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What can I do to keep high hydration dough from sticking to my hands? Whenever I try to knead (by hand) or move after kneading, a high hydration dough like ciabatta, it sticks to my hands terribly and often seems ruin any shaping I try. I've tried flour on my hands, but it comes off so quick - what can I do to keep it from sticking so badly? <Q> Let the dough rest in the bowl for a while after mixing. <S> Time will not only improve the flavor (insert autolyse proselytism here) but will also give the flour time to hydrate, making the dough somewhat easier to handle. <S> Dough will become less sticky as you work it <S> -- witness the way dough kneaded in a mixer or food processor initially sticks to the sides but eventually forms a ball and leaves the bowl clean. <S> So, one option is to work it a bit with a mixer first, or just with a wooden spoon in the bowl. <S> Anil's suggestion to oil your hands is a good one. <S> If the kind of dough you're making allows it, add some oil or butter to the dough during mixing, too. <S> Flour helps, of course. <S> Instead of trying to coat your hands in flour, throw a bit on the kneading surface and on the top of the dough. <S> For very sticky dough, a dough knife can help you scrape the dough off the surface and fold it over onto itself until it becomes easier to handle. <S> This is easiest if you're working on a hard, smooth kneading surface like marble. <A> Oil was the answer for me when trying to shape my rye bread. <S> As the rye flour is stickier then bread flour which in turn makes the blended flours stickier then normal. <S> It made the dough as workable as my regular dough from bread flour alone. <S> My experience is in using the no knead method. <S> Using the oil on my hand actually worked very well. <S> I had zero dough on my hands between the first and second proofing. <A> There are two main ways this is accomplished, and one condition which will cause stickiness. <S> To mitigate sticking: Use flour Use water <S> I usually knead by hand, and keeping my hands generously moist is often enough to prevent sticking (I knead in a bowl). <S> This causes the dough to be a little wetter than I aim for. <S> Then, while shaping, I will use flour on the surface, since I won't be knead it anymore. <S> I will put some oil on the baking parchment when baking, to prevent sticking. <S> What causes dough to stick overly much is not sufficient hydration (time) and gluten formation (time & kneading) <A> My suggestion is to try it with grease or oil, similar to oiling utensils. <S> This is what you can do when you prepare dough. <S> If you are concerned about the amount of oil in the bread, you can try flour. <S> Apart from this, the dough consistency plays a major role. <S> If you make your dough a little harder, the stickiness will decrease. <S> If it is too loose, it will stick a lot. <A> An additional tip: kneading faster keeps the dough from sticking too badly. <S> For some reason, speed makes a noticeable difference. <S> Also, just go with it. <A> Embrace the sticking. <S> You can do a stretch-and-fold entirely in your hands, and instead of gripping the dough, you let the two ends stick to your hands while separating them and closing them again. <S> It aligns the gluten beautifully. <S> When you are ready, you have to separate/scrape off the dough from your hands. <S> If you need a round boule at this time, you may need to do it in a basin of flour, but for a ciabatta, it is enough to do the triple fold.
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At the end, put a little flour on your hands and rub them together; the little dough stuck to your hands is dried out by the extra flour and crumbles off your hands into your dough, so you don't lose any dough.
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Replacing cream and butter in a carrot casserole/pie Casserole from pureed carrot (it may be a "pie" rather than a "casserole" though - my footing in Anglo cooking terms isn't very strong, feel free to edit) is a traditional Finnish recipe. Essentially, it consists of cooked and pureed carrots, cream, butter, eggs, breadcrumbs, syrup, and salt, baked in the oven for about an hour. Sometimes, some rice is added as well. You can imagine what the dairy products add to the dish - they emphasize the delicious carrot taste, and make it rich and heavy. I'm not a hard-core vegan, but I'm curious what vegetable based alternatives could work to replace them. I'm sure olive oil wouldn't: it has too strong a flavour of its own. Other vegetable oils would add the heaviness, but I find there is something unique to what cream and butter do to such a simple dish, something that no oil known to me can. Are there other ingredients that could work here? Preferably something that is readily available, as opposed to complicated and expensive vegan "xy replacement" products. <Q> A mixture of almond milk and silken tofu (1:1) will yield an inexpensive half and half replacement, top with earth balance margarine as necessary. <S> For baking, flax or Chia eggs or commercial egg replacer should fit the bill. <S> If the baking time is not too long you can incorporate tapioca flour in slurry for a creamier texture and extra thickening, our just use a corn starch slurry. <A> Soy yogurt will add some creaminess and also a nice tangy flavor that goes very well with carrots. <S> If you purchase whole fat coconut milk, you can skim the heavier cream layer off of the top and use that in place of the dairy cream as well. <A> Some food replacements for vegans are indeed rare and expensive. <S> But for butter and dairy cream, there are easy replacements. <S> Their unique texture and mouthfeel are due to the fact that they are emulsions of saturated fats. <S> They are among the few naturally occurring such emulsions, but industry methods for creating emulsions are widespread, and manufacturers create these en masse with cheaper fats such as refined vegetable oil, and sell them for low prices in all supermarkets. <S> It is not perfect, and won't behave like butter in all settings, but it mixes very well with mashed vegetables, so it is very good for your use case. <S> You can probably find several brands even in a small grocery store. <S> For the dairy cream, you can substitute plant-based "whipping cream". <S> Depending on the legislation in your country, it can use the word for "cream" in its title and only note that it is a vegetable oil product in the fine print on the back, or will have a name different from "cream". <S> The most popular such product here is the Unilever-manufactured Rama Cremefine (which comes in different variations, formulated specifically for cooking or whipping), but I guess this will vary by region. <S> They are usually sold in the supermarket, stocked near the real dairy cream. <S> Just because a product is based on a plant oil, it doesn't mean it is always vegan. <S> Sometimes producers add other ingredients, and you can't know if they are animal-derived. <S> For example, Vitamin D is added to many margarines, and it is derived from wool fat, so vegans consider it an animal product. <S> For each product, look for an assertion that it is vegan-suitable somewhere on the package, or contact the manufacturer. <S> If the normal margarines and creams in your supermarket are not truly vegan, look at the organic brands, it seems they have a better chance of being vegan.
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The substitute for butter is the well-known margarine.
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How can I prevent dough from wrapping around a dough hook? I have a 5.5qt KitchenAid stand mixer with the burnished spiral ("pigtail") dough hook. This is not the C-hook. When I make a small amount (for example, using 250g of flour or approximately 2 cups) of standard-hydration dough, instead of kneading, the dough will wrap itself around the dough hook and spin in the bowl. I'm using speed 2. Pulling the dough off the hook and allowing it to relax for 5 minutes will make it knead again for a bit (but not long, a minute or two at most). Oiling the dough hook helps some, but the oil of course comes off, then it sticks again. I've adjusted the height per the manual, so that's set correctly. Other than switching to the coated dough hook (which is currently being shipped to me) or making a larger batch, is there anything else to do to prevent the dough from sticking to the hook? <Q> I solve this problem by tipping and holding the machine on the side. <S> When the dough is loose I let the hook work it for a minute or so while the machine is still tipped over. <S> This often gets the dough in such a state that it does not wrap around the hook but gets kneaded as it should. <A> I've had this issue when making small batch of pizza dough. <S> I either make a double batch of dough, freezing the leftover dough, or I just let it ride <S> , it took a bit longer but the dough was functional. <S> The kneading action appears to continue even though the dough is making limited contact with the bowl. <S> Your exact model of kitchen aid and bowl size may impact your results. <A> If the dough appears to be wet or sticky, you can add flour 1 tbsp at a time, waiting at least 30 seconds before adding another spoonful. <S> You could also try increasing the speed quickly to fling the dough off of the hook and then reduce the speed to continue kneading. <A> Sounds like a fight with physics. <S> Have you tried placing the hook in the freezer to try and prevent it from sticking? <S> Please don't take this as patronising, but it may be better to just knead by hand?
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If the dough still does not let go of the hook, I turn the speed up for a couple of seconds.
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How to poach an egg without vinegar? What is the best way to poach an egg without vinegar? Is there a quick and easy alternative? <Q> Heston Blumenthal has brought his unique scientific approach to bear on this recently. <S> The main pointers for a perfect poached egg are as follows: <S> The egg must be fresh . <S> A fresh egg has a thicker, more gel-like albumen. <S> As it gets older, this becomes watery, and so just disperses throughout the water when you add it. <S> To test if your egg is fresh, place it in a jug of cold water. <S> If it floats, it's not fresh - <S> the egg has had time to absorb air through its shell. <S> A fresh egg sinks and stays sunk. <S> The water temperature should be 80ºC/176ºF <S> exactly . <S> You can measure this with a sugar or probe thermometer. <S> The egg should be at room temperature. <S> The egg should not come into contact with direct heat, so put a plate or small bowl on the bottom of the pan, bottom up. <S> Once the water (in a medium to large saucepan) is up to temperature, carefully add the fresh egg and cook for <S> 4 minutes exactly <S> (for a large egg of the domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus ). <S> Drain and serve - the white should be set but not rubbery (a drawback of using vinegar) and the yolk should be creamy and rich. <A> The vinegar is simply there to help coagulate the white. <S> I never use vinegar for poaching eggs. <S> You just have to try to be as careful as possible when setting the egg into the water. <S> have the water at a bare simmer, not a rolling boil. <S> These things will help to keep the white intact. <A> This method may not be practical if you want a lot of poached eggs <S> but this is what I do. <S> wait for the water to come to the boil <S> turn down heat somewhat <S> use a spoon to stir the water until a visible vortex forms in the middle of the pot gently pour in the egg in the vortex <S> wait until done <A> What I generally do is use a slotted spoon to drain the runny parts of the white of, before putting it into the water. <S> This goes well with the aforementioned method from Heston Blumenthal. <A> In addition to simmering water, fresh eggs, salt and vinegar, and getting rid of the outer egg white with a slotted spoon or mash, there is a way to use older eggs. <S> You first boil them for 90 sec in their shell, and afterwards break them in the liquid for poaching. <S> This sets the outer eggwhite somewhat, and keeps it together. <S> I have had mixed results with this, but give it a try if you have older eggs <A> personally I use lemon, it helps to acidate the water and adds a unexpected flavour to the poached eggs, its wonderful when making eggs benedict.
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Just simmer water, and poach the egg.
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Why baste bread with cornstarch? In this sourdough recipe , it suggests basting the bread with a cornstarch slurry. I would assume this is meant to promote crust development, but how does that work? I usually see such a slurry used to thicken liquids. Other recipes that use this method: Yankee Harvest sourdough "Secrets of a Jewish Baker" glaze Jewish Sour Rye on The Fresh Loaf What's Cooking America bread machine tips It appears to be a presentation thing (makes it look "professional") and possibly a Jewish tradition. Edit: Do note that the question is "Why cornstarch? How does that work?". I understand the desire for a good crust, and I understand that the slurry is meant to promote crust development, but I fail to understand what it is about cornstarch that mimics good crust development. <Q> I've seen bread recipes like the one that you described. <S> When bread is baked in an oven with steam- <S> the starch in the crust is able to gelatinize before it all dries out and becomes crispy. <S> This is what makes the crust crisp, shiny, and delicious- <S> characteristic of "artisan" breads. <S> Most people don't have steam enhanced ovens (or the ability to hack their oven to add steam: <S> How can I create steam in a normal oven to promote bread oven spring? ) <S> The recipe you linked has water added for steam but then takes out extra insurance (they cheat) by adding the cornstarch glaze to mimic the effect. <S> By adding extra, pure, starch on the surface of the loaf more gelatinization occurs. <S> Additionally, cornstarch gelatinizes at a lower temperature that wheat starch. <S> Conceivably, you should be able to use any starch and see similar results <S> but, in the US at least, cornstarch is by far the most common. <S> It shouldn't be necessary if you are able to produce enough steam in your oven. <A> Cornstarch slurries are used because they make the crust of the bread shine. <S> This happens because Cornstarch mixes are translucent; whereas flour mixes are opaque. <A> The wash also can be used to allow seeds or oatmeal, for example, to adhere to the crust of the bread for aesthetic purposes. <A> This is something I'm still learning to execute beyond "theory". <S> So, take it for what it is. <S> As noted before, wheat starches and other starches do this in the steam of the oven. <S> For lack of much steam in a regular oven (though you can do some tricks to create it without a steam injection oven-- google it) the water part of the slurry will become the steam that's in contact with the cornstarch part of the slurry. <S> So, steam via slurry rather than steam injection oven, and cornstarch gelatinization and solidification instead of wheat starch gelatinization and solidification to yield... <S> dun dun dah dah... <S> CHEWY CRUSTY CRUST without a steam injection <S> oven! <S> Cheers.
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My understanding from a chemical point of view is that the cornstarch heats, and on a molecular level breaks into a gel like substance on the surface of the bread due to the contact with the hot steam, and that gel like substance solidifies in/on the surface of the bread, making the crust, well, crusty.
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Why does my bread keep 'blowing out'? Instead of swelling as a whole loaf, my loaf will often expand in the oven off to the side or the bottom - looking 'blown out', a big tear. This results in a loaf that leans to one side, doesn't rise well, or generally doesn't look good. Why is this happening and what can I do about it? <Q> Blowing out happens because the extra expansion of the bread in the oven, called oven spring, expands further than the skin of the bread can accommodate. <S> The protein sheets that make up risen bread can toughen when they dry out. <S> When the bread is introduced to the sudden high heat of the oven the water and alcohol vaporizes, filling the loaf with gas. <S> If the outer gluten sheets were allowed to toughen or if the spring is just to great then the sheets have to tear to make room. <S> The tear will happen wherever the sheets are weakest. <S> This seems to be usually in the ugliest spot possible for a blowout. <S> It would be possible to reduce the spring by baking at a lower temperature but the spring is desirable and results in a lighter texture. <S> The solution must come, therefore, in softening the gluten or controlling the expansion. <S> Fat softens bread so this problem happens mostly with lean doughs. <S> One possible solution for some breads is to increase the amount of fat in the dough. <S> Keeping the surface of the dough moist will also help. <S> Keep the dough covered while it is proofing and spraying it with water when it goes in the oven, and, if possible, having a humid environment in the oven will keep the proteins from drying out. <S> The traditional solution with lean doughs is to allow the blowout to occur but control the direction. <S> In this way the loaf can be both light and attractive. <S> Slashing the surface of the loaf releases some of the pressure and allows the baker to have some control over the direction of expansion. <A> If you mostly dislike the direction it expands to and the irregular shape of the loaf, you may try to help it a bit. <S> First, take care when forming the loaf – try keeping the last fold crack (as created before the last proof) on the bottom of the loaf when it goes to the oven and slash the surface with a sharp knife or razor, to promote expanding upwards. <S> The oven inside and the loaf surface must be humid enough or the slashes will dry up and close before the loaf expands. <A> If you are having issues that it is blowing out on the sides... <S> Like a big tear, then this is probably linked to your questions about steam? <S> If there is not enough hydration in the air surrounding the bread, <S> oh boy, big problems. <S> I had often seen guys pull racks of french bread out of the oven which they had either a. forgot to engage the steam cycle, or b. started it late. <S> As I'm sure you know, when you put the bread in the oven, the yeast goes on a feeding frenzy, which produces more co2, which is what is causing the jump. <S> the steam in the oven is actually retarding the ability of the bread to jump. <S> If there is not enough / no steam present, the bread finds the weakest spot, and tears - all because of this supercharged yeast activity. <S> I hope that's what you are asking, if not, my apologies. <A> I would suspect that your method of final prep may be causing the problem. <S> It may also be that your slashing is not deep enough to control the expansion. <S> One way to help the loaf is to do the slashing when you place the bread in the oven on the stone or rack as sometimes the slash will close if done to early or not deep enough. <S> You get some very nice expansion patterns when you slash the bread on the stone. <S> Finally don't be shy with the knife or razor, <S> slash at least 1/4 inch or more will help stop the blowouts.
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If you are folding the dough to form your boule or batard you need to ensure that the seam is pinched together and then flipped to be on the bottom of the loaf otherwise you may get a side blowout.
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Why should we not store onions and potatoes together? I have heard that onions and potatoes shouldn't be stored together. Why will this make the potatoes spoil faster? <Q> As you can see at the Chapter 7: Storage of horticultural crops of the book <S> PDF: <S> Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops (4th Edition) : <S> If you look p.166 <S> ( p.173 on the PDF), you can see that the onions need to be stored in this conditions: between 0-5 <S> °C with a relative humidity ( R.H. ) of 65-70% <S> If you look p.168 <S> ( p.175 on the PDF), you can see that the potatoes have different needs: Fresh market : between 4-7°C Processing : between 8-12° <S> C seed potatoes : <S> between 0-2°C But must of all, potatoes need very highest relative humidity ( R.H. ): <S> 95-98% versus <S> 65-70% for onions <S> So, if you store them together, either one or the other will be in bad storage conditions. <S> Further, as you can see at Section 7: Storage of horticultural crops of Small-scale postharvest handling practices - A manual for horticultural crops - 3rd edition : <S> Dry onions <S> ( Group 3 ) are very sensitive to moisture, which makes their storage incompatible with the high R.H. needed for potatoes . <S> New potatoes <S> ( Group 6 ) may also produce ethylene, which will badly damage green onions <S> ( Group 2 ) if stored together. <S> Anyway, storage of horticultural crops cannot just be resumed by <S> " don't put this or that together ", as you may have seen: it is important to consider R.H. , temperature, and many other factors. <S> If the subject interests you, all this (and many other things) is pretty well explained in the following references: <S> PDF: <S> Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops <S> (4th Edition) <S> Web: <S> Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops <S> (4th Edition) <S> WEB: <S> Small-scale postharvest handling practices - A manual for horticultural crops - 3rd edition Ethylene is also a " critical factor ", and this topic is more developped in the following resources: <S> PDF: Postharvest Ethylene: <S> A critical factor in quality management. <S> Book: Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops (see Ethylene in Postharvest Technology pp.149-162 ) <A> <A> If you store your potatoes with your onions, your potatoes will begin to grow eyes (stems). <S> I like to put these two together only to start my potatoes off before I plant them. <S> It is a much faster process, instead of starting from seeds. <S> Hope this helps!
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When stored together, onions release gases that will cause the potatoes to spoil faster and become mushy, if you will.
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What is the name (in Chinese) of the utensil that is used to prick lots of tiny holes in pork skin to make it very crispy? I have seen people mentioning this and I've heard it's available in Chinatown in NY or in Hong Kong but I can't find it listed anywhere for sale online. I think this is because I don't know the term for it so if anyone can help with a name or a link it would be much appreciated. NB: I have tried a German meat tenderiser that looks similar but it's not sharp enough. The thing I'm looking for is wooden and has lots of very sharp pins coming out the botton <Q> The answer to the question is "Chap Zai". <S> The name for Chinese Crispy Roast Pork is "sio bak" by the way <S> talon8 - I bought a tenderizer from Amazon exactly like the one you posted but the pins were not sharp enough to make the required number of tiny holes - and <S> therefore the skin on the pork belly did not get that crystalised look where the fat has flowed out through the skin. <S> My best result was by using a sharp knife but this took a long time. <S> Anyway - long story short, I got this by emailing a number of Chinese supermarkets (was never listed on their website shops) and they told me the name. <S> Would be good if anyone can verify this name... <A> I'm not sure about the Chinese name for the tool, but what you might be looking for is often called a " jaccard ". <A> Do you have a Chinatown where you're from? <S> Generally, when I go to buy rudimentary Chinese tools, I go to places where they don't understand the concept of "online". <S> :-P <S> Maybe that's just around here. <S> Though seriously, I think going to your local stores is probably your best bet. <S> Maybe print off a picture and bring it to show them. <S> Anyhow, assuming I'm thinking of the same thing you are, unfortunately, I don't think it really has much of a formal english name. <S> It's essentially a "Roast Pork poker" or "Siu Yuk Poker". <S> See a picture here. <S> Also here. <S> That said, I don't think you necessarily need one of these. <S> My uncle makes a really awesome roast pork <S> and I'm pretty sure he used a knife... <S> I'd have to contact him to find out exactly how though. <S> Edit: I did some more digging, found this . <S> It seems nobody knows what it's called... <S> But there's another picture and lots of useful discussion in the comments. <S> Then... there's a comment that suggests Amazon. <S> If you just search for meat tenderizer there , there are numerous styles including, the western versions as well as one that looks much like the chinese version . <A> I found this on Amazon. <S> It looks like the real deal around $6 + $5 for shipping. <S> Might be able to find it in an Asian supermarket also. <S> http://www.amazon.com/Light-Belly-Pork-Skin-Hammer/dp/B00X72BLAG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438915774&sr=8-1&keywords=pork+belly+needle <A> I know this thread is old but maybe someone will come accross it in the future, looking for the same. <S> What you're looking for can be found on AliExpress.com for under $3, shipping included. <S> Just enter "meat tenderizer needles" in the search and you'll find it (a few versions exist but the principle is the same each time).
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I've also seen it referred to as a "Pork Skin Pricking tool". :-)
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Why does bread with filling separate and how do I prevent it? Sometimes when I make sausage kolaches or cinnamon rolls the bread layers pull away from the sausage or the filling and leave an open space inside. The separation is cosmetically unattractive, and can make the product more difficult to eat because it tends to fall apart when bitten. This doesn't always happen and I don't want to go to the other extreme where the layers in a cinnamon roll are indistinguishable. What causes this separation and, more importantly, how do I control when it happens. <Q> The most recent Cook's Illustrated has a cinnamon swirl bread article that discusses this problem. <S> According to them, the root cause is a lack of binding between the dough and filling. <S> Gas from the yeast, and steam generated during baking, push into the spiral, creating pressure that compresses the dough and widens the gap. <S> In the specific case of cinnamon bread, they recommend using powdered (confectioner's) sugar instead of granulated, and using a large amount of cinnamon. <S> The finer sugar dissolves more easily in moisture from the bread, quickly creating a paste that is reinforced by the cornstarch and by starches in the ground cinnamon. <S> Misting the bread before adding the filling also helps. <S> In order to make a sausage filling adhere to the bread, you would need a sticky, water-soluble element. <S> Cornstarch or powdered gelatin spring to mind immediately as possibilities. <S> The other tactic they employ is to actually expose the filling during proofing, preventing the yeast's gas (and later, steam) from building up alongside the filling. <S> Once the filling is rolled into the dough, the loaf is cut in half lengthwise. <S> With the two halves laid side-by-side, cut face up (exposing the filling), they are wound around each other, folding the left piece over the right until the end is reached (this is called a "Russian braid"). <S> The ends are pinched together, and the loaf is placed in the pan to proof. <S> This, obviously, should help with any kind of filling, not just cinnamon sugar. <A> Used to happen to me all the time, its very annoying. <S> There's a few tips to get rid of it: If you're rolling something up, the bottom of the dough rolls into the inside. <S> You often add flour or such on the bottom to keep it from sticking. <S> If the surface dries out too much then you've got a 'skin' that is rolling up in the dough. <S> When the dough come in contact with the filling, it won't 'adhere' <S> well. <S> Combined with number one, if you have a very wet filling or anything that releases much steam, then it will steam against the 'skin' and puff up. <S> Creating that air pocket. <S> I find this is only really a problem when combined with number one. <S> Given a good proofing and roll, this is less of an issue. <S> Roll tight and even. <S> If you roll slack, you'll end up with air pockets. <S> Once those bake, the dough pushes further out and often appears to have a bit of a cascade effect. <S> Make sure and roll tight to avoid air pockets. <A> Slash through the dough all the way to the filling. <S> The slashes don't have to be large, but you do need to make sure that steam can escape. <S> If you don't provide a vent for the steam, you're going to get a big pocket.
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Additionally, if the filling is wet, allow a slightly longer proof to hydrate the dough next to the filling. Keep the bottom as moist as you can and try spritzing with a little water as you roll.
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Does tiramisu firm up in the fridge? I am making my first tiramisu, using this recipe from Gourmet (with high ratings on Epicurious). My mascarpone mixture looks terribly soft to me. As per recipe, I foamed 4 yolks with 80 ml sherry (I had no Marsala) and 95 g sugar at 55°C. The yolks were from recently bought M-sized eggs, there were no L-size in the supermarket. The volume increased a lot, but the foam itself was runny. I mixed in the 450 g mascarpone (the egg mass was still warmish), and it seemed to dissolve (I hope I didn't melt it). The result was still foamy and runny. Then I folded in the 240 g whipped cream. The final consistency is similar to egg whites beaten to stiff peaks. It is a foam, and not runny, but very aerated, and I suspect that, if left on a heap (instead of a bowl), it will flow flat over time. It is very unlike the cream layer in tiramisu I've had before. Is this normal? Will the cream harden in the fridge? Will the ladyfingers soak up some moisture? (They are coffee-dipped in this recipe). Or should I put in some gelatine to make sure it will keep shape? Or some other thickener? I have xanthan, but don't know how to incorporate it, the mass won't survive a mixer on full speed, and it will clump if not perfectly dispersed. <Q> Your recipe doesn't specify 55°C, and I'd be surprised if 5–8 minutes over barely simmering water only gets that hot. <S> Indeed, checking for sources: McGee, in On Food and Cooking, says: <S> When the temperature reaches 120 <S> °F/50°C, high enough to unfold some of the yolk proteins, the mix thickens, traps air more efficiently, and begins to expand. <S> As the proteins continue to unfold and then bond to each other, the foam rises into fluffy mounds. <S> The key to maximally light zabaglione is to stop the heating just when the foam teeters on the cusp between liquid and solid. <S> Further cooking will produce a stiffer, denser, eventually tough sponge as the proteins over-coagulate so that leads to the conclusion that 55°C wasn't hot enough, as it hadn't yet reached "the cusp between liquid and solid". <S> Hans-Dieter Belitz, Werner Grosch, and Peter Schieberle say in Food Chemistry : <S> Egg yolk can be whipped into stable foam only at higher temperatures (optimum 72°C), the volume increasing about sixfold in the process. <S> Above the critical temperature, the volume falls and the proteins coagulate. <S> The protein coagulation is prevented by reducing the pH value, e.g., by the addition of acetic acid. <S> This effect is used in the production of highly stable sauces <S> so that'd imply you want 72°C, or maybe higher due to the acid (wine) present. <S> As a side benefit, that'd also pasteurize the eggs. <S> In summary, I think you should have cooked it hotter. <A> I think you could have got away with the 55 <S> °C if you had let the yolks cool down before adding the cheese. <S> I usually heat the yolks+sugar in a bain-marie, rather than directly; I never really measured the temperature, but I doubt it would be much higher than that. <S> I think the further addition of cream probably did more harm than good... <S> next time put only mascarpone, as that thickens the compound a lot. <S> If the ladyfingers were not too soggy they will definitely soak up some liquid, especially if you leave the tiramisu in the fridge overnight, which has also the benefit of enhancing its flavour. <S> In any case, don't add gelatine! <S> It will definitely ruin the texture. <S> I'd rather put the tiramisu for 10-15 minutes in the freezer if it is really runny, but I suspect you will not need it. <S> And even if it is a bit runny you can get away by serving it in small containers so that the ladyfingers will be tight and won't float around. <A> I don't think there is any thing wrong with what you've made. <S> Tiramisu is a relatively recent dessert (forget about the 'Tuscan trifle' which did not even include mascarpone) created at Harry's Bar in Venice. <S> As such there are many variations: some drier, some boozier, some creamier and some wetter and your recipe may just produce a wetter variety. <S> Take in mind that it doesn't need to necessarily have a thick, almost pipe-able texture as it <S> (I assume unless you've decided not to) will only be spread in a gratin dish <S> so it's ok if it spreads out a bit. <S> In any case it will thicken a bit as it chills as the mascarpone starts to set in the fridge likewise will the cream and to a much lesser extent the egg yolks. <S> I do think though that they should have been heated more as at 55C they won't have started to cook at all <S> , for next time perhaps try heating them to around 65-70C to form a true cooked 'sabayon' ( <S> or I suppose if it's Italian 'zabione'!). <S> If you really want to thicken it at this stage there's not a lot you can do without deflating the mixture although you could perhaps stick in a few unsmoked or soaked very scarcely lady fingers to soak up the excess liquid. <S> Other than <S> that there's very little you can do <S> that wouldn't ruin the texture so I wouldn't try corn starch or even gelatin. <A> The mixture does indeed set in the fridge. <S> It remains airier than the average tiramisu I've eaten (but I don't know what commercial tiramisu contains, probably not a foam based on raw yolks), but it is firm enough to hold its shape when served. <S> If a piece is forgotten outside overnight, it becomes softer again and runs slightly, but properly stored, it is really very good. <S> Still, I will make a firmer foam next time (by using a higher temp for beating). <S> Here is a piece from the tiramisu, as you see, it supports its own weight.
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I doubt it is going to firm much in the fridge, hopefully it is stable enough to not further liquify.
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How can I speed up banana ripening? I need to make banana bread tomorrow, and the bananas I recently purchased with this in mind to not appear to be ripening fast enough. Is there anyway to speed the ripening without spoiling the bananas altogether? (I have looked at this answer and it refers to how the fridge will speed up "blackening". @Sarge_Smith describes it as a different process chemically, so I am unsure that blackening == ripening for the purpose of making banana bread.) <Q> Bananas are imported unripe and then ripened in the country of sale. <S> This ripening is achieved by forcing ethylene gas through the bananas in special pressurised rooms. <S> Bananas naturally produce ethylene as they ripen, so you could just put them in a sealable plastic bag to contain that gas. <S> Tomatoes also produce ethylene, so you could pop a couple of those in as well, but be aware that they'll also ripen faster too. <A> When bananas are sealed inside plastic bag, the skin turns black and aesthetically it does not look good. <S> Also, some times black banana may be not fully ripe. <S> As ElendilTheTall says, its better to use ethylene so that banana can be ripened at a faster rate. <S> There are couple of ways wherein banana can be ripened on a domestic scale. <S> As Aaronut says, cover in paper bag and keep it in warm place, thereby self produced ethylene can be trapped whcih makes banana to ripe. <S> Coat <S> the tip of the banana with some calcium salt, like slaked lime or quick lime, and keep it warm place. <A> I know that this is a bit after the fact, but here is a trick I learned from the Produce Manager at the supermarket I used to work at... <S> Put the banana in a paper bag with an orange. <S> Close the paper bag (roll it up). <S> Leave it over night, and the banana will be ripe in the morning. <S> The paper bag was mentioned before, as was using an apple, but citrus works even better.
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Expose the banana to fumes (by burning some dry biodegradable material, like dry leaf, dry stem or such things) and cover the exposed banana tightly.
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What to do with crumbled muffins? I made some muffins that apparently didn't have enough liquid to stick together (perhaps substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream was not such a good idea, as that, butter, and an egg contributed the only liquid). So the muffins crumbled completely on leaving the greased tin. Are there any culinary uses for them, or am I stuck trying to eat the big chunks and throw the rest out? They are so crumbly that packing them to the office for breakfast like I usually do won't work. The specific ones I made are cinnamon coffee cake flavored, but I'd be curious about the general case. <Q> I would make "cake balls" out of them. <S> Maybe make this Apple Butter Frosting , combine with the crumbles and form balls out of the combo and then freeze or refrigerate them. <S> I think these would be best served "uncoated" so maybe a quick cream cheese icing drizzle across the tops. <S> Serve as a dessert and enjoy. <A> Since it sounds like they are basically a dried out batter at this point, I would turn to implementations that rely on those kind of food-stuffs; With some further baking and possibly additional brown sugar and butter or apple-sauce, I would use them for a crumble topping. <S> If they are coffee and cinnamon an apple-cardamom cobbler would benefit nicely. <S> The crumbles could be incorporated into a biscuit batter recipe <S> In all likelihood, any kind of recipe that relies on a granola could probably be referenced for further ideas. <S> You could also use the crumble as a stand-in for oat based no-bakes. <S> The no-bakes might feel mealy to the tooth, so not entirely eliminating the oat might work best. <S> If you wanted to repurpose, you might try thinking of it as a material to be suspended. <S> With an ingredient like well-blended coconut butter (not to be confused with coconut oil or milk or cream) you could create a base with which to make a kind of post-raw bar cookie (basically press and chill the coconut butter in a pan on top of wax/parchment paper, pulse the muffin bits with some dates or brown rice syrup, and once the butter sets press the bits <S> /dates mixture into the top and drizzle with some ganache or whatever). <A> Layer the crumbs with pudding and fruit in a glass serving container. <S> You can use the muffin crumbs for the bottom, middle, or top layers and fill the layers in between with vanilla pudding, banana, and walnuts for a tasty combination. <S> Top the trifle with whipped cream and more nuts or sliced fruit. <S> You could also make a bread pudding. <S> Combine about 3 cups of crumbs with a cooked custard mixture (recipe below) and place the baking pan with the combination inside a second pan half-filled with water. <S> For the custard mixture... heat 2 cups half and half just to a boil and pour into a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar, 3 eggs and 2 egg yolks. <S> Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour or until a knife inserted comes out clean. <A> Cake pops are any obvious idea, these are crumbled cake crumbs combined with frosting (for this salted caramel frosting recipe sounds gooood) and sometimes dipped in chocolate or ganache. <S> You could also crisp them up in the oven and use them in granolas and crumble/streusel mixes. <S> You could even use them to top other muffins and sweet baked goods or maybe topped on a sundae. <S> Another idea could be to actually combine them into a cake. <S> Mix the crumbs with some vegetable oil, milk and a few tbsp of flour and a tsp of baking soda <S> and they could recombine to form a cake. <S> I got the idea from this ' macaron cake '.
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I would use the crumbs to make a trifle dessert.
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What to add to the batter of the cake to avoid hardening when the gluten formation can't be avoided? So, over mixing batter forms gluten, which in turn hardens the cake. Fine. The problem is that I don't want lumps in the cakes, and the above statement prevents me from fine mixing the batter. So, is there something which I can add to the batter (more milk?) to make the outcome soft despite Gluten? <Q> Milk won't help you - it's mostly water, and gluten develops from flour (more accurately, specific proteins in flour) and water. <S> The way to reduce gluten development is to incorporate more fat into the batter. <S> Lipids are hydrophobic and will prevent further hydration of the glutenin. <S> If you're not already using cake flour, the reason it's called cake flour is because of the lower protein content. <S> That being said, have you actually tried leaving the batter coarse? <S> Just because the batter is lumpy does not mean that the cake will have big lumps. <S> The entire mixture is wet, so unless you leave huge lumps of dry flour in the batter, you won't end up with a lumpy cake . <S> There's a difference between "don't overmix" and "don't mix" - you're supposed to mix enough to incorporate, just don't try homogenize it. <A> Acid inhibits gluten formation, so it's possible that incorporating an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk, vinegar, or lemon juice will tenderize the cake. <S> This will definitely force you to experiment and adjust your recipe, however, since the acid will also interact with other ingredients, most notably leavening. <S> More acid means more reaction with baking soda/powder, which might lead to a collapsed cake (if too much carbon dioxide is produced before the batter has time to set up in the oven). <S> It will also, obviously, have an effect on flavor. <S> Given enough of the acidic ingredient, its own flavor might even become too prominent. <S> It should be noted, though (as Aaronut already mentioned) that cake batter just needs to be mixed until all the ingredients are combined . <S> As long as you have no pockets of dry ingredients, your cake should bake perfectly well. <A> Heat can also denature the proteins that form gluten. <S> Toasting the flour and/or adding boiling hot liquid at some early phase of mixing are both known to have a perceivable effect (not AFTER the gluten is developed - heating that will cook the finished gluten just as it will happen in a bread). <A> Time. <S> You can try adding time. <S> So, one of the things mixing really needs to do <S> is equalize the moisture - mix the dry into the wet ingredients, so the batter is (mostly) uniform instead of pockets of drier flour in swimming in liquid. <S> Mixing the ingredients about does this quite well, but it can also develop gluten if you mix it too much or too fiercely, which seems to be the problem you're having. <S> Letting the wet ingredients sit with the dry should let everything get moist and hydrated before you finish mixing it, and so the same amount of mixing should end up with a more uniform product - especially if you stir together roughly, let it sit for the lumps to moisten, then finish mixing into a fairly smooth batter. <S> It is also a lot easier to mix ingredients if everything is closer to the same consistency, like adding two dry or two moist ingredients together - <S> and after absorbing a bit, the flour should be looser and moister, the liquids should be thicker because some has absorbed into the flour, and everything should stir together much more smoothly instead of sliding past each other. <S> You may still get little lumps, but they should be little wet lumps of batter that will smooth out with heat and time while baking, not big pockets of dry flour that would leave the finished cake lumpy and wet and undermixed... and certainly not overdeveloped gluten to make the cake tough. <S> It's worth noting that gluten is not the enemy , by the way. <S> It gives some structure and helps catch the bubbles that make your cake rise. <S> You don't want a lot , <S> granted, if you want a cake that's soft instead of chewy - but if having none was better, cakes made with actual gluten-free flours would be so much more popular than (wheat) cake flour. <S> Also, it actually takes some doing to develop serious gluten (lots of proteins sliding past each other and snagging), so smoothly mixing your batter to a mostly uniform consistency and avoiding lumpy cake shouldn't be a problem, spending a lot of extra mixing time furiously trying to smooth out every little lump may be too much.
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Using a lower-protein flour will also help.
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What are examples of spoiled food that is part of a culture's cuisine? Today my brother-in-law told me that he's going to Iceland for vacation. He also told me that one of the delicacies in Iceland is aged/rotten Greenland Shark. This then brought up a curious question for me and I think this forum is the perfect place for it... What are some other foods that are essentially allowed to rot or go bad that some cultures call food. If you can name it and maybe give some background about it, describe the taste/texture and maybe how it is used that would be great. I'm turning this in to a wiki. So please put one food per answer. This way, people can add to and/or comment on each food. I will add the Icelandic delicacy of the rotten shark as an answer below... <Q> The difference between "rot" and "ferment" is extremely thin. <S> The use of bacteria and fungus to partially break down foods is as old as any cultivation process. <S> " <S> Rotten" is just the word we use when the microorganisms have done something we don't like. <S> Fermented (rotten) foods are incredibly common, from cultured butter, ghee, buttermilk and yogurt to cheese, wine, soy sauce and beer. <S> Not to mention bread, Tabasco, Sriracha, kim chi and sauerkraut, or heck, salami, chorizo, kombucha and fish sauce. <S> Wikipedia has a huge list. <S> We use bacteria like Lactobacillus , yeast like Saccharomyces cerevisiae , mold like Penicillium roqueforti and thousands more. <S> Some are cultured specifically for their task, and others occur naturally and are allowed to do their business without interruption. <S> A staple flavoring in Japanese cooking. <S> Kumis <S> - A carbonated, fermented milk product. <S> Lightly alcoholic, and traditionally made from mare's milk, and fermented with wild yeast and bacteria. <S> Quite the beverage, I hear. <A> Hákarl Iceland: <S> Aged Greenland Shark. <S> According to Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, basically, the shark is cut into chunks of maybe around 10 lbs or so, put in a wooden box for a week or two, and then taken out of the box and hung for about 6 months in a wooden shack to essentially rot. <S> Average temperatures in Iceland in the summer time only reaches about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. <S> The reason why the shark is allowed to rot is because if you eat the shark meat fresh, the ammonia in it's body is know to have cause others to spit up blood... <S> basically it can do some major damage. <S> The only way that they know to 'treat' the shark so that it is edible is to allow it to rot <S> and I think let the ammonia leach out of the meat by hanging it to rot. <A> Century egg Eggs are coated in alkali clay and burred for a few months. <S> I have to say when I had the opportunity to try them <S> I didn't. <S> The fermented egg white is clear and dark brown, the yolk is a dark blue/green colour. <S> The smell is very strong, mostly as they contain a lot of amonia. <A> Aging meat is part of everybody's culture. <S> Freshly cut meat goes into 'rigor mortis' after about 24h and becomes tough. <S> Letting it hang in a controlled environment (temperature and humidity) will let the natural occurring enzymes in the meat tenderize it. <S> Aging can last up to ... 120 days ! <S> But apparently that doesn't appeal to everybody. <S> Wikipedia <A> Kaanga Piro <S> Kaanga Piro is New Zealand Maori version of fermented corn <S> It's history is from the Maori wanting to preserve the late Summer/Autumn corn harvest for the winter. <S> Corn from this season was often damp, and could not be stored as dried cord <S> The corn cobs are packed into kete (hand woven flax baskets), and submerged in fresh flowing streams. <S> It will keep upwards of 6 months while submerged After a few weeks in water, the corn cobs turn into to a mushy paste, and has a nutty taste and texture not dissimilar to hummus and fermented soybeans <S> It smells disgusting, but it is very edible <S> Expect to see it marketed globally in the near future as a novel food flavoring
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A few that come to mind that are less commonly considered and fairly interesting to me: Bonito - Fish are dried, smoked and inoculated with mold ( Aspergillus glaucus ).
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How do I keep the paddle of a bread machine from damaging the bread upon removal? I love my bread machine. However when the bread is done baking, removing it from the machine breaks the bread where the paddle is. I know the paddle is embedded in the bread and it will break the bread a little. I am looking for ideas on how to prevent it or at least make it smaller. Should I: Remove the paddle before the second rising/the baking? Oil the paddle before I add the ingredients? (tried it, does not work very well) Do something else? <Q> Did not find any other good way of doing it. <A> I'm afraid the best answer might be to upgrade your bread machine. <S> Newer designs have paddle shapes designed to minimise breaking the bread. <S> I've even seen paddles that fold flat when they're not moving so as to not even get stuck in the bread. <S> No idea how well that works. <A> I am new to this "baking hobby using a bread maker". <S> I have faced the same challenge, and at this very moment am experimenting to find the best "trick" to avoid having unsightly impressions created by the machine paddlers; therefore, I would like to share with you what I have "come to know" basically through experimenting, and some confirmed through readings: Basically the bread maker is used for making bread and cakes; for cakes the solution is simple and straight forward.. <S> simply because the cake ingredients whence mixed they become in a semi fluid state; to remove the paddles before the baking cycle or just when it starts, you can simply do the following: Use a kitchen hand-held mixer (egg whisker) with suitable design, and insert it in the pan <S> so the large end would form something like a net around the bread maker paddle/s, and gently pull up. <S> You should experiment with this with the bread maker <S> (B/M) pan empty and the machine is turned off and unplugged. <S> As for breads.. I have experimented with removing the paddles at different times during the operation of the bread maker, but always before the baking cycle or when it had just started. <S> I must say that I am still experimenting to find the absolute right moment of time to do so; and I believe its only logical to tackle this matter (and experiment) with the understanding that different B/M have different timing with regard to when best to remove the paddles so the bread will not be adversely affected; and actually today I came across this very interesting page referring to this specific point: http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2015/02/17/successful-loaves-from-your-bread-machine/ <A> I love my bread machine, it's great time saving "cheat" but I never bake in it. <S> I like my loaves looking like <S> I actually baked them. <S> It's just a tiny extra step to let the bread maker do all of the hard work then shape the loaves and bake them in the oven. <A> Stuck Paddle? <S> Before starting, Put a pea size blob of shortening in the bottom hole of the paddle. <S> Push the paddle onto the shaft. <S> I have been doing this for six months. <S> When the bread is dumped out you can grip the paddle with your oven mitt and pull off.
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I used to remove the paddle before the second rising to avoid breaking the bread.
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What is the difference between risotto rice and paella rice? My local supermarket stocks arborio and carnaroli rices for making risotto, and also stocks "paella rice". I have, in the past, used them interchangeably in both risottos and paellas. Wikipedia handily summarises the difference between carnaroli and arborio here , but I can't find a description of the differences between these and a paella rice (aside from country of origin). Note: I'm aware that the rice is cooked differently in a paella compared to a risotto -- I'm asking about the differences in the rice itself, not the cooking method. <Q> 'Paella rice' is not actually a variety of rice, but a category suitable, as the its name suggests, for making paella. <S> Some common varieties are: Bahia, Balilla, Bomba, Senia, and Calasparra; the particular variety should be indicated on the packet that you choose. <S> These varieties differ from risotto rices, such as arborio and carnaroli, in not creating a creamy 'sauce' around the rice. <S> Paella rice should stick together, but be distinct and not in a creamy 'sauce'. <S> Arborio rice has a creamy, chewy texture due to its higher amylopectin (one of two components in its starch) content. <S> Paella rice absorbs more liquid than risotto rices, however it too would become 'creamy' if you stirred it like a risotto, since it also has a high starch content. <A> A grain of rice consists of a starchy wrapping around a core of protein. <S> Risotto rice releases most of the starch quite readily, which is what gives risotto its creaminess (along with all the butter and parmesan). <S> Each rice grain in risotto is thus relatively soft. <A> I've found that cooking methods make a much greater difference than using either 'Paella' or 'Risotto' rice. <S> I used to source rice for my Paella very carefully <S> but I now buy risotto rice in bulk <S> and I cannot tell the difference in the finished product. <S> Providing that it is minimally stirred and not too much stock is added, risotto rice is perfectly adequate for Paella.
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Paella rice holds onto its starch more, so generally is a bit more al dente - the protein core remains firm and the grains themselves remain relatively separate when compared to risotto.
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What's the difference in baking bread in a loaf pan vs. in a Dutch oven? When I bake bread, I always use my loaf pan. Recently, I've seen some people who bake bread in a Dutch oven (or something similar). Why is this? What are the differences between the two? <Q> There's two important distinctions: <S> The dutch oven is preheated, so the oven conveys a lot of heat, rather quickly. <S> This causes some steam to be pretty much immediately made. <S> The dutch oven is covered. <S> This traps the steam previously made. <S> This is trying to replicate steam injection and the goal of most methods that cover the loaf. <S> Steam keeps the crust from hardening and promotes better oven spring and crisper crust. <S> The steam basically allows the bread to 'swell' more in the oven. <S> Steam also gelatinizes the starches in the crust and formes a better 'shine' and 'crisp' on the finished product. <S> The dutch oven is then uncovered after awhile and the crust hardens. <A> <A> Another difference is shape. <S> A loaf pan directs the dough into a specific shape as it cooks (and <S> as the oven spring makes it expand), while loaves cooked in a dutch oven are free to expand outward. <S> This results in a lower, broader loaf. <S> I believe that the loaf pan's restriction may also result in a tighter crumb, and I would be grateful to anyone who can confirm or refute this.
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In addition to rfusca's quality points, the dutch oven is very helpful for eliminating hot spots in the oven, leading to a more even rise across the loaf.
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How much "alternative" flour can I substitute for white wheat flour? Most of the bread and bagel recipes I use (such as no-knead bread ) call for only white wheat flour. I'd like to integrate other flours (such as whole wheat, flaxseed, and buckwheat) into the recipes. How much of the white flour can I replace? 50%? Which grains are better than others for wheat bread? Are other changes to the recipe necessary? <Q> Mark Bittman actually includes a very handy quick-reference flour substitution table in How To Cook Everything <S> (mine is the 10th anniversary edition, not sure if it's in previous editions). <S> This assumes that the bread recipe calls for all-purpose flour and tells you how much you can substitute for the quantity the recipe calls for: Whole wheat <S> : use up to 50% in recipes <S> Rye : <S> light : up to 40% medium : up to 30% <S> dark/pumpernickle : up to 20% <S> Cornmeal : up to 10% Buckwheat : up to 20% Rice : up to 25-30% Nut : up to 25-30% Soy : up to 25% Spelt : up to 100%; then either decrease water by 25% or increase flour by 25% <S> Oat : up to 25-30% <S> The reason that different types of flours substitute at different ratios is primarily due to gluten content. <S> Breads (both quick and yeast) made with alternative flours, especially non-wheat flours, will be heavier, denser, and less elastic; the substitution ratios above are meant to provide a nice balance between the nutritional and flavor advantages of the alternative flours with the texture qualities of all-purpose flour. <S> For more information about the specific properties of each type of flour listed here, see the section called "The Basics of Flour" in How to Cook Everything (p. 835-838 in the 10th Anniversary ed.) <S> Note: These substitutions are specifically for breads, where you want a sturdy, elastic structure. <S> Low-protein or low-gluten flours may substitute at different ratios in other types of baked goods like desserts where you want a finer, more tender crumb. <S> But I didn't get into that since the question was specifically about bread. <A> With the no-knead, there is such good gluten formation that the texture will be quite similar even with half wholewheat. <S> Past half, the liquid portion would need adjusting. <S> Buckwheat I find holds a lot of water but tends to dry out a loaf in texture: just wants to be crumbly and less 'juicy'. <S> Start with 10% sub to be on the safe side. <S> 20% will have a pronounced flavor like the pancakes (check out the proportion in Buckwheat pancake mix). <S> Flaxseed unground can be added liberally as the dough is coming together. <S> It is really an addition not a sub for flour. <S> Even 10% of the weight of the flour would be a very flecked dough. <S> Most any bread recipe can handle that weight. <S> Taste wise, a nice mix of seeds can go to 40% but requires a reliably strong well-developed dough to lift all that without becoming overly dense. <S> Think sourdough. <S> Fine cornmeal generally does make a loaf denser: holds water but doesn't hold the bubbles to allow as good a rise. <S> Unless willing for big texture change, sub just a bit. <A> Some recipes may allow a higher level of replacement, and of course it matters what you're replacing the white flour with. <S> White whole wheat flour is very similar to white flour, but things like flaxseed flour are not, and the more similar, the more you can replace. <S> In some cases, such as replacing white flour with cornmeal, semolina, or rye flour, it will strongly affect the flavor of the finished loaf. <S> But you should be able to follow the same instructions for kneading, rising times, shaping and baking as the original recipe. <S> Some grains affect the amount of water required for the recipe, though (buckwheat and cornmeal are especially absorptive). <S> I've done this many times, with a variety of different recipes (batard, focaccia, sandwich bread, pizza dough, etc.).
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Quinoa flour at 10% won't give you any trouble either. I've found in most bread recipes, you can replace up to 1/4 of the flour with another flour without problematic effects on the dough.
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Can oil be replaced with yoghurt in a cake recipe? A cake recipe is asking for "one cup" oil!! I don't want to eat so much "oil", can I replace it with yoghurt or something else? <Q> Short answer - not really. <S> Fat is an essential component in any cake, and milk just isn't very fatty - about 5% for whole milk. <S> You can make cakes with milk, but they require totally different recipes: you can't simply substitute milk for oil. <S> Bear in mind that you're distributing the cup of oil throughout a whole cake, so that any one slice will only have a fraction of the oil. <S> I assume you'll also be sharing the cake with others, so you'll be 'spreading the calories' somewhat. <S> You should be using a neutral oil like canola (rapeseed) oil anyway, as it has a relatively mild flavour. <S> Of course, there's also the point that cakes are supposed to be a treat, and they'd be less of a treat without the fat, in which case why bother? <S> If you want to be healthy, make a salad. <S> If you want a treat, make a cake and don't worry about the contents too much. <A> It's a popular suggestion to replace oil (yes, a whole cup of it is common in cakes and quickbreads) with applesauce. <S> I've done so and liked the results. <S> I've also used nonfat but sweetened yogurt (a caramel flavour to be specific) with great results in a cake made with zucchini and raisins, and now do that every time I make that cake. <S> I think you'll run into trouble with milk. <S> Part of the purpose of the oil is to keep the flour from finding other flour and getting breadlike. <S> So you have to experiment a little, and the successful experiments always seem to be something sweet - not all the way to honey or corn syrup, but at least slightly sweet. <A> A great substitute for oil is an equivalent amount of apple sauce. <S> It makes it more moist and healthier. <S> I've heard that for people with juicers, the pulp can be used, but I'm not sure how much. <A> Most people do not know that bean puree can be substituted for ALL THE FAT! <S> If you are new to this, you may want to experiment by only replacing 1/2 the fat with bean puree. <S> Keep in mind that you never want to choose a bean that is darker in color than the cake you are making. <S> For instance, if you are making a white cake; use white beans. <S> If you are making a spice cake; use pinto beans. <S> If you are making a chocolate cake; use black beans. <S> Never use black beans for a white cake. <S> To make the bean puree: you can either cook beans yourself as directed on the bag or use a can of beans, then dump the beans and some water in a blender or food processor and puree. <S> You don't want it runny but add enough water until it looks pureed. <S> If the recipe calls for 1 cup oil or butter, you can use 1 cup of bean puree OR use half oil/butter and 1/2 bean puree. <S> Not only will this lighten the fat but it will also "health-i-fy" your recipe by upping the amount of protein and fiber AND save you money (have you seen the price of butter lately--whew!). <S> I do this ALL THE TIME with my family and they still love the sweet treats.
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A popular alternative these days is to substitute all but a couple of tablespoons of the oil with apple sauce (really), but this can be hit and miss and doesn't work with all recipes - it usually works best with things like quick breads (scones etc).
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What are the hallmarks of a traditional alfredo sauce? There are many recipes for alfredo sauce, using ingredients from pesto and soy milk to low-fat milk and cream cheese . What is the gold standard for alfredo? What properties indicate a traditional Italian-style alfredo sauce? What type of pasta is it traditionally paired with? <Q> According to Cooking The Roman Way by David Downie, Fettucine Alfredo is a traditional Roman recipe called "pasta del cornuti" (cuckold's pasta). <S> What either Alfredo Di Lelio III, or Mario Mozzetti, depending on whom you believe, invented in 1914, was the dramatic tableside preparation of Fettuccine Alfredo, which is what made the dish a hit with visiting Americans in the 20's and 30's. <S> The tableside preparation is really what makes Fettuccine Alfredo what it is: the hot pasta is tossed with the butter and cheese in front of the diner, and then served to them immediately. <S> Again, according to Downie, the only ingredients of Fettuccine Alfredo are egg fettuccine, lots of butter, lots of Parmegiano-Reggiano, and (if necessary) <S> a little salt. <S> Recipes which add cream or milk are Americanized recipes designed to allow restaurants to hold orders of Alfredo for a long time under heat lamps (and turn it into a gooey pasty mess). <S> Italians, from my experience visiting Italy, rarely put cream or milk on pasta (a real Italian could speak up here). <S> Downie has a fun 3-page digression about the ongoing lawsuits between the Roman families who claim to own the name. <S> It's worth a read. <S> Alan Davidson, predictably, says nothing about Fettuccine Alfredo. <S> The Glorious Pasta of Italy likewise does not cover the dish. <S> Wikipedia supports Downie's story, except only attributing Di Lelio, and adding the tidbit that Di Lelio apparently called it "Fettuccine al burro" (fettuccine with butter), and the Alfredo name was appended later when it was copied in the USA. <S> Wikipedia also says butter and cheese only, on fettuccine pasta. <S> So, to answer your question and the questions asked in the comments: Fettuccine Alfredo is an Italian dish, if more popular in the USA than in Italy. <S> It is a variation of a traditional Italian dish. <S> In its traditional form, it has only egg pasta, butter, and cheese. <A> In my training as a chef, I have learned that there is no Alfredo with cream in Italy. <S> The closest approximation is just butter and cheese with some added pasta water to thin it out. <A> Now that we've established it's a modern American dish, I, an American, will tell you that authentic alfredo is cream, butter, parmesan, black pepper, and fettuccine. <S> It is made by melting butter in a pan, adding heavy cream and bringing to a simmer, adding cooked and drained fettuccine, tossing in grated parmesan and a few generous pinches of freshly ground black pepper, and serving immediately <S> it's reduced to your desired saucy thickness. <S> Anyone who adds garlic or cream cheese is going to food purgatory! <S> ;-) <S> Or just enjoying a lovely variation of a creamy white sauce on noodles.
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The pasta for Alfredo is egg fettuccine.
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What is the best rice for sushi? I love making sushi at home - it is a satisfying and delicious experience that is very quick and easy (and I can use whatever food is leftover in the house). However, I'm limited by the type of rice I have been using, and most of the sources I've found are confusing about details and brands. I have been using Botan Calrose Rice , and I've used the Whole Foods brand sushi rice, but neither is particularly good. So, what are the specific considerations for good sushi rice? Obviously it should be a white, short-grained rice, but what else should I look for? Is it worth it to order rice online when you live in a place that only sells the Botan rice? Edit: The method for making the rice is either by boiling in a pot with a tight lid or using a rice cooker - both seem to produce very similar results for me. I am looking for a rice with more consistent texture and with a stronger, less chalky flavor. <Q> They further define Japanese Rice as Japonica short rice which has a length:width ratio of 2.5:1. <S> The grains should look translucent and rounded, sometimes with a small white spot at one end. <S> For example, I personally use "Akita Komachi" organic rice. <S> This is also a "half-brown" rice, which gives it more vitamin content than pure white rice, as well as a nice nutty flavor. <S> According to them, Japanese rice is frequently covered in talc or powdered starch to keep it dry, which is why rinsing it prior to cooking is essential. <S> I'm not going to go through their entire instructions for preparing sushi rice -- you can borrow the book from your local library for that -- but I will go over the essentials to make sure you're not missing major steps: Rinse <S> the rice Soak the rice in cold water for 20 minutes <S> Cook the rice Mix <S> the rice with vinegar, sugar and salt Spread the rice out in a wide pan to cool <S> Make sushi within 3 hours. <A> "Obviously it should be a white, short-grained rice"This is your problem, you should be using medium grain not short grain, short grain is pudding rice and will loe pretty much all its structure when cooked. <S> As for brands there are things like Yutaka though they're pretty expensive as their aimed at the western speciality market rather than the regular Japanese one. <S> If you want to find it at a good price <S> you're best off looking online at the brands the Japanese supermarkets sell, though you'll probably have to buy a large bag (5kg+). <A> It's how you wash the rice and how you prepare it. <S> You can use short, long or medium sized grains but I prefer the short grain just because every short grain rice seems to spread out more nice and evenly. <S> When you wash your rice, it's very important <S> you remove all the white cloudy water. <S> When those white cloudy water gets cooked, it makes the rice more sticky, which gives the rice a mushy like texture/appearance. <S> When you wash your rice, make sure you let it sit for at least 30 minutes or longer. <S> This will make the rice tender. <S> After a nice 30 minute stand by, you should give the rice a wash once or twice more. <S> This will let any left over cloudy water that has sat down spread out evenly so you don't get the bottom part of the rice all sticky have the top cooked all nicely. <S> What some people do is they wash the rice on the rice cooker pot and let the silt calm down and cook the rice and only use the top portions of the rice that has been cooked. <S> But like I said before, all rice is pretty much same. <S> Some may look more shiny and such but in the end, they pretty much taste the same as long as you prepare it will. <A> I generally use Botan or Nishiki. <S> The texture is very even and you have to make sure you stir it constantly as it cools down to room temperature, or you will get some dry rice and some mushy rice. <S> If you have too uneven of a consistency, you may not be cooling it correctly. <S> As you stir it while cooling, make sure to add a rice vinegar/sugar/salt solution throughout the whole batch-- <S> I am sure that it's the flavor that is missing from your rice.
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According to Seductions of Rice (which also has the best written instructions for making sushi rice I've seen), any Japanese-style rice will work fine for sushi rice.
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What is the benefit of using a Mezzaluna Knife over a traditional knife These seem popular in many modern knife sets, and I have seen them used (somewhat clumsily) in Europe. I have briefly tried some before, but couldn't see the benefit of it. But then again no one seemed to know how to use it correctly Does anyone actually use these to good effect? If so, what is actually gained over a normal knife? Which type (single or double blade) and size does this apply to? Examples: <Q> Advantages <S> no hand needed to hold the food, therefore safer for children or those lacking knife skills quicker for those lacking knife skills no need for gloves when cutting foods that can irritate the skin, like chillies. <S> Disadvantages Awkward and dangerous to wash in between the blades for the double-blade version. <S> Difficult to store safely <S> A unitasker really only suited for chopping herbs and spices. <S> Inhibits the development of valuable knife skills. <A> I bought my first mezzaluna because I have advanced arthritis and can no longer use a chef's knife properly. <S> It's an absolute lifesaver being able to push down with the strength of both hands instead of relying on a weakened arm with a wrist that doesn't bend attached to a clawed hand that cannot grip a knife the right way. <S> My "go-to" knife is a fairly large mezzaluna (for me <S> at least, it's an 8" single blade and my hands are child-small) and I do use it to chop everything from meats to vegetables. <S> About the only things I can't do with it are fillet fish and break down chicken. <S> I also have a smaller double-blade for herbs and garlic. <S> Obviously, many of the tasks <S> I use it for are better suited to a chef's knife but <S> as that is not an option anymore, my mezzaluna is incredibly versatile and without it <S> I don't think I could accomplish much in the kitchen. <S> I recommend mezzalunas to anyone who finds a chef's knife painful or can no longer grip one properly. <S> There's a bit of a learning curve but you get used to it quickly. <A> These are most useful for things like large bunches of leafy herbs (they are often sold as herb choppers) or a pile of nuts to be chopped. <S> You can also find very large ones used for cutting pizza. <S> However, if you have a decent, large, sharp, chef's knife and know how to use it, you can do just as good a job without one: it depends how many gadgets you like lying around the kitchen. <A> I almost gave my mezzaluna knife away... but decided to give it a try and now I LOVE - LOVE - LOVE this knife!!!I have a single handle, single blade mezzaluna with a square chopping board that is rounded out (bowled)to fit the knife. <S> I chop everything from garlic and herbs to fruit and veggies. <S> The board and knife keep everything from falling or flying all over. <S> When mixing several different fruits,veggies and/or herbs into a single dish (usually 2-6 servings), you can chop most or all of them at once! <S> Cut a small amount of your ingredients, move over or to one of the corners, get more or your next item, chop and slide it over, and so on. <S> When board is nearly full or you have all your ingredients cut, put board over your pan, scrape all ingredients in (if more are needed, repeat) <S> ... then your ready to start cooking!!! <S> SIMPLE and FAST!!!Not only does this save a ton of time and clean-up, I almost always choose this over my food processor or nut chopper because I love the 'organic' feel to chopping up all that stuff by hand! <S> Granted, this is more "utilitarian"; chopping quickly and easily. <S> For cutting more precise or 'pretty' pieces of fruit or veggies, I'd choose a different knife. <S> But once you get the hang of the rocking motion, and find just how much time you will save, I think you will really like using it! <S> *just make sure to also get the "bowl" type cutting board and as good a quality knife as you can afford. <A> I have one, a single-bladed <S> and I use it to cut pizza. <S> It's 22 cm (8.5") from the middle of the one handle to the middle of the second handle in a straight line, and 27 cm (10.5") if you follow the curve of the blade. <S> It's a very easy way to cut a pizza, but unless you eat pizza often, it's not worth the cost in my opinion (I got mine for free), although I have no idea how expensive they are. <S> I must admit that I prefer it over a pizza cutter myself. <S> The reason for that is that you can put more pressure on it. <S> One clean cut and you're through. <S> It's also possible that I've only worked with lousy pizza cutters, that wiggled if you put a bit of pressure on them or that weren't very sharp. <S> And of course, if you want to cut pizza with it, you should stick with a single-bladed one ;-) <A> I use it to cut my home made after dinner mint chocolate slab into bite size squares. <S> It sits better in hot water and gives a nice, sharp clean cut to the chocolate... <S> mmmm...yum <A> If u make a lot of chimichuri .and want to do it right,this is the proper tool. <S> parsley needs to be chopped very fine and inlarge amounts so in order to do without your arm falling off a mezzaluna is needed. <A> It's the best tool to chop rosemary. <S> I also use it to cut pizza as it works so much better than the stainless steel wheel on most pizza cutters. <S> You get better leverage with the two handles <A> I have a single handle <S> Mez. <S> knife I could never figure out how to use until I began to eat chopped salads. <S> Using the knife in a somewhat shallow hardwood bowl is perfect for chopping salad fixings.
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The most common items chopped in many cuisines, onion and garlic, would require rough chopping first with a traditional knife, making it hardly worth it.
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Tips for Creating a Creamy and Smooth Sorbet Recently I purchased and ice cream maker and have been making lots of sorbets with our surplus frozen fruit. Often I will follow a recipe however sometimes not: sometimes the sorbets are icy after just a few hours (even recipes) and sometimes incredibly smooth and creamy (even without recipes). I always churn the sorbet until a soft-serve consistency and always use a sugar syrup. What can I do to ensure a smoother sorbet and furthermore longer lasting? <Q> The general things that can cause icy sorbet: <S> Too much water <S> Compared to other ingredients. <S> Since you probably aren't going to take water out of your fruit, you pretty much have to add sugar or alcohol to compensate for this. <S> This is tricky if you're improvising, and if the water content of the fruit varies. <S> Bad churning/freezing: <S> This is mostly determined by the ice cream maker you have. <S> It sounds like you're probably okay, since you get good results sometimes, but if the churning isn't good, you can get big ice crystals as it freezes around the outside before getting mixed well. <S> If you're using the common type with a pre-frozen vessel, make sure you've frozen it thoroughly, so that you can churn long enough to smooth things out. <S> Chunky fruit: <S> Big chunks will be really obvious, but even tiny chunks can help provide little bits that make the result freeze hard. <S> Make sure that you puree well. <S> Too cold a freezer: <S> sorbet is going to be best if it's not frozen extremely cold, but your freezer probably is nice and cold. <S> Be willing to let it sit out a little bit before eating, or and perhaps keep it in the door where it's slightly warmer. <S> David Lebovitz has a good blog post about making homemade ice cream softer ; most of what I've mentioned is also there, along with more details and some things that apply only to ice cream - for example, fat softens things too. <A> I bookmarked a blog post long ago that explains how you can make your own invert sugar to improve the texture of sorbet -- you use acid to break the sucrose down into a mix of fructose and glucose, which crystallize more slowly than the sucrose of table sugar does. <A> The machine will make a difference. <S> I've found that home machines with a spinning bowl with a scraper that sits inside tend to make larger crystals and lose their freezing ability before the sorbet is quite set up enough. <S> It makes good sorbet/icecream for same day use <S> but if you hold it for too long (a day or two) it'll start getting grainy fast. <S> Commercial grade machines in restaurants will freeze and churn the sorbet more. <S> The texture will be finer and it will keep for maybe a week before it starts to get grainy. <S> You also might be comparing sherbet to sorbet, which has the same ingredients but typically has the addition of either egg whites or dairy which gives it a much creamier texture without the fattiness of ice-cream. <S> Store bought sorbets will have additives that stabilize their product <S> as well it gives them the ability to add more air <S> so you get less raw ingredients but more smoothness. <A> Try using Pectin! <S> It will enhance flavors and minimize the size of ice crystals. <S> If you can't find it in raw form, use peach preserves (2tsp <S> and you won't taste it). <S> It works well in Ice cream too if your not willing to use eggs (custard) Food Science Teacher http://books.google.com/books?id=B81Wo5BTHGsC&pg=PT563&lpg=PT563&dq=what+pectin+does+to+ice+crystals&source=bl&ots=J1bAUua8iO&sig=tS_wDS0a71y1Iqo0v7se1uOJFwU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1F0jU93sFYn7oATIg4KgCw&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=what%20pectin%20does%20to%20ice%20crystals&f=false
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Check the ingredients to be sure it contains Pectin.
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Preparing Salsa Verde fast and fresh I want to make batches of Salsa Verde* fast and fresh, 8 to 12 serves at a time It normally requires a large amount of knife work to get everything finely chopped and crushed. How can I speed up this process? The liquid part can be pre-measured and mixed, the egg yolk only takes a second to separate and mix in. But the fresh herbs take time to chop finely without destroying them, and the final mixing and crushing in the herbs and spices takes time Food processors do not make a satisfactory result, it looks and tastes like baby food * Salsa Verde - based on Italian style Parsley, chopped Coriander (cilantro), chopped Oregano, chopped Garlic, sliced and crushed Smoked dried chillies, crushed Salt (powdered) Olive oil Coriander oil (a few drops) Egg yolk Lemon juice Vinegar <Q> Even for 12 servings, the total quantity of herbs is small; so, in my opinion, the best way to chop it is with knife. <S> Maybe you need to improve your technique. <S> Get all the herbs aligned and press them together with your left hand (or your right hand if you are lefty like me) in a tight pile over the surface. <S> Lean the side of the knife on your fingers, placing the tips of the fingers away from the cut. <S> Practice <S> and you'll see that it's fast and easy and the results are the best. <A> TFD, You can use a food processor for this, the trick is not to overprocess. <S> I have some "mini-choppers <S> " I used to keep around for exactly this kind of task. <S> Here's the steps: <S> Roughly chop the herbs, into about equal-sized pieces. <S> Pulse them in the mini-chopper for 5s to 10s at a time. <S> This may require mixing them around with a small spatula between pulses. <S> Stop when they reach "finely minced" consistency. <S> Don't try to pulse garlic, dried peppers, and herbs together. <S> They chop at different rates, and you'll end up with one of the other thing being overprocessed. <S> If you are fast with it, a good sharp cleaver, 8" chef's knife or santoku are still going to be faster, especially when you include cleanup time. <S> However, a lot of people don't have the knife practice, or don't have really sharp knives. <S> From the knife perspective, I have a hand-forged carbon steel santoku which I use for chopping, and this has pretty much eliminated the food processor for me. <S> A long-bladed, heavy, really sharp knife makes mincing take less than half the time. <S> I had a mezzaluna which I tried to use for herb chopping, and found it pretty much useless. <A> For rapidly chopping herbs, a mezzaluna is a great tool. <S> I like my single-handed version but <S> the double-handed kind seems more common.
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Use a big sharp knife, on a big cutting surface.
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How is white pizza sauce made? As far as I know, the only difference between white pizza and red pizza is the sauce. I know that the white sauce is dairy-based, but what is it exactly? What are the main ingredients, is it thickened somehow? Is there something special to pay attention to when making white sauce? How thick should it be exactly? Should it contain herbs or not? Oil? How does it combine with the cheese, is the cheese supposed to melt "into" it? <Q> White pizza sauce isn't nearly as defined as red sauce. <S> It's largely whatever you want it to be. <S> It's literally any sauce you top a pizza with that <S> is white. <S> It is often dairy based (cream or cheese added), but it could also be a thin parsnip puree. <S> It may contain herbs, it may contain butter, its up to you. <S> Again, thickness is up to you and whatever works for your dish. <A> It's often the same white sauce as used for lasagne, a Béchamel sauce. <S> There are many basic recipes with different flavouring ingredients. <S> I agree with rfusca though, that any sauce that is white will qualify when put on a pizza :o) <A> When I make white pizza, I don't use a "sauce". <S> I brush (garlic infused) olive oil on the pizza dough <S> and then sprinkle that with an Italian herb medley and then cheese on top. <A> As others have pointed out, white pizza means no tomato sauce; there's no specific sauce for it. <S> Having said that, I would like to add Alfredo sauce (or just a dusting of Parmigiano or pecorino cheese) to the suggestions of saucy things you can put on it. <S> Pesto sauce will also work; I used to know of a place that made Roman-style pizza-by-the-inch that made a pizza with pesto and potatoes on it. <S> One last idea is Connecticut-style white clam -- that will differ depending on which person you ask, but I like shucked soft-shell clams, garlic, olive oil, and some parsley, oregano, and possibly rosemary with cheese on top. <A> Personally, I like to smear some seasoned & herbed ricotta and olive oil mixture onto the dough. <S> Throw on some sliced green olives, artichokes, and feta and you have yourself a party. <S> Don't forget some garlic butter wash for the crust. <S> Mmm. <A>
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Make a roux of butter and flour add milk and stir to make a smooth sauce add ingredients for flavour, such as white ground pepper, herbs, and/or cheese I'm a pizzeria owner from New York, and in my experience and this area, white pizza is traditionally one that is topped with mozzarella with dollops of ricotta.
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What is the best way to catch wild yeast for sourdough? What is the best way to catch yeast? I just heard you can do this and I had no idea that you can do this. Do you grow and catch or just catch? This is to make sour dough bread. <Q> There are two schools of thought as to where wild yeast comes from for a sourdough starter. <S> One is that is in the air, the other that it is present in flour. <S> Having made a few starters myself and trying different methods, I am of the opinion that the latter is more likely. <S> I have had just as much success with starters I have simply mixed and put in a sealed jar as with the ones I have walked around the kitchen, vigorously stirring with my hands and so on. <S> Yeast, however, is just one aspect of sourdough - you are also looking to cultivate various Lactobacillus species which produce lactic and acetic acid, which is what makes sourdough sour. <S> These are everywhere <S> and so there is no problem with finding them. <S> However, there are also 'bad' bacteria species that can make your starter go bad. <S> To minimise the chances of this bad bacteria multiplying, it's a good idea to lower the pH of your starter, and for this reason I have had much more success with starters that use pineapple juice . <S> Follow the recipe in this blog , replacing the water on days 1 and 2 with normal, unsweetened pineapple juice, and you'll be on your way. <A> There are several great articles from catching yeast. <S> Apparently is very possible. <S> The wild yeast you catch in the air does rise considerably slower than it's commercial counterparts. <S> Nonetheless, if you have time to invest you can catch your own wild yeast to make sourdough bread. <S> How stuff works has a good simplified write up about how to catch yeast. <S> The article says that you just need the following: A pottery crock, plastic container or glass jar, preferably with a loose-fitting lid <S> A wooden spoon <S> A piece of cloth <S> Some flour (preferably without any preservatives in it) and water <S> With some time, yeast should build because yeast is everywhere and especially in kitchens where baking. <S> Make sure that all the materials are clean and sanitized. <S> How stuff works provides some instructions on what to do with your sanitized materials: To start a culture, mix two cups of flour and two cups of water in a glass or pottery bowl (in the old days, a baker probably had a special clay crock for starter). <S> Lay a cloth over the top and let it sit on the kitchen counter. <S> It turns out that there is yeast floating in the air all around us all the time, and some of this yeast will make its way to your flour/water mixture. <S> It will then start growing and dividing. <S> After 24 hours, you pour off about a cup of the mixture and feed it with another cup of flour and another cup of water. <S> In a few days, the mixture will become frothy as the yeast population grows. <S> The froth is caused by the carbon dioxide that the yeast is generating. <S> The starter will also have a bacteria, lactobacilli, in it. <S> This lends to the slightly acidic flavor of the bread by creating lactic acid! <S> The alcohol that the yeast creates and the lactic acid together are the source of sourdough bread's unique flavor! <A> There seems plenty of advice about how to grow yeast cultures, but not about how to catch it in the wild. <S> While it is true that yeast is floating about in the air <S> and you can catch it that way <S> , it is far more efficient to collect it from a place that has been catching and growing it for you for some time before you go looking for it. <S> I'm talking about the surface of some leaves and berries, they tend to have a little sap and be slightly acidic so the yeast that lands has good conditions to start growing and outstriping the other organisms that you don't want such as bacteria or mould. <S> You can usually even see the colony because the fruit has a white dusting that is not natural. <S> Sloes, Plums and Damsons are good examples. <S> Autumn is a good time because the air is cool and damp, which helps the yeast grow. <S> But you should be aware, some plants produce a white dusting called farina that is part of the plants growth, this not yeast (primulas and poplars) <A> I'm trying right now to catch some yeast from some organic blueberries. <S> I mixed equal parts flour and water with a little bit of sugar to help boost it and have left it uncovered over night next to an assortment of fruits and vegetables all well ripened. <S> I heard that in medieval England bread was made to rise by placing flour and water in the middle of a field over night and that by morning yeast would be present. <S> I also have done some research into the discovery of leavened bread, and it came down to bakers reusing left over dough from the day before with the discovery that it would lead to a fluffy loaf. <S> the longer you keep the left over mix the stronger the flavour will become turning a regular loaf into sourdough.
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You can maximise your chances of having plenty of yeast in your flour by buying organic, as there will have been no chemical treatments which might destroy the yeasts, but any decent flour should have more than enough yeast naturally present to make a starter with.
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Where can I source Mexican chilies in the UK? I've traveled to Mexico and the US and seen different chilies available there, but at home in the UK (or even worse, in my fiancée's home of Finland) I find it very hard to find Ancho, Poblano and Chipotle chilies. Oaxaca Restaurants lists a lot of interesting-sounding chilies, but I have no idea how to source them. I have once found dried Chipotle chilies in a supermarket, but at that time I was not entirely sure of the right way to rehydrate them (and I'm still not). Where should I look for North American type chilies? And if I only find dried, can I use them instead of fresh? <Q> Mex Grocer has an excellent selection: http://www.mexgrocer.co.uk/ . <S> I've ordered chillies once from them in the past with success. <A> There are a bunch of places online (a bunch sell through amazon). <S> Personally I've found Chinese supermarkets to be pretty good. <S> They may not sell every variety but they have much better range than the mainstream ones. <S> You don't really rehydrate them to their original form but soak them in warm water for about 20-30 minutes to get the flavour out and then just use them like regular fresh chilis. <A> The Chilli Company in Suffolk (just up the road from me :-) ) certainly have chipotle chillies as they sell chipotle sauce; although they don't list chillies for sale on their website it might be worth giving them a ring. <A> they seem to have a good variety, the chilli section is here here . <A> The best place I know of to get chiles in the UK is from Lupe Pinto's in Scotland. <S> They've got two stores and until recently had an online store. <S> They carry stuff from North & South America. <S> I think you can also get a tortilla press and masa for making corn tortillas (which is on my wishlist, being a Texan in the UK)
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If you want traditional Mexican chillies then I recommend getting them from mexika.co.uk
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What dishes don't stain with heavy spices? In most Indian cooking, there is a relatively high chance of staining the dinnerware (plates, serving bowls) due to the high turmeric content. Dinnerware made of metal don't stain, but the heavy spices do most other materials in after a few uses. What kind of dinnerware could I go for which are unbreakable but look better than metal? <Q> Anything is breakable, but Corelle/Vitrelle , a laminated tempered glass, is plenty tough. <S> I've never seen it take a stain other than rust, which can be removed w acid. <S> Turmeric shouldn't be a problem. <A> Plastic dishes in general will pick up stains, non-plastic dishes (enamelware, glass, or glazed ceramic) in my experience won't. <S> For stain resistance combined with durability, as you've identified, the best option is likely enamelware, you might try looking for attractive patterns, while the old-fashioned camp cookware that we have in our cupboard isn't very attractive, I'm finding some designs that look much better online, certainly as good or better than plastic dishes. <S> They'll still shatter if dropped on concrete, but they're less likely to chip in normal everyday use. <A> In addition to the recommendations above, glazed high-fire porcelain or stoneware, as well as glass, will not pick up turmeric stains. <S> By "high-fire" <S> I mean "fired to 2375F or above". <S> Example brands would be Noritake, Emile Henry, or Highland Stoneware, but many less expensive store brands from Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond, and similar chains are also high-fire. <S> Many are not, though, so make sure to ask the store. <S> Such ceramics are also chip-resistant, usable in stove and microwave, and otherwise long-lasting, which is a nice bonus.
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If you can't find enamelware that's attractive enough for your taste, tempered glass dishes, as Wayfaring Stranger suggests, are certainly a fairly durable option, another would be heavy plain white porcelain dishes, which I've found to be significantly more durable than typical stoneware dishes.
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Why does my butter icing melt so quickly? I've been making cupcakes for a while now and I use butter icing. They come out pretty and taste nice, but they melt so quickly. Sometimes it's impossible to pipe, because the icing goes so sloppy. When I go to parties and see other cupcakes, they stay on the table all day and the icing doesn't melt. Are they using something different? If so, does anyone know what? <Q> Many frostings incorporate more than butter as the fat in the icing. <S> I recently made ones using shortening, coconut butter, and coconut milk solids. <S> These three are all fats that have higher melting points and are more reliable at higher temperatures in comparison to butter. <S> If you wish to retain as much of the butter mouthfeel as possible, you might consider switching to a buttercream mixture that splices in shortening or even margarine as both are more workable at room temperature. <S> You might also try some of the other variations on buttercream . <S> Best practices for icing or frosting in any case are all over the web; This extensive article has a real gem to be wary of; keep the butter around 65-70 to ensure you aren't dipping too low or hot . <S> There's plenty of additional information and a listing of strengths and weaknesses of the varieties. <S> Here is a run-down of how to frost the cake itself . <S> As alluded to in the comments, don't put meltable frosting/icing on a hot cake. <S> If you are going to keep the frosting in the heat and sunlight, you are definitely going to want to add some shortening or coconut butter in there; that's why it's called Decorator's icing, they put shortening in it <S> so it can hang out at summer weddings. <A> I live in India and <S> it's hot in here for crying out loud. <S> Another helpful tip is to add 2 tsp Meringue powder to your each icing batch, that tends to avoid the weepy icing. <S> Hope this helps. <S> (Source: Years of commercial bakery experience and my fair lot of sad weepy but delicious cupcakes) <A> Once I had such a problem <S> so I thought of adding some All purpose flour to it. <S> It somewhat stiffens.
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I usually add vegetable shortening to my frosting recipe so that it doesn't melt easily.
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What type of yogurt is most similar to the yogurt used in authentic Middle-Eastern cuisine? While looking at different recipes to make "yogurt sauce" commonly found in Middle Eastern cuisine, I noticed a descrepancy between the type of yogurt the recipe calls for. Some recipe calls for plain low fat yogurt, others calls for plain Greek yogurt, and then in this recipe, it calls for strained plain yogurt: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tzatziki-sauce-yogurt-and-cucumber-dip/ . What type of yogurt should be used to make the most authentic yogurt sauce? Is there a specific type of yogurt or specific brand that most closely resemble the yogurt used in the Middle East? <Q> It was only fairly recently that Greek yogurt was widely available in the United States, so prior to wide availability, a simple substitute was to strain normal yogurt. <S> The type of sauce you are trying to make would definitely use a strained yogurt. <S> Whether you wanted to strain your own or buy strained yogurt (aka Greek yogurt) is really up to you. <S> In Greece, sheep's milk was traditionally used for yogurt, but now there's a lot more cow's milk too, so either would be authentic. <S> I would think that full fat would be the most authentic, but not the healthiest, as I doubt low fat varieties were used traditionally (if they even existed). <S> The American use of the term Greek yogurt is really just one of branding. <S> Many other areas in the middle east use the same style of strained yogurt. <S> The Greeks also have plenty of normal (unstrained) yogurt. <A> Actually "Greek Yogurt" is a bit misleading of a name. <S> The Levant region, the area around Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Jordan is where this type of yogurt is from and consumed. <S> Less so in Southwestern Europe (Greece), where it is used mostly as a dessert. <S> It is actually called Labneh which is derived from the Arabic word Laban (yoghurt), and it is simply instead strained yogurt. <S> The term Greek Yogurt probably came about from marketing purposes to the western world. <S> My mother is Lebanese and I grew up eating Labneh almost everyday <S> and it is very easy to make, you should give it a try. <S> Just take plain yogurt (lowfat unflavored) and put it in a cloth bag, you can make one out of muslin fabric. <S> Leave it hang in a sink overnight or a bit longer and you are done. <S> Also, if you are looking for a middle eastern brand there are plenty but you might need to visit a Middle East import store <S> , I have seen Labneh at Whole Foods also. <S> Sometimes it goes by the name of Lebni as well. <S> Hope it helps! <A> Strained plain yogurt ( here's a good tutorial for doing this at home) or Greek yogurt will both work well. <S> Some brands of 'Greek' yogurt in the US contain gelatin or other thickeners; if you choose this route, try to find one containing only milk and cultures. <S> You might also consider making your own yogurt . <A> I am not an expert, but I have just been to Crete. <S> Authentic Greek yogurt uses goat milk or sheep milk, or a combination of both; and full fat. <S> From what I have read, most commercial yogurts are just Greek-style, and without thickeners and additives. <S> That recipe probably means Greek-style, which is strained, whatever percentage milk-fat is used. <S> Plain just means it is not flavored. <S> Some traditional Greeks do not even strain their yogurt. <A> Fage strained Greek Yogurt is pretty much the best around.
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Greek yogurt is simply strained yogurt.
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How do I ensure that pita forms a nice big, even pocket when baking? I have the opposite problem as Amir's question about thick, fluffy pitas . Whenever I make pita, it's nice and thick and fluffy, but the pocket is small or nonexistent. I would like to use my pita for sandwiches, so the pocket part is important. Normally when I make pita, I get a pocket forming on one side of the bread, but the other side stays flat. I end up with a lopsided pita that has a pocket too small to stuff anything into. Every once in a while, I get one with a perfect pocket that evenly puffs up the whole pita, but I don't know why it happens sometimes and not others. Could this be caused by uneven heat in my oven? Or is there something about the technique of rolling out the dough that I'm not doing consistently? <Q> The magic word is "water" - the dough needs sufficient moisture to stay moist while it expands to one big pocket and enough to generate the steam to make that pocket. <S> Most people when doing doughs make them too dry because they're easier to work with. <S> As the dough rests, it will pull together more. <S> Additionally, as you knead and then in the fermentation stage it will firm up some. <S> Difference in water content of the dough causes many of the consistencies for bakers. <S> Alternatively, if you've put your first one in and found out its too dry, then try spritzing the top with a little water and let it rest there for 5 minutes or so. <S> I tested batches with spritzing and without, and so long as there's enough water in your dough and the oven is hot enough to make the steam - it doesn't seem to matter. <S> Every one came out perfect. <A> You need a temperature of at least 250°C (480°F) to get a real good steam puff inside the bread the moment it goes in oven. <S> It is the initial rush of heat that cooks just the outside layer, and also makes steam inside which forces open the bread and makes a pocket. <S> Once the bread is partially cooked through, you wont get a single clean pocket Traditional middle-eastern ovens are just like fire based brick pizza ovens that are popular in backyards today <S> Your domestic oven may not get that hot, or be able to hold that heat when you open the door. <S> Using large slabs of steel (up to 10Kg) or stone may help hold the heat better, and get that initial puff going <S> Some people use electric frying pans on maximum with the lid, to cook them one at a time <S> Indian naan bread has the same issue <S> In some areas you will find weird pans like this. <S> They have a lid to make a single pita oven <A> To add one more tip to the excellent advice of both rfusca and Laura: <S> How you roll it out does matter. <S> After resting the dough, you should pull off balls an roll them out smoothly, from the center, in a few quick rolls. <S> Three issues will rolling out will prevent pitas from pocketing well: <S> If you allow the dough to fold over at all while rolling out If you press several pieces of dough together or "patch" If you spend too long rolling out the dough round <S> Any of the above will cause the dough to compress in spots, and the top of the dough will not separate from the bottom. <S> You'll either get a malformed pocket or none at all. <A> The reason behind getting some pitas puffy and others not as you said is 1) enough water and 2) heat. <S> Or (TOG) ovens with 30 liters capacity and power not less than 1500 watts and bypass the thermostat (as I did in my house). <S> With these you will get high enough temperature and all your pitas will come out just fantastic.
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Ideally make your doughs for this kind of bread slightly wetter than you think and then check it after its been mixed for 30 minutes or so. You need an oven that produces higher temperature than regular ovens such as the portable ones they use in the Arab world. It will also depend on how much it dries after its been rolled so thin - keep it covered.
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Difference between parsley and coriander(cilantro)? A lot of falafel recipe calls for both chopped coriander/cilantro and parsley. Online images look the same to me. Is there a difference between the two? Would omission of one drastically change the flavor? <Q> Coriander leaf/cilantro looks VERY similar to flat leaf parsley. <S> When I have both at the house I sometimes resort to smelling them to know which is which. <S> Cilantro is very strong smelling, and you'd definitely change the flavor of the dish if you left it out. <S> Flat leaf parsley is significantly more subtle and has a much milder flavor and scent. <S> It is not flavorless, and in a recipe that calls for a lot of it, you'd really be missing something by leaving it out. <S> When you've got a recipe that calls for both parsley and cilantro, you're definitely going to be more able to taste/smell the cilantro more than parsley, but they'll both contribute different notes. <S> If you have to leave one out, leave out the parsley, but don't try to make up the volume with more cilantro, as you may wind up overpowering your dish. <S> Just leave the parsley out and proceed as normal. <S> Do not use curly leave parsley in anything--it is tough and virtually flavorless. <S> It is ONLY a garnish and not worth wasting your time on. <A> Cilantro <S> The leaf on the left is Coriander - it's a slightly lighter green, and has rounder leaves. <S> Botanical Classification <S> Coriandrum sativum is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. <S> Uses <S> All parts: leaves, roots, stems and seeds are used in cooking either as a garnish, a key ingredient or as a powder. <S> Regions used/found Native to Southern Europe, North Africa and South western Asia. <S> Common in Middle Eastern, European and American cooking. <S> Flavor Seeds when crushed have a warm, nutty, spicy flavor. <S> The leaves have been described to a have 'soapy' taste. <S> Parsley Parsley on the right is a darker green and has more pointy, sharper leaves. <S> Botanical Classification <S> Petroselinum crispum is a biennial herb from the family Apiaceae. <S> Uses <S> Only the leaves are used, chopped and sprinkled as a garnish. <S> Also as part of a bouquet garni (bundle of herbs) to flavor soups and stocks. <S> Regions used/found Use for its leaf in similar way to coriander but has a milder flavor. <S> Flavor <S> The leaves when chopped have a mild flavor. <A> Coriander/Cilantro is also known as "Chinese Parsley"... which hints that they are similar , but not quite the same. <S> The parsley you likely typically think of has ruffled, curly leaves and is commonly used as a garnish. <S> Cilantro has flatter leaves and stronger flavor and aroma. <S> You may be able to omit the curly parsley without a drastic change in flavor, but I would recommend not skipping the Cilantro as that will certainly have an impact. <A> Apart from being green they're quite different, in flavour terms at least. <S> Parsley - flat not curled which is almost tasteless - is fresh, green and good with fish and cured meats. <S> You can switch but the flavour of the dish will change - if falafel <S> I'd ditch the parsley if I had to choose, but They're both important. <S> In 'older' (pre 1960s before they discovered coriander in the UK) recipes they tended to use the two interchangeably. <A> The most obvious visual guide would be to look at how the leaves are connected to the main stalk. <S> Look at each joint where the stem is connected to the little branches (petiole?) to the leaves. <S> for coriander, one leave per joint. <S> But for flat parsley, you can see that at each joint, they branch out to a few more leaves, so it's more than one leave per joint. <S> But if someone tear all the tiny leaves out then I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference! <A> In the US, coriander refers to ground coriander seeds, not coriander leaf. <S> Its a brown powder. <S> The seeds are spherical and slightly larger than peppercorns. <A> It's the fact that Coriander leaf/cilantro looks VERY similar to flat leaf parsley,I always believe that they are same.
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Cilantro has flatter leaves and stronger flavor and aroma while Parsley don't. Coriander is deep, earthy, and almost soapy - good with hot and oily food.
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How is the lamb meat made in lamb gyros? I've been to several Middle Eastern inspired restaurants around where I live and in most of these restaurants, the customers are able to see into the kitchen as they prep our food. In the middle of the kitchen I normally see something like this: I asked the waitress what they were and she told us that the "blob" on the right is lamb. My friend then went ahead and order a lamb gyro platter. We watched as they carved thin slices off of the lamb. These slices look something like this: My friend let me try a piece of the "lamb" meat but it didn't really taste like meat. It was tasty but the texture seemed too "smooth" to taste like meat. The texture almost reminded me of vegan meat substitute. Its texture was nothing like what ground beef felt like. How did they prepare the lamb that they got such a texture? And is this authentic or just an American bastardization of the authentic gyro meats? <Q> For the times I've done gyros as such, you basically make a 'paste' out of it in the food processor. <S> Throw ground lamb in and give it a whirl, mix your spices and such in, put it on a spit, fridge to give a bit hard, and then on the spit. <S> It comes out with a texture like that. <S> That's how that kind is often done. <S> For 'proper' tasting meat (more like the one on the left), its alternating layers of razor thin meat and fat. <A> Being Greek I don't paticularly like this kind of lamb. <S> It's really a compressed meat loaf if you ask me. <S> But you can watch Alton Brown make this version on Good Eats http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MabT40VRvZk <S> In your first photo I prefer when the meats are stacked up like on the left side. <S> You can also use ground beef, lamb, chicken or pork season them and shape them into hot dogs. <S> These are popular alternatives in Greece to a typical Gyro. <A> In answer to "And is this authentic or just an American bastardization of the authentic gyro meats?", it could be American bastardization, or just lazy cafe owners? <S> Shawarma is made by stacking strips of meat on the skewer. <S> Like spokes on a bicycle wheel, where the skewer is the hub. <S> One end of a strip goes on the skewer, the other hangs out <S> The meat is prepared by slicing it raw from the carcase into 10 to 20 cm long strips, about 1 cm thick. <S> It is then rolled in dry-ish marinade of finely chopped/mashed onion, fresh chopped/mashed/ground cumin, salt, and other secret spices depending on who your mother was <S> The meat is layered onto the skewer (short bits at the bottom, long bits at the top if a vertical skewer). <S> Strips of lamb fat are interlaced, or even patterned in depending on the skill of the butcher <S> A similar technique is used for chicken, beef etc <S> NO food processor is used, no exotic chemicals are used either! <S> As it roasts horizontally or vertically in front of a fire. <S> The cooked bits are continuously carved off, and if not served immediately, put aside to cool. <S> Cooled meat can be quickly re-heated in the grill or in a pan in the wood fired oven (which is used to make the breads) <S> To make this at home Marinade some 1 cm thick slabs of lamb (chest flaps will do) with onions, cumin, salt etc., make sure there is some lmab fat on it. <S> Grill (broil) fatty side up on medium-high, but do not turn. <S> When underside is about done, and the top has not burnt, remove and let stand for a bit <S> , then slice/dice thinly and serve as per a normal Shawarma If you are visiting New Zealand, make sure you visit the best Shawarma house http://middleeastcafe.co.nz/ <A> Very good article in the Guardian about this very topic, apparantly in industrial production they use transglutaminase <S> but it's not required: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/feb/08/the-diy-doner-kebab <A> Contrary to how @rfusca has done it, I actually mix up all of the spices and liquids in my food processor, then combine the ground lamb by hand with the mixture. <S> I agree with the original poster that it doesn't quite taste the same, and a lot of that has to do with how you actually cook it. <S> If you aren't using a spit at home, you aren't going to have the same flavor or texture. <S> The way that I have been able to achieve a similar style to the restaurant bought versions is to make patties using a panade with the lamb, and pan fry the patties. <S> They stay very moist due to the panade, and are easy to cook indoors in any house. <S> In my opinion, the at home version tastes better and is of higher quality than what you can get in most US restaurants. <S> The flavors of the at home versions are usually more preferable to me as well. <S> I will say, as a tip, I tried using veal as a substitute for ground lamb once, and I did not find it appealing. <S> This may be obvious to others, but it was news to me. <S> If you look closely, you will find my gyro patties up on top. <A> Gyro meat blocks are essentially meat <S> loaves - bread crumbs are a common ingredient, as are other things you'd find in a meatloaf recipe. <S> Here's one creative person's approach to both a homemade gyro cooker and the meat block to cook on it .
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Typically the meat is very finely ground and pressed, usually comprising of very little lamb.
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Is there a way to make falafel without deep frying? I see in this video how the falafel balls are fully submerged in oil. Are there other ways (e.g. baking) to prepare the falafel balls after the balls are formed? Note: I do not ask for recipes. <Q> They do turn out a bit drier than if you deep-fried them, but not overmuch. <S> They cook for about 15-20 minutes at 400°F (~200 °C), or until golden and crispy on the outside. <S> Or you can split the difference and oven fry them. <S> If you're unfamiliar, Google can acquaint you with the process. <S> Here's a good NPR article to get you started: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130673515 <A> You can pan fry them if you're careful (6-12mm oil). <S> It helps to coat the balls with rye flour or similar before frying. <S> Leave them alone to fry until the bottoms are nicely brown, then turn carefully w a metal spoon. <S> If you have trouble with them breaking during the turning, you can flatten them from perfect ball shape a bit. <S> However, that's best done as soon as you put them in the oil. <A> Just fry them in a pan with a few tablespoons of oil like you would meatballs, you won't get the same all round browning but it'll do. <A> We don't fry, pan-fry, or bake our falafels. <S> Instead, we put them on a non-stick grill (same grill we use to make pancakes, etc.). <S> I imagine that a non-stick frying pan would do the same. <S> We don't use any oil at all. <S> Depending on your non-stick surface, you may need to spray it with PAM or something similar. <S> We get a fairly nice browning, but we end up with a shape of a round patty instead of a ball. <S> We've found that refrigerating the dough for an hour prior to cooking helps a lot in making sure that the batter stays together. <S> I haven't found them to be any dryer than when I am frying them. <S> The recipe I used was by the Looneyspoons girls, in their new recipe book. <S> It worked very well. <A> Falafel can be baked in the oven for about 20 minutes using few tablespoons of oil around 200°C (392°F). <S> You should be careful when forming the balls not to make them too large. <S> It is better to make them a little bit thin to make sure they are well cooked, and help prevent stomach aches. <S> After baking or frying, you can use a paper towel to soak up the excess oil. <A> lilghtly coated in rapeseed oil, or oil with high smoke point, and air fried
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Alternately, you can pan-fry them, as other answers have suggested. Growing up, my mother always used to bake them.
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How can I sharpen my peeler? Is it possible to sharpen a peeler? And if it is, how should I do it? Are there any things to look out for? (Such as ending up with concave blades.) This is the sort of peeler I'm talking about: <Q> Sort of. <S> There's a trick to fix up peeler edges: rub the back side of a paring knife along the blade, at roughly the same angle as the peeler blade's edge. <S> Use the tip of the knife if needed. <S> You may need to do this with both sides of the peeler blade. <S> I suspect the result is closer to honing the edge, but the trick works well enough that I haven't bought another peeler since my kitchen manager showed it to me. <A> You could theoretically pop the blade out of the handle and try and run it over some sharpening stones (by no means easy with the odd shape), but considering that would take time, effort, and at least a £5 sharpening stone, you're probably better off just dropping £1.50 on a new peeler. <A> Very easy to do, holding the rod like a carrot to be peeled, then run the peeler down the edge of the rod. <S> To see how to do it at the end of their three-part training video (their site or youtube). <S> You can buy their sharpening system, or just buy the replacement rods (other companies sell them too). <S> Or you can use a Dremel, ceramic round tip, either in a Dremel (rotary tool) device or a power drill. <S> Run the ceramic tip along both cutting edges of the peeler (remove burrs of the back side of the blades if you wish). <S> I also use the Dremel technique to resharpen my sewing seam rippers.
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Sypderco ceramic sharpening rods; that is the easiest for me.
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How can I thicken tea? I tried thickening mint tea with cornstarch. I was hoping for something with a more thick mouth-feel. I got the consistency I was looking for, but the cornstarch imparted a slightly mineral/dirty flavor. It certainly didn't ruin the tea, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. My specific steps were: Boil water Add cornstarch slurry Cook 4-5 minutes more Take off heat, add tea bag and sugar (Splenda) then steep. Will cornstarch always impart this flavor or was it my technique? Will another common thickener work better (I don't want to have to buy some powder off of Amazon)? Ideally, I would like a thickener that adds no color or flavor, though I'm perfectly happy with one that just adds color. Thanks. <Q> You could try using arrowroot . <S> This is a widely available alternative to cornstarch - it is used in cookery because it doesn't turn liquids cloudy like cornstarch does. <S> In your case, it might work better as it also has a more neutral flavour. <S> One issue is that overheating can break down the arrowroot, preventing it from thickening, so you are probably better off adding it to the tea after removing it from the heat. <A> I'm going to recommend trying something a little bit different - instead of "thickening", I think what you really want is "body", which is similar, but different sensation. <S> To get the mouth-feel <S> Maltodextrin is a complex carbohydrate, made from starch and composed of many sugar molecules, that is too large to be tasted as sweetness by the tongue, but adds some of the "texture" of sugar. <S> It is used in energy drinks and homebrewed beer to add body and carbs, without adding much sweetness. <S> Start with <S> 1% by weight added to the tea, and see how it works. <S> Typical amounts for brewing are 0.5% (3.2 ounces/5 gallon batch) to 2% (12 ounces/5 gallon batch), with 1.25% (8 ounces/5 gallon batch) being the most common recommended value for people experimenting. <S> For you, for a pot of four <S> 6 oz. <S> servings of tea (24 ounces/680mL), <S> about 0.24 oz (6.8g) of maltodextrin would be a good place to start. <S> That would be roughly two teaspoons, depending on the density of your maltodextrin. <S> You can buy maltodextrin at "fitness nutrition" stores (bodybuilders use it for making special nutrient gels) and home brew stores. <S> Midwest Supplies has maltodextrin for under $2. <A> Unflavored gelatin would likely work for you. <S> It's available in most grocery stores. <S> I'm not sure the ratio you'd want, but 1/4 oz. unflavored gelatin into 1/2 gallon <S> (!) <S> tea should have some effect. <S> Also, drug stores now sell stuff that thickens liquids under names like Nectar-Thick . <S> The stuff isn't cheap, but it's not horrifically expensive either. <S> It should be able to thicken tea. <A> the cornstarch will always give this taste upon cooking it for a little time (5 min), it requires min around 20 min to be cooked, which will make your tea too thick, it is not recommended. <A> Instead of thickening your tea, why don't you buy a tea that brews a thicker liquor? <S> Some oolong teas such as 'Tieguanyin' is already more thicker than a green or black tea. <S> If you want a real thick tea soup then go for a 'ripe pu erh'. <S> I'm not sure if this is thick enough for you <S> but you can give it a try, and still add some thickener. <A> Powered sugar, soon after boiling. <S> I wouldn't consider cornstarch for my drink over powered sugar, though I hear it contains 3% cornstarch, sounds like a great give and take to me. <S> I use it for my chai:)
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I think you are after, you should try a complex sugar, like maltodextrin . Substitute 2 tbsps of arrowroot for 1 tbsp cornstarch, and make a slurry with cool water as you would cornstarch.
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Why is salt sprinkled on top of soft pretzels? For the sake of this question, I am referring to all lye bread. I want to make this clarification since outside of the US the term "pretzel" is usually referring to the shape one would typically attribute to the American concept of pretzels rather than the style. As far as I know, pretzels are the only "bread" that I personally am aware of that gets sprinkled with coarse bits of salt on top. When tasting the pretzel, it has a unique "pretzel" flavour yet it is generally very bland. Is the salt sprinkled on top to make up for the "bland" bread? Is there anything about the pretzel dough that would prevent more salt from being added into the recipe? <Q> IMO the distinctive flavor of a soft pretzel isn't a bland lack of flavor, but rather a slightly bitter, slightly chemical flavor that comes from the lye (or sometimes baking soda) solution in which pretzels are briefly cooked before baking. <S> The lye solution does at least two things for pretzels: It raises the pH of the pretzel's skin, which in turn makes the pretzel brown nicely as it bakes. <S> Imparts that slightly bitter flavor. <S> I don't think the salt used on pretzels is there to make up for a lack of salt in the dough. <S> You can make pretzels that have plenty of flavor even without salt. <S> It's worth mentioning that the proper salt for topping a soft pretzel is not kosher salt or rock salt, but a white, soft salt like Cargill Pretzel M Salt . <S> Kosher salt will work if it's all you've got, but it's not what you'll find on a soft pretzel bought at a ball park or from a street vendor. <A> Having the salt on the outside makes it easier for flavor to be pushed back and for the consumer to focus on the tearing and texture, which is the real meat of lye breads. <S> You still have salt and sugar and other flavors in the bread, but they play a backseat role. <S> Coarse salts are particularly effective at this as they last a bit longer (in their condensed state they don't seem to dissipate like fine salts) on the palate once the rush of dough lands. <A> You cannot use too much salt in a yeast-based bread (that 'pretzel' is yeast-based, isn't it), as salt stops yeast from working – see other question: How much salt can I safely add to bread dough? <S> So, if one wants a really salty bread, the best choice is to put most of the salt on the surface instead of into the dough. <S> Others have described the other reasons. <S> And, BTW, the pretzels, you describe, are not the only kind of bread, which is sprinkled with coarse bits of salt on top. <S> In Poland there is a popular kind of bread called 'solanka' – it is a bread roll covered with salt and carum. <S> See the solanka recipe with pictures .
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I think the salt is there mainly because people like salt, because it adds a pleasing crunch, and because it's traditional -- it's part of what people (or at least Americans) expect from the pretzel experience.
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Why did my French onion soup with 'red' onions come out tasteless and bland? I usually make the French onion soup with white onions. The prodecure I normally use is as followed: I slowly caramelize them on a low heat for around 40min. Then I add some sugar, salt and oil before finally adding broth. I let this come to a boil. I followed the same procedure with the red onions expecting something sweeter, but the end result was a tasteless soup. Since all the ingredients and steps were the same except for the red onion, why did my French onion soup come out tasteless and bland? <Q> Typically you should use yellow onions for cooking. <S> They have a higher sulphur content and are more flavorful after cooking. <S> Raw, a red onion will taste more pungent. <S> However, once cooked it is more mild and sweet than a soup would require. <S> Red, as well as other sweeter onions, have more sugar and water than their yellow counterparts. <S> For more details on the profile, seriouseats has good primur . <S> If you wish to improve your results, you might slice more thinly and add some salt in advance of sweating (rather than before adding broth) to draw out the excess moisture, as the onion's moisture (more prevalent with red onions) will inhibit browning, ergo inhibiting caramelization and the maillard reaction that break the bigger sugars into little ones and lend flavor through browning. <S> The explanation at norecipes also adds that deglazing with sherry can slow down the process if you are experiencing uneven browning. <S> Another possible tactic would be adding a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per pound chopped onion; this will speed up browning. <S> Ultimately, unless the recipe calls for red onions, you are going to get better results with yellow onions in terms of raw, "sweet and tangy" onion-y flavor . <S> You can use the tips above to try to overcome that, but a nice big bag of yellow onions are going to do you better in the long run, and if you put the same effort into the it will take less time, taste better and be less expensive. <A> One of the things that I noticed when making onion or French onion soup is that you need to use a good amount of onion. <S> Definitely caramelize them. <S> Personally I like to use more than one type of onion as well. <S> Adding leeks and two or more other types of onion make for a nice flavorful soup. <S> Then finally it is important to use a good flavorful stock or broth. <S> So to answer your question it could be one of a few things. <S> Maybe there weren't enough onions, the broth was bland. <A> French onion soup is tame and lame without the gratineed ( au gratin style) component that makes this soup an all time favorite French soup. <S> I believe that this vital gratinee component, a crust of French bread topped with grilled grated Gruyere or Comte cheese bubbling and set atop the soup, will rescue the OP's "tasteless" and "bland" soup even though the type of onion used might not be optimal. <S> Coarsely ground black pepper on top of that just prior to serving and/or eating will also lift the OP's soup. <S> I have never encountered a French onion soup in France or, for that matter, anywhere else that wasn't served in this way. <S> Curiously, the OP and the other answers overlook the gratineed component that makes French Onion soup... <S> French! <S> (Wikipedia & BBC Food Recipes) <S> Apology: my French app is refusing to cooperate and thus part of the text is missing l'accent aigu & l'accent grave
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A classic French onion soup must also use a good stock in its prep.
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What effect does orange juice have when used in dough? I was following a recipe to make some Middle Eastern inspired Olive bread, and the recipe called for a cup of orange juice in the dough. I was intrigued by this as I had not seen it before. What effect would the orange juice have when use in the dough? Are there any specific reasons to use orange juice in dough? Here is the rest of the recipe for the dough: 4 cups flour 1 cup oil 1 cup orange juice 1 egg 2 tsp. baking powder <Q> In her book, Bakewise , Shirley Corriher writes that vitamin C strengthens gluten. <S> Many "dough enhancers" feature vitamin C as a large component. <S> Of course orange juice also tastes good which is probably why it was included in your recipe. <A> There are several reasons for adding orange juice: <S> The first is for flavor. <S> The second is to act as an acid. <S> Although in this particular case,the acid is already in the baking powder. <S> All baking powder needs to act as a leavening agent is some kind of liquid. <S> Unless you meant baking soda, in which case an acid is necessary for leavening. <S> The third is to inhibit mold growth. <S> The real reason vitamin C is added is as a dough enhancer, not for gluten development. <S> Since this is a quick bread (no yeast), gluten development is not a main concern. <S> The fourth reason for the orange juice is to make a tender crumb. <S> Because of the fructose found naturally in it. <S> Sugars are added to baked goods as a tenderizing agent. <S> This recipe sounds yummy! <A> try this site
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A little lemon- or orange juice in the dough affects the gluten well and gives a better rising.
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What are the different applications for differently shaped wooden spoons? A while back I got a set of wooden spoons that contained 5 differently shaped wooden spoons. Take a look at the following photo to see the different shapes. I have mainly been using wooden spoon #1 because that is typically the shape I am most familiar with when I think of a wooden spoon. I have yet to figure out what the other wooden spoons can be used for. Are there any specific applications that each shape excel at? <Q> Number five is a folding spoon. <S> It is made for folding flour into light foams without overmixing, for example when making Genoise. <S> The big hole makes the mixing easy, and the shape is good for scraping the bottom of a round bowl. <S> As Dave Griffith already said, 3 and 4 are for stirring stuff in pans and skillets (making roux, cooking off the liquid in tomato or pepper puree for ajvar-like condiments). <S> They prevent the contents burning on the bottom, because they remove the very heated layer from the bottom and let cooler liquid flow in. <S> The slot in spoon 2 make it a poor replacement for a skimming spoon. <S> Normally, you want a bigger perforated spoon for that, with bigger holes. <S> Also, I think metal is a better material in these cases, it isn't so good to put wood in boiling water. <S> Number 1 is useless in cooking. <S> Historically, these spoons were made for eating. <S> When they were big enough, housewives just used an eating spoon for stirring, because this is what they had at hand. <S> Nowadays, people don't eat with wooden spoons, but the tradition persists in that they continue using the traditional shape for stirring. <S> This is a bad idea. <S> It has the wrong shape for flat-bottomed pans and curved bowls. <S> There is no use case for which the other spoons aren't a better fit. <S> Maybe getting flour out of a package into a bowl, but being much flatter than an eating spoon, it is inferior also for this use. <A> Great question! <S> Adding to the others: 4 and 5 appear to me home-made modifications of standard Chinese bamboo spatulas in order to use them for different purposes. <S> 4 is probably intended to be a wooden fork, which would be useful for tossing pasta (together with another wooden fork or spatula). <S> However, the homemade slotting is too narrow, and the "tines" to wide, to be really useful. <S> You'd want something more like this: <S> 5 is, as rumtscho mentioned, a folding spoon for dough. <S> This one seems to be improvised out of a spatula, though; the more common shapes of folding spoons are like either of the below: <S> I think I might disagree with rumtscho about spoon #1 though. <S> I use wooden spoons all the time for cooking and mixing, especially in non-stick pans. <S> If what she's saying, though is that particular wooden spoon is not very well shaped, then I agree with her. <S> The bowl of the spoon is too shallow, and you'd want a round handle rather than a flat one. <A> Flat-ended spoons like 3 and 4 are for good for scraping the bottoms of skillets. <S> Spoons like 5 are excellent for stirring thick sauces, as they let you easily stir the bottom corners of pans. <S> As for the slots, I've never noticed them making a bit of difference, other than if you wish to taste the solid contents of a soup without making a mess with the liquid. <A> as you say normal wooden spoon (I have tonnes of these but can't off hand think what I actually use them for) <S> sort of looks like a slotted spoon but the slots are too small imo. <S> That would be for stirring stews/soups. <S> is the sort I use for frying onions or aromatics <S> or I use two of this sort together for stir frying. <S> I'm not sure about this..... <S> it's not a 3, or a fork, I'd use it with 3 for stir frying as you only have one of 3! <S> I use for anything that starts with a roux <A> It allows for a good stir without causing spills, and the flat bottom lets me be sure to scrape the bottom and corner of the saucepan as I stir. <S> Mine now has a crack in it <S> and so I am on the look out for another. <S> They're hard to find with a flat end on the spoon "bowl." <A> Spoon #2 is perfect for snatching a piece of pasta (not spaghetti) from a pot full of boiling water. <S> It drains the pasta (let's say penne) and leaves the water behind. <S> Also cools the penne quicker so it can be sampled for done-ness. <A> Number 5 looks like a Girariso, a Risotto spoon designed for abrading as much starch off the rice grains as possible... <A> I believe 2 + 4 together might be salad servers.
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I use my wood spoon shaped like your #5 when I am cooking and stirring liquids such as for sauces or puddings.
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does bread have alcohol in it? According to wikipedia , the byproducts of yeast fermenting (like done in baking it says) are carbon dioxide and alcohol (not necessarily ethanol -- the kind you can get drunk on). If that's the case, then technically speaking does every form of raised bread have alcohol in it? <Q> The majority of the alcohol evaporates during baking. <S> McGee's On Food and Cooking says (pg 532): <S> In making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide escapes from the fermenting liquid, and alcohol accumulates. <S> In making bread both carbon dioxide and alcohol are trapped by the dough, and both are expelled from the dough by the heat of baking. <S> I also found this report , which states that some alcohol (0.04 to 1.9%) may remain. <S> However, the report is from 1926, <S> so 1. <S> it may not be really representing modern day situation 2. <S> the data, methodology etc. is not reported: it looks more like an informal news than a real research article, so I cannot critique on whether the results are realistic. <A> All yeast fermented products contain ethyl alcohol (ethanol). <S> Yeast produces carbon dioxide and ethanol as it metabolizes sugar. <S> Generally, the longer the fermentation the greater amount of alcohol. <S> Sourdough starters for instance are allowed to ferment for a long time and can form a clear liquid on top called "hooch. <S> " <S> Hooch can reach upwards of 15%-18% alcohol by volume. <S> As far as the alcohol burning off, this report given by the Dept. of Agriculture shows alcohol content vs. heat and time in baking/cooking. <S> The remaining alcohol in bread is usually negligible, but if you cut open a hot loaf you can usually smell the trace remaining. <A> The basis of yeast cookery is that yeasts react with sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which aerates the dough but also produces - as a by-product - alcohol (ethanol). <S> During heating of the dough loss of alcohol will occur - down to vanishly small amounts but not complete absence. <S> Following recent comments, you’re right that it is a physical process, not a chemical one, but it is one that is progressive. <S> The dough will contain a mixture of water and alcohol. <S> As baking proceeds, the components of this mixture will evaporate at a rate influenced by the volatility of each, and their proportions in the mixture. <S> I would expect the proportion of alcohol in the vapour to be greater than in the liquid mixture, due to its volatility. <S> However, this will reduce the concentration of alcohol in the remaining mixture, and this will lead to a progressive reduction in the rate of alcohol loss, giving the half-life effect. <S> The following link has a report from the USDA about alcohol burn-off in cooking in general http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blalcohol12.htm
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If you are concerned about total absence of alcohol, you need to look at bread-making by different methods, for example using baking powder or just direct heat.
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What can I use instead of a tea towel? I have a recipe for steaming seitan that involves wrapping the vital wheat gluten loaf in a tea towel, tying off the ends, and placing in the steaming basket. I am good to go but for the tea towel. Unfortunately, I don't have any tea towels, nor do I have any that aren't either microfiber or bath towels with a fuzzy nap. I have one of cotton quilted fabric. What can I use as a surrogate tea towel? <Q> Cheesecloth, canvas, broadcloth, or duck would all work well. <A> Tea towels are traditionally made out of linen. <S> It has a delicate weave that is ideal for drying delicate china without the risk of "scratching." <S> However, most cloths that have a simple weave without the "loop" weave found on terry clothes and bath towel would work just as well. <A> I don't own tea towels either. <S> So I generally use extremely clean white t- shirts. <S> They work for proofing dough and wrapping swiss roll cakes. <A> I tried this once with a tea towel and the slow cooker method of cooking seitan. <S> When the loaf was done, even though the towel had been washed many times over 20 years, when I unrolled the loaf the outside of it had obviously taken on some of the ink from the design on the towel. <S> It looked fine on the inside <S> but I was chicken to try it. <S> I now use cheese clothe doubled to wrap my seitan. <S> YMMV <A> Pure cotton or cotton/linen baby muslins work very well. <S> They're a similar fabric to tea towels but a little thinner, and often white or even unbleached. <S> They're a little thick to substitute for a cheesecloth though
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A linen napkin although less delicate will most likely still be a very good substitute for the purpose of wrapping the vital wheat gluten loaf.
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How should I store beansprouts? Bean sprouts are a common ingredient in stir-fry recipes, but they don't seem to last very long in my fridge. How can I keep bean sprouts fresh for the maximum amount of time? <Q> Looks like ehow has the best reference guide thus far to storing bean sprouts After purchasing Bean Sprouts should be stored and washed after purchasing in growing. <S> The article indicates that the best methods for storage are the following: <S> Wash them after you purchase them. <S> Wash bean sprouts after purchasing or growing. <S> Wash them in cold water to remove seed coats, roots and other residue that may be present. <S> If you are using them within a day, store them in the refrigerator at 40 to 45 degrees. <S> Place the sprouts in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel to keep them moist. <S> Store in icy water and change the water few times a day <S> You can also store sprouts in a bucket of icy water and change the water a few times a day. <S> Depending on how long the sprouts were in transit or on the store shelf, they should last longer than when stored in a plastic bag. <S> Freeze them Freeze sprouts for the longest storage. <S> Wash sprouts as described in Step One. <S> Then heat one layer at a time in steam for three minutes. <S> Cool right away in icy water and drain. <S> It also mentions in the article to just grow them to provide the best freshness. <S> Apparently the shelf life of beansprouts should only be stored up to 3 days <S> Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_6178837_preserve-bean-sprouts.html#ixzz1pAEZ12Jp <A> I've been keeping them in a jar in the crisper section of the refrigerator, and they seem to be still fairly crunchy going on two weeks. <S> I found a jar of them last week that'd I'd forgotten from the previous week <S> and they were in much better shape than the ones bought nine days later but for which I didn't have an available jar. <S> I don't rinse mine until right before I use them; most of my vegetables seem to keep longer that way (presumably because they'd be nearly impossible to dry thoroughly). <S> Edited to clarify: I always cover everything thoroughly, so the newer sprouts were wrapped in wax paper, then aluminum foil. <A> My sister got these green veggie storage bags in Walmart. <S> They make everything last longer. <S> Not sure what they are called about 8x16” in size. <S> Great for lettuce. <S> Havent tried with bean sprouts yet <S> but, great for fruit and veggies.
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Put the sprouts into plastic containers and seal.
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Are meatballs different from Hamburgers other than in terms of size? The recipes in for meatballs and hamburgers have their variations, but a lot of overlap. Many look almost the same. Other than the cooking method and size, is there a fundamental difference that sets them apart? <Q> In the US, hamburgers are usually flat patties weighing somewhere between 3 and 8oz. <S> and typically 100% ground beef. <S> Many variations are possible, including mixing spices and other ingredients into the meat, but binders such as egg and breadcrumbs are not common. <S> The defining characteristics of a proper hamburger for most Americans are the shape (flat), approximate size, beef as the primary ingredient, and sandwich-style presentation. <S> A ground meat patty not made from beef is likely to be named differently (lamb burger, turkey burger, etc., even though the name 'hamburger' has nothing to do with ham). <S> Meatballs are smaller (maybe 0.5 to 3oz), roughly spherical, more likely to be seasoned, much more likely to contain eggs and/or breadcrumbs as binders, made from just about any kind of meat, cooked differently, served differently. <S> Also, the cultural traditions surrounding each are completely different. <S> Spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce is classic comfort food; spaghetti with hamburger is unthinkable. <S> Many people like their hamburgers (beef) cooked rare or medium rare, but meatballs are always fully cooked. <S> Meatballs can be held at temperature for a long time, or even cooked, chilled, and reheated; only cafeterias and other low-quality, high volume restaurants would pre-cook and reheat a hamburger -- at home or at a good restaurant the burger would be served as soon as possible after cooking. <A> My experience with meatballs has always involved multiple meats combined together while hamburgers contain a single meat. <S> In fact, I'd go so far to say that MeatLoaf is a closer cousin to Meatballs barring size, shape and spice. <A> Probably depends on the meatball. <S> Yes, meatballs can be just round hamburgers, but for example, you can make meatballs for spaghetti that have eggs, onion powder, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and you will get a much better spaghetti from it than if you just make miniature spherical hamburgers.
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Meatballs are usually served in a sauce of some kind; burgers (beef or otherwise) are served on a bun or bread with mayo, ketchup, mustard, melted cheese, lettuce, tomato, and so on.
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How can one determine if a potato is suitable for French fries? I often make French fries by cutting potatoes into long strips, adding a bit of oil and spices, then baking them in the oven. Sometimes, this tastes very good. Unfortunately, most of the time, it tastes terrible. After baking the potatoes, I often discover that the potatoes have a very strange flavor and texture. They are somewhat sweet and the color after baking is bright yellow. I have tried baking without spices, and have found they are not to blame for the strange flavor. Am I encountering a different variety of potato or a different kind of vegetable that on the outside looks like a potato? Is it possible these potatoes were harvested at the wrong time, but the outside color is nearly the same? How can I identify which potatoes make French fries? <Q> Good Eats(Alton Brown) has some good descriptions of the various difference's between potatos. <S> He has an episode dedicated to potatoes. <S> Main thing is the starch content in them. <S> He has an example of each of the three groups (High, Medium, Low), includign a brief description and sample application. <S> He mentions mentions frying in the High Starch content group, specifically Russets. <S> He then has another episode simply about frying , where he actually talks about French Fries and again mentions the Russet (High Starch). <S> While you can make fries out of different types of potatoes (some of the more "all purpose" potatoes), if you want a really good classic french fry, you're going to want to look for a Russet, with a similar starch content. <S> Here's a page that lists some of the more common varieties . <S> Maybe you can look to see what you bought? <S> The age will probably affect it. <S> A younger potato will in fact be sweeter <S> So, to answer your specific questions. <S> I'm betting you did in fact buy a potato. <S> It's probably just a sweeter variety. <S> If it doesn't say at the market where you bought it what kind they are, I'd ask the people who work there. <S> Also, look at the third link I have above, it does have a few pictures as well as good descriptions on what they look like. <A> I guess these potatoes you are talking about are the ones suitable for boiling. <S> (not too thick or dried) <A> A potato that would make you doubt for a few seconds if it's yellow or pink, has a smooth surface and like said above not too thin skin and not too thick either , above is what we uses for french fries in my country --- but <S> , you may get the wrong potatoes even if it fits all these descriptions listed by everyone in this post , but as our friend said above , the best and easiest way is to ask the person who sells them , they know them without doubt because they're ordered specially by them aside from the normal ones and they even cost more some time ,even in morrocco <S> i ask the seller for them <S> and he stores them in a different place than the regular potatoes .
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One good practice in my country is to check the potato's shell, if it was very thin they won't be good for fries, it has to be a little thick.
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Why does cold coffee taste sweeter with the same amount of sugar? I have observed that the same amount of sugar tastes differently in hot and in cold coffee. If I drink hot coffee, I feel I can add more and more sugar, without it tasting too sweet. However, cold coffee tastes overly sweet with only small amounts of sugar. Why does this happen? Why does sugar taste differently sweet in cold and hot coffee? <Q> This research paper suggests that, in general, pH, temperature, and ions don't generally significantly affect our perception of sweetness intensity. <S> Since temperature and acidity are the two major differences between iced and hot coffee (depending on preparation), this more or less rules out the possibility of a chemical difference. <S> "The main finding from this three-part study was that temperature, pH, and ions had little effect on the perceived sweetness intensity of the sweeteners studied. <S> Even when significant differences were found in the temperature study, the effects were very small." <S> and it's easier to perceive the sweetness when it's not in a solution. <A> Its possible that when you drink a hot liquid, you swish it around your mouth a lot less than when you drink a cold liquid, and thus fewer of the taste buds on your tongue are exposed to it. <S> This wouldn't be surprising: it's hot after all. <S> Another possibility is that if you're starting with hot coffee, and adding sugar to it, that the sugar isn't fully dissolved when you drink it hot (it takes time, especially if you don't stir it much), but has dissolved by the time the coffee cools. <S> With more dissolved sugar, it is sweeter. <A> I suggest the change is in the coffee rather than the sugar. <S> Coffee is more aromatic when hot. <S> When you put the same amount of sugar in a hot and cold cup of coffee, the sweetness will dominate more in the cold coffee where there the coffee taste/aroma is less pronounced. <A> Actually, it has nothing to do with the solubility of the sugar. <S> The reason is that fructose (in an aqueous solution) has two different cyclic forms. <S> The Beta-fructopyronose form (6 membered ring form) is much sweeter than the furanose (5 membered ring) analog. <S> At lower r temperatures the equilibrium shifts and more of the pyranose-ring fructose is present (converted from alpha and beta fructofuranose) thus increasing the perception of sweetness. <A> Cold coffee tastes less bitter than hot coffee. <S> When I was a kid I worked in a bakery. <S> The last pot of coffee was always left for the first bakers, who came in at 3 AM. <S> By the time I got there at 5 AMthe coffee was at least 12 hours old and on a burner for at least a couple of hours. <S> I found that if you put some of the coffee over ice it tasted OK. <S> My favorite coffee drink today is ice with a couple of shots of espresso. <S> No sugar needed. <A> Sweetness perception of coffee-based foods is different from most other foods, since coffee naturally contains the compound lactisole which has a more or less negative sweetness - temperature dependent effects can be from differences in solubility, viscosity etc...
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This, to me, suggests it's either due to larger "sips" of cold coffee and more of an opportunity to taste the sweetness or because sugars dissolve less readily in the cold coffee
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How can I make my no carb sausages more succulent? I'm trying to find a way to make my home made English sausages more like shop bought English sausages (I'm saying English here as I'm pretty sure sausages around the world are very different - ideally I'm looking to make something like Black Farmer sausages) The only caveat is that I'm trying to make them carb free, so can't use rusk or breadcrumbs. I've been experimenting with kibbled onions, as I read somewhere that you can use anything as a binding component as long as it's very dry. I've been using mostly pork belly, which seems to have a good meat to fat ratio - I've been careful to get meat with a fair amount of fat, but my sausages are still a bit dry when cooked. Can anyone give me some tips to making sausages, especially how to make them moist and succulent? <Q> Are you only using pork belly? <S> No added fat? <S> Even though pork belly has a high fat content, my experience is that sausages require even more. <S> Add some ground, or finely diced, pork fatback and see if it makes a difference. <A> This suggests gelatin as a binding agent. <S> You could try increasing your salt content for binding, but this could hurt the flavor. <S> For moisture you could experiment with adding a little red wine to keep them moist. <S> Wine has "carbohydrates" but they aren't processed in the same way as regular carbs. <S> This ingredient is used more in Italian sausages, though, so it may not be what you're looking for. <A> How about making some low carb bread (mug method can make a batch in less than 5 min) <S> Then make breadcrumbs of it in the food processor. <S> You could dry it in the oven too. <S> I reckon that would be almost indistinguishable from the rusk used by sausage makers then <A> Use ground Golden Flax seed and add water .The reason the sausage is dry ,is because there is nothing in it that holds the water content. <S> Fat repels water. <S> The ground flax seed will keep it in the sausage. <S> Only 1g carbs and 1g sugar per 100g. <S> The lowest of any comparable product. <S> You will only need a few grams per sausage. <S> Negligible. <S> You can also use it for bread .In <S> the microwave for 2 min, Dry in oven <S> and then crumb it .
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Also, pork butt may have a better fat content to keep your sausages moist.
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Do the cup cakes bake faster in a 24 hole cup cake tray rather than a 12 hole cup cake tray? The cupcakes cook faster than the big one piece cakes, so does it make sense to assume that the cup cakes bake faster in a 24 hole cup cake tray rather than a 12 hole cup cake tray? My oven has a convection fan. <Q> I immediately thought of this table, from the front of the muffin section in Bread, by Beth Hensperger <S> *: Muffin size Baking time <S> YieldMini/gem (1 5/8") <S> 10-15 minutes 18-20Regular (2 3/4") 20-25 minutes 9-10Oversized (3 1/4") <S> 25-30 minutes 6-7Muffin cake (8-9") 55-65 minutes 1 <S> The baking times are for 375-400F; most recipes will fall around that range. <S> Note that the yields don't necessarily match up to typical pan sizes; for example, if you take a recipe meant for 12 regular muffins, you'll probably have more batter than you need for a pan of 6 oversized muffins. <S> Similarly, if your recipe says to bake regular muffins for 30 minutes, you might have to bake miniature ones a bit over 15 minutes. " <S> Muffin cake" refers to baking in an 8-9" pan of some sort - the author says that you can get away with it for any muffin recipe, but I've never tried it! <S> P.S. <S> I know this is for muffins, but cupcakes are fairly similar, so I think it'll be about right! <S> * <S> At least, I'm pretty sure it is. <S> I have a copy of just this page (for the recipe next to the table, actually), from a book my mom has. <S> I recognize the cover, I know we had that book <S> , I think this was in it, and Google book search somehow found it when I searched for "fresh-lemon muffins". <A> Yes, they will indeed cook faster, simply because the heat can penetrate through the cakes faster. <S> Likewise, if you had 48 instead of 24, they would take even less time. <A> If the size per cake is reduced then they will bake faster and also have a greater chance of becoming dryer.
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If they are the same size per cake simply more of them, then no they won't bake faster and will probably take a little longer to cook.
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How can I substitute English Toffee in cookies? I found a cookie recipe which requires "English Toffee bars". I have never seen them around here, and don't know what they are. What are these bars? Is there any substitution I can use? How close are Toffifee candies? If it just said "toffee", I would cook it at home. But I am unsure what the differences are between an English toffee bar and normal toffee. Can I still cook it? How does it differ from normal toffee? Or can I just put normal toffee in the cookies? <Q> It's just a HARD bar of toffee. <S> It often looks like a chocolate bar, as it is marked into break-off segments <S> I don't think this is really traditional English toffee <S> Use regular butter and sugar toffee as a substitute <A> English toffee is very chewy - the kind of stuff that glues your teeth together! <S> Once it has been cooked and set, it's not easy to handle and wouldn't be easy to chop up for a cookie recipe. <S> You'd possibly be better off with some kind of fudge which is easier to handle but will still hold its shape in a cookie. <A> If the origin of the recipe is American, by "English Toffee <S> " they probably actually mean Heath Bars. <S> Heath Bars are, of course, chocolate-covered, but it's occasionally possible to find "bare" Heath toffee in the baking aisle of various supermarkets. <S> If the recipe is British or French in origin, it could refer to chewy English toffee (per Red Spatula), which is quite different. <S> If it's from some other country, who knows?
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Modern "English Toffee" recipes call for toffee with a chocolate coating dusted with chopped nuts.
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What are double-cut chops? I was in a restaurant recently and the menu included "double-cut pork chop". The person I was with ordered this, but it looked like an ordinary pork chop to me. (I don't eat pork so I don't have a lot of experience with this -- just what I've seen others eat.) Google led me to speculation, but nothing authoritative, that they're thicker; one site said up to 20oz, but the menu in this restaurant said 10oz. (I also searched Seasoned Advice but didn't find anything.) Are double-cut chops cut from a different part of the animal (more toward the center, maybe?), or is it just a wider cut from wherever the butcher was cutting anyway, or is the Google speculation wrong and it means something different? And is this term specific to pork, or are there other kinds of double-cut chops (e.g. lamb)? <Q> The term "double" is not specific to pork - it's also used with lamb - but it means something different in each case. <S> A lamb <S> double chop or loin <S> It hasn't actually been cut twice. <S> A pork butterfly chop is sometimes called a "double chop" because, as the name implies, it's been butterflied . <S> A very thick cut is taken from the loin eye and then cut again to make the butterfly. <S> Of course, if you cut a butterflied pork chop in half, and served just one half, it would basically be a regular pork chop. <S> So if you that's what you actually got, I'd call it a marketing gimmick. <S> I've never actually heard the term "double-cut chop" - there are some vague references to it on Google, but as far as I know, it's not a proper butchering term. <S> Perhaps the term got relayed through several people and mutated somewhere along the way. <A> Double cut means it has TWO ribs attached, not that it's been cut twice! <A> I just ordered the double cut pork chop at a place called Houston's. <S> It was about the size of a baseball and it had 3 ribs attached. <A> I've sometimes heard double-cut used to mean that one bone is included in the center, while all the meat up to the two adjacent bones is also included. <S> That is, you cut against the right of bone 1 and the left of bone 3, leaving you with a chop with bone 2 in the middle, plus all the intercostal meat on both sides.
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double chop differs from a regular loin chop by including both the top loin and tenderloin, but not the flank.
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Salt 'n pizza (how much salt should be in the dough) I've made a pizza today and thought the dough could use a little more salt. I've looked at this answer and have a question about the salt ratio. How is it calculated? The percentage of flour, or the percentage of dough? My pizza recipe calls for 300 g flour, 150 ml water and 3 g salt. That is 1% of the flour weight, but less of the total weight. If 3% is the recommended salt level for bread, I should be using 9 gr for the flour, or 13,5 g for total weight. That is a huge difference. Edit: The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 bag of dry yeast (but I use my own mother dough), and 60 ml oil. Edit: I believe I measured one tablespoon to be 3g :-( <Q> Ratios are always by weight. <S> In bread-making, percentages are made from the amount of flour (if you see a 70% hydration bread, the weight of the water is 70% of that from the flour). <S> So it was meant to say "3% of the flour weight". <S> So it should be 9 grams in your recipe for pizza dough. <A> This tradition is known as a baker's percentage. <S> It may sound counterintuitive at first, but when you are measuring, or scaling, ingredients (which add to the total weight by themselves) you soon notice how convenient it is. <S> So, if you recipe calls for 300 g flour and 3% salt, it needs 9g salt. <S> The water at 150 ml is 50% - a rather low hydration, don't do this with bread flour unless you have another liquid in the recipe you didn't mention (eggs, oil, or additional water for a poolish). <S> It will be stiff with AP flour, but I like it that way, while other people find it too hard. <S> It is up to personal preference, I guess. <S> Also measure the other ingredients (yeast) as a percentage of the flour weight. <S> And if you are given a recipe for fresh yeast, don't forget to convert it to instant dry if you are using it, or vice versa - the conversion factor is 3:1. <A> This is my recipe I translated from Italian website. <S> So for 1 pound of flour (1/2kg), I use one tbsp (11 gram) of salt. <S> Try and let us know. <S> 1/2 kg unbleached all purpose flour 4g dry yeast, half sachet, or 12g normal.1tsp <S> sugar11g sea salt, 1tbsp 300 ml Warm water3tbsp Olive oil <A> I usually use 1 tablespoon of salt for 1Kg of flour.
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When you have a (good) bread recipe, the weight ratio is always given as percentage of the flour.
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How to get the flavors to meld when I add fruit and sugar to plain yogurt? I've recently taken a liking to greek yogurt. So far, I've been buying the Chobani low-fat and non-fat yogurts, which all have flavoring added. I've recently bought a container of plain greek yogurt, and I was surprised at how bitter and flavorless it tasted in comparison. So, my question is, how can I "manually" flavor and/or sweeten plain greek yogurt? This is for someone who doesn't cook much, so instead of saying "add banana", how would I do that? Puree it? Mash with a fork? I assume simply sticking a banana in the yogurt and calling it a day isn't the right approach. Thanks! EDIT: To provide some more detail, in my head, there's a difference between "fruit-flavored yogurt" and "yogurt with a piece of fruit in it". This question is an attempt to figure out how to achieve the former and not the latter. Regarding flavoring, I'm specifically interested in the following fruit: banana, strawberry, pineapple. I'm not sure how different the process would be to incorporate the different fruits in, but that's what I'm looking for. <Q> To sweeten it, add your favorite sweetener: <S> sugar, honey, agave... <S> whatever you prefer. <S> This is important, because sweetness will help bring out the flavor of the fruit. <S> General advice: <S> If you have a fruit you want in your yogurt, pick the form (chunks, pureed, mashed, juice) that you want and mix it in. <S> The Chobani yogurts appear have a variety of these forms, always along with some sugar. <S> If you want banana flavor, sure, mash up a banana and mix it in. <S> Or if you want chunks of fruit, chop it up. <S> Assuming the fruit is soft enough, for this purpose, mashing with a fork is probably a good substitute for pureeing; you'll get some small chunks and some juice. <S> In response to the updates: if you want actually fruit-flavored yogurt, then you need juice and/or puree. <S> If you don't have any other tools, mash it as best as you can. <S> If you have a small food processor or blender that will work with small enough quantities (or are making big batches), blend things up and stir them in. <S> Juice and puree will disperse quite well through the yogurt. <S> Bananas mash easily, especially ripe ones, so just do that with a fork. <S> Strawberries aren't as soft, but you should get enough juice to flavor with if you mash them. <S> Pineapple is tougher. <S> If it's juicy enough, you can probably get some juice out by mashing it; otherwise you might be better off with a food processor or blender. <S> (If it's from a can, you can use the liquid from the can, too - that might also have sugar in it.) <S> Depending on how thorough you are, you may want to use the juice and discard the fibrous parts that are left over. <A> I eat plain greek yogurt one of two ways: 1- Stir in a teaspoon or two of honey and enjoy. <S> 2- Stir in a couple of tablespoons of sweetened granola and a couple of tablespoons of dried cranberries. <S> Both are delicious. <S> My wife prefers to stir in a fruit jam. <S> A tablespoon of strawberry jam would sweeten and flavor. <S> Banana, Strawberry, Peach, Cherry and Plum are all quite good and should be sweet enough to overcome the bitterness. <A> For flavor, you could also try fruit extracts. <S> You might want to toss in some food coloring, as white yogurt that tastes like raspberries can be less "raspberryish" than pink yogurt that tastes like raspberry. <A> You can get Torani syrups through Amazon and they are amazing... <S> I like passion fruit, peach, raspberry and so forth.... <S> just mix some in to taste... <A> i enjoy putting frozen fruits (usually berries) in the food processor or blender and blending them up and then mixing them into my greek yogurt or putting the plain greek yogurt in the blender with a cup of almond or coconut milk, a banana, the frozen berries and enjoy it as a smoothie! <A> I was facing the same problem. <S> An easy and healthy fix I found was to stir in a container of fruit baby food! <A> I make homemade jam using Sure-Jell (Pink Box - Less Sugar). <S> This jam has a softer set whick <S> makes it great for stirring into plain yogurt. <S> I usually make strawberry jam, but also do blueberry, raspberry, and mango. <S> I was going through way too much jam doing it this way, so I have since perfected making large batches of homemade yogurt flavored with sugar and vanilla. <A> You could use a squirt of the "Mio" type water flavorings. <S> Adds flavor, sweetness and color without adding any extra calories. <A> I like to mix lemon curd with plain yogurt to get a lemony flavour, which I love. <S> Another thing I do is add a couple of spoonfuls of those juice powders, strawberry or lemon or whatever you like, and then mix it thoroughly with the yogurt. <A> Tried something new today & it worked extremely well!!! <S> :) <S> So, I had tried putting straight honey in my yogurt then adding frozen fruit & it would always taste way too much like honey for my taste & I never loved it. <S> So today, I diced a fresh peach & put the peaches in a small pot with a splash of water & approximately 4 tbs of honey & cooked them on low just until they were tender. <S> Then I removed the peaches from the liquid & set them aside & brought the remainder of the delicious peach juices to a boil (I added chia seeds to the liquid as well, but that was just a personal preference to add nutrients). <S> Anyway, then I let the liquid cool & put in the refridgerator for about 10 minutes. <S> After it was cool <S> I added the peaches & liquid to about 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt. <S> YUM! <S> Tasted way better than store bought peach yogurt! <S> I haven't tried this with frozen fruit, but I'm guessing it would work the same. <A> Buy a bag of frozen fruit. <S> Add about a tablespoon of sugar to the fruit and let that sit in a bag in the fridge for a day or so, moving it around every now and then. <S> Then fold it into the yogurt.
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For other additives, I would simply mash up your preferred fresh fruit with a fork and stir it in.
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Best way to cleanly cut brownies? So, I'm on a brownie kick, and am currently playing around with baking batches of brownies in 9"x13" pans. I want each batch to yield 15 brownies (so I'm aiming for brownies that are around 3"x2.5") and I'd like them to look as presentable as possible (e.g. like these guys ). So far, I've read suggestions like: use a warm blade, wiping it down after every cut let the brownies cool in the pan until room temperature (~ 2 hours), chill in the fridge or freezer, then cut use a plastic knife forgo the entire process and bake in muffin tins. Do any of the experts here have any time-tested advice? Or if people subscribe to any of the above methods, can they elaborate a bit more? For example, if you believe in the warm blade method, what type of blade would you suggest? The brownie mix I'm using has chocolate chips in it if that helps anyone. <Q> I can't select either of the above answers as the best answer for the following reason: <S> The brownie I'm making is meant to be "gooey", and even after cooling for 2 hours, and then chilling in the fridge for another 30 minutes, the the upper-half brownie still remained fudge-like. <S> I ended up using Jay's suggestion to eye-ball a 4x4 grid, however I didn't use a hot knife. <S> I used a plastic knife with an up-and-down sawing motion and got fantastic results. <S> The cuts were as clean as you could ask for, and the entire process didn't take more than 5-10 minutes. <S> As an aside: I decided to forgo the "aluminum foil sling" and just spray the 9"x13" pan with PAM, line the bottom with parchment paper, and spray it down one more time. <S> The brownie "loaf" came out with zero fuss and had a perfect looking crust. <S> edit : I plan on experimenting with 2 large metal rulers to score the loaf, instead of eyeballing the grid. <A> a classic European style cheese mongers cutter is perfect. <S> Two wooden dowels with a length of wire between them...actually it is a garrotte for cheese! <S> You have to lift the brownies outof the pan first on foil. <S> Very clean. <S> You can cut when hot and re-cut when cool. <S> Or just use a pastry marker to lay out the grid and then cut to your hearts content. <A> I have had pretty good success with the warm blade method. <S> For this, I would suggest letting them cool to a little warmer than room temp. <S> Then, using a warm, very thin knife (you can warm it by dipping in a pan of hot water, then wiping dry), cut the brownies. <S> However, DO NOT remove them from the pan yet. <S> Once they are cut, chill them. <S> Then, use a knife to "recut" along your earlier lines. <S> This will take care of any bits that sort of remelted together from chocolate chips and so on. <S> Now, use a thin metal spatula to carefully remove. <S> All that said, I am a big fan of the muffin cup method. <S> Make sure to liberally use a pan spray or butter the compartments <S> so they come out nicely. <S> I usually wouldn't go to all this trouble since people eat brownies too quickly to care what they look like, but if you are doing them to sell or for a fancy event, either of these would work. <A> The main reason why brownies become mal-formed when you cut into them is because the pressure of the knife cutting in the downward motion AND the sticky brownie sticking to the knife and being "dragged" downward as it is being cut. <S> Generally to get a even nicely shaped brownie cube, the brownie should be baked well enough so that it is not gooey anymore. <S> A lot of recipes are for "really soft gooey at the center" brownies that can become easily malformed. <S> Make sure to bake a brownie sufficiently so that it is done well enough to hold its shape. <S> You should definitely let the brownie first cool. <S> The cooling process allow the brownie to continue cooking and set. <S> Most brownie recipe also factor in this cooling step into bake time. <S> At that point, you should use a very sharp thin knife(to reduce the amount of pressure). <S> In the past, I have tried the warmed blade method by placing the knife under hot tap warm. <S> I then dry it and lightly oil it with canola oil before cutting into the brownies. <S> but when it was time to cut the brownie after cooling, I pop the brownie out of the pan first. <S> This makes it easier to cleanly cut AND you will also avoid scratching your brownie pan. <S> But becareful. <S> This cannot be done for all recipes of brownies. <S> Lastly, as in my comment to your question, it would be easier to evenly cut the brownies into 16 brownies per batch. <S> You would cut it 4 x 4 to yield 2.25 x 3.25 brownies. <S> It is easier to cut 4 x 4 because you can cut down the center of the brownie and then cut down the center of each sides. <S> It is easier to eye ball where the half line is rather than eyeballing how to evenly cut into 5 equal parts if you are doing 3 x 5. <S> EDIT: <S> According to your comments you decided you might go with the muffin tin method. <S> If you do that, I would suggest instead to go with the muffin's relative, cupcake method. <S> Just use cupcake liners to avoid having to deal with a large amount of nonstick spray. <A> Have you tried using (unscented) dental floss? <S> That would fix the main issue, that the brownie sticks to the knifes surface on the way down. <A> definitely let them cool, remove them from the baking dish (hopefully you used parchment paper and this step is problem free), then flip them, then cut them as usual. <S> the shiny shell-like top doesn't fracture and get mutilated as much when cut this way. <A> Pizza cutter along with other suggestions <A> cookie cutters. <S> :) <S> Just make sure they are not too hot, it will melt the plastic. <A> Try a pizza cutter instead of a knife. <S> In my kitchen I have two cutters that have three (3) blades each. <S> They blades are adjustable so that they can be spaced to the desired width. <S> With two cutters there are many combinations that can be set and left that way for the next time. <A> I let my fudgey brownies cool <S> & then I use a lightly oiled, serrated bread knife with a gentle sawing motion & a gentle downward pressure. <S> I clean then re-oil the knife between cuts.
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But I have used the plastic knife method with good results. Serrated knives are much better for any cakes or pastries that you do not wish to crush. Another thing I've tried in the past is to let the brownies cool in the pan
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How do I make the beef in my beef stroganoff more tender? Tonight I prepared some beef stroganoff with a recipe from allrecipes.com as a rough guide. It came out really well, except that the meat was very tough. I bought the meat pre-cut as "stew meat," as recommended by the guy at the meat counter at the supermarket, and thus not specifically chuck roast. I bought it last weekend, expecting to prepare it that day, but plans changed, so I didn't prepare it until now. I covered the meat (~1 lbs, cut up) with some white flour, then browned it until it was maybe 70% brown (a little red still visible), prepared the rest of the sauce, then let the sauce and meat simmer for an hour. Did I brown the meat too fast? Did letting it sit in the fridge for a couple days make it more tough? <Q> Supermarket 'stew beef' is notoriously unreliable. <S> Its often just scraps of beef that the butcher or market can't sell otherwise. <S> My stews were hit and miss for years while I tried to tweak cooking time and such. <S> But then one day I watched a movie on rouxbe.com (paywall, sorry) and they talked about not using 'stew beef' - its often too lean and doesn't have the 'stuff' to produce tender, but juicy bits. <S> They strongly recommended cutting up your own from a chuck.... <S> and they were so, <S> so, so right. <S> In short, cutting up your own chuck is by far the better route - if you're looking for 'stew beef'. <A> Strongonaff is supposed to be made with a tender cut like the fillet that has only been cooked for a couple of minutes at most. <S> The short cooking times mean that stewing meat would not have sufficient time for the collegen to denature into gelatin and make the meat tender. <A> Around here, "stew meat" is usually cut into fairly large (1"-1.5") cubes. <S> If yours was like that <S> and you didn't cut it into smaller pieces as the recipe calls for <S> , you should try that next time -- narrow strips cut across the grain will cook fairly quickly and won't be nearly as tough as the larger chunks. <S> Strips are also more traditional for stroganoff. <A> I encountered exactly the same problem the same time I did beef stroganoff. <S> Stew meat needs to cook for a long time to become tender. <S> Try letting it simmer 30 min more. <A> Regarding, some stewing beef for stews, pies etc. <S> An old lady told me when stewing beef add one tablespoon of malt vinegar into the stock you are going to prepare. <S> You will never have tough beef again, she was so right. <S> I'm 80 now, and I've never have chewy steak. <S> It doesn't smell or taste, when the food is ready. <A> It's a fair amount of work, as you have to make beef stock (or buy if you so prefer, but I find homemade beef stock to be vastly superior to store brands), make the braising liquid (I like to use a red wine reduction along with beef stock and some herbs) and then braise. <S> You get the tastiest beef you'll ever have out of it though. <S> Thomas Keller has a great beef stroganoff using this method in his Ad <S> Hoc at Home cookbook.
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What I like to do is buy shortribs (on the bone) and braise them for my beef stroganoff.
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What natural ingredients can be used to color food blue or green? I've been experimenting more and more with "natural" food colorings - meaning spices and other ingredients that naturally impart color as opposed to a commercial food dye made specifically for this purpose. For example, I've let scallops (among other things) sit in a beet puree, and they get a brilliant pink color. I plan on trying turmeric and saffron for more yellow/orange/red colors. Are there other ingredients that I can try that might create a green or blue color in scallops? And would these work for other foods as well? <Q> According to this blog , you can make blue dye from red cabbage, water, and baking soda. <S> I don't know if it would specifically work on scallops, but I haven't been able to find any proof that alkaline dyes are detrimental to them. <S> The article points out that they work for pastries, though. <S> Matcha is already used, primarily in Japan, to dye several kinds of foods and/or drinks <S> and I've personally used spinach to dye Easter eggs. <A> First, compliments on sticking with natural. <S> Red cabbage is a natural pH indicator . <S> While you can get it to turn any colour, it will shift in colour if the food pH is not the same as the cabbage. <S> You can use blueberries (ha!), blackberries, and Elderberries for various blues (see the note below on why it's hard to get a natural blue). <S> For greens, we use basil pesto. <S> For reds, there are some edible flowers that do well, obviously beats and raspberries. <S> For yellow/orange. <S> Saffron! <S> grind it down in a pestle and mortar and dissolve in a bit of hot water. <S> Note of caution: Saffron at high doses is toxic, but at that dose, you'd be spending hundreds of dollars worth of saffron to get saffron poisoning. <S> Obviously you can mix these to get secondary colours. <S> You can loosely follow this vegetable dye making recipe (obviously leave out the chemicals). <S> Blue dye in history :Getting a natural blue has been traditionally difficult (and expensive). <S> Artists show Virgin Mary wearing blue because in those days it was more expensive than gold . <A> Butterfly pea flowers will give a nice blue or indigo color - it is sold as dried whole flowers for making tea with (out of Thailand), and also marketed as a natural blue food colorant or dye. <S> The tea itself is interesting and pleasant, but also mild and herbal in flavor - so should be easily incorporated into or even masked by whatever other flavors you want in your dish. <S> The tea will also turn purple in the presence of acid (like, say, lemon juice) - so you might be able to get your purple coloration from that, if you don't mind adding a lemon taste. <S> Blue is tricky, at least if you're trying for a taste more neutral than, say, blueberries - so the pea flowers are a good find. <S> And you can brew much more strongly than the picture for a deep color without too, too much extra taste. <S> Turmeric or saffron will indeed give yellows and oranges (depending on concentration). <S> Turmeric is also used as a yellow cloth dye, so should have really good staining power for whatever you're coloring. <S> Saffron will get to orange tints if the concentration is quite high (but it is expensive, so only if you already want the strong saffron taste if you're using that much). <S> You might actually try carrot juice for a more consistent and less expensive orange color (or tint your red beet or hibiscus red with yellow, depending on what you want or what you have). <S> The combination of saffron and butterfly pea flower makes some really beautiful and vibrant greens, from teal to deep emerald - and also a tasty tea, which is what I was doing with it. <S> I had also heard that red onion skins will create a green dye. <S> Other answers mentioned spinach juice and spirulina and the like, so I'll leave them be. <A> Annatto seeds will give you another version of yellow/orange. <S> Squid ink or cuttlefish ink will give you black. <S> Red wine or grape juice sometimes colors foods red. <S> Apparently, scallops will sometimes turn <S> blue on their own under the right conditions. <A> The colour of the food very much depends on its pH (acidity). <S> I remember learning about this in a biochemistry lecture about 35 years ago and then demonstrating it whilst cooking - adding cream to blackberries. <S> The cream changed the acidity of the blackberries, whose colour changed from purple to blue. <A> A very good way to achieve a deep green colour would be adding spirulina powder, or possibly barley grass and wheat grass powder. <A> Blueberries will give a nice purplish hue. <S> Also beets will give a strong red color for natural food coloring. <A> In order to dye the scallops BLUE, bring RED cabbage and/or PURPLE potatoes to a boil in a pot of water. <S> Tweak the cabbage/potato to water ratio as needed in order to achieve desired pigment (I recommend adding only just enough water for the cabbage and/or potatoes to fit comfortably in the pot). <S> Let the BLUE water cool down to room temperature (be sure to wait long enough as to not cook the scallops prematurely); then, gently plop the scallops into the color bath and place in the refrigerator. <S> Allow 2-3 hours for the dye to sufficiently imbue the scallops. <S> In order to dye the scallops GREEN, bring fresh spinach and water to a boil. <S> Add only enough water to just barely submerge the spinach. <S> Let the GREEN water cool down to room temperature. <S> Gently plop the scallops in the color bath and place in refrigerator. <S> Allow 2-3 hours for the dye to sufficiently imbue the scallops.
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If you want a red color (which you can also add to blue for purple) I find hibiscus usually works, it gives a more vibrant red color, while beets usually end up coloring something more pink or itself appearing a duller red, almost maroon, to my eye. Spinach or matcha (green tea powder) could work for green dye.
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How can I make shredded beef? In Australia, shredded beef is not something you can buy easily. I haven't seen it anywhere except in restaurants. I would like to know how I can make my own restaurant quality shredded beef; the same kind that appears in "Mexican" restaurants. Please also provide information on which cut of beef I should be using along with the process. <Q> Cook it for a long time, at a low temperature, until a probe slides in and out of it with no resistance. <S> Braising in a liquid seasoned with spices like cumin, garlic, and chili powder will get you the flavor profile you want (I recommend either finding a recipe or some trial and error). <A> using a crockpot is the easiest way. <S> take beef brisket (around 2 pounds for 4 servings) and submerge in liquid in the crockpot. <S> either use beef stock, seasoned water, or my favorite- beer. <S> cook on low for 8-9 hours. <S> remove the brisket from the crockpot and put on a cutting board. <S> take two forks-using one to hold the brisket down, the other to pull at the brisket. <S> work along the striations in the beer, and you should get pulled or shredded beef. <S> put the now pulled beef into a bowl and ladle some of the cooking juices onto the beef to keep it moist. <S> if you want to add hot sauce or bbq sauce at this time you can. <S> before adding to the crockpot, make sure to trim some of the larger fat junks off of the brisket. <S> makes for pulling the beef later much easier. <A> I prefer a pressure cooker. <S> Use a roast or some cheap cut of beef (or pork), cut it in chunks and pressure cook it for 10-15 minutes. <S> Then, use two forks to pull it apart. <S> If it is done enough, it falls apart and makes wonderful shredded beef. <S> Flavorings can be added after that initial cooking.
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You can use Chuck to make your shredded beef.
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How can I spice up ground beef without using pepper? I cooked up some good-quality minced beef yesterday with salt, onion, and breadcrumbs. (I wrapped it around hardboiled eggs and baked it.) I didn't use any pepper because I have allergies, and I didn't like the way it came out - it was bland and had a faint meaty "off" taste even though I knew it was fresh enough. I don't insist on it being hot and spicy, but what could I use to give it flavour? What is a good replacement that will flavor meat the way pepper would? Or at the very least, what spice or combination of spices would cover up the faint off taste? I know that medieval cooks used to use spices to cover "off" flavours in meat, but I think they were ones we use in sweet dishes now. Tomato is not an option for me sadly but onion and garlic are fine. I hope you can help, I'm finding this really intriguing. I'm learning a lot about what pepper does just by going without. <Q> Ground allspice berries and rosemary can add that piquant taste that you may otherwise be missing from the pepper. <A> Just to be clear, you're talking about black peppercorns ( Piper nigrum ) not chili peppers, correct? <S> If so, are you also allergic to pink "pepper" ( Schinus molle or Schinus terebinthifolius )? <S> If not, those would probably be your closest substitutes. <S> Depending again on what exactly you're allergic to, piperine (the primary "hot" alkaloid in black pepper) may be an option, though that won't have any of the flavor complexity of black pepper—mainly just the heat. <S> You can also buy pepper extract or pepper essential oil; assuming you can find food-grade, you might want to inquire with your doctor if those are safe (I don't know). <A> Since you mentioned it tasted 'bland' <S> , I think you just didn't add enough salt. <S> To give it a bit extra flavour, you could mix in some nutmeg. <S> As for herbs, you could use finely chopped parsley or cilantro. <A> Thesse are some options you use: 1- <S> As for me I prefer to add Garlic and Lemon juice (the quantity should be proportional to the beef quantity), and let them be cooked with the beef, they add a special taste. <S> 2- try to add fresh peppers (green, yellow, and red pepper slices) they add a strong flavour. <S> 3- try to make mushroom sauce, or onion sauce to be delivered next to the beef upon serving, this helps too. <A> Cumin, Paprika, Chili Powder are all seasonings that work well with ground beef. <S> You may also enjoy a bit of red wine, soy sauce or even working in some barbecue sauce before, during and/or after cooking. <S> You may also try sweating (or caramelizing) <S> some yellow onion (with or without garlic) and then cooking the beef with the onions and serving them together. <S> Rather than a hard boiled egg, mix an uncooked egg into the ground beef before cooking. <S> There are a variety of ways to incorporate bacon that would add great flavor to the beef as well. <S> ( If bacon is not in your diet, I apologize )
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Of course, if you want heat, chili peppers will work for that too (and add flavor besides heat).
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Why and when do you need to dock dough? When making a pie, you almost always have to make holes in the dough with a fork. This is called docking. What is the exact reason for doing this? Are there kinds of pastry (puff, short crust, flaky) where this isn't necessary? Do you only need to do it when blind-baking? When you're using baking weights, does it still make a difference? <Q> Thus- <S> you only do it in applications that you don't want blown <S> up- like blind pie crusts. <S> Puff pastry applications, for example, you usually do want to blow up so you will get a lot of light layers. <S> If you are baking a pastry with a filling then the filling will keep this from happening. <S> If you are baking blind, even with pie weights, you should dock because the weights might not weight evenly and you might still get a bubble. <A> I can offer an example from work experience. <S> When making flatbread, I shared this with a co-worker. <S> We were docking the rounds to keep them from puffing up like little pillows, for this we want flat breads that are flat. <S> Docking correctly allows for small "pillows" of air, yet the overall product does not rise much. <S> I baked one without docking to demonstrate how that flatbread would turn into a pita. <S> The entire thing puffs up, separating the top and bottom layer, creating a void. <S> Once cooled, a nice pocket is there for sandwiches. <S> I know this is not a pie answer, but I hope that the visual example helps explain why we dock. <A> Docking is used in order to get the air bubble pockets out of the crust. <S> It is the same as edge stretching except you are putting holes in the dough to release air and gases.
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Doughs are docked to keep them from blowing up with steam while they bake. Depending on when the dough was made, to the temperature of the dough itself, you can use anything to dock a pizza including your fingertips as if you are clawing at it.
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How can i keep ice cream without a freezer I would like to keep ice cream overnight, but I only have a refrigerator. When I've tried to store it in the refrigerator it looks like soup the next morning. Is there a way to store ice cream using only a refrigerator. Possibly with ice? <Q> Obviously the fridge is too warm. <S> You could try packing it in ice and salt in a cooler. <S> The ice cream will be soft but not soup. <S> I don't know how much ice would be needed to last all night. <S> You could put it in a cooler with dry ice. <S> This would be more expensive for the dry ice but would definitely work if you had enough of it. <S> If you had an ice cream churn you could let the ice cream thaw in the fridge and then re churn it in the morning. <S> I think the very best way to keep it frozen is to leave it in the freezer at the store and buy it the next day. <A> As Sobachatina said, an ice/salt mixture will keep things cold for you. <S> A mix of 1kg ice with 340g salt (NaCl) should cool to about -20°C. <S> That's freezer temperature. <S> See: <S> Cooling baths . <S> 5kg of ice, plus salt ought to hold ice cream overnight in a fridge, especially if you make it in a nonmetallic (insulating) container. <S> Be sure to put the ice cream in a water proof wrap before immersion, or you'll have a salty mess in the morning. <A> Ice alone simply won't keep it cold enough, it will be soupy at best. <S> Dry ice in a cooler will keep it cold enough, but that's temporary, and as Sobachatina says, expensive.
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This may seem obvious but you have to keep the ice cream below freezing.
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How to convert a muffin/cupcake recipe to a large muffin recipe I'm looking at the side of my "breakfast - O - meal" box at a recipe for 12 muffins. The kind you would use with a standard muffin tin. What kind of variation should can I use to make the recipe work in a larger 6 large muffin tin? I tried this once before with corn bread muffins and they never seemed to be able to bake all the way though. Ideally I would like to try this with some other cupcake / muffin recipes I have too. So what's the secret? Less liquid? More Egg? My underused large muffin tin needs to know. <Q> This table comes from the front of the muffin section in Bread, by Beth Hensperger: Muffin size Baking time <S> YieldMini/gem (1 5/8") <S> 10-15 minutes 18-20Regular (2 3/4") 20-25 minutes 9-10Oversized (3 1/4") <S> 25-30 minutes 6-7Muffin cake (8-9") 55-65 minutes 1 <S> The baking times are for 375-400°F; most recipes will fall around that range. <S> Note that the yields don't necessarily match up to typical pan sizes; for example, if you take a recipe meant for 12 regular muffins, you'll probably have more batter than you need for a pan of 6 oversized muffins. <S> Perhaps this is your problem - you could be overfilling. <S> If even after scaling the volumes appropriately, you still have problems, you could try reducing the temperature by 25°F and increasing the baking time. <S> ("Muffin cake" refers to baking in an 8-9" pan of some sort - the author says that you can get away with it for any muffin recipe, but I've never tried it!) <A> BREAD BATTER CONVERSION CHART FOR DIFFERENT SIZE <S> PANS <S> One recipe of quick bread batter can be baked in pans of many different sizes. <S> If you want to bake smaller loaves or muffins instead of a single larger loaf, use this chart to figure the baking time. <S> Do remember that no matter which pan(s) you use, fill each only two-thirds full. <S> If you have batter remaining, use it to make muffins. <S> 9x5x3-inch <S> loaf pan 1-1 ¼ hr. <S> 8x4x2-inch loaf pan 50-60 min. <S> 7 ½ x3 ½ x2-inch loaf pan 40-45 min. <S> 4 ½ x2 <S> ½ x1 <S> ½ -inch loaf pan 30-35 min. <S> 2 ½ -inch muffin cups 15-20 min. <S> 1 ¾ -inch mini-muffin cups 7-12 min. <S> Jumbo muffin cups 30 min. <S> *Note <S> : Baking times are approximate and may vary slightly with individual recipes. <S> ** <S> From Holiday Baking, Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications,Dec. 30, 2008. <A> Follow the recipe as written on the box and cook the larger muffins until they are done. <S> Done in this case would mean a nicely browned exterior and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. <S> Or, if you have a thermometer handy, 200º-205ºF in the center. <A> The difference between baking muffins and baking cakes is that cakes are cooked for a longer period of time on a lower temperature (it took me a while to figure this out, as for some reason the lower temperature is counter-intuitive to me). <S> Muffins <S> I usually wind up baking at 350F for <S> about 25-30 min, and cakes or loafs are usually 325F for about an hour. <S> This can be done using the same batter recipe. <S> If you try to bake a cake or loaf at a muffin temperature you can wind up getting crispy or even burned outsides, and raw sticky middles. <S> The same principle applies here for larger muffins. <S> Cook a bit longer on a lower temperature <S> and they should come out well. <A> For the mini muffin/cupcake pans I always bake at 375 F and check them at 7-10 minutes with a toothpick (make sure it comes out clean). <S> For <S> standard muffin/cupcake pans bake at 375 F and check them at 20-25 minutes with a toothpick (make sure it comes out clean). <S> For oversized muffin/cupcake pans <S> bake at 325 F and check them at 30-40 minutes with a toothpick <S> (the cook time has depended on my ingredients... <S> I am a plant-based baker and bake with fruits so sometimes I need to bake my muffins the full 40 minutes so just make sure to check the center of the muffin with the toothpick and not the side).
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Muffins are a quick bread, and quick breads can generally be scaled from mini muffins up to loaves by adjusting the cooking time only.
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How to find out if an egg has a cracked shell before boiling it? The cracks are practically invisible to naked eye but while boiling, they spew out all the yolk into the water creating a lot of mess. I'm wondering if I could test an egg before boiling it, so I could use the cracked ones for making omelettes, for example. <Q> The main reason eggs crack while boiling isn't because they are already cracked, but because of the sudden change in temperature from cold to hot. <S> The same thing can happen to glass or metal, or practically any substance. <S> (I've actually broken a glass coffee table top once by setting a pie pan out of the oven on top of it to cool... <S> after a couple minutes, the top crashed to the ground, giving me quite a start!) <S> Some suggestions to prevent eggs from cracking while boiling can be found here . <S> A summary is: Let the eggs warm to room temperature on the counter for 20 minutes before boiling. <S> Put the eggs in the pan before heating the water, and raise the water temperature slowly (i.e. don't set the heat to 'High') <S> Add vinegar or salt to the water to help heal any small cracks. <S> Cook the eggs slowly. <A> I give it a quick roll in the water with a spoon to make sure it is heated all round. <S> This cooks the outside of the egg rapidly, sealing the crack immediately. <S> no leakage. <S> When you add a cracked egg to cool water, it has plenty of time to seep out uncooked. <A> Also the eggs can crack while the water is boiling when they "dance" up and down and thus hit the saucepan-ground many times. <S> A solution to this is to make sure you have enough water so that the eggs don't hit the ground when the water is boiling. <A> Drop the egg on <S> it's side on a hard surface like your counter top from a very short distance. <S> 1 or 2 centimeters. <S> If the egg is not cracked, it will bounce slightly. <S> Repeat this 2 or 3 times with a different (lateral) side facing the surface. <S> If there are any cracks, the egg will not bounce.
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If I think an egg is cracked before I boil it, I make sure to add it to boiling water rather than letting it warm up with the water as it's heating.
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How to preserve the green colour of mint when doing spherification? I was recently making some mint spheres using reverse spherification, as a bit of background here was my process: I blended around 15g of mint leaves with 250ml of boiling water and left to steep for an hour. I strained the infusion through a 50 micron filter and then added some sugar, lemon juice and 3.5% calcium gluconolacte before thickening with 0.4% of xanthan gum. The spherification went fine but the colour of the liquid went an unappetising shade of brown and what I would like to know is there a way, aside from adding food colouring, to preserve the mint's green colour? <Q> Plants are green due to the presence of chlorophyll. <S> When chlorophyll is exposed to acids, alkalis, heat or enzymes, it first loses its long hydrocarbon tail, becoming water-soluble instead of fat-soluble. <S> Then, hydrogen ions replace the magnesium atom in the center of the chlorophyll molecule, turning it to pheophythin, which has a dull green-yellow-grey color. <S> If you insist on continuing the heat treatment, you will lose a lot of the chlorophyll color. <S> You can reduce your loses by using an alkali environment and by adding metal ions. <S> The metal ions part can be as simple as boiling the tea in a copper pot. <S> For alkali, use baking soda. <S> It will turn the leaves into mush (so it is preferable not to use it for vegetables, even though it keeps the color), but it will help with retaining the green. <S> I think that the changed pH shouldn't be a problem, as Lersch's Hydrocolloids says that reverse spherification works at pH levels 2.8-10, but is inhibited by pH below 4. <S> Also, I don't see why you steeped for an hour; normal mint tea is steeped for 5 minutes. <S> If you want stronger tea, use more mint, not longer steeping times. <S> If you insist on a color coming from mint, but are not particular about steeping, I would suggest getting a mint taste in another way. <S> Juicing the mint will be best, but will require heaps of plant matter, so probably not practicable unless you have access to a mint meadow. <S> It would be much better to rupture the cell walls by freezing, and then leech the mint taste and color in some solvent - water <S> will be OK <S> , alcohol will probably give you a stronger extract. <S> Just steep the defrosted mint for a long time in the water (or alcohol, or mix of both), and then use without adding acids or heating. <S> Again, adding a bit of baking soda may help with the color. <S> But pay attention, if your final product has too high a pH, its taste will be perceived as soapy. <S> And the easiest solution is, of course, to use food coloring. <S> While some people may consider it unnatural, I don't think it does any bad, especially considering that you are already doing some highly unusual things to your food. <S> It gives you a much easier time with the other aspects of preparation (head and acids). <A> Baking soda retains colour in boiling broccoli and other green veggies, so there's a chance this could help you with mint as well. <A> Try grinding the mint with a mortar and pestle, with your lemon juice as a solvent. <S> Since you strain it, the final solution won't have chunks of mint.
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You can try to add some baking soda when you put the mint leaves in the hot water.
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How to create fruity or grassy shortbread cookies? I saw a recipe for green tea shortbread cookies with white ganache filling and fell in love with it. But here, it is quite hard to get any matcha, the few Amazon marketplace sellers have very high prices. Now I want to use this as an inspiration to create a new recipe. I want to have a shortbread cookie which has a light, summery flavor added to the dough. As I can't get matcha, I don't think I can do something else from the grassy corner, but a fruity taste would be good enough. The problem is that this recipe works because the matcha is a dry powder. I know of other recipes which include a dry powder, such as mandelkipferl, but I can't think of a fruity powder to use. And I am afraid that adding fruit-based ingredients will make the dough too liquid. My current best idea is to proceed like making raspberry leather, but after I have reduced the strained raspberry juice, to add it to the dough instead of letting it dry. I am not sure if it will work. My questions: Do you think the raspberry idea will work, and why (or why not)? If you think that raspberries will work, what is the best form of incorporating them? How to get the product as dry as possible without it hardening? How much raspberry juice/syrup can I add before it changes the dough too much? How should I change my dough working methods after the addition of raspberry juice/syrup? Can you think of any other method which will give me a fruity or grassy tasting cookie dough? My constraints: The taste should be incorporated in the dough itself. Not in the filling, and not be present as chunks in the dough (the way scones have raisins, etc.). The taste should be of summer fruit or herb(s). Not maple, almond, nutmeg, chocolate, etc. - I know these are easy to incorporate, but it is not what I want to do right now. The taste should come from the plant itself. I know I can get powder intended for flavoring water or milk, consisting of dextrose and synthetic aromas, but I don't want that. The taste should pair well with the white chocolate ganache. I don't insist on keeping the texture absolutely the same as a shortbread cookie. After all, I will be adding wet ingredients where there were none. But I still want it to be close enough to be recognized as a shortbread derivative, I don't want to create a baked pancake or a chewy cookie, or something else. <Q> Three things: -You can flavor the sugar by mixing aromatic herbs into it and leaving it sit for a week or two. <S> Rosemary pairs <S> well with sweet desserts, as would lavender or basil. <S> Sift out the herbs once you're ready to use the sugar. <S> -You can try replacing the butter in this recipe (or half of it) with some very good olive oil, as in this recipe from the NYT: <S> http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/recipe-of-the-day-olive-oil-cookies-with-red-wine-and-rosemary/ <S> That recipe isn't for shortbread cookies, but the technique may still be valid. <S> No guarantees that it will give you the texture you want, but great olive oil has all of the grassy and fruity characteristics that you're after. <S> -I'm not terribly familiar with matcha, but couldn't you just take some regular green tea leaves and powderize them in a spice grinder? <A> My local high-street tea shop sells lots of instant fruit-tea powder (I'm thinking of Whittard's, in England). <S> If you can find an equivalent where you live you'll have a whole range to pick and choose from. <S> Alternatively, as I suspect they are full of nasty additive, look out for other instant fruit tea powders, perhaps from organic or local (i.e. home made) sources. <S> Or the internet. <A> My favorite summertime beverage is a cucumber-lime aqua fresca... <S> cucumber, lime and mint, separately in in combination are great summer flavors. <S> True-Lime lime crystals are available at my local grocer and Amazon.com--or just squeeze some limes and zest. <S> Spearmint extract or leaves are usually everywhere also. <S> Make a lime cookie with the Lime, and then save the cucumber for the glaze, by juicing a cucumber and adding the juice to powdered sugar. <S> You could candy some mint leaves and put one on the top of the glazed cookie. <A> This might be considered cheating but I borrowed the flavors of fruit pastilles such as Ricola and Cavendish & Harvey by replacing a small amount of a recipe's sugar with the crushed/ground candy. <S> This worked beautifully in a truffle filling but haven't tried baking into shortbread. <S> Little crunchy sugar crystals are lovely; grinding finely and sifting would give perfectly uniform flavor. <A> Herbs may well get you the grassy, green flavors you're looking for. <S> You might look at available green herbs (I thought of (summer) savory, sage, thyme, rosemary, basil, cilantro, oregano, parsley) to see if any catch your fancy - just sniff and think whether it will match what you're looking for, with a bit of sweetness. <S> It should be possible to powder dry herbs for a fairly good result (though sifting may help keep the powder smooth, instead of including not-quite-ground bits.) <S> Fresh herbs might be a little trickier, but many have little moisture and would be fine minced and added to the dough. <S> Many teas, herbal or fruit or <S> even green or white tea can be ground up to powder if you like their scent or flavor - though it would be a good idea to look at ingredients of fruit teas to make sure the flavoring is natural. <S> Again it will depend on what's available, you might (depending on where you are) find chamomile, or pandan, or lemongrass, or lavender, or orange blossom, suits your taste - it all depends on what's to hand, or what you think will be good. <S> Random addition - you might look at date sugar, I've often thought the scents in drying grass or hay can have a heavy sweetness reminiscent of dates. <S> Or honey, which can have floral or fruity aromas (varietal honeys usually have stronger, more distinct flavors <S> than mixed or wildflower honeys - and orange blossom at least seems fairly common even when others can be harder to find). <S> These might be easier to use if you start with a recipe that is adjusted for them, instead of planning on a white-sugar-shortbread recipe with their substitution, since sweeteners can change the structure a lot. <S> Random example, here's a herbed honey shortbread recipe <S> that I found that sounds kinda similar to what you're looking for.
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For more fruity flavors, you might look into rosehip or hibiscus (sold as teas), or add lemon or orange zest.
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What is an easy way to turn a heavy-ish cake? I don't have a metal cake pan. I bake my normal cakes and cake layers in a pan with a glass bottom and silicone walls, and cakes which can be expected to leak in a porcelain quiche pan. Sadly, my oven has a hot corner. If I don't turn my cake around during the baking, one corner is going to be overbaked or even burn. So I have to turn it while in the oven. But the bottoms of my pans don't slide easily on the rack. The first doesn't touch the rack with the glass, it touches it with the silicone part, which has a friction comparable to smooth rubber. The porcelain pan has an unglazed bottom, and it is an even bottom, not just a rim like on most porcelain plates, so it is even harder to turn. I mostly try to grip the rim of the pan above the cake to turn. The silicone rim is high enough for that, but squishy, and it wiggles under my fingers. The porcelain rim is so low, the cake layer reaches it, and even rises above it. So I have to squish part of the cake. It gets worse because of the thick silicone rubber mittens I have, they are not very easy to maneuver with. Are there any easy tricks to turn the cake? Is there something I am missing here? <Q> Well, the obvious answer is to buy a metal cake pan. <S> Otherwise: You could try putting a jellyroll or cookie sheet under it. <S> Then grab the cookie sheet to rotate. <S> Beware that depending on what the pan is made of, it may affect browning especially on the bottom of the cake. <S> Adding some insulation (e.g., parchment) may help. <S> That'll slide fairly easily on the rack, and again you can grab it easily. <S> Especially if you pull the pan out of the oven, aluminum foil surrounded by air will cool quickly, and you'll be able to grab it without the inflexible mitts. <S> Similarly, a sheet of parchment paper under the pan. <S> Same principle as the aluminum, except even at oven temperatures you can grab parchment briefly. <A> Assuming the racks in your oven are removable, simply remove the rack with the cake on it, turn the whole thing around and put it back in the oven. <A> You can try lifting a corner of the pan with something. <S> You could use a spatula, for example, or a cake server, or something flat and thin. <S> It just needs to slide under the pan long enough to lift a corner <S> , that will let you get you hand underneath (in the glove or with a towel or potholder) and you can use one hand underneath, one hand braced against the side, to turn - at least halfway, maybe more if you hand off that corner. <S> This will be easier if you pull the rack out at least halfway or so, by the way. <S> Slip it between gaps in the rack usually run front to back, so you can slip the handle down between two wires to get under your pan, and lift up or use the front wire as a lever against the bottom of your cake pan. <S> Again, once you lift a corner, you can get your hand under there, brace with the other hand, and use that to rotate it. <S> All of drobert's suggestions are also good, putting something under the pan, but this is an alternate method if you want.
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Alternatively, especially if you don't have a spatula that will slide under easily, you can use the handle of a wooden spoon, or even a butter knife, to lift the edge. Plain aluminum foil may work too.
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How to keep the fruit on an upside-down cake? I made an upside-down pineapple cake. It consisted of a layer of buttered caramel, a layer of pineapple pieces, and a layer of batter, baked together. I pressed the batter between the pineapple pieces before baking, hoping that it will "flow in" and keep them in place, but the pineapple was already sunk into the caramel, and it seems to have gotten quite moist during the baking. Result: when I turned the cake, half the pineapple pieces fell off. I replaced them, but I am not sure they will stay in place, even when the caramel hardens a bit, because there is no caramel between the pineapple surface and the cake. How could I have kept them in place? <Q> Looking at the recipe that Holly linked to -- it says specifically not to stir the butter and sugar together, which I assume would give you a better separation as there's butter against the pan, and you're doing it in a pre-heated pan, which helps to prevent sticking (but normally isn't done for most other cakes, as it'll cause them to dome on top) <S> If you're not making the caramel in the same pan ( <S> and so you wouldn't have that layer of melted butter), I'd be inclined to use a parchment circle with another layer of fat over it, so after you invert, you'd then have to remove the parchment (which shouldn't be too bad if done quickly, before the caramel sets) <A> You need to have a good amount of caramel to keep them in place. <S> It also seems like your batter isn't runny enough. <S> Turning it upside down immediately after coming out of the oven should help too! <S> I cook mine in a 12 inch cast iron skillet that has been seasoned. <S> (It can be purchased pre-seasoned at Walmart.) <S> Here is a no fail recipe from <S> The Pioneer Woman which I always use. <S> I've never had a problem with the pineapple not coming out beautifully! <A> Spray your pan (cake pans, muffin tins) with <S> butter flavored non stick spray (pans should stay cold or room temperature, do not preheat the pan) <S> Add brown sugar (for this recipe in muffin tin <S> , I used 1 teaspoon) first <S> , then a thin slice(s) of butter. <S> I am making mine in a large muffin tin (6 servings and dark coated non-stick) <S> Add Pineapple and cherry next. <S> Be sure to dry the pineapple off really well. <S> Pour cake batter on top (use pineapple juice instead of water in your cake batter) <S> Cook at 350 degrees in preheated oven. <S> Cool for 15 minutes then flip onto a cookie sheet. <A> First put the butter into the pan, in chunks. <S> Melt it in hot oven, making sure not to burn it. <S> Gently swirl it around in the pan <S> so it coats the sides. <S> Then add pineapple, making whatever pretty design you like. <S> Add nuts and cherries if using. <S> THEN add the brown sugar. <S> If you used enough butter, (1 stick for 9x13 pan) <S> it will be floating around and on top of the pineapple, etc. <S> and you can sprinkle the brown sugar all over the entire bottom of the pan. <S> Don't worry about caramelizing it, it will caramelize while the cake bakes. <S> Pour the batter over all and then bake. <S> The color of the pineapple will be better if you use this method, as well, with the brown caramel below the pineapple when it is inverted to be served.
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Instead of worrying about how well the pineapple is sticking to the cake, I'd try different pan preparations to make sure the pineapple doesn't fix itself to the pan.
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How do I ripen a Mango? I've bought a fresh mango for a recipe, I've not used mango fresh before and it's currently pretty green (there didn't seem to be any that were more ripe at the shop) and came with a sticker on informatively saying just " Ripen at home ". So, what's the best environment to help it ripen? Should it be refrigerated during ripening and/or when ripe? And how do I reliably tell when it's 'ready'? <Q> You can let it ripe at room temperature. <S> If you want to slow down the ripening process, put it in the fridge, although this will affect the mango negatively. <S> If you want to speed up the process, put it in a bag with a banana. <S> When the mango is ready to eat, it will be slightly soft if you press it <S> and you can smell the mango flesh through the peel. <S> The green colour will not totally disappear. <A> Fruit ripens due to exposure to a gas called ethylene. <S> If you want fruit to ripen faster, expose it to more ethylene. <S> One common method is to put the fruit in a paper bag, which will trap the ethylene and therefore expose the fruit to it more. <S> If you're in a hurry, toss an apple in the bag as well. <S> This works for almost all fruit. <A> Back home in India we had a big container filled with rice grains. <S> Placing the mangoes inside the container would hasten the ripening process immensely. <A> Place the mango in a bowl with raw popcorn seeds. <S> My boyfriend is from Jalisco, Mexico, and his mother is used to ripen them in this way. <A> Fruit ripening is largely caused by a plant hormone called ethylene, which is a gas. <S> Most fruits give off ethylene in ever increasing quantities as they ripen. <S> Temperature is a key determinant of chemical reaction rates and therefore, produce (fruits and vegetables) metabolic rates. <S> Ethylene production increases as temperature rises. <S> Low temperature can inactivate essential enzymes required for full ripening. <S> The fruit may not complete the ripening processes, and/or achieve full flavor. <S> When detached from the growing plant fresh produce continues to transpire and lose water, therefore it is very important to maintain high relative humidity (85% RH) in the storage atmosphere. <S> Put fruits that emit a high concentration of ethylene such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and passion fruit in a paper bag with slower ripening fruit, then inside a plastic bag to contain more of the ethylene gas. <S> Key variables affecting the storage life and eating quality of fruit and vegetables:1. <S> •time from harvest2. <S> •temperature3. <S> •relative humidity4. <S> •atmosphere composition5. <S> •ethylene6. <S> •pest and disease7. <S> •pre- and postharvest treatments <A> Place in dark place, like a cabinet over night- easy.
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Industrial agriculture companies often pick fruit under-ripe, ship it, then hit it with ethylene gas to ripen near the point of sale. Ripening for most fruit is best at or slightly above room temperature, (68 - 70F).
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Is it safe to freeze soup that uses previously frozen stock? I have a lot of frozen stock. I would like to use that stock to make a tomato, leek and basil soup which will be eaten one or two days later. Is it safe to re-freeze the soup that contains the previously frozen stock? Am I better off not freezing the soup that I will be consuming in just one or two days? <Q> Soup (and any food) is safe to freeze and re-use as long as you keep in mind these things: <S> The time the food has been 'out' does not reset when you freeze it. <S> You are putting any harmful microbes on pause, not killing them. <S> Be aware of the total time since your food has been cooked both before and after freezing. <S> Remember that putting something in the freezer does not result in 'instant' freezing unless you have Carbon freezing equipment. <S> Soup is often fully re-heated to boiling. <S> This does reset the clock on safety, and is one thing that makes soup easier to freeze and re-use than other foods. <S> Stock also often changes less with re-cooking than something like meat or vegetables, so you damage the end result less (if at all) with frozen soup than with other re-frozen ingredients. <A> If you are going to be consuming the soup within a couple of days, don't bother freezing. <S> However, there is no issue with refreezing previously frozen stock. <S> Professionally, it is done ALL of the time. <S> We always refroze frozen (and I worked at a high end hotel, not a dump). <S> It's really no big deal (although I'm sure some people will come on here and claim there is a degredation of flavor blah, blah, blah). <S> If you put two bowls of soup from the same batch on the table (one which had been refrozen and one which hadn't), few people could tell the difference (they only think they can)... <A> The rule of thumb about not refreezing things is largely due to changes in flavor and texture. <S> With vegetables or meat, freezing, thawing, and freezing again can cause cell walls to degrade, redistribute fluids, etc. <S> With a stock this is not a problem. <S> In general when you want to refreeze anything you should thaw it in your fridge rather than on a countertop or in open air. <S> With a soup, assuming you thaw the stock below 40 degrees, then cook, then handle properly, you should have no problem doing this. <S> I make and freeze my own stocks all the time, then make soups from them and freeze leftovers. <S> I've never noticed a quality issue in doing so.
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It's generally safe to refreeze food that was never above 40 degrees.
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What method for advance prep of seitan prevents deterioration of texture and preserves flavor while protecting from spoilage? Tonight, I am hoping to cook up three to four loaves of seitan for final prep three days from now. My intent is to form the dough, simmer in stock or steam, and then refrigerate. In three days I hope to use the seitan to make sandwiches after bringing up to temp while smoking on the grill and then slicing. I have seen storage options including freezing, refrigerating wrapped in cling wrap, refrigerating while submersed in the simmering liquid, and a few variations in between. Three days is long enough that I would be concerned about spoilage, as well as picking up stray odors (I will be doing a bunch of bulk cooking of different foods). It is at once short enough that I don't think the texture would necessarily be compromised, but definitely see it as possible if stored in liquid. Likewise, flavor will last fine, but if it is in a simmering liquid, that is soy based, I am concerned it would leech every drop of saltiness and end up as some decaying, more-spongiform-than-usual, briny bread. So I am looking for three possible things and the benefits/drawbacks of any methods; What advance cooking method will work for a batch that will be reheated by smoking (low heat for about an hour or two)? What storage method will preserve texture, maintain flavor, and lock out nasties? What steps can I take when re-heating to preserve all of the above effort? Essentially, what is the prep/storage/plate combo that will save me from turning a few pounds of simmered vital wheat gluten into cloudy clods? <Q> hmm.... <S> my thoughts: 1) <S> biologists use stock as a medium for growing bacteria. <S> therefore, anything stored in stock; I generally like to boil/heat up a lot first before eating 2)the seitan should stay just fine; kept dry in the fridge in an airtight container 3) have you tried making steamed seitan, ala seitan of greatness from lachesis ? <S> (real food daily) cookbook. <S> I make this a lot; both the "chicken" and "basic" (which reminds me of turkey) <A> In case anyone's still interested, I make seitan at least once a week, usually more. <S> It's extremely sturdy and storing <S> it isn't nearly the headache <S> the op seemed to think. <S> As a matter of fact, cooked seitan "ages" very well, to the point where I won't serve it until it's been in the fridge for a few days. <S> The texture and flavor generally improve during the aging. <S> However, I of course cook it again usually on the grill, before serving. <A> From my experience, seitan is not more perishable than other perishable food, so 3 days in a 4°C fridge should be unproblematic. <S> Salt does not tend to attack gluten chemically (in fact, it helps form it), so salty storage liquids will not cause the trouble you describe. <S> Also, if too much salty liquid is absorbed, you can squeeze it out unless your seitan is on the very firm side (think <S> dry-baked, or slow cooked, or oil-poached styles... <S> which keep pretty well in briny liquids in the fridgen anyway). <S> Mind <S> that saltiness usually strives for an equilibrium (everything equally salty) in a wet preparation. <S> Osmotic effects that can counteract that (and cause mushiness/disintegration along with it) tend to be about cell membranes in whole meats and vegetable pieces, and subsequent bursting of cells. <S> These are of no concern with seitan since it does not consist of whole cells.
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4) have you tried making "dry" seitan in a water bath (bain marie) in the oven: this is how it is done in the rfd
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What's the secret to making good turkish bread? (pide) I mean the flat but thick bread you get at turkish restaurants. I've tried it twice now, with two difference recipes, and each time it's come out hard and crunchy, more like a thick pizza crust. Seriously, two separate recipes? Obviously I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what. Can someone who knows how to do this ask me some questions about what I did to try and help me find out what I did wrong? Edit: I can't find the first recipe I tried, but this was the second: http://mediterraneanturkishfoodpassion.blogspot.com/2009/05/turkish-flat-bread-pide-ekmegi.html Also: I used unbleached enriched flour from the bulk section of the health food store, if that makes a difference. <Q> Three reasons come to mind why your bread may have turned out too hard- <S> 1- <S> If you didn't let it rise enough. <S> Flat breads often don't have a proofing step. <S> The dough should double in size on the first rise and then after you divide the dough let it rest to make rolling out easier. <S> 2- <S> Working the dough too much without resting. <S> You don't want to force all the air out. <S> If you do think that you overworked it, letting it rest for a while will let the yeast work a little more. <S> 3- <S> Too low of oven temperatureTraditional flat breads are often baked in large, wood-fired, brick ovens. <S> Your recipe calls for 475F <S> and I would say that that would be a lower bound. <S> Since flat breads are so thin they dry out quickly. <S> In general the hotter you can bake them the better. <S> Try throwing a couple loaves on a very hot grill but indirect heat. <S> Expect this to take less baking time than your recipe. <S> If you get some charring that is ok and even desirable. <S> If you get charring that goes all the way through then you rolled the loaves a little too thin. <S> Personally- <S> I am skeptical of the milk basting. <S> This would keep the surface of the bread moist but it would cool down the oven which would be horrible for the bread. <S> I never saw turkish bakers basting their flat bread <S> but maybe it is a regional thing. <A> You don't kneed the dough, you stretch it. <S> See a recipe here with step by step instructions: <S> http://www.turkishthymecooking.com.au/turkish-recipes/breads/pide-turkish-flat-bread.html update: the link given has since gone away, but is available via archive.org's Wayback Machine . <S> Just in case something should happen again <S> , I believe the relevant portions of the instructions are: Pide Dough Stretching – Not Kneading <S> Do not knead the dough but stretch it and fold it over and over again using your fingers to work the dough. <S> Use olive oil to help with the process of stretching it. <S> Do this for approx 15 minutes. <S> The dough will need to be a little moist and sticky when done, so if you need to add a little water, then do so but be careful not to add too much. <S> When kneading is complete, add 2 tbsp of olive oil over the top of the dough and cover with a tea towel. <S> Leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. <S> Punch down once to expel the air, then divide the dough into two even balls portions. <S> Roll into balls, but do not knead. <S> Grabbing one dough ball, fold the dough from underneath stretching the ball, continually keeping the shape of the ball but kind of kneading in your hands from underneath. <S> Do this for about 5 minutes for each ball. <S> Shaping Pide <S> On the baking tray, using your fingers, stretch out the dough in a flat circle. <S> Using your fingers is much better than a rolling pin as the rolling pin will loose the air. <S> Once you have both pieces on an oven tray, possibly two (allow enough room for them to both expand in size) place another tsp of olive oil over each flat dough. <S> Cover with a tea towel for another 1 hour. <S> After an hour, pre heat the oven to 210 degrees Celcius. <S> When ready, using your fingers, indent the surface making a border approx 3cm in thickness. <S> Then inside the border, indent the dough with your fingers every 2-3 cm and then turn the bread to the side and do it again the other way. <A> Secret to good turkish bread. <S> Do not fully develop dough during mixing. <S> High hydration 60-70% Long rest with gentle stretch and fold sequence. <S> Brush with egg wash just before baking or spray with water until moist. <S> Seeds are optional but nigella seed is what gives the distinctive flavor. <S> Bake at 250deg c for 7-9 mins if you want soft crust; 13-15 mins 220deg C for a harder crust. <S> Tips <S> Only mix until just past half of kneading stage the rest of development takes place during fermentation. <S> Handling of dough is crucial. <S> Must be gentle to avoid knocking all the gas out of the dough. <S> Gas bubble formation short mixing high hydration and high temp baking are responsible for internal structure. <S> Add a cup of water to hot oven just before placing dough in oven. <S> This creates a moist baking atmosphere to ensure maximum volume and a thin crust. <S> You can also brush with oil. <S> Plain or flavored upon removal from oven.
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When rolling or stretching the dough be gentle.
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What to place beneath the vegetables before placing them on the baking tray? In order to prevent their surface from burning, what can be placed beneath vegetables to be roasted before placing them on the baking tray? I am thinking of applying oil to the tray, but I'm not sure if that's enough. <Q> I usually put tinfoil down and then lightly oil it. <S> If done carefully, the tray stays clean and doesn't need to be washed and the foil can be thrown out (or used for a second batch of veggies if you have one). <A> Just make sure that you fit the paper to the shape of the tray and don't be surprised if the edges turn brown/black <S> at higher (400 degrees and up) temperatures. <S> If you need help locating parchment paper, I would suggest visiting nearby restaurant supply stores, checking out your local supermarket (Reynolds has a brand of parchment paper available), or utilizing an online store such as Amazon or King Arthur Flour . <S> Oh, and one last thing: I recommend parchment paper because I used to volunteer as a prep cook and we would constantly use it to bake things like fish sticks, pizza pockets, and vegetables. <S> Why? <S> Because nothing got stuck on the pans, nothing got burnt, and clean up involved stripping off the paper, wading it up, and throwing it in the garbage. <S> Now if that's not easy, I don't know what is. <A> I love using foil, but only for certain things. <S> And now that I paid $9 for a large roll, I won’t use it as much anymore. <S> It also tends to turn potatoes a bit grey and I can taste the foil. <S> The Irish girl that I am, I love using enamel roasting pans. <S> Here is the trick, put the pan in the oven first to pre-heat. <S> Then in a bowl add your potatoes (well rinsed), carrots (cut smaller) or mix in some sweet potatoes. <S> Add your spices then oil and toss. <S> In 10 mins when the pan is hot, pull out the rack with the pan, then throw in the mix. <S> A lot of sizzling goes on. <S> Halfway through the cooking process, toss the mix and cook some more, I always use loud timers. <S> The potatoes don't stick or burn, unless your oven is too high or you leave them in too long. <S> If they do stick towards the end, just pull it out and let the pan cool. <S> The potatoes will then release on their own. <S> The great thing about enamel pans, they darken your potatoes and carrots to such a sweet flavor. <S> Also, when they start to get a buildup you can throw them in your self-cleaning oven. <S> Just lean it up on one side. <S> Remember, your self-cleaning oven sides are enamel.
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You can avoid oil altogether if you cover your baking trays in parchment paper .
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How important is RPM in a blender? I'm looking at getting a new blender, basically the main things I want to be able to do with it are make curry pastes, ultra smooth restaurant quality purees and soups and grind small amounts of spices (I'm talking 1-2 teaspoons). This leaves me with two choices (possibly three of which I'll get too): the Blentec or the Vitamix. The former goes to 27,000rpm and the latter goes to 37,000. I'm wondering is there much of a difference once you get up to crazy speeds like that. The other option is a Thermomix, which from my reading only hits speeds of 11,000rpm. Unfortunately, given that many Thermomix owners also sell them, it's pretty hard to get unbiased information online so I'm wondering if a speed drop of nearly two thirds will make a difference to the smoothness of my purees. From demos I've seen it think the Thermomix will do a better job with curry pastes and spice grinding as the blades nearly touch the base of the container unlike the other two units: my thinking being that however high the rpm of the Vitamix/Blentec, if the teaspoon of spices can't come into contact with the blades, it's useless. I read the What to look for when purchasing a blender? question and found no mention of rpm so maybe it's a parameter that isn't very useful, if so then it would be nice to know that at least. <Q> I've used both a Vitamix 500 (not extensively) and a Thermomix TM31. <S> I didn't know there was a difference in RPM, but I didn't notice too much difference in end-effect when both were turned up to full power. <S> So I think it doesn't make much difference at those speeds anymore. <S> If you're having trouble milling spices though, it helps to heat them a while in the oven, to get rid of humidity and therefore make them more brittle. <A> A blender with high RPM will blend faster, but it may not actually be indicative of how well the blender blends. <S> In general, a powerful motor is more critical than one that simply spins fast. <S> The higher the horsepower, the more consistently the blender will be able to run after continuous use. <S> The torque of the blade/motor is also an important factor to consider. <S> Higher torque means that the blade will be less likely to stop or slow upon impact with tough or dense items like banana slices or chunks of pineapple. <S> So while RPM is definitely important (you obviously don't want a blender that takes forever to blend up your food), it's not the only determining factor. <S> Most professional-grade blenders will have much higher RPM ratings than standard residential blenders, but at the professional price level, horsepower and torque are just as important when making your decision. <A> I've been researching blenders and realize this is old thread but just adding what I found. <S> It seems operating horsepower(torque) is the main criteria to focus rather than RPM. <S> A bunch of blenders advertise peak horsepower but the blenders don't sustain peak horsepower when they are blending. <S> RPM seems to matter once the ingredients are blended. <S> Cnet had a decent article explaining HP for blenders https://www.cnet.com/how-to/the-truth-about-horsepower-in-blenders-and-food-processors/ <A> RPM is an important factor. <S> Although it blends the food more smoothly and much faster if it has a higher RPM, it also uses more power and does not blend harder objects as efficiently/well. <S> Although it is important, it is definitely not the most important factor when choosing a blender. <S> If you have the power supply, I definitely reccomend having a high RPM blender. <A> The higher RPM is better. <S> Provided you can control that from the lowest RPM to its Highest. <S> The kind of stuff you want to mix will determine the correct RPM to use. <S> The torque is also important. <S> This means for a layman point of view the strength of your motor. <S> Example: You are to mix a thick dough, would your motor sustain the mixing at a given RPM? <S> If your RPM slows down, it means your motor cannot sustain the RPM given the thickness of the dough. <S> Chef has a feeling of the performance of their mixer motors, however I doubt if they can tell at what RPM their mixer runs. <S> The speed of mixers let us say, 5 speed. <S> The manufacturer should indicate the RPM of speed 1= 450rpm, speed 3, 550 rpm, speed 3= 650 rpm etc..(only <S> an example figures but not the actual <S> so you may understand)
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RPM is an important factor when selecting a blender , but it's not necessarily the most critical.
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Substituting for Candlenuts in Indonesian Food Indonesian cuisine relies heavily on candlenuts as a base and thickener for spice pastes which are the foundation of the cuisine. This includes many of the various rendangs and sambals, such as Sambal Kemiri . Candlenuts are also used in Malaysian cuisine. Thing is, in San Francisco candlenuts are kind of hard to come by. I have to buy them in the Asian supermarket, frozen, and they're quite expensive. So my question is, what's the best substitute for candlenuts using readily available ingredients in an American general market? Here's a few I've thought of, some of which I've even tried: Macadamia Nuts Raw cashews Roasted Cashews Brazil nuts The thing is, I don't have very in-depth experience with Indonesian cuisine, so even if it tastes OK, I'm not sure I'm getting the flavor right. Recommendations? <Q> Macadamia is as close as you will find for the texture and oil content. <S> As you are using it for spice pastes -the only use I have had for them- <S> then macs are an excellent carrier. <S> That slightly bitter and sometimes soapy aftertaste, I have yet to find a substitute for. <S> What's a Laksa without that flavor component? <A> Author Lother Arsana has this to say in "Authenthic Recipes from Indonesia," (Periplus Editions): <S> "Candlenuts (buah kemiri) are waxy, cream-colored nuts similar in size and texture to macadamia nuts, which can be used as a substitute, although less-expensive raw almonds or cashews will also do. <S> Candlenuts are never eaten raw or on their own, but are chopped, ground and cooked with seasonings and added to curries and spice mixes for flavor and texture. <S> They go rancid quickly because of their high oil content, so buy in small quantities and keep refrigerated." <S> The NY Times published a Laksa recipe from the renown Violet Oon, which called for "candlenuts or macadamia nuts. <S> " One recipe by no means can set a standard for an entire cuisine. <S> It does, however, indicate that if someone with the credentials of Violet Oon was willing to use macadamia nuts in place of candlenuts in laksa, then macadamia must be a fair good substitute -- even if the substitution was made simply for American cooks. <S> Interesting article touching on laksa origins and the recipe here: <S> http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/06/dining/the-armada-s-gone-leaving-a-savory-memory.html?pagewanted=all <S> This blogger's post re <S> "The Food of Indonesia" discusses equivalencies found in that book (raw macadamia nuts for candlenuts), and also the matter of not knowing for sure how close the substitution really is to original ingredient. <S> This book, by the way, may be another version / print (as in, mostly dupe) of the book I cited above. <S> https://cookbookiditarod.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/the-food-of-indonesia/ <S> In response to your request for recommendations, I recommend you simply enjoy those substitutions which taste good to you and don't get too hung up on how the dish "should" taste. <S> Even if you use candlenuts, all the ingredients available to you may differ some from those in recipe's origin, no matter how closely you try to follow the directions. <S> That's inherent nature of cooking. <S> For every recipe you try, there will countless more variations on it, even in region it was produced. <S> I've found in my reading that even culinary professionals, who may argue authenticity of ingredients or dishes, will roundly agree that what matters most is how good your dish tastes. <S> From the beginning of time, cooks everywhere have had to make substitutions based on what is available. <S> It's actually one of the joys of cooking -- so åmake the best doggone version you can and enjoy it! <S> That's my recommendation! <A> Could ground almonds be used since a thickening agent is looked for? <A> I find blending 50/50 peanuts with coconut flesh works.. <S> And it's cheaper <A>
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Brazil nuts work fine, also chopped and sprinkled onto the Laksa give texture and crunch
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Do different fat contents (skim, 2%, whole, etc) affect rate or intensity of milk spoilage? Does milk with different fat contents (skim, 2%, whole, etc.) spoil at different rates? And when spoilage does occur, are milks with higher fat content more sour than those with less? Are there smell differences? <Q> No, there is no reason they should. <S> Bacteria feed on carbohydrates, not on fats. <S> (This is why oil doesn't spoil outside of the fridge - it is pure fat). <S> So it is the amount of milk sugar which is important for the bacteria, and it is the same regardless of the fat content. <S> Also, the spoiled milk is not more or less sour at the end. <S> The other important factors are initial bacteria count and storage temperature. <S> You can't do anything about the bacteria count, and can't know what it is. <S> The storage temperature is, of course, your fridge temperature, which should be in the small range of 0-4°C. <S> The other factor is the type of pasteurization. <S> Traditional pasteurization makes a milk with a shelf life of 7 days, ESL gives it a shelf life of 21 days, and UHT milk can last for months, uncooled. <S> Once opened, each of these types spoils within 3-4 days. <S> And then, normally pasteurized milk goes really sour, partly even separating into curdles and whey. <S> ESL and UHT milks get slightly more bitter, but not much, and they stay liquid and don't change their odour or colour. <S> Unless you pay lots of attention to the taste, you can't tell when ESL milk is spoiled. <S> But this happens the same way no matter the fat content. <A> I don't think that rumtscho's answer is quite correct. <S> I explained some of this in my answer to <S> How does butter remain edible for so long without refrigeration? . <S> Milk spoilage is caused principally by lactose content, and the presence of Lactobacillus bacteria feeding on lactose (or any other sugars, which is why sweetened condensed milk spoils so quickly). <S> Fat doesn't prevent Lactobacilli from doing their thing, but it's a simple question of ratios; all other things being equal, higher-fat dairy products have a lower lactose content. <S> See for example this chart of lactose content in various foods . <S> Low-fat milk has on average 5 g (per 100 g), full-fat milk has 4.8 g, half-cream has 3.3 g, double cream has 2.5 g, and so on all the way down to butter which has only 0.6 g. <S> There's not much of a difference between skim milk and full-fat milk in terms of lactose content, and in fact skim milk from one brand or batch may have less lactose than full-fat milk from a different brand or batch. <S> This uncertainty is why all milks (but not creams, cheese, butter, etc.) tend to be lumped into a single spoilage category; however, on average full-fat milk has less lactose than non-fat and will spoil at a slightly slower rate. <S> Pasteurization and initial bacterial counts do, of course, have a more profound effect, but fat content does have an impact on the bacteria's "food" and therefore an overall impact on the spoilage rate, even if it's not easy to measure at home. <A> My son and I did this for science fair project. <S> We left milk in a glass out at room temp . <S> Day 1 whole milk and 2% was about the same. <S> On day 2 the whole milk had a very slight odor and a slight film over top of glass. <S> The 2% had a stronger odor and had seperated it had an inch of curds on top and inch of liquid on bottom.
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As far as sourness goes, fat goes rancid over time which leads to a sour taste, but that process happens much more slowly in milk than bacterial spoilage, so I would not expect full-fat milk to taste any sourer than skim milk at the same stage of spoilage.
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Will hard boiled eggs absorb salt through the shell? In this America's Test Kitchen video they add salt to the cold water when hard boiling eggs. Would the salt actually permeate the shell and flavor the egg? That seems unlikely to me and is just a waste of good salt. (Apart from the salt, that method is not new to me. My old, Mom-gave-it-to-me-when-I-got-my-first-apartment Betty Crocker cookbook has the same instructions.) <Q> Salt or acid is often added to the water when boiling eggs to denature egg whites faster should there be a crack and a leak. <S> I have not read anything that experiments whether this is effective. <S> It also sounds like "don't wash mushrooms" or <S> "pasta must be cooked in a ton of water" kind of old wives tales. <A> Salt does permeate the shell and flavor the egg, but not the quantities you're talking about. <S> How do I know? <S> I grew up eating Chinese tea eggs , which are made by soaking a hard boiled egg in a salty solution. <S> They're normally cracked but not peeled before soaking, and are soaked for a number of hours, up to a few days. <S> Over the years, we've accidentally made some without cracking, and after soaking, they weren't as salty, but they clearly had a salt flavor. <S> For a quick boil like this, I'm sure the flavor impact is minimal. <S> Salt has other properties, like raising the boiling point of water and pulling moisture out of solids via osmosis. <S> It's possible that one of these side effects positively affect the peeling or how the egg cooks. <S> Perhaps someone came up with this technique with one of those parameters in mind, but the goal was lost in translation. <S> It could also be, as Sobachatina said, just a myth. <S> It's not for the flavor, though. <A> Ever heard of Salted Duck Eggs??? <S> They are an amazing delicacy! <S> The fresh duck eggs ( Eggs that are not cooked at all and have no cracks) are soaked in salty water for a couple of weeks and once they are ready to be eaten they are hard boiled. <S> But it takes a couple weeks to be able to even taste the salt <S> so I would say that if you are doing this to flavour the egg then it is a waste of salt, but salt increases the boiling point of water <S> so that's probably why they did so. <S> Please feel free to test it out for your self <S> , I generally put salt in hot water and mix it to dissolve the salt and then put the salty water in a container or jar with the eggs and let it sit for about 3 weeks, then boil them as usual to make hard boiled eggs. <S> There are recipes you can find if you want specific measurements. <A> Duck eggs here. <S> Boiled in salt water. <S> Do have a light salty taste. <S> This is for short storage. <S> For long term they are placed in sea water. <S> The longer they set. <S> The more the salt soaks in to them. <S> Hen eggs I have never had that way. <S> S.Pacific here. <S> Local food on the duck eggs that way. <A> Salt absolutely penetrates the eggshell while boiling. <S> I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the pink Himalayan salt I use or what <S> but these eggs are delicious! <S> I did 6 eggs the other day heavy pinch of salt covered with water brought to a boil then <S> cover shut the heat off.... <S> 15 minutes later they are done refrigerate and enjoy.
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The salty water is absorbed through the shell of the egg and flavours the egg to make these amazing salted duck eggs.
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Can coconut cream be transformed into coconut milk, or vice versa? Can coconut cream be transformed into coconut milk, or the other way around? For example, will adding water or cow milk to coconut cream make a usable coconut milk? Or by reducing coconut milk, can I get coconut cream? <Q> Diluting the cream just produces something runny and disgusting. <S> Long answer: <S> Coconut milk is made by grating coconut and running very hot water through it to extract oils and flavor, then straining out the coconut pieces. <S> It is a mix of water soluble parts and fats, and can emulsify just like normal milk or thicken sauces similarly to milk cream. <S> If you allow coconut milk to sit, the fatty part will rise to the top. <S> This part is skimmed off to make coconut cream, which is much richer in fats. <S> It cooks very differently because of the higher fat content, and does not emulsify or thicken well; however it is quite delicious! <S> If you're looking to substitute for coconut milk, but only have coconut cream, the best substitution will probably be a little coconut cream + a lot of heavy (milk) cream. <S> Note <S> : Some people refer to the liquid contained in fresh coconuts as coconut milk, but it is more accurately called coconut water. <S> This confusion has ruined many a recipe! <A> Wikipedia reports: <S> The coconut milk is refrigerated and allowed to set. <S> Coconut cream is the thick non-liquid part that separates and rises to the top of the coconut milk. <S> To get the other way you can surely add milk or water. <S> This will not give you the same exact thing as coconut milk, but it would be ok as a substitution for a dish. <A> For converting coconut cream into coconut milk <S> There seems to be a lot of disagreement, so you'll probably need to experiment (like #5 below suggests). <S> Answer 1: <S> BobMcGee says you "can't convert coconut cream back to coconut milk". <S> Answer 2: <S> In my experience, I've always added 1 can of water for every 1 can of coconut milk , and it works great for my purposes. <S> Answer 3: <S> https://mommypotamus.com/how-to-make-coconut-milk-from-coconut-cream/ says: ¾ cup water per 2 tbsp coconut cream https://amzn.to/2ItFPHp <S> says a 2 tbsp serving size of coconut cream weighs 30g and that a 13.66 fl oz can (403 mL) has ~13 servings. <S> 13 × 0.75 cup = <S> 9.75 cups water per 13.66 fl <S> oz can of coconut cream <S> (i.e. 9.75 c water per 1.7 c coconut cream) . <S> I personally expect this approach would taste far too watery. <S> Answer 4: <S> https://willamettetransplant.com/how-to-make-homemade-coconut-milk-4-ways/#coconut-cream says: The ratio for coconut milk from canned coconut cream is: 1 can of coconut cream (5.40 oz) and 2 cups of water. <S> If we assume that Willamette meant to write "5.40 fl oz" instead of "5.40 oz" (i.e. a volume measurement rather than a weight), then scaling* her recipe leads to: 5.1 cups water per 13.66 fl oz can of coconut cream <S> (i.e. 5.1 c water per 1.7 c coconut cream) , which is ~1.9 times creamier than the Potamus recipe, but still far less creamy than I prefer. <S> *13.66 ÷ 5.4 × 2 ≈ 5.1 <S> Answer 5: <S> https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Coconut-Milk-from-Coconut-Cream does not provide a specific ratio and instead says: The amount [of water to mix with coconut cream] will depend on the consistency you want. <S> It's best to add small amounts and build up rather than to overdo it.
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Short answer: you can let coconut milk separate and skim it to get a little coconut cream, but can't convert coconut cream back to coconut milk.
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Why is freshly-chopped garlic sticky? When chopping garlic the blade of my knife, and any fingers used to handle the garlic, become sticky. What causes this reaction? Is there any way to counteract it? EDIT: After trying both suggestions out on my own, olive oil worked best for me . This feels very much like a results may vary situation, so I encourage anyone curious to try both ways. <Q> When crushed or chopped, garlic releases mercaptins from within its cells (sulfur containing compounds). <S> Sulfur readily forms bonds with other amino acids, notably cystine which itself contains a sulfur atom in its chemical structure. <S> When two sulfhydryl groups (S-H) come into close proximity, a disulfide bridge can be formed, creating a relatively strong chemical bond between the two molecules. <S> This chemical attraction between the proteins in you skin and the garlic compounds causes the sensation of stickiness, much like hydrolyzed sugar sticking to your skin. <S> Since lipids (oils) have a stronger attraction to the oils that coat your skin, they displace the sulfurs and prevent your hands from being sticky. <S> When garlic is roasted, the proteins within are denatured (lose their function) and lead to a milder taste and less sticky chemicals. <A> You can prevent it from sticking by wetting the knife - just quickly run water over it on each side. <S> I'm fairly certain that Aaronut's right that it's a sugar (what else would it be?) <S> but I don't know for sure. <S> I'll update my answer if I can confirm it! <A> Garlic is full of sticky (and tasty) oils, which is what makes it stick to your knife and fingers.
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Dipping your fingers in olive oil and carefully rubbing them on the flat of the knife blade should prevent the garlic sticking.
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Should I use my microwave's 'popcorn' button? My microwave oven has a "POPCORN" button. Its manual reads: Touch this pad when popping popcorn in your microwave oven. The oven's sensor will tell the oven how long to cook depending on the amount of humidity it detects from the popcorn. See page 31 for more information. Page 31 clarifies: POPCORN lets you pop commercially packaged microwave popcorn. (As opposed, I suppose, to popping kernels in a paper bag, which I also do.) Fine. Other microwave ovens have a similar button (though I must admit I haven't checked their manuals). The problem is that my "commercially packaged microwave popcorn" bag reads: Do not use popcorn button. I've seen it on other microwaveable popcorn bags, too. So... which of the two manufacturers is correct, and why? And why does the incorrect one claim what it does? <Q> A better instruction would be "do not rely entirely on the functionality of the popcorn button on your microwave, since microwaves vary widely as do bags of popcorn." <S> But that's longer, and kind of complicated, so they abbreviate it "do not use popcorn button". <S> You should hang around near the microwave, and when you hear the pops slowing, stop it, no matter what your popcorn button thinks. <S> And if you get a lot of unpopped kernels, and the popping didn't slow before the button said the microwave was done, consider doing it yourself next time and letting it pop for a little longer. <S> The problem with leaving it in too long is that the corn scorches (usually from the centre out) and the whole bag is inedible. <S> If the energy is no longer going into popping kernels, it's going in to scorching what you already have. <S> Get it out before that happens. <A> In a sense, both manufacturers are correct. <S> Most older microwaves <S> do not have a humidity sensor; in these microwaves, the Popcorn button is a simple pre-programmed timer . <S> Some allow you to adjust the time by 10-second increments as you use it and will remember the new value, but even cheaper ones simply come pre-programmed. <S> The manufacturer is simply saying not to cook popcorn by time . <S> I'd venture a guess that the manufacturer chose this wording because one too many customers complained that their product burned and stopped buying a particular brand because of it. <S> However, since your microwave uses a sensor to pop popcorn <S> it should be ok to use . <S> I suppose the popcorn bag could say "Do not use the popcorn button unless your microwave is fancy and has a humidity sensor" but since most microwaves do not have this sensor, most people probably wouldn't know even if it did, and popcorn pops just fine listening the "old-fashioned" way, they have gone with the simple wording. <S> Sensor prices are coming down and more microwaves are becoming equipped with temperature and humidity sensors, so you this wording might change in the future. <S> Or not, seeing how every coffee cup these days has the "Caution: <S> Hot" warning on it... <S> I suggest trying your button a few times just to make sure it works as you expect, then you're probably safe to use it. <A> I did a google search about how this popcorn function worked and it came up with an answer that said a microphone circuit is used. <S> It went so far as to show the patent, circuits and an in-depth explaination as to how it worked. <S> It seems that it would take the place of you listening for the popping to almost stop. <A> If the microwave-button works by measuring the humidity, it might rely on the permeability of the bag and doesn't work for bags that are more impermeable than other ones (some of them seem to have a coating inside). <S> I'd recomment to build on the popcorn bags hint, but maybe you should just give your popcorn-button a try. <S> In that case, you should stay near the microwave to interrupt it, if it doen't stop when you think it should. <A> My microwave has a popcorn button that then asks you to select the size (in ounces) of the popcorn you're about to pop. <S> It's remarkably accurate for the 'standard' ~3.5oz bag, but would burn the little single serve sizes. <S> For my microwave at least, it seems it's a simple time/power setting depending on the size of the bag. <A> You might like using your bags to avoid the scorching issue that @kate-gregory brought up. <S> The commercial bags can scorch because they have special material that "absorbs" the microwave energy to produce a heating element in the bag, therefore, it acts like a little heater. <S> I pop corn in a brown bag and it doesn't scorch. <S> It usually doesn't pop every kernel especially if my corn is not fresh. <S> This is because my regular brown bag doesn't have that material to give a little heating boast to pop all the kernels.
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There's no problem with the power setting of the popcorn button, only with the timing.
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Why can't I scale up jam/jelly recipes? Pectin packages always explicitly state that jelly/jam recipes cannot be scaled up. My own empirical evidence is limited but I did have a doubled batch not set so I no longer double the batches. What is it about ((pectin + acid + sugar + water) * boiling) = jelly that makes scaling impossible? <Q> I haven't made jam in years and don't know first-hand, but this website suggests it won't scale as the jam won't cook as well. <S> This seems predicated on the idea that your cooking vessel remains the same size but the batch is larger. <S> From the linked site: Most jam recipes already call for you to use the widest pot you have, for maximum surface area. <S> This large surface area leads to faster evaporation of water. <S> Fast cooking leads to the freshest tasting, best textured jam. <S> However, if you double the amount of jam in your pot, you greatly increase the cooking time, because there’s so much more product in the pot that needs to be cooked down. <S> This can lead to rubbery batches, burning and jam that doesn’t set. <S> This is also supported by <S> another site that claims doubling is difficult "due to inherently uneven heating of home cookware". <S> Per nico's comment, it sounds like doubling/scaling is possible - perhaps give it a try in cookware appropriate to the doubled batch size. <A> Acid and pectin levels need to be altered to create proper gel formation. <A> Because of time considerations ? <S> I made a 1 and 1/3 recipe last night which seemed to work well even though I accidentally made a couple mistakes (like I forgot to put in the last 2/3 cup of sugar & mixed half a pkg of 1 brand pectin with an eyeballed "half" of different brand that I had just bought...etc.) <S> Larger scaling, like double <S> , I have never tried, but I thought it was discouraged because of the timing with hand canning: You will either have to leave the extra jam in the pot twice as long with the fire off, potentially getting cool; or keep it cooking the whole time, and it may over-thicken. <S> The ingredient ratios themselves really can't be all that exacting, or recipes would routinely fail due to years of slightly sweeter, juicier, or tart-er fruit, or different varieties of trees, etc. <S> Not to mention forgetting abt. <S> 6% of the sugar, which didn't seem to matter at all.
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Scaling is difficult, as the ratio of ingredients changes with the batch size.
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Is there such thing as "almond tofu," and if so, is it a misnomer? I just read a restaurant review in the New York Times that mentions "almond tofu." Made from almonds, it has the luxurious texture of a custard rather than the rubbery bounce of bean-curd tofu. Wikipedia refers "Almond tofu" to the "Almond jelly" listing and notes that it can also be called "Almond pudding." Still, however, I have coworkers who maintain "there is no such thing as almond tofu. Tofu has to be made out of soy!" Are they correct? Update: Pete Wells, restaurant critic for the New York Times, responds via Twitter : It's analogous to traditional Japanese goma tofu, made from sesame. <Q> It's semantic nitpicking. <S> Tofu is defined as soy milk, curdled and pressed. <S> Some people who don't care about oriental culinary tradition think of tofu as any non-dairy milk that is curdled and pressed into a curd. <S> In reality your coworker is being pedantic and I would accept the term "almond tofu" as a perfectly understandable, non oriental, colloquialism. <A> I am Chinese from Hong Kong and there is a dessert called "almond tofu" IN CHINESE. <S> The "almond" part refers to the almond extract, one of the ingredients. <S> The "tofu" part refers to the texture of the final product, similar to silken tofu. <S> It is really a jelly made from milk and jellying agent. <S> The jellying agent can be unflavored gelatin or agar agar. <S> I use unflavored gelatin because it is more widely available. <S> Each envelope (.25 oz <S> ) unflavored gelatin gels up to 2 cups of liquid, but a lower ratio is safer. <S> I have more success using a envelope for every 1.5 cups of liquid. <S> The liquid can be all milk, half water and half milk, or almond milk. <S> Each will give a white color to the final product. <S> Bloom the unflavored gelatin in 1/2 cup of water to soak up the water. <S> Boil half the liquid, remove from fire, stir in the wet unflavored gelatin until dissolved, stir in desired amount of sugar until dissolved, stir in remaining half of the cold liquid (subtracting 1/2 cup used). <S> Stir in 1 or 2 tsp of almond extract until fragrant (omit this step if using almond milk). <S> Refrigerate until firm. <S> At the same time refrigerate a large can of fruit cocktail. <S> When the almond jelly is firm cut into cubes or diamonds. <S> Stir in fruit cocktail with all the syrup. <S> Cover and chill until serving time. <S> It makes a nice summer dessert. <S> Happy experimenting! <A> Tofu is a specific word; it's a Chinese word that literally means "bean curd". <S> (Pretty much every source that gives a definition of "tofu" agrees - I would say every source, but it's the Internet <S> so I'm sure ther's misinformation out there.) <S> Therefore, you cannot have tofu made of almonds. <S> You can have an almond product that has the consistency and texture of tofu, but it is not "tofu" in the strict sense of the term. <S> That's all there is to it. <S> It's a matter of being a linguistic purist. <S> (For the same reasons one would be angry at the term "chai tea," since "chai" IS the Hindi word for "tea.") <A> I would assume they're talking about an almond-flavoured dessert tofu. <S> Scroll part-way down <S> this page to see one company's version.
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Technically your almond tofu would be almond milk curd or some such.
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Why is there cornstarch in powdered sugar? I was looking up how to make my own powdered/confectioner/icing sugar. Some 'recipes' say that you should add a bit of cornstarch while others just leave this out. So what is the role of cornstarch? Does it act like a filler (since it's cheaper than sugar)? Is it to prevent lumps? Does it help with texture? Does it do something else? If this question is too broad, assume I'm only talking about frosting, since that's a frequent use of this sugar. <Q> It's to prevent caking. <S> See, for example, the second FAQ on Domino Sugar's website : It is not recommended to substitute confectioners sugar for granulated sugar. <S> Since confectioners sugar has a much finer texture, and it contains a small percentage of cornstarch to prevent caking , substituting can give you unexpected results. <S> Many shredded cheeses include corn starch for the same reason. <A> Since cornstarch forms a non-Newtonian fluid (makes liquid more viscous) when water is added, adding it to powdered sugar allows you to use it to make glazes and icings. <S> Without the cornstarch, you'd just be pouring sweet water over your pastries, but with cornstarch you have a glaze that will coat and set. <A> A better anti-caking agent for icing sugar is tricalcium phosphate. <S> Cornstarch gives a gritty texture to buttercream or other icing (frosting), whereas tricalcium phosphate keeps it much more smooth. <S> In the UK, Silver Spoon icing sugar, or Sainsbury's own brand - I don't know about other supermarkets - is made from sugar beet rather than cane sugar, and has this better anti-caking agent in it. <S> Tate and Lyle has cornstarch. <S> A lot of people have complained online about the gritty texture of the cornstarch kind, and I found out the hard way after making lemon cake filling and wondering why it was gritty. <S> Had to buy the better sugar and start again! <S> I have never had any problem with the watery icing suggested above: using the right amount of sugar to water will set the icing properly, and it will coat things successfully.
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The cornstarch does indeed prevent the extremely fine grained sugar from caking, but it also serves a purpose beyond that.
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Fastest way for cloning Milk Kefir Grains It's about two weeks that I make Kefir at home. I started with three mid-size Kefir grains, and now I have six ones (three of them are really big) Now my friends get interested in making Kefir too. But I don't have enough Kefir grains to share with them. Is there any quick method for cloning Kefir grains? For example, keeping them in warmer place, giving them richer milk, or something like that? <Q> The kefir grains are a culture of bacteria and yeast that are active at near-room temperatures. <S> Their ideal temperature is 71F (22C). <S> Below this and they will grow too slowly. <S> Above this temperature, up to 86F, for extensive periods the grains will be damaged. <S> http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html#temperature <S> Building the grains takes time- <S> there's no way around it. <S> You can keep the grains at exactly 71F to maximize their growth. <S> You can also change the milk often and keep the milk to grain ratio high to ensure that the milk doesn't acidify too quickly and the grains stay active. <S> You may see an improvement using organic milk as it won't have residual antibiotics in it. <S> http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html#growthrate <S> I have not read anywhere of a way to modify the milk itself to encourage growth. <S> You might experiment with adding a small amount of milk powder to make the milk more nutritionally dense but my gut feeling is that this would have a negligible effect if any. <S> I'm afraid your friends are just going to have to wait patiently. <A> For good milk kefir grain growth use a shallow wide container to grow your kefir grains. <S> This will give each of the grains more access to feed on the milk instead of clumping up at the top of a narrow jar and only a few being free in the milk. <S> You can also stir the culturing kefir a few times during the day dispersing the kefir grains through the milk. <S> Don't skimp on the quantity of milk used. <S> Milk kefir grains love Full cream milk. <S> and yes, raw organic full cream milk grows the best milk kefir grains. <A> I have got a jar of kefir going that is made with whole milk powder. <S> The grains seem to grow a lot faster then even with whole milk from the farmer. <S> Try it, you don't have much to loose. <A> I made mine grow by adding it to half and half milk and then to cream. <S> Alternated <S> this and the tiny little grains were swollen like cauliflower pieces. <A> I started making kefir 2 weeks ago, with 1 large grain. <S> Not being certain about quantities, I used 2 cups of milk in my first batch. <S> 30 hours later, I had cultured milk. <S> As those quantities and time frames worked, I have just continued with that, although the time is now down to almost 24 hours of culturing. <S> In between I made a batch of yummy sour cream, (popped my grain into a cup of whole cream). <S> Clearly the grain loved the fat in the cream, it multiplied and cultured within 30 hours!! <S> I have since given the new grain away to a friend, but the one grain I kept (my large and original one),is doing a great job of culturing 2 cups a day. <A> It should give your kefir colonies more food to process.
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I would go with a shallow wide container, and since kefir feeds on lactose, you can add powder milk to natural whole milk to increase the lactose in the mix.
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Getting flavor powders to stick to nuts I've just checked for some recipes online on how to make flavored (in particular, hot and spicy) peanuts. It seems that in every one of these recipes, there has to be some kind of roasting procedure (coating with oil, powdering and then oven-roast), or cooking them, in order to get the powder to "stick" to the nuts. What I'm wondering is which two of these methods will yield better results, and whether a food dehydrator (I got the excalibur ones) can be used to "dry" these nuts. Perhaps it's possible to get the flavor to stick some other, easier and less messier way? edit -- another question : is the oil necessary for flavoring them? I mean, nuts are oily naturally, so would heating them in the pan and then putting the chili/garlic powder or parmesan straight after be good enough? <Q> Nuts are much tastier when they are roasted. <S> Dehydrating may be ok but it will not do the same thing for their flavor or texture. <S> Nuts have a lot of oil <S> but there is not enough on their exterior for powders to stick to. <S> Of course some of the powder would stick anyway- and with parmesan even more would when the cheese melted. <S> If you are ok with a milder flavor and a lot of powder left in the bowl when you eat them then you could try to use less or no oil. <S> It is possible that you could make it work with some other liquid other than oil but oil tastes good and won't dry out. <S> Additionally for spicy peanuts, capsaicin is soluble in fat <S> so the oil will actually be intensified. <S> I don't know about an easier/less messy way because I don't consider this to be particularly difficult or messy. <S> Just toss nuts with oil, then powder, spread on a pan and bake. <S> Doesn't get much simpler than that. <S> Another alternative that has become popular is kettle roasted nuts. <S> The nuts are cooked in a large kettle with an agitator to keep them from settling and burning. <S> Usually they also candied. <S> The process is much stickier and flavorings adhere much better. <S> Manual versions are sturdy and inexpensive. <A> Put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds, they become oily, put in your spices and mix well <S> , hey presto the seasoning sticks, let them cool! <A> I typically like to just throw them in a wide shallow pan and heat them gently until they shimmer a bit from the oils being released naturally and then quickly toss them with whatever seasoning you prefer. <S> Alternatively, you could also give them a quick mist with some cooking spray which would minimize the amount of oil needed and allow the seasonings to adhere. <S> I would suggest this method if you are using pre-roasted nuts so that you don't risk turning them bitter by heating them too much. <A> 2 whisked egg whites to 4 cups of nuts is specified in a recipe here . <S> It says they do not need refrigeration after baking in oven for 15-20 minutes. <S> If you don't like egg white, maybe try ground chia seeds mixed with water as a substitute.
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At home, oil popcorn poppers with agitators are available that can beautifully make kettle roasted nuts.
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How to cook a thin crispy pizza on a pizza stone Hello I am attempting to make my own thin and crispy pizza and am cooking it on a pizza stone however it keeps coming out a little bit soggy (its not too bad, its still nice its just not as crispy as I would like) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips as to how to make it a but more crispy? I could just be putting too much topping on it I'm not sure (I'm not stacking loads on though, just maybe a little too much cheese)? How does the temperature of the oven effect this? Thanks very much for any help <Q> The most important thing is for the stone to be hot. <S> That generally means you need to set the oven to its highest setting, and then let it preheat for at least 30 minutes. <S> I use a 1-inch thick paver from a hardware store, and I generally get my best pizzas when I set the oven to 500F and wait about 45 minutes before I put the pizza in. <S> For a thin crust, I like the results from leaving the oven at 500F and baking for ~13 minutes in my oven, but I'm sure some people would consider that "burned". <A> To prevent sogginess, you need to cook the underside of the pizza as quickly as possible, so getting that strong, direct heat on there helps. <S> It also helps to use less sauce or a thicker sauce, and if possible, pre-cook or par-cook the vegetable toppings. <S> Veggies release a lot of moisture when they cook, so if you get that out of the way beforehand, that can cut down on soggy crust. <S> Another trick is to turn on the broiler just before you put the pizza in. <S> This cooks the top faster and can help dry the toppings. <S> But you have to be careful--if your stone isn't hot enough you can wind up with a burnt top and undercooked crust. <S> If none of that gets you what you want, you can also blind <S> bake the crust a little <S> : Put it on the stone for a minute or so before you put toppings on. <S> I should point out, though, that my sister has a real-deal brick pizza oven in her yard, and with that properly preheated, you don't need to worry about doing too many tricks to get the crust crisp (she does pre-cook watery vegetables like mushrooms). <S> The air temperature in the oven tends to be more than 600 degrees, and the floor of the oven is at least that hot. <S> Crisp crusts and melted cheese in about 90 seconds. <S> So high temperature is crucial. <A> As the other answers have said, preheating the stone is critically important, and you should make sure you're not putting a lot of watery ingredients on top. <S> To help with the "watery topping" problem, I usually spritz or brush the top of the dough with olive oil before putting on any toppings. <S> It helps make a sort of moisture barrier that keeps too much water from seeping into the dough. <S> Since the first thing I put on top of a pizza is roasted and crushed tomatoes, there's usually a lot of water to keep out. <A> Take a look at Kenji's recipe for bar-style pizza http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/04/the-pizza-lab-how-to-make-bar-pies-at-home-star-tavern-colony-grill-pepperoni-bar-pizza-recipe.html <S> There's some techniques worth reading in there. <S> That's an A.P. flour pie, search for his NY-Style pie recipe for a Bread Flour recipe. <S> I've made two batches of the bar pie <S> and it worked very well. <S> I followed fairly precisely: few days in fridge, oiled pizza pan then onto a stone to finish.
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I agree with baka that the stone must be really hot--as hot as your oven can go (and completely preheated).
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Is there a plastic bowl/dish that can withstand high temperature in the oven? I am looking for a plastic bowl or dish that can withstand high temperature in the oven? A bowl or dish that won't melt nor emit odour. Is there such a thing? <Q> Just like other materials it has some advantages and disadvantages. <S> Advantages: <S> Easy to clean rubbery surface (will need a little cooking spray, but not much) <S> Flexible, so easier to remove baked goods <S> Often fridge/ <S> microwave <S> safe Disadvantages: <S> Not very durable, due to softer material <S> Can be cut by metal utensils Floppy <S> May warp or melt in some cases. <S> Generally, I've heard very mixed reviews from bakers using silicone (except for Silpats). <S> Although you can obtain it in the American market, most people prefer metal or Pyrex. <A> Yes. <S> As already mentioned, silicone is rated to about 500° <S> F <S> Aside from PTFE (teflon), the other commonly available plastic rated for oven temps is CPET <S> , usuually used for disposable bakeware. <S> Examples of CPET plastic oven-safe bakeware: <S> Gladware 9x12 <S> Ovenready Bakery Tray <S> Ovenready Food Tray <S> Overready Plastic Bakeware at Web Restaurant Store <A> A few hard plastics are oven safe. <S> Le Creuset says that the covers of their enamelled Dutch ovens are safe up to 190°C . <S> Their knobs are made from some kind of phenolic compound. <S> Bakelite can also be heated a lot and does not melt, although I am not sure if it is food safe. <S> Still, I have never heard of bowls made from these plastics, nor other plastic bowls made for the oven. <S> And I don't think there will be any. <S> The advantages of plastic are that it is lightweight, cheap, can be colored beautifully, and doesn't break easily. <S> Phenolic plastics don't have any of these - they are difficult to produce, cost a lot, they are dense (so they are heavy for their size), they tend to be hard to color (bakelite is always darkish, and gets darker with time), and they are brittle in comparison to other plastics. <S> Still, these things have all the disadvantages of plastic. <S> They can never go to temperatures as high as other materials, and some of them can contain nasty chemicals you don't want anywhere near your food. <S> No matter what you need this bowl for, there is a better solution than plastic. <S> Depending on what you want, steel can give you the lightness and unbreakability, and glass or ceramics can give you the thermal insulation properties you could get with plastic. <A> Certainly there are high temperature plastic cooking utensils, very many in fact. <S> I'm not clear on what your intended use is, but here is a rundown. <S> There are two general types, hard high temp plastic and silicone. <S> The hard plastic is typically rated to withstand oven heat up to 410F (210C), and they are not for stove top or broiler use due to much higher heat. <S> Silicone plastic utensils withstand up to 500F, but again, no stove top or broiler use. <S> Both can be used in microwave ovens, their primary use. <S> I use both kinds for baking, and the hard for roasting. <S> The hard plastic utensils are fine for baking standard cakes, typically at $350F, and as roasting racks for non-broiler use. <S> There are simple cake pans, cupcake pans, bundt pans as well as the roasting racks for meats. <S> The work well, may darken with age. <S> Nordic Ware, Anchor Hocking and many others make high quality hard high-temp plastic utensils. <S> Silicone utensils are not rigid but can be stiff enough with ribbing. <S> One advantage is that they can be easily molded into a vast number of shapes. <S> They tend to release food easily, another plus. <S> They are very inexpensive compared to metal utensils. <S> It is best to buy a known brand, like Wilton, since a vast number of them are cheap imports that are too flimsy or won't stand much heat. <A> Nordic Ware has plates which are durable and safe in the oven to a temperature of 400F. You can purchase them on Walmart's Website or Amazon . <A> Yes it exists! <S> Clean Baking Products is a company, specialized in baking moulds made off the best, innovative composite material. <S> This material can resist temperatures from - 40 <S> °C till 250 <S> °C. <S> Advantages: 40° <S> C - 250 <S> °C for the oven no oxidation no deformation <S> light-weight less use of butter <S> Check out for more information: <S> www.cleanbakingproducts.com
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Silicone bakeware is available which is oven safe up to 500°F/260°C.
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What should I do if power goes out while I am baking cake/cookies? If I am baking cake or cookies in the oven and I lose power, what should I do? Does it make to sense to leave the cake/cookies in the oven until the power comes back on, or should I take them out? When/why would I need to leave them in the oven vs. take them out? <Q> Removing things from the oven halfway through is not very friendly to baked goods. <S> In general, they'll collapse as they cool off since the structure isn't cooked and set, and the leavening (baking soda/powder in these cases) will be spent, so there's no way to get what you originally wanted. <S> It might be something like what'd happen if you forgot the leavening in the first place. <S> In general: if there's only 5-15 minutes left, just leave it in, and the heat retained by the oven will take care of things. <S> Anything else, leave it in and hope the power comes back; it's going to be ruined if you take it out and ruined if the power doesn't come back on so you might as well go for it. <S> So for example, cookies could probably survive this by leaving them in. <S> They don't have very long baking times - <S> somewhere in the 5-15 minute range. <S> Your oven won't cool off all that much in that time without power. <S> So if you leave them in for a little bit longer than the original baking time, they'll probably be fine. <S> If your oven has a window, look in with a flashlight to check on them - you don't want to open it to check them. <S> A cake is iffier. <S> If it's 15 minutes into a 45 minute baking time, you may just be out of luck. <S> I think I'd still leave it in, hoping that the power comes back within 5-10 minutes, in which case it'd probably make it. <S> As I mentioned earlier, if you lose power early and for long enough, the cake will have spent its leavening and collapsed. <S> You could finish baking it, but it'll still be collapsed - it probably won't have a terribly palatable texture (definitely dense, maybe chewy). <S> The only time this has actually happened to me was with some cornbread muffins, around 2/3 of the way through their baking time, and the oven didn't have a window. <S> I wildly guessed how much extra time to add, pulled them out then, and they were great. <S> So there is hope! <A> My main considerations would be: <S> How long does the power regularly go out for? <S> I live in an area where power outages are typically quite short, but <S> once in a while they're hours or days long; as the power typically comes back on within 5-10 minutes, I'd leave everything in the oven. <S> How much time is remaining? <S> If it's just a few minutes, leave it in, and check on it a few minutes after you think it would be take, as when you open the door, you're going to let the remaining heat out. <S> Do you have some alternate way to cook it if you take it out now? <S> For example, if it's cake and you have a grill or firepit and the right tools, you might try one of the camping suggestions . <S> But I'd leave it in the oven to continue baking while you prepared the alternate cooking source, so <S> it's not coooling off (as much) before you transfer it. <A> I just had put a dish in the oven when the power went out. <S> Now the dish is warm, but I don't think the cooking had started. <S> So it's better to take it out immediately and put it in the fridge to stop cooking, then when the power's back on, bake it again. <A> Follow your nose to determine how long to finish baking an item where the power failed. <S> Baking is often finished by the familiar aroma caused by the "Dry Heat" that happens as the moisture evaporates leaving behind carbohydrates that begin to caramelize, or experience polymer thermal break down. <S> Some times the fillings and crust do not always finish at the same time though; which leaves a delicious mess to enjoy at home rather than at a social event.
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If it's barely started - just beginning to get warm, not bubbling/rising much - probably best to take it out and wait to bake later, especially if it's something that can survive waiting at room temperature.
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Why do my onions keep burning? Twice now, I have burned my onions while heating them in a pan. I was just trying to caramelize them, and they burned every time. They were on medium heat, and I put olive oil at the bottom of the pan (which may or may not have been a mistake), and they just burned, sticking to the bottom with a fervor I've never seen before (except the other time I tried to heat up onions). What am I doing wrong? <Q> To clarify a little, there are several ways you can cook onions. <S> You could be trying to get them to turn translucent. <S> In which case, you can cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. <S> This will take somewhere around 5 minutes. <S> Preheating the pan isn't really required (especially if using a non-stick pan). <S> If they start to brown, turn down the heat. <S> You could be trying to get them to turn translucent, with brown edges. <S> Proceed as with translucent, but make sure to preheat the pan, and also use medium-high heat (but if they get too brown, turn down the heat). <S> You could be trying to caramelize them, turning them brown throughout. <S> Cook them on low heat. <S> At first, you can stir infrequently, but as they turn translucent and begin to brown, you'll have to speed up your stirring. <S> This takes 30+ minutes. <S> So, if you were actually caramelizing onions, your heat was much too high. <S> To some extent when cooking in a pan, there is a trade-off you can make: low heat, infrequent stirring, long cooking time vs. high heat, constant stirring, quick cooking. <A> Onions have a lot of sugar in them. <S> All they want in the world is to burn and fill your kitchen with oniony smoke. <S> The solution, as with all things heavy in sugar, is to turn down the heat and stir frequently. <S> That said- <S> if your olive oil was extra virgin then it might have been your oil that started burning before the onions did. <A> When cooking it's important to use your eyes, ears and nose. <S> If the pan is at the correct heat, you can leave the onions alone for minutes at a time, just giving them an occasional stir, but your ears and nose will keep you informed. <S> When caramelising, you should only just be able to hear the sizzling. <S> Anything louder, and they'll probably brown too fast. <S> If the onions actually stick, the heat is most likely far too high. <S> You need to get familiar with your stove to know what the correct setting is, but even then, remember your ears. <A> You can also add a little salt to the onions as you cook them. <S> This draws out some of the moisture in the onions and can help stop them browning too much, though not if the heat is very high. <A> Add a little hot water at the beginning, stir frequently, top up when necessary. <S> When onions at the rigt amount of 'doneness' let any remaining water evaporate and keep an eye on it to make sure the onions don't brown.
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In general, when something is browning too much (or outright burning) before the center is cooked, you need to turn down the heat or if only the pan-contact parts are browning then stir more frequently.
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Can alcohol bottles (especially liquor) be stored on their side? I have a fairly well-stocked mini-bar, but not a lot of space. I've considered storing the bottles in a drawer, but I've heard that you should store certain alcohol upright. Is this true? If so, why? If it's only true for certain types of alcohol, which ones? <Q> Beer bottles should be stored upright. <S> This is to minimize contact (and hence oxidization) between the beer and bottle cap, and (for unfiltered beers) to keep any sludge on the bottom of the bottles. <S> ( How To Store Beer ) <S> Wine should be stored (mostly) on its side. <S> This keeps the cork moist; and a dry cork can shrink and allow too much air into the wine bottle. <S> ( Storage of wine ) <S> But note that: Champagne and other sparkling wines tend to age better if they are kept upright. <S> The rules for liquor aren't as defined, but it should generally be stored upright. <S> ( Taming Your Liquor Cabinet ). <S> It's stored that way at the factory, and it's shipped and displayed that way. <S> Also for many "fancy" bottle types, the bottle won't even sit properly on its side. <S> Also, alcohol in liquor can leak through - or even break down - whatever material is used for the cap. <S> But it's generally safe to store liquor bottles horizontally in the freezer for a time. <S> It depends a lot on the specific bottle and cap in use. <A> I have to concur with KatieK as to the conclusion that liquor bottles should be stored upright, as for "Why?" <S> While I can not necessarily tell you "the reason" I can tell you "my reasons"... <S> I have had the unfortunate experience with a bottle of Jack that didn't keep well. <S> An additional reason to do this is that in all of the bars and liquor stores I have visited, I can recall never having seen liquor stored sideways...if it made sense to store those sideways the retailers would do so. <S> These may not be perfect reasons, but they are good enough to me...for whatever that is worth to you. <A> I have some opened liquor that I stored on its side in a wine cabinet. <S> It seems to have leaked and a ring of "sugar" dripped on the bottle below it and crystallized. <S> So, if it has not been opened, it may be ok. <A> As far as I know, storing liquor bottles on their side is a bad idea. <S> For screwtops, I believe storing them on the side will over time degrade the seal, especially when there is a lot of alcohol involved. <S> Corked liquor bottles use soft low-density cork to make it easy to remove and insert the cork, and unlike the harder, denser corks used for wine, these corks simply will not hold up to prolonged exposure to alcohol.
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Liquor bottles lids are less reliable after they have been opened, upright storage prevents leakage.
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How long do you have to cook wild morel mushrooms for them to be safe? I have recently been given some wild black morel mushrooms . I know that you aren't supposed to eat them raw, as they contain toxins which must be cooked out (at least now I know that... good thing I only ate a tiny piece raw!). However, how long should they be cooked to be safe? I was thinking of sauteing them, which I am fairly confident will cook them "enough", but also of making them in omelets, or as a topping on pizza. Either of those could result in rather minimal heating (I usually make my omelets so that the eggs in the middle are still a bit wet). Should I cook the morels first, and then add them as a pizza topping/omelet filling? Or is this overdoing it? <Q> I did find at least one recipe for a morel omelet that did not call for pre-cooking the mushrooms, however. <S> I must admit that I did my research a bit late, as I had already decided to risk it and made an omelet with morels, as I had not yet received any answers to my question. <S> I added the morels to the raw egg, rather than putting them in as a last-minute filling just prior to folding the omelet, so they did cook a bit during the process. <S> The result was actually quite delicious (I also used some fresh garlic, chives, and Gruyere cheese), and I did not become ill. <S> However, it does seem that some people react differently, and alcohol consumption can greatly enhance any negative reactions to wild mushrooms. <S> Given the information I found on the Internet <S> (none of it terribly authoritative, as the vast majority of quality information was on small sites maintained by wild mushroom hunting clubs and enthusiasts), I would not repeat my omelet without pre-cooking the mushrooms, nor will I make pizza without pre-cooking them. <S> The consensus seems to be that they should be sauteed once until "thoroughly cooked". <S> At least one site (amid heavy cautions) specifies that this is usually 8-10 minutes, although I suspect that this is for intact mushroom halves, rather than small pieces (morels should always be sliced lengthwise to ensure that you can remove all the insects from the hollow center). <S> It needs to be stressed that even with the proper cooking, it seems some people have strong reactions to wild mushrooms, so use caution and moderation when trying them for the first time, and do not try them with any form of alcohol until you are sure that you can eat them without problems. <A> Edit: I misunderstood the original question. <S> The answer below applies to a different variety of morel than the one the OP is asking about. <S> There are different types of morels. <S> I am afraid I cannot advice you on exactly which type is which. <S> The one that is poisonous is very common in Sweden. <S> Its local name is "stone morel", but I have no idea what the variety is called in English. <S> And you need to throw out the water in between the rounds. <S> Merely sauteing them will not kill the poison. <S> Actually, blanching them will not kill the poison either, but most of it will be transferred to the water. <S> This particular type of morel is actually outlawed in Sweden now. <S> It is that dangerous. <S> This means that they cannot be sold or served at restaurants. <S> However, it is not illegal for individuals to pick them and eat them themselves. <S> Personally I eat them (they are absolutely delicious), but only after having blanched them three times and thrown out the water in between. <S> However, I will never serve them to other people unless I know for sure that they know what they are getting into. <S> Sadly, the more you blanch them the more you dilute their flavour. <S> But that is just a fact of life. <S> In other words, you cannot saute them raw. <S> No way. <S> If you absolutely want to eat them, blanch them in lots of water for 5-10 minutes, then throw out the water. <S> Repeat for a total of three blanching rounds. <S> After that you can use them like you would any other mushroom. <S> My recommendation would be to sautee them in lots of butter with a little chopped onion, then adding a splash of amontillado sherry and some cream. <S> Add salt/pepper to taste. <S> Serve the sauce (and yes, it does deserve to be referred to as the main component of the dish) with a nice steak, medium rare, and some kind of potato based side dish. <A> Morel mushrooms have the toxin Hydrazine in them which has a boiling point of 237° <S> F Water can only get to 212°F and is NOT suitable for breaking apart the toxin, so just steaming or boiling will not work. <S> Olive oil has a smoke point upwards of 350°F and is suitable for sautéing Morels.
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I've looked through a number of recipes, and the vast majority of them indicate that you should cook the morels thoroughly (preferably in butter) first, before using them as a pizza topping or in an omelet. If you want to eat them you have to blanch them several times, cooking them for 5-10 minutes per "round" of blanching.
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Is kimchi a suitable addition to a noodle soup? I have just returned from having purchased a can of kimchi. I have no idea what the contents are, since they are written in Korean, but thought that mixing it into the broth at the last minute might increase the soup's flavour. Is there a flaw in my reasoning? <Q> Kimchi are not preferred to be added directly to soup. <S> Usually you would fry the Kimchi (ideally in Sesame oil) to slightly transparent or having minor brown on the edges, before adding into the soup, and boil for . <S> That is not only applicable to <S> KimChi JiGae - but also other varieties of KimChi broth (e.g. hotpot, Kimchi ramen/noodles (BuDae JiGae) etc.) <S> Frying beforehand and adding directly to soup/water can taste very, very different. <A> Yes. <S> It's almost a required element for me any time I'm eating the standard cheap ramen or noodle bowls. <S> I usually add it at the end <S> so I don't cook all the crunch out of the kimchee. <S> I often take five or six frozen gyoza/dumplings, add them to the small pot of water, bring that to a boil, then add the ramen noodles, then, after the noodle cooking time, add some of that salty seasoning packet and the kimchee. <S> As pointed out in the selected answer, cooking it, as a step for soups and stews is also very standard, but I'd disagree about it not also being a fine addition, as is, to a noodle soup. <A> Not at all. <S> Heres a recipe you could try http://norecipes.com/blog/kimchi-jigae-recipe-kimchi-soup/ <A> Absent any information (not even a picture?) <S> I'd assume it's the common variety with the dominant seasoning being spicy red chili. <S> It's certainly a reasonable thing to put in a soup: <S> kimchi soup and kimchi stew are popular dishes. <S> It's also a very common standard side dish. <S> If you're unsure, just open the can, taste it, and see what you think you'll like best.
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Adding Kimchi directly to soup/broth and boil is more a Northern Chinese way of cooking (where Kimchi is not called kimchi but literally called "Spicy Pickled Cabbage").
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Does microwaving eggs kill salmonella? If eggs are thoroughly washed and of course beaten before microwaving, and after the process I can find no liquid, is there a possibility that salmonella is still there, or does it die from high temperatures? <Q> Microwaves do not kill bacteria, heat kills bacteria. <S> "Instant death" for most bacteria (including salmonella) is about 160° F (71° C). <S> You only need a few seconds at this temperature. <S> The notoriously strict USDA recommends 160° F for egg <S> dishes but is considerably more lax about whole eggs and just says to cook until firm. <S> Pasteurization begins around 57° C (135° F), so many bacteria are killed before the egg coagulates (at 63° C / 145° F), which is why the USDA is not very strict about it; if an egg by itself is "firm" then it's generally already been hot enough for long enough to ensure safety. <S> Unfortunately, microwaves tend to heat (a) quickly and (b) unevenly, so if you are concerned about food safety and insist on making eggs in the microwave (not recommended), be sure to use short bursts and stir several times, otherwise you might end up with a combination of uncooked and overcooked parts, which is bad for food safety and for general taste and texture. <S> Note that there is not only a possibility but actually a certainty that some salmonella is still there, assuming that there was any to begin with. <S> Cooking is equivalent to pasteurization and that does not kill every single bacterium, nor is it meant to; it just kills about 99.9999% of them which makes the cooked item safe enough to consume. <A> Not necessarily: <S> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/health/22real.html?_r=1 <S> However my guess is that the heat generated by a microwave would be hot enough to kill most of the bacteria (backed up by some of the research in this article: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2947/do-microwave-ovens-kill-bacteria ), so as long as it's a fresh egg the risk of salmonella poisoning is low. <A> If you're using pasteurised eggs, you should be fine.
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The higher the temperature, the faster those bacteria will die off. Very few eggs are contaminated in the whites or yolks, so the risk is very low.
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How can I make my homemade potato wedges crispy? How do I make my wedges go nice and crispy in the oven? I usually season them with a cajun mix, add a tiny bit of oil, and cook them in the oven on fan-bake at about 200 degrees (celcius). They come out okay, but not amazing. What can I do to make them come out a lot crispier, while still using a normal household oven? Would more oil improve their texture, or do I need to crumb them maybe? <Q> The potato on the outside of the wedges will soften and cook a little bit which will help the outsides crisp up a little. <S> Make sure you allow them to drain completely before you put them in the oven. <A> After boiling for a few minutes in water, drain, put the lid on and shake (but gently so the wedges don't break). <S> This will rough up the surface. <S> The resulting bumps can heat through more fully and lose more moisture, leading to crisp. <A> I would also agree with other people's suggestions of par-boiling for 7-10 mins, followed by a shake. <S> In addition I would get the oil hot before adding the potato. <S> Either put the tray with the oil in the oven a few minutes before cooking or pre-heat the tray & oil on top of the hob before transferring to the oven (make sure your baking tray can withstand hob temperatures). <A> I usually par-microwave the whole potatoes, then cut them into wedges and let them steam out for a good few minutes. <S> You can actually see the potato going whiter and drier near the edges. <S> Microwaving seems to me highly preferrable to boiling at this stage to minimise water. <S> Then I shake them in a bag with some olive oil to coat, then sprinkle with Caribbean seasoning. <S> Then bake. <S> Baking long and lower works better than too high a heat, too. <S> I've had them get so crispy before <S> , they are almost like shards of glass, it's awesome! <A> Cook them hotter. <S> I cook mine at 425 or 450 F, which is 220 or 230 C. <S> It makes a difference. <S> I toss them in oil, sometimes with salt and rosemary, and put them on a silpat baking sheet. <S> I keep them a little apart, trying not to have any touching, so the steam can get out. <S> They get browned, even blistered, and crunchy, like roasted potatoes do. <S> To be clear: I don't parboil, I don't coat them in anything other than oil. <S> The oven temperature and the rubbery sheet on the baking pan do the trick. <A> What everyone has said.. <S> par boil them then season when cooled coat in corn flour and a bit of oil and bake at about 200. <S> If ur wedges are extra big reduce the heat but cook for longer to stop the outside burning Also try and bake then spread out well on baking paper. <S> My sweet potato fries come put perfectly like this <S> x
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You could put them in a pan of boiling water for 3 or 4 minutes (not so to they're cooked through) before putting them in the oven.
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Will tomatoes keep for longer if you keep the stalk in? I know that avocados are supposed to keep longer with the stalks; I would like to know if it is also true for tomatoes? <Q> Removing the stem from a tomato opens up a hole where air, moisture, and bacteria can pass through. <S> (Published in Cook's Illustrated - requires subscription - http://www.cooksillustrated.com/howto/detail.asp?docid=1173 ) <A> The tomatoes may continue ripening if you keep the stalks in. <A> Yes, leave the stalks in. <S> It was by accident that I discovered this works. <S> I was in a rush <S> and I picked a bunch with all the stalks attached. <S> By the time I got home one was knocked off. <S> It turns bad much faster. <S> So I purposely did it again, with the same results. <S> Once the stalk dries out, that’s when I notice the tomato starts to turn. <S> Sometimes I had them for a couple of weeks to my surprise. <S> If you would have told me, I wouldn’t have believed it.
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Keeping the stem in, or somehow sealing the "scar" from the stem, will prolong shelf life.
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How do you make sure aubergine doesn't go bitter when cooking? Sometimes aubergine and courgette tastes fine when cooked as is, but other times they are so bitter that they're almost inedible. I've tried dry salting and leaving the slices in salt water beforehand for various lengths of time, but this is a mission and can often make them too salty. Also the outcome seems pretty random given that sometimes this isn't necessary. Is it to do with freshness? <Q> Yes, it is to do with freshness - the fresher and younger <S> the aubergine, the less bitter it will be. <A> In Turkish cuisine the tradition is to peal the eggplant lengthwise in zebra stripes an inch wide and to slice the eggplant into thick wedges which are then soaked in very salty cold water for at least a quarter hour. <S> Just before cutting smaller and cooking you squeeze out the salt water. <S> This should help against them turning dark and bitterness. <A> I slice them into 1-2cm thick circles, sprinkle granular (coarse) salt on both sides and let sit for at least half an hour, preferably in the sun. <S> Afterwards rinse with water to remove the salt and extracted liquid and proceed with the recipe. <A> When i am cooking courgettes, i usually taste a thin slice from each one - raw. <S> If it is bitter i just discard it. <S> One bitter courgette can ruin a dish. <S> Regarding aubergines... no raw tasting, of course. <S> Then i go for the salt trick.
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If you have an old aubergine, you could try peeling it, as the bitter compounds are concentrated just under the skin.
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Does the Philips Air-fryer work as well as a standard deep-fryer? I've seen commercial ads about the Philips Air-fryer: I'd like to hear answers from someone who actually tried it.. Does the outcome taste the same as if it was fried in a normal deep fryer? Does the outcome have the same crispness? (or better or worse?) Is it worth its price? (around $248) <Q> I personally haven't used it. <S> Lifehacker did a review on this when it came out though. <S> Basically, it's more like a convection oven, as people have mentioned. <S> They bascially said if you don't own a convection oven and eat a lot of fries it's worth it, but it really is baking them, not frying. <A> They were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside <S> You save quite a bit on oil (about one tablespoon for 1lb of potatoes), so it may be worth it if you eat a lot of French fries. <S> Some other thoughts: <S> We are able to use better quality oil (cold pressed virgin sesame oil, for example). <S> We also it to air-fry vegetables (Zucchini with olive oil and paprika), which was pretty good. <S> But I can't say I have eaten deep-fried Zucchini. <S> We made Paneer Shashlik out of the Indian recipe book. <S> This was really no better than what we could have skewered in the oven. <A> I have tried an air fryer. <S> It is very convenient, but if it is the ultimate taste you want (whether it's fried food or roasted food, health/oil issues aside) <S> then no, it can't beat deep fat frying or oven roasting. <S> Having said that, it is a good speedy compromise when in a hurry. <A> In a word: no. <S> Fries used in this machine taste a lot like oven fries. <S> If you like oven fries, I guess that's perfect. <S> If you don't, it's probably less than perfect. <A> The air fryer dries meat out and in my opinion, not that tasty. <S> The air fryer might be suitable for certain things like fries. <A> I have the automatic version. <S> It tastes same like deep fries (even better). <S> Initial experiments are required with oil level to judge what/how you need. <S> Don't go by the books. <S> Taste is like as if deep fries have been done on tissue paper to remove oil. <S> Browning is very uniform and excellent, as you can pause and monitor.
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I am not really a connoisseur of French fries, but here is what I felt: They taste very similar to deep-fried French fries
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What oils are suitable for Indian cooking (i.e. extended frying duration)? Indian cooking basically uses oil from the beginning of the process, typically starting with sautéing ginger and garlic, then adding shallots, chillies and onions. So the oil is on the fire for quite some time. I would like to know whether any type of olive oil will be suitable for this type of cooking. Extra virgin olive oil seems to be out of the question from what I have read. <Q> Indian food is commonly cooked with ghee (clarified butter), for both religious and flavor reasons. <S> Where ghee is not used, coconut or refined <S> palm oil are common. <S> I can also tell you from experience that Indian food can be made with unflavored vegetable oils (canola, sunflower or soy), without a deleterious effect on flavor or texture. <A> Mustard seed oil is also used traditionally for Indian food. <A> With Olive oils, the more refined they are, the higher their burning point. <S> So you are correct, an Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil would be a terrible choice for Indian cooking (would cause effect on taste, smell, and nutrition) which has prolonged periods of sauteing on high heat. <S> Lower quality olive oils, or a light olive oil, interestingly, would be a better choice. <S> They are much more refined like vegetable oils, so have a higher burning point. <S> But at that point, you'd consider why are you using Olive oil? <S> Ghee and Coconut oil will rarely smoke or burn and can stand high heat pretty well. <S> I believe traditional Indian cooking uses ghee. <A> Indian cooking is mainly dependent on coconut oil or sunflower oil. <S> Coconut oil is widely used in coastal parts of southern India. <S> Olive oil might not give the same taste as you get in coconut oil. <S> There are some dishes that could only be prepared using coconut oil. <A> Different types of oils are used for different recipes or cooking styles that vary across India. <S> Some of them use mustard oil (Bengal and Bihar) while south indians prefer coconut oil. <S> On the other hand, western states in India use groundnut, sunflower oil for the daily cooking needs. <S> Olive oil is rarely used for authentic indian recipes. <S> Also, while some of the recipes let you pick ghee or oil, they are used for different recipes and can't always replace each other. <S> AFAIK, Refined sunflower oil should be a good option as it won't mess with the recipe and will be healthier than groundnut oil. <S> Mustard oil has a strong smell and it doesn't always go well with all the recipes (it's typically used in the marination process for tandoori chicken <S> and it's one of the ingredients that give it a red color). <A> It depend which region the Indian dish you are cooking is from. <S> Kashmiris use mustard oil quite a bit which requires 'cracking' before using by boiling at high heat. <S> I use mostly sunflower seed oil in my restaurant in Delhi, I may add in some ghee, coconut oil, or mustard oil depending on which region of India <S> the dish you are cooking is from. <A> Most south Indian dishes contains groundnut, coconut,butter,ghee and gingelly or sesame oil. <S> Which adds more taste to your food. <A> Its really good experience to cook and eat food cooked with sunflower oil but olive oil is also a good choice to cook. <S> Don't use olive oil for frying, it can be used for shallow fry and to make curry where you don't needed to cook at high temperature. <A> sunflower oil is the best for indian cooking.
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Consider using refined butter (ghee) or coconut oil for Indian cooking.
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Are there any negative effects to kneading bread dough longer? Is there such a thing as over-kneading bread dough. From what I understand, kneading the bread dough is what allows the gluten strands to align and form the beautiful gluten networks that create bread with all the little air bubbles. If that is the case, is it always, "the more you knead the better", or are there any negative effects that occur if you knead it longer than what your bread recipe states. <Q> There are several negative effects from over-kneading bread dough: <S> Oxidisation - kneading for too long can cause the flour to oxidise and bleach, again impairing flavour. <S> Breaking down - eventually the molecular bonds of the gluten will break, which is obviously not what you want to happen! <S> The latter two are really only possible with electric mixers, however. <S> Most doughs are ready for fermentation when they reach an internal temperature of 77-81ºF (25-27°C). <S> You can also check the gluten development with the Windowpane Test: pull off a chunk of dough and stretch it with your hands. <S> It should stretch to form a very thin translucent sheet, without tearing. <A> It is also possible to overknead for a specific bread dough recipe. <S> For example, American Sandwich Loaf bread is a lightly kneaded, white-flour pan loaf, and if you kneaded it heavily you would get the wrong texture and flavor. <S> It might still be good, but it would be a notably different bread. <S> Likewise brioche, pain de mie, foccacia, potato bread, and many other breads whose soft texture owes itself to a short kneading and limited gluten development. <S> So no, more kneading isn't always better. <A> Definitely yes, i really overworked my ciabatta dough and it now has a very dense crumb. <S> Everything was fine the dough fermented like a star but due to overworking, it failed in the end.
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Overheating - if the dough gets too warm, it will ferment too quickly (or over ferment) and will therefore lack flavour.
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How can you achieve the glazed top in a mille-feuille? A mille-feuille (or tompouce) is a pastry, consisting of layers of puff pastry with pastry cream in-between (see this if you don't know it). If you buy it in a pastry store, I find that the glazed top is unique for this pastry. Recipes online tell me that it's confectioner sugar and egg whites, but I think it's something else. It's solid, yet soft. You can see your tooth print in it. It's white and sweet. I can't exactly explain how it differs from regular egg white/sugar icing, but in my opinion it does. Does anybody have a clue what I'm talking about? Do you know what's in it? Or is it just a basic egg white/sugar icing, and is my mind playing tricks on me? <Q> The dessert discribed is not truley a "Tom Pouce", that is a different pastry. <S> What is discribed in the question is a "Napoleon" dessert pastry. <S> Fondant in it's simplest (shortcut) form is made by mixed powdered sugar and water until the desired thickness is reached. <S> Some time in the open air will harden it a little further beacause of the water drying out. <S> Fondant made correctly is by making a simple syrup (water and sugar cooked together), cooking it to the "soft ball" stage or temperature of simple syrup, then dispursing it onto a marble slab (to cool it quickly) and with 2 baker knives (one in each hand) fold and kneed the sugar until it frosts from transluscent color to the frosty and shyny white color. <S> This is an old skill which has been taken over by machines. <S> Fontdant is now purchased from larger makers in 5 gal. <S> buckets for a cost of appr. <S> $25.00. <A> Mille feuille (Napoleon), eclairs and petit fours, to name but a few, are definitely iced with fondant pastry - also known as poured fondant. <S> Not a royal icing. <S> There are 3 types of fondant: <S> Pastry Fondant - known as poured fondant Confectioners Fondant - can be interchangeable as poured fondant. <S> Rolled Fondant <S> Both poured and confectioners are identical to the naked eye. <S> The difference being the addition of cream of tartar for the sugar inversion. <S> "Paul Bras" was absolutely correct in his answer. <S> As a semi-retired pastry chef I still make Fondant at home. <S> No longer using a marble slab and spatulas. <S> A modern twist, a food processor will work the hot paste 50C (120F) to a perfect smooth finish in much less time. <S> Poured and stored in zip lock plastic bags. <A> The simplest icing is just water and powdered sugar. <S> The sugar and egg white is called ' royal icing '. <S> I'm guessing that the difference between your result and the store bought result <S> is oven drying; <S> Once you apply the icing on the pastry, you put it in a low heat oven for some time until it's dry (50ºC, 10'). <A> It's called bakers fondant and is usually only available through the trade
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The Mille Feuille or Puff Pastry is topped with an icing called "Fondant".
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What is the standard ratio of sugar to cream in Crème Chantilly? How many grams of sugar should I use for 250 mL of heavy cream to sweeten it? Some recipes omit sugar entirely, so the lower bound appears to be zero at least for some uses, but what is the upper bound before it becomes overly sweet? Does this depend on what I'm using the crème Chantilly for? <Q> I would say that as a rule of thumb, you don't want to create too great a contrast between your sauce and your other components. <S> So, if you are using it for dipping fruit, you can use less sugar than usual, else the fruit will be perceived as too sour. <S> For a rich torte, you can go up with the sugar. <S> As for the normal range, it can start at zero, but this is very unusual for sweet applications. <S> The upper bound is given by foaming: you can't whip cream well if it has less than 30% fat. <S> (This number is for pure raw cream, and varies even there, depending on factors like cow breed. <S> It can be slightly higher or lower depending on cream treatment - pasteurization etc. <S> - and the amount of stabilizers usually added to whipping cream). <S> Else your texture will suffer. <S> You also ask for a standard amount. <S> This will vary regionally. <S> The Professional Chef recommends 57 g of sugar per 454 g (a pound) of cream, which translates to 12.5 g per 100 g, or 30 g per 250 ml. <S> This is an American book, and I have found that using 2/3 to 1/2 of the recommended amount in most American recipes results in good-tasting sweets, whereas the original amount often produces oversweetened dishes. <S> This would be my guideline for a standard amount too. <S> You can adjust it to your own taste. <S> On a side note, The Professional Chef insists that it whips best if the sugar is sprinkled in after you have achieved soft peaks. <S> I haven't done it this way, but it is worth a try. <A> It is rather a matter of taste! <S> Put in as much as you like ^ ^ <A> I prefer Wholesome Sweeteners Powdered Sugar for my whipped cream. <S> I use 1-tsp per pint. <S> It dissolves well and provides stability because of the starch.
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You can be quite free with your sugar amount, depending on what you want to achieve. So, if you start with a cream which has 35% fat, you shouldn't add more than 16.7 g sugar per 100 g cream (40 g sugar per 250 ml).
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Can I roast in glass? All, Recently we moved house, and took it as an excuse to ditch a bunch of old and dying roasting pans. We kept some glass trays (suitable for cooking in) though, and have ended up using them for just about all our oven cooking. On the top I still use either the steel covered copper bottomed things or cast iron cookware, but in the over it's mainly the glass. Everything seems to turn out just fine - am I missing something? Committing a heinous sin I've somehow forgotten? Do I need to run back to buying some proper metal roasting trays? <Q> Dude <S> you said you have cast iron. <S> Cast iron rules. <S> And it performs very well in the oven. <S> No contest against glass and you can make pan sauce on the stove <S> -top after the roasting is finished. <S> My favorite pan to make roast chicken with is my 12" Lodge cast iron skillet. <S> Glass is probably better at roasting than cheap cookie style sheets, because it keeps the heat distribution fairly smooth. <S> But glass will not hold up well to heavy roasting use and will eventually ruin your dinner when it cracks or shatters. <S> All Clad makes a great roasting pan with wire rack. <A> I don't roast any more but when I did, I only used glass trays. <S> I always brushed oil on the glass before placing any food, in order to aid cleaning. <A> I routinely take potatoes that have been roasting in a traditional metal roaster with some meat, and put them into a glass pie pan at a higher temperature while the meat rests and I make the gravy in the metal roasting pan. <S> Works a treat. <S> But the glass pie pans are no longer eligible to make pies in because they look like they've had stuff roasted in them over the years :-) <A> Line the inside of the glass with aluminum foil, if you choose you can also "tent" the foil (loosely) around you meat and you have a perfectly fine vessel for roasting, and none of the clean up problems. <S> You might lower the temperature a few degrees (50 degrees F) and make sure to test the internal temperature of your roast to check for doneness. <A> Both are good. <S> With care the cast iron is forever. <S> Glass cleans up well and can be replaced quite cheaply. <S> Why not keep both of them and see which one gathers dust?
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The only problem I've found with roasting in glass is that it's hard to get roasting pans completely clean, and glass shows everything. But for most roasting a simple cast iron skillet works well and is indestructible.
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Why does flatbread have to be microwaved / cooked / toasted? I was eating at a Subway restaurant the other day and they asked if I would like my flatbread toasted... I responded with a "No thanks." They said, "Well technically the flatbread still HAS to be toasted, so would you like the meat toasted ?" In confusion, I asked, "Why? I would prefer it un-toasted." They said, "We are required to toast all flatbread, as it releases some chemical... or something." Can anyone clear up what they may be referring to? Does flatbread (non-homemade) HAVE to be toasted / cooked / microwaved ? Edit: Ingredients: Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid, malted barley flour), water, soybean oil, yeast, contains 2% or less of nonfat dry milk, salt, wheat gluten, sugar, dough conditioner (acacia gum, guar gum, ascorbic acid, L- cysteine, enzymes), calcium propionate, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), and sodium stearoyl lactylate. <Q> Most likely the flatbread is not very pliable when cold. <S> I believe that Subway forces the heating of the flatbread to keep it from splitting when they fold it. <A> Consider the humble supermarket pita. <S> The kind with the ridiculously long shelf life. <S> Straight from the packet, it's pretty miserable. <S> It's chewy - not in a good way. <S> It tastes of cardboard. <S> Toast it however, <S> and it comes to life. <S> The slight browning of the outside improves the flavour. <S> The steaming of the inside softens the bread inside. <S> I'll bet the Subway flatbread has similar properties. <S> Now, if I ran a fast food chain that sold sandwiches based on a bread like this, I'd make sure my staff were trained to always toast it. <S> Even if a customer asks for it untoasted , that would mean they'd go away with a sandwich that I know won't be very nice. <S> I would rather take away the customer's choice, than sell them something that's not good. <S> Subway does not want thousands of customers telling their friends the flatbread isn't nice. <A> If we're talking about the same sub making restaurant, their flatbread contains the following ingredients: <S> Enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, malted barley flour, ascorbic acid), water, soybean oil, yeast; contains 2% or less of: nonfat dry milk, wheat gluten, salt, dough conditioners (guar gum, Arabic gum, sodium stearoyl lactylate, enzymes), sugar, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), calcium propionate. <S> I can see nothing in there that isn't in found in commercial soft white bread. <S> It may well be a case of an overzealous legal department acting on the merest possibility of a hint of an idea that one ingredient may perhaps have the potential to maybe sometimes cause a problem if not cooked. <A> If you want it toasted you get it with the meat and cheese toasted under a hotter setting that actually toasts it. <S> When subway released the flatbread they understood some people don't want there sub toasted so <S> in order to comply with this request they have the option of just heating the flatbread without the meat and cheese on it under a heat setting in the toaster. <S> It doesn't toast it just warms it up enough <S> so it's soft and doesn't break apart or crumble when they fold it or while you eat it. <S> I know most people aren't use to being told they "have" to order something a certain way but believe me if you don't heat the flatbread <S> it's not edible. <S> Unless you like dry crusty crumbly bread with stale taste. <A> Having just eaten an untoasted Subway flatbread sandwich, I noticed the bread tasted like flour and had an unpleasant texture. <S> So they "have" to toast it to make it taste good, not for any weird reason about chemicals.
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The reason subway has to "heat" the flatbread is to make it soft.
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