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Preserving sweetness during baking without sugar noob here (both to this site and to cooking in general!). For health reasons I can't really do sugar, and the low-carb thing has saved my life (literally). I am trying to do more low-carb baking at home. The topic of non-sugar sweeteners have been discussed at length...
I hate answering my own question, but after a month I did (finally) find a pseudo-answer that works for Stevia. I've not yet tried it for any other sweeteners. Melt into fat and freeze it For example, the recipe I use for cookies needs four (4) tablespoons of melted butter. I started by melting two tablespoons i...
After full reseasoning of my cast iron, eggs are still sticking Hey there Cast Iron pros, I've liked my cast iron but it hasn't been very non-stick. When making eggs, even with oil and a good hot heat before adding to pan, eggs will stick to the pan. I'm hoping to get a great non-stick finish that eggs (or anything el...
I have a similar (but not the same) frying pan. Your problem is, most likely, a lack of heat, not a lack of seasoning. I always set my frying pan, empty, on a low/medium fire. When it starts to come to temperature, I raise the temperature to high. [If I have something else to cook, I do that before cooking eggs. This w...
What is a good way to roast hazelnuts? I need to roast some hazelnuts to use later for other preparations. How do you do it? In a cooking pan or in the oven, and for how much time?
While using a pan on the stove top can result in roasted hazelnuts (or any nut), it does require constant movement and attention. It can be quick, but it can also go wrong quickly if your heat is too high...or you stop shaking the pan for too long. Alternately, roasting in a 325 to 350 F (163 to 177 C) oven, on a sh...
Name for a flour-free onion sauce I came across this in the context of low-carb chicken pie filling, in other words without a flour/roux base. Is there a name for a sauce that starts with low & slow-cooked onions? Asking for a friend ... really ;-) Thanks.
A soubise is a classic french onion-based sauce. Really it is just slow cooked onions with a bechamel added. Of course, bechamel has flour in it to thicken. However, I have seen recipes where the bechamel is replaced with heavy cream. For example, here, onion, cream, and vadouvan spice are blended together to make ...
Substitution for curry powder Can garam masala be used as a substitute for curry powder or vice versa? Garam Masala also known as all spice powder
You can use garam masala to make curry, but it doesn't contain everything needed for a typical curry. Other ingredients are required. Garam masala typically contains cumin, coriander, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, and mace (the outer casing of nutmeg). It's a basic spice mix often used in Indian cuisine. T...
Is cooking a chicken pot pie with a low power microwave safe to eat? The package says do not use with microwaves less than 1100 watts because it won't cook thoroughly. If I cook on a 700 watt microwave for 6 recommended minutes*(1+(1100-700)/700=8 minutes 10 seconds do I risk food poisoning or do I risk it tasting col...
It doesn't matter for food safety how you reach the required temperature, as long as the food doesn't spend too long in the danger zone. Since you've looking at possibly minutes longer this is not a problem for you. Just make sure you know that the internal temperature is high enough when you finish cooking. I would re...
Canning with candles I am not sure about the right terminology as I am not a native speaker, but is it possible to conserve solid food in a jar with a candle? Boiling is used to decrease air and for the food to be well conserved it must not have much oxygen. The food is suffocating. A tea candle placed inside will suc...
The short answer is: No. The more elaborate answer is that certain bacteria are anaerobic and food needs to be heat treated to ensure it can be safely stored. Especial mention: Clostridium botulinum which leaves deadly toxins. The tealight inside the jar will not produce the heat needed for pasteurization.
Induction cooker on a wooden table? I have an induction cooker like the one in the image below. Is it safe to place it on a wooden table?
Induction cookers utilize electromagnetic induction to heat the pots on them rather than the plate itself. Induction cooking works by creating a magnetic field that is constantly oscillated (north and south pole are switched). This causes an electric current to run in the bottom of the pot and heat it up via resistive ...
Worried about my Buddha hand rind ferment I am testing out the Buddha hand fruit ferment. I washed everything well, cut the rind and poured honey water in the jar and sealed it tight. I opened it one day and it bubbled for a few minutes very strongly. I put the top back on and now there is a white film on top of the l...
First and foremost, you shouldn't seal anything fermenting because it could accumulate too much pressure and fail in a potentially explosive manner (as with this unfortunate accident https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/glass-carboy-explosion.517237/). Also, white films forming on top of fermenting beverages usu...
Can I build a fond with seitan? I plan to adapt a chili recipe into a vegetarian one, and I plan to use seitan to get a bit of the umami flavor that the beef usually brings in the chili. However, I usually build a fond in the bottom of my pot by browning the beef, to get more complex flavors. Can I do the same with s...
Yes* *However, you may find the results from using seitan only disappointing. In my trials so far, I was able to build a fond with seitan. It tasted primarily of toasted bread, and burned easily. While my memories of other fond-forming foods (meat, alliums, mushrooms) are hazy, I am pretty sure that they produced more ...
Can I substitute Maida Flour for All Purpose Flour for making Tortillas? I'm attempting to make a Hot Cheeto Burrito. I've already subbed the Flaming Cheetos with a local substitute (Kurkure), and I'm going to make the Tortilla myself too. I have both Maida and Atta at hand. I've seen answers that say it's an okay sub...
Real tortilla would be made with corn flour or wheat flour. You can use the maida, it would taste little different, but not much to matter
Does using wild rice in soup suck up all the broth if it is held after cooking? This is my experience with rice and pasta. I was wondering if wild rice is less ‘needy’ in this regard and would soak up less broth.
As you many know wild rice isn't a type of rice but rather a grass. Your intuition is correct that wild rice absorbs a lot less liquid than white or brown rice. However, what you can normally buy is a mix of the two so this may not be the solution you would want to go with particularly since straight wild rice is harde...
How do you "season" your oven racks? After running the self-cleaning cycle on my oven, the racks are now kind of bare and don't slide in and out easily. Is there a way to "season" them like you would cast-iron?
The racks are probably chromed, so you should not have to season them. I'd remove them from the oven and give them a good wipe with clear water to remove and residues that the self-cleaning cycle might put on them (especially if you you cleaning products). And also wipe clean the channels where the racks slide in the o...
Why are my cookies spreading too much? More flour? My chocolate chip cookie recipe spreads too much, even after I refrigerate the dough overnight. I have looked into the different answers on this site, but nothing seems to be working consistently. I'm wondering if the amount of four I'm using is too little? Should I a...
It looks to me like you could be using too much butter. My recipe for chocolate chip cookies has this: 2 c flour (this is ~240g) 1 c butter 1/2 c sugar 1/2 c packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp b soda 1 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1 or 2 c chocolate chips Melted butter is supposed to make the cookies chewier than using soft...
How to reuse badly cooked chicken I marinated chicken breast cubes in teriyaki sauce for aboutt 1 hour. I then cooked it together with the sauce it was marinating with for about 15 min on medium heat. The result was gummy (probably overcooked), hard to swallow chicken that tasted pretty bad. I don’t want to just thr...
Finely chopped or even shredded you could add it to fried rice or noodles (you could use a food processor). The other thing that sometimes works with overcooked chicken is to have it cold, sliced fairly thinly in a sandwich or chopped in a salad, but that may be awkward starting from cubes (unless you like it mixed wit...
Can frozen egg whites be used in a macaron recipe? I put a few egg whites in the freezer a few couple months ago (frozen in an ice cube tray, then transferred to a freezer bag). Would they be viable for using in a macaron recipe (either French or Italian)? Or do I really need fresh ones that have been aged? I've see...
Yes, you can, but the results may not be the best, when it comes to tenderness and aeration of the finished (baked) product. Coagulated egg products are mainly used for omelettes, scrambled eggs and souffles especially for mass production, or great quantities. In cooking, but especially in confectionery making, fresh e...
How to treat a cast iron pan that only gets occasional use I have a small cast-iron pan that I use a few times a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. Most advice about how to season a cast-iron pan involves lightly oiling and wiping it down, after it's been cleaned, before putting it away. This seems to assume that ...
My (carbon steel) wok is used with that sort of frequency and doesn't go rancid. What I do is (you may want to modify a little for the fact you're on cast iron): Rinse and dry it. Get it fairly warm. Pour in a little oil (sunflower as that's what I mainly use). Swirl/wipe the oil over the surface. Heat until I thin...
Too much port in sauce I overshot the port and the taste is overpowering. There is also cream and heavy cream in there, as well as black truffles. Is there any way to fix it?
You can always create a larger batch. If you, for example, doubled the amount of port, you can add* all the other ingredients in the same amount you originally used and that would correct the proportions. *Depending on the recipe and how things are put together, you may need to do more than simply add. You might need t...
Too much barley in vegetable soup I added half a cup of barley to a vegetable (medley) soup and now the soup only tastes of barley. I made the stock from yesterday’s roast chicken. What can I add to counteract the floury taste?
In my personal experience barley is often like lentils and rice in that it can "take over" a recipe if not used judiciously. Too much barley and your soup turns into stew. That happened to me recently. I've recently been reading "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" by Samin Nosrat and besides it being an excellent primer (or refres...
Does canned tuna contain (dead) parasites? While using canned tuna to make salad, I remembered a Youtube video about sushi-grade tuna. If I recall correctly, the main criterion was if it contains parasites and that it's rather hard to find a clean fish, which makes them so highly priced. Especially the tail was heavil...
It is quite likely that it does contain them, yes. A randomly chosen nonpaywalled study of Mediterannean tuna (DOI: 10.14411/fp.2014.011) says that Overall, 84% of the gills examined harboured metazoan parasites. Now these are the gills, not the meat in the tin, but it is unlikely that there will be much informati...
Converting yeast amounts from old recipes This recipe for poppy seed rolls calls for 1 large yeast. How much yeast am I supposed to use? I usually see recipes measure it in teaspoons, but I can’t guess how much “large” is. I am also assuming this is active dry yeast, maybe it’s not and that’s the reason why the size i...
This is short for “1 large cake of yeast.” According to this investigation, cakes of yeast traditionally came in two sizes: Small, around 3/5 of an ounce Large, around 2 ounces This similar recipe gives the substitution “1 large yeast or 3 envelopes dry yeast.”’
Sourdough starter gone wild Why is my starter bubbling out of the container within minutes of mixing. I used 2 c. bread flour, 2 c. water and 2.25 tsp active dry yeast.
There are a couple of (potential) issues here. First, sourdough starter doesn't involve store bought yeast, so I'm not sure I'd call what you have a sourdough starter-- I would call it more of a poolish or a biga. What makes it a sourdough starter is the cultivation of wild yeasts (this takes time, usually on the or...
Premixed Bircher muesli (cereal) - soak overnight or ready-to-eat? I want to try Bircher muesli, a trending cereal where you usually mix oat with some fresh fruits and nuts and then soak it in milk overnight. In the supermarket I stumbled over a premixed Bircher cereal pack, so I was interested and bought it. It does ...
Both. It’s just a matter of taste and convenience what you prefer. The long-soak gives an overall softer, mellower result and requires a minimum of planning. The overnight-soaked version may be more digestible, but this largely personal, not necessarily a general rule. It’s also close to the “original” version. The p...
How do I add a strong "onion flavor" to the biryani (in restaurant style)? I've had chicken biryani in restaurants and their biryanis taste extremely different from what we prepare at home. I'm not sure how to describe it except that it's an "onion flavor". We've got loads of biryani recipes and they're all more or le...
The restaurants may be adding asafoetida, a ground root product that adds a savory, onion-y flavor to food. It's very concentrated stuff and smells awful, but once you cook it for awhile it's absolute magic.
Boiling meatballs, how long? I would like to make some meatballs to go with a generic pasta dish. I am thinking about 10 balls from a pound of raw ground pork or beef. I have been searching for how to safely do this. Some say to boil the meatballs for about 30 min, others claim that 10 min is enough. I imagine just bo...
Getting meatballs done is a matter of raising them to the correct internal temperature. 30 minutes seems like a long time even for large meatballs, but it depends on many factors. The best way is to pull the biggest one out and test it, first see if it's firm or squishy - firm means it's getting close to done. If it's ...
What substitutes work with a capsaicin allergy? I recently found out that I'm allergic to capsaicin, so that means no spicy Mexican food, which I love. Are there any substitutions that I can use? I can have black pepper, but too much black pepper and that's all you taste.
You could try other piperine containing types of peppers (Piper genus), these include P. longum (long pepper) and P. retrofractum, as well as white pepper P. nigrum, though any member of the Piper genus should contain some piperine, but amounts and hence spiciness will vary. You could also try ginger (Zingiber genus), ...
What is the lowest temperature at which botulism spores are killed? I am wondering if it's possible to pressure can low-acid foods in my Instant Pot. Now hear me out. I know it's not recommended because the highest pressure that can be guaranteed on it is 10.2 PSI, and many low-acid foods require 15 PSI for a certain ...
In all good conscience, the only recommendations I could follow would be USDA or an equally authoritative source, and they only recommend pressure canning at a minimum of 240F. At 4000-6000 feet, that requires 13 lbs pressure for dial or 15 for weighted (as the weights are normally only 10 or 15 lbs). They make no al...
How much smoke is normal for pan cooking steak? I am on a quest to make the perfect steak on a stovetop. Today I took my first step and frankly there were a few things that were really concerning. I am using an induction cooktop and a stainless steel pan and no oil. All the instructions said to put the steak on high h...
in my experience, a carbon steel pan is highly reactive in term of temperature, especially on an induction cooktop; it will quickly overheat and burn your food. Steak will smoke a lot, especially if the fat content is high. Try lowering the temperature, use a thermometer and continue on your quest for the "perfect" ste...
Could someone please clarify whether the following things make sense while cooking chicken biryani? I've trying multiple iterations to cook chicken biryani like how the restaurants do it. However, after going over various recipes online and trying them out, I'm starting to wonder whether the following cooking steps ar...
As someone pointed out in your last question about biryani, there is a great deal of variation in how the dish is prepared. However, I will attempt to address your points based on my experience. Par-cooking the rice is not for the purpose of flavor absorption, but rather so that the rice is fully cooked after the dis...
Is it possible to (safely) make dry instant rice? For lightweight camping food it would be nice to have rice that cooks quickly without using much stove fuel. Dried instant rice is available (example) but has some downsides: The flavours aren't great (and I find them unpleasantly salty); it's being displaced in the s...
Typically dehydrated foods of this sort are freeze-dried rather than dehydrated by heating. This is a process of sublimation of the water out of the food in a controlled manner under very low temperature conditions. This is generally not practical at home due to the nature of the equipment needed. However, it seems tha...
Does abalone have any unique nutritional value that justifies its lofty prices? I read that wild abalone's illegal to sell and unsustainable, but abalone is still expensive to farm as they grow slowly and the algae and kelp for their diet are expensive. I read https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfi...
Short answer: no. Long answer: People eat abalone because of its taste, texture, and potential for gourmet preparation. Nutritional value isn't under consideration.
Keeping fondue warm It’s chilly out. Fondue time! I have no problem making fondue, but keeping it warm for my guests has presented a little bit of a problem. My proposed solution is to scoop the fondue into an enameled cast iron pot on a trivet, warmed by a tea candle or two. Do you think this would keep my fondue at...
I have a setup similar to what you're proposing, except made for fondues. It works very well, except it is set up for 4 tea candles. 1 or 2 is not sufficient unless you have a very small pot or eat very quickly. 4 candles keeps it at the right temperature for ~1.5 hours. Using a cast iron pot is also optimal since they...
How many dried herbs are mixed with a kilo of tomato sauce? How many tablespoon of dried oregano should be placed for a kilo of tomato sauce for my spaghetti sauce? Please answer my question.
There is no set amount or rule to guide you, as there is a lot of variation in tomato sauce for spaghetti. Some people use oregano, some use marjoram, some use thyme, some use basil...some use a combination. Oftentimes fresh herbs are used, rather than dried herbs. A tablespoon of dried oregano sounds like a lot to ...
No Butter Sous Vide: What did they mean by this? I just watched an experiment on youtube, where they compare 2 steaks, side by side, the first one with added butter during sous vide (as many people do), the second one without butter. It seems the second steak, without butter, was far better, and I have since read othe...
The (alleged) problem with extra fat during SV is that, flavor molecules will dissolve in fat and subsequently be discarded. The claim is that, this causes the loss of flavor. For searing it’s fine to use butter or other fat.
At what temperature should I simmer bolognese to avoid burning? Bolognese requires a long period of low heat cooking or simmering, according to some recipes several hours. At what temperature should I simmer, in order to avoid burning / overcooking, while still achieving caramelization, reduction and breaking down of ...
Depending on what other tasks you have for the day, consider sliding the sauce (and your Dutch Oven) into your oven for 6 hours or so. Slow Cooker Setting = Oven Temp Low = 185-200F High = 280-300F I cook my Brunswick Stew this way at 250F (covered 3 hours, uncovered 3 hours). The last 3 hours allows the sauce/bro...
What is the difference between a lemon pound cake, a lemon loaf, and a lemon bread? Cream Cheese Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake (http://www.thesugarcoatedcottage.com/cream-cheese-lemon-blueberry-pound-) Lemon-lavender greek yogurt pound cake (http://www.bakeyourday.net/lemon-lavender-greek-yogurt-pound-cake/) Glazed Lemon...
The difference is the person doing the naming. Seriously, you seem to be looking for clear cut categories where none exist. If one of the same person calls three different things a "lemon bread", "lemon loaf" and "lemon cake", you can typically expect that the "bread" will be somewhat less sweeter, less aromatic and l...
How do you funnel food off a cutting board? After I cut or chop something up on a cutting board I have the problem of funneling the pieces into a bowl or other container and it typically makes a mess. Normally what I try to do is scrape the pieces with a knife into the bowl or whatever, but inevitably some of the piec...
I have a few ways of dealing with this: When using a small cutting board, use a bowl that's wider than the (smallest) dimension of the cutting board. If you can manage to swing (not fling!) the cutting board upright above the bowl, everything will fall into the bowl. Especially if the bowl is a bit wider than the boar...
What is the quickest way to evenly slice chicken breasts for jerky? I am using a dehydrator to make jerky from boneless skinless chicken breasts. Cutting these by hand is too time-consuming and produces uneven pieces which finish dehydrating at various times. What is the quickest way to remove the fat from and evenl...
Freeze the breasts, then use a mandoline to make even slices. (If you have access to a deli slicer with its rotary blade, that would be even faster; however, a mandoline slicer is more typical in a home kitchen.) The freezing keeps the relatively small pieces of meat stable so they will slice more evenly. Frozen breast...
Unsweetened or fruit sweetened ice cream - Replacement for sugar in ice cream? What is the best carb or protein to replace sugar in an ice cream recipe? I would like to remove cane sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, maple syrup, xylitol, stevia, erythritol, etc. from my ice cream recipe. I read in another forum abo...
From a bulk perspective you don't have to replace sugar with anything, you certainly don't need want to add starch to compensate as that will not do favors for your consistency and mouth feel. Sugar helps the consistency of ice cream by reducing ice crystal formation, protein does not, and starch does a bit but makes ...
How to not dry out precooked meat in a recipe Certain types of meat like chicken breast seem to have such a short window of being done. Cooking too little can be unhealthy and cooking too much can dry it out. So it seems most cooks are very careful with not overcooking these types of meats. Yet, I see all kinds of rec...
You're not expecting the same texture if you re-cook, that's why many re-cook recipes involve shredding the meat before the second part of the process - separating it as long fibres. Chicken Tinga, Pulled Pork, etc use this as the basis of the texture of the dish. Using fattier cuts can mitigate the drying out. Persona...
Why does chocolate tempering requires reaching temperatures where "bad" crystals can be formed When tempering chocolates, we want that the chocolate will only contain beta crystals, for this, we melt the chocolate to a point where all crystals break, then cool it down to below the melting point of beta crystals, and t...
This YouTube video from America's Test Kitchen doesn't exactly address your question, but I think it hits it on the periphery towards the end. Summary: Dan (the chef) goes over the traditional way of tempering chocolate (much like the method you link to / describe). Then, he goes over their shortcut version. In the s...
How To Get the Popcorn effect on Pigskin Cooked on a Roast? I have been researching cooking skin-on pork roasts (for example Porchetta). And what I have noticed is that the main difference between them is the skin texture. It does not matter if it is high or lower temperatures, cooking for 10 hours or 3. Some recipes ...
It is certainly possible using the oven only. For a good crackling you need to have several components - a good layer of fat under the skin, a nice dry skin surface before preparing, sufficient edges on the skin to help crisp the skin, and some salt and oil. There is a lot of debate around how to prepare the skin and...
Why would previously frozen steel cut oats separate, where just-cooked version doesn't? I make steel cut oats regularly, and eat them daily. I'm still figuring out the best way to cook them. I previously made a regular size batch, stored it in the fridge, and ate from that about a week. Now I'm doubling the batch, and...
Oats (like other starches) swell and absorb water when heated. Cooling them causes the molecules to change their shape and realign to form a different sort of gel, undergoing a process known as retrogradation. When starches are frozen, this network of molecules undergoes a lot of damage, due to the combination of ice...
Citrus allergy, need substitute I’m allergic to lemons, limes, and all citrus fruit. what can I substitute in making my own jams/jellies, other items that seem to require the juice of a lemon?
If you are not allergic to citric acid you can use it as a substitute for lemon juice in canning. Related Can I use citric acid instead of lemon juice when canning?
Storing matcha tea in a thermos? lately i started to drink matcha tea, as an experiment instead of coffee, and i have read many descriptions about it. I want to drink matcha tea to work, but i dont want to make it every time here,but instead to have it in a thermos.I have an 1L stainless still thermos and the quantity...
It might be worth trying coldbrew matcha for what you're trying to do. If you have a thermos already, try it at home over a weekend and see if it keeps well enough for your tastes. Matcha may settle if you leave it long enough, and many people enjoy the froth the most, so it really benefits from being made and drunk fr...
How to have a weekly baking sourdough starter plan I want to start baking 2 loaves of sourdough bread every Sunday evening. I have to start from scratch. So I do not have any starter yet. Can someone please help me with a plan to do it? How and when should I start with the starter so that it results in enough starte...
Your question should be broken down in two parts: How long does it take to get a starter going? How to schedule my sourdough feeding to fit my schedule? For 1., if you have no starter to build on, you won’t be able to get a reliable one ready within three days. Sorry. The time until a new starter establishes, stabil...
Mircowave does not work after I used vinegar without water to clean it I forgot the water with the vinegar. I heard a pop. Now it does not work. Can I do any thing, or did I blow it up?
Assuming that you were using the vinegar/water mix to clean the microwave... No, it is unlikely that you have damaged the microwave with vinegar - unless you have pure or glacial acetic acid, you are using vinegar with between 4% and 8% acetic acid, the rest is mostly water. This is not typically very damaging to metal...
Is margarine necessary for my brownies? I recently got a new cookbook and it recommends margarine for brownies instead of butter. I have never baked with margarine before and my brownies always seem to be fine, but this is the only recipe in the book that calls for margarine. What gives? What kind of difference will m...
Hello fellow cooker :) , by description Butter: Most frequently made from cow's milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, and yaks. Salt (such as dairy salt), flavorings (such as garlic) and preservatives are sometimes added to butter. Rendering butter, rem...
What causes the chemical taste in commercial bakery products? Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve noticed a chemical taste in most commercial bakery goods (not packaged factory ones but rather the in-store bakery at a grocery store). It’s seems to be mostly on the base of the item or around the outside. For example, th...
This could be a number of factors. Parchment sheets are ubiquitous in professional, non-commerical bakeries. As the sheets are treated to impart some nonstick properties, you may be tasting some residue from that paper, especially if the bakery is using bleached sheets. You can easily test this by baking something at ...
Are fermented home-canned berries safe? I just opened home-canned blueberries and blackberries. They are probably 5 years old, and taste like alcohol. Are they safe to eat? I don't know anything about the original canner's intent. The blueberries still have their skins and seem to be in juice.
Unless you know that the alcohol was added by the cook at the time of canning, I’d treat it as a sign that “something” happened. And in canning, “something” is always considered bad, because it means the food was in uncontrolled conditions. I’d stick to the golden food safety rule of “when in doubt, throw in out”, jus...
I burned some sweet potatoes in my new microwave- is the microwave ruined? I put two small purple sweet potatoes in the microwave for 12 minutes and they burned in my new microwave. My dad claims I destroyed the microwave because I burned something in it just once. Is he right!? If that were the case, I’d think most p...
I think most people don't realize a microwave oven is just a radio transmitter. The cavity you put your food into is part of a tuned area for this transmitter. Instead of feeding the output of this transmitter into an antenna, the power is contained within the cavity and, thus, warming the food. Note: extremely simplif...
What is the best way to keep the quality of fried food while being delivered? How does one keep fried food hot while staying crispy for delivery? There are plenty of heating bags but I need one especially for French fries and other fried foods. Are there any techniques that keep french fries fresh during transportatio...
The biggest scourge of fried foods is moisture. What you need is a dry absorbent vessel. I have seen paper bags packed with paper towels and left open to vent steam used successfully for what you are trying to achieve.
Oven setting for pizza Which Oven setting should I use for making pizza.
Use the one at five o'clock. It should be the normal baking mode for most recipes anyway. The way I read the markings is: 12 o'clock, a zero: Turned off. 1 o'clock, a lightbulb: Light on, but no heating. Alternatively, it could be a preheat function. 3 o'clock, a dripping fan: looks like some kind of defrost setti...
Botulism risk with oil I've been reading about oil infused with raw veg and herbs and how it can give you botulism, and now I'm worried that when I use oil when preparing any vegetables I will contaminate my oil with bacteria, for example if I chop up some potatoes and then use the oil bottle to pour it over them with...
The bottom line: yes, you are crazy. Botulism arises when you have a substance which carries clostridium botulinum and keep it for a while (timescales of days rather than hours or minutes) in an anaerobic environment (like a bottle of oil). The bacteria cannot burrow into the bottle from the outside, nor can it swim ag...
Why is bolognese cooked for so long? Most bolognese recipes advise to simmer the sauce for 4 hours, some even advise to simmer longer than that. Until I heard about that, I had a recipe, which was a total of maybe 45min of cooking, which worked well for me. Since then, I have tried to do it the right way, but somehow ...
There are several phases meat goes through when simmering - a better-educated chef than myself could probably give them all names, but with no formal education, this is what I've noticed over the years. If you're going to cook mince for a long time in a sauce, you'll not be interested in the first one - that's more for...
Duck breast; Trouble crisping skin I scored skin, started in cold, cast-iron pan, but as skin and breast contracted the major center of breast seemed to rise a tad from griddle and would not brown, even after 15 minutes. Only the edges seemed to brown. How can I cook the Duck Breast so that all the skin browns without...
Without knowing exactly what's going on (i.e. looking over your shoulder), I can only answer in the general (some of which I assume you know, but will add in anyway). Water / Moisture is the enemy of browning. I usually use two temperatures when cooking duck, which may just be a more extreme version of what you're do...
1 baking pan, dough for 2 loaves. What do? I am making bread from this recipe for 2 loaves. The recipe calls for placing the dough in the baking pan and leaving it for 1 hour until the dough doubles in size (and contours itself to the pan). I have only 1 baking pan. And I am preparing dough for 2 loaves to make bread ...
Is there a very special reason you want to bake it in a bread pan? The recipe is solid enough to be baked free-standing, in any bread shape you like - batard, boule, and all the fancy ones. It actually will be way too dry if you tried to incorporate the whole flour (but notice it does not direct you to do so). So you ...
What is the minimum amount of sugar needed for getting the desired texture in this banana marmalade? I've been trying to make banana marmalade(1) with the least amount of sugar possible. I've tried the following basic recipe - with variations in the amount of sugar, I've tried the following three versions: 500g water...
There is no way to predict the amount you want. If you want to know it, the only way is extensive experimentation. You observed two outcomes, which I will call "amber" and "boiled" for short. If I got you right, you assume that the difference between them is determined by the amount of sugar, and are asking about the ...
How can I reduce the richness of my homemade chocolates? Context: I've recently gotten into making homemade chocolates. So far I've just been melting the stuff in a microwave according to directions and putting it into molds along with whatever filling I feel like. While I think the results taste perfectly fine, I've ...
What you are using is not chocolate in the strict sense, it is a highly engineered product made to be easy to use by the home cook and taste similar to chocolate. I would advise against adding anything - this kind of product has been balanced by armies of food technologists to behave just like it does. If you start cha...
How to roast potatoes in the oven to make them crispy? What is a good way to roast potatoes in the oven in a way that they get crispy ? At the moment this is how I do: I start from raw potatoes (I never got why I have to boil them first). I put them in a baking tray, and some oil, and turn them many times, and take c...
First you want the right potatoes, a medium starch content works best. Waxy potatoes don't work, they have too much water in them. Maris Piper potatoes work well, in the US Yukon Golds are a good choice. Next you have to peel them, don't try and get them crispy with the skins on. Crispy skins are great, but you'd use ...
Finishing chicken thighs under broiler Rather than pan-searing chicken thighs after sous vide cooking, is broiling in the oven an option to crisp the skin?
Sure you can broil, however consider this: Sous vide cooking does not render any of the fat. So a quick broil might char the outside of the skin, but the fat could remain more rubbery. Some of this will depend on the nature of your chicken thighs. I've noticed that, depending on the chicken (organic v. non...brand t...
Plums are sour. Why are prunes sweet? Plums are sour (especially the peel). Prunes are dried plums (with the peel, I presume). Then why are prunes only sweet, with no sourness? Note: I'm asking about standard American prunes, not unusual varieties like sour prunes.
Prunes are made from specific varieties of plums which are different than many plums eaten fresh, though they are also often available and eaten fresh. When picked as fresh fruit however, they are often picked much less ripe than for prunes to allow for shipping and sitting before eating. If they are ripe, sourness i...
What can I substitute for soda pop in a sweet pork recipe? I was looking up sweet pork recipes and every one of them call for Coke or Dr. Pepper. I avoid soda as much as possible because of questionable ingredients: specifically GMO corn syrup, sodium benzoate and caramel color. Are there any safer substitutions I co...
Apple juice is good with pork. The frozen cans of concentrate are cheap and perfect for this use. Apple juice lacks the dark notes of cola. To get those I propose you add hoisin sauce. It is very sweet, a great mix with pork (I have some boneless ribs soaking in some right now awaiting the grill) and will lend the a...
Chuck Steak or Chuck Roast for Stew I have 4+ lbs of beef chuck steak in my freezer. I was wondering if I could use those to make beef stew, or if I would be better off with beef chuck roast. The steaks are 1-1 1/4" thick, frozen. Thank you!
A chuck steak is simply cut into slices more ideal for grilling whereas a roast is left in larger thicker shapes more ideal for roasting. Once you break them down into stew shape either is viable.
How to prepare vegetables for a sandwich that can last for several days in a fridge? I'm not much of a cook but neither am I a complete stranger to the kitchen. I like to prepare sandwiches to take with me to work in a box. Since I do it often, I like to make them more "interesting" than just plain bread-meat-cheese. ...
There’s a third option between storing the vegetables for a week and cutting them in the morning: Cut just the amount you need for one morning the evening before. Storing overnight is not a safety issue (assuming basic principles like storing in the fridge are followed), and you still can “slap them on” as requested. A...
Wrong cleaner on wooden cutting board After cleaning our wooden cutting board, we using wipe it with mineral oil to help preserve it. Today, we accidentalky sprayed Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner and Lolish on it instead of the mineral oil. The bottles looked similar. We quickly washed it with hot water; then after ch...
I am surprised at your extreme reaction here. This is a simple cleaning product, so even if you have no further information, the default assumption is that it is not especially toxic. OK, some cleaners are corrosive, but this means you shouldn't be touching them in concentrated form, they do nothing in trace amounts. A...
What is this waxed root vegetable? I recently ordered a grocery delivery from Whole Foods, and as I was ordering I noticed they had rutabagas, which I've never had before, so I decided to try them. What I got was this: They don't look anything like any picture I can find online of rutabagas, which are supposed to loo...
It looks like it could be yuca/cassava, based on the appearance alone. (Note: this is not the same as or related to yucca.) The picture on Wikipedia even shows a waxed version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava
Where are the missing speeds in my KitchenAid mixer I have an artisan KitchenAid mixer, model KSM150, everywhere on the internet, including in the KitchenAid site it says that there are 10 working speeds, but the speed selector on my mixer has only 6 working position (and another one for off), there are also correspon...
This is mentioned in the user manual for your stand mixer (the larger more detailed booklet, not the quick start pamphlet). Those speeds exist on your machine, they just aren't labeled. The odd speeds aren't commonly used, so by design the lever is predisposed to "notch" at the evens, and the lever naturally wants to ...
Raw vs Cooked Egg Yolk Color Why do egg yolks change color from orange or dark yellow to yellow or light yellow when cooked, esp. hard boiled?
This is due to the proteins in the yolk denaturing and aggregating - basically the same reason the white (albumen) turns white from clear. Think about the color that would result if you mixed a dark yellow color with some of the color white (i.e. I'm not talking about mixing yolk with albumen here, just colors) - it w...
I err.. made pan fried gnochi and it tasted like pancakes I made pan-fried gnocchi for the first time today. I used the following: Wholemeal plain flour Leftover baked potatoes Salt A single egg. I ran the potatoes through a cheese grater because I don't have a ricer. That got them into a super aerated pile. I added...
It would be difficult to say precisely because the results that you describe are usually due to an inadvertent (and often undiscovered) mistake, but: Not using a ricer or mill could cause you to inadvertently over-work the mixture; by the time you feel like you get the right tactile response it could very well be over...
Is there any way to tell beforehand if you will get food poisoning from a meal? I was watching the news and saw an entire family of young kids on a road trip dying from food poisoning after they had stopped to grab lunch at a small diner. Could they have known this would happen within the first few bites?
While our senses can warn us of some potential problems, there are many pathogens that we can't detect by smelling, tasting, or feeling. So, no, you generally can't tell from a bite or two of food. Alternately, if you know how an establishment stores, processes, and prepares the food you are about to consume, you cou...
How to achieve freeze dried strawberry flakes? I was following this really cool recipe to make a kind of snack made mostly of granola, coconut flour and freeze dried strawberries. When done right, it seems to be really photogenic, here is a picture from the blogger: However, when I got to the part where I'm told to: ...
First off, if they're the texture of raisins, they aren't the sort of freeze-dried strawberries the recipe wants - what it wants is something totally dry, almost the texture of styrofoam. They should crunch if you bite into them, and slowly rehydrate in your mouth if you eat one without crunching. They'll look like ful...
Quantity for over night oats I cook Quaker Oats overnight and love it but sometimes the pre-measured packets make too too little food. I am interested in making my own servings using cups, but do not know what proportions I should use. For example, I heard on YouTube that 2 cups of oats per 1 cup of milk/water. What i...
Weigh the contents of one packet. Check the packet instructions to see how much liquid to add. That's your ratio, very precisely. You can then apply that ratio to any measurement.
Why do some meats get tougher with higher temperatures, while others become more tender? I am looking for example at a sous vide recipe for goat on the joule app. The tenderness seems to increase with the temperature, while with beef steak it's the other way around. Is that true and why is that? Which meats get more t...
This is a product of the cut more than of the animal. You're comparing shank with steak, which are two very different cuts. In general, to get a tender cut with high temperature cooking you want a cut with lots of fat and connective tissue to render. Leaner cuts will become dry and tough. The shank is a cut you coul...
Advice on bulk buying nuts I am thinking about buying nuts in bulk, specifically hazelnuts, almonds and/or walnuts. Are there any considerations regarding: Type of nut - i will buy straight from farmers so i have to hope they have been stored appropriately. Which type of nuts are less likely to go off if not stored c...
Some of the main concerns with storage and consumption of raw nuts are (in no particular order) The presence of Salmonella The oil in the nuts becomes rancid The presence of insects According to a food safety pamphlet put out by UC Davis, Because of their association with two raw almond outbreaks, California almond...
What is safe/GMP prescribed limit of Sodium Benzoate in nacho dough? I've been cutting nacho triangles from rolled dough and then after lightly pan-roasting them I store them as ready-to-fry, which works and tastes very good but it devlops mould within a week. So, I purchased powdered Sodium Bemzoate, which should wor...
I suspect it will depend a bit on where you live. However the limit in the USA is proscribed at 0.1% for foods, this is likely similar to the limits for most "western" countries. This information was found by searching the FDA website for "sodium benzoate" and is found in statute here
Preparing as much as possible of a cake in advance It's my girlfriend's birthday this WE and I plan on secretly preparing a cake she likes. However, we'll be in the countryside with friends this WE, and I'll have very limited time to prepare on site without getting caught. So my plan it to prepare/mix as much as possi...
If you look at how boxed cake mixes do it, you'll get the right idea. They combine the dry ingredients and you have to add the wet ingredients. There are a couple of good reasons for this: spoilage (not too much of a problem if you're taking about a couple of days in the fridge); and gluten formation, which requires wa...
Does food cooked in firewood taste different than that which is cooked in gas? Does this apply to food in general or just proteins or a few items? Also, does the taste vary depending on the type of wood you use i.e. using bamboo as firewood?
"Taste better" is entirely opinion based and unanswerable with anything but opinion. As to does it taste different, absolute. How different depends on application and technique. Different woods taste and cook differently. Some have high resin, some a harsh smoke, some a more gentle smoke. They burn at different tem...
How can I portion out frozen cookie dough? A friend's kid was doing a fundraiser, and I now have two 3 lb tubs of cookie dough. It's frozen, which is great on one hand because it keeps for so much longer, but...when I want cookies, it's a bit of a hassle. I don't really want to thaw the whole tub, as I don't need that...
Thaw in refrigerator until soft enough to portion. Portion total batch, then re-freeze. Ideally, it should have been portioned before initial freeze. At this point, unless you want to bake them all, you will be fine with a refrigerated thaw, portion, and re-freeze. Store portioned, frozen, cookie dough with as little...
Bread proofing times fridge versus room temp I've recently started to try to make my own bread. I am starting with baguettes because they seem like a fairly straightforward kind to start with. Recipes I've seen online will either say to leave the dough at room temperature to proof, or in the fridge to proof for a lo...
Basic room temperature breads don't prove in 6 or 12 hours, 30 minutes to 2 hours is more typical. The overall process from start to finish including baking may be 6 hours. Sourdough breads and enriched doughs like brioche and challah can take much longer to prove at room temperature. As for calculations no, there's n...
Avocado Oil Moisturizer- Edible? I bought a bottle of avocado oil to cook with, but I failed to realize that the label was for moisturizer, not food. The label says that it is pure, 100% avocado oil, not scented or anything. I know the old motto "when in doubt," etc., but if it really is pure avocado oil then there ...
No If it is labeled "cosmetic grade" then it is not safe to cook with, it is only safe if it says "food grade". I understand cosmetic grades of otherwise edible products (like cocoa butter or your avocado oil) may be made with solvents that are not food-safe, they may have trace contaminants from the processes involved...
Is fresh pasta just good marketing? I noticed some questions about fresh Lasagne sheets and it reminded me of something I heard, but sadly too long ago to be able to attribute although probably a chef on TV (I'm un the UK), and that was that Italians always use dried pasta and that fresh pasta was just something that ...
Firstly, there is no one way Italians use pasta. Italian cuisine is defined regionally, and each region's cuisine approaches pasta somewhat differently. Secondly, it might be better to consider fresh and dried pasta almost as different ingredients. They produce different results and are used in different dishes. I ...
Plain flour or strong bread is there any difference when making a cake Could you please tell me if it is possible to use strong bread making flour when baking a cake when the recipe calls for plain flour.
Flours are different in their protein content. More protein means more gluten means more structure. Strong bread flour has a lot of protein, cake flour has very little, so a cake made with strong bread flour will not be as light and fluffy as with all purpose (medium protein) or cake flour. If all you have is the bread...
Lemon liqueur has gas? I tried to make some sort of liqueur with homemade lemonade. I added lemon juice, sugar and a little vodka. I left it for 2 months in a dark and cool place and as soon as I opened it turned out it contained gas (a lot of it). I tasted it and it's like sparkling lemonade with alcohol. Where did t...
The gas is likely due to fermentation of the sugars by wild yeasts which are present almost everywhere. This is the standard method for production of alcoholic beverages, although specific yeast strains are used. It is obvious that there was insufficient vodka to prevent yeast growth. As far as consuming; there is no...
How to separate meat from vegetables in a soup? I love to make a nice chicken soup. I take some chicken legs, carrots, leak and celery, a few herbs and of course salt and pepper, and I just let it boil for like 4 hours. I then sift the soup to take out all the vegetables, skin, bones and meat. This way I get somewhat ...
Since the intermingling of the flavors is what your soup is about, and you want to remove only some of the solids (the chicken), a metal insert or colander might be too cumbersome. Boil bags are what I’d suggest - cheap, disposable, and will allow everything to simmer together nicely. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071RJ...
Should I be concerned about drinking tap water? I grew up in the United States and have been drinking tap water my whole life. More recently some of my friends have been making me feel a little bit guilty or awkward about the safety of tap water, usually recommending me to use either use a water filter, or to boil my...
It really depends on the location. Sciencemag.org has an article on this, which is backed up by this paper. To quote a relevant part from sciencemag: Allaire and her colleagues downloaded EPA’s data and looked at the number of health-related water quality violations for 17,900 community water systems in the continent...
Good qualities of ovens/microwaves for baking cake My aunt wants to start her own bakery where she is planning to sell different kinds of biscuits, cakes, and desserts. But she cannot afford to buy an industrial oven right now as she wants to start small. So my questions are, What types of oven (traditional, convect...
I'm not going to claim this is an exhaustive list, especially as I'm not a commercial baker, but a few things that I would personally consider: What is she baking? What size vessels does it need? How tall does it rise? This will affect how can she fit in the oven at one time (how many per shelf, how many shelves for ...
Baking chicken while respecting maximum olive oil temperature I normally cook chicken on a pan with some olive oil (which supports a maximum temperature of 160C) but I am trying to bake on the oven instead. I've found a recipe where some olive oil placed at the bottom of tray together with some balsamic vinegar and so...
I think I got my answer. Thanks to GdD to put me into the right track. I was using an olive oil not suitable for cooking. I got now one now capable of handling up to 210C. I think I need to do a lot of salads to make use of the previous 1 liter olive oil bottle though :P BTW, i tried the chicken, not problems so far by...
Why is gluten-free baking possible? Maybe a silly question, but I've been trying to learn a lot of baking fundamentals and trying to understand specifically what makes a cake. Most explanations I've read are something along the lines of: flour for structure fat to interfere with gluten development sugar for taste and...
Then the explanation for the flour is that the water and flour interact to produce gluten that then gives the cake its structure. Your confusion is well-founded, because gluten is required to form the structure of cake is too strong of a premise. Gluten can be a primary contributor to the structure of a cake, as in ...
What exactly do all the extra modes on my oven do? My KitchenAid dual fuel/dual oven has, in addition to bake and broil a few advanced modes. Some are self explanatory, bread proof and keep warm, however a few others aren't and the manual says "best for cooking type X" rather than saying "oven acts like this" So can a...
Okay, both of the answers from Greybeard and Manu have part of it. I know this is an old question, but I assume others with fancy ovens may wonder about such settings too. Let's put it all together. ROAST - note that for this oven, ROAST is a convection setting. Although the manual doesn't state this explicitly, ge...
What is the Key Difference Between Nougat and Meringue? Both are made from whipped eggs and caramel syrup. Why nougat is viscous and meringue is soft and can become dry and crunchy?
The basic difference is consistency: meringue tends to be lighter, airier, and drier, while nougat is more chewy. This is achieved by different ratios of sugar to egg whites. Nougat has significantly more sugar in proportion to egg whites. (Compare this nougat recipe, ~4 cups sugar/honey to four egg whites, and this me...
what weight to use when weighing pasta for dieting purposes? I presume that, ceteris paribus, the same amount of pasta cooked is significantly heavier than the same amount uncooked. So what is the standard?
There is no standard. (Btw. this also applies to rice) Any source (calorie table, diet plan, recipe..) should specify what they are talking about when giving values. That said, for recipes, the context should clarify. If it includes a full cooking step, assume dried. If it calls for precooked, is usually mentioned.
Shelf life of homemade self-rising flour? I have a recipe that uses self-rising flour which is not available where I live, so I make my own by sifting all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt together. This has always worked fine. In a few days I will be needing a few cups, so I decided to make it today and store it ...
The shelf life is not a problem. This is one of the rare cases where mixing ingredients doesn't change their shelf life. All of them are shelf stable because of lack of moisture, and nothing is introducing moisture, so the mixture is shelf stable. You could, however, run into problems if you try to make a large batch ...
Do I need to boil flax seed egg substitute? Most recipes I've seen for flax “eggs” simply say to mix 1 tbsp of ground flax seed with 3 tbsp of water and chill, but I read a recipe (I think it was for vegan cookies) that said to boil the mixture before chilling. Does this improve the chemistry of the egg substitute in ...
Heating the water will speed up absorption. The question is by how much and if it’s worth the extra time? I have made many recipes with flax as an egg substitute. I don’t ever recall boiling the water. I can’t think of any of them that didn’t turn out as intended. Do you have any links for the recipes that recommend t...
Can I make "falafel" with different beans? I grow several types of beans in the garden, but the growing season is too short for chick peas. If I use a different bean - e.g., kidney, navy, cannelini, turtle (black) beans - do I need to make changes to a "standard" falafel recipe?
Yes, you can, however if you want to use red kidney beans, or white kidney beans (cannellini), please boil them at least 30 minutes at 100 °C, otherwise you might suffer from food poisoning. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytohaemagglutinin Regarding taste, in the original recipes there is no need for eggs as a...
How to prevent sweet thick glaze/sauce from setting after cooling? I attempted to make a sweet balsamic glaze/sauce from a simple recipe that called for 1 cup balsamic vinegar and half a cup of brown sugar. To my own tastes I added a bit of Worcestershire sauce, a splash of soy sauce and a little bit of rosemary. I ma...
until the syrup coated the back of a spoon Then you made syrup, and that's why it had the texture of syrup. You should not have cooked it, just warmed until it dissolved, if you wanted a sauce texture. If the directions in the recipe are for cooking until it gets so thick, then the recipe intends the sticky texture,...
Can I make a cheese sauce with edam cheese? I love the taste if edam cheese and I want to know if I can make a sauce with it? Like the sauce with the roux+milk+cheddar can I replace cheddar with edam?
AFAIK, you should be OK. It is a hard cheese, similar but different than cheddar, but should work. You might have to experiment a little bit, even if the cheeses are similar, their behavior when melting might be different.
What are substitutions for coconut in curry? I'm allergic to coconut - this is a new allergy, so I really miss Thai and Indian curry! I also have issues with dairy. Would it work to use roasted cauliflower puree as a curry base instead of coconut? Maybe with a little raw cashews pureed to add creaminess. Are there ot...
Thai curry recipes often use a lot, and the flavour is distinctive. You'll need to experiment. Your idea of cashews is a good place to start. What I've often used in Indian curries is ground almonds (almond flour would be better but I can't get it easily). They have some thickening power and quite a suitable taste. You...
Bacteria contamination inside a thermos bottle Let's say that I have a pot of boiling stew. I then pour this, still boiling, inside a thermos bottle, and close the lid right away. Everything inside the bottle should be sterile at this point, due to the high temperature which will be maintained for over an hour, correc...
The assumption that it was sterile is wrong. Standard cooking leads to a reduction of bacteria to about log6, so 1 in 100 000 survives. Afterwards, these bacteria multiply exponentially in your soup, potentially achieving levels at which people can get sick. Your logic will apply to canning. But it is known that the "...
Keeping boiled potato warm I’m cooking boiled potatoes for 60 people for a party, how can I keep them warm and ready to serve until needed? Would sticking them in an oven at a low temperature work?
There are three things to consider. The first two are food safety. Temperature: You say warm oven, but in order for food to be held for extended periods of time safely they need to be held at over 140° F. (source) Time: Once you are no longer maintaining a safe temperature you have a short period of time before it is ...