This is likely to be guar or xanthan gum

http://www.uwec.edu/Dining/locations/upload/SushiDO_Ingredients.pdf

(Look at one of the items like a Philadelphia roll).

Not very appetising but does keep in 'kind of' fresh


Substituting butter for oil: Does it matter for baked goods?

Butter is at most 82% oil and the rest is water. So, you're going to need to add more butter for the same amount of oil. Besides, you need to adjust the liquid content accordingly since you are going to have more water than you planned.

If you are going to use the same amount of oil, then it will not make any difference other than the taste. Just make sure they are of same state (i.e. melted butter instead of vegetable oil or vice versa)


emulsifier and stabilizer equivalent to one yolk for frozen desserts

There is no such thing as "the equivalent" of one yolk, because yolks and other emulsifiers are not the same thing, don't work the same way, and don't have the same results.

If you are trying to find out how much of a given emulsifier to use, either 1) use a recipe (the preferred way) or 2) find its description (for example in Lersch's book Hydrocolloids, CC lincensed) and see the range. Then work within that range. For xanthan, it is "0.25% thin running sauce, 0.7 - 1.5% thick sauces, 0.5-0.8% foams; [0.07-1%]". "Thin running sauce" is a good description of ice cream base, so you can go with that one as a starting point. You'll have to adjust by experimenting.

Also, no idea why Modernist cuisine advises both xanthan and starch at the same time, as they are both thickeners. They must have found out through experimenting that some ratio gives an optimal mouthfeel, so take advantage of all the work they have put into it and use that ratio. It is independent of any yolk use in other recipes. If it were just because of a "thickening power" (How would you measure such a thing? Any single-dimensioned measure will be inadequate for kitchen purposes), the mixture wouldn't make any sense.


Tapioca is Cassava starch, it's not a grain, soy product, or citrus so it should cause no issues with your friends. Just make sure there aren't any additives to the tapioca that could cause a reaction, for instance citric acid as a preservative.


What cheese to use for homemade Sicilian pizza so it does not dry in the oven?

When your pizza is ready take it out of the oven, add the cheese. Put the pizza back in the oven, turn the heat off. Don't go anywhere, just keep an eye on the cheese unlit it melts, take it out and whala.. That way cheese is melted and not dry and you can basically use any taste of cheese you prefer . Its probably because your not using a pizza oven, and its getting to much heat from top. Best cheese for pizza in my opinion is mozzarella. :) Enjoy.


My tea had expired(?) for about 9 years already, can I sill use it?

So long as the tea hasn't been contaminated with anything (mold growth, insects, etc.), it should be safe to use.

Depending on how well sealed it was, some of the volatile flavor components may have escaped into the air.  Tea will last in an airtight tin, glass jar, or hard metal container for many years (even a decade) past the date on the package with little loss of quality.

Cardboard packages have an advantage that they can help to regulate humidity (reducing the risk of mold), but they're not so great at keeping in the flavors on their own.  Individually wrapped teabags, especially if it's a glossy paper can offer additional protection.

My suggestion would be to look for signs of infestation -- if it's bagged, look in the bottom of the box for anything other than just tea leaf dust.  So long as there's no problems there, brew up a bag.

If it's weak, just brew it longer, or double up the tea bags.  If it doesn't taste good, then get rid of them.


Nothing makes them heat-safe, that's how they are.

There are many different molecules which can have a given color. Each of them has its own structure and chemical properties. A food chemist creating a food coloring has to choose his molecules for a ton of different properties, like safety, stability over time, stability in the pH range commonly found in food, heat stability, solubility in water, alcohol and fat, supply, difficulty of processing, cost effectiveness, legal status, non-reactivity with other dyes (to create a mixed color) etc. etc. It is much easier to work if one of those constraints - heat stability - is removed from the equation.

Wilton's icing colors tend to be used by professionals who want a very wide palette to choose from, have additional requirements on quality, and are specialized enough to use these colors only in icing. This is different from, say, Dr. Oetker customers, who buy a few basic colors and have fun with their kids with them. So Wilton has no need for heat stability for this product, and does not constrain their food chemists to make products which comply to it.

You cannot make colors heat stable at home, no more than you can keep butter from being liquid at 100 Celsius. It is a basic physical property of the matter you are working with. And yes, most pigments including betalains (in red beets) and anthocyanins are very heat unstable. Carotenoids tend to hold up the best, but I can't think of an example for using lightly processed carotenoid-colored plants (e.g. juiced) to color sweet baked goods. You could try something like making your own annatto if you have a source for the raw fruit and the taste fits your food and you don't mind using a time-consuming process, but it is not clear how this is superior to buying ready made annatto as a condiment, or even just buying the coloring and skipping the "has its own taste" part.

In the end, making dyes at home is difficult, the results are usually unpredictable and rarely have all qualities people are looking for in dyes. If you want to color your food, commercial dyes work better. If you don't trust those, you are very limited in the results you can achieve.


Whenever I'm looking to make something I've never tried, I seek out recipes from a site that has reviews. I look for something that has many good reviews (not just 5 stars from one person). Then be sure to read the reviews, as they often have good suggestions and details on how the recipe worked for them.

For example, here's a tomato sauce recipe from Allrecipes.com. Seems pretty straight forward: smush up the tomatoes, throw them in a pot with oil and spices, cook until done.

Based on your description, I'd guess you're either cooking at too high a heat, cooking too long, not using enough tomato, or not using enough oil. Very hard to tell without knowing more about your process.

As for a simple method to generate sauce from tomatoes: I generally don't make that rich, heavy sauce one typically associates with Italian tomato sauces. I make a fresher, lighter sauce that goes something like:

Start some pasta cooking in well-salted boiling water.
Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a fry pan over medium-low heat. I generally use decent extra-virgin here, as I won't be sauteing or frying in it.
Dice some onion and add to the pan to sweat them down a bit. They should gently sizzle, not hiss and pop. If they do, turn the heat down.
Mince some garlic, add to the pan. Just cook for a minute or two to flavor the oil.
Dice the tomatoes and add to the pan. I normally dice them whole, skin on, and leave most of the pulp, juice and seeds.
Add a pinch of salt, some pepper and a small pinch of red pepper flakes (a larger pinch if my wife isn't joining me).
Cook until the tomatoes cook down and the sauce looks yummy.
Chiffonade some fresh herbs (I love fresh basil and oregano, and roll up all the small herbs in the big basil leaves to make everything easier to thinly slice) or add a pinch of dried. I like to wait until the end to keep the herbs tasting bright and fresh.
Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water.
Drop the pasta into the fry pan and toss with the sauce, adding a bit of the reserved pasta water (see here for some reasons why).
Toss and cook for a minute or two to get the sauce and pasta loving each other thoroughly.
Taste, adjust seasoning to your taste.
Enjoy with a nice Chianti.

I know that looks like a lot of steps, but it's actually super-simple, and breaking it down into print is way more complicated than actually making it.


There are terrific Thai pumpkin curries; the flavor profile would be garlic, ginger, lemongrass, coriander seed, cilantro, chiles, Thai basil. Here is one I did with Delicata squash that would work equally well with pumpkin: http://www.herbivoracious.com/2009/10/red-curry-delicata-squash-and-tofu-recipe.html .


How can I prevent spices from lumping together?

The spice powder clumps together because it has been exposed to moisture.   Carbohydrates or proteins in the spice dissolve a small amount, becoming sticky, causing the granules to stick together.

To prevent this, keep your spices quite dry:

If you buy in bulk, consider transferring some to a "currently being used" container, and leaving the rest away from the stove with its steam, and any other sources of moisture, well sealed against the humidity (and oxygen) in the air.  This will protect the bulk of your supply, even if the working container gets a little clumpy.
Use good quality, air tight containers for your spices.  I like to buy mine from the same vendor I buy spices from, but of course there are a myriad of options.
Add a food safe desiccation packet to the container.

I use the first method two methods, and have only had clumping in very old working spice jars that probably should have been discarded for having lost their flavor over time anyway.

Often, the clumps are quite fragile--banging the container on the counter a few times will often free up a bit, but it's a mechanical process.  The fork twisting is a good method to free up some for use.  As nicoleets hinted at, if your spice is clumpy, it is a sign that it has been exposed to the environment, and water and air have gotten in.  It may have also declined in flavor.

I wanted to add the "put some rice in the container" method, as one might for sugar or salt, but I cannot find any easily accessible evidence if this is a myth or if it really works.  After all, why should the rice be more likely to absorb water than the spice itself, when the spice has far more exposed surface area?


Whether the pasta is rolled for cannelloni or flat for lasagne won't make a difference, just make sure that the tops of the rolls are covered with sauce, too, or they will dry out and taste not nice.

For the pros and cons of fresh vs. dried pasta in "al forno" dishes, see the almost duplicate lasagne Q/A.


Why is wine not a common ingredient in (meat) stock?

I can think of more than a few reasons...

Wine is (relatively) expensive. Stock is normally supposed to be very inexpensive to make, using ingredients that you'd normally just throw out (bones, necks, etc.) Frugality is not the only reason to make a stock, but it seems like a waste of perfectly good wine.
Stock gets to simmer for many, many hours. A lot of the wine and almost all of the alcohol will have evaporated by the time it's done. You can try to very precisely control the temperature to prevent any evaporation, but in my experience, even on the best of days, I have to keep topping it off with liquid. Again, waste of perfectly good wine.
Finished stock generally doesn't get used all at once, it will sit in a refrigerator for days or in a freezer for months. You can freeze wine, but it will leave sediment and crystals and, depending on the type of wine, might still develop off-flavours. It will definitely start developing off-flavours shortly after it's been thawed. On the whole, it seems like a great way to turn something that's almost impossible to screw up (stock) into something finicky and unreliable.
Adding wine directly to the stock is sort of like adding a lot of salt directly to the stock in the sense that it limits your future options. While I'm sure you could make a great velouté with wine-based stock, I think it would make a pretty lousy base for chicken noodle soup.
Wine and stock are both already liquids. Adding wine to the stock isn't really going to accomplish much that wouldn't be simpler and more efficient to do by mixing them together after the stock is made. And the two are pretty much interchangeable in any recipe calling for a "flavoured liquid" - in virtually any recipe calling for a cup of stock, you can substitute it for a cup of wine, or half a cup, or whatever. You're not eating the stock by itself; if you like the taste of wine in your stew or risotto or whatever it is that you're making, then just add wine!

The whole idea reminds me of garlic salt - pretty pointless thing to have, you can do exactly the same things and a lot more with just plain garlic powder and salt. Same thing here, I'd rather have good clear stock and a good bottle of wine separately than having both in the same container.


What are the tradeoffs replacing sucrose / table sugar with pure granulater dextrose / glucose?

Table sugar, ie sucrose, is not "a mixture of glucose and fructose", but rather a disaccharide made by combining one molecule of glucose with one of fructose. In the body, the sucrose is metabolised into glucose and fructose; the fructose is further modified into glucose. I'm sure that you don't want to know about the tricarboxylic acid cycle which is how the glucose gets turned into carbon dioxide, water and energy as you are interested in the physical aspects.

Using a larger quantity of glucose (as opposed to sucrose) causes the proportions of all the ingredients to change, causing a change in taste and consistency - in the same way that diabetic foods, using sorbitol, have different consistencies.

Glucose is probably more reactive than sucrose in terms of the Maillard reaction (browning).


Is there some trick to vacuum sealing broccoli?

I'm sorry that you're having problems with my book. I think the problem is that you're adding water to the pouch. In the recipe, step 4 asks you to:

  Vacuum-seal the broccoli, butter, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a
  large pouch so that the florets are in a single layer.

This will crush the tops a bit, but it will be much easier to seal. Sorry again.


Why does my Heavy whipping cream pound cake have an aftertaste between flour and metallic?

I think SuperWild1 is on the right track here. Some people get a strong metallic taste from cornstarch, and its presence in this recipe might be doing strange things to the flavor. I'm not even sure why powdered sugar is in this recipe - nor cake flour, for that matter. Seems someone might have been trying really hard to make a "lighter" pound cake...?
Anyway, if you want to try this recipe again, you can either make your own powdered sugar in a food processor, or you can use the same amount of caster (or ultrafine) sugar and see how that works for you. Also, be careful with "vanilla flavoring" in baked goods because it can include things that are not vanilla pods and ethanol, which can also create off flavors.


Are there any substitutes for Shortening?

Lard.  ... and to build on what @bmargulies said:

Other coconut oil, lard is one of the few fats that are solid at room temperature, and the only reason for using shortening in baking that I'm aware of is to get the little lumps of shortening mixed with the flour that don't melt until it's baked, which will result in a tender texture.

You can achieve the same thing with butter, but butter also has water in it, so you'll end up with some extra lift in the pastry, which isn't always desired for recipes that call for shortening.  It also melts at a lower temp, so you have to start with it cold and work quickly.

... now, the other use of shortening in baking is for greasing pans -- again, it's because it's solid, so it'll stick to the sides of the pan.  For that, you can often use canned cooking sprays, as they have surficants which will keep them from dripping.


What does non-tempered couverture chocolate taste like?

Couverture chocolate is generally used in coating and molding because it has such a nice sheen due to its high cocoa butter content. It's usually very high quality and so should taste very good straight out of the bag, although the texture will be more creamy than non couverture chocolates.

Couverture is not better than other high quality chocolate, just for a specific application. You won't find much chocolate candy made from it, that's not because the chocolate isn't good stuff, it simply that the effect the makers intend requires a lower level of cocoa butter.

As for how to tell good quality chocolate from poor quality the best way to tell is to taste it.


LorAnn makes a consumer-grade chocolate flavoring:

http://www.lorannoils.com/1-dram-size/chocolate-flavor-0170-dram

You'd use it in a fashion similar to vanilla extract, though it's more concentrated. It's available at candy supply stores, and online. It has a very strong color, so be careful about adding it to things that you want to be white.

I use creme de cacao (basically, chocolate liqueur) for making frosting. It's quite sweet and is much less concentrated than the chocolate flavoring. (It's also a nice addition to milk, kind of a grown-up chocolate milk.) It's available at any liquor store.


I am not really giving you a recipe, I am give you a technique.

There are two ways to make noodles, you either boil them and then use boiled noodles as an ingredient, or you put in just the right proportion of moisture to dry pasta so it finishes just right in a very similar manner to cooking rice.

If you want noodles that are full of the dish's flavor, then you want to do the second choice.

The noodles are most likely cooked in a chicken broth base or water, and spiced with some blend of powdered or fresh ginger, soy sauce (more when using water less when using broth), teriyaki or hoisin.

When cooking with angel hair (not the same as lo mein thickness and will behave differently), just about 6 cups of chicken broth will be absorbed fully by 1 lb of dry boxed angel hair pasta.

Just to make sure this is clear, the pasta would be the last ingredient added for this pasta base. Of course you can add other things to your broth first like your mushrooms, meat, shoots, onions/leeks, water chestnuts, whatever you like in your lo mien. Add the pasta, stir it and after it has absorbed most of the water but before it starts burning on the bottom start tossing it around the wok to give it that smoky stir fried taste and texture

Well if you like fresh spinach in your lo mien, you would actually add that last and stir it in until it's wilted just before serving.

Fresh pasta will NOT absorb anywhere near as much water so keep that in mind if you plan to make fresh pasta.

Have fun experimenting!


Melter honey is melted and extracted from the caps of the honey comb. The prolonged heating can caramelize the sugars a bit and darken the honey.

Although it may reduce a little, I'm not able to find any resource that says that it reduces enough to become significantly more acidic than regular honey.

Regular honey can be neutralized for cooking by adding 1/2 tsp of baking soda for every cup of honey that is used. I think this ratio would also be appropriate for melter honey.


How are bitter almonds detected or used?

I only have an answer for your first question: How does the food industry detect the bitter almonds? They don't need to.

According to Wikipedia, bitter almonds come from bitter almond trees, and "sweet" almonds from that variety, so if you plant only "sweet" almond trees in your orchard, you don't need to sort through your almonds rejecting the bitter ones.

This is from    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond#Sweet_and_bitter_almonds
and matches my experience of seeing certain almond trees that remain loaded with almonds even as the squirrels are stripping all the other trees in the area. No wonder! Those almonds taste terrible; even the squirrels won't eat them.


Why does my Italian made gas oven take so long to heat to required temperature. Any tips please

I don't see anything unusual here. Ovens are a big mass of steel and other materials that has to spend some time heating before it is at working temperature. Many ovens turn off as preheated somewhat earlier - see also this question where the answers speak of 15-20 minutes of preheating on average - but this doesn't have to be the correct answer for your case. Maybe you are looking for a higher temperature, maybe your oven is larger, or maybe your oven only has one heater on the bottom as opposed to the two heaters common in electric ovens. Also, I suspect that many ovens, even though they turn their light off as "preheated" after 15 minutes, are not truly as well heated as they should be - if I bake several things back-to-back, the later ones bake quicker and more evenly.

A pizza stone will actually make the preheating slower, because you are adding cold mass that needs to be heated. So don't expect any change there, unless you decide that, by having a pizza stone, you can afford to place the food in the oven before it has reached its desired temperature, hoping that the heating help from the stone will compensate for the too-low-starting temperature.

If this is the case and the oven is working as intended, there is not really anything you can do about it. Baking is a slow method anyway, so you have to just take it as it is. You may consider adding a large-sized toaster oven (one of those with 30-40 cm width and depth of the cooking space) and bake quicker things in it. It will be especially useful if your main oven doesn't have a top heater.

If you think that the oven is designed to preheat quicker, then you have to call customer support or an independent repair service to see where the defect comes from.


What is the modern alternative to sieving soup recipes?

The modern way is still to sieve.

I actually did this a couple of days ago. I made a sauce out of boiled onions, capiscums, chilli peppers, canned plum tomatoes, carrots, garlic, ginger and spices. This was then whizzed in a blender and sieved through a fine metal sieve to remove the pulp, seeds, large fibrous pieces that wern't blended.

It makes for a smoother sauce.

The fine metal sieves are fairly cheap and easy to obtain. There are also finer sieves made from plastic or even muslin you can also use.

The technical term seems to be chinois.

A food mouli:


How do you defrost frozen chili peppers without them turning soggy?

I'm afraid this is impossible. It's the freezing, not the thawing, that causes this. Remember, water expands when freezing, so the freezing process breaks the cell walls, so when the pepper thaws, it has lost its crispness.

This doesn't matter if you're going to mince it finely or cook it, though! I freeze peppers regularly.


I'm having trouble making grilled cheese, what am I doing wrong?

Preheat your pan on low to low-medium.  Build your sandwich.  Butter the bread or the pan.  It doesn't matter.  Place the sandwich in the pan.  Keep the heat low, to low-medium.  Wait.  Check the underside, looking for a golden brown.  You want the heat low, because you want the cheese to begin melting without burning the bread. Be patient.  When you see evidence of the cheese softening and a golden toasting, flip your sandwich.  Again, be patient.  You may have to adjust heat until you find the sweet spot for your stove, but keep it low, and complete the task by looking for melted cheese and golden toast.


The classic way to make a caramel sauce is to cook approx (this is what we use at the restaurant, because sometimes we get distracted and have to run away; it's more forgiving. Use less water if you can concentrate) 4:1 sugar:water until the sugar has taken a golden colour. Remove from heat, whisk in cream and butter until you reach your desired consistency, add a pinch or two of salt, just enough so you can taste it. This will get you a nice caramel sauce, keeps a week or so at room temp.

Edited to respond to question:

Honestly, I have no idea what the ideal ratio is. I just do it by feel. There should be a zillion caramel recipes available via google that can be more specific. Offhand I would kind of sort of guess that for three cups sugar I use roughly 3/4c cream and 3tbsp butter. Ish.

Edited to provide another answer:

If you wish to use condensed milk to create something that will be closer to a dulce de leche, do the following. This can be extremely dangerous, please be sure to follow all directions. I am not responsible if you injure yourself:

Fill a large pot with water. Keep another pot boiling for topping off the main pot as water evaporates.

Place a can of condensed milk, still sealed, label removed, into the main pot. Bring up to a hard rolling boil. Top up the water as needed. Ensure that the can is always covered with at least six inches of water. Keep a lid on the pot, just in case.

Boil hard for four hours. Turn off the heat, and allow the water in the pot to come slowly down to room temperature. Do not at this point touch the can.

After cooling, let the pot continue to sit at room temperature for at least one hour. At this point, reach into the pot and gently touch the can with your hand. If it is still warm, leave it to cool further.

Once the can is completely cooled to room temperature, you may open it. If you want to be sure, leave it overnight.

You will have a glorious caramel sauce.

Note: I have intentionally described this process with significant margin for error for safety. There will be significant pressure inside the can, and opening it prematurely can very easily result in life-altering injuries.


You should be able to combine as many as you want.  Pay attention to the fat content in each meat, as that can make a big difference in the yield as well as the texture.  However, even if you make a fairly significant change (for example, from 20% fat to 10% fat), it still won't be wrong or inedible, just different.  (Although, I wouldn't recommend trying anything insane like 95% fat.  It's no longer a meatball/meatloaf at that point.)

The meatballs I regularly make were derived from a Swedish meatball recipe.  I use 100% ground beef instead of the other meats, and it works really well.  Also, instead of the traditional Swedish meatball sauce, I use marinara sauce.  It's delicious!


Why did one pecan pie end up with a dark center after baking while the other pie came out perfect, same batter same cook time?

As Ron Beyer alluded to in a comment, two pans on different oven racks can end up cooking very differently.

Remember, the heat comes from particular parts of the oven: for an electric oven generally top and bottom heading elements, and for a gas oven convection from the bottom.

Pans placed close to the bottom of the oven will get extra coming on the bottom and middle of the pan, due to the radiant heat. Pans placed close to the top of an electric oven will likewise get radiant heat from the top. If you have two pans on an electric oven, the top one will additionally shuttle the bottom one from radiant browning on the top.

When cooking on two racks simultaneously, it's a good idea to switch the pans during the cooking process.


I have read that the dimples are there to catch the olive oil that is drizzled over the top  (sometimes water may also be sprayed) before baking.  The little pools of olive oil soak in and further enhance the crust texture and flavor.


Let it rest anyway. Even at low temperatures, the juices will be flowing through the meat. Resting stops this process.

As for the strange colour-changing meat, I suspect you just weren't observant. Meat that has gone brown will not spontaneously go pink again.


Why do the inserts in pasta pots not go all the way to the bottom?

You might have given the answer in your question.  If the device is to be used as a steamer as well, then there has to be enough room at the bottom of the pot for steaming.  How much is enough?  There are two things to consider:

The bottom section should hold enough liquid that there won't be concerns about boiling the pot dry for anything you might want to steam.  Longer steam items might include mussels, lobster, or tamales.
There should be some 'air margin' for foods like tamales or broccoli, so that the boil splatter doesn't render the food soggy.

Based on FuzzyChef's comment, it sounds like there are tools that suit your needs better.  Perhaps it's time to put your steamer on Craigslist? :)


How do I season potato wedges or quartered roasted potatoes with 'Leon's Baked Fries'?

Normally spices are added after frying the potatoes (fries, wedges...)

If you add the spices before frying, either they will fall off the potatoes or burn and turn bitter in the oil.

The spices are probably finely grounded (powered) so it is not really visible.


Does freezing raw milk kills harmful bacteria present in the milk?

No, freezing in a normal home freezer does not kill bacteria. They typically just enter a dormant state and reactivate as soon as you thaw the milk. Freezing a safe food extends the storage life, but does not make an otherwise unsafe food safe.


In order to make natto we need to eliminate starter cultures - same goes for making kombucha, yogurt, sauerkraut etc. Which came first the chicken or the egg? At some point in time we need to become self sufficient so that if the time comes where we can't access these said cultures, we can still produce these fermented foods.

The Japanese used Rice stalks.  There is nothing inherently special about rice stalks that separates them from other vegetation because all vegetation contains Bacillus subtilis. you could use a corn stalk, grass clippings, dried edible weeds, or even a bale of hay. As long as it's dead and dried out and not poisonous anything is fine; you could use dried out cabbage leaves, etc. Right now I'm using dried banana leaves. (not banana peelings).

The rice stalk or whatever you choose to use is boiled for around 10 minutes. It is very important that this boiling is done at the threshold of boiling.   You might be thinking that this would be for sterilization to eliminate foreign invaders from taking over the ferment, but in actuality, it is this temperature that wakes up the Bacillus subtilis.  I personally don't care for the idea of boiling because it imbibes the dried out vegetation. I find even after I remove all the water possible from the beans, the dried vegetation will still be saturated from the residual leakage. That is inevitable, so I live more dangerously making my natto just like it was made the very first time it was made by the Japanese. If you're interested in considering this process  proceed at your own risk.

In order to obtain a good amount of neba I apply the vegetation that I'm using. I use a pressure cooker to cook the beans and as soon as they are done, I get those beans out as soon as possible. I make sure I drain them completely. I want no standing water; this is all done very quickly so as to keep the beans as hot as possible.

As soon as all water has been removed, a bed of the dried vegetation has already been laid down in a large plastic or glass container (like one you would make lasagna in).

The hot drained beans are poured into this container on top of the dead dried vegetation that entirely covers the bottom of the container. The heat from these beans in contact with this vegetation is what wakes up the Bacillus subtilis. Immediately afterwards another layer of dried dead vegetation is put on top with the lid put on top and almost sealed (I leave it slightly open in one corner).  It is now placed inside a huge styrofoam cooler that already has a standard heating pad in it turned on and it is heating up a similar sized container of water. The container of beans rests on the container of water so that the heating pad is not directly in contact with the beans. The lid to the styrofoam container is closed and it will remain around 100°F to 108°F  for 24 hours. The closest thing to store bought natto will be made with soybeans or garbanzo beans; although a lot of other beans can produce natto, the flavor will vary. Lentils don't make natto.


I say, go ahead and include the salt with the dry ingredients. Polar or non-polar may be critical if you are in a chem lab, but in the kitchen this is my reasoning:

1) Most recipes I have seen for baked goods, call for mixing the salt with the dry ingredients.

2) I have never seen a commercial mix (biscuits, pancakes, cakes, muffins, etc.) that ever called for the baker to add salt to the mix, making me think that salt is included in the mix as purchased.

Maybe the polar/non-polar thing is less important than convenience.


I need a substitution for Parmesan cheese

Any hard cheese will/should do.

Something like Pecorino Romano, Asiago or Manchego or dried Monterey Jack can be substituted quite easily.

Heck (heresy) Get some Kraft Parmesan (yes, the cheap stuff in a box).

Other cheeses like Cheddar will melt and change the property of the bread (IMO).


Some people/recipe suggest adding a little bit of water at the start to help dissolve the sugar.

Have a lookskie at "wet caramel"


Wipe your blade along the flats with a clean, damp towel (or sponge) - set upon the counter or cutting board - frequently when cutting acidic items like onions, tomatoes or fruit. Japanese sushi chefs will have a wet kitchen towel folded into a neat pad on a lower corner of their cutting board for this purpose. When you are done with one cutting chore and not yet ready to move on to the next or wash the knife, wipe with the damp towel, and then with a dry one similarly folded. Do not delay washing the knife once you're done using it. Wash and dry it before the meal, not after.
Work on your knife's patina. It's a layer of mottled gray oxidized metal that develops on your blade, but will protect the steel from full blown rust or pitting. Gray is good, rust is murder. You can force a patina (search online for "mustard patina" or "hot vinegar patina" for various schools of thought on the topic), or encourage it to develop naturally - the easiest way to do the latter is to scrub your blade with baking soda and a disposable kitchen scouring towel (like a Scotch Brite cloth) to remove stains after washing the knife - be sure to watch your fingers, and rinse and dry when done. After a few weeks or months of this, the metal will dull, and dark stains will come off in the wash rather than requiring to be scrubbed off. This is the patina at work. Japanese chefs will often scrub their knives to a mirror finish nightly with a scouring powder and rust-eraser rather than let a patina form - but this is a lot of work, and can damage the blade if done improperly. Many European and American chefs find patina appealing aesthetically - the mark of a quality knife used well.
Wash the knife with warm soapy water using a dish-mop or a sponge-on-a-stick now popular in the cleaning aisle of most grocery stores, and rinse briefly but completely. Do not use a dishwasher, or immerse the knife entire into the dishwater. Dry carefully with a towel - folding the towel on the counter, and pulling the flats and spine of the blade across to dry, and then move to the handle, holding the blade securely at the spine, before storing.
If possible, store the knife away from sources of humidity: the sink, dishwasher and cooktop. A drawer block in a drawer with a few silica gel packets would be ideal. If the knife isn't used frequently, a very light oiling with mineral oil (available over the counter from any pharmacy) will keep it from rusting. Barely dampen a paper napkin with the oil, and brush lightly over the knife, wiping away any excess with a paper towel. Some wood handles (non-stabilized olivewood and walnut especially) are better off with occasional oiling as well.
Steel the blade frequently using a ceramic hone to take advantage of the edge-holding ability of carbon steel. Asian knives are typically sharpened briefly on very high-grit stones in lieu of steeling before use, due to asymmetrical or highly acute edge geometry - most cleavers, gyutos and santokus may be steeled on a ceramic hone, though. Check with the manufacturer or reseller.


Chocolate molds in shapes of kitchen supplies

You can try placing your post, pans, turners and spatulas upside-down on some parchment paper, and spraying with non-stick cooking spray. Then, carefully pipe not too runny (and not too dense) melted chocolate over them, making sure to keep the part closer to the bottom of the pan thicker than the parts closer to the edges, as the chocolate will slide down to the edges eventually.
That will be all if the handles are conveniently flat and metal, otherwise you'll need mold the handles separately and attach them to the main part when both parts are cooled.


My Danish almond cake glaze just melted and never thickened. What went wrong?

At the point where it just turned to almonds and liquid, the almond most likely glaze wasn't ready; it required more cooking time to thicken.
If you can tell that it did thicken a little, it could be how it needs to cool for a while before it thickens, as that's what butter and sugar does when cooled.


How long to stir-fry vegetables to retain most nutrients?

Where do you think these nutrients are going, they can't escape the wok?

Stir-frying by convention is quick, so the internal temperature of the food wont get hot enough to break down any delicate nutrients either


Won't fresh pasta sheets in lasagna overcook?

Lasagna, using freshly made pasta, can be constructed by (a) pre-boiling the noodles, then building the lasagna, then baking, or (b) layering the lasagna with uncooked noodles, then baking.  Both methods result in a good final product, though you may need a bit more liquid (sauce, for example) in the version that is not pre-cooked.  I've tried both and prefer to cook my noodles first, then bake.  In either case, the noodles do not "over cook".  They should be soft (except perhaps the edges, which I like crispy).  It might seem counter-intuitive, but noodles in lasagna hold up just fine.  By the way, I prefer  most of my fresh pasta cooked longer than 2 - 3 minutes, especially more hearty types, but I get your point.


How to release pungence out of onion for salads without cooking?

A simple way is to, upon cutting, place your chopped onions into a bowl of ice water for 10-15 minutes before tossing into your salad (sans water, of course). I find this takes the 'spicy bite' and pungency out of them and leaves the crunch - whereas acid seems to affect the texture of the onion.


A technique that I've seen is to score the skin in strips on the outside and then cut and peel the skin like a band-aid with a sharp knife (paring or boning) aiding the separation.  I'm not a butcher, but last time we cured meat, we (two people) went through 100 lbs of fresh meat meticulously in about 20 minutes using this method (the other person was a southern Italian gentleman who was an old-hand at this).

You use the knife to cut and separate the skin from the meat and end up with long strips of fat.  The skin separates from the meat nicely if you work at the interface layer of the skin and the meat.

With fat, you do a similar method.  Except this time you place the skin on the cutting board (fat side up) and essentially scrape the fat off the skin (almost like a fillet action).

In both cases, you grab the skin with one hand and use the knife to separate/wedge the skin from the meat/fat with the other (see the safety note below).

Important safety note: always make sure the knife blade is pointing away from you and you're "cutting away" from your body.  Also make sure the hand that is holding the skin is behind the blade and not in the path.  This is to make sure that if your hand and knife run away, injury does not occur.


Why salt AND pepper and not salt and/or pepper

Pepper is likely just lucky to be a very commonly used spice that gets to hang with Salt all the time, though Salt really makes everyone else look good anyway.  Pepper just doesn't look good on its own.

Uh... Yeah.

I say you do see salt paired with plenty of other spices, but because "Salt and Pepper" is pretty engrained in our culture (refer to the potential duplicate thread), you don't really take note. Therefore, you will always see "Salt and X" as a matter of fact but rarely do you see "X" alone without that ever so essential Salt.

This answer's getting pretty close to the Answer in the other Salt and Pepper question, huh?


Is there any way to make jack-o-lantern pumpkins worth eating?

Admittedly our carving pumpkins in the UK are smaller than yours, which may affect the texture, but this year and last I made:

three been and pumpkin chilli
pumpkin tagine
pumpkin spice cupcakes
pumpkin curry
pumpkin, pepper and mushroom fajitas

All of these get most of their flavour from other ingredients. All were successful.

The chilli, curry, and tagine all start by frying the diced/roughly chopped pumpkin until nicely browned with tasty ingredients (spices, onions, and plenty of garlic), before quite long simmering. The curry was last year but I think I went for quite hot, with a sauce based on tomato, coconut, and mango (I certainly did when I made it again this year).  The fajitas were cut into strips and fried, just like the other veg, though I did the pumpkin first and reserved it, to be sure it was cooked through.  Again, plenty of spices, garlic etc.

The cupcakes (for which there are plenty of recipes online) started by microwaving and pureeing, and ended up similar to carrot cake - moist and popular. I added latte buttercream.


Is there a frosting that's sweet like American Buttercream but textured like Italian Meringue Buttercream?

My wife uses whipped cream frosting, which is quite smooth and soft.

Basically it is cream-cheese frosting with whipped cream added in, and then beaten with a wire whisk beater (easiest to do in a cake-mixer).

A basic recipe is:

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 3/4 cups heavy cream, cold

Instructions:

Place the cream cheese and powdered sugar in a large bowl and beat
on medium-low speed until smooth.
Turn the mixer down to medium-low speed and pour the heavy cream
down the side of the bowl in a very slow and steady stream, stopping
every now and then to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a
silicone spatula.
When all the cream has been added, turn the mixer up to medium-high
and whip until the frosting holds stiff peaks.
Flavor it as you need, folding in the flavoring

You can sweeten any frosting fairly effectively with extra sugar or sweetener, however too much sugar will cause any frosting to collapse as it absorbs water from the air and other ingredients. If you want to make it extra sweet, use an artificial sweetener


What's the difference between tamari and soy sauce?

I have a bottle of San-J Tamari (black label) in my fridge and the back reads:

  Tamari is a premium soy sauce made with more soybeans than ordinary soy sauce giving it a richer, smoother, more complex taste. Tamari has more flavor enhancing properties than salt. Add 1 tsp. (320 mg sodium) instead of tsp. salt (590 mg sodium) to reduce sodium intake. Stir-fry or marinate poultry, meat fish and vegetables. Add 1-2 tsp. to perk up sauces, soups, gravies and casseroles.

In my experience, I use a little less tamari when substituting it for regular soy sauce.  As Sean mentioned, it's definitely a bit stronger than regular soy sauce.  I eyeball most of the time, but I'd say I use 1/2 to 3/4 portion of tamari when substituting it for regular soy sauce.

I reach for the tamari when I want a bit more of a complex flavor on something plain like rice - when the soy sauce is to be the star of the dish, essentially.  I tend to use regular soy sauce when mixing into a larger homemade sauce or where the soy sauce flavor will blend into the background because the recipe calls for so many other strong ingredients.

Oh, and tamari seems to add a bit of an almost "smoky" flavor, it seems.


If the matcha powder has been adequately mixed/stirred in, it should pass through the strainer - on the other hand, if straining/filtering is not in the source recipe, perhaps you should concentrate on mixing throughly so that there are no lumps, and not strain.
As an additional possibility for weak flavor:
I'm always willing to guess (when things don't seem to come out right, especially)  that at some point in the passage of any recipe involving teaspoons and Tablespoons some transcriber might have misinterpreted some prior writer's Tablespoon (T, Ts, Tbs, 15 ml) as a teaspoon (t, ts, tsp, 5 ml) or vice versa.


Can I boil eggs in the same pot I'm boiling something else?

Salmonella can't survive boiling water, it would get killed at that temperature. It should be fine to boil everything in the same pot.


can anyone explain why oil separation in a curry is indicator that the food is cooked?

The oil separating out of the milk both gives the final dish a glossier and more colorful appearance, and intensifies fat soluble flavor and pigment compounds (such as capsaicin). The separation primarily indicates that the flavor development of the sauce is done. Many recipes may simply be timed so that this will coincide with when the other ingredients finish cooking. It may be traditional wisdom that this indicates that all of the ingredients have finished cooking, but there isn't really anything special about the milk separating that indicates that, as the coconut milk is also sometimes cooked to separation prior to adding other ingredients.


What are the differences between gumbo, jambalaya, and etoufee?

Gumbo is a stew/soup, etouffee involves a roux to make it more of a sauce served over rice as a vehicle, and jambalaya is a one-pot meal with rice as an integral part of the dish--sort of like a cajun paella. All three tend to have shellfish where as gumbo and jambalaya tend to also have sausage (etouffee usually doesn't have sausage that I've seen).


Kvass can be made without bread, e.g. "beet kvass" can be gotten going with minced raw beet root (fill jar between 1/4 and 1/3 full), a 3% saline solution (or thereabouts?), and a dollop of sourdough starter. I believe other starters (e.g. from milk products) can also be used, but I haven't dabbled with those. Mine bubbles for two to possibly three days, though mold may be a problem, so you'll want to monitor for that, figure out a reasonable upper limit, and strain and consume or find a refrigerator somewhere to stash the kvass in.

Fresh ginger root also makes for a nice addition, or spices to taste, or carrots...


What does vanilla extract add to a recipe?

Vanilla extract adds the flavour of vanilla! Not as nice as using a real vanilla bean, but significantly cheaper and much easier to get hold of.


What is the texture/taste difference between cured and uncured bacon?

Unfortunately, some of the answer depends on how you define "bacon", and what you mean by "cured", and "uncured".  The answer could be different depending on where you live.  Are you in the UK?  The USA?  Another country?  I know that what we call bacon can be from different cuts of pork in different regions.

Curing can be different depending on where you live, or what flavors the person doing the curing likes to use.  There will be salt involved in the curing, and again, depending on where you live and the customs/regulations involved, and often some source of nitrate or nitrite, to prevent some nasty bacteria.  A pleasant side effect of these additions is the deepening of the red/pink color many of us associate with bacon, though some of the redness of the meat is based on the diet of the animal, too.

(Whether from saltpeter, or curing salt (a purposely colored curing salt, to distinguish it from white sodium chloride), or celery juice, which contains a high quantity of the same chemicals, the nitrates and nitrites are added in very tiny quantities.  They don't need much, and are usually in smaller concentrations than are found naturally in water and in leafy green vegetables)

What makes the cures taste different (besides the saltiness) is the other kinds of herbs, spices, and sweeteners used in the cure mixture, and whether or not the bacon is smoked, to add additional flavors.

Texture wise, the main difference between cured and uncured bacon is that the uncured bacon will have a much higher water content than the cured bacon, so the fat will not be as dense.


Ratio to subtitute mesquite liquid smoke for mesquite smoke powder?

Because of the strength of liquid smoke, it's hard to provide a substitution ratio without knowledge of the full recipe you are using.

As you mentioned, liquid smoke is pretty strong stuff. Smoke powder seems to be made from liquid smoke, thus the powdered smoke may be more concentrated than the liquid smoke.

Many comments on smoke powders on Amazon mention that a little goes a long way. According to this official description this powder is "tenfold-strength":

  Mesquite smoke powder is made from real mesquite smoke, which is spray-dried onto a neutral maltodextrin base. Shake a little of this tenfold-strength mesquite powder into barbecue sauce, baked beans, or homemade potato chips for an addictively sweet and smoky flavor.
  Ingredients:Corn Flour, Natural Mesquite Flavor. Gluten free.

  – thespicehouse.com/mesquite-smoke-powder

Another consideration when using liquid smoke instead of powdered smoke is if the powder part (maltodextrin) plays any part in the formation of the seitan. This description of another smoke powder mentions that the powder is "highly hygroscopic" (it absorbs water) thus if substituting liquid smoke you may want to also add some maltodextrin or perhaps a little cornstarch.

  This smoke powder is to be used as a dry rub as it is highly hygroscopic in water, meaning it balls up when combined with liquid and does not mix well. When using this as dry rub, I recommend that it's used at a rate of 1oz-5oz per 100 lbs of meat (It really doesn¡¦t take much to get a very good smoky flavor). I also recommend that you use gloves when applying this or you will smell like hickory smoke for a while :)º Alternatively, you can mix the smoke powder with a small amount of vegetable oil, creating a paste, and apply it to your protein that way. A tiny bit of vinegar can also help break up the smoke powder and won¡¦t impact the flavor at all. After you have applied the rub or paste to your protein, you should let your protein rest so that all of the smoke flavor permeates the meat. I always use the smoke powder as a dry rub and have transferred it into a salt shaker for easy application.

  – comment from The Colorado Spice Team on Amazon

If you are open to other liquid smoke substitutes:

Smoked Paprika Powder
Chipotle Powder
Smoke Tea

If you wish to use liquid smoke as your substitute, I would suggest that you look at a few other seitan recipes which use liquid smoke and adjust based upon your recipe’s yield.

Also take a look at this guide on How to Make Perfect Seitan


A lot of those nicely shaped cakes are made from a rectangular or round cake. You just cut the required sizes and shapes so you end up with something T-rex looking. You put a bit of frosting between each pair of pieces, so that they stick together and the cake does not fall apart. Usually the whole thing is covered with fondant, so you cannot see the separate pieces.

This is a youtube example using this method for a dinosaur cake.

Using a mold is also a possibility, but very likely that you'd end up with pieces of cake that are over- or undercooked, because you have smaller and larger parts in your dinosaur. You should also be very confident that the cake would slide easily out of the mold, because an odd shape is more fragile than a rectangle or a circle.


Optimal cooking tool for long-duration steaming

If you search "multi cooker" on Amazon, you'll see a multitude of devices similar to the one you linked and the vast majority of them are able to do what you're asking. Another option that would defintely be worth considering since you're already accustomed to preparing the sort of dishes you're wanting to make with your rice cooker is upgrading to a higher-end Japanese model such as the Zojirushi Umami. I own a comparable rice cooker and it's probably my favorite small kitchen appliance. It also seems tailor-made to do exactly what you're saying you want to do. It uses an array of sensors to slow-cook/steam to perfection and automatically enters a 4 hour keep-warm cycle when the cooking is done. You can also set a start-timer if you need more time and want it to wait a while before it starts cooking.

As an added benefit over the multi-cookers, you'll also be able to effortlessly prepare rice that comes out so indescribably perfect that even the rice at an upscale Asian restaurant won't compare to what you can make at home with the touch of a button. That's Japanese design for you; when the electronics capital of the world also happens to be a place where pretty much everyone eats rice daily, their engineers are going to produce one hell of a high-tech rice maker.

I apologize in advance if this answer is deemed inappropriate; I understand that answers aren't supposed to just be opnions, but there are many different methods and appliances/tools that could be used to accomplish OP's goal and no objectively best way to do so. Anyone's suggestion would probably just be based on what they'd do in their own kitchen.


"Baans" (बांस) is the Hindi word for bamboo - there does not appear to be one for the edible shoot. Instead, there are a number of words used in Indian cuisine for bamboo shoots, depending on region.

  In Mizoram, they are called 'Mau Tuai/Raw Tuai'. In Manipur, the fresh
  bamboo shoots are called 'Uusoi' and the fermented bamboo shoots are
  known as "Soibum". In Nagaland they are called bas-tanga. In Assam,
  they are referred to as gaz and in Nepal as tama (Nepali: तामा). In
  western orissa region of India, people call it kardi and it is the
  most famous dish there. In Jharkhand, they are known as sandhna

Wikipedia article on Bamboo Shoots.

  Bamboo shoot tips are called salad or simply sunjian in Chinese and
  juk sun in Korean, mang in Vietnamese, take no ko in Japanese, gaz in
  Assam, tama in Nepal and kardi in western orissa. Bamboo shoots are
  eaten in Goa usually during the monsoon season and are commonly known
  as Kill. Bamboo shoots are used in preparing curries and pickle in the
  state of Jharkhand, India. In Western Orissa or the Kosal region of
  India, it is a common ingredient. Since this region is dominated by
  the tribal population, bamboo shoots (or “kardi” as it is known), is
  believed to have been in use for hundred of years. In this region,
  “kardi achar” (pickled bamboo shoots) and “kardi baja” (fried bamboo
  shoot strands) are also popular.

"Bamboo Shoots" - by Sanjay Summa on the Vah Reh Vah site.

  Keerl (bamboo shoots) is something you will either love or hate.

"Keerl Ani Moog Sukho" - by Shireen Sequeira on her Ruchik Randhap blog, devoted to Mangalorean cuisine.

Kalale and Kanile are the names given by the Bhakshya Bhojana blog.


Why would chicken have significant regional differences in flavor?

US poultry farms tend to use a TON of antibiotics... The antibiotics are supposed to stop diseases that would otherwise be rampant in chickens that are housed in close living quarters.  (I might add that the USDA swears that it won't approve chickens treated with hormones, but I've seen enough conflicting complaints that I think it's still worth mentioning)

To your question, it's not (IMO) that all US chickens are less full-flavored, it's that your typical normal chicken in the meat case is quite likely been raised on the aforementioned hormones and antibiotics... I've had plenty of free-range (raised in the US) and they are noticably more flavorful than the average...

If you are up for some fun watching, Food Inc repeats a lot of what I've commonly heard about several various US food industries (including chicken): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/

If you're looking for a true compare and contrast, I'd suggest you buy an "average" chicken and then buy a free-range chicken... You should recognize the free-range version as the same as his international bretheren.

EDIT

As a fair shot for the opposing side, here's a good article from NC State saying why hormones are illegal and pointless to use... That being said, Food Inc showed some pretty mutated birds that were bred for nothing but breast meat:  http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/poulsci/newsletter/newsletter_nov04.pdf


What is this food "cr of leek and pot 21814"?

Google suggested it's a CReam OF LEEK and POTato soup.

Just follow the instructions on the package to cook this dish. Apparently it is only half-way cooked. Empty the tray into a pot, add as much water as the tray holds to the pot. Heat the soup until it boils, stir frequently. Then, reduce the heat and let it simmer. The package says something with 100°F (?), I can't read it.

If the package is still frozen, you can leave it frozen in the freezer; otherwise you can leave this package up to 5 days at 40°F in the refrigerator prior cooking (as the package says).


How do I neutralize a strong garlic flavor?

For the next time you make it, a common way to take out the "bite" of raw garlic is to roast it first. Chop off the top of the unpeeled head, drizzle in olive oil, sprinkle some salt, wrap in tin foil and pop in the oven. More details and pictures covered here and here.

A quick search for roasted garlic pesto came up with a bunch of recipes as well. I've used this trick with numerous recipes when I want lots of garlic, but want to take out the bite (from salsas, to guacamole, to just a straight garlic spread for bread).


For an astringent/bitter twist to the flavour, for a scent, and the visual gloss effect **

Mediterranean people have been doing this for centuries

For best effect they are probably using a first cold press oil (Extra-virgin) from young olive trees (less than 50 years old). It is often quite green in colour and has a pungent and astringent odour

These are often only available from boutique olive farmers, in expensive small quantities e.g. Rangihoua Estate or Azzuro Groves. Expect prices around NZ$50 to NZ$100 per litre

It is sort of similar in concept to squeezing a fresh lemon over a dish

It's a bit over fashionable at the moment, but in some dishes it really works

**  the three s's - sap(or), scent, shine


How do I remove aluminum foil from the bottom of my oven?

That looks a lot like melted aluminum.

I'd use a solution of sodium hydroxide to dissolve it; probably won't even hurt the oven paint.

Easy Off Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner is NaOH based, so that'll probably work for you, and is easier to find than straight lye nowadays.
Just follow the directions. If the aluminum is thick, you may have to do things twice.

Other brands of oven cleaner will likely work as well as long as they contain sodium hydroxide (lye). It will help A LOT for you people who need aluminum foil off your oven!


How can I make this antique ginger wine recipe using ingredients available today?

How archaic and fun!
I whipped out some Google-fu and found the following for you:
Tincture of Capsicum
You can actually buy this on Amazon: Cayenne Capsicum Tincture 2 Ounces. It's available other places, but I saw prices as high as 2x this. (9 ml ~ 0.3 oz)
Essence of Ginger
This is from a late 19th century Jamaican cookbook (Classic Jamaican Cooking: Traditional Recipes and Herbal Remedies).

Three ounces of freshly grated ginger
Two ounces of thinly cut lemon-peel
Two pints of brandy or proof spirit (white rum)

Just combine and let sit for 10 days, shaking well.
Essence of Lemon
This can also be purchased. You can likely find some lemon extract in your grocery store, if not here is some on Amazon: Flavorganics Organic Lemon Extract, 2-Ounce Glass Bottles (Pack of 3) - note that it's 3 bottles.
Solution of Burnt Sugar
This isn't just typical caramelized sugar, it's burnt sugar. Sugar that has been heated to the dark caramel stage of 370 F to 400 F (188 C to 204 C). The sugar at this point has lost most of it's sweetness, smells burnt, and tastes kind of bitter. It's commonly called caramel color these days. This is what is gives Cola's their dark color. In the small amount of 25ml and in the presence of 2.5 lbs of sugar (wow!) you won't taste it.
My amazon-fu fails here, but have found it available on this site: http://www.spiceplace.com/mccormick_caramel_color.php
It might be simpler to buy this than attempt making your own. Caramel coloring can be a little hazardous to make, it's easy to go too far and burn your sugar, and dumping any quantity of water into 400 F sugar is a sketchy experience. Here is a how-to if you desire though:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5673239_make-caramel-food-coloring.html
Tartaric Acid
This too can be purchased - Tartaric Acid 2 oz. (56 gr.)
Please note that tartaric acid is not the same as cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is an acid-salt in which the tartaric acid is partially neutralized. This site suggests you can use a 2:1 substitution ratio of cream of tartar to tartaric acid. I'm not sure if this will make a difference in your drink because I've never used cream of tartar in such a way or quantity before.
There is also the possibility that a recipe of this age simply used the term tartaric acid to refer to cream of tartar. Who knows?


Adjusting pressure setting and processing time when modifying pressure canning recipe

No modifications are necessary.
The pressure of the canner entirely determines the temperature of the water around the jar, and you don’t start timing until the canner is at that temperature/pressure, so regardless of the scale you’re assured of processing for long enough. In a larger canner and/or a weaker stove the contents of the jars will end up being slightly more cooked because of the longer lag time before you start the timer, but there’s not much you can safely do about that, and for pea soup it will make literally zero difference.


How do you get the smell of fish off your hands?

The fishy smell comes from amines - you want a low pH substance to take the smell away, like lemon juice or vinegar. Some brands of "shower cleaner" will do the trick.

Bicarbonate of soda absorbs "general" odors, but it is alkaline and not the best choice in this case.


It sounds like you rendered too much gelatin into the soup, a couple easy fixes are to either:

prepare another batch of the soup omitting the ham and bone and then marry the two over a medium/high heat
thin with a low fat/nonfat liquid like milk or water (unfortunately a side effect will be of increased separation in the soup as it cools) the lower the fat content of what you add the more it will separate. ie adding 2% milk will cause less separating than skim milk


Usually it's best to cook dried noodles in boiling water, and drain and rinse them in cold water when they are done. This does a couple of things:

helps ensure that the noodle is equally cooked all the way through (instead of getting overcooked on the outside by the time the centre is cooked).
by using separate water, you don't fill your broth with starch, which would adversely affect the taste, colour and consistency.

If you want to add the noodles directly to the broth, I would recommend rinsing them in cold water first (like you would with rice) until the water runs clear. This will prevent excess starch from being added to your dish.

You could also try adding a stock cube to the water that you boil the noodles in, if your goal is simply to make the noodles more flavourful.


scaling of kneading when scaling bread recipies

When it comes to kneading, scaling partially depends on your physical capabilities. It's a physical activity, you may not be able to manipulate double the dough in the same way. If you have the arms of a gorilla it will probably take far less than double the time, if you are on the weaker end of the scale it may take you longer than twice the time as you might have to get it partially kneaded and then split it into halves to complete, or you simply tire and slow down.

The message here is to knead for a result, not a time. That's actually one of my primary pieces of advice when bread baking in general, and not just kneading. Knead until you get the texture you are looking for, no matter the time.


What's the point of using sugar in savory dishes?

Hot Sour Salty Sweet

Sugar balances both salty and sour flavors in dishes.  Adding just a little sugar makes salty things taste less salty and sour things taste less sour, without actually reducing the amount of salt or acid in the recipe.

For example, the liquid base of the Pad Thai recipe I follow contains chili powder, fish sauce, tamarind, and light palm sugar.  The palm sugar balances out the sour from the tamarind and the salt from the fish sauce.  Without it, the noodles would come out too sour and too salty.

I don't know the physiological reasons for this.  Would be interesting to hear them if someone knew ...


Are vegetables poisonous if they have roots, are sprouting or are many weeks old?

I'll second NBenatar but with a bit more info:

Carrots, onion, and garlic aren't dangerous when they sprout but they use their sugar reserves to make the sprout. They go downhill very fast and get rubbery and unusable. Whenever garlic or onions sprout I just plant them and use the greens instead.

Potatoes are a little different. Even after sprouting they can still have usable parts for some time. The green portions of a potato are toxic (not enough to be scary but I've heard they will make you sick if you eat enough). It's worth cutting away the green parts if the potato isn't soft yet.


Do these smoked ham hocks which contain dextrose, contain gluten?

Dextrose is another name for the sugar glucose.  In the US most powdered dextrose and/or glucose syrups are produced from corn starch, in the UK and other European countries they may be made from wheat or other starchy plant sources.  According to a 2008 study from Finland, even though wheat based glucose syrup was found to contain low amounts of residual gluten, it was tolerated without harmful effect by people with celiac disease.

Though the ham is not likely advertised as "gluten free", even if there was gluten in the dextrose, the final concentration of gluten in the ham would likely be well below the 20ppm concentration to qualify as such according to the FDA rules.


Actually, above 40% fat, you can just freeze the cream itself. It wont whip as high, if you defrost it and whip it later, but it'll still taste good. Below 40% the results aren't as good.


I suspect the problem was the 1/2 inch of water, which would have absorbed a goodly amount of the microwave energy, preventing it from heating the flesh of the squash.

For very slightly more detailed instructions, which are not too far off from what you have tried, you might try this recipe from the Food Network, which recommends 5-7 minutes for 1/2 of a squash, but no water.


How should I wash the potatoes before baking them?

For baking potatoes

Don't just wash them, scrub them.  Otherwise you're eating dirt.  No, that's not a joke.  Potatoes grow in dirt, and are usually sold coated with dirt.  Yes, really.
Either salt them and wrap them in tin-foil, or simply bake them on a
bed of salt.  Dessication of the skin is important.
You'll probably      want to bake them longer and higher than most
recipes say.  I find       425F for 1 1/2 hours is optimal (and 2
hours is fine).  That results in skin which is dry, crispy, and slightly caramelized, while this inside still is fluffy (albeit, according to some, overcooked).


Making homemade seitan for stew recipe, do I need to cook the seitan first, then cool it, then use it?

Raw seitan can work in these kind of dishes, but it needs a different kind of temperature regime than "just boiling" it.

You want to avoid heating it through above the boiling point of water before it is well set, otherwise you will get a lot of expansion and a brain-y/fluffy texture that is far from meaty. Also, raw seitan pieces tend to recombine (it is glue protein after all). You will eventually need to heat it to boiling point to "finish" the texture.
The surface can be a bit "slimy" in the end result, probably due to remaining starch coagulating on it - this is not a problem in thick sauces but can be in thin and soupy dishes.

A strategy I found working well:

Cut raw seitan, so your thinnest dimension is a cm or less.
Sear surface with an open flame (brulee torch, stove burner...) to get some browning and to stop it from being sticky. Avoid overdoing it, you neither want strong expansion nor a strong burnt-hair taste. Do not saute instead, this will cause too much expansion.
Have your cooking liquid (broth,sauce,soup) ready, set up for a long simmer at a stable temperature. A rich or even emulsified liquid is preferrable, so add any fats (or things like coconut milk) now. Avoid adding strong acids or anything that could act as a protein tenderizer yet.  It should be well out of the food safety danger zone but safely BELOW ANY BOILING. 70-90°C. Repeat: You do not want it boiling even for a moment before the seitan is well set.
Add the seitan. Add anything else that benefits from long stewing. Make sure there is enough liquid to well cover it, some expansion can still happen. Leave alone to simmer for 3 hours.
Finish - bring to boil, and boil anything that needs boiling alongside, so you have a 15-30 min boiling phase. You will get some expansion but not overexpansion of the seitan pieces.


Anything absorbent will absorb smells. That's why fabric picks up smells easily, wood will over time, and glass won't. As I'm sure you know from cooking grains, they are quite absorbent, and that applies to smells as well.
All techniques I can think of to remove smells from other items aren't ideal for using on food, so your best bet is probably to cover it up with some strong spices. To prevent your grains from picking up smells in the future, store them in something airtight so air and smells won't permeate the container and reach your food. Open containers are the worst, tightly closed cardboard boxes and thin plastic bags are a bit better, sturdy airtight plastic containers are better still, and glass containers with metal lids are the best.


You can make a vainilla cake with chocolate chips.


Does creme fraiche contain live bacteria in the same way that yoghurt does?

Unfortunately, I can only give a similar answer to ones you've received in your question about sour cream -- generally, you'll have to contact the manufacturer.

That said, most commercial cultured dairy products do not undergo a second "pasteurization" step after fermentation, and in a few searches on the topic, I wasn't able to find anything about crème fraîche manufacture that would indicate that pasteurization after culturing is common.  Even yogurt that is "heat treated" after fermentation is often not subjected to the same levels of heat and time that would be required for normal pasteurization -- thus, while some (and maybe most) bacteria may be killed off, it's likely that some remain.

I would generally assume that any cultured dairy product (crème fraîche, yogurt, cultured buttermilk, kefir, sour cream, etc.) will contain at least some live bacteria unless the label or manufacturer explicitly tells you otherwise.  The question is the concentration.  Usually high-fat cultured dairy products (crème fraîche, sour cream) contain a lower concentration of culturing bacteria than lower fat dairy (yogurt, buttermilk), but it's tough to know how low.

Regardless, "full-fat" crème fraîche should generally be relatively stable even if you heat it.  So, you could theoretically pasteurize it yourself by heating above 150F (66C) for at least 30 minutes.  At higher temperatures, pasteurization will take less time (the standard for commercial pasteurization of high-fat milk products is usually 15 seconds at 166F (74C)), though at some point you'll begin significantly altering the texture of the product at high temperature.

Keep in mind, though, that even "pasteurized" products usually contain small amounts of active lactic-acid bacteria.  Pasteurization temperatures and time are designed around killing specific nasty bacteria which are known to cause illness.  The kind of bacteria used for culturing dairy products are not generally considered harmful, and many of them can survive longer at high temperatures (hence, the reason why pasteurized milk eventually often "goes sour").  If you're looking for dairy products that are actually sterile (with no live bacteria), you'll need to look at "ultra-high temperature" (UHT) pasteurized products.  These are the sort of dairy products that can often be stored on the shelf without refrigeration for months without going bad.  Normal "pasteurized" dairy products still should be expected to contain some live bacteria (just a lower concentration), which is why they are refrigerated.


Cantaloupe should feel heavier than it looks and smell musky and sweet.  Also you should be able to press your thumb in slightly on the bottom and there shouldn't be a lip around the stem.

If it smells over-sweet it's most likely over ripe.  You can let a cantaloupe ripen on your counter top if you get one under-ripe


Should one always use the whole garlic clove?

The green in the center can have a bitter taste, and many chefs prefer to remove them. If the taste and color don't bother you, it will not cause problems for the dish.

The brown end tends to a have a harder consistency than the rest of the clove, so may cause a problem depending on how you cook the garlic. If you're cooking it in a manner that leads to a very soft and mushy piece of garlic, you'd be better off discarding it. (Boiling in soup, for example.) It probably would not make much of a difference if you were browning the garlic for a topping.


How long to boil curry sauce left sealed in fridge three weeks to make safe

You might get lucky and not get sick if you eat it, but it would be risky to eat it at this point.
Boiling won't fix the kind of spoilage that happens with tomatoes and meat over time.


I'm fairly certain that the last 5 minutes of baking would not have opened the texture of the interior.

Pâte à Choux is supposed to be very soft inside. It has ribbons of eggy material running through it. That is why cream puffs are usually scooped out before filling.

The material is very tender so, with eclairs, injecting the filling pushes it out of the way and the shell is firm enough to hold in the pressure.

When the dough is baking the steam inflates the abundant egg proteins in big pockets. This happens in the first part of baking and the rest of the time is setting the proteins and drying the exterior. If your interior truly has as tight a crumb as bread, this would have happened at the beginning of baking and the 5 minutes at the end would not affect it.

Pâte à Choux is very easy to make. I wonder about your process.
Recipes always consist of:

Combine and scald, or boil, milk, butter, sugar, and salt,
Add flour all at once and stir until it forms a cohesive ball that pulls away
from the sides of the bowl,
beat in the eggs one at a time.

I would make sure that your milk mixture was properly scalded and that your flour was mixed in well enough before adding the eggs. The flour should have gluten activated and its starches gelatinized before you add the eggs.

If you haven't been already, you might try using bread flour and see if the problem is lessened.


A number of Chinese restaurants are happy to prepare it without pork or beef. I've seen it with pork (most common) or beef (sometimes).

A vegetarian Chinese place that I occasionally visit uses a "vegetarian ham" along with some vegetables like peas to augment the custardy texture of the soft tofu. I like to add some ja tsai (zasai, depending on romanization preferences) pickles in there, though I'd guess that's not that common.

Pork is not absolutely essential to the identity of the dish, but it's certainly the most likely version to be served.


Which method to use when making fruit powders?

I tried drying lemon in a cheap dehydrator, and the flesh doesn't really dry well even when the skin /pith is hard and dry. The membranes of the flesh some too keep the moisture in.

For citrus at least, drying the juice/pulp would be worth a try, and is what I'll do next time I have some to try it on. I suggest drying the zest as well. The pulp or juice would have to be dried on something non-porous, like baking parchment.


How can I make my baked tortilla chips crispier?

I would try baking them at a lower temperature without the oil some first, to get them partially dried out, before adding the oil and seasoning and crisping them. If the oil's on them the whole time, it'll slowly soak into the chips, instead of staying more on the outside where you want it, and depending on how much you're using, it might also be making it a little harder for water to escape.

The other main option would be to use thinner tortillas, but unless you're making them yourself, that might not be possible!


cake smells bad of egg, is dense and rubbery

For any specific answer, the recipe and if possible pictures would help, but I will try a general idea which comes to mind.  If your cake smells like eggs, it is eggs. To me this would mean inadequate aeration of the eggs and mixing with the dry ingredients.  A dense, flat, rubbery cake again would be an indication of the same.  If it is also wet, under cooking may compound it.

The sponge I make calls for yolk and whites to be separated.  Yolks are then beaten to a ribbon state and whites to at least soft peak.  Yolks are used to make a batter and the whites are then very gently folded in.  This aerates the eggs enough that as long as there is not a delay before baking it is almost impossible for the cake to not rise and be soft from the expanding of air trapped in the egg.  Not having this air in the eggs would result in baked eggs with a bit of flour added.

ETA:  I would suggest online "Joy of Baking", look up their videos on sponge cakes.  You do not need follow their recipe if you have one you would rather, but they tend to do a good job showing the proper level to beat the eggs for a ribbon and folding in egg whites without collapsing the foam.


Can you become a chef without cooking school?

Yes, you can be a chef without going to cooking school, there are plenty of great chefs who never had any formal training. Paul Prudhomme, Mario Batalli, Tom Coliccio, and Charlie Trotter are some famous chefs who never darkened the door of a cooking school and those are just the ones I can think of. Some top chefs have been known to say they think its a waste of time, I'm not sure I agree but you get the idea. One thing that is pretty much agreed is that the real training starts from when you get your first restaurant job. One story I heard from a top chef (I can't remember which now) was that he told the chef in the restaurant where he worked that he was thinking about going to cooking school and the guy just looked at him and then handed him a bunch of onions and a knife - he never did go to cooking school.

All you need to become a chef is the willingness to work very hard and long hours, and some skills. And restaurants to work in, of course. The skills you can learn at home, and much of that would be food preparation as that's where many chefs get their start. Learn to prepare meat and vegetables in chef-y ways, and learn to be consistent. Practice lots of knife skills - that alone can get you the first job. There are many books out there, and lots of tutorials on the internet for that.


The standard and most commonly referenced home-cook-approachable book on the science of cooking is On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee.


Jerky can be rehydrated.

Soak it in liquid, the way you would mushrooms, until it becomes somewhat plump. It will remain a little chewy and keep a lot of its flavor.

Chop it up and cook it into a stew. It will give a unique flavor and texture and the stew will dilute the spiciness- hopefully to a manageable level.

Look for recipes for "backpacker's stew" for examples.


What are the best burger buns available in the UK?

After living in the UK for more than a decade I share your pain in finding good burger buns. You can often find burger buns in the store but they are usually pretty bland and artificial. Better quality buns in the right shape or size are usually heavy and chewy.

You could take a cue from the artisan "posh" burger places that are popping up all over London and use brioche buns. These are widely available, and they have many of the right qualities as they are soft but still have structure and flavor. They do have a sweetness which I don't think goes with a burger but that's really minor. Other than that it depends on what supermarket chains are around (Waitrose and coop are the best sources I've found) and what bakeries you have around you. Shop around and pinch some buns till you find what you want.

You could go down the route of making them yourself, the Hawksmoor slider bun recipe is available on-line here, it's pretty simple and reliable.


Unless you have an allergy to corn, raw corn is safe to eat; it might pass through you with vigor (especially if you don't chew it thoroughly before swallowing it), but it won't hurt you.


The first question is how fussy you want to be about uniformity.  Many people are satisfied just using a long, thin knife to score the fudge in roughly straight lines.

If you want professional-level uniformity in the size of pieces, you'll need to lay out a grid with a straightedge, measuring equal distances on all four sides, and then use the straightedge across the fudge to score it.  (If you plan on doing this repeatedly, I'd recommend preparing a template on a piece of cardboard or something, so you don't need to measure equal spacing on the edges each time.)

As for smooth cutting, there are standard recommendations:

Score the grid onto the fudge with a sharp knife when just barely set but still warm.  This will make the final cuts easier, as well as giving you guidelines to follow.
Everyone has an opinion about the best implement to do the final cuts with.  If the fudge is still slightly warm (but firm), a plastic knife may work best.  If the fudge is cooler and harder, a thin smooth metal blade is often easiest (usually with no sawing motions; just pressing down).  A long blade makes for quicker work.  Some people like to use a bench knife pushed straight down; others use a pizza wheel or smooth pastry wheel.  It all depends on your technique, as well as the consistency and temperature of the fudge.
If you have difficulty cutting or if the fudge crumbles with the cuts, try warming the metal knife (or wheel or whatever) in hot water between cuts.  Wipe the hot knife dry before cutting.
Whatever you use, always wipe the cutting implement clean between cuts.

Some people claim to use dental floss for cutting.  While I've used that for cakes a few times, it seems overly fussy and difficult for fudge (but I've never tried it), though you might consider using it for fast scoring.


What precautions should be taken while dropping cold vegetables in a hot Teflon cookware?

Teflon will slowly damage over time no matter how you treat it.  Certain things will speed up this damage: too high heat, some metal tools, sandpaper.  Unlike an aluminum pan, Teflon will not react to high acid foods like tomatoes by getting damaged.  It is a non-reactive material.
You will see black flakes start to appear in your food when the original chemical bonding begins to fail on your pan, which should signal that you need to grab another one.


Are 'sweet' and 'mild' - Italian Sausage - the same thing?

Both sweet and mild refers to the sausages without hot red pepper flakes. The fact they are called sweet Italian sausages doesn't mean they contain sugar.


Can mayonnaise be infused with coconut, without getting watery?

You can add some liquid to mayonnaise without breaking it.  I've added smallish amounts of soy sauce and hot sauce and such to mayonnaise with success.  The question would be, could you get enough coconut flavor into the mayonnaise before breaking the emulsion?

Hard to say without trying.

If it doesn't work, you can try using coconut cream instead of coconut milk.  Like the name suggests, coconut cream has a higher amount of fat and a lower amount of water than coconut milk. This should allow you to add more of it to the mayonnaise without making it too liquid.


Is it normal for raw farm onions to smell like manure?

Toss those. That does not sound normal at all. But, possibly, ask someone else to smell them as well.

Cheers


How to judge temperature and time for deep-fried turkeys?

If there is one statement that you will read here over and over again it is:

Use a thermometer to determine the doneness of your meat.

There are many "formulas" depending on bird weight, cooking method and - frankly - gut feeling of many cooks, but for a formula to reliably work you would have to factor not only the weight of the bird, but also starting temperature of the bird, build (lean? chubby?) of the bird, temperature of your oven or frying oil, the heating ability of your oven or fryer or, beware, the coals you are roasting the bird over and almost everything else except the lunar phase.

Is this possible? Sure, and I guess some weird physicist1 has developed and possibly even posted it somewhere. Do you want to do the calculation when you are preparing side dishes or isn't it easier to poke a thermometer in the bird's breast and thigh and be done with it?

The formulas serve to give you an estimate of how much time you should need for a bird - give and take a bit.
So to get a ballpark number according to Paula Deen:

  Three minutes per pound plus five minutes per bird.

Start meassuring a bit before that and remove your turkey when it has reached 150-155 F, carry-over cooking during the subsequent thirty minutes resting time should let the bird comfortably reach the target temperature of 165 F.

1 No offense to hard-working physicists - I picked just the first cliché that seemed to fit.


Botulism, Garlic, Cold pressed Olive oil and mason jars

As a health inspector for over 20 years, I am astounded by the lack of awareness that food safety controls are based on science and not on individual inspectors' personal fears and bad moods. Botulism control is based on some of the following facts: botulinum spores are commonly found in soil and on vegetable surfaces, botulinum grows in low or no oxygen envt., botulism has high virulence. (Virulence is a technical term for the fact that a high number of botulism victims end up dead (like Listeriosus of raw milk fame), in contrast to other food borne illnesses like Staph or Campyllobacter.) When considering the fact that botulinum grows slowly, and food borne illnesses whack people more often with weak immune systems, such as the elderly, the ill, and the very young, the food producer may have just been lucky that the product never created a problem, or the very real option that a problem was never narrowed down to the product.

As to the argument that old time recipes have been made for centuries, as in this case, (I am a bit of a foodie and Italian), the big difference is that many products were never made for mass production and or to stick around on shelves for long periods of time, and if so, any data, let alone food safety data, is unavailable for historic food products. In fact, the link between bacteria and illness was scientifically proven by Koch as late as the late 1800's. Another fact is that the CDC's data shows that outbreaks over the last 50 years are fewer, involve much higher number of victims and are more often associated with mass production and distribution of food.  My health dept. receives notices of food recalls at least once a week.

In the case of botulism and fresh garlic in oil, it's considered so risky that acidification is required nationwide.  In California, there is a state lab that specializes in evaluating botulism safety for commercial operations. (It's funded by taxes to keep cost to businesses low and is considered a public service.) I would recommend that producers contact their State health depts. and work with them to identify any and all options available for the canning and sale of any low acid food - including acidification, using dried ingredients, temperature control, flash heating (called a "kill step"). The majority of us inspectors truly focus on how to sell food safely and do not approach their jobs as stopping people from making a living. And surprise surprise we don't always think alike, just don't get me started. However, I'll finish with the following consideration of the implication that "life has it's many risks" argument that we inspectors hear often.  When it comes to death, the public, the politicians and the members of responsible industry itself does not tolerate "a little death."


How to add pistachios in a white chocolate mudcake

Dust all three inclusions (the chips and nuts) and then place half of the plain batter (that has no inclusions added) in the pan(s), add the inclusions to the remaining batter and mix lightly. Pour that batter evenly over the batter already in the pan(s) and bake. Don't cut the pistachios in more than half or they will be too small.


Can cabbage leaf (stalk leaf not the outer leaf) be eaten?

Found a few places suggesting it's safe (and nutritious) to eat the cabbage stalk/lower leaves:

University of Florida
Gardening Know How
Sainsbury’s


How to prepare squid to avoid spermataphores

Based on the article SAJ14SAJ linked to in the comments, in the only known case in which this happened with cooked squid, it was parboiled, and almost certainly not fully cooked: "the whole squid spent just a few seconds in boiling water". If the squid is cooked, then the spermatophore will be inactive, and nothing bad is going to happen. (Living things tend to stop moving once they're cooked and dead.)

If you're trying to completely safely eat raw squid, I expect you need some squid anatomical knowledge which I don't have, so you'll want to wait for another answer.


What are other uses for Vegemite or Marmite besides as a spread?

One good use for it is to amp up the flavor of vegetarian gravy. If you are making say biscuits and gravy, a tablespoon of marmite will add some umami without tasting like soy sauce. Same for a vegetarian pot pie or stew.


What causes congealed bacon fat to have a wrinkly surface?

Even though you strained your fat while it was hot there is still micro-particles of bacon proteins left in the fat.  These particles hold their heat longer than the rest of the fat as its cooling, and rise to the top, and as it solidifies create the texture and slight color change.


How can I be sure my food is ready for a raw egg to be dropped on top?

There is some slight confusion but there are two methods for this. You either cook the egg separately, which is how they make BiBimBop or you poach or bake the eggs if you cook the egg on top of your food. With the latter method, the eggs generally cook very quickly so it doesn't take a lot of time but you are still cooking the egg using a heat source, you are not relying on the food to cook the egg for you.

When you make BiBimBop using a whole egg, you fry the egg in a pan before you place it on top of the food. This is why the egg often has a bit of browning around the edges of the white.

Here's an image of a BiBimBop with a whole egg:

There is a "how to make BiBimBop" video here that shows (around 8:50 in) that you cook the egg separately and place it on top of the finished bowl.

The other option is to bake or poach the egg by placing them on top of the food (which is still on the stove) and then covering the pan (or putting it in the oven) to essentially steam the egg, which is often used for hash. This gives a different final product than frying the egg and placing it on top, as the steam will cook the top of the egg while the still-cooking food heats the bottom.

Here's a video of Venison Hash where they use this method at around 5:05.

And here's a recipe that uses the oven version of this method.


Your polenta was probably sticking because you didn't use enough oil or your barbecue was too cool.

Olive oil on a barbecue is a bad idea as it flares up and burns easily, you're better off with a more standard vegetable oil. The choice of oil is not as important as the quantity in keeping things from sticking, you need to use a lot of it. I use a high temperature silicone to baste the barbecue surface with a lot of oil when I need things not to stick, some use a halved onion dipped in oil to apply it to the grill. Also oil your food.

Your barbecue surface could also be too cool. If it's too cool the surface of the polenta block won't form a crust quickly enough and will adhere to the grill. It should be hot enough that you can't hold the back of your hand over it for more than 2-3 seconds.

Other factors in frying or grilling polenta are the thickness of the polenta, the temperature of the polenta, and the thickness of the mix. You want to be grilling thick slabs of still fridge-temperature polenta that was on the gloopy side when cooked.


Can lemon juice concentrate be used after the use-by-date?

I also typically use bottled lemon juice, as my budget does not allow for fresh lemons.

Stilltasty says you should use the bottle within a week, but I've had success with keeping it much, much longer.

That said, this is one item that will not usually work well past its best-by date, I've found.

Maybe in the future, you could freeze it in cubes if you can't use it soon enough?


Why are my caramelized onions dried out?

Without seeing the result and knowing your exact technique, my best guess is that you're not using enough liquid, or that you're using heat that's too high.  High heat will essentially fry the onions, like you would expect by dropping chicken or potatoes into a pan full of hot oil.

Properly caramelized onions should take at least 20 to 30 minutes, I try to go for an hour whenever time permits.  I actually stir as little as I can without allowing them to sit long enough to burn.  Over-stirring shouldn't be a problem; under-stirring may be.

To start, you want the bottom of the pan to be covered with a thin layer of oil, and then make sure you stir the onions very well to coat them completely right after you toss them in.  Begin with the pan on medium-high heat to get the oil up to temperature, once it ripples and you put the onions in you can lower it quite a bit.  I rarely put it above 5 (out of 10, glass-top stove), and if I see things going crispy, I'll often drop it to 4.  I'd rather take more time and have softer onions.

Are you adding any liquid along the way?  Sometime, when doing large batches, 15 minutes in I find that I don't have enough oil in the pan, and I can see them starting to crisp up a bit more than I'd like.  When that happens, lower the heat a notch, and add a touch more oil (or, as I prefer, a cube of homemade stock) to the pan.  It'll take some practice, but eventually you'll be able to know how much liquid to use instinctively.  The reason I prefer stock for my "second add" is because I know the stock will evaporate off, as mentioned in the question you linked to, you don't want to be pouring off flavor at the end of the cooking time, so evaporation is a good thing!

If you're using cast iron, I recommend trying stainless steel, I get much better results with the latter than the former.  I'd guess that it's because I can dynamically regulate the temperature better with the stainless steel - with cast iron, once you realize you're at too high of a temperature, it's hard to lower it quickly.

If you need a step by step guide to start you off until you get a feel for everything, there is a great guide here and another here.  The difference is that one recommends 1 teaspoon of oil per onion; the other uses 3 tablespoons per onion.  I find that for my kitchen, it's somewhere in the middle (I just eyeball so I can't give you an exact number, unfortunately) - but if you try both methods on your stovetop you should be able to use that data to determine the right amount for you.


Cut out any green parts then remove the skin. If you can see any remaining green parts after the skin is removed then cut them out too. What you'll have at this point will likely look and feel like any other peeled potato except with bits cut out. If it still feels soft or looks unusual throw it out, otherwise its fine. Just a normal potato whose skin had gone a bit wrinkly and soft.


Ice cream technique - what should I mix into what?

I usually beat two whole eggs with an electric mixer and then slowly mix the sugar into the eggs before adding the cream, milk, and flavoring. I've never had a problem with the egg whites that way. In your case I'd do the same but treat the beaten egg whites and Rich Whip as the "additional dairy" to be added after the egg yolks and sugar are slowly mixed together.

I've never actually tried whipping egg whites for an ice cream recipe -- my guess is that any air it contributed would be immediately removed once the ice cream machine started turning. It's the ice cream machine's job to incorporate air into the mix anyway. But it might be worth a try.


Problems using my black garlic fermenter

Try it for just 7 or 8 days instead of 12. Some machines let you adjust the time starting at 7 days because for the garlic available in North America, 12 days is too long.


How much alcohol remains in strawberries soaked in alcohol?

I don't think this has a single answer: The amount of alcohol would depend on the alcohol content of  the soaking liquor or liqueur, soaking time, temperature of chocolate, and how thick the strawberry was.

I suspect uncut strawberries would take at least several days to fully absorb alcohol and reach equilibrium, but the surface should take up alcohol fairly quickly. If they are cut up, exposing the more porous interior, I imagine an overnight soak would be sufficient to reach maximum alcohol content.  The enormous, bloated mutant strawberries you sometimes see at stores could take considerably longer than others to absorb their maximum alcohol.

Alcohol is much more volatile than water, so the immersion in warm, melted chocolate would remove some alcohol, but once the chocolate cools, it should trap any remaining content.

The flavor of alcohol is easily masked by other flavors at under 20% content; this could explain why your friend didn't taste it, but you did.  It's quite possible the strawberries packed a sobriety-busting punch, but it was disguised by the chocolate and fruit tastes.