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Quiche does not set up - too much, or too little, cream? My quiche did not set up well; the final custard remained a touch watery/soft. Would that mean my ratio of cream : egg was too much or too little cream? What's the logic of quiche custard? Should I now try a bit more or a bit less cream? You can often find menti...	You need less cream for a firmer consistency. The eggs are the part that set during the cooking process. The cream adds moisture and fat, both of which make it softer and runnier.
Cooking temperatures with non-stick cookwear I'm looking at replacing most of my cookware, since it's beginning to show signs of wear. A lot of what I've been looking at is various brands of non-stick options. However, I've noticed a trend. The descriptions say to avoid cooking above medium heat. Most of the time, I d...	The temperature guidelines are for frying and can be completely ignored if boiling. Being full of water is a very effective way to limit the maximum temperature of a vessel. You'd avoid boiling dry in any container. To be honest, the guidelines are essentially nonsense for any use. "Medium" varies too much between stov...
When to use a slotted vs. solid turner? When would you choose to use a slotted turner instead of a solid one, or vice versa? I would have thought it’s just a personal preference but lots of utensil sets have both so apparently it’s more than that.	It's largely preference, and sets may include both to seem like better value, but there are sometimes reasons to choose one or the other. Slotted: allows more fat (or water) to fall off the food; more flexible for the same thickness/material so can slip under things better. Solid: supports crumbly or loose foods better...
Looking for advice on making halva w/ allulose - first attempt came out gummy and taffy-like w/ oil separation I'm trying to create halva, and my first attempt ended up with something that wasn't crumbly like halva is supposed to be - instead, it ended up a hard, taffy-like confection that was tasted like halva but ha...	It's really better to work in weight especially when cooking with different types of sugar. Trying to change the fineness of sugar, and the sugar chemistry, and then make up for it with adjusting volumes is prone to failure. Halva is easy to make but hard to get the right consistency. My last lot ended up too soft/stic...
Can I use caster sugar instead of cane sugar? I am making a ginger beer and I do not know if I should use caster sugar as a subsitiute for my cane sugar, as I do not have any. Is this OK?	Yes you can, so long as you work by weight not volume. Unrefined cane sugar (or refined sugar with some molasses added back in) would contribute a little to the flavour, but sugar mainly provides sweetness, and in brewed ginger beer, a source of nutrients for the culture. Caster at the same volume as granulated would b...
Tortilla press geometry problems I have a fairly typical Mexican-made tortilla press, and I've had it for a while. It works of course, but there's a persistent problem of the part of the tortilla at the hinge end of the press ending up much thinner than the part where the lever is. That makes sense of course; this par...	With no pictures of your press it is hard to make suggestions. But assuming your press has metal plates with loops and a pin for the hinge, and if you can take it apart, you might be able to lengthen the hole of the plates (by lengthen I mean to wollar out but only to an oval instead of a circle in the correct directio...
What does leftover rendered chicken skin consist of? After rendering chicken skin, a lot of the fat is released and you're left over with crispy pieces of chicken skin. What is the remaining crispy skin composed of? Protein, fat, or both?	Fried chicken skin (gribenes), what's left of the skin after you render off the fat (schmaltz), gets its crispiness from the skin's protein. However, there is still a lot of fat coating and within the skin. When you crunch into it, there is still a "juicy" mouthfeel of telltale greasiness. The protein provides structur...
Is it practical to boil drinking water in a pressure cooker? At my home and relative's homes I've never seen anyone using a pressure cooker to boil water (to make it safe for drinking). They just take an ordinary steel vessel, fill it with tap water, add some salt and jeera seeds, cover the vessel top partially with a...	Overall it will make little if any difference. The pressure cooker won't reach 100&degC noticeably quicker than a normal pan with a close fitting lid, and the pressure cooker is made of thicker metal which will take more energy to heat. Simply closing the lid would help quite a bit. If you want to hold it at a boil t...
Are there disadvantages to storing bread in a vacuum box? I love fresh bread, and when I buy it I store it at home in a plastic bag. After 2-3 days it has probably lost about 60% of its overall quality. I've been using some vacuum storage bags and found that the bread can be great up to a week later! This made me thin...	Bread gets dried out and stale through retrogradation which requires moisture. Your vacuum bags are not keeping the bread fresh because of the vacuum, they are keeping it fresh by providing a very tight seal that prevents the bread from absorbing moisture from the atmosphere. A larger vacuum box would provide the sam...
Dough is super springy and sticky. Tears while stretching I work with 950 gms of 00 flour and 50 gms of wheat gluten to make it 1000 gms. I knead the dough at 65% hydration with 1/4 tsp Instant dry yeast for 1000 gms of flour. 2% Salt and 4 tabsp Oil .. I knead till windowpane test and let rest for 24 hours.. but ne...	It all sounds normal except the part where it tears when you stretch it. You should make sure you leave enough time for the dough balls to proof (they'll double in size) and relax before you shape them. If you have 24 hours before bake time, you don't even need to knead after mixing. Look up no knead pizza dough.
Dry Cookie Dough I used this recipe to make chocolate chip cookies. I’ve made it many times and it usually is a hit! This time, I decided to use brown butter instead of room temperature. The dough turned out very dry, to the point where I had to add egg whites and squish the dough into balls to even get a cookie shape...	I think the problem is that the browned butter lacked water the recipe was relying on. the only sources of liquid in the recipe is the eggs and the butter, so losing one of those sources would make a big difference Butter ordinarily has some water in it, I've seen numbers like 16-20% water, the rest being fats and mil...
What are some good ways to treat frozen vegetables such that they behave like fresh vegetables when stir frying them? Forgive me for being a novice. I like having frozen spinach, onions, broccoli, and vegetables since they're convenient and don't spoil. But I only know the practices for cooking, and in particular, sti...	The first thing is to do is thaw them properly before you cook them, half frozen vegetables will cool your pan too much. I often thaw frozen vegetables by soaking them in hot tap water, this is pretty quick and doesn't scorch them like microwaving them might. This might take a bit more time than microwaving but it's a ...
How much of methylcellulose is safe? Not a duplicate of this question, as I know that it's used for cooking, I just don't know how much of it is safe. I heard that methylcellulose is used as a laxative (it is not digestible, just like regular cellulose), and I heard it has other side effects that caused the food indus...	There is no safe number determined. The position of the FDA is There is no evidence in the available information on methyl cellulose that demonstrates, or suggests reasonable grounds to suspect, a hazard to the public when it is used at levels that are now current and in the manner now practiced. However, it is not ...
Will a crockpot brown ground meat? For chili con carne, can you brown the ground beef, onions, peppers, etc in a crockpot (without the lid on) and then add the other ingredients to finish by slow cooking?	It is possible, but only if you have the right type of crock-pot. Most crock-pots are not designed for searing and as such do not get hot enough, quickly enough to sear the meat properly. You also run the risk of cracking the ceramic pot due to uneven heating/cooling as you add the meat. There are specific models of cr...
Is boiling or pouring better for emulsifying chocolate ganache I am making a recipe that calls for emulsifying solid chocolate with a heated milk/butter mixture. Most articles online say to pour the hot milk on to the chocolate. Wouldn't it, however, be easier to just throw the chocolate into the pot of milk on the st...	There is. Pouring hot milk or cream over chocolate pieces is a much gentler way of melting it. If you boil the chocolate, however, chances are good that you will overheat it. Chocolate has a low melting temperature, and a low burning temperature. Boiling your chocolate for too long (more than a few seconds) will b...
When left out in an open container, what % abv does vodka retain at room temperature? If I pour vodka (40% abv) into an open glass, and then leave it out overnight (or for some time), what percent ABV does it stabalize at? Or does all of its alcohol content evaporate (leaving just barley-water in its wake)? Also, as a...	As a chemist I'd say that the question is really impossible to answer as given. The gist is that for a water/ethanol mixture both components will evaporate. So if the liquid is left out long enough, the liquid will evaporate completely. The atmosphere contains essentially no ethanol so an equilibrium between the whol...
If we cut ourselves when preparing food, unless that food is going to be cooked thoroughly, should it be tossed? Probably every person who cooks has cut themselves while preparing food. Blood can carry many pathogens, so continuing to prepare that food may incorporate those pathogens into the food. Unless it is going ...	There are a couple of things to consider here but it shouldn't be too difficult to cover them all. If it is just you that is eating it. No problem. You are already exposed to your own pathogens. We've all tasted our own blood. There shouldn't be any real risk here. If it isn't just you: Stop! Under no circumstances sho...
Is marinating raw fish in sweet fortified wine safe? Is marinating raw fish in sweet fortified wine safe, or will the presence of sugar foster bacteria growth ? The wine is 16.5% ABV and the whole thing is kept in a fridge.	Without knowing the wine and the sugar content as well as whether you are adding anything else to the marinade, we can't say much. I would hazard a guess that you should be fine (speaking as a microbiologist...), however it will depend on how fresh the fish is, how heavy a contamination you are likely to have in the fi...
Determining Bundt pan size when recipe gives a loaf tin size What size Bundt pan do I need for a pound cake that is supposed to be baked in a 9 by 5 loaf tin ? I have a Bundt pan (never used one before) that holds 8 cups of water.	According to here, your 8 cup Bundt pan should work. https://cooksinfo.com/baking-pans-by-volume
Garlic powder clumps up When I put garlic powder in a shaker, it ends up clumping. I tried putting in some rice, but it still clumps. Any ideas?	It sounds like you've got at least two problems: First, without a lid, it absorbs moisture from the air. Second, shaking it over hot food delivers steam directly to the powder Possibly third, the holes in the shaker may be small enough to block as soon as the smallest clumps form. Rice will act as a desiccant and ...
Will a hood vent increase rate of evaporation? I'm boiling down some maple sap this year on the stove top. A bit late but thought I'd give it a whirl even if it only yields a quart or two of maple syrup. Will keeping the hood vent on increase the rate of evaporation? Conventional logic makes me think yes, but I just ...	I'm boiling down some maple sap this year on the stove top. A bit late but thought I'd give it a whirl even if it only yields a quart or two of maple syrup. It takes between 20 to 60 quarts of sap to make 1 quart of maple syrup. Will keeping the hood vent on increase the rate of evaporation? You'll want to do it out...
Why combine AP flour and bread flour? I've seen some recipes that call for AP flour and bread flour. What's the point of that? Assume AP flour has 10.5% protein and bread flour has 11.5% protein. If a recipe calls for equal amounts of AP flour and bread flour, you'll end up with a mixture that is 11% protein. Why not ...	It could be as simple as a bare pantry shelf and an adventurous cook who combined them when there wasn't enough bread flour for her recipe. King Arthur Flour went above and beyond! Testing loaf after loaf to compare crust, crumb, and texture with a variety of flours. Are there differences? Certainly, but perhaps not as...
How to avoid having pith on dried orange peels I am trying to prepare some dried orange peel for a Mexican chocolate bread recipe. From what I've read, the first step is cutting thin strips of outer peel off an orange without getting any pith. I lack the dexterity to yield a paring knife so I used a vegetable grater. ...	Try gently scraping with a spoon or non-serrated knife, if you want to remove more pith. However, that looks pretty good to me. Your recipe for drying has you finely chopping the peel. So, I would say that zest would be just fine as well.
Are all species of CANNA edible? I was looking through a plant catalog, and noticed that only one type of CANNA is edible. Why aren't other species edible also?	Being Zingerberales it may be hard to track that information down, as it could be either production of toxic or unpleasant tasting compounds or lack of useful features. However, what I did find is that this species (Canna indica, also known as C. edulis) has large rhizomes, which are the main agricultural component, t...
Using own squeezed lemon juice I am using a bought 100% lemon juice (pasteurized). I thought that it will be cheaper to squeeze some lemons and heat at on the stove for pasteurizing. How much time can I use my own pasteurized lemon juice? are there other health consideration I need to take into account?	Just because industrial food producers can create a safe process for a given preservation method, it does not mean that you can do it too. The best you can do in this case is to make canned juice, which, as long as it is in a closed jar or bottle, will last on the shelf for months and years. But as soon as you open it...
What is the actual probability of food poisoning with food left unrefrigerated overnight? There are two components to risk: probability (how likely is the bad thing to happen) and hazard (how severe are the negative consequences). I know that hazard can be quite bad in case of food poisonings so I'm not surprised offi...	I'm not sure how answerable this is, as kitchens vary so much. A clean, cool kitchen will be very different to a steamy hot, dirty one, in terms of both likelihood of contamination and growth of pathogens after the food is contaminated. Some pathogens are also almost ubiquitous. Homes may be cleaner than they used to ...
Cleaning 'cement' from grill I've been a bit lazy in the last couple of weeks and left some ash in my grill. I was cleaning it today and noticed a hard cement-like substance. I believe this is the dreaded corrosive 'cement' I've read about which is the result of ashes absorbing moisture. I've scrubbed it with paper to...	If it is just steel then a stiff brush ought to do it, or steel wool. I'd be tempted to hose it down a few times, the water ought to loosen the ash before sponging it off. If there are coatings on it then using getting it wet makes the most sense as abrasives could damage the coatings.
How do I add flavor to this amazing looking dish? I have made an ancient pre-WWII recipe titled "Slovakian-Style Eggs." They look like fried eggs on static electricity. The whites are whipped into what is in effect a meringue, without sugar or any seasoning other than salt. This looks amazing, as you can see in the li...	These look like a recipe I've seen going around recently called cloud eggs, with the yolk nesting in well-beaten whites like it's sitting in a cloud. (I'm only including that name because it may be easier for you to Google recipes with a more modern name than your pre-WWII version, in case you're looking for flavoring ...
how do I remove partially-disintegrated sediment/tiny-bones from stock? I have just finished my first batch of bone broth, and have removed all of the bones I could find. I noticed that there are some smaller pieces, as well as "grit" from disintegrated bones, which seems to be from the handiwork of my vinegar leachi...	Straining might work, but you may need to use a process known as "decanting": Let the stock sit until any sediment falls to the bottom. Remove the good liquid, avoiding the sediment at the bottom. You can do this a few ways : Use something to scoop the good liquid off the top Use a hose to siphon off the good liqui...
Why refrigerate bagels after shaping dough? I've noticed that recipes for bagels call for a refrigeration period after shaping. Why does it matter if the refrigeration is done after shaping? The shaped dough takes up more space in the fridge so it's not ideal. At least with respect to pizza dough one source says tha...	It doesn't matter as far as rise or flavor is concerned. You can cold rise the dough, or the shaped bagels, or both. However, the advantage of cold-rising the shaped bagels is that the cold dough is easier to peel off and dunk in the boiling water than room-temp dough is. Bagel dough tends to be sticky and soft, and ...
Can you make croissants with compound butter? Has anyone ever tried making croissants (or leavened puff pastry) with compound butter (e.g. basil butter, cinnamon butter)? Are there any practical issues with this? Will particles in the butter break the layers of dough? Will sugary butters burn before the dough is fully...	I have made garlic-butter laminated savoury rolls, using roughly the same method as for croissants. It works reasonably well, but I have found that I need to grind the garlic pretty finely. If there are lumps they end up tearing the dough during the lamination. Another issue is that it's even more important to keep eve...
Bottle of Cachaça 51 tasting like sour milk? Whilst recently shopping, I grabbed a bottle of Cachaça 51 intended to use for some flambé. Upon opening it, I found it smelling (and tasting) like slightly sour milk. Googling for it, I didn't come up with any hits about it at all, which makes me wonder what's going on. Ed...	Further research on this revealed my own answer: Bagasse is the waste product from extracting juice of sugar cane, and if naturally fermented/decaying, smells like sour milk! Depending on the grade of sugar cane juice (freshness of sugar cane itself, as well as heads vs tails of extraction), the juice can have some of ...
Is there a way to either a) cook an egg with a lighter, b) boil water with a lighter or c) cook 2 minute noodles with no hot water I want to do these but on camp and my resources are limited to a pot, eggs and 2-minute noodles. Is there any way to do at least one of the above? (Preferably the noodles?)	Physics time. First the basic dat
How to make coffee that closely resembles early 16-17th century coffees? Making my coffee this morning, I found myself wondering what early coffee tasted like. I'm guessing quite different to modern coffee, both in how the beans were, and in how it was prepared or customarily expected to be drunk. Foods and drinks cha...	I can't answer for the 17th century, but Townsend's has a nice (but long) video on how they prepared coffee in 18th century America. That'll bring you closer to the year you're looking for. Also, note that, in Europe at least, imitation coffee was quite common. Both deliberate imitation, and fraudlent sales of not-rea...
Where can I find recipes with photos of the exact meal created from the list of ingredients? I'm creating a service for changing people nutrition habits and convincing them to eat more healthy. As a first step I would like to develop an app to recognize what's on the plate. I'm aware about apps which can recognize if ...	This should illustrate some of the issues we point out in the comments. Here's a pizza on a plate. It fills the plate, a reasonable portion by the look of things. Actually no. That's a mini pizza on a side plate. Here's the same pizza on a dinner plate. Not quite so generous now. How would you take that into acco...
corned-beef cure/brine: viscous, snot-like substance - is this safe? Please click here for a video showing the problem Causes for concern: The container ended up pressurizing somewhat, so whatever was in there was breaking down and gassing, so when I opened up the container some fluid shot out There was an indication...	Unfortunately I dont have a concrete answer for you but both the gassing and the snot would make me lose confidence that it was safe to eat. However, in this question they person answering said it might be sugars breaking down. Another commenter also lists spoilage signs for corned beef brining: White slime and foam o...
Ruined My Pre-Season Cast Iron Pan- Help! I bought a cast iron pan, and did not realize it had been preseasoned (this is my first one!). I washed with soap and hot water and thoroughly dried it, then coated with thin layer of vegetable oil and baked it (upside down, over foil) at 350 for one hour. It came out SO sti...	It sounds to me like you put too much oil on when you tried to season it, and that's why it was thick and sticky. You will probably have to start all over, but the pan is not ruined forever! It's best to wipe the thinnest layer of oil you can on it, essentially putting some oil on and then wiping as much off with a pap...
Prefrozen pork ribs I bought frozen pork ribs and the label said pre-frozen. what does this mean, and is it safe to thaw and eat. To me, it sounds like it was frozen twice.	I've seen the term applied a lot to seafood. It means that the seafood was frozen when caught and for distribution to stores, then thawed at the store to be sold in its thawed state. For ribs, I'd expect that the ribs were cooked then frozen at the plant. The store would then thaw the ribs for sale.
How do I bake 'Sugar Cookies' but my oven does not go high enough? I am trying to bake sugar cookies but the recipe I am using says to bake at 350 for 5-7 minutes. My oven only goes to 200. Could someone help me and tell me what to do?	Set your oven to 175, because it's in Celsius and the recipe is in Fahrenheit.
How to achieve a good steak crust with a blowtorch? I tried to torch sous vide steaks twice with a culinary blow torch, but it seems to take forever to get any kind of crust. So far I was not able to achive a really good crust. Should I simply do it longer? The following result took me several minutes per side: Grant...	It does take a couple of minutes to get a good crust with a torch, but judging by that photo something went wrong as there’s little crust on that picture. As aris mentioned, you need to ensure that there is no moisture on the steak. You mentioned adding butter on top and letting it melt at room temperature. This could ...
Is there such thing as a chimichilada? So a burrito is made with a flour tortilla; it is wet if you put sauce on it. An enchilada is basically just a wet burrito, but made with a corn tortilla. A chimichanga is a deep fried burrito. What is it called if you deep fry an enchilada instead of or before putting sauce on...	There's an additional complication to your question. Chimichangas are closed-ended while enchiladas are open-ended, so calling an enchilada a wet burrito isn't quite right. In fact, burritos often come drenched in sauce. For reference, the Chuy's Fajita beef burrito with ranchero sauce: Other differences include size...
Does this still count as "scrambled eggs"? Being Chinese-American, I grew up on this stuff. The English name "Chinese steamed eggs" comes from the fact that it comes from Chinese cuisine, and that "steamed" comes from the word 蒸 in 蒸鸡蛋. The word 鸡蛋 refers to "chicken eggs", but the word 鸡 may refer to chicken or turke...	I would think the definition of 'scrambled' comes from being constantly stirred as they set, which gives the final texture; not that they start as beaten eggs. I've heard of an egg simply dropped into shallow oil [just as you would to make a regular fried egg] then stirred in the pan to produce a similar if less homoge...
Is no-knead bread method compatible with stretch and fold during the bulk rise? Using the no-knead method (as decribed by Jim Lahey), instead of leaving the dough undisturbed during the initial fermentation period, would it be harmful to add in some stretch and folds to build dough strength? Would this be counterprodu...	Absolutely! The Tartine recipe, the Ken Forkish recipe, the Jose Baker recipe and the America’s Test Kitchen recipe all do stretch and fold with their “no-knead” recipes to build the gluten structure. Definitely do it.
Furthering the dry aging process post purchase? I am thinking of buying a 45 - 50 day dry aged Prime Rib and attempt to continue the dry aging process for another 30 days on my own with a "UMAi Dry Bag".Are there any precautions I should take in this experiment, should I continue the process with the exterior rind/she...	I don't have experience with the "UMAi Dry Bag", but I have read about mixed results. I did just finish a 45-day dry prime rib, however. It worked out very well. My set up was a refrigerator, with a small office fan inside. Air circulation is very important, in my experience. You don't mention how large a cut you ...
Replacing quick-cooking oatmeal in a two-ingredient cookie recipe with cooked steel-cut oats - why doesn't it work? Right now, I have cooked steel-cut oatmeal, water, banana, cinnamon powder, sugar, and dark chocolate in my cookie batter in the following amounts: 2 cups of cooked oatmeal 1 banana half teaspoon of cin...	If you want to use steel-cut oats/oatmeal, you'll probably want to start with a recipe that calls for it. You can substitute old fashioned oats instead of quick-cook oatmeal in most (possibly all) cookie recipes but you can't substitute cooked oatmeal without making major adjustments. In this case, old fashioned oats ...
Making salad dressing without acid or high fat or capsaicin One of my relatives has GERDs (acid reflux). I'm trying to find / make a salad dressing that avoids acidity large quantities of oil spiciness (i.e. anything with capsaicin or peperine) But I'm struggling to accomplish this because I don't know what typ...	Acids and spices are generally used to add flavor to the mostly flavorless salad. To adapt recipes for your relative, you could try: Use less sauce or dressing. Of cause the fat content of a dressing is high, but if you drizzle just a little bit over the salad, the overall fat content is much lower. Use less sauce to ...
Why do recipes have the instruction to fry in olive oil? Can someone please tell me, why do cooking instructions have you frying in olive oil? That doesn't make any sense as olive oil has a very low smoking point.	I would suggest three reasons: The smoke point of olive oil, while lower than many oils, is higher than most items you would deep fry (375 - 490 F or 190 - 255C, depending on the olive oil). Tradition - if it is the oil that is most plentiful, it is the oil that is used. Flavor - olive oil imparts a distinct flavor (...
How to reverse sear a steak? Been trying this method recently and generally happy with the results. That being said, I can't help but feel I'm still making a few mistakes: Steak lets out quite a lot of juice when slicing it, even after it's been rested for 7-10 minutes. How do steakhouses serve a steak on a plate tha...	The method on the link talks about how it is more consistent, but really it has as much potential for going wrong as any other. That doesn't mean it's not a good method, just that there are some gotchas. To answer your questions: Good steaks are juicy, there's nothing bad about having juice come out when you cut it! I...
Frozen raw beef patties vs cooked refrigerated patties? I love making burgers but it often ends up being very uneconomical since I can only get ground beef in 1kg+ amounts here and it often expires on the same day. Due to its short shelf life, I basically have to munch burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2 day...	Freeze them raw. Prepare/portion/shape all the patties then put them on small square of parchment paper (or waxed paper) square in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze them as fast as possible in your freezer. Once they are frozen, stack them an put them in a resealable bag.
Is this ground beef safe to eat? A few days ago I purchased a pound of ground beef from the supermarket, it was already on clearance when purchased. Since then, the beef has turned grey all throughout, and has a slight scent to it. I wouldn't say that the scent is necessarily unpleasant, but it's slightly sour, and ha...	When in doubt, throw it out. There are three main indicators to spoiled beef: Texture: beef becomes slimy as it spoils. Color: beef will go gray as it spoils, BUT, it will also go gray due to it oxidizing. This makes it a somewhat unreliable measure without the other indicators. Smell: as beef spoils it will start to ...
Accidentally used high heat on Teflon pan! I accidentally left a Teflon pan on high heat to the point where oil was smoking a lot. Is the Teflon pan still good to use? I'm afraid I destroyed the protective coating. I visually inspected the coating and it seems to be intact and in good shape.	Smoking oil generally isn't hot enough to damage teflon. Generally, Teflon gets damaged at 260C/500F, which is above the smoke point of most cooking oils (though not all of them). So as long as you didn't let it go to the point where you burned most of the oil off, it should be OK.
Is there such a thing as unsteamed rolled oats? Is there such a thing as truly raw (unsteamed) rolled oats? Why are rolled oats usually lightly steamed?	Rolled uncooked groats will shatter. You can get uncooked, unrolled oats though. Food coops and organic grocery stores/coops have them. $1.49 a pound is a good price. You want hulled oat groats, as it takes considerable technology to get the hulls off. Sold in bulk, or one pound bags. You can get 50Lb bags online. They...
Who sells unstabilized (truly raw) oats in the U.S.? Who sells unstabilized (unsteamed, truly raw) oats in the U.S.?	Oats from Tractor supply are definitely uncooked (about $15 for 50 Lb). I've planted them to grow cat grass for years. Unfortunately, they are also not hulled. Hulling is usually done by hurling the oats at a steel wall at about 70mph, then separating oat from empty hull and oats still with hull by fractionating throug...
What is the right kind of syphon to use for fish batter? [See below re possible dup] I've seen recipes for fish and chips call for the use of a CO2 syphon for the batter (looking at you, Heston!). So I'm looking to buy a syphon (I don't have one yet). I haven't seen explicit comments in any of the recipes as to whethe...	Get an ISI whipper (no affiliation), the model that can take both hot and cold. It accepts CO2 or N2O. They have multiple safety controls built in, are versatile (especially given your interest in Heston), come in multiple sizes, and are relatively easy to clean.
Why are the cinnamon sugar bagels I buy becoming so wet? Every time I get a bagel box from Bruegger's Bagels, I get a few cinnamon sugar coated ones for the sweet-toothed people in my office. They look fine at first and are great for the first hour or so, and then they start to look damp... and then essentially become...	Sugar is hydrophilic (literally, 'water loving'). This is useful in some baked goods -- sugar will help to keep them moist, but in this case, it sounds like you're in a high-humidity area where it's pulling too much water out of the air. My only suggestion would be to squeeze as much air out of the bags before sealing ...
What are differences between traditional whisked whipped cream and whipping syphon? Is there any perceived taste or texture difference between traditional whisked whipped cream and whipping syphon. Assuming, for comparison, identical mix of cream and a little sugar. Also, if say lemon juice, liqueur, or other flavour...	When you whip cream with a wisk, you can easily control the texture/consistency on a fairly fine scale, from liquid to butter. With a whipper you have, essentially, one output, similar to the consistency of whipped cream that you can purchase in a can, ready to dispense. Taste variation is influenced by other variabl...
4 thermometers, 4 readings I have a Bosch convection oven, and I find some things take longer to roast than they "should" according to recipes (not using convection). I'd like to get as accurate as possible for baking. So I got four well-reviewed oven thermometers and tested at three temperatures. The reading were cra...	325 (-25) B: 300 (-50) C: 350 D: 300 (-50) At 400
Why is honey and mustard mixed together runny? When I pour honey, it's very viscous. Thick enough that if I put some on a plate, I could turn it upside down and back to right-side up without spilling the honey. When I pour mustard, it's also quite viscous (although maybe not quite as much as honey, and it depends on ...	I'm no chemist or anything, but the sugar is probably at fault. Honey is a saturated sugar solution. So saturated, in fact, that it tends to crystalize over time. Mustard is a mix of solids (mustard seeds) with liquids (water, vinegar and others). Its consistency is determined by how much liquid the solids can absorb. ...
Why is my tomato sauce getting pink? I was trying to make regular tomato sauce for on my pizza. And I didn't want to buy any processed goods. So I bought tomatoes: I put them into a blender and just blended them until it became smooth. For some reason, it turned pink, and it had a really bad flavour. It didn't taste ...	Tomato sauce is not made by just pureeing tomatoes. This is not a recipe site, but searching online will find you many recipes for a simple tomato sauce suitable for putting on a pizza. They will generally include other ingredients (such as salt, sugar, and onions) and include some cooking time.
Why are fresh eggs useful when cooking meringue I was always told to use fresh eggs when making meringues but was never told why.	From my own personal experience, I've always found using aged egg whites made fabulous meringues. Aging the whites in a covered bowl removes some of the water content for a more stable aeration.
Making Douchi from scratch How does one make Douchi (Chinese fermented black beans) from scratch? I've tried searching the web and haven't found anything. I imagine it can't be too hard, since it's mainly just fermented soybeans. Anybody have any idea of how Douchi is made? Or at least resources that will point in the...	Sandor Katz's Art of Fermentation has a recipe for douchi (link). Soybeans (yellow or black) are soaked, cooked until soft, cooled, inoculated with Aspergillus spores or mixed mold cultures, and incubated around 80–90°F/27–32°C for about 72 hours, until the mold on the beans turns green, indicating sporulation. In con...
Which pepper is typically part of salt and pepper? When people add salt and pepper to say chips, which pepper is it typically? I had chicken and chips recently with pepper and it was black colour bits, would it have been black pepper?	It is typically black pepper. The two common black varieties are Tellicherry and Malabar. The peppercorn is the fruit of a flowering vine that is harvested when it is red, and ripe. Each fruit contains one seed, which is dried and then packaged whole or ground.
What type of oolong is Twining's oolong? Or what would this be closest too? Edit: From the UK site, there is good reason to believe that Twining's is ALSO Iron Goddess of Mercy, but it tastes nothing like the IGoM I got from Numi. From what I've read about oolong, "nutty and fruity" are not typical characteristics of ...	From the UK site, it looks like it is also a type of Tieguanyin tea from Anxi in Fujian Province. Now Tieguanyin translates to "Iron Goddess of Mercy", so you are heading in the right direction. I suspect, having had some incidental exposure to the tea manufacturing process for a different manufacturer, that the exact ...
Cold water and flour Does flour and water of 45 degrees Fahrenheit rise? I thought that it has to be warmer, or they wont react at all. Will it rise just at a slower paace?	Short answer: it will still rise just slower. Every week when I make bread I make the dough the night before, put it in the fridge (which is about 40 degrees) and use it the next day. The dough usually doubles in size by the morning. There is a nice breakdown of the temperate range of yeast at https://www.bobsredmill....
Property of Bread Dough I've been looking at the dough that Cinnabon uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtTIS6apXIc. How would one describe the property of their dough? It almost looks like Play Doh, as if it were some sort of rubbery-like material. Is this property called "elasticity?" If so, what factors affect t...	The video doesn't really show much of the dough or how it is handled, I only see a prepared square sheet being filled. But if you actually want dough which handles like play-dough, then the property is called not elasticity, but opposite, plasticity - it is a material which can be formed without springing back. If tha...
What is this rust-like stain on my aluminum pot, and how do I clean it? Today I tried making Dulce de Leche from a can of condensed milk, using my aluminum pot as it's the biggest cookware I have. However, after lifting the can, it seems to have left this circular, corrosion-like residue on my pot. Hot water and scr...	This will be from an electrochemical reaction between the can (mostly iron I think) and the water and possibly the aluminum (a better chemist than me would be able to tell you). Aluminum has a fairly impermeable mono-molecular oxide layer on its surface (incidentally this is why you can color coke cans and the like; t...
Can I make popcorn with any corn? Up until today I only knew about one type of corn for popcorn. Searching for Peruvian food I found out that in Peru there are different "popcorn" varieties. So that made me think: is it possible to make popcorn with just any variety of corn? If not, what properties do these corn varie...	The answer it seems is - no, you can't just use any variety of corn. It seems that you need in particular a hard shell around the kernel that is not present in sweetcorn varieties. I also suspect that it is harder to make than one might imagine, you need a specific percentage of water in the kernel to get it to pop - t...
Is there any way to counteract the calcium chloride included in most canned beans? All the beans I can find in the local supermarkets have calcium chloride in them, which helps them retain their firmness. But I want soft beans. Yes, I can cook my own beans from dry, but sometimes I just want fast access to beans. Bea...	Calcium in Calcium Chloride indeed firms the beans by fortifying the pectin. On the other hand, alkali conditions will greatly accelerate the breakdown of pectin during cooking. You can simply use baking soda to soften the beans while cooking.
Can I use both racks at the same time to bake chicken wings? Can I use my oven's top and bottom racks at the same time to bake chicken wings? I have a large party to cook for.	Yes, you can! Make sure to check the wings occasionally to see if the pans need to be switched to ensure even cooking. One of the racks may get hotter than the other. You can also make sure that both of the pans are placed as close to the center of the oven as possible by adjusting the rack positions.
How to warm up canned beans? A recipe is asking for "canned black beans, drained, rinsed and warmed". I've never just heated up beans by themselves. How do I warm up these beans without using a microwave? Do I heat them up in a pan with some butter/oil or in simmering water?	I'd use a microwave but you've ruled that out. Taking "warmed" literally as meaning made warm but not hot, you could put them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and wait a few minutes. I suspect that you actually want them hot, in which case you could put them in a small pan, pour over boiling water, cover, and return...
How long does Star Anise keep? The jar or packet at either of my local stores is quite big. How long does it stay effective, once opened? Given Star Anise is quite hard, I'm thinking it may last a while. But would I be better vacuum sealing half or 2/3? [edited to correct grammar. rmjf]	They should last a long while if properly stored in an airtight container in a dry place.
Baking Bread in a Dutch Oven Can I bake a regular loaf bread recipe in a Dutch oven? Do I need to change the temperature or time?	You can bake bread in a dutch oven, as long as you have one big enough, in fact it's a great way to do it because the lid seals in moisture, preventing the crust from drying and allowing the bread to expand. You get a ton of oven spring this way, and a great crust. The method is: Preheat the oven for at least half an...
Lemonade problem I follow the basic lemonade recipe; making sugar syrup and adding it to lemon juice. The result is perfect but when I leave it overnight in a bottle it seems like the juice (or a white substance) sinks at the bottom and every time I want to drink I have to shake the bottle. Is there any way to prev...	You could clarify your lemon juice/lemonade, then ferment it. This would eliminate any precipitates. The agar clarification process is fairly straightforward, though it takes some time. Agar can be purchased fairly easily. I've achieved the best yield with the freeze/thaw method. Of course, if you have access to a ...
Can I roast poached peanuts? Accidentally bought a bag is poached peanuts instead of roasted. Can I roast them despite the fact that they are already cooked (and not raw)? If so, are there any extra steps I should take in doing so?	You can, just like you would for raw peanuts. However the boiled/poached peanuts have a bitter taste that is not removed by roasting and is generally unpleasant to eat as a snack. I would use these peanuts to make peanut sauces such as satay sauce, and possibly in other dishes where the peanuts are not the dominant fla...
Making preserved samosa Is it possible to keep a samosa which is ready to be fried, frozen for a week or more and edible? If so, what is the process? Thanks.	It should be fine. These sorts of foods are commonly sold frozen in the USA and other countries and are easily reheatable in an oven or fryer. They should keep for some time sealed in a plastic container or bag when frozen Freeze by placing in a single well-spaced layer on a tray, once frozen transfer to a more conveni...
Is it safe to cook large cuts of meat sous vide? I sous vide a lot and am familiar with the relationships between food safety, internal temperature, and time. I'll eat chicken breast cooked at a long time at 138F just to make a point. Some large cuts of meat take a long time to cook sous vide. Imagine a prime rib for ...	Generally speaking, to answer the final question in the post, i.e., "It is sometimes unsafe to cook large cuts of meat using sous vide techniques," the answer is assuredly, "Yes, it is sometimes unsafe." The problem is that it's difficult to identify precisely when it becomes unsafe. That's why the USDA guidelines are...
How does sous vide cooking time affect moisture (final weight) of meat? I know cooking meat at higher temperatures will cause meat to lose moisture as the proteins "constrict". This is well known. Cooking a steak sous vide at 160F will lead to a much drier steak than cooking it at 140F. The 160F steak will therefore b...	Imagine cooking one steak at 140F for 1 hour and another for 5 hours. Will the 5 hour steak be drier and weigh less? Briefly: Yes, it will be drier, and yes, it will weigh less. And no, 140F isn't the tipping point, though higher temperatures definitely will dry things out faster. Moisture loss will increase with inc...
Why do home-made pickles float in the jar, but commercial pickles don't? I make a lot of home-made pickles; mostly pickled onions/shallots/cucumbers. I use a cold process and I don't pre-brine. I notice all of my pickles always end up floating to the top of the jars, even after months of pickling. This is very annoyin...	Most likely commercial pickles are preserved by an accurate pasteurisation and ascorbic acid or other chemical preservatives so that the "brine" contains much less salt as compared to your homemade ones. It is mattert of the liquid density, yours is heavier. (Though the density of the vegetables might likely vary a bi...
What to do with fermented lentils? 3 days ago, I decided to do some brown lentils, so I did a lentil soup with zucchinis and spice (a lot of cumin and cayenne). I didn't have tupperware so I left it in the pot with the lid. And this morning, I found out they are fermenting. then is some bubbles and a strong fermentin...	Throw it away, it's spoiled and probably contains several colonies of foodborne illnesses. Sealing food isn't sufficient to stop it going off, you need to refrigerate it or freeze it.
How long to sous vide a tough cut of steak? With most steaks the recommended cooking time in sous vide is about an hour (of course depending on the thickness of the cut). I have done some sous vide cooks recently, and they always ended up perfect until last time, where I had a ribeye, which turned out tough and chewy....	Collagen (type-1, for the scientific folks), one of the major connective tissues in beef, begins to dissolve into gelatin starting at 55°C (131°F) but very slowly, long enough for the meat itself to become mush. The pace increases with rising temperature to about 71°C (160°F), at which point further rises in temperatu...
What can be used instead of cheese to help a grilled sandwich stay together? Grilled sandwiches like paninis almost always have cheese in them, which is important both for taste and structure. The cheese works like glue to hold the bread together and keep the ingredients in place. You can make one without cheese, but ...	If you find roasted sweet potato to be a strong flavour, that makes things harder. Mixed roast vegetables, including some roast sweet potato or squash can work well, and the flavour of one vegetable doesn't dominate. A rather thick hummus is also good (it softens a little on warming). In fact, roast veg and hummus is ...
Mixed-Up cake recipe instructions Please help!! I am making a dessert, I make this all the time and this is the only time I have ever done this. The recipe is supposed to be stirred but I pulled out my electric mixer. I need the texture to be clumpy and kind of dry because I am making a crust. The recipe reads: “In...	I'm not 100% sure that it can be saved ... but that doesn't mean that it won't end up being something good as-is. Unless that's your only dish the size you need, I'd just throw it in the oven as-is, and see what happens. As it's a crust, you might look to see if you have anything that you can use for crumbs (cookies...
Can I find out the caloric content of bread by dehydrating it? If I microwave a piece of bread until all the water is evaporated and then weigh what is left, is the caloric content estimated by finding the calories in the same weight of flour?	Conventionally, drying is only the first step. The second is burning it and seeing how much energy is given off. But this isn't always the best way to determine the calories that your body gets from the food, as it doesn't deal with bio-availability - basically, can your body extract that energy from the food? Diet fo...
Could I boil rose milk? I forgot to boil the milk before I added rose milk essence in it. Could I boil now? I have been keeping the mix in the refrigerator for 5 hours now. I am not sure could I boil the milk now or not.	I assume you are talking about using raw (unpasteurized) milk; and want to make it safe for drinking. I think you can boil it with the rose essence in it. It should not make a difference either way. At worse it will taste cooked. This link will show two ways to pasteurize the milk, either at low or high temperature. ht...
Pork didn't get done in time I recently made this recipe: https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2016/08/paper-pork-shoulder-its-wrap.html 7 lb pork shoulder, apply rub, wrap tightly in parchment and foil, roast at 225 F for 12 hours. I cooked it in a freestanding turkey roaster and after 12 hours, plus an hour of rest, it w...	Based on your original question and the comments, it sounds like you simply did not make an accurate assessment of the temperature of your product and your cooker. Low and slow is an excellent technique to make pork shoulder tender. Your goal should be an internal temperature of about 195 F ((90C). Estimates are tha...
Vanilla Extract with and without alcohol Are there any reputable research regarding ranking of vanilla extracts? I usually buy major retail brand at supermarket. It tastes fine in baking. However, I add it to cream or tea and other non-baking recipes. In these recipes it tastes harsh. Is it the alcohol? I thought gen...	According to the FDA vanilla extract must contain a minimum of 35 percent alcohol ("TITLE 21--FOOD AND DRUGS"). That's roughly on par with vodka. There's no such thing as flavorless alcohol. Ethanol has a flavor ("Bitter and sweet components of ethanol taste in humans") and alcohol (at least, when the dilution is grea...
Why does my bread ferment in the middle? I had been making bread reliably for a few years until we moved (from Sweden to Austria) six months ago. Suddenly, any loaf I make rots within a few days in the bread bin. Specifically, it goes soft and moist in the centre (the crust stays fine) and it starts to smell like rott...	I have marked George M's answer as the accepted answer, but I thought I would post a slightly expanded answer. I can confirm that the following ideas that were raised in the comments did not work: Hotter oven Cooking longer Cooling completely What has worked is to wrap the bread completely in a tea towel or two unti...
What to do if bread dough became hard in the refrigerator I kept bread dough in the refrigerator overnight covered with wet cloth. The next morning I noticed that my bread dough had become hard and caked up. Please help, what shall I do to soften it. What can I do with that dough? Will my bread be soft if I bake it?	I presume that you meant a fridge, rather than a freezer. Fridges are by design pretty dry, and the best is to cover the dough with some cling film or some other impermeable barrier. (The wet cloth will dry up pretty fast.) The dry caked surface is just dried up dough, and can be worked back into the rest. (It may need...
Am I thawing this London Broil safely? I started thawing a thick cut of London Broil (maybe 1.5 lbs) in cold water and then I realized I didn’t want to start cooking it yet. I’ve moved it to the fridge. While thawing in cold water, I had not sealed the meat completely in a zipper bag, but instead wrapped it in cling...	Safely? Yes. Cold water thaws are fine. It's hot or warm water thawing that's bad. Cold running water will thaw faster than cold still water, but cold still water is okay as you basically have a giant ice cube in the water (the thing you're thawing), so the water stays at a safe temperature until you're towards the e...
Do not saute baby spinach I read in a cooking magazine that baby spinach should only be eaten raw because ooking it results in slimy texture. Regular spinach can be sauteed/wilted without any issues. Do many culinary sites state the same? I am looking at making spanakopita as well as Tuscan chicken and some others.	I've sauteed baby spinach many times and I've never had it become slimy. I've never seen a cookbook or article that stated that either.
Brewed vs regular soy sauce : phytochemical content I love soy sauce, but I'm trying to minimize my consumption of phytochemicals. Is there any difference between "brewed" and "regular" soy sauce as far as their phytochemical content?	AFAIK, "brewed" is the term used for naturally fermented soy sauce compare to faster fermentation using chemicals; remember that using chemicals is not automatically bad. https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/how-to-buy-soy-sauce-like-a-pro-article As for the phytochemicals (stuff in plants) I don't have a clue.
Why do Irish & British sausages have soft casings? Growing up in Ireland has given me a certain expectation about how a sausage should taste. Travelling the world however, has taught me not only that most Irish and British sausages tend to have softer casings than elsewhere, but that this is actually the exception, ra...	There are many potential variables here, particularly if the sausages are made with natural casings. More likely it has to do with the actual casing source. Casings from beef are different consistency from casings from hogs and from lambs. I have found that hog casings are the softest that I have used, but I am in t...
How much of the clove should I use when using big garlic heads? I recently bought some of those big garlic heads (unlike the small, pretty ones you have in the supermarket). It looks like this: My problem is that when I take out the cloves and try to cut them, they break apart like a small onion. Here is a pic As yo...	I think that might be elephant garlic, which isn't really garlic at all. It's in the same family, but is actually a kind of leek so it has a flavor that's a cross between garlic and onion, but milder than garlic. Because it's not very strong you'll probably want to add the whole thing. Just chop it and use it as normal...
Cooking pasta in a water boiler A friend of mine cooks pasta in a modified electric water boiler which has been modified to keep going even after the water placed in it boils. What are some advantages and disadvantages of this method over placing the boiled water in a pot and cooking it there over a gas stove? Thanks.	Advantages: You can make pasta in your water boiler. Disadvantages: Hard to clean. Waste of energy, a water boiler is on or off, it will expend full energy keeping the water boiling. Incredibly dangerous, a big fire hazard. Because it's modified to ignore the internal temperature sensor it will keep heating and hea...
What vinegar was used in 1904? What kind of vinegar would best replicate that was being used in the USA, upper Midwest in a recipe dated 1904? It is a potato salad recipe. The potatos & egg yolks are mashed together with minced cabbage & celery. Dressing has vinegar, egg yolks, salt, pepper & mustard (we assumed dry)....	Heinz started making products in the 1870's and was bottling and selling vinegar in the 1880's, so probably ordinary white vinegar or possibly malt vinegar (depending on recipe) would work well.
How to make good quality onion powder at home? I chopped some onion and put it in an old gas oven. It had 3 issues: Some pieces or parts of pieces are burned while other pieces are still not dehydrated. It sticks with the bottom of the aluminum plate. It has a bitter taste. How can I solve the 3 issues to produce hi...	It's likely that your oven, even on the coolest setting, is too hot. That's why the onion burnt, and the bitterness comes from the burnt bits. I occasionally use my electric oven for dehydrating fruit and veg but mine goes down to 50°C. I tend to preheat it to about 100°C and turn it down when the food had been in for...
What is the padding with red substance inside of steak packaging? When I buy steaks, sometimes they include a padding in the packaging, on which the steak sits, which contains a red substance: What is it? What is its purpose, and can I assume, that it is not poisonous? I unintentionally cut into this one and it had s...	That "padding" is an absorbent pad made of paper and plastic; the "red substance" inside is the juices (often mistakenly believed to be "blood") that have seeped out of the meat; the purpose of the absorbent pad is to absorb this liquid and keep the interior of the tray dry. Without it, the liquid would pool up and pot...
What causes static in a coffee grinder's receptacle? What causes static in a coffee grinder's receptacle? The question of how to reduce static has been asked multiple times on cooking SE (see https://cooking.stackexchange.com/search?page=1&tab=Relevance&q=coffee%20static). However, I can't find a legitimate answer as...	I don't know anything about burr grinders, but with blade grinders you generally get tiny bits of coffee bean being spun quickly around the outer edge of a plastic enclosure. This is a recipe for generating static electricity by the triboelectric effect, the same as rubbing a balloon on your hair or shuffling your feet...
Who would I take my knives to, to be conditioned? I would like my knives all to be sharpened by a professional. Some knives I cannot sharpen because they have an intricate serrated edge that I would ruin if I used my own stone. Several of my knives also have stains, whether they be rust stains or some other kind of m...	In the US, there are business called "sharpening services" that are dedicated to sharpening knives, saws, lawnmower blades, and other tools. You can probably find one in your area by searching google or yelp.
What is cumin good for? I would like input from anyone that uses cumin in their food. I inherited a jar of the seasoning when my mom moved out of state. Better to give it away than throw it away. Unfortunately, I have no clue what to do with it. I've had this jar for a while. And I'd like to use it before it goes bad....	Cumin is the spice that, to me, makes taco meat taste like taco meat. Whenever I make ground beef tacos I use lots of it. It also tastes really good with sautéed potatoes.

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