Is the sprouted wheat used in any traditional recipes?

Some of the earliest uses of wheat called for germinating the seed as part of the malting process, i.e. making malt in order to make beer. There's archeological evidence shows evidence of sprouted grains being used in malting kilns from the time of the ancient romans.

In addition to beer, other traditional uses of malt, and therefore sprouted grains, include Samanu and Mammi.

Unlike wheat strains of the modern world, there's evidence that most of the ancient grains would germinate during storage, so it could be most ancient people's default experience with grains were with sprouted grains. Traditional recipes for porridge, gruel, or bread likely used germinated grains and flours.


A kitchen rag is typically a white, rectangular towel that has various duties in a professional kitchen.  Some of the uses include: wiping-down counter tops, sopping-up spills, securing cutting boards (use DAMP rags), and grabbing hot pans (use DRY rags).

Generally, it is a good idea to wash your hands with soap and a sink.  Often kitchen rags are used to clean debris from the hands between preparing food items.

Usually the rags are dropped-off, picked-up, and washed by an outsourced service provider (e.g. Cintas).  The kitchen rags from these providers often have a thin, colored line that runs lengthwise down the towel.

If you would like to find some for your home, try searching 'bar mops'.  They are essentially the same as kitchen rags, and are usually very cheap.


If it works for you (you like the results), there really isn't a disadvantage unless you have leftovers. Cornstarch (cornflour) thickened sauces tend to thin upon reheating more than roux thickened sauces. Depending upon what you are making, you may or may not notice it much if at all.


Why can soda be used as a substitute for eggs when using a boxed cake mix?

There are lots of people who have a rather simplistic approach to nutrition and think that removing fat and calories makes you healthy. Then they go through recipes for things they want to eat, replace the sources of fat with something which doesn't have fat and doesn't make the result outright inedible, and declare their recipe a success. I think this is what happened here.

In a cake, eggs provide leavening, moisture, smoothness, own flavor, and enhancement of other flavors. Oil provides smoothness and enhancement of other flavors (and possibly its own flavor, if not netural). And while it is not water based, it keeps the moisture in the cake from evaporating, so it makes the cake less dry.

If you are a "simplistic nutritionist" without all this information, you can approximate some of the effects with soda. It will provide moisture, and it will also provide some leavening because it is fizzy. It will provide some flavor of its own too, but frankly, I find the rather chemical flavor of soda to be unpleasant. And it won't have any fat. In the eyes of the simplistic nutritionist, it has successfully replaced the oil and eggs while reducing fat and calories.

From the point of view of a baker, the cake will be a disaster, and won't even deserve the label cake. It will dry out quickly because it has no fat. It will have a bland flavor. Its texture will be terrible. They say "more chewy?" It will miss both the protein structure and the emulsifying agents provided by the eggs. It will be essentially an overwhelmingly sweet quickbread with no redeeming qualities. From a culinary point of view, it will be terrible.

Bottom line: under some assumptions, it is a good substitution. For me, these assumptions are so far from reality as to be useless. It is a terrible substitution.


Does ceramic non-stick cookware "fail", and if so, how?

I have a ceramic-coated pan too, and always treated it with care (plastic utensils, no overheating, etc.) It failed too, after some time (I think I've had it for 9 months now, and used frequently).

Unlike a failed Teflon pan, it does not look or feel any different. But while at the beginning it was superslick, with everything gliding right off it in a fluid motion, now it is only moderately non-stick. I can still use it as normal, including for such problematic cases as omelets. But if I fry without fat, I need a spatula to dislodge the omelet from the surface. In contrast, when I bought it it was like polished ice. It is still more non-stick than, say, enamelled or seasoned iron, and definitely better than stainless steel. But it isn't as good as a good-quality PTFE.

If the non-stickness keeps at this level, I still think that it makes sense to buy it, if you have the money. They are expensive, especially the brand-name ones, but can give you nice, even heating. While they will give you less non-stick performance, they are more robust than PTFE - metal utensils don't damage them, they don't overheat as easily - and I found the non-stickiness sufficient. The nice thing about them is that the quality ones aren't thin aluminium, mine has a 10 mm sandwiched steel bottom - you don't get this in PTFE. So they can be used for applications impossible with PTFE, and will give you a better heating in the cases where PTFE would have worked.

On the other hand, you can decide to go traditional, with a combination of PTFEs for the sticky applications and iron or steel for everything else. It will probably give you a better tool for the stickies, as long as the PTFE coating itself doesn't fail through accidental overheating. It is up to you which style you prefer, but the ceramics aren't the panacea they are touted as.


Can I substitute whole eggs for egg whites in cake mix?

If you truly desire a white cake, you don't want to make this substitution.

The reason the white cake mix directs you to add egg whites only is to to avoid the yellow color from the yolks, which will tint your cake yellowish.

Cake mixes are highly engineered wonders, and are very tolerant of almost everything a home cook can do to go wrong within reason.  Still, substituting in the yolks increases the amount of fat—and more importantly, the emulsifier lecithin, and so will change the texture of the outcome.  This will probably not be bad, but still will not be the optimal result from your mix.


To make  salads "better":

Add nuts or roasted pumpkins seeds to add some crunch.
Use bitter greens (arugula, radicchio,, white endives...)
Add some root vegetables (carrots, radish...)
Add some fruits either fresh or dried.
Make different type of dressing (asian, middle-eastern...)
Use different kind of protein(I hate that word) use smoked salmon, chicken, flank steak...
Add noodles (rice noodles, ramen...) or do a simple pasta salad.

Don't know if you already do this, but only put the dressing before eating the salad.
If wanting to use fruits or other "fragile" ingredients, try to pack them separatly and mix them up before eating to keep everything fresh


Does cooking nopales with a copper coin actually neutralize the mucilage, and if so, why?

I just came across to this website looking for an answer related to sushi rice. Then I started to look around to find out what is all this about, so I found this question about nopal cooking. It happens that I am mexican so I wanted to give some advice about it. I have never seen a person here in Mexico cooking nopal with a copper coin. It seems to me like a  way to do things on those days where people had only copper and "barro" pans and the so to cook. I am not saying there are no people out there who are not using them nowdays, of course, but they might be the least. As I have not done it nor seen it, I can not say if it works.
Maybe I can help by telling you the way I cook them, which is very simple actually. After the nopal has been peeled and washed, I put it directly in a hot pan just like that, let it cook for a moment at medium temperature, then turn it over to allow the other side to cook as well. That is it. No oil, salt, water, and nopal turns just mucilage free. I hope it helps.


How is Channa Dal processed from Chickpea? Does it have any difference?

The chickpeas used for hummus are traditionally the ‘Kabuli’ type, grown in the Mediterranean and Middle East, whereas Chana Dal is Bengal Gran or ‘Desi chickpea’ commonly grown in India. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickpea
Both are varieties of Cicer arietinum, but while the Kabuli is large with pale skin , the Bengal Gram is smaller, has darker skin and slightly more yellow flesh.
I’ve never tasted them side by side since I have always used Mediterranean or North African flavours with the Kabuli and Indian flavours with the Bengali.
Here’s a quick side-by-side from my kitchen.
According to USAPulses.org

There are a variety of ways to decorticate food legumes. The oldest and most common technique involves spreading out the seeds to dry in the sun or mixing them with a bit of water before pounding them in a mortar with a pestle. The hull is winnowed off to get the clean cotyledons. Similar methods are used in commercial mills, though being much larger in scale they are adapted for greater yield and operational efficiency.
Smaller processors can expect about 50 percent removal with the first effort in traditional de-hulling methods. The process is then repeated several times until almost all the grain is converted into dehulled, split cotyledons. It can be difficult with this approach to achieve complete removal of the hull from the grain. Breakage is also a common downside.
Another method for dehulling is based on adjusting the moisture of the grain to loosen the hull. The grain is first exposed to heated air in a tempering bin, for a pre-determined time based on the variety. Through gradual aeration it reaches a critical moisture level. The hull is then removed in an abrasion-type hulling machine, while efforts are made to minimize scouring or breaking endosperm. If it is to be split, the whole dehulled grain is then ready to proceed to a splitting machine.
Splitting
Many of the operations, particularly decorticating and splitting, are mechanized. Splitting is often carried out in parallel with dehulling, though both are more effective if undertaken as independent operations.
Adding water prior to dehulling helps bring about splitting. Such a step does, however, often leave portions of hull on the split cotyledons (dhal) that then have to be removed by polishing machines. During splitting, the germ, which forms about 2 percent to 5 percent, is typically lost.


Besides salmon, what other meats can be grilled on a cedar plank?

Everything. Chicken works well. Pork and brisket taste great after taking on the smokey flavor. A ham steak would be good too.


In cookies ordinary sized salt crystals should always be dissolved and evenly distributed by the mixing process, if you are hitting salty areas the batter may not have been mixed enough or it's possible there were clumps of salt. Mix the flour, salt and leavening agents together before adding them, and break up any salt clumps with your fingers.


What are the tiny white self-moving objects on pasta?

Assuming these are open packets that have been open for a while - you probably have a mite infestation, probably the flour mite (Acarus siro), or a closely related mite. These are tiny almost-invisible-to-the-naked-eye members of the Acari, which is an animal order including the ticks and mites.

They are very small - between 0.33 and 0.66 mm (00.13-0.026 in), with translucent/whitish bodies and or pink legs. They are, as the name suggests most commonly found in flour, but are also seen living on a range of grains, cereal products, dried fruit and nuts. They can promote allergic reactions upon consumption of food contaminated with the mites.

Because they are so small detection is difficult and usually not noticed until fairly heavily infested - if you are seeing the dust/flour/whatever move, then you most likely have a heavy infestation. You may be able to find them on the food or in your cupboards with a magnifying glass or using a piece of sticky tape to press down on cupboard surfaces, then examining it under bright light.

Severely infested foods should be discarded, but the mites can be killed by freezing the affected food-stuffs for 7 days. Just be aware that this will not kill off any antigens from the mites - they can still cause an allergic reaction upon consumption. They are difficult to eliminate because they are so small, but you can thoroughly clean your cupboards and any food storage containers with regular house-hold cleaners to get rid of food residues that they use as a food source.

There's a more detailed version of the above advice on wikihow.


As long as the hamburger is actually getting cooked through, you're safe.

But in a casserole-style bake, that may be a bit tricky, so you want to be certain that you're checking the temperature of it before you serve. You want the beef to reach the safe temperature of 160F. Think of something like a meatloaf... they're definitely cooked in the oven, not on the stovetop, but you need to reach a safe internal temperature or risk foodborn illness.

My guess is that most recipes call for cooking the meat first because when you brown the meat in a skillet, you'll develop some flavors in it through the process of the maillard reaction that give a more complex flavor. In baking the entire thing from raw, you will only achieve this browning on the surface of the casserole, whereas when you brown the meat first, you get it throughout.

Additionally, when you brown it first, you're able to cook off a lot of the moisture and grease (if you're using a high-fat percentage beef), which might otherwise make your tater tots soggy or very greasy. So, if you haven't, I'd recommend giving a version that uses browned meat a try first to see if you like the outcome.


Is there a difference between Kansas City strip and New York strip?

The Kansas City Strip and the New York Strip refer to the same cut of meat.  Apparently restaurants in New York City in the 1930's decided they couldn't sell a fancy steak named after Kansas City (where the stockyards and slaughterhouses were located).  So, they just started calling it a New York Strip.

If you want a steak renamed by a egotistical chef, order the New York Strip.  If you want a steak named for the cut of beef originally selected by butchers working next to the stockyards, order the Kansas City Strip.


Yes, cooking it more to evaporate off some of the liquid will definitely help. This is called reducing a sauce. A moderate simmer would be the appropriate temperature. You want to see occasional bubbles but definitely not a rolling boil. Stir it occasionally, making sure to get the bottom of the pot to avoid any scorching. It is possible to have it be quite liquid on top and rather dense in pockets on the bottom, which can then get well above 212 F and reaching the point of burning.


How long do black olives last once opened?

Olives are basically cured in salt, so they will last a very long time.  They will last even longer if kept in an air-sealed container in a refrigerator.  They will last even longer than that if kept in a salty brine which covers them with liquid and minimizes exposure to air.


Why do canned beans have less FODMAPs than dried beans?

Why would canning reduce this process further [than soaking]?

Because canned beans are cooked.  Cooking adds to further breakdown of many flatulence-causing elements.  In fact, if the primary concern is flatulence and indigestion, several authoritative sources have recommended skipping soaking and just using longer cooking.  I'll quote from my answer to a previous question here:

The main reason often cited for soaking is to prevent flatulence. However, if you throw out the soaking water, you also throw out lots of nutrients. Recent research suggests that long slow cooking is a better solution and probably gets rid of more of the flatulence-causing components than a soak followed by a quick cook. And you get to retain more nutrients. To quote Harold McGee from On Food and Cooking:

  One kind of troublesome carbohydrate is the oligosaccharides [which
  are water soluble].... But the latest research suggests that the
  oligosaccharides are not the primary source of gas. The cell-wall
  cements generate just as much carbon dioxide and hydrogen as the
  oligosaccharides--and beans generally contain about twice as much of
  these carbohydrates as they do oligosaccharides.

Based on this research, McGee suggests:

  [Soaking] does leach out most of the water-soluble
  oligosaccharides--but it also leaches out significant quantities of
  water-soluble vitamins, minerals, simple sugars, and seed-coat
  pigments: that is, nutrients, flavor, color, and antioxidants. That's
  a high price to pay. An alternative is simple prolonged cooking, which
  helps by eventually breaking down much of the oligosaccharides and
  cell-wall cements into digestible simple sugars.

Specifically regarding galacto-oligosaccharides, there are studies that have attempted to quantify the role of soaking and cooking. That linked study concluded:

  During soaking, total α-GOS content decreased between 10% (lentil and
  faba bean) and 40% (chickpea). [...] Cooking further decreased α-GOS and
  increased total dietary fibre content.

The explanation for the cooking effect is given later in the article:

  Cooking after soaking led to a further decrease in raffinose (−32%),
  stachyose (−25%) and verbascose (−35%) and to a significant increase
  in galactose content (+54%) in the whole dish. [...]
  This should be attributed to further enzymatic degradation, due to
  better conditions for the expression of α-galactosidase activity.
  Alpha-galactosidase from lentils are active in the temperature range
  20–50 °C and up to 65 °C, and have optimal pH of 4.7, 5.5 or 6.1,
  depending on their isoforms. [...]
  During heating, the temperature increased
  progressively and conditions were met for higher α-galactosidase
  action.

Basically, elevated cooking temperatures increase the activity of the enzyme alpha-galactosidase, which is naturally found in beans and lentils (and is perhaps better known as the active ingredient in many anti-flatulence supplements/medications).

Hence, canned beans that are thoroughly cooked likely get both the breakdown of the cell-wall cements that McGee mentions as well as increased breakdown of GOS through elevated enzyme action.

I would note, however, the detail in the abstract to that study that each type of bean or lentil will likely respond somewhat differently, as each has its own particular makeup of problematic elements (and those elements will be affected in different ways by cooking).  For example, this study on red kidney beans showed significant reduction in lectins, raffinose, and stachyose during soaking, and significant further reduction in lectins and raffinose during cooking.  But cooking provided no significant reduction to stachyose.

Could soaking the dried legumes for a longer period of time and replacing the water a couple times reduce the FODMAPs to the same level as canned beans (maybe in the fridge to prevent bacterial growth)?

Well, as seen in the charts for example in the last linked study, increased soaking time shows diminishing returns.  Replacing the water could help a bit, but refrigeration may also slow down or stop some enzyme activity that could help in breakdown.  (The linked article notes that 77F was chosen for a soaking temperature because it is used by commercial canned bean producers.)

Maybe I should soak the beans, cook them, and then soak them further?

Again, while this is possible and likely to have some effect, there will be diminishing returns.  And with each replacement of soaking water, you will like lose more beneficial nutrients from the legumes anyway (along with the things you are trying to get rid of).

Or is there something else special about the canning process compared to using dried beans?

Well, the only thing that might be special about the canning process is the high temperatures canned beans are subjected to for sterilization.  In a cursory search, I didn't immediately come up research that quantifies what that might do, but my guess is that it could lead to further breakdown of some flatulence-causing elements.  However, I'm not sure about the effect of high-temperature cooking on galacto-oligosaccharides in particular, as the first article linked above postulates that much of the breakdown is caused by enzyme activity that wouldn't happen at canning temperatures.  So, in that case, it's just the long cooking process for canned beans in general that may have some benefits.


What is the difference between a Sfogliatelle and a Lobster Tail (Pastry)

The difference is that in sfogliatelle the filling is made of Ricotta cheese, while in the Lobster Tail the filling is made of French cream.

Lobster Tail is not something prepared in Italy; you find it on New York City. I had to ask to friend of mine living in USA, to know what Lobster Tail pastry is.


The soda does a few things:

adds moisture to steam the dumplings.
cooks down into a syrup to make a sauce.

You can typically change out the soda, but you don't want to use a diet soda, as it won't thicken the same and some artificial sweeteners will break down when heated.  You don't just want to replace it with sugar water, as the acid in the soda will help to keep it from seeming overly sweet.


We are not very high tech in our kitchen, but we cook a lot.  We keep a fairly standard inventory and when we use the last of an item - it goes on the "List".  We buy that item at the big shopping trip once a week.


What is the adequate power for a non-commercial Planetary Mixer?

I have a Kitchen Aid 5 quart Pro lift model stand mixer. It is rated at 450 watts.
It can handle a recipe using 1,000 grams (about 8 cups) of King Arthur Whole Wheat flour and yields two 5" X 9" loaves. A-P flour requires less power to knead than whole wheat.

More power usually comes with a bigger bowl and small recipes are going to get lost in such a large mixer


Does vinegar have the same function as tartaric acid in a pavlova?

I would not recommend adding cream of tartar.  Your ratio of 1 teaspoon vinegar to stabilize 4 egg whites is standard.  My personal preference is to use cream of tartar instead of vinegar if it is available to you - I'd recommend 1/4 teaspoon for 4 egg whites.

I assume you have something like 1 cup of sugar going into your meringue as well?

See also:  How much acid to use for stabilizing meringue?

Meringues bake at low temperatures for a long time.  It is difficult to provide any kind of formula to predict how baking time might increase if you double the recipe.  My recommendation would be to pipe-out your primary meringue disk along with a couple smaller test disks of similar thickness - the idea being that you can use the smaller disks to test for doneness without breaking-off a piece of your primary dessert form.  If you're planning to make a wider disk (i.e. not thicker), the baking time shouldn't vary much from what is recommended in your recipe.  Please note that the meringue should not brown - but when you break-apart a test disk, the interior should be neither sticky nor moist - the meringue is done as soon as the moisture from the eggs has baked-off enough for the result to be airy, crisp, and dry.


Why the common basic taste of energy drinks is tutti-frutti?

A lot of the defining ingredients of energy drinks have very strong flavors. Caffeine is quite bitter, B vitamins can be very sour, and Vitamin C is tart. A strong sweet-tart flavor is one of the most palatable ways of masking all of these flavors.

There's also a certain amount of brand copying going on. Red Bull was probably one of the first big brands on the market. Since their flavor is cloyingly sweet & tart, a lot of their competitors went for a similar flavor profile.


Are kidney beans that split and wrinkle during soaking process safe to consume?

Phytohaemagglutinin is found in the highest concentrations in uncooked red kidney beans and white kidney beans (also known as cannellini), and it is also found in lower quantities in many other types of green beans and other common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), as well as broad beans (Vicia faba) such as fava beans. Poisoning can be induced from as few as five raw beans. The amount of phytohaemagglutinin can be reduced to safe levels by correct cooking (boiling for at least 30 minutes at 100 °C/ 212 °F). Insufficient cooking, such as in a slow cooker at 80 °C/ 176 °F can increase this danger and raise the available haemagglutinating units (hau) up to fivefold.
Most microorganism, or microbes, can be greatly reduced by proper cooking.
Low acid foods, such as beans that have been stored incorrectly, can be a source of botulism.

The above information is sourced from Wikipedia. The blog article: "Crockpots, Slow Cooking Dried Beans & Phytohaemagglutinin" suggests:

Soak the dried beans in water for at least five hours (some recommend soaking the beans for at least twelve hours)
Discard the soaking water which will contain leached out toxins
Rinse the beans and cover them with fresh water
Boil the beans (rapid boil) for at least ten minutes
It is then safe to add the beans to the slow cooker and proceed with the recipe

It is important to do your own research and not rely on any single source of advice.


Acceptance of sweet rice dishes in Japan

Mochi is a sticky rice cake that can be served both sweet and savory.  Sweetened rice pudding is not an uncommon dessert in Japanese cuisine.  I think your original premise, that sweetened rice is unacceptable in Japanese cuisine is flawed.  Rice is a staple in Japanese cuisine, and is used in numerous ways.  Sweet preparations are certainly common.  Perhaps your father's story, and your anime example, illustrate better what might happen when people expect one thing, and are presented with another.  However, I think your generalized conclusion is incorrect.


What stabilizer can be used in non-dairy ice cream with alcohol?

Assuming a few things about your recipe - your coconut milk is full fat, your alcohol is a liquor at 80+ proof, it sounds like you're just adding too much stuff that doesn't really freeze. You've got a total of maybe 3/8 cup of alcohol, when just 2T is enough to soften ice cream noticeably. Ice cream made with just cream is already plenty soft, so adding that much alcohol can make it really soft. You didn't mention sugar, but that would make it softer as well. This is the opposite of the normal problem of too much water, not enough fat/sugar, making ice cream freeze too hard.

The simple solution is to just add more water, in whatever form suits you. Since you're using fruit, I'd suggest simply adding more of that! You could also try using light (reduced fat) coconut milk so that you have less fat. I suppose you could even reduce the booze - just slowly simmer it until the volume is reduced, so it'll have less alcohol, but retain flavor.

Otherwise you're going to have to dilute things - use less coconut milk or alcohol and add something more water-based that freezes harder. For example, you could replace alcohol with some kind of flavored extract, or replace some coconut milk with milk.

(The arrowroot isn't making your ice cream melt. It'll thicken it a bit, and stabilize it (keep the fat and water from separating), both of which are fine things. The stabilization is probably good, since coconut milk does separate eventually.)


How can one determine if a potato is suitable for French fries?

Good Eats(Alton Brown) has some good descriptions of the various difference's between potatos. He has an episode dedicated to potatoes. Main thing is the starch content in them. He has an example of each of the three groups (High, Medium, Low), includign a brief description and sample application. He mentions mentions frying in the High Starch content group, specifically Russets. He then has another episode simply about frying, where he actually talks about French Fries and again mentions the Russet (High Starch).

While you can make fries out of different types of potatoes (some of the more "all purpose" potatoes), if you want a really good classic french fry, you're going to want to look for a Russet, with a similar starch content.

Here's a page that lists some of the more common varieties. Maybe you can look to see what you bought? The age will probably affect it. A younger potato will in fact be sweeter

So, to answer your specific questions. I'm betting you did in fact buy a potato. It's probably just a sweeter variety. If it doesn't say at the market where you bought it what kind they are, I'd ask the people who work there. Also, look at the third link I have above, it does have a few pictures as well as good descriptions on what they look like.


How long will double cream stay whipped?

If you whisk very cold cream in a very cold bowl, and keep it very cold, it should hold for about 3-4 hours. Longer than that and it can start to separate.


What are the advantages of a long knife?

A very long blade is only useful in specialty situations, such as cutting very thin slices from wide cuts like an entire top round, or a full sized ham where there is no bone to be negotiated around (in the ham, the slice is only down through half, until the bone is reached).

Otherwise, for more typical home carving purposes, extra length just gets in the way, especially for oddly shaped meats like an actual turkey.  I find that a traditional chef's knife or my santuko are the best tools for most home carving jobs—and they are also useful for many other purposes.

I have a 10 inch (25 cm) granton ham slicer, but I never use it for carving:  it is reserved for slicing layer cakes in half horizontally in one pass.


Can sauerkraut be prepared with open lid?

Making sauerkraut does not require a lid.  As long as the cabbage is submerged (and you have the proper brine) it will be fine.  Any mold that forms on the surface or the weight can be removed.


How to set the temperature in a refrigerator without proper indication on the dials?

First, figure out the temperature that you want to run the fridge at (35-38F is standard).
Then, buy a refrigerator temperature gauge.

Work the dial up or down accordingly until it's where you need it. The dial can even have worn off numbers, and this method will still work.


How to check whether the Olive oil is fit for consumption or not?

Olive oil doesn't suddenly go rancid (unlike butter in which this process is pretty quick), but its taste deteriorates with time.  AFAIK it happens primarily due to oxidation, not bacteria or fungi, and there are no dangerous/poisonous byproducts.

I have a bottle of olive oil which I opened about a year ago and it tastes noticeably different from fresh oil (not too pungent to throw it out though).


First choice: go out and buy any other rice vinegar - it doesn't have to be that exact brand. Almost any grocery store will have the Marukan brand, for example. Rice vinegar has a somewhat unique, mild taste that there is no exact substitute for. In a pinch, I'd maybe use 80% white vinegar 20% sherry.


Why should you serve risotto on a hot plate?

What moscafj says is true, but it doesn't explain specifically for risotto.

Basically, the creaminess** is because of a starch-based solution.  Starch based solutions are temperature dependent and will get much thicker as it cools.  If there's enough starch, it can solidify to the point where the sauce will break into pieces if you try to manipulate it.

** Don't start with the 'it's not creamy because there isn't cream in it' crap again.


Pumpkin rotting, need to process it now - any ideas with a long shelf life?

I think once the outer skin is compromised, your room temperature storage options go out the window.

Your best bet is to puree the pumpkin pieces, and freeze it. Not ideal, I know, but if you don't want the pumpkin to go to waste, that's probably your option.


One base cake mix and then make several flavors

Adjusting a basic cake (either from a boxed mix or from scratch) is easy if the cake has no or very little flavour of its own.
Using a boxed mix might be more difficult because they often have a generous amount of flavouring, typically vanilla, even if it does not explicitly say so on the box front. Check the ingredients list or use a mix you know - a little vanilla is ok.
You can either prepare the basic recipe, then divide the batter (I'll call this method 1 for now) or divide the ingredients and make separate batches (method 2). The latter might be difficult if you need to split eggs, but it's possible. See this question.
Now for the adjustments you asked for, amounts suggested should be enough for 1/3 to 1/2 of normal recipe:

Vanilla bean
Assuming you want real vanilla, split 1/2 vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. For method 1, add seeds to finished batter (to avoid lumps, mix with a few pinches of sugar until "sprinklable") or stir into liquid according to recipe  for method 2.
Chocolate
Add 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp of cocoa powder (the real stuff, not drink mix!) either to the dry ingredients or flour (method 2) or sive over the batter and stir (method 1). You might have to add a tsp of extra liquid - or not. Hard to say w/o knowing the original recipe. Do not use normal chocolate, because this may ruin your batter, especially if you started from a sponge-type, pound cake is a bit more forgiving. You can make chocolate cake with molten chocolate, but this needs more adjustments / a different recipe.
Strawberry
A strawberry taste can only be done with artificial flavouring. I have never used this, so I won't give a recommendation here. Read the label.
Bonus: Rum, Whiskey, Brandy,...
Replace ca. 1 tbsp of liquid with liquour of your choice (method 2) or add 1/2 tbsp at the end (method 1). Poking the baked warm cupcakes a few times with a skewer and drizzling with 1/2 to 1 tsp of alcohol (or alcohol with sugar syrup) might be considered method 3.
Bonus 2: Spices
Don't forget the powers of your spice cupboard: Cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, even ground cloves, give a lot of flavour w/o the danger of throwing tipping the dry-to-liquid balance of your recipe. A very small pinch (cloves, be careful with these!) to a shake or two (cinnamon) is all you need.

Note that you can mix-and match the methods above, e.g. add one tbsp cocoa and 1 tsp of brandy or dissolve the vanilla bean scrapings in a bit of of whiskey. Chocolate goes nicely with a pinch of cinnamon, you could even go all "Christmasy" (ha, and to post this on Easter...) with gingerbread spice or brandy, cinnamon & nutmeg for "eggnogg".


How do I roast a whole duck so that fat drips out easily and the skin gets crispy?

Among poultry, duck is exceptionally fatty, and a lot of its fat is directly underneath the skin.  This can present a challenge when cooking, because we want the fat to render out and the skin to become crispy and delicious.

The most common way to do this, classically, is to:

Dock (or less commonly, score) the skin all over, to permit the fat an exit path (when doing this, be careful to cut through the skin into the fat layer, but hopefully not into the meat itself)
Roast at a relatively low temperature for to permit the fat time to melt and drip away; many recipes then finish on a higher temperature for crisping and browning

Like all poultry, salting the duck a day ahead, and then letting it sit in the refrigerator will also promote crispiness, but it is far less of a factor with duck which cooks and renders for a longer period of time.


Is it safe to eat a chicken that leaked a ton of red fluid after roasting?

Based on the given information, it does not sound like the chicken was actually cooked as planned; maybe the oven's thermometer is off, or there is another problem.
It sounds like raw meat juices (water and myoglobin, not blood, and I cannot remember the technical name for this fluid just now). If the oven was truly at 180 C (about 355 F), this would have evaporated or the heat would have destroyed the red color.

Since the chicken was held at unknown temperatures for an extended period of time, I wouldn't risk eating it.

I would recommend discarding this chicken immediately, and buy an oven thermometer immediately, to check its calibration, and if it is off, get it serviced.


Chicken broth is one of the most perishable foods there is—it is nearly a perfect growth medium.

The FDA recommends storing it no more than 3-4 days.


Is there a substitute for tamari and soy as I have a soya allergy?

There are actually products that are Soy Free Soy Sauce. You can also find recipes to make your own. This Recipe for Soy Free Soy Sauce Substitute has great reviews and sounds pretty good. It is made with bouillon, molasses, balsamic vinegar and seasonings.

A lot of people swear by Bragg Liquid Aminos as a soy free soy sauce alternative, but it actually contains soy.

There are chickpea or adzuli bean soy-free miso pastes from South River Miso Company. Miso Master makes a chickpea one too.

You can also ferment your own chickpea miso, but it takes about a year. There are instructions in The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz.


A very small amount of xanthan gum will work.  It is commonly used in salad dressings.  Be careful though, too much will result in an unpleasant texture that some describe as mucus-like.  Maybe start with 1/4 tsp. Wisk in and increase from there as necessary, but in very small amounts.  Xanthan takes a while to hydrate and thicken.  Start with a small amount, as the thickening power will increase with time.  You can always add more later.


How can I roast/heat all these foods for one meal?

I would attack it in the following manner:

put the ham in the preheated oven, center rack
gather the ingredients for your pineapple glaze
set the table/buffet/beverage areas
prep your salad, cover it with wrap, refrigerate (note: dressing on
the side, so the salad won't wilt)
prep the wedges and veggies
remove ham, and set oven to 400F
glaze and decorate (you can use whole cloves to "pin" the pineapple
in place)
return ham to oven
arrange wedges and veggies on the cookie sheets, oiled and seasoned
remove ham, set temp to 425F, tent with foil so it retains some of
 the heat
place wedges in oven, set timer for 12 min
transfer ham to serving platter
place veggies in oven when timer goes off, set timer for 15 min
ask guests if they need a beverage refill
remove cookie sheets and place wedges and veggies in serving dishes, don't forget to turn off the oven
place all food items in the serving area (table/buffet/etc)
announce dinner inviting guests to table or buffet, say grace if
 customary, make a toast if you are serving alcohol, etc.

You can eliminate a lot of stress if you set up your dishes (empty) on the table or buffet tonight (or early in the day). I will even go as far as putting little sticky notes to remind myself which dish goes where. This allows me to make sure that everything is going to fit. But it also allows me to set out the serving cutlery, make sure that the pieces do not need a last minute scrub or polish, and to note whether I have managed to forget something. Don't worry, a Ham is one of the all time easiest things to make!
note: I added a couple of minutes to allow for heat loss while opening and closing the oven door.


How to dissolve salt into mashed potatoes

Until the salt is dissolved, you will always have the problem of separate grains. It seems that your potatoes are not moist enough for it to happen on its own. And salt won't dissolve in fat.

My suggestion is to choose a liquid - and it can be water, if you insist on staying vegan, else dairy is the typical choice - and dissolve the salt in it. You don't need much, a teaspoonful may be enough. Once you have the salty liquid, mix a small amount of potatoes into the liquid until dispersed. Then add a bit more, repeat, using larger and larger portions of mashed potatoes, until all is mixed. This will give you an even dispersal of the salty taste.


At what temperature should I simmer bolognese to avoid burning?

Depending on what other tasks you have for the day, consider sliding the sauce (and your Dutch Oven) into your oven for 6 hours or so.

  Slow Cooker Setting = Oven Temp Low = 185-200F High =
  280-300F

I cook my Brunswick Stew this way at 250F (covered 3 hours, uncovered 3 hours). The last 3 hours allows the sauce/broth to thicken through evaporation. The temp allows the stew to "simmer" without repeatedly stirring, worrying over it, and zero scorching! Plus, I'm free to tend to other things.

Related:
Technique: Slow Cooking with a Slow Cooker
Slow Cooker vs Dutch Oven: A Conversion Guide


Why does my pizza dough rise so inconsistently?

If the yeast isn't out of date then the most likely sounding culprit is the temperature of your water.  It should be between 105-110.  If it's too cool then you won't activate the yeast and if you get it too warm you'll start to kill it.

Another possible case can be when you're adding the salt. If it's going in before or at the same time as the sugar you will arrest the gas production and activity of the yeast.

Get the yeast, sugar, water mixture going first and create a shaggy dough with your flour.  Add the salt as you're starting to bring the dough together so that it doesn't act too quickly to arrest the yeast development.

If you keep your flour in the freezer or refrigerator, make sure it has come to room temperature before adding it to the water or the chill of the flour will de-activate the yeast.


Tartare sauce is mayonnaise with capers, pickles and lemon juice. Recipe varies to consumer taste.

It's easy to make at home.


What does flushing mussels in water with flour do?

I think you are confusing Meunière (mostly for pan fried fish) and Marinière which is one way to prepare mussels.

Cornmeal is often used to clean mussels; it is supposed to help remove grits and dirt from the mussels.


Vacuum sealing with a submerged ziplock vs home machine vs professional machine

For storage, the biggest issue is whether you have a high-quality thick plastic bag that will prevent oxygen incursion. Have a few small bubbles inside isn't a big deal, whether you use the water method or a vacuum. But cheaper/thinner bags will allow oxygen in over time, and your bag will start to separate from the food, and you'll start to see ice crystals.

For sous-vide, I'm not an expert, but I think the biggest issue is that air insulates the food and prevents it from attaining temperature quickly and evenly. I think people who do home low-temp cooking recommending having a sauce or fat in the bag along with your protein to reduce the issues with bubbles. I do know that professional chefs will use the ziploc-in-water technique at home, with good results.

I don't think adding anything to water will affect the density/pressure enough to matter.

And yes, professional vac machines don't have this problem.


From Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food (p. 99): "The number one reason breadings fail (fall off) is too much primer coat (flour). There is nothing to hold the layers together so they unzip from each other and your breading is floating free in the fryer..."

If you're going to use a three-stage breading process, which is what you've described, you need to make sure to shake off as much of the initial flour layer as possible.  Dry flour doesn't stick to itself very well, so if a too-thick initial dredging creates clump-like layers of flour that aren't well moistened, in the relative violence of the fryer the dry interior of those clump-like layers will separate from each other and your breading will flake off.

For "bloomin' onions," the process I've seen wasn't a three-stage one like you describe.  Rather, the onions were stored/soaked in milk (because soaking in a slightly acidic liquid mellows the onions -- water should be as effective, and soaking may not be necessary at all), and, as needed, pulled out, shaken free of excess liquid, and generously dredged in seasoned flour.


Can I add lemon zest to a shortbread cookie recipe?

If the recipe on its own (without alteration) works, your modifications should be safe, mind that an oily extract or coarsely cut zest could have an additional shortening effect.

Be careful with lemon JUICE though, the acidity can change the texture. And avoid putting in other watery ingredients (milk,juices), they will encourage gluten formation and lead to a softer, cakey cookie.

Expect there to be SOME leavening and deformation in the oven if using butter/margarine, since there is still water bound in these fats. So if a perfect "commercially baked" look is desirable, constraining the cookies in molds and/or using different fats might be needed.

Experimentation with different flour grades, and probably with adding pure starches, is a good thing to do once you have made the base recipe work.


Impact of different sugar types (and substitutes) on ice cream

As already mentioned in comments above, this is quite a complex mixture with equally complex set of properties to balance. However, if you are just looking at it as a simple binary system with water as the solvent and various sugars as solutes, one at a time, then there is a very simple answer (not necessarily useful alone).

For dilute solutions, freezing point depression is primarily driven by the solvent and not so much the solute, and the relationship is linear. For sugars,

Freezing Point Depression (°C) = 1.86 * M

M is mass/molecular-mass of whichever sugar you use in 1000ml of water. For your example of 10g of sucrose in 100ml water, M is 0.29 and your freezing point is minus 0.5C.

For disaccharides like sucrose and lactose, they have identical molecular mass of 342. For simple sugars like glucose and fructose (dextrose is just d-glucose), it is 180. For inverted syrup, you have a mixture. For polyalcohols, you can look up their masses easily.

I would still advise against using this sort of tool alone for icecream making.

Separately, sweetness is less about just dry mass but molar concentration, which is why inverted syrup is sweeter than sucrose, 1 unit of sucrose in the same amount of water is less sweet than if it was broken into their constituent mono-saccharide glucose and fructose; instead of 1 unit of sucrose, you have 1 unit of glucose and 1 unit of fructose, double the concentration.


What can be substitution of maple syrup for pancakes?

Maple syrup on pancakes is just a condiment, much like ketchup on a hamburger.

You can use any topping you like, or no topping at all.

Among the popular ones are:

Butter
Whipped cream
Fruit, berries, or applesauce
Jam or jelly
Peanut butter


Ghee is suppose to be 100% butter fat. The water has since been boiled off. If it has a liquid portion at room temperature this is either they did not remove all the water and solids that floated to the surface or an additive liquid or preservative did not set right (Most likely). I would avoid it if possible. If not, use your nose and make sure it is not gone rancid.


Can I used lemon juice in place of ascorbic acid in canning peaches?

No, you should never make substitutions in canning recipes.

You are right that the ascorbic acid is in there for preservation rather than taste. But the problem is that with a lemon, you can't controll how much acid ends up in your peaches. Some lemons will contain more grams of acid per ml of juice than others, and in any case, you'll need really large amounts of the juice, to the point where you'll have a very pronounced lemon taste.

Don't forget that the pH scale is logarithmic, so a peach preserve at ph of 3.5 will have several times more acid than a preserve at a pH of 4.0. And botulism bacteria which will die at home canning temperatures in a pH 4.0 medium can survive at pH 3.5. So adding some juice and hoping that it will be enough is a very dangerous strategy.

If you are making a small amount of preserve only, you can consider keeping it in the fridge and consuming it within a week, instead of canning it with acid.


According to Red Star, a very common yeast brand in the US:

  The strip contains three packets; each packet in the strip is considered one package.  Each package contains 1/4 oz. or 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast.

This is approximately 7 grams, or 11 ml.

This is representative of all of the US brands.


Why not; it can be a fun project.
It will need a lot of experimentation to make it work and it will not be a lasagna.
I'd completely cook the noodles, spread them on the sandwich maker, put a little bit of sauce and cheese in the middle, put another layer of noodles on top and press it down.
Depending on the size of your sandwich maker, you could even try multiple layers.
But it will be a kind of a pizza pocket.


How to heat up a pan on an induction burner?

The instructions say never place an empty pan on an induction burner

"Never" is a strong word. Too strong.
Of course, you deviate from the manufacturer's instructions at your own risk. But as long as you are careful to not cause harm to the pan or the burner, it should be fine.
The main risk to the burner is overheating the pan, which then gets hot enough that the heat coming from the pan back to the burner is too much. Any decent burner should include a thermal cut-off feature in its design though. The most likely outcome here, at least if you don't do it over and over again, is that the burner simply will turn off. Not a desirable outcome, but at least you can recover from it.
The main risk to the pan is to heat it too quickly, rather than too much, with the heat gradient causing the metal to warp. See e.g. Do induction cookers increase risk of cracking cast iron?. How big a risk this is depends on how powerful the burner is, and how high you set the power.
An induction burner can indeed heat a pan very quickly, and it's tempting to take advantage of that. But if you're heating up an empty cast iron pan to sear something, it will pay to be patient. A radiant electric or, especially, a gas burner heat the area around the pan to a significant extent, which allows the whole pan to heat somewhat more evenly. With the induction burner, you need to let the heat move from the bottom of the pan to the sides by heat conduction through the metal itself, which takes more time.
Note that while cast iron is immune to permanent damage to the finish from high heat that is a risk with other types of pans, especially non-stick surfaces, you can still burn off the seasoned coating if you leave the empty pan at too high a heat for very long. It's simple to fix, just by re-seasoning the pan, but it's certainly inconvenient.
So…go ahead and heat up the empty pan on the induction burner. But increase the power gradually, allowing the sides of the pan to heat up along with the bottom, until you get the whole pan at a suitable temperature.
(For what it's worth, the main issue is the health of the pan. As far as actually cooking goes, if you're just searing or frying something, it doesn't matter very much if the side of the pan are still cold. You're not using the side to cook, so it can be whatever temperature it winds up at, as long as the bottom of the pan is hot enough. Though, keep in mind that having heat in the side helps as a reservoir of heat to reduce the temperature drop of the pan surface when you put something in it.)
Additional reading:
Wikipedia: Induction cooking
Can I heat an empty pan on induction?
PreHeating for High Heat Cooking w/Induction?


What does '1 unit of lemon juice' mean in a grandma's drink recipe?

It is to show you the ratio of juice to water, but leave the quantity up to you.

This way you can make different amounts: for example 1 unit lemon juice to 3 units water.  You could sub in pints or liters or gallons or hogsheads or whatever was appropriate for the amount of lemonade you wanted to make, according to the ratio provided.

The puzzler is how much sugar to add, which is dependent on the amount of fluid. My guess is that there is no sugar as this is a weight loss sort of thing, so really it will just be dilute lemon water.


How to make tofu that is crispy and flavorful outside and soft inside?

Most likely, they are using a softer tofu than you.

For whatever reason, the US is infatuated with unusually firm tofu, and supermarkets emphasize the "extra firm" varieties. In Asia, especially Japan and Korea, but even in China, most applications call for a softer, more custard-like tofu.

If it's soft inside, when you deep fry the tofu, it should stay fairly soft inside. The cornstarch or potato starch you coat it with will make the outer bits crispy.


Can you make goulash using winter squash instead of cabbage?

Ok, so as we established in the comments, you don’t need cabbage for goulash. The easiest solution would be to leave it out.
However, goulash is just one version of meat stew. And the principle of stew (with or without meat) is “throw what you have in a pot” - way older than any documented recipe. The flavor profile will also be heavily influenced by the spices used and different cooking cultures have different traditions. If you have goat meat, squash and spring onions and would like to serve them together, go for it. You can call it “stew” or “goulash” just as you see fit. (Especially as you are not going to serve it to guests that may have certain expectations when hearing “goulash”.)
As far as cooking method goes, remember that squash will soften way quicker than cabbage and meat, so either expect it to fully disintegrate (like onions in goulash) or add the pieces later.


Try blanching them first, that way they will be almost cooked before you start frying them. Just drop them in copious boiling, salted water, allow the water come back to a boil (over high heat, it shouldn't take more than 30 seconds or so, covering the pan will quicken the return to a boil), then allow them to boil until they are the brightest possible green (that can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute). Drain them like pasta and then plunge them in ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the ice water after the beans are cold.

You can do this part hours in advance if you like, that would make the final fry at meal time go super quick and easy. They will be evenly and perfectly done by just thoroughly heating through when you fry.


Melted plastic wrap in oven at high temp

It's doubtful the plastic vaporized. It probably just made a hole because it melted and stretched. I'm sure your oven is safe. Any tiny amount of plastic that might have melted and landed on a surface (which is doubtful) would burn and you will smell the burnt plastic. Next time you use your oven just preheat it to 500 for 30 minutes and if there is no smell you're good to go. If you're really worried about it then turn on the self-clean. I would clean the melted plastic off the bowl with a brillo pad.


Cookware, copper or cast iron or just buy the right tool for the job?

Copper can be useful for certain tasks due to the its metallic properties (heats quickly, distributes heat evenly, etc.), however I would not call copper pans good "all-purpose" pans.

As for cast iron, you mentioned Le Creuset, and again I would tell you that they are more of a specialty manufacturer. They make some very nice coated cast iron-ware and fantastic large pots, but they're not really the go-to for a simple cast iron pan.

For basic cast iron, go buy a Lodge skillet. They're around $20 depending on size, and will literally last a lifetime. The company has been making these pans for 115 years; they know what they're doing. I use mine 3-4 times per week, and cook almost all my meat in it. It tastes better after every use.


Help! Too much salt in my sourdough dough!

This depends on when you recognize the problem.  If your recognition is immediate then:

4 TBS in 1/4 cup.  You basically have enough salt for a 4X recipe.  So, you have to increase everything else by 3 to have the correct proportion of salt in your recipe.  Good point @The Photon (below)...or reduce by 3/4 and replace with salt-free ingredients.

If you are well-into the fermentation stage, the excess salt could certainly be problematic for yeast and bacterial growth.


Rinse the salt off a steak before cooking?

Definitely don't rinse the salt off. One of the nice things the salt does is pull juices to the surface of the meat--not enough to dry things out, but enough so that when the steak hits the hot pan you have a nice protein-laden coating (it's called a pellicle when talking about smoked fish--not sure about steaks) on the outside to caramelize. If you rinse it, you're rinsing that right off.

If your steak was too salty, then just salt more lightly. You don't need a ton, as what you get on there will melt some and mix with the juices and spread out. I think I probably use 1/4 tsp or less per side, and some of that bounces off/misses. And you won't lose the crust with less salt--you won't even lose it with NO salt. It's just easier to get if you use the salt to pull some juices to the surface.

If you have trouble getting good salt distribution, use your fingers and sprinkle it from a little farther up--like 8 inches from the steak. That'll make it easier to get an even sprinkle without dousing it.


How long is homemade spiced apple cider good for in a sealed Mason canning jar?

Assuming you follow the usual procedere of cleaning and boiling ("sterilizing"1) the jars, filling the hot cider in hot jars and closing immediately, you should be fine for a few weeks. Or not, there is always a slight risk of the jars not sealing properly and your cider not being acidic enough.

But:
Processing the jars as you would for other canning and repeating the processing after a day or two should get you on the super-safe side (including eliminating the very, very slim botulism risk from your spices).

This is probably overkill, even a standard waterbath canning should leave you with a cider that stays good for a year or more.

Just remove the rings after the jars have cooled well, so that any faulty seal becomes obvious right away.


Bone marrow is made up of a large portion of fat.  If you roast it low and slow, you render out a good portion of that fat and are left with a liquidy mess.  Also the high heat will start to carmelize the bone marrow, providing much flavor.


Left Grill Knobs ON and LP Tank Valve OFF-Why did it mess up the tank where valve screws in?

The 2 parts to the question are unrelated.  The valve on the top of the tank will allow gas to flow to the grill when open.  The burner valves allow the gas to continue on to the burner(s) when open.  All the valves do is let the gas go by when open.  When you replace the tank YOU are making the connection from the tank to the hose which feeds the grille.  If gas leaks from that connection you have incorrectly made the connection.  It's likely you have improperly aligned the two pieces and believed that the connection was tight when it actually could not go any farther.  The grille instructions should say to check for leaks after changing the tank.  You can do this by mixing dish soap and water and applying with a brush or rag on the fittings with the valve open and the burners closed.  If there is a leak you will see bubbles form.  Then close the tank and fix the connection.  If you get stuck take pictures with your phone and show your propane people and they should be able to guide you.  PROPANE IS AN EXPLOSIVE GAS.  Keep the tank valve closed (turned clockwise all the way down) when not in use and if you're not sure what you are doing, DON'T!


Hello JoeHobbit,
I have got two possible explanations for the connection between the word Chinquapin and chocolate.
First of all, the way I read your question; making chocolate out of Chinquapin, you are asking about a possible substitute; called Chinquapin, for cocoa mass, chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, and/or cocoa butter, to make a confectionary similar to chocolate.
The historic source you are referring to in your question describes the primitive and colonial history of South Carolina. And as most of us know, South Carolina is located in the Southeastern United States.
This point is important, as the first explanation I’m going to propose, originates from the food traditions of Native Americans in the Southeastern United States.
The second explanation I will propose, takes as its starting point your suggestion that the word Chinquapin refers to some species of Chestnut.
The First Alternative
The first alternative is the seeds of a plant native to Southeastern United States. The seeds are brown when ripe, and have a sweet taste.
The use of this plant as a source of food is ancient, and stems from the time when hunter-gatherer or forage societies were prevalent. This plant also has an Asian sibling, which similarly has been used as a source of food since ancient times, and still is a very popular treat.
The flowers, seeds, young leaves, and tubers (rhizome, root) of this plant are edible. The plant, especially its seeds, was a popular and extensively used source of food among Native Americans who eat almost every part of the plant (Carqué 1923:251; Cutler 2002:55; Moerman 2010:161; Newcomb 1961:324; Saunders 1976:35). According to Charles Francis Saunders, the ripened seeds, either roasted or boiled, are palatable and nutritious (Saunders 1976:35).
In the context of the question asked, only the seeds of this plant are of interest, so we’ll focus on them for the reminding part.
Similarity to Cocoa
What’s especially interesting from the point of view of your question, apart from the fact that the seeds are brown, is that one of the methods used to turn the seeds of this plant into an edible substance, is somewhat similar to the method used to turn the seeds of the cacao tree into cocoa mass.
The method I’m referring to was used by Native Americans in Arkansas. They soaked the seeds in water before dry-roasting them, then they deshelled them and grounded them into sweet meal (Fernald & Kinsey 1996:200; Moerman 2010:161).
The similarity to the preparation of cacao seeds should be obvious, but I’ll include a short description for those not familiar with the process. Cacao seeds in their natural form have an intense bitter taste, which makes the inedible. The method used to turn them into an edible substance is as follows: fermentation, drying, deshelling, and then grounding into cocoa mass.
Another point that makes the seeds I’m referring to interesting, from the point of view of making a chocolate substitute, is that these seeds have a natural sweet taste, whereas cocoa has a bitter taste. In other words, to turn these seeds into a confectionary would require less sugar then one would use when making chocolate from cocoa.
How to make it into Chocolate
I’m not an expert on confectionaries or chocolate production. Therefore, I would like to invite someone who is, to help us explain how we should go about making chocolate from the sweet meal of these dry-roasted seeds.
The plant
The plant I have been referring to in this first explanation, is Nelumboa lutea; commonly known as Water-Chinquapin, American lotus, water- nut, duck acorn, nelumbo, pond nuts, wonkapin, yanquapin, and yellow nulmbo (Allen 2007:302; Davidson 2006; Hanelt 2001:141).
There is a link between Water-Chinquapin and Chestnuts. Otto Carqué claims that the Water-Chinquapin frequently is referred to as water chestnut, whereas other authors claim that the name; Water-Chinquapin, originates from the taste of the seeds, which some sources say have a chestnut like taste (Carqué 1923:251; Bailey 1948:209; BTBC 1895:120).
The Second Alternative
The second explanation I will propose, has as mentioned above, its root in the chestnut theory put forward by JoeHobbit.
There is in fact a type of chestnut that was widely hailed as a sweet and edible nut, and used as a coffee and chocolate substitute by early settlers and Native Americans (Brown & Brown 1972; Duke 2001:88; Payne et al.  1994:62).
Moreover, early explorers in Carolina claimed that chocolate made from this nut was not much inferior to that made from cacao (Fernald 1996:26). Fernald also points out that there are only three plants in North America that are known to be used as chocolate substitutes. The first of these is Basswood; or Linden, of which the young fruit has a chocolate like odour and flavour when mashed. The second one is the root of Purple Avens, from which can be made a chocolate like drink. The third one is the nut we are currently discussing here (Fernald 1996:25-26).
The nut in question was well known to the first English settlers in North America. As early as 1612, Captain John Smith; one of the founders of Jamestown, described this nut as the great dainty (Sargent 1891-1902:18).
Charles Sprague Sargent (1891-1902:18) noted several historical references to this nut:
"They have a small fruict growing in little trees, husked like a chestnut, but the fruict most like a very small acron, this they call chechinquamins, and these, with chestnutts, they boile four or five houres, of which they make both broth and bread, for their chief men, or at their greatest feasts." (Strachey, Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia, ed. Major, 118.)
"The Chincopin Tree bears a Nut not unlike the Hade, the Shell is softer: Of the Kernel is made Chocolate, not much inferior to that made of the Cacoa." (Thomas Ashe, Carolina or a Description of the Present State of that Country, 7.)
The plant
The nuts in question, are the fruits of the plant Castanea pumila, commonly known as the Allegheny chinquapin, American chinquapin, dwarf or bush chestnuts, or just Chinquapin. The plant is a shrub, or a small tree, commonly found throughout the East, South, and Southeast United States.
Conclusion
Based on the literature I have gone through, it seems clear that the chocolate substitute you are looking for is the nuts of the American chinquapin. Although I also find the Water-Chinquapin as an interesting alternative.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any description of how you can turn the chinquapin nuts into chocolate. The only thing I have found out about consumption is that it was sometimes used to make a chocolate tasting drink. If it ever was made confectionary out of these nuts is unknown. The only thing I can say about the subject, is that the sources I have found do not mention confectionary in connection with chinquapin nuts.
This is perhaps not the answer you were looking for. Nevertheless, it should give you some pointers to where you can begin your search. The references below might reveal more clues than what I have been able to discover.
References
Books
Allen, Gary (2007): The herbalist in the kitchen, University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Google Books - Library of Congress
Bailey, Robeson (1948): The Field and stream game bag, Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y.
Google Books - Library of Congress
Brown, Russell G. & Brown, Melvin L. (1972): Woody plants of Maryland, University of Maryland Book Center, Port City Press, Baltimore. Library of Congress
BTBC (1895): Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Volume 22, Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y.
Hathi Trust - Library of Congress
Carqué, Otto (1923): Rational diet; an advanced treatise on the food question, Times-Mirror Press,     Los Angeles, Reprinted 1971, Health Research, Pomeroy, WA.
Google Books - Library of Congress
Cutler, Charles L. (2002): Tracks that speak: the legacy of Native American words in North American culture, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Google Books - Library of Congress
Davidson, Alan (2006): The Oxford companion to food, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York.  Library of Congress
Duke, James A. (2001): Handbook of nuts CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
Google Books - Library of Congress
Fernald, Merritt Lyndon and Kinsey, Alfred Charles (1996): Edible wild plants of eastern North America, revised by Reed C. Collins, Dover Publications, New York. Google Books - Library of Congress
Hanelt, Peter (2001): Mansfeld’s encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops, Editor: Peter Hanelt, Springer Verlag, Berlin & New York.
Google Books - Library of Congress
Moerman, Daniel E. (2010): The herbalist in the kitchen, Timber Press, Portland.
Google Books - Library of Congress
Newcomb, William W. (1961): The Indians of Texas, from prehistoric to modern times. With drawings by Hal M. Story., Reprinted 2002, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Google Books - Library of Congress
Sargent, Charles Sprague (1891-1902): The Silva of North America; a description of the trees which grow naturally in North America exclusive of Mexico - Volume 9 Houghton, Mifflin and company, Boston, New York. Hathi Trust - Library of Congress
Saunders, Charles Francis (1976): Edible and useful wild plants of the United States and Canada, First printed 1934, Dover Publications, New York. Google Books - Library of Congress
Payne et. al (1994): Castanea pumila (L.) Mill.: An Underused Native Nut Tree Jerry A. Payne, Gregory Miller, George P. Johnson, and Samuel D. Senter, in HortScience February 1994 29:62-131. HortScience Online
Websites
Chinkapin: Potential New Crop for the South
Flora of North America: Nelumbo lutea
Texas Beyond History: Water Chinquapin
Wikipedia: Castanea pumila
Wikipedia: Lotus seed
Wikipedia: Nelumbo lutea
Wikipedia: Nelumbo nucifera


I added yeast to a recipe calling for baking soda, what will happen?

Yeast is a levening agent that needs some time to do its job. It eats sugar and makes CO2 gas to ride your bread.

Baking soda and baking powder are chemical levening agents. They'll make your bread rise while its baking.

If you out in yeast as well as BP and/or BS, and you bake it right away, probably nothin will happen and it will be a bit more nutritive, if you wait, you might find yourself with a handful of a mess when it rises way too much.


You will have to find a way to separate the batches of ice cream, or you'll end up with the uniform purple, as you mentioned.

The proper way is to prepare three batches, using different food coloring in two of them. They should come out of the machine with a soft-serve consistency.  Hold the first batches in a cool environment while preparing the last ones, but do not allow them to reach -20°C or they will harden. Then layer them in a tub and freeze.

The proper approach is difficult for home cooks: the odds are that your ice cream machine uses a coolant-filled tub, which requires 24 hours in the freezer between batches. So it is only possible with careful planning and partial thawing of hardened batches, and it won't be ready for tomorrow. Unless you are one of the happy few with a compressor based machine, you'll need something else.

There are a couple tricks you can use to prepare three batches without a compressor machine:

Split one batch into thirds, and churn each for a reduced time.  It will take more than 1/3 the time, but less than the full time.
Add xanthan gum (or another stabilizer) to reduce the size of ice crystals, giving a softer, creamier result even when the ice cream isn't quite as frozen
Prepare white first, then red, then blue.  To keep the ice cream machine cold, you can just clean with a spatula after the red; a hint of red in the blue will only impart a slight purple tinge.
For one or more of the colors, use one of the methods to prepare ice cream without a machine.  The linked question explains more fully.
Reserve part of the cream, whip it fully, and gently fold into the ice cream base.  Freeze in a tub, without the machine. This is best combined with stabilizers, small amounts of alcohol, or a propylene glycol based vanilla aroma.

For a spotted look, you can use a squeeze bottle or dropper to apply dots red and blue food coloring to thin layers of white ice cream.  After each set of spots, apply another layer of ice cream and repeat.  I can't predict how far both colors will seep into the ice cream, and what will happen to the spots; if the coloring is propylene glycol based, they may stay liquid, but they could freeze hard if the coloring is water-based.  You may get purple if two drops land close together.

To create a beautiful marbled appearance, use uncolored vanilla ice cream and red/blue colored syrups.  First prepare a syrup heated to the softball stage, and then thin slightly with water.  The supersaturated sugar solution will crystallize, but won't freeze into hard ice.  Set up the ice cream with layers of ice cream, red syrup, ice cream, blue syrup, then repeat. Stir gently for the marbled look, being careful not to over-mix or it will become uniformly purple.

Edit In the meantime, I tried this idea and noticed that when you pour the hygroscopic syrup over the ice cream, the white cream blooms into the syrup, and the syrup is also liquid enough to flow through and around the ice cream. I had partial success in creating a barrier by using a very thin layer of watered gelatine and waiting to freeze before applying the syrup. I then cut the ice into strips and turned them sideways, then scooped through the strips. The problem was that the gelatine water froze solid, resulting in unpleasant brittle water plates. I think that using a non-saturated syrup and gelling it with gelatine will help, but haven't tried this yet. Xanthan and guar can't thicken the syrup, as they don't hydrate in the saturated solution. Conclusion: can be beautiful, but hard to get right.

If you accept less homogeneous colors, you can add colored ingredients to a finished vanilla ice cream. Colored marshmallows have a vanilla flavor which should mesh well. Then you can consider making colored granitas and layering them with the ice cream.   You can color pieces of paler nuts, such as coconut, or cashews, or blanched almonds, or blanched hazelnuts.  If you use nuts, mix them in after they have dried, or sprinkle them on as a topping.  Alternately, make a colored white chocolate ice cream: prepare a softish ganache with xanthan, and freeze it in a thick, dense layer on a pre-chilled porcelain plate. Alcohol well keep it softer.  Chop it into pieces and mix with white ice cream.

These are the ideas I can think of off the top of my head. There are probably alternatives, but these offer some excellent starting points. I leave it to you (or your wife) which are most appropriate for your skills. I've tried to indicate the most challenging approaches, but all will present some difficulties. In each case, you may get color bleeding, poor consistency from improper freezing, or difficulty handling semi-frozen ice cream. The latter presents a particularly thorny obstacle, as thawing will ruin it, but it can become too hard to work with.

If you decide to use one of these ideas, but can't work out the details, drop a comment!

Edit see some of the ideas here implemented on our blog.


How to grease a pan without shortening or butter

Vegetable oil will be fine - that's what's in commercial nonstick spray oils anyway.

A pyrex oven safe glass pan is a baking pan. The baking time might be slightly different than with a metal pan, but it will work perfectly fine. Just make sure it's the same size pan the recipe called for, or scale the recipe to match the area - if you change the thickness, the results are going to change.

The dutch oven (uncovered) would also work, though it will take a lot longer to heat up, so it will probably affect the baking time substantially, and you may have to be careful not to overcook the top.


I boiled dry my 18/10 ss pot, is it damaged and unsafe to cook with now

Stainless steel pots are pretty much indestructable and it should be safe to cook with. Just give it a good cleaning. Some hardwarevstores (lowes) have a ss cleaner that might get rid of the yellow tinge. Otherwise, it'll look like every other well used ss pot.

18/10 ss is 18% chromium, 10% nickel, and balance in iron and stable
to higher temperatures. If you didn't drop the hot pot in cold water, or the bottom is really thick, you shouldn't have warping issues either.

An egg timer might be handy next time ;)


I have had a pizza with a drizzle of olive oil on top (in addition to some basil, pesto, and something else). As best I remember, it did not end up looking, feeling, or tasting particularly "oily", although it was visually apparent (olive-green lines).

However, that was a high-end pizzeria; I've never seen oil on a delivered pizza, at least not any that was intentionally added as a separate ingredient. Oil that is orange or yellow comes out of the cheese (and salami or other fatty ingredients) during cooking. Inexpensive ingredients often have much more grease than higher-quality alternatives.


Is it safe to drink the water that basil seeds are soaked in?

If the basil seeds are safe, the water should be also safe. If you have food-grade basil seeds (i.e. non-teated seeds) and didn't soak them for too long (so pathogens had enough time to grow), this should be safe. I think soaked basil seed last as long as soaked chia seeds, 2 weeks.

There are even desserts / drinks with basil seeds and the water in which they were soaked in.

Source


What skillet pan to use for making spring rolls wrappers?

I watched the video and after also researching some instructions in Chinese, I have decided that your problem might be more than just pan-related. However, please note, I have discovered that for things that are uncommon, or not commonly made at home (things that are usually store bought or ordered in restaurants), multiple Chinese websites have the exact same word-for-word recipes, so I actually only found 2 uniquely worded recipes.

Difference between your video recipe and other recipes:
The batter flour to water ratio is the same in the video and recipes in Chinese elsewhere. But, the video said to leave the batter for 20-30 minutes but all the other recipes said to leave it for 2 to 3 hours.

Pan:
One recipe said use a flat bottomed non stick pan, the other said to use a flat bottomed pan, but did not specifically say to use a non-stick one. The key is to allow even heat.

Heat:
The recipes I found said to heat the pan until it is warm, then immediately turn it to low, then put the batter in. Also, you should not be using oil.

The sources did say that the hardest part is getting the pan heat right, so you will have to experiment a little with this.


Can I make meatloaf with soy burger meat?

If you hate the soy burgers, you will probably hate meatloaf made from them. Your best bet might be to defrost 1 or 2 burgers and mix them with ground beef (or whatever meat you use for meatloaf) with no more than 25% of the mix being the soy burgers. If you like your first meatloaf, you can always try a little bit higher percentage of the soy burgers next time. Since they're frozen, you have a bit of the luxury of time to use them up.


Making Thai Khanom Tang Teak (ขนม ถัง แตก)

While I have never tried this dish (it looks delicious though!), I did some research and think I have some suggestions on veganising it.
Watching how it's cooked (in some videos I found here), it reminded me a little of 'Dutch Baby Pancakes'. These pancakes don't use a raising agent like baking powder, but rather rely on cooking at a very high heat and with a well developed batter, and are essentially inflated by steam.
So here are some tips that I might try if I were you:

Replace the egg with aquafaba. Here is a recipe for vegan Dutch Baby Pancakes that users aquafaba. About 3 tablespoons of aquafaba can be substituted per egg in your original recipe. Aquafaba works by absorbing different starches and proteins from the chickpeas, giving it egg-like qualities. It will help trap the steam pockets during the cooking process, and give your pancake the structure/strength to stay puffed up. I've found that aquafaba generally takes a little extra whipping to give it the same qualities as a whipped egg white, so maybe consider beating your batter a little longer than you normally would.
Make sure your pan is hot. Like really hot.  Try and use a pan that can become very hot, and heat evenly, like a cast iron skillet. The pan should be preheated to the point where the batter immediately starts to sizzle and set as soon as it hits the pan. Also, the videos I saw used a lid, as this will trap in the steam and help your pancakes rise.
Make sure your rest your batter. It might feel counterintuitive given it's meant to be a relatively aerated batter, but resting can help strengthen and develop glutens/proteins and give your outcome a better structure. I don't know much about rice flour (except that there is no gluten in it), but from the videos I saw, it sounds like this batter is rested for a lot longer than a Dutch Baby Pancake (which usually rests for around a half hour, maybe a bit less). The videos I saw implied a 2-3 hour rest, so I'd say try that out! I imagine it will be a process to get the rest time just right.


Do all yogurts have live active cultures?

There are different yogurt products on the market and many are heat-treated for stability.

If you make yogurt with active bacteria, they will continue to live and digest the lactose in the milk you started with. This also means the flavour profile of the yoghurt will change over time - most significantly during the first hours or days, but the process won't really stop. This is something yogurt manufacturers have to deal with as well. An easy solution is to kill the bacteria with heat, but of course that means you won't be able to use that yogurt to make more yogurt - there are no live yogurt bacteria present any more.

Laws vary between countries, but for example in Germany, manufacturers are allowed to heat the yogurt to kill the bacteria (but must write "heat treated"1 on the label). They may or may not choose to do so. On the other hand, keeping the bacteria alive and active allows for marketing the yogurt as especially healthy. Organic manufacturers are generally forbidden to heat their product.

If you want to try your hand at making yogurt, I strongly suggest you stay away from any snack or convenience products that have a long shelf life and additives, even if they don't have any hint about heat treatment on the label. Especially if the product doesn't need refrigeration - then it's certainly pasteurized or similar. Your best bet would be a pot of non-flavoured organic yogurt (choose a brand/product you like to get the bacteria type for your batch) or, if you want a specific kind and be really sure, a special starter culture, available in some "health food" stores or online.

1 Obviously they have to use a German term, which is "wärmebehandelt".


Does Paprika extract actually taste of Paprika?

There are two types of paprika extracts; one, as you mention, is mainly a food colour. I understand this is made from raw, unsmoked paprika. It has no real flavour.

The other is mostly a smoke flavour. I believe it's taken from the smoked paprika leftovers, not from the raw paprika.

Neither is any good for simulating the colour, texture, and taste of paprika.

There are also many types of paprika, each having a different level of spice, colour, oil, and smoke. It is just a question of taste and culture to which one you like. So getting an extract to match what you think paprika is, is also difficult.


For sure, @TFD is correct that you should be wary of Wikihow - in the link you shared, the proportions of ingredients listed at the top don't appear to match the actual amounts of ingredients shown in the pictures.

"Honey Roasted Peanuts" is a catch-all phrase that is used to describe just about any type roasted peanuts in a candy coating.  The catch-all extends to recipes that don't even call for much honey (typically a touch of honey and a bunch of sugar) and to recipes that don't even call for much roasting.

To get roasted peanuts in a candy coating using an oven, you either have to roast-then-coat or you have to coat-then-roast.   The primary difference is oven time.  If you use cooked peanuts, you only need to cook the coated nuts long enough for the candy coating to bake onto the peanut - you're just honey-glazing the peanuts - they won't be in the oven nearly as long as they would be if you were roasting raw nuts.  It's a fairly quick process that's easy enough to gauge by sight.  Technically, you'd be roasting the honey coating onto the nuts - not roasting the raw nuts in honey.

Note - Planters nuts are labeled as "Dry Roasted Honey Roasted Peanuts" - the peanuts are dry-roasted first then coated then roasted again.  Also, for what it's worth, the ingredients list shows they contain more sugar than honey by weight:  http://www.planters.com/varieties/nutrition-information.aspx?Site=1&Product=2900007345 .

If you use raw peanuts, you would need to keep them in the oven long enough for the peanuts to roast as well.  Given the oven time your link recommends, raw peanuts would not cook - so that would be one fundamental reason why your link specifies that you not use raw peanuts.  Potential flaws of Wikihow aside, your link proposes a way to roast honey onto nuts, not a way to roast nuts using honey.

You can certainly honey-roast raw peanuts using more time in the oven - but the timing could present problems with the coat-then-roast method.  The candied coating is going to brown as your mixture cooks in the oven making it difficult to visually gauge when your formerly raw peanuts have cooked sufficiently (or if they are cooking evenly).  Also, you should be aware that once nuts are cooked and hot, it is very easy for them to go from done to burnt in very little time - it is probably pretty easy to burn your mix if you overshoot the roasting.  It would definitely be easier to determine when a honey glaze has roasted onto cooked nuts than it would be to know when raw nuts were finished cooking in a glaze.

But if raw peanuts are easier to come by or if you want to have literally roasted honeyed peanuts, it's definitely possible but I would recommend looking to a more reputable source for guidance (especially for cooking time).  And once you start roasting your mix, stir/rearrange the nuts thoroughly and frequently to insure even cooking and to keep burning at bay.


Why would you pinch egg whites when making sunny side up eggs?

Please see the full answer to  this SA question , excerpt below:

  When you break the eggs into the pan, you will notice that the yolks are surrounded by a higher rounded portion of whites. The secret is to take your fingers and pinch this pile of whites gently until it breaks and the whites in this membrane will redistribute evenly in the pan.

From your description, the chef most likely cracked the eggs into a bowl rather than directly into the pan, but that shouldn't make any difference.


How much pepper/allspice to substitue for cubeb?

I don't think you'll find any two answers that agree from anyone that's used cubeb. All the more difficult as few people who heard of it and even fewer who've used it. The reason being that taste is subjective. I love the flavour Szechuan peppercorns give food. It's often been described as being both hot and numbing. I can feel its numbing effect but it's not at all hot to me and I'm very sensitive to the heat from capsicum peppers.

Cubeb peppercorns are roughly the size as black peppercorns but instead of being solid, they're more hollow. I've only seen them in photos (otherwise I'd buy some to try) so I don't know if an equal volume of both would be an equal weight, roughly. If I were to substitute, I'd err on black pepper weighing a little more.

As for cubeb having a taste similar to black pepper and allspice, I couldn't say. But Gernot Katzer doesn't think so. Cubeb pepper (Piper cubeba L.,11

  some sources seem to confuse cubeb pepper with allspice, which looks somewhat similar. In its flavour, cubeb pepper differs much from these other spices.

Other sites mention a camphorous note to cubeb. Rosemary is a herb with a camphorous flavour and scent. Cubeb is also supposed to be bitter. Many people don't like bitterness in food but I think it enhances many foods. What would chocolate be like without it?

What I would do, though not necessarily you, is to use around 9 black peppercorns, 1/8 teaspoon of allspice and a few needles from fresh rosemary, crushed and very finely chopped to approximate 12 cubeb peppercorns.

Hopefully, someone here who's used cubeb before will read your question and answer you before you've made your recipe.


Seasoning a granite mortar and pestle, with intuition for the steps and their order

The rice, salt, peppercorns and garlic aren't hard enough to polish the granite.  There are hardness scales such as the Rockwell hardness scale and Mohs scale for minerals.

What you are really doing is grinding the granite pestle against the granite mortar. The purpose of having some material in the process is just to get the granite particles to mix into material being ground. The notion is avoid packing the ground off particles onto the surfaces of the mortar and pestle.


Making a pocket-type french omelette without the curd sticking to the pan?

Start with examining your pan closely.
I suspect Pepin's has a good base with even heat distribution (no heat spots) and a good working non stick surface.
Also consider using a wooden spoon/spatula or non stick compliant tool, as you might not be moving the curds quickly enough.

Without pictures or detail, your pan temperature and amount of butter can't be advised.  BTW, it is known as a (French) "Classic Omelette"


There is indeed a standard for egg sizes. Size M in Europe, corresponding to Large in the US, is roughly 55 grams per egg. This is including the shell, if you have a recipe which doesn't include the shell (e.g. it was developed for pasteurized eggs from a carton), you have to calculate about 5 g of shell for that size of egg.

You can look up tables of other egg sizes on the Internet, but that's the most common size in supermarkets, and the one most commonly used when developing recipes, so I suppose it is the one you need.


Why do you shred cheese before adding it to a sauce?

You're right that the smaller pieces of cheese will melt faster than a whole block when added to a sauce.

The main advantage to shredding or grating cheese is that you create smaller pieces of uniform size, and often smaller than can be achieved just by crumbling (at least when working with harder cheeses).

The smaller the pieces the faster they melt, and if they're a consistent size/shape you don't have to investigate the sauce closely to find when the last, largest bit of cheese has been incorporated. This helps ensure the cheese will be evenly distributed throughout the sauce.


What causes curding in this case: heating milk with large quantities of sugar

It's not the sugar that caused the milk to curdle, it's the milk itself. Dulce de leche and caramel are both usually made with either cream, condensed, or evaporated milk. The issue with regular milk (especially skim), is that it has such a high water content and low fat content. The fat in cream buffers the protein, helping to prevent curdling, and the canned milks have already had most of the water removed, making them less likely to curdle.

The sugar could also have a buffering effect on the milk protein, unfortunately you have a catch 22. In order to buffer the milk form curdling, the sugar would have to be dissolved in the milk. In order to dissolve sugar in the milk at a 1:1 ratio, the milk would have to be heated past the point where it would curdle.

You might be able to prevent this by using a double boiler until the milk has reduced a lot. Making a caramel requires almost all of the water to be cooked out of your syrup, so this will take a really long time and isn't advisable.


I understand that the ridges just make the honing process faster

You can hone a knife with more or less anything. Preferably with material of a similar nature so as not to "grab" the knife edge and pull chunks off it

For a quick test, take a knife that needs honing, and use the back square edge of another knife to hone it with

The square edge bites into the burrs faster than a round edge, but can also "grab" and damage the edge

Honing is a gentle process, you are straightening the edge, and removing burrs, not really grinding the edge

Honing with material that is softer than the knifes edge, will just take longer, but generally produces a better result

The same processes are happening when a barber runs the blade over a honing leather strap, particles in the leather gentle grab the edge, and straighten it out. Any bad burrs will catch on the leather and be torn off


Is it safe to use a tea kettle with black dots on the bottom?

Those are mineral deposits. You can remove them with either vinegar or citric acid. Personally, I use citric acid:

Fill the kettle with some water.
Heat the water (doesn't need to boil).
Sprinkle a little citric acid in (use food-grade, also sometimes called "sour salt").
Let it sit for a few minutes.
The spots should vanish.
Dump the water out, rinse it a few times.

Works about the same with distilled vinegar, except you'll want some ventilation when you heat the vinegar (again, not to a boil), as the acetic acid vaporizes.

The heating isn't actually required for either approach, it just speeds the process up.


Frozen chicken vs thawed chicken in the crockpot

You could cook it for less time, but it equally wouldn't make much difference if you just went for the full 6-7 hours, especially if you are using a forgiving cut like thigh.

I would, incidentally, be very wary about putting frozen chicken in a slow cooker. At the low temperatures a slow cooker uses, there is a good chance the chicken will be sitting in the 'danger zone' for longer than 2 hours, increasing the chances of food poisoning drastically.


Do I have to cure a fresh ham before smoking?

Trying to smoke a fresh ham will result in something that tastes like cooked pork.  You may impart some smokey crust on the outside, but it will still taste like cooked pork.

Curing and then smoking is the only way to give a true smoked ham flavor, and please learn about curing a fresh ham, a cure applied to the outside of a fresh ham will not penetrate to the bone of a ham.

Roger


How to reduce the chewiness of fruit leather

The answer has now been posted on my other question

What is the name of this dish involving fruit & sugar - blended and baked thin and flat?

It is by adjusting the sugar level.