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Can quinoa be used as a soup thickener?
The normal method for preparing quinoa is to boil water, drop the quinoa, wait until it "sprouts", then strain.
My question is about the last part: the straining.
Suppose you are making a soup (lentils, bean soup, ...) and it turns out there is too much water. You do not want to... | Cooking grains in soup is an effective way to thicken it, but quinoa is probably not the best choice. Quinoa has saponin in it, a bitter tasting phytochemical which has been known to irritate the stomach. Much of the quinoa sold has been presoaked to get rid of much of the saponin, but some may remain which is why you ... |
How to prevent cooked noodles & dumplings from getting soggy
I enjoy making spaetzel and gnocchi and have become quite good at it, but I always run into the same problem.
After boiling the dumplings, I put the cooked dumplings into a bowl, where water tends to collect and the dumplings at the bottom of the boil become... | I would suggest removing from boiling water and draining in a colander. Then, removing to a cookie sheet so that the dumplings are in one layer, and more moisture can flash off. If you are making large batches, I assume you are adding a further cook or re-heat step to finish. |
Can I use a metal bowl with rubber bottom as double boiler?
So long story short I am attempting to make some chocolate covered strawberries for my wife for mother's day tomorrow. I found some easy recipes that I want to try, including one that say you can just melt the chips in the microwave, like this. After only two... | Well, I think I found something this morning after starting to scour the internet again for an answer. I don't know if it applies to all bowls, but this link applies to my bowl at least. In the bottom left of the second page it straight up addresses using the bowl as a double boiler! Not sure how I never found this yes... |
Can I make cheese from old homemade yogurt?
I made homemade yogurt 3-4 weeks ago that still looks and smells good.
Can I reheat homemade yogurt to make cheese? | Depends what kind of cheese you want to make.
Yogurt cheese is made just by straining yogurt. Your yogurt would not need to be reheated and, as long as it is still good, you can strain it just fine.
Other cheese varieties either use acid or acid and rennet to tangle up milk proteins. Although some home recipes will use... |
Most optimal pizza type or style for home oven?
I have an electric oven with a "broiler" function. Its not bad, but temperature-wise it doesn't get close to the 450°C required for "real" neapolitan style pizza. I think it is below 250°C on the highest setting.
So I was wondering, since I can never achieve real pizza w... | "Optimal" is a matter of taste and opinion with regard to this question. I am not sure we can answer that. I would start with a calibrated oven thermometer and crank your oven, so you know what temperature you can achieve. In my home oven, I can achieve a decent Neapolitan style pizza using a pizza steel and oven tem... |
How to achieve a super leavened cake as the Pierre Herme ones?
I made several cakes in my life. I know the difference between different leavening agents. I know that low temperature tends to make flatter cakes, but I never could get this kind of shape. If I use a super hot oven I burn the surface and I don't get this ... | Pierre Herme's "Cake Ispahan" is basically a pound cake flavoured with rose, raspberry and litchi, then glazed.
Let's look at the ingredients as reported on PH's own online shop:
Sugar
water
wheat flour (GLUTEN)
EGGS
cream (MILK)
butter (MILK)
freeze-dried raspberries (2,6%),
freeze-dried litchis (2,6%),
hydrogenated ... |
Why is tomato paste so cheap?
So, at target, Tomato Sauce is $0.84 / lb. But, tomato paste is $1.00 / lb. However, tomato paste has 4x as many calories, implying that they reduced it by 4x. This makes sense, since reducing tomato sauce to tomato paste in a pot generally reduces it by 4x. But, why is it not 4x as expen... | What you are observing is that the bulk of the price of tomato products is not the tomatoes.
The price of the can and shipping far outweigh the few cents of tomatoes the can contains.
With fresh tomatoes you are still mostly not paying for tomatoes. You are paying for the gas and people to ship and stock your tomato an... |
Sheets of fresh pasta sticking together
I make fresh pasta regularly and it usually works out well. There is one exception. If I make sheets of pasta for lasagna or cannelloni they tend to stick together during cooking so that I have difficulty separating them from each other and themselves. Does anyone have a suggest... | You may just be cooking too much at once. When I make lasagna or rolled pasta, like cannelloni, I cook 2 to 3 sheets at a time, building my lasagna (or filling the pasta) as I go. I remove the cooked sheets to a clean kitchen towel. Proceed with the construction when they are just cool enough to handle, then add mor... |
Exactly which kind of cardamom should I use in pho (phở)?
I have been cooking pho for a while. Pho recipes differ from one another, but one of the most common spice ingredients is cardamom. Having looked at various sources, recipes, and Wiki pages, I feel more confused than ever. Some insist that green cardamom should... | In phở soup, we use thảo quả, or Lanxangia tsao-ko, formerly known as Amomum tsaoko. Thảo quả trees are grown in Northern Vietnam, Laos, and in Yunnam China (known as 草果).
We call Black cardamom (Amomum subulatum) as đậu khấu thơm. Black cardamom trees are grown in India, Nepal, Burma, Tibet, Yunnam. Black cardamom tre... |
Something came out of oats. What's this?
These came out of a rolled oats product.
Are these some part of oats and safe to eat? | Looks like millet to me.
Your oats were probably processed in a plant that handles various types of grain and something was mixed.
It's a little hard to tell from just your picture but if it is millet then of course it is safe. |
My sourdough splits at final proofing (pic included), advice?
The last couple of times I've made bread the dough starts "splitting" during final proofing.
Does anybody have any idea why? The bread is still great but it doesn't get as much oven spring as I'd like. | There are three likely causes: over-proofing, insufficient gluten development, and too loose shaping. Some combination is probably most likely. To detect over-proofing try the `poke-test': if the dough springs back immediately, the dough is under-proofed; if the indent stays as it is, the dough is over-proofed.
I've fo... |
French soup cheese
Growing up, I got to visit France quite a bit. One thing I remember eating quite a lot was fish soup (or soupe de poisson), and it was customary to add a grated cheese to it which would melt partially, going very stringy.
What cheese(s) was this likely to be? | It is common to eat 'soupe de poissons' with emmental. |
How to increase Thai curry flavour without increase spicy
I'm using this Curry paste but my girlfriend doest like too spicy, therefore the flavor is really bland.. how can increase the flavor without make it too spicy? | I did a search for Gelbe Curry Paste and found the product in your pic in a result from Amazon.
Based on what I read in a review, you add coconut milk to this curry paste. Therefore I'm hopefully correct that you are toning down the heat and flavors by adding more coconut milk or other milk. So after you tone it down, ... |
potential cereulide on plastic container, can it be washed off?
I recently saw a video of a person who died from eating 5 day old unrefrigerated pasta. The cause was cereulide toxin from Bacillus cereus bacteria in the food. I recently left pasta unrefrigerated in a plastic container for 3 days accidentally, and it sm... | Chubbyemu keeps me up at a night too.
But remember, when you're looking up case studies and very rare stories and situations, they will always be as crazy as possible. If people do get sick from clean containers, they would have used that as the basis for the story, not eating 5 day old pasta. Remember, the point of bo... |
The dough in my bread maker collapses just after cooking starts
Every time I try to bake some bread in my bread maker, it rises at first but just when cooking process starts and the device increases the heat, the dough collapses!
I tried several recipes with white bread, french bread, whole wheat bread with various am... | I would first check on the type of flour I am using. To produce breads, always use flour that contains the highest protein count. It is this protein that produces gluten, and the more of this protein the stronger the gluten. This can be called a multitude of things, from 'Strong Flour', to 'Baker's Flour', to 'Best For... |
As it relates to the Hospitality Industry what is a par level of product?
What does this mean in the Hospitality industry?
As in the Hospitality Department will establish par levels of products
Is this kind of like when your boss in IT tells you that there should always be 2 spare toner cartridges and that should shou... | It's the same thing as in any other industry ... a minimum stock level.
As for what it should be for your particular place, yes, it will be based on how quickly you tend to go through things.
These might be commonly used ingredients, but can also be other consumables like paper towels, aluminum foil, wooden skewers, ta... |
What to do with a lot dried habaneros?
I have grown a lot of habanero chillis last year in my garden. It turns out that they are too hot for most meals I cook. Not knowing what to do with them, I dried them.
Since then, I still do not know what to cook. Do you have any ideas what to cook with the dried habaneros? I do... | As they're too hot, your options are reduced to dilution or donation. By the latter I simply mean giving them to a friendly chilli head who doesn't grow their own.
To dilute dried chillies, first crush them or put them through a food processor to get flakes. Then use the flakes sparingly. If you add them to oil just af... |
I forgot my falafel and shawarma wrap
At around 2pm yesterday, I bought wraps from a street stand I'm familiar with. I brought it home... and forgot it existed. It's 10am next day, but it's untouched and as well sealed as a takeout plastic bag can be.
Normally I wouldn't chance it, but I remember a friend saying the m... | This is always going to be one of those, 'you'll never know until you try it' decisions.
If the temperature where you live struggles to get into double figures, I wouldn't even think twice.
If it's 32°C in the shade, you might want to remember not to leave it out next time.
I live in the UK, used to spend a lot of my t... |
Please help identifying this herb
I can’t figure out what herb this is. It tastes kind of bitter! | Where did you get it? Looks like it could be epazote. |
Microwave Power settings
Why is microwaving at full power for half the time, not the same as microwaving at half-power for twice the time. What's happening that's beneficial when the pulse is off half the time? | A microwave heats pretty unevenly — most of the heating goes into the outmost portion of the food, and even that isn't always even (e.g., bottom probably gets fairly little). That's not unique to a microwave; a pan mainly heats the bottom; an oven...
Mostly, the lower power settings give more time for the heat to even... |
When trying to infuse spices into an oil, why is it important not to cook the spice?
I read that one there are different ways to infuse a spice into oil including leaving in oil for an extended period of time or if you want quick resuls, low temp heating for about 2 hours.
In the case of the latter, the article said y... | Cooking and infusing are different processes.
When cooking with a spice you want it to release flavor and aroma into the food you're cooking with it, and usually you also enhance the flavor of the spice by frying / roasting it.
For infusing you want to be more gentle so you don't add bitterness and don't destroy subtle... |
Is rapid cooling and thawing worth it?
I have researched a bit about the topic of "large crystal prevention" when freezing and thawing food. So far I have learned, that in order to prevent the formation of large crystals, which is what damages the texture of food, you need to minimize the time the food spends around 0... | This sounds like a lot of time and effort, that, for home use, might not be worth it. Freezing as quickly as possible is generally recommended, but even with an ice bath first, you are not going to be able to freeze quickly enough to make that much of an impact using a home freezer. At home we have more control over ... |
How bakeries do a soft crust breads and making the same at home will result in a crisp crust?
A baker gave a pain de mie recipe which he do in his bakery, and the result is a soft and fluffy bread.
I tried at my home at same temperature with same recipe and resting time, the result was acceptable from the inside (fluf... | In a commercial bakery Pain de mie would be baked in a sealed tin. I think it is a similar bread to the `Pullman loaf', which is baked in a special Pullman tin. (Easy to find a picture on the web.) This minimizes crust formation.
More generally, domestic ovens, particularly fan ovens, are designed to cook food in a dry... |
Can adding too much sauce and ingredients to fried rice make it too salty?
I was cooking fried rice. I added sriracha sauce, hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce, 4 huge sausages, egg, and a bunch of okra. The fried rice was too salty.
Would all of these sauces and ingredients really make my fried rice too salty? What ca... | Yes, absolutely! Sauces can have loads of salt, it all depends on how much you added. You have to look at your ingredients to find the source of the salt in your dish, and then reduce one or more of them:
Rice: often rice is cooked with salt, if your rice is salty to begin with then adding other salty ingredients coul... |
Fermenting pickles
I'm new on pickles fermentation without vinager, last week I put three jars with different recipes I found over internet and it said to leave it outside the refrigerator for one up to four weeks and to check every week. So today I checked for the first time and two out of the three jars the pickles ... | If temperatures are above 90, your pickles will probably be ready in a day, two at most. Any more time is just going to cook them, like you've experienced (where they're so soft you can't remove them from the jar). In any case, you definitely want to check on your pickles at least once a day, and keep them in a shady s... |
no-knead pizza. When is it supposed to raise? which flour is the best?
I tried a "bonci style" roman pizza. I followed a recipe that is basically a no knead 24hrs pizza "in a baking dish", in the sense that is not cooked in a brick oven but in a home oven. The directions say roughly to mix part of flour, water+yeast f... | So the recipe in baker's percents:
Flour 100%
cold water 80%
olive oil 4%
salt 2%
instant dry yeast 0.2%
This looks like a high-hydration Sicilian-style dough that's calling for a 24 hour cold ferment (CF). As you can see in such a recipe, the yeast level is very ... |
bird poop on cast iron dutch oven
We have a very large cast iron dutch oven which can not fit into our house oven. Have not used it for 4 years and has not moved from our potting shed, in wanting to utilize it it has been pooped on by birds and chances are a mouse or two. It is the outside only which includes the lid.... | Wash with soap and water...use normally. Is the seasoning still in tact? If the surface of the pan/seasoning is failing, you'll want to go through the steps for re-seasoning your pan. |
How can a dutch oven reach 400°C on an electrical stove?
I have a pretty average stove and oven. The oven can't even make 300°C.
Yet today I measured the temperature of my dutch oven, heated on the stove and it read almost 400°C. How is this possible? Can the durch oven somehow accumulate energy and reach higher energ... | The 300 Celsius you refer to are the air temperature inside the oven. The energy in your oven is quite sufficient to heat a piece of metal to much over 300 (in fact, judging from the color I have seen on my heating elements, they are probably in the 600-700 C range). But the air around them has quite bad thermal qualit... |
Under burnt layer prevention for briyani
When I cook briyani on a electric stove top, how do I prevent the bottom layer of the dish in the pot from burning? | While I start mine on the stovetop, it mainly cooks in the oven. That might help. |
How do I scoop ice cream into spherical scoops every time?
During the coming summer months, I for once want to have a couple of home-made ice cream sundaes with proper spherical scoops of the type you get at an ice saloon or restaurant. The problem is that I can't get my scoops to be anywhere near spherical. I tend to... | The first step on the way to “pretty” scoops is the right texture of your material. As you noticed, with ice cream straight out of the freezer, the results are somewhat random, your technique probably involves a lot of hard work and you are basically “prying lose” your servings. If you’d ask your local ice cream shop a... |
creme patissiere too solid
I made a try of creme patissiere with 250 ml UHT milk at 1.5% fat (yes, hence I called it a try), two egg yolks, 22g corn starch, 70g sugar and vanilla. Direction as classic. Beat yolks with vanilla seeds and sugar, add starch. Meanwhile warm the milk and the vanilla bean and just before boi... | The starch was superfluous. Traditional creme patisserie is made without it. Some people do make custards which combine starch and yolks, but they are actually more difficult to work with. Also, from your ratios, the starch alone (without the yolks) would suffice to make the shape-holding pudding you described.
You ca... |
Precook or raw when chilling meat?
I currently have an unopened package of raw sausages in the fridge (with several days left before expiration).
I also have a recipe to use all of the sausages, but due to the other ingredients in the recipe (mostly pasta) I know I can't cook it all at once (due to pot size, mostly). ... | Either way should be ok for a couple of days.
Either keep them raw and cook them in a couple of days, or cook them now and re-heat them in a couple of days. |
Is it safe to eat veggies that were chopped on bloody cutting board and then cooked?
I made steak last night, and my girlfriend just chopped up some broccoli on the cutting board I used to prepare the meat, without washing it. She plans to cook the broccoli in the oven, which she said will cook off any bacteria that w... | Your girlfriend is right (lucky you). As long as food is going to be cooked thoroughly after coming into contact with the blood on the cutting board there is no risk as the heat of the oven will kill off any microbes that can cause foodborne illness.
The concern would be cross contamination of food that will not be coo... |
Getting sourdough to rise not spread
Any pointers on getting a 75% hydration wheat sour dough loaf to hold more shape and spread less?
Full details of current method:
I have a 100% wheatflour levain with a 75% hydration. It is stiffer than most I see online but grows well. It lives in the fridge all week until I make ... | When you put the dough into the banneton do you shape the dough to develop a surface tension? I have found that makes the major difference when I make sourdough bread. Here is the site I got a lot of info on shaping from. https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/shaping-a-boule/ |
Does celery powder have any non-preservative use?
Recently I've been seeing an increasing number of packages with labels such as "Contains no added nitrates or nitrites (except those naturally occurring in the celery juice powder)". Does celery powder have any use other than as a method of sneaking nitrates into thin... | Yes, it tastes of celery. Celery is one of the three ingredients of mirepoix, the vegetable mix which is ubiquitous in French cuisine and has spread to many others. Current large-scale food production rarely includes slicing fresh vegetables into small cubes and browning them in a pan, but they try to add the ingredien... |
Blotches on my cast iron pan
I am seeing blotches on my cast iron pan.
Are these just water stains after the pan has been dried by heating on the stove top? Or do I need to season my pan more? | Honestly, it looks to me like oil that hasn't fully dried/burnt. If you put it on a hot hob whilst dry for a couple of minutes it'll be easy to check. If it blackens, you're fine |
In general, would I need to season a meat when making a sauce?
I'm making a Romesco Sauce. I wonder, in general, would I need to season the meat that goes with the sauce? or do I leave the meat plain (just cook thoroughly without even salt and pepper).
The above image is the grilled chicken that the Romesco sauce go... | Learning how to season with salt (especially) when cooking is what separates good cooks from those who are not as accomplished. Yes, you should season the chicken, whether or not is has an accompanying sauce. With attention and experience you will learn how to adjust that seasoning depending on the seasoning of other... |
Will cooking tagliatelle in squid ink turn it black?
I am planning to make squid ink pasta, but I do not have pasta machine. Since I am lazy, I want to boil dried pasta in squid ink water. Will it turn black...or not black enough? | Boiling it in ink will give some flavor and color, but it won't be part of the pasta. Instead, you could make a squid ink-based sauce to toss it in afterwards. Here's an example recipe: https://www.thespruceeats.com/spaghetti-al-nero-di-seppia-2018653 |
How does cooking with whole peppercorns compare to ground?
If you buy ground peppercorns you should always go for fresh ground because they taste completely different imo.
In bangladeshi cooking I notice that they use whole black peppercorns in their curry and discard it at the end. However would using it like this b... | For freshness, it is always best to purchase whole spices and use whole, crack, or grind them as needed. With respect to peppercorns (or, really any whole spices) the effect will be different when they are used whole, just cracked, or ground. The flavor will also be impacted by toasting the spices before use, and when... |
Salinity of brine for feta storage
The feta package I bought does not have enough liquid to cover the cheese once opened. I would like make a brine to cover the block of cheese. How saline does the brine have to be to store feta? How long can I store feta with respect to (a reasonable) salinity?
(I assume a brine wit... | Feta is very salty. Recipes I've used called for a brine of around 12%.
Water is fine. When making feta from scratch it helps if the brine is a little bit acidic so the surface of the cheese doesn't soften. It might not be an issue when replacing brine for finished cheese.
https://fankhauserblog.wordpress.com/2007/07/... |
Silicone molds: transportation and storage
I'm not quite sure if this is a proper question for this website, but I hope it is.
My question regards silicone molds you'd use in patisserie for baking (like cakes) or freezing (like mousses).
I am considering bringing back from a trip overseas some items, including silicon... | I have a couple of silicone cupcake moulds (only cheap ones), and they recover their shape instantly after being stored at the bottom of a pile of cake tins for months (I don't use them as often as many of my metal baking utensils). If they're the same as mine, you don't need to worry about them. |
Differences in creme fraiche recipe
In all the recipes I see for making creme fraiche, the ingredient amounts--though all over the place--are something like 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to 1 cup of cream and many variations thereof. However, in 'Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques', they show 2 cups of buttermil... | A quick search of the internets confirms your basic recipe of 2 tbs buttermilk to a cup of cream. This is likely a modern formula. Keep in mind that today's cultured buttermilk is not the same product as buttermilk (the liquid left over from churning butter...which could then be left to ferment) or "soured cream" (ferm... |
Can I freeze chickpea curry?
I've made chickpea curry which has canned chickpeas, canned tomatoes and coconut cream (and onions, chilli powder, tumeric | I can't imagine any reason why you couldn't. There's nothing in there (like a delicate fish) that could possibly lose texture or taste from being frozen. |
Is spaghetti and bechamel sauce an authentic Italian dish?
I have seen instances where people mix white sauce / bechamel with spaghetti or macaroni but never seen a reputable chef to do so. This mix is sometimes mistaken for carbonara since its creamy white. Is it authentic to do so? If not can please also expound wha... | In Italy, besciamella is usually only used on pasta when it's going to be cooked in the oven: pasta al gratin, pasta al forno, or as part of lasagne.
As for your question - is it authentic to just toss some pasta with it? I would use the same method I'd use to answer the infamous "is X a sandwich?" questions: if somebo... |
Is it possible to ferment fresh coconut or its water?
Has anyone ever fermented fresh coconut or its water and produced an edible probiotic that tasted good and did not make you sick? | In a word, yes.
According to MakeSauerkraut.com (of all places)
To make fermented coconut water, the sweet water is mixed with a
culture (milk kefir grains, water kefir grains, whey from yogurt or a
powdered starter) and left to ferment for 18 to 48 hours in a warm
place.
There seems to be a lot of recipes out ... |
Can I cook sous vide on a desk?
So would it be possible with some insulation perhaps from home depot to use a sous vide cooker like cheffstep's Joule on a surface like a wooden office desk with a medium to small sized pot or even a round crock pot provided there's enough space during work? Or would this become an issu... | This is not a problem at all. Use a trivet, cutting board, or even a folded towel under your container. If you are at Home Depot, you could also get one of those cork mats that go under a planter. Really, anything will work. You just want to protect the surface from any potential heat and/or water (occasional spill... |
What species of red round watermelon is this?
Screenshot's from YouTube.
Is this merely an ordinary Mini Red Watermelon?
My other guess is Japanese luxury fruit, but Ambrosio lives in Santa Monica CA.
Is 'species' the correct term? | Minis are seedless. Looks to me like a Little Baby Flower or maybe Otome. The agricultural term is "variety" or "cultivar". |
How could I cook industry like foie gras?
I would like to learn the industrial skills that allow them to achieve such successful commercial products like the cheap and addictive foie gras.
I know that in many cases, it is required to have some special machinery.
Customers usually buy it without caring if it is not rea... | Foie Gras is fatty goose or duck liver. There is no machine or process to make it. It is harvested from the animals themselves. Restaurants have providers for their product. You will have to find one for yourself.
I know of no legitimate substitute for Foie Gras that anyone would not care about. People pay a lot of mon... |
Preserving culinary oils
I've been making a chili oil and green onion oil for my friends for months with a lot of interest in buying. I want to start selling it at farmers markets & stores but want to ensure it is properly preserved. Can anyone advise on how to do so? How can I find the expiration date? | You don't realize it, but you've asked a hot-button question. Expect to get lots of comments about botulism, etc. This is a result of a report a few years back about folks getting botulism from homemade garlic oil. I'll keep my answer practical.
First, depending on where you live, your state, city, county, or other ... |
Can I make salt cod from frozen cod?
Where I live, I can't buy high-quality salt cod, so I'm looking at making my own. The recipes I've seen, though, all start with fresh cod.
Since salting dehydrates the cod anyway, it seems like I ought to be able to make it from frozen cod, which is about half the cost, and availa... | You should have no problem using good quality frozen cod for salt cod. Freezing breaks up some of the tissues and changes the texture, notably making it drier as freezing drives out some of its moisture, so you might not need as much salt to dry it to the same level.
In some places the "fresh" fish you see in the stor... |
Anise Cookies: Why 12-hour rest before baking?
I have a recipe for an anise cookie that I've made several times. The ingredients are: flour, baking powder, salt, anise, eggs, vanilla. No butter or oil. The dough is rather sticky. The unusual thing about the recipe is that once the cookies are put onto a parchment-line... | There are different types of anise cookies. One particular type is a common guest on my German family's Christmas cookie tray. The recipe I use calls for a over night rest, too, and has a similar ingredients list to yours, so i assume you want to achieve this kind of cookie. It basically looks like a french macaron.
Th... |
Is "blooming" cocoa necessary in baked goods?
I've read that dissolving cocoa in hot liquids is supposed to make it release its flavors and make it taste more chocolate-y. This sounds useful for things like frostings or no-bake cookies, but does it make a difference if you're going to cook the final product (eg. choc... | The interaction between the liquid and the cocoa during the blooming process and inside of the cupcake batter during baking is not the same.
During blooming, there is only the liquid and the cocoa interacting in a free-flowing liquid matrix, and in the baking, both liquid and cocoa are trapped in a coloidal matrix. If ... |
Using the right acid for red curry
I have a delicious red curry recipe which I think could be improved if I could add a touch of acidity. I've tried using rice wine but this seems to either overpower the dish or add nothing at all. I'm wondering if I should be using a different type of acid.
My recipe goes:
Heat 1/4... | Rice wine vinegar
If you are using plain rice wine, then you aren't going to get much acidity. Rice wine vinegar will give you a higher acidity to flavor ratio. I generally add rice wine as part of the stir fry process; I almost always make curry in the following order: aromatics (i.e. ginger, ground spices) -> stir fr... |
What to do with soft chicken bones after making bone broth?
I have chicken bones after being boiled down to mush.
Can they be crushed? Then what can I use them for? | Worm bin.
Worms need calcium and sometimes they struggle to get enough. People recommend eggshells in the worm bin for that reason. You are not supposed to put meat in the worm bin (because of rats) but I think these bones are ok. They will fall apart pretty quick.
If you don't have a worm bin you could bury them... |
Vietnamese crunchy rice
I ate the best fried rice of my life in Vietnam. The thing that made it so good was these crunchy little bits. They were about the size of a regular grain or rice but they were very crunchy (more crunchy than puffed rice). I'm wondering if this could have been uncooked rice fried in oil. I'v... | Crust formed on the bottom of the pot deliberately? You put the rice in a very hot stone pot after cooking and let it sit a bit so that the crust develops (Korean version). Or you add some butter up front and cook the rice longer than necessary so a crust develops in the cooking pot itself (Iranian version). Many wa... |
Is core temperature a good indicator of bread doneness
I've read so many recipes stating core temps as a way to tell when your loaf is ready. Me being a fan of measuring have bought a plethora of devices for measuring the core temperature of my loaves.
The most disappointing one is that a perfectly fine loaf of white... | I'm not certain from the question about what "doneness" means. Is the bread still "raw" inside at 95C? If so, I'd guess something is wrong with the calibration of the thermometer.
Failing that, my guess is that this has to do with either various other external factors (e.g., the bread may be "set" inside, but the ext... |
What time is needed for overnight oats
I want to know what is the minimum time required to soak oats to make them overnight oats. Now a days it’s Ramadan and I have very tight schedule on which I get 2-3 hours to eat.
I wanted to know how much time is minimum required for overnight oats? | I learned, long ago, that when a recipe calls for "overnight" it means eight to ten hours and sometimes twelve. The range depends on what you are soaking. Sometimes eight is enough and sometimes longer is needed because the ingredients are a variable that may not be consistent.
So the oats need to be tested. If eight ... |
How do you fat into meat when grilling or is there a better cooking method?
I want more of the fat to stay in the meat when grilling. It seems grilling is the best way to do this since wet heat methods boil the fat out, frying takes it out then puts it back in however I always find frying leaves the outside layer oran... | Fat comes out due to melting
The primary way that fat will leave a grilled meat is through melting. Animal fat isn't a pure or refined substance, so it doesn't have a set and exact melting point, the way that water does. In my experience, fat melting occurs in the 55 - 70 C range (130 - 160 F). You will see little fat ... |
How to make thick Asian sauces?
Is there a common ingredient, or cooking technique, that gives sauces such as Teriyaki, General Tsos, Orange Chicken; their thick/syrupy texture?
We sometimes make dishes in a crock pot; we have a recipe for a teriyaki chicken, and another for a honey sesame chicken, but the liquid we e... | Thickening agents
To thicken, you would mix in an agent designed to do so. There are many options, but here are some that are directly applicable to Asian cooking:
Corn starch - Works well in small quantities, though I find it has a tendency to turn sauces into jello in the fridge. If you have too much liquid in your ... |
Italian meringue: how to adjust sugar?
I've been having amateur pastry classes and one of the things we've done is Italian meringue.
However, I found the result to be overly sweet.
I am much more familiar with French and Swiss meringues, for which I've had good results with various reduced sugar:egg white ratios.
Egg ... | Generally speaking, I think experimentation is the way to go. There are a lot of recipes for Italian meringue (and Italian meringue frostings) you can try to see what effect the different sugar content has. Reducing the sugar can definitely reduce the stability, but stability is a somewhat subjective term. That's why I... |
Poolish deflated after refrigeration
After I allowed the polish to rise for approx. 10 hours ( it had risen quite a bit) and I placed in the fridge overnight - I find that the level has dropped from the high it had prior to refrigerating ? Why ? | Yeast fermentation slows down under refrigeration but does not stop altogether. After 10 hours, the poolish probably exhausted all of its food for the yeast. Putting it in the fridge did not accomplish much of anything afterwards. It needed to be fed again. |
How to make a Lamb Seekh Kebab more juicy and soft?
What are some secret ingredients used to make a Lamb Seekh Kebab so soft and juicy? These is one of the best kebab to taste. | There are no "secret ingredients" in making soft and juicy kebab. Much like sausage, meatballs, or meatloaf, this ground meat based food relies on salt, fat, and proper cooking to remain juicy. I recommend Chapter 5 of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's The Food Lab for an explanation of how these elements interact (though I do not ... |
How long should pizza dough rise?
I have seen different recipes for pizza dough, some of which let the dough rise for about an hour at room temperature, others which recommend an 18-24 rise in the refrigerator. What are the differences between each method, and is one inherently better than the other? | The warmer the dough is during fermentation, the faster the yeast multiply and produce carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide production rate maxes out at around 90°F). So with very simple recipes, this entire process can take place in just a few hours.
Experienced bakers and pizza-makers know that this is not the best way to ... |
Do I need to worry about marinade dripping in a gas grill?
I bought a marinated flank steak that I’ll be grilling on a gas grill. When I purchased it, the butcher suggested I use aluminum foil while grilling it to avoid the marinade potentially causing huge flames as it drips.
When I researched this later, I found ar... | Yah aluminum foil is considered a bad thing on grills, from what I have heard.
They sell grill grates for such things if you like, me, I just turn the flame on the grill down a touch and deal with the occasional flame-ups. They actually do no harm. And if you have a grill brush to apply the marinade while cooking with ... |
How can I tell the difference between unmarked sugar and stevia?
My wife just started back on her doctor-recommended ketogenic diet (due to a medical history of high blood pressure and Crohn's disease in her family). She's to have reduced carbohydrates and sugars, and to use artificial sweeteners for anything she woul... | Don't throw it away. Worst case you use up the mystery sweetener on yourself, and use a new pack of Stevia for your wife and anything you share. That's what I recommend if you're not convinced by my solution or don't have sensitive kitchen scales.
At room temperature, sucrose (normal sugar) is very soluble in water: a... |
Dehydrator potato chips
I am trying to make potato chips using my dehydrator, but the keep coming out hard and plastic like. They are to hard to eat. I cut them at 1/16 of and inch and blanched them.
I used a low setting too. | I'm not clear on what you are trying to achieve with the dehydrator. I see three options for you. Option 1: no dehydrator, just deep fry in oil. This is probably the most traditional. Option 2: use the dehydrator briefly (a matter of 10 - 30 minutes) to dry the potato slices. This would create less splattering when... |
Why is baking soda included in sourdough cracker recipe?
I'm following a recipe for crackers made with unfed sourdough starter (other ingredients are flour, oil, and salt). It also calls for 1/4 tsp baking soda and I'm wondering why since the dough sits on the counter several hours before baking, and can also be store... | In addition to leavening, baking soda increases the PH of the dough. Since your recipe uses sourdough starter, it may be fairly acidic. Adding baking soda will make the dough less acidic. The PH level, in turn, is important for browning: a high PH level facilitates the Maillard reaction, giving you brown and toasty cra... |
How long can I keep Panna Cotta out of the fridge?
I made Panna Cotta for a party. I don't have a fridge where I'll keep them, so most likely they'll be on a buffet table. I'm afraid of them going bad or becoming liquid (Or something like that) after sitting out of the fridge more than 4 hours I guess? I also know you... | Pack them in a cooler with ice (or freezer packs) and keep them in there as long as you can. Let them be the last thing you put on the buffet... just before the guests arrive.
You could also nestle them in a buffet pan full of ice, so they are displayed in a way that makes them accessable for guests, but also keeps th... |
Fast meringue technique
I use the slow method of baking a meringue, as described here.
I'm aware that there is a fast method, but can't find it online. (Besides, I'd really prefer the human input garnered here!)
Currently, my knowledge would be to mix the meringue as with the slow method, spoon onto baking paper and p... | After some confusion in the comments, I think I have an answer for you. There are three main methods for making a meringue and two main methods of cooking them.
First we have a French meringue, which is what you've made before.
Second, we have Swiss meringue. Here the egg whites and sugar are gently heated over a water... |
Is there a loss of taste when pressure cooking bitter gourd?
I like the bitterness of bitter gourd and it helps in a low insulin situation. Almost every recipe I've seen, recommends frying it. My objective is to lessen the cooking time, but it's hard to find recipes for cooking bitter gourd in an ordinary pressure coo... | Taking into consideration your purpose for eating bitter gourd, and your objective of cooking it quickly, to “lessen the cooking time”.
The fastest way to cook it is to stir fry it, with eggs, meat or just by itself with some oil, garlic and shallots. from prep to eat time is about 20 minutes. Or add it to a chicken br... |
Can I eat beans that have had weeevils in it?
I put two cups of beans to soak overnight. The morning after, I realized there were dead weevils floating in the water.
Should I eat the beans after cleaning them or is it better to just throw them away? | Per Alan Munn, Quora, and Iowa State, grain weevils are medically harmless and carry no human diseases.
That said, most people find the thought of eating weevil larvae in their beans disgusting, and beans are pretty cheap to replace. So unless you're on a ship or a camping trip, just throw them out and start over.
If ... |
What are some methods for parcooking hamburgers?
Im trying to find a faster way to serve cheeseburgers. I was thinking maybe i could par cook 10-15 patties up to 90% done right before rush hour then store them in a steam table with beef broth, then place them back on the grill per order to finish cooking them. Does an... | For speed and quality this is the perfect application for sous vide cooking. You can cook burgers to varying degrees of doneness. They can hang out in the water bath, at a degree or two below the rarest burger, for up to 2 hours. Just quickly sear or grill to finish. |
Can you eat beans after using them as pie weights?
I'm making a recipe that involves using pie weights when pre-baking a pie crust, and suggests using dried beans as an alternative if you don't have purpose-made pie weights.
Can you eat the beans after using them for this purpose? Does it change how long you'd cook th... | Beans are already dried, but it's certainly possible that baking them dries then further, or cooks them without softening. It's worth testing, for which I'd use chickpeas - I buy them in bulk, and they soften quite easily (plus I cook them on their own too make hummus while my other beans cook in chilli etc). I'd rinse... |
Wooden cooking layout
I am a PhD student and I intend to cook in my dorm room. There is a wooden enclosure, I am not sure if it is meant for cooking but I intend to cook there.
Please take a look at the space. Although the clutter is annoying, but I intend to attract your attention to the closed like wooden space. I ... | The steam released by cooking the foods you mentioned, and boiling water outright, would probably damage the wood. Foil might prevent that, if you seal it completely (using some sort of moisture/heat resistant tape). However, that wouldn't eliminate the fire hazard from cooking in an enclosed wooden box--nothing short ... |
Can I utilise a baking stone to make crepes?
If I will heat the stone in the oven, will it retain heat long sufficiently once out of the oven to make a few crepes? Will the dough not stick to the stone and will it distribute uniformly or it will form patches? | I think it's a bad idea...
Crepes are made with a batter (as opposed to a dough) spread thin over a hot metal plate (seasoned or oiled).
A baking stone has a porous surface and I suppose the batter would just get stuck to your stone. It doesn't happen with a dough because it has enough structure to not fill every pore... |
How do I avoid rice cookers emitting strange goo on my counter?
With my rice cooker, I always have to put a paper towel underneath it before I start it, because it tends to make a mess. It creates piles of white watery starch goo. I don't really know how else to describe it other than the title. It's not really overfl... | Some rice cookers have a vent on the side, and there's a little cup with it that clips in there to catch the starchy moisture that might escape during cooking.
If your rice cooker came with a small plastic cup (I say 'cup' as it's a container, but it's usually pretty flat so it doesn't stick out very far) that you coul... |
Discarding ox heart fat
Most instructions detailing how to prepare ox heart often say something along the lines of "discard any fat and sinew".
Is there any reason why I shouldnt keep the fat? | In general, when a recipe says 'discard,' it means that the part to be discarded is not to be used in the scope of the recipe. I see no reason why you couldn't save the beef fat for other recipes, it can be refrigerated for about a week or frozen for 2-3 months.
See this answer for tips on using the reserved fat. T... |
Santa Claus melon seeds
Just had a bit of a spook from my Brother. Ate some piel de sapo melon seeds and he said they are toxic. Are they? Should I be worried? | I can find no evidence via internet search that the seeds of Piel de Sapo melons have any toxicity whatsoever.
Even if they did, eating a handful of seeds would be harmless. For example, while apple seeds are definitely toxic, you have to eat several dozen of them to feel any ill effects. |
Black paint chipping of electric grill: is it still safe?
My electric grill, without the heating element looks like this:
There is black paint chipping away and also, what appears to be rust.
I was planing to convert it and use it as a charcoal grill, but am wondering if the rust and especially the paint or whatever ... | The rust is going to be harmless, except to the extent that the grill will eventually corrode all the way through and the coals fall on the surface underneath.
It's not possible for anyone on SA to tell if the paint will be harmful; you would have to get it tested. Once you fill that tray full of hot coals, some of th... |
For slow cooker meal prep should I freeze the vegetables separately from the meat and sauce?
I have a new food saver vacuum sealer. I want to seal up all the ingredients for a slow cooker meal. Should I add the vegetables separately from the meat and sauce, or all in together? I was concerned some vegetables should... | If you're doing a one step cook in the slow cooker, you can freeze everything together. If you want to brown any ingredients first you'll need to keep them separate. I do tend to, so I'd have a bag for any meat, a bag for veg that wants browning or softening (onions, carrots, pepperd etc.) and a bag or other container ... |
What is the term for "plain" non-flavored ice cream
Me (russian) talked to my partner (american) about ice cream flavors. In Russia and post-USSR plain flavor (creamy-milky one) is extremely popular and often called пломбир. It is the default flavor, in contrast to American default, vanilla.
In the US though, this fla... | It's called "sweet cream" ice cream. If you make your own ice cream with something like milk, cream, eggs, and sugar, and you don't put any additional flavoring in it, it's called a "sweet cream base". |
Can you mix white and multigrain flours?
I want to make a bread that's a mix of multigrain and white flour so that it's not overwhelmingly multigrain. Is mixing flours like this done? Does the ratio matter or is it just up to how I want it to taste? | Yes. In fact, most bread recipes that use these flours have a base of white flour to which they are added. |
measurements for punch like 1/8 of 12 fluid ounces
I need to know how much is 1/8 of frozen orange juice, when it is out of 12 fluid ounce and also 1/8th of 15.25 ounce of fruit cocktail.. | If the punch recipe is 1/8 frozen juice, 1/8 fruit cocktail etc. then this is to make scaling easier. You'd use equal quantities of all ingredients that are each 1/8, and twice as much of anything that says 1/4
Example: If you wanted to use a whole 12 fl. oz container of juice, you'd need 12fl. oz of fruit cocktail, so... |
Do other ingredients in brines penetrate the meat?
I always thought, that only salt is able to penetrate deep into the meat.
However, there are many brine recipes, calling for additional falvors to be added.
How can they penetrate the meat, if only salt can penetrate the meat?
I also recently found the following quest... | Good Eats describes what happens in a brine very well
Essentially, the thing that penetrates the meat is water. Because water is a solvent it can carry things with it into the meat. Salt and sugar are the two most common ingredients in a brine. Salt is required and sugar dissolves really easily in water and adds comple... |
Is there a kind of food like bread that I can use to absorb sauce but that doesn't dry out so fast?
This is more related to eating than cooking: is there a kind of food that I can use to absorb sauce but that doesn't dry out as fast as bread?
I was thinking in the context of using bread to get the remaining sauce from... | Here are a few ideas, starting with how you can make bread work, based on my comment:
Bread rolls often keep better than loaves, because they have a crust all round. You can often buy them singly. Demi baguettes are similar but about twice the size.
Part baked rolls keep for months (sealed, once open keep in the fridge... |
Are hard anodized aluminum pans oven-safe?
I have a full metal "hard anodized aluminum" pan which I'd like to use in the oven. I heard non-stick pans in the oven are unsafe.
This pan comes with: no "oven-safe" label, a metal handle on the pan, a glass lid with a plastic handle on it. Because of the glass lid with plas... | An anodized finish is chemically stable. It does not decompose. It is nontoxic. High heat levels will not damage the anodized finish. Anodized surfaces are heat-resistant to the melting point of aluminium (1,221°F).
Source: http://www.yourcookwarehelper.com/cookware-college/healthy-cookware-safe-cookware/is-anodized-al... |
My once black cast iron skillet is now dark silver on the inside. Have I ruined it?
the bottom of my pan is now a dark silver instead of black. the inside sides of the pan is still black. I used brillo pads to clean it and now I fear I have ruin this pan as well as another that have been passed down from generations... | It sounds like you may have scrubbed the seasoning off your pan. It is not ruined, but will need to be re-seasoned. As you can see on the right (if accessing the site on a computer), where it says "related", there are a number of links to questions and answers about cast iron seasoning. If you are accessing the site... |
Why is my Taiyaki (Cake that looks like a fish) too hard and dry?
I was making taiyaki, and most of my friends said that the dough is too hard and dry. I have:
2 cups cake flour
4 tablespoons sugar
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup of milk
1/3 cup water.
I use an electric whisk to combine the dry first, then add the l... | I have never made these, but this is what I observe from comparing your recipe to the most readily found online ones:
Your mix is dry. Other recipes tend to have up to twice as much liquid as yours, by proportion to the flour.
Your mix has no egg. Every recipe I found included egg, in quantities
ranging from 1 egg per... |
Jam with honey & without pectin has a saucy consistency always
My orange jams and strawberry jams with honey are not getting set.. for some reason I don't use pectin (mental block maybe - though I know it's a natural ingredient).. reading a lot of blogs I found this could be the case when lower amount of sweetner is u... | Jam is set with pectin or it is syrup. Period.
If you are not adding pectin then you are relying on whatever pectin is available in the fruit you use. Strawberries don't have a lot. Oranges have a good amount but it's in the peel- thus the existence of marmalade.
Pectin requires sugar and acid to set. The sugar is not ... |
What spoils breadcrumbs quicker, oxygen or moisture?
Should breadcrumbs be packaged in a paper bag, or is a plastic bag preferred?
What spoils breadcrumbs quicker: oxygen, moisture, or both? | Oxygen will only spoil breadcrumbs if the bread was high in fat. The fat will oxidize and go rancid. Fat will also go rancid in the presence of light so a plastic bag on the counter would not be ideal either.
Moisture will spoil any bread immediately because it will allow bacterial and mold action. Where oxygen might m... |
What is the English name of these sea snails?
What is the English name of sea snails sold in Vietnam that the Vietnamese labelled as Ốc bông & Ốc tỏi (Vietnamese)?
Ốc bông
Ốc tỏi | Ốc bông = tiger moon snail (hotdeal.vn, Google images) or in Latin: Notocochlis tigrina (Wikipedia)
Ốc tỏi = Japanese bonnet snail (Facebook, Wild Fact Sheets, images, more images) or in Latin: Semicassis bisulcata (Wikipedia). Ốc tỏi is sometimes refered to as "garlic snail" (Hong Hai, Cooky), but this is obviously di... |
Nonstick Pan Ruined in High Heat?
I bought a nonstick Greenpan at Williams and Sonomo. It was kind of expensive like $100. It was working great. Then someone used it on high heat. Now it sticks a lot. Visually, I don't see anything wrong with the pan, but it seems to be totally broken.
I'm surprised that using it ... | Yes high heat can burn off the nonstick coating.
My roommate's girlfriend did one of my pans that way, heating it very hot while dry. It was pretty spectacular. Everyone in the house had this weird little cough like from dilute pepper spray. Anything silver in the house tarnished. I presume the nonstick was burned ... |
What's the name of this Indian dish I had?
I had a dish recently at an Indian restaurant called Andhra(?) chicken.
It was written in marker so I'm not sure about the h in there.
The dish consisted of breaded pieces of chicken that were fried and then seemingly cooked in some spice mixture definitely containing:
gree... | I guess that you have tasted chicken 65, which is a dish from Andhra Pradesh. Chicken 65 is also known as Andhra chicken. It is fried and coated with spices. You can Google chicken 65 recipe. I hope my guess for that may right. |
Can I give my friend the sour dough "throw away" as a starter to their sourdough starter?
Many sourdough techniques suggest throwing away half your starter further on in the fermenting process. The reason given (in many YouTube videos I've watched) is that it'd eventually take over your kitchen if you didn't.
I guess... | Sure, you can begin a new sour dough starter with the discard from a feeding. However, the reason for discarding isn't simply to reduce the amount. As your starter matures it also becomes much more acidic. Acidity is problematic for yeast and bacterial activity and, ultimately, the rise and flavor of your final produ... |
How can I make my sourdough bread more sour?
I am having trouble getting my German Farmer Rye Bread (Bauernbrot) to taste sour enough. I have a good rise and good structure but the flavor is not sour enough. I tried making the starter less watery and letting the finished dough rise in the fridge overnight but it still... | I've just been dealing with a similar issue. My sourdough starter wasn't producing sour enough bread. In my case Russian black bread which is also rye. It was rising well but tasted like regular bread.
I did a some research and experimentation and fixed it.
I'm sure you are aware that a sourdough starter has both yeast... |
Why does barbecue sauce break down and become watery in baking
I have a great brown sugar, onion, spices and catsup-based barbecue sauce for pork spare ribs, but when I bake the ribs in the oven, the sauce turns watery and thin. What do I need to remove or add to keep it thick? Thanks. | When you bake meat, certain proteins in it change and contract, squeezing out liquid. That liquid will mix with any miscible liquid around it, of course. The result will be colored like your BBQ sauce, but will be diluted.
If you'd like to have a thick glaze of BBQ sauce on the finished meat, the solution is to apply i... |
Liquid soy lecithin vs sunflower lecithin
I'm currently reading Modernist Cuisine at Home and one ingredient that keeps coming up is "liquid soy lecithin". I'm pretty familiar with the powdered variant for making light, airy foams, but the book is adamant that the powder cannot substitute for the liquid.
So I go on Am... | As long as you know the lecithin content (in the liquid) you can substitute sunflower lecithin with soy lecithin.
It’s more or less similar molecules. I use them interchangeably. (Even make mine at home from sunflower seeds ;)) |
What is this plant I saw for sale at a Romanian farmer's market?
I was at an agricultural market in Baia Mare, Romania and several vendors were selling this plant that looks like the tips of a pine tree. I didn't ask for a name and didn't handle it, so I can't tell you much beyond that each cluster of needles was abou... | That actually are tips of trees, probably spruce1. It’s this year’s new growth and a very seasonal product. The tips are harvested when the are (about) fully grown, but still light green and soft.
I can’t say for sure what the local customers would use them for, but one of the common uses in my area of the world is to... |
Why do you need to heat the pan before heating the olive oil?
In the Netflix documentary Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat says this when she is making sofrito and she is about to put olive oil into the pan:
This is one of those important things that I think home cooks always
forget, is how important it is to pre-he... | TL;DR: heating the pan before the oil has no useful effects in most cases.
While this is a duplicate of another question, I'm going to answer it again because that question's accepted answer provides zero evidence or citations to back itself up. Which is important, because the accepted answer is wrong.
The popular myt... |
Why are my sponge cakes not rising?
I have baked various types of sponge cakes for many years and they have always been fine, but recently, every cake I bake is not rising properly. I am a bit perplexed as to why this could be when I am following the same tried and tested recipes. Could it be my oven? How could I chec... | Seeing your recipe would be helpful here. Older sponge cake recipes rely only on beaten eggs for leavening. Newer recipes use chemical leaveners as well.
Common reasons for sponge cakes not rising (or not staying risen) are:
Not beating the eggs long enough
Even with the addition of chemical leavening, getting enough ... |
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