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Cooking juicy beef in a pan I recently cooked beef in a pan, and it came out pretty leathery. I came to cooking.SE to find some advice, and found this: "The cut is important for both techniques. For sauteing, you need a lean cut - fillet, sirloin, or good rump steak. These should be cooked quickly over a high heat" from Cooking beef: how to make it tender? (most of the advice on the page seems to be "high-heat low-time") My question is for a bit more follow-up on this. Most importantly, how will I know that the beef is cooked well enough to be safe, without it losing its tenderness? Also if it makes any difference, I'm using a non-stick pan (cooking it in olive oil is okay?) <Q> The best way to test if it's done is to use an instant-read thermometer. <S> Slide it into the thickest part, away from any bones. <S> I like to lift up the meat with tongs and poke it into the edge, all the way to the center. <S> You're looking for about 135-140F for medium rare; take it off a little early if anything because the temperature will go up a bit once it's off the heat. <S> Let it rest for ten minutes or so before digging in to let the juices re-distribute. <S> I don't like using nonstick for steak, or olive oil. <S> Neither does well at high heats, which is what you need to cook off moisture at the surface and get a nice browned outside before the inside gets overcooked. <S> Cast iron and steel (stainless or carbon) <S> both work very well in my experience. <S> For fat, use a high smoke point oil like safflower oil, or clarified butter. <A> In addition to what Adam said, I would also include the quality of the meat. <S> Most of the meat you can get in your average megamarket is going to be tough and not the greatest choice when you want to cook hot, fast and under medium. <S> Finding a good butcher and spending that extra buck per pound, will help ensure a tender chunk of beast. <S> My favorite way to cook a steak is the Alton Brown method. <S> Fire up my charcoal chimney starter <S> , salt the steak and place the chimney on top of the steak for a minute and a half. <S> Flip it over, another minute and let the steak rest. <S> Best steak <S> I've ever had (and made). <A> When you're grilling or pan frying, toughness with beef is correlated directly to cooking time. <S> The more you cook it, the tougher it's going to be. <S> In fact, probably the easiest way to check for doneness, without use of a thermometer, is by pressing on the meat. <S> If it's soft, it's raw. <S> If it's hard, it's well done. <S> Now, for expensive cuts like fillet, you have some leeway. <S> Fillet is a very tender cut, and it can handle a lot more cooking and still be south of chewy. <S> On the other hand, a tough cut like flank steak or skirt steak will tolerate very little heat before it becomes hard as a car tire (though here, you can cut across the grain of the mean to somewhat mitigate this). <S> As for safety, generally a quick sear on the outside kills everything you really need to worry about. <S> With steak, your main worry is contamination from handling and processing, and that's nearly always external . <S> So sear the outside, and your steak is safer than the side salad you're having with it. <A> If you like thick "saignant" it should be very good quality meat and you should rub it with fine salt and the ground <S> spices you like, then burn in very hot pan for about 30 seconds every side until you cook it externally to keep all juices inside. <S> When the color is right, lower the heat source to avoid charring and continue cooking as you like. <S> Remember that when you see juices coming out from meat it should be retired from heat because will become soon dehydrated and hard to chew. <S> I'm obtaining very good results marinating hard meats with milk, yogurt and spices for one or two weeks at about 2°C covered in fridge. <S> Will try to add some pineapple and ginger slices to shorten times. <S> When marinating to tenderize don't add salt but keep liquid acidic to avoid poisonous bacterial growth.
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My experience with beef is that if you want good results with cheap parts you should cut in very thin slices and cook quickly keeping pan very hot.
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What is a Chutney? Chutney is foreign to my culture and the food i grew up with. Thus, the lack of sophistication and familiarity with chutney. So please forgive my misunderstanding. I often hear the buzzword on food cooking shows. I'm curious as to what are the technical requirements of a chutney. What is and what isn't chutney? Also (correct me if i'm wrong), what is chutney and why is it often paired with other foods? <Q> Chutney is a fairly generic term, so your confusion isn't too surprising - the definition may also vary from region to region, and it's a loanword. <S> It's generally defined as a condiment consisting of some combination of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and/or spices. <S> (So by definition, it's intended to be paired with other foods.) <S> This means they're usually fairly flavorful, so that a smaller quantity can complement something. <S> They could be chunky, finely chopped, or smooth; they often have enough liquids to be wet (no air in them), but are sometimes dry; in English at least they can be either fresh or pickled. <S> Since the word and food come from South Asian cuisine (particularly in what's now India), the term is most commonly applied to condiments referred to as chutneys there, or ones which are somehow similar to those. <S> Since the word has been adopted into English, I'm sure there's starting to be some drift in the meaning; if you hear it used on a contemporary American cooking show, you probably can't count on much more than it being some sort of flavorful condiment, possibly Indian-inspired but possibly not. <A> Basically, a chutney is a kind of savoury jam. <S> This is a very simplistic definition though. <S> The main differences between jam and chutney are as follows: <S> The preservation in jam is only by sugar. <S> In chutney, vinegar and sugar are used together, so chutneys are not necessarily sweet. <S> Jam is almost always made with fruit as the main ingredient. <S> In chutney,fruit can be used, but so can vegetables. <S> Also, chutneys tend to be a mix of more than one thing. <S> For example, an apple chutney will have plenty of apples, but also swede and onion in it. <S> Jams usually do not add other flavours to the fruit and sugar (pectin is for texture). <S> Chutneys are usually flavoured with several spices, as well as chili peppers, onions and garlic. <S> In the Indian subcontinent, chutneys are served along with the meal in small amounts, as a condiment to add to the meal. <S> They are usually eaten with the blander side/starter dishes like pakoras or samosas, rather than with the spicy and flavourful main dishes. <S> In the rest of the former British Empire, and particularly in England, it is eaten on bread, with butter or cheese, in a similar way to jam or pickle. <S> Note that what the English call pickle is also a sort of savoury jam, not pickled cucumbers like in America. <A> Chutney is a blend of ...things, with quite a sharp taste. <S> It can be sweet(tamarind) or savory(chilly) <S> , cooked(mango) or uncooked(chilly). <S> Generally its a mash of spices and herbs (common ingredients being green mint, green/dry coriander, red/green chillies, garlic). <S> Sometimes thin yogurt may be added. <S> Some chutneys can be cooked, like chutney made of tomatoes(savory), or raw mangoes(sweet). <A> Chutneys may be either wet or dry, and they can have a coarse to a fine texture. <S> It is similar to be eaten instead of pickle. <S> chutneys were ground with a mortar and pestle made of stone . <S> Nowadays, electric blenders or food processors can be used as labor saving alternatives to the traditional stone utensils. <S> Various spices are added and ground, usually in a particular order; the wet paste thus made is sauteed in vegetable oil, usually gingely or peanut (groundnut) oil. <A> In my experience, it's pretty broad. <S> They're condiments served with Indian or other South Asian cuisine. <S> Usually served on the side to be added to taste, rather than sauces that are served over food. <S> Most that I have had are sweet, spicy, and/or tart, and can range from thick pastes to fairly thin sauces. <S> There's many many different kinds of chutney from various areas of the Indian subcontinent, as well as Anglicized chutneys such as Major Grey's which tend to be quite sweet. <A> I grew up in India. <S> There can be some variations invented outside India. <S> But in Indian context,Chutneys are far different than jam. <S> They are used as a side dish complimenting the main course. <S> And usually had in small amount , served on the (left) side of the dish. <S> They are almost always spicy. <S> Chilli or chilli powder is one of the main ingredient in chutneys. <S> Adding sugar is optional and amount is very little if added. <S> We usually do not use vinegar too. <S> Chutneys can come in different flavours, made using cilantro/mint/lentils/tomatoes/sometimes some fruits etc. <S> Chutneys can be wet or dry. <S> Wet chutneys can be seen as close to Salsa/dip. <S> There is another dish that can be on sour/sweet side made using fruits <S> but we do not call it chutney. <S> @AdamJaskiewicz is right. <S> (I could not add it as a comment due to lack of reputation.)
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chutney is an indian cuisine where it consists of spices and other condiments such as vegetables or fruits.
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When making risotto, why fry the rice? When making risotto one of the first steps is to saute the rice in some oil for a few minutes (or until the rice is translucent). What is happening when the rice is fried? What effect does this have, and what would happen if this step was omitted? <Q> However, it does also break down some of the starch which reduces the thickening it can do when the risotto cooks, which might cause a problem. <S> I can attest to the flavour, but I've not done experiments about thickening. <S> Serious Eats had a good article on the topic though, in which such experiments were described. <S> The solution in that was to wash the rice in the stock, then fry the rice, then add the stock containing all that undamaged free rice starch during cooking, thus giving you toasty flavour and creamy risotto with no questions asked. <S> I haven't tried that, but it seems like a fairly sound idea to me. <S> http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/10/the-food-lab-the-science-of-risotto.html <A> Many rice recipes include this step- <S> it seems to be standard with Indian rice recipes as well. <S> Frying the rice definitely adds a nutty, toasted, flavor. <S> It would be unfortunate to give that up just for convenience. <S> I have been told that frying the rice produces more individualized grains of rice in the finished product. <S> This makes sense to me as some of the starch would gelatinize and preserve the grain's shape. <S> Obviously for risotto you want plenty of free starch to thicken the sauce <S> but you don't want to end up with rice pudding. <S> I have not done any independent experiments to see if this is the case and it does sound like it could be an old wives tale (simmering pasta or searing steak, etc.) <A> The purpose is to add flavour and to coat the grains with oil which will give you better texture in your finished dish. <S> The slow stove top method with constant stirring is what gives you the best cream factor as the stirring helps to release the starches.
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As I understand it, it's down to the flavour you get from frying the rice.
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Why did my Turkish Delight come out flavorless? Yesterday I made Turkish Delight, and today I cut it into squares and tasted it. This was the recipe: 330 ml liquid (apple juice, from freshly cold-pressed apples, strong flavor) A small amount of ascorbic acid, to prevent apple juice from browning 330 grams of sugar 25g powdered gelatin icing sugar Steps: Boil sugar and liquid until at 115 degrees celsius Take off the heat Add gelatin, soaked in a bit of the liquid Let set in a cold environment Cut into pieces Dust with icing Enjoy It has set fine, it's pretty beautiful and hasn't bled yet (making icing soggy) but perhaps in a while. The problem is that it is UTTERLY tasteless. Before cooking the sugar solution, it tasted great, and had a beautiful green color. After cooking, it was almost tasteless and almost completely clear. Why did the juice lose the flavor, and what can I do to prevent it? It happened before adding gelatin. A bonus question: It took a while to reach 115 degrees, about half an hour. It seems that cooking to 115 was mostly a matter of reducing the solution so that the boiling point increased. Does the extended boiling have any other beneficial effects, or can I simply increase the sugar amount from the start and bring it to a boil? <Q> First, I don't know where you people all get these gelatin-filled Turkish delight recipes. <S> Turkish delight is made with starch, not gelatin (at least the recipes used in Turkey are all with refined starch or rice flour). <S> Second, about the taste. <S> It is normal that fresh apple juice loses its taste when it is cooked. <S> The normal Turkish delight tastes of sugar. <S> Its aroma comes from strong aromas added to the liquid (rose essence, or artificial aroma). <S> You don't preserve natural fruit tastes in Turkish delight. <S> Even if you wanted to, I don't think there is a way to do it with apple juice. <S> Some stronger tasting fruits (cherries, raspberries) could give a syrup with more taste, but are not part of traditional lokum. <S> Third, about the temperature. <S> Your observation is correct, you are just evaporating the liquid. <S> In some cases, it might be desirable to start with more liquid and evaporate, so you get more concentrated aroma - for example, if you have started with pure rose water. <S> But if you are making a recipe which requires concentrated sugar syrup, it is OK to start with a ratio which creates saturated syrup at room temperature (3 parts sugar to 2 parts water) and cook until the desired consistency is reached (this is recognizable from the boiling point). <S> For most recipes however, you don't want a concentrated syrup. <S> The candy hardness is defined by the amount of starch used. <S> In this case, you just mix everything and you are ready after it has bubbled, just like any pudding. <S> The amount of sugar seems to be 1 part sugar to 2 parts water. <A> I would recommend adding the flavouring, when it is luke warm during the last cooling step. <S> The other factor that is causing flavourless ness, is too much gelatin, when i create hard jellies with added gelatin, the gelatin retains the sugar and stops it dissolving when chewed, so it doesn't taste as sweet as when it is a goopy jelly. <A> You did not add ROSE WATER. <S> That's the Delight in Turkish Delight.
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What you are making here is jell-o (if you use small amounts of gelatin) or gummi bears (if you use lots of gelatin). From my exeperiance with trying to make orange/lemon souflle a dozen times, heat destroys the sour (citric acid/tartaic acid) flavour of the original mix.
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How do Chinese restaurants tenderize their meat? I eat at a lot of Chinese restaurants now and also while growing up. I often wondered how is it that the chicken, pork, and beef in dishes are always so tender. I can never replicate it when I cook.What do the Chinese chefs use to tenderize their meat? <Q> One technique, but not the only, is velveting. <S> Here the meat is tenderized in an egg-white/cornstarch mixture for 20+ minutes, then cooked briefly (a minute) in oil or simmering water with a small amount of oil prior to using in stir fries. <S> I've never velveted in straight oil but water/oil <S> definitely gives the chicken that smoothness that Chinese Restaurants obtain and the shorter stir fry <S> cooking time makes it much more tender. <S> Super thin slicing (you'll need to cut the meat semi-frozen to get such thin slices), plus cutting across the grain also lead to tenderness. <A> Baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate). <S> The sodium in baking soda chemically reacts with the meat and make the meat very tender and soft. <S> Below is an except from the cooking section in Sodium bicarbonate (Wikipedia) : Sodium bicarbonate was sometimes used in cooking vegetables, to make them softer, although this has gone out of fashion, as most people now prefer firmer vegetables that contain more nutrients. <S> However, it is still used in Asian cuisine to tenderise meats. <S> Baking soda may react with acids in food, including Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid). <S> It is also used in breadings such as for fried foods to enhance crispness. <S> Personally I found the meat too soft and would prefer if they can just marinate in oyster sauce or soy sauce with some oil - acids <S> also has a tenderizing effect on meat, although not to the extend of baking soda. <A> Here is my "a-bit-late" stab at the answer. <S> Besides velveting the meat prior cooking, the meat in restaurants may be marinated with chemical meat tenderizers. <S> The active ingredients are usually papain or bromelain , which are enzymes extracted from fruits. <A> I believe it is their suppliers rather than their techniques which are decisive. <S> You may not want to know what 'restaurant quality' pre-portioned meat-units look like. <S> In order to be tender and juicy, a great deal of added water is bound into the product with dubious adulterants -ah, additives. <S> This is all generally legal and safe. <S> Some exceptions: <S> http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/chicken-injected-with-beef-waste-sold-in-uk-1696407.html <S> How the animal is raised makes a big difference: here in Beijing hormones are routinely added to pig-feed to fatten up an animal quickly without it over-developing muscles. <S> So, if you really want to know why their meat is so tender, ask for the names of their suppliers or, better yet, some of the packaging to investigate for yourself. <A> It will make it fall apart if allowed to sit for a few hours in the fridge. <S> Corn starch slurries are just <S> so you get that gloss and thickening to the sauce when you are doing the stirfry. <S> Don't know of anyone that uses baking soda though I wouldn't rule it out. <A> Water and corn starch slurry. <S> I talked to some of my Chinese food experts... <S> i.e. moms. <S> They actually suggest using a water and corn starch slurry. <S> They would add this slurry to the meat, whether it is chicken, beef, or pork, and let it sit for a little while before cooking. <S> (One downside of this potentially is that it may thicken the sauce or liquid that your dish contains as this slurry is also used to thicken sauces and gravies.) <A> you can put a little vinegar and rub them properly for about 2 minsi always cook meat like that, they are tender and delicious, you can have a try. <A> Corn starch seals the meat and keeps the beef tender even without tenderizer. <S> High heat short cooking, of course.
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Marinate the meat with pureed fresh ginger in your marinade. If you find the meat has a spongy texture aside from being very tender, then very likely the restaurant put baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) in the marinade.
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How can I keep saffron fresh for longer? We don't use saffron that often. The last batch we got went stale. Is there anything I can do to preserve it for longer? (For example, our spice rack gets a lot of direct sunlight, is that bad?) How long can I expect it to last? <Q> There are special glass jars made to protect herbs from damaging uva/b rays, proven to maintain freshness. <S> Granted, these little jars are designed for a "different" kind of herb, I, on the other hand, use them for my ultra expensive, direct from the middle east saffron. <S> Keep an open mind and enjoy your saffron!!! <S> www.herbpreserve.com <A> Use common advices: closed jars, in a fresh and dark place (a bodega is wonderful for keeping the spices). <S> Direct sun is one of the worst enemies. <S> And when everything else fails, consume it ... <S> f.ex. <S> this very simple recipe, just rice + veg stock + mushrooms + garlic + persil + saffron <S> http://elsfogonsdelabordeta.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/arros-caldos-de-safra/ <A> You can keep it in the freezer. <S> It will probably keep for a <S> really long time, if wrapped well and kept frozen. <S> You will want to be sure to wrap very well and make sure the container is good, since it will be a problem if condensation accumulates in the container. <S> And whole spices will likely hold up better than ground. <S> As for saffron specifically, my parents brought back a huge thing of saffron from when they were in turkey years and years ago, and they kept it in the freezer - and it's still good, it smells strongly and flavors well when warmed up and isn't stale or anything. <S> They use saffron often enough (for traditional Indian desserts) to keep a small amount in a jar in the spice rack that they could use when needed that could be refilled from the larger container, so the large container isn't exposed to temperature changes every time they want a pinch. <S> For me, since I have a tiny little flat container and use it infrequently, I keep the whole thing in the freezer - it doesn't take long to grab a pinch out anyway, so it doesn't warm up too much <S> -and it's still probably better stored than keeping it in the cabinet.
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Spices in general can be stored in the fridge or freezer for a longer shelf life - just like most other foods.
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Can I mince garlic in advance? I really hate mincing garlic in tiny batches for each dish. Is there any way to mince many bulbs in advance and store them for a week or more? <Q> Mince fine a large quantity of garlic in the food processor and freeze it in ice cube trays. <S> When solid move the cubes to a freezer bag. <S> My Indian friends mince garlic and ginger together and freeze it this way. <A> This was a really big thing to do a few years back. <S> Problem was that people would mince it and then store it in oil which is an oxygen free environment. <S> You'd think that was a good thing until we realized that garlic seems to have a higher chance of botulism and botulism loves oxygen free environments. <S> Very nasty! <S> When you need garlic use a garlic press or mince them then. <S> It'll taste better too. <A> My small Korean family goes through what can only be measured as pounds of garlic in a week. <S> Most Korean foods that require garlic (hah, more like most korean foods require garlic!) want the garlic to be chopped up rather than in cloves. <S> So my mother tends to buy 10-15lb bags of cloves, trims the ends, and blends the cloves in a food processor until they resemble coarsely chopped garlic. <S> She would err on the side of almost pureed garlic, but I personally like my big pieces of garlic :) <S> If she didn't save a lot of money by buying garlic cloves in bulk, she'd buy the local Korean market's freshly minced garlic in containers like http://www.koreanhomefood.com/?p=573 . <S> If you are planning to go this route, you can easily store minced garlic in an airtight container for a week, no oil required.
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Best thing to do is just peel your cloves and store them in an air tight container so they don't dry out too much.
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How would I add heat to a brine? I am interested in making roast chicken with a bit of a kick. I'm thinking about adding heat to the brine, but I'm not sure what the best way of doing that would be. How would brine work with hot peppers? <Q> You would need an oil-based marinade to pass the 'heat'. <A> I would suggest getting a jar of red curry paste (available in the asian section of the supermarket). <S> Rub a teaspoon or two on the chicken to give it a bunch of different flavour profiles. <S> Another option is to make a stuffing for the chicken and put some finely diced chilis in there. <S> But yes, I would suggest a curry paste rub on the bird. <A> I'm only a year late, but since I found this post maybe mine will still help somebody. <S> I would Inject the chicken with a heavily diluted and seasoned mixture of Blaire's Ultra Death sauce. <S> I would use something like 5 drops per 1/2 cup of broth. <S> That should do ya ;) <S> You can find Blaire's sauces in specialty stores or online, ebay is where I usually get mine. <S> Good luck. <S> Keep in mind the sauce is not salty, just raw heat with a unique flavor that would work well with any of your normal seasoning methods. <A> When roasting chicken, if you want to add heat to it, you're probably better off going with some sort of dry rub on the inside of the bird. <S> If you really want to go with a brine, you could use with an olive oil/vinegar mixture to absorb the oils from any peppers you want to add. <S> You might try applying this after removing from the brine and letting this mixture soak for the last hour or two. <S> However, I'd be worried that it would be too much grease/tang though.
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Hot peppers won't work with brine, as brine is water-based and capsaicin (the pepper hotness) is not soluble in water.
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Do I need hard or soft brown sugar for brownies? I found a recipe for brownies I want to try. It calls for 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar How can I recognize if they mean hard or soft brown sugar? And how much of a difference does it make for the completed brownies if I use the wrong type? Should I just adjust the amount of sugar or other ingredients (and if yes, by how much)? Or do I have to try to make a substitution? I found a question which explains how to make soft sugar, but it requires a food processor, and I don't have one. Edit Here is a picture of sugars, as Jay suggested per comment: In Germany, the only type found under the name "brown sugar" (brauner Zucker) is the one in the upper right corner. But I have heard that American recipes might need the kind in the lower right corner, which is not normally available here. <Q> The in the US, light brown sugar always means the one in the bottom left. <S> The bottom right is dark brown sugar and has a higher molasses content. <S> In the US, I typically see the 'brown sugar' in the upper right referred to as 'raw sugar' or the brand ' sugar in the raw '. <S> If you're using a US recipe, it needs the bottom left. <S> If you don't have any and its an ingredient like in brownies, try adding the molasses and sugar as separate ingredients. <S> 1 Cup of sugar + 1 tablespoon of molasses is about the right ratio for light brown sugar. <S> If you can't get molasses...try dark corn syrup, honey, or depending on the flavor your want, maple syrup. <S> (A comment from @JasonTrue above mentions that beet syrup is an option as well, althought I haven't tried it.) <A> Probably the lower left one since it's a lighter brown. <S> However if you are unable to get the brown sugar you are able to easily make it using granulated white sugar and molasses by mixing about 1 cup granulated white sugar with 1 table spoon molasses using a fork. <A> Just to add in the Australian terms. <S> Top - white sugar, raw sugar. <S> Bottom - light brown sugar, dark brown sugar
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As Jefromi suggested, brownie recipes call for the sugar found on the bottom of the picture you have added.
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Carrot soup and avoiding the use of a blender? Most recipes for carrot soup I encounter require a final stage of blending/whizzing to get the creamy texture. Eg: recipe1 recipe2 recipe3 Can the blender/whizzer be avoided? How must the recipes be modified in that case? <Q> One way to modify the recipes (but you won't get the smooth texture of the original recipes) is to cut the onion and carrot a lot smaller than the original recipe ask for. <S> You want to almost dice it. <S> When you are frying the onion and carrot in the pan, do it for like 1-2 min rather than the whole 5 minutes. <S> And finally you will need to cook it in the stock for much longer than the recipe asks. <S> You want to bring the stock to a boil then let it simmer covered to allow the carrot to become really soft. <S> Then use something with a big flat surface(a large wooden spoon or something similar) to help you mash the rest against the side of the stock pot. <S> The results will come out a lot lumpier than the orginal recipes but some texture and "unblended" bits of carrot is actually pretty good in carrot soup. <A> In case you find yourself without a blender, but DO find yourself with a pressure cooker, follow the recipe sauteeing the ingredients, then just add maybe 1/2 cup of water or stock, and pressure cook for 5 mins under full pressure (if you have the timing kind) or 1-2 whistles (if you have the whistling kind). <S> Once this cools and you can open it, you will see that your carrots are VERY soft and can basically be mashed up into puree. <S> You add the stock and whatever else of the ingredients at this point and cook, but it won't need as much cooking as it says in the recipe. <S> The onion will not mash as much (though still pretty well), so that I would reccommend chopping a bit smaller to help get a smoother end result. <S> You can also do this with cauliflower for a nice cauliflower soup, or even potatoes (though I would double the pressure cooking time for potato). <S> Should work with other things as well. <A> If you like good chunks, skip the blending step. <S> If you don't like big chunks, cut the carrots and other veggies in smaller pieces. <S> If this isn't possible (because the veggies are still too hard), put the liquid in, let it simmer as instructed and instead of putting it in a blender, use the potato masher then. <S> You will have some smaller chunks left, but nothing large, normally. <A> You could buy carrot puree sold in a can. <S> Most of your recipes called for a weight so you could use that accordingly from the can's size (also in lbs. <S> for that specific can) or water down to your desired thickness.
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I have no experience with carrot soup, but if possible, try to mash it with a potato masher, before you add the liquid. I don't think you need to blend anything.
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What cut of beef is "fillet of beef"? I usually cook vegetarian dishes because it's easier for me although I'm a huge carnivore. I'm taking a stab at this steak sandwich recipe which calls for "fillet of beef". What does that mean? Which cut (chuck roast, london broil, etc...) can I get? Surely Ina Garten does not mean fillet mignon? <Q> I believe it's another name for the tenderloin. <S> http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Beef%20Cuts.htm <S> Also, if you check out this other fillet of beef recipe from the same show: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fillet-of-beef-recipe/index.html You can see a much better picture of the meat. <S> That one is clearly a tenderloin. <S> So The Fillet Mignon is part of that technically... <A> A fillet is steak cut from the tenderloin. <S> If you cut the tenderloin into "medallions" it becomes a fillet (better when wrapped with bacon...but isn't everything) and is ready to be grilled or broiled. <S> If you leave the tenderloin in tact, then it is a 'tenderloin roast' suitable for use in a beef wellington. <S> For a good lesson on using tenderloin, see Alton Brown's " Tender is the Loin " <A> A filet is any boneless cut of meat (it's a generic term); usually one of higher quality. <S> You could have a filet, for instance, off the strip loin (a manhattan filet).
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Typically, however, when someone says "filet", they're referring to the "filet mignon" (literally "small boneless cut of meat"), which is a cut from the front end of a beef tenderloin, a sub-primal cut that crosses the sirloin and short loin.
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What is the difference between grape and cherry tomatoes? What is the flavor difference between grape and cherry tomatoes? The store had both and they looked rather similar. <Q> The difference in their name is - not surprisingly - because of their form. <S> Cherry tomatoes are round, while grape tomatoes are more oblong. <S> Wikipedia mentions that grape tomatoes are 'sweet as cherry tomatoes', so not much difference in flavour according to this. <S> Perhaps grape tomatoes are more similar to small plum tomatoes. <S> This site claims grape tomatoes to be sweeter, having a thicker skin and a lower water content than cherry tomatoes. <S> Interestingly, it also says that grape tomatoes are a cross between cherry tomatoes and other tomatoes. <S> The claims of the second site are in agreement with this site ("grape tomatoes have thicker skin, lower water content and intense sweetness"). <S> It also states "a grape tomato is half the size of a cherry tomato", so perhaps they are smaller. <S> Due to the lower water content, grape tomatoes have less chance of 'squirting' when being bitten into. <A> If there is a difference, I think it's smaller than all of the normal variations in supermarket tomatoes. <S> Buying either kind, I've gotten plump/juicy ones, drier/mealy ones, sweet ones, bland ones. <S> I think this is mostly attributable to the wide variation in quality of storebought tomatoes, notably seasonal variation and how unripe they were when picked. <S> Some may actually be different types of tomatoes, too: I know there are a few reasonably widespread cultivars sold as cherry tomatoes. <S> I think the primary reason for the "grape" name is just the shape; cherries are more spherical and grapes are oblong. <S> Both grape and cherry tomatoes should usually be sweeter than larger tomatoes. <S> If you're a gardener or are lucky enough to know someone who can supply you, I think you'll find much more variety in flavor among all the types of little tomatoes that people grow at home. <S> I've had some that were so sweet <S> I felt like I was eating delicious tomato candy off a vine, and I've had others with a full tomato flavor but not so much sweetness. <S> Unfortunately I don't know names of varieties here, but I'm sure if you sought out that sort of thing, you could discover the ones you like most! <A> Cherry Tomatoes depending on variety are usually more tangy than sweet. <S> A popular variety sold in Australia is Genio (unsure spelling) has a long shelf life with tangy flavor. <S> Suitable for salads as a replacement for tomatoes. <S> They also tend to hold their shape better during cooking compared to the run of the mill variety of grape tomatoes. <S> These usually have a shorter shelf life but ripen quicker as a result. <S> In terms of cooking, grape tomatoes usually have a stronger flavor and may over power other ingredients. <S> Lastly another issue is when the fruit is harvested. <S> For commercial production cherry and grape tomatoes are typically harvested when they are light orange in colour. <S> With cherry tomatoes some varieties will be sugary sweet if left on the vine until full colour. <S> Overall, the main issue is identifying which variety is being sold. <S> General terms <S> Cherry = <S> Tangy Grape = <S> Sweet <A> Not so much difference between these two varieties of tomatoes. <S> Cherry tomatoes are good for cooking and grape tomatoes are good for dressings. <S> That's all in my point of view.
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Whilst grape tomatoes generally have a sweeter flavor over their cherry counterparts.
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Should I press the chicken breast against the pan when I grill it? When I'm about to grill a chicken breast, I usually cut the breast in very thin pieces. I put some oil in a square grill pan (exactly like this one ) and turn on the stove (in a very high temperature). After a few minutes, I spread the oil, turn the temperature in medium and put the breast chicken there. I usually wait until the side of the chicken that I'm looking is almost completely white. Than I turn the slice. My cousin is a chef, so he knows a lot about food. When I said that I pressed the breast chicken against the pan, he said to me not to. He told me just to leave the slice there and, when there's a lot of water in the side of the piece that I'm looking at, then it's the time to turn it. I tried this, but the other side of the chicken is never beautiful as the part that was against the pan. Than I kinda freak out and start pressing with the fork again, afraid that I might eat a raw chicken - wich stinks! Can you guys give me some advice? I read a lot about it on the Internet and here, tried a lot of things, but most of the advice and recipes didn't work. I'm using only salt and olive oil to marinate the chicken breast (and the oil that I put in the pan). Since I'm on a diet, I can't use sauces that are not 'natural' (like italian sauce, sold in the supermarkets). Sometimes I believe there's something wrong with the size of the pan, considering the size of the stove burners (maybe the pan is too big for it?). Does that have some impact? <Q> Thin, as in scaloppine -thin, so that it cooks almost instantly in the pan. <S> Every other stovetop-only method is almost certainly going to produce a bland, tough cut, regardless of whether you press it down or not. <S> As noted in my comment, my usual (lazier) method that does not involve pounding is to get a nice sear in the pan, then jam in a temperature probe and bake it in the oven until it's done <S> (the USDA recommends 165° F, I usually don't go quite that high). <S> If pressing the meat actually accomplishes anything at all, it would most likely be to just squeeze out whatever tiny amount of precious juices the breast does have, and possibly give you slightly more even cooking on the exterior only; it will not help to cook the interior much faster unless, as stated above, the cut has been pounded extremely thin and flat, at which point it doesn't really matter. <S> P.S. Salt and olive oil is a terrible "marinade" for any cut of meat, especially a chicken breast. <S> The salt is just going to get suspended in the oil and never reach the meat at all, and the oil itself won't have much of an effect on such a lean cut. <S> You really need to change your marinade as well, preferably to something water-based (or at least not 100% oil). <A> Well, is the side you put down to start with beautiful looking? <S> Put the ugly side against the plate and nobody will know! <S> The problem with pressing it is that any juices that are in there will get squeezed out, and chicken breast doesn't have much to begin with. <S> You might need to cook it a little longer than if you were to press it against the pan, but if it's sliced pretty thin (1cm <S> or so?) <S> you shouldn't have any trouble cooking it through. <S> A pan like that on just about any burner will have some hot spots and some cooler spots. <S> You'll just have to get used to where it's hot and where it isn't, and maybe move stuff around accordingly. <S> If you want to experiment with different flavors, try a little acid (vinegar or lemon/lime juice) and/or some herbs. <A> A technique to try if you don't have an oven: <S> Lightly oil the pan and the surface of the chicken just before frying (nothing is gained in doing it earlier) <S> You do not need to pound and otherwise manipulate the chicken Fry the chicken briefly in the pan to colour the outside, then lower the temperature and place a lid over the pan to cook through (to simulate a small oven). <S> Any lid will do (sauce pan, baking dish etc.) <S> as long as it mostly covers the food being cooked, without touching it, and is heat proof. <S> A folded up piece of aluminium foil will do at a pinch, but better to invest in something reusable Cook for the time required (as if in a normal oven), and when nearly done, increase heat and remove the lid to fry off condensation, and crisp the outside as desired Around 20 minutes cooking is the normal time with the lid on. <S> If the chicken is burning before this time, you have the pan on too hot. <S> Adjust time for thickness of chicken <S> This technique can even be used for a whole chicken (spatchcocked) <A> I don't press the chicken breasts down on the pan when I cook them. <S> This is how I cook chicken breasts - they come out cooked evenly throughout, slightly browned on the outside and lovely and moist on the inside: <S> We have a saute pan like this: http://sautepanrecipes.com/saute-pan/ <S> It's smooth inside, but importantly it has a lid. <S> I put it on a med-high heat with some olive oil to heat up for 5 mins. <S> I put the (skinless) chicken breasts on the chopping board and cut them in half with my knife blade parallel to the chopping board (like cutting a cake into 2 layers). <S> I cook the chicken breasts in the saute pan for about 5 minutes each side (I go by feel rather than by timer), but importantly I cook with the lid on. <S> The trapped heat and steam makes sure the breasts cooks all the way through evenly and is lovely and tender and moist. <S> Kids and the wife both love them like this. <S> I haven't tried, but I reckon that I could cook the breasts whole (without cutting them in half) if I turned the heat down a little bit and cooked them for a bit longer. <S> In fact I might try that tonight! <A> this post is 8 years old but it's one of the first that came up when I looked this up. <S> so here's my input. <S> high heat is only good for certain things, and meat isn't one of them. <S> when you fry on high heat the outside burns, and the inside doesn't get nearly as cooked as the outside. <S> so basically if you fry it on medium and just flip them whenever it's better. <S> I personally leave my chicken about half an inch in thickness, coat it in Vegeta and fry them bad boys, flipping them every now and then so the chicken doesn't start curling and develop a weird shape where I can't get the other side cooked. <S> hope this helps someone
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The only method I have personally found to be reliable for grilling/pan-frying chicken breasts to a relatively uniform doneness is to pound them very, very thin with a mallet or rolling pin.
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Will meat cook inside of a rice cooker? I would like to use my rice cooker to cook one of those pre-packaged jambalaya mixes, and I've had good success with using prepackaged rice packets in my rice cooker. Sometimes there is a bit of sticking on the bottom but it comes right up and is never that bad. My question is if it's safe to throw uncooked meat inside of the rice cooker. I'm talking about average sized chunks, but can cut them smaller to make sure they cook through. Since water boils at 212°F, and the contents of the cooker are kept warm afterwards, I'm guessing that any meat you put in there (granted its cut thin enough) will cook straight through. To be more specific, in this instance I am thinking about throwing cubes of deer venison which require much less cooking than say pork or poultry. <Q> Anything will cook in a rice cooker, eventually. <S> You will need to experiment with the size of the meat chunks. <S> When the meal is done cooking, take them out and see if they are cooked and at the correct temperature. <S> If not, finish cooking them and cut them up smaller next time. <S> What I would do however is cube the meat, sear it, and then throw it in to the cooker. <S> You will end up with a better texture this way. <A> I've had success with wrapping oil, chicken, and peppers in tinfoil and placing it on top of the rice while it cooks; open the packet over the freshly-cooked rice for a quick meal. <S> If you're worried about meat being cooked all the way through, I'd toss it in a packet -- <S> that way it's easy to crack it open and check if the meat is cooked or needs a quick toss in a pan to finish it off (which has happened to me if my chicken chunks are too thick). <A> The rice cooks for about 50 minutes, and if it senses there's extra water or moisture in there, it will keep extending the time by 1 minute. <S> I have literally thrown entire 1.5" thick pork chops in there, chicken leg quarters, a small sirloin roast, all kinds of stuff. <S> I've never had an issue with anything being undercooked. <S> I've never tried steak, but I'd just expect it to just look different, (ie a grayish brown color instead of that seared dark brown look). <S> I'd expect the meat to come out very tender and juicy, <S> as well WAY more nutrients are retained in anything you cook using this method. <S> Soon I want to experiment with some bigger meats, like a flattened while chicken, but it might not fit into the steam tray lol. <S> If I ever find one day by some fluke that something doesn't cook all the way through, then I would just throw it in the oven or on the bbq or frying pan and finish that bad boy off.
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I've cooked lots of meat in my President's Choice rice maker, which comes equipped with a steaming tray.
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What styles of barbeque exist in American cuisine? I'm originally from the Michigan thus i don't know much about barbeque due to the lack of barbeque establishments. From my understanding (correct me if i'm wrong), there are several regional variations or styles of BBQ in the US. Each of type is defined by a BBQ technique or method: Texas (Brisket style), St. Louis, etc. Thus my question; what other types of BBQ currently exist and what defines it? <Q> There's a great YouTube video by Rhett & Link called the The BBQ Song (A Review of BBQ in the Southern United States) that is actually a really good starting point for answering this question. <S> Here are the lyrics to the song: <S> In the mountains of Tennessee, they like a smoky sauce; <S> But over there in ol' Memphis, a dry-rubbed rib is boss. <S> The folks down in Georgia can't make up their mind. <S> You can give it to 'em sweet or spicy, and they'll say "that tastes alright." <S> You might think that South Carolinians are just a little bit off. <S> Would you believe their barbecue's yellow—with a mustard sauce? <S> Pork shoulder is the cut of choice in Mississippi <S> And they pride themselves on barbecue <S> that's totally vinegary. <S> And Louisiana, them Cajuns, They like to spice it up. <S> They like to spice it up. <S> This is our review of barbecue, <S> In the southern United States. <S> And when my life is through, <S> Bury me in barbecue, But make sure it's vinegar-based, <S> 'Cause you know that slows decay, <S> And it's the style from our home state—North Carolina! <S> (Solo!) <S> Mutton is big in west Kentucky, that's a fancy name for sheep. <S> But in the rest of the state, sliced pork butt is what they eat. <S> Arkansas is kinda like Georgia, a barbecue meltin' pot, <S> And when you ain't looking, them good ol' boys'll make that barbecue hot! <S> Alabama's got the strangest thing I've seen in my barbecue days, 'Cause their barbecue sauce is white, made out of mayonnaise! <S> And down in Florida . <S> . . <S> Is Florida a southern State? <S> No, it ain't. <S> This is our review of barbecue, <S> In the southern United States. <S> And when my life is through, <S> Bury me in barbecue . . . <S> People not from the South Think barbecue means "cookout," <S> And that's something they're wrong about. <S> (Spoken outro:) <S> Barbecue is NOT a verb, barbecue is NOT a grill. <S> Barbecue is MEAT prepared in a very special way, Which varies depending on where you go. <A> You're asking for an entire book worth of information. <S> Rather than trying to answer this myself (heck, I don't even eat meat), I'll give you some references: <S> Wikipedia <S> Serious <S> Eats ( <S> several more articles in that series, search around) <S> About.com <S> The aforementioned book <A> There was recently an article in Eater that discusses the various kinds of BBQ which includes the youtube video that is mentioned by Callithumpian: <S> The traditional American barbecue belt stretches from the Carolinas in the East to Texas and Missouri in the West and from Kentucky in the North down through the deep South. <S> While state lines de-mark significant political and civic parameters, barbecue is not quite so parochial, despite the common stereotype. <S> What we see in the Carolinas for example, are wide swaths of a particular style — <S> most significantly defined by the sauce used — that tend to cross states lines. <S> The simple vinegar and pepper sauce of eastern North Carolina is also popular in the the Eastern part of South Carolina. <S> And similarly, the tomato and vinegar-based sauce of the western Lexington Style bleeds into the Northwestern part of of South Carolina and indeed into Eastern Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. <S> Source: <S> Eater, "American Barbeque Style Guide". <S> http://eater.com/archives/2014/07/10/american-barbecue-style-guide.php .
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Down in Texas, where the long-horn steer roam free, They love to smoke their brisket—that's a big ol' slab of beef.
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In this recipe, what is a possible substitute for serrano pepper? In this recipe , I enjoy the mix of spices: serrano, cilantro, mint, cinnamon... Next time we'll cook it, we won't have serrano available. What could be a substitute for it? Ideally this substitute is not hard to get in Europe... Note the serrano's contribution to the dish. They're not opened. They're not eaten. They simmer with the rest of the ingredients perhaps adding some taste. EDIT : Thanks for the suggestions. I now realize that substitute may not have been the best wording. Given the constraints, a simple s/serrano/xxxx/ replacement may not do ☺ <Q> There might be some alternatives, but I think they'd be even harder to find than serranos. <S> (This is based on my experience in the US, but I'm guessing it'll be true in Europe too.) <S> Failing that, just use green bell pepper. <S> The flavor is similar, minus the heat, and you can make up the heat with whatever you want, like cayenne or another mostly-just-hot ground chili. <A> You want something hot and very slightly herby, without smoke. <S> For heat, a moderate amount of cayenne is the easiest option. <S> For the herby notes, I might go with something like marjoram or rosemary, but frankly given the cilantro and mint I probably wouldn't bother. <A> If you have an Asian market, the fresh ground chili paste found there is a reasonable substitute for serrano peppers. <S> I use 'Sambal Oelek' brand, with a rooster on the label: <S> It's somewhat hotter than serrano, but not habanero hot. <S> A teaspoon per dish will kick things up a notch, with a fairly rich pepper flavor.
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The closest thing that's at all common in grocery stores in my experience is just a jalapeño.
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Adding lemon to cookie recipe What is the best way to add lemon flavor to a cookie recipe? I know lemon juice is highly acidic, I don't want to throw off the PH of the dough. Is lemon extract the same way? Lemon zest? Is there a way to compensate for that? <Q> The easiest way is just use a recipe for lemon cookies. <S> I'm sure you can find lots of them online. <S> Don't add too much, the flavour is really concentrated. <S> Since you won't use a lot of it (a teaspoon will do), the liquid: <S> dry proportion practically won't change, but to be sure, you can cut back the milk by the amount (e.g. a teaspoon). <S> You can also add a bit of zest without a problem. <S> I wouldn't add lemon juice because you're adding milk in your cookies. <S> The milk would curdle (in some cookies that is exactly what you would want to achieve). <S> However, you can try to add lemon juice instead of milk. <A> Try using lemon zest (lemon peel shavings) and lemon or lime juice. <S> You might try sprinkling the zest over the top of the cookies right before you put them in if you don't get enough flavor from adding it to the batter <A> Since lemon is acidic, you would want to reduce the quantity of baking powder and add some or more baking soda to neutralize the acidity. <S> What if you add an acidic ingredient to a recipe with baking powder? <S> You will need to add a little soda. <S> Let's say you are making cookies and substituting 1/2 cup lemon juice for the water in order to make lemon cookies. <S> The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of baking powder, but you will need to neutralize the acid in the lemon juice. <S> Substitute baking soda for one teaspoon of the baking powder. <S> Corriher says that baking soda is 4 times as powerful as baking powder, so use only 1/4 teaspoon baking soda for each teaspoon of baking powder in the original recipe. <S> -- from http://www.thekitchn.com/pantry-basics-whats-the-differ-40514 <A> What I ended up doing was taking my base sugar cookie recipe and substituting soymilk for milk to prevent the curdling issue. <S> I then divided it into four portions, putting one straight into the fridge unmodified. <S> One portion received zest, one received juice, and one received zest plus juice. <S> The juice cookies may have been softer than the zest cookies (but there were some issues with baking that could have caused that), but all cookies rose the same amount (not much at all, by design). <S> Sure enough, the ones with more lemon tasted more lemony :) <S> Thanks for the help, everyone!
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If you really want to use a recipe for normal cookies (because you really like it), you could certainly add lemon extract to a regular batch.
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What can I substitute for onions? I love onions; however, someone that I cook for does not. Absolutely hates them and can tell whenever they are in the dish. That said, so many recipes call for onion to be added. What can I use instead that would have a similar but less intense/noticeable effect? <Q> Leeks can provide some of the same flavors as onions, but the flavors are lower intensity than onions. <A> With the exception of dishes with "onion" in their names, more often than not you can omit onion as an ingredient. <S> My advice would be to first try leaving the onion out entirely, see how the dish is. <S> If it is missing something, then experiment with: Onion powder: <S> see how much you can get away with before your audience notices. <S> Garlic: add more to compensate. <S> Shallots and other onion-like vegetation: give it a try to see how that goes over. <S> It is going to require some experiment and trial & (lots of) error on your part, but you should be able to strike a nice balance in a few attempts. <A> In India, some Brahmin caste cooks and Jains aren't allowed to use onions or garlic in their cooking, and so they substitute Asafoetida spice instead. <A> <A> In addition to the other suggestions such as shallots, garlic, or green onions, another avenue to explore would be using a sweet yellow onion instead of a white onion or purple onion. <S> Their flavor is a bit milder and may be more palatable compared to a white onion, though if texture is the primary problem, grinding the onion up in a food processor until it is finely chopped may be a better choice. <A> You may cut the stem of some vegetables in thin slice (e.g. reddish, Chinese vegetables with long rod-like stem). <S> They feel like onion when you chew them but taste like normal green.
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I can't stand onions due to texture issues unless very finely chopped, but I find that shallots have similar effects on the flavor of many foods.
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How to cook squid to get rid of the 'urine' flavor? What causes that flavor? My brother-in-law and his buddy caught a big squid on a fishing trip awhile ago. They fired up a camp fire and proceeded to cook the squid. Once it was done, the took a bite and to their surprise it tasted horrible. They said it had a flavor like urine(I'm not sure why they would know what urine tastes like but since your sense of taste is connected to your sense of smell, when they tasted it it probably invoked memories of the scent of urine). My question is, what is inside the squid that is causing this 'flavor' when cooked and how do you prepare squid to get rid of this flavor? update The squid was Humboldt Squid (aka jumbo squid) ~5 ft long. They were caught live and cleaned, I.e. guts removed. My brother-in-law confirmed the taste as "tasted like piss". :) <Q> According to this site and confirmed by several others I found on the internet, the Humboldt Squid produces ammonia chloride as a defense mechanism, or as a side effect of asphixiation, or maybe both. <S> I couldn't find terribly reliable advice on how to avoid the contamination, but two points were repeatedly suggested on various bulletin boards: <S> when cleaning it, be careful not to puncture the swim bladder. <S> The other suggestion repeatedly offered was to catch some other kind of squid. <S> Hope that helps. <S> For more 3rd-hand advice, search the internet for "squid ammonia flavor" and you'll see lots of bulletin boards and similar sources. <A> I've cleaned many a squid in my day and eaten a few less than I've cleaned. <S> In all my time of cleaning, cooking and eating squid, I've never come across any that smelled or tasted like urine. <S> Now the typical size of the squid I've had experience with have been about 8 inches in body length. <S> I haven't worked with any that are much larger than that so perhaps that might be a factor in the strange taste. <S> When squid gets old in the fridge it does give off a smell but urine isn't what it reminds me of. <S> I guess my next question is how did they clean it? <S> Did they clean the gutts out completely? <S> If they had left any of the gutts inside then that could give off a nasty smell and taste, though I've never cooked up a squid with it's gutts still inside <S> so I'm just speculating. <S> Crab when not cleaned propperly, will give off a strong odour <S> so I'm starting to think it might have come down to preparation. <A> You should soak it in milk for 4 hours + Wife a knife scrap off the top layer skin of the squid, like a carrot
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When you catch the humboldt squid, cut its head off, clean and ice it immediately (on the boat).
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What is the origin of spam musubi, a Hawaiian dish? I love spam musubi...basically spam sushi. It is made with some rice(some people use sushi rice)' a 1/4" slice of spam, and some teriyaki sauce...it is wrapped with a sheet of nori. This is the basic recipe. How was this first conceived? I know that the Hawaiians are the biggest consumers of spam (chicken/egg problem? Did the creation of spam musubi help the Hawaians become the second largest consumers (Guam is first) of spam? :) ). There's also a large presence of Japanese on the islands. You can see that the environment is essentially set up for some sort of fusion of the two cultures. Who was the first to conceive this dish? <Q> Spam became prevalent in the US occupied Pacific islands during World War 2 since fresh meat was difficult to procure at the time. <S> Since it was a primary food staple, it was incorporated into various dishes, and has remained a popular food. <S> Spam musubi is just an an extension of this. <S> Making do with the meat available to create a tasty dish, obviously influenced in this case by Japanese culture. <A> I've found some good info here . <S> According to author Ann Kondo Corum, Mitsuko Kaneshiro first made spam musubi for her children, but then started selling them out of City Pharmacy on Pensacola Street in Mo'ili'ili. <S> By the early 1980s, she was selling 500 a day <A> They later with friends created what we call "musubi makers"
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The garden island news paper Kauai has a story about a lady named Barbara Funimura that first made them over 30 years ago for her restaurant Joni-Hana.
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Dehydrating fruit without a microwave I have a recipe that calls for dehydrating raspberries and lemon rind with the following technique: Scatter raspberries and pieces of lemon rind over a sheet of baking paper on a plate. Place in the microwave on the lowest possible setting for 40-45 minutes until dehydrated. The dehydration is done so that the fruit can then be ground up into a powder for a dessert and you can see how the dehyration technique above would work. However, I don't have currently own a microwave oven. Is there an alternative technique to achieve the dehydration? <Q> There are any number of home dehydrators available commercially, such as the Nesco FD-75PR . <S> I have one like this <S> and it works well. <S> However, as Alton Brown demonstrates in this excerpt from Good Eats , a dehydrator for fruit can be constructed quickly and easily as well. <S> [Edit]In the video Alton demonstrates using a typical box fan, home AC filters and inexpensive plastic mesh, all bound with a couple of bungie cords to create a simple, but effective, dehydrator. <S> If the video remains down you can also find it on You Tube by searching for "Alton Brown Fruit Dehydrator". <S> ( thanks for the update @Aaronut ) <A> You post does say where you are located. <S> Otherwize you will have to use artificial means. <S> When drying fruit, its air dryness and volume of air that matters rather than heat. <S> While heating does allow more moisture to be absorbed from your food, overheating it (in an oven or one of those counter top dehydrators) tends to give the food a slightly cooked taste, whichI find a little unpleasant. <S> So I would do this: <S> find a nice dry place in your house. <S> put a cooling rack (or aything that will support the fruit and allow air movement through. <S> eg. <S> cheese cloth) <S> in front of a fan so the air is blowing over the fruit at a good rate. <S> If its very cool in you chosen location apply a bit of heat with a blow heater or a light build to raise the temp of the air blowing over the fruit just a bit . <S> We are not looking to cook the fruit here. <S> Leave for 24-48 hrs <S> You may want t try rubbing a bit of the juice from the lemon on the berries to help preserve their color during the drying process. <A> If you have an oven and it has a low setting, you can use that. <S> Generally the lower the better <S> --I haven't seen an oven that goes below 150 F. <S> Even then, I don't trust the oven's built in thermostat. <S> Instead, I get a cheap bi-metal oven thermometer, which is far more reliable... <S> but I digress. <S> I've dehydrated tomatoes with varying success using an oven. <S> I was quite surprised that they could get a brownish color from 200 F--the lowest on my oven. <S> Any gentle, low temperature heat source would work. <S> You could dehydrate your raspberries if the sunlight in your area is sufficiently strong.
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If your in the SW then sun drying might be an option.
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Cooking Cheap Cuts of Beef I've been trying to find a relatively quick way to prepare eye of round "steaks" (really just slices of a roast), so that they are tender and juicy, but not falling apart. The goal is to avoid having to cook an entire roast, which takes a lot of time and results in a lot of leftovers. At first, I sautéed them in a pan, and they came out tough and leathery. I then tried to marinate them in a simple mix of olive oil and lemon juice for 30-45 minutes beforehand, and to tenderize them with a hammer. This, too, resulted in a tough, dry piece of meat. My greatest success with this cut has been to braise it in red wine for 60-90 minutes, though it was still unpleasant to eat. Has anyone else been experimenting with cooking slices from an eye of round roast? If so, what have been your failures and successes? <Q> The crucial observation is that cooking a smaller cut does reduce the cooking time, but not that much. <S> Cheap cuts contain connective tissue, which consists of collagen. <S> Converting the collagen into gelatine takes time. <S> The conversion from collagen to gelantine begins at 70C (160F), so it important the braising keeps this temperature. <S> How long the conversion needs depends on the cut of meet <S> but I think your 60-90 minutes are not long enough. <S> I would make it at least 3-4 hours. <S> Suggestion <S> : Cook the your roast in one piece. <S> Cut it in serving portions and freeze. <S> Thaw and warm at serving time. <S> If you want to speed up the braising process consider using a pressure cooker. <A> Eye of round can be difficult to cook. <S> A roast tends to produce the best results, but it can be cooked in steak form as well. <S> There are a couple of directions you can go. <S> Marinate before cooking. <S> Slice it thinly after cooking, across the grain. <S> Serve with sauce. <S> Think London Broil. <S> If you like your steak more done, then I wouldn't recommend cooking it as a steak. <S> Instead, make Swiss steak out of it. <S> Or better yet, country fried steak (yeah, forget I said Swiss steak). <S> If you pound/macerate the meat, it will be pretty well tenderized, and you will get a good meal out of it. <A> I am going to try cross slicing it, then tenderizing with a hammer. <S> The slices will then be slow cooked in a beef rue and wrapped around a bread stuffing.
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First is to cook it as a steak, but do not take it past Medium Rare.
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Can I use flour to make a carrot soup more thick? I made a carrot soup without the use of a blender as described in previous question link . Which was to chop the carrots and onions really small. The problem is that the result is quite watery. In the recipe for goulash, I use flour to thicken the soup, in the frying stage. Can I do something similar here? Or will it ruin the taste. I was imagining throughing in some flour with the carrots and onions as they fry. <Q> How much flavor the flour adds will depend largely on how long it fries with the veggies. <S> The longer it fries the nuttier it will taste- <S> until it starts to burn of course. <S> If it doesn't cook for long enough (it doesn't take long) it will taste raw which is not pleasant. <S> I assume this is similar to what you do with your goulash. <S> Overall- <S> I think that the flavor of even a fairly dark roux would work well with an onion and carrot soup. <S> You could even use this to salvage your already watery soup by making a roux separately and wisking it in. <A> Add a roux to your soup. <S> And/or use corn starch. <S> Adding just flour would make for a pretty unpleasant end product, I think. <A> When I make my carrot soup I thicken with rice flour but potato or corn starch should also work
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You should cook your veggies until they are done and then add your flour and cook just until it starts to smell nutty.
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Quinoa in a Rice Cooker? I’ve recently discovered the loveliness of Quinoa, and the joy of buying it in bulk at Costco, so I’ll be making a lot of it in the near future. I’m wondering if I can use my rice cooker to make the Quinoa. Has anybody done this? Does the ‘fuzzy’ logic in the machine prevent it from doing anything other than cooking rice and steaming veggies? I hope not, but I also don’t want to ruin a good kitchen tool finding out either. Thanks! <Q> Rice cookers are quite versatile and cooking Quinoa would not ruin the rice cooker if you do indeed want to experiment. <S> A rice cooker works because there is a springloaded thermal sensor plate at the bottom of where the metal pot sits(only if it is automatic. <S> Some rice cookers have a switch to flip to go into the heating process). <S> This will then start the heating process to boil to water. <S> Because boiling water do not rise above 100 degree Celsius, the sensor can tell if there is still water left in the cooker. <S> Once the sensor reads higher than 100 degree Celsius, this means the water has all boiled away. <S> At this point the rice cooker goes into a sitting phase where the steam will continue to cook the rice and the rice is allowed to expand. <S> With this knowledge, we know that the main problem you would come across when cooking Quinoa in your rice cooker is getting the correct ratio of water to Quinoa grains. <S> If you use the same amount of water you use for cooking rice, the Quinoa might turn out softer than desirable. <S> Take a look at this link: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-cook-quinoa-super-easy-way.html . <S> It provides some information in regards to cooking Quinoa in a rice cooker. <S> It seems to suggest 2-1 water to Quinoa grain ratio (which is typically what I use for rice too). <A> I've cooked white rice, brown rice, wild rice, whole Oat Groats (2 brown rice cycles + a little extra water on cycle two) , rye groats, Khorasan wheat (kamut), barley, Spelt, and numerous other seeds in my fuzzy logic rice cooker, but never Quinoa. <S> It seems to me the white Quinoa seed benefits from a short cook time, and a long post-cooking expansion time. <S> A rice cooker doesn't do that very well. <S> The red Quinoa I can also get is tougher, and might like being cooked like brown rice. <S> That said, I haven't tried it. <S> I suggest you give it a try on a small batch. <S> If you like the result, post that here, and I'll try it too. <A> I have cooked Quinoa in a rice cooker and it came out fine. <S> The only thing I might add is to stir the contents once or twice while it is cooking. <S> because when did it it must have bubbled up a little because there was some Quinoa stuck to the sides of the rice cooker.
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It's certainly possible that your rice cooker could make passable Quinoa.
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How to check whether the Olive oil is fit for consumption or not? How to check whether the Olive oil is fit for consumption or not?The oil is in a bottle and doesn't have any froth. EDIT 1: The oil is about 1 and a half years old. I kept it in a capped bottle. I didn't do anything to the oil. Haven't eaten it for quite a long time now. Adding references to the answers will be more helpful. <Q> Olive oil doesn't suddenly go rancid (unlike butter in which this process is pretty quick), but its taste deteriorates with time. <S> AFAIK <S> it happens primarily due to oxidation, not bacteria or fungi, and there are no dangerous/poisonous byproducts. <S> I have a bottle of olive oil which I opened about a year ago and it tastes noticeably different from fresh oil (not too pungent to throw it out though). <A> Anisha, Derobert has started a community wiki question/answer in regards to shelf life here: <S> How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer? <S> Another good source is stilltasty: http://stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/17801 <S> The olive oil can be stored for 1.5-2 years. <S> However, it is relatively easy to tell if it's still good by smell. <S> When fats go bad, they go rancid. <S> Take a look at this source if you have trouble detecting rancidity: http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-basics/good-olive-oils-gone-bad/8900 <A> You can check by smell and taste. <S> If it smells like olive oil and tastes like olive oil, it's bound to be olive oil (and fit for consumption). <S> Olive oil should be kept airtight and out of the sunlight. <S> Where I live, (some) people bury barrels for years and enjoy the aged oil. <S> Probably a bit like aging wine.
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This is dependant on the temperature of where you are at and where you stored the olive oil(how much sunlight it's gotten).
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Can I use a rice cooker with flavored rice boxes? Can I use a rice cooker to prepare something like Rice-A-Roni's Four Cheese rice ? Or what about the Uncle Ben rice boxes? If not, is there a way to get something that tastes similar without using the boxes? <Q> It is possible to use a rice cooker to prepare rice from boxes but it is not optimal. <S> These box rices typically call for the mixture to be first browned in butter before adding water and flavoring because it is not all rice. <S> There are bits of pasta in the mixture too. <S> The rice cooker is able to cook it but the result probably will not be as good. <S> I often like to flavor my rice if I plan on making fried rice or if I am lazy and don't feel like making anything but rice. <S> If you want to imitate a specific flavor, you need to first find out exactly what that flavour is and put that seasoning in the water that cook the rice. <S> Often though there might be some flavors that can't be added until afterwards. <S> Such as the cheese flavored rice you mentioned. <S> Cheese and rice cookers don't mix. <S> You would make the rice then later add a cheese sauce that you made. <S> Please note that one main difference that might occur is slight difference in moisture content. <S> From the box rice I've made on the stove in the past, I know it is a bit more "wet" than rice made from a rice cooker. <S> In my answer here , I explained how a rice cooker works. <S> Essentially it will continue to cook until all the water has boiled away. <A> I ran across this post while looking to see if it could be done and, truth be told, I couldn't find much. <S> So, I took a flying leap and tried it myself, with great results! <S> Here is what I did: <S> I have a box of store brand beef rice & vermicelli (6.8 oz box) andI followed the microwave directions at first: <S> In a round ( for even cooking ) <S> 2-quart microwaveable glass casserole dish ( because some plastic isn't microwave <S> safe and most metal <S> isn't ) combine the rice/vermicelli mix with 2 tablespoons of butter/margarine <S> ( DO NOT USE SOMETHING WITH LESS <S> THAN 56% <S> FAT <S> OR <S> YOUR FOOD WILL BE GUMMY. <S> Learned this the hard way. ) <S> and microwave on high for 1 minute. <S> Stir butter and rice well, then cook for another 1-2 minutes, until the vermicelli is a light brown. <S> (IN AN 1100 WATT MICROWAVE DO NOT COOK FOR MORE THAN 1 MINUTE OR <S> THE VERMICELLI WILL BURN) <S> This is where I went "off box": Place in rice cooker, flatten on bottom before -gently- (gently because if you pour fast the rice gets kicked up and you can't see how much water to use) adding 1 inch of water over the top of it. <S> (People usually mention the first knuckle on their pointer finger as a guide, but if you're shorter, like me, or taller than average this "measurement" is useless since your knuckle will be less or more than an inch from the tip of your finger.) <S> After adding the water, gently stir in the seasoning packet, then cover and cook as usual. <S> (My cooker only has one setting, so if yours has multiple, set it for white rice.) <S> Came out just as good as from the stove top! <S> =D <A> I used chicken flavor <S> Rice-a-Roni. <S> I have a small Rival rice cooker. <S> I browned the rice mix in 2 tablespoons lower fat margarine like the package says. <S> I scraped the rice mix into the rice cooker, added 2 cups of water (not 2 and a half like the package says) and the contents of the seasoning packet. <S> Gave it a good stir and turned it to "cook". <S> That's all. <S> It was perfectly fluffy, not mushy at all. <S> It stayed nice and warm until the rest of my dinner was ready to eat. <A> I would say you can do it, but it wouldn't be advised. <S> The seasoning from flavored rice out of a box would change how the rice interacted with the water. <S> You might end up with dry rice, or even soggy rice. <S> If you are set on doing it, I would suggest a few test runs and seeing what works best <A> I have read the other answers and thought I would try it for myself with Uncle Ben's Natural Select flavored rice. <S> It turned out fantastic. <A> I attempted Knorr Chicken Fried Rice. <S> Mixed using the recommended microwave instructions and placed in cooker. <S> Let it run it's cycle - took just over 30 minutes <S> so significant time addition. <S> Perhaps the pasta included in this side resulted in a moderate amount of sticking on the bottom of the cooker. <S> The stuck material wasn't too difficult to remove and had a crunchy not quite burnt texture that I found rather tasty. <S> Unsure <S> if I will try this again - microwave is almost as mindless and less than half the time.
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It is very possible to flavor white rice with seasoning.
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Using whey from yogurt to make ricotta My girlfriend and I make a large batch of yogurt every week, and have done so for more than a year now - we just eat a ton of the stuff. THis leaves a lot of leftover whey which we used to just throw out. This past week I took my first swing at making mozzarella, and noticed that the recipe suggested not throwing out the whey, but rather using it to make ricotta by boiling it. I ended up throwing out the whey from the mozzarella anyways because it was a tiny batch, and we had to make yogurt anyway. So, we made the yogurt, and my girlfriend saved they whey for me. I've been simmering it for a few minutes now, and it doesn't appear to be working. Nothing is curdling. I'm wondering if its a function of not having anything acidic in it? I tried adding a quarter teaspoon of citric acid, but still nothing is curdling. At this point I'm curious to play with it, so I may try simmering it all the way down into gjetost. So really i guess my question is, outside of being less acidic, is whey from making yogurt different from whey from cheese making? Also as a note, we use 1% milk. <Q> Yogurt whey cannot be used to make ricotta. <S> With most cheeses, including mozzarella, the milk isn't boiled. <S> The casein proteins are bound up with some of the lactose and almost all the fat to make the curd. <S> The whey for such cheeses contains the rest of the lactose, tons of vitamin B, and almost all the albumin. <S> The albumin proteins are water soluble when they haven't been denatured. <S> They also denature at a higher temperature than the casein does. <S> Therefore, they almost all wash out of the curd with the whey. <S> Bringing mozzarella whey to a (almost) boil denatures the albumin which precipitates out and can be strained to make ricotta. <S> When making yogurt the milk is heated to 190 or higher and then cooled. <S> This is precisely to denature the albumin. <S> The extra protein gives the yogurt a lot more structure. <S> However it means that there is no protein left in the whey- mostly lactose, lactic acid, and vitamin B. <A> The 1% milk is why it's not working for you. <S> There's not enough fat in the whey to make cheese. <S> Aside from that, you should follow a recipe. <S> Among other things, you don't simmer the whey; you only heat it to 180F. <A> I make ricotta out of yogurt whey all the time. <S> I use some skim milk, usually add some half and half or heavy cream to make it more like whole milk. <S> Add the whey (up to three cups), a dash of lemon juice and bring up to about 200 degrees. <S> Let it sit undisturbed for about 15 minutes, covered, and drain the curds which will develop. <S> You'll love the ricotta! <A> You can make ricotta with yogurt whey you use it instead of the lemon juice. <S> Add 1 quart whey to 1/2 gallon of 2percent milk bring to 180 and watch it curdle. <S> Strain through fine sieve or cheesecloth.
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The Home Cheesemaking book has a recipe for whey ricotta.
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How can I tone down the heat in hot oriental mustard, without making it sweet/significantly altering flavor? I recently attempted to mix up my own hot oriental mustard using a powder, bought in the local supermarket. (S & B Oriental Hot Mustard) Following the directions on the can. I mixed with water only. I found that, I could not put enough water in the mix, to dilute the heat, without making it too watery. Is there something else I can add, that will dilute the heat without making the mustard too watery, sweet, or otherwise significantly altering the flavor? The ingredients in the can of mustard powder I used, are Mustard & Turmeric. I am trying to imitate the flavor & spiciness of the dipping mustard that is served in Chinese restaurants. <Q> I came across this article . <S> It explains where mustard get its heat from: <S> Mustard seeds come from the mustard plant, a member of the cabbage family. <S> They contain two sulphur compounds, myrosin and sinigrin, as well as an enzyme, myrosinase. <S> When the seeds are broken and water is added, the enzyme breaks down the sulphur compounds. <S> The result is the sharp tasting oil that gives mustard its pungency, and helps explain why the name mustard comes from the Latin words mustum (much) and ardens (burning). <S> In the case of prepared mustards, the reaction is toned down by using additives such as flour. <A> Replacing about 60 percent of the water with rice vinegar smooths it out a bit. <S> It's still spicy heat, but not so harsh. <S> When I started using the rice vinegar, mine started tasting a lot more like what we are served in Chinese restaurants. <A> Make the mustard by replacing 1/2 the mustard with flour and adding some extra water to compensated for the thickening properties of the flour, then cook it off to get rid of the floury taste <S> and there you go! <S> If you don't want to go down the flour route you could always add coconut milk/cream or plain yoghurt instead of water which would temper the heat <S> but you'd have to make sure that it suits the flavor for the appropriate recipe. <S> Hope the advice helps!
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In addition, it recommends adding some flour to tone down its heat.
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What can I do with a large amount of glacé cherries? I accidentally bought 1 kg of glacé cherries instead of the dried cherries which I meant to buy. Aside from fruitcake, which I hate, is there anything I can do to use these up? <Q> If you search for glacé cherries <S> you're going to get nowhere; these are much more commonly referred to as candied cherries <S> and there are plenty of recipes to be found. <S> More specifically, the most common pairing seems to be almonds. <S> Seems you can make just about any confection from almonds and candied cherries: cookies, nut brittle, bourbon/almond balls, cookies/biscotti, quickbreads, and even fudge. <A> Soak them in kirsch and make and inauthentic Black Forest Cake? <S> Cover them in chocolate? <S> Put them in sweet mixed drinks? <S> (hard to use up 1kg that way, I know) <S> Otherwise you're pretty much stuck with fruitcake. <S> You don't have to make a brick, though; you can make the good kinds of fruitcake, like panettone or stollen. <A> I've never used glacé cherries, so I'm not sure how these would come out, but perhaps you can use them to make the following: Cherries <S> jubilee Chutney Clafoutis Roast duck with cherry gastrique <S> Tart of pasty cream and cherries poached with cinnamon <A> You could make them into a form of wine? <S> or depending on how artificial they are you could use them to flavor some vodka. <S> Hope this gives you some inspiration!
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If you like confectionary you could soak them in a citric acid syrup to get rid of their cloying sweetness, then soak them in some booze and finally dip them in some dark chocolate.
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Some tahini tastes very salty, other tahini does not. Why? I have bought several jars of tahini from different companies lately. All labels say, that they contain 100% hulled sesame seeds with no preservatives or artifical flavours added. Some of the jars contained very salty tahini. At first, I even thought, the salty ones were contaminated with some inedible chemical. But then a friend from the Middle East told me, that he sees them as the original flavour and he did not like the unsalty ones, that he called "Australian tahini". An example of the unsalty tahini is Mayver's Tahini Hulled , for the salty ones I did not find a brand, as they are just bottled by Australian local wholesalers for Mediterannean food. What makes the tahinis so different? Do they - as I think - use different chemicals for hulling? Is the salt washed out of the tahini in the unsalty brands, as my friend thinks? EDIT: One thing, I noticed: The salty tahini is runnier. 2nd EDIT:After reading @Jefromi's comment, I've looked at the ingredients. Salt is not listed and I doubt, that I would taste 1/1000th of salt in the tahini. Surprisingly the less salty tahini contains 11 times more sodium than the salty one, which makes me wonder, if the salty tastes comes from another salt than NaCl. Here are the contents of the tahinis per 100g (unsalty first - Melissa Tahini, salty second): Energy 2728 kJ, 2924 kJ Protein 25.8g, 31.6g Fat - Total 54g, 63.6g Carbohydrate - Total 17.1g,1.3g Carbohydrates - Sugars 1.3g, Nil Sodium 46mg, 4mg Salty tahini Unsalty tahini The numbers are so different, I wonder, if they are correct. <Q> Just toured 17 tahini factories in Palestine. <S> The traditional process soaks the sesame seeds in salt water, first to soften the hull for de-hulling, again to separate the hulls from the seeds, and finally to obtain the desired flavor. <S> The seeds are rinsed in fresh water prior to drying and roasting. <S> Alternate de-hulling processes avoid the initial salt water soak, but retain the salt water soak after de-hulling and prior to rinsing and roasting to obtain the desired flavor. <A> I would think that the water being used for the hulling process has salt in it. <S> The label is only going to list added items for the production of the finished product. <S> Of course that depends on where you live and the food laws that govern your area. <S> If the manufacturer is purchasing seeds pre-hulled then he's not going to be listing any added salt because as far as he's concerned he's just putting sesame seeds into a grinder. <S> The fact that he doesn't need to ADD any additional salt as shown from the label shows that his supply is coming to him in a salty state already. <S> Which is why he's probably using them because he's saving on the cost of salt in the recipe. <A> Maybe try to buy 'original' middle-eastern Tahini actually made in an Arab country on Israel in Arab/Israeli owned stores or those catering to those crowds. <S> Here in Israel if you don't add salt while making the Tehina <S> it's doesn't taste good enough... <A> "melissa" tahini use the water hulling process & do not roast their seeds <S> ,hence their hulled tahini is very light in colour,creamy,smooth & not <S> I think they all roast their unhulled tahini to help get the oil out?it tastes like <S> it.nutritionally,roasted oil is not good.
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salty.some processers use a caustic process & most processers roast their hulled tahini.you can tell if it is roasted by a darker colour & by taste.
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How do you make guava juice? I have three very productive guava trees in my yard and end up throwing away 25-50 guavas each day, as I can't go through them all fast enough. I'd like to make juice from some of this excess, but I'm not sure how to go about this. Do I do my best to peel them and then put them in the blender? Or do I just throw them in whole into a blender? Do I peel and then boil? Or just boil? Or do I just break down and buy a juicer? FWIW, the guavas are about golf ball-size, a little bigger, and vary in tenderness from very squishy to a bit firm. Thanks <Q> The peel is certainly edible, it's up to you whether you use it or not. <S> If you choose to not peel them, try using large, juicy guavas. <S> The seeds are edible as well, but perhaps a bit annoying in juice. <S> So perhaps you could put it through a sieve after it's juiced (when using a juicer). <S> If you don't find them annoying, there is no problem in leaving them in. <S> Some varieties of guava have a strong odour. <S> If you dislike this, you can boil them first, to reduce this. <S> As for the blender, I've never tried it myself, I've found this website that gives a good how-to. <S> There is nothing wrong with the pulp, you can let it in if you don't want to do the towel-step. <S> But your juice will be more like a smoothie. <S> A juicer would be less work, but it's more expensive. <S> Perhaps try making juice with a blender, and if you really really like it, you can always buy a juicer if you know you like it. <S> And just a side note <S> : you surely can can or freeze the guavas, so that you don't have to throw them away. <A> Since its quite a squishy fruit I doubt it would turn into any thing more than a guava purée in the blender. <S> Likewise for a juicer even (unless you choose a firmer one) where it usually uses a spinning blade which grates the fruit and a spinning compartment to spin the juice out, this would just create a purée/coulis like it does with soft berries. <S> I would blend the fruit then put the pulp into a muslin bag, hang it over a jug in the fridge and let the juice drip out overnight. <S> Alternatively you could turn the guava pulp into a sorbet <S> , I bet that would be delicious! <A> I just made my morning glass of juice using the golf ball sized "baby guavas" from Mexico. <S> I used a centrifugal juicer from Breville on speed level 3 and just washed the whole guava. <S> I threw 1 guava into the juicer whole along with 1 peeled tangelo, 1 peeled naval orange and 1 whole Granny Smith apple. <S> The juice is delicious and a beautiful colour of yellow with no identifiable seeds or pulp. <S> The guava taste did not stand out from the other fruit, so I will increase the amount of guava in the future. <S> The juicing machine may be costly but it is the most efficient way to produce juice. <S> The whole process took about 5 minutes, including the washing up of the machine <A> You can also use a food mill. <S> I have never peeled guavas, but I cut them in half, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, chop them up and either stew them for a few minutes, some sugar if required, and then they can also be frozen at this stage, or put in the 'fridge' to be eaten at breakfast or as a dessert with vanilla ice cream.
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It says to chop up the guavas, put them in the blender with some extra water (the amount needed will depend on how juicy your guavas are, so don't put too much with them in the beginning), blend, put everything in a clean towel or a cheese cloth and try to press out the juice, so the pulp and the seeds stay behind.
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How can I make a stable olive oil and vanilla ganache? I've just made some vanilla macaron shells that I plan to fill with an olive oil and vanilla ganache. How should I go about doing this? Should I just make it like a regular ganache or will it just split and not form an emulsion? <Q> Disclaimer: I've never tried to make a ganache with olive oil, so take that into consideration as you read the following. <S> First, I have to assume that you're trying to use olive oil to replace the cream that's normally used in making ganache, perhaps to make a non-dairy ganache. <S> If that's not right, please clarify your question. <S> Ganache is essentially an emulsion of cocoa butter (usually from chocolate) and cream, plus vanilla and/or other flavorings, that is allowed to cool to the point where the cocoa butter solidifies. <S> It's the solidified cocoa butter that gives ganache <S> it's firm texture. <S> The greater the ratio of cocoa butter to cream, the firmer the ganache will be. <S> If you want to replace the cream, you'll need to make sure that you replace all the components that have an effect on the emulsion. <S> Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking explains the structure of ganache: <S> The continuous phase of this mixture, the portion that permeates it, is a syrup made from the cream's water and the chocolate's sugar. <S> Suspended in the syrup are the milk fat globules from the cream, and cocoa butter droplets and solid cocoa particles from the chocolate. <S> He doesn't say it, but I'd guess that the milk proteins from the cream might act as emulsifiers to help stabilize the emulsion, much as they do with butter . <S> The melting point of olive oil is obviously different from that of butterfat, but since you heat the cream in order to make ganache anyway, olive oil might still work. <S> Given what McGee says, you'll need to make sure that you add an appropriate amount of water so that there's enough syrup to suspend the butterfat, cocoa butter, and solids. <S> How much is an appropriate amount? <S> Cream is usually 20-40% butterfat, so starting with a 1 part oil for 2 parts water seems reasonable. <A> Pierre Herme lists a recipe for this in his book Macarons. <S> He just makes a white chocolate ganache with cream, and then blends in olive oil with a hand blender. <S> The amounts suggest he is replacing much of the cream with oil (350g white chocolate, 150g cream, 225g olive oil). <S> I've heard the flavor is amazing, but haven't made them myself. <A> I have tried this olive oil ganache, it works well and it is very stable. <S> Recipe: <S> Ingredients: 350g white chocolate (I used the Valrhona), 150g cream, 225g olive oil, a vanilla bean. <S> Preparation: <S> Heat the cream with the vanilla bean slowly (divide the vanilla bean in two, and take all the vanilla inside it). <S> As it starts boiling, take it off the heat. <S> In a double boiler, melt chocolate and stir. <S> Increase the temperature of the olive oil to at least 35ºC. <S> If the vanilla cream has cooled down to 55ºC, take 1/5 of the cream, and stir it in the melted chocolate until you have a homogeneous mixture, then take another fifth and do the same. <S> Repeat the process three more times, so you'll have a stable ganache. <S> Then, start with the olive oil, repeating the process you have done with the cream (so by fifths, adding a bit of oil to the cream/chocolate mixture). <S> In the end, you'll have a beautiful rich and flavoured ganache. <S> I tried it and it really worked. <S> I also tried it with dark and milk chocolate, and it worked better, but the original recipe is from Pierre Hermes. <A> If you want a more solid structure to your olive oil ganache, you should probably try the Ferran Adria emulsification of olive oil first. <S> It will have a more stable structure when mixed with the Pierre Hermés recipe. <S> For each 100g of olive oil, add 6 Gr of Glice <S> (these are flakes of Glycerine) <S> Mix everything and warm in a small pan <S> Don't over heat <S> the olive oil Slowly cook the mixture and remove from heat as the flakes dissolve Keep mixing until it starts to solidify <S> This can be done some days earlier and it works as a "solid olive oil butter". <S> You don't need to put all the olive oil mentioned in the recipe, scale it back but be sure to blend the olive oil slowly, and taste it until it has enough of the olive oil taste. <S> I would omit the vanilla, as both it and olive oil are singular and unique flavors; but that is your choice.
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You might also need to add something that'll act as an emulsifier, like lecithin.
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What is a substitute for corn syrup in boiled icing? What can I use as a substitute for corn syrup in a recipe for boiled icing? <Q> When heating sugar up in boiled icing or in making candy, the problem is sugar crystallization. <S> This happens because the solution becomes supersaturated and any movement can cause it to shift back into a crystal state. <S> The corn syrup is there to prevent this from happening by providing glucose to 'get in the way' . <S> You can get just 'glucose' at the drugstore to replace the corn syrup. <S> Another option is an acid. <S> Some acid (like lemon juice) should make some of the sucrose break apart into simpler sugars and prevent crystallization. <A> Boiled icing is essentially an Italian meringue which I never use corn syrup in. <S> But anyway, corn syrup is basically fructose syrup which is used in the recipe to preven the sugar crystallizing, there are other substances (all fairly similar in chemical structure) that can prevent this: glucose syrup, golden syrup if you live in the UK and <S> even honey will do this although this will of course give you a honey flavored icing. <S> If all else fails and you can't find any of the ingredients listed above you could always substitute it for a simple syrup <S> (use equal amounts of sugar and water in place of the amount of corn syrup) and just be very carefull not to let it crystalise. <S> You can stop this by making sure the sugar has dissolved before you boil it, brush away any sugar grains with a pastry brush before boiling and most importantly <S> don't stir it , just give it a swirl or <S> it will crystalise. <S> Hope this helps! <A> To improve on the suggestions for using simple syrup: you can make invert sugar syrup at home, the sugar composition of which should be pretty similar to corn syrup. <S> The recipe I found involves two parts sugar, one part water, 1/500 part citric acid or cream of tartar. <S> Bring to a simmer, let cook for about 20 minutes, brushing the sides of the pot down with water to avoid caramelized deposits. <S> It's done when the temperature is above 236F/114C. <S> If you don't have a thermometer, for me that was the point where the syrup started having color, not much but distinctly so. <S> I.e. you want to go a bit beyond the "first hint of colour" stage, but before amber. <S> (Cooking it too much won't hurt anything, but might affect the final flavour.) <S> Because of the water driven off during the cooking, I can't tell you off the top of my head how to substitute this. <S> If you have a scale, you can use that to dilute the final product to the concentration your corn syrup has. <S> E.g. Karo Light is 30% carbohydrates by weight, so <S> if you start with 500g of sugar, you weigh out the cooked invert syrup, then add water until the total weight is 500/30%=1667g, maybe briefly bring back to a simmer again to homogenize the mix, then cool down again. <A> Sugar. <S> That's actually the traditional ingredient, rather than corn syrup. <A> If you are simply wanting to replace corn syrup, and sugar <S> (white cane granulated) will do fine, you can make <S> a " Simple Syrup " (1 cup sugar to 1 cup boiling water, stir till all is dissolved... <S> pretty 'simple'...). <S> You might want to experiment with the quantity but this will give you both the sweet and liquid elements of corn syrup. <S> If you are looking eschew 'sugars' altogether then you can substitute Splenda (or any competitive sucralose product) for the sugar and make a sugar free simple syrup .
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Any other sugary thing that's high in fructose or glucose should work.
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What are preaseasoned cast iron pans preseasoned with? I'm shopping for new pans right now and keep seeing cast iron advertized as " preseasoned ". What does this mean? What are they preseasoning it with? <Q> They're pre-seasoning with some sort of fat. <S> It varies by manufacturer, though soy is probably fairly common (its both cheap and has a high iodine value ). <S> For example, Lodge uses soy oil . <A> Cast iron inherently rust easily and does not provide a smooth nonstick surface to cook on. <S> This is the way people got nonstick cooking ware before teflon and its directives or invented. <S> The seasoning on cast iron is formed by fat polymerization. <S> Fat polymerization is maximized with a drying oil. <S> This is usually achieved by treating the cast iron with a oil and then heating it. <S> Preseasoned means that cast iron does not need to be treated right out of the "bag". <S> However note that the seasoning does not last forever. <S> There are 100s of sites on seasoning cast iron if you google "seasoning cast iron." <S> EDIT: <S> To add to the additional question that the OP added, it is usually treated with vegetable oil, animal fat(lard), or according to this website , it recommends flaxseed oil which is a "drying oil." <S> It does matter what oil you use? <S> Here are some hints: <S> What oil do artists mix with pigment for a high quality oil paint that dries hard and glassy on the canvas? <S> What oil is commonly used by woodturners to give their sculptures a protective, soft-sheen finish? <S> It’s the same oil. <S> Now what is the food-grade equivalent of this oil? <S> The oil used by artists and woodturners is linseed oil. <S> The food-grade equivalent is called flaxseed oil. <S> This oil is ideal for seasoning cast iron for the same reason it’s an ideal base for oil paint and wood finishes. <S> It’s a “drying oil”, which means it can transform into a hard, tough film. <A> To add to Jay's answer: <S> The oil that is used to preseason cast iron undoubtedly varies. <S> Looking at Lodge's website I found the following: "The cast iron is sprayed with a soy-based vegetable oil and then baked on at a very high temperature. <S> The heat allows the oil to penetrate into the iron, creating a black patina finish with superior appearance and performance than home seasoning." <S> http://www.lodgemfg.com/use-care-seasoned-cast-iron.asp
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Seasoning cast iron provides a protective layer that will protect it from rusting and give the cast iron a nonstick surface.
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What are common techniques for adding eggs to soup? I have seen different techniques for adding eggs to soups. They seem to be a polarizing topic - I have known people to find the sight of "raggy" soup disgusting, and I have family members who won't eat a clear soup. These are the methods I know of, but if you can add to the list, I'd be happy to hear about it. yogurt: Mix egg with yogurt, don't overmix/froth. Pour it in one big glob into the prepared soup the moment you remove it from the heat, stir. Should result in very fine grains distributed perfectly throughout the soup, making it opaque. Sometimes results in big rags floating on top instead. pure egg: Pour slowly a mixed, slightly frothed egg into the soup while stirring vigorously. Should result in big, spongy rags floating in the clear broth. egg and cheese: Mix the egg with finely ground hard cheese (parmesan works best). Slowly drizzle into the broth. Not sure what the perfect result is supposed to look like. egg and flour: This is more of a thickener. Slowly pour it after the soup is removed from the heat. Should result in an even, slightly thickened broth with no visible rags and no fat spots swimming on the soup. emulsified egg. Emulsify egg with oil (or use mayonnaise or hollandaise) and add it to the soup after it has been cooled to serving temperature. Should result in evenly thickened soup without visible rags. All these are used in a usual "meat, broth and veggies" soup, not a pureed soup or something fancy, although I suspect there are egg methods for those too. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method? How do they influence texture, richness, rag size, taste? Are there special conditions under which I should prefer one method above the others? Is there a consensus among cooking professionals for which method is to be used with which kind of soup? Edit The answers are interesting, but I would like to see more information than a simple list: What type of soup should the method be used with, and why? How does it change taste? <Q> In Poland some soups (notably żurek or a sorrel soup) are served with a hard boiled (separately) egg added. <A> In Spain I've mainly seen these following ways of adding eggs to soup: <S> beaten egg: egg must be added at the end of the cooking process. <S> Just pour a beaten egg in the soup/broth/stock, stir, remove from heat and then, cover it for a few minutes. <S> whole egg: same process as the beaten egg <S> but, of course with beating the egg <S> ;) <S> it's good to crush the egg in a bowl prior to the addition to the soup, in order to avoid broken egg yolks. <S> boiled eggs: as well as Poland <S> (as Jacek's reply), we also add boiled eggs to soup. <S> In the spanish case, boiled eggs are finely chopped. <S> egg yolks (as Adam's reply): used to thicken and give more richness to soups. <S> Beat the yolks and off the heat, adding the egg yolk and mix it well with the soup. <S> poached eggs: sometimes even fried, but poached are more common <S> though (nowadays a lot of people make Arzark's eggs, poaching eggs inside a film tape with flavourings to taste and sinking it in boiling water for some minues). <S> Just put in the surface right before serving it. <S> You crash it when you start eating your soup! <S> Delicious! <S> I hope this helps! :) <A> In many Asian areas you will find mostly transparent soups and broths including a thin rolled omelette (Tamagoyaki in Japan) <S> Usually they are sea food based soups, with a variety of solid ingredients added just before serving, including slices of the rolled egg omelette <S> Sometimes it is a whole slice, sometimes slices from a slice off the roll <A> This is done just before serving, after the soup is off the heat (or even after it has been transferred to a soup tureen). <S> Put egg yolks in a bowl and break up with a whisk. <S> Add a couple ladles of soup, while whisking. <S> Pour the contents of the bowl back into the pot of soup, and stir to combine. <S> This should result in no lumps, strings, "rags", etc., just glossy, thickened soup with a velvety feel in your mouth. <A> I use egg yolks to thicken and to add more "food" to the soup. <S> I beat a number of egg yolks in a cup. <S> Take the soup off the heat. <S> I add a bit of the soup to the egg yolks while whisking. <S> Then I add the whole thing to the soup. <S> If the soup is too cold it will not thicken. <S> If too hot, the yolks will separate. <A> I've added just the yolks, unbroken, to the final boiling process, then cook through. <S> The flavor it adds is just a back note... <S> but once you've tried it, you'll never want chicken soup any other way. <S> It's similar to the Polish version, just without the egg-whites.
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I've added egg yolks to soup as an enrichment/thickening technique.
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Is leaving eggs out of the fridge, prior to cooking them a direct cause as to how shell break? I have friend who went to culinary school who claims that cold eggs crack cleaner than eggs at room temperature. Do egg shells crack cleaner coming cold out of the fridge? Does warming up to room temperature for a few minutes cause the eggs to crack less clean? <Q> Assuming your fridge temperature is around 4 C (39 F) and <S> your room temperature is 22 C (72 F) <S> then that's a difference of 18 C or 33 F. <S> The two temperatures are not particularly polar so why should it crack differently to when it comes straight from the fridge? <S> It won't be like <S> if you threw hot water onto a frozen window where it would crack , the 2 temperatures here are a lot more polar, 1 below freezing point and 1 near boiling point. <S> The change in temperature would be fairly gradually (I don't have any Scientific evidence for this <S> but I know from experience as when I take an egg out of the freezer and wait for it to reach room temperature -for <S> culinary purposes- <S> it takes around 45 minutes). <S> Also on a chemical level, an egg shell being mainly calcium carbonate there is no reason for such a gradual change in temperature to weaken its structure especially as it is in the form of a very stable and strong shape. <S> So no is the answer <S> , I don't think it makes any difference in the weakness of an egg or how it cracks! <S> Hope this helps! <A> Aside from technique (always on a flat surface, never on a knife or bowl edge) the age and temperature affect the cracking due to moisture and elasticity. <S> As eggs age the membrane separates from the shell which leads to smaller bits being able to fall away. <S> An egg which is fully at room temp, which is more than a few minutes, will have more elasticity to its membrane. <S> This will worsen shell chip loss for older eggs. <S> For decently fresh eggs it will not matter. <S> Bottom line if your eggs are fresh and you crack correctly temp does not matter. <S> Incidentally if your eggs have a flat spot when hard boiled they are quite old or have been stored improperly. <A> Maybe. <S> The reverse seems to be true (room temp eggs not cracking well after cooling), so <S> temp does something - I had some eggs sitting at room temp for a couple days (trying a different preserving method), and used a couple at room temp - not much different from normal eggs, maybe a bit less brittle. <S> A couple others that didn't get used went back in the fridge afterwards. <S> When I went to crack them today - they would not crack cleanly at all , the membrane had to be torn by hand to separate the cracked shell and it still came away in chunks rather than clean halves <S> like I usually get (leaving aside "correct" cracking method, mine is consistent and got different results this time). <S> The white was also much more gelatinous, and stuck more firmly to the inside of the shell and had to be scraped off. <S> Possibly the difference might come from the change in temp, several times. <S> Maybe the speed of cooling was to blame for the difference (I imagine eggs cool quicker in the fridge than they warm at room temp). <S> If so, a fridge-temp egg that was warmed too quickly might show the same problems. <S> Or an egg that had been stored inconsistently in the past, allowed to cool and warm several times. <S> Or, less plausibly the egg might, ah, adjust to the new temp after a while (so a few hours to days after a temp change are tricky, several days after either way is fine). <S> That could account for why someone might find warming an egg to room temp, harder to crack.
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For myself, I can only say the warmer eggs didn't give me any problem - they were a bit less brittle, which meant a tapping out a cleaner break rather than the shell shattering or chipping under the force, and a bit easier to crack (less force to get the cracking started).
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What's the difference between gazpacho and normal soups? Gazpacho is (afaik) a tomato-based soup, eaten very cold. I was wondering if there is a difference between gazpacho and other soups, apart from the temperature eaten at. Could you heat gazpacho and eat it like a normal soup?Could you chill a normal tomato-based soup and call it gazpacho?Are there ingredients that are mandatory when making gazpacho? Or things you certainly cannot add? <Q> Gazpacho is possibly Spain's most famous chilled soup. <S> The main difference aside form the temperature <S> is that it's raw, meaning that the soup is not actually cooked it's just blended and chopped vegetables and occasionally bread. <S> There is nothing inherently wrong with heating up gazpacho but it would lose its fresh texture and flavour which is why it's chilled and according to Wikipedia was popular with labourers who used it to: "cool off during the summer and to use available ingredients such as fresh vegetables and stale bread" <S> The main reason you couldn't just chill a normal soup and call it gazpacho is because gazpacho is made up of by no means just tomato. <S> It contains tomatoes , a bit of garlic , cucumber , occasionally bread , some vinegar for tang and a drizzle of olive oil at the end. <S> If you wanted to make it your own (after all you're the chef!) <S> you could add some Tabasco, bell peppers, spring onions or croutons at the end, basically anything you might find in a salsa dip. <S> Use your common sense for what not to add but <S> even in Spain they have variations that are not at all like what I would think of as gazpacho: in La Mancha they use it like a stew and add game (usually rabbit) and even wild mushrooms! <S> Hope this helps and gives you some inspiration, if you want a recipe a quick search on Google gives a multitude of results . <A> Regular tomato soup is cooked. <S> The other differences are that tomato soup is mostly tomato, with maybe some onions but really no other vegetables. <S> Gazpacho, on the other hand, involves at the very least cucumbers, peppers, onions, and garlic in addition to the tomatoes. <S> Because the onions and garlic are raw, gazpacho is often pretty hot-as-in-spicy 1 . <S> (I tend to not like it for this reason.) <S> No proper tomato soup would ever be anything other than tangy and slightly sweet. <S> Really, other than containing tomatoes and being of a soupy consistency, gazpacho and tomato soup have pretty much nothing in common. <S> 1 <S> Note that the "spiciness" of gazpacho is entirely due to raw onions and garlic, and is thus a different sort of heat than capsaicin. <S> I think this might account for the downvotes this answer has been getting: people who equate "heat" with capsaicin, and only capsaicin, are outraged to hear gazpacho characterized as "hot-as-in-spicy". <S> To be clear, no, a traditional gazpacho doesn't contain hot pepper; but that doesn't mean it can't be called spicy by someone (like me) who doesn't like raw alliums. <A> Actually, according to Janet Mendel , author of numerous Spanish cookbooks, any cold, mostly-vegetarian, mostly-raw soup can be called gazpacho. <S> For example, Traditional Spanish Cooking has a gazpacho made with almonds and grapes. <S> So while the tomato-garlic-and-onion version is the most common version, it's really the coldness and the rawness which makes gazpacho what it is, not the tomatoes.
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The big difference is that gazpacho is not just eaten cold, it's never heated in the first place: it's basically just a puree of raw vegetables.
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Never ending soup; is it actually safe? In the poor student or youth worker days it was popular to have never ending soup; a large pot on the stove that was topped up with new and leftover ingredients when available. Normally the pot was stored in the fridge overnight. Food items added were sometimes plate leftovers from fellow flat (share house) mates, who would in turn be eating the soup, too. Most days other ingredients would be fresh(ish) vegetables, beans, grains, and fresh meat products sourced from the local butcher as money allowed. Brussels sprouts where banned, and so were strong spices (you added those to your bowl before serving). Also, for irony, a large (cleaned) stone is always left in the pot. Fresh bread was sometimes baked in the oven while cracked bones were browning, but the oven was often an electrical and environmental death trap. The pot kept going till the summer holidays, and no one got food poisoning in my time, or from any student stories I have ever heard. This sort of activity is recorded in history as being a popular resource-saving idea. Are there any real food safety implications with this method of cooking? And have any actual studies of this technique ever been published? I still recommend this money-saving idea to current students, not keen on bad practices being continued though. <Q> It takes quite a while for a pot of hot soup to cool down to 40°F in the fridge. <S> Several hours, sometimes, depending on the shape of the pot and the volume of soup. <S> From a safety perspective, you'd be much better off making a pot of soup every few days and then reheating just the portion that you're actually going to eat. <S> I still recommend this money saving idea to current students <S> Soup is a great food for stretching a dollar, but I don't see how it's any more expensive to make a fresh pot twice a week <S> and it shouldn't take much time either. <S> I understand that you were adding scraps each night, but you could as easily save those scraps for a day or two until you make the next pot of soup. <A> Officially , its unsafe. <S> This is largely due to the fact that the time spent in "the danger zone" is cumulative. <S> You may be killing off bacteria, but during their lifespan they may release toxins and spores that you may not kill. <S> Every time you reheat the bits of leftovers, they're adding up time in the 'danger zone'. <S> Addionally, soup is only good in the fridge 3-4 days - so unless it was fully reheated every 3-4 days, its unsafe that very first 5th day , irrespective of any other debate . <S> Bacteria still grow in the fridge, just slower. <A> The good thing about soup is it is hot enough to kill all potential pathogens. <S> It is also unlikely to be a low-acid low-oxygen environment long enough for botulism to rear its head. <S> Sounds completely practical and the safest possible way to make use of left overs and questionable cuts <S> (the other way is curries I guess). <S> Seems to me a "cup of brown" was available from soup vendors in the distant past. <S> Maybe that's just in fantasy novels :-). <A> Ok, I have been making never ending soup for many years. <S> I do not put it in the refrigerator at all. <S> We really eat very luxuriously. <S> So, it is not the savings that we are after. <S> There is nothing like hot soup whenever you want it, if the soup is good enough. <S> We do not put left overs from other people into the soup ( <S> it’s safe <S> because of the temperatures, we just don’t like to) except from time to time I freeze bones until I have enough to make bone broth. <S> For our never ending soup if we really like it, we keep it at 180°F. <S> It hardly changes and I don’t worry about the top being hotter than the bottom or having to stir it as you do when at 140°F. <S> If adding ingredients for over night cooking I keep it at 200°F. <S> If adding ingredients to be done in 1/2 to 1 hour 210 <S> °F (simmer). <S> I find the fresh soup seems to taste a bit better then to keep adding to the old soup, although I have done it many times and have had it going for months, <S> over time I found 5 days is enough.
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If you're heating and re-chilling the same soup daily, it's going to spend a lot of time in the danger zone. Although, you can keep it going indefinitely because 180°F is like freezing it, I usually keep it going only about 5 days.
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Why heat soup in a blender? Several times lately I have seen people recommend a particular brand of (very expensive) high powered blender. Each time one of the main selling points for them is that the blender is so powerful that you can heat pureed soup in it. Why would a person want to do this? It seems less efficient, more expensive, and more difficult to clean than using the stove or microwave. <Q> I think you're misunderstanding the claim slightly. <S> You do not heat an already pureed soup, you puree and heat in one step. <S> You can indeed make a hot soup from cold ingredients using certain high end blenders. <S> The only one I've verified this with is the vita-mix. <S> To do this, you put your ingredients in to the blender, turn it on, and let it run about 5 minutes. <S> The friction from the blades heats the soup while chopping the ingredients. <S> The soup will get piping hot. <S> Why would you do it? <S> It's easy. <S> It takes about 2 mins to get the soup really smooth, so it's 3 more minutes to get it hot. <S> That's faster than you would be able to do with a stove, although maybe slower than a microwave. <S> Is it more efficient? <S> I don't know, but I doubt the difference in electrical efficiency is really sufficient to drive a choice one way or the other. <S> There's no additional cleaning to do if you cook it there too, versus additional cleaning for stove or microwave. <S> And the blender is easy to clean as it's one piece; you just add soap and water and turn it on for 30 seconds, then rinse. <S> Personally, I do not think this is "one of the main selling points". <S> It's a neat trick, and it's useful. <S> However, I think that it's more interesting as an indication of the blenders power. <S> You can use these blenders to make exceptionally smooth soup, make peanut butter, properly crush ice for frozen drinks, etc. <S> They do this much better than a 'normal' home blender, but just saying 'better' probably wouldn't sell a lot of these things at 4x the price, so they focus on something that the standard home blender most certainly cannot do. <A> There is no doubt that raw ingredients maintain more vitamins. <S> Is it a big deal to me? <S> not really. <S> The soup in vitamix never boils or simmers, or anything really close. <S> So it is virtually raw. <S> however, that means the uses are limited. <S> If you want a rich-tasting soup, that's usually going to mean caramelizing your onions and garlic a little, slow-simmering the carrots to bring out their sweetness. <S> I have the Vitamix 5200 and love it <S> but the soup-making feature is so far not one that I care for. <S> My brother-in-law supposedly invents all kinds of great, nearly instant soups in it; when he's a little less busy (he and my sister are moving), I hope to get some advice from him. <S> So far, the soups I've made, even following the recipe exactly, are not great soups. <S> The onion and garlic give it a very sharp taste with no actual cooking, the whole soup tastes sharp and off instead of rich and warming. <S> I wish I had gotten the cheaper version that does the same stuff but without the automatic timers. <S> Not a big deal. <S> The main thing ot love about the Vitamix i that it is a powerful and sturdy machine. <S> I'm tired of $50 blenders that conk out after a half a year. <S> Now, truly, I like a thick smoothie. <S> Really thick. <S> But on my last blender, it was the "on" button that broke. <S> How weird is that? <S> The Vitamix is guaranteed for seven years. <S> no questions. <S> I bring it back to Costco, they replace it if it breaks. <S> Meanwhile, what I can make in my Vitamix that I can't do in the other blenders <S> is an awesome no-sugar-added sorbet, and I do that several times a week. <S> I also made pistachio butter, which is probably too good to be legal. <A> This is a prime example of taking something that is a negative about a product and spinning it to a selling point. <S> "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" <S> An ideal blender would not impact the temperature of the contents. <S> Physics intrudes, friction and waste heat affect the contents of any blender. <S> This company chooses to amp it up. <S> From an energy efficiency standpoint it is also a very wasteful path to move potential into heated soup. <A> @Blrfl I was thinking the same thing (well, I haven't looked at the wattages on my microwave or converted things on my gas stove. <S> BUT, the fact that you will almost certainly be heating less water to clean the blender than the additional dishes does factor in on the energy efficiency side of things. <S> As a selling point, it is also just a way of eliminating extra steps. <S> My wife and I just got one of these upscale blenders (a Vitamix) and I will often preheat a cup or two of water and then the blender heats the remainder of the ingredients the rest of the way. <S> I'd argue that in general you aren't truly cooking most of the ingredients. <S> Rather, you are pulverizing them and warming them to a low heat over a few minutes (considerably less than the near sustained boiling temps of a normal soup would require). <S> On the flip side, the pulverizing does increase the surface area of the ingredients considerably, so they tend to warm up very quickly. <S> Overall, these blenders basically advertise "meal in a blender in 10 minutes" and for things like soups, that does seem to ring true. <S> For cleaning, I find for most things I still have to do a bit of handwashing, but not that much....YMMV. <A> In short, use it the way that makes you happy. <S> It has reversing features so while the food is spinning in one direction, you can reverse the motor so the blades impact the fast moving mixture in reverse creating a lot of friction <S> this consistent action surprisingly heats the soup perfectly, especially with broccoli and cheese. <S> The texture is is perfection and unlike stovetop cooking, the cheese doesn't settle and stick to the bottom. <S> And according to my nutritionist, more nutrients and enzymes are maintained by this method.
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In terms of cleaning, you already need to clean the blender because you pureed the soup.
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How long should I cook apples in the oven? How long do I need to cook fresh apples (sliced) in the oven (at 350 degrees) to get a good apple pie consistency? <Q> Various factors influence the consistency of an apple when it bakes. <S> Acidity. <S> The more acidic the apple is, the better will the apple preserve its pectin and remain its crunch. <S> Also any acidic fluids surrounding the apple will make an impact here. <S> Thickness of the slices. <S> Thin slices will make the apple heat up faster. <S> The surrounding environments ability to transfer heat. <S> If the apples are surrounded by a watery liquid heat will be transferred much more quickly to the apple than if it was surrounded by air. <S> Other kinds of liquids will transfer heat quicker or slower. <S> So you see there are no hard and fast answers. <S> But knowledge of these factors might help you build up experience to make a qualified guess in each case. <A> Check them periodically, when they’re fork tender, they’re probably cooked enough. <A> It really depends on a lot of things, as Jay said in his comment, not just the preparation of the pie <S> (its depth, the amount of liquid/goop, whether it's covered) but also personal preferences, and the crispness of the apples you've decided to use. <S> Use a recipe as a guideline, and then check it periodically as it approaches the end time. <S> If the apples aren't cooked enough for you and the crust is starting to brown, you can cover it loosely with foil to protect it. <S> Remember what worked for the next time, and you should be set.
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The answer is: between 15 and 45 minutes, depending on the thickness of your apples.
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What actual effect does a Parmesean rind added to soup have? The answers to this question state that adding a Parmesan rind to a cooking soup will add a cheesy flavor to the soup. How much flavor does a rind really add? Does it flavor the soup to a degree that it will replace freshly grated Parmesan? Does it thicken or cloud the soup? <Q> What parmesan rind adds isn't so much cheesiness ( <S> an extremely difficult to pin down set of flavors, considering how many cheeses there are), but rather "umami". <S> Umami is thought of as the "fifth flavor", after sweet, sour, salty and bitter. <S> It's normally described as savory/musty. <S> Common foods with umami flavors (other than parmesan rind) include mushrooms, beef, anchovy, seaweed, soy and fish sauces, and (somewhat less so) <S> tomato pastes. <S> In the right recipe (beef stews, <S> coq au vin), a blast of umami can be amazing. <S> Parmesan rind is subtler than that, but still a good tool to have at your disposal. <A> Using the rind is all about using every last bit of flavour from your food items, and since it costs so much you want to maximize usage. <S> Ground rind tastes almost bitter at times but if simmered in a soup it adds flavour depth like a previous poster stated about the umami taste. <S> Think of it like cilantro/corriander. <S> You have leaves which you use at the last second for a freshness kick, the stalks which are used in longer cooking methods, the root and seeds for spice mixes and other areas of dishes. <S> Fresh grated cheese for finishing and rind for deeper flavouring. <A> The rind of Parmesan is just like the core of the block, except dried out due to exposure to air. <S> It should have more flavor in it than an equivalent mass/weight of Parmesan, since the flavor will be concentrated. <S> I've only used it in soups a few times. <S> I personally don't recall much, if any, thickening.
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From what I recall, it does add some melty strands of Parmesan into the soup that can make it more cloudy.
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How can I substitute for unsweetened chocolate in a frosting? I've found a recipe for cupcakes that I want to try. The ingredient list of the frosting is this: 3 ounces (90 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 cup (120 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract However, where I live, unsweetened chocolate isn't available. I do have dark chocolate (cacao percentage is about 40, but I don't know how much sugar is in them). I believe the frosting would be too sweet (even for a frosting) if I would use my chocolate. A simple solution seems to put in less sugar, but I think I'm going to end up with a different consistency. So, how can I make the frosting so that it comes close to the original?I'm willing to experiment (if for instance there would be a way to split the sugar from the chocolate). Note: I have cacao powder at home, but I rather not use it for the frosting. The cupcakes themselves contain it and the combination of the two types of chocolate seem nice to me. <Q> The reason this frosting uses unsweetened chocolate is because with all the sugar and sweetened chocolate (even dark, ie 70%) it would become cloyingly sweet. <S> It needs to have double the amount of icing sugar to butter as this produces a smooth texture. <S> If you don't have enough icing sugar it won't have a smooth texture and will have a hard texture almost like the state of the butter to begin with. <S> So there are 2 ways of getting around this: <S> This is the easiest method. <S> You can use the original recipe substituting unsweetened chocolate for dark chocolate (preferably with minimum cocoa solids of 65% to keep the chocolatey flavour) and add a quarter of a cup of cocoa powder to balance out the sweetness. <S> To equate for the stiffness it brings slowly add 3 or 4 tbs's of milk so it has a smooth frosting-like texture. <S> Make an meringue frosting. <S> This is appropriate because the meringue keeps the buttercream smooth and light without adding huge amounts of sugar, so you can then use your chosen chocolate and not have it too sweet. <S> To do this you have to make an Italian meringue which is hot sugar syrup whipped into a meringue (or a Swiss meringue <S> but this uses a different method which involves whipping sugar and egg whites until hot in bowl over a pan of water) <S> then once cool whipping in soft chunks of butter. <S> Then you can add your melted cooled chocolate. <S> Here are some recipes for Italian meringue buttercream (US measurements), Italian meringue buttercream (metric measurements), Swiss meringue buttercream (US measurements) and finally Swiss meringue buttercream (metric measurements). <S> Hope this helps! <A> I would halve the amount of icing sugar and substitute in cocoa powder. <S> As long as you sift the cocoa powder well you should still have a smooth icing at the end. <S> Provided your chocolate isn't milk <S> chocolate <S> you should still have a 'proper' chocolate flavour as well. <A> I would also use cocoa powder (not sweetened chocolate powder) in place of some of the icing sugar. <S> It would help you maintain the consistency you are after, though the exact quantities you would want to use would need to be adjusted to suit the chocolate you are using. <S> The bitterness of the cocoa powder will help balance the sweetness of the sugar and the chocolate. <A> Dark chocolate should be unsweetened chocolate plus sugar - those ingredients will account for most of the mass. <S> Your 40% cacao bar is therefore 40g chocolate to 60g sugar (stabilizers or emulsifiers like soy lecithin should be negligible in volume, just a trace amount percentage wise). <S> So, if you had 200g of the dark chocolate, that would be 80g of unsweetened chocolate, and 120g of sugar... <S> within reasonable reach of your recipe. <S> Maybe add a few extra grams since the chocolate is slightly less, and the sugar won't have cornstarch added like powdered sugar <S> usually does (3% by weight, I think). <S> Since the unsweetened chocolate is chopped, I'm assuming it gets melted in the process of making the frosting - so it might not change the texture too much if the icing was going to be mixed with hot chocolate anyway . <S> In any case, to make the icing you would be melting the chocolate and when it's cool enough (the texture will change if the butter melts), mixing it with the room temperature butter to make a thick chocolate sauce - kinda comparable to ganache, but no cream. <S> You won't be able to cream the butter with the sugar, but you can probably beat the whole chocolate/butter mixture (with the vanilla) until it's fluffier. Or beat a bit of cocoa powder in with the butter (texturally, it should help, and balance the slightly less chocolate). <S> Of course, the flavor profile will be eerily similar to your chocolate bar - just a bit more buttery and with a dash of vanilla flavor, so only take this route if you're happy with that bar's flavor. <S> So, 100g dark chocolate with 60g sugar and 50g cocoa powder. <S> This will let you cream the butter and sugar for texture, and the extra solids in the cocoa powder should be balanced with the extra cocoa butter from the melted dark chocolate so it doesn't make it too stiff. <S> This might get you something closer to your original recipe, working with the ingredients you have.
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Alternately, you could try using half as much dark chocolate, and using a combination of powdered sugar and cocoa powder for the other half of what the recipe calls for.
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Easiest way to strain fry oil? What is the easiest way to strain fry oil? I strain fry oil so it can be reused. I've been using cheesecloth put inside a funnel. It works but it's a bit messy and a hassle. Is there a better way? Can you use a coffee filter or something like that? <Q> You can buy really large filters for this purpose. <S> It's how some restaurants filter their fry oil on the cheap. <S> We had two conical strainers and put the huge coffee-like filter between the two so it wouldn't slip down as much, also so we could skim out the large bits easier. <S> If you have a laddle you can sorta force it through faster by agitating in a plunger like motion but be careful the oil isn't too hot because it will splash at you. <S> It takes awhile for it to pass <S> but it keeps it cleaner than a cheese cloth I find. <S> The more particals you filter out the longer the oil will last before you have to toss it in your diesel truck <S> ;-). <A> Try straining it through tights. <S> That's what my dad used to do when he ran a chip van. <A> just take a netted cloth with small pores and strain the oil <A> Put an ankle high white cotton sock in a bowl with water and microwave to a boil to sanitize. <S> Carefully remove sock and hang to air dry completely. <S> Stretch the DRY sock over a gallon jar (4"+- mason jar type) and secure with a couple of rubber bands around the rim. <S> Yep, strains it in no time. <S> I use an old coffee can for the paper towels, sock etc. <S> Put on the top and throw away. <S> Say "yuk" <S> if you want but it works, it's sanitary and most importantly for me, SIMPLE. <A> <A> Carbon Range Hood Filter $10-$15.00.I drain my 2 gallon deep fryer into original oil bottles. <S> Next I rinse and wash the deep fryer with hot water. <S> Then I place a metal mesh/carbon filter on the fryer and pour the oil through it quickly and easily. <S> Then wash the grease filter in my dishwasher after rinsing with hot water. <A> I bought the Chef's Planet Multipurpose Filter Funnel. <S> It is the best filtering system I have ever used. <S> Will clean over 1 gal of oil in less than 5 minutes with no mess. <S> When finished, throw it in dishwasher <S> and it's done. <S> Is also great for straining stocks. <S> http://www.chefsplanet.com/multipurpose-filter-funnel-set.html <A> I use a fine mesh metal sieve with a paper towel lining it. <S> I pour into a gallon glass measuring bowl to cool and then into mason jars. <S> In a pinch, I have also used a clean flour sifter. <S> Mine almost fits in the mouth of the mason jar, so I have to be careful not to make a mess. <S> For some reason, Sunflower oil behaves really well when handled this way, and resists going rancid when I am frying vegetable chips and french fries. <S> It seems to last longer than Soy oil. <S> Maybe it's just me <A> I filter oil through a piece of paper kitchen roll. <S> It's much finer than a strainer and cheaper than a coffee filter (or my wife's tights!). <S> Place the kitchen roll in a mesh strainer to support it and prevent tearing when you pour on the oil. <A> I use a nylon cloth meant to go over pool skimmer baskets. <A> I know the question is old. <S> But I don't see this answer there. <S> I recently bought a deep fryer, and wanted to strain & reuse oil after cooking chicken with flour breading. <S> To strain it, I used a simple funnel, cheese cloth, and binder clips. <S> The binder clips secured the cheese cloth to the top of the funnel. <S> I doubled the cheese cloth. <S> The outcome? <S> The strained oil had a used appearance (Not crystal clear) <S> but there was no sediment in the strained oil. <S> And it was fast. <S> Which was not exactly fast. <S> A high capacity fryer was completed in less than five minutes. <S> Four yards of cheese cloth cost less than seven dollars.
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Places that do alot of frying have a machine that will filter the oil while still really hot and pump it back into the fryer. They are called "Filter Savers" They are strong, reusable, and can be purchased in most swimming pool equipment stores or online. For home use I use coffee filters, the biggest I can find, and have a plastic 4 litre storage tub for holding the oil. I use a cheesecloth and a mesh strainer on top of the funnel, and just pour slowly to avoid messes. My first attempt was with paper filtering in the funnel.
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Can I include carrots in Tortilla de Patatas and can I use a casserole dish to make it taller? I want to make Tortilla de Patatas but I have extra carrots that I would like to use somewhere. Can I include them in the frying phase? And can the dish be cooked in a casserole dish in the oven to make a very tall 'omelet'? <Q> If you would like to add carrots, make sure you cut them small enough (since it takes quite a while to get them soft). <S> I'm not 100% sure it would be a good fit, but that's up to you. <S> You certainly can make a tortilla in the oven, I've done so in a spring form. <S> I think I did it for about 45 min in an oven of 180°C/350 <S> °F. <S> But this depends of course on how much food you use and how big your form is. <S> Just keep an eye on it, the egg should be fully cooked and the potatoes soft. <A> Tortilla de patatas can be mixed with some other vegetables in order to make some varieties (for example: tortilla campera). <S> But I've never seen a tortilla with carrots, although I understand you need to cook somewhere those carrots. <S> I'd love to know how it looks and tastes! <S> ;) <S> If I were you, I would take one of these 2 options: <S> I would boil carrots and add them to the egg mix right after fried potatoes and onions. <S> Or, in case you want carrots to have some olive oil + onions + fried potatoes flavour <S> , I would at least blanch them (or boil until they are tender / al dente) before adding to the frying phase (as cooking carrots takes longer than potatoes) at the same time than potatoes. <S> You can make it in the oven if you find it more convenient, why not? <S> Just so you know that is far from a spanish traditional way of cooking it <S> ;) <S> It only takes some more practice to learn until you do a taller one. <S> Why? <S> Basically because it implies that you have to fill much more your frying pan with more tortilla mixture. <S> Which means when you would flip tortilla upside down you may find it heavier than other times and also you have to move quicker too because mixture tends to spread if it's too tall. <S> Also, you should let tortilla in the heat for sometime longer too in order the inside is properly cooked (bearing in mind that the heat can't be very high as the outside could burn). <S> Well, I hope this help and good luck with your carrot-tortilla! :) <A> I'd most likely slice the carrots very thinly and fry them just before I did the potatoes. <S> Boiling to soften and drying before frying would be another possibility if you're not being lazy. <S> But I would not only boil them. <S> You want them going into the eggs while they're still hot, so the egg kinda congeals around them and binds well. <S> If you were to add cold carrots, or hot-but-wet carrots, it wouldn't adhere correctly. <S> And if you did it in a casserole dish, I would argue that it's a crustless, dairy-free quiche, as you're just not going to get the same fried exterior that you get with a spanish tortilla. <S> If you pre-heated the casserole dish with some oil in it, you'd get closer, but it's going to be closer to a frittata. <S> And one other tip for larger tortillas <S> -- I use a pot lid, rather than a plate to flip it. <S> Use one that's curved or has a bit of a lip to catch the oil and is a little bit bigger than the pan you're using. <S> Slide the tortilla onto the lid, place the pan upside down on the lid, then quickly flip them both over. <S> I find that having a handle is easier for me than when using a plate. <A> You can put almost anything in tortillas. <S> With tortilla de papas, you would typically fry the potatoes before hand, I would add the carrots there since those take a while to cook, like potatoes. <S> I add carrots to them sometimes, also squash or make it with spinach. <S> You can cook them in the oven in a baking dish or cast iron pan. <S> Cook at 190C, time would depend on the size.
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If you add carrots, make sure carrots are at least a bit cooked before adding to any phase of the tortilla. In case your concern is about making a taller tortilla, you can do that in a frying pan too (no need for an oven to do that).
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How to create a gummy candy cake? I want to give my gf a present for Valentine's day that consists on a board with glued gummy candy, marshmallows... all that lovely sweet stuff. When put all together it will be like a romantic painting but with glued gummy candy instead. However, I don't know what to use as a frame to stick the candy and also what to glue them with! Is there anyway to make/(buy) some kind of edible frame? I'm ok with plastic or glass but if it could be edible it would turn out awesome! :) Furthermore, do you have any ideas on what to glue the candy? Final Result: This is what I ended up doing. The base is a sponge flan cake, which I bought in the supermarket. Regarding the glue, I was presented with the options of a pure glucose syrup and a shinning glucose gel. I chose the latter, since I was told it was commonly used to stick crystallised fruits in cakes and that sort of stuff :) Thank you all for the tips and the inspiration. She loved it ;) <Q> For the frame, I would suggest baking a cake, brownies, gingerbread or even cookie dough in a baking sheet (so it's one big, quite thin piece). <S> But put the temperature of the oven lower than if you would use a regular baking mold. <S> You could also use a piece of styrofoam/polystyrene*, covered with tin foil. <S> Then you can use tooth picks to hold everything in place. <S> To cover the tin foil, use sour strips, marshmallows... <S> As glue you can use chocolate or caramel if it should sit quite steady. <S> You can also use edible glue (this is often used to glue pieces of fondant to cupcakes). <S> If you present it horizontally, you can use a lot (syrup, honey, jello, icing, even a thick pudding...). <S> I have no idea however how strong this would be. <S> *) <S> I'm not sure this is the correct English term. <S> To be clear, I mean this . <A> I've seen this done before on TV, but it would be quite a feat. <S> As for the glue, caramel would be best as it would set hard and even when softened could still probably be held up verticly <S> (if that's what you are planning). <S> However you would have to be careful when making the caramel not to burn yourself. <S> Also you would have to add a decrystalizing substance such as corn syrup or glucose syrup as with the continual dunking of the candies it could cause the syrup to crystallize inadvertently. <S> Another option for the glue would be buttercream frosting, however this would not set hard so it would have to sit flat or the candies may fall off, although it would be tastier. <S> The only problem I can envisage is that the colors in the candy may run but if you pack them closely together then you wouldn't see it anyway. <S> For the base I was thinking a large cookie, preferably chewy rather than crisp as it will be less likely to crack. <S> Another option is nougat, I can see that working <S> but you'd have to get a smaller amount then roll it out. <S> For the border the best thing I can come up with is marshmallow ropes or you could just use more candy in a frame pattern (think jellybeans). <S> Hope this helps and gives you some inspiration! <A> For a base, you could create Sugar Glass . <S> Royal Icing is used as the mortar to glue gingerbread houses together. <S> In fact, Gingerbread would make a great base too.
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I think you could even melt some candy and use it as glue. Maybe you should simply research gingerbread houses.
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Does the choice of peppers affect the 'flavor of the heat'? Working with a variation of this chili recipe I meticulously cleaned my peppers of seeds and veins to produce a 'milder' chili. Unfortunately this batch was almost 'too mild' (heat wise, the flavor was very good). I am thinking that next time around I will leave in some of the seeds/veins to give it just a bit more 'kick'. The question is, given the choice of Anaheim, poblano and jalapeno peppers would it matter to the flavor which pepper I allow to be the source of the heat? I know that each pepper has it's own unique flavor to offer and each is going to provide a different 'level' of heat, but will the 'heat' taste differently based on the choice of pepper? [for anyone interested, the variation that I apply is to substitute buffalo for ground beef and fresh tomatoes for the canned, I don't believe either should affect this question.] <Q> The heat is the same; all peppers contain capsaicin . <S> The Scoville scale defines heat in terms of capsaicin content. <S> And the flavor besides heat is definitely concentrated in the flesh, so you shouldn't notice any real difference in pepper flavor either. <A> It really is not as simple as that, or you can go the other route throw in what you got and see what it may have to much of or be lacking for you. <S> Disreguarding the heat differance in the peppers there are also great diferances in the flavors, of many your three choices included. <S> The Choice of chili is more like 3 choices. <S> heat, flavor/texture and amounts of chile and types <S> , what will give you a desired result. <A> The "flavor of the heat" has a lot to do with how the capsaicin is distributed in the sauce, and how it is contained in solid <S> (if you added dry chili powder at the end of cooking), fat, alcohol (if there is any in the food), or water (which does not dissolve it well at all) phases, and also with how these phases are mixed (water+alcohol obviously mix, fat+water can be emulsified or separate). <S> Two different chile pepper preparations, added each in amounts which will add the same total capsaicin content to the dish, will only yield equivalent heat if, by cooking methods, the capsaicin is equally dissolved. <S> For example, 1g of dry bhut jolokia powder will not be a good substitute for 10-20g of dried cayenne pepper or 50g of deggi mirch, even if all the options are roughly equivalent in capsaicin, unless the dish is very rich and cooked for a significant time - the first option will present harshly spicy particles in an -on average- milder suspension to the tongue...
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Use the peppers that have the flavor you want, and make it as hot as you want, and you'll be set.
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How can I keep my split pea soup from becoming too thick during storage? Every time I have made split pea soup, I have to try to estimate the amounts to be finished in one meal. If I store the leftover soup (in the refrigerator or the freezer), the soup thickens to the point that it's barely liquid anymore. In Ham and Pea Soup with Whole Dried Peas , there's a passing comment that split peas break apart more to thicken soup. Is there any way of reducing this effect or simply predicting the amount of thickening that will happen? No matter how much liquid I add to the original soup, I can't seem to store the leftovers without getting a porridge-like texture. <Q> You could use whole peas instead of split peas. <S> But even then there will be some thickening. <S> You could (evidently) make a thinner soup on day 1, so that on the days after, the soup would be of a normal consistency. <S> You could do this by just adding more water and leaving the potatoes out, if you use them. <S> The only other advice I can give is to make it as you like it, and add some water each day <S> you serve it, till it reaches the wanted consistency. <A> This is not a defect but a characteristic of pea-soup. <S> In Holland, the pea-soup is considered good when a wooden spoon can be put upright in the pot. <S> I've never eating it that thick myself, though. <S> The starches and the gelatin will form a mesh when cooling, so the consistency of the pea-soup will always be thick when cold. <S> On heating, do what Mien advised: add some water or broth to the soup to the consistency that you want. <S> You will have to heat slowly because otherwise the soup will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. <S> Don't forget to thoroughly heat the soup and let is simmer for at least 10' to kill any unwanted visitors (germs) before serving. <A> PH can have a significant impact on thickening potency, so you may want to try adding lemon juice or some other acidic element to see how much, if any, it helps.
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I'm afraid there isn't a lot you can do. One tip that could help is to cover the soup as soon as possible, so that you don't loose a lot of steam (=water, which would also cause more thickening).
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Handling raw poultry turns my cuticles black! Whenever I handle raw poultry (chicken, turkey, duck, etc.) my nails, cuticles, and the skin under and around my nails turns black. This happens even after I thoroughly wash my hands, and when working with thoroughly cleaned utensils. This has been happening to me for over ten years. So far, I've not been able to get an answer as to why, or how to prevent it. <Q> As a student of medicine I've never heard of any condition similar to the one you describe, but then there are still a lot of diseases, conditions and genetic prepositions unknown to man (and to medicine students).First I thought, it might be an allergic reaction to poultry proteins, but our skin normally doesn't have many immune cells on the outside (but can still result in a rash or excema) and you would probably have a really strong alergic reaction when eating poultry (that does not seem to be the case). <S> What I would like to know is how long does your skin keep being black? <S> Does your hands' colour change slowly or in a few seconds to a black? <S> Do you have any other symptoms during contact to poultry or in general? <S> Anyhow there are few possibilities. <S> Either something's really wrong with the meat you're buying (and I doubt that) <S> or something's not alright with your skin. <S> There a lots of different bacteria physiologically growing on everyones skin ... stil this not seem normal to me. <S> You should consider seeking professional help and talk to a general practitioner. <S> Meanwhile I suggest using latex or nitril glove (you should be able to buy them in a drug store). <S> This should prevent your hands from turning black and they still allow you to handle the meat precisely. <A> Wearing gloves should solve the problem. <A> I have no idea what's causing this, but the only solution I can think of is to rinse your hands with a bleach solution afterwards. <S> Sounds weird, but it'll kill pretty much anything.
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Maybe you have some kind of weird bacteria growing on your skin.
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Why condiments expiry date is rounded? Many condiments such as katchup, mayonnaise and mustard (where I live at least) seem to love rounding all of their expiry dates to "60 days after opened". Thing is, I never see any difference after the date, at least with mustard. It's easy to consume katchup or mayo under a couple of months, but I only like mustard for very few things, so I have some black mustard from ~3-4 months that tastes just as good. What is weird to me is that they round the expiry dates. Are they just lazy and think "nah, nobody takes more than two months and it should last that long"? <Q> Food quality isn't binary; it doesn't go from perfectly good to perfectly bad in an instant. <S> Even if it did, the time it would take depends on the storage temperature. <S> And for non-liquid foods, it's possible that only a part went bad (how well does it mix?). <S> So, you don't get a precise date, but a rough interval at which time the decay starts to set in. <S> As a result, the manufacturer will just pick a rounded date from that interval. <S> Example: the engineers might calculate that under reasonable circumstances, the product may start to noticably deteriorate after 52-75 days, and become dangerous after 81-112 days. <S> They manufacturer could then say that the expiry date would be 60 days. <S> (The other answers explain why you'd use the first interval, but not why they're actually intervals.) <S> :edit: The likely reason why they're all the same 60 days is probably also engineering. <S> How much preservative do they use? <S> As noted in the comments, the primary preservatives are the acids, but you need quite some sugar to compensate. <S> It seems 60 days is a commonly accepted balance. <A> I'm not sure what the consumer liability laws are like in Brazil, but I expect that they 'good until' dates well short of their 'actual' lifespan to protect the manufacturers from lawsuits for people who don't read the labels anyway and get sick on 3 year old mayo... <S> A second reason they set short shelf life for such things is to encourage you to buy it more often, thus more money for the manufacturer. <A> Expiration dates for safety are not about "usually okay". <S> Sure, if you keep mustard in good conditions, it'll probably last longer than that most of the time. <S> But things are labeled with expiration dates that are designed to guarantee that everyone will be safe. <S> Yes, that means that most of the time they're overly conservative. <S> But the alternative is to let people get sick, or even die. <S> It's a big world; if even one in a million bottles goes bad after 60 days, that's a big deal. <A> If you read "keeps for 53 days after opening" you might feel it has gone bad after 54 days. <S> But with 60, it's a round number <S> , you realize that there's essentially no different betweeen 59 day old ketchup and 61 day old ketchup. <S> When you find a 90-day-old bottle at the back of the cupboard, maybe you decide you'll toss it because it's so far past 60 days. <S> If you're wondering why so many products have exactly the same shelf life, I think the manufacturers tweak the formula - who would buy a jar of mustard that went bad in just few days? <S> It needs to last about as long as it takes people to use up the jar or bottle. <S> Me, I keep my ketchup in the cupboard (in Canada, the large bottles say refrigerate after opening and the small ones don't) and keep it for months and months - maybe even a year. <S> No worries. <S> But my chef-daughter announces that a product (eg a carton of milk) "goes bad" on it's expiry date, and refuses to consume anything on or after its date.
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If by "round" you mean 60 days as opposed to say 58 for some things, and 63 for others, it has to do with the perceived accuracy of numbers.
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Why are stone ware and dutch oven items exempt from bacteria? As I am doing the dishes, I come upon my wife's stoneware "pans". These pans, I am told, do not need soap. "Just like a dutch oven". In fact, soap will ruin them. Now I did this with dutch ovens when I would go camping as a kid. I loved it because cleanup was just that much easier (no soaping). But it has always confused me how this works. How does the seasoning on stone ware pans and a dutch oven combat bacteria? Or is soap just overrated? Can I really just give all my pots an pans a good scraping and then rinse under hot water? (Bacteria bactsheria, like it will hurt me.) Or, is my wife wrong? When we cook off those pans next time, am I enjoying a smorgasbord of bacterial offerings? (Mmmm, love eating that aged bacteria!) NOTE: I have never gotten sick from my wife's cooking. <Q> It's not special to a type of cookware. <S> Its explained by “FAT TOM”, the things bacteria need to survive and multiple to dangerous levels: Food, Acidity, Temperature, Time, Oxygen, Moisture. <S> Food, proper acidity, temperature, time, and oxygen are all present. <S> Moisture isn't. <S> When you clean cast iron, you typically scrub it with hot water, and often deglaze it. <S> Deglazing it requires bringing it to sterilization temperature, so that kills anything there. <S> Then, you drain that water out, and immediately dry it—often by throwing it back on the burner, bringing it well over the temperature required to kill pathogens. <S> Then you keep it dry, so nothing can start growing (no moisture). <S> If you instead kept the cookware damp, not only will rust form, but so will mold and bacteria. <S> (I'm not sure why you wouldn't use detergent on stoneware. <S> There isn't normally a seasoning layer on that, unlike iron. <S> I use soap on my stoneware. <S> Sometimes I even throw it in the dishwasher.) <A> I'm not sure what you mean by a "stoneware pan" in this case...but some pottery used for cooking shouldn't be washed with soap. <S> If it's glazed, then you should certainly clean it with soap, there's no reason not to. <S> For water-permeable baking stones, like a pizza baking stone, or some domes used for baking bread with a french-style crisp steamed crust, then using soap is a bad idea, because you typically can't rinse the soap out afterwards. <S> I've never tried washing one with soap, but the instructions that came with my pizza baking stone say that a soapy pizza baking stone is ruined and unusable for food. <S> For unglazed earthenware used for pizza, bread, or similar, you clean it with water and/or heat: if it gets dirty with something you can't wash off without soap, the remaining option is to burn it off by heating it to a high temperature in the oven, and then brushing or rinsing off the ash. <S> This removes the "food" from derobert's list of things needed for bacteria to grow, by turing it into less nutritious ash. <A> The are not exempt from bacteria, and there is no reason why you should not use soap <S> Dutch ovens are often made from cast iron, which has then been seasoned by coating it with cooking oil, and heating until the oil polymerises into a hard coasting. <S> Using hard set oils such as linseed make for generally better coating, but nearly any oil will do Harsh detergents and harsh scrubbing will remove this polymer and require it to be reformed to ensure pitting and rust <S> does not occur <S> The polymer layer will also reform over time by cooking with oil and high heat <S> Any metal pan that is heated sufficiently will not require much cleaning other than a quick wipe out to be reasonably bacteria free, but this is hardly the recommended method <S> Normal safe cleaning would be to use a hand wash detergent, and a cleaning cloth to remove all food and non polymerised oils from the pan <A> From the Pampered chef website : Q: Without soap, how can my Stoneware really be clean and safe from harmful bacteria? <S> A: The surface of the Stoneware is virtually nonporous, so no food particles or juices can be imbedded in the Stoneware. <S> Stoneware is safe to use as long as all food particles are removed from the surface and it is dried thoroughly before storing.
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If it's unglazed, and it's really stoneware, it should be safe to wash it with soap; since stoneware is watertight, the soap will stay on the surface, and you'll be able to rinse it off, so using soap is fine.
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How can you cook multiple omelets without burning them? Over the weekend, I was making omelets for 5 people in a single frying pan. The first few came out fine, but by the time I got to the fifth one...well, I'm glad that one was mine. The pan had gotten so hot that the eggs burned almost immediately, and while it was still edible, it certainly wasn't good. How can I prevent the pan from overheating when cooking for multiple people? I've had this problem before with some other foods as well (e.g., quesadillas), but the problem is most pronounced with eggs, at least for me. <Q> I have had the same issue when cooking lots of quesadillas, and have found the following combination of techniques to work quite well. <S> The obvious answer has been hit upon already, lower the heat. <S> But I think that's missing an important aspect of the issue. <S> What's happening is most likely that you are turning on the heat and then cooking your first omelet before the pan has actually reached temperature. <S> Depending on the type of pan, it can take up to 5 mins for the pan to reach temperature. <S> So, as you continue to cook, the pan is getting closer to temperature. <S> Of course, each time you add more cold egg, the temp decreases again. <S> So your heat is too hot, but it doesn't really become apparent until the last omelet. <S> Rather than just starting at a lower temperature though, start at the same temp you tried and then turn down the temperature as you continue to cook. <S> The pan can also heat rapidly between omelets. <S> Take the pan off the heat, swirl your butter or oil through it, add the egg, and then put it back on the heat. <S> This will stop the pan from getting too hot between omelets. <A> This may sound like a snarky answer <S> but it's not intended to be. <S> Since the pan is getting too hot, you need to lower the temperature. <S> Start out with a lower temperature and let the pan heat up fully before you cook your first omelet. <A> You can always put it back at a higher temperature if you see that the eggs cook too slow now. <S> It can also be necessary to put extra grease in your pan after 2 or 3 omelets. <A> Two things. <S> One, as has been touched upon in other answers, cook with lower heat. <S> Also, you may want to have a second pan, and rotate between them with each omelet. <S> This would allow each pan to cool, so that it would not retain enough heat to burn your eggs. <A> I remember hearing Bobby Flay say on one of his dozen shows, when he want to make the next one, he puts cold butter on the pan. <S> It will cool off the pan while its melting.
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If it seems really hot when you add the egg, you can cook it for a second with just the radiant heat of the pan before returning to the burner. It's a very simple solution: lower the heat.
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What is the best way to melt chocolate? Sometimes when I melt chocolate in a double boiler it will turn grainy, and melting in a microwave often burns it. What is the best way to melt chocolate to get good, smooth results? <Q> It depends on what you're doing with the chocolate. <S> If temperature isn't that critical and its going to be mixed into a cake or brownies or such, then do it in the microwave. <S> Its simpler and as long as you don't rush it, its does a good job. <S> Just go 10-20 seconds at a time, in bowl that doesn't hold heat well. <S> If you need precise temperature controlled chocolate (for tempering perhaps), its best to use a double boiler. <S> The bottom pan just has steaming water - so <S> I never really count that as a dirty dish. <S> With the double boiler, you get several advantages. <S> It won't get any hotter than the water. <S> It its gradual and gentle. <S> And you can monitor and stir as the temperature rises. <S> If it turns grainy, its likely a bit of water dripped in. <S> Depending on the top bowl on the double boiler, its possible to accidentally knock some condensation into the chocolate...and now its toast. <S> I use a top bowl that has a small outer lip on it to keep this from happening. <A> Melting chocolate in a double boiler is the safest method for melting chocolate, and it's fairly easy. <S> But it makes two pots dirty. <S> I didn't had the problem of it being grainy. <S> So I don't know what to say about that. <S> Therefore, lower the wattage and take it out to stir every 20 seconds. <S> It also continues to melt out of the microwave oven, so you can take it out even when there are still some pieces. <S> They will melt because of the heat of the surroundings. <S> If you see that not everything is going to be melted, pop it back in for ten seconds and stir. <S> I would advice using the microwave oven (but with reduced power), although most chefs (in their videos at least) use a double broiler. <S> And a footnote: be very careful with white chocolate. <S> That tends to burn the most easily. <A> If you are very patient, and chop the chocolate into reasonably small pieces (say a 1/2 inch squares), or use chocolate chips, the microwave at low power is extremely effective. <S> I put chocolate in on power level 2 on mine -- it takes several minutes at that low level -- and you should stir several times. <S> I do this in a glass bowl, intentionally, so there will be some residual warmth when I take it out. <S> At low power, the risk of burning is insignificant. <S> By doing this, I can keep chocolate in temper for candy (12 ounces of chocolate and three cups crunchy cereal like corn flakes is wonderful) without all the usual fuss of tempering. <A> I've been melting chocolate at the lowest position on the induction stove. <S> No double boiler, no nothing. <S> Just the pan, the chocolate, the butter and nº1 on the stove. <S> As the heat is so low, it will always turn out right. <S> Edit: <S> And whisk every once in a while. <S> It will lower the temperature. <A> My favorite way to melt chocolate is to surround a glass bowl with a heating pad.
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Melting chocolate in the microwave oven is faster and requires less dishes, but you have the risk of burning.
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How to make homemade ice cream with a chocolate swirl My favorite ice cream flavor has swirls of gooey chocolate running through vanilla ice cream. What do I have to do to reproduce this effect with homemade ice cream? I tried adding chocolate sauce near the end of churning but it was too thoroughly churned in. I have tried swirling the chocolate sauce in manually with a spoon after the churn but before freezing but the syrup mostly just floated on top. I am using a simple syrup based chocolate sauce. What technique should I use to produce my chocolate swirls? Does the consistency of the syrup play a role? Would some other chocolate sauce work better- such as hot fudge? <Q> When I've done this in the past, I did two things differently. <S> I used more of a fudge sauce that would thicken and get somewhat firmer when cold. <S> Like a fudge sauce or such. <S> Syrup just mixes too easy. <S> Mixing a swirl into a deeper container like the churning tub proved somewhat diffcult. <S> As I tried to swirl, it would mix instead. <S> Instead, I spread the ice cream in a large cake pan, poured the fudge over, swirled in a bit with the knife and then set it in the freezer for about 1 hour. <S> Then when everything was pretty firm, I scooped it up into the final container in as large of sections as possible. <S> It worked great . <A> With the semi frozen still soft icecream you could try placing it in a piping bag with a large or no nozzle and add some off the ripple flavour to the bag using a knife and very slightly push it through the icecream and then squeeze out through the piping bag into a continer, <S> im planning on using this method to make a marshmellow ripple in my flake and vanilla iceceam base. <S> I love making and experimenting with icecream texture and flavours. <S> yum! <S> For a more liquid flavouring like chocolate sauce maybe try layering a thin amount of icecream then swirl a little amount of sauce <S> then ice cream then swirl then ice cream etc.. <A> I'm thinking about trying this method so it's not tried and true. <S> However, I have an injector that I use for putting Cajun spices into a fried turkey. <S> The idea is similar to the pastry bag method mentioned previously. <S> The downside would be needing to refill the injector a few times but is shouldn't be too hard using a small gauge funnel.
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I'm thinking about loading up the injector with something like a hot fudge sauce and randomly putting swirls into the semi-soft ice cream, right after it has finished churning.
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Does the type of sugar make a difference when making chocolate? I was checking some sites on how to make chocolate myself.I should start with mixing cocoa butter, cocoa powder and sugar (and milk powder if I would make milk chocolate). Most sites mention "sugar". I'm assuming those are talking about granulated sugar. I've also found a few sites that call for powdered sugar. Since granulated sugar has larger particles, I guess it takes longer to be completely melted. But I believe it would happen (so the chocolate would not turn out grainy).Powdered sugar has smaller particles, so it should be absorbed rather quickly. However, there is also some starch added. Would this have an effect on the chocolate? Or is the amount too small for that? (After the mixing it together, I should melt and temper it, with adding some existing chocolate.) So, does the type of sugar make a difference in the taste or structure of my self-made chocolate? <Q> Speaking from making fudge, I have gotten the most consistent results using superfine / castor sugar. <S> I haven't noticed starch related issues from powdered sugar, but your mileage may vary; the problem I have had with it is due to clumping in spite of the starch (particularly in a frosting recently). <S> I have used granulated sugar to make fudge and it is grainy. <S> I melted most of it, but got sick of stirring it as it got crazy thick. <S> I suppose it's possible to get it to the point of a completely dissolved syrup, but that would take longer than it is worth since you are likely going to run the risk of scorching. <S> Relative to the taste and structure, you won't get anything special from the caster sugar. <S> However, you will get a more predictable product, and less hassle waiting for it to dissolve. <S> You will also avoid texture problems and reduce the risks brought on by extended time in the pot (i.e. too much heat, likelier to accumulate moisture randomly). <A> If you wait long enough, and stir the sugar long enough it will melt and liquify, so it doesn't really matter what kind of sugar you start with so long as you wait till all the sugar is melted to a liquid, and completely mixed with the chocolate. <S> If you do that sugar will cyrstalize no matter what kind of sugar you started with. <A> You mentioned in a comment you're trying to make solid chocolate, like chocolate bars? <S> Sugar simply doesn't dissolve in fats like cocoa butter, and you have no water or other liquid... <S> and if you did you'd get a softer chocolate confection, more like fudge, rather than hard chocolate like bars. <S> To make solid chocolate at home, the smooth kind, you will need some kind of conching or grinding equipment - something to grind the chocolate and sugar together to make it smooth and so that it stays well mixed together. <S> I believe that sugar will also settle, so just mixing powdered sugar into a liquid cocoa-powder-and-butter mixture <S> isn't found in homemade chocolate recipes - it won't stay suspended and evenly spread through your chocolate mixture. <S> Larger sugar crystals might actually stay suspended better, not settle as much, that is why mexican-style chocolate (with crunchy sugar crystals) is a thing. <S> I've seen some recipes that use honey or syrup but the resulting chocolate will tend to be softer. <S> One recipe used sugar at one-string consistency (a candymaking syrup), that might be your best bet for something like chocolate bars, if you want to go that far. <S> You can much more easily make chocolate confections like fudge, that have added water for the sugar to dissolve into, that is what most people end up doing and they can be very good. <S> That's what mfg was doing, from their answer. <S> And some of them might end up fairly close to solid chocolate, if that is what you're looking for, if you're using minimum sweetners and going for a very dark, bittersweet chocolate candy. <S> If you're interested in making chocolate properly with conching, there are dedicated grinders and also some Indian-style wet grinders can work, if you check the settings. <S> It sounds like a lot of fun, if also a lot of work.
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You can't add more sugar than the chocolate/butter mixture will absorb.
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What is the difference between white and pink ginger? Some sushi places serve white ginger flakes with their food, while others serve pink colored ginger. There doesn't seem to be any detectable taste difference that I've found. So, what is the difference between the two other than just color, and, why serve one over the other? <Q> Although white ginger and red (or pink) ginger do exist, the different colors in sushi ginger are from a dye. <S> The generic name for sushi ginger is gari and here's the Wikipedia page . <S> White gari/sushi ginger on the left and pink gari/sushi ginger on the right. <A> The bright pink ginger is pink because of food coloring. <S> http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/599069 <S> http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/514063793/Pickled_Sushi_Ginger.html?s=p <A> Salt and acids (in the case of pickled ginger, vinegar and citric acid) turn ginger pink during the pickling process naturally. <S> However, this hue will eventually fade to pale yellow and then brown in less than 3 months as the ginger gets exposed to UV light and heat. <S> This is why food coloring is added to the pink variety. <S> As for the yellow/white pickled ginger, sodium metabisuphite must be added to stop the product from turning brown. <S> This sulphite is an allergen and must be accordingly labeled. <S> If you want to preserve the natural pinkish hue of the pickled ginger, keep the product refrigerated at 2 degrees Celsius. <S> Away from UV light and heat, the color will remain for up to 1 year.
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The color in white sushi ginger comes from the pickling process and the red/pink color in ink sushi ginger comes from an artificial dye (usually E124 -cochineal red- or in other brands beet extract).
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How to prevent "sweating" chocolate covered strawberries? Last year for Valentines day, I decided I was going to be romantic and make some chocolate covered strawberries for someone special. I melted and tempered some milk chocolate. Then dipped the washed and thoroughly dried strawberries into the chocolate and put them on a plate in the refrigerator to quickly "set" the chocolate. Later that night as my special someone and I were eating the chocolate covered strawberries, we noticed that there was condensation both on the outside and in between the chocolate and strawberry. It was delicious nonetheless, but I was curious as to why it was "sweating" and if there is anything I can do to prevent this if I decide to ever be romantic again. <Q> Very simple: don't store your chocolate in the fridge. <S> The ideal temperature for setting chocolate is 20°C. <S> You can store it at less or more than that, but not too much. <S> Setting in the fridge results in bad chocolate. <S> Remember, when you work with chocolate, exact temperatures are extremely important. <S> Here a loose translation from a good article on chocolate/couverture coating: <S> This is the usual case. <S> You only want a temperature difference of 12° to 13° between the chocolate and its environment as well as between the chocolate and the confect interior. <S> If the interior is colder than the room, the setting will happen "inside out". <S> The cocoa butter film which gives a confect its shine will build on the inside, leaving the outside looking dull. <S> This is a really good case for some types of confect, but you can't do it with most types of filling (definitely not with strawberries). <S> Cooling from the outside gives you a beautiful shine. <S> If you want to achieve a good shine, it is possible to put the confects in the fridge for a short time, but only after they have cooled to 20°C at room temperature. <S> Don't let them fall to fridge temperature, take them out at 15°C. <S> The continued cooling from the outside is beneficial. <S> This shouldn't happen. <S> The temperature difference is too small, and the confect doesn't set quick enough. <S> In this case, cocoa butter pools on the surface and creates a yellowish layer after it hardens. <S> When you make your confect, you should time the first piece. <S> The setting should need 10 minutes. <S> If it is less, you don't get all the possible shine. <S> If it needs more, it will get grey or whitish yellow. <A> Chocolate will 'sweat' in the fridge if it cools too quickly, particularly if your fridge happens to be quite moist, which can quite often happen especially with lots of uncovered fruit and vegetables. <S> Also if you think that a strawberry is around 90% percent water it is hardly surprising that water forms (possibly from condensation as it goes from a warm to cool temperature) on the strawberry. <S> The best place to store chocolate is somewhere cool and dry. <S> I keep mine wrapped in foil, in a sandwich bag, in the 'larder'. <S> In any case the best way to store chocolate dipped strawberries according to this website is by keeping them in the fridge then before serving while still cold, whips of the condensation as not to damage the chocolate. <S> Another website with tips on storing chocolate is http://candy.about.com/od/workingwithchocolate/a/storechocolate.htm . <A> I suppose to some degree @rumtscho's explanation might explain why. <A> We served these at a fancy restaurant I worked in <S> and we simply didn't cover them in the fridge. <S> Leave them uncovered and they don't sweat.
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Common Belgian wisdom: if you want to prevent chocolate from "sweating", you need to store it at around 15-19 °C, and certainly never ever store it in a fridge...
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Why put a stone in the soup? I was surprised by the added stone in the soup of this question : "Also, for irony, a large (cleaned) stone is always left in the pot" What would be the reason for this? For the minerals in the stone? As far as I know, minerals do not infuse water directly out of a stone. <Q> There's an old children's story about making Stone Soup. <S> In it, a penniless begger offers to teach people how to make his favorite recipe: soup, made from a stone! <S> He boils some water and drops a stone in, and while it's "cooking", keeps mentioning offhand things like "It'd go great with some carrots" or <S> "Celery would be lovely in this". <S> The townspeople rush off and get celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, and the like to add to the soup, until eventually, they've made proper soup in his pot along with the stone. <S> So basically, the whole "stone soup" thing was a clever con game by which the begger can eat for free (or, in kinder versions than the one I recall, to trick the townspeople into learning a lesson about sharing). <S> The stone adds nothing to the soup. <A> A big pot, some water, and three smooth stones is all you need for the soup, but it's much better if you add vegetables, meat, some milk, salt and pepper, etc. <S> In the book, the villagers end up putting on a great feast and having a wonderful time, and the implied lesson for children is that it's more fun to share what you have for everybody's benefit than to keep your cabbages and barley hidden in the cellar. <A> I learned this trick from an old friend of my Grandmother more than 50 years ago. <S> She put three rounded stones in the pot when cooking soup so they would move about and stop the vegetables and grains from settling and burning on the bottom of the pot. <S> Molly did all of her cooking on a wood/coal fired oven. <S> Many people of my Mother's generation used to put glass marbles in the pan when making Jams or conserves for the same reason. <A> There is also a french dish called "potée" that take a stone in the pot, this is suppose to mash ingredients with the boiling movement and provide a particular texture. <S> So maybe it's the original mixer <A> I grew up being told a stone was used in the soup or stew while the food was being cooked. <S> This was a method used to keep the food in the pot hot for a while longer. <A> I came to the question from trying to find the best kinds of soup stones to add minerals to stews etc. <S> I know that Italians have a tradition of putting marble into their wells to add minerals to the water, and I know that cooking vegetables releases acids from the old habit of putting bicarbonate of soda in with peas etc. <S> I have observed the disintegration of bones used to add body to stews. <S> It is plausible that sea shells would perform this function, and I know that granite dust is used to provide trace elements in agriculture. <S> So stones may do more than tell you when your pot has gone dry. <A> Have you ever heard of the trick to cook a potato faster by pushing a nail into the center of it before placing it in the oven? <S> The nail gets hot and so the potato gets cooked from the inside while also being cooked from the outside.. <S> I've never heard of using stones in soup, but it immediately reminded me of the nail trick <S> so my reaction was "ohh, that's a really good idea. <S> " <S> Lol. <S> Some stones (maybe all stones?) retain heat very very well. <S> In fact, I once ate at a restaurant called"The Stone Grill" who's signature dish was bringing you a hot flat stone slab along with raw steak \ chicken \ pork and you would cook your own meat on the rock. <S> I was full after I finished eating all the steak and pork so I threw my raw chicken on the stone to cook <S> so I could take it home, and even after 40 minutes the stone was hot enough to cook the chicken.. <S> Soo <S> yes, old wives tales and stories aside <S> , stones cooked in soup would most certainly keep the soup hot long after it was removed from the stove. <S> And might even help it cook slightly faster.. <A> In Utah sometimes in elementary school teachers encourage students to bring stones for a soup. <S> The teacher then shows the children how to identify what kinds they brought and adds all the stones that have a high mineral content. <S> The result is a drink which is warm and tastes more like the water you get from the mountain springs and the teacher explains that the reason the mountain springs taste the way they do is the minerals from underground stones. <S> However I don't think this kind of stone soup is common elsewhere.
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The version of the story that many Americans know comes from the book Stone Soup , in which three weary soldiers enter a village and convince the suspicious villagers to share their supplies by showing them how to make soup from stones.
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Why do chocolate chips stay softer after being baked? I could be wrong, but I have the feeling that after baking chocolate chip cookies, the chocolate chips are still melted; or at least a lot softer than before you bake the cookies. It's logical that the chips melt, when they are in the oven, and even half an hour later. But why are they still softer the day after? What's the explanation behind this? It's as if the melting point has lowered. Or am I imagining things? <Q> During baking, all of the nice "tempered" crystals that come in the chocolate chips are melted out. <S> The chocolate loses its temper, if you will. <S> When the chocolate solidifies again, it does so with different crystals that result in a softer chocolate with a lower melting point. <A> Chocolate is in is most essential form made up of cocoa butter and cocoa solids. <S> The chocolate you buy is tempered, the crystals in the cocoa butter are aligned and properly formed, this is what keeps it shiny and gives it a snap. <S> When the chocolate melts, without tempering, in the cookie <S> the crystals in the cocoa butter melt but do not form properly again, this means the chocolate becomes soft, dull and 'blooms' fat which is where the cocoa butter rises to the surfaces forming a white layer (this will disappear upon melting). <S> Also in a cookie there will be a high proportion of fat and when the chocolate melts it combines with the fats (in the butter) and will create essentially pockets of chocolate glaze, which obviously doesn't set hard. <A> Its because chocolate chips aren't just chocolate. <S> They have additives in them for this purpose. <S> Its the same reason you don't want to use them for tempered chocolate. <A> Are you using real baking chocolate chips. <S> It sounds like you are using regular chocolate? <S> They do not therefore respond to normal chocolate tempering, and stay firm after baking Regular chocolate will stay soft after being baked because it has lost it's tempering. <S> Only use this if you want it to stay soft
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Chocolate chips are not usually normal chocolate, they have low level of cocoa butter, and have other fats and additives to ensure they hold their shape while being baked.
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Is there a way to keep chocolate chips from melting in chocolate-chip waffles? My memory might be playing tricks on me, but I swear I've had chocolate chip waffles (or maybe pancakes) where the chocolate chips were still somewhat hard - in other words, not completely melted. Every time I try, even if waiting for the batter to start cooking before adding the chips, they always seem to melt completely. Waiting for the chips to harden would also mean the waffles get cold. Any solution? <Q> You can use the tips Jay gave you, or you could try to put in modelling chocolate 'chips' instead of chocolate chips. <S> Modelling chocolate is a paste, so those chips won't be hard, but I've heard it doesn't melt, so it wouldn't be as soft as melted real chocolate chips. <S> Since it's just (light corn) syrup and chocolate, I guess the flavour would be fine in waffles. <A> Freezing the chips before adding them may slow the melting process while they are inside the waffle batter that has already been poured into the iron. <S> Thermal trip from frozen to melted is longer than room temp to melted. <S> Although 3-5 minutes inside a waffle iron will most likely melt regular chocolate chips from any temperature. <S> Bigger chips might partially solve the problem, they'll take longer to melt since they have more mass for the heat to work through. <S> In the US, Ghirardelli chocolate chips are a little bigger than, say, Nestlé chocolate chips. <S> Chocolate chunks would also function as "bigger chips." <S> The chocolate chips you see inside a pancake are added after the pancake has cooked fully on one side and just before flipping to finish off by browning the other side so the chocolate chips have spend much less time in contact with heat. <A> Dark chocolate will has a slightly higher melting point than milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate. <S> And since pancakes and waffles are usually eaten with syrup and other sweet toppings, it shouldn't be a problem that the chocolate is less sweet. <S> Use cold chocolate chips. <S> Leave the chocolate chips in the refrigerator prior to making the pancake/waffles.
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Although I can't fathom why you would want unmelted chocolate chips in your waffle or pancakes, some things you can try is: Using darker chocolate.
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What savory flavors would pair well with chocolate pasta? I want to experiment with making savory homemade pasta with cocoa powder. I think the earthy flavor and dark color will be striking. I have been thinking about what kinds of flavors could be used for the sauce. I considered how to get chili powder in there as I love those flavors together. What flavors (or sauces) would pair well with chocolate in a savory pasta dish? I did see this question: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/4786/what-common-or-uncommon-flavors-pair-well-with-chocolate It is more broad and does not answer my question. <Q> Hmmm, I would turn to cultures that use cocoa as a savory ingredient. <S> There is quite a bit of Mexican cooking that does this <S> and you did mention wanting to incorporate chili powder. <S> How about looking at the ingredients in Mole sauce for an inspiration. <S> Not sure I can provide specifics but just trying to give you some ideas. <S> Mole is pretty intense so maybe temper it with a cream? <S> Just some idea suggestions for a starting point. <A> I've seen very old recipes for rabbit in which you add bitter sweet chocloate to the sauce that also had the blood from the rabbit added for thickening <S> (Think it was from an Elizabeth David book where I found it). <S> However seeing that Mexican dishes use cocoa as part of the mole dishes they are famous for I'd start looking for inspiration there. <S> What you'd be looking for is the depth of flavour you would get with the addition of the cocoa to the dish. <S> It will give a nice base note <S> but you wouldn't want to be tasting an over powering chocolate taste IMHO. <A> Other candidates would likely be be something along the lines of braised beef or pork. <S> Ingredients with the strength to stand up to the cocoa in the pasta. <S> Cream sauces and cheeses are perfect accompaniments. <S> Salt and chili pair wonderfully with all of the above. <S> Best thing is to play with your food and have fun.
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I've made a chocolate freeform lasagna with roasted butternut squash, ricotta cheese and a sage & brown butter sauce that was to die for.
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Why do you need to refrigerate bread dough overnight? I'm making a no-knead bread (actually my very first time making bread!) and right after mixing the dry ingredients with water, it's supposed to sit for a couple hours to rise and then be placed in the refrigerator for some long period of time. Well wouldn't you know, after mixing the ingredients I accidentally let it sit all night - so it sat at room temperature for some 8-10 hours before I realized it. As soon as I found it in the morning, I put it in the fridge, where it has sat for now about 9 hours. The dough's consistency seems fine. Is there any reason I shouldn't go ahead and bake it? (after bringing it back down to room temp, as the recipe calls for) Why does it need to be refrigerated after rising at room temperature for a couple hours? <Q> The reason for doing delayed fermentation in the fridge is that the yeast development is slowed down, while still allowing the enzymes that naturally occur in the flour to do their work (converting starches to sugars, making a more flavorful dough). <S> The risk of doing it on the counter instead of the fridge is that the enzymes are working AND the yeast is working, which can over-leaven the bread, and they'll eat up the sugars you are trying to create with enzymes. <S> Over-leavened bread isn't ideal, but it isn't the end of the world either. <S> There is a lot to learn about bread baking if you want to really excel at it, but "just bake it <S> , it'll be fine" is always present as you experiment - glad the loaf turned out well! <S> "No-Knead" bread is a great introduction to "rustic" doughs (very high water content), and to cold fermentation. <S> Cold fermentation is about the best thing you can do for your bread as a home baker, whether or not you are using the no-knead recipe - I cold ferment nearly everything I bake. <S> If you want to learn more about the process and jump off the deep end, Peter Reinhart's book "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" is a great place to start. <S> It is detailed without being pedantic, simple without being over-simplified, and oriented for the home baker without forgetting the reasons that professionals do things the way they do. <A> i believe the long refrigeration period slows down the yeast, and does over the long sitting period what the routines of kneading and rest periods at room temperature would do. <A> During this time the flavor develops a great deal; also, the fridge period just gives the bread a great overall taste. <S> In the book 5 Minute a Day Bread, they say you can mix a big batch and leave it in the fridge for up to 14 days pinching off a ball now and then to bake and eat.
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I think being in the fridge slows the yeast action down and the gluten continues to develop and that is what makes your bread soft and chewy and not crumbly.
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Can I freeze soup in a pot? Can I freeze soup in a pot (I believe it's made of stainless steel)? Are there any health risks? Is there any risk of damage to the pot? <Q> Also other products in freezer bags may even freeze to it <S> In general it's easier not to use metal containers in the freezer, unless enamelled or plastic coated <A> The possible risks I can think of <S> are (1) <S> the large thermal mass may mean that the soup cools off too slowly, leading to spoilage in the middle, and (2) freezer burn on the top of the soup, because there's no truly effective way to seal out air from a pot. <S> In practice, (1) is unlikely unless you're talking about a 25-gallon pot or something, in which case it wouldn't fit in an ordinary freezer anyway. <S> (2) on the other hand will be a problem, unless you're only freezing the soup for a short period. <S> The only risk to the pot is that it may not quite fit in the freezer comfortably, so as people take things out and put things in, they may shove the pot about and maybe break a handle or something. <A> If it's stainless, there should be no health or other problem. <S> But you will lose your pot for the duration of the freezing. <A> Water expands when it freezes. <S> That has a small risk of damaging the pot (though, it'll likely expand upwards instead—do not fill to the top). <S> E.g., this can cause glass jars to break. <S> Metal is more flexible though (and you have a very wide "mouth" on the pot). <S> But I'm unsure why you'd ever want to do this. <S> Freezing in disposable hot-beverage cups (the non-styrofoam type that coffee is served in) is a much better option. <S> First, its a single serving per cup, so you can easily pull one serving out of the freezer. <S> Second, they're microwavable. <S> To freeze in disposable cup: <S> Ladle soup into cup <S> Once cooled to reasonable temperature (say, 140°F), place piece of plastic wrap over top, pressed down over soup to remove all air <S> Put lid on (which will hold down the plastic wrap). <S> Freeze
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The pot should be fine, but there is always a risk with metal in a freezer in that bare skin contact may freeze to it. There are no health safety risks with storing food in a stainless steel, or most other cooking pot metals for that mater
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What cattle do we get our "beef" from in the US? What type of cattle (i.e. cow) do we usually get our "beef" from? There are different variations of cows - e.g. longhorn, bull, buffalo and more - but when I buy "beef" in the market I am never told what kind of cattle the meat is originated from - just say it's beef. There are a few restaurants who specialize in cooking a certain cattle meat and would tell you what specific kind of cattle the meat is from, but not when you're buying meat yourself. So, generally when we buy "beef" in the market, what is the cattle? [EDITED] When I says "beef" I meat "USA beef" <Q> As someone who has raised beef cattle (here in Oklahoma) I must say the TFD is (unfortunately) mistaken, (at least here in the U.S.) <S> Most cattle fall into one of two varieties, Beef and Dairy (there are also some breeds that are almost exclusively show cattle) <S> The most popular (and common) <S> Beef varieties are Angus, Limousine, Herefords, Longhorn; This list, including cross breeds (for instance, limangus, what I raise, is a cross of limousine and angus) and constitutes somewhere around 90% of beef production with in the US. <S> (not include 'beef' used for things like dog food). <S> I would consider that list to be in descending order of beef quality (but that is a matter of opinion...) <S> There are several varieties of cattle which are raised for dairy production, and these do not generally produce quality cuts of meat, but do produce copious quantities of milk. <S> These breeds are led by Holstein-Friesian, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Ayrshire, Jersey, and Milking Shorthorn. <S> Buffalo (or Bison) is a separate breed altogether and is no longer all that exotic. <S> I regularly use bison to make chili. <S> Yes, cows are 'females' but not all cows are heifers, a heifer is a female that has not yet given birth to her first calf . <S> And @Scivitri <S> while feeding and ranging cattle do make a difference the driving force in beef flavor is still the breed. <S> I can tell the difference between breeds by flavor but the difference from feeding and ranging is really more about tenderness and texture. <A> What country are you in? <S> Most are very similar, though some have slightly better properties for certain cooking styles. <S> But these are mostly offset by condition on the animal, feed quality, and age <S> A good butcher would know not only what kind of cow it was, but what farm it came from (hopefully a local one!) <S> In countries with large dairy industries you will find plenty of very young beef from the excess stock of the milking cows A free range, grass feed, happy and healthy cow, only a year or two old is generally going to have nicer meat than some "flash" brand cooped up and artificially feed <A> I was a butcher for 8 years in a grocery store. <S> if you are not buying the animal for a speciality shop you are getting feed lot beef from a packing plant. <S> If you are at a restaurant and they say they're serving Angus beef or Black Angus or Red Angus <S> you ask him to prove it <S> then I guarantee you that they can't. <A> Herefords <S> Wagyus <S> My grandpa sells Herefords to the best restaurants in NYC his meat is highly sought after. <S> He treats his cows like his children and they produce some of the best meat here in Ohio. <S> Our neighbor raises Wagyu and grandpa and him are both known to have some of the best cows in Ohio. <S> Both have articles written about them. <S> I have loved petting the cows since I was a kid <S> they're very docile.
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Most countries offer beef from all their cow varieties.
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Can I ferment black garlic intermittently? Following this black garlic tutorial and in reference to this SA question , I would like to try making myself black garlic, and to try fermenting the garlic to different time to test out difference in flavor The tutorial suggest that garlic has to be fermented for 40 days continuously to become black garlic. It would be difficult to leave my oven, slow cooker, or a rice cooker unused for other cooking for a month. So my question is: can I ferment it intermittently - take out the garlic, use the cooker for something else, then restore the garlic and resume the heating. Would that still give me black garlic? <Q> YES. <S> Yes, you can. <S> I just did. <S> My first attempt in my rice cooker had uncovered garlic heads in it for 10 continuous days-- <S> the result was black but dried hard as rocks (and the process stank up the entire house the whole time). <S> My second attempt involved wrapping each head in two layers of foil, then putting the garlic in a much lower temperature warming oven (no thermostat at all, just a light bulb) for 10 days, which resulted in beige garlic. <S> I then switched it over to the rice cooker for 2 days, turned it off, checked them, then another 2 days, turned it off, forgot about it for a day, checked them... another 2 days, turned it off, checked them... and found DELICIOUSNESS. <S> It needs more time <S> , I think, it's not as sweet as I'd like yet and could be a little darker. <S> I've seen some Koreans mention finishing the batch by just hanging the garlic in a bag for a week, so that's what I'm going to do. <A> Simply put: No. <S> Step 3 on eHow : <S> Just be sure that the temperature remains at about 130 to 150 degrees Thinking of beer fermenting, specific temperature ranges are required because that's what keeps the yeast happy. <S> Not sure about the function in this case, but it follows that it's probably temperature-sensitive as well. <S> A food dehydrator would probably be a better bet than the oven. <A> Short answer: <S> yes, you can take as long as you'd like. <S> Rather, what transforms garlic into black garlic is a very long and slow caramelization - the Maillard reaction. <S> While I haven't personally tried "fermenting" garlic intermittently, there is nothing about the process that couldn't be suspended for a little while so you can use the appliance in question. <S> It will certainly slow the already long process, but that all depends on how often it is interrupted.
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The "fermentation" of black garlic is a misnomer, as the process has nothing to do with bacteria or yeast.
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Will microwaving lemons make them easier or more efficient to juice? I've heard many people say that microwaving lemons before juicing them causes them to release more juice. I'm skeptical, although not enough so to ask this on Skeptics. I cannot think of any physical reason why this should be so, and I don't believe it, but I would love to have some kind of response when people say this, or even to be proven wrong! <Q> It makes the lemon easier to squeeze. <S> I think it has the most effect on the peel; it's softer and more flexible when warm, so you're able to get more juice out of it than you could otherwise if you're juicing by hand. <S> That's especially true if you're trying to juice several lemons - you'll just get tired and stop being as thorough if it's harder. <S> It definitely still makes it easiser if you have the squeezer-style juicer , since those do basically turn the fruit inside out in the process. <S> It probably doesn't help as much with the kind that you push the fruit down onto . <A> In my 900W microwave it takes 1/2 inch water 1 minute to boil and around 30 seconds to become hand-hot, (I know it may take a bit longer when heating a lemon with the skin acting like an insulator although this effect will be lessened due to the high oil content of the zest). <S> You probably won't 'boil' the lemon <S> however if you did it would produce by far the most juice as the water in the cells would turn into steam and burst creating a semi-juiced lemon before you've even cut it in half. <S> A cell membrane is made up of many intricate structures, one of which is fatty acid tails. <S> When these melt the cell becomes more 'fluid' and becomes more permeable. <S> This fatty acid melts at around 65 degrees. <S> This would create a lemon that is a lot more flexible and juicy. <S> Cell membrane diagram. <A> I cannot think of any physical reason why this should be so, and I don't believe it <S> Have you tried it? <S> Buy two lemons, nuke one of them, and squeeze them both. <S> Measure the juice that you get from each. <S> Better, have someone else (who isn't aware that the lemons are different in any way) squeeze the lemons and tell you if they thought one was easier to squeeze than the other. <S> It'd also be interesting to warm up a lemon in a low oven or just a bowl of hot water. <S> My own experience is that a short spin in the microwave can make limes easier to squeeze. <S> Limes are often small and very firm, and getting any juice out of them at all is sometimes difficult. <S> The microwave trick does seem to help with this. <A> I use to warm lemons (and oranges) letting them for a while (maybe 4-5 minutes) in a pot of warm water. <S> They do release more juice. <S> If you feel skeptical about microwave, you can try this way. <A> Softening lemon with water and all that jazz takes time. <S> Best is microwave, just 30 - 45 seconds is enough to make it soft to squeeze more juice.
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Based on this evidence, I personally would say that microwaving a lemon actually could help with juicing, the effect will be most noticeable when you're juicing a lot of lemons without a juicer.
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Cocoa nibs used for cooking or baking? From my understanding, a cocoa nib is unprocessed cocoa (correct me if i'm wrong please). Are cocoa nibs ever used for cooking or baking? My assumption is that they need to be processed in order to be utilized. <Q> Cocoa nibs are the result of fermenting the seeds from the cocoa fruit (the size of a large grapefruit), and then roasting the whole cocoa beans, and then de-shelling them <S> The de-shelling process tends to gently crack the contents into large pieces. <S> Unlike other seeds and nuts this is acceptable as the product is going to be finely ground anyway <S> You can also buy "raw cocoa nibs", which are fermented, de-shelled, but not roasted. <S> These have a different taste, and do not make good chocolate Roasted or not they taste interesting and are useful as a whole flavour item in salads, baking, drinks etc. <S> They are very high in fat <S> so use with caution. <S> The fat also has a very low melting point, so will make any warm liquid dish look oily <S> They are not to everyone's taste, unlike chocolate compound :-) <S> In both these case the beans have been fermented on the ground for a few weeks. <S> Non-fermented cocoa beans are not very nice (I haven't ever had any though). <S> From what I understand they compare to fermented beans like non-pickled olives are too pickled olives :-/ <S> Roasted cocoa bean nibs, and roasted cocoa beans Non-roasted cocoa bean nibs <A> You may also see cocoa (nib) powder, this is different to cocoa powder. <S> Cocoa powder is simply cocoa nibs that have been blitzed into a powder. <S> Cocoa powder is just the cocoa solids, meaning all the cocoa butter removed. <S> It's not a direct substitution, but you can use them in place of chocolate chips for a more grown up pure chocolate flavour without sweetness (although use sparingly as they are some what bitter) <S> , I've heard they're great in banana bread. <S> You can use them in macarons <S> even too! <S> Too be honest <S> if you ground them up you could always use them instead of cocoa powder. <S> Being that they have a no sugar and an earthy character you could use them in a host of savoury dishes as well. <S> As mentioned in the previous answer in marinades, spice rubs, sauces (think mole) and even in jam ! <S> Cocoa nibs on the left and cocoa beans on the right. <S> I won't bother with an image for cocoa powder and cocoa powder as the images are barely distinguishable and colours and hues in cocoa powder and cocoa powder are mainly dependable on the species and how it has been prepared (dutching, etc). <A> Cocoa nibs can be mixed and ground with other spices and used as a rub on meats.
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Yes, cocoa nibs are simply cocoa beans that have been roasted and hulled to the point where they would be made into actual chocolate, (adding cocoa butter and sugar).
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Difference in caffeine levels between light and bold coffee? Over the last few years I had come to believe that the roasting process for bold coffees removed caffeine from the beans resulting in a lower caffeine content than compared to a light roasted coffee. I got this idea from Good Eats with Alton brown. Here's the clip where the master roaster makes this point. However, yesterday's On Point w/ Tom Ashbrook had on a coffee expert that made the opposite claim. Also, comments the page have pointed to sources describing the inconsistency of caffeine levels: Caffeine content by roast level and Does dark roast coffee have less caffeine than light roast ? Searching around on .edu sites I find charts that seem to support the idea that bolder coffees contain more caffeine. The charts show smaller amounts of bold coffee (2-4oz) contain the same amount of caffeine as larger amounts of light roasted coffee (6oz). So, obviously, typical consumption amounts play a role in how much caffeine will be ingested. Caffeine Charts http://www.uhs.umich.edu/caffeine#contents http://www.psychiatry.ufl.edu/aec/research/abstracts/sobpcaffiene.pdf In the end, I'd like a definitive answer to this question: after roasting which bean contains more caffeine or is the difference negligible? And/or does the brewing method significantly alter the caffeine content? <Q> I believe that the following study provides a definitive answer: Application of high performance liquid chromatography to the analysis of some non-volatile coffee components From the abstract: High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied to the analysis of caffeine, trigonelline, nicotinic acid and sucrose in Arabica and Robusta coffee. <S> Green and roasted coffee samples were used in this study and the degradation of sucrose and trigonelline, with the formation of nicotinic acid, was followed during roasting. <S> Caffeine did not undergo significant degradation with only 5.4% being lost under severe roasting. <S> Roasting does in fact lower the caffeine content, so bolder coffees will have less caffeine if they come from the exact same bean. <S> But even under the worst conditions, the impact of roasting is trivial compared to the impact of bean selection, brewing method, etc. <S> What does degrade is sucrose (sugar), which is why heavily-roasted beans tend to taste so bitter (or "bold"). <S> Bottom line <S> : Make your roasting decision based on flavour preference, not caffeine content. <S> Because the effect on caffeine is so small, you really can't compare the caffeine content of light roasts vs. dark roasts categorically unless you have a controlled sample, which you don't unless you're working in a lab. <A> Posted from: http://coffeefaq.com/site/node/15 by Daniel Owen: <S> It really depends on how you measure the caffeine. <S> When coffee is roasted the beans loose some water content (somewhere in the 20% range give or take a few percent). <S> At the same time it is losing weight it is gaining size. <S> This leads to a situation that makes answering this question a little interesting. <S> Assuming all other variables are the same, if you measure by weight you actually have more caffeine in dark roast because the water loss is faster than the minimal caffeine loss during roasting. <S> If you measure by volume you have less caffeine because the beans expand as they roast. <S> This seems to confuse some people so let me restate the above. <S> If you measure your coffee using a scoop you will have less caffeine per cup using dark roast coffee. <S> If you measure your coffee by weight you will have more caffeine per cup using a dark roast. <S> The difference one way or the other is small. <S> If you are buying a cup of coffee and the coffee is measured by weight (common with prepacked coffee used in many offices and some restaurants) then dark roast will have slightly more caffeine. <S> This is really only an issue if you are talking about two identical coffees and even then the differences are small. <S> It is conceivable if you are comparing two available brewed coffees that a difference in varietals between them could make the have as much effect as the roast and the preparation method will almost certainly had a larger effect than the roast level or varietal. <S> If there is a Robusta in one of the coffees it is almost guaranteed to have more caffeine. <S> This is mostly an academic discussion because the differences in caffeine content are relatively small. <A> Caffeine's boiling point is 352.4F or 178C. <S> Note that it sublimates before its anhydrous (dry) melting point. <S> Wikipedia's article on coffee roasting, and other hobbyist sources, recommend roasting temperatures upwards of 400F / 200C, so caffeine "loss" is expected. <S> Of course, strain of bean and other treatment of the coffee/grinds can also affect total caffeine.
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If you buy a cup and the restaurant measures by volume (common when coffee is fresh ground and measured on the fly) then light roast will be slightly higher in caffeine simply because you will have more coffee grounds.
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Can I use a tagine on a glass cooktop, and do I need a heat diffuser? I somehow ended up acquiring not one but two tagines recently. Unfortunately, I have neither a gas nor charcoal stove (the ideal cooking surfaces for tagines, AIUI), only a smooth glass cooktop. I've already tried using the W-S tagine, with a heavy cast-iron skillet as a makeshift heat diffuser. It worked out okay — the dish turned out great, but it took forever to cook, much longer than previous times I've cooked the dish using a cast iron Dutch oven. In the end, I had to turn the heat to high so that the dish would finish in a reasonable amount of time. This also resulted in stripping the seasoning from the skillet, which I'd rather avoid every time I want to cook a tagine. Is there a better way to use a tagine on a cooktop? Should I be using some sort of heat diffuser (which variety?), or can I place the tagine directly on the burner, and just keep the heat low? I'm hesitant to try the latter: both tagines have a small rim around the bottom, so the area of direct burner contact would be very small. Should I give up and just stick to using the tagines in the oven? <Q> My name is Tom Wirt, with Clay Coyote Pottery. <S> I'll try to shed some light on the intricacies of clay cooking pots, especially tagines. <S> You can use any flameware tagine directly on the glass stovetop. <S> This includes, Emile Henry, Le Crueset, and Clay Coyote flameware. <S> These are pots with either a metal base (Le Crueset) , or a type of ceramic called flameware (Emile Henry, Clay Coyote which is formulated and made to take direct heat. <S> Normal stoneware clay pots and earthenware pots will not do this. <S> Stoneware should never go on a direct heating source, gas, electric or glasstop. <S> It will crack with or without a diffuser. <S> Earthenware ceramic pots, typically identified by a reddish clay color and some absorbency by the bare clay (typically the bottom), do need a diffuser and should be started over a low heat. <S> They can crack if used over sudden or too high a heat. <S> Remember that these pots were originally used over charcoal fires. <S> Metal, obviously is fine. <S> The flameware ceramic pots, are designed for direct heat and are actually especially good on glasstops as the top spreads the heat better than electric or gas. <S> Clay is a insulator, not a conductor. <S> Thus the heat doesn't spread much, but, with a highly liquid food like a tagine, the liquid spreads the heat. <S> Basically a tagine is cooked at a simmer, even though the pot would take the heat. <S> Induction stoves require a metal plate with ceramic cookware to turn the electromagnetic force into heat. <S> You can find more info on my blog . <A> It looks like your standard advice is to use a diffuser. <S> Diffusers come in various materials ranging from tin, to steel, to aluminized steel, and cast iron. <S> The Nordic steel diffusers are recommended by not only the Williams Sonoma link (on the page), but also a vendor that sells the Mason Cash tangine . <S> Exception <S> : Take note that some tangines have a " footed base for heat diffusion . <S> " If the one you used on the cast iron has a footed base it is possible that it took so long because you were double dodging the heat. <S> For the Williams-Sonoma, under the "Use & Care" tab: "Safe for use on gas and electric cooktops and outdoor grills; on stovetops use a diffuser." <S> For the Mason Cash: "When using the tagine on a hob, always use a heat diffuser." <S> "Suitable for on the hob (with a heat diffuser), in the oven, microwave and to serve" In general: "Heat diffusers are almost always essential if using a Tagine pot of earthenware, clay, ceramic or any material other than metal. <S> Tagines were originally designed as heavy earthenware pots to be used on charcoal braisiers for slow cooking. <S> Even the modern designs with a few noteable exceptions will crack if used on a present day hob and the heat is turned up. <S> Take note of the manufacturers instructions... <S> Also take note of manufacturers instructions regarding electric induction hobs, some Tagines will work if you use an induction hob adapter, others do not reccomend use on induction hobs." <S> In my researching it seems pretty unanimous despite the merchant, manufacturer, or material that you should be using a diffuser on the stovetop, gas or electric. <S> Whether you "can" get away with not using one because it is "heat resistant", my advice is to not risk exploding ceramic shrapnel in your face. <A> It sounds like your cooktop might be an induction range. <S> All the tagines I've ever seen were earthenware, so I wouldn't expect them to work at all -- you'd need some sort of metal plate such as a heat diffuser or your skillet to heat up and transfer the heat to the tagine. <S> There are other kinds of smooth cooktops, but you'd probably know it if you had one that would work with your tagine. <A> I'm Barbara Wilde, from the webside www.frenchgardening.com, where I've sold clay cookware for about 12 years. <S> I also do about 75% of my own cooking in clay pots from all over thw world, including many tagines. <S> You definitely need a heat diffuser. <S> However, if your cooktop is a glass INDUCTION top, I wouldn't recommend you try using clay pots on it with the adaption clips sold for regular cookware. <S> The only way to do that might be to put the adapter on a steel flame tamer, and put the claypot on top of that.
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The need for a diffuser when used in conjunction with any electric cook top seems pretty universal across all tangine material types while browsing other manufacturers sites.
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Does natural {peanut, cashew, almond} butter require refrigeration? I have purchased a few different types of natural peanut butter and all have stated that refrigeration is required after opening. However, I recently purchased Archer's Farms Almond, Peanut & Cashew Butter from Target which doesn't say anything about refrigeration after opening. From what I've read on other sites (anecdotal) and some .edu sites, raw/natural nut butters can grow mold and do require refrigeration. Any ideas on why Archer's Farms butter doesn't say anything about refrigeration? Peanut butterunopened 6-9 months Refrigeration not needed. Keepsopened 2-3 months longer if refrigerated. Natural peanut butter must be refrigerated after opening. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fn579-2.htm <Q> What will happen with natural peanut butter is that the fat (of which there's plenty) will go rancid over time. <S> The oxidation process that leads to rancidity requires heat, light, and usually oxygen; keeping it in the refrigerator will therefore slow the process down significantly. <S> Manufacturers are probably not required to put the "keep refrigerated" warning on nut butters because eating rancid food technically won't kill you or make you seriously ill. <S> When a product says to keep refrigerated, sometimes that's for safety, sometimes it's just for quality - <S> in the case of peanut butter it's typically the latter. <S> Commercial peanut butter has a ton of sugar and other preservatives, which is why refrigeration is not necessary, even for quality purposes. <A> Call the company directly and ask. <S> I do that with all my foods (I live without a refeigerator). <S> I met people who never refrigerate mayonaisse and lived to tell. <S> Turns out you don't need to if you don't introduce any other food particles into it! <S> Now I never refrigerate mayo, or many other foods and condiments. <S> So it pays to call the company and insist on the truth :-) <A> I've never refrigerated my natural peanut or nut butters. <S> I eat it regularly so it does not sit around for long. <S> A quick stir before using.
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I don't think I've ever seen peanut butter grow mold, natural or commercial, refrigerated or not.
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What are those cakes called which don't have an icing on them? I have eaten some home made cakes which never had any icings, they still tasted brilliant. What are those cakes called which don't need an icing on them? I heard they are called "Sponge cakes". Is that correct? <Q> Sponge cake is a name for a cake made from a specific type of batter - it consists of one part fat, one part egg, one part sugar, and one part flour, made by foaming the fat and sugar (with creaming instead of foaming, a batter from the same proportions is called pound cake , at least if you follow the classification established by M. Ruhlmann). <S> You can make other types of cake - angel food cake, chiffon, genoise, etc - and not add icing, they are differentiated by the type of batter only. <S> In other languages, there is a difference. <S> In German, the ones without icing are called "Kuchen", and the ones with rich, decorated icing are called "Torte" (and usually seen as a subset of Kuchen"). <S> But in German, a pie is also considered a type of "Kuchen", so this is more of an umbrella term, even though the standard thing someone pictures upon hearing the word "Kuchen" is some kind of iceless cake, usually on the lines of a marbled Gugglehupf. <S> But in English, there is no special term for a cake without the icing. <S> In some sources, English speaking authors use a category for the opposite of what you are asking. <S> However, it is not centered on the baking attributes of the cake, but rather on its purpose - I have seen authors create bookchapters called "celebration cakes", "wedding cakes", "birthday cakes" etc. <S> It is implicit that they place the richly decorated cakes in these categories, while the plainer ones stay as "everyday cakes", in UK sources sometimes as "tea cakes" or even get no special name at all. <S> In the end, the same cakes which fall on the "celebration" side in this categorization scheme tend to be the ones that are called "torte" in German. <A> It's called Cake Cake with icing is called "iced cake". <S> Iced cake is mostly a modern aberration, and a "normalisation of party food"* * a common trend often linked to the expanding waistlines of today <A> They are called "naked cakes". <S> For example, this article states <S> A naked cake is easily recognized by its absent or minimal outer layer of frosting, which shows off the cake’s natural texture and filling. <S> Some naked cakes have zero frosting on their outer edge, while others have just a wisp of buttercream. <A> In my house we call it "plain cake"
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In English, all cakes are called just cake , no matter if iced or not.
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Meat and fruit dessert I'm having an event where one of the rules is that every dish has to contain both fruit and meat. I've spent the last half hour pondering as to what should I prepare as dessert. Question: What makes us consider a food "appropriate" as a dessert? ( Subquestions: Has anyone studied it methodically? Would it be the absence of umami flavor or is that irrelevant? Is there some technique I can use to make these flavors blend better together?) <Q> The only thing which makes food considered appropriate as a dessert is cultural convention. <S> This is obvious once you observe the differences between cultures. <S> In some cases, the difference is very clear-cut. <S> The only tastes acceptable for desserts are sweet and sour, with sweet being banned from all other courses. <S> This is common in cuisines inheriting Ottoman traditions. <S> Desserts there are very sweet, and the addition of a sweet taste to a main dish (e.g. duck with oranges) or non-sweet to a dessert (e.g. salty caramel) is considered very strange and unpleasant. <S> Other modern cultures are more permissive. <S> There are well-known sweet-and-savory pairings even in Western cuisine (the abovementioned salty caramel, melon with ham, sugar-glazed carrots), and Asian and South American cuisines seem to be even more prone to such mixes (e.g. a meat pie in a plantain crust). <S> Then there are cases where no sweet dessert is eaten at all, for example the French tradition of viewing a cheese plate as a dessert. <S> And historically, there was no distinction at all, with nobility eating everything expensive they had mixed in a single dish, so that you had rose water mixed with black pepepr, rice and honey served to meat, for example. <S> There is a reason why older books on English cuisine list "savoury puddings", even though today "pudding" in its broad sense has come to mean "dessert". <S> For further reading, also see this article - it is mostly on food pairings, but you can see how North American cuisine builds two clusters of food combinations, one centered on baked desserts (flour, eggs, vanilla) and <S> the other one on savory ingredients, while in Asian pairings, the effect is much less pronounced. <S> That said, I suspect that if you are serving your dessert to people with predominantly Western upbringing, they would have hard time accepting something very meaty as a dessert. <S> While ham with apricot and almonds is an acceptable combination by Anglo-Saxon standards, it is not served for dessert. <S> I would make something with a strong fruit component, and combine with a small amount of delicate meat. <S> A fruit salad with a few shreds of proscuito should work. <S> Alternatively, you could take some meat without much taste on its own, like chicken breast, include it in some kind of filling, and combine with lots of fruit. <A> How about being a bit playful and swapping the usual roles of fruit and meat. <S> You could try pairing candied bacon with a smoked, roasted, or grilled fruit. <S> You could apply any of those techniques to a good peach and have something tasty. <S> Tie the course together with more familiar flavors, maybe nuts, a good, creamy cheese, and a glass of port. <A> I make a chocolate beer maple bacon cupcake that is delicious. <S> I don't add any bacon to the cupcake, but that could easily be fixed by either adding chopped bacon or using some bacon grease in the batter. <S> I do use bacon grease when making the frosting and crumble up the candied bacon I made onto the frosted cupcakes. <S> I just remembered you needed a fruit in it. <S> Maybe bananas? <S> Bananas go well with chocolate and potentially with bacon. <S> Maybe make a banana chocolate cupcake with a maple bacon frosting?And, apparently, I'm answering an almost three year old post, so I'm a little late to the party! <S> LOL Whoops!
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Make the meat sweet and the fruit savory.
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Why doesn't my conventional-oven Naan bread taste authentic? I recently tried this recipe for Naan bread in an oven, and followed it diligently, but the product that came out did not have that characteristic flavor of Naan. It was more like a pizza bread without topping. Also, it was a bit puffier than the Naan they serve in restaurants, which is of a flat nature. Is the flavor that you get in an authentic Indian restaurant solely because of the clay oven? What can I do to improve this recipe? EDIT: Thanks for the answers. I tried the stove top method and although it charred, it did not give that flavor. It was more like overcooked roti :). Which makes me wonder how come roti and nan taste so different (they have similar recipes) EDIt#2: Some of you have suggested doing this on a bar be que grill. Can nan be done on an open campfire? That would be something! <Q> Probably nothing you can do to truly replicate it at home, but here are some things to try: Use a pizza stone in the oven, and turn the oven to MAX, as hot as it will go (above 500F). <S> Let it preheat for 45 min at least to get the stone to full heat. <S> Put the dough right on the stone (either by hand - risky but traditional, or with a pizza peel or upside down sheet pan covered in corn meal). <S> The naan will cook much quicker, maybe 3-5 minutes at most. <S> If you can get the oven hot enough, you'll get a little of the "char" that is part of the flavor. <S> After mixing the ingredients, let the dough rest overnight in the fridge. <S> The next day, pull it out, let it warm to room temp and resume the proofing process. <S> That will let more sugars be created from enzymes converting starch to sugar, and will slightly improve browning (part of the flavor you are looking for). <S> Of course, if you want to get fun, you could look into one of the many tutorials on building a wood-fired oven in your yard. <S> Lots of great baking to be had there, including a more traditional naan bread. <S> For more tips, read up on all the things people do to their home ovens to bake better pizza - they will all apply to clay oven baking as well. <S> Things like hearth inserts, faking out the "cleaning cycle" and other tips are common. <S> Based on comments and some more thinking, my first recommendation would be a grill - charcoal if you have it, gas if you don't. <S> The procedure would be similar to making grilled pizza (well described in Peter Reinhart's "American Pie"). <S> Using a charcoal grill with hardwood charcoal, a dough that is stiff enough to not immediately slide through the grate on your grill (may mean slightly less water in your dough), and making sure to brush the surface of the dough with oil or ghee before flopping down on the grill, you could probably get even closer to the clay oven. <S> It still isn't the same thing, but you might get more of the smoky charred flavors you seek. <A> Your essential problem is heat. <S> Like pizza and many other flat breads, its best done HOT. <S> Instead of the oven, try a cast iron pan on high on the stove. <S> My pan on an electric stove will easily reach over 800F. <S> Do it just for a minute or two and flip. <S> Its not quite the same as an 800-900 F oven, but works. <S> A user below suggests a cast iron (un-enameled) <S> Dutch Oven on the oven for good results! <A> The closest I have come to the perfect naan with an oven is: 1: <S> Pre-heat (after brushing very lightly with cooking oil) a flat, large pan (I use one of indian design, probably designed for chapatties) to as high as it will go. <S> When the brushed oil starts smoking it's ready. <S> If the oil pools, you've used too much. <S> 2: Put the shaped naan on then immediately reduce the heat to a lower-medium, otherwise the bottom cooks too quickly & burns. <S> 3: <S> After about a minute I flip it over, so the bubbles in the top side of the dough go dark brown, but most of the dough on the top remains only semi-cooked. <S> 4: <S> Flip back over, then cook for a few seconds under a very hot grill. <S> 5: Brush with ghee, <S> and that gives it a lovely golden colour, plus that char-grilled flavour!
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The flavor you want is from the high heat of the clay oven (around 900F, much like a wood-fired pizza oven).
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Make microwave popcorn in the oven Have anyone tried making microwave popcorn in a oven? What temperature is preferred? For about how long does it have to be in? I know I could just rip the bag and pop it a pot but if it's possible to do it in a oven I would try. <Q> I'll come out and say "no, you can't make microwave popcorn in a conventional oven." <S> For popcorn to pop, the kernel must reach a temperature well above boiling (which builds up steam, causing the kernel to explode). <S> It must do so very quickly, otherwise the moisture will just slowly evaporate out, simply drying the kernel rather than popping it. <S> Microwave popcorn works because the microwave is primarily heating the kernels directly (because they contain the most water), and quickly. <S> Air poppers don't use the oil, but they do get very hot, and the forced air heats the kernels very fast. <S> And stovetop methods use the heat built up in the oil to heat the kernels quickly. <S> Even fire-popped corn (a fun prospect) relies on fast heat. <S> Unfortunately, ovens are anything but fast. <S> In the time it would take to heat the kernels, they would just dry out, and possibly start to burn the bag. <S> If you want popcorn without a microwave, stovetop popcorn is quite easy, and very tasty. <S> I like using a wok, because it's shape is well suited for popcorn (sloped sides keep the kernels in the hot spot, while allowing popped kernels space to expand). <A> I did try it: At 500°F the bag caught fire. <A> I did this just now <S> but it took too long. <S> Short answer: not worth the time. <S> This became a 2 step process. <S> Once the butter melted inside, the bag got a little puffy, while still in the oven. <S> I removed the bag, opened the bag and dumped the contents into a stove top pan, slid out like magic. <S> Popped as usual on top of the stove. <S> It tasted great. <A> Try opening the bag, scraping out all the popcorn and oil, put in pan with lid, and pop on the stove. <S> That's really the best way to pop bagged popcorn without the microwave. <A> I tried the convection mode thinking it would seal on moisture. <S> At 500 degrees F the kernels did start to pop. <S> However, letting the bag stat that hot so long made the plastic melt and the paper seams unglue. <S> Sort of worked, but the burnt plastic smell was awful and probably chock full o' dioxins. <A> Rip open the bag and transfer contents to a makeshift aluminum foil pouch. <S> Seal the pouch except for a small opening for steam to escape. <S> Cook at 450 about 15 min or until popping stops <A> My answer is:Yes, you can make microwave popcorn in an oven. <S> I personally tried it and it worked! <S> I hope I helped some pepole with this who don't have a microwave but do have an oven. <S> I used top bottom selection at 230C° for as long as the popcorn keeps popping. <S> If the popping stops for more than 40 seconds then that means that it is done. <S> Easy, medium speed, and delichous! <S> Also put the bag on a tray in the oven and if you want, then put tinfoil under it, but it isn't necessary.
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I put the microwave popcorn bag in the oven, baked on about 400 degrees, long enough for the oil to melt.
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What is the thickening power of different types of roux? I often take the easy way out and work with white roux, usually mixing it 1:10 for a sauce, and using the warm liquid into hot roux method. Tonight I needed a more toasted taste. I was afraid to try dark roux outright, and went for brown roux. "The professional chef" gives a bechamel recipe with 1:10 (white roux to milk) and an espagnole recipe at 1:8.5 (white roux to stock), so I thought I'd be on the safe side with 1:7.2 (brown roux to stock). The result was much thinner than I expected, I had to emergency-bind it with arrowroot. So, I would like to know, what is the correct ratio for roux? Let's assume that I am thickening the same liquid (e.g. beef stock), and I know how thick a 1:10 mix of white roux and liquid gets. What ratio of blonde, brown and dark roux to liquid creates the same viscosity as 1:10 white roux? <Q> My understanding is that the ratio shifts from 10:1 (liquid to roux) for a pale roux, up to about 5:1 for a nutty brown roux, with a somewhat linear relationship between the two extremes. <S> The problem may not so much in the roux ratios, but in other ingredient variations. <S> For instance, if you are using a traditional 3:2 flour:fat roux, and your fat is butter, make sure you are using clarified butter, or that you are allowing most of the water to cook out of the butter before adding the flour - excess water in the roux will break down some of the starches and reduce the thickening strength. <S> Finally, there will be some variation no matter what - you can always make a little extra roux in a second pan to integrate if necessary. <A> I don't know if it's possible to give a very accurate roux:liquid ratio as a function of color because it can be hard to accurately and repeatably judge the color. <S> Your best bet is to add some of the liquid -- maybe half or so of what you expect to need eventually, whisk until smooth, and bring it to a boil. <S> It should thicken up at that point, and then you can start adding more of the liquid until you get to the consistency you want. <S> Remember that the sauce will thicken a bit more as you cook it due to evaporation, and it also seems to thicken a bit as it cools. <S> So if you start with it just a touch on the thin side, it'll probably be perfect at serving time. <S> Maybe there does exist a roux color chart that can help, or maybe you're not looking for super accurate numbers. <S> After checking "Cooking" (Peterson), "The New Professional Chef" (Culinary Institute of America), "On Food and Cooking" (McGee), and "Cookwise" (Corriher), the only guideline on ratio I found was from Shirly Corriher, who tells us that you want 1 tablespoon of flour per cup of liquid for a thin sauce, 2 tablespoons per cup for a medium sauce, and 3 tablespoons per cup for a thick sauce. <S> There's a discussion of why darker roux thickens less, of course, but no attempt to quantify that effect. <S> Corriher goes on to point out other variables: age of the flour, protein content (higher protein flour thickens less), and other ingredients (salt, sugar, acid). <S> Perhaps because there are so many variables that are hard to quantify and control, this is one of those areas where most cooks rely on a little experience and a lot of observation. <A> Try here- <S> https://www.inkling.com/read/professional-chef-cia-9th/chapter-11/roux <S> Although this doesn't specifically answer the question, it does include a comparative colour chart for roux, which will be most helpful in gaining a consistent thickening power. <S> From there I'd be tempted to make a batch of sauce as suggested above, using a given quantity of roux at the correct colour & adding stock to derive a known quantity of stock to roux. <S> Thereby giving the ratio you'll use later. <S> Once noted down it should be easy to derive a ratio and make-up the rest of the sauce with a new roux, and you'll know your numbers for next time. :)
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A dark brown roux has very little thickening power, mostly they are used for flavor more than actual work-a-day thickening.
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Which wines have a strong, bitter flavor? I experimented with adding wine and dark chocolate to a sauce. The result was generally OK, but the wine was not strong enough in comparison to the chocolate, I would have liked more of its taste to come through. I knew that I will need a strong, assertive flavor for this combination, so I got a bottle of dry Cabernet Sauvignon, the label called it "spicy" and recommended it for dark sauces and beef dishes. But when I tried the wine, it turned out to be OK in taste, but too light for this application. I would have liked more bitterness and earthy notes, less fresh/sour taste. What could have helped me find such a wine? Which grape variety (or region, for wines sold by region) would have been a better choice? Are there other signs which would have indicated such a taste? For example, I know that a Gran Reserva wine is supposed to have a better, smoother taste due to better production, but would it also have predicted a wine with a heavier taste? Would barrel-aged wine have had that taste? If possible, I would like to hear about European wines, because I pay less for an European wine than for the same quality imported wine. But if you have continent-independent advice or can only name wines from other continents, that's still OK, there are lots of imports here. <Q> I haven't cooked chocolate with regular wine per se, but my instinct is that to get the right marriage of flavour you really might need to consider alternative approaches with both a higher sugar and alcohol content: dark chocolate is a very powerful flavour that will obliterate most wine. <S> So I would try using something else wine-related but with a considerable higher sugar and alcohol content: <S> Port and chocolate certainly can complement each other <S> well - I would recommend a tawny port (I have used this combination as a sauce for a savoury dish). <S> You might try sherry too, but this is slightly riskier territory in my opinion. <S> A further alternative depending on the dish you are cooking would be to pursue your current course add a third component that will help with the overall flavour structure, typically something bittersweet and with fruit, such as redcurrant jelly. <A> .It's an Italian wine from Veneto (north-east of Italy). <S> Its flavour is quite bitter (actually, the italian word "amaro" means "bitter". <S> We could translate "amarone" to something like "big bitter").Its typical alcohol content is between 14% (it's the legal minimum, actually) up to 16% in some cases. <S> A good match is to taste it with chocolate (extra dark would be preferred), so I think it should be suitable for your sauce. <A> There is an Italian wine: Rocca Delle Macie Sasyr Sangiovese And <S> Syrah Blend which is available here in the U.S. <S> , I don't 'know' if it is available in Germany. <S> I have tried it with Hot Chocolate, but never in a sauce. <S> Also, I will 'second' @Carbon Crank's suggestion regarding port. <S> Here is a completely decadent recipe for port and chocolate . <S> (I tried to find you a link for this, but every site that came up was U.S. based, my guess is you can google the name and local sites featuring this wine will come up.) <A> I prefer red wine when cooking with chocolates. <S> Normally I would use Mitolo 2010 Jester Shiraz, it works well with milk chocolate because of the richness of the ripe fruit.
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This 'SaSyr' presents an excellent complement to chocolate as a pairing or a blend. A very good choice would be the Amarone
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How can I repair a pasta maker that was washed with water and has started to rust? My girlfriend has a pasta maker, pictured. Alas, it was accidentally cleaned with water, which is explictly forbidden (!!!) by the directions, which state: After using, clean with dry cloth or brush. Occasionally apply a few drops of oil to cylinder ends, turning cylinders to distribute oil evenly. Never use water on this machine. Alas, it has begun to rust, as shown here: More photos . Is there anything I can do to recover the sanctity of my beloved's pasta maker? <Q> This will pick up any remaining moisture, remove any rust particles that the cutters knock off each other, and give you a better idea of how bad the damage is. <S> If the cutters still cut cleanly and the damage is mostly cosmetic, that's good news. <S> You could try to remove rust by carefully applying something like a non-scratch Scotch-Brite scouring pad, but I'd avoid abrasives like steel wool. <S> You want to be careful to avoid making the problem any worse than it is. <S> If the cutters no longer cut cleanly, it may be time to look for replacement parts. <S> Check the instruction manual, if you have it, for an address, phone number, whatever might help. <S> If that's not an option because the manufacturer is out of business or whatever, look for similar machines that you can use for parts. <S> Maybe you'll find a Domus machine on eBay that has a good set of cutters. <S> Carefully measure the width of the cutters and check other machines -- it may be that the cutting rollers from an Atlas or Imperia machine will fit into your Domus. <A> On Valentines Day, no less! <S> Shame! <S> The good news is that I think it will be fine. <S> Just some surface rust on the cutters and loss of lubrication on the moving components. <S> For the rust, start simple and move up: I would start by cleaning with a sponge and some Bar Keepers Friend. <S> It usually handles surface rust pretty well. <S> If that doesn't get it all, you could try a stronger chemical like CLR (Calcium Lime Rust), or you could use some 0000 or 000 steel wool from the hardware store (0000 is very fine, 000 is fine). <S> Rub the rusty rollers firmly, adjusting the rollers to get all the corners. <S> Go slow with abrasives on the chrome covers - 0000 steel wool is fine for chrome if it has any surface rust, but 000 or 00 could dull the chrome if used aggressively. <S> For the lubrication, use whatever oil is recommended in the manual, or any food-grade mineral oil (usually sold at kitchen stores for general lubrication tasks or oiling wooden utensils). <S> Just put a few drops on each moving part and move the rollers to distribute. <S> Wipe off any excess with a cloth. <S> Finally, buy your girl something nice <S> so she keeps making fresh pasta for you. <S> ;) <A> Put the pasta maker in a bag of rice for a few days to make sure all the internal parts are good and dry. <S> This will help avoid additional rusting. <S> Then follow Sam Ley's answer to clean up the existing rust and lubricate. <A> You can scrub and treat the rust until it looks clean but its gonna keep rusting. <S> Buy her a new and better one. <S> I've washed mine for 14 yrs and have no rust. <S> If its good stainless steel, shouldn't rust. <A> This problem can be split into two subproblems: removing the rust putting the machine at work again <S> Point 1 <S> I suggest mechanical+chemical methods like the ones reported here: http://lifehacker.com/5897807/how-to-remove-rust-from-old-tools <S> http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-remove-rust-from-metal.htm <S> Point 2 <S> You'll have to sacrify some pasta, maybe putting the same pasta severa time in the machine in order to clean it. <A> The best of all will be if you fully disassemble it first and clean only press and cutters <S> but if you can not I think you can use Coca cola to remove the rust. <S> Then clean it with antibacterial towels and probably with some alcohol. <S> After clean with dough and wash it with some boiling water, holding upside down but only the press and cutter not the mechanism) and dry with towels and after with hot air (you can use fan). <S> At the and use some dough containing vegetable oil to oil the press and cutters and clean it again. <S> I believe it will help. <S> I cleaned my marcato yesterday and did all this but without coca Cola because mine was not rusted. <S> There are a lot of videos on youtobe showing how coca cola is cleaning rust <S> so I think it may work for you too.
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If you can disassemble it it would be better, in any case you have penty of methods to remove rust. I'd start by making up a batch of sacrificial pasta that you can run through the roller and the cutters. If you can locate the manufacturer, that's your best bet for getting proper parts. You might even be able to send the machine back to be refurbished.
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What is the correct temperature when extracting saffron flavour? I have several recipes that call for saffron. Obviously, they all say to put the saffron in some water to extract the flavour so it spreads more evenly in the dish. However, there is no mention of the temperature of the water. Should this be boiling water? Cold water? hot, or warm water?I know that hotter water will cause the extraction to be faster, but will there be any damage to the saffron and its flavour? <Q> From personal experience, I did not know how to cook with Saffron. <S> So, I would soak it in a little bit of cold milk before adding it to my dessert and it never brought enough flavour or colour into my dessert. <S> Then I started to infuse saffron in a small amount of warm water or milk, for approximately 15 to 30 minutes before adding it to the other ingredients, usually towards the end of cooking. <S> This really draws out the beautiful colour and that royal flavour from it. <A> Before doing anything else, I put the saffron in a glass teacup with a tablespoon of water, cover with film, and microwave for a minute. <S> That's usually ready when I want to put it in with the other ingredients. <A> According to McGee in On Food And Cooking (p. 423) the liquid should be warm or hot but he doesn't specify a particular temperature; an interesting aside is that he says while the main pigment is water soluble adding some alcohol or fat will disolve additional carotenoids. <S> Here's the quote in full: <S> Saffron is typically used in small quantities - a few threads, or a "pinch" - and rehydrated in a small amount of warm or hot liquid before being added to a dish, in order to extract both flavor and color. <S> The main pigment is water soluble, but the inclusion of some alcohol or fat in the extraction liquid will dissolve additional fat-soluble carotenoids. <A> It's not unlike coffee or tea in that regard. <S> You want a temp around 92 - 96C (197.6 - 204.8F) for the amount of time the saffron has in contact with the water. <S> Once you have the desired flavor strength, strain it and set it aside. <S> It's also very forgiving. <S> Saffron won't get bitter <S> unless you actually burn it, which you're not likely to do in water. <S> It's a king of spices for a reason - it has a very unique flavor <S> and it is extremely easy to work with. <S> The more color it takes on while steeping, the stronger the flavor. <S> You might want a little, a lot, or somewhere in the middle. <S> The real trick is knowing when to strain it and set it aside. <S> Treat it like anything else that is cooking and pay attention to its progress. <S> Saffron can easily overpower other flavors that you wanted to bring out in a dish, especially with seafood. <S> Sometimes, you might want to just dump the whole concentration in, saffron included - depending on how you're using it. <S> You can also make a cup or two of it at a time and freeze / refrigerate it to save some time. <A> I make saffron-orange cookies with cannabutter (citrus perks you up, and saffron is a natural anti-depressant, so I call my "happy cookies". <S> I put the ground (in a tiny pinch of sugar) saffron into the warm (210 F) cannabutter for 30 minutes before I add the butter to the dough mix. <S> The butterfat does the rest.
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If the water is hot enough to make a cup of tea or coffee, it's fine.
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How to make mayonnaise with a cooked yolk? I have heard of mayonnaise made with cooked yolks before, but was suspicious of it. Now a user posted another question with a link to a recipe which shows the making steps. It shows the making a mayonnaise with a hard boiled yolk, emulsifying 150 ml of oil with a single yolk (and as far as I can tell, no additional liquid - the text is in Romanian). The mayonnaise in the picture looks nicely emulsified and smooth. How is boiled-yolk-mayo made? What is the best ratio? Should I follow a different method than with raw yolk? How different is the result from normal mayonnaise? <Q> Regarding Romanian recipe... <S> Actually in Romania people tend not to use raw yolks so much. <S> Most often we eat relatively raw yolks just in fried eggs or soft boiled eggs. <S> In most of recipes the yolks are cooked. <S> Regarding mayonnaise there are three ways of preparing it: using just raw yolks (most simple), using raw and cooked yolks 50-50, and using just cooked yolks (harder). <S> For the last one, which helps storing mayonnaise safer and longer, the eggs are well boiled and then the yolk is removed. <S> After cooling done until lukewarm it is finely crushed (often by passing it through a sieve several times) and then oil is added little by little. <S> Sometime a small quantity of soft mustard is added for creating more chance of success. <S> For one yolk about 100 ml oil can be incorporated (depending yolk size, as well). <S> The mayo resulting it is slight harder then regular one. <S> For making it softer, if you would like, you can add at last bubbled water (like a teaspoon), some lemon juice and even a tablespoon of cream or yogurt. <S> Enjoy! <S> Pofta buna!! <S> PS: we have some recipes of mayo without yolks, at all. <S> These are for the period when we traditionally fast and no animal product is allowed. <A> I went ahead and tried it. <S> I used hard-boiled yolks, as a soft and slimy one would be not really different from making the mayo in a waterbath. <S> It turned out to be incredibly fickle. <S> The first try, only yolk and oil, with immersion blender, split immediately and never recovered. <S> The second try was supposed to incorporate the bad emulsion. <S> I first made a paste from the yolk with a few milliliters of lemon juice and water, then started adding the bad emulsion, beating with a mixer this time. <S> I got a thick suspension of yolk particles in oil, but it wasn't emulsified. <S> The third try worked at first. <S> Again, I started with yolk and water and lemon juice, and then added the oil in really tiny amounts, half a teaspoonful at once. <S> I used the mixer again. <S> It emulsified, but was runny. <S> I kept adding oil, and it was a nice emulsion, but very soft, runnier than soft peaks, like a batter. <S> And then, one of the teaspoons of oil broke the emulsion completely :( <S> I don't know how the emulsion in the picture is made, maybe the sources I have heard of forget to mention that the yolk shouldn't be hard boiled (mine was longer boiled than the one in the forum picture). <S> If this is the case, then obviously there is nothing unusual happening here - the yolk retains some of its emulsifying power even after boiling (I suppose it is the lecithine), but many of the substances which are actively helping the emulsion when heated around 70°C don't work any more. <S> So, working with cooked yolks is possible, but much harder than the normal heated raw yolks. <S> Which makes me think that there is no reason to try further to use cooked yolks. <S> I can't comment on taste, didn't try the emulsion before it split. <S> After splitting, the yolk-containing oil is still usable as a bread dip, but doesn't taste well enough to be made on purpose. <A> It's not an emulsion if there's not a liquid other than oil in the recipe. <S> An emulsion is, by definition, a combination of two immiscible liquids such that droplets of one (the dispersed phase) are suspended in and surrounded by the other (the continuous phase). <S> I don't read Romanian either, but there's got to be some sort of non-oil liquid in there, like vinegar, wine, water, or lemon juice. <S> Harold McGee gives a recipe in On Food and Cooking for mayo made with yolks heated enough to pasteurize (or something close to it) but not completely cooked. <S> Julia Child describes a technique for mayo and Hollandaise that involves cooking an egg with water and flour (I'd guess to keep the cooked egg smooth); see The Way to Cook , pg. <S> 377. <S> She says it "tastes just like the real thing," and claims that it's less susceptible to spoiling in warm weather. <S> The pictures you linked show a food processor, and it's a good bet that the high speed of the processor helps to break up the hard boiled yolk and make for a somewhat smooth sauce. <S> It'd probably help to give the processor a head start if you crumble/mash the yolk with a fork first. <A> I would like to contribute though unfortunately I have no source material besides my own experience. <S> I have come to this question from a search for what to call a sauce made from cooked egg yolk, water, and oil since most definitions of mayonnaise define it as an emulsion from raw eggs. <S> You can make an emulsion using cooked yolk. <S> I use the yolks from hard boiled eggs to make mine. <S> I use a plain hand whisk for the mixing, adding oil and water a little at a time. <S> I often use soy sauce as part of the water component. <S> I remember the first attempt I was concerned when it seemed to have come together to a point but still had a grainy appearance when it finally crossed over that invisible line and turned into a creamy emulsion that looked and felt as smooth as any store-bought mayo. <A> If you are asking because you are concerned about safety...placing whole eggs in a water bath and maintaining them at 57 degrees Celsius for two hours with an immersion circulator will yield safe, pasteurized, eggs. <S> When cracked and separated, the yolks behave essentially as raw. <S> Proceed with mayo.
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I've heard of making mayo with cooked egg yolks.
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What role does a stoneware bowl play in the baking of Artisan bread? I'm looking into baking sourdough bread; I've read that I must have a stoneware or earthenware baking bowl in order to make it come out with a nice crust. Is this strictly true? Or can I substitute something else, say, baking it directly on my pizza stone with a pan of water underneath to provide steam? <Q> I don't see any reason to buy anything like that. <S> You can simply use a spray bottle with water. <S> What I do, is preheat a flatish sheet in the oven at as high <S> the oven goes (I usually go for 275 degrees C), on the bottom rack. <S> Put the loaf on the pan, and mist <S> the sides of the oven and quickly close the oven door. <S> It's important that you don't have the oven fans on at this point (convection oven). <S> Reapply mist to the sides of the oven to create steam every 3 minutes or so for 15 minutes, or until you see a firm, nice crust forming. <S> At that point, lower heat to 200 or so, and LET ALL STEAM ESCAPE . <S> I set my oven to use it's fans at this point. <S> Bake until finished (about 40 minutes more when I do my bread). <S> The reason I put it on the bottom rack is because the pan seals in moisture to the bottom of the loaf, or something like that. <S> Atleast I get better results if I heat the bottom more. <S> Edit: <S> Of course, a preheated pizza stone is even better than the pan idea! <S> I just don't have a pizza stone. <S> Go ahead and use that, and you won't be disappointed. <S> You could probably just set it in the middle of the oven, since the preheating will make the stone retain alot of heat. <A> Baking on a sheet rather than a pan certainly gives more top-crust. <S> A lovely dusting of flour on top for thick chewy crust is one traditional option where addition of steam is not ideal -creates plaster! <S> A nicely oiled metal pan can create a lovely crispy side-crust esp. <S> after rolling dough in seeds or oats etc. <S> A shiny crust is achieved by a brief fine spraying immediately after baking (not for floured loaves). <S> The thickest chewiest country sourdough loaves <S> I know are 'Doppelback', double baked, meaning baked longer and slower <S> but never literally double unless you want caramelized pumpernickel... <A> You can indeed do what you ask - baking on the pizza stone with a steam pan. <S> It works better to pour hot water directly in the pan when you put the bread in though, rather than just leaving water in the pan. <S> You get a burst of steam and then a consistent small amount. <S> It's a method that Peter Reinhart advocates. <S> The other common option - especially with high hydration doughs - is to bake it in a covered dutch oven for the first half. <S> This approximates some of the effect of the earthen/stoneware. <S> The steam from the bread itself keeps the environment moist. <S> You certainly don't need those pots for fantastic bread. <S> Tonights loaf - <S> no earthenware ;) <S> (I rushed it for dinner, so the crumb isn't what it could be.)
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It is correct though that steam is key to great crust!
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What is silken tofu compared to regular tofu and how do you use it? Because of the contest, I read up about tofu. It's something I'm not familiar with at all, I've only eaten it twice. I came across the term 'silken tofu'. I only know this by name. I've found that silken tofu is in short tofu that's not well pressed. It's consistency is custard-like. My question is if this is correct. Are there any other differences, apart from the moisture content? Another question is how to handle this. You can't fry custard AFAIK (although I'm willing to try ;-) ). So do you always use it raw? Or do you bake it in the oven? Do you use it as a 'sauce' with fried veggies? Or should/can you drain/press it yourself? If you would drain/press it yourself, would you have the same result as store-bought regular tofu? <Q> Non-textured, or 'Silken' tofu (which comes in extra soft, soft, firm and extra firm varieties, just to be confusing), is typically used in sauces that would otherwise call for cream (I have used it in vegan mornay- and bechamel- style sauces), or in making cheeses (i.e. ricotta), and things requiring softer cheese (i.e. cheesecake) as a component. <S> It is also used in dips and smoothies. <S> I use it in cooking for my vegan half and half (1 part soy milk to 1 part silken) as vegan half and half is more pricey. <S> My girlfriend frequently uses it in vegan egg-salad (the secret is in using turmeric for color and black salt for the sulfurous egg-y taste), I have used it as a dressing for cucumber salad in place of mayonnaise. <S> It is a versatile component in both vegan desserts, and sauces, but textured tofu is typically the fore-runnner in terms of entrees due to it's flexibility (and compatibility with meat in most preparations) in frying and baking. <S> Typical recipes involve prepping it as a raw ingredient or a component of another element (i.e. sauces), and not a finished product like textured or sprouted or fermented tofus. <S> In assessing whether, or how, you would want to use it, I would recommend that you taste it raw. <S> It has a nutty flavor that many people find either bland or too-much-like-tofu. <S> Although I cannot account for the reaction your will palate will shoot to your brain, I can say it is easily flavored and the soy bean flavor overwhelmed. <S> In making some desserts, for better or worse, it will feature more prominently if there are no other flavors to crowd it out. <A> Yes, silken tofu is undrained tofu. <S> In Japan it is often eaten raw, in dishes like miso soup or even simply dipped in soy sauce. <S> However, you can certainly cook it as well - it is especially useful as an egg substitute in vegan cookery (any number of recipes online). <S> Firm tofu is probably better for frying with as it holds its shape. <S> If you have the time, patience and equipment (some form of weight and some muslin) <S> you could press silken tofu to make firm, but firm is just as readily available. <A> Soups and heavily sauced dishes are typical of silken tofu dishes. <S> The soft curd is just gently slid in long enough to heat thru. <S> Served sliced cold and dressed with oily and sour or spicy dressing is appreciated for its contrast to other hot dishes. <S> I wouldn't recommend trying to press silken but boiling will firm it up a bit. <S> In vegan scramble, a smaller ratio of silken to firm tofu replicates the runny portion of soft cooked egg. <A> Silken tofu is known in Korea as sundubu. <S> It's used directly in a soup called sundubu jjigae . <A> (a whisk in a power mixer is most effective to get it perfectly smooth) for a chocolate cream filling that nobody needs to know is vegan... <S> I am NOT a vegan and I make this pie. <S> It's that good. <S> Any similar custardy application should also be able to use it effectively.
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Silken tofu is the not so secret ingredient that makes vegan chocolate cream pie possible - just melt chocolate chips (don't overmelt them) and mix in silken tofu
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Remediation Methods for Rice Contaminated with Broken Glass A picture is worth a thousand words... I dropped a glass jar filled with rice. I've picked up the macro-sized pieces of glass, but am wondering if there is any way on earth to make the rice safe to eat, given that I am sure it contains small fragments and shards of glass. I could, naturally, go through it grain-by-grain, but this is only a couple of bucks worth of rice, and I don't think it warrants the time. Does anyone have any suggestions? (Or is this too localized?) I would also welcome suggestions for a better tag than "rice." <Q> I would throw it out. <S> The rice doesn't cost as much as a new digestive system. <S> Sure, it's a waste. <S> And I'm sure you would look very carefully. <S> But the risk of one glass splinter still in it is existent. <S> Therefore, I wouldn't try it. <S> Good luck with cleaning that up though. :) <A> The glass will remain at the bottom. <S> Give a good stir to avoid surface tension and glass-stuck-to-rice problems. <S> Rice farmers used to do this (and probably still do in some countries) to separate out little stones and even damaged grains. <S> If the solution saturates before the rice starts floating (i.e. salt no longer dissolves), try warm-water instead or another food-safe salt like Epsom salts which lead to a greater specific density of the solution). <A> While "toss it" is probably the most reasonable answer, if you were intent on using it, I would recommend making a batch of Horchata (the delicious Mexican beverage), since you just soak the rice - no cooking, and a very fine strain of the rice water is necessary either way. <S> Here is a quick recipe from "PDT". <S> 40 <S> oz. <S> water <S> 10 <S> oz. <S> whole milk <S> 8 oz. <S> uncooked white long-grain rice 3 Tbs raw sugar 0.5 tsp vanilla 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon <S> Pour the water over the rice and let stand for 12 hours <S> (most recipes suggest using a blender to bust up the rice a bit, in your case I would not put it in the blender, and let it steep for a longer period of time). <S> Strain the rice water out (with a very fine cloth, in your case). <S> Half the water will be absorbed the rice. <S> Add the rest of the ingredients, chill, and enjoy!
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Purely academic (because I wouldn't even use the rice for blind baking) but just dissolve salt into the water until the rice starts to float.
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How to make a cake less dense So I've just recently started baking and I've tried a bunch of cakes using the basic combination of the following ingredients: 225g unsalted butter , softened 225g caster sugar 4 eggs 225g self-raising flour They're coming out ok but are not really "light and airy", a bit too "dense" compared to a cake made by a pro. I've done some reading and I think I'm maybe not working the butter and sugar (eggs too?) for long enough and/or working the flour in too much. Can anyone tell me how to make the perfect light and airy cake? <Q> What you are making is a pound cake. <S> Or maybe a sponge cake, depends on the order of mixing the ingredients. <S> Of the two, the sponge cake is somewhat lighter, so if you have been making pound cake (cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then flour), you can switch to sponge (foam eggs and sugar, add flour and fat). <S> But both are hearty homemade cakes, they are supposed to be dense. <S> The iced cakes you get in a bakery are much lighter, because they use a different type of layer. <S> Most types of cake are lighter than pound and sponge cakes. <S> Try making genoise, chiffon, or angel food cake layers, they are all light. <S> And yes, using cake flour will help too, or replacing part of the flour in the recipe with pure starch (usually cornstarch or potato starch, you can also use wheat starch if you can get it. <S> Tapioca or arrowroot aren't that well suited). <S> , a good homemade cake doesn't really need it, I only mentioned it because you asked about "cake made by a pro". <A> You are essentially correct. <S> It is important to beat plenty of air into the butter/sugar/egg mixture initially, but you should mix in the flour until just incorporated to avoid over-developing the gluten, which will result in a dense cake. <S> You can also try using cake flour, a low-protein white flour that helps the cake stay light. <A> The self-raising flour could be part of the problem. <S> Chemical leavening can lose its power over time, especially if exposed to humidity. <S> This lets you ensure that the leavening is fresh, and also lets you control the amount. <S> Also, if you really want light and airy, mix up an angel food cake. <S> It's pretty much the ultimate in light and airy as cakes go, and very easy to make. <A> Try this: 200g of self raising flour 200g caster sugar a tsp of baking powder tbs of water and four eggs Whisk the eggs in a bowl. <S> In another bowl mix all other ingredients together, then add the eggs add a bit of vanilla essence. <S> Whisk for 2 mins, then bake on the shelf second from bottom for 45mins at 150°C. <S> You will have a light, fluffy, moist cake. <S> All you may need to do is trim off any crusty edges.
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Consider using cake flour (which may make for a softer crumb, too) and adding your own baking powder. For a real "pro" taste, also throw in some lecithine, it makes the mouthfeel softer and smoother - but if you don't feel like hunting around for lecithine, don't bother
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How to decide the baking temperature when recipe doesn't mention it? On what factors does the temperature setting depend? Of course if I have to bake a stone, I would need to set the temperature at 900C perhaps :rolleyes: ;), but in normal cakes where you have a banana or an orange as an extra ingredient, how do you decide the temperature? Example: How much temperature difference can there be in a plain cake and a banana cake? If you bake a banana cake on 200C instead of 180C, is that going to make a difference somewhere? In which way? <Q> Cooking temperature and time are determined by a number of factors. <S> The idea is to get the inside of the product properly cooked before the outside dries out, becomes tough, or becomes unpleasantly dark or even burned. <S> At the same time, you usually want the product to get nicely browned (adds flavor and looks nice) before the inside is overcooked. <S> So it's a balance. <S> Factors which influence appropriate temperature and time include: <S> ingredients: <S> High protein ingredients (like meat or eggs) easily become tough when overcooked. <S> High sugar or starch recipes will tend to brown or burn more easily. <S> moisture level: <S> For some products, such as popovers or many kinds of pastry, steam is an important leavening agent, and a high temperature is called for. <S> In other products, like cookies, one of the goals of baking is to drive off excess moisture. <S> And in still others, moisture is absorbed into the other ingredients. <S> shape: <S> A fat, round loaf will usually need a longer cooking time and lower temperature than a thin, flat pizza or a long, skinny baguette because it takes longer for the center of the loaf to heat up. <S> pH: <S> Changing the pH of the product will change how it browns. <S> leavening: Some chemical leavening, like double-acting baking powder, activates at a certain temperature. <S> personal preference: <S> At the end of the day, the most important factor is whether you like the way the product turned out. <S> If you like a crispier crust, change the temperature and/or cooking time to suit your taste. <S> If not, find a similar recipe and use the temperature specified there, but keep a close eye on the product during the baking process. <S> Learn how to tell when the product is done. <S> For cakes, you usually go by color for the outside, and by temperature or using a toothpick or wooden skewer for the inside. <S> (Briefly: poke a wooden toothpick into the center of a cake; if it comes out with wet batter, keep cooking; if it comes out clean and dry, it's probably overcooked; if it comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it, it's probably perfect.) <A> When determining the baking temperature, you must always consider sugar content. <S> The crust color of any baked good from cakes to breads to biscuits is a result of the caramelization of sugars on the surface of the product. <S> The higher the sugar content is, the lower the temperature is. <S> For example, when I make banana bread, I bake at 350 F (177 C); if the bananas I use are very ripe, i.e. high in sugar, I knock the temperature down. <S> In essence, you want to make sure that the entire product bakes through before you burn the surface. <S> Back with an edit: Also, a good rule of thumb is that cakes are lower temp (high in sugar) - <S> around 325-350 depending. <S> Yeast goods like lean french breads (yeast goods lower in sugar, that is) - you want at least 400, other wise you get a very ugly light crust color. <S> A higher sugar yeast good like a cinnamon roll would bake around 370. <S> Again, hope this helps. <A> The other answers do a great job of describing all the things that affect the proper baking time and temperature, and that can be quite useful if you're making something unusual that you don't have a recipe for. <S> If that's the case, or if you're just generally curious and not actually dealing with such a recipe, there you are. <S> But in practice, if you are looking at a recipe, and you're not sure about baking time or temperature, rather than trying to deduce something, the best thing is often to just find a few similar recipes that are complete, and use the numbers from them. <S> And while it could just be an oversight, you might want to be wary in the first place about recipes which leave out such a key thing - maybe one of the other recipes you find will be better.
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Any baking recipe should specify the temperature and cooking time, unless perhaps it's from a book that specifies those things for a number of recipes at once.
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Why did butternut squash make my fingers dry and yellow? Last weekend I made butternut squash soup. In an experiment to get more of the squash browned I peeled two medium squash and cut them into 2 inch chunks, rather than just halving it, before roasting in the oven. (Result of the experiment was OK, but the extra exposed area also allows more moisture to escape, so I wouldn't recommend this method.) Halfway through peeling the 2nd squash I noticed that the fingers on my left hand (I'm right-handed) were getting yellow and that the skin was drying, cracking, and tightening up. The yellow I can understand as transfer since I was using that hand to hold the squash while peeling. But I've peeled butternut plenty of times for various recipes and this hasn't happened before. Washing my hands didn't help. The problem went away after a couple of days. Does anyone want to venture an explanation? Did my fingers O.D. on carotene or potassium? <Q> It's definitely a very real reaction. <S> I'm not sure exactly what in the squash <S> it is that causes it, but since different people react differently - some people have strong reactions like you, some people have mild ones, and some have no problem at all - it seems to be some sort of mild allergic reaction. <S> It's often called contact dermatitis, but that's a very generic term and doesn't really mean anything you don't already know. <S> It's likely some more complex molecule that tends to be present in various winter squashes. <S> Images from <S> http://foodworld-eva.blogspot.com/2010/01/squash-reaction-on-skin.html . <S> You can avoid it by completely wearing gloves while working with the squash, or if you're lucky, you have someone else with you who can handle the squash without problems. <S> For many purposes, like soup, you can also simply cut the squash in half, roast it, then scoop out the good stuff. <S> But if you do really need to peel it and cut into chunks, your best hope is just to try to avoid touching it too much. <S> You'll also want to wash your hands immediately after, or even a few times while you're cutting if it takes a while. <S> If you do end up with this despite your best efforts, cortisone cream can help relieve the reaction afterward. <S> (And as for your soup, there's nothing wrong with letting more moisture escape in exchange for browning. <S> You can always just add more water or stock back into the soup. <S> This can even be a good thing, since it lets you replace water with a more flavorful liquid.) <A> Okay happened to me too. <S> I did notice a clear gel like substance coming from the squash when I chopped and peeled it <S> , I read that's a natural substance to "protect" itself from damage, like sealing up a cut or wound. <S> I cut up 4 of them, only the first one had this. <S> So may be from varying ripeness. <S> I washed my hands after cutting them all up,(since they were so orange) as soon as my hands began drying they started reacting... <S> slick film, tightening, a little numbness. <S> I started washing them again and really scrubbing them, can't tell if it is the film or layer of skin that comes off <S> I think it's the dried film from the squash. <S> It takes some hard scrubbing but it will come off, hands very dried out afterwards. <A> I've had this happen before after preparing butternut squash. <S> Once, I also found that my fingers turned shiny. <S> I realized that the wax that was on the butternut squash had gotten on my hands since I had rinsed the squash under hot water before peeling. <S> It was impossible to wash away this wax coating on my fingers, so I just left it on my hands even though it was annoying. <S> After a day the wax was gone, but my fingers still felt tight and looked yellow for another day, most likely due to dermatitis. <S> Since then I'm careful to not rinse my butternut squash (or anything else covered in wax) under hot water. <S> Instead I just give it a cold water rinse. <S> I still get the dermatitis, but at least there is no wax! <A> I am a violinist and whenever I cut of butternut squash, my skin peels and is so tight that i cannot play. <S> I didn't know how to get it off, but then my daughter came and told me to use packing tape. <S> Surprisingly, it worked! <S> A few peices of packing tape later, 90% of the it was off my hands. <A> This happens to me every time I make butternut squash. <S> I am not sure what it is, but it comes off if you scrub it hard enough. <S> I usually just take a sponge or something rough and scrub for like 5 minutes until its all off. <S> Then I usually put lotion on afterwards. <S> I am pretty sure it is not a skin reaction, its some kind of coating. <S> Reading the other answers, I can't believe you guys leave your hands like that for days! <S> I can't stand it! <A> the wax develops naturally from the sun. <S> make sure the squash is fully ripe before handling and cutting/preparing. <S> unripened squash have a chemical that can, and usually does attack the skin. <S> Thats why unripened squash is usually fed to chickens or discarded.
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I'm not sure exactly what component of the squash it is that causes it, but I don't think it's carotene or potassium.
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When making french press coffee, what is the purpose of blooming the grounds? When making french press coffee, you are often instructed to "bloom" the grounds by adding a small quantity of boiling water, stirring the grounds into a slurry, and then adding the rest of the water. What I don't understand is... Why? For clarification, most other situations where you are instructed to bloom something it makes sense to me - cornstarch being added to soup needs to fully hydrate before it hits the hot water to not get clumpy, "active dry" baking yeast needs to dissolve the pellets and start releasing nutrients to the yeast before being diluted in the dough, and gelatin needs to hydrate fully being integrated with other ingredients without clumping. The coffee case seems mysterious to me. <Q> I found a quote from this article <S> One thing you may not want to do with a press pot, especially a larger model, is use beans roasted less than 2 or 3 days before. <S> What, am I crazy? <S> Nope. <S> There's a problem with ultra fresh beans and it is called "bloom". <S> When beans are only a day or two off the roast, they contain heaps of Co2. <S> Heaps of it, I tell you. <S> That Co2 will translate into a massive bloom of brown suds on top of your press pot, possibly overflowing, but also making it easier for big particulate matter (your ground coffee) to hop and skip over the top of the filter portion when you first apply it. <S> Bloom looks cool, but can make using a press pot more difficult. <S> The poor filtering part sounds questionable to me, so I googled it and found a few bloom-related comments on this blog post . <S> It seems like some people start timing their soak time only after they see bloom. <S> This seems like the real reason to me. <S> I know for sure that the air content in ground substances can vary significantly: <S> one cup of flour can contain double the volume of another if one is loosely sifted and the other is compacted. <S> The above quote is accurate about that in my opinion. <S> Apply this logic to coffee and in order to produce an accurate, general recipe for how long some compounds take to come out of coffee grounds, you need to factor out a variable between coffee grounds: how much air is in the grindings. <S> Maybe the first small pour will saturate with coffee compounds, or drop in temperature quickly, reducing how much it can extract from the grounds. <S> Once it squeezes out all the air, the rest of the water is poured in to do the real extraction work. <A> 'bloom' when it comes to French press is the effect that the grounds collect on top of the water when pouring quickly. <S> Presumably this is because of rapid release of carbon dioxide. <S> When wetting the grounds this bloom occurs prematurely, and the force of pouring the remaining water breaks the grounds apart. <S> I'd say you get the same effect by stirring after 20 seconds or so. :) <A> tl;dr answer is: no well-research reason why, or effectMore detailed discussion at https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/39t5k2/ive_stopped_doing_blooms_for_now/ Dampening grounds before flowing water over them may improve diffusion (pour over) - <S> but that doesn't apply to French Press because the water just sits and soaks in the coffee anyway ( <S> which one assumes you've stirred). <S> Improving diffusion might have a tangible effect for a pour over due to the water having limited contact with coffee as it flows through. <S> However, a coffee champ seems to think to think it's not important here, either. <S> https://colinharmon.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/the-bloom/ <S> The first dozen google results on 'blooming coffee effect' describe info like CO2 release, and improved diffusion. <S> If the grounds are homogeneously distributed (stirred to distribute and remove gas), I can't see blooming adding anything. <S> So, no facts for superior coffee from blooming that I can see. <S> Do some blind testing and make your coffee the way you enjoy it.
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If not stirred into the coffee this 'bloom' will cause the grounds to be partially extracted.
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How to fry meat without spattering oil? Possible Duplicate: Is there any way to avoid grease splatter? Tonight I cooked dinner, which involved sausages for me, and chicken drumsticks for my partner. The sausages went great, then I proceeded to add some more oil and start the chicken. This is where my pain started. Soon after, the juices from the meat started coming out and caused the oil to spatter all over my arm. I'm only guessing that this is the cause, but it did seem related. I'm now sporting some minor oil burns and wondering if there's any way to reduce the spattering caused by the juices in the meat when cooking this way, as we both enjoy the taste. <Q> While the above suggestions would get rid of the oil splatter problem, they would also result in overcooked meat with a soggy exterior, as all the water created during frying (for example, chicken releases a lot of juice) <S> would remain in the pan and steam the meat instead of frying it. <S> Your best bet is to get something called a splatter screen. <S> I've seen one at ikea , and at walmart, and I would assume kitchen supply stores would carry it too. <S> A splatter screen is basically a fine metal mesh lid with a handle that fits over a variety of pans/pots and while it allows the steam to escape <S> it also prevents the oil from splattering everywhere by catching in it the fine mesh. <S> The best $10 you'll ever spend. <A> Thick chicken portions like legs should be cooked with a lid on. <S> Any lid, doesn't have to fit perfectly. <S> Use a medium-low heat <S> The main reason is that you should increase the heat all around the chicken (like a mini oven) <S> otherwise you will burn bottom surface before the inside is fully cooked <S> This also stops the splatters <S> Make sure the lid it not on fully, so excess steam can escape, hence a slight off size lid if fine. <S> For a tight fitting lid just leave a fork or similar sticking out of the pan to leave a gap for the lid <S> For an extra crispy finish remove the lid and turn the heat up a bit for the last 5 or so minutes. <S> The entire cooking process should take at least 30 minutes <A> I'm afraid you have to cover your fry pan. <S> Besides spattering your arm it also make a mess of the stove. <S> Since you mention the pan doesn't come with a lid, you can cover it with a piece of aluminum foil . <S> You do not have to wrap it <S> , just casually cover it sufficient - keep glossy side up and spatter oil will stick onto the dull side of the aluminum foil and not easily nucleates and drip. <S> I would also soak up excess juice with kitchen roll since too much of them may end up dry sticking to the pan. <A>
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Another way of preventing spattering is by coating the chicken in batter or flour.
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Blow torching meat after sous vide - add fat or not? After I pull the meat out of the sous vide and then use a blow torch to sear it, should I use a fat on it or not? Will that get a better crust on it? <Q> I have not noticed any real difference from using a fat, so I skip it. <S> What does make a difference is thorough drying the meat. <S> I haven't ever had great results from a torch though. <S> I prefer a screaming hot pan or grill, although both are way more effort. <A> At least one commercial chain (Panera Bread) uses fat when searing meat that is prepared sous vide. <S> Here is a video example. <S> After cooking sous vide, they dry the meat and use a very hot cast iron pan with generous amounts of butter. <S> Sous vide followed by searing in butter <A> When searing in a pan, the oil would simply aid heat transfer from the pan to the meat by eliminating insulting air pockets. <S> However, I have experimented a little with brushing a weak glucose syrup onto steak before torching, and believe (without scientific measurements) that this results in a nicer crust with a lower propensity to blacken due to the flame. <S> This is based on something I read in McGee's On Food and Cooking, which implied that the browning Maillard reaction would be accelerated by the addition of glucose. <S> Apparently glucose is more reactive than sucrose found in normal sugar. <S> I've also discovered that drying the surface of meats with a paper towel just before blow-torching results in nicer and more rapid browning. <S> I'd speculate this allows the surface temperature to rise more quickly as there is less liquid to boil off first.
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I haven't noticed any real difference with or without oil or fat to be honest.
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What am I doing wrong with my pressure cooker? Every time I try to cook beef in my pressure cooker it gets dry and inedible. Today I tried with 2 x 450 g (2 x 1 lb) beef, with .5 l (2 cups) water and 25 minutes. The result was very dry and there were .7 l (3 cups) liquid. What I was hoping for was the meat would be so tender that it would pretty much fall apart when trying to cut it. I have seen charts like this one, but that would cover the meat in water. Can that be right? I suppose that .5 l water is way too much, as I ended up with .7 l afterwards. Question Have anyone experience with beef in pressure cookers, and can guide me on what the problem could be? Should I have fried the beef on a pan before putting it in the pressure cooker? <Q> I use a pressure cooker quite often and its all about the cut of the meat. <S> Much like slow cooking, using a often cheaper, fatty cut with lots of connective tissue - a chuck roast for example, yields much, much better results. <S> Lean cuts of meat are make for fast searing and that's about it. <S> If you try to coax them to be fall apart fork tender, you'll fail - <S> those are the cheap, fatty cuts that go that way. <A> You just figured out what the problem is with "overcooking" something in the pressure cooker - basically, all of the liquid from the meat went into the cooking liquid and made a pretty delicious stock. <S> No amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put the liquid back in the meat leaving just a hunk of tough, dry fibers. <S> There are a couple issues that gave you tough dry meat from the pressure cooker. <S> The first problem is the cooking time - the 25 minutes recommended on the site you linked to excessive. <S> You didn't specify what cut of meat you used but you gave the cooking time they recommended for a beef steak - I recommend pressure cooking this cut of meat for just 10-15 minutes . <S> Another important part of figuring out how long to pressure cook something is to understand what pressure your pressure cooker can reach, and for what pressure the time chart you are using is written for. <S> There are no indications on the chart you linked to for what pressure that cooking time is recommended. <S> That's not helpful. <S> Usually the best source for the right cooking time is your pressure cooker's booklet- <S> most include common cooking times. <S> Next time, I would look there first. <S> The second problem is using too much cooking liquid. <S> It sounds like you wanted to make a "braising" type recipe and ended up with boiled meat. <S> The way to braise meat in the pressure cooker is to use the minimum amount of liquid your pressure cooker needs to reach and maintain pressure (also called minimum liquid requirement). <S> You'll find what that quantity is in your manual, too. <S> But generally it's 1 cup for stovetop and 1 1/2 cups for electric pressure cookers. <A> Most cuts of beef are not really suitable for the pressure cooker <S> oven <S> A slow cooker cooks at less then 100 <S> °C (210°F), while a pressure cooker cooks above 110°C (230°F) <S> Make sure to add a little acid to react with the salts e.g. vinegar. <S> With corned beef, you can do this from frozen with acceptable results
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Corned beef (whole piece cured with salt and nitrate) works in a pressure cooker. If your want moist and fall apart texture you need a slow cooker, or covered in a slow (low temperature)
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Why does meat in the crockpot always end up dry? Just cooked some chicken breasts today. All day in the crockpot and when done the meat was horribly dry. I put chopped onions, carrots, spices, and coconut milk and 1/2 cup water and 4 chicken breasts. There was plenty of fluid there when it was done, but the cooked chicken meat was really dry. This seems to happen with beef roast as well. Is there some trick to getting meat to be tender when cooking in the crockpot? <Q> Cooking anything really lean for a long time can result in super dry meat. <S> Chicken breasts have little fat and little connective issue. <S> The same goes for a lean beef roast. <S> You can do chicken breasts in a crock pot - just not all day, more like a few hours on low. <S> Try something with more fat like a thigh (or any dark meat) or a beef chuck (shoulder) <S> roast <S> and you should have more luck. <A> I know I'm weighing in on an old question, but in my experience there are two things meat needs to do really well in the slow cooker on a long cycle (ie all day): the right amount of fat, and plenty of collagen. <S> We all know about fat keeping meat moist, that's true of other cooking methods, and as others have said, chicken breast does not do well cooked like this as it is too lean. <S> But the collagen is a lesser known issue. <S> In my opinion it is even more important. <S> We hear a lot about how you can cook cheap tough cuts in the slow cooker, but what many don't realise is they are actually better than tender cuts on a long cooking cycle. <S> The collagen breaks down to gelatin which lengthens the cooking process and gives a moister, juicier result. <S> IMO, the reason chicken thighs do better than breasts in the slow cooker has more to do with collagen than fat <S> - they'll still do well even with the fat trimmed off. <S> So you need not just meat that's a bit more fatty, but a lot tougher. <S> Use legs instead of breasts, chuck instead of lean tender beef roast, pork or Lamb shoulder instead of leg or loin. <S> To really see the magic, use cuts that are usually impossibly tough - beef shin or short ribs, Lamb flank, oxtail, Turkey drumsticks. <S> If you want to cook tender, lean meat in the slow cooker, reckon on a much shorter cooking time, like 2-4 hours. <S> Exact time depends on the individual slow cooker so be ready to experiment. <A> I had this problem for a while as well - it turns out my slow cooker was cooking at too high of a temperature (even at low), which would create problems, not only with my chicken, but other things as well (pasta sauces would boil and burn, etc). <S> Reviews on Amazon revealed that this is a fairly common problem with certain brands of slow cookers (especially those at lower price points). <S> Once I learned this, I got a nicer slow cooker with a programmable probe thermometer built in, so it will switch to "warm" mode once my food hits the optimal temperature. <S> This has helped keep my meat moist and my sauces unburnt. <A> It's hard to ruin anything in a crockpot (slow cooker) <S> Does your crockpot have a thermostat? <S> It may be faulty <A> Yep I found out the hard way that slow <S> cooking boneless chicken usually dries it out. <S> It is not a "tough meat". <S> Speaking of roast beef though, I got a roast from my mother-in-law and it sat in the freezer for a couple of months <S> so I decided it needed to be cooked. <S> I had never cooked a roast before. <S> I found a recipe online using a slow cooking method for 4 hours (dutch oven pot @275F). <S> Because of the type of cut the roast was (rib roast) <S> it was so tender it melted in your mouth. <S> I tried the recipe again about a month later but bought "outside round" roast instead of rib roast (or chuck, shank, brisket etc.) <S> and it ended up slightly dry. <S> Why? <S> it doesn't contain as much collagen as the other mentioned cuts. <S> The collagen is the key to melt in your mouth texture and robust flavor for slow roasting. <S> For pork, try a pork shoulder or butt not a tenderloin if you are slow cooking. <S> The results will be amazing! <A> I would cook it in a cream of vegetable or chicken soup if you want the easy short answer. <S> Even chicken breasts turn out tender and moist for me this way. <A> Bottom line. <S> No chicken breast in crockpot. <S> I will never cook a breast again in a crockpot. <S> Once I thought cornish hens would do well.. <S> no, it was horrible. <S> I just purchased a pressure cooker! <A> I crock a lot. <S> Even with juice any meat <S> you over cook will dry out. <S> I have switched to thighs <S> and I remove the skin and fat. <S> Cheaper and it crocks a lot better for me. <S> You do end up with the bone to remove.
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The meat must be fatty, tough, to do better in a crockpot.
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Fixing a Brownie Brick I have a fudge brownie recipe that I followed pretty much to the letter. I think when I baked it, it was too thin; it came out hard, like a brick, and it's pretty much inedible. I'm also afraid someone left it outside / in the fridge exposed, and it dried up more. Is there anything I can do to soften it and make it edible? <Q> I would crumble it up into a blender, add some vanilla ice cream and some milk. <S> Blend it all together to make a Brownie Milkshake. <A> I've made great rum balls from overbaked brownies before. <S> Crush it in a food processor (or just smash it by hand), toss it all into a big bowl, add just enough rum to make it pliable, roll in some cocoa powder and/or powdered sugar, and refrigerate. <A> You could also try breaking it into small chunks and soaking it with espresso or a liqueur like cointreau or amaretto. <S> That should soften it up nicely and would taste great made into an ice cream sundae or trifle. <A> I'm afraid you can't do a lot about it now. <S> The only thing that might work, is to put it in the microwave for a couple of seconds, right before you eat some. <S> But I guess this would be more helpful with the mouthfeel than with actually softening your 'brick'. <S> As for next time, if you did like the taste and want to use the same recipe, use a smaller baking tin. <S> Also check for doneness 5 min before it should be done (by inserting a toothpick in the middle). <S> That way you can have an estimate how much longer it should be in the oven. <S> Or as Jay suggested, look for a recipe that tells you the size of the baking tin. <A> Here's a post where somebody crushed up their brownies and made truffles from them! <S> http://runwithforest.tumblr.com/post/12744781116/how-to-save-burnt-brownies-by-turning-them-into
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Perhaps putting some syrup on top could help too.
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flexible food grade plastics that won't melt at 105 C I'm in need of a food-safe gasketing material for a maple sap-boiling setup. It needs to be squishy like vinyl tubing but I want to make sure it won't melt or decompose or react with steam. Any suggestions? <Q> Most food-grade gaskets for boiling+ temps and steam applications are Silicone or EPDM, because they are flexible, inexpensive, take very high temperatures, and won't leak weird flavors. <S> EPDM is considered the best for true steam applications. <S> Buna-N (nitrile) and Viton would work as well, but may not hold up as long under steam pressure. <S> For intermittent use, any of the four materials would work. <S> I wouldn't bother with any big-box hardware stores, though some "specialty" hardware stores or home-brew shops may have what you need. <S> Online is probably your best bet, however. <S> You might find these guys handy, retailers of many gaskets needed for the brewing industry, many of which may be applicable to you (particularly the standard DIN-style gaskets): http://www.brewerygaskets.com/ <S> Also useful, EMI Supply sells these little tubes of FDA approved silicon sealant (more like a caulk): <S> http://www.emisupply.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=9742 <S> And for general purpose gaskets of every type imaginable, McMasterCarr: <S> http://www.mcmaster.com/#gaskets/=gc516x <S> If you have more details on the dimensions needed, or the types of surfaces you are mating (including a picture?) <S> it would be easier to choose a direction to go. <A> Silicone. <S> They surely go up to 250°C (but check the package first; mine goes up to 250°C). <S> Or is that too squishy? <S> You could also just ask a DIY store. <A> Does it have to be a squishy material? <S> If you just need it to have a specific shape, there are some proven ways of doing this with hard/hardening materials that are high-temp safe. <S> Glass was the first to come to mind, but that's not exactly easy to mold. <S> Clay, on the other hand, can be made to a certain shape and baked in an oven. <S> You can also go with molded metal pipes, soldered together with silver-based solder (as opposed to mercury). <S> If you want something less custom and are willing to pay, there are water distiller kits out there, though I don't know if they'd hit 105 C.
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There are official "food grade" gaskets, but unless you are making product for commercial sale then you don't need products that have been FDA approved - just wash the gasket before installing to remove the packing lubricant.
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Where can I buy Glico Curry online in the United States? My wife and I brought back a box of Glico Medium Curry that we purchased on our trip to Canada this past year. I think we bought it at the Daiso store in Vancouver. After trying it for the first time just recently, we both fell in love with it and now can't imagine not having it occasionally. Unfortunately, I can't find anywhere to purchase it, either locally, or online. There are many other brands of Japanese Curry that are available online, but I'm afraid they might not taste the same as the one we had from Glico. Is there somewhere where I can buy this product online, or would any of the other brands that I could get locally be any bit similar? (Such as Vermont Curry, or S&B Golden Curry?) I live in Arkansas. Thank you! <Q> Wow, this is hard to find. <S> No Amazon sellers (usually a good source for odd groceries) right now, either. <S> Fortunately I found one source for you, <S> eBay seller "hirokojapan" has a persistent listing for Glico Curry Sauce , $5.99 each, $3.95 shipping to the US from Osaka, JP. <S> You select the flavor you want, from Curry, Curry Sweet, Curry Hot, Stew or Rice. <S> The individual listing link will expire eventually, but future readers can look up the seller directly and see if they are listing a similar item (or message them with a request). <A> While not exactly the same, S&B Brand Golden Curry is a very similar product, and one that, in my experience, is more common in America. <S> Even if it's not 100% identical, it will be very very nearly so — <S> the rich, thick, stew-y style of Japanese curry. <S> Also, I know that your question was about where to buy Glico curry, but it can also be easily made from scratch, and with ingredients that are often easier to find than the pre-made curry roux bricks. <S> http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/06/how-to-make-japanese-curry-rice-from-scratch-recipe.html is a good recipe that I have used before. <A> Vermont curry tasted very similar to Glico, I definitely recommend you try it first before you try splurging on internationally shipped Glico or anything like that.
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I know I've seen it in some asian grocery stores, but none of the online groceries that I could find seem to list it, even the venerable H-Mart .
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Can cheese be sculpted? Could anyone offer some tips on how to sculpt or mold a large piece of cheddar into a knight of the realm. I have tried on a smaller piece but the cheese tends to crumple and doesn't seem sculpt in the way I expect. <Q> Firm cheeses like cheddar can make excellent material for sculpting , which sounds like what you're after. <S> If you really mean sharpening, well... you'll need a very hard cheese, like an aged Parmagianno Reggiano or Romano to get a good sharp edge, and even then it'll require frequent honing to keep the edge in good condition. <A> Depending on your room temperature, you may only be able to work on it for about 15 minutes at a time before you have to put it back in the fridge. <A> I once managed to sculpt a piece Wensleydale into a clog shape and as mentioned above the best approach is to keep putting the knife back in the fridge every 5 minutes to make it colder. <S> The knife should always be colder than the cheese, that's the secret. <S> Good luck musters.
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In my experience it's possible to carve cheddar, but you need a sharp knife and you need to keep the cheese cold.
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Is it possible to make low-alcohol Limoncello? Lemons are currently in season and dirt cheap. I'd like to make a homemade Limoncello. The recipe I'm using calls for odorless, high-ABV (150+ proof) spirit, like Everclear. Unfortunately, my state doesn't allow the sale of high ABV spirits. Can I use a lower ABV, like vodka, as a stand in? Will this change steeping time? <Q> There are plenty of recipes for limoncello/lemoncello out there that use vodka. <S> I would reference one specifically calling for vodka rather than adapting one that relies on either 150 or 190 proof Everclear. <S> The higher alcohol content means a stronger extract from the lemons (does not necessarily apply to leeching of sugars, just oils), and a corresponding need to be sugared down more. <S> As vodka is easier to just sip and lower in alcohol, it would likely require less simple syrup, and either more lemons, agitation, longer steeping or a combination thereof. <A> You should be able to use vodka just fine. <S> I don't know for sure, but I doubt it would severely impact any of the variables in the recipe. <S> I think a little trial and error is your best bet. <S> This is strictly anecdotal, but my father made a limoncello using vodka, and it turned out pretty great. <A> In fact, I've seen vodka used more commonly ( 1 2 ) than everclear. <S> I'm not sure what baseline your everclear recipe gives for steeping time, but with vodka you need to steep for around a week. <S> As for sugar, this is largely going to be a matter of preference, so feel free to change the amount to your taste.
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Yes, you can use a lower-proof alcohol to make limoncello.
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What kind of flour keeps bread dough from sticking in a proofing basket? When proofing down in a bread basket (not just a smooth bowl), what kind of flour keeps the dough from actually sticking? Is there a technique that works? Normal wheat flour seems to be to readily absorbed and then its a nightmare to get unstuck. <Q> Regular old flour works -bread or all-purose or even cake- <S> but the dough had best be proofed away from too much moisture, ie no steam. <S> Use an overly generous amount sifted onto the basket and with each success reduce a bit til you find a happy place. <S> Even spongy rye masses have come out in one piece with a jiggle-jiggle here and a hop hop tip. <S> Think of that as walking the dough out instead of inverting. <S> Bits may stick but only minor flesh-wounds. <S> Let basket dry and scrape clean. <S> If the problem is related to brand-new basket, may need to search for some 'seasoning' tips first. <A> The best seems to be a 1:1 ratio of normal wheat-based flour and rice flour - others agree . <S> First the wheat flour sticks to the dough and creates a nice smooth surface. <S> Then the rice flour (which doesn't adsorb very quickly) creates small 'rollers' that keep the dough from dragging, like ball bearings. <S> This is similar to semonlina or cornmeal for working with pizza. <S> A key part of the technique to a banneton is to sprinkle and rub some flour mix on the surface of the dough first , then sprinkle some flour mix in the basket, then put it seem side up in the basket. <S> No sticking. <S> This same mix and similar technique works wonders for using a peel as well. <A> Though, it may be tricky to properly cover the basket with the flour. <S> That is why I prefer to line the box with a cloth and sprinkle the cloth with the flour instead. <S> Much easier and the effect is quite similar.
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It seems using enough of the flour used to prepare the dough will do.
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How to get uniform slices from bread? We make bread for sandwiches a few times a week, but slicing them is always a pain. The pieces just don't come out uniform. I end up with angled pieces as the knife doesn't end up going straight down. Is there a trick to getting uniform pieces from a loaf? <Q> Try using a bow style bread knife. <S> It works well because it allows you to put pressure on the opposite side of the loaf. <S> Also, the bow helps you visually line up the slice. <A> Try an electric knife if you have one hanging around for carving meat. <S> The small stroke of the two blades causes far less squashing/skewing of the loaf than the conventional serrated bread knife and leaves only one dimension to focus on, down. <S> When I really need accuracy, I'll cut the loaf in half lengthwise and with the cut faces placed against the countertop, cut slices horizontally off from the bottom of each. <A> A serrated blade, sharpened bevel on one side only. <S> Use the flat non-beveled edge against the loaf, the beveled side on the slice being cut. <S> Use a bread board. <S> Keep the knife for bread only, so that it stays sharp, hand wash & dry. <S> Take your time starting through the crust, so you don't crush the loaf. <S> If you start near the loaf center, the two halfs can be slid back together for freshness. <A> so you get the uniformity you desire. <S> I don't use one of these for two main reasons: <S> You can't adjust the thickness of the slice - whatever the manufacturer decides is what you are stuck with. <S> Some breads just don't fit in them. <S> Most of the bread slicers I've seen are designed for a sandwich-loaf-shaped bread: very rectangular. <S> If I make a loaf of no-knead bread in my cast iron dutch oven, it ends up as a round loaf with too big a diameter to fit in any bread slicer I've seen. <S> But if you're making a rectangular sandwich loaf, getting a bread slicer is probably the way to go. <S> However, I've found that I can get straighter slices by experimenting with the angle at which I am holding and cutting the bread. <S> It will vary by the size and shape of your loaf, but with the big round loaves I was talking about earlier (which usually are not very tall), I find that I can cut straighter if I turn the loaf on its side so that I have a much narrower piece of bread to deal with. <S> That reduces the likeliness of my knife getting stuck. <A> I often encounter this problem when using a serrated one-sided blade. <S> Having the bevel on one side of the knife seems to make the knife angle toward the opposite edge. <S> I haven't successfully been able to compensate for this while cutting, so <S> I threw away that (cheap) knife. <S> Maybe this is part of your problem? <S> To be honest, I've had no problem whatsoever when using a blade with both sides sharpened (unless cutting a very wide or otherwise difficult loaf).
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A variety of bread slicers are available - it's just a box that you put the bread in, where the sides have pre-cut slots that guide your knife
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What should I cover bread dough with while it's rising? If you let (bread) dough rise, the recipe always asks to cover it. Years ago, I read to cover it with a wet towel. Nowadays, I see more and more recipes that ask for plastic wrap (aka saran or cling wrap). The towel lets air through, the wrap does not. What is the difference between the two in the end result? What is best to use and why? I'm taking about the first as well as the second (proofing) rise. If there is a difference between the phases, please inform me. <Q> The goal is to keep the surface of the bread from drying out. <S> A wet towel works fine but plastic wrap is cheaper and easier than constantly cleaning wet towels. <S> I have used both methods and haven't noticed a difference in the bread produced. <S> In very dry climates, when I made bread with multiple rises I sometimes had to redampen the towel which was an added inconvenience. <S> Lately I have been proofing large batches of bread in a large stock pot and just use the lid of the pot as the only cover. <A> Put a serving plate over the bowl. <S> Normal way up <S> so it doesn't slide off and doesn't need washing. <S> Easy! <S> A small amount of surface drying is not going to ruin a bread dough. <S> Think of the millions of bread making machines out there, no plastic wrap required with them, just a reasonably fitting lid that stops air drafts, hence why the towel method worked fine <A> It does the same job as plastic wrap, but is reusable. <S> The elasticated edge stretches around even big bowls, providing a snug fit. <A> I work with quite wet doughs and bake in a moist environment, but first rise - in a large Tupperware container, lid on but ajar at a corner to let gases escape. <S> second rise - simply dusted with flour. <S> No noticeable skinning at all or loss of oven spring. <A> Seems to work just fine, and it's incredibly easy. <A> Personally, I spray plastic wrap with oil, then use that. <S> Doesn't stick, even with very high hydration doughs, and completely prevents the dough from drying. <S> Another method is to use a food-grade plastic bag. <S> Tie it shut inflated with air <S> (so it isn't touching the dough). <S> The humidity in the bag will stay high enough to prevent drying, and since the dough doesn't touch the bag, the bag stays clean and can be re-used. <S> The food-safe bag is the most environmentally friendly (washing cloths isn't so environmentally friendly). <A> I just put a sheet of baking paper on top of the mixing bowl (in which I mixed the dough) and rest a wooden cutting board (which I used to knead the dough). <S> I'll use the baking paper in the baking tin later, so nothing got wasted and there's no extra mess :) <A> I prefer not to introduce plastic into my baking where feasible. <S> I spend time and money and love on baking, using nice organic flours and all natural ingedients, and the plastic shower cap, although very effective, makes me think there are unhealthy hydrocarbons dripping on to the lovely dough. <S> I vote for clean white flour sack lint free tea towels, dampened aNd even re dampened if needed. <S> I like the dinner plate over the bowl technique too.
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A good alternative to either a towel (which you have to wash and is prone to sticking) or plastic wrap (which ain't cheap or good for the environment) is a clear plastic shower cap. I've been letting my pizza dough rise in reusable plastic containers with plastic lids (I coat the bottom and sides of the containers with a bit of olive oil so that the dough doesn't stick).
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Why didn't my 100% whole wheat bread proof? After enjoying many of the recipes out of The Bread Baker's Apprentice I moved on to Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads to learn about how to make hearth-style 100% whole grain bread. Unfortunately my first loaf reminded me of the total flops I used to make before reading through BBA and using its recipes. It was like a bread brick. I ended up deciding that croutons were the only suitable use. Since then I've made more recipes from the book, but always using his "transitional" variant of half bread flour, half wheat flour. These have risen and proofed perfectly. The technique from Whole Grain Breads involves pre-doughs. Flour, a very small amount of yeast, and water make up one dough ball that is placed in the refrigerator overnight. More flour, salt, and water are left as another dough ball on the counter overnight. Both enzyme activity and the rise in the fridge contribute to the texture and taste of the resulting bread, at least as far as I understand the theory. The next day the final dough is formed, allowed to rise once and proof once, and bake. With my first loaf I attempted a free-standing boule. I know that surface tension is critical to getting a boule to rise up and not out, but I am pretty sure that my surface tension on the boule was correct. For the transitional loaves since I've used a loaf pan and a sandwich shape, which may have helped them to rise. I've also done transitional pitas which seemed to puff up just fine during rising, even during proofing as small boules before rolling out. I don't want to try the 100% whole grain recipe again without knowing that it will work. I know that some bakers add vital wheat gluten to 100% whole grain recipes to ensure that they rise, but it seems like Reinhart's recipes should work without the additional gluten. Any other ideas for what may have gone wrong? <Q> You said that the dough rose but then didn't proof. <S> Lightly textured whole wheat bread is difficult for <S> two reasons- 1- <S> There isn't as much gluten. <S> The result is, as with all poor gluten development, that the loaves have trouble maintaining their structure, don't rise as well, and the result is the dense, tough, or doughy bread that most people think of with horror when they think of whole wheat. <S> There are a couple ways to deal with this problem- <S> 1- Use very very finely ground wheat flour. <S> If you can feel gritty shards then it will have trouble rising. <S> 2- Add vital wheat gluten. <S> This may be seen as cheating and is similar to the transitional recipes that you said you had success with. <S> Many whole wheat recipes call for extra gluten. <S> If you don't add more gluten in some form you can make a successful boule but don't expect it to be as light and open as one made with white flour. <S> What you might lose in delicateness you will more than make up for in flavor and nutrition. <A> Buy a 5 lb bag of Bob's Red Mill Winter Wheat and try again. <S> It's the finest grind of 100% that I know of. <S> Make sure you are using enough water. <S> 100% breads need at least 80%...if you can handle the stickiness use 90%... <S> i do. <S> I have stopped using flour during kneading to handle the dough. <S> I just work next to the sink and keep my hands wet... <S> no sticking. <S> I also cover the dough with a wet towel during all proofing/rising. <S> Good slashing techniques are more important with WW to get the most out of the dough spring. <S> I also start with my stone at 450 degrees and then lower it at ~8 minutes to 400. <A> Try grinding twice and then sifting out about 10-13% which sets aside the bran and some germ. <S> Soak this bran (and some germ) in an equal weight of water. <S> Let sit for 6 hrs. <S> The 87-90% left is called bolted flour. <S> Then start the recipe. <S> Measure out the water for the recipe (minus what was used to soak the bran).Add the soaked bran to spread it evenly into the dough. <S> Then add the flour (the bolted flour) , salt, etc. <S> This method significantly reduces the effect of the sharp effects of the bran on gluten development. <S> Typically a 100% whole wheat lean bread dough is from 85%-100+% hydration. <S> Try going with 85% and work your way up. <S> Are you using instant yeast? <S> For 500-600 gr wheat berries, try 2.5 tsp. <S> Hope this helps.
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2- The gluten that is there tends to get cut up by sharp wheat fragments.
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How should I incorporate oil into focaccia? Last weekend, I tried making focaccia for the first time. I tried two recipes at once, the one from The Bread Baker's Apprentice and a traditional Genovese focaccia recipe modified for quick-rise (I got this one from a FOAF). For both, I tried to massage the olive oil (in the BBA case infused with dried herbs) into the dough before the proofing (that's a word at least one of the recipes said, "massage"). In fact, the oil just sloshed around on the surface, puddled in the dimples, and flowed off the bread into the pan. The time spent proofing and baking was enough for the oil to flow completely off the surface. In both cases, I ended up with a loaf with dry upper crust and greasy soaked lower half. What was my mistake? How should I have worked the oil into/onto the bread to get a nice result? <Q> It is a tricky procedure, there is a video and photo sequence here ; unfortunately is in Italian, but you can easily translate it with Google and video and images could help anyway. <S> I did many times focaccia using this recipe <S> and it's the closest thing to real focaccia genovese <S> I can get <A> you should let the dough rise first without any oil (except for the oil which you will add in mixing), after the 1st rise, weigh your dough (if making diff. <S> variations), then add the Olive oil in a pan and add your dough. <S> (put a lot of olive oil in a pan <S> so it wont stick and for a flavorful taste). <S> then wait for a final rise, (double in size again). <S> Then ready to bake. <A> I suggest following Simply Recipes' focaccia recipe . <S> Olive oil is part of the dough and is also used in steps 4 and 5 4 <S> In a large clean bowl, pour in about a tablespoon of oil and put the dough on top of it. <S> Spread the oil all over the dough. <S> Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise (in a relatively warm spot or at room temp) for an hour and a half. <S> It should just about double in size. <S> 5 Spread a little olive oil in your baking pan or baking sheet <S> (will make it easier to remove the bread). <S> Place the dough in your baking pans or form it into free-form rounds on a baking sheet. <S> This recipe will do two nice-sized loaves or one big one and a little one. <S> Cover the breads and set aside for another 30 minutes. <S> And then in step 8: <S> Once the dough has done its final rise, gently paint the top with olive oil – as much as you want. <S> Then sprinkle the coarse salt on top from about a foot over the bread; this lets the salt spread out better on its way down and helps reduce clumps of salt. <S> Where you can pour a bit of olive oil into a small bowl and use a brush to spread the oil over the top of the dough. <A> When I made it I worked some oil into the dough and then brushed some on top with a pastry brush prior to baking.
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In the real "focaccia genovese" oil is mixed in the dough and added on top of the focaccia.
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What is the practical way to peel off zest of an orange? Peeling the zest doesn't seem like peeling a full peel of an Orange. Any special kind of knieves to be used? Any special method? What precautions need to be taken care off? What is the practical way to peel off zest of an orange? <Q> The ideal tool depends on what you're trying to do with it. <S> (There are also coarse rasp graters. <S> That won't be any better than a standard grater. <S> You want one that looks like the picture.) <S> If you want something small but visible, use a citrus zester: <S> You can get skinny little strips that tend to curl with the small holes at the end, and bigger curls like you've seen on the rims of cocktails with the wider hole in the middle. <S> (Edit: added the second picture. <S> That looks like it was fun.) <S> Finally, if you want big pieces to put in something to cook in something, then maybe fish out later, you can use a normal vegetable peeler: <A> You want a zester. <S> Perfect for removing the peel, but leaving the pith (the white part) in tact. <A> Use the basic $2 plastic peeler and don;t push hard, just let it glide <S> If the blade bends too much, heat the plastic between the blade ends over a flame, and bend the plastic slightly to tighten the blade up <A> A simple cheese grater will do the trick, but if you have the money, definitely opt for the abovementioned microplane.
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If you want something nice and fine, which will release as much flavor as possible, avoid getting any of the pith, and not add distracting texture to a dish, use a fine rasp grater (sometimes known by the brand name microplane):
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