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Why don't some Italian tomato sauces and pastes use citric acid? I bought tomato paste that came from Italy that just contains tomatoes and no citric acid. Another jar of tomato passata also only contained tomatoes. Are Italian tomatoes more acidic or is there a reason that they don't seem to use citric acid? I would ...	Citric acid is added when the PH of the overall product is too high. Most of the time a product with pure tomatoes doesn't need any help with PH as the tomatoes should be acidic enough, when you see citric acid added you will usually see water added as well in some form. Water is added to bulk up the product and make i...
Fermenting by accident I had made some lemonade for a party and now having some leftovers sitting on a counter for a few days it has started to ferment. The containers were all sterilized with bleach, produce was washed and water was boiled. It tastes totally fine. Would this be safe? 5 gallon water 1 c honey 1 c suga...	Accidental fermentation is never safe. You have bacteria growing in your food, and you don't know which bacteria they are. Fermentation is only safe if you use a process which has been tested to only allow the growth of benign bacteria. The containers were all sterilized with bleach, produce was washed and water was ...
Can I make a sourdough boule, freeze it then thaw it and bake it? I think sourdough yeasts don’t do well with being frozen normally, but if I’ve let the dough go through all of its rises and shaped it into the final loaf can I freeze it before baking since the air bubbles that will provide the rise in the finished loa...	I think the closest solution you will find to this is baking the loaves, slicing, and then freezing the slices. This is pretty convenient. You can throw frozen bread slices directly into the toaster, defrost in the microwave, or just let them sit on the counter for a while.
Name for a master "cook plan" that describes how you prepare and serve all courses of a meal I'm writing some software and could use some help (from some experts!) naming something. In cooking, culinary arts, etc. I have to imagine that there exists a concept where you, the chef, have a master "cook plan" for how you ...	Recipes or formulas lead to a prep plan or a daily prep system in a restaurant or commercial kitchen. This plan is used to delegate work, ensure ingredients for individual recipes and dishes are prepared in an efficient manner, and to minimize waste.
Is it possible to make yoghurt directly in the milk carton using sous vide? I recently got a sous vide circulator as a gift. I've made yoghurt before but using jars and a thermometer, and the method is heating it to 82 degrees, cooling it down to 46, then adding the culture and leaving it in the oven with the light on...	No, you can't do that. The inside of the carton is not cardboard, it is covered with a thin layer of a paraffin-like substance. If you hear the carton to 82 Celsius, you will melt the paraffin into the milk. There are methods where you heat and ferment in the same container, but I don't like them. With traditional hea...
Searing Tofu in Stainless Skillet I've been trying to sear tofu in my stainless skillet, but no matter what I do it seems to stick. The nice crust gets ripped off of my tofu pieces. I've played around with different amounts of oil, different starting temperature, different cooking time, etc. Is there anything I should...	Toast tofu slices under the broiler. I agree with Tesujin re stainless and frying. Tofu turns out ok in my nonstick pan but I know some people don't like Teflon. I have had great results from the broiler! Try this 1: Slice brick into rectangles. 2: Coat rectangles with oil. 3: Sprinkle on kosher salt. Under broil...
Using fridge for slow rise dough with eggs I have a recipe for low carb bread using yeast, vital wheat gluten, oat fiber, flax meal and 2 eggs. It tasted ok but would it be safe to do a slow 24-48 hour rise in the fridge to develop more flavour?	From a food safety perspective, 48h in the fridge will be perfectly safe. (You may want to check out our generic post on storage times.) Whether it’ll work with regards to intensifying or improving the flavor, I can’t say. Remember that the “more flavor” in regular slow-raise bread is based on enzymatic activity in the...
How to prevent runny nose when eating spicy foods? This question is slightly less about cooking and more about delivery. Myself and some of my guests love spicy food, but get terribly runny noses when eating it. What are some tips to help prevent the runny-ness of the nose, or otherwise reduce the disgust of needing t...	Basically you can't prevent this from happening as it is a physiological (part of your body's natural function) reaction to an irritant - in this case the chemical capsaicin in the chili fruit stimulating the trigeminal nerve. There is such a thing as building tolerance, but I don't know if this will reduce the physio...
Why does meat (beef and pork) stay pink inside even when braised or stewed for hours? Question is basically as is in the title. After simmering for hours, I would expect beef or pork to look fully cooked and grey in the centre, but it'll come out with some pink in the middle. Since its internal temperature should have...	Your assumption about a temperature "near boiling" is wrong. Meat is an effective temperature insulator. Meat in a pot always ends up having a heat gradient, with the center being colder than the outside. A thin piece of meat will end up the same temperature as the water after many hours, but a big slab will still hav...
Why do you add the ingredients in sequences when stir frying? What is the reason for ingredients being added in sequences when stir-frying?	Stir frying is a relatively quick cooking process. Different ingredients often have different cooking times. You add ingredients at different times so that the longer cooking ingredients will have time to cook and be ready at the same time as the shorter cooking ingredients. If you have ingredients with approximatel...
What difference do microwave power settings make for reheating food? Basically, the practical implications of microwave heating for food appear to be rather unclear to me. So, the question is whether a higher power setting for a shorter time does indeed produce, as is sometimes claimed, a worse end result than heating...	Most microwaves will not reduce their power. They will reduce the percentage of time the power supply or the magnetron is active. In other words, longer rests in between shorter blasts. The actual microwave "heat" is applied in a fairly narrow beam (about 2" in diameter). This is why some microwaves have a turn table...
How many cells are in one granule of instant yeast? I'm purely curious and google has failed me.	This article estimates 20 billion viable yeast cells per gram of dried yeast. A yeast package is about 7 grams total. The granule size will vary from brand to brand. Even within a packet, granule size is not completely uniform. To get the estimate, you'd need to weigh out a sample (say 1g or 0.1g), count the number of ...
How important are olives in Ropa Vieja? Can I substitute/omit them? I'm looking to make some Ropa Vieja in my crock pot but I've got a picky eater who refuses to touch anything with olives or capers in it. My concern is that something about the briney/acidic nature of the olives helps break down the otherwise lacklust...	I've seen recipes that stir in the olives at the end of the cooking time. You can leave them out with no ill-effects. Olive and capers are not that easy to substitute for. Maybe a dash of vinegar would add the acidity that the dish needs.
How do chefs know when to start cooking each dish in a restaurant? At a restaurant, you frequently order starters and main courses simultaneously. In almost all restaurants I have visited, main courses come comfortably after you have finished your starter and had your table cleared. How is this timing arranged? I app...	Different restaurants use different methods. In some cases, they may rely on the server to pace your meal. In this case, the server enters the order all at once, but then returns to the POS system to hit a button to "fire" the next course after the appropriate delay, which sends it to the kitchen to be prepared. Presum...
Is my microwave damaged if I can smell the food inside it? I think I can smell the food inside my microwave. Is that bad? I figured it's not necessarily unsafe, since you only need a cage to block the microwaves from escaping, but I'm not familiar with the precise architecture of a microwave oven.	Microwave doors don't have an airtight seal; the window between the electronics and the cooking compartment is also not airtight, and the electronics are cooled by a fan. It would be surprising if some cooking smells didn't escape. In practice, every microwave I've ever had allows me to smell the cooking, from the very...
What to use to separate layers of dough? I want to bake pancakes in glass bowl in microwave, some kind of thick pancakes, but want to do it faster. Instead of making one pancake at a time it would be faster to bake them all at once stacked together like one layer-pie. May be paper for baking, but not sure if it's not ...	Honestly, this sounds like a revolting idea at best - microwave pancakes - anyway, assuming you are determined to persevere... Foil wouldn't work at all, ignoring the arcing problem. Foil is microwave impermeable, so it would just stay cold in the middle & burn on the outside. I can't imagine the texture of microwaving...
What going to happen to Dulche De Leche during baking? Dulche De Leche is condensed milk that boiled already. But what if put it in something that going to be boiled or baked. How it's going to be, how it's going to taste like? Do people do it?	It will taste like dulce de leche. It's already caramelized, so it's not going to change in most recipes. If you cook it on high heat for long enough in a baking recipe, it will become a darker caramel, but that's it. It will become more liquid at high heat, so you want to make sure you cook it "contained", like in a...
Why doesn't my cookie recipe work in the US? This may sound like a stupid question, but I am not sure what to do. Even though I am not a professional, I was on a course and I am not allowed to post any recipe [copyrights thing]. I relocated from Israel to the States (California) and I have some recipes with me, all us...	I can't tell you exact differences, but it is known that differences do exist. US flour is frequently bleached. This is illegal in the EU, I don't know how it is in Israel. I don't know what flour your recipes are made for. In the US, "all purpose" flour tends to be closest to German 550 flour, and cake recipes in E...
Can alcohol evaporation get you drunk? So, there was an article saying if you vaporize alcohol and Inhale, that you can consume it and it will go into your bloodstream and make you drunk. I’m wondering if when you cook with alcohol and it burns off/evaporates if you are consuming any alcohol since it’s in the air and...	Can you get drunk off alcohol vapor? Absolutely. Apparently in the early 2000s, a alcohol vapor device was invented and subsequently banned in some American states, see Wikipedia here. However, if you cook with alcohol, e.g. deglazing a pan with some wine, sherry, etc., the amounts are not that high, and I doubt you st...
How to add lemon flavor to scallops with fresh lemons? I ate at a teppenyaki restaurant. The chef griddled scallops on a teppan. At the end he squeezed JUST fresh lemon juice on them. He never grated lemon or put lemon zest on scallops – trust me, I remember. I could taste fresh lemon in the scallops! This why I have...	Add the lemon juice at service, either in the serving dish or on the plate. Your first 2 methods will probably end up with most of the juice in the steamer water underneath. For 3: meat doesn't really soak up flavours quite as much as you'd expect when marinating - plus whatever is on the surface will again mainly en...
Do you have to drain all the sugar water from water kefir regularly? I know that water-kefir grains need to be fed sugar and minerals every 24 to 48 hours, but my question is whether I can withdraw just 25% to 50% of the sugar water, and leave the rest of the sugar water as a sort of "starter" to speed up the next fer...	Technically, you can. The advantage of cleaning is that you can start with the right amounts of kefir, water, sugar and whatever you add. If you are aiming for a certain taste, starting from scratch makes it easier to match again. If you don't, there won't be a problem (at first), but as time goes by the chances of co...
Why does meat go bad after 1 month sous vide at 55-60C ( 131 - 141F) See this I COOKED a Brisket for a MONTH and this happened! and Can Viewers SAVE a 1-month BRISKET? of a brisket cooked in 55C and 60C for 1 month. It smells very bad! So they proved (twice) that the brisket goes bad, you can read all the comments and...	40-140F is the danger zone of high growth rate for bacteria. 60-120F is the extremely high zone. 55C is only 131F and not even out of the high growth rate area, 60C it at the edge right at 140. Outside of the high growth area bacteria growth is not zero, it is only much lower and there is not a magic switch that ins...
Why is my dry rub almost tasteless when the meat comes off the smoker? I have a very good dry rub that imparts an excellent flavor to pork, chicken and fish. It is pungent to the nose when in the bottle and is always made fresh. It is applied liberally, covering the surface of the meat being smoked. The situation is t...	Do you just sprinkle the dry rub over the meat and just throw it in the oven straight away? or let it marinate for few minutes? I let the meat sweat a little and let it take in the spices into it. and surely I make cuts and incisions for the spices to get in the meat. and there is old saying by my grans you heat the sp...
Can I thaw frozen spinach that´s meant to be boiled frozen? The frozen spinach package says to boil while frozen, but I never seem to manage to get it cooked the way I like it. Either the center stays frozen (the package says 3-5min with boiling water and I need to keep it over 10min), or a big percentage of the spina...	In my experience frozen spinach will never be close to fresh, so I guess it depends on what sort of consistency you are hoping to get. In any case boiling from frozen sounds like the world's worst way to prepare it! There is no reason you can't thaw it before you cook it, but I wouldn't boil it in any case. I'd that it...
Leather strop or honing steel, for WÜSTHOF 4596-7/20 Classic Ikon 8" Cook's Knife? I know that honing differs from sharpening. My grandparents never altered their WÜSTHOF 4596-7/20 Classic Ikon 8-Inch Cook's Knife since buying it on Aug 1 2018. It could effortlessly slash coconut and raw Winter Squashes, but now it ca...	Late edit: I eventually gave up with all this faffing & bought a good electric system - https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/108740/42066 For people who can't be bothered to sharpen their knives, getting anything that requires practise & skill seems rather pointless. Flat stones, honing steels and strops all require sk...
Chicken or quail have black or dark red spots on the meat Is this normal? I've got about 10 quail meats and some of them have these spots. Are these safe to cook and eat? Is it possible that they had a disease or were infected? I'm scared of Coronavirus, and chickens and quails can carry influenza and Coronavirus is a...	It's just clotted blood. Quail is a far more game-y meat than chicken meaning there is much more muscle and you end up with a lot of dark meat. You get the same with truly free range chickens. This is nothing to worry about and I have never seen a quail which doesn't look like that. Source: My mum had a poultry farm.
How does the varying amounts of ingredients in an English pancake affect its outcome? Background Information It is Shrove Tuesday, also known as pancake day! And I am planning on making pancakes. However, my little brother made pancakes at school and he used a different recipe to what I normally use; it was still comp...	More flour: Thicker, cakier Less flour: Flatter, more custardy More egg: Chewier Less egg: Breadier More milk: Flatter Less milk: Thicker
Does boiling meatball remove some flavor I want to cook some meatballs by boiling them in plain water. Does this remove flavor from the meatballs? I have a instantpot pressure cooker and I thought it would be way easier than baking for example.	You can certainly poach meatballs. I wouldn't boil them, as the rolling action could tear them apart. It is more common to poach in a sauce, however water can certainly be used. You will lose some flavor (taste the water afterward, you will see), however, it wouldn't be a reason to avoid the technique if you have a pu...
Kneading bread with arthritic hands-any tips? I love to bake bread, but its too painful to knead it by hand for long enough! Anyone have any work-arounds? I'm not a seasoned bread maker, and I have a bread machine, but I don't like bread baked in it!	There are a few options: Most bread machines have an option to knead/mix only - you can then take the dough out and shape and bake as you would if you were doing things by hand. You can also get "dough hooks" for most stand mixers (e.g. Kenwood or Kitchenaid), these are a bent arm or corkscrew sort of shape designed to...
What kind of mixture(colloid) is a roux? One of my coworkers had a curious question the other day: what kind of mixture or colloid is a roux? For example, whipped cream is a foam, mayonnaise is an emulsion, and gelatin is a gel. I know part of creating a roux is the gelatinization of the starch in the flour, but does...	I would suggest that a roux is a hydrocolloid.
Questions about the how and when of baking homemade sourdough bread First, an important introduction with potentially relevant details: I've been maintaining some sourdough at home for several months now, initially made from organic white bread flour, then from half organic barley flour (I think it's white but it's si...	Here is how I maintain my sourdough and use it for bread making: I take out 50g sourdough from my culture, add 80g flour, 50g water - mix it, put it into a clean jar and leave it on the kitchen counter for the night (c.a. 10h) then put it in the fridge I use the rest (c.a. 130g) of the sourdough for bread. I add the ...
Cooking rice on a fire pit vs gas burner It is widely believed in East Asia that cooking rice on a fire pit, with firewood as fuel, allows one to make the most tasty rice. Both Cantonese pot rice and Japanese kamameshi, for example, call for cooking in firewood-lit fire for best taste. Is there a scientific explanatio...	The simple explanation is firewood produces smoke and other sources of heat don't. Smoke imparts aroma and flavor to the dish. Firewood doesn't cook the rice any better than a gas or induction range or a rice cooker, it's just about the smoke.
How can I alter this high-protein brownie recipe? I'm on a mission to make myself the highest of high-protein brownies. However, the recipes I've found for "high-protein" brownies are lacking in the protein area and I'm after some delicious gains here. I don't care about low carbs, low fat, low calorie, keto, paleo, w...	Your goals here contradict each other. The reason that a brownie has a brownie-like texture is that it is made out of brownie batter. When you start leaving out some ingredients and pushing different ingredients into the batter, the texture of the resulting product changes. And when you add more protein, you end up wit...
What exactly is the difference between all these dairy products? I have heard cooks talk about the following products and was wondering what exactly they are and what the difference is between them? Buttermilk, Creme Fraiche, Clotted cream, whipped cream, double cream, heavy cream, and sour cream?	First, there is something that is not explicitly placed on your list, but is needed to understand the others: cream, also called sweet cream when a mixup with cultured dairy is possible. Used without any further qualifiers, it is made from milk by removing liquid such that there is higher fat percentage left in. How mu...
Mold in storage I've been making my own saurkraut for about 2 years - with 1.5-2% as per the recipe that came with my crock. Today I noticed that two full, as yet unopened jars in the refrigerator both have a kind of mold growing in the top of the kraut. I've never seen this before. Is it bad? Its legs are going to b...	Well, Sandor Ellix Katz writes in The Art of Fermentation that some mould on the top is not a problem, you can scrape it away. But for me, this seems too much, I would not eat it. From what I see on your picture, your problem might be, that the kraut is not covered with liquid. For fermentation you need anaerobic cond...
Is Erythritol acid or alkaline and what is it's pH compared to brown sugar? Is Erythritol acid or alkaline and what is it's pH compared to brown sugar? In many baking recipes, baking soda is added together with acidic ingredients, such as brown sugar. Also, this way, the possibly metallic taste of baking soda is neutr...	As a 4 carbon sugar alcohol, erythritol lacks both strongly acid and strongly basic groups. pH of a 1 molar solution will run around 7. It is not going to affect the pH of a solution when you add erythritol. It will affect osmolarity, and water activity but those are different properties.
Does caramelization refer strictly to sugar or the cooking of anything? I constantly hear about caramelization, like in onions, which I believe have fairly high sugar content. However, I heard it in the context of beef today (Every Way to Cook a Hamburger (42 Methods) \| Bon Appétit). Is the chef referring to the caram...	Caramelization is defined as the pyrolysis of sugars. Pryolysis is decomposition due to high temperature. So, yes, caramelization is always an effect on the sugars present in an ingredient. The Maillard reaction, as pointed out in a comment above, also contributes to flavors and browning when cooking. However, the M...
Steak dropped in soapy dish water I accidentally dropped my steak in soapy dish water for a couple of seconds then rinsed it off and now I'm marinating it. Will it be safe to eat?	Dish soap won't kill you. You probably eat it, in traces, with every meal. If you can't smell it or taste it, then no real harm done.
Why do you add couscous to boiling water? All recipes for couscous I've seen instruct to add the couscous to already boiling water. Why is that so? What difference does it make if it will be added to boiling water or cold water on the stove?	You don't really 'cook' cous-cous, it's already cooked - you just need to rehydrate it sufficiently, without getting it too wet & going sloppy. Starting with boiling water give you a better time-reference - 5/10/15 minutes from that known start-point, depending on the specific cous-cous type. You switch off the heat as...
What are the easy ways to skim off the scum and fat from soup & stocks? What are the easy ways to skim off the scum and fat from soup & stocks?	Here are some options: Chill and scoop off solidified fat. Use a fat separator cup. Use a ladle to skim.
Why does oil puddle in some non-stick frying pans but not in others? I have an old teflon frying pan with a non-stick coating (I think all teflon pans are non-stick, but let's not be picky :) ). If I pour some oil on it, it doesn't spread out and cover the pan, it collects in small puddles. I know this is expected be...	All Teflon pans are non-stick, but not all non-stick pans are Teflon ;-) Teflon, when new, is one of the slippiest substances known to man. Nothing will adhere to it, not even oil. When new, you can have a hard time getting an even coating of oil unless you make it deep enough to fill a base layer. The oil will be more...
What is the purpose of raita? Raita is usually served with spicy dishes like biryani. If the purpose was that the curd in raita would give some relief from the hot, spicy food, then why are chillies and onion added to raita? Personally, I dislike any foreign objects in the curd I drink. Even if it's "boondi" or mint...	Raita is a side dish or condiment meant to go along with a variety of Indian dishes. It's purpose is to complement the other offerings in the meal. It is not specifically designed to give relief from spices, though some claim this is true.
What can pasta absorb from the water it's cooked in? I know you're supposed to put salt in the water when you're cooking pasta, both to aid in anti-starch gelation and to add flavour. This got me thinking - what ELSE can pasta absorb from the water it is boiled in? I suppose it couldn't be anything, probably depends o...	It can absorb spices. I have a Sicilian couscous recipe which involves boiling large couscous in water with a couple of cinnamon sticks. The couscous tastes mildly of cinnamon when it's done, which is part of the balanced spicing of the recipe. The large couscous in this case is boiled for 7 minutes, and you put the ...
What's the process of making black garlic called? it's not caramelized – it doesn't get hot enough. it's not fermented – the process is enzymatic, not due to fungus, yeast, or bacteria. it's not pickled – no acid brine is added it's not curing – no salt, nitrates, nitrites, or sugar are added it's not smoked it's ...	What you're describing - a material being broken down by its own enzymes - is usually referred to as "autolysis".
Minimal time to boil squid I know that squid is often cooked for one-two minutes to make it still tender. However is one minute enough to kill possible parasites? What is the minimal time of boiling for squid? If that's important then lets say it's already cut into small rings. It's frozen but I am worried that freezi...	As is usually the case with food safety, it is not purely the time something is cooking, but the temperature. Most recipes, even for fresh squid, call for a very short boil in water. If, out of an abundance of caution, you wanted to make absolutely sure that your squid is cooked safely, the CDC mandates that the intern...
Can you make a porridge from wheat flour? I bake enough bread to buy flour in significant quantities; separately I buy oatmeal for quick low-effort breakfasts but don't generally use it for anything else. I would prefer to be buying just flour for both uses. I know that farina is a wheat porridge, but it's definitely...	Flour is much more finely ground than oatmeal. You can make 'porridge' with it, but it'll just be a smooth whitish goo. You might have slightly better results with whole wheat flour... It'll be more of a slightly grainy tan goo. Mmmmm.
Does cutting off a pineapple's crown shorten its longevity? I have a teeny refrigerator, and cut off just the crowns (see red line below) on newly bought pineapples to save space. What are the cons of this truncation? Will pineapples be less fresh? Source of original picture	It depends on where you cut it - if you are taking off the majority of leaves, but leaving the "fruit" intact, then it should be fine. If you are actually cutting into the fruit, then it will affect how well/long it keeps and how it matures. Incidentally - it is much better for flavour development to keep fruit like th...
Can I cut up chicken and store it in the fridge until the use-by date? I often buy ~600g of chicken from the supermarket, then cut it all up in one go and use it in two different meals a few days apart. Half I'll cook immediately and the other half I'll put in an airtight container and store in the fridge (then use 2-...	In general, assuming that the date on the package still applies after the package has been opened is not safe. If an item is packaged under special conditions (sterile, low oxygen, the strange diaper thing, etc.), or treated after packaging (irradiated, pasteurized, etc.) then the time from when you break the seal on t...
Air fried sweet potatoes have black dots on them I attempted to air fry some sweet potatoes and over cooked them a bit. I noticed that they had black dots all over them which I havent seen before. Is this normal or was there something wrong with the potatoes to begin with? Sweet potatoes picture on imgur a better imag...	Those are just burnt or almost-burnt spots where the sugars in the sweet potatoes caramelized a bit too much. It's possible the potatoes are still palatable - taste them.
Energy efficiency of microwave and electric kettle for heating water Has anyone measured the watts used to heat a mug of water in a microwave instead of in electric kettle into cold mug? I have always considered that an electric kettle wastes energy when heating enough water for a mug of coffee or tea. Enough water mu...	According to the folks over at treehugger.com, they did a study to measure which of the stove, the microwave or the kettle was the more efficient in terms of use of electricity to heat a standard mug of water. This doesn't directly answer your question as you are unlikely to boil 350 ml (standard cup is 250 ml) of wate...
Substitution for green meat radish A recipe I’m following asks for a green meat radish. Where would be a good place to get one (I’m from the UK) or what could I substitute it with?	I'm in the US and I had never heard of a green meat radish. However, based on information I found on Specialty Produce, I would think you could substitute almost any regular variety of radish you find at your local grocer. Excerpts from the linked page: Description/Taste Green Meat radishes are easily distinguished by...
Milk pasteurization in the bottle via water bath: fridge live? I am frequently buying raw milk in bottle, which needs to be boiled for pasteurization. So far I always poured it in a pot, boiled it, and transferred it to a clean bottle after. Since my old supplier dried up I need to travel a bit to get it, so I am thin...	You're in luck! High-temperature short-time (HTST) pasteurisation for milk can be done at 71.5 °C (160.7 °F) for 15 seconds and extends milk's shelf life to about 2 weeks. So if you can get a thermometer you don't need to wait for milk to bubble. It's also possible to use a sous vide method; according to this guide 65...
Can I rely on smell to tell if rendered animal fat is bad? I've started storing rendered tallow (beef fat) in a glass jar on my kitchen counter at room temperature. The jair has a lid but is not air tight. Is it okay to use this fat for consumption as long as it does not smell bad? I'm worried about oxidation / ranci...	You can smell and taste rancidity. That is the primary way to identify it. Rancid fat isn't necessarily unsafe, though there is some concern about rancid foods in our diet over time. Given that we don't deal with health issues, that's about as far as I think I can go.
Adding Something Besides Water to Buttermilk Powder I have some Saco buttermilk powder that works great. It calls for one cup of water per 4 tbsp of powder for a cup of buttermilk. I'm wondering if you can use a liquid besides water and get the same results. Two liquids I have in mind: milk and carbonated water. Theor...	Milk, for the sake of simplicity, adds two things to a recipe: lactose and milk fat. Although in terms of flavor, it may make more subtle contributions to your food, chemically, these are the main things to worry about. Lactose is the primary sugar present in milk. A cup of milk contains 12 grams of sugar, which is abo...
How long can a bread dough containing eggs wait before going to the oven? I am waiting until the bread has grown enough. Naturally, outside fridge. However, the dough contains a cracked egg among other ingredients. Will it become unsafe to eat? I suppose the oven will kill any organism that may start to multiply in t...	The USDA recommends that raw eggs should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours. They also recommend that any recipe including raw eggs should be cooked within 24 hours. However, the USDA always errs on the side of safety - they also recommend (in the same section of the website) that eggs should be c...
What to do after cooking oil beyond the smoke point I accidentally cooked oil beyond the smoke point for way too long. Could hardly breathe in the kitchen etc. It's cooled down now and I know it's toxic so my question is what to do with the oil? Can I safely throw it in the sink and simply clean the pot or do I need t...	It's good that you let the oil cool down first before disposal. The first thing I want to mention is that you shouldn't dump large amounts of oil in the sink, because it's improper disposal and it may lead to clogs in the pipings. The one method of oil's disposal I follow is that once the oil is cooled down, dump the o...
Substitute for blood? We're working with some 16th century recipes for sauces that call for blood (among other things). However, several members of the group try to keep kosher, and besides, I have no idea where or how one would acquire blood for cooking. I know I can substitute egg for the protein/thickener aspect, b...	Depending on the animal, blood would impart a somewhat metallic taste and a certain “richness” - not really the umami-meatiness of red meat, more like the earthiness of liver - with a slight sweetness. The flavor profile will be quite different depending on the animal, with pork being more neutral than the more intens...
Can white rice be burned without looking yellow, brown or black? I try to boil my rice by using just enough water, if I don't cook it in enough water or cook it for too long, the rice will burn. However, when I burn the rice, I detect it because some of them stick to the pan, and some of the rices close to the once th...	Probably no. Burnt rice will smell burnt and turn black and impact a lot of the rice. I've burn rice, and it ends by discarding everything. On the other hand, There is a brief moment between cooked rice and burnt rice when the rice on the bottom of the pan is just getting crispy, like the Paella's socarrat.
How does the caramel in creme caramel stay liquid? Recently, I made a creme caramel, and it came out fine. The recipe used made the caramel sauce by cooking water (30ml) and sugar (55g), then adding water (30ml) again when the caramel looks good. I thought that made sense for the water to stop the cooking and dissolve...	There is not supposed to be liquid caramel sauce in creme caramel. You pour the custard on top of the caramel to bake it, and in the oven, the custard dissolves the caramel. Since the whole package is not being disturbed, the dissolved caramel doesn't mix in the whole custard, instead you end up with a bottom of carame...
Parsley stems in chimichurri There is a lot of weight in the parsley stems and it is therefore tempting to include them in the chimichurri. I have also seen their use suggested on some sites. What are the pros and cons?	Depending on how thick the stems are, they might get quite hard and taste "wooden". They also get more bitter the more you travel down the stem. So, don't be super picky when discarding stems, but don't be too generous either. I usually discard stems when they start to get somewhat rigid when you try to bend them. Here...
How can I use pollen? My dad and I bought some pollen at a fair about five years ago, and other than taking a little handful out and munching it every so often, we've never really used it. How can I use pollen?	There are not that many uses for pollen tbh. one of the ways i used it is make smoothies with it or mix it into some ice cream, even perhaps a garnish or a topping for delicacies. Bee pollen pairs particularly well with honey mustard dressings, poppy seed dressings or slightly sweet vinaigrette so mix it into your sal...
Placing a steel disk inside a non-ferrous pan using an inductive stove I have an inductive stove, and some very large pots that don't work on the stove. It seems that the material is invisible to the induction coil, and if I were to place a steel disk inside the pot, then that steel disk would act as a heating elemen...	The usual approach would be to put the steel disk under the pot. Such disks are even produced commercially for this purpose: look for an induction interface disk. The basic mechanism is straight forward. The disk heats due to electromagnetic induction; then heat moves from the disk to the cooking vessel via conduction....
Is is safe to use a stainless steel pan that has been cleaned with bleach (Comet)? I have been cleaning my stainless steel pan with Comet for quite some time now and have only now come to know that I shouldn't be using bleach on stainless steel. If I clean it with dish soap and hot water, will that be enough? Is there...	Can you smell bleach? If yes, rinse it & use it. If not, just use it. Is it stained? If not, just use it. If yes, you can remove the staining with bicarbonate paste made with water or Barkeeper's Friend. Once any staining is gone, the natural coating [chromium oxide passive layer] will reform. Just cook with it as n...
Buttercream frosting with 2T buttermilk - refrigerate overnight or no? Typically I leave my buttercream-frosted cakes out of the refrigerator. However, tonight I tried a new recipe that called for adding 1 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp buttermilk (in addition to 1 cup butter and ~4 cups powdered sugar). Does the inclusi...	Considering the extremely high concentration of sugar in this style of frosting, it should be fine stored at room temperature as you usually do. The concentration of sugar will actually help dehydrate and kill those live cultures present in both the buttermilk and lemon juice through osmosis.
Where do you find gums, acids and glucose ingredients? If I find a recipe that contains any of those, I just won't make it because I don't know where to find such ingredients but now there's a series of desserts I want to make that use most of them. I don't think you can find most or any of those at the corner grocery...	Many of those are available online; that's certainly where my wife and I have obtained most of these sorts of ingredients. That's usually the "quickest" way to get them, in the sense of least effort to find something (not necessarily quickest to actually arrive of course). Citric Acid, Gum Arabic, etc. are easily avai...
Prevent onions and potatoes from sticking to bottom of steel pot for stew I make bulk lentil stew every week as a form of meal-prep. The first step in my ad-hoc recipe is to fry some onions in oil. If I add spices to these onions after they have cooked a bit, the spices stick to the bottom of the pot, which in turn ca...	If your spices are sticking to the bottom you may have the pan too hot, and/or not enough oil. Spices need definitely benefit from some frying to release their flavors, however too hot and you can burn them, and if there's not enough oil they tend to clump, stick and sometimes burn. I like to turn the heat down a bit b...
Dense pizza dough I proofed my yeast and realized it was dead but decided to still make the pizza because I figured flour, tomato sauce and cheese would still taste good. 550 degrees Fahrenheit- 9 mins- 12 inch diameter. Top and bottom perfect but It still looked dense and undercooked in the middle. Is this because...	It is definitely because the yeast was dead. Leavening creates air pockets in the bread, and these air pockets heat up quickly and help the dough cook evenly. If you look at recipes for unleavened breads, you'll notice that almost all of them call for the dough to be extremely thin so the bread is able to cook evenly f...
Is sugar a necessary ingredient to feed yeast? I consider myself a reasonably successful baker, including making my own bread dough from scratch. Lately, when searching for some new and different recipes, I notice not all dough recipes call for sugar, or any form of sugar. I was always taught that sugar is food and l...	The answer is that there are a range of (natural) sugars in the flour and a range of sugars that can be generated by the yeast by breaking down the starches and other carbohydrates in flour. Yeast are a hardy organism and can metabolize many different carbohydrates to produce sugars for successful growth. Carbohydrate...
Why to store olive oil in opaque bottles? Nowadays it is common to store olive oil in opaque (dark green/brown) bottles to preserve its condition. Does the olive oil get bad if I would use clear glass bottles instead? Does the light "damage" the oil in general, or would this only appear in case of strong sunlight exp...	With a lot of commercial oils, the industry distinguishes auto-oxidation from photo-oxidation (also called photosensitised oxidation), where the former is in the absence of the light, and the latter with light: [W]hen olive oils are exposed to light, photo-oxidation occurs through the action of natural photosensitizer...
Is there an optimum (or minimum!) thickness for a steak when cooking on a BBQ? I've just purchased approximately 3kg of Ribeye steak (which has come in at about 30cm in length as a visual estimate) with the intention of cutting it into multiple steaks to be cooked on a BBQ. The primary reason I've done this is that I ...	It really depends on what temperature you'll be grilling these steaks and for how long. You could do it with 2cm if the grill is hot enough. Honestly, the thicker the steak the better control you have over temperature changes (it takes longer to overcook a thick steak than a thin one, since more meat means more heat i...
How much salt in "liberally season"? I've been reading and watching content about cooking and when the instructor says, "liberally season with salt", I am left clueless as to how much I should apply. As a complete novice in cooking, I don't know how much is too much, or how little is too little. What do they mean by t...	You're not alone in being confused. Here's a few "weasel phrases" that recipe authors use: "Liberally season" "Season to taste" "Season as required" "Add enough" "A bunch of" "A generous quantity" In a lot of cases, what these phrases stand for is "I didn't bother to measure this". That means you, as the recipe rea...
What do to with cans that you just dented? I just dented ten cans, moderately. Would it be safe to put them straight into the refrigerator or do I have to remove the food from the can and store it some other way? Background: I had around 35 cans in one of my side bags on my bicycle. However, I leaned my bicycle agains...	If you just damaged previously unharmed cans and they don’t show signs of leakage, the cans should be perfectly safe, even if you store them at room temperature. The US Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service writes: If a can containing food has a small dent, but is otherwise in good shape, the f...
How do I clean the bottom of a porcelain pan? How do I clean the brown (grease? burn?) stains from the bottom of a porcelain baking dish? Soaking in soapy water doesn't seem to help.	You can't, mostly if it is unglazed/porous (most) Porcelain dishes have porous bottoms, anything that touches it will be sucked in the small pores, and if baked in, will be more difficult to remove. If the glazed part of the dish is clean, I would not think much about the bottom. Some people will see it as a good sign ...
Using cheese in noodle dishes A while ago I went to a Korean restaurant and ordered a noodle dish without really looking at the menu (as I sometimes tend to do). I was surprised when I was served something that had cheese in it, and even though I know that Korean dishes can contain a variety of common but not commonly...	My friend who was in Korea for a few months said that they are obsessed with cheese. It's not a traditional ingredient, but in modern cuisine they try to introduce cheese to some of the dishes - I guess this is the case you described. In my city (Poznań, Poland) there is a Korean restaurant specializing in bibimbap and...
What is this cast iron skillet used for? I picked up some cast iron cookware from a thrift store. However, there is one piece I am not quite sure what its for. I think its for eggs - or rather a single egg... However, its very shallow compared to the tiny skillets I have seen. Its 5 inches in diameter and .5 inch t...	I have seen this kind of skillets in packets with ingredients. Both for brownies and for mini pizza's. Mix the ingredients as per the instructions, put in the little skillet and put in the oven. It might be a bit big for the 'cook on the table' sets, but it might fit for that. You can use them for whatever is small eno...
How to finish sous vide carnitas without drying them out I've followed this recipe from Serious Eats to make sous vide carnitas. The sous vide step is easy - just leave it in the bag for 12-24 hours. The last step of the recipe is to break up the meat with a fork and put it under the grill for 10 minutes. However when...	Make sure not to break up the meat too much. In particular, try not to smear it between the fork and the dish... You want chunky pieces, not spread-out strands. The more broken and strand-y the pork gets, the greater its surface area and the faster it dries out. You also want to crowd the pieces in the pan as much as p...
Reducing fat content in thick chicken stock My chicken stock is very gelatinous (good) but it didn't have a layer of fat to skim off. How can I reduce the fat content?	Gelatin and fat are different. Chill your stock. If a layer of fat solidifies at the surface, remove it. If you see no layer of solidified fat, you've probably eliminated as much as possible.
Wrapping in aluminun foil and place it in a skillet pan If I wrap something in aluminum foil and place it inside a non-stick skillet pan while cooking something is that something that could e.g. ruin the pan or ruin the food? Specifically I had in mind wrapping vegetables	Yes, it can ruin the pan. Non-stick pans are very sensitive to overheating. When their bottom is well covered with fat or fluid and pieces of food, the heat coming from the stove gets conducted from the pan to the food, and it usually doesn't overheat. But if you place a bundle on the pan, there will be large spots not...
Coarse Kosher Salt In Salt Mill We recently are starting to run out of coarse sea salt, and I was wondering if it is okay to substitute out coarse sea salt and instead use coarse kosher salt to grind inside of a stainless steel grinder salt mill. Are there any real differences and which would you recommend personally?...	There's no chemical difference between the two, assuming they are both sea-salt originally. Kosher salt tends to be more in flakes composed of small crystals than coarse sea-salt, which is a more rough individual crystalline form. Both should work just fine in your grinder, though the spacing between the two surfaces ...
Does smoke point affect max temp of patina If I were to season a cast iron pan by rubbing it with olive oil(smoke point of 350F to 410F) and putting it in the oven for a while at 340F to create a patina, would I be able to later on use that pan in the oven at 550F? My thought is that the patina might smoke or somethin...	It sounds like you need to better understand the process of seasoning your cast iron. What you are doing when you season a cast iron pan is a two part process of polymerization and carbonization. Done properly, the second step, called the carbonization stage, requires that you apply heat slightly above the smoke point ...
Is it a good idea to clean bacon with water before putting it into the pan to remove some salt? I don't like too salty food but I like some fat, so my goal is to reduce the salt content of my bacon by one third, but keep the other tastes as original as possible. Is cleaning bacon by water a good way to do? or should I...	The answer to this is no - the salt in bacon is not generally on the surface, it is impregnated into the meat to cure it. Because of the cellular nature of meat, the diffusion of salts out of the meat is quite slow; washing it in water before or during cooking will not remove substantial amounts of the salt. Having sai...
Do restaurants use acidified pesto? Do pizza restaurants usually make their own pesto or use commercial acidified pesto? Found pesto squished between plates this morning (about 11 hours old) and concerned about a low-acid situation and how to clean it up safely. Or this this a non-issue even if not acidified?	first question: it depends on the pizza restaurant, smaller pizzeria might do the pesto in house, bigger pizza chains will use commercial pesto. second question: in the case of washing, normal (very hot water and soap) washing procedure will clean up everything.
I was able to cook on an induction stove with a non-magnetic pot, why? As far as I understand, induction cookers transfer current (via eddy current) to the pot which heats up due to its resistance to the current. Because of this, induction pots and pans should be ferromagnetic for the eddy current to work. Therefore m...	It is likely that it was a different metal that supports inductive currents, such as aluminium. The problem with aluminium is not that it can't create inductive current and heat up. It can, but it is rather inefficient on induction. Also, it has a very low melting point, so with thin aluminium, you risk melting it. M...
How to clean stains from anodized aluminum pans? I've baked some pie on my anodized aluminum pie pan but things went awry, and some dough was stuck to the pie in the end; I assume it was overbaked? I could remove the pieces but stains were left behind. Here are pictures: Are these stains a big deal? Do they mean the ...	This looks like you are starting to getting a layer of polymerized oil on the pan, like the seasoning on a cast iron pan. I wouldn't try removing it. The usual methods are either using a strong base (which works really well) or mechanical forms of removal, which are less effective. But the strong base will corrode you...
Are mushrooms with interior holes ok? When I started to cut up these store bought mushrooms, I saw there were holes in them. There weren't any holes or spots visible on the exterior. Are they still safe to eat? They also started to turn a bit pink after cutting, maybe some oxidation but it seems unusual. I buy these ...	Those holes are most likely caused by some kind of larva(pdf), such as mushroom maggots. While disgusting, such larva are harmless to humans, and the holes they leave behind are equally harmless. Since you just seem to have the holes, I wouldn't worry about it.
What are the tiny white self-moving objects on pasta? So, a lot of pasta I've bought lately came with some white substance. At first it looked like uncooked starch or something. But when looking closely I noticed it was MOVING ON ITS OWN. After a while this incident repeated a couple times. Even when buying pasta from...	Assuming these are open packets that have been open for a while - you probably have a mite infestation, probably the flour mite (Acarus siro), or a closely related mite. These are tiny almost-invisible-to-the-naked-eye members of the Acari, which is an animal order including the ticks and mites. They are very small - b...
How long should I bake the pizza in a microwave oven? I am making homemade pizza using a store bought pizza base. I know this is a fairly basic problem, but I am new here. Anyway, I own a Samsung microwave oven which also has a convection mode. Do I simply microwave it, or use the convection mode?	Convection simply moves air around to heat evenly. I don't suggest cooking pizza in a microwave oven at all. If you don't want to use a conventional oven I would suggest trying to cook the pizza on a cast iron skillet instead. The secret to pizza is to cook as hot and quickly as possible, both top and bottom. This is m...
Can I make drinking milk with evaporated milk? Can I mix evaporated milk with water to make milk to drink? I am finding it hard to get to the store to get milk.	You can make something approximately 'milk-like' though it will taste more like that revolting UHT stuff they put in hotel rooms with the tea & coffee. It will never go back to being 'fresh milk'. Try it & see.
Roast almond for desserts I want to bake a cake that mimics the Sahne Nuss chocolate bar from Nestle. So my plan is a chocolate cake filled with a chocolate ganache with pieces of almond in it. My question is: should I roast the almonds before adding into the ganache? I'm looking for a crunchy texture for the almonds.	Yes, roast the almonds. Be careful not to burn them. You can roast them in a dry skillet, tossing them frequently until aromatic and slightly darkened, or in the oven for maybe 25 minutes at 200°F (95°C).
Are these Toronto Chinese restaurants cooking live or frozen Yellow Fin Grouper? Many Chinese restaurants in Toronto serve Yellow Fin Garoupa or Grouper — 黃鰭斑. 1. From pictures beneath, are they live and fresh? Or frozen? Is Yellow Fin Grouper sold live and fresh? If not, frozen? Crown Jewel Fine Dining Casa Im...	It is highly unlikely that this fish was not frozen. If you were paying top dollar at a fine restaurant they may bring it in live, but the restaurant would tell you that.
What is this clear liquid after braising? I just made braised short ribs with balsamic vinegar, and after taking it out of the oven all the liquid turned clear! Here is a picture of the result (sans a few ribs): I suspect it is due to the rendering of the connective tissue and fat from the short ribs, but I don't und...	I believe the liquid looks like fat that has been rendered out of short ribs, which are quite fatty. Most of the water-based liquids you added (red wine, stock, vinegar, etc.) seem to have evaporated and/or burned, and what's left of them has sunk to the bottom of the pan. Naturally, oil would float on top. As to what ...
How can I make onion tomato paste taste more punchy? I batch pan-fried a paste of onions and tomatoes for using them in future dishes. I love the flavour of garlicy onions and tomatoes! How can I make their flavour stronger? I believe restaurants for all kinds of cuisines make use of it. This is how I make them righ...	A. To make the flavor of tomatoes stronger in a sauce: start with better-tasting tomatoes. Depending on time of year these will often be canned. There are many reviews of canned tomatoes, so I'll not pass judgment here but there are some excellent ones out there. reduce the sauce more to intensify the flavor. Tomat...
How does one alter a recipe that calls for one fruit with another fruit of differing water content? For example, I often make banana bread. I'd like to effectively keep the same recipe but use pumpkin instead. Bananas are ~72% water while pumpkins are ~90% water, and roughly a 20% increase in water content seems subst...	There's no trick, there's math. 100g of banana is about 75g of water (1g of water is 1ml, so easy to measure), 12g of sugar, and 13g of fiber and other stuff. A pumpkin is about 92g of water and 3 grams of sugar, leaving 5g of other stuff. My banana bread recipe calls for 2 medium bananas, that's about 250g of banana....
Can self-raising flour be used in lieu of plain flour when making a roux for a bechamel? I have plenty of self-raising flour (which will easily take me until its best before date to use) but am running very low on plain flour which I use predominantly for making a roux and then ultimately a bechamel. Given the current...	Since you will only be using 1.5 tablespoon of flour for more than a cup of milk, it shouldn't impact the flavor. Also as there is no salt in the Sainsbury Self-raising flour, you will not need to adjust for salt. However, the alkalinity from the Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate as it heats and breaks down into Sodium Carbona...
Why does industrially produced tagliatelle come in nests? I can buy industrially produced tagliatelle only in nests¹. Why is it delivered in this form? Some considerations I made myself or found in a dissatisfying Reddit on the subject are: It might be somehow possible to exploit or preserve this form during preparat...	When making egg pasta at home if it's not used right away it's common to flour slightly and wrap into nests to dry. This is a simple and effective way to do dry your pasta without it hanging over every cupboard door, door knob, your dog, etc. I suspect that manufacturers package this way for marketing reasons to make i...
Markings/smudges/wear on steel springform pans Hi folks. Can someone tell me what the markings are on this steel springform pan? I tried cleaning it with Bar Keeper's Friend already. Also interested to know if they are still okay to use if they cannot be removed.	Looks like normal markings on well used baking tins. It's fat that polymerised from heat (same procedure as for seasoning cast iron, just unintentionally). It's perfectly safe to use the pan like that. It can theoretically be removed with outrageous amounts of elbow grease and heavy duty cleaning chemicals, but it's no...
Seasoning chicken in sous vide? Question: should chicken be pre-seasoned or post-seasoned when sous vide-ing? See my results below, but please post your own preferences and results as well.	I have an answer for you, and then I will comment above about your post. In terms of salt and sous vide, in general for shorter cooking times, say less then 2-4 hours, salting in advance is fine. In longer cooks, salting in advance produces more of a "cured" result in terms of texture. Some folks like this, others n...
Can I substitute salts 1:1 by weight? In a recipe where you’re dissolving salt in water or a similar mixture(not sprinkling it as a seasoning, etc.) is it possible to substitute, for example, 1 gram of kosher salt with 1 gram of table salt? I understand that you can’t do this by volume, but if both salts are mostly Na...	Yes. In general diamond crystal kosher salt requires about twice the amount (by volume) as table salt, but measuring by weight is best and works with any salt.
Substituting maltose for barley malt syrup in bagels Can I substitute Chinese-style maltose (麥芽糖 if you want to search it up) for barley malt syrup in bagels? From what I understand, the flavour won't be exactly the same, but I'm not sure whether the latter affects the hydration, and how they should be substituted. C...	I would expect that substitution to work fine, in a 1:1 swap. Both Brown Rice Syrup (what you're calling Maltose) and Barley Malt have a high amount of maltose-the-sugar, plus an assortment of other sugars. Both are pretty close to pure glucose in their actual sugar content, while at the same time tasting less sweet b...
Fluffy French Toast What is the best kind of bread to use for french toast if you want it to be fluffy? I like using Brioche bread, but it isn't very fluffy! should I use the bread they use to make Texas Toast?	There's 2 aspects about making fluffy french toast: Bread: Fluffy french toast comes from fluffy bread. Dense breads like brioche and many whole wheats and sourdoughs aren't going to be light no matter what you do. You need a lighter, fluffier bread, a lot of times mass marketed non-artisan breads are the way to go Di...

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