overcooking and losing both flavor and color before being served. Once the spinach is actually in the soup, there isn't much that you can do to keep it from getting soggy.


In my own practice, I just cook the sugar to a higher temperature in order to make a nougat firm enough to not spread.

However, I have recipes suggesting the use of rice paper, and have eaten store-bought nougat that used rice paper on one or two sides of the nougat to hold it together (and minimize sticky fingers for the people eating it.)  I can vouch for rice paper tasting just fine with the rest of the nougat.


Is there grade/quality for spaghetti selection?

There is a legal difference: according to Italian law, pasta (which includes spaghetti) is made only with durum wheat. Other countries also accept soft wheat. The difference is in the amount of protein (mostly gluten): durum wheat has more, which in turn gives the pasta a somewhat snappier bite. Also, the cooked pasta stays eatable (as in, non-mushy) for a longer time.

Moreover, some Italian pastas are extruded through traditional bronze dies that leave a slightly rougher surface that makes for better sauce adhesion.

Avoid by all means all stupid Italian pastas made for tourists. Avoid stupid novelty shapes and (most) colored pastas. Some good brands with global distribution that will not let you down: Barilla, Agnesi, Garofalo, De Cecco (thanks for the tip).


I would like to make homemade Ketchup, how do I prepare the tomato?

You will want to remove the skins. Make a small cut on the bottom of the tomato and then drop into a pot of boiling water for 30-60 seconds. When the small cut expands to a large split, remove from the pot and drop into ice water. The skins will slide right off.

You will also want to remove the seeds. You can do this by cutting the tomato and digging them out with your finger. Cook and process as usual. You can "cook the tar" out of the tomatoes until they completely break down into nothingness leaving a ketchup like substance,.

+OR+ you can cooked mixture with whole unpeeled/seeded tomatoes, THEN through a food mill or press through a fine mesh sieve. A food mill and sieve should also catch any seeds and skins.

Edited to clarify.


Is there a measurable difference between fresh and dried minced garlic?

A standard ratio of dried seasoning to fresh is 1 part dried to 3 parts fresh.

For garlic specifically the ratios are slightly different:

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic      1/4 teaspoon dried garlic
1 clove garlic                  1/8 teaspoon garlic powder


Home-made fermented/ cured sausages numbing sensation

The name or chemical compound responsible for a specific quality of some spices (numbness) Should answer your question concerning numbness pretty handily. Eugenol can intensify over time. It just so happens that I have been playing with that particular phenomenon quite a bit lately.


How to convert normal sponge to chocolate sponge

Drinking chocolate isn't 'chocolatey' enough to make a chocolate cake. You need cocoa powder - replace 3 tablespoons of flour with it et voila, chocolate sponge.


What should I look for in a cooking pan for Risotto?

I suggest getting a quality stainless clad saute pan or saucier. For years I made risotto in the All-Clad 3 qt. saute pan shown here:

Unless you're serving huge portions this is plenty of room for 6 servings of risotto. There are larger options available though, including a mammoth 14" 6 quart one.
This pan easily does 90% of the work in my kitchen, so at any price it carries its weight in the kitchen.
That said, this past Christmas I got the All-Clad 3 qt. copper-core saucier shown here:

It's a very close matchup, but this pan is perfect for making risotto. The higher sides are a definite benefit, but you don't sacrifice much in flat surface area. The copper core is amazingly responsive, noticeably more so than aluminum. It's obviously rather expensive, so if you're uncomfortable spending that much on a pan I'd suggest getting one of their regular 3 qt sauciers -- you'll spend at least half as much.
If I only had one pan in my kitchen though, I think I'd still go back to the saute pan above. Its versatility is just unmatched.

Regarding your concerns that a wider pan won't heat as evenly, this is generally true for a cheaper pan. However, All-Clad pans use magic to bond a layer of aluminum (or copper) between a layer of magnetic stainless (exterior) and 18/10 stainless (interior). The end result is a very even heat which you can actually confirm with an infrared thermometer.


How much water in potato-leek soup (Vichyssoise)?

I'm not sure if it's a typo but the recipe surprises me, traditionally (as far as a 100ish year old dish can be "traditional") vichyssoise would have chicken stock or seasoned milk as the liquid base.

For that quantity of potato and leek I would estimate 0.6->0.75L of liquid so it is possible it is a typo.


Furthering the dry aging process post purchase?

I don't have experience with the "UMAi Dry Bag", but I have read about mixed results.  I did just finish a 45-day dry prime rib, however.  It worked out very well.  My set up was a refrigerator, with a small office fan inside.  Air circulation is very important, in my experience.  You don't mention how large a cut you have, but you are not going to want to do this if you are talking about individual steaks.  You really need a primal cut.  The more outside protection you have on your cut, the better.  So, don't trim it.  The already dried exterior will protect the interior, and allow the enzymes to do their work.  If it were me, I would avoid the bag, and try to create a space where you can control the temperature and the airflow.


Perhaps you could consider straining it twice? Use your strainer the first time to get out the larger particles and then do a second time with the cheesecloth so that it doesn't get clogged as easily. I imagine this wouldn't be any faster, but you'd have to fight with the clogged cheesecloth less.


How can I keep tomatillos submerged in water during boiling?

Use a metal wire strainer turned upside down in a larger cooking pot so that the tomatillos can bob around in the water but always be under the surface.  If for some reason the strainer doesn't stay down under the water, put some weight on the top.


The likely contributing factors are (and probably more than one, and perhaps all apply):

Older, weaker red wine vinegar, which didn't sufficiently acidulate the water to denature the egg white proteins quickly, thus removing their ability to dissolve
Older eggs, with weaker, looser whites that spread more easily in the poaching liquid, and thus dissolve more easily due to greater surface area
Lower heat of the poaching liquid which would also slow the cooking of the white, allowing it more time to potentially dissolve before the proteins are denatured from heat, and thus can no longer do so


How many times can you reuse bones to make broth?

Beef bones can be used multiple times, but less flavor and gelatin will be extracted from each additional use. Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" describes this.

  Because a standard kitchen extraction of eight hours releases only about 20% of the gelatin in beef bones, the bones may be extracted for a second time, for a total of up to 24 hours. The resulting liquid can then be used to start the next fresh extraction of meat and bones.

I would imagine chicken bones would be similar, although, since they are smaller, the first batch may be more effective than 20%.


How long can powdered coffee remain fresh?

If, as you say, the coffee smelled ok, was stored dry, and showed no signs of deterioration (lumping, strange colours, etc.), it is perfectly safe to use.

The "Best before" date gives you the producer's idea of how long the coffee will last in its original packaging without losing too much of its taste, aroma, and visual appeal. There are also legal limits involved. So, using a product after its "Best before" date doesn't create a health hazard (provided the packaging isn't damaged, and the product is stored correctly)sup>*.

In the context of your question, 4 months after the date isn't any problem at all, the different taste could just be due to loss of volatile aroma compounds, especially if the packaging was already opened.

Concerning your second question about using it with water. That's actually the standard way to drink it in Europe: just dissolve the amount you want in a cup of hot (not boiling) water, and add sugar and milk/cream to taste. Same as freshly brewed coffee (from ground beans) is prepared with hot water.

*: Note that a "Use by" date is different. That is used for fresh or pasteurised products that mostly need to be kept cool. Passed that "Use by" date, such products can be a health hazard, depending on how the product was stored and transported (usually there is a safety margin)


What are the signs that indicate that raw honey has spoilt?

Honey might go bad in two ways - one involves stuff growing on the surface of the honey, the other involves the honey itself fermenting.  In both cases, the spoilage is connected to exceedingly poor storage - as other answers mentioned, honey is difficult to spoil... but difficult is not the same thing as impossible, right :)

Honey that ferments is usually linked to high water content - some honeys have a higher water content naturally, some might have water added at some point (for example, to deter crystallization), some might have water leaked into a container and puddled on top or along the edges, and honey will absorb moisture from the air if left unsealed, and eventually reach a saturation where the water is no longer a limiting factor to yeasts.  In any case, part of honey's preservative qualities is the lack of available water and too high concentration of sugars inhibits most spoiling organisms - so when that extra water becomes available, honey turns from "never goes bad" to "potent food source for yeasts", especially since as the yeast eat the sugars, they also lower the concentrations from something inhospitable to yeasts, to something that can support more yeast growth - so the fermentation will continue progressing.  A small puddle of water can gradually lead to a whole container fermenting because the local dilution is much greater than the total water percentage, and once given a foothold the yeasts will keep eating the concentrations further down into yeast-inhabitable ranges.

Some fermentation is more problematic than others - for example, mead probably originates from a spontaneous fermentation of honey that was enjoyable, on the other hand, different yeasts may give off bad odors and off flavors.  If your honey has fermented to the point of spoilage, it will smell bad, look cloudy, and taste terrible.  It will also foam (carbon dioxide production), may separate, may bulge if the container permits, all that good stuff that warns if any foodstuff in fermenting.  There is some stuff on that page about natural beneficial fermentation and typical crystallization patterns, but that isn't relevant to the question of spoilage

The other way honey might go bad, is having some debris accumulate on the surface of honey (cross contamination), that gives some mold or other bacteria enough food to get a foothold.  Again, honey itself is a poor source of food if properly stored - not enough water, not enough available food to get a foothold - but add debris, crumbs, or whatever that can spoil more easily right on the surface, and that can give mold or whatever enough of a toehold to build a floating colony, as you envisioned.  If there's enough debris or moisture on the surface, the mold might start nibbling at the surface of the honey - which will start lowering the sugar content to something mold can find hospitable, much the same way fermentation can progress.

You might be able to simply remove the colony or even the top layer to salvage the honey, if you are willing to risk it, since honey is known to be rather inhospitable to dangerous organisms.  And if the honey is properly stored afterwards, any critters left shouldn't be able to re-colonize since they needed the crumbs to get a toehold in the first place - but only you can decide what you will risk.


How to get "burned" effect on cheesecake?

That's a really good question. I imagine it was probably stabilized with something that stays solid at high heat, b/c hot cheesecake would be fairly soft. Was it warm all the way through? My wild guess would be they rewarmed it in the oven, then (if needed) blasted with a blowtorch for crispiness.


That's a big bird!

I'd recommend buying something like the Nordic Ware Commercial Baker's Sheet, or picking something large off the list of Turkey Roasting Trays available on the linked list.

Another option is to break the turkey down before cooking, and then you won't need a big tray!


Mousseline sauce, use the white or the yolk of the egg?

It should* be made (classically) with egg whites.  It is supposed to be a light hollandaise based sauce.  Obviously the white is lighter. All the fat from in the mousseline should come from the butter, not yolk.


Okay. Yes you can save your sauce if it's crystallized without seriously impacting flavor. You can always start over with sugar, so to speak. Unless you burn the whole dang pot, candy can always be saved.

First of all, take your caramel (assuming you've tasted it and it tastes okay) and put it back in a pot with a fair amount of water. How much isn't important really because you'll be boiling it all off. But you do need enough to dissolve everything, and get all those wannabe fudge crystals back in solution. It will take some time to boil off and because of the butter and milk in there you will want to stir occasionally to make sure it doesn't burn. Because burning is the only real way to ruin things.

Stirring can indeed cause crystallization, but its not instantaneous and frankly it's... Not even a problem? I made walnut caramels for Christmas and they all decided to crystallize and turn into fudge after a couple days. They're still delicious. So there is literally no reason to throw away a batch of candy that's crystallized. Even if you can't turn it into what you wanted, it's still good stuff that's nicer than what you'll get at a store. (I am hurt by how many stories I hear of "ruined" candy being thrown out.)

But how do you keep crystallization from happening here? There are several methods to help prevent crystallization. People attach supernatural importance to "not stirring" but... I stir my caramels a lot and don't get crystallization. Stirring won't help you as much as reducing the heat and rotating your pot to prevent hot burny spots, but if it's stir or burn, stir, friend. Stir with my blessing.

That said, the more reliable method to prevent crystallization (where I am) is to add some corn syrup. Literally just add a tablespoon or two of corn syrup to your new pot of dissolved caramel liquid, cook it up to the consistency you want, and you probably won't get crystals again.

You can use any inverted sugar syrup in place of corn syrup though. So glucose syrup and rice syrup and golden syrup and honey (and more) would all work to keep it from crystallizing, but they all have their own character both texturally and flavor wise, so you might want to play around. Honey might be the best texturally, but has a pronounced flavor. Corn syrup is second best texturally in my opinion, but has a very mild flavor. Rice syrup has a lovely maltiness but tends to be stiff and stretchy.... So, playing around is a good idea here.

You could also add a little acid to the mix, but I would say maybe a teaspoon of lemon or preferably a pinch of cream of tartar. You will taste the addition of acid, but in a small enough amount, it would add a tang reminiscent of dulce de leche. Just be careful since you won't be able to take the acid back out.

The other thing I would emphasize is not to heat too high. Use the pot with the thickest bottom you have to try and prevent hot spots, and be willing to use a lower heat and take more time. If you have a glass top stove, you may well have more trouble with crystallization because the glass top doesn't actually keep a good steady heat. A coil top stove or open flame are both better if they're an option, but you'll probably want to stay on low or medium low heat with them. If you use a lower temperature, you'll be able to avoid stirring as well, for any good that actually does.

In short: you can always fix candy. Adding some corn syrup helps prevent crystallization. Acid does too but affects the flavor more obviously. Use a lower heat to prevent hot spots and avoid stirring if you can. If it's stir or burn, just stir. Haters gonna hate. If it stubbornly insists on crystallizing, so what? Let it be fudgey. Dissolve it in coffee. It's still good.


If you used a reputable recipe, followed it without variation, including using the same size pan as was specified, and adjusted for altitude, if appropriate, then:

The problem was likely with the thermostat calibration on your oven. The best thing to do is get an oven thermometer and use it to find out how much you need to adjust your temperature control. This answer to a question similar to yours may help with that.

If you can't do that right now - adjusting the temperature up in small increments (10-25 degrees F) and noting what happens, until you get the desired results, is a good plan. Remember that there will always be variables that can affect the cooking time and that most times given are approximate.


Try freezing the oreos first and then cut with a sharp knife.  Let the oreos warm to room temperature again.  They will not lose any texture or crispiness.

Update:

In the name of science, I froze some oreos and tested the outcome.  Freezing the oreos made the cutting much more...achievable.  A room temperature oreo just wants to crumble in too many places, but a frozen one holds together better.


Well, technically there is a minor difference between biga and poolish, but often the terms are used interchangeably.

Just for clarification:

A poolish uses equal parts (by weight) of flour and water and very little yeast (sources vary between 0.1% to 1% fresh yeast / 0.03%1 to 0.33% dry yeast of flour weight). This leads to a poolish being rather liquid and easily mixable with a spoon.
A biga has a lower water content, usually in the range of 40% to 60% of flour weight and a yeast content of 1% fresh / 0.33% dry. It will be quite firm in the beginning and may require some kneading to mix dry and wet ingredients properly.

But should you explicitly knead?

Actually, you don't need to. Both pre-ferments will rest for hours. During that time the gluten will both develop (-> see the principles of no-knead bread) and be diminished to some extent by the growing yeast. You don't want or need to mess with this process. Just mix flour, water and yeast until somewhat homogenous (no dry patches) and let both yeast and enzyme activity do their thing. You will observe that the "uneven" preferment will change texture over time, yeast starts to bubble and when it's ready to use, it will be nice and even.

1 Yes, that's a really, really tiny amount.


The general process of making lasagna is:

Cook the other ingredients - brown the meat in a pan (maybe with seasonings); if you're using fresh tomatoes, cook them; if you're using canned tomatoes, drain the extra liquid out. The important thing is that everything is cooked, and there's not too much liquid left, since that'd make the lasagna messy at the end. This does mean it's faster with canned tomatoes, since you only have to drain them, not cook them.
Cook the noodles as you would any pasta. Be sure to stir, since big flat noodles stick together more easily than most. (There are also no-boil lasagna noodles, but you've already bought yours, and I doubt that's what you have.)
Layer the ingredients in the pan, starting with sauce on the bottom (otherwise the noodles will stick to the pan), then noodles, then alternate layers of the other ingredients and noodles and sauce until you run out or your lasagna dish is full.
Bake it until it's heated through (the ingredients are all already cooked).
Let it cool for a bit before serving; this helps keep it from falling apart when you cut into it.

When you go looking for recipes, though there are tons and tons of them, they'll pretty much all look generally like this. They'll just have variations in ingredient proportions, seasonings, order of layers, and so on. You shouldn't have trouble finding one that matches up with the ingredients you have, if you want a recipe to follow carefully. As long as it generally matches the steps I listed, it should be fine.


The Los Angeles public library has a historical restaurant menu archive online, which will allow you to search restaurant menus for specific years.  It will give you an idea of what fashionable people were eating at that time.  The menu archive is a GREAT way to find ideas for period cuisine.

EDIT: I have a second historical menu archive for you! Collectiblemeals hosts a collection of menus for famous meals, including many presidential dinners.

Add in some Moroccan fare and a splash of French haute cuisine, and you should be able to build a historical and delicious menu.


skate benefits from very, very fast cooking and perhaps a very light breading--flour or cornmeal only, not breadcrumbs. classic accompaniments are lemon, brown butter, and capers.

beyond that, I'd google for recipes. Delia Smith had a particularly lovely one in her Summer Collection book, released in the late 80's.


It wouldn't be unsafe to eat, but the overnight storage would be bad for the seasoning on the cast iron.  Depending, it could even result in you needing to reseason the pan from scratch.

I suggest instead using a glass or ceramic baking dish.


Is it possible that the recipe calls for two pounds of pasta?  I have seen recipes where the # symbol is used as a notation of pounds.


With an hour in the oven at roasting temperatures (400-450 F/205-230 C), small pieces of cauliflower will likely overcook, not under. Most recipes call for only 25-30 minutes in the oven at this temperature. Under foil, the cauliflower will add a lot of liquid - steam - and may even get sort of mushy before you remove the foil. You definitely don't need to pre-cook the cauliflower.

You haven't noted your baking temperature or the size of your cubes... for that long amount of time, I'm guessing you're baking your potatoes at a lower temperature, as recipes for 1/2 inch (1 cm) cubes of potato don't generally require that long of a baking time... but most recipes don't call for cooking under foil for that matter.

Have you thought about finding a recipe (if only for the methodology, not flavors)? Seems like you should be able to ditch the foil, cook at 400 F/205 C for about 30-40 minutes and be done with it.


Does adding vinegar to rice while while boiling reduce stickyness or improve hardness?

No, it does not.
I was pretty sure from the theory of it that it won't help. Acid makes cell walls harder, so you can use it e.g. when you are cooking potatoes. But in rice kernels, you have basically no cell walls to harden, everything is starch granules. So I saw no reason why it would work.
Theory is nice, but not always enough for writing answers. There can always be an effect I don't know about - just because the mechanism I am thinking of doesn't apply here, it doesn't mean there isn't a different one. But it so happens that I recently bought a package of rice from a new brand, and I hate it. It always cooks up mushy. So today, I decided to give it a try. I simply used the rice cooking program of the instant pot with the usually-mushy jasmine rice, and added citric acid. The rice had an obvious sour taste to it, but it was as soft and mushy as ever. I didn't see any difference in texture. Even though it's a single data point, I still feel confident enough to write the answer - you will not get any more hardness, and you will confuse the eaters with sour rice.


why my dishes are always over satiating?

"Too delicious, and you can't eat more of it":

I don't see the "too delicious" part as a problem. Delicious is good.

"Can't eat more of it", as others have pointed out, sounds like it is just too heavy, or too rich. So, as others have also pointed out, it might help to cook some less heavy foods. In general, fish, tofu, and vegetables (especially raw or steamed) tend to be lighter and less filling than meats and heavy cheesy or buttery sauces.

Depending on your cuisine tradition, however, substituting different food items may not be an appealing option. If most of the dishes that you and your family find acceptable happen to be on the heavy side, at least you can serve them along with other things in the meal to add variety, like plenty of plain rice or other simple grain, green salad, and/or steamed, pickled or raw vegetables and maybe a refreshing cold beverage or fresh fruit.


"Post Brine" for Lacto-Fermented Cucumbers (Dill Pickles)

Yes, you can use the brine you pickled them in. Covered plastic leftover containers are actually very good for storing pickles - you don't have to struggle to stuff them in jars. You can throw away the dill weed and garlic and other flavorings, just keep the pickles and enough strained brine to keep them submerged.

Keep in mind, of course, that such pickles are not preserved, so they must be stored in the fridge, and should be eaten within a short amount of time - one or two weeks at most.


How can I prevent my Béarnaise sauce from thickening over night?

When the butter cools in the fridge.... It's going to thicken up. I can't see a way around this? When you heat it up again, it should return to consistency...


What Cheese Culture is best to use in making Camembert cheese?

I can see why!  Let's do a round up:

Rikki Carroll recommends Flora Danica, Penicillium Candidum, and Geotrichum Candidum
Gavin Webber recommends Mesophilic direct set culture, plus Penicillium Candidum
Curd Nerd recommends Flora Danica and Penicillium Candidum
Country Brewer recommends "camebert cheese culture" which doesn't help at all
Food52 recommends either Flora Danica or Mesophilic culture, and Penicillium

Given the above, I'd tend to go with Flora Danica and Penicillium Candidum, at least for a first try.  At least the amounts seem to be consistent: 1/4 and 1/8 teaspoon, respectively.  According to Carroll, the Geotrichum helps give the Camembert a thick, fuzzy white rind, so use it too if you can get it.
Caveat: I haven't made this cheese myself, and my friends who have aren't available for questions this weekend.


How can I keep brownies from sticking to the pan?

A non-stick pan will help.  You could also use butter or oil to grease the pan, but most convenient would be a cooking spray.


Are there any drawbacks to cooking with limp celery?

There's limp and then there's limp. As the celery ages, it will get more and more limp (and more bitter), and eventually neither delicious nor safe. If you're sweating the celery and it's a little less than crudité crisp it should be fine. Just sample it first to make sure it's not too bitter.


Wok and electric hob - which ring to use?

The larger ring will transmit more energy, but spread over the size of the ring; so the density is probably roughly the same.

So using an element bigger than your pot/wok bottom is basically just a waste of heat/energy.

Some supporting evidence added by DMA57361:

I've recently gotten a free energy monitor, which tells me the current power consumption of my entire home. So, with a bit of experimentation, I have worked out the approximate power output of each ring on my hob, and this backs up that they have approximately the same output density.

Position     |  Diameter  |  Area   |  Power  |  Density
             |   cm       |   cm²   |   kW    |   kW/cm²
-------------+------------+---------+---------+-----------
Back-Left    |   18       |  254.5  |  1.90   |  7.46
Back-Right   |   16       |  201.0  |  1.45   |  7.19
Front-Left   |   14       |  154.0  |  1.25   |  8.11
Front-Right  |   18       |  254.5  |  1.84   |  7.24


What would adding wine (red or white?) do when cooking Vindaloo?

Ah, wine. "I love cooking with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food."

Anywho, your experiment shows that the short answer is "it'll probably come out quite nice". Most of these things have been said in the comments, but here's a recap:

Alcohol is a solvent, and so wine will presumably help eke out flavours from the spice solids to the liquid. (Much like you can make e.g. vanilla extract with vodka.)
Wine is also acidic, and acid is a general flavour enhancer (a bit like salt).
Wines contain varying amounts of residual sugar (ranging all the way from "almost nothing" to "syrup") which also is a flavour enhancer.
Vindaloo is based on a Portuguese dish prominently featuring white wine and garlic, so why shouldn't it work?

As for red wine, drinking a highly tannic wine with chili-hot food increases the perceived heat, but on the other hand, I can't say I ever really feel the tannins in cooked red wine and my experiences with using red wine in spicy food have been rather positive.


Is weak coffee more likely to be bitter?

It's not so much that weak coffee is bitter, as that over-extracted coffee is bitter. If you want it strong but don't use enough ground coffee, you can get more flavour by leaving the water on the grounds for longer. But then the bitter flavours come out. The opposite is espresso; a decent espresso is of course strong but not at all bitter and extraction is quick.

Another factor may be that some of the bitter compounds come out early but are masked or made acceptable by the other flavours

Water temperature also plays a role in which components of the flavour are extracted, but I assume that's fixed.


How to thin half and half to substitute for milk?

Take out 4 tbsp butter and add the 1.75 c half and half.  That's what I'd do anyway.  It's about the same amount of fat and adds a bit more liquid back in.  Keep in mind that butter changes consistency depending on when it is put in or how it is applied, so it's possible this won't work so well if you have to do some whipping or something.
Do not add water.  You'll lose out on flavor.


Does cooking wine go bad like regular wine?

Generally... not as quickly. The salt content of the wine is much higher than drinking wine, which will preserve it longer. It will still "go bad" eventually. (Going bad is more a decrease in quality. It will still be edible, but unpleasant. It won't make you sick, except by the bad taste!)

See this from a Wikipedia Article: "Cooking wine typically available in North America is treated with salt as a preservative and food coloring."

So, it's safer than normal wine, but I'd try and use it soon. The sooner, the better.


Food grade salt (Sodium Chloride) in most parts of the world is evaporated from sea water. It generally does not have any detectable mercury, though it does have many other trace elements, some of which are normal dietary minerals

Mined salt (rock salt) is generally used for industrial purposes and de-icing, it contains "dirt", but generally not mercury. In most cases, rock salt is salt from old sea water when it was trapped and evaporated millions of years ago, so has the similar trace elements as fresh evaporated sea water

Some 'speciality' salts, like Himalaya salt, are just rock salt deposits that are more contaminated than normal. Some of these contaminants are normal dietary minerals, most are not e.g. Iron oxide

One interesting exception is the mineral Iodine. It is usually added to food grade salt (fresh evaporated or old rock), as it does not often appear naturally, and many people in the world have diets that are deficient in it

Mercury salts exist in sea water for only a very short time before it is bio-accumulated by algae and then eventually by large order fish. Most heavy metal salts do not stay in sea water for any length of time, but are quickly absorbed by other organisms


In France, white button mushrooms are called champignons.  Before refrigeration was common, books suggested not to keep cooked mushrooms or reheat them, because undercooked mushrooms would quickly spoil.  If you cooked them and later keep them in the refrigerator, it is safe to reheat mushrooms.  Treat mushrooms as you would treat meat.

Mushrooms are mainly water, so they reheat well in the microwave.  Do it on low power. Depending on the cooking technique, the texture may change by using high power.


Does reducing fruit change its composition?

Any molecules more volatile than water will be evaporating more than water molecules, less volatile molecules will evaporate less than water at the boiling point. This is the basic principle behind distillation.
The heat will for sure be driving chemical changes.


It is all a question of taste, so there is no definitive answer.

As a purist, you should plant "French Tarragon" which is the proper Artemisia dracunculus plant.

It is not an intense flavor; and this is why it is so good (IMO) and will not overpower a dish.

If you want something stronger, grow the "Mexican tarragon" (Tagetes lucida), which is a different plant.

Both have their use; plant both.


UHT and ultra-pasteurized creams can be whipped, but it can be more difficult than pasteurized cream. From  The Cultured Cook :

  The key to lush whipped cream is choosing lush cream to begin with. Ideally, you want cream from grass-fed cows — it has a richer, fuller taste and a lighter, fluffier texture — and cream that has not been UHT pasteurized. UHT means “ultra-high temperature,” which in turn means that the cream will be difficult to whip since it’s been thoroughly cooked and in the process has lost a great deal of its natural thickness and ability to hold that thickness when whipped. (Whipping simply incorporates air into the cream. The fat in the cream stiffens around the air pockets and holds itself up to create the fluff effect. Cold fat is stiffer than room-temp fat, which is why using chilled equipment and chilled cream is so important.) Take a look at the ingredient list on UHT whipping cream — you’ll see that it’s been thickened with carrageenan, gums, and other stabilizers to recreate the thick texture the cream has lost through having been overheated. Not exactly an ideal scenario.

Some pointers mentioned in comments above that may make a difference in how much success you have when whipping any cream, but especially UHT cream:

You need a fat content of at least 30%.
The cream should be cold. Some people also refrigerate their bowl and utensils also.
You can purchase stabilizers to add to UHT cream to help ensure proper results. Cream of tartar is one option.

Bonus #1 - Issues can occur with other heat treated products. E.g., pasteurized egg whites are more difficult to whip into peaks. While I have read that it can be done, I have never succeeded. I have also been told that cream of tartar (a stabilizer) can make it work.

Bonus #2 - The difference between UHT and ultra-pasteurization is not the process, but the container. They both use ultra high temperature pasteurization.

With UHT milk products, the sterile products are put into sterilized (aseptic) containers and hermetically sealed using a heat process. Now they are shelf stable and have a shelf life of 6 to 9 months (until opened).

Ultra-pasteurized milk products go through the same process but are put into regular milk containers (like pasteurized milk products) and must be kept refrigerated. It has an extended shelf life and should keep 2 to 4 weeks longer than pasteurized milk products (until opened).


How can I keep ingredients cold while camping?

Here is my camping strategy. If I'm going for more than a few days, here's what I do.

Start with a good air tight cooler. (Big enough to hold everything perishable). Forget those "gel packs". Definitely don't get a bag of ice from the convenience store. They melt and mess stuff up. Get a 2 litre bottle, rinse it out, fill it with water and freeze it. (Do this a couple days in advance, if possible). The less air in the better. This won't leak and will stay cold a good time as long as you don't open it.
Take any raw meat that you're NOT planning on eating on the first day and freeze that too. Put the meat and all the frozen stuff at the bottom and to one side. My bottle of ice goes either directly on top of the meat or right beside it. This way, my meat has at least an extra day or two of grace and I don't need to waste extra space with an ice pack.
Then layer stuff that isn't frozen, but can handle a little freezing on the next layer. Then work your way up, to any produce being on the top layer. Plan for the coldest stuff to be at the bottom and/or near the ice packs. Depending on what's in there, sometimes I put a towel between the frozen stuff and the non frozen stuff to insulate it a bit better. And prevent produce that shouldn't be frozen from freezing.
Then on each day, I move the frozen meat for the next day meat away from the ice packs and upward to allow it to defrost (making sure, it's sealed, so I don't get any raw meat juice leaking out).
On the last day, the water in the bottle can be drank, but once you start emptying it, it'll start melting.

Obviously, minimize the time you keep it open if possible. I realize you said you're going camping tomorrow, so freezing a 2 litre bottle might not happen in time. In this case, I'd switch to multiple smaller bottles and failing that those gel packs. I hate bags of ice, as they melt and make a mess. Finding cheese in a pool of water is never fun. The rest of the stuff would still apply. This usually lasts me quite a few days.


Temperature range for seasoning a carbon steel pan

For Carbon Steel seasoning I would rather use a gas burner until all of the cooking surface has changed color.  Then apply a high oleic oil either pour directly or using a rag/paper towel before allowing to cool.  This process could be repeated if desired.

If you need specific answers to the question you raised, it would be better directed to the vendor or manufacturer.


What is the effect of adding alkaline or acidic substances to wheat flour?

I can think of adding alkali or acid substances mainly as means of changing the ph of the dough. And adding can be understood as in the dough, or on its surface.

Alkali/basic additives or ingredients

Gluten only works if PH is between 3 and 11. Outside those values it loses its stength.

Before reaching PH>11  it will make flour have a higher absorption.
It's a way to relax the dough, as the technic used to stretch noodles as it has previously been cited in this question (see @TFD and @Chad's answers), and also in this question. To make that kind of noodles, you add the alkali to the flour, resulting it to be in the dough.
Another way basic substances are used in dough is giving them a bath in caustic soda, as  Germans do with their Laugengebäck (the most known ones outside Germany probably are the Brezels/Pretzels). The lye makes them have their characteristic crust: brown, and hard and thin, like a good sausage.

Acidic additives or ingredients

Acids can also weaken the gluten, but in bread making is not so strange to add certain acids, or wanting an acidic dough.

One of the reasons on wanting an acidic final loaf is it will help increasing the shelf life, as it will act as a preservative.
Besides that, there is a very common acid used in doughs: Citric acid / Ascorbic acid / E-300. It helps the dough to rise more and faster, and be more manageable and have a crumb that resembles like cotton candy. You can read more on Ascorbic acid at the page of the Real Bread Campaign, and in this YouTube video you can see its effect in dough.
Another reason for wanting a low PH dough is to avoid starch degradation. Flours have enzymes (amylase) that end up degrading it. But that enzymatic activity is stopped with a PH<4.5. This is well known with 100% rye breads:

  I know the question states wheat flour, but this example is clarifier. Rye flour has low gluten, and it has a somehow "low quality" (if compared with "normal" wheat flour). Some recipes call for strong high gluten wheat flour to retain gas bubbles from the leavening that won't get trapped by rye's gluten. But in 100% rye breads gas can also be trapped. That is why usually rye breads are made with sourdough, which has acetic and lactic acids. They give the dough the right PH, and the starches in rye will get gelatinized and catch the gasses in a similar (although less effective way) than gluten. Sometimes, instead of sourdough, yeasts and acid are added as ingredients.

That was an specific example with rye, but wheat flour also has starches, and they can also be gelatinized, giving a distinctive sourdough touch to to 100% wheat breads.

Acidic and basic at the same time

(Thanks @ChrisSteinbach for reminding me it)

When mixing an acid and a base, a chemical reaction happens, neutralizing both and releasing CO2 gas:

NaHCO3 + H+ → Na+ + CO2 + H2O

That gas is employed to leaven the dough, as in a chemical leavener. I.E. in Irish bread or typical cakes.

Stuff that is not acidic nor basic... yet

As a chemical leaveners improvement, one would like the reaction wouldn't start as soon as acid, base and water are mixed, but a bit later. This woud let some more time to work on the dough. Some salts have the characteristic of degrading at high temperatures into acid, helping (usually in the oven) for a second rise.


How many times can vinegar (after soaking onions in it) be reused again for soaking the fresh onions?

From a safety point of view, assuming you are keeping the vinegar in the refrigerator while soaking...

I would make the conservative assumption that the water and nutrients from the onions is diluting the acidity of the vinegar, and making it a more hospital environment for pathogens.   Therefore, I would think of the vinegar as a fully perishable item, with a lifetime in the refrigerator of four or five days.

How many batches of onions could you soak in that time?

Of course, from the efficacy point of view, each batch of onions will flavor the vinegar more, and dilute it more--so at some point, you won't get the results you are looking for, whether that is a basic "velveting" of the onions from a quick soak, or a more pickling like change from a longer soak.  You will have to decide when the results are no longer good enough.

The thing is--vinegar is very inexpensive, at least in the US.  Is it worth reusing it, when you will get less consistent results?


How do you prevent the flour/cornstarch in pork chops from falling off after pan-frying and still be crunchy?

Usually, the pattern for getting coating to stick is dry/wet/dry.

Here's the pattern that I've followed (especially from Cook's Illustrated crunchy pork chop recipies) -

Pat dry the meat with paper towel, then score the meat in a cross-hatched grid pattern, and season well.
Next dredge the chops in plain cornstarch, shake off excess.
Next dip in the liquid (buttermilk flavored with garlic and Dijon
mustard for me, beaten egg would be another option).
Next dredge in seasoned coating (ground corn flakes with more
cornstarch, salt and pepper for me, or cornstarch with whatever
spices/seasonings you want).
Then you let it sit on a wire rack for 10.  This allows the coating to "set."

For the cornflake coating, this holds onto the pork chop incredibly well.  Not sure if that would work as well with cornstarch as the outer coating, but I think the concept would hold.

Here's a place that posted the recipe (Cook's Illustrated keeps most recipes behind a paywall, but this is the same one):

Mens Place: Crispy Pan Fried Pork Chops


What to put underneath a polycarbonate sous vide bath container?

A trivet is what you want.  Any store with cookery goods will probably have some.  They run from about five to well over thirty dollars depending on quality, effectiveness, fanciness, and decorative appeal.

I prefer the solid ones with feet for really hot pots or continuous heating.

I often successfully use one or more folded tea or bath towels or even a wooden plank (6" x 6", e.g.).


Instructions on making Japanese fish sauce? (Shottsuru)

This is something to buy, not make.

Hatahata (or similar like mackerel, fresh anchovies etc) are placed in a barrel with salt (enough to cover the fish) for over a year. Then drain the sauce from the barrel. Longer periods of maturation result in a more complex flavour.

Use a clean barrel. Put in a layer of fish and cover with salt. The fish should look as if it has been snowing.  Hatahata are quite small and can be used whole but if using larger fish like mackerel you may need to cut them up. Repeat with another layer of fish and salt and continue until the barrel is full. Put a weighted lid on top, cover and place the barrel somewhere cool, where it will not be subject to extremes of temperature. A pickle cellar or wine cellar are ideal. You want don't want the barrel to freeze, but you also don't want it to reach summer temperatures between 10 and 15 degrees should suffice.  Leave for about 18 months. The fish will ferment and break down into a solid part (bones, scales) that falls to the bottom of the barrel, a white fatty layer on top, and a liquid sauce.  Remove the fat and solids and filter the liquid through cheesecloth. Pasteurise the resulting liquid (bring to the boil, then allow to cool) and bottle in sterilised bottles or jars.

Nothing is required except the two ingredients, time, and careful control of temperature and cleanliness.


Homemade coconut milk separates into different layers after a day in the fridge

All coconut milk separates out. When you buy it tinned, there is often a plug of coconut cream above a pocket of coconut milk. But it certainly should recombine. It may well have been too cold when you tried to stir it together - let it come to room temperature at least.  If you warmed it up on the stove you'd find the two would melt together without any stirring necessary.


How to roast peanuts on the gas stove without getting the brown spots?

Roasting peanuts in a pan on a stove cooks them primarily via conduction (i.e., the surface of the peanuts touching the hot surface of the pan).  Since peanuts are round, each part of the peanut must touch the pan for an equal amount of time during the cooking process to be evenly roasted.  That's nearly impossible without something like a barrel roaster (which very few people will have in a home kitchen).

Cooking with convection (i.e., hot air) will produce much more even results since the heat will transfer to all sides of the peanut relatively evenly.  Roast the peanuts at 175°C/350°F for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan half-way.  You can also try putting the peanuts on a wire rack (as opposed to directly on the sheet tray), which will help the hot air to more evenly cook their bottoms.

If it does not interfere with your ultimate use of the peanuts, you can also try coating them in peanut oil before cooking (roughly 30ml of oil per kilo of peanuts).  The oil will help the heat transfer more evenly to the peanuts.

Finally, you can also use the Chinese method of deep-frying the peanuts in your kadhai; roughly 15 to 20 minutes.  Immersion in hot oil will cook the peanuts evenly.


Can I use raw sugar to make cookies instead of granulated?

Granulated sugar is 100% sucrose with the molasses removed. Raw sugar on the other hand is refined sucrose with its natural molasses. The answer is yes, you can use them but you might need a bit of tweaking within the recipe. If your raw sugar looks a bit more like brown sugar then your chocolate chip cookies would come out more chewy (not that its a bad thing) because of the molasses in them, whereas granulated sugar would yield a crumb that is more crisp.

P.S. Its alright to use powdered sugar. Some recipes even call for it when baking cookies. However, when substituting granulated sugar to powdered sugar, i recommend that you use a scale since powdered sugar holds so much air when packing into a cup measurement. Measure 7 oz of powdered sugar per 1 cup of granulated sugar.


Pork shoulders should be cooked low and slow, which is great because it gives you quite a bit of wiggle room. I'd recommend 12  hours at 275 with a lid on each roasting pan. I'd also recommend searing them on high heat before roasting in the oven.

Here's some anecdotal evidence to back me up:http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1143833/how-long-to-cook-two-10-pound-pork-butt


How can I cook my dumplings without a bamboo steamer?

A couple thoughts... I haven't tried this, but I've heard of people doing it.

The microwave works relatively well to steam things. You could try "steaming" the dumplings in the microwave with a bit of water at the bottom of the dish or better yet, cover with a wet paper towel. You'll probably need to do some experimenting unfortunately. Under "ideal" circumstances, I'd probably prefer proper steaming, but this might work in a pinch. I imagine re-heating them would work well, but if cooking them works to your liking... no sense cooking them twice.

If you have a rice cooker, you could easily rig that up to "steam" as well. Just rig it up as if you were using a pot to steam it. Just make sure it isn't dry....


At what temperature to bake waffles in a Lékuké silicon mold?

According to reviewers on Amazon and this video by Lékué, you should bake the waffles in an oven preheated to 220C (430F) for about 9 minutes. If the outside gets done before the inside, drop the temperature so you can bake longer. Other, more obscure sites and blogs say the same thing.

Did your box not include a recipe book?


Scaling out a recipe is often more difficult than just "multiplying" the ingredients. In the Book Ratio they have a chapter on Custard:

  The standard ratio is bedrock, 2 to 1; 16 ounces milk blended with 8
  ounces (4 large) eggs will result in 24 ounces of an excellent
  custard. Large eggs are about 2 ounces each, which makes custards easy
  to manage without a recipe: a cup of milk and 2 eggs, or ½ cup of milk
  and 1 egg. But 1 large egg will set three-quarters of a cup of milk
  into a perfect custard. So, as with all ratios, and recipes, it can
  vary. If you intend to turn the custard out and it needs to hold its
  shape, stick with the basic ratio. Extra yolks are often added for
  texture and richness. The quantity of sugar and the quantity of fat
  also affect the final outcome. If you’re using a lot of sugar, you may
  need to add a little more protein for structure. If you’re using only
  heavy cream, you may need less.

  Ruhlman, Michael. Ratio (Kindle Locations 3475-3481). Simon &
  Schuster, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Simply doubling a recipe is usually pretty straight forward...the more you scale upwards the more 'out of alignment' your ratios become (particularly where eggs are involved).

Without your base recipe I have to warn 'your mileage' may vary' So be prepared to tweak it to your taste.


As far as I'm aware there are a few possible reasons for this to occur.

Young garlic can turn green when the presence of an acid, in this case the butter.
As a possible chemical reaction between the garlic and certain types of cooking utensil, such as cast iron or copper.
It will sometimes change colour if it has prolonged exposure to bright sunlight.

The most important worry can be dismissed, it's not harmful :)


Depending on the temperature in your fridge, cooked lentils will be safe to eat for 2 to 5 days when using a sealed container, filled with the cooking water. By immersing them, your lentils won't dry out and they'll be ready to use whenever you need them - just drain the amount you need.

If you've got sufficient freezer space you could also freeze the cooked lentils. Just prepare a whole lot of lentils and divide them in individual portions to put in small freezer bags. Make sure you push out any air before sealing the bag. Freezed lentils will be fine anywhere from 4 up to 6 months.

However, I would strongly recommend using dried lentils, which I'm sure you'll be able to find in Copenhagen. Just make a habit of soaking the amount of lentils you need for your breakfast and you'll never have to worry about storing leftovers. It's a lot cheaper too! But above that, dried lentils tend to taste much better than canned lentils. :)


How should I store this BBQ sauce for later use?

If it's any good, it will be gone long before it goes bad in the refrigerator. :-).

I've saved my homemade barbecue sauce for at least two weeks in the fridge.  Store-bought barbecue sauce lasts for months.  You do need to put it in a sealed container.


Any cheap ways to clean restaurant stainless steel fridge?

If this is a commercial institution, you are going to have to comply with your local codes.  Many will require using a certified sanitizing solution, a diluted bleach solution, or similar after cleaning.

In particular in the US, I was unable to find any direct requirements in the USDA Model Food Code, and I don't recall any from 25 years ago when I received health inspector training in one jurisdiction.  That doesn't mean there are not such requirements in any given location, even if in the US.

Assuming your location permits, normally you would clean the refrigerator with a mild solution of dish soap, as you have been doing.  With thick gloves, very hot water will help make the cleaning more effective.  Floors, walls, and so on in a walk in would be cleaned with a solution of your general purpose detergent (back when I was in commercial service, we actually used unscented Tide, which is a very effective cleaner).

If it is possible to empty the refrigerator and turn it off for cleaning (which is not always practical in commercial environments), this doing a thorough job, and makes it easier to clean with hot water.

Update regarding moldy gaskets:

Per JES Restaurant Equipment (emphasis added):

  Upon visual inspection you may find that mold or mildew is building up
  on the gasket which is pretty gross and bad for the gasket.  The mold
  and mildew may seam harmless but over time it will deteriorate the
  gasket, basically the mold and mildew will eat away at the seal.
  You can combat this with a simple bleach and water solution, dilute a little Clorox in some water and use a soft cloth or sponge to apply
  the solution to the moldy gasket.  You will notice it start to fade
  away, once you have cleaned the gasket thoroughly discard the “bleach
  water”, get some clean water and a fresh clothe and wipe the gasket
  down again to remove any remaining mildew and bleach solution.

In addition to being unsightly, mold on your refrigerator is almost certainly a code violation that could have drastic consequences.

Your gaskets are also probably fully replaceable, but since you are concerned with cost, this may not be your preferred option.  Still, if you can, temporarily removing the gasket may facilitate cleaning it thoroughly.


How much protein from the stock of one large chicken (2kg) carcass once legs, breasts and wings removed?

Search on chicken back bone nutrition. Many hits.

From this link about 20 grams per 102g of total mass.


The way to make a proper griddled hamburger:

Start with beef that is between 70/30 and 80/20.  You need to use a fatty beef because you are going to be doing a few things that will restrict the amount of juice in the burger and the extra fat will mitigate that.

Season your beef and roll into balls less than 1/4 of a pound.  Let the size of your patties be determined by the size of your pan, you need them small enough that once you smash you won't be touching the sides of the pan.

You then want to preheat your pan.  You want your pan to be as hot as possible.  A commercial griddle can range in heat between 375 F and 650 F, so the temp here can vary quite a bit between places, I find hotter aids crust formation and allows the interior stay closer to medium.

Do not use oil.  I can't stress that enough.  Your beef will put out plenty and oil will fry the burger instead of allowing a seared crust to develop.

Place your balls of meat on the pan and smash them flat with a spatula.  You might need a second spatula to remove the patty from the smashing one, as you lack the space space to heat it like you would on a griddle to prevent sticking.  Allow it to cook about two to three minutes, then flip and top with cheese, if desired.  Two more minutes and remove.

As an added bonus, you can toast/fry some bread in the beef juices to create a patty melt style burger that will be oozing beefy goodness.  You can drop the bread in right after the flip and it will be perfect by the time the patty is done.


Eggs are very hard to get right on a non-teflon pan, but do-able. First, you need oil or butter. I don't care what the infomercials say, I've never been able to fry eggs on a metal pan without oil.

Second you need to get the heat right. Oil forms a barrier between the pan and the egg, and also conducts heat better, what actually keeps an egg from sticking is the steam produced by the egg cooking. If the pan is too cold, or the transfer of heat to the egg is not fast enough then steam will not be produced quickly enough to keep the egg from sticking. You need to get the heat up on your pan. If the egg burns before it's cooked you've gone too far.


Which vinegars are essential to keep on hand?

The ones I always have:

White vinegar (as a condiment, and also for cleaning);
Balsamic vinegar (mainly for salads - let it age!)
Rice vinegar (essential to almost all Asian cooking);
Red wine vinegar (essential in French and a lot of Italian cooking);
Cider vinegar (the best deglazer, and great in chilis)


How to ensure that spices reach inside the eggs in the egg curry?

I said:

  I am ready to mess up with its skin, but if I cut it up totally, the yellow yolk will get lost in the gravy.

Yesterday I did an experiment:

After properly hard boiling the eggs, I shelled them and cut them into two parts  vertically.

I fried these sliced eggs on both sides in around 3 (6 ml) spoons oil in a semi circle wok. No, the yolk didn't get lost in the oil. It was all intact in the sliced eggs.

I fried all the spices etc. in the wok, and added the water as needed. Now, as a final step, I carefully placed the fried sliced eggs in the same wok [with the yolk side facing up], covered with a lid, and let it boil on simmer gas for some minutes.

This time the spices did get inside the egg yolk, and also the yolk was completely intact.

Since the eggs are sliced, pressure cooker usage may cause the yolk to dismantle. An open vessel usage is a must in this case.
It is also necessary to keep the yolk side facing up when you place the eggs in the curry for the final boil up to keep them intact.

Here is how I made the egg curry finally.


How heavy should a Chinese chef's knife be?

A chinese style chef's knife, also known as the cai dow, or vegetable cleaver(trial subscription required, but an excellent article), is superficially similar to a western cleaver. The cleaver is typically a very robust blade, thick and weighty, meant for separating meat at the joint, splitting ribs and chops, and other tasks that require a lot of weight and a stiff blade.

The chinese chef's knife will be much thinner and lighter, comparable to a western chef's knife or Japanese nakiri. The broad face is for scooping up ingredients from the cutting board and controllability rather than mass and strength. From a brief blog entry from Kitchn on the knife -

  In her book Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of
  Eating in China, Fuchsia Dunlop explains, “The Chinese cleaver is not
  a butcher’s knife...The everyday cleaver, the cai dao or vegetable
  knife, is unexpectedly light and dexterous, as suitable for slicing a
  small shallot as a great hunk of meat, and used by everyone from the
  most macho chef to the frailest old lady.”


Can you eat the head and guts of anchovies?

Just eat them
No need to do anything special with them, they're a tasty snack.  Heads, bones, fins, all is good.  They wouldn't be sold as snack foods if they weren't fully fit for consumption.
How do you use Asian dried anchovies?


Depending on the exact dish, a possible solution I have found (and tried) is to add potatoes to the dish, leave for a while (30 mins or so) then remove.  They are meant to absorb the salt somewhat.  It didnt work for me however.

What is the dish you are having problems with?  If it is something with a sauce (e.g. Stew) I have before had to strain it to remove some sauce and then add more stock/water to dilute it back down to your desired consistency.


Logic suggests entomotarian by analogy with pescatarian and entomo- as a root for words related to insects. Specifically entomophagy is the practice of eating insects.

I'm not alone in suggesting this: a blog called the culinary linguist users of at least in passing, and there are other hits on Google


Can you identify this Serbian street food?

That's not batter, that's yeast dough. It is called Мекица (transliteration: mekitza) in Bulgarian, Google Translate says the Serbian word is Колачи (transliteration: kolachi), which I find somewhat strange, as in Bulgarian, колачета is a different food. Maybe somebody can supply the correct Serbian word (or affirm that kolachi is correct).

In itself, it is a very simple food. You just take normal bread dough, stretch it thin (the Bulgarian version is flat and more round, this one may have been adapted to street eating) and deep-fry it. There are two types, the evenly thick as you have it in the picture, and the one which is transparently thin in the middle with a very thick edge (the styles don't have their own names). It is usually eaten for breakfast. The simplest way to eat it is with confectioner's sugar sprinkled over it, but you can also spread jam on it or put feta pieces.

I don't know about the geographical spread of мекици. Wikipedia suggests there is a Hungarian equivalent called lángos.

A similar food with much wider distribution is made from a softer, almost liquid yeast dough, which, unlike simple bread dough, contains eggs and fat. The American word is doughnut, in Germany it is called Krapfen, and many European languages have a word derived from Krapfen, e.g. the Serbian крофне (krofne). Note that the shape differs (the American doughnut is a torus, the Krapfen has an almost spherical lens form, and the French beignet is square), but the dough is roughly the same. There are too many variations to list, Wikipedia has a very long list if you are interested.


As Jay mentioned, potassium nitrate or sodium nitrite is what gives commercially made corned beef its long-lasting pink color.  Home cooks can use the same chemicals.  Just make sure that whichever you buy is specifically labeled for use in food.  Also, since you mentioned that the corned beef you buy comes with a spice mixture, check the ingredient list to make sure it doesn't already contain either chemical.

I've only ever used potassium nitrate (A.K.A. saltpeter) for corned beef.  1-2 teaspoons per gallon of water is plenty.


Cooking a chicken and vegetable curry using a curry paste

No, those two things don't taste the same. They may have a few ingredients in common, but there are plenty of differences too. (Just look up a few recipes and this should be abundandly obvious.) You could certainly use harissa as a base for some kind of soupy dish similar to curry, but it wouldn't be Thai green curry.


What sauce is Gordon Ramsey using for this dish?

The sauce in question here is pomme purée. This was answered by the community but a special thanks to @Luciano, @ElendilTheTall, @GdD and @Dorothy.

Happy Cooking


After I eat some foods beer tastes weird?

Even sugars can affect the flavour of the next mouthful or two. This includes the dextrose added to quite a lot of savoury snacks (and similar foods, often before cooking so it caramelises), which might explain why some crisps (chips) have this effect and others don't. I find that a couple of small sips are enough to restore taste to normal.

Without rigorous testing I find that this reduces the flavour of a malty beer. More hoppy beers tend to taste more bitter after certain foods, but mainly sweet foods, so I've always put that down to the contrast in flavours. Again this is a short-lived effect.


using cooking propane torch held sideways

Practically speaking, you can tilt the torch down about 60degrees.  Beyond that, it will tend to either cut off or flare.  However, tilting it down that far is good enough for most purposes.  Wanting a better angle is one of the reasons why more expensive "kitchen torches" exist.

So, if tilting some isn't good enough for you, you can buy a kitchen torch, a gun-shaped propane torch (which isn't less expensive, but is more powerful), a gun-shaped butane torch, or even a propane torch with a hose attachment.


How does Ball mason jar size affect canning processing time?

As pretty much always in canning, there are no rules of thumb for calculations/changes (the altitude thing is an exception, admittedly).
Each recipe has been developed and tested for a given jar size, and the institution which developed it should give you the size of jar you have to use. You cannot change the size to a larger one and add some number of minutes.
In general, you can change the recipe to a smaller jar size, but without reducing the time. This ensures that you don't run into problems with food safety, but you will likely end up with an overcooked product.
Bottom line, don't change jar sizes on your own, use the ones in the recipe.


Naturally occuring mono- and diglycerides?

Lecithin is a mixture of stuff, which also involves mono and diglycerids.
As far as I recall, there is no product naturally produced in nature which is pure mono or diglycerid. Fats in nature follow a lot of synthetic paths, not only for energy storage, but also for structural needs (the cell membrane, for example). For this reason, you are very unlikely to find a biological system synthesizing only one molecular species, and I would be surprised it actually exists.

As for what kind of mono and di, it's hard to say. The metabolic pathways synthesize oleic, palmitic, stearic, arachidonic, butirric chains, among others. The broad set of different combinations, and their proportions lead to oil, or butter, or whatever else. In addition, some residues are phosphated, or they are used to create Sphingolipids. The proportions are decided by the plant/animal metabolism and general conditions.


Pyrex glass round casserole safety in high temperature

Update based on edited question:  there are no issues of toxicity.

It is a very poor idea to use glass cookware on a burner.  Not all Pyrex is made from high quality borosilicate glass anymore, and even if you have some, the issue is thermal shock, not toxicity.

If you heat or cool glass very rapidly, the internal stress caused by thermal expansion (or contraction, when cooling) can cause it to shatter.  This can be a real safety issue when it is full of hot food.

For this reason, you generally only want to use glass cookware in the oven, and never transfer it directly from the freezer to the oven, or the oven to the freezer.


Other apple varieties for a Granny Smith fan

Granny Smith's popularity as a baking variety is mostly due to its firmness and tartness, which will offset the caramalized sugars from baking the apple and prevents the apple from falling apart, but theres no reason you can't eat it plain as well. Actually I also prefer fresh apples which arent too sweet, and granny smith's are one of my favorites to snack on as well.

Now, there are hundreds of different apple cultivars (or varieties), and many will probably not be available locally, and you haven't mentioned what it is you like about granny smith apples, so I can't specifically reccomend that many apples.

That being said, I would cross reference wikipedia's list of apple cultivars with attributes you like in an apple, and see what comes up. For example if you like tart apples you could try Honeycrisp or Pippins. If you like firm apples try Golden Delicious, or Golden Gala.


How to simmer bone broth safely with an overnight pause?

You definitely can't just leave it on the stove; that'd mean far longer than 2 hours in the danger zone. (See for example How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?)

If cooking until it's done is out of the question, you need to try to chill it. Putting the whole pot in the fridge might not be the best approach, though; it could take quite a while to cool down. Even if that's less than 2 hours, you're going to go through another cycle later, and the time is cumulative.

The best thing you can do is probably to use an ice bath to help chill it faster.


How can I make vegan Chinese Sweet Corn Soup?

You can leave out the eggs, or replace them with tofu if you want some texture. Replace the chicken stock suggested for a meatless (!) version in the recipe you link to with vegetable stock.
If replacing the chicken stock changes the texture of the soup too much, you could add some (vegan) gelatin or similar gelling agent. However, the potato starch n the original recipe is the more effective thickener, so you might not need to add gelatin.


How can I safely transport cooked food in warm weather?

With all cooked, perishable food the total time in the so-called "danger zone" 40-140 °F / 4-60 °C must be minimized to avoid growing bacteria and thus food-borne illnesses. (Your transporting plans place your dishes flatly in the danger zone, so not a good idea.)

If your kitchen is on site, this is typically done by keeping food hot between cooking and serving. With many dishes this can be done for a short time only (a few hours maximum) before quality decreases.

If cooking off-site on a comercial scale, there is often the "cook and chill" process used.
In short, food is cooked, then cooled down rapidly to refrigerator temperature. It is transported cold to the cafeteria and reheated there in special ovens, hot water bath or simply on a stove.

Prepared food can be stored for up to five days, but you need special cooling/heating equipment and cold storage/vans.
(A manufacturer's explanation here.)


According to Wikipedia, using sassafras root as a flavoring might not be a good idea. Leaves can be dried and ground to make filé powder, used to thicken gumbo.


Since my pizza dough recipe makes three 12" pies and I usually make two at a time, I regularly freeze extras just as you did.

To thaw, I have used both the countertop and refrigerator method.  Thawing on the countertop produced the best results.  The dough rolled as usual and the crust (a thin one) was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside after baking.


Some of this is a matter of opinion, as you must decide what type of apple pie you like.  Do you want one with discernable applie slices, or one where the filling becomes somewhat like apple sauce?

Kenji Alt of Serious Eats has done an in depth review of 10 commonly available apples (at least in the US), and his conclusion is:

  [...] the best ones in the running are the Golden Delicious and the
  Braeburn. They're the ones I use for all of my baking purposes.

Still, I suggest reading his review, and drawing your own conclusion.

He also shares that the level of acidity an apple has correlates with how long it takes to brown when cut and exposed to air--the slower the browning, the more acid.   Those apples with the most acid tend to produce the firmest cooked product, as the acid helps keep the pectin from breaking down.


What can I substitute for pineapple juice in this recipe?

Substitute with mango or papaya juice.

It will not taste the same, but it will still have the exotic flavor.


How to make a good pie dough like the industrial one?

So first things first, a short crust pie dough is usually made with cold butter and ice water. This leads to a flakier, more tender dough. You also typically don't want to knead the dough. Too much gluten development leads to a tough, chewy crust.
A more typical shortcrust would start with cold butter cut into cubes. Put the flour, salt, and butter in a food processor and pulse just until it looks like wet slightly clumpy sand (there should still be intact bits of butter in the dough). If you don't have a food processor, you can either use pastry cutters or a couple of forks to cut the butter and flour together or my favourite method: freeze the butter and grate it before rubbing it into the flour with my hands. Slowly add ice water until the dough can be shaped into a rough, shaggy ball. It should not look smooth at this point. Cover and let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
Then you take the rough, not smooth looking ball of dough and roll it out on a floured surface. The first time you roll it out, it will be very crumbly. Just roll it out as well as you can. Then you can fold in the rough edges and roll it out again. Repeat as needed. I typically need to do two or three fold+roll iterations before I have a smooth, easily workable pie dough. Folding and rolling will get you a smooth dough without as much gluten development as if you kneaded it smooth and you will keep the little bits of butter that give you flakiness when the pie bakes.
There are of course endless variations on shortcrust pie dough recipes. There are people who swear by using lard or vegetable based butter substitutes, use vodka instead of water, or add different flavourings to the dough. But the basic method for shortcrust is cold fat + cold liquid + minimal handling. And industrial recipes add various preservatives and chemicals to force certain reactions that are hard to get hold of as a home cook. However, you can still make very good pie dough at home without those additives.


From what I could fine in a cursory search of recipes, the typical ratio for vinegar candy is 4:1, sugar to vinegar, usually done as 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup vinegar.

The highest ratio I found was 3 cups sugar to 1 1/2 cups vinegar (Dottie's Vinegar Candy Recipe).  That, however, was specifically for a soft candy--taffy.

I'm not sure whether the higher ratio means that that mixture could not reach hard ball stage if heated high enough or if it's merely the choice of the recipe writer to make a softer candy.