What other cookies/biscuits were traditionally baked in shell shaped forms like this one?

It’s not a perfect match1, but considering the region and that you apparently have just one or a few, I would assume that this is a slightly unusual mold for “Bärentatzen“ („bear paws“), a classic Swabian Christmas cookie.

(Source)
A soft but stable flourless dough made with whipped eggs (or just egg whites), sugar, chocolate and almonds is first shaped into balls, coated in sugar, and then pressed into a wooden or metal mold just to shape them. The sugar prevents them from sticking and they are baked not in the mold, but free on a baking sheet. If you look closely at your mold, you’ll see that there is none of the slight polymerized grease residue that suggests that it was ever put into an oven.
Molds are traditionally made of wood (“Model”), usually beech or other hardwoods, but I have seen tin ones as well - the metal ones were more common in the earlier 20th century (pre-WW I&II and shortly after), but often had problems with the material suffering over time. Wooden ones are seeing a comeback in recent years.
Bärentatzen are pretty local - older Swabian cook books have them2,3, in the rest of Germany they are virtually unknown or mean another type of cookie closer related to spritz cookies. Food historians have suggested that the original shape was supposed to be scallops or seashells (think the religious symbol of the pilgrimage) and that the reference was lost at some point. The alternative name „Schokoladenmuscheln“3 („chocolate scallops“) is another indicator.

1 Typically Bärentatzen would be single shells. The baking equipment company Staedter sells a wooden version of a double shell  and of a single shell as „Spekulatius mold“, which is in my opinion imprecise as Speculaas are traditionally very flat and at least the single one is sold as „Bärentatzen“ by Birkmann, another baking equipment supplier.
2 Kochen und Backen nach Grundrezepten, Luise Haarer, 1965 (and others)
3 Kiehnle-Kochbuch,  Hermine Kiehnle, 1928


How do I know when my stock is done cooking?

Really it's up to you. I generally cook mine for 4 hours, but you can cook it longer or shorter. Cooking it for a short time will lead to a lighter, less flavorful stock, and cooking for longer leads to a darker, richer stock.

Once again, there's no right answer, but I believe 1.5 hours and 6 hours would be best.


In general, you shouldn't trust anything with a poor seal to last outside the fridge. In the fridge, they'll last just as long as a well-sealed jar that you've just opened. Commercially processed pickles can last a year in the fridge. I wouldn't expect homemade ones to last as long but they should still be good for long enough to eat them all, at least months!
The solution in the future is simply to switch to a different canning method, for example this lower temperature one or a boiling water bath one. Here's an example recipe - you could certainly adjust the spices to match the recipe you like, but it's of course safest to stick to that trusted recipe for the bulk ingredients.
Your problem is that this canning method doesn't reliably produce good seals. The similar inversion method, mentioned by Martin in the comments (turning the jar over after filling and closing) does work better, but even that doesn't always make a good seal! See for example this USDA source, which says:

Some other methods of sealing jars call for inverting a closed, filled jar of hot product for anywhere from thirty seconds to one hour. (Inverting is turning the filled jar upside down on its lid.) While this inversion process can be successful in producing a sealed jar, it works best with very hot product. Individual variation in practicing this procedure or unexpected interruptions can result in delays between filling jars, getting lids screwed on, and inverting the jars. If the product cools down too much, the temperature of the product can become low enough to no longer be effective in sealing jars or preventing spoilage.
When the inversion process does work, the vacuum seals of filled jars still tend to be
weaker than those produced by a short boiling water canning process. A larger amount of
retained oxygen in the headspace may allow some mold growth if airborne molds contaminated
the surface of the product as the jar was filled and closed. More complete removal of oxygen
from the headspace also offers some longer protection from undesirable color and flavor changes with some types of fruit products. A weak seal may be more likely to fail during storage.


Here are a few options:

Make a salt barrier around the jar.
Keep jar in a bowl full of water.
Use air-tight container (doesn't need to be a jar).

Any of the above should keep ants away from your honey.


Is it safe to reheat food in plastic containers?

There has been quite a lot of discussion regarding the safety aspects of cooking/reheatin foodstuffs in plastic microwave containers. I'm not sure there is, as yet, any conclusive evidence one way of the other.

If you have to reheat food in plastic containers, make sure they're labelled specifically for that purpose. Personally, I'd use glass or ceramic.


How long does cooked garlic keep in fridge?

In general the FDA recommends that you consume leftovers within 3-5 days (See their website for specific foods). In this case, I don't think the garlic is what's holding you back.

While garlic and herb infused oils do present some botulism risk, I think what they are getting at is the can of preserved garlic you've had in the fridge for 9 months.


It sounds like you may be having temperature control issues.  If it's not dark enough, keep it over low heat for a bit longer.  If it's hardening/burning, it's probably caused by one of the following:

1) your stovetop (if burner isn't turned low enough or burner is too large and overheats sides of pan)

2) your pan (easy to burn things if your pan isn't sufficiently thick-bottomed)

3) lack of attention during the carmelization process (you need to move the sugar towards the center once carmelization begins to prevent burning at the edges, but not stir it too much).

You might find these extremely detailed directions helpful for troubleshooting.


Can evaporated milk be converted to sweetened condensed?

You may convert evaporated milk into condensed milk by adding sugar to it. For each cup of  evaporated milk add about 1 and 1/4 cups of sugar.  Pour the mixture in a pan, stir while heating on the stovetop until the sugar completely dissolves.  Let cool.  The heating of evaporated milk is similar to the treatment condensed milk undergoes, so the evaporated milk with sugar should be a perfect replacement.


The machine should not be accumulating bits of dough ... it should be designed so that any stray crumbs of dough naturally fall out of it.  This is true of mine (Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller attachement) an I merely use a stiff dry brush to clean off the bits of dough which stick to the outside.

If the pasta maker is metal, you definitely do not want to use water, as the instructions say.  You will never be able to dry it properly and it will rust.

If it's an inexpensive pasta maker, I would suggest trying a different brand.  If it's an expensive one, I would contact the manufacturer.  Otherwise, canned compressed air as the two commentors above suggest is worth a try.

FWIW, I wouldn't worry about the egg in the pasta dough becoming toxic.  However, I would worry about the dirty pasta maker attracting bugs.


How hot does the water need to be when cooking stock?

Traditionally, you want it at a very slow simmer, approximately 200 F, 94 C.  This is essentially the same for all stocks.  This is one case where very few people actually use a thermometer; the visual indication of slow occassional bubbles is a good sign you are the right temperature.

You could probably go lower, but without the visual indication, a thermometer would be required, or even a feedback loup such as is present in a sous-vide setup or immersion circulator.  In that case, anything above 140 F / 65 C should be safe, and reasonable extraction amd gelatin conversion times are likely starting around 180 F / 83 C.  The lower the temperature, the longer it will take to get a good result.

In the other direction, the main reasons not to go  to a full boil are:

The agitation from the bubbling at a full boil will emulsify and suspend more particles in the body o the stock, leading to a cloudier end product
The more rapid evaporation may require you to top off the stock pot with fresh water more often in order to keep the ingredients covered by the liquid


A similar can 7 inches(17.78cm) high and 3 inches(7.62cm) dia had a labed tare weight of 7 ounces(198.45g)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pre-1963-Vintage-Bakers-Angel-Flake-Coconut-Tin-Can-Advertising-5-1-2-Height-/153154542442?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10


The oil is for carrying the flavors of the herbs and spices throughout the marinade (and ultimately, into the meat or whatever you're marinating). Some of the chemical compounds in those herbs and spices are more soluble in fat than they are in water, the oil absorbs those flavors and distributes them more evenly throughout the finished dish.


What is the difference between various cuts of steak?

There are a number of sites that provide diagrams and information on the different cuts, one fairly extensive resource is Beef Glossary - Different Beef Cuts , Diagram, Types Of Meat

Edit: Made a change due to comment.


How can I mimic glutinous rice inexpensively in Latin America?

Sushi rice is not the same as "sweet" or "glutinous" rice.  Sushi rice is simply a short grain rice.  It is seasoned, after cooking, with a sugar/salt/rice wine mixture that helps flavor it and hold it together when used for making sushi.  If that is your goal, you could probably come close  by experimenting with other short grained rices.

"Sweet", "glutinous", or "sticky rice" is soaked then steamed.  It sticks together naturally, and is often eaten with the hands in small clumps.

So, I guess the more important question is what is your goal?


How do I get good results with marinaded venison?

Venison is, generally, an extremely lean meat. This means it responds well to two cooking methods: very very fast and very very hot (grilling, perhaps roasting with a lot of basting, or lard the meat first), or very very slow and moist (braising). This is of course dependent on the cut; loin is best grilled, shoulder is best braised (due to the connective tissue), leg is best roasted.

I wouldn't use plain water as a braising liquid. 50/50 water and red wine, or stock and wine, or just stock... cider would be lovely, so would various juices.


Is it contaminating the spice to touch it after touching raw meat?

The bowl (and the salt/pepper) is contaminated if you touch it after touching raw chicken or any other unsafe food.

In fact, this is precisely why cooks and TV chefs mix it up in a little bowl first. They don't want to contaminate the entire container or even a perfectly good salt/pepper shaker.

They don't reuse the bowl afterward, they throw out any leftovers and toss the dish in the dishwasher. It's a convenient and safe way to season raw meat.


How do I get the right amount of heat from Carolina Reapers in cookies/brownies?

Easy! You'll need to first make "Carolina Reaper powder"

Dry them by running a fishing line or thread near the stem and hang
them in a dry place for 3 days.
Once they are dry, remove the stems and place in a spice grinder or food processor.
Place the powder in a spice container.

One you have made your Carolina Reaper powder, you can proceed to make your brownies as normal, and add a pinch to the batter. The Scolville Units of your peppers will vary based on your plants vs someone else's, so it's difficult to recommend a precise amount of powder to use. That will also depend on how spicy you want these devil brownies to be!

To calibrate the right level of spiciness, this jalapeno brownie recipe offers a good baseline. Based on some rough math, the recipe calls for 1 Million Scolville units. A single Carolina Reaper contains roughly 1.6 Million Scolville units. So you could use about 2/3 of one whole pepper, or you could use the amount of powder you get from 2/3 of a pepper.

EDIT: Based on some rough math below, approximately .04 dried peppers would be needed to accomplish the level of heat in the recipe above.


'You shouldn't eat mussels that don't open' is an unfounded myth. It was first mentioned in a book by the British food writer Jane Grigson in the 1970s and grew through repetition to the point that 90% of cook books mentioned it in the 1990s.

The fact is, mussels that don't open after cooking are more likely to be safe than those that do.

You should, however, be careful to remove any mussels that have opened before cooking, as they'll be dead and likely to make you ill.


Can water kefir grains be turned into milk kefir grains and if so how?

It might be technically possible (with a lot of work) to get water-kefir "grains" (or, more correctly, SCOBY, a Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) to survive on milk, although I'm not sure what kind of drink that would produce.
But if your question is, as I suspect, whether you can turn the water-kefir SCOBY into what people commonly refer to as "milk kefir", then the answer is an absolute no because they are completely different cultures.
This is a common point of confusion, and it arises from the fact that "water kefir" is a misnomer. The word kefir properly refers to the culture and related drink based on milk, and it probably originates from the Caucasus area.
On the other hand, what we informally call water kefir is actually a completely different culture and drink, more correctly called tibicos, and it probably originates from the Americas.


This is no big deal. Small grease fires happen constantly in commercial kitchens. Ever see a big flame coming from a wok at a good Chinese restaurant? That's probably an oil flare up, not alcohol, and is one of the things that gives a well-made stir-fry its trademark smokey flavor. Most of the time, in between uses, commercial woks just get cleaned out with some water and a stiff bristled brush.

As far as your cast iron goes, unless you let it burn for a while, you should be able to clean it the way you normally would. Give it a good wipe with a dry towel after to get any black bits out so they don't stick to your next meal. People way over think the care of cast iron pans.

As far as your cabinets are concerned, if it is actually soot and not temperature damage to the material, you just need a basic degreaser. Most kitchen/all-purpose cleaners are degreasers. This one is my favorite for non-food-contact surfaces, such as cabinets, if you're interested. For slight graying from a bit of burnt oil, a good quality glass cleaner would probably do the trick with minimal effort. If you end up needing something beefier, check your local grocery store for Lestoil. I have never, ever encountered a greasy soot will stand up to that stuff. It's rarely my first choice, however, because it's got a very strong, distinct, (though not entirely unpleasant) odor. If for some reason, you've got the world's worst grease stain and absolutely nothing else is working, and you'll have to replace the surface if you can't get something to remove it, lye will get rid of it. Lye is also extremely toxic, gives nasty chemical burns on contact and in my opinion should only be used as a last resort. You can buy pure lye, or spray on lye-containing mixtures in the form of oven cleaner. Note: this has a much higher chance of totally destroying the surface you're attempting to clean than any other method. (as an aside, lye is a great way of stripping old crap off of cast iron pans)


What is vietnamese pho? What exactly does it consist of?

Full disclosure — I'm not Vietnamese :-)

The word "pho" (actually "Phở") is a corruption of the French word "feu", as in "Pot au Feu", the dish that it can claim as its ancestor. (That's from a Smithsonian Magazine article about Vietnamese food from sometime in the past few years.)

It's a stock-based brothy soup, usually with at least onions and rice noodles and often (by customer choice) one or more meat additions.  Sometimes the meat is added raw to the boiling hot soup immediately before serving. The dish is almost always served with a side platter of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, sliced-up chiles, and lime.  The herbs are usually something like mint, Thai basil, and cilantro (or equivalent).

It's not a super-fancy dish, and to my knowledge there's no International Phở Licensing Board, so the rules as to what is and isn't "correct" are probably pretty loose. I've had an awesome veggie-broth Phở, for example.


Can I turn coarse coarnmeal into fine with a blender?

In theory it's possible. However, not all blenders are created equal. This link mentions doing it, but in my experience to blend something into a super fine powder (a flour-like consistency) you need a really powerful machine like a Vita-mix. Also you may get inconsistencies in texture with a blender. This is one reason professional coffee bars use burr grinders instead of blade grinders: to achieve a consistent grind.


Why didn't my cheesecake bites come out right?

My immediate response would be that an hour for cheesecake bites seems to be way to long. The smaller your baked goods are, the faster they bake. I
I would lower the baking temperature slightly and reduce the time by at least half and test fro there.

If they are baked as a pan and cut, then the oven itself might be running hot, and you may want to check if it is accurate. Again try baking at a lower temp, cheesecake does well at lower temperatures. Could even try baking them in a water bath to keep them from getting to hot.

As to it not being sweet enough, the simple fix is to increase the sugar.


There is one major aspect that controls what type of cooking properties an individual cut of beef has:  the amount of connective tissue.   This is what groups the various cuts into two basic categories:

Slow cooking cuts

Slow cooking cuts have a lot of connective tissue, which means they are tough but flavorful.

As a general rule (there are exceptions), they benefit from slow cooking techniques which provide the time (usually several hours or more) for the connective proteins in the meat (collagen) to break down and be hydrated into gelatin, rendering them sumptuous and delicious.

Historically, these were often the cheaper cuts including shank, ribs, chuck, brisket and tail.

Typical preparation methods include braising, barbecuing, slow roasting, smoking, and grinding (into sausage or hamburger).

Fast cooking cuts

Fast cooking cuts have little connective tissue, so if not overcooked, they can be tender and delicious (although more delicate of flavor than a high connective tissue cut).

As a general rule, they benefit from fast, high heat cooking methods which develop flavor on the surface through browning, but leave the interior rare to medium rare, thus retaining tenderness.

These were the more expensive cuts including the surloin, tenderloin, and center cut steaks.

Typical cooking methods include sauteeing, griddling, pan frying, sauteeing and so on.

The outliers

There is one small group of outiers, the fast cooking tougher cuts, including flank, skirt, and "london broil."  Today, these are extremely popular for fajitas, at least in the US.

These cuts have high flavor, and very distinct banding or grain, but little fat.

If they are cooked rapidly, and cut against the grain, they can be served medium-rare to medium and have a lot of flavor without being overly tough although they will never be as delicate as some of the true fast cooking cuts.

Hoof and Horn

You will see that the general characterization butchers often use is that the steak is more tender the farther you get from the hoof or the horn.

This is because muscles the animal used heavily (like its neck and shoulder muscles to hold its own weight up and walk around, or its tail constantly flicking) have a great deal of connective tissue and become tougher.

Less used muscles such the tenderloins along the spine stay tender.

In this diagram (from Wikipedia):

almost all of the tender cuts come from the loin and surloin.  Some of the best slow cooking cuts come from the chuck, shank and round.

Interchangability

In general, you can exchange cuts from the same group with a relatively good degree of success.

So using a rib eye steak instead of a tenderloin for fast grilling will be quite successful; using a chuck instead of a shank for stew will have a good outcome.   But trying to change a filet for a shank will not.

Cooking and Presentation

Cooking method and presentation do have a important role to play.

Fast cooking cuts cooked well done will become tough, dry, and almost stringy.

Some tougher cuts can be tenderized mechanically (by beating them with a meat mallet, or using a tenederizer that creates many small cuts).  This is typical of the so-called cube steak or swiss steak.  At the extreme end, these cuts can be ground for very flavorful sausage or hamburger.

Another example is the round, which is often good for roasting, if sliced thinly across the grain which helps maximize the tenderness.

Substitution

So to substitute one cut for another, you want to select one from the same basic category, and cut to approximately the same thickness (for your application).

See also:

What makes a moist steak (or roast)?


What is the difference between cooking at low temperature and sous vide in a plastic bag?

While sous vide does mean "under vacuum," much of the cooking is done in plastic zip lock bags with no vacuum, but with the air squeezed out. The critical element is precise temperature control that you achieve with an immersion circulator. You could certainly cook this way by dumping your vegetables or meat right into the water itself. The problem is that most of the immersion circulators on the market today, would not handle the contamination of the water.  They would get greasy or accumulate food particles and their performance would degrade or they would stop working. There is also the issue of losing flavor to the cooking water, which you point out. You can also achieve this level of precise temperature control with many combi-ovens, thus eliminating the need for water and bags, but most are cost prohibitive for the home cook. Another pricey, but excellent option is a temperature controlled induction burner, such as the Breville Control Freak.  This would allow the same temperature accuracy without the plastic bags, and also provide the ability to use any liquid for cooking.


Is it safe to wash a little Sterno down a sink drain?

Sterno is gelled denatured alcohol.  It is denatured alcohol (a combination of methanol and ethanol) so that you can't, safely, drink it, but it is still mostly alcohol, which will dissolve in water and clean up just fine.

While I wouldn't dump a lot of it down the sink, you should have no problem with cleanup.  And while Sterno isn't safe to drink, it won't be a problem if you touch it in cleaning up.

I just double checked the Sterno site and they confirm water cleanup and say, additionally, that it is biodegradable.


Make sure to seriously wash the wok before initial use. Scrub it with hot soapy water and dry thoroughly.

After drying, place the wok over the stove on high heat until it starts to smoke. Rotate the pan so that all parts of the inside are exposed to high heat. Then rub the wok with oil on a paper towel.

After this, try not to scrub the wok. A rinse and rub down are usually all that is needed to clean it up. Always rub the wok with a little bit of vegetable oil after washing/drying. That will help to prevent rust.

And the most important factor of seasoning a wok is to use it. It's definiteily my most used kitchen item, and it's just getting better and better with each use!


Ice cream stabilizer - ratio of components

I generally use locust bean gum : guar gum : carrageenan in ice cream with the following ratio: 4:2:1


Is having an extending blade near the knife handle a serious risk when cutting food?

No, there is not a risk to getting the kind of cut you describe, as long as you treat your knife with the respect it deserves.

If there's a dull, raised part at the back of the knife, it is called the bolster, otherwise it's the heel of the blade.  The raised version is a common trait in forged knifes, and is supposed to add strength to the blade.

From experience: yes, you can cut yourself on the heel of bolster-less knifes, but generally not in the way you describe. I would not avoid them, or avoid knives where the blade tapers from the handle for safety reasons. I've cut myself a couple times on the heel of the blade when grabbing for a knife in a hurry, but these kinds of cuts are generally superficial and fast healing.

There is also a significant advantage to bolster-less blades: they're much easier to sharpen, and have more usable length to the blade.


Can I re-can a batch of salsa that is missing an ingredient?

The conservative answer is that you should only do canning based on an approved, known to be safe recipe from a reputable source such as a university extension or a safety agency.

Having canned the salsa without the sugar, you have deviated from such a trusted recipe, and so the contents of the jars has to be considered at risk, as the sugar may have been a part of the reason the contents was safe or required less processing time than it otherwise might have (sugar in solution reduces the biological availability of the water).

This is especially true if the salsa was not made to have a pH of less than 4.6, to qualify as a an acid food.

Therefore, you should not adjust and re-process as the major ingredient may contain toxin.

Please see the information at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.


Cooking times and temperatures for whole fish on the grill?

It's best to grill small whole fish, like striped bass or snapper, because the general rule about grilling fish is to do it quickly. Start by cutting 3 deep slashes across the top of each fish, and rub in any spice mixture or lemon zest, etc. that you are using to flavor the fish. Salt the fish lightly both inside and out. Medium-high heat is the best level of grill heat, which means you can hold your hand palm-down an inch or so above the grate for 3-4 seconds without it burning. According to the Jamisons' "Born to Grill", the hand test measures the temperature of the actual grilling surface, not just the air inside the grill. Make sure the grate is well-oiled, so the fish will not stick. Put the fish on the grill, with the tails away from the hottest part, so they don't burn. Cook 8-10 minutes per inch (not per lb.) of fish, but only 6-8 minutes for tuna and salmon or they will overcook. Add 2 more minutes per inch when cooking in foil or banana leaves. It's best to check for doneness by flaking the fish with a fork.


Just my own opinion but I think if the cuts are made across the grain rather than with the grain it should be fine. With the grain might be tough to chew. There are 2 camps on cutting jerky meats so it really depends on how it was cut.


What can I do to help my avocados ripen?

The California Avocado Commission suggestions:

To ripen a California Avocado, place the fruit in a plain brown paper bag and store at room temperature 65-75° until ready to eat (usually two to five days).
Including an apple or banana in the bag accelerates the process because these fruits give off ethylene gas, a ripening reagent.
Soft ripe fruit can be refrigerated until it is eaten, but not for more than two or three days.
The California Avocado Commission does not recommend using a microwave to accelerate the ripening process.


How much fresh potato to substitute for instant potato flakes when baking?

Instant potato flakes are effectively dehydrated mashed potatoes.

In general for potato flakes you mix 3:4 volume flakes to water. They increase in volume by about two and a bit times, and weight about six times

For potato powder you mix 1:5 volume powder to water. They increase in volume by about three times, and weight about six times.

So roughly 3.75 ounces of water are required to rehydrate .75 ounces of potato flakes which gives 4.5 ounces of mash, or just less than 2/3 cup of mash

Remember to remove the equivalent water (3.75 ounces) from the recipe

This all varies slightly depending on the supplier of flakes and what variety of potato they used


What to do when I accidentally put too much salt on the meat?

There's no single answer, as there's a few considerations here:

Was it ground meat, or a larger chunk?
How far cooked was it already?
How far over-salted is it?
Is it being cooked in some sort of sauce or other liquid?

Depending on the answer to those:

If it's not over-salted by much ... serve it with a sauce that hasn't been salted, serve it on top of a bland starch (rice, pasta, baked potato) or mix it in as the flavoring to something else that's unsalted.  (eg, a casserole, soup, stew, etc.)
If it's uncooked larger chunks, you can rinse it off (in cold water), pat dry, and then cook it.
If it's uncooked ground meat ... the salt will cause the proteins to start tightening, and make things start to stick together if it sits before you cook it.  If you haven't stirred in the salt yet (for those times when the lid came off a salt shaker), you might be able to get the worst of it off with a spoon, or even pick up the block of ground meat and shake it off.  Rinsing is still an option, but it's more difficult to dry back off before cooking ... you might have to resort to other options.

If it's while cooking ... you might still be able to rescue it.

If it's not in a liquid or sauce, for the 'lid came off the salt shaker' situation, for large hunks of meat, just pick it up and shake and/or brush off the salt.  For ground meat or smaller chunks ... you might need to add some water, and then pour the water off (a strainer helps with this).
If it's larger hunks in a sauce, you can pull it out and remake the sauce.  Depending on the type of sauce, you might want to save it to use it as flavoring in some other dish (casserole, soup, etc.)

Your most difficult case is ground beef in a sauce.  If it's wet enough, you can rinse if off in a colander ... for thicker sauces, if it's not so salty to be inedible, you can try serving it over rice, pasta, a baked potato ... or turn it into a casserole.

Note that all of these assume that you've caught the problem quickly ... if the meat's been cooking in the salt for an extended period, you might have to go with the casserole route, as it'll have absorbed the salt.


A recipe that calls for adding dry milk powder to whole milk is probably trying to add protein. Try some finely ground nuts, or maybe chickpeas.


How do I prevent my bread crust from drying out?

Personally I've always found the best way to ensure a soft crust after baking is, while they are cooling on the side, to throw a clean damp cloth over the top. Only for a little while say 5-10mins and ensure the cloth is only damp, not soaking.


Using other liquid than water when making stock

There's no particular reason you couldn't prepare a stock with something other than water, but it's the equivalent of buying a ream of heavy pink paper, rather than plain white photocopy paper.  If that's the effect you really want, great.  The thing is, stock is meant to be as boring as plain white photocopy paper -- it is a foundation for other things, versatile and effective, subtly enhancing without overwhelming the dish.  For your beer idea, for example, I would cook down a couple bottles and add some stock to it.  That way, the rest of my batch of stock would be useful for other recipes that don't use beer.

Note that stock may be boring but shouldn't be flavorless; stock still should taste good.  If your stock was flavorless, try upping the amount of meat, veggies, and herbs compared to bones.  Also, bear in mind that stock should not contain salt (you will likely reduce the stock at some point).  The lack of salt, however, will deaden the flavor.  When you are ready to use the stock, be sure to add a pinch of salt.


If the soup recipe is eventually going to be pureed, then yes, you can substitute with little problem.

If the soup is supposed to be a little chunky, the substitution will change the texture a little, but the flavour will probably remain the same, and all in all it should be fine.

Note that this assumes a can of pureed tomatoes. If what you have is tomato concentrate (it'll be marked as 22 or 28 Bx usually) then you can't substitute directly, as you'd need to dilute.


Why did my bacon smell and taste like beef?

I don't know what beef crisps smell like, but if it's a pungent smell, maybe that's not good. I will tell you that the flavor of the meat comes mostly from the fat, so if you're cooking in beef fat, even if it's pork, it will taste of beef, and vice-versa.


Simmering split peas smell bitter - why?

One of the first things that comes to mind is that you have some beans burned to the bottom of the pan. This is a common issue when cooking a large quantity of beans if they aren't stirred enough. Burnt food items omit a bitter flavor as well as smell.


How can I check if a watermelon is sweet or not when buying?

From a farmer who was in love with his watermelons.

There are 2 things you want to check for when eating a watermelon A)ripeness B)sugar concentration

To tell if a watermelon is ripe check the pale spot on it’s belly. It should be yellow/white not green at all.

To test for sugar concentration tap on the watermelon, a dryer sweeter one will make a hollow sound while a wetter, watered down one will not make much of a sound.

That being said you don’t want a bone dry one as that means it’s probably old.


Saving a pavlova that didn't form a crust

I have never tried it myself,  but a torch can be used to make a crust on the meringue in a baked Alaska. Testing it on a small part of it could give you a clue if it is worthwhile.


Substituting maple syrup for maple extract

I would take some of the maple syrup that you have and cook it down in to granulated Maple Sugar.  A tutorial is here.  Then, as maple sugar is about twice as sweet as regular sugar, substitute it into your recipe accordingly.  That should help infuse your scones with additional maple goodness.


It sounds like maybe you have introduced an enzyme (such as alpha amylase) into your polenta. What is in your recipe? You might try cooking your polenta at a boil for at least 30 seconds.


I am attempting to preserve the shelf life of ice tea up to six months with citric acid, I need a perfected ratio?

If the tea was distilled water, a 5% solution would have been sufficient. That is, you'd need 50 grams of acid to 950 grams of water. The problem is, the impurities of the water and the tea itself buffer it somewhat, so it's impossible to predict the exact amount you need. You'll have to use a pH meter, and an accurate one, not strips, to make a pH solution at 1.8 or below. And then hope than you don't have high-acid liking mold around.

The problem is, at this concentration, tea will taste more sour than pure lemon juice, in fact it will have to be more acidic than your own gastric juice. Drinking it will feel like having heartburn all the way from the mouth to the stomach.

My suggestion: ditch the whole project. Tea is not a shelf stable product. Trying to invent home methods for food preservation is dangerous, you were lucky that mold is visible. You'll have to step your tea fresh.


What is the most efficient way to squeeze water out of cooked spinach?

Use a potato ricer. Just fill it up with a big handful of spinach, and give it a good squeeze in the sink, or over a bowl if you like to drink spinach water. It extracts a ton of liquid quickly, and is a breeze to clean up when you are done.


The issue with accomplishing what you want to in the bag is the low temperature typically used in sous vide cooking.  These low temperatures prevent the proteins from coagulating.  This can only happen once you dump the juices into a pan to finish a sauce at higher temperatures. Then, you will probably notice that you get globs of coagulated proteins, which are less than appetizing.  So, you will want to pour the juices into a pot, bring to a simmer, and skim the proteins (or strain them out).  Now you can use the broth as a stock to create a sauce.  Remember though, you will have to build flavor, as these juices are generally not that flavorful.  In your case, you will need to bring to a boil, skim or strain, then reduce significantly to create a glaze.


What am I doing wrong with my Kool-Aid pickles?

From your link and some other sources, seems that lenghwise cutted pickles will give you more color penetration (and probably flavour too).

Since adding too much kool-aid for the color would also change the taste, I'd go with some food coloring product.


Since a pressure cooker does not release any vapors, all of the alcohol will remain in the pot until you open the lid. In fact, even when cooking in an open pot, a large amount of alcohol will remain in your liquid(Wikipedia:Cooking_with_alcohol). While it is true that alcohol has a lower boiling point than water in their pure forms, a mixture of water and ethanol will boil together, with both water and alcohol vaporizing. Wikipedia: Raoult's Law


It really sounds as if you're just getting the tail-end of the fuel left in the charcoal.. that you've let it burn too far in the chimney .. 40 minutes does sound like a long time .. the right time to start cooking on charcoal is when any self-sustained flames have gone down, and the surface appears grey-white in daylight.. if you fan it, there should be a clearly perceptible glow.

If you want to use your chimney, give the charcoal just enough time in there to propagate its own burn.. don't spread it too thin in the grill after transfer, and let it settle to a glow in the grill, not the chimney. That will also help the metalof the grill heat up.

Or, light the charcoal in the grill by fanning it gently, and later, not so gently, with whatever comes to hand, or an electric fan.


What is the proportion of edible meat in whole live mussels?

The Tourism PEI site says that one pound of mussels is 20-25 mussels, about one cup of meat, and that you can serve one person that for a main meal or two people for an appetizer.

The Food and Agriculure Organization of the United Nations says:

  One bushel of whole mussels should yield from 6 to 9 pounds of cooked
  meats. Percentage yield by weight may range from about 8 per cent to
  as high as 20 per cent of the whole mussels.

Finally, this is 500g of mussels (my lunch in Brussels on a hot day - my companion has the same):

And this is how I can remember it was 500g:


Northern Indian Cuisine - Garam Masala Without Cumin

There seem to be more than a few well known curries that use neither garam masala nor cumin - for example, Camellia Panjabi's "50 great curries of india" (an older vintage but good cookbook IMHO) lists a Rogan Josh and a Safed Murgh Korma meeting this constraint.

Also, "Nadan" style south indian beef curries seem to be commonly cumin-less, and they could fit well together with north indian dishes even while not north indian.

Also, while it is a different flavor, Ajowan (or even Thyme) can go great lengths at creating a "balanced" indian flavor profile where nothing seems missing (it is commonly used as one of defining spices in samosas).


Is it better to add roasted vegetables into beef stew?

You will get the roasty, caramelized flavors; how much influence they will have on the overall flavor of your stew will depend on several factors including:

How deeply you roast the them
How much you add, proportionately, into the stew
How strongly flavored the other items in the stew are

Roasting the vegetables will also cook them, so you will want to add them to the stew much later, so they don't overcook.

If you google roasted vegetable stew, you will find several recipes for inspiration.

As to whether this is a superior, or heartier flavor, that would be a matter of opinion.  You don't mention roasting celery or onions (partners with carrots in the classic mire poix), but these are also excellent candidates for roasting, as are all types of root vegetable.


What's the fastest way to cook oatmeal porridge?

For my daughters, I usually have a speedy porridge process that goes like this:

Oats, sugar and water to cover (we don't use milk, but it would be the same) in the bowl.
About 3 minutes in the microwave, just to boiling point.
This makes a fairly thick porridge, which is stirred for a minute to let steam out.
Drop an ice cube into the bowl and stir until it's gone.

Voila, edibly warm porridge that isn't scalding hot.

The whole thing takes about five minutes, and for the three of those that the bowl is in the microwave you can do other things.


I've had problems with insects, even when I lived in a relatively cool place.  (My apartment was next to the trash chute, and on the day they sprayed for bugs, it would drive them into my place for the better part of a week).

To help prevent long-term visitors, you want to remove sources of food.  A big one is areas of moisture, which start creating small bits of mold that the insects feast on.  Make sure you don't have water dripping below your sink and if you have a shower, leave the curtain and door or window open to let it vent after every shower.

To keep away the random explorers (or to deal with existing problems), I really like glue boards.  They're just a rectangle of cardboard with a really stick substance on one side.  You can either just peel off the protective paper and set them in places the insects typically visit (under sinks, behind toilets, basements, etc), but you can also typically fold them into a tent-like triangle or an open-ended box that you can place on countertops or floors.  (always place them tight up against the walls, so the open sides are accessible)

Glue traps will catch most insects (even flying, if you can get them to land on them.  Some are 'peanut butter scented' as a lure) and mice.

A few bits of warning, though:

Make sure you put them where you're not going to step on them.  They will stick to your shoe.  If you're not putting them under tables or such, fold them into a tent.
If you have a lot of insects already, it can be pretty disturbing to see how many insects you actually had.  (I put them in my basement to deal with camel crickets, and it was basically filled.  And the insects were still moving, so it pulsed)
It's not a very humane trap for mice.  They get stuck and then keep struggling to get unstuck.


How can I get good spherification results with alcohol?

Reverse spherification

You need to first make a sodium alginate bath, mix with one-third of the water to begin with using a hand blender and then add this to the final full proportions. You need to let this bath sit for a while to ensure there are no bubbles left. (Standard practice).

Add your calcium lactate to the mixture you are trying to spherify. Apparently thickening the the alcohol with xanthan gum can help to form better shaped spheres.

further information:

http://blog.khymos.org/recipe-collection/ <-- fantastic recipe collection
http://www.molecularrecipes.com/spherification/reverse-spherification/


This is difficult to assess and provide a definitive solution for because you've got several conditions that are not ideal. As you point out, your temp is too high and your humidity is too low, for starters.  Given the 7 day cure, I would normally say you are ok from a safety perspective, however, I am concerned by the "leaking", but that may just be the nature of your product.  Given that you say this belly was rather "thick", 7 days may not have been enough, but hard to tell from here.  Firmness after the cure is what you are going for.

I guess, for starters, I would suggest unrolling and hanging as a flat piece (called tesa).  I find that I get more consistent results, faster, making pancetta tesa. In your case, this might also help with excess moisture. You really just want to hang until it loses about 30% of it's pre-hanging weight. For me at about 55F and 70% humidity, that that usually takes in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 weeks.


How long should I wait until I put new jars in?

Preheat the jars with hot tap water, and then just dump them in the boiling water (with tongs or other appropriate utensil, of course).


After considerable searching, I found this tidbit buried in an an old Callebaut product catalog:  Pailleté feuilletine is broken up pieces of crepes dentelles.

This video from Bryan Talbot shows how to prepare crepes dentelles in considerable detail.  He indicates that he had to reverse engineer the recipe because none were available.  His ingredients are:

1/4 lb Butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 All Purpose Flour
1 Egg White
Pinch Of Salt

Mix the ingredients, spread very thinly on a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet, and bake at 400 F until golden brown, about 5 minutes.  If you are going to roll or mold them, do so when they are still very hot.

You could then crush it for pailleté feuilletine.  If you are going to do crush them, there probably is little point in rolling or molding them.

Voici une autre vidéo, mais elle est en français.  It does not show the ingredients in the batter, but the outcome is very similar, which lends credence to the Talbot video.

Here is another video from Jennifer Field showing her process of reverse engineering the crepres dentelles (one of her commentors points out this means "lacey crepes").  The video is long and shows the development process.  The final recipe and technique is somewhat different, as she paints the batter onto a hot griddle with a pastry brush, and gets a much more delicate product.  Her blog entry has her recipe.

Update:  Another recipe, from Brave Tart, where the author simply calls it feuilletine, rather than crepes dentelles.


If you microwave bananas for a few minutes in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and then dump everything into fine mesh strainer to sit for about 15 minutes, you will get a bunch of juice out.  Freezing the bananas before microwaving them works even better.

This technique was used in a (really good) banana bread recipe from Cooks Illustrated several years ago.  Once the juice is extracted, it is reduced, allowing more real bananas in the bread without making it too wet.


Help me understand why my stainless steel skillet becomes non stick after frying one egg?

I presume the albumin protein of the first egg coats the pan, maybe even in areas that are not overtly white, and this is what creates the nonstick barrier.


Washing cans in your dishwasher is not a good idea because of the labels. Most cans have paper labels which are held on by glue, in the dishwasher the labels will soften and come off, getting sucked into the mechanism and getting stuck to dishes and glasses. The dry cycle will harden the paper in place and be very hard to get off. The glue will also probably melt with a similar result.

Cat food cans do tend to get a bit stinky, but a quick sink cleanup usually does the trick. Soak them in water for 10 minutes or so and then use a bottle brush with a drop of dish soap to clean them.


Should maple syrup be stored in the refrigerator?

I'll assume that you're talking about pure maple syrup in a glass container; if it's that adulterated pancake syrup then it's probably riddled with preservatives, so any advice here doesn't apply.

Pure maple syrup can and will grow mold on the surface if left in a cupboard.  There are several reports of this happening, and although several of those people say that it's OK to simply strain the mold and re-boil the maple syrup, (a) I wouldn't chance it, and (b) that process is hardly any more convenient than simply taking it out of the refrigerator a half-hour earlier and letting it come up to room temperature.

Maple syrup should be stored in the refrigerator.  It doesn't have to be, and it will probably take at least a year for it to grow any mold if left in the pantry.  But it will last longer in the refrigerator; I've seen refrigerated jars 3+ years old without any mold.


In Canada, must commercially sold mussels be purged and purified in UV filtered water for 42 hours?

In regards to the first of the two questions you asked, " [does] the quote beneath from Mussel Myths & FAQs - The Cornish Mussel Shack holds true for Canada too?"

  Do I need to soak my mussels in water and oatmeal?
  No. This used to be done to help purge the mussel of any grit. All commercially sold mussels legally have to be purged and purified in UV filtered water for 42 hours. During this time most of the grit and sediment is released from the mussel.

  Do I need to soak the mussels and throw away the ones that float?
  Salt water mussels should never be soaked in fresh water as this will kill them, and as explained in the above answer there is no longer any need to soak mussels. This was done in the past to identify dead mussels. People thought that a floating mussel was a dead mussel, which is also is not true. A live mussel can often trap an air bubble when it snaps shut, and this is why some mussels float. To identify dead mussels see our page on preparing mussels safely.

Yes, it does to a point; but not in regards to food safety - just taste. In my experience (I live in Alberta), you should still follow those guidelines simply from a taste perspective because while generally cleaned and soaked prior to commercial sale no process is perfect at any level (think "pre-washed lettuce" found at Loblaws as well). I have found rinsing them as you listed helps with the taste. I do this with both the store bought mussels I cook, as well as the freshwater clams I catch (not quite the same process but very similar).

Now, onto question two - I know in Toronto there will be a local fish market or seafood market that specializes in shellfish, call them. They will be happy to assist you in understanding the regulations as it pertains to the consumption of all kinds of seafood as some regulations also vary from province to province.


In this recipe, the nibs are being used as an accent ingredient, adding some crunchiness and a burst of chocolate flavor, as well as some bitterness.

They are not essential to chemistry or overall outcome of the recipe.

You may:

Simply omit them
Chopped or coarsely ground roasted coffee would have a similar profile, although not as fatty, and of course, coffee flavored
Try another crunchy, possibly somewhat bitter ingredient like chopped nuts; almonds, hazelnuts, and (in some people's opinions, although I dislike them) walnuts have a particular affinity for chocolate.


CO2 actually dissolves better in cold water vs hot water. that's why warm soda bottles will usually look more bubbly inside. Shaking the bottle greatly increases the surface area of interaction between water and gas, helping to speed up the process of carbonation.


How do I skip the planning and shopping?

Depending on where you live, there is a pretty simple approach you can try. In the next few days, head out to places that specialize in particular kinds of foods and in making them appeal to you. A farmer's market, a butcher's, a cheese shop, a bakery, etc. Chat with the staff and buy whatever speaks to you in the store. When you come home, make whatever meals you feel inspired to make according to what you've bought. Be creative and impulsive and seasonal. Keep doing that until one day you notice there isn't any food, and either go out and shop or eat something canned and go to shop the next day.

In probably a week's time, one of two things will happen. Either you will be feeling free, creative, inspired etc and so happy you are doing things this new way, or you will have thrown out a lot of expensive food that spoiled before you could use it, and be feeling very stressed and unhappy at 4 or 5 pm each day because you have to figure out what to make. If it's the former, mission accomplished. If it's the latter, you now have your motivation for the planning and the list making, and should find it more pleasant since you know its purpose and what it is saving you from. Either way, the "I hate having to plan my meals" feeling should diminish drastically.


This is difficult without knowing what sort of oven you have but here are some basic notes that will help you get started.

Many modern ovens will alert you to when they are at temperature. Every oven is different. My oven takes about 5 minutes to preheat but my dad's takes about 10.

If your oven doesn't have an alert, - and, honestly, even if it does - you should get an oven thermometer so that you can see when the oven is at temperature as many ovens do not run at the temperatures they claim to.

If your oven doesn't have specific temperature settings, only levels, it's essential to get an oven thermometer. If I had to guess, I'd say that you'd probably want medium... or possibly medium-low but only a thermometer (or possibly your oven's user pamphlet) will be able to tell you with any reliability. Also, if you only have five options, you may not be able to get it to exactly 180 C but if you're within 5 degrees on either side, you'll be fine, just watch the clock.

Something like this:


You want to make a "mint infusion". Googling this will give you many recipes.

Basically you brew the mint like herbal tea:
Remove stems,
Bruise the leaves a little,
Add the leaves to a cup of very hot water,
Let steep for a few minutes,
strain and throw away the mushy leaves and use the liquid for your flavoring.

The liquid will be brown as you are destroying the chlorophyll that makes the leaves green. In most applications I add food coloring to fix this. As you are making chocolate mint ice cream this should not be a problem.

Save some of your mint leaves to use as a garnish.

I love chocolate mint and I am very excited for you having a bumper crop of it.


How do I calculate an increase in pan sizes for a cake recipe?

Assuming the depths of the pans are all the same, then the volume will vary as the square of their linear dimensions:

8^2 + 8^2 = 64 + 64 = 128
10^2 + 14^2 = 100 + 196 = 296
Ratio = 296/128 = 2.3125

Near enough, multiply original quantities by 2 1/3


My version of this ( http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-Pre-Seasoned-Fajita-Set/dp/B00008GKDP/ ) actually came with a set of instructions. It's not meant to be used for cooking, only for serving. Place the pan in a hot oven for about 30 mins to heat it up (while you're cooking), then put your fajitas on it to bring to the table. The cast iron will retain heat for a long time and keep anything you serve on it sizzling hot.

A cast iron pan would be a great way to cook fajitas, but the shallow sides and strange shape of the "sizzler" pan make it impractical to really cook on. The same instruction book also recommends using another cast iron pan (two, actually) to cook the fajitas.

If you want to use it for something other than fajitas, it would work just fine as a small griddle. You could probably cook pancakes, a strip steak, or chicken breast on it, but nothing that requires any stirring.


Prepped beef mixed with other ingredients before tomorrow's stew

cut it they way you want, it does not matter at all, and produce and meat together woud be a mortal sin in the kitchen, but if you have a small batch, store one night, and you will cook them together anyway for hours, I dont see any problem with that either. But why wouldnt you store them separetely? If you cook your produce for six hours with the meat you wont have anything left....better to add them later..and store them sep...


How important is isolating food in a fridge?

The air movement in a fridge is required to keep the fridge at temperature. While it is true that more mass keeps a more even temp than less mass, you still need to keep enough room for the air to circulate. That circulating air will not contaminate the other food, although there are a few things you should do to maintain good food safety in your fridge.

Place food in the proper spot The proper order to stock your fridge is (from bottom to top) uncooked poultry -> uncooked meat -> fully cooked meals -> raw, washed veggies. This order prevents any dripping bacteria reaching your food before you cook it. (Note that you might need to switch meals and veggies, depending on your storage needs. I use this order since I store all cooked products in sealed Tupperware but the recommended order has them switched)
Make sure that your fridge is cold enough Temp range is 34 F to 41 F and you want it toward the lower end of that scale.
Keep your fridge clean You should be cleaning your fridge, including the rubber gaskets around the door, at least once a month and more frequently if you begin to notice any kind of build up. Use a mild detergent (like dish soap) and warm water (you can also use bleach if there is staining or you are cleaning a spill), making sure to wipe out the sides and backs and the undersides of all shelves.

If you follow those three steps, you will have an almost zero chance of spreading bacteria around your fridge, with your biggest risk factors being your own hands. If you don't have enough shelves to keep each type of food separate, you can mix cooked food and veggies and the uncooked poultry with uncooked meats, but you should never store cooked food and uncooked food on the same shelf.


How to suppress bad breath after eating garlic or onion

Brush and floss your teeth
Scrape your tongue
Chew gum or mints
Chew mint, parsley, basil, fennel, licorice, anise, cardamom, clove, or cinnamon
Gargle with baking soda and salt
Gargle with hydrogen peroxide
Gargle with water and lemon
Gargle with alcohol or mouthwash
Hydrate


Does a mayonnaise have longer shelf life with egg white only as opposed to yolk?

There is no difference in the shelf life of mayonnaise made with egg whites, or egg yolks, or whole eggs. Since you are using pasteurized eggs, this counts as a standard cooked dish, and the shelf life is 3-5 days in the fridge. It would be 1-2 days for raw eggs.

You cannot evaluate the safe shelf life of a food by yourself. In principle, one could commission a microbiological study to prove that a given recipe is somehow longer lasting than one would expect from its general category. That is likely to cost more than hiring a cook to make you a daily batch of mayonnaise for the next few years.

For more information on food safety, I would suggest that you also look at the extensive information we have compiled on the topic: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info


Is is ok to use slightly sour curd for chicken marination?

There are types of curd* that are supposed to be sour.

If the kind you are using is not supposed to be sour, then do not use it if it is. Expiry date is not everything. How it was stored in shop plays a big part in food safety, and dairy products that soured uncontrollably are safety risk.

You can make sour dairy products in home if you know what and how you are doing, and they will be safe to eat, but that's it. If it soured not on purpose, throw it out. Maybe you can also change shop you get your food from, or send it to your local food safety agency for examination. If there is one, they can examine your curd, inspect shop, and fine shop owner if souring was due his neglect.

* Note, English is not my primary language and what word means what gets blurry when it comes to Polish-English translation.


What is the American measurement equivalent of 3см.л in Russian

I think this is a typo. The original is probably 3 ст. л, which means 3 tablespoons (an abbreviation for столовые ложки).

Note that, in Russian cursive handwriting, a т looks like a Latin small m, and can also, with the wrong amount of slant and writing speed, look like a Cyrillic small m. I don't know where cursive handwriting can have come into play in the design of a modern packaging, but it is one small pointer.

This interpretation also makes sense from a culinary point of view. I don't know the concentration of your seasoning, but 3 tablespoons sounds roughly feasible for 900 g of rice, which is quite a lot of rice, especially if measured dry. 3 cubic centimeters would not only be a weird unit to use in kitchen measurements (ml is the common one) but also it would only be a sufficient amount if you are using something like pure MSG crystals.

Russia does not use the Imperial system, so having a Russian recipe expressed in tablespoons is even less precise than an American recipe doing so. A Russian seeing this recipe would just use any real eating spoon in their cupboard to do the measuring. So, be prepared to treat this as a starting suggestion only, it might need some (or a lot of) tweaking to work well in your context.


Were your blueberries grainy? I occasionally get a pint that have a grainy texture. I've heard that this means they aren't quite fresh, but they usually taste just fine despite the texture. I'm not sure if this particular graininess translates to a jam though.

Jam can also get grainy from sugar that isn't fully dissolved. This can happen more easily with larger batches, since the fruit can start to boil before the sugar is fully dissolved.

For your particular recipe, perhaps a more thorough stirring after adding the sugar would help. You should be able to turn the heat down once you add the sugar so that you can stir it thoroughly before going back to high heat to boil for that 1 minute.


How do I adjust the cooking time on a baked rice dish if I reduce the recipe by half?

The recipe calls for simmering 30 mins, baking 30 mins, resting 10 mins.

This isn't quite an accurate representation of the recipe. The recipe calls for baking cauliflower and eggplant for 20 minutes each prior to assembly. Once assembled, the rice gets simmered for 30 minutes. Then the completed dish rests for 10 minutes.

The cook times will likely not be significantly affected by cutting the recipe in half.

The vegetables are oven roasted in a single layer on baking sheets. Because they are in a single layer, the roasting time will be consistent because the thickness will be consistent.
Rice generally takes 20-30 minutes to cook through, regardless of the volume. This is due to the time needed for the liquid to fully penetrate and hydrate the rice grains.

You may want to check both the phases of cooking about 5 minutes prior to the recipe cook times--but I'd likely recommend doing that even if cooking a full recipe.


Brining works at a cellular level; if the solution does not have the time to act and reach inter-cellular gaps then you won't get the benefits.

How does brining work (from same wiki article):

the meat cells have water and solutes (sodium, chloride, potassium, amino acids, ...etc)
the brine has salt (sodium, chloride)
the salt ions of the brine diffuse into the cells
the osmosis cause the cell to absorb water
some other stuff happens to the proteins (denaturalization) causing the water to be trapped

This is a slow process, in particular for the salt ions to diffuse into theat, for the osmosis to happen, for the protein to coagulate ...etc.

How is brining different from curing:

the concentration of solutes (e.g. sodium and chloride) is different
curing is usually mostly done with salt (sugar/molasses/...etc optional)
the concentration being higher, the osmotic pressure draws water out.

Slow cooking in the brine just didn't give a chance for the meat to absorb and trap water. Since you describe the meat as tough and dry, I would say this is mostly because of salt concentration seems too high (wet-curing).


Can I replace sugar with cane syrup in sourdough recipe

I have been baking with honey and molasses for some time now and I see no much differences except that dough and bread gets much dark brown colour.


How do I substitute skim milk for dry milk in a muffin recipe?

You don't, it will not work.

You want to substitute liquid milk for dried milk.

What you don't realise is that the dried milk in such a recipe is acting as a bulking agent, ie. the dried milk is already substituting for some flour.

If you don't have dried milk, you should look for another recipe that doesn't use it, if you want to be certain of reliable results.


Making bread dough in the bread maker and baking it in the oven

General answer: for bread in a bread pan, 350°F until 195°–205°F in the center. That'll probably be around 40 minutes, I'd guess (and it seems you found) but a thermometer will let you be sure (and then you'll know how long it takes for next time).


How do big companies make sure their product always looks and tastes the same?

how do they make sure the end product has the same look and taste as always?

This is the realm of quality control. It involves such activities as:

developing processes that are as consistent as possible
measuring the product against a standard
identifying and eliminating sources of variation

It's easier to control a single large-scale process in a factory than small processes duplicated at many locations, so as much as possible they'll deliver pre-mixed, pre-measured ingredients to retail locations. Equipment will be standardized and automated at each location. A recipe then becomes very hard to screw up, something like:

  Add one sack of standard donut mix, one container of eggs, and one
  bucket of water to the mixer. Press the "Mix-2" button. When the mixer
  stops, transfer dough to sheeter/former and press the green button...

Disclaimer: I've never worked in a franchise donut shop, and actual recipes may be more or less complicated than the made-up one above. But that's the general idea, and it's deployed widely in manufacturing whether or not the product is food.

You can do some of the same things at home if you want to simplify a recipe that you make frequently.

The easiest way to get started is to measure ingredients by weight (if you don't already). It's a lot faster and easier to make, say, a bread recipe if you can skip the measuring cups and just pour flour into the mixing bowl until you reach the target weight. Repeat with water, yeast, salt, etc. You don't dirty any measuring cups, you'll get more consistent results, and you'll save time.

Another step in that direction is to pre-mix whatever ingredients you can, so that you can make a big batch of mix once in a while and then measure out just one thing instead of four or five each time you make the recipe. Pre-mixing can reduce the shelf life of the ingredients, though, so it's not always idea. If you can't pre-mix, then you can at least pre-measure ingredients, or use measuring tools that are suited to the quantities that you need. For example, if you make bread daily using 24oz. of flour, you might get a 12oz. scoop and pre-measure the salt and instant yeast into small containers. Then your recipe is something like:

  Add two scoops of flour, a container of salt, a container of yeast,
  and a pint of water to the mixer...

Of course, one of the nice things about home cooking is that it's not exactly the same every time. Who wants to eat the same thing every day?


Yes, it's oxidation, so yes, oil will stop it happening. However, broiling the potatoes straight from the oil will not yield very good results. You are much better off par-boiling them for 3 or 4 minutes, draining them, leaving them to steam and dry out for a few minutes, then coating them in oil and seasoning, and baking them for 30-45 mins. This will yield a nice, crispy-on-the-outside-fluffy-on-the-inside result.

So, if you're boiling them you might as well put them straight in the water you're going to use to do that.


When I bake a 2lb loaf, the very Centre of it lacks structure

I think everyone who bakes bread has had this issue at some point.

Two key things:

Make sure the bread is fully baked before removing it from the oven.  Use a probe style thermometer to check the middle of the bread. For a sandwich style bread like you've shown above, the internal temperature should be about 195-205˚F.
Let the bread cool fully before cutting (30-60 minutes).  When you remove bread from the oven the interior is partially in a gel-like state... It will continue to cook and the internal structure will stabilize as it cools and the water vapor redistributes throughout the crumb.  As tempting as it is to eat warm bread right out of the oven, cutting into the loaf immediately will guarantee that some portion of the center will be undercooked.


Can I eat a sauce that ruined my carbon steel pan seasoning

You have some misconceptions here.
First, coconut milk doesn't neutralize any acid, it is just fat in water, probably with a very mild acidic pH itself. For neutralizing an acid, you need a base (and it has nothing to do with the perception of diminished sourness coming from eating fat alongside the acid).
Second, it wasn't the acid that stripped away the seasoning. Bases strip seasoning, acids don't. And you need something a lot more corrosive than an edible sauce for that. The advice to not make highly acidic sauces in iron pans is connected to concerns about rusting the pan underneath the seasoning. Your seasoning probably went away because flaxseed tends to make nonrobust seasoning.
As for the safety, it is obviously safe in the strict sense, polymerized oil gets created in everyday cooking too and nobody has created a regulation forbidding us from serving food where that has happened. This means that you won't keel over from food poisoning tomorrow. If you are asking it in any other sense (e.g. whether it has long-term effects on your health), this is a topic which is explicitely excluded from discussion on our site.


What quantity and resting time should be preferred for active dry yeast when it is supposed to be used in place of quick yeast?

All different types of yeast can be interchanged.  What differs is the starting amount required and how quickly they rise, and how they are best activated.

Quick or rapid rise yeast activates easily when mixed with your dry ingredients and a hot liquid.   Typically the liquid added to the flour mix would be about 120-130°F (49-54°C).
Active dry yeast should be activated in a warm (110°F/43°c) liquid for a few minutes.

The two yeasts can be substituted for each other fairly equally by volume or weight.

With live yeast cultures, you must always observe the outcome, or high how the bread rises, not just a prescribed or predicted rise time.  Rapid rise yeast will tend to rise somewhat more quickly than active dry yeast, but you need to monitor the progress.

You will find that the very warm ambient temperature that have previously indicated you have where you are makes the yeasts of any type act more quickly than many recipes designed for US room temperatures (with air conditioning) of about 70°F (21°C) predict in any case—this is going to be the more influential factor.


How do tomatillos differ in taste from under-ripe tomatoes?

Under-ripe tomatoes definitely seem to me like they weren't exactly meant to be eaten like that. There are certainly still things one can do with them, but the flavor isn't always what you'd like (see tastefive's comment); they were selected for their characteristics when ripe. Tomatillos, on the other hand, have always been used like this. They're supposed to be tart and bright green (unless they're a differently-colored variety). I think tastefive was pretty on-target with the mention of lemon juice; they have a nice bright tartness to them but definitely no bitterness. They're quite pleasant to eat fresh, if you're the kind of person who likes tomatoes and fruit. (I just ate one to make sure I wasn't lying to you.)

A much bigger difference, though, isn't taste: tomatillos aren't really juicy. You can slice and dice all you want and your cutting board will still be dry. This is pretty clear from pictures - here's one I found with Google image search:

This makes them very well-suited for the kinds of Mexican sauces they're traditionally used in, more so than a green tomato would be.


What adhesive should I use to repair a glass and silicone cake mould

A high heat silicone adhesive will do the trick. Something like this (obviously only need to buy one, not a whole case).

Also, I've had some luck with oven door adhesive (though never tried on cookware) and auto adhesive.

All are oven safe up to 400-500F continuous, so you should be good for baking.


I quickly checked the models that Cook's Illustrated recommended, and all of them either say they're Teflon (aka PTFE) or are a non-specified non-stick (which probably means PTFE).

Also, PTFE isn't toxic, at least not until heated in excess of 200°C (details at Wikipedia).


What should I do when I add too much salt to rice?

Add extra rice to your salt.

Cook another batch of rice, with no salt, then mix both batches.

Alternatively, you could attempt to make a fried rice dish from it where you add no more salt but plenty of vegetables, nuts, fruit, meat....


How to counteract sage (in a pumpkin soup)?

You are not overly pessimistic, there is no such thing as you are trying to do. Smells are not counteractable.

The most you can do is to reduce the effect, and you have already come across the possible solutions and they don't work for you.

As we get this type of question all the time, I wrote up a much longer explanation which covers overseasoned food in general, not just soup with sage: I overseasoned my food, what can I do to remove the strong smell?. Please refer to that for a longer explanation of why you can't magically counteract smell.


When is the best time to use my sourdough starter?

From my experience, using the starter when it is at it's peak activity will help your dough rise faster but not necessarily higher.  There are a lot of factors that contribute to how much dough expands when baked including, but by no means limited to: loaf shape, docking pattern, oven temperature, and oven humidity.

Be aware that there can also be a point at which dough has risen too much and the structure and texture suffers.


How can one use Thai basil stems and flowers?

First off, I'm afraid you have been using the wrong type of basil for your dish!

In Thai cooking, three different types are commonly used:

"Thai basil" (or "horapha", โหระพา), which tastes a bit like anise / liquorice; it's slightly purple (as shown in the picture in Jolenealaska's answer).
"Holy basil" (or "kaphrao", กะเพรา), which tastes more like pepper/cloves; it can also be a bit purple, and (unlike Thai basil), it is a bit hairy, and the leaves have jagged edges.
"Lemon basil" (or "maenglak", แมงลัก), which (as the name suggests) tastes a bit like lemon.

Notice that "krapow" is just a slightly different spelled transliteration for holy basil ("kaphrao"). Preparing this well-known dish with Thai basil instead of holy basil will certainly make for a very good tasting dish (I've made it myself a few times when I couldn't get holy basil, and in fact I actually prefer it, since I'm quite a sucker for that anise/liquorice taste), but should really be called "Gai Pad Horapha" instead.

As for your question, I typically use the flowers (of either type of basil) to garnish a dish - if I haven't eaten them already while peeling the leaves off the stems.

I typically discard the stems, but on occasion I have chopped them up and mixed them with some honey and ginger (and some mint, whenever I had it), to be used as a dipping sauce for spring rolls.


Liquid nitrogen ice cream in food processor?

As someone who uses liquid nitrogen as part of their daily routine (in a lab) and who has made liquid nitrogen ice cream on several occasions, my advice would be to not use a plastic container to hold liquid nitrogen unless it's designed to.

Yes, the plastic vessel may become brittle and may fracture. I have seen some materials shatter with extreme violence when frozen with liquid nitrogen; do not attempt this. Vessels for handling cryogenic liquids are designed especially for the job, and made from materials such as stainless steel, styrofoam, teflon, HDPE or silvered borosilicate glass. Unless you know with certainty that your container is designed to withstand temperatures of -196 °C (-321 °F), do not attempt this procedure.


What happens if I brine my turkey for 2 days?

It is possible to over brine meat. If you leave it in too long it will get too salty.

If you use a more dilute brine it won't get as salty but you will wash out more of the natural flavor into the water as well.

You could submerge your turkey in its packaging in ice water in a cooler for a day before brining. You could even thaw the turkey in this manner if you made sure to keep it in ice water so it didn't get to 40F.


CharBroil Propane Grill - Troubleshooting a problem

A few possibilities:
Make sure you open the valve on the gas tank before opening the knobs on the grill. If you do this in the wrong order, the regulator will see a large increase in gas flow and cut back.

Temperature: As LPG expands, it will cool the tank off. When pulling a lot of gas off, the side of the cylinder can even build up some frost. If the air is already cold, you might not be able to build up enough pressure to keep the gas flowing.

Restrictions in the tubing: Grills that sit out for the summer can have spiders or wasps in the gas hoses. These can restrict the gas flow. (not likely with your new grill, but there could be manufacturing debris).

Air intake: Propane needs air to burn. Some grills will have an air intake hole where the burner rests on the gas tubing. Make sure nothing is obstructing this, and if it's adjustable, try opening or closing it.


Can I bake a christmas cake in a cardboard box?

While there is some possibility it could work, I wouldn't even try it. There are things that can go wrong, and many proven solutions to the problem. Replacing a bad hack (newspaper) with a worse hack (cardboard box) is not something I would be keen to try.
A list of preferred solution includes:

use cake strips
bake the cake in a different pan (bundt or thick-walled ceramic pan)
go for a flatter and wider cake (bake it in a quiche pan or a large tawa)
make it a layered cake and bake the layers separately
reduce the temperature and bake for longer
partially bake in a waterbath, then continue without it

If you are absolutely sure that your cake needs a full enclosure (which is quite strange for me - it is actually one of the reasons why I would avoid the cardboard box) I would prefer putting the cake in a roasting dish (earthenware/ceramic or metal) rather than in a cardboard box.


How can I prevent simple syrup from crystallizing?

There are a couple of things you can do to prevent sugar crystallising. You can add some glucose syrup, or you can 'invert' the sugar by adding some acid, namely cream of tartar. Both should be readily available, online if not at your supermarket. Cream of tartar is also useful when making meringue.


Does using a sponge in a brioche make a difference?

In general, preferments of any kind are used for several reasons:

They activate questionable yeast to make later rises more effective
This is less of a concern these days with freeze-dried yeast and freezers that keep them viable forever.
They promote a more open texture
With the extra time to rise and distribute themselves, the yeast blow the dough up into large pockets instead of a bunch of small pockets. This will happen less with a very wet preferment like a sponge but it will still make a noticeable difference in the texture.
They enhance the flavor
The longer the yeast are able to work the better the bread will taste. If you put your sponge in the fridge overnight the yeast will slow down but keep working and in the morning you will have maximized your flavor.

With all of these reasons the choice is totally yours. You will see a definite improvement using a preferment, especially with something like brioche that should be rich and flavorful. If you are in a hurry though- a fast brioche would be better than none at all.


1/4 cup of rice not measuring to be 45g, turns out to be 30g

The measuring cups that come with rice cookers are not the same size as a US cup (or indeed many other countries' cup measurements).

A rice cooker cup is 180 ml, a US cup 240ml, and in a lot of places it's 250ml. This is because rice cooker designs originate from Japan.

You're getting 30g, which is 2/3 of what you expect. For a US cup, 3/4 would be right, and for a 250 ml cup, 72%. That's probably close enough given how much variability there is in packing rice into a cup, especially as grain shapes vary.


In an article I with a very quick google search found here, it seems that you can

  blend 1 tablespoon of flax or chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water until mixture is thick and creamy.

However, I suspect that this would add a gritty texture that would be unpleasant in easter sweet breads. You would probably find that a full-fat yogurt is a good alternative, having both protein and fats.

I also found this article, which uses chickpea flour, flour (wheat, rice, sorghum), water and oil.


How to Everything Soup / Anything Soup / Build It Yourself Soup / Stone Soup

Can water be used for a cheap imitation? Yes, though you'll probably want to use more bullion in this case, or else end up with a bland soup.
Use 1 buillion cube (or not)? Up to you.  More bullion could add more flavor and will definitely add more salt (which is an important element of flavor).  I note in the link you provided that they specify no-sodium bullion, so in that case you'll just be giving more enhanced flavor.
How long? [until fully cooked] It depends on the type of vegetables.  Things like carrots and parsnips can take longer to soften, if you prefer to have soft vegetables in your soup.  Potatoes will take a little less time, but still need to cook for a while.  Other vegetables can get overcooked (very mushy) if simmered for too long.  Some people don't mind mushy vegetables in soup; others do.  In any case, I'd say after bringing to a boil, turn down the heat and try simmering for about 30 minutes.  That should give time for flavors to blend.  If you don't have particularly hard vegetables to cook, you might even try 20 minutes.
Then taste.  If some vegetables aren't tender enough for you, cook longer.  (Unless you have large chunks of hard vegetables, it shouldn't take much longer -- perhaps 45-60 minutes at most; after that, you'll start to break down some of the most subtle vegetable components and lose some flavor.)  If some vegetables get too soft for you, wait and add these more toward the end of cooking next time.
Why have onions and garlic twice? Why not just saute more?  The recipe you linked lists the powders actually in the ingredients, but then it contains a note at the end about "if you have fresh onion and garlic, saute them first."  I think that's pretty clear: the soup doesn't assume you have any particular fresh vegetables on hand, so it's just using the powders for flavor.  IF you have fresh onion and/or garlic, saute them first.  And in that case, I'd say you could omit the powders.
Note that garlic powder and onion powder do often introduce a different flavor (which I wouldn't usually find as pleasant in vegetable soup) compared to their fresh versions.  You could experiment as to what you like better.  (Personally, I'd just saute both fresh and skip the powder, assuming you have fresh onion and garlic.)
Why broth and cubes? Well, I'd have guessed this was about adding salt, but again your linked recipe clarifies that they are using low sodium broth and no sodium bullion, only adding salt to taste at the end.  So, I guess this is just about adding more flavor.  Note that most vegetables will release water as they cook, which will dilute the broth a bit -- adding bullion is a way to enhance the flavor a bit more and counter this.  (Yes, the vegetables will add flavor to the broth as they cook too, but an all-vegetable soup can end up tasting watery.)  I also suspect that this recipe is using extra bullion (and perhaps extra onion and garlic powder too) to add flavor, because of the lack of salt in everything.  I understand why some people want to limit salt intake, and I personally prefer to make stock/broth with no salt and add it later myself, but if you don't add any salt at all, you'll end up with what most would consider a rather bland soup.  This recipe appears to be trying to make up for that by adding other flavor components.


When to use chicken thigh versus breast?

Well, as to the difference in taste, I suggest the best way to find out is to try both (cooked, of course). If you have access to Cooks Illustrated (as opposed to just watching the TV show on PBS), they have recipes for both roast chicken breast and roast thighs—make both, and the flavor differences should be readily apparent.

As far as cooking goes, chicken breast has very little fat and very little collagen. Typically, chicken breast is cooked to 165°F/74°C (USDA recommendation for food safety), which is actually a little on the overdone side taste-wise. So various tricks like brining are needed to keep it juicy.

Chicken thigh has more of both fat and collagen, which allows it to take a higher temperature without drying out. Cooking chicken thigh to 175°F/80°C is fairly common. It also is much more suited to slow cooking, which allows the collagen to convert to gelatin (which gives a moist feel to the meat and also a nice flavor).

In this particular case, checking two Cooks Illustrated recipes for orange-flavored chicken (one deep-fried, one baked) they both note boneless, skinless breast may be substituted, but they prefer the flavor of thigh.

So you can use either. Use whichever one you think tastes better.


How long can I leave a freshly baked cheesecake out before it goes in the refrigerator?

Referring to the quotes from the below links;

  • “Baked cheesecake should be refrigerated as soon as it is cool or it
  may develop harmful bacteria from heat resistant spores.”
  http://www.canfightbac.org/cpcfse/en/cookwell/ask/dairy/#2085

  • “Foods made with eggs and milk such as pumpkin pie, custard pie and
  cheesecake, must first be safely baked to a safe minimum internal
  temperature of 160 °F. Then, they must be refrigerated after baking.
  Eggs and milk have high protein and moisture content and when these
  baked products are left at room temperature, conditions are ripe for
  bacteria to multiply. It's not necessary to refrigerate most other
  cakes, cookies or breads unless they have a perishable filling or
  frosting.”
  http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Hotline_Answers_Panic_Button_Questions/index.asp

When to throw it out; a quote from the link below;

  “Refrigerator Foods    When to Save and When to Throw It Out
  FOOD.....................   Held above 40 °F for over 2 hours
  Cheesecake............    Discard
  http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/keeping_food_safe_during_an_emergency/index.asp


I am using agave instead of sugar, do I add more flour to keep things right in cookie dough?

When substituting a wet ingredient for a dry one, try approaching it from the perspective of reducing the liquid in the recipe to compensate rather than adding a dry ingredient. You almost always have more than one dry ingredient in and should try to keep these in their original proportion. This is especially true when baking; the proportion of sugar to flour to fat in your recipe can noticeably impact the texture, shape and cooking time of the recipe.

The problem with cookies is that often, there is no simple liquid ingredient; a basic recipe calls for sugar, fat, flour, egg and some vanilla extract (or another flavor). You can't tweak the extract too much because it's so concentrated, and anyway it's alcohol-based so the liquid component evaporates quickly out of your dough. That leaves the egg to play the dual role of moistening the dough and binding it together (see also: How does the number of eggs affect a cookie recipe?). While you can reduce the size and/or number of eggs in a cookie recipe, or leave out the egg whites, that would impact the texture of the cookie in a way you may not enjoy.

The general rule I use is to reduce the liquid ingredients by one-fourth the volume of liquid sweetener substituted, whether it's honey, corn syrup, maple syrup, agave, whatever. For a cookie recipe that has no liquid ingredient (like milk or cream), I would have to experiment a bit. That said, because cookies are small, the extra liquid will be released more easily than from something like a bundt cake or loaf of bread that has less surface area for the same volume; you may be able to partly make up for the extra liquid by increasing the cooking time slightly.

There are a lot of variables that go into a particular cookie recipe; you might be surprised how much the end product can change vary, using essentially the same ingredients. For an interesting read, look up some articles about Cookulus, an app that's supposed to let you adjust those variables to spit out the perfect recipe for your desired cookie (here's one for example). I heard about it on the radio a few years back but have never actually tried it out. Who knows, might help guide you in experimenting with this substitution.


What type of whetstones are you using for sharpening stainless steel knives?

For the honing stage, I have found an article regarding belgian natural stones: How does a Belgian Blue Whetstone compare to a Coticule  (without any reference to a specific steel type)

In summary:

the yellow stones (Coticule) are much better than BBW if using slurry
using just water, without slurry, BBW is almost useless and Coticule is very slow


I made challah dough and it was still sticky after 9 cups of AP flour

I have conflicting experience to @Benjamin. I often add a little extra starch to my bread actually, specifically potato starch or sweet rice flour. While all starches gelatinize a little differently, I would not expect you to have any issue shaping the bread, or with rise. What I would expect is a little extra chewiness to the crust and perhaps a bouncy quality to the interior, and maybe a tighter crumb with finer bubbles. The first time I added starch to a bread as an experiment (and far more proportionately), I joked that I had successfully invented storebought bread at home, because that's what the texture reminded me of. That said, I would not expect the textural differences to be huge in your case because you added very little.
Since percentages and math are on the table (I'm sorry but I love math), let's break down the amount of gluten and starch in here.
The recipe calls for 9 cups of flour total, and there are 16 Tablespoons in a cup. So how much gluten is in one of those cups? If we say it's ~12% (I asked Google), then in one cup of flour, there are about 1.92 T gluten, and about 14.08 T starch. If you round, that means about 2 T gluten, 14 T starch. That's a proportion of 1:7.... and I'm rounding up the gluten.
So what difference does a few tablespoons of corn starch make, proportionately? Well, for every T of corn starch you added instead of AP, you were missing one-seventh of a Tablespoon of gluten, or less than a half-tsp, but more than a quarter-tsp. And that amount counts up with every T you added. So, if you added a quarter-cup of corn starch, then you're "missing" almost 2 teaspoons of gluten. If you added a whole half cup, you're missing a little over a Tablespoon of it. But again, we rounded the gluten up before, so... you aren't even missing that much. This is an overestimation.
In the recipe as a whole, you have 144 T in those 9 cups of flour. That means you have 17.3 T of gluten total, and 126.7 T starch. Even if you added the whole half-cup of corn starch, changing the amount of starch to 134.7 and the total amount of "flour" to 152 T.... You've only changed your gluten content from 12% to 11.4%, which would still be within range for all-purpose. Some brands have higher gluten. Some have less. King Arthur brand's all-purpose flour has as much gluten as some other brand's bread flours. And again... I'm assuming you added significantly more than a few tablespoons. That drop from 12% to 11.4% represents a worst-case scenario.
So while there will be a difference, I'm guessing it will be subtle, maybe even undetectable if you aren't looking for it.
One thing I noticed reading the recipe is that they don't call for resting the dough. A short rest (often called "autolyse") after adding, say, two-thirds of the total amount of flour will give the flour a chance to hydrate and soak up some more moisture. That way, it will require a little less flour to get a workable dough, and your final product will be just a little softer and moister as a result. IF you make this recipe again, it might be helpful.
I'll be curious to hear how your experiment turns out (hopefully okay!)


How do I prevent my sugar coating from melting on my gummy bears

It is probably worth providing a recipe for what you're doing, but what about rolling them in a mix if iceing sugar and cornflour


Coconut cream is a more concentrated version of coconut milk, with more fat but also more coconut solids. Coconut milk won't mix well with additional coconut oil, because without the additional solids the emulsion will be unstable.

If you'd like to make your own coconut cream from scratch, you'll need a coconut. Alternatively, buy it directly, or skim it off rested coconut milk.


It looks a champagne coupe, like this.

Did you ever see pyramids of glasses where a butler fills the top one and let the champagne flow? I think that's the type of glass used, like this.


Why don't other grain proteins behave like gluten?

Your question has two main parts, what's elastic about gluten, and why don't other plants have this unicorn we call a gluten protein. I'll provide some background info first, but feel free to skip ahead to the spoilers if you like.

Quick and dirty background on proteins...

All proteins (like gluten) are made of differing sequences, and number of about 20 or so basic amino acids(glutamine, lysine, cysteine, arginine, isoleucine, just to name a few). So when we talk about large proteins like gluten, it's sometimes hard to remember that chemically, we are talking about many-many amino acid (AA) molecules which link together. The way the AA's link together matters because, the chemical interactions create the overall larger shape, and helps determine the physical properties of the final protein.

If I didn't put you to sleep, or you want to geek-out on this stuff: resources regarding the secondary(bonding between AA's which creates alpha-helices and beta-pleated sheets), tertiary (AA side chain interactions and AA's backbone), and quaternary (3D) structures of proteins, pubmed is where you need to go.

Glutens and what they are:

Gluten is the main storage form of proteins in wheat.  Gluten itself is a fusion of glutenin and gliadin protein units which belong to the prolamin superfamily(prolamines are cool, look them up).

Gluten subunits fall into three broad categories:

High molecular weight (HMW) prolamines, (glutenin subunits) approximately 6-10% of protein
Sulfur-rich prolamins (approximately 70-80% of protein) which include: gamma-gliadins, alpha-gliadins, and the B- and C-type low molecular weight (LMW) subunits of glutenin
Sulfur-poor prolamins (approximately 10-20% of protein) include:
v-gliadins, and D-type LMW subunits of glutenin

Variances in the spread of these proteins contribute to the way wheat varietals are utilized commercially(like winter or summer wheats...you have seen the variations available to buy on store shelves).  The composition of gluten protein in  whatever wheat strain that's being used translates into differing physical properties(elasticity, density, etc) in the dough it makes.

Where do the elastic properties come from?

Elastic properties in gluten come from the way the components of the protein matrix interact with water.  The gluten proteins react with water in ways that other storage forms of protein cannot, namely in the swelling/hydration bit.  There are two things going on at the same time.  The gliadin sections of the gluten protein contribute to the friction with which the hydrating liquid is able to move around in and near the protein matrices(viscocity).  The glutenin portion of the molecule is responsible for the elasticity or strength of the protein matrix. Glutenin seems to undergo reversible (not as common as you'd hope) stretching because of the way it is folded.

Why don't any other grain proteins seem to have gluten?

I would like to point out this is more of a plant physiology/phylogeny question rather than one related to cooking.

They just don't have what it takes.

The way different plants create the storage form of their proteins is determined by their specific DNA sequences within the genome. AA Structure, order(N-C terminus) and final shape of the proteins created by the plant are a result of the transcription, translation and post-translational modifications of DNA sequences in the plant.

References for those that want them:(I did try to find free online ones)

Cereal seed storage proteins: structures, properties and role in grain utilization
http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/53/370/947.full.pdf+html

Wheat Gluten Functionality as a Quality Determinant in Cereal-Based Food Products
Annual Review of Food Science and Technology
Vol. 3: 469-492 (Volume publication date April 2012)
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-food-022811-101303

Distribution of gluten proteins in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) grain
http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/108/1/23.abstract

The formation and properties of wheat flour doughs
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10408399009527517

Wheat Protein Composition and Properties of Wheat Glutenin in Relation to Breadmaking Functionality
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10408690290825510


adding vanilla extract to cooled pudding

Yep, that should be fine. If you have trouble mixing it in thoroughly, try reheating the pudding in the microwave, a few seconds at a time, to make it thinner and more stirrable. (It’ll re-thicken when cooled.)


It really doesn't matter, I have tried with all of them, and each one tastes differently. Even in India at different places people use different kind of onions, it is mostly driven by availability. The best way to check what you may like is by using different kinds of onions for the first 3 times you make it :). I personally like yellow ones, you can start with that one for the first time.