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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 actually prefer this <S> so it's really just a matter of taste <S> so it's difficult to say whether it's 'worth it'. <S> It can be difficult to get hold of hence it being so expensive. <S> If you're a huge cinnamon fan perhaps purchase yourself a small amount so that you can compare? <A> The different types of cinnamon are the bark from different types of trees (of the same genus), so naturally, the flavour is a bit different. <S> Which type of cinnamon is more traditional for a particular dish <S> depends on which type of tree grows in that region. <S> It's not so much a case of one being better than the other, but that one might suit the recipe you're preparing better than the other. <S> Almost all cinnamon available in North America is the "Cassia" cinnamon and it has a spicier flavour, is a darker colour, and when sold in sticks is thick, hard, and forms a loose double-roll shape. <S> "True" cinnamon from Sri Lanka is milder, has a lighter colour, and when sold in sticks is more papery, brittle, and forms a tight single spiral shape. <A> I recently read that Ceylon cinnamon is also safer because Cassia cinnamon most commonly used can be harmful to the liver if taken in doses over 1 teaspoon a day. <S> One website that spoke about its safety and use is WebMD. <S> http://www.webmd.com/diet/supplement-guide-cinnamon <A> It likely depends on what you're doing with it; most recipes from the U.S. are written for cassia, and it's got more a punch to it than ceylon cinnamon, and in my opinion (it might just be because it's what <S> I'm used to), it holds up better to longer cooking times like what you'd have from baking. <S> Ceylon <S> desn't have the same sort of heat, but it's not as one-dimensional; it tends to have some almost citrus notes to it. <S> All that being said, I'm not sure which is the standard in most recipes that call for 'cinnamon' ... <S> I think that south american cooking uses ceylon, not cassia. <S> I'd say that it's sort of like cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil <S> -- it's good for finishing touches, but it's a waste to substitute it all the time.
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They both have a similar flavour but Ceylon cinnamon but your right that it can be slightly sweeter.
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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 sticks instead of ground cinnamon? <Q> Different applications, sticks are mainly used when you wish to infuse a cinnamon flavour in a dish, where the spices are removed at the end, a biryani is a good example. <S> Ground cinnamon is used when the spice is to be left in, or be present throughout a substance, like in cakes for instance. <S> Cinnamon is notoriously hard to grind smoothly, so people tend to buy both for their respective uses. <A> Orbling brings up an excellent point about the difficulty of grinding cinnamon to a smooth powder. <S> There are two main different types of cinnamon sticks: Ceylon and cassia. <S> Cassia sticks are thicker and more stiff. <S> Ceylon or "true" cinnamon resembles more of a rolled up parchment and has more delicate, sweet taste to it. <S> One reason to purchase sticks would be to roast cinnamon (easy to do in a cast iron pan)then grind it. <S> Ceylon is easier to grind because it's a thinner stick. <S> I purchase both because each serves different purposes. <A> I highly doubt that ground cinnamon is "likely to have mystery ingredients". <S> Ground spices are just the whole spices, ground up. <S> In fact there's nothing particularly unique about cinnamon in this respect. <S> The reason to buy ground spices is the same reason to buy ground meat: <S> Because you don't have a reliable spice grinder, or just for general convenience. <S> Cinnamon sticks don't last forever , though. <S> I would still try to use them up within a year or two. <A> There is a distinct difference between Ceylon (true cinnamon) and Cassia cinnamon which is what is primarily sold in North America. <S> Cassia cinnamon has large amounts of coumarin. <S> This and other things are mentioned in this blog post . <S> Also, Ceylon will grind up quite nicely in a spice grinder, the Cassia does not.
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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.
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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> Every culture cuts their beef differently (or not at all!) and therefore has different names for it Around the Belgium, <S> Dutch, French low lands they call what the US call brisket and flank, just flank. <S> And what other parts of France might call brisket is not always cut separately, it is just part of the chuck <S> Confused, we are... <S> Many butchers in cities receive partially processed carcass parts, so parts like the chest (brisket) may have been removed for processed meat etc <S> So you need to take a cutting diagram to a butcher whom displays whole carcasses and you should be able to get what you want <S> As I understand it the brisket extends from in front on the fore legs, between the forelegs and a short way past them? <S> When we have a beast killed most of that goes into the salamis, yum! <S> Edit: Some common words used are: Flanchet Plat de côte <S> Poitrine <S> Tendron <S> A popular brisket cut is a long thin (10mm) strip of the full width of the brisket (left to right). <S> A serving is a single slice slowly grilled and topped with a chunky sauce <A> The UN has a standards document that contains translations of beef cuts from English to French, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese. <S> (To try to work around the fact that everybody has slightly different cuts of meat.) <S> They list: <S> (Boneless) Brisket <S> - Poitrine sans os Brisket deckle off <S> - Morceaude poitrine sans os épluché <S> Brisket navel plate - Flanchet <S> / tendron sans os Brisket point end deckle off - Gros bout de poitrine sans os épluché <A> I live in Bordeaux but used to live in Texas. <S> Here is my "modus operandi" when I need a specific piece of meat like the brisket. <S> I show my butcher a diagram and show him the part I need. <S> The usual term for brisket is "poitrine" <S> I ask him to cut a piece of 5 kilos and to leave the fat on the top of it. <S> He knows me now and always tell me when he has a entire beef coming in, that way he is sure the brisket is still there. <S> They usually don't sell it in France <S> so I pay +/- <S> 5 euro/kg. " <S> Pointe de poitrine" seems to be the right word for brisket. <S> Enjoy! <A> If you're living in France then I apologize if my Canadian French leads you astray, but according to the (bilingual, obviously) Canadian Food Inspection Agency , the terms are: Pointe de poitrine (Brisket or flat brisket) <S> Here's that same page in English if you want to cross reference other cuts. <A> The French word is le tendron , it is also known as le gros bout de poitrine . <S> * Sources: <S> http://www.civ-viande.org/ebn.ebn?pid=62&rubrik=4&morceau=2&contenu=1 <S> http://www.civ-viande.org/ebn.ebn?pid=56&rubrik=5&item=37 <S> (interactive graphic) <S> Use Google Translate to translate from French to English. <S> * I do not speak French <A> The Canadian Beef Council has a bilingual chart of beef cuts (PDF) which might be useful. <S> (Although, French and Canadian cuts might not be the same, even if they're in the same language; I know US and UK aren't. <S> But with pictures, the butcher might be able to identify the correct bits for you) <A> In a fantastic French cookbook called Saveurs Américaines, Editions du Chêne, 2002 the brisket recipe calls for JUMEAU de BOEUF. <A> Google translate . <S> Pointe de poitrine de boeuf is the correct translation , I had it verified by my butcher when I asked him for the cut he knew no question asked . <A> OK, be careful- <S> someone suggested poitrine, you need to specify poitrine de boeuf. <S> I say this because I accidentally bought what seems to be pork belly by just saying "poitrine".
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Poitrine complète (Full brisket)
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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, which has the opposite problem: once you open it, it absorbs moisture from the air, and gets gummy and gross. <A> We bulk purchase a variety of bulk dried fruits. <S> If they are moist and squishy (typical of apricots), they will need to be frozen to last past a few months <S> For reasons I don't know dried fruit does not improve with age. <S> They don't taste 'more dried', they just lose flavour and texture. <S> I have not had any go off, they are just not as nice <S> The exception being Arab figs, which seem to become more intense with storage? <S> Like most dry goods, store them in a cool dark place in an airtight container <A> I remember raisins being sold in packets with a little amount of (edible) petroleum jelly on them to keep them moist - 0.5% by weight, if I remember correctly. <S> My first degree was in Food Science (I graduated 33 years ago <S> so I'm a bit out of date), and as part of my studies I worked for six months in what was called a 'Public Analysts' laboratory, in which we would check the chemical contents of food. <S> Once I was asked how I would check the oil content of a packet of raisins - I would add the raisins to alcohol or ether then separate the solvent and evaporate it. <S> What would be left would be the oil.
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Depending on their moisture level when you buy them they will keep for a long time (up to a year)
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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 had something to do with the subpar knife I was using, but still). I want good looking even slices of beef, so how should I cook the roast? <Q> After your brisket is cooked, refrigerate it overnight. <S> This will help it stay solid when you slice it, and will also improve the texture and flavor. <S> Reheat it before serving. <S> If you have time, this will improve many slow cooked foods. <A> I then leave it to cool for at least half an hour before slicing, though it cuts better when cold. <A> I don't have the recipe handy, but I have done a baked corned beef with an orange and spice glaze. <S> It came out tender but sliceable, just the right amount of chewiness, and was perfect for sandwiches the next day. <S> It was probably on allrecipes.com. <S> I would recommend the center cut for that. <S> Roast fat-side up, cut across the grain, etc. <S> I think the only thing the tips are good for is chopping up for hash.
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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.
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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 without first dipping in egg or milk. <S> I don't think it's necessary--though I'd go with milk if I were forced to use something. <S> After dredging, I let them sit on a wire rack for a minute or so before frying to set the cornmeal (which I would do if using egg or milk also). <S> Generally, though, most treatments that work for a mild, tender white fish will work. <S> Recipes for flounder or sole <S> (Sole a la Meuniere for example), or ones that look for rockfish or striped bass will work really well. <S> Bear in mind that catfish does have a distinctive flavor, though it's not really strong. <S> Some people don't care for it, and they tend to describe it as "muddy" tasting. <S> Personally, I don't see it. <S> If you like the catfish OK, but find the flavor intrusive in some applications, adding spicyness or acid (lemon juice, vinegar) will mute it. <A> If you take the catfish steaks and wash and pat dry. <S> If you want to flavour the fish you can rub some turmeric, chilli and coriander over it. <S> Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and then cook for a couple of minutes until lightly brown. <S> You can then drain on a bit of kitchen paper. <S> Easy peasy and versatile. <A> Very easy, but delicate. <S> Get a stoneware pan, add little oil of your choice, wash catfish with vinegar or lemons or limes, it mutes that flavour you don't like. <S> Season it and microwave for just 90-120 seconds, then fry in pan. <S> Alternatively, my favorite is when I wash the fish with lemons/lime/vinegar, I season the fish to my desired taste, wrap generously in foil paper, turn every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes, test. <S> Oh my, you should see the juicy moist and tender fillets. <S> Ready to eat in less than 30 minutes. <S> Use moderate heat. <S> Catfish is a spice loving fish so spice enough if you are a spice lover. <A> Blackened Catfish with Old Bay Seasoning is to die for. <S> Pan fry that, serve it with some greens and you're good to go <A> The best method to prepare catfish is to keep the catfish alive until you're ready to fillet it. <S> The 2nd best is to be sure the fish was kept sufficiently chilled from the moment it died until the moment you're ready to prepare it. <S> Cut the skin off instead of peeling it off. <S> Remove any yellow or brown areas of the fillet. <S> Cut away any large veins. <S> Then follow your favorite recipe. <S> If you do these things, the fish should never taste muddy. <S> Some people soak the fillets in cola or milk to remove the muddy taste, but I haven't found this necessary since I started using only fresh fish.
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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.
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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 others but they seem to always stick. What am I doing wrong? <Q> The key to non-stick cooking is to heat up the pan enough before adding oil. <S> This allows the microscopic "teeth/pits" on the surface of the to pan close up as the metal expands from heating. <S> Only after reaching this point, add oil. <S> If the recipe calls for a lower heat, the pan will still remain non-stick even if you let it cool down, now. <S> Otherwise, these teeth/pits will bite down on the food that is being cooked. <S> Use the " water test " to know when the pan is hot enough to add oil. <S> Besides being fascinating to watch, passing the water test ensures the pan becomes amazingly non-stick. <S> When the pan is hot enough, water will ball up like mercury and slide around the pan without evaporating. <S> The temperature required is pretty high, but I've found the non-stick properties remain if I add the oil and let the pan cool to the cooking temperature I want. <S> Note: preheating the pan like this applies to non-stainless steel pans, but water only balls up like mercury on stainless steel. <S> Also this may not be safe to do on a Teflon-coated pan. <S> Detailed explanation of how/why this works: On properly heating your pan <A> I like to use low heat and a lid on a teflon pan. <S> The lid helps the top side of the egg set faster, and prevents the underside from over cooking. <S> Of course, this is easier if you have a glass lid. <S> (also, as others have noted, it is important to add fat and to preheat the pan) <A> First thing to do, make sure your pan is at the correct level of heat (around the mid-range on my stove top). <S> Then, make sure you spray your pan with some food release. <S> Then, crack the egg into the middle of the pan, and let it cook. <S> You shouldn't have any problems. <S> Don't have the heat too high, don't start with a cold pan. <S> Teflon coated should work like a charm. <A> Although you've said you've used a teflon pan do you normally have problems with the pan in general? <S> If so it might be worth buying a new one. <S> Also, if you wait until the egg has cooked through a bit before trying to move it at all it should make it a bit easier and less likely to break. <S> If you wait until the egg has at least started to slightly bubble it should be easier for you. <S> Good luck! <A> There is absolutely no need for a teflon pan, leftium has is correct about heating the pan before adding any fat. <S> I prefer to get a (cast-iron) pan smoking hot, add the egg, and quickly put the egg in the oven, or broiler. <S> The Teflon pans on the market are still fairly fragile and eventually the Teflon degrades and begins to get into the food. <S> Hard anodized pans from Calhpalon are great non-still pans with a surface harder than steel. <A> Egg quality makes a difference too. <S> The taste is better and they don't seem to stick as bad. <A> In addition to the suggestions above try using a lid and after the white has begun to solidify add a small amount of water and replace the lid. <S> The water will immediately become steam and poach the top of the egg,
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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.
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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 burner and spill into the interior of the stove - all pluses. However, I find that every nonstick fry pan I have has developed a 'bow' or curvature. That is, the center of the pan is bowed out, so that when the pan rests on the flat top stove surface it does not make great contact anywhere except right in the center. All the edges of the pan curve up, away from the heat. Thus it takes awhile to heat up, and probably wastes lots of heat. This bow may have been present with the regular "eye" coiled heating elements, but it wasn't as noticeable because they were not as absolutely flat at the glass. I even bought a new nonstick skillet, and swore to never use it on more than medium high, to keep this bow from forming. Still, it has bowed over a few months use, so even on the new skillet this problem remains. My question is, what can I do to avoid or fix this problem? I keep wishing for some high heat tolerant and conductive thing to put between the stove surface and the pan so I get good thermal contact (something like a thin bag of sand, but with the bag made out of a material that would not be destroyed by the heat). Or am I just buying cheap nonstick cookware, and if I really spend a lot on a frying pan, the problem would not occur. This last part is really my question. I have spent $30 on a frying pan, only to see this same thing occur. If I spend $200 on a frying pan, will that solve the problem (will it not do this bowing thing), or will I get the same results in a few months? In case it's relevant, I live in the US (North Carolina). <Q> The reason that cookware warps is that it is has too thin of a base. <S> When it has been heated to a high temperature, it warps upon cooldown. <S> The only way to avoid this is to buy very sturdy, heavy duty cookware. <S> You need to look for something with a very thick and heavy base, then you will have no issue. <S> And don't think that it will put you in the poor-house. <S> I bought new pans 6 years ago, and they are still fine. <S> The most I paid was $30 for my 14 inch pan. <S> Every other pan I bought on sale for 10-15 dollars. <S> As for pots, you should be able to get a good set of Lagostina (or comparable brand) which are certainly not professional, but they will do the job. <S> They will not run too much money. <S> Just reread your post, originally missed the bit on the end. <S> You absolutely do not need to spend 200 dollars on a pan. <S> Just do your homework on the brand you are buying. <S> Where do you live ( <S> country, I mean. <S> Not trying to be too personal)? <S> I may be able to suggest some places if you live in North America. <A> Ensure that you're not washing them until after the pan has cooled - the cooler water can cause warping if you do like my fiancee and take them right off the heat into the sink to soak. <A> This most frequently happens with thinner pans used on too small of a burner. <S> Effectively what you're doing is heating up the center of the pan so that it expands, but the outside edge hasn't heated up yet. <S> As the center can't go out, it goes up (or down). <S> You either want to make sure that you're using an appropriately sized burner for the pan, or you can try pre-heating the pan over low or medium heat. <S> It also doesn't help that some of the heat will conduct up the sides of the pan, keeping the outer edge cooler than the middle. <S> ... <S> there's also a chance of this happening with stainless steel pans with a disk of another metal attached to the bottom, as the two metals expand at different rates ... but in that case it's a problem with too high of heat over the whole surface. <S> Tri-ply pans (where there's stainless wrapped around both sides of the thermal core) reduce the problem, but they're quite expensive. <A> I have one large, deep sided skillet, which bows upward like that. <S> I'm very careful not to shock the pans, but this one is very thin. <S> The other pans I have, with thick bottoms, don't move at all. <S> I got into the habit of putting the tea pot on, while cooking. <S> This is partly because I'm usually also making coffee, and I use the hot water to warm the cup while the coffee is brewing. <S> As a side effect, if I want to add some water to a hot pan, I have boiling water to use. <S> Hope it helps. <A> Aluminum likes to bow as you describe. <S> If you lack any good hard surfaces in the kitchen, take the pan outside and whack its bottom on the sidewalk a couple times. <S> That'll reflatten it. <S> Carefully aplied hammers or fists can accomplish the same job inside. <A> You propably need new pans. <S> Pre-heat all pans on a really low setting before cranking up the heat. <S> Don't heat the pan empty whenever you can avoid it, and no hotter than necessary. <S> (This will also extend the life of the coating) <S> Allow the pan to cool on it's own after use, only wash after it's not too hot to touch anymore. <A> Ensure that the thickness is 8 mm or more; the curvature occurs in pans less than 5 mm tick, in my experience.
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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.
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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 scrape it off with a razor (also to no avail, and this is why I know that it is flat to the surface of the stove). Any ideas? <Q> I hope I don't have to explain why. <S> Just think about what you're doing there. <S> You definitely did the right thing by buying the cooktop cleaner <S> (I assume you used Cerama-Bryte or some similar product), but that's only half the equation; if you just use a cloth or paper towel with that, you won't get good results. <S> There's a product called a "Scrunge" <S> that's specifically designed for cleaning (scrubbing) <S> glass cook tops. <S> Use that with the cleaning solution <S> and it can clean almost anything off. <S> With a little bit of elbow grease (okay, a lot of elbow grease) I managed to clean off over a year of caked-on grease and charcoal around the burner rings that I was never able to get with the Cerama-Bryte alone. <S> I don't want this to sound like a product endorsement as there may be other, similar kinds of specialized "sponges" on the market, but this is the only one <S> I know of <S> that's safe to use on glass <S> (i.e. won't scratch it like a scouring pad or those double-sided 3M sponges). <S> You can also try baking soda. <S> Make a concentrated paste (say 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water) and scrub it in as hard as you can. <S> This is often enough to clean by itself, but if that fails... <S> Finally, you can use the baking soda/vinegar track. <S> Use roughly equal parts of each but don't mix them in advance. <S> That will usually dissolve anything under it. <A> Have you tried melamine foam (e.g. Magic Erasers)? <S> I use it to clean a lot of stuff, ceramics, stainless steel, glass (glass top stove and glassware) etc. <S> Just soak the foam in water and rub it on the stain. <S> It cleans by friction and won't scratch the surface. <A> toilet bowl cleaner will also etch the glass. <S> Also using a razor blade flat on the glass will NOT hurt it. <S> How do you get a sticker off a window? <S> Razor blade.
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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.
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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 flavors would pair well with banana that I can use to get an idea for a savory banana dish? In other words, I am looking for a banana application that is not a dessert. <Q> http://cuisineindia.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/banana-chips/ <S> However, I have had some from Kerela that were spiced with pepper as well, they were quite tasty. <S> It could be a lot of fun to play with Indian and Thai spices. <S> I could see these in the role of a garnish, or as an alternative to potato chips or fries. <A> In my experience, bananas go well with peanuts, and particularly peanut butter. <S> I also think that they go well with a salty and umami combination. <S> This is probably because the salts go well to balance the potassium in the banana. <S> These two thoughts lead me to a Thai style satay, with peanut butter (unsweetened) and either soy or fish sauce. <S> It'll need some spices as well, and I'm sure there are recipes out there. <S> You could make a noodle dish with bananas, bell peppers, bean sprouts and tofu/chicken. <S> All that in a peanut butter satay sauce. <A> Thai style fish curry with banana, very stinky, very nice <S> Use 1/2 banana per serve of firm fish. <S> The fish is lightly fried then added to the soup like sauce and simmered. <S> The banana is added near the end of cooking so it does not go too mushy <S> Includes things like: carrot (thin slices), chill (fresh), cilantro (fresh with roots and all), coconut milk, fish sauce, garlic, lemon grass (fresh), lime juice (fresh), peanut oil, spring onion <A> Does a peanut butter and banana sandwich count as savory? <S> I don't fry or grill it like many of the recipes out there ... <S> I just coat the bread with peanut butter, then cut slices of banana, top the peanut butter with the banana slices, close it up and eat it.
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Fresh fried Indian style banana chips are incredible with just salt.
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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. <S> maybe just a piece of soft foam glued to a stick. <S> Nothing very abrasive, and squishy enough that you can reach any small nooks inside if there are any. <A> If your wine glasses are particularly stained trying soaking them in white vinegar for an hour or so before cleaning. <S> Another suggestion it to use a small scrubbing brush with a handle. <S> For a really good clean try boiling some water and putting it in a bowl. <S> Hold the glass over the steam and use a cloth to clean/polish. <S> I wouldn't recommend this for very thin glasses and you definitely shouldn't use extremely hot steam. <A> This is a great question. <S> I have several techniques I use for this exact problem. <S> 1) Try a wooden spoon with the paper towel wrapped around it. <S> This works if you can reach most of it by hand and just need that little extra. <S> 2) Bunch the paper towel in your hand so as to get extra length. <S> Then use your fingers, extended, to move the bunch around the bottom of the glass. <S> If this doesn't work, try number 3. <S> 3) <S> As your wife, girlfriend, son, daughter or other smaller person to help you, as they most likely have smaller hands ;--)
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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
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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 flesh it's definitely moist and steamy, but it doesn't seem to be overly wet. A few minutes after I've added it to the pan with my sauce however, it renders off what seems like a cup or two of water. Most recently I've even tried wringing out the strands in a clean towel over the sink before mixing it. That did seem to help, but it still watered down the sauce way too much for my taste. Has anyone else encountered this issue? Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to prevent it? <Q> One simple change you could make is to simply not mix the squash with the sauce, instead, plate the squash and then pour sauce over the top, the sauce will cool quicker which will reduce the amount that the squash cooks past the point you decided that it was ready. <S> If the squash still cooks too much on the plate, try starting your sauce earlier and letting it cool <S> so it's warm but not scalding when served. <S> If you need mix it with the sauce before serving, let the sauce cool to the point where it won't cook the squash further before doing so. <A> You could try putting it in a seive, salting it slightly and then placing a weight on it for about ten minutes. <S> That should draw a lot of the water out of it. <S> Don't forget to adjust the sauce for the salt added to the squash. <A> I've heard that spaghetti squash can be more watery if your overcook it, so perhaps take it out of the over a little earlier as it will continue to cook once you've added to to your sauce. <S> I can't say I've had this problem before but they are quite watery squash. <S> Perhaps you could try salting it when roasting in order to draw out some of the water? <S> You can also try draining it in a colander/using a salad spinner before adding to your sauce. <S> Another possibility is to cut down the liquid in your sauces in order to compensate. <S> Have you ever tried cooking it in the microwave? <S> It won't have the same roasted flavour <S> but you may find it works better for you. <A> I slice my squash in half, scrap the insides out. <S> Add salt, pepper, and a little olive oil to coat both sides. <S> roast in oven at 400 for 30 mins. <S> Comes out perfect everytime. <S> I learned this method in a gourmet cooking class. <S> As far as the squash being too watery, just dont mix the sauce and squash... <S> just spoon the sauce on top before eating. <S> If you absolutely have to, wait till everything is cooled down to mix. <A> It was very flavourful and was not watery at all. <S> I cooked it again yesterday and accidently left it in almost an hour. <S> This time, it was very watery <S> and I tried eating it last night and it had almost no flavour. <S> I heated some up today and added my usual seasonings and had to add more as it still hardly had any flavour. <S> I guess the 15+ minutes extra cooking time messed it up. <A> I've actually found that if I cook my squash cut side down it ends up a LOT more watery. <S> I would assume that it's because the water that should be draining turns to steam and becomes trapped by the peel. <S> I don't usually have a problem <S> if I bake it cut side up. <A> I know the answer to this question; finally!!!! <S> Put it whole in the oven on 425 degrees for about 30 to 45 minutes; you can smell it when it is done. <S> Then cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and scrape with fork. <S> After everything is scraped out, put back into oven for 15 minutes. <S> I use tomato paste, tomato sauce and a variety of seasonings and meat. <S> This was not watery at all!!!! <A> After baking it, cut side up, until done, I shred it and place in single layer on a baking sheet, and bake until slightly dehydrated and slightly crisped. <S> This intensifies the flavor and makes a good bottom layer for casseroles. <A> If you're plating with a harm to hot sauce, your squash will cook further; try removing the squash and shredding it 5-10 minutes earlier than you normally would, and allow the shreds to rest until they've cooled to room temp; the heat from the sauce will finish the cooking process, and warm them up again. <S> This is similar to adding slightly undercooked noodles to a sauce while it's still cooking, but better suited to something as delicate as spaghetti squash. <S> Oh, one more tip; when roasting your squash, start with the cut sides facing down to steam it, then flip them facing up with a bit of water in your roasting pan for the remainder of the time; it cooks the squash all the way through, but also gives it a great roasted flavor from the outside layer of flesh. <A> The best way I've found is to put it in a strainer and salt it. <S> But I also try to hand squeeze as much water as I can (a few times). <S> Turns out great <S> and it's a great option for people staying away from pasta. <A> A friend adds an egg and the meat sauce when cool mix adds to casserole dish & baked. <S> But doesn't eat until next day after she reheats..... <S> "everything tastes better reheated". <S> She doesn't eat cheese and thinks the egg gives it a cheese texture. <A> Before cooking sprinkle salt on the cut sides and let sit for 15 minutes. <S> You will be surprised how much water comes out. <S> Pat dry and then bake! <S> Makes a huge difference!
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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 cooked perfectly.
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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 eggs. <S> I'll let it speak for itself: <S> The higher protein in Duck Eggs means they mustn't be overcooked, or the whites will go tough and rubbery. <S> Some people say they will be too tough if you completely fry them: they advise to rather partially fry them then add a few tablespoons of water to the pan, cover and let the steam moderate the heat and finish cooking them. <S> Most people, though, seem to say they don't notice a difference between fried chicken and Duck Eggs. <S> Swapping Duck Eggs interchangeably in recipes for chicken eggs: some people say you can't; others who substitute all the time say nonsense, it's fine. <S> When the Duck Egg whites are beaten they will come up a bit higher owing to the protein. <S> They take a minute or so longer to start frothing up, but then make up for lost time. <S> There's a great deal more information on the page as well: http://www.practicallyedible.com/duck-eggs <A> Hehe when I first read the title of your question <S> I thought 'erm chicken eggs are from chickens and duck eggs are from ducks'. <S> Duck eggs taste pretty similar to chicken eggs but they are likely to have a larger yolk. <S> Some people say they have a stronger flavour <S> but I haven't personally noticed this. <S> I've only ever baked with chicken eggs <S> but I've heard several people say they prefer to bake with duck eggs (possibly because the larger yolks create a richer cake). <S> Something to remember is that chicken eggs can vary in taste (such as a fresh organic chicken egg compared to an older battery chicken egg) in the same way that duck eggs will vary as well. <S> Although some people don't notice any difference between how eggs are produced, you might do and if you don't like duck eggs the first time to taste them it might be worth trying them again from a different source as you might write them off <S> when actually you just like better quality duck eggs. <A> This just showed up on my news feed. <S> It's about everything there is to know. <S> Chicken eggs (large egg, 50g): Calories: <S> 71Total <S> Fat: <S> 5gCholesterol: 211mgSodium: <S> 70mgTotal Carbohydrate: 0gProtein: 6g <S> Caloric ratio: 2% Carbs, 63% Fats, 35% protein Duck eggs (70g): <S> Calories: <S> 130Total Fat: 10gCholesterol: 619mgSodium: <S> 102mgTotal Carbohydrate: 1gProtein: 9g <S> Caloric ratio: <S> 3% Carbs, 63% Fats, 35% protein Duck eggs have three times the cholesterol of a chicken egg. <S> What are the benefits to eating duck eggs? <S> Duck eggs stay fresher longer, due to their thicker shell. <S> Duck eggs are richer, with more albumen, which makes cakes and other pastries fluffier. <S> Duck eggs have more Omega-3 fatty acids. <S> People who cannot eat chicken eggs, due to allergies, can often eat duck eggs. <S> How does a duck egg taste? <S> Most fans of duck eggs describe them as richer and creamier. <S> Some say the flavor is stronger, some say it’s <S> lighter. <S> Strength of flavor can often depend on the duck’s diet. <S> How do I cook duck eggs? <S> You cook them the same way you would cook a chicken egg. <S> Because they have a lower water content than chicken eggs, you should be careful when frying them, as overcooking can lead to a rubbery egg. <S> Because duck eggs do cook up fluffier, some recommended ways to use duck eggs are: Cakes and pastriesBreadsOmeletsCustards and flansQuiches <S> SOURCE: <S> http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/duck-eggs-vs-chicken-eggs/?blogger=mames <A> I've used them in dishes which contain both the whites and yolks (eg: scrambled eggs, quiches etc). <S> Tasted great, no real difference except that the duck eggs are bigger and therefore you may have to compensate in the dry ingredients of your recipe. <S> I have also used duck eggs in dishes where only the whites were used (eg: pavlova and also a hard meringue). <S> I found the taste VERY strong and bordering on unpleasant, although that might also have been because in both cases the duck eggs were fresh from the barn outside. <S> I haven't tried recipes with only duck egg yolks so <S> can't give any advice here.
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Duck eggs can produce a slightly gooier scrambled egg mixture.
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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 types of milk and the resulting latte? <Q> Barista here, and yes you are 100% correct milk does matter when making the perfect latte. <S> When you look at the latte, the milk makes up at least half of the beverage. <S> Not only does it enhance and add to taste, it is a very visual medium through latte art. <S> The key to great milk in a latte lies primarily in preparation, you need to heat and handle your milk correctly. <S> Now to answer your question about specific milk options. <S> First rule - BUY ORGANIC. <S> Fresh milk from healthy cows is always going to be the superior choice. <S> If you live in a rich agricultural area where fresh milk is available, it is a compulsory choice when making a great latte. <S> Second rule - more fat less heat. <S> A simple rule, if you are dealing with thick and delicious fresh cream milk, you will need baseline heat. <S> 150 Farenheit. <S> Once you use the low fat milk options, you will need to increase the heat ever so slightly. <S> Never over 175. <S> You want silky and glossy, and adjusting heat to milk fat is an important part of the process. <S> Just treat the milk with care, and buy organic where available, and you will enjoy a delicious cafe latte. <A> If you want Fuller body for the drink use milk with more fat, if not use less fat . <S> If you are making foam art check out this explanation. <S> Note: all milk will taste sweeter as its temperature rises because the lactose will become more soluble, making its sweetness more perceptible. <S> As for the type of milk: You can froth pretty much any type of milk, including soy milk, rice milk, etc... <S> In general, milk with a lower fat content is easier to deal with because it won't burn as easily, and cold milk typically responds more easily to steam. <S> Although milk with too little fat may not steam or foam at all! <S> So use whatever milk you want; do what thou wilt. <S> ( Espresso Guy ) <S> If you are asking whether there will be a difference between factory-dairy hormone imbued milk picked up in a gas station, as compared to that from some grass-fed roaming home-farm cow, it seems likely to me. <S> That said, for that kind of answer, making such a claim would rely on a leap of faith to overcome the likelier impact of psychosomatic flavors and guilt-reduced taste. <S> (i.e. It feels better to buy local, organic so it tastes better.) <A> First of all soy tastes different to cow milk. <S> So your resulting drinks will taste different. <S> But this is a personal preference. <S> Secondly various milks will froth up differently. <S> Most soys I've tried don't froth up very well. <S> They end up too bubbly <S> and I was never able to achieve the micro foam I can with <S> regular full cream cow milk. <S> So your latte simply won't look as good. <S> This also effects your latte art. <S> Properly foamed milk will have - for a short time - the air actually textured through the milk. <S> If you make your coffee in a transparent glass you will see the bubbles start to separate. <S> If you try to pour art with the foam and milk already separated, you just get blobs of foam on top.
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At the end of the day, a latte will be delicious with any type of milk if prepared correctly.
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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 is the eggs would it be okay to assemble it then freeze and cook the eggs when I am thawing it or should I cook it both now and after I bring it out of the freezer? <Q> This is absolutely fine, especially if the eggs are pasteurised. <S> You can even freeze eggs (that have been mixed up a little) for up to three months. <S> Also, if you were concerned about freezing the quinoa that will fine as well (a lot of people don't know you can store grains in the freezer). <S> Enjoy! <A> I'd say it's probably fine as long as you don't delay putting it in the freezer. <S> To be on the safe side, you might want to let the cooked ingredients cool, before you mix in the egg. <A> Since you can freeze raw eggs, I see no reason you couldn't freeze a casserole that contains them. <S> Make sure all your ingredients are cold before putting in the freezer, or adding the eggs.
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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.
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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-originated pancake and waffle batter lasts a day, two at the most. <S> Data: in college, I made pancakes or waffles every day for a year and a half, making the batter on day 1 and then cooking it on days 1, 2, and 3. <S> Once in that time I got sick on Day 3. <S> Based on that experience, more than 24 hours is getting sketchy, though 48 seems to work most of the time. <A> Unless you're making flat "crepe" style pancakes, your batter will not really work properly later. <S> Once the baking powder is mixed with wet ingredients, you need to cook it as soon as possible or its rising power will start to be lost. <S> This will be true of any batter that has baking powder as its rising agent. <S> You can toast them to reheat them later. <A> I have no idea what type of pancake <S> you're making, but I had answered your question for chemically leavened pancakes in case someone stumbled upon that question (even though the earlier question was specifically for crêpe like pancakes.) <S> If you're using baking soda as a leavening, it'll have already given its all by the time you cook it hours later ... <S> but you'd have to add baking powder to compensate when it's time, as there might not be enough acid left for baking soda. <S> Baking powder in the batter isn't as much of a problem <S> if it's double-acting, where it'll give some leavening when it gets wet, and again as it gets warm. <S> Of course, you don't want to add too much baking powder, as it can give a metallic taste. <S> It's also worth mentioning that it is possible to halve an egg ; in this case, if you're going to be using the other half of the mix in a day or two, it might be easier to measure by mixing all of the wet ingredients together and then use half. <A> I found this site looking for the reason my premade pancake batter is turning out super flat pancakes. <S> I have found without fail that the batter we make fresh everyday makes a fluffy pancake, without fail the next morning that same batter hits the grill and looks like a crepes. <A> Just make all the pancakes and freeze them. <S> If you refrigerate them, they'll get pretty stale, pretty quickly.
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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.
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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 and are more tender. <S> Larger leaves are best cooked. <S> You'll definitely want to rinse them thoroughly in a sink full of cold water. <S> They tend to have a lot of dirt and bugs on them. <S> Just fill the sink and dump your greens in, jostling them around with your hand. <S> This allows the sediment to sink to the bottom. <S> The typical southern preparation involves boiling them for 30 minutes, dumping the green water (and much of the bitterness), and then boiling another 15 minutes with some bacon or ham hocks. <S> They are then drained, salted to taste, and served with either tabasco, vinegar (malt is good), or butter. <A> The flavor of turnip greens is very much like mustard greens, just with a bit of the sharp mustard flavor removed. <S> The grocery stores here often sell turnip greens right alongside the mustard greens - without the turnips, since presumably they're a slightly different variety, selected for leaves, not roots. <S> These large leaves are probably a bit tougher than the somewhat smaller ones you're likely to have on your turnips. <S> Incidentally, I see in On Food and Cooking <S> that mustard greens are Brassica juncea, a cross between Brassica rapa (turnip, broccoli rabe, bok choy, napa cabbage) and Brassica nigra (black mustard) - <S> so the flavor similarity is perhaps to be expected! <S> I use them pretty much as I would mustard greens, in a variety of things - as a standalone dish, in soups, in stir fries, you name it. <S> Depending on your tastes, they might be too strong for salads, and they're also a bit tougher than traditional salad greens. <S> Try a bite and see what you think - I expect if you use it in a salad, you'll probably want to mix it with milder things. <S> To find more ideas, just search for recipes mustard greens. <S> Radishes are actually in the same family as turnips, and just like the radish itself, the greens have a sharper, perhaps peppery flavor. <S> I usually just toss them in when I'm using other greens, to add a bit of zing. <S> Have a bite of those too <S> and I'm sure you'll decide that they could be an excellent addition to various dishes. <S> In traditional US Southern cooking, one of the more common places to find these greens, all the bitter greens get boiled forever, to make them extremely soft - but I find that I actually like them cooked more quickly, leaving a pleasant bit of texture. <S> I also don't think they need much special treatment to counter the bitterness (as hobodave mentions ) <S> but I do admittedly have a higher tolerance for bitterness than many. <S> A couple example dishes that really let you taste the greens: Curried Greens with Golden Onions and Cashews <S> - it calls for spinach, mustard, and dandelion greens, but turnip and radish will work great too. <S> Turnip Greens and Potato Veloute - it calls for turnip greens, and mentions in the notes that radish greens work well too. <A> Radish greens are edible and can be used in salads, although they aren't to everyone's taste (my brother hates them). <S> Or you can try them in a stir fry or cook them similarly to spinach. <S> I wasn't sure about turnip greens <S> so I looked it up, and they're certainly edible as well! <S> I'll try some next time <S> I have some! <A> Radish greens can also be used in soup, especially blended soups. <A> I don't know much about radish greens, but you can use turnip greens as you would collards or mustard greens. <A> steam for 10-15 minutes + vinegar and/or (vegan) butter == yum! <S> (i can't imagine cooking greens for 30+ minutes -- what would remain after so much heat?) <A> Unbidden, my garden produced a super-abundance of a wide variety of mustard-y and radish-y greens this summer: leaves with bold but not overwhelmingly strong flavor, hairy undersides and juicy stems. <S> Determined not to put them in the compost pile, I first tried but did not enjoy the classic Southern US preparation with ham hocks. <S> Shout-out to Vivian Howard and crew for acquainting us with the history and uses of "Southern" ingredients in "A Chef's Life." <S> In the follow-up series, "Somewhere South", Rakesh and Archna Anand prepared Saag Paneer using a variety of available greens. <S> Saag is a "curry" of pureed cooked greens, while Paneer is home-made cheese for which you can substitute cheese curds (aka "squeaky cheese") or feta. <S> (Note: Palaak Paneer, perhaps more familiar to non-Indian diners, is similar but uses spinach only.) <S> While the Anands started their Saag with a counter-top electric pressure cooker, the preparation continued on the stovetop for many additional hours. <S> My summer was saved by a recipe at SpiceCravings that produces delicious Saag in a small fraction of the time using only the pressure cooker. <S> My freezer runneth over with cup- and pint-sized pucks of Saag. <S> Thawing a puck, simmering in an added vegetable or protein and serving over rice delivers a quick and satisfying meal. <S> Though not a vegetarian, I prefer to replace paneer with pan-fried home-grown potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes. <S> (Home-grown = flavor; store-bought = bland) <S> For reasons I can't explain, simmering the pan-fried potatoes in the "gravy" for 10 to 15 minutes produces a whole which is far greater than the sum of its parts. <S> The flexibility of Saag with respect to greens, aromatics, spices and complementary simmering additions reveals it to be a kitchen MVP!
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Turnip greens are a very common food in Southern US cooking.
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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 packages I had, and started keeping all of them in tightly closed containers after opening. I also placed a pheromone trap in the kitchen. But I am still seeing them, both larvae and adults, weeks after the big throw-away-day. I went again through the pantry, but this time, I didn't find contaminated food, just a few larvae outside of food containers. Periodically throwing the stuff away is too expensive, and it makes no sense if it doesn't get rid of them. Any idea how to remove the infestation? Also, are they just unpleasant, or can they present a health risk (e. g. as carriers of microorganisms which infect the food)? <Q> They don't like bay leaves. <S> Try scattering a couple of bay leaves on each shelf, closest to the 'high-risk' items like flour, rice and oats. <S> Good luck <S> - they're a real nuisance! <A> I had this same problem after I accidentally left some bird seed out for several months and the moths started there before invading my kitchen. <S> The only other thing I would add is to put things like flour and rice in the freezer, as this will kill off the eggs. <S> (don't worry about eating them, they won't hurt you). <S> Finally, have patience. <S> There are probably some spots you haven't found where eggs will hatch, but if you remove the food source, they will eventually go away. <S> Good luck. <A> I used peppermint essential oil. <S> After I cleared out all the infested items I put about 5 drops on a cotton ball and put 1-2 on each shelf. <S> No more bugs spiders or weevils. <S> Note: It doesn't have to be a name brand essential oil. <S> All essential oils are created equal. <A> I have used essential oils either wiped over the cupboard surface walls or sprinkled on the shelves. <S> Peppermint and spruce. <S> It smells so clean and fresh too. <S> Bay leaves inside the containers of rice. <S> flour etc work too. <S> And don't affect flavour too much either. <S> Place some around the pantry shelves too. <S> I also agree on the above suggestions but not the spray mist insecticide. <S> There is enough of these toxins in our food already without adding more. <S> Sorry <S> but I can't understand people having them constantly pervading the air they breathe either. <S> Guess we all have our views on that though. <A> You need an automatic insect spray system for your pantry. <S> The Robocan or Mortein brand seems to work well for us. <S> Not sure what is available in your home town, but there should be something, or you can order it from Amazon? <S> They tend to leave a stick residue if used in a confined space. <S> Place as high as you can, and put some newspaper in front to catch any sticky droplets The continuous pyrethrin mist means as each new larvae hatches it dies <S> We also use these to control ants in bulk food stores. <S> Any ants that come inside will die if they stay around, so no ant nests get setup between boxes, or behind racking etc <S> Probably best to first empty out the pantry and scrub it clean, top to bottom. <S> Then check and clean each container before putting it back
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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.
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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 good but some black while some sprouting and other shape-changes. I am not looking for recipe recommendations, rather how to manage this problem. How can I know whether a potato is too old to be edible? If I can understand right, some sort of acid is formulated in some potatoes. Hence, I think I cannot cook the same products with them as with non-acidic potatoes. How should I manage acidic/non-acidic potatoes differently? Can I add some base to neutralize bad potatoes so they would become more edible? Related Question but not the same Are green potatoes OK? Is it safe to eat potatoes which have sprouted? <Q> It likely depends on what 'turning bad' means ... <S> If you have a couple in the bag starting to sprout, but the rest haven't, you can roast or bake the ones that haven't sprouted, let them cool, then store then in the fridge so you can pull them out to use them in something later in the week. <S> (eg. home fries, patatas bravas or a hash). <S> For those that have started to sprout, but are still firm, you can cut away the sprouted bits (this time of year, you might even be able to plant them), peel them, and then boil them and turn 'em into mashed potatoes (which you can then vary for the next couple of days ... <S> you can mash 'em with other stuff to make a sort of potato salad; you can add cooked greens to make colcannon or bubble and squeek; you can use as a topping for a cottage pie (the technically correct term for shepherds pie when you're not using mutton or lamb) <S> Some of these freeze well ... <S> I've made up cottage pies and frozen 'em in oven-proof containers; you could likely do the same with just mashed potatoes -- I see 'em for sale in the grocery store all the time. <S> If you're looking for something to cook that just uses a lot of potatoes (in a non-whole state, in case you need to cut away parts) ... <S> potato salad, potato bread, potato curry, latkes, potato soup, tortilla de patatas ... <S> the list goes on. <S> ... <S> and if they're soft and squishy, or oozing liquid ... pitch them. <S> They're rotting, and not worth getting sick over. <A> What type of potatoes are you using? <S> Floury ones, like russets, will work best if you're frying them. <S> For natural cut fries, julienne your washed potatoes and allow them to soak for at least 4 hours. <S> Drain them, dry them, and blanch them off in peanut oil (assuming you have access to a deep fryer) for about 2-3 minutes. <S> Drain, and refrigerate until cooled. <S> You can use these blanched ones to fry off into nice crispy fries within 1-2 minutes. <S> I've also blanched them in shortening, but the peanut oil lends a lighter, more appealing color and flavor. <S> For McDonald's style fries, a very effective recipe can be found on seriouseats.com, under the title "Perfect Thin and Crispy French Fries. <S> " I've used it a few times with amazing success;Say what you will about McDonald's, they have incredible fries. <A> Using the remaining good ones, pre-package anything you can think of in the freezer aisle ; hash-browns, home fries, etc. <S> Then freeze them following storage guidelines. <A> The sprouts can be just rubbed off or cut out. <S> Anything with black inside or outside, toss it. <S> Potatoes should last several months, if stored right. <S> Thus, in a dark and cool area, to prevent the green stuff. <S> Google "how to store potatoes" for more information. <A> I have grown potatoes in my garden for years. <S> They should be used as quickly as possible. <S> I read in several posts that green potatoes have gone bad. <S> I'm not certain if they were speaking about a green mold or some other green substance that has appeared on the potatoes since storing or if they were green to begin with. <S> With that said, green potatoes that are green when you purchase them are not going bad (however, green skin is bad to eat, explanation later). <S> These green potatoes are not rotting or spoiled--it simply means that the potatoes were exposed to sunlight while they were growing. <S> This causes the exposed skin to turn a greenish tint; otherwise the skin looks and feels normal. <S> These potatoes have not "gone bad" but you do not want to eat green skin, as it can make you sick or even kill you. <S> Solanine, a natural glycoalkaloid, can occur when potatoes are exposed to too much light. <S> The green color just under the skin strongly suggests that toxic build-up may have occurred. <S> If you notice a slight green layer just under the potato skin, cut away the green portions of the potato skin before cooking and eating. <S> Again, these potatoes will be green when they are dug up or purchased. <S> They don't normally "turn" this color after sitting in your pantry for too long.
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In my experience, soft potatoes aren't necessarily bad, it merely means they will be bad soon.
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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 you can 'invert' the sugar by adding some acid, namely cream of tartar. <S> Both should be readily available, online if not at your supermarket. <S> Cream of tartar is also useful when making meringue. <A> I always throw in some corn syrup when make a simple syrup. <S> The extra glucose adds some "chaos" to the mix and keeps the crystals from forming their structure. <S> I also like to add some cream of tartar to help break up the sucrose in the table sugar into its component parts of fructose and glucose. <A> Simply adding a few drops of lemon juice in boiling sugar solution will prevent it from crystallizing. <A> When my honey crystallizes, I put it in an electric oven set to 50 degrees C for a couple of hours. <S> Perhaps this trick would work with syrup as well since their composition is similar. <A> I make a lot of syrup because I love pancakes and waffles. <S> There are a couple of things I do which I have found keep my syrup from crystallizing (this is based on personal experience and not any kind of scientific proof). <S> 1) I only use about 3/4 the amount of sugar. <S> My recipe calls for 2 cups <S> but I only use 1 1/2 cups. <S> 2) I don't boil the sugar. <S> I boil the water, remove it from the heat, and immediately stir in the sugar. <S> just make sure the sugar dissolves completely. <S> This does make the syrup thinner, but we prefer it that way. <A> A scrupulously clean saucepan is important. <S> It's possible that banging or scraping the spoon along the insides of the saucepan "seeds" the crystallization process. <S> Also, "A seed crystal is a surface that sucrose molecules (that's the sugar) can begin to attach themselves to—it could be a few sucrose molecules stuck together, a piece of dust, or even a little air bubble." <S> So, stirring well but not crazily is advised.
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Also, make sure that there are no crystals when you put it in the refrigerator, they act as seeds on which more crystals grow.
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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 the functions of vinegar? Why does it have such functions? According to this , pH of vinegar is about 2.4. It is very hard for me to see its applications. Please, teach why it works how-it-works. Please, add some scientific tag like chemistry or homebrew-science to show that I am interested in proper explanations. <Q> Vinegar is an acid. <S> It is made from fermenting ethanol. <S> This makes acetic acid. <S> Much like a kid's vinegar + baking soda = <S> volcano science project, vinegar is sometimes used in breads to help the bread rise. <S> My mom's banana bread is one example. <S> And the more ripe the bananas are, the less acidic they are, so you need more vinegar in her recipe. <S> My wife's mom's Banana bread recipe uses baking powder for the same effect using different chemicals. <S> Note <S> : There is a difference between baking soda and baking powder. <S> Because it is acidic, it can be used in marinades to break down meats (or connective tissue). <S> Follow the recipe for the marinade. <S> Vinegar (since it is an acid) also speeds up coagulation. <S> This is the process of pickling. <S> The acid helps preserve the cucumbers (or other vegetables or fruits). <S> Instead of vinegar (or other acids), you can use other, more natural methods of fermentation to pickle the vegetables. <S> I've never done it, but I hear that they spoil quicker than the vinegar style pickling. <S> If you want to get into the science of cooking, I recommend " Professional Cooking " by Gisslen - it's a textbook for future chefs in culinary school <A> I don't remember the exact science behind the potatoes not turning to mush ... <S> I know it was discussed on an episode of America's Test Kitchen, and they even discussed the amount of vinegar and how it affected the window for cooking times. <S> (I want to say it was on an episode where they were making an Austrian potato salad) ... <S> and it's not specifically vinegar, and not solely potatoes. <S> Acids will stop quite a few items from softening when cooking. <S> I know the list inclues onions (pre-cook onions before adding acids if you want them to disolve into a sauce), potatoes, apples ... <S> I'm guessing there's others. <S> For potatoes and apples, most recipes claim it's to slow down browning. <S> You see it in potato salad, but not mashed potatoes. <S> You'll see it in apple pies, but not in applesauce ... because they'll come out lumpy. <S> Matt already mentioned three uses for vingear: as half of a chemical leavener tenderizing / marinades <S> preservation / picking coagulation (eg, when poaching eggs) <S> But also : stabalizing eggwhite foams (might just be a variation of coagulation?) <S> denaturing / "cooking" (eg. <S> in the case of ceviche; a variation of marinating?) <S> flavor (might not be a 'science case' ... <S> but sour is one of the primary tastes; especially helps to balance out fatty dishes) <S> cleaning / disinfection (might not be a 'cooking' use) <A> You forgot that a tablespoon of vinegar in a cup of water with food coloring has been used by everyone to dye Easter eggs. <A> Vinegar is also used to form many emulsions, including Hollandaise sauce (with egg yolk and butter), mayonaise (with egg yolk and oil), vinaigrette (with salad oil). <S> it can also be used for making buttermilk, by adding a tablespoon of white vinegar to a cup of whole milk
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You can also use vinegar to preserve things like cucumbers.
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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 potatoes, for example <Q> You can almost always substitute soy milk for regular 2% milk in baking. <S> You'll probably not notice any difference. <S> I've used it in baking and had good results. <S> Here's the breakdown (according to the Silk Brand Vanilla Soy Milk from my Fridge): Soy Milk Stats (per cup): <S> Protein: 6g, Total fat: 3.5g, <S> Total Carbs: 11g 2% Milk Stats (per cup): <S> Protein: 8g, Total fat: 5g, Carbs: 12g <A> I've not usually had a problem substituting soy milk for regular milk in cooking. <S> Just make sure you use the plain kind and not the vanilla flavored kind, which seems to be rather common. <A> The only things I would add, are that soy milk tends to separate more readily with heat, particularly in the presence of certain additives. <S> Sometimes in savoury sauces oat milk works better as it does not separate. <S> Also, a lot of the fresh soya milk products (at least in the UK) are sweetened and flavoured slightly, usually with vanilla. <S> Use an unsweetened and non-vanilla variety in savoury cooking.
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Soy has almost as much protein as regular milk and slightly less fat that 2% milk.
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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 it will never lose that raw taste, no matter how much you bake or toast it later. Why is this so? Is it a property of bread? Is it something to do with gluten? <Q> To understand this, you have to understand what happens to bread while you bake it. <S> I get all of my information from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. <S> First you need to gelatinze your starches (which make up 80% of the flour in your bread). <S> During gelatinization starch absorbs and traps as much liquid as it can hold then bursts, flooding the liquid with starch molecules and thickening the mixture. <S> This happens between 180 degrees F and 212 degrees F. <S> So the center of your bread has to reach 180 degrees F for this change to take place. <S> Otherwise the texture will always be a bit doughy. <S> This is probably the main cause of your problem. <S> Second you need to caramelize sugar on the crust. <S> This happens at 325 degrees F. <S> This will happen early, as your crust reaches nearly the temperature of your oven. <S> Third the proteins in your bread need to be denatures, coagulated, and roasted. <S> Proteins are tightly coiled molecules. <S> They denature (unwind and straighten) between 140 and 145 degrees F, then as temperatures rise they wrap themselves with each other to create tightly bound chains of proteins (coagulate). <S> After that the proteins roast to create a nice flavor. <S> If you bread didn't even get to 140 degrees F <S> it won't be quite right. <S> For a hard crusty bread you should bake to 200 degrees F internally. <S> For a soft, enriched bread it must reach at least 180 degrees F. <S> After baking cooling is also important to avoid a doughy textures. <S> As long as the bread is above 160 degrees F it is still gelatinizing. <S> If you cut into it you'll mess up the process. <S> You need to let it cool down. <S> Not only are your starches settling but your bread is sweating (moisture is evaporating) and the taste is intensifying. <S> So the main key to avoiding rawness is gelatinzation, and the two steps are baking to 180 degrees F and letting it cool down past 160 degrees F before cutting (but ideally cooling to room temperature for optimum flavor). <S> Your second bake probably didn't get to 180 degrees F in the center, as you would've quite burned your crust by then. <A> Hot gasses such as steam and CO2 trapped inside the dough by the crust are important to help properly bake the bread, as well as to give it form and structure. <S> If you cut a slice off the end of the bread before the bread has finished baking, you completely change the conditions under which the bread finishes baking: steam will escape rather than building up, the internal temperature probably won't rise as much, and the bread will tend to dry out rather than cook. <S> If you're not sure whether your bread is done, you should take its temperature. <S> An instant-read, digital thermometer with as fine a probe as possible is best because it compromises the crust the least. <S> For the same reasons, you should let bread cool as @justkt suggests before cutting into the loaf. <S> Bread smells great when it's hot, but it tastes best when it has cooled somewhat. <A> So what you are talking about is parbaking. <S> Theories seem to vary as to how long to cook the bread for (75% of cooking time/ vs 90%, for instance), or if internal temperature is a better measurement (due to the chemical properties of yeast and gluten). <S> Good luck! <S> wikipedia <S> Parbaking interesting discussion <S> w/ some temperature specifics
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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.
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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 necessarily a substitution, as pesto is just a type of sauce made from a pounding up herbs and other stuff in a mortar & pestle. <S> It's just that most pesto that people see <S> is the traditional 'basil pesto' aka 'pesto Genovese' which is garlic, oil, salt, basil and pine nuts, so they assume that it's the only 'pesto' ... <S> you can find plenty of recipes searching for: Pesto Sicilian Pesto Trapanese Pesto Rosso Pesto Pantesco Pesto Calabrese <S> In terms of nuts, I've seen recipes calling for hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts, or even a combination of multiple nuts. <S> I'm guessing they'd use whatever is abundant and in season in that particular region. <S> I've seen anchovies, capers or olives in place of straight salt; plenty of types of herbs, or even greens like spinach or arugula (aka rocket for the Brits). <S> (And on Good Eats, Alton Brown was a fan of pistachios in pesto; if I recall correctly, part of the argument was they were already green.) <A> I've used sunflower seeds in my home-made pesto for ages. <S> Salted or not as you prefer, they add the right little bit of crunch at a fraction of the cost of pine nuts. <A> Commercial pesto brands seem to quite often use cashew nuts, seemed odd to me, as cashew nuts are quite expensive. <S> Or you could just not use the nuts at all - would be more like a french pistou, but still good with pasta. <A> It's very likely that someone allergic to pine nuts would also be allergic to walnuts and almonds <S> (I am allergic to all of them, cashews, too). <S> I have used unsalted sunflower seeds, but most of the time I leave the pine nuts out and add more cheese or bread crumbs :) <A> I find pine nuts actually a bit low in flavor, in comparison to walnuts or macadamia nuts. <A> Made pesto with oven toasted sunflower seeds, tasted great!! <S> Was not as creamy or buttery as pine nuts... <S> but was a great and economical substitution! <A> On occasion I will throw in some sesame seeds (hmm... <S> I wonder how tanini would work out?), but simply leaving out the nut component of a traditional basil pesto will yield a satisfying result, especially if all the other ingredients are fresh and top-shelf. <A> Pine nuts are not actually nuts. <S> They are seeds found inside the structure of the pine cone. <S> Technically, sunflower seeds would provide the most similar flavor when looking for a pine nut substitution in traditional recipes. <S> Sesame seeds would also offer a solution to those with nut allergies that don't have pine nuts on hand. <A> Cashews are much cheaper than pine nuts when bought in large quantities. <S> I usually make my own pesto (from pine nuts, though) <S> and I'd recommend almonds or cashews (depending where you get them), cashews if you want a more subtle taste. <A> In addition to all of the great suggestions above, hazelnuts also work well. <S> Peel them first by toasting them and then using a towel or silicon pot holder to rub the skins off.
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I normally use toasted walnuts, but have had success with macadamia nuts as well.
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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 how does this happen? Was it the quality of the cheese, did I overheat the wine before adding the cheese, or did I add too much/too little cheese at once? <Q> Normally, you start adding the cheese when the wine is simmering and stir regularly as you add it. <S> If necessary, you can add a tablespoon of corn starch dissolved in some white wine to homogenize the mixture. <A> Cheese sauces will curdle more easily if they are not acid enough. <S> I struggled with homemade mac-n-cheese until someone pointed this out to me. <S> The wine that Zippy suggests is one solution to adding acid without undesirable taste. <A> White wine has a pH of 3 to 4 and is acidic enough to curdle milk and the milk proteins in cheese. <S> If the cheese curdles you're done. <S> I've never been able to reverse it. <S> Start over. <A> As soon as the wine is simmering, you add a tablespoon of corn starch dissolved in some cold white wine. <S> Stir in order to make a very light " <S> sauce". <S> Then you add the grated cheeses. <S> So the best way to make cheese fondue is not to add a cornstarch solution afterwards as so many recipes tell you to do, but before you add the grated cheeses. <A> Add cheese more slowly. <S> And more importantly: keep stirring. <S> The Swiss give the fondue a little stir every time they dip the bread into the pot ... <S> you get more cheese on your piece of bread, and help keep the cheese in the pot smooth.
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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.
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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 lean cut - fillet, sirloin, or good rump steak. <S> These should be cooked quickly over a high heat. <S> As Cerberus has suggested, if you are cooking something else in the same pan, take the beef out and re-add it later; don't boil it in a sauce. <S> Stewing beef needs some fat and cartilage which breaks down during slow cooking and tenderises the meat. <S> Packs of such beef are usually sold as such in the supermarket; look for a pack with plenty of fat marbled through the meat; 'Lean stewing steak' is as useful as a waterproof teabag! <S> My personal favourite stewing beef is brisket, as it breaks down into nice tender fibres after 2-3 hours cooking. <S> Contrary to popular belief, browning meat does nothing to 'seal in the juices'. <S> It simply provides a bit of extra colour and flavour by 'caramelising' the outside a little. <S> So if you have a strong flavoured stew (like a chilli, for example), just throw the chunks of meat straight into the sauce. <A> I'd say you either sauté it on a very hot fire (in oil/butter, no watery liquids yet) for a very short time (less than a minute if you have small chunks), or you let it simmer for as long as possible, so that you get a stew-like effect, which makes it tender in a very different way, could be 45 to 180 minutes for a real beef stew. <S> Anything in between usually doesn't work for me. <S> I sometimes put the beef in a bowl after sautéing, then add it back into the pan when the sauce is ready to be served. <S> You could put the bowl in your oven at low temperature (60–100 C, 150–220 F?) <S> to keep it a bit warm while you make the sauce. <S> Just as you can keep a steak warm at ca. <S> 150 C for ca. <S> 10 minutes after frying it for a few minutes (works well for me). <S> Or you could just sauté the meat in a different pan just before serving it. <A> I think bmike has hit it on the head. <S> If you're cooking with a well marbled good cut of beef then cooking it too much will toughen it. <S> the falling apart on your fork effect. <S> When I am making beef stew <S> I figure I'll be simmering it for a fairly long period of time, so I buy packaged stew beef, mostly because of the cost factor, brown them well, and then add them to the dish. <S> This is similar to buying a lesser quality roast that you'll put in the oven or braise for a long slow low temp period of time whereas I'll cook my 1 1/4" rib steak for 6 or 7 min on the highest heat to maintain tenderness. <A> When frying: Try using a less lean cut, or if you want to use a lean cut try marinating it in oil for a while beforehand. <S> The fat; either natural in the beef, or oil from the marinade; will help you against dry and chewy. <S> When slow cooking: If you sauté before slow cooking it is unusual to get dry and chewy, even with the worst cuts. <S> Maybe your slow cooker does not get hot enough or you don't cook for long enough. <S> Slow cooking often takes hours. <A> If using a crock pot, add water to the crock pot when you slow cook the meat. <A> It's a bit odd, but tenderness is something you cook out of very tender meat. <S> So, keep the temperature as high as you can and the cooking time as short as possible based on the thickness of the meat. <S> If you start with a tough cut or have cooked the tenderness out of a steak, then it's a long slow process with hours of moist cooking in a crock pot to break down the fibers and return the meat to a tender place. <A> I'm a Cajun <S> so I cook slightly different. <S> I have never had a problem with my stew meat <S> and I use everything from Walmart to whole foods. <S> The key for me is when I marinate it, even if for 20 minutes, I use pineapple juice. <S> This breaks down the amino acids. <S> This can also be done with wild game. <S> Not to worry your food will not have a pineapple taste. <S> Monitor your meat if your doing the low and slow option after about and hour go test your meat <S> if it seems a little chewy cook for another 30 then you will be fine. <S> Hope <S> this helps. <A> I found if you wish to tenderize cheap tough meat, gravy beef before you cube it, lay first layer in bowl, cover in lots of salt, place next layer and so on till all is covered. <S> Then leave for an hour, pull out meat and thoroughly rinse off all salt. <S> Cube it and crock pot the stuff in a thick gravy sauce. <S> You will be pleasantly surprised how tender cheap cuts can be good for BBQ as well.
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If you've a lesser quality cut of meat then long braising will render it tender...
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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 meat wasn't low-quality and it tasted very well, the only issue was it wasn't tender. Any ideas what to do about that? <Q> Lamb shoulder requires only one thing - time. <S> The marinade would work wonders <S> I'm sure. <S> However lamb shoulder needs a long slow cook. <S> I would roast it in one piece then carve it for serving. <S> I suggest two methods: <S> Slow roast. <S> Perhaps a 150C heat, maybe 5 - 6 hours. <S> It's ready when you can pinch the meat off the bone between finger and thumb. <S> Make sure you allow it to rest for a good hour. <S> Part-braise. <S> A Greek family taught me a lovely recipe which involves using your spices slackened down with enough water to cover the base of your roasting dish, then continually basting the lamb as you go along. <S> Roast in about a 170C oven for about 2 hours, covering with foil for the first hour to build up steam. <A> Doner kebab is A) not a single joint of meat and B) cooked in slices, so attempting to get anything similar with the technique you described is a triumph of optimism over reality <S> I'm afraid. <S> As Gary suggests, lamb/mutton shoulder requires long, slow cooking, but this will not yield a doner-like result in terms of texture. <S> I would rub the lamb with plenty of spices, cumin, coriander, garlic etc and olive oil. <S> Place the lamb in a roasting tin and cover with foil. <S> Get the oven as hot as it will go, put the lamb in, and turn it down to 150C. Cook for 4 hours and the meat will fall off the bone. <S> Pull to shreds and serve in pitta breads with yoghurt, salad, onions and chilli sauce. <S> Voila! <A> Get a pressure cooker and make 'wet' dishes - stews, curries, pie-fillings. <S> It will turn your mutton into a soft, melting, velvety delight. <S> A trick from Indian cookery is to marinade in yoghurt and lemon juice prior to cooking. <S> The longer the better.
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Make small cuts in the meat and really massage the spices in.
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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. Rebecca Charles (chef at Pearl) has published her lobster-roll recipe and I've used that recipe (lobster, mayo, celery, lemon juice, salt+pepper for the filling, served in Pepperidge Farm top-loading rolls toasted in a buttered skillet) as the basis for many attempts to replicate the restaurant lobster rolls I crave. The ones I make don't even come close. Which is to say: it tastes as though I did the recipe "right" but the final product is just much less delicious than what I'm aiming for. The other day my wife and I were in Manhattan and we went to Mary's Fish Camp. The lobster roll was insanely good, and as usual the predominant flavor was of sweet, faintly briny lobster meat. My homemade rolls just tend to taste drab. I've experimented in lots of different ways with the sauce, and with my cooking method for the lobsters. I've learned how to keep the meat from getting waterlogged, how to avoid overcooking the lobster, how to toast the rolls to perfect butteriness, how to get a meat-to-sauce ration that seems correct. But my total product is still essentially lame. At this point my best guess is that the lobsters I'm able to get - even when I get live ones from the fish market - just don't taste as good as the ones that buyers for high-end NYC restaurants get. Which is a depressing conclusion because it means I should just give up and accept the fact that the only way for me to get a really great lobster roll is to travel across state lines and drop a ton of money on lunch. But if anyone can offer an alternative explanation (super-secret lobster-cooking techniques? Secret ingredients?), I'd love to read it. <Q> Restaurants in general use WAY more salt than home cooks do. <S> I'd try increasing the salt and see what happens to the flavour. <S> The same is often true of butter. <S> Also, some restaurants that publish recipes, do not actually publish something that is faithful to what they serve. <S> I noticed it with a dish with which I was very familiar from a favourite restaurant. <S> Certain ingredients were completely missing from the published recipe. <S> Edited to add: The sweetness diminishes with storage time and the meat from the smaller claw is sweeter and more tender. <S> ( reference ) <S> Maybe you need to get multiple fresh lobsters and use only selected meat for your roll (and do something else with the leftovers)? <S> In <S> On Food and Cooking , there is a suggestion that vanilla (normally used for sweet cooking) <S> can be used when cooking things like lobster. <S> It doesn't directly state what the vanilla does , but it's possible that it might increase the taste of sweetness. <S> A bit of googling does turn up mention of lobster roll recipes with vanilla as an ingredient, so it might be worth experimenting. <A> As someone who eats strictly kosher, take what I suggest with a grain of.. <S> well, salt. <S> A trick I learned to help bring out the natural sweetness of corn on the cob is to add sugar to the water as it boils. <S> Maybe try adding a bit of sugar to the pot when you cook up the lobster? <A> Thomas Keller recommends cooking lobster in Court Bouillon first. <S> See the steps here http://effingdericious.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/thomas-kellers-lobster-rolls-christmas-lunch-2010-part-1/
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It's also possible that a particular type of lobster or size of lobster is more or less sweet.
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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. The picture doesn't help, but the dome is maybe an inch high and eight inches in diameter. Searching around, it looks like this implement is a little out-of-date and arcane at this point. So how do you do this, anyhow? <Q> What you do do is dip the warmed pan into batter <S> (I'd think you stick just the cooking surface into the batter, not the whole thing) and put it back on your burner to cook a crepe quickly. <S> See the product description on this convex pan on amazon and this vintage pan on ebay for where I got my information. <A> I've used both electric and non- <S> electric domed models. <S> The electric one came with a pan similar to a concave doggy dish the same size as the pan. <S> I kept a large tablespoon to spiral around the batter to its edges to keep it round. <S> The hand type didn't have a special dish. <S> I used the spoon more with that pan. <S> It sat right on the burner, gas or electric stove. <S> I suspect you could use that one even on an open fire pit. <A> Crepe batter is very thin, not much thicker than whole milk. <S> Experiment with different batters, and also the temperature of the pan. <A> You don't have to butter or oil the pan between dips in the batter. <S> I have this pan and simply flip and dip the pan in a plate that has a similar shape. <S> Works wonderfully, though a tiny bit of batter is lost in the end. <S> My pan was purchased new at a thrift shop, but only the frying pan came with it.
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As far as I can tell what you don't do is pour the batter onto the pan.
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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 of insects if I cook them in some way? Can I mix insects such as worms, butterflies and bees? I carry a storm heater, which runs on ethanol-stuff, and a small bottle of oil. How would you cook insects with such equipments? If someone has practical experience on this topic, I am also interested how you manage insects' cooking like preservation, harvesting and such things but try to keep focus on cooking. Related but not the same Cheap sources of protein? Food during touring? <Q> What country are you in? <S> Most are terrible. <S> some are toxic, or have toxic parts that must be removed first. <S> This knowledge is hard won, and not readily available. <S> Traditional local people are your best source of information (though the Coke and McD's culture has killed that in most parts of the world) <S> In New Zealand they have the Huhu grub, and in Australia the Witchetty grub. <S> Both of which are edible raw or cooked (roasted on hot coals for a few minutes). <S> They have slightly nutty flavours <S> These are both soft wood eating larvae around 5 to 10 cm in length, quite plump and juicy. <S> Such insects can be found around the world. <S> But not all are edible <A> I don't know if insects are really a great viable alternative for touring. <S> You'd need to collect a lot of them to make a decent meal and it would take a decent amount of time and energy, but with that in mind on to the actual question: <S> There are plenty of ways to cook insects. <S> With the equipment you have I would probably go for toasting. <S> You might want a field guide of some sorts to determine which are edible. <S> There are more species of insects in the world than anything else <S> so this isn't really something that is too practical to answer here. <S> I also don't know where you are. <S> Grasshoppers and ants are probably generally safe bets, though. <S> Not all types are safe to eat. <S> Many insects are poisonous or toxic to some degree. <S> No amount of cooking will change that in some varieties. <S> Again, a field guide for your local area would be your best bet. <S> Mixing edible insect types shouldn't be a problem. <S> It's kind of like asking if it's OK to mix different types of edible vegetables or meats. <S> It may not make for the most appealing meal, but you're eating insects so that might not be your primary concern anyways. <S> On a side note, trying to catch bees for food just seems like a really bad idea. <A> Crikey sounds scary. <S> Although there was an interesting documentary on BBC where insect eating was giving some prominence by some biologist I forget his name. <S> He did outline some reasonable reasons such as one being carbon frootprint, when compared with cattle insect breading for food emits 1/4 of greenhouse gases! <S> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2011/03/why-not-eat-insects.shtml <A> How to Cook Insects for Food <S> I doubt many people here have practical knowledge in this case. <A> I loved what Heston Blumenthal did with insects in his Mad Hatters Tea Party in his television series, also some excerpts on youtube. <S> I have seen grasshoppers and mealy worms/moth larvae (the ones that invade your kitchen pantry for flours etc) eaten globally. <S> But I am no expert as others here may be. <S> I am from the land of the wichetty grub which i have been told tastes like walnut.
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Every country has some edible insects. You can toast them, fry them, grind them and mix with other stuff, etc.
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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 you'd soak them for about an hour, the cooking time will diminish strongly (half). <S> I'm not sure if this would affect the chalky taste. <S> Which kind of lentils do you use? <A> You should probably be soaking your lentils, but it depends on what type. <S> Lentils are high in phytates, which is an anti-nutritional - it's undigestible, and makes certain important minerals unabsorbable, like zinc, iron, calcium, and magnesium. <S> Soaking (and throwing away the water!) helps to remove many of these phytates. <S> If you're getting a chalky taste, perhaps you haven't cooked them for long enough? <S> They can be rather chalky or bitter if undercooked. <A> I would suggest that you try getting puy lentils. <S> They are a French green lentil that have a great taste and texture like a bean . <S> You do have to soak them and they will increase in size .They <S> don't turn to mush like the split pea lentil.
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Soaking expands and softens the lentils, which may be the effect if you're going for something like dal (yellow lentils).
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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 that look like little tiny T-bone steaks. <S> Typically they are called Lamb Chops, but look first as there are different cuts under that name. <S> You might also consider doing a rack, which is the equivalent to a Rib Roast, but obviously much smaller. <S> For the rack, I'd sear it in a pan, and then broil it until done. <S> (15-25 minutes, 140-160 degrees). <A> Personally I prefer to griddle on one side, flip over and finish in a hot oven. <S> Make sure you rest it! <S> I know recipe requests are a bit ugh here, but I'd recommend making the lamb steaks a little bit spiced (rub with cumin, chilli & coriander) and serve with a smooth, creamy cauliflower puree - it's a great combination. <A> I love lamb burgers. <S> You grind lamb, then mix it with onions and various spices. <S> You then put them on a spit and either broil them in the oven or cook them on a grill. <S> You serve inside grilled pita them with tzatziki (a yogurt and cucumber sauce) and taboulleh (a bulghur salad). <S> The latter is optional, it's just a nice side dish. <A> Roast Lamb Loin is very easy. <S> 30mins per 500g on 180 degrees. <S> Seasoned with salt is the minimum; however it's easy to add Rosemary or Mint. <S> It works very well with a large range of sides including salads, purees, or roast vegetables. <S> A good wine match is a full bodied red such as Sharaz or Syrah. <A> You can't go past Lamb Backstrap . <S> It does everything a steak does in regards to cooking, remains very juicy and tender. <S> You can wrap in prosciutto , serve with soft polenta. <S> Basically whatever your imagination can come up with it will suit this cut. <S> Only down side is the price to purchase, but well worth it for a romantic dinner.
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In the UK I'd use a cut called lamb leg steak, as you can prepare it in a similar way to beef steak.
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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 as to what I actually do with this thing. I cracked the flimsy shell/skin to expose the sticky fruit inside. I licked it; it tastes good. I'm not sure what to do next though. I've looked at some recipes online, but they all work with tamarind paste . I'm assuming I need to process the meat somehow to turn it into a paste. Questions Do I have to turn this into paste? How do I clean/prepare it? (besides obviously throwing the skin away) Do I need to add oil, water, or other ingredients to make it a paste? Are there seeds? Do they need to be removed? <Q> 1- Remove the hard shell, <S> 2- simmer them in a little liquid until the meat can be easily removed from the seeds. <S> Tamarind is very sweet and very sour. <S> Tamarind chutneys are delicious for a starting point. <S> You can find recipes but not many other ingredients are required. <S> You asked if you have to make it into a paste- <S> I suppose not but cooking them is required to get the seeds out and cooking turns the meat into a paste. <S> Carmi is correct that you can add them directly to liquid but you need to be able to get the large, hard seeds out. <A> I just did this for the first time for a Pad Thai dish and it wasn't all that difficult. <S> I removed and discarded the outer shell and veins. <S> I covered the tamarind with hot water and let it sit for a little over an hour. <S> I then removed the tamarind from the water (the water was a bit murky). <S> A few remaining pieces of shell separated from the pieces during the hour soak as well. <S> At this point, I had to use my hands (because I don't own a food mill). <S> It was a bit messy, but not too difficult to get the pulp out of the tamarind. <S> I added about a half a cup of water to what was originally 1.5 pounds of tamarind. <S> Basically, you just continue to squeeze and try to separate out the seeds. <S> I used a strainer to ensure that I was only getting pulp. <S> In the end, you'll mostly be left with seeds and a bit of membrane as well. <S> The resources I found most useful were: <S> http://www.blogwelldone.com/2008/09/18/making-tamarind-paste/ <S> http://www.shesimmers.com/2010/05/how-to-prepare-tamarind-pulp-for-thai.html Best of luck! <A> Just wash and soak in hot water. <S> It would get real soft,add little lukewarm water to bring down the temperature. <S> Dip your hand and squeeze the tamarinds, this would separate the pulp from the seeds and shell. <S> Drain through a sieve or colander. <S> If you need a recipe for tamarind uses, I would gladly oblige. :) <A> Tamarind is used both ripe and unripe. <S> The ripe tamarind is used to make pastes and such or is eaten raw, its what most people in the west are familiar with. <S> The unripe, or green, tamarind is used much the same way a bay leaf is, you peel it and drop it in your curry and hope you don't bite into it. <S> Be sure you know whether your recipe calls for the green or the ripe variety. <S> If it calls for you to peel it and throw it in (typically a curry or soup) its calling for green tamarind. <A> As you pointed out, most recipes call for paste, but according to Curry Cuisine , they can be used in a curry sauce: "Simply crack the shell and take out the pod." <S> It doesn't say a whole lot more than that, though, so you may have to just experiment. <S> Tamarind is also used some in Mexico, but I've only seen recipes that call for paste. <S> Here is a recipe for a tamarind beverage that uses the pods, though. <A> You just add them to the liquid in the dish, in much the same way you would use cardamom pods, star anise, mustard seeds, or vanilla pods for that matter. <S> The pods will partially dissolve, if I remember correctly. <A> Why not just remove hard outer shell and stalky veins, then pop the fruit in your mouth and gradually the stones parts from the flesh and simply remove the stone fom you mouth. <S> You can plant the seeds, best in summer; soakin in warm tapwater for an hour or so, then pat dry. <S> Get detailed instructions on line and have a go at planting your own.
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Tamarind is used in a lot of Southeast and South Asian cooking.
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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. Usually the cookies turn out round, flat, and about 1 cm high, but tonight we discovered a surprise. These are around an inch high and weren't completely cooked through the center as seen below. Both of us being engineers, we are curious as to why this happened. We used the following steps and ingredients when making them: Ingredients 2.25 Cups of Pillsbury all purpose flour 1 tsp Arm & Hammer baking soda 1 tsp Morten salt 1 stick softened Fleichmanns original butter (normally uses Land-O-Lakes) (113g pure butter) 3/4 cup white sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla 2 large eggs 2 cups Tollhouse Semi-sweet chocolate chips Preparation steps Preheated the oven to 375°F (190°C) Whisked together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl Beat butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla with mixer until creamy. Added eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in the flour mixture Stirred in the chocolate chips Dropped dough balls in place on a cookie sheet. Cook for 9-11 minutes The above steps are exactly what my wife did when we made these cookies. We noticed that the dough looked incredibly dense, sticky, and was very hard to mix after it was all combined. We used a mixer instead of hand mixing the dough like she has in the past, but I find it hard to believe that this would be the culprit (someone may very well prove the cooking n00b wrong though). FWIW, please don't critique the recipe ;), as we really only want to know why they came out as biscuits when my wife has used this recipe exactly and successfully in the past. She has followed the same routine every time she has made them except for the use of a mixer and different brands of ingredients. <Q> This looks to me like the symptoms of too much flour - probably way too much. <S> Measuring baking ingredients by volume instead of weight is always a crapshoot, although it shouldn't be that far off - my guess is that either the flour was heavily compacted, or perhaps the baker's mind wandered off <S> and she accidentally added an extra cup. <S> As far as I know, that can only happen with a huge amount of flour. <S> Obviously, too much flour would also result in a much denser dough. <S> What you ended up with seems to be more like a quickbread - almost a scone - and there is indeed not an awful lot of difference between the two aside from the ratios and the creaming of butter. <S> Excess flour probably wouldn't result in a stickier dough, but stickiness is more due to temperature than anything else. <S> If you're finding the dough too sticky to mold then make sure it's thoroughly chilled - that will make it easier to work with. <A> Slightly too much baking soda (heaped rather than flat tsp) or the mixture was left in a warm kitchen for longer than usual and the self-raising action kicked in. <S> Personally thats how my cookies always come out <S> - it's what I aim for <A> I think it's because of the fat content of the Fleischmann's. <S> It is not actually butter, but margarine (at least the Fleishmann's site doesn't show they make butter) and has only 9 grams of fat per tablespoon, where butter has 12 grams of fat. <S> That means you had a bit less fat and a bit more water. <S> 1 stick of butter/margarine has 8 Tbsp, so 72 grams of fat for the Fleishmann's and 96 grams of fat for the butter. <S> I believe that would make a significant difference in the cookies. <A> Probably a combination of all of the above -- imperfect volume measurements resulting in too much flour & soda,-- temperature of batter, <S> too warm = sticky = <S> that scone top look-- electric mixer incorporated too much air in batter, -- additional consideration: weather conditions at the time of cooking <S> --when <S> our house was moister than normal and our cookies came our flufflyer that normal...and to let you know yes over mixing the batter and not forming the cookies by hand can result in overly fluffy cookies, did that last year (makes the batter too airy and the cookies form like scones looking like above)!
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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.
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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, drained tomatoes <S> Some soy sauce Spicy Mustard Dill <S> Little vinegar Other spicings to flavor <S> Add the sarsaparilla a little at a time and just mix in half your base at first <S> so you can work the flavor out as you go. <S> Simmer 5 or 10 minutes and let cool. <S> Make it really thick. <S> Put that on some ribs, chicken wings or steaks...mmmm. <S> tasty. <S> I've also had some Chinese and Thai food that had some and turned out pretty good. <S> Not sure if it was 'authentic' but good. <A> Yes, you can smoke chicken with sarsaparilla. <A> Well, I found an article titled " What local chefs are doing with sarsaparilla " with three example uses. <S> Though in all three the sarsaparilla is used to flavor a liquid rather than as an actual ingredient, only the first one is a drink, the other two are "Sarsaparilla quail" and "Sarsaparilla skate wing." <S> (I've did some further Googl'ing, but the dearth of recipes in which sarsaparilla is used as an ingredient rather than as a flavoring seems to suggest it's not something you'd wish to eat on its own, unless you're a Smurf .) <A> One slow cooking recipe which I use is 600ml sarsparilla, one and a half cups of rice along with chicken drumsticks. <S> Put them in a slow cooker and cook on high for three hours - the rice comes out delicious. <S> My grandfather used to make sarsparilla drinks (similar to root beet) in Cardiff (Wales) in the early 20th century, so I'm told.
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I've used sarsparilla as a liquid for cooking rice in.
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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, Rosemary, Onions, Carrots, Barley, and Cubed Beef. What can I do to help boost its flavor? <Q> If you use self-made beef stock, try boiling a bit longer, so that the flavour of the beef is a bit more concentrated. <S> Boil your soup a bit longer. <S> Use more beef stock and/or cubed beef. <S> I don't know how much herbs you put in. <S> Maybe a bit more pepper or rosemary can make a difference. <A> You can take them out when the broth is cooked. <S> This will add a nice depth of natural 'beefy' flavour. <A> Reconstitute and chop up an ounce of dried porcini mushrooms, reserving the liquid. <S> Filter the liquid to remove grit, and then add it and the mushrooms. <S> You'll add a good burst of umami and a nice earthiness, without adding too much bulk. <S> Also, fine-chopped celery works to give some interesting higher notes. <A> I have no idea how this works <S> but... I find with a lot of beef soups/stews letting it go cold and re heating it the next day <S> seems to do the trick. <S> Some how all the flavor comes out of the meat when you cook it and then goes back in long after my guests have left. <S> If any one has an explanation for this please let me know! <A> I am making my version of Beef Barley soup and I add cumin,curry and tumeric as I am browning my diced meat and onion. <S> I only add a small amount of each <S> but it adds a lot of flavor <S> and I use vegetable juice instead of boulion. <A> It sounds like you had enough spices. <S> Are you sure you used meat meant for soup? <S> Cuts intended for frying/roasting are more tender, but have much less aroma. <S> For soup, you need older, tougher meat. <S> Also, you say "Cubed beef", which sounds as if the bones have been removed. <S> Cooking the meat together with the bones gives you more flavour. <S> Third, you are supposed to sear the meat and sweat the onions before simmering, because that develops flavour. <S> It doesn't get clear from your question if you did that. <S> Another way to have more flavour is to use more fat. <S> Even if the fat itself is neutral tasting, it makes you taste the other aromas stronger. <S> Add it when sweating the onions. <S> It may be worth trying to first roast the barley in the oven, or even prefrying it, like prefrying rice for a Balkan/Middle Eastern dish. <S> I haven't tried this and cannot guarantee that it will work. <S> You can also use MSG or other glutamates. <S> They are usually not sold pure in the supermarkets, but are included in other products, like broth cubes and seasoning powders. <S> Maybe you can get them pure in a Chinese shop. <S> None of the ideas above apply to your already cooked batch soup (you could take out some of the liquid, dissolve a broth cube, and put it back, but it will make it much saltier). <S> The only things I can think of will add flavour, not strengthen it, thus changing the original idea. <S> I don't know if this is a problem for you. <S> Parsley, marjoram, and lovage come to mind. <S> 2) Add condiments. <S> Worceshire sauce is unusual in soup, but works well for my taste. <S> 3) <S> Cook chopped dried mushrooms in a very small amount of liquid, then add them to the soup together with the liquid. <S> 4) throw in crumbled feta cheese (good quality, preferably from sheep milk). <S> Other ideas which change the flavour, but cannot be applied to the already cooked soup, would be adding celery and bay leaf. <A> I've had good luck adding a small packet of unflavoured gelatin, it's not enough to gel the soup (gross), but it adds some of the body that long simmered beef bones would add. <S> Celery is essential, as someone else mentioned. <S> You wouldn't think it would add much, but there's something magic about it. <S> I also toss in some celery seeds (not celery salt!) <S> I grind them to a fine powder for beef barley soup but add them whole for chicken soup. <A> I too have trouble sometimes when making soups. <S> I recently discovered that about a half of a medium rutabaga peeled and diced in 2 quarts of soup adds a lot of flavor. <S> It takes about an hour to cook them so plan to put them in at the beginning. <S> You can also add a pinch of dried thyme. <S> Be cautious with thyme because it can easily overpower your soup. <A> Yes, with the beef stock add same amount of chicken stock, and a touch of sirachi sauce
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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).
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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°F in the center. <S> That'll probably be around 40 minutes, I'd guess (and it seems you found) but a thermometer will let you be sure <S> (and then you'll know how long it takes for next time). <A> 15 minutes at 230C, then another 15-20 at 200C, until it's risen and sounds hollow when you tap the bottom. <A> Allrecipes says: * <S> Most bread is baked in a moderate oven, 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). <S> Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the bottom of a loaf <S> sounds hollow when tapped. <S> Me? <S> I just go to Cub Foods .. <A> For a 2lb loaf (or 2 x 1lb loaves) I'd recommend about 22-25 minutes at 350F. <A> Baking time depends on a lot of factors: loaf size oven temperature baking with or without tin dough type <S> (wheat/rye/ <S> mix/...) <S> Safest choice would be to use an oven thermometer. <S> The loaf is done at 97 or 98°C core temperature. <S> Another indicator is the sound of your loaf: if you knock on its bottom and it sounds hollow, it's done. <S> Also important: experience. <S> Bake the same recipe until you're used to it and the result satisfies you. <S> If the result isn't perfect: don't worry. <S> You'll end up with something edible in every case and don't need to starve. <S> For a nice crust, start with 250°C and turn the oven down to about 220°C when you put the bread in. <S> For an even nicer crust, you'll need steam. <S> Not only humid air but STEAM. <S> This question covers this topic: <S> How can I create steam in a normal oven to promote bread oven spring? <S> For the best result you can achieve at home with a simple oven use a pizza stone. <S> Heat it up to 250°C for 1 hour. <S> Then put in the loaf and produce some steam. <A> Your bread machine recipe might be different from a regular bread recipe. <S> When baking, I usually preheat my oven to 250C with a deep pan at the bottom rack with a few cups of water. <S> This is important to keep the dough moist but give a good crust. <S> When it comes time to bake, I pop mu loaf in and drop the temp to 200C. I usually stop when I achieve a golden colour. <S> But you can go darker if you want. <A> Put hot water in a square baking pan on the bottom oven rack. <S> The hot water is crucial for keeping the bread moist.
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Bake bread at 350 degrees for 25 minutes for a light crust.
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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 more with 1000 grit. I repeated the last step 4 times and the spoon is nice and smooth. Is there a final step to season the spoon? <Q> I cannot imagine that sanding and buffing a wooden spoon would have any useful culinary applications, although I suppose it might feel smoother to the touch. <S> Generally when you season something wooden for food preparation, the purpose is to create a protective layer to avoid warping or impregnation. <S> If I really wanted to season a spoon, I would season it the same way as a wooden cutting board: <S> Use a food-grade mineral oil and rub it in thoroughly with a cloth or paper towel, then repeat as necessary after it is dry. <S> Like hobodave, however, I have never done this nor heard of it being done. <S> The cost of a wooden spoon is probably less than the cost of the mineral oil you'd need to season one. <S> If your spoon starts to warp or take on strange odours, just buy a new one. <S> N.B. <S> I can think of one exception, which is if the spoon takes on a fuzzy texture when you get it wet. <S> In that case, sanding it would be done in the context of raising the grain . <S> But once again, it's extremely rare that you'd need to do this with a cooking utensil <S> - this is a far more common requirement for homemade (i.e. DIY) wood products. <A> I seasoned a set of wooden utensils that I bought rough. <S> Eventually this built up a nice layer of food-grade paraffin embedded into the utensils, which made them repel water and stains MUCH more effectively. <S> Unfortunately, I much must confess that it would have been cheaper in time and money just to buy a set of properly finished utensils. <A> As just an old Arkansas hillbilly that likes wooden products I've been making cook spoons and dishes/platters. <S> I have used Walnut, Pecan, Hickory, and Cherry so far. <S> I have found that the fruit woods have alot less "fuzzing" after washing but all need periodic attention. <S> I've used bacon grease, olive oil, cooking oil, peanut oil and they all work about the same. <S> I havn't tried the heating your oil approach (except for the bacon grease-more of a viscosity thing for me) <S> The maintenance of your spoons and dishes is a labor of love for those who actually make the items...kind of the same reward a hunter gets from cleaning his/her guns. <A> It is actually food 3) <S> it is the ONLY edible drying oil that I am aware of (i.e. an oil that will dry out on its own when exposed to air.) <S> and when I have used it on cast iron it IS TOUGH! <S> It can take an accidental cycle in the dishwasher after it has a few layers! <S> (Though I dont recommend it. <S> Why start ALL OVER again?) <S> I am trying heating it to accelerate its drying effects as done on cast iron. <S> 1 problem though. <S> It thins on heating so all of the seasoning done thus far comes dripping out. <S> I unfortunately have neither the right size container to hold at least 1/2 of the spoon or enough flaxseed oil to do it that way nor something heat proof up to 500-550 degrees. <S> (which is the temperature for cast iron). <S> If I did though I would surely do it. <S> Flaxseeds durability has EASILY outperformed anything I have seen thus far. <S> Bon Appetit, Tim Danielson <S> P.S. <S> I just tried this. <S> I found that at about 525-550 the wood I had (cherry wood) started to get burn marks (only in the areas where it contacted the pan). <S> I found something that showed it could have been lowered to 450. <S> I Since flaxseed apparently polymerizes at 450, I would try that. <S> I heated it, pre seasoned on a cookie sheet, to 550. <S> I believe 450-500 would be a better range than what I did and would have similar results. <S> "re: <S> DougRisk <S> I think the basic premise is that by that temperature (and more so by the 450-500 deg temps called for in this seasoning process) any flaxseed oil is polymerized to an extent that it cannot go rancid. <S> When I tried out the method initially under Canter's instructions, I certainly didn't notice any rancid taste or smell. <S> The problem was just that the seasoning was too slow to build and didn't form an especially great non-stick surface even after 7 coatings. <S> Permalink | ReplyBy cowboyardee on Sep 14, 2011 07:49 AM" @ <S> http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/807107
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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 reasons, 1) it is food safe 2)
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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 re-hydrate it. Also, how would I decide how much to use (for example, one recipe I was looking at said "1 cup fresh mint")? <Q> I have always wondered how in anglosaxon speaking countries, people think that "mint" is always the same as "mint", just because it has the same name. <S> In fact, spearmint tastes as different from peppermint as thymian from oregano. <S> Almost all cooking recipes I know of are meant for spearmint, except for some sweet applications. <S> All mint tea I have encountered is made from peppermint, not from spearmint. <S> You could try finding out if a herbs seller has dried spearmint, but you must remember that it has less aroma than fresh spearmint. <S> Also, dried mint does approximate the aroma of the fresh one when used as a herb, but when used in big quantities (you mention 1 cup) as a vegetable on its own right, the substitution is much more problematic, because juiciness and texture are much more different. <S> I don't know about the situation where you live, but spearmint isn't used much in Western countries, except maybe England, so it is seldom available at supermarkets and costs a lot there. <S> A better source are Turkish grocery shops, where it is as common as parsley, and the price is comparable. <S> If there are Turkish shops nearby, it is definitely worth trying to find it there. <S> For a longer term solution, it might be a good idea to grow your own spearmint in pots. <S> The plant is quite unassuming and easy to care for, and a kitchen which smells of fragrant herbs is nicer than one which smells of frying grease or cleaning products. <A> I've dried homegrown mint, and used it in wintertime for tabouli and suchlike. <S> It works. <S> Don't add boiling water to rehydrate; that'll extract the flavor from the leaves, which is not what you want here. <S> Just stir the leaves into enough cool water to make a thick glop, and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. <S> Mix that into your bulgur. <S> Up the parsley to make up for the less than beautiful mint specks. <S> It won't be quite as good as in season mint, but this time of year you're probably using greenhouse tomatoes anyway. <A> It might work if you tried soaking the dried leaves in a liquid you intend to cook with, like your stock. <S> It could not only reconstitute the texture of the leaves, but could also bring back some of the general freshness, and infuse the stock with the mint flavor you are trying to achieve. <S> Sorry to say I would not know the proportions.
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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.
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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 pork and marinade for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight, but no longer than 12 hours. I was wondering, why does it say "no longer than 12 hours"? Isn't it good to let meat marinate for as long as possible? Thanks. <Q> Two things- <S> If the marinade is very strong or salty then the meat could simply become over flavored. <A> I've also found that if there's a citric acid i.e. lime or lemon juice in the marinade it changes the texture of the meat. <S> Sort of like the process "ceviche" undergoes. <A> In Sibiria we used to marinate chicken over 24 before BBQ on open flames. <S> We marinated in lemon juice with a lot of sliced onions and sometimes added wine. <S> One more thing to consider, when we did that we stored it in cold place. <S> almost at temperature of fridge. <S> I guess in article they want to make sure that pork does not become bad and start to collect bacteria. <A> Marinades typically are more dense, acidic, and can sometimes contain a tenderizer. <S> However, marinating typically only has a significant effect on the surface of the meat so most recipes recommend shorter marinating times so that the outer layers don't get too salty/over-flavored/mushy etc. <S> If you are concerned with making a more tender, juicy, and overall better tasting piece of meat a brine is really what you want. <A> I've done deer meat for about 5 years now. <S> I slice it 1/8 of an inch thick then try different seasonings on the meat then tenderize by pounding in <S> then I use a big bottle of Louisiana hot sauce and a few sodas of the same flavor to top off in a sealed bowl or zip lock. <S> I keep the meat fully submerged for 3-5 days <S> then I remove and squeeze out all fluids with paper towels or hand towels before placing on oven racks. <S> Last I sprinkle flavored seasonings of mine and families choices on them before placing for 12 hours on the oven's lowest temperature and leaving the oven door cracked open. <S> I've been told by plenty of friends and family it taste great <S> and I've been offered money too for bags <S> but I say no and give them away with a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...
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If the marinade includes a meat digesting enzyme such as papain then leaving it too long could turn the meat to mush.
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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 undertake the process lightly. <S> This process is especially nice if you are using the citrus in something like a dessert or salad where the texture of the tough membrane can throw off the dish. <S> However, as is the case with a citrus salad, the time adds up. <S> To do it easily, it helps to have a really good paring knife, and a nice piece of fruit. <S> Start by cutting the top and the bottom off, just enough to expose the familiar star pattern of the segments. <S> Then, cut down the orange from top to bottom, removing the entire rind by section. <S> Leave none of the white stuff, it only gets in the way. <S> The smaller you make each strip, the more fruit you can conserve. <S> You should be left with a bald, juicy looking thing. <S> Now the membrane, which separates each segment, is exposed. <S> To dislodge the first piece (always the hardest), slide the knife just membrane on either side. <S> Once the first piece is freed, you have the room to peel back each membrane in turn. <S> You be left with the essence of orange on one hand, and the deflated (and nutritious) husk of membrane on the other. <A> Then quarter the orange, cut out the seeds by cutting the inner corner out of the quarters. <S> Then slice into as many pieces as desired. <S> This leaves a little bit of the fiber on the orange, but nothing you have to remove before eating. <S> It's slow the first time, but with practice, it can be done very quickly. <A> It seems to me that you are complicating something which is inherently quite simple. <S> Oranges come prepackaged in bite-sized chunks. <S> Peel the orange by cutting the top off (about 1/8th of an inch, no more), scoring the sides with a knife (no deep cuts) and removing the peel and rind. <S> Once the orange is peeled, you can open it from the middle into two parts, using your fingers. <S> There's a strip of pith in the middle that should be discarded. <S> Then you separate each segment and serve as-is. <S> The segment membrane of oranges is edible and pleasant, there's no need to remove it. <S> This is not true of grapefruit/pomelos/sweeties though, where the membrane is much tougher and very bitter. <A> I like serving them as half moons. <S> I first wash them and then cut the 2 ends off. <S> Make slices as thick or thin as you like, then stack the slices and make one slice down the middle making half circles. <S> They are very easy to eat out of hand as you pull the slice open, all the litter segments pop up into little triangles that are very easy to eat with no mess. <S> This only works well with Navel Oranges as they have no seeds.
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I usually cut all of the rind off.
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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 oil and reheating multiple times improves the seasoning. Is it true? How many times does it make sense to repeat the process? <Q> This question has been answered several times as part of more general questions about seasoning. <S> See the (closely) related links in the related questions list. <S> This one in particular: What's the best way to season a cast iron skillet? <S> Specifically about oil- <S> you want to use an oil that has a high iodine value: <S> http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html#highiodine Of those you listed canola (rapeseed) would be highest. <S> These oils polymerize more easily. <S> To create an even coating with good adhesion, multiple thin coats work well. <S> I have read of people doing as many as 6 coats but, in my opinion, you should do at least 2 or 3. <A> The best is flax oil. <S> The next best is soybean oil. <S> The third best is liquid canola (not hydrogenated Crisco). <S> This is because of where those oils are listed on iodine index; which is a measure of how much an oil will polymerize. <S> Polymerization is when oil turns into plastic and is the actual chemical process responsible for "seasoning". <S> Here's a whole site dedicated to this topic with more detail: Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning: A Science-Based <S> How-To <A> I will disagree with the top answers here and say that it is best to look for something saturated, with low iodine value. <S> I personally stand by lard, but there are other options. <S> The advice that suggests high iodine oils is based on their easy polymerisation. <S> So, if you don't execute your process perfectly, you end up with a polymer layer for a high iodine oil, and a greasy pan for a low iodine oil. <S> Sounds like high iodine wins, right? <S> Well, this superficial advantage is actually their biggest disadvantage. <S> The polymer you get from a badly executed seasoning with a high iodine oil is a major PITA. <S> Enough of the abundant "sticky sites" on the molecules of the oil have made a connection to form the polymer - but even more are still free, available to grab on to something else, for example the food you are frying. <S> The coating is soft, gummy, and sticky, and I have had it come off in patches during use. <S> It can be hardened under the right circumstances, but that's not easier than getting a low iodine oil to harden (and I suspect it might be even trickier). <S> Save yourself the grief and go for the low iodine oils. <S> I would say that whatever makes a nice firm bar of soap - lard, palm oil, coconut - is a good choice here. <S> If you can get it right, it's a great layer - and if you can't, you at least know that you're back to the drawing board, instead of a silent failure that will cost you nerves down the road. <A> From personal experience, I have seasoned my Lodge cast iron skillet recently following the process described here <S> and I achieved good results with basic Crisco, which is more or less Canola oil. <S> So far so good: <S> no sticking and great tasting results. <S> I went through the process five times, but I think that may have been a little overboard. <S> Perhaps someone with more practical experience can comment, but I didn't see a huge difference between the fourth and fifth seasoning. <S> After the third round the pan was already a rich, black color with the sheen of a well seasoned cast iron utensil. <S> However, if you are starting from a freshly scoured pan--you mentioned that you are cleaning up an old rusty pan--it may make sense to go through the process a couple of extra times to make sure all the nooks and crannies are properly filled. <S> Mine came from the factory seasoned, but it wasn't done very well <S> --I had food sticking after about a month. <S> Since I re-seasoned myself <S> it's been going strong for a couple of months now. <A> Having grown up in the southern US, the traditional seasoning of cast iron in those parts was to simply cook bacon in it a few times. <S> Nothing near as fancy and involved as what you see recommended these days. <S> That has been my usual lazy approach. <S> On a recommendation from a cast-iron retailer, I have started using the new fancy approach (rub with oil, bake to polymerize) using flax-seed oil. <S> I have to say that the flax-seed oil gives a very strong coating. <S> Nearly impossible to remove from the sheet pan I used to catch the drips during the oven 'cure'. <S> If I have a complex-shaped cast-iron item (grill, back-side of skillet) <S> I use the flax-seed approach. <S> If I want to simply build up the coating on the inside of a skillet, I cook the bacon. <S> Always a good excuse to cook up a batch of bacon.
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If you can find soybean oil it would be even better.
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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 that normal? <S> I suppose if it's causing a problem, you could use a non-stick (teflon, etc.) <S> muffin pan, without the paper liners. <S> You could also try silicone-coated (parchment) liners. <S> A quick check reveals that e.g., Amazon sells them. <S> <purist <S> > <S> cornbread shall be cooked in preheated cast iron, and if that's sticking, you need to season your cast iron properly .</purist> <A> I've had this happen too <S> and I've found this little trick helps. <S> Line your muffin/cupcake tin with your papers <S> and then give the papers in the pan a light coating with non-stick spray. <A> If you put them upside down into the microwave under a wet paper towel for 15 seconds, the cupcake papers come right off. <A> One question would be why do you need the wrappers? <S> If you don't need them at all, just grease the pans and don't use them. <S> I once agreed to make cupcakes for a wedding <S> **, <S> and as I knew this was a potential problem ( <S> and I didn't want people dressed nicely having to struggle with unwrapping frosted cupcakes), I greased the muffin tins, and purchased larger than normal wrappers. <S> Once the cupcakes were baked, I removed them from the pan, and just placed them in the wrappers. <S> ** <S> I actually agreed to make a cake. <S> I was told 'just a plain white cake'. <S> So I took 3 months of cake decorating classes. <S> Then somehow it changed to '150 cupcakes, with a rose on each one' ... <S> luckily, I found a place where I could buy the roses, but I had to clean 'em out. <A> Have you tried the silicone baking cup liners? <S> My wife and daughter used it whenever they bake muffins and banana bread and with perfect result, no burnt side and bottom and evenly cooked muffins non-sticky and easy to slide cupcakes and banana breads. <S> To learn more see... http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P87R4PO <A> I second the non-stick spray. <S> Another suggestion would be putting a water bath in to keep the muffins or cupcakes from drying out too much and sticking to the paper. <A> I've found cooking them in paper cases and silicone cases seems to stop them sticking. <S> I think the silicone stops the moisture escaping and the paper means they don't stick to the silicone. <A> Slide a cookie sheet filled with water under the bottom rack. <S> The moisture in the oven prevents the muffin from sticking to the paper liners. <A> Works a treat. <S> I've also seen greaseproof silicone ones that might be worth a try. <A> Using tin foil type liners instead of paper ones has worked for me in the past. <A> I stumbled upon Wilton parchment paper cupcake liners and voila!, <S> no sticking to the paper. <S> Something must be different though because cupcakes never used to stick to paper liners like they do now. <S> The parchment works great though. <S> Jo-Ann's sells them <S> and you can find them in stores where Wilton products are sold. <A> I used both paper liners and the foil outer they did not stick. <S> Then I bought cheaper paper and they stuck really bad.
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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.
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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 looking pretty sad. I usually just mix it up again and it doesn't look as bad, but I figured someone may know a trick to prevent it all together Thanks! <Q> Guacamole seems to go brown with exposure to air, as does avocado. <S> While it will not solve the issue entirely, covering with cling wrap directly on the surface helps maintain color for an extended period. <S> Rather than pulling the wrap tight across the top of a bowl / container, place the wrap directly on top of the guacamole. <S> Use your hand to smooth out the top so that no air is between the cling wrap and guacamole. <S> This requires a bit extra cling wrap, as you need to get it up the insides of your bowl, but it makes a significant difference. <A> Lime juice should help, or any citrus. <S> This works for apples as well. <A> Guac - one of my favorites. <S> First, as others have stated, make sure that you use some citrus in the recipe. <S> Then use the cling wrap - don't pull it tight over the bowl, which traps air in the container. <S> Lightly press the cling wrap down on the surface of the quac, eliminating air from the surface. <A> interesting info thanks. <S> I eat avocadoes regularly as a diet food. <S> Often I will only eat 1/2 of the fruit at a time. <S> So I squeeze lemon juice all over the exposed part of the fruit with some in the well where the seed was. <S> Then I place it in a clip lock platic bag and place in the fridge for a day or two. <S> It works like a charm. <S> However, the skin is still attached but not the seed. <S> Maybe something in that ? <A> I have not tried it myself, but it is always said that keeping the core of the avocado and sticking it in the middle of the guacamole prevents it from turning brown. <A> Bill Tate, I did not expect to find you here. <S> I've found that lime juice works just fine to keep it from going too brown, in combination with the "saran wrap directly on the guac" trick. <S> Then again, are you going to trust a guy who eat raw eggs?
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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!
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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 though. <A> It will overrise after a day or two. <S> Take it out of the fridge for an hour or two until it happily rises. <S> Pizza dough can also be frozen. <S> I freeze mine immediately after finishing, and thaw it in the fridge for a day. <S> Supposedly you can thaw it in the microwave. <A> Put it into the fridge in a zip loc bag or in tub and leave in the fridge until you would like to use it. <S> To freeze, coat in a light layer of oil and keep in a zip loc bag (freezer safe), remove the air from the bag and freeze for up to 3 months :) <S> Hope <S> this helps :D <S> Happy cooking.
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Yes, the colder the fridge, the longer you can keep the dough in the fridge.
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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 mean bean-sprouts, and not Brussels sprouts. <S> In that case, you just roll with the crunchiness. <S> There's a lot to be said for balancing textures and not just flavours. <S> Tomatoes and cucumbers are relatively soft; peppers, sprouts and celery give crunch; lettuce and cabbage give a sort of fibry texture. <S> They can all happily co-exist in the same salad. <S> If you did mean Brussels sprouts, I would recommend just using cabbage instead. <S> It can be finely chopped into a salad and gives a nice touch. <A> For sprouts it can just be as simple as taking them out of the package, washing, tearing in half by hand and either mixing with greens or bedding under vegetables. <S> As for matching up textures, I find sprouts fit well with crisp vegetables, seeds, and beans, but not so much with meats. <A> Store-bought sprouts tend to be rather mature. <S> Some robust sprouts (soybean and the like) can be lightly blanched, although this is only recommended because of potential impurities. <S> To blanch sprouts, just dip them into boiling water for 30 seconds using a colander, and dip them in ice water immediately. <S> Growing your own sprouts offers a few advantages: Variety: <S> Try out different types of seeds, grow the ones you like most. <S> Choice of Maturity: Try out at what age you like them most. <S> 3-day-old sprouts tend to be softer and milder. <S> No doubt about cleanliness <S> : If you grow your own sprouts, you know they are clean. <A> I'd halve them, par boil for a few minutes in salted water, then stir fry them with some pancetta, before tossing through the salad leaves. <S> Drizzle on the pan juices and dress with olive oil and some kind of acid (vinegar or lemon juice). <S> That's if sprouts weren't the devil's own vegetable, of course ;) <A> Careful about the maturity of beansprouts: too young and they are still toxic in their raw state. <S> 40 people went to hospital from a conference salad buffet featuring chickpea and kidney sprouts. <S> Mung bean is the most common store-bought cooking sprout. <S> sprouting at home means that the water used has not been contaminated by animal agriculture, ie E Coli and other beasties that have broken out in commercial production. <S> Nearly raw mung beansprouts are less bruised and darkened in salad and have more tender crunch. <S> Pour boiling water over sprouts in a sieve. <S> Shake a bit and let cool. <S> Can be stored in the fridge at this point a day ahead. <S> Chinese would dress with a drop or 2 of sesame oil (dark)and a splash of vinegar and perhaps a bit of garlic with salt and pepper (white) to taste. <S> Another Chinese way is with lengths of chives making the dish 'green and white snakes'. <S> Normally served hot but why not as a crunchy cold salad?
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You may want to try germinating your own sprouts.
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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 how thick / thin the marinade is? Can I use fresh ingredients (chopped ginger for instance) or should I start with dry? Can I use maple syrup / molasses instead of sugar? Is salt (or soy sauce) an important part of the process or can I leave it out? I'm not looking for specific recipes, but rather the basic attributes of a jerky marinade so that I can be inventive without throwing too many batches out (or being unsafe if salt is required for the drying process). <Q> I have to admit that I haven't tried a lot of free-form jerky experiments so take what I say with a grain of salt. <S> (see what I did there?) <S> Jerky is a double action meat preservation method. <S> You soak the meat with way too much salt and then dehydrate it. <S> Bacteria don't stand a chance. <S> As Alton says in that episode "Club med becomes club dead". <S> Not one of his best puns <S> but it gets the point across. <S> I have seen recipes that try to reduce it <S> but I would never leave it out altogether. <S> I would expect a reduced salt recipe to not have the longevity that most jerky has- <S> If stored in an air tight container it will last nearly forever. <S> The non-salt ingredients don't really matter as long as they won't oxidize or pick up bad flavors during dehydration. <S> The type of sugar also doesn't matter- although the recipes I prefer don't include any. <S> I honestly don't know about viscosity- <S> I would expect it to need enough liquid to carry the salt into the meat. <S> That would take some experimenting. <S> It is very important that there be as little fat as possible. <S> The leaner the meat the better and don't add any to the marinade. <S> Fats will go rancid quite quickly when exposed to so much air. <S> Lastly- <S> I think I've posted this recipe before as the answer to some other question <S> but it bears repeating. <S> This family recipe is my favorite by far <S> and I use it as a starting point for any experimenting: <S> Auntie Fern's Beef Jerky 3 lbs. <S> deer meat or beef, sliced thin 1 T salt 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder 1 T pepper (I like coarse ground) <S> 1/4 c. soy sauce 1/3 <S> c. Worcestershire sauce 1/3 c. liquid smoke (hickory flavor) Combine and marinade 12 hours. <S> Drain. <S> Dry. <A> In my research of making jerky, I found a few tips that helped. <S> 1. <S> reserve a small portion of your batch for experimentation, for example, marinade 80-90% of the meat in a tried and true recipe like the one above and for the remaining 10-20%, alter the recipe, add something remove something or try something totally different and see how it goes, <S> this way you are not committing the whole batch on something you may not like. 2. <S> keep notes on every batch, what you used what you did <S> , did you like the results what could be done different next time. <S> how did the 10% experiment come out? <S> good enough to make a whole batch? <A> If you plan to omit the salt, keep the jerky in the fridge. <S> My basic venison jerky recipes both call for a lot of kosher salt. <S> I do a soy and brown sugar marinade with garlic powder and black pepper. <S> The other one I do is a apple cider vinegar venison jerky. <S> You can play with all sorts of flavorings, but if you lessen or omit the salt, keep it in the fridge. <S> Also, I have a dehydrater and hate it. <S> I line cookie sheets with foil, set the oven heat at the lowest it will go, and prop open the oven door with a cookie cutter to let the air circulate. <S> It takes about 2 hours for me to dry out a batch of jerky that way.
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Salt (or soy sauce, same thing) isn't required for the drying process but it is important for long term preservation.
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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 easier. Anyone have good recommendations? <Q> Use modular spice containers that can stack on top of each other without falling. <S> With this size, it's much easier to use a measuring spoon, other spoon, refill package. <S> The containers I have aren't air-tight (too cheap, I get 50 for about $3), but I have enough turnover so that it doesn't really matter. <S> You can always buy tupperware or other high quality containers that'll give longer shelf life. <S> Stack them in the cupboard in "families". <S> The spices that get used together should be in the same stack. <S> In my case, coriander seed, ginger, galangal, cloves and turmeric go in the same stack. <S> I also have a stack for things that get used very often, like salt, pepper, cumin, chilli flakes etc. <S> The spices you use more often will migrate to the top of the stack quite quickly, so it gets more convenient as you go along. <S> The more physical aspects are quite simple too: <S> Little light, no sunlight; no direct heat (i.e. not above the stove); not in the path of too much moisture (not above the stove or in the escape path of the steam); Keep some dessicant in the same cupboard, to soak up any moisture. <S> I just store my various jars of rice in the same cupboard. <A> My wife bought small glass containers from amazon. <S> I think they come in packs of 10 or 12 can't recall. <S> I used labels for filing cabinets and printed the text on them for her. <S> I also used colors for families such as red colored labels for spices etc. <S> From home depot I bought "step stands". <S> They are in step formation so you can see what is behind each level of step and read the labels. <A> I use two two-tier turn-tables (aka. 'lazy-suzan') one for herbs, one for spices, for the most part, but it's partly sorted by size), and keep them in a closed cabinet. <S> The only issue is that most of the modern turn-tables I've seen for sale waste a lot of vertical space. <S> (almost two inches / 5cm for two shelves) <S> I have an older one that's two shelves and can fit most common sized containers on both shelves (within my cabinet) as it only uses maybe 1/2 in (1.5cm) total. <S> ... <S> I've also seen strategies of labeling the tops of jars, and setting them in a drawer (or racks that hold them at an angle <S> so the label is visible), but I don't have enough drawers in my kitchen to make it a good alternative. <S> (I do have a drawer where I keep bags of bulk spices for re-filling jars, but it's not in as convenient of a place for cooking with)
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I find that round containers about an inch tall and two inches across are great, and easily available where I live.
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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 Turkish grocery store, and they had nigella oil (I am not sure which plant it is exactly. The label says Nigella big, then Black cumin in the English translation and Schwarzkümmel in the German translation. Schwarzkümmel is usually translated to English as Black caraway). I almost bought it, but at the steep price (14 Eur for a 250 ml bottle) it would have been too bad if it turned out to be a neutral tasting oil. Has somebody tasted it? How strong does it taste? The stronger, the better (for my purposes). Does it taste at least as strong as avocado oil, or is it a weak aroma, like grapeseed oil, or even neutral, like sunflower? Also, if it has a taste, is it a taste most people are likely to accept (like macadamia, or almond oil) or one which is at best an acquired taste (like the overly bitter flaxseed oil)? For reference, I like black caraway seeds as a spice. <Q> I bought a bottle some time ago and wanted to share my experience. <S> The nigella oil has turned out to be one of my favorite oils. <S> I don't have any other like it. <S> It is slightly bitter, and also slightly hot. <S> The hotness is weak when compared to most hot spices, but it is there. <S> The bitterness is very pleasant. <S> It doesn't have the fatty, clingy quality of flaxseed oil bitterness (and has no fish taste at all). <S> All in all, it is a very green, fresh taste, more like a herb than like an oil. " <S> Robust" style olive oils taste this way, but the nigella oil is much stronger. <S> It is too strong for combinations, but it is easily made the main star of many dishes. <S> Frying an omelette in it completely changes the taste, no need for other spices at all (it does get more bitter at low frying temperatures, but does not lose the strongest part of the flavor, just the overtones). <S> It is also very good for dipping a rustic bread. <S> It is also economical in the sense that a little bit of it goes a long way (using too much of it <S> makes it really overwhelming). <S> Conclusion: a great thing to have in the kitchen. <A> I believe it is sold as a health supplement, hence the inflated price, rather than for culinary use - in middle eastern culture it was originally viewed as a panacea apparently. <S> (As for the plant, Nigella sativa , English name translations are numerous, I always just use nigella seeds.) <A> It is a very strong oil. <S> It is sometimes labeled as "black seed oil" - <S> note that it is not caraway seed oil or onion seed oil at all. <S> I bought it as a health supplement <S> and I HATED the taste at first, but stuck with it. <S> I am now in a toleration phase and hopefully will develop, if not a liking for, at least a passing acceptance. <S> I will use the entire 16oz bottle and then evaluate further use. <A> It does indeed smell and taste like terpentine, this was confirmed by the specialists that were selling it to be normal (at first I thought it was not cold-pressed but rather terpentine-extracted, so asked additionally therefore) <A> Someone sent me two bottles to try. <S> I took 2 teaspoons immediately, and was horrified. <S> It had a strong terpentinue / kerosene flavor / odor and burned my throat going down. <S> I was really, really scared.. <S> and I had some activated charcoal on hand in capsule form, so <S> I took 5 of those, just in case what I had just injested was toxic. <S> What I got is intended as a health supplement and i had fears that it was tainted in some way. <S> The smell is definitely "fuel-like"... <S> so I got online to look it up and found SO many others who had said the same thing. <S> The only explanation I have found is by a doctor on facebook who says he sent it off to a mass spectrometer to be analysed after getting multiple complaints <S> and they said it was nothing but the plant material. <S> He said that the odor is coming from the seeds themselves. <S> Not sure if I will ingest any more before i do some more reading. <A> It has a very strong kerosene fuel smell and taste that lingers in the mouth, and gives some burning sensation going down the throat. <S> Not a pleasant taste at all <S> but I take it for the various health benefits. <A> To me it tastes like really strong parsley...….
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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!
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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. I know that my mum has a habit of overcooking turkey and making it dry, I'm cooking for her this Mother's Day and want to show her how it's done. <Q> The idea of cooking a turkey upside down is that the fat from the fattier bits of the bird (the legs etc) runs down into the breast. <S> As a crown has none of these bits, there's no point in cooking it upside down. <S> By all means butter and bacon it <S> though - turkey breast is very lean so needs all the fat it can get to keep it moist, so use good fatty bacon. <S> Take it out of the fridge a good hour before you cook it, preheat the oven to 180C, and cook for 20 mins per pound (454g) + 20 mins. <S> Baste regularly, but be aware that every time you open the oven door the heat drops dramatically, so don't be overzealous - once every 20 minutes should be ok. <S> Then let it rest for half an hour, on a warm plate, under foil. <S> This will help with juiciness. <A> Brine, brine, brine. <S> It's the most important thing you can do to maintain the flavor and moistness of this potentially dry meat. <S> The suggestion above to use a meat thermometer is also vital if you don't want to overcook. <S> The advantage that you have is that you only have the one type of meat (white) to be concerned about, so you can go for the correct temperature without being concerned that the legs and thighs won't be done. <S> And remember that your turkey is going to coast up as it rests, so pull it out of the oven when the temperature is 160 F, not 170, and let it coast up to the final desired temperature. <S> On the topic of temperature, I think 170 (the "safe" temperature that you'll see everywhere) is WAY too high. <S> I actually pull my turkey breast out at about 150. <S> Moist, tender, but slightly pink and that throws some people off. <S> The basting and larding (laying on of bacon) will add flavor and crispness to the skin, but the biggest benefit will be gained by brining. <S> To recap: <S> Brine your turkey. <S> A cup of salt to a gallon of water, or you can add brown sugar, or you can use vegetable stock, or any of a number of brines that you will find on the internet, but do it. <S> Brine it. <S> After that you can butter or lard the skin. <S> Roast with your favorite technique, either starting low and finishing high temperature oven, or start high and finish low, or <S> , my favorite, run it high the whole time. <S> Baste if you must, but more than once is probably a waste of time and oven temperature (every time you open the door, you cool your oven). <S> Use a thermometer. <S> Take it out at 160F (or 150 if you are comfortable with meat that is done less). <S> Let the turkey "rest" a half hour, minimum. <S> Tent it with foil, but let it sit. <A> Tightly wrapped in foil,sealed. <S> Then 25-30 mins at 200°C/400 <S> °F then turn down to 180°C/350°F for 12 mins a kilo (2.2 pounds). <S> Job done!
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If you want crispy skin, dry the turkey after brining and let sit in the refrigerator for a while (hour or more).
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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 fine, but because it was so flattened out, there was a lot more crust than usual (and the children don't like crust). I usually bake my bread directly on the baking plate, not using any bread pan, and for wheat flour, that works fine. Do I need a bread pan to prevent the bread from running out, or is there something else I can do? <Q> Although similar, spelt has more protein and less starch than wheat flour. <S> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat#Nutrition <S> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt#Nutrition <S> This means that it will create a great structure but won't absorb as much liquid. <S> This would result in exactly what you saw- <S> it was sticky from water and protein and too loose to hold its shape but baked with a good crust. <S> Try adding less water. <A> Try baking it in a pot with a lid inside the oven ie a Dutch oven, casserole dish or whatever. <S> Although this does give you a much better crust - I can only suggest changing the children. <A> I've tried baking bread with 100% spelt (no wheat) flour a few times and it was really hard to get something not too flat, which was still pretty dense. <S> Even using a bread pan <S> the result is denser than the typical French white bread, but fine. <S> I haven't tried it yet, but this recipe looks good (in the photo :)
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The recipes I have seen use a mixture of flours that includes spelt.
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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 tends to be markedly less bitter than the young chard you're using; <S> Avoid bringing out the bitterness, by cooking at lower heat; <S> Mute any remaining bitterness with salt, which is pretty common for leafy greens. <A> My favourite chard technique is to start by sauteeing chopped onion in olive oil until it is starting to brown, then adding chard with the rinsing water clinging to it, and putting the lid on. <S> I then turn off the heat. <S> The combination of lower heat and the sweetness of onion and olive oil means that the result is only slightly bitter, just how I like it. <A> I blanch chard in boiling and aggressively salted water. <S> Then reheat in a hot pan, little butter, some shallot, splash of white wine to finish. <S> Season well, enjoy. <A> Another technique is to sweeten the chard; for example, you might add a little sugar and some raisins. <S> This is a classic French technique for Swiss chard. <S> Here's a recipe: Ingredients 1 bunch Swiss chard 3 TBS unsalted butter 1 TBS olive oil 1 TBS sugar 1 TBS chopped, fresh rosemary 1/3 cup (2 oz) dark or golden raisins, roughly chopped 2 TBS pine nuts (optional, but best) Salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste <S> Steps <S> Remove the stems from the chard, and slice it roughly. <S> In a large saute pan over high heat, melt the butter and oil until it sizzles. <S> Add the sugar and stir until the sugar begins to brown, about one minute. <S> Add the chard and rosemary; stir well to coat the chard with the butter mixture. <S> Continuing to stir, cook until the chard wilts to about half of its volume, about a minute and a half. <S> Add the raisins and stir to distribute evenly. <S> Add the pine nuts, if using, and continue to cook over high heat to evaporate any moisture. <S> Season with salt and pepper <S> , transfer to a warmed serving plate, and serve immediately. <A> Cooking bitter greens like chard and kale long and slow in animal fats, as in stews or soups, tends to get rid of the bitterness. <A> The simple best way to get rid of the tanic acid in cooking chard greens only is the cut up the greens and bring them to a Rolling Boil and boil them for 3 min. <S> pour of the water then rinse them in hot water. <S> Next cover them with just enough water to finish cooking them till tinder, maybe 20min. will be like High quality spinach & season them how ever you like.
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Your chard most likely tastes bitter because chard is bitter .
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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 relatively thin and spread out, cooked by the burgermeister on a large commercial griddle. My question is, what temperature should I use for with this type of burger? My thought is that I will roll out 1/3 lb balls of 80/20, flatten out on the pan with a spatula, roughen up a little, then let cook until done. At some point, I'll add some cheese (monterey jack or muenster, no comments on the cheese!). What I'd like is a bit of meaty flavor, greasy of course, but also crunchy to a degree (but not a lot). Should I pre-oil my pan? Thanks!Jared <Q> The way to make a proper griddled hamburger: Start with beef that is between 70/30 and 80/20. <S> You need to use a fatty beef because you are going to be doing a few things that will restrict the amount of juice in the burger and the extra fat will mitigate that. <S> Season your beef and roll into balls less than 1/4 of a pound. <S> Let the size of your patties be determined by the size of your pan, you need them small enough that once you smash you won't be touching the sides of the pan. <S> You then want to preheat your pan. <S> A commercial griddle can range in heat between 375 F and 650 F, so the temp here can vary quite a bit between places, I find hotter aids crust formation and allows the interior stay closer to medium. <S> Do not use oil. <S> I can't stress that enough. <S> Your beef will put out plenty and oil will fry the burger instead of allowing a seared crust to develop. <S> Place your balls of meat on the pan and smash them flat with a spatula. <S> You might need a second spatula to remove the patty from the smashing one, as you lack the space space to heat it like you would on a griddle to prevent sticking. <S> Allow it to cook about two to three minutes, then flip and top with cheese, if desired. <S> Two more minutes and remove. <S> As an added bonus, you can toast/fry some bread in the beef juices to create a patty melt style burger that will be oozing beefy goodness. <S> You can drop the bread in right after the flip and it will be perfect by the time the patty is done. <A> For one, don't rough your burger up - do it gently. <S> Don't pack it down so tight that you get hockey pucks and don't flatten the patty with a spatula - you'll press out all that good juicy flavor. <S> Treat it like a steak. <S> When you eat steak you want tender and juicy surely you want the same from your burger. <S> You'll need a drop of olive oil if you don't have a non stick pan <S> - if you do, don't worry about it. <S> The fat from the burger will create it's own grease anyway. <S> Gently make your patty a little bigger than the bun you'll be eating it on, maybe a 1/4 of a inch. <S> Get your pan to a haze which is when you can see faint smoke rolling. <S> The water drop technique is a good way to see if it's hot and trust me you'll hear it if it is. <S> A good 6 <S> oz patty <S> you should cook 4 to 5 minutes on each side. <S> I prefer to cook the meat slowly between a medium high <S> so it locks in more flavor <S> but you can cook on a ridiculous temperature and have it quick. <S> But remember - a great burger only gets flipped once. <S> When it starts cooking, wait until you see the sides start to brown - <S> that lets you know <S> it's gold on the bottom and has that crunch you're looking for. <S> Flip it, let it go for another minute and throw your cheese on the burger <S> and it cook for another few minutes. <S> After 10 to 12 minutes you should have a medium burger that will rock your socks off. <S> Another thing is - don't go crazy with stupid seasonings. <S> Salt and pepper my friend and be generous about it. <S> If you want a juicy, crispy burger follow what I just said. <S> Trust me. <A> For a thin patty, I'd go for a fairly high temp. <S> Medium-high. <S> You need a three step approach. <S> 1. <S> Make sure the pan is hot by shaking a drop of water in the pan. <S> If it evaporates immediately then it's hot. 2. <S> Put some oil in the pan (just coat the bottom). <S> 3. <S> Make sure the oil is hot. <S> When you swirl the pan around and the oil shows ripples, it's hot. <S> Then add the burgers. <S> The oil is needed for heat transfer. <A> I prefer to go with Heston Blumenthal's method. <S> Very low heat, thick (say, 2.5-4cm) burgers, and flip every thirty seconds or so. <S> This allows your burgers to baste in their own juices, and slowly develop a gorgeous crust on the outside. <S> I promise you, try this way, and they will be the juiciest burgers you will ever have.
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You want your pan to be as hot as possible.
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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 allowing it to rest properly? <S> How long are you kneading it for? <S> What is your method for shaping your dough? <S> Edited to add from a later comment <S> (I don't really see the point, it's right there after all): Pizza dough, particularly if you are using proper 00 flour, needs a solid ten minutes of kneading before it rests. <S> Resting time will vary depending on temperature and so on, but 2 hours seems excessive to me. <S> Don't ever use a rolling pin to shape pizza dough; you've spent all that time working air into the dough, why squeeze it all out? <S> Shape by hand, pulling towards you with your left while pushing away in a windshield wiper motion with your right and rotating the dough slightly on each pass. <A> Your dough probably stretches back because the flour has a value of p <S> /l≈1 . <S> I wrote this answer for another question on Pizza specific flours should have a value of p/l≈0.5 . <S> If you can't get a flour with p/l≈0.5 , you can try reducing the dough's strengh by: Leting it rest a long time. <S> Resting for 2, 4 or 6 hours doesn't sound strange to me. <S> And old proffessional baker once told me they didn't have consistent flours in the 70's. <S> Sometimes they were too strong, sometimes too weak. <S> When it was strong, they added vinager to make it "less nervous" (sic). <S> I'd preffer let it rest longer than doing this to my pizza dough. <S> Another chance could be that your pizza dough balls are still too cold from the fridge, and therefor too stiff. <S> If this is the case, you can take it out of the fridge earlier to let it reach room temperature. <A> For a softer and easier to work dough that still performs fine in a very hot oven. <S> The food processor will eventually form a lump of dough and will put huge centrifugal strain on the machine, so don't use you flash brand new one. <S> I have an old sunbeam "Big Oscar" for this job <S> Let dough rise as normal, punch down an knead briefly, rise again. <S> Shape, with the pull, smear, turn technique (it will stay put). <S> Let rise again briefly before adding topping and cooking <A> Ascorbic Acid which can allow the gluten to relax by acidifying the protein structure breaking the intermolecular protein bonds in the tertiary protein structure reducing the tightness of the gluten; it also contribute to dough relaxation. <S> You can find Ascorbic Acid in Vitamin-C powder you only need a small small portion of it or a drop of juice from pineapple or kiwi fruit. <S> Other reducing agent's can also be used <A> Here's a trick I found in My Father's Book Of Southern Italian Peasant Food: To prevent your dough from shrinking back, coat your pizza pan with Crisco, then spread the dough.
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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
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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 and it tastes strongly fermented like I added yeast to it. <Q> Assuming you cooked thoroughly, your squash got innoculated after you took it out of the oven. <S> Was your counter clean? <S> Had you just made bread? <S> What's the history of the storage bag? <S> Did you recently spill yogurt in <S> the fridge?You've got a source of contamination, and need to think carefully about everything that came in contact with the squash after you pulled it from the oven. <A> Pureeing creates and enormous amount of surface area to become contaminated. <S> This is the same reason ground meat is so dangerous. <S> Roasting the squash helped to turn much of the starch into sugar. <S> as Roland Taylor said, the squash likely picked up spores through the air or from your hands. <S> A warm sugary squash is a great place for yeast to begin turning sugar into CO2 or alcohol. <S> I would try cooling it down faster or pureeing immediately after cooking and then simmering to kill any live cultures that might cause fermentation. <A> I think Wayfaring nailed it. <S> Bread is most likely. <S> After years of baking you may find you have a certain population established in your kitchen as well. <S> It is also possible you had your windows open because it was a fine spring day and some natural yeast wandered in. <A> If the agent responsible can survive the cold, then that explains it. <S> Being in a bag would help that process btw. <S> A second possibility is that you got some bacteria/fungi from the air on your squash. <S> It's easily possible.
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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.
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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 for one or two minutes before grinding. Can I use such okara directly in spreads and other recipes without boiling it or steaming it? Can my body use the proteins and other nutrients? <Q> Its been a while <S> but I found this thread as I was wondering the same thing... <S> Not much info on raw okara <S> but I just googled raw soybeans.... <S> "For human consumption, soybeans must be cooked with "wet" heat to destroy the trypsin inhibitors (serine protease inhibitors). <S> Raw soybeans, including the immature green form, are toxic to humans, swine, chickens, and in fact, all monogastric animals." <S> From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean <A> Okara is not very appealing raw <S> It is used in some foods <S> but I have never heard of it being used raw. <A> If you made soy milk in a soy milk maker, the okara isn’t raw, it’s cooked. <S> But if you made it in a blender before boiling the beans, and then cooked the milk on the stovetop, then the okara really needs to be cooked before eating. <A> From what I know, I suggest to cook it. <S> Here are many examples of people being poisoned after drinking uncooked soybean milk. <S> The toxin in raw soy milk may be trypsin inhibitors and saponin. <S> Okara is part of soybean, it may contain the toxin.
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It should be cooked into something.
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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 distinctive flavour, I'm afraid there's nothing that will give you exactly the same taste. <S> Many sites suggest peanut oil, but this is more or less tasteless in my experience. <S> I would suggest toasting some unsalted peanuts or cashews and adding them to the stir fry, to get that roasted, slightly smoky flavour. <S> Just add them to a warm, dry pan and toss frequently to prevent burning. <S> If you're feeling really adventurous you might even try smoking some peanuts (you can do this in a wok with certain wood chips and a bamboo steamer, plenty of instructions online). <A> You can simply omit the sesame oil, and most recipes should work just fine. <S> The sesame flavor is pleasant but not required. <S> Drizzle it on at the end of cooking, and stir it in. <A> I recommend roasted pumpkin seed oil, which has a number of similar qualities, but tends to be expensive and may require refrigeration after opening. <A> I have this issue, as my son is very allergic to sesame, and also to peanuts and basically all tree nuts (precluding the nut-based suggestions above). <S> When I make fried rice I like to use chopped-up pancetta at the appropriate point in the recipe (give it enough time to render much of its fat). <S> No, it's not a match, but it seems to fill a somewhat comparable role in the flavor, perhaps because of the smokiness. <S> You could probably substitute bacon if you lack pancetta. <A> Maybe it would help to use a few drops of liquid smoke as well.
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You might also consider substituting a nut oil such as walnut oil for some of the rich flavor of sesame oil.
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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 are the defining characteristics distinguishing one type of beer from another? <Q> http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/ has a vast amount of information on beer styles. <S> To answer your specific question, an ale is top-fermenting whereas a lager is bottom-fermenting. <S> Lagers are generally fermented at lower temperatures than ales. <S> I believe that lambics would constitute a third category, since they are traditionally fermented by wild yeasts, but opinion may vary on this, I don't know. <A> Another Beer Advocate link: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style <S> Those folks make a three-level hierarchy: <S> Yeast Type <S> Origin <S> Style <S> You can see another structure emerging within theirs, however, in which descriptors are tacked on to a style. <S> For example, you have an ale, a pale ale, an imperial pale ale, a double imperial pale ale, an american imperial double pale ale, etc. <A> The classification of different beer types comes from how they are made. <S> The first distinction is top-fermenting vs. <S> bottom-fermenting, i.e. does the yeast get thrown in on top and work its way down the mash, or is it the reverse. <S> Top Fermenting = <S> Ale <S> Bottom Fermenting = <S> Lager <S> In general, lager yeasts are more sensitive to temperature control during brewing and result in a subtler and cleaner flavor. <S> Pilsners and most German beers are of this type. <S> Ales tend to have a larger variety of yeast strains used, so don't have as consistent a profile as lagers. <S> (There's exceptions of course, Schwarzbier is as dark and malty as they come.) <S> All other styles are a result of their ingredients, locations and histories. <S> Most have a specific quality such as Labmics, which are a sour beer that uses spontaneous fermentation. <S> Rauchbier (also known as Smoked Beer) have a distinctive smoky flavor and sometimes are actually smoked before bottling. <S> (And, frustratingly, can be either a lager or ale before being smoked). <S> Beers that use Wheat as one of their malts tends to make another broad category of ales such as the Hefeweizen and Whitbier. <S> Not every category is so easy. <S> You'll be hard pressed to find a beer expert who can quote the differences between a Porter and a Stout without speaking in generalities and flavor profiles. <S> Similarly, since the naming of beers isn't regulated everywhere in the world <S> what is one breweries "American Pale Ale" is an others IPA. <A> In order of lightness/colour, with the palest at the top lager, yellow, taste dry and light (yes please) <S> ale, brown, taste earthy and richer (yes please) <S> stout, black, tastes like ashtrays (no thankyou, <S> well ok sometimes a guiness is required) <S> More here <A> There are more types, for instance, wheat and rye beers. <S> See http://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/351/ and http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/12/ .
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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.
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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 species? And which fish smell the least and most fishy? <Q> Certain people who are "super smellers" who have a heightened sensitivity to smells. <S> Assuming you aren't one of them: fish smells "fishy" when it's starts to age. <S> If you can find a reputable fish monger, that would help. <S> That said, if you're sure you have fresh fish, and some fish just simply smell more, you can cut down on the smell, by a quick rinse and a marinade with an lemon juice . <S> As for why fish smell fishy... it has to do with amines contained in the fish . <S> Amines get released as bacteria work to release them. <S> Salmon, Tuna, others... are higher in amines, while fresh white fish, tend to be lower . <S> You'd have to do a bit more research to find out more specific species... <A> Sure, some fish are smellier than others. <S> The fishy smell arises from the production of various amines in the dead flesh. <S> If you let your fish sit out on a warm counter for a day, it will get quite reeky. <S> Here's a nice little explanation of the reaction between these stinky amines and lemon juice: Why fish is served with lemon juice . <A> I've never had salmon that had a fishy smell. <S> I think it may be time to find a new fish monger or start buying a different brand if you buy frozen. <S> I imagine that oily fish (like bluefish) would have a stronger fishy smell and taste. <S> It's very much not to my liking <S> so I stick to 'white meat' fish like fluke, flounder, black fish, ling, sole, Nile perch, tilapia, etc. <S> Having said that, I also LOVE tuna steaks and salmon. <S> It's just a small fortune here <S> so I don't buy it often. <A> Panfried cooking methode make the smell become stronger <A> I have never had mackerel that didn't smell. <S> And I've had it all kinds of ways, from all kinds of restaurants. <S> Raw-cured in saba battera, canned in brine, grilled, baked, pan-fried, even in ceviche (marinated in lime juice)... doesn't matter. <S> Mackerel has a REALLY pungent fish smell to me. <S> It's the strongest-smelling of all the edible fishes by far. <S> It's in a league of its own. <S> I don't mind it to eat, but make sure not to get any on your skin, clothes or furniture. <A> Fish should never, ever smell! <S> When it comes out of the water, whether fresh, sea or ocean fish never has an odor. <S> The only way to prevent this is to buy from someone you know in a fish market. <S> Sometimes they'll try and preserve shell fish by packing it in salt, so be careful not to add any before you taste it 'cause the salt taste will never leave the fish once it is packed that way. <A> Fish should not have any "fishy" smell at all, as this indicates the fish is beyond peak freshness. <S> Fresh fish should have no smell at all, or a clean icy smell. <S> Regardless of just how fishy it smells, if there is any "fishy" smell you should not eat it. <S> Source: <S> On Cooking textbook <A> Part time commercial fisherman and fishmonger most my life. <S> Whoever started the fish shouldnt smell like fish is full of crap. <S> The eyes the smell everything it all depends on how it is stored. <S> I will tell you straight up as delivering fresh fish to stores nobody knows wtf there talking about. <S> For example, if you take 100 pounds fresh sardines just off loaded from the boat and put them in a cooler with ice. <S> In a matter of hours the eyes will be glazed, they won't look fresh. <S> If you put them in cooler with fresh water and ice, in a matter of minutes the gills will be bleached looking. <S> I would never eat fish that doesn't smell like fish, or the ocean. <S> Some fish natural smell, for example halibut, lingcod. <S> If there isn't a distinct fish and ocean smell to it <S> I wont eat it. <S> If the fish you buy doesnt smell like fish <S> I would seriously start asking question. <A> I think the best thing to do is to not buy it until you are ready to eat it that day. <S> Because when you buy it, its already as fresh as it will ever get in your hands short of catching and cleaning it yourself. <S> But, most sea food should never have a fishy odor. <S> It should always smell fresh and neutral clean. <S> If that makes sense? <A> Salmon starts to deteriorate as soon as dead. <S> Why you gill them as soon as you bring then into the boat. <S> Put on ice. <S> Tuna is a oil fish. <S> I think the pink has a stronger smell. <S> Fish caught on seaweed can have a stronger smell. <S> Over those caught on the reef. <S> But fish should not have a strong smell. <S> Or be soft to the touch. <S> Fish spoils fast. <S> If buying fish look at the eyes they should be clear. <S> Look at the gills they should be pink. <S> If not do not buy the fish it has been out to long. <S> Then they start to smell. <A> In my experience the mucus covering the body of bony fish can have a fishy smell even fresh from the water. <S> I've caught tench <S> that definitely had a fishy smell to them while they were still alive. <S> And, in addition to that the mucus deteriorates very quickly, enhancing the odor. <S> as a side note: <S> For some fish, including the tench and the carp there are recipes in Germany called Blaukochen (cooking blue) where the whole fish with the mucus intact is prepared in water with vinegar. <S> That results in the mucus turning blue. <S> In the shop the mucus is normally washed off and thus should not be the reason for the smell.
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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 ...
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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 and they said that after this family member passed away and the stuff was boxed up it was put away in storage (where I got it this weekend). Anyway, this thing hasn't been used since the family member passed away. Is it going to be OK to use? Is there anything special I need to do to clean it and get it operational? It looks like it's clean but sitting around that long, you never know, right? <Q> Unless it was stored dirty or with some hazardous materials there is no reason to do anything more. <A> On a usage note, I've found that they are much easier to clean if you do so immediately after use than if you wait until later. <A> After 15 years of non use cleaning is not your problem. <S> Often the grease is OK, but has retracted from the gear surface, just re-spread it around. <S> If not confident with doing this send it to a service centre
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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 mechanical failure Pull the covers off and have a look.
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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 salt in some contexts (particularly baking) will affect chemical reactions, so you want to control how much salt is being used. <S> For another, and more importantly in most applications, using salted butter means you will have less control over actual seasoning. <S> We keep both salted and unsalted butter at home. <S> Salted, as I noted, is for toast only really. <A> In the UK most butter is salted and just labeled butter. <S> Most people use this for everything, unless a recipe calls for unsalted butter particularly. <S> I assume our baking recipes take that into account, but lots of our baked goods, eg shortbread, wouldn't taste right without it. <A> The short answer is that unsalted butter is for cooking with, salted butter is for spreading on things (biscuits, pancakes, etc.). <S> I believe I've heard that in some parts of Europe salted butter isn't even sold. <S> If you want to butter your croissant, you use unsalted butter and sprinkle a touch of salt for flavor. <A> Well, you can assign whatever uses you want, of course. <S> But in general, unsalted butter is used anywhere that you can't or shouldn't taste for saltiness, or where you want to avoid the salt, and salted for anything that you prefer it on, or where there's no worry about getting too much salt without knowing it. <S> This is because the saltiness varies so much with salted butter, so you never know how much salt you're getting. <S> Of course, lots of people use unsalted butter for most everything--many prefer it on fresh bread, for example--and there are plenty of people who don't worry about using salted butter for everything either.
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Salted butters vary in the amount of salt they contain, so when cooking you should use unsalted butter and control the salt level yourself.
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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 this is normal for olive oil, but it is rather annoying having to get it out 30 minutes before I make a salad or a sandwich (as I don't normally have that kind of time). My question is, since everything in there but the garlic doesn't need to be refrigerated, is it safe to leave it out of the fridge and let it stand at room temperature? Or is it like all other (store-bought) dressing where after opening (mixing) it requires refrigeration? <Q> Yes, you should refrigerate it. <S> Once a commercially bottled dressing is exposed to the air it is contaminated. <S> Your homemade dressing is no different, and is likely more contaminated to begin with. <S> The bottom line is that your dressing is food -- for humans, bacteria, and mold. <S> It might not be the most hospitable of environments, but something is bound to find a home there. <S> This process is arrested by refrigeration. <S> Additionally, the garlic and basil will be going through a decay process that would be delayed by refrigeration. <S> I'm not sure what kind of olive oil you used, but I've never had a vinaigrette turn solid in the refrigerator. <S> If you're in a rush I'd suggest submerging, or running hot water over the bottle you store it in to quickly thaw it. <S> You'll shorten the shelf life, but if you're using it frequently enough (used all in less than a month) that shouldn't matter. <A> My employer makes vinaigrette dressing professionally and distributes to Kroger stores, Meijer, and other chains. <S> What Adisak mentioned about acidified ingredients is correct. <S> In fact, you could acidify them yourself as we do. <S> Mix the vinegar and flavors together (garlic, spices, etc...), and refrigerate over night. <S> Make sure to blend/puree the ingredients to allow the acidification to work properly. <S> Food code states that the finished product should be at a certain PH level to be used as shelf stable (non-refrigerated). <S> But that shouldn't be an issue as long as you aren't adding more than 50% oil to the mix (plus the testing meters for ph in non-clear liquids are expensive). <S> And leave water out of the mixture as it adds more complex variables into the equation. <S> And as many have said, dry ingredients are the safest, but on the other hand... sadly just don't taste the same. <A> Daniel is right about the raw garlic and botulism. <S> If you make a dressing with raw garlic, eat it right away - don't store it. <S> It's possible that the vinegar would kill the bacteria, but I wouldn't take the chance. <S> This also means you shouldn't store raw garlic in oil. <S> This doesn't apply to cooked garlic, by the way. <S> Otherwise - go ahead and leave it out. <S> I've never seen a vinaigrette go bad, and I doubt that I ever will. <A> I have another solution: you could use grapeseed oil instead. <S> It doesn't solidify when refridgerated. <S> It's what I use for all my dressing needs :) <A> You can use garlic powder and leave it out. <S> Two weeks. <S> Then make fresh. <S> Just make smaller quantities . <S> 2/3 vinegars 1/3 olive oil. <A> I make a basic Garlic dressing 2 or 3 times a week (virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, crushed fresh garlic and salt). <S> If I chill it for 30 minutes prior to use I don’t have a problem <S> but if I chill lt overnight then it forms a thick crust which looks like fat.
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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.
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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 bit of oil, and ginger. Then I dry it off with paper towels, heat a cast-iron to 400-500*F, then add a little peanut oil and put a small amount of the chicken in at one time. I wait for that to cook, pull it out, make sure the pan's reheated, then add another small amount of the chicken. Repeat until all the chicken is cooked. I've run into a couple problems though. 1) It takes a very long time to follow those steps. Drying the chicken is slow and messy, and seems overly pedantic. The amount of chicken I can cook at one time and still get a maillard reaction is very little. 2) The browning reaction is very inconsistent. Sometimes it's perfect, sometimes it doesn't work at all. Usually if I follow these steps to the extreme (like, 4-5 small cubes of chicken at one time) I can always get a reaction, but that just takes waaaaay too long. So, what tricks can I use to help ensure that a Maillard reaction occurs? Are there any ways I can speed up the whole process? <Q> I've added some baking soda (specifically to onions while making French Onion Soup) to accelerate the Maillard reaction in the past and it seems to work rather well. <S> A few more general steps can be taken to encourage this reaction: add protein (egg, milk), reducing sugar (glucose, fructose or lactose), remove water, <S> increase temperature/ <S> pH <S> I read this article a while back on accelerating the Maillard Reaction and found it very interesting; I think it may be helpful to you as well! <S> http://blog.khymos.org/2008/09/26/speeding-up-the-maillard-reaction/ <A> In my opinion the Maillard reaction isn't all that essential in Eastern cooking because of the myriad of other strong flavours going on. <S> I don't think I've ever had browned chicken in a Chinese takeout. <S> I always use a method called velveting when cooking chicken for stir fries. <S> Take a couple of egg whites and add a tablespoon of cornstarch and 2 teaspoons salt. <S> Whisk together, and add your chicken. <S> Marinade for as long as is convenient. <S> Get a saucepan of water on the boil. <S> Add the chicken all in one go, return to the boil, and cook for 5 minutes or so - until the chicken is all white. <S> Drain <S> well in a colander <S> and let it steam for a bit to dry it out. <S> Give it a quick stir fry with soy and rice wine (mainly for a little color), and it's ready to go. <S> It gives the most wonderful, tender result, without the odd jelly-like consistency that meat tenderiser can cause. <A> I use the exact same process that you have described. <S> Without resorting to Vecta 's approach of increasing the pH, the only thing I can think of is to bump up your heat. <S> That should be able to get you in the Wok Hei zone, a feat of which most residential ranges/cooktops are incapable. <S> Just make sure to cut your chicken relatively thin to avoid burning the outside before the inside is cooked. <A> Vecta's answer points to the key as I see it to ensure Maillard reactions <S> : reduce water . <S> Since Maillard reactions require higher temperatures than is possible in the presence of water (over boiling point) it may be the soy sauce that's causing some of your problems. <S> Have you considered eliminating the soy sauce from your marinade and then adding it later? <S> Particularly if the chicken is going to rest a bit while you prepare the other parts of the stir fry, you could add the soy sauce later in in the process. <S> The flavor will be different, but it will be much easier to get the nice browning you're looking for, and will eliminate the drying step. <S> You could either create a sort of dry rub for the chicken, or use oil as the liquid in the marinade. <A> These have already undergone significant Maillard reactions, and are just stirred in to heat up and combine with the sauces <S> There is of course still plenty of overall Maillard reactions happening to the entire stir fry. <S> If this is not happening you may need a more powerful gas burner and a proper Asian style wok?
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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 upgrades for use indoors), Alton Brown recommends using an inexpensive turkey fryer burner outside.
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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 then it's no longer a sauce, it's a marinade. <S> That's fine, but marinating is something you generally do with tough, cheap, and/or dry cuts of meat such as chicken breasts or top rounds (beef). <S> For a full chicken, especially the wings, drumsticks and thighs, a marinade is entirely unnecessary and in my humble opinion simply dilutes the deliciously moist interior and often makes the whole thing soggy and depressing. <S> Generally the goal (or <S> at least my goal and that of the majority of restaurants <S> I've been to) for chicken wings or even a traditional roasted whole chicken <S> is a nice crispy, golden-brown, well-seasoned skin with juicy meat on the inside. <S> You can't get that if you douse it in sauce before grilling it. <S> The water in the sauce will inhibit the Maillard reaction that causes browning (and crisping), and as Mike points out, the sauce may even burn. <S> In fact, it almost certainly will burn; most store-bought BBQ sauces only last a few minutes exposed to direct heat. <S> Go ahead and season it liberally and coat it in butter or oil beforehand, but wait until it is no more than a few minutes away from being done before you sauce it. <S> You're not trying to cook the sauce, and it takes no more than a few minutes to get the sauce to bind to the skin - i.e. a few coats with 30-60 seconds each to reduce and form a sort of glaze. <S> This is true for almost any meat and any cooking method as long as you're not marinating - BBQ chicken, fried or convection-baked wings, smoked or oven-braised ribs - you almost always want to sauce it right at the end. <S> If your technique and ingredients are good then the meat, not the sauce, should be your main attraction. <A> It all depends on the sauce. <S> If it's thick, or if it contains a lot of sugar, then it can scorch over high heat. <S> For something like that, I'd put the sauce on at the very end, or serve it on the side. <S> If it's thinner (something based on wine, vinegar, fruit juice, soy sauce, etc) then it's absolutely OK to put it on before grilling, or marinate the chicken overnight. <A> In my experience, its best to apply when chicken is almost done. <S> I've learned from experience. <S> Putting sauce on when you put chicken on the grill, will definitely burn even before the chicken is cooked.
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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.
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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 to use, drain the water out afterwards, cook for how long, temperature etc). Help? <Q> @ElendilTheTall's answer would probably make some pretty badass Mi Goreng, but the whole point of packet Mi Goreng is to be a 2 minute meal in the least work possible. <S> The way I make Mi Goreng is to cook the noodles in a small pot until they're just cooked (a little firmer than you prefer to eat them). <S> Quickly drain them, throw them back in the same pot and add all the seasonings except the fried onion. <S> Put the pot back on the hot briefly (or just use the residual heat from the element) and stir the noodles all around. <S> Basically stir frying them within the pot. <S> Tip them out into a bowl and add the fried onion sachet (or just eat from the pot). <S> This always works pretty well for me, I get a result that isn't too far in consistency from the real thing. <S> PS. <S> Mi Goreng are Indonesian, not Thai :) <A> It's not too much water that makes them soggy, it's cooking them for too long in the water. <S> Thin noodles are virtually done as soon as they break out of their dry, tablet shape. <S> As soon as this happens, take a noodle out and test it. <S> Remember that cooking will continue even after you drain the noodles. <S> You should drain the noodles well in a colander. <S> If you are planning on stir frying the noodles, you need to first wash the starch off them - run the cold water tap over them and circulate it through the noodles with your hand (carefully, they might still be hot in the middle). <S> They then need to be dried as much possible - spread them out on a board, pat with paper towel, and leave for ten minutes or so before stir frying (preferably in an empty wok - cook the rest of the stir fry first, then empty it, cook the noodles, and re-add the meat etc.) <A> I know this is quite an old thread, but Mi Goreng never gets old <S> so here's my method: <S> Empty the seasonings (all of them) on to a plate, add the noodles to boiling water and about half way through cooking (about a minute or two) add a cracked egg. <S> By the time the noodles are cooked (which is as soon as they lose their wriggly shape) <S> the egg is also cooked with the yolk still nice and runny. <S> Drain everything in a colander and transfer to the plate. <S> Mix everything together, the egg will break and the yolk will coat everything, making it a bit saucier. <S> It's sooooo yummy and easy :) <A> This is his how my wife does it: use as little water as possible (just enough for the broken up noodles to swim in ) and throw in the dry spices in with the noodles. <S> Keep watching the pot. <S> As soon as the noodles are done take them out quickly, you don't want them to overcook. <S> Mix in the liquid ingredients and serve immediately. <A> heres another technique I use: <S> I use 6 or 7 mi goreng noodles for this :) <S> Boil water about half way, or you can boil the water in kettle then add in pot easier.. <S> Then add all the seasonings to the pot, mixing the flavours every time you keep adding them so they won't stick to the bottom. <S> Immediately after you add the flavours and mix all together you add the noodles in so the flavour can sink into the noodles. <S> But make sure you don't over cook <S> it let the water sink in with the noodles and mix all together <S> once all the noodles are cooked turn off the cooking and its ready to be served and woolah you got nice hot migoreng noodles with abit of its delicious hot soup with it too... <S> mmmmmmm... <A> so they're about al dente. <S> Then, I strain the noodles and toss them in a heated saute pan with about 2 tsp vegetable oil. <S> I stir fry the noodles for around 30 seconds to lose any excess water. <S> Then, I add in all the seasonings except for the fried onions and stir fry it into the noodle for another minute. <S> Finally, I transfer my noodles to a bowl and garnish with the fried onions. <S> The noodles are still chewy with some crispy bits so they really taste like a great fried noodle. <A> Here's how I do it: <S> Put 1-2 (or however many you want) noodle bricks into a pot. <S> Put some boiling water from your kettle/hot water jug into the pot until it covers the noodles. <S> Cook them on high. <S> Make sure you add all the seasonings, but you don't have to use the onion, oil or hot sauce. <S> When they look soft, crack 1 (or however many you want) eggs into the pot. <S> Stir the eggs until they're scrambled/"broken." <S> Optional: Add vegetables, meat, etc. <S> (If you want, drain the water now) <S> Put the noodles into your bowl, or just eat from the pot. <S> Also, the perfect pairing is a cup of miso soup! <S> I use some that comes in a packet.
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My favorite way (and I think the best way) to prepare these noodles is to first boil the noodles for just over a minute
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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 making progress with the rice, it still comes out wrong, too sticky - ie not brittle enough - after it sticks it very hard to break, becomes a sort of Plasticine. My question is, what variables should I try to change in order to make it less Plasticine? Cook it less, put less oil, boil it less time, let it steam on low fire more etc... Or more generally put, which parameters influence the texture of the rice and how? <Q> In general, the stickiness of rice can be reduced by removing some of the starch by pre-soaking and/or washing the rice . <S> For what do you use oil? <S> I don't believe that is a traditional ingredient in sushi rice. <A> I would give you a whole lot of individual pointers, but instead I give you the Serious Eats crew guide to sushi . <S> That said, washing your rice, and cutting in the vinegar are the most importsnt part of rice preparation as those two steps go a long way in detrimining final mouth feel. <S> As long as you are using a short grain, high starch rice, that is. <A> If you want to make sushi the way Japanese make it at home then follow these steps: <S> Buy a decent quality bag of Japanese rice (short grain) from your asian mart or order it online. <S> Buy a nice Japanese rice cooker (zojirushi brand or similar). <S> Most have a sushi setting on the rice cooker. <S> When the rice finishes use the rice spatula to break up the rice and to mix up the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. <S> If you break it up too much it will become way too sticky. <S> Breaking the rice will release starch. <S> BTW, you don't use any oil for sushi rice. <S> Also, when you cook the rice, mix in some sake, and place a sheet of konbu (about 2x2 inch) <S> Add some Sake (alcohol) to the water as well. <A> Make sure your pot is sealed? <S> I just watched a how to video because I have the same problem. <S> He suggested putting a dish towel over the pot with the lid. <S> I'm gonna see how it comes out this time :P
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For sushi rice, chewiness can be increased by reducing the amount of cooking water .
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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 bother making something that by definition is fatty when you are trying to avoid fatty foods. <S> So, yes, you could do that. <S> It just won't taste recognizably like quiche. <S> You may suffer from denser texture, also. <A> Ener-G and Bob's makes an Egg replacer that is used as a substitute in many dishes. <S> I have not tried it in quiche specifically but it works well in other baking applications (it's not an egg substitute like Egg-Beaters, which would be another substitute). <S> If your primary aim is to reduce the fat, you might consider just using the whites of the egg and adding more savory ingredients to supplement the loss of the yolk flavoring. <S> The actual body of the quiche will not suffer (the structure is due to the whites); it might throw off the ratios of how much [egg] yields how much [cake]. <S> Also, you can omit or substitute the cheese for low-fat options, change the crust to a less fattening one (use vegetable shortening as opposed to lard), substitute butter for Earth Balance, etc. <A> Although I understand what Daniel is saying about it not tasting the same as a traditional quiche I disagree in that I think trying to look for alternative ways to have 'similar' recipes to those you need to avoid for health reasons is an excellent idea. <S> I often cook a 'crustless' pizza in order to cut out the bread and you can do something similar to cut out the pastry of the quiche (as rumtscho said, this is the part that contains the most saturated fat). <S> The recipes tend to require eggs, but you will be cutting out the pastry and it should have more of a 'quichey' taste. <S> If you want to go even further and cut out the eggs you can use a vegan quiche recipe (although you will be compromising on the traditional taste). <S> An example of a crustless quiche that includes eggs is here- <S> http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/1920/easy-mushroom-quiche.aspx <A> If you're really worried about fat and cholesterol, you shouldn't be eating quiche, period. <S> You might be able to make something <S> that's low in fat, but it won't be a quiche anymore. <A> Not that I have made any, but I have eaten some - the Spanish make frittatas, which are like crustless quiche! <S> http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?keywords=frittata <S> Perhaps you should look into that -
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Egg substitutes simply don't have the same flavour or richness.
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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 cooking times, I'd imagine. <S> Pork hocks are somewhat similar in texture to the shank, so that a possibility. <S> Though you will probably run into the same availability problems. <S> It may take a small amount of modification, but your best bet may be to go with country-style ribs. <S> They are tender and flavorful when braised, and are readily available in any grocery store. <A> I think lamb shanks could be used. <S> Whatever, that is an Atlantic recipe - so much salt! <A> Pork shoulder should work. <S> A picnic shoulder (with the skin still on it) would be better.
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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.
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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 stew. They are a mix of diced vegetables and sometimes meat, mixed in a pan and put in the oven. When they are cooked enough (or when using parboiled vegetables), a mixture is poured over them. The mixture consists of eggs, a very small amount of flour, and one or more milk and fermented milk products. Soft or grated cheeses are sometimes mixed in or strewn on the surface to brown. The vegetables aren't swimming in the mixture, some of it seeps between them to fill the air pockets, but it mostly stays on top and sets and browns nicely. I have only encountered this kind of dish in Mediterranean recipes. Typical examples are moussaka, ratatouile, gyuvech (although I know variants of all of them which don't have the mixture). In Germany, they'll be called a type of Auflauf, but an Auflauf is not necessary made with this eggy type of liquid, and I haven't heard a German name for the liquid either. I wouldn't call it custard, as it is mainly used in savory dishes (although there are sweet variants where something else than vegetables is baked). Also, I haven't heard of custards without milk or cream, and these often contain something else, e.g. a mixture of yogurt and mashed feta. It isn't a batter either, the flour isn't enough to thicken it noticeably, and can sometimes be left out altogether. It is not a sauce, it is expected to set after baking. Of course there is a probability that there isn't a name for it in English, because it isn't used often in English speaking countries. In this case, probably everybody could make up a well-sounding combination to refer to it, like "the egg mixture for moussaka crust". But I am not interested in such descriptive creations. What I am asking is, is there a single term which, when I say it without further qualifications, as in the sentence "I am making a [term]" will let my communication partner understand that I am cooking a dish of this kind and currently preparing the mixture for it. Edit I don't mean a word which describes the content of the thing (although such a word would be nice too, if it were used only for this type of liquid and not for other liquids with similar content like custard). I am expecting something more of a purpose-based word. A comparable word would be "topping": A topping could be smoked ham or caramel sauce, depending on the dish. But it always has the same function. In this regard, I'd say that bechamel can be used as [term] sometimes, as in mfg's answer. But I wouldn't think of bechamel when I say the word. They are definitely not synonyms. "Custard" is problematic for the same reason: it has many other uses. <Q> A custard consists of milk, egg and a thickening agent i.e. flour, so it fits the description well enough. <S> It might sound a bit odd to English-speaking ears though. <S> I think 'savoury custard' is probably more appropriate. <S> I must admit I always thought moussaka <S> et <S> al was topped with a white/bechamel sauce; I'm pretty sure that's the more common topping in 'the West'. <S> As for the dishes themselves, I'm not sure if there is a catch-all English term for them - 'pasta bake' is an English version of the Italian pasta al forno , but that obviously only applies to dishes that use pasta. <A> Is this what you're describing? <S> (potatoes au gratin are possibly a bad example since it's only using one ingredient for the stew, but I'm just referring to the style of cooking the ingredient); if so Americans use 'gratin'. <S> Also, I'm confused as you say moussaka is an example, but that what you're referring to doesn't use flour as a thickener (which is a constituent element of the moussaka's bechamel). <S> Based on the other question it seems like one could suggest bechamel , which is used in moussaka <S> (Greek versions) if I understand what you mean correctly. <S> The problem with this guess is that many bechamel recipes do not have eggs ( however some Greek ones do ). <A> Definitely custard. <S> Custard is used in lots of places from quiche to crème caramel. <S> If you haven't tried moussaka made with a cheese custard topping it's really really good. <S> My mum somehow gets it really light and fluffy <S> (I have to get her recipe). <A> I'd personally just call it a 'white sauce', due to the flour + milk, although many people will often assume that 'white sauce' is specifically besciamella / béchamel, which uses a roux and no egg. <S> I could see calling it a custard, as that's what it'd be called if used in a quiche, but I'm not used to using starches in custard. <S> It might be a local thing ... <S> I'm used to them being much heavier in the egg department. <S> If there were sugar in it, it'd be a pastry cream, although, you don't often see the term in everyday use the U.S.
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I would call it a custard, I think, if not only for want of a better word.
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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 how much butter you need, you'll never have trouble remembering how much to put in. <A> I suspect part of the answer is familiarity with the food. <S> What is it supposed to look like? <S> What is it supposed to smell like? <S> How do things change after a certain amount of time? <S> What should the texture be? <S> What should it feel like either to the hand or through a utensil? <S> How would you know if it's too much of something, and how do you fix it? <S> For example, when thinking of a risotto, the basic technique is to saute the rice with some oil and other flavorings (such as onion), then put in hot broth a little at at time, stirring until it is absorbed, and then repeat until the rice is the right texture. <S> Then once it is, finish the dish by adding the last flavorings. <S> (Things such as cheese, which would be damaged by too much heat.) <S> For meats, so long as you know the temperature you're trying to reach (and have a good thermometer), the rest is playing around with flavorings and making sure it looks/smells as good as possible. <S> (Which would mean things like starting with a high-temperature sear to get some nice browning before lowering the tempurature enough to cook it all the way through.) <S> Ratios are important in baking, but in most cooking, I suspect it's more about understanding how the ingredients interact. <S> For example, take something basic like onions. <S> What happens when it's raw? <S> How about only slightly cooked? <S> High temperature versus low? <S> Wet cooking versus dry cooking? <S> Each of these things would affect how the final dish would come out, and you plan when to add the onion based on which of these flavors you want to achieve. <S> I have the best results when I cook a recipe over and over, and start playing with some of the variables. <S> For example, when I make a stir fry, I vary which vegetables I put in when, and how they're cut will affect that. <S> I play with the seasonings and try different combinations added at different times. <S> The more I do it, the better feel I have for what's possible <S> and what's tasty. <S> I think that's why the best cooks can go without recipes <S> -- they're working from so much experience that they can do it without questioning how they understand it. <A> Outside of baking, most recipes hold up surprisingly well when you ditch the amounts and approximate. <S> Little things like adding 1/2tsp salt to meat as opposed to just sprinkling a bit on, sauteing in 1tbsp of butter vs sauteing in a hunk you cut off the end of an unwrapped stick, that sort of thing don't really need exact numbers. <S> My partner and I never bother with recipes for things like baked chicken breasts anymore: we figure out what seasonings we want on it <S> and then just season to taste. <S> Same with stir fries and other quick dishes. <S> For the things that need exact amount (generally dishes that rely on chemical reactions, like baked goods), we keep recipes handy and look it up.
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The best way to remember a recipe is to understand the relationships between the ingredients.
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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 -- and landing ... somewhere... wait where did that go anyway? I have to wonder though: are there any downsides to an MP set made of wood? <Q> There are at least three potential downsides: <S> wood is quite light, so you will not get the benefit of added weight of the pestle for crushing; <S> many wooden mortars have a smooth texture, which will not aid in the grinding as much as, e.g. , a coarse ceramic mortar; and wood is porous—increasingly so as it dries over time— <S> so it may have the tendency to pick up the flavors of its contents. <A> I think you might find that such a pestle and mortar is only used for crushing herbs that are frequently used (every day) in asian cookery, like cilantro or Kaffir lime leaves. <S> It might not even be intended for food use - perhaps you should have asked when you bought it. <A> I have seen these large wooden mortar and pestles in Thailand. <S> They use it for all sorts of som tams (spicy salads). <S> The most recognized and popular one being Thai papaya salad. <S> Its made from unripened shredded papaya and is very delicious. <S> It's not hard to make and you can google recipes easily.
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It is going to be difficult to clean, and that wood stain might come out into the food - whatever the stain is.
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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 used both chicken and beef that had been frozen in my deep freezer at 0F for years with no ill effect. <S> I can't speak for shrimp as I have no personal experience <S> but I would expect it to be the same. <A> As long as it has been kept frozen meat and poultry will be safe to eat indefinitely. <S> The quality of the meat may deteriorate with time. <S> This depends on whether the meat was packed in a airtight container before freezing. <S> The major risk is freezer burn which attacks the edges and surface of meat first. <S> It can be trimmed off and the remainder of the meat used safely. <S> If used with a combination of other flavors any freezer effects are not noticeable. <S> Cryovac is a process in which a food product is sealed in thick impermeable plastic where all the air has been removed Finned fish which has been kept frozen will remain safe. <S> Quality seems to be dependent on how delicate the fish is. <S> My husband went fishing in Alaska about 10 years ago and brought home cryovac-ed salmon which was still tasty about 60 days ago. <S> Tangentially, smoked salmon which has been cryovac-ed keeps indefinitely. <S> I "discovered" an old hostess gift and researched on line whether it was safe to eat. <S> I was unable to locate any data which gave a "best by" or expiration date . <S> It went back in the upper cabinet subject to further research, though. <S> I rely on the Harold McGee books. <S> Madeleine Kamman, The Making of a Cook and Cook's Illustrated magazine. <S> Kamman is getting a bit dated but she writes for both home and restaurant cooks . <S> These three sources avoid the Food Network hype <A> People might not believe this <S> BUT I <S> SWEAR <S> it's true: when my mother father died in December 1993, and I moved my mother in with me (her only child/son) and looked after her until she died in 1998. <S> She had 4 deep freezers!! <S> ! <S> , one of which I kept running (and it still running) in my garage (and has NEVER been defrosted - (a chest freezer)). <S> Over the years, just sorta never got around to completely eating down to/through the bottom half/kept refilling the top 1/2) until recently when I thought 'gotta get this sucker emptied. <S> So, about a week or so as I was working my way down and got down to (hold your breath): 1996!!! <S> Found a beef roast, well wrapped <S> /no sign of freezer burn soooo... decided what the heck: <S> Thawed out plus about 45 minutes in a convection microwave <S> and IT WAS DELICIOUS. <S> Yah couldna told it from fresh from the store. <S> So, like the man says: if its well wrapped, kept real cold <S> /never thawed and no (or little <S> ) freezer burn, it will keep a LONG TIME - like 18 years in this case!!! <A> Roasts and steaks will last 6-12 months and ground beef will last 3-4 months. <S> (via KitchenHacks )
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Meat which has been packed using cryovac will keep safely and maintain good texture and flavor for several years based on my personal experience.
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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, but am not sure what. So, my questions are: What are the wide, thin noodles called that are served in Thai "drunken noodle" dishes? What's in the Thai "drunken noodle" sauce? <Q> They are simply wide rice noodles. <S> Fish sauce (nam pla), soy sauce, sugar, chilli, garlic, thai basil. <S> There are any number of recipes online. <A> IF this is the case, here's my recipe for Pah Thai sauce. <S> 1/4 cup fish sauce (fish sauce is like salt, you don't taste it really, but you notice if it's gone)3 tblsp tamarind paste (concentrated, other wise 3/4 cup)1/2 of a plastic lime (i'm lazy, call it 1/4 cup or so)1/4 cup <S> soy sauce1/2 cup dark brown sugar3 tblsp minced garlic mix these all together and add hot sauce to taste. <S> the noodles get softened by soaking in warm water for 5-10 minutes. <S> I usually let them soak for 7 minutes, then cook them in the sauce, so they soak it up. <A> Traditionally it is just rice noodle <S> but it is common in Thailand to use other types of noodles such as spaghetti or even instant noodle. <S> Besides fish sauce and soy sauce, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce (prominent in Pad See Ewe) are commonly added. <S> So is palm sugar instead of white sugar. <A> From the Thai language wikipedia page about the dish, the ingredients for pad khii mao (ผ้ดขี้เมา) are: rice noodles soy sauce <S> fish sauce <S> garlic <S> any type of meat (even tofu) <S> chillis (usually green bird peppers in my experience) <S> snake beans holy basil leaves or thai basil leaves (they are not the same thing) <S> I mentioned "my experience" <S> so I better tell you what that is. <S> I currently live in Thailand and the dish is one I eat quite often from various restaurants. <S> Most of the time it contains fresh green peppercorns, which is also mentioned on the Wikipedia page. <S> They really give the dish some punch. <S> It's also quite common to get carrots, broccoli and some other vegetables. <S> In addition to rice noodles you can get the dish with egg noodles, rice or (shudder) with spaghetti. <S> Another recipe lists oyster sauce as an ingredient.
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With regards to the sauce, from my understanding, Drunken Noodle is just spicy Pad Thai.
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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 at the supermarket - you seldom see it for less than 6 euro per kilogram - and yet people buy so much of it that late shoppers often only see the empty box under the price label. My coworkers grumble about "not enough variety" when the canteen has pork steaks two days in a row, but when there's asparagus, they can eat it everyday for a week. One of them doesn't ever touch vegetables unless they've spent time in a can, and is unhappy when he discovers that the canteen has smuggled fruit pieces in the dessert, but he happily eats the asparagus as a main dish. A typical example of its celebration by the press: I opened chefkoch.de, a large source for user published recipes which also has editorial articles. Of course, there was a recent article about asparagus (happens every April in most culinary publications). It had the noble goal of reminding Germans that there is green asparagus too, not only white, and that the green one can be eaten in other ways beside boiled and combined with hollandaise (that's literally what it says). It starts with the words: The spring is here and brough the universally loved asparagus time! Asparagus is the most liked of all vegetables and is rightfully called "royal vegetable". And that's how about every asparagus article I've come across reads. Don't get me wrong, I like asparagus. The flavor is almost too delicate to eat it as a main dish, but it has some interesting uses. But I've always wondered why it is supposed to be so much better than any other vegetable. Historically, it could make sense that it tastes better than the potatoes, turnips and cabbage which thrive in the German climate. But my generation has been raised on imported tomatoes, bell peppers and champignons. And given that it is much more sensitive to improper cooking techniques - and let's be honest, many housewives/husbands tend to overcook everything - the vast majority of people is probably eating asparagus which tastes far from the optimal. Add to that the "hollandaise" from the tetra pak, and it is really nothing special. Oh yes, nobody is ever thinking that you could have any variation with asparagus. It automatically means hollandaise (or an imitation of it). Often, there is some ham with that, too. I was wondering if this cult of the asparagus is common to other cuisines, or a typical German phenomenon. Also, are there any proven reasons for its enormous popularity? (It would be nice if you could support them with evidence). <Q> A combination of the expense of producing it <S> (You cannot get a high yield, plus it takes a number of years to develop a productive asparagus bed) and a relatively short season (At least in the UK) <S> meant it would be a rare treat for most people. <S> Of course now with it imported from all round the world, it is much less so. <A> I certainly don't know why asparagus is so beloved in Germany, but here in Croatia it's one of the less used vegetables <S> so it's definitely not a global phenomenon. <S> I suspect it has to do with culture and <S> what grows best in certain cultures. <S> To give another example, I guess that most people in Italy would call tomato a king of vegetables, if it were a vegetable (curiously, it's a fruit). <S> It's the ultimate Mediterranean ingredient; I cannot find it, but some time ago I read an article on how it's actually even healthier when cooked and combined with olive oil. <S> Wikipedia mentions that eggplant is referred to as the "king of vegetables" in India. <S> In my country old people sometimes call eggplant "a poor man's meat." <S> However, this is not as known to younger generations which take eating meat almost every day for granted, while our grandparents lived in a culture where not a lot of people could afford meat more than once or twice a week. <A> Asparagus is delicious! <S> In North America it is certainly not the phenomenon that it is in parts of Europe, but its popularity is on the rise (I worked in a grocery store for many years....). <S> We have only been getting the white variety (which is just the green variety grown with soil mounded over it <S> so it is never exposed to sunlight) for the last few years. <S> North American palettes are finally starting to move past meat and potatoes (not that there is anything wrong with meat and potatoes, mind you). <S> I certainly recognize it as the best vegetable. <S> I have found that people that say they don't like the taste (like my wife) are quickly converted once they get to taste it properly prepared (and not cooked too hell and back). <S> Sorry for the double post. <S> Meant to edit the original, not sure why it went double. <A> I've never heard of asparagus being "the king of vegetables". <S> This article (and the articles that preceded it) may cast some light on why asparagus is not so commonly eaten. <S> According to the article, " This allergy is well-known in Germany, especially when dealing with young asparagus shoots ." <S> Here is a quote from the first article in the series: <S> " Now when some of us eat asparagus, shortly afterwards our urine smells very stinky, something like rotten or boiled cabbage, or even ammonia. <S> But not all of us can generate, or make, this odour. <S> Now here's something surprising. <S> Not everybody can detect, or smell, this odour. "
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Don't really like to define one vegtable as better than another, but Asparagus has always had a reputation as a luxury item.
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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. Particularly in the case of vegetables, which don't start to cook much until around 170 degrees, we thought that if we could use a lower-temperature process for a day or so we could can pickles and jams without having to boil them half to death. So: why is this stupid? <Q> Here is why it's stupid: <S> Sous-vide doesn't get hot enough to kill botulism spores. <S> Low acid foods will be very dangerous. <S> Boiling is required for a strong seal on canning jars. <S> All pectin jellies I have seen require boiling to set. <S> High acid recipes often call for processing in a water bath for a mere 10 minutes to seal the lids. <S> Recipes that don't call for the water bath universally call for the product to be refrigerated. <S> Perhaps high acid foods could be vacuum sealed instead of bottled and pasteurized. <S> It seems feasible but this is not the sort of thing you should experiment with. <S> The failure conditions are catastrophic. <A> They also use many other techniques including batch laboratory testing. <S> Two low temperature techniques are: Narrow tube pasteurisation. <S> To ensure all food/liquid has been evenly heated and then cooled. <S> Only suitable for food/liquid that can pass through a grid of narrow tubes. <S> Can be as low as 72°C for 15 seconds. <S> Similar to what happen on a dairy farm. <S> Besides juices it is often used for tomato paste and fruit fillings <S> High voltage electric pulses (PEF?). <S> Typically 20,000 V pulses for a few seconds. <S> Used in juices and meats <S> None of these are suitable for a home environment, and it would not be worth the risk if you live in an area with a common botulism problem <S> Most people quite like the "bottled" (canned) taste and texture for none staple foods <A> Actually, you can use sous vide to preserve food in canning jars. <S> The company " Chefsteps " has a guide on their website. <S> They use an acidic brine, and quote well-known expert on sous vide safety, Douglas Baldwin, who writes: “Distilled 5 percent white vinegar, at about 2.6 pH, is very acidic. <S> Food pathogens can’t grow below 4.0 pH, and vinegar is 25 times more acidic than this. <S> (The pH scale is logarithmic, so 3.0 pH is 10 times more acidic than 4.0 pH.) <S> Cooking or pasteurizing the pickles kills the pathogens that can grow below 4.6 pH, and the vinegar in this recipe is 100 times more acidic than this. <S> For reasons of both taste and safety, our brines contain between 38 and 44 percent vinegar. <S> So as the brine diffuses into the fruits and vegetables, it quickly acidifies them to below 4.0 pH, and so no food pathogens can grow. <S> Since no food pathogens can grow, the pickles are safe to store in your cupboard.” <S> Of course, this does not address making jams. <A> I ferment dill pickle spears. <S> Many web sites suggest that you can pasteurize fermented pickles in a 180 degree water bath for 30 minutes. <S> I am going to try this with my fermented pickles. <S> I don't have enough room in my refrigerator to store all the pickles I ferment. <S> I feel confident that the salt and lactic-acid from the lacto-fermentation process will be make everything fine.
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Low heat pasteurisation is common in the food processing industry.
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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-denatured albumin, residual lactose, lactic acid, and riboflavin. <S> The water and these water soluble components are the whey. <S> Draining off the whey makes the yogurt thicker, and sweeter as some of the acid washes away. <S> Stir the yogurt <S> well to break up as much of the protein mesh as possible and free the trapped whey. <S> Then do as Elendil suggests and hang the yogurt in a cloth to drain for a couple hours. <S> Cheesecloth is too fragile to be used very many times. <S> How many times can cheesecloth be reused? <A> I usually hang it in cheesecloth or muslin, over a bowl or the sink. <S> This works fine and has the benefit of being washable and reusable. <A> A tea towel in a colander also seems to work. <S> I'm doing it right now and the results look pretty good. <A> I left it overnight and had thick creamy yogurt for raita and chicken marinade.
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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.
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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 normally sprinkle oregano on cheese but I think there could be more to it. <Q> Pizza hut uses skim milk mozzarella on it's pizza, at least in the USA. <S> Not sure what they use in other countries, but I would imagine it is still the same. <S> Skim milk mozzarella is extremely stretchy, but loses a little on the flavor end. <S> More expensive pizzerias normally spring for the full fat mozzarella cheese. <S> I think in their most recent reboot they switched to part skim mozzarella <S> but I am not one hundred percent on that. <A> One thing that's important to note when discussing American-style pizza cheese is that it's important that it be a very dry mozzarella. <S> There are two very different cheeses named "mozzarella": in Europe, the predominant variety is what, under US law, is called "fresh mozzarella", which comes in a ball, either shrink-wrapped or packed in water. <S> In the US, it's allowed to be between 52% and 60% water. <S> That type of mozzarella is not appropriate for use in making American style pizza, as its moisture is much too high. <S> The result of making American-style pizza from grated fresh mozzarella can be a soggy mess , as the water leaks out of the cheese as it melts. <S> Note that very good pizza can be made from this type of cheese <S> , it's just not appropriate for trying to make American-style pizza. <S> In the US, most mozzarella is "low-moisture" (45-52% water): dried, aged, and sold in blocks instead of balls, with a much longer shelf-life than "fresh" mozzarella. <S> I can't seem to a good reference again (all I find now are cheese snobs thumbing their nose at low-moisture mozzarella, or gourmands insisting that only full-fat cheese is acceptable), but I remember some years ago finding a site put up by a restauranteer discussing pizza cheese, that helped me solve the pizza woes <S> I was having at the time. <S> The site noted that cheeses on the high end of "low-moisture" would result in exactly what I was getting to come out of the oven from my 50% moisture brand: an unappetizing translucent gray cheese, with a slight bitter flavor. <S> As I remember, they recommended a moisture level below 48%. <S> I went and found a harder block of mozzarella than the brand I'd been using, and my pizza started coming out much better. <A> Domino's (in the UK) claims to use 100% mozzarella. <S> It's full fat, since they do offer a reduced fat cheese option (Which I've never ordered, since I'm pretty sure that reducing the fat will compromise the taste) <S> Source: <S> Domino's UK site, personal experience <A> The cheese that Domino's uses is a mixture of mozzarella, monterey Jack and white cheddar in equal proportions. <S> I used to work there way back in the day when we were required to be trained on all of the aspects of making the pizzas even right down to what went into the ingredients. <A> All of the chains use a "pizza cheese", it is made by Leprino Foods. <S> It is not "real" mozzarella and is loaded with modified food starch. <S> When you talk about full fat I think you are refering to whole milk. <S> It is a preference, there is no right or wrong when it comes to choosing a cheese. <S> The new cheese domino's uses has a Provolone flavoring in it. <S> The best pizza shops in the USA use a cheese made by Grande Cheese Co.
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Dominos uses a mix of cheese, made up of mozzarella, Pecarino, Parmesan, and asiago cheeses.
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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? And what are the pros and cons for putting more or less chocolate chips? <Q> Exactly 42 chocolate chips per 3/4 cup of batter. <A> The best percentage depends entirely on your own taste, and the texture and sweetness of your cookie dough. <S> It also depends on the size of the chips. <S> Standard North American chips? <S> Chunks you hacked out of a block of couverture? <S> There are too many variables here to give a good answer. <S> The only way to find out the 'best' percentage is to experiment and see what you like. <S> Alternatively, find your favourite brand of chocolate chip cookie, and count how many chips are in, say, 10 cookies. <S> Average that number and there you are. <A> My mom and I love to bake chocolate chip cookies together and this is an issue we run into every time- <S> how many chips are too many? <S> I like to pour in about half of a standard bag of Nestle morsels and spoon out my cookies, while my mom waits until I'm done, then adds the other half a bag of morsels to the other half of the dough, then adds pecans or walnuts and spoons out her batch. <S> Its all about personal preference and the likes and dislikes of your audience :) <A> 12.27 <S> The original Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe calls for two cups of chips or one 12-oz. <S> bag of standard-size semi-sweet chocolate morsels. <S> The recipe makes 60 (rounded tablespoon-sized) cookies. <S> I have a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips here that indicates in the "Nutrition Facts" box that one serving is equal to 32 chips. <S> It says the bag contains 23 servings. <S> That's 736 chocolate chips per bag. <S> 736 divided by 60 equals an average of 12.27 chocolate chips per cookie. <A> While it depends on your taste and recipe, I can tell you what's my favorite amount. <S> I tend to chop chocolate to pretty big pieces (cubes approximately 2cm long). <S> I then additionally push leftover chips in dough when forming cookies. <S> I try to avoid chips that are too small and chocolate powder; somehow the cookies are better when chocolate powder is not mixed into dough. <S> I suppose the contrast between the dough and chocolate chips is what makes them tasty.
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I tend to put as many chocolate chips as it takes so that some of them fall off when mixed with the dough.
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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 method of bringing these ingredients to room temperature? Do you just leave them out for a few hours? Alternatively, what is a quick way to accomplish this? Heat them up? Place them in room temperature or warm water baths? <Q> Eggs are actually pretty safe to leave at room temperature anyway; supermarkets don't bother refrigerating them, and you can be damn sure they're not going to risk losing any money through spoilage. <S> I keep mine in a ceramic bowl on the counter top. <S> In general, simply take the required ingredient out of the fridge a couple of hours before use, keep it away from heat sources and out of direct sunlight. <A> If it is something like the eggs for baking a cake then you take out the number of eggs you need for the recipe and let them sit on the counter for about an hour before you start putting your ingredients together. <S> I've been baking for a great many years and even if the eggs are still a little chilly it won't do any harm to a cake or cookie recipe. <S> It might make a difference for bread recipes but the warm water used to activate the yeast will usually bring up the temp of other ingredients to where you need it. <A> Specifically in regards to leaving milk out, at one time I worked in an institutional kitchen. <S> The milk we got had a table on it giving temperatures and the time it was safe to leave out in those temperatures. <S> I don't remember the exact numbers, but the table went up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
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There should be no problem leaving milk, and most other ingredients, out for an hour or two at room temperature.
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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 answers too much with the taste or anything, I'm most interested in MacGuyvering dinner without also ending up with food poinsoning. What are the major, bold-faced beginner guidelines I should follow to ensure the safety of doing this? <Q> I've never heard of any two things which are safe to eat separately, but poisonous when combined. <S> When you consider everything gets mixed in the stomach anyway, I find it unlikely to ever find things like that. <S> Daniel's question about your food safety knowledge is an important one. <S> Make sure to use separate tools for raw meats, clean your tools, cook to appropriate temperatures, and not leave food out either thawing or cooling. <S> I wouldn't feel bad if -everyone- took a food safety class at least once in their life. <S> I mean, it's typically a few hour workshop. <S> In the long run, I would encourage you to aim for a diverse diet. <S> Make sure to include starches, green and root vegetables, and other oddities. <S> The underlying attitude of "I'll eat whatever is quickest to throw in a pot" can lead to frequently finding the same thing "quick to throw in a pot" and a less healthy diet. <A> I can't speak for exotic foods. <S> Possible problems <S> : You may have digestive problems if you have too much/little fiber or if you overload it with chile. <S> Nothing dangerous though, assuming you are in good health. <S> You may have long term troubles if you aren't getting proper nutrition. <S> I am assuming you aren't going mad scientist and mixing things like vinegar and baking soda and drinking it before it can fizz fully. <S> Don't do that. <A> Make sure raw meat is cooked, vegetables washed... other than that... go nuts? <A> Ingredient combinations are rarely a problem. <S> Mishandling ingredients could in some cases cause trouble: -Putting anything that isn't supposed to be consumed raw, due to being unsanitary when raw (mostly animal derived ingredients - eg non-sushi grade fish, pork, chicken), on the plate raw. <S> -Putting anything that is toxic when raw or incorrectly prepared on the plate raw (mostly applies to plant matter - eg some mushrooms, cassava, taro, kidney beans, candlenuts, or unusually huge amounts of vegetables containing solanine, phasin or oxalic acid) <S> -Using unfit amounts of (25%) <S> distilled vinegar, pearl ash, lye or other ingredients with extreme pH values <S> (it is likely that a dangerous dish would also be unpalatable). <S> -Using far too high amounts of certain spices - <S> half a can of ground nutmeg or ghost pepper would probably not do you much good (but would make the dish obviously unpalatable).
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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).
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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 the barest drizzle of olive oil and coarse salt immediately come to my mind. <S> Add a nice risotto (mushroom?) <S> then send me an invitation. <A> I'm sure someone should suggest a lightly dressed salad. <S> I think it might go with mashed sweet potato with lots of pepper! <A> I would suggest anything that you can grab easily and is not difficult to eat. <S> You are going to have to get dirty cracking the lobster, <S> so why not get some corn kernels on your face? <S> Growing up in New England our lobster dinner included sweet corn on the cob and cornbread. <S> (The butter can be used on all of it!) <S> Also, if you want some greens, maybe some steamed broccoli? <S> In terms of flavors, are you going to just do a salted water boil or maybe add some old bay? <S> you can even add bay leaves to the water. <S> If you are adding flavors to the lobster while boiling, think of how those would go with the sides. <A> I always like it when breads are served with lobster! <A> Lobster is really popular in North Western France. <S> I've seen it served there with crawfish cocktails and oysters; something like this . <S> You can also just keep it down to earth and simple. <S> In New England I used to eat lobster with french fries. <S> Not quite worthy of Brittany, but yummy all the same. <A> Bread's probably essential to neutralise the fat in the butter.
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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).
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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 your local coffeehouse. <A> Here is an answer to a similar question that covers some of the basics leading to the details below. <S> Here is a flavor wheel that has been used in particular by Whole Latte Love , created by Ted Lingle of the SCAA ( and sold by them ) for the purpose of cupping: Coffee Profiling at Whole Latte Love <S> Coffee Tasting at Whole Latte Love <A> One that comes to mind is a trace of aniseed flavor ... <S> caraway seeds? <A> According to FoodPairing , the flavor of coffee combines best with the following flavors: cereals and sugars : toast, rye, black rice nuts and seeds : roasted peanuts, popcorn, and roasted hazelnuts condiments and sauces : soy sauce, kecap manis (a thick, sweet Indonesian soy sauce), and balsamic vinegar <S> In terms of baking, one could easily use rye flour, black rice flour, peanuts, or hazelnuts. <S> Looking a bit further out on the food pairing tree, some other flavors that might work specifically for baking include mango, strawberries, cranberry, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, buttermilk, cheddar, honey, tomato, olive oil, American bourbon whiskey, and Sauternes. <A> it is debatable whether salty is a flavor, I would say it isn't, but there is a practice of adding salt to coffee. <S> There is a whole article about what happens to the taste of coffee when salt is added at the wonderful khymos.org blog, complete with user tests <S> http://blog.khymos.org/2010/03/21/a-pinch-of-salt-for-your-coffee-sir/
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Things that easily come to mind are chopped hazelnuts or almonds, caramel frosting/icing, cinnamon and nutmeg as spices, chocolate chips or cherries.
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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 makes it. http://www.drinkchoffy.com/ Making a solid candy from coffee beans seems a little more iffy. But would this theoretically be possible by crushing the roasted beans (coffee liquor) and extracting the oils (coffee butter) and mixing with the milk and sugar and other usual ingredients? <Q> You don't need a brand for brewed chocolate. <S> You just take cocoa powder (which is ground cocoa beans minus most of their fat) and put it into boiling water. <S> You don't even need to strain. <S> But I prefer to make mine with milk (btw, I sometimes brew coffee in milk too). <S> Solid candy from coffee is something else. <S> What you call "coffee butter" is, in fact, coffee oil at room temperature. <S> I can't find information about the breakdown of the coffee beans, but I am not sure if they have the starch content of cocoa beans (which helps hold a chocolate bar together). <S> Add to this the potential for a heart attack inducing amount of caffeine per bar of caffeeolate and you see why this isn't commonplace. <S> I guess that the industry today would find ways around these problems. <S> You can hydrogenize the oil (although I don't think it would attain the smooth texture of tempered chocolate, chocolate butter has some very special crystallization properties which allow a chocolate bar to have a silky but hard texture. <S> It will be just grainy) and you can decaffeinate the whole thing, and then mix it with some starch to thicken it, and as much sugar as there is in milk chocolate to counter the higher bitterness of coffee. <S> But this will be as distant from real rich-flavoured coffee as 39 cent discounter chocolate bars are from real chocolate. <S> There won't be an equivalent of premium dark chocolate (which is the one that tastes of cocoa beans instead of sugar). <S> If you want the least taste mix, start with a white chocolate bar. <S> The easiest way would be to melt it and mix in a very small amount of cream with lots of instant coffee solved into it, but the taste will be bound by the instant coffee quality. <S> The other way would be to brew the coffee powder in cream, very concentrated (more than an espresso) and add it to the melted chocolate. <S> You'll have to work at chocolate candy making temperatures (30°C to 32°C), if you overheat, you'll have to retemper the chocolate. <A> I don't know if this precisely counts, however I did find one that isn't a coffee flavored chocolate bar but rather a coffee bar bound by cocoa butter . <S> To capture the rich, authentic coffee flavor, we then quickly blend the freshly roasted coffee with the highest quality all natural ingredients.... <S> creamy whole milk, sugar, and the purest cocoa butter. <S> Next we mill the whole mixture until it is fine enough to release all that wonderful coffee flavor and deliver a silky smooth liquid concoction. <S> This warm aromatic liquid is then formed into bars and allowed to cool <A> Unlike chocolate, the taste of roasted coffee beans degrades quickly; typically a week after roasting one can start to notice a decline in quality. <S> Good vacuum packaging helps, but has its limits. <S> The coffee bean is also low in fats <S> so I imagine there must be lots of checmical doctoring to get a good smooth texture. <S> So, while a "coffee bar" might be physically possible I don't think it would have a very good quality to it for someone who enjoys good coffee. <S> I'd love to be proved wrong because it's an interesting concept (spoken as one who's enjoyed crunching a bean or few straight out of the roaster). <A> Last week (november 2015) I tasted the best dark chocolate bar I ever ate. <S> It was in a little shop, village Domingos Martins, Rua de lazer, coast of Brasil, Province Espirito Santo. <S> Subtle cappuccino flavor. <S> Point was: there was no cocoa in it, only coffee. <S> They called it 'coffee to eat'. <S> No chemicals or artificial flavoring. <S> Not so much sugar either. <S> Amazing. <S> So yes, it is possible to make chocolate from coffee-beans. <S> How? <S> That is the secret of this little cute quite expensive shop.... <A> These folks have made a chocolate like material from only coffee beans: <S> https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/dark-matter <S> ... <S> so, to answer part of your question, you can go from coffee bean to chocolate like material. <A> A coffee bar is possible. <S> Instead of using ground cocoa beans, ground coffee powder is used. <S> I bought some at Walmart last night. <S> Heavenly. <A> Now it's fairly easy to find. <S> Dunkin donuts coffee squares, Alo bars (can't find the bars online anywhere still, only at grocery stores...sometimes... <S> But there are a few other brands that make such you will find on Amazon once you find the Dunkin squares. <S> I fell in love with the hazelnut bars from my Price chopper and went searching for bulk, and now I'm just trying to perfect the ratios to make my own instead. <S> Can't find real data on bitterness of coffee bean vs cocoa powder so it's all trial and error , but definitely seems to require more sweetener. <S> Homemade chocolate from cocoa powder and cocoa butter but using finely powdered coffee or instant coffee (instant often has horrible flavor this way and will never be sweet enough) and I've found milk chocolate recipes to be closest after reading ingredients on Dunkin bar wrapper
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If you love coffee so much that you want to try a coffeeolate bar, you are better off making coffee flavoured chocolate.
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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. My problem is getting the palm sugar OUT of the tub. It's like cement, and I have tried using spoons (they bend), knives (ditto) and a corkscrew (just bores a hole rather than breaking it up) to get some of the sugar out. Tonight I also tried sitting the tub in a bath of freshly boiled water (approx 90 degrees celcius), and sprinkling some over the surface of the sugar to try to soften it a little. No success. This question describes how to deal with a rockhard piece of sugar like mine, but without packaging. Does anyone know how to get it out of the tub in the first place so that I can go ahead and grate it? <Q> You could use the corkscrew in its classic role. <S> You should probably lay the tub on its side for this, as the sugar weight is probably too much to stay on the corkscrew. <S> The other option, though rather extreme, is to cut away the plastic tub with wire cutters or shears. <S> That way, you're peeling the tub away, and will be left with the same lump, but no tub. <A> Referring to my own kitchen, my corkscrew wouldn't work, but the round honing edge I have would, my kitchen shears, a small chefs knife could, cutting downward, line up cubes to pry/yank out with something else rigid. <S> After that, I think @Carmi isn't too extreme with suggesting to cut the tub away; just break it up once done and put in a different container. <A> To remove palm sugar from the grips of its plastic container, remove the lid and place the container in a sturdy plastic bag (I use my food saver bags). <S> Strike the sides and bottom of the container with a mallet. <S> This will shake the cake loose. <S> The bag serves to catch all of the sugar bits. <S> You can also use it to store the cake. <A> I find scraping the sugar with a dinner knife works. <S> Rotating it at a angle in a circular motion. <S> So you end up with shavings. <A> place the jar in warm or hot water for a few seconds. <S> The sugar will loosen up from the sides of the container. <S> At that point it should b fairly simple to remove. <S> Worked very well for me. <A> Try microwaving it briefly. <S> That works with hardened brown sugar anyway. <S> the goal is to warm it, not cook it or melt it though! <S> Once it's softened consider re-portioning it into smaller containers/ or creating spoonfuls of the size you normally use and letting those cool, then storing those.
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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.
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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? Background: I live in a small studio. The fridge makes noise. I'd like it to be quiet at night. If I can do so without frequent food spoilage, I'll get a timer and turn the fridge off from 2300 to 0800. If this is a bit too much time without cooling, I plan to turn it off while I fall asleep (2300 to 0200), turn it back on (0200 to 0400), and then have it be quiet in the mornings again (0400 to 0800). I've put some temperature loggers in the fridge and unplugged it manually during the 2300 to 0800 time. The graph is attached below. The mean temperature is 3 to 5 C, rising to 10 C. The 2nd day was 'bad' data: I added a few gallons of water to increase the thermal capacity of the fridge (temp spike), but added them too late in the evening. The water did not cool to 4 C, and when I unplugged it the temperature shot back up. The first day, with an almost empty fridge, is a worst-case scenario. When the fridge is full I expect the max T at 0800 to be 8 or 9 C, not 10 C. I am collecting that data now and will update the post in a few days when I've checked the variability. If 6-8 C for a few hours, then 8 to 10 C for a few more, then a quick return to 3 C is bad for the food (mostly OJ, soy milk, cheese, and some veggies), then I'll cool it in the middle of the night when I'm in a deep sleep. So... to the question: How important is a 4 C fridge? Is a few hours per day up to 10 C bad? What about up to 7 C? Any other suggestions how to quiet the studio as I try to sleep? <Q> <A> I think that allowing the hardware to work as it is intended is likely in your best interest. <S> Instead, I would refer your question to DIY.se <S> (perhaps), to find out how to stop your fridge from being so loud. <S> So instead of possibly ruining a bunch of food, look into the pathology of the noise issue of the fridge. <S> Some options I can think of are to: insulate the sound (i.e. unglamorously with a blanket) <S> clean out the backside of any dust(-bunnies) <S> etc <S> verify that there are no air blockages (trapping the dissipating heat <S> causes the compressor to work harder than it should) <S> verify that the compressor is in good working order <A> Have you considered earplugs? <S> Or some other noise to mask it <S> (like one of those nature sounds machines?) <S> Vegetables may go bad a little sooner (depends on the vegetable; some actually like it a little warmer). <S> Cheese probably won't care. <S> OJ is probably acidic enough to keep long enough to use it up. <S> No idea about soy milk. <S> I would definitely not keep meat in there, since the ideal temperature for that is slightly below 0°C.
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Another possibility to consider would be adding ice blocks from a freezer during the times you want to not be running the compressor.
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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 are cooking pasta properly, you need to use a lot of salt, rendering any gravy made with this water far too salty. <S> In addition, gravy is properly made with stock; made with water it will have no flavour. <A> You can't make a 'true' gravy, but you can put a little of the water into the sauce you are using to loosen it a little if it has reduced too far, or to make it go a bit further. <A> I think you should read McGee on this one. <S> Basically he says the 'water' from boiling pasta is very rich in flavor. <S> Italian recipes often suggest adding pasta water to adjust the consistency of a sauce, but this thick water is almost a sauce in itself. <S> When I anointed a batch of spaghetti with olive oil and then tossed it with a couple of ladles-full, the oil dispersed into tiny droplets in the liquid, and the oily coating became an especially creamy one. <S> Restaurant cooks prize thick pasta water. <S> In “Heat,” his best-selling account of working in Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo, Bill Buford describes how in the course of an evening, water in the pasta cooker goes from clear to cloudy to muddy, a stage that is “yucky-sounding but wonderful,” because the water “behaves like a sauce thickener, binding the elements and flavoring the pasta with the flavor of itself.” <A> Just to add a little to this discussion. <S> There should never be that much starch left over in your water to really thicken a tomato sauce. <S> I will have to back @ElendilTheTall here. <S> All the thickening power of the starch should already be completely used up in that cooking water, and the cooking water should be thinner than your tomato sauce <S> so the net result should be thinning it. <S> That being said something that has been thickened with starch will as it cools get thicker (its actually more of a gelling or coagulation). <S> It should actually thin back out if you reheat it, <S> albeit maybe not to the point it once was. <S> But that might be why you noticed your pasta water getting thicker. <S> Most Italian chefs that I know add pasta water to there sauce to bring it together with the noodle as starch is attracted to starch. <S> The principle being it will help the sauce better coat the noodle. <S> Many pasta sauces are actually referred to as gravy. <S> So could say the finishing touch to your gravy would in fact be pasta water :) <S> As for a thanksgiving style gravy I would say I hope not. <S> If your pasta water has enough residual starch to thicken up your stock and/or pan drippings then you probably aren't using enough water when cooking your pasta. <A> I am ethnically Italian. <S> Whenever my grandmother would make pasta she would keep the water that was leftover. <S> Within a day or two she would combine the water with Parmigiano rinds, whole onions (skin and all), celery ends and carrot knobs (all cooked very slowly) to make the broth she would use for vegetable soup, pasta sauce and the liquid to raise the browns from cooked meats (veal particularly). <S> The broth left-over is so rich and delicious with a flavour incomparable to anything I've experienced in other cuisine. <S> KEEP IT. <S> USE IT.
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If you want to get clever though, I can definitely say you can make gravy with pasta water.
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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 can whip up a quick bread, like Irish Soda, cornbread or most muffins fairly quickly, but they're not as conducive to eating at a meeting (they crumble, and then I have to spend more time cleaning up after the meeting), or I could make something like naan or tortillas, but it's quite time consuming towards the end if you have roll out and grill up enough for 18+ people. I guess I'm hoping for something where it's either slow-rising enough where I can prep it the night before or morning of, then return to it 8 to 20hrs later, punch down and shape, then have a short rise before baking. (right now, I do a refrigerated rise of the dough, which requires giving it more time to come back up to room temp so I can shape it and let it proof in the pan before baking). Another option would be to know the techniques to make something like the par-cooked breads that you used to be able to find in the stores. (if it can be done at home, and doesn't require blast chillers or other specialized equipment) <Q> One thing you can make which is very fast is unleavened flatbread. <S> For example, chapati and roti are two Indian flatbreads made without yeast. <S> If you try one of these though, I'd recommend getting a special flour to get the authentic flavor. <S> They come out kind of bitter with regular whole wheat flour. <S> Chapati or Atta flour can be found at Indian grocers, or order online. <S> King Arthur Flour makes a version which I haven't tried, but generally their products are very good - http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/chakki-atta-indian-flour-3-lb <S> Chapati and roti are pretty similar to wheat tortillas, although tortillas are usually a bit thinner. <S> These can also be considered a flatbread and can be made quickly. <S> If you want to try no-knead bread you don't need a book. <S> Mark Bittman of the NY Times has posted some no-knead recipes online (from Jim Lahey of Sullivan St Bakery in NY, who now has his own book of no-knead recipes). <S> Overnight rise recipe: <S> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html Newer "quick" version, 4-5 hour rise: <S> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/08mini.html <S> You can also make pita bread with an hour and a half rise. <A> Yes! <S> Here are two methods: <S> An excellent technique is to allow the bread to do its initial rise, its proofing, or both in the refrigerator. <S> You could allow the initial rise to take place overnight; rest and shape it on the countertop in the morning, proof it in the fridge during the day, allow it to sit on the countertop while you preheat the oven, and then bake it in time for dinner. <S> However, if you really need bread to adhere to a timetable, I suggest you bake it in advance, at your leisure. <S> Once it is utterly and completely at stone cold room temperature, wrap it tightly and heavily in plastic, then in foil. <S> Freeze it for anywhere from a day to a few weeks. <S> When you want to serve it, let it come to room temperature without unwrapping it. <S> Then unwrap it, re-wrap it in foil only, and bake it in a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes. <S> It will be indistinguishable from a fresh loaf. <A> As I couldn't get Orbling to actually put the technique in an answer , and it's been ~2 <S> years since I asked this, here's an update: <S> I even did some (leavened) flatbreads with it, and the Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day brioche recipe, but it just lacked ... something . <S> I think it was the texture <S> was just a little off for rolls. <S> (Although it's become my go-to recipe for pizzas and flatbreads). <S> The best technique with the best result I've found so far to get up early and use a slightly modified recipe food-processer brioche recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything . <S> To make it easier to work, I actually use 1cup more flour than it calls for. <S> (which doesn't fit in my food processor, so I have to transfer it to my stand mixer ... <S> but I also double the recipe). <S> I then let it sit to rise while getting ready in the morning, then just before leaving, form it into balls for rolls, and put 'em on a sheet tray. <S> (a double batch fills a 1/2 sheet perfectly). <S> I then cover it loosely and stash it in the fridge. <S> When I get home, I immediately start the oven preheating and pull the tray out of the fridge. <S> I give it 30 min, then toss it in the oven, and it's done 30-40 min later. <S> I've done it a good 1/2 dozen times, but haven't yet decided if I like it better with or without the eggwash. <S> (it's less effort in the evening without, so it gets dropped when I'm in a rush prepping for our meeting ).
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Yes, the no-knead bread recipes work great.
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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 preheated - prevent some cooling of your water, but plastic filter-holders don't have much heat capacity <S> so you don't lose much with them, either. <S> As with most coffee preparation, a good grinder is paramount and getting freshly roasted coffee is also extremely important. <A> There is a good reason why ceramic is more expensive. <S> It is the best choice, because it helps maintain the temperature better than plastic. <S> I pour boiling water through my Hario (with filter) to heat it (and the coffee cup) first. <S> Then I put in the freshly ground coffee, and wait 30 seconds for my water to get to the desired range of 195-205 degrees. <A> You may want to consider glass. <S> I am a big fan of the Chemex coffeemakers . <S> The integrated design is also a plus in my book. <S> Not sure about its heat retention capability <S> but I find that pouring water that is just short of boiling produces the best aroma.
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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...
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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 named Sam German developed a chocolate recipe that was sweeter than semi-sweet chocolate, as well as containing a blend of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, flavorings, and lecithin. <S> Baker's honored Sam by naming the chocolate that he created Baker's German's Chocolate. <S> In 1957 the recipe was published in a Dallas newspaper, although nobody is sure exactly when the recipe was originally created. <S> Generally Foods - who had bought the brand - noticed that alot of people liked the recipe and started a PR campaign for German's Chocolate using the recipe. <S> They started sending it to newspapers all over - and people liked it. <S> At some point the "'s" got dropped from the name, introducing all of the confusion we have about the origin of the cake today. <S> References: <S> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_chocolate_cake <S> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Baker_%26_Company <S> http://www.joyofbaking.com/GermanChocolate.html <A> The argument is bogus. <S> There has been imported coconut in Germany for a very long time. <S> (Probably since before Willhelm I established the second reich). <S> But there is still a giveaway that the recipe is not from Germany. <S> It's the pecans which you won't find in any German recipe. <S> There are palms in Germany. <S> (Yes, outside. <S> No, no commercial plantages). <S> Wikipedia says the cake wasn't named for Germany, but for the American guy who invented it. <S> I am not a native speaker of English, but in the configuration adjective - adjective/noun - noun, I'd say that it is more natural for the first two words to define the third. <S> So it wasn't even Mr German's chocolate, it was his cake. <A> This chocolate developed by Baker's was first used in the original recipe of "German's Chocolate Cake". <A> If I remember correctly, according to The Joy of Cooking , it was an insurance salesman named German who popularized the addition of coconut to chocolate cake. <S> So, German's recipe for chocolate cake, ergo German's chocolate cake aka German chocolate cake.
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I believe the "German" refers to the last name of the inventor of a type of sweetened chocolate.
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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 Cake Mix Doctor. <S> written specifically on this subject. <S> Go to her website http://www.cakemixdoctor.com <S> as there are several recipes and articles as well a listing of her books. <A> Using citrus zests will spice things up as well! <S> I have also used different flavored liquid extracts, added these to icing can really add that extra something special to the completed cake. <A> Substitute part of the butter with creme fraiche - say, 2oz creme fraiche for 1oz of the butter. <A> All answers provide great ideas <S> but I'll take Jginger's spice recommendation a step further. <S> I often use what I call "subtle exotic" spice combinations which is simply a fancy way of saying unusual or ethnic-influenced combinations. <S> For example, Black pepper with dark chocolate; chili pepper and cinnamon; or cardamom. <S> These types of spice combinations aren't typical in a cake and will provide a deliciously memorable flavor for your guests. <S> A recent unusual combination I just tasted was a spiced gin cupcake. <S> The baker used a basic cake recipe then infused spices and gin into the batter and frosting. <S> A boxed cake could be that basic recipe. <A> When I make box cake mixes, I use vanilla almond milk instead of water and olive oil instead of vegetable oil. <S> The vanilla almond milk gives it a hint of sweetness and the olive oil makes it fluffier. <S> And then a add a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg.
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Using different spices, maybe a pumpkin pie spice added to vanilla cake, will give your cake a completely new and interesting flavor.
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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 advantages of this method over serving immediately? Does it greatly affect the taste? And to refrigerate, should I keep the meat in the liquid and chill the whole pot? What's the best way to reheat? <Q> Always let a braise cool in its liquid to prevent drying out. <S> As the meat cools, the fibers relax, allowing the juices to be pulled back into the meat. <S> Imagine squeezing out a sponge (heating the meat), and then releasing the sponge in water (cooling the meat). <S> (People on this forum have disagreed with this statement before, but I stand by it.) <S> Although allowing the meat to cool for 30 minutes or so will yield fantastic results, if you are an overachiever, putting your meat in the refrigerator overnight will increase the effect. <S> However, I never do this because I am impatient, <S> I kind of like the mouth feel of a little bit of fat, and the results are very good without it. <S> I suggest leaving the refrigerator for the leftovers, which will be wonderful. <S> BTW, pay less attention to the time, and more attention to the state of the meat. <S> 4 hours may be too much, or two little. <S> The best judge of whether the meat is ready or not, is to taste it. <S> This points to one more advantage of the overnight refrigeration, controlling exactly when you want your food to be ready the next day. <A> Michael is correct in terms of the meat moistness/texture perspective. <S> One thing to add: I've found that flavors continue develop in the refrigerator as well. <S> You may remember times, for example, when you've tasted chili or spaghetti sauce the next day and found the flavor to have improved. <A> I'm not sure about whether you should cool the meat in the liquid or not - I've made braised meats both ways, but I've never done a straight back-to-back comparison. <S> One thing I do know: skimming the fat is a lot easier when the fat is solidified.
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After the meat is cold, it will become more solid, making it easier to remove bones, slice the meat, and skim the fat.
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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. cook pork with ginger and beef with garlic), there will be an unpleasant taste. Maybe he's just exaggerating, I'm not sure. Do you think there is any truth to this saying? <Q> Whether or not it's a good idea is subjective, but the Chinese seem to break that rule a lot! <S> For example, Northeastern Chinese sweet and sour pork (guō bāo ròu) is characterized by an intense ginger flavor . <S> The Sichuan classic twice cooked pork (huí guō ròu) calls for boiling the pork with ginger. <S> A common condiment for beef dishes/sauces is black bean garlic paste (蒜蓉豆豉酱) . <S> Perhaps this saying is associated with a specific Chinese regional cuisine? <A> Whenever I see never I feel uneasy and want to try it anyway :) <S> Beef + garlic works very well. <S> It's often used in middle eastern and Japanese cuisine for example. <S> Pork and ginger is a common combination in Chinese cooking. <A> and they do taste great. <A> It's a myth - look at the number of steakhouses that serve steaks with garlic butter sauces/dressings. <A> I am surprised seeing this too. <S> It has been eons since my Dad used to tell me a lot of about NOT using ginger on pork, but garlic on both is not bad. <S> It's all about ginger and pork having a chemical reaction that is bad on the aspect of the yin/yang balance in the body as my dad explained it. <S> It releases a certain chemical as well that when your immunity is low, could trigger some conditions adverse to health. <S> From that info, never use ginger on pork dishes too. <S> My dad was born in the 30s, so I assume that his wisdom on this emanated from older generations handed down to him as well by a long line of cooks from our family. <S> Uses of ginger in pork dishes could be regional, or maybe the younger generations making the infamous NorthEastern sweet and sour pork FORGOT that the ginger in that dish wasn't raw when added in cooking but rather already in a commercially available ready-made sauce that that HAS the ginger in it already. <S> IT IS IN THE SAUCE that was separately made. <S> NOT cooked through with the PORK. <S> Cooking the ginger with the pork is what releases what my Dad described as the culprit that needs to be avoided. <S> Just to clarify. <S> Hope I made some sense. <S> This to me, as my Father passed on to me, I will retain in my future cooking wisdom. :-) <A> The pork marinade we use in our family even combines the two: one part each of sesame oil, soy sauce and sherry, equal amounts of ginger&garlic.
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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
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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 hook for bread. <S> The really big bakeries use trough mixers with blades that turn along the length of the trough. <S> A typical batch is around 600lb. <A> From what I've seen (35 or so years ago...) visiting a small town bakery shop serving a few thousand people, they had a machine to do the work even then, a large steel vat in which all the ingredients are dumped and mixed using a metal arm and a motor. <S> They still made special doughs by hand (cookies, cakes, etc.), but the stuff for normal breads was made mechanically. <A> I asked a friend baker to help him for a night, so I could improve my home bread. <S> They use machines to knead the bread as they prepare a lot of dough (25-30 kg of flour at a time). <S> The machines I've seen have two speeds (speed I and speed II) and you can set the timer for both (my friend puts 5 minutes on I then 20 minutes on II) so the mixer switches automatically from one to the other. <S> The white bread is kneaded using a rotatory mixer, while for whole grain he uses a machine with two "hands" that knead the dough from bottom-up (the same is used for brioches and croissants).
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Given the high volume required for commercial bread making, I doubt any except the small mom and pop shops still knead dough by hand.
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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 a good puree, and settled for a honey dew melon. I made the custard base (yolks, cream and sugar with a pinch of salt), and, because I wanted more fruit taste, made 50g of melon puree per yolk and thickened it with a bit of guar gum, because I feared crystals from the rather liquid melon. I added the melon to the prepared custard, it wasn't exposed to heat. After chilling and transferring to the freezing plate, I indulged in licking the thermometer, spoon and bowl used for the making of the ice cream. I was unpleasantly surprised at the lack of melon aroma and strong bitter taste. It was as if I was chewing the seeds of the melon, although there were none in the ice cream, I am sure I'd have seen them if they had fallen into the puree. Combined with the overbearing sweetness of unfrozen ice cream, I thought of throwing the batch out. But I froze it anyway. Frozen, there is much less bitterness (and of course much less sweetness), it tastes as if I am eating a raw gherkin. In fact, if I didn't know that there is melon in there, I probably wouldn't have recognized. It is eatable, but not especially good. The aroma problem was solved when I ate a piece of the melon: this exemplar must have grown in a dark greenhouse. It was watery, only a hint of sugar content, only a hint of aroma. But it wasn't bitter, just tasteless. But I am still wondering what went wrong. Does melon react with guar to create a bitter compound? Does melon react with cream to create a bitter compound (I know kiwies do, but melons?) Was there so much heat in the custard base as to cook the melon, and does cooked melon taste bitter? Would a better melon have made a difference, or would it have been bitter, sweet and aromatic at the same time? Is melon generally unsuitable for making ice cream? <Q> It's no surprise to me that you describe the final taste as being similar to a raw gherkin, because both melons and gherkins are closely related to the cucumber. <S> Melons actually do have bitter notes; according to McGee , they contain "green, grassy compounds" as well as sulfur compounds, <S> the latter being the same sort of thing you'd find in garlic. <S> Since melons only get sweeter on the vine, I would assume that the general blandness was caused by the melons being harvested too early and possibly sitting on the grocery store shelf for a long time. <S> Overcooking it would also increase the bitterness, but you say it wasn't exposed to heat (could the custard still have been very hot when you incorporated the melon?). <S> There is no way it was a reaction with guar gum <S> - it's a very common additive in melon-based drinks and desserts. <S> It's also extremely unlikely to have been a normal reaction with the cream; I've made melon mousse and other dairy items with melon and never noticed any kind of unusual bitterness. <S> The only other possibility I can think of is that there may have been a problem with the cream itself. <S> This varies quite a bit from brand to brand and region to region, but most of the time, the "cream" you buy does not just have cream in it; for example, I'm looking at a typical supermarket carton that contains cream, milk, skim milk powder, dextrose, and a bunch of E numbers, and even some sodium citrate. <S> These creams can easily take on bitterness before they go sour. <S> So if you were using the typical supermarket brand of heavy cream, and it was sitting in your fridge for a while, that may have been a contributing factor. <S> All in all, I think it was probably a very random and unfortunate combination of factors that would have been due to the specific ingredients used rather than the types of ingredients. <S> I doubt you'd get the same results if you tried again with fresh melons, cream, and eggs. <A> This is about a melon-milk shake that I made previously. <S> I don't know if it applies. <S> Melon has a reaction when mixed with milk which causes the taste to become bitter. <S> When freshly made it tastes okay, but when left for some time (a few hours) it gets bitter. <A> I would like to answer your question based on my personal experience with honeydew melon, because I always want to prepare honeydew melon when it is available in the market. <S> Adding sugar and water to the melon will not introduce bitterness in the mixture, however the moment I add milk (evaporated or condensed) and after mixing, the result will be a bitter mixture. <S> So there is really a negative result combining milk and honeydew melon. <A> After reading all questions and answers I am still left with out an answer to my question. <S> I have made pineapple ice cream and papaya ice cream and to my astonishment it was so bitter! <S> I used fresh pineapple, it came out bitter with the custard base, then I used the one from the tins and it was perfect. <S> So I went and do a research and found out that when using fresh pineapples you should first cook it with some sugar. <S> I have not tried it as yet. <S> As to the papaya I was so disappointed. <S> The pureed papaya was not bitter, the custard was not bitter, and when I combined the fruit with the custard it was not bitter! <S> But while in the Ice Cream maker I tasted it and could not believe what I tasted <S> so I tasted again <S> and it was very bitter, more than the pineapple, so <S> maybe I have to cook the papaya with sugar first too. <S> I hope this info is of some use to others. <A> I had the same exact problem with both melon ice creame and pineapple ice cream. <S> I tasted the ingredients before mixing them (cold). <S> The bitterness came after the mixture left sit in the refrigerator for a while. <S> I suspect the fruites had a chemicals reaction to stainless stell pot <S> I left the mixture in but not sure what caused it.... <A> Melon should be fine in ice cream, I think yours was just a bad specimen. <S> While you say it was not as bitter fresh it still was not a tasty melon, its possible that during the puree/ice cream making process the combination of ingredients enhanced the bitterness. <S> Your best bet would be to try again but insure that the melon you start with is good and sweet. <S> I have never used guar gum making ice cream before, so I don't know if you are better off leaving it out or not. <A> I had a similar problem with pineapple ice cream and found this: http://www.all-about-food.org/tips/faq/milk-become-bitter-kiwi.php From this page: <S> Why does milk become bitter if you add kiwi? <S> If you combine milk, yogurt or curd with fresh kiwifruit, it will become bitter and viscous. <S> The reason for this unpleasant effect is due to the proteolytic enzyme actinidin of the kiwifruit. <S> This enzyme breaks down milk proteins (casein) into smaller sub-units (peptides, amino acids), which are responsible for the bitter taste. <S> Pineapple and papaya can also make milk taste bitter because of its proteolytic enzymes bromelain (in pineapple) and papain (in papaya). <A> I just made cantaloupe gelato base for the first time and had this problem too. <S> I added a bit more sugar and some lime juice and <S> so far it's much more edible, lol. <S> Bitter flavors are usually basic, so maybe the acid is helping neutralize it?
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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.
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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 center raw, they should come out OK. <S> Since they're pretty fatty (at least the good ones are) there's little chance of drying them out, so when in doubt, cook them a little longer. <S> They'll feel firm, not squishy, when they're done. <S> The easiest way to cook raw sausages is in the oven (at 350-375°F, 180-190°C or so). <S> Feel free to cook some vegetables in the pan along with the sausage. <A> Are they loose or in a casing? <S> If they are loose then you should be able to cook them just like you would ground beef. <S> Sausage is generally fairly fatty so you shouldn't need to add any oil or anything. <S> I'm more familiar with chorizo which tends to be quite fatty, but if the others seem a bit dry you could always add a touch of oil to help them along. <S> If they are in casings then you could either remove them from their casing and cook them as above, or just cook them directly in their casing. <S> A little bit of oil or butter in this instance might help, depending on how well they are sealed up, but again this is probably unnecessary for most sausage. <A> Use your oven and bake at 150°C (300°F) for about 50 to 60 minutes. <S> They should be crisp skinned, fully cooked (for taste and food safety), but still soft to the bite <S> If you run the oven any hotter they may split or explode Section the sausages and lay them out evenly on an oven tray (with some edge or 'lip'). <S> You can pack in as many as you can fit into one layer. <S> No oil needed. <S> Place in the middle of the oven and relax For very fatty sausages you may wish to drain the fat off one or two times during cooking Using a frying pan is fine but it usually causes uneven cooking and burnt spots <A> To be super safe, boil them covered in water for 15 mins, then sear in a lightly oiled very hot pan. <A> I like to cook mine on the grill for 40 minutes or so, 20 minutes per side. <S> Crisp and tasty! <A> i'm in the long and slow camp when time allows. <S> i like to fry them in a little butter over a low heat which can result in a nice sticky outside. <S> often i'll throw some sliced onions in there to soften in the sausage fat. <S> Mmmm... <S> like the others have said the thing to watch out for is to make sure they are cooked through. <S> And please, don't prick them. <S> that just lets the fat out and risks drying out your sausage. <A> For the types of "real" sausage you mention I'd be tempted to make a risotto and add diced sausage after about 5 minutes. <S> The flavour would soak out into the rice quite well, and for Chorizo - so would the colour. <S> These kind of sausages are cured <S> so I'm not personally that bothered about cooking for an extra long time as they are already edible, although you might not be that happy with the taste.
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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.
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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. To make it more like a measurable criteria I'd say that I want to get equally drunk so amount of drink I need to consume would vary. <Q> All distilled spirits have no carbohydrates at all. <S> Vodka, whisky, whatever. <S> Only alcohol, water and aromatic compounds can ascend the spiral in a distillation process. <S> So a standard alcohol portion (10g ethanol) from a distilled spirit has 0 grams carbohydrate. <S> Properly made table wine shouldn't conatin carbs either, as all the grape carbs should be fermented. <S> Sometimes substances which aren't recognized in a food are counted towards carbohydrates, that's what a source claims is made with wine. <S> Then there is sweet dessert wine, there you have 3-4 grams of carbs per 10 grams of ethanol (70-100 ml depending on wine), because it has more sugar. <S> I didn't find information on fortified wine, but as they have more alcohol than sweet dessert wine and probably about as much unfermented sugar, it is about the same or somewhat less. <S> In beer, expect something like 7-8 g carbohydrates per 200 ml <S> (I am assuming an average ABV of 5%). <S> A big comparison of American beers is given here <S> I can't help you with liqueurs, they typically are infusions of plants in distilled alcohol, but may have sugar and other stuff added. <S> It depends on recipe. <A> If you think about it, the idea is to avoid sweet and sugary - so gin, vodka, whisky etc with a diet soda mixer will beat anything else for low carb. <A> If your goal is to avoid the weight gain associated with carbohydrates, I'd suggest that the alcohol itself is more significant. <S> While carbs will at least provide energy, alcohol is very poorly metabolized.
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While ethanol is not, strictly speaking, a carbohydrate, I'd consider the effect of the alcohol itself.
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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 question, the nutrients one desires to obtain from it, and the digestive capacity of the person (or, if you're considering cooking for your pets or livestock, animal) eating the result. <S> Take carrots, for instance. <S> As this article discusses, "boiling and steaming better preserves antioxidants, particularly carotenoids, in carrots, than frying, though boiling was deemed the best." <S> Also, "cooking carrots increases their level of beta-carotene." <S> Yet, "The downside of cooking vegetables is that it can destroy some of the vitamin C in them. <S> The reason is that Vitamin C, which is highly unstable, is easily degraded through oxidation, exposure to heat (it can increase the rate at which vitamin C reacts with oxygen in the air) and through cooking in water (it dissolves in water)." <A> Boiling them leaches the nutrients out into the water. <S> Of course, for maximum nutrition, don't cook them at all! <A> If you're sweating about losing some nutrients, consider eating more of the vegetables in question to make up for this supposed deficit. <S> Nobody ever suffered malnutrition because they cooked their veg instead of eating them raw.
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Generally speaking, steaming is best as the nutrients largely remain in the vegetables.
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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 the ingredients of various tangy drinks. I managed to narrow down that tart drinks tend to have the ingredients citric acid and trisodium citrate. Neither of those ingredients are things I can get at the grocery store. Is there anything I can get at the grocery store that will have the same tartness as those ingredients? It needs to be something cheap please, because the whole reason I'm making my own lemonade is to avoid the expense of the ready made stuff. <Q> I didn't post a full answer before, because I didn't have the time to expand on one. <S> Aaronut spared me time by writing 2/3 of what I would have (citric acid, citrate) and presenting it very well. <S> I won't repeat that part. <S> But there is another point which I find important: <S> When you say "tangy", do you really mean "sour"? <S> Because for me, "tangy" means a combination of "sour" + "astringent", with sometimes a hint of "bitter" thrown in. <S> This means that even if you drink pure lemon juice, your drink will still not appear tangy enough to you. <S> You need to add astringency. <S> The way commercial drinks add it is by carbonation. <S> There are systems you can use to carbonate your own drinks at home, but you'll have to make the investment first. <S> You could try making your lemonade with store-bought carbonated water, but given the price difference between carbonated water and store-bought lemonade on the one hand and tap water and carbonated water on the other hand, it will probably not let you save much money. <S> It will, however, help you drink better quality lemonade (as in, made from real fresh fruit instead of synthetic flavors). <S> Don't let it go on too long <S> , you don't want an alcoholic drink. <S> The trouble is, with wild cultures you never know when a batch will turn out good and when it will have off-flavors. <S> Chokeberries resp. <S> their juice would be a perfect choice for a lemonade, if you don't mind the red color. <S> Quinces shouldn't add much color. <S> There are no other easy astringent ingredients I can think of right now, except for a tea of oak bark, but the taste will need lots of getting used to if used in a lemonade. <S> If you find out that it's the astringency you've been missing, you probably need no additional citric acid. <A> Citric acid is available at many supermarkets worldwide, and if you can't find it in any of your supermarkets, you should almost certainly be able to find it in a bulk food, health food, or baking supplies store. <S> As rumtscho helpfully points out in the comments, you can also find it online, i.e. on Amazon , but do make sure that it is actually food grade (the linked product is). <S> Trisodium citrate (more colloquially referred to simply as sodium citrate or just citrate) is a buffer intended to reduce the acidity of the final product. <S> It's normally used in molecular recipes where a particular gelling agent needs a certain pH range. <S> It's possible that some lemonade makers are using it to control the flavour as well, i.e. by adding more citric acid than expected and then buffering it out, in order to reduce the "lemony" flavour. <S> That is probably not what you want for homemade lemonade, so don't bother trying to locate trisodium citrate. <A> Some years ago I tried a lemonade in southern Peru. <S> It was very tangy and creamy. <S> I asked the waiter how they made it <S> and he replied that they blended a whole lemon with its peel. <S> The juice was then strained. <S> It was g <A> Are the lemons by themselves tart enough for you? <S> If not then perhaps you need a better source of lemons (or you could try the citric acid route some people have suggested). <S> If they are then you probably need to add less water. <S> I would imagine that the water would have as big if not more of an impact on the sour/tartness level as the sugar.
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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.
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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 turned out great! <S> The leftover ball of rice/almond goo looked perfect for a baked treat. <S> I added a bit of flour, an egg and some baking powder and mixed it all together. <S> I thought I was making cookies, but the texture was more like a bread dough. <S> So, I buttered a baking sheet and spread the dough out. <S> Turned out great! <S> (I baked it at 325 for fifteen minutes). <S> Now I think I'll spread something over the top and roll it up, or perhaps just cut it like a cookie bar. <S> Anyway, it tastes great and the texture is so yummy! <A> You can use it for rice pudding!! <A> Here is an example: http://norecipes.com/blog/2009/03/30/horchata/ . <A> Boiling rice before its use in horchata avoids big quantities of sediments. <S> After its unncooked use it can be reimplemented, but since you extracted most of his essence, more ingredients will be need to mantain and complement its flavor, plus to a mandatory boiling : Milk-related*, vanila flavor and coconut can do a good companion. <S> Horchatas in México have many variants with the plus of other ingredients, such as strawberries, pineapple, oat and barley. <S> Since rice pudding is the other alternative for the rice left, you may consider inquiring the many posible styles of rice pudding based on its ingredients and use them in preparing more water, like orange skin escence or powder. <S> * <S> It can be normal, condensend, evaporated or related Milk, Milky Ice cream or similar ones. <S> Since you are dealing with milky products, Another twist can be made while adding liquid milk candy, coffee and matching liquor (Kahluá, Baileys, etc.), but that's likely less to be considered a horchata, then the alternative ingredients mentioned <S> (strawberries and so on) shoud be ommited unless you find a good way to link them.
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You could switch to a recipe that uses all of the rice, instead of just infusing it.
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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 all over the place and look like a burrito noob. <S> Get it right and your hands and plate will be perfectly clean, and you'll no longer be hungry. <S> Beware: publicly flaunting these skills might lead to people wanting you to fold their burritos for them. <S> General Tips <S> First off: make sure your tortilla is ready to be folded. <S> A cold or dried out tortilla is likely to crack or split. <S> Use a warm and moist tortilla. <S> Second: don't overfill the tortilla. <S> If you have small tortillas don't try to make a giant burrito and expect that to work. <S> How to fold Now that we have the basics out of the way <S> let's get to folding. <S> See the flash animation at Chow.com (which I've converted into an image here): Place the contents in the approximately center of your partially folded tortilla. <S> Leave plenty of room on the ends otherwise you'll most surely have food spilling out once it's folded up. <S> Hold the filled tortilla <S> so the weight of the filling pulls it tight. <S> If your burrito busts through now, it will certainly burst later. <S> If not, proceed to step 2. <S> Fold one end towards the center. <S> Fold the other end over. <S> Roll the bottom (the end <S> nearest you) up towards the top. <S> This isn't the intuitive way, but it's the right way. <S> Make sure not to let the food squeeze out. <S> I hold it with my fingers at the crease where the bottom edge that's been folded up meets the food. <S> Keep rolling it up. <S> Om nom nom. <A> (The same is true for enchiladas and tacos.) <S> The best warming is over a range/stove burner (open flame or electric). <S> Just keep rotating the tortilla until it is no longer stiff. <S> Then stuff it right away while it's still warm. <S> (You can also use a microwave to warm the tortilla, but it will come out drier - with a bigger risk of "post-consumption gut bloat".) And be sure to use good flour tortillas, especially for burros/burritos. <S> If it's a low fat or corn/maize tortilla, you're not going to have good luck <S> no matter what. <S> It will crack and won't fold at all well. <A> It then looks somewhat like an envelope. <S> I like filling mine with lots of food, so I usually don't gold the top down. <S> I just do the first two steps. <S> My plate usually looks like it hasn't been used because nothing falls out. <A> Here's how we always did it (this was a weekly meal growing up, and for reference, we made tortilla shells with approximately a 12 inch diameter): <S> Arrange the ingredients in a linedown the middle, leaving about 1 inchon either end about at least 3 inches oneither side <S> Fold the ends over, so the crease is right where the ingredients stop <S> Fold one side, then the other side with both creases right where the ingredients stop With that <S> , I've never had much issue with anything coming undone, just a little leaking if there is too much salsa or other liquid ingredients.
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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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