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Ideal pan temperature for frying meats (kangaroo, chicken etc.) using IR thermometer? I've recently bought a Thermoworks IR thermometer. I'm hoping to use it with my pan when frying meats, to get more ideal temperatures. There's plenty of content online about what the internal temperature of the food should be (e.g. h...	I was looking at this same question awhile back when I got an IR thermometer, what I found was 2 things. The first thing is that there are too many variables to have a single answer that would work. The pan temperature you want at the start depends on a number of factors including: Material of the pan: how much heat i...
How to make white aioli? Whenever I make aioli with the traditional recipe of egg and oil it always turns out yellowish. It's obviously because of the color of the egg yolks. However, recently I've noticed some good restaurants serving quality aioli that is really white. Also some store bought ones are more white than...	The original Valencian allioli and Maltese aljoli don't have egg yolk in its receipe. Egg yolk makes emulsification easier but it isn't necessary. Garlic itself is already an emulsifier. Allioli is made by pounding garlic with olive oil and salt in a mortar until smooth. The oil should be added little by little -- oth...
Maximum temperature for thawing meat When thawing frozen beef in hot water (meat in sealed bag / container in water), what is the maximum temperature that the water can be to not inadvertently start cooking the meat or otherwise affect it? The goal being to speed up thawing with the same end results as not using water...	You wouldn't want to exceed 100F, especially if you don't have good temperature regulation. Above this temperature (especially in fish) you'll start to see the texture begin to change. But, if all you're trying to do is thaw the meat, it's more important to circulate the water than to have the water at a warm temperat...
Can thawing meat too quickly affect its quality? Can thawing meat more quickly (e.g. warm water, microwave, warm oven) than normal (leaving out at room temperature) affect the taste / texture of the meat? Is there a particular maximum rate of temperature change for various types of meat (beef, pork, and chicken is wha...	I'd be more concerned about the meat's safety than taste/texture. "Warm" thawing creates the perfect environment for bacteria growth. That having been said, my experience mainly involves the use of a microwave to thaw meat. When microwaving meat to thaw, try to avoid the meat having corners or protrusions. This adverse...
Why would gluten-free chicken meatballs involve pre-cooking 1/3 of the chicken before frying the formed meatballs? I am looking at this recipe for gluten-free chicken meatballs and found this step to be odd. Anyone know what the purpose is? Is it related to the lack of gluten or somehow helping the balls to stay bou...	Ground chicken can be very soft and sticky, and difficult to form into balls without everything sticking together or going "squish". If you tried to make balls from completely cooked chicken, though, the balls wouldn't stay together. So, cooking part of the chicken gives the mixture some structure so they can be formed...
Do people eat clotted cream AND butter at the same time? In The Hobbit, Gandalf is described as eating loaves with clotted cream, butter, and honey. I'm familiar with clotted cream, but I always eat it with jam - clotted cream PLUS butter seems excessive. Do people frequently eat these things together?	It's really a matter of preference. Some people like the salty dimension that butter gives along with clotted cream and jam, others think the cream is enough saturated fat to be going on with.
To thin chocolate candy coating, how much oil to use? I am trying to use chocoate candy coating on chocolate transfer sheets. The normal chunk of chocolate candy coating is too thick when melted, so I used vegetable oil to thin it for better spreading. I used 1:2.5 ratio for this, 20ml oil for 50ml chocolate. It was t...	Yes your ratio is off. After melting if your coating is too thick add vegetable shortening (Crisco) a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Start with a tablespoon per pound and add just enough to get to the consistency you need. Crisco is solid at room temperature unlike veg. oil so your final prod...
Ribs burned to a crisp following directions. What does "medium high" mean? I'm learning about grilling by making mistakes. The instructions on some pre-seasoned "St. Louis Ribs" say the following: Remove ribs from package. Preheat grill to medium high. Place ribs on grill and cook on medium high for 12-15 min. Flip r...	Ribs should not be cooked with direct heat, generally. The directions on the meat are VERY defective. You should turn the left burner on, and put the ribs in the right side of the grill. You should cook at a temperature between 250-300F, typically for 4-5 hours. They're done when the meat pulls back from the bone and w...
How to use herb extracts or essential oils in drinks What I am trying to do is make a drink called "Tarhun". It is, in its essence tarragon extract, sugar, water and lemon juice. I can not find fresh tarragon, so I must use either oil based tarragon extract or dried herb. In the case of an extract - how would one crea...	Sugar will bind with the essential oil, allowing you to produce a flavored syrup that you can use to sweeten the drink in place of sugar. This is a commonly used practice in drink-making since a syrup is much quicker to integrate than dry sugar. For a typical simple syrup recipe, you combine equal parts water and sugar...
Why do the Japanese eat a lot of raw fish? Was trying to answer this question for a school age child writing an essay about Japan. Short of Wikipedia's "hundreds of years ago, you arranged for fresher fish by transporting it live" nothing meaningful popped up in my searches - and that doesn't offer explanation because...	I did a little bit of digging on the topic and found this TapTrip blog post: A brief history of Sushi: why do japanese eat raw fish? It also references a Cultura Bunka article in Portuguese called Uma breve história do sushi. To quote: During Muromachi Period (1336-1573), japaneses [sic] used to transport the raw fish...
Can you mix Red Onion chutney into bread? I was thinking about making some bread today, and I have some leftover red onion chutney. I was wondering if it would be nice to mix the chutney into the bread dough, and then bake it. If so, would I add the chutney before letting the dough rise or after? Thanks	Yes, you can add the chutney to the bread dough to produce a more flavorful bread. When you add the chutney depends on exactly how you want it distributed in the bread. If you'd like the chutney flavor to permeate the bread throughout, mix directly in with the wet ingredients during the initial mix. If you prefer to...
Toasting bagel in my oven How much energy am I wasting by toasting my bagel in my big oven? Should I get a toaster?	A toaster is more efficient than a toaster oven, which in turn is far more efficient than heating an entire conventional oven. Toaster statistics: Approximate time to make toast – 4 minutes Watt measured while running – 820 W Resulting electricity usage – 0.055 kWh vs Toaster oven statistics: Approximate time to make...
Can I let food be tested for spoilage after freezer power outage? We had a chest freezer filled with beef get disconnected from power for some period of time. Reconnected and refroze the meat. I don't know how long it was without power. Packets of hamburger were soft to the touch. I didn't think to check the tempe...	I seriously doubt it. The expense and complexity of making sure there are NO pathogens in a random sample of food would be significant. And then that would be all you'd have; a statement that the tested sample had no pathogens, but who knows about the rest of the food. Testing food in a manufacturing plant depends on t...
What is the difference between marinara and spaghetti sauce? The title pretty much says it: What is the difference between marinara and spaghetti sauce? I Googled and got a bunch of hits but none of the answers left me feeling like I actually understand the difference. If anything, I'm more confused now than when I st...	Marinara is a style / kind of a sauce that originated in Napoli usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions. A spaghetti sauce only says where to sauce is used (obviously on spaghetti) but doesn't say anything about what the sauce is exactly like. There are many dishes which are basically spaghetti + sauce: ...
Will a pineapple marinade reduce a beef roast to paste? My butcher gave me this warning: Make sure you don't soak your beef in a pineapple marinade, stick to brine. I tried it with pineapple once and I ended up with a paste. Now seems too incredible (because a beef roast is quite tough), but potentially plausible. ...	Pineapple contains Bromelain, which is "one of the most popular proteases to use for meat tenderizing." Since it's sold as a meat tenderizer, I'd say it really just depends on how long you marinate with it -- it's possible to over-tenderize something. This warns about over marinating, and mentions recommended times: ...
Fresh or dried Garlic I'm making kosher dill pickles which calls for one clove of garlic.I have some fresh and wonder if fresh or dried garlic cloves is stronger in flavor	When a recipe calls for a clove of garlic it almost certainly means fresh. If it was asking for dried it would call for a weight or a volume measurement as dried usually does not come in cloves. One clove isn't particularly helpful though, as garlic cloves vary widely in size depending on the variety of garlic and whic...
button mushrooms turned red while frying in butter I fried fresh sliced button mushrooms in butter over low heat with no other ingredients. After a short while dark red areas started to appear on the sides of several slices. I never noticed anything like it before and would be happy if someone had an explanation. Also...	According to this article, button mushrooms may turn a pink color if bruised while being stored or handled. This sounds very much like what has happened to you, as you've stated that the mushrooms were old and not stored properly. This is not poisonous or bad to eat by any means, but I understand that one would not wan...
Sous Vide Strip came out medium well, what did I do wrong? I picked up two NY Strip steaks, about 6 oz each this weekend with the hopes of showing off how awesome my new sous vide circulator (Anova Precision Cooker) with a nice medium-rare steak. I pre-heated my water to 130 degrees, brushed olive oil on the steaks an...	130 degrees is certainly the temperature to aim for, I'm thinking that it's the pan sear that did it. 1 minute in a pan is actually quite a bit for a thinner steak (at 6 ounces I'm thinking yours were maybe 1/2 - 3/4 inch), certainly enough to add 10-20 degrees or so to the steak's temperature and make it medium well. ...
Can you buy plastic food containers like "Tupperware" in specific or custom dimensions? I am in need of a food container that is a specific dimension in this case (7.5"L x 3"W x 2"H) but I often need various sizes. I can't seem to find any in that dimension and I cant find a website that allows you to search by dimens...	The food and hospitality industry faces the same problem as you do: restaurants want to store food in a space-efficient manner, but for decades, a business model in which a mom-and-pop place gets a manufacturer to produce 15 containers of their perfect dimension was not viable. Nowadays mass customization is theoretica...
Substitute ratio when using butter instead of shortening How much butter should be used to use as a substitute for 1/2 cup of shortening for a banana nut bread recipe? I don't have any shortening on hand.	1/2 cup of shortening is 110 g, while 1/2 cup of butter is 114 g. Also, butter is only 82% fat. So if you want to be precise, use 134 g of butter: (100/82)*110 = 134. You may want to reduce the liquid by 24 g in this case. If you don't care for precision, you can also substitute 1:1 and use 1/2 cup of butter. Most rec...
Why might packaged pineapple contain egg, soy, peanut, fish, milk, sulphites, tree nuts, sesame, crustaceans, shellfish, mustard seeds, wheat? Here is the proof: I'm a bit scared to eat it. What do they do to it?!	Although it doesn't explicitly say so, that's allergy information. It's just been processed in a place that also (potentially) processes those things, so it potentially contains a trace amount, which could be bad if you have a really sensitive allergy. It won't contain enough of those things to matter for any other pur...
Deep freezing paneer (cottage cheese)? I have a packet of cottage cheese ( paneer ) and it advises me not to deep freeze it? I can't understand why. Any help? I had it deep frozen right from the time I bought it. It is also 3 days past its 'best before' date. Can I still use it?	I live in one of the largest cheese producing areas in the US. Freezing cheese is often frowned upon here, it often changes the texture of the cheese and can alter the flavor as well. Cheese, much like anything else, can freezer burn. Firmer cheeses typically are affected the least by being frozen. You'll probably see ...
Should I refrigerate hot sauce? I am an avid hot sauce collector. I own about 2 dozen bottles in various states of completion, some of which are a couple years old. They are currently in my refrigerator. Is that where they should be? Frank's FAQ says yes. This article on Chow.com says no. What do the hot sauce experts...	Most hot sauces are pretty inhospitable to foodborne illnesses, and can safely stay in the cupboard rather than the refrigerator. Nevertheless, the flavors in the sauces will break down over time, storing them in the fridge as opposed to room temperature will slow deterioration and keep the sauces fresher longer. If yo...
Are there gas ovens that come with a thermometer? Is it possible to buy a household gas cooker with a built in thermometer. All of the ones i have seen so far don't have these so there is no way of knowing what temperature the oven has reached. I can see that i can buy a separate thermometer to hang in the cooker but ...	Many ovens in the US have such a feature. However, ovens lie. Even if thermostats and thermocouples in ovens were scientifically accurate (they are not), they are positioned on the outside walls of the oven, not the center of the oven where you are actually doing the cooking. This might not be an issue if you are bak...
How long will blackberries keep in the refrigerator if they have been cooked with sugar and water added? How long will blackberries keep in the refrigerator if they have been cooked with sugar and water?	It depends. If you used at least 1/3 sugar to 2/3 berries ratio by weight AND let all the water cook off until it jellied a bit, you cooked a jam. It will last for weeks to months to years, and the first spoilage will be mold, which is visible. If you either used less sugar or did not cook out the water completely, it...
Are can openers like the original Swing-A-Way sold under a different name now? Swing-A-Way can openers used to be made in St. Louis, MO. After the family sold out they finally ended up being made in China. The quality went away. I thought I came across some info that the possibly former St. Louis factory/equipment was...	Perhaps: http://www.ez-duz-it.com St Louis, claims to be only one made in USA, Seems to fit time-wise. per one of several catalog sites (http://www.sierravalleytrading.com/JOHN-J-STEUBY-CO_c_815.html) John J Steuby Company of Hazelwood, Missouri, has purchased the equipment used to manufacture the original, MADE IN USA...
How can I safely jar up my homemade salad dressing? I'm wanting to jar up my favorite House dressing made with miracle whip, so I can sell it and give it away. I want to make sure I do it safely!	If you're going to sell it, you need to consider "legally" as well as "safely" (here, as in a number of situations, they're related). Check out the report "Cottage Food Laws in the United States" from Harvard Law School, or this report on the California Cottage Food Bill. Basically, with limitations, you can create and...
Fat sinking to bottom of stock So I've made stock a couple of times in the last couple of months - one batch of chicken stock and one of beef neckbone stock - and I've come across a problem I've never seen before. After cooling, the majority of the fat in both batches sunk to the bottom of the containers they were in....	Gelatin. All bones and connective have gelatin and collagen. When you cook bones slowly and gently for a long time, the gelatin leaches out in the water. Being heavier, it sinks. It isn't marrow. Marrow will stay in the beef bone until you spoon it out (lucky you). If it did fall out, it would stay in one piece. But I ...
How Did I Explode A Saucepan? I am a complete amateur when it comes to the world of cooking. My recent attempts to teach myself have unfortunately lead to me needing to ask: How did I explode my saucepan? I'd put some garlic/onion/olive oil in the saucepan and left it on low heat to soften on my electric hob. After ab...	I work in a commercial kitchen and I've seen this happen before, which is why we do not use copper-plated cookware. This can happen whenever you have two different alloys welded together and apply heat to one side or non-uniformly; An effect known as 'thermal shock'. What happens is one metal expands faster than the ot...
What's the correct way to garnish with greens? So a number of dishes I've constructed have called for me to garnish the final dish with a bit of parsley or mint or something similar for color or taste or overall visual appeal. However, it seems my technique in this area is slightly off and it always ends up looking l...	The key is how you expect the person to eat it. Some garnishes are not for eating at all - the sprig of mint or entire stalk of rosemary that the eater is expected to just remove and set aside. I don't do this - and plenty of judges on plenty of cooking shows have intoned "never put anything on the plate that I am not ...
Marinara sauce with too much oregano and tomato paste What could be used to de-oreganate a sauce with too much oregano and tomato paste? I used a store bought sauce to increase the volume of the sauce that I had started with onions, garlic, home grown tomatoes, sugar, wine.	I think your best bet will be to simply increase the volume of the sauce by adding more whole tomatoes... for ease a can of tomatoes of some sort, either whole (peeled), diced, or crushed; or if you prefer, use fresh tomatoes, which will require some more work. Either way, you may want to strain out the seeds if you do...
How much does potato starch affect a cheese sauce recipe? I'm following this recipe for making cheese sauce: (text) https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229731/homemade-nacho-cheese-sauce/ (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMw4Q1RMD6I While purchasing the ingredients I noticed something about pre-shredded cheese ...	Hmm I suppose they add starch to keep it from turning back into one block of cheese. Thing to do is if the sauce looks to thick just add more milk.
Can I substitute a 10 oz bag of large marshmallows for the same weight equivalent in miniature mallows? My recipe calls for a 10 oz bag of miniature marshmallows. I only have a 10oz bag of regular marshmallows (not jet-puffed), will that work? Thank you.	Culinarily speaking, large marshmallows are identical ounce-for-ounce to miniature marshmallows, so for the purpose of an ingredient substitution, this should not cause you a problem. But there are a few things to consider: Miniature marshmallows are obviously smaller… so if your recipe calls for using them whole, you ...
Thickening Eggs with Cornstarch Recently I stumbled across a recipe that uses corn starch to thicken scrambled eggs and was wondering if there was any advice on tweaking the recipe to try and keep the calorie count down. 3 Large eggs 1 1/2 tbs whole milk (I use 2%) - 1/2 tbsp per egg 1 3/4 tsp potato starch or cornsta...	Let's look at the estimated calories in that recipe: Eggs: 270 Milk: 12 Cornstarch: 15 Butter: 306 So, given that the single largest source of calories in that recipe is the butter -- more than the eggs! -- if you're looking to reduce calorie count cutting back on the butter to 1 Tbs is the way to go. Of course, th...
Cooking down tomatoes I grow sauce tomatoes, roma and others. When they come in I blanch them, then run the thru a food mill. I then freeze the sauce in plastic freezer bags or cook it down into paste. I recently tried pulling out several bags of the frozen sauce to cook down into paste, I sliced the bags in a coupl...	I definitely think you should cook it down. I sometimes use canned whole tomatoes to make sauce by slicing them open and letting the liquid out, and combining that with the liquid from the can and whatever else (e.g, a bit of white wine). I roast the tomato solids under a broiler with some sweet onion and garlic (star...
How to cut peanut brittle I would like to be able to cut peanut brittle into neat squares. Everything I have tried does not result in a 'neat, straight cut', a quick Google search shows some very expensive 'industrial' machinery...but nothing for the 'home'. Any good techniques for how to cut peanut brittle would be a...	Try using a finely serrated knife (I'm thinking like a dollar store steak knife). Move the knife back and forth many times, but apply little to no downward pressure that could cause the peanut brittle to fracture.
How to bake cake and pastries without oven? I don't have an oven and I am not planning to purchase one but there are lots of recipe that need an oven. My question is, is there any way I can get the same functionality on a gas burner stove by some use of utensil or trick or hack!	When I was young in Asia, my mom would bake a cake on a coal stove in a cast iron pot. Hot coals were then added on top of the lid as a secondary heat source.
What is the best way to cook the beef cut "nerveux gite"? In France, just bought a beef cut of meat named "nerveux gite a bourguignon", planning to cook it in the slow cooker. However, it seems incredibly tough! What's the best way to prepare it?	Welcome! Braising would be the preferred cooking method for that cut of beef. The long, slow cook will result in falling apart, tender, moist meat. Because of the name of the cut, the first thing that comes to mind is beef bourguignon. From Wikipedia : It is a stew prepared with beef braised in red wine, traditional...
Cooking Indian curry with yogurt So, I've worked with Thai curry before and reviewed the post about "When to prefer yogurt, cream, and coconut milk in an Indian vegetarian dish to make it creamy?" but these seem to be concerned with ingredients, not cooking methods. While working with Thai curry, the best way to keep...	It depends on what you are cooking. Yogurt is used as marinade for a few barbeque dishes like tandoori chicken, paneer tikka, and it's used in making curries in many dishes as Srilekha mentioned. Yogurt is added at the end and is cooked no more than 2-5 mins for the simple reason it separates water when cooked at high ...
How to get a brown/burned texture on cornbread? I am using the recipe here to make oven baked cornbread. The image in the recipe shows a nice brown/burned texture. I was wondering if I have to brush the top with butter or egg to get that texture? What I ended up with is a pale yellow top layer with no browning or burn...	Most likely you just need to turn up the heat a bit. Moving the rack higher might help too. It's a little hard to say without actually measuring your oven, but that kind of thing can happen if your oven's just a bit cooler than it claims to be. So it'll take a little longer than the recipe says to bake, but the lower t...
Can I learn to like wine? Wine, especially combined with the right food, seems to be a great deal among gourmets. I'd love to enjoy those highly-praised combinations too, but unfortunately, although I'm 22 years old by now, I still don't like the taste of wine at all. Can I learn to like wine? Are there any methods or...	There's no point drinking wine and not enjoying it. The point of wine with food is that, if you enjoy the wine and enjoy the food, you'll enjoy both together even more. But if you don't enjoy the wine, you'll enjoy the food less if you force yourself to drink wine with it. Is there anything you do like about wine? If n...
What strength of brine will completely inhibit growth of lactobacillus (and friends)? As per the title. How strong does a brine have to be before it will completely inhibit growth of the bacteria that are traditionally employed to create pickled foods? The backstory is that I decided to make some sauerkraut the other ...	In brief, your question has no possible general answer for the kind of scenario you posit (where you add a certain amount of salt to a certain volume of food) or even a scenario where you add a brine of concentration X to a certain amount of food. Most vegetable (and animal) sources for food contain significant amounts...
Seasoning skillet: What am I doing wrong? Since two months I have a DeBuyer 28cm skillet from the Mineral B line. Upon buying it I followed the instructions they gave me in the store: Wash it, fry (without oil) a thick layer of salt and oil it up before putting it away. This gave me a light brownish seasoning. In the ...	It simply takes some time and experience to learn to do a seasoning well. Yours was too soft to work. The good part is that you can repeat it on the same pan until you got better results, the pan is not going to suffer from it. First, there is the oil. Modern oils are engineered to be higher in unsaturated acids. This...
How can I make sugarless chocolate brownies more moist I am making chocolate brownies without sugar using the following ingredients: cocoa nibs, 1 & 1/4 cups carob powder, 1/4 cup margarine, 125 g flour, 50 g stevia, 1 tablespoon vanilla essence, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon 2 eggs How can I make the brown...	That 1/4th cup margarine and the 2 eggs are not enough to give those brownies the moisture they need. I suspect you want something low in sugar and fat. Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD created two books that talk about substitutions for fat and sugar in recipes. One technique to replace fat (like butter) in a recipe is to u...
Is it safe to leave a broth simmering overnight on an electric stove? I am trying to cook bone broth in a pot on an electric stove like this one and it needs to simmer for at least a day (so the stove is set to a low temperature). Is it safe to leave the stove unattended like this overnight? Assuming, of course, that...	Is it safe? That depends on a lot of factors. Generally, no. It isn't. A blog post from the Healthy Home Economist has the opinion of a firefighter: One gal mentioned that her husband was a firefighter and that leaving a stockpot simmering overnight or while they were out of the house was completely out of the que...
Boiling rice - drain or boil off water? Because different rice varieties have different cooking times, I find it hard sometimes not to over/under cook them. I do it in two ways: Boil off all the excess water, and fluff it with a fork. Boil with excess water, and drain it afterwards. What are the major differences be...	If you are burning your rice on method 1 you either have too little water in it, cooked it too long, or have it on too high a heat. Assuming you are using white rice the general rule of thumb is to use double the volume of water as you do rice, so 2 cups of water for 1 cup rice. You then cover and bring it to a boil an...
How can I make curly rāmen noodles from scratch? I want to make the rāmen noodles from scratch including the pasta itself and not just the sauce. I have found some recipes online that look promising. However, how can I give it the characteristic "curly" appearance?	Inspired by Claire and the Bon Apettit team I did a bit of research and found the following. Silicon flaps attached to the noodle cutter is one way to get the curly or wavy ramen noodle. You can create your own version like Alex the French Cooking Guy did. Which result in a nice curly noodle. Full write up with t...
Does adding vegetables to your brine add any flavour? What exactly does adding vegetables to your brine really achieve? Does it add any flavour to your end product? EDIT: Turkey brine and Frozen Mixed Vegetables.	I've been a fan of brining for a while and NO, adding flavouring to the brine won't make much if any difference in relation to the brining itself, which makes a lot of difference. I have employed my most wishful thinking many times with brine, on the basis of the fact that pretty much every reference to it in recipes, ...
Black tea develops cloudy dregs; how to avoid? I'm not much of a tea connoisseur*. But I do know what I like — strong, sweet black tea, and lots of it — and at present, the method I'm using is to boil a cup or so of cold water and about nine cheap tea bags, then turn off the heat and let the whole thing slowly cool on...	Those particles are bits of tea leaves (etc.) that came out of the tea bags. They're fine enough particles to get through the bags. Basically, tea dust. You don't notice them at first because they're suspended in the tea. So you could just stir it up before pouring off each cup. Alternatively, disturb the pitcher as mi...
How to make Jell-O less sweet? I made a Jell-O last night and it turned out too sweet for me. Is it doable to increase the amount of water used but the same amount of Jell-O powder? So instead of 1 cup of hot water, 1 cup of cold water, and 1 Jell-O pack, it would be something like 2 cups of hot water, 2 cup of cold w...	If you add too much water your jello (jelly in some parts of the world) will not solidify. What I would suggest is looking for a non-sweetened gelatin mix and adding less sugar to it. Alternatively you could get gelatin sheets or powder and make your own from scratch. It's not that hard to do and you get exactly what y...
Does oak aged wine contain vanillin? "Vanilla" is one of the aromas used when described red wines. I am allergic to natural proteins in vanilla, per Elisa blood test. I am interested to know whether the red wine will contain actual vanillin, or whether the aroma comes from unrelated substances.	Oak aging can indeed produce real vanillin, whether in wines or other liquids (spirits, beer, even vinegars can all be oak-aged) among thousands of other flavorful compounds. Somewhat surprisingly, it seems that vanillin is commonly synthesized for use in artificial vanilla extracts from lignin, a fibrous compound tha...
Do you have to wash frozen vegetables? Do frozen vegetables have pesticides on them? Are you supposed to wash frozen vegetables before you cook them and eat them?	Unless you freeze them yourself and don't wash them first, no, you should not need to wash commercially processed frozen vegetables. Part of the process for freezing includes cleaning/trimming preparing the vegetables. Washing is unnecessary. Info here: The actual process of freezing a food item varies somewhat depend...
How long can rye bread last? A while ago, I obtained, on a Friday afternoon, a bag of pareve rye bread from the supermarket. The ingredient listing was: high gluten flour, rye flour, water, yeast, salt The bread was also covered in caraway seeds. The best before date (or possibly expiry date -- it was not clear to m...	While legal specifics vary from place to place, the "best before" on a product is often a requirement, but exactly what it is is left up to the manufacturer. In other words, they have to provide one, but it can be anything they want (there may be rules about guaranteeing nutritional content for the duration, if that i...
Penne Pasta in bulk Can you give portion advice for cooking the dry penne pasta for 200? We want to mix the pasta with a meat spaghetti sauce. Is there a general rule for pounds of pasta per 100 servings?	No such thing as a standard serving of anything really It's always just serving size * number of people + some for wastage Cook 100 g of your pasta, and work out what percent makes a serving; use an accurate set of scales you can divide the cooked serving weight by total cooked weight. This ratio can then be applied to...
Do Liquor Based Extracts Require Sugar? I have made my own vanilla extract, without sweetener and I am interested in making others like hazelnut, almond, lemon, mint, etc. The recipes I have found call for vodka and sugar, honey, simple syrup, sweetener, etc. Is sugar a required ingredient for effective extraction? I...	It's been a while since I did the research before writing the answer you quote, but based on my recollection (and what I know about the science) is that sugar is not required. Sugar is mostly used to maximize flavor extraction in some cases where a sugary final product is desired, as in traditional production of some l...
Does it matter what order ingredients are sauteed in? If I am making a stew say, does it matter if I dump in onions, garlic, bell pepper, tomato all at once or one by one? My speculated reasons are: Giving enough space for each ingredient will allow it to dry out and the maillard reaction or caramelization to take pl...	Your first suggestion is only partially valid. Let's say you add your onions first as many would do. After that your stew as a whole will most likely be too wet to get a maillard reaction going for subsequent additions. For me, the order of additions to a stew is roughly determined as such: Put the ingredient that you...
What are the reasons for sauteeing with fat? I know it's a basic question and of course it's what I do every time I cook. But I'd like to know in depth what the reasons are and the detail of how it affects heat transfer and chemical changes in food.	When you're sauteing something, you want it to heat up quickly, so you put it in contact with a hot piece of metal. However, the food is not perfectly flat, so there will be a few contact spots and lots of pockets of air in between. This air acts as a very good insulator, so you will end up with a piece of food that is...
What temperature should I serve salami at? I have recently found out that certain foods are meant to be served at certain temperatures. I really enjoy salami, but I normally eat it from the fridge. Is it meant to be served chilled, at room temperature, or at a higher temperature?	Room temperature for sure! Eating something like salami chilled detracts from its flavour. Obviously you want to be a bit careful about leaving it out for a really long time, but I usually take anything I want to eat out of the fridge well before consumption.
Is it safe to eat a cake with semi spoiled lemon rind? I made a lemon cake and used a little bit of lemon rind. I had the lemon in my fruit basket for around a month, it still had it's shape and colour so I thought it was alright and decided to bake a lemon cake so I grated some lemon rind. Once I cut the lemon in hal...	Of course if an item is spoiled this means you should throw out anything that contains the spoiled item. However, based on your description, I have an alternative hypothesis. Brown discoloration in fruit does not mean the fruit is spoiled. Discoloration can be normal, especially if there was no unusual smells or change...
What is a mild detergent? I recently obtained a dehydrator, and the instructions say for cleaning you have to: "Simply soak the trays in warm water with a mild detergent for several minutes" Can someone please define the term "mild detergent"?	I'd presume they just mean dish soap and not some more powerful cleanser. With regard to additives, etc. I guess whatever you are okay with normally should be okay. Obviously you have to rinse the trays thoroughly to get the soap off. I've had a few dehydrators and there is nothing special about the plastic trays. I...
Does sugar give moisture? I have seen a discussion regarding a replacement for sugar in brownies to give moisture. Does sugar give moisture when baking?	Sugar helps with moisture content and its mobility in baked goods. Every industrial sliced bread has sugar as a major ingredient. It is there to slow down staling. It's not clear how it does it, but sugar seems to impede the modification of starch and the flow of moisture to gluten. Sugar also helps breads retain more...
I added too much corn starch into my potato cutlets - what do I do now? I wanted to make a dough so I added cornstarch in my potato cutlets dough and now it tastes like flour.	My advice is to throw it away and start over. You could possibly salvage it by adding more potato and other ingredients, however this is not likely to work and you'll end up throwing more food and time away. If you are going to use more ingredients you're better off trying again.
Is lemon rind supposed to feel sticky when being grated? I was grating lemon rind for a lemon cake and noticed that it left a sort of sticky film on my hand. Is this normal or does it suggest that the lemon was not fresh? My other question was about whether or not the lemon I used was spoiled, so perhaps the stickine...	Limonene, a major component of lemon oil, is not very water soluble, and will leave a sticky residue on your hands til you wash with soap and water.
Starch Content of Dehydrated Potatoes Good day! I've been wondering this for years. I'm from Nova Scotia and we cook a Traditional meal called Rapure. The way it's made is by taking about 15 lbs of potatoes and processing them to remove their liquid. Traditionally this was done by grating them by hand and squeezin...	All potato cells contain starch. When you cut or rupture the cells, the starch is released So grating a potato will release some starch, but only as much as the cut surface cells contain Industrial potato starch processing use very large macerating machines and hot steam to break all the cells open, and release most of...
Dense and gluey centered cake problem I tried baking a cake for the first time. The brief procedure I followed was: Mashed 4 eggs. Added to it 1 cup sugar, 200g butter. Mixed it using an electric mixer. Then added to it 1.5 cup of all purpose flour. Mixed it thoroughly again using electric mixer. Baked it at 180 degr...	You didn't have any leavening agent, simple as that. Add about 5-7 g baking powder to this amount of flour and you'll get a normal cake.
Can a water bath be used to bake brownies? I've never used a water bath when baking, but I know that people use it for baking cheese cakes (i.e., placing the cheese-cake form in a container with water), so I was wondering if the same concept could be used for brownies. Whenever I bake brownies, all the edges become a ...	For cheese cakes water bath makes more sense cause you want to avoid burning of the batter by keeping the heat contact directly from the tray. For brownies the contact of the hot plate is required, and that is how you get a little solid outer part. When you try to water bath brownies, they would have more or less like ...
I need a substitute for acids in my food. I can't have any acid in my diet, so I need a good substitute for it for my dishes. Like lemon, orange, citric acids and vinegar. Thank you	If you search for a non-acid substitute for souring the food / raising the tartness: There is no substitute. The sensation of a tart dish is caused by lowering the pH at the corresponding taste buds. By definition tasting sourness is detecting an acid.
Why are predominantly grapes an ingredient in wine? Commonly, wine is defined as an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grapes. In contrast to this, wines made from other fruits are called fruit wine (except mead, cider, perry for historical reasons). There are plenty other fruits that have a high sugar content an...	While almost every fruit and berry contains right yeasts on its peel, according to this article people prefer to make wine from grape due to right acidity, sugar and tannins contents. I also can assume the grape was easier to process manually at almost every stage from collecting to juicing.
how to make shiny figures for cake decoration? I am wondering how are the little figures on this cute cake are made? Whats the material and where can you buy molds and casts to shape them? and how are they so shiny?	These figures are probably made with fondant. I think the figures are handshaped. There are plenty of tutorials. You can even look for tutorials working with modelling clay. Basically you only need a rolling pin, a knife and tweezers. Cans, forks, any food-safe utensil that has an interesting pattern are useful. Of c...
When is it OK to cook a burger medium? When does it seem to be OK to eat burgers cooked medium and sometimes not? I live in the UK and for many years it has been well-instructed that you cook your burger through to ensure that any surface bacteria has been ground-in is killed. I have noticed that this has changed a l...	Beef has a firm, closed texture, which prevents bacteria penetrating far into the meat. This is why it's relatively safe to eat a rare steak: you kill the surface bacteria by searing it, and the middle is relatively bacteria free. When you grind beef, you of course mix the surface with the middle, which increases the r...
How can I ensure that scrambled eggs will be fully cooked? I have some sort of digestive intolerance towards eggs that are not fully cooked, although I can handle some softness in egg yolks. In the case of fried or boiled eggs, this means that the whites are set, and that there is not an overtly liquid component to th...	Temperature is the only foolproof way to determine doneness. Unfortunately it's not very practical to carry a thermometer over to your friend's house for brunch. There are other indicators, of course, and you have mentioned the good ones for eggs. I will add, however, that some indicators can be deceiving. For example...
What is your training regimen for developing your palate? Hope this question isn't too broad, but one area I have struggled with is developing the ability to identify and isolate flavors in dishes. How do you train your palate to recognize those flavors? More specifically, do you have a training regimen you'd recomm...	Interesting question! I think the answer for most people is: we don't. At least not in any structured, scientific manner. Personally, I eat very intentionally when I am trying to learn more about a dish and its ingredients. What I mean by that is I try to break down the dish into its component parts and really think ab...
What do you call people that eat fish but not meat? Is it proper to identify people who eat fish but not meat as a class of vegetarians, or is there a better word to describe these group of people (who generally find pulses including beans, broad beans, chick peas, and lentils a perfect substitute for meat but deeply ...	Vegetarians don't eat any animals including fish. Those who don't eat meat but fish are called pescetarians. For practical reasons, sometimes pescetarians say that they are vegetarians, as Joe says in his answer in this question: I read something recently (might've been a blog, might've been some online publication)...
Name of a cheese they prepare in Switzerland When I was in Switzerland, the cooks prepared a special Swiss type of cheese and I've been wondering how this was called. It looks a bit like doner kebab(in the sense it is on a stick and they used some flame on it) and it smells a lot. Just in case this helps - this was in...	If I ignore the "on a spit" part I immediately think of Raclette, which is melted, roasted cheese served typically with bread or boiled potato. In household settings the cheese is often heated in small individual pans under a table-top broiler, each guest gets his or her own pan and prepares his food. Traditionally (a...
Cooking protein marinated in yogurt I'm currently on a no-dairy and low sugar diet. I thought to marinate lamb in yogurt, but some of the yogurt got stuck to the lamb afterward and I cooked it anyway. I think the yogurt gave it nice caramelization or whatever the black spots were. My question is, did I cook off the ca...	You cannot "cook off the calories". Also, caramelized yogurt is still yogurt. Some of the lactose in your yogurt surely got converted to something else, but 1) there is no way to estimate how much got converted and how much remained, and 2) it is impossible to say what the result was (it could have been another sugar)...
Fixing a beef broth with too much celery seed I cooked a large crock pot of beef bone broth. I didn't have any veggies so I used garlic salt, onion powder, celery seed and bay leaves with my beef bones and about 4 quarts of water. I didn't measure anything, just poured spices in. It has been simmering now for 18+ ho...	Bitterness is generally corrected with a combination of salt, sweetness and/or fats. You mention that don't have any veg at the moment -- perhaps put the stock aside or freeze until you can pick some up. Some sweet veg like parsnip and carrots could probably rescue this stock for you. Sweet herbs like basil or spices ...
Substitute For Cream of Tartar I recently bought tartar sauce instead of cream of tartar as my recipe said. The thing is I can't decide if tartar sauce is the same thing as cream of tartar. Please advise whether I can use this as a substitute or if there are other substitutes or a recipe for cream of tartar.	Cream of Tartar is potassium bitartrate in the form of powder. It is acidic, and is used in cooking mainly to stabilise meringue. Tartare sauce is a mayonnaise-based sauce made using cornichons, capers, and tarragon or dill. It is usually served with seafood. The two items are completely different and cannot be substit...
How to simmer bone broth safely with an overnight pause? I'm making broth using beef bones and vegetables. I started by roasting 3lbs of bones with a bit of meat on them in the oven. Then I added them to a large stockpot, covered with cold water, and added 2T of apple cider vinegar. After 30 minutes rest, I added my v...	You definitely can't just leave it on the stove; that'd mean far longer than 2 hours in the danger zone. (See for example How do I know if food left at room temperature is still safe to eat?) If cooking until it's done is out of the question, you need to try to chill it. Putting the whole pot in the fridge might not be...
Why does some frozen food puff up when defrosting? I know freezing is supposed to make foods expand but it seems that two pre-packaged sealed food items that I have in my freezer seem a bit puffy (chicken curry and chicken dumplings with cabbage) after taking them out of the freezer. I don't think they were that way ...	That's just the air in the package expanding, as it goes from freezer temperature to room temperature. It sounds like you're thinking of the fact that water expands when it freezes (and shrinks when it melts) but that's not what's happening here. The air warms up long before the ice starts melting. Some freezer packagi...
Does soy sauce expire? Being mostly made of salt, I often used soy sauce well beyond (as in "two years and more") its expiration date without ever having a problem. Is that a bad idea, and did I actually take some health risks doing so?	Still tasty implicitly says that the sauce stays indefinitely technically edible. The expiration date is only for quality purposes. I think the sauce probably doesn't have an expiration date but rather a "Best By" or "Best if Used By" date. Storage time shown is for best quality only — after that, the sauce's texture,...
How to keep Indian curry made with condensed milk from separating The Chicken Korma recipe that I've been making always seems to separate near the end of preparation. This ranges from small lumps forming too yellow water raising to the surface. I read through the advice at How do I prevent coconut milk from separatin...	I discovered that 2% Evaporated Milk isn't the default (this is all that my local store stocks most of the time). When I made the curry with regular fat (not skimmed?) Evaporated Milk, almost no separation occurred.
Using Vinegar to Cut down on Spice I've read recommendations on cutting down the spice of a sauce using butter, oil, fat, yogurt, and cream; however, I've tried all those and they don't seem to do the same type of balancing as adding vinegar. Is this just my tastebuds being weird or is there something "to" adding vine...	I can't tell you why it works - possibly alteration of sodium or calcium channel response in the taste receptors? - but I've seen Indian cooks use lemon or lime juice in much the same way to cut down the heat of a too-hot curry. It's definitely a done thing.
How can I cook with worcestershire sauce in a pan without leaving an impossible to remove char on the pan? When I cook hamburgers inside, I do it in a pan on stove top. I usually use worcestershire sauce, but it seems that when I do it gets cooked onto the bottom of the pan. No amount of soaking makes it easier to cle...	Worcestershire sauce is fairly sweet, it's the sugar that's blackening. There's nothing you can do about it - if you add it to your pan it's going to char. The solution is not to put it in the pan, but put it on afterwards or mix it in with the meat before making patties. You'll get a better result that way as well, y...
Rice pilaff preparation on bbq grill I've just bought a new BBQ grill "Sunday One Tower". I am beginner to grilling and now I wonder how to prepare rice pilaff on my grill. I think I need a Soap stone with Frame and then place a bowler on it. Is it right?	I would not use a regular pan on a wood fire bbq grill (even on a stone). You can use a cast iron dutch oven (or maybe a Japanese cast iron rice cooker). After that, you will need to keep control of the heat your grill generates at it can get really hot in a dutch oven. Nice grill btw.
Why tandoori chicken does not dry out despite the high heat Indian tandoori chicken is cooked in a tandoor oven, with heat reaching 900F. How come the chicken does not dry out? Because of the yogurt marinade?	If you see this recipe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Fzpi99tlk - When cooked in oven he is using two deck plates. Chicken is on top and underneath there is some water. I agree that Tandoor cooked in conventional oven without water plate will be very dry.
What is the source of smoky flavor for barbecued foods? What exactly gives charcoal barbecued food the smoky flavor? Does smoky flavor happen if you burn wood to make coals and then use the coals to cook? Or does it only happen when you use store bought charcoal lumps/briquettes?	Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" has an interesting explanation on the chemistry of smoke (pg 448 on my edition). This is a summary of what it says: The three main component of wood are: Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin (Source: Wikimedia) Cellulose and hemicellulose make up the "scaffold" of plant cells and ligni...
How to replicate this bakery's bread A local bakery is going out of business and they sell the most delicious bread. The pretzel bread is my favorite. All of their loaves tend to be heavy and dense, they stand up well to slicing, and the bread is soft and chewy when you bite into it. Any advice on how to try and dupli...	If it's pretzel bread, it may be dipped in a hot soda solution before baking, or lye for the brave and very, very careful. That would mostly be about the crust, rather than the density. Several sources suggest baking baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to convert it to (food grade) sodium carbonate for a stronger (than bi...
Culinary term for frying in water (without oil)? Is there a culinary term describing "frying in about 4mm of water" in a frying pan without oil (with this technique, if water evaporates you just keep adding more from a glass, keeping it shallow).	If the veggies are barely submerged, you're effectively steaming. It is not as pure a method as actually raising them slightly above the (I presume very rapidly boiling) water, but if you keep them moving enough, the result is going to be more similar than it would be to be boiling/poaching/simmering. In case you are ...
Difference between sweating and sautéeing? I would like to know the difference between sweating and sautéeing? Is the difference between the two, the fact that one uses oil, and the other uses fat, or are there any other aspects to be considered?	The answer is a bit complicated, because there is a confusing language issue here. In standard cooking terminology, there is nothing in common between the two (except that both are stovetop). Sautéeing requires a wicked hot pan, a layer of oil (you can't use nonstick at these temperatures), and constant movement of th...
Can I use an enameled trivet on the stove top? I noticed a trivet at Aldi going for quite cheap and picked one up. My understanding of a trivet is that it's something you use to diffuse the power of a burner however, the one I got seems to be made to put hot pans and pots on. There are no instructions on the packaging...	I would not recommend using this trivet on any heat source. First, because that is not what it is designed to be used for. Secondly the description says that they have rubber feet, not a good match for a heat source. And while I suppose you could remove them, I couldn't recommend that in good conscience. EDIT As per @J...
Does type of starch used for thickening make a difference in a fruit sauce? I'm making fruit sauce to spoon, say, over a piece of cheese cake. American recipes typically call for corn starch to thicken it, but around here most people tend to have potato starch in their pantries. Does corn starch have any advantages ov...	Per this page from The Cook's Thesaurus many starches can be used for thickening but some work better than others for certain applications. For the purpose of a fruit sauce arrowroot would probably be your best option. arrowroot starch = arrowroot powder = arrowroot = arrowroot flour This starch thickener has sev...
How to cleanly cover the dough while it rise? When I leave dough pieces (for pizza) to rise, I put a wet towel on top of them, and leave them for a few hours. The problem is that when the process is finished, the dough sticks very strongly to the towel, and it's quite hard to scrap the dough from it for washing. I've ...	Spray the dough with oil, dust with a little flour, and either cover loosely with plastic wrap, or if the dough is on a tray, slide the whole thing into a food safe plastic bag.
Is wood a good alternative to charcoal for bbq fuel? Instead of buying lump or briquette charcoal every time, can I just burn some birch and use that as the heat for my charcoal bbq?	You can use any non-poisonous wood you like. Every wood has a different heat and smoke profile. "Soft woods" like birch will generally burn very hot for a short time, so OK for sausages, small meat cuts, and small vegetables, but not so good for large meat cuts, roasts, or for BBQ'ing covered for the full smoke effect ...
Thin crust pizza on barbecue I want to make a pizza on my charcoal barbecue. I saw a few videos from Weber, but none show how to get a thin crust. What is the secret to a thin crust pizza and can it be done on a charcoal bbq?	The secret to getting a thin crust is... use less dough. It's that simple. Pizza dough is flour, water, salt, yeast: there is no magic ingredient that will make it thinner. Simply use less dough per pizza. You may find that when you first shape the dough it will try and spring back. In this case, just cover it and leav...
Can I boil a yogurt marinade if I add cornstarch? I'm making tikka masala tonight, and the chicken is marinating in a yogurt mixture. I've already made a sauce to eat it with, but I was wondering if there was a way to bring the marinade to a boil so that I could safely consume it too. I heard that adding cornstarch to...	Good news! There is no reason to bring the marinade to a rolling boil as a simmer will siffice. Chicken and other items that have been in contact with raw chicken are considered safe at 165 degrees (See http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html). A simmer is generally about 180. If the sauce breaks however, yo...
"Acetone" smell on bread I sometimes buy a brand of multi-grain salt-free bread *. After 2-3 days, it gets a very distinct smell of acetone, like paint stripper or nail polish remover. If I toast the bread, the smell goes away. The bread is well within its sell-by date, so I don't typically put it into the fridge. Thi...	I wouldn't see it as safe to eat. I cannot imagine that the acetone was present when you bought the bread (QA should have caught this if it happens every now and then), so it must be the byproduct of some microorganism chomping down on the bread. Especially if you say that it develops over time. On the chance that it ...
Complete list of terms used to describe cooking methods? I am trying to build up a list of all the cooking methods which can be used to cook something, including terms used in the stages of the cooking process used to cook such food. Here is what I have come up with so far: boiling simmering steaming poaching sweatin...	I think any "exhaustive" list here is bound to be arbitrary. Some of your own categories overlap (e.g., frying, plus several subcategories of such); so, e.g., is "slow cooking" a cooking method or is it the same as simmering? Is frying in a wok (aka. stir frying) a distinct method from what you call "shallow-frying"?...
Why do milk products stay fresh longer when stored in glass? Over the years I have noticed that when I buy milk in glass bottles it will stay fresh-tasting longer than milk bought in plastic jugs or paperboard cartons. This includes other milk products such as whipping cream and half & half. What I don't know is why ...	First off I want to point out the term "fresh". While some containers might keep milk from spoiling for longer, it may not taste as nice. Several things might be why: 1.) Plastics leach flavor and odor into the milk. Cardboard cartons are also lined with plastic, not wax since about the 1940s. I would say this is like...
What is the difference between boiled vegetables and stewed vegetables? I would like to know what the difference is between boiled vegetable and stewed vegetables? Are the methods for preparing these different? How do these differ? My understanding is that with boiling nothing is mixed with the vegetables, whereas wit...	The distinction is not so much what you add as what you do with the liquid. If I am making boiled carrots, when they're done I drain them, throwing the water away or possibly saving it to make soup with some other time, and serve the carrots. If I am making a vegetable stew then not only do I add things to the liquid (...
Correct oven temperature for chicken tikka at home To make chicken tikka in oven, should I bake at 350c for about 40 min and then broil it on high for 2 min? I don't expect same taste as if it was a tandoor oven, but hoping for something close. Assume I have the ingredients for proper marinade?	Make sure that the tikkas do not touch a surface e.g. an aluminium foil or a tray. Suspend them from a grid and use a lined tray at the bottom of the oven to collect the fat/juices. Cook at 180°C for 20-25 minutes (to cook the chicken through) and then cook on maximum temperature (usually 350°C) for 5-7 minutes to get ...

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