How do you cook calamari / squid and avoid making it tough?

Calamari or squid is of course famous for being difficult to cook, because it gets tough or rubbery.

As Harold McGee explains in On Food and Cooking, octopus and squid meat are very rich in collagen:

  They are chewy when lightly cooked, tough when cooked to the
  denaturing temperatures of their collagen, around 120 - 130 F / 50 -
  55 C, and become tender with long, slow cooking.

The trick then is to either:

Cook them minimally, so they do not begin to toughen.  This Serious Eats recipe for fried calamari recommends no more than one minute.

My own interpretation of this is that it will keep the temperature of the squid below the 120 F threshold, at the risk of being below the pathogen kill point, so it should be done only with squid from a trustworthy purveyor.
Cook them for a long time, slowly, as in a braise, so they move through the tough phase to tender again.  This Food Network recipe  for stuffed squid by Ann Burrell is an example.  The total squid cooking time is 20 to 25 minutes.


You have to make sure to buy a heavy duty, preferrably professional grade pan.  Thick base.  Most important.   I have owned my pans for about five years, and nary a warp.  Completely flat.  I also have a glass top stove.   Note to the wise, do not use a dishwasher to clean good cookware.  Always clean pans, pots, knives, etc. by hand.

Any good restaurant supply house will have good quality non stick pans.  Also, I' m not sure where you live, but many large department stores (JC Penny in the States, the Bay here in Canada) have good quality wares.  Be aware, they do not come cheap, but they will not have to soon be replaced.


Chiffon cake, like it's cousin angel food cake, is mostly air. A big pile of protein bubbles stiffened with a little starch.

One very important step is not reflected in your recipe:

When the cake is completely baked the proteins have set and the starches have gelatinized but the starches are still very soft. The cake won't have its firm structure until the starches have been able to cool and set.

All recipes call for inverting the cake immediately when it comes out of the oven. The cake is allowed to cool, inverted and still in the pan, for a good hour to ensure the starches have set.

Special pans with legs or a long tube center are used for this:

Notice that in addition to the feet that it is a tube pan. This is important because the interior of these cakes is very insulated and won't be able to cook completely before the outside is overcooked.

When my angel food cake pans were packed I had good success using a pot with a mason jar in the middle. I was surprised it came out perfectly.

TL;DR -
Use a cake pan with a tube,
Invert the cake right when it comes out of the oven and let it cool completely.

*Note
Catija is correct that these amounts look way too small for a full cake. If you are trying to bake that in a full sized cake pan it could possibly be over rising and not have enough structure to support itself when it comes out.


If you stay with the same ratio of salt (and any other ingredients) to water that you normally use, you should achieve the same results. As you normally use a 5% solution it shouldn't matter how many chickens or how much water if you stay with the 5% solution.

The only thing that the weight of the chickens will factor into is the amount of brining time needed. A larger bird will take more time than a small one.

Re time, a good rule of thumb for whole chickens is 2 hours per pound, using a 4% solution. You may want to slightly reduce the time per pound using a 5% solution. So, your 5 hours sounds about right. I wouldn't go over that as I would be concerned that it may make the meat mushy. (Haven't ever done that but I've heard that it can happen if over brined.)


What are the natural and artificial sugars?

Sugar, as in common table sugar from sugar cane, is sucrose, which is a chemically weak linked combination of glucose and fructose. Your stomach acids will split sucrose very fast. So the difference in using natural cane sugar and factory split glucose may only be a matter of minutes once you eat the stuff

Same goes for almost all the sugars other than the "artificial sweeteners" which are generally not sugars at all, they just taste very sweet

Some artificial sweeteners are very natural in the general scheme of things when compared to processed sugar etc.

Nearly everything that comes in a packet with a barcode is not "natural". White table sugar is not natural. Buy some sugar cane stem, and crush and boil it, then you can see the difference

I would rather use the white table sugar though, as it is more likely to be clean and tested as being non-contaminated

Sugar Substitutes

There is a great list of sugar substitutes including artificial sweeteners on Wikipedia. Many of which would be better for you if sugar levels was of a concern in your diet (it is for some people). Many are useless in baking

The list of "artificial sweeteners" is thus:

Acesulfame Potassium (Celanese, Nutrinova, Sunett)
Advantame
Alitame
Aspartame (Equal, Neotame, NutraSweet)
Aspartame-Acesulfame Salt (Twinsweet)
Dulcin
Glucin
Neohesperidin Dihydrochalcone
P-4000
Saccharin (Sweet'N Low)
Sodium Cyclamate
Sucralose (Splenda)

And the sugar alcohol's, which are also a form of "artificial sweeteners"

Erythritol
Glycerol
Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (HSH) (long sub list)
Isomalt
Lactitol
Maltitol
Mannitol
Sorbitol
Xylitol

Nice info-graphic from Washington Post


Is it safe to keep Carpaccio in a refrigerator for 24 hours?

It was safe to keep the rump, so why wouldn't it be safe to keep the slices of the rump?

The only way that, according to USDA suggestion, it wouldn't be safe is if, in your preparation, you'd left the raw meat out of refrigeration for longer than two hours. These guidelines are generally conservative, but bacteria can grow quite quickly in meat above 40˚ F (4.5˚ C), and even more quickly above 70˚ (21˚C). Meat that will be served raw should be kept as cold as possible -- chilling your equipment before preparation is often a good idea.

The issue, to my mind, is that it sounds like you've already applied lemon juice. Being acidic, that juice will denature the proteins in the meat, changing its texture -- making it "mushy". (This is why marinades often contain acid; up to a point, this action is perceived as tenderizing.)

There's also likely to be some unpleasant-looking and -tasting, oxidation -- and/or maybe dehydration --  of the thin pieces of meat while they sit in the fridge. This isn't unsafe, but it does decrease the appeal of the beautiful rosy-red raw beef you're supposed to have. Rubbing on some oil may help with this problem, as might plastic wrap directly on the surface.

I'd recommend preparing the meat as close to service as possible and dressing it, at least with the lemon and cheese, at the absolute last moment.


Its a salamander. Its just a small broiler like the one in your oven.


Chocolate coating for truffles shrinks as it sets - What to do?

Maybe use slightly less filling?

You're forming the ganache balls freehand, you mentioned, so it might be possible to form a little pocket or gap somewhere in the filling as you roll it (maybe with a toothpick), so that when the chocolate shrinks there's space for the extra filling to go instead of bursting the shell.  I think it would work better if there was a way for the air to get out - a pinprick through the chocolate to the air pocket, which can be covered over after the fact by a dab of chocolate or decoration.  But if the difference in volume is small, it may work without that.

Alternately, you could control the effect by piercing the truffle through the chocolate coating, say, on what will be the bottom as it sits.  A little filling will probably leak out when it cools, but that can be scraped off, the hole will be small and controllable, and again - covered up with just a dab of melted chocolate or other decoration, if you want.  Much less chance of cracking or other visible damage.

Finally, you might try dipping in two layers.  If there's a gap, however small, for the filling to equalize out of your first shell won't crack or puncture - and a larger gap will have a smoother curve.  A second thin shell, overlapping and smoothing over the first gap, should render it nearly invisible.  You could dip about half at a time, or three quarters for a bit more overlap, or almost the whole truffle twice over for more chocolate per truffle, as you prefer.


Short answer, if you trust the brining job of the manufacturer, you won't gain much by rebrining.

In brining you're looking to get a certain amount of moisture "trapped" by the salt in the turkey, which they have, in essence, done for you already with the brining solution.  However, that brining solution is usually injected rather than soaked in, so I wonder about the dispersion.  Add to that that I actually throw a little sugar into my brining solution (not a lot) and some pickling spice and you can see why you'd want to brine it, but without getting it too salty.

The answer is to go with a longer soak (12 hour or overnight) versus a 4 hour brine, with the lower salt content that you'd use for a long soak.  That will balance out the salt levels as the solution's osmotic pressure equalizes.  I use 1/2 Cup of table salt per gallon of water.  You can leave a turkey in that solution for...a long, long time and it won't be too salty.  It's all about equalizing the salt/liquid level inside the turkey.

If you are REALLY concerned about it and have the time, you could soak your turkey in plain water overnight, which would pull out some/most of the brining solution, then brine normally the next day, to put your salt and spices back in.  However, I would be concerned about losing some flavor from the turkey that way.


We don't know since we don't have the exact recipes, but I have a few good guesses.

Pork broth is made by boiling pork bones, so the thickness comes from the extracted collagen. Chicken broth is usually made by boiling chicken carcasses, which is mostly meat and bones. That will make a lighter broth since there's not a lot of fat.

I came across a recipe for creamy chicken paitan broth which is made with the whole chicken then blended and strained, so you end up with lots of protein in the broth which will make it heavy.

Another one uses chicken wings and that will extract a lot of fat, which will also make you feel full quickly.


What are some good resources for learning Knife Skills?

Why bother paying for instruction or books. The best way to learn is watching a video and practicing.

Youtube

Youtube has a great wealth of videos on knife skills. I'm more a visual learner. I like to see a video. A book are not going to help me squat.

Knife Skills: Julliene with Ann Burrell
Knife Skills: Chiffonade with Ann Burrell
Knife SKills: Slicing with Ann Burelle and Beau
Knife Skills: Bias Cuts with Ann Burrelle and Beau
Honing a knife with Gordon Ramsey (video is labeled as sharpening although he is showing a knife being honed)
Rick Theory, well respected on knife forums for good technique
Sundry old Martin Yan episodes across youtube. Cleaver centric technique that requires paying attention to do safely, but can achieve a lot.

Chowhound

Chowhound has a great wealth of knife skill videos.

How to make a chiffonade cut
How to chop
How to dice
How to hone a knife
Roll Cuts
Know your Knife Cuts
How to make julienne and batonnet cuts
How to cut with a chef's knife:
5 Simply knife safety tips
How to hold a knife
Not totally related but - Should i buy a knife set
Knife Skills troubleshooting
How to make a bias cut

Other

Wusthof Knife Skills Series


What is the purpose of vinegar in this lollipop recipe?

It is simply to add tartness to add some balance against the sugar. The water from the vinegar will evaporate and leave behind acetic acid. There is an old fashioned type of hard candy known as vinegar candy. Your lollipop is essentially just that candy on a stick.


How to check on something baking in oven

Yes, clearly steam and heat will escape when you open the oven door.  It is best practice to do this as little as possible during a bake.  Of course, there are many variables, such as ambient room temperature and how long the door is left open, but I have read some estimates that one can lose 150(F) or 66(C) in just a matter of seconds.  To combat this, preheat your oven fully.  For many artisan bread baking formulas, that is often around 475(F) or 246(C) - 500(F) or 260(C). These temperatures are then reduced after steaming. If you are setting up for steam, have those materials in the oven during the preheat.  Place your loaves and water for steam in the oven as quickly as possible.  Don't open the oven until the steaming period is over.  Depending on the recipe, this is typically anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes.  At this point, when most bread recipes call for a reduction in oven temperature anyway, opening the door is less problematic.  Remove the steaming apparatus, close the door, and continue the bake.  Now, nearing the end of your bake, with the bread being almost completed, temperature loss by opening the door probably becomes less important.  The bread is close to completely cooked, so checking near the end should not be too much of a problem. I find that the critical time is during the use of steam and the initial oven spring.

Beyond that, it is probably less critical when dealing with items (such as roast meats or vegetables) which are less sensitive to fluctuations in temperature.


Why would a pregnant woman not be able to eat soft cheeses?

Everybody has different rules for what pregnant women should and should not eat, and you definitely should clarify with the individual.

Usually the concern with cheese is over bacteria.  The typical rule about cheese is to avoid softer, raw milk cheeses for fear of listeria, which can affect the baby.

There is more information here: http://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/listeria.html


Don't; you don't know his taste.

Get him something related to the cheese instead like a small specialty knife (Girolle) or wood/slate platter or books.

If you want to get something edible, get some good honey, quince "cheese", chutneys or nuts.


The heat of individual peppers varies. Add a little bit at a time, tasting as you go. You can put more in, you can't take any out!


Fat free oil substitute for frying/sautéing and curries

Debating health is off topic here, but I think I can answer some of your question. Since you mentioned Chow Mein. I would start by saying that technically speaking you can NOT cook Chow Mein without oil. Chow directly translates to "fried" and Mein translates to "noodle". As frying (even stir/wok/pan frying in this case) by definition requires oil...

Now, can you cook noodles and sauce without oil? Sure, but it'd make a slightly different dish. You could boil the noodles for example, grill or steam the meat/vegetables and then mix it all together with sauce. You could still probably make a good dish this way. You won't get a typical chow mein though.

Chow mein aside, you could probably take a really good non stick or seasoned pan/wok and simply cook the meat/vegetables with a bit of water/broth. You'd essentially be lightly steaming it.

Though as an alternate suggestion, I would instead start with looking for dishes that utilised other cooking techniques, boiling, braising, steaming, grilling as examples. Also, can you use a, very, very small amount of oil? With the right pan a little bit goes a long way.

If you're eating meat/nuts/other things you'll get fat anyway though, some oils suitable for cooking are pretty good for you. I'd also, suggest talking to a doctor/nutritionist about how much oils are okay and which oils are okay. Not all fats are equal and humans need some fat to survive.


Why do frozen vegetables go bad more quickly after thawing than fresh cut ones?

Very simply; freezing breaks the cell walls.

As ice takes up more space than water, as the vegetables freeze all the cells rupture.
Once defrosted, each cell is then little more than a slowly-leaking bag of nutrient, exposed to the open air. Whether or not any bacteria gets in & starts to breed is almost irrelevant by this time, as your 'leaky bag' is going to dissolve into a pool of its own juices pretty quickly.

This is why frozen veg is cook-from-frozen not cook-from-thawed. An hour might be OK, a day is starting to get a bit much. By 5 days, I wouldn't do anything other than move it to the recycle using tongs.


Super-saturated sugar solution gone wrong

Creating the Geode candy you have in the link should be relatively straight forward, but does require a little knowledge about how crystals form.

First, let's look at what is probably going wrong by examining your two outcomes:

  or the whole thing turns completely solid

You made glass candy. You cooled the solution so quickly that no crystals were allowed to form. Crystallization takes time and complete stillness.

  no crystallisation

Lack of crystallization means that either you didn't have enough sugar OR the crystals did not have a surface upon which to grow.

Necessary science:
A crystal that forms from a sugar solution is a precipitate, which falls out of solution because there is more solute than solution. A super saturated solution is a solution where there is more solute than solution at nominal temperatures.

We are able to "cheat" the "normal" solution / solute proportions by heating the solution, which allows for more solute to be added to the solution than normally possible. As heat is removed from the solution (yay entropy!), solute is "forced" out of solution because there is just no more room.
When this happens, it needs a place to go.

Normally, a precipitate would just solidify and fall to the bottom of the beaker, bowl, or whatever container you're using.

Sugar (as a crystal) could go this route and just fall to the bottom as a coating or mounds of goo at the bottom. OR, if there are structures for it to latch on to, it can start forming crystals.

The interesting thing about crystalline structures is that they whip themselves into molecular order when they run into another crystal. It's like they are walking by the other crystals, and say: "Woah! Nice lattice! Can I join in?" and they just snap into place.

So the hardest crystal to get is the first one.

There are a couple things I would do to improve upon this recipe to get the results you're looking for.

I would create a sugar solution using mass not volume. 600g of pure sucrose (normal table sugar) in 235g of water would be the minimum concentrate I would use. Honestly, if I could get 1,200g in 235g of water I would do that. But make sure you hit this minimum.
I would heat up the container as high as I could without causing a malformation. Since the recipe in question is using fondant (and the other, chocolate), that's probably not very feasible. In fact, chocolate is tempered at 105F, and sugar solution is WAY hotter. So, we have an issue there. So, I propose we cheat that a little by creating a layer of glass candy on the bottom (you're good at that already), which will provide a higher level of insulation for the formation of the mixture at the bottom. This also gives us the opportunity to give the crystals something to latch on to in order to grow...
Your crystals need something they can use to start growing. Fondant is typically pretty smooth, and doesn't really give a great surface for crystals. When you do this experiment using the classic "string hanging in a jar" method, the frayed bits of string provide ample surface area to snag a crystal that is coming out of solution and start the chain reaction that builds large crystals. It's been a while since I did this in physics class, but I believe that the entropy of sugar molecules bouncing off one another is one of the keys to the formation of crystals. It takes a LOT of time to form crystals because we essentially have to wait until two molecules bounce off each other at exactly the right angle to stick to the lattice structure. When you have NO crystals yet, we have to wait for one to get stuck to a structure and provide that lattice base. As your crystal size increases, the growth of the crystals increase because the probability of a sugar molecule colliding with one of the members of the pre-established lattice has increased dramatically, so it happens faster later, but slow to start with. To increase the surface area of your geode, you would need to score the candy glass layer at the bottom of your fondant shell to create groves, bumps, or marks. Anything other than a smooth fondant surface or a smooth candy glass surface will be good. (I realize we are running the risk of just dissolving that off into the solution, which is why you need an truly super saturated solution. If there is no "room" for the sugar to dissolve into the solution, it will not be able to dissolve our little scouring marks either).
COOL IT SLOWLY. Don't let it cool at room temperature, under a breeze, or on the window sill like it's a pie. Put it in a small cooler so the insulation of the cooler allows heat to escape as slowly as possible. This also means that you should check it as infrequently as possible. A minimum of 5 hours. You could also "make" a cooler by using 4 glass bowls. 2 large and 2 small. Put small bowl #1 on at least 2-3 cloth towels. Put the geode in the bottom of small bowl #1, cover with small bowl #2, and secure them together with tape. Put this "bowl ball" into the bottom of large bowl #1, and cover with large bowl #2, and (again) close with tape. These nested bowls will provide a similarly good insulated environment, which will retard heat transfer. The heat from the sugar solution will fill up the initial area in the two small bowls, which will heat the glass. This will contain water vapor (and probably sugar), which is very effective at transferring heat. Glass, however, sucks at transferring heat. Air is even worse. So, the two small bowls will heat up from the initial insertion of the hot sugar solution, and will heat that environment, but once that reaches a somewhat equillibrium, the heat will not continue to transfer upwards out of the first glass "shell" into the air of the second glass "shell" with any sort of efficiency. So, it should cool very slowly. The second glass shell is (ultimately) cooled by your air conditioner. So, you would want to cover that with a towel as well to prevent convective cooling.

The advantage of using these glass "shells" would be that you can check crystal formation without disturbing the temperature environment OR causing any sort of physical vibrations, which would retard (or destroy) the crystal formation.

PS.
Also, based on her accent, I am guessing the cook in the video is in Australia. Since most of the people in Australia live on the coasts, she is probably cooking at or near sea level, with (probably) higher levels of humidity than land locked areas. This probably doesn't affect the amount of sugar she can saturate, but WILL other processes that have to do with water and moisture (just ask bread bakers). You can control for this using an insulated environment created from 4 bowls (two smaller ones nested in two larger ones).

References for more information:

Rock Candy
Canding making (American Chemical Society)
Science of home crystals (Scientific American)


I do believe your answer can be found in this totally over the top experimental comparison of two juicers. There's loads of info there, but I think the relevant part is when the author discusses the actual yields for each juicer. For pineapple, the author finds the yield to be between 71% - 76% of the total mass of the pineapple. So give it a weigh, and you should get about 3/4 that much juice. I assume the experiment skinned and cored the pineapple, so you'll need to account for that.

I'm assuming you're using a juicer to get your juice. Note that the juicers used in the above experiment were $400 and $500 respectively, so I assume they are pretty high end. You mileage may vary with a lower quality product.

And since you didn't ask for weight, I just tested weight to volume, 6 fluid oz of pineapple juice weighs 6.5 oz (so it's a bit denser than water). So one pound of pineapple should yield about 11 oz or just under a cup and a half.


This is sometimes called "pilaf style", though technically actual pilafs do not require the sauteeing step. It is, however, very common in pilaf and related dishes.

The main function of this is to change the composition of the starch on the surface of the rice. This reduces the starches that cross-link and make rice sticky. It helps your rice to cook up into separate grains.

While you're at it, it also adds some flavor to the rice, by caramelizing some of the starches. Plus, it adds oil, which can carry flavors of its own and help distribute fat-soluble flavors in the other ingredients.

The effect is very different from "fried rice", where the starches have already been cooked and gelatinized before frying. The goals are somewhat the same, adding browned flavors and distributing fat-soluble ingredients, but the chemical changes to the surface of the rice itself will be different.


There are no health concerns with microwaving food. Microwaves excite water molecules to heat food, they don't change food or make it dangerous. When a product says do not microwave it means one of 3 things:

The packaging is not meant to be microwaved: heating some types of packaging can cause bad tastes or smells in food, or cause the packaging to release unhealthy chemicals. Putting the food in a microwave safe dish solves this problem
Microwave heating causes undesirable texture changes in the food. Microwaving can sometimes cause a rubbery texture, or make it soggy
As @fraxinus rightly points out some foods can explode in the microwave,  especially food with a shell or airtight covering of some sort like eggs and potatoes. Heat causes pressure to build until the shell or covering fails, causing a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' as they say in the aerospace industry when something blows up

Number 2 is the most likely reason the package said do not microwave.


Is there a way to ferment mustard seeds for homemade mustard?

Whey appears to be an agent for lacto-fermenting mustard.  This recipe for lacto-fermented mustard describes a process of combining ingredients and then letting them ferment after the recipe is put together by leaving out over a few days.

This recipe for a mustard seed raita uses yogurt as the fermentation ingredient, which means that you would have to use yogurt with active cultures.


Melted vs softened butter in cake recipes

Welcome to the site! This is a good question, the answer is that there would be no difference in taste, the difference is in the texture of the sponge. Victoria sponge, and some other types of sponge cakes get some of their their lift (expansion when bakes) from air trapped in the batter. Beating softened butter and sugar together, which is called creaming, traps air in the mix, giving the cake more lift and a more open structure. Mixing melted butter and sugar does not trap air, so your cake will be more dense and less open.

You can cream butter and sugar by hand with a whisk instead of a mixer, it just takes more time and a lot more effort. If you don't have the money or space for a stand mixer (or just don't want one) a handheld stick blender with a whisk attachment is a low cost and minimal space alternative which works extremely well.


Can I make a sweet hot water crust pastry?

You can easily add sugar to pie crust dough. In Germany, the formula "3-2-1" doesn't mean "flour-fat-water", it means "flour-fat-sugar". And I believe that I have seen shortbread cookies with even higher sugar ratios. To clarify, you are supposed to use sifted confectioner's sugar, since any larger crystals will have a hard time dissolving.

These doughs are generally made as shortbread (= simple mixing), not as a pate brisee (which is hot water). But I think the French do make sweet pate brisee. Couldn't find a source though, since it seems modern French websites don't care much for the traditional distinction of pate sablee (cold method) and pate brisee (hot water method). Still, I would just go ahead and try it - mix the confectioner's sugar into the dough and see how it works out.

Also, I wouldn't substitute the lard. I love the texture it gives, and I am personally not at all put off by its taste in sweet recipes. I know some people may react to it as weird, simply because they have never encountered the combination, but if you give it a chance, you may be pleasantly surprised.


If we're going to define "cheese dip" as "some substance made from cheese for the purpose of dipping other food in" - which seems like the only rational definition given no other context - then I'd have to pinpoint its origin as being fondue.

According to Wikipedia, the earliest known recipe for fondue comes from the Swiss cookbook, Kochbuch von Anna Margaretha Gessnerin, ein gebohrne Kittin, first published in 1699.

That predates the Arkansas claim of 1935 by at least a few centuries, if we assume that Wikipedia does indeed list the earliest source.

There's also Queso Chihuahua which was supposedly brought to Mexico by the Mennonites, which would place its origin in Mexico sometime in the 1920s - assuming that the Mennonites themselves did not simply adapt the recipe from something known even earlier.

I'd have to say that the Arkansas tourism board seems to be trying to pull a fast one on us, laying claim to this "invention". Maybe they're defining cheese dip as the specific kind of cheese dip they came up with, which would of course be a tautology.


Why season the bottom or handle of a cast iron / carbon steel pan?

It helps keep the pan clean.

I know in my cooking, there's always a chance of something dripping, something splashing, few drops running down the side, which might need wiping up with a damp towel or can just be ignored (and left there).  not to mention the possibility of moisture in the air.  And unseasoned metal can rust.

The first pan I had, I seasoned just the cooking surface... and after a few months, when I was cleaning something, I noticed the bottom had started rusting - not much, just bits of subtle discoloration, but enough that I noticed it.  Probably, if left a long time or in moister circumstances, that rust might get quite bad, perhaps leaving rust flakes or compromising the structure of the pan.

So the handle might get some spatters of whatever is cooking, or your hand might not be quite clean, and the moisture can start eating into it.  Or a few drops might end up on the outside of the pan to run down to the bottom, or end up on top of the stove coil or any surface the pan might rest on - when serving or moving pots.  Cleaning up such spatters, or generally cleaning the pan, might easily leave behind a little moisture.  And add the possibility of moisture pulled from the air - humidity, steam, whatever - and an unseasoned surface will slowly start to pick up rust.

I don't think it needs as much seasoning as the rest of the pan, since there's less exposure and less wear on these surfaces.  And obviously you can use the pan for quite a while before it becomes noticeable, much less an actual problem - but a layer of seasoning just to waterproof it a bit seemed like a good idea after I saw the bottom of that pan.


The trick here is to not cook the ribs any more as you run the risk of making the meat tough. And tough meat on ribs is suitable only for the trash can.
Personally, I would put a nice layer of sauce on the ribs and broil them just enough to caramelize the sauce and warm (but not cook) the ribs. Don't want to over cook them after all...
"Nice layer" being an amount that appeals to you but enough to coat the meat and give you a nice caramelized crust while still allowing the meat beneath to warm without cooking.


What are the (dis-)advantages of cooking vegetables in alkaline water?

Is the embolded proposition true?

Yes, the statement is true. Cooking vegetables in an alkaline liquid keeps them bright green.

Why would alkalinity keep vegetables really green?

The reason behind it has something to do with the chemistry of chlorophyl, I don't remember it too exactly, but generally, the chlorophyl molecule doesn't undergo the same changes when heated under alkaline conditions as when heated under neutral or mildly acidic conditions.

Does the embolded proposition suggest cooking vegetables with alkaline water?

I'm not sure what you want to know here, are you asking whether the author used a statement with the intention to induce readers to use the technique? Analysing this would be off-topic.

If so, what pH is best?

Just about any you can create. Slight alkalinity already has an effect (e.g. a pinch of baking soda when blanching), and obviously you can't get into a high pH anyway.
Also, your title asked for disadvantages. The disadvantages are that your vegetables will be softer and mushier, and that they will have an alkaline taste.


How do price and quality relate in blenders?

Like any other product, price and quality don't always relate.  However, here are some notes and features to help you:

What food stuffs you can blend in your blender and expect good results, how often, and for how many years depends on the following:

Quality of the motor:  When the material you're blending gets hard to blend (say oil separated peanut butter mixed with dry almonds), you can easily send the blender up in smoke.  A better blender might hit its maximum-current/temperature switch, shut-down, and protect itself.  An even better blender might happily blend (saw a giant one with the motor made by Harley Davidson, it didn't care what it was mixing).  See the notes on power/wattage.
Speed of the blade (RPM):  Cheaper blenders tend to only reach a couple of thousand rpm.  The Brand you're (not)mentioning can go near 30,000rpm.  At that spin-rate, frozen fruit starts looking like Gelato (smooth and shiny).  In a $20 blender, they look like frozen fruit slushy with ice crystals remaining relatively large.
Wattage of Blender: Generally the higher wattage blenders are more powerful, although not in every case.  This is again one of those features that leads to being able to make apple/carrot/beat juice in your blender or make a contribution to your local appliance landfill.  Top Gear tried to make a Beef, Bovril and Brick smoothie with a V8 Engine.
Intended use: Commercial blenders are designed to be running practically all the time (like the ones at StarBucks), hence the $2000.  The 'Prosumer' ones, might heat up if under heavy and long duration use and shut-down for a few minutes at a time.  The low-ends can last you a lifetime if what you're blending is not very thick/viscus and you don't keep it running for long sessions.
Quality of the Jar, Blade, and Gears:  In the low-end of blenders, the ones with glass jar might be better since they're easier to clean and don't get foggy.  The high-end blender manufacturers (sort of) treat the jar as a consumable that you'll have to buy once in a couple of years.  Fresh blade, and clear jar.

Pro-Tip: Sometimes it costs you an extra $250 to get the model with the adjustable speed dial.  While there normally is a perfect blending speed for any given 'input', you're looking at diminishing returns since the two-speed type will blend just as well given minimally more effort.


What are the differences between types of soy sauce?

This is a complex question, because there are several different ways to categorize soy sauces:

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (Chinese and Japanese are the ones most commonly contrasted --but as you saw in Wikipedia, there are many more),
COLOR (light, dark, white),
VISCOSITY (thin, thick, jam), and
MANUFACTURING PROCESS (This has the most name variation, but there are just two options: fermented or chemical.  Fermented is the "real thing" and also is called naturally brewed, or slow-aged.  Chemical is the quick and, as usual, inferior-tasting alternative that abbreviates a months-long process into several short, chemically-laden days.  Additional names for this unfortunate approach are non-brewed, non-fermented, and artificial. To avoid this type, study the label and avoid anything containing those non-savory corrective ingredients like corn syrup and caramel coloring.)

To muddy the waters further, add into the mix the fact that flavor is most deeply influenced by the proportion of soybeans to grains -- yet this crucial factor is not typically used directly as a categorization tool.

To focus my research, I tried to find a site that felt as though the writer was speaking directly to you: one that would encourage, and not overwhelm or confuse, as you decide whether to become a soy sauce affectionado.  Specifically, I wanted a resource that clearly addressed FLAVOR PROFILE and USAGE.  Surprisingly, a blogger named Barbara came to rest as my #1 recommendation:  Tigers and Strawberries. I like the simplicity and clarity of her writing style, as well as her experiential platform (complete with honest explanation of her biases).  The endless comments after her post provide additional insights that might be helpful, as well.

Of course, Harold McGee always provides wonderful more scientifically-based, yet still somehow understandable, explanations.  He takes 5 full pages (496-500) in his book On Food and Cooking to discuss soy sauce in all its layered glory.


How does vacuum packing affect safe meat storage time?

Vacuum-packing elongates food storage times because by removing the air you remove the oxygen, which aerobic organisms (in this case bacteria) thrive on. No oxygen means no bacterial growth. This is also known as Reduced Oxygen Packaging and can extend freezer life by years.

Some things to keep in mind:

If you open the package, it's life will drop considerably, and you
will be back to a few days tops
If your package fills with air, either the seal broke, or a significant amount of oxygen was trapped inside and bacterial growth is generating decomposition gases.
If your food provider is a reputable source then their dating is probably accurate. There are significant regulations regarding ROP, and they probably have a production plan that monitors how the food is processed, with dates that are then determined by how the process works.


Is it safe to warm bread in the oven with plastic wrap?

Unless the plastic specifically states that it's ovenproof, do not heat it in the oven.

You can just heat the unwrapped loaf in the oven (I usually do), but it will make the crust crustier.  Placing the loaf in a paper bag will reduce this (crusting) effect.  The paper bag can be dampened to reduce the effect even further.


Those are larvae of the Larder beetle, related to carpet beetles.  Vacuum up all the crumbs and keep the area clean.  They infest many dry foods and areas where food debris collects.


How long can a bread dough containing eggs wait before going to the oven?

The USDA recommends that raw eggs should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours. They also recommend that any recipe including raw eggs should be cooked within 24 hours.
However, the USDA always errs on the side of safety - they also recommend (in the same section of the website) that eggs should be cooked until both the white and yolk are firm, which is not necessary to kill bacteria.
Keeping in line with the USDA's recommendations, you should let the dough rise for a maximum of two hours at room temperature, then move it into the fridge until it doubles in size (or until it rises appropriately).


For a beef stock, why should I roast bones at 450?

This idea is to use the Maillard reaction (the reaction between amino acids and sugars as meats are heated and browned) to enhance and concentrate flavors. The reaction begins at about 280 degrees Fahrenheit, and tops out at 330 degrees Fahrenheit, so, you could use a lower oven. It would take longer. Caramelization flavors are more pronounced at higher temperatures.   As long as your bones are well-browned, you will be in good shape. A lower temperature doesn't necessarily prevent burning, keeping any eye on your product is a better strategy.


How to achieve in my homed-made mayo the same strong 'egg flavor' as in store-bought mayo?

The sulfur content in the distilled white vinegar used in commercial mayo really emphasizes the egg flavor. If you're using a different vinegar, I think that you should switch to see if it does the trick.

The cooked egg flavor you're looking for comes from pasteurizing the eggs for the mayo. If you've got an immersion circulator, you can do a relatively high-temperature pasteurization for whole eggs in their shell, while not actually cooking them through, and use those for the mayo. There are commercially pasteurized shell eggs available from Davidson's Safest Choice, but they don't taste vastly different from regular eggs— I imagine they pasteurize them at a relatively low temperature for a pretty long time specifically to make them as similar to raw eggs as possible.

Without an immersion circulator, you almost certainly won't have the temperature control you need to pasteurize the eggs without cooking them.

Good luck!


How can I keep meringue pie-topping from falling?

Ironically, it could be precisely because you're trying to enjoy the meringue on a hot day that is causing it to deflate so quickly. Meringue are extremely sensitive to moisture, and a humid day can wreck your meringue's volume. It's best to make meringue on a dry day.

However, there are a few things you can do to achieve better stability:

Use fresher eggs.
Fats are the enemy. Make sure you have zero egg yolk in the mixture. Also, avoid hand contact, as your oils can rub off.
Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved, because otherwise it attracts moisture.

Good luck!


Why does apples bought at the market feel sticky?

It's wax. Apples contain wax in their peel naturally and the amount varies between different varieties. Some don't feel waxy at all. It is there to prevent the fruit of drying out and the industry sometimes adds wax as well (especially to fruits that will be exported long distances), to keep them fresh longer.

As for removing the wax, you could try this.


Do I need to sift flour that is labeled sifted?

Maybe!

Flour is unusually variable in how densely it will settle, so this can make a big difference for some recipes. The purpose of sifting is to make the amount of flour in a given volume reliable. (If you are measuring by weight, you don't need to sift.)

By moving around the sifted flour, or pouring it from one container into another, you are changing the way it is packed. Therefore, you can easily "unsift" it in the course of normal handling. Proper sifting is done straight into the measuring device.


Crystallization of sugar solution, and oddly crunchy candy with fudge-like texture after eating

It looks like you are trying to make sugar fondant.  I often make a batch to use as seed crystals in my holiday fudge preparation.

Sugar Fondant

Sugar fondant is a crystalline sugar confection where the crystals are microscopic and suspended in a saturated solution of sugar.  Its texture is very short, and the mouth-feel is creamy.

Creating sugar fondant is relatively easy. In brief, boil a syrup to softball stage and cool it undisturbed until around 50C followed by rapid agitation until the fondant is too difficult to work.

Now for some specifics.

Multiphase Solutions

One of the interesting features of boiling syrups is the temperature is intrinsically linked to the composition of the syrup.  Unlike how boiling water transitions to steam at a constant temperature of  100C, syrups boil at a range of 110C to well over 200C.  As water evaporates from the boiling syrup, the composition changes to contain a higher concentration of sugar and the boiling temperature rises.

Be warned.  You are boiling a super-saturated solution.  Any crystallized sugar introduced to the solution will not dissolve and it will seed crystallization during the cooling stages.

Avoid stirring once the sugar has fully dissolved prior to boiling.  Use a brush moistened with hot water to wipe away any crystallized sugar on the side of the pot during cooking.
If you are adding any glucose to the syrup, add it after the syrup has come to boil to ensure that the other sugars have fully dissolved.

Candy Stages

The desired properties of a candy are principally derived from the candy stage to which you cook your syrup.  The sugars remain mostly unchanged chemically (though disaccharides may break down into glucose and fructose) regardless of the candy stage or temperature.

When making sugar fondant, you are aiming for the softball stage which is 110C to 120C.  You can take a dollop of hot syrup and drop it into cold water to check the stage in absence of a good thermometer or if altitude / humidity are affecting your candy.  So long as you do not scorch the sugar, you can add water and lower the temperature to restore the syrup to the desired candy stage.

Crystallization

The most important part of a sugar fondant is the formation of microscopic crystals.  The syrup must cool to 50C before agitation to create the desired crystal size and distribution.

One difficulty that I have found is that I cannot let the syrup cool within the bowl of my stand mixer - the syrup cools unevenly which typically induces crystal growth.  This is especially difficult for fondant, as it must be worked for a significant amount of time to crystallize.

Depending on your desired purpose for the fondant, you may let the syrup cool to a lower temperature or agitate less to keep the texture longer or more pliable.  If you agitate at a higher temperature, the syrup will form crystals that grow tremendously during agitation and make the fondant grainy or crunchy.

But Why Is It Crunchy?

Chances are, you have undissolved sugar in the syrup.

Be sure all of the sugar dissolves before you add any glucose to your syrup.
Don't stir once it begins to boil.

Your syrup might be at a higher candy stage.  If you somehow managed to reach soft crack or hard crack, this might prevent the syrup from forming any crystals and resulting in an amorphous sugar glass.


How to achieve a good steak crust with a blowtorch?

It does take a couple of minutes to get a good crust with a torch, but judging by that photo something went wrong as there’s little crust on that picture.

As aris mentioned, you need to ensure that there is no moisture on the steak.
You mentioned adding butter on top and letting it melt at room temperature. This could act as a barrier for the heat but no kitchen test I know of tackled this specifically. Next time try without as I’ve always gotten and seen good results without butter on it.

Lastly, keep the torch at a moderate distance and linger slightly on a spot until you see some sizzling. Make small circles, but don’t move the torch all over rapidly. You don’t need to distribute the heat evenly while trying to get a crust.


Do chillis impregnate a wooden chopping board?

Pretty much everything I've read (for example, this page) says not to use wood, because the oils from the peppers will penetrate the board and transfer, and hold there indefinitely, even after thorough washings.

This thread is full of people with personal experience transferring the heat to later meals.

That said, as with Jefromi, I've cut hot peppers on wood before and not noticed any transfer.  Specifically, home grown habaneros and jalapenos on maple boards.

Maybe I'm just acclimated to the heat and don't notice, but those recommendations are not in line with my personal experience.  I do thoroughly scrub my boards after use, but that probably isn't washing away any residual oils.

If you really want to be safe, for example if someone in your house is heat sensitive or you have small children helping in the kitchen, you can dedicate a board to cutting peppers, or just cut peppers on a small plastic board and wash thoroughly after each use.


Significant loss of nutrients during pasteurization is simply a myth.

According to the National Council Against Health Fraud, the loss of nutrients when pasteurizing milk is very small.  Most nutrients are unaffected.  There is approximately a 10-20% loss of vitamin C, 10% loss of thiamin, and 0-10% loss of vitamin B12.

See the linked article to get their detailed references.

They also mention:

  The Family Cow

  People who remember "the good old days" when many Americans had a
  family cow, often ask why they did not get sick from drinking raw
  milk. The answer seems to lie in the fact that people exposed to the
  same cow, or cows, on a regular basis develop a conferred immunity to
  the microflora of their specific animals. It is when raw milk is
  marketed to the general public who has not been regularly exposed to a
  specific animal, or small number of animals, that infections occur.
  Further, the people primarily at risk for serious infections or death
  are those with undeveloped immune systems, such as babies, or adults
  with disorders that have compromised their immune systems. Healthy
  young people and adults who are infected are likely to believe that
  they have had a bout of "stomach flu."

While boiling milk at home may be somewhat different in its actual outcome, I would suggest that the health benefits of mitigating the risk of food borne illness vastly and completely out weigh any potential loss of nutrients.


Quickbreads vs Cakes: Understanding Mixing Ingredients -

Your premise for Type 1 is correct, however you seem to have misunderstood Type 2: It is no problem to continue mixing the butter-sugar-egg mixture, but as soon as the flour is added, the gluten starts to develop and you should just mix until combined.

For Type 2, creaming the butter and sugar helps to incorporate a lot of air into the mixture, resulting in a light and fluffy texture. This continues when the eggs are added. Proper creaming takes some time, but at some point further mixing does not improve the result any more.


Using Pressure Cooker to Make Bone Broth

Like @Greybeard, I've had a great deal of success using a pressure cooker to make stocks and broths quickly. Pressure cooking is, by definition, at a higher temperature than normal simmering or boiling. In those methods, the upper temperature is limited to the boiling point of the liquid (212 degrees F, 100 degrees C for pure water, a bit higher for solutions with dissolved solids such as salt). The pressure buildup inside a sealed pressure cooker actually raises this boiling point; it's the opposite of why water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes, and a higher temperature means generally faster cooking.

In the case of stocks and broths, this higher temperature increases the rate at which collagen hydrolyzes; basically, it untangles from its original tough, tightly-woven state and forms free-floating strands which then tangle and interconnect as the solution cools, producing the characteristic texture of gelatin.

So: a pressure cooker is good, in that it reduces the amount of time that this process takes. Rather than 8 hours of simmering, you can use a pressure cooker and get a similar amount of collagen extraction in perhaps 3-4 hours of cooking.

If you're like me, you'll take a look at this result and wonder: if I can make a great chicken stock in 3 hours, what happens if I let it cook for 12? The answer, unfortunately, is disappointing. Bones will crumble will barely any effort, but the resulting stock won't be any more viscous or tasty than a stock cooked for a shorter amount of time. What gives?

Howard McGee's classic tome On Food and Cooking offers a hint: gelatin isn't impervious; those long strands are delicate, and they can be denatured or damaged by acids or enzymes. McGee also notes what a lot of people seem to miss: at higher temperatures, collagen strands on their way to becoming a tightly-bonded network of gelatin can become damaged, or "cut" partway down their length. Instead of a dense network of long strands, you get fewer bonds between shorter strands, and we perceive this as a less "gelatinous" broth.

In other words, using a pressure cooker raises the temperature so much that it can actually damage the collagen you're trying to extract over a longer cooking time, even as it takes less time to extract in the first place. This happens much less with an extended simmer, even one measured in days, because the temperature isn't high enough cause much damage - indeed, it can't be, because it's limited by the boiling point.

There's a balance point here: a pressure cooker will allow you to produce stock comparatively quickly, but it introduces the risk of overcooking (in the sense of destroying some of the collagen you've worked to extract). 3-4 hours under pressure seems to be the sweet spot for chicken stock; turkey can go a little longer, maybe 6 hours. For a beef or pork stock, where there is much more collagen to be extracted, using a pressure cooker is still faster but almost counter-productive; you can't fully extract all the collagen you might want without damaging some. If you really want a full extraction of all the collagen present, a traditional simmer is the way to go, even though it takes longer.

That said, you may decide that the advantage of speed for a commercial enterprise is more important, and opt for something like a 6-8 hour pressure cook for pork or beef bones; I wouldn't go much more than 12 hours, personally. You might even decide on an initial extraction in a pressure cooker, followed by simmering the already-cooked bones in the traditional manner until you've extracted everything that's left. You'll want to experiment a bit as you try to make this a viable business, but I'd definitely advise being aware of this limitation before you run into some less-than-optimal batches of stock like I did. (Don't get me wrong - the end result was still good, just not any better than stock pressure-cooked for a shorter period of time.)

EDIT: Somehow I made it through this entire long-winded answer without noting that many modern electric pressure cookers are also designed to be used as slow cookers, holding a sub-boiling temperature for an extended period of time without pressure. This is great - you can safely maintain a lower-temperature extraction for an extended period of time (though you need to make sure you use the "high" setting to get above the hydrolyzation point of collagen). They can also be programmed to switch from one mode to another. I've started successfully experimenting with hybrid methods: pressure cooking for an hour to jump-start the extraction, letting the pressure release, then slow-cooking overnight before straining in the morning. If you're going to consider pressure-cooking at all, this may be a way to get the best of both worlds.


Why does chewing gum sometimes change its texture

I think it has something to do with the type of hydrocolloid that is being used in the specific gum you are chewing. Most are pretty stable but also need a specific combination of pH, moisture, and temperature to stay within their desired texture range. A comprehensive understanding of the different types of hydrocolloids can be found here:

http://blog.khymos.org/recipe-collection/


Can I add butter to yeast dough which has already risen?

No, you shouldn't be adding butter at this stage, it will take too much kneading and undo the rising.

Whatever it is you were baking, just go ahead and bake it this way. There are many breads which don't use any fat at all. The taste will be different than with butter, but it will still be a good bread.


Where should I store nori or laver after opening, and for how much time?

Just keep it dry. I buy 100 sheets packs and store them in a zip-loc type bag in the cupboard for over a year


Kabobs to Fajitas - how to make the meat tender

Slice it thinly across the grain.

That's it.

If it's properly sliced, it'll be tender, as there isn't enough internal structure left for it to resist it falling apart.

Even though it's not technically the correct way to to cook fajitas, I'd go with a mix of Bruce's #1 and 2 : simmer it 'til warmed through in an appropriately flavored liquid (a mix of lime juice and any generic italian salad dressing works well), then drain, and give it some some fast heat to sear.

Of course, this assumes that they're already cooked ... if they're not, then just marinate, cook, and slice (again, against the grain).


Ideas for a banana dessert crust, gluten free

Pamela's at http://www.pamelasproducts.com/products/baking-mixes/ makes a great non-gluten crust. I even added more coconut flour to it and mixed it in the food processor for a sweet potato pie. It came out firm and tasty. Also baked it first then added the filling and baked it again. If you add more flour you might want to add a little more salt but I like mine bland. Hope this helps.


Who first put ridges on Ramekins and why?

Doing a bit of research I've found a few reasons. One having been mentioned above in a comment, that it removes the risk of the dishes sealing themselves together, or at least reduces.

The most logical, however, is that the flutes create more surface area allowing heat to penetrate much faster, for quick and even cooking.


How important are eggs for a muffin recipe?

There's no simple answer to this other than "it depends". Ratios like the Ruhlman chart are a good jumping off point, but for a lot of chemically leavened things there's a lot more to it. I would highly recommend reading the section on balancing recipes from Cookwise by Shirley Corriher and using it in conjunction with this chart.

The amount of eggs needed will depend on the type of liquid and the type of flour used. The liquids and flour will also alter how important the eggs are. A good example would be things like banana and pumpkin. In banana or pumpkin muffins, the pureed fruit would be used in place of most of the liquid, but since both of those also contain a lot of pectin, they can also replace the eggs. If the liquid is something acidic like sour cream, yogurt, buttermilk, or cider vinegar, that can also reduce the amount of eggs needed. Some dry ingredients like buckwheat, flax, and chia will also replace eggs.

In short, the importance of eggs really depends on the specific recipe used. While there may be a good ratio for a plain muffin base, it will definitely need tweaking depending on other ingredients used.


Soaking oats in milk overnight makes for very good porridge, with little effort in the morning as you just have to heat it through. So you're very close to something standard.

The golden syrup and fruit won't come to any harm from being soaked then heated, though you could equally stir them, or just the fruit, in at the end.

The only thing needing a bit of care is the yoghurt. It's probably better to start with it mixed in rather than stir it into hot porridge, as adding yoghurt to hot food causes it to separate, as does overheating it. So assuming you put your entire soaked breakfast into the microwave, you should heat it fairly gently, perhaps 1 minute on high, stir, 30 seconds on high, stir and see if it's hot enough (with further 30s bursts until it is). If your microwave is very powerful or uneven, the first step will need to be shorter. You may find with testing that you can just blast it until it's hot; this partly depends how much yoghurt there is in relation to the amount of milk.


Puree of chayote with (nutmeg / clove / allspice / cinnamon / just sugar) (however you like it) works well. It's an Asian staple and available around the world in most Asian markets. It has no real detectable taste of its own, it just takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with or put in it.

If that's not available, you could sweeten a puree of butternut or regular squash and get the desired outcome.

With either method, be careful with your moisture content - you want it to be pretty much the same as pumpkin pie filling for the recipe you want to try.


How do I get my homemade english muffins to taste like english muffins?

English muffins are not usually baked.  Instead they are cooked in a skillet or on a griddle.  You can bake English muffin dough, but it will turn out like a holey white bread (as you describe).  To cook, heat a skillet or flat griddle to medium (temperature for a griddle would be 350 degrees F).  Also preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Brush the pan or griddle with vegetable oil or mist with spray oil, and place on pan 1 inch apart.  Cook 5 to 8 minutes or until the bottom would burn if cooked longer.  Carefully flip over and cook 5 to 8 more minutes.  Both sides will be flat.  Transfer pieces to a sheet pan and place in oven on middle shelf for 5 to 8 minutes, until center is cooked.

Also, the recipe that I have for English muffins (in Peter Reinharts' Bread Baker's Apprentice) describes it as an enriched dough, one that has fat added.  My recipe calls for .5 oz. of shortening or butter.


Caputo Rosso (red) might have a slightly higher gluten content (~12-13%) than Blu (blue) (~10-12%) and higher stability. But mostly the blue one is just more of a niche product meeting the highest standards for traditional Neapolitan pizza.

Here are spec sheets directly from their web site:

BLUE: http://caputoflour.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/00-Pizzeria-SPECS.pdf
Extracted from their page:
"for the demanding technical pizzaioli", "recognized by the leading Neapolitan pizza certification associations", "ideal for classic Neapolitan Pizza in wood fired, gas or electric ovens", "produces a very soft and flavorful crust with optimal hydration", "high-quality protein and gluten result in a consistent long-rise dough.", "milled specifically for use at temperatures above 700°F", "Growth: 1’50”-2’00”; Stability: 8’-10’; …"
RED: http://caputoflour.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/00-Rinforzata-Flour-SPECS.pdf
Extracted from the page:
"higher protein and gluten content and water absorption is ideal for long-rise doughs", "obtains soft texture", "ideal for pasta, pastry, specialty breads and pizza", "Growth: 2’00”-3’00”; Stability: 12’-14’; …"

And since they both say ideal for pizza - nothing can go wrong ;-)

And if you don't know what the differences in stability times mean ...
I find this page quite informative:
http://www.wheatflourbook.org/p.aspx?tabid=33
Flour science is almost like airports ... with all the arrival and departure times =D


Should any liquid, or liquid-like ingredient, be included in the water proportion calculations for bread?

It depends on how exact you feel you need to be.

Rough Approximation

As a general first order approximation, the following ingredients can all be treated essentially as water:

Milk, butter milk
Fruit juice
Fruit puree
Milk, cream, sour cream, creme fraiche and similar dairy products
Even eggs

This is not perfectly accurate, of course, but for many applications it is close enough.

If you want to get more detailed and more accurate, you would have to find out a reasonable approximation what percentage, by weight, is actually water.

Dairy

For dairy products, like cream, this is fairly simple to do, as a second order approximation.  Just deduct the percentage of fat and assume the rest is water. For example, whipping cream which is 36% fat (check the label) is going to be about 64% water.  This is still an approximation as it does not consider sugars and minerals, but it is probably close enough for almost any non-industrial culinary use.

According to the IDFA (International Dairy Foods Association), sour cream is about 18% milk fat, so an approximation of 80% water would be quite reasonable.

Eggs

The University of Illinois provides the following information about eggs:

Whole eggs—74% water
Whites—88% water
Yolks—48% water

Fruit

This PDF from the U. of Kentucky Extension provides composition information, including water percentage, for some common fruits.  Most, with the notable exception of bananas, are in the mid-80 to mid-90% range.  Bananas are about 75% water.

Other ingredients

For other ingredients, you would need to do some research to determine the typical percentage of water.

Example Calculation

Based on the following recipe (from your original question), using second order approximations, we conclude:

1kg of flour
200g of egg         --  74% water, so 148 g water
150g of sour cream  --  80% water, so 120 g water
300ml water         -- 100% water, so 300 g water
                                   --------------
                                      568 g water

So this version of the recipe has a bakers percentage of about 57% hydration.  This is a little lower than your original recipe.

In truth, this may not matter so much as a starting point, because you would adjust the dough by feel as well as hydration percentage.

Other effects

While hydration percentage is an important contributing factor to the quality of your loaves, remember, any time you add ingredients other than the basic four (flour, salt, water, yeast), the additional content of the ingredients are going to affect the structure, texture, crust, rise, and flavor of your final product.

Sugars, fats, and eggs will all significantly change the loaf, both by affecting the gluten development, and by influencing how the yeast grows.


I would recommend staying away from a grater and either using a knife or a chocolate chipper (http://www.amazon.com/Lee-43198-Chocolate-Chipper/dp/B00005NUVX). The less friction and the more you keep your hands off it (because your hand will melt it as you have discovered) the better.


How does meat nutritional profile change in freezing?

There is some truth to this. Fats go rancid, and in particular you're worried about rancidity due to oxidation here.  Freezers do not stop oxidation, but they do slow it down a lot.

The main factors in oxidation are light, heat, and metal. Storing meat in a sealed freezer-safe (plastic) container or bag and using the smallest container possible will make the meat last a very long time - usually up to a year - before there is any noticeable rancidity.

Obviously, lean meats such as chicken breasts will last longer than fatty meats such as pork, since the fat is what oxidizes.  Also, vacuum-sealing and/or the addition of antioxidants will practically prevent any significant oxidation - the former because oxidation needs oxygen, and the latter because the free radicals get absorbed before they can contribute to rancidity.

Another concern is freezer burn, which is also due to oxidation (along with dehydration). This is almost always caused by improper storage. It's only ever happened once in my freezer, and that was when I ran out of freezer bags and used a sandwich bag instead (so don't do that).

Practically, for meat, oxidation in the freezer isn't really isn't a big concern if the food is properly stored, because very few people freeze meat for that long.  Plant products are different because they contain enzymes which give off ethylene gas, so exposure to anaerobic conditions (e.g. freezer storage) can lead to off colours and flavours. That's why pre-frozen fruits and vegetables have generally been blanched to kill the enzymes.

Anyway, back to meat - freezing doesn't change any "nutritional profile" other than the supposed food safety issues associated with rancidity.  Just cook/eat it within a reasonable time and it's practically the same as fresh.


How do I defrost frozen flour tortillas?

I buy tortillas in bulk (36 to 48) at a time. I freeze them because even our family of 6 won't go through them fast enough if left in the refrigerator! I stack them with individual freezer wax paper between the tortillas (get them at warehouse stores such as costco) and then place in a plastic freezer bag or in a plastic storage container.  I THAW them in the microwave 6 at a time, papers removed, then wrapped in a SLIGHTLY damp kitchen towel. 30 seconds on high does it for the stack.


How to store fresh coriander for future use, outside refrigerator, so that they don't lose their taste?

Buying coriander whole rather than ground is probably your best bet. As is the case with allspice and coffee, they're bound to eventually lose flavor, likely to light/heat/moisture, fresh grinding will bring back some of the spark.

If you're using fresh from the garden coriander you're not out of options. There's the floral option, and also the same rules apply here for drying herbs if you're willing to go down that route. If the fridge/freezer simply isn't an option, and having a bouquet of coriander isn't in the cards, then I would just hang them upside down in your basement/closet and then keep them in airtight containers away from direct light and heat.


Should I cook in the old carbon steel skillets I just bought at a flea market? And can I use them for campfire cooking?

You can season these pans by heating with salt in the pan until it is extremely hot. The salt is abrasive and will remove any particles when you rub it around the pan with a dry cloth. Be very careful as the salt is very hot! This opens up the pores in the steel. Remove the hot salt and ad some veg oil, olive oil or what ever you have and let it season the pan. The pan should now be non stick and the heat has sanitized the pan. Remove the oil and wipe with a paper towel.


Freezing bread baked from frozen yeast bread dough

Freezing does not adversely affect the flavor of bread. If anything there might be slightly more flavor from the bit of extra fermentation.

If your bread proofs sufficiently then the fact that the dough was previously frozen is irrelevant. The freezing of the dough before it is baked and freezing the bread afterwards are unrelated.

I have found that when I freeze bread the texture seems slightly more crumbly afterwards but I'm baking whole wheat bread that tends to get that way anyway.


Why did the apple skins turn blue/purple-ish in my apple pancakes the next day?

I feel fairly confident that what you see is anthocyanins (naturally present in apple skin) reacting with some leavening in your pancakes.
Here's a link that explains in more details, but I'll summarize: https://extension.psu.edu/fruit-color-promoting-red-color-development-in-apple
Anthocyanins are a natural pH indicator present in many fruits and vegetables. Red cabbage and blueberries are common examples. Elderberries and black sweet rice, and even many flowers also contain these compounds.
And they turn red in the presence of acid like vinegar, buttermilk, or fruit juice, and blue in the presence of a base like baking soda or baking powder.
So when you bake or cook with certain fruits that contain anthocyanins, you might be surprised that your blueberry muffins came out green, or that your "purple" rice is hot pink. This is because anthocyanins are water soluble, so they'll disperse throughout what you're cooking easily, and visually indicate the pH. You may even notice a blue shadow in the pancake around or under the apple skins.
But if this is the case you are a-okay. Judging by the contents of the recipe, it only contains a base for leavening, but no acid for it to react with. So it makes perfect sense that your apples, the only acidic component, would react and turn blue. If you want to get more rise, include some buttermilk or lemon juice next time. When it reacts with your leavening you'll get more floof, and your apples will stay red (or pink at least.)


What pasta sauces can I make that don't include cheese?

Tomato Sauce
Putanesca
Pesto (omit parmesan)
Bolognese (meat sauce)
Squash Puree (maybe with sage)
Olive oil infusions (fresh herb/garlic/chilis/lemon zest)
Roasted Red Pepper puree sauce
etc


What ingredient adds the sweetness on Croissants in Europe?

Sometimes, in the less refined areas, you'll get pastries with sugar syrup brushed on top with the egg. It gives a shine to the pastry that lasts for a long time, protects it from losing moisture and makes it sweeter.

This is why all the industrial pastries are usually so sweet.

I don't think that any traditional European patisseries have ever used Agave for anything, and I hesitate to think what their reaction would be if you suggested it.


The easiest way to measure a cup of flour is of course to take the measuring cup, plunge it into your bag of flour and just lift up a spoonful. The problem with that is that the plunging and lifting will compress the flour inside the cup and actually get you more flour than you wanted. If you spoon the flour into the measuring cup you minimize the compression and will get a more accurate measurement.


Traditional Foods: General and Consumer Aspects page 103:

As specified under the Food Adulteration act of 1955 (India):

  Mild dahi is made from mesophillic lacto cocci such as...
  ...Sour dahi contains additional cultures belonging to the thermophilic group.

Looks like there's a lot more info in the link, including typical prep methods.


How do I properly use a ceramic honing steel?

Your link has directions for use: "To properly hone the knife, hold it at a 20-degree angle and draw the blade across the steel. Never stroke the same side of blade more than once in succession."

In general, ceramic rods are more forgiving than the grooved steel ones -- which, in my opinion, should be avoided on good knives.  (But that's another discussion.)

The primary purpose of a honing rod (of whatever composition) is to straighten the edge, not "sharpen" it.  Polished smooth steel rods are useful for that purpose, but many people have found that ceramic rods have enough abrasiveness to smooth the edge very slightly while also straightening it.  (They are also useful for deburring after sharpening with a stone.)

Generally speaking, you'll want to use your ceramic rod at a slightly wider angle than the edge of the knife.  Global knives probably have a steeper angle on their edges than, say, traditional German knives: they're probably something like 15 degrees, so the recommended 20 degrees in your link instructions is probably about right, though slightly wide.  If you don't know how big 20 degrees is, look at a protractor.  With a honing ceramic, you're not going to ruin your edge with a few light strokes, so try your best to maintain that 20-ish degree angle in just a few long strokes alternating sides.  (Do NOT do like the chefs do on TV with a grooved steel and rapidly stroke the blade dozens of times -- it's probably better to do a touch-up with a ceramic rod with just a few slow even light strokes on each side periodically as needed.  You should be able to feel the difference in the edge.)

If you know what you're doing and are sharpening your knives yourself, you may find on Globals that a slightly steeper angle (e.g., 15-18 degrees) for honing gives better results in terms of maintaining the edge longer between sharpenings by keeping a more consistent bevel.  But it really depends on your maintenance schedule, angle you use to sharpen, and how hard you use your knives.

If you are inexperienced with honing knives in general, though, I'd highly recommend just talking to someone who knows what they are doing.  It's nearly impossible to describe good technique briefly in writing.


What cut of beef to use for Indian curries?

Supermarkets often just quote braising or stewing steak without detailing which cut. Any of those will work. Don't bother to trim the fat, it will disappear during the cooking.
The idea is to start with the opposite end of the scale from what you would consider a good quick-fry steak. You want the 'stringy' stuff, lots of collagen, something that will improve over 4 hours or so of gentle simmering [or 10 hours in a slow cooker]. Any meat that is good for a quick fry will be like dry bullets, tough as old boots after so long at a simmer. A coarse stewing meat will be just coming to its best. Don't let it bother you that these are the cheapest cuts you can get, it's what works best for any long-cook dish. By the same token you'd use chicken thighs not breast for a long cook.
See also What is the best cut of beef to use for stews? - which comes to the same conclusions.


Do you mean tempeh?

Tempeh is a fermented soybean product, grainier and denser than tofu. Making it requires a starter to help it ferment.

Recipes can be found here.

Otherwise, you'll have to move to Arizona.


Can I put chicken marinade on chicken after it was almost cooked?

If it's the same marinade you marinated the chicken in, I would be very careful. If it's not cooked to a high enough temperature, it is not safe to eat, as it has been in contact with raw chicken. It would probably be safe, but I would just mix up a new similar batch and use that to finish off the chicken. It's not worth risking salmonella to save the cost of making a little more marinade.


Would adding more egg help crumbling cookies?

Adding a whole egg would help, but you might start with adding just one egg yolk. The additional fat will address the dryness which leads to the crumbling.

You may also try other fats like butter, cream cheese, or vegetable oil.

If even one egg yolk is 'too much' for your desired outcome, you might try a small amount of half&half.


A standard tomato implies that there is a standard salsa, which there isn't - but let's stick with your specific case of pico de gallo AKA salsa cruda.

The distinguishing characteristic of salsa cruda is that it uses raw tomatoes - the cruda literally means raw.  Since you aren't going to be cooking them, and since water is going to be your primary binding agent, you'll want to use plump, juicy tomatoes that have potent flavour when raw, and that just so happens to be those bog-standard globe tomatoes you see in the supermarket aisles.  Of course, if you can get garden-fresh tomatoes, so much the better.

Cherry tomatoes are also a great choice - they're very juicy and a little sweeter than globes - the only downside is that for a chopped salsa (as in pico de gallo), they tend to make preparation much more difficult and messy. If you've got the time and patience, give it a try; cherry tomato salsas taste much "fresher" than those made from globes.

The other common types of tomatoes, most notably roma and pear tomatoes, are really meant more for cooking. That's not to say you can't eat them raw, but they don't have a lot of juice or raw flavour, so they don't make a good base for cruda. Roasted roma or heirloom tomatoes (especially fire-roasted) make a great addition to salsa, but of course, it's not really "cruda" anymore if you cook any of the ingredients.

Do yourself a favour and don't use the plum tomatoes in a can; they're plenty juicy but have almost no seeds and no flavour.

So, all in all, for pico de gallo I believe that regular globe tomatoes are the most appropriate, but any tomatoes with strong flavour and plenty of juice will do.


Your seasoning is uneven. Possibly because of the very pitted rough-cast nature of modern cast iron pans. It looks like your oil has been more attracted to itself than the pan surface.
DIY seasoning isn't evenly black to start with. It's brown. The black comes with time & repeated re-heats.
You could see if several repeated coats will eventually smooth out - seasoning is not done in one go, it's done over several repetitions using the absolute minimum of oil each time.
I'm at a loss as to why you considered it necessary to remove the professional quality seasoning provided by the manufacturer to save you have to go through this yourself. It does fortunately look like you weren't totally successful in removing all the existing seasoning, or your first DIY coat would have been spotted brown over silver-grey.


"Baking Spread" is what used to be Margarine, before most of the ingredients of margarine were banned [predominantly the hydrogenated vegetable oils & trans fats].

In the UK, the most famous baking margarine was Stork, which still exists in a new form. It is owned by Unilever, who publish this data on its formulation - Unilever: Stork

  Ingredients

  Vegetable oils in varying proportions (70%)(rapeseed, palm,
  sunflower), water, salt (1.5%), buttermilk, preservative ( potassium
  sorbate), emulsifier (mono- diglycerides of fatty acids), citric acid,
  flavourings, vitamin A and D, colour (carotenes).


Can i cook a hash brown differently than the instruction?

So long as the end result is cooked, you can do it however you like.
I'm assuming frozen, ready-made, supermarket hash browns [pretty much all you ever see in the UK]

Oven bake - the lower-fat alternative, 220°C 15 - 20 mins. Nutrition content as stated on the pack.
Shallow fry - medium heat, same total time, turn halfway through. More fat than the pack says. Good crisp & brown exterior.
Deep fry - for when there's just not enough fat in your diet ;-) Probably ½ - ⅔ the time of shallow-frying. Should crisp up well without browning quite so much.
Microwave - probably 1 - 2 mins, just check for when it's piping hot. Cooked, yes, but a texture like porridge.
Dry fry or dutch oven - might work if you've patience & don't burn the bits that touch the surface before the heat reaches the rest. Wouldn't try this myself.

& just to be silly - you could boil them… but really, no.


How To Get Flavour Into Dried Grains And Pulses

Why infuse the flavor just during soaking? Unless you are eating them just soaked, after soaking you can cook(fry) the pulses with herbs and spices and that will give them a nice flavor. Most Indian Dal curries are made this way.


Is there a decent way to rehydrate and sauté dried chili peppers?

Frankly drying is not the way to go if you want to retain flavor and texture. When you dry fruit (chilis are fruits, not vegetables) you make a load of irreversible changes in texture and flavor. A chili is made of tiny cells filled with liquid, the drying process ruptures these so the water can escape. Rehydrating a dried chili doesn't make it plump up again, really you get more of a soggy mess.

Flavor-wise you'll lose some of that chili essence, the non heat flavor. Heat-wise you'll retain the spice, if anything it gets more concentrated.

You can steam peppers, it's a good way to cook them without losing flavor, and no the steam won't carry flavor away. It won't concentrate the chili flavor though or make them spicier somehow.

Growing your own really spicy chilis can be done, depending on the climate you may need a greenhouse.

If heat is your goal your best bet is to shop around for the spiciest peppers you can and then eat them raw rather than cooking them first, or turn them into a hot sauce. Include the seeds and the pith if you really want to feel it. If you can't find them fresh often then freeze them, they keep for years if they're sealed up properly, and although their texture isn't as good as fresh it's the closest you'll get.


Hah, I get to cite my new copy of McGee's "On Food and Cooking" for the first time! There are several things going on here (all of which can be found in the 2004 edition of McGee, most on page 50).

Firstly, as Nathan indicates in his answer, most of the liquid that is sold as buttermilk these days is in fact not "real" buttermilk, but so-called "cultured buttermilk", made from ordinary skim milk and fermented until acid and thick.

Secondly, even traditional buttermilk was somewhat sour, though less than cultured buttermilk. To find out why, let's examine the processes that were involved in making it. If you want to make butter, you start by separating milk into cream and whey. Since the 19th century, we typically do that with a centrifuge and it goes quite quickly, but before then, we would leave it to gravity. That would take a while, and the milk would start to ferment while it happened - especially in warmer environments. This fermenting is essentially lactic acid bacteria converting lactose into lactic acid, which sours the milk a little.

So in either case, you would have more lactic acid in butter + buttermilk than in butter + whole milk.


Difference between brown sugar and white sugar?

Brown sugar is just white granulated sugar with molasses added. Dark brown sugar just has more molasses than light brown sugar.

Coffee shops often have turbinado sugar, a common brand is Sugar in the Raw. Turbinado sugar is brown because it is less refined than white sugar.

The turbinado sugar is less "wet" than brown sugar, so it will dissolve somewhat faster than brown sugar. The molasses inhibits the sugar from dissolving quite as quickly, but will also contribute to the sugar drying in hard clumps.

Given a choice in a coffee shop, I would choose the turbinado or the white sugar. The molasses in brown sugar doesn't add anything that I want. Honestly, I can't really tell the difference in coffee between turbinado and white sugar, but I use turbinado anyway - for no particular reason.


Is zesting lemons effective when making lemonade?

You'll get a strong/different flavor using the lemon zest.  I personally like it.

That said, if you mash/muddle the lemons you'll probably get much the same flavor as zesting.


How can I remove a stuck liquor decanter stopper?

I would recommend not immersing the decanter entirely, but placing it up to the neck in hot water.  This will expand the glass of the decanter slightly, but not the stopper.  That might be enough to let you coax it out.

The shape of your stopper is also convenient for making a little noose for it out of cord/thin rope, to allow you to get some extra purchase on it, to help you prise it out.  So you could hang the decanter and stopper from a beam or similar, and use your weight to pull down on it.  On reflection, and in light of Doug's comment, I'm not convinced this is great advice and should be followed only with serious consideration of the effect on you and the decanter, should the stopper rapidly become unstuck!

As Wayfaring Stranger said, a gentle tap around the sides should help, but be VERY careful not to break the glass, or scratch it. Something not too heavy would be best, and plastic or wooden would avoid scratching - or cover a small hammer with a cloth.


The French have names for a lot of cuts,  not just 'dice' and 'mince'.  (and I don't mean 'large dice').  And that list is incomplete -- it's missing chiffonade ... I have no idea how many others.

Julienne is a cut where you have items looking like small sticks -- a few inches long (about 10 cm) , and about 1/8" (3mm) square.

It's also called 'matchstick cut' in English, if you don't want to use the loanword.

It's generally done with vegetables:

Peel the item if needed
Cut it down to length
Slice one side to flatten it
Place the flat side down, and slice into planks about 1/8" across.
Stack up some of the planks, and slice them every 1/8" to make sticks.

... and there are mandolines (food slicers) that can do this style of cut by just pushing the food through the blades.

As for purpose -- it's just one of many cuts that you can use to try to make sure that things are cut evenly.  (especially when you might have more than one person doing food prep).

It's useful for trying to make sure that items cook (or pickle) quickly.  It can also help make sure that harder vegetables (eg. carrots) are easier to eat (both to chew and to pick up with a fork).  It can be used to otherwise change texture in a dish.

It can also be decorative if you cut up things of a contracting color (or colors) and sprinkle them on top -- bell peppers, carrots, apple, etc.)


It's the water in your skin more so than anything else that makes it stick to your hands; generally the most effective way to prevent any kind of water-based dough or batter from sticking to your hands is by greasing them.  Some of the fat might get into the dough, but not really enough to make a difference.

Any kind of fat will do. Vegetable oil is the economical choice but margarine or shortening will coat the hands much more effectively.

If you've got gloves then it's even easier, just spray them generously with cooking spray before you put them on and start to work the dough.


Looks like what you read was correct.  From Fine Seafood Co here is a description of the John Dory fish. (As many in the US will not be familiar.)

  John Dory
  Often named St Peter’s fish (St Pierre in France, Janitore in Spain), as he is alleged to be the origin of the distinctive dark ‘thumbprint’ (or spot) on its side as a thank you for some help with his tax! The English name John Dory arrived from the French ‘jaune doré’ meaning ‘golden yellow’ – a good description for this unusual looking fish, which varies in size from smaller 230-450g fish up to 2kg. Because of the large head (like Monkfish, this accounts for half its weight), John Dory is best filleted, but beware the low yield (around 35%) and some sharp nasty spines, which require extra care when filleting. The flesh is creamy-white, with a dense texture similar to Dover Sole, which holds up well during cooking. Ideal pan-fried or grilled John Dory works well with Mediterranean flavours, salsas, and peppery sauces. It may be an expensive fish with a low yield – but it’s worth it!

(Emphasis mine.)

Per my research, Dover Sole seems to be the first choice to use as a substitute for John Dory. Another that I found mentioned quite often was Turbot. But that seems to be even more expensive than John Dory.

Others listed as possible substitutes on Cookipedia are: Bass, Grouper, Snapper, Emperor, and Halibut.

Here's a link to the Guide on Fine Seafood Co with descriptions of many other fish. (No endorsement intended - just good information.)


Soy sauce is extremely salty, which will inhibit growth of pathogens; Eat by date suggests 2-3 years, once opened, if kept refrigerated.

With the small hole, better safe than sorry.  I would recommend keeping it in the refrigerator.

If you are not going to use it for a longer time, give it a better seal by placing plastic wrap over opening.  Depending on the exact nature of the container, you may be able to remove the top, place plastic wrap over the opening, and then replace the cap.


Below methods work on dried and fresh walnuts:

put walnuts in bowl and pour boiling water, after 15 minutes pour out the water. skin should be easily removes with nails or small knife
put nuts on a baking tray, put in oven warmed up to 200C (400F) for 15 minutes. When walnuts will cool off you can rub the skin out in your hand (if you have allergy you may use gloves)


Does "the canned spinach taste" have a name? Other than "the canned spinach taste"?

Most likely, the taste you are referring to is oxalic acid, which has a bitter/astringent taste and is found in many green vegetables including spinach, Brussels sprouts, green beans, collard greens, etc.

Herbs such as basil don't contain a lot of oxalic acid, and I can't say I've ever noticed it there, but they do have some.

One important thing to note is, cooking green vegetables and herbs in water (i.e. boiling them) is a very effective way of removing the oxalic acid - but the most important part of that process is removing the vegetables afterward. If they're canned, or added raw to a sauce, then the oxalic acid is just going to stew.

Dried herbs likely contain lower oxalic acid content because it's been evaporated away along with the water.

If you're only finding this taste in leafy greens (and not green beans, green peppers, broccoli, etc.) then it's also possible that you're tasting iron. It tastes like... well, metal. Some of the foods highest in iron include shellfish and seeds (pumpkin, sesame, etc.). So if you're finding a similar taste in those, even just a hint of it, it may be the high iron that you find "nasty".


Based on your description, I am 99.999...% certain that your wife likes the good ol' American-style Wilton buttercream. It's literally butter and powdered sugar whipped together, with a little milk, salt, and flavoring to taste. Thick, heavy, sticky, grainy and pasty are all good descriptors.

For what you like-- the most likely possibility, since this sounds like a storebought cake(?), is that you're just getting an American buttercream with corn syrup and vegetable shortening used instead of some or all of the butter, basically a cool whip without that signature cool whip taste.

There are a lot of more interesting options though. Italian and Swiss meringues are both less sweet than American buttercream and are not grainy at all, but since they only contain egg whites, butter, and sugar, might lack a noticeable cream taste. Or noticeable taste of any kind. French buttercream is similar, but replaces some or all of the egg whites with yolks. It has a richer taste, but... well, eggs don't taste like cream. The European buttercreams are higher in fat proportionately, and I'd describe them all as a little slick and quick to melt, but they seem to coat your mouth a bit. But in a recognizable, buttery way, which is very different from storebought frostings.

Since your frosting has a pudding-like consistency, and a creamy taste, then my guess, or rather recommendation, is an ermine frosting, or perhaps a German buttercream. Both of these start with a sort of pudding which is then beaten with butter to make a frosting, lending them a dense but fluffy texture. Both of them offer custom sweetness-- especially ermine buttercream. You can make that with no sugar at all if you want to. Ermine buttercream starts with a cooked starch and milk pudding base, and German buttercream begins with a pastry cream base -- cooked starch, milk, and egg yolks; Sugar to taste for both, but in the case of the German buttercream, the less sugar you use, the more likely you'll end up with scrambled egg bits.

Overall they have the capacity to be the least sweet of all frostings, and because of the higher liquid and starch content, they're actually a little lower in fat proportionately. While less sweet to taste, they're still just as high in carbs due to the starch. They have a very thick, sticky, but smooth texture, without necessarily being "rich" as these things go.

The fact that you're using a chocolate frosting as a frame of reference does make it more complicated. As mentioned in a comment, you could be looking at a ganache, or a glaze made with cocoa powder or syrup. When you say pudding, I think of instant jello pudding. If that's what you meant, then again, I think you're looking for ermine or German buttercream.

However, be aware that vegetable shortening-based frostings are much, much more common, as they are cheaper, less labor-intensive, and easier to make. If you aren't familiar with the more traditional options, I could imagine describing them as "pudding-like."


How to understand flavors and when to use combination of them?

Yes, all dishes should have flavour combinations, unless the dish consists of one single ingredient with no seasoning added, no oil added, it can't help but have them... even then a tomato for example has different flavour in the skin than it has in the pulp, than it has in the seeds, the inner leaves of a brussels sprouts will have less bitterness and more sweetness than its darker outer leaves... flavour combinations are almost impossible to avoid.

So to balance flavours you do have to understand them. Not everyone might agree with the combinations you choose to create and not everyone enjoys the same taste combinations, but even so, to reliably create the blend you do like, you need to understand how it is composed.

There are any number of resources online which will break flavours down to a few key groups, though not everyone describes it the same way. Essentially you need to understand what is meant by basic terms such as sweet, bitter, sour, umami and salt. To those five you can also add 'spiciness/heat' which is often considered to be more sensation than flavour.

You should read up on what it already accepted knowledge about the effects these flavours have on each other, how salt changes perception of bitterness, how sweetness can counteract excess salt but leave the umami clear. Read up what chefs have to say about these interactions and test them out, see if you detect the same effects they do.

Spend time tasting your ingredients and training your palate (I was so busy thinking of flavours as a palette from which one can choose the equivalent of colours to paint a dish as you might paint a picture that I originally spelled 'palate' as 'palette') so that you can analyse a dish and detect what makes the difference between a combination you like and one you don't. Understand your ingredients, both fresh and storecupboard ones well enough to know quickly what will make that difference.


Indian cooking - How do I get the consistent taste

Perhaps you couldn't get definite answers because there aren't any...

You can't get a consistent taste every time: your basic ingredients won't be the same (different stage of development for vegetables, possibly different varieties, not always the same freshness, etc.), and neither will the fresh spices like ginger and garlic, or things like yoghurt. With experience, you can somewhat correct for this, but never completely.
You probably don't need all the 12 spices, but they each add something to the final taste (or appearance: turmeric and dried sweet pepper come to mind). Leaving out some of the minor ones won't do much harm, but might make you wonder what's missing.

Also, the same spice might get added twice: e.g. cumin: once whole, and fried in the hot oil, then ground just before the simmering stage. And that will give two different "notes" from the same spice.


Sous vide is a method to bring the interior of a meat to a safe temperature before applying a quick sear to the outside.  The sear is purely for flavor and texture, not food safety.

Sushi grade fish is certified to have been processed (i.e. frozen, cut) in such a way that it's edible raw.  The interior of a sushi grade salmon steak should have minimal bacteria if properly handled after purchase and isn't left to sit unrefrigerated.

So, to answer your question, yes, you can sous vide the fish, but I see no benefit, not even destroy meaningful amounts of bacteria (because there shouldn't be much there to begin with).


"Lime water" technique -- why use an excess of cal?

The supersaturation of cal seems to be the common instruction in most online sources, but no reason is given.  The best reason seems to come from chemistry texts, which note:

Ca(OH)2 is only slightly soluble in water (0.16g Ca(OH)2/100g water at 20°C) forming a basic solution called lime water. The solubility decreases with increasing temperature. The suspension of calcium hydroxide particles in water is called milk of lime.

According to Cook's Illustrated, you are trying to get as much lime into the water as you can, since your target is an extremely alkaline (pH 12.4) solution.  So .. if it's hard to dissolve Ca(OH)2, and you're going for maximum saturation, dump a whole bunch in and pour off the solution.