Why should I bake baking soda for making ramen noodles?

Baking turns bicarbonate of soda into a weak form of lye - sodium carbonate, as you said. It basically makes it a stronger alkali. The actual baking process is safe, but the resulting lye is an irritant and you should avoid getting in on your skin, and definitely avoid it getting it in your eyes.

The difference in texture and colour is noticeable after baking. The texture will be finer, and it will be whiter.


I've seen numbers ranging between 3x to 20x for going between Madre or starter to yeast.

That said, as @Chris H noted, there are multiple other variables and factors involved here that would make such a formula completely moot.  Here are some of the factors:

The actual strain of yeast in the starter
Relative age of the starter and last feed time
Temperature of the starter
Length of desired rise/fermentation time
Percentage of yeast

In either case of yeast or starter, what you are trying to do is give an environment to the yeast to digest the sugars and produce CO2 to lift the dough for a given time span.

A starting point:

Have a look at the sour dough's recipe's timeline and try to match that with a yeast based recipe of similar time-line.

If it's a few (8-10) hour rise type of bread, then you'll need a good amount of starter (e.g. 80-125g for 600g flour). See other factors above.

If it's a multi-day yeast based recipe, it'll call for 1/10th or 1/20th of the yeast by comparison (.1% to 2%), but if you go with 1/20th of the starter (e.g. 4g), you may not get much activity in the dough.  So you're probably better off erring on the high side in those cases.

make sure you adjust for the hydration present in the starter (count the water in it as a part of the water you need for your hydration percentage)


I don't think so. In the mayonnaise case, all that has happened is the fat has come out of emulsion and gathered together again, so you can re-emulsify it. In the whipped cream case, you've started to create large fat crystals (butter). I guess technically it might work to heat it up to melt the butter, re-emulsify it into cream and then beat it again, but I don't think it would be worth the effort. You could go ahead and finish churning it into butter and buttermilk if you want to avoid wasting the cream.


Egg yolks, optionally covered with water, and in a well sealed container should hold for about 2-3 days in refrigerator.

You may also freeze them, but they require treatment with sugar or salt to prevent the proteins from turning them rubbery, at ratio of about (per the Egg Board):

1/8 teaspoon salt  OR
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar or corn syrup

per 1/4 cup of egg yolks (about 4 yolks).

Of course, you then have to adjust whatever recipe you use them upon thawing to account for the sugar or salt already mixed into the yolks.

See also:  Still Tasty


What kind of stabilizers can I use when making souffles, Japanese cheesecake or egg beaten products?

For non-culinary reasons, I would offer substitutions to gelatin;

As for a powerful stabilizer akin to gelatin but that doesn't precisely gel (go to pectin for that), when you are heating the food I have found agar to be a pretty effective stabilizer in vegan quiche that rely on a silken tofu base.
I have used it to stabilize cheesecakes, pudding pies, and puree
based pies and been pleased each time.
As for a middling stabilizer/thickener, i.e. if you don't want to
veer nearer to the gelatin edge, you can try tapioca flour; per
Isa Chandra Moskovitz, "[sometimes tapioca flour can be used]
interchangeably with corn-starch in recipes, but we feel it does have
a different kind of cooked texture (thicker, gooier)."[VPITS
p.7]


How to create a nut roast and stuffing that don't taste and feel too similar

Chris

I think you're going to struggle to make two distinctive dishes whilst essentially using the same ingredients for both of them - therein lies your problem.

Do you have to use cranberries and chestnuts in both? There's many different types of vegetarian stuffings you might use that would compliment your nut roast rather than almost copy it.

How about an Apricot and Hazlenut stuffing to go with your nut roast? C'mon use your imagination, run free and wild! Do a search for Apricot and Hazlenut stuffing there's plenty out there. How about a pureed butter bean and truffle sauce to go with it?

Your cooking is only limited by your own imagination.


The usual answer is "cook it less"

Certainly a (IMHO) good fudgy brownie and a (IMHO) horrid cakelike brownie can be made from the same recipe, with only the cooking time changing. While I have not made your mincemeat-based-bars, the same phenomenon presumably applies.

If you are faithfully following the cooking time your mother used, it's possible that the oven your mother used and oven you are using vary wildly in actual temperature at the same set temperature.


Why did my French onion soup with 'red' onions come out tasteless and bland?

Typically you should use yellow onions for cooking. They have a higher sulphur content and are more flavorful after cooking. Raw, a red onion will taste more pungent. However, once cooked it is more mild and sweet than a soup would require. Red, as well as other sweeter onions, have more sugar and water than their yellow counterparts. For more details on the profile, seriouseats has good primur.

If you wish to improve your results, you might slice more thinly and add  some salt in advance of sweating (rather than before adding broth) to draw out the excess moisture, as the onion's moisture (more prevalent with red onions) will inhibit browning, ergo inhibiting caramelization and the maillard reaction that break the bigger sugars into little ones and lend flavor through browning. The explanation at norecipes also adds that deglazing with sherry can slow down the process if you are experiencing uneven browning. Another possible tactic would be adding a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per pound chopped onion; this will speed up browning.

Ultimately, unless the recipe calls for red onions, you are going to get better results with yellow onions in terms of raw, "sweet and tangy" onion-y flavor. You can use the tips above to try to overcome that, but a nice big bag of yellow onions are going to do you better in the long run, and if you put the same effort into the it will take less time, taste better and be less expensive.


Can I make my fish stew recipe into a Chicken Caciatore recipe?

Your tomato-veggie-herb-wine mix is a pretty generic (tomato) sauce base, so replacing the protein would work for more or less every meat, adjusting cooking times etc., of course.

A pollo ciaccatore ("chicken hunter-style") is such a basic dish that there are lots of varieties all over Italy and probably from one household to another. Your base sauce is probably the most simplified one would think of and there is a list of add-ins or changes that are common and work as well: mushrooms, olives, capers, red wine, sometimes even potatoes... And I wouldn't dare to declare one "the right" version here or anywhere.

There are probably two changes I would suggest for your recipe nevertheless:
searing the meat before stewing and adding some garlic.

Otherwise: have fun, I think you can't go wrong with your idea.


I don't know of a way to revive old chocolate, however you can use them in applications where baking isn't necessary, like refrigerator cookies, rice crispy treats, or cereal bars.

Keep in mind that these things will only be as good as the ingredients, so if your chocolate doesn't taste good it's best to chuck it.


What's the purpose of syrup in toffee apples?

The bane of sugar syrup or caramel making is unwanted crystalization. A few stray sugar crystals, a premature stir, and your caramel gets grainy instead of smooth.

Corn syrup is an invert sugar (glucose), which can prevent this. Alternatively, a bit of acid (a few drops of lemon juice, a pinch cream of tartar...) will break some of the sucrose (plain sugar) into fructose and glucose.

Do you have to use it? No. It's mostly a safety net. If you follow proper procedure, like not stirring, washing down stray sugar crystals from the walls of your pot..., you can make your caramel apples without syrup. And there are recipes without syrup to be found on the Internet, for example here at Serious Eats.


What is the difference between pancetta and bacon?

Bacon and pancetta are both made from pork bellies; the difference between them lies in how they’re prepared and cured. To make bacon, pork belly sides are brined and then smoked. Pancetta, the Italian version of bacon, is made by seasoning a pork belly side with salt and lots of pepper, curling it into a tight roll, and wrapping it in a casing to hold the shape. It’s cured, but it isn’t smoked.

From here.


How to make a sandwich bread with a very soft crust? And what is the ideal temperature to bake sandwich bread?

Use a Pullman loaf pan (aka Pain de Mie pan). You'll also get a square loaf great for sandwiches. Grilled cheese, anyone?

The lid inhibits a "crusty" crust on all sides, just like a regular loaf pan does on all sides but the top.

I use my 9" Pullman all the time. These are my two favorite, foolproof Pain de Mie recipes.

Honey Oat

White

I don't know that it's always the right temperature for soft crusts, but for those loaves, I always use 350F (175C).


How to prevent the breading residue sticking in chicken fry?

You aren't missing anything, it's completely normal for parts of the breading to come off food while it's frying. This residue will keep cooking, leading to blackened breading bit buildup.

If pieces of breading are sticking then the answer is to fish them out, you can use a metal strainer to do this, there are strainers designed just for that purpose. You could also buy frying baskets (provided you find ones that fit your pan) and cook your chicken in those, the beauty of them is that when you lift them out you take all of the breading pieces that have fallen off with it.

If it is smaller particles that are the problem then you can get them out by pouring the oil through a fine mesh strainer. This is a bit slow, so you'd want to build a few extra minutes into your cooking process.


Theoretical: why there's no gradient of doneness in bread?

Essentially, the exterior crust and the interior evenness are both side effects of the distribution of water.

The Maillard Reaction - the chemical reaction responsible for the brown crust - happens at about 150° C.  Generally you're baking at a much higher temperature than this - say 200° C.

The first question one might ask is, why is the crust only on the outside?  And the answer is because only the outside gets dry enough; as the small amount of water on the surface evaporates, the temperature is allowed to rise to ambient oven temperature.

The reason it doesn't happen on the inside is precisely the opposite; water boils at 100° C, so as long as there's still water in liquid form (and bread is, to a large extent, water), the temperature can't get any higher than that.  The interior of the bread is always regulated at approximately 100° C, and since the baking temperature is uniform, so is the finished product.  It's almost like poaching an egg or a piece of meat; no part of it is able to get any hotter than the liquid around it, so the longer you cook it, the more uniform the temperature gets.

If you continued to bake the bread until all of the interior water evaporated into steam, then it would eventually start to undergo the same process as the steam slowly escaped.  But we usually don't bake bread that long, so it doesn't happen.  As commenter Ray points out, there are some types of darker bread such as pumpernickel which involve intentional "overbaking", but obviously not to the point of burning it.

Note: There may also be a certain element of the process that is due to steam being trapped inside; the water vapor, like any gas, expands and distributes itself fairly uniformly throughout its container.  However, the bread is porous, so this steam eventually has to escape; if it didn't, you'd end up with a very damp interior after cooldown from all the condensation.  If you measure, you'll also notice that the weight of a fully-baked bread is about 10% less than the original dough weight.  So the steam doesn't stick around indefinitely, but the continuous evaporation coupled with the temperature self-regulation (due to the boiling point) keeps the temperature relatively constant.


Pancetta Mold. How to tell whether it's safe to eat?

On another couple of sites (Ruhlman for starters) I found the answer to this. It appears that mould is expected sometimes in the Pancetta making process and as a general rule of thumb as long as it isn't too green and furry then it should be OK. I've followed Ruhlman's advice and dabbed the spots of mould with a vinegar soaked cloth and it wiped straight off and looks fine.

My meat was coming up to the end of it's hanging time anyway so rather than worry about it further I've refrigerated it.

I hope this helps anyone that stumbles across this with the same issue.


It's a bad idea to run your microwave empty.

Microwave energy excites water molecules, a microwave oven heats food by heating the water inside it. If there's no water to excite then the energy ends up heating the components of the microwave instead, which is why it heats up when you run it empty, doing this can damage your microwave.

Popcorn is one of the tougher things you can cook in a microwave because it is very dry, so the microwaves again have little to work with and can end up heating the microwave instead. A popcorn kernel pops when the pressure of the expansion of the small amount of water in the kernel exceeds the ability of the skin to contain it, and when it fails the inside explosively expands, releasing some super-heated steam. The heat of the kernels and the steam released from the popping can heat up your microwave quite a bit, especially if you put too much in. 1/4 to 1/2 cup of popcorn is the maximum I've seen recommended.

Try heating up a full bowl of water for a 2-3 minutes and see if your door heats up until it's dangerous to touch. If it does then your microwave is faulty, if not then your microwave is probably fine and you need to understand its limitations better.


Silicone molds: transportation and storage

I have a couple of silicone cupcake moulds (only cheap ones), and they recover their shape instantly after being stored at the bottom of a pile of cake tins for months (I don't use them as often as many of my metal baking utensils). If they're the same as mine, you don't need to worry about them.


Jar opened once - is it still good for pickling?

Keep it in the fridge and eat it soon.  There is a chance that you contaminated the product when you  opened the jar and took out a slice.  It is no longer sterile.


Apparently there is an orientation to the thing. (I can't confirm because I never use mine and I don't feel like honey right now.)

While moving in and out of the jar, hold it with the stick up and down. Honey will kind of "sit on the shelves" of the dripper and fall off very slowly if at all. Move it over to your oatmeal and then turn it 90 degrees so the stick is parallel to the floor/counter/table. Now apparently honey will flow out of the slots and onto your oatmeal.

If this works, it could actually be good for getting a thin drizzle which is hard to do with a spoon.

Try it and let me know?


Why does my bread still smell like yeast?

You are using to much dried yeast.
11 gr should be used with fresh yeast.

To get an idea, divide the amount of fresh yeast with 2,5, so you should only use 5 gr (11:2.5) of dried yeast.


What to do when too much shortening is added to flour?

Your best bet it to divide the dough into two batches, freezing half for later.

With the half you are working with, add 1/2 recipe worth of all the other ingredients again, except the lard.  This will bring you into balance.

The tortillas may be somewhat tougher than you would get if they were made to specification the first time, but that will avoid wasting your ingredients.

Still, given that the ingredients in a tortilla are generally inexpensive, you may decide it is not worth it, and simply discard the spoiled batch and start again.


Simply put, your oil isn't hot enough. If you add vegetables to cold oil in a cold pan and then heat everything up, your veggies (or just about anything else) will soak up the oil. Heat the oil in the pan until it starts to shimmer and a drop of water sizzles, dances and disappears. THEN add your veggies.  The very definition of "saute" comes from "to jump and to dance". It's all about the hot oil. Be wary of your oil's smoke point, don't let it burn, but get it good and hot.

EDIT: A friend in chat dug up this video. I like that it shows using water to test the heat of the oil. If you're trying to brown slices of eggplant, the way she treats shrimp is very similar to how you want to handle eggplant slices. Stir-frying is a different technique, but the hot-oil rule remains the same. Saute Video


"Pastry bars metal" seems to work. The results I got were for "caramel ruler bars" or "ganache ruler bars". Other terms are "confectionery rulers" which gave me a forum that recommended getting them cut for you at a metal shop from stainless steel at whatever lengths you want for less than buying purpose made ones.

That said, I'm not sure that's actually what you're looking for. These seem to be bars for rolling out dough or fondant to a specific thickness, not designed to be used for shaping things the way your photo implies.

The term that I found that more closely resembles what you're looking for is "confectionery frames".


Should we start making dough with water or with flour?

The best thing is to do as your recipe directs it, because there are several considerations that play together here.

First, if you have a very exact recipe where you measure each ingredient and mix together in a mixer, it doesn't matter that much. Just dump it in the mixer and turn on, making sure to scrape or rest as needed until the texture is right.

If you again have an exact recipe but are mixing by hand, I suggest that you do it flour-first, because that reduces lumps.

If you have a recipe where you are starting with one ingredient and are going to add more of the other until the desired consistency is reached, the main constraint is the yeast. If you are starting with the yeast in the flour (as is typical with dry yeast), then you should always start with the measured flour+yeast mixture and add water until ready. If your recipe has you start with the yeast in the water (needed for cake yeast, but some converted recipes also suggest it for dry types of yeast) then you should be adding flour to the water and not the other way round. Here, you can avoid the lumps problem by not dumping flour on top of the water, but using the volcano method where you add the water to a depression in a flour heap and slowly mix in more flour from the crater walls until you have it the way you want it. The volcano method works better on flat surfaces rather than bowls, you can use a baking sheet or a big baking tin to gain some control of the mess.


Incorporating Italian meringue into mousse

I'm not sure it's possible to overbeat the meringue (not without falling asleep while doing it), so I don't think that could would be the main cause of a failed mousse.

On the other hand, it's definitely possible to overbeat the cream for the purpose of being an aerator, and it's a very common issue. For mousses you don't want cream to get to stiff peaks: it should be shiny and not hard. This also helps to avoid overdeveloping the cream when folding it in.  If you need a visual reference, this video could help.

As for order of mixing, you should generally mix softer things into stiffer things, so I would do whites first and cream last, and for each add it in three separate steps, folding them in gently.

One final but vital thing to consider to avoid graininess in a mousse is the chocolate itself: a chocolate with too much cocoa butter will result in a grainy, unpleasant texture - a chocolate with too little cocoa butter will yield a mousse that is too soft and not able to stand as a layer in a modern entremet. Some brands of baking chocolate will explicitly say which products are the most indicated in a mousse.


Freezing Mashed Potatoes - any way to prevent drying out?

Once you've added the mash to the pie, let it cool completely then add grated cheese and a few cubes of butter. Cover tightly with tin foil and freeze. When you're ready to cook it, defrost it and cook as normal. The cheese and butter will melt into the potato, remoistening it.

You may also want to leave the mince a little wetter than usual so that the liquid can be absorbed into the mash from underneath during cooking.


What makes bread mold grow; light, air or both?

Mold grows best in warm, moist conditions. It's a fungus, not a plant; light has nothing to do with it. Fresh air doesn't really make it grow either, but circulating air does help reduce condensation, depriving mold of moisture. So you really don't want to seal a breadbox - that'll just help create a nice moist environment for the mold to grow in.

Breadboxes are really just about keeping other pests away from your bread, while still being able to keep it at room temperature. (It goes stale faster in the fridge.) If you're worried about mold growth, you probably just want to freeze some of the bread.


When should you sweat mirepoix, and when should you sauté it?

There are no real doneness rules on mirepoix per se (even raw is used in some dishes).  However, the recipe designer may say sweat versus sauté to give an indication of colour and flavour depth to match the 'headliner' of the dish (usually the meat).

Although not a rule, you may generally see sweat used more for lighter meats like fish and fowl and sauté for darker and gamier meat like beef and lamb.

That way a darker and more browned mirepoix will not overwhelm say a delicate fish (both in colour and taste).


What are proper methods of cooking stovetop lentils?

There are many different kinds of lentils, each of which have unique properties when cooked. Some lentils, like French lentils, will hold their shape very well when cooked. Most whole lentils will actually hold up fairly well unless severely overcooked. Frequently for the dishes with a more homogenous texture, split lentils (frequently masoor dal) are used. In addition to being split, the seed coat of the lentils has been removed, so if they are cooked thoroughly there isn't really anything holding them together.

Usually they are just simmered in a liquid until tender. The seasonings are up to your personal taste, or the recipe you are using. The one advice that I would give is to taste as you go. If you want the lentils to remain whole, be sure to avoid overcooking them. Conversely, if you want a smooth texture, cook them until completely tender.

Also, a lot of the dishes that you refer to as having a blended texture may in fact be blended.


Looking online, I found this  menu from a Monk's Grill that appears to be in Vancouver. Under Champagne Cocktails it lists a Wild Mustand as having Skyy vodka and Grand Marnier. See below, copied from the menu:

  WILD MUSTANG splash of Skyy Vodka & Grand Marnier

Searching on end, however, I have not been able to find a recipe for the drink. Based on some other recipes I've found that are similar, here's a suggestion you might start with:

In a martini glass,

Pour 1 oz. Grand Marnier
Add a splash of your favorite vodka
Fill the remainder of the glass with well-chilled champagne or sparkling wine
Garnish with a slice of orange

Hopefully this will get you started and, as with all mixed drinks, you can refine to your taste.


To reduce phytates and to soften the outer coating.  The whey, if acid whey, also reduces phytates even more.  If it calls for soaking for two days or so, it is to germinate the grain/seed.


New oven still puts out terrible odor 5 days after buying?

It is a normal experience that every time you use a new appliance with a heating device, you will smell something weird like burning plastic. I recommend you to read on the link below on some tips of getting rid of chemical residue (smell) from your new oven.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/why-you-should-always-burn-in-your-new-oven/

If this is not effective, try my experiment which did a great wonder. Pour some water into a pan and add a teaspoonful of cinnamon powder into it, put inside the oven and set it to 250°C. You may also use a tablespoonful of vinegar as a substiyute.


How to collect slime pass through rice cooker cover when cover on?

I will bump this up to an answer as the only time this should not work for you is if you have a rice cooker that requires a minimum weight to activate the heating element.

You usually should be able to use your rice cooker itself to sear/brown your protein.  Cut into small pieces and toss into the cooker.  Also, garlic, onions, maybe fresh herbs which would benefit from heat to bloom their flavor.  Caramelize any onion or garlic you use and sear/brown meat or poultry just as you would in a pan.  It may take a little longer, and you may not get quite a deep of a browning as you would in a pan, but the same general effect.  It will also help meld the spicing with the protein.

When satisfied, use a little of your liquid to deglaze the bottom of the cooker, you want all that flavor that stuck on.  Then add your rice and the rest of the liquid and cook as normal.  I agree that the bulk of you slime, at least the more unappealing part is probable the protein scum from boiling it, and this should greatly reduce that effect and may give you a more satisfying blend of flavor as well.

My rice cooker is one which with multiple settings which allows it to somewhat double as a slow cooker and I have used this technique many times to make soups with very good results.  If you do have multiple settings, use the highest heat option for the searing of the protein.


Will roasting ginger root give it a milder flavor?

The reason that roasted garlic tastes so much milder than raw garlic is that it contains a sulfur compound called allicin, which roasting breaks down.  Allicin is primarily what gives garlic its pungency.  Technically, raw garlic mostly contains a compound called allin, which reacts with the allinase enzyme to produce the allicin, and this reaction is greatly accelerated when garlic is "distressed", i.e. crushed or cut.

Ginger contains no allicin, so you're certainly not going to get an identical reaction.  What ginger does contain are two types of oil called gingerols and shogaols, which are primarily what gives ginger its pungency.  Cooking converts these into another compound called zingerone, which is far less pungent (it's described as "spicy-sweet").  It's actually slightly more complicated; the gingerols also convert into shogaols through cooking, and the shogaols are actually more pungent (160,000 SHU vs. 60,000), but on the whole, the ginger does become milder.

It will not become perfectly sweet as garlic does, just less pungent and more aromatic.  In fact, cooked (roasted) ginger tastes much like dried ginger; many of the same reactions happen during drying as during cooking.

So yes, you can try roasting ginger if you want it to be milder, but don't expect to be able to eat the whole root by itself if you don't already love the taste of ginger.  It doesn't do exactly the same thing that garlic does, it's just a little similar.

It's hard to find good references online, although you can find a lot of this in McGee.  For more information you can try:

Wikipedia: Ginger
Chemicalland21: Gingerol
Wikipedia: Shogaol
The All I Need: Raw Garlic


How do I stop homemade Ravioli from going soggy? (storage issue)

Freeze it immediately, especially if you can do so in single layers.


What is this white part of these lamb chops called?

It's hard to tell from your photo, but probably fat or connective tissue.


A lot depends on the climate and your ambient conditions. It is perfectly fine and common to keep it under a bell jar in a NW European climate other than at the peak of summer whenever that may be, but it would not last half a morning in the tropics where a sealed container with silica gel is mandatory before you put it all inside a chiller.


Can I accelerate the prep time for small tapioca pearls?

Yes, it works without presoaking. You have to cook them for quite a long time until they become quickly translucent, the small ones will need about 30 minutes at a moderate boil. It is not optimal, as the outside will become mushier in this long cooking time, but there are people who don't mind the difference.


How to store brown sugar without it becoming hard?

Storing brown sugar in a tightly sealed container (such as tupperware, rubbermaid, etc.) is the best method.

Once it dries out however it can be re-moisturized by placing a piece of apple or bread with it inside a tightly sealed container.  After a day or two the brown sugar will soften and the bread will dry up or the apple will shrivel.

This is due to the hygroscopic nature(ability to absorb moisture from the surrounding atmosphere)of brown sugar.

You'll see "brown sugar keepers" in gourmet and cookware shops that are round decorative unglazed ceramic or terra cotta disks.  The concept is to soak them in water for an hour or two and then dry and place in the brown sugar.  Save your money and use a piece of bread or apple when the brown sugar is drying up.

You can also soften it for immediate use by microwaving for a little bit.  This should only be used for immediate use because after the sugar cools it will have lost more moisture (due to the fact that microwaves are heating the moisture in food).


On the topic of eating raw fish and sashimi

Present day Japanese chefs are taught which sea foods are affected by which particular parasites during their apprenticeship. So they handle those accordingly. In ancient times Sushi wasn't made out of raw fish. The fish was cured and cooked before being consumed. Using Salmon for sushi is a new concept dating back around 30-40 years. Which is why Sushi was all that safe in ancient Japan.

You can find a consuming discussion on the same topic on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sushi/comments/2g5mhe/noob_question_how_did_the_japanese_of_old_not_get/


Is Sous Vide Oil Infusion with fresh herbs or garlic a practical technique to avoid botulism risk?

Pasteurization will not do anything to reduce botulism risk. Botulinum spores are very hardy, requiring high temperatures (250f) to destroy them. If you use the method you describe, any spores that may exist will still be there, and a nonacidified, oxygen-free environment would be ideal for them to become active. So my recommendation would be to not take this approach.


is Le creuset pan 22 cms enamelled or not

Enamel is usually white, though it may stain to a beige color.

Bare cast iron when stripped of its seasoning is steel grey. The first coat of seasoning will be a dull olive greenish brown, and each coat of seasoning will get darker. With use the seasoning will turn jet black as some of the oil polymers get toasted more over time.

If it is bare cast iron you will want to continue to wipe it down with oil after each use at a bare minimum of care.


Why does fresh coriander deteriorate so quickly?

Theory 1: moisture

Were the leaves wet at all?  I worked in a restaurant before, tending to the fridge.  I had to make sure the salads were washed and thoroughly spun.  Wet greens wilted and rotted faster and we had to toss them.  The roots can be wet and exposed to water, but make sure the leaves stay dry.

Theory 2: freezer burn

This link mentions that cilantro can be damaged by freezing temperatures, which could be an explanation for what you're seeing?  Is it so cold in your area that your refrigerator actually dips into freezing temps because the air around it does?

Meats can get freezer burn or taste off after freezing.  One explanation I've read is that water freezes as sharp crystals in and around the cells.  Upon defrosting, these sharp crystals can cut through cell membranes, causing cell contents to leak out and alter the meat structure.  In theory the same could apply to anything organic.

Theory 3: dehydration

The link above and others I've read suggest storing cilantro as you do in the fridge, but covered with a plastic bag.  Some wrap their cilantro in a paper towel.  Either way, this creates an enclosed or somewhat-enclosed space that slows down moisture escaping from the leaves.  The air in the fridge is generally dry and can suck moisture out of the leaves.  I know this sounds like the opposite of too much moisture, but there's a window for how much moisture plants want--neither too little nor too much is desired.

I'd try to resolve this in the order above.  If you left the leaves wet, I'd say that's a very likely culprit.  I'd check your fridge temperature next: you could put an ice tray near where you put the cilantro to see if it freezes or starts freezing overnight.  If it's still wilting fast, try doing what you did with a plastic or paper bag over the leaves--making sure the bag isn't crushing them.


Can I bake a cheesecake using only a water bath?

There are a number of technique that you may find acceptable as alternatives to an oven, it in part depends on what equipment you have available.  Any of these technique have their champions and recipes can quickly be found with a web search.

Try "stove top cheesecake" and you will find recipes for using a covered frying pan for instance.  I personally have tried and those are not my favorite, at least of the one I tried as I found it difficult to control temperature.  Here is a blog recipe with an example of this type of technique.  It is not actually the one I have tried and no promises on the actual recipe, but the point is more the technique and a starting point.

Dutch oven I have not tried, but that seems like a very promising approach if you have one as it would trap steam while acting as an oven.  I may have to try it in fact.  I consider the pressure cooker to be a sped up water bath, and a covered dutch oven to be not far from it.  Covered, a straight water bath could be very similar but take longer while these options would up your temperature and speed the process.  This is a Scouting Magazine article on the Dutch oven method. Again, I have not tried this one, nor do I endorse the recipe, but the method seems very adaptable and with the way a dutch oven works, I would think it will work well.  I know how nicely it creates a steam dome for breads for instance.

I personally have had very good luck with an instant pot, and most any pressure cooker would work for those recipes.  If you have one, that is an option worth trying and seeing if you like the results.  It will not get you a browned crust top which some people prefer, but I have found it easy to adjust between a bir more moist to a drier result according to taste.  This is for pressure cookers/InstantPots.  There are many similar out there and this is one I have gone my before for technique.  Most any cheesecake recipe I have used would easily adapt to this, I went there for just the ideas and timing.  With pressure cookers, some recommend enclosing in foil, some not.  I have found it does not make a lot of difference as long as you lightly remove any condensed water as soon as you remove from the cooker and before if fully sets.  I have liked my results, but of course it requires a pressure cooker.

As I consider for applications like this a pressure cooker to be a pressurized water bath, by extrapolation I would say you could do stove top water bath for the entire process, but would have the disadvantage of it taking longer.

Those are a few options over an oven.  The dutch oven technique is championed by campers as well which is shouting at me to try next summer.  Each of these I just picked one item out from search results and there are many more examples that will pop up in any search engine.  For myself, I have found methods like the pressure cooker to me more forgiving and more available for experimentation than oven baked to be honest and it produces what I consider to me a real and tasty cheesecake.


How do I prevent jams from turning brown?

Turning brown on top is usually a sign of too much oxygen in the jar.

The NCHFP FAQ covers this exact topic (search for "dark"). There are a few primary causes:

too much headspace, or bubbles left in the jam before processing;
not enough liquid to cover bits of food/fruit; or
not enough processing time.

All of these result in the surface of the jam being exposed to oxygen. The first two are fairly direct: there's too much air on top. The third is because processing drives some of the air out of the headspace, leaving lower pressure air, which not only prevents browning but also creates a reliable vacuum seal.

Too much headspace is an easy possibility for you to check. The right amount varies depending on the jar size, but you might well have too much.

The processing time is the really worrying thing to me in your case; you're not processing your jam at all, just packing it in hot and letting it seal. That's actually a good way to get unreliable seals, but it sounds like you're getting lucky and it's working out. (But be really careful to test the seal later just to make sure after it's cooled - push down on the middle and make sure it doesn't pop back up.) Still, I might suggest trying a couple batches of jam with a tested recipe that involves water bath processing just to be sure. It might well solve your problem, and it'll make your canning safer.


Can you eat red tomatoes' seeds that turned black?

This sounds like BER (blossom-end rot) which can occur with only the seeds being affected if the condition wasn't severe enough (or for enough time) to affect the flesh. If you remove the seeds (and any parts of the flesh the may have been affected) the rest is safe to eat.


Will an IPA beer work properly for beer bread?

IPA, especially these days, tends to have high bitterness...40 - 60 IBUs in general...often much higher.  Your biggest issue would be whether or not the bitterness would significantly influence the flavor or your bread. As far as the rise, as is mentioned in the comments above, active yeast in the beer may or may not be a factor.  You could always add some yeast to the recipe.


What is this technique where they add a thick sauce and spread it out with the back of a spoon

I've seen it referred to as a tadpole or a comet but I'm not sure if either of those names are widely used. Either way, there's an excellent video on Youtube about how to do them. You want your sauce or puree to have the consistency of mayonnaise for this particular presentation. Just use a dessert spoon to place a circular blob on the plate, clean the back of the spoon and then drag the spoon back through the puree. The video is here.


How should I store sunchokes for 4 months in a hard freeze?

Keep them moist and sealed in a bag at around 32F. Treat them a bit like potatoes except that they are resilient to frost and freezing. In fact, they do survive buried in frozen ground over winter.


It's important to let your eggs get to room temperature. I use this simple recipe for all meringues:

4 egg whites
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar

The cream of tartar is what really makes the egg whites to firm up nicely.


I would suggest using potato starch instead of cornstarch. In my experience it definitely resulted in gooey pie filling. (Cherry in my case)


For real cheesecloth, I throw it in the washing machine, with my clothes. It doesn't get sterile, but it gets clean enough that I don't worry about it becoming rancid. Rinsing it alone wouldn't suffice if you've been using it to strain fatty foods, like yogurt or cheese.

For the cheap "cheesecloth" that sold in the cleaning sections of grocery stores, that would shred to threads if you tried to clean it. It's cheap and disposable, so just throw it out.


Tips for cooking something "bacon wrapped"?

Yes you can. The term is called par-cooking.

Just fry it briefly in a skillet, drain, and wrap your item.


Is it possible to make homemade crème fraiche using clotted buttermilk?

Chances are the "clots" are harmless. Give the buttermilk a sniff and a (small) taste. Does it seem OK? If so, the curdling probably just means that the cultures are still healthy and doing their job.

Whisk it in, and stay the course. Your crème fraiche should be fine.

Of course if the buttermilk smells or tastes spoiled, throw it out.

Buttermilk (and to a lesser degree, dairy in general) is kind of unique in the food safety world in that the sniff test is 99.9% accurate. If it smells OK and tastes OK, it almost certainly is OK.


How do I make this particular pizza dough?

Not to disparage some of my go-to cookbooks, but when I want something that's a little more institutional or American traditional (and I'd say your pizza qualifies), the first places I look for recipes are the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook or the Joy of Cooking. I would bet that their recipes are going to steer you toward that kind of pizza crust.

I would think you'd want to look at a dough recipe with some fat in it--most likely olive oil. And I would think two rises would be good to get that sandwich bread texture of smaller bubbles/tighter crumb. Compared to a traditional Italian pizza, you'll also need a lot more dough, and I expect you'll cook it at a lower temperature than for a thin gourmet pizza (which is usually as hot as your oven can go).

If you're concerned about thick dough coming out a little undercooked (especially in the middle), you could blind bake it (with no toppings) briefly before taking it out and topping it.

If you're feeling really desperate for "that kind" of pizza dough and don't think anything you'll make will be white bread enough, Pillsbury makes a dough in a can that you pop open like their crescent rolls and cinnamon rolls. Pop it, and the dough is inside ready to rock--just unroll it and go.


I normally make a full batch of pitta, freeze most of it and then defrost using the toaster.
Contrary to Joshua Engel's answer, I've never had any trouble with the pitta toasting rather than defrosting; for contexts where I want pitta I'm happy for it to be hot. My toaster has a 'defrost' setting which I think reduces the heat intensity, and I'll typically set it at the shortest setting, then turn the pitta over to heat the part that was sticking out of the top of the toaster. I also sometimes leave it in the oven for a few minutes to defrost instead but have never felt a need to wrap it in foil beforehand, and I don't think it's suffered as a result.


Are berries acidic enough they must be on top, not within, panna cotta?

Reporting experimental results.

I hypothesized that frozen berries will fare better than fresh. The reasoning? It will take them a while to thaw if the cream is poured at room temperature and put in the fridge right after. By the time they thaw, the cream would have set.

In practice, it's more complicated. Alchimista's hunch is accurate. The skin of the berries is not as impermeable as one would think (I skipped strawberries, since they're inherently porous).

Perhaps the berries will keep just as well inside as outside; that is not entirely clear. But the cream will not set as well near the surface of the berries as it sets farther away, and soggy panna cotta seems like a candidate for going bad sooner.

All in all, I'd say keeping the berries on top is a better option. Besides, an enhanced presentation is a good attribute for homemade desserts as well.


Depending on what the ingredients are other than oil and vinegar, the tolerance to freezing is flexible. I would err on the side of caution and wrap the bottle/container twice in bubble wrap so that the ice or cold packs don't directly contact the container. That way, you still get excellent cooling while greatly reducing the risk of damage or separating of the dressing from direct freezing.


Can you roast vegetables before freezing instead of blanching?

Yes you can, however they will suffer the same problems with texture as you find with the blanched beans. This is because it is the cooking part that is affecting the texture, not the freezing.

You can also freeze green-beans fresh without blanching. All you need to do is rinse, slice (if you like), then freeze. They may change color when cooked after thawing to a more brownish green, but the texture is less mushy in my opinion.


How can I keep streusel topping from getting soggy?

Assuming that you want to serve the casserole hot and the streusel crispy, keep the casserole and the streusel separate until almost serving time.

This means you will have to bake the streusel on a cookie sheet until crisp and ready, then let them cool uncovered and transport them in a separate container.

Your casserole base contains eggs, so it must be baked. You want to avoid a "skin" or "crust", so cover with foil at least part of the time or even the whole 30 minutes. (Depends a bit on how wet the mash is.)

Depending on the logistics at the destination, either keep your casserole warm in your carrier or pop it in the microwave for a bit to gently(!) reheat it.

The right time to put the streusel on top of the base is a short while before serving - long enough that the hot mash can warm them up and that they can get a tiny bit soft at the bottom (more authentic!) while staying crisp on top. A few minutes should suffice, but a quarter of an hour would still be fine. But keep the casserole uncovered.


Is it possible to create salty ice cream?

"Sea Salt ice cream" is the one I've heard about. It's literally flavored by sea salt. Online recipes are often themed around the game series Kingdom Hearts, in which a main character enjoys this treat. That ought to be enough to help your search :)


How do I make Pad See Ew with Fresh Rice Noodles

I live in Thailand so I feel I'm qualified to answer this question.

The key sauce for pad see ew (ผัดซีอิ๊ว) is figured out from the dish's name. See ew (ซีอิ๊ว) is a Thai soy sauce that is either dark or light and sweet or salty (yes, four versions in total). The dish also contains fish sauce.

In my opinion, pad see ew tastes best using the dark sweet sauce, which has a deep molasses flavour.

Use only sauce made in Thailand and there are no substitutions. Look for this on the label: ซีอิ๊วดำหวาน (dark sweet) or ซีอิ๊วดำ (dark not sweet). Since you probably can't read Thai I suggest you play a spot-the-difference game.

My personal favourite is this sauce but it's hard to get outside Thailand.

If you do substitute using normal soy sauce you pretty much end up with pad khii mao (ผัดขี้เมา).


Is adding guar gum and lecithin alone enough for homemade ice cream?

@TLSO All industrial/semi-industrial processes involve aeration to make the ice cream fluffy and scoopable. So, you have to introduce some air continuously in the mixture until it sets (using an ice cream maker probably). This trick will make scoopable ice cream just with milk, cream, sugar and optional essence of your choice with no need to add gums or alginates.
It is equally important that the tub of ice cream is returned to the freezer as soon as you have scooped out the ice cream. Because melted ice cream will harden and will need thawing as there is less/no air inside the mixture.
Try and let me know.


Whey is an excellent source of protein and whey protein in particular is used in many body-building supplements.

Please see the excerpt below from  FARMcurious .

  Drink Up! – The acidic tang of whey may be a bit of an acquired tasted but I actually find it refreshing.  Cultured whey has pro-biotics that can help balance the microflora in your gut as an extra bonus to the protein.

The web page gives a lot of information about whey and the many other uses for it as well as a great tip for storing.

Hope this helps!


Why does a cake recipe call for 2 tbsp of hot water?

My sponge cake recipe has the same thing (though I think it has 1/2 dl water). It's basically because the person creating the recipe found that without it the cake batter was too thick and didn't yield a cake that was airy enough. When I left out the water, the cake became more dense and didn't rise quite as much. I find that that water is a nice place to add various flavours, like lemon juice or coffee by substituting some of the water.


Why put pepper on a dish before cooking?

According to wikipedia, the melting point of piperine - the compound responsible for the pungency of black pepper - is 130 degrees celsius, so it's definitely not a given that anything you'll be cooking will heat all of the piperine above 130 degrees celsius - at which point you'd begin to get significantly faster decomposition (and lose the peppery flavor).

Now, the maillard reaction doesn't occur until around 155 celsius, so for cooking steak it's pretty much a given that the outside of the steak (including all of the pepper on the surface) will get hot enough to melt and begin to decompose, so it's certainly possible that you'd lose much of the pepper flavor from the actual peppercorns.

So the two questions are, how much is actually lost?  and where does it all go?

Most recipes that call for crusting cooked meat with black pepper call for a coarse grind.  One good reason for this is that by minimizing surface area, you are not allowing the piperine to heat up and decompose as quickly, so depending on how coarse your pepper is, and how hot you sear your steaks, you may have a not-insignificant amount of piperine left in your pepper.  I haven't found a good source for how fast piperine breaks down at various temperatures so you'd have to test this a bit to see how much of the flavor you could expect to lose.

Probably more important is the "where does it all go?" part of this question.  For this you have to consider that even though the ultimate tempurature of the pepper is far above its melting point, during cooking it has heated up slowly, not instantly, leaving a good portion of time where the piperine was melting but before it was hot enough to decompose very quickly.  During this phase, piperine can escape from the peppercorn, while still intact (not decomposed) and migrate through the steak (or other dish).  While cooking a steak, piperine should migrate far enough into the steak that it does not ultimately reach a temperature where it decomposes.  This will cause that portion of the steak to be flavored with piperine.  So, the benefit of heating the pepper is specifically so that it will melt and migrate into the dish (i.e. meld with the foods), something that you don't get by sprinkling it on the top afterwards.


A probable answer is that maybe it wasn't intended to be firm at all.

There are different types of liverwurst in Germany. The most commonly sold one is indeed firm, but from its texture, I'd guess that it has gelatin added. It is more rubbery than the naturaly gelled meats I've eaten. But there is no guarantee that your recipe was intended for this kind.

Another common type is the spreadable liverwurst. It is a creamy mass which is intended to be spread on bread similar to cream cheese. If you want to make this kind, the meat grinder is probably only good for the first pass. I'd make sure to puree it really fine, a blender is probably better. (Unless you specifically want to make the chunky type).

I am not too sure that pork shoulder is such a good choice, probably the fat wasn't enough.  The most popular recipes on chefkoch.de (a site similar in quality and popularity to allrecipes) call for pork belly, the part which is made into bacon. Some of them also say to add speck, which is the non-rendered subcutaneous layer of fat of the pig. It also tends to come from the belly (sometimes from the back), but has less or no meat attached. Many specify that the meat gets cooked first, then ground. The raw liver gets ground separately (after removing fascia and the ducts). Then everything is mixed, pureed (or regrinded for chunky). Then it is filled (some use natural casing, most fill it into jars, nowhere was muslin mentioned) and sterilized. I found some variance among the methods, but as I haven't tried any of them, I can't tell you which works best. I didn't find a recipe which was explicitly for firm liverwurst, but many of them explicitly mentioned spreadable liverwurst.

I also found some discussion on the proper ratio. This varies (depending on taste) between the liver being 20% to 33% of the whole mass. A higher ratio seems to cause both dryness and bitter taste.

This is probably helpful if you can live with spreadable wurst. If you insist on the firm kind, you may have to experiment with gelatine, because I couldn't find any homemade recipes for that.

Edit: some more research suggests that the denaturing proteins in the liver are enough to bind the leberwurst to be firm, and adding some of the fatty water in which the meat cooked makes it spreadable. The one who wrote it seemed to have some authority on making sausages (at least he made lots of posts and the others didn't disagree with any of them). Again, this isn't my opinion, just a translated summary.


Is there any flavor difference in heated sugar (e.g. cotton candy)?

What Rincewind42 says about caramelization is true in itself, but it doesn't apply here. Cotton candy is made from sugar syrup at the hard ball stage (130°C), so too cold for caramelization. Caramelization only starts occuring at 160°C and above. In fact, caramel has a very different texture from sugar, so it is practically impossible to spin cotton out of it. It makes spidery, unendly elastic strands, unlike the brittle cotton candy strands. Plus, it is visibly brown, and tastes very different from sugar, so you'd notice it when eating the cotton candy.

The flavor of cotton candy is indeed sugar (unless it has had something else added). But taste is not the same thing as flavor. Things taste different to us based on texture, aroma, color and food name. (I once read about a study made with unusually colored puddings. People who had eaten cherry pudding with yellow coloring were sure they are eating banana or lemon, and they were convinced the pink vanilla pudding was strawberry). So it is entirely possible that a gelato customer who eats a gelato called "cotton candy", has lots of sugar and is painted a pastel color will perceive it as having a different taste from non-flavored ice cream which has lots of sugar, but not the color or the name, especially if the texture of the "cotton candy" flavor is tweaked a bit.


There is always a debate on in-the-husk versus out-of-the-husk with roasted corn, but I fall firmly on the out-of-the-husk side of the debate.  When you roast corn in the husk, the steam that is created stays largely next to the kernels.  When you remove the husk, your corn is cooked with dry heat, which provides a really nice texture that has the significant difference from boiling that you're looking for.

  Editing to add: the reason this prevents development of 'roasted' flavours is that dryness is needed for caramelization processes to occur. Excess moisture prevents browning from happening, and either the husk or the tinfoil will trap too much steam; you are essentially steaming the corn (wet cooking) as opposed to roasting it (a dry method).

To keep the kernels from completely drying out while still charring nicely, slather with softened butter and season to your preference.  You can also use a Mexican Corn-style sauce.

I would also use the broiler to simulate more of the kind of heat a grill provides.  Using the broiler (set to high) you only need to cook for a few minutes until you reach the desired char - ten or so.


How much oil should you use when stir frying a single portion?

Use about 2-3tbsp for a 'normal portion', and reduce that by the same factor as you reduce the portion for your daughter, e.g. if your daughter's portion is half the size, use 1tbsp.

Remember you can always add oil, but you can't take it away (not easily anyway), so err on the side of caution and whack a bit more in if it seems necessary.


In my opinion the other cuts of Wagyu beef are equally more tasty than its domestic counterpart. So if you are comparing a USDA triple A piece of brisket with a Wagyu brisket the taste difference will be the same as the Wagyu sirloin compared to the USDA triple A sirloin. Whether it is worth the money or not is debatable, but if money is not an issue why not try sourcing the cheaper meats if such a description could be applied to a Wagyu beef cut.

I would consider the recipe you are planning to use these cheaper cuts for though; my point in this is if you are gettings shins for a stew are you really going to preserve the flavor of the meat enough to make it worth the price.

I could see smoking a nice Wagyu brisket though. If you decide to experiment I would love to hear your opinion.

I have had the sirloin, ribeye, and a brisket not smoked :/ and they have all been better comparatively to their domestic counterparts. I have not had all cuts of Wagyu beef, so my opinion is limited to what I have experienced.


Reheating Falafel without drying them out

A damp paper towel draped or loosely wrapping the food will help keep the moisture levels up.

Also, most people reheat at 100%; this is the quickest way to ruin almost all food's texture. Use the microwave at 70% power for a bit longer time. This provides a more even heating and prevents the moisture from essentially boiling out.


You can do it sans machine, but you are limited to small batches, and it tends to form crystals. You have two choices, bags or freezer container. Bags tends to make less crystallized product, and is a bit faster.

Bags

Get a large 1 gallon ziploc bag, lots of ice, a ~2 cups salt, a small, 1 quart bag and the mix to be turned into ice cream (or frozen yogurt). Chill the mix in the fridge beforehand. This helps the mix cool more quickly and evenly, meaning smaller crystals, meaning creamier product.

Place the cream mix in the small bag, and leave a bit of air. Make sure it is sealed well, you may want to double bag it. Put the small bag in the big bag.

Fill the big bag about half way with ice and add a few tablespoons of salt. Seal the big bag and start mushing the small bag from outside the big bag, moving it around and getting it in contact with the ice. You probably want gloves or to wrap it in a towel: it gets really cold. After the ice melts down, add more ice and salt, keep squishing until the stuff in the bag gets hard. You can toss it on the floor and squish it with your feet while watching TV or reading. Put it in the freezer for a few hours to condition.

This isn't quite as nice as a machine. To compensate for the extra crystallization, you can add more fat and sugar, since those stop large crystals from forming. With frozen yogurt, I don't think there is much you can do.

Freezer Container

This is easier, but makes lower quality product. Simply put your mix in a large container (leave at least half empty), and place in the freezer. Take it out every 10 minutes and shake vigorously for a few seconds. Repeat until it won't move anymore. Use a fork to fluff the mix.


Cheese is often in a recipe for texture as well as flavor: it is stretchy and creamy, as well as "cheesy." One exception would be sauces, or baked into a casserole, in which the cheese is all melted in and is almost entirely there for flavor. I'd suggest attempting a cheddar cheese roux sauce, using soy milk instead of dairy milk and adding a small amount of the cheese extract.

You will need to experiment to get the proportions right, so hopefully your sister likes mac-n-cheese :)


Could be that your yeast was simply not alive.

You could simply try to bloom the yeast with water and sugar. It should become visibly active within a few minutes.


A longer rise can certainly yield large bubbles, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Popping them before stretching works just fine, and a little more force working near where the bubble was will keep the spot together when it cooks.

To much kneading will make the dough tough, but if it has been in the refrigerator all day, then a little more/extra won't hurt anything.


Deglazing removes caramelized bits (the "browned" bits) from the bottom of your pan or skillet after cooking meats or vegetables.

It is usually accomplished by putting stock, sauce, wine, or even water (or really any liquid) in the pan over heat after the pan has been emptied of whatever was cooked into it and any rendered fat and scraping the browned bits into that sauce with a spatula.  The browned bits dissolve into your liquid to create an excellent sauce for whatever you just cooked in the pan.


The muffins were rock hard, what did I do wrong?

What makes muffins soft is starch and fat. You have no fat at all in these "muffins", and very little flour when compared to the vegetables and proteins.

Normal muffin proportions are 2:2:1:1 flour:liquid:egg:fat (per Ruhlmann). I guess you can add up to 2 parts filler (so as much vegetable as flour) before you get the result too terrible. In your mixture, there is a total of 140 g flour and ~700 g fillers (bran, beans, whey, carrots, bananas). This is never going to be muffin-like, you will have to forgo most of your additions. And the whole wheat flour is also making it harder. You either have to change to normal flour, or live with some hardness (it should be manageable if you change all the other factors).

The liquid provided by the yogurt is good if you switch to white flour, no need to change anything there. You may consider adding a bit if you stay with whole wheat, it "soaks" more liquid.

The egg whites are a problem too. First, egg whites make baked goods dry out. You shouldn't be using pure egg whites, they will make bad muffins. You need whole eggs. And second, the equivalent of 4 eggs (200 gram) is probably too much. 1-2 whole eggs would be normal for this amount of flour, 3 makes it pound-cake-like but still usable. Still, you may find out that, if you make all the other changes, upping the (whole) eggs to 4 doesn't make it too bad.

You also used too little sugar. Sugar is an important structural element in muffins. It retains moisture and prevents gluten buildup. It can be reduced if you don't want the taste or the calories, but each gram you take away also reduces the quality of the muffin, so you have to try out and see how much quality reduction you can tolerate.

You had absolutely no fat in the recipe. The standard ratio suggests 75 g. This is also a major factor in softness and moisture.

In short, you cannot take any muffin recipe, remove all the stuff which doesn't have the nutrients you don't want, fill it up with foodstuff you want, pour it into a muffin form and expect it to taste like a muffin. Baking is chemically very complicated, and most of the ingredients are not there for flavor, but for texture. Replacing them with random other ingredients will do nothing good.

You can either return your recipe towards a more traditional muffin, which will of course change its nutrition values back to "sweet baked good", or you can find a different form of combining the foodstuff you have chosen to eat. Mixing it and baking it is not going to work.


Do onion savers differ from other storage methods?

It's the exact same as a Tupperware, and totally unnecessary... Unless you need the visual key of an onion shaped tupperware to remind you that onion is inside.


What does stp yeast stand for in an old recipe?

Could it simply be a typo? -> tsp for teaspoon?

Check if the overall proportions make sense with this, then that's probably what it was ;)


Are smoked pork chops from the butcher safe to eat without any further cooking?

OK - for my bona fides, I'm a microbiologist and have made a career of quality control in food processing including meat processing so I know what I am talking about.

There are two kinds of smoked pork chops, cold smoked and hot smoked. Cold smoked pork chops aren't heat processed, so they aren't  cooked. They have the redder color and the more resilient, moister feel of raw meat. You are only apt to run into them in specialty meat markets or at small local butchers. These need to be cooked to 145F to be safe and palatable to eat. What you find in the grocery store and most meat markets is almost always hot smoked. It is heated during the smoking process and is fully cooked, just like a smoked ham. It looks and feels to the touch liked cooked meat. That sounds like what you have. If you aren't sure ask the butcher or meat department manager. They should know. If they don't, buy your meat elsewhere.

Having said all that, it is common to find the smoked pork chops in the meat case right alongside the raw pork. Being exposed to raw meat undoes the kill step the heat of cooking does to foodbourne microorganisms. Salmonella, e.coli and other organisms are easily transferred from utensils, trays and workers hands back onto the cooked meat. This could be done in the meat case, or in wrapped product it could happen in the back room where the chops are cut up and wrapped. Organisms that find their way onto the meat quickly grow and spread over the meat's surface and may find their way into the interior of the cut through any break in its surface. Unless you are certain it has been factory wrapped, sealed and labelled rather than in the store you should treat it as raw meat and heat it to 145F before serving. At the least be sure the surface of the meat has been seared before serving. I just don't trust the expertise and commitment to providing safe foods you are apt to find in a grocery store or butcher shop. On the other hand, if it looks like it came from a factory already sealed in plastic wrap I would feel certain it was processed on a line that only processes cooked meat and is promptly sealed. I would have no qualms about eating it cold right out of the package.


How do I know if my salmon fish is cooked properly?

The most reliable way to test any meat is with a thermometer. Be careful to insert it all the way into the center (since the outside will be hotter). As has been mentioned in the comments, the 130-135F range is cooked, but very soft. It's more likely that you want something in the 140F-150F range.

This is where the second method comes in - just test it. When fish is cooked, it should easily flake apart, and you can see the inside and verify that it's cooked how you want it. Remember, you can always cook it a bit longer, but you can't go backwards, so don't be too shy about checking it. There's no shame in having to check it a couple times before you decide it's done; within a try or two you'll know exactly what you're looking for. And you can do this along with a thermometer, since it's hard to tell exactly what temperature would be best for you.

Whatever you do, be careful not to overcook it - remove it from the heat as soon as you think it's done. It'll still cook a little bit more, as heat transfers from the outside to the inside.

You still haven't mentioned how you plan to cook it. The picture you think looks bad might actually be really good - if it was cooked on high heat, it may be done perfectly on the inside, with a bit of browning and charring on the outside. If you're cooking it more slowly, that's obviously not what you want it to look like on the outside - then inside would be totally overcooked.

All that said, the easiest way to cook fish (especially if you don't have a lot of experience) is baking it, wrapped in foil (or in a foil-covered dish). It's a slow heat, so it's a lot harder to accidentally overcook it, and it cooks more evenly than a hot pan or a grill. There are a lot of other great ways, but this might be good to start with. You could look for recipes for baked salmon to get some ideas here, if you don't just want a plain piece of fish.


Flat cookies when baking with milled grains

TL;DR: For cookies, use soft white wheat (or try mixing in spelt).  And be aware that you may need to tweak some quantities of things like oil, baking powder, and sugar when you use different flours.

There are several types of modern wheat readily available for milling.  The basic divisions are

Red or white
Soft or hard
Winter or spring

Red means that the bran literally has a slightly redder color to it, but it is also a little tougher, with a slightly stronger flavor, and generally more noticeable in the finished product.  Unless you're specifically going for that rustic wholemeal sort of effect, choose white wheat.

Soft and hard refer to how hard the berry is, but is also strongly correlated with how much gluten you get — soft meaning there's more starch and less protein, and hard being more protein and less starch.  Basically, if you're baking bread you want hard; if you're baking cookies, muffins, cakes, etc., you want soft.

Spring wheat is (usually) planted in the spring and harvested before autumn.  Winter wheat is (usually) planted later, so that it can't be harvested before winter; it goes dormant, and is harvested once it finishes growing in the spring.  (In warmer places like parts of California, spring wheat actually grows during the warm winter, before the desperately hot summer arrives.  It's still spring wheat, though, because of its genetic makeup.)  Winter wheat tends to have slightly lower protein content, though the main driver is soft vs. hard.

Of course, in addition to the modern varieties, you'll also find ancient varieties like spelt, emmer, khorasan (a.k.a. kamut), and einkorn.  These have slightly different flavor, and typically less gluten.  The idea is that humans have bred wheat for millenia, starting from einkorn, to increase the gluten to provide more structure in their bread.  But all that structure that's so important for bread is too much for more delicate baked goods like cakes, cookies, pancakes, etc.  So you want to use one of the lower-gluten varieties for those.  For example, you might try milling 50% soft white wheat and 50% spelt for those cookies, and I bet you'd get a great result.

All of these varieties still have bran, which is usually sifted out of all-purpose flour, pastry flour, cake flour, etc.  When you use whole-grain flour (or mill it yourself and don't sift it), that bran tends to interrupt the formation of the gluten network, giving your baked goods a bit less structure — though maybe grittier, and possibly tougher or more bitter if you don't adjust your recipe.

That's not to mention rye, barley, and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye), which are the other gluten-containing grains.  And then there are completely different grains like oat, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, teff, amaranth...  (King Arthur Flour has a nice guide for this group here.)

All of this is basically saying that — even just among basic wheat varieties — there's a wide world of grains out there to try in your baking.  Whether you buy them as flour, or mill them yourself, you'll really improve your skills if you start branching out by using new grains in your baking.  But not all grains can be substituted for others.  You need to think more, and maybe adapt recipes.  Adjusting hydration levels is the first and most obvious thing.  But sometimes you'll find that it helps to do things like adding some extra baking powder or adjusting the quantity of sugar to get your cookies just right.


You won't get a buttery taste from adding butter to the dough. Even in fat-rich batters like pound cake, the difference between butter and a neutral fat is subtle - it is there, but it doesn't taste like biting into a buttered toast. And in a pizza, you can't add such amounts of fat to the dough, because it will interfere with gluten production, resulting in the wrong dough texture.

If you are prebaking the pure base at some point, putting butter on top of it will give you some buttery taste. But most pizza recipes call for immediate baking with the sauce, if not toppings, without prebaking the naked base (the exception is made for baking thick-crusted pizza in a regular, low-temp oven).

Putting butter in the sauce is also an option, but it will tend to be quite overwhelmed by the tomatoes. In general, a sour taste masks fats well, and a tomato sauce is sour.

I think that your best bet is to use some toppings which remain above the cheese, and put pieces of butter on them the moment you get the pizza outside, or, if they are crustable, in the last 5 minutes of baking. This will create small patches of melted butter with a distinctive flavour. If you do it on the cheese, it will mix with the cheese fat, and make it too greasy, so toppings above the cheese should function better.

The last option is to cheat and use butter aroma - this is what many commercial bread producers use. I wouldn't do that, because I am able to distinguish it for the real thing, but many people seem to be happy with it.


Actually I do this, and I do it because my oven is old and tempermental.

Adding a heavy heat-sink (like a pizza stone, or a half dozen fire bricks) to your oven will increase your pre-heat time, but it makes your ovens temperature much more stable. It's a good thing to do if you're planning on cooking anything that is really temperature sensitive.


If you've truly gone anaerobic and the smell is off, you are growing things other than the intended cultures...

As a rule, I simply feed mine flour and water. No sugar. The cultures can get along fine with the flour. (I did read in a reputable baking book about adding leftover water from boiling potatoes, for the starches, but I haven't had a chance to try.)

If the smell is off, I would dump and start over in a more breathable container. Your entire goal is to grow the sourdough cultures and let them flourish in their happy environment. And as you've smelled, there is a distinctive scent of happy sourdough. Now if the smell has changed, you lost your scented sourdough and are now growing something else.

I've kept sourdough for over a decade, and it's from a culture that is 84 years old. But if it smells funny (or gets brightly colored mold), he's going down the sink faster than dishwater. It's just the nature of the beast.


How do I prevent burned chicken breasts when cooking on the stovetop?

I suspect the blackness comes from the spices you put on the chicken burning.

Try this technique I learnt from Jamie Oliver: Season your chicken as normal. Put the pan on a high heat until it's hot (not stupid-hot, just hot). Add olive oil and the chicken skin-side down. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, take a square of baking parchment or greaseproof paper big enough to cover the pan. Fold it in half until you have a 'folded fan' shape. Hold the point so it's roughly over the middle of the pan, and tear off any excess that goes over the side of the pan. Unfold and you should have a circle of paper. Scrunch it up, then run it under a cold tap and give it a shake.

Turn the chicken over, turn the heat to medium low, then place the wet paper (a 'cartouche') on to the chicken. Finally put a heavy pan lid (the lid from a casserole is ideal) on top. Cook for another 20 minutes.

The moisture in the cartouche helps keep the chicken moist and prevents it from burning. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the breast, so do check it's cooked through before eating (cut it open and check it's not pink).


Can household dish soaps, stored diluted, breed dangerous bacteria?

Molds can often live off even undiluted detergents.

I had discarded contaminated opened bottles more than once, one in recent weeks. There was growth near the nozzle and black streaks suspended in the liquid body. Given the viscosity of typical detergents, it is probable that droplets of contaminated water nurtured the growth and perhaps not the detergent itself. Either way, I would end up dispensing microbes, pathogens or not. Bigger concern is what can be lurking in other bottles without visible signs.

A quick search came up with this "Danger In The Soap Dispenser" article on albeit hand soaps rather than dishwashing soaps and bacteria rather than fungi which are sometimes more resilient.


How can I control humidity levels when curing salami?

Instead of salt, you could get silica gel. These crystals can be found by the bucket, not just in tiny packets. They also make a variety with an indicator that turns pink when they need to be changed.  Bake to refresh them.

Silica gel is amazing stuff.  There is no way you'll not be able to keep the air dry with a mass of absorber tye same scale as the salami.   It's just a matter of how often you'll need to change it.


Can I use a yoghurt marinade in sous-vide cooking?

It is safe.  In fact, the website for the Sous Vide Supreme has a recipe for tandoori chicken that uses yogurt.  http://blog.sousvidesupreme.com/2012/06/tandoori-chicken-sous-vide/


I'm not a professional fudger, but here is my theory: one should add it to the boiling mixture.  The reason is that butter has milk solids that are said to  “burn” at low temperatures (somewhere in the range 120C-150C or 250F-300F) which just above the soft ball stage (113C or 235F) needed for making fudge.  I interpret the burning to mean that those milk solids (sugars and proteins) get a chance to contribute to the Maillard reaction that gives caramel (and its grained cousin the fudge) its great and rich flavor.   Given how unique and varied the flavors arising from butter are, I would not want to miss their contribution by adding them after the heat is gone.


What's this off-white particulate stuff on my pickled asparagus?

From luv2garden.com:

Powdery Mildew “appears as a dusty white to gray coating over leaf surfaces or other plant parts. In most cases this fungal growth can be partially removed by rubbing the leaves. It might be identified incorrectly as dust that has accumulated on the leaves.

So it appears to be powdery mildew on your asparagus...
From Ask an Expert:

Soaking leaves in hydrogen peroxide will kill powdery mildew. However, I would not recommend eating leaves with powdery mildew on them. Powdery mildew is not toxic to humans, but fungi cause allergic reactions in some people.

But hold up! Since the asparagus is pickled, powdery mildew just might not be the case.
From reddit:

The flecks are actually a protein buildup called rutin, a natural flavonoid in asparagus that sometimes reacts harmlessly with the vinegar. Rutin is created within pickled asparagus when asparagus is heated within an acid such as vinegar in the pickling process. Through this process, rutin is drawn out of the asparagus.

So the white specks on your asparagus should be rutin.


Here are two really good, really easy ways to make ramen with eggs:

The easiest way is to just boil an egg and toss it in.  If you eat this a lot, you can boil a few and keep them in the fridge. They should stay good for about 3-5 days. If you like liquid yolk in your soup, soft boil the eggs (boiled between about 3 and 9 minutes, to taste). Just cook your ramen, peel the egg, and drop it in for about 90 seconds right before you eat it. Cut the egg in half if you like. It is best to use older eggs for this. What I like to do personally (and remember this comes from the internet, so listen to me at your own risk) is use them for boiling if they have passed the expiration date, since that date (in the US) is based on the thickness of the egg white, not food safety. Older eggs don't stick to the shell when they are boiled, but new eggs do.

The slightly harder (but tastier) way is to poach the egg in the ramen. To do that, cook your ramen, and make sure you have tasted your broth and you like it. If you don't like the seasoning pack from the ramen, you can add any combination of soy sauce, grated ginger, crushed garlic, oyster sauce, miso paste, sriracha, etc. There are lots of tasty, cheap things to add depending on where you live. Try them! Anyway, back to the eggs... You want to cook the ramen until is is soft but not cooked all the way. Turn the heat down to almost nothing. Crack a very fresh egg (fresh eggs have a nice thick white) into the pan once it stops bubbling. Give it a few minutes. If you want to feel busy, you can spoon the hot broth onto the top of the egg to cook it faster. If you are particular about how cooked it is, jab a knife into the middle of the yolk and check it out.

Here is the last egg and ramen tip: My friends and I just called this noodle slop, but it tastes good, uses fresh at least a few fresh ingredients, and is super cheap. Cook some ramen noodles and drain them. In a big skillet, add some oil and fry some combination of celery, onions, chopped cabbage, ginger, fresh chili peppers, garlic, matchstick carrots, bell peppers, chopped scallions, cucumber, zucchini, etc. You want to cut them to the size you get in Chinese takeout and cook them until they get a bit soft. Then, scramble one egg per ramen package in with the veggies. When the egg is cooked, add the noodles and mix it all together. Add some salt and pepper, or the seasoning from the ramen if you are into the whole MSG thing. It is like cheap chow mein.


The increase in metabolic rate from ingesting capsaicin is nominal and would make very little difference to someone trying to lose weight.

Of more interest is the fact that capsaicin appears to increase satiety - it increases the feeling of "fullness". Studies have shown that adding capsaicin to food results in the overall consumption of fewer calories. This effect too is relatively small, and so would likely only have any practical effect if the eater were also carefully managing their calorie intake.

Eating more spicy food would not cause you to lose more weight - you would simply be consuming more calories. Attempting to add more capsaicin to food in order to increase the effect would simply result in unpalatably hot food.

So, all in all, whilst there does appear to be an effect, it's small. I don't think any amount of spicy foods will cause weight loss on their own - only a planned diet will do that. In other words, spicy food won't cause you to lose weight, but if you are trying to lose weight, spicy foods may well help you to feel better while doing so.


When being canned (or jarred as in this case) the ingredients are put into the jar hot before a lid is put on. When the ingredients cool it creates a suction that pulls the lid down. When you open the lid and hear a pop what is happening is that air is coming in to fill the low pressure inside, which indicates that there was a good seal. This is definitely a good thing.

If there is no pop that means that there is no longer low pressure in the jar, this could be because it was never sealed properly, or the contents have gone off despite the seal and created gas inside the jar. Either way it means that it's not safe to eat.


There are three different crystal types in solidified chocolate with one of them being the prefered type.  This is why we temper chocolate, because it promotes crystallization of the prefered type.

From what I recall, the ideal temperature for chocolate is 70°F and the first type of crystal in chocolate starts melting at around 82°F.  So while not ideal, you should be fine with the room at 78°F.  Keep in mind Lindt chocolate with milk is a little softer than their darker chocolate line.

You can simply place the chocolate in a cooler (like a coleman) along with a pop can that has been in the fridge. The cool can should prevent the chocolate from getting too hot. Switch the can with another cold one daily and that should keep the snap sound in the chocolate along with the taste.


Dried ginger can be kept at room temperature, in any cool dark place (like your pantry), for months to years:

Dried, ground, or crystallized ginger should be stored in a cool dark pantry in a sealed container. Spices with the moisture removed do not really go bad (unless they get wet), but they lose their potency over time and will no longer add flavor to food. If the aroma is gone, the flavor is most likely also gone from the dried ginger.

That's the whole point of drying it; so that it lasts longer without refrigeration.


Can I use a sieve to increase frying oil life?

Your pasta sieve will not be fine enough and it will not prevent what you think it will. The particulates in the oil that burn are burning because your oil it hot enough to burn them. Keeping them suspended above the bottom won't prevent the burning. They will still be submerged in hot oil.

When your oil starts to get older simply run it through a very fine mesh or filter (I use coffee filters) to strain the sediment.


Is taro (satoimo) bark edible after grilling?

It's my understanding that cooking the taro (including the skin) reduces the toxins to an acceptable level. I think the aversion to eating the skin has more to do with texture than anything else.

Boiling is also more effective at removing the calcium oxalate than baking.

If the recipe is from a reliable source, I'd go for it.


Is it okay to throw the food, collected in the mesh in the sink, down the drain, if it doesn't contain plastic?

It's not safe to assume that food won't cause a blockage if there are other processes at work.

I've known multiple people who have had tree roots manage to break into their sewer pipes.  (odds are, there was a leak of water, the roots went towards it, and then opened the pipe up further).  If the drain is already restricted, larger particles can make the situation problematic.

In my case, when the state highway was installing sidewalks and curbs on my street, their contractors ended up crushing sewer lines along our side of the street.  I know that at least four of us were affected, as we started having issues with blockages and basements getting flooded by sewage ... but it took a couple of weeks for other matter to start filling in the crevices until we reached a complete blockage.

Even in the case where you don't already have an obstruction in your pipes, garbage disposals are quite inefficient as a way of disposal; you're wasting clean water in the process, and you're putting extra work on the sewage treatment plants.

Sewage treatment plant are designed to handle a specific volume of water and waste, and in cases of periods above their capacity, they may have to divert untreated water and hope that dilution will be sufficient.  This means increased nutrient loads in your waterways, which can cause algae blooms and kill fish populations.  (although the unprocessed food isn't as bad as the other stuff that's typically in wastewater).

Most carbon digestion is an aerobic process, with the result of the breakdown of food in the wastewater using up the oxygen in the water.  Discharging this low-ox water can also lead to  deadzones.

You also have to look at what a treatment facilities does with their extracted solids.  In some newer facilities, there is biogas extraction, and the decomposition of the materials is used to power the facility.  (sometimes, with excess capacity sold off).  In others, they have to truck it away ... sometimes it's spread on fields as ferilizer.  Other times it goes through a 'de-watering' process ... either pumped to the bottom of a lagoon to digest or spread out into troughs to air-dry, then hauled to a landfill for disposal.

Garbage disposals are convenient, and they're useful for the occassional scraps ... but if you can, compost your food scraps.  As for normal garbage vs. garbage disposal, there too many local factors -- if you're in a water restricted area that doesn't have a biogas system or sufficient capacity at the water treatment facility, normal trash is likely your best yet.  If you're in an area with lots of water, sufficient treatment capactiy and a biogas system, garbage disposal may be better.

For more reading on some of the hidden costs of garbage disposals, see:

http://www2.buildinggreen.com/blogs/garbage-disposals-and-worms-face-over-environmental-food-waste-disposal
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2008/09/should_we_dispose_of_disposals.html
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/trash-talking-the-garbage-disposal-examination-of-a-not-so-green-us-export.html


What you're observing is called syneresis.  Most gelling agents such as gelatin and agar will tend to lose water over time, especially as the temperature goes up (i.e. from refrigerator to room temperature).

What is in fact happening is that the squares are drying out and pushing water out to the surface, which is why the powdered sugar gets soggy or even absorbed (the starch in that powdered sugar keeps it stuck to the jellies).

Gelatin being thermoreversible, you can simply melt it and set it again; it'll be a little on the sweet side due to the increased sugar but otherwise fine.  Of course, you'll just end up with the same results.  You need to add a stabilizer.

Xanthan gum is very good at controlling syneresis and is pretty easy to obtain in health food stores or even supermarkets nowadays.  Add a pinch of that and you'll get much stabler results.  Another additive I've used to stabilize agar-based Turkish Delight is locust bean gum (carob), although I'm not 100% sure if it works as well with gelatin.

Sometimes, you can just let them dry out - periodically wipe the excess water off the surface and hope that it stabilizes.  But be careful; if it's not stable because you didn't use enough gelatin (or didn't use strong enough gelatin) then you might end up with a puddle of goo instead.  So if you plan to try this, monitor it carefully.

Personally, I'd recommend tossing it all in a pot, melting it, throwing in a bit of xanthan gum, and setting it again.  It'll be fine.


How to ensure quality control when cooking with or eating crickets?

As no one is answering, I can only give you anecdotal evidence from back when I was still working in Africa:

Insects were always fried live except for honey ants¹ and something the locals called  butterworms².

Frying makes sense as:

frying is done at a higher temperature than boiling
these critters are too small to be roasted
you're sure of the freshness
any and all diseases they might carry would be surely killed.

Note¹: These were "popped" like pop corn, but without any fat: just thrown in an earthenware jug that had been sitting in charcoal for a while before any ants were thrown in. (These were the only insects I ever actually liked)
Note²: These were beheaded by biting their head off and then their internals smeared over a piece of unleavened bread-like substance made from manioc. (Nope: didn't try those; too gross even for me)


I could see two problems. First, glass isn't very thermally conductive, and it has a lot of thermal mass, so it might take quite a while for the glass to heat up, especially if the glass is thick. This means that you might not get the bottom/middles of your cookies cooked properly; if it takes long enough, they might just dry out.

Second, while tempered glass is made to withstand "reasonable" impacts and temperature changes, what you're describing may not be "reasonable", especially if the glass is thin. The corners and edges would heat up much more quickly than the center, setting up serious stresses. Too rapid a change, or too thin a glass, and the whole thing might shatter.

There may be a magic thickness which neither shatters nor slowly dries your cookies. I won't be doing the experiment; let us know if you do.


small cakes/muffins not rising correctly

I'm willing to bet you're using egg foam for leavening which is notoriously finicky. Despite protestations that it can't be overmixed, it also can't be undermixed! So make sure it's well incorporated into the batter before loading up. Batter color should be even.

For other considerations, similar rules apply if you're using chemical leavening: your tins/cups/pans need to be spotlessly clean. This is my method: Insides are then lubed up to the top with butter or shortening. The insides should then be tossed with a thin coating of something, either sugar or chocolate powder (basically some dry substance). Load your batter in to 2/3 the height of the pan (tends to be roughly the same regardless of the size of the pan for me). Do so very neatly so as not to spill batter and muck up the pan. Also give it a slight few taps to work unsuspended air bubbles up to the surface.


What are the pros and cons when microwaving food in microwave-safe bone china, glass, or silicone?

As Shalryn hinted to, not all glass is the same.

Although I would recommend glass also, I wouldn't recommend something like a thin colored glass cup, as they can't typically take the thermal shock of heating.

What happens is that the glass absorbs microwaves differently than the food being heated; if you're heating a liquid, the top of the glass above the liquid can stay cool while the portion touches the liquid heats up from conduction with the liquid.  Not all glass can take that strain, and it breaks.  (the opposite happens in the oven, the stuff above the liquid line heats while the part in contact stays cooler.

In theory, every piece of glassware that is rated for the oven should be safe for the microwave, but I'd be wary of colored glass, as they're typically colored using metal.  (eg, I have blue glasses, which is often cobalt).  Things that are neither oven save nor microwave safe include:

Metal rimmed glasses
Glass with air bubbles trapped in it
Thin walled containers (anything less than a typical mug thickness)

One test for microwave-safe containers is to heat the glass in the microwave on high for a couple of minutes (possibly more if you have a low-wattage microwave), and see if it heats up.  If it does, it's definitely not microwave safe.  When I've done the test, I check every 30 seconds or so and stop if it's warm.

inserted: You may want to place another microwave-safe container with water in the microwave when testing (see comment from Ecnerwal).  If you do this, you'll also need to increase the time, to let the test container absorb enough microwaves (as a good portion will be absorbed by the water)

... but that really only checks to see if it absorbs microwave radiation  (which was a frequent problem when microwaves were new).  It won't test for thermal shock, which may not happen the first time, but after a few uses.

These days, new products will be advertised as 'microwave safe' or possibly as not microwave safe, so if you're unsure, stick with the ones that claim to be safe.

As for speed issues -- if the container breaks and you have to clean up the mess (and can't eat the food, then yes.  I don't know how much the vessel absorbing microwaves actually affects speed ... the part in contact with the food will conduct heat to the food (especially if it's liquid or relatively wet).  You might be slowed down wondering if it's safe to eat after microwaving something in plastic, and finding the rim partially slumped.  (which I have no idea if it's safe.  When I was a grad student, I'd probably have eaten it.  Now I'd likely pitch it)


Best method to prepare catfish (very soft flesh)?

Dredging in lightly salted cornmeal and then frying (shallow frying is fine, but deep frying is magical) is an absolute classic in the Southern US, where catfish eating is big. I usually just put the plain filets in the cornmeal without first dipping in egg or milk. I don't think it's necessary--though I'd go with milk if I were forced to use something. After dredging, I let them sit on a wire rack for a minute or so before frying to set the cornmeal (which I would do if using egg or milk also).

Generally, though, most treatments that work for a mild, tender white fish will work. Recipes for flounder or sole (Sole a la Meuniere for example), or ones that look for rockfish or striped bass will work really well.

Bear in mind that catfish does have a distinctive flavor, though it's not really strong. Some people don't care for it, and they tend to describe it as "muddy" tasting. Personally, I don't see it. If you like the catfish OK, but find the flavor intrusive in some applications, adding spicyness or acid (lemon juice, vinegar) will mute it.


brown sugar has gained some moisture, want to remove

Refrigerating things usually dries stuff out in modern refrigerators, which tend to remove moisture, rather than retain them.  I agree with sourd'oh that drying is likely your issue.

It sounds like you are asking how to remove clumps.  I use a sifter, or try to move the grains through a strainer with a fork.  What are you using the brown sugar for?  Will it dissolve during mixing anyway, removing clumps (as in when beating cake batter)?


Safety glasses in the kitchen: why are these not common place?

One reason is that food ingredients are generally safe to ingest, unlike most school lab or workplace chemicals.

Food items often don't contain as much stored energy as lab/workplace chemicals.  Turning a standard stovetop to "High" may heat a pan to around ~650 degrees.  This is much lower than the temperatures required to melt most metals and many other elements, so the odds of creating an explosion that may send debris into your eyes or perforate your skin is much smaller.  Of course, this doesn't make it completely safe, simply safer.  If you follow common kitchen safety advice, you should be reasonably safe.  Don't add water to hot oil, don't use a malfunctioning device, etc.

When you're wearing safety equipment in a school lab or workplace environment, often you're wearing safety equipment even when it's not strictly necessary, in order to reinforce the habit of using it when it is required.  So while you may wear googles, apron and gloves to boil water in chemistry class, it's less about imminent danger, and more about making sure that everyone understands and is willing to use safety equipment properly and consistently.

Finally, kitchen equipment is heavily standardized and regulated, so while accidents can happen, their likelihood is far smaller than accidents in a lab setting.  Few people apply direct flame to glass or Pyrex containers in their kitchen.  Similarly, it's somewhat easy to clumsily knock a Bunsen burner into a classmate's highly-energetic extra credit project in a school lab.

As for the WebMD numbers, it appears that they're based upon this study.  Only a small percentage of the injuries require admittance (20k out of 636k, about 3%, including workplace injuries), and most others are either superficial injuries or injuries to the area around the eye.  At 40%, that's 8000 injuries at home that require admittance, with about 30% involving the eyeball itself, and most of those are lacerations that cooking couldn't cause.  Burns barely register across all injuries, workplace and home.

So you're pretty safe cooking at home.  You'll probably burn your skin from time to time (we all do), but don't let the small risk unnerve you.  If cooking was that dangerous, you'd see a lot more people wearing eye patches.