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Why "Pre-oiled Pita"?
I have started buying Kontos Pre-oiled Pita, and am super pleased with the product.
They taste great and also seem to last forever on the shelf.
.. but I have never heard of "oiling" pitas! Is this something that is done? I can not find any references out there for it on google.
Also, what do y... | It is really common to brush a pita with some oil prior to heating for an extra crispy treat. We sort of do that at my house, except be coat the heating device (a frying pan) with oil instead of the pita itself.
From kontos.com:
Pre-oiled Greatness
Our pre-oiled breads are infused with extra virgin olive oil for flexi... |
Why does inside of cooked canned chicken always taste cold?
Recently I’ve been getting canned chicken and then frying it, baking it etc. What I notice is that the chicken in general feels cold and the inside always feels colder.
You might say that’s normal but if I get raw chicken and then cook it the whole thing alw... | The product you're using is made of "mechanically separated meat", aka "white slime". It's produced by pumping or centrifuging ground chicken bones through a sieve to separate remaining bits of flesh. While chemically similar to regular meat, mechanically separated meat has lost its meat-like texture during the separat... |
Where did my fennel go?
I made tomato soup based on Adam Ragusea's recent video. It's a simple reciple:
Chop a medium-large onion, shave a bulb of fennel and toss both into a stick of butter with some freshly ground black pepper (he adds celery seeds, I added two stalks of celery chopped).
Add two large cans of qual... | Fennel is a fairly delicate flavor. I can see how caramelized onion and tomato would easily over power it. The bulb actually provide the most delicate flavor of fennel. If you want a more pronounced flavor, I would suggest fennel seed. I would further suggest you toast them first. They can then be used whole, or, ... |
What caused leakage in my cheesecake?
I made a cheesecake this past weekend. The firing schedule was two stages, cook at 350 F for 25 mins; then apply a sour cream top and insert back into oven for 5 mins at 450 F.
When I went to put it back in to brown the sour cream, I noticed there was a fair bit of smoke (althoug... | Spring forms are not entirely liquid-proof, so anything liquid can leak out of the form while baking. I personally set off the fire alarm a month ago trying to make potatoes au gratin in a spring form. In my experience, what tends to leak from a cheesecake is fat from the crust. Many recipes recommend baking a cheeseca... |
Do I need more fermentation? Why my sourdough is flattened?
From a few weeks I've been trying to make sourdough. The most successful recipe for me and for the time I have I found is Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe using a stand mixer - Sourdough Lamination In the recipe it said that it needs 3 hours in room temperature + ... | First of all, that's quite a decent looking loaf. It doesn't look dense or overly pancaked. The crumb is consistent, with good bubble formation. A lot of amateur bakers would be quite proud to achieve that result. So give yourself a pat on the back before you start trying to improve further.
Now, 82% hydration is quite... |
How much "compounded" asafoetida to use?
I have a UK-Indian recipe that calls for asafoetida (1/4 teaspoons). I have bought this:
This says it is "compounded" asafoetida powder. Is this any different from what would be used for my recipe? Do I use the amount called for, or less/more? The listed ingredients are gum ar... | Asafoetida is most commonly found in a "compounded" form. It's about 30% asafoetida resin mixed with rice or wheat flour, and gum arabic. Use it as your recipe directs. It's fairly potent. I use about 1/4 tsp at a time. |
Can you make fish broth with just fish flesh — no bones or heads?
When I ate a fish stew some years ago in a Hong Kong restaurant, the dish had no bones. The broth was made from giant grouper. Do you know if bones were used?
No local grocers sell fish bones. And I don't want to buy fish heads...the appearance of fish ... | Fish broth, like most stocks (except vegetarian), is almost always made from bones, and usually includes other parts of the fish like heads, tails, and fins. In addition to the flavor and protein from the fish bits, you need the gelatin from the bones to give the stock "body" and texture.
I also live in the US, and the... |
What are the limitations of aquafaba as an egg white substitute?
I learned recently that aquafaba is claimed to be usable as an egg white substitute, able to be whipped to form stiff peaks, etc.
Now an egg-white-and-cottage-cheese omelette is a frequent breakfast of mine. So it was with great experimental enthusiasm t... | I don't think it is useful to think of aquafaba as a egg-white substitute. Rather, you should think of whipped aquafaba as a replacement for French meringue, in cases you are not relying on it setting under heat.
So, when you need a vegan foam, you can try aquafaba (after whipping) to get the right texture. To regard i... |
Should a gas Aga be left on when not in use?
We've recently moved into a house with an Aga GC3 cooker; though have no experience with this type of oven. Reading up on Agas, people talk about them being left on all the time; though this seems like a waste of gas for our usage (1 cooked meal each evening; unused the re... | Looking at the economics angle the Aga is expensive to run. Energy prices in the UK (not sure where you are but most of the Agas I know of are there) are about £.15 per kWh. If an Aga uses 20,000 kWh of energy per year to run, which is a reasonable figure if it's on all day, it would cost £3000 per year. If you moderni... |
Stem on tomatoes
I have noticed stores selling tomatoes with the stems left on. Usually 3-4 tomatoes per stem.
Is this just a new marketing gimmick? Or do tomatoes taste or store better with the stem left on?
We grow our own tomatoes, but I am wondering if I should copy this technique with the tomatoes we don't ca... | It's supposed to be proof that the tomatoes were "vine ripened", instead of being picked green, but the definition is such that there only has to be some sign of color change when they're picked to be sold as "vine ripened", so they're generally still picked mostly green.
So yeah, pretty much a marketing gimmick, altho... |
Cookies end up with a wavy bottom
My baking papers seem to absorb water a lot. Whenever I bake cookies with a bit wet batter such as lady fingers or cat's tongue, my cookies end up with a not flat but wavy bottom. Is that because of the type of baking papers I used or I did something wrong? | Yes, I would say this is completely normal. It is how paper acts when in contact with liquids.
If you don't like the effect, don't use baking paper under the cookies. |
What is this vial for in this package of grass jelly?
Recently I bought a package of grass jelly. My understanding of the instructions is that I should mix the powder in the package with a liter of cold water and 100g of sugar and then heat on a stove until it thickens. However, there is also a little vial of liquid i... | Ok, did a little more hunting and found this link which says:
Some packages contain a sugar packet and a small tube of banana essence. The banana essence can be a bit strong, but if you enjoy it, add during the last minute of cooking. |
Can I use the stovetop while a dough is leavening in the oven?
I usually use my (turned off) oven as a safe place for leavening doughs for hours.
I always get amazing results and never had any issue with that.
But... what if I need to use the stovetop?
Will the oven heat up and ruin my dough? Or the temperature change... | Do you have a thermometer? Place it in your oven. Check temp. Turn on your burners/use stove for a bit. Check temp. You will then know for sure. |
How can I get a better looking crust on my baguettes?
I've been making baguettes using the "stretch & fold" method instead of kneading. The resulting baguettes have great taste & texture, but the surface is covered with coarse, unsightly ropes of gluten, as below:
Is there a way to get the benefits of the stretch & f... | Regardless of the kneading method you use your loaves need to have a taut skin on top after shaping or they will look ragged. Another consequence of a ragged top is that it doesn't trap the expanding gasses as well and might not rise as high.
Boules are easier as you can pull all the dough to the underside in a circle ... |
I made challah dough and it was still sticky after 9 cups of AP flour
I only needed a few more tablespoons of flour, but I had run out. Instead I substituted half the amount of cornstarch. Will my bread still have the right texture when baking?
Here is the recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/132319/sweet-challah... | I have conflicting experience to @Benjamin. I often add a little extra starch to my bread actually, specifically potato starch or sweet rice flour. While all starches gelatinize a little differently, I would not expect you to have any issue shaping the bread, or with rise. What I would expect is a little extra chewines... |
What's this off-white particulate stuff on my pickled asparagus?
I just opened a new jar of Foster's pickled asparagus and discovered off-white particulate matter on the stalks:
The stuff can be scraped off with a fingernail, but doesn't come off effortlessly to the touch.
The jar was opened just moments ago, and was... | From luv2garden.com:
Powdery Mildew “appears as a dusty white to gray coating over leaf surfaces or other plant parts. In most cases this fungal growth can be partially removed by rubbing the leaves. It might be identified incorrectly as dust that has accumulated on the leaves.
So it appears to be powdery mildew on y... |
When getting coconut milk out of a coconut what type of drill bit should I use?
I'm aware there's wood, masonry, and metal drill bits, but what type works best for getting milk out of a coconut to put lime in it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbgv8PkO9eo | I use a screwdriver and a small hammer to punch the eyes of the coconut in and then pour through a sieve into a receptacle.
It's important to have more than one opening to facilitate the juice coming out, otherwise an air-lock will quickly form.
Wearing a gorilla suit is recommended, but entirely optional. |
What should the texture of meringue be in a lemon meringue pie?
After the pie has cooked and chilled, what texture should the meringue be? I couldn't find an answer online, and it was hard to tell from photographs. I'm assuming it isn't supposed to be crispy, the way meringue cookies are. But should it be completely s... | This is one of those questions to which there are as many answers as there are chefs ;)
Personally, I would say - you want all three, at different depths in your meringue.
The peaks should be browned & just crisp.
A millimetre or two below that ought to have an 'al dente' feel to it, a hint of 'chewy' but only a hint.
... |
If I am blending parsley for soup, can I use the parsley whole or should I still remove the stems?
I am making my Grandma's parsley soup - it's chicken stock, onions, potatoes, garlic and parsley. Since the whole combination is blended, can I use the parsley stems or might not removing them have an adverse affect on t... | There is a lot of flavor in parsley stems, as is true of most "soft" herbs. In my kitchen, if it is soft/palatable, I use it. |
Pasteurized milk boiling dilemma
Experts tell drinking pasteurized milk from carton is fine. But sometimes, when I boil refrigerated previously opened milk carton with oats, it curdles.
Does that mean it is not safe to drink milk directly from carton without boiling it? Or, is the problem with cooking oats and milk to... | The answer probably lies in your question:
refrigerated previously opened milk
Products that have been made shelf-stable by a heating process will be susceptible to spoilage again once the package is opened. While unopened UHT milk will last for months without refrigeration and ESL milk gets up to three weeks (depend... |
Reason(s) for poor bread results
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to be gifted a standing mixer.
My first project was James Beard's white bread. The end characteristics that I wish to improve on were:
When attempting to de-loaf the bread to tap the bottom, the top crust was hermetically sealed onto the loaf ... | It appears to me that all you need is to give the dough more proofing time. Also, make sure that your pan is generously dusted with flour before placing the dough in and baking.
For the yeasty smell, the fix is quite simple; use less yeast.
This may seem like an ignorant piece of advice, but I'm serious. I used to foll... |
Timing Stock/Broth Perfectly
I have been experimenting with different methods and I am trying to find the perfect extraction time for each of the elements of my stock. I first noticed this when one time I added celery leaves and parsley in the last hour of the cook, and it had such a nice fresh aroma to compliment the... | Is there any reason why I should not cook my veal stock for 8 hours and then right towards the end pop in the vegetable?
No, and there are many reasons why what you are doing is what you should be doing!
It seems so intuitive for me but I have literally NEVER seen it done.
Well, I can find many sources that advise y... |
Does the foam from instant coffee always taste bitter?
I'm trying instant coffee for the first time and thought that it tasted like drinking a flat tire. After experimenting with different condiments I came to realize that the offensive taste was from the foam that appears at the top after stirring in the powder and n... | With proper coffee the foam is referred to as crema. It is typically quite bitter itself (as coffee tends to be anyway), which seems to be a function of the emulsion of the aromatic oils in the crema and CO2 from the bubbles. I don't know that the crema on an instant coffee is any more bitter than the crema on an espr... |
How can even a small amount of citrus "cook" the outside of seafood?
Please see the sentence beside the red heart. What's the chemistry behind this?
From p. 68 in Williams-Sonoma Collection: Seafood 2005. | The "cook" in this case is not actually a cook. It is the acid in the citrus (all citrus contain... citric acid), which interacts with the proteins and precipitates/coagulates them, which is essentially the same process as happens when you heat protein.
In both cases the interaction causes loss of secondary structure i... |
Eating dehydrated uncooked red potato
I sliced some red potatoes and put them, without any prior processing (no cooking, no frying etc.), in a dehydrator at 45 celsius. Several hours later, they came out crispy and tasty. However, when I tried the same thing with white potatoes, they were not tasty at all (as in this... | Short answer: no, it is unlikely. There are some concerns with eating potatoes, but these apply to any form of consumption of them.
Longer answer:
Maybe. The main risk from potatoes (along with most garden plants) is ingestion of pesticides, fertilizers etc added to the garden where they were grown. So long as the with... |
Re-seasoning of cast iron skillet gone wrong?
So, we had some stir-fry burn up pretty badly in our trusted cast-iron skillet. Upon cleaning the skillet some of the coating came off with the burned food. I made a first attempt of re-seasoning it with avocado oil and putting it upside down in the oven for an hour at 375... | It looks like the second attempt used far too much oil, which can lead to all sorts of uneven spots in the pan. Seasoning that thick tends to flake off when you cook with the pan. I would strip it and reseason immediately. In general you want to use a very very thin layer of oil, wiping out the excess from the pan with... |
Thawing vacuum-packed fish
I purchased vacuum-packed Flounder and the individual wrapped filets bear the following statement:
Must remove from packaging before thawing. Do not refreeze.
Now, "do not refreeze" is straightforward. We were taught in grade school, don't re-freeze meat or food poisoning can result.
Does... | Typically the plastic used for vacuum packed food is polyethylene, which has a low melting point, depending on the plastic it could be as low as 110°C, or 230°F. Once it melts you have liquid plastic on your food with the nasty flavors and potential health concerns.
The big thing here is microwaving can very quickly ca... |
Is it bad to be a 'board tapper', i.e. to tap your knife rhythmically when you're cutting vegetables?
I briefly worked in a restaurant kitchen in Hong Kong under a British chef. He objected to the sound I made when slicing onions, and warned me not to be a 'board tapper'. I duly spent the next weeks learning to slic... | I know, this isn't really an answer, but it's a bit long for a comment:
There are people in this world that get annoyed by different things that don't bother other people. For some of those people, it's noise ... someone tapping their foot, chewing gum, etc. It's possible that there's a legitimate reason for this pet... |
How to scale Indian cooking?
What are the best practices for scaling up Indian dishes such as chicken curry, butter chicken, palak paneer, etc. that follow these generic steps (albeit with different ingredients):
oil -> whole spices -> onions -> ginger garlic -> tomatoes -> chicken/veg
The process above yields extreme... | Cooking is as a rule of thumb more forgiving when you tinker with the ratios than e.g. baking. That said, if you have a recipe that works and you want to increase the number of servings, the first step is to increase all ingredients by the same factor, keeping the ratios consistent. This should bring you at least into ... |
My whipped cream can has run out of nitrous. I want what's inside anyway. What's the least destructive method of doing so?
I have a circular saw meant for cutting metal, I have pliers, I even have a can opener, but I'm not certain others encountering this problem and looking it up on DDG/Google may have these. So, wha... | Circular saw will fill it with metal filings - not great for the mouthfeel, I'd think.
Pliers aren't sharp enough to puncture.
Can opener will have no lip to grab.
Your first issue will be the container skidding out of your control - with potential for finger-loss & furniture damage. You're not going to easily find any... |
Is there any botulism risk in homemade cold brew coffee?
Cold brew coffee is known to be less acidic and it stays airtight in fridge overnight. It's not heated before consumption.
There are news on the internet about a well known coffee producer recalling its coffee cans for botulism risk. Is there any botulism risk i... | There's probably a near zero probability to get botulism from home brewed cold coffee if done properly (clean containers/vessels, clean fridge, cold fridge temperature... )
As long as you keep it cold, it should be ok.
(I've not made a thorough google search)
There at least one report from 2017 of a recall for nitro c... |
Too much wine used in coq au vin
The NYT coq au vin recipe called for 3 1/2 cups red wine and marinate overnight, then reduce to make the sauce. Husband added an extra 2-3 cups of wine to the marinade. It is now the morning after. Which should I do? Reserve 2 cups only of the marinade to reduce (as probably 1 cup has... | Marinades are generally surface treatments, especially in thicker cuts. With the exception of salt (if any in the marinade), I doubt your chicken has absorbed any marinade. So, your issue is the higher quantity of liquid, and flavoring of the wine. I think you could go either way...remove some, or reduce. If it were... |
Margarine vs vegetable oil in baking
Since the ingredients of margarine tend to be vegetable oil hydrogenated to be firm, is there any point in using it over vegetable oil in baking where it will be melted into liquid anyway?
Same question for any other applications where it's not spread on toast | Yes, it certainly matters. Baking is not about what goes in, it is about the structure in which it goes in (and as a consequence, the structure in which it comes out). If you start using oil instead of margarine, the results will be anything between "different" and " a disaster". Flour soaked in liquid oil behaves very... |
What alcoholic drinks are popular with out alcohol?
I don't drink alcohol do to a Psychiatric drug.
There has to be some alcoholic drinks that taste okay with out alcohol.
What drinks are popular to get with out alcohol? | I'd google "virgin cocktails" or "mocktails"
There are more and more non alcoholic recipes out there.
Most mocktails are variations on regular cocktails, using different juices and aromatics or bitters to simulate the alcohol taste and flavors
For example, a virgin pina colada more or less just omit the rhum. |
Reasons my sourdough attempts failed?
Last March I started adventuring into the world of Sourdoughs by following the advise of The Fresh Loaf Bakers's handbook but using wholegrain rye flour all the way and it went pretty well; after a week or so I started having nice sour rye breads. For context, this was a typical s... | The temperature is indeed the most likely reason behind it. In sourdough, you are creating a small new ecosystem niche, and depending on the environmental conditions, different strains of yeast and bacteria will "win" and outgrow the others. And for microorganisms, there is a huge difference between the 18-22 C when yo... |
If pickling destroys Vitamin C, how is Sauerkraut rich in Vitamin C?
My understanding is that pickling destroys Vitamin C. However, apparently Sauerkraut is very rich in Vitamin C and is used by the German Navy to offset scurvy. What am I missing here?
Because early sailors suffered from scurvy and I must assume they ... | Vitamin C is destroyed by heat and light. If you use a preservation method that relies on heating the sauerkraut at any stage (hot pickling liquid, water bath or pressure canning the jars) then some vitamin C is destroyed. Exactly how much depends on the process: not all vitamin C is lost immediately so different proce... |
Milk powder doesn't dissolve
I'm following some recipes making chocolate, candies and cookies that use milk powder to enhance the flavor. I tried several milk powder brands, different types skim vs full cream, but I never can dissolve milk powder completely. My dough/batter always end up with a lot of milk powder chun... | From Chocolate Making Adventures (paragraph 4):
Milk powder won't dissolve into cocoa butter, so the trick is to make the powder so fine that the tongue cannot detect the grains. If your milk powder already has the consistency of flour, you can use it 'as is'.
The same would likely apply for butter, as the main focus... |
How to open a malfunctioning tamper-proof bottle cap?
I have a bottle of oil I want to open. It is a glass bottle with a threaded metal cap. It is the type of cap which is connected in a few places to a lower ring. Usually, one just unscrews the cap, and it tears off the ring, which stays below the threads.
I now have... | I've had this before, and solved it by breaking the join between cap and ring with a small screwdriver, one section at a time. Long nose pliers may be handy towards the end. You might manage to get the tip of a butter knife in the join instead of the screwdriver.
Trying too hard when it's not coming off tends to def... |
Why do my English muffins have such a tough crust?
I'm new to the baking of English muffins. I follow the recipe for sourdough English muffins published on YouTube by Culinary Exploration. After accounting for the 100% hydration of the starter, the recipe calls for about 62% hydration. The procedure involves pre-bakin... | I strongly suspect that it's the trip to the oven that's making those muffins tough.
My personal recipe for sourdough muffins does not involve baking them; they are cooked entirely on the griddle. I checked three different sourdough muffin recipes (1, 2, 3) and none of them used the oven either.
So my suggestion is th... |
Recipe calls for Tapioca pudding - none to be found!
Any suggestions on what to use? I want to make a recipe called "Orange Creamsicle Salad. You boil the tapioca pudding, gelatin and pudding. Any ideas on what I can use other than Tapioca pudding? | I have a jello recipe something like the orange creamsickle you mentioned.It calls for 1 box vanilla tapioca pudding and I can't find it either anymore. I used 1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding and 2 tablespoons granulated tapioca instead,both of which i can buy bulk. It turned out just like i remembered it with the vani... |
What is the purpose of adding baking powder to a recipe that contains yeast?
Example, this recipe: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/recipe-traditional-cypriot-tahini-pies/article25201735/
In addition to yeast it calls for a small amount of baking powder. What is the purpose of that?
I found t... | Most baking powder available today is double-acting baking powder. The "first" action is when it gets wet. The "second" action is when it gets hot (above 140°F/60°C).
Generally speaking, the yeast would provide the pre-bake rise, and then the baking powder would assist with additional spring once it's in the oven.
Inte... |
What is my fish's story?
I purchased salmon that seems to have an interesting history:
[Norwegian flag] NORWEGIAN* SMOKED SALMON
FARM RAISED AND COLOR ADDED
harvested in the icy Norwegian waters of the Northern Atlantic and delicately smoked with a mild, low salt cure
*PRODUCT OF GREECE
I'd be interested in knowing ... | All Atlantic Salmon* is farmed, so for it to be "Norwegian" it had to come from a farm off the coast of Norway (which is the world's third largest source) then shipped to Greece for further processing. The colour is added in their feed because they're pale compared to wild salmon otherwise; so Greece was potentially wh... |
How to clean/wash (Sichuan) peppercorns?
Tragically, I spilled over a bottle of Sichuan peppercorns on the kitchen floor, which is fairly dirty (we walk on it with outdoor shoes, and if you wipe at the floor with a cloth it will pick up a thin layer of dirt/grime).
To avoid eating dirt/germs, do I have to throw out th... | It probably isn't worth washing them. You could try washing them with water alone but this certainly won't remove many types of dirt such as oils. The main flavour compounds in most spices are not highly soluble in water, so most of the flavour (Hydroxy-alpha sanshool in this case) will remain. However, if you used a ... |
Alternatives to borax for minced protein recipes (fish balls, kebabs, etc.)?
Borax (sodium salt of boric acid) is used in some recipes as a texturizing agent.
From Wikipedi | borax imparts a firm, rubbery texture to food.
It does this by binding polymers in the food:
Borax acts on these polymers just as it acts on other polymers and will bind polymers together forming cross-linkages which change the texture and structure of the proteins.
However, it is banned as a food additive in severa... |
Is steaming causing food to lose more flavor than baking?
I made two banana nugget with two different method. For those who have never heard one, that basically a thin (3 cm thick in a pan of 5x5 cm) banana cake with a lot more banana than flour.
One is done with baking in the oven and the other with steaming. Both a... | Yes it does, and you actually already described some of the mechanisms in the question already. It is an effect that is more widely known in vegetables (roasted have more taste than steamed), but I suppose that this is much rarer to steam cakes.
First, you already mention that the baked one is drier, and the steamed is... |
How to make a meringue cake layer that is not cracked?
I have been trying for some time to make a meringue cake layer (like for Pavlova, but flatter, thinner) and I have not had any luck.
The recipe I use is 50 grams of sugar per one medium egg white, and 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar if using 3 egg whites.
S... | I am not entirely sure that what you intend is doable. A pure French meringue, when baked enough to get hard, will generally go brown on the outside. Also, I don't think the idea is very functional - first, most fillings and icings will likely wet your layers through, and second, if you can keep them dry, eating the ca... |
Cooking a mix of raw and cooked meat
I have cooked meat that is fully prepared, I like its taste but not its texture. I want to mince it, add it to some raw minced meat and prepare something from the entire mass.
What is the correct way to do it?
Safety concerns, the meat will be cooked thoroughly, but still are ther... | Once the meat is cooked, there really isn't a way to turn it into minced meat without there being a noticeable difference in texture. However, it is not unusual to see fully cooked meat getting finely chopped (in fact) to become, for example, filling, and used in ways sort of like how one would use fried minced meat.
A... |
How to obtain the soft and pillowy texture in bread?
Here's a bread recipe (probably a type of Turkish bread):
1 cup of warm milk (200 ml)
1 tea cup of warm water (150 ml)
1 tea cup of oil
1 tea spoon of salt
1.5 tablespoons of sugar,
half a
pack of fresh yeast (21 grams)
1 egg white
5 cups flour
50 grams butter
(gl... | Milk is used as a kind of "tenderizer" in breads. Milk makes a softer crust and otherwise improves the texture of bread, so in this case, I think its your substitution that's giving you a problem. Oat milk may be a reasonable substitute for the liquid required in the recipe, but it just won't have the same effect on th... |
Is synthetic astaxanthin (salmon "dye") safe?
TL;DR Is synthetic astaxanthin safe for humans to consume?
Background
Synthetic astaxanthin is available as a supplement, and is also commonly consumed by humans in the form of farmed salmon.
Wild salmon eat a lot of shrimp-like krill, which contains lots of astaxanthin, w... | Yes, the FDA has determined that astaxanthin is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), at 0.15 mg/serving. This doesn't indicate whether there are any health considerations associated with it (that's not on topic for this site), but it's not poisonous. |
What is a stem pan?
I have a vintage cookbook, from Charlotte, North Carolina and about 1958, that has a recipe for “Different Applesauce Cake”. It says to “Cook in stem pan approximately 1 hour, 10 minutes”.
Searches for “stem pan” brings up pan definition lists that don’t include “stem pan”; searches for “stem pan b... | I also believe a stem pan is what we would call a 'tube pan' or 'bundt pan', as in Joe's answer. I have, however, found a few links to back me up.
Here is a comment on a Chowhound question suggesting a recipe using a stem pan. When asked what a stem pan is, the poster replied: "basically, a stem pan is what they now ca... |
Should I have been able to melt white chocolate and marshmallows together?
My daughter and I were making cake pops, and were a little short of white chocolate for the coating. We thought we'd try a white chocolate/marshmallow coating instead. I didn't weigh the marshmallows but they were no more than 25% of the total.... | This is definitely possible, though I should add that the addition of melted butter would be crucial.
Do not simply toss "raw" marshmallows into the melted white chocolate, as they will start to cool down the chocolate more than you'd think (I once tucked my hand into a bag of marshmallows, it was relatively cold in te... |
Freezing prepared dry salted fish
How does prepared dried-&-salted fish hold in the freezer?
The fish has been (properly) desalted, and, other than that, the recipe contains tomato (boiled down to a paste), tomato puree, onion, garlic and madame jeanette. There's tons of minor twists, but mostly it boils (haha) down t... | For freezing the desalted cod, see one of the answers to this question. Apparently frozen, desalted cod is a common supermarket ingredient in Portugal, which suggests that it's as good, or almost as good, as "fresh". This is not a surprise, since salted cod has already been dehydrated once, so a trip through the free... |
Letting batter with baking soda wait before adding into the oven
I want to bake a cake with 3 layers, but I only have one baking pan and thus I will have to bake them one by one (already thought about making one big cake and dividing it into 3 parts but I pref not to use that method).
The problem is it takes 35 minute... | I doubt the raw batter will survive 35-70 minutes out of the oven.
Many times when I made homemade cake, things like
forgetting to preheat the oven
taking too long to scrape all the batter into the baking pan
taking too long decorating the top of the cake batter when its in the pan
rewards me with a flat cake.
On t... |
Verdigris on copper-bottomed pan
I have a small stainless steel pan with a copper bottom. The diameter is around 4in or 10cm, so it is really small. I use it exclusively for tempering or what is known in India as tadka. That is, I heat a couple of spoonfuls of ghee, add the necessary spices (mustard seeds, cumin seeds... | Corrosion like that can be scrubbed off with copper polish (or, in a pinch, with salt and vinegar). The result will be bright copper, which will quickly tarnish and darken through regular use. The pan is absolutely not ruined. As with other solid metal cookware, if it isn’t literally broken in pieces then it can be sco... |
Simmering, rather than caramelizing, onions (plus garlic and ginger)
I can caramelize onions, garlic, and ginger over 30 minutes, stir frying.
But this requires me to stand in front of the stove for 30 minutes. Instead, I prefer to spend 90 minutes, adding a bit of water and a touch of oil, then letting them simmer, w... | Often, cooking onions over low heat so they turn translucent without browning would be sweating as was already mentioned, but the name would technically mean cooking them until they gave up their liquid.
With a little bit of water in the pan, and the lid on, I'd be inclined to call it steaming, but if you then cooked i... |
Why did my bagels flatten?
This weekend, I made Peter Reinhart's water bagel recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. The bagels taste yummy, but they're flat wrinkly discs! What can I do next time to get nice puffy bagels instead?
The recipe is basically:
make a sponge and let it ferment for 2 hours
add more yeast... | Bagels tend to flatten when you remove them from the water if the dough is overproofed or you boiled them for too long. Next time, let them proof for shorter time in the fridge (I find that doughs get overproofed in the refrigerator after about 12 hours, so 24 hours is a very long cold proof) and possibly boil them sli... |
Is there a difference between boiling water and almost boiling water?
When cooking noodles (ramen or pasta), recipes often call for it to be thrown in boiling water.
I’m often impatient and can’t wait for the water to go from almost boiling (95C) to full boiling (100C) In some cases, it can be a couple of minutes to ... | There are two main differences, obviously: five degrees, and no boiling action.
As Cascabel mentioned in a comment, dried pasta will "cook" even in water that's well below boiling temperature. However, a rolling boil serves to constantly stir the contents of the pot, much more than convection in heating water would. Wi... |
Where can I find strong sharp tasting olive oil in the US?
I was hoping you could all educate me. I remember living in Turkey and travelling around the Mediterranean in general and a lot of the Olive Oil was sharper or you might call it bitter, and I know it was fresh. I loved the taste. In the US where I'm from, all ... | Your best source for quality olive oil with strong flavors in the US is going to be a specialty market, either an upscale "gourmet" one, or an ethnic market, such as a Greek, Arabic, Italian, or Turkish market, or even a specialty olive-oil only store. Farmer's markets can also be a good source of premium olive oil. ... |
One time sourdough starter
Is there a way to make sourdough bread without the long term commitment of feeding a starter?
My kids and I love sourdough bread, but I also work 2 jobs, so making bread is, sadly, a once in a blue moon type of thing. Taking good care of starter would get lost in the shuffle, and I don't wa... | I would recommend you find a (hobby) baker locally. Almost everyone who maintains a sourdough has some extra that they would otherwise discard. I have read about local Facebook groups etc. of people sharing their starters during the pandemic (when sourdough suddenly was “a thing” and weirdly enough yeast was hard to ge... |
How to use frozen patties in recipes asking for ground beef like chili, meat sauce, and meatballs?
I have 40 pounds of decent quality beef patties (75/25) which came from the store as patties and I want to use it for something other than merely burgers.
How can I take a frozen beef patty and turn it into meatballs, me... | If the patties are just ground beef, then use them the same way you'd use any other ground beef; pull it apart with your hands or break it up with a spoon or spatula in the pot.
It may be that your burgers include other ingredients for flavour, in which case those other ingredients will also be in whatever you make, bu... |
Can you make a burger from pepperoni?
I was just thinking and I love pepperoni. Could you make a whole burger out of pepperoni? I wonder what this would taste like? It wouldn't be cheap of course.
It might be near to incorporate shredded pepperoni in a beef burger using ground beef, but I wonder if you can make a full... | to answer the primary question, yes you could, but pepperoni is already cooked and processed and is hard (dried),it's easy to eat in small thin slices, but not in big chucks.
You could try grinding it down again and find a way to bind it in a patty (egg?breadcrumbs?) but the final texture might be weird,
pepperoni is a... |
Arugula is very salty, and doesn't look like arugula
I recently bought some arugula, partially to make salads with. I tasted some leaves though, and it's incredibly salty. It also doesn't look like any arugula I've ever had before:
I'm used to more "serrated spear"-shaped leaves. This looks more like spinach than any... | Round-leaf arugula is apparently an actual variety that exists. However, it is not noted for having a particularly salty flavor.
Given the strong salty flavor, and the appearance, it's more likely that you got orach instead. A nutritious and tasty green, Orach is known for its high salt content, making it excellent i... |
Skillet cooking Medovik (Russian Honey Cake)?
Medovik traditionally calls for baking individual pancake shaped layers in the oven. Would frying in a skillet be a workable alternative? | Apparently, yes. What you'll end up with will be a somewhat different texture than traditional medovik, but I bet it'll still be delicious. |
How can I restore and keep a built-in cutting board in good condition?
I have somewhat recently bought a house that has a cutting board as a part of the counter. I have had no experience with this and haven't found anything online really.
I know that there are ways to season a wooden cutting board, but I don't know if... | I wouldn't use that board any further. Some of those gaps where the block laminate is separating go right the way through. I don't see how you could realistically sanitise it, even if the other side looks a bit better.
Not only would I replace it, I'd also seriously consider replacing the counter top. The chipboard is ... |
How to prepare and use fresh herbs with woody stems (thyme, oregano)
For quite a while I have wanted to grow a selection of fresh herbs in my kitchen. I have managed to set up that works wonderfully growing my most used herbs but now I’m running into questions about how to use them, particularly herbs like thyme that ... | There are two ways to deal with herbs like thyme.
First, you can strip the leaves by pinching the stem with two or three fingers and pulling up towards the tips. Nails can be helpful, too. That should dislodge pretty much all leaves and when some of the tips tear off as well, it’ll be the soft bits that can be used jus... |
Oven features required/desirable for baking bread at home
I am considering to buy a new built-in electric oven for my kitchen because the old one does not have top or bottom heat (believe it or not). I regularly bake heavy rye bread (e.g., of the Danish kind), but would also like to bake other kinds of bread, both sou... | Probably also not a complete answer (can there ever be for such questions?), but the main criteria for me with a focus on bread would be (in no particular order):
Maximum temperature.
For bread, 250°C is usually good, but speaking from experience, the step from bread to pizza is small and for those, the hotter the bet... |
Yeast in sausage
Apparently people (esp the British) use rusk in making fresh sausage rather than breadcrumbs because it's a "yeastless bread". The yeast is meant to be bad for the sausage. However:
When I make bread, I cook it to an internal temp of at least 190F. Doesn't that kill all the yeast?
Adding (alcoholic) ... | None of those things have significant amounts of live or sporulated yeast. All flour-based baked goods are cooked to a temperature that will kill yeast; wine and cider are filtered and have preservatives added. Moreover, bread yeast is essentially inactive at refrigerator temperature.
Biscuit rusk is quicker and more e... |
What happens when you reduce stock all the way?
If you have fully filtered stock or broth, and you boil it until all of the liquid evaporates; what would you be left with. If you boiled only until a bit before that point would you have super compact flavor? | If you reduce filtered broth all the way, you get portable soup. It dries down into a solid that looks a bit like leather. Because of the gelatin from the bones, portable soup is bendy and flexible. It was used in the 18th century as a portable food item, eg by soldiers and people traveling through the American wildern... |
Why is a pig-skin like substance floating on top of my vinegar?
Apologies if this is off-topic.
Every year, I make about 25 litres of cider vinegar. I wash the apples in a bucket of tap water, press them, add a sachet of yeast and leave the fermenting vessel in the garage. The juice is very acidic so not very pleasant... | That looks like a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast -- a SCOBY.
As to why a SCOBY developed in one vessel and not the others, only guesses can be made. I found a blog post that may offer an explanation:
So a SCOBY is typically a SCOBY for all starting vinegar and kombucha fermentations when slow processes like v... |
Will brownies remain fresh if sent by post?
My friend makes baked goods, and I would like her to send me some of her brownies by post. Is this feasible?
Would the brownies remain delicious, and how would we keep them delicious? I live about two hours away from her by car, in the same province in Canada. | Brownies should stay excellent for several days at room temperature. For several more days they will have diminishing quality, but still remain tasty enough to be worth eating. After about a week to ten days, they're usually more stale than most people will consider worth eating. Of course the difference between "worth... |
Storing lemon juice with crushed mint
I really enjoy grinding mint with lemon, then adding that to various drinks. I buy fresh mint but mint leaves wither pretty fast. I thought about grinding the entire mint bundle in lemon juice at once and keeping it in fridge. For how long would it be safe to store it like that? | I'd make it into ice cubes.
They'd add decorative interest too.
Fridge, maybe a week, freezer, more like 6 months.
There's a full list of storage times in How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer? |
Small Hard White Thing In Whole Wheat Bread - Mold Or Grain?
I just bought a loaf of bread yesterday, and went to use some to make a sandwich. I found a tiny white spot on it that is about the size of a rice grain, but it doesn't look like normal mold. And when I touch it, it is hard.
Is this some type of mold? Or i... | I'd go with grain or more likely flour/unmixed dough
It's very unlikely to be mould in between slices like that, even if pre-sliced, and essentially impossible if you just cut it.
Bread is also generally made and shipped pretty quickly, so if it's got a few days left on its date (or was bought loose, meaning it should ... |
Thickening cream in a blender to increase fat content?
I've established that it's not possible(or a compromise at best) to mix other things in single cream to increase its fat content.
I have 25% and 30%(rarer) cream available where I'm at, and I'd like to have whippable cream with a fat content of 35% or more to use ... | The centrifuge doesn't thicken the cream by mechanical action, but by separating the fat and water by their different densities. The blender allows you to spin, but not to draw off either liquid. There's a chance that when allowed to settle you'll get layers, but you're more likely to make butter so you'd have to sto... |
Can I shorten bean soaking time if they'll be slow cooked?
I'm making something using butter beans (fasiola gigandes) which will be cooked for a long time (12+ hours) in a casserole dish with liquid covering them.
Normally I would soak the beans first for a long time before discarding the water and using them. Can I r... | I use a slow cooker almost every time I cook dried beans, and I don't recommend cutting down on soaking. I typically soak overnight (with a little bicarbonate of soda), and start cooking in the morning, so 10-12 hours soaking + 8-12 hours cooking, avoiding adding (much) acid/salt until towards the end.
It's possible y... |
Do bread bins really keep homemade breads fresh?
I usually keep my homemade breads for a day or two in a ziplock bag. I recently felt like buying a good-looking bread box/tin to not use plastic bags that often (I keep the bags for as long as possible unless used for something like cinnamon rolls) and a bread box looks... | I would avoid anything that can't have a good wash. I've had wooden bread bins in the past and crumbs in crevices can go mouldy and spread the mould to bread until you give up and throw the bread bin away
These days I either use the enamelled cast iron pot I bake in (and which therefore fits my boules perfectly) or a ... |
Could I use a blast chiller to make modern frozen meals at home?
Over the last decade or so I have noticed that the quality of store-bought frozen meals has increased. And after heating, the quality of the frozen food is better than my own prepared meals that I freeze and reheat later. Vegetables, while usually not ex... | Supermarket frozen food is not leftovers.
Aside from the fact that some things freeze well - chilli is almost impossible to break - & some things freeze badly … don't freeze leftover risotto, it is not a joyous reheat candidate … I think the significant difference is not in how fast they're frozen, but in the preparati... |
How to season a carbon steel pan on an electric hob
I have a de Buyer Mineral B Crepe Pan. It's unused, because I don't know how to season it using my electric hob. Most of the videos I can find reference gas hobs or using the main oven. Previous attempts to season other carbon steel pans on my hob result in uneven se... | To the question as asked: No, there are no more tricks. When you use the wrong tool for the job (in this case a too-small electric hob), then you can't expect the job to go well.
Nevertheless, there is an easy solution for you: Use the oven. If you are that worried about your rubber button, remove it before putting the... |
What is the 'malty' flavour added to tea to make it taste like biscuits?
I'm in Australia - and for my birthday I ordered some British tea - Yorkshire Toast and Jam. (Picture below.) Which was really nice, but at about 80c per bag, a little hard to justify.
I gave some to my wife and she said:
"That's just Berry flav... | Not something I've ever tried, but I'd be tempted towards either the bottled malt drinks popular in the Caribbean (eg Supermalt), or Horlicks.
Or, you can just buy "malt flavour" - Random google search for liquid flavour manufacturers - http://www.weberflavors.com/products/liquid-flavors/
Perhaps your 'crumby' malt co... |
Non-plastic cutting board that can be cleaned in a dishwasher
We currently have the following dilemm | My wife does not want us to use plastic cutting boards because of the potential negative health effects of ingesting microplastics.
I really really do not want to wash cutting boards by hand. Yes, I'm aware that there is no alternative for sharp metal knifes and non-stick coated pans, but I don't want to add another it... |
Should I start timer immediately after adding pasta to boiling water?
When I add cold pasta or ravioli to boiling water, water stops boiling. It needs a couple of minutes to boil again. So, the question is
Should I start timer immediately after adding pasta to boiling water?
or Wait for water to boil again and then st... | You should start it as soon as you dump the pasta in the pot. I personally also turn off the heat at the same time, as you don't need your water to be boiling to cook pasta. Anything over 180 degrees Fahrenheit will do the trick. You could stick a thermometer in the water to make sure it's still hot enough, but I doubt... |
Would this be called matured cream?
I have some single cream or double cream in my fridge that's been there over a month & the flavour and taste has degraded into something sour and horrible on it's own but when adding other flavours like salty. Sweet & savory it brings out a nice flavour in dishes that you might not ... | Most people would say it's gone bad, or gone off, yes. Since you didn't ferment it intentionally, there's no telling what it is now, and you should throw it out.
Cheese is a fermented food which develops slowly as it ages. Maturation isn't random or by chance. The environment is carefully controlled to ensure the ferme... |
Vietnamese Coffee (cocktail) - what to sub for condensed milk?
If you've ever enjoyed a Vietnamese Coffee, they're to die for. Blend:
crushed ice
shot of espresso
condensed milk
... avocado
(add dark liquor like bourbon if a cocktail)
blend them together and this is where the condensed milk and avocado shine: ends... | I would suggest that you use cream of coconut, which is the base for piña coladas as a substitute. It's thick and sweet, and should complement the avocado pretty well. Note that this is a canned produce, the most widely available brand in the USA is Coco Lopez.
Outside the USA it's harder to find, and can be pretty exp... |
Dried herbs instead of bouquet garni?
I've only recently heard about bouquet garni via a recipe I want to try, but I don't always have access to fresh herbs. This particular garni calls for two bay leaves, one large sprig of sage, and one large or two small sprigs of rosemary. I know the bay leaf isn't meant to be eat... | There's nothing really special about a bouquet garni. Don't let the French name make this seem more intimidating than it is. It is just a bunch of herbs. It has no special function other than making the herbs easier to remove than if they weren't bundled together.
So then the meat of this question is really: can you... |
Does steak from a supermarket cook quicker than steak from a butchers?
I've recently made the jump from buying steaks at the grocery store to buying whole cuts of steak from an online butcher and breaking them down into steaks myself.
One thing I have noticed is the steaks I've bought from the online butcher take long... | Going to a butcher is a very good idea, and doing some of your own butchering on larger cuts is a great way to save money and get really good quality meat. It's not a question of butcher versus supermarket though, the factors that make a difference in cooking time are:
Cut: The word steak is a generic term for a small... |
What makes it possible to store this uncooked fish product in the fridge for up to a month?
I have bought what looks to be a defrosted raw salmon product in airtight packaging:
On the back of the package, it is written that this product can be stored in the fridge for up to a month from the day it was thawed, which i... | I feel I must offer a contradicting opinion to @rumtscho's answer. The product you seem to have is indeed shown in the catalogue at the page of "smoked salmon" products, but note that it is the only one not being named "cold smoked", but "marinated".
And just by the looks of it I assume this is actually Gravlax: raw s... |
When can milk substitute for buttermilk in sourdough recipes?
I want to prepare buttermilk sourdough pancakes:
One part sourdough starter
Two parts flour
Two parts buttermilk
Sugar to taste (about a quarter part, depending on mood)
The idea is to leave it overnight and let the sourdough SCOBY incorporate the butterm... | I think your understanding here is incorrect.
The idea is to leave it overnight and let the sourdough SCOBY incorporate the buttermilk culture.
With a mature, functioning starter, there won't be much of any "incorporation" overnight, in the sense of actually reaching a new equilibrium of species in the starter. I don... |
Can gelatin change color of butterfly pea tea?
I can't find the answer for this question anywhere on the internet. My friend and I made butterfly pea jelly with gelatin and we used the same recipe. Mine came out fine with blue color of butterfly pea flowers but my friend's changed its color to dark purple after adding... | From the Gelatin Manufacturer's Institute of America "Gelatin Handbook": https://nitta-gelatin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GMIA_Gelatin-Handbook.pdf
Gelatin in solution is amphoteric, capable of acting either as an acid or as a base. In acidic solutions gelatin is positively charged and migrates as a cation in an e... |
How to get rid of the rich iron and blood taste in certain beef cuts?
I sometimes get meat that tastes really strongly of iron and blood, usually when the meat is visibly bloodier, but not always. To me it's more of an effect or an assault on the senses than a mere taste and I don't like it, although to each their own... | If your beef has honest-to-goodness blood in it, complain to your butcher.
More likely, what you're seeing/tasting is myoglobin, which does have a bit of a metallic taste when it's not cooked. You can get rid of this in two main ways: osmosis and heat. So here's how to do that.
Dry brine it. Put the beef on a drying r... |
How to draw peanut flavor into rest of dish?
I've tried on many occasions to cook with peanuts into curries just by roasting them slightly and allowing them to simmer with the rest of the dish, and no matter how long I wait, the peanuts themselves always taste flat and the rest of the flavor just disappears.
Is there ... | If you want the full peanut flavour, use peanut butter; crunchy or smooth.
If you still want the texture effect of whole nuts, add them at the end.
It's a bit like using coconut oil to lift up the taste of coconut that you just can't get in any other way. |
Candy making in Dutch Oven when there is only one of you
I’m trying to make fudge and other hard candies such as peanut brittle in my Lodge Dutch Oven. The problem that I’m having is that I cannot hold the pot and scrape out the inside by myself. Definitely a two-person job. I can’t always depend on my roommate to ... | One option is to put the dutch oven on top of something next to your cooling pan then tip it on it's side, still on top, and scrape it from there. You could probably use an upside down pot or tray, depending on the size of what you have. This way you won't be holding the weight of the dutch oven so much as just keepi... |
Is a corroded copper teapot safe?
I bought what I thought was a rusted teapot recently, treated it with an environmentally friendly rust remover, cleaned it thoroughly, and only then realized the bottom says "chrome on copper". The inside surface is pretty rough copper (not patina), so I'm just wondering whether that'... | It is currently a matter of opinion, not science, whether or not cooking hot foods in an unlined copper vessel leads to unheathy amounts of copper in the diet. Many health authorities caution against the use of pure copper even for cold drinks. However, it is demonstrably true that many, many people use pure copper v... |
What should I do if I forgot to dry fries before baking?
What should I do if I forgot to dry off my fries before putting them in to bake?
And now they're seasoned and oiled up. | Bake them anyway and accept that they might not be quite as good as they would otherwise be. A little extra moisture won't be fatal, and there's nothing you can easily do now. You could try patting them with a paper towel but it's likely to remove the seasoning more than it removes water. |
How to lower the melting point of a specific chocolate?
I want to use a specific brand of chocolate to make chocolatines/pain au chocolat. This chocolate is a stone ground dark chocolate that has been tempered. I attempted to use them to make chocolatines once but after baking I realized that the chocolate hadn't melt... | I don't think you can lower the melting point without melting the chocolate first.
Butter is very soft at room temperature and adds it's own typical butter flavor. A better alternative is hard coconut fat.
I always use this trick when I cover a cake with a simple chocolate glaze. If you simply melt the chocolate and sl... |
Adding fresh fruit to a non fruited banana bread
I have a banana bread recipe that I love. I want to add other fresh fruit and nuts or chocolate to it. Do I need to adjust the other ingredients to take into account these additions? | If you add chocolate and nuts, no. They can be added without any adjustments, as they don't tend to affect the rest of the cake at all. Fresh fruit is a bit trickier, since it tends to release a great deal of liquid when cooked which can make the result soggy. In general, if you add fresh fruit to a cake you want to to... |
What are the slimy bubbles in soaked kombu?
I have made dashi a couple of times now, starting soaking kombu in water. And always I found these little bubbles on the leaves, containing white slime:
I have never worried about them much and simply cut them away when eating the kombu later, but what are those bubbles? ... | According to the "Handbook of Kelp Farming", Sporangia are usually close to the centre of the blade, so it is highly unlikely to be that.
As seen here: https://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland/view/observation/807675/rain-blister-39disease39
This appears to be what is called "Blister Disease", thought it ... |
Can I use cream of tartar instead of wine to avoid alcohol in a meat braise or risotto?
I admit it, if I open a bottle of wine to cook with, I am very happy to drink the rest and I need to not do that, but still make my Kümmelfleisch and risotto.
Wine does affect proteins - pork, beef, egg, differently than does lemon... | There's a few misconceptions there. Tartaric acid, malic acid, acetic acid, and citric acid are all "heat stable" in the sense that they won't boil or decompose at the temperature of boiling water. They'll evaporate over time, just like the water will, but if you take a bunch of lemon juice and boil it down, you'll eve... |
Cooking vs Soaking Lentils for Falafel
So most traditional falafel recipes call for "soaked chickpeas", and particularly warn against using the canned version. I've been experimenting with making falafel out of lentils (mostly because they are more likely to be in my house), but have mostly struggled.
One key differen... | If you want to make "falafel" out of lentils, then you should look to folks who actually make deep-fried lentil balls regularly, and that's Indians. Dal Vada, balls of lentils that are deep fried in vegetable oil, are always made with lentils of some kind that have been soaked by not cooked. Cooked lentils, like cook... |
Food safety and botulism indicators for pressure canned goods
Several months ago I canned some ham and pea soup, following this recipe verbatim. All went well and the jars have been sitting in my dark pantry ever since.
This was my very first time (ever) using a pressure canner, and so I have no idea what to expect. I... | The layer on the top is either separated fat from the ham and bouillon cubes, or a bacterial and/or fungal growth (aka a "pellicle"). If it feels greasy and/or brittle and becomes transparent when heated, it was just fat. If it feels rubbery and maintains its coherence when heated, it was a pellicle. A pellicle is not ... |
I forgot to add butter to my king cake dough
I forgot to add butter to my dough when making king cake, I have kneaded it and left it to rise, will it ruin the dough to mix the butter in and then knead and let it rise again? | Unfortunately, if you attempt to combine the butter into the already risen dough, the dough's structure would most likely get ruined.
I wouldn't stress too much over the forgotten butter in the dough though, as the filling will consist of butter as well. Also, you may be able to salvage some flakyness by gently folding... |
help understanding this recipe gluten free and vegan
The recipe is:
75g nut flour
55g rice flour
1g xantham gum
100g water
120g coconut sugar
30g coconut oil
20g cacao
1g salt
6g cake yeast
10g vinegar
125g sweet potato
I don't understand how this recipe works (and it works because I baked it) without potato starch... | You have several oily ingredients like coconut oil and nut flour. Oil is one of the 2 ingredients that make a cake moist and it helps retain the moisture. The other is simply water.
In addition to plain water there is xantham gum in the recipe. Xantham gum binds a lot of water and retains it, keeping the cake from dryi... |
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