What is tofu that's crispy outside and fluffy inside called?

Traditionally, it's first dropped into boiling water & allowed to sit as the water cools for 15 minutes before drying off & deep frying.

There's a 'cheat' method, though.
Press to dry, sprinkle with a little cornflour & shallow fry, on its own. Add to the dish when cooked. Dress with anything you fancy - chilli, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar...
It's not quite the same as deep fried, but it's a whole lot quicker & easier.

Start with firm tofu; otherwise you'll have to give it the 15 mins in boiled water to firm it up.

Edit: The question changed direction slightly after I'd posted this - as to what it's called; other than 'deep fried' or 'crispy' tofu, I really don't know.


Hardening Homemade Butterscotch into the Consistency of Butterscotch Chips

This page suggests mixing the butterscotch sauce in to white chocolate, which makes sense to me. You need something that will be solid at room temperature.


Where can I buy dark chocolate which was not produced in a factory that handles milk?

If you want a product that is allergen/intolerance safe and/or compliant to a certain cultural standard - be it political (vegan, vegetarian), dietary (low carb, low fat), or religious (halal, kosher...), one statement of compliance usually does not make it safe to imply another.

How ingredients and allergens have to be labelled is very dependent on local law. If we are talking countries that are close to the european approach, everything intentionally added (and not considered removed again in the finished product!) will be in the ingredients list, and possible allergens will be in the allergen statement. If you find them provably present in relevant amounts without being in that list, do talk to the manufacturer and possible escalate to local food safety authorities.
It is important to know that even in these countries there are exceptions to mandatory declaration for certain food groups (possibly having to do with trade secret protection being considered more important than health relevant information on foods considered unhealthy/for moderate consumption anyway); these are defined in relevant law - alcoholic beverages and indeed chocolate are typically among these exceptions, so find and read the relevant laws. Allergen labelling SHOULD not be affected by these exceptions but COULD be excepted.

Your best bet for finding something that will meet your criteria is looking at local manufacturers - if there was a globally active chocolate brand that only did dairy free in their production it would have been mentioned here by now...

These brands seem to have "vegan AND lactose free" products in the european market, if it helps:

http://www.moofreechocolates.com/
http://www.dammenberg.com/
https://www.plamilfoods.co.uk/


What's the basic technique for long braising of pork?

Not sure why boiling is involved...  Are you cooking in oven or slow cooker?  You can just put the seasoned meat into the slow cooker and turn it on.  Or if in oven are you cooking at 225F or 100C how long depends on what cut of meat.  If one with lots of fat, like shoulder or ribs, it will hold up to long cooking.  Eight hours isn't too long.  I cook most organ meats like heart and tongue in slow cooker overnight.  Please ask follow up questions and provide more details...


How long does coconut curry last in the fridge?

I agree with @ElendilTheTall. Coconut milk and such based products do not have a long fresh shelf life. Personally, I would discard and not take the risk.

That said, I don't know where you are located and what standard practices apply. In a lot of cases common sense can apply as to how to handle.


How to keep vegetables and herbs fresh for longer?

Plants continue living after they have been picked. They respirate, but without the moisture and nutrients they used to get from the soil, their metabolism goes awry and they wilt.

The only way to stop this process is to blanch and then freeze them. This works well, but needs lots of freezer space. Also, they aren't exactly like fresh, with their texture changing a lot (they get soft, as the ice crystals produced by freezing rip their cell walls to pieces). A few of them change their flavor too.

If you don't want to freeze, you can prolong their life a bit by slowing their metabolism.

Keep them at 10 to 15°C below the temperature in which they live/ripen. The lower the temperature, the slower a plant's metabolism is. But you don't want to go too low, as it destroys some flavor components and in general triggers unwanted change in your food. In the fridge, tomatoes get woody and lose aroma, bananas go brown, mangoes lose flavor, and so on. You want to keep these at above 10°C. Fruit and vegetables like apples and potatoes which don't require too much warmth for growth can be kept at lower temperatures, including fridge, without taste loss.
Keep them away from light. Light is an important environmental factor for plants, and promotes growth. You don't want anything growth-related to happen in your picked plants, it hastens their wilting.
Give them some humidity, but not too much. You want just enough to keep their slow metabolism going. Give them too much, and you will get faster metabolism, which will make them look better at the beginning (like the salad constantly sprayed in the market), but exhaust the available nutrients sooner, leading to quicker wilting. You also risk mold in high humidity. On the other hand, if they are completely dry, the wilting will occur not because of missing nutrients, but because of missing water. I can't give you a rule of thumb for the water requirements of each plant, as they are very different. They are somewhat related to the plant part: fruits (in the botanical sense, so including eggplants, tomatoes, etc.) don't need much, they are mostly self-contained. The tighter their outer membrane, the less they need; a banana will practically never wilt for lack of humidity. Leaves need more humidity, for example salad or herbs. Other parts fall in between.
Limit oxygen exposure. As I said above, they respire. Unlike the photosynthesis process which some people confuse with plant respiration, respiration uses up oxygen and produce CO2. Less oxygen means less respiration, so they keep longer. Still, storing them in an airtight humid space is a recipe for mold and rot, so you have to be careful about just how much you can limit the oxygen.
Buy them as whole as possible. The more damaged the plant, the sooner it will wilt. Pre-cut salad goes bad quickly. Hulled corn doesn't stay fresh as long as corn in the husks. Herbs and salads sold with their roots packed in earth (in pots or just plastic bags) hold much longer than the cut leaves.
Don't wash them. Many plant parts, especially fruits, have a protective coating. Some of them get wax applied by the producer. Washing this coating off speeds up moisture loss and wilting. Store all your fruit, vegetables and herbs unwashed. Clean them immediately before preparation.
Isolate them from each other. Some fruit produce ethylene, which promotes growth in other fruit. This brings a special problem: the fruit which produces ethylene is better off when not kept airtight, because the overripening effect of ethylene will be stronger than the preserving effect of low oxygen.
Carefully remove any rotten exemplars. "One bad apple spoils the barrel" is not just a metapher; very ripe (already going soft) fruit produces more ethylene (see above), and bacterial and mold colonies have it easier to jump to the neighbouring fruit if they start from a "strong base" (a fruit they have already taken over).
Learn which fruit can ripen off-plant, and buy this type slightly unripe, letting it ripen at your home. But be careful to not get other types of fruit unripe, because it will never taste good. (Applies to botanical fruits, e.g. tomatoes taste better when vine-ripened).

The perfect solution is a special fridge or cellar with the right conditions (which happen to also be good for cheese and wine). Most of us can't afford that, so you may have to create an environment which creates everything but the correct temperature range for warmth-loving fruit (you can keep apples, etc. in the normal fridge). Some people feel that the better compromise is to keep them at room temperature and have them wilt quicker but preserve flavor, others keep tomatoes etc. in the fridge wher they stay fresh but lose aroma. It is up to your personal preference.


Making madeleines without the special pan?

I have never made madeleines myself, but looking at the recipe and reading Elendil's concerns about the batter running, I would think you could fashion an impromptu "madeleine pan" out of aluminum foil.  It won't be the easiest thing in the world, and you're not going to get the perfect shell look, but I think you'll be able to get the right general shape and depth with a little craftwork.

These look like something I would love to make, so I did a little research and a few people said they poured the batter into a sheet pan (in a very thin layer) and then cut them into squares after.  Not exactly the same final product, but if you're dying to use the batter I think it would still taste great.  As Elendil suggested, the people who said they were able to make them on a cookie sheet found that they were very flat and crispy (though still tasty).


Will terrible things happen if I replace part or all of the refined sugar in this recipe with malt extract?

I don't know about the substitution of dry malt extract for refined sugar. I know that measure for measure they have very different apparent sweetness, protein content, etc...

You said you have two possible alternate recipes for nougat, one using malted milk powder and one using liquid malt extract. You should be able to manufacture either of those products using dry malt extract.

Malted milk powder is essentially milk powder, with dry malt extract and flour added. I don't know the ratios for these ingredients, but they are all readily available at the store.
Liquid malt extract and dry malt extract are very nearly the same thing, just in different forms. You should be able to add water to your dry malt extract to create malt syrup to then substitute in the recipe. See ratios from this link. https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/1348/what-is-the-conversion-rate-between-dry-malt-extract-dme-and-liquid-malt-extra


Can I substitute store-bought puff pastry dough for phyllo in pumpkin pastry?

Looking at this recipe I don't see any reason why you couldn't use puff pastry as the container.

The only ways that the preparation would be different is:
puff pastry doesn't dry out as fast as filo so you don't have to worry about the wet towel in the instructions.
You wouldn't want to do multiple layers of puff pastry as the recipe calls for. You would just form a single pouch to hold your filling and seal it well.

Know that the texture will be different of course. The filo will be a bit more crisp and the layers larger and more distinct- filo is also a lot more work. You may find that the baking time needs to be adjusted a little but I don't think it will be very different if at all. Cook them until they're golden using the recipe's time as a starting point.

This recipe is in a Mediterranean style and filo would be more traditional but puff pastry would produce something tasty.


We (my family) never had a problem, cucumbers always turned out crispy. I don't have exact recipe, it's all "when it tastes just right", but here are general steps:

Select small cucumbers. 2 - 5cm, 1 - 2 inch long.
Boil seasonings, water (and sugar if you want it) together. About 15 minutes of boil should be enough.
When you turn off the heat, add 1 cup of 10% vinegar for every 4 cups of water. May be bit more, may be bit less, it's taste preference.
Put washed cucumbers in jars. Tight but without forcing them. Add fennel (umbels), garlic, mustard seeds.
When marinade is cool, pour it to jars, it should cover your cucumbers. It does not need to be cold. If you can put your finger in it and don't feel uncomfortable, it's OK. If in doubt, assume it's too hot.
Put caps on jars and pasteurize them. 10 minutes of boil is abuot enough, but go by colour. Cucumbers will start to go yellowish. When almost all surface changed colour, it's time to pull jars off and left them to cool.
We let them cool upside down.

That's about it. Don't know which step is essential for crispness. For me and mine, this is what always worked.


Rendered pork fat—manteca de cerdo—is our preferred cooking fat
  throughout this book. Lard has a relatively high smoke point so it is
  ideal for frying, and it provides a richness, dimension, and
  distinctly Mexican flavor that you just can't replicate with using
  other fats...Vegetable oil is a fine substitute

However specific recipes may really need lard:

  Note that the flaky texture and slight richness that make flour tortillas so compelling are derived from lard. I've found that vegetable shortening is a poor substitute here...

Source: Alex Stupak and Jordana Rothman. "Tacos: Recipes and Provocations".


You should first set fire to your coals.
When they are really hot (red/white), but the flam is out, put the meat on top on the grill. Really, you should avoid flames in a barbecue to prepare the meat.

The amount of coals isn't that important. Just make sure the ground is well covered. The more coals, the longer you'll have heat. Since you only want to grill a few pieces, your two pounds was certainly enough.


How to make flavoured rice like uncle ben's chinese rice?

The ingredients on Uncle Ben's Chinese Fried Rice are:

  LONG GRAIN PARBOILED RICE, SOY SAUCE (SOYBEAN, WHEAT, SALT), DEHYDRATED VEGETABLES (RED BELL PEPPER, CARROT, PARSLEY, ONION, GARLIC), MODIFIED CORN STARCH, GLUCOSE SOLIDS, HYDROLYZED PLANT PROTEIN (WHEAT, SOY), MALTODEXTRIN, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, FLAVOUR, SPICES, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN, COTTONSEED), SILICON DIOXIDE, SALT, CARAMEL, VINEGAR SOLIDS.

First off, the rice: In a rice cooker, I wouldn't use parboiled. Just get regular long grain white rice, but be sure to rinse it pretty well. Extra starch left on the rice can cause it to come out sticky. When you complain about your rice being too dry, I'm not sure what you mean, so perhaps leaving a bit of starch in would help?

You can easily just add a bit of soy sauce to the water that you'll cook the rice in.

As for the vegetables, if you can find dehydrated vegetables, great. Otherwise, I'd just saute fresh veggies and fold them in at the end.

Next we have some industrial ingredients that will be harder to replicate at home. The corn starch I'd skip. Glucose solids can be replaced with a pinch of sugar. Hydrolyzed plant protein and autolyzed yeast extract could be replaced with a bit of nutritional yeast or some liquid seasoning like Maggi or Kitchen Bouquet.

Flavour and Spices get a bit tricky. I'd guess a bit of black pepper and a dash of sesame oil, which can be thrown into the water at the beginning. You'll need to adjust those to taste, of course.

Hydrogenated vegetable oil can be replaced with whatever you saute the veggies in and the sesame oil you threw on the rice.

Silicon dioxide is just an anti-caking agent to keep it from clumping up in the package, so you can skip it.

Salt, caramel, and vinegar solids: Your liquid seasoning (Maggi, Kitchen Bouquet) should provide these. You should, of course, salt it to taste though.


Inside of the cookies turn up soft, almost uncooked?

Don't use the pizza stone for cookies.

Stones absorb a ton of your oven's heat and will really mess up your baking times. They're designed to be preheated in your oven before you ever put a pizza (or other item) on them. I have never tried it before but you might be able to use the pizza stone if you preheated it but then you have to put your cookies on a hot surface which may cause them to misbehave in other ways.

Cookies should be baked on light-toned heavy-duty metal baking sheets (or as close as you can get to that) because the metal transfers the heat, it doesn't absorb it.

That's how you get well-baked cookies.


The article you linked to references this dish as "Wiener Schnitzel". That article defines it as veal--pounded, breaded, and fried--garnished with lemon, and served with potatoes.

"Wiener" refers to its Viennese origin, and Schnitzel to the type of preparation (pounded, breaded, and fried). There are many varieties of Schnitzels, made of several different meats, and with various sauces. Jaeger Schnitzel, for examples, is served with a creamy mushroom sauce. The one from Vienna is served with lemon and potatoes.


Is there any commercial stand mixer bigger than kitchenaids with bowl scraping paddle?

In response to your comment:

If you really are interested in the 12qt Hobart Mixer with the Bowl Scraper Attachment I'm sure they'll work with you to sell you one. Here's the contact information for their international sales department.

Take a good look at this video, the way the 12qt functions is the same as this monster 80qt machine.


My wok pan looks worn off, I can see the silver underneath, why?

Your non-stick coating appears to be coming off the underlying metal.
The solution is to discard the wok (it cannot be saved) and replace it with a plain, uncoated carbon steel wok.
Stainless steel is a lousy conductor of heat - DO NOT (buy one).
Avoid non-stick coated woks, they cannot stand the high heat/high temperatures required for proper cooking in a wok.
Season the carbon steel like you would a cast iron skillet and avoid the dishwasher.


What is the difference between sour cream & butter in baked goods?

The difference is that they're two completely different ingredients and serve different purposes.

Butter is 81 grams fat per 100 grams - or about 80% fat.

Sour cream is only 20 grams fat per 100 grams - about 20%.

In a quick bread like banana bread, recipes often call for fat in the form of oil, not butter, which is almost pure fat. Either way, these recipes need to add moisture (much like a cake batter) and sour cream has lots of moisture and, additionally, adds a slight tang. So, recipes usually call for a combination of butter or oil and some sort of wet ingredient like sour cream, milk, yogurt or buttermilk.

The more appropriate substitution comparisons would be either:

Why butter vs oil?
Why sour cream vs yogurt vs milk vs buttermilk?

From Baking Illustrated Banana Bread, page 23:

  We still wanted more moisture in the bread, so we tried mixing in milk, buttermilk, sour cream, and plain yogurt. Sour cream added richness to our bread, but it also made for a heavy texture and an unattractive, pebbly crust. Milk added little flavor and created a slick crust. Buttermilk added a delightful tang, but yogurt let the banana flavor stand out. And because yogurt has more solids than buttermilk, it made for a somewhat more solid loaf, which we preferred.

As a note, their final recipe uses both melted butter and yogurt.


Will MSG improve taste of a food for someone who dislikes the food itself or will it make it worse?

MSG has a flavor itself; it tastes of "umami", the savory, meaty flavor. This is because it's made of glutemic acid (or glutamate), with a little sodium (less than salt). Glutamates are the compounds responsible for the basic umami taste, and they are found in high concentrations in kelp, cheeses, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.

To the best of my knowledge, it's not like salt, which is said to enhance existing flavors; this would be more like cooking broccoli in bacon grease to impart a bacony flavor to the broccoli. Therefore, it depends heavily on the existing flavor profile of the food in question and the taste preferences of the person involved. If the person likes broccoli dunked in soy sauce, it might be worth a try.


How to get raspberry flavor into a smoothie without seeds?

There are a couple common ways to deal with seeds in berries:

Use a food mill, which uses a rotating blade to crush the berries and force them through small holes. They're designed for this sort of thing - removing seeds or large pieces of pulp.
Do what the food mill does, but by hand: push them through a reasonably fine strainer/sieve. Unless they're really soft, you generally want to puree them first. You can also incorporate other ingredients first, to give more liquid to work with, so you don't have to do as much pushing.


Botulism risk from anchovies in the refrigerator?

First a little perspective.  Botulism is very rare. According to the CDC in the US:

  From 1996 to 2014, there were 210 outbreaks of foodborne botulism reported to CDC. Of the 145 outbreaks that were caused by home-prepared foods, 43 outbreaks, or 30%, were from home-canned vegetables.

So this is not a common occurrence.  It doesn't mean we should not pay attention to potential risks, but I don't think canned anchovies are much of a concern.  Add to that, the acidic environment that you report, plus the salt content, plus the fact that commercially canned anchovies are processed at a high temperature (and anchovies are not known as a source of botulism), I would say from a botulism standpoint you are safe.  I can't, of course, speak to how you handled the anchovies during your processing, but if you were relatively clean, you should not have a problem.  I would make sure they are not in the can, and submerged in oil.

Finally, please understand that smell is never a reliable indicator of spoilage.  Many things can go wrong with food before you can smell it.


It's a question of degree.  Something bubbling in there will dissipate heat, keeping the pan below a temperature at which metals start to deform.  A well-designed pan matched to an appropriate heat source (diameter, consistency) will put up with a great deal more heat than it takes to sear broccoli, but it's difficult to put a mark on where its limit lies that's clear to any user.  Somewhere well below that limit is the difference between an empty and a not-empty pan, the observance of which makes Henckels and hungry people happy.  Henckels may have tested their pans diligently and from their research could tell you that the real danger zone starts at x degrees, but their market isn't only cooks who also happen to have an infrared thermometer and don't mind tidying it away each time they reach for the oil.  So they keep it simple, while also applying the precautionary principle.  Stuff will usually do more than its vendors promise.
But this is also a question of time.  Stuff will do amazing things...  Until it breaks.  A pan may perform flawlessly over very high heat for five years, or ten years, and one day suddenly go 'ping' and crack like an oyster.  Its identical twin, used following every rule and guideline ever suggested for it, may remain intact until its bottom is worn away by wooden spoons.  It depends on your reasons for cooking in the way that you do, and how much you enjoy it.  It depends on how many spare pans you have, or whether you could easily replace a loss.  For most pans in the world, the answer to your question would be a definite 'yes'.  For your particular pans, at the degree to which you heat them, apparently the answer is a happy 'no'.


Is it possible to make breads using cake techniques?

I'm assuming you mean yeast breads, not quick breads like cornbread and banana bread which are actually types of cakes. Cakes and yeast breads are fundamentally different, which is why the techniques are so different. Breads are supposed to be somewhat stretchy and denser then cakes, which is why they are a dough rather than a batter, and why they are kneaded by hand or dough hook. Cakes are supposed to be light and crumbly requiring them to be thinner and have air beaten into them (for some cakes). The recipes and techniques are very different for the two.

There are a few exceptions, for example brioche is typically made in a mixer with a paddle blade, and is closer to a batter than a dough, this is only possible because it has so much butter in it and the texture is supposed to be more crumbly. There are also some no-knead bread recipes out there which are mixed more like cake batters.

So on the whole no, you cannot use the same techniques.


breaking off chocolate from a block of chocolate

One option is to make sure it's well wrapped (preferably loosely), place it on a soft surface, couch or bed, and bring your weight to bear on it - pressing with something like a knee will be easier than using your hands.  As the surface yields under your weight, it puts upward pressure increasing towards the edges of the block while your weight places a downward pressure in the center, and the chocolate will tend to snap between the forces.

Using force like this, it usually breaks along the indented lines, not always precisely but pretty close - they are weak points in the chocolate's structure.  It works best with the pressure held at the middle of the chocolate piece, and it will also tend to snap in halves, so to further break down the chocolate you may be able to move the pressure to the middle of the new pieces.  There will come a point where the pieces are too small, there's not enough space within the wrappings to let it bend, or the pressure is to spread out to keep it snapping - but you can break it down into pretty manageable chunks like this.

I have a pound chocolate bar that's pretty thick, and quite sturdy - more so than I'd like to snap by hand - and this is the method I used to break it down to size pretty quickly.  I found it wouldn't easily break smaller than a two-square rectangle, but that's already much easier to work with.

If you want smaller pieces, or more control, you can take a knife (I used a cleaver) and use it to chisel the block apart.  An actual chisel would also work here.  You would set the blade exactly where you want it to break, and tap the back of the blade with something heavy, using increasing force until it splits.  This works with even pretty small pieces and with much more precision than other ways - for example you can use the smooth back of the chocolate block to position the knife, so the indentations won't interfere as much, to make half-squares, or long slivers or wedges, or clip off corners or whatever.

It is much more controllable to use multiple, almost gentle taps (using the weight of the hammer) to weaken it and let it crack apart rather than use force of muscle which can go awry.  I used the pestle from my large granite mortar & pestle, but you could use a hammer, a rolling pin, or any other decently sturdy object.

Last option would be to position the chocolate with just about the amount you want overhanging the edge of a hard surface (like a table or counter), and knock it off with a sharp blow.  It really works best if the amount you want is enough to hang over the edge by, at least, more than the thickness of the bar. The chocolate will fall from the table or counter as it breaks, so make sure it's wrapped (loosely enough to give it room to break or the wrapper will break with it) or else have something in place to catch it.  You can strike with a hammer, rolling pin, or other decently sturdy object.  This is less controlled, and it can end up with your chocolate on the floor, but it does work in a pinch.


Confusion regarding garlic powder in fat in pan

This site suggests that when commercial garlic powder is made it is heated to a temperature of 150 to 160 degrees Celsius, before it is then dehydrated and ground.  C. Botulinum spores are killed by heating to at least 120 degrees Celcius, and holding for at least 30 minutes. It would seem to me that commercial producers of garlic powder would certainly want to take care of this potential hazard.  If you were using commercially made garlic powder, the chances that any C. Botulinum spores were present when you started are pretty slim.

Of course, if you made your own garlic powder, the risk is higher.  Also, keep in mind refrigeration, does not eliminate risk, but slows the growth of bacteria dramatically.


Multiple tea infusions and caffeine concentration

This study specifically addresses the question regarding multiple infusions:

  Results for all kinds of tea samples showed that the second tea
  infusion contained the highest contents of caffeine, catechins, and
  gallic acid when bag teas were steeped in 70°C water.  It was different
  from that steeped at 85 and 100°C, the highest contents existed in the
  first infusion.  These compounds decreased gradually in later
  infusions.

The paper measured 8 successive infusions on a variety of teas.  You can see how caffeine content varied exactly in their data.


What reactions require oxygen to impart flavour?

Oxygen will oxidize food, and oxidized food is a sign of degradation (brown bananas, brown apple ...)
The only thing that comes to mind with oxygen, is its use in wine making.
"In some wines, oxidation is used to create an effect or to ensure that the wine conforms to a particular style. In others, it’s a misstep that leads to a spoiled bottle. And yet oxidation, in which juice comes into contact with oxygen, is an unavoidable part of the winemaking process."


Is cooking with hydrogen peroxide an accepted practice?

The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety offers the following information and advice:

  Use of Hydrogen Peroxide in Food Processing

  Because of its strong oxidising property, hydrogen peroxide is used as
  a bleaching agent in some foods such as wheat flour, edible oil, egg
  white etc. in countries like the US, Canada, Australia and New
  Zealand.
  It is also allowed to be used as an antimicrobial agent in food, e.g.
  milk, and as a sterilizing agent for food packaging materials.

and

  Safety of Hydrogen Peroxide

  Oral ingestion of 3% hydrogen peroxide solutions (household strength)
  generally does not result in severe toxicity but may result in
  vomiting, mild irritation to mucosa and burns in the mouth, throat,
  oesophagus and stomach. Ingestion of higher concentration, e.g. >10%,
  can result in more dangerous sequelae such as burns to mucus membranes
  and gut mucosa.
  Hydrogen peroxide is unstable and would decompose in contact with food
  and after cooking.

and, finally,

  Advice to the Trade

  If hydrogen peroxide is used in processing food, only food grade
  hydrogen peroxide should be used in processing food.
  The amount of hydrogen peroxide to be used in food processing should
  be limited to the amount sufficient for the purpose.
  Appropriate measures should be taken to remove residual hydrogen
  peroxide from the finished products.

Based on this information, it seems there is some precedent for using hydrogen peroxide in a cooking environment.


Preheat your oven to 425F (218 C).  Squashes and root vegetables will take about 45 minutes at this temperature.  Mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussles sprouts will cook in about 25 minutes. Cut your vegetables into evenly sized pieces. Place in one layer on a baking sheet (parchment lined is good for browning and easier cleanup).  Drizzle generously with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Roast.  Turn the vegetables over halfway through the cook so that they brown evenly. This information, with pictures, can be found here.


Can an all wheat flour be high in protein, yet low in gluten?

I can't say that this is the answer with 100% definitiveness, but I do have a theory that seems valid. Usually, flours are milled and ground with the endosperm, which contains most of the starch and protein. The germ contains proteins, fats, and vitamins and the bran is primarily fiber. The fats, vitamins, and fibers at a molecular level would contribute some interference to gluten formation.

In addition, whole wheat flours cannot be ground as finely as endosperm-only flours. Because the size of the flour granules/clusters are larger in whole wheat flours, the proteins within the flour granules are shielded from added water. This means that less flour proteins come into contact with water, which means less gluten formation.


What is the best way to open a tightly fitted lid of a jar?

Go around the edges, tapping the rim with the handle of a butter knife (leaving little dents). That should allow you to twist it off.


Is it possible to freeze my own 'oven-fry' crumbed food items?

I have experience with 2 methods:

The "parfrying" method:

Heat your favourite deep-frying oil to 175°C (350°F)
Fry the crumbled food items until the temperature drops below 175°C (on most fryers: until the red temperature light goes on, on some: until the green temperature light goes off)
Let the items sit above the oil until 175°C is reached again
Fry them again for about 20 seconds

The "parbaking" method:

Pre-heat your oven till 150°C (300°F)
Put the items on parchment paper
Spray them with a little bit of your favourite oil
Leave them in the oven for 10 minutes
Take them out of the oven, turn them upside-down, spray the other side, put them back into the oven¹
Leave them again in the oven for another 10 minutes

Whichever of the above method you've used, your items are now ready to freeze (I always use the fast-freeze section of my freezer while they're still hot, but YMMV) and can then be re-heated in the oven at 175°C for 20 minutes if unfrozen or 35-40 minutes if frozen.

Note ¹: This is to ensure your oven is closed and stays at 150°C while you're turning them upside-down.
Note ²: The above method is for items about 2 thumbs in size. If your items would be smaller, (e.g. little balls), diminish the times above.
Note ³: Maybe there is a professional term for "parfrying" and "parbaking" but I'm not aware of any so just these as an analogy to parboiling, without the water... ;-)


What is a good pine nut substitute for pesto?

Almonds and walnuts are good alternatives as they have a similar texture and relatively subtle flavour. I'd go with almonds personally, as walnuts can be a little bitter.


There is less of a difference than you might think.  Heck, with the addition of a little calcium chloride (to help bind the milk particles), you can even make cheese with skim milk.  I flipped through Harold McGee's section on low-fat milk, and he doesn't give any warnings about using it in cooking.

Of course, keep in mind that your result won't have quite the same texture.  I doubt you'll notice unless the milk is the primary ingredient in the sauce (and there's no other thickening agent) or primary liquid in the dough.  If I was forced to come up with a way to adjust to using low-fat, I'd probably add a little more milk if I was going for flavor, or a little less if I was going for texture.


I'd suggest skinless bone-in chicken thighs, as they have plenty of fat and collagen to keep them moist and tasty. I've cooked them in French-style wine-based stews, not to mention cacciatorre, for 2-3 hours before now and they just fall off the bone.

It is virtually impossible to overcook them, unless you boil them mercilessly for hours. Just get a nice gentle simmer going - not only will this make the meat tender, but it will improve the flavour of the tomato sauce as well.

Do not use chicken breast - it is far too lean.


It's a great addition in just about any clear stock soup (non-cream-based) such as chicken, beef and even vegetable. (It's actually great for vegetarians and vegans who may have difficulty getting enough of their b-complex due to a meatless diet.) It enriches and deepens the flavor while providing a bunch of minerals. It's also an easy way to "rescue" a soup whose depth of flavor and savoriness (umami) fell short.

Couple of caveats:

It might make your stock cloudy if
you add too much
It doesn't seem to
stay in solution in stock too well. Needs frequent stirring in the bowl
to keep a consistent flavor


What is the term used for this type of biscuit

You would be looking for a sugar cookie recipe to use with a stamp like that. Sugar cookies tend to hold their shape through a bake, so the imprint will still be clearly visible afterwards.


If the flavor is so clear and overpowering to you, and you haven't noticed it in other dishes, it is most likely a spice (or another flavor agent), not some of the vegetables. There is no way for us to tell you which spice it is. The words people choose to describe smells are mostly arbitrary * so calling it "dark" or "musky" does not narrow it down. Similarly, "overpowering" and "unpleasant" cannot tell us which one it is - it is something that is pleasant to most people who eat curry (else it wouldn't be used so widely) and when you hate a flavor, it is always overpowering to you even when others may not even notice its presence. **

This means that the only person who can find out what it is is you personally. You would have to get a list of the possible "offenders", that is, the spices in a curry which tastes bad to you. Ideally you would be able to ask for the recipe for a portion which has the disturbing flavor, but if it doesn't work (restaurants can regard spice mixes as a trade secret), you can just look at popular curry recipes online and make a list of the spices appearing in them. The list will likely be manageable, maybe 7-8 spices in total.

As the next step, try finding a way to smell each spice individually and seeing if that's what you hate. A supermarket won't let you open their spice bottles, but some oldfashione spice-and-tea stores measure spices out of the bag, or have them in a thin cellophane packaging that lets smell through. Or you can ask a friend who is likely to have Indian spices to smell them in their kitchen (if the person finds you silly, think twice if you need such a friend), or just buy a small amount of each spice somewhere - the money is not wasted, you can just start experimenting with Indian spices in your own cooking later. Prefer smelling the ground spice instead of whole grains or bark. If it is somethingn like fenugreek, you will find it out.

If that process doesn't help you identify the spice, then it is likely to be something which needs to release its flavor. You will have to fry the ground spices in oil to see if that makes a difference for you. While you're at it, try finding a way to smell warmed mustard oil, that can also be a source of the smell you describe.

I assumed here that you are talking about Indian curry, but if you mean another type of curry, just follow the same process but using the flavor process for another cuisine. If it is Thai, you might have to smell different brands of curry paste or some of the typical sauces (soy sauce, fish sauce) instead of individual spices.

* I am excluding schooled perfumers and tasters here, they have a more standardized vocabulary, but everyday people cannot use it

** I never realized how frequently vanilla is used everywhere in food and cosmetics until I had a roommate who couldn't stand vanilla.


How do I tell the freshness of raw chicken?

The yellow color could be just a sign of what it was fed. According to the USDA:

  THE COLOR OF POULTRY

  What is the usual color of raw poultry?
  Raw poultry can vary from a bluish-white to yellow. All of these colors are normal and are a direct result of breed, exercise, age, and/or diet. Younger poultry has less fat under the skin, which can cause the bluish cast, and the yellow skin could be a result of marigolds in the feed.

You could have an older chicken that had marigolds in what it was fed.

On the flip side, I was always taught that if any meat smells bad, it isn't good to eat. If it was my chicken in the kitchen, I would take it back to the store or just throw it out.

If you are still debating on if it is good to eat, you could always take it back to the store where you purchased it, or contact the USDA Poultry Hotline.


Why does my chocolate seize when I add brandy to it?

My guess is that you're adding the brandy cold, and the chocolate may also only be partially melted.  Try:

Ensuring that the chocolate is thoroughly melted;
Heating the brandy first (to just below boiling);
Gradually adding the chocolate to the brandy (not vice versa).  Chocolate seizes the worst with small amounts of liquid, so you're doing the opposite, adding a tiny amount of chocolate at a time to a relatively large amount of liquid).


What do "virgin" and "extra virgin" mean in regards to olive oil?

In the US, "extra virgin" isn't a legally protected term - some of the stuff sold as EVOO here would never, ever pass as it elsewhere.

From Wikipedia:

Extra-virgin olive oil comes from virgin oil production only, contains no more than 0.8% acidity, and is judged to have a superior taste. Extra Virgin olive oil accounts for less than 10% of oil in many producing countries. It is used on salads, added at the table to soups and stews and for dipping.
Virgin olive oil comes from virgin oil production only, has an acidity less than 2%, and is judged to have a good taste.
Pure olive oil. Oils labeled as Pure olive oil or Olive oil are usually a blend of refined and virgin production oil.

Cooking-wise, the extra virgin stuff is best used in situations where it won't be highly heated. Salad dressings, dipping oils, finishing a dish, etc. are where it shines.


In korean cuisine, corn noodles are made with powdered elm root as the binding agent as it has the starchy glutinous qualities missing from corn. Maybe you could see about that or try getting some corn noodles from a korean grocer?


Can I source fat and sugar in a recipe from chocolate?

That recipe is merely chocolate-topped, so you will find better, probably using cocoa powder.
However that may still not go far enough.  I have tried to make chocolate chip flapjack by using dark chocolate chips and stirring into the melted mixture before baking. I did this after the adding the oats and after a bit of cooling, with as little stirring as possible.  They still melted into the mixture before I could get it into the tray.  Further cooling, and perhaps chilling the chocolate first might get round this.  They weren't very chocolatey, but the texture was still good.
If you tried to replace all of the butter and sugar with chocolate, you'd end up with an oat-loaded chocolate bar, rather than flapjack.  It would be too hard (unless you like your flapjack rock-solid, in which case the chocolate might burn).
Using your chocolate, you'd still have some butter (to keep the fat:sugar ratio the same), which would help, but the sugar in that particular recipe is all golden syrup.  Many recipes use a mixture of olden syrup and brown sugar, both of which bring  little flavour.
I see two routes to experiments:

take your favourite recipe, add cocoa powder (perhaps lose the apricots in the recipe you linked, and add 100g cocoa powder to start with).  I'd then drizzle with milk and/or white chocolate for the contrast in appearance.

I've just tested this.  My batch was smaller, only 150g of oats (and very similar to your more basic recipe), and I added 50g of cocoa powder.  That gave it a nice flavour along the lines of dark chocolate truffles.  The texture was good: I was aiming for chewy and got it, not crumbly or hard.  If I wanted even more of a chocolate flavour, rather than increasing the cocoa powder I'd add some milk chocolate

Substitute.  For ease I'll round everything and call your  chocolate 50% sugar and 33% fat by mass, your butter 100% fat (it's more like 80% with most of the rest water), and your golden syrup 100% sugar (again, it's nearly 20% water).  As a starting point I'd put in 200g of chocolate, taking out 100g of syrup, and 60-70g of butter.  I'd still melt the butter and sugar together, then stir in the broken up chocolate with the oats after turning off the heat.  Once mixed in the chocolate won't burn easily. You could also add cocoa powder of course.  This may be too stiff; adding some water to the melted butter and syrup, then the oats, then the chocolate might help.

Overall, flapjack is fairly forgiving.  If it falls apart, that's not ideal, but press it firmly into the tin and it shouldn't. Scoring when hot and cooling in the tin helps too.  If it's overcooked and hard, possibly just round the edges, this is nice smashed up and served as a topping for ice cream.  So give it a go and see what happens.


How to make garlic oil in a safe way...tomorrow

According to research conducted at the University of Idaho and published in 2014 in the journal Food Protection Trends, there are now consumer guidelines to process garlic (and certain herbs) safely through acidification before adding to oil.

I would read the first link thoroughly to understand the necessary process.  To ensure safety, follow the steps precisely.  (The second link provides the original scientific paper with detailed data and testing protocols.)

To summarize the procedure:

Peel and chop garlic so that pieces are no more than 1/4" long in any dimension.  (Whole cloves or larger pieces are NOT acceptable, since the acid needs to penetrate fully.)
Make a 3% solution of citric acid by combining 1 level Tablespoon of granular citric acid with 2 cups of water.  (Note that other acids, lemon juice, vinegars, etc. have NOT been verified and tested for safe home use in this step.)
Combine chopped garlic with a 3% solution of citric acid in a ratio of 1 part garlic to 3 parts citric acid by weight.  This is about 2/3 cup of chopped garlic, if you use the amount of acid in step (2).
Let garlic soak in the acid for 24 hours.  (This is a minimum to ensure safety; a longer soak may be used, but it could degrade the flavor.)
Drain the acidified garlic well.  Combine the acidified garlic with oil, and infuse.  A ratio of 1 part garlic to 10 parts oil by weight is recommended, but the ratio can be varied from this to achieve appropriate flavor.
While the procedure recommends removing the garlic once appropriate flavor has been achieved (generally in 1 to 10 days), there is no food safety risk if the garlic is kept in the oil for longer.

As for storage, they write: "Refrigeration of these infused oils is recommended for quality, but not required for safety."  And later:

  While oils infused with flavors from acidified garlic, basil, oregano,
  and rosemary can be safely stored at room temperature, oil flavor
  quality is maintained for a longer period of time with refrigerator or
  freezer storage.  It is also best to protect infused oils from light
  by storing them in dark-colored bottles.  Make sure the bottles are
  clean and food grade.  All vegetable oils retain quality better at
  cold temperatures and when protected from light.

The scientific paper also notes that the taste and quality of the infused oil produced using this home method was not less than infused commercial oil:

  Since panelists were not able to distinguish olive oil infused with
  garlic that was acidified with citric acid from the same olive oil
  infused with commercially acidified garlic (acidified with phosphoric
  acid), the acceptability of citric acid for use in consumer
  acidification of garlic and herbs for the production of infused oils
  was verified.

Note that acidification is the essential step here and is the only method tested for home use so far to ensure safety for longer storage.  The paper specifically notes that there are no approved procedures for pressure canning garlic in oil at home, and non-acidified garlic in oil mixtures must be refrigerated (and used within 2 to 4 days) or frozen.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Food preservation is not to be taken lightly, particularly in situations that are known risks for botulism. People who are familiar with home canning recipes already know that one should only use approved recipes and procedures that have been thoroughly tested; this procedure is no exception. Botulism risks are generally low, but the consequences of deviating can be severe.

If you are not willing to go through this detailed procedure (or another one approved by a reputable food safety and preservation organization), be sure to store any garlic-infused oils in the refrigerator and use within 2-4 days or freeze.


How long will reconstituted beans last in the refrigerator?

In this case it's not so much about safe. As indicated under 5 days is probably safe for uncooked veg protein. That's what we use in the restaurant world as general safety rules of thumb. 2 days for meat, three days for starches, 5 days for beans.

However, you may decide that the beans have significantly softened and may no longer be suitable for your application. It depends on what you are doing. Beans in a chili (I know chili doesn't have beans in it) you want to have some firmness, beans in a burrito medium firmness and beans for a bean dip or refried, well you want pretty mushy.

So safety wise you are probably just fine, but make sure your application warrants how soft the beans may become.


It sounds like you need to temper your chocolate first. Tempering causes the cocoa butter molecules to settle in the correct configuration to produce snappy firm chocolate at room temperature. Try this approach.


How to remove olive oil stains from cotton/wool cloths?

A surprisingly good way to remove oil stains (even that have set in and gone through the dryer) is using dish soap.  Rub it in, let it sit for a bit, and then wash it out.


Whenever I make fries, I tend to leave them in water for anywhere between 120 to 160 minutes as it tends to leave them crispier.

This presents a perfect opportunity to "marinate" the fries. Oftentimes, I'll add rosemary or garlic, however I would imagine adding finely ground white pepper would have the same effect.

To fry, simply drain the fries in a colander, and lay them out on a dry (and clean) towel or paper towel for 5 minutes to allow excess water to drain. Heat lard to 330F - 340F until slightly tinged golden. Remove and let cool. Then, heat the lard up to 365F - 375F and fry the cooled fries again until golden. Remove, drain excess oil (on paper towel or dry colander), salt then serve.


How can I cut the flavour of Worcestershire sauce in a completed Asian dish?

I have never encountered this problem but I would suggest making up a batch of just the sauce, omitting the Worcestershire sauce and maybe going a little light on any of the other ingredients that would contribute a high salt content. I would make sure to cook the sauce till the raw flavor is gone, then I would add that to the remaining Chicken Yakisoba you have. Good luck, I hope everything works out.


Right so a couple things here.

That hood doesn't vent outside. It filters the air and blows it back into the kitchen. Ok, not ideal but get some charcoal, and keep the intake clean.

Cooking with peppers, including black pepper can gas a room. When my girl friend cooks with Montreal steak seasoning I have to vacate. I can't breathe while its cooking.

Reusing oil is fine, but it's going to retain what's already been cooked in it. So it that means pepper oils are in the oil, you could be gassing yourself.

Try using fresh oils with a high smoke point, filter them and reuse them a few times but when they noticeably discolor, then renew. This will reduce your buildup of material burning in the oil.


You can buy lead testing kits online or a hardware store. (You want test swabs, not a water-testing kit). Expect to pay $10–20.


Doubts about forming a crust on a souffle to make it rise further

I think rather than a crust what this process would ideally do is to seal the top a bit so it would trap more steam but still be flexible. The trick is to do it long enough to form that seal but not long enough that it forms an actual crust which would stick to the rim and inhibit rising. A seal forms on the top naturally in the first few minutes in the oven, I think the point of this technique would be to form that seal before baking to prevent steam from escaping before a crust would be formed, maximizing the rise. Whether it would work or not would I am not sure, I would suspect that the souffle ingredients, type of dishes used, and whether the rim is buttered or not would all be factors. The only way to know is to try it both ways and measure the results. If I had to put money on it I'd bet that this technique would get more rise, not by that much though.

If I was going to try this technique I'd generously butter the rim and side of the souffle dish and carefully monitor the top as it is in the broiler, pulling it out before it forms a real crust. I'd also have a knife or maybe a thin barbecue skewer ready to run around the edge to break off any that has stuck from the side of the rim.

Now if you want to be really slick, chefy, and slightly geeky you'll use a chef's torch instead to form the seal on the top, that way you can be sure it won't touch the sides and you can control the result completely.

If you do try this please post the result, I'd be very curious to know how it works for you.


Having just returned from Hawaii, I actually have a possible answer for you. There is a type of ginger that you can get there (though it's not all that common, far as I could tell) that's called blue ginger. It's just like regular ginger, only it has the blue layer inside as you describe. There was a guy selling it at a roadside fruit stand when we were there.

It should be absolutely safe to use.

edit: I found a link to somebody talking about it. Hawaiian Blue Ginger


What should roasted pistachio oil smell like?

You are the best judge here. and you have stated that it doesn't smell bad.  Go ahead and use it - it will be ok.  The fact that it is a 'roasted' nut oil is no different from it being an 'unroasted' one.


With no pictures of your press it is hard to make suggestions.
But assuming your press has metal plates with loops and a pin for the hinge, and if you can take it apart, you might be able to lengthen the hole of the plates (by lengthen I mean to wollar out but only to an oval instead of a circle in the correct direction, so there is play up and down between the plates but not forward and backward between the plates).
What you are needing is a small (about 1/8 inch) gap between the plates when pressed.

Remove the hinge pin
Take apart the plates
Lengthen the hinge holes on one plate (top plate) - you should be able to do that with a drill and the proper sized bit, or with a metal file
Place plates back together
Insert the pin

Now there will be more space and the plates should be able to close with a small gap for the tortilla.


If you cook it too long uncovered it will lose moisture and dry out. If it is covered and you have a bit of liquid in there you could cook it longer and it would stay moist. You could turn it down to 200 too to slow the cooking process.

EDIT:
If I was going to cook a piece of meat that long I'd opt for a braise instead of a roast as if you cook any meat dry too long it will dry out even if it's well covered. For pork some thin stock and white wine would do, or maybe cola or ginger ale which works well for ham.


Can I use cream of tartar instead of wine to avoid alcohol in a meat braise or risotto?

There's a few misconceptions there. Tartaric acid, malic acid, acetic acid, and citric acid are all "heat stable" in the sense that they won't boil or decompose at the temperature of boiling water. They'll evaporate over time, just like the water will, but if you take a bunch of lemon juice and boil it down, you'll eventually be left with a precipitate of mostly citric acid.
(Note that lemon juice itself is not 'heat stable', because other flavor compounds in it undergo hydrolysis and oxidation at cooking temperatures.)
The reason wine is used instead of lemon juice in risotto is for the taste; different acids taste different, there are flavors in wine other than acids, and the taste of classic risotto is derived from the flavors in wine.
Finally, while acidity does affect the rate of hydrolysis of collagen, as far as I know this effect is entirely dependent on pH, rather than on the specific acid used.
Tartaric acid, or cream of tartar, can be used as a substitute for wine if you're just relying on the acidity of wine, but other, more readily available acids will work just as well.


Bubble Tea - Instant or Traditional Pearls

The moist ones are the semi cooked ones

Dry is something like this (really quick Google)
Dry Pearls

Semi moist is something like this (again, really quick Google search)  - I think we might be talking about the same thing with the instant ones you are talking about
Moist Pearls

From dry, have you experimented with the times and ratios?  I find that depending on which versions you buy, the cooking times and ratios change.  (I have no idea if it's from the composition of pearls or what)  Not sure where your current pearls are falling short, but try going to 8-1 ratio of water-pearls.   Other techniques to try is to before  turning the heat off for your post boil time, let it simmer instead for another 20-30 mins and then cool off in the water afterwords.  The problem I find is that there is no hard and fast techniques that work on all pearls!

The way I do it is

8-1 ratio boil

40 min simmer

20 min cooldown


There are a few cases were a closer look is warranted and which may be seen as "less safe after cooking":

Yes, if reduced shelf life counts as less safe.
If you take dried food - anything that has a nearly unlimited shelf life - and (re-)hydrate it, the shelf life goes down to mere days. The same goes for fruit and vegetables (from often weeks or even months, e. g. pumpkins, down to days).
If your definition of "cooking" doesn't require a heating step, food preparation can cause cross-contamination when germs from the outside/surface are transferred to the formerly safe inside. Example: cutting fruit that wasn't washed well enough.
A third case of "less safe" would be "cooking" with insufficient heat: there is a fine line between "kills pathogens over time" and "creates a cozy environment where pathogens thrive and multiply happily". Note that this is discussed in detail in our generic posts on the topic.
A border case in a "food safety" discussion would be creating byproducts that might have negative long-term effects like acrylamide or residue from char grilling. But that's pretty much a grey area with a lot of uncertainties in the equation. (And we don't discuss health here on the site partly because of that.)

In short, if cooking for you includes "bacteria-killing heat" and eating reasonably quickly after cooking and ignoring byproducts then no, cooking does not make food less safe. Within these parameters we typically use the cooking process to make food safer.


What is this sauce-making technique called?

If she was doing this in a pan on the heat (melting the butter, stirring in the flour, then adding milk), this is called making a roux, then a béchamel. If, instead, she kneaded the flour and butter 'cold', then added this to a hot liquid, it is called beurre manié. Notice that in both cases, the sauce is heated. From your question I could not tell if, and at what point, your mother introduced heat to the butter-flour(-milk?) mixture.


It seems the best thing to do is to have a sealed container with little air in it.
CO2 has proven to be useful, but its presence is not as important as sealing.

So, if you want to preserve cotton candy, my experimental results show that a sealed container is preferred. I obtained a conservation of 24 hours, but probably it will least 48h or even more.

EDIT: Well, sealing seems to work pretty well, but I have to report a pair of failure...
2 out 5 packages did not preserve the cotton candy for more than 24 hours, while the remaining did. On the plus side, the first experimental sealed package preserved cotton candy for more than a week.


I don't know if having them pre-mixed would affect the flavor or not. One thing that could speed you up is having the limes already juiced. According to Dave Arnold at Cooking Issues people generally prefer lime juice after it has "aged" at least 4 hours. Maybe this changes with mojitos, it's hard to say.

This is assuming you are using fresh lime juice. Are you muddling fresh mint and sugar, or do you use simple syrup? You could perhaps make a mint syrup, then just throw a mint leaf on top as a garnish, that would save you some time.


Why do so many dessert/biscuit recipes have salt in them?

Salt has unique properties in how it interacts with the taste buds. While it has its own "flavor" it also has the ability to enhance some flavors while blocking your ability to experience others.

While I could go on, all I would be doing is repeating much of what I learned watching
The Food Network's Alton Brown. He goes in depth for the episode "The Ballad of Salty and Sweet" which is available on from the Food Network.

There are (of course) other resources, but AB does a really great job of teaching in this episode.


Par-cooking potatoes is an extremely common technique.

However, the shredded or grated kind of hash browns would be very difficult to par-cook with wet methods, as they would go to mush quite quickly if you tried to simmer them, and then you would have the trouble of squeezing out the water afterwards (which is necessary so they crisp up, and so they finish cooking rapidly).

Par-frying would be labor intensive, and not terribly scalable either.

Typically, shredded hash browns only take about 15 minutes to cook, which is not terribly long.

I have had some success with making shredded hash browns in a very hot (450 F, 230 C) oven, baking them for about 30 minutes.  They are not quite as good as fried, but they are still good, and the technique would scale quite well.

If you are willing to experiment, I believe that par-baking them for about 20-30 minutes at a more moderate temperature (say about 350 F, 180 C) would be a promising approach.  They would stay dry, and you could then finish-fry them just to crisp up and get some buttery flavor.  You would need try it a few times to work out the be combination of baking and frying times.


One of foil's main functions is providing a watertight barrier to trap moisture inside the food. This can be especially helpful when slow roasting because you're cooking in a hot, dry environment for an extended period of time. Without foil, your roast would have turned out a lot drier and you'd have lost out on tasty juices. Brisket also has a fair amount of connective tissue (containing collagen) that will melt down into gelatin. Given sufficient moisture, the gelatin dissolves and provides a tongue-coating, lip-smacking richness that's hard to replace, but you don't get the same effect if you dry things out too much.

Foil also provides a barrier to direct heat. In the case of a roast, that reduces browning on the outer surface of the meat. Ordinarily I'd argue that this browning adds flavorful compounds produced by Maillard reactions, but the "beefy" taste you really enjoyed might have been the unadulterated flavor of the meat. If that's how you enjoyed it, just go with that!

Now, as to whether you'd get the same effect with pork belly... you might, but it's a different cut, with loads of connective tissue and very tough muscle that would benefit from some added moisture. You'll also wind up with a lot more fat as it renders. I'd expect pork belly to take longer to cook, and a final searing or browning step would be a really welcome addition to get a good crispy skin. Here's a recipe that came up during a cursory search, which uses foil to seal the belly inside an aluminum pan, so the concept is a sound one. I haven't tried it myself, so I can't speak to the relative merits of this method versus other forms of pork belly preparation.


Salmon nigiri sushi feels like melting in the mouth. How to achieve that?

A technique, sushi chefs use is called dry curing. It means covering the fish in sugar and salt (3:1 ratio), I’ve seen recipes calling for 20 minutes to 1.5 hours. This will draw moistrure out, concentrating the taste, and will definitely have an effecf on the texture.

Another one is, freezing for bacterial reduction, try looking for fish that has been frozen at really low temperatures. When frozen, water in the muscle tissue will freeze and expand, damaging the muscle fibers, which will also contribute to the texture you’re looking for. You can try replicating this at home, except for the food-safety part, by freezing the fish for a long time, some recipes call 3-4 days.


Cardoon is what I am looking for. Thanks to Jefromi for supplying the answer in the comments.

P.S. from Jefromi: according to the Wikipedia article linked above, it's also called artichoke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni or cardi.


Can I use a rice cooker with flavored rice boxes?

It is possible to use a rice cooker to prepare rice from boxes but it is not optimal. These box rices typically call for the mixture to be first browned in butter before adding water and flavoring because it is not all rice. There are bits of pasta in the mixture too. The rice cooker is able to cook it but the result probably will not be as good.

It is very possible to flavor white rice with seasoning. I often like to flavor my rice if I plan on making fried rice or if I am lazy and don't feel like making anything but rice. If you want to imitate a specific flavor, you need to first find out exactly what that flavour is and put that seasoning in the water that cook the rice. Often though there might be some flavors that can't be added until afterwards. Such as the cheese flavored rice you mentioned. Cheese and rice cookers don't mix. You would make the rice then later add a cheese sauce that you made.

Please note that one main difference that might occur is slight difference in moisture content. From the box rice I've made on the stove in the past, I know it is a bit more "wet" than rice made from a rice cooker. In my answer here, I explained how a rice cooker works. Essentially it will continue to cook until all the water has boiled away.


I make a lot of home cured corned beef so the seasonings are pretty set. When I first started, I didn't try to make a soft tiny roast to test the seasoning, instead I sliced off a thicker slice and cooked in slowly on the stovetop until it was done to my liking then tasted it. I wasn't worried about making it soft and tender when I was testing for seasoning.
One of the best ways to make a roast soft and tender is to use a sous-vide immersion circulator. Set it to your final temperature, let the water heat up,  put the roast in a plastic bag, remove the air and cook until tender. You can find dozens of resources about sous-vide cooking on-line.


It depends on how the cheese is made.

Whey will include a lot of the water soluble molecules of the milk. That means a lot of the sugar (and acid if it was fermented) will wash out. Any of the albumin from the milk will also wash out. Almost none of the fat will.

This means that it will be very difficult to calculate exactly how much sugar and protein are left in the cheese but you can get an idea from the type of cheese.

If made with yogurt, for example, the milk should have been heated before making the yogurt to allow the albumin to be bound up and not wash out in the whey. In this case the whey has almost none of the protein.

In many other cheeses, the whey does have a fair bit of protein in it. You can bring the whey to a boil and make ricotta. Weigh the ricotta to determine how much protein is not in your cheese.

As for sugar- If fermented, a lot of sugar is converted to lactic acid. The whey is full of extra sugar and lactic acid but a lot is left in the cheese as well- this is why aged cheeses like cheddar will get more tart over time. The bacteria keep munching on the leftover sugar. I don't know how to estimate the distribution of sugar in these cheeses.

A notable exception is a washed curd cheese like gouda. When these cheeses are made, instead of just draining the whey, the curd is washed in warm water several times. This washes out much of the excess sugar and makes a cheese that doesn't get tart as it ages.

I think the only way to know exact amounts of sugar would involve chemistry skills that I don't have.


Why would a recipe be sensitive to the brand of cream cheese I bought?

Philadelphia Brand ingredients: Pasteurized Milk and Cream, Whey Protein Concentrate, Salt, Carob Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Cheese Culture.

Organic Valley Cream Cheese (don't know which brand you used) ingredients:  Organic Pasteurized Milk and Organic Cream, Cheese Culture, Salt, Organic Locust Bean Gum.

Nancys Organic Cream Cheese ingredients: Organic cream, Organic nonfat dry milk, L. acidophilus, B. bifidum and 4 strains of Lactic cultures, salt.  <-- no gum in this one

The fat specs for all 3 brands are about the same.

I'd say it's any combination of:

the gums used
did the manufacturer use milk and cream processed through ultra high temperature (UHT) pasteurization
what is the moisture content (hard to determine from a label)
maybe human error by the Baker??


I came up with a technique one Thanksgiving that I've used for complex meals ever since.

I have three Digital Cooking Thermometer/Timers and a dry-erase board on my refrigerator.

On my dry erase board I draw a table something like this (I don't use the actual headings, they're here for clarity):

Task 1            | Task 2                | Task 3
Baste turkey (60) | Prep green beans (30) | Prep pie (15)
Baste turkey (60) | Prep potatoes (20)    | Turn down oven to 350 (20)
Baste turkey (60) | Cook green beans (10) | Cook potatoes (20)

The numbers in parentheses are the time in minutes. I set each timer to the appropriate time, and cross out each item as I go. The thermometers are positioned directly above each column.

(You can use any timer really, I just like mine to serve two purposes)

It's flexible enough that you can do just about anything this way. You shouldn't feel obliged to use a single column for a specific item, it's unnecessary. Notice that potatoes span columns 2 and 3.

Clearly this requires thorough planning, but your question states that this is assumed.

I had tried other methods where I planned everything meticulously using the wall time (e.g. 4:30 start potatoes, 4:45 start beans, 4:50 baste turkey, 4:55 resume beans) but this was chaos and you will inevitably lag somewhere which means you're having to adjust your times in  your head on the fly. Not fun.

Update

I didn't make this clear, but you don't need to set the timer to time exactly how long each task will take to complete. You can (and should) include any appropriate buffer time before the next task needs to begin. e.g. In my example above "prep green beans" would never take 30 minutes, likely just 10, but for the timing of my meal I don't want to start my potatoes until 30 minutes later, hence 30m for the green beans.

I'll sometimes also have a timer set for an "idle" task. (e.g. if I don't need three timers for most of the meal prep, but I'll need three towards the end (dessert), then I may set timer 3 for a 60m "idle" task to let me know when to start dessert) I initially overused idle tasks when starting this out (e.g. Task 2: prep gb (10), idle(20), prep potato (10), idle(10), cook gb (10), ...), but this confused the hell out of me and I had timers going off that had me scrambling to see that the next thing to do was... nothing. That's why I started bundling idle time into the previous task.


I've never heard of it being done and I can't imagine why you'd want to try. An avocado is 70-80% water and 15% fat. That means you would basically be making pickled fat.

Compare to cucumbers and peppers which are both in the range of 0.1 to 0.2% fat, and much firmer than even an unripe avocado when raw.

I'm sure that it would be safe as long as it's done properly and the pH is under 4.6, and the acidity would kill or slow down the enzymes enough to prevent it from turning black. But I don't think it would be edible, even if you added oil to the mix. We are biologically hardwired to perceive sour fat as being rancid, and unlike certain pickled meats, there's no umami in there to compete with that sensation.

If you feel you must try this, at least start with an unripe avocado and see what it's like after a few days. A ripe avocado would almost certainly disintegrate in a pickling brine.


When roasting or sauteeing vegetables, does it matter if it was fresh, canned or frozen?

What would change would be the taste & texture.

Pulses [bean/chickpeas etc] are virtually the same canned as cooked from dried. These are the usual two methods. Fresh isn't really an option to most people, so dried or canned are the accepted sources.
Tomatoes are used canned so often they have become almost a "food type" of their own. To many people, Italian food almost depends on the canned tomato.
Almost nothing else I can think of off the top of my head can be canned without totally changing the flavour & texture for the worse. Canned food is already cooked, so sautéing won't really be necessary.

Frozen has an even smaller window. Peas will freeze & be as good if not better than fresh. Crushed garlic is OK. Almost nothing else works. Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes & the like are all revolting ...ermm...  inedible ...err... not as good as fresh.

Really, if you want the full experience, as designed by the recipe author, there is no substitute for fresh vegetables.
Supermarkets will often do small bags of fresh, ready-prepared vegetables, single variety or useful mixes. Though pound for pound they are more expensive than peeling & chopping yourself, they can sometimes prove more economical as you simply don't have to buy a full quantity of items you really only need one each of.


Need help cleaning an old aluminum coffee pot

You can buy kitchen-safe aluminium cleaner & descaler - the white could easily be limescale.
If you look at 'home-style' cleaning guides, then everybody seems to have a different opinion - some choose baking soda, some choose vinegar.
Now, I'm no chemist, but I fail to see how both of those would work, one acid, the other alkaline. I also don't know which would clean the aluminium or which may damage it. I did once manage to completely ruin 2 stove-top espresso makers by getting this wrong.
On the other hand, you can get a litre of commercial cleaner/descaler for a couple of quid/bucks/euros, so why not let the experts take over?
They're going to have figured out what removes scale & tarnish, yet doesn't harm the aluminium. A look at a data sheet says it's Orthophosphoric acid.
I checked data sheets for 'regular' cleaner/descaler & aluminium-specific cleaner/descaler. Both contain the same acid, though other ingredients may differ.
Google found this one in the UK, but I'm sure you can find something similar close to where you live.


Should I peel garlic before pressing it?

You don't have to peel garlic before using a garlic press, but doing so lets you press more garlic before you have to clean out the skins and so forth.  If you only need to press a clove or two, there is not a lot of reason to peel first, since you will just have to clean the press out once.


It was safe  to consume after the pressure cooking.  It was safe to consume after the simmering. It will be safe to consume from the refrigerator or freezer.  You might want to edit your question to explain what you did with it after simmering and before freezing.


There are plenty of fermentable sugars in the flours commonly used in pizza making.  Additional sugar is completely unnecessary.


one Italian trick to extract as much as possible from saffron for risotto alla milanese is to fill a ladle with hot stock, add the saffron "threads" and then mash them into stock with a spoon. The stock will become a beautiful golden color. Of course stock contains water and fat...


What exactly is the difference between all these dairy products?

First, there is something that is not explicitly placed on your list, but is needed to understand the others: cream, also called sweet cream when a mixup with cultured dairy is possible. Used without any further qualifiers, it is made from milk by removing liquid such that there is higher fat percentage left in. How much higher is not known from simply the word "cream". Both milk and cream can be cultured with bacteria to produce fermented types of dairy.

Now to the points in your list, in an order more convenient for explaining:

Heavy cream is cream that contains at least 36% fat.
Double cream is cream that contains at least 48% fat.
Whipped cream is cream that has been physically agitated to turn into a foam.
Sour cream is cream that has been fermented with standard yogurt cultures. In German supermarkets, sour cream is typically made from 10%-fat-cream, but in principle, it can be made with other grades of cream.
Clotted cream is sweet cream that has been heated using a specifc process to change its texture.
Creme fraiche is a cultured product made from cream. It has at least 30% fat and is made with a special strain of mesophilic cultures.
Buttermilk in the modern sense is a cultured product made from milk. It uses yet another specialized culture strain that takes even lower temperatures than creme fraiche cultures.

The original sense of buttermilk was something different - they left out unpasteurized milk to naturally sour, then beat the butter out of it. The resulting fermented whey with pieces of butter floating in were the buttermilk. Nowadays, it is the whole liquid that you can buy (without the fat having been removed as butter) and the cultures are added intentionally to pasteurized milk. But you are unlikely to see that product in the English speaking world, the only reason to remember this sense is if you are working with historical recipes.

To get from definitions to usage: these are all different products with different texture and taste. For each application calling for one of them, any of the the three cases may apply:
- It is impossible to substitute one for the other for technical reasons
- It is technically possible to substitute, but eaters acquainted with the original dish will not recognize it as "properly made" or as the same dish
- The substitution may work without snags

So, in the end, there is not much to be said about the difference in general. As a cook, you just use each of them according to suitability and tradition, as your recipe directs you.


What is the binding power of starches vs flour?

When it comes to food 'thickness' (viscosity) is frequently discussed in 'relative terms' but not 'measurable units'. As such I'm not sure your question can be answered in 'absolute' terms.

Turning to Ratio where it discuss "Stocks and Sauces"

A Roux is 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat and the 'thickening ratio' is 10 parts liquid to one part roux.
vs.
A Slurry 1 part cornstarch to 1 part water(by volume) and the 'thickening ratio' is 1 tablespoon slurry to 1 cup liquid.

Arrowroot and potato starch can be substituted, in equal volumes, to cornstarch but they have differing outcomes based on the application (stews vs pie filling) where the difference is more than just 'thickness' but the things like the dairy or acid content of the stuff to be thickened.

In the absence of an objective standard for 'what is thickness' I don't believe you can get a fully satisfactory answer to this question.


There is no single answer to this question.  Instead, a number of factors (not including the weather) affect the perceived tenderness or moistness of a steak or other cut of meat.

Overview

There are two major factors that effect the perceived moistness of a steak or other cut of meat:

The amount of connective tissue.  The more connective tissue the meat has, the tougher and chewier it will be, at least until the collagen that composes the connective tissue is converted to gelatin
The temperature to which the cut is cooked.  The higher the temperature, up to about 165 F, the more different types of proteins are denatured and coagulated, squeezing out moisture, leading to a dryer, tougher mouth feel.

Additionally, some minor factors contribute to or enhance perceived tenderness or moistness:

Cutting the meat against the grain enhances the perception of tenderness.
Marinating in an acid or enzymatically active marinade may enhance tenderness
Mechanically processing, cutting, or pounding the meat (as in a cube steak) to disrupt its fibers can enhance tenderness.

Connective Tissue

The more an animal uses a muscle, the more connective tissue that muscle will contain.  For example, the shoulder of the animal is usually worked very hard (it has to keep the animal standing up) for pigs and cows, so it has a lot of connective tissue.

Other muscles are used rarely, such as the tenderloin, and don't develop very much connective tissue.

The connective tissue is composed of a protein called collagen, which is tough and rubbery, and makes cuts high in it seem much tougher than those which are not.

However, with certain types of cooking, collagen can be converted to gelatin, and convert from being tough to being unctuous and soft.

Temperature

As the temperature in the steak rises, more and more proteins tighten and denature, squeezing out moisture, resulting in a drier, tougher mouth feel.

Various groups of proteins denature at different temperatures, so the higher the internal temperature, the more moistness will be squeezed out, and the drier and tougher the steak will seem.

By the time the cut reaches about 165 F, all of the proteins are denatured, and it is fully well done, and as tough as it will be.

According to Amazing Ribs:

  122°F - Myosin protein in mammal meat begins to denature.

  130-135°F - Target temp for medium rare lamb chops and beef steaks,
  the temperature at which they are at optimum tenderness, flavor, and
  juiciness.

  130-140°F - Fats begin to melt and render (liquefy). This is a slow
  process and can take hours.

  140°F - Collagens begin to contract and squeeze juice from within
  muscle fibers into the spaces between the fibers and out to the
  surface.

  140°F - Myoglobin denatures rapidly and red or pink juices begin to
  turn clear or tan and bead up on the surface.

  150°F - Actin protein begins to denature making meat tougher and
  drier.

  155°F - Well done for most meats. Most (but not all) bacteria killed
  in less than 30 seconds but spores can survive to much higher temps.

High Connective Tissue Cuts

When cuts are high in connective tissue, the same toughening and drying that occurs in low connective cuts happens as the internal temperature rises to about 165 F.

However, starting at about 170-180 F, a new process begins to engage:  the collagen (the very protein that made these cuts tougher to start with) begins to transform in the presense of water into gelatin, a different protein.

The gelatin lubricates the meat, and gives it a newly unctuous and moist mouth-feel, despite being very well done.

It takes time for gelatin conversion to occur:  it is not enough to simply bring the internal temperature to 180 F.  It has to stay there for several hours for the conversion to have enough time to take place.

This gelatin conversion is what makes slow cooking methods like braising and barbecuing so effective for tough cuts of meat.  They are cooked until quite well done (when they would be extremely tough), but then the conversion of the collagen to gelatin makes them much softer, and unctuous, so that they are again perceived as moist and tender.

Sadly, it will not work on cuts that were fairly tender to begin with, as there is little collagen to convert to gelatin.

Slicing Against the Grain

Additionally, while a minor factor, the way the meat is cut into bite sized portions also effects the perception of toughness.

Muscles are bundles of cells that are aligned in the same direction, like a bundle of straws.  They are very, very strong in the direction that the fibers align (along the straws), but not as strong against that direction (across the straws).

If sliced against the direction of the grain of the meat, so that the straws are cut in half, the the impression is that the meat is more tender.

For example, in fajitas, the traditional flank steak or skirt steak is cooked to no more than medium rare to medium (to minimize the toughness from cooking), and then sliced across the grain to make it seem more tender.

Marinades

Some marinades, if they have strong acids and are used long enough, or if they have active enzymes that can break down proteins (such as from pineapples or papaya or kiwi) can soften meat.

If over done, this can leave them mushy and unpalatable.

Mechanical Processing

Using a meat mallet or jacquard to help break down connective tissue and the structure of the muscle (as in a cube steak, or as is often done for chicken fried steak) can help make some tough cuts more tender.

Resting

For many years, common and accepted wisdom was that after cooking, you needed to let a steak rest for several minutes before cutting into it, so that its juices would be retained.

There is some evidence that this may not be completely true.

For the argument that resting is not required, and considerable details regarding the arguments for and against resting, see the article at Amazing Ribs.

Weather

Not a factor.


Chicken broth without gelatin (storebought and homemade)

The gelatin has come out of the bones; I find a good chicken stock is often a bit gelatinous when cooled.

As a general rule, when you cook stock for a really long time/on a higher heat, then it's likely to have a higher gelatin content (as it will reduce more and there is also more time for the gelatin to transfer from the bones to the stock liquid).

Generally, when I make chicken stock I put a whole chicken, a couple of carrots, a couple of sticks of celery, and a few brown onions chopped in half in a big pot and fill it with water. I'd simmer it for 1.5-2 hours and then chuck the veggies, and strip the meat from the chicken. The stock I get from that needs to be skimmed of fat, but is usually fairly light and not overly gelatinous when it cools (although it always is a little bit).

I hope that helps!


My black glutinous rice is not chewy at all?

Black rice is "hulled", meaning the fibrous outer husk is removed, but not (or only minimally) "polished", meaning the thin but tough bran layer is left on. (It's the bran that provides the color to black rice.) Different varietals of rice, and different processing methods, will lead to a thicker or thinner layer of bran.
It sounds like the rice you have has a relatively thick bran layer, meaning a tough outer layer will remain after cooking. There's nothing you can change about your cooking process to address this.
From the picture, I note a pretty wide variance in color, indicating low-quality processing (the husk was left on a few grains, and the bran partially rubbed off others). If you have a choice of brand, look for black rice with as uniform a color as possible.


Do you have to refrigerate leftover grilled corn-on-the-cob?

Yes, you should.  It does loose a little bit in reheating (we frequently use a microwave the second time around, if it's still on the cob), but it's fine for a few days in the fridge.

If you made excessive amounts, you might also consider removing it from the cob, bagging it, and freezing the kernels 'til you need them.  You can throw it into soups, salsa, pot pies, etc.

You can also freeze the stripped cobs to save for the next time you're making stock.


Can I peel a mandarin orange like the commercial canners do?

In theory, yes you can. Whether you want to is a completely different question.

The segments are "peeled" by soaking them in hydrochlorid acid. Which sounds worse than it is, because the concentration is somewhere between 1% and 0.3% (sources vary). (1)
Once the outer skin is dissolved, the acid is neutralized by dumping them in a lye bath (sodium hydroxide).
Finally a good long soak in plain water to get rid of whatever might still cling to the fruit and then it's off to the canner.

Other sources claim that the segments are simply peeled by soaking in a lye bath and then rinsed. (2)
A third source quotes a Dutch magazine and claims it's lye first and hydrochloric acid later. (3)

Note that hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide form NaCl and H2O or, plainly put, salt water if the ratios are correct. So apparently the whole process is quite harmless for us consumers.

Sources:
(1)  German Wikipedia; Die Zeit (both in German)
(2)  English Wikipedia
(3)  nyceyenne (also in German)


French Red Rice (Camargue) versus Italian Red Rice (Rosso Selvaggio)?

French Red Rice (Riz de Camargue) and Italian Red Wild Rice (Riso Rosso Selvaggio/Selvatico) are each names for multiple, significantly different varieties that might, or might not be similar enough to substitute for each other.

Camargue is merely a region in southern France that is well known (among other things) for producing mostly biological wild rice varieties, or Riz Rouge de Camargue, but these can be of different grain shapes and have different preparation times. Wikipedia is quite blunt in describing this Camargue rice and fails to mention there are more varieties that are sold under the same name. If there is a new (non-wild) variety I wouldn't know, but Wikipedia seems to suggest so. Personally, I've used and eaten two different wild red rice varieties from Camargue (long-grained and short-grained), both with different suggested cooking times (42 and 36 minutes respectively, if I remember correctly), but they were of quite similar taste (the short-grained one being only ever so slightly more bitter than the long-grained one that is slightly sweeter tasting).

What you name Italian Red Rice (Rosso Selvaggio) is also a name for multiple different varieties of Italian Red Wild Rice (Riso Rosso Selvaggio/Selvatico), that might have different preparation times, grain shape, and what they taste like might also be slightly different. Just to be clear, Selvaggio or Selvatico is Italian for wild, I'm not insisting on comparing wild rices just to compare better with your French selection. They're grown in multiple regions of Italy. Some claim biological production, while other producers are cheaper and can't claim that (probably due to being grown in areas that are known to be still too polluted, or the land it grows on wasn't classified to be suitable for biological production for other reasons, such as the use of pesticides in recent history). I've cooked with many different 'Italian red wild rice' varieties, and they suggest preparation time from roughly 30-45 minutes. These 15 minutes of difference might be significant enough not to be suitable as a direct replacement in your recipe.

Both Riz Rouge de Camargue (Camargue, France  regional red wild rice) and 'Riso Rosso Selvaggio/Selvatico' (Italian for wild red rice) are thus of genus Zizania, or simply wild rice. Since there are many types of wild rice grown both in Italy as well as southern France region of Camargue, with more than one variety having red grains, and are usually further classified by their grain length (such as 'long-grained', 'short-grained',...) and grain color, it is thereof impossible to say (based on provided information), if these two rice varieties would be 'basically the same thing'.

I could assume with much conviction (based on experience with both cooking with them, and later eating in risottos, rice with pancetta, filled zucchinis,...) that they would be directly comparable for recipes requiring one of the two, if they compare visually and their packaging claims same cooking time.

Then again, they would be grown in different regions with possibly different climate conditions (saying something comes from Italy doesn't really narrow it down enough for us to know that, but some Italian areas would have comparable conditions to those in Camargue, France, while most others wouldn't), and that alone can make for a big difference in its tastiness.

TL;DR - My suggestion would be to read their instructions and check that their cooking times are similar enough not to cause other problems with your recipe, but most people with less discernible palate probably wouldn't be able to taste any difference between the two in the same recipe.


Scallions are very touchy. You don't want them to dry out, and yet you don't want them too wet or they will get slimy and disgusting.

What works best for me is remove any binding holding them together (e.g. rubber band or twisty-tie), (and certainly trim off any parts of the scallions that are already damaged and/or slimy), don't wash until you are ready to use them, wrap the bunch of scallions loosely (but completely covered) in a paper towel, and then store that wrapped bundle in a flimsy plastic bag (maybe the one you brought them home from the supermarket in) in your refrigerator.

Sounds "fussy" when you lay out all the steps like that, but really, it's not a whole lot of work. Removing the rubber band etc. prevents damage where it would cut into the veg. flesh, paper towel absorbs condensation & liquid water which will rot the scallions (paper towel will prob. become slightly damp after a while in the fridge, but this is OK), plastic bag prevents evaporation of moist air.

I find this works well for lots of greens, esp. cilantro - the worst offender in the demanding vegetables category.

P.S. If you aren't too squeamish, you can even remove the very outermost layer of a scallion which has begun to "slime-out", wash the remainder right before using - & it's fine!


Why does my coffee sometimes taste sour?

Excessively sour flavor in your coffee brew is a likely sign of underextraction, i.e. the coffee has not brewed long enough and has an excess of acids. Acids are extracted early in the brewing process, whereas other balancing flavors are extracted later in the process.
Per Wikipedia:

[The coffee is] "under-extracted", specifically "under-developed" – desirable components have not been sufficiently extracted – and "unbalanced", specifically sour, because acids are extracted early, while balancing sugars (sweetness) and bitter components are extracted later.

Making good coffee involves a multitude of factors, and it can take some trial & error to hit the sweet spot. But let's mention the major ones:

Yields depend primarily on temperature, brew time, and grind size, and in a complex way on method.

For your case, I'll just call out the most obvious thing: Because you're using a French press, you have to use a coarser grind than something like a drip machine requires. Those larger coffee grains are going to require more extraction time.
So it could be that it simply needs to steep a little longer before pushing down the plunger. I personally like to give my coffee a stir for about a minute after pouring in the water to help encourage thorough extraction.
Hopefully some experimentation along those lines will help you achieve the perfect cup. Happy caffeinating!


Why does the fat on my chicken broth sometimes solidify, sometimes not?

It's down to what the chicken ate while it was alive. Saturated fat sets, olive oil sets if you chill it, but not otherwise, and a number of seed oils do not set (rapeseed for instance). When you make a stock which has solidified fat on top, that's saturated fat, so I'd hazard a guess that the stock where the fat doesn't set means a healthier eating chicken, because it contained less saturated fat to start with.

UPDATE: Thank you to the person who bothered to do the research and said my answer 'might have some merit'. Chickens are no different from human beings - the fats you put in are the fats floating round your bloodstream and depositing in various places; think about corn fed chickens, where the fat composition is slightly different, not to mention the colour of the flesh itself. That will be a partial explanation; when taken together with the fact that not all chickens, even in the same flock or brood, get to eat the same diet, because the pecking order dictates that some free range birds don't always get the pick of the food, explains differences in chickens from the same supplier. Of course, if you can come up with another explanation, I'd be delighted to hear it...

UPDATE 2: Perhaps I should have been clearer. I am not for a moment suggesting that the fats eaten are deposited in their original form, but if you know anything about biology (chickens or otherwise) then you'll know that certain synergies occur, depending what's put in, which change the composition of any fats deposited within the body system. Hence the connection between eating lots of saturated fat and having high cholesterol in humans, for example.

UPDATE 3: Rumtscho: Can't find any scientific evidence so far to prove this theory regarding chickens, but, for interest's sake, and to prove how much of a difference it can make, farmed salmon in Britain no longer has a balanced omega 3/6/9 ratio, as it should do, and still does in the wild. It's because the feed had to be changed, and the consequence of that has been a much higher level of omega 6 in particular. I'm still looking for something on chicken.

UPDATE 4: Now I've had time to look properly, it's not at all difficult to find scientific evidence, there's plenty of it. There's a study carried out by The American Society for Nutritional Science in 2000 comparing the fat deposition (and other metabolic processes) between chickens fed the same diet, but one lot with saturated fat included in the form of tallow, and the other lot with polyunsaturated fats. The fat deposition in the birds fed tallow was greater, and the composition of the fat contained more saturates compared to the polyunsaturated group. These results reflect previous studies (Sanz et al 1999 and 2000).

Effectively, it's like everything else - you get back what you put in.


Many manufacturers and manuals say that you shouldn't grease them.  However, for parts of the process you may be able to use Taylor ice cream machine lubrication or Vaseline (see below).

Dave Arnold who also runs the Cooking Issues blog, is the king of RotoVap in the kitchen.  There is a full article over here on Dispensery Grade where he discusses RotoVap  in the kitchen.

Here's an excerpt from the comment section of the article:

  What are you using to grease the glass joints (air inlet and vacuum
  take-off)? Regular vacuum grease is probably not a good idea.
  Something like chapstick or shortening? Thanks.

  Reply  Dave A // Dec 12, 2009 at 11:22 am

  Howdy Stephen, We use Taylor ice cream machine lubrication or
  Vaseline.

If you go with vaseline, make sure you get the food-grade version.


Fresh as in not dried? Yes, that will work. Just watch your heat, ensure it doesn't stick to the pan.

Personally I would lightly sautee the garlic in a lot of olive oil (making the olive oil the eventual sauce), then toss in the pasta for just long enough to heat it through, and then nomnomnom.


Can you use CO2 cartridges in a N2O dispenser?

In general, yes, but check the manufacturers instructions...if you put water (or any liquid) in a whip cream dispenser, and use a CO2 cartridge,  you can carbonate the liquid...though there is some technique to employ if you want a well-carbonated liquid.