Using dried cranberries instead of chocolate chips in cookies

Of course it won't be the same, it will be different. If the cranberries are sweetened, which dried cranberries often are, then just a straight substitution should work. The cookies will be a bit tarter, but should be just as delicious.

If the dried cranberries are unsweetened, then it probably does make sense to add a bit of sugar. You can do that by adding perhaps 1/8 more to the cookie, or you can glaze the cookies with a powdered sugar/water glaze.


How to prevent cheese and certain other products from stinking up my fridge?

Hello @janos and welcome to Seasoned Advice! The first thing that comes to mind would be to first wrap your food items tightly in plastic wrap and then vacuum seal them. However, if you open and close them frequently that could be a pain. But, if you on are only keeping the items 2 - 3 days, it could work.

That said, plastic can absorb odors and allow them to be detected outside of the packaging. I think the best solution would be glass. As always, for freshness, wrap the food in plastic wrap first and then store in glass. Glass should not let any odors escape.

An idea of what I'm talking about is pictured below. You can find a full description  here .


How do you control the caramelization of sugar?

I am not sure what your specific problem is, so here is some general advice on making candy and caramel.

As for control, the normal method is to control it with a thermometer. (They are even called "candy thermometers"). The thermometer should have a very fast reaction time, and be capable of measuring in fractions of grades (one digit after the decimal point is enough even for Celsius measurements).

You should also have a source of heat which is as responsive as possible. Induction and gas work best. If using resistive electricity, be prepared to yank the pan away from the heat a degree or two before the temperature limit is reached (you must calculate some carryover: The heat from the pan will continue to heat up the syrup even after the source of heat has been removed. Expect more carryover from copper core than pure steel, and more from steel than from aluminum).

The caramelization of pure sucrose begins at around 160°C, but if you mixed in other types of sugar, it is different. For any type of suger, with rising time and rising temperature, you get a darker, less sweet caramel. It is up to you which kind you want, but the very light kinds don't have the complex aroma of the middle hued ones, and the very dark ones are somewhat harsh.

There are charts for the stages of sugar syrup (threads, soft ball, etc) and the corresponding temperatures. They determine not only the degree of caramelization, but also the hardness of the finished candy. It is easy to find an English language one with Google, try this one. A bit of search should turn up some which contain photographies of the candy instead of penciled illustrations. Use such a chart when making candy, you need it.

Another variable in candy comes with your ingredients. Acids will soften caramel. Enough of them will keep it liquid. Milk and cream will soften it too. Pay attention to when and how you are adding them. If you let dairy products sit in the pan for too long, they'll develop their own scalded milk flavor. Also, don't add cold liquids to hot caramel, it will seize up.

That's about it, if you can point out specific problems you are having, it will be easier to help you.


Why do organic eggs seem to be spoiled right after purchasing?

I suggest you find a local farm or a CSA. Occasionally, my farmer will say, "These eggs are warm because we gathered them this morning." It doesn't get fresher than that.


How to spread dried blueberries evenly when using bread machine?

You can add them at the start of the mixing process to help distribute them evenly. You may find that soaking them for a few minutes in warm water to re-hydrate will help the berries mix more evenly if adding at the add-in-time.


A stove would be the traditional method for making oats and it doesn't require a microwave. It takes longer than the microwave but it works just fine, if not better (but this will vary by personal preference).

Add milk to a small pot, bring it to simmer, add oats to the pot, cook for recommended amount of time depending on the type of oats you're using (see package for times) or until they reach your preferred level of doneness. Some recipes have you add the oats and liquid at the same time and bring to a simmer together... either option works.

Make certain to keep the temperature low enough to not burn and stir occasionally to move them around. Milk is mostly water (about 87% in whole milk, higher in lower fat milks), so as long as you're not using extremely high heat and leaving it unattended for long periods of time, you should be fine.


How do I ask for eggs, sunny-side-up, but with the top cooked more thoroughly?

You can ask for eggs over easy.
This is when the cook flips the egg over once it's ready and allows the wolk to cook a bit on the hot surface of the pan.
The phrase is an American one, if I'm not mistaken, but is probably understood anywhere.


Unless you know that the alcohol was added by the cook at the time of canning, I’d treat it as a sign that “something” happened. And in canning, “something” is always considered bad, because it means the food was in uncontrolled conditions.

I’d stick to the golden food safety rule of “when in doubt, throw in out”, just to be safe.


Protein of any sort tends to spoil somewhat quickly when it contains water. I suggest you bring icepacks and eat any meat or meat substitutes on your first night if you want to bring them at all. For the rest of the trip, perhaps you could get your protein from dry beans you soak at the camp, meat jerky, nuts and seeds in sufficient quantity, or fish you catch on the trip yourself (while observing all local laws and regulations on the subject).


How do bakeries get smooth jam to top their cheesecakes with?

You are thinking of jelly like actual jelly in a can: Sweetened fruit juice thickened with pectin. While some bakeries use special pectin to make glazes (look at LM pectins) most jelly fillings and glazes are made with starch. In the US, usually corn starch.

Jelly donut filling is like canned pie filling: a sugar syrup that is thickened with starch. This is an example recipe.

Fruit glaze toppings are similar but have a bit more starch so they set up more firm. Here is a commercial example. Notice the ingredients, corn syrup and corn starch are prominent.

Starch is cheap, sets up firm and is less sweet than sugar. Pectin has a better texture and flavor, in my opinion. When making glazes at home, boiling down jams and jellies produces superior results.


It's not traditional, but adding egg white is not unheard of, though in this example, it is not whipped.  There are recipes for gnocchi with whole egg, egg yolk only, and no egg as well.  It might contribute to fluffiness, but it also might throw off the consistency of the dough.  As you do some research on gnocchi, you will note several other variables that impact the consistency of the final product...type of potato and how it is treated, amount of flour, kneading/mixing time...egg or no egg.  It's certainly worth an experiment, and it is not unheard of for posters to do the legwork to answer their own question.  Try it out.  Let us know the result.


Additional dipping sauces for cheese fondue?

I was taught to make cheese fondue in Switzerland and also have a fondue cookbook and I've never seen or heard of sauces being used with cheese fondue. I would fill the containers with bread for cheese fondue, sauces for meat fondue and fruit and cake for chocolate fondue.


Should traditional moule marinier have cream in it?

Traditional Moules a la mariniere is finished by reducing the cooking liquid until it is concentrated and then "mounting" it with butter (monter au beurre).

Mouclade is a traditional mussel preparation from the region of Bordeaux where the cooking liquid is enriched at the end with heavy cream and sometimes egg yolks, thus the reason the judges on your show were commenting that the cream was incorrect.


You can process in two batches. Occasionally a jar may not seal properly, you can reprocess it with in 24 hours, according to freshpreserving.com/fresh-preserving-solver.

  What happens if a seal fails?

  Use food or refrigerate immediately. Only If the food was properly processed the first time, you may correct and reprocess if done within 24 hours. If an ingredient was left out, an ingredient was added, the wrong processing method was used, or the food was not processed long enough, you only have TWO hours to reprocess correctly.

This would apply to your situation as well. I would fill the jars and get them ready to place in the water bath, then process as soon as the first batch is done. They should still be quite warm which will help insure good vacuum and seal.


A fruit cake would not be sugar free strictly speaking, since fruits have sugars, but you can make a fruit cake without adding extra sugar by using lots of very sweet dried fruits like dates, raisins and figs.
A cafe I know has a "famous" vegan no sugar no oil cake which is made of about 50% mixed dried fruits. They use dried dates, raisins and apricots. I would guess that they soak the fruits in hot water for a few hours to get some of the sugar to come out and sweeten the batter.
One of the best cakes I have tried has no added sugar as such - it's sweetened by soaking stoneless dates, then grinding that into a smooth paste to use in the batter. Here's a recipe for that (though I made that recipe vegan using water for soaking and cashew almond yogurt instead of dairy yogurt, so have not tested it as written). If you prefer something like a traditional dried fruits cake, you can always add raisins to that recipe and skip the walnuts.
I never use alcohol for anything, so when I make a fruit cake recipe that is supposed to have alcohol, I just skip it. Alcohol is used for soaking fruits to get better extraction than with plain water. Grinding some of the soaked fruits to a paste, as in the dates cake recipe, gets around the problem of water not extracting enough sugar from the fruit to sweeten the batter.


Can I use mulled wine for deglazing a beef stew?

Of course you can use it.  You can use any edible liquid:  water, wine, chicken stock, pineapple juice, whatever.

The real question is whether the flavors the wine was mulled with are compatible, and you enjoy them.  If they will compliment your dish, go for it.  I cannot speak to your taste in stew but the sweet spices often used in mulled wine may give it a Mediteranian or middle-eastern feel--or they may be too faint to detect.

Contrariwise, you probably will do just as well with plain water, or if you are so inspired, vodka.

One reason (among many) that deglazing or cooking with wine or spirits is popular is that some flavorful compounds are not soluble in water or fat, but are soluble in alcohol (which, contrary to myth, does not all "cook off")--and so the residual alcohol from the wine can synergistically make the dish seem more flavorful.  This is the science behind the vodka sauce fad, for example.

Its stew--its not haute cuisine :-)  I say go for it, either way, and enjoy.


Kosher veal steak more salty than kosher beef steak - is it expected and why?

As a calf ages and matures into a cow, the structure, texture, and taste of the meat changes. Veal will naturally have a milder flavor and finer texture than beef.

The younger the calf, the less developed and dense the muscle structure will be. The less dense the muscle structure is, the more the flavor will penetrate the meat.

So, even in the same process, veal should pick up more of the flavor than beef would.

Also, because the flavor of veal is much milder, it would stand to reason that salt (or any other flavors) would stand out more prominently.


You sure can. You should wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, aluminum foil, and place it in a freezer bag. It will be best quality for 1-2 months.

It's important to wrap it tightly to minimize ice crystals & freezer burn.

Source: StillTasty


Have I ruined my chicken by marinating it in milk and lemon?

I would be surprised if your milk didn't curdle. The entire point of adding the lemon is to induce this to at least a certain extent. Buttermilk is already somewhat curdled so as long as it wasn't so acidic that the chicken was chemically cooked, everything should turn out fine.


Does the Philips Air-fryer work as well as a standard deep-fryer?

I personally haven't used it. Lifehacker did a review on this when it came out though. Basically, it's more like a convection oven, as people  have mentioned. They bascially said if you don't own a convection oven and eat a lot of fries it's worth it, but it really is baking them, not frying.


What would be a good substitute for rice wine?

If you can get it, sherry is usually a good bet but since you can't, I've used just regular white wine before as a substitute when you're cooking a dish but you just need to be a little less liberal as you might be with rice wine as I find the flavour tends to be a little stronger.

Another alternative is Sake, but I'm assuming that if you can't get rice wine, you'll struggle to find Sake.


When is it appropriate to serve shrimp with the tail still attached?

It's quite common. I had Garlic Prawns (shrimps) in a faily exclusive restaurant in Darling Harbour (Sydney) last weekend, with shells still attached to the tail.

From what I can gather it's mostly about aesthetics. I suspect there is some truth in the idea that it gives the impression of more shrimp for your money as well.

Some also argue that it adds flavour during roasting or sauteeing.

It should also be noted that many people will in fact eat the tail. (The entire shrimp is edible.) It's not my preference, so a simple pinch at the base of the shell and the shrimp will slide right out. (They usually - or at least should - provide you with a small finger bowl filled with water, and sometimes a slice of lemon, when you're expected to remove the tail shells yourself.)


With whole peppercorns you will eventually bite into one, giving a burst of peppery goodness. This works only if the dish is to be cooked enough to soften the corns. I love to do this in soups and meatloafs. It could also work in casseroles.


If your wok is coating-free, use oven cleaner. Spray it on, place it in a plastic bag, & give it a few hours/overnight (best) to work. It should all wash out easily the next day. Wash well, dry, & re-oil w/olive oil, etc.

PS: this also works wonderfully with those enamel-on-steel pots & similar stovetops.


Curried parsnip soup, not flavoursome enough

Add more curry powder, or whatever you were using. If it's a powder, it won't need to cook much longer to take up the flavor. If it's a paste or liquid you can just stir it in.

If it's something bigger and you can't grind it, you'd need to cook a while longer to get the flavor out. If you also don't want to cook the soup much longer (if perhaps it has chunks that you don't want to overcook), you could take out a bit of liquid to cook the spices in then add it back in.

It's also possible you've undersalted it, or could use some more richness from stock (or bouillon cubes/paste, but be careful not to oversalt).


Macarons are wrinkled, cracked and have no feet

As well as the answer I gave in the question @Catija referred to in her comment, I suspect you are not beating your meringue enough. In total you should be beating the initial meringue for a good ten or eleven minutes.

There are a lot of myths and complications around macarons. The Internet would have you believe that you must used aged egg whites from French hens, almond flour with grains individually measured for the correct size, and a hundred other things. It's mostly nonsense. Use this recipe, follow it exactly, and you will be much closer to success without all the fuss.

In my experience the three critical factors are:

beat the meringue sufficiently. It should be super-stiff.
macaronage correctly - this is the trickiest part, but the description of the correct consistency in the recipe I linked is a good one.
ensure your oven dial is accurate with an oven thermometer. It almost certainly isn't.
use powdered food colouring. Gel food colours are intended for use in icing and are not oven safe. They brown at relatively low temperatures and ruin the appearance of your macarons.

Good luck.


What is boudin made from, and how is it made?

I'll attempt to expand upon daniel's answer above.

Boudin describes a sausage that is generally created from a blend of beef, rice, and/or pork ("What is Boudin", Cajun French Blog 2009). Sometimes other types of proteins are added to create variations: Gator, Shrimp, crawfish, etc.

Boudin is widely known to be used in Cajun cooking. Other various types of Boudin exists. As wikipedia defines various different types of boudin:

  Boudin blanc: A white sausage made of pork without the blood. Pork
  liver and heart meat are typically included. In Cajun versions, the
  sausage is made from a pork rice dressing [...] In
  French/Belgian cuisine, the sausage is sauteed or grilled. The
  Louisiana version is normally simmered or braised, although coating
  with oil and slow grilling for tailgating is becoming a popular option
  in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
  Boudin noir: A dark-hued blood sausage, containing pork, pig blood, and other ingredients. Variants of the boudin noir occur in French, Belgian, Cajun and Catalan
  cuisine [...]
  Shrimp Boudin: Similar to crawfish boudin, it is made by adding the shrimp to rice [...]
  [4] Boudin rouge: In Louisiana cuisine, a sausage
  similar to boudin blanc, but with pork blood added to it. This
  originated from the French boudin noir.
  Brown Rice Boudin: Taste is very similar to traditional pork boudin, except this boudin > is made with a brown-rice substitute for those looking to cut down on white rice intake.


Most restaurants, especially if they offer a particular cuisine, will welcome you with open arms if you simply admit that this is your first time for trying this particular food.

There are many kinds of Japanese restaurants. It is not possible to recommend what to order, because depending on the type of restaurant they may not have it on the menu.

But if you explain to the wait staff that you do not have any previous experience with this establishment and would like some advice on what might be a good choice, I'm sure that any restaurant will be happy to make recommendations. They should ask you if you prefer meat or fish or if you like your food spicy or mild. Then they should point out suitable items on the menu for you to consider.


Which spices should be bought whole vs. ground?

For the most part this is a question of convenience and how quickly you go through a fresh supply of spices in the quantities you buy.

Pretty much every dry spice will last better and be more aromatic and flavorful  if it is stored whole. That applies to leaves, seeds, bark, you name it.

Some really hard spices like nutmeg may not be appropriate for the coffee grinder (maybe if you break it up some first?), but those are at least large enough to get a good grip for hand-grating.

One exception for me would be specialty pre-blended spice mixes which sometimes have ingredients that would be really hard to track down, or which you might have to buy in much larger quantities than you can reasonably use. (If you can get all the ingredients easily then it is probably better to blend it yourself to your own preferences and in the quantities you need.)

Another exception in my kitchen is hing (asafetida) which is a resin that in its pure form is extremely pungent and I find it difficult to work with. Commercially-prepared hing powder is generally diluted with rice flour and is much easier to use in appropriate quantities.


Technique

Always use a cutting surface made for a knife, particularly a wooden chopping board/block. Avoid contact with hard surfaces such as metal, glass, or stone; these will quickly cause dulling or even chipping of most knives. Also avoid cutting frozen items, for the same reason.

Use the dull end ("top") of the knife for scraping food off surfaces, or use a scraper or spatula instead. Knives are meant to cut straight, along the edge; scraping one sideways across any surface will misalign the edge very quickly.

Do not use more force than necessary. A sharp knife should cut with very little effort. The more pressure you apply, the faster it will dull.

Use a cleaver for bones or other very hard foods. General-purpose chef's knives or smaller knives aren't appropriate for this task, and may chip or even snap.

General Care

Wash or rinse knives promptly after use. The moisture in many foods can be acidic and/or corrosive to the metal (fruits, onions, etc.).

Dry knives immediately with a soft cloth or towel. Stainless steel is resistant to rust and corrosion but not immune. This goes for all metal but especially knives, because even an imperceptible amount of rust along the edge will drastically hinder its ability to cut. Air-drying may also leave you with stains or "spots" due to salts and other trace minerals in the water.

Store knives in a dry, open area, away from other objects, to avoid moisture build-up, impacts, and secondary rust.

Do not put a knife in the dishwasher. A knife in a dishwasher is subject to impacts, corrosion, and warping of the wooden handle/joint. Quality knives should be hand-washed.

Honing
Honing a knife is a good way to restore a slightly dull knife. You will need an honing steel (sometimes misleadingly referred to as a sharpening steel), which can be bought inexpensively. Note that there are differences between steels; the best value tends to be in the $30 (USD) range.
Honing is not the same as sharpening. Honing helps to align the existing edge, which becomes skewed or "curled" after regular use. It will not help to create a new edge if the knife is damaged, e.g. if it is corroded or chipped due to not following the "General Care" advice above.
To hone a knife:

Keep the honing steel vertical.
Hold the knife at a slight angle to the steel.
Stroke downward and towards yourself.
Alternate strokes, and do an equal number of times on both sides.

Here is a video illustrating the technique.
Sharpening
Knife sharpening involves a whetstone (AKA sharpening stone) and is an art unto itself. Some knife manufacturers do explain the process, however, the technique takes a long time to master and most home cooks will prefer to leave this to a professional.
If you find that regular honing is no longer effective at maintaining a knife's edge - and if it's been well-maintained, this should take several weeks or months - then it's time to get the knife sharpened.

An alternative to professional sharpening (or learning to use a whetstone) is to use a good-quality motorized electric sharpener, such as the Chef's Choice. This will obviously not yield the same result as a professional sharpening, but it is very convenient and fast.
Some people believe that all electric sharpeners will damage your knives. This may still be true of the cheaper, single-stage sharpeners, because they do a lot of grinding and generate a lot of heat. However, the more modern, higher-end sharpeners operate very quickly, have precise angle control, and use multiple stages mimicking the manual process (grinding, steeling, stropping).
The "grinding" stage on a multi-stage sharpener should only be used if the knife is already badly damaged, and will actually create a new edge. If your knife is in reasonable shape, then it's fine to use a good sharpener on a semi-regular basis as long as you don't grind too much. (Honing should still be your primary form of maintenance).

Yet another option, if you're on a tight budget, is to use sandpaper. Follow the link for additional information on technique, grit, and tutorials.


What is the "hot" and "cold" category that Chinese culture separate their food into?

Per AsianResearch.org's article The Ancient Theory Behind Chinese Food:

  Generally
  speaking, foods that have a higher water content are considered cool,
  or yin, in nature. These are often foods that are boiled or steamed.
  Foods that have a higher energy content, particularly from fat, are
  considered warm, or yang, in nature. These are often foods that are
  fried or roasted.

  [...]

  From [Chinese traditional element theory] comes the idea of the five flavours −
  bitter, sweet, spicy, salty and sour.

  These flavours are subdivided into yin and yang. Sweet and spicy foods
  are considered to be yin, while bitter, sour and salty foods are
  considered to be yang. The five elements also correspond with the
  colours red, yellow, white, blue and green, which are all considered
  when choosing ingredients.


How can I reduce the richness of my homemade chocolates?

What you are using is not chocolate in the strict sense, it is a highly engineered product made to be easy to use by the home cook and taste similar to chocolate. I would advise against adding anything - this kind of product has been balanced by armies of food technologists to behave just like it does. If you start changing it by adding stuff, you will probably start getting trouble using it (e.g. it could curdle, or start sticking onto the molds, etc.) or the final texture will be weird, or both.

If you want to keep the ease of making your molded chocolates, you can just switch brands of mold-intended chocolate product, until you have found something that the eaters enjoy. Alternatively, you can get into standard chocolaterie, where you have limitless options. It will however require the committment to learn how to do it properly, to invest in tools and ingredients, and to find out which recipes you and your giftees like. If you can imagine developing a pasion for that, go for it! Or if you are unsure, try a simple tempering once or twice and see if you feel drawn to getting it right and delving deeper. If not, the premade products you are using are your better option, even though they cannot be personally tailored to people's tastes.


Why is a grilled lamb chop tougher than stir fried beef strips or lamb stew?

There are many variables that determine the final texture of cooked meat.  Some of them include how and what the animal was fed, which muscle and how much fat and collagen are present, treatment before cooking, cooking method, length of cooking time and temperature.  The list goes on.  Let's just take your chop vs. stew example.  A lamb chop is relatively lean and cooks quickly.  Stew meat, taken from a different muscle, is relatively fatty and has collagen that is broken down by a slow and lower temperature cook.  The latter is usually more tender because of those variables. (Also see your other question about stir fry).


Converting fresh chilli pepper to ground?

Fresh pepper/chili and ground pepper/chili are not particularly interchangeable.

For example: (sweet) paprika is essentially ground Bell pepper, but it is not a normal substitution to use replace Bell pepper with x teaspoons of paprika.

Additionally, peppers range in size substantially. A Thai Birdseye chili would only yield a fraction of a teaspoon when dried and ground. A bell pepper is probably more likely to yield a tablespoon or more, depending on the drying process.


May I also suggest replacing the water with club soda? The carbon dioxide imparts no flavor but forces additional fluffy-ness to the recipe.  I've done this successfully with both waffles and pancakes.


How long can I keep a chicken carcass and still make stock from it?

There are two angles to this:

How long before it makes stock taste bad?
Smell is a good cue here, but I have made stock even with meat and bones that smell a bit "off." No bad flavor or smell was noticeable in the soup/stew.

How long before it is unsafe?
The long periods of high temperature involved in making stock will kill any germs. I have used old meat for this purpose and had no nausea or diarrhea afterwards (the usual signs of food poisoning). At high levels of decay where you notice a rotting or putrescent smell there may be some unhealthy compounds created that are not destroyed by cooking, but I am sure the smell taste will be so bad in that case, that it would be difficult even to swallow.

At normal refrigeration temperatures, it takes much much longer than 40 hours to reach either of these thresholds.


How to prevent dough from stopping food processor motor

It sounds like this dough is more than your food processor can handle. You might try making a half batch, or if you have a quality stand mixer, adapting the recipe for its dough hook.

In the comments to the question, you mentioned another dough that you do not have trouble with.

Note that the dough you have problems with is at a hydration of about 50% (with extra gluten), and the dough you have no trouble with is at a hydration of 100%, so it is going to be much softer. Its not just the total volume, its the thickness of the dough.  The softer dough will give much less resistance to the food processor.

(Hydration is the amount of water in the recipe, expressed as a percentage of the weight of flour, so 1000 g of flour and 600 grams or mL of water would be a 60% hydration.)


I know that link-only answers are discouraged here, but I don't know that there's another efficient way of answering this question.  Here's a link to a document that gives basically most of the information you want, if you match it up to McGee's tables and description of chemical flavor components (e.g., pp. 389-395 in the revised edition of On Food and Cooking).

Basically, you look up the components in McGee's table for a particular herb/spice, figure out what chemical category they belong to (terpenes, phenolics, etc.; this might require some internet searching too), then read the PDF and see what it says about solubility.  If someone else wants to do the work to aggregate McGee's table of ~80 herbs and spices each with 5-7 flavor components, they can post a better answer.

From the PDF, you'll discover that in many cases solubility can be determined roughly by the chemical group (often something you can determine from the suffix of the chemical name).  But note that some chemical groups don't have easily generalization solubility rules.  For example, your first spice saffron has the primary flavor component safranal.  From the -al suffix, you can determine that it's an aldehyde, but aldehydes tend to have inconsistent solubility properties (and are thus not even listed in the linked PDF document, since they're unpredictable).  Smaller ones are soluble in water, but larger ones often only in alcohol or other stronger solvents.  Safranal really needs alcohol to dissolve efficiently, hence the advice you gave at the beginning of your question.

The problem is that even in doing this, you'll likely end up with a hodgepodge of advice for individual herbs/spices.  Some flavor components might be more soluble in oil, but others in alcohol -- what to do?  Use both?  Or use one and discover that the flavor isn't as "complex"?  The relative composition of these various flavor components is important too, so it quickly becomes impossible to predict the best strategy based on chemical composition.

I will just say that in general you will extract more flavor by using other solvents than water.

Oil is generally going to do the best, which is why we think of "essential oils" for strongest flavor extraction.  (While "essential oils" are often extracted through steam distillation, oils in general are soluble in other oils.  Also, the essential oils concentrate the non-oil flavor components because they are more oil-soluble.)
Alcohol is usually second-best, and in a few specific flavor cases will do better than oil.  (But to do so, it often needs to be strong alcohol, as in most alcohol-based flavor extracts.  The level of alcohol in wine may do something, but not much compared to oil; hence people resorting the vodka for some sauces, etc.)

Just glancing over McGee's table, I can tell you that almost everything has a flavor component which will be more soluble in oil or alcohol or both.  As I mentioned earlier in comments, that's the reason we often saute things in oil, then deglaze with alcohol, and only then move to water or less effective liquids.  Acids can sometimes increase solubility, but generally not as much as oil and/or alcohol (at least not for most common flavor components).

For example, regarding your Greek "folklore," basically all of the herbs you mention have small terpenes as their primary flavor components, whose solubility would be increased in oil or alcohol.  The lemon juice in this case is probably less effective (hence your recipe to put parsley in oil despite the folklore about lemon juice).  My guess is that the folklore may be more about using lemon as short-term preservative to keep the herbs fresher tasting, but I don't know.


Is our oven at work powerful enough to bake pizza?

Absolutely not. There are a lot of tricks to get good thick (or thin) pizza with oven temperatures under 300C (572F). The people at Serious Eats have researched the problem at great length and with excellent results. Few home ovens reach 300C. I made this pizza last weekend using the recipe in the above link, my oven's top temperature is 274C (525F):

Serious Eats has a lot of pizza recipes for the kind of oven most of us have. A lot of those recipes, like New York Pizza, take advantage of a pizza stone.

For my pizza, I used a 12 inch cast iron skillet which worked very well, but it can be done in two 10 inch cake pans - or in just about anything else. Read the comments, all types of pan sizes and types are discussed. The dough is a no-knead recipe that rises vigorously overnight, then it does the second rise in the pan. It's easy to shape for the second rise, and it holds up to an extraordinary volume of toppings (which is a generally a desirable trait for Pan Pizza). It would have been nice to have been able to reach the recommended temperature of 288C (550F), but the site addresses that issue too. The pizza came out of the oven with the bottom crust a bit blond, but two minutes on a burner brought it to perfect. Be sure to check out the sauce recipes too. I used this one. It was the best Pan Pizza I have ever had.

Serious Eats has hundreds of pages of very good information specifically about making world class pizza without a pizza oven. It's a great site, check it out.

We are also lucky to have a lot of very knowledgeable people here on Seasoned Advice that can help with any specific problems.

You can make great pizza without a pizza oven.


Why do some countries prefer UHT milk and cream?

My guess is that the Belgians (like the French) rarely eat milk cold and uncooked in the way that the British do. The Belgians will have their milk in hot chocolate, or cakes etc, whereas the Brits will have it cold in cereal (again, in France at least, cereal is eaten with warm milk).

I have found that the UHT milk in French supermarkets tastes a lot better than the UHT milk in British supermarkets.


Yes, but you may get a slightly different flavor, and certainly a different color in the final dish.

Many times, white rum is specified so as not to change the color, so you have to decide if this is an acceptable change for whatever you are making.


How to remove commercial seasoning from skillet?

How to remove old seasoning and start over from scratch?

Very few cases actually require a full stripping of cast iron and restarting your seasoning from scratch. If you ruined your seasoning somehow, it can usually just be fixed by scrubbing and baking on a fresh layer of oil or two. However here are a few real reasons:

1) The pan is new, and you don't trust the manufacturer's pre-seasoning for whatever reason, is it really food grade, is it clean is it toxic, is it...whatever...
2) you got your cast iron from an antique store or other source where the seasoning is just unknown or otherwise not trustworthy (IOW, is that black paint?), same as #1, just not a brand new pan.
3) you are a purist and want to manage every layer of the seasoning from how the iron is treated prior to being coated with oil, or which choice of oil and how many coats to season with before the pan goes into production.

To begin, first you really want to scrub the heck out of your pan to break off loose dirt, burned food and anything that will just come free with a scotch brite. The next step does the real cleaning, but scrubbing off whatever you can first will reduce the amount of smell and smoke. if you have a number of pans you want to strip, it might be best to have a few of them ready to go at once to save your time. This is a time consuming process.

After you have scrubbed your pans clean, put them in your oven, and run the the oven through a clean cycel. At minimum thise should be two hours, but many ovens let you run it 2, 4, 6 or 8 hours. Depending on how hot your own gets during cleaning, 2 hours may not be enough, I personally run a 4 or 6 hour cleaning cycle. Do NOT leave your home during an oven cleaning cycle. The temperature of your oven will exceed 800 Degreed F. These temps are more than twice as hot as ordinary cooking temps, and you should never leave your house with the oven on anyway, but the cleaning cycle should absolutely never be left unattended.

The heat will burn everything off of your pan, once the oven has had a chance to cool off and you are able to look inside you will see your cast iron has turned a much brighter but dull grey. This is the natural color of iron when it is bare. As the iron cools, it will start to turn orange. That is caused from the iron oxidizing a fine layer of rust on it's surface, a process that is accelerated by the iron being so hot and exposed to cool air as it cools.

Once the pan is cool enough to pick up with your base hands, we are going to return to the sink, and we are going to scrub the rust away with a new clean scotch brite pad. Turn the oven on and set to 385 degrees F. Becareful, in contrast to seasoned cast iron, bare cast iron is VERY abrasive, and you can skin your knuckles if you aren't careful. Rinse it very well again, toss back into the oven and let the heat drive away the moisture. This time, because you aren't leaving the pan in their to get to full heat, it won't reoxidize so quickly. While it's hot, grab a clean unused dishtowel fresh from your laundry stack, and pickup the pan and put on your stove. Pour about a tablespoon or two of your favorite seasoning oil or fat. Despite what the science says, it doesn;t matter so much which one you choose. This is not because there is no difference. There IS a big difference, but from a practical standpoint, unless you are super super careful, you are going to ruin your seasoning from time to time and will have to fix it. So going with the super expensive flax seed oil really doesn't make any difference from a practicality point of view. I prefer Peanut Oil. It has a high smoke point, which means I can bake it on longer/hotter, making it more durable than other lower smoke point oils. Flaxseed oil is actually the most durable during the way the polymers develop along with the smoking, but again it doesn't matter for practical purposes because you will ruin it now and again. So I use a durable high smoke point oil that's cheaper. Peanut Oil.

With a paper towel folded over a few times until it's 2 inches x 2 inches, start smoothing that oil all around the inside of the pan. Once the paper towel has taken up all the oil and spread it around the inside, flip the pan over and coat the entire outside of the pan. Take special care to get oil into all the cracks, and dimples, and rings, and especially inside the eye of the handle. Get under and inside the front guard that lets you stack your pans. You want to make sure there is not one tiny iota of the pan left dry. Don't worry if the paper towel starts to break apart and leave lint behind. It makes no difference whatsoever.

Done? Good. Now grab a fresh dry paper towel and remove all the oil, make it so the metal looks dry. If you touch it and you can feel the oil, then it's too much. Get it all off.

Once that's done, place a large cookie sheet on the bottom rack of your oven to catch drips...do not use aluminum foil as is often recommended, you'll regret that decision the next time you open the oven door when you are looking at half melted aluminum stuck to the bottom of you oven. Ok, so cookie sheet in place? Great. Place the cast iron pan on the top rack of your oven UPSIDE DOWN. This lets any errant drops of oil that will collect and coelesce together drip out of the pan rather than pooling in the bottom of it, which makes a stick gummy mess. Upside down right? Check!

Let your pan bake for 1 hour. Set the timer. After an hour, check it...It might be dried, it might not. If it's not completely dry, put it in for another 30 minutes. Take note of how long it takes, because that's how long you are going to bake it for again for the next steps, and again in the future if you ever have to repeat this process.

The pan when dried should look a little darker, but it will look like a yucky olive green. That's ok. We aren't done yet.

Put another layer of oil on your pan, being just as careful as before. Remove the oil with a paper towel, bake it...this time for as long as the pan needed for the first coat.

Do NOT be tempted to rush this by leaving extra oil on the pan. This does NOT work. It makes a gummy sticky mess, and even if you do get it to harden, it will chip off the pan at some point ruining your carefully developed seasoning just as it's starting to look nice and baby butt smooth.

So, repeat the above process at least 4 times, but as many as 9 times depending on how developed you want your initial seasoning to be. After 9 times, you reach the point of deminishing returns and it won't really get any better without real food being cooked in the pan and without it being scrubbed down gently from time to time.

Once your initial seasoning is complete, the pan should look really dark grey, but it won't become that jet black without time. There is no real way around this. Smooth jet black is the sign of great seasoning, but it can only be accomplished with time at this point. But here you have your starting point for getting the seasoning you want on your cast iron pots and pans.

Care from now on should be to clean the pan after each use, if it wipes out with a paper towel, that should be all you need to do. If it needs some help, use regular dish soap, and a green scotchbrite pad, and scrub gently...This doesn't hurt your seasoning. In fact it helps, because the scrubby will help smooth the seasoning down. After you rinse it out really well, return the pan to the stove and let it heat dry (don't burn it), just let it dry the water off. Once the water is dry, take a tablespoon of peanut oil, and push it around with a clean paper towel just like before, after wiping the oil on, wipe the oil off again and let the oil dry on the stove. As soon as the oil starts to turn into speckles (little bumps) on the bottom. Wipe it down with a clean towel once again, to knock those down and remove the pan from the heat.

You are done...keep it clean like this and your seasoning will become jet jet black, remain baby bottom smooth, non-stick, and be the greatest stove top cooking surface you own


Excellent question. The salt, through osmosis, takes humidity out of the meat. Less moisture leads to a denser product.

About meat:

  The main structural component of the muscle fibers in meat is
  myofibril, which is itself composed of thick and thin filaments.
  Higher-than-normal levels of salt cause these filaments to swell and
  separate from one another and depolymerize, or break down. This
  process makes meat more tender.

  For tenderization, salt is usually added to meat via a brine solution
  comprised of salt, water, and sometimes other flavoring compounds.
  Harold McGee describes the effect of brining in his book "On Food and
  Cooking"

Link

I hope that answers your question.

Edit I only answered half the question.

Link to a more detailed explanation about osmosis.


You may not be getting your candy to the right temperature. If you go too low, the candy never hardens completely. Are you using a candy thermometer?

If they're fine at first, but turn sticky later, you could try storing them in a drier place (don't put them in the refrigerator, of course). You might also want to try rolling them on sugar (if the issue is with the entire coating) or setting them on a layer of sugar (if the issue is presentation), which can help reduce the stickiness (and doesn't look bad).


The official answer from your health department is no, it's not safe. After four hours at room temperature, you have to pitch it.

That standard is a little on the paranoid side. Which is appropriate, since they have to protect people for whom a little salmonella is potentially life-threatening (the infirm, babies, the elderly, etc.) If you're young and healthy, the odds are it will do you no harm whatsoever. Even a glass of milk out overnight is merely going to be sour rather than toxic.

So, it's up to you. I'd say it's a cup of tea and it will taste better if you make a fresh one, even if the risk to your health is small-but-not-zero.


As far as food safety is concerned there is no issue. A few days at fridge temps won't grow anything scary.

Food quality may be a concern. Vegetables want to be able to breathe. Some will handle being sealed worse than others. The problem is having the plastic in contact with the vegetables will hold condensation against them and promote spoiling. Luckily, the kind of firm veggies that can benefit from sous vide will also handle being sealed for a little bit.

Just don't hold them for more than a couple days and watch for mold.


How does the industry conserve their smoothies

You are mixing up terms here. "Preservation" is a food safety term. It is a measure against bacteria colonizing your smoothie. For that, industry can use pasteurization, or PEF (electric destruction of cell membranes), or just quick turnaround of refrigerated smoothies.

As for the oxidation, they use just what you said, lots of antioxidants and little access to air. They may even package them in a low-oxygen environment, although I don't know if they actually do so. Since most customers will balk at added antioxidants in the ingredients list of a smoothie, they either use a significant proportion of fruit with antioxidant properties in the recipe, or sometimes use added vitamins. Many vitamins, for example C and E, are antioxidants.

The last thing you are asking about is texture, or the separation of pulp and water. This is the most difficult thing to achieve at home. It takes industry lots of engineers finetuning their recipe, process and machines to produce a homogenous smoothie or fruit juice which does not separate. At home, you have neither the knowledge nor the resources to work that way. Actually, the cards are somewhat stacked against you, as most smoothie enthusiasts use high speed blenders, which cause quite a bit of separation and oxidation by themselves through their centrifugal action. So, you have to just learn to live with it, or maybe start making your smoothies fresh so they don't have the time to separate.


What is the appearance of expired brown sugar?

Any package date would be a "best by" date, which would indicate quality, rather than safety. Really, the only risk is that the flavor has degraded.  If the sugar is hard, you can put it in a microwave-safe bowl with a damp paper towel.  Cover the bowl and microwave in short bursts (10 - 15 seconds), breaking up the hard lumps with a fork in between bursts.  Be careful not to melt the sugar. Then use as you wish.


The doneness of something is obviously a matter of a opinion, but based on the comments I received the "crunch" in each bite is normal. It is overcooked if it is tough and rubbery and it is undercooked if you cut it open and you see white on the outside but a clear-ish color towards the middle.


Per Foodsafety.gov, you can refreeze a casserole if it "still contains ice crystals and feels as cold as if refrigerated", but if "thawed and held above 40 °F for over 2 hours", it must be discarded.


Could B.Subtilis ssp. mesentericus develop in proofing stage?

My last breads suffer from B.Subtilis ssp. mesentericus infection - the bread became sticky in hours and apparently ill.

Bacillus mesentericus is a spore forming bacteria, known for causing rope/ropey like bread.  It's a soil/grass based bacteria so may have been in the flour.

  I threw away all the disposable utensils and washed the whole kitchen with vinegar and detergents. I am aware that these means are insufficient, but I had not other options

You may have been a bit hasty, the information in the link below suggests cleaning everything with vinegar for 3 consecutive days.

More information here including on diagnosis & treatment (under 3.5.3)

If you would like to know more, you can have a search there's a wealth of information especially academic articles.


What determines whether a sherbet will set or not?

There are several things that keep frozen desserts (ice cream and sorbet, not just sherbet) from freezing into a block of ice. They're essentially all the ingredients besides water. If you have too little of these things, you'll have very hard ice cream; if you have too much, it might never get firm enough to scoop in your freezer.

Fat - ice cream is the easiest to get soft, since it contains the most dairy, but this works on sherbet too. The more cream, the softer. But even butter freezes hard, so this isn't going to keep it from setting.
Sugar - this is pretty easy to vary in all frozen desserts. It'll have a noticeable effect on softness, but reasonable quantities won't make it too soft.
Alcohol - obviously you won't always want to use this, but the right alcohol often goes very nicely with sorbets. Enough alcohol would of course keep it from setting, but it takes a lot. A sorbet made from wine, sugar, and strawberries still sets, though it's quite soft.
Air - this gives the dessert a softer, fluffier texture, but of course won't ever stop it from freezing. Make sure to churn things long enough, though you can only ever do as well as your ice cream machine lets you.
Additives - gelatin is the main one that's common in kitchens; guar gum, and xantham gum are next up. There are also various stabilizers for keeping ice cream smooth.

I don't think I've ever seen a recipe for a frozen dessert that wouldn't set at all. It takes an awful lot of fat, sugar, or alcohol just to get it too soft. My best guess in the case of what you saw on TV is that she either went overboard with some kind of additive, or didn't manage to properly freeze it. Note that with home ice cream makers, things will be at least a bit too soft coming straight out of the machine - but they'll set much harder in the freezer.

In practice, if you're making your own, the problem you'll reliably have (especially with random recipes online) is that it's too hard. Storebought frozen desserts if anything tend to have more sugar and fat than you'd use at home, and often have additives to soften and stabilize on top of that. So most things you make at home will tend to be harder than what you buy in the store.

Credit where it's due: I learned some of this from the introduction to The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz; a lot of similar information is available in this post on the author's blog.


Most ricer cookers use temperature of the pan - which is regulated by water content! - to decide when to stop. Only when enough water has evaporated to leave you with reasonably dry, palatable grains can the pan temperature exceed 100°C/212°F. If what you are cooking cannot absorb all the water, the device will cook until all the water has evaporated (which the lid makes very slow).

If actually boiling it dry doesn't stop it, and no "keep warm" or "saute" or similar special mode has been selected, return it, it is broken.


How to get rid of the smell from the fridge?

Baking soda seems to work well for me, but the best thing is to get rid of old food that is causing the smell, and seal strong-smelling foods in airtight containers.


How do I prevent tomatoes from falling in a green salad?

I work around this by serving tomatoes on the top of the individual salads after they've been portioned out.  I'm not sure of a way to keep them incorporated.


Why did my chili oil flakes split in two layers?

I've had the same thing happen. My suspicion is that the flakes on top had residual moisture which puffed them up during cooking, or alternatively that other gases were produced by pyrolysis and similarly trapped. Either way, a quick Google image search suggests that this happens fairly often.

Chili oil has to be mixed before use in any case, so I wouldn't worry about it. But if you were particularly unhappy with the look, you could try cooking the chili oil at a lower temperature, or pre-drying the chili flakes in the oven (a few hours at around 120°C should do it).


How to cook sea bass fillet in foil in the oven from frozen

Simply make a tightly sealed parcel of the foil by doubling it and folding over the fish and sealing the edges. I'd include some knobs of butter and lemon slices, and some fresh ground pepper.

As for cooking time, that really depends on the thickness of the fillet. I would say around 20-25 minutes at 180°C/350°F as a guide, but you should make sure the fish is piping hot throughout and opaque white with no translucent bits.


An unescorted loaf of bread, in a loaf pan, generally bursts along the top of the loaf pan.  If you want a "burst" look you need to score the area you want a burst using a razor blade or sharp knife.

Are you making a no-knead loaf in a Dutch oven?  They generally burst along the shaggy seams.

Rob is right, scoring and bread turning into a brick are not really related.


Chicken naturally contains a lot of water, it also absorbs some more from the cleaning process (up to 8% reportedly). Some manufacturers also "tumble" the raw chicken with brine to increase flavour and, of course, weight and thus profit.

The freezing process will damage cells in the meat as the water expands, so when the chicken is defrosted some of this water/protein mixture will escape from these ruptured cells. When cooking you may see this as a white gunge forming in the pan.

It can feel quite slimy once defrosted, but this is just the raw "juices" coming out. I buy chicken in bulk and vacuum seal/freeze it into portion sizes. Good quality meat and drying the chicken before freezing can help. Flash freezing is preferred, but this is not practical at home.

I believe food safety is OT here, but it should not be an issue as long as you follow all the recommended guidelines for storage temperature and times.


What are good ingredients to put into a Scrapple soup stock?

I don't think it would work too well to just throw scrapple in a pot and make a soup. You'd be better off trying to make something "inspired" by it, trying to duplicate similar flavors in a soup. I'd try a thick pork soup, almost a stew, with chunks of pork shoulder and cornmeal-buckwheat dumplings, some sage and corriander and plenty of pepper. I'd definitely use a pork stock made from pork bones (and a pig's foot, sawn in half, for extra body), and ramp up the flavor with a ham hock. Maybe simmer some greens in there for the last few minutes to give it some color.

As for what to do with your existing loaf of scrapple, well, slice it, fry it up, and eat with fried eggs and ketchup for breakfast.


Change of volume mixing dry & wet ingredients

This question helps, from it, we learn that 1/2 cup table sugar + 1/2 cup water results in a volume of 3/4 cup.  The second answer claims that 2 cups of sugar + 2 cups of water equals a total volume of 3 and 1/8 cup.  Slightly different from the first response, but in the ball park.  I will assume that the combination of instant coffee and water leads to a similar result.  Therefore...I would calculate:

4 cups water + 4 cups sugar = 6 1/4 cups.

6 1/4 cups + 1 cup instant coffee = 6 3/4 cups (Same assumption as addition of sugar).

6 3/4 cups + 4 cups (1 QT) vodka = 10 3/4 cups.

Total volume = 10 3/4 cups or 2.69 quarts...or a bit more than half a gallon.

Feel free to correct my assumptions or math.


I prefer buttered hashbrowns myself. I've had the best luck with unsalted butter and by cooking them on medium to medium low heat so they won't burn or over brown quickly.

If you are making hashbrowns from scratch make sure you remove all the excess moisture as this will further aid in golden brown color instead of burning.


It is safe to drink the tea made from tea leaves and it's safe if you eat the tea leaves themselves at the bottom of the cup. People avoid eating the leaves because they aren't pleasant tasting, the consistency isn't very nice, and they aren't that easy to digest.


Muffins are a quick bread, same as waffles, so the answer to Can you freeze waffle batter? applies equally well here.

You can freeze it, and it will keep the batter from spoiling, but it will not maintain the quality.  It won't rise very well when you thaw it and try to bake it.

I would suggest that instead, you freeze the wet and dry ingredients separately; measure them out into the portion sizes that you intend to use, and when you want to make more muffins, combine them after thawing them.

(Or, as Joe suggests - just freeze the finished muffins themselves.)


How can I modify corn bread recipes to accomodate a wet filling?

I agree that cornbread will not have the structure you need since it's close to a sponge cake.  Instead of modifying a cornbread recipe, I would recommend modifying a pie crust recipe.

A standard pie crust is approximately 3 parts flour : 2 parts fat : 1 part water. To achieve the cornbread flavors, replace some of the flour with the cornmeal, as it can serve the same purpose as flour in this case. You can also replace some or all of the water with milk or buttermilk. If you do not like the grainy texture of the cornmeal, soak the cornmeal in the liquid you choose for several hours to overnight.


What are the limits on baking at 400F/200C?

That temp will cook many, many things with no problems. You would simply have to adjust cooking time.  Also, regarding your article and video, many Thanksgiving items are simply casseroles that need to be heated through (other than the turkey), so one temperature makes sense.  Speaking more broadly, oven temperatures are wildly inaccurate.  So, a setting of 400F is often meaningless, unless you are carefully monitoring your temperature with an oven thermometer placed inside. It would be fairly common for your oven temperature to be significantly (as much as 50 F or more) different from your oven setting. If you have the time and energy, an oven set at 400F could cook things that need a much lower temperature, provided you shuffle your items in and out of the oven with the correct timing. Perhaps not so convenient, if you needed to set a custard in a water bath at a low temperature.  You may also be limited in cooking that requires very high heat.  For example, while you could bake an edible Neapolitan pizza, on a stone, in a 400F oven, you would simply get a better result in an 550 degree oven (and in less time).  So, practically speaking, I think the bottom line is that, with the exception of some specialty items, the limits here are mostly time and convenience, rather than temperature.  You could eat well using an oven that only had a 400F setting. I would say 475 - 500F would be less practical, but then again, if you only had one setting, you would adjust your cooking to the heat source.


How to prevent greek yoghurt getting more sour

Unfortunately (actually… let's say fortunately) homemade yoghurt still contains a lot of active cultures which will continue to work even after you refrigerate it. Refrigeration will slow that process down, but it will not stop it completely.
There are two (well, three) things you can do to avoid that tart flavor from the active cultures at work:
Refrigerate a portion of the batch early
When you (or rather, your mum) is making a batch of yoghurt, refrigerate a portion of the yoghurt before it is quite "done" and let the rest continue as normal. The refrigerated portion will continue to finish in the refrigerator while you consume the portion that was allowed to achieve that "perfect balance". You can estimate how much yoghurt you should set aside by noting how much you have have left over when it starts to become too sour for your taste. The next time you make yoghurt, set that amount aside (in the refrigerator) to be consumed after the first batch is gone.
Freeze what you cannot consume quickly
This option is far from ideal. You can slow or just about stop the fermentation process by freezing a portion of the yoghurt just after you make it. Unfortunately, when yoghurt is frozen then thawed, it can separate and become somewhat watery and grainy. Sometimes you can mix it back in, but it may not have that wonderfully creamy consistency of the original. You may have to try it and see. Defrosted yoghurt will still be healthy to consume, but some believe you will lose much of the health benefits as the live bacterial cultures can be destroyed by the freezing process.
Or keep it as a frozen treat
You may also consider not defrosting the frozen portion at all. Some people actually enjoy the experience of frozen yoghurt as a healthy snack alternative. If you consume some fresh and some frozen, you can think of it as two treats in one.


Was my coffee actually supposed to be gritty?

Utterly to be expected - the coffee is made with coffee grounds, sugar and water in a small tapered pot. There is no filter. If you want filtered coffee, order something else. There should be grounds on the bottom of the cup. Unless you like grounds, minimal stirring and swirling will help to keep them down there.

This is the coffee that is sometimes described as Strong as [x], Black as [y], Sweet as [z] where x, y, and z are place holders for one of love, hell and death, permuted as suits the mood.


Is everything sealed or is it like when cooking normally?

Slow cookers are definitely not sealed. It'll release odor while cooking (which, depending on what you're making, might be pleasant!) and there's no way to get around the potential mess of transferring food to/from the cooker. You'll want at minimum to have a relatively clean, clear area where you can fill and use the cooker.

That said, the enclosed and relatively weak heating elements of slow cookers generate less excess heat and can be used outside of a kitchen without too much risk. Make sure the surrounding area is relatively clean and free of flammable material for safety; make sure your electrical outlets are likewise in good working order.

  do I need to add water or can I use 6.8 Liters purely for food?

Check out this related answer - you need some sufficient level of liquid for just about any slow-cooked recipe. I would advise you to carefully follow a recipe at first rather than going off-script and trying to develop your own. You'll be better assured of success this way.

(That said: yes, 2 kilograms of chicken should fit in a cooker this large.)

  I want to save time

Keep in mind that they don't call it a "slow" cooker for nothing. These devices are only capable of low, slow heating, and can only be used for recipes that take extended low-temperature cooking, usually at least a few hours. They can't sear, or saute, or boil; they are by design incapable of any fast cooking method. Those methods can be key to developing flavors (browning meat is often quite important) and although you can usually cook safely without them, you don't want to just skip those steps if they're called for in a recipe.

Slow cookers can be convenient in that they can safely run for several hours without being actively tended (unlike, say, a pot on the stove) but how and where this will actually save you time depends on how well you can plan your cooking ahead. If you have an unpredictable schedule, limited refrigerator space to store prepared food, or simply don't want to eat the same thing a few days in a row, a slow cooker probably won't save you time, money, or aggravation.

As noted by @Catija, you could consider a "multi-cooker" as an alternative; that would broaden the variety of cooking you can do, allowing the options of searing or sauteeing whether called for in a slow-cooked recipe or just if you're in a hurry to make dinner. Many of these devices will allow for pressure cooking that cuts down on overall cooking time, and they have enclosed heating elements and other safety mechanisms. Keep in mind though that this would not minimize the mess, odor, etc. of those cooking methods. Oil can splatter whether you're doing it in a pan or a fancy multi-cooker in your bedroom; the same applies to the odor, smoke, and noise involved. These devices are also generally more expensive than a traditional slow cooker, so if you have budgetary constraints you might want to try a cheap slow cooker first, figure out if it works well for you, then upgrade later on.


How should I choose my next step as a cook?

In my view this is pretty simple: make things you want to eat.

As long as you cast your net wide enough as you look for recipe ideas, there will always be new things that you'd love to eat and will learn something from making. And as long as you want to eat the food, you'll be motivated enough to actually follow through and do it.

Most of the time, this will mean making things where you're mostly comfortable with the recipe, but there are some new parts you haven't tried before. It might be new combinations of ingredients and flavors, which will broaden the creative side of your cooking. It might be new techniques, which will enable you to make more things in the future. To oversimplify, when you look at a recipe, if practically every step sounds new or difficult, maybe save it for later; if most of it gives you an "I can do this" feeling, go for it!

It's fine to take on bigger projects too, of course, as long as you go into it with the understanding that you might want to try parts of it by themselves first (or that things might fail the first time).

Either way, be sure to cast a wide net: skim cookbooks, read food blogs, browse recipe database sites or food photography sites, and so on. There's always a lot out there that you'll surely want to try and just don't know it yet.

But above all, just seek out things that look good to you (or your friends/family). The rest will follow.


How much gluten for soft, airy, enriched dough?

You certainly don't need that much gluten for a brioche. A brioche is in fact somewhere between bread and cake, and very different in crumb from high gluten breads. 14% is not even typical bread flour, it is probably bagel flour. It will give you a gummy, resilient crumb even if you manage to bake large holes into it, while for the brioche you want cottony softness with just a hint of springiness so it is not like chomping down on а low quality sheet cake.

First, the amount of gluten in the flour. I have successfully made great brioche style bread (kozunak) with AP flour in the 8-10% range. Kozunak is supposed to have well-developed gluten, which in my experience cannot be substituted by using a flour with high gluten content. It is achieved simply by long kneading by hand, using a good stretch-and-fold for optimal alignment. This is less needed in a French brioche, so you can knead by machine.

Salt does not inhibit gluten, on the contrary it makes it tougher. And sugar is probably difficult to incorporate later and still have it dissolve well. So I would say that you should follow a standard recipe instead of tinkering with the process, so you will probably end up dissolving the sugar in the milk, or foaming it with the eggs, and adding the salt from the beginning. No need for separating the eggs either. You can even use a yolk only recipe for maximum tenderness, but note that the combination of high fat and pure yolk results in a very squishy bread that kinda disappears in the mouth cotton candy style. Start with a good recipe and then experiment with the ratio of egg to yolk from there, if you want to go in that direction.

For extra tenderness, you can try using lard or other solid fats instead of butter, but you will be changing the aroma too, getting something which is still a very tasty bread, but not a classic brioche. Using a liquid sweetener is also possible, but not entirely necessary.

In short, the big change you have to make is to indeed use the proper flour, which would be a very finely milled AP flour. That would overshadow the effect of tweaks in process or ingredient substitution. Once you have gotten the baseline right, you can go into these tweaks to get your recipe to perfection.


The King Arthur website lists the ingredients for that item:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop-img/labels/1416587131567.pdf

It looks like the "sour" flavor comes from several acids (acetic, lactic, and citric). I assume the recipe calls for "sour" flavor instead of being a sourdough recipe like a traditional rye bread would be. Pickle juice may be a good substitute, since it's mainly vinegar [i.e. acetic acid]. The "bread improver" also includes wheat gluten, which may be helpful if you're using a non-bread flour (bread flour contains more gluten than whole wheat or AP flours).


What's the difference between serving from a ceramic plate and metal plate?

It is completely a matter of aesthetics, other than the tendency of a metal plate to bring its contents to room temperature more quickly due to its higher thermal conductivity compared to ceramic.


How to clean and maintain cast iron lids

We use kosher salt to clean (still-warm) cast-iron by pouring in a handful then rubbing around with a (usually paper) towel. The kosher salt grain size is just right to be an abrasive for removing excess grease and other food particles, and you don't have to worry about it melting. Then a wash with hot water and a little soap to complete the washing, followed by a rinse. To avoid rust, we dry the pan by putting it on the stove, high flame, until the water has evaporated.
We have to re-season the pan every once in a while (once or twice a year), but this method has worked well for us.


How to prevent pizza dough from stretching back

Funny enough I was until recently working under a certified pizzaiolo. Are you allowing it to rest properly? How long are you kneading it for? What is your method for shaping your dough?

Edited to add from a later comment (I don't really see the point, it's right there after all):

Pizza dough, particularly if you are using proper 00 flour, needs a solid ten minutes of kneading before it rests. Resting time will vary depending on temperature and so on, but 2 hours seems excessive to me. Don't ever use a rolling pin to shape pizza dough; you've spent all that time working air into the dough, why squeeze it all out? Shape by hand, pulling towards you with your left while pushing away in a windshield wiper motion with your right and rotating the dough slightly on each pass.


Why is ciabatta poolish usually made with instant yeast?

Commercially produced yeast has been around since the mid-late 1800s, and the commercial strains we use today have been around since the 40s while Ciabatta was invented in 1982. So while ciabatta seems like it's a very old traditional thing it is relatively new, and commercial yeast was widely available.


Most mozzarella recipes call for a combination of citric acid and rennet to produce a stretchy curd, vinegar (or a different acid) alone may not be sufficient.  Curds used to make mozzarella need to be able to melt. According to "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee, certain cheeses do not melt well and therefore can't be used for mozzarella:

  These include Indian paneer and Latin queso blanco, Italian ricotta, and most fresh goat cheeses; all of them are curdled exclusively or primarily by means of acid, not rennet. Rennet creates a malleable structure of large casein micelles held together by relatively few calcium atoms and hydrophobic bonds, so this structure is readily weakened by heat. Acid, on the other hand, dissolves the calcium glue that holds the casein proteins together in micelles, and it eliminates each protein’s negative electrical charge, which would otherwise cause the proteins to repel each other. The proteins are free to flock together and bond extensively into microscopic clumps. So when an acid curd is heated, the first thing to be shaken loose is not the proteins, but water: the water boils away, and this simply dries out and concentrates the protein even further.

Additionally, some pasteurization processes used with milk intended for drinking can adversely affect its ability to for a curd cohesive enough to be heated and stretched into mozzarella.


Why does rice flour or cornstarch produce crispier crusts than wheat flour?

My guess would be a lack of gluten in those flours. Gluten makes dough sticky and dense, so adding flours with little to no gluten might make it less sticky and thus crispier.


Is it a good idea to cook stew in the oven in a stainless steel pot?

Conventional wisdom says use the dutch oven. Why? Because dutch ovens are heavy and have a lot of thermal mass. Higher thermal mass tends to even out the temperature experienced by the food inside of the cooking vessel. All ovens oscillate above and below the set temperature. That means an oven set to 250 may oscillate between 225 and 275 to maintain an average of 250.

That said, when cooking wet foods in the oven the quality of the cooking vessel really doesn't seem to matter. A less conductive material may take longer to cook the food, but from a scorching or food quality standpoint I think you will find there is no appreciable difference.

If we were talking cooking bread in a pre-heated dutch oven vs a pre-heated flimsy steel pot, there would be a big difference.


Buying a "blender" that can purée a potato

Your requirements appear to be for a "raw food" blender, the motor on those units are typically well above 500 watts (1000+ Watts).  This enables harder/tough foods (such as ice, kale, nuts) to be broken down smooth enough that no sieving is required, with less risk of overheating the motor.  Note: when a blender has a nut bag, or a nut bag option, it alludes to potentially not able to break down harder food without leaving noticeable particles.

There are a few blenders suitable for raw food enthusiasts, depending on each model they may have a:

Tamper
Higher rpm (20,000+ rpm)
Higher power (500 Watts — 1000+ Watts/2–3 horsepower)
Compared to a standard blender (typically 200–400 Watts)
Different jug design/dimensions (width/height)
Different speeds and/or cycles/programmed settings (e.g. smoothie, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, clean, etc.)
Different Blade designs
Smaller portion containers (capsule/bullet shaped)

A tamper is usually provided to allow the user to push food items back towards the blade.  When a tamper is not included on some of the other blenders it may be due to a different blade design along with a different power motor.  This may cause all of the food in the blender to be pulled back to the blade by the vortex it creates, thus alleviating the need for human intervention.

The price variance between blenders is wide, and quite expensive for some of the higher performance models.  Intrinsically some research into refurbished models.

In direct answer to the questions from OP.

  What is it about a blender that allows it to make a good purée rather than just mixing things easily?
  Does anybody know what makes a machine capable of making a good purée as opposed to just blending, especially when both kinds are sold as “blenders”.

Mainly power of the motor, and the blade design enables the blender to breakdown hard foods completely.  Regular blenders do not have the power, nor the cooling ability for the motor to operate at long enough periods - even some models that market suitability for crushing ice can be known to overheat/fail.

  Should I be looking for ones with different options for blades like a food processor, to make it well suited to different purposes? E.g. I have seen blades just for milkshakes.
  In general, how do you shop for one when the only information a seems to be total power and the number of presets?

Blenders that have a high power motor, high rpm, and/or market its suitability for ice/nut butters/hard spices (e.g. nutmeg), indicate potential.  Where possible, check reviews (where blending nuts has been tested) or better still, when the blender has demonstrations.  You may be able to request a demo on nuts, if so you could taste or strain this into a sieve or paper towel/kitchen towel — to check for any particles that have not broken down.


What happens if you cook chocolate pudding too long on a double boiler?

Try using a heat diffuser for your hot plate/burner. You can get them quite inexpensively on Amazon and other places.


What's a good nondairy substitute for parmesan/grana padano as a salad-topper?

The main things that Parmesan cheese can add to a salad are fattiness and salt. The first thing that comes to mind for me is bacon. You could probably also make a yummy main dish salad (or hearty first course) by adding duck or a cured meat such as salami.

If you're not interested in adding meat, how about olives? Those would serve similar purposes. Other options might be marinated artichoke hearts or mushrooms. Just make sure you choose ones that aren't too tart, as they might add to the effect of the lemon vinaigrette.


Is it possible to fry vegetables in cream?

Short answer:  cream is far from ideal as a frying medium.

In the US at least, heavy cream is about 35% milkfat.   Recently, I have learned the UK has a product called double cream which is closer to 50% milkfat.

So what is the rest of the cream, if it is only 50% milkfat at the high end?   It is water, with dissolved milk solids and minerals.

Even butter is only about 80% milkfat--the rest is an emulsion of water and milk solids in the main milkfat phase.   When butter is made, one by product is buttermilk (the old fashioned kind, as opposed to the modern cultured milk product) which is the remainder of the liquid components in the cream after the butter precipitates.  The essence of making ghee is separating the milkfat from the other components.

What does all of this mean?  Cream would be far from an ideal medium for frying, as the water would have to evaporate before the temperature could rise to frying levels.

It may be possible in some way by reducing the cream until only essentially the fat is left, and then frying in that, but it doesn't seem very practical.  I am not sure how you would do it without introducing many off flavors from scorching or burning the milk solids.   I could not find any references to such a thing when googling, although the results for fried ice cream did tend to predominate.

If you want to fry in cream--use ghee.  It is highly concentrated milkfat.


What are some things to consider when choosing a salt?

Most of the issues come down to the additives and the shape of the salt.

Some people find that iodized salt gives some off flavors, while sea salts will have regional differences in their mineral content that affects the flavor.

In my mind, the bigger issue is the shape of the salt:

Kosher / flake salt : See Darin's comments for examples of some of the benefits.
Pretzel salt : large crystals, gives a crunch when eating it.
Popcorn & Pickling salt : fine crystals; will disolve in room-temp water and stick well to relatively dry items.  Pickling salt is uniodized.
Rock salt : good for salting paths and salting ice to bring down the temp when churning ice cream.

For general baking, or salting water for cooking, I tend to stick with cheap, old fashioned table salt, in part so I don't have to convert recipes.  And I use iodized, because I don't eat out much, or eat much seafood or processed foods.

For general cooking, I tend to use kosher salt, mostly because I keep it in a container I can easily get a pinch of.

I've never bothered with most gourmet sea salts ... maybe I'm not using enough, but other than smoked salts, I don't really taste the difference.


Stiff vs Liquid Starter, what are the differences between hydration in a sourdough starter?

So it seems that there's not a vast difference between stiff vs liquid starters if we're comparing it's usage for home bakers like myself.
However, from experimentation, there's subtle differences in the way that you feed, store and refeed the starters that have yield different results in the final baked product.
Context
Stiff starters, also known as pasta madre (italian for mother dough) is typically used in panettone. Due to the richness of panettone, isn't isn't easy for gluten development in a rich mixture as compared to plain sourdough bread (as noted when trying to make sourdough brioche/cookies vs bread etc).
The obvious differences between stiff vs liquid starters in the final product.

Stiff

can generally be keep longer in the fridge if wrapped (doesn't develop hooch/grey skin)
has a more sour taste
due to the lower hydration of the starter, dough shaping is a bit easier/more forgiving

Recommendations:

use in rich doughs, bread loaf pan (develops tight texture, very enjoyable to eat)

Liquid

need to kept in an airtight container to prevent hooch (you'll still have it, but its less dominant than compared to a loose sealed container).
turns grey within 5-7 days, which should still be usable
haven't found it as sour compared to stiff starters
need to be precise with water hydration (I tend to get more liquid doughs)

Recommendations: use for sourdough, wholewheat etc


The only thing you did wrong was to try to poach an egg in oil, at least hot oil. Dropping an egg into really hot oil is going to cause all the water in the egg to turn to steam very quickly, hence the nuclear mutant effect you no doubt got.

If you want to poach in oil then you need to keep the temperature way down. I don't see any reason you couldn't poach eggs in oil as long as it's below the boiling point of water. I could see both benefits and drawbacks to that method, if you try it please post the result. The viscosity of oil may help keep the egg together, then again the result is likely to be greasy, which defeats the purpose of poaching.

As for other fluids where poaching yields something more pleasant, why not water? It's what eggs are typically poached in, it works well, and it's cheap. As for other things I've poached with, the best result was salmon poached in Champagne. I made that for my girlfriend and she ended up marrying me. It can't be me, so it must be my cooking.


Is there an alternative wrap for spring rolls other than rice paper?

The non-rice paper rolls are probably made with wheat flour instead of rice flour, so they should be just as sturdy and stand up to deep frying as well or better than rice paper, which has always been fairly delicate and hard to work with in my limited experience.

Here is an image of flour egg roll wrappers in their uncooked state:


Is it possible to resume baking brownies the day after?

It's unlikely to work very well. The outside, which is already cooked, would come up to oven temperature almost immediately. Then you have to wait for the inside to get hot enough to cook, by which time the outside is burnt.

I suggest you might be better off cutting them first (assuming you baked them in a tray) then cooking a little more before serving warm. This means less far for the heat to penetrate, but also gives you the chance to check whether they're just underdone or actually uncooked. That's not easy to test with a skewer, especially with something that's meant to be moist. The difference is that raw or even worse slight warmed brownie mix doesn't keep at room temperature overnight while cooked brownies do (for several days). You'd only be using doneness as a proxy for temperature but it's a good one in this case.


What is the difference between Prime Rib and a Standing Rib Roast?

I just happened across this older question and found the answers provided, including the information in the link to wikipedia to be incorrect.

All Prime Ribs are Standing Rib Roasts, not all Standing Rib Roasts are Prime Rib.

[see edit below] A "Prime Rib" is a standing rib roast, from a beef that has
achieved a USDA Grade of "Prime".
Bone-In or Bone-out are separate distinctions the can be applied to
any standing rib roast, regardless of grade.

  U.S. Prime – This is the highest grade of beef with the most fat
  marbling. This meat is very tender and only accounts for about 2.9% of
  all graded beef. U.S. Prime is usually reserved for high end dining
  establishments. Because this beef has such a high level of fat
  marbling, it is excellent for dry heat cooking methods. from: http://foodreference.about.com/od/Meat/a/Usda-Beef-Grades.htm

Also, technically a Prime Rib is not a 'steak' but rather a 'slice of roast'. If one takes a slice from a raw rib primal and grills or broils it as a steak it is a "Rib Eye", and can also be either "bone-in" or "bone-out". (the use of the word 'primal' refers to a primary cut of beef, the first cuts a butcher will use to section a beef beyond quartering, it is utterly unrelated to the word "prime" in "Prime Rib" )

[Edit 12-21-17: Additional research indicates I had causality inverted. The USDA choose the term "Prime" because of the popularity of "Prime Rib", a term that apparently existed before the USDA grading system. More importantly the 'Prime Rib' is cut from between the #6 and #12 ribs, but may be of a grade other than 'Prime'. However, the initial point remains true that "All Prime Ribs are standing Rib Roasts, but not all Standing Rib Roasts are Prime Ribs". The 'Standing Rib Roast' may include (or be exclusively) from outside the 6-12 range. The potential difference being from where within the rib primal the roast is cut.]


1 divided by 4 is 0.25, so yes. 4 times 0.25 is also 1, so yes again.


How do I use a Convection Microwave Oven Hybrid?

It depends what mode of cooking you're doing. There are a few possibilities:

convection: heating with a heating element (no microwave power), circulating with the fan
microwave: heating with microwaves, no fan
microwave+convection: heating with microwaves, also using the fan (and possibly a heating element, who knows)

If you're in convection mode, it's just a small oven, so everything needs to be oven-safe, but you don't have to worry about microwave safety. You likely need to use the rack, and it's possible you need to remove the turntable (check the manual).

If you're in microwave mode, it's just a microwave, so everything has to be microwave-safe, but you don't have to worry about oven safety. Note that this may mean you'll need to remove the rack (check the manual).

If your appliance has an actual combination microwave+convection mode, you'd need both oven safety and microwave safety.

In all cases, it'll be best to just check the manual to be sure - you need to know what the modes are (and what the buttons on your microwave do), and what the rack and turntable are okay with. In particular, you want to be very sure if you're expecting microwave-only or convection-only; if you accidentally end up with microwave+convection, it could be an unpleasant surprise.


Some muffins with very thick batter can be held for up to several days before being baked, but these are the exception, rather than the rule.

However, quick breads, whether sliced loaves, whole loaves, or muffins, freeze extremely well.  Muffins are especially easy to reheat in the microwave or a toaster oven, and can be an ideal way to have quick breads prepared in advance.

Another way (which offers fresh, hotly baked breads) that I like I do before busy holidays that will have muffins or cornbread on the menu, is to prepare the dry mix, and the wet mix, and stick them (separately) into the refrigerator.   Then, it is only a matter of combining them, putting them in the pan, and baking.


As stated by Logophobe below, you can of course substitute ingredients as you like. I personally find subbing beef for lamb or vice versa a bit risky though.

Lamb in general has a much milder taste of itself and thus requires a sauce and other accompanyments that do not overpower the taste of the meat. In your case this could mean that the sauce will be too weak as an accompanyment to beef.

In a case such as this and not knowing the actual recipe I would suggest replacing the Pinot Noir with a somewhat more fragrant red wine (a new world Merlot low on tannines should do nicely). You could also make the sauce more rounded by adding some crushed juniper berries.

Should you want to stick to your original recipe, you might try just reducing the sauce a little more than you usually would.


What are purple small Brinjals called in English?

In Britain (and France), the large purple varieties are known as aubergines. Other (pale and/or small) varieties aren't usually found outside of Asian supermarkets, where I imagine they are still referred to as brinjal.

The name 'eggplant' is used in the US, Canada, and the Antipodes, mainly because the lighter varieties are more common there, which arguably have the colour of eggshell.

They are, however, all just different varieties of the same plant, like yellow and red tomatoes.


Why does my cauliflower puree taste mustardy after two days?

The flavor / odor notes you're experiencing are probably sulfuric compounds. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower contain sulfiric compounds that are released on cooking. That's why the stir-fried crisp-tender broccoli tastes so different from the limp overcooked olive green florets. Similar to how spicy salsa fresca grows ever spicier after a couple days in the fridge, your puree is slowly continuing that "cooking" process.

It's still okay to eat, but you'll be less aware of the flavor change if you use it in a more highly spiced dish once it's a couple days old.


Is it safe to leave a gas oven on unattended?

The US Fire Administration clearly recommends not leaving cooking appliances unattended when no one is home:

Based on 2006-2010 annual averages:

Unattended cooking was by far the leading contributing factor in home cooking fires.
[...]
Ranges accounted for the largest share (58%) of home cooking fire incidents. Ovens accounted for 16%.

At the time this related answer was written, the Fire Administration said (they have since updated the page):

The leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking.

Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the
stove.
If you are simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a timer
to remind you that you're cooking.
Stay alert! To prevent cooking fires, you have to be alert. You won't be if you are sleepy, have been drinking alcohol, or have taken
medicine that makes you drowsy.


Without knife skills, how can I quickly and accurately dice vegetables?

Try a mandoline. If you're not familiar, it's a gadget that has a horizontal blade for slicing as you slide food across it. Most have a dial that allows you to adjust thickness or to create julienne or "French-fry" shape. You can then just do one more chop to turn the "fries" into dice.

Aside from that, I'd be remiss if I didn't make a plug for improving knife skills! :)

practice practice practice! It's worth the time investment.
class! I took a 2-hour knife skills class at a local kitchen supply store. I went from mediocre to slightly-better-than-mediocre knife skillz in no time! You'll learn some tips and tricks to make it go more smoothly.

Good luck.


Here are the ingredients that the manufacturer’s website gives for Oatly Full Fat:

  Oatmilk (water, oats), low erucic acid rapeseed oil. Contains 2% or less of: dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, dicalcium phosphate, DHA algal oil, sodium ascorbate (antioxidant), tocopherols (antioxidant), riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin D2, vitamin B12.

I doubt that you can get the full-fat flavour or texture without adding fat.

The question then becomes how you keep the fat in an emulsion with the water and oats. As the use of heat has been suggested in comments, I would suggest experimenting with making a roux of the oil and fine ground oats and proceed as though making a thin white sauce.


How to calculate the calorie content of cooked food?

If you are concerned about the impact of whatever difference in calorie count cooked vs. raw makes, you are cutting it pretty fine. The margin for error is likely very small--probably smaller than your measuring errors, or the inaccuracy of your kitchen (or bathroom) scale.

Keeping an eye on calories is fine for weight loss. Reducing calorie intake and/or increasing calorie burning is the only proven way to do it. But looking out to avoid that 20 calorie margin of error suggests that either you're not cutting enough calories in the first place that 20 matters, or you're tormenting yourself over things you shouldn't be worried about. Cut yourself some slack, and don't sweat the small stuff. The simple act of realistically monitoring how much you eat is more likely to help you than obsessing over every single calorie.


Ceramic blades can only be sharpened against something that is harder than it is.  I would recommend sending it back to the manufacturer for sharpening if needed.  Typically it is done using a very hard abrasive wheel because of the risk of the blade breaking, you do not want to do this without proper safety equipment.


Is there a hand blender with a metal coupling connection?

Coupling design matters more than material.  If you make your coupling short and thin, concentrating all the force in a small area, it will strip even it's metal.  Conversely, a well-designed coupling is longer, so the strain is spread over a large area.

I have a Cuisinart CSB-76 hand (immersion) blender, and it has handled ice numerous times without any problems.  It has a plastic coupling, but it is a good 3 cm long to spread out the force over more material.  If I recall correctly, the professional-grade Vitamix blender also uses a plastic coupling, but with careful engineering to prevent problems.

It is now common to advertise kitchen appliances based on their motor's power (700 watts in this case), but many of these appliances will have mechanical failures if called on to deliver that much power.  I suspect that you'd be better served to look for a lower-power blender from a reputable brand with good consumer reviews.  I don't think the professional-grade immersion blenders I've used in restaurant kitchens are rated to more than 400 watts.

Personally, I recommend the Cuisinart CSB-76, and have never had a case where I needed more than its 200W.


Which type of chocolate to use for covering a coconut ball

I would use the hardest local dark chocolate I could find that does not melt easily as the other ingredients are quite sweet already and you don't need more sweetness.
However, as I'm advising hard chocolate, microwaving will be out of the question and as you're a beginner, I would  melt the chocolate  "Au bain marie" instead:

Nearly fill a big kettle with water and submerge a second smaller kettle inside it and then put the chocolate inside kettle 2 and put the entire contraption on your stove. Please ensure the inner kettle has a lid on it so that no moisture from the boiling water gets into the chocolate!
Once the chocolate has melted, try putting your pinky in the melted chocolate:  if you can keep your pinky in the chocolate for 5 seconds without burning yourself, it's at the right temperature.  ;-)  If you have a thermometer, let it cool down to above whatever the melting point was (measure while melting: it depends on the chocolate.)
Take a soup spoon full of chocolate and put the ball inside and then drip some more chocolate on top with a coffee spoon: this will not only make it easier for a first try, but will also look good as you'll get that "dripped" home-made effect.
If you have good moulds, fill them half up with chocolate, then put your ball inside and then close them:  the ball should now be encased in chocolate.
Whichever method you use: put them in the fridge for cooling down and take them out one hour before serving.
Enjoy!


While @Brendan's answer is the correct one as it comes directly from the manufacturer, the risk with glass and other ceramics is not that it will start to leach chemicals into the water, but rather that the glass has been subjected to heat in an abnormal and uneven fashion (the heat is at the bottom and localized, the top will be coolish).

This uneven heating could potentially lead to stresses on the glass that are not visible to the naked eye, but have resulted in microfractures or general weakening of the glass structure. As a result the kettle could potentially collapse/shatter, especially if filled to a high level and boiled. This would result in large volumes of boiling water being released and could result in burns from direct contact with the water and from steam.


Storing cut button mushrooms vs whole button mushrooms

Anything will spoil more quickly if cut than if whole. It's all a matter of surface area.

The bacteria/fungi/mold/whatever can only attack the surface that is open to the air. When you cut the mushrooms, you open more surface up to attack, and hence they will be affected  more quickly. This is equally true for dehydration and loss of flavour (by evaporation), which are also linked to surface area.

With regards to spoiled mushrooms, a quick sinff will usually give away any dodgy mushrooms. They tend to stink like nobody's business when they've gone south. If they look right and smell right, they're most probably fine.