Can I subsitute grapefruit for either lemon or orange in baking

I'm sure you could but I don't think you'd be happy with the results.

A quick breakdown of the amount of sugar and citric acid (gives the acid tang to citrus fruits) to grapefruit, orange and lemon juices per 100 grams (roughly 100 ml).

Grapefruit has 7-8 g. sugar and 2.5 g citric acid.
Orange has 8-9 g. sugar and 0.9-1.7 g citric acid.
Lemon has 2.5 g sugar and 4.5-5 g    citric acid.

Please don't ask me to provide references as I soon discovered that no one site (or even 3 or 4) has the needed information together in one place. I had to search through multiple sites and calculate the differences on amounts given with different units used (ml vs oz).

Comparing these differences, you might think grapefruit could be substituted for oranges if you added more sugar. What makes grapefruit unsuitable though is its bitterness. Grapefruit contains Naringin, the compound which gives it the bitter taste. In fact, naringin is the reason why people who take certain medications, especially some cardiac meds, need to avoid grapefruit or its juice as it can interfere with the liver's metabolism of these drugs.

But getting back to the suitability of using grapefruit, if you're prepared to adjust sugar and you don't mind grapefruit's bitterness,  it's worth trying. Best check, too, with anyone else who plans on eating the dessert.

What works for me is to buy lemons on sale if they're good - heavy and juicy - grate all the rind, then juice the lemons and freeze them. Grated rind freezes very well and doesn't lose any flavour either. It makes it so much more convenient for me when I want to cook with lemons. I do the same with oranges, especially the rind. I also keep citric acid in my pantry as I use it often when I cook. It can be used with oranges to make a delightful orange meringue pie as regular oranges lack enough tang.


Why is there cornstarch in powdered sugar?

It's to prevent caking. See, for example, the second FAQ on Domino Sugar's website:

  It is not recommended to substitute confectioners sugar for granulated
  sugar. Since confectioners sugar has a much finer texture, and it
  contains a small percentage of cornstarch to prevent caking,
  substituting can give you unexpected results.

Many shredded cheeses include corn starch for the same reason.


The idea is to brown the outside of the meat in order to develop the flavour via the Maillard Reaction. This flavour will add to the richness and meatiness of the stew as a whole. Go ahead and give it a good crust. Don't overcrowd the pan or you will just end up steaming the meat in its own juices and it will never brown up: fry it in small batches instead.

Two hours braising in the stewing liquid will easily be enough to cook one-inch cubes of beef all the way through and will easily see off most nasty stuff.


What kind of mixture(colloid) is a roux?

I would suggest that a roux is a hydrocolloid.


How should fully cooked refrigerator stored chicken be reheated to retain moisture?

Fist, what do you mean by "proper?"  If your chicken was correctly cooked, then chilled to refrigeration temperatures within the window for food safety, and stored within the window of safety, you can obviously eat it directly from the refrigerator...or warm it and eat it.  No significant bacteria are going to grow, for example, if you remove it from the fridge, stick it in the microwave (or in pan on a stove) and warm it for a few minutes, and eat it. There is just not enough time for anything to incubate.  Again, the preceding assumes that you've followed general food safety protocols for your raw product, preparation, cooking, and storage...and you are consuming within the storage life of your food.
Now, if you've got some time, and your goal is to reheat to have an experience as close to the original cooking as possible, the then best tool is to use a sous vide device.  It is the most gentle and thorough tool for this job.  This is a good explanation.  All you have to do is set the device to a degree or two under the original doneness temperature, bag it, and put it in the bath.  It's the path toward moist leftover chicken...among other things.


After a quick Google search, I found chowhound topic that deals with this exact matter. They'll grate well and it's handy when (just semi-defrost them) you need some grated zest as you can just pull out a bag from the freezer and sprinlkle them into your recipe. They'll juice but you need to defrost them which I'm told is best done by 'zapping' them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Apparently you get more juice after they've been frozen as it bursts the cell walls releasing more juice.

Hope this helps!


Can fruit juice be used to hold a cheesecake crust together?

I've experimented a bit with liquid flavorings in tart crust (not specifically replacing butter -- I still had butter in there) and I find that it does tend to make the crust soggy, but if you are baking the crust first, you can cook it longer to counteract this and it comes out a little more like shortbread. I don't think I would recommend it, and I actually try to keep as much room-temperature liquid out of my crusts as possible.

On the other hand, one of the most famous NY cheesecake places, Junior's, uses a spongecake base instead of a traditional crust. If you really want to add peach to the crust, maybe you could work off of this? Maybe replace one of the eggs with pureed peach? (I was surprised and pleased to find that Epicurious has the official Junior's recipe online, actually.)

Another option would be to keep your normal crust recipe and put a layer of peach jam or compote on top of the crust (if you have a baked crust, or even the sponge cake method). You would want to make sure there is as little liquid as possible in this layer or you're still going to have soggy crust.


Is poultry suitable for dry aging like beef is?

Putting health and safety concerns aside, there are a few reasons why dry-ageing chicken or other poultry is unheard of (or at least very rare):

Poultry is usually tender meat by nature
Poultry easily dries out when roasting/pan frying/baking. Dry ageing would mean the meat starts off drier to begin with
The flavour profile of aged beef is more gamey and overall stronger. This would generally not be considered a desirable taste in chicken

There are white meats that do often undergo an ageing process (pheasant, partridge etc.), but this is done before plucking and gutting, meaning the meat does not lose as much moisture, and there is less risk of introducing infection.


Does sprinkling salt on top of brownies give the same result as putting it in the batter?

Sprinkling salt on top won't have the same effect as mixing it in the batter, you'll get a big salt hit all at once and then nothing in the brownie itself which I wouldn't expect to be very pleasant.

Some recipes withhold some of the salt from the brownie and put it in a sauce for the top like a salted caramel drizzle. This works because it's not pure salt on the top and there's still salt in the batter.


Gougeres are not stuffed, at least in Bourgogne. The dough contain the cheese (Gruyere) and nothing is added to it after the fact. Well cooked gougeres have the cheese in the center still moist and gooey, giving the impression of an after the fact filling when in reality the cheese has been in the dough all along. If the inside of your gougere is dry, it's been in the oven for too long. Note that using anything else than gruyere, or eventually comté, is probably not going to get the gooey delicious result.

I guess the only way to add a filling would be to do it the same way you do profiteroles: simply slice the gougere horizontally with a sharp knife, add whatever you want inside, and put the top back in place.


Is it roasted chili paste (น้ำพริกเผา in Thai)?


How can I avoid windswept muffins in a convection oven?

Quite often that look can be from having the temp too high on the oven.  A convection oven should always be at least 25 (and some people will say up to 50) degrees cooler than a 'normal' oven.  If you haven't tried it yet, knock down the temp of the oven.  We used to call this 'lava tops', because basically the outside is baking and setting quickly, and then the insides pop out of the gelatinous surface, and they go in a funny direction (often the way the fan blows).  I'm not saying that is the problem for sure, but if it were me, it would be the first thing I tried to eradicate the problem.


It won't do anything useful.

Brining works on raw meat by denaturing some of the proteins inside the cells so they gel and hold tightly onto their water. It also gets tasty salt in.

Cooked meat has already had its proteins denatured by heat. Brining will not cause the meat to hold on to any new water.

Basically all it will do is wash away some of the surface flavor into the brine.


How much "alternative" flour can I substitute for white wheat flour?

Mark Bittman actually includes a very handy quick-reference flour substitution table in How To Cook Everything (mine is the 10th anniversary edition, not sure if it's in previous editions). This assumes that the bread recipe calls for all-purpose flour and tells you how much you can substitute for the quantity the recipe calls for:

Whole wheat: use up to 50% in recipes
Rye:

light: up to 40%
medium: up to 30%
dark/pumpernickle: up to 20%

Cornmeal: up to 10%
Buckwheat: up to 20%
Rice: up to 25-30%
Nut: up to 25-30%
Soy: up to 25%
Spelt: up to 100%; then either decrease water by 25% or increase flour by 25%
Oat: up to 25-30%

The reason that different types of flours substitute at different ratios is primarily due to gluten content. Breads (both quick and yeast) made with alternative flours, especially non-wheat flours, will be heavier, denser, and less elastic; the substitution ratios above are meant to provide a nice balance between the nutritional and flavor advantages of the alternative flours with the texture qualities of all-purpose flour. For more information about the specific properties of each type of flour listed here, see the section called "The Basics of Flour" in How to Cook Everything (p. 835-838 in the 10th Anniversary ed.)

 Note: These substitutions are specifically for breads, where you want a sturdy, elastic structure. Low-protein or low-gluten flours may substitute at different ratios in other types of baked goods like desserts where you want a finer, more tender crumb. But I didn't get into that since the question was specifically about bread.


I am also rather puzzled by it, but I must also say that the recipe is somewhat unusual. There is the dry method for caramel (sugar only) and the wet method (sugar dissolved in sufficient water), I have never seen it done with such slight wetting of water though. So I am not that surprised by the further irregularity.
I can see two possibilities for interpretation here. The first one would be that it is a translation/editing/autocorrect mistake, and that you are meant to stir the caramel. While one expects recipes to be better proofread than that, it can happen, and in this way of doing it, this is indeed the correct time for stirring (and it is a good thing to say so explicitly, so you don't try stirring earlier, which can ruin the caramel).
The second one is that it is indeed meant for skimming foam. Sugar solutions can form foam, which is usually noticeable in jam making. I have never had any significant foam form during caramel making, but it is possible that either the author made it under conditions which somehow produce more foam, or that they believe that the minimal foam formation that likely happens when the water boils off needs skimming. I wouldn't personally see this as an important step, but as I said, the recipe is already unconventional.
In the end, if you feel uncomfortable following these exact unusual instructions, you can either disregard the skimming step, or make a caramel in a way you are comfortable with. By "caramel" I mean pure caramel, not the combination of caramel and cream and/or butter that is also commonly called "caramel" in English speaking countries nowadays. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe as per the book. Or, just find another recipe for caramel ice cream - recipes which are confusingly written are always at a higher risk at failure, either because the author didn't know what they are doing, or because they didn't manage to transfer the knowledge well.


When changing recipe size, do I proportionally change bake time?

Baking times are based on the size of what's in the oven. If making 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 or 48 cupcakes of the same size, you bake them the same time, as each one "sees" the oven the same way or has the same volume/thickness from the outside where the heat is to the center.

If making mini-cupcakes or giant cupcakes, or baking a cake using a cupcake recipe, the baking time needs to change with the size of what goes into the oven full of batter, as there is more or less batter to be cooked through from the outside edge and bottom/top of the pan.


A basic Google search hit on numerous sites all which agree that almond paste can be frozen with no deterioration of the product.  The key is to wrap it up in several layers of plastic bags or plastic, then aluminum foil to keep out other flavors from the freezer as my experience has been that ground nuts will absorb odors if improperly wrapped.

Once in the freezer, hopefully in manageable-sized packages for easy thaw and use, the almond paste should keep for several months at least.

I've stored ground almonds in the freezer for a year with no harm to the flavor.

Best of luck!


Pressure cookers -- why are they good at things normally cooked at low heat?

Braises are, by their very natures, cooked to well done.  They achieve an internal temperature well above 165 F which will make every meat well done.

Please see:

Why would a pressure cooker shorten a braise time?

for a detailed discussion on how the collagen to gelatin conversion takes place over time, and is made faster in pressure cookers.

The fact that the cuts that are suitable for braising are exactly the ones that allow the slow conversion of collagen to gelatin is what makes the pressure cooker suitable.

The real issue with cooking braises low and slow in the conventional oven is that at sea level, the internal temperature cannot get very high, so you need time for the gelatin to collagen conversion to take place.  There isn't much point in raising the oven temperature higher than required to allow the time for this conversion, and it prevents overcooking or drying out the outside of the food while the conversion takes place.  The meat will still be quite well done; it is only moist and succulent because of the melted fat, and the gelatin lubricating the meat fibers providing that slow cooked unctuousness.

In a pressure cooker, the ceiling temperature is raised, so the time can be shortened.  The inside of the food is still quite well done.  No loss to quality (since the food would be well done anyway), but a much shorter time.

If the food was not suitable to be cooked well done, the pressure cooker would be far from ideal, as it would certainly overcook the inside of the meat.

Note also that you have listed two special cases where foods are cooked at lower temperatures to avoid agitation (from the bubbling and boiling of the water), rather than because of issues directly related to time and temperature:

Stock.  Stock is cooked at a simmer to avoid the turbulence and circulation from the bubbling and boiling leading to more dissolved, emulsified or suspended particles in the final product.  That is, the goal is to keep the stock clear instead of cloudy.  If you are not concerned with this aspect, it can be cooked at a full boil.
Beans are cooked slowly for several reasons, of which the main one is convenience.  Cooking them at a full boil would require more attention (so they don't burn on the bottom), and is not terribly feasible in an oven, which is the easiest way to do them.  Also, by cooking below the boil, there is less agitation in the pot, and so less splitting and sloughing of the bean skins, which some people find less than pleasing.

In the pressure cooker, you will not get this kind of agitation, because once the pressure is achieved and the food is at equilibrium, it is not going to be going at a full boil, but more of a simmer, but a much higher temperature simmer than is possible at sea level pressure.


Can I do Chow Mein without rice wine nor substituting it?

I would say, yes, you can make chow mein without wine of any kind. I say that without hesitation because the first four recipes that come up on a Google search for chow mein (all highly rated) don't call for wine.


When milk is cultured (eg kefir), what changes occur in terms of lactose, glucose and galactose levels?

In general, the process of fermentation is a conversion of sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Lactose being a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose is somewhat harder for the culture to digest, so as fermentation progresses, the levels of all three sugars will fall but lactose will fall at a slower rate than galactose or glucose.


I was able to cook on an induction stove with a non-magnetic pot, why?

It is likely that it was a different metal that supports inductive currents, such as aluminium.

The problem with aluminium is not that it can't create inductive current and heat up. It can, but it is rather inefficient on induction. Also, it has a very low melting point, so with thin aluminium, you risk melting it.

Many induction units have artificially added constraints to not work if they don't sense a ferromagnetic pan of a certain size, aswhich is a safety feature. Maybe yours doesn't, and so you were able to heat your pot. This doesn't make it a good idea to continue - even if you don't run into trouble with melting, you are losing much of the advantages of induction cooking.


specific temperature vs "medium heat" on an induction cooker?

Low, Medium, Medium-low, Medium-high and High are weasel-words so that manufacturers/recipe writers cannot be blamed for misuse of equipment/recipes, so a specific temperature range for medium heat cannot be given for just any cooker out there.

For an oven, I use as a rule of thumb: 50-100°C (100-200°F) Low heat, 100-150°C (200-300°F) Medium low, 150-200°C (300-400°F) Medium high and 200+°C (400+°F) for High...

For an induction cooker, my personal rule of thumb would be:

Low, Medium, High: 1/3 strength, 2/3 and just below boost respectively
Low, Medium-low, Medium-high and High: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and just below boost respectively

As I've seen induction cookers go from "〰" to "15" (excluding boost), above rule of thumb should be taken with a shovel of salt...


Assuming you are talking about fried eggs, use a non-stick pan, and use just enough fat to coat the pan. If you're using an oil, don't measure, just use a few drops, and make sure to spread it thinly on the pan. You could also use cooking spray. The key is having a really, really slick non-stick pan. No pan with any kind of texture will do.

For scrambled, the same is true, but I'd suggest using butter, and just a little more than you need. For 4 eggs, I'd use about a teaspoon of butter. Of course, I also add whipping cream to my scrambled, do it over a double-boiler, and often finish with a small amount of melted butter on top as it is. Here, you want to really keep the eggs moving to keep from sticking.

If you're talking about another cooking method, please be a little more specific.


How to cook Parmesan Cheese into a broth without making globs?

That recipe relies on starch exuded by the pasta to thicken the broth enough to emulsify the cheese. If your brand of pasta throws off less starch, the broth won't be thick enough to keep the cheese from globbing up.

I suggest adding some corn starch slurry just before the cheese. Remove a quarter cup or so of the broth, allowing it to cool slightly; add some corn starch (say, 2 tbsp as a starting point? I'll leave that to the group) and mix, then pour the slurry back into the main soup and stir for a minute or so over low heat, then add the cheese.

EDIT: Joe's comment made me realize something else -- you're not using pre-grated Parmesan, are you? You shouldn't use that for cooking. (Or anything, really.)


Are you making sure that the chocolate is properly set? It's very important to ensure it's properly set or it will stick. Also, are you making the chocolate thick enough? It can be helpful to do two layers of chocolate in order that it isn't so thin it cracks easily.


If you really want to speed it up you can use a pressure cooker, although the problem I'd envisage there is that there is a greater risk of overcooking because 2-3 minutes too long in the cooker is a much bigger problem than when cooking conventionally.

Update:
Pressure cooker works very well, use about 210% stock compared to the rice, i.e. if you use 300g rice, use 630 grams stock.
Cook for 7 minutes at full pressure. I.e. start timing after full pressure have been achieved. Cool quickly (using water on the outside) and open lid. Check if the rice is cooked enough, continue cooking until you have reached the level you want. Add your butter/parmesan and everything else you would add in the end of the cooking.


Pressure cooking beans with salt and spices

The main impact I find is on flavor. If you're in a hurry and just want a one-pot recipe, go for it, throw it all in and let it cook. Most Indian spices are fairly robust and should withstand the pressure-cooking process. But you may get better results if you cook some of separately, especially if you're already going to be cooking onions, garlic and ginger to add in. I do often include some salt during cooking because I feel that it helps to flavor the food better, similar to the way I was taught to cook pasta (salt the water the pasta cooks in and give a lighter hand to the salt in the sauce).

You really can still generally get reasonably good results without worrying too much about this stuff. It's just that you may get better results if you pay closer attention to when you add what. :-) But if the main result that you want is no-hassle, quick cooking, then who am I to tell you what you really want from your food?

You will certainly get a slightly different flavor from spices depending on how you handle them. Some herbs become bitter if they're cooked a long time (oregano), others lose their flavor pretty much entirely if you cook them longer (dill, mint). Others develop a more complex flavor profile if they are roasted first (cumin, coriander seed).

If I am cooking with cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom -- really aromatic things that I usually remove after cooking -- I usually include these during the pressure-cooking and remove them when I open the cooker. They will have imparted a strong flavor and aroma into the beans and the cooking water and I don't need more from them. My mom always removes bay leaves before she packs away any left-overs because she finds that they continue to impart an ever stronger flavor into the food while in the fridge. I find the same is true of cinnamon sticks. (Cloves and cardamom not quite as much, I just don't like to bite into them as I'm eating the food.)

I usually cook the other spices separately in another pan with whatever onion/ginger/garlic/etc while the beans are cooking, then add those all together to the beans after the beans have finished cooking.

If you're starting from a pre-blended spice mix, I would probably treat that like the latter and cook it with the onions, etc, and add it towards the end. That doesn't mean you can't throw all of it (onions and all!) into the pressure cooker and have it cook together, but an onion that goes into the beans and water raw will impart a different flavor from that of a caramelized onion. The same goes for raw vs cooked tomato and various other ingredients in Indian cooking.

There are some recipes where I like the effect of just throwing everything in together raw (usually soups, stews, chili, baked beans) but for others I find that taking the extra effort of handling some things differently pays off. (I also find that starting from fresh spices IF you use them frequently makes a big difference vs pre-mixed spice blends, but then again, sometimes having the pre-mixed blends to fall back on can be a nice change, too.)

From a health perspective, cooking vegetables and spices in the pressure cooker will raise the cooking temperature vs boiling. Any nutrients that are adversely affected by high heat may be further affected by pressure cooking vs cooking on an open pan on the stove. Most herbs and spices are of fairly negligible nutritional value to begin with (at least, in the quantities we cook with) so I wouldn't worry about this type of nutrient loss from spices.

Water-soluble nutrients from the beans or from greens like spinach and kale are still present in the cooking liqueur, so as long as you don't discard that after cooking, you aren't losing a lot of nutrients there, either.

From a time perspective, I have never noticed any difference in the time it takes to cook lentils if I have the onions, tomatoes and spices in with them, but I also haven't tried to shave the time down to the minimum there, either.

If you're in a really big hurry or if you have some older beans that are being stubborn about rehydrating, you can add a little bit of baking soda to the cooking water to help them to soften up.  Use very little (<1/2 tsp in a big pot) or plan to discard the cooking water. If you are using baking soda you can change the water half-way through and add the spices at that point for a compromise.

This is based on how I learned to cook American food from my mom and that side of the family and Indian food from my in-laws and college roommates, etc, as well as a lot of experimentation. :-)


Using melted butter when making shortbread

If your recipe calls for the creaming method, then what you are doing, both with or without sugar, is harmful.

Creaming the butter means to mix softened butter with crystal sugar, using a paddle mixer attachment or vigorously stirring with a spatula (warning, sore arms!). The sugar crystals beat tiny air bubbles into the butter, which make the shortbread rise later during backing. Neither cold butter nor melted butter work here. If you melt the butter first, your result will still be a shortbread, but will rise less and have a denser, heavier texture. Melting the butter first, then cooling it back and adding it is also bad; melting the butter breaks the emulsion and melted butter (which is actually an uneven mixture of butterfat and unstrained milk solids) behaves completely differently than "normal" butter.

If your recipe already prescribes the muffin method, there is no need to mix the sugar with the butter, or to cool the melted butter at all. You mix the sugar with the dry ingredients, and add the butter together with the wet ingredients.


We eat artichoke often. We pressure cook them in an old one quart aluminum pot. I have seen the cut stem (not chewed) butt turn and ooze blue from the cut stem when left in the fridge too long. In that condition the stem has a sour fermentation, but no obvious mold. I have eaten it like this thinking, I am getting extra. I like artichoke stem a lot and have bought them with long stem in Oregon, USA. The blue appears to be in the nature inherent with the thistle flower that it is.


Why is dark chocolate dark when pure cocoa is light brown?

There are probably several factors in play:

The chocolate liquor used to make the chocolate may have been dutched (processed with alkali) which makes it darker.  AT the extreme end, it is almost black, like an Oreo (which is made with highly dutched cocoa).
The fat phase surrounds the cocoa particles, and makes them appear darker, much like wetting cocoa powder with water makes it appear darker.
The cocoa used to make the chocolate may be roasted to a greater or lesser degree, which affects its color, might like with coffee.  Thanks to  Didgeridrew for pointing this out.
Milk chocolate is necessarily lighter, as the milk particles are white, and help make the entire bar a lighter shade.

The cacao percentage is not a major factor, as even low cacao chocolates (like the very, very sweet German's Baker's Bar) are quite dark.


I would not use a regular pan on a wood fire bbq grill (even on a stone).

You can use a cast iron dutch oven (or maybe a Japanese cast iron rice cooker).

After that, you will need to keep control of the heat your grill generates at it can get really hot in a dutch oven.

Nice grill btw.


Crust separating from crumb in white bread. What gives?

It sounds like the gas from the yeast is getting trapped just under the surface of the loaf.  The surface layer may have gotten a little dryer and stiff while rising, and definitely sets first in the oven, that might explain why the gas can get through the rest of the loaf to collect there.

If you're otherwise pleased with your loaf's raising and crumb, you might, just before baking, lightly prick the top of your loaf, or add a light slash, to hopefully pierce that top pocket and deflate it before your bread bakes.  If you pierce too deeply you might affect the rest of your loaf's rising, since it will let the gas out instead of using it to rise the loaf with.  But if you're careful to keep it to the surface, you might pull it off.

Otherwise, if you want a fluffier loaf, you might want to double check your kneading - better developed gluten will trap the bubbles of gas better, so you might not have as much gas collect just under the top crust to form the pocket.  If this works, your loaf should be more consistent in crumb - I noticed the bread seemed to be denser towards the bottom (little pockets) and fluffier towards the top in your pictures.  This may still happen, depending on causes, but it would be less of a gradient.

Ii also might be that the difference in airiness from the bottom to the top of your loaf is affected by shaping.  In your description, you mention folding the bottom of the dough rectangle over - so if your folding is directional (say, top to bottom) instead of even, that might mean the "lower" part of the loaf has been a touch more compressed or worked than the top.  In this case, you might try baking the dough "upside down" in your loaf pan - that is, whichever side was down, ends up on top.  It might not look quite so nice, if there's a seam (or you might edge the seam to one side), but it might tell you if the shaping method is contributing to the uneven rising.


How can I approximate a deli kaiser roll?

Density

A high-protein bread flour will give strength to the roll, and allow it to rise higher. While it should still have some chew to it, this may be what your perceiving when you refer to density. Think of the difference between a pizza (typically high-protein, or "bread" flour) and a muffin or pastry (often uses lower protein flour). Bread flour can be substituted 1:1 with AP flour.

Crustiness

Instead of milk, try using an egg wash. This can be done by mixing a lightly beaten egg with 1 tbsp of water and a pinch of salt. Brush the rolls just before sprinkling on the poppy seeds.

Some more sugar might also improve browning. You could try increasing the sugar content by about 50% and see what effect it has on your rolls.

If you're interested in learning more about bread baking, this answer is based on a recipe from Bread Illustrated from America's Test Kitchen. I am not affiliated with them, but I feel like I should give the credit where it's due.

The techniques for making bread can get very complicated and precise, so there may be other ways to improve your rolls. I would also recommend a recipe that uses weight instead of volume for measuring flour/water ratios. Hydration levels in your dough can cause a significant difference in your final product.


The cheese is or has been too warm.

Cheese must be kept cool to cold.

Incidentally you cannot get Gruyere from Bavaria.

Gruyere is an address in yes but from no.


Replacement for ground almonds in a joconde sponge

I suggest looking for a recipe without almonds rather than substituting a major ingredient. If you can't find one without almonds, you may have to track down a similar cake recipe under a different name.

I'm sure it would be possible to find another ground nut that would work, but it would take some experimenting because the texture and water/fat content of different nuts varies significantly. Almonds in banking often end up softer than other nuts.

In some parts of Europe, ground hazelnuts are quite common as bulk ingredients in baking, so you may be able to find a recipe based on those with a comparable result. Or you could try the pistachios you mention as a main ingredient, but as I suggested, the texture may suffer.


Actually, there is an answer in the question that I linked, which speaks to your question.  However, now that I've read the question again, you are technically correct that it is not a duplicate.  I'll also add that the folks here seem to think beer in your starter is not very beneficial, but I have found nothing definitive. Perhaps you could create two starters, one with water and one with beer, then bake two identical loaves and report your results as an answer here.


Option 1: Season the pizza stone just as you would with a cast iron pan.

Option 2 (with or without Option 1): Ensure that the bottom of your crust is well-floured, or sprinkle some corn meal on a counter and press the dough onto it before transferring to the stone.

Option 3 (actually not very optional): Always, always, always pre-heat your pizza stone to your baking temperature or slightly higher. I generally opt for 15 to 20 degrees higher, then turn the oven setting to baking temp when I put in the pizza to bake. It results in a crust that is crispier on the bottom and less likely to stick.


Smaller breads are usually called rolls or sometimes buns. There are also a lot of names for specific kinds of rolls, beyond obvious things like "sourdough rolls".

You can certainly take an existing recipe and just form in to more, smaller pieces, and reducing baking time. They'll look funny if you just cut it into pieces, though; you should reform them into something rounder.

It's hard to say exactly how much less baking time it'll take, since it depends on exactly how small you make them. It might be anywhere from roughly a quarter to half the original baking time, and especially for smaller rolls with shorter baking times, you'd probably want to increase the temperature so they'll still brown by the time they're done. Very small ones will be on the low end of the time range, and need more increase in temperature; larger ones will take longer and not need as much temperature increase.

Given all that, you might want to just look for a recipe for rolls that suits you. Simpler, less chance of messing up!


Type of wok and how to go about seasoning it

I had a very similar coating on the wok I bought recently.  The person I bought it from explained that the coating had to be burnt off, and not scrubbed off.  I put the wok on a high flame and made sure to flame the entire surface of the wok, including the sides.
The coating smokes and burns, but once it is off you will find yourself with a good carbon steel wok. it does take some time and great heat to burn it off so persevere.


Are there any cooking techniques that employ "Dry Ice"?

Yes, you can use it to carry aromas in modernist presentation or to make an anti-griddle (for making rapidly frozen items with a liquid center).


Different types of cakes are recognizable by their ratios. Recognizing the ratio of your recipe is very hard, because it is given in nonstandard volumetric measurements. In fact, the use of "flour" (without differentiation of the type) together with cornstarch, and the formulation "heaped tablespoon" suggests that this is a continental European recipe, where tablespoons are not a normed measure from a standardized measuring system. Your relatives probably used whichever spoon they had in the cupboard to measure the flour and sugar.

Still, unless they had some giant sized spoons, the cake is quite heavy on the eggs. A standardish sponge would be around 1:1 eggs to flour by weight, while my conversions give me less than 200 g flour and about 500 g egg for even generously heaped tablespoons. Home laid eggs would have been smaller, but not half of today's ones. Also, the lack of fat is suspicious. In comparison to standard Western cake recipe categories, it is closest to a genoise. The second best match is angel food cake, but the use of baking powder and the high egg ratio is quite off for it.

The unusual thing is that it uses baking powder, since both a traditional genoise and a traditional angel food cake are purely egg leavened. It is likely to be a home baker's addition to a more traditional recipe, either because of a misunderstanding (some people don't realize that you can make cakes without chemical leaveners) or because they had difficulty to get it rise without it and added it to get a rise.

If you are asking whether you should try it: you can, or you can try a different genoise recipe from somewhere else. The advantage of using a modern source is the reproducibility and better testing - when you heap your own spoons, you will likely end up using a very different amount of flour than whatever your relative used. Also, if you have never made a genoise before, it's a more difficult recipe than typical sponges. It is very sensitive to the proper ratio, proper duration of mixing, and proper baking time and temperature, and people usually need a few practice tries until they master it. It's not rocket science, more like throwing darts - invest your time and it's learnable, just don't expect perfect results the first time round.

The learning curve is another reason why I would suggest looking around for a different source for a genoise recipe. If you make this one and it goes well, great. If it doesn't, you won't be able to troubleshoot it well until you have learned how it's supposed to work, which is best learned with a tested recipe with good instructions, not a grandparent's notes to a process she knew by heart.

Still, the recipe does have a chance of working, it's not a totally unusual one. If you really insist, you can try making it. Just set your expectations properly and don't be disappointed if it isn't an instant success.


What is the rind of Brie cheese made of?

The rind of Brie is Penicillium Camemberti it's a completely harmless fungus which gives brie its taste. You can eat it, or not, up to you: you are supposed to.

If it smells very strongly of ammonia the cheese is just a bit too ripe but it won't do you any harm.


Is it recommended to put frozen fruit in a food processor?

According to KitchenAid's food processor users' manual:

  Never process any food that is so hard or firmly frozen that it cannot
  be pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Hard food can cause damage
  to the blade or motor. If a piece of hard food, such as carrot,
  becomes wedged or stuck on the blade, stop the processor and remove
  the blade. Carefully remove food from the blade.

KitchenAid 12-cup Food Processor Manual

That being said, I've also used my food processor for frozen fruit, hard nuts, etc.  My blades have never worn out in 18 years of use (though the bowl has been replaced once due to cracking).


It's one thing to buy salami which comes with its own built-in mold, but to let one develop some possibly different mold spontaneously in the fridge?  If nothing else the fridge would not provide the ventilation which I understand is an essential part of the process (that's why you hang them and don't pile them up on a shelf).

Worse, I see a seam on the casing, which implies that it's a plastic casing and not a natural one.  I would not eat something which grew on plastic..


what are the Cheap substitute of menthol that can be used in mint?

There are absolutely no substitutes, neither cheap nor expensive.

First, the cooling effect is due to a very rare coincidence. It so happens that menthol is chemically capable of activating one of the temperature receptors in human skin (also present in the lining of the mouth). There are no other substances which do the same thing, at least not ones known in cooking (and if there happens to be some exotic option, it will certainly be more expensive to get hold of).

Also, even if you could mimic the cooling effect of menthol, you would never find a substitute which also smells of menthol, so people will readily notice the difference.

That being said, I am surprised that you find menthol very expensive. I found that I can get natural mint essential oil (which is about 50% menthol) for 8 Euros for a 40 ml bottle. This should be enough to aromatize about 400 kg of candy. And we are talking about expensive, naturally created stuff sold to hobbyists in a country with high standard of living. It could be possible to find synthetic menthol at cheaper rates somewhere, most likely at a pharmacy. Of course, it could turn out that there is no good supply where you live and the few people who sell it demand too much, but this would surprise me if it is a commonly used ingredient in your culinary tradition.

If you find that pure menthol is for some reason too expensive for your pocket, e.g. because the smallest batch you can buy is more than you will use up in a lifetime, you could just look at products meant for cooks which are basically diluted menthol. This includes mint extracts, mint syrups, mint essential oil, and a lot of other options, varying by region.


Why does my lemon tart filling sometimes curdle?

RockyFord's comment has the heart of the matter, I think--the acid in lemon juice will begin to denature or curdle to the proteins in the eggs if it comes into direct, undiluted contact with them.

You can minimize this effect by beating together all of the ingredients except the lemon juice prior to mixing in the lemon juice.  This will add a lot of sugar and milkfat which will buffer the interaction between the citric acid in the lemon juice with the egg proteins.

You can then bake your tart as normal.


Advantages/disadvantages for limescale cleaning methods?

Methods I know about:

Vinegar
potatoes peels
citric acid
Coca-Cola
baking soda

Each of them is actually better for different types of kettles.

for glass where lime is quickly visible or where there is large amount of lime. Con is the smell that require multiple washing.
for kettles where heating element is not part of the chamber. Cheap and easy but con is that require multiple brewing changing peels with each one.
Best for steel ones (but work for others of course) cons is that it need time to work (usually overnight) and shouldn't be boiled.
very soft method, best for ceramic kettles. cons - it's coke and people may taste the extra sugary and additives for many brews.
good for electric kettles or with exposed heater. cons is again, the after taste that require multiple boiling's and pouring out the water.  With very hard water you can end up at the same place when started.

Apart form the coke all advantages is the price. They are all relative cheap and with peels you can just use some that normally would be thrown away.

Citric acid with a little of water is best for prevention as you can just quickly wash it once every week.


You need to cover soft vegetables in egg or batter first. Normally the vege's are steamed first to actually cook, cooled, then egg washed or lightly battered and flash deep fried in hot oil just to set the thin batter

Try Indian style spicy pea/chickpea flour batters


Slugs are not poisonous, but in the wild can pick up the parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis, also known as rat lungworm, from rodent scat. The parasites can produce a toxic reaction that causes eosinophilic meningitis in humans.


How do the nutritional values of bananas change as they ripen?

Starch content and sweetness:
Bananas become sweeter as they ripen because the starch is broken down. An unripe banana is full of complex carbohydrates, but as it ripens, these are broken down into simple sugars which is why riper bananas are sweeter. The lower starch content and higher sugar content also means that the banana is digested more quickly, so it becomes a slightly higher GI food as it ripens.

Antioxidant levels: Riper bananas also have higher levels of antioxidants. The brown spots on the skin are formed when the chlorophyll breaks down into antioxidants. These are very good for your body as they help prevent cell damage.

Calorie count: As the banana ripens, the calorie count stays the same. Even though the nutrients change, all carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram so the total remains the same

Vitamins and minerals: As the fruit ripens, the micronutrients tend to decrease. Water soluble vitamins like vitamin C, folic acid and thiamin decrease. But the banana will still have a lot of potassium. You can store a ripe banana in the fridge to prevent some of these nutrients from being lost.


I'm going to have to disagree with FuzzyChef's answer a bit.  I don't understand the statement that FuzzyChef's wife's recipe matches The Spruce Eats (separating egg recipe) proportionally, but Pepin's supposedly uses more eggs.  Yet The Spruce Eats recipe uses 2 eggs with 1/2 cup milk and 1 1/2 tablespoons each of butter and flour.  Pepin uses 5 extra large eggs (or about 6 large eggs) with 2 cups of milk and and 6 tablespoons each of butter and flour.  That is, Pepin's recipe is scaled up 4 times in most ingredients from The Spruce Eats, but only about 3 times in eggs.  Pepin is thus proportionally using less eggs than The Spruce Eats recipe.

And while I agree that Pepin does beat the eggs in a manner that incorporates some air, that's clearly not what's causing the batter to rise, as he then follows up by noting that one can prepare this souffle batter hours or even days ahead.  Most of the small amount of air incorporated by beating the whole eggs will almost immediately dissipate and will mostly be gone within minutes, let alone hours or days.  Whole eggs, unlike egg whites, do not hold their foaminess for long.  The beating is helpful, but clearly not the essential process to the rise.

Instead, the science behind this is quite simple and truly basic: the souffle rises because of steam.

The reason this technique works is the same reason that popovers and Yorkshire pudding rise (to a huge extent, often much more than classic French souffles), with no egg separation and no fancy preparation.  But the bubbles created by the steam in popovers and Yorkshire pudding are generally large, creating a more "rustic" texture, rather than the refined souffle.  Pepin's dish has a less extreme rise and more consistent texture because he puts a large quantity in a wide thicker pan, rather than, say, popovers, which are placed in relatively small narrow pans that heat the batter very quickly (and thus produce incredible oven spring from the steam).

Once the steam begins to rise, the eggs begin to coagulate and trap it, leading to the light and airy texture.  The flour also helps provide more structure to hold up the finished product.  Essentially, it's the same steam that makes light and "fluffy" scrambled eggs, just increased by more moisture and trapped with the help of flour to provide additional structure.  Popovers and Yorkshire pudding proportionally contain a lot more flour, which allows them to rise much higher and have a more "bread-like" texture, rather than the smooth texture of a souffle.  But they're both using the power of steam primarily.

The classic French souffle technique with egg separation isn't necessary to create a rise -- steam can do that all by itself.  (Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking notes that the air bubbles from the egg-white foam only contribute about 25% of the air to a souffle: about 75% of the air comes from the steam produced during baking.)  The French souffle with the egg white beating, etc. is about creating a very consistent fine-grained interior texture (with small bubbles), all produced by a relatively slow and consistent rise in the oven.  In Pepin's case (and in most standard souffles), cooking the flour and adding cheese help to thicken the batter, so less flour is needed to start trapping air compared to things like popovers.  And Pepin's reduced egg quantity also contributes to a slightly thicker batter that won't rise as high, but is also less fragile and less likely to fall.  The longer bake time in a wider mass contributes to a more slow, even rise, where the top layers gradually coagulate and help trap air in the interior.


Is this batch of sauerkraut salvageable?

My kraut doesn't always show signs of foaming, and, even though it is fermenting, it is relatively crisp. Further, 11 days is not very long. The container you use is not that important.  What is important is salt (and if you say it is "very salty" you probably have enough) and keeping the cabbage submerged. You will need to weigh it down so that all of the cabbage is under the liquid.  When you remove some with a clean utensil, what do your senses tell you?  If it feels slimy discard it.  If it smells bad, discard it. If you see fuzzy mold, you are better off starting over.  Otherwise, give it a taste.  My guess is that it is not very fermented after only a week and a half, so I would keep the experiment going.


When making filled cupcakes, is it possible to bake a custard filling in it?

I'm a bit late answering, but I make my own vanilla custard which is quite thick, and put some of the muffin mixture into the pan, then spoon a teaspoon of custard, or lemon curd then top up the rest of the muffin mix.  Works well.  You can make coconut lemon muffins (with lemon butter), or apple and custard muffins sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  Banana muffins can have a tsp. of caramel Top N Fill in their centre, quite yummy.

Custard Recipe:
2 rounded tbsp.real corn flour, 2 tbsp. sugar, 9 flat tbsp. of full cream powdered milk, 1 large egg.  Mix together in a microwave proof jug with 100ml cold water, then add a further 300 mls of water and mix well.
Microwave on medium for 3-4 minutes, stir well, then repeat on medium for a further 3-4 minutes.  Stir well.  If the custard hasn't thickened by this point, just continue for a minute each time till it does.  Add 1 tsp. vanilla.
If the custard is lumpy, strain it through a sieve while its still hot. Leave it to cool, then use as above.

Banana Custard
Make as above and slice 2 or 3 bananas into the mixture while the custard is still hot.  Pour into a bowl and sprinkle with dessicated coconut and nutmeg. Let cool. Scrumptious.


The Wondermill Junior Deluxe claims that it will grind chickpeas, it's over $200 American. I've found several articles (example) that claim you can do it in a manual coffee grinder. Here's a reasonably priced, highly rated manual coffee grinder from Amazon. Amazon will let customers ask questions of others that have purchased a specific item. I asked if that particular grinder will grind raw chickpeas. I'll update this post if I get a credible answer.

EDIT: I did get an answer from somebody on Amazon who owns that particular coffee grinder. She tried it (just for you:) It didn't work. The beans were too hard for the machine.

Other articles recommend a meat grinder.

You mention a windmill though. Are you wanting to do huge amounts?

Another point of clarification: Are you grinding dry or soaked chickpeas? If you want to grind dry chickpeas, the coffee grinder is almost certainly the better option (although maybe not since this one didn't work at all). For soaked chickpeas, you'd probably be better off with the meat grinder. Since I've seen recipes for falafels starting either way, I can't know which way you are wanting to do it.


For microwave hot chocolate, why pour the hot milk into the chocolate rather than mixing the milk with chocolate then heating?

You were using real cocoa powder, not an instant drink. You probably cooked it in the microwave, or at least part of it. When milk over the powder, it was certainly not hot enough to cook the powder. So beyond any lumps that might have come together (you don't describe if you took measures against it), there is certainly a taste difference between cooked and uncooked cocoa.


Advice on how I can make my own 1 cal cooking spray like frylight

Why not just pick whatever oil you want to use, put some on a paper towel and wipe the pan with it? It'll have the same affect or just skip the oil all together and get a really good non-stick pan?

The only way to get oil and water to mix is to use an emulsifier.


How to know potato is done without poking it to check softness?

Great question easy fix as I had the same issue. Set aside or add  a couple extra  chunks or potatoes that is just for testing. When you test a chunk toss it, the test potatoe will be representative of how the other potatoes are cooking, it allows you to puncture without compromising the rest of the batch.


How to determine amount of mother starter to use to build a levain for STIFF/dry sourdough starter?

Well, in case anyone is interested, I managed (finally) to find an answer. Apparently, you don't dilute a stiff starter but just measure the required amount from the mother starter.


7 hours at 125°F seems like a bad idea, no matter what happened before.

  If the food is not being pasteurized (as is the case with fish and rare meat), it is important that the food come up to temperature and be served within four hours.
   ... which is why cooking times over four hours are not shown for temperatures below 131°F (55°C). [emphasis added] http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Cooking


Do acid and fat balance each other? How?

Fats have a bland taste and oily feel. Fatty foods can be made more tasteful by adding acids.

Acids stimulate taste, similarly as salt and, yes, they give the sensation of cutting through fat (Herbivoracious.com).

On the other hand, adding fats to acids (oil to vinegar in a salad) can decrease sharp acidic taste, but this happens only on a sensation level, not on a chemistry level, because fats do not absorb or chemically react with acids.

I'm not aware of any nutritional benefits of acid-fat mixtures. Acids also do not help significantly in fat digestion. Fats are relatively inert - they do not readily react with acids, alcohol...


In terms of sautéing, the simple answer is that using oil is going to let you develop fond, i.e. the tasty brown stuff, on your veggies whereas cooking only with water will essentially boil/steam your vegetables — and perhaps give them a little char, as well.

In cooking, both oil and water are basically just things you use to transfer heat to food. They are both useful in their own way, depending on what you're cooking.

In practical terms, oils/fats can serve a couple other purposes, too, like:

Help extract fat-soluble flavor compounds from ingredients, like herbs and aromatics.
Keep things from sticking and burning in your pan.
Add flavor.

In a hot pan with only water, your friend was probably boiling/steaming their vegetables — not truly sautéing, in which you really try to avoid steaming. If the water runs low, you risk burning your veggies when they come in direct contact with the hot metal of the pan.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it depends on what the food is and how you're trying to prepare it. There are better ways to steam veggies, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

Cooking for Engineers has an illuminating article on the science behind heat transfer. Learning about the Maillard reaction is also a good read. And others more experienced than myself can tell you a lot more, I'm sure. Hopefully this is a sufficient "short" answer.


How can I cook chicken in a similar way to how it was done in Biblical times?

McCormick Science Institute: History of Spices:

  Papyri from Ancient Egypt in 1555 BCE classified coriander, fennel, juniper, cumin, garlic, and thyme as health-promoting spices (3). Records from that time also note that laborers who constructed the Great Pyramid of Cheops consumed onion and garlic as a means to promote health.

The Spice Encyclopedia at Spice Advice appears to give history / origins for a large selection of spices.


I've made a bechamel sauce and added sherry to it, but too much: How can I fix it?

Bechamel sauce is only flour milk and butter. Even with the sherry, it's not a big expense. If you make a mess of one batch it's probably best just to bin it and start a new. Diluting it down with more sauce may work by your probably just going to end up with loads and loads of sauce that you'll never eat.


Can whole milk be used to make fresh cheeses like marscapone?

Practically all dairy starts with full fat milk, this is all that comes out of a cow.

The process of cheesemaking centers around separating the curds from the whey (except for making true ricotta, which is made from whey). The fat stays with the curds. So the fat content of your cheese goes sharply up compared to the liquid you started with, because you are throwing out most of the water, as well as some proteins and carbohydrates, but keeping all the fat.

There are cheeses which start with cream. In theory, they can also be said to be started from milk, because cream itself is made from milk. In practice, if you want to make them at home, you will start with store-bought cream.

As far as I'm aware, it is not possible to make mascarpone or cream cheese when starting from milk. If there is a way, it would require a recipe different from the one starting from cream. So, if you have a recipe which asks for cream, you should follow it with cream and not with milk. Else, even if you manage to get the correct fat percentage, the ratio of proteins to fat or water to fat won't be right.

But if you just have the milk and want to make any fresh cheese, you can make one of the many fresh cheeses which are not started with cream. Tvorog, paneer and quark are all milk based fresh cheeses, and delicious in their own right.


Can I safely freeze my yogurt marinated chicken?

I have been in this situation before and I did try freezing it. When I used it later on, it did taste and feel OK, but as you would expect, not the real fresh taste.

I do not think the ingredients in the marinade will have any effect while it is frozen. While thawing, the yogurt might split, leaving more than usual water, but that shouldnt alter much of the outcome. It will be still good after defrosting; I would normally defrost by leaving the item in the refrigerator overnight, rather than quick methods like microwaving or even leaving at room temperature on the kitchen counter.


Jar pasta sauce resealed itself in fridge overnight. Is it safe to eat?

If you put hot (or even warm) sauce in a jar, seal it, and place the jar into the fridge, as it cools, it (as well as the air in the jar) will contract. The larger the temperature change, the greater the vacuum that will be created.

Most likely, what you are seeing is warm sauce cooling and creating enough vacuum to suck in that button on the lid. If that's the case, it's perfectly safe to eat.

You say you opened the sauce, used some, and placed the rest (immediately??) into the fridge. That's a perfectly safe procedure for saving leftovers, so long as handling of the sauce did not introduce cross-contamination (ex via "double dipping").


As I was explaining in my answer to this question about figs the "brown bag" trick, works for any climacteric fruit.

A list of some climacteric and non-climacteric fruits can be found here.

It is important to note that some non-climacteric fruits (such as bell peppers or strawberries) will not respond to an ethylene treatment at all, and will not ripen further after being picked from the plant. Other fruits (such as citrus and grapes) will show ripening responses to ethylene, although they do not have an auto-catalytic production of this molecule1.

1Ripening of citrus and other non-climacteric fruits: a role for ethylene


How can I make kimchi with everyday ingredients?

To answer your specific scenario, kimchi has myriad variations using any number of vegetables, from perilla leaves to Korean radishes to napa cabbage. There are forms of kimchi that involve no chilies (white kimchi), some involve a lot of water and bear little resemblance to the typical napa cabbage one (mul kimchi). The main constraints for Korean-ness of kimchi will be that you've fermented it (for all of the types that I can think of, anyway), and that it doesn't stray too far from familiar Korean flavor profiles (rules that you can break if you've got a deep enough foundation in Korean culinary traditions).

Napa cabbage isn't particularly hard to find in Europe, however, so I'm not sure why it would need to be substituted. For whatever reason, it was called "Chinese cabbage" in Germany; I'd be surprised if you couldn't find it. If I wanted to make the typical cabbage kimchi, the hardest thing would have been finding the right kind of chili powder, which I was able to obtain without too much trouble when I was a 20 year old student there many years ago. Then, the typical small bits of raw oysters or other kinds of fish or dried shrimp can reasonably be substituted with locally available ingredients (and some regions in Korea don't always use those ingredients anyway).


Substitute for sesame oil (sesame allergy)

Sesame oil has such a distinctive flavour, I'm afraid there's nothing that will give you exactly the same taste. Many sites suggest peanut oil, but this is more or less tasteless in my experience.

I would suggest toasting some unsalted peanuts or cashews and adding them to the stir fry, to get that roasted, slightly smoky flavour. Just add them to a warm, dry pan and toss frequently to prevent burning.

If you're feeling really adventurous you might even try smoking some peanuts (you can do this in a wok with certain wood chips and a bamboo steamer, plenty of instructions online).


How should I adapt a recipe if using very new dried yeast versus slightly older dried yeast?

First off, how do you store your yeast?  Storing yeast in the fridge helps it to last longer; I've had some yeast in my fridge for a year that is still going strong.

As your yeast begins to become ineffective, I would personally get new yeast.  Once yeast looses its power, you're simply not going to get the same effect out of it.


Is it okay to add extra sugar to a specific brioche recipe?

First of all, this recipe is not supposed to taste sweet. There is so little sugar, it must be there for tenderness - and even this is strange in a bread with so much glutenless filler (the potato). If it is in the sponge only, maybe it is only there to speed up the sponge rising time.

Adding sugar to a bread recipe is not trivial. Sugar interferes with gluten creation. The maximum sugar you can have in a bread recipe is two tablespoons sugar per cup of flour, which is not very sweet. And then you have to change the recipe: it needs much longer kneading, and more yeast. At very low concentrations, sugar does indeed feed the yeast, but if you use more of it, its osmotic activity interferes with its growth.

The probelm here is that you have all the potato in the recipe. This means you already have very little gluten compared to the mass of dough. And  also that it is diluting any sugar, reducing the sweet taste.

You can certainly try adding up to 7 tablespoons of sugar, but you should knead longer (double the knead time for the full 7 tablespoons - I knead standard brioche for about 30 minutes per hand before adding the butter) and will have to live with a bit worse texture. You can also try to use gluten strengthening tricks to compensate - add ascorbic acid (vit. C powder or a crushed pill), start with cold water, or add vital gluten.


Heat pot first or is it okay to heat with food?

First off, when reheating soup, it won't matter much. If you get the pan too hot before you add the soup, you could get some spattering, but that's about it.

As for making a fresh batch, there are those who believe that browning the ingredients before adding the liquids will develop more flavor. This will be a lot easier to do with a hot pan, than trying to get a cold pan full of stuff up to a heat sufficient to cause browning.

Overall, it's a tradeoff. If you're in a hurry, it might be worth saving the few minutes to just throw everything in the pan and heat it up. If you really want to develop every last bit of flavor, you'll probably be better off heating your pan, browning ingredients, then adding liquid.


How to serve a fish filet: skin up or down?

I think it depends on which fish, and the way it's cooked. If it's steamed,poached, or en papillote, fish skin can be quite unappealing to some diners, and, as you say, the conventional way to eat the fish would be to lift the flesh from the skin, especially if at the same time you are parting the flesh from the bones.

But if it's an oilier or meatier fish, pan-fried or grilled, the skin can be deliberately crisped, in which case it's intended to be eaten. (This, again, is much easier to eat if the fish has been filleted from the bone before cooking.) In that case, it is sometimes more attractive, and keeps the skin crisper, to serve it skin-side up.


Do induction cookers increase risk of cracking cast iron?

Cracking? No, not in my experience. I own like 20 cast iron skillets (I've been told I have a problem).

Warping? Yes. I have a 2,800 watt per burner commercial induction stove with a very small pattern like yours. If you repeatedly overheat a pan on high for searing, it will eventually bow outwards. Warping can be mitigated by preheating your pan gently.

That said, if the pan is full of water or oil (for deep frying, not stir fry) there is nothing to fear. I have had the same stainless stock pot for 8 years and I roast it on high all the time (with liquid). Water is a very effective coolant (it's what keeps your car engine from overheating). The likelihood that a pan full of water will overheat is very unlikely, nigh impossible.

RE: comments. Yes it is a lot of skillets. This is what 14 looks like.


Have a look at Amazon's "Customers who bought this item also bought" section when looking at those 2 books.

The book "Elements of Desserts" from Francisco J. Migoya looks nice.

Also try to find El Bulli books, even if they are not dessert exclusive, you will find amazing (hard to reproduce) desserts.


How can I get the most smoke flavor from Lapsang Souchong tea?

For overall full-flavor, these instructions produce the best cup:

  Use a teapot and cup made from glass, or other material like
  porcelain. Use soft water for preparation of tea. This is suitable to
  effectively extract most of the substances from the tea leaves. Hard
  water is not suitable because it contains higher levels of mineral
  ions which suppress extraction of substances from leaves,
  subsequently, the taste become very flat and thin. Besides, mineral
  ions react with polyphenols substances which will give a dark brown
  color. Use fresh water which has not boiled before. Bring the cold
  water to boil, and then pour in boiling water that has been freshly
  drawn which the temperature is > 95˚C.=Boiling Temparature. Warm the
  teapot and cups well by rinsing it out with boiling water. This should
  be done just before adding the tea leaves, so that the leaves benefit
  from a gentle humid heat. For black tea, the main component is tannin
  which required high temperature for efficacious extraction. It is
  necessary to keep container warm in order to maintain* adequate
  temperature in brewing water.

Got that off this site promoting their LS tea from the Wuyi Mountain area of Fujian where I have toured and sampled: http://hojotea.com/item_e/b02e.htm
The part about only boiling once should not be underestimated: tea needs the oxygen to react and release those magical substances.

Have you experimented with second brewing? Drink the first cuppa after a short brew and cover with water again and see if that is indeed smokier.


Unpeeled means not peeled.  Do not peel the carrots.


When proofing active yeast, is it ok to add oil?

Generally, I've seen this done in breads where the liquids are immediately combined with the dry ingredients, sometimes the yeast will be added to the dry ingredients and then the liquids added (as for olive oil breads). But if you have to activate your yeast prior to mixing, it's generally best to allow the yeast to activate in the water for ten minutes or until frothy, and then to add other liquid ingredients and continue.

For pizza dough, I usually skip the yeast activation (depending on the type of yeast you use, you'll have to go through a potentially different method) but active dry yeast can immediately be mixed into the dough with the water without requiring activation.


Replacing part of the water and/or cream with more egg should do the trick, as when eggs are headed, they firm up and act as a binding element, fixing the crumblyness of your cake.


What weights to use for fermenting sauerkraut?

Penn State Extension recommends:

  Cover with a plate weighted down with jars filled with water or cover
  with a large food grade plastic bag filled with salt water (6
  tablespoons salt per gallon of water.)


If we are talking about the cook surface then my money tends to go towards a used one, as long as it has been properly cleaned over time and taken care of ( i.e. few scratches, dings or buildup). That being said a used one that has been taken care of will also work better for cooking because of the oils that are already seasoned into it. The thing to watch for in buying used would be the underneath, make sure the lines are good and that the underneath is well maintained. Buying used will not only save you some money but also some time and frustration from dealing with "sticking" issues which can come from using a new flat-top. Plus "used" adds character, but that's just my opinion.


Can I fry my frozen Maitake pieces with other fresh mushrooms?

Sure, why not? If you're really worried about it, just saute the frozen and the fresh separately and combine them after the fact.


Only the core of my banana is black. Is it safe to eat?

According to my grandfather, it's still under-ripe - he liked them after they were brown/black all over outside and pretty well brown all the way through inside.

So I'm pretty sure it's perfectly safe to eat.


How can I tell the difference between unmarked sugar and stevia?

Don't throw it away.  Worst case you use up the mystery sweetener on yourself, and use a new pack of Stevia for your wife and anything you share. That's what I recommend if you're not convinced by my solution or don't have sensitive kitchen scales.

At room temperature, sucrose (normal sugar) is very soluble in water: about 200 g of sugar will dissolve in 100 g of water.

It's harder to get a figure for the solubility of Stevia as it's not a single compound but a mixture of related compounds.  However various patents claim "high solubility" stevia preparations of around 30 g per 100 g water, or around 1/7 as much.

This is enough of a difference to test: If (with plenty of stirring but no heat) the mystery sweetener will dissolve in an equal mass (weight) of water, it's sugar. If not it's stevia.  This only works if you weigh it.  You can't do this by volume.

You can always compare to known sugar; a comparison to know stevia is less useful unless it's identical, and brands evolve. The conclusion holds for fructose too (that's even more soluble), but glucose, which you're unlikely to have as pure powder at home, needs slightly more than its own weight of water to dissolve it.

Pure stevia is much sweeter than sugar, and when concentrated may have an aftertaste. It's also sold blended. When blended with other sweeteners the solubility test probably still applies (certainly in the case of erythritol, find in Truvia). Sometimes stevia is bulked out to make it a more direct substitute for sugar. The bulking agents may well be rather soluble and a source of carbohydrates (maltodextrin is sometimes used).


why is exterior of the microwave oven getting hot & the lights getting switched off

The exterior is getting hot because it is generating a lot of heat.  A pizza has a bit of mass and 180 degrees Celsius is hot.  It could be a safety shut off.

And it could be broken.

If it works fine with smaller items then more likely it is a safety shut off.


The 'puff' effect in puff pastry is produced by an alternation of fat/dough layers. When heated, the water in the dough will become steam and try to scape (hot air go up). Since steam and fat don't mix, this effectively creates pockets of trapped air in between the fat layers. The steam eventually manages his way out leaving behind a layered dry gluten skeleton.

With this picture in mind, the type of fat used plays two roles:

Workability. The fat needs to be soft enough to be spread over but hard enough to be trapped without 'sleeking' when layering. The traditional recipe asks for butter, but many commercial brands use hydrogenized vegetable oil as well, which are fairly stable. In principle, you could use lard or lamb fat.
Taste. Well, unless you are making a lamb pie, lamb fat might be a bit too strong.

As for the acid, I don't see how it could play a role in this process which is mostly mechanical. I also disagree with the claim that traditional French puff pastry takes a bit of lemon juice. Marie-Antoine Carême, the "chef of the king's and king of the chefs" don't mention lemon or vinegar in his treatise about puff pastry. More on the modern side, neither do Alain Ducasse, Pierre Hermé (who curates the Larousse des desserts) or Michel Roux. So maybe some recipes ask for it, but it is definitively not the rule.

Most of the industrial puff pastries do contain either lemon or vinegar, which they label as 'acidity regulator' in the ingredients list. I believe this acts as an anti-oxidant to increase shelf life and prevents rancidity. Another explanation (a long shot) might be taste. The traditional method for making butter in France involved fermenting the cream in a clay pot before buttering. One of the distinctive aspects fermentation brings is acidity.


How do I ensure that I cook scallops all the way through?

High heat and quick cooking are essential for scallops. Several minutes cooking will result in fishy racquetballs.

Firstly, remove the scallops from the fridge half an hour or so before you cook them, so they're not stone cold (but don't put them anywhere warm or in the sun). Heat your olive oil in a pan until it starts to sizzle. Season the scallops, then place them in the oil. Don't move them for 90 seconds so they develop a nice crust. Once that's happened, turn them over and cook for another 90 seconds. That's it.

If you want to see the process, Gordon Ramsay's official YouTube channel has a couple of videos:

Part One
Part Two

(Part two follows straight on, so you can see how quickly they're done).


Can I make invert syrup in situ when making candy?

Yes, you can do it. In fact, most recipes for candy I have followed suggest to do it that way. Just add your acid before starting to heat the syrup, and proceed with the candymaking as usual.

I suspect that the reason the recipes for inverted syrup specify an upper limit for the temperature is because they are recipes for syrup. If you overheat them, you will get, as you noted, soft or hard crack, but not syrup. If this is what you need, you can do it, it is just not the intention of the recipe author, so they warn against it.


Is there something special about bubbly water?

You're basing this question on an incorrect answer. Like you said, the boiling temperature of water is lower at higher altitudes, which means it takes longer to cook things in boiling water, due to the lower temperature. There's no benefit that I'm aware of in intentionally lowering the boiling point of water (which a pinch of salt does not do, anyway). If you wanted to cook something in water at a lower temperature, you can always just use less heat to keep it below the boiling point.

Put another way, water that is boiling at 190°F does not cook food at the same rate that water boiling at 212°F does, even though they are both boiling.


In the USA, does fish being served raw need to be frozen first?

Yes, it is true. Fish other than tuna must be frozen in the US to be called sushi grade. Only sushi grade fish can be sold raw in restaurants in most (if not all) jurisdictions. Freezing kills parasites that are common in fish. The FDA recommends that fish for raw consumption be frozen first, but state and local jurisdictions make and enforce the law. My understanding is that even in rare jurisdictions that don't have the law per se, no one risks the liability inherent in violating the recommendation.

  The only concern any inspectors have is referred to as the parasite destruction guarantee, which is accomplished by ‘freezing and storing seafood at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 7 days (total time), or freezing at -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -31°F (-35°C) or below for 15 hours, or freezing at -31°F (-35°C) or below until solid and storing at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 24 hours’ which is sufficient to kill parasites.

Sushi FAQ

I'm not sure if Japan has any similar regulations, but I do know that fresh raw fish is frequently eaten in Japan, often in homes, and that Japan has a much bigger problem than the rest of the world with certain parasitic infections of their people.

  Anisakiasis has recently become a leading problem in Japan. Anisakiasis is a disease caused by an infection of Anisakinae larvae, which are the visceral larva migrants following an infection by Anisakis larvae or related nematodes. It occurs when the live larvae are taken into the human gastrointestinal tract by eating raw, infected fish, in which the larva is in either stage III or IV. It causes pain, and often the pain is so severe that the patient is treated for acute abdominal pain, although the disease is by no means fatal.

General Survey of Anisakis and Anisakiasis in Japan

If you follow that link you will see a map of Japan and the numbers of cases of anisakiasis reported by hospitals. It doesn't give a time frame for the reports in the free portion of the study, unfortunately.

  Japan alone accounts for 90% of all cases of anisakiasis described in the literature because of the widespread use of raw fish in traditional Japanese cuisine, with sushi and sashimi.

Abstract in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases

If you are a visual learner, you might be convinced to only eat raw fish after that fish has been frozen per the above FDA minimums by looking at this abstract with pictures from the Korean Journal of Parasitology.


Are poppers better than a paper bag for making popcorn in microwave?

I have used some of the poppers which use "concentration disks" made by several sources, and will say I have had much better results with them than paper bags.  Popping time tends to be fairly consistent with much fewer unpopped kernels than a dry paper bag.  It only takes a couple batches to know what the popping time is for your microwave.  If time starts to increase or yield goes down with more unpopped or under-popped kernels, time for a new disk or your corn has gone stale.  It does cost more than paper sandwich bags, but with not burning batches and less loss and trouble, I personally found it worth it and probably a push on price.  And you need to make sure you keep a supply of the disks.  Usually it seemed 8-10 batches per disk before they would start to tear and need replaced.

I have not tried the ones which do not use the disks so cannot compare them.


Paella is a specific type of rice dish, cooked in a wide, flat pan.  Although sesfood is typical, it can also be made without seafood.  (I typically just do chicken and sausage)

Casseroles, however, are typically a higher sided earthware or similar dish, and baked.  They typically have starch, but it might be rice, noodles, or a biscuit top.  They might use a cream based sauce, or cheese, which would not be included in a paella.


Steel Cut Oats: cooking in milk vs. water

Yes, this is possible. From my childhood experience, oats were always cooked in milk, never in water. I can't tell you specifics of how to do it, because it was my mother and grandmothers who made them.

But based on the behavior of other grains cooked in milk, from complete kernels to flours, I don't think that you need to make any changes as compared to cooking in water. Take for example polenta - both the ratio and the method stay the same for cooking in water vs. milk. The resulting product is creamier and tastier. For oats, it is also slightly slimy (but not unpleasant), I don't know if this happens with water.

As for water absorption, some grains do well if soaked before cooking, others don't need it. This shouldn't change in the milk vs. water scenario.

The comments mention burning the milk. It never happened with my mother's oats and I am sure she did it on a stove, not in a slow cooker. Obviously, you want it to simmer, not boil. I assume that this is how you do it in water too, but if you don't, change your method for the milk, or you'll have a disaster on your hands. The mix may need stirring while it simmers, but maybe you can do it without stirring too, polenta in milk does not need it if you don't turn your burner too high.


Drinking chocolate is a bad way to flavor a cake. It consists of cocoa powder mixed with sugar, and has nowhere near enough chocolate taste.

The correct way to flavor a cake is either baking chocolate (the real thing, not "fat-containing cocoa glaze"), or cocoa powder. You should choose the one to use depending on the recipe; don't just add it to a normal sponge cake recipe, both change the texture. Cocoa powder is easier to use, as it will only add starch to the cake. Baking chocolate will give you a richer texture due to the cocoa butter it contains, but finding a good recipe for it is more complicated, as the classic proportions have to be adjusted not only for the starch, but also for the fat and sugar it adds. Also, the fat it adds can't be creamed, which interferes with leavening, and it has to be melted before adding it to the cake, which requires some skill (mostly temperature control) and is something I would recommend for an intermediate rather than a beginner baker.

In short, find a good recipe which uses cocoa powder. Drinking chocolate is not only prohibitively expensive, it also gives an inferior result. After you feel more comfortable with cake baking, you can consider advancing to recipes which include baking chocolate. My personal favorite are Desaulniers' recipes, but the Gourmet magazine recipes are probably more accessible, as many of them are freely available online (try searching on Epicurious). You can also look around for other sources; I would advise against trying out random recipes off the Internet before you have gathered enough experience to be able to judge the quality of the results by just reading the recipe.


What is the purpose of using potato peels for seasoning a cast iron pan?

I personally had never heard of it, but after doing some research online, I found another set of instructions that called for boiling potatoes in the pan before seasoning:

  After boiling potato peelings for 15
  minutes, the skillet had a nasty
  slurry of grey looking sand in the
  bottom  Once the skillet was heated,
  the pores were opened, and the
  starchy/water mixture was able to draw
  out oils and dirt that I was not
  capable of getting to through normal
  washing. I fully do not understand the
  science behind why the starch/water
  mixture did this, but the experience
  was enough to convince me of the need
  to do this. So much in fact, that I
  did this process twice on each
  skillet.

I read a few too many web pages while researching this, and didn't save all of the links, but I did notice a few things:

Some of the posts kept switching between saying cast iron and carbon steel; both are typically seasoned, but they're different materials, so I don't know if it's recommended for both, or if people were mixing things up.  (I only have one carbon steel item, a wok, which I got second hand, so had already had its first seasoning).
Some of the posts mentioned boiling potatoes for 15 minutes, other mentioned frying potatoes as the first thing to be cooked in the pan (in oil), some mentioned cooking them 'til they burn.  The boiling potatoes ones also mentioned it works for cleaning stainless steel pans.
Some mentioned peels specifically, others say that you can use any part of the potato ... if it's the starch that's of interest, I'd think the middle would actually be better, but I'm guessing that the peels were considered waste, and so considered a less valuable item; I'd be inclined to just use one potato, dispatched with a peeler, if you were trying to avoid wasting potatoes you weren't going to eat.


What sort of kebab is used with Chellow Kebab?

Chelo (or Chellow) kebab refers to the entire dish which consists of the kebabs (usually 2), rice, and usually grilled tomatoes. Sometimes other accompaniments are included as well.

The most common types of kebabs used for this dish are koobideh (ground beef) and barg (ground lamb). It is sometimes served with one of each. There are exceptions and, though not as common, other types of kebab may be used.

If you perform a Google search for Chelo kebab recipe you will get tons of results. Most of the recipes include both the rice and the kebab.


I'd use a mandoline with the julienne attachment and cut them lenghtwise.

Or try do it manually with your knife.

Personally, I think that celery is a hard vegetable to make into spaghetti.


What do I need to know about temperature and food safety?

Storing food: the danger zone
When food is between 38°F and 140°F (4°C and 60°C) it's considered in the danger zone, and bacteria are growing on it quickly. USDA guidelines say that no longer than two hours in the danger zone is acceptable. This applies to anything that should be refrigerated, including raw meat and cooked food (leftovers). Additionally, if it's over 90F (32C), they reduce the guideline to just one hour.
Killing pathogens: cooking temperatures
When cooking meat, cook it to the recommended temperature for that particular kind of meat.  See for example the USDA's temperatures for various meats. These are conservative guidelines, but they'll make you safe. The common ones:

Poultry: 165°F (74°C)
Pork: 145°F (63°C)
Beef, veal, and lamb: 145°F (63°C)
Ground beaf, veal, and lamb: 160°F (71°C)

Different meats have different potential hazards. Most bacteria is killed by heating it over 145°F (63°C), but some things are much harder to kill, so it's important to use the appropriate temperature for what you're cooking.
And of course, once it's cooked, there may be some things that survived, or are reintroduced to the food, so you still have to follow the two-hour danger zone rule above.
Toxins
Even if the bacteria is dead, toxins can remain if the food was out too long, causing problems. No matter how thoroughly you cook something, it won't make up for bad handling. (Also asked and answered here). For more details on killing bacteria and the hazards of the toxins they leave behind, see the many answers to this question.
Botulism
Botulism is anaerobic (it grows without oxygen) so it's often a concern for canned goods, or things suspended in oil (e.g. garlic in oil). Some further information from http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_fs.html (°C values added)

The majority (65%) of botulism cases are a result of inadequate home food processing or preservation (CDC 1998). Botulism results from ingestion of a toxin produced by the bacterium C. botulinum.
This bacterium requires a moist, oxygen-free environment, low acidity (pH greater than 4.6) and temperatures in the danger zone (38-140°F / 4-60°C) to grow and produce toxin. C. botulinum forms heat resistant spores that can become dangerous if allowed to germinate, grow, and produce toxin.
Sufficient heat can be used to inactivate the toxin (180°F / 82°C for 4 min., Kendall 1999). C. botulinum thrives in moist foods that are low in salt (less than 10%), particularly when they are stored at temperatures above 38°F / 4°C.
These organisms will not grow in an aerobic environment, but other aerobic organisms in a closed system can rapidly convert an aerobic environment to an anaerobic environment by using the oxygen for their own growth, permitting growth of C. botulinum.

Nowadays foodborne botulism kills about 10 to 30 people a year in the USA, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Quattro Stagioni pizza comes out unbalanced

Seasoning is definitely a big part of your solution. Look at this recipe from Wolfgang Puck.

  saute the mushrooms in the olive oil until done. Season with salt and pepper

and

  Sprinkle basil over tomato section and grated Parmesan over the mushroom section

Taste your mushrooms and artichokes with different cheeses, herbs, spices, whatever. Certainly use additional salt if it seems warranted. Most importantly, taste your toppings with various complimentary flavors, always keeping in mind that you want the pizza to be a harmonious whole. Experiment!


Are modifications to a recipe needed to use frozen scallops instead of fresh?

Since the original recipe does not say explicitly that the scallops should be cooked from a frozen state, you should thaw them in the refrigerator before making the dish.  Do not precook them—just thaw them, and cook them as per the recipe.

You will also want to pat them dry with a paper towel or lint free towel, so that they are as dry as reasonably possible.


How to cook scallops that will prevent them from becoming too rubbery?

It sounds like maybe you cooked them too long.  Searing the perfect scallop requires a few steps, and some thought, but it is not difficult. ...and, a cast iron pan is very effective, so don't be put off by previous comments.  1.  Use only dry-pack scallops.  2.  Before searing, make sure that they are a dry as possible, by placing them on paper towel and drying all sides (you want them to sear, not steam). 3. Find a pan that is large enough so that the scallops are not touching.  Otherwise, use more than one pan. 4. Get said pan very hot (I use cast iron with great success, but try other pans to see what you like). 5.  Add clarified butter (so that the milk solids don't burn).  6.  Add scallops. 7. Don't move the scallops! 8. When you notice a brown crust forming after about a minute, flip the scallops. 9.  Cook another minute on side 2. (Alternately, cook most of the way on side one, creating a deep brown crust...so perhaps a minute and a half to two minutes...then flip for 30 seconds) 10.  Remove from pan to a paper towel.  Bottom line:  Dry, hot, fast.


How to know what light soy sauce had higher quality?

Offhand, I would guess the Pearl River Bridge is a higher quality - it has more soybean, does not have sugar, does not have flavor enhancers.  The fact it doesn't have distracting flavors makes it harder to cover up lower quality - so they must be pretty sure of their product.

I would think higher soy percent is better simply because it's more concentrated, you get more flavor per use and more flavor and less water per bottle - you can easily dilute a more concentrated sauce, much harder to concentrate a dilute one.

The Lee Kum Kee looks like it's more dilute, and uses extra salt, sugar and flavor enhancers to bolster the taste - instead of tasting like, well, soy sauce.  These sorts of things make the product taste good, but that means they can make a "good enough" product with lower quality ingredients, usually that means they do not have to depend on the quality of their soy sauce to stand alone.

You may actually prefer either, depending on your palate.  Some people like the plainer taste by itself and would prefer the less doctored (and higher quality) product, some would like the flavor profile of the more tweaked version and are more indifferent to quality variations.  But, that is what I would see when looking at those labels.


How can I get more flavorful jasmine rice?

Not sure how much rice you are making, but if making about 2 cups of rice, first heat 3 tablespoons of peanut oil over Medium High heat. Add the rice and toast it in the oil until it releases a nutty fragrance - about 1-2 minutes.  Then I like to use Chicken stock (3 cups) to finish it off.  Personal preference but I like to add scallions (green onions) and cilantro to the rice when it is done.  Cooking it this way I have not noticed a tremendous taste difference from different brands of Jasmine Rice.


How to dry fruit peels without growing mold?

You can't close them up and expect them to stay mold-free, they will produce too much humidity.

You will have to spread the peels on a flat surface, without overlapping. Do it on a slightly absorptive surface, and breathable is good too. The optimal setting would be a wire rack with a sheet of paper on it, but if you don't have a rack to commit to the task, skip the breathable part and use a large plate.

While you can't have them conveniently stuffed in a jar, they are not so hard to get dried. Just don't use prime real estate such as the kitchen counter. Find a convenient, undisturbed wide place - the top of a cabinet works, if you put something above them to keep the dust out. Or maybe you have some surface which is flat, but too low to be used for anything else. As long as there is free air flow, there is no problem of having something close above them.

Or, as tM-- suggested, use a quick drying method. Both an oven and a dehydrator should work. You will get a slightly better taste with slow air-drying, but the difference may be too small to notice.

Once the drying is completed, the peels can easily be stored in a jar without catching mold.


I drink ginger tea many times a day, so I purchase large pieces of ginger. They always have nubs, bumps and curves, as they are actually the root, or rhizome, of the ginger plant, and that's how they grow. I don't have one on hand at the moment or I'd do a pictorial demonstration.

I call the sections that jut out from the large piece "fingers" because the big piece sometimes looks like a hand. I have no idea what the technical term is! Sometimes before peeling I break off some of those fingers, especially if they're very tight with little or no ability to get in between them. My peeling method is the same, I just do more separate parts at a time.

My favorite way by far to peel ginger is by scraping it with the edge of a spoon. It works in a similar way as a carrot peeler or paring knife, but is much easier because the spoon slides over and around the nubby parts, and gets into those v-shaped bends. Also, it takes off just the thin outer skin while leaving you with the most amount of ginger.

I'll explain one method, and once you see how easy it is you can customize the same basic idea, without needing to strictly follow my directions.

Hold the spoon with the side against the ginger, with the inside of the round part facing you. Tip the spoon gently on its edge and scrape towards yourself in such a way as to gather the peel inside the spoon.  Clean off the spoon with your hand once the skin covers the spoon or gets in your way. You can scrape with the spoon faced the other way, but I find it harder to handle and not as efficient.
You can do short, quick motions, or long scrapes if there are large sections that aren't bumpy.
When I'm all done, I'll use my fingernails to get at any left over cracks and crevices. You don't have to worry about leaving those bits. As others have said, peeling isn't even necessary, but I'm kind of obsessive about it!

As for the black spots, I don't know if there's a general rule, so I don't want to steer you in a wrong direction, but I'm with JoseNunoFerreira in terms of removing them. Many times they're just dirt, as ginger is grown underground and, at least in the United States, undergoes minimal handling on the way to the market. If I can rub the black off easily with my finger, or if it smells like the earth, I feel pretty sure that it's dirt. I cut that section off to the point where all the black is gone, and use the rest.

However, if there's any trace of mold anywhere, I throw the whole piece out. A lot of people I know just cut off the moldy areas, but I always err on the side of what I know to be safe, which to me means no mold!

I also remove those nubs, or any other area, including the ends, if they're shriveled. While not necessarily unsafe, it means they're dried out and won't make yummy tasting tea anyway. They're also hard to peel. Just cut or break those off.

I agree with Dorothy that frozen ginger can be much easier to peel. I don't freeze mine very often, but when I do, I use the same spoon method for peeling. That's just my preference, because I'm less coordinated and not very good at handling a microplane! Perhaps that could be a trial and error thing for you.


How long can hard cheeses last in a refrigerator?

Hard cheeses (e.g. parmesan) will typically last several months in the refrigerator once removed from the packaging.  The larger the chunk, the longer it will last.  If mold forms on the outside, simply cut it off and continue using.  There is no reason to throw-away good parmesan.


What cut of meat is used to make shabu shabu?

Very high fat, thoroughly marbled ribeye is a good start, but there's a fair amount of variation. The extremely thin slices are also not something that every butcher is accustomed to producing, but that should get you to the right beginning.


From:
http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/sliveredalmonds

Slivered almonds are almonds that have been sliced very thinly into little sticks. They differ from sliced almonds, which are almonds sliced across their diameter giving you much bigger pieces. If you can't keep the shape distinction clear in your head, think of getting a sliver in your finger and what that is shaped like.
To make sliced or slivered almonds, commercial producers have special machines that will process about 4,000 pounds of almonds an hour. The machine heats the almonds to about 160F to make them pliable, so that they won't shatter when being cut
Sliced and slivered almonds are just about impossible to make at home. The food processor won't slice them, it will chop them and then grind them. It's really not something you can do by hand, either; they will split like crazy on you and you may lose a finger in the process. If they weren't so readily available in packets at the stores, no recipes would be calling for them.