How to make hard candy with only fruit as a sweetener

I think classic hard candy would be difficult if not impossible to make with fruit juice because it combines the fruit sugars (fructose) with a lot of other things, and hard candy is normally made by heating sucrose (table sugar, which is 50% fructose, 50% glucose) to the hard-crack stage (300-310F) to the point where it is essentially 99% sugar.  As the sucrose heats it  hydrolyzes into glucose and fructose which changes the structure.

Pure fructose does not behave the same way as sucrose. I think you need some glucose to get it to form into a hard candy.  (You can also make hard candy from sugar and high fructose corn syrup instead of from table sugar.)

Additionally,  fruit juice isn't pure fructose to begin with and the other things in the juice would cause problems with the process and would probably scorch.

I think the idea given in the comments of trying for a gummy or a syrup will work better.


Can cultured buttermilk powder contain live cultures?

It is true that Saco Buttermilk Blend contains no live cultures. If you can have any further questions, please feel free to call our consumer line at 1-800-373-7226. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about our product!
Amy Verheyden
Director of Consumer Affairs
Saco Foods, Inc.


How to make a strong mug of instant Coffee?

What is too bitter is likely to be primarily opinion-based. That said, when I make instant coffee, I usually use one teaspoon per 200-250 ml of water - not milk. The result is a nice, even cup of coffee, which is not what I would characterize as strong. If I want strong coffee, I will use as much as four teaspoons to the same amount of water.

The milk will have a mellowing effect on the end result. In combination with the sugar, it has been my experience that the milk masks the bitter taste of coffee that many people do not enjoy.

I would recommend playing around with how much coffee you use. Once you get the strength you want, you can add or remove sugar to reduce the bitterness.


Can a large number of eggs be scrambled in a pot?

You are going to have trouble scaling that recipe up to that size, due to the limited heat output of a home type burner element or electrical element.  They can only have sufficient power to brown so many hash browns, or cook so many eggs at once.  Furthermore, most home cooks don't have a pan with sufficient surface area to manage that quantity of ingredient in one go--there is a reason that restaurants and institutions use large flat griddles for the purpose, not large pots.

Instead, I recommend that you look to a class of similar breakfast casserole dishes that you can bake.   This will offer you better scalability, and less risk of scorching or burning, and almost certainly be less work.

It is much easier to put two or three casseroles in the oven than to manage a stove top dish at that scale.


What gives Vietnamese Chicken the red tint?

My Vietnamese girlfriend uses "hạt điều màu" (annatto). She heats the nuts in oil and then uses the oil without the nuts to fry the meat in.


Pizza sauce is, presumably, whatever tomato-based sauce you'd put on a pizza. Those tend to be essentially like smooth (not chunky), lightly seasoned spaghetti sauce. If by "plain tomato sauce" you mean a jar of tomato sauce for spaghetti, you're probably in good shape. If you mean a can of pure tomato sauce, with no other ingredients, you'll probably want to add some seasoning. Basil and oregano are good bets for herbs; garlic and onion are also common, and perhaps crushed red pepper if you want a little kick.

If you're looking for a real recipe, this isn't a recipe request site, but search engines will serve you well.


I forgot to rinse lentils before adding them to soup. Is the meal still safe to eat?

I can only speak for UK supermarkets and you haven't said where you're from, but our lentils are clean as bought.  A typical packet doesn't say to rinse them. With red lentils the only reaosn I can see for rinsing is to (slightly) reduce foaming; with Puy lentils and some others even that's not an issue and you may lose flavour.

Some Indian recipes (actually from India rather than westernised) say that when you rinse you need to pick over for stones, but I've never had that with dried lentils or beans.


How can serrated knives be sharpened, without the serration being eroded?

They can't really. The purpose of knives with microserration like in the one shown are as an alternative for people who are looking for knives that won't require upkeep.

Knives with a much wider serration can be sharpened professionally but it can be tricky.


Is there any point in considering sous vide for unskilled newbie cook?

I'm a fan of sous vide, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make a good present.

Sous vide is mainly a technique for improving quality, not speeding up already fast dishes. It can also help move the busy times around (e.g., so you're not so busy when all your guests arrive, useful at a restaurant or if you host parties).

First, it's slow. A steak on a grill, you start that something like half an hour before you're going to eat, and that includes starting the charcoal. Less time for gas. A quick sous vide steak would probably be around an hour twenty before. Most of that time is just a bag sitting in the water bath, you don't even need to be home watching it. But it'd be a very late dinner after getting home from work.

The basic workflow is first prep and sometimes brown ingredients, second get them in a bag, third they sit in the water bath for a long time (hours, typically), fourth pull from water bath, fifth finish (brown again, garnish with sauces, season, etc.).

And honestly, it's fiddly. At least with reasonably priced equipment. You can (and I often do) use ziploc freezer bags, but getting enough air out so they don't float takes practice (and good clips to attach them to a rack). Non-chamber vacuum sealers are often a pain, as they try to suck any liquids into the seal area (often resulting in a failed aeal).

I think most sous vide cookbooks, etc. are also intended for non-novice cooks.

But if you get it right, it makes an amazing steak!

For soups and stews, I'd suggest a slow cooker (Crock Pot). Prep in the morning, cook all day while at work, ready when you get home. Or, going the opposite direction, a pressure cooker. Personally I've only used stovetop ones, but I hear the electric ones are really easy to use, though slightly less capable than stovetop.


Relation between concentration of sugar in syrup VS its spoil rate

For a clear direct response for your question: yes, there is a correlation between sugar concentration and spoil rate. The correlation is actually between any kind of solute and spoil rate, so that's the reason for using salt and sugar as agents for preserving foods.

The technical name is "water availability" and the maths behind that is "free water equivalent". That's because bacteria and other microorganisms need what we call "free water" to grow and reproduce - if the water is "bound" to other components like sugar or salt, they cannot be used for growing.

The minimal concentration of sugar is 65% weight by weight if it is a simple solution of sugar in water (a.k.a. simple syrup)

If you want to use less sugar, you have to include other chemicals (called preservative agents) to prevent spoilage and bacterial growth.

Here is the easiest to digest information I could find for how to do the calculation, without getting into many technical details on the chemical properties


What characteristics should a bread peel have?

I know this question has been asked a long time ago, but as I have been shoving around 1000 loaves of breads in 2014 alone (we bake for charity), all in a traditional wood-fired oven like in the picture, I couldn't resist... The following points are geared towards wood-fired ovens, but are valid for most sizes, from the 8-loaves home versions to larger sizes. "My" oven can handle 100 pounds of dough / 50 loaves per session.

The Handle:

Must be long enough to reach all the way in and be still long enough to get a good grip with two hands. You need leverage. So aim for [door to back corner] + at least 2 feet/60cm. This influences the place for your oven: You need at least as much space behind you, so that you can move freely. (Often overlooked in home environements...)
Must be heat-proof, but non-conductive. This rules out metal, because even with gloves you'd be scorching your hands. Wood is a good choice. Use hardwood, round or rounded, make sure there are no splinters(!) (but use gloves, just to be sure). When placing multiple loaves, you will want to work fast in order to have roughly the same baking time for all of them and to loose as little heat as possible through the oven door. So basically you will be rather sliding the handle along your hands than using a hand-over-hand motion. Catching a spliter this way will hurt like h**l - check the handle regularly, e.g. after each baking session. This answers the question of detaching the peel part: your handle will be the longest part and should be in one piece. So a removable peel doesn't change this much. If you want to fix it with some kind of nuts and bolts construction, do it horizontally, making sure nothing sticks out at the bottom and no cavity gets filled with ash, preventing disassembly.

The Peel

Choose a size that fits your baking habits: Estimate the usual loaf size(s), determine the required peel size from there: I'd add at least 2 in / 5 cm to the largest meassurement and use tis to determine the diameter or side length of the square /see later). Same goes for pizza: The entire pizza must fit on the peel. For cakes, the tin or sheet should provide enough stability, and you might choose to simply place it at the front of the oven and then use the peel to gently push it in place (more on this later). But don't overdo it: The larger the peel, the more unwieldy. Do not include French Bread / Baguette in this calculation, get a special sword-shaped peel for them.
Use warp-free material. This may be metal (but some do warp, I'm no expert, ask a professinal before building your own), but wood is fine. It will not burn or scorch if handeled properly. Stay clear from plywood, its likely to warp, splinter and if too thin can't hold a larger loaf well. Also, there's the question of glue: food grade, yes, but appropriate at high heat? I'd by wary... Most peels I have worked with are solid wood, but composed of three equally wide strips, glued together (no idea on the glue used), running in the same direction as the handle. I strongly suppose this is to reduce warping, at least that's what my carpenter suggested.
Shape is somewhat a matter of choice. If you are making mostly pizza, a round peel is good. Square peels can be impractical if you want to reach the back corners of the oven. My preferred peel is basically square(ish), with heavily rounded corners, the radius of the corners is probably 2in / 5cm. I can easily reach all corners of the oven without "catching" on the corners of the peel. (Sorry if this sounds muddled...)
You do want a thin(ish) front edge, though, to slide easily under the bread / pizza / baking tin when removing them from the oven. For metal peels, this feature is obviously  "included", for wooden peels, you can either just taper the front edge - like a knife - or taper the entire peel - the "wedge-shape" mentioned in the question. The latter would be my coice, because it allows the front edge to always/automatically be the lowest point without having to lift the handle much. You do not need a razor-sharp edge, somewhere around 2-5 mm is thin enough. You may get some wear over time as the stone of the oven sands the tip down. If the edge gets to "serrated" (after a few years), just sand it down a bit.
There is one aspect of shape that is easily overlooked, though: The back side of the peel where it meets the handle. If you have a sharpish corner here, it can be used to pull a baking tin towards you, either from the side or from the top. Just "hook" the peel to the tin and pull gently. This is especially handy if you need to manouever multiple tins around because a back one is done before the front one. You can try to slide the peel underneath, but this can be tricky if a filling hasn't set yet or you are bumping the tin into something else.
Maintenance: Neither type of peel should require maintenance. Brushing or wiping off excess ash and flour should be enough. Be generous with the dusting flour and you should "never" get stuck-on dough on the peel. If you do spill something, just wipe it off and let dry. No seasoning required or recommended.


The simple answer is they can vary in redness. That would depend on the conditions they were grown in and the particular sort. Generally blood oranges are a deep (blood) red and lack the yellow tint of the other oranges. Your experience sounds perfectly normal.
Hope this helps :)


Is charcoal or the smoker at fault for low temperature smoking?

It's the smoker. I had one of these, and it is extremely flawed in design. The pan that holds the charcoal does not allow for proper air flow to the fuel. Contrast this with a Weber grill, where you put your fuel on an elevated grate with plenty of air beneath it. This Char Broil instead just has a pan that you put on a shelf. Before long your coals are buried in ash, and barely smoldering. FWIW, if you were to attempt sealing the doors, it would only exacerbate your problem, as the issue is with not enough air, versus too much. I replaced my Char Broil with a Weber Smokey Mountain, but I had considered some hacks to make it better. Your best bet would be to ditch the pan-on-shelf system, and fashion your own charcoal grate that is elevated from the bottom of the smoker. You want something that will both allow air flow to the fuel and allow the ashes to fall away from the fuel. Then you would be able to properly manage temperatures with the air vents.


What's a good spicy salt with only heat, and not a lot of flavor?

Try mixing up some salt and cayenne powder into an old spice shaker. That should make life easier. Start with a low amount of salt and adjust up to your level of heat.  If you end up putting it in a paprika container you may want to label it!


It is certainly possible to cook a lamb roast with or without bones in a slow-cooker. Slow-cooking meat tends to give a nice and tender result. However, it is strongly recommended to thaw it first. It takes a long time for a slow cooker to get the food up to a cooking temperature from frozen which is a food safety issue.


Why are these mushroom stems leaving a long, skinny fiber behind on the cap?

Mushrooms are complicated little guys. What you see as a single type of mushrooms is actually hundreds of different substrains. Its possible they're from a slightly different batch than what you're used to, and so have slightly different stems. I wouldn't worry about it, and enjoy the mushrooms!


Sour dough using unbleached all purpose flour is very wet during the preshaping

(I am assuming your starter is at 100% hydration, i.e., that it is half water, half flour. I am also assuming you have no/little experience in baking bread. Please correct me if wrong.)

Looking at your ratios, you have a total of 460g water (400g as water, 50g in the starter, 10g with the salt) to a total of 550g flour (including 50g from the starter). This gives you an overall hydration of just over 83%, which is definitely a wetter dough. Handling wet dough is not easy. I think there might not be anything wrong with your dough itself (although see below), and you just need to get more experience working with wetter doughs.

One thing that may make the dough wetter than the recipe assumes: both bread flour and (especially) whole wheat flour absorb more water than AP flour. Substituting AP flour for the bread flour is not going to make a huge difference, but still might make the dough wetter than is expected.

My advice: lower the hydration to somewhere in the 65%-70% range (i.e., replace the 400g water with 297g-325g). Learn to handle this dough (this might take a few trials), then start increasing the hydration.


How to remoisten sweetened coconut after opening?

Here's a link from eHow that walks through how to moisten coconut flakes:
http://www.ehow.com/how_8278347_moisten-dry-coconut-flakes.html

Although you are working with sweetened coconut that was once moist, this approach may still work.  They recommend you do the following:

Put a pan of water on the stove and bring it to a boil
Place a colander over the pan and put the coconut in the colander
Let the coconut absorb the steam for a few minutes and then pull the coconut off and pat dry it with a towel


I left creme fraiche out of fridge for 2 hours it turned bad

In most cases, you would have about 2 hours of time in the "danger zone" before the food should be considered irretrievably unsafe.... obviously this was not the case for you.  If the ambient temperature is especially high, or the product was close to turning anyway, you might get less time.


Practically, you can't. You should clean produce appropriately to remove surface pesticides, and cook food thoroughly to prevent illness from food-borne pathogens.

Checking for levels of pesticides or presence of pathogens would have to occur in a lab, involving microscopes, chemistry techniques, and bacterial cultures. This is impractical to do in the home, plus it would likely destroy the food you were testing.


Replacement for celery with equivalent nutrients?

Iceberg Lettuce, as it is also very low in vitamins and minerals like celery and has a good crunch.  According to the USDA's "MyPlate", 1 cup of iceberg is 1/2 serving vegetables, and 1 stalk of celery is 1/2 serving vegetables, so to get equivalent nutritional value for 2 stalks would take 2 cups shredded.

You could add more vitamins and minerals by replacing the celery with something more nutrient dense.


There is a lot of water in the milk. The high heat turns the water into steam. The egg and flour contains proteins and gluten that forms a "net". The steam can't escape without pushing the net upwards. This makes the dough rise.

It helps that the container is a narrow cylinder.


Is "high" on a slow-cooker supposed to mean 300 F?

When I started researching sous vide cooking some years ago, I created a little database of slow cookers on the market and researched the temperatures of different devices. Interestingly, slow cookers are wildly different: low temperatures ranged from 190F to 275F and high temperatures were correspondingly wacky. There is no "industry standard" and depends entirely upon what the manufacturer thinks is a good idea.

One issue you may find interesting is what the real difference between "low" and "high" switch is: it governs the speed with which the cooker gets up to temperature (whatever the manufacturer thinks is a good, poorly-controlled temperature). If you're planning dinner in 5 hours then "high" is the appropriate switch, whereas if you're planning dinner in 9 hours then "low" is the appropriate switch. In both cases, the cooker will get up to the same temperature.

Note that I have been speaking about both the "low" and "high" switch on the slow cooker AND the range (low and high) of temperature which the cooker produces.


Stirring butter toffee mixture while cooking

I'm not sure it matters that much.  In melting sugar for various candies, the reason for not stirring is so that you don't inadvertently cause the sugar to recrystalize.  For toffee, that isn't a concern.  I'd stir it at least enough to ensure it won't scorch, and not worry about it otherwise.


Why should you scrub/clean cast iron cookware with salt?

The purpose for cleaning with salt is that it is an abrasive, and helps remove anything sticking to the pan, without being harsh enough to remove the seasoning.

Its not a stop-gap measure for poor seasoning; it is intended to preserve the seasoning.  The main issue is avoiding soaps and detergents which would tend to remove the seasoning that makes cast iron fairly non-stick.


Is it okay to eat fish with an isopod parasite on it?

I'd say no.
Conventional wisdom suggest that when in doubt, throw it.
Throw it away, go back to your fishmonger/store and tell them about that.
If that fails, do not buy from that brand (if there's any brands attached to your frozen fish)


Sorry, I didn't see this until just now. I don't know why it didn't notify me.

Kefir grains are a life symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. They have to be fed and I imagine it is a niche market. Kind of like sourdough starter in that regard. I'm not surprised you didn't find them in a store.

People who have grains regularly have extras to dispose of and I have found they are usually eager to share and get other people hooked.

The last time I found grains it was on a forum dedicated to that purpose. I picked them up in a different state as I was passing through. Unfortunately this was about 10 years ago.

A quick Google search for kefir grains sharing sources turns up many resources. I will second ecnerwal that Craigslist is a good place to start. Freecycle is a good candidate.
I ran across this page that refers to a Facebook group.
http://www.yummykefir.com/get-milk-water-kefir-grains

I'll be surprised if you don't easily find grains in Austin. For better or worse kefir has kind of become a hipster probiotic thing.


What quick Thanksgiving treats can I make?

How about applesauce muffins? They require minimal effort, taste amazing, and take about half an hour to make (which includes waiting time where you can make other things).


The dark underside is normal for some varieties, but the white on top is another matter. It could well be powdery mildew which while seemingly not toxic will spoil the eating qualities, or it could be mould from damp storage. I'd look for better leaves elsewhere on the plant. Here's a little more detail


Malt syrups and powders come in two forms, Diastatic and Non-Diastatic. The Non-Diastatic kind is just sugar, and is only useful for adding a little sweetness and flavor.

Diastatic Malt Syrups and Powders are made by taking grain (usually barley, but others can be used, like rye), allowing it to sprout, then toasting it lightly to halt the sprouting process. The little roots and stuff are rubbed off, and the grain is ground into a powder, or soaked into a syrup. This is very similar to the process used to convert grains for beer-making.

The syrup is rich in enzymes that are created by the sprouting grain, for the purpose of converting the seed's starch reserves into sugar for the young plant. Non-Diastatic versions have these enzymes deactivated by heat, leaving the syrup "inert".

The enzymes and sugars do three important things

Provide nutrients for yeast.
Facilitate the conversion of starch into sugar, making bread more flavorful.
The little shot of extra sugar also gives yeast an initial boost.

Here is an article on malt syrups and powders and how to make them yourself:
http://artisanbreadbaking.com/flour/malts/

And King Arthur Flour sells a version of the powder, along with some recipe examples:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/diastatic-malt-powder-16-oz


What is the best temperature and method to cook bacon in a grill pan?

I use two methods for bacon, depending on how much I am trying to make:

For small batches, I use a cast iron pan. I place the bacon on the pan cold, and cook over medium heat, turning and swapping strips around as necessary to cook evenly. I find it easier to control sticking with the cold pan over a preheated one. I do not add oil because there is so much fat in the bacon already.
For large batches, I prefer the oven where you can cook more at once. I place the bacon in a single layer on a large pan(s), and cook at 300F for approximately 30 minutes.

I find people can be very particular in their bacon preferences for fatty, crispy, and degrees in between. This may change your cooking time substantially.


Why did my ricotta cheese did not completely melt in the Alfredo?

Some ricotta uses gums and stabilizers (usually cheaper ricottas) whereas good ricottas are made with just milk and a bit of acid and a bit of salt. The stabilizers and gums allow the ricotta to hold water rather than proper draining done for better ricottas. The stabilized ricottas often leave a grainy texture after cooking (since the stabilizers don't hold up to heat).

Check the ingredients of your old brand versus a new brand. If your old one uses just milk, acid and salt versus your new one using gums and stabilizers, that could make the difference.

Aside: If you're short on good ricottas, cottage cheese (full fat) often is a good replacement depending on context.


Unfortunately, the only responsible advice anyone can offer about "weird smells" is to throw it out. Of course, you have to know what fresh, properly stored chicken smells like, but if unidentified or "off" smells have developed in your poultry, you don't want to play with that stuff -- throw it out.

Cooked chicken is a bit trickier. You don't know what unfamiliar flavors might have developed from your seasoning or what other tastes/smells might have been picked up in the cooking process. That is very difficult to comment on authoritatively. The best way to assure food safety is to be meticulous about cross contamination and proper storage of the raw product.

So just a few quick notes on that subject -- the best assurance of food safety is heeding the freshness dates and meticulously assuring proper handling and refrigeration in storage. Spoiled or "off" chicken smells have more of a sour quality than that classic sulfur odor... but don't rely on that. There is no reliable "smell test" to assure food safety, particularly in poultry.


How to best zest a citrus fruit that was already halved and squeezed?

I find that the classical zester is a rather clumsy tool and needs quite a bit of pressure to use, which is hard to do against a squeezed lemon.

I zest with a microplane, and I find that it does a fairly good job with squeezed lemons too, even though it's not as comfortable as with a whole lemon. It is sharp enough to peel off the zest pieces after the lemon was squished.

This may go against your "aspire strips of zest" desire, because the microplane produces finer zest than the classical zester - what you get are still strips, but thinner and shorter. They are actually better suited for baking, but if you want a specific shape and size for decoration or for candying, this might be a problem. Still, it works good for many applications, and I also prefer it on nonsqueezed lemons.


Ruined My Pre-Season Cast Iron Pan- Help!

It sounds to me like you put too much oil on when you tried to season it, and that's why it was thick and sticky. You will probably have to start all over, but the pan is not ruined forever! It's best to wipe the thinnest layer of oil you can on it, essentially putting some oil on and then wiping as much off with a paper towel as you can, and then putting it in the oven like you did and baking it at as high of a temperature as you can. There should be no fear of drips. Bake it for an hour or two, then let it cool inside the oven back to room temperature, and then wipe it with oil and do it all over again, as many as 6 or 7 times to build up a good seasoning. It's a long process, but it's worth it. Good luck!


Spices become wet and clumpy once I start cooking

If searing the meat in the pan, then once you put the seasoned meat in the pan, do not move it. Leave it in position until you flip it to avoid the seasoning rubbing off onto the pan or clumping.


Why do some mangoes ripen without changing flesh color?

It depends on the cultivar (genetic traits) and on the amount of exposure to light. You can't reliably judge a mango's ripeness by color.


omelettes and scrambled eggs - How long can I store them?

What Tim said. Eggs just don't hold very well, and they are very sensitive to temperature--reheating them basically will mean re-cooking them. I would never store eggs in this manner, because the texture and flavour degradation will make them unpleasant to eat.

However, to actually answer your question--and again, I urge you not to do this because stored and reheated eggs will taste like garbage--cooked eggs should keep for up to 72 hours in the refrigerator. Remember to chill them as rapidly as possible after cooking, and you may wish to undercook slightly in order to minimize problems when reheating.

I would use 72 hours as an absolute maximum, particularly if you are undercooking. 48 hours is probably wiser.


These are grains of rice that have not been polished. Rice comes in many colors. The outer hull needs removed like wheat. Then to mids or inner skin polished off. The mids is were the oil is. If not removed rice will go rancid in 3 to 4 months. They will not harm you.


Can cooking oil selection effect Maillard reaction?

The Maillard reaction occurs at temperatures greater than 285°F (140°C). So, ignoring flavor, the oil you use (if any) has no influence over the reaction.  It needs a particular temperature to begin happening.  For what is happening, see the link. Now, in practice, flavor comes from both the Miallard reaction and caramelization (apart from other flavor ingredients), so the oil and the temperature can have significant impacts in that regard.


Depends on the apple. Apples with softer skins will bake to a more even consistency, but apples with tough skin (the 'shiny' kinds like McIntosh or Red Delicious) tend to get caught in your teeth and throat, and are generally a pain to eat.

If you do make a pie with the skins on, use smaller pieces of apple or slice around the apples to create shorter pieces of peel. These are easier to eat and don't get caught in your mouth as much.


How can I keep the crust of my breads from getting too dark?

Foil will reflect heat, and I have a canonical answer on here someplace about using it to modify baking in ovens that have issues with, say, burning the bottom of a loaf.

But if the whole loaf is affected, the problem is one of temperature or ingredients (or the intersection of the two.) Less sugar in the dough will reduce browning of the crust, and lower temperature will also reduce browning of the crust. Assuming you are happy with the overall taste, I'd start with turning the oven down, not attempting to shield the whole loaf with foil. You may need to increase baking time at lower temperature.


They reflect what is listed as a serving size.  If a serving lists one pickle - then that's what the nutritional info reflects.  If it lists pickle + 1 oz juice (there's no way it does), then it would reflect that.


How to judge quantity of fresh pasta dough per person

Michael Ruhlman (in "Ratio") suggests starting with approximately 1 egg per person, and adding the appropriate amount of flour.


How to make perfect crispy bacon strips?

In order to get crispy bacon you need to start with the right type. In the USA what most people consider bacon is from the belly, whereas in other parts of the world bacon is from the loin. You can get this in the states as Canadian bacon. You can't make loin bacon crispy and believe me I've tried. However you can get belly bacon most places (presuming bacon is available), in the UK it's called streaky bacon. You want to get the meatiest back bacon you can with the highest meat content.

Bacon is almost always salt cured, and can be smoked or not, which to chose is entirely your preference on flavor and won't make a difference in crispiness. Thickness is again your personal preference, some people like thin, others thick. It will make a difference in cooking time, thicker takes longer to cook. You shouldn't have to do anything to your bacon like removing anything, or salting it - if your bacon isn't salty enough then maybe it's not been cured in which case look for a different source.

Once you have the right bacon you need the right technique. In order to get crispy bacon the fat has to render out, and that takes time. A common mistake people make is to cook it at too high a temperature and browning it before the fat can render. I start with a cold pan and lay the bacon out on it before applying heat. I apply low-medium heat and cook it for about 10-15 minutes depending on the size and thickness of the bacon. I turn it once towards the end to get color on the other side, then I remove and let the bacon drain on some paper towels. The paper towels wick the fat away better then simply letting them drip, giving a crispier result. I know the bacon is getting done when it starts to stiffen up when I lift one side, when it gets to that state I know it will only need another minute, that's when I flip.

If you are going to pan cook in batches then drain the fat out after each batch and let the pan cool some, alternatively have two pans, letting one cool. If you have that much to cook I'd use the oven technique below.

You can also make very good bacon in the oven, very similar in technique to making it in the pan. You lay bacon out on a cold tray and put it in a cold oven. You then turn the to oven on to 200C (400F) oven for about 20 minutes. If you are in less of a hurry you could do 110C for an hour, slower cooking makes for better bacon. I've seen one chef who cooks bacon for 2 hours on low heat while sandwiched between 2 baking trays - the top tray keeps the bacon perfectly flat. The oven method is great for baking large quantities.


Is tamari and soy sauce a 1:1 substitute?

The answer is both yes, and at the same time no.
The problem is that there are a lot of types of soy sauce (see What are the differences between types of soy sauce? ), and many of them are not good substitutions for each other.
Depending on what type of soy sauce you're replacing, Tamari may be a good 1:1 substitution, or it may not be.


Here is the molecular chemical structure of agar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar#Composition

It is a polysaccharide and like all polysaccharides will be strongly hydrophilic.  To answer the question: there is no way a molecule like this will dissolve in oil.  You might be able to make an emulsion but you would need an emulsifier and there is none I recognize in this recipe.
As regards the larger question of why this recipe calls for agar I do not know.


Yes, they are safe to use.

Even if you believe certain claims about metallic aluminum, the anodized coating is essentially aluminum oxide which is very, very hard and very, very non-reactive.  So it is unlikely to enter your food either chemically or physically, nor to react with your body even if it did.  It is essentially pre-reacted.

This is the same material that rubies and sapphires are made of (not counting the impurities that give them their color).

The government sponsored sources all indicate any level of aluminum consumed from cookware is dwarfed by the amount of aluminum naturally occurring in foods in any case.  Some sources, especially the Health Canada ones use a lot of soft language, but always say there is no known risk—any risk that does exist will be quite small.

See also:

Michigan State University Extension article on cookware
Health Canada, and 2nd Health Canada


What are some recommended methods of cleaning wooden cutting boards?

Mineral oil is your friend

As you said, Ana, the biggest enemy of a clean — and warp-free — wood cutting board is moisture penetration. The first trick to fight this is to wipe down your cutting board fairly often with mineral oil or other food-safe wood treatment.

This helps with cleaning as it prevents liquids and bacteria from penetrating into the wood. It also has the nice effect of helping to keep flavors from embedding and transferring to other foods.

Scrape it. Scrape it good.

The second trick is to use a sturdy steel scraper to clean the surface as you go, scraping out excess moisture after each round of cutting before it can penetrate too deeply into the wood. This is something you'll especially want to do with an end-grain cutting block, which is much more absorbent than other grains.

Soap & water is (mostly) all you need

When I'm done, I usually wash with light soap & hot water on the board, followed by a good hard scrape with the steel scraper, so I have a nice dry, fresh surface for the next use. And store that board on its edge, not flat! This promotes even drying and prevents warping.

It's science

The smart people at America's Test Kitchen used science n' stuff and found that soap & hot water was pretty effective at killing bacteria, though the USDA recommends an application of bleach dilute to really sanitize that bad boy.

Maintained board = clean board

Notable board maker, Boos, has a good list of board care suggestions, including these related to cleaning:

  Periodically (once every 3-4 weeks, depending upon the use and household conditions), apply an even coat of Boos ® Mystery Oil and Boos Block ® Board Cream to all surfaces of your wood cutting board. The Boos ® Mystery Oil acts as a shampoo that contains oils and minerals that penetrates through the wood surface to increase its longevity. Next, you will want to use the Boos Block ® Board Cream, that acts as the conditioner, to seal the top coating of the wood surface.
  DO NOT allow moisture of any type to stand on the cutting board for long periods of time. Don't let fresh, wet meats lay on the board longer than necessary. Brine, water and blood contain much moisture, which soaks into the wood, causing the cutting board to expand, the wood to soften, and affects the strength, of the glued joints.
  Use a good steel scraper or spatula several times a day, as necessary, to keep the cutting surface clean and sanitary. Scraping the surfaces will remove 75% of the moisture. Do not use a steel brush on the cutting surface of your board.
  DO NOT cut fish or fowl on the work surface of your cutting board, unless you have thoroughly followed the instructions in step #1. The moisture barrier must be intact prior to cutting any type of fish, seafood, or fowl on the work surface of your cutting board. ALWAYS CLEAN THE CUTTING BOARD SURFACE THOROUGHLY AFTER CUTTING FISH OR FOWL ON THE WORK SURFACE.
  Sanitize cutting board by wiping all surfaces down with mild dish soap and water. Dry throughly. DO NOT wash your wood cutting board with harsh detergents of any type. DO NOT wash your butcher's tools on your cutting board surface. DO NOT put Boos Block ® wood cutting boards into dishwasher.

Happy chopping!


What gives Indian curries the sweet and creamy taste and fragrance?

Well I do the following for punjabi gravies-

I add poppy seeds, cashew and melon seeds in milk, soak them for some time and then grind these in blender.
This gives it a creamy texture and that white shade in the red gravy
I cook the onions properly, as well cooked onions give a sweetened flavor.
To some paneer gravies I add little sugar.
I know it sounds weird but it does give gravy a different and tasty flavour.
Adding cream from also gives it a sweet flavor.
For that spices flavor, I will suggest to roast the spices dry first and then grind them, this will give a flavor as well as fragrance to the gravy.

Though I am not much aware of dhaba flavours but making punjabi gravys by these points will surely give better flavors than restaurants


If you want the result to be shelf stable, you need to follow a proper procedure to either process the jam in a water bath or in a pressure cooker. Just placing the lids on the jam (either hot or cold) is not considered safe. Your jam is fine if you want to store it in the refrigerator, but not otherwise.


baking time versus number of items in oven

(1) Are you baking them upper/lower or side-by-side?,  (2) Is your oven's outside width 24" or 30"?,  & (3) Gas or electric?

My guess would be that either you have a 24" oven and you're baking upper/lower or you have a 30" oven and you're baking side-by-side.  Either way, I think the ultimate culprit is heat circulation - certainly you wouldn't be having this problem in a convection oven, right?

If you're baking them upper/lower in a small oven, I believe that heat absorption would probably create areas of lower temperature above both pans that wouldn't even out well without convection.  If you're baking side-by-side in a larger oven, I believe that the total area of your pans would create a heat block and a temperature differential between the top and bottom of your oven that would not dissipate well without convection.  And while I think the circulation problem would be less of a problem with gas, I'm pretty sure it's going to present a problem in either type of oven you use.

Being the owner of a 24" electric oven myself (so the interior of my oven is 18" x 18", not including the ribs that support the racks), I can't even bake two 9" circular cake layers at the same time (either diagonally or upper and lower) without grotesque deformations in the tops of my cakes. And two 9" round pans with a thin layer of cake batter are going to be less of a heat magnet and obstruction than a thick layer of apple cake batter in two 9" x 13" pans.

Ultimately I think the problem is not one of time but of maintaining temperatures above and below your pans - and adding time to the bake won't resolve the problems caused by such a differential.  Alas, I believe that your best option is to give each cake its own space and time in the oven.  Whether it's a heat conduction issue or a circulation issue or some combination of both, I think the variables involved are WAY too complicated to ever lead to a general baking time extension guideline when doubling-up a recipe.

Bake them separately - and, yes, I realize that's not a very satisfying recommendation.


What ingredient(s) available in the UK would make a passable alternative to epazote?

Obviously, if you can find real, fresh epazote at a local spice vendor's, go get it, it's a lovely herb. It is definitely not an herb that I would recommend bothering to substitute if you have access to the thing-in-itself (unlike, say, cassia and true cinnamon, or fennel seeds and anise; nothing in my experience is close to epazote, and so epazote cannot truly be substituted).

But since the point of this question is to do that anyway, the main flavor-purpose of epazote is to provide a sharp flavor (that's the part described as "medicinal", or "like creosote") with "smoky", "bitter" undertones. The reason the recipe mentions "a sprig" is because epazote is intensely flavored but loses that flavor quickly under heat, and so is typically added at the end; the small amount is sufficient to permeate the soup with flavor.

https://www.chowhound.com/post/substitute-epazote-402502

The site above records, supposedly from a comment on a page somewhere at the University of Graz, though the link is dead, "a mixture of savory, oregano and boldo leaves". Sadly, I've never tried boldo, though, and cannot attest to what herb would replace it. I also don't know if it's available in England, knowing only that it is Peruvian-native.

For a personal recommendation, boiled pine needle is the closest analogue for the sharp part in my experience; if you have access to pine needles (I've heard Scots pine is native to Britain, be careful of impostor junipers), don't be shy about washing some gathered needles and steeping them like tea (the sharp scent of pine mellows out with boiling into something akin to epazote).

Juniper berries have the same flavor, but juniper is toxic in high amounts, unlike the needles of other conifers; so I have never used it. Also, it makes sense that a food with a flavor described as "like creosote" would also be similar in flavor to boiled pine, since a major source of creosote is pine tar, made from pine wood fired oxygen-free.

My recommendation based on personal experience would therefore be to just add the pinewater right to the soup, together with oregano, thyme, rosemary, and a dash of cumin since all those herbs have resinous, "bitter" notes for the undertones.

...lastly, since, realistically, you're probably not going to be using pine needles either, I would recommend combining these two separate recommendations; some combination of summer savory, oregano, thyme, and perhaps mint, cilantro, or lemon zest for extra sharpness. It won't be epazote, but it should fill the role similarly.


Difference between sweating and sautéeing?

The answer is a bit complicated, because there is a confusing language issue here.

In standard cooking terminology, there is nothing in common between the two (except that both are stovetop). Sautéeing requires a wicked hot pan, a layer of oil (you can't use nonstick at these temperatures), and constant movement of the food. Basically, you are burning/caramelizing the outermost layer of your small pieces of vegetable while keeping the inside juicy. And if you'd let the food rest for a few seconds in contact with the hot pan, it will burn, so you have to keep it jumping.

Sweating is the process of allowing heat to slowly break down the cell walls of the plant. It is done on medium low temperature, and frequent stirring is counterproductive. In fact, if the pan is not crowded, you can do the whole process without stirring at all. It is usually done with fat, because this produces some very tasty byproducts (I've read of a study found that one of the flavors people found to be most pleasant in meat was in fact produced by a chemical reaction of onions and butter). But the fat is not strictly necessary for the process to take place. The resulting vegetables are soft through and through, and have lost some of their water during the cell wall breakdown. It needs some experience to find the temperature at which the food won't burn, but the juice will cook off quickly enough to not turn the bottom layer limp.

But this terminology is not common among home cooks at all in English speaking countries. I have never seen the term "sweating" in an English recipe meant for home cooks. And for some reason, they use the term "sautéeing" instead, even when they are clearly not sautéeing at all in the culinary school sense. I don't know what has caused this strange language phenomenon, but it has led to a somewhat confusing situation.

The result is that you have to know your source. If it was written for and/or by home cooks, you can assume that there is no difference at all. When you read "sautéeing", you should sweat your vegetables, or brown the meat. If you are using a professional cooking resource, you need to use the other definition. Also, if it's for home cooks but a translation from a language which makes the distinction (e.g. German), it is possible that it uses culinary school terminology. It's a bit like the dinosaur/bird terminology problem in biology: depending on who is talking, it means different things.


What can I add to this food to make it taste good?

This question may get closed, but there are still some standard answers why broth doesn't taste good.

Number 1) salt, broth must have salt or some seasoning that gives the broth some character, otherwise no matter how else it may be good, it will taste dead and flat.

Number 2) there are certain triads of veg that need to form the basis of broths even if you use other ingredients in addition (like fish or chicken). Mirepoix is one of those, which is onion, carrot and celery. Another is the Cajun holy trinity of onion, peppers and celery, or the French duxelles of onions shallots and mushrooms. There is also the Portuguese refogado of onions, garlic and tomato.

Just a few days ago I made a ramen noodle soup that was cabbage based, but I still started with a mirepoix first, added cabbage and fish sauce, then after making the broth threw out all the spent veg, and tossed in fresh cabbage and mushrooms a few minutes before serving.

Make one of these the basis of your broth, and remember to salt "just enough" salt, not too
Much or too little. It requires tasting to get it right.


Let me approach the question in two parts 1) you want to flavor the buckwheat 2) you need a binder (currently you're using dates).
My suggestion 1* / use avocado and mash some dried spices (basil, oregano, etc) into it. The avocado is going to be the oil. Do not add any other oil.  2* / try de-seeded zucchini in your buckwheat blend - the idea is to experiment with mushy plants with low water content (thus you need to remove the seeds of the zucchini in this example).
These are theories as I'm not raw but still hope the direction helps :)


Why do my cookies fall flat and not cook on the bottom?

Welcome to Seasoned Advice first I will point you to an article in our blog Silpat, Parchment Paper or Plain Baking Sheet. @KatieK contrasts these cooking surfaces.Look at the instructions for time and temp. Are you thoroughly Preheating? You pictures indicate that you are using parchment, but you don't mention time/temp.

My first inclination based on what I see is that you are baking them too long at too low a temp, and not fully preheating. If you raise the temp and shorten the time the cookie will not spread as far. With 'scoop' cookies you expect the dough to spread some, but you are getting too much spread. The higher temperature will cause the cookie to form a solid (ok, solidish, it should be soft but 'strong enough' to hold form) This will also give you better "bottoms" as they will bake faster as well.

Another thing you might be doing is opening the oven door too often, this releases a lot more heat than you think, extending the correct baking time and slowing the process. I know it is sometimes hard to resist peeking, try to not open the door till you are at least 75% through the projected time.


The vegetables might be fine, since vegetables can be stored in the fridge for up to a few weeks, depending on the kind. The meat should be thrown out. If you don't know at what temperature it has been kept, and for how long, there is no way to tell if it is still safe, and food poisoning is unpleasant. I would throw everything out, but I strongly recommend at least all the meat.


What parameter is best to increase - time or temperature?

When you reheat something, the heat from the oven is usually just penetrating the outside layers of the food. Conduction within the food is what carries the heat into the center. To demonstrate this, you can try putting something cold (not frozen), and thick in the microwave on high for about 30-45 seconds. Take it out, then cut it in half. The outside 1/4-1/2 inch will have warmed up while the core will remain very cold.

What this means is that in order to get the center hotter, usually you need more time, not more heat. While more heat will accomplish it (more heat conduction because of a greater heat gradient), it will also overcook the outer layers and leave them dry or burnt. Since you want to retain moisture, increase the time, not the temperature.

You could actually try decreasing the temperature and increasing the time. Trying it at 350 degrees for an hour may actually work better than 400 for 45-50 minutes. It will cook the outer layers more slowly, so you lose less moisture, AND give the heat more time to penetrate into the center of the dish.

This is going to be true for pretty much any frozen/chilled food, not just eggplant, and in any cooking method (oven, microwave, sous vide, etc.). Note that frozen food in the microwave presents its own challenge, because ice is not a good absorber of microwaves, but water is quite good, so you can end up with part of the dish being really hot and part of it being still frozen, depending on your microwave's hot spots.


Are egg-less pasta typically made with durum flour?

This answer is valid only for what I can call Italian type pasta.

The best then is to use durum as it is characterized by a high content in protein, specifically those of the gluten group. Proteins changes upon cooking results in a reticulated structure that retains starch and gives the typical "al dente" feature as well as resistance to overcooking.

An Italian law* promulgated 1967 qualified as pasta only the products obtained from durum and having a proteic content of at least 12%.

More recently, globalisation oblige?, the law* has been modified as to allow wheat to be mixed with durum up to 3%.

According to the info labels, top pasta producers are still using durum and nothing else.

The above does not concerns regional specialities that only resembles pasta (they are indeed pastasciutta but this term refer to the dish) but go called by their specific names, both colloquially and commercially (for instance they might contain buckwheat, chestnut flour, potatoes, etc., examples are pizzoccheri and various types of trofie and dumplings).

*I don't post links to the Gazzetta Ufficiale, the official laws collection as it's obviously in Italian

This link has a table that should be readable to those reading English http://www.pasta.it/legge.htm

Points 4 and 5 deals with wheat, forbidding it as the only ingredient and allowing it within the above mentioned limit of 3% in certain types of pasta.


How do I reduce the lemon acidity in apple soup?

It may be worth trying to balance the sour flavor out using some sugar or other sweetener, it will be powerfully flavored but it's better than adding baking soda, as it has been pointed out that may change the texture and flavor in ways you do not want. At the very least it may reduce the amount of acidity you would want to neutralize, so less baking soda would be needed.

As for what I'd do: chuck it and start over if adding sugar doesn't work. I wouldn't make another batch and combine the two because if you combine them and it still doesn't taste good you have wasted 2 batches! I'd start over and try to get the second batch right, then you have a better chance of getting something out of your efforts.

How much lemon juice and/or rind you need to add is dependent on personal taste, the type of apples used and their acidity (there are apples that are too sour to begin with!), and other factors like how much water is added. A recipe in this case is a guideline, you should start with far less lemon and sugar than the recipe suggests and add more of both gradually, tasting as you go. If you use granny smith (very, very tart) apples you'll need much less lemon and much more sugar for example.


Can a pizza stone be fixed after soap has been used to clean it?

I would rinse well with clear water.  Allow to dry thoroughly, and then use as normal.

There is a small chance that your pizza stone will impart a soap flavor to your pizza, but I would say that it is worth a couple of pizza cooks to determine if there is a long term problem.  It's really not that much of a risk.


Can I make cookies on a pizza stone?

Unless I'm misreading, you answered this yourself with your first sentence.

  Will all my cookies taste like pizza? Will my pizza taste like cookies?

Unless you're spilling pizza toppings onto the stone, no. Brushing it clean in between each usage will take care of any flavor transfer.


What's this brush for a reuseable stainless steel mesh coffee drip filter?

It's to clean the filter. With the structure of a coffee filter, rinsing and using a towel or kitchen sponge won't be able to clean the tiny crevasses of the filter, hence the bristles are there to penetrate the tiny holes.
You would really want to properly clean out your coffee filters, as oils released by coffee could eventually build up in the holes, making your next coffee result in a bitter taste.


http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/slideshow/foods-that-can-kill-you Which I think may be overstating the danger, but, their claim is:

After some quick Googling, we found that hydrogen cyanide is lethal at about 1.52 milligrams per kilogram, meaning that it takes little more than 0.1 grams (a dime weighs about one gram) of the toxin to dispatch a 150-pound human. A single cherry yields roughly 0.17 grams of lethal cyanide per gram of seed, so depending on the size of the kernel, ingesting just one or two freshly crushed pits can lead to death.

Again, I think that may be overstated, but should still give you cause to avoid the risk.  The pits do not actually contain cyanide, but do contain a related compound that digests in the body into cyanide.  Incidental swallowing of a pit is not an issue. It is the kernel that has the compounds.
The earlier comment regarding flavor:  These chemicals tend to be a very bitter flavor, one that people tend to dislike.  This tends to act as a warning "not good" causing us not to eat such things because we do not like the flavor and thus not poisoning ourselves.  Not foolproof, but it helps.  A few in a batch may not actually hurt you unless you ate entire jars in one sitting, but that does not mean it will be good for you, and the bitterness may well affect the flavor.  My experience, though anecdotal, with stone fruits is that more pits will split and crack after heating than before so the risks of off flavor or even tainting may increase.
If this is something you wish to make in quantity or more than once, I would look into investing in of of the small pitters available for home use.


Will fresh bell peppers give stew a red colour?

Normally no. Paprika and the like are dried and powdered. You will likely get some red coloration if you puree your fresh red peppers before adding to your stew. Absent that step, the red remains mostly in the pepper chunks.


Does freezing meat lead to differences detectable by blind testing?

Meat is... complicated. There are many factors here, but it helps to have an understanding of why freezing affects meat at all.

The first impact is textural: ice crystals that form during freezing damage cell membranes within the meat. This primarily affects the muscle fibers that give meat its primary structure; connective tissues are tougher and less susceptible to damage (and breaking them down is usually considered desirable anyway) and fat contains less water in the first place. In extreme cases meat badly damaged by freezing can develop a "mushy" texture.

The second impact is that metabolic processes within the meat aren't completely stopped by freezing, just drastically slowed. From the same source linked above:

  Meat freezes at 28° F (-2° C) but to freeze all water present inside
  of the meat we have to create temperatures of -8°-22° F (-22°-30° C),
  which is well beyond the range of a home refrigerator.

At the typical temperatures of a home freezer, the complex amino acids which give meats their distinctive flavors can continue to break down, although slowly. Some could potentially be damaged by the freezing process itself. Since the flavor of meat can vary substantially depending on the cut and how the animal was raised (including what it ate while alive) it's difficult to provide a single definitive answer here.

From a practical perspective this means that you should attempt to limit the damage caused by freezing in the first place:

Freeze as quickly as possible, to limit the amount of time ice crystals have to form. Start from meat at refrigerator temperature, and set your freezer as low as possible. (A blast chiller is really the ideal way to freeze, but impractical for the home chef.)
Store your meat properly. It should be tightly wrapped, ideally vacuum-sealed in impermeable food-grade plastic. Air gives ice crystals space to form, insulates the meat so that it freezes more slowly, and can allow the outer surface of the meat to dry out causing freezer burn, so remove as much air as possible. Keep the temperature low and constant; you don't want any potential thawing and re-freezing (which will form new ice crystals, causing additional internal damage).
Select meats that freeze and store well. Fish and seafood in general, for example, are easily damaged by freezing because they contain more water. In my experience leaner cuts such as chicken breast or pork loin are also more susceptible to damage, presumably because they contain mostly muscle fiber with less connective tissue or fat.
Use and cook the meat within a reasonable amount of time; say 3-6 months as a general guideline. Frozen meat is safe for much longer periods if kept frozen, but its quality will degrade over time unless it's kept at super-low temperatures in industrial-grade equipment (which I'm assuming you don't have, as with the blast chiller).

It turns out that you can in fact freeze and thaw meat with results pretty close to fresh! But in the context of a blind taste test, to determine whether these results are detectable by tasters, there are other things to consider:

What cut of meat is being tasted? As mentioned above, certain meats are more easily damaged by freezing; any damage caused should be more easily detected. The gold standard for this is possibly sushi-grade fish served sashimi style. Conversely, naturally tougher cuts (flank steak, lamb leg, and so on) could even subjectively benefit from mild freezer damage, assuming no major freezer burn or other storage issues.
How will the meat be prepared? A rare steak will showcase the quality of the meat, and serves as a more "direct" taste test. By contrast, the muscle fibers in something like pulled pork are by definition overcooked, to the point where collagen breaks down into gelatin. Any damage to the muscle fibers caused by freezing will likely be obscured by the cooking process itself and less detectable to the taster.
Finally, who is doing the tasting? An expert will almost certainly be able to detect subtler differences between frozen and fresh meat than a neophyte. A chef who runs a world-renowned steakhouse will likely have a keener palate than your uncle Ted who eats his steak well-done with ketchup.

I'm not aware of any research that has attempted to untangle or examine these factors; there might be something out there, and I encourage more enterprising or well-read members of the community to edit in references where applicable. But I hope this suffices to answer your general question: assuming you freeze properly and carefully, you can avoid much of the damage that will make your meat obviously different from fresh. How large a difference is acceptable will depend on the meat you're freezing, how it's prepared, and the audience you're serving.


Frozen sea squirts: any suggests on cleaning/preparing?

Small world, just defrosted my pack of 4cm ers. Peel skin, cut in half, cut out liver, rinse well in cold water, slather in your favorite hot sauce for your first one! Then be creative from there or throw the rest down the toilet, its a very acquired taste!

Meonggeboy


How long can uncooked brisket be refrigerated after defrosting?

I believe 3-5 days is the basic guidance for keeping raw, defrosted whole cuts of meat in the refrigerator (See FoodSafety.gov).  Packaging has nothing to do with this.  Temperature is critical (below 40F...and colder is always better). I would say you are fine.


Can oven cleaning sprays poison the quality of the food baked in an oven if not cleared away?

It is safe

If you use it properly and follow the instructions.

When I clean my oven with those products, I make certain it is well wiped cleaned with clean water after and I will let the oven run empty for a little to make certain that if there's some left over product, it will be evaporated.


Microwave steaming - venting/holes optional?

It won't explode. If you don't have a lid, try it with tightly secured cling wrap. Just don't put a ton of water in there, follow the instructions. It's a nice way to quickly steam veggies. Even if it does explode, the worst that will happen is steam will escape into your microwave and your veggies might dry out. Nothing crazy!


Melting Temperature of Mozzarella Cheese?

This is tricky because you don't really want the cheese to melt, you want it to become pliable enough to roll.  When making fresh mozzarella, the curds are heated in 90 - 100 degree F water to make them pliable, then heated further (maybe 120 F) for stretching and folding.  This is for fresh. I would assume factory produced mozzarella will behave slightly differently, with a higher melting point.  I would do some small test pieces (maybe an 1/4 inch slice so that it heats through quickly and you can move on with your test).  Start at 85F and work your way up or down.  It shouldn't take long to zero in on a temp that is right for the application you have in mind. I would be curious to know what you want to do with a sheet of mozzarella.


What to do with soggy mushy potato chips?

Crush them and use them as a breading for deep fried meat.


How can I get frozen egg whites out of the ice tray?

So to sum up, so far, we have:

use a silicon tray, there should be no problems there.
put the tray in warm water for a short while and they would let go.


Is it safe to drink grain alcohol mixed with snake blood?

According to Biological risks associated with consumption of reptile products International Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 134, Issue 3, 15 September 2009, Pages 163-175:
People are documented to have been infected with the following pathogens due to raw snake consumption:

Spirometra (Vietnam is specifically mentioned)
Gnathostoma doloresi
Pentastomids

See also Spirometra (Pseudophyllidea, Diphyllobothriidae) Severely Infecting Wild-Caught Snakes from Food Markets in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China: Implications for Public Health The Scientific World Journal
Volume 2014, Article ID 874014:

In China, there are a lot of cases of human sparganosis caused by eating raw meat of snakes and frogs, drinking snake blood, and swallowing snake gall bladder [16]. Improper cooking methods of snakes will also increase the risk of infection, such as snake skin salad and halfcooked snake meat. In addition, Spirometra may contaminate tableware and food in the process of cooking snake meat. In the year of 2011, a patient suffered from bronchial sparganosis because he had a history of ingesting raw frogs, snakes, and drinking raw snake blood [17]. Another case of cerebral sparganosis reported in 2012 was caused by eating frogs and snakes [18]. In a separate report in 2003, all of the 11 patients infected by Spirometra had the habit of eating raw meat and skin of animals and 6 of them ate snake meat, blood, or snake gall [19]. In 104 cases from 2000 to 2006, 53.9% were caused by eating snakes or frogs [16].

...

More than half (55.0%) of the snakes were infected by Spirometra

Finally, concerning alcohol, see Effect of physicochemical factors on infectivity of Spirometra mansoni plerocercoid Zhongguo Ji Sheng Chong Xue Yu Ji Sheng Chong Bing Za Zhi. 2011 Oct;29(5):368-71 :

None of the mice fed with plerocercoids soaked in 60% ethanol for 2 h was infected. All the mice fed with plerocercoids soaked in 60% ethanol for 1 h, or in 50% ethanol for 2 h or 3 h were infected.

So even if the final concentration of alcohol after mixing was 60% (120 proof), and you wait 1 hour after mixing the blood and alcohol, it isn't necessarily sufficient to disinfect.


Is it possible to make vegan Yorkshire Puddings?

In a pop over-type batter, the eggs provide a few functions:

Egg whites: protein for structure.  Since the popover/yorkshire pudding is leavened by the protein matrix generated by the ingredients setting and capturing the steam that the wet batter is pushing out, you're going to need something to replace the protein here.  The gluten from the wheat flour isn't going to fully provide the structural integrity you need.
Egg whites: Water.  Egg whites are about 92% water by weight.  This helps make your dough liquid enough to produce the steam needed for the leavening.
Egg yolks: fats for weakening the dough.  The fats in the yolks help keep the dough springy and soft as well as provides a nice richness to the flavor.
Egg yolks: emulsifiers.  The lecithin in the yolk helps to bind the water phase of the batter with the fat phase of the batter so that they don't separate.

So, my suggestion would be to up the liquid in the recipe by a few tablespoons, add a little bit more fat, some powdered lecithin (or other emulsifying agents -- you can get vegan lecithin made from mustard), and some soy protein powder.

You might have to play with the combination of these ingredients, but by replicating and replacing the items the egg provides, you'll be much better suited to creating the popover.

Although, you're not making yorkshire pudding FYI -- you're making a popover.  Yorkshire pudding is a popover created by using the rendered fat from a roast.  A popover is the same type of bread, but made without using animal fat.


Tenderizing fava bean skin without overcooking inside

Peel the beans after soaking.
The outer skin is very tough, and is generally intended to be removed unless you are cooking the beans to mush.
Note that favas are a mushy/crumbly bean regardless of how they are cooked.  You get the best texture by cooking them fresh.  But peeling the soaked beans should improve texture for you.


How long will this apple compote keep in the fridge?

How long do you want to keep it ?
I'd say a couple of days.
If wanting to keep it longer, I'd freeze it in portions in freezer "ziplock" bags.


Are there similar scales like the Scoville scale?

Yes, and Wikipedia has a brief summary of these scales (with some further details in other portions of the article and the links).

Basically, at least four of the five recognized primary "tastes" have a reference compound that other foods are compared to subjectively.  For sweetness, a solution containing the test compound is diluted until sweetness can barely be detected by a human taster (similar to the Scoville scale).  Sucrose is given the reference value of 1 (or sometimes 100).  Sourness is similarly rated in comparison to a dilute hydrochloric acid solution, saltiness is rated in comparison to a dilute table salt (sodium chloride) solution, and bitterness is rated relative to a dilute quinine solution.  (I've not heard of any similar scale for umami.)

In most cases, the reference compound is given a value of 1.  The most common way to reference these scales is as the "[taste] index," as in "Citric acid has a value of 0.46 on the sourness index," which means it has to be diluted slightly less than half of how much hydrochloric acid would be for it to be on the threshold of human sourness detection.

(By the way, while these scales show us something, they are mostly useful for comparing single pure substances.  For culinary purposes, their value is somewhat limited by the complex interactions among various tastes and flavor components.  Even individual substances can change flavor depending on environment: for example, a complex molecule may taste relatively neutral at neutral pH, but with increased acid and thus sourness, it may acquire a salty flavor.)


So, there's maybe a few things I found to reduce the astringency or bitterness of spinach.  If you can reduce the bitterness to a flavor you like first, rather then relying on the sugar to mask or balance astringency (which it doesn't hide so much) - you can probably end up with a better dessert.

One thought is that blanching the spinach will help counter bitterness.  briefly boil your washed spinach, and discard the water.  If you're intending to further cook the spinach afterwards (as in making a fruit-based halwa), cold shocking it might not be needed - It's possible that discarding the water will be enough, though of course you can try with and without the cold shock to see what works for you.

Another thing is astringency can be countered or hidden by soaking in different substances - Adding a bit of milk or fats to your final recipe (as in some of the fattier nut-style halwas) should help balance a little bitterness, Pre-soaking the spinach in milk and discarding might work to draw out some of the astringency.  Soaking in food grade lime or absorbic acid like lemon juice or vitamin C, might also work.

Another option is to consider the source of your spinach - fresh baby spinach (for example) will likely not have as much of the bitterness in it to begin with, compared to a cooked full grown spinach.  Baby spinach is mild enough to be eaten straight in a salad, mild enough that it might even be candied, like rose petals, for a garnish after your dish is complete.

You might also consider whether the spinach will work better as a flavoring agent or as a bulk agent in your halwa - many fruit based halwas (which seems the easiest method) simply stew the fruit with sugar for a long cooking period, so you need to make sure the spinach as a whole is not going to turn bitter or change while cooking.  Other types of halwa may use different ingredients, for different effects - a jelly based or nut-based halwa might easily be flavored with spinach juice... juice which can be extracted at any point along the process, from raw to well-boiled.  Leaving the solids behind may help reduce unwanted flavors - or just make the juice more controllable (that is, extract the juice when it is a flavor you like, and the lack of the rest of the plant might keep it form changing overmuch).

You might even consider pairing your spinach with another fruit or vegetable, something complementary or neutral for the bulk removed if you go the juice route - something mild and vegetal might mellow the spinach taste without overriding it (especially if you watch the proportions and use more spinach flavor, less other flavors).  Maybe watercress, or celery, asparagus, or bellpepper, something like that that tastes green, or tastes good with spinach.  Or you could find a flavor that goes well with the spinach - citrus, or apple, or berries - the kind of flavors that show up on sweet dressings for fresh spinach salads.


Its a butter bell / butter keeper.  My parents have one.  You put water in the bottom, butter in the bell under the top/lid and that forms an airtight seal allowing you to keep the butter at room temperature.

Here's one for sale showing both parts clearly.

http://www.kitchenandcompany.com/Storage-And-Cleaning/Countertop-Organization/Butter-Dishes/_/Norpro-4-Butter-Keeper?tc=gfs13&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Norpro%204%22%20Butter%20Bell%20Butter%20Keeper&gclid=CM2C1ZSRmroCFSpk7Aodt3kAgw


I recommend finding a recipe that incorporates a small amount of sugar into the dough, and has you bake the pizza at a high heat. Both of these are very helpful in developing the kind of crust you seek.


What are some good reasons for why people make homemade pasta?

Pros

Any colour you like (even black). With some machines you can make rainbow stripes just like toothpaste tubes do
Any consistency you like, and more or less eggs, or just egg yolks. Add baking soda or Kansui to make stronger, more shape-able pasta (not more than 0.5% or it tastes soapy in a sauce)
Any flavour you like (herbs, spices, extracts, extra egg'y ...)
Any flour you like (wholemeal and buckwheat is my favourite)
Any shape you like, make lasagne sheets to fit your favourite lasagne pan, or make your own extruder dies (not trivial, but possible)
Easier and quicker to cook
Extruder machines give your arms a great work out
Fun to do with children, and educational
You control what ingredients go into it (more and more commercial pasta are including 'weird' ingredients for no reason I know of?)

The extruder you want :-)

Cons

Expensive to make if you account for your time (you should)
Flour is flour. The base tastes more or less the same
Large amount of time to make decent pasta, especially in tricky shapes
Pasta machines can be hard to clean
Special hardware (roller, drying racks, extruder etc.) required for anything but the basic flat noodles


How should I sautee Portobello Mushrooms?

Mushrooms DO require a good amount of oil due to the fact that they will initially absorb it.

However make sure that you're adding salt to them right away to help begin drawing the juices out and start them over high heat, making sure that the pan is "screaming" hot before you ever add the oil and the mushrooms so that it will retain the heat even after the mushrooms are added to the pan.  As the juices begin to exude from the mushrooms they will take the place of the oil and as the juices evaporate, the oil will aid in browning of the mushrooms.

As they moisture begins to evaporate you can begin to decrease the temperature to avoid having to add more oil and keep them from sticking to the pan.  I think mushrooms taste best when they've been allowed to cook to the point where the moisture has evaporated and a really good browning has taken place (not burnt of course).


According to the website StillTasty, fresh, raw whole or cut up carrots will last 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge.

I would think that it would be a shorter time (1 week) for shredded carrots.  I'd store them in a container with a tight sealing lid, or in a plastic bag with the air squeezed out.


How to cook roast potatoes at low temperatures?

Yes. What you can do is throw the potatoes in with the meat - anything above 85C will eventually cook the potatoes through. Then when you pull the meat out to rest, raise the oven temperature to say 190 - 200 C and possibly add a little fat. They won't take long to finish roasting to a nice golden brown.


Why does making instant coffee in the microwave taste burnt?

It could be that the milk is getting so hot that it burns the coffee granules when you add them. Liquids can boil in the microwave without bubbling, because the inside surface of ceramics are often so smooth as to have few nucleation points. Try leaving the milk to cool for a minute before adding the coffee.


What could be used as a savoury custard to serve with a savoury jam roly-poly?

I think a savory cheese spread would be a good complement. Maybe something like Boursin cheese, perhaps blended with sour cream.


To taste is one of those awesome cooking terms that trips people up all the time.  To taste does not mean to what tastes good to you, although you can use that as a determination and your dish should still come out fine for most people.  To taste means that you add salt (or whatever) while tasting the dish and you slowly add until the seasoning tastes perfect.  To properly do this you are going to have to train your palate, but luckily it's not that hard to do.  As a matter of fact, we have a pretty good way to learn it right here.  The end result you are trying to achieve is the point where food tastes the most like itself without adding to much, this the small increments.

The important part to remember is that "to taste" is where your food lives.  It's the thing that is unique to you and a part of what makes every dish you make an expression.


You are right that the crystals are from sugar in the drink crystallising.

However, this happens very easily with liqueurs, or anything with a high sugar content, through normal use (liquid gets onto the rim, it starts to dry out and the dissolved sugar starts to crystallise on the surface).

It is not a sign that the drink is no longer safe. You can simply wipe the crystals off.


How do I minimize the risk of bacteria growth in bean sprouts?

Some of my local supermarkets stopped selling sprouts because bacterial contamination was so widespread, but that's probably more of a problem for big batches. I'm thinking that the best things you can do at home to prevent unwanted bacterial growth might be:

Sanitize your jar before use. I think a hot water bath would work, or soak in a 10% bleach solution for 30 minutes (that's how I've sanitized in a lab).
Make sure to use beans that aren't old or of poor quality. This matters less when you're cooking them but is really important for sprouting.
Maybe try using a finer cover for the sprouts, like a layer or two of cheesecloth (I don't think this should matter too much though).
Use filtered water, not tap water to soak the beans.

I generally follow these rules when I'm sprouting and haven't had a problem.

As a relevant side note I believe the beans themselves contain their own endophytes, or native microbes that live inside, which is something to consider when sprouting. Not all bacteria/fungi are bad, and having more of the good ones there could prevent pesky pathogens (which reinforces my suggestion of using "good beans").


How to keep a chocolate cream from getting hard?

I had to do some reading on this one. There are a lot of answers.

1- You should find a better recipe. Chocolate spread recipes I have used come in one of two styles.

The water in your recipe seems to be a problem. The nutella style that uses fat, sugar, and chocolate. These will not really dry out. Sometimes the oil will separate a little and will need to be mixed back in. I would group frostings in this group although, of course, they contain far more sugar.
See this recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/chocolate-hazelnut-spread-with-crepes-recipe/index.html

Thick chocolate candy. AKA fudge. These contain water but the sugar and water are cooked together into a syrup so the water is not able to immediately dry out. They will crystallize if they are badly handled- many recipes contain a little corn syrup to prevent this. This does not seem to be what you are trying to make.

2- Store your concoction in a lidded container that isn't too much larger than your sauce. I use mason jars to store mine. Alternatively you can push plastic wrap down onto the surface of the spread.

3- Refrigeration. Recipes that don't contain dairy don't need to be refrigerated and in fact shouldn't be because it causes them to harden.

4- Adding water to melted chocolate is only a problem when dealing with chocolate that is dry and meant to solidify such as a molded chocolate. In such a case even a drop of water will cause seizing. In this case where there is already quite a bit of water in the recipe seizing is not a risk and you shouldn't have any problem mixing a tiny bit back in. Do not add water to the nutella-like spread recipes. They do not contain water and it will not mix in.

I can't tell from your description what is causing your sauce to harden- it could be drying out, separating, or crystallizing. Any of these will be solved by reheating and thoroughly stirring. Although water could be added to restore dried syrup I think you will get better results by switching to a recipe that uses fat in place of the water.


I use ground flaxseed and water, which is a common egg substitute - I prefer the flavor of the "golden" or yellow seeds .vs. the brown ones (and unlike the brown seed grower's propaganda, I do taste a difference) but either will work for the egg substitution - chia seed is evidently another common substitute.

I consider it unsafe (or unwise) to assume that the only function of the eggs is to "enrich" - I find that the "same" bread made with or without eggs behaves quite differently in terms of how it rises, so I would suggest sticking to a substitute that gives you more complete functional replacement, rather than, say, "add some oil."

I'm not myself a vegan but I have baked things with keeping vegans happy in mind. As such I have worked with eggs and with ground flaxseed and water, and so far I consider the flaxseed mixture as good of an egg substitute as I have used, though still not the same as (nor indistinguishable from) actual eggs.


Does anyone know what kind of pan this is?

Your friend has an omurice pan. Omurice is a type of Japanese omelet. From Wikipedia:

Omurice or omu-rice (オムライス Omu-raisu) is an example of yōshoku (a Western-influenced style of Japanese cuisine1) consisting of an omelette made with fried rice and usually topped with ketchup.[2][3] With omu and raisu being contractions of the words omelette and rice,[4] the name is an example of Gairaigo. It is a popular dish both commonly cooked at home and often found at western style diners in Japan.
Omurice is said to have originated around the turn of the 20th century[4] at a western style restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district called Renga-tei, inspired by chakin-zushi.[5] The dish was brought to Korea and Taiwan, and it is popular cuisine[6]. In Japan children, in particular, enjoy omurice, and it is often featured in okosama-ranchi (お子様ランチ) or kids' meals.1

This picture shows how it would be used:


Having experimented with an air fryer I think it's an alternative to stir frying, but not a particularly good one. An air fryer is basically a device that blows hot air on food as it slowly stirs it around. It seems to work ok as long as the vegetables are hard, if they get a bit soft and sloppy (think cooked zucchini, eggplant) they do not stir effectively as they rely on ingredients tumbling over each other to bring bottom ones to the top.

Air fryers don't cook as quickly as stir frying, you can cook food much faster on a nice hot wok or pan than an air frier on its hottest setting.

You don't use less oil in an air frier than stir frying, you use the same as if you stir fry on a non-stick pan. Dry frying didn't work well for me in an air frier but a bit of water kept things moving until the cooking process got moisture out of the ingredients.

You can leave an air frier unattended, but you have to be willing to get overcooked results unless you check on it frequently towards the end of the cooking process. Also, the stirring is not perfect so you can occasionally get ingredients bunched up and need to clear it. So as long as you check on it occasionally it will probably work fine. Call it semi-unattended cooking.

Essentially, if you want to do semi-unattended vegetable cooking as a use case, or you can't have a stove/hotplate then it makes sense to go with an air frier, but if it's good results that count to you then stir frying the old fashioned way is your best choice.


If you can find almond extract, that would probably be the best substitute. It is generally stronger than almond essence, so you may want to decrease the amount you use. You could use almond liqueur, but it will likely be less strong, so you may want to use a bit more. Ground almonds will change the characteristics of your batter and final cake, so you would need to adapt the recipe to compensate.


When smoking, is temperature consistency more important than exact temperature?

When you approach the low end of the low-and-slow cooking methods, a concern that is normally not an issue in faster cooking methods starts becoming important:  how long will it take the food to get to safe temperature?

You want the food to be above 140 F (60 C) for the entirety of the cooking process, for safety, although having that happen instantly is not possible.  Therefore, you want the temperature to get to that threshold as quickly as reasonably possible, especially for the surface of whole cuts of meats where the greatest risk of pathogens are.

Therefore, I would urge you to err on the side of caution and safety, and use the extra coal at the beginning of cooking until the food reaches at least 140 F.

Once it gets out of the danger zone, and into the safe zone, you have much more freedom.   However, barbecue is far from exact.  I would not worry about a 10 or even 15 F disparity. Your final outcome will likely be indistinguishable.

Still, once the food is safe, if you wish to allow the temperature to be somewhat lower, that is the time to do so.


A difference I see between your recipe and other alternatives is that you don't have any other starch besides your rice.  Other recipes include a good amount of tapioca or potato starch.  The other difference was that other recipes used rice flour instead of rice.

You might also want to consider a change in technique.  You can make rice noodles like a crepe rather than in an oiled steamer pan.  Simply use a non-stick or oiled crepe pan, put in batter to crepe thickness, and let it cook until it begins to pull away from the edge of the pan.  Invert and release in one motion onto a cutting board and slice.


Non-sweet sugar replacement for French macaron

While I haven't found a substitute for powdered sugar, there are powdered vegetables and other flavors that one can use to cut the sweetness and add flavor. Salt is also an important part, as well as having savory fillings and garnishes.

Another thing that may help is using the French method rather than the Italian, since the Italian method uses more sugar for the syrup that's needed


The best way to test if it's done is to use an instant-read thermometer. Slide it into the thickest part, away from any bones. I like to lift up the meat with tongs and poke it into the edge, all the way to the center. You're looking for about 135-140F for medium rare; take it off a little early if anything because the temperature will go up a bit once it's off the heat. Let it rest for ten minutes or so before digging in to let the juices re-distribute.

I don't like using nonstick for steak, or olive oil. Neither does well at high heats, which is what you need to cook off moisture at the surface and get a nice browned outside before the inside gets overcooked. Cast iron and steel (stainless or carbon) both work very well in my experience. For fat, use a high smoke point oil like safflower oil, or clarified butter.


This writeup suggests substitutes:
I've quoted the most promising option. It seems that Vietnamese Coriander is not really from the coriander family and closely mimics the flavor of cilantro.  Let me know if this works.

  Vietnamese coriander or Persicaria odorata is a
  herb, the leaves of which commonly
  feature in Southeast Asian cuisine,
  particularly in Vietnam and Malaysia.
  It is also known by the name of
  Vietnamese cilantro, Vietnamese mint
  and Cambodian mint. Though it is not
  related to mint, its flavor as well as
  appearance can be said to slightly
  resemble mint. It is more commonly
  included in salads and soups. The
  flavor of Vietnamese coriander closely
  mimics the flavor of cilantro, and
  hence, can be used as a cilantro
  substitute. This herb is believed to
  be very effective for some common
  gastrointestinal problems like,
  indigestion, stomachache and
  flatulence.


What is the best way to hold a sphere and for how long?

In my experience, spheres done with the reverse method (calcium solution dipped in alginate) can last up to four days, well refrigerated, and kept submerged in vegetable (soy or canola) oil. I do not know the science behind it, only that it works. For reference, these were spheres made of a carrot-ginger consomme, not certain of specific amounts of calcium chlorate (in the carrot mix) and sodium alginate (bath) used. Note that acidity may play a role in how long spheres will last, and (often) the chemical reaction will continue, albeit slower; on Day 1 we'd have thin membranes with very liquid interiors. By Day 4, the membrane would be perceptibly thicker and the contents more glutinous.


Why are my strawberries keeping so long?

Most commercial fruit is picked before being completely ripened because once it is ripened it has a very limited shelf life, and strawberries are no exception. Strawberries ripen from the tip to the stem and a good indicator that a strawberry is unripe is a white ring around the stem area.

Some fruits can be artificially ripened by exposing them to ethylene gas, but strawberries are not one of them, so it is not likely they are chemically treated as there's no gain. They may have had their color deepened, which is an artificial process but as I believe that's using Carbon Dioxide gas I'd hesitate to call them chemically treated.

Out of season strawberries often come very long distances, in order for them to last they have to be picked well before they are at their peak. Once they are picked they stop developing and ripening, and nothing can be done to improve their flavor. If you are going to buy them out of season try and pick ones that are completely red as they have a better chance of tasting good, otherwise it's best to spend your money elsewhere.


How can I make matzo meal and matzo farfel?

According to Sassy Radish, yes, you can make your own matzo meal by the obvious method of putting some crumbled matzo sheets into the food processor.   She notes that you will get about 1/2 cup from two sheets.

Farfel can be made simply by breaking the matzo into appropriately sized pieces.  This site explains that it is easiest to do it by hand to get the uniform size.  About.com's Kosher Food section even says that is all farfel is: broken up matzo.


Substitute regular sugar for confectioners sugar in icing

It depends on the type of recipe you want to use, but generally the answer is yes.  Powdered/confectioner's sugar recipes for glaze or icing often just use a very small amount of liquid.  With granulated sugar, it can be difficult to get a smooth consistency by just adding the liquid that way, so the more standard way with regular sugar is to add a small amount of water to a pan and cook the sugar in it until it dissolves and creates a thick syrup.

(Alternatively, if you just don't have confectioner's sugar on hand, you can grind up granulated sugar in a blender or coffee grinder.  Some also recommend food processors, but many of them won't get a consistent fine grain in your sugar.  Just pulse until particles are fairly small and the sugar is powdery.  The particles may then be small enough to dissolve quickly in your icing recipe.)


Sodastream loses carbonation when adding syrup

The solubility of carbon dioxide in water is a function of several factors. The most important are time, temperature, pressure, and composition.

In order to maximize your carbonation, ensure everything is as cold as possible. The colder the liquid, the more CO2 you can dissolve in the liquid.
Secondly, you will need high pressure. The higher the pressure the more CO2. For example, if you leave an open bottle of carbonated water on your table, it will go flat. If you cap the bottle, it will maintain carbonation, but also build up pressure in the bottle. The higher the pressure, the higher the carbonation. Any "other gasses", like atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen in the bottle will effectively reduce the "partial pressure" of CO2, so you should remove that.
Pure water is easy to carbonate. Once you start adding "stuff" to it, it becomes more difficult. Soda concentrate contains flavors and sugar, all of which hinder the ability of CO2 to dissolve into the the liquid.
It takes time for the system to reach equilibrium. If one just pressurizes a bottle with CO2, it can take quite a while for it to actually dissolve into the liquid. Increasing the contact between liquid and gas (the surface area) speeds up the dissolution.

I don't know how a sodastream works, so if my suggestions can't be exactly duplicated, let me know. Can you add CO2 to the bottle without opening up to the atmosphere?
The best process would be to, first, ensure everything is cold, and mix everything together. Pressurize the bottle with CO2. Cap it to maintain pressure and shake...a lot. Purge the pressure to remove any oxygen and nitrogen, and repressureize. Close the bottle and shake again and you'll notice the pressure decrease as the CO2 dissolves (squeeze the bottle). Top off the pressure and keep shaking and squeezing and repeat until it stays pressurized. Allow any foam to subside, and make sure there are no bubbles on the wall of the bottle before opening.

I make a lot of soda, but use a large cylinder of CO2 and Carbonator Caps, which screw on standard plastic soda bottles. With this I can make anything from 12 ounce to 2 liters at a time.


To get the salty effect you're looking for, soak the pistachios in a brine before roasting.


I'm not sure if you just want to be able to make the recipes, or if you also want to have the juniper taste without the allergic reaction so to speak. Finding a substitute shouldn't be too hard, but they won't quite have the same taste. Vodka is suggested for martini-type drinks:

This is a tough one to pull off, but in general, if you are making martini-type drinks, gin can sometimes be substituted for vodka, and vice versa. While these alcohols taste quite different, the texture and appearance of a cocktail is not altered by switching, and can often be just as good.
From: http://www.drinknation.com/bartending/substitute

I came across a video on making something gin-like out of vodka, but it says “juniper berries are the key ingredient.” Perhaps you could still add the cardamom and other spices to match the gin flavor more closely though. Here's another page with similar instructions (check the page for the recipe):

But what many people don’t realize is that gin and vodka begin life in the exact same way. You could even say that gin is nothing more than infused vodka. [...] In his book The Complete Guide to Spirits (HarperCollins, 2004), Anthony Dias Blue describes cold compounding as a legitimate method for producing gin.
From: http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2007/how-to-make-your-own-gin-without-a-still/

For other types of drinks, Cook's Thesaurus lists a few other possible substitutions:

gin This is distilled from grains and similar to vodka except that it's flavored with juniper berries, herbs, peels, and spices.  London gin = dry gin = English gin = London dry gin is the preferred gin for martinis and other mixed drinks.  American gin is similar, but isn't quite as heavy and dry as London gin.  Hollands gin = sweet gin = Dutch gin = Geneva gin = Jenever is sweeter and more aromatic than other gins and isn't normally used for mixed drinks.  Tanqueray and Beefeater are well-respected brands.  Don't confuse gin with sloe gin, which is sweetened.
Substitutes: vodka (This turns a martini into a vodka martini, a gimlet into a vodka gimlet, a gin and tonic into a vodka and tonic, a Tom Collins into a vodka Collins, and so forth.) OR white rum OR whiskey OR tequila OR brandy (This turns an Alexander into a Brandy Alexander.)
From: http://www.foodsubs.com/Liquor.html


You can use them to flavor other foods. I've seen cakes and other sweets made with hop flowers. You will probably want a low alpha-acid variety(alpha acid makes the bitter flavor), but both could be interesting.

To use, you could dry the flowers and mill to a fine powder. This can then be incorporated directly into food. I think they could be used similarly to how matcha powder is incorporated into recipes once ground.

You can also use the 'sludge' left over from brewing (mix of hop flowers and yeast
and barley bits) as an ingredient in bread, which gives a very interesting flavor. Hops alone would probably add a similar flavor.