instruction stringlengths 2 23k | output stringlengths 3 23.1k ⌀ |
|---|---|
Moldy bread smell but no mold?
I have Nickles brand multigrain bread. 2 slices of it are just stale. The others though smell moldy but I don't see any mold whatsoever on any of the slices. They taste strange too. This I know because I ate one of them to releive my heartburn last night.
So why would my bread smell mold... | The mold is growing and producing that smell. Mold spores form on ALL bread when it is exposed to air. That's why it takes a few days for the mold to actually be visible. The mold doesn't just instantly grow, it "forms" over a few days and when enough of it accumulates, you see it.
Bread with preservatives, have a lo... |
What ingredient or method causes a mixture to be a bread versus cake?
Sometimes I try to make a bread but the texture comes out more like a muffin even when I use a loaf baking pan. I have even tried premixed bread (similar to premixed boxed cakes) and while the taste is nice, the texture is not what I am looking to h... | Multiple factors give cake and bread its distinct attributes:
Fat/sugar content: a bread is generally very lean. Most traditional breads do not have any fat or sugar in it at all. Cake will generally have a high fat content from either butter, oil, or milk. Breads will taste "drier" than cake because it lacks this fat... |
Substitute double cream for butter?
I have a lot of leftover double cream and I was wondering if I could substitute it instead of butter in a biscuit recipe? I know it's a different consistency, so there would have to be some calculations on it - but has anyone done it? Can anyone offer any advice!
I was also thinkin... | You can't really substitute double cream for butter as the fat/water ratio is different - it's basically just too wet. However, guess what they make butter out of - cream! If you 'over whip' cream, the fat separates from the liquid leaving you with fresh butter. Naturally this is easy if you have an electric mixer. If ... |
How to remove garlic smell from refrigerator/ice maker
Is there a certain cleaner or chemical that will remove a lingering garlic odor from an ice maker or other food processing equipment?
About a month ago, my wife and I noticed that the ice from our fridge had a slight garlic smell and taste. On inspection, I notic... | Basically you need to turn it off, remove everything from it and then thoroughly clean it using a solution of warm water and baking soda.
Baking soda will help remove/absorb any odors that have leeched into the fabric of the fridge.
Once that is done and it has completely dried, you can restock the fridge, examining ca... |
For salad dressings, replacing mustard with lecithin as an emulsifier?
So every time I make a salad dressing, I can't help but rely on mustard (or sometimes mayonnaise) to emulsify the mixture. However, oftentimes, I don't want mustard as part of the flavor profile of my salad.
So is there any neutral emulsifier tha... | Lecithin is indeed a good emulsifier, available from egg whites or soy. Both egg whites and soy lecithin are available in powdered form and should be shelf-stable and usable with normal kitchen tools (scales and measuring spoons).
Another powdered option is gum arabic (also called acacia gum), which comes from acacia ... |
Oven is leaking steam out the back
Most times when I cook, steam leaks out the back of my oven in large quantities, much more than I've spilled. I think maybe it's coming off the food, leaking out a loose seam in the back, and condensing on the back panel, dripping down onto the stove.
Besides loss of energy, should I... | Modern ovens have holes in the back for things like thermostats and ignitors. Yes, you should be concerned. Not so much about the steam but it does indicate you have some sort of hole in the back of the oven or it's not properly vented. The holes for thermostats and ignitors (gas ovens) should be filled in with insulat... |
Do cooled-down/chilled toasted black sesame seeds taste nearly raw again?
The consensus seems to be that toasted (black) sesame seeds taste better than their raw counterpart.
But what happens to the improved flavour when those toasted sesame seeds cool down or get refrigerated and consumed without being reheated/re-to... | Toasting a grain causes the color to change due to Maillard reactions. These are chemical reactions between sugars and amino acids that occur in high heat. When the grain cools down, those newly formed chemicals are still present so the flavor will still be different. However, when something is warm, aroma molecules ar... |
Device to install on a bottle to only spill drops
When heating up cold food in microwave it oftens comes out pretty dry, and I like juicy food. So I add 1 or 2 teaspoons of olive oil on the food before heating it. I'd be easier though if I had some kind of small device | What you are looking for is pretty common and can be bought in most markets in the kitchen section. Or ordered online by search "olive oil bottles". They look like this: |
Cooking potato same day you dig up
Could you cook and eat potatoes the same day you dig them up? | Absolutely! Right away if you like. And you may well notice they taste really nice when you do that. "New potatoes" - small, and not stored for long - are delicious. |
What is glooi in English?
Warning! As is discussed in the comments to the answer, the plant and tuber may be poisonous and must be cooked by experts.
I went to a village market in NE Thailand. They had many products from "the jungle". For lunch I had steamed, shredded coco-nut, pumpkin and a white tuber (?) they calle... | Warning! The plant and tuber may be poisonous and must be cooked by experts. See comments.
Some Thai friends had eaten this tuber when they were young and helped me surf the Internet for it.
It is pronounced glooi (กลอย).
Scientifically it would be
Dioscorea hispida Dennst
http://www.thaicrudedrug.com/main.php?action=v... |
Frozen chicken vs thawed chicken in the crockpot
I was wondering- if the recipe calls for frozen chicken and to took for 6-7 hours but I use thawed chicken instead do I cook it for less time? Thanks! | You could cook it for less time, but it equally wouldn't make much difference if you just went for the full 6-7 hours, especially if you are using a forgiving cut like thigh.
I would, incidentally, be very wary about putting frozen chicken in a slow cooker. At the low temperatures a slow cooker uses, there is a good ch... |
baking time adjustment when baking large quantity of fish
Do I need to increase cooking time when baking many more fish fillets than receipe calls for. | On a Single Rack
A preheated oven will cool down depending on the amount of food put into it, but will lose more heat due to the opening of the door. As long as they are spread out enough, the cooking time will be affected very little.
On Multiple Racks
Assuming you do not have a convection oven: when baking on separa... |
Why did my ginger garlic paste have a bitter aftertaste?
I cooked a base for indian sauce based on lots of onion, homemade ginger garlic paste, some veggies (I used carrot, a little napa cabbage, bell peppers) and spices. After cooking, the sauce had an unfortunate bitter aftertaste. Nothing burned, I cooked over care... | I see three possibilities based on what you've said:
the germ of the garlic. The germ, or new sprout of the garlic, should be removed before cooking. If your garlic had started to sprout and especially if you left in the germ, this is a possible cause of the bitterness.
acid. Cooking garlic in an acid environment can... |
Does meat marinate while it is in the freezer?
Put a skirt steak in a plastic bag with a marinade and then promptly put it in the freezer. It has been in the freezer for a couple of days now. I want to thaw it out for dinner tonight, but I'm wondering if the meat has had a chance to marinate in its frozen state? | Marinating steak - apart from very acidic marinades - will affect only the outer few mm of your meat. While these are the first to freeze, they are also the first to thaw, together with the marinade.
Your total marinating time will be
(time until outer layer is frozen) + (time since outer layer thawed, before cooking)... |
No water in the Crock pot
I have beans cooking in the crock pot and I'm at work. Just realized there is no water. I forgot the water!! What should I expect to come home to? | At best, you'll have toasted beans. At worst they will be burnt. I'm guessing these are dried or otherwise you wouldn't worry. Curious what you find out. |
Does vegetable soup made with chicken stock last longer if the stock was made fresh vs from a stock cube?
My son made some vegetable soup at school this morning and it's been sitting unrefrigerated in a sealed container all day (~10 hours).
The soup used chicken stock as a base. In trying to determine whether it's saf... | It's probably OK but there are a lot of variables here so from where I sit, it's difficult to be certain. Cooking will kill most bacteria. If the soup went from the pot, hot, to the container and capped immediately, the risk of airborne bacteria getting in is reduced. It takes more than a couple bacteria to get you sic... |
How can I prevent the cocoa in my hot chocolate from solidifying over time?
I make my own hot chocolate by making a slurry of cocoa powder and warm milk being sure that the chocolate is nicely melted and smooth. Then I add the rest of the milk and heat it the rest of the way. I just use the microwave for single-serv... | Apply heat.
It's not quite what you were looking for, but it's probably the only solution that won't involve adding chemicals.
Basically, a set amount of milk can hold a specific amount of chocolate in suspension. The hotter it is (below boiling), the more it can hold. That's why as the milk cools, the chocolate it can... |
How to tell if cheese is vegetarian?
I do not eat farmed animals, including animal rennet, which is used in making many kinds of cheese. Cheeses here in the U.S. vary in what they use as curdling agent and I have seen the following labels listed in ingredients:
Animal Rennet
Rennet
Microbial Rennet
Cheese Cultu... | Unfortunately, as you suggest, this is tricky. The short answer is: if it's labeled "vegetarian rennet," "vegetable rennet," or "microbial rennet," it is probably, but not necessarily, vegetarian. Otherwise, it is probably not vegetarian.
If you're willing to substitute different "cheeses:" Consider cheese types (or ch... |
How long can batter sit before chemical leaveners lose their power?
Background: I can not fit 2 - 12 muffin tins in my oven in a manner that will result in 24 nicely baked muffins or cupcakes. I am using everyday muffin or cupcake recipes that use baking powder and or baking soda. Can I leave half the batter on the co... | Yep! I make double-batches of mini cupcakes that often take 3-4 rounds in the oven and they all come out pretty much the same. Granted, the minis only bake for about 15 minutes or so and muffins can take longer but I've never had an issue.
As a note, the recipes I use call for either baking powder only or baking powder... |
Knife for cutting steak slices from whole ribeye?
What type of knife is good for slicing a whole ribeye into individual steak slices?
I've looked at some instructional videos on youtube and a butcher used a curved blade, someone else used a long rectangular blade, but I did not know what either of them were called.
Wh... | You will need a standard curved 10" butcher knife. You cannot cut a proper steak with a straight-bladed chef's knife, as the blade will not contact the cutting board at the proper angle. The knife needs to be sharp. A sharp knife is less likely to cut you than a dull one because the handler will not have to fight with ... |
What gas output required for home stir frying?
I love stir fries, but I've never been happy with the result from using my 2400w electric nonstick wok.
I've bought a nice heavy steel one and know I need a gas burner but not sure of the output I really need? My bbq has a 12000btu output side burner (about 3.5kw) which ... | Here's a quote from the short section "Stir-Fry" in the Gargantuan work "Modernist Cuisine":
...a wok burner can deliver up to [...] 200,000 BTU/h of thermal power. [...] By comparison, Western-style professional gas burners deliver [...] 15,000-30,000 BTU/h), and domestic gas burners [...] 6,000-14,000 BTU/h)...
So... |
What is the difference between Atlantic and Steelhead farmed salmon in taste and how to cook?
I noticed today at the grocery for the first time a new type of salmon called Steelhead farmed salmon next to the regular Atlantic farmed salmon. The Steelhead was about 10% cheaper in price and slightly deeper pink/red (the ... | Technically, steelhead is an ocean-going subspecies of rainbow trout (a term more commonly applied to fish who live only in fresh water). They're definitely related, though; salmon, trout, and char (you can often find Arctic char in the fish case alongside salmon) are all members of the Salmonidae family. As such the... |
Spring onion (green onion/scallion) in coq au vin?
I recently ran into an Australian recipe for coq au vin that called for "spring onions", which (in Australia) refers unambiguously to what the French call cébette:
Oddly, the recipe calls for 800g of them (spring onions are sold by bunch, not weight), says you should... | Australian and keen Coq au Vin maker here; I am in Sydney so my response may be subject to regional variations; Australia is a big place.
There is yet another possibility. These
Coq au Vin requires onions twice; at the start, chopped, and later on, where the recipe I use (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) calls for ... |
What is this white, non-fuzzy, substance on my kimchi?
I have a jar of store bought kimchi that I neglected for a few months (bought around mid July). Today I opened it and noticed that a few pieces had some white stuff on it, but it doesn't look like mold. The best way to describe it is that it is similar to the whit... | That's mold, and you should discard it.
Kimchi keeps forever (well, years) if and only if it's not exposed to air, meaning there's always enough liquid in the pot to cover the cabbage. If you have bits poking up into the air and you leave them there for days/weeks, they'll dry out and start growing mold. |
Does cooking reset the expiry date of ingredients?
Assume I have the following ingredient all expiring tomorrow:
Mushrooms
Paneer (Cottage cheese)
Basmati rice
If I make a dish with these 3 ingredients (basically put rice, chopped mushroom,chopped paneer, water and some spices in a pressure cooker and wait for 2 w... | The expiring date of the cooked food has nothing to do with the expiring date of the ingredients. They are considered separately. A cooked food has a shelf life of 3-5 days, and this assumes that you followed a safe cooking process, which includes using ingredients which were not expired at the time of cooking.
Cookin... |
Soon-to-be cultured milk with fresh fruit safe for consumption?
Recently my cousin started to make yogurt. She told me that she puts diced, fresh fruit (strawberries, peaches) into the inoculated milk (pasteurized or sterilized, I don't know. 1) and then let this set in the oven at ~50°C for some hours. After this, sh... | Not only are "friendly" bacteria being cultured, those bacteria make an acidic environment which is hostile to "bad" bacteria.
Myself, I make plain yogurt and mix things into it at the time of eating, but things mixed in from the start essentially become "yogurt-pickled" and should be fine for a reasonable period unde... |
Can I use Bisquick instead of All Purpose Flour?
Can I use Bisquick instead of All Purpose Flour? | You cannot directly use Bisquick in place of AP flour.
According to the company web site and Wikipedia, Bisquick consists of bleached all-purpose flour with several other ingredients, including fat (shortening), leavening (baking powder), sugar, and salt. It is essentially a self-rising flour with added fat. Because of... |
Make homemade seitan taste like commercial
There are some wonderful brands of commercial seitan. One that I particularly love it Ray's Wheat Meat, which has the consistency of pulled chicken and a savory, bready flavor. Almost all homemade seitan that I've had or made has an off-note that is completely absent in the b... | I have never cooked with seitan, but found your question very interesting. The below excerpt from VeganFuel , includes a letter from the President and Founder of Fresh Tofu, Inc, a distributor of Ray's Seitan:
We asked if their seitan is made in house, as it is consistently the best seitan we’ve had. We thought we ma... |
Browning beef for beef stew?
I'm following this recipe.
When they say "brown it," are they saying to just brown the edges....or all the way through? Assuming I just sorta brown the outside (but it's not cooked all the way though), is this safe?
Like the inside of my stew meat won't be cooked, is simmering it for 2 hou... | The idea is to brown the outside of the meat in order to develop the flavour via the Maillard Reaction. This flavour will add to the richness and meatiness of the stew as a whole. Go ahead and give it a good crust. Don't overcrowd the pan or you will just end up steaming the meat in its own juices and it will never bro... |
Refreeze Sherbet
Can you eat Sherbet once it has completely thawed and then frozen again? Mine was left out over night in about 65 degree room. Is it okay to freeze it again and eat it. I put it back in the freezer in the morning. | While nobody can say with 100% certainty that your refrozen sherbet is safe, I certainly would not expect any danger. The ingredients in sherbet are just not that conducive to quick or dangerous spoilage.
The problem I would anticipate would have much more to do with quality. Sherbet is frozen while being churned, giv... |
Why do they put the fruit on the bottom?
Why do they put fruit at the bottom of the yogurt? Why not at the top, or just mixed in? | Fruit will settle to the bottom of the yogurt during transit anyway; this way, it ends up neat and tidy and intentional. Many people mix it together just before eating if they prefer a more blended flavor. |
Lemon Thyme Substitute
In the following recipe, lemon thyme is used. Unfortunately, I can't find it in my local grocery store.
1) Can I substitute thyme + lemon zest? If so, how much?
2) The recipe notes rosemary and lavender both work and these are significantly easier to find. If I wanted to use these, how much wou... | Lemon zest and thyme would be a perfect substitute for lemon thyme. Lemon thyme is an entirely different species from regular thyme, but the name is very apropos. Figure maybe 1 part finely grated zest to 3 parts thyme. As with all herbs, the ideal amount is really very subjective. Start with half of what your recipe c... |
How many times can you reuse bones to make broth?
I recently cooked a chicken and made chicken broth from the bones. I also kept a few pieces of meat to add to the broth to give it more flavor.
I know you can freeze the broth and use it for later but specifically how many times can I reuse the bones to make broth? Is ... | Beef bones can be used multiple times, but less flavor and gelatin will be extracted from each additional use. Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" describes this.
Because a standard kitchen extraction of eight hours releases only about 20% of the gelatin in beef bones, the bones may be extracted for a second time, f... |
Cooking steak in frying pan, problem with oil splatter
I was using canola oil and put the stove top setting on "high - 9". I read plenty of guides suggesting there will infact be oil splatter, but it was pretty excessive and burning my arm with one drop getting near my eye before I stopped. I turned the heat setting d... | You need to realize that oil doesn't splatter, water does. In fact, you could heat oil until it catches fire without any mayor movement.
But the moment water reaches the oil, which in a hot pan is way beyond the boiling point for water, it will instantly turn into steam, expand and pull oil drops with it.
So apart from... |
How can I keep samosa pastry crispy longer?
I am making samosa (a triangular savoury pastry fried in ghee or oil, containing spiced vegetables or meat). To make outer cover I am making dough using the following:
All purpose flour (100 gram)
Ghee (25 gram)
ajwain (carom).
salt
water
To fill the cover I ... | Allow the samosas to cool on a rack. If you put the warm samosas on a plate, moisture will build up and create steam. Steam makes fried foods soggy. |
Is it possible to improve one's taste palette through practice or other methods?
Good day, this seems more of a biology question rather than a cooking question, however, I don't know where else to ask. My question is simple? Is it possible to train someones tongue to be more sensitive to flavours with practice? I've n... | Sure...well, almost. I don't believe you will be training your actual taste sensors to become more sensitive (biologists or flavor chemists can correct me), but you can learn to improve your recognition and understanding of flavor. So, it is a matter of training your brain, not your tongue. It's how chef's, sommeilie... |
Can you eat turkey eggs?
I'm considering acquiring a few turkey hens and was wondering can you eat Turkey eggs? Has anyone eaten one? How do they taste? | Yes, you absolutely can eat turkey eggs. They are somewhat like duck eggs in that they are richer and creamier in taste. However, turkeys don't lay nearly as many eggs as chickens - perhaps 100 a year as opposed to a hen's 300, so don't expect to enjoy them too often. |
Mexican style taco cheese
So I know these cheeses are a blend of yellow and white cheddar as well as some Monterey Jack (sometimes pepper jack), but do you know what seasonings are used to make these taco style shredded cheese blends?
I am guessing cumin and chili powder, but if anyone knows for sure that would be gre... | We do a fajita night once a week in my house; so I have tuned the following recipes over the last 10 years or so.
1/2 tsp of each:
ground cumin
onion powder
salt
chili powder
cornstarch (ONLY if melting cheese)
crushed red peppers (optional for spicy)
garlic powder
oregano leaves
(Heavy cream and butter if melting)
... |
Cloudy white vinegar
We had some fairly new white vinegar get cloudy white strands in it. Wasn't much left in the plastic gallon bottle so we tossed it. Only thing I can figure is that it was too close to the oven and may have caused this. What I don't understand is that when we use vinegar for canning, it gets heated... | Mother of vinegar is a the bacteria acetobacter, which produces vinegar from wine, beer, or any other alcoholic source. In vinegar production, if the mother eats all the alcohol, it will then eat the vinegar and convert it into carbon dioxide. Vinegar mother will turn vinegar cloudy, and will form a film on the surface... |
Should I peel my tomatoes before making a sauce?
What are the pros and cons of peeling my tomatoes before making a sauce?
I basically make two different sauces a classical red sauce and a "pink" sauce that is a light alfredo infused with white wine and then chopped tomatoes are added and reduced.
When making my pink... | It is unnecessary, however some people don't like the skins. They tend to curl up into tube sticks that don't chew very well and can hurt if you chew one accidentally and you have a sensitive tooth or gum disease.
Peeling it very easy. Score an x at the bottom of each tomatoe and blanch. The skin will curl back and lea... |
How to store cooked Quinoa for few hours at work?
I want to cook red grain quinoa while making breakfast at home in the morning, and then pack it and have it later for lunch at work with a salad. How should I store it after cooking for about 5 hours?
More details:
I'm planning to cook it and immediately put it in a ... | You should always try to first bring hot quinoa to room temperature and follow the rest which you already mentioned. That works great, else if you try to pack it when it like burning hot, then the steam kind of stays in the packed room which later creates moisture and later spoils the food even though you keep it in th... |
Does freezing fresh peppers, specifically habañero peppers ruin them?
Someone gave me more peppers than I can eat and I'd like to freeze them for at least a few months, a year at most. Am I wasting good peppers by doing that? | It depends on what you plan to use them for. They won't ever be crisp again after freezing, but if you're cooking them anyway, they will be fine. I do this all the time with leftover peppers. You should certainly remove stems and seeds and cut them into whatever size you will need for cooking. |
Measurement of ingredients for baking 400g of brown bread
I am not a professional baker, these days I have found love in baking brown breads at home.
I want to bake a loaf of 400g, for that I take below measurements
300g of wheat flour
100g of water
2 table spoon of Fresh Instant Yeast
2 table spoon of sugar
2 table... | 2T instant yeast is ~17g, 2T of sugar and oil are both around 25g, 1t salt ~6g. ½t bread improver is going to be a gram or two.
So you've added together 300g flour + 100g water + ≈75g other stuff. By a pretty fundamental law of physics, mixed together that weighs 475g. Since you got 600g instead, there are two possibil... |
What happens to pound cakes if I forget the flour and then add it after baking a little?
I was making pound cakes. I put the mixture in loaf pans, noticing the consistency looked off. I put them in the oven and about 5 minutes later I realized I forgot to put in the flour. I took the pans out, added everything to the ... | You will end up with a very sweet sunken souffle type item without the flour. |
How much sugar and vanilla extract should I use in 1/2 gallon of ice cream?
I've lost a simple ice cream recipe I used prior to making custards, and I find occasionally I'd like to make it since it's much simpler and faster - can be made in the churn with no additional dishes dirtied.
The only part I remember was that... | You're making what is (at least to Americans) called Philadelphia-style ice cream. The name makes it fairly easy to find the ratios. Checking three recipes:
http://www.culinate.com/books/collections/all_books/The+Perfect+Scoop/Vanilla+Ice+Cream
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/12/30-minute-philadelphia-style-ic... |
Can bitter almonds(or other nuts containing amygdalin) be made edible?
I am interested because there seems to be information scattered here and there suggesting this, but offering no such instructions on just how it can be done. What I am curious of is not now to use amygdalin-containing nuts as a minor ingredient(su... | I think it most likely that the methods you describe are theoretically possible, but risky and not particularly cost-effective. Whatever the mechanism that could be used to render the almonds safe for consumption, it seems difficult to confirm this in a home preparation, leaving you with some potential (even if small)... |
Are there any calories in roasted coffee beans? Why is black coffee 0 kcal?
Are there any calories in roasted coffee beans?
And why do they seem to 'disappear' when turned into black coffee?
According to some websites, there are (I've seen values between 300 and 400 kcal per 100 g).
At the same time, when I check nut... | Sources:
Coffee beans kcal per 100 g:
406 kcal: http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=28551
417 kcal: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Orzo-Coffee-Ground-Roasted-400/dp/B00EXPZIT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443103310&sr=8-1
300 kcal: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/generic-whole-plain-medium-roast-... |
Rabbit that looks and tastes like chicken?
OK, I know saying such & such a type of meat tastes like chicken is a total stereotype, but bear with me.
I am not a frequent eater of rabbit but I'd say have it 1-2 times a year, so I feel like I have a rough idea of the taste and appearance. All the rabbit I've ever eaten p... | It wouldn't be the first time that a high-end restaurant has passed off more expensive ingredients as cheaper ingredients, but it's pretty unlikely. What is the most probable reason is that you had farmed rabbit as opposed to wild rabbits, which have very different flavors and textures due to diet and lifestyle.
Wild ... |
Why is cheese never used in Americanized Chinese food?
While working weekends in an Americanized Chinese food restaurant I realized while many ingredients are used, no dishes contain cheese.
This seems to be the case for every chinese dish I have ever seen in America, where as almost any other type of restaurants at... | It's simple; Americanized Chinese food rarely contains cheese because Chinese food rarely contains cheese.
As many as 90% of Chinese people are, to some degree, lactose intolerant. Dairy is simply not a large part of Chinese food culture. Dairy is growing as a business in China. However, since dairy makes most Chinese ... |
How do you french trim a lamb shank?
I could only find a couple of written tutorials and they weren't very good. Can anyone explain it to me or provide a good tutorial? | Check this link clearly explained the chef style frenching. |
Why is there a small piece of iron sponge in my electric water boiler?
My electric water boiler has a small, yet dense bit of iron sponge, about the size of a Brussels sprout. I think it is something to prevent the water from superheating. However, I'm not sure that's the only reason, because they could also just make... | They are claimed (I don't know what research has actually been done) to prevent the build-up of limescale. |
Why is the chicken in Indian food so tender?
I used to go to an Indian restaurant that had the most tender chicken I've ever had. In general, it seems like Indian curries have very tender chicken. Could somebody explain if there is a secret? Is it marinading in yogurt, the tandoor, an industrial tenderizing agent? The... | It is a combination of the marinade (with yoghurt and lemon juice probably being the main factors in the tenderness) and the hot, fast cooking in the tandoor, further enhanced by the use of metal skewers which conduct the heat to the middle of the meat quickly. A good tandoor chef will time the cooking perfectly so tha... |
Is it safe to cook in a clean Teflon pot if the inside bottom has blistered and peeled from exposure to high heat?
Is it safe to cook in a Teflon pot that has blistered and peeled and produced fumes from previously being heated too high? This is what the bottom of the pot looks like | We toss them out when they start doing this. They'll just keep peeling from here on out and we try to be healthy with our cooking. No way do we want to eat teflon. We actually replaced all of our pots and pans for ceramic coated. Hope to see if they last a little longer. |
Is hot water bath canning really necessary?
I made a barbecue sauce that I want to send to a friend (internationally). I bought some mason jars, and was planning to just put the barbecue sauce in there, tighten the lids back on, and ship it off. Then I started seeing people say things about hot water bath canning and ... | I'll leave the question of food safety and mandatory canning or not with regard to ingredients to others, but frankly, if you have a large pot in your kitchen you have a canner. For small batches and only very occasional use, there is no need to buy a separate canner.
Place a small metal rack (if you have one small eno... |
How to keep chicken juices in the chicken when cooking in the oven?
I'm trying to cook 6-8 chicken breasts at a time by putting them all in a roasting pan, adding seasoning, and putting it in the oven.
The problem is that the chicken becomes very dry, but the pan fills with water from the chicken! The result is a dry... | Use a meat thermometer. If you overcook the chicken, it will dry out. The standard temperature for chicken breast is 160 degrees Fahrenheit. |
Should I rest pancake batter?
I read somewhere that pancake batter should rest. This confuses me.
On the one hand, mixing the wet ingredients with flour creates gluten. Resting lets the gluten relax, so that I don't get chewy pancakes.
On the other hand, my recipe uses leavening (baking powder). When that reacts with ... | Resting pancake batter improves texture. I think the rise is better and the pancakes less chewy.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_powder
Double-acting baking powders work in two phases; once when cold, and once when hot
When you initially mix the baking powder, you will get bubbles, but this does not mean t... |
Minimum amount of oil that should be used in deep fryer
I have bought a 3 liter deep fryer. There was a 1.5 liter one available too but I wanted a larger basket. This 3 liter deep fryer requires 2.5 liters oil minimum. I had no idea about this. This quantity seems too much.
Can I use less? Has anyone any idea what wo... | If you need a larger basket to fry the amount of food you want to cook, you need more oil as well. If you don't always want to make that much food (or use that much oil) then you need a smaller vessel for deep-frying, such as a second fryer or a small wok or kadai.
If you put less oil in than the minimum it may not co... |
How do I prevent crust formation when proofing pizza dough?
While proofing, the crust can appear on the dough balls if in contact with air (oxygen). I tried preventing by damp cloth but it still happens. The only thing that works 100% is plastic foil wrap, but that would prevent the dough from rising. I'd like to proo... | If you insist on using a damp cloth, you have to make it wet again and again, so this is quite cumbersome especially with long proofing times.
Much easier is plastic wrap, which doesn't prevent the dough from rising if you use it to cover a sufficiently large bowl. Tightly wrapping the dough itself obviously won't work... |
Flavor in avocadoes gone forever?
I got some made-in-store supermarket guacamole yesterday and it was a new low in bland, watery, flavorless avocado meat.
I have read that the reason modern avocadoes taste bland is because they use a variety called a "Hass" avocado that growers prefer because it is resistant to some k... | You're exactly right in figuring out that part of the problem is having grown up with some of the world's best avocadoes, and then moving up North where decent avocadoes are scarce! :) Tasty avocadoes aren't all going the way of the dodo just yet, but you might have to move to Texas or Florida, or check some Mexican ... |
How long will Sake last in the fridge?
We've had Sake chilling in our fridge for about a year now. It has been opened. Is this still safe to drink or is it time to throw it out? | Unless contaminated by, say, drinking straight out of the bottle, it will likely be safe to consume, but it will probably have deteriorated in quality.
Sake which is no longer appealing to drink may be suitable for use in cooking; if you're not accustomed to cooking with sake, consider something simple, like potatoes s... |
Roasting more than 1 meat in using one oven
How do I manage the roasting time and temperature for roasting/baking more than 1 beef wellington using the same oven and at the same time.
Thanks. | If you have room to place the Wellingtons on the same shelf, you simply cook them in the same way as you would a single one. Conventional ovens do not work like microwaves - the amount of stuff in the oven makes no difference, providing air flow is maintained and you don't have something large right up at the top or bo... |
Why won't my pudding thicken up?
Some of you might have noticed recently I am dabbling with pudding. Well - to no avail.
This is my recipe:
yolks - 1
cocoa - 30ml
sugar - 60ml
butter - 10ml
milk - 164ml
starch - 14ml
And the pudding just won't thicken. Once I even tried with double the amount of corn starch.
I ... | You are probably stirring the pudding too much. Cornstarch starts thickening at about 205°F/95°C. Once the pudding has got to that point and has thickened, stop stirring, otherwise you will interfere with the starch formation that causes the thickening. Using electric beaters probably means you are missing the point wh... |
Why do I add stock to risotto slowly?
Risotto recipes always call for adding the stock slowly. Why do we do that?
I've read in a couple of places it may help cooking the rice more evenly, or prevent it going stodgy? | All due respect, it's a myth. You don't need to add liquid slowly. Perhaps there used to be a reason (maybe years ago rice was processed differently), but at this point you're pretty much wasting your time constantly stirring.
Many cooking publication/blog has a "no stir" risotto. You can check out Serious Eats - wh... |
How to bake ground beef
I have 3.5 pounds of 93% lean ground beef. I want to easily cook it like this:
Put tinfoil on a pan.
Put all of the ground beef on it.
Put it in the oven preheated to 450F for 30 minutes.
Is this safe?
Any remaining questions:
Why should it be covered? When is it necessary to cover food with... | Make sure you use a pan with high enough sides so that fat doesn't overflow. If it's a thin baking sheet with only short edges, especially one that tends to curve/warp in the oven, you could easily dump fat all over the bottom of the oven. But as long as it's a sturdy pan, the fat isn't going to get any higher than the... |
Is there any way that we can harden US store bought Cottage Cheese to make Indian Paneer?
So today I got a box of Daily Chef Cottage Cheese unaware that it will have lumps of cheese flowing in gooey liquid. What I wanted to make was Indian Paneer Curry! Is there any way I can harden it by hanging or something? | Unfortunately, even if you press it, it will tend to crumble. The way the curds form in small curd cottage cheese forms a skin that makes them tend to fall apart. The same thing can happen in making Indian style paneer if you let the curds boil. (At least, I think it is why it happened!)
Probably your best bet is to dr... |
Pros and cons of a brass hip flask
I have been considering buying a hip flask for some time now. I have been holding off from getting the cheap varieties because I hear they impart a metallic taste to the alcohol. If I had my druthers, I would get a pewter flask, but I can't justify the cost.
A couple of weeks ago I ... | I think a lot depends on your use of the flask, but there are some considerations.
Aesthetics: Brass is likely to corrode and/or get a nice patina, so that could be a nice effect. You're not going to get the same effect from a chrome-plated or stainless flask.
Health: Copper, a major compoenent of brass, can be toxic i... |
Which spices should be bought whole vs. ground?
I have a coffee grinder which has been excellent for grinding spices, and I'm currently transitioning my pantry from having many packaged ground spices to more whole spices which I can grind as needed. Are there spices that I should still buy pre-ground? | For the most part this is a question of convenience and how quickly you go through a fresh supply of spices in the quantities you buy.
Pretty much every dry spice will last better and be more aromatic and flavorful if it is stored whole. That applies to leaves, seeds, bark, you name it.
Some really hard spices like ... |
Why does fish broth made with frozen fish lack flavour?
I do not know culinary terminology; so I use 'piscine' to mean 'with a positive flavour of fish' (because 'fishy' connotes negativity).
My friend drank some flavorous fish soup with a milky white colour at his favourite Cantonese restaurant, one of whose chefs r... | I think it's not so much the fact that you're using frozen fish (which certainly isn't the best), but the fact that you've missed an important step: pan-frying the fish before making the soup. I can say that all fish soups I've had have always had the fish pan-fried before boiling, with ginger added, otherwise you just... |
What is the liquid that forms after chicken goes through the freeze-thaw cycle, and how can I extract it more efficiently?
When I vacuum seal chicken pieces, freeze them, and then thaw them again, there is always a small amount of liquid in the bag after the thaw. When this liquid hits hot oil, it forms a crispy, airy... | When you freeze meat the water in the cells crystallizes into ice, and in some case ruptures the cell walls. When you thaw the chicken again, the contents of the ruptured cells' are free. These are mostly the water, and the cells proteins.
Additionally, processed meats often have some water and additives added to the a... |
What is the "Chili sauce" ingredient in this recipe?
I want to make this Copy Cat A1 Steak Sauce but I'm not exactly sure what one ingredient is.
What is it calling for when it says Chili sauce?
Also, if it turns out I don't have the chili sauce they are referring to, are there good substitutions for it? | Heinz and some other companies sell a product that they call 'chili sauce', which might be what you're looking for.
It's a tomato-based sauce, with some spices and seasoning, but it's not particularly spicy.
If you have access to Dutch & German ingredients, you might replace it with one of the thicker shashlik sauces (... |
When should I use lemon zest and not just juice?
If you want to add lemon flavor, why not just add lemon juice?
For what type of dishes would you recommend using each one? | Lemon juice and lemon zest have a different taste. Lemon juice has obviously more water, is tart (adds fruitiness and freshness to the dish) and the aroma is not as intense as in the zest. If you bake a cake or cookies it's often more desirable to use lemon zest because it doesn't mess up the water-solids-ratio and wha... |
Only the core of my banana is black. Is it safe to eat?
This banana had a bit of bruising I wasn't too concerned until I noticed the core (and only the core) was dark brown/black in color. In addition, it's somewhat dry and hollow, unlike normal banana flesh.
I've read elsewhere on the Internet that this happens whe... | From a 1989 Chicago Tribune article:
... some said that almost all the bananas they had purchased lately had such an unpleasant, dark center that they were inedible.
We received a more thorough explanation from Chiquita Bananas along with the admission that the problem is occurring with more frequency than ever before... |
How do you eat this type of Gingko nut?
I've looked online but found no clear explanation... I had bought these Gingko nuts because I'm curious to try new flavors, but could never find how to eat them
An article online said that the outside shell could be poisonous, so I ended up getting rid of them.
I'm still wonderi... | You can roast them, or shell them and then put them into soups/congees.
This article seems to have pretty clear instructions:
http://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-ginkgo-nu-105591 |
Gluten-free alternative to commercial yeast when making gluten-free bread?
This link claims that yeast contains gluten, which is understandable.
Yet today, a lot of people have a reaction to gluten that they are trying to avoid by becoming gluten-free.
There are many brands of bread that sell gluten-free bread, made o... | That very same source says:
The following yeasts are all gluten-free:
active dry
autolyzed (not autolyzed yeast extract – see below)
baker’s
nutritional
That includes just about any type of yeast that you'd use for baking.
"Brewer's yeast" is unique because it's typically harvested from previous batches of beer. Spe... |
Why do egg yolks curdle?
I know that heating eggs up too quickly or (similarly) adding them to a hot soup/sauce too quickly will cause them to curdle. I wonder why? | In a word: Science! The yolk of an egg contains a large number of complex proteins, which are large molecules composed of chains of amino acids. The specific combinations and ordering of those amino acids cause the proteins to fold up on themselves into complex structures, which in turn determine the protein's functio... |
Should the oven temperature be the same for smaller batch?
Im making the no knead ciabatta bread and it calls for 4 cups of flour but i used 2 cups. It says to throw it in a 425 degree F oven for 35-45 minutes but i did that before and it would cook quickly. before 30 min. Should it remain the same temperature or shou... | Keep the oven temperature the same, as a good hot oven is necessary for the loaf to 'spring' (ie inflate somewhat). Just reduce the cooking time accordingly. |
Improve color of banana jam?
One of my favorite uses for overripe bananas is to make a simple jam from them. I combine the bananas with a bit of water in a large pot, adding a splash of molasses, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Cooking it down until thick and caramelized, the resulting jam is surprisingly sweet and much mo... | A splash of lemon juice mixed in the banana right off the bat can fix that colour at the beginning, but the molasses will turn it brown afterwards...
So if you want it lighter in colour, you'll need to substitute the molasses... Can you use white sugar and throw in a bit of rum in the end ?
If you must keep the mola... |
Flavor difference between marzipan and persipan
I know that persipan is a cheap substitute for marzipan, using apricot or peach kernels in place of almonds. How do the flavor profiles of these two food items differ? Is marzipan really "better" in some sense than persipan? | If you want to give something the flavor of almonds, then starting with almonds, in my opinion, is superior to starting with the cousin of almonds. Of course, if your persipan is, in your opinion, indistinguishable from marzipan, then go ahead and use it in good health, but it is likely that it has added flavors to get... |
Can a failed cupcake be incorpated into a new cupcake?
I was making white chocolate cupcakes, and forgot to put in baking powder.
I am baking a new set, and wondered if it would be possible to crumble up these failed cupcakes and put them in the new ones I am making?
Is this possible, or would the cake just become ove... | I don't think "twice-baked" cupcakes would work out well. I think you would need a lot more than one extra batch to blend with it to get a decent texture. Mixing them directly into the batter would probably just make some odd texture in places. It might not be that noticeable but I think it is going to degrade your new... |
How to use a pressure cooker for frozen chicken?
I would like to cook frozen chicken breasts in a pressure cooker for shredding and making chicken mole. I do not want to add anything except water, but I'm having a hard time finding specific guidelines on the time to cook frozen meats with no added ingredients or step... | I recently published a guide for pressure cooking frozen meat - so here's how to do your chicken breasts:
Cover your chicken with water, salt and any other aromatics that you'd like to use.
Pressure cook for 5 minutes at high pressure (the cooker will take MUCH LONGER to reach pressure, this is ok but some electric pr... |
Freezing Egg & Cheese Omelet
A Super 8 motel we just stayed at had egg & cheese omelets on their breakfast bar. They said they get them frozen from Farmers Brothers. They are thawed on the breakfast bar and warmed up in the microwave. They were delicious, just like fresh made. Has anyone else ever heard of them?
I l... | Quite surprising, but cooked eggs (hard boiled, scrambled and omelets) freeze particularly well. I keep large thin omelets for shredding over fried rice. Cheese and egg are mostly composed of fats and proteins that freeze well. I would think that most omelets composed of cheese would work well. I can also see a spinach... |
Is eating cookie dough without egg safe?
I enjoy eating raw cookie dough. As long as the dough doesn't have egg in it, is it safe to eat? | According the the current advice from the FDA, you should not eat raw dough, even if does not contain eggs. Apparently raw flour may contain E. coli.
People often understand the dangers of eating raw dough due to the
presence of raw eggs and the associated risk with Salmonella. However,
consumers should be aware t... |
Are commercial chocolate almonds coated with something that prevents melting?
Why is it that a milk chocolate bar begins to melt in my hand sooner than a chocolate-covered almond?
The surface of typical chocolate-covered almonds are also a lot smoother than regular chocolate bars when I slide my finger around each of ... | The aren't coated, but the chocolate is mixed with hardeners. Things like xanthan gum, gum Arabic, corn starch, bees wax, etc.
These let the chocolate harden and polish a little better. |
Home made popsicles sticking to mold
We had some great organic popsicles made from pineapple. They were a bit pricey so we decided to make some ourselves. The problem is that we can't get them to release from the plastic molds very well. Other than running them under hot water, is there a trick we can use to get these... | Try silicone molds, I use them for ice cubes and they are much easier to release ice from than plastic trays. |
Help with the temp on my crock pot
My Rival Crock Pot doesn't have a high / low (word wise) setting, it only shows me one line or two. I've misplaced my manual and can't for the life of me remember which is high and which is low...any help would be great. | The Rival Crock Pot manuals are available online at this link:
https://www.manualslib.com/products/Rival-Crock-Pot-3100-3970921.html
You can always look up your specific or similar pots and confirm the settings with these posted manuals.
In looking through these, the general norm appears to be that as you turn the top... |
How to measure tomatoes for making sauce?
In the ingredient list my recipe calls for 10 lbs of tomatoes. I'm not sure if this means before or after they are cored and peeled. What is the best way to measure tomatoes for canning sauce? | Unless specified, I would assume before cored and peeled.
And in general for any ingredient, unless explicitly specified: Raw, as bought in the store, before cleaning and/or preparation.
It makes assembling a shopping list easier, it makes buying easier, it makes writing a recipe easier, and it makes cooking a recipe... |
Tortilla de patatas: Flip and slide, or slide and flip?
Most recipes I've found suggest flipping the half-done tortilla from the pan onto a plate, and then sliding it back onto the pan. However, that would leave egg residue on the plate. Why not slide it onto a plate, place the pan over the plate, and flip it back int... | The best tortilla de patatas should be juicy and thick, so it must be cooked in a deep pan. It is physically very difficult to slide it from a deep pan to a plate. Because the tortilla is just half cooked, its bottom will get stuck and its top jumbled and eventually slip to the plate. The most effective maneuver is fir... |
Fixing oily dukkah
We just made some dukkah by blitzing a mixture of baked nuts/seeds: almonds, pistachio, fennel, coriander, sesame, caraway, cumin (and raw chia at the very end).
It smelled and tasted amazing, but it seemed very wet; not dry and powdery like dukkah at all. We thought we could fix that by spreading ... | I don't have any ideas on truly fixing this batch, but I think I know what the problem is.
I think you over-processed it and blitzed it into a paste. It should be a little more coarsely ground, probably only about 30s in the blender or food processor, otherwise everything releases too much oil.
In order to achieve thi... |
Cracked Eggs & Safety
I bought some fresh eggs the other day which don't expire until next month.
They've remained in the fridge in their carton. I just realised that a few of the eggs are cracked.
Is it still safe to hard boil and eat the eggs from that carton that haven't been cracked? | It does seem dangerous to me. You don't know where they have been before you bought them, so bacteria and other stuff can contaminate the eggs with their shell broken. You can safely eat the eggs that didn't break. Their shell and membrane protects them. The broken ones should be thrown away if you want to be sure you ... |
Dried Kidney beans for Chili
We're going to buy a large quantity of dried kidney beans. It will mostly be used for Chili. I've never used them before so excuse me if this sounds like a dumb question. Would I need to soak the beans overnight and then add them or would they turn tender on their own if I slow cook the ch... | I have done a lot of cooking with beans and I will usually soak them overnight and then slow cook them for an additional 5-7 hours. If I forget to soak them, I will usually have to put them on the stove and boil them on high heat for almost 2 hours stirring constantly.
As far as Chili goes, I have always preferred a mi... |
the yeast wont rise in my bread machine
I have a bread machine and when i follow the recipe putting boiling water, sugar, one packet of yeast, then let if foam for 15 minutes the yeast still isn't rising. What should do differently? | Never use boiling water with yeast!
Using boiling water almost guarantees instant death.
Baker's yeast is a live organism, a unicelluar fungus saccharomyces cervisiae, very closely related to and in fact bred from brewer's yeast. And yes, it's alive even in those dried granules in small packages or boxes. It's metaboli... |
What effect on flavor and/or cooking does rinsing grits have?
The first time I bought stone ground grits, the package said I needed to rinse the grits three times before cooking. So I've done that ever since. However, I recently stumbled across this article which includes the warning:
Do not rinse grits, ever!
While... | The warning you quoted is of course not a real warning. In the article's context it's read as a cooking advice:
Finally, a tip from one of those gracious Southern cooks: "Do not rinse grits, ever!"
What's indeed missing is the reason. The "Because:". Had a southern cook forbidden me to rinse the grits, I would have ... |
Can kvass be made without bread?
While searching for kvass recipes some of them mentioned that kvass can be made with rye flour or malt and since I can't find 100% rye breads where I live making them just for kvass would be too expensive.My question is - can kvass be made without bread and if it can't then can bread m... | Kvass can be made without bread, e.g. "beet kvass" can be gotten going with minced raw beet root (fill jar between 1/4 and 1/3 full), a 3% saline solution (or thereabouts?), and a dollop of sourdough starter. I believe other starters (e.g. from milk products) can also be used, but I haven't dabbled with those. Mine bub... |
How do I use fridge's super cooling properly?
My fridge (Whirlpool BSNF 8152 OX) comes with "Supercool" or "Fast cooling" feature. It's supposed to somehow improve the process of cooling newly stocked fridge/freezer. I am unsure about the way it works and I failed to find any information about how am I supposed to use... | The manual states:
The use of this function is recommended when placing a very high
quantity of food in the refrigerator and freezer compartments. Using
Fast Cool function it is possible to increase the cooling capacity in
the refrigerator and freezer compartments. Note: Fast Cooling function
should be also sw... |
Is it ok to include garlic when I can hot peppers?
I followed the Ball Blue Book recipe for canning hot vinegared peppers. I left the peppers whole, and forgot to discard the garlic from the vinegar recipe before I filled the quart size jars & gave them the bath. I made them 10 days ago and I just moved them to the re... | You should be fine. I couldn't find your particular recipe, but many canning recipes for peppers (and salsas, pickles & relishes) contain garlic. As long as there is sufficient vinegar, which the name of your recipe suggests, and you processed correctly there shouldn't be a problem. This recipe for Pickled Peppers may ... |
Bread preservation
Every time I make bread and put it in a ziplock or plastic wrap it goes moldy in 3-4 days. Does anyone know what I can put in it to make it last as long as store bought bread? | Your enemy is moisture. Due to the airtight plastic, moisture will gather on the surface of the bread, which is the happy place for mold.
If you don't store your bread in plastic wrap, you won't get mold.
Yes, now you face the opposite problem - as the moisture is no longer stopped, you end up with hard bread, instead ... |
Temperature controlled work surface?
I made croissants yesterday, but couldn't be bothered to keep returning the pastry to the fridge in order to keep it cool, so the butter became too soft.
While the end result was still pretty amazing, I couldn't include enough butter to get the right crumbly texture.
One alternativ... | You can search online kitchen suppliers for marble slabs used for this purpose. You can either take advantage of the thermal mass of the slab warming up more slowly, or if you have refrigerator space, you can even pre chill it before use.
I don't include links because they can become stale, but searching just now finds... |
Are Santoku blades ambidextrous?
Been in the market for my first good knives - mostly want either a Chef's Knife or Santoku as well as a paring knife.
I'm left handed and unsure if Santoku blades will work just as well for me or not. I'm obviously not a pro but before I spend $60-$100 on a knife I'd like to make sure ... | Any knife that has a symetrical blade profile should be ambidexterous in use. Santoku and chef knives typically come with a symmetrical profile1, so you should be able to get a decent choice, whichever of the types you finally choose. Whether you chose a V-shaped or double-bevel, a hollow cut or a convex blade is ultim... |
Why do dumplings float when they are ready?
Most dumpling recipes—including those discussed on this site—claim that the dumplings will be ready when they float to the surface. I have two interrelated questions:
Does this rule ever fail? For example, might there be certain recipes or conditions (e.g., altitude) wher... | I will quote here the bible of cooking science, Harold McGees "On Food and Cooking":
"Dumpling doughs are minimally kneaded to maximize tenderness, and benefit from the inclusion of tiny air pockets, which provide lightness. [...] This tendency to rise with cooking is due to the expansion of the
dough's air pockets... |
Vanilla beans vs extract
Say I get me some vanilla beans and, say, I am dabbling with pudding at the time. All recipes I've encountered require vanilla extract to be added to the pudding, my question is - if I want to use real vanilla beans: would that be better and how do I decide how much beans to use?
Also, how do ... | Slice the pod in half, long ways, carefully. Run your knife blade down the length,scraping the tiny seeds (very tiny) from the inside of the pod. What you collect will be sticky and not look like much, but it is very potent. Place what you collected into your pudding mixture while cooking. One pod should be plenty.... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.