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Can I boil water to temperature lower than 100 Celsius / 212 Fahrenheit to make a tea? For many years I had a typical electric kettle. Whenever I wanted a 75 Celsius / 167 Fahrenheit water to make a green tea, I had to boil it up to 100 Celsius / 212 Fahrenheit (because, that was the temperature, where each my kettle ...	You cannot boil water at 70 Celsius. Maybe this is a language problem; "boiling" means taking water to the state where there are lively bubbles popping on the surface all the time, and it is steaming profusely. It boils at 100 Celsius at sea level and a little bit below it when you get higher, but the difference isn't ...
What are different methods of preserving chillies? I've been given three chilli plants: Bulgarian Carrot Jalapeño Scotch Bonnet I'm not going to be able to use them fresh before winter arrives. What methods of preserving would be appropriate for chilli? What would be the effect on them in terms of taste, texture e...	Freezing You can freeze hot peppers. Scotch Bonnet and other thin-walled varieties freeze particularly well, although thick-walled ones can be frozen as well. I think the recommended storage time is 6 months, but I know I've had ones that were fine after a year or so. So long as you're going to be using them in slow ...
How can I tell if homemade ginger syrup has gone bad? I made some Ginger syrup using the liquid I boiled the root in for candy. It's just water and sugar. I put it in a plastic liter bottle (from soda water) in the refrigerator. How long can I keep it like that and how can I tell if it's gone bad? It has separated so ...	How long this will last depends largely on the ratio of sugar to water in the final syrup. Sugar can inhibit the growth of microbes by reducing the water activity of the solution, but this is dependent on the amount of sugar. According to a book that I consider quite reliable on these matters, a syrup composed of equ...
What non-alcoholic liquid can I use to store Ginger, both cooked and raw? I've read that storing Ginger in wine vinegar or vodka preserves it. Is there something non-alcoholic that will do the same thing?	Vinegar is non-alcoholic, and my suggestion would be a brine of some sort, essentially pickling it. Alternatively you could just dry it out. I should also add - Ginger is a root, and can generally be kept fresh in a cool dark place (ie. a root cellar) for some time.
What is levure equivalant in America? We have a chocolate cake (brownie) recipe from France and calls for a packet of levure. We have been putting in yeast but not sure if it is wrong or right. Yeast, baking powder, other?	We metropolitan French distinguish "levure chimique" and "levure organique" (also called "levure de boulanger"). The first one is baking powder (the carbonated molecule), the latter is yeast (the fungi). If there is only "levure" written, it generally means "levure chimique" (baking powder), as it is more readily avail...
My ciabatta dough hasn't risen after 2 hours! I mixed my ciabatta dough 2 hours ago, and it's barely risen at all. I put it in a greased plastic container in the hot water cupboard, and marked the level to know when it "tripled in volume". The hot water cupboard isn't particularly warm, but it's not cold. The containe...	As it turns out, my dough was very cold. Due dilligence: here's a full answer. One of the requirements of yeast for fermentation is appropriate temperature. Cold dough straight from the fridge won't rise, or it will only rise very slowly. 25-30°C is a recommended temperature range for rising, although cooler temperatur...
What is the minimum temperature yeast will be active? We all know that warmer temperatures mean more yeast activity (provided a food source), and that yeast survives freezing, but what is the minimum temperature yeast can perform fermentation? As I gently warm a dough from freezing, what temperature will it start to ...	It will even rise (very, very slowly) at refrigeration temperatures (4C, 39F). For it to completely stop rising you need to freeze it (or very close). A lot of recipes call for the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator. Depending on the dough, it may it may in fact completely rise in the refrigerator overnight. L...
Quick flavour for fresh popcorn I'm a great fan of popcorn, and I recently acquired a popcorn maker. It's the sort that spins the kernels in a drum and heats the metal until they pop. However, I've had difficulty flavouring them. When I used to make popcorn years ago if I wanted a quick flavour I'd just sprinkle on sa...	I worked at a movie theater for a few years in high school. We cooked popcorn in coconut oil and applied Popcorn Salt (the kind that includes artificial flavorings in addition to the salt) during cooking and at time of serving per customer's request. For application after cooking we stocked many flavors of a brand of p...
Can German Potato Balls be frozen? Can they be frozen, before being cooked, for a week? I'm making sauerbrauten & potato balls for 25 people, and thought if I could make them a week earlier and just cook them that day, it would be a lot easier.	Yes, you can freeze them: I have done it before, and it works just fine. They key (in my experience, that is) is to freeze the balls quickly if uncooked, and put them into the boiling water still frozen when you actually do the cooking. I have also been freezing cooked potato balls, and that works just fine as well -> ...
baking time versus number of items in oven I doubled a recipe for apple cake, and filled two 13x9 pans. Into the 350F wall oven they went. Recipe estimates 50-60 minutes. 60 minutes later, probe comes out pretty damp, and cakes are more than a bit jiggly. Easy enough, bake a little longer. What's going on here? Do two...	(1) Are you baking them upper/lower or side-by-side?, (2) Is your oven's outside width 24" or 30"?, & (3) Gas or electric? My guess would be that either you have a 24" oven and you're baking upper/lower or you have a 30" oven and you're baking side-by-side. Either way, I think the ultimate culprit is heat circulat...
How can I evenly grill a thin steak on a skillet? When I fry a thin (1/4") beef steak on a skillet/pan (iron, but not cast iron), I face the following problem: The steak bends, becoming slightly irregular-dome-shaped Because of that, the parts of the steak that are in direct contact with the pan sear well, while the ...	Thin cut meat will curl if there is an outside perimeter of gristle or silverskin (which there usually is). Those things shrink faster than the meat, causing the curling. Take a pair of kitchen shears or a sharp knife and make tiny cuts (it shouldn't take more than 1/4 inch) every inch or so around the perimeter of the...
Rice with worm and possibly their eggs I bought a bag of brown rice from a store. After having opened and used for a while, I found there were moths flying in the house. At the same time, I found worms in the rice. I suspect that the moths are from the worms(rice-size, white body, dark head). I guess but am not sure i...	I haven't had that happen since the 1980's. Sound like the Flour Moth. Freezing Rice or Flour for 3-4 days will kill the eggs. I usually freeze local flour/rice for a few days so that I don't have to deal with any potential problem. If you have pantry moths, or other moths that have hatched, you may need to take extra...
What is 'adequate' refrigerated space for a single person I have appeared to be dragged into an argument with my landlord about refrigerated space and he mentioned about having adequate space in a combi fridge freezer. So that spurred this question to the chefs of the world (or anyone in matter of fact) is how much wo...	I'm surprised you're getting that much stuff on half a shelf, so unless the fridge is enormous with very wide shelves, I can only assume you're stacking it up, which isn't how food should be kept in a refrigerator. For one thing, raw meats should be stored at the bottom of the fridge so that they don't drip or contamin...
What would be the effect of doubling the egg in this bread? A lot of my bread recipes are for two loaves, I never want two loaves, I usually barely make it through one. I like this recipe a lot: • 3/4 cups warm water (170g) (110 degrees) • 1.875 cups (293g) bread flour • 3/4 teaspoons salt • .375 cup (40 g) milk ...	While it might seem like a drastic step to double the amount of egg in your recipe, in fact, you are not adding that much more egg relative to the amounts of your other ingredients. A whole large egg weighs about 50 grams and is roughly 75% water so that extra half egg will contribute just under 20 grams of additiona...
Beef mince (ground beef) smells like vinegar My wife bought some beef mince (ground beef) from a shop. It looked red. When she fried it, it give off an aroma of vinegar. Is it spoiled?	Probably. Beef should have a faintly sweet meaty smell. An acidic or vinegary smell is never good. I'd chuck it and/or take it back and get a refund, providing it was still supposed to be in date. With any question of food safety, you have to make the trade off between your willingness to contract food poisoning and th...
Should I add vegetables and spices in the stock-making stage of pig-knuckle soup? I'm toying with the idea of making some soup - just a simple one. The recipe call for boiling/simmering a pig-knuckle for about four hours together with a laurel-leaf. Afterwards the stock/fond is strained, the meat stripped from the k...	If you are going to cook a stock for 4 hours, the flavor of the vegetable will contribute to the overall flavor of the stock...but not be so great in vegetables themselves...and their texture will be very soft. I would strain and de-fat the stock... then use the stock you created to build your soup. Add vegetables at...
pb&j taste like soap So I got some scented dish washer soap the other day and my wife used it the first time the other day in the dish washer including by sandwich container. Today when I eat my pb&j she made it tasted like scented soap. Do you think this is from left over water/soap or from it being scented soap?	It seems likely that there was some form of residue left behind in the container; whether this was actual soap or just the scent is difficult to determine. I have found that soap scents do tend to cling a bit more stubbornly to plastic than they do to other materials, but that's just my experience. Next time you might...
Is there a way to stop marshmallows from melting off the stick? Does anyone know of a good way to keep marshmallows from melting off the roasting stick when making smores? Not just sliding off, more like when you use a hot roasting stick and then put the marshmallow on it, it just spins around the stick and does not r...	If you can, just get better marshmallow skewers/forks. If there are two prongs on the end, the marshmallow can't rotate. (And as long as you're not holding it at a really steep angle, they'll have a hard time sliding off the end too.) You can get fancy ones with nice handles, but just plain metal is fine. And it doesn'...
Is it necessary to only boil vegetables (or chicken) or can they be pressure cooked and later be boiled for the flavour to seep in? I was following this recipe (I've pasted it at the bottom of the question) for which the cooking time mentioned is 30 min. Although for me, it took around 45 min for the vegetables to get...	This recipe confuses me in a number of ways. First the simplest: It calls for adding the remaining spice powders in two places, steps 5 and 7. One of my favorite food ethnicities is Indian, and in all my years of cooking and eating it there has always (with very rare exception) been one very important rule: Cook the s...
How does "BHT added to packaging material" actually work? This is not a question about the merits of BHA or BHT (butylated hydroxyanisole or butylated hydroxytoluene). It is a question about how BHA/BHT work when "added to packaging material". The BHA is often added directly to food, where it has an antioxidant effec...	BHA, BHT and/or TBHQ aren't added to the packaging to keep the cereal from spoiling. It's actually added to keep the box from spoiling. As you stated, BHA and BHT slows down the oxidization of fats and oils. It keeps them from going rancid. And while some of this preservative will migrate into the cereal, many cereals...
How to set the temperature in a refrigerator without proper indication on the dials? My refrigerator is old, I don't know how old. I am unsure on how to set my dials.	First, figure out the temperature that you want to run the fridge at (35-38F is standard). Then, buy a refrigerator temperature gauge. Work the dial up or down accordingly until it's where you need it. The dial can even have worn off numbers, and this method will still work.
What would be a good substitution for powdered milk in cereal cookies? In a TV show, a recipe was used that its main ingredient was corn flakes. I don't know if it has a name but it calls for caster sugar, butter, corn flakes and milk powder. It's called Cornflake crunch, apparently! What is a good substitute of pow...	I don't think that infant formula would be a reasonable substitute for powdered milk in your recipe. The inclusion of powdered milk here is to provide the taste of milk to go with the cereal component of the cookies (so they're actually sweetened cereal and milk cookies that crunch - not just cereal crunch cookies) -...
What do I need to consider when upgrading to a 40 quart mixer? I have a cookie business. Currently I'm using a Kitchenaid 7 quart mixer and can only make 50 cookies at a time. I'm thinking of upgrading to a Hobart HL-400 40 quart mixer. I selected this brand because they have a bowl scraper. Do you think they will mix...	If we assume that each of the mixers is as capable as your existing one, you'd have to consider how much it saves you, and compare that to the cost of the new mixer. New, that model of mixer when new goes for US$10,000 to $15,000. Accessories will increase the cost; the scraper blade you mentioned runs around $500. We...
Did I just almost start an oil fire? I wanted to make some burned onion rings, so I chopped up some onions and let it cook in oil on the stove. Heating the oil was taking a long time so I decided to leave the oven alone for a bit. I came back after hearing the oil making crackling sounds and I immediately turned off t...	When you lift the lid on something that's been fryed in hot oil while the oil's still hot, any water that's cooked out of the oil and condensed on the lid has a chance to fall back into the oil. That can cause violent spattering. Usually being gentle in lifting is enough to prevent the problem.
Can you warm biga in a microwave? This might seem like barbaric question, but is it possible to bring refrigerated biga up to "frisky" temperature in a microwave, without damaging it? I'm too impatient to just let the warm room take care of it... Thoughts?	Impatience is very hard to reconcile with baking bread (or any other fermentation process, for that matter). If it works, it still won't be a good choice. Yeast doesn't like sudden temperature shifts, the gentler the change, the better. So, the warm room will yield the most flavorful bread, and have the least chance o...
Help! I sliced my flank steak along the grain, is there a way to still have tender meat? I don't know how to cook beef, I'm really not a meat eater; however, I prepared a recipe from memory and I was in a rush and I thought I remembered reading to slice the meat along the grain...I was wrong. I see articles all over t...	I will shamelessly steal @Jolenealaska's thunder and recommend velveting your meat as a means to protect against overcooking. This is a great method to bring meats just up to temperature, and is a very traditional preparation for stir-frys. Should work nicely with your Hunan Beef.
How can I improve my fried rice? I'm an amateur cook with almost no experience (never taught by my parents, first time cooking on my own was first few days living on my own), so I'm studying very hard because I want to be a great cook for the people living with me. I'm trying to nail down the teppanyaki fried rice mad...	This is based on what I was taught by a Chinese cook when I worked in his restaurant at age seventeen. Any compliments should be directed at old Tommy Wu. Any complaints may be due to my imperfect memory. His process was both similar and different in some respects from yours. Use day-old cooked cold white rice. Spen...
Steel Pan non-stick improvement by polishing I recently started to research into my cookwares and decided a stainless-steel pan was a good budget investment to learn to cook better my steaks and other items. I cooked my first steaks over the last few weeks and they were great, they didn't stick and came out delicious....	(1) It is worth noting that many people prefer stainless steel pans to cook meats on because they are NOT non-stick (meaning they stick). The fat rendered during cooking, along with the bits of fat and meat that stick to the surface are called "fond" and are used to make pan sauces to serve with the meat. This is a ...
When buying blue potatoes how can you tell what color the flesh will be? Most of the time when I purchase blue potatoes they have blue flesh. However, once in a while I get some that have a creamy golden flesh. Looking at them I had no idea they would be different. I know there are many varieties but usually in the gr...	It's almost impossible to tell without studying all the different types of blue/purple potatoes and memorizing slight differences in size and hue. One trick is that the potatoes with the deepest, darkest blue skin typically have purple flesh. And the lighter ones are more likely to have flesh that's yellow or even whit...
Freezing whole strawberries I'd like to freeze strawberries for winter, I read online that a method is to sprinkle sugar on them and put into a zip-lock or plastic bag or an air-tight container. another method is to make ice cubes with them. I wonder what the cons and pros of each method is and if one is preferred ove...	Okay. You don't want them to lose their shape or flavor when thawed. I don't know of any way that is possible. Fruits that contain a lot of water are going to be mushy when thawed. No matter how you do it. No exceptions. The only suggestion I have for you is to maybe dehdrydate them for future use and then they can be ...
Adding spice to poaching liquid I have recently started poaching some of my sausages. I add a spoon of barbeque spice to the hot water when I poach it. The sausage turns out great but I'm left wondering if the spice I add to the water actually adds any flavour? I suspect I might be wasting spoonsful of spice. So does...	A spoon of spice is definitely a waste of spice since there is so little spice in a great quantity of water. If you want to add flavor when you're cooking sausages, you'd either at least triple the quantity of spice or you could rub the sausages in the spice and grill them instead, do you poach them and then grill them...
Why use a sandwich press instead of an oven or pan? I often make hot sandwiches. Usually I just put butter on the outsides of the bread, then put them in the oven just until the cheese melts. I see other people just put the sandwiches in a pan with butter, and flip it a few times. I notice the store selling sandwich p...	There is really no advantage or disadvantage to using a sandwich press. This is more a choice of preference from person to person. For me, a sandwich press is preferable as it toast the bread on both sides simultaneously, so you get an even toast on both sides, and it also presses the sandwich together so that it does ...
Should ciabatta sandwich rolls be dry and dense? I found a recipe calling for ciabatta sandwich rolls. My supermarket sells these, baked in their bakery, however, I found this bread dry and dense, which I do not find appealing. Should this kind of bread have this quality?	Ciabatta should be crusty, with a chewy crumb and big air pockets. Neither "dry" nor "dense" would be adjectives one would associate with good ciabatta. This is what good ciabatta should look like: Source: Michael Ruhlman (highly respected recipe and author) Sometimes the loaves may be flatter, but the chewiness, big ...
What cut of beef can I use to make "sukiyaki beef"? I want to try a recipe for Gyudon (shown below) that calls for thin-sliced "Sukiyaki Beef". My local grocery store doesn't carry anything by that name. I'm comfortable with thin-slicing beef myself (possibly partially freezing it first), but I'm unsure what cut to st...	Your best choices would be top sirloin (#1 choice), tenderloin, or one of the other (less expensive) sirloin cuts. Those cuts will be tender, flavorful, and without pockets of fat or gristle to mar the appearance of your dish. I don't recommend round because I simply don't like its flavor. Using round in this applicati...
Trying to make a 3 layer curd tart Want to make a 3-layer curd tart or pie using layers of blood orange, lime and lemon curd but don't know how to do it. Do I need to heat all three curds, let all three cool, then pour into pie shell one at a time? Will they bleed together or stay in separate layers?	Cook one layer, pour it into the shell, and chill until firm. When it's firm, cook and add the second layer. You don't want to add the curd while it's still super hot. Let it cool a bit, but pour it before it begins to set. Repeat with the third layer. That procedure should give you very clean and lasting layers.
Worm in dry bread, what is it? I was picking up some bread and I noticed something moving in the box. After some searching I found the thing and it turned out to be a worm or a larva. Any idea what it is and should I start throwing everything out of the food closet? Picture: (The worm is in two pieces in the middle) -...	Those are larvae of the Larder beetle, related to carpet beetles. Vacuum up all the crumbs and keep the area clean. They infest many dry foods and areas where food debris collects.
Can we (safely?) use salmon after storing it (in deep freeze?) for two years or more? I'm from Poland (in case there is no such thing in other countries) and a few days ago I bought a quark cheese mixed with salmon and some herbs, produced by some German milk factory for one of local big malls network. When I looked a...	Yes, if it was still OK when it went into the freezer, and has been frozen the whole time, it is still safe. That's true of all foods - if kept frozen, food will remain safe indefinitely. Quality of taste, appearance and texture are likely to have taken hits in that period of time, however.
Even heating: skillet thickness vs. electric element size I've recently started transitioning to stainless-clad aluminum-core skillets, and one oft-compared property of various offerings is the thickness - generally a thicker sandwich contains a thicker aluminum layer and thus has a greater ability to spread the heat ...	Electric oven spirals turn on and off continuously, and the temperature of coil depends on the ratio between periods of cooling and periods of heating. Thicker skillets act as accumulators of heat, allowing smoother transitions between those periods. They heat up slower and cool off slower, thus making temperature more...
Can a blunt knife be sharpened? The knives I have just come from a second hand shop, and are quite blunt. Is it possible to sharpen them using an ordinary sharpening stone/steel, or is there a point that they are 'too far gone'?	You will not be able to sharpen it with a steel as per Ching Chong's answer. You will be able to sharpen it with a couple of sharpening stones. If the blade is totally blunt you will need a reasonably coarse one to bring the edge back, and a finer one to refine the edge. Then you can strop it on the steel or the back o...
Potato and onion used in cheese & onion pasties In online recipes of cheese & onion pasties, they call for raw potato and onion mixed with grated cheddar cheese. I am wondering if the chopped potatoes and onions cook properly in the oven, don't we need to use sauteed onions and boiled potatoes? Link to a sample recip...	The raw potato will definitely cook through. If you cooked the potatoes first, they would be almost devoid of texture by the time they cooked a second time in the oven - you'd have something more akin to mashed-potato pastries on your hands. You might want to think about sweating the onions first, though. Sweating th...
Terrine shrunk during cooking I did my first terrine this weekend. I used this recipe with 300g rabbit meat, 100g rabbit livers, 300g pork cheeks and 300g lard, marinaded in armagnac, white wine and salt overnight, minced, mixed with shallots and herbs, put in the mould and cooked. During cooking the meat seemed to sh...	Actually, it sounds like everything went right to me, that's a classic terrine. You simply picked the wrong recipe if you don't want fat - 1/4 of it is lard after all. When you cooked it the fat melted and got squeezed out to the sides, that's perfectly normal. If you want less fat then replace fat with gelatine which...
What size cake pan could be substitued in place of muffins? I have a recipe that the blogger said made 24 mini muffins and had enough batter left for 4 regular sized muffins. If I want to make it into a cake or loaf, what size pan would I need? I know it would need to have the baking times adjusted. The recipe, bel...	Which pan should I use? Volume of a regular muffins 1/3 cup equals about 79 ml 1/4 cup equals about 60 ml --> I take the average of both: 70ml per regular muffin Volume of mini muffins 1/8 cup equals about 30 ml 2 tablespoons equal about 20 ml --> I take the average of both: 25ml per mini muffin Total volume 24 mini m...
Wouldn't this cake batter be too runny? Would the coffee affect the texture? I came across What purpose does coffee serve in a chocolate cake recipe? as a similar question to one I'd just asked about baking. Looking at the recipe she provided there, wouldn't the amount of liquid (coffee, buttermilk, oil, and eggs) to...	Compare that recipe to this very similar one from Ina Garten (complete with handy video) Chocolate Buttermilk Cake. Watch her pour. No question, that is a wet batter. Apparently it works fine, Ina's recipe is very highly rated. Both recipes use volumetric measurements (ugh), so I'll use cups. Ina's recipe (sugar is wet...
What kind of tray or tray coating to use for pretzels? I've been making traditional German pretzels with a lye bath, but the pretzels tend to bake onto the baking sheets. I've tried a few different kinds of trays, all with less that perfect results. Non-stick coatings actually stick to the bottom of my pretzels and ...	You can avoid the tray altogether and bake them on a steel rack. Lye doesn't react with stainless steel (or with carbon steel, for that matter). It will stick lightly to the rack, just like anything else on stainless, but due to the small surface, you should be able to separate them. The second way would be to just us...
Achieve the same consistency as 8 hour slow cooked inside skirt steak in a fraction of the time? I have a process that calls for a 6-8 hour slow cooker braising of inside skirt steak. The skirt steak becomes incredibly soft and the connective tissue adds a lovely gelatinous luxurious mouthfeel when large chunks of th...	Tough beef becomes tender because the connective tissue breaks down into gelatine in the presence of heat and moisture. This can be sped up considerably using a pressure cooker, so that's your solution. There are considerations to this: a pressure cooker that could take 15 lbs of skirt steak all at once would be very ...
My beef roast is dry on top and soggy on the bottom, how to correct it? When I put a lamb roast on, I rub it in salt, put a few dabs of garlic and pour two glasses of red wine in, and leave it in the slow cooker for 8 hours. Everyone who has never tried this before says it is the most amazing lamb roast they've ever t...	Lamb meat is tougher and more fatty than your typical beef roast. 2 cups of red wine is a lot of acidic liquid and that can eat away at the meat as to tenderize it. Your mother may be right, some beef stock to thin out the alcohol may in fact do the trick. Also, rotating the roast would be a good idea as well since a b...
How can I make fresh burger buns like Hardees? I am pretty new to baking and having recently just come back from Saudi Arabia I was privileged to visit the Hardees food chain (non in the UK where I live) and fallen in love with their fresh baked buns. Does anyone know how to copy or come close to there burger bread bu...	As a starter, Hardees lists the ingredients for their Soft Baked Buns on their website. From there, we can gain that the main ingredients are: All Purpose White Flour Water Sugar Soybean Oil Yeast Additionally, it contains less than 2% of: Wheat Gluten Salt Maltodextrin Food Starch-Modified DATEM Xanthan Gum Whey Dex...
Does heat distribution vary between uncoated stainless steel pans and non-stick pans? The refrain about non-stick cookware being easy to scratch is well-known, but setting that aside, can the choice between those two types of pans change the end quality of your food? Are the two types of cookware better at different t...	Non-stick pans have a coating on top of metal, this metal could be aluminum, stainless steel, copper, or any other metal or alloy. The coating doesn't make a whole lot of difference to the heat distribution, that is the property of the metal underneath it. Heat distribution doesn't change the end quality of your food...
Is there any pan in which water or liquid shouldn't be boiled? 1. Should anything be boiled in aluminium pans? In general, are there any pans that boiling will damage? 2. What kind of pan is this? I don't know because I no longer have the receipt. Has the pan abraded or eroded? Please see the pictures below (click f...	A picture would help also! If your pan has a non-stick coating that is flaking off... I'd recommend to discard it. The non-stickness is compromised and the non-stick stuff is probably not good to eat. That said, in my experience non-stick coatings are sensitive to scratching from utensils... not so much from the food ...
Not getting the creamy result beating butter and sugar I have this "weekend meyer lemon cake" recipe: The problem I am facing while making the cake is that I don't get the creamy mixture, mixing sugar and butter. it's like bread crumbs right now, or something like that and sugar crystals are still visible and disting...	There may well be more than one issue here. The type of butter. If you're using what is sometimes sold as "cooking butter" then this has a much lower moisture content than normal butter, and so it is very difficult to get the sugar to dissolve enough to cream. Sugar choice. Granulated sugar is much more difficult to c...
What is the difference between chickpeas and garbanzo beans? Almost everywhere on the internet I see that garbanzo beans and chickpeas are the same thing. Here on Seasoned Advice I also see that the tag chickpeas comes up when you type "garbanzo". So I guess they're considered the same here? Today I came across this b...	They're the same thing. About the only difference is that "garbanzo bean" is less common in British English than in American English, and chickpea is more common either way, but it's just a language thing. There are indeed different varieties, with some smaller and some larger, but they don't have common language names...
Is it possible to make evaporated milk using powdered milk? I have read a related question about how to make evaporated milk, but the answer specifies that homogenized milk must be used. I was wondering if its possible to speed up the process by using powdered milk with less water and simmering it to get the slight ca...	The primary difference between evaporated milk and a strong milk made from instant dried milk, aside from that great caramel-y taste, is the fat content. Most instant dried milk powders are fat-free. The fat in the evaporated milk is an important component in a lot of recipes. However, that can be overcome with the ...
Ziploc vacuumed bags expand in sous vide I had an issue yesterday when I tried to cook some root vegetables in my sous vide supreme. I chopped them to roughly 1" lengths and placed them in a few quart Ziploc freezer bags and vacuumed them using a ThriftyVac. After just a few minutes in my sous vide at 84C the bags exp...	Believe it or not, veggies just happen to contain a lot of air. Even under vacuum this is a fairly common occurrence when cooking veggies low temp. You can add oil or other liquid to the bag, it will help, but air pockets will still likely develop. I usually add weights to the bag or bleed the air out by lifting a c...
How to keep bags from floating in a sous vide supreme I have had a few items float a little in my sous vide supreme machine. Mostly veggies. How do I keep them from floating up and stay submerged?	Two things cause bags to fill with air during low temp cooking. The expansion of air that already exists in a product (typical in vegetable cookery), and gas that results in bacterial growth (a problem with some cuts of meat). For vegetable cookery weighting helps, but this is almost always an issue unless you compre...
Is it best to slice roast meat if eating the next day? So I have just roasted a chicken, a lump of beef (not sure which cut) and some pork shoulder. We will be eating the meat over the next few days. Would it be best to slice the meat now (after resting), or leave it uncut until just before eating?	Leave it uncut, if you slice it now your slices will dry out more.
Decoration food long-term preservation I need to preserve some fruits (raisins, figs, pomegranates, and dates), in tiny bottles, so they last for years. I don't mind ruining the food, as it will anyway not be used for eating. I can fill the bottles with liquid if required, as long as the original color is preserved. H...	None of the classic food preservation techniques will work for you. They are about having the food stay edible, not stay beautiful. Most fixation solutions will work, but you probably don't want to keep them around your house. For example, if you filled the bottle with formaldehyde, it will not only be a major problem...
What is the best way to turn the chunks of jaggery into fine powder? I have big chunks of jaggery. I want to turn them into fine powder. What is the best way to turn the chunks of jaggery into their powdered form?	I usually grate my jaggery block on a microplane grater although your standard cheese grater will work too. I haven't tried a food processor yet, although that would probably work. Next time I'm going to get granulated palm sugar as I've found working with a jaggery block too much hassle.
How to make part bake baguettes and rolls? I'm not sure if these are available everywhere but in the UK we buy these part baked bread rolls from the supermarket and after about 10mins in the oven, you essentially have fresh baked bread and they're really good. I use a breadmaker often at home and have tried in the pas...	To make your own part-baked rolls, you have to actually part-bake them, not just freeze the shaped dough. You can freeze shaped dough, but you then need to fully thaw it and let it 'wake up' again before baking. You need to part bake at a relatively low temperature so that the dough springs and sets, but a crust does n...
can i mix arborio and carnaroli I have 2 lbs of carnaroli rice and 1 lb of arborio rice, both the same brand. I need to make a recipe calling for 3 lbs total. The basic recipe on both boxes call for the same amount of liquid, but I've heard that some people use 1/2 the liquid for carnaroli rice. I'm wondering if I mix...	Both arborio and carnaroli are used to make risotto. If you are making risotto the proper way with adding in your stock over time you will be able to control how much liquid overall goes into the rice and therefore be able to adjust your overall liquid amount as time progresses. Carnaroli has a higher starch content t...
Increasing time on slow cooker recipes I am looking for recipes that I can put in the slow cooker before I go to work and have them done (not over cooked) when I get home. This is about 9-10 hours of cooking. Most recipes that I am looking at have cook times of 4-6 hours. Most contain chicken or beef. Is there anyt...	It depends on the particulars of the recipe and the ingredients and the slow cooker itself. You say you are using chicken or beef, but are the pieces of meat small or large? Is the meat lean or fatty? I've had problems with overcooking large pieces of lean meat, such as chicken breast, but smaller pieces and/or fat...
Substitutes for wheat flour and their challenges in baking What are the flours that can be substituted for wheat flour in baking, specifically for breads, pastries and cakes? I found a few here: Top 10 alternatives to wheat What sort of challenges have you, experienced or novice bakers, faced while using substitutes? ...	There is no universal substitute for wheat flour. The challenges are, roughly, that recipes will often completely fail if you replace wheat flour with something else. The particular questions you've asked aren't really answerable in a concise way. Yes, taste, texture and aroma can all suffer; yes, baking temperatures c...
How to a prevent spoon from falling into soup? When preparing a soup, the spoon which I use to stir the soup with, often falls in. Is there any way to prevent the spoon from falling into the soup?	The obvious solution is to not let the spoon in the pot. While you may just let it rest on the pot, you can also use a spoon rest, as I do. Spoon rests I always let one of those on the oven so that I can avoid making a mess of my kitchen when I am finished using my ustensils.
What's is the internal temperature of pancakes? I made pancakes made out of a nutritional shake but some of the health benefits disappear if heated over 115 degrees F. So wanted to know what the typical internal temp is for pancakes?	The typical internal temperature at which most bread products are "done" is between 175-200˚F. For a normal pancake batter that is enriched with butter, milk, and/or egg, it would likely fall at the lower end of that range. However, the browned outer crust has likely reached significantly higher temperatures, in the ...
chocolate fudge not having harder or sticky consistency how to make a proper chocolate fudge, which is as shown in picture? I followed a recipe shown online, where condensed milk and chocolate chips have put in Microwave oven for 3 mins; and after refrigerating; it was perfect fudge. When I followed the same recipe; a...	If condensed milk and chocolate chips are, basically, your only ingredients, make sure you are using sweetened condensed milk and not just evaporated milk. The 5-minute fudge recipe has been a staple of bake sales and church socials for as long as I can remember and should work on a 3-minute microwave cycle. Some reci...
What is this dipped powder cookie called? After hunting around online for "black and white cookies" and "powdered sugar and cocoa powder cookies", I can't find what kind of cookie I am looking for. Not the black and white glazed cookie: I am thinking of a cookie I had as a kid that is made of a slightly sweet, heavy,...	Found it! The recipe was in a book at my house called Cookies and published by Reader's Digest (ISBN: 0-7621-0593-3). This recipe is typed up verbatim from the source mentioned above. Two-Tone Cookies 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup butter, softened 1/4 cup granulated su...
How can I keep my buttercream from becomming grainy? I am making buttercream icing, but the powdered sugar does not dissolve with the butter and shortening. The icing is grainy. How can I prevent this?	This can have different reasons. How long did you mix it? The transition between grainy and creamy can come late and suddenly, but it should happen eventually. Was the butter cold? I have been getting the best results with room-temperature butter. Did you sieve the powdered sugar? If not, that may be the problem. Or di...
Is it possible to re-use pickling liquid? I have previously pickled some cucumber in a pickling liquid of mostly vinegar, which was kept in the fridge. I have now finished the pickled cucumbers, but would like to pickle some more. Can I re-use this liquid to pickle the cucumbers? Note: I made the original pickling liq...	I would say you could use it once, and probably just to make refrigerator-type, quick pickles. The problem is that you have no way to determine acidity or salt levels once you remove the previously pickled items. Of course it should look clean and clear. If you were previously doing a lactic acid fermented pickle, so...
Are chicken gizzards okay to eat if still pink inside? I sautéed chicken gizzards for quite a while, then added water and boiled another 15 minutes but they are still pink inside. Are they safe to eat even though they are pink inside?	After boiling for that period of time (especially after sauteing), the gizzards have certainly reached a "safe" temperature. They are probably not really good eating though. Gizzards are a tough piece of meat. They benefit from a low and slow cooking process. Here's a pretty good article from Livestrong. Among other ad...
Salt for Sauerkraut I am looking to trial making some Sauerkraut at home. I have been recommended getting canning salt. Trouble is the only available source is too much, at too high a price. What other salts, readily available in the UK, would be suitable?	I typically use kosher salt. You could use sea salt as well. It is not necessary to use canning salt.
Compensating for extra moisture from cold flour I've been baking Hallah of late from a high-precision recipe: weights and percentages provided for all ingredients. I store flour in the freezer. Typically, the dough comes out considerably stickier than intended. End result is OK, but process is messy. So, based on othe...	No, it has nothing to do with atmospheric moisture. It is the temperature itself. You get much more gluten with cold dough, and it is also very sticky and inelastic. If this is the effect you want, continue doing it. In fact, some authors (e.g. Corriher) recommend making very high hydration doughs with substituting som...
Can you brew black tea in a macchinetta? If I use black tea leaves (not grounded leaves like in commercial teabags), and place them in the macchinetta (either instead of a coffee, or with the water). Is the brewed result going to be any good? Will it damage the macchinetta? Is it going to extract the tea properly from...	I highly doubt that this practice would damage your macchinetta. It's a relatively simple device, and with simplicity comes durability. If finely-ground coffee won't plug the baskets and filters inside, then it's doubtful that much larger tea leaves will. As with normal (i.e. coffee) use, just ensure that the press...
Can I substitute a stainless steel pot for the traditional iron dutch oven? I have very limited options in my kitchen, and while the dutch oven is the preferred method for getting an 'oven spring' while baking sourdough, I do not have a cast iron pot to do it. IF stainless steel is a good substitute, should I consider...	Cast iron is ideal, but any pot that can take the heat and has a tight lid will work. Like @talon8 said in his comment, it doesn't even have to be metal. This article from Around the World in 80 Bakes specifically uses terracotta for sourdough, not cast iron. Just as an FYI, this related question deals with preheating ...
Getting the flavor of honey without the sweetness Honey has an interesting flavor, but it's very sweet. Is there any way to get the flavor of honey without it being sweet?	What comes to mind immediately is to experiment with different varieties. Honeys vary a lot in sweetness and strength of flavor. From About.com Acacia honey is very sweet with a clean, pure, classic honey flavor. Alfalfa is a light honey but with a nice mild spicy note and floral aroma. Blueberry honey has a slight ta...
I love food and the public but my body can't handle it anymore I live for food and educating folks who are asking for help with kitchen stuff; I may not have the answers but I will certainly point them to where they need to find the answers they seek. Right now I work for a gourmet food market as a butcher,and I love...	I think you're out of luck preparing or serving food. Obviously butchery is also very physically demanding. Depending on how much you can handle physically, you could consider sales, leading to a management position. Another career that would take networking skill to "get into" would be writing about food. As a blogg...
Can I prepare wasabi powder in advance? I've got this little 30 gram container of "wasabi" powder. I'm on a little kick of trying to perfect my sushi rolling technique, so I'm likely to use it up within a month or so. It's just the typical Japanese export to the USA, mostly horseradish with a tiny bit of actual was...	This is actually quite a good question, and I think one you can only answer it properly if you have actually tried it yourself, so it would be nice if you can post your findings in a months time :-). Here is my take on this, and also some considerations: I would actually try to vacuum pack it rather than using an air...
Sourdough starter developing alcohol I have been dealing with my sourdough starter since about 1-2 months ago, when I started it from scratch with just water and flour . In the last 2 refreshments I have added some honey, just 1 teaspoon each time to deliver some easy-to-digest sugar to my sourdough, I don't think it'...	If you've truly gone anaerobic and the smell is off, you are growing things other than the intended cultures... As a rule, I simply feed mine flour and water. No sugar. The cultures can get along fine with the flour. (I did read in a reputable baking book about adding leftover water from boiling potatoes, for the starc...
How do I keep Clam juice I have about three gallons of clam juice, after steaming about 400 clams. How can I safely keep, can, or store this much juice for further use?	I would suggest to reduce the juice as much es possible (to safe space later on in the freezer or shelf) and either freeze it or can it (see here and here for canning with a pressure cooker and here for canning with an oven) Just putting the juice into the fridge is not sufficient. Neither just boiling the juice and ...
What is a good substitute for Farro? I saw this ingredient (farro) listed in a recipe that I was interested in making; however, I've never seen nor heard of it before. Could you explain what it is, please. What can I substitute for Farro?	Farro is a grain, a bit nutty, usually cooked to soft, but with toothsome body. Here's a good article about it from NPR Pearled barley would be a good substitute, but if your recipe includes cooking times and instructions, those will vary if you substitute out the grain. Follow the package instructions for whatever gr...
How to keep cream cheese for a long time? I discovered that I can buy cream cheese at 1/4 the price per pound, but only if I buy it as a solid 10 cm x 10 cm x 40 cm brick. Assuming I only eat 1/10th of this brick per week, is there any way I can store it so it does not go moldy in the meantime?	The "best before" date is usually way out. Cut it in slices that you will use within a week. Still Tasty recommends that you use opened, refrigerated cream cheese within a couple of weeks. Very well packed (well wrapped or preferably vacuum packed) cream cheese really should last longer than that. I'd try for keeping a...
Can I freeze fresh hyssop? Is it possible to freeze fresh hyssop? Can I expect it to be as aromatic and flavorful after defrosting?	In my experience, the answer for most leafy herbs is yes, fragance and flavor is preserved. Never tryed hyssop, however Gardening Know How site says it freezes fine: it can be dried or frozen and stored for later use. When harvesting a hyssop plant, cut it in the morning hours once any dew has dried. Hang the plants...
Does store-bought Kombucha spoil? If so, how can I tell? I recently bought Ginger Kombucha for the first time in a reputable health food store. I'd never heard of it, but my doctor feels the probiotics will help my chronic digestive problem. Because of the strong taste, I only drank a small amount each day. I did this...	When they say "probiotic", what they mean is that there are microbe cultures present in the kombucha. It's really nothing more than a sweetened tea which has been fermented by a symbiotic mix of yeast and bacteria. The odor and distinctive flavor is the result of a low alcohol content and acetic acid (the same acid f...
Are the particulates that settle in a veal stock impurities? I've been making veal stock for about a year, and really enjoy the process. It generally takes me two days: the first to generate a base stock, the second to reduce it. I've noticed that when I refrigerate the product of either day overnight, a layer of part...	Yes, they are most likely to be denatured protein. It is feasible that they also contain some other matter like stray pieces of vegetable, but the bulk should be the protein. When the particles are small enough, they are agitated in the boiling water and become a suspension. When you let them rest, they slowly find th...
Can you put polystyrene in the microwave oven I want to know for sure if you can use polystyrene trays (such as those that meat comes in) in the microwave oven? I have read some fairly official looking reports and articles that say there's not danger, but there is some anecdotal evidence that they can melt, which whil...	Well, I can tell you with absolute authority that polystyrene melts in the microwave. Here's a chunk of polystyrene cut from a foam shipping container. I double checked with the website (Propak), and the stuff is polystyrene. I placed a random chunk of chicken on the cube, and microwaved on high for 1 minute. So yea...
How to remove the flavor from whisky stones? I made the mistake of buying these awesome whisky stones (soapstone) to chill my drinks. Besides the fact that they don't cool the drink down a lot, they acquire a freezer taste and ruin the flavor of the beverage. How can I eliminate this taste? I tried to wash them with s...	To eliminate any off flavors that may have been absorbed, soak them in warm water for a few hours. Be sure the stones are covered by at least a couple of inches, so that there's plenty of volume to absorb flavors. Agitate them every now and again as well. When you place them back in the freezer, be sure they're dry (a...
Are beets related to turnips? We recently made fresh beets, which was a new experience for me, and I was surprised to discover that a freshly cooked fresh beet tastes quite like a similarly cooked turnip. Is there any connection between the two foods?	From a scientific standpoint they are not closely related. They aren't even in the same order. Beets are order Caryophyllales and Turnips are order Brassicales.
Broiler Drawer vs Oven Broiler? I'm considering purchasing a new freestanding gas range and would like to hear pros and cons of people's experiences with a broiler drawer under the main oven or having the broiler element inside the top of the oven compartment. I'm interested in efficiency, ease of use, consistency, sa...	I cannot speak to price; I haven't comparison-shopped with this feature in mind. However, I have used various home gas ranges with either type of broiler. I'll go ahead and sum it up: tl;dr: I greatly prefer an in-oven broiler. Here's why. First, positioning. Broiler drawers are typically located at the very bottom ...
power failure and a slow cooker I put a beef stew recipe in to my crock pot this morning at 7 am and set it for 8 hours on low. At 1 pm, the power went out for a few minutes. When power was restored, the slow cooker did not come back on. Also, at 4 pm my wife noticed the crock pot was off and turned it on for an hour....	The important temperature would be what temperature it was at when the power was turned back on. The official recommendations are to keep high risk foods out of the 'danger zone' of 40°F to 140°F for longer than 2hrs (cumulative). If portions of the pot were at 140°F after being heated for an hour, and there was the t...
How can I start down the path of eating less meat? Recently I've been giving more thought to the idea of moving toward a more vegetarian diet. The trouble I've encountered, though, is that it seems hard to find recipes and eating suggestions that are not full-on vegan/vegetarian. For example, I don't enjoy whole wheat...	Further to my comment: If you think of all of your meat-centric meals to be something like 60% meat, 40% (vegetables, carb filler) then just adjust the proportions. If you have 300g steak and 200g vegetables on the side, then start by changing to a 200g steak and 300g vegetables, and keep adjusting as necessary. Pasta ...
How to see if cast iron cookware is enameled? I have found a cast iron grill manufactured by the French company Le Creuset. This cookware is probably around 20 years old and you can see a picture of the same model below. I'm wondering if this grill is enameled cast iron or raw cast iron. Indeed, if it's raw cast iron...	We're going to do all of our analysis on the back side, so we don't mess up any cooking surface: if it's rusted : not enameled (or possibly damaged enamel) if it's greasy, clean w/ hot soapy water and a scrubbing pad, just in the middle of the pan. if it's any color other than black, brown, bare metal or orange-brown ...
Will swapping the red wine in my spaghetti bolognese with port wreck the dish? We were out of red wine when cooking spaghetti bolognese today, but eyed off the port as a possible substitute. We decided against it but were left wondering. I imagine you'd have to halve the quantity because it would be too strong. I thou...	In short, using port as a substitute for red wine will not wreck the dish. Though the flavour is different (and richer) and will make your bolognese taste different as a result, the taste should not be bad. I frequently do this as I am not a red wine drinker, and port keeps far better in an open bottle. I would recomme...
How to make sure that potatoes are boiled properly? I once boiled some potatoes of average size, by inserting a fork into them I thought they were boiled properly but cutting them in half, I saw the center is still raw with a lighter color. So how should I know it's enough boiling?	You would probably do best to check the internal temperatures of each and every potato. You can do this with a meat thermometer. Potatoes are done if tender when pierced with a fork and the internal temperature reaches 210 degrees F. Use a meat thermometer to test for doneness. [ Source: http://whatscookingamerica.ne...
Proper use of Rhubarb What is the proper way to prepare rhubarb as to not poison anyone? What parts of the plant is poisonous? and what general precautions should be done when making food involving rhubarb?	Use only the stalks; the leaves are poisonous (or at least toxic if eating in high quantity) Cut up the stalks in chunks from the bottom up to the where it becomes green (to keep the result as pink as possible) and cook down with sugar and enjoy in a crumble or a pie (with strawberries). I've ate raw stalk dipped in su...
Rule of the thumb for judging the leavening? I have done a focaccia and a small piece of dough to see if I can make bread with the same recipe I'm using for the focaccia . Both dough have almost doubled in size in about 9 hours, and I have used about a 1/3 in sourdough starter and 2/3 in flour ( plus liquids ). I'm no...	I think there's lots of things at play in your situation. Bread has many variables ("degrees of freedom"), and this is part of the reason that bread is so fun and so diverse (and so fun)! Experimentation is warranted here, I think. There's many sourdough enthusiasts around here, so you'll probably get many different op...
Why the pizza is able to "recover" so quickly? 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...	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 - thi...
Advice for Rice balls in bulk I have my own variant of japanese rice balls that I was hoping for some advice on. One thing to keep in mind is that I'm a college graduate student and put a high priority on minimizing costs and preparation time (and prefer to make things in bulk). I buy all my ingredients in bulk and ...	Onigiri (rice balls) can be frozen; that's probably your best bet for long-term storage. They can be simply tossed into the fridge the night before consumption for defrosting, or you can microwave them using the defrost setting if you have microwave-safe plastic wrap. The rice gets dried out pretty fast if you try to s...
Why is it necessary for Turkish Coffee to start brewing with cold water? In nearly every Turkish Coffee making recipe I have found them recommending us to start by putting coffee in cold water and then bring it to boil. Why is it necessary for Turkish Coffee to start brewing with cold water?	Turkish coffee refers to the method of making coffee, not a type of coffee. Also known as mocha or kahve, it is traditionally made in an ibik using cold water to prolong the time the coffee "brews" and releases flavour. The ibik (aka cezve in Arabic) was invented in the 16th century, replacing the previous method of st...
How much salt is needed for "Coq au vin" How much salt is needed for "Coq au vin" (one rooster, 1.5 kg) and when should it be added?	You can almost always add salt to a dish but you cannot take it out, so it makes sense to add salt at the end of the cooking process unless: the salt needs time to penetrate the ingredients. Potatoes are a good example of this, when I make potatoes for a potato salad for example I add salt at the beginning so that the...
yeast substitutes and proper measurements I was wondering if I could get some advice as I have intolerances to yeast and have heard of a few substitutions from: baking soda, baking powder, lemon juice, milk and yogurt. The question comes to how do I measure these into bread or baking to make whatever I am making rise?...	There are no substitutes for yeast. What you list are not substitutes, but alternative leaveners: either actual baking powder, or a combination of baking soda and lemon juice or yogurt. The milk does not contribute to leavening at all. There is nothing you can do to mimic ordinary yeast or sourdough (which consists mo...
Coating/skin on Quorn Sausage - is it edible? I bought some frozen Quorn Hot Dogs (Frankfurter style). After boiling some there was a transparent, filmy outer skin/coating that came off when I was cutting them. It felt plastic/rubber/paper-like but I wasn't able to distinguish it properly. I had a look at some of the ...	They are edible I eat them all the time they are the same ones on the regular Quorn sausages. I prefer to microwave mine though it keeps the skin on and cooks quicker, also it keeps in more of the flavour.
missing ingredients in banana bread I have my grandmothers handwritten recipe for banana bread. the paper tore and I lost some of the recipe. it calls for 1 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 mashed bananas. I lost the amount of salt, baking powder, shortening and eggs....	That is a lot of sugar for that much flour. The salt and baking powder are likely to be one teaspoon each or 3/4 teaspoon each. It probably called for 1/2 cup shortening (consider butter or butter flavored Crisco, but that's just me), and 2 eggs. Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

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