How much and what seasoning to should I use in a turkey brine?

Before I try to answer some of your core question with my best from the gut answer, I want to address a bit of an issue with the question itself. Since I am the author of the question and answer upon which you base your question, I feel uniquely qualified to suggest that your source could be a lot better.

The single experiment in that Q&A led to results that were interesting enough (to me) to share. Think of it like the start of a medical study. My fuschia chicken was test subject 0001. To call my conclusions in that answer 'conclusions' is to give them delusions of grandeur.

That said, the next time I brine a turkey (which will not be this Thanksgiving), I will make a basic brine of ~50 grams of kosher salt and ~25 grams of sugar per liter of water (a 5% salt brine). To that, I will add pumpkin pie spice (purchased or homemade).

Why pumpkin pie spice?

Well,

Pumpkin pie spice contains a nicely balanced combination of spices I know to be high in eugenol (cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg plus ginger)
If I'm brining a turkey, the odds are good that I'm also making a pumpkin dessert so I'm likely to be using fresh pumpkin pie spice anyway.
I'm betting that it will be really good and will complement the traditional Thanksgiving dinner beautifully. I absolutely do not expect the turkey to taste like pumpkin pie.

So I'll add perhaps a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice per liter of water in the brine, adding it when I bring the salt and sugar to a simmer to dissolve. I'll want the spice quite evident in the brine, but not overwhelming.

If you try it, I'd love to hear how it works for you.

UPDATE 2/15/2020: I just heard from an old friend that she came across this post before Thanksgiving 2019 and followed the suggestions for her holiday. She used 62 grams (2 small canisters) of McCormick brand pumpkin pie spice in "enough" brine for her small (12lb/5.5kg) turkey. It was a hit. No one said it tasted like pumpkin pie spice; everyone said that it was the most flavorful turkey they had ever had. So, FWIW, that's one rave review. I love reports like that!


In writing a recipe, when should I remove the bay leaves in the process?

I would put the bay leaves in right at the beginning (with the water, dressing, and mustard) and remove them right before you temper the eggs since you don't want to accidentally grab a bay leaf and whisk it into the eggs when tempering.

Also, just a tip for recipes, list the ingredients in the order you use them in the recipes (that means put the mustard amount right up after the amount of Italian dressing, for instance).


Keep chicken with skin from catching on fire on the barbeque

The chicken fat layer in the skin is flammable. As it melts, it drips out and down. If there is something extremely hot underneath it (like hot charcoal), it will ignite causing a flareup. Heat rises, so the heat and flame go back upwards to heat the chicken more, causing more fat to melt and drip. It is a self-reinforcing cycle.

To prevent the cycle from beginning:

lower the heat level
put a drip pan between heat and the chicken
move the chicken so it isn't directly above the heat
start with the side of the chicken with skin facing down, finish with it facing up

If you actually get the skin hot enough to catch fire while on the chicken, you're REALLY using too much heat.


What baked good involves crushed digestives, peanut butter, and marbled chocolate?

I made these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars consisting of those ingredients and methods you talked about. Here is the link to a video demonstrating how to make this:https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0k8v-V15rKtQFicZQl4hcxldjvW7mbDH&v=GG581Dvf39w


Should I use oil to stop the steaks from sticking to the grill?

I typically oil the grill.  After brushing it to get off any remnants from the last grilling session, I take a paper towel soaked in vegetable oil (something with a high smoke point), and rub my grill down with it.  (I hold it using a pair of tongs).

I then let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then rub it down again it again -- you're effectively making a plastic coating, as you do when seasoning a cast iron pan.

Now for the unbelievable part -- the next time you run into problems with it sticking ... wait.  I know it sounds crazy, but basically after a few seconds of grilling, the meat sticks to the grill ... after it's cooked long enough, it releases.  Maybe not full releasing, but it gets ... less stuck.  (assuming you're not using a sugary marinade that's turned into glue).

So long as you're okay with medium rare to medium, just give it another minute, and then try giving it a nudge to see if it's starting to release.  You won't get the cross-hatch grill marks, but most people really don't care so long as it tastes good.


The Rational oven is definitely more flexible - it usually offers a dry and a wet oven capacity. If you're reheating any wet ingredients like pasta, rice, sauces, you'll find the merry chef very unsuitable.

Options 2 and 3 that you've listed are good for far reheating of relatively small numbers of portions that need heat + crisp eg pies, roast potatoes. But they're not so good for wet foods or large batches


How does a pinch of salt make a difference to a recipe?

The simple answer is: people can taste (and smell, when the substance in question has a smell) substances in very low concentrations. A pinch of salt is not a small amount at all, it is a sufficient amount to be tasted.


The FDA advises no more than 2 hours should pass between purchasing refrigerated raw eggs and putting them back into a refrigerator. 2 weeks exceeds that by 168-fold. Toss those eggs and purchase new ones.

There is no easy at-home test for salmonella, and certainly none as cheap as a carton of eggs. If you want to completely avoid the risk, I would recommend finding a source of pasteurized eggs. Barring that, get new eggs from the store and follow all FDA advice regarding their storage, handling, and cooking.


Can I leave a cake / cupcakes frosted with cream cheese frosting out on the counter?

Because of the dairy products, you shouldn't leave it un-chilled for more than 4 hours.

It's always best to cover your food to prevent dust (or cat fur, for example) from covering it.

Unless the frosting is really wet and gooey (which might run into the cake), it's OK to frost now.


Cheese making, acidic whey, denatured protein

"Denaturing" is when something makes a protein unwind from it's normally stable, coiled state. The unzipped proteins are then able to tangle up with each other. In milk this action makes them precipitate out as the curd.
http://www.thekitchn.com/the-science-behind-why-acid-curdles-milk-222962

There are a few things that make milk proteins denature: Heat, enzymes, and acid. Often a combination of these is used.

There are two types of protein that are involved when making cheese: The casein and the water soluble proteins in the albumin. When milk is only gently heated and exposed to acid or rennet only the casein curdles. The albumin proteins are left. Heating the milk to 190F, in the presence of acid, will allow the albumin proteins to also denature. The curd that is formed through this process is called "ricotta" cheese ("recooked" in Italian).

Paneer is made by heating the milk before introducing the acid. Thus, the albumin is already denatured and locked up in the curd. The whey left from that cheese process is mostly sugar and vitamin B compounds. There isn't much protein left. You can prove this by trying to make ricotta. Bring the whey to almost a boil and see if any more protein precipitates out.

As for food safety.
Denatured milk protein is not only safe but one of the most heavenly foods on earth: cheese.

The shelf-life of whey varies depending on how the cheese was made. Most cheese methods produce a whey that is very acidic. It can be low in protein as mentioned above. If the cheese was fermented with bacteria then the whey is also low in sugars. This all conspires to make whey very stable. It will last for a long time in the fridge and basically forever in the freezer.


The Genus Berberis commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). This Genus containing both Species:

Berberis Aristate
Berberis Vulgaris

and berries of both of these have not only culinary uses but medicinal uses in folk medicine.

Zereshk (زرشک) is just the Persian name of the Vulgaris variety and they both can be used for cooking without changing the recipe except that the Iranian variety mostly comes in the dried form due to climate, whereas the Arista variety might come fresh instead of dried, so adapt your recipe to account for the extra amount of water the fresh variety might contain.


What kind of reaction when you combine sodium bicarbonate and sodium acid pyrophosphate?

A quite readable explaination from a supplier of leavening agents : http://www.lallemand.com/BakerYeastNA/eng/PDFs/LBU%20PDF%20FILES/1_12CHEM.PDF

According to them, sodium acid pyrophosphate has indeed a "slow to very slow action, slightly bitter aftertast". But the bicarbonate will produce CO2 when reacting with the acid, regardless of heat.

I wouldn't use ammonia bicarbonate as its "ammonia taste limits [it] use to low-moisture products" : your batter might still contains too much moisture to get rid of the ammonia taste.


The proportions will be key.  In your case you probably need to use the minimum amount of water to cover the petals; you can always dilute later, though for making ice cream you presumably wouldn't dilute with water.  In fact you may try steeping directly in the liquid you plan to use.

You need a lot of flowers. Recipes for honeysuckle wine ( for comparison) vary widely: One steeps 6 cups of unwashed flowers in a gallon of hot sweet water for an hour, but another brews on 2 pints of washed flowers for 4 days (note regarding quantities: the former is American, the latter British).  Neither says whether that volume of flowers is packed; I suspect not.  Both also include raisins, common in country wines to make them a little richer.


It is most likely just a void.  It is hard to pack a casing 100%.  There will be voids.

Could it be (toxic) bacterial gas? Maybe but not likely.


Can I make pickled eggs that don't require refrigeration?

Seems this is very common in Britain, where I come from, so google.co.uk did the business!

The recipe here allows storing in a cool, dark cupboard for up to six months, and it recommends leaving the eggs at least a month: http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/food/recipes/pickled-eggs

This one looks good, and I like the instructions for eating!
http://www.pubbuddy.co.uk/pickled_egg_recipe_kitchen.php


What's the difference between cooked and uncooked eggnog?

Cooked or Uncooked eggnog is a safety decision.In US you get pasteurised eggs generally, unless you are in a raw food store or something. With pasteurised eggs you can use then raw in recipes without worry. In some other countries (like in India where I am now) eggs are not pasteurised. So to kill the salmonella etc, it is required to bring the eggs to above 160F in recipes. This you can see in Tiramisu recipes also where it similarly starts with a custard.


How long does unrefrigerated shredded cheese last?

No, it's fine.
It wasn't opened or anything? Then nothing is wrong with it.
If you already opened it, smell it.


Will a metal dough scraper damage a granite countertop?

Don't worry, it won't scratch. You can look at where both objects are on Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

From the Strength and Hardness Ratings of Granite and Marble:

  Granite has a Mohs hardness rating of seven.

From Mohs Hardness Test:

  The steel blade of the average knife usually has a hardness of about 5.5.

(I assume the scraper and a knife have equal hardness).


To make Baileys I have a great recipe.  1 1/2 cups Rye-Bonded Stock, 1 large can carnation milk, 1 can Eagle Brand milk, 2 tbsp. instant coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water.  Put above in blender and mix for one minute.  Let stand for about one hour.  Bottle and refrigerate and do not drink all at once.
When I made it, it was gone in four days.


What is the ratio of curing salt versus table salt in a recipe?

I agree with Athanasius, it's best to follow a reputable recipe and not mess with substitutions when curing meats. You're playing with fire. The very fact that you would ask in that way tells me you don't have the background to even be thinking about it, since there is more than one type of curing salt.

From Wiki

  Curing salts are used in food preservation to prevent or slow spoilage by bacteria or fungus. Generally they are used for pickling meats as part of the process to make sausage or cured meat. Curing salts are generally a mixture of table salt and sodium nitrate. Common types of curing salts are Prague powder #1, which is 6% sodium nitrite and 94% table salt, and Prague powder #2 which also includes sodium nitrate

It doesn't get much more reputable than Michael Ruhlman, and he's written a Bible on the subject of Charcuterie: Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. Wow, it's even available for the Kindle, I might have to get that.

On-line, he goes specifically into soppressata.


What's the difference between heirloom and direct-set yogurt cultures?

It's simple. Heirlooms will produce expected results no matter how many times you reinoculate your culture. Direct set is a blend of species and eventually only the strongest strain will remain and it may not create anything you want to eat. I never bought cultures, I just buy plain or vanilla yogurt, eat it and use what's left behind to make another batch.

Remember the single most important part of yogurt making is hygiene. I can't stress this enough. Yogurt won't always tell you it's bad until it's too late and you eat it and get very very sick. Trust me on this from experience. With yogurt HYGIENE is the most important part of the process.!!!


A recipe inspired by Brat cheese sauce/Cooking in Wine

I wouldn't use mozzarella, it won't melt smoothly into a sauce. Look at recipes for white (or whitish) smooth cheese sauces, or Mornay sauces. Consider:

Monterey Jack
Swiss (Emmental)
White Cheddar
Gruyere (that would be my choice)

Instead of boiling chicken (or sausage) in the wine, consider browning the chicken in the skillet (preferably not non-stick) and then deglazing with the wine. After all of the brown goodness is mixed into the small amount of wine used for deglazing, you can add more wine (as much as you want to use for the final sauce) to allow it cook out a bit. You might want to use 1/2 or 1/3 wine, the rest chicken broth and possibly cream.

Look at white wine cheese sauce recipes to get an idea of quantities. To get a thick, smooth sauce, you might get your best results by thickening your liquid with a roux before adding shredded cheese, much like the recipes above for Mornay sauce.


How to prevent a vinegar taste when poaching eggs (using vinegared water)

I assume you mean eggs that have been poached in water with vinegar added?

I usually add vinegar to my poaching water when making poached eggs. However, I rarely taste the vinegar. I would suggest

Use less vinegar. I use no more than a tablespoon for a shallow frying pan's worth of water
Use a milder vinegar like white wine vinegar, or even lemon juice
Use really fresh eggs if you can, in which case you don't even need vinegar

Lots of people use a saucepan full of water to poach eggs. I used to, but always with inconsistent results. Usually the egg white would just disintegrate and form a foam.

Now I use a small, shallow frying pan. This means the egg white has less opportunity to disintegrate, and also means I need to use less vinegar to help the white set.

If rather than poaching you mean pickling, there's little you can do to remove the vinegar taste, as the vinegar will have penetrated the egg thoroughly.


Frozen veggies meets gumbo = flavorless. How to add flavor?

I think the problem is that in the original recipe you would have browned the veggies in the roux, which develops flavor. Since you didn't do that, you might want to saute some onions and garlic until well browned and add that in. Other possibilities:

(1) Sauce may just need to reduce and become more concentrated
(2) May need more salt
(3) May need a little more acid (a bit of vinegar or lemon juice)


Freezing kills the parasites in fish that are harmfully to humans.  That is why all sushi fish has to be frozen before use.  Since the salmon is frozen and has spent way longer than the minimum time frozen you could consume the fish raw with no danger to yourself.  You could have added the fish frozen to your sauce if you had wanted.

That said, I almost always thaw frozen fish at low power in the microwave so that it is easier to work with.


Tl;dr: If you know what kind of apple you're looking at, you don't need to test the apple.

I don't think you can tell any of those things about an unidentified apple without destroying it somehow.  You can tell how hard/soft it is by pressing firmly, but this will leave a dent in the apple, so that may or may not count as destroyed for you.

However, if you know what variety of apple you're looking at, you can know these types of things without even touching the apple, as each variety has its own characteristics regarding sweetness, crispness, juiciness, and other qualities.  For instance, Honeycrisp apples are typically very sweet and crisp (as the name implies) and are excellent for eating out of hand.  You can find more information about different varieties of apples here.  Grocery stores (at least in the USA) typically label their apples by variety.  If you shop at a farmers market and the varieties aren't labeled, the farmer/seller can usually tell you (if he can't, I probably wouldn't buy from him anyways, but that's just me).

As far as durability goes, that is largely dependent on how you store your apples.  Refrigerated apples last longest, as they do not continue to ripen in the cooler temperatures of the fridge.  They will if left on the counter, though, leading to mushy, rotting apples in just a week or two.  (I have successfully kept apples in my refrigerator for several months, though those were fresh-from-the-orchard apples, so your results may vary.)

Nutritional content varies by variety as well, though I was only able to find a single source focusing on vitamin C.  However, as vitamin C and potassium the main nutrients in apples, that may be sufficient as far as varietal differences go.  You can find some more general nutritional information for apples here.


Raw turkey leaked in shopping bag - how to clean other groceries?

I would proceed considering the rest of your product was contaminated. That being said anything that was contaminated can still be brought to a temperature of 165°F to ensure safety. (Oranges can make a good sauce and cucumbers are great for pickling. Many other vegetable are great fully cooked.) I would not risk treating the surface as contaminants can spread. For this reason I always keep a separate bag for product I eat raw and a separate bag for product that could pose a cross-contamination risk.

As for the exposed turkey I would assume safety based on what you told us. Unless you believe the package was tampered with your biggest drawback to exposed turkey is the may drying out.


Which non-rice grains cook up most like sticky rice?

From a purely sticking perspective, I would say golden millet. When I leave a cooked batch in the fridge, it goes to a single slab within a few hours. However, tastewise, it is much more reminiscent of wheat than of rice. It is very mealy in texture, too.
Alternatively, you might want to experiment with adding tiny amounts of starch to a different grain, to make it stick, or maybe using pap instead of rice, possibly embedding some other grains (or maybe something like tapioca pearls) to have some variety in the texture.


This appears to be a standard custard-type pumpkin pie filling.

I would recommend, as the method:

Blind bake your crust approximately 10 minutes, using rice or pie weights to keep it from bubbling up.
Mix all of the filling ingredients together well.
Pour filling into the shell, and put in a 400 to 425 F for about 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 F oven until done, about approximately 45-50 minutes.

You will know it is done when the filling is barely jiggly in the center, but set at the edges when you shake the pan, or when it registers 180 F on an instant-read thermometer.

If the crust starts to over brown, line the edges with aluminum foil or a pie protector.

There doesn't seem to be anything special about this recipe, so using a more modern recipe which is accompanied by more precise instructions should not sacrifice anything.


Seville oranges for marmalade - how important is freshness?

I'm presuming that your'e British because (a) You want to make marmalade (b) your nickname is 'tea drinker'. am i right?

Anyway, those bitter oranges are grown not only in Spain but in other parts of the Mediterranean as well, but their season i relatively short - so if i were you i would keep my eyes open for nice ripe ones and buy them - you can keep them cooled for at least a month in your fridge if they are in good condition in the time of their purchase.

Tip #1: try to buy oranges that weren't waxed.

Tip #2: if you can get Satsuma Citruses, they will do a good job as replacements. The result might be a little more sour though.


Consider two options:

Add a stabilizing agent for the compote: cornstarch immediately comes to mind, but I suppose sewit, or custard would do the trick. This automatically lends itself to needing a longer bake time which I can understand to be less favorable.

Try reducing more moisture while prepping the compote. By giving the rhubarb a longer cooking time, you can also intensify its flavor while getting a firmer, stickier compote.


Is cooking a raw steak in the microwave safe?

Yes, it is safe. It is really more a question of quality. I would suggest that, in your specific situation you get a browning dish. (It would be something that you could still use after your move, if you like.) Please see the excerpt below from  this page .

There is nothing like a charbroiled steak straight off the grill. But for the times when you don't want to fire up the grill - or even get the broiler dirty - there is a way to sear steaks in the microwave on an accessory called a browning dish.
A microwaved steak will not brown well without one, and the dish is really the only acceptable way to brown in the microwave.
Browning dishes can be either flat rectangular plates or black skillets that are designed for the microwave.
Embedded in the plate or skillet are metal strips that cause the microwaves to couple or link, producing an electrical current. The dish also is coated with a metal that is resistant to the electrical current.

You can read the rest of the article and the how-to information by following the link.


Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is actually odorless, freshly caught fish doesn't smell fishy at all, however it breaks down to trimethylamine (TMA) which is responsible for that infamous rotting smell.

As the the tissues containing TMAO is exposed to air, the usual suspects, the bacteria start breaking down the TMAO into TMA; thus causing the fishy smell...

I'm not aware of a mechanism of TMAO breaking down to TMA with heat, however TMA is a gas at room temperature and above. If the particular fish you're cooking is not so fresh, or loaded with  TMAO (thus TMA eventually)... With heat, the TMA trapped in the tissues of the fish might dissipate and result in "The house-permeating 'fishy'" smell.


It sounds like the only problem is the amaranth grains are too small, nothing else?

You might use a cloth instead of (or as well as) a colander or strainer.  Cheesecloth might do, especially in layers, but even a fine woven cotton or linen cloth will be just fine, as long as it's clean.  You can line your colander or sieve with the cloth, wash the gains as you need, and let the water drip out, or wring it out, as much as you need, and then proceed to cook. The cloth can be simply upended over your cooking pot, and any remainder brushed out while still wet, or it can be allowed to drip dry until it comes cleanly off the towel.

Alternatively, if the seeds sink rather than float - you can wash them in a bowl of water, rub them around, and wait for the grains to settle in the water, and then decant the extra water from the top of the bowl.  You might take two or three changes of water to be sure the grains are clean, between the need to rinse and the difficulty draining all of the water out when you drain it - but again, you can scrape into a bowl while drained and wet, or pour into a bowl (with whatever water or liquid the recipe calls for).  You might even use this step to pre-soak your grains a bit, that might even help with the extra time cooking you mention.


Storage of Pecorino cheese — is room temperature ok?

If the wheel is intact, 2 or 3 days at room temperature will be fine. Hard cheeses like that are aged at temperatures not far below normal room temperature. If the wheel were cut, if the temperature got above room temperature or if you were asking about a longer period of time, I might be slightly concerned. But in your situation, your cheese will be fine. On the off chance that it develops some mold, cut the mold away with at least a one inch buffer.


How to reduce the bitter taste in broccoli rabe

Broccoli rabe are hard to grow without turning bitter, and this is why in general they are not that popular

Like most vegetables you can reduce bitterness by soaking or cooking in milk, or by adding a small amount of lime (Calcium hydroxide) to the blanching/cooking water

See What counters astringency?


"The other way round" certainly works. Only not with a blast of hot air.

You can happily get the meat cooked to your 65°C first, then take care of the crust. But convection heat isn't enough to give you a crust. You need either conduction, or radiation.

For conduction, you need contact with a hot material which gives off lots of heat at once, commonly known as "searing". I know that searing after the roasting is unusual in the kitchen, but this is only one of those things which is done because it has always been done this way, or maybe because great men like Leibnitz posed the untested hypothesis that searing "seals the juices in", and the world hasn't caught on that it has been disproved. Disregard, and plop the cooked meat on a hot griddle brushed with a thin layer of oil. BTW, the food lab swears on exactly that technique.

A more common approach is to use radiation heat, and lots of it. This is why most ovens have a thing called grill/broiler. Put the roasted meat close to it, use it until there is a crust, turn it to another side, continue. Here, you have to pay a bit more attention. The heat is enough to warm the inside too, so stop the first cooking stage at less than 60°C. I can't tell you how much less, but would probably try it with 60°C the first time. If you brush the meat with some fat first (really thin, use a pastry brush), you will get a crispier crust. You can also look into "advanced" techniques like putting something on the meat, usually dusting it with flour, but sometimes batter is also used.


The best way to thicken marinara sauce for me, without losing any taste is to cook it a little longer.

Cooking it longer is just keeping the sauce on simmer, uncovered and stirring it occasionally so its cooking consistently and taking it off the heat when you think it has reached desired thickness.

You can also try draining the tomatoes before you crush them.

You could even try adding little breadcrumbs, but it might change the taste.


Can I make fried chicken without a deep frier?

B is your best bet. In fact, that's the original (And IMO, best) way to do it!  Find a nice heavy cast iron skillet, fill it around halfway with oil, and then fry your chicken and rotate it in the pan as needed

Here are some links:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/deep-south-fried-chicken/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/fried-chicken-recipe.html


How to add savor to a squash and grain mix?

It looks to me like you need umami. One easy, healthy thing you can add is powdered dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms. I just throw the dried mushrooms into a spice grinder, it's a powerful punch.

EDIT: (SAJ14SAJ refers to the same concept, glutamates, in his answer)


What is the best recipe for Chocolate Mousse: with butter or cream?

The percentage of milk-fat determines the name.  It is different from region to region.

In the US, heavy whipping Cream is above %36 fat.  You can see this chart for the naming convention and fat content.  For a chocolate mousse you're generally looking for cream with fat contents between %30 and %40.  Otherwise you can get a phase-inversion in your mousse emulsion (it break or collapses).

There are Chocolate mousse recipes using butter instead of cream.  It makes for a slightly different tasting chocolate mousse, but hey, it's chocolate mousse.
You may be able to cheat using an emulsifier such as soy lecithin to keep the emulsion stable.  Gelatin does thicken things, but you're likely to lose the air bubbles in the mousse and get a denser mix.


Going by your guesses, I found the following names on Wikipedia (all for the same plant): sponge gourd, Egyptian cucumber, Vietnamese luffa, dishrag gourd, rag gourd, vegetable-sponge or smooth luffa. Its Latin names are Cucurbita luffa, Luffa cylindrica, Luffa aegyptica, Luffa aegyptiaca, Luffa pentandra, Momordica cylindrica. or Momordica luffa.

I am not completely sure if the plant in the photo is the plant on the Wikipedia page. However, the Wiki has a translations in many different languages, so perhaps you can look for one in a language in which you know the plant's name?

Edit: Given your updated tag of Indian, I should point out there are Wikipedia pages for the vegetable I linked to in Hindi, Marathi and Tamil as well as 28 more languages.


What is this cooking utensil labeled "Orka by Mastrad" and "1 ml = 1 pinch"?

This is a single salad tong, as seen here

Notice the way the two tongs connect at the handle, and how the nearer one has the same shape as the poster's image.


What is the biggest safe container for soup?

You said the containers are plastic so you have already determined the size of the container. If the containers are clean and sanitary then they are safe. The only important part is cooling the soup down fast enough so it stays out of the "danger zone"; that is, above 40F for more than two hours. So however long that takes will take experimentation or applied physics knowledge or experience.

You can gain experience by heating some water to a simmer as you would for soup (I think). Then see how long it takes you to cool it to 40F. If you can do that in less than two hours, you're cool and safe.


Is baking by weight really more accurate?

Is it more accurate?  ABSOLUTELY

Does it mean that you can still follow a recipe by weight exactly and expect perfect results everytime?  No

You're right in that humidity will vary the weight, but if you're consistently working in the same area with a small change in humidity - its not something to worry about.  You'll adjust your recipe once and then generally stay in the same range.  Going by volume, you're always going to be all over the board.  Sometimes you'll pack light, sometimes tight.  Going by weight, you're going to be pretty close as long as none of the variables have changed drastically.

The problem you run into is when you change locations or the humidity changes drastically.    In the long run, you'll need to know what your expected dough should look and feel like.  After you've baked a loaf 100 times, you'll poke it and know if its too dry.

In addition to the feel of the dough, I have a hygrometer in my kitchen.  Keeping an eye on it lets me know if I should expect to need to add more or less water to my dough.  I bake A LOT, so I keep an eye on this to make life easier.


Is it safe to eat a lump of Jamon that grew some mold?

Only for your information. The spanish ham can get moldy every time, because the curing process will not stop. And for sure you can eat after cleaning with oil. All this ham have mould but before it is sold they also clean it with oil or fat. Mostly the customer don't see it, but sometimes because of the humidity or if it is hot it can appear again, but it is not a problem for health (it is exactly the same as with the cheese.


Yes, there are differences.  Unfortunately, many potatoes have been bred for crop yield and storage over flavor ... and so the flavor differences that you might see in South America don't tend to be so prevalent in the US and Europe.
"Factory farming" in many ways started because of potatoes.  McDonalds wanted to get rid of regional differences in their french fries, and so contracted with farmers in Idaho to grow a single variety of potato for them so they could get the uniformity that they wanted.
Starch:
The main difference for those sold in the US is the type of starch in the potato -- most potatoes can be sorted into 'floury' vs. 'waxy' types:

Floury potatoes (also called 'baking potatoes', 'mealy potatoes', or 'starchy potatoes') will fall apart after cooking.  This means that they disintegrate if you try to use them for soups and stews, but they make a lump-free mashed potato or a "fluffy" baked potato.  Russets are in this category.

Waxy potatoes (also called 'boiling potatoes') will soften but stay a little bit firm and mostly stay in one piece after cooking if you don't agitate them too much.  This makes them better for stews or potato salad where you want distinct chunks of potatoes, but worse for really fluffy mashed potatoes.  "Red" potatoes tend to fall into this category.

There are also in-between types, such as "Yukon Gold" (some people put "white" potatoes in this category) -- they'll mash up okay (maybe with a few lumps), and if you use them in stews, they'll have firm chunks but the outsides will start to break up if you stir too vigorously.  This is actually a benefit in some recipes.

As the starches change over time, "new" potatoes tend to behave more like waxy/boiling potatoes even when they come from a baking-type potato.
Sugar:
Some potatoes are sweeter than other varieties, although this can also change during storage.  (Cold storage will get many varieties of potatoes to change their starches into sugars ... but it may happen unevenly).  Sweeter potatoes will brown more, which can cause problems if they brown too quickly or unevenly when subjected to high heat (frying, roasting), which means the potato is either undercooked while looking pretty, or too dark when it's fully cooked through.
If you're working with a recipe that calls for a specific variety of the potato, sugar levels can often be the reason.  There's at least one recipe out there that relies on cold-induced sweetening to try to convert American potatoes to more closely match an Austrian variety.
When starting out, you might not worry so much about the facet, other than considerations about long-term cold storage.
Water/Moisture Content:
How wet a potato is affects how it cooks and how well it stores.  It can also affect how much liquid it'll absorb when making mashed potatoes or similar, so a drier potato will allow you to add more flavorful liquid.
But I can never remember which varieties are dryer than others, so I rarely use this as a consideration.  It's often more important to know that when a recipe calls for letting the potatoes to steam after cooking but before mixing in other ingredients, it might be about moisture release, not just cooling.
Shape/Size:
"New" potatoes and "fingerling" potatoes have a large surface area for their volume.  This makes them a complete waste if you're going to be pealing them.  They're better for skin-on, whole or mostly whole (halved / quartered) preparations.
If I'm going to be doing some sort of peeled and cut up preparation, then I want larger potatoes so I don't spend so much time peeling them (and waste so much volume compared to what's left).
Even if I'm leaving the skin on, I tend to favor slightly larger potatoes as I don't have to spend as much time scrubbing them.  I'd rather quarter larger potatoes for roasting instead of dealing with the tiny potatoes.
If I'm baking potatoes, then I'll try to select ones that are uniformly sized, and a reasonable portion for what I'm preparing.  (larger if it's the main thing, like chili over a baked potato ... but smaller if it's intended as a side).  If I'm selecting loose potatoes, I might try to get some variety of size (so that people have a choice), but I try to stick with ones that are roughly the same circumference but different lengths so they cook up in roughly the same time.
Skins:
For applications where you're not peeling the potatoes, especially when they're an important part of the dish such as potato skins or twice-baked potatoes, you may want to consider the texture of the skins.  "New" and "Red" potatoes tend to have thinner skins, while Russet potatoes tend to have a thicker, rougher skin.
Color:
As the colors come from chemicals produced by the plant, there can be distinctive flavors associated with them, but they also provide variety on a plate.  (although beware of mixing your own, as they'll cook up differently.  Stick to small "new" potatoes.
Also note that skin color is independent of the flesh color.  Most "Red" potatoes in the US such as "Red Bliss" are stark white on the inside ... but there are some varieties that have red flesh.
Flavor:
Flavor is a bit of a weird thing, as everyone processes flavors a little bit differently.  I like the various yellow potatoes, as I find them to be more "buttery", but I've never done a blind taste test so I have no idea if it's the yellow color that's tricking me.
If you're serving the potatoes with a fairly plain preparation, then the potato flavors are going to come through better... but if you're covering it with vinegary pulled pork or sour cream and chives, then it's probably not worth paying extra for an exceptionally flavored potato.
Packaging/Processing:
You can get pre-washed, microwave-in-the-bag potatoes if you're willing to pay more.  For smaller potatoes, they may not be vastly overpriced compared to loose potatoes of a similar size (and smaller potatoes are a PITA, so they can sometimes be worth it)
Bagged potatoes are a cost-savings, but they're also a bit of a gamble -- are the potatoes all the right size/shape for what I'm cooking?  Is there going to be an off/weird/sprouting potato hiding in the bottom of the bag?  Am I buying the right amount for what I need?  (ie. I going to eat 5lbs of potatoes before I have to worry about sprouting?)  Are the potatoes fairly smooth, or will they have lots of wrinkles or shovel damage that I have to scrub at?
In general, potatoes in grocery stores tend to be cleaner than in the past, but not all processors have the same equipment to wash & dry their potatoes before sale, so some are just ... dirtier.  Usually, there won't be as much variation within a store, but you might see it from store-to-store.  (or store-to-farmstand)


How can I improve the texture of my home-made sausages?

Chuck? As in beef chuck? Not that it won't work, but it'll be slightly different taste and texture wise than the more common pork sausage.

I don't think the # of grinds is the issue. I'd be looking more at:

temperature. Do you put the meat in the freezer for an hour or so before grinding, and are your bowls/grinder/etc cold? If your meat gets too warm, it'll separate from the fat, resulting in a mealy sausage.
are you beating the ground meat & spices with the paddle blade and a bit of liquid at the end? You want to do that to produce a bind and end up with a tight (not crumbly) sausage.


Can I use stainless steel scrub to clean regular dishes?

You can but you probably shouldn't. Stainless steel scrubs are quite coarse, rough and with sharp edges. They are  particularly abrasive, suited for scrubbing the pan's metal surface and removing the outer oxidized or grimy layers and achieve a "shiny finish".

Used on ceramics I imagine they will scratch the glossy surface quite easily; with continued use it will eventually lead a faded finish and loss of gloss.

It will largely depend on the hardness of the specific ceramic type. I would assume average quality ceramic dishes, but even for a finer quality porcelain over a longer term it will probably eventually wear out the vitreous coating, and on extreme cases even reach the more crumbly inner substrate.

On a more expensive/high quality porcelain service I imagine you would want to use something softer anyway, to prevent premature wear, particularly if it is some sort of antique, heirloom, has any sentimental or monetary value.

Decorated items with paint or enamels will be particularly sensitive to abrasion, since even continued use in a dish washer will lead to faded colors over time, especially on over-glaze decorations.


The temperature you are reading is heavily flawed. There is no way your probe's reading will not be heavily biased by proximity to bone, and the relative thinness of the meat.

Regardless of all that, barbecue is done when it is done. When cooking meats whose connective tissue needs to be broken down, the final temperature will be well beyond food safety levels. You need to examine other metrics to assess whether or not your ribs are ready for consumption. Is the meat pulled back from the ends of the bones? Usually a quarter to half-inch is a good sign. Does the rack bend easily when picking it up from the middle (with a pair of tongs)? Does a probe slide in and out of the meat with ease? If you tug on one of the bones, does it loosen from the meat ever so slightly? This is what you should be looking for.

TLDR: taking the temperature of ribs is wildly inaccurate, and you should not be doing it anyway. Use tactile and visual cues to determine if you are done cooking.


Prevent noodles from sticking when leftover in fridge

The cooking method for the noodles you're using says:

  Allow 1 block of noodles per person.
  Plunge them into a pan of boiling water and simmer for 4 minutes.
  Drain well and toss in a splash of soy sauce.

  When serving as part of a stir-fry: Rinse in cold water, drain, then add to the wok, tossing all ingredients together just before serving for a spectacular stir-fry with masses of flavour.

The first part of the method i.e. cooking the noodles separately is for when you want to use them plain.

The second paragraph of the method is what would be applicable in your situation. Cook your chicken/veg with the flavorings. Rinse the noodles in cold water, drain and then add to the pan mixing everything together just before serving.

When you cook the noodles with other ingredients without rinsing the noodles first, the starch washed off the noodles causes them to stick. So Yes, you're supposed to rinse them first.


Preheating Onida convection microwave oven

I assume you are using one of Onida's "convection" microwave oven.

Here is a link that describe how to pre-heat your oven.

http://foodomania.com/setting-oven-temperature/

In summary: Select the "bake" option. Hit Enter/start once, then choose the temperature. Hit it once again, which will let you select the time. For preheating, leave it at 0:00. Hit start/enter again. When your oven beeps, it has reached the temperature. Hit Stop and bake.


Is induction cooktop supposed to heat with pauses?

It is normal for an induction burner to power cycle. I don't know about your brand specifically.


Yeah, how about biscuit dough? That's a common way to do a quick and easy chicken pot pie. It might be a little tricky to actually enclose the curry in the biscuit dough, but it should be doable.

For reference, here are a couple of "pot pie" recipes that use biscuit dough on top of the filling:

Add a Pinch (from scratch)

Bisquick (Using Bisquick brand) Chicken Pot Pie)

I specifically included the Bisquick recipe, because they have a thing they call "impossibly easy" pies. That is a way to use the product that is very much like enclosing a curry or stew in a pie, but really isn't. I don't know if you live in a part of the world where you can get Bisquick (Jiffy is another brand). Check out these recipes:

Impossibly Easy Pies

EDIT: Here's a recipe for making "Bisquick"

Conveniently, just after posting this answer, Cook's Country (America's Test Kitchen's sister show) aired an episode with their version of an "impossibly easy" pie. Instead of using Bisquick, which is made of flour, baking powder, salt and shortening; they used half-and-half and melted butter for the fat in the batter. Their recipe calls for 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1 cup half-and-half, 1/4 tsp salt, 4 eggs and 2 TBS melted butter for the batter in their "Impossibly Easy Ham and Cheese Pie"(sorry, paywalled) which doesn't have a wet stew or curry filling, it's just ham and cheese. The whole pie is quiche-like. It's not a pastry or dough, it's a batter, but it does show a way to use flour in a recipe that would often call for Bisquick.

EDIT 1/25/15:

I just came across this, which IS enclosing a saucy, stew-like product in biscuits. This uses refrigerator dough biscuits, but homemade would be just the same:

Pillsbury Unsloppy Joes

The relevent instructions are:

Heat oven to 375° F.

Press each biscuit into 6-inch round (a Grands biscuit is 58 grams).

Spoon 1/3 cup meat mixture onto center of each round. Fold dough in half over filling; press to seal.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 9 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.


Captured longer ago or not, should not make a difference. When you buy mussels, they are still alive. You can check this by trying to open one. Normally, this isn't an easy task. (Sometimes, their shells can open/close when opening the package in which they came in.)

The left hand mussel doesn't look tasty, but there really is nothing wrong with it. It's just a smaller size mussel. If you buy bigger mussels (e.g. Jumbo), you shouldn't have many of those in it.

As for the colour: a lot of people think this is a matter of sex. Males are white, females are orange. However, this isn't true. The difference in colour is a genetic one, it's the quantity of pigment a specific mussel has. The difference in colour doesn't make a difference in taste or texture.

Shortly: that mussel on the left hand side is okay to eat.


Cooking grains in soup is an effective way to thicken it, but quinoa is probably not the best choice. Quinoa has saponin in it, a bitter tasting phytochemical which has been known to irritate the stomach. Much of the quinoa sold has been presoaked to get rid of much of the saponin, but some may remain which is why you boil it separately and discard the water. If you put quinoa in the soup any traces of saponin could ruin or at least add off flavors to the dish.

Rice or barley would be my first choice for that sort of thickening, they take longer but they don't impart much flavor to the food. Couscous is faster, but would give the soup a grainy texture. Giant couscous may work okay, I've never tried it in a soup myself.


What type of beer is best for beer battered fish?

The primary use of beer in a beer batter is its alcohol, which disrupts gluten formation and needs less heat than water to evaporate, improving the texture of the final crust. For flavor, most recipes using beer do best with a malty, low-bitterness beer, like a marzen, scotch ale, or (maybe) amber ale. Highly-hopped "put hair on your chest" IPAs are a bad idea: you don't want that bitterness. Hefeweizen would be fine.

A couple of commenters mentioned the carbonation as being an important factor. I suspect that it isn't. The volume of gas generated by evaporating the water in the beer will dwarf the amount of CO2 being released, even in the most highly carbonated of beers.


As you probably know, induction burners produce an alternating magnetic field that induces a current in the cookware. This process can produce attractive and repulsive forces as well that cause vibrations.

The problem can be caused not only by poor sandwiched construction but by an uneven bottom surface, or loose parts or lids.

I have read that some people have successfully used silicon baking pads to dampen the sound.

This page has some useful information on the subject:

http://theinductionsite.com/proandcon.shtml


home made cough sweets didn't set properly

you need a Candy thermometer. Sugar needs to be heated to the soft or hard crack temps in order to set as desired. If the sugar does reach the needed temp, then it won't do what you wanted. Hard crack makes hard candies, soft crack makes softer but firm candies.


Is Italian style gelato achievable with standard home ice cream makers and home freezers?

Since you say French-style ice cream works fine, but the gelato is freezing rock hard, I suspect the problem may simply be the serving temperature. Gelato needs to be served at a warmer temperature than ice cream. Unfortunately the temperatures I've found are pretty variable (some say 5F, some say 10-20F), but everyone consistently says gelato needs a higher temperature than ice cream.

So just try taking it out of the freezer 15 minutes before you want to serve.

If you don't want to do that, then actual gelato recipes probably won't work well, and you'll have to modify them. You can try some of the usual tricks for softening ice cream: add alcohol, sugar, fat, or additives like guar gum or xanthan gum. But keep in mind that they may cause you to stray a bit from the original gelato flavor or texture!


Green tea contains caffeine naturally. Here is a reference for general amounts in beverages Mayoclinic Nutrition. As Memj said, Decaf products are generally labeled as such.

From the Pickwick.nl using Google translate:

  Have you ever heard of theine? That's just another name for caffeine
  in black, green and white tea. But how much caffeine now actually
  contains a cup of tea? A cup of black tea contains approximately 30 mg
  of caffeine. At an average cup of coffee is 85 mg. Rather a time no
  caffeine? Choose one or Rooibos herbal blend.

It's not specific for their green tea, but does say to choose herbal blends if you don't want caffeine.


I discussed a similar subject in this question: What exactly is "Sushi Grade" fish?

Raw fish isn't safe to eat if it's just been sitting around.  However, the raw fish used in sushi/sashimi has been frozen (typically flash-frozen) in order to kill any parasites, making it as safe as any other food.

Most distributors of sashimi also have their own methods and internal regulations to ensure food safety, but specifics are understandably hard to come by.  Suffice it to say, it's far safer to eat properly-prepared nigiri or sashimi than it is to eat an undercooked hamburger.


Low quality chocolate chips often have additives in them that help them keep shape and shelf life, that's why they're not recommended.  Callebaut callets are pure 100% chocolate according to Callebaut.  I'd use them anywhere for bar or chips with great results.  They might not come out of the oven looking exactly like a traditional chocolate chip cookie (for example) but they should taste fantastic!


how to freeze individual chicken pot pies

Alternate suggestion:

When making food for others, often I like to purchase a bunch of disposable foil containers. I prepare the meals right in them, and that way I don't need to worry about my own dishes entering the picture and neither do they. I pick a size that is enough for their household times two (some people find it easier to have a few days of food and just reheat it the next day). This works well, for pies, lasagnas, other casseroles. Of course this depends on your own budget, but if you look around these are pretty cheap. I get the local no name or store brand for this purpose...


What hot cereals can I cook by just adding hot water?

If you try regular oats and like them, then you might try flaked/rolled barley, if you can find it.

If you have refrigeration at work (or just bring in one-day's worth each morning), you could also add wheat germ (I can't imagine having a bowl-ful of it, but adding some to your oats would change them up.)

Wheetabix or shredded wheat can also be prepared with boiling water for a hot cereal.

Late recall - "Grape Nuts®" is another one that can be done hot, even if it normally isn't.


Why is garam masala in many curry paste/powder recipes?

It sounds like you're assuming that recipes are scientific creations carefully engineered to achieve a precise result. But most "recipes" are an attempt to relay a rather imprecise series of steps based on available ingredients, familiarity, superstition, and habit in a way that is approximately reproducible by someone else.

Even within the bounds of attempted precision, most cooks execute the instructions slightly differently because their experiences of what works and what doesn't work is different, their skills vary, and because they interpret the instructions differently due to language ambiguity.

Imagine you're a cook who grew up cooking Indian food based on how your mom or dad cooked. When she says "we're having brinjals" or "we're making channa masala", that creates a picture in your mind of how the dish is supposed to taste. When you see mom grab a handful of garam masala, it's because she knows roughly what it will taste like, and tweaks the seasoning a bit based on her perception that dish X benefits from more cloves and dish Y benefits from more coriander seeds. Now you decide to write down the recipe so that you can reproduce it in case you forget the details. You are not going to send the garam masala off to the lab to analyze what ratio each spice is present in there. Garam masala is just the "spicy blend" and "biriyani masala" is just the blend of sweet spices you use as the foundation for a seasoned rice dish, and chaat masala is the starting point for things you put on fruit or snacks. You don't need a deeper level of detail, because that's what you've always used.

Then you go to work in a different region, and you find out that the typical garam masala sold by the spice vendors is completely different; this one has a ton of cloves and a lot less cumin. You react one of two ways: "Oh, I should add more of X to compensate", or "Well, it's close enough."

In your mind, the function of the garam masala is to provide a starting foundation so you don't have to give as much thought. It has the base notes you expect in a wide range of dishes; when the dish benefits from some other spice, you add a little of that.

This is how most of the world cooks. We don't necessarily start with a recipe and get a dish; we start with a dish and then someone asks us for a recipe, and we furiously attempt to write down the details of what we do the next time we make it, probably changing the dish in the process in our attempt to achieve some form of measurability and apparent precision. Why 1/4 tsp exactly? Well, that was the unit of measure I had handy when I decided I needed "a little of this."

And this is also why it doesn't matter so much. You assume there's some ideal; in practice, there is no ideal, there's just what you're used to. Basic technique often makes a bigger difference in the quality of the dish than variations in the exact ratio of the spices. Toast your fenugreek, but don't burn it. Sautee onions until they're tender. Simmer, but don't overcook. These kinds of steps matter more than whether your garam masala has a 1 part cumin or 2 parts cumin.

There's another factor, too. One of my Indian cookbooks actually does contain a canonical ratio of garam masala and a few other spice blends based on what the author expects; you can use hers, or just buy pre-blended ones, and you'll still get pretty good results. But if you are a cookbook author and every recipe contains a list of 3 ingredients plus a list of 15 spices, 12 of which are present in your usual garam masala, you'll get the opposite complaint that you're presenting: "Hey, this is too many ingredients for a weeknight meal. What is the author thinking? That we're all professional chefs or housewives with hours of free time?"

There are at least three very different segments in the world of recipe consumers. One is the person who attempts to follow the recipe with slavish precision, regardless of how complex, because they think that will give them the best result. Another is the person who will look at a recipe and say, "Huh, spicy tomato soup with shrimp. Oh, this combination sounds good. Except I hate tomatoes, so I'm going to use a white sauce as the base. And I have no shrimp, so I'll just use some clams I've got in the fridge. Oh, I don't like fenugreek very much, so I'll drop that and add some more cumin." The third is the mass consumer of recipes who doesn't actually like cooking very much, and they just want to add a little variety to their weeknight dinner routine and don't care about authenticity, precision, or detail, and they just want something a little new to them that they can put together in spite of poor knife skills, inability to understand complex directions, and so on. Nearly every recipe is a set of compromises designed to address the concerns of at least two of those constituencies.


Do percentages on ingredient lists of cookies refer to pre- or post-baking weight?

This is on the list of ingredients, so it is the pre-cooked formula weight, to demonstrate to the buyer just how much chocolate chunks to expect. Post cooking, the chocolate has changed, as have the other ingredients.

The ingredients also list:

  Raising Agents: Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Disodium Diphosphate,

These are NOT present in this form in the baked product. They have chemically reacted. The ingredient list is what is used to MAKE the product, not what is left after. That is for the nutritional information.

So, unless this is a US/UK thing, the FDA labeling requirements are clear on the difference between ingredient list and Nutritional information. This is basically (before/ after)

FDA labeling guidelines

This is not unlike ground beef that is customarily sold in the US as 10% fat (very lean) to 20-25% fat (high fat) This is a pre-cooked percentage.

The maker would be hard pressed to do post-baking analysis on the finished biscwit for actual chocolate percentage. Analysis is done for fat, sugar, etc... based on calorimetry and other chemical analysis methods, but cannot determine chocolate percentage after cooking.


Having made the same mistake I will try and answer best I can.

Use to melt chocolate in a steam jacked copper pot. With a mechanical stirrer, witch stirred a 1 rev a second. It happened once that the chocolate seamed to created a layer of oil on top. I then saw a fault on the steam pot valve that to much steam came trough so making the chocolate too hot.

Would not say its the way you stirred but just too much heat. Chocolate should only be heated up until it melts, and all your ingredients are properly mixed. So to fix it? Add one  tea spoon of lecithin. and boil again. That's what I tried and it worked.


Citrus juice is probably the most widely available substitute.  However, if you can get your hands on some Verjus (or Verjuice) you will be pleasantly surprised.

Verjus is the juice of pressed green grapes.  It is similar to wine but the grapes haven't had a chance to ripen and there isn't any alcohol.  It has a much more neutral flavor than lemon juice.  It can be difficult to find though.  I buy mine at a local vineyard.  You may be able to find some online.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verjuice


What is a mealy tomato, and how would one use one?

Yup, tomatoes can most definitely be a bit grainy. It's not a hard graininess like sand, but a softer graininess. The best comparisons that come to mind are hydrated but uncooked cornmeal or slightly wet breadcrumbs. Instead of being juicy and smooth (whether firm or soft), you'll notice a bit of small texture. It'll probably also be less juicy, and the flavor may not be as fresh and full as you'd like. If you've never had one, awesome - you've had good tomatoes!

It's also a common texture in some varieties of apples, especially when not too fresh. It's especially noticeable there; instead of a crisp crunch as you bite through it'll feel a little crumbly.

They'd be all right for things where you're going to cook them thoroughly so you won't notice the texture, like spaghetti sauce, though again the flavor may suffer as well. For anything remotely fresh, they're still edible, just noticeably not as good.


Separated, grainy ganache (Dark and Stormies from Grewelings's book)

I don't know the details of this particular recipe, so you'll have to excuse me if this comes across as a bit of a shot in the dark, but here are a few things that could have gone wrong:

Grainy chocolate is usually a sign of seizing.  White chocolate still contains cocoa butter and can still seize.  Therefore it's important not to let any liquid touch the melting chocolate and to not let the temperature get too high.
130-140° F is definitely way too high.  White chocolate will normally burn or seize at temperatures higher than around 110° F.  You mentioned that the second time you used the right temperature, but it's worth pointing out anyway: Be very careful with the temperature, don't use direct heat preferably, use a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl placed over a steaming pot, and stir frequently to keep the temperature even.
Don't dump hot cream into the chocolate.  It's strange that almost every recipe tells you to do this; water causes melted chocolate to seize, period.  The only way to avoid this is to use a very large amount of liquid for a very small amount of chocolate, so what you have to do is go the other way; incorporate the chocolate into the cream, a small amount at a time.  This is especially important with tempered chocolate because you've essentially raised the melting point!
Also be careful not to let any water get into the chocolate as it's melting; use dry utensils and make sure you don't have any steam condensing over top (use a large bowl over a small pot if you don't have a double boiler).
Finally, as Joe commented, make sure you're using the right kind of white chocolate.  I've never seen baker's white chocolate, so when I need white chocolate for melting I generally use the white chocolate chips.  If yours didn't burn at temperatures as high as 130° F then you might have been using coating chocolate instead.

Follow all those precautions and you should end up with a very smooth mixture.  I've done this for ganaches and even foams and it's never a problem if you're careful about both the temperature and moisture.


Is tea that has been out on air for long dangerous to drink?

As long as you haven't added something that will dramatically increase the spoilage time (milk, or sugar), it should follow roughly the same rules as coffee. Most citations I've seen say the taste begins to go off at around 8 hours, which is a good indicator of spoilage. It's going to taste yucky if you forget and leave the teabag in it as well, but that's just over-steeping.


for how long can I store homemade chocolate mousse in the fridge?

In the UK, anything longer than 3 days from production is generally deemed risky and unsaleable for commercial purposes.
For home use, if you're fridge is at the warm end of the scale /5°c 3-5 days sounds about right to me. If it's a cold fridge /2or3°c you can add a day or two onto that range. This is a slightly higher risk approach than in a commercial setting though.


Do I need to bake my pre-made pie crust?

The pie crust is ready to use.  There is nothing in a graham cracker crust that requires baking, although a little toasting gives some color and deeper flavor.

If you are putting in a filling that will not be baked (a refrigerator pie), you might choose to "blind bake" (bake without filling) the crust for a few minutes to give it more color and flavor, but it is not required.

If your filling will require baking, there is little reason to bake the crust separately.


Anyone know of any completely flavorless syrups?

A syrup is by definition a thick sweet liquid made using sugar. If you are looking to make a thick savory liquid, perhaps you want to look into thickening agents. Starches and plant-based gums are the most common thickening agents. Some examples include:

Starches: arrowroot, cornstarch, potato starch, tapioca
Plant-base gums: guar gum, xanthum gum, alginin

Each of these will have its own unique qualities so you might want to research further into which meets your need best.

The two thickener that will most likely result in a clear, "smooth" thickness that is slightly similar to a syrup would be likely gelatin or pectin. However both of these will be much thicker at cooler temperatures. So depending on your application you will need to alter the concentration. Meaning, if your savory liquid is suppose to be consumed at room temperature or cooler, make sure not to added too much of gelatin or pectin. Try to test the thickness of your savory solution by taking a small sample aside and chilling it to room temperature.


What is the effect of the fat content of milk when making cottage cheese

Not having made cottage cheese before, I'm unsure of what effect it has on the quantity produced. However, I do know that it has a significant effect on the flavor of the finished product. Just like skim milk tastes blander than whole milk, the same applies to cheese. When you buy non/low-fat cottage cheese in the supermarket you'll notice they add sugar to prevent it from tasting like runny mashed styrofoam.

Update - I sent some emails out to a few food science professors regarding the role of fat in cheese yield, and got a response from Art Hill, Professor and Chair, Department of Food Science, University of Guelph.

Fat is a principal yield component in cheese. Fat is trapped in the casein protein matrix during cheese making. Thus the mass of the fat contributes to the cheese yield. However, lower fat cheese often contains more water so yield loss is partially compensated by increased water retention.

I did some additional research and found that many cheeses have strict MNFS (moisture in the non-fat substance, calculated by subtracting the fat and expressing the moisture as a percentage of what is left) limits in which they can legally be called whatever they claim to be. Take Cheddar for example, the highest moisture, lowest fat cheese that can legally be called Cheddar 56.12% MNFS. To limit the moisture content of low-fat cheddar at less than a 1/3 fat reduction, fat substitutes are used. These can include protein based beads designed to mimic fat globules, and starches.

Sources:

http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/cheese/sectione.htm#yieldefficiency
http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/cheese/sectiong.htm
http://www.cheesereporter.com/Neville/neville.july.27.htm


Making Southern style chicken in the oven

Try raising the chicken above the roasting pan, with something like a grill grate or roasting rack. Having air flow to the bottom of the chicken pieces will help crisp up the batter on that surface, and the surface area of anything that can stick to your chicken will be limited as well. You will also want to use very high heat (~450F) when cooking, so that the batter will get to the proper texture.


How can non-hydrogenated shortening exist?

Most vegetable oils are predominantly some type of unsaturated fatty acid - that is, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. This type of fatty acid is a liquid at room temperature ("oil"). On the other hand, saturated fat is a solid at room temperature, which is easily demonstrated with butter or animal fat (lard) - which are primarily what vegetable shortening is supposed to substitute for.

Wikipedia has a breakdown of the various types of oils and the proportions of fat types. What's important to note is that while the majority of oils have little to no saturated fat, palm oil in particular is approximately on par with butter, and coconut oil is actually higher than margarine (the most common hydrogenated vegetable oil product).

In fact I've actually never heard of "coconut [oil] shortening" - the idea baffles me because coconut oil is already quite solid at room temperature. It doesn't need to be processed any further to be used as a substitute for butter or vegetable shortening. It's not quite so simple with palm oil though, and there is a "palm shortening" which is different from palm oil.

Hydrogenation is, in a nutshell, converting unsaturated fat to saturated fat by adding hydrogen. Most of the time the hydrogenation is not 100% complete which also leaves trans fats. Palm oil isn't quite as solid as coconut oil so it does need processing in order to be used as a shortening, but hydrogenation is not required; all that needs to be done is to separate the saturated (solid / stearin) fats from the unsaturated (liquid / olein) fats. This is done through crystallization, which is completely different from hydrogenation.

Some companies may indeed also put the coconut or palm oil products through an emulsification process to add volume or make it easier to work with, but that is entirely incidental; these products are made solid due to the very high amount of pre-existing saturated fat and the removal of all or most of the unsaturated fat.

To sum it all up, it's not hydrogenation that makes fat solid at room temperature, it's saturation (of hydrogen atoms), and hydrogenation just happens to be one way to achieve saturation. For products already containing plenty of saturated fat, hydrogenation would be redundant.


Different ways of making the gravy in butter chicken.. which is better?

Your question is not totally clearly phrased, but basically you seem to be talking about three things:

frying onions
frying tomatoes
toasting spices

Separately spices can either be dry roasted or oil roasted.
The interesting thing about oil is that a lot of compounds from spices are considered fat soluble. There is a longer discussion here: https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/07/indian-spices-101-benefits-frying-spices.html
but essentially frying spices in oil dissolves those compounds in the oil, and this oil will then form part of the dish. If you dry roasted then obviously this would not happen
There is a 455 page treatise on the Chemistry of spices here https://catbull.com/alamut/Bibliothek/Chemistry_of_Spices.pdf from the Indian Institute of Spices Research in Kerala.
For example nearly all of the volatiles in coriander are monoterpenes which are very poorly soluble in water. This is why perfume is generally made from an alcohol base. Here fat (oil) is the base.
If you dry toasted it's likely that the release of moisture from the spices would affect the flavour profile differently.
For ginger, specifically:
"Ginger owes its characteristic organoleptic properties to two classes of constituents: the odour and the flavour of ginger are determined by the constituents of its steam- volatile oil, while the pungency is determined by non-steam-volatile components, known as the gingerols. The steam-volatile oil comprises mainly of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, monoterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated monoterpenes"
Gingerols are flavour compounds themselves, and are converted into zingerone, shogaols and some remain as gingerols. Gingerols are the spiciest, then shogaols, and zingerone is considered sweet.
This study found:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316827626_Changes_in_6-Gingerol_Concentration_in_Ginger_under_Various_Types_of_Cooking_Conditions
"The ratio of 6-gingerol to 6-shogaol concentration in raw ginger was 98:2. After boiling and steaming for 60 minutes, the concentration of 6-shogaol increased by more than 3 times; this difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). However, it was also confirmed that a sufficiently high amount of the 6-gingerol in ginger was retained after boiling (93:7), steaming (92:8) and stir-frying (97:3)"
It would seem that frying ginger first would result in a different flavour profile to if it was cooked in a curry base which would not exceed 100C (boiling temperature of water).
As far as tomatoes go, they contain a lot of water. This means that if you add them first, then you are no longer getting the high heat oil based reactions with the spices. So probably if you want to fry spices it's best to do them separately.
Frying tomatoes and onions is mostly about the Maillard reaction:

Frying tomatoes releases more of these flavours than boiling would.
For onions, there is a study here:
https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13411-015-0034-0
comparing three techniques - sué ('sweating'), sautéeing, and pan frying.
*Sué onion preparation: 30 g of sunflower oil were added to a saucepan heated to 100 °C and 1 kg of onions was then added. The onions were regularly stirred for 25 min. Cooking was stopped when the onions were translucent.
Sautéed onion preparation: 30 g of sunflower oil was heated to 155 °C in a pan. Then, 1 kg of onions was added and was evenly sautéed for 10 min. Cooking was stopped when onions had a homogeneous caramelized appearance.
Pan-fried onion preparation: 30 g of sunflower oil was heated to 130 °C in a pan. Then, 500 g of onions were added and were evenly sautéed for 18 min. Cooking was stopped when onions had a shiny appearance and some of them were burnt.*
There were very significant differences with the pan-fried onions:
https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13411-015-0034-0/tables/3
Much higher levels of:

2-Methylpropanal (spicy) was found compared to the saute (present), and the sweated (absent)
Various sulphurous compounds - much higher in the saute
3-Methylbutanal (malty/animal feet) - absent from the sweated, present in the other
2,3-Pentanedione (buttery) - only in the saute
Caramel flavours - higher in the saute and the pan fried

This is only for different methods of frying. It seems likely that the further process of cooking the curry would tend to break down the spicy and sulphur flavours that are left behind after a saute, so the difference would be less than this presents, but it should still be present - a long slow cook of the onions will make them taste seeetest. On the other hand flavours introduced by first browning the onion would be more durable
So I would fry spices first in oil, keep the oil as a minimum. Whether you want toasted onion flavours in your butter chicken seems like it would be a matter of taste, but cooking them long and slow will give them sweetest taste. For tomatoes frying will add flavour compared to boiling, though baking adds even more flavour.


Moong dal has a characteristic odour that concentrates over the time in a closed container (like Tupperware). So you are good. Just make sure that the dal is not stuck in clusters, has changed colour or has developed mold. In which case you will have to discard it.


What types of food are safe for short-term room-temperature storage?

Pie is a good example: fruit pie tends to keep for a good while at room temperature. I have found many sites which stridently claim this not to be the case, and many grocery stores that leave their bakery pies at room temp for about three days (even psycho Mrs. Cookwell says 2 days is fine). I'm siding with the grocery stores. Nut pies tend to last longer still, because they're drier: the presence of dairy and eggs is counteracted by the higher concentration of sugar.

Likewise cake, though it can vary depending on your frosting...The more things besides fat and sugar in your frosting, the more it needs to be refrigerated. In most cases cake will stay edible longer than you'd want to eat it. Again, grocery stores only bother to refrigerate decorated cakes, or ones with cream cheese icing.

Most store bought condiments are fine at room temperature. Obviously not mayonnaise, or anything creamy, but ketchup, mustard, A-1, worstershire...They last a good long time unrefrigerated. Likewise soy sauce, fish sauce, and some of the more popular asian condiments.

I've never seen a pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco) that needs refrigeration, and they'll last for years, though the color starts going off after a while.

There is no bacterial risk to leaving fruits and vegetables out, but this will dramatically increase the rate of spoilage. The exceptions are root vegetables, and bananas. Root vegetables will last a long time in a cool dark place, so just lump 'em in your garage if you're not going to eat them in the next week or two. And bananas will go south at the same rate regardless (though you can freeze them for future banana bread).

Fresh eggs (like, straight from the chicken) will last a couple of weeks without refrigeration (make sure they're not fertilized, or you may wake up to find baby chickens in your kitchen). The rule of thumb is "Every day unrefrigerated is like 5 days refrigerated." Once eggs are cracked, you should use them immediately.

I'd trust store bought eggs left out on the counter to eat, though its not good to let refrigerated eggs get warm again. Eggs have a wide array of natural antimicrobial tendencies, though the processing store bought eggs go through removes some of this. (citation). An easy way to test for internal contamination is to see if the egg floats in water. If it floats, toss it.

Bacon grease keeps a long time unrefrigerated, as does any sort of fat really, as long as it's strained and filtered. With fats you're more worried about them going rancid, which is a function of light and air (its a type of oxidation), so store your fat in a dark place, in a sealed container. (citation)

Butter can last several days unrefrigerated (it should be covered). I'd say as much as a week, but I have no way of knowing because it never lasts that long. It's much more likely to oxidize (see above) and go rancid than to pick up a significant bacterial colony.


Will steaming fish cause salt to come out or cause fish to fry in its own fat?

Salt moves due to differences in concentration, from regions of high concentration to regions of low concentration. So, when you boil brined fish, you surround the salty flesh with low salt concentration liquid, and thus the salt moves out to equalize the concentrations.

Steaming the fish will not result in as much movement of salt, because steaming applies less total liquid to the surface of the fish. Steaming works because the very hot steam condenses onto the cooler food, and by condensing it liberates heat (which transfers to the food). However, you still will have some movement of salt because the condensed steam on the surface of the fish remains at a lower salt concentration.

Also, steaming is much gentler on the fish, since the meat is not being constantly agitated by boiling water. With less agitation comes less leaching.

Grilling is the transfer of heat from pan to food, or from direct heat source to food. The temperatures are typically much higher than for steaming (steam is at 212F, 100C), so you get entirely different chemical effects from the process (e.g., caramelization). Therefore, I doubt the fish would "fry" in its own oil in the case of steaming.

If you're concerned about maintaining the salinity of your brined fish, you could consider steaming it en Papillote, or even in foil. This would result in the fish cooking in its own moisture, essentially eliminating the leaching of salt (although some salt would move to the surface, carried by the water).


How to season my tagine if my oven doesn't have setting for the temperature the instructions call for?

Ask a good friend, neighbor or nearby relative with a real or proper oven, if you can use theirs for the short period of time required to accomplish this task.

Make them a nice, flavorful dish and carry it over as a Thank-you gift after you are done.


how can I tell if my pots and pans are ferrous?

If a magnet sticks to it, it's ferrous.

I'd like to give a more elaborate answer, but there isn't anything more to it.


It's just decorative, in a bit of an extravagant way. The leaf is so thin that you can't really tell it's there when you eat it; you're not really eating much metal. That's also why it's not that expensive - for example I see 25 sheets for $49 on Amazon. Not cheap, but if someone uses one $2 sheet for a few dozen truffles sold for a dollar each, it doesn't seem quite as crazy anymore.

It's also not actually that new an idea. For example, kaju barfi, a traditional Indian dessert, is commonly decorated with silver leaf. See Google image search for pictures - it does actually look pretty cool.


How can I tell if my chocolate is tempered?

If it has a shiny/reflective surface and doesn't melt or bloom (much) at room temperature or hand temperature, then it's already tempered. Virtually every packaged chocolate is already tempered.

Untempered chocolate generally needs to be refrigerated for longer-term storage, so if a package doesn't specify refrigeration (and I've never seen one that does), you can assume that it is tempered.


Can't Get That Grilled Cheese Done Right

Prepare your sandwich [buttered/dry - cheese - dry/buttered] and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on the grill (or directly on the coals), turning to toast on both sides of the bread. Timing is going to be a trial and error lesson. My thought is 2-4 minutes per side, but this will be largely dependant on the heat of the coals.


May depend on the temp. of your fridge, but when I have stored a brand new (i.e. unused) bottle of peanut oil in my fridge, it has gotten cloudy and thick, especially when the level in the bottle goes a little below full. When I wanted to use it and took the bottle out of the fridge, it "thawed out" as soon as it got warm, and looked & acted just like when I bought it.

Canola oil does not behave this way for me. So this might just be a property of peanut oil when it gets cold. Does your left over oil thaw out & look clear when you let it get to room temp.?

On the other hand if you have used it to cook fish, I imagine it will still have at least a slight fishy taste even if it is strained out perfectly. Maybe best not to use it for fine delicately flavored dessert items anyway.


Is "vanilla extract" the same as "pure vanilla extract"?

Vanilla extract and pure vanilla extract mean the same thing. Artificially flavored vanilla extract is also used the same way, with the same measurements.


I haven't tried that, but in theory, a standard custard should be capable of rebaking. However, it will be a tricky matter, much trickier than the first baking.

For example, the temperature at which certain proteins in the egg coagulate depends on the speed at which the egg is heated. As a side effect, it is much harder to get a good custard starting with fridge-cold eggs than with room-warm eggs. Bringing the flan to room temperature first would not be safe (and no, reheating won't make it safe again). Second, they undergo changes not only during heating, but also during the subsequent cooling, and this may interfere a bit (I am conjecturing here - maybe it won't cause problems, but it is possible that it will). As a result, you will have a much narrower window between not-yet-ready and curdled. If the recipe contains acid, it will be even more problematic. High sugar levels will alleviate the problem a bit. What is even worse is that we are talking oven custard here, where you have much less control than on stovetop.

If I were in your situation, I would consider the experiment worth doing. I would be extra careful (water bath and bake by temperature, probably aiming at 83 celsius, less if the custard is thick). If you are inexperienced with custards and don't have a thermometer, it may not be worth the risk for you, after all a semiliquid custard is tastier than a curdled custard. But if you do it, don't forget to tell us how it went, as I am curious.

The above assumes a pure custard (egg yolk, dairy, sugar, taste modifiers or fillers). If you also used starch or flour, then it is too late to save it. This type of custard needs to be heated to very high temperatures (above 96 celsius) before an enzyme in the egg yolk converts the starch to goo. No sense in rebaking, but it can be reused.

If you decide not to rebake, there are countless applications for a thick-but-not-firm custard. If you don't want to consume it pure (and this is a viable option - sometimes it is made on purpose, as in vla), use it as a substitute in any recipe calling for creme angalise. You can dilute it with small amounts of cream if the recipe needs a more pourable consistency. If you decide to dilute, do it in small steps. You can also use it instead of creme patisserie, but without dilution.


Copper saute pan metal lining is melting?

You overheated it, tin melts at 450 F . It may have a few per-cent of other metals in the tin that would raise the melt temperature slightly.It should be fine now except if the surface is now rough ,it will be difficult to clean. The tin can be remelted and smoothed. Unfortunately that requires some skill/experience. I have retinned at least one, I added some pure tin (not commonly available- no solder is pure tin.). I managed to get an OK result, not as good as the original very smooth surface.


An update: the things I were the most confident with (my probiotic and my yogurt maker) were the ones malfunctioning. I was successful making yogurt with lactose free milk and homemade coconut milk using store bought lactose free yogurt as starter and a yogurt nest (basically a thermal bag made of fabric and cork). As for the almond milk I believe removing the peels will solve the problem. I've made 3 batches so far. Super happy!


I had the same problem before, but I learned this great trick from Larousse:

Try sprinkling slices of your eggplant with plenty of salt on both sides and let rest for about fifteen minutes. The salt will draw out a lot of water from the vegetable, making it less spongy.

Then, dry off the slices before adding them to very hot oil in a frying pan. The hot oil should help make a nice sear, sealing off the eggplant, so it doesn't soak up anymore oil. If you need to, turn down the heat after the eggplant is browned to let it finish cooking.


Storage of Pickle Brine (Without Cucumbers)

As the brine is the preserving agent (due to the acidity, even in a sweet pickle), not having the cucumber in the jar will not reduce its shelf life.

The brine should easily last six months (and probably much more) in refrigerator.


In uk, can I buy fresh fish directly off the boat?

Brixham is a traditional fishing port in Devon.  Their fish market is a (mainly) wholesale operation but lists local sellers, one of which is the actual boat selling at the quayside (the link on that page is broken).  Unfortunately for you, even if you're within essential travel range of Devon at the moment the boat appears to be undergoing a refit.
This does demonstrate that it's possible/legal, even if you're nowhere near Brixham.
It's rare though.  There's a directory of "direct" sales (their word), some of which might be of interest (e.g. see what's been caught, have it prepared and delivered).


Variety-wise there are many beet types, I have grown a few and I've found that red beet varieties have earthier flavors rather than golden ones. Larger beets of the same variety tend to be less sweet and more earthy than smaller ones.  I'm not going to weigh in anymore on varieties as I simply don't know, the gardening stackexchange site might be a better place for that question.

Cooking-wise if you want an earthy flavor then I'd suggest baking the beets as opposed to steaming them (don't boil them, ever) as the dry oven will help concentrate their flavor. Leave the skin on, then peel them once the cooking process is done. It isn't going to make a massive difference, but it should be noticeable depending on the variety.


Can I add fresh minced garlic to a jar of Huy Fong chili paste without risking botulism?

According to WHO
"botulinum will not grow in acidic conditions (pH less than 4.6), and therefore the toxin will not be formed in acidic foods (however, a low pH will not degrade any pre-formed toxin)."
Paste is probably acidic enough on it's own to kill any introduced botulinum from the garlic -reasonable quantity added-
To be extra sure, I would sprinkle mince garlic with a pinch of vit C or equivalent acid (and a pinch of salt to draw out flavor) before mixing.
Heat also sterlizes:
"Despite its extreme potency, botulinum toxin is easily destroyed. Heating to an internal temperature of 85°C for at least 5 minutes will decontaminate affected food or drink."


Sous vide meat without seasoning - strong flavor

The beer cooler hack is not ideal for meat. The issue is the cooking time. I don't find Sous Vide to be particularly good for meats with low fat content that require short cooking time. The meat comes out perfectly cooked, which is nice (i.e. a steak medium rare from edge to edge), but you don't get any real wow factor from the flavor or texture. Where meats start to get really interesting, in my opinion, is long cook times. Tougher cuts of meat that require longer cooking (short ribs, flank steak, ribs, roasts) come out meltingly tender with all the lovely meaty flavor of the cut and you can cook them medium rare. These take 12-24 hours though, and I don't think the beer cooler hack would work for that (at least not without a lot of tending).

However, the beer cooler hack should work very well for seafood, which has much shorter cooking times. Here the temperature control and the vacuum sealing is what really makes a difference. You can get some wonderfully novel textures out of seafood and very subtle complex tastes without anything being "fishy". I'd recommend you try one of the following:

Salmon Mi-Cuit - cook salmon at 113F / 45C for about 35 minutes. This is delicious. Somewhere between sashimi and cooked, great texture and a fantastic flavor.
Lobster - cook the tail meat (no shell) at 140F / 60C for 15 - 20 minutes. Do not let this one go long. The lobster will turn to mush and gets disgusting.
Halibut - cook at 140F / 60C for about 35 minutes. Great texture and flavor. Very moist. Essentially "perfectly cooked" fish.

Note that the first two do not reach pasteurization levels. You should use sushi grade fish and not serve to anyone who is immune compromised.

You could also try chicken breasts. I know a couple of people who rave about chicken because of how moist it comes out, but I've never had much luck with it (the few times I've tried).


Is it possible to use puree in a siphon whip?

Yes you can; you can do both sweet and savory foams.
I never did it (I don't have a siphon), but from what I can feel when eating foam/espuma is that the input purée needs to be quite fine; blend/purée and then pass through a fine mesh sieve.
Just google "foam espuma recipe" and you will find a lot of recipes.


Brand new KitchenAid Professional 6500 makes clicking/ticking noise when under load

I suspect that one of two things is happening:

The gears aren't aligned correctly, and they're far enough apart that the teeth are just barely touching, so under load, they start slip rather than mesh up correctly.

The sacrificial gear is failing.  Basically, there's a gear that's designed to break rather than have forces get transmitted back to the motor and cause damage that can't easily be fixed.

The first one is obviously a problem.  I don't really see this happening unless it was dropped at some point.  If you saw damage to the box, or the packaging inside the box, it's possible this is the case.
The second one is specifically designed to happen, although I wouldn't expect it to fail this quickly.  It's also designed to be repaired relatively easily.  I would recommend contacting the manufacturer, especially if you can easily reproduce the sound.
Note : I know that when repairing a friend's Kitchen Aid, I got a pair of special pliers to remove some retaining rings ... I can't remember if the sacrificial gear could be removed without it ... but there's also been a whole lot of variants of the Kitchen Aid mixers through the years that look nearly identical, but are different internally.


Can you eat the seeds of Tamarind if you roast them or boil them?

They're certainly edible, but you might have to work for it.

A Western view from Purdue CropINDEX:

  Tamarind seeds have been used in a limited way as emergency food. They are roasted, soaked to remove the seedcoat, then boiled or fried, or ground to a flour or starch. Roasted seeds are ground and used as a substitute for, or adulterant of, coffee.

People from more native cultures are perhaps more willing to put in the effort:

  ... But I was surprised to find those semi-charred seeds tasting wonderful. They were a little like well-roasted peanuts without their disadvantages, and gave me both the challenge and company I seek of suparis!

I also found a few other mentions of them being a snack food, something people had eaten at home, like this one, which also mentions roasting and de-shelling in bulk with a grinding stone.

As for how to prepare them, I think your best bet might be to roast them, peel with the aid of a mortar and pestle (to crack them open), then soak for overnight or for a day in buttermilk like this recipe suggests. It's worth looking at the full recipe - there's more detail and a little background.

You can certainly try them before soaking as well, if you're looking for something that takes work to eat - you might have to suck and chew a while. As the recipe SAJ14SAJ found says, and says "This is the real test for teeth as it is very hard and crunchy."


What's the difference between Salami and Pepperoni?

Pepperoni is a variety of Salami. Salami is a dried sausage which can be made of pork, beef, veal, horse, donkey, poultry or game. Different spices, smoking and vegetable ingredients give the different salame their particular taste.

Pepperoni limits its ingredients to beef pork and poultry and belongs to the more spicy varieties of salame.


How to butter-roast coffee in frying pan?

Just frying them in butter won't work. The temperature needed to roast the bean is much higher than the milk solids can handle. If I were you, I'd begin by clarifying the butter to get rid of the milk solids, then use the clarified butter with the same method you are using now.

References:

Temperature scales for various roasts at the bottom
One way to make clarified butter


This depends on a lot of things.

The idea of preheating is that you want to get all the surfaces inside your oven (walls, floor, door, racks) up to the desired cooking temperature. This makes for more even temperatures throughout the oven, and gives a little thermal mass so you don't lose ALL your heat when you open the door for a few seconds or put something cold in there.

Then there's the question of what you're putting in the oven. An aluminum sheet with a few room temperature cookies on it won't pull the temperature in the oven down like a 25 pound turkey that's 40F/5C inside. You want to be more careful to do a complete preheat if you're going to be soaking up a lot of your starting heat.

Our oven, which has a large baking stone in the bottom all the time, takes a while to get uniformly up to temperature, even after the oven says it's preheated, because the stone doesn't heat up as fast as the rest of the surfaces. It takes at least 20 minutes after the "I'm fully heated" beep before the stone is fully up to temp. We have problems with things baking poorly if we don't preheat for quite a while, but on the upside, if we put a cold roast in or open the door a lot, the temperature in the oven stays pretty high.

If your oven is lightweight, flimsy or drafty, it may be as hot as it's going to get the moment the preheat alert goes off.

45 minutes is probably a lot more preheat than you'll need in almost any case. In some cases even 15 minutes is more than you need. It really depends on your oven and what you're putting in.


How do I impart the flavor of mint to a tomato sauce?

The aroma and flavor of mint is destroyed very rapidly by heat.  If you want a big mint impact, I would eliminate the dried (dried herbs can be good, but are a completely different flavor profile from fresh) and add a lot of fresh mint immediately before serving.


You've already guessed it correctly, soup chickens are basically old codgers that are too tough to roast or fry up. They may get tender enough to eat if you cook them slow for 2-3 hours but often even that won't make them palatable. The only reason I'd ever use them is if I wanted to make loads of chicken stock and didn't plan to use the meat.


As a rule, avocado should only be frozen in pureed form. When frozen, it should be placed in an air-tight container (such as a sealable dish or freezer bag) with only enough room for expansion as it cools. The variable fat and water content of avocados is not well suited to freezing, and renders the thawed product spongy and elastic, a far cry from the normal texture of avocados.

The thawed puree, however, can be used as a sandwich spread, in the creation of dips (such as guacamole), or any recipe where solid pieces of avocado are either not desired or not required. If a dish has avocado cooked into it--again, non-solid form is preferable--the freezability of the dish would be dependent on whether or not such a dish is normally freezable (if not normally containing avocado).


Seasoning won't stick to baked potato chips

Since the potato slices are moist after cutting and before baking, season them at this point rather than afterwards. This will cause the seasoning to cling to the potato better, even after they have been dried in the oven.

Also, I have had good results using an "Air Fryer" (Which is technically not 'frying' but convection baking.)


No knead bread dough looking slimy after a week

Flour readily absorbs water. You might try adding more flour and mixing it bit longer (yes, I know you said no need to knead bread) when you make your next batch, or you can try reducing the water amount you are using.

If you press on the dough and it doesn't push back it and the indentation remains or if it looks like it wants to collapse it is over proofed. If it is too springy it needs more time to proof.

Other factors:
Temperature can also be a factor (outside, fridge, oven, etc).
Did you change your flour? Mills change their blends seasonally so you may need to adjust or try a different brand/formulation/protein level. I've had better luck with bread flour formulations over all purpose flour.