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cxpq5l
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Whereas chicken nuggets are a mainstay of many fast food locations, why have I never even heard of "beef nuggets" made anywhere? Why haven't we heard of beef nuggets? Why is there no such thing being made in any restaurant? For you experimental types out there - would you care to make beef into nugget-sized pieces and place them in a deep-fryer, in order to fry them the same way as chicken nuggets? Then taste them, and report back on how they are. I'd like a rational explanation for why there've never been beef nuggets. Please, and thanks.
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mmmm like tiny little chicken-fried steak bites!
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iasc9l
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Is an air fryer really worth buying? How is it different from an oven? I have a really nice oven, that’s why I’m hesitant to buy an air fryer. How is an oven different from an air fryer?
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For me, it's quicker to heat up, quicker to cook and easier to clean. I use my air fryer every day. Use my oven primarily to bake bread.
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b9sta2
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Am I insane for putting vinegar in my lemonade? I eat out and try restaurants with my friends on a pretty regular basis, and a lot of places we've been serve very good food but lackluster drinks. One time, I got a lemonade with my meal. It was EXCEEDINGLY sweet and not very "lemony" or acidic at all, so I decided to MacGyver a solution on the spot. I diluted the lemonade with water to reduce the sweetness, then added a few teaspoons of malt vinegar and a pinch of salt to bring back some of the citrus acidity that I had diluted and balance the sugar. My friends looked at me like an insane person but I tried it and it was actually really good. I figured it was just the novelty of it that I was enjoying, so I made it again at home and I am officially hooked. Every time we go out now, I order a lemonade and do the same thing. My friends think I'm insane for liking it. Am I? Is there a culinary explanation this?
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Feel like you would enjoy shrubs then! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrub\_(drink)) https://food52.com/blog/13831-how-to-make-shrubs-aka-drinking-vinegars-without-a-recipe Kombucha also has this same vibe. You don't sound insane to me.
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ptpsq6
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Can you recommend technical books that list techniques rather than recipes? Back when I was in high school, I learned the discipline of mathematics and the art of going from an individual case to a general extrapolation or formula. I kind of need that for cooking too, now. Most of the books I am presented with are basically just a list of recipes. As I like better to experiment in my kitchen than to follow recipes, I'm seeking a book that explains why recipes work the way they do. I'm always happy to diverge from recipes I read, main reason being I couldn't gather exactly the ingredients proposed by said recipe (in recipe books they are kind of fancy, for some reason). It would be a book that explains simple cooking actions, in example: * why should I practice one cutting technique over another one * why can I put a spice to heat and not another one * what are the optimal time of heating for each vegetable * how to make beans really soft like they do in canned food I think such things are helpful and will allow me to not fall into easy traps. In example lately I've used a lot of red palm oil to try cooking a pilaf rice, and the greasiness of it all was not very delicious. Probably this is the kind of book that's used when learning to become a chef, right? If the book can be found on google books it's even better but if not I'll try to get a physical copy of it. Thanks,
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Food science- Harold McGee's On Food & Cooking. Culinary textbook- CIA's The Professional Chef. Culinary encyclopaedia- Larousse Gastronomique. Culinary thesaurus- The Flavour Bible. Anatomy of flavour- The Flavour Equation. Science of dining- Gastrophysics by Charles Spence. Advanced technique- Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold.
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mttqxs
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Is there a single thing that all fine dining restaurants do to achieve the 'flavor explosion' effect? I've grown up around chefs, lived with chefs, and have had dinner at probably 100ish restaurants that I would consider "fine dining" across the country. Every restaurant that I've ever been to where it's obvious all of the cooks in the kitchen attended culinary school has what I would describe as a 'flavor explosion' effect in the food there. It's like your tongue can't choose what flavor to focus on since there are so many, and there is somewhat of a euphoric aspect contained within the experience. Is there any one single thing that each of these establishments do to achieve the affect? Is it purely fresh ingredients? Spice profiles? Precise cooking temperatures and measurements? Or just all of the above? What really sets 'fine dining' restaurants apart from your average delicious local restaurant?
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It's complexity. If you have eaten at so many places you must be quite familiar with the fact that non-fine dining (I really do hate the term "fine dining" though) can be incredible. However, the differences between fine dining and non-fine dining, in my opinion, is that ordinary restaurants tend to focus on one or just a few flavor aspects while high-end cooking layers a lot of different contrasting and/or supplementing flavors on top of each other, leading to an unrecognizable neural input making the diner interpreting it as something novel. Therein lies the divide between the two - i.e. while I can appreciated an amazingly perfect and well-crafted pizza for example, I know what flavor and textural aspects of the dish to expect. So while it may be the most perfect pizza in the world, it is the small differences that makes it stand out, while "fine dining" may reinterpret the flavor profile in its entirety due to the many other layers of the dish, and thereby surprise me in an entirely different way. That and an ungodly amount of fat.
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cna4pn
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How should you acknowledge servers at fancy restaurants? When eating out at fancy restaurants (think 120-400 euro(/USD) per person for an evening of food and wine, so from kinda-fancy to really fancy), how much are you supposed to acknowledge serving staff, and how? When I'm eating at a cheaper place where the only service you get is the food then dropping your conversation and saying "thank you" seems reasonable. But the fancier you eat the more often you'll be serviced, and I start feeling silly when I stop talking, wait for waitstaff to serve me, say thanks and then continue my conversation every single time a server comes to fill up a wine glass/water glas or serves food/condiment/whatever. Especially if there's multiple waitstaff and other people at the table also wait... I've been to dinners where I've spent half the time silent (waiting for servers to "be done") and I'm thinking that I have to be doing something wrong. Should I completely ignore the waitstaff and continue on with my conversation? Should I acknowledge by looking in their direction? Should I stay silent for a short second but not say thanks every single time? Obviously this will vary from culture to culture: I'm mostly interested in how it works in Europe (Germany, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Spain, England, eastern european countries...) as that's where I usually eat out, but the rest of the world is also interesting.
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Generally if it's just something like coming by to refill a glass, I'll more or less ignore the server until they're finishing up and then make quick eye contact and say thanks. Basically: "So Roberta was telling me about her colonoscopy and" *waiter appears to refill water* "it turns out the doctor is gonna write a piece for a medical journal" *waiter finishes* "—thanks—about how freakishly vast her rectum is." Of course, out of respect for the waitstaff I always try to have a conversation worth eavesdropping on.
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wva5un
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Why do we cook rice on low heat and covered while we cook a similar volume of pasta on high heat uncovered? Aren't they both absorbing the water over roughly the same amount of time? Just wondering how different rice would be if cooked uncovered on high or vice versa for pasta, and why each is cooked the way they are.
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Like others have said, you can definitely cook rice like pasta. My wife is Persian, she cooks rice like pasta until the side of the pot is hot to the touch, drains it and then steams it on top of flat bread with butter for crispy tagdikh. Which might be the tastiest thing in the world. Persian rice is the best rice. EDIT: since a few people have asked for a recipe, I found this link which is pretty much how my wife makes it. Try the baghali polo, that’s my absolute favorite because it has dill and fava beans. https://persianmama.com/persian-steamed-rice-with-tahdig/
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yqz3pt
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Bizarre, inedible, empty mussels and Google isn't helping. What's going on?? I bought some frozen black mussels from an Asian market. They were all closed when I got them, and I cooked them by steaming in white wine for about five minutes. After cooking, they only seemed to open halfway so I had to pry them the rest of the way open. But the weirdest thing is these shells were totally lacking the "body" of the mussel! They only seemed to contain the outer rim and some little edge bits. All of them are like this. I've linked pictures. Instead of the body of the mussel there's only a thin outer membrane. If I tear the membrane there's nothing behind it. They smell like mussels, but if I try and eat the bits that are there, they taste off. The texture is bad and the taste is not rotten, but sort of diluted and stale. It's inedible. So what happened? I can't find any info googling. Were they harvested at the wrong time? Were they diseased? How do I avoid getting mussels like this again?
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Looks to me like the mussels were starved before freezing. That's a mussel, it's just a real skinny one. They don't have a lot of anatomy. Mishandling by whoever raised/harvested them I would guess.
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fndxxl
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Do steakhouses reserve lower grade cuts for customers who order well-done steaks? As we all know, the quality of the beef is pretty much unidentifiable once it goes past medium-well. So it would make sense for steakhouses to not waste quality cuts on those orders. Is that commonly practiced or just a myth?
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Even overdone good beef tastes better than overdone crap beef. I think it might be even more obvious because good marbling is more important in an overdone cut. A shitty poorly marbled cut gets super tough and dry when it's overdone. Even though it's a tragedy, an overdone good cut is still worth eating. It's just not nearly as good as a proper cook.
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hfcq01
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Do I really ever have to peel carrots? Any benefit I’d be missing? Besides appearance I guess
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The skin on on older carrots can be tough and a little bitter. But to be honest for every day cooking it's really a manner of preference. As in if people are coming over or particularly old carrots at work. Unless quick cooking or a silky smooth outcome is preferred you really dont have to peel carrots. You dont have to peel most veg. Even squash skin re really yummy crisped up as a chip with oil.
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xf11bg
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How do I make roasted tomato sauce taste more "roasted"? I've been following this recipe except that I save the scooped out part and strain the seeds out and add the jelly/juice to the pot when making the sauce (I heard the jelly/juice holds a lot of the flavor). I also don't add garlic or shallots because it imparted a bitter flavor, and I add some tomato paste (a few tablespoons for ~20 lbs of tomatoes). I also add fresh basil to the sauce when it's near completion. Although the tomatoes taste and smell roasted right before making the sauce, the end product tastes fresh, bright, sweet, and almost fruity. Not bad, but it doesn't have that roasted taste that I'm after. What do I do differently, or is there a different recipe that would make the sauce taste more roasted?
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Don't remove the skins. Just blend the whole thing with an immersion blender. You can also just do this in a Dutch oven and roast the whole batch of sauce from beginning to end. No stove top needed. Also definitely put the garlic and shallots back in there. Unless you're forgetting to peel them and remove the root it's very very unlikely that they are contributing to any bitterness you are tasting. And they are a really essential flavor for a good sauce imo.
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np37lp
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What's this brown gelatinous part under my duck fat? I sous vide some duck legs for about 30 hours over the weekend (just duck legs, salt, and a bit of pepper) and poured out the duck fat afterward to save. Once it was chilled, there was this brown gelatinous layer underneath the fat. What is this, and is it worth saving? My assumption is that it's basically just collagen from the bones like you would get when you reduce a stock, but I'm not sure. Is this concentrated stock or something else?
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That would the collagen infused moisture that released during cooking. That shit is GOLD. If you're into making your own charcuterie, you can reduce it to make an aspic which can be used as a binder for things like headcheese. You can also add it to stocks and sauces for an extra umami bomb. I like to reduce it to a glace, and add it to ramen. It gives the broth this sort of sticky, velvety mouth feel that make it even more intense and addictive as it spreads across your tongue and forces you to smack your lips in pleasure. And it makes an excellent addition to, say, a white wine pan sauce for a roast chicken. The possibilities are endless!
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u7dt6s
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do you salt your scrambled eggs before cooking? I see lots of conflicting info on this, just curious what others do in a professional kitchen.
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Yes https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-scrambled-eggs > Perhaps the biggest thing some people get wrong about scrambled eggs is when to add the salt. There's a common belief that salting the eggs in advance of cooking makes them watery or tough—some folks even refuse to add salt until after the eggs have cooked. It's easy to see why: Add salt to beaten eggs and let them sit for even a few minutes, and the eggs turn a darker shade of orange, become slightly translucent, and appear to be thinner than before. It appears that the salt is doing undesirable things to the eggs. > > But after testing this, Kenji and I both found that pre-salting is beneficial, helping the eggs retain their moisture and tenderness. The reason is that salt acts as a buffer between the proteins in the eggs, preventing them from linking as tightly as they otherwise would during cooking. The tighter they link, the more water they push out and the tougher they become, so this buffering property of salt helps to mitigate some of that.
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kij2ww
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HELP! I bought a 23 pound fresh ham on short notice for Christmas Eve!! I am now reading recipes online stating that I need to brine it for a total of 1 day per 2 pounds of ham. Noticing I have only 2 days left and 23 pounds of ham, how do I prepare it? Is it worthwhile to brine for that short time?
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wapryu
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r/AskCulinary, please Explain like I'm five years old the difference between regular butter and "clarified" butter. is it just a more clearly explained version of butter? at a former job, one of my prep cooks used to say he spent the first hour in the morning making the clarified butter our line cooks used throughout the day, but i never got an explanation on why/how it was actually done, or even what it was. can anyone here enlighten me, please? thankyou.
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It’s butter that’s had the water and milk proteins removed. You know how butter will separate when you heat it and have some solid bits that float to the top? Those are the milk solids/proteins. Skim that off, and what’s left is the clarified butter. It’s basically pure fat at that point.
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qt3nxl
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What's the best way to disassemble raspberries? Like this, but down to the individual seeds: https://i.imgur.com/Z0c6ZKE.jpg I've been pulling them apart with tweezers and it's really time consuming. I have about 10 pounds to get through this weekend.
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Pectinex, perhaps? It's an enzyme that breaks down cellulose. With citrus, you let it sit in a dilute solution of pectinex overnight to break down the connective tissues. You end up with perfect citrus supremes. If you let the raspberries sit for a shorter time, I wonder if it would separate the seeds the same way...? Here's an example: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/perfect-citrus-supreme
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l04uz0
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Rabbit hole engaged... 11,082 cookbooks in digital format starting in the 16th Century. Archives cookbooks
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Brewster Kahle is the man responsible for this archive. Brewster’s blog He’s the man behind The Internet Archive, The Wayback Machine, and much more. He’s alive & well. Take a look at what he has done. If you can support the archive please do.
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zfhh0f
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How to fix salty curry after it's already been mixed with rice? I accidentally used two tablespoons of salt instead of two teaspoons for pork vindaloo. Unfortunately, I already divided up the curry and mixed it with the rice for meal prep purposes, so I don't think I can dilute it with water at this point without making the rice soggy. Is there anything I can add at this point to fix this?
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You have several options here: 1) Add any kind of citric acid. Easiest is to liberally squeeze lime/lemon juice and mix it in, or add beaten yogurt/raita. A vindaloo is still gonna be good even if it's more tangy/sour. 2) Of course you can also add more rice to reduce the saltiness. 3) Adding extra potatoes in curry is also a good way to soak up/distribute excess salt more evenly. I'd dice some potatoes, shallow fry while covering it so it's cooked through, add in the pork vindaloo/rice, and mix thoroughly. A combination of all 3 methods above will produce the most effective result. All the best, OP!
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vy7cqy
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Made sichuan chili oil. It is scorch the earth hot. Can I cool it down by simply adding more oil?! Spent sooo long making it
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Yes, that'll help. Keep in mind some time in the fridge will soften it as well.
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74mjni
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What kind of frosting do grocery store bakeries use on their cakes? You know the kind, the sheet cake for $10 with the white frosting. What kind of frosting is this? Also is it sold in stores? I prefer this type of frosting over the regular vanilla kind they sell in tubs, but can't seem to find it.
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I work for one of the leading manufacturers of "grocery store" frosting. Typically in an "in-store-bakery" like at your local grocery store (Publix, Hyvee, Wegman's, Safeway, Walmart), you can get a cake decorated with, typically, your choice of one of two types of "frosting": buttercreme or whipped topping (often called whipped icing by the bakers/decorators in store). (Note: these are buttercreme's because they tyipcally do not contain cream or butter). Buttercreme (not buttecream) is made mostly of shortening, typically palm oil these days, and sugar. There are other possible ingredients like flavoring (e.g. vanilla), emulsifier, water, milk/milk powder, whipping agents, color, preservative, *maybe* butter, etc...but for the most part it's sugar and shortening. It's highly stable: it is safe to sit out for days at room temperature and it also will hold it's shape sitting out. Whipped Topping/Whipped Icing is a low-cost convenient alternative to whipped dairy cream. It's typically a whipped/aerated emulsion of water and soy oil. It can also contain other fats/oils and of course sugar. Whipped Topping is best when kept refrigerated. You can decorate with it, but as the product warms it will lose it's aeration/shape. Whipped Topping is most famously recognizable under the brand "Cool Whip". Major difference to the consumer between the two largely come down to melt and mouthfeel. In this context, melt would be literally how it feels/how long it takes to melt in your mouth. Whipped Topping tends to melt and fade away quickly, where as buttercreme melts slower and has more of a "bite" to it. Additionally, whipped topping is much more aerated (i.e. fluffy) than buttercreme. There are some stores that do have extremely aerated/fluffy buttercreme, so much so that it blurs the line. Publix is a great example. What you buy in the tub is also, commercially speaking, a buttercreme. However, typically the reason it's so different from what you get in the bakery is because the stuff in the tub is so dense. It *does not* have much, if any, air in the product. It's not fluffy. It's also usually, honestly, cheap, so it uses cheap ingredients and it's made to be highly long-lasting/shelf stable. It's made to be abused and to be really forgiving. The stuff your bakery uses requires a little more care. Compare that against some premium grocery stores who really strive to have a signature premium cake frosting. This includes good natural vanilla, butter, and varying degrees of fluffiness. Anyway, many many grocery stores will sell their icing by itself if you ask. The'll just pull some out of the pail and put it in a plastic container and sell it by the lb. I could list stores that do this, but honestly the list of stores that *don't* do this would be much shorter. Just go ask your favorite store if you can buy some. Interestingly enough, much like many industries, there's only a handful of players (manufactures) in the grocery store frosting business. When it comes to Whipped Topping, Rich's is *the* company. They invented Whipped Topping like ~60 years ago, and they control like 90% of the market. They produce products such as Bettercreme, Perfect Finish, and On Top. In buttercremes, there are 3 main players: Dawn, Lawrence Foods, and Brill and I think the market share is broken out pretty evenly. If you've eaten cake from a grocery store, you've eaten something from one of these. Now, some grocery stores are actually huge companies in their own right, and manufacture a lot of their own stuff. Kroger and Publix both make their own buttercremes in manfacutering plants and ship to store. In this case, they're similar to those three large manufacturers, they just insource production. However, some grocery stores, small ones, still make their own from scratch...well, not even small ones. Whole Foods makes their own butter*cream* in store (I think it's in store), and they of course make it from butter, sugar, and real vanilla (and whatever else natural). Their stuff is rich and delicious, but pricey.
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f1bnh8
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What are some often-forgotten kitchen rules to teach to children who are learning to cook? I was baking cookies with my 11 year old niece, and she went to take them out. Then she started screaming because she had burned her hand because she used a wet rag to pull the baking sheet out. I of course know never to do that, but I'm not sure how/why I know, and I certainly would never think to say that proactively. What other often-forgotten kitchen rules should we be communicating?
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Clean as you go.
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jyw0ea
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I want to order Japanese A5 Wagyu steaks for my birthday but I have some questions First of all, I was wondering how much I should order for my wife and I. I understand it’s very rich and I won’t be eating a 16oz steak myself, but I have no idea how much 2 adults would typically eat. I’m not concerned with the price, I just want to have the perfect birthday supper. The other concern I have is the preparation. I’m hoping to cook it 2 or 3 different ways, so I’m looking for recommendations on how to prepare the steaks. I’m considering doing some sous vide and I definitely want to thinly slice some and hit it with the searzall over sushi rice. What other techniques do you all recommend? Also, what are some sides that would compliment the steaks? Thanks in advance.
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There’s a video that answers almost everything you’re asking https://youtu.be/YW249cc4NhQ
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lvzicu
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Is the risk of surface contamination from raw meat actually a significant risk, or a non-issue? My housemate washes their meat and doesn't seem to understand why it's important to wash their hands properly so as not to contaminate fridge/drawer handles and towels in the kitchen. Are my worries about this overly anxious, or is the risk a non-issue if I just replace tea towels, wash my own hands, and keep the awareness in mind?
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Washing meat shows a complete lack of understanding about food safety, bacterial growth, pathology, and fluid dynamics.
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f4dksh
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I'm interested in cooking most things from scratch this year. What's not worth cooking from scratch? Hello! I know there are many cases where the time/money investment just isn't worth it. For instance I've read, depending on what you're doing with it, pasta isn't always best homemade. Ravioli is awesome homemade, but that doesn't mean homemade spaghetti noodles are "worth it", etc. To add a little more context, I'm an intermediate cook who is excited to delve deeper into the hobby. I like learning and would like to build a solid knowledge base, and part of that is knowing what and when it's worth the effort. I'm doing a TON of meal prep this year (cooking for more than myself), and I want to make the best meals possible, along with when I'm cooking day of. I should add that generally\* speaking, I'm especially interested in making foods that are both better tasting than store bought and simultaneously financially advantageous. It feels awesome to make badass bread that is also cheaper than store bought. There's just something satisfying about it. Feel free to share your advice regardless of whether it's just your personal opinion.
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Water: combusting hydrogen in an oxygen rich environment is too risky for the home kitchen. Just use the tap.
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poxkxe
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Whats the name of that salmon which is not raw but also not cooked i think, its pink and tastes salty its pink and salty
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If it tastes smokey, it's Lox/Smoked Salmon. If it doesn't taste smokey, it's Gravlax. Gravlax is step 1 of making Lox. EDIT: Looked into it after some comments: According to wikipedia, both Gravlax and Lox are *always* cured and *can be smoked or not* afterwards. My family & that circle have never used Lox to refer to unsmoked salmon, but that may be a regional thing or a generational thing (or both). Either way, a bit of fun etymology: Lox and Lax both come from the Germanic Laks, which means Salmon. Gravlax comes from Graved Lax which literally means 'Buried Salmon' or 'Grave Salmon'. Salmon was often buried during the curing process.
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m2wlmf
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Does pure vanilla bean taste good? Yes, this question was prompted by today’s episode of Dessert Person, but I’ve had this question for a while. If you take a vanilla bean, split it down the middle, and scrape all the inside out, can you just plop that into you mouth and have a nice vanilla explosion in your mouth? Or is it not really edible á la vanilla extract?
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I’ve done this myself with a small amount of vanilla bean last time I was using it. It tastes like bland vanilla. Less bitter than vanilla extract, but there’s none of the sweetness or saltiness that usually rounds out the vanilla flavor in desserts. So I guess I’d lean toward it not really being edible a la vanilla extract.
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zpbefi
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We just got about 10 pounds of sliced pepperoni... Please suggest us some things to do with all this pepperoni. I don't want to grow tired of eating it bc I love it but crispy pepperoni sandwiches will only go so far before we're tired of them and it's only been 2 days. Please help. I'm going to freeze a lot but also want to try some new things while we have a surplus.
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Dice in a food processor and use almost like crumbly bacon in several dishes. For example pepporoni carbonara or steak with a pepperoni compound butter
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rs7k9k
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Why did my gingerbread cookies develop a stronger flavor overnight? I made gingerbread cookies yesterday using this recipe. After they cooled completely, my wife and I tried one and we both thought that the flavor was pretty weak. Oh well, I just put it down to a bad recipe. Today, however, we each had another and agreed the flavor was much stronger, and now I'm really happy with how they turned out. Would a cookie's flavor actually improve over time? I know "aging" cookie dough before baking them can improve the flavor, and there are other foods that taste better the next day after sitting in the fridge, but I've never had an already baked cookie get a stronger flavor by just sitting covered on the counter overnight. Is there a scientific reason behind this, or is the improved flavor just in our heads?
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This happens to me when I cook things that are strongly aromatic, or low and slow. If I’m over the stove or near the oven I eventually get desensitized to the aroma or flavor and can’t properly sense it by the end. It tastes like a muted version of itself. A bit later I am able to again perceive it the same way as everyone else. Not sure if this is what happened to you, but if I experienced this then that would probably be the reason. P.S. I made this same dough yesterday! It’s chilling in the fridge right now :)
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nmgi6o
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Can you make mayo with chilli oil?? I just made chilli oil and i wonder if you can make mayo but insted of the oil usually used to make the emulsion in mayo, use chilli oil so you get a very flavorful and spicy mayo. I dont have a lot of exprience with mayo making so I dont know if such thing can work.
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Yes it will make a mayo. Basically any liquid oil will make a mayo at least structurally even if the flavors are a bit wonky, and it is great to play with infused oils to give you different flavors. On the other hand it will likely be way too hot to be pleasant (at least for my tastes and the chili oils I tend to use). If you already have mayo you can just stir in chili oil to taste or if making from scratch balance the chili oil with a more neutral oil to get the right spice level.
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ia7jdo
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What would be the cheapest cut I could produce a philly cheese steak from? Times are tight and I want to make a pile of philly cheese steaks. What type of cut could I successfully substitute for ribeye? How bad would eye of round be if I sliced it thinly against the grain?
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You may want to try visiting an Asian grocery. They often sell a variety of thin cuts for hot pot. This normally includes cuts much less expensive than ribeye. The sous vide suggestions here are good, this would save a lot of that time and effort (including the thin slicing).
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xz25fk
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Can I scale down a blondie recipe to make 1-2 servings? I want to make blondies, but I don't want to have a full pan of them. But I'm worried that if I simply scale down a recipe, the increased relative surface area will affect how it bakes. Is there some way to successfully do this?
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Dessert for Two's Blondies Dessert for Two is full of tested, scaled-down versions of just about every popular dessert. I would start here if I were you.
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qb8cye
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When making chicken stock, do you use raw or roasted whole chicken? One of the advantages of roasting is that the fat can be drained quite easily, and gives a darker appearance and roasted flavour to the soup, however I've also heard that stock made from raw chicken is more flavourful. What do you think?
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What is flavourful is a matter of opinion. But in formal French culinary tradition, there is a clear divide between brown vs. white stock and its all about use case. Brown stocks get their colour and their name from the principal elements: roasted bones. When roasted, or “browned,” in the oven, these bones develop a medium to dark brown colour and enriched flavour. The colour change and complex flavour are caused by Maillard Reactions, a complex series of chemical processes that is responsible for the characteristic brown colour and “roasted” flavour of many foods in the presence of high heat, including roasted meats, bread crusts, chocolate, coffee beans, and even certain beers. Maillard Reactions greatly contribute to the flavour of brown stocks and sauces. A brown stock may be made with veal bones, beef bones, chicken bones, or game bones. The addition of tomato paste and mushroom scrap can also contribute to the darker, deeper flavours of brown stocks. Brown stocks are then used to make things like bordelaise, espagnole, demi-glace, sauce chasseur, poivrade, etc. where you want deep colour and roasted flavour. White stocks are often used to make lighter coloured sauces. Traditionally, the bones used to make white stocks have been blanched to degorge them; that is, placed in cold water, brought quickly to a boil, and immediately drained to remove surface impurities and coagulated proteins on the surface of the bones. Like brown stocks, white stocks can be made using veal bones (fond de veau blanc or fond blanc), chicken bones (fond de volaille), or beef bones. However, chicken bones are usually not blanched due to the short cooking time of chicken stock, as well as to preserve flavour and gelatine content. White stocks can also be made using fish bones (fumet de poisson.) White stocks are used for things like veloutés which are lighter and more delicate than their brown stock/sauce cousins, and sauces like suprême, aurore & allemande. When making fish fumet, white mirepoix of onions and leeks only is typically used because carrots would colour the stock. I've even seen formal texts refer to milk as a white stock due to its use in béchamel. Then there's marmite, a beef stock made with blackened onions. It is categorised as a kind of white stock because the bones are not roasted prior to cooking. Marmite often used as the basis of classic consommé.
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xr3ki5
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How do caterers and restaurants boil large batches of pasta for a lot of customers? Simple question. Asking this because I frequently cook for my family, easily 10-15 people. I very often go for pasta because it's a crowd pleaser and it's relatively easy to cook for a large crowd (marinara sauce, pesto, etc. are easy to make in large quantities while still maintaining flavor). However, boiling a like 6 pounds of pasta has proven to be annoying for me. I literally have like 3 or 4 pots going only to cook pasta. How do restaurants/caterers do this when they have to serve dozens of people at the same time? I can't imagine they're constantly having 10 pots going just to cook pasta, do they? Do they have specialized equipment? Just trying to learn something from them, it could make my life easier. And I'm just curious, lol.
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Get a big pot
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t8a3dy
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Used to make bone broth solely with beef bones, would have a THICK layer of fat to remove once refrigerated. Started adding chicken feet. Broth has went from brown to yellow and the layer of fat that hardens is just the surface of the broth as opposed to that thick disk. What’s happening here? So I’m really confused and I’m hoping someone can explain this to me if they know what’s going on. I used to make my bone broth solely with beef bones and after refrigerating I would remove at least a 1-2 inch hardened layer of fat. Then I started adding chicken feet.The color of the broth has turned from brown to yellow and now the layer of fat I’m removing once hardened in the fridge is extremely small. Maybe just a couple centimeters thick. It just covers the top of the gelatinized broth that I can literally scrape off with a rubber spatula but I’m no longer getting that large amount of fat. Why is this?
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I have a feeling that you are getting a tonkotsu broth effect! The combination of boiling gelatin and fat makes a creamy fat emulsion. All the fat in the marrow will have emulsified into the extra gelatin offered by the chicken feet. If you want to know more, I suggest looking at the broth section in The Book of Ramen.
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xs0ap4
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Why do my creamy scrambled eggs stick so much to my pans I started making scrambled eggs similar to how Gordon Ramsey does by cracking them into a pan with a bit of butter, adding heat, stirring, taking it off the heat to stir, place back and stir and repeat until desired consistency. I like creamy scrambled eggs but there always seems to be a lot of (though not difficult) cleaning to do. I've used a non-stick pan and a stainless steel one. Any suggestions?
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Most responses here are completely failing to take into account the style that you're cooking. Your question isn't about other techniques. It's about how to make Gordon's creamy scrambled eggs without them sticking. Cold pan, cold solid butter and eggs to start. High heat. Stir until they start to cook then remove from heat. Keep stirring throughout and place back on the heat after a few seconds and repeat. You can try a nice, new non-stick pan but, in my experience, there's always some cleanup with this style. It's great for a relaxed Saturday morning with a significant other and not great for a quick Tuesday morning breakfast. If you want something still creamy with less cleanup, try a French omelette: https://youtu.be/_Wb5Crj917I
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bxf496
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Does cream sauce pasta exist in Italy? I searched online for pastas that has cream sauces but couldn't seem to find any that was authentic. From what I know authentic carbonara and fettuccine alfredo have no cream. The recipes with cream seem to be americanised. I heard that the northern parts of Italy have dairy based sauces but I'm not sure if they include cream. Thanks in advance for the replies.
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In Italy there are plenty of recipes that use cream in pastas. The term you wanna search is "panna", consistency of which is quite particular (thick and rich and fatty). Pasta "panna e porcini" (cream and porcini), "panna e salmone" (cream and smoked salmon) or "panna, salsiccia e funghi" (cream, pork sausage and mushrooms) are very popular. I agree the americans tend to put cream in all the pastas, but as you said, in the northern part of Italy is not uncommon at all.
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zbj17n
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Test of Instant Pot no-soak dry pinto beans method resulted in proper texture, but bitter aftertaste with slight tingling/numbness on tongue. I have seen multiple YouTube videos claiming that you can cook beans in the Instant Pot, without soaking them first. I followed these steps: * 1 lb dry beans, picked through for bad beans and then washed. * 5 cups cold water. No salt or seasonings. * 50 minutes on high pressure followed by 30 minutes cool-down before releasing pressure. The texture of the beans was fine, but they had a bitter aftertaste. I also noticed a slight numbness and tingling sensation on my tongue. Obviously, I discarded them, but I'm wondering what caused the bitterness and weird sensations? TIA BTW I'm currently brining a pound of beans (Cooks Illustrated ratios) for another Instant Pot test.
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If you have the reaction again, especially if you use your normal cooking method, there’s a chance that you may have become allergic to them. I have a now very annoying food allergy that started as “sometimes when I eat this food, my mouth feels weird.” Trust me, you do not want to keep eating foods you’re allergic to, even if it seems mild. Please be careful. :)
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sltidg
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Why do we put pot roasts in the oven? My boyfriend and I just had a confused disagreement over why the recipe for pot roast brisket said to brown it on the hob, bring up to temp with the stock, then put the lid on and put it in the oven to cook. Why does it go into the hob? Is it more inefficient use of power to put it in the oven? Our oven at the moment is gas. Thanks!
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The oven provides a more even and gentle heat
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oz0vg8
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How do restaurants serve Pork Belly to order Pork Belly takes some time to cook, I assume they would roast a whole slab at once, how do they keep it from drying out etc, do they risk wastage if it's not sold. Just curious.
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Holdomat. Food display bar. Combi ovens set to steam. As long as you keep an eye on the temp and amount of time that has passed since the pork was processed, you should be good. Last kitchen I was in would sous vide that sucker before service and crisp up the skin under a salamander to order.
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lh6uak
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Should I score chicken drumsticks (skin or meat or both?) before roasting them in the oven? I'm making tandoori drumsticks in the oven and some recipes say to score the meat, some say to score the skin, and then some say that scoring will let all the juices dry out while cooking, so I'm just terribly confused. ​ To note: I've had them marinating in a yogurt based marinade for the past 4 hours, and was planning on cooking them on a cooling rack (on top of a baking sheet) at 450º for 45mins, flipping halfway. ​ Any help would be most appreciated!
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The traditional indian method is to score the chicken to work in the marinade and decrease the cook time. But, that doesn't necessarily mean you want to do that, because there are certain factors in traditional indian prep that probably aren't the same for you. They are using really small chickens, so nice small drumsticks, and they are cooking them in a blasting hot tandoor which almost certainly is hotter than your grill/oven. So what this means is, they actually can get away with a much shorter cook time on the chicken -- meaning, while the meat will dry out more when scored, it matters a lot less because the meat is not cooking for much less time. ​ If you try to mimic the indian set up (ie, really hot charcoal grill with cover) and a good 6 hrs+ in a marinade with yogurt, lemon, salt, ghee / oil, etc - then go ahead and score the chicken. If you're using bigass american drumsticks and cooking them lower heat, like roasting, then I wouldn't score it. (But yeah, generally, to achieve the best tandoori chicken, get a small chicken or even a cornish hen, strip the skin off, score it, get it an indulgent marinate (we make it with lots of fresh crushed ginger/garlic, yogurt, salt, lemon, kashmiri red chili, and various other indian spices, and then marinate it overnight or at least all day.). And then spatch-cock it and grill it over hot coals or wood). This is what I have found to be the closest to replicating real tandoor-cooked chicken you'd get in india.
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yl68yb
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Is there anything actually wrong with eating straight from a pot after you’ve cooked in it? My mom thinks that it’s gross and ghetto to eat out of a pot after you’ve cooked in it and I fail to see why. As long as it’s not a dirty pot that was never cleaned, I don’t see the issue. If anything, I’d say it’s more practical and convenient.
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Many tools for eating can scratch the pot/pan. If you dont consume the entire thing youve contaminated the leftovers with bacteria from your face and its likely to spoil faster.
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ynvpt1
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How do I keep a baguette fresh for more than a day? Title says it all. Love a good baguette, hate the fact that I can’t scarf an entire one down before it goes stale. I’ve made more croutons than my food storage allows. Any insights on how to extend the plush life that is a fresh baguette would be greatly appreciated!
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Slice and freeze. Then toast when needed (I don’t have a toaster so I use oven broiler function)
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1eywc1
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Now for fun. What's a cool food trick you know? It can be used in prep or pretty much whatever stage of cooking. For example, wavy bacon is done by cooking it over aluminum foil that's folded over several times.
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This blew my mind the first time I saw it. Cutting cherry tomatoes in half by using 2 plates: http://youtu.be/3ZXExwCEuBk
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youyaa
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Why does my turkey pop like a water balloon/why does my skin come off in a sheet? Every year for Thanksgiving, I make a pretty successful turkey and rest it for like 30 minutes, but when I go to carve it, a freaking river of juices run out of it, to the point that I'm literally carving in a puddle. Sometimes, those juices can even exceed the well of my cutting board, and spill out onto the counter. At the same time, my turkey skin looks great, but no longer adheres to my bird. As soon as I start cutting, my skin is just kind of sitting on top of the meat. What am I doing wrong?
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You should rest a full size turkey for WAY longer than 30 minutes. Its insane how much heat a bird that size retains. I usually do a 15 or 16 pound turkey and it rests for 2 hours under foil then goes back in at 400 for 5 minutes just to crisp the skin back up
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v51s5o
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Kenji’s Roasted Potatoes with Sweet Potatoes So I followed Kenji’s recipe for regular roasted potatoes, and they were some of the best I’ve ever made-I highly recommended them, if you’ve never had them-just a few extra steps, and totally worth it. Has anybody ever tried this method with sweet potatoes? How did they turn out?
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It doesn’t work with sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are very different vegetables. The biggest disservice they’ve ever been done is calling them potatoes as they are not interchangeable!
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zlbbha
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My halloumi melted into a puddle. What what wrong and can I save any? I was cooking halloumi for the first time. I put it on a frying non stick pan in strips 1 cm thick. The pan was cold and I turned in the heat to max. I suppose that’s where I made my mistake? But the recipe wasn’t really clear. I sit down for a few minutes (it really was 2-3 minutes maybe 4 max) listening to it cook and when it started to really sizzle I got up and found a melted fondue. It was expiring (best before) today but it passes the sniff test. Can I salvage the cheese? What did I do wrong, how can I fix it next time?
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Your cheese was probably not halloumi. It's very hard to melt halloumi...
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m14ida
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Learn to taste Hi everyone, There are 2 things I really want to learn. One of them is the base knowledge to become a better chef / homecook, the other is probably more advanced but has something to do with the first one. 1. Learn to taste. When do i add salt, how much, when do i add pepper. What other spices do i use with different types of meals. I know some basics but i want to learn to do this much better. I think i often over use salt when i probably can use a combination of balsamic and other stuff. 2. We have a Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood and they make ribs in there so called "special sauce". I want to learn how i could recreate that sauce. What ingredients are in it, what spices, ... It's so damn hard :) That's what makes it good probably. I know there is a lot of oil in it based on texture, and Chinese sauces are often combined with some oyster sauce if i call correctly. Anyhow, if any of you have advice for me, that would be awesome!. YouTube and books are very good to learn a lot, but you can't taste it + i often don't have the exact same spices at my house for example. Anyhow, this subreddit has made my life better and I'm a happy person because of it. People often underestimate the important things in life! .. so thank you!
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1. You have to start by differentiation between taste and aroma. Taste is only salt, acid, umami, bitter and sweet. Aroma is thousands upon thousands of different nuances. It is what makes a strawberry "taste" like strawberry instead of an indistinguishable blob of sweetness and acidity. Taste is the backbone of flavor, and then you build upon it with aromas to make a complete flavor profile. Taste without aroma is what you get when you have a cold and "can't taste" anything. Aroma without flavor is what you get when you make something and it tastes "bland". Identifying what of these two problems you have is the absolute number 1 skill to learn if you want to be able to "taste". So in your question you ask "When do I add salt, and when pepper". Here is a main problem. Salt brings a lot in taste, but nothing in aroma, while pepper is heavily aromatic, but basically nothing in taste (apart from the spicy element). My advice is to try and distinguish the taste profile of food you enjoy and think about how to balance salt, acid, sweetness, umami and bitterness. A hint is that acid and sweetness balances each other, and salt and umami balances each other. Bitterness often lightens up a dish when low, and can be balanced by all of the others. After you have an idea on how to balance taste, you can start with adding aromas to this. 2. Try to break down the sauce. First the taste and then the aroma. What can you sense, how is it built? The reason it is tasty is probably mainly the balance of taste, and the aromatics just make it extra interesting. But if you can make a sauce with the same balance it will still be good to you, even if the aromatics aren't on point. 3. To become better you mainly have to think about the flavor of the things you eat. Why is it good? What is good about it? What drives the flavor profile of this dish?
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m0o1b1
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What exactly is the taste in Chinese sausages? It's very unique. And while I can't describe it, if you've ever had them, I'm sure you know what I mean.
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Depends. China’s a big country with more culinary diversity than most, so “Chinese sausages” is super vague. As mentioned already, in lap cheong specifically it’s a sorghum liquor called “Fenjiu” or rose wine and candied pork fat that gives it the signature flavour. Western produced variations are often pretty sad quality compared to what’s available in China, and lots of folks don’t seem to realize it absolutely needs to be cooked before eating as it is not aged long enough to be foodsafe uncooked.
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hewy8q
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I am desperate to find this amazing sauce I had in Macau. All I have is a picture. Here's the sauce I seek! I had the pleasure of tasting this spicy sauce briefly in a hole in the wall restaurant in Macau nearly a year ago, and I cannot get it out of my head. Any help would be greatly appreciated
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you can buy it online here! https://item.m.jd.com/product/68262387610.html i hope the link works. the page is in mandarin.
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grj84q
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How do I bake an egg on a pizza? I’ve recently been experimenting with making my own pizzas at home on a pizza stone and they’ve gone really well so far! Tonight I’m making pizza for myself and my girlfriend and she’s requested that I make her a pizza with an egg in the middle, she’ll want it a little runny, which is a replication of one of her faves a carbonara pizza! However I’ve not clue how bake it without killing the egg, any advice?
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When it comes to home pizzas and eggs, my go to is to take the pizza out when it is close to done (1-2 minutes left), have the egg pre-cracked in a bowl to make sure you keep the yolk intact and pour it into the center. Then make sure your broiler is on if you have been using the standard bake at high heat. Keep an eye on the egg and take it out as soon as the whites set. You should be able to tell when the white sets by giving the pizza a little jiggle. The yolk should still move while the whites are almost completely firm (keep in mind it will cook a bit once you take it out, so if the whites are completely firm in the oven, you likely wont have a super runny yolk).
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f251ga
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Question for real chefs or kitchen workers. In the movies or TV, people that don't belong regularly walk through restaurant kitchens to get to back exits, does this ever happen in real life?
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Happened once where a server brought a girl back through the kitchen to leave out the back. Her date was drunk and aggressive. They called a cab to the back entrance to get her home while the cops were on the way for "drunk and disorderly conduct"
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i1ksd3
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Family member cleaned my copper saucepan with an abrasive scrub, exposing some copper, is the pan still safe to use? the pan in question
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As long as you plan to never use it for anything acidic. No tomato sauces, no citrus, no wine, no vinegar, no soy sauce etc. Personally, I’d suggest getting it retinned and smacking the person who scratched it up with the pan. A third option is tinning it yourself. The thought of tinning my own antique pan has crossed my mind once or twice, but I haven’t had to deal with that yet. You can read up on DIY guides if this is up your alley.
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hurt3n
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Why does restaurant butter (like from a steakhouse) taste so much better than butter I get at the store? I feel like it doesn't matter what brand of butter I get, it never tastes as good as the butter a restaurant gives me with their complementary bread. What can I do?
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Along with the other suggestions that have been given here, your restaurant might be serving whipped butter at room temperature. This brings out the flavor and gives it a lighter texture.
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j9hfc2
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Is there any possible alternative to maple syrup? I live outside the US/Canada region, and while it is possible to find maple syrup, it’s *very* expensive. I’ve loved things as pancakes and french toast with maple syrup while i was in the US, and i would like to try it again.
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If you mean a product that tastes like maple syrup but is cheap, there's nothing. If you mean less expensive, but still delicious, things to put on your pancakes, you could try real fruit syrups. I particularly like blueberry and raspberry. Of course, the fake versions of these are much cheaper, but you could make your own real versions. Sugar and lemon is a great pancake topping if you want to get away from syrup. Sliced fruit and chocolate sauce is also nice.
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yx32au
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Why do recipes that use coffee call for instant coffee and can I use regular coffee instead? Is it just because of the cost? If I have regular coffee and don't want to go out and buy instant, can I just use that? And if so, does the grind size matter? I'm mostly seeing instant coffee in baking recipes, but have seen it in recipes for coffee-braised ribs too.
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Regular coffee is ground coffee beans which don't dissolve. Instant coffee is brewed coffee dehydrated into crystals- it dissolves into liquid coffee in the cooking item. It's a lot easier to add a little dry ingredient than totally retool a recipe using mostly liquid coffee.
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dutmdk
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How do most cooks handle onions? I'm no chef, but I have always been told not to cut the root off while dicing an onion in order to prevent it fron making me cry- it seems to work. Recently, I heard you are supposed to cut the root off, peel the onions, and then put them in water before taking them out and cutting them. I was wondering what the pros/cons of each are or if either of these strategies are standard practice?
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A knife that is correctly sharpened is your answer. More dull knives make you slightly crush the onion as you cut it, therefore spilling out more of those juice particles and odors that make one cry. No ‘method’ of cutting the onion will deter a cry; only a sharp knife can.
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hjjr76
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I made smash burgers and they were perfect on the first side, but didn't sear properly on the other side because they cupped. Not sure what I did wrong, should I smash again after flipping? Pretty much that's it, they just cupped and so the bottom didn't sear, when I noticed it I tried to press it down, but that didn't really work. Thanks for any advice.
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It's always been my impression that you really only attempt a hard sear on one side. You need a lot of contact time to get a great crust, and by then what should be a pretty thin burger is 90% finished. You only flip at the end and cook just long enough to finish cooking the burger through.
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wmkmg9
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Garlic in purée still raw after baking for 30 minutes—what happened? I tried a recipe for cauliflower purée to imitate mashed potatoes. Cauliflower was softened in the microwave before being mixed with raw garlic, cream, cheese, and cream cheese in a food processor. It was then baked at 375 for 30 minutes. But when I tried it, I still tasted raw garlic. It was extremely strong and overpowered the dish. Why didn’t the garlic cook?
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It didn't cook enough because despite being in the oven, it sounds like it was mixed with a bunch of ingredients (some of which are wet) which would increase cooking time. As someone else said, next time I'd do a quick sweat on your garlic and then add in.
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fa0bq5
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What can I use instead of coriander (cilantro) in Mexican recipes? Please help...I only taste soap when I eat coriander, what can I use instead? UK based.
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Just leave it out. Nothing else really tastes like it -- and if it did, you wouldn't like it, right?
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fiu8bk
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I tried making Gordon Ramsay's Salted Caramel Popcorn, but it sticks to each other. Can someone help? (Link in description) Gordon's popcorn : https://youtu.be/hzmpysD8Ql0 TL;DR : for those who have tried it and completely nailed it, how do you do it? I can't 100% sucessfully recreate the snack Note : i use low heat in every attempt to prevent burning things Attempt 1 : made it exactly as shown as in that video. End result : the popcorn stick to each other, once it cools it became one big chunk of popcorn :/ not a pleasant experience consuming them Attempt 2 : instead of putting popcorns in the pot, i drizzle the the caramel with a spoon. End result : Taste wise, this is the best. But however, the caramel is too viscous so each drop is very big (around half the size of one popcorn) so i can't get them evenly to all popcorn. I've tried making another one but with more butter, doesn't really help the viscosity problem. Attempt 3 : i add some water after putting in baking soda ends result : caramel became liquid enough for me to drizzle evenly with a spoon. But the taste is inferior to attempt #2 (pretty good, nonetheless). Until i find a better way i will stick to this one. Attempt 4 : due to lack of ingredients, i only use sugar, water and salt. End result : the caramel will stick on my teeth, definitely not going to do this again. Question : for those who have tried it and completely nailed it, how do you do it? I can't 100% sucessfully recreate the snack Extra question 1. Sometimes the popcorn isn't as crunchy as the one i made previously, why? How do i store them? 2. Sometimes the caramel is already very dark but there are some grains of sugar that is still solid. Do i just stop the heat to prevent bitter caramel or wait until everything melt? ( I have made sure i use low heat, and i don't stir until it turns brown)
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I used to make caramel corn at a restaurant. I would start with brown sugar and butter. Heat to 245F, take it off the heat then stir in baking soda. I would always make the popcorn after the caramel so it’s still hot. Pour the caramel in a big bowl then the popcorn and fold it with the biggest spatula we had. Basically the same as Ramsey. Where we differ, I lay it on a baking sheet and bake it at 270F for 10 or so minutes. This brings it to the soft crack stage. Now here’s my trick that made my popcorn the best in the restaurant. Let it cool JUST until you can handle it without getting burned, I would recommend gloves for this, you really want it hot for this part. Use a cold metal bowl, doesn’t need to be ice cold, just colder than room temp, and dump it all into the bowl. The bigger the bowl the better. Gently toss the corn while breaking the prices apart. As the caramel cools from the bowl it harden and keep it from sticking together. If you do it right you’ll start to hear the dinging sound of something hard hitting the metal. If you don’t hear that then you didn’t bake it long enough. You can store it in any old container with a lid. Should stay fresh for a few days. I’ve never had it last that long so not totally sure. Starting with sugar and butter should keep those crystals from forming. You can also use a little lemon juice, just a squirt. It’s acts as an interferon and keeps crystals from forming. You can also get really fancy and use a brush with some water and wipe down the edges of the pot by the caramel as you’re making it. This keeps crystals from falling into it and forming larger ones. TBH not sure why he didn’t say what temperature you should cook the caramel to. I had this conversation with the pastry chef at that restaurant. Some people were just winging it and it wasn’t coming out well because it needs to be pretty exact for the results we wanted. You can get candy thermometers pretty cheap. They also double as deep frying thermometers. If you’re into caramel and candy making - which rules by the way - it’s a tool you’re going to want. Good luck!
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uqnoke
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Please help me with my hard beans We eat tons of beans in this household, but since we moved to a new city I can't get my beans soft. They always have a crunch to them. Before we moved I would let them soak in water overnight, do a few water changes and cook them early afternoon. We never had a problem in the 10 plus years cooking beans. I have tried everything, soaking longer, in hot or cold water, more water changes while soaking, cooking for hours even tried filtering the water. They always turn out somewhat crunchy. This also extends to lentils. What am i doing wrong, we miss our beans please help bring this musical fruit back to our household.
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Take a look at the water report for both cities. You should be able to find them online, I think it’s federal law for them to be public. What’s the chemistry of the tap water look like? I’m thinking the new place has harder water and a lower ph than your old home. Beans are finicky about that kind of thing.
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jpwhrx
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How can I balance extremely sharp cheddar Hi everyone! So we recently bought a large block of cheddar cheese from a fancy brand for fun, but we weren’t prepared for how sharp it is! I love extra sharp cheddar but this is on a whole new level. So my question is, what are some dishes we can make or strategies we can use to balance out the sharpness? I was thinking like combining it with a softer cheese for grilled cheese or something like that, but I’m open to any suggestions. Thanks!
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Honey on very savoury or sharp cheese is yummy. Or eat it on a sweeter cracker/biscuit
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hbnl2h
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Looking for food science writers I'm not sure if this is allowed here, so if it's not, I apologize in advance. ​ My friend Priya Krishna (you may know here from the New York Times or the Bon Appetit Youtube channel) is looking for some aspiring food writers with a specific interest in food science to work on a new book that she is putting together with David Chang. If you are interested in home cooking and food science, and think you have the writing skills to explain the science behind everyday things like microwaving, cooking with frozen vegetables, browning, etc, let me know. This is obviously a paid opportunity, and we are specifically looking for black, indigenous, and people of color (though it is open to all). ​ Feel free to DM me and I'll forward you to Priya. Thanks!
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I have my degree in chemistry and took food science/ food chemistry courses in undergrad along with catering professionally. Would love to be a pet of this! Edit: I am not a pet but I would love to be a part of this
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mzhg2k
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On a Ribeye steak, is eating a slice of pure fat with a slice of the muscle similar to the taste of wagyu? I noticed most people aren't like me and cut all the fat off of their steaks - is this why they are so impressed with wagyu or similar types of beef? I always like the fattest cut of any steak - not in terms of marbling per se, but just in terms of pure fat around the steak. So much so that when I see butchers trimming steaks of this delicious white gold I get frustrated. The reason why is I usually eat it with the leaner muscle in a 1:1 ratio. It tastes delicious and is easily better to me than a PRIME steak if you are only eating the well marbled muscle alone. I ask this question because I am the only "freak" in my family that does this - most people I know always trim the pure fat parts off their steaks and don't eat it. They'll eat the well marbled portions with fat within the muscle but tend to avoid the fat itself. It got me wondering - is this why people like wagyu so much? The marbling is REALLY high in those kinds of steaks, so it seems like how I eat my steaks kind of replicates that process by substituting the fat that's not in the fibers with the fat on the outside of the steak. Obviously a tough, chewy steak won't replicate it, but I've had plenty of thick tender CHOICE steaks that taste much better that trimmed PRIMEs using this method ( un-trimmed primes taste the best ofc). I ask because I feel like I wouldn't really be impressed be the taste too much since it's what I've been doing the whole time, but if someone also eats their steak like me I would love to hear their take on it.
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I commended you! Knowing that the fat is where the flavor's really at! Wagyu is different tho in both mouth feel and flavor because its a different type of beef. Honestly I think wagyu is a little too rich for me, id prefer a well cooked fatty rib eye any day, for the price especially. But it's like comparing liver and onion to a pate. Same basics, different outcomes.
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r8be9s
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How do folks deal with Reynaud's? I've got Reynaud's Syndrome (fingers have poor circulation and become numb or even hurt). Last few weeks have been worse in the kitchen as I wash my hands or deal with cold items. I know this is pretty common, so wondering if anyone has found a way to deal with this and keep going.
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This is a little off topic for the sub but this one is very personal to me as a chef. I have pretty severe Reynaud's- super sexy photo of my hand after about five minutes searching for things in the freezer. I find its less about personal mitigation because there's not much we can actually do about it- so its more about how my team works with me to accommodate it. I pick up tasks in return for never having to re-org the freezer. If my hands go batshit after washing, everyone knows I need a minute to shake it off. I find that temp changes are what trigger so I try to never plunge my mitts into an ice bath and instead ask someone else to do it. A helpful hint, if you ever have surgery, don't forget to tell them you have Reynaud's. Afterwards, they will freak the fuck out about about blood pressure meds and heart monitors and nurses will think you're dead because they stuck a monitor on a finger that went Reynaud's and suddenly there all kinds of very loud noises and lots of people rushing about.
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s41tli
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How to solve chicken from being undercooked when fried I fry my chicken around 350 and almost every time I cook something above the size of a boneless chicken wing the inside is undercooked. Am I doing something wrong!
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What color are you cooking it to? How brown are we talking? It should be hella brown. So you let the oil come to temp, and then drop in the chicken - how many pieces are you putting in at once? If you over crowd your pot it can lower the temp too much. Basically, the answer you're probably looking for is get a thermometer, and use your oven. Fry the chicken to your preferred doneness, check the temp, if under, bake at 350 until it hits temp. Edit: added the second paragraph
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qx3ojs
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What is an “average size” clove of garlic? E.g. when a recipe calls for X number of cloves of garlic, how do you decide what this means? In my experience, clove sizes vary DRASTICALLY. I usually assume a recipe-author has access to better (ie bigger) garlic than I do, so I usually grab more cloves than called for, under the assumption the cloves I have are below-average sized. But maybe I’m overthinking it?
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Garlic and chocolate chips follow the same principle, measure with your heart
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u55kww
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How do restaurants make massive amounts of potato salad or deviled eggs? I just made five pounds of potato salad for Easter dinner and it took about three hours to complete. How do restaurants do it on a bigger scale. Boiling the parts wasn't the time drain, it was peeling a dozen eggs and getting rid of the potato skins. That made me think about deviled eggs with about a hundred eggs, what secret do they use to peel that many eggs?
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Once did 6,000 deviled eggs for an event. Each one was garnished with exactly 3 caviar eggs and 1 whole watercress leaf. We only had folding dining tables to work on. It was one of the crappiest work days of my career. It took 3 of us about 8 hours to complete. Our backs were collectively destroyed by the end. There were no shortcuts. Boiled and peeled 3,000+ eggs, sliced, filled, garnished. Although i did learn to never go to an event without a case of #10 cans or bricks in the trunk to put under table legs to raise them to proper working height.
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mghlhp
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How to get sesame seeds to stick on store bought potato buns? I really like the potato buns, they're great, the only thing they're missing is that they don't add sesame seeds on there. I bought a bag of sesame seeds and decided I'd just put them on there myself when I'm making burgers or such but I'm wondering how to get the sesame seeds to stick to the buns?
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try melted butter if you feel naughty
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nfnqsa
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Cod will not defrost Alright... I can safely say I’ve never had this happen before unless it was with something like a whole Turkey. My roommate picked up some frozen cod on Saturday. Defrosted in fridge overnight into Sunday and he checks it... frozen... puts it in a bowl of cold water.. two hours later still frozen.. back in the refrigerator until the next evening when I take it out.. still frozen.. put into a bowl of cold water for about 1 hour.. still frozen.. back into the fridge overnight.. now today it’s been in a cold bowl of water for almost 3 hours.. still frozen... been replacing/running water over it. I am at a complete loss for words.. it’s been several days in the fridge and several hours in cold water baths. Can someone explain what the hell is going on? It’s just some damn fish fillets... normally these defrost overnight or in a couple hours in some cold water.. seriously wtf is happening
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It's not frozen. It's a cod that's hard as a freaking rock. Because after "back in a fridge overnight," you're into either rock hard fish or Twilight Zone.
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ezbn3j
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You can't leave cooked rice out at room temperature (b cereus growth) but you can soak raw rice for 12 hours or more, why is that? Horchata is a drink made by soaking raw rice, sugar, cinnamon. Idli and dosa is made by soaking, grinding, then fermenting ground raw rice and urad dal. You can soak rice before cooking it. There are so many other recipes involving soaking rice. Isn't the main thing about b cereus that it grows in moist, room temperature conditions? I always hear the danger is with cooked rice but can barely find anything regarding raw rice.
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I'm seeing all sorts of speculation in this thread and lots of it is wrong. I hope you all see this because I'm a microbiologist and have worked in food testing labs. The reason you don't want to leave cooked rice out is because of spores. Rice is grown in the ground, gets contaminated, cooking kills the vegetative cells but some would have formed spores already (the form under stress like cooking). These are very hard to kill. When the temp lowers the spores germinate producing a toxin that makes you sick.
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olif30
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How to use dried mushrooms in a risotto? Hi All - I bought a large container of dried mushrooms from Costco and I'd like to use it in my risotto (was thinking of using the instant pot but that isn't a must) - is it recommended for me to rehydrate the mushrooms or let the broth/pressure do the work? If I rehydrate, would it be recommended to use the water which becomes a mushroom-y broth instead of a chicken broth? Appreciate your help!
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Put them in hot water for a few hours to rehydrate. Use that mushroom water as stock when you cook the risotto. Additionally, if you want extra mushroomy and umami flavor, you can use a spice grinder to grind the dried mushrooms into a powder and add a tablespoon or two of that early in the risotto as well. Also a great trick to add richness to any cream of mushroom or wild rice and muchroom or similar soups.
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b3uxrq
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Looking for a batter that frys so crisp that it's practically shattering when bitten into. My wife and I have a favorite little korean fried chicken place called Bonchon, they've got the most crispy wings we've ever had - they almost shatter when you bite into them. The batter is somewhat transparent, very thin, very crispy and crunchy, almost like biting into glass (if that makes sense). I've experimented quite a bit to replicate this batter and cannot get it right, can anyone share some insight onto this? Thus far, I've tried different ratios of rice flour and AP flour, dredge, no dredge, various ratios of water and vodka, frying non-stop til golden brown, frying blonde resting then frying a second time to gold, rice flour alone, rice flour mixed with corn-starch, drying the wings overnight beforehand, brining and not, different oil temps, corn-starch alone, extra wet batter, extra thick batter, dredging dry; I've run out of ideas. As best as I can explain it, it's almost like eating a thin layer of hard-candy that's not candy. Ridiculously crispy and thin membrane surrounding the chicken. We've tried well over a dozen times and although the end results have been good, it's not what we're after - any insight would be super helpful!
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Cornstarch in the batter and using something fizzy like soda, sparkling water, or beer will make batter crisp
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jfxlvy
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Is there any reason to peel butternut squash? Peeling and cubing butternut squash seems like too much work. Whenever I have a recipe call for it, I cut in half, clean out, and roast. Once it's baked, it easily slips out of the skin. Is there some reason why peeling and cubing, then cooking squash is necessary?
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Cutting (and peeling) the squash in small chunk helps the cooking speed.
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o7fxnt
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flour EVERYWHERE Hi r/AskCulinary! I recently got a job making and laminating dough for \~10 hours a day. Flour is abrasive on my arms and clogs my pores/eyes/nostrils even after I shower. Is there some kind of industry secret that can a) prevent this from happening and/or b) a good method for flushing/washing it off later? Thanks in advance! And sorry if this isn't within the guidelines. I'm not sure where else to pose this question... yours truly, crusty
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QSHE here. *Please* wear PPE. Get a comfortable dust mask, goggles and wear as much covering you are comfortable with (possible sleeves up until mid forearm and hairnet) If you need help with choosing the appropriate ratings / models, let me know where you are and I can check the local standards :) Particular emphasis on the dust mask. Any kind of particulate can be dangerous to your health when inhaled, especially with long-term exposure, better protect yourself as much as possible. Also worth noting that those should be provided by your employer (together with the guidance on how to use them) at no cost to you
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nnwi3p
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Is there such a thing as too many lobster shells in a stock? Title. I have like 20 lobster carcasses leftover from a party. I was going to make a bouillabaisse, but from what I've read I only need 4 for a gallon of stock. Would it be bad to, say, double the lobster-to-water ratio?
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First world problems! Just kidding. I'm inclined to agree with the "just go for it" mentality, but bouillabaisse has a lot of other strong seasonings, as in tomato, Pernod and garlicky rouille, as well as other fish, depending on the recipe, and these could kind of mask that 20x super concentrated lobster flavour. Given the extent of your bounty, personally, I'd probably devote at least half of the shells to a lobster bisque, because lobster bisque. A very good lobster stock also makes top-shelf broth to serve ravioli in, with crusty bread for dippage - even if you have no lobster meat left, crab or shrimp or almost any kind of seafood ravioli will be stunning with a top-shelf lobster broth. But hey, that's just me. I envy you! Enjoy.
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cqnz6j
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I love food - but I don't want to become a chef Hi, so for as long as I remember I've had a burning passion for food and cooking. I have a bachelor's in Econ which I did to please my parents (big mistake) and my plan was to either go to culinary school or start as a dishwasher and work my way up. After reading A LOT and I mean for many hours about the life of a chef in books, subreddit threads, Quora, you name it - I've been a bit scared off from the culinary industry. It sounds brutal. Long hours, low pay, no social or family life, being abused on the job (and I'm a woman so I imagine it's 10x worse). Needless to say, I've sadly been discouraged from becoming a chef. Are there any other ways to get involved in this profession or industry without breaking your back and being highly stressed? Also is it really as bad as everyone says it is? Does it differ from country to country (I'm in Europe so maybe it's different from the US)? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks all.
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There's a huge, huge world of food that you don't even think about in your grocery store. Someone has to design and make the recipes for all those products. I work in making cpg products and it's a million times better hours and pay than restaurants.
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ll2liw
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Looking for a Pastry book that explains why to use ingredients Hi all, I recently learned about how different types of sugar (white, light brown, brown) affect the end result of different kinds of pastries. Now I imagine that there are a lot more of these things that are, normally quite hard to figure out without doing proper research. I was wondering if there perhaps was a book that encapsulates these things so that I would have one book to read in order to learn and use for later reference.
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The Baking and Pastry book by the Culinary Institute of America is wonderful, and goes really into the hows and whys of baking and pastry. It is a bit on the expensive side, but you do get what you pay for.
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nend8x
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What's the difference between baking and roasting when you're talking about bone-in skin-on chicken? Seems the same to me.
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An additional casual interpretation I have is that roasting and baking have separate goals. Roasting aims to cook at a very high hot heat in order to maximize exterior crispy ness and interior moisture—so roasting is done at temperatures above 375, with 425 being the “preferred” temp. Baking aims to evenly cook food with consistent results. For example, a cake that doesn’t have a burnt exterior and raw interior, that also doesn’t vary too wildly due to how the oven is feeling that day. 325 and 350 being the bread and butter of baking temps. With chicken you may choose to roast when you have skin on and bone in cuts that benefit from the crispness the skin gets from the high temps, and really any cut where maximizing caramelization is desired. Baking will kick in when you have breaded and coated chicken where the coating begins to burn before the center reaches 165.
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j5ptiv
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How do you get noodles to mix well with other ingredients in a stir fry? When I make stir fry dishes with noodles I find that the ingredients always end up on the outside of the wok, with a ball of noodles in the middle. How do I get them to mix well?
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I've had this problem forever. Wok too small, family too big (teenagers). When I make Singapore noodles with rice vermicelli, their favorite, I work in batches, do the noodles last, transfer everything to my largest mixing bowl and toss like hell, which makes my dog happy, and finish with a wooden spoon. Then I just tell everyone to dig out what they want. For reference, I am usually doing a 12 quart bowl of food. Hungry teens are hungry.
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fpl8h7
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Toasting spices to improve flavor is a common culinary practice. But Western cooks "bloom" spices (making them stronger) while Indian cooks "temper" spices (making them milder). Blind taste test, what actually happens? In a blind taste test, would subjects find toasted dried spices stronger or milder than non-toasted dried spices? Do the spices and techniques unique to each tradition change the answer? What about the ingredients both cuisines have in common (e.g. cumin, ground capsicum/pepper, etc.)? Does toasted while whole (Indian, Western) or toasting when already ground (Western) change the answer? What about type of flavor compound (alcohols and sugars vs lipids vs, I dunno, amino acid compounds)? Is a single phenomenon happening (i.e., all spices actually get milder in a blind taste test when toasted) but we're using opposite language to describe the same thing ("Bloom the spices to bring out the flavor" vs "Temper the spices to mellow the flavors")? This has bugged me for a very long time. My intuition is that most dried spices get milder, since a lot of flavor compounds would evaporate at high temperatures, and it's also been my anecdotal experience when cooking Indian cuisine, where proper toasting ("tempering") can turn an unbearable amount of spices into something quite mild and tasty. But I'm well aware that this is probably just as much or more of a reflection of my biases than reality, since I came to the table with some preconceptions and I'm not a blind taster.
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If you're willing to wait, and no one has answered meanwhile, I know someone who knows the answer to that question. I'll be reaching out to them, but I don't know how long will it take for me to receive a reply. ... Alright, here’s the answer. I’m sorry for the delay. Since my contact is a chemist and not an anthropologist, I’m afraid neither him nor I will be of much assistance in that department. I apologize in that regard. However, some of the answers in the thread like u/justanothercook ‘s and u/shreddedlikechedda ‘s provided a more cultural approach, which covers the topic of “blooming” and “tempering” better than I could. Aside of that, we discussed, with the assistance of OP, the variables that affected the result in this culinary process. We’ve also been making some assumptions (e. g.: temperature is ideally T<180ºC or 180ºC<T<200ºC. We considered refined olive oil since the smoke point is above 200ºC. We also assumed the optimal storage conditions for all the ingredients). This is the conclusion: “[…] The question is complex and can only be answered in general terms. It will obviously depend on: 1) Whether the spice is whole or grounded, and the size of the grounded spice 2) Temperature of the oil 3) Quantity of oil used AROMATIC EXTRACTION: As you’ve said, the oil acts as a dissolvent and extracts liposoluble compounds with less effort. The quantity of oil and spice used will impact in the concentration of aromatics extracted in the oil. Aside of that, heat can affect the extraction, but in this case depends on the volatility of the aromatic compounds, since too high a heat will cause some of these compounds to disappear. Some aromatic compounds are not as volatile as others when heated, which comes to say that when you apply high temperatures, the oil is richer in these more stable compounds, resulting in a different flavor. AROMATIC ALTERATION: Regarding chemical reactions, there are multiple taking place, since there’s a huge amount of aromatic compounds and these vary depending on the spice you’re using, but in your case most of these are related to the size of the grounded spice (more contact with oxygen) and the temperature of the oil. A higher heat and a finer grain will mean a more noticeable alteration of these compounds. Also, the grinding size will affect from the moment of the grinding, so using a freshly grated spice will be different from using an already-ground version.” To my understanding, Indian cooks often use a lot of oil, high temperatures and whole spices, while these variables (the ones listed in the quote above) differ in the Western version, hence the different result. I think a fun exercise to do at home would be to play with all that, if you’re up to the challenge. If anyone does, it would be cool to have their observations. I don’t think much else can be said with certainty without entering too hard into the food chemistry field. I’ve been translating from my native tongue to English and back, so I’m sorry if something seems out of place. I also made a very ugly drawing to illustrate all the possible outcomes we discussed (I can't seem to share it in this subreddit, so ask me and I'll DM it to you). This one is not translated but can be understood. I hope the answer can somewhat sate your curiosity. Thank you for the interesting question, and all the people that helped find an answer. Have a good day.
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zd7f7u
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Can baking soda be used in for example a tomato soup to make it less acidic? It would increase the pH would it not? Could this work or will it give an off flavour yo the dish?
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With the original question answered by other posters, I want to mention that cutting an acidic flavor may not require making something less acidic due to how our taste buds work. Sugar and/or fat can mellow an acidic flavor for example.
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dk8it4
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Is there such thing as ‘cooking theory’, i.e. an abstract set of principles that explains what makes a good dish? I’m teaching myself how to cook. As a classically trained musician and a graphic artist, I’m used to thinking abstractly about music and design. Classical musicians learn music theory and graphic artists are taught things such as the Gestalt principles and color theory. Are there equivalents in culinary? I don’t want to just learn recipes; I want to feel like I understand why I’m doing what I’m doing when cooking in other words.
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Yes, most definitely. A really minimalist but effective basis is the famous Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat cookbook and show from one of the chefs that came up in Alice Water's fine restaurant. More comprehensive books would be The Food Lab, How to Cook Everything, and On Food and Cooking. Here's my own personal theoretical framework, as a moderately skillful home cook that has cooked things that occasionally get praise like "I dreamed about that dish for several nights". It's just a hodge podge of what I've picked up, predominantly focused on learning from people like Kenji Alt-Lopez, Harold McGee, Herve This and similar. Taste is on your tongue. Flavor is in your nose. Your brain combines these into a unified sensation, where texture and appearance matter substantially as well. Taste is: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, umami. Flavor is countless volatile organic compounds. To some extent tastes balance each other. Increasing saltiness and sourness at the same time doesn't taste overly sour or overly salty, just more intensely delicious. Good recipes know what they're trying to target on the 5 tastes and use ingredients in a way that allows you to amplify and balance. Flavor is more open ended, and where you can go nuts riffing your own ideas. Besides this, there are a handful of simple physical facts that make a profound difference in your understanding of what you're cooking. What we commonly call browning is a complex chain of things called the Maillard reaction. This is essential to building flavor in many if not most savory dishes. It's also what makes bread taste delicious even though raw flour is basically inedible. While the reaction begins happening at lower temperatures, 350F is the inflection point of where it starts happening rapidly. As a simple example of how useful this fact is: you can quite easily get a roast turkey to have great crispy skin as well as juicy interior. Use a thermometer to understand where the interior is at. Use your eyes, nose, and scraping with a utensil to understand where the skin is at. If the skin is browning faster than the interior is coming up to temp, back your oven down to 325F or lower. If the interior is getting mostly there but the skin is looking lackluster crank it up to 425F or use the broiler. A very simple but important related fact is that a liquid mixture will not, on the average, rise above the boiling point of the liquid. You can boil broccoli all day and it won't brown. Put it in the oven and you get something entirely different. Likewise, collagen, the connective tissue in meat begins decomposing into gelatin around 160F if it's in a moist environment. Again this is an inflection point, and there's a bit of that at lower temps. Fat begins to render (liquify) at around 130F, depending on the specific fat. Proteins denature (read as, go from translucent to opaque, and shrink in the direction of the fibers) at temps above 110F. These facts combine to tell you how to cook nearly any meat properly. Cuts of meat high in collagen should be cooked via moist cooking methods, and taken to fairly high temperatures to allow the fat and collagen to turn into a gelatin that coats the meat fibers. Compared to a steak the meat is way past well done, but the mentioned processes compensate for this producing that utterly tender fall apart texture of stews and great BBQ. Conversely, lean cuts should be handled carefully to avoid overcooking, at which point you'll have all the tight overcooked protein fibers and nothing to compensate for it. Lastly, you can look at mirepoix, sofrito (of all it's variations across the med and americas), the cajun trinity, etc and see these are all the same fundamental idea and purpose, just a different flavor combination. Same for how a roux is commonly used to provide both flavor and thickening. Once you start seeing these big picture patterns across different culinary traditions, you can improvise your own things that hit the same notes of flavor and mental association (though do not ignore where specific traditions diverge). Past that it's about learning technique, and how the results of choices in technique generalize. A great example is garlic. Whole vs sliced vs diced vs crushed produce different balances of sweet vs sharply sulfuric flavor. How long you cook garlic, onion, or similar things changes the balance of sharp vs caramelized sweet flavors. Anyhow, that's a bit of a ranty brain dump, but reflects the big anchor ideas in how I approach cooking. I don't bill myself as a skilled chef. I am good enough to cook food on a regular basis that makes people literally do a double take. It's very near the top of my list of most satisfying things I've learned how to do.
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qfomkw
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How much does it cost to hire a personal chef? Sorry if this the wrong subreddit for this question but I'm not sure where to ask. I'm part of a living community of about 20 people and we're creating a budget and are debating a house chef vs catering. We're in the Boston area and have no clue what goes into hiring a chef but would like a rough estimate of what it would cost (ingredients + rate) to hire a house chef for dinners 4 days a week (probably just one large entrée and side) and the logistic associated with it. Thanks!
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Am a professional chef who has done tons of private work and there's no answer to this question without nailing down a bunch of variables. Would they be cooking on site or delivering, if on site what sort of facilities are available, is it for plated meals or family style or leave and re-heat, what type of meals because prep and technique will vary widely based on menu selection, are they going to be sourcing ingredients or will you provide, are they also doing clean up on site. There's just no quick answer for this. A chef would have to look at your needs in detail and make a estimate based off of the value proposition. Even something like their transportation cost would be part of the equation. For more feedback from pro chefs you'd be better off in r/chefit or r/kitchenconfidential.
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n1ahhn
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Is homemade ice cream texture determined more by the machine you buy, or your technique in making it? I have stopped buying Haagen Dazs for ethical reasons, and would like to start making my own ice cream that is equal to or better than theirs. For a variety of reasons, there doesn't seem to be an ice cream of equal quality available where I live, southern Ontario. I can get good quality ingredients, and can make a pretty good custard. Assuming I put the work into mastering the technique, is it possible to achieve Haagen Dazs or better quality with a cheaper, non-compressor ice cream maker or do I need to invest a little more money into the equipment?
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Ice cream texture is a function of recipe, overrun, and freezing time. Recipe is the easy part, but overrun and freezing time are entirely a function of the ice cream machine you use. Non-compressor machines will typically give you a freezing time of 20-30 minutes while a compressor will give you 12-18 minutes, both for 1 L of base. That difference in time has a significant impact on the texture of the ice cream. Overrun depends on the paddle type and rotation speed of the machine, but most home machines will provide a similar overrun - very high overrun typically requires commercial machines. You'll want to look for a machine with the shortest freezing time possible. Something like a Lello 4080 is ideal but there are cheaper options available like the Breville Smart Scoop or the Cuisinart ICE-100. The more you pay the better the result generally, and when it comes to ice cream machines the price can skyrocket pretty fast, so you'll have to decide what is reasonable for your budget (and counter space).
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mmry9x
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Baking question: Stollen recipe calls for 5-6 packets of active dry yeast... is this normal? Hi, all! I was recently gifted a family (in-laws) stollen recipe. The recipe calls for 5-6 packets of active dry yeast and calls for 6-8 cups of flour. In the recipe, it also calls for 1 cup of milk which is heated to almost scalding but cooled down... ... could this be right? I plan on taking the milk to 105-110 degrees to activate it... I’m worried about the amount of yeast! Thanks in advance!
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I just looked at the recipe an (Austrian) bakery I worked at uses and it calls for 120g fresh yeast for 1000g of flour. Which is about 40g of active dry or indeed 5-6 packets of 7g. That amount makes 6 regular sized Stollen. This was a very traditional bakery, so it seems like the amount of yeast is indeed pretty traditional. The issue I think is that Stollen is both a low hydration and high fat dough. This combination means that it needs a lot of yeast to rise properly. There is more butter than eggs and milk combined in the dough!
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txr4r3
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I have many sweet potatoes but sadly, I do not like them because of the sweetness. I’m determined to battle food waste and eat them anyway. How do you cook sweet potatoes in a way which will do the least to bring out their sweetness? I’d prefer not to use too many ingredients but ultimately I’ll do all I can to make them palatable. I have several. I have some ideas already: thinly slice into McDonald’s style chips and cover in spicy seasoning and bake. Is there any clever food science that will numb the sweetness that I don’t know about?
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This is an interesting question! Often people ask how to make their sweet potatoes sweet without needing to add extra sugar, so there's a lot of food science advice on how to do that. For this case that will be a list of things to avoid. This serious eats article goes into some of those tricks. Here's two specific excerpts that help explain what's going on. > Starch is made from sugar. More precisely, starch is a polysaccharide, which means that it's a large molecule consisting of many smaller sugar molecules (in this case, glucose). The thing about sugar is, unless it's broken down to relatively simple forms, it doesn't taste sweet to us. Our tongue simply doesn't recognize it Which leads to this point: >So, essentially, the longer a sweet potato spends in that zone between 135 and 170°F (57 and 77°C), the sweeter it becomes. So your goal is to have them spend as little time between 135 and 170 as possible. I'd cook them hard and fast, like a stir fry or curry as others have suggested. I think slicing them into chips like you suggested will make sure they heat up faster and spend less time in that middle zone. Pair that with seasoning them with savory seasonings and you should be good. I've been enjoying them as a starch in a lot of quick curry I make in place of rice.
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zoht3k
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Replacing coffee in chocolate cake recipes I’m making a cake for my sons birthday. After some internet research (i.e., Jesse Szewczyk Kitchn article) I’ve chosen to make Beatty's Chocolate Cake (https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe-1947521). The recipe calls for 1 cup coffee. In an attempt to not get 20 munchkins hyped up on coffee, I’d like to cut out the coffee. Here are my questions: 1) what do I replace the coffee with (water, milk, something else)? 2) how do I adjust the recipe as a result (do I need to adjust the amount of baking soda and powder, do I add an acid in its place (cream of tartar, citric acid), or something else)? Thanks in advance.
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Kahlua
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awovzj
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Is there any way to make chicken look pink/raw but still be cooked? this is absolutely the weirdest and stupidest question ever... but my severely autistic 5 year old cousin never eats much. he has been asking to eat “cold” (raw) chicken, but obviously that’s impossible without giving him salmonella. is there a way to cook the chicken that... still leaves it looking raw?? it doesn’t seem like it’d be possible but i figured i’d ask the internet anyway because now i’m super curious.
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Use sous vide to pasteurize chicken at the coldest temperature possible. Per the government published pasteurization tables (http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Government_Pasteurization_Tables) edit: I quoted the wrong table, read the link for yourself. Thank you /u/stouset for spotting my error. . After that you can chill it then serve - it's still going to be pretty pink looking at this temperature. You can as another poster mentioned look into nitrites to try to cure from of the red color in, but it's going to more closely resemble ham than it is raw chicken. As /u/atomiccrouton accurately posted, chicken is a "dirty" meat for us in the west to a great extent because of our farming practices. We want cheap chicken and we don't really like it cooked rare, so it's become convention to handle it in a manner that requires pretty thorough cooking. If you go to Japan where chicken is handled pretty differently, it's common to see it served rare. If you could find a farm that raises chicken specifically for chicken sashimi (might be a tall order outside of Japan) this might be a feasible option, but it's still a bit of a risk even with tighter control over how the birds are handled. Edit: note that it’s 112 minutes *after* it has fully reached that temperature.
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nf9bji
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Are there any commercially available preservatives I could use to preserve my homemade mayo so it lasts as long as the storebought stuff? Seriously, I could leave a bottle of the homebrand in my fridge for weeks and it won't go rancid or split at all!
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The only preservative they use is TBHQ I believe, which is just an antioxidant to protect the flavor of the oil, which is of course the main ingredient in Mayo. The reason commercial Mayo is shelf stable is because they use either dry or pasteurized eggs, and the shear force that they use to emulsify is just wildly strong, better then any blender could ever do. It’s preserved based on a low water activity and a low pH, that’s all
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6bzh97
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My wife is CONVINCED that plastic wrap touching food, especially when heated is dangerous and releases potentially harmful chemicals into food. How right/wrong is she?
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I melt plastics for a living (prototype engineering and 3d printing), so I'm quite concerned with leaching into the air normally; but leaching into food presents another interesting problem that's related enough to matter. If it's sold in most stores, chances are what you're getting is perfectly safe and would cause less health damage to you than breathing the outside air in an average city. Overall immediate impact would be nearly zero and long term impact would be negligible, if not zero. That said, due to the very real concerns in some hard plastics that are quite common in containers, I only microwave in glass, ceramic, and high density composites specifically created to withstand heat. Honestly 99% of what I microwave is in ceramic and glass. If you're worried, don't put plastics in the microwave. For further analysis, see exactly what's in the plastic wrap you have on hand and check the EWG studies for those chemicals / materials. www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/microwaving-food-in-plastic-dangerous-or-not Harvard mimics my thinking and says "if worried don't use it" essentially, but the hard numbers from chemical studies say if it's sold for food use, it has 100-1000 times less of the chemicals than are harmful to lab mammals. Of course, that again doesn't mean zero. Exercise research, then caution. :)
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e2jjqy
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What separates good sushi from great sushi? I'm trying to understand why some sushi restaurants are considered good and some are considered great. If the fish itself is the same quality, which I'm assuming all higher-end sushi restaurants would not compromise on, why is someone like Jiro considered to be so much better than any other high-end sushi maker?
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There are a few things that I'm aware of. One is that even with the same fish, it's not necessarily just cut up and put on rice. It can be aged in various ways, seasoned, or otherwise prepared differently, so there's more room for innovation than you suggest, even in the relatively simple nigiri format. Additionally, the rice itself makes a huge difference, not only from the quality of the raw rice, but from how it's cooked and seasoned --- it's about half of the food, after all.
| 282
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a9jzvt
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Explain like i'm 5: What is Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce? I have a bottle of each in the fridge, and being asian they are a mystery to me. ​ Worcestershire sauce taste like soy sauce, it's umami.. so it's an alternative soy sauce? HP sauce looks like someone made a veggie fond combined with a roux. So... it's a alternative gravy? ​ someone enlighten me please
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Worcestershire sauce is a garum made from fermented anchovies and spices. Similar to a soy sauce except it’s fermented fish providing the umami rather than fermented legumes. It’s usually used similar to soy sauce cooked into a dish rather than as a condiment added after cooking (but can be!) HP sauce is essentially a condiment like ketchup but instead of being made from a tomato base it’s base is tomato and tamarind plus vinegar and sugar and spices. HP is much mor flavourful than ketchup but can be used in a similar manner.
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rzxuva
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How to make French toast more “eggy”? My wife always complains that the inside of her French toast (that I make for her every weekend) is too dry inside. This weekend I really soaked it and poked it to get the bread very saturated, and it still came out dry. It was literally falling apart when I put it on the plancha. I use 1 egg for every 1.5 slices, and the same amount of milk. I throw in some vanilla extract. I use Challah that has been sliced and left open over night so that it’s stale in the morning and more absorbent. Am I perhaps leaving it on the plancha for too long? I always thought low and slow was best, like a grilled cheese. I cook it on medium low for about 3-4min a side. My slices are about 25mm thick. Please help. :)
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Higher heat, shorter time. You want eggy interior, you want to not cook the interior to where it solidifies. Think eggs over easy. Your slow and low is having the opposite effect, creating a uniformly cooked and less moist outcome. Also maybe use less milk, sounds like you're adding the same amount of milk as egg, that seems like way too much
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j2xy58
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Meat on a wooden cutting board? I grew up with parents who were very strict on raw meat always being handled on a plastic cutting board and non-meat products being handled on a wooden board. However, I see a lot of cooking shows and youtube channels that handle raw meat on wooden boards. Do you have to get a particular type of wooden cutting board? Do you keep your meat use to just that cutting board? Have I been needlessly relegating my meat to plastic cutting boards?
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It's an old myth. In reality, the wood is more antimicrobial than plastic. The wicking motion of food fibers quickly draws moisture out of microbes and causes them to be destroyed. Meanwhile, bacteria that can become lodged in cracks and scratches in plastic can just sit there until the next piece of food comes along. Plastic boards are common in the food industry because they can stand up to the high heat of commercial dishwashers. It's harder for adequately clean a plastic board at home, which means you could make the argument for ditching the plastics altogether. Bottom line: wood is perfectly safe for all foods if used properly.
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udsvxz
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I am trying to pickle garlic but it turned green! I am trying to pickle garlic and a day after I poured the brine in it turned green! I have peppercorns, a Thai chili, a bay leaf, cardamom, turmeric powder, salt, sugar, water, and vinegar. I let it sit outside with a lid on overnight and when I came back the next morning it was green. Is it still edible? Should I restart? Since then I have had it in the fridge. It has been 2 days.
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Raw garlic always goes green in acid, it’s normal and not a health concern. If you don’t want green garlic, you’ll need to cook it first.
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w9h6rs
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Boiling in salted water does it actually salt the middles of foods such as potatoes? I am just curious if boiling in salty water helps actually make the insides of foods saltier VS just putting salt on after they come out of the water. I always want food to taste salted but not salty so how to salt is my primary concern in the kitchen lol.
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yes. boiling in salted water is always preferable than salting before serving. i also like to salt meat in advance or brine it, to let the salt penetrate through.
| 281
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w5axir
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Will a NY Strip Steak stay good on wire rack in fridge for 24+ hours? I have 2 thick cut NY Strip steaks i bought 2 days ago. Yesterday afternoon I salted them and put them on a wire rack in the bottom of the fridge expecting to eat them last night, but something came up. If I wait to eat them tonight(Roughly 27 hours later) is that too long for them to be sitting on the wire rack exposed like that? If so I could just cook them at lunch.
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It's actually recommended. Not just to remove excess water from the exterior for browning but it lets salt penetrate deeper into the meat so it tastes better too. https://www.seriouseats.com/perfect-pan-seared-steaks-recipe
| 280
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y4y1si
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why do mashed potatoes seem to soak up salt? and, what can i do? hi everyone, i’m brand new to this sub and just reviewed the rules and i believe this is an appropriate question to ask here. i can’t find any answers to this online at all, so i thought folks here may know. thank you in advance for any answers you may have! it’s very much appreciated. since this is 2 different questions, i also wasn’t sure what flair to use, so i used the food science one. i’m on mobile, so i apologize for any weird formatting. so whenever i make mashed potatoes in particular, they seem to soak up salt like nobody’s business! i don’t want to add mountains of salt to any dish, but i’ll add my salt, taste, add more salt, taste, etc, and the flavor never seems to make an appearance until i add so much that i’m worried there’s “too much” from a health standpoint. i don’t add egregious amounts of other ingredients (pepper/milk/butter), so i don’t think the salt is being overshadowed by them. i’ve experimented with different amounts of everything to see if anything works better, but no dice. i’m curious to know if there’s anything from a food science standpoint that causes this to happen (is it the starch in the potatoes, for example)? is there something different i can do to make sure i’m not adding heaps of salt to my mashed potatoes while still maintaining good flavor? thank you again!
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Former chef here, not a food scientist. There are just some things that respond to salt the way you describe more than others. Raw fish for example can take quite a bit of salt before tasting “salty.” A generic starting point for salt in savory food is 1.5% by weight. Some stuff needs 1%, some needs 2%. 2.5% is a good level for pasta water. This is obviously independent of any health concerns. I’m talking purely from a culinary standpoint. If you boil 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) of peeled potatoes, plan to add somewhere in the neighborhood of 15g of salt. I always weigh and measure. It just makes life easier. Potatoes in particular have a way misrepresenting their seasoning at first, so I usually give it a few min before tasting for final adjustments.
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qguza9
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Why does the type of oil dramatically affect the texture of my brownies? I've been using the ATK chewy brownie recipe for a year or so, and have tweaked the brands and varieties of ingredients several times. Mostly, those changes affect the flavor of the brownies. I weigh every ingredient (smaller weights on a precise scale) so I'm confident that the biggest variable at this point is the oil type. The recipe mentions that the ratio of oil to butter is the key to achieving the desired texture - presumably because of the saturated-to-unsaturated fat ratio. However, I've noticed that the particular variety of neutral oil I use also has a dramatic impact on the texture, even though the sat-to-unsat fat ratios on the oils are extremely similar. Specifically when I use sunflower oil, the brownies come out super sticky. When I use safflower oil, they're not as sticky and instead feel denser (links to the brand I most often get and their nutrition facts). The difference is very noticeable, not just a slight change. I'm having a somewhat hard time believing that such a tiny difference in polyunsaturated fat makes such a huge difference in texture. Any ideas why this happens?
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Though both are oils, they are made up of different components. Sunflower oil is composed of (basically) a 50/50 ratio of oleic acid (omega-9; a monounsaturated fat) and linoleic acid (omega-6; polyunsaturated fat). Safflower oil is (basically) 80% omega-9, 11% omega-6, 6% palmitic acid (a saturated fat) and .02 % linolenic acid (an unsaturated fat) with the rest being trace nutrients, vitamins, etc. Knowing that the two oils have very different amounts of saturated vs unsaturated fats in them, I think it's fair to say that your ratio is off because of that. I can't read the ATK recipe so I don't know what their thoughts are but /u/bc2zb is a biochemist and may have a better ideal of what's going on here.
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