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A few days ago, I started sprouting a batch of lentils. This morning, I took some of the beans, now with 0.5-1 mm shoots growing out of them, tossed them in salt, pepper, and paprika, and spread them in a single layer on a pie tim, which I baked in a preheated 250F oven for about 20 minutes. When they came out they had a lovely flavor, but were a bit gummier than I'd like. I'm going to perform the experiment again with the remainder of my sprouts tomorrow, but I'll probably change something. What I'd like is something crunchier--I've had toasted chickpea sprouts that are crunchy and delicious, and I can only hope that a similar effect can be achieved with lentils. Does anyone have any suggestions? I could bake them longer, change the temperature, only add the salt after cooking (as one does to prevent beans in soup from toughening up)... Also, by tomorrow the sprouts will be more developed, with longer shoots. I suspect the chemical changes that take place will also make a difference.

If they're gummy, they might still have too much moisture in them. Try roasting them at higher temperatures or longer and see if they crisp up.

I have looked up how to make Banana juice because I wondered if it was possible. It turns out that it is. I read that it is best to use a blender for this. Wouldn't I just end up with a banana puree if I use a blender to try to juice it?

I've made banana juice a number of times. And I'm referring to a relatively clear liquid extracted from the bananas. It's a pretty straightforward process that produces a high yield. The water in bananas is chemically bound to the starch in bananas and this liquid can be released by breaking down the starch using an enzyme called amylase that is present in bananas. Here's how I do it: (Yield 1 liter of juice) Take 2 kilograms of bananas, peel and puree them. Pour the puree into a vacuum bag and seal. Alternatively, you can put them in a VERY securely tied plastic bag with the air pressed out or you can put the puree into a canning jar. Next place this in a pot of water at around 150 Fahrenheit/65.5 Celcius and let sit for 5 hours. This allows the naturally occurring amylase in the banana to fully breakdown the starch in the banana and release the liquid. Strain the liquid through a nut milk bag (my preferred method), or you can use several layers of cheesecloth, but a nice nut milk bag makes this so much easier. Squeeze (and massage to get the highest yield) the juice through the bag. You should get about a liter (generally a bit more than that) of fresh, delicious banana juice!

Disclaimer: I may not know what I'm talking about, feel free to correct me if you think I'm making a fundamental error. I just got a bread machine and I love it. It's so easy! But I'm experimenting. The first time we used it, we used a store brand white all-purpose flour, and the bread simply wasn't very good. It was crumbly, it collapsed a little in the bread machine, etc. I mean, it wasn't bad, we ate it. But I wanted better. After that, we bought King Arther white bread flour, and it worked much much better. The bread was delicious with a wonderful texture. I don't know how much of this is because it's bread flour (I assume mostly this) and how much is because it's a nicer brand (I assume this is a smaller factor). It's great bread! However, I'm told that white bread in general is not as healthy as whole wheat bread, although I'm not exactly sure what whole wheat means or how much healthier it really is. Therefore I want to make "whole wheat bread," whatever that means, in the interest of health. And to be honest, I've had some very boring whole wheat bread, and some incredibly delicious whole wheat bread. It varies. So, what do I need to do? I assume it's a question of getting the right flour, but I didn't see "whole wheat bread flour" in my store- is this because it doesn't exist, or because my store doesn't carry it? What should I be looking for? Any tips, specific or vague, would be appreciated. Thanks mmuch.

This occurs pretty often with leeks as well. The procedure there is to cut open the stalks lengthwise - i.e. one cut from top to bottom along the long axis. This allows you to fan apart the layers to ease out any trapped dirt. You could do the same thing with your green onions, assuming you don't mind cutting them lengthwise. If you don't want to cut, you could try soaking them in a sink or pot full of clean water for a half hour or so, agitating them every now and again. The water should get down the stalk and at least loosen up any trapped dirt.

I have tried to make coffee jelly with agar, but that was disappointing. Even high-quality beans did not get me any good result, compared with gelatin-based recipes: The texture is different, but it is mainly the taste that disturbed me. I expect, perhaps, to have a neutral base for the jelly, so that the coffee flavour remains plain and strong. I also like the smoothness of gelatin compared with, say, agar. Is there a good combination of beans and ingredients to make a vegetarian coffee jelly? Som extra details: Tried with agar only. Hot coffee added to the mix. Temperature-room cooling, then fridge cooling.

It is hard to tell from the picture, but this doesn't look like burned off seasoning, it is more like a burned on residue. If that's the case, you can try cleaning it some way. The problem is that physical cleaning methods probably won't be sufficient, chemical cleaning with alkali will damage the seasoning and chemical cleaning with acid, if the seasoning is compromised, can rust the pan a bit. So there is a high chance you will end up reseasoning. If this really looks and feels like a buildup and not like exposed oxidised metal, my preference would be to soak in warm, not hot, acid. Vinegar or a citric acid solution should work well. Afterwards, try to scrub off with a stiff plastic brush. If it doesn't go away, or the seasoning goes away too, or if this was missing seasoning from the beginning, you have to strip and reseason. We have several questions on the topic, and the Internet is also full of suggestions. I personally prefer doing it with lye (best results, strips both old seasoning and rust), owners of self-cleaning ovens like incinerating it, and there are a list of other methods to work with.

I'm planning a party and want to make multiple mug cakes, but since I need to make about 100 and don't have a microwave that big I was wondering if I could make them in the oven and if there were oven safe mugs. I've been looking but they all seem to say dishwasher and microwave safe but nothing about the oven. Would it be easier to make them in the microwave one at a time? Just seems like a hassle.

A microwave has a very different mechanism of heating than an oven, and recipes for the two are not interchangeable. The results of making microwave-optimized cakes in the oven will be unpredictable. And this will be a much larger problem than having the right mugs. A better option would be to find a recipe for muffins or cupcakes that is intended to go in the oven, and bake it in the oven. Do test it in a small batch before giving it to 100+ guests, because not all recipes floating around are good - but still, it is more likely to produce good results than baking your microwave cakes in an oven.

I found guavas in the local Asian store and bought one out of curiosity. While I have had guava juice, I've never eaten the fruit before. I bit into the fruit only to find my mouth full of hard seeds, which were somehow less convenient to spit out than, say, watermelon seeds. Seeing that most of the fruit is taken up by the seed-interspersed portion, I don't want to throw it out and only eat the small seedless part between the center and the rind. But spitting everything out is tedious. Assuming that I want to eat raw guava, is there any trick to getting rid of the seeds more easily?

I just bought my first guavas and was initially perplexed by the seeds, which I did not want to swallow. The way I found to get rid of them and still be able to eat most of the fruit is: Cut the outer fruit off from the center seedy area in 4 to 6 slices. Some of the seeds will still be in those fruit slices, but they push out easily with a thumbnail. Then you are left with slices of guava with no seeds. I found this way, though messy, to make them fairly easy to eat with no seeds.

So I don't freeze the soup directly in the freezer bags. I find the hassle of getting the liquid soup into the bags too messy. But other people may be better at that. I freeze the soup in small containers that are freezer safe. Then so I don't have to own like 50 of these small containers, I take the frozen soup out of the container. And wrap it somehow before putting it back into the freezer. I'm thinking placing multiple hunks of frozen soup into the same large freezer bags is probably going to be the easiest way for me to do it, But I'm wondering if I should at least wrap the frozen soup in Saran Wrap before placing them in the freezer bag. What would be the benefit of wrapping them in Saran Wrap? Also, does anyone have an easy method of getting the frozen soup out of the small containers? I'm currently using 2-cup size round glass containers made by Pyrex. They may actually be made of Pyrex, not glass. I'd need to go check. But how I get the soup out of the containers is turn them upside down and run hot water over them until I can push the frozen soup around and get it to fall out. It's kind of a pain.

Many suggestions for you: line the containers with the bags, folding the edges down over the container. Pour the soup into the supported bag. When it's frozen it should be easy to remove and you have the container back. buy plastic (for flexibility) containers, 6 or 8 of them. Freeze in these instead of bags. It's easier to pop the frozen soup out of them, and you don't mind if they are "occupied" in the freezer until the soup is eaten. as above but you pop them out frozen into a large freezer bag. I do this with large-batch soups like pumpkin or borscht and don't need to wrap each soup block within the larger bag use something completely different, such as a bowl that you might eat of, to support the bag while you're pouring the soup in. Seal the bag, take it out of the bowl, and lay it on its side to freeze. Later, stand them up in the freezer for easier sorting Pretty much anything would be better than rigid glass containers that you don't want to leave in the freezer.

I use mushrooms mainly to bulk up food, for example, I add them to cottage pie, lasagne, etc.. and they can turn 1lb of minced into 1.5lb. Also, I particularly like venison stew (which seems to require a huge quantity of mushrooms). The problem that I have is that my daughter can't stand mushrooms, and studiously picks them ot of all her food. Is there an alternative for them for the two uses above?

I concur with Elendi's answer, especially about the dumplings in stew (but I love dumplings). As far as stretching minced (ground) meat, I recommend you try TVP. You might be amazed how innocuous it is, and how far you can stretch meat. For an organic product that does not contain hexane (the potential carcinogen noted in the Wiki article) try TSP. It's a bit more expensive, but once hydrated, it's a whole lot less expensive than meat.

I've been interested in making some pickles, and a lot of the places I've found say that salt brined or fermented pickles generally taste better than acid-brined pickles. That is, pickles pickled in a saltwater brine taste better those pickled in vinegar. While that's subjective, it's still gotten me intrigued in saltwater brining some vegetables. However, each of the sources I find give me a different estimate for how long they last in the fridge. Some say 1 week (too short, surely?) and some say up to 1 year (that seems too long...). So my question is, how long will a pickle last in its brine after being put into the fridge? Edit: After some thinking, I guess it would depend on a lot of factors, but mostly the salinity of the water and the temperature of the fridge. Given that these are the most important factors (but I could be wrong!) if the temperature is 35 deg F in the ideal fridge, how will salt content change how long the pickle will last?

The short answer is 1-2 years for traditional pickles, assuming a good recipe with adequate salt content and fermentation time (traditionally anywhere from a month to a few months). For modern quick fermented homemade recipes, where the pickles are fermented in a week or so instead of months, I'd recommend using them up within a month or two. Some representative sources (note the bolded bits about fermentation time): "Fermented or processed pickles also have a very long shelf-life, about two years." (source) "FERMENTED PICKLES: The oldest method of pickling, when a naturally occurring bacteria transforms the sugars present in the ingredient into an acid, preserving the food. These are called 'processed' pickles, and though they take as many as five weeks to cure, they last up to 2 years." (source) "The product is completely fermented in 3-6 weeks.... In contrast to salt stock brining procedures [i.e., pickles removed from their liquid after fermentation and stored in a very heavily salted tank for future processing], genuine dill pickles do not require desalting and are often sold with the filtered fermentation liquor that is produced during the process. The product must be consumed within 12 months." (source) While these are common estimates, many books on the subject won't even give such shelf-life estimates (e.g., Sandor Katz's The Art of Fermentation), because there is so much variability depending on recipe and storage conditions during and after fermentation. The other issue is that fermented brined pickles are "alive" in the sense that they continue to have microbial activity even after refrigerated. Unless you "process" the pickles after fermentation by heating to a high temperature and canning, you should expect that pickles will change their taste and texture continuously. You might like pickles that are "just finished," but dislike their flavor or texture after a month or two in the fridge (or the reverse). Traditional pickle-makers often take advantage of these changes, for example by selling "half sours" which taste like something between a fresh cucumber and a pickle and have only been partially fermented. "Half sours" and other pickles that have not completed fermentation before refrigeration have a much shorter shelf-life (usually a few weeks), because the lack of full acidity in the liquid and remaining sugars and other nutrients in the cucumbers may still allow other things to grow and for spoilage to occur. Even after a longer fermentation, expect pickles to gradually get more sour and to soften in texture as the months go by. However, with adequate salt content and full fermentation, and as long as you are not contaminating the storage container, there's no reason to expect they will actually "go bad" at refrigerator temperatures for at least a few months and potentially much longer. Traditionally, long-storage pickled cucumbers were fermented in (and subsequently stored in) a cool place, like a root cellar or other underground compartment, which probably stayed around 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit most of the year. At these cooler temperatures, pickles usually needed to ferment for at least a month and sometimes a few months before achieving full flavor. Since the root cellar temperatures were often above refrigerator temperatures, they would then continue to get even more sour and gradually begin to break down as the months went by. However, the purpose of storage was to have cucumbers available throughout the year, so last year's batch would be used up and then be replaced by the new harvest. Today, most people tend to ferment homemade pickles faster (often at room temperature) and often with less salt than the season-long ferments of the past would use. This produces pickles more quickly, sometimes in as little as a week or so, with pickles that are not as extreme in their sourness and saltiness as the long-storage pickling of the past. The flavor profile can also be somewhat different, due to greater activity of some microorganisms at room temperature. Depending on the recipe, they are often not as stable and should probably be consumed within a few weeks or months. (For example, Alton Brown's relatively fast pickle recipe recommends storing the pickles no longer than two months in the refrigerator.)

Vegetarian here (who doesn't eat fish), I love sushi and I've made it a few times at home and the technique is relatively pain free but the taste is just... off. From a shop, usually Yo-Sushi or recently Wasabi (which is an amazing oriental place I might add.) - it's delicious. The sea/fishy flavour of the nori is perfectly balanced but when I make it at home all it tastes of is seaweed. It feels like I'm licking an eel it's so damn strong. How do I make the nori have less flavour? It completely over powers everything and by the time I'm finished I feel sick from the strong taste. It's not so bad the next day after it's been in the fridge but there must be something I'm doing wrong? The nori I buy is from the supermarket and I believe it's Kikoman branded, I have some more authentic imported stuff sitting in the cupboard which I haven't used yet. Could it simply be that the stuff from the shop isn't fresh? Having said that I've had to wait for my sushi to be made and it was still delicious, so perhaps the nori I bought was just different?

It does sound more like a balance of flavours issue... Are you adding rice vinegar, sugar and salt to your rice once it is cooked? If not your rice will be less flavoured and therefore the nori would taste stronger in comparison.

How do I remove old rusty spots from a 70-year-old pastry blender & make "food safe"? Prefer not to use polishes or other volatile, caustic products.

Look up what has been written on restoring carbon steel knives, similar techniques apply. To clean up loose rust, steel wool, sandpaper and wire brushes will help; afterwards, you might want to try and build a patina by treating it with a food-safe acid (vinegar, lemon...).

I just got a Large Big Green Egg with a nest. When I was at the store, they asked if I wanted one already put together, so I said yes. They gave me a nest that had a medium sitting in it. Now, when I put my large in it, it fits fine; however, when I open it, if I push on it a little, it starts to slip out. It looks as if I don't save it, it will fall completely out. The nest has little rubber protectors on each bar holding the egg. It appears that as it starts to slip, these protectors are slipping off, which very well may be what is causing this. My question is, is it normal to have these rubber protectors on the 4 middle bars that hold the egg in place? I'm not sure if the store maybe added these just because they had a medium egg sitting inside the nest which was a few inches too small (the bars did not touch it). It seems that removing them might solve this issue; however, I by no means want to do this if it will scratch up the egg. Since it was already put together, I don't know if they were supposed to be there in normal use or not.

The rubber stoppers I have are in fact part of the nest. After speaking with a rep, they are there to actually help stop the issue I am having. However, mine feel like they are taking away traction because they easily slip on and off, as apposed to add to it, so they are sending me a new set. It is possible that they are stretched, since it is a floor model. They are also very dusty inside, so cleaning them out would also probably help the traction, however I am going to wait till I receive a new set. For the time being, having the stoppers off makes it so it won't fall out. It still tips if I physically push with the lid a bit, however it no longer feels like it will fall out. Especially once I added all the parts inside to help weigh it down. Hope this helps anyone else who has a similar issue.

I was processing venison in 14 pint jars at 10 lb. pressure. It had only begun to process, approx. 10 min. I got an emergency phone call from my Mother and had to turn off the pressure cooker. I left and did not get back for 5 hrs. By that time the cooker was barely warm. I turned the stove back on and began processing all over at 10 lb. pressure but left it go for 90 min. instead of the 75 min. for pints. All sealed, looks great, good color. However, would sitting and cooling down before the 2nd processing cause add'l bacteria to grow in the sitting jars? Or, would the 240+ degrees from the pressure cooker take care of any and all bacteria, whether a little or a lot? I have been canning and putting up foods for 51 years and have never had to stop and restart processing. I'm unsure if the meat would be safe. Anyone else ever have this happen to a low-acid food?

I would not keep it or eat it and just consider it a loss. That is a long time for the food to cool down/seal, etc. The processing time is usually carefully calculated so that the core of the product in the jar gets to the proper temp. With the processing time only being 10 mins it would mean only the jar and maybe a small amount on the edges would have gotten to 240 deg F. I suppose it could make a difference if it was a hot pack vs. cold pack, but I would still not risk it. Since you're an experienced canner, I assume you already know that it's possible to lose pressure during the process and then restart the time when the canner gets back up to pressure, but that is usually a few minutes at most, not hours.

I picked up a bag of cashew pieces from the bulk bin last night got home and realized they were of the unsalted variety. Which are good but for a snack not quite what I was looking for. Is there anyway to "salt" those cashew pieces. I googled and found ways to do it when they are still shelled but none after the fact. I may not be using the correct search paramaters though as I cannot think of any other terminology other than "make salted cashews". I don't need a recipe just a direction and if it is possible.

Sure, just roast them in a pan with oil for few seconds, not long enough to darken, and remove the nuts. As soon as you remove the cashews from oil they are sticky, then you need to sprinkle salt on it. Don't add much—add slightly, checking the taste, and then mix according to the taste you require.

Any easy ways to identify microwave friendly utensils? I know some basic guidelines like, "no metallic items", but am confused about certain kind of glass dishes, bowls. Are all kind of ceramic containers allowed? All I am looking for is basically a set of guidelines/thumbrules that I can follow.

Here is a set of guidelines I found from a major manufacturer: http://www.geappliances.com/search/fast/infobase/10001216.htm As you mention, any metal items or items with embedded metal are not appropriate. Thinner and bendable plastics are probably not a great idea either since they can melt. Most ceramics and glass should be okay. When in doubt, check to see whether the item is labelled as microwave-safe, and if you can't tell, test it first using the method described in the linked guidelines.

I cannot use my slow cooker as designed, as I try to cook for my elderly parents. They do not rise before 11a.m., the kitchen is located upstairs with them, so they will hear or feel everything-and waking them at 8a.m. is NOT what I want. I end up preparing a lot of their food AFTER I eat brunch so I am forced to use the high setting. And then, if I turn my back for a moment to do something else, they take the lid off! Apparently, it just had to be stirred - so I lose a good 1/2 hr. right there - each time! So really, it only slow cooks a couple of hours, in reality. What can I do the able to use the slow cooker as I want?

Five hours is still a pretty long time for low and slow. Many recipes will work within that time without modification. For ones that won't, the best way to cut time off is to heat things through in a pot on the stove first. Slow cookers are pretty good at the low and slow part, but that means they're really slow at getting to the point where they're actually cooking. Depending on your recipe, you may be able to skip right past a couple hours of initial heating by bringing things to a simmer/boil before dumping in. Also, don't worry too much about the lid getting taken off. If it's left off, yeah, that's not great, but if it's just opened to stir and it's full of food/liquid, the temperature is not going to decrease that much. If after all that, it's still not enough, I'd look to suggestions like those in Kate's answer - sidestep your timing constraints by prepping the night before and finding a better place for the slow cooker so you can start it earlier and avoid the lid getting opened. If you can get a small fridge outside the kitchen, you really could do it all without ever going into the kitchen in the morning.

Years ago Koobz asked "Oxidized Avocado: What's Going on & How to Prevent It?" That question has been merged with this one because it's dealing with the same issue. Recently, we had this question: Are limes and lime juice more acidic than lemons and lemon juice?. Now I'm just curious, I want an answer. After Logophobe's answer to the acidity question, and my own research backing up that answer, I feel like I know less than I did before! Lemon contains more ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and citric acid than limes, yet limes are more acidic overall. Distilled vinegar is more acidic than lemons and almost as acidic as limes, Fruit Fresh is an extremely highly concentrated mixture of ascorbic acid and citric acid specifically developed to prevent browning in fruits. So what works to keep avocados pretty and green? Perhaps some experimentation is in order. I think I'll start with acids, since the common wisdom is that acid helps keep avocados green. EDIT As of 1/8/15, I have added a new answer, as the highly upvoted one really only says what doesn't help. The accepted answer HERE shows the results of further experimentation, and what does help.

TL; DR Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) works to slow, even halt the browning of avocados, even in the face of salt, vinegar (in salsa), and lime juice, all of which have been shown (or will be shown) to speed browning. At a concentration of 100mg per 50 grams of avocado, it is also virtually tasteless. You can buy pure ascorbic acid powder, which I did and then promptly lost, or you can use a spice grinder to grind very pure tablets, which I also did. My tablets weighed .59 grams per 500mg tablet, so close enough. I also tasted the powder and it really had no unpleasant chemical flavor, just a bit of acid effervescence feeling. You don't need to dissolve the powder, you can just stir it into mashed avocado. To keep sliced or diced avocados green, mix 1/2 tsp of the powder in 1 TBS of water (it will take some effort to get it mixed, but it will mix) and paint it on the surface or dunk in chunks, let them dry and refrigerate, covered. As shown in earlier experimentation, cutting off all air significantly slows browning. That means not just a lid on Tupperware, but vacuum sealing, a sealed Ziploc bag with the air removed, or at least Saran Wrap* actually on the surface of the avocado. The same principle applies to adding a layer of water, sour cream, or salsa over the surface of the avocado. Enclosing the avocado with diced red onion significantly slows browning as long as the container stays closed. *I specify the brand name of the plastic wrap because I have learned that permeability of plastic wrap varies, and Saran Wrap is the brand I’ve tested. As Ogrecon’s answer says, diced red onions slow down browning significantly, as long as the container that holds the onions and avocado remains closed and airtight. The onions release propanethiol S-oxide gas (that's what causes tearing), and as long as that gas doesn’t dissipate, that gas prevents the avocado from browning. This picture is of otherwise untreated avocado after nine hours in the refrigerator, tightly covered in tupperware containers. Even the containers are identical. One side has the onions, the other doesn’t. I removed the lids to snap the picture. I replaced the lids, and within thirty minutes, I could see the avocado starting to brown on the side with the onion. By morning it was all over. So, if you want to make guacamole in advance, one option to keep it fresh looking is to enclose it with diced red onion. Don’t remove the lid until time to serve. I specifically say red onion because that is the only onion type I tested. Stored like this you can taste the onion, but I find that flavor complimentary in guacamole. Nine hours isn't necessarily the limit; the onion experiment gets even better; I’ll cover it more in the section that covers Vitamin C. I had read that salt speeds browning, and I knew from earlier experimentation that lime juice and vinegar speed browning. I looked at Vitamin C as possibly being effective against browning. I added the factors of salt and Vitamin C to the testing of scoops of avocado left uncovered at room temperature. At 2 hours the results are evident. Lime juice and salt both speed browning. Uncovered and unrefrigerated the Vitamin C doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. Per each 50 grams of avocado (as indicated), I used 100mg of Vitamin C powder, 250mg salt or 1/4 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice. Refrigerated and covered, Vitamin C is a whole different ball of wax. I made guacamole using my favorite method. Into mashed avocado I mixed salt, lime juice, fresh cilantro and drained Pace Brand Hot Salsa. (Per 100 grams of avocado I added .5 grams of salt, 1/2 tsp of freshly squeezed lime juice, about a TBS of chopped cilantro and 2 TBS drained salsa). I treated half the guacamole with 100mg of Vitamin C powder (ascorbic acid) to each 50 grams of guacamole. Tightly enclosed in little Ziplocs, with no air exposure at all, both samples are still acceptable at 4 full days (96 hours). The Vitamin C treated sample shows no browning at all: Since the layer of red onion kept avocados from turning brown for 9 hours if the lid wasn’t removed, I kept the lid on guacamole samples enclosed with red onion for the same 4 days. Again, both samples are acceptable, but the sample with added Vitamin C shows no browning at all: Vitamin C so effectively stops avocados from browning that refrigerated just in a regular Tupperware container (just with the lid on, nothing on the surface) that even in the face of salt, salsa and lime, the guacamole is still perfectly fresh at four full days. So, the bottom line is this: Add Vitamin C to guacamole to keep it fresh and green for a full four days. With the addition of Vitamin C, it actually stays green for even longer, but I suspect that other freshness issues would start to come into play at that point. Use a baggie, a Ziploc bag, Saran Wrap, Tupperware, whatever, as long as it’s covered. OK, I don't necessarily advocate eating week old, homemade guacamole, but it's late and I'm hungry. I ate this. It's a full week old, it's green (not perfect, but pretty close), and it's yummy. Hey! I've got chips getting stale, don't judge me! The second best option is to keep the guacamole tightly sealed with freshly diced red onion (other onion varieties may work, but I only tested red). The guacamole will stay perfectly green for at least 9 hours, and acceptable for 4 days, even without the addition of Vitamin C as long as you don’t open the container. So this would be fine if you want to serve guacamole at a party and want to make it in advance. As a third option, vacuum pack the guacamole or use a Ziploc bag with all of the air removed. Even without Vitamin C or diced onions, the guacamole will stay marginally fresh and green for four days. The above options give better results, but giving the guacamole no air at all will keep it from browning unacceptably. Note: I found Wayfaring Stranger’s answer very compelling. I had wanted to include sodium bisulfite in this experiment, but I had difficulty getting it, there are strict shipping rules regarding it. Why? Well, because it’s dangerous. I tried different shipping companies, different sources and obscure local chemical firms. There came a point when I realized I was being silly, no one here is going to buy a compound labeled, “May be fatal if swallowed” to keep their guacamole green. Yes, it is used commercially for that purpose, the results of that experiment might be interesting, but those results are unlikely to have practical value to anyone who would read them here. Since the Vitamin C is both safe and efficacious without the sodium bisulfite, I’m quitting while I am ahead.

My loaves seem to have good oven spring, I think. I think that because it rises up on the sides and forms an oval sort of shape each time. My cut often expands but doesn't open up much or form an ear. Todays partly opened. I dont know if I am doing the cut wrong. Maybe too deep, not deep enough. I do try and do 45 degree angle. Does anyone have some advice to improve this please?

given the advice, I tried the following: sprayed water over the dough before putting it in the oven put a large thin metal pan on the shelf below the pizza stone when I turned the oven on put plenty of water into the pan 10 mins before putting the dough in first 20 mins had the pan in, then removed for another 20 mins. here is the result will work on improving the cut, looks like I should have gone further deeper around on the left UPDATE so a few weeks on with more practice I have made some adjustments spray the cut with a bit of water just before it goes in the oven put a large thin metal pan on the shelf below the pizza stone when I turned the oven on, I put the stone slightly to one side and the pan slightly to the other. (don't know if this helps, but helps with the pouring speed) Have the kettle fully boiled just before I am going to put the dough in the oven Put the dough on the pizza stone, THEN pour the boiling water into the hot pan underneath the stone and quickly close the oven door. do NOT do the main cut too deep, that seemed to cause the bottom of it to go hard or something. At least the later, more shallow cuts seem to be doing better this is how the latest loaf came out

I've read a few sites explaining how to dry your noodles, and I know the store bought ones are not made with eggs. I tried experimenting with no-egg noodles though and they just came out too gummy. I've not seen any site explicitly saying it's ok to dry egg noodles. Raw egg is kind of a scary thing; I know they do end up cooked eventually, but in the meantime can they get all nasty so they make you sick and/or taste like ash?

My italian grandma does it, but says to really make sure they dry out. You can dry them out and then freeze them, if it makes you feel any less hesitant.

What could I use in a cake to make it stackoverflow-orange? Would a copious amount of carrot ever turn a sponge cake that orange?

You cannot just use random ingredients and have the cake "become" their color. Even if you used 100% carrot, the color would change during baking. So you really have to use a colorant. The best way to do it is to purchase a good quality ready-mixed colorant like the Wilton paste colors, and use the exact shade you want, in sufficient amounts. You will have to test it only on a few cakes (or maybe several cupcakes within the same batch) to find out what amount you need for the exact orange you want. If you want to match it from cheaper and more ubiquitous dyes which are available in few hues, you will have to work with color triangles to match. I won't go deep into that, but you will need about 66 samples per test round, and probably 2-3 rounds. Each sample can be a mini cupcake so you don't waste much material, but you will need exact measuring instruments and lots of patience. Many people have an instinctive negative reaction to that and want so stay "natural" in their colorant choosing. In principle, you can also try to use strong natural coloring instead of azo dyes, for example colorant based on anato or a mixture of turmeric and beetroot. The problem is that in sufficient amounts, they will give an undesired taste to your cake. Also, you will have more difficulty matching the color, since the colors you start with are not as pure or as saturated. So expect more than just 2-3 rounds of color triangle work. If you don't even accept plant matter which has industrially been turned to dye, and want to produce the pigment in your own kitchen, this will be very difficult to achieve at all, and much more fickle. Basically, the final color will most likely not be at all the shade you wanted it, it won't be colored through and through but will have specks of a solid throughout the dough, and it will have a strong taste of something not-cake-like. This all assumes you want to color the sponge of the cake itself. You can always achieve a celebratory cake by decoration. Mixing in Wilton colors into icing is much easier, because you can see what the final color is going to be right away, so you can always add color or icing until you match the shade (unlike the sponge where you add once and then wait for it to be baked to see the result). Or you can forget the coloring and just sprinkle candied orange peel or something similar to get a nice decoration which has the color you want.

I have a kitchen aid artisan with 300W and have read conflicting opinions on what it can and can't do. Many seem to have a hard time using meat grinder and food processor attachments, because of the low power. Is this the case, or does it simply take longer or require more prep (precutting the meat into smaller pieces for example)? What kind of meat would it have problems with? Why would it have issues with a food processor, which only cuts relatively soft vegatables?

I am not so sure that it is a secret to next-level BBQ. Several BBQ discussion boards, as well as Reddit, have explored this topic. It seems that it is mostly done as a matter of convenience. For example, when purchasing a large quantity of meat (like at Costco or other bulk store). Many will season everything, and freeze what they are not using, to be thawed and smoked or grilled at a later time. I did not see any reports of culinary advantage, other than convenience. Though some even have smoked from frozen, which, of course, extends the cooking time. I guess the disadvantage would be if you decided you wanted to use the cut for a different purpose. You are stuck with the pre-seasoning. While this was not discussed, I might be worried that a seasoning with salt in it might create more of a cured texture on the exterior. That might be desirable or not. Finally, irrespective of seasoning, freezing and thawing does have the potential to impact texture. Particularly if it is done more than once. Again, maybe good, maybe bad, depending on preference.

Assume the jaggery is of finest quality and is ground. Also, the sugar can be powdered or in crystal form. I just want the same level of sweetness when I replace them with each other.

According to Cook's Info: Jaggery is not as sweet as white sugar, so when substituting white sugar for Jaggery use about 1/3 less. When swapping Jaggery in for sugar, use anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 more Jaggery than was called for of sugar (if you want to keep the recipe as sweet as it was.) That meshes with my limited experience too, so if the jaggery is ground in such a way that it will measure like the sugar you are replacing, and you are replacing 1TBS of sugar, then you would want to use somewhere in the neighborhood of 1TBS plus 1tsp of jaggery. If precision is needed (which of course doesn't really apply here, but bear with me) consider that the way jaggery and sugar measures volumetrically are unlikely to really be identical. It would be better to measure by weight, or if there is liquid in the recipe, by water displacement.

Obviously, best practice for defrosting it to leave the pizza dough on the counter or in the fridge overnight, then let it rise before cooking it. However, I've got company coming tonight, and I forgot to defrost the dough last night. (It's supermarket frozen whole-wheat dough.) How can I help the dough along? I've read that you can microwave the dough on a low setting to defrost it, but I'm a little uncertain about doing that. Edit: I'm concerned that using heat to defrost the dough might cook it somewhat, which I don't want. Related question: Defrosting pizza dough correctly?

If you dough is a disc shape: When I worked as a pizza cook at a popular fast food pizza place, we would put our dough still frozen into what we called a proofer. It was basically a heated cabinet around 130 F. It would defrost and have it's final rise in there. After that we would stretch to make the pizza. You could probably replicate this by putting your dough into a covered pan in the oven without preheating on "low" or "warm". You would also want to put a bowl of boiling water in there to add steam. Just make sure it doesn't burn or get up to temperature. You may want water or oil in there with it so it doesn't dry out. If you dough is in a ball: I do this for other frozen foods, but haven't tried it on dough before. Put it in a sealed plastic bag and leave it in warm water. I like to leave it with a constant stream of warm water flowing over the object so the water stays warm. The heat should defrost it and the plastic should keep it dry.

I've made the same sourdough bread a dozen times before, with small variations in parameters: 360g white flour 240g whole wheat flour 390g water That's a 65% dough with 60% white and 40% whole wheat flour. I've been using the sponge method wherein the night before baking, I'm mixing half the flour (300g) with the water and 60g stiff (100%) sourdough starter. The next morning I mix in the rest of the flour, 2% salt, and knead by hand. This has worked well throughout March-May, but the last two times I attempted it I'm having trouble with dough that is sticky, stretchy, and a nightmare to handle. Last time I ventured for 70% hydration and 1:1 white to whole wheat flour and it got very messy and I abandoned it. Now, when I'm sticking to my tried recipe, I'm still having the same issue: No matter how much extra flour I incorporate, the dough will not become more manageable... it seems it's ready to swallow an entire pack! Do you think it could be: the sponge, which was left at room temp. for about 10hrs, is overfermented? (I don't have a picture, but it looked normal, bubbles like a tapioca pudding, no signs of hooch) the ambient humidity has messed up the recipe in a major way? a combination of both? It's warmer (25C) and wetter (55-65%) here this rainy June as opposed to ~22C / 40%. If the sponge is overfermented, does halving the starter help in any meaningful way? Or should I give it less time? If the flour has been soaking up water in the pantry, how much water should you add to get a predictable result? Do I just weigh a pack of flour and work out how much extra water it holds? As for The Blob, do I continue to incorporate flour into it and hope it starts holding shape, or does an overfermented sponge preclude me from getting a decent loaf? Update I've been using the same brand of white and whole wheat flours throughout. Nothing substantial about the technique has changed. I knead the bread by hand 10-15 mins through a series of smear-scrape-twist motions, as shown below in the River Cottage Bread Handbook: 65% hydration with 60-40% flour mix was my safe space, and the dough just doesn't seem to come together as of late.

This is a bit unusual, but from your picture, I think your long rise at a high temperature (25C) has indeed overfermented your sponge. It's not so much that the yeast is used up: in fact it might still be active. The problem is that the gluten that developed in the first few hours has been broken down in the long fermentation. Hence the lack of structure. You can't fix this by adding any small amount of flour. Instead you could use this dough as preferment. Then you will need to add plenty more flour and water (maybe matching the amounts already used) and knead again, or use a no-knead rise (but not 10 hours) to develop gluten. A method for finding the moisture content of flour that's practical in a home kitchen is suggested here: https://bakerpedia.com/processes/moisture-in-flour/.

After cleaning the stove holes with some liquid detergent, one of them is clogged now. I used a sewing needle, without any effect. Did anybody run into this problem before?

The jets can be unscrewed, using a properly sized wrench, and cleaned with an appropriately sized cleaner. Once clean they can screwed back in. They are typically made from brass and are soft. Using the wrong wrench can round off the hex head. More importantly the orifice in the jet can be unintentionally enlarged or damaged easily. Inserting anything from the outside will push debris into the fuel system and while it may clear the hole it leaves the debris inside. It is better to remove them for cleaning. If damaged they are easily replaceable. Before doing anything check the documentation for your stove. The installation or maintenance instructions may include directions for replacing the jets. I use an oxy-acetylene torch tip cleaner on my stove jets if they are clogged. My tip cleaner provides sizes 6 to 26 one of which fits my jets. To clean them I select the largest cleaner which easily fits into the orifice. It is inserted and gently run in and out to clean the orifice. Rather than being smooth the cleaners have very small ridges on their sides that help to remove debris. If not used carefully they can act like a file and enlarge the size of the orifice in the jet. Keep the cleaner aligned with the orifice vice at an angle. It needs to go straight in and out. The cleaners can also be bent when inserting. Hold them close to the insertion point when clearing the jet. If it seems too hard try a smaller size cleaner. I do not turn off my gas supply, just insure the burner is off and stays that way until you are done.

I'm looking to glaze some carrots, maybe some beets, and a decent chunk of the rest of the season's worth of farmshare. I'm sure there's plenty of recipes on the internet, but I'm looking for some general advice as to method: how to do it properly, what to look out for, etc. Help me out?

Trim your carrots, rutabaga, turnips, etc. to consistent sizes and put in a large saute pan. Add stock or water (amount will depend on vegetables and their density along with quantitye of vegetables. Start with enough to come about 2/3 up the volume of veg.) along with some salt, a couple tablespoons of butter and a couple tablespoons of sugar. Bring the liquid to a simmer and cover lightly with a lid or a circle of parchment paper. Simmer until vegetables are getting tender. Remove the lid and continue to simmer until liquid evaporates and sugar and butter create a nice glaze. Watch at the end to make sure the sugar doesn't burn. Add any desired herbs, taste and adjust seasoning and serve.

Why do gelatin sheets have a diamond pattern? Are they perforations? Are they for measurement? Are they for brand recognition or marketing or just aesthetics?

I think it is a side effect of the drying process. If you look at about the 5m50s mark, the drying conveyor is a diamond pattern. YouTube video of the process

I have made a tomato, onion and cannelini bean curry. I put a lot of chilli spice in it, perhaps too much. If I keep simmering it, will it get milder? I'm hoping it will cook into the (bland) beans.

You'll sometimes hear television cooking show hosts describe what they're doing as "cooking out" the paste. What they're actually doing is altering the flavor of the chili itself, not manipulating the level of capsaicin that was introduced. If you take a typical chili paste which has been combined with garlic and other things and then saute it in a fat, you will lower the level of heat that's tasted (and possibly take some bitterness out, depending on the chili and what's in the paste), but not lower the level that's actually ingested. If you literally want to cook it out, put some sliced chili with nothing else in a searing hot pan, but make sure no one else is home or going to be home for a while, and wear a respirator. The capsaicin has nowhere to go and vaporizes as it burns (seriously, don't do that, if you did that in my kitchen I'd throw a live crab at you). Various kinds of fat bond well with the capsaicin, essentially creating a sort of encasement. To demonstrate how this works, grab some sriracha and some cream. Mix in about half a tablespoon of sriracha to about 300 ml of cream, taste it. Now, simmer the cream a bit (about 3 - 5 minutes), take it off the heat, let it rest a few minutes and taste it again. The level of sriracha didn't change, what happened is the cream got its hands on the capsaicin that it contained. It'll continue to get milder the longer it sits. That's why a glass of milk can rescue you from atomic hot wings and why water just broadens the pain as it makes sure your whole palate gets a chance to taste it :) Beer just makes you care less about it. Now, sugar has the remarkable quality of helping to hide heat with its mighty right of first refusal when it comes to your palate. The heat from the chili shows up and your palate says "what? I'm too busy with this sweet, I can only listen to a little of you". To see how that works, repeat the experiment again, but this time throw a teaspoon or so of confectioner's (or castor) sugar into the cream with the sriracha, along with an additional squirt or two (around 10 ml) of sriracha. That's why coconut milk works so perfectly in a curry. The best bet for your recipe is finding a way to get some kind of fat into it. That could be coconut milk, fatty bacon, or whatever makes sense based on how you want to serve it. Then, optionally, sweeten it up a bit (also remember that citrus helps offset sweet, handy to keep that in mind when you're 'fixing' a dish) - some raisins sound like they'd work rather well with what you're doing. Maybe go with coconut milk and raisins, and thin it out with a bit of chicken stock if needed? I really try to encourage people to take an hour and just experiment with ways you can alter and sort of control chili, because it is a lovely thing to cook with. Just remember, whatever you put in the pan initially ends up being eaten, you're just hiding a bit of that as you cook.

I have fallen into a slump at the minute where i just don't feel like preparing food when i get home from work, and i would prefer to cut up a larger batch of potatoes in one go and store them in the fridge/freezer in the correct portion sizes, so when i get home i can just throw them into the oven. The problem i have had with this up to now is, if i put them into the freezer and then try to cook them, the defrosting process turns them to mush. If i put them in the fridge, they have gone off by morning. Is there a better way to store potatoes that have been cut up?

You can store your cut potatoes in the fridge. Place them in container(s) and cover them completely with plain, unsalted water. They should be fine for at least 2 or 3 days. I don't know that it's necessary, but I usually drain and rinse them before use. Alternatively, as you are cooking them in the oven, you could cook a large batch and then store your preferred portion sizes in the fridge or freezer, depending on how long you plan to keep them before use.

I'd always assumed that things cooked sous-vide (which translates as 'under vacuum'!) needed to be under a good vacuum for the most efficient heat transfer into the meat, since air is less convective than water. I also thought there might be a hygiene issue with having the meat exposed to the air in the bag. However, in the video on this Kickstarter page (at around 1.00), she simply puts the steak in a sealed Ziploc bag and then into the water bath, without evacuating the bag. So, are my concerns unfounded?

Yep, Ziploc bags are fine although make sure you have ones that are appropriately heat sensitive for whatever temperatures you'll be cooking at. There's a good guide on the Cooking Issues blog: http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/part-ii-low-temperature-cooking-without-a-vacuum/#sectionII3b1 Fill a container with water deep enough to easily submerge your food and bag. Always add some sort of liquid to the bag –fat, stock, sauce, etc. The liquid is necessary to fill the gaps around your food and expel the air from the bag. Add your food item. A significant advantage of Ziplocs over vacuum bags is that the food can be added to the bag hot. All vacuum bagging procedures require your food to be cold (more on that in the upcoming vacuum section of the primer). If you are searing meat and adding it directly to the Ziploc bag make sure the surface of the meat is below 100˚C (212˚F) or the bag will melt. Be especially careful to not touch the bag with a hot set of tongs or spatula. Close the seal of the bag almost to the edge, leaving the last portion of the seal open –make sure you have correctly sealed the bag. Put your finger in the corner to make sure that part of the seal is open. Carefully immerse the bag in the water starting with the closed corner, not the open one. Make sure you do this step carefully, allowing air to escape up and out of the open corner. Just as the open part of the seal is about to go under the water, close it up.

I am a new learner on cooking and I would like to boil some vegetable: soybean, baby corn, okra, etc. I saw a lot of people add salt when boiling them but I am not sure I should do that or not, and what is the purpose of adding salt when boiling? Hope to get feedback for you guys. Thank you in advance!

Maybe you have heard of osmosis. Putting salt into the water when boiling vegetables (which are also slightly salty) will prevent water from entering the vegetables, hence decreasing the overall flavor of the vegetables.

I'm making truffles, and my ganache keeps coming apart. The chocolate acts like it's overheating, but it's not. I've confirmed the temperature of the water in the double boiler several times, and the chocolate never exceeds 120 degrees. Here's my recipe: 20 oz of chopped chocolate (72%) 1 3/4 cups cream 1/4 cup Cognac 2 tbsp Butter splash of espresso powder I'm making this in a double boiler, as I find it usually turns out smoother. I don't know why this recipe isn't working today, I've made it twice and it's failed both times, though I've used the recipe many times over the years. The only difference is the cognac, but I've used other liquid as flavoring. Is there something in liquor that changes the melting properties of chocolate? The liquid is going in with the chocolate, so it's not seizing. I've destroyed $40 of Valhrona today, so needless to say, I'd like to know why this is happening.

I found an answer in McGee's 'On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen'. The basic ganache is 1:1 chocolate:cream (by weight). With lots of chocolate the emulsion can come apart. In 'Keys to good cooking' McGee describes how to restore a failed ganache. You put it over a double boiler and when it reaches 33ºC y stir it vigorously. If that fails, start with a smaller batch, just like you'd recover mayonnaisse. McGee recommends letting it sit on the counter to cool slowly overnight. The relevant pages are not shown on Google Books preview.

I already found lots of questions on this site with answers advising not to reuse marinade used to marinate meat. Which I understand, because meat poisoning is no laughing matter. But what about marinade that wasn't used for meat but for tofu? What I did: I made a marinade from these ingredients: Olive Oil Vinegar Curry powder Instant broth Corn starch Water I let a batch of diced tofu marinate in it in the fridge for about 20 hours in a closed container. I drained the marinade and filled it in a jar. Would there be a risk to store this marinade in the fridge for a couple days and then reuse it for another batch of tofu?

The usual tips for browning the tips of baked goods: move them higher in the oven, so there’s more top heat a milk wash, butter, or something with protein or sugar to brown Add sugar or protein to the dough Add baking soda to the dough (because acids inhibit browning, bases promote it) … but I would avoid that first one for garlic knots. Burned garlic is not good. And I assume they’re covered in butter already, so you will likely need to adjust the dough.

When I fry onions, the edges burn and the onion never crisps up when I am using my fry pan. Looks similar to this: What am I doing wrong? New cook here. Thanks!!

This depends on the result you are looking for. I'm not sure if you want onions that are crispy or caramelized. You describe wanting them to be crispy, but it looks like the attempt pictured was aiming for caramelized. For onion crisps, you need to deep fry in plenty of oil, as the comments suggest. You should take care that your onion slices of pieces are the same size. Deep fry until golden, then remove from oil and drain well. You should be able to crisp onions in a few minutes. However, deeply and evenly caramelized onions take quite a while...40 to 45 minutes. The heat needs to be medium or lower. Also, slice evenly. Pieces of different size will cook differently. You do not need an excess amount of fat, in this case. 2 - 3 tablespoons of butter is fine for 3 - 4 large onions. Melt the butter, add onions and stir to coat. Then leave them alone for about 5 minutes. Stir and scrape up the fond. Repeat this every 5 minutes or so, reducing the heat if they are cooking too fast. They will not become fully caramelized and jammy until the 30 to 40 minute mark. You should also deglaze the pan at the end, to release the remaining fond. You can add 1/4 cup water, balsamic vinegar, wine, broth...really anything here. If you just want an evenly browned, pan-fried onion. Begin the caramelization process described above, and stop when the onions are browned to your liking. In general, from the picture you post, I would say your heat is too high.

I'm making a cinnamon bars recipe in a 9x13 pan. (Recipe something similar to this.) I'd like to assemble it a few hours in advance and then leave it in the fridge a few hours before baking. Will this affect the taste at all? Should I let it return to room temperature before baking?

It will probably not affect taste, however, it will affect texture. The reason is that the flour will react to the moisture in the batter and start to convert to gluten. This will produce at best a chewier bar (which may actually be desirable) or, at worst, a rock hard bar. If you are willing to take this textural risk, then I would recommend putting the pan directly into the oven from the refrigerator. This is because the bars will be so thin (and thereby have relatively large surface area) that they will come up to temperature in the oven quite quickly. You may have to cook them slightly longer; just make sure to test them with a toothpick or, better yet, a thermometer before removing. The internal temperature should be a little over 200°F or a little under 100°C. If you want to minimize the risk of chewiness/hardness, do as little initial mixing of the flour with the batter as possible. It is okay to have some small lumps of flour since they will absorb the batter during the resting time in the refrigerator. This suggestion is due to the fact that gluten is formed both by moisture and mechanical agitation (mixing). Another option, for which there is no potential harm, would be to mix the wet ingredients in advance and refrigerate them, also mix the dry ingredients in advance and leave them at room temperature, and then mix the wet with the dry just before putting everything into the oven.

I live alone and almost always cook just for myself. With most recipes, I can just cook a smaller amount than given in the recipe, and I have optimized most of my cooking gear for small quantities. But I have a problem with some dishes which are both too rich to eat more than one, maximum two portions in a day, and too perishable to store for longer. Some of those, like the egg foams (zabaglione, hollandaise) and some sweet dishes involving melted chocolate, require a bain marie. I don't have the storage space for single-purpose gear. When I need bain marie, I use a regular pot and a Pyrex bowl whose upper diameter is somewhat bigger than the pot's. My smallest pot is 16 cm, and a bowl which fits on it is too big for one or two yolks. When I try beating them, they smear themselves on the walls and cook there before they've flowed to the bottom. Also, the heating is somewhat quick, because the whole mass is only 1 cm thick or less. Making 40 g ganache is no easier. I prefer beating such small amounts in a tea cup or mug or in a 6 cm bowl, inserting a single beater into the mixer. But I cannot do it when I need a bain marie, because I have no pot where they'd stay on top. And even if I could find a small replacement for the pot (like a steel mug or a djezwe), it won't heat on my induction hob - even if the "pot" was ferromagnetic, the hob has a built-in protection and only switches on if it detects a cooking vessel at least 12 cm wide. Do you have any ideas for an easily built bain marie setup which is small, uses common utensils (not necessary kitchen ones, but preferably something I already have), and quickly dismantled when not in use? Maybe there is some way to suspend the tea cup into the big pot and hold it firm despite the mixer's force?

OK, this is an ancient question, but the biggest issue is the induction aspect. No one appears to have suggested using an induction adaptor to allow the use of a very small pan, like a Turkish coffee pot, for the bottom part. That would get you down to about 10cm diameter, with a small Pyrex bowl or wide cup (cappuccino cup) on top. Convection from the induction adaptor heating the upper bowl shouldn't be too much of a problem, though the adaptor plate would get rather hot. Bialetti's at least is clearly designed for pots smaller than the induction ring. This adaptor plate would seem like a useful tool to have, but if you have a non-non-stick induction-compatible shallow pan that would also work, with the cezve inside it. You may, for example, have a cast iron frying pan you'd use for dry-frying flatbreads (I do, anyway), and that use would be similar in the sense of heating it dry. Alternatively I'd make a frame from stiff wire, to allow suspending a small bowl over a larger pan. Personally I'd use stainless steel bicycle spoke, as I have plenty. They don't touch the food itself after all. Coat hanger wire might also be stiff enough. Either could be formed into the right shape with bending, using twisted joints (requiring two large pairs of pliers). Aluminium foil could be used to avoid steaming your hand.

I have been told that you cannot home grind white flour for white bread. Is this true, or is it just harder to find white wheat berries to grind?

Sorry, my answer was incorrect (it used to say that there is no white wheat). The only defense I have is that such newfangled things like white wheat have not yet reached my part of the world (is Europe really that old-fashioned?). Big thank you to Jefromi for correcting me and teaching me something new. "Normal" white flour is, as I described in the old answer, made from the inner part of the wheat berry, discarding the yellow-brownish hull. You can't make this at home. But it turns out that there is such a thing as white wheat. When it is used to produce whole flour, the result is a flour which is white in color (but behaves more like whole flour when baked, and has nutritional properties like whole flour). So if your definition for white bread is just based on color, it is probably possible to make white flour from white wheat. They say that the taste is milder than "yellow" whole flour, too, closer to the refined white flour. But from what I read, you probably won't be able to produce a fluffy soft baguette with it, just because it bakes differently. If you want to make flour which is equivalent to the common white flour in the supermarket, you are still out of luck. The machines for removing the bran are too complicated, you can't do it in a grinder (look here for a patent for a bran removing device). But if "white whole wheat flour" is good enough for your purposes, I don't see a reason why you can't grind albino wheat at home.

Having some trouble making strawberry fruit leather for the first time. I'm pureeing frozen strawberries in orange juice then spreading the puree on parchment paper that I put on a pan. I then put it in the oven at 175 degrees. I've tried leaving it for 1 hour, 2 hours, or 3 hours. But it always ends up being really thin and sticking to the parchment paper to the point that it's impossible to separate from the paper. What should I change in my steps above?

Try a little cooking spray (pan release) on the pan, or, another option would be to use a silicone mat.

When making dishes like Chicken Parmesan, fried zucchini, general tso's, etc, and prepare the breaded item, I first scramble a few eggs then dip the the item from there into either flour or breadcrumbs then straight to the pan. Flour is the worst, as the egg can get into the flour and create a cement like mixture that's very difficult to clean from your hands. Breadcrumbs aren't as bad mess wise, but can still be an issue when the goal is a clean, even coating all the way around. So my question is what is the best process to use when preparing fried foods like these in an assembly line-like fashion, without the huge mess and splotchy coating, or are my ingredients themselves to blame?

I personally like to use forks when I'm breading, so that I don't have to keep reaching into the containers. I use a pair of forks in each containers, which I use to move the food around 'til it's coated, and then lift them to drop into the next container (important -- the forks should not go into the next container ... grab from one end, lower in, but release before the forks touch the stuff in the next one). You can also use chopsticks or tongs, but I prefer the forks as I can use them to scoop up a bit of flour or breadcrumbs to sprinkle on the bare spots of whatever I'm breading. Other tips: Prep all of whatever you're going to be breading first (assuming you're cooking alone, and don't have a helper). Having to wash up because your hand's all chicken-y really slows you down.1 Never go backwards. Yes, some people like to go back into the flour, but if you're looking to be mess-free, don't do it. Shake off items before going into the next container ... you want a minimal coating of everything -- flour won't stick to flour, so shake off the loose flour before going into the egg. Let the egg wash drip for second or two before going into the crumbs, and shake off the loose crumbs before going into the pan. This will both create a crust that won't separate from the food as easily, but also prevents that growing cluster of crumbs forming in the third container.2 If you're looking to do some breading with the kids, and the kids are too messy, the crumb and flour can be placed into paper bags, and you drop items in, seal up the bag (fold over + binder clips), and then let the kids shake the bag. You might also be able to use containers with a tight-fitting lid. It'll slow you down overall, but it's no worse than the constant 'I want to help' pestering.3 1 You'd note that I said "hand" and not "hands." I keep a strict rule that whenever possible, I only touch raw chicken with my left hand, so that my knife hand never gets slippery (and so I can grab the phone if need be without washing up). 2 Some people also disagree with this step, as in the case of fried chicken, you don't get those extra crunchy bits on the outside. There is, however, a solution ... take the fork in the egg wash, and let it drip into the crumbs, then use the crumb fork to coat them, and lift them to the top of the container ... then set the item to be breaded on top of them as it comes out of the egg wash. 3 Before you worry about me suggesting that I have kids and I consider them pests, no, I don't, but I frequently cook at a friend's house and they do, so we have to set up the breading station away from the stove so that they can help (at home, the crumbs would be right next to the hot pan). Although some people put the crusted objects on a tray or wire rack and let the eggwash dry for a few minutes to reduce crust separation.

I used to know someone who was born in the 1910s and raised in Budapest, who made a filling for blintzes out of jam and ground walnuts. I now know someone (unrelated to the first person) who was born in the 1920s and raised in Arad speaking Hungarian, who makes a filling for baked goods out of jam and ground walnuts. So I guess that filling is an Hungarian specialty. What's it called in Hungarian? Google isn't helping, and the Arad person doesn't recall.

Any canned Apple Pie Filling (such as the Duncan Hines) would provide a similar flavor and texture to the pineapple you want to replace. You might want to mix in some apple juice (or cider) to the apple pie filling to thin out the liquid in order to get the right consistency and volume. Of course you will want to make sure you aren't simply replacing one allergen with another.

I am currently studying how to make great falafels. Currently I know that the amount of water added to the mixture afterwards is very important. Too little and they become dry, too much and they fall apart. What are your tips on getting the perfect ratio? Secondly, there seems to be a big difference when blending everything together and blending the ingredients seperately. What are some of the most important things to keep in mind, when making great falafels?

Some points in addition to rackandboneman's excellent advice: Use soaked dried chickpeas, and not canned or cooked chickpeas. This eliminates the need for flour or other binders, as well as tasting better. Let the batter rest for at least 20 min. Remember to season the batter with cumin, garlic, and herbs. The balls should be formed and dropped directly into the hot oil. The oil needs to be between 360F and 380F (185 and 195C). Falafel balls should be eaten hot from the fryer, and not reheated. The above is based on the advice of a friend of mine who used to work at Sunrise Deli, who had the best falafel balls in San Francisco at the time. It is generally supported by Serious Eats' recipe and advice.

I have a recipe for a French Toast Bake which calls for 30 ounces of pumpkin pie filling. I am looking for something I can substitute since my family is not crazy about pumpkin flavor. Any ideas?

Puree of chayote with (nutmeg / clove / allspice / cinnamon / just sugar) (however you like it) works well. It's an Asian staple and available around the world in most Asian markets. It has no real detectable taste of its own, it just takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with or put in it. If that's not available, you could sweeten a puree of butternut or regular squash and get the desired outcome. With either method, be careful with your moisture content - you want it to be pretty much the same as pumpkin pie filling for the recipe you want to try.

Whenever I make basic noodles & vegetable dishes I would cook the noodles in a pot of water, while at the same time stir frying vegetables in a wok. Then when the cooking is done, I would drain the water out of the noodles and add them to the vegetables. The problem is that they don't mix properly; the cooked noodles stick together too much for me to be able to blend them with the vegetables. This usually means I end up with a thick layer of noodles with some minor vegetables on top, and a thick layer of vegetables at the bottom of the wok. It's still tasty, but I'd like to know if there's a way to make the mixing process easier so that the dish becomes more uniform in taste.

I'm assuming you mean cooked asian noodles and not Italian pasta as the two problems are different. One thing is to make sure you are boiling the noodles in plenty of water as this will reduce the starch on the noodles which cause sticking, or rinse the noodles after cooking to wash the starch off. Next, make sure the stir fry mix isn't too dry, moisture will help the flavors distribute and lubricate the noodles, helping keep them apart. You can always add a small amount of water, it won't ruin anything. Last, use two spoons to mix the noodles up, grap bunches of noodles to pull them apart. Alternatively you can use tongs, the result is the same but I find 2 spoons quicker.

I am making dal and would like a suggestion for an oil that could be a substitute for avocado oil.

For dal, any oil will work because it is a fairly minor flavor component of the dish. The other flavors (I assume onion, garlic, and spices) will predominate. I have used vegetable oil, grape seed oil, and olive oil when making dal, all with no problems.

How can you increase/decrease the proportions of lactobacili and yeast in a sourdough starter. For example, if I wanted a more acidic bread, increasing the lactobacili, or if I wanted a less acidic bread, then less of them. Is this possible to control or will it always revert to a state that is preferable to it?

There are a variety of theories about what the most important factors are to control the sourness of a sourdough bread. Many times you will find conflicting evidence from different sources. General Considerations Some starters are naturally more sour. Some organisms produce more tart flavors, while others produce buttery notes. Some combinations of yeast and bacteria work together and push the process toward acid production, while others compete for resources (Article 3, page 21-22) yielding less acid. Fermentation time counts. Anything you do to increase the amount of time it takes to complete bulk fermentation will likely increase sourness. Usually this is done by using a small amount of starter. You can also increase sourness by degassing the dough and letting it rise again. Flour type matters. The ash content of the flour contributes to buffering the acidity and extending the flavors of the end product. Higher ash content flours allow the microorganisms to keep working longer. In general, ash content is directly related to extraction rate. Also, some starters "like" certain flours better than others, this is especially true for whole wheat, rye, or other specialty grain flours. Fermentation temperature is tricky. I have read many sources that go on and on about temperature and sourdough. Some claim a lower temperature increases sourness, others claim that it decreases sourness. I tend to find that proofing in my fridge increases sourness somewhat, but also makes rising take an incredibly long time. According to some sources (page 22), many of the bacteria in sourdough thrive at temperatures between 85-105˚F, while the yeasts thrive at 75-80˚F. Strict control of temperatures within one of these "optimal" ranges can alter the mix of organic molecules produced by a given culture, but most home bakers do not have the equipment needed to maintain such specific temperature tolerances throughout bulk fermentation. Articles Squeeze more sour from your sourdough How to develop sour flavor in sourdough Sourdough: a tool for the improved flavour Tip No matter whether you want it more sour or less sour, always start with an active culture. The microorganism milieu of your culture is dynamic. If you try to start a loaf with a starter that is only semi-awake your results will be unpredictable and unlikely to be replicable.

Is it better to add fresh basil to a tomato sauce and then let it cook for say, 10 mins, or wait till the end and add just before serving?

Fresh herbs should, generally, be added closer to the end of a recipe. Dried herbs should be added fairly early on during the cooking process so that they have time to "develop" and more fully release their flavors. Fresh herbs and spices, however, will generally have more subtle flavors, and they are usually best used for seasoning at the very end of the recipe, rather than actual cooking. You can check out more details about how to use different kinds of spices in this article. For your specific case, I would say to definitely add the basil in at the end—maybe five or ten minutes before the sauce is finished, as you said. It may even be a good idea to remove the pot from your heat source after you have added the basil so that the herbs can infuse their flavor without actually cooking into the sauce. You have to be careful not to cook too much of the flavor out with fresh herbs. If they simmer too long with the rest of the dish the subtle flavors can be easily overpowered by other ingredients.

I've usually made garlic bread by pouring over the bread with special garlic bread powder over spread butter. This works, but is there any way to make the garlic sauce/powder on your own?

This is probably relatively unconventional and a completely different technique than you described altogether, but it answers the question in the title :) When I'm making a stovetop dinner and don't feel like heating the oven/toaster oven/grill/broiler, I'll often melt some butter into a pan, throw some (fresh) garlic and spices in, give it a minute, throw the bread in, and crisp the bread up right in the pan in the butter. Quick and easy!

We've got a small jar of Vegemite that the kids are slowly nibbling away at, and I just realized it has a best-before date of three months ago. At the current rate of consumption, there's another six months to go before it's gone. We're keeping it in the fridge, and it shows no visible signs of going bad so far. How long is it safe to keep, and how do we know it's gone bad? Bear in mind this is pretty funky-smelling stuff in the first place. Also, just how bad an idea is it to reuse a knife that's previously been used to spread butter to scoop out Vegemite? Update: On further inspection, the date on the bottom of the jar is just a date, it's not labeled as "best before" or "use by" anywhere on the jar. Definitely not the date of manufacture though, and the official Vegemite FAQ implies it's a best-before date. Also, this somewhat amusing Metafilter thread about whether somebody should eat seven-year-old Vegemite, the general consensus being "it's probably OK".

Best-before dates aren't the same as use-by dates. Whilst you shouldn't consume a product after it's use-by date, best-before dates are more about quality than safety. Basically, after the best-before date, the product may start to deteriorate in terms of flavour, but that doesn't mean you can't still eat it. I'd expect that the salt content of Vegemite would keep it sound for a long time. I've certainly had half-eaten jars of Marmite (sorry, I'm a Marmite guy, not Vegemite) kicking around in the pantry for way longer than they ought, and they've been just fine. Butter and breadcrumbs from the knife may well develop mould if they're left in the jar for a while, but that would normally just be on the surface and easily removed. Much better to remove crumbs before they get to that stage - or, easier, just use a clean knife.

Assuming that you ever saw someone making a pizza out of a dough, you probably noticed that usually they push with quite some energy the dough down and use the other part of their energy to enlarge the disc . Even after all this stress applied to the dough, most pizza are really soft, airy and fluffy inside: why is that and what makes this happen ? I would like to replicate this with my own recipe because this behaviour is really useful, especially if I can just let the dough rise, make the disc just before putting it in the oven and get a nice soft result . The only thing I can't replicate for sure is an oven capable of expressing 1,100° F and more, mine is about 400° F tops; based on my experiments something like a teaspoon of honey or fructose in general helps to get some more fluff, but not too much elasticity or structure .

Yeast action is only one factor in getting a rise when baking. Yeast metabolizes sugars and produces CO2 bubbles which puff up your dough, and also help with gluten development to make your dough stretchy. However, when you bake your dough much of the lift you get is from the expansion of water turning into steam - this is what makes pizza dough puff up a bit when baked and gives you that texture. Water is also important in gluten development when your dough is proofing, without enough water you won't get an elastic dough with good crumb. My thinking is that your dough is too dry, so add more water to your dough. Stick to the amounts of flour and water in a trusted recipe and knead with oil instead of flour. After kneading your dough should be fairly loose and just a bit sticky, and you should be able to stretch it quite a bit without breaking. Regarding oven temperatures you don't need the fires of hades to make a good pizza - the most important things for a good pizza is a good base, sauce, and quality ingredients. Crank your oven up as high as it will go and use a pizza stone (make sure to heat it up for at least 30 minutes) and you'll get a good result.

My wife is obsessed about not leaving uncooked meats in the fridge longer than a day (esp. Chicken). If we buy chicken breast and we're not going to use them the next day, she'll put them in the freezer. I always tell her it should be OK at least a week, but she thinks I'm crazy. Can anyone give me some factual ammo I could use against her?

Sorry, USDA recommends 1-2 days of refrigerated storage (40°F). Beyond that and you're tempting fate a bit. You're gonna have to eat some humble pie for your wife on this one (just don't ask here for the recipe). Source

I frequent a place that makes thick tonkotsu (pork based) ramen, so that is my point of reference. But I recently tried a new place that only makes chicken based broths and, for the same size bowl, I found it to be extremely filling to the point of being uncomfortably full How is chicken broth typically made? and is there some ingredient in there that causes it to be much more filling than pork based broths? The 2 places in question: http://ramendanbo.com/our-menu-vancouver/ https://marutama.ca/menus/

We don't know since we don't have the exact recipes, but I have a few good guesses. Pork broth is made by boiling pork bones, so the thickness comes from the extracted collagen. Chicken broth is usually made by boiling chicken carcasses, which is mostly meat and bones. That will make a lighter broth since there's not a lot of fat. I came across a recipe for creamy chicken paitan broth which is made with the whole chicken then blended and strained, so you end up with lots of protein in the broth which will make it heavy. Another one uses chicken wings and that will extract a lot of fat, which will also make you feel full quickly.

When making risotto one of the first steps is to saute the rice in some oil for a few minutes (or until the rice is translucent). What is happening when the rice is fried? What effect does this have, and what would happen if this step was omitted?

As I understand it, it's down to the flavour you get from frying the rice. However, it does also break down some of the starch which reduces the thickening it can do when the risotto cooks, which might cause a problem. I can attest to the flavour, but I've not done experiments about thickening. Serious Eats had a good article on the topic though, in which such experiments were described. The solution in that was to wash the rice in the stock, then fry the rice, then add the stock containing all that undamaged free rice starch during cooking, thus giving you toasty flavour and creamy risotto with no questions asked. I haven't tried that, but it seems like a fairly sound idea to me. http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/10/the-food-lab-the-science-of-risotto.html

There are purple spots inside the freezer that look like mold, but I'm not sure. Is it safe to store food in there?

Thanks for the picture. (Worth 1000 words.) Those spots aren't what I was imagining when you said purple. They look just like what I was imagining when you said mold, though. Or maybe I would call it "mildew". Anyhow, my advice: do clean it, with wet baking soda & rinse with water, like people say you should clean a refrigerator. If the stains remain, which I bet some will, try and remove them with a bleach solution, then rinse that off. If stains still remain, which I bet some will, then they're just stains at that point. Don't pay any attention to them....Don't put food in direct contact with the floor or walls of the freezer (of course). Wrap food well or enclose in proper containers when you freeze it, and it will be OK. The situation sounds temporary anyhow. FYI: Because it had been unplugged and left outside for a few months before we got it, our refrigerator retained a slight musty smell inside even after we cleaned it as best we could. Our food however was fine. We just stored it wrapped as we normally would, and we had no issues with off-odors or spoilage in the food. The smell in the fridge's atmosphere persisted for many weeks though, until one day, we realized it was gone. No, we didn't just get used to it; the smell had completely dissipated. But it took a while.

What happens to the brewed hot tea when it is left in a cup for some time (up to several hours), that spoils the taste of the drink and change its color? What chemical processes lead to such unwanted results and what are the general methods to prevent tea from going bad too quickly? If there is a significant difference in different tea types' brewing processes, I'd like to know that too. Assume we make a cup of Earl Grey tea with a spoon of sugar and leave it for a day at room temperature. I've seen a thin rainbowy layer appear after leaving tea for a few hours (up to a day). I often saw that in teas made from cheap bagged tea. Also the color of the drink becomes distinctively "stale".

A rainbowy layer is almost certainly oil. (This is called thin-film diffraction.) Earl Grey uses oil of bergamot for flavoring, and likely cheap teas you've used have oil-based flavorings as well. It's not surprising that the oil eventually separates, and there's not really any way to avoid that without significantly modifying the tea, or using tea that doesn't have quite so much oil. I would definitely expect the flavor to be stale after it's left for a while - aromatic compounds are by nature volatile, and they'll slowly escape. You might be able to prevent some loss of flavor by putting the tea in something airtight (preferably a completely full container, so there's not even air on the surface) and chilling it, but it's going to be a losing battle. You said the color was stale as well; I don't know exactly what processes would cause that, but in general, the only way you're going to be able to slow down any chemical processes is by chilling the tea. In the end, the real answer is simply that it's best to drink fresh tea. Your time would probably be better spent getting to where you can make it quickly - for example, get an electric kettle that can rapidly boil a single cup worth of water.

I'm throwing a party together soon and I wanted to sous-vide some chicken thighs. Because (1) It's tasty, (2) it's easy, (3) leaves open all my pans, stove and oven for other foods. The problem lies in finishing it off. Typically I remove the chicken, put it in a ice water bath till cool, dry it off then finish it in a small pan till golden and crispy. It's delicious but there's no way I can finish off 30 of these in a timely and efficient way. I tried broiling but they were not as golden and crispy and were overcooked by the time they had any crispness. Any ideas? (I'll also take other ideas to feed ~15 people as a main that doesn't take much effort/time)

You could use a searzall with the chicken on a large baking sheet (make sure you have adequate space to do this without accidentally setting anything else ablaze). I usually use one in conjunction with pan-searing, so I'm not sure it could do the total job for you, but you certainly could use the broiler method and then finish up with the searzall (or, slower, any culinary torch) to get the sear that you want. Outside of that, a gas grill would probably be your best bet. Bonus: It's a torch. Torches are fun, and possibly a neat way to entertain your guests.

When I was at school I made an dish that was like a lasagna but replaced the pastry with Eggplant. It also had sliced bocconcini (I think) and was tomato based. Just wondering if anyone knows the name of this dish? Is it just an Eggplant lasagna?

I always thought of the Greek dish Moussaka as Eggplant Lasagna. Except it is Béchamel sauce on top instead of more cheese.

Has anyone noticed the lack of vanilla flavor in vanilla beans? I have tried several varieties, from different countries and suppliers. While there is a hint of vanilla, I am using triple the beans plus extract and gain some but not much effect. I have taken all the beans, (new ones) and made vanilla paste, which should be omg this kitchen reeks with vanilla! But it does not.

The aroma of vanilla beans is not easy to release. You have to extract it somehow. The most popular way is a prolonged extraction with alcohol, but you can also boil the seeds in milk or other dairy (that method is especially popular for custards). If you simply throw seeds into whatever you are making, you are not going to get much aroma.

According to this: What oil or fat to use for different purposes? For general pan cooking: olive oil (any kind), butter.. I see video from youtube such as How to Cook Steak by Jamie Oliver, he also used olive oil in a pan, but I am not sure if extra virgin is being used. Since for steak cooking, the temperature should be high, or should I use extra light olive oil instead?

No. Steak needs be seared at a high, high temperature. Not only would extra virgin olive oil lose everything that makes it special at such a high temperature (so not worth the expense anyway), it would also burn. The smoke point of EVOO is 350F, 180C (give or take). That's simply way too low for searing steak. There is no such thing as a cooking oil that's hot enough to heat to what I would consider ideal steak steak searing temperature. : (I just used this picture in another answer, that's Celsius by the way) No cooking oil can withstand that kind of heat. So how can you get away with it? Well, when I do it, first I remove the batteries from every smoke detector in my apartment and open my kitchen windows. Secondly, I choose a very refined (read that tasteless) oil with a high smoke point. By using a refined, tasteless oil, there's really nothing left after it burns to taste nasty; it just tastes like char, something I want anyway. Third, I don't put oil in the pan, I just lightly oil the steak. The method works great, but it requires a cast-iron pan and a high smoke point, neutral oil. I'm not crazy about Jamie Oliver's method because I like a serious char. You can tell he's not using extreme heat, because he's using a non-stick pan. I assume he doesn't throw away the pan with every steak. Even with his method, EVOO would be a bad choice of oil. The point at which extra virgin olive oil gets nasty is significantly lower than the temperature that will ruin a non-stick pan 400F+ (200C+), and much lower than the temperature necessary to get a decent char on a steak. Refined (pure, or extra light) olive oil would be an OK choice, as would canola, safflower, refined avocado, grapeseed or soybean.

The jar or packet at either of my local stores is quite big. How long does it stay effective, once opened? Given Star Anise is quite hard, I'm thinking it may last a while. But would I be better vacuum sealing half or 2/3? [edited to correct grammar. rmjf]

You don't really need to vacuum seal it. You can store it dry in a sealed bag or container. It will last years. The flavour might deteriorate over time though.

First post on this exchange so I hope this is appropriate! Anyway, I don't cook much, so I made something simple following this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSSF4O4o2eE Since I love chili. Anyways, I have it bottled, and I didn't refrigerate it the past few days. If it's been on the shelf (and stays on the shelf) how long do I have till it goes bad? I cant really tell... And, since it may be a lost cause for my current recipe, how can I lengthen its shelf life for the future? Recipe looks pretty simple, can't imagine adding anything that wont mess up the intended flavor. Ingr: 1 cup vegetable oil 1/4 kilogram garlic, chopped 15 pieces bird's eye chilies (add more if you want it spicier) 2 tablespoons salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons brown sugar 3/4 cup water 1 Pour oil in a preheated pan, add the garlic and let it cook for 5 minutes. 2 Add the chilies, brown sugar, salt and black pepper. Allow to cook for 5 minutes over low heat. 3 Add water then let it simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until the garlic turns dark brown. Mix occasionally to prevent the garlic from burning.

This is absolutely unsafe - it's a botulism risk. This isn't a matter of it going bad in the sense of becoming obviously spoiled and unpleasant to eat, it's a matter of it being a safety risk - it could look totally fine, but send you to the hospital. What you're making should not be kept unrefrigerated at all. It's safe for short periods refrigerated, or essentially indefinitely in the freezer. The FDA's ultimate conclusion in this document on vegetables and herbs in oil is 4 days in the refrigerator. They do say that 10 days in the refrigerator is safe if it's 3-5C, and the recommended fridge temperatures are indeed 40F/4C or below, but many fridges are warmer than that, at least in spots (nearly 30%, according to that paper). We have a past question, Botulism, Garlic, Cold pressed Olive oil and mason jars, covers in more detail exactly why this sort of thing is a botulism risk. It is possible to make it safe with just garlic and oil, through a very specific process (see for example How to make garlic oil in a safe way...tomorrow), and the same also works with certain herbs and oil, but that won't help you with your chili-garlic sauce. As the PDF linked from there says: The acidification procedure was developed for garlic, basil, oregano, and rosemary. Do not use it with other vegetables or herbs until the appropriate research has been conducted. When confronted with this sort of advice, people often point out that things like this have been made by people all the time in the past, and they never got sick. It's true, many people never got sick. But it's also true that people have gotten severely ill from this sort of thing. Unless you want to take that risk, you have to go with the strict guidelines.

When frying bacon, it tends to curl up. I don't like it because my bacon doesn't cook equally and it's hard to get it crisp that way. Is there a technique or a tip so I can have flat bacon?

This is how I cook bacon, and also produce almost perfectly flat bacon. No special tools required (Well, I'm assuming most people have the following in their kitchen). Tools Sheet Tray Cooling Rack (slightly smaller than the sheet tray) parchment paper (Optional, but makes for easier cleanup). BACON (I like the extra-thick cut). Steps Take the sheet tray and line with parchment paper. Lay bacon down on parchment paper. You can fill the tray up, but I make sure the bacon stays in a single layer with no overlapping. Place the cooling rack upside down onto the bacon. This should keep it from curling. Place into oven and turn oven to 400 F. I don't find I need to pre-heat it, as, well, bacon isn't very complicated to cook. In about 15 minutes or so, you'll have cooked, flat bacon. (Adjust cooking time depending on your preference of crispiness. Take out of oven and remove from tray. (The tray and fat are hot, the bacon will keep cooking if you don't) The cooling rack should keep it from curling while the fat slowly renders out. As a bonus, I don't need to clean my stove after. Alternatively, the mention of the George Forman grill reminds me of an idea I saw somewhere (might have been Good Eats), use a waffle Iron! Use it just like the grill in Ward's answer.

I recently came across a recipe for fish poached in milk. I've never heard of this technique, and am skeptical of its effect (vs. water), so it sounds wasteful to cook fish in 4 cups of milk only to discard the milk afterwards. After a quick Google search, I found that it's done in some cuisines. So I'm wondering what, if any, effect does poaching fish in milk have?

The milk sugars will add a sweetness to the dish. Also, after the fish comes out, the milk can be reduced/thickened to make a bechemel sauce.

Tonight, my friend and I ordered a fried chicken special at a restaurant with a local food theme. It was a great dish. Both of us got very pink chicken. I am pretty sure that my plate had three drumsticks. Upon noticing the color, my colleague returned the dish to be more thoroughly cooked. I did not return mine, since last week I read the USDA fact sheet on poultry preparation. It says that temperature and not color should be used to test for safety, and that cooked poultry can be pink - especially when young. As I kept eating, I came across meat that was quite dark red - this was probably the pinkest chicken I have ever eaten. Other than the color, the texture and color of the meat did not seem raw. I have a few questions: Might the exceptional color be due in part to the breed (e.g. are there heritage breeds that have exceptionally red meat)? Should I have been concerned (since I did not have a thermometer) (and should I have sent my chicken back?) Is undercooked (pink) chicken more likely to be unsafe than undercooked (pink) beef? (Answers to previous questions seem to provide give conflicting answers: "no" as discussed in Why isn't it safe to eat raw chicken?; "yes" as discussed in Is it safe to prepare Chicken Tartare?)

Puffin meat is bright red. Duck meat can be rather red as well. I have seen some cooking process that can make chicken red or pink, Jidori chickens for example cooked at low temperatures for long periods of time.

We've had Sake chilling in our fridge for about a year now. It has been opened. Is this still safe to drink or is it time to throw it out?

Unless contaminated by, say, drinking straight out of the bottle, it will likely be safe to consume, but it will probably have deteriorated in quality. Sake which is no longer appealing to drink may be suitable for use in cooking; if you're not accustomed to cooking with sake, consider something simple, like potatoes simmered with a modest amount of water, sake, salt & pepper, soy sauce and butter. Low-alcohol beverages, whether fermented or slightly fortified, tend to deteriorate in quality over time, although they will become stale less slowly if their containers are sealed airtight and chilled. Port, marsala, sherry, vermouth, wine and sake all typically best consumed within a short time after opening, although the specific chemistry may vary. Some folks consider a sake that's been open, unrefrigerated, for more than a few weeks undrinkable. I don't know if I'm that rigid, but it's a good benchmark. I've seen certain sakes do ok for a few months in the refrigerator.

I made a cooked compote with dried fruit and am wondering what safe refrigerated life I can expect. Ideally, please provide some reasonable rationale or reference for the advice.

There are three major things that will effect the "natural" shelf life of the compote, in that they could extend it considerably past the normal shelf life of the ingredients individually: How sweet is it? If it is sufficiently sugary, to the level of a jam or jelly, the sugar in the compote will act as a preservative. This is because any bacteria or mold that try to colonize the product will be dessicated, as water exits their cells into the sugar medium via osmosis. The problem here is that sugar is hydrophylic, and will easily attract water from the environment when the jar is opened, or when a wet spoon is put into it. If the surface becomes diluted with water, and thus the sugar is less concentrated, mold can get a foothold. So this kind of product is best stored in the refrigerator once opened. How acid is it? Very, very acidic foods are less hospitable to most pathogens. How salty is it? This one doesn't usually apply to compote recipes, but high enough salt levels also make foods inhospitable to most pathogens, again due to the dessication of their cells via osmotic pressure. The specific recipe you linked to--at least the compote portion itself, excluding the vinegar syrup and the rest of the recipe--appears to have none of the characteristics that lead to a long shelf life. It should be held no longer than its most vulnerable ingredient, which would be the weak sugar syrup, so it is probably good for several days to a week in the refrigerator. Now, in general, things named compotes tend to be far sweeter, and far more acidic than the recipe you have linked to. In these cases, as ElindilTheTall points out, a very, very sweet recipe (jelly-like or jam-like sweetness) will last for many weeks in the refrigerator, and a couple of weeks at least at normal room temperature. Finally, many compotes are amenable to home canning, if they are sufficiently acidic. Canning has risks, especially for botulism, so you should only use recipes and methods from a very reputable source when doing canning, to ensure that the product is sufficiently acidic to be safe for the canning method used. Follow all of the techniques and prescriptions in the methods, as well, but I won't turn this into an essay on canning, which is not my area of expertise. For those compotes that are properly canned, you should get an indefinite shelf life prior to opening, as long as the seal on the canning jar remains intact.

Everyone in my family says that when you see white mold on jam or pickled goods, you shouldn't bother with throwing away or removing the mold. All you have to do is to mix it back into the rest of what's in the pot. Here is an example: I would like to know if it's a myth, because I feel something evolutionary in me that tells me simply mixing it back into the water is a bad idea.

Unless there is good reason to assume it is not mold/bacterial colonization, but some other precipitate as explained in other answers: There is no scientific reason at all to assume that such a method is safe, certainly not for any random pickle made by any random recipe spoiled by any random white mold found in any random environment. While some very acidic pickling liquids might kill the mold or bacteria, it will not deactivate existing aflatoxins or bacterial toxins.

I have a 10.95 lb "round sirloin tip knuckle," USDA Select, half of which I want to roast in a conventional electric oven. As few online recipes have this specificity (especially for this grade, cut, and technique), I have some questions: How should I season it? I'm obsessed with butter, tomato, pepper, and onion. OO/butter on top? Caramelized onions? Tomato? paste? Should I put aluminum foil on it when roasting it? Can you give me an estimate of time/temperature? Thanks.

This cut would benefit from a relatively slow roast. I would thickly slice a few onions and put them in a dutch oven. Then rub the beef with mustard, salt and pepper, place on the onions, cover with a damp piece of baking parchment, put the lid on and roast at about 340F for 4 hours. The fat will render out of the meat and the onions will caramelise beautifully in it. The meat should be fork tender and delicious.

I have found a number of bread recipes that call to prepare first a preferment - a very simple dough with half the flour, water, sometimes sugar, and the yeast to be used. This is left to rise for an hour or two and afterwards it is mixed with a dough made with the rest of the ingredients including fats, additional sugars, and eggs. This second dough is then left to rise again and later split into the loafs and baked. What is the purpose of the preferment and why is sponge made with such basic ingredients?

In addition to allowing fermentation to begin before the addition of fermentation inhibiting other ingredients, as @J.A.I.L. said in his answer, according to Bread Secrets, after explaining the benefits to flavor of a long, slow fermentation: A quick, warm fermentation will allow time for the yeast to produce enough carbon dioxide to raise the dough, but not enough time for the enzymes to work or for the development of the other flavour compounds. If we ferment our dough for too long, however, the gluten becomes too weak to hold the shape of the loaf. So artisan bakers generally use a preferment (pre-ferment, not prefer-ment!) as part of their dough. This allows the bread to gain flavour from the longer fermentation, but still maintain a strong gluten network for a good rise.

I make sandwich bread to replace store-bought. However, I need relatively thin slices for peanut butter and jelly and other kid-friendly sandwiches. Any tips for slicing bread?

What I've always found works for me is to skip the bread knife and use a very sharp, smooth knife instead - chef's knife or similar - and slice the bread gently so the sharpness of the knife cuts it, rather than relying on the force or pressure from the hand that can encourage crumbling. It also helps a great deal to use a knife that's long enough, so that the slicing is a smooth, continuous motion and the tip of the blade doesn't pass through the bread - this can snag, and encourage tearing or crumbling. I've cut slices with an edge a half a centimeter wide with this technique. Any thinner than that and the corner of the crust may crumble or tear off entirely, usually at the bottom corner where the crust gets stiffer again and prefers to tear right off rather than cut. Though to be fair I'm usually quite poor at judging crookedness of a cut and so the other edge tends to be a bit thicker. If you can already cut straight slices, this may not apply to you. The serrations on a bread knife tear the bread up more - you can get smooth cuts, but at the loss of all the bread under the knife (the knife's width) being processed into crumbs. That kind of knife works better for really sturdy, crusty loaves where the extra crumbs are worth it to get through the thicker crust cleanly - and usually thicker slices are preferred to better enjoy the crustiness. A smooth knife is better for cutting thin slices, especially if the bread is soft - though it also works reasonably well on bread that's dense or crumbly. So what you do is, if the crust is stiff (or just because it makes a cleaner cut), use the tip of the knife to break the uppermost part of the crust (jab it in and saw sideways) to make a notched line in it where you want to cut the bread. It should be deep and wide enough so that the edge of the knife will be through the crust when laid in the break sideways, as for cutting. The crust is smooth and tough, and especially if the crust is smooth enough to slip, the crumb can squash down before it cuts the first width of the crust - undesirable, and more likely to crumble. But once it's broken, the knife can cut sideways through the thin crust much easier. Once the upper crust is broken lay the knife in the break, and gently, gently, start moving the knife back and forth. You are using a sawing motion and cutting with the sharpness of the blade, not the downward force of your hand. And once you reach the bottom crust, you will need to use a lot of pressure or force to cut through it cleanly, or it will remain attached at the edge and may tear - or else angle the loaf up a bit to slice though that crust diagonally. Crust takes direct pressure against the flat of the crust well and bends before it breaks, but sideways pressure against the thin edge of the crust, poorly - that is why the top and bottom are particularly troublesome to cut. You can, once the cut gets a little deeper, gently start pulling the slice away from the loaf, to give better access to the area being cut and reduce friction to the area already cut. Obviously, this trick - opening the angle of the cut - works better and/or can be done sooner to a bread with a more flexible crust, since a stiffer crust or crumb may crack a bit under the sideways pull unless it is quite gentle or the cut is already quite deep. It sounds very fussy, and the first few times it may take some concentration, but it is honestly easier done than said. Stab the crust to break it, and after that use little downward force with smooth even cuts to make sure the bread is sliced with sharpness rather than torn with pressure. You will still gets some crumbs, but it should be a lesser, more manageable amount.

A friend of mine went shopping in an Asian market. I asked them to bring me tapioca starch. They brought me a package of small tapioca pearls. Is there any way to use the pearls as I would use the starch? For example, can I grind them with mortar and pestle? If I can't use them for thickening, what are they good for, besides bubble tea?

The problem with using the non-ground pearls is that they don't always fully dissolve. Cook's Thesaurus indicates that they can be pulverized or ground in a grinder or by mortar and pestle and used similarly to the starch. However, there are pearls which are instant and those that are not. With instant tapioca you can substitute 1:1, with regular tapioca pearls, pulverized, it would be 2:1. As for What are they good for?, they are good as a thickening agent assuming that you are okay with little gelatinous balls in whatever you are making. Rice and tapioca puddings spring to mind; there are uses of it in curries and stews for its thickening prowess; also it can be used as a gluten free thickening agent in place of flour. If you run out of corn starch or arrow root you can also turn to the pulverized stuff. Same rules apply; slurry 1 Tbsp in cold water per 1 cup liquid to thicken. However, do not bring to a boil or you will end up over-cooking the starch.

It is well known that food expiration dates are somewhat arbitrary. For some foods, they are much more important than others -- for example, you can pretty easily tell on your own if milk has gone bad based on smell or taste, or yoghurt that has grown mold. Not so much the case with other kinds of foods, such as dry ingredients, granola bars, dried pasta. However they all have expiration dates. How does a company which produces food or food ingredients determine the expiration date? Is there a specific scientific process? To what extent are they "fudged" by companies, who either (or both) want to spur customers to make more frequent purchases, or limit liability?

To determine the shelf life of products, there is usually a microbial activity test conducted over a specific time frame. For instance, in baked goods with an expected shelf life of 7 days, you would send 4 or 5 of the product to a lab. They would use one to measure the initial microbial activity, then perhaps 2 days later, they would measure another one, etc. Generally companies have an acceptable threshold of microbial activity, so the shelf life is set by how many days it takes the product to reach that level.

I'm trying to make bultong (South African meat jerky) for a friend from there and he said I need bolo. What cut of meat would this be in America?

The information provided by both Paparazzi's answer and logophobe's comment is correct. The bolo is from the forequarter of the cow, specifically from the shoulder area. I don't know of one single whole cut in the US that would encompass the whole bolo roast. However, we have three cuts that make up the three primary parts of the bolo roast. Round bolo = mock tender roast Shoulder bolo = shoulder roast Side bolo = boneless blade roast This picture shows it quite well. (Cropped to remove ads.) And this picture shows the three pieces together as a whole bolo roast:

Queso fresco is one of my most frequently purchased cheeses; among other things I like it crumbled over salads. I do like a lot of common salad cheeses - crumbly goat cheeses, blue cheeses, and feta - but I often want something more mild. Unfortunately, queso fresco is not quite so common in stores away from Texas. Are there any common similar cheeses that are more widely available? The best my searches have come up with is "mild feta", but I'm hoping for something a bit better, since in my experience it can be a bit hard to identify mild enough feta in the store, and it's also more commonly sold already crumbled and more expensive.

Dry ricotta or even dry cottage cheese are similar. If you have access to an Indian grocery, paneer is a somewhat comparable choice.

Certain brands of carrot juice taste sweeter than any raw carrot I've ever eaten, yet are made only with carrots, with no added sweeteners. Are carrots sold in supermarkets just not ripe enough?

If you juice your own carrots you would see how sweet carrots actually are. When you juice a carrot, you are extracting the liquid portion (which contains the majority of the sugars) from the cellulose. Since the cellulose is somewhat flavorless — it tastes pretty much like paper pulp — you are essentially creating "concentrated carrot" flavor, which is why it tastes so much sweeter than when you eat it whole. You can also roast a carrot and see how sweet it is. Roasting drives off a lot of the water and breaks down the fiber. Try it; you'll see just how sweet a carrot actually is.

I made a burnt sugar caramel sauce tonight that turned out beautiful. It is just what it sounds like; you make a normal caramel sauce but cook the sugar until it is past amber and getting almost black. Making this is such a high-wire act though, especially in a small batch. The difference between not dark enough, just right, and actually completely burned is just seconds. Much too fast to manage with a thermometer, especially because the temperature isn't even throughout the pan. So my question is, is there a way to slow this process down towards the end so that picking the right moment isn't so difficult?

To get the sugar caramelized to that perfect dark brown, I start the sugar on the stove top and finish in the oven. I start by adding a bit of water and some corn syrup (the fructose makes the brown more intense, but one can skip it) to the sugar and keep it on a medium burner until it reaches the first caramel stage, at 155°C/311°F. As Michael notes, the sugar can go very fast from this stage to burnt. To avoid this, I place the pan in an oven that has been pre-heated to 180°C/356°F, just above the dark caramel stage. Checking every two minutes with an infrared thermometer (more often as it gets closer to 177°C/350°F), it's easy to get the sugar to the right temperature. This post describes the method in more detail.

Which one of these lamb meat parts has lowest fat -because I don't like the taste of fat-, (shanks, loin or shoulder) ?

There are lean cuts from lamb - but you need to be very selective and expect to pay a premium. Both are cut from the back of the lamb and if you look at a cross-section you can see two roundish sections, a larger and a smaller one: (Source) The smaller is the filet - in a lamb, it’s very thin, more like a finger or two. The second is the actual loin. They are also sold whole as longish strips or if you can’t get them, you can get a piece of the lamb back / saddle and butcher it yourself. (Source) The key is that while you often get a chop, cutlet or back roast that’s essentially the whole piece and if you roast it whole it’s kind of self-basting thanks to the outer layer fat, the loin itself is comparatively lean and can be separated cleanly. The remaining meat is somewhere between 4% and 6% fat, according to my research. That’s so lean that you really have to be careful or you end up with a dry meat. If done correctly, it’s incredibly tender and juicy and has very little to none of the “lamb fat” flavor. Shoulder and leg are fattier to begin with and the meat is more marbled. You can’t remove the fat prior to roasting and it will always “seep into” the dish.

Many articles suggest adding gum to ice cream batter to make it creamy , can this technique be used to add more gum to the milk to compensate for the low fat homogenized milk. Mostly recipes ask to add full cream along with milk, so if we don't want such a heavy cream ice cream can this or possibly some other technique work to compensate for the lesser fat to ensure a creamy store like ice cream?

I don't think I've tried this in ice cream, but a trick I picked up for sorbets (via looking at commercial product ingredient lists - often boring and full of things you can't get at home, but sometimes there's a useful nugget hiding in there) was to add pectin - the "regular" stuff, not the pink "low sugar" stuff (misleading - it's for "low sugar" canning, so it's mostly dextrose, or corn sugar - regular pectin is mostly pectin.) I'll use a tablespoon/15 ml for a 1.5 - 2 pint batch, and 3 Tablespoons/45 ml for a gallon batch (3 quarts liquid before freezing.) Regular pectin mixes in quite nicely. The low sugar stuff is highly annoying (got a box by accident once - won't make that mistake again.) I don't know if there's any compatibility issue with dairy (or not), I simply have never even thought to try it other than with sorbets/popsicles that are non-dairy. A quick look shows people using it to stiffen yogurt that isn't making it on it's own, so I think you'd be good there. For that matter, some lowfat/nonfat yogurt might also be a good ingredient for your lowfat ice "cream" attempts.

Is it better to grind off the whole blade or should I find someone to add metal and then sharpen it again?

Grinding the blade down that much would potentially change the shape of the blade. Due to the full depth bolster you would have to either try to reshape the bolster as well or create a blade that tapered very differently. The knife is an Oxo Good Grips 8” chefs knife which sells for around £20. It’s difficult to see that either of your options would be as effective as replacing the knife, unless it has sentimental value.

I notice that my prawns does not really get bite/tear off easily based on the way I prepare and cook my prawns - I tear off the shell, put them on a bowl. When ready to cook, I just thrown them together with some lean meat (cow / pig) and cook. After cooking, I put them into noodles/spaghetti and cook once more. I suspect that there are 2 shells for prawns but I can't seems to get the prawns more "crunchy" such a way that they can be bitten / tear off easily without using oil and flour. Appreciate any suggestions offer.

Chewy or rubbery prawns are a good sign that you've overcooked them. As with other seafood, they don't take kindly to being overcooked. You should probably cook them separately, just enough, and then mix them into whatever you're eating them with. You can use whatever cooking method you like; common ones include boiling, steaming, and stir-frying. Whatever you do, just make sure you don't do too much of it. Any cooking beyond done makes them worse. Since you seem to prefer boiling: as soon as they're done, you should dump them into a colander and run cold water over them immediately afterward to stop them from cooking further. Cooking times vary depending on size; small shrimp take only a few minutes, while very large ones might take 5-10. They'll probably be pink and some will be starting to float; to tell for sure whether they're cooked you can cut one in half and make sure it's opaque all the way through.

I got a bottle of (supposedly high quality) ginger syrup for Christmas. I've never seen or tasted it before, so I have no idea how to use it. Since I like ginger, I considered just diluting it with water and drinking it. Or adding it to tea. Can it somehow be used for cooking or cocktails? I have tried searching, but my google-fu failed once again.

Things you can combine it with: smoothies ice cream pancakes oatmeal tea hot almond milk rhubarb pie fruit salad dumplings (you can use the syrup as a sauce) You can make ginger ale with it (or put some in regular lemonade), or cocktails (e.g. Dark Ginger Daiquiri; Ginger Rogers; here's a short list of cocktails containing ginger syrup). You can make cookies with it (e. g. this). Ginger syrup is basically ginger, water and sugar. So practically everything that goes with ginger, will go with ginger syrup.

I'm currently trying to make gravlax for the first time! I bought about 2 lbs of fish, specifying that I wanted to eat it raw so they gave me something appropriate for that. I put lots of salt, a bit less sugar and some dill between 2 large pieces of fish, wrapped it up tightly in saran wrap, put it in the fridge with some weight on top. This morning when I went to flip it, there was a lot of liquid in the bottom of the dish I put all of that in. It didn't smell fishy at all, I cleaned it up and flipped it and put it back in the fridge. The lack of fishy smell makes me think everything is all right, but I wanted to ask if that's something to be expected, or if it's usual, or if it means the fish isn't safe to eat. Thanks a lot!

Yes it is normal. The salt (and sugar) will "extract" the water from the fish meat. [...]On a technical level, what both the salt and sugar do is draw moisture out of the fish through osmosis. This decreases the moisture level of the fish, which in turn makes it less hospitable to microbial life. The salt, meanwhile, also helps ward off bacteria that would otherwise hasten spoilage. This extends the edible life of the salmon, but only for a short amount of time—gravlax is not cured in any long-term sense of the word. [...] Taken from : http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/04/how-to-make-gravlax-cured-salmon.html

How do I add back in the taste and fat to low fat alfredo sauce?

Generally lowfat sauces use tricks to get texture and some semblance of flavour. Starches and thickeners give the illusion of richness, while vast quantities of salt somewhat mask the lack of cheese and butter. Anyone with half a palette can tell at first taste though. Make it seldom, but make it properly.

It was bought in southern China. At first I mistook it for a ripening date..same size, color and similar shape. However it has a fuzzy and thicker skin. The skin has a very green flavor, the flesh is citrus flavored. There's no pit. And the skin is attached to the meat, but can be peeled. It's like a mix between a date (size/color), a kiwi (skin) a lemon (flavor somewhat) and a longan (flash texture).

My best guess would be wampee fruit - has roughly the same size, shape, and stem colour, and obviously comes from the same region, although I'm not sure about the interior: It's hard to tell from the low contrast in the photo but it could also be loquat, AKA "Japanese Plum". Only problem with the second choice is that loquat usually has full-on brown branches as opposed to green stems - so it's probably the wampee.

What is the best way to store fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro? I find I have about the same luck with them whether they are left in a plastic bag or I put them in a cup of water.

If you're going to store anything leafy in a plastic bag, I wrap it first in a paper towel, then in the plastic bag, so none of the leaves touch the bag. This prevents the issue where the outer leaves turn to goo. (I'm not sure what the actual biological issue is ... moisture/condensation? poor respiration?) Don't wash it before storage, as the extra moisture will cause it to rot faster. I think I've gotten as long as a month out of flat leaf parsley, when I buried them in the back of my crisper drawer and forgot about them. (of course, I wasn't constantly opening the bag as you would when using them, and I'm not sure exactly when I placed it in there, as I had forgotten about it).

I have a question about goldenberries (aka Cape Gooseberry, Physalis, ground cherry.) Is it better to keep goldenberry in the fridge or not and for how many days maximum? My berries rotted in 3 days in fridge.

I used to grow them years ago so I could have some summer fruit in an area with little fruit other than strawberries (that I also grew) and crab apples in an empty yard. I had hoped to grow enough to make jam and pies but we ended up eating the fresh. The nearest grocery store with fresh produce was over 1 1/2 hours away. Since you grow them, you'll know they're similar to tiny tomatoes but their skin is very thin. I've found that with soft fruits (vegetables which are technically fruit too), the thinner their skin, the less keeping quality they have. I left our ground cherries on a large shallow bowl on the kitchen counter and never refrigerated them. They were never heaped in a pile the way grapes are naturally since they were soft. I can't see why they couldn't be refrigerated for a few days (2 or 3 only). But I can see a couple of drawbacks that might increase the chances of them rotting though. Did you wash them first? Generally softer fruits/vegetables shouldn't be washed until you're ready to eat them. Most already have some natural waxes or such (?) on their skin to protect from fungi. Mind you, I always wash grapes I buy from the store to remove dirt and possible/likely pesticides. But they're thoroughly rinsed after and then laid on a towel for a couple of hours til completely dry. They last much longer that way for me. Did you put them in a container where they'd be 4 or more layers thick? The weight of the top layers could easily have broken the skin or crushed the bottom layers. Even a small break or bruise would be enough to start decay, especially if any already had a small unnoticed break. If your ground cherries are yielding lots, faster than you can eat them, you could try drying them instead. There are videos on YouTube showing how to as well as multiple blogs and different sites explainin. I had no idea ground cherries were now so popular. I grew them simply to have fresh fruit.

I know tomato sauce should be cooked for a long time to develop flavor. To prevent it burning you have to stir constantly, though I find it burns on the stove (and the oven) too much without adding water. I wonder however if adding water can stop the sauce from developing flavor since boiling food cannot reach 300+ temperatures required for flavor to develop. Lately I found putting a lid on the skillet reduces evaporation and thus chance for burning, though I think it may defeat the purpose. When cooking tomato sauce, does adding water to prevent sauce from burning stop the flavor development?

Tomatoes are mostly water anyway. They're not going to get above boiling point whether or not you add water (or at least not by more than a very few degrees even with salt added - less than the effect of altitude). On the other hand the browned bits from the bottom of the pan (often called fond in the US though I've never heard this in the UK and the usage in France is a bit different) do give a nice flavour to the sauce so long as they don't catch. If you do add water, you'll need to simmer it down anyway, making that the stirring step still happens, just later. But adding some water fairly early can give you some flexibility. A good time to do this is when it's starting to need constant stirring but you need to get on with the rest of the meal. A low heat and a heavy pan help too.

Its easy to google and find information on the shelf life of hard-boiled eggs from seemingly authoritative sources. It seems roughly 1 week when refrigerated is the going shelf life I see quoted. Does the same apply to softer boiled eggs? Or should those be eaten more quickly? What is the shelf life of eggs boiled at donenesses < hard (ie soft/medium boiled). Should they be enjoyed same-day or right away? Or does the doneness even matter if I haven't broken the egg shell? Will the egg shell protect the egg regardless of doneness?

Working in a professional kitchen where we cooked eggs in various styles. I would say from my experience: Hard boiled eggs will keep for 4 days refrigerated in the shell, before they become unpalatable. Soft boiled eggs(hard whites, creamy yolks) will keep in the shell, refrigerated for 2 days. Poached eggs, properly cooled in ice water and drained, refrigerated will keep from one morning to the next or aprox 36hrs. Hard boiled egg whites (separated from peeled eggs, immediately cooled in icebath after boiling) can keep on parchment, drained of excess water, and wrapped in cellophane for 2.5 days. These can be used to make deviled eggs to order for example. Hard boiled yokes, kept dry and seperately from the whites can be used to make sauces, salad dressings, deviled egg mix etc. but this only keeps 24-36 hours, in a fully refrigerated environment. So, if it's being used during a dinner service, coming in and out for each order, toss the leftovers at the end of the night. Short-order eggs (fried, sunny side up, over easy, scrambled, omelets) made from fresh eggs, once it gets cold, forget it, it will smell nasty and taste pretty icky. Premix egg or egg white stuff that comes in a carton is heavily pasteurized, it will keep on a buffet (hot hold) as scrambled eggs or omelets for a few hours and may still be eatable later but also icky. Mayonnaise and Caesar dressing made with fresh raw egg yolks shouldn't be used for more than 48 hours. Even if it's kept refrigerated most of that time. A lot of restaurants make their own and I've seen several places keep it far longer than they should. But to be on the safe side, 1-2 services. So you want to make a small portion, not a huge batch.

I have a recipe that calls for me to roll up turkey in puff pastry. What can I use as a substitute for the puff pastry, preferably that is lower in saturated fat?

Joe, Whole wheat puff pastry. It's expensive, and hard to find, though. Or try another recipe. If the recipe you're using calls for puff pastry, then the flavor and texture of the puff pastry is going to be a big part of the dish. It never works very well to substitute a primary ingredient in a recipe.

Due to a shortage of ingredients I made pate using odd proportions of ingredients and my pate hasn't set at all. Can anyone suggest ways to help it set? Would heating it up and evaporating off some moisture work? Butter and cream are what I lacked... I used mascarpone instead thinking that would do as the substitute saturated fat. I don't have any exact measurements but probably around 300g of chicken liver, 1 onion, maybe 150-200g of mascarpone, and a good glug of marsala.

Assuming it’s chicken liver pate, have you tried adding butter, cream or other saturated fat? This can thicken and so firm pate quite well. Or you could use some kind of meal - oat flour or matzo meal, breadcrumbs etc that would absorb the liquid. Difficult to know without the recipe - many use mushrooms but I find livers, leeks and herbs and spice plus some good sherry or port and a tablespoon or so of melted butter /and / or thick cream makes lovely pate which spread very easily and thickens nicely in the fridge. It freezes well too.

Is it possible to extract juice from these vegetables using a blender? How much would it take to produce 100mL of juice? Baby bok choy: Napa cabbage:

The way I do it is put 1-2 tbsp of oil in my pot, add 1/3 cup or so of corn, cover, and heat on medium until it starts popping, then turn down a bit and shake the pot occasionally until it is all popped. So, not oil free, but not a whole lot of oil either.

My mate always tells me to remove the germ (the center) from garlic and onions, especially if it's turning green. What are the pros and cons of the germs of these plants?

So... I was always taught that you remove it because it's bitter. I generally remove it if it's big enough. However, there seems to be some contention as to whether this is true (and to what degree it's true). See: http://www.examiner.com/article/remove-the-garlic-germ-few-do-this-anymore and http://ruhlman.com/2011/02/garlic-germ/ In short, there are mixed teachings as to whether you should remove it. But essentially the germ DOES affect the taste of garlic. Some call it bitter, some call it "more garlicky". Ruhlman suggests that if you're hitting it with heat immediately, then there isn't a point in removing it. If he's doing something that will have the garlic sitting around, then he doesn't. From this what I'd suggest (and what I'm going to try doing from now on) is to ignore it and if you notice a difference in taste, or more importantly find the result objectionable. then take it out next time. Otherwise don't bother as you won't know the difference.

Preamble: Okay, so I know that this has been sort of answered before to some degree, but I'd really like to avoid throwing it out. After reading one of the links posted in that answer (specifically mistake 2), it leads me to believe I can salvage it but maybe shouldn't? I'm looking for more experienced sauerkraut/fermentation makers to give advice. I make tomato sauce a lot, and my rule-of-thumb with that is "if the jarred lid hurts to pry off because of the seal, it's fine to eat" (with the reasoning that if the lid is that sealed down to the jar, then bacteria haven't been creating gasses to push the lid off, so there effectively aren't bacteria in the jar), but I have zero experience with fermentation and jarring sauce requires heat-treating the jar/sauce and cooling it to cause the seal, and this fermentation does not... so I'm a little out of my depth. My situation: Here is my sauerkraut, made using MasonTop's pickling kit: As you can see, the lid is sunk in quite a bit. This picture was taken a little while ago, so the liquid is still quite high... but now the liquid is below the top cabbage level and the lid is still sunken in to the same degree. It hasn't been below the brine for too long, 5-7 days at the most (I forget the last time I checked it, exactly). My brother, also a first-time sauerkraut maker, said to just add brine but I questioned this as I know keeping it as oxygen-free as possible is better. So here's my conundrum: Given that information, which option is better: Open the lid, releasing the air-proof seal, and adding brine to level it over the cabbage? Leave it as it is to maintain the seal, but have the brine level beneath the top bit of cabbage? Please, any information/advice is helpful! Thanks!

As you know, the salt in the brine keeps bad things from growing. The cabbage above the brine is at risk of mold or undesirable bacteria growing. When your cabbage is actively fermenting it generates a good amount of CO2. Your lid is designed to bleed off the extra pressure without letting any O2 leak back in. Additionally, the CO2 is heavier than air and will displace residual oxygen in the jar. You can open your lid and top off your brine. If it is fermenting as it is supposed to, the little oxygen in the jar will be consumed or displaced in short order and you will have your lovely anaerobic environment back. Just don't open it often. In the future, I would recommend using a larger jar (or less cabbage) and give yourself a good inch or two of brine above the cabbage. Use a weight to keep the cabbage submerged. (I can't tell from your picture if your cabbage is weighted or not)

I put chicken in a crock pot and thought it was on low. It was off. It's been two hours. Do I need to throw out the chicken? It was fairly cold because it was mixed with a cold teriyaki sauce among other things. Thanks!

The official guideline (in the US, at least) is no more than 2 hours, total, between 40°F (4°C) and 140°F (60°C). So, if your room is fairly cool, and all the ingredients were cold, at two hours in the off crock pot, you're just inside the guideline. But the problem is, if you just turn the crock pot on, it will take at least another hour to get up to 140°F. That puts you firmly outside the guideline. Instead, assuming this is chicken pieces (in a stew, soup, or similar) and not a whole chicken, I'd suggest you bring it up to at least 160°F (70°C) stove top over fairly high heat (this should only take a few minutes), then transfer that to the crock pot. You can then cook it in the crock pot on low.

We've got a few questions about resting dough but most relate to yeast-based baking. I'm interested in a dough using baking powder. I've been looking at lebkuchen recipes, and many want the dough to be rested e.g. BBC recipe: an hour. I understand this will make the dough roll out better and hold its shape on baking. These are both good things. Is there any downside to resting it overnight? I want to cut out and bake them in the morning, then decorate them later the same day. I could keep the dough at room temperature or in the fridge - which would be better?

The recipie I use from my grandmother says to put it in the fridge directly after making the dough, and leave it there for a minimum of one night. Two is better. The liquid ingredients should be allowed to cool to room temperature before mixing in the dry ingredients. The cookies often taste even better a few days after baking as the flavours mingle and mellow. I'm not sure about the recipie you're using, but I'm pretty it means the batch makes 50 cookies. I know my recipie certainly makes a lot, though I've never sat down and counted the exact amount.

I want to make white risotto, but I can't as the broth is usually brownish and makes the rice to have the same color. I don't know how to make/get white broth, any ideas how to make white risotto?

Normally a white risotto would be made with chicken or fish stock. While the stock you get at the store is normally brown, homemade stock can be quite light in color if made properly and won't impart much color. Further, a splash of cream and a bit of a white cheese at the end of cooking can have a whitening effect.

I always liked cooking as a hobby, however, I am sure that a professional chef that has been trained well has aquired many skills that are hard to learn for a layman. As I don't have respective experience, I can only speculate, but I would assume that, among others, such skills are: speed, the ability to cook for many people at once and the ability to deal with pressure while cooking. But this is only my guess and I would like to know from someone with respective experience which skills are learned by professional chefs that laymen often don't learn.

I don't think the skills are any different. The same basic skills apply and can be put to use at home or in a restaurant. It's just that pros have a lot more practice, repetition, and refinement of those skills, and can thus execute at a higher level, and consistently. Additionally, they have access to tools that might be too costly for most people to keep in their own kitchen...like a pacojet, or quality extrusion past maker...etc. They also accumulate more tacit knowledge accumulated from time in the industry, so that the skills can be employed in creative ways. There are what you might call tips and tricks that are employed...something minor like placing a wet paper towel on top of herbs that have been prepped for a garnish comes to mind as a simple example...but I really can't think of anything out of reach for a curious home cook in terms of skills. However, the other thing to know is that pro chefs also must consider efficiency to a much higher degree than home cooks. Not only efficiency in terms of speed and reduction of wasted steps, but also economic efficiency. I suppose many home cooks have to consider this as well. Maybe the bottom line is that pro chefs learn skills because they have to. Home cooks can learn the same skills, often because they want to, but they aren't out of reach.

I made a recipe that was more hands-on and the recipe had a decent amount of oil, so I was wondering what is the most efficient way to get the oil off? I tried wiping my hands before washing them, but there is still a feel of the oil.

Wipe your hands with a cloth. If there are still traces of oil, wash your hands but use dish soap. Otherwise, get gloves while doing hands-on baking next time.

I recently made a batch of homemade mayonnaise, having found myself with left over egg yolk from another recipe. I decided not to flavor the mayonnaise with any mustard. The mayo ended up tasting like mostly oil. I decided not to use mustard since the store brands never taste like mustard. How can I adjust the flavor so that my mayo tastes like the typical mayo you get in stores (particularly Hellmann's brand)? For the record, here is how I prepared the mayo: For every 1 egg yolk I have, I added 2 table spoons of white vinegar to activate the emulsifier. Then I slowly dripped in vegetable oil until the mixture started to look a bit like yellow mayonnaise. At that point I started adding and stirring into the mixture large portions of vegetable oil until I got to my desired thickness (I like the thicker mayo). I should note that the color was still a very light yellow, perhaps not enough vinegar.

I have to make both mayonnaise and aioli every day at my job. We sometimes do R&D on off days and we spent quite some time trying to imitate our favorite gourmet mayonnaise. I think that we were successful, here are some tips: Lemon juice comes closer to that crisp tartness that I taste in even cheaper mayonnaise. Try using the juice from lemons, limes, or both and see where that gets you. The store bought brands don't taste like mustard, but let me emphasize that mustard is vital to getting you closer to that taste. There is a specific "tang" to store bought mayonnaise that doesn't come from the acid -- you can get very close to this tang with mustard. I use a good quality dijon when I make mayonnaise and the difference is noticeable. Keep adding dijon in small amounts and observe the change in taste. I end up 2 - 3 tablespoons to my batch. Experiment with fresh garlic and/or garlic and onion powders. Try adding white pepper instead of black pepper and see where that gets you. I add a little water at the end. I find that it tones down some of the intensity of the acid and dijon. Also, you don't have to add your acid in the beginning. In fact, I almost always add mine after the initial "setting" of the emulsification. It is easier to control the thickness and flavor of my mayo; I use my acid for my first thinning and then add oil to adjust from there.

I like to drink protein shakes, but I find that it's very hard to dissolve the protein powder into water or milk. You get clumps, and unless you want to get your blender dirty or spend ten minutes whisking you're out of luck. Recently I've started experimenting, and I've made some discoveries that could solve this problem. First off, my protein powder dissolves in oil. I can dissolve it in oil then add water, and then instead of clumps I'll just have two separate layers, one with protein powder dissolved in oil and the other water. This is still better than clumps and tastes super creamy, but obviously this is much more calorie dense and kinda defeats the purpose of drinking protein shakes. My next experiment was to try adding as little oil as possible. I added just enough oil to the protein powder to get the texture of wet sand, then added my water and stirred. This seemed to create an emulsification although there were some small clumps, but I think with some refinement I could get clump free emulsions using this technique. My theory is that when I added the water it mixed slowly with the oil and protein since the oil protein mixture was still in mostly solid form, and this allowed an emulsion to form while it could not in the previous case. But that's just a guess. Just like with the previous method, this was delicious but unhealthy. So, is there something else I could try dissolving my protein powder in, or something I could dilute my oil with so it will still dissolve the powder but be less calorie dense? I'm using some sort of vegan protein powder with added emulsifiers. I can tell you what kind of protein it is later if it helps, but I suspect I'd get similar results with whey protein.

It doesn't actually dissolve. It disperses (easily seen as some will eventually settle out). The distinction is important, as dissolving could be solved by time or heat. A few things may help when mixing with water (or milk): Make a paste with the powder and a little water, then dilute (this is what I do for protein shakes) Put a little water in the bottle. Add the powder on top and put the lid on. Shake briefly but vigorously. Add more water to about 1/3 full, shake again. Top up to 2/3 full, shake a final time. If you insist on using a blender, a similar approach might be good. It stops the clumps forming stuck to the sides where they're hard to get free. This is normally with whey derivatives. I've tried it with a plant-based powder but it was too disgusting to drink. I've never used them (because they wouldn't fit in the bike bottles I use for shakes) but there are mixing balls. They're basically a whisk made of wires and makes the shaking more effective.

I was very excited to use my water bath for the first time, as so far I have only made refrigerator (cucumber) pickles. This was also the first time I did not use sugar in the brine (just wanted to see the taste difference) but they came out NOT as crispy as my refrigerator pickles. Is this because maybe the water was too hot in the water bath? I only left them in for 10 or 15 minutes. Or is this because I did not use sugar this time? Also is there anything I can do at this point? By that I mean can I add something like pickle crisp to the now opened jar or is it too late?

First off, processed and canned pickles are almost always going to be less crisp than refrigerator (acidified) pickles or those fermented at room temperature. If you really like crisp pickles, I'd recommend against canning. Recipes with proper levels of salt and acidity can keep for several months in the fridge without noticeable quality degradation. Also, reputable traditional brined/fermented pickle recipes should maintain safety for a year or more in the fridge, though they too can begin to soften after a few months, depending on the exact processing and storage conditions. If you don't have room to store in the fridge or want to can for some other reason, this page has some tips on maintaining crispness. The lack of sugar in your batch should not have made a significant difference. The temperature of the water is, however, important. If you want to maintain crispness as much as possible, I'd recommend trying a low-temperature pasteurization bath (as described, for example, here), where you process for 30 minutes at 180F. Please note that this method should only be used with recipes from reputable sources and is only recommended for people experienced in pickling; it does require very careful monitoring and exact temperature control to prevent spoilage. As for what you can do now? Not much. Soft processed pickles have essentially been "cooked" by the processing. There's no way to restore their crispness. Personally, if the lack of crispness was bothersome, I'd consider slicing them up in smaller pieces where the lack of crispness would be less noticeable or chopping them and using them for relish or something.