In general, we can assume that it will never boil off to zero. By a combination of reduction and dilution we can get to undetectable levels, less than in ripe fruit and some breads.  The "zero BAC" requirement has to be able to handle people eating normal foods, so tends to have some margin, just not enough to have a drink.
To do this you'd simmer the wine on its own until significantly reduced, top up with water to the original volume, then use. The amount of wine per portion in many dishes is low anyway - not in everything of course, but there's often more stock than wine, further diluting it.
If this doesn't go far enough, de-alcoholised wines vary with jurisdiction but are often 0.5% or even 0.05%, the latter being less than some fruit juices, and less than vinegar (link to a recent answer of mine, where I discuss a relevant scientific paper). The alcohol in those has been removed by a more effective process than simple simmering.


Can I still use butter that's been left out for 2 days?

Yes, that should be fine. Plenty of people keep butter on the counter, so a couple days at below 50 is no big deal.


What is the easiest way to remove chicken leg/drumstick tendons?

Based on your comments, the likely issue is with the pliers you're using.  I doubt that the relatively small set included in a multi-function knife is going to have enough grip to hang on to a slippery tendon.

I'd try a pair of (very, very clean) needle-nose pliers, like so:

They're readily available and inexpensive, so it's probably worth getting a dedicated set for the kitchen; these are also good for other fine, messy tasks like removing fish bones.  You should be able to get a much more secure grip on the tendons this way.  If they still won't pull out easily, try wriggling them back and forth a little perpendicular to the long axis of the bone.


Garam masala powder is a spice blend, other than some anti-caking agents it's almost pure spices. Pastes are spices mixed with oil and maybe water and other ingredients like garlic, chili, pepper, tamarind, and others so they aren't an exact equivalent. Taking garam masala paste in particular if you look at patak's product the spices are only 23% of the total weight, the rest is water, oil, garlic powder and tamarind paste. You would need to add 4 tbsps of paste to get the same amount of spice as 1tbsp of garam masala powder, plus you will be getting extra flavors like garlic and tamarind in the mix.


Is this type of vegetable peeler effective?

The difference between that and what you already have is really just the position of the blade with respect to the handle. With that, you pull along the direction of the handle to peel, while with your current one, you push perpendicular to the handle. (Assuming I understood your description of your current peeler right, anyway.) Which of the two you prefer may be mostly personal preference, though I find that the angle you end up holding your hands at is nicer when you're pushing perpendicular.

You haven't said why you hate your current one, but I'm guessing it's because it's dull, and possibly uncomfortable to grip the handle in order to exert the force you need. (Note that it takes more force when it's dull.)

So your problem may well be solved simply by getting a new, sharper peeler, preferably one with a handle you find comfortable to hold. I'd suggest going to a physical store and actually holding them to get an idea of what you like.

Ceramic vs metal blades is a factor too, of course - ceramic holds the edge better. But I'd worry first about getting something comfortable to use. Better to have something comfortable to hold that has to be replaced a little more often than a nice sharp ceramic blade attached to a handle you hate.


Depends on the oil, when we infuse like to think of it as steeping not boiling or heating to the point of just below the smoke point as the spices will cook and not infuse, some will also become bitter. I also suggest you put your chilis in all at once or toward the end of the infusion process if you are layering the flavor or want a less intense flavor. Also are your oils for dressings or for cooking? If they are for dressings they will keep their integrity when your process is finished, heating or cooking the oil will alter the taste you may be aiming for. Two different animals. Lastly I personally prefer grape seed or light olive oil for infusing.

Cheers!

EDG


What does "curd" mean in a South Asian recipe?


Oven features required/desirable for baking bread at home

Probably also not a complete answer (can there ever be for such questions?), but the main criteria for me with a focus on bread would be (in no particular order):

Maximum temperature.
For bread, 250°C is usually good, but speaking from experience, the step from bread to pizza is small and for those, the hotter the better.
Sturdy rails and racks.
I bake my bread either on a stone (2.5 cm thick, rectangular, almost as large as a baking sheet, not the flimsy round ones sometimes sold as pizza stone) or in a rather large Dutch oven. Especially the stone is heavy and I still pull out the rack halfway for some breads, because it’s easier to maneuver them. That’s a serious bit of load.
A non-fan top and bottom heat option.
Yes, people make good bread in fan ovens, but I have also had issues with hot air blowing onto one side (remember that turning a half-baked bread is not a good idea, as opposed to some cakes), and the fan can also prematurely “blow away” the very important steam. If you can set top and bottom heat separately, it’s nice, but not that important.
A non-crucial but actually neat feature for bakers can be a timer that starts or stops your oven at a given time. My stone needs quite some time to heat through and a timer means that I can set it to pre-heat well before I get up, then I can just take my overnight breakfast buns straight from the fridge to the oven when I get up and we have them for breakfast with maximum convenience. But that’s just a very personal preference, not a determining feature in my opinion. I have also used it for other timed applications and it was especially handy when the kids were smaller and life a lot more unpredictable in general.

Apart from the specific use case, there’s one feature that I miss a lot at the oven I am using at the moment:

A self-cleaning function.
Of course running the pyrolysis cycle uses a lot of energy, but I hate scrubbing the oven, especially the little nooks and vent openings and roasting a chicken or something that does splatter leaves a mess, no matter how careful you are. And instead of harsh chemicals, you just need a humid  cloth and perhaps some all-purpose cleaner to wipe out the ash.

A few thoughts about the various extras:
Unless you already know what you are going to use the specific features for, I wouldn’t pay extra for them, as there’s a good chance that you won’t be using them. If the oven you selected for its basic features anyway comes with some of them, fine. If your budget is large enough and you just want them for a reason (even “just because”), that’s of course another case.
And remember that the more features you have, the more can fail - a separate meat thermometer can be exchanged cheaply (or you can use multiple ones or one that connects to an app, or...), a built-in one would need either a costly repair or you would switch to a separate one in that case. Just for example.
I struggle to see how “special programs” for bread would cover the many cases of bread - your Scandinavian rye needs a totally different baking temperature gradient and time as, for example, a fougasse. But I admit I haven’t explicitly researched the feature.


For a fully cooked, spiral sliced or sliced ham, I usually wrap the ham in foil and heat in a slow cooker on low for 2-3 hours depending on the size of the ham.  Otherwise, there should be heating instructions on the package concerning the temperature and length of time to cook per pound.


How do I deal with a really wet, messy dough?

For very high hydration loaves, you want to create your gluten development without adding an excess of flour which would reduce the relative hydration.

This video from Italyum Recipes shows the classic stretch, slap and fold method, using a 70% hydration dough.  Basically, you lift the entire dough from the work surface, allow it to stretch under its own weight, then slam it down again.  Rinse and repeat.

A somewhat less labor instensive method is described at The Fresh Loaf (the article has a lot of introductory material, keep reading and there are really clear instructions with lots of photos):

Initially stir the dough together until it is is a thick and cohesive liquid, which the author describes as "like porridge."
Use the stretch and fold method of kneading to create some development:

Flour your work surface moderately
Pour the dough out onto the surface
Use your bench knife knife (also called a dough scraper) to lift and drop the dough back on itself, stretching it. See this image from the Fresh Loaf:

Allow the dough to rest and autolyse, that is, develop gluten from the reaction of the water and precursor proteins in the presence of enzymes naturally in the flour.   This limits the amount of hand kneading you have to do.
Repeat the stretch and fold method a couple of times to get the final development

Finally, note that very wet doughs can also be kneaded entirely in a stand mixer simply by beating them for a couple of minutes.   These doughs are wet enough to be nearly pourable, and do not climb and clump onto the paddle; if they do, the hydration is not high enough for this method, and you need to use the dough hook instead.


Why are my metal tools scraping off the patina of my wok?

It can take years to build up a strong patina, and to smooth off your tools so they don't dig in

Relax, just wash it with a plastic scourer (3M green type), oil it and heat it up on your burner (tilt the wok to reach the high sides)

The damage seems mainly in the 'off' zone, so it shouldn't effect your cooking process too much

The main issue is that most woks are cheaply made, and not hand beaten, but 'metal spun', and have concentric groves which catch the tools. Not much you can do about it, and not worth worrying about


Please explain my meat dry curing observations

There are several variables that need to be considered to properly and safely dry cure meat...temperature, humidity, ph level, for example.  Just on the topic of moisture loss, however...you will not be able to tell simply by looking.  People who do this for a living can tell by touching...most of us weigh our product before hanging.  In general, when there is a 30% reduction in weight, the meat is properly cured (given that all of the other variables have been properly dealt with).

Meat getting harder means it is drying, however it could be drying too fast.  In this case the outside will dry before the inside has a chance to.  If this is the case, the meat will not be pleasant to eat, but more importantly you could have a potential safety issue.  Proper humidity and temperature will help control this....around 60 degrees F (15 C) and 60 - 70 percent humidity.

As far as salt goes, be sure to use some sort of curing salt.

I recommend reading up on the process.  Many things can go wrong and you can make you and your guests sick very easily.


It is difficult to predict when you will reach your foiling target, but the general rule of thumb for pulled pork at your stated cooking temperature is about 1.5 hours per pound, with some general allowances for margin of error.

I would plan on the entire cook taking about 5-6 hours, but be ready for it to be finished in 4. At about 3 hours, start checking temperatures to determine when you will want to foil your roast.

Final note: If your intent is to make pulled pork, do NOT assume that it is done just because it is at 190f. Your thermometer probe should slide in and out of the meat with virtually zero resistance.


What caused my blueberry muffins to come out flat?

The difference was definitely not caused by the salted or unsalted butter. It is also very unlikely that the problem was the flour.

Some of the usual reasons for muffins to come out flat are:

you forgot the baking powder (but then they are a complete failure, I guess you would have noticed if that had happened)
you measured by volume instead of by weight. This is very imprecise and can easily result in too little baking powder for the amount of other ingredients. You should use a recipe given in grams and a kitchen scale, if you want consistent results.
you let the prepared batter sit for too long before putting it into the oven, and the baking powder spent itself before the baking began
you baked at a wrong temperature, so the batter hardened either too early or too late.
you used ingredients at the wrong temperature (your eggs came from the fridge, your butter wasn't softened or you tried to soften it in a warm place and it melted, etc.) Always start with room temperature ingredients for baking.

You don't give us enough information to know which happened, but if you want to have good muffins every time, avoid these common mistakes and your muffins have a good chance of looking good in every batch.


What is the name of this style of knife?

I believe it is a frozen food saw. The serration is very small like you would need to saw through frozen fish for example. Given that it was made in Japan, I believe it is a YAX brand knife/saw. While I couldn't find that exact style from them, they did make some that were very similar.

Google Image Search "yax frozen food saw" and you'll see several.


If "sharp" means too much alcohol left, bring it back to a simmer and cook off more of it, then adjust with more cream if needed.

If "sharp" means too acidic, your options are:

(1) add more cream and other ingredients to dilute the acid
(2) try to mask the acid with a bit of sugar
(3) I guess you could try to neutralize the acid with a very small amount of something basic, like baking soda. But that seems like a bad idea, it will probably taste terrible.


Could a cast iron skillet change its ways and be kosher for a vegan?

There are a few aspects to consider, but will always boil down to "you have to ask the individual".

Making a piece of cookware "safe" for a given person involves two components:

Removing the contaminant in question in a manner that will prevent accidental ingestion of said contaminant.
Making the item seem un-contaminated. At first glance this is similar to the first part, but has less to do with the physical molecules, and more to do with people's perception of cleanliness, as seen through their cultural lens. If a toothbrush falls on the bathroom floor, many people will throw it away because of the persistant sensation of uncleanliness, even if a dishwasher cycle would be more than enough to satisfy point 1. "Is it clean?" is as much about physics as it is about perception and intent.

For vegans and vegetarians, there are no guidelines of any kind. Individuals who are vegan or vegetarian for primarily environmental or health reasons will probably be satisfied with any simple cleaning to meet condition 1, and are probably unconcerned with item 2, as it applies to meat. Vegans and vegetarians who are primarily motivated by ethics will be more impacted by item 2, and may prefer not to eat off the pan. While some may be satisfied by various "rituals", there is no standard for such rituals.

For people who keep Kosher, some sects of Judaism allow for "kashering", which is the process of making something previously un-Kosher into something Kosher. Kashering is partially about item 1, but is primarily about item 2 - in some cases the cleaning is highly ritualized. Note that while there are some common themes to kashering, different sects will see the acts very differently, and may or may not "allow" certain methods for their followers.

For some appliances the process is fairly easy - a stainless steel sink can be Kashered with boiling water. Porcelain is seen as porous, and in many cases cannot be kashered (exceptions can be made for valuable old items, but they must remain unused for over a year). Ovens and oven-safe cooking items can be put through a self-cleaning cycle (around 800F), and must be thoroughly cleaned of all debris. Cast iron pans and other fry pans must have their entire seasoned coating removed, abrasively and/or through extremely high heat. The bare pan may then be re-seasoned in a proper way. Many consider that to be too extreme to be worth the time, and simple replacement of the cast iron cookware is advised.

Some examples of Kashering processes, though various sub-communities will see these items differently:

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/kosherfaq/ht/htkoshkitch.htm
http://www.kashrut.com/Passover/kashering/

Ultimately, everyone will fall into a different place on the Item 1/Item 2 scale, and their habits or religion alone may not allow you to easily predict their reaction. In some cases, Jews determine that being an ungrateful guest is a greater sin than eating from a non-Kosher pan. Some vegans may find the pan forever unclean, but many will also take a more practical attitude when eating with friends than they would with their own cookware.

The best you can do is to take a good guess at whether someone is an Item 1 or and Item 2 prioritizer, and act accordingly. People who highly prioritize Item 2 will probably never be OK with your cast iron pan. People who prioritize Item 1 will probably be satisfied with any solid cleaning such as a heavy salt scrub with very hot water, and a re-oiled surface with an acceptable variety of oil.

In a world where wider groups of cultures are finding themselves in the same place, and individuals are thinking more about their own diets and making a broader range of food choices, it is becoming more acceptable to just ask. You should be able to ask someone, "Would you mind if this pan had been used to prepare meat in the past?" and not have them be offended, or yourself be offended at their answer (if they say "yes, I do mind"). I have so many friends with different dietary choices and traditions that I'm used to asking in dinner invites, "What is everyone's dietary situation right now?" No one is offended by the question, and their honest answers make it easy (and fun) to put together a meal that everyone will enjoy.


What does it mean to 'salt' a steak prior to frying?

Yes that's exactly what it means, apply salt to the steak. You shouldn't coat it, but you should apply salt very liberally. It's actually hard to over-salt a steak; many inexperienced cooks actually underseason the steak.

I suggest about 1 tsp per side for a good ribeye. Salt it about 10-15 minutes prior.


Eggs smelled bad but not anymore when I put them in the ref

Based on the circumstances and your comments, I'd have to guess that the eggs probably just taken out of the crates they were stored in, and therefore the egg smell built up in the cellulose carton.


Can you make Sous Vide Steak in a Pressure Cooker?

I'm afraid you have gotten something wrong.

Sous-vide and pressure cooking are, as far as food physics is concerned, on the opposite ends of the scale.

Pressure cooking allows you to increase the boiling point of water, thus reducing the cooking time. (Bad idea for a tender steak, btw., as soon as you exceed a certain temperature, the proteins in the meat change irreversibly and the meat gets tough.)
Sous-vide uses temperatures way below the boiling point, combined with a very extended cooking time. This means you can safely and slowly bring your steak to the desired core temperature without the risk of overcooking and thus toughening the meat. A final sear is just a finishing touch, not technically a necessity for cooking the meat. (But don't skip it, it's for flavour and eye appeal!)

So no, we can't give you a temperature / time chart for steak in a pressure cooker - because the results would be very unsatisfactory.


Chances of getting sick from reusing utensils after checking chicken doneness

The chances are very low that anyone would get sick from that because the chicken was probably already safe when you first checked it. Although the recommendation is to cook until the chicken is 160F, anything above 140F will start to kill salmonella pretty quickly, with 4 minutes at 145F being enough to kill it off. A handy table from this page gives good info:

Min Internal Temp °F  6.5 log lethality   7.0 log lethality
    130°F                  112 min             121 min
    135°F                  36 min              37 min
    140°F                  12 min              12 min
    145°F                  4 min               4 min
    150°F                  67 seconds          72 seconds

6.5 log means 99.99997% is killed 7.0 log means 99.99999999% is killed. At 160F the 7.0 log time is 4 seconds, which is why there's a recommendation to cook to that temperature.
From your description it sounds like your chicken was close to being done but not quite done, so you erred on the side of caution and cooked longer, it was probably above 150F, so the salmonella should have been dead.
But, just because you got away with it this time doesn't mean you should make a habit of it! As someone who has experienced the great fun that salmonella poisoning is I would encourage people to wash their utensils if there's ever any possibility that they've come into contact with undercooked chicken (or seafood for that matter, not salmonella but just as bad or worse).


Is there a way to make leafy green vegetables absorb salt throughout their tissue?

When the greens are cooked, the cells will rupture and more easily take on outside fluids (and salt), so salting them while cooking will get the salt into the greens. You could also brine or rub the leaves with salt, this is frequently done with cabbage before pickling. The effectiveness of this method will vary depending on the greens though, some leaves like kale have a more waterproof layer over the outside of the leaf, so just rubbing them with salt may not work. I have seen people "massage" the leaves with salt to tenderize them and break down some of the fibers, or blanch them in salted water.


Well, looking at the recipe...

The sugar (brown sugar + honey) level looks roughly appropriate compared to the flour so that's unlikely.

The fat level looks a tad low for the cookies I normally do, but I've never used oil in cookies before.   You might try increasing the oil just a bit to lend extra tenderness, but I don't think this is the real issue.  (Using oil in cookies also means you're not creaming, which is typically important in most cookies...so its a bit odd, but I don't know that it would cause them to be 'crumbly'.)

The lack of the egg definitely isn't helping it to keep structural support.  The recipe is basically banking on the fact that it needs to be moist to hold together.  There's not really enough liquid to form gluten to add structure (which you don't usually want for cookies anyway).  Since there's nothing in the cookie to give it 'structure', if you dry it out its just going to fall apart on you.

I suspect your problem is from the directions of 'Don’t overbake these, or they’ll dry out a little.'  They dried out a bit too much and lost all support.  It's easy to over bake cookies and this is a recipe with very little room for error in that area.


Hot cross buns are a yeast bread, and without developed gluten most of the air produced by the yeast will escape from the dough. Without developed gluten you won't get the same lift, and your texture will be much more crumbly.

The typical solution to this is to add xanthan or guar gum to your dough, this will act as a gluten substitute and help trap air and improve texture. Both are readily available in many countries. You can also add both at the same time.

Suggested amounts for bread are:
Xanthan Gum - 1-2tsp per US cup of flour (about 125g depending on the type of flour)
Guar Gum - 1 1/2 tsp - 1tbsp per US cup

It depends on how stretchy you want your dough to be. Hot cross buns tends to be pretty stretchy, so if it were me I'd add 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 tsp per cup of flour and see how you go. Let us know how it goes!


Rather than try to determine the weight of the cream do the following.

Measure out 250g of water in your container.
Mark the waterline on your container with a marker or tape
Measure your cream based on your mark

This way you don't need to know the weight of your cream, you simply need to find a container with the proper volume.


Vacuum sealing vs. water displacement method when doing longer sous vide cooking

There is no real safety issue if you do a really good job removing ALL of the air with the displacement method. The challenge is in removing all of the air. According to J. Kenji Lopez Alt at Serious Eats, "Excess air causes oxidation that can develop into off flavors or promote spoilage."

The second issue is with the seal if the Ziploc bags. Generally speaking, these bags are not designed to withstand high temperatures, especially not for long periods of time. It is quite possible the seal will fail during a long cook, ruing your food.

You could certainly use Ziploc bags and give it a shot, there is no dooming reason not to try it. Before cooking your expensive brisket or whatever you're looking to do a long cook with, I recommend trying to overcome these two issues with something cheap to see if you can get rid of all the air and if the seal will last.


How long do you have to cook adzuki beans in a pressure cooker before they're edible?

Consulting several sources about Adzuki beans (see below) they shouldn't take any special time to cook, about equivalent to Navy beans.  Normal cooking times should be 15 to 20 minutes for non-soaked beans at 14 PSI / 90 kPa.

However, you cooked them at low pressure, which is usually 7 PST / 45 kPa, and is too low to make much of a difference in bean cooking time.  I don't know how long they'd take to cook at that pressure, but I suspect it's not much less than they take to cook with no pressure at all.  That is, you'd probably have to cook them for an hour or more at that pressure.

Sources consulted:

Lorna Sass's vegetarian pressure cooking book
HipPressureCooking
MissVikie


How does good pasta dough feel to the touch?

Pasta dough should be smooth in texture and be only slightly sticky.  When kneading it out and folding it over onto itself, it should not readily re-stick to itself, but rather require a bit more kneading to do so.  It should feel slightly tacky (less so than a post-it note) but not aggressively stick to your hands or the counter.  If you get it too dry and it refuses to stick to itself, add a few drops of water.

My pasta method is based on the well method, but in a bowl to avoid making a mess, and adding flour as I go to avoid wasting any.  Start by cracking as many eggs as you want into the bowl, about one per person you'll be serving.  Scramble with a fork.  Gradually add in flour in amounts about equal to the amount of egg, and mix well with the fork--adding too much flour at once, especially early, can result in "pasta sand" which is a difficult condition to recover from.  The dough will go from the consistency of oatmeal, to a paste, to cookie dough.

At some point, the dough will become too solid and the fork will stop being an effective tool--you'll just be pushing a solid mass around the bowl.  At this point it's probably still way too wet, so dump another good amount of flour on top and get in there with your hands.  Once it gets a little less sticky you can dump it onto your counter.  Continue to knead and work in flour until it reaches the consistency described above.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30-60 minutes.

You'll know you've gotten it just right if it barely requires any flour, if any, when rolling.  If you find yourself having to apply flour on every roll, you left it too wet.  It's still perfectly edible, it's just a huge hassle and might turn out a little gummy.  Another thing to look for is that as you roll it thinner, the edges will crack slightly.  If you got it too dry and it wants to crack all over, or is struggling to go through the machine, you can loosen it up with a bit of water--wiping one side with a wet finger should be enough.

If you get the dough to the proper consistency, you won't need to do anything fancy when drying it.  I just lay it out on cookie sheets.  It's okay if it sticks to itself a bit, it'll come apart again in the water.


The white rind of the lemon is what causes the bitter flavour. To get simply the lemon flavour you just want the zest. Use a zester, microplane, or fine grater to scrape off only the yellow bit of the peel and nothing white and you'll get a lovely lemon flavour without the bitterness or sourness.


Generally you have to soak lentils for many hours, use a pressure cooker to soften them up or a combination of the two. Only masoor dal can be cooked straight away. So I'm guessing you missed a step in whatever recipe you are following.


Absolutely. Make sure that you brush down the sides of the pan a few times with a pastry brush soaked in water before your syrup reaches the soft ball stage to make sure there's no crystalized sugar left on the sides of the pan (which will trigger recrystalization once it's melted and make your sugar grainy.) After it reaches soft ball give it a swirl every few seconds to make sure it's heating evenly. You should be good.

Good luck!


What do the dates mean?

On their website FAQs, the Silk manufacturer describe the date on their package:

  Our refrigerated beverages and creamers will stay fresh in your
  refrigerator until the date stamped on the carton. Once opened, they
  need to be consumed within 7 to 10 days. It is not unusual for our
  products to remain good past the 10-day mark; however, we only
  guarantee that they will be good for 7 to 10 days once opened.

If the milk is labelled best by, that is an indicator of quality, not safety.  However, normally milk in the US is labelled with a Sell By date, and should be good for a week or so after that date, or for about a week after being opened, whichever comes first.

What are these milks?

Now consider what these two different products are.  According to the Go Ask Alice column published by Cornell:

  As with all other animal-based
  foods, it's a complete protein; that is, it supplies people with all
  the necessary amino acids to form proteins. Cow's milk contains 8
  grams of protein and 12 grams of carbohydrates per 8-ounce cup. Cow's
  milk is a rich source of other nutrients as well. One cup provides
  adults with about 30 percent of their daily calcium needs and about 50
  percent of their vitamin B12 and riboflavin requirements. Often, milk
  is fortified with vitamin D to facilitate the absorption of calcium.
  Vitamin A is usually added to milk as well. Depending on the
  selection, cow's milk can have a significant amount of fat.

  [ ... ]
  One cup of unfortified soymilk contains almost 7 grams of protein, 4 grams of carbohydrate, 4½ grams of fat, and no cholesterol. Although soymilk supplies some B vitamins, it's not a good source of B12, nor does it provide a significant amount of calcium. Since many people substitute soy beverages for cow's milk, manufacturers offer fortified versions. These varieties may include calcium and vitamins E, B12, and D, among other nutrients. If you do choose to use soymilk instead of cow’s milk, read labels carefully to be sure you're getting enough of these important nutrients or consider getting them from alternative food sources.

Milk is a complete food for a growing animal (or human).  This makes it an ideal growth medium for microfauna of all types, as it contains everything they need—including easily available sugars to jump start their growth.

Soy milk on the other hand, while derived from the seed intended to grow a full plant, is has a very different profile.  It is almost devoid of sugars are readily accessible fats, making it a less ideal growth medium for micro-fauna.  This is not say they won't grow, but they may not colonize as readily and grow as quickly.

Conclusion

Therefore, you would expect soy milk to have a longer unopened shelf life than milk as it simply is not as ideal a growth medium.  Silk implies it may last longer after opening as well, but being conservative they do not promise that.

Milk will have a shorter shelf life before opening (it is not sterile, and will go bad even in the refrigerator), and definitely will last less time after being exposed to the environment.

They are simply two different products, with very different contents; the fact that both are named "milk" is not an indicator.

See also:  Expiration Date on Milk


How do I clean the bottom of a porcelain pan?

You can't, mostly if it is unglazed/porous

(most) Porcelain dishes have porous bottoms, anything that touches it will be sucked in the small pores, and if baked in, will be more difficult to remove.

If the glazed part of the dish is clean, I would not think much about the bottom.

Some people will see it as a good sign that you are using it.

On the other hand, you could try using products like Bar Keepers and a plastic scouring pad to clean it.

Anecdotal, I keep the glazed part as clean as possible, and don't really care about the unglazed bottom.


Fire is typically a poor heat source for direct cooking. It fluctuates with every breeze so the heating is very erratic. It also produces a lot of soot which tastes terrible and is bad for you.

When cooking on a campfire much better results are had by cooking next to the coals than above the flame. Cooking with a gas flame is more reliable of course.

A couple direct cooking applications of fire in the kitchen, that I can think of are:

Flambe: Lighting a sauce which contains a lot of alcohol to burn off some of the raw alcohol taste.
Roasting: Putting a steaming basket over a gas flame and charring the skin of peppers or eggplant.
Caramelizing: Using a blowtorch to put a crust on creme brulee or to sear the exterior of a sous vide steak.

I would recommend starting with the blowtorch for several reasons:

It is harder to burn your house down with a torch than with a pan of flame.
Blow torches are useful for things outside of the kitchen like stripping paint or starting the grill.
There is something deeply satisfying about wielding a hissing, blue, knife of fire that appeals to the caveman within.

As for safety. Keep a fire extinguisher on hand. Don't let kids or pets in the kitchen when you are playing with fire. Keep your home owner's insurance current.


What's the difference between a cobbler, crisp, crumble, buckle, and betty?

Some of the terms may be regional but they do generally describe variations on a theme.

My general understanding of the differences are as follows:

Cobbler - A cobbler is generally a thickened fruit mixture with scone or biscuit-like top crust. Cobbler crusts, notably "Texas cobblers" can also be made with thinner batters that soak into the filling more than simply sitting on top.

This is an example of a blueberry cobbler with individual biscuits as a topping.

This is a "Texas style" blueberry cobbler, where the batter rises up through the blueberry mixture.

Crisp - A crisp is different as it has a "crispy" topping, usually made of a simple toasted mixture of butter, flour and sugar along with cornmeal or oats. The term is often interchangeable with "crumble".

This crisp has a topping of oats and optional nuts.

Buckle - A buckle is significantly more cake-like with large pieces of fruit (usually blueberries) are suspended within. It often has a stresuel-like topping. In some circles, a buckle is also called a crumble.

This is a blueberry buckle with a crumb topping.

Betty - Also known as a "Brown Betty" is made with bread crumbs mixed with butter sugar and used as both a bottom and top "crust". These are very often (if not usually) made with apples.

This is an apple Brown Betty.

Here's a great resource for the differences in the above and several other similar dessert items.


There are two main traits of tea which deliver the punch you talk about:

Caffeine: this is a stimulant, and there is wide variation on the amount of caffeine in black teas depending on a number of factors. Here is a good article which goes into some detail on caffeine in tea. A simple way to put it is that variety doesn't mean much, one assam may have much more caffeine than another, so saying a tea is a blend of assam and ceylon doesn't mean it has more or less caffeine than pure assam.
Flavor: A stronger flavored drink provides more stimulation to the brain than a weaker flavored drink. The more something attacks your taste buds the more wake-up power it has. Orange juice has no caffeine but it still has eye-opening properties for most people

English breakfast teas are blends of strong-flavored tea varieties like Assam and Kenyon, they are designed to be drank with milk and maybe sugar. Ceylon is actually a lighter flavored tea, usually used in afternoon blends for a lighter taste, although it can be used in english breakfast tea. Caffeine-wise they vary but strength of flavor does not imply caffeine content if the quantity of tea used is the same. If you get a stronger tea by adding more leaves to the brew then you get more caffeine of course.

So english breakfast tea is a good eye-opener as much from its strong flavor as its caffeine content. Ceylon is less strongly flavored but probably similar caffeine content per weight of tea, so would be less of an eye-opener.


Why is salt sometimes added to straight coffee?

I'm not a coffee drinker, so can't comment on the timing -- but it's due to salt's effect of masking bitterness.


Does coffee in a cafe press keep brewing after being 'squeezed'?

The brewed coffee stays in contact with the ground, even though you pressed the sieve to the bottom. It will eventually release the unwanted flavors it contains, albeit slowly. The ground coffee should be in contact with the hot water for about 30 seconds.

See this answer for the caffeine content.


The way I learned to set a cheese board:

Something Old
Something New
Something Goat
Something Bleu

Something Old - Aged, firm cheese like Asiago or St. George

Something New - Softer, milder cheese, like a Brie or Gouda.

Something Goat (or sheep) - A counterpoint to cow's milk cheese, like Manchego or Chèvre.

Something Bleu - Brisk and tangy, Roquefort or Gorgonzola or Stilton.

What you complement the cheese with depends on the cheese varieties you've chosen - apple slices, grapes, quince jam, mustards of the sweet and whole-seed variety, etc. Google can be your friend, here. Place the condiment close to its intended cheese in the final arrangement.


What is this kitchen tool - a handle, and coil of metal around a metal plate?

They're cocktail strainers, and they do what they sound like! More precisely, you use it to strain the cocktail on the way out of the shaker.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_strainer


If I had to guess, I'd attribute it to the huge amount of stuff that's in the batter, which makes it more like a fruitcake than like a traditional cake.

You only have two cups of flour but you have four cups of carrot, coconut, raisins and nuts. This is definitely going to make a very dense cake and it sounds like it's supposed to.

This is pretty common in carrot cake recipes but it's not required. I recommend that you find a recipe designed to be more cake-y (higher flour to stuff ratio) rather than trying to fix this one. I've been really happy with the carrot cake recipe from Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen but it's behind a paywall.


How long will flour keep in the freezer in Food Saver Vacuum Sealed Bags?

I'm reasonably sure that flour stored this way is safe.  Obviously, if there are any obvious issues with the flour - off colors, tastes, or textures, or evidence of poor storage that allowed the flour to thaw and refreeze, or leaked moisture into it enough for quality concerns - you would want to be safe and discard it, but it should be reasonable to expect the flour to still be safe if it was properly stored.

Flour has a shelf life of 5-10 years if well stored.  On top of that, freezing usually doubles the shelf life of grains - and that doubled time is best-before time, the flour may still reasonably expected to be safe after that amount of time, just with reduced quality or nutrition.  Storing foods in the freezer, if kept consistently at temperature and well wrapped against moisture, is often about loss of quality rather than safety in any case.

So if the storage was uncompromised, flour stored in the freezer should be best used before 10-20 years.  As for how long after that your flour may be edible for, well, hardtack has been known to last fifty or a hundred years, and still work for rations without killing or starving the eaters - I would guess probably modern freezers intended for food preservation are at least as efficient as baking the flour into dry dehydrated cakes (which is really all that hardtack is).  That may explain why flour is said to last indefinitely if properly stored in a freezer.


Do beef bouillon cubes expire or cause expiration?

Bouillon cubes can last for quite a while. Thirty years may be pushing that limit, though, as they lose flavor over time. Typically, they are good to use for a year maybe two; that depends on how they were stored, though. If they were in a dry cool place, they should be fine for while. They are loaded with fat and salt which are natural preservatives, anyway. Although dying is unlikely, it is definitely possible to get sick.


Can I substitute amaretto syrup for amaretto liqueur?

no not at all. alcohol in recipes is generally there because certain flavor compounds are only soluble in alcohol. adding a half cup of syrup will make your recipe come out much much sweeter than it should. A better substitution would be probably around a teaspoon of almond extract and some neutral liquor like vodka. It would also be helpful if you include what recipe you are using or what you are attempting to make.


Does peeling potatoes before boiling them actually increase the amount of water they absorb?

Cook's Illustrated "New Best Recipe" Book in their dissertation on making Mashed Potatoes used several methods: peel & dice, peel & whole, etc.. and the 'best and most consistent' results achieved was by boiling them whole then shocking them to cool (put in an ice bath) and then peeling by hand (grip in two hands and twist).

Having used this technique for several years I will say you have received good information. Less water, but still soft and fluffy...and most importantly 'tasty' (IMHO).

Ok, so it's a couple of days later and I finally have a moment to catch up to this. From Cook's Illustrated "New Best Recipe" Book pp.186-8

  We started by peeling and cutting some potatoes into chunks...while
  cooking others  unpeeled and whole...even when mashed with identical
  amounts of butter and half-and-half...and salt...The potatoes that had
  been peeled and cut made mashed potatoes that were thin in taste and
  texture and devoid of potato flavor. Peeling and cutting before
  simmering increases the surface area...through which they lose soluble
  substances such as starch, proteins, and flavor compounds , to the
  cooking water. The greater surface area also enables lots of water
  molecules to bind with the potatoes' starch molecules . Combine these
  two effects and you've got bland, thin, watery mashed potatoes. The
  potatoes cooked whole and peeled after cooking yielded mashed potatoes
  that were rich , earthy, and sweet.

(note: If you can pickup a copy of this book, it is a treasure trove of useful kitchen information)

In short it isn't just water absorption (water into the potatoes) that makes them weak, but also what the water removes from the potatoes into the water (and then down the drain) which will produce disappointing results.


Why caramel crystallize after adding butter?

Acids, such as cream of tartar, can interfere with the formation of crystals by inverting sugars. Without it, you need to be more careful/lucky...

To quote Cooks Illustrated [It's for simple syrup but point still holds]:

  Simple syrup crystallizes when enough of the sugar molecules stick to one another that they become insoluble in the water... To find a more effective solution, we had to understand why these additives helped. The cream of tartar and lemon juice are both acids that are able to break down sugar molecules into glucose and fructose in a process called inversion. So not only were fewer sugar molecules available to cluster together in our doctored syrups but the newly present glucose and fructose were physically blocking the remaining sugar molecules from one another.


Carbs in some foods (mostly those that contain simple sugars and highly refined grains, such as white flour and white rice) are easily broken down once broken down they are literally a sugar.

Cooking at too high a temp, or for too long, causes the carbs in the white flour to break down. I think that may be why your sauce is tasting sweet.


It will absolutely need refrigeration. The reason why the powder is shelf-stable is that it is dehydrated and lacks the water bacteria need to survive. Pretty much everything you could mix it with to make an icing will contain water, meaning that it is no longer shelf stable.
Even if you were to mix it with something without water, e.g. shortening, the strict food safety answer is that it still needs refrigeration until somebody has ran the necessary microbiological tests to prove that it doesn't.


What is wrong with a regular ice cube? As you state that the tea is not yet ready, you just use slightly less water and then add the ice cube, which has a fixed temperature.

I use this for large scale ice tea production. As I use 1:1 hot water : ice cubes I simply brew a double strong tea.


That is a buckeye, fruit of Aesculus glabra, also known as the Ohio buckeye tree. The seeds (the "buckeye" part) look sort of like a horse chestnut, but the fruit is different.

Do not eat it!

  The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous to cattle, and humans, as is the foliage. (Wikipedia)

(You can, however, make buckeye candy: peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate.)

This is a buckeye still on the tree, as well as some leaves if you'd like to revisit the source to verify:


How do I cook bolognese-filled ravioli from frozen?

The recipe does say to cook them in the sauce if frozen, but I think it is more a suggestion about another method you could use to cook the ravioli. You could definitely still just boil the frozen ravioli and add them to the sauce. I would probably boil them an additional minute or two being very careful to check to see if they are done past the 4 minute mark. Typically I'd say if the ravioli float, they are done, but the bolognese sauce filling may be too heavy to allow the ravioli to float.

To cook them directly in the sauce, I would heat the sauce up and then add the ravioli so that they make a single layer and can be nestled into the sauce. I would probably cook them 6-7 minutes from the time the sauce comes back to a simmer, but once again, I'd be very careful to watch them. Ravioli is usually pretty easy to tell if it is done and since it will be in the sauce you can easily poke one in the pan, you shouldn't have trouble getting it right.

EDIT: I would actually not recommend refrigerating this recipe rather than freezing it because the sauce filling could make the pasta soggy unlike a cheese filling.


Using a Power Pressure Cooker XL for high altitude canning above 6000 ft sea level

BEWARE that no electric pressure cookers have been approved for pressure canning by the USDA.  The National Center for Home Food Preservation actually put out a bulletin after manufacturers, like the Power Pressure Cooker XL, started to advertise that their cooker was USDA approved.

It is not.

Please do not pressure can in this, or any other electric pressure cooker.  See my pressure canning faq (Can I use my electric pressure cooker to can?) if you'd like to learn more about "why" pressure canning is not considered safe in electric pressure cookers - at any altitude.


How to thicken a Yoghurt based cold sauce?

The usual way is to use a thickener. Some of them require warming, but others do not. Guar or xanthan gum will work if used in the cold sauce. It is the easiest way. If you don't have them, yuo can use gelatine, but you'll have to dissolve it in warm liquid first and then add to the cold sauce, then wait to thicken. None of these will change the taste.

If you are from the "no additives" fraction, you can just use a thicker dairy product. I don't think the heavy whipping cream would be a particularly good fit to yogurt. The best choice would be a fermented product thicker than yogurt, e.g. sour cream or creme fraiche. But you can also use a cheese, although this will change the taste (without making it bad or too different from the original). Good choices would be cream cheese, ricotta, quark, tvorog or mascarpone.


Worried about my Buddha hand rind ferment

First and foremost, you shouldn't seal anything fermenting because it could accumulate too much pressure and fail in a potentially explosive manner (as with this unfortunate accident https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/glass-carboy-explosion.517237/).

Also, white films forming on top of fermenting beverages usually means that an infection got hold (and the fermentation vessel, if not made of glass, usually will harbor these bugs from now on and infect the next batches). A good ressource here : https://www.homebrewsupply.com/learn/is-my-batch-infected.html

It's not uncommon in fruit based fermentation if everything isn't frozen then pasterized. Regarding if it's drinkable, it would need a proper identification of the bugs you got in there, but folks over at https://alcohol.stackexchange.com/ might be a better fit to answer this kind of question. Stay safe!


Do foods labeled "non-GMO" only (and not "organic") have more pesticides in them?

No. "No-GMO" means exactly that. There is no Genetically Modified Organism in the content of your purchase.
In general you GMO your veggies and wheat (and others) so you don't need to use pesticides on them because they are designed to be more resistant.
So yes, your question

Do non-GMO foods actually have more pesticides in them?

come from that logic. You need to spray food from outside because it's not resistant on it's own. So the amount of chemicals per tone (or hectare) is higher in "non GMO" than it is in GMO.
Organic thought it totally depended on law. In EU to call something organic you need to stay below certain quota of pesticides per hectare (in big generalisation, you can read more here EU law on organic production)
BUT
There is doubt about what you call PESTICIDE. Because you can use synthetic one (Like the one Monsato is making) or natural one (like tobacco). The first one is more to be used in big industrial farms, while natural can be easily made in small farms where it's more financially better to have their own plot of natural pesticide.


How do I stop my fire alarm from going off when I cook?

Many modern smoke/fire detectors have the ability to temporarily disable or decrease the sensitivity of the alarm for a short period of time, usually 15 or 20 minutes. At the end of the time period it returns to full sensitivity.

You may want to look into replacing your smoke detector with one of these.


How do I cut out the vein/tendon from a chicken breast tendorloin?

Cooking For Engineers has a pretty good description. He writes it better than I can, so I'll just quote him. I've used the second method he describes, but after watching the video below, the other looks much easier...

  The breast halves should each have a flap of meat called the chicken tenderloin (or chicken tenders or strips). Lifting the tenderloin should reveal a white tendon. I recommend two ways to trim off this tough tendon. The most popular method is to grab the tendon with your fingers and pull on it while scraping with your knife to release the tendon from the breast. Continue to lift and scrape until the tendon is completely removed. Alternatively, you can use a sharp boning knife and slice along both sides of the tendon (without slicing through the tendon). Then lift any part of the tendon that has been separated from the breast and use your boning knife the cut any parts where the tendon has not cleanly separated from the meat.

There's also a yotube video here.


How long can I keep shrub syrup in the refrigerator

While, in general, vinegar retards the growth of certain bacteria (botulism), some allow the growth of others that are harmful. You should sterilize the glass containers by first washing them in hot water and soap, and then boiling for about 10 minutes and scalding the caps in boiling water. Filled and tightly sealed, your shrub should last about 6 months in the refrigerator. Opened and used occasionally, they should last 6-8 weeks, not unlike similar condiments that are kept refrigerated. Keep in mind that, should you include fruit in your original batch, it will age and, eventually, become a fruit vinegar.


How to keep basil leaves from turning black?

To extend the kitchen life of basil, treat it like cut flowers. Trim the ends, place the sprigs in some water (stems only, keep the leaves above the water line), and keep them in a cool location. It will still have a fairly short shelf life, so the faster you can use it, the better.

Do not refrigerate your basil, with or without trimming the ends; refrigeration causes the leaves to turn black and wilt. If you are not able to use all the basil in a timely manner, consider either keeping a small, living basil plant, or taking the time to chop the basil and freeze it with oil for future cooking use.


If you have a lot or don't anticipate using it in the next 5 days, then freeze it.
If it's already minced or pureed then simply measure it into quantities that will be the easiest for you to use and then freeze them on a tray lined with plastic wrap.  Once frozen, remove and put into a self-sealing bag and keep in the freezer for future use.

Whole ginger can be frozen simply as it is.  Just put it a bag in the freezer. Galangal for example, is commonly sold frozen in asian markets  You can pull it out and grate what you need on a rasp style zester while frozen.  I never even peel ginger as most uses for it require it to either be minced finely or strained out all together.  A little gingerroot skin is just more fiber for the diet.


Thomas Keller's cookbook "Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide" recommends 1:30 @ 85C for beef or duck fat, 1:00 @ 85C for marrow fat, and 0:45 @ 85C for foie gras fat.


How do I substitute almond flour for all purpose flour?

There is no general replacement. Almond flour has very little in common with all-purpose flour, and behaves very differently in baking.
Your idea of adding gluten is very interesting - many flourless recipes are actually made with the intent to be gluten-free, which is a very difficult restriction to work around. It is certainly something to have in your toolbox.
However, you cannot just find some kind of mixture which will behave as a good substitute in different circumstances. Rather, you will have to redesign each recipe separately, and some things (e.g. laminated dough) may not be possible at all. For others, you would probably need to learn what the flour's role is in each, and experiment how to match it well - here, food science books will be helpful. It is quite an interesting project!


I wouldn't go any higher than 180F at most.  You can mitigate the drying effects of higher temperatures (especially on white meat) by brining the chicken first.


To me, this looks like a tart ring. In commercial kitchens, tarts are not baked in pans, they are baked in ring walls arranged on baking sheets.

The traditional rings are round (duh), but the word has stayed for the square and rectangular versions. And of course, it can be reused for purposes other than baking tarts, since the shape is convenient for many tasks.

So, look for purchasing a "rectangular tart ring" and you'll likely find what you need.


Can I pre-cook chicken in a sous vide bath while cooking something else?

You can cook chicken at 135F, or indeed any temperature 131F or up. It will take a while; several hours, as noted in the Baldwin Sous Vide Guide you posted. If you pasteurize it at 135F, you can then later cook it, ignoring the temperature (and only worrying about the texture, etc.), as its already cooked to safety.

If you want to hold it, chill it down quickly, e.g., in an ice bath. Do not remove it from the bag until you're ready to throw it in the oven (to minimize oxidation).

I do not suggest turning your water bath up, as you will end up with well-done shortribs instead of the medium-rare ones you wanted.


Wikipedia can:

  Manufacturing process

  TVP is made from a mixture of proteins extracted primarily from soybeans, but also cotton seeds, wheat and oats. It is extruded into various shapes (chunks, flakes, nuggets, grains, and strips) and sizes, exiting the nozzle while still hot and expanding as it does so. The defatted thermoplastic proteins are heated to 150-200°C, which denatures them into a fibrous, insoluble, porous network that can soak up as much as three times its weight in liquids. As the pressurized molten protein mixture exits the extruder, the sudden drop in pressure causes rapid expansion into a puffy solid that is then dried. As much as 50% protein when dry, TVP can be rehydrated at a 2:1 ratio, which drops the percentage of protein to an approximation of ground meat at 16%. High quality TVP can be mixed with ground meat to a ratio of up to 1:3 (rehydrated TVP to meat) without reducing the quality of the final product, sometimes improving it if the meat used is poor. TVP is primarily used as a meat substitute due to its very low cost at less than a third the price of ground beef, and when cooked together will help retain more weight from the meat by absorbing juices normally lost.


Tomatoes can be fermented, and many folks enjoy the result, using them in savory culinary applications  To make a wine, you would probably want to add some ingredients to balance the acidity that most tomatoes bring to the final product.  Here is an example of one such recipe, but I am sure there are others.


You can freeze raw cabbage and keep it for months, however it's not good for the texture as freezing damages the structure. You're better off keeping it in the fridge or just using it. It may make it to St. Patrick's day in the fridge but it will lose some flavor, I'd suggest using it and buying more then.


How to make creamier and softer vegan coconut ice-cream?

As you froze the base without agitating it, larger ice crystals would have formed.

If you have a food processor, you may be able to rescue it by cutting it into chunks (to fit in the food processor), then whizzing it around 'til it's more like a smoothie, then re-freezing it.

If you don't have a food processor, you might be able to let it thaw completely, then re-freeze it, making sure to agitate it multiple times in the process.  One easy way to do it i to put it in a heavy zip-top bag, then a second one (double bagging it), then you can just shake & squish it around every so often while it re-freezes.


McGee writes: "Capsaicin appears to accumulate in the fruit concurrently with the pigment during ripening". (On Food and Cooking, p.212)

So yes, chilis get hotter as they ripen (that is, as they turn from green to red). Many chili varieties are picked and sold in stores while still unripe and green (e.g. jalapeño, serrano, poblano), but you will occasionally see ripe, red ones in stores.

All of the dried chilis I've seen in stores have been completely ripened before drying (e.g. chipotles, which are smoked, dried red jalapeños and anchos, which are dried, red poblano peppers).

I've personally observed this effect with padron peppers, which are usually picked green and mild, but can ripen to red, hot peppers if left on the plant.


I've never tried doing this with crusty bread myself (I've only par-baked rolls and such), so my answer is not based on personal experience, but rather what I know about the theory of par-baking, along with advice from Michel Suas in Advanced Bread and Pastry where he describes par-baking (pp. 163-167).

Anyhow, the brief answer is that you should basically do what your link in the question suggests: initially bake as usual, but cut roughly 25% off the baking time.  You should be able to get away with around 180F as minimum internal temperature, since the gluten structure should be stable at that point.  But you might need to experiment.  Ideally, the best par-baked results come when the bread is baked just until the structure is set and won't collapse during cooling.

Since you bake at such a high temperature, you might consider lowering it just a bit to avoid early browning, but I would NOT recommend a "low-temp" par-bake.  That would inhibit proper oven spring.  I also would NOT recommend a "dry" par-bake -- assuming you already use moisture during your standard baguette bake -- since adding moisture to your oven in the first 10 minutes or so does at least five things: (1) it inhibits early browning, (2) moist air transfers heat faster, so it enhances oven spring, and (3) it keeps the crust soft and moist for a few more minutes, which delays hard crust formation and thus allows even more oven spring, (4) keeping the crust at a lower temperature for longer also allows increased enzyme activity which will ultimately enhance browning during the final bake, and (5) it helps create an attractive shiny exterior in the final crust.

Michel Suas recommends high-heat par-baking for small or thin loaves (as in your case).  If you're having trouble getting the interior up to temp before browning occurs, you might consider either reducing your bake temp slightly (I'd perhaps try 450F or so rather than 550F) or venting your oven a bit after the first half of the bake to lower the temperature rapidly, and let the interior come to 180+F in the lower oven.  (Suas recommends this high-temp then low-temp approach particularly for larger loaves.  So if you wanted to make larger crusty "French bread" rather than baguettes, that might be more relevant.)

Basically, what you want to end up with at the end of a par-bake is a loaf that's exactly the size and shape of a finished loaf, with all the finished internal texture.  The only thing that needs to be completed is browning.  If you have inferior oven spring or internal structure during the par-bake, it will remain in the finished loaf.

You may have to experiment a bit with the re-heating step, but high heat and steam (to prevent moisture loss) are both generally useful.  Michel Suas also suggests baking on a perforated sheet pan rather than a hearth to avoid an excessively thick and hard bottom crust.

However, if you're concerned about bread quality for par-baking, what happens between the bakes is also very important.  Par-baked bread needs to be cooled to room temperature without excessive drying out (no fans or breezes around, since it's more vulnerable to moisture loss without sufficient crust).  And then it needs to be frozen as quickly as possible if you plan to store it longer than a day or two.  Any excess time spent in the range below room temperature and above freezing will degrade final quality and cause staling.

By the way, the reason I personally haven't tried par-baking with crusty breads is that I've read stories online of people who have tried it with somewhat inferior results.  It likely could work well for a baguette that you intend to heat and eat within one sitting while it's still a bit warm.  But without the commercial processes for handling (e.g., blast chillers to freeze bread as quickly as possible between bakes), the sense I get is that the bread produced at home just isn't as good after the final bake, particularly after it cools.  It can stale faster and the crust just isn't the same as a fresh-baked loaf.

This thread, with people who have actually tried par-baking and compared it to other methods, suggests the much easier approach of simply (1) bake loaf as usual, (2) freeze, (3) thaw at room temperature for a few hours or overnight, and (4) refresh crust by heating at ~325F for a few minutes.  I've done this too, and the result is very good.  And no worries about modifying recipes or gambling with getting the right doneness when finishing.


Do the Properties of Oils Change if They're Cooked?

Usually this is said specifically about extra virgin olive oil. The reasoning is that extra virgin oil is pressed cold and processed without heating in order to preserve specific flavor profiles in the finished product. Cheaper oils are extracted using heat to maximize extraction, but lose some of these flavors.  Generally heating is discouraged because you're paying a premium for unheated oil, so using it in hot applications would defeat the purpose.


How to take care of the teflon coated cookware to ensure their long life?

Be very careful heating it

Usually with a steel or iron pan I'll crank the heat under it and go do something else for a couple of minutes while it gets up to temperature. If it takes me five minutes to get back to it, maybe it's a little too hot and I have to hold it away from the burner for a few seconds before adding the oil. With teflon, that can damage the pan, so I keep a closer eye on it and hold my hand over the pan more often to see if its ready.


You can use it on its own as a dip with pita bread, use it as a spread on sandwiches, or as an accompaniment to fish and meat as you're already doing.


I've made thousands of Zeppole throughout my career.

Don't use olive oil, you'll impart the wrong flavour profile.

Veg/Canola/Peanut, or any other neutrally flavoured high-temp oil suitable for frying will work.

PERSONALLY, I prefer Zeppole and other choux paste products baked on a parchment sheet, with a light mist of cooking spray.


If I sear it from both sides, one side 2 minutes, other 1 minute, and then put in oven for 6 minutes.

Note that required oven time will depend significantly on steak thickness and oven temp.

Do I have to flip it half way? I wouldn't like one side to burn since the pan will be sizzling hot and will burn one side in the oven in those 6 minutes?

It isn't necessary in all circumstances, but generally it will help to flip at least once.  This is particularly important if transferring a heavy pan (like cast iron) into the oven.

What is the usual temperature of the oven for this technique?

Varies.  Almost any oven temperature can work.  The question is whether you want to cook your steak faster or want it to be more evenly cooked.  The hotter the oven, the faster your steak will cook, but you'll have a thicker "gradient" from well-done to raw in the middle.  In other words, the faster you cook, the thicker the gray "well-done" part will be near the surface in order to get the center up to temperature.

A very low oven might require you to cook the steak longer (perhaps even 30 minutes or more, depending on how low you go and how thick the steak is), but there's a better chance it will be close to "medium rare" (or whatever you like) all the way through.  It will likely also be more tender and the fat will be softer.

Most people seem to like cooking steaks quickly, but there's no real benefit to a hotter oven other than getting the steak done faster.

Shall I broil it, or have it somewhere in the middle?

Depends on what you're trying to do.  Broilers cook by radiant heat, so they will likely cause more surface browning to occur.  If your steak isn't dark enough after the sear and you want more browning on the surface, then broil.  But broiling also tends to be a very high heat technique, so this is again more likely to produce a larger gradient in doneness.  If broiling (particularly close to the broiler), flipping frequently is recommended.


Sourdough Breadmaking: Adding Water to Dutch Oven to create more steam?

What you are doing essentially allows the bread to rise a little more before the crust toughens. It will leave you with a lighter, fluffier loaf with smaller air pockets and a softer crust. I have never poured water into the dutch oven before, but I often just wet the loaf right before putting it in. You can do that with a spray bottle or basting brush.

I'm not sure how exactly your method will differ in results though, as it will do 2 things: rapidly lower the temperature of the dutch oven (transferring the heat to the water) and start cooking the top of the loaf faster.


How can I grind sesame seeds in my coffee grinder better?

Grind the sesame seeds separately using a pestle and mortar (if the seeds really have to be ground).

Grinding sesame seeds manually isn't as hard as grinding the other nuts/seeds that you're mentioning - I think it's just the size that helps them not be hit by the grinder blades so effectively.

So, pestle them down and add to the mix afterwards.


What happens with bread at >= 94˚C/201˚F? Or: Is temperature a reliable indicator of doneness?

What happens to bread when it is done

Yes, there is something particular what happens at a temperature in the mid-90s. Not all details of it are proven, but the major outline is, and the hypotheses about the details are solid enough to make it into textbooks.

Starch is contained in tiny granules, a few micrometers in diameter. When heated in the presence of water, there is a specific temperature at which these granules burst. The molecules of starch come in contact with water and the water molecules get lodged in the nooks and crannies of the much larger starch molecules. This process is called gelating.

You can observe it easily on the macro level. Just cook a bechamel or starch pudding on stovetop, stirring constantly. The liquid will stay rather thin until all will thicken at once, just before you see the first bubbles of boiling. This is when the starch gelates.

The same thing happens in bread too. This is why you want to heat the bread to this temperature. If you don't, you will have raw starch inside, which doesn't taste well.

The exact temperature at which this happens varies a bit with the type of starch. It is not the same for rice and wheat, for example, and I think that it is also a bit different between different wheat cultivars. But the range within this variation occurs is not so wide, all references I have seen move somewhere between 94 and 98 degrees Celsius. So the recipe author just picks a temperature he knows to work for the flour used in the bread, maybe also accounting for some additional heat transfer after taking out of the oven.

 Can you use temperature as an indicator for doneness

The theory says yes. My personal experience also says yes. Why did you feel that your bread was too doughy? There are different reasons why this could have happened. You could have measured it wrong (with the probe being too close to the surface, where the temperature is higher). You could have cut it too early. (Bread is always doughy before the first starch retrogradation, which occurs maybe 1 hour after baking). It is also possible that the bread was actually done in the sense of gelled starch, but that the recipe produced a rather moist bread and that you have grown accustomed to dry breads if you normally bake your breads for a very long time, so your brain perceived the unaccustomed texture as "not right". Or it is possible that something went wrong with the leavening, making the bread too dense. Dense bread is always doughy, you cannot bake the moisture out of it.

 technical criteria for bread doneness

There are two big chemical changes which happen to bread while baking. The proteins in bread (the gluten) have to harden. Before that, they are soft and pliable. At some temperature, they become rubber-like. The hardened gluten gives the bread structure.

The second change is the starch gelation I explained earlier. When this happens, the liquid part of the dough (dough consists of a liquid phase suspenede in the elastic gluten mesh) thickens. Gelated starch gives bread a fluffy, soft body.

As the starch gelates at much hicher temperatures than proteins denature, bread is taken out of the oven when the starch is done.

The third step is the starch retrogradation. In retrogradation, starch loses the water which it took during gelation. There are three big stages of it, after each the texture changes drastically. The first happens at about an hour after getting out of the oven. This is when the bread is considered done by textbooks. In practice, there are many people (including myself) who like the taste of the moist hot bread just out of the oven, and they consider it done at the previous step. The second happens after about 24 hours; after it, the bread is considered stale. The third step takes several days, and after it, bread is considered inedible, because it becomes hard as wood.

So technically, bread is considered done after it has been baked to gelation temperature and then left alone for 1 hour.


Rare duck meat is safe to eat because it does NOT contain the same risk of Salmonella as does chicken meat.

Primarily because ducks, as mentioned above, have not traditionally been raised in the same squalid conditions as "factory raised" chickens - salmonella is a disease that is primarily transmitted through dirt/dirty unclean conditions.

Now, on the other hand, as more and more ducks are being raised in industrial conditions, they are also becoming more likely to contain strains of Salmonella.


According to a highly rated recipe from Food Network for dry brined turkey:

  Put the oven rack in the lowest position; preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the turkey breast-side up on a rack in a large roasting pan, tucking the wing tips under. Tie the drumsticks together with twine. Roast until the skin is golden brown and a thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees F, about 15 minutes per pound. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 30 minutes before carving.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of variables. Your thermometer is your friend. If the turkey is stuffed, it could take as long as 7.5 hours.


Substituting birds eye chilli with carolina reaper

Capsicum chinense chili peppers tend to have far more pronounced smoky/fruity aromas than small capsicum annuum types like bird's eye - whether this aroma works well with the rest of the dish is probably a case-by-case matter.

Recipes/cuisines that use mixed fresh green and dried or fresh red chilies in their flavor profile (eg many indian dishes, some hunan chinese dishes...) can probably gain from using that kind of pepper - recipes that only use dried red types might rely on the peppers not adding unexpected aromas.

Another rough thought experiment to categorize dishes: Would the dish gain, or be ruined, if you added sambal oelek into it (which tends to also have a somewhat smoky/fruity note to it)?

Mind that distributing the heat through the dish is an important matter with peppers that hot - so infusing the fat and cutting the peppers very finely is advised. However, these actions both have their own dangers with extremely hot peppers: Frying them in oil can suddenly surprise you with releasing a lot of capsaicin into the air, teargassing/choking you; cutting them finely usually means touching them a lot. Keep a wet towel handy, expect to have to dash outside for fresh air, and use gloves if inexperienced.

Mind that fresh red chilies seem to be uncommon in making thai curry pastes (except some recipes for kaeng pa ... which, however, due to the lack of coconut milk, could end up truly hellish with a 2+ million scoville pepper in the paste), a bit more common in indonesian-style pastes...

Quick pickling them as a condiment to a pad thai, or using them in a som tam, is probably ill-advised - that kind of heat is usually just plain unpleasant in lean preparations...


These folks add sugar mixture to heated gelatin, then bring to a boil before adding flour. Then cook again with flour. They vary the texture with the flour addition.  More flour creates a firmer product.


It won't look as nice, but it should be possible to rescue the flavour.

As you've also got lemon in the filling, and feta is quite tart as well, I suggest you first remove the filling and dilute with extra cream cheese (and possibly olives and cooked garlic). Reheat enough  to have with the pork and chill the rest too have with something else within a couple of days.

Wipe the meat with kitchen roll (paper towel) while the filling is removed. If you're desperate you could even quickly rinse it (in boiling water if hot, chilled water if cold).

Then reroll and reheat, or serve deconstructed.


Can a loose leaf tea basket be used for steeping/brewing coffee?

I have brewed coffee with my tea steeper in a pinch.  If you are not grinding your coffee you should either buy a percolator grind, or if using a drip grind, you will want to use a filter.  I have a used a melitta #2 coffee filters in my steeper.  They require a little finagling, but I can get it in there.

A side note, after doing this you either need to treat the steeper with vinegar (or other acid) or wash it really well.  Otherwise all of your delicious (and expensive) loose tea will be tainted with coffee flavor.


How can i keep ice cream without a freezer

This may seem obvious but you have to keep the ice cream below freezing. Obviously the fridge is too warm.

You could try packing it in ice and salt in a cooler. The ice cream will be soft but not soup. I don't know how much ice would be needed to last all night.

You could put it in a cooler with dry ice. This would be more expensive for the dry ice but would definitely work if you had enough of it.

If you had an ice cream churn you could let the ice cream thaw in the fridge and then re churn it in the morning.

I think the very best way to keep it frozen is to leave it in the freezer at the store and buy it the next day.


You can certainly use it immediately in the place of yeast in a recipe - you basically have done a pre-activation of the yeast. This is a common part of many recipes.

You should also be able to store it in the fridge for at least a few days and then add it to a bread recipe without any problems. Yeast are quite hardy and will survive fairly well over that time.

You could also dry it down in parts onto sheets of foil, wrap them up and use them to inoculate a new mixture, you can then expand this mixture to propagate them indefinitely - free yeast!


Although I've come to find a lot of uses for my kitchen scale, the ones that immediately pop into mind are:

Exact measurements.  When a recipe
calls for a cup of baby spinach, for
example, that's going to be hard to
measure.  Not going to be a problem
if you're dealing with weights.  This is extremely important with baking, where exact measurements are absolutely necessary.  Ideally, the recipe would have both,
but if not you can often convert via
the nutritional info on the bag -
it'll say something like 1 cup (28g).  A cup of flour varies wildly depending on various factors, for example whether or not it was sifted.
Portion control.  I helped my wife do
Weight Watchers before our wedding,
and I can't imagine trying to figure
out 1 portion (3oz) of lean meat without it.
Learning.  I'll weigh a piece of meat
before and after cooking it to see
what kind of weight loss I get from
moisture, for example.

When buying, you want to think about the following:

Capacity.  Cheap models often only go to 5lbs, whereas more expensive can hit 10 or 15.  Becomes important when you're cooking in bulk, may not be important depending on your cooking habits.
Digital vs balance. I don't trust balance (analog) scales, they're too easy to have become uncalibrated, and I don't want to be calibrating every time I need to use it.  Digital scales are easier to read, and very easy to go between US standard and metric measures.  Also, digital scales have a tare feature, which is invaluable (as KeithB pointed out).
US standard/metric.  You definitely want a scale that can do both, recipes may have either.  Most scales should handle this.
Plate/bowl. I find that scales that come with a bowl are unnecessary, I prefer one with a nice large plate that I can put my own bowl onto.  With the tare feature that almost all digital models have, you can zero out your weight so you can pick any bowl to meet your needs.  The larger the plate, the better, so you can fit more stuff on it if you're not using a bowl.

As far as price goes, I think $20 is too cheap, and is likely to become unreliable quickly, if not immediately.  That said, I think over $100 is too much as well, that's likely to be based on design or name.  My current scale cost me about $50 and works great, and I check its calibration regularly and haven't had a problem yet.

One specific example from our house - I make smoothies every morning from 20 oz frozen fruit, 10 oz soy milk, 6 oz greek yogurt.  My wife is following a very specific nutrition guide right now, so I then split it into 12oz for her, 24oz for me.  Getting her nutritional info right without a scale would be all guesswork (and I've come to learn, through using my scale, that my guesswork used to be pretty far off - it's much better since I started using the scale regularly).


Deep frying vs air frying temperature equivalence

It's impossible to give you a conversion. Or if not impossible, at least exceedingly impractical, both for the person deriving the formula and for you when you try to apply it in your case.
First, let's take the issue of underdoneness only. To make sure the center is done, you have to ensure sufficient heat transfer. In deep frying, most of the energy arrives at the food via conduction from the oil to the food, and is proportional to mass and the specific heat coefficient. Not only is the specific heat of oil almost twice as high as that of air, but also the mass of oil in a deep fryer is many times the mass of air in an air fryer. This means that in an air fryer, you get much more heat through radiation than through conduction. Since it is not the same process (such that you can plug in only the variables that differ and come up with some kind of simple ratio), it is completely impractical for a home cook to try to derive a conversion formula between the heat transfer in their deep fryer and their air fryer. Generalizing it and giving it to all home cooks would be even more difficult, and it would depend on the geometry of the fryers and on the properties of the food surface anyway, leaving too big a margin of error. Bottom line: forget the formulas, cook until done, whenever that happens for your particular combination of cooking device, temperature setting, and food.
Your second point was the surface. If you want the crispy golden surface of fried food, this happens through an interaction of heat, fat and usually also starch. The starch is usually already present in the food, either because you are frying starchy items like potatoes, or because you have breaded or battered your frying goods. The air fryer provides the heat. What you still need is the oil. You will have to toss your items with a sufficient layer of oil, generously brush it on. Then you will get a fried crust.
A third point is that you may be trying it with prefab foods (at least I have rarely seen people make their own cheese sticks). Prefab foods are precisely engineered to work with exactly the suggested method of preparation. Other methods, while edible, will likely produce a noticeable difference. You may not be able to get the same results with an air fryer.


Does breadmaker bread need to include milk powder?

A basic bread is

flour
water
yeast or sourdough
(salt)

With these base ingredients, just by varying flour type, ratios and preparation method, you already get a wide range of breads, whether made by hand, kneaded in a mixer or dumped in a bread maker.

Extra ingredients influence the crumb texture and / or the taste of your bread. Including some fat, for example, makes the crumb "fluffier", using milk instead of or in addition to water gives finer pores and alters the taste a bit.

If all recipes that came with your bread maker include milk powder, I'd assume this to be a quirk of the author, not a necessity. I'd simply leave it out. You could add a teaspoon or so of vegan fat, but I don't think it's essential, especially if your recipe already has some.

Feel free to ask more specific questions, if the results aren't what you'd want them to be.


Is it advisable to sous vide in "steam fresh" bags?

No, those bags are not completely sealed. They are designed to let steam escape, therefore they are not watertight, if you put them in your sous vide machine they'd get waterlogged.


How can I tell when chicken thighs are sufficiently cooked to eat?

Pink has to do with blood, which typically runs clear once it reaches a certain temperature.  This is not a great rule of thumb for making delicious food.

It's particularly problematic with thighs, because they contain a vein that can remain red or pink well through the cooking process.  This is less so if the chicken is washed or the veins cleaned.

The key is temperature, not color.  If you have a meat thermometer, aim for 165-170°F (74-77°C), keeping in mind that meat will continue cooking for 5-10°F (3-6°C) once it's pulled and allowed to rest for 5 minutes.  If you don't have a thermometer, aim for meat that is responsively tender but not too firm, opaque rather than transparent, and not slimy or gelatinous in texture.  Thighs are a little more tolerant than breasts when it comes to drying out because they have more fat, but nothing is sadder than overcooked meat (except maybe salmonella poisoning).


"Overly sour yogurt is a sign of inconsistent inoculation" - What is inoculation?

In this case, inoculation refers to the introduction of yoghurt bacteria (lactic acid bacteria) that transform the milk into yoghurt.

If anything goes wrong - from unclean conditions that let other bacteria grow to unfavourable temperatures that inhibit the proper growth of your desired lactobacillae - you speak of improper inoculation.

The effects on taste and possibly food-safety have been discussed in your linked posts.

So work in a clean environment, use a good strain of bacteria and maintain the recommended temperature range to prevent this.


What is the best way to store homemade sauces?

If you apply a best-case/worst-case/likeliest-case approach to estimating when you will be using the sauce, you will want to maximize food safety (i.e. shelf life in fridge is shorter than in freezer or in a jar), time to prepare (i.e. defrost), and time to store (i.e. jarring).

If you have a given sauce X, all risks being equal, and you want to store it for one to four weeks, I would recommend freezer bags for the following reasons:

Food safety: a sauce will last a few days in the fridge, it will last weeks and months in the freezer or in a jar
Time to prepare: having your sauce in the freezer means being prepared in advance to use your sauce, and defrosting the night before, in the fridge or a jar you can just open and use it
Time to store: in the cases of jarring/canning, the storage process is cumbersome for a one-off sauce that is not being stored in multiple quantities, in a pyrex in the fridge, or a ziploc in the freezer, it just takes as long as pouring it into the container

Jarring will have the best shelf life in all likelihood (assuming you don't contaminate your jars, or end up with exploding glass), as freezing your sauce may cause a separation, and in the fridge it will pose a health risk quickly.

Storing sauces in securely closing plastic freezer bags, in the freezer, is my preferred method in the scenario you have outlined as it allows you to portion out smaller quantities, has a good mid-range duration of food safety, and isn't terribly likely to cause any flavor issues within three to six months, let alone in the scope of one. As for defrosting, it sounds like you are already planning out your dishes, and putting a bag of sauce on a plate in the fridge in the morning wouldn't be problematic.


Is it safe to prepare a crock pot recipe the night before?

Assuming it's a proper removable (some old ones weren't) inner crock pot you could (as in your other answer).

BUT

That pot will take a long time to warm up when you put it in and turn it on.  I would suggest assembling all the ingredients in another container (which may also fit better in the fridge) and turning them out in to the (ideally preheated) crock pot in the morning.  Otherwise you will probably need to add some time even on top of the extra time for starting all ingredients at fridge temperature.

This is roughly what the manual for our previous slow cooker recommended.  Our new one is a non-stick steel inner pot (for easy browning) and will warm up much faster - there's no  recommendation to preheat this model.


At what step is the difference made between a quesadilla and burrito?

Quesadilla comes from queso, cheese, and that is mostly what goes in there. Maybe some jalapeños or onions, but that's really it.

In a burrito you'd add much more, both volume and variety, for example meat, rice, avocado, cream, cheese, chiles, and beans.

As far as I know the quesadilla goes in the pan on heat, whereas a burrito does not get heated after being wrapped up.


Vegan cheeses are typically mot made by curdling a vegan milk. As you have noticed, vegan milks don't curdle when you introduce an acid. Vegan cheeses tend to be made by either making a nut paste with some add-ins to give it a nice flavour and texture, or by thickening a vegan milk mixture with some starch or agar agar.


Fermentation Brine Percentage and Tannins

Calculate your brine percentage by dividing the weight of salt by the weight of water, then multiply by 100.  Most vegetable ferments are in the 1.5% - 5% range. It appears many people find the 2-3% range ideal.  If you can't find oak or grape, I have seen that some folks use tea leaves for added tannin.


The exhaustively researched Serious Eats article `The Science of the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies' has some relevant ideas.

In particular: browning the butter beforehand (as in a buerre-noisette) brings out its nutty flavours. Since this removes moisture, it might be necessary to compensate by adding a bit more egg or egg yolk. Melting the butter gives a denser cookie that should taste more buttery than the more `cakey' cookies from the creaming method.

European butter has slightly more butter fat than American butter (minimum 82% versus minimum 80%), giving a richer taste. I suggest experimenting with several different brands.


Can I use traditional pie crust to make ice cream pies

As you don't have much experience with baking, I would recommend that you find a recipe for a crust specifically intended for an ice cream pie, and then work from there.
It's possible that you'll find that there's something wrong with your technique, and the crust isn't any better than what you've made so far, but I suspect that your problem is that most pie crusts aren't meant to be served nearly frozen.
Starches and fats can change significantly when chilled.  Consider something like long grain white rice -- it may have been perfectly fluffy when cooked, but when cooled to refrigerator temperatures the starches form a hard crystalline structure.  Many breads get chewy after they've been frozen and thawed.  I suspect that this is your problem with hard and/or chewy crusts.
Our perception of tastes change with temperature as well, so it's possible that you'll need more salt, sugar, or spices in the crust.
I'm not an experienced baker myself enough to know what changes need to be made for ice cream pies, and that's why I don't think that you just need to "focus on making a good pie crust", as even the best pie crust for a fruit pie might make a horrible crust for an ice cream pie.  I suspect that there's a reason that many freezer pies use cookie crumb crusts, and not a pastry crust.


Should I write Steak or Beef Tenderloin on the menu?

I would say anything that is a slice of meat thicker than around 1cm, taken from a larger muscle and (usually) cut across the grain can be considered a 'steak'.
Depending on what part of the tenderlon you have, you could call it either sirloin or rump steak or filet mignon, just 'tenderloin steak' or even plain old 'steak' (see Wikipedia for more info)

I don't think it is misleading or confusing to call it steak on the menu.


Coconut milk ice cream — getting volume?

Try to decrease the fat percentage in the custard. Full fat coconut milk has a fat percentage of ~20%, hence the custard has about the same. Fat tends to make the ice-cream more heavy and "creamy". Ordinary ice-cream usually have a fat percentage around 10-16%, and even lower for gelato type ice-cream.

To decrease the fat percentage, add some liquid with low-fat.


No, you cannot use normal washing soda for cooking because you cannot count on the purity of the product.
Even if the chemical formula is identical, the standards for manufacturing chemicals intended for human consumption are considerably higher than those for cleaning.
You can, however, purchase food-grade sodium carbonate as a food additive from a variety of manufacturers.


Contamination implications of eating peanut butter with a spoon

In addition to actually adding unwanted species, you're also adding moisture to a food that's otherwise very low in water. This will change its ability to support the growth of mould and bacteria in the damp bits.

If you polish off a jar in a few days and always eat the bit you previously got saliva on, I'm sure the risks will be vanishingly small. If you leave it for a couple of weeks after dipping in a well-licked spoon, I'm less confident.

As a practical measure it would seem easy to spoon out as much as you want into another container, then eat that. That also means you have the option of sharing it rather than having to refuse on the basis that you might as well have spat in it.


Tempering chocolate without a thermometer

Your best bet is to start with a good quality tempered chocolate and melt it just to the point of melting, which is to say keep it 88° - 91°F (if you ever do end up getting a thermometer). Most suggest using a microwave for this in short bursts to keep the chocolate from getting too hot.  If you use a double boiler, use a low heat and go slow.  Pull the bowl off the heat often and stir.  It may not seem like all the chocolate is going to melt, but keep stirring and add small amounts of heat.  Or you can follow Alton Brown and sandwich a heating pad between two bowls and adjust the heat.

The theory behind this is there are 4 different types of crystals in chocolate.  The good ones we want are Beta crystals, which do not melt until 91° - 94°F.  As long as you don't  melt the beta crystals, the chocolate should set back up to a proper temper.

Use a grater to make nice even bits, melt the chocolate 2/3 of the way and then remove from the heat.  Stir off the heat until the rest melts, or add heat in very short bits, 5-10 seconds at a time.  Don't let it harden either, it's harder to remelt if it's hardens up slighty as it then becomes one big solid mass to melt.

Once you break the temper, there is no going back, you have to start over and there is no real easy way to do that without years of experience as bobobobo said, or a thermometer.  You can find inexpensive thermometers online, just have to make sure to get one that handles the lower range of temperatures.  I use my chocolate thermometer to also measure the temperature of water when making bread.  It seems more accurate at the lower temeratures.


Not sure of slow cooker setting in my multi pot

I found the manual (PDF) for it on the QVC website. Reading that - which is frustrating because it's in a strange order - if you find what's labeled as page 8, it says that the cooker runs at 180 F, which is the equivalent of the low setting on a traditional slow cooker:

  [. . .] The longest cooking time is 9 1/2 hours with a temperature of 180°F. Note: 180°F is the lowest setting on a traditional slow cooker.

The Crock Pot website suggests that the equivalent of four hours on high is eight hours on low. Which seems to be supported on other sources, too.

So...

With your multi-cooker, you'll want to cook your roast for about 8 hours on the slow cook setting.


I called General Mills, the makers of Hamburger Helper, and asked if there had been any changes to their recipes in the past 3 years. The representative (Thanks Kathy!) told me that the only recent change happened in 2016 when they stopped using artificial flavors and colors and switched to an all-natural formula. (see What does "natural" actually mean?)

I also visited the General Mills website and read the ingredients for all of the Hamburger Helper varieties. They are all thickened with cornstarch. Cornstarch does tend to thin out upon reheating, but I have no explanation of what could account for your change in experience (all other factors being the same). Look to what you’re doing differently, and methinks that there’s your answer.


Use a very high heat oil such as peanut or avocado. These oils have a much higher working temperature than does butter. Think about it. Do you want seared Ahi or do you want smoking butter. By not using butter, and using a high heat oil, you get the food that you want - seared Ahi


Extracting the flavour of single vegetables for the purpose of sauce

Any vegetable can work.  Cook vegetable (let's say carrot, for example), puree, pass through tami...you have a sauce.  As @Stephie suggests above, better advice will depend on your plan.  Vegetables can be juiced...that juice can be clarified (more like the result of the distillation process mentioned by @Fabby).


Is the hairy skin below a chestnut’s tough skin poisonous?

There are two reasons chestnuts are usually eaten fully peeled:

The thin fuzzy membrane can be bitter, especially in raw nuts. Cooking and roasting mellows it a bit.
The membrane is hard, fibrous and unpleasant, especially compared with the soft interior.

Note that the skin is not poisonous, but depending on the intended use1 of the chestnuts, it’s probably a good idea to really take the time to clean the nuts properly. If prepared right and still hot, the skin should come off easily.

1 Think purée, desserts or marrons glacés. If I buy roasted chestnuts on the street, I just peel as good as I can and don’t bother with tiny pieces of skin.