Split (1)

train · 95.7k rows

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What are the benefits of Ceylon cinnamon over Chinese cinnamon? I have read that Ceylon cinnamon is sweeter. It is also 3X the price. Is it really worth it? <Q> It also has a different texture (more crumbly) which you may prefer for use in recipes. <S> Chinese cinnamon does have a stronger flavour but some people actua...	They both have a similar flavour but Ceylon cinnamon but your right that it can be slightly sweeter.
Why buy ground cinnamon instead of cinnamon sticks? Ground cinnamon is less expensive then cinnamon sticks. I've read that it is also more flavorful. However, cinnamon sticks last a lot longer. Also, ground cinnamon is likely to have mystery ingredients. Will I (a cinnamon nut) be disappointed if I stock up on cinnamon...	Ground cinnamon will leave a stronger flavour partly because it is left in and possibly due to the flavour extracting easier due to higher surface area and broken structure.
What is the correct French word for brisket? What word can I use to accurately describe brisket of beef in French? I usually go to the butcher with a chart of US beef cuts and point to it but it neer seems to correspond to the same piece. Does anyone know the definitive translation? <Q> It's not that simple. <S> Ever...	Poitrine complète (Full brisket)
Do Raisins Become Stale Do Raisins become stale? What happens to them? How should I store them? <Q> They absolutely do. <S> They're "dried" but they're not really dry. <S> They will continue to dry out until they become grainy and weird. <S> Most dried fruit is this way, with the exception of freeze dried fruit, wh...	Depending on their moisture level when you buy them they will keep for a long time (up to a year)
Cooking corned beef brisket for maximum slice-ability I want to prepare a nice corned beef meal, but I don't know the best way to do it. Last year I did it in a crock pot. It was delicious, but the brisket feel apart so much that the presentation was very lacking. I was unable to slice against the grain (probably ha...	Once it's been brined for a week, I simmer my corned beef in just enough water to cover it, for about 2 1/2 hours, or until it's tender to the fork.
Best method to prepare catfish (very soft flesh)? I live in an area that has some of the best catfishing in the world. Here, they are considered a garbage fish, and no one eats them. I think I would like to try them. What are the best ways to prepare a catfish? <Q> I usually just put the plain filets in the cornmeal...	Dredging in lightly salted cornmeal and then frying (shallow frying is fine, but deep frying is magical) is an absolute classic in the Southern US, where catfish eating is big.
Frying Eggs—Sticking to the Pan I've recently found a recipe that I really enjoy, but it calls for a sunny side up egg. Every time I try to fry an egg in this way it ends up sticking to the pan, the yolk breaks, and it ends up as an eggy mess. I've tried multiple pans including my cast-iron pan, a teflon, pan, and ot...	Keeping the pan at a low heat throughout can help with preventing sticking (although admittedly it makes the egg take longer to cook). I recently switched from standard grocery quality eggs to organic free range and it made a big difference.
Why do my nonstick fry pans 'bow up' and not make good contact with my flat top stove We recently bought a flat top (glass top) stove to replace our standard electric stove with the coiled "eye" heating elements. The flat top is certainly easy to clean, and if you have a boil-over, it does not fill the pan under the bu...	To keep them from warping like your old ones, follow these simple rules: Use a heating element that is at least as large as the bottom plate of the pan.
Getting stains off of a glass top stove I have had a glass top stove for about three years now. I have two spots that have stained black. The stains look like a patch of burnt food, however they are flat to the surface. I have tried to use the white ceramic cook top stuff you can buy (to no avail). I have tried to s...	Instead, pour vinegar onto the stain and sprinkle on the baking soda afterward, or vice versa, and scrub right away while it's fizzing. First of all, razor on glass is a bad idea.
What are some savory banana applications? I have a lot of bananas, but I don't particularly like bananas. I would like to try using them, but I want to use them in a more savory application. I'm not looking to make a dessert or bread with them. How can I use a banana in a savory application and/or what kind of flavo...	Fresh fried Indian style banana chips are incredible with just salt.
How to polish wine glasses if my hand cannot reach in? Washing leaves some stains, which I want to get rid of. It's easy to do with paper towel on the outside, but inside the glass it's a problem. <Q> Wine Enthusiast (and probably many other places) sells a couple of sizes of very soft brush for cleaning wine glasses. ...	Clean the glass with warm water and a cloth (try bunching the cloth up in order to clean the hard to reach places, the vinegar should have loosened the stains). I'd say your best bet is a soft brush or
How to prevent watery spaghetti squash I've tried using spaghetti squash as a substitute for pasta a few times, but every time I do the dish ends up really watery. I've been roasting the split squash for about 45 min in the oven, then scraping out the flesh and then mixing it with my sauce. When I first shred the fle...	I wouldn't recommend just taking the squash out before it's done and letting it finish in the sauce, since as it's cooking, it releases water, which would be lost in the oven, but would thin the sauce if it's cooking in the sauce pan. I recently cooked spaghetti squash for around 45 minutes in the oven at 350 and it co...
Difference between chicken and duck eggs? Our local Korean grocery store carries duck eggs in addition to chicken and quail eggs (both of which I've eaten). What differences should I expect if I buy the duck eggs and use them in egg dishes such as scrambled eggs? <Q> I ran across a good resource while looking into duck...	Duck eggs can produce a slightly gooier scrambled egg mixture.
Does milk matter to achieve the perfect latte? Does milk matter to achieve the perfect latte? Milk is an important ingredient of every espresso latte. Even though I believe coffee bean is the most important ingredient, most people put emphasis in milk. Could someone point out the reasoning between the different ty...	At the end of the day, a latte will be delicious with any type of milk if prepared correctly.
Do you need to cook a casserole with raw eggs before you freeze it? I made a casserole yesterday that contains cooked pasta, cooked quinoa, dairy products, spinach and raw eggs. It is assembled and the baked at 350 for 30 minutes. I am planning on making it again this weekend to freeze. Since the only raw ingredient i...	I've seen plenty of recipes that have raw egg in them that say it;s fine to freeze them. So yes, I'd say freeze it as soon as possible.
How long does pancake batter last in the fridge? I'm making a packet mix of pancake batter that doesn't lend itself to partial mixes - it's hard to split "1 egg" as an ingredient. How long would pancake batter last in the fridge? Even if it's a worst case of a day or two, I'd still like to know. <Q> Bisquick-originat...	You're probably better off to make all your pancakes and then refrigerate the leftover pancakes. Don't count on the batter lasting very long.
Uses for radish and turnip greens? Got a lovely bunch of radishes and turnips from the farmer's market, giant mass of greens included. Can I use the greens for anything aside from compost? Are they edible? Worthy of salads? Stir-fry? <Q> The smaller baby leaves are good for salads since they have a milder flavor a...	Turnip greens are a very common food in Southern US cooking.
How to get rid of weevils? At first I thought they are plain moths, until I noticed some larvae climbing towards the ceiling, always in the kitchen. I made an inventory and discovered a package of hazelnuts which contained more larvae and excrement than hazelnuts. I threw away all open nuts, grains, flour and chocolate...	In addition to throwing things away as needed and using the pheromone traps, cleaning the pantry thoroughly once a week with hot water and a disinfectant (both shelves and outside of containers) helps. I think you are going about things the right way: traps and closed containers.
How can I know whether a potato is too old? I have many kilograms of potatoes that are turning bad, I don't want to throw them away. The term "turning bad" means that the best-before days on the products vary between 1-4 weeks i.e. they are old from 1 week to 4 weeks. Some of them taste bitter, some of them taste goo...	In my experience, soft potatoes aren't necessarily bad, it merely means they will be bad soon.
How can I prevent simple syrup from crystallizing? When I store it in the refrigerator, my simple syrup always seems to crystallize. How can I prevent this? How long should I expect simple syrup to keep? <Q> There are a couple of things you can do to prevent sugar crystallising. <S> You can add some glucose syrup, or...	Also, make sure that there are no crystals when you put it in the refrigerator, they act as seeds on which more crystals grow.
What are the functions of vinegar in cooking? I have used vinegar for flavor as a substitute for salt and noticed that it is used in salads, not sure why perhaps as preserver/flavour. But I have never realized that it could be used in much more like a thing to avoid potatoes turning mush, comment here . So what are th...	You can also use vinegar to preserve things like cucumbers.
Can I substitute Soy Milk when a recipe for cooking (not baking) calls for regular (or 2%) milk This question asks the question for baking. For for regular stove-top cooking, will it work. Other than minor adjustments for cooking time. EDIT 3/22/11: the specific items I am making are white sauce for pasta, mashed p...	Soy has almost as much protein as regular milk and slightly less fat that 2% milk.
Why does bread taste raw if you stop baking it and continue after it has cooled? Unlike, for example, almost anything that is made on the stove and even cakes (of course, as long as your cake doesn't fall as you take it out of the oven), if you stop baking a loaf of bread for some reason before it's thoroughly cooked i...	Parbaking can work quite nicely, but I would venture that if you find your bread to taste "off" after parbaking, you should adjust your initial cook time.
What is a good pine nut substitute for pesto? I'm allergic to pine nuts, is there another nut I can use to make pesto? <Q> Almonds and walnuts are good alternatives as they have a similar texture and relatively subtle flavour. <S> I'd go with almonds personally, as walnuts can be a little bitter. <A> It's not even nece...	I normally use toasted walnuts, but have had success with macadamia nuts as well.
Why does fondue sometimes "curdle" and what can I do to prevent it? Once when I was making a pretty standard fondue (50% gruyere, 50% emmenthal, white wine) the cheese somehow "curdled" and became a mix of a slightly fondue-tasting liquid and a rubbery ball of cheese, completely useless for fondue purposes. Why and ho...	The key to success is to choose a wine that is not too "dry", heat it first to drive off the volatile acids and then gradually add the grated cheeses while stirring constantly.
Cooking beef: how to make it tender? I have been trying to sauté beef and make pan sauces, but the meat seems to always become somewhat dry and chewy. How do I avoid this? I have the same issue when stewing beef in a slow cooker or dutch oven. <Q> The cut is important for both techniques. <S> For sauteing, you need a l...	If you've a lesser quality cut of meat then long braising will render it tender...
How to prepare mutton so it's not tough? I had a mutton shoulder and I wanted to prepare it in a way which imitated to some point doner kebab , so the meat was sliced into thin pieces and fried on a pan. However it was a bit tough. I'd marinaded the meat for 24h in sour milk and spices - it didn't help much. The mea...	Make small cuts in the meat and really massage the spices in.
Why are my homemade lobster rolls so much worse than those at the restaurants whose recipes I'm using? I lived in NYC for many years and love(d) the (mayo-style) lobster rolls at Pearl Oyster Bar and Mary's Fish Camp - big chunks of lobster meat in a simple-seeming mayo-based dressing on buttery toasted hot-dog buns. R...	It's also possible that a particular type of lobster or size of lobster is more or less sweet.
How do I use a convex crepe pan? I picked up what I believe to be an old cast iron Crêpe pan at the thrift store. I made a batter, and its consistency seems like what I made in the past when using a frying pan. This time, however, I can only get these octopus looking things, or worse, batter all over the stove top. Th...	As far as I can tell what you don't do is pour the batter onto the pan.
How to cook insects? I love touring and I am trying to cut my dependency on my protein sources such as soy powder, beans and other supermarket stuff. Touring is a bit like camping but with longer distances and a bike. So how do you cook insects? How can I know whether insects are edible? Is it possible to eat all types...	Every country has some edible insects. You can toast them, fry them, grind them and mix with other stuff, etc.
Do lentils need to be soaked? Everything I have read says that you do not need to soak lentils like you would beans. Unfortunately the last several times I have cooked lentils they have seemed a little chalky. Should I be soaking my lentils before I cook them? <Q> No, it's not necessary. <S> You can do it, and if y...	Soaking expands and softens the lentils, which may be the effect if you're going for something like dal (yellow lentils).
Is there a lamb dish that is as easy to prepare as steak? I need to cook a romantic dinner and my wife wants lamb, which I've never cooked before. Usually I make us steaks in a cast iron - it's easy, tasty and quick. Can I do something similar with lamb? What is the name of the cut I need to buy? <Q> You want the ones ...	In the UK I'd use a cut called lamb leg steak, as you can prepare it in a similar way to beef steak.
How do I use whole fresh tamarind? On a whim I bought some tamarind at the grocery store this week. I'm most familiar with it from the dish Pad Thai . My idea at the time was that I would "do something" with it and a pork chop . Pork chops being my canvas of choice for much experimentation. However I'm now stumped...	Tamarind is used in a lot of Southeast and South Asian cooking.
Cookie Biscuits: What happened? My wife made some chocolate chip cookies tonight using the same recipe she has for years; it's the one on the back of the Tollhouse Chocolate Chips bag. The only modification she makes to the recipe is that she uses half the butter, which ends up being only a half cup instead of a whole....	Overmixing (i.e. by using an electric mixer) is a common problem with cookies but the symptom of that is a hard and gritty cookie that doesn't rise - not one that rises too much and has unbaked flour in the center.
Is sarsaparilla used in cooking? I love the taste of sarsaparilla. It's a key flavor in root beer, and I know Aviation Gin has some in it, but I've never seen it used in a food. Are there any ways to cook with it? <Q> You can make a great great BBQ sauce with: <S> Some sarsaparilla (..or root beer) Pureed, draine...	I've used sarsparilla as a liquid for cooking rice in.
What can I do to add more flavor into my beef barley soup? This time around my beef barley soup is tasting a bit on the plain side. It has the right amount of saltiness but is lacking in the flavorful department. The ingredients used thus far have been: Beef Stock, Water, Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Seasoned Pepper, Ro...	One way to boost flavour would be to roast some beef bones till they brown a little (you can get bones from your butcher) and then cook them with your soup. If you don't mind changing the flavour, you can 1) add other herbs (they need to be fresh, dried ones should have cooked a bit).
Making bread dough in the bread maker and baking it in the oven I am in the process of making bread in the bread maker, but I want to try to bake it in the oven. I am just making white bread. What temp and how long would you recommend baking the bread? <Q> General answer: for bread in a bread pan, 350°F until 195°–205°...	Bake bread at 350 degrees for 25 minutes for a light crust.
Methods for seasoning wooden spoons? Any tips for seasoning wooden spoons? I found a couple different methods on the web but they vary quite a bit. What I've done so far is to sand the new spoons starting with 280, then 320, and finally 1000 grit sandpaper. Then I put it in water to raise the grain and sanded some m...	Here's what I did: Sand with progressively finer grits up to about 1000 grit Wash VERY well to remove sawdust Melt paraffin wax in a double boiler and repeatedly soak in the wax, allow wax to drip off and utensil to cool, and then soak again I am in favor myself of using a flaxseed oil to season the wood for a few reas...
Can I substitute mint tea for fresh mint? I've been interested in making tabouli, but the "fresh mint" part is incredibly expensive where I live. Since I have a huge bag of loose leaf mint tea (nothing but mint), I was wondering if I could use that instead. Would that work? I assume adding the boiling water to it will ...	So while you can use dried spearmint instead of fresh mint, using mint tea is a bad idea, unless yours happens to be an exception made from spearmint.
Is it bad to marinate meat for too long? From my experience it is always best to marinate meat for a decent amount of time, so the meat can "soak" up the marinade and be more flavourful. However, I came across this recipe here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s2264630.htm In the directions, it says: Add po...	If the marinade includes a meat digesting enzyme such as papain then leaving it too long could turn the meat to mush.
How to serve oranges so it is easy for guests to enjoy them? Usually I just cut them into 6 pieces (see image), but it's kind of messy to eat them this way. Is there a better way? <Q> For special guests you can 'segment' citrus, but I've always found it a thankless chore that wastes a lot of fruit, so I don't underta...	I usually cut all of the rind off.
What oil is best for seasoning a cast-iron skillet I just cleaned up a rusty cast-iron skillet and I would like to season it. The thing is that I don't have lard handy and I'm wondering whether any of my other oils and fats would do. I have: canola, olive, sesame and almond oil. Also, I've heard that appying the oi...	If you can find soybean oil it would be even better.
How to stop my cupcakes from sticking to their cupcake wrappers? I have found that every time I make cupcakes (or muffins, cornbread & hot dog muffins, etc) that the paper liner sticks to the finished cupcake. I know its not me because the Tim Hortons 'muffins' also stick to their liners. How do I fix this? <Q> Isn't ...	My muffin recipe calls for melted butter, so I brush a little into the bottom of the wrappers and up the sides a bit. You don't need to buy paper cupcake liners everytime because silicone cupcake liners are reusable and easy to clean.
Trick to keeping guacamole from turning brown Is there anything you can add to a guacamole recipe to prevent it from going brown so quickly? Or a specific way to package it for very short-term storage (usually only about two days). I tend to make large batches when I do make it, and by the next day its already lookin...	I use lots of lemon juice (1 whole lemon per avocado) and add coarsely ground sea salt and black pepper and eat it by the spoonful, yummo!
Can I store extra pizza dough in fridge? I kneaded some pizza dough and it turned out that I have done this double the amount I wanted to. This is my first time. Can I store this dough in fridge? And for how many days? <Q> Yes, you can store it for about a day in the fridge. <S> Let it warm up again before you cook it ...	Yes, the colder the fridge, the longer you can keep the dough in the fridge.
Advice on preparing/incorporating sprouts in salads? Alfalfa/Bean sprouts can have a strong taste or they are too firm to chew on easily. I tried adding salt or salty ingredients with some success to soften the sprouts and reduce bitterness. What is your advice for combining them in salads? <Q> I'm going to guess that ...	You may want to try germinating your own sprouts.
What should I look out for when creating my own beef jerky marinades? I have had some success with making beef jerky at home in my food dehydrator. I would like to try and start experimenting with some original recipes. A whole host of questions: What sorts of ingredients can I use in my marinades? Does it matter h...	Salt (or soy sauce, same thing) isn't required for the drying process but it is important for long term preservation.
Spice rack/cupboard for kitchen with lots of spices? My wife and I really enjoy cooking, so we have tons of spices. I understand it's best to keep them in the dark, so we thought we might like a spice cupboard. Probably 50 or so spices; they don't need to stay in their own container necessarily, though that would be e...	I find that round containers about an inch tall and two inches across are great, and easily available where I live.
Is nigella oil (black cumin or black caraway) aromatic? I have a weak spot for aromatic oils. Not essential oils, but the cooking oils like hazelnut oil and avocado oil. I love making dishes where they are the primary flavour component (e.g. a veloute sauce poured over something bland). Just now, I was shopping in a ...	It has a very strong aroma, more similar to fresh carrot than to black caraway seeds. It is supposed to be fairly aromatic, though bitter; can't say as I've tried it - and at that price, am unlikely to do so!
Cooking a Turkey crown I have a question about roasting a turkey crown. I've seen plenty of advice on cooking a whole turkey, but nothing on turkey crowns. Does the same advice for whole turkeys apply to crowns? Cooking it upside down to let it self baste, rubbing butter under the skin, covering with bacon, et cetera...	If you want crispy skin, dry the turkey after brining and let sit in the refrigerator for a while (hour or more).
Baking bread with spelt flour, without using a bread pan I ran out of "normal" wheat flour a few days ago, so I had to bake my bread with the closest thing - spelt flour. I noticed the dough was a lot stickier than when using wheat flour, and when baked, the bread came out flat (like a thick pancake). The taste was fi...	The recipes I have seen use a mixture of flours that includes spelt.
Why does my chard taste bitter when I cook it? I've tried cooking it in various ways, but it always ends up tasting bitter. What am I doing wrong? I'm using fairly young chard (homegrown), using the whole leaves. <Q> You can't really change that with cooking technique alone, but you can: <S> Use older chard, which t...	Your chard most likely tastes bitter because chard is bitter .
Pan-fried hamburgers, what temperature? I am trying to cook hamburgers in a 12" pan on my stovetop. I am attempting to replicate some hamburgers I have had at a "local" place around here (read: 1.5 hours away), where the burgers are not well-formed patties but kind've jagged patties that get nice and crisp and also are...	You want your pan to be as hot as possible.
How to prevent pizza dough from stretching back I have a problem with my pizza dough. I start to shape it but it is somewhat difficult to make it bigger and thinner because the dough stretches back to its initial form. Any ideas? <Q> Funny enough I was until recently working under a certified pizzaiolo. <S> Are you al...	Use 100% wholemeal flour and process in a food processor with a chopping blade (this trick doesn't seem to work as well for bread) I usually rest for 8~12 hours at room temperature, but I use strong flours (and usually, but not always, with a "right" p/l value). Add some acid to the dough
Why did my roasted butternut squash ferment? I roasted some butternut squash, then stored it in the refrigerator for a few days before I had time to puree it all. When I pureed it I discovered that it had fermented. What caused this to happen? It smelled and looked fine, but the bag I stored it in kept puffing up an...	Could be that it picked up yeast or some kind of fermenting bacteria from contact with your hands, or even from the air through spores.
Can I use fresh okara without cooking it? I started to experiment with home-made soy milk, which means that I have a lot of okara and I am looking for various ways of using it. I grind the soy beans before boiling the milk, so that the okara I get comes from the beans that have just soaked in water overnight and boiled...	It should be cooked into something.
Substitute for sesame oil (sesame allergy) My family eats a lot of stir fries and sesame oil is a critical ingredient in many of them. Unfortunately, my wife is allergic to sesame so we need an alternative. Has anyone had success recreating the sesame oil flavor with a non-sesame-based food? <Q> Sesame oil has such a...	You might also consider substituting a nut oil such as walnut oil for some of the rich flavor of sesame oil.
How is beer classified into different types? How is beer classified into different types? Can the types of beer be arranged in a hierarchy with "ales" and "lagers" at the top? Are there beers that do not fall under either category or some that fall under both? What are the divisions under these categories? What ar...	There are dozens of styles of ales and lagers and a few different lambics, but the method of fermentation is the main distinguishing characteristic between the three types.
Do some fish smell "fishier"? Why? I've heard some say that fish only smells offensive if it's old. But my experience suggests that some fish, like salmon, are simply "fishier" and that the smell can put some people off. Is that right? If so, is there a simple explanation for the smell, or does it vary according to spe...	Oily fish like salmon, tuna , mackarel are kind of oilfish type, rich omega 3 oils, smell more fisher than other fish /white fish like snapper, cooking methode for this kind of fish to reduce the smell is grill, cold sashimu ...
Cleaning a food processor A family member of mine passed away many years ago (15-16 years) and had a lot of cooking gadgets. Well, recently I've been becoming more interested in cooking and have acquired a few of these tools. This weekend I found a food processor in the box wrapped up. I asked my parents about it an...	If it looks clean and it's been sitting in a box I would just run it through my regular washing routine. Depending on what model it is the gears, bearings and bushings will be packed with grease (often silicone based) and these will have most likely dried out to some degree Using it without checking these could cause m...
What different uses do we assign to salted butter vs. unsalted butter? What different uses do we assign to salted butter versus unsalted butter? <Q> Salted butter is good only for spreading on toast. <S> In all other cooking applications, without exception, you want to use unsalted butter. <S> For one, the addition of ...	Salted butters vary in the amount of salt they contain, so when cooking you should use unsalted butter and control the salt level yourself.
Need to refrigerate vinaigrette? I've made a red-wine vinaigrette dressing using olive oil (which makes up the majority of the dressing), red wine, garlic, and basil. My problem is that whenever I take it out of the refrigerator, especially when it gets low, the olive-oil leaves it practically solid. I understand that...	If you leave it for 30 minutes you will find the crust breaks down and it returns to its original consistency and is ready to use.
Tricks to ensure Mailliard/Browning reaction? Seems like a question that would've been asked before, but I couldn't find a pre-existing question. Sorry if this is a duplicate. Anyway, I do a lot of stir-fry, usually with chicken. My usual method -- I cube the chicken, then brinerate it in soy sauce, brown sugar, a b...	Many stir fry dishes actual call for pre-cooked protein, such as roast Chicken/Duck or deep fried Tofu. In Asian stir fry dishes, if the protein components are stir fried from raw they do not undergo large Maillard reactions Short of buying a professional wok burner (which would likely require expensive ventilation upg...
When is best to apply sauce on to BBQ chicken? I'm cooking a full chicken divided into 8 pieces... When is the best time to put sauce on chicken cooked on a BBQ? Is it better to do it after it sits for a while on the BBQ?Is it better to let it sit in the sauce over night? <Q> If you let it sit in the sauce overnight ...	With that in mind, the best time to sauce a grilled (BBQ) chicken is after it's cooked, or more precisely, when it's nearly cooked.
A proper way to cook Mi Goreng noodles? I've purchased a 30 pack box of these delicious noodles and I'd like advice on how to cook them properly . From past experiences, I've either used too much water which made them soggy and very soft which doesn't retain the Thai flavor. So any advice would be nice (how much water...	My favorite way (and I think the best way) to prepare these noodles is to first boil the noodles for just over a minute
Why is my sushi rice too sticky? I'm on a quest of learning how to prepare a more than edible sushi. I figured that with enough practice I can achieve the goal of being able to make sushi. The most important part of sushi as I see it is the rice, and that's where I'm not really sure what I am doing wrong. Although I'm...	For sushi rice, chewiness can be increased by reducing the amount of cooking water .
Egg Substitutions in a Quiche I'd like to make a quiche this weekend (for the first time!), but I really want to reduce some of the fat and cholesterol due to health issues. Can I use an egg substitute (one of those that comes in a carton) instead of whole eggs in a quiche? <Q> I'm not really sure why you would want to...	Egg substitutes simply don't have the same flavour or richness.
What other cut of meat can replace pork shank? I have really been wanting to trying this recipe Braised Pork Shanks with Mushroom Dumplings , but I have not been able to obtain pork shanks. Can another cut of pork meat be used instead? I was considering using pork shoulder. <Q> You will probably have to alter your c...	You could probably get away with pork shoulder, although you will want to consider that the texture may not be what you want -- it may either have too much fat and connective tissue, or it may fall apart too much, depending on how long you braise it for.
What is the egg mixture used in gratins called in English? This is one of these weird cases of synchronicity. I was wondering today how it is called in English. Then I answered a question , and needed the word for the answer. The dishes I mean may not always be called gratins in English, sometimes they are called st...	I would call it a custard, I think, if not only for want of a better word.
Tips for remembering recipes I often find myself remembering the ingredients that go in a recipe, but forgetting the exact amounts. Are there some tricks/tips that professional cooks use to help them remember recipes so they don't have to keep their eyes glued to a recipe list? Thanks! <Q> If you know what determines...	The best way to remember a recipe is to understand the relationships between the ingredients.
is there a downside to using a wood mortar and pestle? I bought a wooden (uhh, stained bamboo?) mortar and pestle today at an asian supermarket. I liked it because it looked nice and it was pretty large, especially for the price. I was also thinking that the larger size would help with peppercorns not flying out of it ...	It is going to be difficult to clean, and that wood stain might come out into the food - whatever the stain is.
How long does uncooked meat last when kept in the freezer? Chicken, beef, or even shrimp? How long can I keep it there before it goes bad? <Q> If it is sealed in an air tight container and the freezer always stays very cold so the meat never thaws- <S> then chicken and beef will stay good indefinitely. <S> I have use...	Meat which has been packed using cryovac will keep safely and maintain good texture and flavor for several years based on my personal experience.
What type of noodle and sauce is used to making Thai Drunken Noodles? I LOVE drunken noodles from Thai food restaurants, but am never able to find those wide, thin noodles in the markets and don't know what they're called to ask. Also, what sauce is used in drunken noodles? I assume there is some type of alcohol in it,...	With regards to the sauce, from my understanding, Drunken Noodle is just spicy Pad Thai.
Is asparagus generally recognized as the best vegetable, and why? In Germany, everybody knows that asparagus is "the king of vegetables", especially the white variety. When the season starts, there is an asparagus craze, spilling over to unexpected areas like fashion advertising. It costs more than the other vegetables...	Don't really like to define one vegtable as better than another, but Asparagus has always had a reputation as a luxury item.
Can I can vegetables using sous-vide? My girlfriend and I were talking about the summer produce season approaching and hit on the idea of canning sous-vide. That is, rather than sterilizing by high heat for a short amount of time, you could sterilize with low heat for a large amount of time with a sous-vide setup. Part...	Low heat pasteurisation is common in the food processing industry.
How to strain yogurt What is the best method for yogurt straining? cheesecloth? yogurt strainers? coffee filters? I appreciate it if you could share your experience. <Q> Yogurt is a protein mesh that traps the rest of the milk components. <S> Many of the trapped components are water soluble- <S> in particular un-denatu...	I have tried the paper towel in colander and it works great. I use sturdy mesh cloth from the remnants pile at the fabric store.
What kind of cheese does Pizza Hut or Domino's use? I have been experimenting with Pizza and cakes. I can easily purchase mozzarella in India and have been using it for pizza, but it doesn't come close to the cheese Pizza Hut or Domino's use. Do they use some special cheese? I would like to experiment with cheese. I no...	Dominos uses a mix of cheese, made up of mozzarella, Pecarino, Parmesan, and asiago cheeses.
Amount of Chocolate-chips in a Chocolate-chip cookie? I've been making chocalote chip cookies for a while and I just can't decide how many chocolate chips to put in each cookie. So maybe once and for all I can get a good answer to the question: What is the best percentage of chocolate-chips for a chocolate cookies? An...	I tend to put as many chocolate chips as it takes so that some of them fall off when mixed with the dough.
How do you safely bring ingredients normally stored cold to room temperature? Many recipes call for ingredients that are normally stored cold to be at room temperature at the time of use. One example is a cake recipe, which often calls for all ingredients (milk, eggs, etc) to be at room temperature. What is the safe ...	There should be no problem leaving milk, and most other ingredients, out for an hour or two at room temperature.
What rules should I follow for improvised food recipes that aren't dangerous? Sometimes when we arrive home, we are so tired and hungry and I am at a loss in terms of what to make. Often, I just want to mix all the things in the refrigerator and boil them or fry them and mix with spice and lemon. Without concerning ans...	As long as you are following food safety rules, any standard grocery store ingredients should be fine. -Using parts of a plant or animal, bought un-pared, that aren't supposed to be eaten (eg the wrong parts of rhubarb).
What is a good side dish for a freshly boiled lobster? I plan to boil a fresh lobster. Serving it only with melted butter and lemon seems like not enough. What would be a good side dish for it? <Q> You will want side dishes that will not overcome the taste of the lobster. <S> Steamed or grilled asparagus with just th...	Bread, garlic butter, salad, maybe grilled potatoes and asparagus (not my favourite food, but the neutral taste and texture would go with the subtlety of lobster).
Flavour matching with espresso in baking I am trying to create a few new recipes and I am stuck on what other ingredients (flavours) would go well with espresso in a baked item. <Q> Diane, You may want to consider flavors that are existing compliments to coffee. <S> Think of the many syrups that are available at yo...	Things that easily come to mind are chopped hazelnuts or almonds, caramel frosting/icing, cinnamon and nutmeg as spices, chocolate chips or cherries.
Can you make chocolate from coffee beans or coffee from cacao beans? Coffee and cacao beans have some properties in common. I'm wondering can you make something akin to chocolate from a coffee bean or something like coffee from a cacao bean? "Brewed Chocolate" seems like a no-brainer. In fact, I found this brand which...	If you love coffee so much that you want to try a coffeeolate bar, you are better off making coffee flavoured chocolate.
How can I extract palm sugar from a container? I have a plastic tub with a screwtop lid, full of palm sugar. It's a 500g tub, about 10cm high and about 10cm diameter. Usually I buy the individual cubes of palm sugar and this time I thought I'd cut down on packaging and buy the bigger size, but now I have a problem. ...	Bore a hole, and then use the corkscrew to pull the sugar out in one piece. It sounds like gouging and digging are your main options.
Ideal fridge temperature accounting for temperature spikes I've read the question on the ideal fridge temperature , but am asking a more involved question about a baseline temperature and temperature spikes. How will a few hours each day at 10 C effect the contents of the fridge? What about two smaller spikes to 7 C? ...	Another possibility to consider would be adding ice blocks from a freezer during the times you want to not be running the compressor.
Can water in which pasta was cooked be used to make gravy? After boiling pasta and setting the water in which the pasta was boiled aside I noticed that after the water cooled it thickened. It sort of has the consistency of gravy. Would I be able to make gravy with this instead of using starch? <Q> No you would not. <S>...	If you want to get clever though, I can definitely say you can make gravy with pasta water.
Good breads for evening cooking? Are there good bread styles or techniques for baking bread in the evening after a day at work? Specifically, there's a couple of us who have taken to bringing food for a meeting every couple of weeks, and I tend to do the breads while someone else makes soup or a casserole. I know I c...	Yes, the no-knead bread recipes work great.
What material is best for a pour over coffee brewer? Pour over coffee will be my next venture in the coffee world, and I'm trying to decide between ceramic and plastic. The ceramic devices are much more expensive, and I'm hoping to understand if there is a justification for the extra expense. <Q> Ceramic will - if preh...	Plastic filter-holders and paper filters have the advantage of not costing much so you can have one at home, one at work, one anywhere else you want...
Does the "German" in "German chocolate cake" refer to the chocolate or the cake? A friend insists that the "chocolate" is the German part of German chocolate cake, the evidence being that there are no palm trees in Germany (for the coconut frosting). Is this correct? <Q> A Baker's (now owned by kraft foods) employee na...	I believe the "German" refers to the last name of the inventor of a type of sweetened chocolate.
How can I bolster up a boxed cake mix? Is there anything I can add to/change about a store bought white or yellow cake mix to take it from ordinary to extraordinary? <Q> There are a couple of cookbooks by Anne Byrn who has built a franchise on this subject. <S> Her best known book (and the one I have) is titled The C...	Using different spices, maybe a pumpkin pie spice added to vanilla cake, will give your cake a completely new and interesting flavor.
What are the advantages of a two-day braise? I'm going to braise short ribs for a dinner party this weekend. The recipe suggests braising the ribs for four hours, then refrigerating overnight. The next day, the directions say to skim off the fat that forms on top of the liquid, reheat, and serve. What are the advantag...	After the meat is cold, it will become more solid, making it easier to remove bones, slice the meat, and skim the fat.
Is this a true? You should use garlic with pork and ginger with beef and never vice versa? "You should use garlic with pork and ginger with beef and never vice versa." This is coming from my dad who says that fact has been handed down from generations and generations of Chinese cooking. He says if I mix it (i.e. co...	I guess its up to your personal preference, there are a lot of beef dishes with garlic and one good example is beef and broccoli also with pork most of the Asian stir fries uses pork and ginger
Do bakeries generally knead dough for bread by hand or use a machine? Question is in the title - if anyone has experience working in a bakery that would be great. Thanks! <Q> Most small bakeries use small rotary mixers (like a Kenwood that stands as high as a man) that handle batches up to about 100lb - using a dough h...	Given the high volume required for commercial bread making, I doubt any except the small mom and pop shops still knead dough by hand.
Why is my icecream bitter? I am new to making homemade ice cream. I just started to feel confident with plain vanilla, so it was time for the next step - adding fruit. The custard recipe says it can be turned into fruit ice cream by adding 30g pureed fruit per yolk. I looked into the basket for a fruit likely to make...	If there was noticeable bitterness beyond what you tasted in the raw fruit, it was probably just because you got a concentrated dose of it in puree form.
How to cook sausage? I never cooked "real" sausages before. Now I have several kinds of sausages: chorizo, merguez, and chicken. I have only a couple of each and a big electric pan. How do I cook them? Should I add water? How long? <Q> Sausages are pretty forgiving. <S> As long as you don't burn them or leave the cent...	If you're doing it on the stove, I'd brown them first in a little (very little) oil, then add some water, or beer, or wine, or whatever you happen to have (not much - just enough to cover the bottom), cover, reduce the heat, and simmer until done.
What kind of alcohol has least carbohydrates? I'm looking for types of alcohols which have least carbohydrates. I'm looking for more of a ranking than just a single one, as it would be clean spirit, wouldn't it? The general idea is to know what to choose over what when I want to limit carbohydrates and have a drink. ...	While ethanol is not, strictly speaking, a carbohydrate, I'd consider the effect of the alcohol itself.
The way to cook vegetables that keeps most of the nutrients What is the way to cook vegetables that keeps most of the nutrients? <Q> I prefer the microwave oven - you can cook vegetables in the quickest time in the minimum amount of water. <S> More taste even than steamed veg! <A> It depends upon the vegetable in que...	Generally speaking, steaming is best as the nutrients largely remain in the vegetables.
How can I make my lemonade more tart/tangy? I'm making lemonade, but no matter what ratios of lemon to sugar I use, I can't get that tartness and tang that I can taste in my favourite commercial drinks. I noticed that even with drinks that don't have a citrus flavour, they sometimes have that tartness, so I examined th...	Just experiment with small amounts of citric acid. You can also add ingredients which are by themselves astringent. Another way you can achieve it is fermentation.
Re-use rice for multiple batches of horchata? After a making a batch of horchata , I always feel wasteful throwing away all of the uncooked rice. Can it be re-used for another batch, or has it given up its good flavors? If not, are there any other uses for it? <Q> I just made horchata for the first time. <S> It turn...	You could switch to a recipe that uses all of the rice, instead of just infusing it.
How do you ensure a tortilla keeps all its contents when making a burrito? What's the best technique to tuck or close the tortilla when preparing a burrito so that it doesn't come undone when it's time to eat? <Q> Folding a burrito is serious business. <S> Get it wrong <S> and you'll end up dumping most of the contents...	one of the most proper ways of doing it is to fold the bottom 1/3 of the way up, then fold the sides in, and end off with folding the top down to close it. The most important and easy thing to do with any tortilla before folding it is to warm the tortilla to make it supple and not to crack.

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