As a former line cook, I can say that many people I've worked with prefer Victorinox knives at work because:

The non-slip NSF listed & approved handles are a great plus
They sharpen easily and hold an edge well
They perform well in demanding, commercial applications
They don't cost a fortune to replace when someone 'permanently borrows' one, or uses your knife to do something they would rather not use their own to do (this is more common than it probably should be)

I've owned many of both kinds, and honestly, I only use my expensive knives at home.

There's more practical reasons to go with a less expensive brand that maintains a very positive review average over a very expensive brand, but it's your choice and your money :)

I personally save the big bucks for vintage knives that have gone up in value consistently over the years, especially given how mass production obviates eventual rarity. So if you want to go expensive and have it last as an heirloom, go rare, too.

Otherwise, the 'house knives' from any commissary supply chain are great, and many feature Victorinox. Sure, I'd love to use a Shun, but my 10" Mercer Culinary gyuto holds a nice edge, too, and the resin / santoprene handle makes me much more confident with fish.

This holds a little less true with breaking knives (or Deba), or those that are engineered to take abuse, you can end up ultimately replacing cheap blades so often that you ended up spending the same anyway. But that's another situation entirely, and worth different consideration.


What do you call people that eat fish but not meat?

Vegetarians don't eat any animals including fish. Those who don't eat meat but fish are called pescetarians. For practical reasons, sometimes pescetarians say that they are vegetarians, as Joe says in his answer in this question:

  I read something recently (might've been a blog, might've been some
  online publication), explaining why the person called themselves a
  vegetarian and yet would eat fish:

  Because it was easier than explaining all of their can/can't eat items.

  Many people aren't familiar with the term 'pescatarian', and if
  someone invites you to a dinner party, it's easier to just say 'I'm a
  vegetarian' than 'I'm a lacto-ovo pescetarian' and have to take the
  time explaining what it means. If they prepare vegetarian food, you
  can eat it ... they don't need to know the whole ontology of different
  types of vegetarianism.


Can I put meat on a broiler rack without using foil?

After cooking without foil for a week or two my experience is that there are two problems. One problem occurs if you are cooking anything that can fall apart or fragment like fish or stew meat. The pieces can fall through the rack into the pan. The other problem is that without the foil shield the waste oils and fats in the bottom of the pan get hotter and spatter more. Also, without the foil in place it is easier for them to spatter out of the oven onto the cook. So, overall I think foil is probably a better way to go.


Do what professional chefs do: clean constantly.

Put all of your ingredients out in an organized place.  Use them.  Put them away.  Clean the station.

If you can, prepare.  Put stuff that is prepped back in the fridge until you need it.

Try to use the same few tools for the whole meal--cutlery, mixing bowls, cutting board.  Quickly rinse and re-use rather than multiplying utensils.

Aim for dishes that can be cooked in stages in the same pot rather than needing multiple pots or saucepans.

Try out dishes with fewer ingredients.  Great chefs can do wonders with 3, 4, or 5.  Maybe you don't need more complicated?

Put non-essentials away. Move the kettle and toaster to a shelf until you're done.  Use the sink as a repository for anything you're not using but might still need.

Use another room, too.  A nearby table could become your staging area, a place to put ingredients that are prepped, finished, or waiting to be used (so your work area isn't cluttered with them).

Just some ideas.


Can I layer Lemon curd and Lemon Mousse?

There are several recipies on the internet for this though most have the lemon curd on top of the cheesecake.  Mary Berry has a version where she includes the curd directly into the marscapone mixture, so it doesn't seem likely it will curdle.

Putting it onto the biscuit, then adding the cheesecake mixture might cause other problems, either the curd could be pushed out of the sides or moisten the base too much.


How does the choice of vegetable ratio and processing steps influence the taste of mirepoix?

A bit late to the party but ....

Onion and celery have similar effect in the mirepoix, the leeks will have a similar effect but with more depth on the sweet side & carrot will bring some sweetness.

Based on that, depending on what you want to cook, there are some guidelines.

For stews, keep in mind that some of the next ingredients might add some sweetness to the meal, so it's ok to equal the onion and celery parts to the other veggies.
For broth you might want to reduce the onion and celery part to 1/2 part of other vegetables (carrot, mushrooms, tomato paste, etc.) knowing it will eventually reduce into a demi-glace and that you will season it with spices and aromates. Reducing mean the flavor will concentrate.
For soup / potage you should adjust to the main ingredient to balance it out, usually I go with onion and celery in equal part and no carrots unless you want the soup / potage to have a sweet taste, which is ok for pea soup, tomato, carrot, etc.

Hope it helps,


Can Creme Fraiche be substituted for Heavy Cream in a Cream Sauce?

Actually I would disagree to some extent with the other two answers - I think you can use creme fraiche instead.

I agree with MStodd that it will certainly give a different flavour and texture to the sauce, but if you're just looking for a healthier base to a pasta sauce, I'd say it's fine to substitute. Also as daniel mentions, you have to be careful not to overheat it (although the same is true of cream), as it will curdle.

In my experience, creme fraiche is great to make a very quick and easy pasta sauce. Put it in right at the end of cooking, once everything else is properly cooked and just heat enough so it is warmed through.

It comes down to whether you are wanting to achieve the same flavours though - if you are, maybe you could try what I would call single cream (not sure what it would be called in the US), and thicken the sauce with a bit of cornflour mixed with cold water.


Thanks for the picture. (Worth 1000 words.) Those spots aren't what I was imagining when you said purple. They look just like what I was imagining when you said mold, though. Or maybe I would call it "mildew".

Anyhow, my advice: do clean it, with wet baking soda & rinse with water, like people say you should clean a refrigerator. If the stains remain, which I bet some will, try and remove them with a bleach solution, then rinse that off. If stains still remain, which I bet some will, then they're just stains at that point. Don't pay any attention to them....Don't put food in direct contact with the floor or walls of the freezer (of course). Wrap food well or enclose in proper containers when you freeze it, and it will be OK. The situation sounds temporary anyhow.

FYI: Because it had been unplugged and left outside for a few months before we got it, our refrigerator retained a slight musty smell inside even after we cleaned it as best we could. Our food however was fine. We just stored it wrapped as we normally would, and we had no issues with off-odors or spoilage in the food. The smell in the fridge's atmosphere persisted for many weeks though, until one day, we realized it was gone. No, we didn't just get used to it; the smell had completely dissipated. But it took a while.


I accidentally put aluminum foil in my microwave, how can I clean the scorch marks?

Check your microwave's owner's manual for a cleaning procedure and follow it.

If there isn't one, I'd try the procedure recommended by Samsung which I've summarized below:

Sprinkle baking soda over the interior of the oven and rub the entire thing with a damp cloth. Wipe clean with damp cloths.
Make a 1 : 8 vinegar to water solution by volume (at least 130 mL of this stuff) and microwave until its boiling rapidly. Leave in oven for 15 minutes then wipe down with damp cloths.
Use acetone (in many nail polish removers) on a cloth to remove scorch marks. Wipe clean with damp cloths.
Put some instant coffee powder in some water and microwave it until your microwave doesn't have an acetone smell.

You may have to repeat step 4 a few times; basically, just make something that smells pleasant a few times so the scent of acetone goes away.


Custard - How much milk can one egg set?

It really depends on how thick you want it.  Some sites recommend one egg or 2 yolks per cup of milk.  Ruhlman mentions 2 eggs per cup as 'standard', with 1 egg able to thicken 3/4 of a cup of liquid (but more fat helps).

I can't comment on thickness of creme anglaise -- I had to gave up dairy years ago, and that's not something that I've ever made.


Can I safely eat uncooked raw chicken that has been in my freezer over a year?

Don't eat it raw.  However, while the quality has likely degraded, it can be cooked and eaten safely if it was handled properly before freezing, and has remained in the freezer since.


How can I remove the little white insects from semolina and flour?

One I've never tried - nor needed to, I live in a temperate zone...

My aunt lived in Singapore for many years - she would put anything like that, flour or even sugar, into a tin then put the tin on a low heat on the gas & the insects would climb out & fall into the flame.

Flour can of course be sieved too, semolina may depend on how fine it is.


Can you freeze an unbaked sour cream apple pie?

Recipes that contain sour cream (and other dairy products) can be frozen, but they need to be cooked first. You can cook the filling, add it to a a parchment lined pie pan, and then pop in the freezer. Once frozen you can remove from pie shell and place in a freezer bag for a frozen pie shaped disc to add to your pie shell at your leisure.


What would be the difference between frying vs baking meatballs?

No recipe alteration needed.

Fried meatballs will develop more of a crust, and thus more flavour through the Maillard reaction. In any case, unless you're making tiny meatballs (or finishing their cooking in a sauce of some sort), they're going to need to be finished via baking anyway.

I would only do the baking method if I had to make an enormous quantity at once. For home cooking I always fry then bake.


How can i optimize the use of my convection oven?

A convection oven has a fan that blows hot air around the items being baked. The air flow will draw moisture from the food. To stop the drying out, you could tent the baking items with aluminum foil but that has two drawbacks: you waste aluminum foil and lots of times you do want your baking items to lose moisture during baking. Another issue as you noticed, it messes up the browning (Maillard reaction) of the baking process. Where you place your item to be baked with a regular oven has a big effect as well as the container.
The top of oven is hotter while the bottom of the oven is better for slow cooking. Place the dough in dark container for better browning.
Convection ovens change all of those variables. I recommend that you use recipes tailored for that type of oven. If you are concerned about being energy efficient. Bake more than one thing at a time. That's what I do. I use multiple timers and the location in the oven to place the various items for a fantastic meal or bake.


Why would you Parboil Some Vegetables Before Stir-Frying them?

Really, this is just to even out cooking times for vegetables that don't have a surface area to volume ratio consistent with the other things you're stir-frying.  If you were to shred those green beans, as is sometimes done, you could put them in at the same time as raw, julienned carrots, and they would finish at the same time.

If you put them in whole, you'll end up with beans that are burned on the outside and raw on the inside, as there's not enough time for the heat to penetrate to the center of the bean before the outside burns.  Or, if you fry at a lower heat, you could get the beans cooked, but would have to add the carrots later (which means a lower temperature, too, since the beans are dragging heat out of your pan) in order to have them not turn to mush.


I can think of a couple options I would consider.

Pre-cook the stuffing in a casserole dish the night before, then heat it in the oven towards the end of the bird's cooking time.  Covered, you could probably leave it in the entire time the bird is cooking, but I don't think it would be necessary to reheat for that long.
Cook the stuffing most of the way in the microwave, then put it in a casserole dish or cast iron skillet under the broiler (while the bird sits to rest after it's done cooking) in order to get the crust you want.
Make stovetop stuffing in a large cast iron skillet with a lid over low heat.  I would think you would get some kind of crust on the bottom, but I would finish it under the broiler regardless.

A recipe similar to this one for stovetop stuffing seems to be the way to go.  This also has make-ahead and reheating times to give you a guide.


Cleaning simple mandolin slicer with non removeable blade

The best way to clean it is with timing. Use your spray nozzle as soon as you are finished using it so good doesn't have a chance to setup and glue to your mandolin.


Effect of liquified hazelnuts on chocolate tempering?

You are making Gianduja - and if you make chocolates out of it, they're Giandujotti - singular form Giandujotto; The name might help you find sources of information.

The tempering process will be basically the same (I've seen sources suggest 2°C below temperatures for white chocolate temperatures at all times), but keep in mind that it won't be as melt resistant and as such not particularly good for enrobing.


A couple of the largest clues to help you

If it's Spanish, it's probably OK 'raw', if it's Mexican, probably not.
If it's soft & squashy, it needs cooking, if it's firm & wrinkled it's OK as it is.

Left is cured & ready to eat, right must be cooked first.

 I'm ignoring the fact that for this photo someone has cross-contaminated, making the properly smoked one no longer safe

One additional tip I learned from my mother-in law, who lives in Spain - even though completely safe 'raw', if the skin comes off easily in one piece, it's better raw; if it tears off in bits, cook it anyway in red wine. It's not as good.


Hot peppers won't work with brine, as brine is water-based and capsaicin (the pepper hotness) is not soluble in water. You would need an oil-based marinade to pass the 'heat'.


What to do to get tender, edible steak instead of it being rubbery?

Starting with a "random piece of meat" may be part of the problem. Some cuts are more suitable for this than others.

If the meat seems "raw", then something is very wrong here. An hour at pressure-cooker temperatures is more than enough to over-cook it. There's no way it could be raw.

I suspect that over-cooking is the problem, and that will depend on the cut you're using. I suspect you've got a piece with little fat or connective tissue, and that's not going to soften in a pressure cooker. It shouldn't seem "raw", though; it should seem over-cooked.

In the future, I'd suggest looking for a chuck roast or other fatty piece. If you do end up with a cut like bottom round, it may help to cut it into thinner pieces, across the grain. That mechanically tenderizes the meat by snipping the chewy fibers.

Either that, or something is desperately, weirdly wrong with your pressure cooker.


A microwave can cook a beef steak or piece of chicken to a safe temperature and make it edible, however the result is often tough and you won't get a crust of any kind on it.

When you cook something on a pan or on a grill/broiler the outside is exposed to a high temperature, giving the outside a chance to go through chemical changes like Maillard reactions and caramelization which give color and flavor. The food cooks from the outside in.

A microwave oven cooks by exciting water molecules throughout the food, penetrating up to about 1 inch depending on a number of factors. The energy is spread out rather than being concentrated on the surface, you never get to a high temperature on the outside, so you get none of that color or flavor. Microwaves also tend to cook meats and poultry too quickly, making them rubbery. You might be able to remedy this by using the lowest power setting in bursts. Turn the food regularly as well as microwaves tend to have hot spots. A lower power will also let things cook more evenly, as the hot spots will cook some areas faster than others.

You may get an okay result for chicken, however I wouldn't attempt it with beef.


How to address this burnt sugar conundrum

I would do this in a non-stick pan, then throw this into the stew/pot, usually with some meat or something else first in the pot you are stewing in. The reason it sticks, is b/c sugar tends to stay together, so if sugar is at the bottom of a pan it draws more sugar to the bottom, along with all the browned meat bits. I also like to de-glaze the pot you brown the meat in for more flavor and less cleaning.


White chocolate does not have starch, so it does not thicken the ganache, unlike dark chocolate.

The proper proportion for white chocolate ganache is 45 to 60 ml of cream to 12 ounces of chocolate. You used 240 ml, which made it too runny. Use less cream and you will get a good consistency.


The rice, as you know, is the cornerstone to quality sushi – no matter how superior seafood you obtain (which is also very important), if the rice isn't done properly your sushi fails.

Always use a glutinous, short-grained, japonica rice, or else your rolls and other sushi construction will likely fall apart as soon as your guests pick it up. A good quality rice will not have too many broken grains. Rinse it several (at least five or six) times, let it soak for 15-20 minutes at least one of the rinse cycles.

Unlike long grain rice, most sushi rice instructions (including what I use) call for equal amounts water and rice, or closer to it than the usual 2 parts water to 1 part rice. Bring it to boil, cover it then let it cook on your stove's lowest setting. Cook it without removing the cover for about 12-15 minutes before checking for doneness.

For two cups of rice, use about 1/4 cup of rice vinegar, and approximately two or three tablespoons of sugar. I recommend using unseasoned rice vinegar and adding sugar to your taste rather than using the pre-sweetened stuff, so you can control the amount. Add a couple of tablespoons of mirin (Japanese cooking wine), optionally a pinch of salt to taste.

Combine the other ingredients while the rice is cooling to about body temperature (98F; 36C), then mix gently with the rice, being careful not to smash or break the grains,then assemble your sushi.

Eat the delicious sushi until you either explode, or need a crane to lift you away from the table.


Why do Injera recipes call for adding boiling water or cooking down tef with some water?

I can’t give a definitive answer for Injera, but in baking, a boiled water/flour mixture (called tangzhong or  water roux) is added to increase the dough’s water content, effectively binding more water in the dough than a plain dough could. The results are typically very fluffy and light.

I suspect that Injera with this water roux would turn out more pliable and a bit softer. Considering that you use bits of it to scoop up the stew that is usually served with, I would expect it to be more “bendable” and texture / mouthfeel would certainly also benefit.


Will freezing a bottle of vermouth change it's quality, life length or properties?

I've frozen bottles of vermouth many times. There is no issue with just letting it thaw out in the normal way. In fact you can wait until it's partly thawed, give it a good shake, and hey presto, vermouth slushy, which goes in some cocktails rather well. Fortified wines do slowly oxidise on exposure to the atmosphere, but this is greatly slowed by the alcohol content. Historically this was one the principle reasons for fortifying wines - so that they store better and last longer.


Quieter, yes.  Quiet, no.
This was based on my recent research where I tested out 8 different portable induction burners, did a lot of reading, and ultimately decided not to buy one.
Induction burners make noise for two main reasons:

They work via a spinning electromagnetic field, which causes both the burner and the vessel to vibrate microscopically, creating a loud hum.
They have an internal fan to keep the electronics cool while the burner is on.  This is often the louder source of noise.

Higher-end induction burners produce less noise by having a heavier case (reducing vibration), and by having a better cooling fan. However, having tried some of these fairly expensive commercial burners, like a Waring and a Vollrath, I'd say they are quieter but not exactly something you'd use in a room with a sleeping baby.
Built-in burners can reduce noise further simply by having sound insulation built into the cooktop, and many do.


Why did my mozzarella turn out like ricotta?

I have the same problem and went through 3 different brands of milk, thinking they were UHT.  However, after some experimentation I determined what I was doing wrong.

In my case, after cutting the curd, and while the water was heating back up to 105, we were stirring too much.

The key is very slow gentle movement. Just enough to slightly move the curds, and not disturb them.

"Stirring" will cause you to end up with a nice tasting ricotta, but not mozzarella.


Is Light Egg Nog supposed to drink directly without cooking?


As far as I can see, you don't defrost the pie before baking in the recipe so some of the time in the oven would just be defrosting the pie; so this could be done in advance by bringing it out of the freezer an hour and a half before baking say. As the chicken is already cooked it looks like all you're doing is cooking the pastry so you could just use thinner pastry which would cook quicker, or better you could use layers of phyllo  pasty which would cook a lot quicker but of course wouldn't puff up like the puff pastry.

If you follow this it could probably bake for just 25 minutes or there about.

Hope this helps!


Amchur doesn't give much of a flavor other than sour, at least, not in the amounts I use of it. It does have a bit of a distinctive aroma, but really, to me, it is just a fairly neutral sour flavor.

The easiest, most neutral substitute would be citric acid powder. Unfortunately, they don't usually give concentration/strengths on the packaging, but comparing Ball Citric Acid for Canning to the powdered amchur from the Indian store, it's pretty close. I think the citric acid tastes a tiny bit lemony, but not enough to make a difference.

Also, the amchur powder I buy is generally quite finely ground, and the citric acid is generally in crystals. If you are doing something like a spice blend (e.g., chat masala powder) you would probably want to grind the crystals up to match the texture of the rest of the spices.

Depending on what you're making, there are quite a few substitutions, but most of them would be more obscure than (or at least as obscure as) the amchur, and all would be less neutral. Also, amchur is dry, so adding something liquid might affect your recipe. (Easy to adjust if you are adding to something liquid, of course.)

In many Indian dishes, most of the Indians I know simply do use lemon juice when they want to make something sour, especially for northern dishes. This really is quite common, and nearly every Indian cook I know in the US has a large bottle of lemon juice in the fridge for every day use.

If you're making something South Indian, tamarind pulp or paste is often the souring agent of choice, but it is distinctly not neutral. It has a distinctive flavor and will also darken things (in a somewhat yellow-orange-brown range).

Some regions also use dried kokum fruit in the same way (classic Maharashtrian aamti, for example), but I would say it is even more distinctive than tamarind, and it also will darken it (with a dark grey-green-brown range of color).

For both kokum and tamarind, you soak the pulp in water and add the soaking water without the pulp to the dish. You can also usually find tamarind concentrate (a tarry paste) but I've never seen anything like that for kokum.

One more option I just thought of is using some other unripe or sour fruit. Amchur is made by powdering dried green mangoes. You can actually sometimes find dried green mangoes at places like Trader Joe's and if it is unsweetened, a small piece of that can certainly be used, but it seems that any fruit that is firm and sour should work, such as an unripe plum or a very tart apple. In that case, I would suggest either cooking with a small piece or two of the fruit in the sauce (if there is one) and removing it later or you could try to crush it and press some juice out. The problem here would be in figuring out the correct amount to add, but I think you could start from the dried-to-fresh conversion rates for herbs.


What's the approximate dry to cooked weight conversion ratio for beans?

I'll try to update this after I finish cooking, but I have 3 pulses soaking right now that are about to be cooked. (red kidney beans, black chickpeas and urad dal)

For dry vs soaked, it seems the kidney beans (and both the black chickpeas and the dal) have pretty nearly exactly doubled in weight. When I cook them, I will include enough water to cover them. I know from experience that they will absorb some of it, but not all of it, but if you don't have enough water in there when you cook them in the pressure cooker, they will scorch.

It is a little hard to calculate exactly the cooked weight of the beans themselves without the cooking water because, at least for the dal and the kidney beans, they get pretty soft and some break up in the water. Unless you cook them with the exact amount of water they will absorb, it's pretty tough to say what is beans and what is water at a certain point.

For lentils and dals that don't need presoaking, I generally cook them with 1:2 dal:water and they absorb all of it and generally turn nearly to mush. For dal that needs to be soaked, I use the same method as the kidney beans -- just barely cover with water (note that this is additional water after soaking, and enough to cover their plumper volume). For those (whole urad dal, whole moong dal) it will absorb most of the water, but there will be some liquid left. I'd guess that it is probably less than half the original weight more in water.

So my best estimate is about 1 dry becomes 2-2.5 cooked, by weight.

I know you're asking about weight, but from a cooking perspective, for any lentils/dals, I always make sure to include twice the volume of water to the volume of the dry dal. For kidney beans i would probably cook them with 4x there volume of the dry beans. For anything where I expect to use some sort of sauce or gravy, I increase that. This is sort of the bare minimum so that they fully hydrate and don't scorch.


Can I store suet or home-rendered tallow at room temperature for a year?

Tallow does not need to be refrigerated and can last a year or longer. I would not worry greatly about decomposition, but oxidation can be a problem. Make sure to store it in an airtight container and you shouldn't have a problem.


I would imagine you could cut your gluten dough into small pieces, dehydrate them, and then grind them. You would just have to be sure that you were getting it completely dry and grinding it very finely. This should work, though I don't know how practical it would be.


Why don't dry bread crumbs spoil, when bread does?

Bacteria need a friendly environment to live. They can't survive without mosture. Mold tolerates more, but it needs moisture for life too.

Bread is too dry a food, so it doesn't catch bacteria. This is why it can be stored outside the fridge. But if you live in a moderately humid climate, it can still be moist enough for mold to grow, especially if stored in a non-breathing package (plastic bag). Drying the bread to the point where this won't happen is possible, but it gets quite hard then. Examples for such dry bread are zwieback or finnish crispbread.

Store bought breadcrumbs are dried to the point where they can't catch mold. This is why they can be stored for so long. If you make your own in the food processor, they will be similar to bread. Probably a bit better, because the bigger surface will let them dry quicker than bread. But if you want to be sure they will last, dry them. You can use a dehydrator or put them in the oven at the lowest temperature (usually.50 deg C) and hold them there for 4 - 5 hours.


How does cooking with whole peppercorns compare to ground?

For freshness, it is always best to purchase whole spices and use whole, crack, or grind them as needed. With respect to peppercorns (or, really any whole spices) the effect will be different when they are used whole, just cracked, or ground.  The flavor will also be impacted by toasting the spices before use, and when they are added during the cooking process.  The taste difference between all of these options can be significant.  The bottom line is that you should have some idea of the effect you are trying to create with the spice, and how the treatment of that spice achieves the result you are looking for.


On the Splenda website it says that Splenda doesn't caramelize like sugar. Admittedly, it is talking about getting the golden brown colour in your baked goods, but I suspect since it doesn't happen in that instance, it wouldn't work in a hard candy.


How can I enhance fudge's "fudginess" and flavour?

A few things to think about:

Sprinkling kosher, sea, or another interesting salt on it for a flavor contrast
Using some small amount of pepper a la the trendy pepper chocolate bars out there, or perhaps some paprika for smokiness
Adding orange or lemon zest
Pairing with an unsweetened or very lightly sweetened raspberry syrup (at least in my experience fudge recipes don't need more sugar)
Bacon (inside or on top)


It stayed like bread crumbs? After you mixed all your ingredients together fully? If you added water, and your product is like bread crumbs (separate small particles that do not stick together), then you did not add enough water. I would not even call it dough until you can clump it together into a cohesive ball of material which you can then roll out, pat out into a flat patty, shape or manipulate in some way.

There may also be other problems with your dough than just not enough water. If you list the actual quantities of the ingredients you used, and say what sort of finished product you are trying for, people will be able to give you more precise advice on this.


Homemade mac and cheese always loses its creaminess and gets dry after sitting out a short while

Honestly, you either eat it fresh, or accept it will congeal.

There are 2 factors going on,

the pasts will keep absorbing water until there's almost none left
the cheese will set as it cools.

The upside is 'yesterday's mac cheese' is great in & of itself.

Your only 'fix' is make it wetter or eat it sooner.


What elements in green leafy vegetables provide carbohydrates?

According to Nutrition Data, using spinach as a sample green leafy vegetable, a 30 gram serving of spinach contains only about 1 gram of carbohydrates, and that is dietary fiber.

So the simple answer is that there isn't much energy there at all, in the leaf or stem, or to be leached into the cooking liquid.


Beverage Cooler vs Small Refrigerator for Raw Chicken?

If you're in the US, you are likely to be inspected. The inspector will use a thermometer to make sure that the chicken is being stored below 40F (4.5C). That is the FDA requirement as well. You may or may not need a refrigerator, it sounds to me that first you need a thermometer.


What are the advantages of vanilla sugar?

is there some other reason it is popular?

Yes: Vanilla beans are expensive, and once you've extracted the seeds, the husk, which still contains good vanilla flavor, is often discarded. Putting the empty husk in sugar allows you to extract some vanilla flavor that might otherwise be wasted. I usually save my empty vanilla bean pods and use them for making vanilla ice cream or some other dessert that involves hot liquids, steeping the pods in warm milk extracts the remaining flavor better than putting it in a container of sugar.


Gelatin powder vs Gelatin leaf when and why

I have never personally noticed a difference. I saw that there are other answers which say that a difference exists, but the points made are not inherent in the form (powder or leaf). The difference (which is already slight in itself) is more likely to appear between different brands of gelatine, and it can simply happen that in some market, the available leaves have a quality which the powder doesn't, or vice versa. It is like filling olive oil in square or round bottles: the final shape is different, but it has no effect on the content.

There can be some slight personal preferences in handling one over the other - as you said, for you blooming the powder sometimes fails. There is nothing universal about that, I suspect that every cook makes fewer mistakes with whichever they are more familiar with. I remember how comically I failed when I tried to bloom leaves for the first time.

For me, there is no culinary reason to choose one over the other.


How to recognize when American style chewy cookies are done?

Most cookie recipes (including the Nestle Tollhouse recipe) call for 9 - 11 minutes at 375 ° F (for a 3-bite sized cookie).  Within this range, finding the exact time (and temperature) for your preferred done-ness and with your equipment can be a fussy business.

One of the best indicators is the darkening color at the outer edge of the cookie, as shown in the last picture in your recipe.  (For what it's worth, substituting dark brown sugar for brown sugar may make a significant difference in the outcome of the cookie.)

You can also gently poke the edge of a cookie to test it.  (Only do this if your fingers are used to enough kitchen abuse to be OK with poking hot cookies and gooey melty chocolate.)  The edge of the cookie should be a little crispy and have a texture when done.  When un-done, it will be liquid and gooey, like the middle of the cookie.

If no other methods prove useful, I fall back to the "test cookie" method, where I bake one cookie at at time at different intervals of time (30 seconds), wait until they cool, and then re-use the time from the best resulting cookie.  (Same for dialing the best temperature.)  Go with a slightly overdone cookie for a tie breaker; when baking your batches of cookies, the extra mass will take a little longer to bake to the same done-ness.  Yes, this is a tedious and fussy procedure, but once you've got this figured out, you can replicate it ever time.  And, as with all baking, practice makes perfect.


What is the way to "mince" stew meat using a machine?

A food processor works well. Just fill the bowl lightly so that you can watch what happens as you do quick pulses. Use the metal blade.  Slow short pulses. It also helps if the meat is really cold but not frozen. Yum.


Do I need to put blood in a vacuum sealed bag to cook it sous vide in this type of appliance?

Looking at the photos in the webshop it's pretty clear to me that you're still supposed to bag whatever food goes in it. It will make clean up of the machine easier and you don't want blood residues on it for your next batch of food.

Perhaps you don't need to vacuum seal it, just squeeze out as much air as possible with the vacuum displacement method and trap the edge of the bag between the pot and the lid.


There's no reason you have to put foil pans on a tray, they can be put directly on the rack if you like. There's no reason not to either, it's a matter of convenience. If you want a scientific answer a tray will interfere with air circulation a little, but not enough it makes a real difference to baking times or the end result.

Using a tray can be a good idea if the pans are too flexible to handle easily, and also if you are baking many of them at once putting many on one tray makes it faster to get them in and out.


Turkey broth cooking in a crockpot for two days

I just strained my two day turkey stock.

As long as it stayed simmering the entire time it is perfectly safe.


Identify this seafood from the Black Sea known in Romanian as "rapane"?

This is definitely a rapa whelk. These are indigenous to the seas in the far East, but got somehow imported into the Black Sea and overtook the ecosystem.

First, people around the Black sea didn't have much use for them. The waves washed the shells of dead whelks ashore and these got crafted into souvenirs for tourists. Then, people started fishing them and selling them to the Japanese, who ate them. At last, around the summer season of 2000 or 2001, restaurants along the western shores of the Black sea started offering them as food to their guests. Still, I think that much more of the catch is exported than consumed locally (but have no hard numbers for this).

Since the only people who eat them seem to be Japanese and recently also Bulgarians and Romanians, I highly doubt that they have a kitchen-specific name in English, or that you can buy them at all outside of the above locations.

Biologically, they're not related to oysters. My speculation is that innovative restaurant managers who wanted to serve them had to come up with a name which sounded like something posh (sea oyster) as opposed to one which is both common and associated with kitschy ashtrays (rapane).


How to bring taste back when too much creme fraiche is added

It depends on the dish and how amenable it is at the stage you make the mistake. Short of redoubling certain ingredients, in most cases, you can't reverse the error.


How to effectively take cream from milk?

If you have raw milk and let it sit, the cream will indeed rise to the top. To separate, you can just wait and skim off the cream as you did. However, if you store the raw milk in the refrigerator, it will take longer for the cream to rise. Perhaps that is why you are having difficulties. Alternatively, you can use a spigot jar to drain the "skimmed" milk from the raw milk, leaving the cream behind.

I think you end up with about 1/10th of your raw milk that is cream.


Breast of lamb (or veal) is what would be called the belly on a pig -- it's the relatively thin and flat layer of muscle and fat surrounding the ribcage. As such, the bones that you have are in fact ribs, and they're quite easy to remove from the remainder of the meat. Because of the muscle that's between the bones, connecting them, they can be treated as their own layer. All you have to do is free that whole layer from the layer that is just meat. Really, this sounds more complicated than it is.

Lay the breast flat on a board, with the bones on top, ends towards you. Use your boning/filet knife, narrow-bladed slicer, or even a paring knife.

To set yourself up for the cut you'll use for the majority of this process, you need to get the first bone (the one on the side opposite your knife hand) free. With the knife held vertically, cut along the outer edge of that bone, trying to not go deeper than the bone. Just disconnect that side from the meat.

Now, holding the blade parallel to the board, get right under the end of the bone with the tip of the knife. Make a small cut across the breadth of the bone. Ideally the face of the blade should be making contact with the underside of the  bone as you cut -- not cutting into the bone, but taking as much meat as possible. Don't sweat it, though: whatever's left attached to the ribs will make a very nice stock.

Make small but smooth cuts further in along the bone, digging out a little slit underneath it. Once you're two or three inches in, move to the next bone in line, and separate it in the same way. You've now got a corner that you can lift up to make it easier to get your knife in there.

Go back to the first bone, and pull up on that corner. Now make your cuts diagonal to the lines of the bones, so that you're separating the first bone further along than the second. Keep the blade parallel to the board, and don't try to do too much at once -- go long but not deep, slicing lightly along the whole underside crease right where the bone and meat are connected, to a quarter inch or so depth. Readjust your grip on the top half, and make another cut.

(If you have a big enough board and table, you might find it easier to turn the breast so the corner you're working from is pointed towards you at this point.)

Repeat that cut all the way across the breast, and keep using your free hand to lift the top part away as you cut. This obviously gives you a better view, but it also actually assists the separation. The meat and the bones are less well-connected to each other than the meat is to itself -- when you put the join under tension, it wants to come apart.

Depending on the size of your slab, once you've got more than a few bones free, constantly lifting the top half may start to be cumbersome. At that point, you can completely separate some of those bones and set them aside -- just cut vertically along the meat between two of them.

That's all there is to it. Turn those ribs into something tasty, too!


Water expands when it freezes, so you probably have an excess of water in the spring rolls that is causing the skins to break when you freeze them. Try draining the filling as much as you can before freezing them, or leaving a bit of excess room when you wrap them.


In a very real sense, yes, that is a true statement. Virtually all sodium chloride on earth was formed in the ocean. It’s a bit of a misnomer to consider “ocean” to be synonymous with “sea”; technically, and according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration there is a difference:

  Many people use the terms "ocean" and "sea" interchangeably when speaking about the ocean, but there is a difference between the two terms when speaking of geography (the study of the Earth's surface).
  Seas are smaller than oceans and are usually located where the land and ocean meet. Typically, seas are partially enclosed by land.

Since many manufacturers of “sea salt” evaporate ocean water independent of any actual “sea”, I’ll use that small misnomer too, and equate “sea” to “ocean”.

Salt (sodium chloride) deposits were born in ancient oceans in a process that started over four billion years ago. At one point in time or another, almost all of the planet (exactly how much and when is still a matter of debate) has been under an ocean. Rivers flow into the oceans, bringing with them minerals from erosion including positively charged sodium. Volcanic eruptions from the ocean floor spew gasses into the ocean including negatively charged chlorine.

Salt lakes share a quality with oceans in that they don’t have an outflow, the volume of water is balanced by evaporation and rainfall. Water evaporates, but salt does not. So the salt created (and is still being created, but at a much slower rate) by the oceans concentrates in an ongoing process in salt lakes.

Salt mines are just dried up oceans.

So, marketing sea salt as special because it’s from the sea is a bit disingenuous. There are many reasons to choose one type of salt over another, but that it comes from the sea isn’t one of them. Other questions here address trace minerals found in certain mined salt, the addition of iodine in some table salt, crystal size and refinement methods; but the original source of all salt is the same.

There is a kind of fun exception: Some salt on earth comes from asteroids and meteorites. Garnish with that, Thomas Keller.


Last few times I bought "fresh" stone fruit the stone was gone

I've seen it, and I was told that the stone fruit pits are often sold to drug and other remedy companies. The young man I spoke with said that apricot pits, for example, have compounds useful in fighting or treating cancer. I'm not sure if that is why the pits are removed, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Removing the pit lessens the weight of the fruit, so someone must be buying that missing weight for as much as or more than the amount for which you are buying the rest of the fruit.


Will these types of pots work for cooking gumbo?

As for working, they will certainly work. A cook can learn to use pots with irregular heating patterns.

The bigger problem is, can you work with large pots? If no, then your plan won't work, independently of the pot thickness you choose. A pot of this size just doesn't behave like a small pot. It will have a heat gradient vertically, and, unless you have a giant paella burner, also horizontally. And this will happen even with the best bottom. Also, if you are making roux by one of the "depends on speed" methods, the sheer amount of roux and liquid mean you won't be able to mix before lumps form, and you may suddenly find yourself in need of more hands when you realize you can't lift your prepared liquid one-handed.

If you are confident that you can deal with that, then the pots will do all right. If you are not, you will need to learn large-pot cooking, and the bottom won't be a major constraint. So just pick a pot and use it.


In what kind of recipes can I substitute stock for water?

Any recipe where the water is part of a sauce or is expected to be absorbed (including rice, couscous, and yes, pasta too), you can use stock instead to increase the deliciousness.  If you have an opportunity to add flavour, why waste it?

Of course, there are some caveats to consider when making the substitution:

Stock is going to contain a certain amount of gelatin (how much depends on how the stock is made).  This is often a good thing, leading to a richer mouth-feel, but if the thickening effect would be detrimental to your recipe, then don't use stock.
Stock can clash with other flavours, although less often than you'd expect, since it's effectively a mega-dose of umami.  In particular I'd probably avoid using it in recipes that are either very sour (sour meat is the taste of rancidity and highly displeasing) or very sweet (since the sugar will overwhelm the flavour of the stock).  So don't use it in your candies or in your pickling solutions, but any dish based primarily on meats, vegetables, and grains, is definitely fair game.
Because it's a meat product, it has a limited life span.  I wouldn't recommend substituting it for water in anything that's going to sit in the fridge for several days and/or be re-frozen, due to food safety concerns.
Oh, and I probably wouldn't use it in baking.  The effects of using homemade stock when the primarily role of the liquid is to develop gluten would be unpredictable, to say the least.  And somehow the thought of turkey-flavoured cake just doesn't sound very appealing to me.

As for the right ratio - that depends entirely on what went into the stock, how long it was simmered for and whether or not the stock itself was reduced prior to storing/freezing.  You're definitely going to want the same total amount of liquid, but if the stock is highly gelatinous then you might want to dilute it, and conversely, if the stock is very weak then you might want to reduce it.  There really is no golden ratio, but I'd probably stick with 1:1 for a "typical" stock.


Indian recipes taste fine with reduced salt, as long as you haven't trained your palate to enjoy salty food. This is no different to any other regional cuisine.

I personally cook curries with no added salt at all, a quarter-teaspoon of salt per portion of boiled rice, and minimal salt in breads.

Try reducing saltiness gradually, until your palate no longer demands it.

In the meantime you could use salt substitutes - there are products made with potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride which may be better for you than salt.


How can I get brine flavour into turkey?

Many aromatic compounds are oil soluble, or need to be heated to really come out and 'open up.' Since brines I use are all water based, I've had some luck with heating, even briefly boiling dried spice components first, then cooling, adding the other ingredients, then using. Especially, don't boil vinegar or alcohol components, as they will lose potency.

Anyway, I find brines to have a tough job imparting too much of a distinct flavor, so consider straining some of this out of your brine and using it to make a gravy or pan sauce to accompany the roast bird, the flavors will then be further accentuated.


What should I look for in a new kitchen knife set?

Typically, you don't want to buy a 'set' of knives.  You're better off buying the knives that you specifically want.  Often, you'll want to get a mix of knives from different manufacturers, so that you can get the best knife for each purpose.

As for what to look for ... I'd have to say that the main issues these days are weight, handle, and how the knife is made:

Most knives should balance near the front of the handle.  If it doesn't, you'll end up doing  more work at the wrist to keep the knife in control, which will tire you out.  (exceptions are small paring knives, cleavers, and maybe exceptionally long slicers).
The blade should be full tang.  This means that the blade continues all the way to the end of the handle, giving it a better connection to the handle while improving the balance.
The handle should be comfortable in your hand.  This will of course vary per person, as we all have different hand sizes.
The handle shouldn't be too slippery.  If it is, you increase the chance of cutting yourself.
You should avoid ceramic blades unless you're specifically going to be cooking a lot of food that will discolor when cut by steel.

Now, there are some issues that are personal choice:

Most home chefs should avoid carbon steel blades.  They have their advantages, but they need extra maintenance or they'll rust.  If you didn't grow up using them and are used to immediately cleaning & possibly oiling your knives and can sharpen your own or have a reasonably priced sharpening service nearby, I'd recommend steering clear of them.
Many people prefer forged vs. stamped blades.  Although the sign of a forged blade used to be the bolster (the thick bit of metal just before the handle), newer manufacturing techniques can add a bolster to a stamped blade.  Stamped blades are thinner and more flexible, which is an advantage in boning knives.  They also tend to be considerably cheaper, which is a huge advantage when you're starting out.  Not all stamped blades are bad; I believe that the the Victorinox Fibox chef's knife has won America's Test Kitchen's round of tests.  On the high end of forged blades are folded blades, which can be quite expensive but hold a great edge.
Knives for slicing should be fairly heavy.  They shouldn't be cleaver-heavy, but you want the weight of the knife to do the work, and not have to be pressing forward with your wrist as you slice.  But if you're going to be torting cakes, or other cases where you're slicing horizontally, you want the slicer to be much lighter.
The angle of the blade affects how sharp it is, but also how often it needs to be sharpened (aka. 'edge retention').  A very small angle creates a very, very sharp blade, but if you nick a bone or something hard, it's more likely to be damaged.  Even just leaving the knives in the sink is risky with some exceptionally sharp knives  (the weight of the knife itself can break off the tip).  Japanese knives tend to be a smaller angle than European blades, but some of the European manufacturers have started putting out sharper knives.  If you have the budget, you may want a variety of angles (a small angle for vegetables, a wider angle for meats)

These are all general characteritics.  It's take much longer to go into details about each type of knife.  See for instance What should I look for in a good, multi-purpose chef's knife? .  Serrated knives are getting trickier, as there are now different types of serrations (regular, micro, wavy, etc.); even micro serrated blades (eg, Ginsu) have their advantages.

Update: I forgot to mention the personal choice 'granton edge' (dimples) or holes along the side of the knife near the cutting surface.  It can reduce the amount of drag that you get when going through solid but moist foods (apples, firm cheeses, etc.) by breaking the adhesion between the food and the blade.

Also, when it comes time to buy knives, consider asking at the store if they'll allow you to test the knives; bring some carrots and apples just to get a feel for how the different knives feel in your hand when actually cutting.  (if they won't allow you to actually cut something, they might still let you try chopping and other tasks on an empty cutting board.


Is there a difference in appearance between semi and unsweetened chocolate?

There is no simple visual difference.  A small taste will reveal all though--unsweetened chocolate is quite bitter.


Are curd and sour cream typical middle-eastern food?

This looks like it's most likely labneh, a form of yogurt that's strained to remove some of its moisture. The texture can range from a thick sour-cream consistency to something like dense cream cheese, and it's common in the cuisines of the Mediterranean and Levant. Sometimes it takes the form of rolled balls, sometimes it's served as a dip or sandwich ingredient, but it always has the characteristic sour taste of yogurt. Often it's garnished with mint or za'atar, but not always, though it's usually served with olive oil.

It's also referred to variously as "strained" or "Greek" yogurt (which can mean something different than the common slightly-thickened "Greek yogurt" that's currently trendy in the United States) so I wouldn't be surprised if there were a slight difference in translation that's causing the confusion. As you've found in your research, "sour cream" in the US usually denotes cream that's cultured in the same way as yogurt. "Curd" is more confusing; in the US it usually refers to cheese formed by treating with acid to produce solid clumps, but it can also refer to similar substances produced from fruit, as in lemon curd.


Mold spores are everywhere, but they need certain conditions in order to grow.  Food preservation and storage steps protect against spoilage.  Mold growth is one (of many) potentials for spoilage (although in some instances, cheese for example, it is desirable).  Fat doesn't necessarily encourage mold growth any more than other products.  The conditions that mold spores need to grow are (a) water, (b) food in the form of dead or decaying matter, (c) air, and (d) temperature (70F or 20C is ideal).  In the case of pemmican, the water activity of the product is very low, as it is made mostly from dried meat and fat.  During the time that it was used and popular, it was probably protected from the air as much as was reasonable, and it was used and stored (mostly) in cool temperatures.  None of that guarantees that it will not, or never did mold.  I can imagine an early Native American, or North American explorer reaching into a leather saddle bag after the spring rains and pulling out some moldy pemmican.  In that scenario, the conditions could be perfect for mold growth.  So, to directly answer your question, it's not the fat or the pemmican.  Mold can grow on anything that supports its growth if the conditions are right.


Why does Angel Food Cake use a tube pan?

Structure is the main reason a tube pan is used for angel food cake. Angel food cake rises a lot, but does not have much of any gluten network or other means of supporting this structure. The egg whites can hold the air bubbles initially, but will lose them eventually. (Hence you should not delay baking after the batter is mixed, and you should treat the batter gently, spooning into the pan and taking care to not slam the pan around.) The tube pan helps because as the batter rises, it can "climb" the pan, sticking to the edges. This is also why angel food cake is left to cool upside-down in the pan for an unusually long time; it should not be removed from the pan until it is completely set. If it weren't for the tube, the center of the cake would not have anything strong to hold it up, so it would collapse. This is not an issue for cupcakes because they are so small.


Absolutely! Right away if you like. And you may well notice they taste really nice when you do that. "New potatoes" - small, and not stored for long - are delicious.


What is a good way to cook Turkey Chops?

These are sections of turkey leg (drumstick) cut as to appear like a non-halal/kosher bone-in cut of meat, like a pork chop. The flesh is turkey, and hence not as robust as pork - treat more like a veal or lamb chop in terms of cooking technique, but season like pork or poultry. Here is a thread on Chowhound discussing various ways to prepare and serve.


It's absolutely fine to make the dough in advance, just don't let it dry out. It even freezes well. There is more good information on Serious Eats on the subject.

Keep it on the counter for up to a day, refrigerated for up to three days, frozen for up to 6 months (for best quality). In any case that you want to hold the dough, be sure that your baking powder (if using) is of the "double acting" variety.


It is unusual for this to happen. One possibility I see is for your mustard to contain a thickener which then also emulsifies the whole sauce. Remember, most emulsifiers will thicken even when present in tiny amounts. If the conditions are right for some other reason (maybe you mixed with an electric appliance or shaked very vigorously) it is not that strange that it can happen.

My suggestion is to try it without the mustard and see if it thickens. If it doesn't, shop around for mustards from thickener-free brands. If it still happens with them, then they worked too well! Normally the mustard is a mediocre emulsifier and allows the vinaigrette to combine, but does not make a stiff emulsion. You could try less mustard then, or adding it at the end and gently stirring with a fork without whipping at all.


If you were going to take the refrigerator approach, it's important to consider when you want to refridgerate it.

Immediately after making the dough, stash two of the doughballs in the fridge.  Take the first one out after about 25-30 minutes, and the second one out after another 25-30 minutes.  This should give you roughly a 30 minute difference between the rising time of the three loaves.  We go slightly under the 30 minutes, as there's a bit of a lag / recovery time for the bread after having been in the fridge.

If you wanted to refrigetate them after the first punching down, you can do it, but that's normally a shorter rise, and it may have some problems fully recovering before you put it in the oven.  It'll work, but you'll get more variation in the loaves than if you had done it immediately after the first kneading.


Why didn't my crumpets cook in the middle?

Crumpets are tricky. I did not manage to cook one thoroughly or successfully until my third or fourth attempt, and even then they all had very brown bottoms! Even shop-bought sometimes seem to suffer the same fate.

The first issue could be the recipe. You'll find a mix of unbleached plain and bread flour better. My grandmother always made crumpets with water, not milk. Luke warm is finger-warm, so not sure about the temperature of the liquid vs. time it needs to rise, but sounds like the batter was successful. It is good to know what you are doing and want to achieve when making crumpet batter-cum-dough. The protein needs to develop to give the strength for the characteristic crumpet texture, and the gluten to give structure and help them rise. Did your method achieve both?

  they didn't rise, but I'm not sure if they should've done anyway

No, they do not rise during the cooking. You pour a good half inch of batter into the ring. If it leaks out the batter is too thin (add more flour and whisk) and if holes do not appear, whisk in some extra liquid. The bubbles form giving the crumpet texture when cooking the first side. You can speed up the process by popping bubbles as they form with a skewer. When the holes stop filling with batter, the crumpets are cooked and you can carefully turn them over.

I find a very heavy bottomed cast iron pan or iron griddle is essential for successful crumpet making. Direct heat is not helpful, whereas steady, radiant, all-over heat is good. "Moderate" is about right.... moderately hot, not smoking hot. (For what it is worth as a comparison, set around 2/3 on the dial on my stove). Once the texture i.e. the holes are formed and the batter set, you can turn them over, which helps to cook them as well as free up the rings for the next two. I only have two rings, so by the time the first two have cooked, the proper heat quality seems to have been reached. Very much like making pancakes, the first one never is very good (I find).

  The problem is that even after 15 minutes in the pan, the middle was still gooey - completely uncooked

That would indicate the heat was not high enough. My crumpets take no more than +/- 8 minutes each to cook. +/- 7 minutes maximum first side and then 1-2 minutes just to colour-up the holey top.

  Could this be a sign that I did not prove for long enough...

No. The batter falls back when the yeast has done its stuff and is exhausted. Which is what you want, because now the gluten has developed sufficiently to give structure. It will also enable them to rise and hold their shape, while the protein gives the strength. I'd guess the bubbles in your crumpet recipe come from the bicarbonate of soda as much as those made by the yeast.

So all-in-all your batter sounds OK, but the recipe may need tweaking a little and you need to scrutinise the heat and the pan you use. Maybe also how thick they are? Was there too much in each ring? Don't give up! They really are far superior to bought crumpets and will even freeze. When you toast them to serve, this helps dry off any surplus moisture.

For a mighty article on How to Cook Perfect... Crumpets and comparison of recipes and techniques, from Elisabeth David to Gary Rhodes look no further than this Guardian article posted by Felicity Cloake, 21 March 2013. Do notice the appearance of the various examples. I think you will find them most informative and illuminating, not least compared to shop-bought crumpets. There are also several "How to cook a crumpet" videos online. Some are good, such as this one from The Bread Kitchen but others are dire!

Hope this helps. I'm off to find ethically caught tuna fish cans which have a "traditional" top and bottom as well as no ribs around the sides. Feel it's going to be a challenge, but would be great to add to my lonely two crumpet rings. Frugal old Piglet. ;)


You could regulate your bowels.

Cellulose is indigestible.  I suspect this is a fiber supplement like Metamucil or bran flakes.  If you suffer from irregularity you could use this.

I understand cellulose is used as filler for people who want to reduce carbs.  A more interesting idea than Metamucil would be to see if you can substitute it for sugar in cookies or muffins.  I am skeptical; it does not look very processed.


Cook lentils before or after shaping into veggie meatballs?

The recipe that I traditionally used calls for cleaned then boiled lentils that were then allowed to cool and then transferred to the food processor and reduced to a smooth paste.


It depends on what you are planning to do.

If you want to get shelf-stable marmalade without a strict canning process, the answer is absolutely no. This kind of marmalade means that you're basically cooking a concentrated sugar syrup, and you have to keep it at the boiling point in an open vessel for a sufficient time for the water to evaporate.

If you want to use a modern marmalade recipe for canning, the answer is also practically no. Canning recipes have to be tested for safety, and are only safe if prepared exactly as prescribed. If it is made for stovetop, you can't guarantee that all relevant parameters will stay the same. Theoretically, it's conceivable that some experts will design a recipe specifically for sous vide and will test it properly before publishing it. If you have found such a recipe and trust it, then you could follow it. But I think they are very unlikely to exist, given the cost/benefit ratio of both the design process and of making the marmalade itself.

If shelf stability is not needed, then the answer becomes yes. You can experiment away with cooking a marmalade in a sous vide machine, either starting from a traditional stovetop recipe, or designing your own. From the viewpoint of food safety, the result will have to be kept in the fridge and eaten within 5 days.


Preparing / pre-cooking hash browns / home fries

This answer is for sliced or diced home fries, such as this type:

Shredded style hash browns are much more difficult to pre-cook at home, since the shreds are fragile and go from under cooked to over cooked quickly.

Note that restaurants tend to simply have home fries on the griddle, in a warm section, essentially fully cooked.  This is why they tend to be more cooked at the end of breakfast service than the beginning in many restaurants.

For home service, there are several effective techniques for making home fries cook more rapidly, or at least more conveniently.

Par-cook the potatoes

The easiest for pre-preparation is simply to par-cook the potatoes.  In either case, the potatoes should be peeled (optional), and diced or sliced.

Cook them until they are just slightly under-done, but begining to be fork tender.  This will depend on your type of potato.  If you are using a waxy potato (such as a Red Bliss), you can cook them until they are fork tender as they hold their shape quite well; if you are using a starchy potato such as a Russet or Idaho, you want them just slightly resisting in the center.

After they are par-cooked, you may optionally refrigerate or even freeze them before finish cooking.

There are several methods which are effective for the par-cook, depending on your volume:

Microwave, suitable for a couple of potatoes.  Put plastic wrap or a loosely sealed lid on the container so they steam as well, and stir them fairly frequently to be evenly cooked.
Steaming.  Probably more work that it is worth, but very effective.
Simmering/boiling.   Start the potatoes in cold water.  Depending on the size of your dice or slice, they may be done about the time the water begins to boil; in any case, simmer them until done as described above.  Drain well, or even dry with towels.

To finish cooking them, fry them on a hot griddle with generous butter (or other fat, to taste), salt, pepper, and other additions that you desire such as onions, peppers and so on until they are brown on all sides, and somewhat crispy.  This will take about 5 minutes per side depending on your heat.

Hybrid wet-dry

This is the method I personally use the most, as the results can be outstanding, although you need experience to judge exactly how they should come out.   It is also only for reducing the cooking time, more than for pre-staging some of the preparation.

Dice or slice, and optionally peel your potatoes
In a wide pot where the potatoes will form a shallow layer (preferably non-stick, or they will sick a little and form a lot of fond, which will make it harder to get them crispy), add the potatoes and water to barely cover.  You will learn how much water over time for your cook top (hob), dice or slice size, and flame level.

You can also add butter, salt, pepper and such at this stage.
Cook the potatoes on high for about 10 minutes or until the water is gone.  Ideally, if guaged correctly, this will leave you potatoes at the "almost done" stage described in the par-cooking method.
Add fast cooking vegetables such as onions or peppers.
Continue cooking on medium high heat, stirring once or twice, until the potatoes are nicely golden brown and delicious.

Oven hybrid method

This method can be used for pre-preparation.  The finish cooking takes longer, but is hands off.

Prepare potatoes as usual, and pan fry them until browned.  They will still be essentially raw inside.  That is okay.
At this point, you can reserve and pause.
To final cook, place (with salt, pepper, slightly pre-cooked onions or peppers, and other enhancements) in a moderate oven to heat through and re-crisp.    Depending on temperature, this can take 20-30 minutes.

This method will not give perfectly crispy potatoes like the first two methods, but is suitable for having a large quantity, as for a brunch party, ready for service at the same time.


If you really don't want to bake anything else, you could bake the crumb on it's own. I'd be sure to put it on parchment or a silpat to avoid it sticking to the surface below. Bake it at 350F or so until it's browned. Once it's baked, it should last a while as long as it's stored in an airtight container. It would probably be good as an ice cream topping?


Besides the obvious - your toffee will have more salt in it? Salted butter also contains more water than unsalted butter, and varies more on both salt and moisture content on a brand-by-brand basis than unsalted butter. A higher percent of water means less fat, so after the water cooks out, your ratio of fat to sugar will be off somewhat.


How to cut beef tenderloin into Filet Mignon

You should apply as little knife pressure as possible in order to keep the meat from moving as you slice. I can offer a few suggestions towards that end.

First you need to take the translucent white stuff off. That silverskin is much tougher than muscle and is probably making you use too much force as you cut through it. You also don't want it on your medallions, and it's much easier to take it off the whole tenderloin than the smaller portions.

Get your filet/boning knife and use its tip to get under one end of the silverskin, then lift up the flap and slice just under it, keeping your knife more or less flat and parallel to the table. The silverskin will tend to come off in strips -- it's made up of long lengthwise fibers. It is fairly strongly attached to the meat, so don't try to tear it off; use your knife to separate them.

At one end, it'll dive into/merge with the muscle -- you can see this in the large piece to the left in your photo. You'll probably end up with a little divot there; don't worry about it. The silverskin is waste -- it doesn't have any flavor and is impossible to chew -- so just toss it.

Next, you should use the sharpest, narrowest, and longest blade that you have (those are in order of importance, so if your chef's knife is way sharper than your slicer, use it). Your knife should be sharp enough that you don't really have to press down at all in order to cut the meat -- the weight of the blade should be providing enough force. The cuts you make will be the same as if you were slicing a roast. Use the longest possible stroke, smoothly moving the entire length of your blade through the cut. Generally, cutting by starting at the base of the blade and pulling towards you will allow the smoothest movement. If you don't make it all the way through in one stroke, restart the cut from the base of the blade as many times as you need to, rather than following with a push cut. (On the last little bit, to completely separate the portion, you can get away with it, though.)

Finally, there are two possibilities for the position of the tenderloin and your hands relative to each other. You should try them both to see which produces better results for you. You can portion either from the right or left end of the meat. (Assuming a right-handed knife wielder,) portioning from the left involves pressing your free hand against the cut face of the meat (where you separated the last medallion), supporting it. This is the way that sashimi is cut, and I find that it makes it easier to get evenly-thick and consistently-sized slices.

If that doesn't work for you, and you're still having trouble getting smooth faces to the medallions, you can cut from the right end, and use your free hand to squeeze or compress the meat (not too hard, though -- you don't want to damage it) to hold it still while you cut. In this case, grab the tenderloin just past where you're going to make the cut.

Ultimately, though, don't worry too much about the face of the cuts. Any unevenness less than about 3/16 of an inch won't even be noticeable once you've put a nice sear on it.


How to develop a butterscotch flavor in a savory sauce

Most likely, brown sugar and butter is the base. Salted butterscotch is quite nice as a dessert; you could easily add spices as it cools, and potentially dilute it with oil, cream or wine; it doesn't tend to taste very sweet when salted, anyway, if the brown sugar is sufficiently caramelized.

Alternatively, you might just be encountering a brown butter, which is butter cooked until the milk solids slightly brown. Usually this is strained with a fine mesh to separate some of the solids, but not always. Salt and pepper can be added for flavor, not to mention other possibilities. I've often made brown butter by cooking it with fresh sage until the sage crisps, then removing the herbs as the butter finishes browning.


I have often heard that some restaurants use Atlantic pollock for fish and chips. Your question piqued my interest and I decided to look around a bit.
 From wikipedia ,

In Britain and Ireland, cod and haddock appear most commonly as the fish used for fish and chips,[31] but vendors also sell many other kinds of fish, especially other white fish, such as pollock or coley, plaice, skate, and ray (particularly popular in Ireland); and huss or rock salmon (a term covering several species of dogfish and similar fish).
In the United States, the type of fish used depends on availability in a given region. Some common types are cod, halibut, flounder, tilapia or, in New England, Atlantic cod or haddock. Salmon is growing common on the West Coast, while freshwater catfish is most frequently used in the Southeast. In Canada, pollock, haddock, and halibut are popular choices, alongside cod.

From my experience, pollock and halibut (respectively) would be closer to the the flavor of cod and haddock than some of the others.


How to know whether a coconut is ripe or rancid before buying

If the eyes of the coconut feel dry and slightly soft, its a good coconut. If they look/feel damp/mouldy then the coconut has gone bad.. You may have issues with this though as the coconuts you buy are covered. Any cracks in the shell is also a good sign that the coconut flesh is mouldy.


That depends whether it still needs to be 'quick'. You can autolyse your flour, which will help the bread to rise. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2017/09/29/using-the-autolyse-method This is just adding water to the flour - no yeast - then adding the yeast later in the process.
However this will add time.
You can possibly increase temperature, i.e. use a warm place. Essentially your yeast converts sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol (which burns off). The carbon dioxide gas makes the loaf rise.  Your yeast species probably works fastest around 32-35C.

(SC in that graph)
A lower temperature will mean slower activity, so everything else being equal 1 hour at 32C will give much more gas than 1 hour at 25C. Fast rises can lead to voids in the loaf, so that's something to bear in mind.
If your bread has no added sugar (you don't mention this), then the yeast will not have much to work on. Your options here are to add (more) sugar or to add a flour improver containing amylase, which breaks down the complex carbohydrates in flour into sugar. Other flour improvers contain ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which helps strengthen the gluten network.


How does vacuum sealing something in a mason jar help?

The idea is to remove oxygen and moisture and get a good seal on the jar. The vacuum pulls the lid against the jar, forcing the gasket more tightly against the rim. Note that the seal won't be as good as with actual canning, though, where the gasket is also softened by heat, so it molds better to the rim.
That may or may not actually help you out, though: not all food suffers terribly from oxygen and moisture exposure, and not all food safety issues are mitigated simply by vacuum seals.
Notably, vacuum sealing is not canning. (I've heard of people using vacuum sealers in that context, and that may be part of why your sealer came with that attachment, but it's not generally a safe usage.) What really matters here is what the food is, not what the storage vessel is. If it's something that'd benefit from vacuum storage in a bag, it'll also benefit in a jar. Everything still has to be stored the same way it would be without the vacuum seal.
The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a great article: Should I Vacuum Package Food at Home? The key point:

These machines may extend the storage time of refrigerated foods, dried foods and frozen foods. However, vacuum packaging is not a substitution for the heat processing of home canned foods.
Vacuum packaging is also not a substitution for the refrigerator or freezer storage of foods that would otherwise require it. In fact, vacuum packaging can add to the concerns associated with storing of these perishable foods (which are foods not stable at room temperature and requiring cold storage).

By far the biggest food safety concern here is botulism, because you're creating an anaerobic environment where C. botulinum will happily grow. Anything with any possibility of bacterial growth will need to be refrigerated or frozen to stay safe.
Probably the most common case where this is useful and clearly safe is non-perishable dry goods. That article gives nuts and crackers as examples. Removing the oxygen makes the oil in nuts go rancid more slowly, and removing the water vapor makes crackers go stale more slowly. Anything else with substantial oil content or crisp cooked starch (like chips) would benefit similarly. Mason jars might be a slightly better choice for some of these things since a flexible bag would be more prone to crushing them, but otherwise, the jar isn't the important part, the vacuum seal is.


Two things I know can make this difficult: using low-fat coconut milk, or using coconut milk that has had an emulsifier added to it (check the ingredients). Also, you may just not be cooking it long enough or at high enough of a temperature. I think you will really like the results when you get this to work, the curry comes out less gelatinous and more flavourful.


What is the difference between ice cream, gelato, and sorbet?

First of all, the names vary a bit from country to country, or the ingredients do.
I'll explain the most common names/ingredients.

The main difference is in the ingredients used. Sorbet is basically water + sugar + fruit, while ice cream and gelato is milk/cream + sugar + fruit. So the last two are more 'creamy', while sorbet is more 'icy'.

You can say that ice cream is a type of gelato, but there still is a difference. More sugar in gelato, more butterfat (the percentage of fat in the milk/cream) in ice cream.

You can read quite a lot about ice cream on wikipedia.


Is there a quick, easy, mess-free way to peel an orange (or grapefruit)?

Yes!

I just came across this, and it just so happens I could use an orange in a slaw I'm making right now.

Tablespoon Orange Hack

  Simply lop off the ends, make a small incision in the side and carefully open to reveal easy-to-eat orange segments. (Or as I prefer to call it, an orange caterpillar.)

I did it with my orange, and I had never peeled an orange so quickly:

Now if you just want to eat the orange, you can just pluck off the segments as you pop them into your mouth. If you roll the orange around a bit first, before you lop off the ends (as in @Barry Staes' answer), it should make it even easier and more pith-free.

But what was really neat is that by prepping it that way, I had a pretty close approximation to supremes, supremely easily! (haha)

With two passes of the knife and 5 seconds of picking at it, this is close enough for my slaw.

Just flatten the "caterpillar" as much as you can with one hand, and with one slice (or two), cut between the peel and the segments. I just picked away most of the remaining connective "stuff" and membranes with the knife and my fingers at this point, but a pair of kitchen shears would  make even quicker work out of it. It's not absolutely perfect, the traditional method of supreming seen here would be the way to go if you're gunning for a Michelin Star, but this is fine for more casual applications.

With the practice of a couple more oranges, I think I could go from an intact orange to "cheater" supremed segments in less than a minute (and without getting my hands sticky!)

Pretty cool.

BTW, there is a pretty neat animated GIF on the linked page that will make it all clear if the pictures don't.

EDIT:

It works even better with grapefruit!

Open the grapefruit just enough to use a pair of kitchen shears to cut away the the connective membrane from the "points" of the segments (what would be at the center of intact fruit). While you're at it, remove any seeds.

Be careful when you roll out the "caterpillar" to separate every segment and to put pressure evenly on all parts of the peel. The peel is a bit more prone to tearing than orange peel.

Since the membranes between the segments are more like leather and less fragile than the membranes on orange segments, they are very easy to pluck away. This makes the supremed segments perfect. This gives better results even than the traditional method of supreming!


Why does my food turn out poorly using an All-Clad Stainless-Steel Fry Pan?

You've got a great pan and in a short time I'm sure you'll come to love it.

When using a standard pan (one without non-stick coating), heat your pan dry over high heat until you can hold your hand about 6-inches above the cooking surface and feel the heat radiating upward.  This allows the tiny cracks and crevices that are imperceptible to the bare hand to expand and when the oil is added, it will coat and create a more even cooking surface.

Add just enough oil to lightly coat the surface.  Adding to much oil leads to pan-frying which is fine if you're frying chicken but not what you want when searing and sauteing meat.  There should just be a thin film across the bottom of the pan.  An additional benefit to first heating the pan is the fact that it will actually take less oil to coat the pan due to the decreased viscosity.  When the oil hits the hot pan it will instantly heat and should shimmer across the bottom like water on a freshly cleaned windshield.

You don't put the oil in the pan first because the longer oils and fats heat the quicker they break down and smoke.  If you were to add cold oil and cold food to a cold pan and then start heating, you just end up with a big sticky mess.

Make sure you're prepared to add the food to the pan once the oil goes in otherwise the oil will start to burn.

The issue with burning and overcooking is going to be a matter of controlling the heat.  Start searing and sauteeing over high heat because as food is added it will suck a good deal of heat from the pan.  If it isn't extremely hot to begin with you'll end up with a steaming mess of gray colored meat or vegetables that aren't doing much cooking.  Once the meat is browned but needs further cooking you can always turn down the heat to prevent excessive browning and crusting before the interior is done.

Even if you aren't planning to do a pan sauce, or if you've burnt what was cooking in the pan, you'll still want to deglaze with some water while the pan is hot (you can reheat it if it has already cooled down) so that you can scraped up the cooked on bits more easily and have less scrubbing to do when cleaning the pan.


Is there a difference between "magret of duck" and "fillet of duck"?

From  Wikipedia  magret refers to a specific breed (the Mulard, not to be confused with the Mallard):

  Magret refers specifically to the breast of a mulard or Barbary duck that has been force fed to produce foie gras.

From  dartagnan.com :

  Sometimes called “duck steak,” the magret (breast) of the Moulard duck is known for its rich flavor and dark red meat. Try it pan seared and find out why the French swear by the duck.


Put a flame to the peppers (either on the gas stove or a blowtorch). When it's black, it peels great. The meat will not be cooked.

Another way is to put it in the oven until done. When warm they peel great, but of course the meat will be done.

Edit: the method described here will be better, still.


What other vegetables can be used in cake/muffin baking?

Ah, you missed the obvious: pumpkin!

This is biologically a fruit, actually, as is the zucchini.
Pumpkin loves same spices as carrot. Maybe even rum or butterscotch too.

Now, beetroot is a veg and colors cakes delectably; perhaps why it was originally added when going stingy on the cocoa.

How about parsnip next? Sweet and nutty, I think pistachios would complement it well in a recipe borrowed from zucchini bread.

more veg here:
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/articles/how-to-make-cakes-from-vegetables

p.s. if you haven't guessed Rabarber is rhubarb


Why does my baked custard form a skin on it?

You did absolutely nothing wrong; this is completely normal.

When exposed to the air, custards (and other hot milk products, like real hot chocolate made with actual milk) will form a skin as the proteins irreversibly polymerize.   This is analogous to the way a skin will form on the top of a paint can left open.

You can prevent the skin by pressing film wrap or parchment directly onto the surface of the custard, preventing air contact after it is cool enough (tough to do with baked custards, but you can peel the skin if you do not wish to serve it).   Of course, this is a trade off, as you will affect the surface appearance of the custard when you remove the covering.

Side note:  the skin is perfectly edible; some people like it, others do not.


How do you deal with the hight heat of propane?

The answer to this might be to get a heat diffuser - this is basically a metal disc with holes in it that moderates the temperature by only letting some of the direct heat pass through. These sometimes come with handles so that you can move them on/off the element while cooking.

google: gas stove heat diffuser for options in your region. In the US I can get them for about $5-10


Yes, you can. The taste will be obviously different, but I don't expect any consequence that would make it unpalatable to the average person. You would be better off if you start with softened cream cheese, but if all you have now is fridge-cold cream cheese, that should work too.


My best guess based on your photo is that it's kabocha (aka Japanese pumpkin)

(image source).

But squashes also hybridize pretty easily, so far as I know, so it could be a random hybrid rather than an established variety. Possibly one derived from kabocha or acorn squash.

If you grew this from seed saved from last year's garden squash, it could be that your squashes were hybrids that can't be grown from their own seeds.

Now I noticed you said the flesh is green. That makes kabocha less likely. Maybe a hybrid of kabocha and zucchini, that happened to get the skin and shape of the kabocha and the flesh of the zucchini?

Edit

I've researched further and learned that kabocha is a variety of the cucurbita maxima while zucchini is a variety of cucurbita pepo, two different species, and therefore these two could not hybridize.

However, C. pepo does include both summer and winter squash varieties, so it would be possible to get a hybrid of the two if both parents were varieties of C. pepo. C. pepo includes acorn squash and (some) pumpkins among winter squash varieties, and pattypans, zucchini, crooknecks and many other summer squash varieties.

C. maxima includes kabocha, hubbard squash, and many others. I'm not familiar enough with other maxima varieties to say if there are varieties that are likely parents of your example.


Is this splotchy purple pattern on short ribs ok?

Its ink from a USDA meat inspection mark. The ink is non-toxic so it's safe to eat, just ugly.


Kind of apples for apple purée / apple sauce

While not directly addressing the question of apple sauce, this Food Lab article by Kenji Alt on apple pie has some excellent information on differences of apple varieties.  He surveys a number of common (at least in the US) varieties.

He notes that apples which brown more quickly tend to be both less tart (as acid, which underlies a tart flavor) inhibits browning; they also tend to cook down less quickly as the acid helps maintain the pectin structure.

Many apple sauce recipes try to find a balance among several apples, with both tart and sweeter varieties, and some that break down quickly for the body of the sauce, and some that retain more texture.

For example, Cook's Illustrated recommends Jonagold, Jonathan, Pink Lady, and Macoun (possible pay wall).

In an article at Oregon Live, interviewing applesauce expert Peggy Acott, writes:

  "Even two sweet apples taste different," [Peggy Acott] says. "You can also pair
  a sweet and a tart apple, a mild and a spicy one, or spicy, sweet and
  mild ones." She suggests using two or three varieties. "One year I
  used four and that was overkill."

  She believes in tasting the apples before you choose them. The same
  variety of apple will taste different year to year, she says. Some of
  her favorite past pairings include Ginger Goldens, a creamy yellow
  sweet-tart apple, and at least one other variety. Maybe Cox's Orange
  Pippins, an old English variety known for being tart and crisp, or a
  Rubinette (a cross of Golden Delicious and Cox's Orange Pippin).

An article at the Your pick of apples: Which varieties work best for baking, sauces and other recipes at the Missoulian indicates:

  The spicy, supple McIntosh will melt like ice cream when baked, but
  creates a smooth, flavorful applesauce. The soft, tangy Jonathan and
  the sweet, crisp Empire will also deliver a flavorful puree. The Cox’s
  Orange Pippin [...] is a wonderful juicy heirloom for sauce.

As you can see, in the end, you will want to get to know your own locally available apple varieties, and what you like.  There is a tremendous amount of variation.

Apple sauce is very simple and quick to make, especially in the microwave.  If you are a huge applesauce fan, you might want to make a sample from one apple of each variety and take notes on its flavor and texture.


How long does cooked TVP keep in the fridge?

I've kept mine in the fridge (unmixed with other things) for over a week without any issues. I'd say it's probably safe to keep slightly longer than meat because it doesn't have the same levels of naturally occurring bacteria.


How many cells are in one granule of instant yeast?

This article estimates 20 billion viable yeast cells per gram of dried yeast. A yeast package is about 7 grams total.

The granule size will vary from brand to brand. Even within a packet, granule size is not completely uniform. To get the estimate, you'd need to weigh out a sample (say 1g or 0.1g), count the number of granules in that sample, then do the math. The larger the sample you count, the better estimate you'll have.


Oyama rice cooker - uncooked rice under heating element

This question is on-topic enough I'll take a shot at it. First of all, don't try to cook with this without getting the rice out as it's a potential fire hazard. You probably know this but it's worth saying!

Now how I'd attack this is to grab a screwdriver and take the thing apart, which is probably easy to do. If you do decide to try it take lots of pictures as you go so you can put it back together.

If that's not a step you're willing to try then it's guaranteed to be physically possible to get the rice out without taking it apart because the rice got in to begin with, it's a matter of getting it tipped to the right angles at the right time. The best way to do this is to shake it - a lot, upside down or tipped the right direction for the rice to come out. Tip it around at all angles, work it loose and then tip it back to the angle it can fall out. Do it again and again until it the rice is gone. It may take awhile doing it this way, and I'd suggest running the machine outside the first time after using this method in case you miss anything.


Solutions of making cookies less crumbly and dough not being able to be shaped into balls?

Ghribia cookies are meant to be extremely tender and delicate. Making them with just oil is tricky. The dough will be slightly crumbly and difficult to work with. If they're too crumbly to shape at all, then you need slightly more oil until the dough is just workable. Recipes that use some butter or even an egg yolk are easier to handle and stick together easier. So for this particular recipe, add slightly more oil (it won't take much, so be careful). And in general, if you want an easier recipe look for one with butter (or vegetable shortening to avoid the butter taste) or egg.


How long can I keep thawed vacuum-packed fish in the fridge?

There's always the delight of botulism, which thrives in the anaerobic environment provided by vacuum packing.  Listeria and vibrio bacteria can grow in an anaerobic environment, and are potential food safety risks present in fish.

With this in mind, I would not expect vacuum packing to extend the life of a fish much.  It will reduce freezer burn though!


Depends on the horse meat.  The Japanese make horse meat sashimi, which as you might expect is quite tender.


How can I prevent strawberries from discolouring cream?

I'd suggest 'sealing' the cut side of the strawberries by dipping them in gelatin (or a vegetarian alternative. Or you could use white chocolate.


Maybe try reshaping a whole stack at once.

You might slowly bend them back into shape by hand, holding the stack and in place with your thumbs and wrapping your fingers around to bend the edges of the circle back towards the proper shape.  Only the top one or two liners might fold in towards the middle, because the liners would layer together, and make the stack as a whole less flexible so there isn't room for the middle layers to fold in - and you can gently reshape them and distribute the pleats on the top few as you're bending, because even if you wouldn't want to do so for every liner, shaping the whole stack at once is a lot less time and a lot more done at once.

Alternatively, you might set a stack (or partial stack) on top of the muffin tin, and weigh them down.  If you have a second tin, or individual silicone muffin cups, or a stack of liners that are still the right shape and well wrapped, you can set that on top, with extra weight if needed, and let them get pushed down into the muffin tin.  The less weight and more time it takes will probably give a better result (since the reshaping is gentler) but it's up to you how neatly you want t done.  You might still get smaller pleats out of place, but overall the shape should match the muffin tin fairly well.  This can also be done with nestling round cookie cutters - the point is to brace the inside with something rigid so it doesn't have room to just fold in.

Or something in between, brace the inside of the liner stack with something of the right diameter, flip it upside down, and smooth your hands down the stack to slowly narrow the diameter back down.  you can leave them in between sessions, or use a rubber band (once they're shaped enough), and let them settle back into shape by themselves.


Crust formed on the bottom of the pot deliberately?  You put the rice in a very hot stone pot after cooking and let it sit a bit so that the crust develops (Korean version).  Or you add some butter up front and cook the rice longer than necessary so a crust develops in the cooking pot itself (Iranian version).  Many ways to do this, but I agree it's divine :-)


Fresh salmon that was frozen after: till when can it still be eaten raw

As explained in How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer?, frozen food is safe indefinitely.

That being said, raw salmon that has simply been stored in your freezer for a while is not safe to consume without cooking. Not after 1 month, not after 1 week, not after 1 day. Fresh salmon needs to be cooked.

"Sashimi-grade fish" needs to be frozen at significantly lower temperatures than most home freezers are normally set at, and lower than many are actually capable of. Unless you can guarantee that it has been consistently lower than -20° C for 7 days or -35° C for 15 hours, you shouldn't eat it raw. Either buy sashimi-grade salmon from a reputable source, or order it prepared at a reputable restaurant.


Is there a substitute for Dijon mustard and if so, what is it?

Dijon has a strong taste from the liquid they use in it (it's not quite vinegar, not quite wine).  I'd probably try a blend of some other mustard + a little white wine vinegar (not white vinegar; white wine vinegar) or champaigne vinegar or apple cider vinegar.  (Maybe even a dry white wine, if you have that on hand).

If you have dry mustard powder, and some time to let it sit, you could also try making your own; most of the recipes online seem to use a dry white wine as their base, a few use white wine vinegar.


How can I get the most flavor out of cashews?

By maximising first the flavour of every single nut and then maximising
the surface:

Gently roast the cashews, then grind them finely.

If the resulting "gritty" texture is not to your taste, grind them further until you get a nut butter, which should dissolve nicely especially in cream-type soups.


Can't find frozen cranberries anywhere. Can I use fresh instead in my cake recipe?

Frozen cranberries usually do not have added sugar, and are usually frozen whole. So the sneaky solution would be to buy fresh cranberries, freeze them, and then use them however the recipe calls for :)

Since you're not worried about long-term storage, a few hours in the freezer on a baking tray should get them to the correct consistency.