Why does wind blowing on pretzel dough add a chewy texture?

My best guess is that it will dry out the surface of the dough.  It may also pull some moisture from the inside of the dough, in addition to drying out the skin. A fan or breeze will let the air pull moisture from the dough - the exposure to a larger volume of air tends to pull moisture off, one reason it feels cooling.  The effect should be greater as the recipe specifies cool air, which tends not to hold enough moisture or humidity to interfere with this drying.

It makes sense that a dough with a dryer skin may be easier to handle during the boiling step, being sturdier and less likely to stretch or deform while being handled.  And I'm not sure, but I think a softer dough might be easier to work or shape, or the uneven drying to have other textural effects, which might be the reason drying the dough out a bit is better than simply using less water to begin with.

The dough will be boiled after this step, but while that will add moisture to the dough, the effects should persist.  A dough that was dried before boiling will still have less moisture than a dough that was not, after both are boiled - boiling can only add so much moisture in such a brief time. Also, a dried skin on the dough would also help limit water absorption during the boiling, since the water has to work through the skin to reach the interior.

Time and temperature also make a difference - a soak would certainly soften the skin back up, but the recipe's brief dip in boiling water will not have time to soften the skin before the heat starts setting it. It would be similar to how starch forms sturdy, chewy lumps if dumped into hot water, but would dissolve in cold and when heated thicken the liquid smoothly instead of forming clumps.  In this case, I'd guess the boiling would heat-set the starches of the dried skin faster than it can re-hydrate.

Another possible analogy that might help would be baking bread - the dough can easily form a skin when baking that changes the texture (by interfering with oven spring) which does not let it rise as easily, making a denser and chewier loaf.  Since that texture is usually undesirable in bread, it is prevented by keeping the surface of the dough moist and pliable with water or oil, and scoring the bread to give room for expansion.

It is additionally possible that heat-setting the dough, by boiling, also helps to set the shape and support a sturdy skin on the dough in order to interfere with any oven spring the pretzel dough might undergo, again giving a denser and chewier texture.  If so, both effects may stack for a more pronounced result.

Of course, much of this is speculation.  The exposure to air will dry out the edges and form a skin, but it is possible that there are some additional benefits (controlling temperature or affecting starch structure, perhaps) that come from adding this step to the recipe that I am unaware of.


It is a combination of many factors. To sell you one perfect apple, one perfect bunch of bananas, or one perfect half-pint of berries requires:

the land to grow on
workers to plant, tend, weed, and pick
transportation to market
loss allowance for fruit that's bruised or spoils in transit
loss allowance for fruit that spoils while at the store and people won't buy it

Many of these factors are objectively higher for berries than for applies or bananas, especially given their short shelf life and tendency to bruise.

This puts a floor on the price growers and stores can charge. Then on top of that, they are delicious and healthy, so at least some people will pay that price. This removes downward pressure to sell them at a loss to get you in the store.

A better question is what can you do about it? The answer is generally to use frozen berries (they don't incur the spoiling and bruising losses) or to eat berries only when they're in season locally and eat other kinds of fruit the rest of the year.


How to maintain a smooth seasoning on carbon steel skillets?

It looks like your pan needs a hard cleaning and a re-seasoning. I run into this about once every 2-3 months (depending on how much I use it).

My tried and true method is to break some rules at this quarterly cleaning. I'll scrub with an abrasive scotch-brite, SOS Pads or similar scrubbing pad. During this time I often use about a quarter cub of baking soda, and towards the end I'll even use a little bit of dawn dish soap to make sure I've removed all of the particles, which amount to fine iron filings.

I've even resorted to very high grit sand paper to even out some areas in very serious issues on my handle. Now it's important to rinse and dry the pan COMPLETELY.

I then carefully rub crisco (less smokey than lard) all over EVERY surface of the now shiny and smooth pan.

Then, invert pan in oven over a baking sheet or foil to catch any mess, and bake the pan at 500F for  roughly an hour or two, or until it is uniformly black.

If you have access to a clean, wood burning put, that's what my grandmother swore by, but I find the 500F oven more consistent.

I am not certain if this would work for your high carbon steel pan pictured in the first photo though. I would read up on that.


Why does spinach lose its texture when cooked?

Before being cooked, vegetables are like a wall built from tightly filled water balloons.  Each cell has is filled with water (well, technically cytoplasm, but...) which is essentially incompressible.

One of the components in the cell walls is hemi-cellulose, which dissolves into the water when the vegetable is cooked.  This allows the individual cells to partially deflate, expressing water and making the overall vegetable wilt.

Think a blown up beach ball.  Although the wall is soft and flexible, the air holds it rigid.  Of course, air can be compressed, so a beach ball can be squeezed; but water for all practical purposes is not compressible, so there is no almost no give in the individual plant cells.

Once the cell walls loose their integrity, however, it is like the beach balls that comprise the plant have sprung a leak.  They loose their shape or rigor, and at the large scale you see wilting or softening.

Note that the presence of acid in the cooking medium can inhibit the dissolving of the hemi-cellulose, and permitting vegetables to better maintain their shape.   This is one reason why, for example, canned vegetables have acid added to the canning liquid (another being that acidity above a certain threshold inhibits the growth of certain dangerous food born pathogens.)


Should I bake cookies with the oven heated from the top or the bottom?

1.
Definitely heat from the bottom but bake on the center rack. Place a thermometer inside the oven to check that the temperature is accurate--home ovens can be off by 50 degrees or more, making a huge difference for cookies. 350 degrees Fahrenheit is a good temp for chocolate chip cookies. If the cookies turned black, they simply got overbaked. They will flatten naturally as the dough gets warm in the oven, so no need to worry about that.

2.
If perhaps your particular recipe yields slightly "puffier" cookies than you desire, you can try any of these steps:

Use whole butter only instead of margarine or shortening--butter causes cookies to spread out, while the other two cause them to keep their rounded shape.

Add a tablespoon or two of water to the recipe.

Do not omit any sugar from the recipe--the cookies will be puffier with less sugar.

Let the dough become room temperature before baking.


How to mimic Giordano's Pizza SAUCE? (Part 2)

If your grocer doesn't have Pastorelli Pizza Sauce in stock, have him order some for you. They supply the pizza industry and will allow you to make an authentic Chicago style pizza.


Looks like the rennet is missing in your recipe.
You also might want to consider to skip the shortcuts and the vinegar and to start off with a more authentic/original formula as you usually can assume that each step and ingredient in them is there for a reason.


What is the difference between using hot water and cold water when making regular pastry?

For shortcrust and puff pastries, the aim is a light pastry. This needs the flour to stay well mixed with the fat, and as little gluten development as possible. Therefore we add as little water as possible, and keep the pastry cold. Using hot water would just melt the fat. So I would not recommend it.

On the other hand, hot water pastries use a larger quantity of boiling water. Here it is deliberate that the fat melts. The result is a much stickier and malleable pastry. Typically it is used for savoury pies where a robust cover is essential.


How can I eat or drink chocolate as Montezuma would have consumed it in pre-Columbian Mexico?

Chocolate recipe was different for rituals or medicinal purposes. The recipes talk about adding some of the following: vanilla, powdered chilli, flowers as gueyncaztle, mecasuchil, maize as filler, honey, tlacoxoshitl..

Here is the recipe for Mexican hot chocolate from Food and Feasts with the Aztecs, Imogene Dawson (p. 29). It is adapted for modern kitchens:

  Mexican hot chocolate Ingredients 1/2 lb semisweet cooking chocolate 4
  cups milk 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 drops vanilla
  1. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Put the pieces in the top of a double boiler or into the heatproof bowl.

  Fill the bottom of the double boiler or a large saucepan with cold water. Then bring the water to a boil. Turn the heat down so that the
  water continues to boil gently.
  Put the container with the chocolate over the one with the boiling water. With a wooden spoon, stir the chocolate until it has melted.
  Measure out the milk and pour it into another saucepan. Heat the milk gently but do not let it boil. Pour the melted chocolate into the
  hot milk.
  Add the cinnamon and the vanilla to the mixture and bring the mixture to a boil.
  Turn the heat down and whisk the mixture for 2 minutes until it is foaming.
  Pour the chocolate into mugs and use the small whisk to whisk the chocolate again, so that there is foam on the top of each mug.

Montezuma dined with Cortes and his Spanish Officers. At this meal the Mexica/Aztec king reportedly drank chocolate from cups of pure gold. Hernán Cortés then wrote:

  These seeds which are called almonds or cacao are ground and made
  into powder, and other small seeds are ground, and this powder is put
  into certain basins with a point... and then they put water on it and
  mix it with a spoon. And after having mixed it very well, they change
  it from one basin to another, so that a foam is raised which they put
  in a vessel made for the purpose. And when they wish to drink it, they
  mix it with certain small spoons of gold or silver or wood, and drink
  it, and drinking it one must open one's mouth, because being foam one
  must give it room to subside, and go down bit by bit. This drink is
  the healthiest thing, and the greatest sustenance of anything you
  could drink in the world, because he who drinks a cup of this liquid,
  no matter how far he walks, can go a whole day without eating anything
  else"

Source: http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html#hotchocolate

I recommend you to read Chapter 8 "From Bean to Beverage", page 100 on the book–180 on the PDF– of History, Culture and Heritage, Louis Evan Grivetti & Howard-Yana Shapiro


Balsamic vinegar became too thick. How to liquefy it?

I would use some good regular (i.e., a non-reduced or a non-aged) balsamic vinegar to thin it out.


How to prevent the lasagne filling from sliding out?

Time...lasagna needs to allowed to rest for a while before serving. At least an hour. If you try to serve it straight out of the oven it will slide all over on you. Time will allow the cheeses and other filling to firm a bit to give you the distinct 'layers' that you want to see out of a traditional lasagna. I would even recommend making your lasagna the day before you plan to serve it and chilling it over night and reheating just before service.


Yes.  I par-boil them first for 15 mins, then toss in oil and seasoning, thread on skewers and barbecue for 7-8 mins, turning often.  Lovely.


I'm sure there are a million ways to do this, so my answer isn't "right", it's just how I've learned.

Get a good cookbook and follow recipes from it. Ideally, you want a cookbook that discusses the "why" as well as the "how". I highly recommend The Best Recipe for this. They have detailed explanations of how they created the recipe and why certain things work. Having a good understanding of why will allow you to really understand the steps of a recipe, making it easier to improvise.

Look for some courses. If you live near a major metro area, there is almost certainly somewhere to take some cooking courses for the home chef. Look for some 101 level courses. Our local cooking school / gadget shop / place I spend too much money is Cooks Warehouse. They have classes like Knife Skills, Pasta 101, Summer Veggies, Intro to Cheese Making, BBQ, etc. Take a class or two.

Ask and research questions here. If you want to know "how to..." there's a good chance that there's already a good question on this site. Reading about steak for instance, you'll learn a TON, or look for Beginner Cooks. Do your research. If you don't find your question, ask away. There's no question at all that I've become a better cook because of this site.

Find someone to cook with. My wife could cook pretty well, and I learned a lot from her. Later we made some friends and gained a neighbor who were professional chefs. Cooking in a kitchen with them, even if it's just helping, can be very helpful. You'll learn a ton. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Cook the same dish over and over. Find a dish you like and make it a couple of times from the same recipe. Then look it up online and look for some recipes that are different. Try those. Figure out what you like / didn't like about the recipes and identify what was different. Then start to try and make some changes off the top of your head (this is particularly common if you don't have something in the recipe, leave it out? substitute?).

Cook lots of different dishes. Branch out a little and try some different things. Stew, pastry, cake, stir fry, etc. Trying a bunch of different things will give you an idea of what happens when you cook something low and slow vs hot and fast, dry heat / wet heat, etc.

What you are really looking for is a trusted source followed by experience, both in depth and in breadth. The trusted source is important to make sure you are getting experience doing the right thing. Ideally, maybe you should start with just depth and nail one dish / technique after another, but that's boring, and if you're doing it at home, you have to eat the results. So breadth helps the home cook, even if that isn't what you'd do in culinary school.

Practice and learn and you'll get there eventually. Fortunately, you need to eat every day, so there's plenty of opportunity.


I need to substitute fresh yams for canned, but I want the sweetness

If you want to devote the time to get the maximum sweetness, you can take advantage of natural enzymes to accomplish your goal.  If you can  hold your yams between 135 and 170°F (57 and 77°C) for a couple of hours, you can dramatically increase the sweetness. They will still be hard at this point, so will need roasting to soften. A sous vide device will be the best way to do this, but you can do a decent job of improving sweetness by roasting, wrapped in foil, in a 300 F (149 C) oven for about 2 hours.  The science and process is explained in detail here.


Why is a glaze applied to the top of a hot cross bun?

I would say that it's not required for any scientific reason. I believe that, traditionally, it's common to put a sweet topping to add an extra hint of sweetness to the buns, which are generally not very sweet themselves.

It may be in the US that it's more common to make the cross out of the glaze rather than creating a cross in the dough using a paste. When I found recipes from England (along with the one you linked from Australia), they both use the flour paste with a light glaze over the entire bun. This BBC recipe, specifically, uses a glaze made from apricot jam, which sounds very nice.

The American recipes tend to not have an all-over glaze, preferring to simplify the preparation process by making the cross with a white sugar icing after the baking process is completed, though (as seen as an option in this Martha Stewart recipe) you could certainly glaze the entire thing, as if it were a doughnut... though this would leave it without the traditional white "cross" on top.

But, as you can see from the images of the American recipes, provided there's a good eggwash before baking to make the buns golden, they should also get a nice shine, so the glaze shouldn't be necessary for that reason... and without, I'd think it would make them easier to handle, as they're not as sticky all over.


How to make stronger colors in three part pannacotta?

All of these are natural colorants but also impart a bit of flavor with them.

For the raspberry layer you could use a tiny amount of beet juice to really kick the red.

For yellow colors you have a few options. Saffron can work really well though I'm not sure what mango/lime/saffron tastes like.  Another organic single ingredient is Achiote, which has an extremely mild sweet flavor. It's used for coloring mac and cheese and most processed cheese.

Hope these ideas help.


Can of chicken left in hot car - okay or trash

Referencing Shelf-Stable Food Safety, from The Food Safety and Inspection Service in the US.

There are several factors that limit the shelf life of canned foods. First, cans can rust over time. Shipping accidents, where cans fall and dent or are crushed, also cause container problems.
Then there’s can corrosion. In all foods, but especially in high-acid foods like
canned tomatoes, natural chemicals in the food continually react with the
container. Over several years, this can cause taste and texture changes, and
eventually lower the nutritional value of the food.
High temperatures (over 100 °F) are harmful to canned goods too. The risk
of spoilage jumps sharply as storage temperatures rise. In fact, canned goods
designed for use in the tropics are specially manufactured.

The exact determination here depends on exactly how hot the interior of your glovebox was getting on particularly hot days, but that's impossible to know. Personally, I doubt that the temperature ever reached dangerous levels and would just enjoy my can of chicken.
However, you may have different tolerance for risk levels than I would, so I hope that the information I've provided is sufficient for you to make a decision of your own. The absolute 0% risk determination would be to simply throw it away. It's your choice.


Pumpkin pie, how long does tin foil need to be around the pie while baking?

It helps if you think about the reason the foil is used in the first place:

If a pie filling needs a certain time to set or bake, the crust might brown too much or even burn. The foil partially shields the crust from the oven heat.

How pronounced the “crust getting too dark before filling is done effect” really is depends on the recipe (combination of type of filling and type of crust) and the oven temperature. The characteristics of your oven are also to be considered. So giving you a formula is not effective and may even be plain wrong.

What you should do is:

If the recipe gives a recommendation, stick to that, adjust as needed if the crust browns too quickly or not enough.
Otherwise, observe the pie and if you notice that the crust seems “almost right”, but the filling needs obviously longer than until the crust is done, add the foil shield.

I encourage you to start baking without the foil and add it according to visual clues. If you have enough experience with a specific recipe and know quite precisely how long to bake with or without foil, you can also shield first and remove the foil later, if you really want to.


How to contain the smell of truffle spice?

I make tiny pouches, sousvide and then store them in a vacuum container. It works well. Takes some time to do but when you make tiny portions the rest will stay very fresh .In case you have some left in the little pouch you can put it in a small bottle with a good olive oil and use as a dressing over fried eggs or mushrooms or veg or potatoes or a deli salad...your choice. Vacuum containers are very handy since you can reuse them every time and everything stays perfect.
I even put them in the freezer myself and the freezer does not smell at all.


Is there a way to deliberately explode other food than corn kernels?

I bet you could explode number of vegetables with a waxy skin.  Maybe a pumpkin.  I bet you could explode a water melon.

Do NOT try this in your oven or microwave!  If it works it would have lot of power.  Try this out doors like in the middle of a fire pit like you would do a dutch oven.

Any food that has moisture and skin that is only slightly permeable to water vapor.  And it would need to be a skin that does not break down at the boiling temperature of water.  Will the skin survive long enough is the question.

No I am not going to try this.  This answer is my engineering best guess.

Popcorn is the only thing that would explode in a manner that you could recover something useful that I can think of.

Kellogg's has puffed wheat and puffed rice cereals.


Is curry ketchup just ketchup with curry powder?

I suppose the Belgian "curry ketchup" is similar to the German varieties and no, they are usually not only seasoned with curry powder, but also other spices. There is no standard seasoning mix for curry ketchup, but common additional spices are ginger, black pepper, paprika, cayenne or other chili powders. I also think that some brands contain onions.

The brownisher colour of curry ketchup is mostly because of the turmeric in the curry powder, so just adding the powder to regular ketchup will get you a colour match even without the additional spices or ingredients.


How can I maximize the cheese flavor in my pizza?

Top your pizza with 2 cheeses: whole milk mozzerella and skim milk mozzerella. (Pizza restaurant secret)


Whipping cream is sold in versions that contain sugar and versions that don't contain sugar. Did you use a version that contains sugar? If so, try the version without.


a Keurig or other single-cup coffee maker might be a good idea, everyone could have their own favorites. The coffee isn't amazing but it's surprisingly decent.


What is the difference between Paris ham and French ham?

Jambon de Paris (Paris Ham) is a slow cooked ham. The slow cooking means it retains a large percentage of its moisture and absorbs the flavours of the ingredients with which it is cooked.

Jambon de Bayonne is a dry cured or smoked ham that may or may not be further cured in red wine and given its name from the region in which it originates.

Both are sometimes identified as French Jambon ham. French-style ham would probably indicate the use of one or both methods to produce the final result. But as Elendilthetall mentioned it is just marketing speak for an imitation.


Cooking beef goulash in a slow cooker with a temperature controller, what temperature?

Here's an older answer to a similar question that is potentially quite relevant. I won't reproduce the text in full, just pull out some of the salient points.

Goulash being a stew, traditionally cooked with tougher cuts much higher in collagen, your ultimate goal is to break down that collagen into gelatin.  Traditional wisdom holds that this breakdown doesn't really begin until about 70°C/160°F, but modernist resources suggest that the actual reaction starts as low as 50°C/122°F and increases exponentially with temperature.  If you're able to maintain a sous vide style temperature using the controller, you should be able to take advantage of similar results.

From @Stefan's linked answer:

  The answer to the question, "how low can you go and still get collagen break-down" I would answer 55°C/130°F or even a bit lower. That is NOT a realistic temperature for cooking a stew, especially not if you will put veggies in it, but as far as collagen breakdown goes that is the lowest temperature for 'stewing meat'.

This also notes the challenge with cooking at such a low temperature: the vegetables won't respond to such a low temperature in the same way as the meat.  They need higher heat and more moisture to break down. You probably need to consider cooking them separately for optimal results:

  I think you must cook the veggies at much higher temperature (80°C-95°C) so you would have to separate the two. If the end result is worth the effort I do not know, I have wanted to try doing a 'stew' with meat cooked sous vide at 55°C - 60°C for 24h+, with the veggies done on the side at 80°C-95°C, normal stew style, to see if it would be better [...]

This is good guidance in my opinion; I'd let the meat go for about 24 hours to start (you could experiement with longer if you like and have the patience to do so) and quickly cook the vegetables on the stove for maybe an hour before you're ready to serve with just as much liquid as necessary.

The only thing you might miss out on with this method is the well-known phenomenon of stews tasting better the day after they're made. If you're going to experiment, consider reserving a portion of the combined result, letting it chill overnight, and then (gently) reheating the next day to see if you get the same "marriage" of flavors.


Coffee garlic, is as suggested most probably a phone typo reply from Gordon Ramsay's AMA.

However, there is a youtuber who has a "spicy garlic coffee spaghetti" video (posted before the GR's AMA).  This consists of instant coffee, red (sweet bell) pepper, garlic and chorizo.
Also if you care to research you'll find dishes with coffee and garlic together.


What property does rice flour add to a shortbread recipe?

There are numerous recipes also calling for corn flour or corn starch instead of rice flour; so you can substitute with any gluten-free and low-protein flour or starches (also potato starch). The idea, is pretty simple actually, cutting down the protein content of the mixture.

Considering there's a good amount of fat in the shortbread, it will inhibit the development of gluten.

Adding riceflour will help you utilize these two measures, in our battle against gluten development, resulting in moister and less chewy end results.

And please note that, afaik, the traditional recipe actually calls for oat flour. (which, i believe, is also gluten-free)


The foaming is caused by the water in the butter boiling away. The main reason you wait for it to subside is simply because that means the butter has had long enough to reach a proper temperature for cooking: too cold and the food will absorb the butter rather than fry in it. However, this usually applies more to recipes that require relatively fast cooking. You'd sweat onions or scramble eggs when the foaming starts, for example.


The simple answer has to do with how things are dissolved in
general.  When salt (NaCl) is placed in water, it "dissolves" because all
the sodium ions and chloride ions separate from each other and "hide"
(become dispersed) within the water molecules.  This is an example of an
ionic system: Na+ and Cl- interact with the water molecules in a specific
way...the positively charged Na+ is attracted to the part of water that is
negatively charged and the negatively charged Cl- is attracted to the
positive part of the water molecules.

Its the same general principle when talking about salt dissolving in
vegetable oil.  Vegetable oil is made of lipids: chains of carbon and
hydrogen, which are not ionic at all.  Therefore there are no places for
the
ionic sodium and chloride to hide within the lipids.  The Na+ and Cl- would
prefer to stay with each other where they have nice ionic interactions..the
result is that the salt does not dissolve.

Sugar, on the other hand, can have interactions with the lipids.  Sugar is
composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in a ring structure.  It has
chemical groups that can interact with the CH's of the lipids AND it also
has chemical groups (OH) that can interact with water molecules.  It
makes contacts with the lipids and slowly starts to hide within the
lipid molecules until its so dispersed that you cannot see it in
granular form anymore.  Due to these properties, sugar can dissolve in both
water and in the vegetable oil.


If you google beer can chicken, you will find many, many recipes and descriptions.

The basic idea is that you use a half-empty beer can as stand for the chicken, placing the chicken's cavity on top of the can before roasting or grilling.

The idea is that the aroma from the beer will transfer to the chicken, and the steam will help keep it moist.

You can even buy commercial racks to do the same thing without the beer can.

My personal opinion is that both of these ideas are bunk:

Very few if any aromatic molecules will transfer to the chicken, and even if they do, they will not penetrate past the surface
The steam will not keep the chicken moist, as the dryness of the meet is essentially a function only of the temperature to which you cook it, and very little else.  If the chicken is cooked to too high a temperature, then the proteins will tighten up and express water making the chicken tough, rubbery, and dry tasting.   The minimal amount of steam cannot change this fact.


A toaster is more efficient than a toaster oven, which in turn is far more efficient than heating an entire conventional oven.

Toaster statistics:
Approximate time to make toast – 4 minutes
Watt measured while running – 820 W
Resulting electricity usage – 0.055 kWh

vs

Toaster oven statistics:
Approximate time to make toast – 5 minutes
Watt measured while running – 1110 W
Resulting kWh usage – 0.093

Lower kWh usage means the toaster is more efficient than a toaster oven.

Here is the source for the comparison of toaster vs toaster oven.

Now, you can compare the less efficient toaster oven to a conventional oven here (or to a microwave, but you don't really use that for toast). Toaster ovens use about 1/3 to 1/2 the energy of a conventional oven. So if a toaster uses less than a toaster oven, and a toaster oven uses far less than an oven, then clearly a toaster would be far less wasteful than the oven.

So YES, buy a toaster!


Do scratches on electric range burner elements affect its performance or function?

Thanks for adding the photo, Ford, as I think I know what it is. Although your photo is nicely focused, it's not the real thing so I can't be 100% sure. It looks to be the built up bits of grease and other residues from the bottom of your cooking pans that have accumulated over the 5 years. Not saying you slopped lots but the smallest amounts of spatter from cooking will add up. I moved 6 months ago into a place with a new stove and I've done my best not to spill food and to always wipe up right away but I've noticed the burners getting marked. It doesn't wash off either. Do you find the elements you cook on the most are more marked?

But to answer your original question whether the scratches affect the burners' performance,  the answer is no. All they need to be able to do is heat up and even a knick in the metal wouldn't stop it from heating.


Do you know what part of the animal is included in your cuts?

If you intend to cook it all as stew meat, then I would advise to cut it now and freeze (wherever you can find space).

If you coat the steaks in salt, they will probably last a bit longer in the fridge without getting too smelly.

The only way I would recommend pre-cooking to extend life, is a roast, which should enable meat to last an extra week in the refrigerator. But, if your cuts of meat are not suitable to roasting, then that might be terrible to eat.

The final option - which is again, a waste of good moose meat - would be jerky. I can't advise on jerky techniques. Never made it.


I've found that kneading pasta too long has the same effect. Try reducing the kneading time.


Why do baking recipes call for instant coffee instead of fresh ground coffee?

Fresh ground coffee requires some sort of brewing process to extract the flavor, generally extended time in hot water. If you just dump some into a cup of warm water, you won't get much out of it - some wet grounds and some slightly coffee-ish water. Same goes for baked goods: coffee grounds won't efficiently release their flavor. If you brew it first, you'll have to add a lot of liquid in order to get enough coffee flavor, likely more than the recipe called for in the first place.

Instant coffee, on the other hand, is designed to dissolve and release all the flavor. Used in baked goods, the same thing happens. Sure, the coffee flavor itself isn't as good as you'd get from real coffee, but you get all of it. It also happens to be much easier!

The main alternative is to use espresso; the flavor is much more concentrated, so a recipe may be able to replace some of its liquid with espresso and get enough flavor out of it, without throwing off the recipe.


You must be referring to the New York Times article from 2006, The Way We Eat: Which Came First?

According to the author, you need a few elements in order for this to work:

Make sure you use only the "thick whites".  That means either using farm-fresh eggs, or straining away the "thin whites" with a slotted spoon after cracking the eggs.
Beat the eggs with a fork (not a whisk), and don't add salt, because the grains will tear the eggs.
Create a whirlpool in the boiling water (low boil, not rolling), which is basically to help the eggs stay suspended instead of sinking to the bottom.

According to him, the eggs take about 20 seconds to cook, after which you should strain them.

Note: Personally, I haven't tried this.  I don't know about you, but in my kitchen, it usually takes less time to make scrambled eggs in a non-stick pan than it does to boil water.  It would appear that this technique was developed due to some completely unfounded concerns about the safety of non-stick pans.  If you are still worried about safety after reading that, or just feel like experimenting, then by all means try it out.  I'm just including this little disclaimer because the NYT article gives a lot of airtime to the rumours and not much to the facts.


What can I do with leftover "Sweet and sticky" marinade?

The main concern with re-using anything that has come into contact with chicken is salmonella, however as you are talking about using marinade that has been cooked you shouldn't have any safety concerns, so you can use it in a different dish.

As for what to do with it that's hard to say for sure, it depends on how thick it is. If it's really baked on then you're likely to find that all the goodness has been cooked out of it and it will have a burnt taste and not much else. If it's more of a gel and tastes good you could use it for a variety of things, anywhere you'd use barbecue sauce basically, for instance:

Dipping sauce for fries, breads, etc
Substitute pizza sauce
Sauce for burgers


How long can I keep Panna Cotta out of the fridge?

Pack them in a cooler with ice (or freezer packs) and keep them in there as long as you can. Let them be the last thing you put on the buffet... just before the guests arrive.

You could also nestle them in a buffet pan full of ice, so they are displayed in a way that  makes them accessable for guests, but also keeps them from spoiling.


Dry caramel 'curdles' when adding hot heavy cream

When havy cream is added after caramelizing the sugar, it's done to stop the caramelization process, keeping the desired caramel flavor and preventing the caramel from becoming bitter or even burning (if making caramel for sweets/pastry coating, the caramel is used as is and is cooled by placing the pot/saucepan in a cold water bath).

When adding cream to the caramel, using cold cream will rapidly cool your mixture, keeping the caramel at a temperature more suitable for a sauce, whereas using warm cream will keep the caramel closer to a softball temperature more suitable if you're making soft/chewy caramels, which could cause the edges of the caramel to thicken and start pulling together.

Since you brought the cream the a boil, your caramel probably hit the softball stage while you were stirring the two together. Try warming the cream to a lower temperature; the cooler the cream is, the more your mixture will bubble, but cooler cream will allow for a smoother caramel sauce and a larger margin for error to stay away from the softball stage.

Once you've hit the softball stage, your caramel will not be able to be stirred back into a sauce, you'll just have really soft chewy caramels, or you can heat them longer for harder chewy caramels (I highly recommend a candy thermometer at this point, or if you're particular about the density/chewiness of your soft caramels).


Are bell peppers with brown seeds safe to eat?

A quick google brought this:

  In this case, the brown ones may have been closest to mature or
  viable. When fully ripe, most peppers seeds are supposed to be brown
  or tan. not white.

In my experience, peppers with brown are just old and withered.  They are safe, just not as tasty.  Unless the brown thing is mold, in which case they may be poisonous.


Grass-fed beef will have yellow fat rather than the white fat of grain-fed beef. This is because of the beta-carotene in the grass, apparently.


Seasoning does not preserve food. Some foodstuffs normally used for seasoning, like salt and vinegar, can help to preserve food, but the concentration you need will make your ricotta unpalatable.

Salting can preserve food, when combined with dehydration. Bacteria need a humid environment to live in. Salt is hygroscopic, it both helps dry out the food you are preserving (usually meat) and directly dehydrates any bacteria which come in contact with it, killing them. Even then, you want to use charcuterie salt (a mix of NaCl and NaNO2) to prevent botulism, as pure table salt (NaCl) doesn't kill Clostridum Botulinum.

Trying to get ricotta preserved that way is counterproductive. Not only will it be way too salty to taste well. You will also have to dry it out to the point where neither mould nor bacteria can grow on it. Hard cheeses are durable exactly for these reasons, but dried-out ricotta is not tasty. In fact, I am not sure that "the yellow stuff" you see is "toxic", it could just be dried-out. Still, I wouldn't be willing to risk eating it, even if the taste was acceptable.

You could try preserving your ricotta by adding acid. To have it hold a long time in the fridge, it has to be as acidic as a typical pickle recipe. I only mention this because you say that you spice it heavily. But frankly, I can't imagine anybody wanting to eat ricotta that sour.

The option I would choose is freezing. You already mention "the freezer", but if you are really freezing it, then it sounds like you are thawing and refreezing the whole container. Alternatively, maybe it was a slip of the keyboard and you meant to say that you are holding it in the back of the fridge. Whatever you meant, I would suggest freezing it in portions, for example using silicone muffin moulds. Once you have frozen your ricotta (you can add spices it first, if you prefer), remove it from the moulds and place it in a freezing bag. Only thaw the amount you will need for a single meal. This should work well enough, in the worst case you'll have a layer of freezer burn to remove.


How can I evenly grill a thin steak on a skillet?

Thin cut meat will curl if there is an outside perimeter of gristle or silverskin (which there usually is). Those things shrink faster than the meat, causing the curling. Take a pair of kitchen shears or a sharp knife and make tiny cuts (it shouldn't take more than 1/4 inch) every inch or so around the perimeter of the steak, just into the meat itself. That should solve the problem.


Recipe calls for rolled oats, I have old fashioned oats - can I substitute them in cookies?

Yes, Old Fashioned Oats and Rolled Oats are two names for the same thing. To wit: "Rolled oats are traditionally oat groats that have been dehusked and steamed, before being rolled into flat flakes under heavy rollers and stabilized by being lightly toasted." (from Wikipedia)


Why do some green gram seeds float on water while some don't?

Which could mean one thing for sure . The density and weight of the grams which float is way too lower than the ones that sink. Which means, there is a possibility that it is hollow inside , because of some bug infestation or small worms/bugs gotten inside them, eaten them making it hollow. Else the natural weight if the gram is practically very low, and the growth is incomplete., Former being the most probable cause. If would examine the lot for any worms/bugs to ensure that's not the case. If proved clean, and the number of floating grams is much less, then I will just ignore and use. On the other hand, it there proves to be bugs/worms in the lot, the better option is just to discard them to be safe. Because, pulses and lentils infested with bugs mostly no longer taste the same. Thanks. Hope it helped.


Counteracting a metallic taste in canned tomatoes?

Metallic taste is due to the tannins in the tomato pomace and skins. A pinch of baking soda will alleviate the problem.


Is there a way to tell the grit coarseness of an unmarked sharpening stone?

With some experience you can tell by running a finger over the surface.

As a general guide:

grinding stones used for serious repair of knives form damage of long ngelect; will feel disticly rough, not as rough as sand paper but you can definitely feel an abrasive surface.
sharpening stones : these will have a smooth surface but will have a definite 'drag' or friction to them, a bit like rough paper. These are used for normal sharpening of knives.
Polishing/finishing stones : these will feel very smooth with just a hint of texture, a bit like magazine pages. Used for refinement and polishing of a cutting edge .


Worried about dangers of rotten food (including smell)

Far be it for me to give medical advice as I am NOT a doctor, but the likelihood that the mold you encountered was toxic is pretty small and I would not be worried. That said, if you were to start developing any kind of symptom, your best place to ask about it would be your doctor and not on the internet ;)

The presence of black mold doesn't guarantee that it is of the kind that everyone fears to find in their homes, and even if it was it doesn't mean that there are mycotoxins present and that you should be worried. Toxic mold can actually come in a variety of colours, and isn't limited to one genus/species.

I have also thrown out plenty of 'science experiments' from my fridge that required me opening containers to clean them out with very questionable looking growths of mold, and have experienced no actual illness, despite how my stomach might turn based on the smell.

As for bacterial concerns, unless you got some of what was in the bag into an open wound or mucous membrane, you have nothing to worry about there.

For reference, I studied microbiology in college and worked in biotech for a while before moving to 'greener' pastures. I've also done research specifically into black mold as we had a concern in my previous house.


Why did this fondue become grainy and lumpy?

I suspect that your cheese curdled.

This happens to me if I overheat the mixture- especially in the presence of acid. (I don't have any experience with using beer.) The cornstarch is there as a safety net to prevent this but obviously it is not infallible.

Turn down the heat and try adding a little more corn starch- it may not get back to perfect fondue but you may be able to pull it back to edible.


The chemical responsible for "the burn" is Capsaicin. The main reason you and everyone else has trouble with the lingering burning sensation is that it's not water soluble (which means it doesn't dissolve in water). So, flooding your mouth with water-based liquids doesn't loosen up those Capsaicin molecules on your tongue and throat.

Like @Iuls says, the most common and effective relief comes from full-fat milk or cream. That's because, while Capsaicin isn't able to be dissolved by water, it is fat soluble. It's also why more than a few people have been upset that the "milk solution" didn't work, when they tried it with skim milk.

If you're looking for a more "fun" solution, it's worth noting that Capsaicin is also alcohol soluble, which might explain all of that tequila and beer they sell at Mexican restaurants.


Can you identify these chiles on sale in Serbia and Macedonia?

I've now found them on sale in a posh supermarket in Skopje, Macedonia. This time labelled:

  потекло
  скопско

  пиперки везени

  благи / кг

Which Google Translate massages into:

  origin
  Skopje

  peppers embroidered

  mild / kg

So an answer is "пиперки везени" or "embroidered peppers", for at least one name used in at least one country. Here is a close-up photo giving a better look at the striations:


Should there be any problem cooling Mysore Pak outside a refrigerator?

Batters are not shelf stable. It doesn't matter if their ingredients are shelf stable by themselves or not. So you have to follow the basic food safety rules for non-shelf-stable food. In particular, you have to ensure (no matter by what means) that it doesn't spend more than 4 hours with an internal temperature between 4 and 60 degrees Celsius.

If you can prove that your cooling procedure does that, you are fine. If you don't know, then it is unsafe.


If you have access to a well ventilated area and don't mind using charcoal, shichirin are my absolute favorite style of small grills.  They also come in various shapes and sizes.  You really should use them outside, though, since they release carbon monoxide and their temperatures of 1200°C+ can create a lot of smoke if you are grilling something fatty.

In my experience, small electric grills don't really get hot enough to do anything useful culinarily that a regular range/cooktop couldn't do.

If you must use gas, you could try getting a propane or natural gas camping stove, some of which come with grills.

It won't be as powerful, but there are also some small grills on the market (also see this one) that work off of convenient butane canisters.

Finally, if you already have a gas stove, there is a type of handheld grill that is popular in Japan.  It has a metal grill grate on top of a ceramic diffuser.  It looks like this:

The ceramic diffuser is the white part below.  You hold it over your gas stove and the ceramic evenly distributes the heat across the grill grate.  Unfortunately I don't remember what these things are named.  Does anyone know?


How can I rescue a soft boiled egg that is too soft?

Let it sit, pray carryover cooking does the job (unlikely)
Wrap it in plastic wrap, tightly spin the top to close. Twist 'the tail' into a knot or secure with string.  Put it back in the water.
Position it 'hole-up' on a  baking sheet, put in an oven (time-consuming)
Crack the egg over a bowl, finish in a pan on low heat (not ideal for runny yolks)
Microwave (sad, but could work)

I vote for number 2.


How can I salvage jelly that does not set?

Your problem is actinidain, an enzyme in the kiwi (and to a lesser degree even in the mango) that causes the jelly to stay liquid. Heat deactivates it, so your first step is to boil the whole thing. The minimum temperature to denature actinidain is 60 C, but I recommend to exceed that, just to be sure. You should then add more gelatin, assume that at least a significant portion of the original gelatin was broken down, as evidenced by the non-setting.

If you don’t like the now-mushy fruit pieces after boiling, I suggest giving it a whirr with the immersion blender and calling it “mousse”. You could even add a bit of whipped cream, mixed in just before the jelly sets. (Note that adding a dairy product will only be ok after boiling, again the enzymes need to be deactivated or the whole thing will turn bitter as well.)


Is Dextrose the same as Atomized Glucose Powder?

"Atomized glucose" seems to be primarily a French product, derived from spray-drying glucose syrup. Glucose syrup is best known in America as corn syrup (e.g. light Karo, not HFCS), and is mostly, but not entirely, glucose. Dextrose is pure crystalline glucose. They are not exactly the same ingredient, and probably not interchangeable in fussy recipes.


How do I add flavor to this amazing looking dish?

These look like a recipe I've seen going around recently called cloud eggs, with the yolk nesting in well-beaten whites like it's sitting in a cloud. (I'm only including that name because it may be easier for you to Google recipes with a more modern name than your pre-WWII version, in case you're looking for flavoring inspiration.)

Whether a sweet or savory meringue, the key to adding any seasoning is very, very gentle folding to avoid deflating the beaten egg whites. However, you should be able to add salt, spices, and I've even seen recipes that call for grated Parmesan, as long as you fold carefully instead of stirring vigorously.


How will reducing and freezing affect the flavor of stock?

I've certainly never detected any adverse effects on the flavour from freezing and/or reducing stock.

However I no longer reduce stock before freezing as it seems like a waste to boil off loads of water only to add it later, when the only benefit is saving surprisingly little freezer space. It comes out a little more concentrated from my new slow cooker anyway, as it's hotter than the old one.

Stock is simmered for hours anyway; getting it very slightly hotter for a few more hours won't do any harm.


Baking with regular skillet vs. cast iron for apple pie

Technically, yes, though the crust will likely be less brown and evenly brown than if you use a cast iron skillet, especially if the sides of your regular skillet are thinner than the base.  If that is the case, the sides will be less brown than the base of the pie.

You might also have to adjust the cooking time on the recipe as well, so if you're a stickler with following a recipe to the "T", then I'd ask someone to borrow their cast iron skillet :)


Rye flour should be stored in the fridge or freezer. This is because the cold air will slow down the oxidation process which is what makes the flour turn rancid.  It will keep in the freezer for up to 6 months, slightly less in the fridge. Just give it a sniff when using it to make sure it is still fine.

Make sure it is properly sealed before storing it because from my own experience, it has resulted in the flour tasting and smelling like the freezer (other food etc). Use an airtight plastic or glass container.


I anticipate someone being able to answer this better than me, but my guess is that the glaze totally protects the ceramic of the pot, as long as there are no cracks or chips in it. You should be able to soak and scrub (but I would avoid scouring) the pot with impunity. A rough edged sponge is almost always a better choice than a metal scouring pad when cleaning ceramic / most dishes.


Why does coffee taste awful after reheating it in a microwave oven?

It has nothing to do with the microwave and everything to do with the volatility of aromas and flavors in coffee. Even coffee kept warm for 4 hours won't taste very good. In my experience, stale brewed coffee results in a more pronounced acidity, if left out to cool, or a woody, muddy, bitter kind of flavor, sometimes with more pronounced acidity, if held warm. If you were to make a straight espresso, it's optimal to drink it within 20-30 seconds. Brewed coffee can usually be held warm around 30 minutes before pronounced deterioration becomes obvious.

A popular Japanese TV show suggested perhaps stirring a pinch of salt in to stale, reheated coffee, which may trick your tastebuds enough into tolerating it. I've found that tactic less than adequate, but your mileage may vary.

There's a ton of information on coffee flavor compounds and other coffee-related research at: http://www.coffeeresearch.org/science/aromamain.htm


What is the meaning of the numbers on the back of green tea boxes?

Doesn't matter which brand. These numbers indicate exactly which tea and which grade of the tea has been used. It is part of the ISO9001 certified tea trading companies in China.

Similar to ingredient lists, the most used item comes first. This blend of green tea uses several grades and series of leaves of chunmee, from the highest grade to intermediate grades.

The same goes for the gunpowder tea.

The reason it's so hard to find info on the Internet is because it's chinese. But you can rest assured it means you are get good quality and reliable tea.


Is it possible to be able to withstand intense flavors while preserving sensibility to subtle ones?

It's probably true that tolerance for extremes of a specific flavor or sensation will be associated with less perception of slight amounts of that same thing.

So for example, if someone can tolerate extremely hot peppers, they're unlikely to notice a very small amount of heat. It doesn't even have to be extreme: it's quite common for someone with a decent tolerance to not notice that food is hot, while someone else with low tolerance will think it's hot. Similarly, if someone is somehow not sensitive to acidity at all and can drink lemon juice, well, they don't can't perceive that taste so they probably won't notice a tiny bit of citric acid added to water.

But none of that means they'll be unable to perceive different flavors. Black pepper is a different flavor from a hot pepper, so someone with tolerance for extreme heat can most likely still taste black pepper. Someone with tolerance for extreme acidity might not taste the sourness of a little lemon in water, but they could probably notice the fragrance. Someone with tolerance for hard alcohol might not as easily notice the alcohol content of cider, but they'll certainly be able to taste the sweetness, carbonation, and apple that differentiate it from water.

You seem to also be interested in someone having extreme tolerance for everything. First off, keep in mind that there are two parts of perceiving flavor: taste and smell.

Your tongue perceives a small number of basic tastes, most of which it's easy to overdo, like the heat and sour you mentioned, or bitter or salty. For those, if someone has an extreme tolerance, they are likely to be less discerning about smaller amounts. Sweet is probably an exception; everyone can eat pure sugar, and also taste hints of sweetness. Bitter is also a bit unique in that there are a wide variety of bitter-tasting chemicals, and people can have different sensitivities to different ones.

Most of what actually makes foods unique is the more diverse things your nose senses. For most of those, it's not really realistic to ever encounter extremely intense versions. But generally I would expect that yes, if for example you can smell orange extract and hardly smell anything, then you definitely won't notice a hint of orange. Note that this is not about withstanding intense flavors, though, but rather about not really perceiving the flavor in the first place. If on the other hand, it's just that you tolerate it, that might just be normal, and your perception of small amounts would be just fine. A more realistic issue is simply familiarity: if you're used to all your food being orange-scented, you'll stop noticing it, and probably won't notice slight variations, but you would still notice the absence.

If hypothetically someone really couldn't perceive normal amounts of basic tastes and aromas, then yes, they would have trouble knowing on their own how to cook food that others would enjoy. They could of course still follow recipes, or learn what works for others, and even be creative with guidance from others.


How can I be more frugal with salt when cooking (dried) pasta?

It's perfectly possible to cook pasta with no salt at all, so you may be able to wean yourself onto a lower salt level, reducing it gradually.

I don't know what, if anything, you're eating with your pasta, so getting that to have more flavour might be an option.

If you're actually eating plain pasta and want it salty but as cheap as possible, the first thing you should do is cook it in as little water as possible, and with a lid. This will also reduce your fuel bills (you can reduce them still further by turning off the heat for a few minutes in the middle of cooking). If you use half as much water as before, you could start by adding half as much salt, so the concentration in the water remains the same. To a first approximation, it's the concentration that matters here.

Even if you're eating absolutely at cheaply as possible already, I'd be very surprised if you could save significant amounts of money by using less salt, and if you can, you need to consider the health implications (I won't go into more detail). Think about how much in total you spend on it, because you can't possibly save more than that.


Can you refreeze chicken after it has been cooked from frozen

The issue here is not the refreezing after cooking, but rather the method of initial thawing.

Thawing methods should ensure that food does not enter and stay in the danger zone (40 F - 140 F, 40 C) for any longer than absolutely necessary, and certainly not for time measured in hours.  Doing so risks the growth of pathogens and resultant foodborn illness.

Thawing foods by leaving them out at room temperature—especially, for example, while you go to work—is not a good idea for a couple of reasons.  The food on the outside may be too warm before the center is thawed; and if not monitored, there is no way to know when it about to enter unsafe temperatures.

The recommended methods of thawing are:

In the refrigerator
As part of the cooking process
Under flowing cool water
In the microwave

One or more of these may be appropriate depending on the food item and how it will be prepared.

You should use one of these methods to thaw your chicken.

Assuming that food has been treated safely throughout its lifetime including during thawing, there is no safety reason why it cannot be refrozen.  This may reduce quality and affect texture, but it is not a safety issue.


That's actually just about perfect, since meat should rest before you slice it. Start the roast at 3. Cook it for 2 hours. Wrap it in aluminum foil. Put it in something to retain heat (a cooler, or even just a box with some towels). Drive 1 hour to your destination.

The muscle fibers will re-absorb the moisture, making it perfectly juicy. Without resting, it will seem "juicy" when the juices pool on your slicing board, but that's moisture that's lost. The sensation of juiciness is strongest when it has re-absorbed the moisture among the fibers, so it comes out in your mouth when you chew.

Wrapping it in aluminum foil will keep it warm as you go. Heat will equalize throughout the roast. Since it cooks from the outside in, the outermost layers are hottest. Take it just to the very bottom of the cooking range (145°F), or even a little lower, and let the carryover heat from the hotter outer layers finish the cooking. It will arrive perfect for you to slice and eat.

If you're eating any later than, say 6:30, then keep it warm in the oven at 200 or even 180 if your oven will do that. Another hour of warmth will still be perfectly safe, and won't go too far towards moisture loss.


I believe that you have what's commonly known as a rib eye. It comes from the same primal as the prime rib roast (or standing rib roast). Rib eye steaks are also known as rib steaks, delmonicos, scotch filets, etc. They can be found bone in or boneless and with the fat caps trimmed or not. It sounds to me like you have a bone in rib eye that hasn't had the fat trimmed.


Adjusting cookie recipes for high altitude

There is a fairly detailed answer to this available here.

It appears that the answer depends a little on the type of cookie.  If you have a cookie that has a great deal of air in it you'll have the same problem as cakes do.  If you are working with a very dense cookie that can't really fall (since there isn't anywhere to go). At that point you're just down to watching baking times and temperatures, which are easier to monitor.


Bread baking: dough has little holes after first rise

What kind of whole wheat flour are you using? An organic supermarket near me offers a mill to use on-site, and I once bought a package of wheat and milled it there, to see how bread tastes with unoxidized flour.

The roughly milled bran teared my gluten badly, and I had much difficulty getting the dough to perform well. The bread didn't rise well either.

Your dough looks rather irregular to me, and I believe to see tiny beige dots which may be bran. Adding all those spices doesn't help, neither does working with high gluten flour when you are using whole wheat. The whole thing looks like too much and too tight gluten to me, that gets torn by the bran and pulls together, leaving holes.

Also, home bakers tend to use too much yeast, and I suspect that getting the air pockets expand too quickly or even too much (overrising) increases the problem. Standard recipes start at 2% yeast (2 g fresh or 0.7 g instant per 100 g flour) but artisan breads use less, to allow for longer rising times.

So my advice would be:

use finely milled whole wheat flour (not home milled)
try also getting your spices finer milled - if you are doing it in a coffee grinder, use a Turkish grind
use AP flour instead of high gluten flour
use more AP and less whole flour
work your dough with frequent breaks, so the gluten can relax a bit
use the proper amount of yeast.


What would you call this way of cooking an egg?

This would generally be known as a variant of "basted eggs".
The idea of basted eggs is to apply heat from the bottom (from the pan) without flipping, but additionally cook the tops with liquid. The two ways of doing this are (1) to spoon hot fat over the eggs, or (2) to add water and cover the pan to allow steam to cook the tops.
My normal method of frying eggs is similar to this one, but at lower heat and cooking for longer uncovered. If you get it right, the white ends up fully opaque while the yolk is still deep yellow.


Can psyllium husk be used as gelatin for jello?

Psyllium husk is a good source of soluble fiber, but it's not a very good stabilizer or a gelling agent.

If you want to replace gelatin inn recipes there's plenty of great vegan substitutes. I'd recommend using agar-agar instead; it's the closest gelling agent but it's stronger, so you need to use less than you're used to.


Yes, they can be eaten raw, and I do so frequently when they're in season.

I find them much more convenient for sandwich greens and salads when cooking for one than a whole large cabbage; I just chop up what I need (1-2, depending on size), and add 'em to the sandwich, or whatever I might be making.

...and I agree with Jennifer -- don't boil them.  (I like quartering them, and saute in bacon fat 'til they've browned, then a heavy dose of salt.)


Why do black olives typically come in cans and green olives typically come in jars?

It's for marketing purposes. People who can see the food inside the jar are more likely to buy it. Subconsciously a tall jar full of olives is more pleasing to the eyes than a can which is full to an unknown percentage. Another good thing about a glass container is that it is resealable, so the olives remain fresh longer.

So why don't they do this with black olives? Jars are more expensive than cans or other cheap plastic containers. Green olives seem to be more popular in american cuisine than black olives. Companies have more budget to afford more expensive packaging for green olives than for black olives. It also depends on where the olives come from - I eat a lot of olives from a niche Greek grocery store, and all of the olives (green or black) are in plastic containers, most likely because of the economics of the region from which they were imported.


How to make a dessert with dynamically opening flower petals?

Gravity is making the petals open. If you look at the shape of the petals their center of gravity is towards the outside of the bowl, but they are being held in place by something underneath. I suspect that it's simply one piece of chocolate melted onto another. When the custard (warm or hot) is poured on it melts the bonds holding the petals in place allowing them to fall.


My beef roast is dry on top and soggy on the bottom, how to correct it?

Lamb meat is tougher and more fatty than your typical beef roast. 2 cups of red wine is a lot of acidic liquid and that can eat away at the meat as to tenderize it.

Your mother may be right, some beef stock to thin out the alcohol may in fact do the trick. Also, rotating the roast would be a good idea as well since a beef roast will dry out at the top because it's not as fatty as lamb. I would typically rotate my roast every now and again if I'm not using an electric rotisserie. I definitely recommend an electric rotisserie for beef roasts.


The purpose of the water is to cook the custard slowly- essentially poaching it. It takes out some insurance against it overheating and breaking.

Suspending the cheesecake over the water would not have the same effect- steam can get hotter than the curdling temperature of eggs. It would be a thermal mass that might even out some temperature variation in your oven and it would keep things humid. If your oven is working well these effects aren't needed.

Plenty of cheesecake recipes don't take out the water-bath-insurance. My opinion is that suspending the cake above the pan would not be helpful.


What can I substitute for ragu in kosher lasgne?

You can either substitute the bechamel or the ragu:

Bechamel

Use soy or almond milk and vegan butter
Ideas:

  http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/how-to-make-classic-sauces-vegan/
  https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/dairy-free-bechamel-sauce.html

Ragu

Simple.. just use vegetarian mince:

  https://www.quorn.co.uk/products/meat-free-mince
  https://www.morningstarfarms.com/products/morningstar-farms-meal-starters-grillers-recipe-crumbles-product.html

Both are listed as kosher.

Additional ideas/answers already posted here: What can I substitute for dairy products in kosher meat dishes?


Using a wooden spoon to prevent pots from boiling over?

There is an excellent answer to this question on the Physics SE: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/31029/how-can-a-wooden-spoon-be-used-to-prevent-water-from-over-boiling

I will summarise what I think is the most cogent part here.

This does work up to a point. The bubbles formed by boiling water are filled with steam, so if anything colder than the steam (ie <100°C) touches a bubble the steam will immediately condense and the bubble will collapse.

Therefore provided the surface of your spoon is cold, it will help to prevent boiling over. If it's a long boil and the spoon heats up to 100°C it will no longer work. This is why a wooden spoon is recommended: metal would heat up too quickly.


How do you prevent your lasagne from being watery?

Moisture comes from several source. Meat, cheese, sauce, noodles (if preboiled). There a variety of things you can do to address each of these. As mentioned in my answer to your previous question, letting the lasagna rest prior to service will help. So too, using dry noodles, without boiling, will cause the noodles to absorb some of the liquid, leaving you with a still firmer result.

Lasagna is a dish with such a wide variety of recipes that there is no 'one' answer to resolve your issue. But, in addition to the input from your other recent lasagna questions I would add these points to address, in general terms, your question:

To deal with 'water'(or myoglobin) from the meats, brown the meat separately and thoroughly so as to 'boil off' these liquids.
If your meats are particularly 'oily' (say 70/30 ground beef or sausage) you can add some flour (2-3 tablespoons) after the water is boiled off and continue to cook the browned meat to for at least two more minutes while stirring the meat. This will form a roux on the meat that will both absorb the oils and then thicken the sauce as it cooks into it. Then build your sauce on top of your meats. Once your roux is formed begin to add the sauce elements to the meat. First add any broth, wine (or beer) to the meat pot to deglaze the pot and get up those wonderful bits of flavor that have caramelized to the bottom of the pan. After that add your tomatoes followed by the seasonings.
(note: do NOT rinse/strain your meats, this will carry away far too much flavor)
For moisture coming from the sauce (tomatoes, broth, wine...)allow your sauce to simmer longer before adding it to the lasagna dish. Again this 'reduces' the sauce and will leave you with less liquid at the end.
Cheeses, choose well aged cheeses over some of the cheaper alternatives. (Ricotta over cottage, real mozzarella over that pregrated stuff in a bag, etc.) these cheeses are 'relatively' drier and will leave you with less liquid at the end.
On more thing... if you still want to tighten up your lasagna some more, add a quarter to a half cup of panko to the sauce just before you begin to construct the lasagna. This will help absorb some of that moisture as well.

(a word of caution: your milage may vary...use these techniques sparingly to reach your desired outcome. If you over do it, you will end up with a 'too dry' dish)


It's essentially just water.

You can directly see this in the full USDA nutrition facts (link is for "Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted"). Per 100g, there is 65.26g of water, 31.02g protein, 3.57g fat, accounting for 99.85g. The rest is probably just trace nutrients and rounding errors.

You'll see the same kind of thing for other meats. Details vary by cut, but for example here's beef chuck eye steak (64.48g water, 18.86g protein, 16.35g fat), pork loin chops (69.7g water, 20.71g protein, 9.03g fat), and Atlantic salmon (64.89g water, 20.42g protein, 13.42g fat).


Sour cream could work.  It has a similar flavor to plain greek yogurt, although the consistency is somewhat different.  In fact, My fiance and I have switched to using greek yogurt in place of sour cream because of this since sour cream is higher in calories.  I think it would be just fine for a sauce.


How do I best cut florentines from a finished (baked) baking tray?

I find that it's easiest to cut fragile, hard things with a serrated knife. I would go with a bread knife and slowly saw though it. In the future, I would recommend waiting until they're slightly set but still warm and cut then instead of waiting until it's completely cooled.


What herbs to use when baking bread, rusks and scones?

I won't offer any suggestions on what type of herbs you should use in your recipes - that is entirely up to you and what you like.  Experiment with different flavors and combinations from a basic base, or there are plenty of recipes freely available on the Magical Interwebs for savory breads.

The technical answer is, generally dried herbs are preferable when baking because they contribute no moisture to the recipe, and because they generally have lots of time to infuse their flavor into the dough.  Fresh herbs are nice (and it sounds like you have plenty of them available) but you need to consider a few things:

Dried herbs have a more concentrated flavor, so you will need to need to use a larger quantity of fresh herbs when substituting them for dried in recipes.  The most common rule of thumb seems to be about 3 times the amount of fresh herbs for dried, maybe a bit lower if you've got really nice and fresh herbs with intense flavor.
Certain leafy herbs (basil, mint) will retain and contribute some moisture.  It's doubtful that you'll be using enough in any recipe to throw off its water balance, but beware of using large amounts.  if you want a strong flavor for these herbs it's best to use dried.  Also, these items can get really bitter when bruised or otherwise mistreated, and that bitterness will wind up in your bread.  Not so tasty.
Particular herb flavors will stand up very well to baking, and others will not.  I find that some savory flavors like thyme and oregano mellow out when baked but still retain their character.  Rosemary will work well in baked goods but has a very intense flavor, so you'll want to use a bit less than other herbs.  Other delicate flavors like mint don't do well when baked, both because of the bruising problem noted above and because they're so delicate.

Also note that it's pretty easy, if a little time-intensive, to create your own dried herbs from fresh, which is a great idea for extended storage.


Trying to get to the bottom of the issue, I decided to take a few pictures of a few different types of salt. The pictures shown below were taken by me and are all proportional (the camera was the same distance away from each type of salt, so you are getting an accurate size comparison).

The picture illustrates my suspicions, which is the difference is the surface area (ignoring of course mineral content and different types of grinding salt). Standard table salt is a compact little cube, effective when it’s to be dissolved in a liquid, but not so much when it comes to direct contact with the taste buds. Place one cube on your tongue and you get 1/6th of the surface area in contact, meaning, a lot of salt without much saltiness.  Sea salt, with a more rectangular shape is closer to 1/4th the surface area touching your tongue. Ground salt is more like shards of glass, so nearly half of the exposed area could be in contact making things taste that much more salty. Also with a much finer texture, you are left with many more particles in a wider area, meaning, a saltier taste with less salt.

It’s a good way of finishing a dish when the salt is going to be lightly dusted on top or mixed with an oil where it will not dissolve at all. When you are dissolving it in a liquid, it really makes little difference which type you use. When it comes down to it, it’s all about how picky you want to be with it.


Does storing an apple with potatoes prevent the potatoes from sprouting?

According to this article, the advice to not store onions and potatoes together has nothing to do with ethylene. Onions do not give off ethylene. It has to do with moisture. Both onions and potatoes give off some moisture. Storing them together makes both more likely to rot.

Apples, on the other hand, do give off ethylene. This begs the question, "What does ethylene gas do to potatoes in storage?" Here's what I found.

Ethylene exerts a dual effect on potato tubers: it markedly shortens the duration of rest, but it inhibits elongation of the sprouts during extended treatment. Source

Ethylene has been reported to break endodormancy following short-term treatments, but also to inhibit sprout growth and promote ecodormancy when supplied continuously – either starting immediately after harvest or at first indication of sprouting. - Source

“Endodormancy” occurs after harvest and is due to the internal or physiological status of the tuber. In this situation, even if tubers are placed in conditions favorable for sprout development, sprouting will not occur. “Ecodormancy” is when sprouting is prevented or delayed by environmental conditions. An example of this would be potatoes stored at lower temperatures having a longer dormancy period compared to potatoes stored at warmer temperatures. Source

short-term exposure of potatoes to ethylene gas encouraged more sprouting while long term exposure suppressed it. Source.

Summary:
If your potatoes are in the endodormant stage ethylene will break them out of endodormancy and move them into the ecodormant stage. Potatoes in the endodormant stage are very shelf-stable. Potatoes in the ecodormant stage are less shelf stable.
Once your potatoes are already in the ecodormant stage, there's no disadvantage to supplying them with ethylene. Ethylene will inhibit sprout growth at this stage.
But, you can't tell if your potatoes are in the endodormant stage or the ecodormant stage. The only way you can tell what dormancy stage they're in, is when they start to sprout. Then you know they're not dormant anymore.
So, you want to either:

Supply your potatoes with ethylene continuously, or
Wait until they start to sprout, then supply them with ethylene.

Once you have supplied your potatoes with ethylene, don't take away the source of ethylene.

Conclusion:
Don't:

Put an apple in with your potatoes for a while, then take it away. The ethylene will "wake up" your potatoes, and they will sprout sooner than if you didn't put an apple with them in the first place.
Put an apple in with your potatoes and forget about it. If the apple goes bad and starts to rot, your potatoes will be more likely to rot.

Do:

Put an apple in with your potatoes as soon as you put them in storage, remembering to check on them and replacing the apple if it goes bad. Your potatoes will sprout slightly less than without the apple.

-Or-

Store your potatoes without an apple, but check on them occasionally for sprouting. When they start to sprout, put an apple in with them. The apple will slow the sprout growth and make your potatoes last a bit longer.

Both options require you to check on your potatoes occasionally. If you don't want to do this (or don't trust yourself to remember), don't store them with an apple. Better to risk a bit of sprouting than the rot that a rotting apple will cause.


What is the purpose of papillote on lamb bones?

If you mean the little paper frills on the ends of the bones on a Frenched rack of lamb, those are purely decorative.


Oat powder is moist after blending for two minutes. Safe to store?

There must have been some moisture in your blender.  You could bake it off the oats, or you could freeze the wet powder, or just make whatever you were going to make.  But I think moist oat powder will go moldy within a few days.


Idiomatic combinations of peanut butter, jelly, and bread

The answer is mostly just "it's tradition", as with most questions like this.

I do think the pattern you've described isn't quite the actual one. What really happens is that we tend to eat peanut butter and jelly on sandwiches, and put one or the other on single slices of bread, because with a sandwich you can spread one thing on each half and put them together, but with a single slice of bread it's messy. Sandwiches might be on toasted bread, though - untoasted is common and easier but plenty of people like toasted bread for sandwiches. Similarly, there are certainly lazy people out there who'll just spread something on a slice of untoasted bread.

Beyond that, it's just what we do.


Can I replace flour in a soup recipe with a 1 to 1 gluten free flour?

My step daughter also has celiacs/coeliacs disease. We often use all-purpose gluten free flour for soups, cheese sauce and roux etc. I can honestly say there is no noticeable difference. The only thing I would recommend is if the recipe asks you to make a roux don't try and cook out the flour as it will turn lumpy. Instead just melt the butter, add the flour mix it in then go straight in with the milk/cream (all of it, don't do a little at a time, as again it'll go lumpy) I'd stick to the same ratio (1:1) this time and then alter to your liking for next time.

You could by all means use just corn flour but if you want a thick soup and this is the only thickener you may end up with gloop instead. If you do use corn flour it's best to stir it in at the end, mix it with cold water then just add a table spoon of the mixture at a time until it's the right consistency.


How do I prevent burning when searing in batches?

Using slightly lower heat helps, but if you have several batches to do, mostly it's best to scrape/wipe out the pan between batches.  I would not use cast iron in this case, as you point out, it is difficult to clean quickly.  The fond can be scraped onto a plate and used at the end, alternately, the fond from the last batch can be used.


How can I move from subscription boxes to recipes successfully?

What you will find helpful is the concept of "mise en place"

  Mise en place (MEEZ ahn plahs) is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking. Pans are prepared. Mixing bowls, tools and equipment set out. It is a technique chefs use to assemble meals so quickly and effortlessly.

The subscription boxes you're using do this for you. They give you a list of equipment you need, detailed instructions, and they have all of the ingredients measured for you before you even begin. If you watch any cooking shows, you'll see that they often have all of the ingredients ready in small bowls or ramekins. It's the same concept.

So, if you want to move from a subscription box to a recipe, you'll want to do this. While many bakers (myself included) are able to work line by line in a recipe, it's actually better to measure out everything first and then simply add it when the recipe calls for it.

This makes cooking or baking a two-step process which is actually (usually) created in the recipe itself. Though, the absolutely first step you should always take is to really read the recipe completely to make sure you have all of the ingredients that you need and understand all of the steps you're going to take. If the recipe calls for a process you're unfamiliar with like "whip to firm peaks", look up what that means rather than guessing. Once you've read the recipe you're ready to start.

Collect all of the ingredients based on the ingredients list and equipment based on the recipe.
This means measure them and prepare them as the ingredients list directs.

If it calls for 1 cup butter in 1/2 inch cubes, softened, you cube the butter and let it soften.
If it calls for 1/2 cup chopped nuts, toasted, you chop your nuts, measure them and toast them and then put them in a bowl (note that there's a difference between "1/2 cup nuts, chopped" and "1/2 cup chopped nuts").
Prepare any equipment - grease/flour pans, line with parchment, preheat oven, etc.

After you've finished doing all of these things, clean up your work area and arrange your ingredients neatly. You can put them all in individual prep bowls or, as you get more comfortable baking, you may add together ingredients you know always go together, like spices. This is something you should be careful of, though, as the more you do things like that, the more you have to remember that you did it. It only takes one time forgetting the baking powder to make you regret skipping steps! Only once all of the ingredients are prepared do you move on to step two:

Assemble the recipe by following the directions for assembly.
Once you have your mise en place, you can easily assemble your recipe by following the instructions. You've already done most of the work - measuring, preparing for the recipe by researching the methods, so now you're just pulling it all together and actually putting that work into use.

Keep track of which ingredient is which and keep your recipe close at hand. Hopefully this will help you see that you can use these baking kits but you can also mimic them with any recipe on the web or in a book merely by doing a little extra work (which is what they've already done for you).

Here's a great image of mise en place for baking all set up and ready to go:

It comes from a blog article about mise en place when baking which I also recommend reading.


Food-borne botulism is a risk mainly in homemade products which were not adequately sterilized before extended storage. The reason is that there must be live botulism spores in the product in the first place, which is not the case with store-bought products as long as these are undamaged and were prepared in accordance with hygiene regulations. For example, garlic oil should only be used in store-bought form, as garlic is a known carrier of botulism which thrives under anaerobic conditions. Of course, with the right procedure, garlic oil can also be made by oneself, but it is imperative to adhere to the right methods such as the pressure canner method described in the Modernist Cuisine Vol. 2.


Why won't my bread rise much during baking?

In order to understand what's going wrong you need to understand what's happening in the oven.

Bread rises in the oven because the yeast gets a boost from the heat before it is killed by it, and by the expansion of gases (O2, CO2, and water vapor) trapped in the dough. Well-developed gluten will trap air well, under-developed gluten will allow it to escape. Moist air keeps the skin from hardening, allowing pressure to expand the loaf and open the texture. The slashes on the top are not just decorative, they act like folds on a concertina, again allowing the dough to expand and open the texture. Look at the pictures at the top of your recipe and you'll see that a 1mm slash widens a lot during baking. When baking your bread first expands, then the skin hardens as the inside cooks solid, trapping the air in the structure.

There are many factors which could result in your bread not rising in the oven, or it could be a combination:

Bread dough too dry:  if there is not enough water in the dough then the yeast will not be able to function as well, your bread won't have as much water vapor to help expand it in the oven, and the crust will dry and harden faster in the oven. High altitude saps moisture quickly, so adding a bit more water makes sense to try. You don't need much, 10-20 ml can make the difference
Bread overproofed: bread dough proofs more quickly at high altitude. This may seem like a bonus, but it actually is bad for gluten development and flavor development. Yeast does not just create CO2, it also develops gluten and makes your dough stretchy, the more time it takes for this process the better it does. If it goes too quickly the dough could also collapse because the structure is underdeveloped. Try slowing down your yeast by reducing the yeast in the dough by half, and using cold water instead of warm water at the start. Proofing in the refrigerator is already called for in the recipe, but is a good idea for most bread making at altitude
Dough mis-handled: The recipe calls for stretching the dough, if this was done roughly then you could squash the air bubbles out. Less air in the dough is less air to expand
Oven temperature wrong: If your oven is too cool the air in the dough will be able to escape before the structure hardens to hold it in place, if it is too hot then it will solidify before the air can fully expand, and kill the yeast faster. Ovens cook by convection, less air means less heat transfer, so reducing the temperature would mean much less heat for your bread. I've never seen high altitude recipes call for a cooler oven, always the same or hotter. High altitude bread advice seems to call for the same temperatures at sea level, at least up to 6000ft above sea level, and if anything increasing rather than decreasing. Try keeping your oven at 450f next time.
Oven too dry: Water boils away very quickly at altitude, it's not your gas oven causing it, but physics. You need to have a deep pan of water in the oven, not a shallow tray, and supplement it with a spray bottle of water. You spray water in and close the door right away (make sure it's water in the bottle, once I mixed up my water bottle with surface cleaner and got a faceful of fumes - awful!). Even that may not be enough, which is why my advice would be to bake in a covered pot. The ideal thing to use would be a cloche, which is an ceramic pot used specifically for trapping in moisture when baking bread, however a covered dutch oven or large covered casserole works just fine - I use a large Le Creuset, never seen a cloche outside of pictures. You bake lid on for the first half of the cooking time, then remove the lid to allow the crust to harden and crisp. There's no need for a pan of water if you use a covered pot


I'm not a chemist so I'll let wikipedia do it for me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxidation

As far as it's culinary effects in crusts- I have seen unreliable reference to the flour oxidizing and developing a off color.

I have never seen this personally and I am skeptical of it. Pie crusts can be made just fine without vinegar. Vinegar does significantly tenderize the crust as well as add an interesting flavor.


This is a wonderful occasion for a cold rise!

There are two main methods to prepare yeast doughs, warm or cold. The first is probably what you are familiar with - lukewarm liquid, a cozy spot for the dough and after one or two hours your dough is ready for the oven. The second is actually what many bakers prefer: A dough with a very small amount of yeast is prepared with cold ingredients and rests overnight, sometimes even for a few days, in the fridge. During that time, the bread can develop a lot of flavour and the yeast taste is far less pronounced.

To adjust a standard recipe, reduce the yeast to 1-2% for fresh cake yeast or 0.4-0.1% for dry yeast of your flour weight (yes, that's very little, compared to what you are probably used to) and use cold liquid. After kneading, the dough is put to rest in the fridge overnight - the cold environment means you need not be super exact, an hour or two more or less won't matter. After shaping, the dough is set aside for the second rest at room temperature, during which you preheat your oven and stone / dutch oven, if using.

For the no-knead recipe in your example, I suggest starting with the yeast amount given, but instead of resting on the counter, give it at least twice the time in the fridge, probably more. My favourite baguette with roughly the same ratios as your recipe gets 1 hour on the counter (with a stretch and fold or two) before it goes into the fridge for 48 hours (and will turn out just fine after 24 or even 72 hours).

You can enrich the dough to your liking, milk or butter won't be a problem in the fridge.

If you add eggs, just mix them with the other liquids and proceed as you would without them. No-knead works fine.
For very buttery doughs (Hefezopf, Brioche), I suggest making it a bit wetter than usual, the butter firms up the dough and can restrict the cold rise, but that's not really a problem. In this case, no-knead won’t work as you need to incorporate the fat into the dough. The cold dough is smooth, firm and wonderful to work with.


You're not alone in being confused.  Here's a few "weasel phrases" that recipe authors use:

"Liberally season"
"Season to taste"
"Season as required"
"Add enough"
"A bunch of"
"A generous quantity"

In a lot of cases, what these phrases stand for is "I didn't bother to measure this".  That means you, as the recipe reader, need to guess.

Salt, though, is kind of a special case.  Depending on how much salt you're accustomed to eating, personal tastes vary a lot in terms of how much salt a dish needs.  For example, I'm used to cooking for someone on a low-salt diet, so even when I cook for myself I tend to use 1/4 as much salt as, say, Chef John of Food Wishes does.

For that reason, "season to taste" when used to talk specifically about salt added, for flavor, towards the end of the recipe, really means "season to your taste".  That is, if you like salt, use a lot; if you don't, use a little.  Unfortunately, "a lot" or "a little" are still only meaningful in the context of the recipe.  For example, 1tsp of salt is a lot if you're putting it into 1/2 cup of salad dressing, but it's very little if you're adding it to three liters of chili.

So, as a first time cook, my recommendation is to add a very small amount of salt when you first try the recipe, regardless of "liberally season".  You can always add more salt at the table if you find it too bland, and next time you make it you'll know how much it needs.


How to keep fresh-made soft pretzels from getting soggy or stale?

Unfortunately you're fighting bread-physics... Bread with a high crust:crumb ratio become stale faster than those with low crust:crumb ratios like large boules or miches. Their large surface area allows moisture to evaporate quickly and the starches dry up and harden.  This is why thin breads like baguettes are traditionally "daily" breads, i.e. made/purchased to be consumed that day.  Soft pretzels have an even higher crust:crumb ratio than baguettes.

Breads with extremely high crust:crumb ratios like hard pretzels, crackers, and hardtack are usually cooked to the point of being dry to prolong their storage capacity.  These bread actually "stale" in the opposite direction by becoming more moist.

There are a couple of things you could try that might help a little. It might take a lot of experimenting to get something that helps, and you will likely still need to reheat the pretzels just prior to serving them to have the soft texture you're looking for. Without re-baking or light toasting there really isn't a way to bring back the original crust texture.

Use pre-ferments to increase the concentration of a-amylase in your pretzels.  Using a prolonged autolyse and/or sourdough starter can increase the amount of a-amylase in your bread which has been shown to slow staling.
Incorporate conditioning ingredients like fat, sugar, malt, or honey into your dough.  All of these slow staling.
Try baking the pretzels at a lower temperature.  The article linked above also mentioned that higher temperature baking leads to faster staling.

For storage, your best option is probably to allow them to cool completely (15-30 minutes) then place them in a sealed container at room temperature.  Placing them in a sealed container before they are cool fills the container with humidity, which then coalesces and makes the crust soggy.


Can Apples be Macerated before Pressing into Cider?

Maceration is a traditional step in French and English cider production, whereby the pomace (post-crushing pulpy residue) is left to sit for up to a full day (2-4 hours probably suffices). This allows beneficial enzyme action, and the exposure to oxygen should help reduce bitterness and astringency.

I'm not sure what adding sugar would do besides increasing the costs and complexity; are the apples not sweet enough already?

Reference: "The New Cider Maker's Handbook" by Claude Jolicoeur.


Why are my Rucola and Lettuce washed in ice-water?

Using cold/ice water helps crisp up leafy vegetables.


What does "trimmed" mean in this context?

Depending on how your pork chops arrive from the butcher, trimmed simply means to remove excess fat (you are going to want to leave a reasonable amount, as that is where a significant amount of flavor comes from), silver skin (if you can, sometimes not possible on a chop), or other less desirable parts for two reasons.  Firstly, some of those elements make eating a cut of meat unpleasant.  Secondly, one would trim for even and consistent cooking.  You would want your chops to be about the same size and shape, so that they were finished cooking at the same time.  The same is true for a single piece of meat, like a roast.  A consistent shape allows for even cooking.  In the case of a large piece of meat, it is often tied after trimming for this reason.  While just throwing them in the pan will work, considering these details is one of the ways to elevate your cooking.


How could buffalo chicken dip be stabilized?

I would suggest making this on the stove top, or in the microwave, instead of in the oven. What is happening is that the oil from the cheese separates from the rest of the dish.

If you are using bottled salad dressing and cream cheese, there is already many thickeners/stabilizers in those. (Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Carob/Locust Bean gum)

I suggest that you slowly melt the cheese, along with the cream cheese & salad dressing on low heat. An immersion blender would help to make sure the lumps are gone, after adding the hot sauce, but before you add the chicken (as long as you want to have the chicken texture).

From my experience, the oily separation with the cheese is caused by it over cooking. If you aren't a cheese snob (I am), you could substitute Velveta cheese for the cheddar/jack cheese. Do you remember their commercials with the oily gooey messes with cheddar vs Velveta? It is the same principle at work here.


How long can a packet of sliced ham be used once opened?

When you buy the sliced meat, take out what you'll use in two days and freeze the rest. If you put wax paper in between portions that you would eat in one serving, or use separate baggies, you only need to pull out what you need. The package might recommend against freezing (for best quality, not safety), but a week or two in the freezer will cause no harm at all.

Personally, I find the 2 day limit a bit extreme, a week should be fine (see luncheon meat on the accepted answer here: How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?). But if you would rather not risk it, the above should work well for you.


Can store bought salmon be used for sashimi?

Not being aware of your location, some general tips:

Buy your fish from a fishmonger, and tell him/her what you are using it for.  You want to do business with somebody whose business is selling fish and only selling fish.  They are going to know what's been stored to eaten raw standards in a way that the just above minimum wage fish guy at your grocery store doesn't.
Don't buy it early.  Buy it the day you mean to consume it or the day that you are going to prepare it. This question can help walk you through that.
Take a cooler to get your fish. You have to maintain the freshness, that means not allowing it raise in temperature anymore than you have to.


What is the best way to cook the beef cut "nerveux gite"?

Welcome! Braising would be the preferred cooking method for that cut of beef. The long, slow cook will result in falling apart, tender, moist meat.

Because of the name of the cut, the first thing that comes to mind is beef bourguignon. From  Wikipedia :

  It is a stew prepared with beef braised in red wine, traditionally red Burgundy, and beef broth, generally flavoured with garlic, onions and a bouquet garni, with pearl onions and mushrooms added towards the end of cooking.

If you decide to make beef bourguignon you can do a search to decide on a recipe. Julia Child's version is quite famous.

However, the bottom line is that you want to braise the beef. So you could use it in any recipe where braising is the cooking method called for.