How to get pickled mushrooms to be less sour?

Draining the juice, refilling the jar with oil and then storing to reduce the acidity won't work because:

Acid and lye can be diluted only with water or liquids like water (if I remember correctly, ethanol will also work) but not oil.
You might run into the risk of botulism. (Maybe not since the mushrooms are sour. If you don't measure the pH you can't be sure).

The only thing you can do is to soak the portion of mushrooms you intend to eat in water before eating. Replacing the brine with water of the whole jar beforehand to lower the pH will shorten the shelf life significantly.


Bread has tough, crunchy crust but is underbaked in the middle - how to fix?

First off, there is a way bakers measure the proportions of ingredients that is pretty unique to bread—everything is measured relative to the amount of flour by weight. A ratio of 0.6 (or 60%) means if you use 10oz of flour, you use 6oz of that other ingredient.

There are typical ranges for these. For example, salt will typically be 1–2%, yeast (depending on type of yeast) ≤2%. Water will be between 55–85% (the low end is bagels, the high end is various artisan rustic breads), and typically 60–66%. Note that high gluten flours (like bread flour) soak up more water than lower gluten flours (like all-purpose), so they'll need a few % more water. The more water the looser and tackier a dough becomes (and, ultimately, becomes a batter instead with enough water.)

Please forgive me for working the rest of this in metric, it's what I normally use to bake. Yes, despite being American… The math is so much easier without having to do lb→oz, etc. conversions.

Your recipe has 9 cups of water, which is ≈2130g. It calls for a firm dough, and you're using bread flour, and hand kneading (which means you'll add a little more in from dusting as you knead) so I'd go with around 62%. That'd be 3435g of flour (2130÷0.62). [That's 121 oz, or 24 c. if you insist.] We can now use that to compute the baker's ratios of the other ingredients:

3T of yeast, according to an online converter is ≈29g. So that's 0.85%, which is reasonable.
3–4T shortening is ≈1–1.5%. Shortening (or fat in general) tends to make bread less chewy (think of a good baguette and how that has a chewy toughness to it—shortening lessens that.)
1½ c. powdered milk is about 100g, about 3%.
6T + 2t sugar is about 85g, or 2.5%.
1T table salt is 17g (0.5%). There is another gram or so in the powdered milk. Salt slows down yeast, and does various other things, but mainly it's for flavor.

Those all look pretty reasonable, so this recipe should work. (Personally, I'd suggest doubling the amount of salt in there, for flavor.) Also, it's possible that all-purpose flour might actually work better than bread flour, since you're not going for chewy.

Now, for some ways it can go wrong:

You're putting a lot of warm ingredients in your dough. Starting with boiling water (I have no idea why, honestly. Maybe to melt the shortening?). Then you add hot water, and finally some cold water. Unless "cold water" means "ice", the resulting mix is still going to be hot. You must not heat the yeast above 130°F. That will kill them pretty quickly. I'd interpret that "cooled enough" step to mean 115°F at most.
If you measure your flour by volume (cups), that's error-prone (you can easily put anywhere from 4–6oz/cup, depending on how you measure). A $20 digital scale is far superior and quicker, too.
When you start kneading this, it's going to be tacky and stick, at least once you get all the flour mixed in. Try not to add too much additional flour while kneading—use only the minimum required to make it handleable. As you knead, even without adding flour, it will get better. You can use a bench scraper (or a pie server or even a table knife in a pinch) to help pull it off the board if it sticks.
If at some point during kneading it becomes stretchy and difficult, let it rest for a few minutes.
This dough should double (and no more) before you knock it down. Then you shape it (and there is a technique to that), and it should double again in the loaf pans. Be patient.
When done baking, the center should be at least 190°F, maybe even 200°F. If it's under 190°F, put it back in the oven. Feel free to turn down the oven if its browning too much. (Though I think your times are reasonable.)

Finally, almost all bread has a crispy crust after cooling fresh out of the oven. Once it cools, place it in a plastic bag for a few hours—that'll soften the crust.


I need to keep blacks beans and rice warm.

I would place cooked beans and rice in a warmed pot (cast iron is good) and then place it in your oven set at its lowest temperature...Maybe 175F, and certainly below 200F.  At 375F your rice and beans will continue to cook.


Can clotted cream be made with UHT cream?

This recipe seems to suggest that using UHT cream will work, but that it will be a bit softer than if non-UHT cream is used.  Perhaps you can compare your technique to the one suggested in this recipe to see where it diverges.


Marinating Chicken before stewing it. Will there be a significant difference in the flavour?

Marinating meat is typically for fast-cooking methods like grilling.

Typically when stewing, the chicken will stew for more than an hour, so any flavour from the marinade will be MOSTLY lost.  If you use a very strong marinade, like balsamic vinegar, you might retain a small bit of flavour in the chicken.  But keep in mind, the flavour will undoubtedly seep into the rest of the stew.

Overall there is usually not much point in marinating stewing meat, simply because you can impart all the flavour you want in the surrounding sauce, and tenderizing is done by the long cooking process.


Not sure I understood your question correctly.

Yes there are differences.
1)soups and stocks. If you boil a chicken soup in will end up cloudy. If you simmer it will be clear.

2)rice. The proper way to make rice is to get it up to heat then cook covered on low heat. If you were to boil, the outsides would be destroyed/mushy and the insides would still be hard.
I'm sure there are many other examples


Will steel cut oats work for oatmeal cookies?

Steel cut oats take a lot longer to cook than rolled or quick oats. It's unlikely they will completely cook before the cookie is done. You could try it, but I'd recommend presoaking them in hot water for an hour, or maybe even parboiling them for a few minutes. You'd need to adjust your wet ingredients accordingly as well.


Why should one boil water over medium-high heat for pasta?

A few lines of thought:

Pasta water boiling over happens to the best of us. Either from not paying attention, using too little water, or using too much water. Using the medium-high heat versus max heat helps mitigate boil overs from happening.
On my own stove, when the burner is at its highest setting, much of the heat ends up being directed up the sides of the pot, rather than on the bottom of the bot. The gas flame becomes so wide underneath the pot, that much of the heat is lost to the air, rather than being focused on the pot. This makes the medium-high setting more efficient than high. Obviously this all depends on the pot and the burner, but even my larger pots have this happen to them.
If you were shooting for another temperature, like 200F (93C), instead of boiling it would be hard to hit that number on high heat without going over. Even if you have a thermometer in the pot and turned the burner off immediately after hitting 200F, the water would continue to rise in temperature as the residual heat carries over. Ideally, as the water gets hotter and closer to 200F, you would want to slowly back off the heat until getting to the point that will allow you to hold the water at exactly 200F. I think it's the same idea for boiling water. It's okay to use high heat, but you want to back off the burner as the water gets closer until you end up on medium-high: a good happy-medium for keeping water boiling versus having hotspots on the bottom of the pot.


What is the thick white substance in my pasta water?

Like MaxW said, it's starchy water. This happens because

  Pasta is made from flour, water, and sometimes egg—that means it’s basically just starch and protein rolled out into different shapes and dried. It’s the starch molecules that are important. Once they’re heated in a moist environment—like your pot of water—the starch will absorb more and more water until it finally bursts. That sends little starch molecules into your water, resulting in white foam.

It is not a sign of overcooking. But your picture is a visible sign that there is not enough water in the pot.

To avoid it, use a bigger pot and use more water. You haven't mentioned how much water you have used for how much pasta. The Culinary Institute of America teaches one gallon of water per pound of pasta. Also, make sure you don't skip the most important step of bringing your water to "boiling" stage before you add in your pasta. Stir as soon as you add the pasta because this is when the first layer of starch is released and pasta can clump together. If there is not enough water at this stage, starchy water will look something similar to your picture. Stir your pasta often while it's boiling.

Edit:
As it is kindly pointed out by Joe in comments, you may not necessarily need to use a full gallon of water per pound of pasta according to this article. However, you still need enough to cover the pasta and then pasta swells as well, as it cooks.


How long to cook a 150 lb. pig in the ground?

Last time I did one it was an overnight proposition, sources I find recommend planning on 24 Hours for a 150lb Kalu-a-que.

  A pig roasted in the ground, Hawaiian or Kalua style, can take 12
  hours if done right and if it is filled with fruits and vegetables it
  can take 16 hours or longer.

If your pig is a purchased commercially (from a local farmer or reputable butcher) internal temps above 145°F are considered 'safe' but some people are still not comfortable with pork that is still that pink...so you should probably aim for 155°F (some will still be pinkish, others will have moved onto whitish, without (hopefully) drying out too much.

If you are serving up a wild pig/boar... (IMHO) Nothing less than 180°F will do.

I would recommend giving yourself at least two hours of 'slack' to pull the pig out of the hole two hours before scheduled feed time and start slicing (and storing in a couple of ice chests (no ice...insulated to keep the meat warm) so that serving goes faster. Slicing/chopping 'to order' will create a bottleneck in your festivities.


How to turn over large number of items halfway through baking oven

Yes, it is supposed to be a 180 degree flip, you want both sides to be heated evenly.

If you are using a flat or low-rimmed baking sheet, and have a second one the same size: oil the second sheet with only a very thin layer of oil. Take the first sheet outside, cover with the first. Grasp at the two sides, flip both sheets with the food sandwiched between them. Bake in the second sheet (which is now on the bottom).

Of course, this has its downsides too. You cannot use baking sheets with too high a rim (else the food will slide inside too much), you have a second sheet to clean, and there is the danger of burning yourself while you wave a hot baking sheet around. But especially for large amounts of food, or multiple batches which are done in two sheets anyway, it might be less hassle than turning with a spatula.


I found your question very interesting as, even though we know there are delicacies, I never thought about how something came to be considered a delicacy.
The following excerpt from an article in  psmag.com  sheds a little light on the subject. The article in its entirety is very interesting and demonstrates how the same thing may or may not be a delicacy today and the opposite tomorrow.

Cultural influences lead to the difference in the habitual consumption of certain foods and in traditions of preparation, and in certain cases can lead to restrictions such as exclusion of meat and milk from the diet. Cultural influences are however amenable to change: when moving to a new country individuals often adopt particular food habits of the local culture.
Social influences on food intake refer to the impact that one or more persons have on the eating behavior of others, either direct (buying food) or indirect (learn from peer’s behavior), either conscious (transfer of beliefs) or subconscious. Even when eating alone, food choice is influenced by social factors because attitudes and habits develop through the interaction with others. However, quantifying the social influences on food intake is difficult because the influences that people have on the eating behavior of others are not limited to one type and people are not necessarily aware of the social influences that are exerted on their eating behavior.


In what ways can solid egg yolk from a boiled egg be processed/preserved?

I'll add an answer that doesn't address your question directly, but does address the underlying concern:

If patrons regularly discard part of the dish, you should ask why. With hard boiled eggs cooked in a large scale cafeteria kitchen it's easy to overcook the eggs, just leaving them in the water for hours on end. This results in a greyish, crumbly and unappealing yolk, often discarded.

If you can get the kitchen to improve their process, perhaps with smarter egg boiling appliance, the end result will be more appealing and thus less wasteful.

This, of course, is extremely optimistic, and getting a cafeteria to invest in the tools and training for no immediate return will be very difficult. Perhaps a more feasible alternative is to petition for less wasteful egg preparations, perhaps omelets, where the entire egg is used.


What is causing my butter toffee to separate?

If you are using an electric stove you might have heat fluctuations enough to make it separate.


Is there anything special about "homogenized" shortening?

There is no way to know what they meant when they said "homogenized" - this really sounds like marketing-speak.

But if you are trying to whip shortening with water, you will need emulsifiers. I could imagine that the Spry already had them in. The "With cake improver" sentence in the can also points in this direction, as cake improver often contains lecithine.

You can try normal vegetable shortening. If it does not whip but stays separated from the water (it will probably break up into tiny droplets swimming on the surface under the mixer, but if you let it sit around for a few minutes, they will start coalescing into larger droplets, with the tendency to join into a single oily layer on top of the water), then throw it out and make a second batch, but add an emulsifier to the water first. Lecithine, xanthan, or guar will all work. Then you will get a really whipped shortening, something of a poor man's hollandaise. Work this with your flour.

You must be aware that while the crust made this way will be tender, it won't be flaky. A flaky crust is flaky because it is made from two different textures, the flour-fat mixture and the flour-water mixture, and they separate each other in sheets after kneading. If you mix the water and fat into a whip first, you will not get any flakes. You will get a shortbread crust, which is fine - it tends to be the standard pie crust in continental Europe. But if your goal is flaky, then you should follow the traditional cutting method, Kenji's easy flaky method, or the traditional boiling method.


Can you leave chicken in smoker after it quits cooking to stay warm

Safety-wise, as long as you keep the chicken above 140°F, you can keep it there forever. Once you get below 140°F, you're supposed to have it either eaten or cooled to 40°F within 2 hours. (It's actually safe a little lower—but it's best to leave a margin of error!) For details, see How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?

Quality-wise, it's going to continue to cook, and its going to continue to lose moisture (unless your smoker is really humid, like a commercial combi oven can be). The hotter it is, the faster it will cook and dry out. Cooking is fairly slow once you get down to near 140°F, though.

Three hours should be doable.


Why is the nutrition information for these two items so different?

You are comparing (100 g of custard made with some of this powder and some milk) to (100g of this powder) -- ignoring the salt, anyway.
The magic words are

As prepared with semi-skimmed milk

That's where the sugars and proteins come from, among other things.


Starch accumulating as sediment during shallow fry

Its your temp. The high temp of your deep fryer is exactly why your starches are staying put. Why did you choose a cooler temp for your shallow frying?


Usually I look for an edge about 0.5cm (1/4 inch) wide, unless they are very large (9cm or more) ravioli, in which case I'll allow 1 to 1.5cm.

However, if you're using egg roll wrappers, rather than fresh dough you made yourself, you might want to allow more generous margin than that, as you did.  Therefore the ratio depends on both the type of noodle dough used, as well as the size of the ravioli.

Other things which make ravioli pop open are:

not getting the edges wet or not pressing them enough
air trapped in the ravioli
filling or oil caught in the edge dough
overcooking
rough handling during or after cooking
a filling which is too wet (uncooked spinach, for example)


Traditional sushi rice ("meshi") is defined by both the stickiness of its rice but also its lack of gumminess.  Each grain of rice is supposed to remain distinct.  The final component of sushi-meshi is of course the application of vinegar, which is supposed to evenly coat the outside of every grain.  Proper application of vinegar is not possible unless the grains remain distinct.  Therefore, if the rice is overcooked or cooked too slowly, water will have more time to penetrate and the starches will have too much time to swell, causing it will turn into a sticky mess with indistinct rice grains.  Furthermore, basmati rice can't be used for traditional sushi-meshi because it doesn't have enough amylopectin (the starch in rice that makes it sticky/"glutinous").  Glutinous rice (which has 100% amylopectin and virtually no amylose) is used for ketupat but isn't used for sushi-meshi, since it is too sticky.

There is nothing culinarily wrong with using a slow cooker to make rice; if it tastes good, eat it!  In fact, a quick web search reveals many recipes.  Here is also an answer to a relevant question.  But I don't see a way of making sushi (for which there are relatively strict traditions and definitions) using a slow cooker.

Edit: To answer your specific question…

  Would slow-cooking destroy taste or scent quality of the rice?

The distinct aromatic scent of basmati rice comes from 2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline, which is also formed from the Maillard reactions.  Since the Maillard reactions happen at a much higher temperature than that at which your rice cooks, I would guess that those flavor compounds would not be harmed by using a slow cooker.

Edit #2: According to this study, 2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline is highly volatile and absorption in rice can be hindered by excess water and/or long cooking times.  This suggests that using a slow cooker to prepare basmati may produce less aromatic rice than using a quicker, dryer method like steaming.  As an interesting side note, the study also suggests that this aroma can be intensified by adding pandan leaves while cooking the rice.


Does cooking one month expired canned goods render it edible?

If the food is spoiled, no, it's still unsafe, because cooking may not destroy toxins that have built up over time.  Botulism is a particularly nasty one that will not be destroyed without pressure cooking, and can really, really mess you up.

... but in the case of canned goods, if the cans are still intact (no punctures, rust, etc), and the canning process was done correctly, the food inside will remain safe even if the quality of the food may have changed, which is what the 'use by' or 'best buy' dates typically signify for canned goods.  (some will argue it may change for the better).

In the scope of storage lifetime for canned goods, one month is relatively nothing.  It's more significant what temperature it had been stored at up until now, as canned goods age significantly faster at warmer temperatures.  I personally wouldn't hesitate to eat stuff in a one-month past 'use by' date can (or even a year past), but I'm in a more moderate climate than you are.

If the cans have been in a relatively cool place (not in direct sunlight, or stored near a heat source), it's probably okay.  Look for obvious signs of puffiness, and listen for air escaping then you open the can  (entering is okay ... escaping is bad).  If you hear lots of hissing after breaking the seal on the can or if it smells or looks off, just pitch it and don't risk it. (as would be true for canned goods still within their 'best by' date ... although then you might be able to get a refund from the company if you contact them)

And, to cover myself from potential litigious behavior : If you're immune supressed, I wouldn't suggest you take the risk.  I also wouldn't suggest serving it to others ... although the risk may be low, other people should get to make an informed choice if they wish to risk it.  (older people and small children are more likely to have issues)


What is this hinged tool with a box full of wicked grooves and teeth?

This is an ice crusher.

You put some cubes (or use your ice pick to cut a hunk off from a large block), put it in the compartment, and squeeze it closed. Those gnarly bumps and teeth will crush the ice.
I would personally consider it more "home bar equipment" for crushing ice for cocktails, though that's certainly not the only use. As mentioned in the comments, it probably doubles as a decent nutcracker, though that's not it's intended purpose.


Cans are all sealed, but I forgot to boil the closed jars - should I boil them now?

I know the inversion method doesn't involve a water bath, you simply fill the jars, put the lid and band on them, and turn them upside down.  There's question on how safe that is.  (I know you didn't do the inversion method, but it's close even if by accident.)

I know marmalades can take up to two weeks to firm up and if they don't by then, it's suggested to reprocess them.  At this point, I would say you would be safe to reprocess them.  I wouldn't put what you have directly into a water bath though.  I would pour the contents back into a pot and bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, wash the jars and bands and use new lids.  Then fill the clean (hot) jars and put into a water bath.


I think you're on the right track. Curds exist with many fruits, but the most common are all very strongly flavored (citrus, raspberry, cranberry, etc). As long as you use a fruit that will add a lot of flavor before adding too much liquid (or reduce the liquid out), you should be fine.


So... Based on our comments, I'm answering. I think what you're looking for is literally deep fried tofu skin or bean curd sheets. Tofu is literally the result of heating soy milk (made from beans) and curdling it with a chemical (called nigari in Japanese) or an acid and then pressing excess liquid out of the curd. And if that sounds like making a fresh cheese like paneer or cheater ricotta, that's because it is.

"Bean curd" is another word for tofu, but seems to have come to refer to the skin that forms on top of the soy milk as its heating preferentially. But as in my comment, it can also be called tofu skin. That skin is thin, but strong and flexible, and really versatile. It can be moistened and used like an egg roll skin, or stir-fried, or added to soup, or served as a dish in its own right with a sauce like you had, or fried like a pork rind and eaten like chips. It's quite crispy when fried, but quickly becomes chewy again in my experience if paired with a sauce or filling (or hey, I could be doing it wrong).

As for the spiral aesthetic, it's not an inherent feature, but the sheets are very malleable when damp, and could easily be rolled up and fried like that. It would allow more sheets to fit in the fryer at once.

Your restaurant could have bought pre-shaped rolls, but I'm guessing it would be cheaper to buy big sheets and shape them in-house.

As for the sauce, I can't help you, but there are actually a lot of recipes out there. It seems like fried/sauced bean curd might be a popular side dish at a lot of dim sum restaurants.


Try searching for "mascarpone e salsa di mandorle"

Here's an example recipe that I found.
http://www.subitoricette.it/ricetta-spaghetti-mascarpone-mandorle/


Please see below from an article on  teaandcoffee.net .

  Breakfast tea blends tend to contain teas that produce a cup strong and robust enough to “get the body moving” in the morning, allowing you to start your day with a kick. Conversely, afternoon tea blends are designed to be lighter in character and tend to be smoother on the palate, creating the perfect feel for a day winding down.

There is more to read and some very interesting information on the subject. You may want to take a look at the page.


How do I get rid the yellow layer of oil that forms in my cream of mushroom soup?

Yes, cream soups are typically roux-based. If you add some flour (roughly an equal amount to the butter) to the fats, whisk and cook the flour for a couple minutes and then slowly whisk in the milk, it will be much less likely to separate. The soup will also be thicker, which I would imagine is a good thing.


Is there a disadvantage to a textured cutting board?

There is another disadvantage to consider with very acute knives (eg sashimi knives, usuba bocho, gyutos sharpened to 12 degrees per side or below) on these kinds of boards: The edge tends to get trapped between the bumps, and instead of camming out,  can be bent out of alignment if torque is accidentally applied to the blade (easily happens with rock chopping/walking techniques). Also, you tend to get unclean cuts (similar to a tear-off perforation) at times because the edge bites into the bumps while the food is pushed between them (can happen eg when cutting very elastic foods, like raw dough).

Also, the anti-slip effect from that texture is questionable at best, these boards can be even more slippery on some surfaces - if textured both sides, they can also slide around on your work surface (this is dangerous!) even more than if they were smooth - some mitigation can be achieved by putting towels or paper between the surfaces...


Is smell a bad way of determining whether meat is still good?

It is absolutely untrue and very dangerous to think that "if it looks OK, and smells OK, it must be OK." If that were the case, food poisoning would be very rare. Food that we can sense is spoiled rarely causes illness. For one thing what you don't eat can't hurt you, and people generally won't eat food that looks or smells spoiled. But less obviously, much of what causes spoilage that we can taste, see or smell is actually fairly harmless to humans. Spoilage and rancidity are terms that are often used interchangeably, but rancidity is actually a specific kind of spoilage, caused by the relatively harmless oxidation of fats which is unrelated to any kind of bacteria or other microorganism. It's just a function of time, temperature, oxygen, and light. Fancy dried cured meats get a fair amount of their special flavor from controlled rancidity. Molds and yeasts cause food to spoil, but are also used in controlled ways to create flavor. Dairy cultures are bacteria, and bacteria plays a major role in fermentation.
What causes illness and death are often things that we can't taste, see, or smell. Salmonella, E. coli and C. botulinum are usually undetectable by our senses. Mishandled food that has been heated to temperatures far hotter than is necessary to kill any and all dangerous organisms can still kill if those organisms have produced chemical toxins or deadly spores. We usually can't sense those either.
That's why the rules exist. You need to take care to keep food out of the dreaded "danger zone". Foods that are considered unsafe unless cooked to a specific temperature ARE unsafe unless cooked to that temperature (although government recommendations in that matter are often overly conservative, there is room there for assessing your own risk). Preserved foods must have appropriate acid, salinity, sugar or other tested preservatives. Stored foods must be kept at the proper temperature. Dried foods must be dried correctly. Canning procedures rules seem overly strict. They are not. Learn the rules, disobey them at your peril.
There is a lot of good information here under the food-safety tag. We are not making this stuff up. The CDC "estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases." That's just in the US where food handlers (home and professional) are mostly educated in basic food hygiene and just about everyone has access to a refrigerator. The worldwide figures are staggering.


How to preserve home-made salad dressing, without using bad preservatives?

What is a "bad preservative"?

The main additive preservatives used today are ascorbic acid, citric acid, ethanol, salt, sodium nitrate (pink salt), sugar, and vinegar - all of which have been used for centuries, and other than with excessive use, are not seen as harmful

Weird chemical preservatives are often only used with weird chemical ingredients, stick to basics and you'll be fine

Pasteurisation, electrical pulse, and other heat treatments are used commercially and give products those amazing shelf live times. Without specific equipment and monitoring systems they are hard to reliable reproduce at home

Your home made dressing will last long enough in the fridge for you to get bored with it and want a new flavour :-)


Would a cream based sauce go well with steaks?

You may have been served Bearnaise, which is a common red meat sauce. Bearnaise is based on Hollandaise (a mother sauce), a butter based sauce. Hollandaise is somewhat advanced to make because it is important to keep the temperature right and the ratios correct while making it, but the result is worth the effort.


Why exactly is thawing via hot water bad?

Thawing in hot water is unsafe for exactly the same reason that thawing on the counter is unsafe. You'd be very quickly raising the exterior temperature of the food to the danger zone (4-60° C), and allowing it to stay in that range for an extended period of time, in many cases more than the prescribed limit of 2 hours, and actually considerably less than 2 hours at "hot" temperatures.

Hot water or even warm water is arguably much worse than defrosting on the counter, because the exterior will heat up much faster than the interior. This might be OK for something like a 1/2" steak or a single chicken breast (even though it's still contra-indicated by every food agency) if the defrosting time is very short; but if you only have a small portion and want it defrosted quickly, you're far better off using the microwave which will do it just as quickly but much more safety and evenly. And for something like a whole chicken or a leg of lamb, it's almost guaranteed that the interior will still be nearly frozen by the time the exterior is above room temperature.

The reason for using cold water is to keep the entire item either below or at the very edge of the danger zone, where it can be held safely for several hours without much risk of bacterial contamination.


I am not sure that the boiling step is absolutely necessary, but it is definitely an easy way to heat to a known temperature (rather than saying "heat to 180 degrees" and people complain because they don't have a thermometer). Or, it could just be because generations of chefs have done it that way and nobody thought to ask why. Either way, it is typical to heat the dairy, temper the eggs (creme brulee) or dissolve the gelatin (panna cotta) with that, and then finish cooking (gently heat to the desired consistency) for the creme brulee or just chill the panna cotta.

With that said, I have successfully made thin custards for ice cream/ gelato sous vide without first boiling the dairy and they have received wonderful reviews from my wife. Also, this recipe for panna cotta specifically cautions you to not boil the mixture.


A pizza burning on top while being undercooked on the bottom can be caused by uneven heat in the oven, as well as a pizza being overloaded with toppings. The former can be an issue with the oven itself, or can indicate that you are not drawing enough hot air over the top of the pizza. The latter is self-explanatory.
A trick sometimes used by pizzaiolos to prevent the bottom of the pizza from burning when the top has not cooked enough yet, is to lift the pizza closer to the top of the oven using the peel. This way, the top of the pizza gets some extra heat, while the cooking on the bottom slows down.
This image, which stems from a pizza oven manufacturer's Instagram post shows what I mean. The post also explains what is happening, and introduces the wonderful term "doming" for this practice.


Can a pasta pot be used for cooking sauces?

"Pasta Pots" for the most part are just pots that come as a kit with a fitted colander and a lid which make cooking pasta easier. In 99% of cases they are not exclusive to cooking water based cooking methods, and for the rare exception it would be plainly marked on the packaging when you bought it (if you didn't look, check online for resources either from the retailer or manufacturer).


Wild rice, if left in the soup, will absorb water until it is bloated and mushy.   You should therefore refrigerate it separately, and add it as you are finishing the soup.

Foxes, deer, raccoons and so on aside, assuming the temperature outside is at 40 F / 4 C or lower steadily, you can use it as a giant fridge/freezer.  Of course, if the temperate goes as low as you have indicated, your soup base is likely to freeze, which may be inconvenient.


Your syrup is perfectly safe. People will argue about whether it's necessary to store maple syrup in the refrigerator in general. Regardless of your feelings about that, it's a fact that many people don't refrigerate it at all, ever, with no discernible ill effect. Certainly, 7 hours or even 7 days at room temperature will do you no harm at all. Maple syrup has a fairly low concentration of water, so few organisms are able to grow in or on it. And those that do grow very slowly.

Enjoy your syrup.


How to stop my cupcakes from sticking to their cupcake wrappers?

Isn't that normal?

I suppose if it's causing a problem, you could use a non-stick (teflon, etc.) muffin pan, without the paper liners.

You could also try silicone-coated (parchment) liners. A quick check reveals that e.g., Amazon sells them.

<purist>cornbread shall be cooked in preheated cast iron, and if that's sticking, you need to season your cast iron properly.</purist>


What are the preferred veal cuts for sausage making?

Remember that veal is merely very young beef; the chuck (which is the beef equivalent to the pork shoulder) is probably your best choices. The chuck  naturally has that best proportion of muscle to fat for sausage making.

That said I would actually discourage you from choosing veal as a meat for sausage making, ground veal is [IMHO] really 'nothing special' in terms of flavor. Veal's 'specialness' is in its tenderness, which is irrelevant in a sausage. You would be better served to use an mature beef chuck from an angus or longhorn. Lamb would also be a nice ancient flavor.


Is there a difference in the end result between using mechanical leaveners vs chemical leaveners in a cake?

"Leavener" as you're defining the term, is vague. A meringue of whipped egg whites are "leaveners" in the sense that they provide a stable structure for tiny air molecules; but of course an egg white by itself won't leaven anything, because there's no gas for the foam. Baking powder is a "leavener" in the sense of generating gas for a foam, but a mixture of baking powder and water won't be leavened, because the water won't support the foam. In a vague sense, meringue is a very potent leavener because it can hold so much gas, but its structure is easily broken up by fats (this is why it loses so much volume when folded into a batter, yet not when folded into itself). A batter based on flour and whole eggs is more durable but will never hold as much gas as a meringue while maintaining a "cakey" texture.

If you replaced egg whites with baking powder in an angel food cake, I suspect you'd get a much denser result, because the (low-gluten) flour and egg yolks would not hold the gas in well. Likewise, a meringue would not work very well in a high-fat cake because its stability would be compromised. The latter might produce an acceptable result, but I can't think why you'd want to do it.


What can I do to thicken the mixture in a meat "cup?"

A little cornstarch should, if you add it with the bbq sauce, make it just thick enough to cling together a little better.

I'd say make a slurry of say 1/2c water, 1/4c bbq sauce, 1tsp cornstarch and add it to your ground beef. Let it cook down (I'm basically thinking how taco packets work here) until it's close to where you want it; continued heat in the oven should finish binding.

Or skip the bbq sauce, use dry herbs and spices mostly with just a tiny dab to bind it together.

Also you just made me want a patty, you awful man.


Vacuum sealer exclusively for canning jars?

I don't know that it's any less bulky, but this one is dedicated to canning Vacucanner. It does several cans at a time. Here's a review

If you like DIY projects, you might be interested in this video. DIY Vacuum Canner


Is it safe to freeze soup that uses previously frozen stock?

Soup (and any food) is safe to freeze and re-use as long as you keep in mind these things:

The time the food has been 'out' does not reset when you freeze it. You are putting any harmful microbes on pause, not killing them. Be aware of the total time since your food has been cooked both before and after freezing. Remember that putting something in the freezer does not result in 'instant' freezing unless you have Carbon freezing equipment.
Soup is often fully re-heated to boiling. This does reset the clock on safety, and is one thing that makes soup easier to freeze and re-use than other foods.
Stock also often changes less with re-cooking than something like meat or vegetables, so you damage the end result less (if at all) with frozen soup than with other re-frozen ingredients.


What is the purpose of the storage beneath an oven?

Most of the oven drawers are for storage; and in my experience it is always badly implemented (like you, it never work well)

Some oven have warming drawer to keep food warm (check your specific oven).


Should I consider water temperature in kettle or in cup to infuse my tea?

75°C is the temperature you want your tea to brew, so if your temperature drops by 10 degrees when you pour it in the cup you'll want to heat it to 85°C, pour it into the cup and let it warm up the cup before you add the tea, that way it is at the ideal temperature.

The other option is heating the cup up with hot water while you heat the kettle, then pouring that water out of the cup just before you add your 75°C water.

I like the first method if you have the measurements down as you'll get a consistent result with fewer steps, but if you're using different cups the second method is more consistent.


What's the difference between pickling and fermentation in cabbage?

It is no different in cabbage than other vegetables.

Pickling is preserving a food with a salt brine.
Fermenting is to allow tasty bacteria to work in a food to change its flavor and often to acidify it.

They are not the same thing but there is overlap.

Some pickled foods are also fermented. The salt inhibits bad bacteria. These tend to have more complex flavor and be more sour. Cucumber pickles, for example, can be made in just a brine or fermented.

Kimchi and sauerkraut are both fermented. The cabbage is packed in salt and let age until sour. Technically they are pickled but they aren't usually referred to that way because they are their own thing.

I've never seen a coleslaw recipe that was fermented. It also isn't really pickled because it doesn't have enough salt in it and it isn't aged. Coleslaw is usually made with just an acidic dressing.


Why does my Velveeta queso dip get clumpier the longer it stays in the microwave?

From what you're describing, I think the cheese (or cheese-like substance, in this case) 'broke' ... that is, the oil separated out of it.

I'd recommend:

Don't melt it at full power
Stir it multiple times during melting
Melt the cheese (or "cheese-food") seperately, then add the tomatoes, so the tomatoes don't get hot, causing uneven heating.

I'm not sure if there's a good way to recover cheese once it's broken.  Some starch will help keep dairy from breaking in the first place, but I don't think it'd help you in this  particular case.


Can you make whipped cream with half and half?

A general rule-of-thumb is that a butterfat content of 30% or more is required to produce whipped cream. Half and half (called half cream in the UK), which is comprised of half milk and half cream has a butterfat content between 10 - and 12.5% butterfat, based on various sources discovered in my research.

That being said, I've read that half and half can be foamed by beating it and can even achieve some very soft creaminess if whipped while almost frozen.  It certainly would not taste like whipped cream or have the rich mouth feel of whipped cream - at least without adding something to stabilize the mixture which is beyond my experience.

As an aside, I have a "light, no-bake" cheesecake recipe that requires evaporated milk to be beaten but it must be thoroughly chilled before it will work.

Here is a link to a wikipedia page that includes a chart with explanations of all milk products:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream#section_3


You can cook rice covered or uncovered, it will not impact the flavor.  The amount of liquid you begin with, and your cooking time, could certainly be impacted. There are several methods for cooking rice (covered, uncovered, and both).  If you are using pre- or par-cooked rice, the directions are likely just a finishing step, formulated so that you don't over-cook the product.  You could still use a cover, but would likely need to keep a close eye on it or experiment a bit to get a result you like.


Can I use cilantro instead of basil on a bruschetta?

It will obviously not have the same flavour, but I imagine it will still taste good. It will not be a traditional Italian flavour, since cilantro is not native to Italy, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that. There is no chemical reaction that needs to happen with the basil in particular for a bruschetta so you can really top the bread with anything you like.


Why does the Instant Pot use pressure while steaming?

TL;DR

The Instant Pot is primarily a pressure cooker and its "steam" function is for pressure steaming. I guess typically you do raw/frozen veggies and seafood with this function.
You can do normal steaming in "sauté" mode with a vented glass lid (sold as an optional accessory, or if you have a vented lid that fits).

Why?

  Is it the case that the "steam" function of the IP is not actually meant for steaming, say for custards or dishes that rise? Is it meant for pressure cooking vegetables in a way that replicates the effect of steaming, but faster?

  ... my question is about why the IP uses pressure for steaming, not how to steam with an IP. The technique described in the link doesn't use the steam function of the IP, it uses the sauté function.

Assuming it doesn't turn out to be user error (I don't own one to confirm), I believe the "steam" function is just intended for pressure steaming. After all, it is a pressure cooker. So you'd use it when you need to do pressure steaming.

It's possible that the button only says "steam" and not "pressure steam" because the designers felt the use of pressure was implied for this product. As for why it just says "steamer" in the product description, that's a question only their marketing department can answer. They could've gone 8-in-1 if they counted "air dry" (lid and electricity not required) or "funny hat".¹

Here is a long-winded YouTube video² about pressure steaming with the Instant Pot. At the very start he states:

  The steam function is mostly used to cook raw or frozen vegetables as well as shellfish and other seafood.

At 4:05 he uses the "steam" function. I'm not going to describe the video in detail because I suspect it echoes the manual for this particular process.

Note also about pressure steaming in the Instant Pot, the video states at 2:30 that a typical stove-top pressure cooker runs at 15 psi but the IP runs at 10.15-11.6 psi, and thus recommends increasing pressure cooking times for stove-top recipes by 7-15%. I can't personally comment on or confirm this as I don't have a lot of pressure cooking experience.

Regular Steaming How-To

As for normal steaming, I do not own an Instant Pot and can not say for sure, but I found this article about using it as a steamer (author is a different Jason), which pretty much hacks it with the "sauté" function. In particular (emphasis mine):

  I’m not talking about pressure steaming here, but simply using the Instant Pot as a countertop steamer.

  ...

  The optional Instant Pot glass lid has a small vent hole at the top that releases some steam. The power of the steam in the pot also causes the lid to rattle ever so slightly, the same way some slow cookers do.

The article gives the following steps:

  Place your steamer basket and 2 cups of water into your Instant Pot
  Set Instant Pot to saute mode, and adjust the heat level to ‘more’
  Place the glass lid onto your Instant Pot to allow the water to reach a low boil / simmer
  Add your vegetables to the steamer basket and re-cover the pot with your lid.
  Steam to desired doneness!

It also makes a note about the initial step:

  The water reached 203°F after 6 minutes without the lid on. The water will reach temperature a minute or so faster if you leave the lid on while preheating.

The key point here is there appears to be an optional glass lid with a vent hole. If you don't have this accessory you might have a vented saucepan lid that fits. Also don't forget a steamer basket.

Now, I don't know if that applies exactly to your model (not sure which one the author of the article has) or if the linked products fit, so that part's up to you.

1 For an extra $29.99 you can even get the 9-in-1 "leak stopper" version which can catch rainwater if placed under a leaky roof.

2 Which perfectly complements my long-winded answer...


How can I make coffee with a minimum of equipment and maintenance?

I'd pick up a simple cone filter at the local coffee shop.

Insert a paper filter, add grounds, pour hot water through.


How to avoid herbs getting burnt in the oven

Add the flavouring later in the cooking process

e.g. For a 7 minute cook; at the 4 minute mark, remove from oven, brush/spray with oil and sprinkle on flavouring (herbs etc), and quickly return to oven to finish cooking

Experiment with the time point, you are trying to crisp the bread, and bake on oil/herb mix

Commercially each flavouring is applied at it's own time point. Salts early, soft herbs and spices later


What do eggs do in enriching and glazing

Glazing has something to do with browning (a.k.a the Maillard reaction) and also the fats and perhaps other substances in the yolk.

When you bake a pastry covered with eggwash, the high heat cooks the egg to an extent that changes the chemical properties of the sugars and proteins in it. The result is golden-brown, lightly shiny and quite falvorful coating. The chemistry behind it is the same one that browns steaks and toasts in high-heat. I'm not sure about the fat's role in the glazing, but eggwash made from whole eggs or just the "fatfull) yolk produce shinyer glazes than what the low-fat eggwhite produces (but it still does!)

As for "enriching": as rumstcho commented,"enriching" is a loose name for many different things. In mayonnaise, for example (a vinigrette sauce with up to 10 times the amount of oil, "enriched" but to be more percise emulsified with eggyolk), the egg just gives its lecitin - an organic chemical that binds oil and water. It's thanks to the lecitin that mayonnaise is so rich. Without it you'd have a glass of oil with a cup of water in it.

But in other cases the "enriching" is indeed made by coagulation. I'll take another example from the world of sauces: when you make hollandaise sauce, the creamy texture is achieved by beating the eggs while you lightly heat them, and thus partially coagulating the proteins.

Eggs are a true magic. I'd mention that it's one of nature's few original, dedicated foods, but the last time I wrote that I was oddly trolled. But do ask further.


Are there any differences between preparing/cooking a turkey that was labeled "basted with real butter" vs a regular turkey?

Chances are most likely that it will be just fine. I suspect the brine process will "wash away" a lot of the butter stuff. I've worked in a meat shop before and the only concern I've ever heard expressed about them is dairy allergy, so do keep that in mind. Otherwise, I would (and have) just cook them as you are used to.


How do I cook a cottage pie from chilled?

It's very difficult to give an answer, as the size and shape of the casserole can greatly affect the reheating time.

I've found to get the best results, I start the casserole covered in a cold oven (put it in the oven, then turn the heat on), and cook it at low heat (300°F / 150°C) until it's heated through.

Once it's up to temperature, I uncover the dish and turn the oven to broil (called 'grill' in some areas ... when only the top element is on at very high heat), and brown the top.

If you need to, once the dish is warmed through, you can turn the oven down to its lowest setting and hold it there until you're near time to serve it.  (it only takes a few minutes to brown the top, especially if you adjust the oven rack so the casserole is an inch or so (2.5cm) from the heating element)

I'd probably give myself an hour minimum to heat it, preferably 1.5 hours, and 2 hours if it's an especially large dish.


How to slice smoked salmon really thinly?

First off, chill it in the refrigerator overnight.  Preferably in the coldest part of the refrigerator (the bottom).   After that put it in the freezer just long enough to get stiff enough to slice thinly, but do not let it completely freeze.

The initial chill will help keep any ice crystals that form inside the cells small, thus decreasing the risk of the meat getting mushy.


Generally you have to work with it when it is still exceptionally hot.  Hence the use of taffy-pullers and such devices.  Silicon/heat-resistant gloves possibly, if you wish to work by hand, traditionally always "oiled hands".

I've seen examples where the mixture is arrested, allowed to cool for a couple of minutes and quickly reheated slightly to return some pliability.  Speed is certainly of the essence though.

Few videos about, look for sugar pulling, even if it is not the sort of manipulation you had in mind, it will show you how to deal with hard crack sugar.

Overall, asbestos hands seem to be required!

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-pull-sugar-for-making-sugar-art-151725/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6WRd7JZFdQ (warning, a few expletives, it is very hot stuff!)


I would prefer cooking them first. Sun-dried sweet potatoes do exist in some parts of Asia as a snack. They are chewy chunks rather than crispy slices as shown in your link. There are also freeze-dried ones around these days. Anti-nutrition contents are not overwhelming in sweet potatoes to my knowledge. So, uncooked should be fine. I think you will get better texture and avoid browning by cooking them first.


What kind of cloth is OK for cooking glutinous rice and how to handle it?

I would look for cheesecloth, it should be widely available.

If not, yes, a white cotton shirt should be good enough, make certain it is not a blend of different fabrics; and I would wash it in boiling water before.


How can I more effectively remove bones, when fileting a sardine?

Perhaps a little bit late, but ...

There is a "correct way" to do it:

Of course there is a video :)


From what I understand you should be able to extract the ink and freeze it for later use. Users on this forum suggest extracting the ink and then freezing. Another person here says:

  I save my ink from freshly cleaned squid and just freeze it

So it looks like your best bet would be to extract the ink from the sacs into a suitable freezer container and freeze it.

Freezing will definitely help it to last longer as the shelf life of squid in the refrigerator is 1-2 days. You can extend this to 3-5 months in the freezer. I'd imagine the squid ink would have a similar shelf life.


What are some techniques to cool down a dish so that we can store it in the refrigerator safely?

There are several things in general that you can do to increase the speed at which food cools down, but two of the most effective are:

Increase the surface area.  Spread it in a wide, shallow pan, like a sheet pan, rather than a deep pot.  This will allow more cooling.
Use an ice water bath.  Place the container with the food into an ice water bath, being careful not to spill the water into the food.  Using a zip style bag to hold the food before putting it into the bath also can help.

A variation of this, especially for hot stocks or stews, is to freeze water in clean water bottles or zip bags, and place those into the food in addition to the ice bath.

For a pilaf, the first method should work very well.

You can also bring physics to the party:

Convection is far more powerful at heat transfer than conduction.  A fan for air cooling will help, or running water for water for water cooling will also help, but these are not always practical in kitchen.


The reason dry yeast is so popular is that it is easier to store, and is less persnickety about it than fresh yeast. Treat dry yeast right and it can last for a couple of years or more. Fresh yeast is highly perishable, and it should be frozen if you're not going to use it within a couple of days. If you're lucky, you can get significantly more time from fresh yeast by freezing it within just a day or two of getting it home.

The thing is, yeast is a living thing and you just can't know what experiences it has had before arriving in your kitchen. As such, it's impossible to predict just how much extra (past the expiration date) time you are going to get from freezing it. A month? Probably. Two months? I wouldn't count on it, but maybe. 6 months? Highly unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

If you do freeze fresh yeast, wrap it very well. Moisture and air are your enemies. Do put it in the refrigerator at least 12 hours prior to use, then let it spend the last hour on the counter. As a last step before putting together your dough, proof it. Proof the yeast by mixing it with the warm (100Fish) water called for in the recipe and, if applicable, the sugar. If there is no sugar in the recipe, give it a 1/2 tsp of flour (per loaf). Within 5-10 minutes it should be quite bubbly and growing. If it doesn't look like it's doing much, throw it away. You might as well throw away all of the yeast you have from that batch. Go to the store and get more yeast before proceeding with the recipe.

Properly stored, yeast usually dies at least somewhat gradually. You may see a slight progressive decrease in the vigor of your yeast as it gets older. Personally, once I see that I'll use it that time, but I'll get more for next time.

Anymore, fresh yeast is hardly seen except in professional bakeries. It's easy to see why. If you're going to make multiple loaves in a week, then maybe fresh yeast is worth it. Now that I have found 2 pound packages of Fleischmann's instant dry yeast (expiration almost 2 years out) at Sam's Club for $6, I think my days of messing with fresh yeast are over. (BTW 2lbs of dry yeast = about 130 loaves)

EDIT: Interestingly, Red Star disagrees and doesn't recommend freezing fresh yeast. This goes against my experience and the cynic in me wonders of their recommendation has more to do with selling yeast than anything else.


Can I store raw gnocchi dough in the fridge?

Yes, gnocchi store well in the fridge for a day or so, or in the freezer for longer term storage. It's best to try and keep the gnocchi separate (placing on a baking sheet or tray is best) so they don't stick together, and very well covered so that they don't absorb any odours in your fridge.

If freezing, freeze on the tray until reasonably hard, and you can then transfer them to a tub or bag.


Okay. You don't want them to lose their shape or flavor when thawed. I don't know of any way that is possible. Fruits that contain a lot of water are going to be mushy when thawed. No matter how you do it. No exceptions.

The only suggestion I have for you is to maybe dehdrydate them for future use and then they can be rehydrated. That's not a great solution, just an option.


White stuff on the top of my apple cider vinegar?

That is mold. You should skim it off and throw it away. It's probably an indication that your acid to sugar balance is not correct. If it comes back I'd throw away your batch and try again.


What is this Thai tea, spiral plant-part?

These are fruits of the East Indian screw tree (Helicteres isora). The plants are native to Asia and Australia and its fruits are used in folk medicine.


How can I achieve even browning on the bottom of baked buns?

You may wish to try a dark colored baking sheet, such as this one from Chicago Metallic (not an endorsement, I haven't tried it.)

The dark finish will help absorb radiant heat, which is a major mode in baking, and better brown the bottoms.  In fact, such a tray probably would bake too fast for the bottoms of cookies.

Buttering it will also help conduct heat from the pan to the bottom crust, although you will also get a touch of that almost-fried texture (I like it, but it might not be what you have in mind).


Is it not possible to can some species of fish without adding oil?

The reason sardines and mackerel are generally packed in oil is due to the naturally high amounts of fat/oil in the fish. If you cook a raw mackerel thoroughly you will soon notice the large amounts of oil left in the tray.

On the other hand when cooking Tuna you will notice the opposite and almost no matter how much oil you put in your frying pan the tuna will just keep sucking it up.

For this reason, as canning involves cooking, the oily fish are either packed in their own oil (more could be added) or something like a tomato sauce which, with it's acidity will emulsify with the fat.

If canned in brine/water you would still be left with a layer of fat floating.

Edit

In response to the comment below.

Mackerel - 100g - Raw - Fat Content: 13.9g
Sardine - 100g - Raw - Fat Content: 4.2g
Tuna - 100g - Raw - Fat Content: 1g
Saury/Pike - 100g - Raw - Fat Content: 0.7g


problem with flame control in a natural gas grill

Firstly, tune your burner for a good flame when hot, rather than a good flame on start. Without knowing anything specific to your burner, I can only speculate on the more generic aspects.

Two most probable causes: reducing flame and sodium flare.

The most likely which is also what you suspected - flame stoichiometry, your air to fuel ratio. There are several possible causes. It could be a not so carefully designed air intake path or valve(s)/adjustment mechanism not holding settings any more because of age or corrosion or fouling from grease/soot/char/salt. You might want to to some cleaning, look for blocked nozzles and grease/char on the moving parts of the burner adjustments. Grease in moving parts can be a nuisance as they soften upon heating. Another common problem is that prolonged small flame settings could sometimes burn out the jets (design dependent) and upset flow rates (more an issue for surface mix type rather than pre-mix type burners).

What you have is a reducing flame, insufficient oxygen flow to match the flow rate of the methane so that it burns incompletely in the time available. It is not so unusual for a blue neutral flame to end up as either as an oxidising flame (blue but with too much oxygen) or a yellow-orange reducing flame in a poorly designed burner as it heats up, either the air path is heated up or the gas path is heated up or both.

Combustion, like all reactions, is about mass not volume, and more precisely about molar mass. As gases heat up and expand, the same volume contains less mass, fewer molecules. If your air intake path is heated up, the same volumetric flow has fewer molecules in it. So what was a well adjusted air flow for your natural gas flow gradually became insufficient and you end up with a reducing flame. You will need to readjust your air-fuel ratio again when it is hot. More likely is that both your methane and air paths are heated equally, but the two expand differently, and more importantly, the volumetric molar masses vary with temperature unequally for them.

I can go into a numerical explanation if you wish (let me know and I can add that in an edit later).

There is nothing you can do about your burner design. You can still make it work by increasing your air flow to achieve a neutral flame once everything is hot (you have to choose at what temperature you wish to have a neutral flame). If there is no way of adjusting that at temperature, you will just have to do it when cold by trial and error.

What you will likely end up with is an oxidising flame (long blue central cone, hissing flame) on starting. Depending on your burner, you may end up with a difficult start with an unstable flame, even blowing itself out when cold or an acceptable one. Once heated to your chosen temperature, you will have a neutral flame (blue, shorter central cone, perhaps even with a yellow tip in that cone). And at temperatures higher than that a reducing flame that is yellow again.

I would still give it a good clean. It is possible that you have an accumulation of salt on the burner emitting sodium flare when heated. When cold, nothing happens, but when heated, salt does not really burn but emits a yellow glow like some street lamps despite having a perfectly balanced neutral flame. This is also very probable actually.

Numerical part (requested by @joshua_engel)

Assumptions:

30,000 BTU/h burner output, 80% efficient

Air is just 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen by volume, natural gas 100% methane with complete combustion heat of 891kJ/mol

Perfect stoichiometric combustion for neutral flame

In moles: 1CH4 + {2O2 + 7.5N2 } → 1CO2 + 2H2O + 7.5N2

In kg per hr to produce 30,000 BTU:

0.71CH4 + {2.84O2 + 9.36N2 } → 1.95CO2 + 1.60H2O + 9.36N2

12.2 kg air and 0.7 kg natural gas every hour

At an ambient temperature of say 20C and around 50% relative humidity (ignored in air ratio calculations), you need about 10m3 of air and a touch over 1m3 of natural gas every hour.

Natural gas is piped in at pressure (will cool when expanded at burner) and air is just pulled in from the immediate surroundings. Thus, gas temperature is much less affected by the burner's heat than air is. Burner air settings dictate volumetric flow and not mass flow. If air at the inlet to the burner was heated from 20C to 70C which is a likely underestimate (relative humidity would have dropped to around 3%), then the same 10m3 of air would only have 10 kg of mass. Within that, there would be only 2.4 kg of oxygen instead of 2.8 kg. You no longer have a complete combustion and there would be carbon monoxide (burns blue) as well as soot (glows yellow or red). Your air adjustment has to go from 10m3 to almost 12m3 to compensate.

If it was propane, fuel temperature would likely be much lower than ambient because of vapourisation cooling and adiabatic cooling when released from the tank. That would mean much denser fuel and much more air needed.

Of course, you would always set your burner to run at say 5-10% or so excess air, but even then, a modest 50C rise in air temperature would drop air density by 15%, enough to push the flame from neutral to reducing.

This is a fairly simplified illustration. In reality, humidity, flame temperature and gas densities are circular.


When you boil bread dough, you get a type of boiled bagel, I don't think it has a name in English. Dumplings are more likely to be made from other types of dough, like pasta dough. And while you don't have to boil your dough in a torus shape, it is the most convenient one since you cannot shape it thick and expect to cook through.
By the way, when you fry bread dough, you don't get doughnuts, that would be a different dough (although some bread doughs like challah might produce a doughnut like result). With standard bread dough, you get mekica/Lángos.


As already mentioned - no, don't keep dairy for extended periods.

Have you considered making just the sauce base without the dairy - or even without the final elements that would differentiate it from being 'generic curry' to being a masala sauce?

Sauce bases can be stored for months in the freezer.
I usually have containers with just enough to make a single meal for the family, perhaps 4 to 6 different types of sauce base portioned out at any given time.


I've never found wheat gluten flour that was higher than 80% gluten which is what I use, adding some when I make bread with rye flour. But if you can't eat wheat due to high fructans content, would you still be able to digest the fructan in the other 20%? You wouldnt be adding much gluten flour so the small amount of fructans might be okay.

Rather than buying and using standard gluten-free flour which is quite expensive, why not mix up your own? It's easy to. I've made gluten-free bread a few times for a friend who's since moved. The wheat-free flour mix that I made was rice flour, tapioca flour, potato flour and coconut flour in the ratio 3:3:3:1. You can then add gluten flour to this mix if you still want to try using gluten instead of xanthan gum. Xanthan gum is added to all gluten-free bread flours to help the dough keep its shape while rising. It's not needed if you plan on adding gluten though.

Bread flour is normally 10-13% gluten. Trouble is I don't know if that's by volume or weight. Maybe someone reading this knows and can tell you. If it is by volume, then replacing 2 tablespoons of the flour mix with 2 tablespoons of gluten flour should give you roughly the right gluten content. Hard to be exact as it's possible gluten flours vary in their actual gluten content.


All other factors - ambient temperature, humidity, oven temp, etc - accounted for, the specific time of the day doesn't make any difference, whatsoever.

But alas, this is the real world, we don't hold other factors constant.  Most likely your room is slightly warmer and potentially your room could be a bit more humid in the afternoon.  These could lead to a more risen product if unaccounted for.  But overall, its not the time of the day.

One caveat- There does appear to be some (and by some, I mean a single published paper that I can locate) evidence to suppose circadian cycles in yeast.  This would indicate a faster growth rate in the day.  But the evidence is underwhelming currently and is almost certainly overpowered by other environmental conditions if present at all.


What happens when I store coffee in the refrigerator?

Your post combined with Graham T's answer leads me to believe that brewed coffee has some organic molecules that, over time, break down to react with something in white table sugar that produces a gas.  The thing is there exists over 1000 different kinds of volatile organic compounds in roasted coffee that it would be hard to pin down precisely.

You mention in one of the comments that you're a beer brewer--I assume you're a drinker too.  Are you familiar with Guinness? They normally can their beers with nitrogen for smaller bubbles.  If you can distinguish between co2 foam and no2 foam, that may help you narrow down what's going on here.

As an aside: This is a really cool question and I hope you find a more acceptable answer.  This one sounds like it's pushing the knowledge of molecular gastronamy.


How can I make mocktails that actually taste like non-fruity cocktails?

You're going to want to look for classic cocktail recipes and mixers. Get a base of cocktail knowledge, then fill in the alcohol with a nuetral filler. Teas and smokey coffees can replace the flavor profile of some bourbon or scotches. Club sodas or flat tonics can replace some grain spirits. Angostura, orange bitters, vermouth, tinctures, demerara syrups are all classic mixers you'll want to use... usually Imbibe Magazine has some pretty good resources and make-your-own bitters and mixers. Sometimes Bon Appetit has a good classic drink. I know a couple months ago they explained how to make your own vermouth.

Another good resource is to find a local cocktail bar that simple specializes in high end cocktails and just talk to a bartender. They'll have lots of knowledge and resources to share!

A website I like to use sometimes is Cocktail Codex.


Why does my pizza dough stick to my peel?

You might have better luck with cornmeal or semolina flour on the peel, those have a "ball bearing" quality to them, even in addition to some regular flour on the dough. Be sure your pizza is sliding easily before you move to the oven. Practice the motion a bit with just some plain dough some day. There is a bit it a trick to it, a left to right motion to get it nice and loose, and quick front to back motion to get it into the oven.

Here's a YouTube video, he gets into the peel at 4:30.

If you want to spend the money, this is a foolproof option: EXO Peel, they demonstrated it on America's Test Kitchen. It was really nifty.


Trying to keep your body heat from the wine is only necessary for chilled wines (whites, for the most part).  For those served at room temperature (most reds), you actually want your body heat to warm the wine.

I've been to plenty of places that use 'stemless wine glasses' (about the size of a red wine glass, maybe a little larger, but no stem underneath) for reds.  I've also been to places that just use mason jars.

For whites, if you're at a dinner table, it's not going to matter as much, as you can put your glass down.  The problem comes when you're standing around with your glass.  You can get around the problems by making sure that the wine is well chilled, and don't serve as much per glass (so they don't hold it so long that it warms up).  Handled glasses can help, but I wouldn't go for a large beer mug like Cos recommended -- I'd use a smaller mug for coffee or tea.

One exception would be your bubbly wines.  You want something tall and narrow for those.

None of these have the characteristic wine glass shape, with the smaller opening at the top, which is going to help concentrate the aromas, so if you have any glasses that are shaped like that, consider using those.  And you don't want to fill any glass of wine more than half full, so that you have space for the vapors to collect.


Identifying Cast Iron Skillet - with weird pattern

I am not an expert on cast iron, but I believe this just means that it's a machine-milled piece, instead of one cast from a mold. There's nothing better or worse about it as far as I know as far as performance goes, I think it just means that it's a relatively newer piece, since pans made from casting tend to be older. Some people prefer the older ones.


I like to take a nice center cut pork loin and cook it in a slow cooker (crock pot) for 8 hours in homemade bbq sauce.  When it's done, take it out, use two forks to shred it, then put the shredded pieces back into the sauce to coat.  Mmmm...homemade pulled pork.  Freezes really well in individual portions, too.

Another option is to use it to marinade a nice rack of ribs or three, bake it on a very low temperature for a few hours (or as long as a day), and then grill or broil them to finish.  I'd say the rib meat probably freezes well too - but ribs never last that long in our house!


I, too, have the same problem - namely that in the winter we keep the house cool, and the butter is hard, etc..

In restaurants, I will microwave butter to get it to 'room' temperature when needed, but you must do it in short bursts, or parts will melt. Micro for 10-20 sec., then pause a minute, then do it again. As with any softening technique, the critical thing is that you don't want it to liquify in most cases, as it will lose the emulsion properties that make butter so awesome.


Not sure about Holodet. But a good source of making gelatin from meat is the knee bone with all the cartilage in it. I use it to make foot jelly (aka gala, galarita, ptcha). This is not the same as bones with marrow. AFAIK marrow is not a big source of cartilage. You do have to simmer at low heat for a long time to get the cartilage to dissolve. Don't try a rolling boil, it wont work.


Frankly, Hershey's cocoa powder is low quality. Buy a higher quality cocoa. One objective measure is the cocoa fat content.

This is from Harold McGee's Keys to Good Cooking, published by The Penguin Press, New York, 2010, p. 476:

  Higher-fat cocoas make richer dishes. To compare the fat contents of different brands, check their nutrition labels.


Do the improvements touted by the ZPM Nocturn (PID-controlled espresso machine) sound sensible?

Speaking as someone who's built a few control systems, sure, a PID controller is almost always better than a simpler control system, but it's not a magic gizmo that automatically solves all problems.  I'm not familiar enough with how commercial machines are made, so I can't judge from their pictures and writeup how much difference their "improved thermoblock" is going to make.

Looking at your previous "troubles," I'd say the first step is to find a way to get good, fairly freshly roasted beans, grind them right before making espresso, and maybe get a slightly better machine.  No temperature control algorithm is going to make up for lousy beans.


How long and at what temp should I roast a 22lb fresh ham?

First wash the Ham in hot water with a rough rag. This removes the vinegar mold. Improves taste. Should feel dry to the touch. On the skin. Next glaze the Ham. I use wild honey for this. But can be done with a hard tack mix & pepper. To seal the Ham. Put in roasting pan. Place in oven at 6pm to 8 pm. Let roast at 170 to 180 F all might. 200f max. Slow cook it. At 6 to 8 AM. turn up heat to 350f. Place thermomitor at bone Bring ham at bone up to 180 f to 200 f. Remove & cool. Remove lid on roaster before turning oven up.. This is were you brown the Ham.


Assuming that there were stock pots manufactured with handles that broke off, they would likely have been recalled by the CPSC.

It appears that the CPSC has only ever recalled one stock pot that was based on a single report of a handle breaking off.  The problematic stock pot was sold by a liquidation company.  Based on this, I'd assume that any NSF certified stock pot that you buy from a reputable retailer is going to be safe.


If a few of my eggs crack when making them hard-boiled, is it still safe to eat them?

Yes, it certainly is safe to eat them, it happens all the time. They won't last quite as long in the fridge as ones which don't crack, but as long as you eat them in a couple of days you are fine. They may look like nuclear mutants but they will taste the same.


I have a recipe for an asparagus/pasta dish with a goat cheese sauce, Can I substitute Feta?

Probably not.

Goat cheese is a creamy cheese that melts well and makes a great sauce. Feta, on the other hand, does not melt. It will soften some, but still remain crumbly and chunky. The flavor is significantly different as well; it's much harsher.

You'd be better off with a fromage blanc, but chances are if you can find that in the US you'd be able to get the goat cheese there too. A common and more accessible substitute for goat cheese is cream cheese.


Care and warping of wooden chopping board

Wood is always working. Even if you plane a board and leave it in a room overnight, it might warp.  There's really no way you can avoid that in principle after a piece has been finished.  (Now, this particular board should do a bit better than sawn wood, since it is glued, although it does not seem as if special care has been taken to orient the growth directions alternatingly, which is what you should do in such a case.  An even better solution would be to put orthogonal strips onto the end-grain with a tongue and groove.)
Anyway, that's likely not really bad in your situation.  Since the wood is always working, it doesn't have to stay that way: maybe it's just wet now and will warp back in a couple of hours or days.  In my experience, you can sometimes speed up things by trying to dry the piece evenly (for example, by leaving it in some dry place with a gap underneath to let the air through), re-wetting it on one side, and letting it dry again.  And when you have a board for some time, you'll know how it reacts.
The oiling is a good idea for the surface but does not help very much with warping.  What does help is to keep moisture always even: when you wash or wipe the board: do so on both sides.  When you dry it: keep moisture and temperature the same on both sides (e.g., avoid standing it up next to your oven or something like that).  That means you can submerse it (and should even do so, to wash it) -- just don't let it stand in water, and wash it from all sides equally.  Avoid drying in an oven or other drastic temperature changes.
One thing you really want to watch out for, though, is splitting between the individual strips, which can happen due to the stress of repeated warping.  In that case, there's little left you can do (save shortening the board).  A split is not technically problematic (the whole thing will still be stable), but the groove can collect nasty stuff (still OK for cutting bread, though).  Quality boards, specifically made for kitchen use, will be less prone to this, though.


How long can I keep cannoli shells with no filling and how should I store them

I’m assuming you mean just the shells unfilled. If you made the shells yourself, line a cardboard box with paper bag material (cut up some) then just lay them in. They’ll be fine for a couple of weeks, probably longer. If you bought them, don’t worry about it they last just as long if not longer.  Just leave them in their original container.


I am inferring that this is a soft meringue, not a dried one.

These do not freeze well as the ice crystals forming will disrupt the foam, and they will weep and deflate.

This sort of meringue really does need to be done at the moment of service.


Either use a blow torch or a very hot grill. Either way be very careful as it can burn extremely easily. I've only ever done it with balls of marzipan (on top of a simnel cake), so haven't had deformation issues, but I would suggest blowtorching the marzipan in the cutter, then letting it cool to prevent the points softening.


Could I add butter to single cream to make whipped/double cream?

Yes, this is possible but you need a high-speed blender like a Thermomix or Vitamix to do so. There's actually a recipe on the Thermomix website:
http://www.ukthermomix.com/recshow.php?rec_id=29

Ingredients
250 gm unsalted butter
250 gm milk (full cream or semi-skimmed)
Method
Weigh butter in pieces and milk into the Thermomix bowl.  Cook 3 minutes/ 90C/ Speed 1.  Blend 30 seconds/ Speed 8.  This emulsifies the butterfat back into the warmed milk and makes a perfectly delicious cream.  Chill in the fridge 4 hours to use as pouring or spooning cream.  Chill in the fridge 8 hours or more to be able to whip the cream.

I presume you could tweak the ratio to account for the difference in fat between milk and cream to make your double cream.


I would recommend borrowing from the principles found in this post, which details how to "fry" chicken in a kettle grill: Kettle Fried Chicken.

Two key takeaways here: 1) high heat, and 2) all (or nearly all) your food's surface area is exposed to heated air.  You'll just replace "kettle" with "oven," and put something under the rack on which you're cooking your food to catch the stuff that drips away from it, and you should be good to go.  It may require some experimentation to find the right mix of time and temperature for the food item you wish to cook, but it shouldn't take more than a few attempts to get it right, if not the first one.


What herbs and spices are in "Italian Seasoning"?

I cannot +1 Peter V because of my poor reputation, but he is right: in Italian cooking you don't go for mix, what you look for is a balance between a few ingredients, normally one from different kind of foods: one cereal, one vegetable, one spice for example.

The main spice (or fresh herb) is parsley: it is so common that it is used in figurative language as well, think about a celebrity you see everywhere, just like parsley.

Fresh basil is a must for spaghetti sauce and freshness, as Peter V said, is the only option.

I never heard about red pepper in Italian cooking; I bought mine during a travel in Asia and use it for Asian food. Black pepper is for sauces and meat, white pepper for fish, normally.

Oregano, thyme, marjoram, are common, and they normally don't mix. Oregano is widely used on the top of some pizzas, especially when they have got anchovies, capers and/or olives on top.

Pizza margherita requires fresh basil.

Rosemary, bay leaf and sage are used commonly with meat or beans/lentils: in this case you often prepare a bouquet tying together some small branches from these three herbs with a cooking lace and let the bouquet rest in your preparation for some time.

You should probably add fennel seeds to the most-common-Italian-spices list.


What are the bubbles on the surface of cooking bacon?

I'm pretty sure that's just steam and hot air bubbling in the layer of fat/grease that's all over the bacon.


Scouring the internet a bit more, apparently the crust was some nitrogen-hungry form of yeast.

However, I did as suggested in this similar question, discarded most of the sourdough and used a bit of it to start a new one. Wish me luck for it!


American pancakes: Why not substitute some wheat flour for starch?

I think using cake flour or another type of low gluten flour would have the same effect.
But, the gluten (together with the eggs) do help the pancake to hold its shape (shear strength or tensile strength). It needs this strength to withstand getting flipped over and taken off the pan.

In my experience, this gluten talk is a red herring. If you overwork the pancake batter, letting it rest for a while brings it back to normal again.


Is it safe to eat ice cream that was left in a refrigerator overnight?

There's a high risk of frosty and/or hard ice cream. If it's not ice cream, and most of it is actually "frozen dairy dessert", it will likely fare better than real "ice cream".
In either case, it won't be harmful health-wise, as milk and derivatives last several days in refrigeration, so overnight won't hurt. Also keep in mind that overnight is not much time for too many bacteria generations to multiply, especially under refrigeration, so if the ice cream makes you sick, it very likely would have even if it had been frozen the whole time.


What are some make-ahead crunchy/crispy components that keep fairly well?

Prawn crackers, AKA shrimp crackers.
You just fry them up in a little oil, then sprinkle with salt.
They're made using either wheat flour or tapioca. I prefer the tapioca.
Available at most Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. food stores; for cheap.
I guess they come precooked too. Never tried those, but would be concerned about oil going rancid.


Looking for a pliers-like tool for making crushed tomatoes

I think a lemon squeezer might work:

You would want to buy one in person so you can see the size of the holes, which vary a lot. I think some of the tomato would come out through the holes and some would be left behind mushed up in the squeezer, which you could shake out onto the plate.


How do I get more flavor in the interior of a brisket?

The simplest way would be to make the interior smaller, which could be accomplished in several ways, such as slicing the brisket ahead of time or cutting it in half vertically. This would give you a larger surface area to season, decreasing the amount of unflavored meat and shortening cooking time.


How to cut a cake that was baked in a pie pan?

Invert the bottom layer, top down, on a plate. Add the ice cream, but do not spread it to the outside edge of the cake. Top with the second cake layer, pressing gently. Then, using a sharp knife, slice vertically completely around the edge, removing the sloped edges of the cake. Surround the outside edge with a wrap of parchment paper or foil. Chill. After the cake is firm, you can slice horizontally to level the mound at the top of the cake, if you wish, before removing the paper/foil cuff.


Can I blend high-protein (baking) flour and 00 flour to approximate plain (AP) flour?

First, in both the US and Australia, 00 flour has about the same protein content as AP flour, so you can use it instead, keeping in mind that it's more finely milled. To answer your broader question, yes, you can definitely combine flours together to approximate AP flour (keeping in mind that protein content in AP flour will range from brand to brand). In the US:

cake flour has low protein content (7-9%)
AP flour has medium protein content (10-12%)
bread flour has high protein content (13-16%)

In Australia and other countries the flour percentages may differ from my chart above. I believe Australia has lower protein content in the US in general for AP flour, and 00 flour is also lower, but within the same range as AP flour there.


I've successfully used flax seed as an egg replacer in my sandwich bread. 1Tbs ground flaxseed mixed with 3Tbs water (per egg), mix & let sit 5 minutes before adding to recipe. Flax adds a bit of nutty flavor, but worth a try for your bread.


How to avoid having pith on dried orange peels

Try gently scraping with a spoon or non-serrated knife, if you want to remove more pith.  However, that looks pretty good to me. Your recipe for drying has you finely chopping the peel.  So, I would say that zest would be just fine as well.


In my new mixer, my bread dough gets wrapped around the kneading hook. What should I do?

I think I finally found a solution, which worked for me:
I started with @monte-hill's notes about how the dough is too wet, causing it to stick, and added something I learned elsewhere.

My mistake was that I was dumping all the liquids into the mixing bowl right at the start.

The best solution I found that works is to GRADUALLY add the liquids. I put a about half plus a bit extra in the bowl at the start, then start the mixer. Once all the fluid has been absorbed, I add the rest. I've tried this a couple of times already, and it's made a complete difference in the results and the process!


Is there a standard measure for coffee grind size?

A quick search (surprisingly) revealed no standards for describing the grind. Neither the "International Coffee Organization" nor the "National Coffee Association USA" offer much more than: (from NCAUSA)

  The Grind

  If you purchase whole bean coffee, always grind your beans as close to
  the brew time as possible. A burr or mill grinder is preferable
  because all of the coffee is ground to a consistent size.  A blade
  grinder is less preferable because some coffee will be ground more
  finely than the rest. If you normally grind your coffee at home with a
  blade grinder, try having it ground at the store with a burr grinder.
  You may be surprised at the difference!

An author at "About.com" does offer an rather functional definition, though it lacks the authority to be called a standard:

Coarse - Very distinct particles of coffee. Like heavy-grained kosher salt. Downright chunky.
Medium - Gritty, like coarse sand.
Fine - Smoother to the touch, a little finer than granular sugar or table salt.
Extra fine - Finer than sugar, but not quite powdered. Grains should still be discernable to the touch.
Turkish - Powdered, like flour. Most inexpensive (blade) grinders will be unable to grind this finely.


The black spots can be one of several things, but are likely a variety of mold. Black stains can also be caused by a reaction to the iron in your knives (particularly if you use carbon steel blades instead of stainless steel). If it is mold, it is growing because even though the surface of your cutting board is dry, moisture has soaked in, probably because it needs to be oiled or waxed.

To recondition a butcher block or cutting board that is stained or gouged, you can sand the surface down, and reoil.

Use a sanding block to keep the surface from getting wavy as you sand.
Start sanding with 120 grit (80 if you are removing big gouges), and sand evenly, moving with the grain, until the stains are gone, or almost gone (if a few very deep ones survive, don't worry about it).
Repeat the sanding with 240, then 400 grit until the roughness from the previous sanding is gone.
Reoil with any Butcher Block Conditioner. There are many out there, and they are either food-safe mineral oil, or that oil with a few other waxes mixed in. Many are good, but my favorite is Howard's Butcher Block Conditioner. Follow the instructions, but it will amount to making a liberal application, allowing it to sit for a while, then wiping off the excess.
Maintain the new surface by drying the cutting board well before storing (as you are already doing), and wiping lightly with mineral oil briefly every few times you use it, much like maintaining a cast iron pan.


If you do this often I would make a little pastry cut out of the fruit type of the pie and use some egg wash to stick it onto the pie - it looks good and eases identification.


Doubling a recipe: how much oil for browning, sauteing?

The main issue I would be wary of is that you have sufficient space in the pan for all of the meat to brown well.

Generally, it's better to do the meat in batches so that it has room and doesn't cool the pan off too much - you want to brown the meat, not steam it. When I make stew in my stainless steel 12 inch pan using two pounds of stew meat (cubed beef, lamb, or bison), I still usually need to do 2-3 batches to leave room for good browning.

So, while this is a tangential answer, my recommendation is to do one recipe worth of the meat at a time (if your pan can accommodate it all) and, with the second batch, add enough oil to make it look like the same amount of oil as the first batch had. While the meat may not absorb much, the flour may, and the meat will get coated - plus there's usually a good amount of splatter, so you will likely need to add at least 2-3 tsp of oil for the second batch.

As to the onion, I'd probably increase it by half again, so use 3 tsp. Since you're doing this all in the same pan the important thing is to really look at what's in the pan before you add oil each time. If there's still a lot of fat in the pan after you've finished your browning, use less oil. Alternately, if you're using a really fatty cut of meat, it may release a bunch of grease, so you don't really need to add a lot of oil. I find that, quite often, the amounts of oil are much more liberal than really necessary, so I can get away with using quite a bit less and still get good browning without burning.


Umami comes from a very specific source: Glutamates and glutamic acid. MSG is a glutamate, so it is one of the best ways to add a bit of umami.

Meat, Kombu seaweed (used to make Dashi, and hence Dashi), mushrooms, onions, cheeses, soy and other beans, most high-protein foods.

Here is a quick list. Most are prepared foods, but it should give you an idea.


How to simulate an oven when what you actually have is a gas stove?

Dutch oven

(a proper cast iron one, mind you)

Put your dutch oven on the stove top with the lid on, and turn on the heat until it gets hot
Place the thing(s) to be baked inside (but not directly touching the sides or bottom; a little rack or other standoff will be helpful)
Put the lid back on and turn the heat way down
Wait. And this is a bit of a problem because it is hard to know the exact temperature, so baking is tricky.

This is also how one bakes over a campfire, though there you use coals and can get a reasonably repeatable temperature. Works better with cobbler than cake (I have seen cakes done this way, but more often I've seen them messed up), but it should do garlic bread just fine.

The pure mass of the iron serves to smooth out the uneven heating from the stove. This is also the reason a proper dutch oven has a lip on the lid: so you can put some coals on there to insure the lid stays properly hot too.


The only way the size really matters is if you're counting the nuts - unless a single nut is large enough to account for a fair proportion of the total. Weight for weight 1:1 should be good. Volume for volume 1:1 would be a good start but you may want to adjust to suit you in the future.

If you were using larger nuts than the recipe called for, halving then (or chopping them) might be a good idea.


You can certainly maintain a culture this way, though not all cultures will necessarily thrive. Commercial yeast, for instance, doesn't tend to do well with feedings. It basically rises and it's done. Wild yeasts will do much better by being fed.

The degree of sourness in the cultured flour will depend on the specific strains of yeast and bacteria growing in it. You can control this to a degree by adjusting the hydration level and temperature to encourage specific strains of microorganisms to grow.

Here is a link describing how to control some of the cultures in your starter.


What are some methods for parcooking hamburgers?

For speed and quality this is the perfect application for sous vide cooking.  You can cook burgers to varying degrees of doneness.  They can hang out in the water bath, at a degree or two below the rarest burger, for up to 2 hours.  Just quickly sear or grill to finish.


Looking for non-standard (i.e. no dill) fermented pickle suggestions

I'm including links to specific recipes here, but not all of these recipes give fermenting instructions. I'm sure you could do these fermented though - as opposed to using whatever other pickling method is given.

Pickled watermelon rinds are fun - spiced w/ clove, ginger, lemon, and cinnamon.
Blueberries can be pickled - try with allspice, cinnamon, and clove.
Lemons or limes pickled with ginger and green chiles - or try with cinnamon, peppercorns, and a few hot peppers. I really want to try this!
Nuts can be pickled, too: Pickled Green Walnuts may be worth trying.
Have you ever had pickled ginger (commonly served w/ sushi)?
Lastly, you can also apparently pickle fish. Pickled Herring, anyone?

You may want to check out this book, containing 200 pickle recipes or this book with hundreds more.


How to store spinach to extend its shelf life?

Fresh spinach, like other leafy greens, is best stored in the fridge in some way that keeps it dry but not too dry.  The things that cause spinach to wilt and spoil are:

dirt & insects
being wet or too damp
getting too dry
cut, crumpled, and broken leaves

I've included a number of references below, but here's my method that allows me to store fresh spinach for up to two weeks:

If the spinach is sandy or dirty, separate bunches, wash in several changes of cold water and spin dry them.  This is even more important if the spinach has any insects.  Cut off any dirty roots, but do not trim off stems.
Having made sure the spinach is thoroughly dry, wrap loose bundles of it in a couple of paper towels, and then put these bundles in plastic bags.  Do not overpack the bags.
Store the plastic bags of spinach in the fridge, preferably in one of its more damp spots like a vegetable drawer.  More importantly, do not stack anything on top or jam the spinach in a tight space.

This way, fresh spinach can keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.  If you need longer than that, then chop, blanche, drain, and freeze it.

Resources:

https://www.thekitchn.com/we-tried-3-ways-to-store-salad-greens-and-heres-our-winner-tips-from-the-kitchn-211770
https://dawnjacksonblatner.com/2018/03/make-your-leafy-greens-last-longer/
http://pickyourown.org/freezing_greens.htm


How to find out if an egg has a cracked shell before boiling it?

The main reason eggs crack while boiling isn't because they are already cracked, but because of the sudden change in temperature from cold to hot.  The same thing can happen to glass or metal, or practically any substance.  (I've actually broken a glass coffee table top once by setting a pie pan out of the oven on top of it to cool... after a couple minutes, the top crashed to the ground, giving me quite a start!)

Some suggestions to prevent eggs from cracking while boiling can be found here. A summary is:

Let the eggs warm to room temperature on the counter for 20 minutes before boiling.
Put the eggs in the pan before heating the water, and raise the water temperature slowly (i.e. don't set the heat to 'High')
Add vinegar or salt to the water to help heal any small cracks.
Cook the eggs slowly.


You have four immediate options as I see it:

Lightly season the chili, remove a portion for your child, then season the rest to your liking
Lightly season the chili, then serve it with additional accompaniments to adjust it to your liking (eg, hot sauces)
Season the chili to your liking, but serve it with something to help cut the flavor for the child (cheese, sour cream, mix in crumbled cornbread, rice, extra beans, honey or sugar)
A blend of 2 & 3.

I generally go with either #2 or #4 if I'm cooking for a large crowd.

... the long term solution is to try to slowly adjust the flavoring of the chili until the child's more accepting of the flavor.  But remember, everyone has different tastes, and our taste buds change over time ... the child might be more sensitive to bitter or spicy foods right now, but could learn to enjoy them in the future.  (I personally now love spicy foods, when I didn't as a kid ... but I still hate bitter)

You might try making a few varients, and see if there might be a specific taste that your child objects to, so that you can adjust.  I assume you have the 'you must try at least one bite' rule, and don't accept the 'I don't like (whatever)' temper-trantrums.