Why does my dough always need more water than the recipe calls for?

There are at least four likely causes that could be factors:

I'd say the most common problem for your issue is measurement error.  If you aren't measuring flour by weight, it's nearly impossible to be consistent.  And many recipe sources will assume different methods for measuring flour by volume.  You could use the "spoon and level" method where you use a tablespoon or something to gradually add flour loosely to your measuring cup and then level off with a knife or straightedge.  You could use the "scoop and sweep" method where you stick the entire measuring cup into the flour and sweep it against the edge of the bag or bin of flour to level it.  The latter one will pack the flour more and result in more flour per cup.  Or, you might not be leveling the flour at all, or shaking it off until it's roughly level.  You could be packing the flour in tight or scooping it from a tightly settled bag, or you could be using flour that was loose after being poured or even put through a sifter to aerate it further.
In any case, different volume measuring techniques can produce an error of 30% or more in flour measurement, which can make the difference between a dough that's stiff and dry vs. a dough that's so sticky you can't handle it.  Most recipes that use volume measurements assume either a "spoon and level" or "scoop and sweep" method.  If your source doesn't specify, try using a measurement method that won't pack the flour down as much -- which might solve your dry dough problem.

As already mentioned by ElendilTheTall, flours can vary significantly in terms of the amount of water they absorb.  There's the issue of type: high-gluten vs. bread flour vs. "all-purpose" vs. pastry vs. cake.  If you are using a high-protein/high-gluten flour like bread flour but the recipe requests all-purpose, your flour will likely absorb too much water.  Similarly, some brands of flour are made from harder or softer wheats, even they are all termed "all-purpose."  In the U.S., for example, King Arthur all-purpose will absorb more water than Gold Medal all-purpose, and both will absorb a lot more than "southern" all-purpose flours like White Lily.  Flours in other countries may vary in their processing and content in other ways (ash content, extraction, milling size, etc.).  And even flours from the same company will vary by batch, age, etc.
In general, try using the type of flour recommended by the recipe.  If that isn't working, you might consider a different brand, a "softer flour," or simply use less.

Kitchen environment can make a big difference, particularly temperature and humidity.  Flour will absorb or lose moisture over time when stored in conditions with changing humidity.  Dough will also absorb or lose moisture at different rates depending on your kitchen conditions.  Thus, even if you measure flour by weight, you can sometimes see significant discrepancies from batch to batch.  If you're using recipes that were designed in a place which was much more humid than your kitchen, it could explain some differences in outcome.

Bad recipes.  It's perhaps obvious, but if you've mostly been using one or two sources for recipes, it's possible that there are consistent errors or problems.  (Or, it's possible that the cookbooks/chefs/sources assume specific measuring techniques, flour types, etc. from what you're using.)

Regardless of what the problem is, if you're noticing a consistent error, then the most obvious solution is to try to quantify how big that error is, and then plan for it.  For example, try reducing your flour measurement in every recipe by 10%, and see what happens.  As you point out, it's often more annoying to add water to a dough than to add flour, so it's better to start out a bit moist and continue adding flour until you get the right texture.
If the error is consistent, and you can always fix it by reducing your amounts by X proportion, you've solved the issue.  The alternative is to consider the various potential causes I mentioned above and see whether you can vary them until you find a solution.


Strawberry & Raspberry jam discoloration

For strawberry jam, the discoloration that happens over time is when the pelargonidin, i.e. the red color breaks down, leaving you with a brownish-red or greyish mush instead of a vibrant red jam.

The breaking down is sped up by a warm environment and exposure to light, starting with long cooking time (probably not an issue in your case), and continuing in storage. The easiest way is to store the jars in the freezer - they will be protected from light and once thawed, still have the enticing red of freshly cooked strawberry jam. We pulled out a jar the other day that was from last year and there was no visual difference noticeable.

Alternatives are adding a small amount of a more stable red color, e.g. black currant, aronia, elderberry or even beet juice. It may change the “pure” strawberry flavor, though.

The more color is in your jam at the beginning, the longer will it stay red. If you have the choice, choose fully ripe fruit and cultivars that are red all through the fruit instead of ones with a paler interior. But in the end, freezing is the safest method.

As raspberries’ red is based on the same chemical components, I would assume the same mechanisms apply as for strawberries. But raspberry jam never lasts long enough in our home to change color, so I don’t have experimental data available.


How to keep pork crispy during transport to venue?

Being Filipino, I totally applaud you for such an excellent choice of an entree. The enemy of all fried food is moisture. Think of...potato chips. Immediately after you fry, make sure you let the food cool at room temperature before packaging. I would store the lechon in a non air-tight container, like a KFC bucket/box with parchment paper. Paper bags are good options as well. After the food has substantially cooled, feel free to refrigerate. Don't put your lechon in a sealed tupperware container while hot, as condensation from water evaporating from the meat while it is hot will often form and make your food soggy. Bring on the Mang Tomas and have at it.


Does bread flour (vs AP flour) make a big difference in the density of the dough?

Bread flour has a higher protein content than AP flour.  That should aid in the development of the gluten structure of your dough.  So, bread flour will help, but that might not be your only issue.  No-knead, doesn't necessarily mean mix it together and leave it alone. (I did watch the video...I see he doesn't knead, but his dough does not look like it is a high hydration dough). There are many variables that influence water absorption in flours...so often a formula will behave differently in your kitchen and with your ingredients.  From your description it sounds like your dough needs more structure, and would benefit from the use of techniques that build that structure.  The most obvious is kneading, but slap and fold (or stretch and fold) is often incorporated into high hydration formulas.  There is a learning curve, so reducing your hydration is a good way to get a feel for things...but I suspect that you need to work on building the gluten structure.


How to make a "French Vanilla cappuccino" with a espresso machine

If your espresso machine has a milk steamer then you have several options; you can make a vanilla simple syrup with vanilla pod scrapes added and add that directly to your espresso, you can make a vanilla sugar which will be much milder, you can scrape some vanilla in with your milk as you steam it which produces a wonderful smell, you can add organic vanilla extract to your milk or simple sugar although I like the pods better. You could just buy the French Vanilla flavor they sell but it always seems sweeter than what you get in the coffee house by the cup.

Adding vanilla extract to the cup will not bring out the aromatics you need to add it to the steamed milk.

Why buy vanilla syrup when you can make your own? Especially when you can control the instensity of the vanilla.

Vanilla ground coffee beans are great as long as you don't sweeten your coffee. IMHO flavored coffee beans are only worth it if you take your coffee unadulterated.

If you don't have a milk steamer go buy one because you cannot make decent cappuccino without it, but most espresso machines have one so I am going to assume you already have it.


Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) doesn't really melt and is often fried. Other cottage cheeses, and I suspect cheeses made with low-fat dairy, will have high melting points.

Yogurt-based cheeses (feta) don't melt much, but don't have a lot of structural integrity either.

Edit:

The Wikipedia article above linked to farmer cheese, which linked to Queso Blanco, which is a Mexican farmer cheese that is also resistant to melting (although apparently there are different types that do melt). Flavor is sorta similar to halloumi, although I've only had one brand and flavors probably vary.


Is a steak OK to eat if it fell down, but I cooked it afterwards?

Sure it's safe. You are about to char the outside at very high temperatures, nothing's going to survive that, so cleaning it is more about flavor than safety. I wouldn't just wipe it though, clean it with water or you might get a dirtier steak flavor than you'd like.


Making a vegan potato-puree like course without whole potatoes

You're vague about what's available at a reasonable price in your area, but there are plenty of things that are used to make vegetable mash:

Root vegetables.  (Turnip, parsnip, yams, sweet potatoes, rutabaga/swede, carrots)
Winter squash.  (Pumpkin, butternut squash, acorn squash, etc.)
Cauliflower

None are necessarily a direct replacement, as some are more strongly flavored, some have more moisture (but you can bake/roast them to help dry them out before mashing), and some are more fibrous (cut up spaghetti squash and sweet potatoes across the fibers before cooking, to reduce the length of the strands).

If you really want to use potato, then look for 'potato flakes' not 'potato starch', but make sure to follow the package instructions, as just like real potatoes, they can be gluey if you're not careful.  (I suspect it's that they need some fat ... I usually use olive oil, although you may want to go with something more neutral in flavor).

They can also be reconstituted and mixed with other mashed vegetables.


Unnecessary kitchen gadgets: a reference

For reasons I have yet to understand, my parents once bought me what I would have to describe as a manual food processor.  I am not talking about a hand blender, nor am I talking about a chopper (which is what you'll find if you try to google "manual food processor").  It is literally a crank-operated, plastic-encased device that looks like a very small food processor.

To date, I have never found a use for it.  The only reason I even took it out of the box was because the box took up too much space in my cupboard.  I have no idea what this... thing... can do that an ordinary food processor or hand blender can't do about a thousand times better.  I guess, if I ever really need to purée some tuna in the middle of a nationwide blackout, I'll be prepared.

Because I no longer have the box, I have no idea what the name of this product is.
I received this gift over 5 years ago. The guard labels are still on the blades - a testament to just how useless this product turned out to be.


What are good instructional cooking TV shows?

Good Eats (Food Network): Explains some of the science behind why techniques work, and occassional information about the history of the ingredients or dishes.
America's Test Kitchen (PBS) and Cook's Country (PBS): Explain the techniques that they've used to improve dishes, and have occassional segments explain the science behind cooking processes.
Mexico - One Plate at a Time (PBS): Describes the differences in the regional differences of mexican cooking, and often compares historical versions of dishes to the modern versions.
Deep Fried, Live! (web animation): Flash animation cooking show that allows you to click at various points to get more information about ingredients & techniques.
In Search of Perfection (BBC 2): Heston Blumenthal brings his molecular gastronomy techniques to some of Britains favourite dishes such as roast chicken, fish and chips, spaghetti Bolognese etc. The show was followed up by a second series, "Further Adventures In Search of Perfection".  At the time of writing, episodes from both series can be found on YouTube.


How long is coffee with creamer added safe in a thermos?

The clock on the danger zone starts when the food temperature drops below 60 celsius. It should be 4 hours for coffee - two hours are for meat, where it is assumed that bacteria in it have had some chance to grow while it was being butchered, transported, and stored in a supermarket. In coffee and creamer, there will be no bacteria growth at all in the ingredients, it will start after you have brewed the drink and mixed in the creamer, and the temperature has fallen below 60.

If you want to go by the book, measure the temperature of the coffee inside the thermos 5 hours after brewing. If it is above 60 Celsius, then it is still safe up to 9 hours after brewing. Do it on several days to have a significant result.

(For those of us on my side of the pond, that's 140 degrees Fahrenheit. )


To address the part where you asked for the difference between your mother's sauce and yours: yes, the kind of peanut butter may well be responsible for the difference. The Internet gives the ingredients as

  ROASTED PEANUTS, SUGAR, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (COTTONSEED, SOYBEAN AND RAPESEED) TO PREVENT SEPARATION, SALT

or, for a low-fat version

  INGREDIENTS: ROASTED PEANUTS, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SUGAR, SOY PROTEIN, SALT, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (COTTONSEED, SOYBEAN AND RAPESEED) TO PREVENT SEPARATION, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, MINERALS (MAGNESIUM OXIDE, ZINC OXIDE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, COPPER SULFATE), VITAMINS (NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXIDE HYDROCHLORIDE, FOLIC ADIC).

Your mother is using a product which has been specifically engineered to prevent separation. Especially the low-fat version also includes mono- and diglycerides, which are also a good emulsifier. You are using some product whose selling point is probably the low degree of processing. I suspect that it is not only the ingredient difference, but also the microstructure of the fat particles that play a role (the two may have been milled differently).

So, one option would be to use Skippy too. It would likely get you the result your mother gets.


You might consider making pissaladiere, a traditional pizza-like dish from southern France that does not have cheese.


Is it safe to put a baking steel directly on oven's floor?

Since the manual specifically mentions not dragging anything across the bottom, this implies to me that objects can be rested there, as long as they are carefully set in place and removed.


What is the difference between noodles and pasta?

I think the problem here is that the definitions overlap quite a bit, which is always a good cause for confusion.

Pasta is defined as shaped dough made of Durum wheat and boiled in water. That is the traditional pasta in my opinion.

Noodles are uaully long and thin, and can be made of any starchy material, like rice or even beans.

Basically, things like risoni or even fusilli are pasta, but not noodles.
Spaghetti and fettuccine are both noodles and pasta.
Rice noodles like ramen are noodles but not pasta.


How to wash fresh fish properly to reduce its smell?

The smell is caused by a substance called trimethylamine. You can remove the trimethylamine by rinsing the fish under cold water, or use acids. A bit of vinegar or lemon juice throughout the cooking process makes for less fishy fish (this is why lemon pairs so well with seafood). Consider finishing with an acidic sauce (such as tartar sauce).


Extrusion pasta maker versus roller: which one makes the best pasta?

I am absolutely of the opinion that the roller type makes better pasta unless you're considering hugely expensive commercial extruders.

This is my pasta maker:

I think I spent about $30 on it. I make my pasta dough in my food processor, and the pasta is as good as I have ever had. Yes, it requires that you knead; that's half the fun and it produces much, much better pasta.

I had one like this once:

I did not like the pasta. I found it to always have a grainy texture, even if I used 00 flour or followed the recipes that came with the machine. The machine just doesn't knead enough or right or something. That one cost $250 I think. The only reasons to prefer this one to the other is if you want shapes (I prefer noodles and ravioli anyway to macaroni), or if you really, really hate kneading.

See: Can anybody help make homemade pasta foolproof? for two different, both excellent, methods.

Since you had me looking on amazon anyway, I'll show you the one I would buy if I was in the market and didn't mind the idea of spending a little extra money: Marcato Pasta Machine with Attatchments. This one is the bestseller for good reason: Marcato Pasta Machine. This very inexpensive option has been fine for me, but I sometimes wish I had one of the higher quality Marcato rollers. It's a bit rough around the edges, especially cutting, but it's functional. Norpro Pasta Maker.


If your dough has little cracks on it on the sides when you roll out balls from it or doesn't easily sink in when you press it with your finger as bread dough does, its hard dough. Normally, the folds on a hard dough don't easily mix in. This image shows how a hard dough looks like.

Namkeen Mathri usually tastes like the cover for samosa with added salts and spices. Using wheat is also okay. But definitely tastes better with Maida instead of wheat.

Mathris are usually rolled on semolina before they are fried to give them little extra crunch and grainy texture.


You cannot use physical methods (scratching), so you are only left with the chemical ones. And for this kind of gunk, the only thing I know to work is a strong enough base.
In the mildest cases, oven cleaner sprays might be sufficient. If not, somebody suggested ammonia in the comments, and then there is lye.
The big problem is that any base strong enough to clean this stuff will corrode aluminum too. If your pans are teflon on steel, go ahead and clean them. If they are aluminum pans, maybe you can try the oven cleaner as a last ditch effort, but you are risking the pan itself. Else, all you can do is continue use them as normal sticky pans.
The usual modus operandi is actually not to clean them somehow, but not to let the gunk happen. Just like you don't use metal on Termin, to prevent the failure mode of "scratched pan", you don't use techniques which produce gunk, to prevent the failure mode of "gummed up pan". This means that you have to avoid anything with small amounts of oil, and either use the pan without oil (at low temperatures though, or you'll burn the coating), or with lots of oil at moderate temperatures, or for wet cooking.


The recipe calls for heating a "pan" on medium heat. Without knowing what type of pan this is, there is no way of knowing what reaction is going on there. Let me venture a guess, though.

I guess the pan is cast or mineral, seasoned, iron. The salt will react with some of the compounds from the bottom of the pan, making it "change its color".

Other types of pans will, most likely, do nothing. Non-stick, steel, aluminum don't react with salt.

As to the function of browning the salt, I can only guess that the flavor changes slightly from whatever you sautéed in the pan. You could pick up fish or meat or vegetable flavors.

As a side note, salt is used to clean cast or mineral iron skillets.


No.  Yeast cannot use Equal (aspartame) to gain caloric energy any more than you can.

How much sugar is your recipe calling for to activate the yeast?  The calories in a teaspoon of sugar are insignificant compared to those in the rest of the ingredients, especially after the yeast has consumed some of them.


Why is my meat grinder getting clogged with sinew?

Is this normal?

Yes, it is. Sinew and other connective tissues (silverskin/fascia, ligaments) are very tough stuff; you need to remove as much as possible by hand before grinding.

Sinew and ligaments are strong, whitish strands or "cables" connecting bones to muscles and to other bones, respectively. They'll be in the same place on every piece of a particular cut of meat: a poultry drumstick has an easily-identifiable piece of sinew -- actually the "Achilles' tendon" -- heading from the fleshy part to the exposed end of the bone.

Silverskin is a connective boundary between muscles. It's a thin, clingy, and annoying sheet, translucent silvery white, that you will find on the surface, and defining the divisions of, various cuts of meat. It might make it through the grinder if your blade is nice and sharp and the piece isn't too big, but it's best to take it off (your teeth can't deal with it much better than the grinder can). You'll need a thin, sharp, narrow blade for this: a filet/boning knife, sometimes a good paring kife.

Essentially, anything that's not fat or muscle needs to be taken out before the meat goes into the grinder.

Chicken thighs have a lot of connective tissue. Some of it is hidden inside the muscle segments on the underside of the thigh; make sure you cut those open.

Depending on the particular piece of meat you have, you may end up with what seem like extremely small bits after this process. Even a nice pork shoulder can result in 1/4" or thinner pieces after the internal connective tissue is removed. This won't have any real effect on the grinding process; the only thing to watch out for is thorough and even mixing if you end up with many different sizes and are marinating/curing the meat before grinding.

You can grind without removing all the tissue (it gets frustrating sometimes), but you'll have to be prepared to stop the grinder and clean the blade and plate frequently -- the instant you notice that the meat is not coming out of the plate in clean, cohesive, and separate lines. If you see any signs of smearing or over-grinding (the grind will start to be too fine and become pink as the fat and meat combine), stop and clear the blade. Otherwise, the mixture won't emulsify properly, the fat will melt out when you cook it, and the sausage will be dry.

  Does my blade need sharpening already?

It may very well, but this still won't help with sinew and ligaments.

You should treat your grinder blade the same way you treat your kitchen knives -- maintain its edge, rather than waiting for it to become completely dull. I'd say that I put my blade onto a sharpening stone every 50 lbs. or so. The nice thing is that it's extremely easy -- you are grinding all the arms of the blade at the same angle: flat. The plate also needs to be maintained by grinding the surface where it meets the blade (the edges of the holes should be sharp), but I'd say that this can be done much less freqently. The blade and the plate can both be maintained quite successfully and easily with a piece of fine (800 grit) wet-dry sandpaper slapped on a table.


Can I fill my sous vide container completely full?

No, that doesn't sound good. The circulating water is what transfers heat efficiently to everything, making sure the water is the same temperature everywhere. If the flow is obstructed that can't happen. And if the food isn't all surrounded by water that's held at the desired temperature, it won't get heated as desired.


English Translation of Gastronomie Pratique

There is apparently an english version however there are whole sections missing and it is poorly translated. You are far better off going with a different book or if you have the time taking up french. The Book I went with was Larousse Gastronomique which has been endorsed by Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Larousse-Gastronomique-Hamlyn/dp/0600620425/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302582324&sr=1-3


Try using a finely serrated knife (I'm thinking like a dollar store steak knife). Move the knife back and forth many times, but apply little to no downward pressure that could cause the peanut brittle to fracture.


What is the relation between mixing the dough and the final result?

Okay, so I presume that we're talking about recipes containing wheat flour and you're putting together a dough (or batter) for a bake or maybe even a pasta.

In general, mixing wheat flour with water results in the production of gluten.  Gluten is pretty tough stuff; it's essentially what gives a finished wheat product its chew and contributes greatly to its overall structure.  The more you mix (or knead), the tougher the resulting dough and finished product.


In my amateur experience, the knife moves and the other hand stays put; the knife should always be vertical.


You can't really substitute double cream for butter as the fat/water ratio is different - it's basically just too wet. However, guess what they make butter out of - cream! If you 'over whip' cream, the fat separates from the liquid leaving you with fresh butter. Naturally this is easy if you have an electric mixer. If you're doing it by hand, prepare to be tired.


Why add sugar at the end when making strawberry preserve?

You need the juices from the fruit to release so the sugar can melt into it. If you add it before then the sugar will burn. In making preserves, there are only two steps, cook fruit till juices release, then add sugar and stir till dissolved.


Just a question of flavor layers.

Reducing the wine after deglazing will create some deeper flavoring.

It will remove some of the wine's acidity and concentrate the flavor that will complement the stock and wine that will be added later on in the recipe.


If you order a burger, it should definitely come with a patty made up of ground beef. In some cases, the burger could be made of chicken, turkey, bison, etc. But, in that case the type of meat is generally specified. In the case of beef, the type of meat is generally ommitted from the details, and assumed the patty will be beef. Here is a picture of what you can expect to get if you order a "burger" in America.

I have never heard of a burger that comes with squares of salami instead of a ground patty of some kind. It's possible to have a ground pork burger, but not salami. It seems to me what you were serves is best considered a "salami sandwhich".


According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) "Banana and plantain do not contain significant levels of any toxic principles."  Raw, unripe plantains can be difficult to digest, especially if eaten in large quantities.  Doing so can lead to upset stomach.  This may be due to the fact that they contain starches resistant (RS2) to digestive enzymes, compounds that inhibit salivary amylase production, and significant quantities of amylose.

Raw, unripe plantains and bananas also have a starchy or waxy texture and a bitter flavor which can be unpalatable.


Anyone ever seen a "wok adapter" for induction cooktops?

I've never seen one of these and I don't think they would work. You could shape a piece of metal to fit the wok base and it would heat up, however you'd run into trouble with the heat transfer. Air is a lousy conductor of heat, you would need direct metal to metal contact - any imperfections in the shape of either the adapter or the wok would reduce heat transfer dramatically. Even a bit of dirt could make a big difference.

EDIT: responding to the comment about extending the induction effect

Electrical fields follow the inverse square law, so they weaken at a rate determined by the square of the distance from the source. The magnetic field will be significantly less the farther away the metal is, the field at 4cm will be 1/16th of the power then it would be at 1cm, which is why induction pans need as much contact as possible. If the metal of the ring were to extend the magnetic field to the parts of the wok out of contact then that field would not be able to heat it well. But the magnetic field isn't going to get extended as the energy is going to be absorbed by the contact ring.


Is it safe to put fresh hot soup in a glass mason jar?

Since you are asking about canning then what you are describing is not a canning process which will give you a result you can store long term at room temperature. Long-term storage of soup would require pressure canning to raise the internal temperature high enough to kill any foodborne illnesses.

If you plan to freeze the soup then mason jars aren't ideal, they'll work but they are bulky and take up a lot of room. In any case you don't get any real benefit from putting the lid on when hot if you are going to freeze them, you're better off letting it cool so you don't end up overwhelming your freezer's cooling capacity.


Does vanilla really bring out the flavour of other foods?

I'm not sure if there is a scientific explanation for this. I also think it's more that vanilla enhances the overall flavor profile of the dish rather than actually bringing out other flavors. Salt, on the other hand, does enhance flavors.


Leaving the food out to cool off after cooking

Some facts seem to be getting mixed up here.

Hot food is going to remain "warm" (i.e. in the danger zone) much longer if you leave it on the counter rather than in the fridge. That's basic physics. If the ambient temperature is colder, then the food will stay warm for less time, leaving less time for bacteria to grow.

There are reasons not to pop a huge boiling pot directly into the refrigerator, or more importantly the freezer, but they mostly revolve around the side effects - notably, that it will warm up other food, accelerating spoilage of everything else in there, and in some cases be very hard on your appliance (which needs to run at full tilt in order to handle all the heat).

Assuming you've got your food divided into small portions, you'll want to refrigerate them as soon as possible, or use an ice bath to cool them even faster as Jason mentions.


Can I blend pasta and add water to make bread or pizza dough?

Not exactly. Pasta is made from bits of wheat that are not flour or bran - otherwise known as semolina. Assuming that the pasta hasn't gone through very much more than drying as processing, you're going to end up with something fundamentally different from the grade of white flour - whether its type 00, or other kind of white flour.

You would get a dough, but something fundamentally different from just adding water to regular white flour, and it would likely have a very different taste and texture from regular flour.


Ouch, sounds rough.

Soak it in cold water.  This may be awkward; depending on how thick the dough is, it might require soaking it for an hour.  But it's really the best way.


Sugar won't dissolve in cocoa butter.  Or in coconut oil, for that matter.

When making chocolate, the sugar is smoothed and kept in suspension by prolonged grinding, conching, which is really a mechanical process... and one of the reasons making actual chocolate at home is very rare, absent specialized equipment, as the sugar crystals will not dissolve and this leaves a gritty product.

You might have better luck with powdered sugar, since it's already more finely ground.  Or superfine or castor sugar, perhaps.  I see that the recipe calls for coconut sugar, and I'm not sure there's commercial powdered or superfine, but you might be able to grind it more finely for a better result anyway.  For powdered or castor sugar the amounts in volume will be a bit different - as the sugar will physically settle differently, plus the addition of cornstarch for powdered - but weight should be the same and there are conversions for volume measurements.

It may also help to cool the cocoa butter/coconut oil mix down to a thicker consistency (semisolid, maybe like softened butter, something of the sort) before mixing in the sugar, as the thicker texture should help keep the sugar in suspension rather than letting it settle out before the mix finishes cooling.  With the cocoa butter/coconut oil mixture in that thicker state, the incorporation would look more like creaming.


What is a pressurized filter, and should I use it for my espresso?

This is called a pressurized portafilter. As you found on coffeegeek, it is designed to enhance production of crema. The Coffee Geeks look down on this device, since it produces what is essentially "fake" crema - even with old, stale pre-ground coffee.

If all you want to drink are lattes, it does not make much difference. If you want to taste decent espresso, then you must use a non-pressurized portafilter - even if you are a non-professional.

Making espresso is not a slam dunk - especially with a consumer machine like the Gaggia. You will learn to improve your espresso shots by analyzing your technique. This often is based on the appearance of the crema during and after the shot is drawn.

Since the pressurized portafilter gives you misleading information on the actual crema, you will have difficulty learning how to make a good espresso.


Is it normal for ginger paste to spit violently in oil?

This is more likely due to the other ingredients in the paste (sugar, citric acid, vinegar and salt; mainly the vinegar) hitting the hot oil. It's the same reason you never throw water on a frier fire. Oil and water/vinegar don't mix!

You can avoid it by not being lazy and using fresh ginger, which is much nicer anyway, or adding the ginger to the oil before it gets too hot.


Using fresh compressed cake yeast in bread machine

After reading some papers on this I experimented by adding the yeast 5 minutes before the kneading ends. This gave an acceptable loaf without any collapsing but did not even get a big convex bulge. The rationale behind this is that fresh yeast is already active and the 20 minutes of kneading already uses up its potential partially adding it later saves 15 minutes of activity for the other stages. So yes it is possible and cost effective too as dry yeast is costly compared to the fresh yeast even after weight conversion.


what happens when you whisk sugar with oil?

Oil doesn't really dissolve sugar.  The main purpose for the mixing is that in many recipe techniques, especially the muffin method, sugar is treated as a wet ingredient.  By premixing the wet ingredients, and premixing the dry ingredients, when the two are combined, you require much less additional mixing to get a homogeneous total batter.

Creaming sugar into butter or shortening helps leavening because the sharp edges of the sugar crystals cut air into the solid fat medium, essentially creating a foam.  This then serves as seed air bubbles for the chemical leavening to expand.  This effect cannot occur with liquid oils.

Many carrot cakes are pretty dense and oily, although I don't think they should drip when pressed.  You might have something else going on in your recipes or technique.


What method for advance prep of seitan prevents deterioration of texture and preserves flavor while protecting from spoilage?

hmm....

my thoughts:

1) biologists use stock as a medium for growing bacteria.  therefore, anything stored in stock; I generally like to boil/heat up a lot first before eating

2)the seitan should stay just fine; kept dry in the fridge in an airtight container

3) have you tried making steamed seitan, ala seitan of greatness from lachesis?

4) have you tried making "dry" seitan in a water bath (bain marie) in the oven: this is how it is done in the rfd (real food daily) cookbook. I make this a lot; both the "chicken" and "basic" (which reminds me of turkey)


What's (really) the difference between fruit and vegetables?

There is no real black and white definition of that difference, because where the line is drawn varies from crowd to crowd.

  Botanically speaking, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems. By those standards, seedy outgrowths such as apples, squash and, yes, tomatoes are all fruits, while roots such as beets, potatoes and turnips, leaves such as spinach, kale and lettuce, and stems such as celery and broccoli are all vegetables.

  The outlook is quite different in culinary terms, however. A lot of foods that are (botanically speaking) fruits, but which are savory rather than sweet, are typically considered vegetables by chefs. This includes such botanical fruits as eggplants, bell peppers and tomatoes.

You can find the whole article HERE, including this nice graph that I think nicely illustrates things.


Are carrots safe to eat after they have turned black?

When carrots turn black, it is almost always caused by rot. I would definitely not eat them.


Will unopened jars spoil if you change the temperature?

Not if it was properly processed for room temperature storage in the first place.

i.e. there are "refrigerator pickle" and "refrigerator jam" recipes that are never intended to be stored at room temperature, and do not have appropriate recipes or processing for room temperature storage. Those would not be safe.

But something like a jar of applesauce that was processed for room temperature storage, stored cold in the fridge, then stored warm, without ever being opened, would be fine.


Why isn't my bread machine making any bread?

It sounds like you may be missing a very important piece.

 this

belongs here:


Very easy. All you want to do is to remove the water through heating. As you are not going to can it, you don't have to sterilize it afterwards.

The only concern when evaporating milk is to not end with a layer of scorched milk solids on the bottom. First, start with homogenized milk (you don't want to risk undissolved fat swimming on top of it). If you want the pure milk flavor, heat it to 70°C and wait until you are left with half the initial volume. This takes several hours, depending on the quantity of the milk. My great-grandma usually did it overnight.

If you don't mind a "scorched" taste, you can do it much quicker. Take a very big pot. It should be at least 6-7 times higher than the milk depth, because the boiling milk will foam up a lot. The width is up to you, but the wider the pot, the quicker it will go. Bring the milk to a vigorous boil. Use a setting which is just hot enough to sustain boiling, too much heat will increase the scorching. Stir all the time. You need maybe 10 minutes of stirring, again depending on quantity of the milk and pot width. You are aiming for the same rate of evaporation - you should be left with half the original volume, or somewhat less.

You don't have to add sugar to evaporated milk, the sweet taste is caused by the heating. Especially the boiling-evaporated milk is quite sweet, because you get some caramelization.


Can I make fermented lemon soda using yogurt cultures?

Soda-like drinks have traditionally been made in the same way as beer, but with less fermentation to keep the alcohol content low. Without alcohol, (and with a bunch of protein and fat around from the yogurt) you run the risk of growing some botulism in your soda. Some traditional fermentation techniques carry risk of botulism, and any 'new' technique should undertaken very carefully. That being said, your soda should be quite acidic and probably safe. Get some pH paper and use it!

There are a few things I would change in this plan:

Yogurt is made at fairly high temperatures to encourage lactobacillus growth while inhibiting others. Find out the best temperature for your culture, and make sure you can maintain it during fermentation.

Try get the culture growing independent of any yogurt: grow it in your sugar/lemon solution for a few generations without pressure and with a bit of oxygen. If it's still alive and still tastes good, you're probably OK. Otherwise, if the culture dies halfway through fermentation, something else is likely to grow in its place :-(

Lemon juice is quite acidic, and will clean metals quite nicely. So don't put your soda in any metal container unless your really like the taste of iron. (Even beer is acidic enough to cause this problem, fermentation is always in glass, plastic or stainless steel). Used plastic soda bottles work well when clean.

The other major problem with a pressure cooker is getting the soda out: if the cooker did hold pressure from a fermentation (actually it will probably leak CO2 faster than it is made) you shouldn't be able to open it until the pressure is removed. Again, soda bottles are a good choice here.

Last - your water should not be chlorinated, the flavor of your soda could be ruined by chlorine.


Getting some rum into a commerical fruitcake

When I feed a Christmas cake (home made, but it shouldn't make much difference) I simply prick holes all over it with a thin skewer and drizzle the alcohol over the top. A few days later I invert and do the same on the bottom.  You can repeat a couple of times, 2-3 tablespoons at a time, maximum.

For this I wrap in clingfilm, and store at room temperature in an airtight tin or plastic container.  This works well for the dark, heavy fruit cakes we have as Christmas cakes in the UK (also traditionally used as the bottom tier of wedding cakes).  These cakes keep indefinitely at room temperature so long as they don't dry out.  A lighter fruit cake may end up more soggy than moist.

If it's extra flavour you're after, you could steep some appropriate spices in your rum first: a cinnamon stick, a bit of root ginger and a couple of cloves.  Big pieces rather than ground, so you can pour the rum off them easily, and do this with a small amount so you can taste it and dilute if necessary.


If this dish is what I think it is... essentially rolled dumplings or pasta in a thick broth with meat and vegetables (which is the chicken pot pie at my local itinerant Dutch market is like), yes you can make it in advance and reheat it.  If you do need to reheat it, this is one case where a microwave (and occasional stirring) will actually perform quite well; heating it in a pan in a slow oven (covered with foil) should also work nicely with minimal risk of scorching.

The problem is, the dumplings are likely to absorb more of the broth over time and become mushy if you hold and reheat the dish.

You are almost certainly better off prepping your components, and actually cooking the dumplings or noodles (whatever you want to call them) the day you are going to eat it, if that is reasonably practical.


What do I do with mildly fermented maple syrup?

Yeah, syrup can ferment + convert sugar to alcohol. It has more of a tendency to do so if the sugar content is lower -- I tend to err on the side of overconcentrating my syrup.

You can try boiling it for a while to see if the alcohol boils off + if the flavor is OK then use it... but I'd boil down a bit more first, to make sure the sugar content is back up to standards. Either boil until the boiling point is 7 degrees F higher than the boiling point of water at your altitude, or boil until the syrup "aprons" (e.g. starts to drip in a sheet rather than discrete drops; a flat edge of a metal spatula works well), with the former being more accurate if you have a good thermometer.

If the flavor remains after boiling, then try using in recipes -- perhaps in brownies/blondies or with ice cream.


What's the minimum time to cook raw prawns?

There is an optimal temperature to which they must be cooked, independent of method (boiling, frying, whatever). This temperature is 50 deg. C. (This is lower than safety guidelines; if you want to eliminate the foodborn illness risk, you must eat rubbery seafood). Once the inner temperature of seafood has risen above that, its proteins undergo an irreversible change called denaturation, which changes the texture.

The time needed for reaching this temperature varies a lot. It depends on the size of the prawns, their initial temperature, the temperature of your water, on the total mass of water in the pot and on the total mass of prawns in the pot.

If you find it impractical to impale a prawn on a digital thermometer every time you cook, you need to experiment. Keep the variables I mentioned constant, and boil prawns for different times. Find out how much they need before they go rubbery, and then stick to it, keeping all the other variables constant. In your case, this will probably correspond to the three minutes you mention. For somebody else, who boils a different amount of prawns per batch, it will be different.

There is no minimal time, just as there is no maximal time. The minimal temperature for them to taste cooked is 45 degrees C., but you can eat them at lower if you don't mind them tasting raw. You can find the minimum time for your case as described above. The legal minimum temperature for US food safety is 63 degrees. You can't legally approximate it by time, you must use a thermometer, or, at home, you can go much above it just to make sure - when seafood turns stiff and dry, you can be sure that it has reached 70 degrees.


Will a hot cornstarch slurry added to a cold mixture still have a thickening effect?

It would probably work but for the proper consistency of the finished product, your cooked cornstarch slurry would need to be very thick. This would make it difficult to mix into a homogenized smooth mixture unless you were to use a blender to mix them.

Rather than cornstarch, xanthan gum or arrowroot flour, why not use tapioca powder/flour? It thickens quickly starting around 140°F (60°C) and gives a nice clear gel, especially nice for fruit desserts. It also holds its gelling property and won't separate like cornstarch based desserts can.

I buy my tapioca flour in an Asian grocery store but I've also seen it sold in the Asian foods aisle in many larger supermarkets. It's quite inexpensive.

You substitute the same amount of tapioca flour as cornstarch in a recipe.


According to (US) Code of Federal Regulations on Citric acid:

  (c)  In  accordance  with  § 184.1(b)(1),  the  ingredient  is  used  in  food  with  no  limitations  other  than  current  good  manufacturing practice. (d) Prior sanctions for this ingredient different  from  the  uses  established  in  this  section  do  not  exist  or  have  been  waived.

Basically, you can eat the stuff by the spoon-full if you can stand the sour.
If you're adding a lot compared to how much you think you should have to add, you might consider Phosphoric acid instead. You get a little more bang per mole pH-wise with that, and it too, within limits, is generally regarded as safe (GRAS).


What is the difference between grape and cherry tomatoes?

The difference in their name is - not surprisingly - because of their form. Cherry tomatoes are round, while grape tomatoes are more oblong. Wikipedia mentions that grape tomatoes are 'sweet as cherry tomatoes', so not much difference in flavour according to this. Perhaps grape tomatoes are more similar to small plum tomatoes.

This site claims grape tomatoes to be sweeter, having a thicker skin and a lower water content than cherry tomatoes. Interestingly, it also says that grape tomatoes are a cross between cherry tomatoes and other tomatoes.

The claims of the second site are in agreement with this site ("grape tomatoes have thicker skin, lower water content and intense sweetness"). It also states "a grape tomato is half the size of a cherry tomato", so perhaps they are smaller. Due to the lower water content, grape tomatoes have less chance of 'squirting' when being bitten into.


According to the Cranberry Institute:

  Yes. In fact cranberries freeze very well either whole or sliced.
  Sealed in an airtight container frozen cranberries will keep for
  nearly a year.

Personal experience bears this out as well, with unsweetened cranberry dressing (fresh cranberries and orange zest, zapped in a food processor. Thaw, add sugar to one batch for those who like it traditional, and splenda to the other for dieters and diabetics.)


Crackling sound and a thin layer of something on the surface before water boils

I am making a guess here, but a guess based on my own experiences.

You have an induction glass top stove, and you are putting the pot down on top of it wet. The water is getting trapped under the pot, and once it is able to reach boiling (just before the water in your pot does). It is starting to pop (like popcorn).

It pops because it is trapped. Because the pot is wet it gets "sealed" to the stove top, and the steam can't escape until it builds enough pressure to lift the heavy pot just enough for the gas to escape violently.

The way to make it stop is to dry the outside of the pot after you wash it and/or before you cook.


My guess is that you don't have real cheese in your sandwich.

I've seen this before with things called cheese that were really types of American cheese. It happened when then product was exposed to moisture that it seemed to absorb, which then caused it to turn soggy and glue-like. If you'd have said that you had tomato in your sandwich, I'd have been sure this was what was going on.


My best experience is that you should use 1/4 teaspoon of the vanillin powder for each teaspoon of vanilla extract.

I use it for bread dough, donut dough, but never for icing.


A chuck steak is simply cut into slices more ideal for grilling whereas a roast is left in larger thicker shapes more ideal for roasting. Once you break them down into stew shape either is viable.


The consistency of my hot chocolate is off, what do I do?

At Marriott hotel, where I worked for a while, we used similar flakes. Our technique was to add a good splash of boiling water first, incorporate the chocolate flakes by mixing it into a smooth paste (more or less), and only then add hot milk. I guess the idea is that it is much more of a challenge to incorporate a small amount of solid into a large amount of liquid, however if you turn that solid into a paste first, its almost like your mixing two liquids. You'll find that the same technique is used for making a bachamel sauce. For convenience sake, try using a small amount of hot milk, instead of water. Also, having your liquid boiling might help, which is hard to achieve in a microwave. e.g. when making a classic chocolate sauce which contains butter and cream, the chocolate is only fully dissolved when the liquid is boiled.


A couple things:

Unless the recipe (or experience) says otherwise, place items in the middle. Putting something higher in a conventional (non-convection) oven should make the top cook quicker than the bottom. This may account for the top drying out when the rest isn't done yet.
As @ElendilTheTall says, check your oven temperature. Your oven is probably running much lower than it should be. On most ovens, you can adjust the dial so its right.
Make sure you're using the same size (and material) pan as the recipe. Thicker cakes take longer to cook, and some pan materials are slower than others.

I looked up several recipes, and all gave times under 30 minutes.


When making cheese (e.g. Halloumi) from non-homogenized milk, are the dangers in non-homogenized milk neutralised?

You are indeed mixing up different things, as Tetsujin mentioned in comments.

When the milk comes out of the cow, it is an emulsion, but not a terribly stable emulsion. Also, it has bacteria in it - ideally only the milk acid bacteria from the cow's udder, but it can also have pathogens from either a sick cow (usually things like listeria) or from being contaminated, e.g. e. coli from the cow's fecal matter. If you leave it sitting around, even at fridge temperature, the emulsion will start separating, with the milk fat swimming to the top, and the milk will start to either turn sour or spoil, depending on which kind of bacteria prevails.

Modern consumers don't want any of these to happen, and modern producers and handlers don't want to have to sell the milk within a couple of days of milking. So milk is typically processed in multiple steps. Some of them are intended for pasteurization (killing bacteria), others are intended for homogenization (preventing the separation of milk fat and whey). There are many different processes for each of those two goals, and a producer can apply one or more of them - and the producer can also decide to homogenize without pasteurizing, or the other way round. You can also consume raw milk, if you can find a source - they are differently regulated in different legislations.

Now, to your question. The important part for your safety is not whether your milk has been homogenized, but whether it has been pasteurized. If you make your cheese with non-pasteurized milk (no matter if homogenized or not), then che cheese "inherits" the risks of the milk. If you make it with pasteurized milk, it again inherits the risks (or lack thereof) of the milk. To answer very literally, the cheesemaking process doesn't turn raw milk into safely pasteurzied milk.


I use "one step" to sanitize bottles and caps, like you would do for beer, and bottle my infusions in that, and they've lasted >3 years. I've done raspberry and cherry vodka. If the alcohol percentage is high enough, it will kill bacteria or mold, so it's pretty safe for long term storage. Probably depends on the final alcohol percentage though, like if you add enough juice that the percentage goes less than 10 or so percent, you have to have more precautions in sanitizing everything. I usually sanitize anyway because it can't hurt, and I already have the equipment to do so from homebrewing.


In meatballs or meat loaf or even burgers, breadcrumbs are sometimes added with egg.

The bread, if unseasoned, doesn't change the flavor much except to dilute it.

The texture is definitely different. It is smoother and spongier. The breadcrumbs also soak up liquid so the product doesn't lose as much and stays moister.

Purists often decry the use of breadcrumbs in things like burger patties. For myself- I will add breadcrumbs when I am in the mood for the breadier texture- often when I will be adding extra liquid flavorings like Worcestershire or liquid smoke and want to strengthen the structure a bit.


Non-alcoholic substitution for dry white wine in bolognese sauce and other tomato sauces?

White wine in tomato sauces adds:

Some acidity, but tomatoes are quite acidic as well
A touch of fruitiness and flavor
Alcohol, which does not all cook off, which can enhance the perception of the dish due to some flavor molecules being alcohol soluble, especially in tomatoes

Since you are avoiding alcohol itself, some of the options you might use are:

Simply omit the wine.   The dish may not be quite as good, but it will still be good.
Use a splash of verjuice (un-fermented grape juice) if you can get it; this will give you some of the fruity and acidic qualities, without the alcohol.
Use a splash of white wine vinegar (unless you are concerned with the trace amounts of alcohol that may persist from its production); this will give you some acid, but you are not likely to use enough to add any significant fruitiness.

Since you are specifically avoiding alcohol, you necessarily lose the flavor enhancing effect it can have, but a good well seasoned dish will stand up without it.

I would suggest you make your sauce, and if you feel it lacks brightness, to try cooking down a little white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar and adding it; otherwise, leave it alone.

And of course, taste as you are cooking to season it well.

Again, as one component of several in a lasagna, which is all about the integration and balance of all of the components, I wouldn't worry about it this overly much.


Trim the tops and discard the out leaves. Then cut from 2 or 3 inches above the root to the top, turn 180 degrees and cut again (they should look like the picture).

You can then get the water down inside and get all the dirt out.


There is no standard, it all depends on how happy you want to get, and whether you just want the flavor of the booze, or the actual effect of the alcohol. Also a factor is the kind of alcohol you want to add. Light rums, for example, have less flavor than dark rums, so you'd want to use dark rum if you want booze flavor over alcohol.

As an estimate if you are going for flavor an ounce or two per liter (or quart, they're close enough for jazz) will do the trick, or up to 6 or 8 if you want very happy people.

Don't forget to grate a bit of fresh nutmeg on top before serving!


Can I refrigerate bread dough after the first rise and bake it later?

Yes, you can refrigerate bread dough, and in fact you will probably find that it will give you better, tastier results, because the yeast has more time to do its work. Any bread baker worth his salt (flour?) will tell you that a slow, cold rise is better than a fast, warm one.

You should refrigerate the dough immediately after mixing, not after a rise. Depending on the amount of yeast in your recipe, this can be for a few hours or even overnight. Allow the dough to warm up a little before baking.


How is boiled rice different from steamed?

It depends a great deal on the kind of rice you use. My father always steamed rice in a closed pot with a measured amount of water using American long grain rice. The ratio was one cup rice to two cups of water.

When I got my own place I used the boiling method but chose Basmati rice, as is commonly used in india. This rice has a longer grain and holds its shape after cooking. I tried the boiling method with American long grain rice and found it also worked well. There is no need to measure the water as you cook by timer and taste the rice before draining. It's something similar to how you might cook pasta.

Contrary to what ElendilTheTall said in his answer, when boiling rice you do not have to make careful measurements of rice an water. You put in enough rice for how ever many people and an excess of water. Too much water. You cook the rice in an open pan, so you can see it. When the rice has cooked long enough, you pick out a few grains on your fork and taste them. If they are just soft enough, not too soft, then you quickly drain the water in a sieve or colander and serve. Timing is crucial.

Now, when I move to China, I found a very different kind on rice. It was shorter grained and required several washes before could be cooked. This rice didn't boil well. The unless really well washed, the rice powder in the water turns in into something reassembling wall paper paste. Instead the steaming method must be used. To steam you need to carefully measure the rice and water to get the correct ration. You put on the heat and cover. When the rice has boiled almost dry, you take it off the heat and serve.


It's any loaf with a crispy crust. There's not much more to it than that. If you can't find sourdough or Vienna, just use a standard white loaf with a crisp crust.


From your comment:

  I dip the bars into melted chocolates and roll, using a fork.

If you want to coat something in chocolate, you typically need much more chocolate than you expect. The height of the chocolate should be high enough to submerge the praline or bar without rolling, otherwise you start to loose material - as you noticed. Simply dip, lift out (let excess chocolate drip off) and place on a rack or on parchment to harden. Do not put the bars in the refrigerator while the chocolate is still soft.

Another approach would be to emulate the industrial process of pouring the chocolate over the bars (on racks, parchment under the racks), but the same rule of preparing more chocolate than absolutely neccessary applies. Catch the drips and re-use, if possible.

Are you satisfied with the filling, or could you tweak it a bit to make it more stable? This might also be a way to make handling the bars easier. And if nothing helps, coat twice - once to somehow cover the bars and to contain all coconut crumbs (like a crumb coating in cake decorating), once to get a nice, even cover.


Any fix for a warped carbon steel fry pan?

I found this suggestion. Let us know if this works for you.

  cut yourself a piece of 2x4 about 1/2" shorter than diameter of the pan's bottom, i.e., just short en
  ough to fit flat in the pan if the bottom weren't warped.

  Heat the pan.

  Set the pan on a flat piece of concrete (a thick steel plate would be
  better, but how many people have those sitting around?).

  Put the 2-by in the pan and start whacking the heck out of it with a
  hammer.  Turn the board so every part of the pan gets flattened, but
  concentrate in the center.

  Let the pan cool, reheat and repeat.

  If the crown is on the bottom, you have to find something big enough
  to support the pan's rim, but which allows the handle to extend beyond
  the surface -- so the pan sits flat; and of course, you'll want a 2-by
  a few inches longer than the pan is wide.

  If you're very thorough, you'll flatten both sides each time you
  flatten.


There are some kinds of mold which are safe to consume (blue cheese is a common example) but in general they are not. While you might often be fine eating a bit, there's no guarantee, so to be safe you should throw out moldy food like your jerky.

See the FDA's advice, for example.

Note that mold is okay on some kinds of cured meats:

  Hard salami and dry-cured country hams: Use. Scrub mold off surface. It is normal for these shelf-stable products to have surface mold.

But I'm not sure it's normal for jerky. For those examples it's normal and even common to have mold, but for jerky it's not common, so I wouldn't be confident it's normal. (Indeed, it grew there when you left it somewhere moist, so it's not part of the normal production and storage of jerky.) Additionally, jerky is generally more fibrous and less solid than those things, so there's more potential for mold to grow inside it, where you wouldn't be able to scrub it off.

Your example does look like it's mostly on the surface though, so if you want to take a small chance, you could see if you can really scrub it all off.


Can I make gelatin from bones without beef flavor?

Intentions and expectations

Could it be that you have some oversimplified ideas about making gelatine? I think that, if we look closely at what you are proposing, it is not practical at all. The process is very far removed from spending half a day with a kettle and getting the shelf stable powder with reliable gelling properties that is sold in the supermarket.

You seem to want to 1) start with a huge amount of bones, 2) get a similar quality to store-bought gelatine, and 3) even are worried about yield. That already makes no sense - at 250 pounds/113 kg of bones and a theoretical maximum yield of 24%, you are looking at up to 27 kg of gelatine. That's of course the theoretical maximum, and not even commercial producers get that, but still, you will be left with many kilograms of pure gelatine, probably bulked up by the water in which it is dissolved (I doubt you can get it dry the way commercial gelatine is). So you will have to dedicate a full freezer to it, taking up space and consuming electricity until you have made a couple of thousand kilograms of nut cheese and have used it up. Even if you could do this successfully, the cost and hassle is probably not worth it as opposed to buying it in the supermarket, and if you for some reason need these large amounts, you can probably get bulk discounts and store the stuff in a cellar.

That being said, let's get to the process of making gelatine. I will be using this document by Mihai Sebastian as a source, since it is pretty complete without being a full book - if you want to advance with that project, I suggest that you read it. Citations in the rest of the answer all come from it.

There are basically three versions - by boiling, by acid or base treatment, and by using enzymes. The gist of it is that the only one that is realistically doable in a home kitchen is the boiling one, which Sebastian describes as

  crude gelatin extracts with poor organoleptic proprieties were prepared by boiling bone and hide pieces and allowing the solution to cool and gel

where "poor organoleptic properties" basically means bad taste and/or mouthfeel.

The process of making gelatine

Preparation of the bone

For all three types of extraction process, you have to start with degreased bone, so-called ossein - that's not negotiable, no matter how worried you are about lowered yield. If commercial manufacturers could remove a cost-generating step and get higher yield at the same time, they would have done it - but they have a reason to do it, since the remaining fat is reducing your gelatin quality a lot, and in ways other than just smell. The process for this step is

  the bone material is gently chipped to a cube size of about 0.5 cm anddegreased by washing for 30 minutes with hot water (85-90°C) under strong mechanical agitation. [...] Subsequently, the chipped bone is dried with hot air in continuous driers and then sieved and sorted according to particle size.

So for this step alone, you would need a mixer which can deal with a sufficiently large batch of bones, while keeping the contents heated. I guess you could rig something similar to some homemade sous vide setups, including some kind of mixing arm suspended in the container beside the heater, but that would be already difficult and expensive for large batches (I assume you don't want to process 100 kg of bone in 1 kg batches).

Extraction (choose one from the three methods below)

Enzymatic

I won't call it impossible to do at home, but it is a project of "design and build your own small rocket engine" complexity. You have to be very determined and have a good understanding of lab work (certainly above than what perfect grades in highschool chemistry gives you) and be prepared to invest some weeks in prototyping the process with small batches, then scaling it. Some kind of engineering background will also be needed to be able the debug the problems which will certainly arise in such a complex process. I'll mention only the most obvious showstopper: it requires you to bring a 300 l vat of bones-in-water to a pH of 11 and heat it. I use small amounts of lye at home every now and then (and users from the site always comment how dangerous it is), but when I hear 300 l, my gut feeling is that you have even chances of ending up with gelatin extract or a Darwin award.

Acid or base extraction

You basically corrode away the bones until you are left with a suspension of gelatine plus minerals in your water bath. The engineering complexity remains as with the enzymatic process. The added challenge is that you also have to wait until the process is completed (3-12 weeks) and in that time, recognize and eliminate pathogenic growth. Again, you have to deal with 300 liters of liquid at a very unpleasant pH.

Boiling extraction

This one is not used in industrial production. It is likely what you found described online, and in my opinion, the only process truly suited for home conditions. The result is not very pure though, neither does it have a good yield.

Recovering the extracted gelatine (do all following steps in the given sequence)

Filtration

You now have a murky broth full of all kinds of things besides gelatin. Industrial people use centrifugation and microfiltration here, you probably have to go with some kind of filter of chinois fineness, since I don't know how you will manage to force the solution through something finer. You will probably not be able to remove much of the residual fat. (Ironically, one of the best methods to clear broths in the home kitchen is to add gelatin to them and freeze, then remove the gelatin together with the impurities).

Deionization

You can skip this step if you use the boiling extraction method. For the other two, you neutralize the pH of the gelatin mixture by adding a base if you used acid, or the other way around, and now the salts formed by the base and acid swim in your liquid. I suspect that, even if you chose to create a salt with low solubility, it won't precipitate well because of the gelatin. So, you have to use deionizing equipment. I don't know if home reverse osmosis contraptions marketed for hard water will work well enough - this probably depends on the exact salts you produced.

Concentration, sterilization and drying

I guess that at home, you have to do this simply by heating and waiting for the water to evaporate. I'm not sure how you can make sure that you end up with the proper amount of residual moisture. For 300 l of liquid, you are probably looking at several days of heating, getting it to evaporate without burning it. I suspect you won't easily bring you to the needed dryness, and you have no good way at home to measure whether you succeeded, so, unless you are willing to risk your kilograms of gelatin going moldy soon, you should store it in a freezer afterwards.

Alternative

A quick search on Alibaba showed that they will sell you gelatin starting at around 3 dollars per kg, some of them allow small orders (1 kg) and even low-grade commercial gelatin will be much higher quality than what you can obtain at home. I'm mentioning this because of your "whole cow" comment - for most home users, it is preferable to buy smaller packages locally, even at a higher per-kg price.

Making your own gelatin at home can be a fun science project, but its usefulness is in the area of having played around and learned something. If you have utalitarian goals such as yield, quality, saving money, etc., it is entirely the wrong way to go. Based on all the requirements I read from your question and comments, just go and buy it.


What you have there is simply water seeping out of the gel and bringing some dissolved stuff with it. This is known technically as syneresis. What will help is to add something stabilize the gel. Xanthan gum is probably the easiest thing to use. You can find it at health food stores or Whole Foods because gluten-free bakers use it a lot. Start with 1/8 teaspoon pureed into your filling. Sprinkle it over the filling liquid before mixing, and put it through a sieve before baking to catch any clumps.


What to do with mochi...this version is white, hard and puck-like in shape?

I've actually found this post about mochi. They show the cakes that I've seen in the past and also the shape that I mentioned in my post.

It seems like you can:

grill them - they will brown a bit and rise.
boil them - they won't rise
microwave them

And the ways to serve it is with:

Butter+soy sauce (an interesting combo that I will try)
Rolled in ground sesame seeds + sugar or salt.
Rolled kinako (toasted soybean powder + sugar.)

UPDATE

Boiled

I cut them into about 1 inch x 1 inch pieces and threw them in boiling water. Boiled them for about a minute or so...then removed them to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

Dressings

I tried butter+soy sauce (1 TBSP melted : 1/4 tsp soy sauce) - It's actually pretty good!

I also ground up some black sesame seeds with sugar (1 TBSP : 1/2 tsp sugar)...this was actually my favorite of the two.


Does soaking almonds have the same effect as blanching and removing the skins when making almond milk?

I think that both will do the purpose you are looking for. The soaking is more to bring the nutrients out of the almond before preparing the dish you need them for or in this case the milk. I would try just the soaking once and if you want it more sweet then bitter add the sugar into the water you are soaking it in, this might neutralize the bitterness in the milk when it is ready to drink. Also to neutralize the bitterness try adding vanilla extract or even cinnamon if you would like that.


How do you add ingredients to fudge without stiring it?

Butter is typically added when the fudge is first taken off the heat- but it isn't mixed in. The butter is allowed to melt across the surface to keep it from forming a skin on top.

Vanilla, nuts, and all other additions are mixed in at the end of the cooling period when the fudge is stirred.

Alton Brown, with some help from Shirley Corriher, explained the process well.


Does the material of the container affect the flavor of the prepared tea? If yes, what material should be preferred to get the best results?

It shouldn't have any effect, in the sense of any flavors leaching. If your container does change the taste, you should replace it.

But it would be very unusual to chance upon a taste-changing container. Most cookware is non reactive, and containers meant for preparing and serving tea even less so. For example, untreated aluminium is reactive, but I've never heard of it being used for tea pots or tea mugs. Steel is completely OK in that regard. Melamine also has no effect on taste, but see the footnote for safety considerations.

The most likely condition under which you find a taste change would be if you are using ceramic teapots or mugs which were not mass produced for daily use, but made by a pottery hobbyist or by some exotic traditional technique which does not reach the convenience standards of modern mass production. In that case, you can simply switch the container to a neutral one, if the taste bothers you, or if you are worried about the safety of glaze leaching into your drink.

  Why porcelain or glazed earthenware

No special reason. What you cite is an ISO standard. It wasn't made for people making tea at home, they wanted to have perfect reproducibility, and the easiest way is to restrict as many variables as possible. So they took one of the traditional choices and prescribed it in their standard. There is no reason to follow that standard when you make tea for drinking.

The material affects the taste of the tea in other ways: it has an influence on the speed of cooling down. But it is impossible to make a general recommendation here, as 1) there are many other factors influencing the cooling speed, and 2) people have different preferences for the taste of tea. The only relevance here is that, if you have found a process which produces tea you like with one set of utensils, it might produce a different taste if you use a different teapot, and you'll have to experiment until you have calibrated the process to your preferences again. But the differences here are subtle, you have to be a pretty dedicated tea drinker to be bothered by them.

Footnote on melamine safety: Melamine is a resin which contains traces of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. The formaldehyde does not end up in the food at room temperature, but it starts leaching at higher temperatures, this is why it is not microwave safe. As the leaching process is gradual, and depends on pH besides temperature, there is no hard temperature prescription beyond which it is considered unsafe to use. But I couldn't find any source rating melamine for over 100 Celsius, and some of them give a lower temperature such as 60 or 70 Celsius. If you are concerned about the formaldehyde, you are probably better off choosing another mug. Porcelain is the standard choice, but steel and some plastics are also frequently used. For a short consumer info on melamine, see http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm199525.htm.


Marinating means that your product will be in the marinade before cooking.  It is a surface flavor application.  It does not seal in juices, nor does it penetrate the protein.  Marinate as you would for grilling.  Grill/roast (with smoke chips if you wish).  You are not technically "smoking," but that is beside the point.  You can certainly baste, throughout, with your marinade.  If this is the case, you may want to reserve some that raw meat has not come into contact with for this purpose. You will pick up the smoke flavor, even with the marinade and the basting.


Well yeah, adding a preservative is ... just that.
I'd just stick with the "homemade" part; there is so much misinformation about preservatives that get so quickly spread without research.
You can use it to rinse/sterilize containers without mixing it in but not as effective.
Recipes I've used are ¼ teaspoon per litre (mix with 1 tsp hot water to dissolve). Also can be used to sterilize jars by making a hot water rinse (use similar ratio).
Read Wikipedia on Sodium benzoate if anyone is worried about it as all the hype has been debunked and it's safer than the "natural" potassium sorbate used.


What is the effect of adding eggs to a pastry dough?

While many bread and pastry products do depend critically on the formation and management of gluten from wheat flours, this is not universally true.

Some types of pastry have structure dependent more on the starch networks which is the other major component of wheat flours; the texture and properties of these pastries is often dependent on the gross mechanical manipulation of the structures, depending on how the product is manipulated.

American style pie crust is a case in point.  Flaky pie crust is generally manipulated in a manner which minimizes gluten production:  low hydration, resting periods, and minimal mechanical manipulation.

The structure and flakiness emerges because the dough is essentially a series of butter flakes or bits, coated in starch.  When baked, the starches gelate and steam from the dough pushes the butter pockets apart before the butter is fully melted and integrates into the dough structure.  This is not dependent on gluten formation.

Taking La Cucina Italiana's pasta frola recipe as typical, it appears that pasta frola has more in common with flaky pie crust than it does with bread or puff pastry, where gluten formation is key.

The egg in the dough will contribute mostly water (eggs are 75% water).  The remainder is primarily proteins (from the albumen in the egg white, and fats from the yolk).

This will somewhat tenderize the final pastry, and contribute an eggy flavor.  It certainly does interfere with gluten formation, helping prevent a tough outcome, except in this application, gluten formation simply is not key.  It will also contribute to the final color, both from the yellow pigments in the yolk, and by slightly promoting browning.


Where can I buy online spices, sauces, extracts, etc. with international shipping?

I found this thread: http://www.expat.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=189321 which lists a russian website. That might be of use to you. I can't comment on what they have as I can't read the site. Most of the other sources I know of are based here in North America. In general I would usually start by checking for a site based in my country that offers reasonable shipping. Even being in Canada I find that often shipping across the US border is cost prohibitive.


Can I substitute a stainless steel pot for the traditional iron dutch oven?

Cast iron is ideal, but any pot that can take the heat and has a tight lid will work. Like @talon8 said in his comment, it doesn't even have to be metal.

This article from Around the World in 80 Bakes specifically uses terracotta for sourdough, not cast iron.

Just as an FYI, this related question deals with preheating (for no-knead bread, not sourdough), and the differing answers are interesting. To me it just goes to show that bread-making doesn't always have to follow super-strict rules. Preheat the Dutch oven (and the oven itself) for No-Knead Bread? (experiment results)


Aromatics are at least half of taste. Its like when you go to a restaurant and have to wash your clothes when you get home because they smell just like what you ate. Potatoes don't have any particular dominating flavor, they generally inherit whatever flavor they are exposed to; chicken is much the same way. Tuna on the other hand has a very pungent aroma. I wouldn't be surprised to see the fries take on the tuna aroma and "taste" a little fishy. Try temporarily covering your fries while you cook other things. That should help.


In a restaurants' kitchen in SC, is it DHEC approved to store raw meat next to ready to eat food?

Here is a link to the South Carolina Retail Food Establishment Regulation page. I'd recommend looking at section 3-302. It says that except as specified, you should separate raw animal foods from ready-to-eat foods during storage, preparation, holding, and display. If you can't find what you're looking for I would call them and ask them what the regulations are because laws can vary from each locality.

Personally, I would never store or work with raw meat anywhere near ready-to-eat (RTE) foods without sanitizing in between. Also, raw meat is a TCS food, is the cold table going to keep it cold enough? I guess it depends how long you're holding it for. If your establishment is constantly handling raw meat throughout the day I'd recommend having separate stations for RTE foods and raw meat (cross-contamination between the two is extremely dangerous to customers and it's better to separate them altogether). Hope that helps.


What are some of the most important things to keep in mind, when making great falafels?

Some points in addition to rackandboneman's excellent advice:

Use soaked dried chickpeas, and not canned or cooked chickpeas.  This eliminates the need for flour or other binders, as well as tasting better.
Let the batter rest for at least 20 min.
Remember to season the batter with cumin, garlic, and herbs.
The balls should be formed and dropped directly into the hot oil.
The oil needs to be between 360F and 380F (185 and 195C).
Falafel balls should be eaten hot from the fryer, and not reheated.

The above is based on the advice of a friend of mine who used to work at Sunrise Deli, who had the best falafel balls in San Francisco at the time.  It is generally supported by Serious Eats' recipe and advice.


No, the recipe means that you should use whole wheat berries, not processed in any way. It's not wheat germ, which is a kind of cereal.

My suggestion would be to use real wheat. If your regular supermarket doesn't carry it, an organic supermarket, a health store, or an ethnic store may have it. Then go on with the recipe as suggested.

Using wheat germ will in principle also give you an edible dish, but it won't be a traditional kutya. You don't have to soak it first. In fact, it may not be necessary to cook it either - but for that, somebody else with more cereal experience will be able to give better advice.


Why did my root beer hard candy turn to a dry crumble?

I am pretty sure that this method cannot work.

When you heat up sugar with water, you make a supersaturated solution. At room temperature, you can dissolve at most 200 g of sugar in 100 g of water, which gives you a 67% sugar solution. At hard crack stage, you achieve a 99% sugar solution. If you manage to cool that down without too much mechanical disturbance, you end up with a clear hard candy.

But if you mix in a small amount of new, cold (room temperature) liquid, you are suddenly cooling your sensitive supersaturated solution, and dissolving parts of it. It loses its state and the sugar precipitates out, giving the crystals you described as "crumble".

You will have to add your flavoring before the heating stage and see if that turns out OK. But you cannot add watery liquid to hard crack, unless you are adding enough to dissolve the sugar, the way people do when adding cream to caramel to make sauce.


I have seen similar deposited after stainless cutlery and plates were soaked in hard water from bores and from areas with hard water. Its just a collection of salts that like making a home on metal surfaces. You can remove it without scrubbing by adding some citric acid powder or a little white vinegar to some warm wash water. Denture cleaning tablets have a similar effect in cleaning off this buildup.

The citric acid powder is a really good way of cleaning up the built up scale in kettles and water heating appliances. It makes my glass electric kettle shine like new.


Squid gets rubbery when overcooked and it happens really fast, so you should just blanch it for just a few seconds and immediately cool it in icy water. I used to score the squid on the outside (with a criss-cross pattern, not too deep) to prevent it from warping during the cooking process. It also adds a nice texture.


Why does barbecue sauce break down and become watery in baking

When you bake meat, certain proteins in it change and contract, squeezing out liquid. That liquid will mix with any miscible liquid around it, of course. The result will be colored like your BBQ sauce, but will be diluted.

If you'd like to have a thick glaze of BBQ sauce on the finished meat, the solution is to apply it late in the cooking process, once much of the liquid has already come out of the meat. Once you've added the glaze, make sure not to cover the meat: you want additional water vapor to float away, not to re-condense and rain on your ribs.

Now, if you'd like to improve the flavor and texture further and don't mind spending more time to do it, you can do a hybrid of those two methods. Cook the meat with the BBQ sauce, tightly covered, until almost done. Drain off and reserve the liquid. and skim off as much fat as you can. Boil the liquid down in a saucepan until it's quite thick, then re-spread it on the ribs. That process takes longer, particularly if you're being really careful about the fat, but the gelatin and flavor in the resultant glaze will be worth it.


Why remove the vegetables from vegetable stock?

The point of stock is to extract the maximum flavor from whatever you are using, be it bones or vegetables. Once extracted there's not a whole left, which is why you don't boil stock bones over and over. Vegetables will not have much left to give after being used for stock, you can still eat them but they may not be flavorful or nutritious.
Unless you're making a stew you're going to be cooking the stock, then removing the vegetables, then cooking the stock more with other ingredients. If you leave the vegetables in they'll continue to cook until they break down, and that's usually undesirable.
If you are making a dish where you want to eat the vegetables with it then you would either want to extract them while they still have some texture and then add them back in at the end to re-heat, or add them towards the end and cook them till done.


At best, you'll have toasted beans. At worst they will be burnt. I'm guessing these are dried or otherwise you wouldn't worry. Curious what you find out.


Removing Salsa flavor from vegetable soup

First off, you may want to consider starting over. You have 2 big problems, and you could end up spending a great deal of time (and ingredients) trying to fix it and end up with something twice as big and just as unpalatable.

If you really want to do it the salsa part is easy: cook it. What many people don't like about salsa is raw flavors, they will mellow quite a bit with the application of heat. If you don't tell your daughter then chances are she won't even know!

The real problem is the salt, once you add it there's no sure-fire way to get it out. If something is very salty the only thing you can do is add ingredients that aren't salty in order to even out the salty flavor. You could make another vegetable soup with no salt and then mix the two, or add some water to your soup and see if that fixes it.

If it isn't too salty I have had some success using potato to absorb some of the salt. Potatoes are good at soaking up salt flavors, you can add some cup up potatoes in and once they are cooked take them out and some of the salt comes with them. Or if you find that the combination works leave them in.

So what I would do is if it's not too far gone would be to add some unsalted stock or water, and then some cut up potatoes. Cook it until the potatoes are tender, then taste. If it's acceptable then serve it with a smile, if not throw it away and chalk it up to experience.


How do I reduce the acidity of homemade honey lemon juice?

You can neutralize the acidity of your drink by adding a half teaspoon of baking soda, but don't do this. Apart from fizzing up like a volcano, your lemon drink, or what is left of it, will taste pretty awful.

What you want to do is reduce the perceived acidity. This can be done simply by adding more honey. I suggest adding a teaspoon at a time until it tastes about right. I like about double the amount of honey you specified if we're talking teaspoons.


How to prevent meatballs from drying out when I substitute a lean meat?

You'll have different techniques for different recipes.  The most important thing is not to overcook it ... but with ground meat and ground poultry in particulary, you want to make sure you've cooked it long enough to be safe.

For amalgameats, like meatloaf and meatballs, the common technique is a panade, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, and adding vegetables helps too (cooked spinich, onions, bell peppers, carrots, etc.)

For sausages, apples are a fairly common item in chicken sausages to add moisture.  I don't know that the flavor combination would go as well with beef or pork sausages, but you generally want fattier cuts for sausage anyway.

For burgers, it's even trickier, as if you add a ton of stuff into the burger it becomes something that's more a meatloaf patty than a burger.  You can make two thin patties, and put butter or cheese between them, and cook it as a 'stuffed burger', but if you're selecting leaner meats, I'm guessing you won't want to add more back in.  Your better option is to cook the burgers in a low oven until they reach your desired internal temperature, then give them a quick sear to develop a crust; this will help minimize the amount of overcooked exterior.


How do I make spicy mayonnaise like Japanese restaurants use for sushi?

Japanese spicy mayo is made with Kewpie mayo and Shichimi tōgarashi. You really just mix them to taste.


My pre soy milk preparation curdled on cooking

There are two potential causes here - either positive ions or bacterial activity.
Soy curdles easily in the presence of positive ions, that's the basic principle behind making tofu. I don't see many potential sources in your recipe, so if this is the case, my guess would be that there was some combination of hard water, possibly high-ish magnesium levels in the soy itself, and maybe some other deviations in the soy chemistry (not every cultivar or every batch of the same plant is equal chemically, and if you hit the right - or in this case wrong - combination of compound levels, curdling occurs easier).
The other possibility is that you had enough bacterial activity that it produced acid which curdled the soy proteins. While 3 days in the fridge and 3 hours on the counter are considered safe, there can be one-off cases where you get spoilage going on. This is much more typical for animal milks though (that's how you get buttermilk), I'm not sure how likely it is to happen for soy since I have never observed firsthand how it ferments.
You should be able to make the distinction. If you have off-smells, sour or acrid taste, or other signs of fermentation, this is likely bacterial activity. If the whole thing is bland and firm-ish and reminds you of tofu, it is likely a chemical curdling.


Is it practical to boil drinking water in a pressure cooker?

Overall it will make little if any difference.

The pressure cooker won't reach 100&degC; noticeably quicker than a normal pan with a close fitting lid, and the pressure cooker is made of thicker metal which will take more energy to heat. Simply closing the lid would help quite a bit.

If you want to hold it at a boil the sealed lid of a pressure cooker would help, except you can't really monitor the temperature. Waiting until it whistles will mean it has been boiling for long enough to produce enough pressure for a whistle, but that's still a measure of pressure, not time.

There are a few species killed by the temperatures achieved in a pressure cooker, and not at 100&degC; but my understanding is that these aren't the pathogens that tend to contaminate drinking water.

As you're flavouring the water as well, you may have to adapt the quantities of seeds if you use a pressure cooker, because the flavour will extract faster.


Depending on how far overcooked it is, then you might be able to resuscitate it by cutting it into smaller pieces and cooking it low and slow in some liquid.

For example, you could use it as the meat in a stew, or slice it thinly and then braise it with some vegetable to make a pot-roast.

This also gives you an opportunity to introduce additional flavor, as it sounds as if that may have been lacking as well.


It will certainly be safe to eat if you freeze it, but cranberry pectin is not freeze stable, so you will probably get a more watery product when it is thawed out.


Does pouring water on burning charcoal when grilling make the meat more smokey?

No, as that isn’t creating smoke. It’s creating steam. A steamier cooking environment may actually inhibit desired grilling flavors as it could inhibit browning via the Maillard reaction.


How to extract mouth numbing effect from Sichuan peppercorn into a syrup?

The reason you didn't get the numbing effect is because the hydroxy alpha sanshool is an alcohol that is largely soluble in oils not water.
When boiled it will come off in the steam and escape the boiling process in that manner. If you distill it, it will collect as an oil not as an ethanol/water soluble product. I doubt that putting the lid on the pot will collect significant amounts, or if they do collect enough to form droplets, they will be as fine oil layer on the surface of the liquid or on the lid of the pot.
I note that the extraction protocol mentioned on its wikipedia page includes ethanol and notes that the yield is low (~60%) of the available chemical. Boiling alone in water is not sufficient to extract any significant quantity.


'Espresso' Maker - Base turned dark, is it bad?

What you've got there, is a Moka pot. They are unable to produce the amount of pressure that gives the Espresso its character, in particular the crema.

I have owned several, and all of them have had this happen. That has had no impact on the flavour or mouth feel.


There are two major differences between frothing with a home machine versus a professional machine.

1- A professional machine will have hotter and more forceful steam.
2- A home machine will often have a "froth assistor" on the wand.

The composition of the steam, though, should be the same and you should be able to create a decent approximation of the correct kind of foam for latte art with a mid-range home machine.

There's a very nice tutorial about halfway down this page on CoffeeGeek.


Unwrapping the chicken and leaving it uncovered in the refrigerator for a few hours should dry it out a lot. You may want to sponge out the cavity with a paper towel before doing this. If possible, support the chicken on a wire rack above a plate in the refrigerator, rather than placing it directly on the plate. Otherwise, put the chicken breast-down on the plate (so less of it is in contact).

I'm not sure what the effect of dry brining on the saltiness of stock would be, but it's unlikely to be wildly different than the effect on the meat. If you're worried, though, you should break it down before dry brining, and don't salt the back.


Sounds like what you have is Pyrex Flameware, which is range safe.
From the link:

Flameware by Pyrex by Corning Glass Works of Corning, New York is a line of range top kitchenware...
Identification of Flameware is easy as most pieces were imprinted in the bottom of each piece with the "flame" logo, plus the item number and size.


What are good resources to learn food chemistry?

McGee on Food and Cooking: An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture will answer most questions on what the chemistry is behind most cooking processes, without being too academic.


Is 'Pizza yeast' any different than normal baking yeast?

From what I can find, it contains 'dough relaxers' so you can shape the dough without it springing back. It also claims you don't need to let it rise, but it then tells you to bake your pizza for 30 minutes! So it essentially rises in the oven.

Compare this to 'proper' dough which you let rise for a couple of hours, pull into shape and then bake in a screaming hot oven for 5 minutes tops. It strikes me that using pizza yeast is 'pizza for dummies'; claiming 'it stops it rising too much' is nonsense because if the amount of yeast is correct in your recipe you control the rise anyway.

So it depends on whether you like doing things easy or doing things right. You can bet your pepperoni slices they don't use 'pizza yeast' in Naples. Personally I cheat just a little and use dried fast-action yeast as it has a longer shelf-life and you don't fuss around proving it, and my pizzas come out great.


It's dates, تمر - see Google translate (click to have it spoken - and note the primary translation is wrong, but the right alternate translations are beneath). I do not speak Arabic, but MandoMando confirms this in the comments, and this would be consistent with desserts in that general category.

That said, it's also surprising - given the bright colors, I'd have expected there to be plenty of sugar-starch gel like in Turkish delight; it's hard for food coloring to cover up the darker color of dates if they're providing the bulk of the volume. Given that the food coloring isn't listed, it sounds like starch was left off the ingredient list; I would've guessed it'd be corn starch, but MandoMando suggests it may be something else - but still probably gluten-free. (Not a guarantee, of course.)

And tahina is tahini, yes - it's even mentioned as an alternate name on Wikipedia.


Legume flours (eg soy, chickpea, lentil flour) match that role well - they are used in traditional (eg indian) eggless recipes as texture-enhancing binders, or even on their own - pakora and cheela batters are made with a lot of chickpea flour for that purpose.