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Do split beans need to be thrown away? I understand that the primary goal of sorting through dry beans is to remove things like pebbles. I very rarely find any of those, but there are often clean halves of beans. Do they they need to be thrown away too?	Nope, it's fine to leave split beans in to cook with the rest of the beans. Split beans are common, and I've never heard of anyone removing them. They will probably overcook while the rest of the beans get just cooked, but it won't be noticeable.
Adding sauce without microwaving the chicken I brought the InnovAsian chicken and broccoli frozen food and missed an instruction. I added the sauce before microwaving the chicken. But the instruction says to microwave the chicken before adding the sauce and add the sauce and microwave another few minutes. What I want...	That won't make it non-safe as long as it gets hot all the way through. MICROWAVE (PREFERRED METHOD) Place bag of sauce in a bowl with warm water to thaw. Open bags of chicken and broccoli and empty into a microwave safe container. Microwave on HIGH, uncovered for 3 minutes. Open bag of sauce. Stir in sauce and heat ...
Grinding loose Green Tea for more concentration Would it be advisable to grind loose green tea to fine powder to increase the flavour concentration ? Also, please share your opinions on the pros and cons of this method. Thank You	Grinding tea leaves will help to extract more flavour from the tea leaves faster. The logic is simple. After grinding, there's more 'tea surface' that can come in contact with water. Real life proof in practice is that when you compare grinded tea in a teabag compared to full leaf teas. Tea bags release most of the fla...
Should I refrigerate homemade yogurt before making Greek yogurt? I have a yogurt maker and a so-called Greek yogurt maker; the latter is basically a fancy strainer. Both gadgets are from Euro Cuisine. My process for making yogurt is as follows: Scald milk at about 180º F for about 20 minutes Let milk cool to between ...	It isn't necessary, and many recipes don't call for it. But the results will be slightly different, since the yogurt will continue to ferment (even in the fridge), and the gel structure of the proteins will set. That will alter composition of the whey that you're straining out, which means the resulting difference wil...
Combining whetstones from different manufacturers I recently received two whetstones for my birthday, this chroma and this naniwa. The chroma stone feels very "hard" and heavy, while the naniwa stone is considerably "softer" and lighter. I am a beginner in sharpening knives, so I started practising on very old knives....	How high a grit will yield an improvement, and what which brand and series(!) of stone will achieve, is somewhat dependent on the steel and heat treat used in the knife you are sharpening. A "very old" knife could be an obsolete stainless formula/heat treat yielding a very coarse (and/or unstable) grain- commodity sta...
Why is water added to the egg wash of challah bread? This recipe for challah bread calls for an egg wash composed of 1 egg and 1 tsp of water (see the final item in the ingredient list). What is the effect of this small amount of water? It seems like most other challah recipes use egg alone.	If anything, for egg washes in general, it might be more common to add water (or milk or cream) than not. Thinning the wash makes it easier to brush on an even, not-too-thick layer. It also tends to get you a more golden color, less dark brown.
Why does oil transfer heat to food more gradually than water? While working on the homework for week 2 of Harvardx's Edx course, SPU27x Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science, I came across this question: The difference in the specific heats for water and oil is important for cooking. For exam...	First, I don't think the question you are asking about is written well (your question about this question is better). We don't have the benefit of the course's context, but alone this question seems poor. The phrase "you are less likely to overcook food" is problematic because the techniques for cooking with oil and wa...
What is the typical shelf life of grains and seeds? I would like to make a large amount of multi-grain porridge mixture in one batch, to store and use small amounts of when I need it. The recipe says that the fattier seeds will go rancid if kept for too long, but doesn't say how long that might be. The recipe includes...	Here is a site https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/information-center/self-reliance/storage-life-of-dry-foods#link7 which addresses many of the items listed, but unfortunately does not address the ones of most concern to you, the fattier items of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Flax they call a hard grain and put at 10-12 ...
A lot of smoke when using induction stove with any recipe with oil I recently switched from gas stove to induction. I tried some recipes I could do well with the old stove. Most of them have oil at high heat. However, when switching to induction stove, any time I tried with oil, there always be a lot of smoke coming f...	What kind of oil you're using would be helpful but, really, the answer is, whatever temperature it is you set it at, it's too hot. Turn the temperature down. The temperature gauges shouldn't necessarily be trusted to give you a perfect temperature reading. You can use an infrared thermometer to test it but your result ...
How long will a bread ferment last before it is no good? I have a bread recipe that I would like to try, but it requires a ferment using Guiness. The recipe says to leave it for 4 - 6 hours to get it going. All of this is fine, but what I would like to know is how long can I leave the ferment fermenting before it b...	It's hard to say exactly how long it will take to overprove because there are many variables involved - the amount of yeast, salt and enrichment in your dough, and the room temperature for example. However, it should be fine to ferment overnight, if you cover it well and put it in the fridge.
Mothballs in food cabinets I tossed mothballs in my kitchen cabinets about a month ago, now everytime I open cabinets all I smell is mothballs, and the food smells like mothballs too. Can I eat the food or should I throw it away?	Mothball is a mild poison. msds Contamination via vapor to food may only be mildly toxic but not a good idea. You can keep food in unopened cans and air tight glass containers. Wipe them down with a mild detergent. Sealed plastic containers is questionable. Remove everything then wipe the cupboards and walls with a ...
Soaked urad ki dal too long - Is it safe? I soaked black dal for too long (24 hours) and its colour changed from black to green and it smells very bad, can I still use it or not ?	If it was soaked in the refrigerator for that amount of time, it should not have a very bad smell, and should be safe. However, if it has been sitting at room temperature for that long, and has developed an unpleasant smell, it likely has fermented, and should not be risked. While there is no guarantee that it is yet...
How to "toss to coat" ingredients in a sheet pan? I've been trying new recipes lately, and I often see instructions along the lines of: Put ingredients in sheet pan Drizzle oil over ingredients Add seasonings to ingredients Toss to coat I understand the purpose of this is to evenly coat the stuff in the pan with oil...	You use your hands. Or, if you're not a fan of getting your fingers oily, use a pair of tongs. Drizzle oil over the ingredients and then pick them up with your hands and move them around to rub over each other and get evenly coated. If you're happier with the results when using a bag or a bowl, there's nothing wrong wi...
Caster Sugar Substitute In India, we use fine sugar known as "bura chini (or bura sugar)". Recently, I read a recipe for scones which required caster sugar. While, I am not quite sure it they are same but both have quick dissolving properties and are superfine. I am curious if one can be substituted for another.	Caster sugar is just ordinary table sugar that has been ground to a finer texture. It is still grainy like sand rather than completely powdered. Bura, on the other hand, is caramelized and dehydrated. It is typically made by dissolving table sugar in water, then boiling off the water. This results in a texture like th...
Can frozen raw meat be defrosted and frozen again A frozen joint of turkey was partly defrosted cut into 2 and the other half was re-frozen Surely this is not safe	It's perfectly safe if the turkey wasn't kept in the danger zone for longer than the maximum recommended time. If it was kept appropriately cold for the minimal amount of time possible, there's nothing "unsafe" about refreezing anything. What you do lose with refreezing is quality. Freezing is a damaging process for ma...
How can I address watery eggs in a microwaved breakfast sandwich? My blessed wife fixes me batches of breakfast sandwiches consisting of a sandwich thin, some ham and egg whites and freezes them. It's a great breakfast, except for the fact that as it defrosts in the microwave, the egg whites release a huge amount of w...	I see two possible problems with what you've described -- If you don't freeze the egg quickly enough, you're more likely to have larger ice crystals form, resulting in a puddle of water no matter how you defrost it. You should be able to test for this case by just putting the frozen egg in a covered bowl and let it c...
I don't know what candy to use for gingerbread windows I am looking for a candy to use for windows.What should I use!	Hard Candy would be your best bet, like this recipe, if you want to make 'custom' windows. The presence and concentration of food coloring can get you from 'clearish' to solid colors. If you want to go 'off the shelf' There are a variety of lollipops that are translucent which might give you a nice effect. If you want...
Substitute for jaggery in chutney I'm making an Indian tomato and ginger chutney. What can I find in Brisbane to use as a substitute for 200 grams of jaggery?	I believe you meant "Jaggery" (aka Panela) a unrefined cane sugar product. If so, I would suggest a "Muscovado" sugar, as it is whole or partially unrefinued cane sugar. You may need to experiment and blend between dark and medium muscovado to get the taste you desire. I suggest either try a medium brown muscovado o...
How do I convey an order for over medium eggs without runny yolks? I'm not a chef; I'm a (new) waitress and a few days ago a customer ordered her eggs over medium, but she didn't want the yolks runny. She was very insistent on this, and said she would send them back if they were runny so I put the order in as over har...	Not to be dismissive, but this just sounds like a difficult guest to me. I think you'll find that this happens from time to time and it can be tough to know exactly what they're asking for. There are two major possibilities here: She was looking for the standard definition of "over medium", but has gotten under-done e...
Bread dough. Rookie questions I am trying to make a multigrain/white blended bread, I want to break away from using a breadmaker and manually mix it. My recipe: 1 package (1/4 ounce - 1.5us tsp) active dry yeast (my previous attempts did not rise very much, suspected old yeast - new yeast was purchased, confirmed ac...	There can be a lot of things happening here, but I will start with some first ideas. You are not overkneading. Overkneading is not about raw strength. It doesn't happen per hand, not in 10 minutes (actually, it doesn't happen in the mixer within 10 minutes either). Whatever your problems are, overkneading is very unl...
Alternative thickener for soups and stews What thickener will add least calories to soups and stews, producing effects similar to "regular" thickeners? All the ones I know are either pretty high-calorie, or produce results that are quite off "regular". roux - lots of fat and carbs flour + sour cream - same. potato st...	Take one or two scoops of your soup (prefer the solid parts), put it into a blender, blitz until smooth and put it back into your soup. You'll get zero additional calories and zero awful stuff your grandma wouldn't identify as food. This obviously only works if we're not talking about a broth.
How to cook fallow deer ribs? Yesterday I tried to make fallow deer ribs in a slow cooker. With beef ribs, I cooked them in a temperature-controlled slow-cooker for about 12 hours at 75 °C = 167 °F and they where amazing! Done the same with fallow deer ribs, and they came out so dry that I had to cut the meat off the ...	You will not succeed in slow cooking your deer to a nice, flavourful dish. There is not enough collagen or fat to do so; this is generally true of wild game. It has occasionally worked for me with rump or brisket from an older moose, but even then, the rump would have been better ground. You appear to have the backst...
What's the proper order to add ingredients for an Indian curry? Typically, when making an Indian curry, I heat oil, add whole spices, then add and cook onions, add and cook ginger + garlic, add dry spices + tomatoes, and cook the meat in the sauce. Am I doing this correctly or is there a different order to add the ing...	there's aload of variations, by chefs preference, geographical origin etc etc "no best way" (taste being subjective) but the fresher/tastier the ingredients the better. chilli powder vs. fresh chillis is non comparible etc, as with ginger tumeric etc. some curries are "stewed" for hours, others quick pan fried in minut...
What does "stir to cover" mean? I don't really understand what the phrase "stir to cover and warm" means. Can someone shed some light?	You cut off a little too much of the phrase; it's "add sauce and stir to cover and warm." You're stirring to cover the other ingredients with the sauce, and to warm the sauce.
How to recognize mold? I am looking for criteria to tell whether food has mold on it. Some classic cases are easy to distinguish (unbaked flour vs bread mold). However in case I don't know what the product is supposed to look like, it is almost impossible to tell. Here is a recent example, mold or crystallized sugar?	This is not an exhaustive list, but it's what I use to tell mold on unevenly colored foods. Obviously oddly colored spots are suspect, especially if the difference in appearance is very great. If the food has spots for some other reason, this can be harder to see - but it at least tells you where to focus in on to cat...
When making french fries, can I precut them before baking or frying them? We are going on a skiing trip & are staying in a Condo. Can I precut potatoes &/or sweet potatoes into 1/4-inch matchstick fries before our trip then bake them there?	Regarding potatoes, not sweet potatoes: It's actually great to precut potatoes for French fries, it gives you an opportunity to soak them in water, which removes the starch and simple sugars from the outside of the fries and even from just below the surface. In fact, many if not most places that make fresh cut French f...
How do different spices react to heat? I'm working on a chili recipe. It has a bunch of spices. I'm trying to figure out when best to add them. People sometimes recommend "opening up" spices like cumin by toasting them or frying them in hot oil along with the onions. OTOH, I have felt like cinnamon has much more p...	I can't speak to the chemistry but I can describe the approaches I use in different spices and see if that helps. As Willem mentions in his comment, different cuisines may treat spices differently to bring out different aspects of the flavor. Dried Herbs: typically I will add once I've begun the "watery/saucy" stage o...
Can a fish living in fresh water be called seafood? Pangasius (Wikipedia) says: Pangasius is a genus of medium-large to very large shark catfishes native to fresh water in South and Southeast Asia. ... In 2011, Pangasius was sixth in the National Fisheries Institute’s "Top 10" list of the most consumed seafood i...	Don't read too much into the "sea"; there's no rule that every word in the language has to stick precisely to its etymological roots. Seafood just means edible aquatic life, i.e. fish and shellfish in general. It's a food word, not a biology word, and fish on your plate looks pretty much the same whether it's freshwate...
How to make home made jam retain the fruity taste? Today I made a pulp of 2 strawberries, half apple, 4 orange pieces, and 1 teaspoon jaggery. The pulp was tasting fruity. To make jam I put the pulp in a frying pan and cooked on low fire for some time till some of the water dried up. The resultant jam was not thick, ...	Most fresh fruits will lose their "sweet fresh flavor" when cooked. (*geeky stuff at end) When making jams, jellies etc., a good amount of sugar is added. This is done for a couple of reasons, the first is to combine with acid and pectin for thickening, the second is for flavor. When making jam, the proportion of suga...
How long before a dead chicken becomes inedible? Given that the chicken is not contaminated by poison, and it simply dies of heart failure or heat stroke and not anything that makes it immediately inedible, how long does it take before a dead chicken becomes inedible?	I will post as an answer as too long for comment, but would support closing as opinion based with no definitive answer. When I raise meat chickens, my answer was zero. Even if the cause was harmless, the meat would be low quality at best due to lack of ability to remove blood. Even simple heart failure, besides the l...
Do I need to seal the food with food wrap before put them in the fridge? I've always seen friends putting leftover, cooked food in the fridge with food wrap. I asked them why they are doing it and they don't even know why they are doing it. It is necessary to put just cooked food in the fridge with food wrap?	Wrapping food in plastic wrap before refrigerating has a few obvious benefits: 1) keeps the food from drying out in the fridge. 2) prevents odors (garlic, onions, fish, etc.) from transferring between the item in question and everything else in the fridge. 3) keeps crumbs, extraneous particles from falling into the foo...
Where can I buy dark chocolate which was not produced in a factory that handles milk? According to an FDA study most plain dark chocolate has milk in it. If it is produced in a factory which handles milk, it almost always has milk in it, even if it says its vegan and dairy free. Does anyone know where I can buy or kno...	If you want a product that is allergen/intolerance safe and/or compliant to a certain cultural standard - be it political (vegan, vegetarian), dietary (low carb, low fat), or religious (halal, kosher...), one statement of compliance usually does not make it safe to imply another. How ingredients and allergens have to b...
What gives Vietnamese Chicken the red tint? A local oriental restaurant used to sell "Vietnamese Chicken", a hot plate dish of big chunks of chicken breast with onion and spices. The distinguishing feature of the dish was a deep red tint of the chicken meat (on the surface; the inside was normal chicken meat color), e...	My Vietnamese girlfriend uses "hạt điều màu" (annatto). She heats the nuts in oil and then uses the oil without the nuts to fry the meat in.
Why add Wheat Germ to Bread? A blogger I generally trust recently posted a recipe for a simple, brown soda bread. The recipe calls for: bread flour, whole wheat flour, and wheat germ. What is the purpose of adding wheat germ to a bread dough? What function does that serve? I thought wheat germ was what you removed to ...	Wheat germs are the repoductive parts of the wheat grains. Like all germs, they are rich in vitamins, nutrients and oils. The oils are the reason the germs are removed during the milling process: they can become rancid quickly and reduce the shelf life of the flour. In whole wheat, the germ remains included, hence the ...
How to improve the flavor of gluten free challah bread? I am trying to improve the taste of this gluten free challah recipe. The texture seems right, but I am trying to add more flavor. I am wondering what ingredients I have the freedom to modify. For example, Can I increase the butter without altering the chemist...	Baking is chemistry. Any changes in the formula will have some consequences on the chemistry. It can be fun to experiment but do not be surprised that the end result is not the same as from the per-modified formula. As to your question of more flavor, I do know that increasing the proofing time will help to increase ...
How can you tell if pizza dough has been kneaded enough? I am making pizza dough for the first time. I know that you can use the window test and the poke test for bread, to see if it has ben kneaded long enough. Can you use the same tests for pizza dough and bread sticks? Some of the recipes say only knead for 2 minu...	The window test works well for pizza as well and is really the only one of which I am aware. I do not believe the poke test will work as well.
Why did my green tea muffins turn black? I made green tea muffins following the recipe here. I like my muffins moist and fluffy, so I added banana as suggested by the recipe and replaced half of the baking powder with baking soda. I also added a teaspoon of rice vinegar to activate the baking soda. Right before bak...	Your first step would be to stick to the recipe. pH changes are well known to interfere with plant pigments. Adding baking soda and vinegar can very well have interfered with something in the muffins, be it the tea or something else. I am not 100% sure this must have been it, but it is the likeliest reason. Also, I wo...
Where to source Tapioca balls for Homemade Milk Tea? Looking to make some bubble tea at home, not sure where to source the tapioca balls from. Local grocery stores don't seem to have them. Are these generally "balled" at home, or bought already in ball form? I'm in the Toronto, Canada area.	I would personally go buy them at an Asian grocery or online (Amazon or something similar), but you can make them. It seems fairly straightforward if you have the tapioca powder. Recipe One Recipe Two
Alcohol evaporation of beer in a cake I'd like to bake a Guinness flavored cocoa cake. My direction say to start by beating room temperature butter with brown sugar, then eggs and a mixture of flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Finally, incorporate the Guinness as it is. The picture show also the foam. My question...	Alcohol never all evaporates unless you evaporate all the water as well. The actual amount per slice is minimal anyway - equivalent to about a shot of beer in a portion, in the recipe I use. If even that's too much for you, start with de-alcoholised beer. You may have trouble finding alcohol-free stout. From the USDA ...
having problem with chicken pot pie crust I made two chicken pot pies last night, and the crust turned out like a giant cracker. Not soft and flaky at all like the store bought ones. I think I have identified two probable reasons: 1) I skipped the egg was at the end. So the top layer was just really dry. 2) I prob...	You started out great with cold cold butter and water and then you beat the livin crap out of em for 30 min. You are making a pie crust. The thing that makes pie crust flaky is that the small little pieces of butter, shortening, lard remain intact and then are gently flattened when you roll out the dough. ( good qu...
Sous Vide ribs -- can't eat for 2 days... best choice? Cooking ribs in the fairly new Sous Vide cooker seemed like a great idea, right up until the schedule changed and we can't eat dinner as a family tonight. Right now, the ribs are about done with the 36 hours of cooking time we'd planned on (a couple hours left). ...	Pull them out on time. Cool them rapidly in an ice bath. The rapid cooling is for food safety reasons rather than any affect on the cooking. Reheat them for cooking however you were going to finish them originally. I wouldn't leave them cooking for 48 hours. I think you run the risk of affecting the texture of the mea...
Is there any point in considering sous vide for unskilled newbie cook? I was considering sous vide as a present for someone, but - being wholly unfamiliar with that cooking method myself except it being trendy - don't know how use(ful\|less) of a present that is for them. Is there any point in considering sous vide for...	I'm a fan of sous vide, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make a good present. Sous vide is mainly a technique for improving quality, not speeding up already fast dishes. It can also help move the busy times around (e.g., so you're not so busy when all your guests arrive, useful at a restaurant or if you host parties). ...
What causes butter to "hiss" in the frying pan until I shake it? When frying an egg, I drop about a tablespoon of room temperature butter in the frying pan and turn it on medium flame. As it's melting, it starts to make a hissing sound, and bubbles a bit. Then, I take the pan and give it a shake, spreading the butter ...	The hissing and bubbles are due to the butter's water content turning into vapor. It stops when there's no more water and only fat/milk solids remain on the pan. When you shake the pan you help release the last few water/vapor droplets into the atmosphere, thus speeding the process.
Which foods are most likely contaminated by dairy due to processing methods used? I am Vegan but also highly allergic to milk and wondered if anyone is familiar, or has come across any knowledge about which foods and food groups are typically processed in a factory which also handles dairy, other than the obvious like...	Practices will differ with country (or community in some cases) of origin. A country where few dairy products are commonly consumed or produced, or where a significant amount of the population is not dairy tolerant (parts of asia) or where religious codex exists about dairy use (eg jewish communities) is likely to have...
Triple cooked chips: Removing moisture by cooling Triple cooked chips (French fries) are made by: Boiling the chips, then cooling them in the fridge/freezer to remove moisture Deep frying at a low(ish) temperature, then cooling again as above Deep frying at a higher temperature The intermediary cooling steps are for...	There are a lot of things going on to change the starches in the potatoes besides drying too; see rumtscho's answer for more on that. However, the drying matters as well, and these are indeed good methods of drying. Refrigerators and freezers are notoriously good at drying things out. You might've noticed food drying o...
UK laws regarding consumption of food or beverages in a commercial kitchen? When cooking in a commercial kitchen in the UK, what are the rules about consuming food or beverages while on shift? I was previously trained to not eat or drink freely in the kitchen. If hydration was required, we had to drink our water it at...	About the only perk to being a chef is eating the fancy foods, which you have not even the dream of being able to afford on the measly less than minimum wage you get paid for slaving over rich ungrateful customers food night in night out. No safety law I've ever heard of, probably just some over cautious owner trying ...
Why is store bought frozen food worse than homemade? I made multiple dishes following recipes and froze them, and they tasted a lot better than store-bought equivalents. Why does it happen? Isn't current technology capable of doing the same procedures that one would do in their house and freezing it? Or maybe is that...	I think that at the end of the day, store bought frozen meals aren't per se worse, but rather that the manufacturer needs to appeal to a large, diverse audience of buyers and so their recipes are not tailored to your tastes. Recipes you make at home are often tailored to your taste by the mere fact that you selected th...
What are "Honey Bubbles" and how are they made? I recently had the thrilling privilige of eating a Kaiseki meal at Kichisen in Kyoto. One of the meal's many highlights was a desert course consisting of a large citrus fruit filled with jelly and topped with what the apprentice chef serving us called "honey bubbles" (se...	You can do this with an air pump, egg white powder and xanthan gum :) http://www.molecularrecipes.com/culinary-foams-class/bubbles-air-pump/ The “bubbles with air pump” technique consists of injecting air using a fish tank air pump into a liquid with some viscosity. It works great with light syrups and juices by just ...
How can I increase the shelf life of a cut onion? While chopped onion is kept in deep freezers for a longer time and then kept at room temperature inside an airtight container it still remains good	Keep the skin on a full half, seal it, and store it face down in the fridge. Cooks Illustrated Other half same thing but no skin.
Best natural green food dye I'm going to attempt a Sage Derby this weekend. I want to stain the large curd with green on the outside so that it has a marbled look after pressing. What could I use to soak the curd in and get the best results? Spinach juice was suggested but I'm wondering if their are better options? I ...	I ended up finding Chlorella algae at a local health food store in powder form. Dusting the curd before pressing worked out perfectly. I held back about 1/3 of the curd so that some marbling would be apparent from the outside. I can't wait to cut this open in a few months!
Why does my home-made bread go mouldy? I've been using a Panasonic bread-maker for about 20 years; in fact, I'm on my second machine. I use stone-ground wholemeal flours from different mills and, as I can't easily find Stone-ground Strong White in London, use Organic Duchy White. For a 300 gm loaf, I vary the amount o...	Well, I don't think you're doing anything wrong -- I think it's because you aren't using any preservatives in your bread (and that's a good thing, right?). I find my homemade bread has to be eaten in about a week, but I live in a dry climate. A more humid climate might result in it lasting 3-4 days.
Can I use wood from a camphor tree for a barbecue? I have some dry wood from a camphor tree in my garden. Is the wood suitable for open fire barbecue?	It seems that the wood is fast burning, which may not be ideal for a barbecue. Additionally, the wood will probably burn smelling of camphor, which could (will) give your food some of that taste. I can't find anything related to the safety aspect, but several sources say not to eat things with camphor in them, and that...
Does there exist a chemical-free, homemade substitute to deli? Kids eat cold cuts cheerfully, whether alone or in sandwiches. I avoid salamis as their (saturated) fat content is conspicuous and alarming, but even the better ones, such as capocollo, are still filled with chemicals, with MSG, sodium erythorbate, and sod...	Roast beef is relatively easy to make at home and is much more delicious that store-bought. Here is a good roast beef recipe from the New York Times. There is a Japanese method of cooking chicken called "Torihamu" where the goal is to make the chicken the texture and flavor of deli ham. Here is a little more informat...
How can I remove sticky residue from a pot I boiled salsify in? Yesterday I made black salsify. I got the salsify fresh and peeled it myself. Knowing what a hassle that is, I rinced and scrubbed it, put on disposable gloves and peeled in my sink, which afterwards I scrubbed down with a cleaning agent. I put the salsif...	When trying to remove gummy, rubbery substances often something oily will penetrate and soften the goo so that it maybe cleaned as usual. Things to try, cooking oil, peanut butter or something like Goo Gone or WD-40.
Queso fresco / queso latino is raw food? In Spain, you can find "Queso latino" in the supermarkets (at least in DIA). It comes in sealed plastic bags as it contains a lot of water and quite soft. I understand that in other locations it's name might be "queso fresco". I've found here some photos of the product and it's...	In order to separate the curd from the whey, the milk is heated to a boil, so no, I would not consider this a raw food based on the definition you have in parenthesis. Edit: In response to the clarified definition of raw food cheese, I would still say queso fresco does not qualify since the milk is heated well above t...
Best knives that don't need regular sharpening I'm looking for a knife that doesn't need to be regularly sharpened. The knife is for someone who has damaged wrists, and they find it difficult to have to continuously sharpen their knife.	Ceramic knives will hold their edge 'forever', but are brittle. As long as they don't fall, they should be fine. I googled "ergonomic ceramic knife" and a number of items popped up.
Do people add onions when cooking meat via sous vide I never really see or hear of people adding onion to the bag when they are cooking meat with sous vide. Are there any reasons not to add onion? Would it affect the texture of the meat?	I tried @thrig's idea of making caramelized onions first and adding them to the bag and it worked wonderfully.
Cauliflower: mildew, or just darkening with age? Unless the cauliflower in the market is extremely fresh, I usually see at least a couple specimens with tiny blackish freckles on the bumpy "flower" surface. I have assumed the spots were mildew, and tried to avoid them. I even shave that part of the cauliflower a litt...	It's just oxidation from the cauliflower aging. In the state the cauliflower in the picture is in, I wouldn't even bother removing the spots unless you're preparing it in a way that makes you think they'd be unsightly. If the curd/florets are still firm, you're good.
Honey bubbles taste question What do honey bubbles taste like? I'm asking because I've got almost no sense of smell or taste myself. The answer is probably obvious though.	Assuming you're asking about what's pictured in this question, they're basically just bubbles made out of honey, so they'll taste like honey - sweet, and maybe with some fragrance depending on what kind of honey it is.
Making pearl couscous in slow cooker I've been using a slow cooker to make casseroles lately and would like to try using it to make Israeli couscous. I can't find anything online that tells me how to do this. The reason I would like it to sit is so that it will absorb the herbs and spices I make it with. Most recipes ...	I got it to work! I added chicken stock and zucchini and cooked on high until zucchini started to soften. I added sautéed onions, garlic, spinach and let sit for a while so stock would absorb flavors. Then I added canned tomatoes and cooked sausage. I let the liquid get hot and then added the couscous. I let it cook fo...
Which varieties of milk cheese are raw food? Which varieties of milk cheese are raw food? I mean the well-known varieties of cheese, not the many varieties small vendors can have that are only known in small areas. I think that a good definition of raw food cheese is that it's made of unpasteurized milk and it's not h...	I would venture that the opposite is usually true. Most fresh cheeses require heating to separate the curd. In the US, commercial fresh cheeses are never raw since they must use pasteurized milk. Emmental (Swiss) seems to fit the criteria. It's held at a heat in the 30s but no higher.
Can fresh basil cause tomato sauce spoilage? I added fresh basil to tomato sauce once it was bottled, just before sealing. Never done this before and I lost the whole batch within 2 weeks. Can fresh basil cause fermentation to continue? Should the basil have been cooked into the sauce before bottling?	Yes. The cooking sterilizes the sauce, but adding uncooked basil afterwards has contaminated the sauce again with germs.
Freeze cookies before or after baking them? I need to make many batches of cookies for a party next Saturday, and I would like to start baking them now. To make sure they're still tasting fresh six days later, I want to take advantage of my freezer. I can find advice all over the internet on how to freeze dough for ba...	If the oven time is not a limiting resource, I would freeze and then bake. There are a number of sources that strongly advocate for aging cookie dough before baking, which affects the absorption of moisture in the dough and changes flavor: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html Personally, I normally do ...
What can I do with solid cocoa? Someone game me a lump of solid cocoa (from Samoa, if that matters). What can I do with it that I cannot do with cocoa powder?	I'm no expert in the matter, but the only use I was really able to find is to make Koko Samoa. This blog I found to be very informative on the subject: https://chocolateclass.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/koko-samoa-simple-recipe-complex-history/ Basically, you shave the cocoa in small pieces, and infuse in hot water, add s...
Why would you flour your bread loaf pans? I found a recipe for white bread that says to grease the pan and then flour it. I know you do that with some cakes, but I have never seen a bread recipe that calls for flour in the pans. I thought I was reading it wrong, I had my husband read it he said I was not seeing thing....	The same benefit as there is for cakes-- namely that it should prevent sticking. Usually is less necessary for bread since there's usually less sugar in bread and that makes it less likely to stick. Greasing and flouring does produce a thicker crust where the pan is.
Glass bottle thickness ratings I notice that the popular Bormioli Rocco stoppered glass bottles have numbers on the bottom. Some higher quality ones I have are numbered "18" and some more recently bought ones have the number "14". Does anyone know what these numbers mean?	I did some some more research and Ecnerwal is right, it is a mold identification number. Each manufacturer numbers their molds kind of like a baseball team has unique numbers for each player. This number is placed in the center of the bottom of the bottle.
Resting for brownie batter It's traditional to rest dough for some pastries like cookies and breads. I think it allows more time for delicate enzymatic processes, to yield a better flavor. I would like to ask if this is also applied to resting brownie batter? I use a brownie batter recipe with the following component...	No, there is no benefit from resting brownies, and there would be a couple of small disadvantages to doing it. Time will decrease the effect of baking powder since its work begins as soon as you add moisture. Time will also cause gluten to develop in the flour, which isn't something you want in brownies. Gluten develop...
What to do to get tender, edible steak instead of it being rubbery? I've seen this, but it does not answer my question. This is with regard to the Kerala beef fry or even Kerala beef curry; not the western way of cooking steak. The steak pieces: 1kg bought from a local beef shop where they just take a random piece...	Starting with a "random piece of meat" may be part of the problem. Some cuts are more suitable for this than others. If the meat seems "raw", then something is very wrong here. An hour at pressure-cooker temperatures is more than enough to over-cook it. There's no way it could be raw. I suspect that over-cooking is the...
Non-sweet sugar replacement for French macaron I've been working pretty hard on my macaron game lately and have wanted to make a savory biscuit/shell, however I can't think of what I may be able to replace powdered and granulated sugar with, or if something of the sort even exists. I imagine that the sugar helps with ...	You could try sugars with a lower sweetness value. I have used glucose, for example, to cut the sweetness of my granola recipe. It's about 75% as sweet as sucrose, while retaining most of the other chemical properties of sugar (so it still makes clusters). The lowest I've seen is lactose, at 20%, though plenty of peopl...
How can I aquire (not avoid) sour blueberries? If I'm specifically looking for sour blueberries, what can I do to best avoid the sweet ones? If buying from the store, do I just look for berries that are more red? Perhaps there is a particular time of year when they'll be more sour?	Blueberries don't continue to ripen after picking so finding those that are blue and tart can be a challenge. If you see berries that are slightly purple or red, they may have been picked early and be a bit tart. If you're in an area where blueberries are raised, you might visit early in the season, which is late July...
Second quesadilla made on my panini press is not as crispy as the first I like to make quesadillas on my panini press. I typically make two for a meal. Here is what I do: Preheat the panini press to medium-high. While heating, assemble the quesadillas. I typically add cheese, shredded chicken, bacon bits, and onions...	Probably its a panini-press-not-heated-enough issue, but with a caveat. I dont know about the inner wokings of the press, but it sounds like this: the thermometer that decides if the light for "ready" sign goes green is situated in a place that gets heated early, gives green, and cuts off the heat production (while the...
Why do you need raw milk to make butter? I was reading about making butter at home and all the recipes called for raw (I presume this means unpasteurised) milk. Why is this? They also said to wait for the cream to separate from the milk. I've never seen this happen - is there something about pasteurisation that stabi...	You don't need raw milk (or more precisely, raw cream). I've made butter from cream many times, but never from unpasteurized cream -- I prefer locally sourced organic cream for reasons, but the actual butter-making process is exactly the same with a pint of store-bought. If you are starting from milk rather than from c...
Chicken stock and inosinate Currently, I pressure cook a whole chicken for 45 minutes to make stock. However, the meat falls apart very easily. My aim is to extract the inosinate from the chicken meat into the stock, but also minimise damage to the meat so that I can cube it for other purposes. Would pressure cooking ...	Most raw meats contain high levels of glutamic acid bound in the proteins. Glutimates (the salts of the glutamic acid) are what impart the flavor of umami. Inosinate is one such salt. Proteins need to be broken down (cooked) to release the glutimates. I have not been able to find a minimum temperature or time, but it ...
How to prevent creamy sauces from separating upon reheating? When I reheat pasta with some kind of cream sauce, the sauce always ends up separating into oil and cream stuff. I am using a microwave, but, I am open for other methods of reheating. How can I reheat and store pasta without the sauce separating?	Is it truly separating? Or is it just that the creamy stuff is sticking like a paste to the noodles, and there is a bunch of oil sitting all by itself at the bottom of the container? The latter problem happens to my left over noodles when they have been kept in the fridge for a little while. In addition to the evapora...
Great sauce but tiny hint of bitterness Made a hot sauce recently that has common ingredients found in many hot sauces. Habaneros, onions, garlic, carrots, lime juice, sugar, vinegar, tomato, salt and fruit. I used a mix of habeneros and Fresno peppers, noticed the fresno pepper had a lot of seeds. The sauce tastes gr...	Both tomato and pepper seeds can be a source of off flavors, including bitterness ... but they have to be cracked open, either by crushing, grinding, pulverizing, blending, etc. If the sauce isn't something that you can easily strain the seeds out of, such as with a food mill, and you can't just leave the seeds in whol...
Haggis - taste difference between traditional and artificial casing Haggis, though considered purely Scottish could possibly have originated in the North of England. It appears that the earliest known recipe/method is from the 15th century. Just after a hunt, the offal was mixed with herbs, placed in the stomach lin...	I'm positive the artificial casing changes the flavor because it tastes differently from natural casing. Besides, the stomach is bigger than most artificial casings. So, it affects the flavor (not something I would worry about too much) and the size and therefore the cooking time.
How much should I beat choux pastry for optimal rising? I attempted choux pastry eclairs for the first time. The pastry came together after only a few seconds in the saucepan, I allowed it to cool before adding eggs one at a time, and mixture looked at the right consistency and was able to pipe. Yet the dough didn't r...	You have gotten a fundamental principle of the choux pastry wrong. The rising and airiness is not caused by beating air bubbles into the batter, unlike with sponge cake and similar, but by trapping steam in the well formed network of gluten and egg in the batter. The cooking step is not meant to just have the flour-wa...
What does "wedge" mean, as in "wedge" a head of Cabbage? In a recipe on Corned Beef and Cabbage, the instructions read "wedge" the head of cabbage before putting it in the slow cooker.	Another way to say this is to quarter the cabbage. The goal is to make "wedges" (triangles, when viewed from above) that are smaller than an entire head of cabbage (easier to cook and fit in your slow cooker) but still relatively intact. To wedge a cabbage, slice it in half, and then slice the halves into either 2 or 4...
What do sushi bars do with left overs at the end of the day? Just walked past a sushi bar in Bangkok, 20 minutes before closing, no customers but still lots of plates going around on the conveyor belt... so that got me wondering - what do they do with those leftovers? Considering most of them contain raw fish I'd ass...	At the sushi belt restaurant I worked at the cut rolls are taken off the conveyor at closing time and the remaining staff takes home whatever is wanted, in the morning the leftovers are disposed of.
How to pump same amount of paste every time? I am not sure if I am on the right site for this, but here it goes. I have a friend, named Jason, who makes a hot sauce for a company he runs. It is very pasty (made of pepper flakes in an oil). The problem is, when Jason makes a batch, he's got to continually stir up the b...	This thought came to me, and is so different from my first answer I don't think it makes a good edit to that... If the product is really made of pepper flakes in an oil rather than mix a batch at all, measure out a bottle's worth of each, funnel in the flakes, pour in the oil (and seal/heat-process if that's normall...
over salted an uncooked steak I seasoned uncooked rib steaks yesterday (using a truffle sea salt). cooked 1 today and it was way too salty. How can I salvage the 2 remaining steaks. I cooked the 1st steak in the oven broiler.Thanks	You could try "reverse brining", using a low salt beef stock to eliminate or reduce the loss of flavour in the steaks. (Stocks I make myself are very low salt so that I can reduce them as needed without them becoming too salty.)
Using xanthan gum Have always been one for all natural ingredients, but starting to sell my products to the public I want a hot sauce that will not separate. Xanthan gum seems to be one of the most common stabilizing ingredients in a lot of hot sauces, is this the most natural and effective way to keep a sauce from se...	Xanthan gum is made by the fermentation of glucose, sucrose, or lactose by Xanthomonas campestris bacteria. It's a fairly recent discovery (sometime in the 1960s) so it doesn't have a long history like yogurt, bread or beer does but it's still a fermentation food product using bacteria or fungi like many other foods. ...
Cooking fruits with hot sauces i use canned peaches, pears and pinneapple in some of my sauces. I usually cook the fruit with the sauce. Would there be a difference in flavor if I was to cook the sauce then blend the fruit at the end instead of cooking it. Guess I'm wondering if the fruit flavors would have a more fre...	If you are 1) cooking the fruit a fair amount of time and/or 2) using not-too-little amount of fruit compared to sauce, there will , almost definitely, be difference in flavor, and yes, it should have more "fresh" notes, and it will also miss some of the cooked-fruit notes. If you are after fresh notes, may I suggest u...
Altering cake batter amount- how to adjust oven temp/baking time? I'm planning to bake this cake. http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2015/03/23/my-favorite-carrot-cake-recipe/ BUT...Instead of making a two layer cake, I would like to make a one layer cake in a 9-inch round cake tin. I was thinking that I could make 3/4 ...	Whenever you make a cake deeper you risk of a denser cake for a couple of reasons. The first is because the lift you get from the action of the leavening agents and expansion of air and steam will be partially offset by the increased weight that needs to be pushed up. Second, you may lose more lift than a thinner cake ...
How to prevent carrot juice from turning brown? I've been juicing up carrots with a centrifugal juice extractor. There's a lot of overhead (prep and cleanup) so it makes sense to do a big batch and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days. Unfortunately, the refrigerated juice seems to turn brown pretty quickly. Her...	This is classic enzymatic-oxidation browning. Two main culprits - oxygen and a group of enzymes (polyphenoloxidases) that promotes a reaction between oxygen and polyphenolic compounds in the juice. The juicing action will inevitably end up stirring into the liquid a lot of air which will end up dissolved in it. Air ha...
Is my heavy cream not actually heavy cream? I am under the impression that the difference between milk and heavy cream is the percentage of butterfat/milkfat. I purchased a gallon of D enriched whole milk today, as well as some heavy "whipping" cream. The heavy whipping cream lists Serving Size as 1 Tablespoon, Total...	You're comparing different quantities. A serving of cream (per your label) is a tablespoon. You're comparing that to 1 cup (or 16 tablespoons) of milk. The percentage that you're seeing is not what percentage of your dairy product is fat, but the percentage of the recommended daily amount of that nutrient found in a s...
Turkey vs Chicken broth I've tried to research this but can't find much on it. Most explanations don't really address what I am seeing in my soup pot each time I boil up a used bird. These are already cooked birds and are the leftovers from roasted turkeys or chickens. I love a pure broth for lunch. I am also a gre...	Turkey fat will emulsify into the water at a lower temperature than chicken fat, so one key to clear turkey broth is to be careful to NOT boil it. You want an occasional burble, no more. Also, the proteins in turkey muscle tend to release their bound up water more readily than chicken (that's why turkey often becomes d...
Does yeast use the salt in the ferment? During the rising process, does the yeast consume and break down any of the salt in the dough, or is the amount you put in at the start the amount you get in your final loafs? (just spotted some recipes I've been usijg have up to 10g of salt per loaf going in!! :s )	Yeast does not eat or use salt. Salt inhibits or retards the growth of yeast and too much salt can severely impact its ability to leaven or even kill it. ( all though modern commercial yeast is more resilient than naturally cultivated yeasts like in sourdough's ) Salt has an effect on gluten, it does not aid in glute...
Skillet warps when hot -- Is it toast? A griddle I've had recently appears to have adopted a strange behavior -- It's flat when cold, but after being on the stove for a little while it bows upward away from the burner. This makes doing much with it nearly impossible -- At this point is it pretty much toast?	It is not toast if it gets flat afterwards. It is just too large for the burner on which you are using it. The general rule is: if a skillet wraps with the center bending up, re-bend it (if possible - coated ones can crack the coating) and use on a larger burner. If it wraps center-down, rebend and use on a smaller bu...
What is the best place to store garlic in the kitchen? I've been at a friend's house. When I looked for the garlic I the fridge my friend said garlic doesn't go in the fridge. But another friend said garlic lasts longer if placed in the fridge, even when it hasn't been peeled and placed in plastic foil / film. What's ...	Keep your garlic away from the refrigerator, or any cold storage. Garlic germinates after exposure to cold, which is why it's planted in autumn. This means that putting your garlic in the refrigerator is a bad idea as it will cause it to sprout, which creates undesirable changes in flavor and texture. The garlic you b...
I had unopened block cheese in my fridge for 8 months is it still good? I had unopened block cheese in fridge for 8 months is it still good?	Mold is usually the first sign of degradation. I just cut that stuff off. Listeria tends to hit softer cheeses, but there's always a danger. If it's not moldy, not Brie or similar, I'd eat it. I've eaten 2 year old fridge cheese before, and not died. But as with all matters involving health, you're on your own, and the...
Possible Wine Substitutions for Sherry When Making French Onion Soup I am making French onion soup, and it calls for sherry. What would be a good substitute for the sherry?	Yes, you can. (I usually use wine, in fact). Note that sherries are a fortified wine, so you may want to add a small amount of brandy as well; say 1 Tbl to 1/4 cup per cup of wine. If you are using a chicken stock, restrict yourself to a white wine; perhaps a rose if you have a particularly dark chicken stock. For a ...
Can I separate cream from powdered whole milk? Can I separate cream from powdered whole milk? I spend much of my time in the Philippines and milk is very expensive and cheeses are almost impossible to get. I am making pizzas and I want to make my own mozzarella cheese.I want to buy powdered whole milk in bulk for mak...	I don't think you can get cream out of your milk - it would be homogenized by the process, and people would want their milk to be smooth and not separate out so they would take precautions against such a thing in the manufacturing. Also, a lot of the powdered milk I see sold is skim milk powder, you should be very sur...
When and how much flour do I add when mixing dough? I am a rookie bread baker and I have been following some recipes that range in amounts of water and flour. I have a Kitchenaid artisan mixer that has been doing the hard work of kneading for me. My problem is knowing when to stop adding flour during mixing/kneading. ...	I'll convert my comment into an answer, based on your request for help or suggestions. Bread formulas are created using the "Baker's Percentage Method". It is expressed in the amount of liquid in ratio to the amount of flour. This percentage varies according to the style of bread, but within each style produces accu...
Why do garlic pots have holes? If garlic pots didn't have holes, why would the garlic in it get soggy (which as I understand it means moist). After all, garlic as bought at the store is dry, and to my knowledge doesn't have much water in it. Do the holes I the garlic pot allow moisture to leave the garlic and pass thr...	Actually, it isn't really to allow the garlic to dry, it's the opposite (to help prevent it from drying out too much). Most models of the garlic pot are relatively small and usually round. Often, the garlic pot is constructed of some sort of porous material, such as fired ceramics or terra cotta. Both types of the gar...
How long does it take garlic to germinate in the fridge? If left in the fridge, how long does garlic take to germinate? I have experienced the green sprouts in the past, and was able to chop them off and eat the remaining garlic. I am curious add to how long that takes as I cannot remember. This way I will know how mu...	Germination of garlic is a gradual, slow process, and how long it takes depends a lot on how close to sprouting the garlic was when you originally bought it. Seems to me it would have to sprout faster at room temp, than refrigerated, anyway. I routinely keep garlic in the fridge (shame on me!), and sometimes the garlic...
Shortbread with a snap I would like my shortbread to have more of a "crunch" snap to it; to also allow it to travel and not get damaged. Is it too obvious to say cook for longer, or do I need to add more flour? My recipe is as follows: 1034g flour, 924g butter, 462g caster sugar and 264g corn startch. Oven temp 150 ...	Your recipe is a bit short of flour for a classic 3:2:1 flour:butter:sugar ratio, counting both the flour and cornstarch with the flour. You have 1298 grams of flour and cornstarch combined, it needs to be closer to 1386. A bit more flour will certainly help, but your method should also be considered. I would recommend...
Sodastream loses carbonation when adding syrup I have a sodastream, and for the most part it makes great carbonated water. However, any time I try to use the flavoring syrups, my drink becomes completely flat. I do follow the instructions and only carbonate water (no pumping bubbles with the syrup already mixed in). I...	The solubility of carbon dioxide in water is a function of several factors. The most important are time, temperature, pressure, and composition. In order to maximize your carbonation, ensure everything is as cold as possible. The colder the liquid, the more CO2 you can dissolve in the liquid. Secondly, you will need ...
What is the purpose of wrapping fish with aluminum foil? I was wondering what would be the difference if we wrap or don't wrap the fish with aluminum foil when baking. And also covering it with salt - how much of a difference would it make?	Cooking fish or other items in paper, "en papillote" is a technique used to lock in moisture and basically steam the fish in its own moisture and any aromatics you add. Using foil is often done in the same way and to remove the fish or other items from more direct drying and scorching effects of heat while cooking, mu...
Can I bake my bread in a loaf pan instead of baking sheet? I have found a lot of recipes that says to bake your bread on a cookie sheet. I was wondering if I can use a loaf pan instead? Do you have to adjust time or any thing else? My family like sandwich style bread better than French style. Most of the recipes are s...	Just use a thermometer and bake to an internal temperature of 190F (88C) ...or 200F (93C) if the dough is enriched with butter, eggs or milk.

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