id stringlengths 5 7 | question stringlengths 33 6.65k | answers stringlengths 0 6.42k | score int64 3 2.69k |
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s6xow6 | Why does Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon recipe have you cut the meat into 2" cubes rather than smaller pieces? Since you're going to cut it into smaller pieces to eat, and smaller pieces while cooking would give you more surface area to sear, why does she have you keep it in such big pieces? | Her recipe has a 3+ hour cook time, if you cut it any smaller it will go from tender to mush. | 151 |
b0sfr6 | Mexican Melting Cheese? This may be a really dumb question, but here goes. A few years ago, when I was in grad school, some classmates and I were having conversations over lunch about what we usually bring. One girl starts talking about her lunch, which she already ate. She said that she had chips and queso. She clai... | American cheese is more authentic. Really. Tex-Mex restaurant "queso" is typically Land o' Lakes Extra Melt. You can't get it except in bulk quantities. Deli American is the closest retail equivalent. | 151 |
s2o3om | How often can I 'reuse' my existing soup, while adding more to it to fill the soup out? I suppose part of my question comes from my knowledge of the old Perpetual Stew; how often can I add new ingredients before you would do something different? I made a simple stew recently. Corned Beef, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions. It... | My brother and I used to cook meals together. It was perfect because I usually cooked vegetables and he usually cooked meat. If I made a veggie stew, we would eat it and then he would start adding meat to the leftovers and recook it. After that, noodles might appear in there. The final form was always kimchi stew. We w... | 151 |
vcjfbs | Tips on cooking broccoli? Trying to copy steakhouse broccoli at home So I went to a steakhouse a few weeks ago, I got a 12 Oz steak and broccoli. Steak was average but the broccoli was delicious. Like TO DIE FOR it wasn't salty or greasy just bright green and easy to chew, a little crunchy and didn't have that $1 stea... | We blanch for 1 minutes, shock in ice to stop the cooking. ​ Then toss in garlic oil, salt and toasted peppercorns that have been ground. Grill for 2-3 minutes, then finish in the convection oven for 2 minutes. | 150 |
sqaw5h | How cold does ice cream really need to be? My student housing doesn’t have a freezer. When I put the fridge at full blast, the back freezes. I just tested it and a small bowl of water froze fairly quickly. Is this an indication that I could store ice cream in it for a week or so? Or does ice cream need to be even colde... | It shouldn't be harmful from a health perspective to store it this way (for a short while anyways), but it might cause more ice crystals to form in the ice cream if it thaws and freezes. | 150 |
zz3ozj | was making a roux last night and thought to myself… *we need an ice cream machine, except for heat* next thought: *maybe this already exists and i should ask Reddit* so, R/ is there already in existence a stovetop something with a mechanism like an ice cream machine which i could hand crank or turn on to do the scr... | There are many. Google automatic pot stirrer | 150 |
fecd4s | How long can my Pimento stuffed olives last after opening when not refrigerated? Got some pimento stuffed green olives like two months back, ate quite a few of them, forgot they existed. Haven't really touched them since, would they still be safe to eat? | A *long* time, though the details of how they are stored do matter and they can go bad. The whole point behind pickling is to extend shelf life and it was invented long before refrigeration existed. Pickles of all sorts used to be made (and stored) in wooden barrels or clay pots and never refrigerated. So long as the... | 150 |
piokfc | Our Emile Henry pizza stone keeps shattering exactly the same way - they keep replacing it, but this our third. It's always this EXACT pattern. What are we doing wrong? Because seriously, this is supposed be a very high quality pizza stone, it ALWAYS shatters like this, & we're clearly doing something weird here. ht... | Walk us through your use of the stone and how you care for/clean the stone? And by walk us through, I mean give us detail that you would need to explain it to like a two year old who does not know what an oven is or what water is. If you explain it like we know what you are doing then you will leave out the important d... | 149 |
5917q7 | I want to recreate my wife's favorite pasta dish from our honeymoon in Rome and I need some help. Italian chefs, help me score some points with my wife! Hey chefs, I really need your help. I want to remake my wife's favorite pasta dish from our honeymoon in Rome. The backstory - After 7 years of dating, my wife and I... | So I've lived and worked in Italy multiple times and speak Italian and I've worked professionally in A fine dining Italian restaurant. Ok. -Boil a pot of water for the pasta. While you're waiting for it to boil, start making the sauce. You'll need ~250-300g of dried pasta for two, a long flat pasta will work. You c... | 149 |
tcv3b8 | I vacuumed seal Brussels sprouts without blanching first and... Almost a week later the vucuum seal bag was fully inflated in the fridge, you can pop it like a balloon! Anyone know why this happened? | While an interesting science experiment, throw that shit out | 149 |
guflxy | Why not turkey eggs? We eat chicken eggs, duck eggs, goose eggs, quail eggs, I’ve even seen someone cook with an ostrich egg (those shells look hard to crack.) Yet I’ve never seen anyone make reference to eating turkey eggs?! Why is this? Turkey rearers of reddit tell me why! | The top comment explains it perfectly but as well as that turkey eggs just aren’t as versatile as hen or duck eggs or goose eggs for cooking and eating. They have a thinner lower protein albumen and the yolk isn’t as rich or as well ratioed to the white. So they are quite watery and flavourless and just a bit too big.... | 149 |
m2xbz6 | Is "real" buttermilk the same as store brought buttermilk and if not, what do I need to do to change one into the other? When I cook a recipe that calls for buttermilk I usually just grab a few tubs from my supermarket. Today I've made butter (stand mixers with a metal paddle make this a dream) and have about half a ... | Buttermilk is fermented which is what gives it it’s acidic and tangy flavor. Traditionally when churning butter, the milk was left out for a while for the cream and milk to separate to help with the churning process. Leaving it out like that also resulted in fermentation though. So the leftover milk from the process w... | 149 |
w7zrh3 | Can I remove that one annoying tendon from a chicken leg before I cook it? If so, how? | It's a pain in the ass, but you can circumcise the flesh near the end of the drumstick to remove the ligament. You'll lose some meat, but not much. The actual tendon should get soft, but it's a different story with larger birds like geese and turkeys. | 149 |
t52n1h | Best way to store iceberg lettuce? I love using iceberg lettuce for sandwiches and stuff but I can’t use a whole head in one week. I chopped up the whole head and stored it in a ziploc with paper towel and I thought that might do the trick but no luck. Has anyone found a way to store it so it lasts a little longer? | I store green leaf lettuce for a couple of weeks using this method: I pull - not cut - the leaves off the core, wash them , dry them in the salad spinner, dry them further on paper towels, then put them in a big plastic container with paper towels on the bottom and on top. It crisps the leaves nicely and they don’t s... | 149 |
xkgqpd | Looking for ingredient combinations that give a "wet dog" or "barnyard" smell, similar to methylcellulose and sugar. There is a certain..... Animal funk smell that can happen when methylcellulose and sugar are combined. It's typically considered undesirable, but I'd like to explore it and other similar funks for some p... | I once tasted a cave ripened raw milk goat cheese that tasted exactly like a wet dog smells. I do not like this taste and 15 years later, even the memory gives me goosebumps and makes me shudder. | 149 |
w430k7 | When roasting vegetables in the oven, is it necessary to cook them on a skillet first? When roasting veggies (broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc.) I always cook them a bit in a skillet with oil and butter, then season and put them in the oven around 450. Should I finish them in the skillet after the oven, or is using a ski... | The skillet isn't necessary. Many foods are browned on the stove top for flavor and then cooked in the oven, at a lower temperature, until the center of the food is cooked. However, at 450 degrees, the oven is hot enough to brown the vegetables on its own. Just make sure the vegetables are evenly coated with the oil a... | 148 |
wu2xbs | Scrambled eggs in SS I managed scrambled eggs on my first time using my new SS pan. However they were so oily we couldn’t eat them. Used about ½ Tbsp of avocado oil and poured the eggs in right after the oil. What could I do different next time? | I always use butter instead of liquid oil for eggs. | 148 |
8ajhj7 | What would happen if you'd boil a chicken for three years continuously? Ok, this is kind of stupid, but we have a sort of drunken bet going on... Would it completely disintegrate? Does the protein / fat remain in the resulting stock? | You would have a soup of proteins/amino acids, fatty acids, and various other molecules. It doesn’t matter that the water is boiling/you are constantly losing and adding water. These molecules aren’t broken down into volatile compounds at 100 degrees Celsius and cannot “boil off” | 148 |
b90b68 | I’ve used evaporated milk instead of condensed milk in my fudge, am I able to save it? I was following this recipe with doubled amounts https://bakeplaysmile.com/microwave-salted-caramel-fudge/ I used evaporated milk instead of condensed milk and the fudge now isn’t setting. Is there a way of me being able to rescue ... | You should be able to melt it, stir in the sugar, cook it again, and then it might set up. The problem is fudge is candy making, and melting and cooling the sugar to the right temperature is kind of important. If you like the taste as is, present it as dip for cookies or fruit, or add more sugar if needed. | 148 |
oo33dz | What's the sweet glossy coating bakers put on the fruit on their cakes? Thank you very much I would like 2 know. | I grew up in a bakery in Tasmania. They used slightly watered down and heated apricot jam as a glaze for their fruit tarts. | 148 |
qm5655 | When frying beef strips, how do I stop the “beef juice” leaking out and keeping them soggy? Whenever I slice up beef for a stir fry and fry them, a lot of water/juice always runs out of the meat when frying - so they end up kinda braising instead cos of the moisture. How do I prevent this? I want to get nice seared bit... | Hotter pan. Properly preheat the pan. More space in the pan. Work in batches. Cook half of the meat and set it aside before doing the second half. Then set that aside too and do your veg in the leftover meat drippings. And if you have a lot of veg do that in batches too. And then at the end toss everything back in f... | 148 |
kprlg5 | Is there a name for type of bread that is boiled? Basically a bagel but in the form of a loaf or bun? I was making bagels and decided to try one in a square form for easy sandwich making. Boy I think that was the best sandwich I’ve ever ate in my life~ I’m just wondering what this is called? I wasn’t able to find anyt... | Guys, OP is boiling, THEN baking, these ain’t no steamed buns. | 148 |
1oi11h | To professional chefs: What 'grinds your gears' when it comes to TV celebrity cooks/cookery shows? I recently visited a cooking course with a pro chef and he often mentioned a few things that irritates him about TV cooks/cooking programs. Like how they falsify certain techniques/ teaching techniques incorrectly/or not ... | When I was a kid, my Dad and I would always watch cooking shows on PBS together on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It was awesome and so cool to my young mind. When I was older, I watched Great Chefs of the World on Discovery Channel and I was equally in awe of the explanations of the simple steps to make such beautifu... | 147 |
po2xhe | Why does water and vinegar not need a preservative? Hi everyone, I have looked around the internet, but I did not find what I was looking for so I thought I’d ask some redditers! Usually when water is added, a preservative is needed to prevent mold, fungi, & and yeast growth. When water is added to distilled white v... | This will need a little background. Bacteria can grow (and spoil food) when they have something to feed upon, water to carry out their metabolic activities and there are no harmful chemicals that would kill them. So, that is why when you add water to food, you would need preservatives. Preservatives are chemicals tha... | 147 |
zypujh | Accidentally used white wine vinegar instead of white vinegar in my Birria Tacos. What can I expect? I feel dumb. I was blending up my peppers with an onion, garlic, black pepper, oregano, cumin, etc - then added 5 tablespoons of WWV instead of WV. I’ve never had Birria before… how different is this going to taste? D... | They have roughly the same pH, with white vinegar being a little more acidic. Other than that, WW vinegar just has more flavor to it. It might even wind up tastier - no need to start over. | 146 |
20l064 | I want to make ridiculous Mac 'n Cheese. Sadly, I make a merely passable Mac 'n Cheese. Perhaps it's not a culinary delicacy, but a good batch of Mac 'n Cheese is a treat. Here's what I'm doing: Making a bechamel, adding cheese and melting it in, then tossing my cooked pasta in the sauce. I put it in a baking dish a... | Here is what you're going to do: you're going to cheat. First, buy Sodium Citrate. Sodium citrate is a very powerful emulsifier, and will let you make cheese sauce of a perfect consistency with no guesswork, using just cheese and, well, that's pretty much it. The result is a sauce where the cheese flavor is not covere... | 146 |
c3yevx | When frying something in oil, is there a way to keep the oil from splattering everywhere? | Make sure what you're frying is dry on the outside. If it's from the freezer, try to get rid of as much ice as you can. Moisture is what splatters. It'll never be 100% though, frying means splatter most of the time. It's just a side effect. | 146 |
iyvcme | How can I accommodate for cocoa powder in pound cake? So recently I’ve gotten into making traditional ratioed pound cakes (1:1:1:1 flour:sugar:eggs:butter) with some variations of different extracts or spices or zests or chocolate chips or apple chunks or whatever mixed in. I recently decided to try and make a mint cho... | I've always been told to sub the flour, but never more than 1/7 of the total. That's enough to give it a good chocolate flavor and color, but not enough to make it dry and crumbly. I haven't done it with a pound cake, but it's always worked for cookies. | 146 |
r8ojxi | Why didn't my mozarella melt? I tried to make an Italian spin on Knafeh by using mozarella as the cheese base for the Knafeh dessert. But it didn't work. Instead of melting, the mozzarella simply oozed a lot of water, and any cheese solid left was like trying to eat a rubber tire. It was chewy, rubbery, and was robbed ... | Fresh mozzarella does not really melt the same way some other cheeses do. If it cooks for too long, all it does is squeeze water out. It really only needs a few minutes. I would consider monitoring it and right as it starts to melt, pull it from the heat.But in general, I do not consider fresh mozzarella to be an excep... | 146 |
hpbo3b | I had a white seaweed salad at a Japanese restaurant, any idea what the seaweed could be called, where I could buy it to make at home? Here's a picture of what it looks like | Maybe it's shiro tosaka? | 145 |
bcedfg | What's the proper dining etiquette for when you're eating spicy food and snot starts pouring out of your face? Can I use the fancy cloth napkin to blow my nose repeatedly until I finish eating? I was always taught that it's rude to blow your nose at the table. But so is having snot pour out of your nose into the deli... | Finally my etiquette/modeling classes can comein handy. *copying nigel* IF YOU ARE FORCED TO EAT SPICY FOOD AND YOU START TO HAVE A "RUNNY NOSE": You must ONLY dab at your nose with the napkin as it is used to wipe away any excess food from your skin. IF you must "Blow" your nose excuse yourself and do so in the powde... | 144 |
cwn601 | Is it possible to make store bought soft corn tortillas taste like the ones you get at restaurant/taqueria? I have bought just about every brand of soft corn tortillas I can find. I have tried heating them in a dry pan, in an oiled pan, under the broiler, in the oven, in the microwave, on the grill, etc., and no matter... | All starch gels go through a process called retrogradation as they cool and the structure crystallizes. With wheat starch in bread, this process is reversible. You can reheat a loaf of steal bread and it will soften up and be as tender as fresh (within reason - once it starts to dry out reheating won't add back moistur... | 144 |
z5i73n | How, how, HOW do I get the cheesecake off the base of the springform pan? I love making cheesecakes and they always taste lovely but I can NOT get them off the base. What’s the secret? | Grease and use parchment on the base. If you don't have round parchment, cut a square big enough to fit and just clip the whole thing together with the corners sticking out, then use a very light coating of oil. The oil is likely unnecessary depending on how you're making the crust, but it won't hurt it. | 144 |
ev5uv7 | Anyone ever tried deep-frying raw mushrooms? Like without any batter or breading? I searched online but found no video nor any blogarticle about a raw mushroom deep-frying session... I wonder what they'd turn out like since when you stir or pan-fry 'em, the lose like a shtton of water and eventually turn out brown and ... | To be honest, no, the thought has never occured to me. Mushrooms have a high water content, i'm not sure how they would result id you submerge them in oil. If you try, i'd be interested to hear about the results. Good luck. 👍👍 | 143 |
9cysyi | Can I just throw a bunch of beans, whole grains, and vegetables into a pot with water, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for a few hours to make a soup? Or do certain things need to be cooked for different times/different temperatures? I'd really like to just throw a bunch of various types of dried beans, grains (li... | Short answer: yes. Longer answer: but what you add will vary the amount of time it takes to make and (obviously) how it tastes. Dried beans take just short of forever to cook (AKA, a few hours). Harder raw vegetables will also take a long time, though not usually as long as the beans. Grains usually cook relatively q... | 143 |
gqwau1 | Why is yeast an ingredient in flat foods (ex: Saltine Crackers, waffer cookies, BBQ potato chips)? I thought yeast was just used to make food fluffy. | If you're seeing "yeast extracts" in the ingredients list it's just a way of getting glutamates into food without having "MSG" in the label. Sort of like when you see nitrite-free bacon except they add celery juice, which is loaded with nitrites. People want to think they're staying away from something they perceive ... | 143 |
vndukn | How to shape tofu? Hi, I'm learning how to cook tofu, but i've realised that it's not a fan of being shaped. I wanted to turn it into a pounded chicken fillet type shape but I eventually juts accepted defeat and had tofu chunks. What's the best way to be able to shape tofu, or is this just not possible? Thanks :) | You can't really shape it unless you make it yourself and then press it into a chicken cutlet mold. You're only other option is to, as you guessed, carve it into the shape you want. You might also want to look into textured vegetable protein as that is more shapeable and (often) also made out of soy. | 143 |
n7dolx | Is there a point to getting a wok if you only have access to electric and/or induction ranges? Or should I stick to a carbon steel skillet? Just wondering if gas is necessary to benefit from a carbon steel wok over a skillet, or if the wok itself would provide benefits over skillets even without gas burners. | Jon Kung has a good video on why he uses induction, and uses a cool induction burner designed for a round bottomed wok (https://youtu.be/ooNzRrHA9VY) I find that a flat bottomed wok for me is pretty versatile overall even outside of stir frying. I use it to deep fry, blanch vegetables, it's big enough to fit steamer ... | 142 |
qqaudg | how do restaurants make pizzas to order? so if you make pizza at home you have to leave the dough to rise for ages before you can use it. If I go in my local gastro pub and order a margarita pizza the dough must already be made since it doesn't take hours to make, but does that mean they have to make loads of pizza ... | That's the great thing about pizza dough, it can be refrigerated for several days and pulled out when needed. At a lot of places the dough will be made a day in advance and allowed to slow rise in the fridge, which also helps the dough develop flavor. | 142 |
pyliqk | How can I save my soup? It was French Onion soup but I put in too much Worchestire. What can I turn it into? So, I made the *most amazing* French Onion soup. Carmelized onions, white wine, thyme, salt and pepper.... went to go add the Worchestire & accidentally added too much. I used an adjustable teaspoon/tablespoon... | If you haven’t added bay leaf yet it tells me you’re still not near the finishing stages of the soup and it’s not time to deem the dish ruined. Just add more beef stock, wine, and onions if you have it. I don’t think 1.5 more teaspoon of Worcestershire is enough to ruin a pot of French onion. Seasoning soup isn’t an ex... | 141 |
a6zrab | Cooking risotto for 16 people on NYE need some advice. So im cooking a lobster risotto for the main course on NYE. Ive cooked lots of risotto before but never cooked it for 16, so im curious if theres anything i need to change when cooking it for this many? Also would it work to do it in a pot instead of a pan, or woul... | A couple options for you, both from a restaurant kitchen perspective so take it with a grain of arborio: 1. Use a Rondo, or some other big, wide pan. The more surface area, the better the evaporation/reduction/ cooking process will be. For the most part, a giant pot will be your friend. 2. Par cooking. We will cook our... | 141 |
lbdpqj | Is there a suitable substitute for sesame oil that actually provides the same type of flavor? I love East and Southeast Asian cooking and flavors, but my spouse has developed an anaphylactic allergy to sesame. It seems like nearly every time I want to try a new, authentic recipe, it contains sesame oil. This doesn’t su... | How about roasted peanut oil for some toasty flavors like you would get in toasted sesame oil? | 141 |
ro9zju | Poured boiling water over a raw duck, stank up kitchen, normal? Amateur cook here. I bought a whole duck at the store instead of a whole chicken like I was meant to for Christmas ( in a country where English isn’t written on the labels). Many recipes online says that you should ladle boiling water on a duck before roas... | Duck fat smells kind of bad when you first melt it for frying, kind of a gamey musty poultry smell. It burns off in a few minutes and then it smells like nothing. Duck skin is mostly made of duck fat so that might be what you smelled. | 141 |
yiepn4 | What can I change from my recipe or technique so that my meatballs won't fall apart when cooked? This is the recipe that I use: 1 pound ground beef (80/20) ¼ cup panko bread crumbs ¼ cup onion, finely chopped ½ teaspoon salt 2 eggs I mix them just until uniform, i.e. long enough that there's no longer visible... | A couple things jump out looking at your recipe- * Too much egg. I wouldn't go more than 1 egg per pound of meat. * Not enough salt. 1/2 tsp probably translates to around 3g. You want at least 2x that, or 6g per pound. Generally you want around 1.5% by weight for something like this. Mixing the salt in with the raw me... | 140 |
axfppg | Tipping at Michelin Star Restaurants in Europe Hi all, I will be eating at a 1 Michelin Star restaurant in France in a few weeks. Tipping at restaurants in France is not customary, but does the practice change at this level of eatery? If so, what would be an appropriate tip? Thank you! | It’s included- | 140 |
nwabx8 | I want to challenge myself as a cook. Is there a cookbook with difficult or interesting recipes that would develop and widen my culinary skillset? Just looking to expand my horizons and try to challenge myself more. | If you want a challenge, try tackling all the various doughs for Chinese buns and dumpling wrappers. When I first looked into it, I was shocked at how much variation there is. The main variation is the temperature of the water and the percentage of hydration, which was surprising to me. A hot water dough is not going ... | 140 |
sfnqke | I work in a nursing home and I have a question. So I work in a nursing home and I wanna try and make the residents a home made pot roast. Right now we use this one that comes in a bag, but its just salty as hell and overall not to great. Its not bad, but its not great. I was wondering what would happen if I pre sliced ... | Pot roast needs time to break down the collagen and fat. A tip from a chef who has run too many Sunday roasts to count, cook the roast off, and pre-slice the day before. Then reheat in beef stock. Keeps it moist, you control the portions and it re-heats thru quickly. Also keep in mind that regardless of the palate of ... | 140 |
l4p27m | Red or white wine for my sauce Hi, thinking of experimenting with a sauce. Pork bone stock reduced a little with a few spices and wine, thickened, and a bit of 80% dark chocolate ( I got the idea from a Mexican mole). My question is, should I uses red or white wine? As pork to my culinary education is primarily compli... | Go for the red. I’ve been served red wine as a pairing for pork many times before (though white *is* more common), but I can’t think of a single example where dark chocolate was paired with white wine (even a dessert white wine.) | 140 |
kyelp5 | How to give my tomato sauce a more smokey flavor? This is a super weird question so I apologize in advance. This could be a regional thing, but I have a feeling that it’s not. Where I grew up, like many places, there is an ABUNDANCE of these super old Italian-American restaurants (think wood paneling everywhere and th... | I'm gonna have to agree with blistering the tomatoes (if making fresh tomato sauce) under the broiler for a few minutes first. Barring that, add a few drops of liquid smoke. Personally, growing up in an Italian American family in the eastern US, I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Maybe just smoke a... | 140 |
99khci | Why is it pasta typically boiled in just water, not stock/broth? A lot of people suggest cooking rice in broth to make it better, why not pasta? | Because rice is cooked in a way that the liquid is completely absorbed, whereas noodles need to swim around a bit in the liquid. It's not practical to save or throw away broth that you boiled noodles in. The exception would be noodle soup type dishes where noodles some times are boiled in the broth. | 140 |
rqfz7e | Is cooking eggs on stainless steel without oil or fat even possible? I am curious as I’ve seen the Leidenfrost effect in some videos, but even with they they still use oil or butter before dropping the eggs. I am curious if you can ever get the eggs to avoid sticking without the use of fat | Just an FYI that unless a doctor or registered dietician has told you to eliminate fat from your diet, it's not wise to eliminate fat from your diet. The minimal amount of fat that you need to cook eggs has such a small impact on your diet it's much easier to use fat for eggs and reduce fat intake elsewhere in your di... | 140 |
y7f4d3 | Need help with pizza dough. I'm a cook but not a pro pizza maker. I know that pizza dough must proof in the cooler for 3 days, but I just received a pop-up catering for a pizza party tomorrow and must make the dough now. Any tips or tricks to make the dough proof faster? Or will it be OK after only one night in the fri... | Where did you learn that pizza MUST proof for 3 days? Proof time depends on the type of crust that you're doing, it isn't a blanket 3 days. | 139 |
pgo7g4 | Is there an ingredient that's in most British dill pickles but not American ones (like Clausen)? There's a flavour that I get in store bought UK pickles that I don't get with American ones and I really don't like it. I've been buying random brands hoping to find one that doesn't have that taste, but it would be way eas... | In my experience almost ALL european pickles have sugar added whereas american ones do not unless they are "sweet pickles" Probably the only time the american version has less sugar tbh | 139 |
5wg5qq | I've heard that olive oil should never be used at high-temperature cooking due to the low smoke point and subsequent health risks. Yet, I've seen Gordon Ramsay recommend it in nearly all of his YouTube recipe videos. Can someone clarify this for me? | I believe it's extra virgin olive oil that has the very low smoking point. | 138 |
9z1al1 | I am not sure if this belongs here but what food would you recommend to cook for a vegetarian who is lactose intolerant doesn't eat garlic or onions and has a low appetite? | If a non-expert might chime in, traditional Indian Brahmin food is vegetarian and prepared without onion/garlic. Hing/asafoetida is sometimes used as a sort of substitute. Look up lentil recipes like this one and skip the ghee for regular cooking oil or a [curried vegetable medley] (https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Vegeta... | 138 |
dbktrk | How do I get my roasted cauliflower to be nice and crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside? Basically the title. I've been roasting cauliflower all my life. It's always delicious, but the results are inconsistent. Ideally it would be crispy and slightly burnt on the outside, and soft on the inside, like a crispy... | You need a high enough heat and you need to use enough oil. As /u/jackneefus has mentioned, parcooking can help. It also helps to have the cauliflower in contact with the pan, which means slicing it and placing it cut side down can be good. In general, unless you fry it, there's a limit to how crispy your cauliflower i... | 138 |
6lbhpb | Is maple syrup any healthier than sugar? I've seen it used as an alternative to sugar in recipes that are meant to be healthier, but one serving (1/4 cup) has 50g sugars, which surely cannot be good. Is there any health benefit to using it as a sweetener instead of sugar? | Type 1 diabetic here: It is an ALTERNATIVE to processed sugar. It has just as much sugar and calorie content as cane sugar, beet sugar, honey, corn syrup, agave nectar, etc. Each just has their own flavor, consistency, and best uses. There is no real health benefit to one over another, and certainly none are better... | 137 |
ehw3tt | I am considering culinary school, however I have no sense of smell, literally, I lost it in an accident. Will I be able to be successful? | It will be extremely challenging. Your sense of smell is tied directly into your sense of taste. I’m not saying it will be impossible, but I would recommend evaluating HEAVILY how committed you are to pursuing culinary arts. If this is anything short of the greatest career passion you have, I would recommend exploring ... | 137 |
2vyxfc | May be a stupid question but when leaving a steak to "rest" after cooking - how do you still ensure the steak is served piping hot? | * Cover it with foil while its resting. * Serve it on a warm plate * Top it with hot pan sauce/butter | 136 |
1czl2f | Why does restaurant butter taste so much better than store bought? Every time I got to a restaurant and I get something that has butter on it. the taste is NOTHING like the flavor of the butter I keep in my fridge. My butter is pretty tasteless and ends up being kind of just a lubricant, not something that adds flavor... | Time is the enemy. Restaurants go through a lot of it so it doesn't sit around long enough to start going south on you. * Buy small quantities. Butter oxides and will go rancid before it rots in most cases. * Buy good quality. The bad stuff is cheap but barely suitable to use to lube axles with. * Leave it in the wr... | 136 |
tgdni9 | How do restaurants deal with WOF, or “warmed-over flavor”? I just read an interesting article on Serious Eats about the chemical phenomenon known as “warmed-over flavor,” or ‘WOF’. Essentially, meat that has been cooked, refrigerated and then reheated tends to have a slightly off-putting flavor, which some describe a... | I’m just speculating but I think WOF has a lot to do with air exposure. A good stew can sit literally all day and be fine but drier goods tend to age much more rapidly | 136 |
4svzmt | I live in Ireland, but i like to recreate classic american comfort food. I want to do biscuits and gravy but we don't have that american breakfast sausage over here. Can i make it? I've got the biscuits down, but i can't figure out how to recreate a sausage gravy. While sausages are very popular here, the standard is ... | Sage. The classic is a lot of sage. Fennel in moderation, but that takes it to the Italian side. Here's a basic starting point, for about 1.5kgs of 60/40 pork/belly fat. 2Tbsp Salt 2Tbsp Paprika 2 Tsp Pepper A bunch of fresh sage, or 2 Tsp ground or so. Hot pepper flakes if you want it spicy. Brown sugar or a littl... | 136 |
e1r5bl | How can I brown and crisp up chicken skin without it sticking to my pan? A couple of times now, I've lifted my bone-in thighs to flip them, only for the skin to stay behind... glued to the pan. Anybody have a good technique? | Also, pat the skin as dry as possible with paper towels before adding to the pan. Successful crisping needs moisture control, temperature control, and time. Let the pan heat a bit first, then add your oil. Heat med - med high. You want to hear a sizzle when the skin hits the pan but you don’t want to scorch it. Don... | 136 |
jhciv6 | I made a very concentrated, somewhat bitter cherry butter. Will it burn/turn more bitter in the oven? I made a cherry butter (as in apple butter, no dairy) in my slow cooker, with brown sugar and essence of almond. It’s tasty, although a little on the bitter side (which is nice on its own), and veerrry concentrated and... | Also: if you put it under the skin, drizzle veg oil over yer bird and that'll help keep what's under the oil from burning. Jacques Pepin. | 136 |
jgaebt | I read when using stainless steel to sear something, like skin on chicken breasts, your food will sort of release from the steel and flip easily. At what point does this happen and does the same thing happen with cast iron? I’ve don’t this with bone in skin on chicken breasts many times and it does work, I just don’t k... | Here is the actual why it happens: >Meat sticks during cooking when the sulfur atoms in the protein react with the metal atoms in the pan, forming a strong chemical bond that fuses the meat to the metal. Once the pan becomes hot enough, the link between the protein and the metal will loosen, and the bond will eventual... | 135 |
2l2tiq | Browning ground beef, maximizing maillard? Ground beef is the most common protein I work with, due to the fact that I get it for free from the rancher inlaws. I get it in frozen pound and a half portions, and will generally make some sort of skillet dish with it, preferring that over hamburgers. Up until a couple o... | There is an important lesson here about heat management. When you're browning meat, you're essentially trying to sear a combination of meat, fat, and water. Water boils at 212F, and there's a fair bit of energy required to push water at 212F into water *vapor* at 212F. Maillard reactions (and other browning reactions)... | 134 |
oogtl8 | Why do things burn without oil, but brown with oil? Hi r/AskCulinary. Do you all know why it is that when I cook something like sprouts in the oven, If I add no oil, then they burn/blacken. But If I add some oil to them, then cook at the same temperature for the same time, they brown instead? I know oil is a good condu... | With vegetables, the oil minimizes the release of water and how the cells expand/collapse. Dry roasting allows you to add good oils/seasoning mid or after and it can permeate the veg much more efficiently while maintaining the original integrity of the vegetables flavor. Edit: I AM WRONG | 134 |
nvr07v | When I dry brine meat with salt should I add in my garlic/paprika seasoning mix during the dry brine? When I dry brine meat should I only dry brine it with salt in the fridge or should I add in the garlic/paprika mix? | Try prepping two lots of meat if you've got the time. Do half with the other ingredients and half with salt only, other seasonings added later. Other than that, prep and cook them together so that otherwise they're as close to identical as possible. Don't tell your victims which is which, and have them try both and see... | 134 |
lsada3 | Am I missing something with rum baba? Why not just make a cake? I've always wanted to try Rum Baba, so I made Bruno Albouze's recipe. It was tasty but it got me wondering. Wouldn't you get similar and faster results making a cake and drizzling the servings with rum syrup? A baba takes a long time because you're usin... | To me, the texture and flavor of a baba are totally distinctive. If they weren’t noteworthy for you, a standard yellow cake will certainly do the job, but I suspect you’ll realize the structure doesn’t hold up in the same way. A good baba is slightly springy and resilient, whereas a soaked cake will just be soft and cr... | 134 |
8p533n | Yea or Nay: Pizza Stones I have recently begun making my own pizza dough and don’t know much about the cooking process. So far I am just putting it on a cookie sheet and hoping for the best. My husband said he’s seen baking pans with holes in the bottom that allow the crust to become crispy while in the oven. I went to... | I had a pizza stone that worked pretty well. It gave a crispyish crust. One day it broke in half. In researching a replacement I came across pizza steels. Essentially the same thing only made of steel. In my experience this has worked better. There's a higher thermal mass and conductivity. In short it can delive... | 133 |
vsjazn | How much cinnamon is a cinnamon stick . Whenever I follow a recipe calling for cinnamon, they call for e.g. 1 inch cinnamon stick. The cinnamon sticks we obtain here in the main supermarkets (UK) are almost like thin layers of cinnamon rolled together. When a recipe calls for 1 inch cinnamon stick, does it mean 1 inch ... | 1 inch of the whole roll and 1 entire star | 133 |
zz4e05 | What is the real best practice for purging mollusks? Hope this doesn't run afoul of the food safety rule. I'm not asking this for myself in preparation for cooking, I'm asking this because *the internet in general* is all over the place regarding recommendations. "You can purge them in cold salt water for a few hours... | When I forage for them, I purge them in seawater with an aerator like this for a day. They will absolutely drown/suffocate after a while if the water isn't oxygenated so I like to play it safe. You can simulate seawater by mixing 33-37g of sea salt per 1 liter of water. Make sure the salt has no additives or use real... | 133 |
sca521 | Homemade nutella, do you dissolve the sugar in oil first or make simple syrup or what? My recipe: - 200g hazelnuts - 1 teaspoon sugar (I like to keep it light) - 1 teaspoon seed oil (I add a bit of liquidity) - 1 heap teaspoon of cocoa I want to avoid the grainy texture of sugar so I’m not sure if I should try to mix... | DO NOT USE SYRUP. Most people here are wrong (lol) Your mixture will split and become weird and gloopy as hazelnuts are mostly fat. Fat and water based liquids do not mix!! If you want to avoid the grainyness you either have to have some kind of stone mill or, a simpler solution would be to just use icing sugar. Sour... | 132 |
fsc7tg | Why can't I make a small amount of popcorn? I've been really enjoying popcorn as a snack these days. The problem is, I can only seem to make it well when I use 1/2 cup of kernels, which is more than I usually want to eat. I follow the ratios listed on the package - these ratios change depending on the volume of kernel... | just do it in a heavy bottom pot. I sometimes do 1/3 cup and have no problem-I just use a smaller pot. | 132 |
j3utju | How universal is "sweet dessert"? A radio story about moon cakes in China got me wondering how many cultures serve a sweet dish at the end of a meal. It seems near universal in western cultures, but I'm less familiar with the history of other traditions. Apologies if this is too broad! | In Taiwan, when I was a child, meals were always finished with fresh fruits. While they are definitely sweet, I don't know if they can be classified as dessert. Side note, many people eat fruit with salt or salt mixed with plum powder. Actual desserts were reserved for special occasions like holidays or birthdays, and... | 132 |
jyqgfu | Is it weird that I keep a shaker of cornstarch around to thicken things? Just one of those little shakers normal people use for powdered sugar. | I would recommend you making a slurry to thicken things and not shake cornstarch directly into hot liquid, but what you keep it in hardly matters. | 132 |
izxfhn | What happens to egg white meringue without cream of tartar? Hello everyone. Just like the title says, i'd like to know the effects of not adding any cream of tartar to egg whites? What would be the difference in having it in the mixture and not having it in the mixture? This is for cakes by the way. 🙂 | It acts as a stabilizer, so if you're making meringue to put on top of a pie or for a pavlova, you wouldn't want to skip it. Alternatively you can also use vinegar. For cakes it shouldn't make much difference at all, unless you're making an angel food cake! | 132 |
f9os31 | Why isn't the Michelin Guide Open about their Criteria? Shouldn't reviews/ratings be open to scrutiny if they're inconsistent with their criteria? Wouldn't knowing what the Michelin guide defines as high-level dining lead to more people producing that perceived level of food? It seems rather odd not to be open and ho... | "If a metric becomes a target, it stops being a metric." And we have seen it time and time again that most people rather optimize for a better rating than genuinely try to better themselves. | 132 |
nhrlll | Tips on how to make a fluffy omelette? Everytime I make an omelette it’s flat, thin, and just ok tasting. How can I get a fluffy soufflé like omelette? | Worked 6-6 overnight shift an an omelette shop by the interstate many years ago. We put three eggs on a shake machine. The kind with a propellor on a shaft and a stainless cup. Whip them for a while and they will make an omelette the size of a rugby ball. | 131 |
f89kho | Americans / Mexican Americans of Reddit, any recommendations for a good / authentic Mexican cookbook and / or youtube channel? (FYI english speaking) | The University of Texas San Antonio's library aquired a collection of ~2000 cookbooks from all over Mexico, including handwritten manuscripts from the 1700s, "complete with liquid stains, doodles, and pages that naturally fall open to the most-loved recipes." And, the university is in the process of digitizing it all.... | 130 |
7uruo1 | Do most online recipes understate the amount of spices used? I'm not sure if my taste buds are desensitized or most recipes just understate the amount of spices used. Teaspoon this, teaspoon that, tastes like nothing to me. | I came across a recipe calling for 1/8 tsp cayenne, in a whole pot of stew. One of the comments said it was too much, it made their nose run. I don’t even know where to begin... | 130 |
fjvzc1 | Wedding Cake + Corona virus = novice sibling baker anxiety Hi all, So my sister is getting married in mid April. She can't have vendors help prepare her wedding cake anymore due to county restrictions with the Corona virus. She wants a two tier cake with fondant roses and some sugar work. What tips do you have that yo... | Not sure where you are but you may soon be needing to reschedule the wedding to another time and perhaps by that time a vendor can handle the cake - https://www.vice.com/en\_us/article/epgk9w/the-cdc-says-cancel-your-wedding | 130 |
y5im2b | How to get flavor into a pumpkin as it bakes? I’m working on a recipe for a pumpkin cheesecake baked *inside* a pumpkin, like so [link]. As it stands, I have a delicious, well baked cheesecake surrounded by a somewhat bland baked pumpkin shell. Is there a way to get some flavor into the pumpkin itself? I’ve thought ab... | Speculating here but, Candy it? Make a spiced syrup amybe with some booze and throw it in there on the lowest simmer for a while and dry it out a bit. | 130 |
qqevsj | Do BBQ restaurants have someone watch the food while it smokes overnight? How does that work? Do people constantly monitor brisket for like 12 hours or do they let the smokers go overnight and come back mid-cook? | A Texas roadside place - probably just some dude getting there late at night/very early morning and getting things going. Fast casual BBQ place with their logo on butcher paper: electric smokers on timers, sometimes indoors, vented outside. | 130 |
iddp0r | Why the hell can't I sharpen my knife? I bought a 6.5 inch Miyabi knife a while ago and it's gotten pretty dull. I want to learn to take care of my stuff on my own and would rather not send it off or pay someone else to get it sharpened. So I watched a ton of videos and read up on how to sharpen a knife with a whetston... | Ok, basic tip here: Color the edge of your knife with sharpie, like John from JKI does here. Then do a few strokes on your stone, at the angle you did the previous times. Where the marker gets removed, that's where your stone is removing metal. If it's just a hairline on the very edge, you are at too steep an angle a... | 129 |
xb0a2h | Does that trend of putting a block of cheese in a baking dish whole, then adding noodles and milk and baking, actually work? There is a trend on various social media (and often to be reposted on Reddit to especially r/StupidFood, so this is primarily why I'm asking), where essentially you take a block of cheese, any ch... | Technically yes but why do that when the biggest risk is screwing up the part (pasta) that is the easiest to cook? | 129 |
8qjmhu | I need to create a salad for 75-100 people, can you help me figure out the amount of greens I'll need? I'm going to a large group picnic in two weeks that will have 150-200 people show up. My small group of 15 people has been assigned to bring a salad for half that number (another group is also bringing a salad). My gr... | i work in catering and we always figure .5 oz per person of greens when calculating lettuce / greens for salads that are going on a buffet, because as some other people have said, some will have a full portion but most will not even have any at all. that number seems to work pretty well for us. good luck!!! | 128 |
vw5yuo | How to get more butter flavor My family and I love seafood boils. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit we hit up the local chain (Juicy Seafood) for it a few times a month. I decided that it’s something I can probably make at home and recently made Joshua Weissman’s seafood boil recipe. It was excellent. The balance of spi... | Restaurants use a LOT of butter, quite possibly more than you would ordinarily consider using at home. Might just need to go nuts with it. | 128 |
8vx9z5 | Besides killing parasites and french fries, what foods/ingredients actually turn out / taste BETTER after freezing? Is it safe to say that generally, freezing foods destroys flavour / texture / nutritional value? Is frozen beef always worse than fresh / aged beef? Are there foods or ingredients that actually turn out ... | Thin mints | 128 |
j6xnqi | Is it best to make a cake a few hours before serving or the night before? Is there much a difference? My girlfriends birthday is coming up and I’m making marble cake! I plan to do a good amount of cooking for her birthday dinner or her birthday and was thinking about making the cake a night before but wasn’t sure the b... | i'd recommend making it the night before. cakes have a tendency to get better over night/more moist. also, should you have a baking mishap, you can just make it again and not have to stress about time | 128 |
ulhouf | Why does my garlic always burn? I’m a pretty decent home cook I think but whenever trying out a new recipe that, as an example, tells me to sauté my onions and garlic, I always just sauté the onion and then add the garlic at the very end for about 30sec before adding whatever else comes next. If I don’t do it this way,... | Check out chef Jean Pierre on YouTube he talks about this. Garlic should only be in the pan for a few seconds. As soon as you smell the garlic, add stock, tomatoes, eggs or whatever comes next to slow down the cooking of your precious onions and garlic. | 128 |
2emdyo | When we chop up potatoes etc. to make mash, why don't we cut them up as small as possible so they'll cook quicker? | Increasing surface area will lessen cooking time, but also increase water absorption. Water will cause the potato starch to gelatinize, leaving you with gluey mash. | 128 |
9g6nxl | Is ranch dressing the missing link? Normally I'm pretty indifferent towards ranch, but I was heating up my fancy dinner of leftover burrito stuffing (chicken, rice, salsa) and it looked dryish so I thought, fuck it, and poured maybe a tbsp of ranch in there. I added a little mexican cheese, and everything came togethe... | Ranch dressing has salt, fat, and acid - three flavor enhancers that will perk up flat or dull leftovers. As others mentioned, it has mayo in it so it makes sense. I'll add something like ranch or even just seasoning mixed into mayo if I'm having a sandwich and it's bland or just dry. | 128 |
djjxu8 | What's the best alcohol to use to make vanilla extract at home? The grocery store shelves are starting to fill with Christmas related items, which in my country means vanilla beans too. There's deals like 2+1 free or a great cut on the price. I've been wanting to make my own vanilla extract for years, since I bought a ... | Since you can make it relatively cheaply, I would recommend making 3 varieties: bourbon, rum, and vodka. I think you'll find uses for each. As others have mentioned, don't skimp on the quality of the alcohol. | 127 |
ao2g37 | How do companies like Sweetgreen avoid warmed over flavor with their chicken? And how can I avoid it when making chicken for salads? I often meal prep salads similar to the Harvest Bowl from Sweetgreen, which has roasted chicken cut into cubes. I generally pan cook chicken breasts on a cast iron after pounding them fl... | We actually have a word for this smell/taste in Arabic and it’s huge in the Middle East to the point where it makes me gag if I taste it. One way we prevent it is to make sure we use a good amount zest of a lemon or lime to kill it while preparing the meat. We also take the salt seasoning and rub it on the poultry. Cit... | 127 |
ej6wkn | What's the proper way to cook a poached egg? I have the timing nailed, but the cooking part is a disaster. The egg sticks to the bottom of the pot and occasionally when trying to free it, the yolk pops. OR The egg becomes an ugly blob with a perfectly cooked yolk. OR The pot boils over despite different pots and wat... | Boiling over and sticking to the bottom both sound like too high of heat. Bring the water up to just a boil, then back it off until you see just a bare simmer, occasional bubbles popping. Drain the loose whites in a fine mesh strainer. No need to swirl the water. Use vinegar if you want for flavor. Basically, just fo... | 127 |
rao3au | Should I use extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil for a pan seared steak? I am trying to get down getting a good sear on a beef tenderloin in a stainless steel frying pan. Last time I didn’t get a sear on the steak and think I didn’t get the pan hot enough. Should I use extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil? Any o... | I never use EVOO for high heat applications. Smoke point is too low. It might get bitter. Regular olive oil or really, clarified butter is best. | 127 |
83fsff | Frying a whole raw potato, would it explode? If I were to throw a whole, raw, unpeeled potato in a fryer, would it explode? | More likely achieve that unique state of burnt-yet-raw. | 127 |
vzg4b3 | Screaming hot cast iron on induction I used to have a gas stove but I just moved into a place with an induction cooktop. I have a cast iron skillet and a carbon steel skillet that are my workhorses but they haven’t touched the induction yet. I’m worried about scratches because I’ve damaged an electric smooth-top with m... | I'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but, you are talking about cooking tools here. They are not ornaments to be on display, they are devices which should be relatively robust and able to take abuse. If they are so easily scratched that you can't even move a pan around while cooking then what good are they real... | 126 |
72e9re | Why should I remove the green vein from a clove of garlic? Some recipes call for it, and others do not. Seems like a big waste of time, imo. | I'm confident that the difference between a finished dish with the sprout removed vs. sprout intact is negligible, but the main thing to remember about the presence of green sprouts is that all of that sprouting takes time and energy (sugar) so if you have a sprout inside then it means your garlic has probably been sit... | 126 |
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