How to soft boil eggs with a countertop egg steamer?

I happen to have some experience with steam egg cooker.

For starters: how does an egg cooker work?

The egg cooker doesn't use a timer. Instead, the cooking time is determined by the amount of water you put into it: the more water, the more time it takes to boil off and trigger the overheat alarm. This is why your egg cooker has a water measure cup that has markings for different number of eggs to cook.

Secondly, to soft boil an egg you don't actually control the absolute temperature, but control the temperature gradient: you want the outer layers of the egg to be very hot (rolling boil water or steam) but the inner core of the egg doesn't really have time to heat up, which is why 6min in rolling boil water gives you reliably good results, although you may need to adjust a fraction of a minute depending on the temperature of your fridge. Strong temperature gradient (difference between outer and inner parts of the egg) is what gives you the "water balloon effect" e.g. the yolk is near liquid and white is like a thick and strong membrane.

OK then how do you steam your egg?

For your situation you basically need to reverse engineer your measure cup that comes with the steamer. I propose following procedure:

Put about 1-2 tbsp of water in your steamer, turn it on, wait till
boiling.
Put egg in, steam for 6-7 mins.
Turn steamer off and check one egg, three things can happen:

a) This egg is under cooked, you can salvage them by cooking them for another minute.

b) This egg is over cooked, then your data is useless, you need to wait for another chance to repeat this experiment and deal with 4 medium done eggs for now.

c) The egg is perfectly cooked.
If you hit case a) or c) you are in luck, wait for the steamer to cool and measure the remaining water. Subtracted from your initial water you get your desired water amount for 4 eggs.

Based on my experience, 1 tbsp and 7 min should yield a close enough result and I'm sure you can get this right within 3 iterations.

How do I know all this?

I once owned a egg steamer (6 eggs) and lost the water measure cup as well. I ended up putting about 2tbsp of water and cook for 7 min. It takes roughly 20sec for water to boil and generate steam and 40s for the surface of the egg to equalize with steam, so the net cooking time is about 6min and result is mostly perfect. At the end there's always some excessive water, but I never bothered to reverse engineer the measure cup and stuck to the 7min rule. In fact, because I never carefully measured water consistently, the net cooking time varied and fluctuates the doneness of the end product. If you control the water and time constantly you will get much more consistent results than I did.


What are good tips for an oven that is too hot at the bottom?

I'm a person that goes on vacation and bakes bread. As such, I have met a few terrible ovens around the world, and temporarily improved most of them to work better...

Grab a roll of aluminum foil (heavy duty is nice if you have it, or if you don't have any are are buying a roll with this in mind.)

On the bottom oven shelf, come in a few wires from the sidewalls (to allow some air circulation) and crimp on one end of a long sheet of foil - this sheet will be shiny side down, hung below the shelf, and attached to the shelf again in a similar location on the far side of the oven. You'll probably need two sheets (one for the front, one for the back) and should leave a similar small gap at front and back for some circulation, while keeping the centers tight or overlapped.

You can get much of the effect (but not quite as well, or as "semi=permanently") by putting foil, shiny-side down, on the bottom of your baking pans. If either is is not enough by itself, do both. It should help a lot.


Cooked chicken on bone - how to refrigerate and reheat some

Food safety guidelines suggest that when reheating food you should heat to 165 degrees F to kill any bacteria which might have been tempted by your food between when you cooked it and when you eat it again.  As long as you do this and eat your food within 4 days, you should be fine.


Should I lightly boil or steam meat (eg, beef) before searing?

Yes, but I don't know if there's an official name for it. We do this a lot in pressure cooking, to get the appealing mallard reactions (caramelization). Typically, after cooking you can put the meat under the broiler to crisp it up (common examples are a whole chicken or carnitas).

Example recipe for Carnitas: https://callhimyeschef.com/2013/02/19/carnitas-under-pressure/


Is there a way to lessen the unpleasant smell of steamed broccoli?

Cook it less, if you can. The more you cook it, the more you get that smell. Perhaps you are just more sensitive to it than most; I don't generally notice it until it's overcooked by my standards.

Along with this, cook it as fast as you can. The flavor you don't like is produced by enzymes converting precursor molecules into those with the flavor. From On Food and Cooking:

  Heating cabbages and their friends has two different effects. Initially the temperature rise...speeds the enzyme activity and flavor generation, with maximum activity around 140F/60C. The enzymes stop working altogether somewhere short of the boiling point. If the enzymes are quickly inactivated by plunging the vegetables into abundant boiling water, then many of the flavor precursor molecules will be left intact. ... If the cooking period is prolonged, then the constant heat gradually transforms the flavor molecules. Eventually the sulfur compounds end up forming trisulfides, which accumulate and are mainly responsible for the strong and lingering smell of overcooked cabbage.

So as suggested by others, boiling instead of steaming to reduce cooking time helps. So does cooling quickly, with cold or ice water. Boiling in excess water will also leach some out, but you might also lose flavor you like.

A couple other thoughts, also from On Food and Cooking. Cabbage family vegetables grown in the summer, and under drought stress, produce more of the flavor precursors, and those grown in the autumn and winter with less light and more water have less. They're also more concentrated in the core of the vegetables. And for cabbage, you can remove a lot of them by chopping and soaking in cold water; conceivably the same could work for broccoli, but again perhaps at the cost of desirable flavor.


Chia seeds can be used without soaking, but they absorb a LOT of liquid and create a gel. If this isn't accounted for in your recipe, they could cause the finished product to have an odd texture. At the very least, I'd add extra liquid to your batter and let it sit for a few minutes to check it's consistency before you use it.


No you do not need to remove them, unless you're talking about very large squid.

Good to eat? I prefer the flesh and not the tentacles, but basically anything that isn't what you remove when cleaning (the internal 'bone' and assorted goop attached to it) is fine.

Best method for cooking is very, very fast--squid needs fast nigh heat, usually no more than 40-60 seconds depending on size. Dust with cornstarch and deep fry very fast, or sautee in butter very fast. Too long and you will be chewing rubber.


Does wax on citrus fruit make the zest unsafe to eat or compromise its flavor?

I recently did some experimenting on this exact topic. I can't contribute anything to the safety part of your question, but I have some notes regarding flavor.

The experiment: I blind tasted lemon zest in a group of associates and friends with varying degrees of palate development. Most people were able to differentiate between fresh zest with wax and fresh zest without. Nobody could tell the difference once we'd incorporated the zest into a dish, probably since the wax reflows and becomes very diluted. The experiment didn't eliminate every possible variable or control for every factor, but I thought I'd pass this along in case it's useful to you.

In my personal experience - when I compare waxed and unwaxed citrus fruit side by side - the taste of fresh zest is slightly bittered by the presence of wax. Mouthfeel is appreciably gummier and I find it harder to perceive the zest's moisture as well.

If enough of us perform this experiment we could cobble together our own unofficial data :) I'd be more than happy to crunch the stats.


In my experience, you want to add as little milk as possible at first, whisking well, then very gradually add more milk as you whisk vigorously the entire time.  From your second line, I think you've got the "small amount" part covered.  If you're not already doing this, whisk as you pour - once you start adding milk, I recommend to not stop whisking until the milk is incorporated.

I was also told that you should use warm/hot milk (I give it a quick hit with the microwave) instead of cold.  That might be the difference that's causing yours to lump if you're already whisking very well.  I don't always heat my milk and still get a good consistency, but I also whisk like a madman.  I would recommend trying to the milk and see it if helps.


Cookie dough is too dry to shape, can I salvage the existing batch?

This can happen, and it's not a big deal. I think adding a small amount of milk or water is the way to go. Let it come up to room temperature and then mix in milk a teaspoon at a time until you get the right consistency. It will probably take very little milk to make it right, so add it in small amounts!


What is the shelf-life of home-made tomato sauce?

I would be very wary of that sauce, despite its good smell. For full disclosure, I am extremely conservative when it comes to food safety and shelf life, but here is some information that I found compelling:

WRT to average time any commercial tomato sauce can last on the shelf, a quick answer can be inferred by using this site:
http://www.eatbydate.com/vegetables/fresh-vegetables/spaghetti-sauce-shelf-life-expiration-date/

It states that commercial sauce has a shelf life of about 1 year past the "eat-by" date. Your sauce, of course, has no such date, but assuming an eat-by date of about 1 year past bottling is probably pushing it. So, even a commercial product is probably on the edge of your 2 year scenario.

From a home-preparation POV, if you used the boiling-water method to preserve the sauce, I would say no, don't eat it. The pH associated with most spaghetti sauces (~5.0) is rarely low enough for the boiling-water method to be workable. Pressure-canning is an option (and if your sauce had meat or any meat products in it pressure canning is the ONLY option). If you pressure-canned, then I still think you're on the edge, but it's less scary to me.

Here's a link to a good article on that subject.

http://foodinjars.com/2010/08/canning-101-why-you-cant-can-your-familys-tomato-sauce/


How long can I keep bread dough in the refrigerator?

You can refrigerate all kinds of yeast-bread dough. Right after kneading, before the dough has had a chance to rise, oil the dough lightly, cover with plastic wrap or use a ziplock, and place in the refrigerator. As the dough cools in the refrigerator the action of the yeast will slow down until the dough has reached refrigeration temperature. At that point the yeast is still working, but at a snail's pace. So, during the first few hours in the fridge it may require a punch down or two, as there may still be enough warmth in the dough for the yeast to show active signs of life.

After the dough is completely cool, it may not need anything from you, but still check it at least every 12 hours or so - it may need another punch down. If at any point it grows to close to double it's original size, go ahead and punch it down. Most doughs will be fine if babysat like this for up to 3 or 4 days. When you're ready to bake, punch down the dough again (if necessary), shape, and allow to rise as if it had never taken its little nap in the refrigerator. Of course this rise is going to take longer than non-refrigerated dough as it reaches room temperature, but it should be ready to bake when it looks like a non-refrigerated dough of the same type would look when it's ready to bake. Bake as usual.

I'm sure there are exceptions to the basic rules I've set out, but I've never had a problem doing this with any yeast-bread dough.


Is it safe to make chicken stock, forgot to turn crock pot on!

Bone broth is supposed to be cool when you add the vinegar to it. And then it's supposed to sit up for a half hour or so in order to let the vinegar draw the minerals, etc., out of the bone. So really at the time of this writing you've let the stock, which has already had all potentially harmful micro-organisms neutralized by way of boiling, sit up for just a few additional hours. On top of that, in order to make a good poultry bone broth you're going to bring it all to a boil again and let it simmer for another 24 hours. There's no chance anything bad is going to survive that onslaught. And there's no way mere stock, fresh off its cool down cycle, has had a chance to take in any new micro-organisms capable of forming the kinds of toxins which aren't resistant to such treatment. You're fine. And hats off for going paleo!

[EDIT]

By saying that the stock hasn't had a chance to take in any new micro-organisms capable of forming the kinds of toxins which aren't resistant to such treatment, this really is to acknowledge that some micro-organisms cannot be destroyed by boiling and, as pathogens, are the by-products of bacterial growth; since your stock has not had the time/opportunity to engender or accommodate bacterial growth, (thus the term new), there can be no reason to anticipate a consequent whose known antecedent is lacking. No new bacteria, no possibility of new toxins ...unless introduced from some flukish or otherwise uncommon manner of uncarefulness, (a cat's paw?), which would be a whole other matter. It is almost always possible to imagine contingencies which, for their very particulars, disallow of what would normally be sound advice.


There's an old children's story about making Stone Soup. In it, a penniless begger offers to teach people how to make his favorite recipe: soup, made from a stone! He boils some water and drops a stone in, and while it's "cooking", keeps mentioning offhand things like "It'd go great with some carrots" or "Celery would be lovely in this". The townspeople rush off and get celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, and the like to add to the soup, until eventually, they've made proper soup in his pot along with the stone. So basically, the whole "stone soup" thing was a clever con game by which the begger can eat for free (or, in kinder versions than the one I recall, to trick the townspeople into learning a lesson about sharing).

The stone adds nothing to the soup.


Smoke detector goes off when baking chicken breast

Just in case, is it just something that dripped into the oven? Unless you've baked something else since you started having problems with the chicken, just preheat it and see if there's any smoke. (Or inspect the bottom, but you might miss something.) If there's any smoke heating an empty oven, then you need to clean it.

Assuming that's not it, most likely it's still the olive oil. Depending on the oil, some of it will indeed smoke at 350F, and on top of that, it's possible that your oven is actually hotter than it thinks. Unless you've checked the temperature with a thermometer, it's quite possible the temperature is 25-50 degrees higher than it claims, especially if it's old. You could try lowering the temperature further.

But really, there's not really much point cooking this with extra virgin olive oil. It loses its flavor when you heat it to those temperatures, even if it doesn't smoke. You'd be better off just using a neutral oil (vegetable oil or whatever you prefer), and if you want olive oil flavor, add a bit after you're done baking. You probably don't actually need very much oil when baking, so you could reduce the oil there, and make up for it with olive oil at the end.


From  Cook's Info :

Arepa Flour is a refined, pre-cooked corn flour ("harina de maiz refinada, precocida".) It is not the same as the masa harina that is used in Mexico; for Arepa Flour, large-kerneled corn is used that has large, starchy endosperms, making for a starchier flour than that which is used for tortillas.
There are white and yellow varieties of the flour, because the corn used may be yellow or white.

Also:

For commercial makes the corn is hulled dry. The hull is first removed from the seed, as well as the germ. Then the kernels are cooked, ground, dried and packaged.
Arepa Flour is sometimes referred to as a "pregelatinized" flour because the grain has been cooked first.

I'm thinking that masa harina would not be a suitable substitute for making Arepas. Another thing I've found is that corn flour is usually finer than corn meal, even if the corn meal is ground 'fine'.


What is the correct procedure for cooling and reheating leftovers?

From a food safety perspective, the most important thing is that you get your leftovers cooled as quickly as possible, so that they don't spend too long in the temperature "danger zone". This can be tricky, because you essentially have to move from cooking temperatures to refrigerated temperatures within two hours (generally less because the time is cumulative, and includes time that the ingredients spent in the danger zone before you cooked them).

Here's what I do at home:

Separate into smaller portions. For me, this usually means individual servings, but you can package 2-3 servings together; the point is to avoid having a single large mass of food. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, it makes reheating convenient; rather than heating up more portions than you're going to be eating, or scooping out a single portion for separate reheating (dirtying some extra dishware in the process) you can simply grab as many portions as desired and go. Second, by separating the portions you are increasing their surface area to volume ratio, and therefore how quickly they will cool (another reason I like individual servings is that it maximizes this effect). This is a basic trick from my restaurant days; experienced professional cooks will know that to cool a large batch of soup safely, you need to either get the whole thing into an ice bath, or break it down into smaller portions.(A thrifty tip here: you can use dedicated plastic or Pyrex food storage containers, but commercial containers are cheap and effective as well. There are all kinds of "deli" and "disposable" containers intended for food service that are microwave-safe and which can be safely cleaned in the dishwasher. You'll often have to buy them in bulk, but per piece they're very inexpensive, they tend to stack very well, and if you're lucky you can find a decent local takeaway or delivery place that uses them instead of styrofoam. Save whatever you get, wash them, and reuse. It's possible to ruin these with excessive heat, but they're so cheap that it's not too much of a loss.)
Allow to cool on the counter, uncovered, for 10-20 minutes. The goal here is simply to let steam escape; water carries a lot of thermal energy with it (which is why you can easily burn yourself over a pot of boiling water) and letting it get away will cool your food rapidly. The portions don't need to cool completely at this point; if they're warm but no longer actively steaming, that's fine.
Put the portions in the refrigerator. As @Jefromi notes in comments, there's no real risk from putting hot/warm food into the fridge, and a lower external temperature will help your portions cool quickly and safely. Where possible, it's ideal to leave these uncovered and spread out into a single layer so that they will cool quickly. Quite honestly, this isn't always practical, so if you need to cover and stack the portions due to space constraints, cool them a little longer on the counter before putting them into the fridge.
Freeze the portions if you'll be storing them for more than a couple of days. Cooked dishes will generally keep safely in the fridge for 3-4 days; if you need to keep them beyond that, the freezer is your friend. This doesn't work well for everything, but hearty foods like pastas will often freeze reasonably well.
Reheat thoroughly in the microwave. For all that serious cooks might discount the microwave, it's a very effective and efficient reheating device. (Especially if you follow my advice about using microwave-safe plastic containers; if you use something like Pyrex that's oven-safe, you could certainly use that too.) Make sure you heat everything so that it's evenly hot; this may mean stirring a couple of times.

Overall, it's most definitely possible to safely store leftovers, so long as you cool them quickly and reheat them thoroughly. Not only that, but I heartily endorse the practice. Leftovers can be practical, tasty, and a serious time saver. There's no reason to be paranoid about them if you embrace a few simple rules.


Marination is generally a surface treatment, so the thickness of your chicken is  irrelevant.  Really, the only thing that can penetrate is salt, primarily because of molecule size.  You can read a good explanation here.  I would say you're good with the 2 hours, but as you will see when you read the article, you might not even need that long...or you might want to rethink the marinade altogether.


How do I make my chocolate brownies 'fudgy'?

Every time I make brownies, I always get compliments on how fudgy they are. There may be some variations based on the recipe you use, but the three things I've found to be most important in my experience are:

Don't even think about using a boxed/pre-made mix! Bake from scratch - it adds a whole 3-5 minutes of extra prep time for brownies, but the taste and texture would be worth it even if it added an hour.
Use fewer eggs. I use the King Arthur Flour "Grandmother's brownies" recipe; I can only find an online copy for the 200th Anniversary edition, but those instructions aren't the same as the older version my mom's cookbook has. The recipe calls for 2-4 eggs per batch (a batch is a 9x9" square pan), and instructs you to use more eggs for a cakier brownie, fewer for a fudgier one. I've found that 3 eggs works best for me.
Use brown sugar for at least some of the total sugar in the recipe. The King Arthur Flour recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, either white or brown. I typically split 50/50; the brown sugar adds a nice flavor, and I think the moisture in it helps achieve that fudgy consistency, too.

There's another element to changing the consistency, too: cooking time. Most brownie recipes I've seen say to bake for 35-45 minutes; I almost never bake them for more than 30 because I find that the edges start to get really dried out. Undercooking slightly will keep the brownies moist and fudgy.

 The ingredients from the old "Grandmother's Brownies" King Arthur Flour recipe: 4 ounces (squares) unsweetened chocolate [can substitute 1-ounce square = 3 tbs cocoa powder + 1 tbs butter); ½ cup (1 stick) butter; 2 cups sugar and/or brown sugar; 2 to 4 eggs; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons vanilla; 1 cup flour


You can most certainly freeze some of it for cooking later. I have heard that this actually improves texture by tenderizing it. I'd suggest doing so in a freezer-safe bag with as much air removed as possible. Depending on portion size, lay it flat or in pieces that will be easy for you to portion later if you won't eat the rest at once. That will make it easier to use without having to partially re-thaw.


Could I substitute peanut butter in place of butter or crisco for cookies?

sometimes i'll replace 1/2 the butter in my cookies with peanutbutter and will cut the sugar a little. they still turn out pretty well. replacing all the butter would be bad, but some of it won't make much of a difference.


Oat starch to sugar conversion in oat milk

Based on Fabby's suggestion in the comments on the question: oats can be malted (ref: Wikipedia: Malt], which produces the enzymes needed to convert starch into sugar.  I am still in the process of trying this out (and will probably edit this answer at a later time); adding some of the dried oat malt to freshly made oat milk should do the trick (ref: Oatly's description of their production process).


It is not difficult to produce a clear broth or consume.  Traditionally, an egg white raft is used to capture solids, and one can remove the clarified broth.  There are more modern techniques for liquid clarification, which can easily be found online. For example, agar can be employed to gel the broth.  The gel can be broken, and the clear liquid can be drained.  Remember though, clear does not mean without color.  So consider your soup ingredients as you think about the color of your final product.

For your soup, to me, the issue is the blue cheese, which will cloud your clear broth if added as pieces of blue cheese.  So, I would experiment with getting the blue cheese flavor into the broth.

Then, chop cauliflower in a food processor, as if you were making cauliflower "rice". The cauliflower would have to be raw, perhaps being cooked by the soup once added.  I am guessing these small pieces will sink in your bowl of clear soup.   Stir them up and it will "snow".


Unopened canned sardines behaving strangely but not expired

The expiration date is (as it were) a red herring. Food doesn't suddenly go off on the expiration date. Most foods are just fine well past the expiration date; it's just the the manufacturer isn't willing to guarantee it any longer.

And all bets are off if something happened to the can. It might be hard to tell if a can of sardines was compromised. It would require only a pinhole, and sardines are usually packaged with weak spots in the can.

In your case it sounds as if the can was probably fine, since fish tends to go off in ways that are really, really obvious.

It could simply be that this is a different batch of fish. The name "sardine" applies to several different species, living in a variety of environments. That will affect the flavor.

There are many other variables as well: how they were harvested, how they were stored, how they were processed. Any of these could lead to different flavors.

If you didn't like it, you should return the can to the store. They will likely give you a refund, and push the information up the chain to the manufacturer. They're usually pretty good about that: they really, really hate it when people get food poisoning from products they sell. And it's far cheaper to give refunds to the few people who complain than to fight with a lot of customers over $3 worth of canned fish.


I don't think a thermos bottle will give you enough room to cook much of anything.  However in principle, it could work.  It would be better to use a cooler.  This old Serious Eats article explains everything.  Of course, that was written 8 or 9 years ago, when immersion circulators were very pricey.  You can get them now for as low as $99 US.

You won't need 12 hours (and I wouldn't recommend any long duration cooks without an actual circulator).  You can easily cook a steak (even in a pot in the kitchen sink with running hot water if your water heater puts out high enough heat) in an hour.  You could also do this on the stove top, controlling the burner and monitoring the water temperature, but a cooler will retain the heat and you will be pretty good for a cook of an hour or so.

I've been using sous vide for at least 10 years.  I don't use it for everything.  It's one of a set of kitchen tools.  However, I do find it useful.  Given the current price point, I would say it is worth the purchase.  Plus, then you have the most control, with less monitoring...plus the ability to experiment with much longer cooking times (which impacts texture of proteins).


Can I avoid overcooking my candied lemon decorations?

Try gluing them to the cooked cake with a sugar syrup or caramel.  Caramel is quite sticky, so it should hold the candied citrus on the cake with no problems, at least during transport.  How hard your caramel is will probably affect how well it cuts, but I think a somewhat softer caramel (or a thicker sugar syrup) would probably cut just fine with a reasonably sharp knife.

Alternatively, you could always try standing them up vertically in the cake, depending on how stiff your slices are and whether that's a look you're interested in for the assembled cake.


This is a very easy fix.  If you simply coat the chips in flour before adding them to the mix, and then gently fold them in, you should get no discoloration, and the chips will stay suspended and not settle to the bottom.  For gluten-free recipes, coating with 10x powdered sugar will also work, as it contains cornstarch.  The trick is coating the sugar-containing items with starch of some kind.


Can a Toddler Eat Food Cooked With Honey in it?

That bit of the Wikipedia article is unsourced, but Health Canada confirms and says that spores may be present even in pasteurized honey.  (I never would have thought that.)

I wouldn't expect the cooking of the crackers to damage the spores significantly more than the pasteurization.  I can't say for sure that there will be live spores in the crackers, but it's a definite possibility and if you're concerned about this then you should not risk it.


Golden Flax Seeds

Since you're only looking for a visual match, I suggest Golden Flax Seeds. The taste and texture, of course, are quite different, but they are still edible.

Here is a side by side comparison.

Sesame seeds

Flax seeds


Is there a way to harden soft braised carrots?

Your only option is to cook them separately from the braise, then add them when plating. That way, you can maintain the consistency that you like.  There is no way to firm them up after they've been cooked through.  If you like the flavor that braised carrot adds, do both...some carrot in the braise, some carrot cooked as you like for serving.


What are some alternative uses for bread heels?

Bread crumbs - dry them and grate them
Bread dumplings - some recipes, like serviettenknödel, work well with crust (for softer heels)
Crispbread - cut them into rectangles, and toast them for a long time in a low oven.  use to serve cheese (for more chewy heels)
Bread-thickened soups, such as sopa de ajo (for softer heels).
Feed birds or ducks


Do I need to adjust slow cooker recipes for high altitude?

It really depends on the length of time recommended. Due to the usual long length (>4 hours) of slow-cooker recipe cook times most elevation differences would be negligible. However if a recipe calls for a cook time of less than 4 hours you may see some foods not cooking as usual. Legumes might especially be sensitive to this as they take a very long time to cook completely. Below is a table from Wikipedia on elevation vs water boiling temperatures.

Altitude, m Boiling point of water, °C

(0ft)   100 (212°F)

(984.25ft)  99.1 (210.3°F)

(1968.5ft)  98.1 (208.5°F)

(3280.8ft)  96.8 (206.2°F)

(6561.68ft) 93.3 (199.9°F)

(13123.36ft)    87.3 (189.1°F)

(19685.04ft)    81.3 (178.3°F)

(26246.72ft)    75.5 (167.9°F)

You may need to experiment with longer cook times for foods that you are having trouble with.


Internal temperature of cuts containing abundance of connective tissue

For fast cooking meats, like steaks and tender roasts, the final temperature is the determiner of how well done the cut is because the doneness is directly related to which proteins have denatured.  As the temperature increases, more of the several types of proteins have been effected.   This process concludes around 165 F / 74 C when the meat is well done.

All low and slow dishes, whether braised, barbecued, or slow roasted are cooked well past the point of being well done.

Therefore, the internal temperature is less a guide to how well done they are and  what the final texture is like.

These types of slow cooked high connective tissue cuts like beef chuck or pork butt require time at temperature because the conversion of the collagen to gelatin takes place over time, with the process proceeding more quickly the higher the temperature.

For large cuts done very with dry barbecue methods, this could take 12 to 18 hours; for smaller cuts done in the oven or braising which achieves a higher temperature, it could take only 3 or 4.  The size of the pieces also matters, as it takes time to heat the pieces through to the center, which is why stews where the meat is cut into chunks can be done in only a couple of hours.

The very best test for doneness when doing low and slow cooking is therefore to check the texture directly.  Try cutting the meat, or pulling it apart.  If it is not yet as tender as you desire, continue the cooking.

That said, you may find that the final internal temperature when done to your liking has risen as high as 200 F / 93 C or so but this is not necessarily so.

See also:

What makes a moist steak (or roast)?
Why would a pressure cooker shorten a braise time?


What's the closest replacement for clam juice?

Cook's Thesaurus recommends fish stock or 50:50 chicken stock & water.

As I don't tend to make fish stock, I'd probably either use shrimp stock (take the shells and heads, simmer in water for about an hour), or crab stock (just use the shells, and maybe the smaller legs if you didn't extract the meat from them)

If you can find it, some stores will carry 'seafood bullion' or 'shrimp bullion'.  As they tend to be salty, I'd probably only use them at half strength, like the recommendation for substituting chicken stock.

In a real pinch, you might be able to use water + fish sauce, but I have no idea what the proportions would be.  (I'd probably compare sodium levels, and try to match that.  So 1400mg/TB vs. 120-280mg/2oz ... so averages 800mg/cup, so about 1.5tsp fish sauce + water to replace a cup of clam juice).


Does cooking in a nonstick pan affect the finished food?

IMO, it's about firstly, temperature, and secondly, cooking time. Proposed solution is in the last paragraph. =-)

Explanation:
non-stick pans (referring to the coated type), while being convenient, is not steel to oil, thus the oil is not heated at the required temperature consistently for the required length of time.  This affects the crispness that you mentioned.

Take for example fried chicken, to get it "crispy on the outside, moist on the inside" requires a high enough temperature, and the oil needs to hold this high temperature somewhat consistently for long enough to cook the chicken. in non-stick pans, the temperature drops drastically as soon as you drop in the chicken pieces, and typically takes more time than one expects to get the temperature up again.

Solution:
If non-stick pan is preferred, get one with a thick heavy base, preferably 2 layer designs. A deeper bowl design to hold more oil for the frying is preferable. Use medium heat to get the oil temperature up, before dropping the chicken pieces in. turn the heat up a notch after, for a short while to get the oil temperature up again, then turn it back down to medium again. experience will tell you what to do over time and practice. =-)


I think you should be much more concerned about what happened after you turned on the heating element.

It's likely that a heavy ceramic liner crock pot fresh out of a (properly kept) refrigerator would keep contained food out of the danger zone for a couple hours.  But once cooking begins, that's a wide temperature range to cross - you have to make it from 40 °F to 140 °F within two hours, regardless of the final temperature you reach or how long you hold the food on either end.  At low most crock pots don't put out very much heat, and you had a cold starting temperature for a thick, absorptive cooking vessel, so it may have struggled to bring the chicken up to temperature in sufficient time.

Unfortunately, without having monitored the temperature, there's really no way to know if this would be considered safe by the typical guidelines informed by food safety agencies.  I would consider it suspect at best, but you must make your own decision about whether that's an acceptable risk to you.

However, we tend to lean pretty conservatively about food safety advice around here, because while there are always anecdotes and opinions, much smarter experts than we have set a high bar for safety standards and acceptable risk.  As always: when in doubt, throw it out.


Shrimp are extremely lean and have very little connective tissue, which means that the longer they cook the harder they get.  Fresh shrimp, for example, only need to be fried for about one minute per side (depending on their size).  This makes cooking frozen shrimp very difficult: By the time the outside has thawed and is perfectly cooked, the inside will still likely be frozen.  If you cook them long enough for the inside to thaw and cook (e.g., 30 minutes), the outside will likely be extremely hard.

I would recommend thawing the shrimp before cooking, for example, by leaving them in the refrigerator overnight.  Another quick way to thaw them is to place them in a bowl and run a stream of cold water over them in your sink.  Next, thoroughly dry the shrimp, which will help prevent splatter and promote the Maillard reaction.  Only cook the shrimp until they turn slightly pink and begin to curl on one side, then flip.  Depending on the size, this should be no more than, say, two minutes per side.  Then proceed with the remainder of the recipe.  Also take into account if the recipe calls for simmering the shrimp in the cream sauce; if so, then this will continue to cook the shrimp and you will not need to fry them as long.


One side of the cake rises higher than another

It's probably not due to uneven oiling of the pan.

Assuming you haven't managed to stir your batter so that the baking powder (or other leavening) got distributed primarily on one side of the cake, which sounds pretty impossible, the most likely source of asymmetry would be the oven. Are you sometimes cooking these cakes too close to one of the walls of your oven - I mean off-center in the oven?

Or maybe there is an uneven temperature pattern in there. Not sure how to remedy a situation like that, except for trial and error and noting the positioning when the cakes on occasion do come out even.


Yes and no;  in smaller quantities; no problem.  If you sit down in the morning and eat bowl daily; you will cause some serious long term issues.

Raw flour is full of lectins and phytates; which can pose a danger in higher amounts; damage the lower GI and cause IBS; other issues
Nutrient problems can develop from the raw flour intake at higher amounts
Bacteria standpoint; no problem; eat away.

As the comment mentioned; some fresh pasta could be harmful because of the raw egg.


Version B runs the risk of overheating the pan and damaging the coatings on it. I've always been told to put oil in the pan before heating for that reason - nothing to do with taste. I'd seriously doubt you could detect any difference in taste.


That is a "Common Guava" (Wikipedia). When deployed to Saudi Arabia (years ago) we would get pallet loads of Guava Juice. My Puerto Rican friends were familiar with it already, it is supposed to be quite popular there (and throughout the Caribbean)
EDIT:
after looking at @arieljannai answer I felt a little more research was in order, I was unfamiliar with the pond apple and they do look a LOT alike on the outside. The leaf structure is even similar.
Britannica Has the following picture of a 'ripe' guava:

While this is the best picture of pond apple cut open:

Compared to the recently added photo of the original fruit provided by OP I am again confident that it is a guava (although, perhaps not a ripe one)


It's perfectly safe to eat kidneys unwashed. But almost nobody enjoys smelling ammonia, urea or nitrogenous wastes in general when eating food.

You can boil them to remove that taste.

But a better alternative is to leave them covered with salt in a colander (so what everybody thinks there's in kidneys for a moment  will fall off). Leave there for about two hours, and then rinse them with water with vinegar.

Source: I asked a nephrologyst who prepares one of the best Riñones al Jerez (in English kidneys in Sherry) I've ever tasted.


Do wire oven racks and solid plate oven racks have different functions?

This sounds like you might be talking about a european style oven, which generally has 2 types of inserts, wire shelves and solid trays. Wire shelves are used when you want to cook something that is self-contained, like a casserole, baking dish, cookie sheet, etc. The space between the wires allows the free circulation of air, which is a good thing.

Trays usually come with a removable wire rack and are used when you are baking or grilling (in the US it's known as broiling) something loose like chicken pieces, burgers or sausages. The tray catches any drips and holds liquids that would otherwise fall to the bottom of your oven and make a very sticky and hard to clean mess. The tray slots into the same grooves as the wire shelves so you can put it on any level.

In the US many ovens have a separate drawer for broiling which comes with a slide-in tray, it's the same concept except you usually can't use the tray in the oven as the sizes don't match.

Here's a picture of the type of oven I mean, on the bottom you see the tray, on the top the wire shelf.


How to preserve the green colour of mint when doing spherification?

Plants are green due to the presence of chlorophyll. When chlorophyll is exposed to acids, alkalis, heat or enzymes, it first loses its long hydrocarbon tail, becoming water-soluble instead of fat-soluble. Then, hydrogen ions replace the magnesium atom in the center of the chlorophyll molecule, turning it to pheophythin, which has a dull green-yellow-grey color.

If you insist on continuing the heat treatment, you will lose a lot of the chlorophyll color. You can reduce your loses by using an alkali environment and by adding metal ions. The metal ions part can be as simple as boiling the tea in a copper pot. For alkali, use baking soda. It will turn the leaves into mush (so it is preferable not to use it for vegetables, even though it keeps the color), but it will help with retaining the green. I think that the changed pH shouldn't be a problem, as Lersch's Hydrocolloids says that reverse spherification works at pH levels 2.8-10, but is inhibited by pH below 4. Also, I don't see why you steeped for an hour; normal mint tea is steeped for 5 minutes. If you want stronger tea, use more mint, not longer steeping times.

If you insist on a color coming from mint, but are not particular about steeping, I would suggest getting a mint taste in another way. Juicing the mint will be best, but will require heaps of plant matter, so probably not practicable unless you have access to a mint meadow. It would be much better to rupture the cell walls by freezing, and then leech the mint taste and color in some solvent - water will be OK, alcohol will probably give you a stronger extract. Just steep the defrosted mint for a long time in the water (or alcohol, or mix of both), and then use without adding acids or heating. Again, adding a bit of baking soda may help with the color. But pay attention, if your final product has too high a pH, its taste will be perceived as soapy.

And the easiest solution is, of course, to use food coloring. While some people may consider it unnatural, I don't think it does any bad, especially considering that you are already doing some highly unusual things to your food. It gives you a much easier time with the other aspects of preparation (head and acids).


What is the purpose of baking a cooked pot pie filling?

Good pot pie has a layer between the biscuit or pie crust and the filling. That layer is goopy, it takes on properties of both of the other elements. Without that kind of middle layer, the two elements would be missing that unifying texture. That said, it's not a big deal. Just be sure that the ingredients in the filling are truly optimally cooked.

If the fresh biscuits can live on the filling for even a little while, that will help that texture issue.


Add it if you like!

As mentioned in the comments, eggnog usually already has nutmeg in it, so when you say you say you can't taste anything other than nog, in reality you're probably tasting eggnog including nutmeg!

If what you add is pre-ground, the flavor probably isn't terribly strong. And even with freshly grated nutmeg, you're probably only adding a tiny bit. So if you sprinkle a little on, it's really more for looks than taste. But if you want to be able to taste it, definitely try freshly grated.


What's the name of this slow cooking technique?

Sounds like braising, though while it's traditional to concentrate the juices afterward, it's optionally delicious to throw everything back in to simmer in them.

Braising is a pretty general term though: it also applies to slow cooking in any concentrated juices, or even un-concentrated juices (though this is not recommended for best results).


Some cheeses can be left out without any real problems, there are some aged cheeses that I buy regularly that can sit on the counter for two weeks.. I believe that cheese was created to help preserve other foods that would go bad if left out.

I think it depends on how well the cheese was sealed. I typically seal with plastic wrap, I will cover the entire block of cheese with the wrap and ensure that it is air tight. I don't know how well your cheese was sealed but I don't know that a tupperware container is the proper way to store cheese.

I would probably still eat the cheese though, I love cheddar.


Pasta machine rolls dough wider than machine

You might be rolling the dough too thinly, too soon. Start by feeding a somewhat flattened 'disk' of dough through the pasta machine at its widest setting. Change the setting by at most 1 for each subsequent pass.
You might also benefit from 'laminating' the dough: after the first pass, fold the dough in thirds, turn it 90 degrees and pass it through the machine again. Here is a picture demonstrating the procedure from the Serious Eats "Science of the Best Fresh Pasta" guide.


Making a goats cheese tart more substantial

Eggs -- not enough to make it a quiche or custard, but enough to bind it together a bit, and give it a richer mouth-feel. I'd suggest either a single egg, or one egg + one egg yolk.

If you do decide on the potato, I'd cook it first -- cubed, tossed in olive oil with salt, pepper, and garlic, and roasted in a hot oven till brown. I'd use either Yukon gold or small waxy potatoes -- no russets; they're too mealy.


Is there any use for the bark trimmings of dry aged beef?

I don't have experience with the umai bag, so I don't know what it produces, but I have dried aged beef in my curing fridge.  There is nothing unsafe about the trimmings (unless, as a comment points out, you contract a bad mold).  Using them partly depends on how long you dry-age, and how desiccated the exterior is.  It could be too dried to be pleasant, and you also don't want any rancid or off flavors, but many folks add it to the grind when making ground beef.  Of course, primal cuts of best quality beef (which, if you are going through the trouble, is what you should use), should contain a large fat cap.  That fat is very useful.


You can also try doing it in a bowlful of water; the skins will float to the surface when they come loose.


Cracks Developing in Straight-Sided Stainless Steel Vessels

Stainless steel, as you would know, is an alloy with more than 80 percent iron, with chromium and nickel being the other components. Chromium brings shine and nickel brings elasticity to stainless steel.

Nickel is a costly alloy, it costs 20 times iron - and hence most low-grade stainless steel is made from zero to 2 percent nickel, when it should ideally be 8 percent for a good grade.

When buying stainless steel you can see the grades are marked on it. A mark of 18/8 (18 parts of chromium and 8 parts of nickel) is considered a good grade which will normally not crack.

I hope I was of help


Why wouldn't you strain hamburger grease after cooking?

Well, all I can say is 'it depends on the dish'.  If the dish calls for fat to be added otherwise, you can keep that fat and count it where you would add some later.  If the dish is  just adding hamburger and no more fat - I agree, discard it.

That said - I don't find hamburger fat particularly flavorful and nearly always strain it and add another kind of fat I like better.

It also depends on the fat percentage.  If I'm using lean 97/3 hamburger, there's hardly any fat to drain.


How to freeze your own produce & meals, without cell wall break down?

...far from an expert, but I think there are two issues.  First, the speed with which you can get an item frozen.  Quicker freezing means smaller ice crystals.  I assume this leads to a reduced cell structure breakdown. LN might get you there quickly, but the item will warm up when you put it in your freezer. The second issue is, not only is a home freezer not cold enough for prolonged storage without cell structure breakdown, but it probably also has an auto defrost cycle that cause temperature fluctuation.  This probably leads to additional cell structure breakdown as things warm and cool over time. There are definitely other pieces of equipment, blast freezers and super low temperature freezers, however most make little economic sense for the home.

Personally, my best success has been with vacuum sealed foods...used in weeks, not months.


What is the most time efficient way to serve food fairly to ~100 people?

Seems like a good use for "family style". Bring platters or bowls of each dish to each table. Then at that table expect decent behaviour such as passing the platters around so everyone gets some. It shouldn't take long to fill and distribute bowls or plates of things. Carving meat into slices might take a while but would have to be done even if people were lining up to get their individual portions.

If some people weren't good sharers you could use assigned seating and put the non sharers at a table that gets its platters last.


What can I do with the white parts of kale?

Just like the tougher parts of any brassica plant (e.g. broccoli), chop the stems as thinly as required and add to a stir fry dish. they typically take as long as carrots take to "cook" in the wok

Properly grown kale with a decent frost exposure, should have a softer stems with a sweeter and more flavourful taste


can i blend up concord grapes seed and all for a pie?

I neither have, nor would, do this, for the same reason that I spit out seeds when eating seeded grapes.

I suppose you can. It might not taste very good, grape seeds being what they are, taste-wise. But perhaps you like that taste.


There isn't much detailed information for this online.  Even the various manufacturers don't generally cite desired temperatures.  Wikipedia says up to 480C/900F, but does not cite a source for this temperature.  The NY Times says that a traditional charcoal tandoor gets up to 750F, but does not mention a source either.  Homedoor, the one manufacturer who mentions a temperature, says that their units go up to 650F.

None of these sources mention a desired optimal temperature, though.  It seems likely that the temperature would be similar to the optimal temperature for Neopolitan pizza, between 600F and 700F.

Also, a tandoor is designed so that the clay walls will be hotter than the air inside the oven -- I'd assume probably 50-100F hotter, but that's basically a blind guess as I can't find any measurements anywhere.

The one thing I can tell you from personal experience is that you cannot make Indian naan with the proper texture in a home oven with a pizza stone which only gets up to 525F.  Believe me, I've tried.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/dining/a-tandoor-oven-brings-indias-heat-to-the-backyard.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
https://homdoor.com/index.php/home/


I have several bannetons (also called brotforms).  Two are wicker and 2 are cane (you can also find them made from wood pulp).  I simply use a small, stiff pastry brush to clean away any flour left behind.  Sometimes I find it helpful to leave it out overnight so the flour dries and it is easier to brush away.  I have even given the canes a quick rinse but I do make sure to thoroughly dry before storing.  In addition to rice flour, I have used AP and bread flour with success.

With the wicker ones, sometimes I use food grade linen that I flour and line the banneton with to proof the bread.  I have also used plastic wrap that has a light spray of olive oil.  These two methods eliminate the need to flour the banneton.  It just depends on my mood and the surface finish I want on the baked loaf.


Making soy milk: best way to separate okara?

When straining things that clog up the screen, I tend to use a spoon or spatula to move the stuff around, so you can get expose un-obstructed parts of the screen.

Of course, you might end up pushing some of the pulp through the process, but it's generally minimal.

You can then either dump out the pulp as you go (possibly into muslin or cheese cloth, let it cool, then give that part a squeeze), or use the back of a large spoon or a rubber scraper to push the pulp against the strainer to get out some extra liquid. (or use an oven mitt, covered in a plastic bag ... it's messy, but it works).

Of course, if you have a cheap strainer, too much force on it can cause the whole screen to pop out, splashing you and making a quite large mess.  (I've since made sure that my strainers weren't basically a screen just held in by pressure to a loop of metal that attached to the handle, but are actually one integral part).

...

If you're looking at buying new equipment, I'd look into getting a chinoise with the proper sized stick (not sure what it's called), which you can use to basically compress all of the pulp into the bottom as you're working.


Store cocoa powder in a dark, cool, dry place, sealed against vermin.  Dark and cool both slow the process by which volatiles (i.e., flavor) degrade.  That said, don't keep it in the fridge or freezer unless sealed airtight, because both types of chill-chests are relatively humid environments.  Humidity promotes mold, even on cocoa.

By the way, for future reference:  When buying cocoa powder, note the manufacturer's suggested use-by date.  Cocoa powder should last about three years, properly stored.  If the use-by date is much less than that, look for another container.


What's the most effective way to mix a jar of natural peanut butter?

I've done this with almond butter, and I imagine it would work for peanut butter as well. The secret is to buy it a month or so before you need it, and then store it upside down for a week, so the oil traverses all the way through the jar and its contents, then turn it right way up for another week, and repeat again in each direction. Each trip through the jar mixes the oil with the solids a little more, and it's fairly homogeneous after four turns.


Some minor changes in recipe: Is it okay to use carrot marmalade instead of orange?

The almonds are pretty much the whole cookie. They get ground up and provide all the bulk and some structure. You could substitute a different kind of nut, though it'll obviously change the flavor and may affect texture too, since different nuts have different hardnesses and different amounts of oil. But leaving them out isn't possible.

The lemon zest is fine, just a different flavor.

And carrot marmalade... again, different flavor, but as long as it's the same sweetness and not any wetter than the orange marmalade it should work. I don't think it'll be as good, personally, though, this recipe is going for a nice strong orange flavor.


Substituting vegetable oil spread for oil in cake mix

I have heard that you can. However, I would be reluctant to do so because rather than using 100% veg oil, you would be substituting a product that has only 53% veg oil. Most likely your end product would be drier.

Also, most veg oil speads contain salt, which could affect the flavor. And most contain water that could affect the texture. Depending on the specific product, various other ingredients may be present that could cause other issues.


If the jam was properly canned (likely, if it is store-bought) and was still sealed during that time, it shouldn't be spoiled.  The temperatures in canning are supposed to kill and seal out the dangerous bacteria, exposing the sterilized jam to more temperature shouldn't make the jam unsafe to eat.

What might have happened, depending on the jam involved, is a change in texture.  Pectin, which is found in fruit and acts as a thickener in many jams and jellies, can denature at high temperatures - which would make your jam thinner.  If you had started with something more like jelly, it can liquidfy into goop, or even syrup (depending on added pectin vs mechanical thickening) - still tasty, but harder to spread.  With a more solidly textured jam, which is also thickened with fruit pulp - it might be a little thinner, but perhaps not as badly so.

If it has turned thinner, you can still use it as a compote, a syrup, or a sweetner in any situation (like baking, for example) where the precise thickness and/or texture doesn't matter.  It isn't bad, still has fruit and sweetness to it, and can still be used.  I had a jar of jelly that melted this way that still made good syrup.


There are many cookies which are made via the creaming method, as it helps these cookies achieve the proper texture and leavening.

It is far from the exclusive method for cookies; there are many cookies which are made by alternate methods.

Many cookies, for example, are made with melted butter which does not have the ability to trap air the way solid butter or shortening does.

There are other cookies, such as French macarons, which have their structure and leavening from egg whites.


How to prepare vegetables for a sandwich that can last for several days in a fridge?

There’s a third option between storing the vegetables for a week and cutting them in the morning:

Cut just the amount you need for one morning the evening before. Storing overnight is not a safety issue (assuming basic principles like storing in the fridge are followed), and you still can “slap them on” as requested.

Another thought:
You describe cutting in the morning as too time-consuming, but my favorite tool in this context is a small cheapo vegetable slicer (like this one). I hold it right over the sandwich, shave a few slices of cucumber or similar right on it and am done. Thirty seconds, tops, including a quick rinse.

If you are interested in other toppings, I suggest you take a second look at the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner: Leafy greens like lettuce (sans dressing!) keep well for a few days and some roasted vegetables are also interesting: Either they are already spiced or a dash of lemon or mild vinegar plus an overnight stint in the fridge gives you a perfect sandwich vegetable - not unlike antipasti. Slice them right when you are packing them up, of course, for a grab-and-go sandwich preparation.


I think the Kadoya brand you bought was toasted as well, it just didn't bother to mention it. Everything I've bought from Kadoya has been toasted. They are easy to tell apart. Non-toasted is about the same color as say safflower oil, toasted is rather dark brown. Toasted is used primarily for finishing dishes, as a final flavor. A little goes a long way. Non-toasted is a pretty marginalized product; you see it at health food stores some times. I can't think of any culinary reason to prefer it over the many other choices and it is quite expensive. Maybe some folks have particular health reasons for choosing it.


Shake the bowl containing the popcorn, the un-popped kernels should tumble to the bottom of the bowl.

Warning,there might be slightly popped kernels that should be eaten at all cost (the best part IMO).


Yes, that's normal.  You just left it WAY too long in the brine.  The salt denatures (unwinds) the proteins, which is the same process that happens when the proteins are exposed to heat or acid.  Over brining will cause the exterior of the meat to become gray and mushy.

But you don't have to take my word for it: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5804-brining-meat

The relevant references are:

4 bone-in rib loin pork chops, 12 ounces each, 1.5 inches thick: 1
hour
Pork roast, 3-6 pounds: 1.5 - 2 hours


Is the rapid ice bath chill post-sous vide actually necessary when putting the meat/fish in the freezer?

Yes, fast chilling is critical because it minimizes the production of new bacteria and potentially deadly toxins from the spores of anaerobic pathogens such as C. botulinum and C. perfringens. The spores are not killed by the low temperatures usual in sous vide, and the oxygen-free environment of the bag brings them back to activity. But they require time and temperature to become active and dangerous, so fast chilling -- either refrigeration or freezing -- and limiting the refrigeration time (to about 5 days at around 5°C/40°F, longer for lower temperatures) are absolutely critical to deter them.

The question starts with a situation that is different: cooking in an oven, which is not an anaerobic environment and thus does not trigger the same activation of the spores' lifecycles as cooking in a vacuum does.


Generally you soak them in a small amount of very hot water for about 10 minutes or until they are as soft as you want them. The flavorful liquid that comes out of that process can be used in salad dressings, soups, sauces, etc. (A quick way to do this is throw them in a microwave safe bowl with water to cover and microwave for say 3 minutes, then allow to stand.)


My technique:

1 tbsp Fat (from pan, or use butter)
1 tbsp Flour
Pan Juice
Stock (total liquid about 2 cups - omit if you have enough pan juice)

Step 1: Make Roux

Melt fat in medium high saute pan
Whisk in flour, getting out all the lumps.  (This is called a roux)
Continue to heat until smooth, and the roux is just starting to darken.
Remove pan from heat.

Step 2: Prepare Liquids

Remove solids from roasting pan. (let meat stand... etc.)
Whisk, scrape, deglaze the roasting pan.  If it's brown, you want it, and want it dissolved
Strain juices. skim off excess fat.

Step 3: Assemble

Return roux to heat, and keep whisking.
While whisking, slowly pour in the pan juices.
Once blended, reduce heat and let it thicken.  Salt to taste.


It seems to me, that a quality planar grater is the best solution. The Spin Zester is way too expensive for a home kitchen. I can recommend this fine micro plane grater for zesting:


Yes you can and it is. Google 'menu alligator' and you will find plenty of restaurants that actually have it on the menu, like this one, this one or this one.

I doubt that a restaurant would (be allowed to) have it on the menu if it's unsafe to eat.


Is there a super close substitute for graham crackers?

First off, try digestive biscuits. They're really very similar cookies/crackers/biscuits, and it's a common enough substitution that it's even mentioned on Wikipedia. Cook's Thesaurus implies that they're called wheatmeal biscuits in Australia.

sourd'oh's suggestion of particularly crunchy gingersnaps might work too, but you'll also want to make sure they're not too spicy!

(Unfortunately, I don't know about specific varieties since I'm not Australian.)


Make your favorite vegetable soup.  Remove 1/4 and puree in blender.  Return to the rest of the soup.  If it is not yet think enough, increase the amount you remove and puree until you find the consistency you are looking for.  If you don't have a blender, you can use an immersion "stick" blender, or even a hand cranked food mill. Alternately, if you have none of these devices, simply put the veg. in a bowl and mash with a potato masher.


Potatoes that have been in proximity to a really bad potato

The general rule with food is: If in doubt, throw it out.

Having said that, hot water is unlikely to kill any bacteria or fungi that came from the rotting potato. Washing will remove most of the contaminants that are on the surface. However - the problem here is that you generally can't see how far a contaminant has penetrated the food that you are eating. For example, in the case of moldy bread - the blue or white bits that sprout out are the fruiting bodies (produce the fungal spores) of the underlying fungus, the actual fungal mass will be many times larger and hidden inside the bread.

It's the same with your potatoes, while you may have removed all the infected bits, you may also not have. Will the infected stuff kill you? Probably not, but it sure won't taste very good and will make everything it is with taste bad too. To avoid wasting all the other ingredients as well as the potatoes, you are best of discarding any you think might be contaminated.

Long story short - throw out the ones that were touching the liquid and rotting potato. The rest should be fine.


After you bake eggplant, is it fine to not drain the water?

This is really about water content, not flavor. Eggplant contains a lot of water, and there can be plenty left after baking or grilling. If you then make a mashed/pureed spread like this, that water could make it a lot more liquid than you want.

That said, if you really thoroughly roast or grill the eggplant, you can get enough of the water out of it that you don't really need to drain it. If you prick a couple small holes in it, and bake for something like 45 minutes to an hour at 400-450°F (200-230°C), or similarly grill until it's well-charred, it'll probably be dry enough.

The exact details depend on the size of the eggplant, and what you're trying to make out of it.


Changing the protein content affects the dough and the eventual crumb (when cooked).  So the question shouldn't exactly be how does protein more protein/gluten affect browning, apart from the increased gluten will give you are more flexible dough which you work with more (ie thinner).

The two ways you can increase the crisping/browning of your pizza is:

Roll/stretch out your dough thinner
Placing your pizza on a pre-heated skillet before either placing into a hot oven, or better still using a broiler to apply a high heat from above.  This will increase temperature on the base and topping.


I'm familiar with the preparation of what the Portuguese call Amêijoa and Berbigão (the former being a clam, the later a cockle).

A general advice upfront: make sure that cockles in your region at this season are safe to eat as shellfish tend to accumulate potential harmful substances in their tissue.

Cleaning with seawater
I (or already the fishermen that collected the cockles) usually put them in a container with seawater which was changed every five or six hours. The more often you repeat this procedure the less sand you'll have in your meal (however, even in restaurants it is not uncommon to find a bit of sand). You don't want to keep them in there longer than a day though. Keep them out of direct sunlight. Refrigeration generally is not necessary for half a day to a day. Afterwards discard all individuals that are open (= dead) and use the remaining cockles to prepare your meal.

Cleaning with freshwater
I have never put them into freshwater, therefore here only a guess: theoretically you can simulate seawater by adding the right amount of salt. You'll miss all other elements though, including nutrition, and therefore will generate stress for the cockles which will likely impede their ability to filter water (= clean) and survive. I advice you to use seawater if you have access.

A recipe
A Portuguese recipe includes white wine, a fair amount of garlic, parsley and olive oil. Heat the olive oil in a pot, cut the garlic in half or quarters (not too small) and add them to the pot. Once they are precooked add the cockles and the white wine. Put a lid. Once the cockles are open they are ready to eat (some will not open - Discard closed cockles). Add the parsley when nearly all the cockles are open and cook for a minute more. Eat them straight out of the shell, maybe with a bit of lemon juice. Use bread to enjoy the cooked white wine mixture. Eat the garlic, it should taste delicious.


Not all PET plastic are microwave safe; make certain the containers you buy are labelled as such.

see this link.

"Unlabeled plastic containers aren't necessarily unsafe for the microwave. But the lack of label just means that these plastics haven't gone through the battery of tests required to ensure microwave safety. Because there's no way to tell if these containers can hold up to microwave heat, it's best not to use them in the microwave."

and this;

"Many of our manufactures do not recommend HDPE for the microwave and we suggest that you avoid it unless the manufacture has specifically approved it. PET and polycarbonate should not be used for microwaving as they tend to absorb heat."


How do I remove kiwifruit skin without losing a lot of the fruit's flesh?

I normally cut the fruit in half then use a grapefruit spoon (serrated tip) to scoop the fruit out of the flesh.


Olive oil vs almond oil for frying ground beef?

Technically, either would work.  Almond oil has a higher smoke point (495° F, vs. 350° for olive oil), but the flavor of olive oil would probably be a better fit with those spices.

However, for ground beef (unless it's extra-lean, which I wouldn't use for this), it should have enough fat on its own.  If it looks like it's drying out while cooking, add a couple tablespoons of water instead.


Freezer doesn't have a temperature control. Does the fridge thermostat control freezer temperature?

A brief google will yield access to the user manual. I didn't do an extensive read, but it looks like one temperature control for both compartments.


A rough surface on a non-stick pan sounds like you have used oil or fat in it at a high heat

You do not need to use oil or fat in a non-stick pan, and doing so may result in the polymerisation of the oil or fat into a rough and tough surface

You can remove this by the normal use of a polyester scrubbing bad (green 3M pads) and dish soap. Normal non-stick surfaces are strong enough to resist polyester scrubbers, but polymerised oil is not. I use broad circular scrubbing patterns to avoid wearing out one spot when "fixing" a non-stick pan


Ratios in traditional Thai peanut curry recipes

Many Asian recipes, especially from the Thailand have large amounts of sugar in them.

Traditionally this would have been a more raw form of sugar, or just some sweet fruit paste

I would suggest first trying the original Asian dishes (i.e. go bush in Thailand, or find some recent Thai immigrants to hang with!), and then make you own sauces based on those experiences, but adjust ingredients to taste and sensibility


How can I tell when ground beef is fully cooked?

Ground beef cooks quite fast. It doesn't need more than 5 minutes (depending on the base of your pan and the amount of meat of course). Just take a piece and rip/cut it open. If it's brown inside, and not red or pink, it's fully cooked.


Why are chickpeas sprouted before grinding them into flour?

You don't need to sprout your chickpeas, but there are benefits when you do, as sprouting substantially increases nutritional value. By allowing the legume (or seed or grain) to germinate, the phytic acid within it is neutralized, as are enzyme inhibitors.

The Nourishing Gourmet Kimi Harris describes:

  Phytic acid binds with calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc, making it hard to impossible for you to absorb those nutrients.  It’s also irritating to your digestive system. By sprouting your grains, legumes or seeds, you are neutralizing phytic acid very effectively. You will also be neutralizing enzyme inhibitors, which unfortunately not only inhibit enzymes in the actual seed, but can also inhibit your own valuable enzymes once they have been eaten.
  Beyond even anti-nutrients that are neutralized by sprouting, there are other changes that take place during sprouting that make it easier for us to digest our seeds/legumes/grains.

In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon writes that:

  The process of germination not only produces vitamin C, but also changes the composition of grains and seeds in numerous beneficial ways. Sprouting increases vitamin B content, especially B2, B5, and B6. Carotene increases dramatically-sometimes even eightfold.

Sprout People offers comprehensive nutrition information and a chart listing the proteins, vitamins, amino acids, and minerals.

As a side note, while chickpeas are gluten free, sprouting grains that do contain it breaks down the gluten, a benefit to those with gluten intolerance.


Breaking down fruit with sugar and water for cookies

The cooking technique to make the filling is basically the same as any compote or jam so I would say it would work well for most soft bodied fruit and other jam favourites.

You may have to modify the technique slightly to accommodate for fruit with higher water content to get the same spreadable texture: i.e. simmer the fruit in the sugar water until it starts to break down, strain and reserve the fruit and then either reduce the remaining liquid or only use a fraction of it and recombine with the fruit.


The art of Sushi: using wasabi to kill parasites

This is perfectly normal, however, I find the common claim that "it is to prevent parasites" a bit dubious (I would think that it would have to be uniformly applied to the entire fish to have any measurable effect).  The wasabi is really there to add flavor.  In really high-end sushi restaurants in Japan, for example, it is relatively uncommon for the guest to be served a mound of grated wasabi.  Instead, the chef applies the perfect amount of wasabi to each piece of sushi.  Some chefs will not even serve soy sauce, instead individually brushing on the sauce on each piece.  If wasabi is served separately from the fish, it is generally also considered bad form to mix it with the soy sauce (as is commonly done in the US).

Edit: To answer your question about why you've never seen this practice before, here are some possible explanations:

It takes more time/skill/effort to do it properly.
Many sushi restaurants in the US do not have properly trained sushi chefs.  In fact, in most areas of the country with little or no Japanese population, don't be surprised if your sushi chef is a Salvadorian who learned from the Oaxacan who learned from the Korean owner of the restaurant.  Not that there's anything wrong with that; one of my favorite sushi places is run by an Indonesian.  Just keep in mind that the people making you your sushi may have never experienced the "real thing" themselves.
"Real," fresh wasabi is very rare and expensive.  Most of the stuff that is used in the US is basically horseradish paste plus food coloring.  Restaurants that can both procure and afford to use the real stuff will want to use it sparingly; they wouldn't want to waste it by putting a mound of it on each plate.  Therefore, they might be more inclined to use the "proper" technique.

Edit 2: Here is a video in which you can see famous chef Naomichi Yasuda using wasabi in the sushi.  It all happens very quickly, but you can clearly see him dip into the bin of wasabi, rub it on the underside of the fish, and then apply the fish to the rice.  Here is another video in which Anthony Bourdain explains the "rules" of high-end sushi eating, while dining at the super-famous and super-expensive Sukiyabashi Jiro (the proprietor of which is actually designated as a "living treasure" by the Japanese government).  That second video shows the chef brushing on the soy sauce, and the general lack of both soy and wasabi on the plates.


Over churning is my guess. You want to churn the butter until it starts to setup but no more.


Leeks and onions can be cooked together without any problems.


Why would a cookie recipe start producing puffier, slightly oily cookies over the past few years?

Short answer:
I suggest you try all butter
...and make sure you don't make it too soft before creaming it.

By comparison, here is a famous and popular chocolate chip cookie recipe (just the ingredients, not the process):

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Yours is very similar, and basically is the same except many of the ingredients have been scaled up about 30% (flour, butter/shortening, sugar, eggs).
I would say there are a few ways your results could change. First, if you accidentally buy a different size egg. Your recipe doesn't list the egg size, but it's almost certainly meant for large eggs. As Daniel commented, more egg will lead to a puffier cookie.
Second, if the formulation of the shortening has changed. The oiliness and the bitter aftertaste make me want to blame the shortening. Also, I personally dislike shortening. I suggest you at least try your recipe with all butter, by using 1 and 1/3 cups of fresh, high-quality unsalted butter. I would avoid cultured butter. If you can only find salted butter, you might cut the salt amount in half or omit it. Or you might like the extra saltiness. All-butter cookies come out a bit shorter and denser, but they should still be chewy and crispy and IMHO the flavor can't be beat. Notice that this famous recipe uses all butter. I think shortening actually entered these recipes back in the 1950s when butter might have been more expensive or harder to come by, not because shortening in any way improves the cookie.
Third, there may be something in your process that has changed slightly. The oiliness makes me wonder if the butter and/or shortening is becoming too soft or melted before you cream it with the sugar. It does matter the order in which you add the ingredients and the consistency of the butter and shortening when you cream it with the sugar can matter. Instead of using a microwave, just let the butter sit at room temperature for a little while before creaming it. If you use a stand mixer, you don't even need the butter that soft, just cut it into tablespoon sized pieces and let the mixer beat at it for a minute to soften it up and warm it a little.

Upon further thought:
I'm not sure about all the chemistry that might be going on, but I think Steve has a good thought in his answer when it comes to the flour. I don't agree that you're adding the "wrong" amount of flour, but normal changes in your kitchen environment can have a big change in how flour behaves.
If your problems persist, it could be that your kitchen and/or flour is too damp (Steve mentions temperature, but temperature and relative humidity are closely linked). Normally in cold weather our kitchens are dry, but many things can affect the humidity in a kitchen, such as unusual weather outside or other cooking going on (boiling water can put a lot of moisture into the air). Also, if you've kept your flour for a long time, it may have absorbed moisture and be retaining it even after the kitchen dries out.
Some ways to deal with environmental affects on flour:

Buy fresh flour and don't buy too much of it. Avoid having flour sitting around in your pantry or cupboard for months on end.
Transfer flour as soon as possible after you buy it to an airtight container (this is also a good idea for sugar - both often come in paper bags). Keep the container in a cool, dry place. Not the refrigerator, but a cabinet or cupboard that is not near any heat sources like the stove, oven, or back of the refrigerator.
Measure flour by weight, not volume. Get a good kitchen scale and determine the weight of a cup of your favorite flour. Convert your recipes to weight and then measure using the scale for future baking. If you need to make an adjustment, edit the recipe to show the new weight. If the flour gets too wet or too dry, you will automatically add more or less of it since the weight will change, but not the volume.


The temp your meat reached was too high, and it forced the water out of the meat.

Further info here along with a handy chart of temps.

My suggestion would be to turn that oven down to 200-230 degrees if you've gotta cook for three hours, or start temping it earlier and get it out before it over cooks.


If you like spiced mocha made elsewhere then you are already having chili powder, so chances are you will like the recipes you would make at home. Substituting something else will change the flavor of the result you get, instead I would modify the amount and type of chili powder you use to get the amount of heat you get. There's a huge variety of chili powders available from very mild to hotter than pain itself, so try a mild chili powder and add less of it than the recipe calls for, if you want more heat add more or use a hotter chili powder.


Unfortunately, there's no easy way to get salt out of meat (or other types of food) once it's there.  If the turkey weren't cooked yet, it's possible to try to put it in pure water (rather than brine), and gradually some the salt will come back out into the water.  After sitting for a while, replacing the water with more fresh water can speed up the process.  (This is the process sometimes used for desalting pickles that are fermented in very salty brine, but it only can do so much.)

In reality, though, that's not going to help much with moving salt out and could take days, during which your turkey will go bad.  I'm assuming since you tasted it that you've also already cooked your turkey.  So what now?

Unfortunately, I think the only realistic thing to do with leftovers here is to use them to flavor other dishes that are not naturally salty.  For example, you could make a gravy without salt and add the turkey meat to it to simmer, then the salted meat can provide some salt to the gravy for open-faced sandwiches or something.  Or make turkey soup using unsalted broth/stock, but add the turkey meat, which will release some of its salt into the liquid while the soup simmers.

As it's difficult to remove salt, really what you're trying to do is dilute its flavor by adding the turkey meat to other unsalted (or low-salt) things.


How to cook with capsaicin and avoid chemically bombarding my housemates?

Essentially, don't let it heat/boil as much by itself. For example:

if it's a hot sauce that doesn't really need to cook with your stir fry, add after cooking, so it doesn't boil at all
add into a sauce, not by itself, so it's diluted
reduce heat or even remove the pan from the heat before adding anything spicy, so you can let it cook just enough, and not too hot/fast

That doesn't work if you have something hot that you need to cook with the rest the whole time (e.g. you want hot peppers in your stir fry), but since you mention stir fries with ground cayenne or liquid hot sauce, you have some flexibility. It's pretty common for stir fry sauces to only need really brief cooking at the end, enough to come up to temperature, stir to coat, possibly cook some corn starch through to thicken.


What are these spots on my butternut squash?

I have seen those before when I have cooked squash; they seem more common when I microwave it. I suspect they are just starchy deposits. I have always just wiped them off and eaten it anyway.


Bread-machine recipes: are liquid ingredients fungible?

There are three major properties of the liquids:

Fat based (oil, melted butter, bacon drippings, and on) versus water based (milk, juice, water, and so on).
Flavor - some liquids, juices and to a lesser extent, milk have a distinct flavor that will effect the bread
Acid - Some liquids, like orange juice, are more acid and affect the pH of the dough

Not every liquid falls neatly into these exact categories.   Milk, for example, is about 87% water, 4% fat, and the rest is sugars and proteins.   These differences are often insignificant compared to the overall bread recipe.

In general, you can substitute fat-based liquids for other fat based ingredients, and water based liquids for other water based liquids.

Most breads also have the capacity to carry additional fats and sugars (called enrichment), which at its extreme leads to breads like brioche which are very sweet and fatty.

Eggs are a complex ingredient in that the whites are mostly water, with some protein (albumin), and the yolks are about 50% water and 50% fat.

See related:

Are there any general principles of ingredient substitutions?    Note that in a bread recipe, with so few ingredients and a deceptively complex chemistry, all of the ingredients have a role to play in the chemistry, so the major factors you are looking at are the overall total ratios of fat, sugar, and water to the flour.  Accent ingredients would be add ins like carway seeds in rye bread which don't incorporate into the dough.

In regards to your desire for more olive oil flavor, you almost certainly can substitute olive oil for any fats already in the recipe with comparable results.  Most dought can even carry a little more fat, although this will inhibit yeast growth and gluten development, so that you will need more kneading and more proofing time.

You can also brush the crust with olive oil before or after baking.

The very best way to get olive oil flavor into your bread is to dip it in oil when you eat it.  This also allows you to get the full flavor of a quality oil, as many nuances would be lost if it was baked into the bread.


Do I use pure glucose or sugar syrup for making a caramel filling for a cookie?

It is possible that your syrup is not cooked down far enough, and the moisture content is softening the waffle cookies. It helps to batch-make syrups, using extended cooking times to ensure a thicker, less moist syrup, and just store what you don't use for next time (saves time and effort). You can also use gums or starches to provide extra thickening (modified corn starch is my shortcut of choice). Also, there is another cheat that works wonderfully: after the waffles are baked, brush the filling side of each one with undiluted egg white and give them all a few more minutes in the oven. That will create a shiny glaze that will help prevent moisture-leaching.


If I have much lower than normal humidity, how should I change the amount of flour that dough needs?

Do you weigh your flour?  If not, that is the one change that you can make that will make this problem go away.  Most of baking, particularly at the commercial level, is based on ratios by weight.

While there will be some minor differences in the amount of moisture in 10 ounces of flour based on the humidity, how much flour packs into a cup can vary a lot on humidity, how much you've fluffed or sifted the flour first, whether you scoop or sprinkle...you get the idea.

If you don't weigh your flour when you bake, then there are lots of possible problems that could have occurred that may or may not have had anything to do with the humidity.

The only other "seat of the pants" solution is to know your recipe so well that if you notice that there is a problem, you'll catch it early.  Third rise is a little late to be adding moisture, so you would have had to have noticed the problem at the beginning.

Weighing your flour and water solves many baking problems and makes you look like a pro.

Since you are weighing, then "knowing your recipe and adjusting on the fly" seems to be the only real answer.  I checked around and even Rose Levy Beranbaum says if you weigh, only minor adjustments are needed. In the situation you described I might have added a bit of water at the third rise, then let it have another rise.

Another thought is that, possibly, the air being so dry caused the tops of your rolls to dry out some, so they weren't flexible and you didn't get any oven spring.  A spritz of warm water across the top of the rolls during final rise and, indeed, in the oven (I do it with my sourdough loaves, for instance) helps the bread skin to be loose enough to not inhibit the initial oven spring.


can you prepare vicyssoise a day ahead, then add cream and serve?

Using this recipe as a baseline, I don't see any reason why it would not work.

Of course, the entire soup is chilled.  There is no reason not to completely prepare it the night before, refrigerate, and then serve it the next day.  You will want to allow it to warm up to almost room temperature for service, as the linked recipe indicates.


Can I substitute bread flour with all purpose for hot water crusts?

The hot water method is all about making gluten (flour strength) ineffective, so using bread flour has very doubtful merit. A recipe insisting on its use might have other problems (baking too hot or too long, having too high or too uneven thickness (use a rolling pin, period), or using too little fat) that it tries to compensate by using strong flour. Note that fat content is essential - medieval style hot water crusts that used little or no fat were intended as a food preserving shell, not as an edible part of the dish.


What hot sauce should I use for Buffalo wings sauce?

The original Buffalo Wings are made with Frank's RedHot Sauce. The original recipe is simply equal parts melted butter and hot sauce.

However, you truly can use just about whatever hot sauce you want in even greater ratios if you want more kick. There are also some distributors that specialize in spicy wing sauces. I recommend Defcon 2 if you are adventurous and enjoy a very nice kick of heat.


Why is 180 degrees C so common in recipes?

Ovens are by their nature a high-heat cooking method, and thus create a temperature gradient in the food.  The outside of the item is the hottest, because it is in contact with the hot air, and exposed to the radiant (infrared) heat coming from the oven walls, ceiling and floor.

Heat from the outside then conducts into the inside overtime.  The effect of this is that the surface of the food will be the hottest, and the center the coolest.,

180 C (350 F) is a moderate oven.  It balances:

Cooking the food through
Overcooking the outside

It is suitable for a wide range of baked goods and other dishes, although often within limits (especially for non-baked goods) you can trade temperature and time off.

Note that a single oven can only have one temperature, and a moderate oven is good for many cakes and cookies; for baking and heating through casseroles; for roasting root vegetables; for maintaining a braise; and for roasting many meats; and many other tasks.  If you want to have multiple items in the oven at the same time, it is a good temperature to choose that will give good results for a wide variety of items, even if it is not ideal for every item.

Still, it is not ideal for every cooking technique and food item.  Low and slow roasting (for tremendously succulent pulled pork, brisket, and so on) is done as low as 200 F (93 C); some people favor high temperature roasting of certain meats to get a crispy exterior while maintaining a rare interior with temperatures of 450 F (232 C), or even higher.

Many breads are baked at higher temperatures--and of course, pizza infamously is ideally done at temperatures home ovens cannot even achieve, so at home they are often baked at the maximum oven setting around 550 F (280 C).

Deep frying is a separate matter, and it is a complete coincidence that the ideal temperature for deep frying matches that of roasting.

The way deep frying works is that the heat of the oil heats the outside of the food, but it is hot enough to nearly instantly vaporize the water at the surface of the food.  This water creates a small pocket of vapor around the food, preventing the oil from entering and making the item completely oily.   In order for this effect to happen, the oil must be sufficiently hot which starts around 180 C / 350 F.

On the other hand, again, you don't want the food to burn on the outside before it cooks through, but more importantly, you don't want the oil smoking, and developing off flavors (many culinary fats have a smoke point starting not too far above these temperatures).   For these reasons, frying much above this temperature is generally not a good idea.  Most ideal frying temperatures are somewhere in the 350 F - 365 F (180 C 0 185 C) range.

I suspect many recipes indicate 350 F simply because it has become common and conventional.


A weeping custard is practically always an overheated custard. First wait that your pot has cooled down sufficiently before adding the eggs (somewhere below 70 C is good), temper them instead of throwing them into the pot, and steam using a thermometer, not a clock. Try 85 C as the first goal and see if it works well or needs adjustment.


Can i freeze chocolate cream frosting / ganache?

You may absolutely freeze chocolate ganache and most other chocolate preparations.  It should keep for up to a year without any noticeable change in quality.

Try to get a tight seal so it doesn't pick up other freezer odours.  Use a small freezer bag if you can, and maybe put that in a hard sealable container as well.  The freezing itself won't hurt the ganache at all but if it catches a whiff of those tuna casserole leftovers then you won't want to use it!


Sweetened Condensed Milk in Carnitas - What Does it Do?

This is a bit of a guess - I've only made carnitas without it - but it probably help helps promote nice browning. The tiny bit of sweetness wouldn't hurt either.

Of course, you'll be fine without it too; I didn't know it was a common ingredient and never noticed something was missing. Still could be good though!


There really isn't a safety issue here as long as you brown the meat soon after taking it out of the fridge and immediately re-refrigerate it. Just don't leave it out of the refrigerator longer than necessary to do the browning. It wouldn't hurt to save the browned meat in a clean container, not the one that that held the raw meat.


Can I freeze pasta sauce which is made with fresh cream?

Yes, it is safe to freeze cream-based sauces, provided you thoroughly reheat it before consuming. The sauce might be a little less appealing than when freshly made, but it won't harm you.

As a side note, I would definitely recommend only freezing the sauce, and cooking pasta 'to order' (if you were not planning on this already). Cooked, frozen, then reheated pasta is very difficult not to overcook.