Rule of thumb for cooking or baking different quantities?

The answers that exist are incomplete, somewhat misleading, or too specific.

The amount of time that you will need to bake items depends mostly on the following factors:

Major factors

The shape of the item, especially its thinnest dimension (usually height for a cake or casserole)
The temperature of the oven

Minor factors

The air circulation pattern within the oven
Other items in the oven (due to changes in air circulation, and creating infrared shadows)

Except for cookies which are much more sensitive to local temperature variation within the oven since they are so thin and cook so quickly, the minor factors are very minor indeed.

What happens when you increase food volume?

If you double the volume of an item, you might be changing its dimensions.

If you double a cake recipe, and use two cake pans instead of the one, the dimensions of each pan are going to be the same.  The total bake time will be very close to the same as baking one cake.

Now, take a typical brownie recipe designed for an eight inch (20 cm) square brownie pan.  If you double it, but bake in a 9 x 13 pan, or quadruple it and bake in an 11 x 17 half sheet, the total area of the pans increase approximately proportionately to the total volume of batter.  So the thickness of the batter will remain close to the same.  Again, the bake time will not change significantly.

However, if you double the amount of a lasagna recipe, but only use as lightly larger casserole, the 2nd lasagna will be much thicker.  It will require more time to bake through.  If it will over crisp on top during that time, you might even need to decrease the temperature to compensate, and lengthen the baking time.  Or perhaps cover it with foil for part of the cooking, so that it doesn't crisp up and brown early in the baking. There is no set rule.

As you can see, the trick in increasing quantities of a recipe like a cake or casserole is to keep the thickness of the product close to the same, so that you can bake at the same temperature, for close to the same amount of time.

Caveats, exceptions, and stuff

When you add more items or volume of food to the oven, several things happen.  The most important of these is that you have more mass of food to heat.  Every oven has a total amount of heat it can produce per minute or hour.  If there is enough food in the oven that it cannot keep the temperature up because the foods are absorbing the heat faster than it can be produced, you will have a problem.  However, this is almost never a factor in practice, because ovens can produce a lot of heat over time.  They normally operate in on/off cycles to prevent raising the temperature higher than desired.

Secondly, if there is more than one pan or tray in the oven, they cast shadows on one another, preventing the radiant heat (infrared) from the oven walls, floor, ceiling, and so on from equally reaching all portions of the food equally.   The air circulation patterns in the oven also change, creating hotter and cooler spots.  This is why when baking two sheets of cookies in the oven at the same time, you want to swap the top and bottom trays, and rotate them from front to back.

Every food item you bake is going to have some natural variation.   Because of these variations, you cannot bake to an exact time in any case.  You must have a test or indicator to know when the food is done, such as it hitting 200 F internally for a bread (different breads need different internal temperatures), or a casserole being browned and crusty on top, or a cake pulling away from the sides of the pan.

The timing will help you know when to check, and to plan your cooking logistics, but you will still need to test for doneness.

If you have followed the guideline of maintaining the thickness of the food as you adjust the quantity, the doneness test will still tell you when you are finished, and the total time required will be very close to the original single recipe time.  The additional baking time will be within the noise, and not something to worry about.

When it matters

Savory casseroles like lasagna, baked ziti, potatoes Anna, gratins, US-style "stuffing", macaroni and cheese, and so on are very tolerant of a wide range of temperatures and times, within reason  (lower temperature, longer time, higher temperature, shorter time.)
You generally just need to heat them through, and crisp or brown the top.  You can inhibit over browning by covering the casserole for part of the baking period.

For this reason, when scaling these recipes, even if the thickness changes a bit, you can change the temperature (down slightly, perhaps 25 F) or time, and watch until it is done.  However, it is difficult to give a set rule.  Experience will guide you.

For cakes and other baked goods, the interaction of time and temperature with the chemistry of the recipe (such as gelatizing starches, setting protein networks, triggering chemical leavening, setting crust before collapse) and so on is much more important.  It is far trickier to adjust time or temperature successfully.  In these cases, you want to maintain thickness by using more than one pan, or increasing the area of the item in proportion to its volume.


How should I clean this mess at the bottom of my wok?

A patina is expected in this type of cookware.  Even the Le Creuset web site discusses it at this link:

http://www.lecreuset.co.uk/Help-Advice/Care--Use/Care--Use-Cast-Iron-Satin-Black-Enamel/

Don't try to remove it. It's the sign of a seasoned pan and is helping, not hurting.

If you really feel the need to try to remove it, Le Creuset makes a cleaner for their enamel cookware you could try.  We've used it on our pots and it works quite well.

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/le-creuset-enameled-cast-iron-cookware-cleaner/s242309


"Fibrous" and "dry" are good descriptions for bean which haven't been prepared properly. Mostly, they have either not been soaked long enough, or haven't been cooked for long enough.

Normal times for beans are about 12 hours soaking in water and another 1-3 hours cooking, depending on the desired texture.
Also, sometimes beans can be cooked with about quarter/half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, which softens them nicely.

That should be a start towards solving your problem. To answer your question, I think that white beans and pinto beans are a good start (you can make a chili, for instance), and that chickpeas are also a very good starting point. Cooked chickpeas are great as-is, and can be seasoned with cumin, salt and lemon juice for a nice snack.


Why did a jar of vinegar destroy this metal lid and turn it black (see pic)?

Vinegar is an acid and acids are not stored in metal, it eats them.  Some are less reactive, like stainless steel, but still not a good idea.  Normally plastic is fine, that is what vinegar is often marketed in, but glass is usually best as the main container, but lid should either not be metal or should be fully and well coated, and I would tend to avoid that as well unless I knew it was non-reactive.

An option for ready use would be a glass decanter, as used for oil and vinegar dressing.  These often include a glass stopper, so they make a good but spill prone option.  For longer term storage, my choice is a wine bottle and cork.  The corks (including the synthetic ones and even the twist on) should all be designed for a similar environment to vinegar.  Lower acid but longer term so the same general effect.


Leave them out in a cool place (or even the fridge) for 6 or 7 hours to defrost thoroughly. Nothing special required.


The foam happens because legumes are rich in saponines (see my longer answer here). It contains nothing more and nothing less than the water in which you boil the beans, it just happens to trap air bubbles because of its physical properties.

There are no specific culinary reasons for or against keeping the foam. If it is in the way, you can remove it, but nothing bad is going to happen if you keep it. It is not much of a waste anyway, as a large volume of foam contains a very small amount of boiling-water-solution per weight.


I've got a few suggestions on things to try:

If you're using metal skewers you might like to consider switching to wood / bamboo instead. I've never been that keen on metal skewers for that very reason.
I've noticed that sometimes I have a tendency to lift and rotate at the same time so I'm starting to turn while some of the food is still in contact with the grill and doesn't turn. Make sure you lift them well up and then turn gently in a separate motion.
Although just about everyone says to soak wood / bamboo before using so it doesn't burn for things that are fairly quick to cook I often don't and that seems to help as well. You'll need to be careful it doesn't catch direct flames doing it that way though.
For things like chicken that you want to cook thoroughly I normally leave the hood down for most of the cooking and getting some extra heat from all directions reduces the number of times you'll need to turn them.


Skinless Sausages why they disintegrate?

They disintegrate simply because the skin of normal sausages is what holds them together, and that's not there. Cooking them in the oven using non-stick sheet (this is one brand but there are others) is probably the best way to keep them intact, but possibly not what you want to do. They also stay together under the grill (broiler) but watch for them leaving bits behind on the bars of the grill pan. If you really want to fry them, be gentle, and tilt the pan to turn them at least until the outside is browned and a bit stronger.


What is the proper word/term/expression to describe a dish that appears to be something different

I believe the most common term, especially for foods that just visually look like another food, is Trompe-l'œil.  While the Wikipedia article linked focuses on other forms of art, the word is still applied to foods.

If you google "Trompe l'œil food", you will find many examples of the term in use.

Note that Google seems smart enough to handle either "œ" or "oe".


What Side Dish Sauces Should Be Promoted To Their Own Sauce?

For me there is one item I frequently purchase just for the "side sauce" it contains: Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce. The adobo sauce is an ingredient I practically incorporate into everything I make that I would want to add heat to. (I wish they sold it outright, but cutting up the peppers and adding them is just as satisfying.)

Frequent uses: Barbecued/grilled anything,Chili,Tomato sauces with smoky meats, (anything smoky), Queso dips, Mac & Cheese with poblanos


Sugar cookies without the sugar will be somewhat akin to hardtack crackers:  they will not be sweet at all, and without the moisture retaining and softening affect of the sugar, they will be much harder.

They will certainly be edible, but probably quite nasty.

If you are not averse to risk from the raw eggs, taste your dough.  It should be apparent whether there is sugar in it or not.

If you omitted it, you can try to mix some in now, but this will also continue to work the flour, creating more gluten, and thus giving you a tougher final cookie; therefore, you may choose simply to discard the batch and start again.


Bread bowls are frequently used to serve thick soups, so they could probably hold coffee or hot chocolate.  Here is a patent application for an edible cup.  It might give you some ideas.  See also, this project, where an industrial designer is attempting to replace disposable containers with edible ones.  Probably critical is how hot your liquid will be, and how long you want it to be contained.


"Roll" is an extremely broad culinary term without a single canonical definition. You can very likely call your preparation a "chicken roll" and nobody would object.

In American cuisine, the term "roll" used on its own is often short for "dinner roll", a type of leavened single-serving bread:

Used in combination with another food ("[x] roll") the term usually denotes some form of sandwich, although confusingly few of these use a dinner roll as the bread. Here's the "lobster roll" that you reference, which usually uses a hot dog bun or similar:

Similar terms often denote sandwich-like foods where the bread is "rolled" around the fillings, like this "chicken roll":

There's also the "pepperoni roll", which takes this even further into a tightly rolled spiral which is then baked:

The term "roll-up" is also sometimes used for this kind of spiral roll, especially when the result is sliced and served as an appetizer or finger food:

New Jersey also has a local specialty called a "pork roll", which isn't rolled at all:

So as you can see, "roll" can be used to describe a wide variety of foods that involve bread, and sometimes fillings, which are sometimes rolled, and sometimes not. If you want to call your creation a roll, there's nothing stopping you.


Do you achieve better results from marinating if you poke holes in the meat beforehand?

ChefSteps inject their cuts of meat with their 'brine', a marinade of salty water, liquid smoke, etc., before putting the entire thing in that brine to speed up the process (6-7 days down to 1-2 days)

https://youtu.be/_yTLjYRDDwI?t=51s (at 51s Ben talks about the brine for a pork shoulder, and speeding it up by injecting it. They have other videos for beef, and chicken, and frequently advocate injecting brine/marinade into their meats.)

This is effectively the same as poking holes in the meat and letting the marinade seep in more effectively.

It would depend on the size of the holes you're creating, if you're jacquarding the meat the holes will be larger than a needle.

Benefits: speed up marinating, more effective marinating.

Drawbacks: Depending on hole size, you could ruin presentation and texture. Depending on the marinade, you could be affecting the colour of the meat, too.


Brine level goes down as pickles removed - top off or not?

Keeping vegetables submerged is important in a lacto-fermented product, because the fermentation is anaerobic (happens in the absence of oxygen). Keeping the product submerged during fermentation also makes it less likely that mold will grow on the product.
Refrigerator pickles are not generally fermented, and are just kept in a vinegar and seasoning base to flavor the product.   Refrigeration also drastically slows any problem bacteria and such.  Just avoid sticking your fingers in the jar to keep potential mold at bay, and given that you will likely consume in relatively short order, I would say there is no need to top off.


What is the difference in method between French and Italian macarons?

As a macaron fanatic, eating that is, and collector of recipes and cookbooks, I referred to Les Petits Macarons by Kathryn Gordon and Anne E. McBride and to Pierre Hermé Macaron and, you are correct, the difference is the meringue, itself: French, Italian, or Swiss.

The French method produces the correct texture and taste,light and delicate, for the French macaron.

Italian meringue is more stable, using hot sugar syrup instead of dry sugar, but the macaron is much sweeter, some feel too sweet, and it's more difficult to get the macaron to bake properly.

Macaron can also be made with Swiss meringue, whipping the sugar and egg white over a double boiler, then off heat, although this method is less commonly used.


Is it possible to turn old tomatoes into flour?

The recipe was most likely referring to Tomato Powder which is available from the Spice House in Milwaukee, WI.

I don't think you'd be able to produce the same result at home.  Even if the tomatoes could be dehydrated to the point where they are crisp enough to be ground, I don't think you could pulverize them fine enough very easily.  Even if it is possible, the trouble wouldn't outweigh simply purchasing the commercial product.


How can I make whole wheat bread and biscuits with out the bitter taste?

Part of the problem is that whole wheat flour goes rancid pretty quickly after it's milled (I believe it's from the natural oils in the germ). The usual advice is that whole wheat flour has a shelf life of six months or so, much less than white flour. If you're using old flour, try getting fresher stuff.

If you're willing to go through extra effort, consider milling your own whole wheat flour; after reading this article: http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2006/11/rose_levy_beranbaums_100_whole.html I got a grain mill attachment for my KitchenAid mixer and started milling flour, and I've become a total convert. Fresh-milled whole wheat flour has an incredible taste. My standard loaf these days is 50% whole wheat and 50% bread flour, and it tastes great. It has a nice nutty flavor without the tree bark or cardboard you'd normally associate with bread with so much virtue in it. I've done 100% whole wheat loaves before, and while they're very good, they're just not my thing.

If you want to get even further into it, Peter Reinhart has a book on whole-wheat bread making, which has special starter techniques to get the best flavor possible. I realize your question is about biscuits and not necessarily bread, and his book doesn't have anything to say about biscuits or quick breads.


Veg Burger Advice, Am i missing something?

To get crunchy buns, you can toast them in an oven beforehand. Here is how I do it:
Take the bun out of the package, slice it open and put it in a preheated oven (180C / 350F) for about 5-8 minutes. Keep an eye on them!

Depending on the brand and model, you could also put the bun halves in a toaster.

Then assemble your burger however you like. I would not fry it afterwards.


Is there a low tyramine substitute for tamari?

As unpalatable as it might sound: Pure MSG would be umami with the least added compounds :) A very glutamate-rich (but natural) broth can be made from kombu seaweed (but keep in mind it can have an obscene amount of iodine, which could be relevant in your case.)

Distilled vinegars (or non-brewed condiment) will likely contain less amines or amino acids.


I do exactly that.

I use a clear plastic squeeze bottles. I fill a mug 2/3 full with sugar, and top up with boiling water, stir, cool, funnel into the squeeze bottle, and keep in the fridge door. The squeeze bottle makes it easier to get the right amount of sugar into your beverage.

I don't even worry about keeping it sealed.  There's nothing much to oxidize. And the osmotic pressure of sugar solutions makes it very difficult for pathogens to live. This is why jams and jellies keep forever in your fridge. Like jams and jellies, the first thing you're probably going to see in the way of spoilage is mold.  In the case of simple syrup, we're talking dark thready stuff at the bottom of the bottle. This happens about a month out.  I chuck it, wash the bottle, and carry on.

On a related note, I have a blog post about iced coffee. And it's kind of a little wrong. Cold-brew coffee is pretty good for making iced coffee, but it's not better than leftover percolated coffee.  Seriously. We make hot coffee at my workplace using this cheapo percolator urn. We learned from the reviews on Amazon that we could just pour off the leftover coffee in the afternoon and have excellent iced coffee.  And that's exactly what we do. (To be fair, we use Gorilla coffee, so that might have something to do with it, but I think it'd be good with average coffee.)


When to use "wine vinegar" vs just wine?

Wine vinegar and wine are very different although are produced from the same thing. Wine vinegars are vinegars produced from fermenting wine by acetic acid bacteria which convert the ethanol in wine into acetic acid.

Being a vinegar, it is much sharper than wine although like wine many flavours can be detected beyond the generic sharp lemon-like flavour, particularly in the premium aged varieties such as balsamic vinegar from Modena.

Wine vinegar has no alcoholic content in it and so there is no need to 'burn off the alcohol' which you would do when cooking with wine.

Wine has a much subtler flavour and so would use it in things like gravies, sauces, etc. Likewise, vinegar is much stronger and I would mainly use  it in vinaigrettes or in small quantities in cooking (ie finishing of a dish with a small drizzle of vinegar)in much the same way as you might use lemon.


How to make double cream 48% for tart filling (not for whipping)?

If something like Agar Agar, or a small amount of Carageen is melted into the warmed butter (powdered form, while whisking/lightly whipping after coming off the heat, or bloomed into the warmed heavy cream, it would add the extra thickening that you are talking about without actually changing the flavor, altering the "double cream" (if being used as a filling for say, a tart), set up lovely and invalidates your argument.

I got my Masters in Pastry with a specialty in Alternative Baked goods.  Molecular Gastronomy is a significant part of that.  I would absolutely use powdered product to start, such as the two I mentioned...commonly available in Whole Foods (in the United States), some shops that specialize in Vegan products (as both are Vegan), though the amounts required aren't an exact science (as it depends on moisture in the air where you are, the fact of are you using European Butter (higher fat content and less water) than American Butter, if the butter is salted or not, how hot the melted butter is when you add the gelatin of choice, altitude and the speed at which you do the process.

For the amount of double cream mentioned above, I would approximate roughly 1/4 teaspoon of Agar Agar, OR 1/3 teaspoon of Carageen.  It will make the process a little more labor intense, however, the results may very well surprise you.

Just my two cents...Do with it as you will.  I hope you enjoy, and if it works, please, do a follow up post.


How good a substitute is callaloo for spinach?

I've only had red amaranth, so apologies if that is distinct from the type you have access to. As I recall, spinach is a bit sweeter and the leaves are a bit softer so they break down more readily. Also I believe the stem on spinach is less fibrous.

That said, they are both leafy greens and I've yet to find a recipe so touchy that one leafy green can't be substituted for another.


Why are drippings from restaraunt ground beef colored orange?

This should depend greatly on what the item is.  Hamburgers generally run clear, possibly slightly bloody if undercooked.  The only example of this I can think of would be the odd orange drippings from "taco meat".  The cause of that is soluble coloring agents or spices in the drippings.


Blown sugar globe with smoke enclosed inside - is it a plausible candy to make?

Almost exactly what you describe can be done, it’s shown in this video.

The sugar isn’t hot blown, it’s isomalt, a lower-calorie sugar substitute used in lower calorie candies and by foodies because it is formable into interesting shapes, like your sphere. It's a sugar alcohol, derived from sugar, and is considered "natural" (see What does "natural" actually mean?).

In order to make your spheres by this method, you would need isomalt, wood chips, a smoking gun, a way to pump air, protective gloves, a heat source, scissors, a small cutting form and a fan. It will also probably require boatloads of practice. The video links to a kit with most of what you would need.

Don the gloves, warm the isomalt, and then knead the isomalt by stretching and folding, taking care to get it all to the same temperature. After it’s well kneaded, form it into a ball just bigger than a golf ball.

Poke the ball with a finger, creating a deep hole to wrap around the nozzle of your blower gizmo. Warm the hole and fit it over the nozzle of the blower gizmo. Now it’s a little like filling a balloon, but he shows a lot more finesse.

Once you’ve got the sphere blown, cool it with a fan.

Warm the scissors and cut the sphere from the blower.

He cuts a larger hole for filling the sphere with smoke, but I don’t see that that step is really necessary, if you’re smart with the scissors step. But, what do I know?

Fill the ball with smoke using the smoking gun.

Turn it hole side down onto a plate and serve immediately.

I'm sure with practice you could plug the hole for an even cooler presentation, but you'd still have to serve it pretty quickly.

You can flavor isomalt, and you can add interesting color designs. It seems like it could be a pretty fun project.


Is it possible to make non-sweet icecream (i.e. with no added sugar or sweeteners)?

Sugar does more than just make ice cream sweet. It also controls the way ice cream freezes. Without it, you tend to get bigger ice crystals, which have an unpleasant mouth feel.

There are substitutes. Breyer's sugar-free ice cream, for example, has guar gum, polydextrose, cellulose gum and gel, and maltodextrin, among other things. Home ice cream makers don't have ready access to all of those ingredients, but there are recipes for making sugar-free ice cream at home. (I haven't tried them and can't vouch for them.)

As for making savory ice cream... yeah, people have tried. Most of those are nonetheless somewhat sweet. That may be in part because coldness really dampens flavors; people enjoy melted ice cream because it's even sweeter than cold ice cream. Umami flavors are hard enough to do well even warm, and they'll become very bland when frozen. Maybe if somebody wanted to really pack an ice cream with marmite and Parmesan cheese...


Where can I find "food safe" glass marbles for sous vide cooking?

I would recommend using Whiskey Stones. They are used in whiskey instead of ice cubes. So they should be heavy, won't rust, and are supposed to be immersed in liquid that you'll consume. I think that probably meets all your criteria.

Whiskey Stones

Another alternative is to use a rack. This comes with the Sous Vide Supreme and I find it quite useful for keeping meat submerged. It does however only accommodate certain sizes of meat. It works quite well. You can buy it separately online for $12.


Salad dressing- does it go bad fast if it is creamed in a blender?

All the blender does is emulsify the mixture--it has no effect on how long it will keep before the dressing begins to spoil or go off.

Normally, oil and water do not like to mix.  The oil will coalesce into droplets, then rise to the top due to buoyancy, so that you will have a layer of oil above the water-based liquids.  Blending the mixture will break up the oil droplets into very small droplets.  These take much longer to coalesce together, so you have a creamy dressing for a time.

Over time, the oil can coalesce and separate back out.  If this happens, assuming the ingredients have not spoiled, you can always remix or re-blend the mixture--it s not a safety issue.

I suggest storing your dressing in the refrigerator, where it will be good for several days, probably up to a week, although the oil may separate out.

You can freeze it, but this is likely to encourage the emulsion to break.

Note:  I have not discussed emulsifiers like lecithin from egg yolks or mustard which help keep oil-water emulsions stable, because I don't see any in this recipe.


Yes, ceramic knives are the "new thing," but that doesn't make them superior. The problem with ceramic knives is that you can never sharpen them, and, as mentioned in the comments, they may chip. Don't get a ceramic chef's knife or paring knife; the answer to your question is zero.

If you really want a ceramic knife, then buy a ceramic bread knife, although you won't be getting any extra performance for the money.

Ceramic blade mandolines, however, are great.  The ceramic blade will be sharper and hold the edge longer than a steel mandoline, and since you don't sharpen a mandoline anyway, it doesn't matter that ceramic doesn't sharpen.

Note, a separate, and good, question would be "what knives do I need?"  The answer is it depends, but I concur that you should not buy a "set" of knives.


How can I improve the texture of my whole grain pancakes?

Debbie's right about the gluten - overmixing is a reliable way to get tough pancakes.

I'm not sure what the best solution is within your process. By far the easiest thing would be simply to use wholegrain wheat flour, letting someone else do the grinding for you.

Failing that, I think you want to grind the grains up dry, and then it really won't take much mixing at all to eliminate clumps. That's going to require something other than a blender, though.


Baked tortilla chips: how to make them quicker and more consistent?

I broiled on low and just watched them. Didn't take more than a few minutes per side and they browned relatively evenly. Actually they looked store bought and they tasted delicious completely unseasoned


Try either a higher oven temperature or more time. Probably higher temperature, unless your chicken was undercooked. Browning occurs above 212F (the boiling point of water), so it won't start until the moisture (eggs and milk) has cooked off of the outside of the chicken.

You may also want to let the milk/egg mixture drip off of the chicken a little (so it isn't too thick) before rolling in the breading.


Cleaning a commercial-grade grill surface

If you have dinged or scratched grill that is a problem.

I am used to used to starting with something like this: a grill stone / block / brick.
(Skip the paint scrapper - especially if it is scratching the grill.)

If you are using something like this:

Those are also use used but I like a brick.

Then a green scratch pad on grease.
Then a green scratch pad with water.

Then just some very very light oil.

This is how a pro does it.  clean a grill like a boss

If you shut it down dirty and fire it up to clean it is twice the work.  It should get cleaned as it is being shut down.  It kind of like lets the stains set.


Metal (cast iron) would have to melt before it would burn, and it takes a lot of firepower to melt metal-- that's why we cook in it.  Enamel likewise isn't going to burst into flame at temperatures generated on the average stove or grill.  Something smeared or coating it might, though.

Like grease.  On a grill pan, what you describe sounds like a grease fire.  Possibly (but not necessarily, could have just been clumsiness or an accident) caused by negligence of the chef, the drippings from whatever was being cooked in the pan caught fire.  If you leave grease/oil in a hot enough pan long enough, its certainly possible for it to catch flame, especially if there's something with a lower smoke point floating in it.

That said, plain cast iron does react with acidic foods, but in a way that makes your food taste off, not burst into flames.


How can I use a large quantity of raw almonds all at once?

As Stephie implied, after "a couple years", I'd bet your raw almonds are rancid and whatever you do with them would just be throwing good ingredients after bad. But eat a couple and see for yourself. If they're ok, I'd make almond butter, that would let you use all of them quickly.


You can soak it, or you can boil it in several changes of water, or both (then bake to finish if that's what you want, or dry it then fry or grill it in the case of bacon).

This works better for smaller pieces so you may want to cut it into the minimum acceptable size first.

Slow cooking a gammon joint in plenty of cider or apple juice, possibly spiced, can help to mask the smokiness. You can throw in roughly chopped apple and/or onion as well.


How to replace icing sugar and glucose in a cake icing?

If you cannot find these ingredients, it will be hard to get this type of icing made.

The first thing is the liquid glucose. If you used any old thing labelled "syrup", chances are that it contained water, and this is what made your mix a sugar. Liquid glucose is mostly sugar, with almost no wetness to it. Substituting something very wet will not work.

Things which will work instead of glucose syrup are agave syrup, treacles, corn syrup, mollasses, golden syrup and honey. You should be aware that most of those will give you a more or less strong coloring and will have a bit of taste on its own. It depends on the type of your cupcakes whether the taste fits them. Corn syrup and golden syrup will be the best alternatives, but they are also less popular around the world.

The other thing is the sugar. It absolutely must be in a powdered form. Crystals won't work. If you have a food processor, just put the crystalized sugar in there and process it. Use it immediately, or it will fuse together due to air moisture.

But you may still be able to find icing sugar. It is just another word for powdered sugar, and it is used in Middle Eastern cuisine (your profile says Lebanon), for example for dusting lokum, but also in some halva recipes. If you can find a confectioner who does these things, you can ask them for a source of powdered sugar.

If you cannot find ingredients which produce an acceptable quality of icing, you can also try other types of icing recipes for decoration. Most do use powdered sugar for easier incorporation, but some are made with sugar dissolved in a liquid.


What is the difference between sorbet and sherbet

Actually, they are not quite the same.  Sorbet is ice sweetened with fruit, wine, or liquer.  Italian ice, which is similar, does not contain ice but contains frozen fruit purees or similar.  Sherbert contains a small amount of dairy, but the milkfat content is less than 3%, differentiating it from ice cream.

In the U. S. what is commonly called sorbet is most likely an Italian ice.  The difference is the lower milk fat content.


How do I baste barbecue chicken while grilling?

Try a 'Beer Can Chicken' stand. Use an empty (or not) beer (or soda) can to hold your basting liquid and properly place the chicken on the holder (as pictured) and put that on the grill.

As the chicken cooks your basting liquid will steam your chicken to a wonderful effect. IF you keep your lid down the steam will have the effect of continuously basting your bird.


Would honey and molasses be liquids or sugars in a bread formula?

They are definitely counted towards the sugar.

The simple part of the answer is hydration. The primary purpose of the liquid in dough is to hydrate the starch in the flour. Honey and molasses are pure sugars and contain no water. Even though their phase is liquid, they shouldn't be counted as a liquid for making bread. You can't hydrate a starch with sugar.

In fact, the "liquid" part in the bread formula should mean water. There are breads made with liquids other than water (e.g. milk), but these liquids are mostly water with something dissolved in it. A liquid with no water in it doesn't count at all for hydration. This includes honey and oil.

The more complex answer should consider two other effects of liquid  in the bread formula. First, there is the dough consistency. Bread is about texture. A liquid dry ingredient will not hydrate the flour, but it will still reduce the viscosity of your dough. Big amounts of it will make a very soft dough which doesn't keep its shape well, has a big oven spring, and in general doesn't behave like classic lean dough. So a recipe containing lots of such an ingredient will still need an adjustment of the amount of hydrating liquid (like water) even though the ingredient (like honey) is considered dry.

The second effect of adding a dry liquid ingredient is that it will make your bread softer. First, you are introducing new molecules into the dough, which keep the gluten strands from finding each other. So you get a less sturdy gluten formation, resulting in a more cakelike bread (yes, cake is cakelike because it has sugar and fat). Also, baked bread loses water over time and gets hard, but sugar binds some of the lost water, and fat prevents the evaporation of the water. A stale enriched (=containing fat and sugar) bread is still stale, but very different in texture from a stale lean bread. So again, you might still want to adjust the amount of hydrating liquid downwards a bit because of this effect your dry ingredient will have on your recipe (or maybe not, if you view the effect as desirable).


Potatoes boiled with skin on makes less gluey mash?

I've never heard that boiling potatoes skin on makes a difference in consistency, but it's possible. The skin will act a as a barrier to moisture, letting the potatoes cook while absorbing less water. That will only work if you keep the potatoes whole though, cutting them up will negate that somewhat.

While skin in may make a difference the choice of potato makes a bigger difference. Waxy potatoes are not a good choice, neither are dry ones like russets. A medium starch potato is best, like a yukon gold or a maris piper.

Also very important is preparation after cooking. I find using a mixer tends to overwork the potatoes and make things gluey, while most chefs would recommend using a ricer. A ricer does give a great result but it is messy and lots of work. I use a potato masher and do it by hand, which to me is a good balance between speed and cleanup while giving a good result.


What kind of rice can I use in a salt shaker to prevent clumping

I do this at home, and it makes a significant difference.  I suspect that it is the mechanical action of the rice, but since adding a teaspoon of rice to each shaker, I don't have to get out the toothpick ever few weeks to clean the hole.

Brown rice includes the germ (embryo) of the grain, which contains some oil.  This oil goes rancid, which has an unpleasant smell.  In the quantities that you are using, and that the oil is still inside the rice, I don't think you would notice.

Note that it doesn't have to be rice.  a few beans, some barley, lentils, or wheat should work just as well.


What is the shelf life of Ultra Clear rice protein powder?

I suggest that you contact the manufacturer of the powder and ask them. You will get an answer that is specific to your product and possibly an explanation as to why the product is safe to use or not. Doing so will also help avoid any online speculation by others that may result in you becoming unnecessarily ill.

As for contacting the manufacturer, I believe that UltraClear is produced by Metagenics and you can contact them online here. If that doesn't work, you can call them toll-free (more information about calling them can be found at the online contact form).


How did/do the Russians make carrot tea?

You use the leaves, not the carrot themselves. I don't know for sure this is what your Russian Civil War book was talking about, but I know it works, and besides, if they were desperate enough for acorn coffee and carrot tea, I imagine they were eating the carrots. This site suggests that you might need 1/4 cup of carrot greens per 1 cup of water; you can find plenty more searching for "carrot top tea".


Can I use green cardamomm pods and ground cardamom interchangeably?

If by green you mean green cardamom pods, the short answer is yes. You will have to remove the outer green shell and grind the black seeds inside. The black powder available in stores is made from the same black seeds. It is always preferable to grind cardamom seeds fresh because ground cardamom tends to lose flavor with time.

I get an acceptable result if I grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle.


How do you salvage a topped pizza that sticks to the peel?

This has happened to many of us.  Your oven is hot.  You have a beautifully crafted pizza ready to cook.  You are minutes away from food time.  You give your peel one last shake, but only part of the pizza moves.

If you can't get it unstuck with shaking alone (and this typically isn't enough if you have a leak), you will need to try to carefully lift the stuck spot.  Using two spatulas, and even a third hand, if available, can help out greatly.  I recommend easing a large plastic or metal spatula to start with. While it may have limited reach, a larger spatula will allow you to lift the pizza without stretching it too much or disrupting your toppings.  Then, using a second, smaller, rubber or silicone spatula, shove some flour or corneal under the first spatula.  If you see a sauce leak, I recommend using flour.  Think about it this way: if you spilled oil on your driveway, you would probably try to soak it up with kitty litter rather than tennis balls. If the stuck spot is large enough, you will need to repeat this process from another direction.  As you work to unstick the pizza, keep shaking, and work the pizza towards the edge of the peel.  If you get the pizza unstuck, try to keep shaking it until you are sliding it into the oven. If you can't get it to stay unstuck and all else fails, get your large spatula(s) under the sticky spots, place the leading edge of the pizza on the baking surface in the oven, and shimmy/shove the pizza off of the peel.  Only try this if the oven temperature is low enough that you can do this safely. If you are using your standard home oven, you should be fine, especially if you use something to protect your hands. It also helps to have another person to open the oven and help you out with another spatula if needed. You might end up with a pizza that is shaped like Texas or a donut, but it probably won't be a total loss, and you will probably get better with time.

While I am at it, I will share some prevention tips, specific to your situation, that I have learned, but haven't found elsewhere.  You can find a few more here, but it sounds like you're already familiar with those tips:

If you see a weak spot in your dough once you've stretched it out, you can preempt it with extra flour underneath it before you start adding toppings.
If feasible, you can also try using little or no sauce on that spot.
If you are making pizza, there is a good chance that you have another human around, waiting to consume it.  Conscript that person to either help with toppings, or to shake the peel at regular intervals.  This can help you get to the oven faster, giving your pizza less time to stick.  If you use that person as a shaker, you will know as soon as your pizza starts sticking.  Try to handle any adhesion as soon as it happens, when there aren't as many toppings to disrupt.


How to reheat sauce made from cream reduction

I attempted the approach suggested in @moscafj’s answer, and heated the sauce in a bath at 60C. The sauce broke horribly, and I couldn’t re-emulsify it with an immersion blender. Adding in more cold fresh cream did not create an emulsion (as it did the day before).
At this point I was at least somewhat stressed, but I was able to cool down by fanning by my face with the gentle breeze from the blades of my immersion blender. Then I added some Dijon mustard, and an emulsion formed nicely.
In the future I want to try reheating the reduced cream and mounting the sauce with the cold cream right before serving.
A safe option seems to serve the sauce at room temp. I held back some of the sauce when attempting to reheat it, and found it was stable, smooth/pliable and tasty at 25C.


Caramel made with coconut milk tastes burnt

Try coconut cream.

I have moved away from coconut milk except for soups.  Coconut cream is also in cans and is lovely, with much less wateriness and great flavor.  It is often semisolid right out of the can but melts in the pan.  The mammal miracle is that milk holds fat in suspension.  I suspect this is trickier for coconuts.  The cream is fattier and so whatever they use for an emulsifier is present in greater amounts.

Try your veggy caramel with coconut cream and report back!


What kind of cheese did I buy in Bulgaria...and how am I supposed to eat it?

This is not a traditional Bulgarian product (*). It was created by one specific dairy company ("Jossy") and it is not even listed on their normal web page (http://www.josi.bg). There is one reference to it on their Facebook page (https://bg-bg.facebook.com/JOSIltd/photos/a.153616871328971.29781.150703611620297/926675350689782/) where they ask users to recognize the product, and only one person made this identification, everybody else thinking it is some kind of unripened cheese or mozzarella style cheese.

The name can simply be translated as "braided cheese". Note that traditionally, Bulgaria only differentiated between Feta cheese (sirene) and a specific yellow semi-soft cheese (Kashkaval). Since opening of the markets in the 1990s, other cheeses get imported and their names get imported along, for example roquefort. Sometimes the names of yellow soft cheeses get applied to the correct cheese (gouda, edamer) but there is also the tendency to use "kashkaval" as an umbrella term for any semisoft yellow cheese. This is made even more complicated by having the term "sirene" mean both "cheese" and "Feta cheese", so yellow cheeses and other cheeses are not always recognized as a subtype of cheese.

Linguistic details aside, it seems they created a new type of cheese, with unknown technology, and reused the generic meaning of "kashkaval" to give it a name. Having never tried it, I cannot give it advice how to eat it. Although, "you don't eat it - you chew it" strikes me as strange, since I chew all cheeses I eat, except maybe quark and other spoonable ones. So I would assume that "chew it" is a good place to start :)

(*) please read MotoDrizzt's answer, he found out that it was a traditional Syrian style cheese which this company introduced into the Bulgarian market


Is it safe to recook partially cooked steak the next day?

you can reheat it in a frying pan, or... if it's not raw inside, slice it for steak salad or sandwiches.  not bad.


Does Agar Agar expand in the stomach if not diluted enough?

Assuming that you are worried about the expansion rate in the stomach from having an insufficient ratio of water to agar during digestion, a quick search came up with the following results from wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar):

  Agar-agar is approximately 80% fiber, so it can serve as an intestinal regulator. Its bulking quality has been behind fad diets in Asia, for example the kanten (the Japanese word for agar-agar[3]) diet. Once ingested, kanten triples in size and absorbs water. This results in the consumers feeling fuller. This diet has recently received some press coverage in the United States as well. The diet has shown promise in obesity studies.

The same Agar used in culinary dishes is the same one used in laboratories for testing.  Resistance to high temperature (melting point is 85 °C) makes Agar ideal for studies that need an environment to mimic human body temperature.  This means that Agar will not melt in the body once digested.

Melting Agar is also not the same as denaturing Agar.  The act of melting it to form and then cooling to set does not change the structure and properties of Agar.  Just like how ice melts into water and you can freeze again while also being able to reverse the process at any time, you can do the same with Agar just at a different temperature.  Since the Agar has the same properties as before melting, this does not keep it from expanding when exposed to water.

To add to this: Just because your body does not get hot enough to melt agar, that does not mean the bacteria in your intestine won't break it down into smaller molecules and denature the Agar to aid in digestion.  Source: https://www.ayurtimes.com/agar-agar-kanten/


What are the reasons for sauteeing with fat?

When you're sauteing something, you want it to heat up quickly, so you put it in contact with a hot piece of metal. However, the food is not perfectly flat, so there will be a few contact spots and lots of pockets of air in between. This air acts as a very good insulator, so you will end up with a piece of food that is very unevenly heated.

If, on the other hand, you add some fat, this will 'fill in the cracks' and provide a more even heating of the foodstuff. (Fat does not conduct heat as well as metal, but much, much better than air.)

Also - fat tastes good.


Can I use a Dutch oven for cooking sauces?

You can certainly use a Dutch oven (DO) for cooking sauce.  A good DO is probably one of the most versatile pieces of equipment in the kitchen.  It cooks, it bakes, it even fries!  It will certainly make sauce and the high sides will even help prevent splatters.  I wouldn't worry about the lack of a long handle, the weight of the DO will keep it stable.

If anything, the weight is its primary fault.  A good DO is also a heavy DO.  It can be a bit daunting to lug out every time.

Since you mentioned Le Creuset, I'm assuming you're talking about enameled cast iron - not 'normal' cast iron.  And hence haven't addressed that you certain sauces and such may not be well suited to 'normal' cast iron, but enameled is fine all around.

Can you use a enameled Dutch oven for sauces?  Absolutely.  Should you?  There are less weighty options, but at the end of the day it will make the same sauce.


What is the best cut of beef to use for stews?

Assuming a long, cooked stew. I cut up a well marbled chuck steak usually and chuck is what I'd recommend.  You want enough fat that as the stew cooks long, the fat will render and leave nice, tender meat.  Too lean and you're left with boiled shoe leather.

If you want a quicker stew, use a leaner cut of meat like sirloin.  It will have a lot of flavor but you shouldn't cook it long at all.  A fatty cut in a short stew will end up very fatty and often tough (with a cheaper cut like chuck).


My wife loves bacon that's cooked to the cusp of burning, so I've got a good knowledge of the properties of bacon on that fine line. It's so brittle, you can powder it very easily.

I myself would probably just stick it in a plastic bag, and whack it a few times with a pan, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't put it in the blender. I have a nice mortar and pestle I use for powdering things, but that's probably overkill in this case.


When is it necessary to cover food with aluminum foil during baking/roasting?

If it calls for tightly wrapping it, they're trying for steam.  More than likely, they're just trying to shield the top from radiant energy, so the top doesn't brown before the whole thing is cooked through.

If you're ever baking a cake, and it's starting to brown, but a toothpick is still coming out wet, I'll move it to a lower rack, and put a sheet pan on the rack above, to keep it from browning much further, but not seal it in such a way that it would steam the cake.


Why does KitchenAid recommend against using the Dough Hook on Speed 1?

A KitchenAid  mixer does not have adjustable gearing; at low speeds it’s being run at low power. If run at low power with a viscous, resistant load like bread dough it can end up stalling, either continuously or repeatedly during the knead. This can overheat the motor and reduce its lifetime.


Why does broiled and roasted salmon give these different results?

Roasting doesn't really imply a specific temperature. The roasted salmon you've had might've been done at 450F, or perhaps a lower temperature. Either way, it doesn't require tons of browning. You don't want to overcook salmon, so you'll cook it until it's cooked through, and even at 450F, that doesn't necessarily mean a ton of browning. If it's on a bare metal pan with plenty of room for juices to get out and evaporate, it'll brown more; if it's in a crowded pan that has water in it most of the roasting time, it might brown a bit on top and none on the bottom.

Broiling, however, basically always means high temperatures. The air temperature might be 500-550F, but there's radiant heat too, and the food is close to the heat source, so it can brown easily and rapidly. On top of that, the main heat is coming from the top, so by the time it cooks through, it can easily brown on the top. Getting things crispy and browned is one of the main points of broiling.

So no, I would not expect roasting to have as much browning as broiling would. If your goal is not to brown too much, then just don't use a broiler - bake/roast at some "normal" oven temperature.

(As for "greasy and mechanical", I don't know - you could've been tasting burned oil, or maybe there was some other variable besides the broiling.)


If you are insistent upon substituting something for the cream, you are probably going to need to experiment with adding some soy lecithin (to make sure that the substitute fats don't separate), maybe some cold-soluble gelatin too for added stabilization (regular gelatin that has been bloomed and added when the mixture is hot might also work), and possibly a few other gelling or thickening agents.


My son has scratched my wok. Now it's rusting. Can it be restored or should I throw it away?

Yes, you can restore it.

Clean the whole wok. Wash with soap and dry it. Apply a small coat of oil and put it on high. Let it burn (ventilate the kitchen).

Repeat the process of applying a small coat of oil and putting it on high another two or three times.

Done.

Edit: As noted by @GdD, this method cannot be applied to non-stick woks.


Is it possible to treat dairy with lactase to make it lactose free at home?

Ways to make lactose-free dairy at home

Grind your lactase pills into powder, dissolve them in warm water, and dump the solution into your milk. Wait 24-48 hours.
More convenient is to add 7 drops of liquid Lactase. Wait 24-48 hours and 70% of the lactose is gone.
More economical is to buy bulk lactase powder. Dissolve it in warm water and pour it into your milk. Wait 24-48 hours.
Another economical option is half-making yogurt. The yogurt bacteria (Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, and Lactobacillus acidophilus) eat the lactose. I pour a gallon of milk into a pot inside another pot of water. Heat the milk to 185°F for 30 minutes. Then cool the pot of milk to 110° in cold water in the kitchen sink. Pitch the milk with 2-3 Tbsp. of plain fresh yogurt with "active cultures" and pour the milk back into the milk jug. Put the jug of milk into a food dehydrator (or anything else with good temperature control) and incubate at 104° for 3-4 hours. At that point you'll have slightly thickened milk. Shake it and use like normal. After 7 hours incubation you'll have yogurt. Strain off the whey and you'll have greek yogurt. Both have whey less lactose in them.

All these techniques will dramatically reduce the lactose in milk.
Fun Tips

Adjust the flavor of the milk-gurt by playing with the temperature. Lactobacillus bulgaricus prefers 110° and the other two prefer 99°. The different resulting acids (lactic, folic, formic) affect the flavor.
Yogurt bacteria break down lactose into acids. You can test the acidity to roughly determine how much lactose has been consumed.
The higher the acidity, the longer the treated milk will last.
You can mix-n-match, half-making yogurt and then adding lactase to the result.


Why are egg yolks beaten in a bowl above a pot of hot water?

Egg yolks are often cooked in a bowl above simmering water (also known as a double boiler), so that the egg yolks can cook/thicken without solidifying and scrambling.  This is a common technique used when making custard, for example.


What are the dos and don'ts regarding cleaning a bamboo cutting board?

The care of bamboo cutting boards is extremely similar to that of traditional wood cutting boards:

Prime them with mineral oil, and refresh it every month or so.  (Wipe with oil, let sit for a while, perhaps 15-20 minutes, wipe off).
Wash only with mild soap, and rinse and dry immediately. (Wipe off and let air dry.) Don't put in a dishwasher.
If using for raw meat, you can sanitize with a very dilute bleach solution (about a teaspoon of liquid bleach per quart of water, 5 mL per liter).  Rinse thoroughly afterwards.


How long will a sourdough starter last between feedings?

The following is paraphrased from Andrew Whitley's excellent book Bread Matters

Wheat leaven

If you intend to use within 2 days, store the it at ambient temperature
For 2-14 days, store it in the fridge. Optionally refresh it before use.
For longer, refresh then freeze. Refresh again after thawing.

Rye sourdough

0-3 days -- ambient temperature
3-30 days -- fridge, no need to refresh
Longer -- refresh then freeze. Refresh again after thawing.

Whitley describes "constructive neglect". He keeps a rye sourdough in his fridge that's several months old, so that he can demonstrate to students how easily he can take 50g of it and produce a lovely sourdough from it within 16 hours.

It's a great book.


How do I remove a black residue after seasoning cast iron waffle maker

You might consider removing all that seasoning with oven cleaner and starting over to get a thin, even coating. Thick, gummy seasoning is not going to perform properly.

These are the best instructions for cast iron seasoning I know, using multiple very thin layers of flax seed oil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoIO8YOpyN4


What can I do with badly cooked honeycomb?

It might be possible to dissolve the candy, and then boil it down again, foaming it with fresh baking soda when it hits the proper stage.  The thing is, the candy has already got the full level of baking soda reactants (either sodium carbonate or sodium oxide) from from the first cooking, which may contribute to some off flavors.

Instead, if it is enjoyable as is, I would suggest just eating it as a toffee like candy.

Otherwise, chalk it up to experience and watch the temperature more closely next time.


Cucumber << water, water, water +++
Tomatoes << water, water
Onion << water

Do you see how much water each of those main ingredients contain?

Let's take one at a time.

Onions:-

Fresh onions are not only have a high volume of water, also natrual chemicals that make strong pungent flavour. These chemicals (e.g. Sulphur) work quite well with oxygen in the air, resulting the bitterness.

In order to tone down the flavour and bitterness, soack the onions in ice water.
Another method is to add fresh lime juice immediately after slicing/dicing the onions.

Cucumber:-

Cut and remove the entire section of seeds. Now dice the cucumber.
Remember the little science projects about drawing out excess water from vegetables?
Soak Cucumber in ice water with little salt. (Perhaps you could refrain from adding salt to the final salad bowl, if the quantity used at this point suffice)

Same theory goes for making potato chips. Slice potatoes are soaked in water to draw out that extra moisture. No ricket science here though ;)

Tomatoes:-
Remove entire section of seeds. Dice them and add into your salad.

Garam masala has Fennel and Cineman, that has the sweetness. It's also possible restaurant adds in a bit of sugar. However, certain onion species are sweeter naturally.

To be frank, we don't use garam masala, mint or corriander. Insated you could have the following simple ingridients to make a heaven of a salad, if you may.

fresh :{cucumber, tomatoes, onion, spicy green chilli, black pepper, salt, lime}

Bon appetit!


How do I keep the paddle of a bread machine from damaging the bread upon removal?

I used to remove the paddle before the second rising to avoid breaking the bread. Did not find any other good way of doing it.


How do I keep my bread pudding from collapsing?

A souffle by any other name will fall as quick.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist). But this is absolutely normal, there is nothing in this recipe to support the structural integrity of cooling air bubbles. You can reduce the amount of rising, which will result in a smaller collapse. To do this, beat the mixture less (prepare it by hand instead with a mixer to be sure) and ensure slower, more even heating in the oven. But of course, the collapse will occur.

There is some advice floating around which is supposed to reduce the falling rate of souffles. You could try following it even if your recipe doesn't involve whipping the eggwhites. It involves things like not crowding the oven and carefully buttering the form, usually with layers of butter and sugar (or parmesan for savory souffles). It won't hurt to use them. But don't expect a risen pudding after it has cooled.

Update. I read Charlotte Farley's answer and thought that it would be great if it works. I had a hunch that it might not, but it would be so awesome if it helps! So I made the experiment.

I made the bread pudding exactly per the recipe given here. I didn't separate the eggs, but took care to whip them for a long time before adding the milk, to ensure a good rise. I baked it in silicon muffin cups, exactly 5 gram of bread and 45 gram of egg mixture per cup. After 45 min at 150°C, I quickly removed three cups from the oven and left the remaining three cups there for another 45 min. As a control, I used a simple cheese souffle (basically a mornay sauche with whipped egg whites) and repeated the procedures, using 50 g mixture per cup and baking for 20 min at 175°C.

The results:

These are the bread puddings. The directly removed are in the lower row, the ones which remained in the oven are in the upper row. I didn't measure them, but they are nearly the same height. In the oven, all had risen maybe 1 cm over the cup edges, so they all lost ~50% of their oven height. The first group collapsed the second they were out of the oven, the others deflated slowly in the oven, but were already low when I took them out.

I weighed both groups after cooling. The "direct from the oven group" weighed 116 g, or 11.3 g average moisture loss per pudding. The "left in oven group" weighed 101 g, or 16.3 g average moisture loss per pudding. When I tried them, I liked the moister ones better, but both groups were OK. Neither was unacceptably dry or egg-white-rubbery.

These are the cheese soufflés. They rose more in the oven, to maybe 2.5-3 cm above the cup edges. Again, directly removed ones are in the bottom row, the oven cooled ones are in the top row. There is no visible difference, they all seem deflated to the same size. The weight results are similar as in the bread pudding case: 122 g for the three directly removed souffles, 109 g for the oven cooled ones. Again, I felt that the moister ones tasted better, but this could be a subjective preference. I wouldn't consider the oven-cooled ones "bad" on their own.

Conclusion: The slow oven cooling doesn't work :(

Estimated 5000 calories worth of egg dishes plus a small package of American bread (opened) available for free, collect in person only.


For salad dressings, replacing mustard with lecithin as an emulsifier?

Lecithin is indeed a good emulsifier, available from egg whites or soy. Both egg whites and soy lecithin are available in powdered form and should be shelf-stable and usable with normal kitchen tools (scales and measuring spoons).

Another powdered option is gum arabic (also called acacia gum), which comes from acacia resin. It's used a lot in commercial food products and candies.

These are all readily available online, but you may also find them in some grocery stores (in the US, the Bob's Mill brand offers a lot of things like this) or restaurant supply stores (but the quantities might be more than you want) or you may find some gums among the spices at larger Indian markets, or certainly in a large spice market like Kalustyan's in NYC.

I know you asked for neutral, but I figured I'd also mention that garlic can be used as an emulsifier but it isn't quite as stable (it may separate some over time in the fridge) and, of course, it is NOT neutral. But the flavor profile of garlic might fit in some recipes where mustard doesn't. (There is a tasty Lebanese dip that demonstrates this well -- it is pretty much just garlic, salt, lemon and oil, and whips up into something thick and creamy.)


Chemical process behind hardening ice cream

I don't think there's a chemical process here. It just takes a really long time for it to freeze solid. After 5-6 hours it was probably firmer around the outside than in the middle, and after a day it was probably fully frozen. (I've made a lot of ice cream, and have reliably seen this.)

It takes so long because the heat transfer is so inefficient. It's already bad since there's no convection, just slow conduction from the outside in. And the conduction is slow because your ice cream is basically insulating itself: it's full of air.

If there is something on top of that, it's probably that your emulsion is breaking as it freezes, so water gets forced out and freezes into harder ice. This would be pretty noticeable - you'd get a grainy, icy texture. (If you really are mixing whipped cream and nutella I can certainly see that happening.)


What is a good technique to make Iced Tea?

The general method for iced tea is to boil water, and use double the tea for the amount of water and steep it for twice as long. Once steeped, add an equal amount of ice, and the ice will water down the tea as it melts and cools it down. If you want to sweeten with sugar, do it while the tea is hot.

This is the fast method, as you'll have iced tea as quickly as you can cool it (an hour or so in the fridge).

Alternately, you can steep the tea overnight in cold water in the fridge, using a normal tea:water ratio. This is the slow way. :-) If you want to sweeten the tea, make a simple syrup and add it (sugar won't dissolve very well in cold water).

Whether you use loose leaf or bags is really up to you. Tea purists will always say that loose leaf is better, but bags will work fine if you don't have a refined tea palette. Fruity teas often make really good iced tea, even if you're not a fan of fruity hot tea.


How do I cook chicken and asparagus over an open fire?

You have two delicious choices. Both require a bed of coals, so I'll start with that.

You'll need to build a fire with the logs stacked 'log cabin' style, and let the fire burn down to coals. You want a deep red coal, just starting to darken on top. The coals should look something like this.

You can bake, or bbq the chicken and asparagus. Both are delicious methods.

To bake, wrap the chicken, asparagus and a starch like potato gratin style in layers of tinfoil. Use the starch around the outside, you'll sacrifice a layer of it as some of it sticks/burns to the tinfoil. Put the most delicate item in the middle, in this case the asparagus, and the chicken around the asparagus. Add a generous amount of butter, salt and pepper and bake for about an hour buried in the coals. Corn or green beans are also very good, and can be sacrificed a little around the outside to preserve your meat and vegetables.

I would layer it this way.

 1.Coals
 2. Tinfoil
     2. Potatoes
     2. Generous dollop of butter
     3. Salt & Pepper
     4. Green Beans
     5. Asparagus
     6. Chicken
     7. Potatoes
 3. Tinfoil
 4. Coals

Now, BBQ. You'll do it very much like a charcoal BBQ. Keep the grate close to the coals, you can generally test the heat by holding your hand above the grate, you should only be able to keep your hand there for a second or two at most.

Grill the chicken like you would on a bbq, and roast the asparagus on a cooler part of the grill. I'd marinate both before putting them on the grill. I'd also try to get an aromatic wood like hickory or mesquite, pine will impart a resinous taste.


I get a smaller volume loaf from mixing sourdough in mixer - what am I doing wrong?

That's quite normal. Hand kneading aligns the gluten well, and stretch-and-fold aligns it better than other methods, due to simple mechanics. The aligned gluten can hold the expansion gasses better. When you knead by mixer or autolyze, the resulting gluten tends to be directionless, more like a sponge than like shingles. The difference may not be too significant in a bread made with commercial yeast, but if you are using sourdough as your leavener, you can very well end up in a situation where you have less gas production (because you are not using an optimized yeast strain) and less elastic gluten formation (because the overdeveloped texture of the starter shortens the new dough), and then you can experience what you described.
Basically, there is no easy solution to what you described. You can try starting a new starter from scratch, using a different method, and hope that it is rise-happier - but this is a ton of work. You could try using a different recipe that is easier to leaven, e.g. with less sourdough, or with a combination of sourdough and yeast, or using a very leavening-friendly flour, such as pure white bread flour (in case you are now using a dark flour or a combination of grains) - but this will change your bread's taste. Or you can try finding out if other mixers with other hook mechanisms produce a better result with your recipe, but there aren't such big differences between home models. All these things require a lot of effort, and depend on chance to find an option that is better than what you currently have (if such an option even exists). So for practical purposes, I would say you have to decide what is the lesser evil for you - low rise or spending time for kneading by hand - and go with it.


What is a more common substitute for Shaoxing cooking wine?

Pale Dry Sherry.

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/cookingfaqs/qt/rice_wine_sub.htm


Intact and good-looking eggs are generally safe to eat -- any spoilage very quickly results in horrible smell. The thing you're seeing might actually be a very tiny remain of something related with embryo (there's a tiny red piece of embryo in all eggs, you just have to search a bit) or a colored piece of internal egg-white structure (I heard that grass- and mineral-rich food may cause coloring like that), just bigger for some reason.

Anyway, I'm regularly eating eggs like that since childhood and I'm still here. It's safe.

(PS. I never tried to drink anything like this uncooked, but there are many other reasons not to try that. :D)


Choosing a chinese cleaver/chukabocho fit for a cooking enthusiast

Actual traditional japanese knives are even less "all purpose" than european style knives.

The knives referred to in the question are not japanese but chinese in style. They are commonly manufactured, though, by both the chinese and japanese makers. The japanese call a japanese-made chinese style knife a chukabocho (chuka means "chinese style cuisine", a bocho is a cooking knife); the japanese made knives have a reputation for extremely high quality but are also very expensive (likely because they are marketed at professionals and enthusiasts in japan and the west, not as a common household tool).

There are knives in the (semi) traditional japanese spectrum that look similar, but have about half the blade height: The nakiri and edogata-usuba styles. These are far more delicate knives meant for vegetable work.

Carbon steel or not is something you should discuss with the chef that will use it - some chefs hate the more difficult sharpening and sometimes lower attainable sharpness of stainless steels, some hate the rust proneness of carbon steel. Repeat: carbon steel (as opposed to "high carbon stainless") is GREAT knife steel but it is NOT stainless.

"Forged" or not is more a description of production method sometimes misused for marketing - some carbon steels get metallurgically better when (hand) forged, stainless steels usually do not.

"Composite" probably refers to a japanese-style cladded (Awase) blade - SOME cladded knives have carbon core and stainless cladding, which gives you an easy to sharpen and extremely sharp knife that will have less rust problems (where the core layer is exposed is also where you regularly abrade material when sharpening - so you will take care of actual rust anyway. Patina is not rust!).

For the most universally usable knife, stainless is advantageous if fruits or other sour ingredients are regularly handled.

There are a few important specifications to be aware of with a chinese cleaver (that is what that style of knife is called):

Blade thickness: Most makers (especially the chinese ones) have a variety of differently thick models - this bears more on the weight and handling feel of the knife than on the cutting ability (for which the next point is crucial).
Thickness/Thinness right behind the cutting edge. This can be adjust when sharpening but is a lot of skilled work to adjust. Too thick won't cut well, too thin will be delicate and will take damage if eg hitting bones or hard seeds. Best try the knives in person, and bring some hard root vegetables (anything that can smoothly slice (not split) through a fresh carrot is seriously thin (maybe too thin for a cleaver), if it completely wedges and refuses to go any further it is too thick for a general purpose knife.
Edge profile. Some have a nearly straight edge, some far more curved - this is a matter of user preference (depends on preferred technique). If you see anything with a completely straight edge, you are looking at a specialty knife (like a noodle making knife or a big usuba) that will be very awkward to use for most cooks as a general purpose knife.
Steel and hardness. The gentler your friend handles a knife, the harder a knife you want. Hard means it will stay sharper longer if used carefully, but break or completely dull quicker if abused. The 58HRC quoted on a few of these is a good medium, would be a bit too hard for rough (bone contacting) butchery tasks (which this knife isn't meant for anyway). The 54-55HRC range is best left to actual butchery tools, the 60-63HRC range really requires careful use but can make it through far more work razor sharp. 64+ HRC is not really the hallmark of something "universal".

If you want to make sure you get a knife of known quality, go for a reputable brand - if I may give examples, for that style of knife CCK (Chan Chi Kee) appear to have excellent reputation for chinese (actually hongkong) made ones, for japanese made ones Sugimoto and Moritaka (warning: sticker shock risk.)


When should I knead with oil and when with flour?

Both messes up the ratio, as you said, so you shouldn't use anything during kneading. You only need to use a little bit of something during shaping. With some pastries, the shaping is extensive and you get lots of the smoother worked into the dough; this is expected and desired (e.g. in strudel sheets).

Properly kneaded bread dough does not stick to anything, even if it started out very wet. So, if it sticks at the beginning, just continue kneading until it stops (I knead it between my hands then, not on a surface). When it is ready, it will not only stop sticking to your hands, but also pull the smear of the hand surfaces into itself, coming clean off them so you can work with it. (You will still have to clean your hands afterwards from gunk between the fingers and on the back of your hands).

When your dough is kneaded through, you want to form a good surface for the rising period. You can use flour, oil or water; you'll use so little that it doesn't really matter much. Just spread a thin film on your surface, shape the boule and put it into the rising bowl.

For the final rise, you want it to keep its shape when it's put into the oven. So, when you are giving it its final shape, you can use either flour or a starch to prevent it from sticking to whatever it is rising on. I knew somebody who swore by rice flour as producing the least stickiness, but use plain wheat flour myself. You can even lay it on a bed of flour; it is not getting pressed into it, so it won't absorb it and get hard. But you will have a layer of either raw or burned flour on the prepared bread.

An exception would be very oil-rich breads (at least half as much butter as flour). They do better when the final shaping is done in oil too.

For pastries and cookies, it depends on the type of dough. If it is supposed to be a hard dough, use flour. The strudel mentioned above is made in flour. If it is supposed to be a soft or tender dough, you can try shaping without any smoothening (for example many cookies will flow into a smooth shape during baking even if put onto the sheet as an unsightly pinched ball). Ugly sticky pastry doughs like pie crust can be rolled into submission if you roll them between two smooth silicone mats, but you can't get them very thin that way. If you need them at less than 4 mm, use flour, best in combination with the silicone. Plastic wraps also works, but you might have to use two pieces per surface when the crust gets wide.

If you have a dough which really feels half-liquid in your hands, shape with flour. Corriher's very light southern biscuits from Cookwise are a good example for such a dough.


Is it safe to eat food that was heated in plastic wrap to the point the plastic wrap flamed?

There are multiple types of film wrap, which are different plastics.  No matter what yours was made from, it almost certainly partially burned up, partially melted, and partially had other heat-based reactions leaving unknown remains on your food, possibly including dioxins, which are quite toxic.

In any of these cases, I would not risk finding out.

Discard the fish.


From  hunker , here is info and instructions for sterilizing corks:

Corks are used to cap wine and other types of bottles. Before corks are used to seal bottles, they are cleaned and sterilized to prevent any contamination. It is relatively easy to sterilize corks for reuse by steaming or boiling them for an extended period of time. Once the corks have cooled and dried, they can be safely used to store homemade wine, handmade vinegar or flavored olive oil.
Step 1
Add sufficient water to the saucepan so that it won't boil dry during the sterilizing period. Add the corks to the pan. If you are using a steamer or steamer basket, fill the pan with water to the bottom of the basket.
Step 2
Add the corks, cover the pan and boil or steam for 90 minutes. While the corks are boiling, sterilize the tongs, jar and lid or container by immersing in boiling water while the corks are being heated. Once the implements have been in the boiling water for five minutes, drain and place them on a clean dish cloth. Check the corks to make sure they have enough water.
Step 3
Drain the water off the corks once the 90 minutes are up. After the corks have cooled and dried completely, use the tongs to place the corks in the container or jar and cover and use as needed.

Also, for just cleaning and not sterilizing, this  article from hunker  will take you through the steps of cleaning cork stoppers.


There’s a fundamental difference between food safety and what is considered acceptable risk - the former is calculated to be virtually risk-free and statistically contain not enough bacteria etc. to potentially cause illnesses or infection, plus a bit of a safety margin. The thresholds are so that even the most sensitive and vulnerable consumers are still protected, for example young children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems. These consumer groups are also especially likely to suffer or even die in case of salmonella or similar food borne diseases. This is one of the reasons why pregnant women are warned against certain foods.
But there are many recipes that are not “safe” in this strict sense. That doesn’t mean that your custard, mousse au chocolat, sauce hollandaise (all with raw egg), unpasteurized cheese (raw milk), steak tartare (raw beef) etc. will automatically make you sick. In fact, in the vast majority of all cases nothing will happen. And in most other cases, a healthy adult will suffer, but survive.
To be very clear:
Just because some cooks and some recipes work outside the boundaries of food safety guidelines doesn’t invalidate these guidelines.
The recipe in the link is not safe by official standards if made with raw, unpasteurized eggs.
The temperature you found is correct without additional time constraints, there may be ways to produce a safe custard if you can hold the mixture for a certain time at a given temperature (bacteria destruction is a function of temperature and time to be exact, food safety guidelines often give a simpler version using a temperature where the holding time is near zero, so “instant” killing of bacteria), but that would be beyond the scope of the question at hand, suffice to say that this constellation is nowhere near that range.
So if you want to make the custard recipe in your link, make an informed decision, considering your personal health status and your individual risk tolerance. I personally would never serve this kind recipe for the groups listed above or for a potluck where I can’t be sure who will participate. Especially for eggs, food safety may depend on locale, and in some areas pasteurized eggs are available in stores.


What is a reliable source for the caffeine content in tea?

TL;DR: (1) they are estimates based on a single sample and (2) No.

In order to pre-determine the exact amount of caffeine in a cup of tea, you would have to know many factors (as Choice Organic Teas says):

The exact tea blend and batch you're steeping;
The storage age (and conditions) of the leaves;
The exact steeping method, including times, temperatures, water source, and steps

While theoretically someone with a really generous research grant could create a giant grid that covered a lot of these factors, nobody (that I can find) has.  And the detailed reality is even more complicated than the above list, as factors like "how old was the specific tea bush the leaves came from, and was there a drought at the time" matter.


Sugar contributes to the texture in cookies. In particular brown sugar is softer than white because of the hygroscopic molasses. If you like your cookies soft I'd reduce/remove the white sugar first (plus you don't lose the brown sugar flavour). If that's too soft you can adjust the ratio in the next batch (or, to some extent, bake a tiny bit longer, but the texture really only becomes apparent on cooking)

Baking time might change a little, so keep an eye on them when they should be nearly done.


Can putting items with high heat capacity smooth out heat changes in Sous Vide?

Water has one of the highest heat capacities available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_capacity#Table_of_specific_heat_capacities

Your ceramic is not going to hold nearly as much heat as the water bath itself.

If you are finding that your bath is cooling too quickly then you are better off investigating your cooler.


Is it okay to keep flour in the freezer?

Yes, of course you can keep flour in the freezer.  For whole wheat flour, which is susceptible to rancidity due to the fat from the whole grain being included, it is even recommended.

For white flour, according to the University of Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County (emphasis added):

  For longer storage, keep white flours in the refrigerator in an
  airtight container. All-purpose and bread flour will keep up to two
  years at 40 F in your refrigerator, according to the Wheat Foods
  Council. They can be stored indefinitely in the
  freezer.


I've never thought of turkey as gamey at all, but that's just my own taste I guess. It sounds to me you want a milder bird, in which case you want to buy a cheap battery bird. Gameyness comes from exercise and diet, the blander diet and less exercise the milder (read blander) bird you get. Don't go free-range, get store-brand.


How do I get seasoning to stick to home-popped popcorn?

If you want dry seasonings to stick to popcorn, you will probably need to add a liquid to adhere them with. You could try adding butter or oil to your popcorn while it is hot, then adding the salt and tossing it together. If you're avoiding extra fat, a few spritzes of a non-stick spray (like Pam) might do the trick without adding significant fat.


How do I reheat a casserole in the microwave?

There is no single way to answer this because:

Microwaves vary widely in power
The starting temperature of the casserole may vary
Casseroles vary in shape, size, thickness, and composition

and all of these factors will affect the time.

It is far from ideal to heat a full sized casserole in the microwave in any case; you would be better off using a conventional oven, as it will not have problems with hotspots.  Microwaves do much better with good that can be stirred to even out the heating, and this would be at the very least, aesthetically displeasing with most casseroles.

I would recommend starting with about 50% power (for a 1000+ watt microwave, higher for models with less power) to allow some time for the heat to conduct through the casserole.  Check regularly with an instant read thermometer until reads about 150 F at several spots.

It is likely to be unevenly reheated, since you are not stirring.  This is the downside of using a microwave.  Allowing it to stand for 10 minutes or so before service will help even it out.

The other downside is that microwaving to reheat will do nothing good for crispiness, browning, or texture, but that is not unique to casseroles.


How do I bake 'Sugar Cookies' but my oven does not go high enough?

Set your oven to 175, because it's in Celsius and the recipe is in Fahrenheit.


Why do HK restaurants' wok fried scallops stay big? My pan fried ones at home shrink!

Regarding the scallops shrinking, it could simply be the difference in dry vs. wet scallops. Most grocery stores sell wet scallops. At times, dry scallops can be quite hard to find at retail. Wet scallops naturally shrink because of the loss of so much moisture when cooking.

Also, the higher the heat and longer the cook time, the more the moisture is lost.


Mold or dry sourdough starter? (pic included)

it looks like it's just dried out on top and a little overfermented. pour off as much liquid as you can and feed it using a small portion of this starter and a lot of flour and water, i would recommend a 1-10-10 ratio.


The main differences:

Bourguignon is made with a red wine from the Burgundy (Bourgogne) region. Daube is a southern dish, from provence/languedoc, and would typically be made with a richer red (occasionally, and originally, white) wine from that region
Bourguignon is almost always garnished with small onions, carrots, mushroom and bacon, nothing else. Daube, being from the south, often has more mediterranean ingredients, such as garlic, tomatoes, larger onions, olives etc. and herbes de provence (vs a standard bouquet garni in a bourguignon)
Though bourguignon will use braising cuts of meat, it will typically just be cooked until the meat is tender, then served. Vegetables are often added at the end to keep their appearance and texture. Daube will typically user even cheaper cuts of meat with more sinew and collagen to break down e.g. shin, cheek, blade. It will be cooked for a long time, often with all the vegetables added from the start or half way through, allowing the meat to become very soft and break apart and thicken the braising liquid
Daube is traditionally cooked in a Daubiere, though what difference this makes to the end result is minimal

Effectively, bourguignon is perfectly braised meat in a rich onion-bacon-burgundy sauce, with some perfectly cooked mushrooms, carrots and baby onions as garnish.

Daube is a thick and hearty red wine and beef stew with meltingly soft meat and well cooked vegetables with mediterranean influenced flavours.


Why did I have to coat my veggies with flour?

You already have mentioned the primary reason for adding the flour:  to thicken the chowder.

The author of this particular recipe has added it to the recipe while you are sauteeing the aromatics, I infer.  This creates, in essence, a quick roux, cooking some of the raw taste out of the flour, and helping ensure that you will not get lumps.

You could certainly thicken the chowder later with a flour slurry, for example, but this method is convenient and effective in this type of recipe.


Is there a substitute for chocolate graham crackers?

If this had been a graham cracker crust, I'd have recommended adding some cocoa powder to the melted butter when making the crust.

In this case, as you're just using the crumbs in a layer of a parfait, you'd want the flavor to be better integrated as it doesn't have a chance to cook.  Therefore, I'd go with either crushed chocolate cookies or a mix of crushed graham crackers and chocolate shavings.  Both will give you the chocolate flavor and crunch at the same time.

You can also try working more chocolate flavor into some other ingredient (either with a chocolate liqueur or cocoa powder), but with something layered like this you often want the contrast of different flavors in each layer.


Nutritional information on fruits and veggies

My first-line reference is: http://nutritiondata.self.com/


What would be an appropriate gluten-free substitute for breadcrumbs?

There are a number of rice-based bread crumb replacements, but my experience with them is that they are more like rice sand than bread crumbs.  You can try making you own from other gluten free products like waffles or maybe puffed rice cereal.


How do you finely grind coriander seeds?

I recommend a dedicated, rotary style coffee grinder for home spice grinding. Whole spices last longer, usually taste better, and are often less expensive than pre-ground. In many food cultures, whole spices are often toasted whole, then ground. It makes a big difference for not a lot of effort.

I picked up a rotary style coffee grinder for $3 at a thrift store.

I use it to grind all kinds of spices. It never needs to be washed. If it starts to taste like last weeks spices, I just grind up some rice and shake it out. It works great, I've ground spices in the same grinder for 5 years.


Deliberately burn some chocolate so you have a reference to compare the smell with. Burnt chocolate does smell bad.

If you were heating the chocolate directly over a heat source -- and not e.g. using a water bath (which protects the mixture from overheating) -- then chances are that you did burn some chocolate/condensed milk, and then stirred the burnt material into the mix. Letting the mixture sit may have allowed the burned solids to accumulate at the bottom of the pan, making the smell more obvious when poured out.


Do professional cooks use measuring cups and spoons?

Much more often, expert chefs will use an accurate digital scale, particularly for baking. Cups are OK for liquids, and most people use spoons for small measurments like salt or yeast, but scales are accurate for everything from flour, to honey, to water, to softened butter.

Plus, since you can generally tare scales, you don't have to wash anything out but the big bowl you're mixing everything in! Trust me on this one, a good digital scale is an awesome way to spend $16 - $25.

If you're not baking, chances are you don't need precision. You rarely need to measure ingredients, except for baking, once you're pretty competent.

EDIT: Just a note, I bake all my own bread and I always do it by weight. I use spoons for the yeast and salt, the scale for everything else. I have a habit of using a Pyrex measuring cup to nuke cold water, I stick a thermometer in it as it cools, and start mixing when it reaches 110F. So at that point, it gets poured from the cup to the mixing bowl. That has given me many opportunities to note the accuracy of the cups (my scale is very, very accurate, I test it all the time). Even standard Pyrex measuring cups, used properly (eye level, on a level surface) will give erroneous results. For 1 cup (237ml), you can do everything right with a measuring cup and still be off by as much as 20ml either way. That's over 8%. So I recommend weighing everything but tiny spoon quantities. Sometimes, I'll even break out my gram scale to weigh salt, but I have to find the recipe pretty intimidating to go that far.


Is it safe to store raw meat alongside pre-cooked produce (ie. ready-made pies) in the fridge?

Ideally, you'd store all meat tightly wrapped and/or in air-tight containers. Further, you'd store the meat on the bottom shelf of the fridge, and the ready-to-eat food above it—just in case the meat leaks juices out, it won't be able to drip onto the ready-to-eat foods. That's perfectly safe, and indeed is what's required in a commercial fridge.

The idea is to avoid any chance of cross-contamination. You don't want juice from the meat dripping or splashing (when you move it, for example) onto anything else.

You also want your pies tightly wrapped, to avoid them drying out or picking up off flavors.

Now, if cross-contamination were to occur, you'd want to use that pie quickly, and when reheating it, you need to make sure to bring its internal temperature—measured with a food thermometer in a few spots—up to 165°F/74°C (just like if you were cooking chicken). I suspect your normal pie reheating doesn't do that.


A nice thing to do is simply give them away. Last year someone dropped of a big pile of small branches of bay leaves at our child's school, with a "free" sign. You could do something similiar, maybe using your community email list or whatever depending on your personal circumstances. You may have many neighbors who have never experienced how amazing fresh bay leaves can be, and you might even end up with some interesting gifts in return!


food safety regarding re freezing twice cooked chicken

As long as you treat the food safely in between, and the communicative time in the danger zone of 40-140 F / 4 - 60 C does not exceed about 2 hours, you can thaw and refreeze foods an unlimited number of times.  Whether they are raw or cooked doesn't matte for safety.

On the other hand, multiple thawing and refreezing may degrade the quality of the food, especially its texture, and is generally avoided for that reason.

Thawing cooked chicken once, cooking in a curry, then freezing the cooked product is probably well within the tolerances of most people's palette, and you probably will not notice any quality loss, especially in an application like curry.  Just don't over cook your chicken--that will definitely result in dry, tough chicken and won't be pleasant.


Substitutes for Turkish red pepper paste (biber salçası)?

If you're wanting to make some different Turkish foods, I'd hazard a guess you enjoy cooking, so why not make your own? I found a recipe classed as 'Easy', taking 1 hour to prepare and 50 minutes to cook. I read it has the consistency of tomato paste (contains no tomatoes) and looks to be from the photo.

Among the list of ingredients is bullhorn peppers. Perhaps a local name but when I looked up what they were, they looked exactly like Hungarian sweet peppers. The name 'bullhorn' comes from their shape as they curve and taper to a point like horns. Here's a photo:

Give it a try! If you really enjoy the Turkish recipes you make,  you'll likely want to make them again so having some biber salçası around will come in handy.
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pepper-paste-biber-salcasi


How do I separate two fish fillets that have been frozen together?

If the pieces are only frozen together in a few places, you might want to try heating a butter knife up under hot water and then using that to pry them apart. This is similar to heating up an ice cream scoop. It won't work if they are really packed in together tightly though.


Well, technically speaking the microwave frequency range is actually from 300MHz (or 0.3GHz) to 300GHz, so considering the examples provided and the frequencies in question I'm going to assume a Heating/Drying Industry context; because in reality, higher frequencies are used in other industries like space or communications. (source 1, source 2)
That being said, when you consider the heating of a microwave there are many factors to take into consideration, one of them is called the "Penetration Depth" which is defined as the depth below the surface of the material where the power density of a plane electromagnetic wave decays by 1/e (37%) from the original value at the surface. It's a technical definition that also involves a mathematical expression, but to keep things simple, the math implies an inverse relationship between the Penetration Depth and the frequency, i.e., the lower the frequency the higher the Penetration Depth and vice versa. (source 3)
Notice that it means they could actually go with a lower frequency, but maybe that implies design restrains and also even though it is stated in your sources as a broad generalization, that frequency isn't allowed worldwide. (source 4)
So considering this, it makes sense that they use a low frequency and also that make said claim.
PS: I'm a mathematical engineer who likes cooking, and wasn't expecting this kind of question here.


What grains (and in what ratios) go into a nine-grain flour?

There is no fixed set of grains or ratios that define nine-grain flour. It is just meant to generically suggest "uber-healthy". Some things you may want to use include: whole wheat, rye, triticale, barley, oats, buckwheat, spelt, emmer, millet, flax, etc. Most so-called 9-grains or 12-grain etc will "cheat" and include wheat in multiple forms, like wheat flour, cracked wheat, vital wheat gluten and so forth. In any case, if you are going to use it for bread, you'll probably want at least 50-75% wheat flour so that there is enough gluten to successfully rise. The rest can be in any proportion that pleases you for taste or nutritional purposes.