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Can you slow down the time it takes for dough to rise? I am going to make bread sticks and I don't want them to rise too soon. It is hard to predict what time my husband will get home from work. Can I slow the dough from rising too soon? The recipe says first rise about 1 to 2 hours and then let rest for 20 minutes. Can I put them in a cool place or should I refrigerate them? <Q> Yes, you can easily slow down the rising time by lowering the temperature of the dough ("retarding" it, as the pros say). <S> You can either put it in a cool place or refrigerate it; the colder it is, the slower it will rise. <S> Dough can even be frozen and proofed later, though sometimes that will make it a bit wonky when it thaws. <A> For smaller items (rolls, typically, but I think it'd work for breadsticks), I'll let the dough proof the first time, shape it and place onto a sheet pan, cover it to prevent drying out, and then put the sheet pan in the fridge. <S> When I come home from work, I'll pull the pan out to come up to temp some while the oven is pre-heating. <S> ( more details ) <S> In that case, I was leaving the bread in the fridge for many hours. <S> Likely about 8 hours, to replace your typical 1-2 hour rise. <S> For your situation, I might put it in the fridge after 1/2 to 3/4 of the rising time, and then have your husband let you know when he's leaving work, so you can better time when it get it into the oven. <S> Don't try to refrigerate for the first rise, unless you're going to give it sufficient time to come up to room temperature <S> or it's a recipe specifically designed for shaping right out of the fridge (like in that answer I linked to). <S> If you don't, the dough can start shredding and tearing, and is very difficult to work with. <A> but there's no real need to. <S> I frequently leave dough to rise for several hours when it's still in the bowl and unshaped. <S> If I'm in, I'll knock it back and reshape it every hour or so <S> but if not it's never been a problem. <S> I'm not too concerned about slowing things down <S> but if it's really warm I might put the dough in the cellar where it's cooler. <S> The only time I'm careful about how long I leave the dough is when it's shaped and proving. <S> If you leave it too long in this state the gluten can collapse and the bread will lose structure. <S> If this does happen you can rescue it by knocking it back, re-shaping it and leaving it again. <A> Keep you dough in refrigerator and the proving process will slow down. <S> According to me the colder it is the slower <S> it is the process of proving. <S> In my case I could see that the process slowed down to almost 6 times.
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Yes you can slow things down by cooling the dough somehow
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Pyrex that can be used in an instant pot What pyrex would be suitable for pressure steaming in an Instant Pot (also known as 'Pot in Pot' cooking)? I am a new user and want to make sure I have the correct cookware. <Q> That is commonly done, and yes, any pyrex is fine for it although metal has an advantage in that it wouldn't require extra time. <S> Anytime you use glass, pyrex, ceramic or any other heat absorbent material for "pot in pot" cooking, add ~5 minutes to the time under pressure. <S> Whatever you use inside the liner of the Instant Pot as your cooking vessel, use the trivet and add water (at least 1 1/2 cups or so) to the inner pot of the Instant Pot, and be sure there is some room (it doesn't need to be much) to allow steam to pass between your inner pot and the Instant Pot liner. <S> Here's more on the subject of 'pot in pot' cooking. <A> I am new to Instant Pot also. <S> Had a "chat" with Ranier at Instant Pot today to ask about glass dish to use in Instant Pot. <S> Was told that anything that is oven proof is okay or to use a smaller Instant Pot insert. <S> Mine is a six quart. <S> I was ready to throw it out the back door last week because I was having such a hard time putting lid on. <S> This is going to be my favorite fun kitchen gadget. <A> If you want to have a minimalist kitchen, a good option is oven-safe Glasslock, which has the advantage of also providing a convenient way to pack food for refrigeration and transport. <S> It's also available in a variety of stackable sizes; obviously round Glasslock will fit more efficiently in an Instant Pot than will square or rectangular. <A> Manufacturers of Pyrex, Corningware, and Anchor Hocking do not recommend their products in the Instant Pot. <S> I emailed, chat with them. <A> I am making chocolate pots de creme and also at times I like to make creme brulee <S> so I use individual ramekins in the Instant Pot to pressure cook.
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Anything that is safe to use in the oven is safe to use in the Instant Pot.
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What is a good substitute for avocado oil in Indian food recipes? I am making dal and would like a suggestion for an oil that could be a substitute for avocado oil. <Q> For dal, any oil will work because it is a fairly minor flavor component of the dish. <S> The other flavors (I assume onion, garlic, and spices) will predominate. <S> I have used vegetable oil, grape seed oil, and olive oil when making dal, all with no problems. <A> Coconut oil or ghee can be used. <S> Both are commonly-used cooking oils in the Indian subcontinent. <S> I've lived in Sri Lanka for most of the last 14 years, and those are the only oils I use in my Sri Lankan/Indian cooking. <S> They're also the only oils my Sri Lankan mother in law uses. <A> Mostly it depends of what kind of Dal you are making. <S> But more preferably Sunflower oil. <S> You'll love the taste and aroma of the dal once its done.
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But generally for dal you can use any Oil , Ghee or Butter.
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Prevent gummi bears from drying out I have tried making gummi bears but have the problem that they dry out very fast. I'd like to make gummi bears that could be eaten for a couple days. After five days they dried out so much it was impossible to chew them anymore. Am I missing some other ingredient to prevent it from drying out after just a couple days? This is the recipe I used 0.5 liter water20 g gelatine 1 teaspoon salt 325 g sugar (65%)A dash of glucose syrupFlavoring <Q> The corn syrup may help with retention <A> You can do the same thing as baked goods and seal them in with a piece of moist bread or orange peel just be warned it will change the aroma of whatever is sealed with it. <S> I.E.bread is better with baked goods and orange peel would be better with the gummy bears. <A> You need a recipe that includes significant glycerin. <S> As a humectant <S> it'll help your gummis retain water, chewiness. <S> Ro store the things, you'll need thick 5-6mil ziplocks. <S> Thinner than that and water leaches out pretty quickly. <S> If you get a bag that's gone dry, you can simply add enough water to bring it up to its fresh weight, reseal the bag, and wait 3-4 days for the water to sink in. <S> Your stale gummis should be good as new.
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Try 50/50 sugar corn syrup.
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What went wrong with this cake? This is an olive oil cake (with gluten free flour). It baked in this completely crazy way. The entire cake lifted up and there was a large bubble under the cake that shifted the batter to the sides before it cooked. Here's how it cooked in the pan with half removed (we used a conventional oven, the toaster oven is just for scale): Turned the cake up in this following photo -- you are looking at the bottom of the cake this time: A couple of questions: What happened? How can we make sure this doesn't happen again? Have you ever seen anything so crazy happen before? <Q> I'd lower the temperature. <S> You'll have to experiment. <S> I think what happened is that the bottom quickly cooked and sealed. <S> As your liquid ingredients turned to steam an air pocket was created, which would further slow the cooking of the middle. <S> The still fluid batter would flow to the sides and provide more liquid, as the bottom rose. <A> This looks very much like a bad recipe, which has trouble leavening. <S> You say you used gluten-free flour. <S> The problem is that there is not a gluten free flour, there are multiple mixes and none behaves like the others (and also none behaves like standard wheat flour). <S> So this is the most likely culprit. <S> Try using a recipe which is made for your brand of gluten-free flour or directs you how to make your own mixture out of specified starches and binders, not one which just says "gluten-free flour". <S> Don't use baking recipes meant for standard flour with gluten-free - the results are patchy, if they work at all. <S> If you insist on continuing with this recipe and this flour, try a bit less leavening agent (to prevent the too strong gas production) and more fat (to make the dough more tender and hope that the bubbles will be able to move throughout the dough). <S> If you see it doming during baking, just go in with a fork and make some holes to release the steam. <S> Still, this is mostly a shot in the dark. <S> Tweaking the recipe to a working state (or kinda-working) will take several rounds of trial and error, if it works. <A> It looks to me like the "huge bubble" was not one bubble but lots of little bubbles like you would get from the action of the leavening agent (maybe baking powder). <S> That would be normal, unless the leavening action was excessive (sounds like maybe that was the case if it looked like a huge bubble in the middle of the cake) and produced too much gas for the strength of the solid structure of the cake to support. <S> That would cause the cake to collapse in the middle as it cooled (or maybe even before). <S> Whatever the cause, it looks like your cake was structurally too weak for the amount of leavening. <S> Not sure where you got your recipe, or whether you followed it exactly <S> ... did you make any minor modifications? <S> Was your recipe designed to be specifically gluten-free, or did you take a standard recipe and just substitute in gluten free flour? <S> Cake recipes are super touchy, and reside in the fine line between too fluffy and not fluffy enough; too tender and not quite tender enough. <S> So they don't tolerate a lot of tweaking. <S> I can only imagine gluten free cake recipes must be even more sensitive. <S> Very often when I get "creative" [ha ha] <S> & try to make up my own cake recipes, this sort of thing happens to them. <A> It's suggested that when baking cake with gluten free flour, sift all of your dry ingredients together, also use a binder (xanthan gum) and don't over mix the batter.
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A couple possible causes could be too much of the wet ingredients in the batter or too much leavening.
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How to stir fry frozen veggies? There are various frozen veggie mixes available in my local grocery shops, that are meant to be used in stir fries (according to their description at least), but I can't seem to get satisfactory result out of them. Whenever I try to stir fry them, two things happen: Wok's temperature drops due to the ice-cold veggies being put inside. As veggies defrost while I cook them, they release a lot of extra water. And I get mushy veggies as a result. As if I were making a stew or something. So is there a trick to it? Should I defrost everything and drain the liquid before frying? Instruction on the bag says, that I should put veggies on the pan in frozen state. Any idea why? Or maybe it is the quality of product that matters? Any advice is welcome. P.S. I have a regular stove at my place and a small sized wok. Nothing fancy or military-grade. <Q> The trick is to not use a wok at all. <S> A wok works by concentrating a lot of heat on the bottom, more heat than you can achieve with a home stove. <S> " <S> Stir frying" moves the food from the cool sides of the wok, through the intense heat at the bottom, then out. <S> Rather, use a wide skillet. <S> A home stove can't generate the intense, focused heat of a restaurant stove, but it can generate a lot of heat over a wider area. <S> Put your skillet on the burner, add some oil, get it good and hot, then add your vegetables. <S> The intense heat will defrost them and cook them quickly. <S> You have to work in smallish batches, <S> probably no more than half a bag. <S> And if you want to stir-fry meat with the vegetables, you may need to temporarily transfer the one out to make room for the other. <S> As for defrosting... the idea is that you don't need to: thinly sliced vegetables will quickly go from frozen to thawed to cooked when given direct access to very hot oil, and all surface moisture will quickly evaporate. <S> Defrosting them will just give them time to get mushy. <S> I'll be honest, <S> I'm not entirely convinced that that's better than defrosting them and allowing the water to drain. <S> But I have observed that when these vegetables come out of the bag, they look nice and clear and perky, and when they're defrosted they look kinda sad. <S> So, maybe there's something to it. <S> Anyway, that's my advice <S> : use a wide pan, over high heat, with a fair bit of oil, and work in small batches. <A> Pre-saute the frozen stuff as one or multiple separate batches, in whatever wok or pan <S> you have <S> that has the best heat transfer characteristics, and then add them warm or hot to your actual stir fry. <S> Alternatively, par-boil or par-steam (bamboo steamers are great for that) <S> it before adding. <A> Or maybe it is the quality of product that matters? <S> may apply as well. <S> I see many of these (frozen) veggie mixes containing ingredients with a different cooking time. <S> Examples: bean sprouts and carrot, or mushrooms and onions, in one mix. <S> You will never get these right, because when one ingredient is finally edible, the other will be a mush. <S> (Surprisingly, this is less of an issue when using a wok, then when e.g. frying them in a little oil. <S> * ). <S> This is not a 'wok-specific' issue of course. <S> * <S> Maybe because of the extreme heat, maybe because we are used to vegetables having more 'bite' when prepared in a wok. <A> I would advise against stir-frying your vegetables frozen. <S> Your food will sear the best when it's dry and cooked quickly as hot as possible . <S> "Wok-hei" is a Chinese phrase that means "breath of the wok," and refers to the incredible flavor in meat and vegetables seared over high heat. <S> Like you mentioned, excess water hurts that sear because the heat of the pan is wasted evaporating water and not cooking your vegetables. <S> The temperature of the pan drops and you get steamed vegetables instead of stir-fried vegetables. <S> I recommend defrosting, draining, <S> and/or drying your vegetables before using. <S> I also highly recommend a cast-iron skillet if your wok isn't staying hot enough. <S> A cast-iron skillet will maintain its heat better when you add food, which makes it perfect for stir-frying. <S> It should only take 30 seconds to one minute to sear your vegetables and they should still have some crunch. <S> The Food Lab has a great write-up on maintaining high heat for your stir-fry and some tips for doing so as well. <S> Check it out! <A> I can see two answers to this, and you can use both. <S> Get the oil in the wok very very hot before you add the vegetables. <S> This is good advice for stir-fry, regardless of the frozen vegetables. <S> The oil shout be incredibly hot, starting to bubble, before you add vegetables. <S> If you have a plastic bowl, you can put the vegetables in it, then cover with water and microwave for a minute or two. <S> It won't be warm, but should defrost. <S> That way, they won't thaw in the pan and cause the water to release. <S> It's generally better to use fresh vegetables, but like you I'm far too lazy for that. <S> I just wanted it said. <A> First of all, you should use frozen food before its expiration date, defrost and bring it to room temperature by first placing it in a bowl of warm water for at least half an hour. <S> This will bring the food to room temperature. <S> Then remove the it from water and rub it with dry clean cloth after that it can be used for any cooking propose like normal raw food.
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Thaw the vegetables before using them. The only solution in these cases seems to be don't buy them . The key to a great stir-fry is a good sear.
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How to clean a mill My girlfriend and I moved into a new flat together and now we´ve got at least 2 salt- and 2 pepper mills. We only need one of each kind and I wanted to ask, if somebody knows a good way to "clean" the mills and prepare them for reuse with another spice. Is there an ideal, neutral substance for cleaning or any other trick? <Q> The amount of salt that would stick to a dry mill is very small. <S> Salt is also quite abrasive, cheap and water soluble . <S> So to get pepper out I'd grind salt. <S> For most savoury mixes a little salt <S> won't hurt -- in fact you may well put a fair bit in the mix. <S> If you really want to remove the salt, then wash it; just be sure to get it really dry before refilling. <S> Leave it on a sunny windowsill for a few days, in a warm oven (depending on what it's made of, of course), or on a radiator. <A> There's no special trick to it, you don't want to use water to clean them as it's hard to dry them afterwards and you risk getting wet spices clogging things up. <S> First I would empty the mill, then I would give it a few taps and shake as much as can out of it. <S> Next I would use a brush and/or paper towel to clean the parts I can reach. <A> I was looking for something like that: <S> http://lifehacker.com/5558040/use-rice-or-bread-to-clean-coffee-and-spice-grinders I´ll try today, if milling rice will solve my problem.. <S> And I´ll tell you as soon as I tried, if that is valuable..
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Once it's as clean as I can get it I would run the new spice through the mill for as many turns as it takes to get the old spice out of the works.
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Why do grape-flavored foods taste different than actual grapes? Grapes are one of my favorite fruits, but I typically don't like grape-flavored foods. For example, grape jelly or grape candies (like Jolly Ranchers) have a distinctly different taste. I imagine some of the taste perception has to do with water content. Why is it so different? <Q> Concord grapes , which most grape jellies/jams/preserves in the US are made from, are derived from the (US-native) <S> "fox grape" ( Vitis labrusca ) rather than (Europe-native) wine grape ( Vitis vinifera ). <S> Common table grapes (the ones eaten as fresh fruit) such as Thompson seedless are also derived from Vitis vinifera wine grapes. <S> Fox grapes have a "foxy" taste character, which is a result of the presence of the naturally occurring compound methyl anthranilate . <S> Methyl anthranilate is a rather simple compound, and is used in many situations as an "artificial grape flavor". <S> In many cases "grape flavored" candies, drinks and medicines are flavored not with grape extracts, but with synthetically produced methyl anthranilate. <S> As such, these artificially flavored foods taste like Concord grapes (fox grapes), rather than table or wine grapes. <S> While it would be possible to come up with "artificial wine grape" flavor, the flavor profile of wine and table grapes is not dominated by a single compound, as fox grapes are. <S> Therefore, any such "artificial wine grape" flavor would be much more expensive than artificial Concord grape flavor (i.e. just methyl anthranilate). <S> As such, when companies reach for "grape flavor", they tend to go for the more inexpensive Concord grape flavor. <S> This also adds to the persistent expectation (at least in the US) as to what "grape flavored" means. <S> Even if you came out with a wine-grape-flavored Jolly Rancher, many in the US would think it wouldn't taste right, as they expect grape flavored things to taste like Concord grapes. <A> There are lots of types of grapes. <S> Grape flavored items tend to be closer to concord grapes than a wine grape, or the green/red ones available at the grocery store. <A> A jelly or candy, even if using the same aroma compounds that a (raw or cooked) grape or glass of grape juice contains, has a very different balance of sweetness (jelly has a far higher sugar concentration), acidity (balanced by the sugar, or even removed in processing) and texture (jelly coats the tongue, has far less water). <A> Jellies and juices have been cooked. <S> Heat changes the flavour. <S> Think how different are the tastes of fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes. <S> Drying also changes the flavour of fruits. <S> Raisins are very different in taste from their fresh beginning.
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Another important factor is that nice table grapes are raw.
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Should I get a thin, flat bottomed wok to stir fry large amounts of veggies on an electric stove? Currently I stir fry veggies in a flat non-stick frying pan. It's OK but it doesn't have much volume so I can't cook a large amount of veggies unless I do so in batches, which I don't want to because I'm lazy. I want to throw in a bunch of veggies once, cook them, and be done. I understand that this may have a negative impact on flavour but I'm more interested in convenience. To deal with this I want to get a wok, basically just to act as large frying pan. My first question is, will this be better than just using a big pot? My intuition is that the curved sides will mean more veggies touching lower, hotter parts of the container, and easier stirring. But maybe this is baloney. I have an electric stove, and that's not going to change. So I'm going to get a flat-bottomed wok. My understanding is that the wok should get nice and hot and that this is more difficult on an electric stove. The woks I've seen have a wide variety of thicknesses. Should I be getting a really thin wok so that the wok heats up faster and transfers heat more quickly? Again, I'm primarily thinking of convenience. I don't want to stand around waiting for the wok to heat up. However I am fairly prone to burning the things I cook. Similarly, should I aim for a wok made from a particular material? Side note: I'm vegan and my wife is vegetarian, so we're not going to use this for meat at all. <Q> I'll try address your questions: <S> Firstly, woks should always be thin. <S> The point of a wok is to get extremely hot at the bottom, without heat being conducted much up the sides. <S> Thin is best for this <S> The problem with this in your case, is that a small amount of your vegetables will be touching the bottom and cooking, while most will be sitting on top, or in contact with the sides, just getting warmed slightly. <S> The point of a stir fry is to slightly char the vegetables as they get tossed around the pan, moving between hot and cooler parts, so that they cook evenly, but get a good browning at the same time. <S> The problem is that this is really only suited to smallish amounts of food, unless you have an enormous wok and burner/stove. <S> As you have indiciated that convenience is more important to you than flavour/cooking quality, I would suggest a large, flat, heavy bottomed frying pan (fine with straight or curved sides). <S> This will cook large amounts of veg best, without cooling down too much when you add them, and the larger bottom surface will mean more veg is getting contact with the hottest surface I wouldn't normally recommend a plain frying pan for stir fries, but I think this is the best option in your case. <S> The outcome will not be the same as a stir fry - might be more moist and less browned, but should suffice for convenience's sake <A> There are several different choices you could make which would deliver a similar result: <S> flat bottomed wok: <S> woks have high sides, however the heat is only on the bottom, you need to stir the food in woks very often to ensure even cooking saute pan: basically a frying pan with higher sides, the heat is distributed across the pan but hottest in the center casserole dish: this is more of a pot than a frying pan, usually thick and often cast iron. <S> It takes longer to heat up but the heat is generally very even. <S> A benefit of these is that they can go into the oven, giving you more flexibility <S> I have all of these <S> and I use them regularly, any of them will work for cooking large quantities of vegetables (provided you get one that's big enough). <S> It's a matter of picking the one that suits your personal cooking style. <S> As for materials it really is a matter of opinion. <S> If you are a lazy cook or just busy a non-stick stainless or aluminum pan or wok heats up pretty quick and is easy to clean up afterwards, however if you tend to burn things you'll destroy your pan quickly <S> in which case ceramic coated cast iron, plain cast iron or steel might be the way to go. <A> Look at the size of your hob, it is probably up to 24 cm. <S> Imagine putting a straight-sided pan on it and filling it 1.5 - 2 cm deep with cut vegetables (the pieces don't have to be exactly a single layer, they can overlap slightly, but the number of pieces not touching the pan should be minimal). <S> This is the maximum amount of vegetables you can stir-fry at once, no matter what your cooking vessel looks like or how it is called. <S> If you are OK with this amount and your pan is for some reason too small to use it that way, you can get a larger pan (preferably not straight-sided) or a wok, whichever you prefer. <S> If this amount is too small for you, you cannot stir fry. <S> You could just throw your large amount of vegetables in a higher-sided pan or a small pot, and braise them. <S> This might meet your criteria for "high volume" and "not interested in flavor" (It's not that braised vegetables taste bad, they just have a different flavor). <S> Stirring convenience is unimportant, because you only have to give a small stir once every few minutes. <S> A thicker walled vessel is better for braising (and for almost all types of hot cooking). <S> So a wok won't make much sense. <S> The third thing you can do is to turn on two hobs at once and stir fry two batches. <S> It will require more coordination, and you can't really do it as true wokking (one wok requires your constant attention), but you can have your large volume done quickly.
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It sounds like a non-stick high-sided saute pan would be a good way to go, just keep the heat under control and don't be afraid to add a bit of water to the bottom to keep things from burning. If you are looking for something that takes less stirring then a wok is not for you.
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Could adding oil to boil benefit the taste and texture of the pasta? Note to mods : this is not a duplicate. I am not concerned about pasta sticking. Note to anyone who wants to stand on their heritage and say only their way is best : I am Italian, I am 45, I have been cooking for my family for my entire adult life, as well as various jobs in food service. A point of contention between myself and my wife is how we cook pasta. The main differences are: she adds a little oil to the water, I drizzle it in the colander after rinsing; she adds the salt to cold water, I add the salt after the water has boiled. She prepared the pasta the other night. She had me finish to al dente . It was obvious to the eye that there was a bit of oil swirling in the water. She hadn't prepared pasta in quite some time (I am a Fascist about some food prep). And since I haven't tasted it prepared her way in some time, I have to say: it was really good. The pasta (cavatappi) seemed softer somehow. I even had some the next day, after having sat in the fridge overnight. It was still very soft and flavorful. I only rinsed the pasta (didn't also drizzle oil post-rinse). Putting the leftovers away after dinner, the pasta was not sticking terribly. So, again, I know this is not the traditional way of preparing a pot of pasta. But I have to say, it was delicious. I guess what I'm looking to find out is whether anyone has some science to back up why adding oil to the boil would improve taste and texture. Thanks. <Q> Olive oil is mildly acidic, and if your water alkaline that acidity may neutralize it somewhat, however a tablespoon or two of oil in gallons of water is simply not enough to make a noticeable difference <S> The salt adds flavor, but it also helps reduce the gelation of the starch in the pasta. <S> The starch in food is the form of microscopic grains. <S> When these grains come into contact with water, they will trap some of it (think cornstarch in cold water), but when the water is hot they swell up like balloons and merge with each other, and you have starch gelation. <S> When you add the salt is immaterial as long as it dissolves in the water before you add the pasta. <A> It may depend on the sauce you used. <S> Oil in the boil encapsulates the starches to a degree and prevents sauces from sticking to the pasta, and inhibits starches entering the water clinging to the pasta which will normally effect both the texture and the flavor of the sauce. <S> If the ingredients of the sauce are of a type to change the texture of the pasta - either highly acidic or saline, preventing the sauce from cling to or entering the pasta might change its texture <A> Salt your water heavily - probably more heavily than you've been doing. <S> Don't rinse your pasta. <S> Don't salt your sauces too heavily, because the pasta itself will be saltier. <S> Don't put oil in the water - it doesn't do anything. <S> But salt your water a bunch.
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It's very unlikely that adding oil is improving the taste or texture of the pasta, the amount people added is incidental to the process. What is likely to make a difference is salt, as seen in this answer :
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Reducing the moisture in cooked rice for making fried rice I am aware that in order for fried rice in Asian dishes to have the typical consistency and texture, it is best to use rice that has been cooked and stored for at least 24 hours. However, it's often difficult for me to plan anything a day in advance for certain reasons, and so I was wondering if there are any tricks to either improve the texture, or to speed up the process that happens to the rice, that reduces the moisture? (Should it be relevant, I cook the rice in a rice cooker, using a cup of rice and 1.5 cups water. I have tried using less water than advised, but understandably this produces an unpleasant result.) <Q> Kenji López-Alt from Serious Eats dealt with the exact same issue (section Rule #2: plan in advance if you can, but don't worry if you don't ). <S> To sum up his findings: Rice only need to be dry, not stale (hence making rice one day in advance is not necessary) Drying the freshly cooked rice by spreading it on a tray and putting it under a fan for one hour does the trick. <S> Kenji's recommends this method (even more than day old rice!) <S> If you don't have an hour to wait, you can spread still hot rice on a tray and let the surface moisture evaporate. <S> Day old rice makes excellent fried rice (stored at least 12 hours are ideal) but it tends to clump. <S> Internally it is dryer than fresh rice which makes stir-frying at bit more difficult because you have to be faster to ensure the rice does not dry out. <S> Besides the time factor: Make sure to rinse the rice well to remove as much surface starch as possible to prevent clumping. <S> But here's the thing: even freshly cooked rice worked great. <S> In fact, it worked better than rice that had been stored loosely covered in the refrigerator for 1 to 6 hours. <S> [...] <S> Freshly cooked rice spread out on a plate will steam a great deal as its surface moisture is evaporated. <S> That's the important part. <S> It's the surface moisture that is going to cause your rice to rapidly suppress the temperature of the wok. <S> It's the surface moisture <S> that's going to cause your rice to stick together. <S> That explains why fresh rice and rice that's been placed underneath a fan work well. <S> With rice placed in the refrigerator, on the other hand, you slow down the evaporation process. <S> Meanwhile, internal moisture from the grains will start to move outwards, adding moisture to the surface of each grain and making them more difficult to fry. <S> Eventually that surface moisture will evaporate again and the rice will become easier to fry. <S> If you use much less water than actually needed to cook the rice, you'll rather end with dry undercooked rice than just with dry rice. <A> Actually there is another way to make fried rice from freshly cooked rice. <S> I would agree that a slightly drier rice makes for better fried rice, also long grain rice is the traditional rice of choice. <S> But if you don't have time, or have short grain rice, here is a way to make fried rice. <S> It can sometimes be called "golden fried rice", as the rice looks more yellow than brown when done correctly. <S> What the eggs do is to coat the cooked rice grains, which prevents them from turning too mushy or sticking to each other when the starch starts getting hot. <S> By coating the rice with the egg you prevent the sticking and also drying out too much when cooking. <S> Use just enough beaten egg to coat your rice, but not too so much that it's too wet. <S> You can save the rest of the beaten egg for the fried rice. <S> So you will still need a good well seasoned wok/pan and some pretty high heat, to make a proper fried rice. <S> Also some arm strength to toss that rice to cook it evenly. <S> Once the rice has cooked a bit you can start adding whatever you want to the pan to make it your recipe. <S> I like a simple dish of sliced chinese sausage, tons of green onion, more of the beaten egg, some salt, white pepper, touch of sugar and just a splash of soy sauce and/or some oyster sauce to add just a bit of richness. <S> If done right the fried rice will be soft, moist and delicious I hope. <A> for the quick way lay out the rice in a thin layer on the counter with a baking sheet or some other material. <S> let it sit for about 30 minutes. <S> then portion the rice and freeze in a zip-lock for a few hours. <S> Personally when i want to make fried rice in particular i will cook it with a 1:1 ratio with water. <S> you would believe it under cooked, but in my personal experience it wasn't as uncooked as you think the lack of water actually made the rice dry much quicker <S> and i still got the same result once finishing the rice with the rest of the ingredients on its second run in with the stove. <S> I worked under a Thai chef and have cook hundreds of pounds of fried rice when i was younger, (Disclaimer he was thai) and he knew a lot of secrets to properly preparing many of his dishes <S> , sadly he was not one to share, but i do recall he with cook the rice at 1:1 and not use it until the next day. <S> ALSO make sure you clean the rice very very well, until the clouded water is clear, <S> a trick i was taught was to place your hands together with the rice in between and shuffle your hands like you would in front of a camp fire. <S> the will take away any under cooking problems and you'll have the cleanest most white rice ever.
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I am sometimes asked to make some fried rice in a jiffy and by simply beating up some eggs and mixing it with the freshly cooked rice, you can make really good fried rice.
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Are Pull N Pak plastic bags appropriate for storing raw or cooked meat in freezer snd vegetables in fridge? Pull-n-Pak plastic bags are freely available in supermarkets at produce and meat sections. When I buy a package of 12 drumsticks or a jar of chicken livers, I plan weeks to eat them. So I use the Pull-n-Pak bags to separate them, either raw or cooked, into portions per meal. Since the bags are plastic, are they appropriate for storing raw or cooked meat in the freezer? Is it better to use glass food containers such as Pyrex, rather than Pull-N-Pak plastic bags? Are they appropriate for storing raw vegetables in fridge? Thanks. <Q> I'm not sure if you mean each portion is in a separate bag and <S> then you're placing the entire contents of what you bagged into a heavier plastic bag designed for freezing. <S> If that's what you mean, it's fine <S> but I'd pick up extra unused plastic pull n pak bags so you wouldn't need to worry about cross contamination with used bags. <S> It's what I often do when separating raw meat. <S> It makes it more sanitary for me as I turn the bag inside out, then put it over my hand like a mitten. <S> I grab the meat with my hand in the bag and turn it so the meat's contained in the bag without me having to handle it. <S> On the other hand, if you're storing the meat in those bags only, I don't suggest it. <S> Other than cross contamination like Alan mentioned, those plastic bags were never meant as a thick enough barrier between food and freezer air and contents. <S> It's easy to get a tiny tear or puncture in the bag and get freezer burn on the meat or the odor of the raw meat to mix with freezer air. <S> You might not notice it at first but over time, your freezer could get a funky smell affecting other food in it. <S> My aged mother was always freezing meat in these bags and never noticed how off her freezer smelled. <S> She didn't understand why parts of the thawed out meat looked dry, had freezer burn or developed ice crystals in it. <S> I don't say yours would get that bad but don't rely on those bags only. <S> I prefer to wash and dry most of my vegetables when I bring them home. <S> I wrap a paper towel or two loosely around them and put them in the fridge then. <A> When i buy a package of 12 drumsticks or a jar of chicken livers, I plan weeks to eat them. <S> Don't use Pull-N-Pak bags for freezing of meat. <S> In a pinch, you could freeze something for a week. <S> Any longer than a week <S> and you should use purpose made freezer storage bags from the supermarket. <S> Is it better to use glass food containers such as Pyrex Pyrex is better than pull-n-pak, but not as good a freezer bags. <S> Why not as good? <S> With any hard container, you can have an airspace which will facilitate freezer burn. <S> A well packed freezer storage bag would have minimal airspace, minimal freezer burn. <S> Are pull-n-pak bags appropriate for storing raw vegetables in fridge? <S> Yes, for short term storage (under 1 week in my book). <S> Overall: <S> the problem with pull-n-pak bags is that they are highly permeable for gas, vapors and moisture as compared to freezer bags. <S> Also, the thinness of a pull-n-pak bag makes it susceptible to tearing in the freezer. <S> Freezer burn can occur. <S> Flavors and odors could also transfer among frozen items. <S> Alternative: <S> Bags made for packaging ice . <S> They'll be almost as good as freezer storage bags, but less expensive. <S> Ice bags are also available on Amazon. <A> it depends on how sensitive you are to cross contamination in your freezer. <S> In theory there is nothing wrong with using plastic bags to freeze stuff, as all bacteria is frozen within a few hours of entering the freezer. <S> Also always store raw and cooked meat on different shelves( With cooked above Raw ), or even better in separate freezers. <S> Again this all depends on your tolerance to bacteria. <S> However if you are in a professional kitchen where your are bound to legal standards I don't think plastic bags will be sufficient. <S> With regards to storing veggies I see no problems. <S> Hope this is of some help!!
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Nothing wrong with using them to store vegetables in your fridge though. However, plastic( In bags, jars, whatever ) is never actually 100% air/water tight, meaning that bacteria can actually makes its way out of the sealed bag/jar.
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Name of the snack (possibly Indian) I wanted to ask if anyone have any idea what is the name of that snack that can be seen on top of a salad, between burgers. I know the name in my country, but now, in Canada I can't find it anywhere. Appreciate any help! Tom <Q> This is funny because: In English they are called " fried snacks" :) <S> But it's a polish thing, they are called "przysmak świętokrzyski" or "crates". <S> It's basically wheat flour (97,5%) and water. <S> Then fried. <S> I think there is only one company that make them https://www.wspspolem.com.pl/produkty/snack-przysmak-swietokrzyski/snack-kratka/ and <S> although they write there are other shapes I have never ever seen anything beside crates. <S> BUTI have eaten something similar in England <S> but they were sweet, it's called Jalebi. <A> I don't believe they have a name in English. <S> A known brand name of a snack made from the same material is Pom Bears, but just like the grid thingies, it is very strongly associated with the shape, to the point where a snack with the same content but different shape will be considered to be a different "thing". <A> It looks like "Vada Pav". <S> Vada Pav <S> It's a typical Indian street dish consisting of spiced potato, deep-fried and served in a bun. <S> Various sauces and toppings are common. <S> Link to Wikipedia article
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You can try calling them "crisps" but even in the UK, asking for crisps is likely to get you the non-puffy version, not any shape of the puffy one.
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How can I obtain perfectly peeled boiled eggs? Let me put some context to this question. Sometime ago I checked into this hotel (it no longer exists). It used to be some mansion, and a chain converted it to a routine hotel. Lousy sound insulation, but I'm digressing. The breakfast was included, and said breakfast consisted, among other things, of a huge bowl filled with boiled and peeled eggs. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but looking back at it now, I marvel that anyone can boil and peel a huge number of eggs and get everyone of them this perfectly peeled. My own talent, which includes pouring a generous amount of salt in the boiling water and plunging the eggs into cold water promptly 3-5 minutes after boiling, produces the rather unapetizing result you see below. This answer seems to suggest that freshness is incompatible with ease of peeling. I hope that hotel, and workers, didn't merely rely on archeologic eggs to obtain this perfect peeling. I don't recall an unusual taste. How can I obtain nicely peeled boiled eggs, every time? To make the question a wee-bit harder, I'm often aiming for a soft core , removing from the heat about 2-3 minutes after the start of boiling. <Q> Very slightly crack the egg with a spoon, stack with crack up, add salt, bring to boil slowly, and cool with cold water and ice. <S> Roll in your hand to crack the shell and keep rolling until the shell comes off. <S> Or kind of compress from side to top. <S> I worked as cook - I could just squeeze and open. <A> The possible reason for making the egg as in the picture, is that the eggshell membrane is still with the egg white . <S> Eggshell membrane is a translucent sheet between the eggwhite and the eggshell. <S> Add some salt to the boiling water. <S> (When? <S> Does it matter?) <S> It is because salt and acids (like vinegar) can also denature proteins in the same way heat does. <S> Adding these substances speeds up the process by which the egg whites solidify. <S> Reference from here . <S> Promptly remove from the stove and pour cold water. <S> Eggshell membrane is primarily composed of fibrous proteins such as collagen type I, also some glycosaminoglycans,and sulfated glycoproteins. <S> Whereas egg white consists primarily of about 90% water into which is dissolved about 10% proteins (including albumins, mucoproteins, and globulins). <S> When you boil the egg, the heat coming from your stove denatures the protein by disrupting some of its bonds that held the molecule into shape. <S> In the case of hard-boiled eggs, the proteins clump together and solidify. <S> A more complete explanation could be found here . <S> So, when you promptly remove from the stove and pour cold water, it quenches the boiling process, and the structural changes inside the eggwhite/yolk and the eggshell membrane. <S> As well as shrinking the eggwhite (remember eggwhite contains more water, and has capacity to shrink), while the eggshell membrane contains less water and more fibrous protein. <S> The difference in shrink will let the eggwhite be able to separate from the eggshell membrane. <S> For the japanese soft boiled eggs: I think this video is good: <S> Place the boiled egg for around 5 minutes to ensure eggwhite are completely separated from the eggshell membrane <S> There is also a method here suggest for easier peeling (page 10): <S> As soon as eggs are cooked, place them in ice water for at least 1 minute. <S> Then return eggs, one at a time, to the boiling water for exactly 10 seconds. <S> The cold water shrinks the egg body away from the shell and the hot water causes the shell to expand away from the egg. <A> After your done boiling your eggs crack them gently all over and put them back in some ice water. <S> This will let the water get under the shells and make it easier to peel. <S> Another method is to put an egg into a clean empty jar and shake the jar until the shell come off. <S> A third method is to roll them on the counter gently as in this video near the end - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOoDEZd4a4A
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It's best to use older eggs, fresher ones will be harder to peel.
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"Universal" aka "Bristle" Knife Blocks: Blade Damage and Hygiene Does anyone have any experiences of /advice about "universal" knife blocks, i.e. blocks that hold the knives in place with a dense bunch of plastic bristles instead of the usual slots in the wood. I've recently got some decent knives, some that I've bought, some received as presents and I'm about to add a ceramic honing steel too. The problem is that they are all different makes and (I presume?) a ceramic steel isn't magnetic so a strip is out.(Besides, I hear ceramic steels are easy to damage so a block would provide more protection). The solution would appear to be a "universal" knife block that could accommodate all brands, but I'd like to know: 1) Do the bristles damage or wear the knives as you draw/replace them? 2) Are there hygiene issues storing the knives like this? 3) Are these blocks ok for storing honing rods or just knives? Any info would be much appreciated, thank you. <Q> Also, an overfull plastic straw block can bend the edge out of hone because of uneven pressure applied to its sides. <S> ADDITION: <S> Example experiment I did <S> : Take Takamura HSPS (not the pro version), sharpened to the same angle these come with from the maker (around 18 degrees inclusive(!!). <S> Very delicate knife but usable on a cutting board with care.), arm hair sharp. <S> Stuff it in a bristle knife block a few times. <S> No longer arm hair sharp. <A> The only hygiene issue would be if you put away dirty knives, which would be an issue in any knife block, or otherwise contaminate them. <S> It's not like the slots in traditional wooden knife blocks can be washed. <S> Because you'll take the knife out, use it, wash and dry it then put it away any wear should be negligible. <S> The bristles are made of plastic with a similar hardness to chopping boards. <S> Whether you sharpen your knives frequently or are lazy you won't notice the difference. <S> The ones I've seen wouldn't have room for honing steels - there isn't enough room between the bristles. <A> Second answer, because I'm dealing with a separate aspect of the question here. <S> One good way to upgrade these universal blocks is to use balsa wood (available in stores that sell scale modeling supplies) boards to make inserts as needed. <S> In the simplest case, use alternating boards and spacers to get a number of slots. <S> Discard the bristle insert. <S> Balsa is an extremely light wood that can be cut to size with a ruler and boxcutter and glued with superglue (if paranoid about contaminants, there are NSF certified brands of superglue). <S> If making more complex inserts, be aware that balsa stability is VERY dependent on whether you are going against or with the grain - if you need stability, make a simple plywood by glueing two thin boards together with their grain at an angle to each other.
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Yes, very sharp/thin edged blades (think of something like a yanagiba or laser gyuto) will take damage because they will bite lengthwise into the plastic straws and get dulled and/or deformed/chipped.
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How to make century eggs? I have discovered century eggs while living in Thailand, and instantly fell in love with these treats. Unfortunately, I haven't lived in Thailand for a few years now, and I desperately miss century eggs. It's impossible to purchase them anywhere within 1000 km radius, so I guess the only option is to make them myself. So, I need an advice, how can I recreate this mesmerizing gift of Asian cuisine? What have I tried so far — I have followed this recipe on Instructables , which in short was: Made brine by combining 42g NaOH + 72g NaCL + 1L water, boiled, dissolved and let it cool down. I have used pipe drain cleaner (100% NaOH). Carefully put four chicken eggs in a glass jar, poured brine until eggs became fully submerged. Put a small glass weight on top to prevent eggs from floating. Kept them in brine for 10 days at approx 18°C. Removed eggs from brine. Found two eggs to crack, with only disfigured yolk remaining inside. Thoroughly washed two remaining intact eggs with tap water, then dried them up completely with paper towels. Tightly wrapped eggs in few layers of clear thin plastic wrap, then covered them in modeling clay shell. Kept them for 20 days this way. After time was up, I opened them, to find out to my own disappointment that my experiment had failed. The eggs were filled with a foul-smelling opalescent runny fluid about the density and viscosity of water, and the eggs themselves had shrunk away to the size of the yolk. The egg whites had stayed white, dense and opaque, and only a thin layer of it was left around the yolk. The yolks themselves were still yellow with a slight blue tint, and had overall texture of hard-boiled yolk. Obviously, this was not the result I wanted, so I threw them away without tasting :( Since then I have done a few more attempts, still with no luck. I have even discovered scientific papers on this matter, e.g. "Effects of alkaline concentration, temperature, and additives on the strength of alkaline-induced egg white gel.", Zhao Yan et al, doi: 10.3382/ps.2013-03596 , however I was somewhat hesitant about experimenting on myself, as the paper gave no conclusions whether the provided metal salt concentrations are safe for human health with prolonged consumption. So, can anyone point out any mistakes I've made during my attempts, or provide me with the right technique to make Century Eggs that I can follow? It is surprisingly difficult to find English recipes for these on the Internet. <Q> What I think you have made is brined or salted eggs which are very different from the blackened "century" eggs. <S> Salt preserved eggs do need cooking, at least the egg white will need heat to solidify. <S> The blackened century eggs do not require cooking, because it is already cooked, or the proteins fully denatured. <S> It takes alkalines and salt to achieve that. <S> The high pH usually comes from a combination of lime (calcium oxide) and calcium hydroxide. <S> The process is very different. <S> Strangely, you get the opposite of brining when it comes to textures - solid "white" and runny yolk vs runny white and somewhat hardened yolk. <A> Finally - I have managed to find a reference which states that, "A less alkaline environment is needed to coagulate duck eggs than to coagulate hen eggs, which is believed to be associated with the egg white protein composition". <S> Since I believe the original recipe (72g salt, 42g lye)is specifically for duck eggs, it would explain why you are experiencing difficulties, and why my result is not quite what I expected to see if the brine for "chicken" eggs needs to be more alkaline. <S> For my next few attempts/experiments I am going to incrementally increase the lye. <S> Improving the Safety and Quality of Eggs and Egg Products: <S> Volume 1: Egg chemistry, production and consumption <S> Ed. <S> Y. Nys, M. Bain, F.v. <S> Immserseel Section <S> 21.5.2 Pidan <A> Can't really comment on where you went wrong, but I have just (about an hour ago) opened a couple from my first attempted batch ( <S> started 01/07, washed & wrapped in clingfilm 11/07, first opened 29/07) with the following results;1. <S> Whites were jellified, but not as dark as expected.2. <S> Bit of the yolk had started turning a dark colour3. <S> Remaining yolk starting to solidify, buy still pale/yellowish.4. <S> No horrible odour, as such. <S> So it appears that my results seem to be a sort of half ways house towards what I expect a "pidan" to be. <S> I will open up others at intervals of a few days, just to see what effect a longer maturation period has on the end result. <S> I made the brine simply by slowly adding the lye/salt into boiling (taken off heat) water and stirring. <S> I didn't further boil the mixture, as the lye is supposed to heat up the solution as it is added anyway. <S> Just keep trying I suppose. <S> Edit: <S> 19/08/17A longer maturation period did not appear to affect the appearance of the "pidan" with the gelled whites still being an extremely pale amber. <S> Whilst not being what I expect to see from a commercial pidan, the resultant egg was perfectly edible. <S> I am inclined to suspect/conclude that it is the addition of wood ash in the traditional recipes (tea leaves in some other articles I have read) that provides additional colour to the end product resulting in the traditional dark/black colour that we have come to expect from a commercial pidan. <A> I think you may need to wash your eggs first. <S> The Instructables link is probably US-centric. <S> American eggs are generally scrubbed, removing the cuticle, or bloom (which is why they have to be refrigerated , unlike most of the rest of the world). <S> If you're not in the US, your eggs may still have that cuticle, which could prevent the brine from penetrating. <S> That would explain why your eggs rotted rather than becoming preserved. <S> Properly cleaning eggs can be slightly tricky: you're trying to avoid transmitting bacteria and dirt through the shell. <S> You need to use warm water (to avoid pushing in bacteria) and, ideally, a disinfectant solution. <S> To quote the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association , "washing is a complete pain when done by hand". <S> They recommend a loofah, or even sandpaper. <S> Since you're only doing a few, it shouldn't be too awful. <A> You should not wash the egg after taking them out of the brine. <S> We need the lye+salt to remain on the egg shell to congeal them.
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If you extract an egg yolk and cure that with salt and sugar (no added water), you can use it almost like cheese, the texture would allow you to grate it over pasta without cooking for example.
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Are there safety concerns with cooking something with beer or wine in the oven? Probably a silly question, and I have never heard of an incident, but then again that does not rule out a safety issue. Basically, if I want to put a covered pot in the oven with beer or wine (or some other alcohol), is there a safety concern, or a pre-oven step that must be done? The reasoning is that if the alcohol cooks off as a gas, could it be trapped in the oven, and heat up until it explodes or starts a fire? For now, I usually add the beer or wine to the pot on the stove, and let it heat up uncovered for a few minutes before the oven. <Q> This is a little speculative but too much of an answer for a comment. <S> We've had a few discussions here about the relative rates of boiling off water and alcohol. <S> The result is that the alcohol vapour (starting from even pure beer/wine) will be mixed with quite a lot of water vapour so will be dilute even before it mixes with air. <S> Apparently you need between 3.3% and 19% alcohol in air for it to be flammable. <S> A source of ignition is also required (e.g. the flame in a gas oven). <S> Gas ovens have to be fairly well ventilated for there to be enough oxygen to support a flame. <S> So much of the alcohol would escape. <S> Any that does reach the flame is likely to be consumed there unnoticed before much can build up. <S> An electric element (not the air in the oven) does get hot enough to ignite alcohol. <S> It can ignite spitting fat and that doesn't cause a problem except a smoky kitchen. <S> If you've boiled off enough to replace 3.3% of the air with alcohol you've also replaced quite a bit with water vapour too. <S> An oven would have to be very well sealed to allow this buildup in the first place. <S> I have seen an old oven door fail when grilling. <S> In that case the (forgotten) food itself ignited and was spitting flames at the glass, which burst. <S> It didn't cause a fire outside the oven. <S> I haven't considered the case of strong spirits. <S> There's probably a way to arrange pure/flambé alcohol to ignite in an interesting way. <A> I have never heard of any issues either, but let's do some math together: <S> Assuming you used a large bottle of wine, e.g. one liter of red wine for a bœuf bourguignon. <S> And you picked a wine with 13.5 percent (by volume) alcohol, which is a rather high percentage. <S> Then you end up with 13.5 ml of pure alcohol (or 10.6 g). <S> That's a scant tablespoon. <S> Now while one can produce a neat flash using a comparable amount of alcohol for a flambé dish (e.g. using two tablespoons of rum), you will have problems to get the concentration of alcohol in your dish to create a similar effect. <S> The following points are preventing it: <S> The alcohol in a dish won't boil off or evaporate completely (as discussed here before) and during the process it will be diluted by water, which does not need to boil to turn into gas. <S> So you will have only part of the alcohol available to potentially catch fire and that part will be very diluted. <S> Only if the alcohol is concentrated enough will it be able to catch fire at all - that's why you need high-proof types for flambé. <S> The alcohol is much more volatile than the water/steam, so you won't be able to create a scenario where the water boils off or escapes the oven and the alcohol remains. <S> You can safely assume that the alcohol "goes first ". <S> Conclusion <S> I probably wouldn't use a bottle of whisky to deglaze the roasting pan, though. <A> There is a bit of a misconception that you can get vapor ignition only with high proof spirits. <S> This is very different from reality because ethanol-water is a non-ideal mixture and vapor concentrations look nothing like liquid concentrations with rare exceptions. <S> In fact, with high proof, the initial vapor is likely too rich to support combustion and ignition is typically delayed until there is enough diffusion. <S> It is true that with small quantities of low proof, you will not have enough alcohol to sustain a flame for very long and there would not be much energy released. <S> If you make mulled wine and put a lit candle close to the pan, you can experience this. <S> This is quite helpful: non-ideal mixtures
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: Unless you decide to pour high-proof alcohol straight into your oven, there is no risk of a fire or explosion.
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Is there any advantage to combining spices before applying them to meat? Up to this point when preparing steaks, ribs, or any sort of "meat" I would apply my spices in sequence: first adding salts, followed by a pepper-based powders, and lastly some sugars (if applicable). I often see cooks combine these spices into a bowl to make a rub . Is there any advantage to doing the latter? <Q> Otherwise, you must individually apply a small amount (for example, 1/4 tsp) of several spices evenly. <S> With a rub, you make the spice mixture with the desired proportions, and there is a larger aggregate amount to spread. <A> An additional factor is prep time. <S> You can make a large batch of spice mix quickly, spooning tablespoons rather than quarter teaspoons <S> and then it's made ready for many portions. <S> Dry mixes keep as well as unmixed spices <S> so you really can make big batches even if you don't get through it very fast. <A> Another advantage: it helps prevent contamination of the larger containers of spices. <S> You don't want to get raw meat in to your larger containers of spices, or coat your pepper grinder with it, etc. <S> This is especially important in professional kitchens where you might be required to discard the big container if it happens (and even if its safe, do you want raw meat juice splashed in your salt or sugar?). <S> You can of course (if you're careful) use one hand picking up measuring spoons, scooping, pouring and the other for any handling of the meat, but it's easier (and far less error prone) to just measure out the amount you need first. <S> And at least my pepper grinder requires two hands. <S> Same with many spice grinders and most (all?) <S> mortar and pestle sets. <S> So, you could measure each spice into different small bowls or ramekins. <S> Sometimes you do—like if you're going to put salt and pepper on something by sight, not by careful measuring. <S> Or if they're being added at different times in the prep. <S> Otherwise, it's easier to use one bowl. <S> Fewer dishes to wash! <S> And that means you've made a spice mixture.
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If you premix to make a rub, it's easier to apply spices evenly.
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What to put underneath a polycarbonate sous vide bath container? I am using a polycarbonate gastro container for sous vide cooking. The water is relatively hot and I prolonged heat can damage the counter on which it is sitting. What would be a good and cheap pad to put underneath my sous vide container to protect the counter? I am looking for something cheap and easily obtained, ideally also non-slippery. <Q> A trivet is what you want. <S> Any store with cookery goods will probably have some. <S> They run from about five to well over thirty dollars depending on quality, effectiveness, fanciness, and decorative appeal. <S> I prefer the solid ones with feet for really hot pots or continuous heating. <S> I often successfully use one or more folded tea or bath towels or even a wooden plank (6" x 6", e.g.). <A> There are some people that use an old newspaper for that, cheap and easy! <A> They provide insulation for the water bath as well. <S> If you use a large bath/beach towel, you can fold it once or twice and actually use it to cover the walls and even the top of the container to cut heat loss as well as water evaporation (assuming your container has no cover). <S> You can always put a trivet under the towel to prevent sliding). <A> I use a large ceramic (stoneware) plate under my rice cooker or slow cooker. <S> So far, so good.
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I find that towels are the best especially when folded.
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Is it safe to warm bread in the oven with plastic wrap? I bought a loaf of Italian bread that came with plastic wrapping. Not sure if it was made intentional for toasting in the oven. Should I just get rid of plastic and put bread in the oven (I ran out of foil)? <Q> Unless the plastic specifically states that it's ovenproof, do not heat it in the oven. <S> Placing the loaf in a paper bag will reduce this (crusting) effect. <S> The paper bag can be dampened to reduce the effect even further. <A> I put bread right on the oven racks all the time. <S> If you have something on the bread that might drip, plop it on an oven-safe pan. <A> For toasting bread, any plastics (except special plastics like roasting foil) or wax papers (except baking paper and related items) are out. <S> For warming, short answer: <S> No. <S> Long answer: <S> Do not heat plastic items over the temperature they are labelled as safe at - if they are not labelled, assume they will not take more than 70 degrees celsius (compare the chart on https://www.grainger.com/content/qt-types-of-plastics-213 - summary: <S> this is a chart of common plastics; the stated maximum use temperatures of plastics which are marked as food and beverage suitable is 70 or above). <S> Mind that ovens can be inaccurate and that radiated heat transfer from the elements can heat something in an oven slightly above the oven temperature, so an oven could heat the contents well above 70 degrees when dialled to 70 degrees. <S> Mind that warming anything at a temperature below 65 <S> degrees creates a food safety hazard with perishable food. <A> When I was young, my mother would wrap the bread in wax paper and warm it on low in the oven. <S> You could probably loosely set some tin foil over the top of the bread to keep the moisture in it.
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I wouldn't put any sort of plastic in the oven. You can just heat the unwrapped loaf in the oven (I usually do), but it will make the crust crustier.
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How to bake frozen breaded cod without breading sticking to alumnium foil? Context: I'm a poor and lazy college student. I have breaded frozen pieces of cod from costco. I like to bake them in my toaster-oven on aluminum foil to avoid having to clean the baking dish/tray. This brand (janes) is the only kind they have at costco and the problem is the center of the breading sort of sticks to the alumnium foil. How can I avoid this? I've thought about applying a small quantity oil , but rather put the effort and money immediately into trying that, I'd like to consult the experts. <Q> One possible work around is to put a couple of chopsticks between the foil and the fish so that there is no direct contact with the foil, a cheap rack. <S> Or you can roll up some extra foil into little rods to achieve the same. <S> Protein-laden water seeps out of the fish and makes a glue between the fish and the foil. <S> By raising the fish, you get some air currents and the glue is kept away from the fish. <S> Cooking from frozen exacerbates this because initially all the heat goes into the frozen water to melt it without raising the temperature of the fish above freezing point. <S> There is little evaporation going on at such low temperature. <A> Parchment paper is much less prone to food sticking to it. <S> I use it for lots of sticky or fragile food, such as fish or sticky chicken wings. <S> If you usually have your fish entirely covered in aluminum, you can do the same with parchment paper, this is called a papillote. <S> Example <A> But if you want to make it even easier, get some non-stick aluminum foil. <S> No promotion intended, but a widely available brand is Reynolds Wrap Release. <A> You could use a silicone baking pan liner . <S> I would preheat it in the oven <S> and then just place the fish on it. <S> No oil needed, the bottom may still not get as crispy as the the top. <S> ( crispy is the point of breading on fish ) <S> Possibly turn the fish about 3/4 of the way thru the bake time. <S> Perhaps a nonstick baking rack or frying it in a nonstick pan with out oil?use healthier oils? <S> Or come the dark side and wrap it in bacon and deep fry that sucker. <S> mmmmm <A> Look for jars of cheap canola spray. <S> Doesn't take much to keep it from sticking.
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You can put a small amount of oil on the foil and that should solve your problem.
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How do you clean cheesecloth? Do you only rinse it with water and accept stains? Boil it? Soak it in bleach? Put it in the washing machine? Put it in the dishwasher? Are they disposable? <Q> For real cheesecloth, I throw it in the washing machine, with my clothes. <S> It doesn't get sterile, but it gets clean enough that I don't worry about it becoming rancid. <S> Rinsing it alone wouldn't suffice if you've been using it to strain fatty foods, like yogurt or cheese. <S> For the cheap "cheesecloth" that sold in the cleaning sections of grocery stores, that would shred to threads if you tried to clean it. <S> It's cheap and disposable, so just throw it out. <A> Before the washing machine I put mine through the dishwasher, weighted or clipped to keep it out of the way of the spray arms and to spread it out. <S> This gets the worst of the cheese (or tofu or whatever) off before the washing machine finishes the job, and after that sort of cooking I always have to run the dishwasher, while a suitable load of washing might have to wait. <S> I often give it a rinse in boiling water before use (with the aid of a wooden spoon) though not for jam or other things in about to boil. <A> To sterilise and degrease it, you can put it in a bowl of hot water with baking soda, and then steam it in a pan for half an hour, or better still, use a pressure cooker.
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Microwaving it works too but can be a bit messy - I do that to my dish sponges and small kitchen towels
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Why fry rice before boiling? Ordinarily when I make fried rice, the general process is: Boil the rice until done. Fry the cooked rice in oil. However, I recently made a different rice recipe which flipped the order: Lightly fry the dry rice in a pan. Then boil the rice until done. This struck me as being really strange. Why would I lightly fry the rice before cooking it? I usually associate frying rice with textural change, but after boiling it the texture wasn't notably different than if I hadn't fried it at all. In both cases I was using a medium-grain white rice. <Q> This is sometimes called "pilaf style", though technically actual pilafs do not require the sauteeing step. <S> It is, however, very common in pilaf and related dishes. <S> The main function of this is to change the composition of the starch on the surface of the rice. <S> This reduces the starches that cross-link and make rice sticky. <S> It helps your rice to cook up into separate grains. <S> While you're at it, it also adds some flavor to the rice, by caramelizing some of the starches. <S> Plus, it adds oil, which can carry flavors of its own and help distribute fat-soluble flavors in the other ingredients. <S> The effect is very different from "fried rice", where the starches have already been cooked and gelatinized before frying. <S> The goals are somewhat the same, adding browned flavors and distributing fat-soluble ingredients, but the chemical changes to the surface of the rice itself will be different. <A> When the rice is dry its easier to get it toasted before you boil it because it has less moisture content. <S> Packaged rice, like Rice-a-Roni have you do this method to get that toasted flavor of the rice. <A> When you toast rice first, not only are you heating your entire pan but the rice thoroughly. <S> You are able to add your liquid and immediately begin simmering and steaming the rice. <A> My solution for ceramic flat top stove - the burner takes time to cool down after being turned off: Frying before boiling adds flavour, but it seems to seal in the rice so it doesn't expand as much, and so releases less starch when boiling. <S> Usually <S> I fry first, then add the water (usually 1 part rice two parts water unless otherwise instructed) and allow it to boil - the frying before means when the rice boils it won't rise and overflow the pot. <S> After it has boiled a bit, I turn it OFF, wait for it to simmer down, then cover with an absorbent cloth and put the tight fitting lid over the cloth - the cloth absorbs the moisture and creates a very tight lid <S> so no steam can escape. <S> Then I just leave it while I do other things (making salad or something or writing this note) - and then go back to it <S> and it's ready. <S> Caution - don't let the cloth trail over the stove it will catch fire, if necessary bind it over the lid - the four corners - with an elastic, or failing that just TAKE IT OFF THE BURNER TO A COOL PART OF THE STOVE - because it will continue to cook in it's own heat, with the steam trapped inside - just give it a little bit more time since you've moved it off the burner. <S> OK, I think it's ready <S> , I'll go eat now. <S> Bon appetite.
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In addition to the other answers, toasting the rice first can reduce the cooking time considerably.
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To knead or not to knead, that is the question I recently saw a recipe for no-knead bread. The process was the same except that instead of kneading, you just let the bread sit for 12 hours. The bread maker claimed that no-knead bread tastes better than kneaded bread. Is kneading just a time saver and we would be better off letting it rise naturally over a long period of time, or is kneading better? <Q> In order for dough to bake into nice bread, you must develop a gluten structure that can trap the gas the yeast release as they feed on the flour. <S> You can do this in several ways: <S> Mechanical action (kneading) <S> Natural fermentation through yeast <S> There risks to overdoing it in both cases. <S> If you overknead, see Are there any negative effects to kneading bread dough longer? <S> If you overferment (overproof) the dough, the yeast will break down the gluten structure completely and you will have a saggy/gloopy mess that can't contain the escaping gas. <S> See this post . <S> Many doughs can't develop a good gluten structure without at least some mechanical action, so we typically use a combination. <S> Allowing a natural fermentation (particularly with wild yeast or starter) allows for a more flavorful, easier to digest bread as well. <A> No-knead bread works and can be very flavourful. <S> Instead of relying on kneading to work the gluten, you rely on self-organising by increasing the hydration ratio to around 65-70%, you have a very gloopy dough. <S> It takes time. <S> So, there is a real risk of over-fermenting unless you let it rise at unusually low temperature. <S> I have tried leaving a covered dough outdoors overnight (<10C) which worked well, and also in a warm room which ended up not so well (off-flavours and dense bread). <S> This is well worth a read NY Times article <S> update: <S> I forgot to mention low dosage of yeast <S> Main differences: 65-70% hydration ratio, low yeast, <S> ferment in a cool place. <S> There is a bakery in Lincolnshire in northern england that uses 24 hour fermentation <A> You could slow proof a kneaded loaf of bread to achieve the same results. <S> As far as gluten development you can read the answer to this Question. <A> I have found 4 factors that are most important to a good bread - water to flour ratio (hydration) temperature at which you rest it <S> kneading of the bread <S> how long do you rest it <S> The recipe you are talking about says no kneading, it is definitely possible to get good bread without kneading <S> but then the other 3 factors become really important. <S> You have a risk of gloopy dough will might lead to over fermentation and under cooked bread. <S> 12hrs should be a good enough time <S> but you have to make sure you dont use too much water and also make sure the place where you rest the bread is cold enough <S> otherwise you will get dense and funky tasting bread. <S> Hope this helps!Cheers
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The difference in taste would not be attributed to kneading or not kneading, it would be because of the additional time that allows for more flavor development from the flour.
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Common ingredient to thicken the soup Yesterday, I had some cooked rice and poured in coconut milk. The can turned out to be bigger than expected so the contents got a bit too "loose". One way was to cook some more rice, of course. However, I wonder, is there another commonly usable ingredient to thicken up things? I'm thinking - if it's too thick, I'd pour in some water or milk. Possibly oil too. But what if I want to accomplish the opposite? <Q> There are lots of potential thickeners, but you often need to select the one that works best with your given need (temperature, if it has dairy, resulting mouthfeel, etc). <S> In your case, you're already using rice, so you may want to stick with a starch -- corn starch, potato starch, tapioca, etc. <S> For these, you add a bit to cold liquid, mix it well, add it to the soup and heat it up. <S> As it approaches boiling, it'll thicken. <S> You can use flour (wheat, rice, yam, etc.), <S> but in the case of wheat flour and possibly the others, you may have to deal with a raw taste. <S> You fix this by cooking the flour with butter or oil into a roux, and then adding that, and heating it up to a near boil. <S> You can also use pureed vegetables. <S> Cook them in the soup, then put it through a blender so the vegetables add body to the soup. <A> All you need to do is mix corn flour in cold water. <S> Add it into soup and stir it well. <S> And you are done. <A> @Joe has provided an excellent all-purpose answer, but there's one possibility I don't see mentioned: <S> egg. <S> A beaten egg stirred into your rice mixture will bind and help thicken things up. <S> It will also make your dish a bit richer. <A> This is just an opinion. <S> I am not in too keen on using potentially gelatinous materials like corn starch or gums in this specific situation with coconut milk and rice. <S> Unless I had misunderstood your intention, thickening the excess liquid will only completely alter the texture. <S> It is a bit like you having put too much milk into your breakfast cereal, thickening the milk is not going to work "normally", you need more cereal. <S> So, more rice is the real solution. <S> Even if you wanted to improvise and make the liquid thicker, I would want to use rice flour or blend some cooked or uncooked rice with excess coconut milk taken from your pot, and then use it as your "invisible" thickener and cook the whole pot for a short while until you get the desired viscosity. <A> Just drain it - treat the rice like pasta. <S> When it is done cooking, use a fine mesh strainer to drain the excess liquid. <S> I can't find an online source, but I remember (hopefully accurately) reading a James Beard cookbook where he suggested this as a general method for cooking rice.
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If you are looking for the basic and common ingredient to thicken the soup then I would suggest to go with Corn flour.
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How to make ridge structure of crispy chicken In food shop, we see many fold ridges on crispy chicken like this Picture: While googling about the secret, I found most of them advised to put the chicken pieces in a bag after dipping it in the butter, then shake, dip and re shake. But in practical, this shaking process does not create ridges structure [Like in the above picture]. In many youtube videos, although at the beginning of the video, it is showing ridges picture, but after completion of the video, the chicken pieces do not cover with ridges. Some other advised to use corn flakes to make these ridge structure. But corn flakes are expensive. My question is how to make these ridges without corn flakes? Is there any alternative or real video tutorial? <Q> In many places cornflakes are very cheap, I am assuming where you are they are expensive because they are imported. <S> You need to find something that you can afford, perhaps another cereal that is similar to cornflakes would work, it all depends on what you have in the stores. <S> If you can find them Panko breadcrumbs would give you a nice texture, not the same as cornflakes but pretty good. <S> Otherwise I suggest you go shopping and see what you can find. <A> The way I achieve this texture is to place the chicken in a large bowl and pour evaporated milk over it - just enough to wet all of the pieces well. <S> I mix the pieces around with my hands to make sure the chicken is coated well with the milk. <S> Then I pour a generous amount of seasoned self-rising flour over the chicken and mix it around with my hands to ensure that all of the chicken is coated well. <S> (You should end up with a thick, semi-moist coating on the chicken.) <S> At this point, if you want, you can add a little more evaporated milk and mix the chicken around in the flour again. <S> (I don't usually do this as the first steps give me the texture I want, much like what you see in your picture.) <S> (Longer time won't hurt.) <S> If you use any seasoning(s), be sure to season your chicken beforehand. <S> I use the same seasoning(s) in the flour as I use on the chicken. <A> It's not that difficult to make flakes out of starch, if taste is not your major concern, as you are going to season and fry them and not eat with milk. <S> All you need is flour of your choice and water. <S> Take a skillet and fill it evenly with flour, the thickness of cornflakes. <S> Sprinkle water over the flour, till the flour is just soaked with water. <S> Do not create a dough, just let the water soak in. <S> Heat the pan <S> so the water starts to evaporate. <S> Now carefully scramble the mixture like when you do scrambled eggs.
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You aren't going to be able to get the ridged structure without something like cornflakes because it's the flakes themselves that give the breading that texture. Before frying I remove the chicken from the bowl, lay the chicken pieces on a piece of foil or a dish, and let the coating set for ~15 minutes.
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Why flour on bread? My local bakery tends to put flour on the top of what I thought was already baked bread (but which based on the answers apparently is flour added before the baking process). It looks something like this: Is this purely for decoration or is there a good reason for doing this? <Q> In traditional bread making methods loaves are often risen in a proofing basket: <S> The bread takes on the shape of the basket as it proves, and is then turned out onto a baking surface, in other words it is risen upside down. <S> You need a lot of flour on the dough to keep it from sticking to the sides of the basket, especially in the caps between the rattan. <S> Any excess flour will remain on the bread as it's baked. <S> There's no practical reason for having that much flour on the top of a tin loaf like the one you posted in your question as those are risen right side up, there's nothing on the top of the bread to stick to. <S> It's very doubtful, although possible, that the flour is added after baking. <S> If so it is to give it authenticity. <S> If the bread is good quality and you like it just brush the excess flour off before you cut it. <A> That loaf looks like it was generously floured before baking, in which case it's not raw <S> but I can understand if you don't like the taste. <S> You should probably either choose different bread or dust it off all in one go (a pastry brush might help. <S> As to why it's there, we can only guess. <S> Hand-formed loaves are often quite floury. <S> Perhaps mass-produced bread is aiming to give that impression, or maybe it was actually made by hand. <A> As Chris H says, we cannot guess why the bakery decided to use a method which uses that amount of flour. <S> Despite what the accepted answer says, it is entirely possible that the method needed that much flour. <S> For example, when I make Jim Lahey's original no-knead, this amount of flour is needed on all sides so it won't stick to the proof cloth and then to the dutch oven. <S> Granted, once in the Dutch oven, the flour on top is not exactly necessary, but it is way too much hassle to remove it from the hot container, so I leave it there and <S> my bread comes out as the one you posted. <S> Also, my neighbours ask what I burned, since flour dust gets everywhere in the oven and burns, making the whole house smell charred. <S> But of course the bakery can also use a method where this amount of flour is convenient but not necessary, or, as Chris H said, purposefully added to mimic the looks of homemade rustic bread. <S> It is almost certainly added before rather than after baking, but it still has a distinct powdery taste.
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However, when the bread is turned out of the tin it could be onto a floured surface or a very floury hand, the excess flour will tend to stick on.
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Smoker or Sous Vide first? I am going for a smoky and tender beef brisket cooked to ~200 degrees. Sous Vide roughly calls for 5-6 hours of time for the brisket to come to temperature, however, I also want it to sit on the smoker (most recipes seem to call for liquid smoke). My question is, should I put it on the smoker first and THEN Sous Vide it? My assumption is yes since the smoke will have an easier time penetrating the meat. <Q> Smoke first, then sous vide. <S> There are a few reasons as to why you could smoke first: <S> (i) <S> It has been shown that cold food/meat will take on smoke flavor better than warm meat <S> (Source: AmazingRibs ) <S> (ii) <S> Doing sous vide last helps ensure that you have a meat that is at optimum temperature throughout. <S> (iii) <S> You'll smoke early and while the meat is cooked sous vide, you can prepare other dishes for the meal. <S> Could be quite messy if its the other way round! <S> p.s <S> the brisket sounds delicious! <S> Have fun! :) <A> I have to disagree, sous vide first 129F 72 hours. <S> It will be cooked and edible. <S> Next cool down the brisket with cool water in the sous vide tank, remove wrapper, dry off and then prep as you would a raw brisket. <S> Season with preferred rub and then place on the smoker. <S> The bonus here is you do not have to get it to 200 as it is already cooked <S> so you only need to get to 150 or so. <S> Method reference: http://sousvideresources.com/2017/06/18/sous-vide-beef-brisket-flat-sous-b-q-style/ <A> and I agree on avoiding the liquid smoke as much as possible... <S> But I am curious. <S> I assume you are only cooking a flat, and not a full brisket, unless you are planning to do this in a tub. <S> And I also assume you are going more for a slow cooker style brisket, rather than a true BBQ brisket. <S> If not I don't know how you are going to get that delicious bark without the low and slow process. <S> Either way I think you will wind up with some delicious meat.... <S> just to me they are completely different end products. <S> And in my opinion, you can never go wrong sitting for the long haul and waiting... <S> albeit impatiently... for the final product of a true 16 hour full brisket, melt in your mouth, dry rubbed goodness. <S> That said, if it is a time issue, there are some guys I know that will smoke a brisket at 350 degrees for about 3 hours, wrap and return for about another 2 until it gets to an internal temp of 205 <S> then they take it off the smoker, wrap in a towel and let it rest in a cooler for up to 8 hours. <S> It's still nice and toasty when it is served. <S> In my opinion a little mushy, but so delicious!
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If you do sous vide and then smoke, you might risk overcooking the meat since the temperature in your smoker can run higher than your sous vide. Short answer as already stated...definitely smoke first....
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Cooked or raw mushrooms on pizza? Should I precook mushrooms before putting on pizza to prevent soggy pizza? I swear when I've seen pizza shops do it, they put them on raw--albeit from recollection they're more thinly sliced than the supermarket pre-sliced variety. Is that the key? Or do most pizzerias saute their mushrooms in advance to remove the moisture? What if I'm using a lot of mushrooms? <Q> Short answer: It Depends. <S> Long Answer: <S> You are correct that the decision on precooking mushrooms before putting them on pizza is about controlling moisture. <S> For some hefty mushrooms like portabellos, it's also about making sure that they cook fully. <S> Here's what to factor in: <S> What's the density of mushrooms per pizza area? <S> That is, how much space between slices? <S> Are these hefty mushrooms (white, crimini, portabello) or delicate mushrooms (chantrelle, oyster, enoki)? <S> How thickly are they sliced? <S> Are there other "wet" items going on the pizza topping, like a sauce or fresh tomatoes? <S> How thick is the crust? <S> How long will the pizza cook, and how hot? <S> On one end of the scale, if you're making a thin-crust pizza with tomato sauce and covering it completely in thickly sliced portabellos, you pretty much certainly should precook them. <S> However, if you're making a deep dish pizza with only a few thin-sliced white mushrooms on top, then don't bother. <S> Stuff in between is up to your judgement. <S> For pizza restaurants, American Pizza is a medium crust, and they generally don't put that many mushrooms on each slice, so it's fine to put them on raw. <S> Also, if you are precooking the mushrooms, you want to cook them in a way that will remove moisture. <S> That means broiling them in the pizza oven on a baking sheet with parchment ... not sauteeing them. <A> Pizzas are cooked under intense heat, so precooked mushrooms will tend to get overcooked. <S> There's no need to precook them, even if you are adding a lot of them. <S> I would always buy whole mushrooms and slice them myself, pre-sliced ones tend to dry out and they won't taste as fresh. <A> I thickly slice mushrooms and then pan fry to get them coated with oil and to season (salt, pepper, thyme). <S> The oil and thick slicing prevents the mushrooms from getting too dry. <S> I've had thinly sliced raw mushrooms on commercials pizzas and don't like the dry almost chewy texture. <A> I've never had problems with raw mushrooms on pizza turning it soggy. <S> I have always seen them putting raw mushrooms on pizza at the places I go to.
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However, I've been to thin-crust Neopolitian-style pizza places where they did, indeed, partly cook the "wild mushrooms" ahead. The only reason to sauté them would be to add extra flavor.
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Pizza dough didn't rise, maybe yeast cells were killed off I made a pizza dough and I left it to rise until doubled in bulk. However, it didn't rise at all. After reading here I can just guess that I killed the yeast cells: Yeast Is Too Hot. Recipes that call for active dry yeast direct you to dissolve that yeast in warm water. Sometimes the recipe calls for the liquid to be heated with fat and then added to the yeast. Either way, if the liquid is too hot it will kill off yeast cells. Yeast is pretty picky. It doesn’t like it too cold and it doesn’t like it too hot. If this is the case and after waiting more time, it still doesn't rise, is there something I can do with the dough? I wouldn't want to throw it away. Thanks <Q> Very possible your yeast was killed or was dead to begin with. <S> The recipe you linked has no sugar, and sugar usually is used to speed up fermentation. <S> The recipe does call for salt, which tends to inhibit fermentation. <S> The recipe calls for pretty intense mechanical mixing for 2 minutes, which is going to raise the temperature of the dough by the friction generated. <S> A lot of potential things working against you. <S> I've had pizza making disasters and have managed to salvage some dead doughs and at least get something on the table that can be called a pizza; but you aren't going to get great results unless you cut your losses and start over with new ingredients. <S> To prevent waste of that flour, you could salvage it and at least cook it as a flat bread or garlic knots, etc. <S> The way I salvage dead dough is by putting about 10g of yeast in a tablespoon of water with 10g sugar, let it become active to prove you have action happening, then mix into your dead dough, then let rise. <A> Assume you are using bread flour. <S> You could Refrigerate your dough, buy some new yeast. <S> When you could source yeast powder again, add them back to make your pizza. <S> Make no-yeast flatbread. <S> This link is a reciept to make a flatbread without yeast, where you can dip with any dip <S> sauce you like, or curry. <S> Remember to adjust the portions of different ingredients, like here in this link, milk is used. <S> A trick ensure that you are using lukewarm water without killing your yeast (and of cause without a thermometer) is just put a drop of the water onto your inner wrist, and see if the temperature of water is similar/ not too hot for your hand. <A> From https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/yeast_temp.html : 130° F–140° F (55° C–60° C) <S> Yeast cells die (thermal death point). <S> 120 <S> ° F–130° F (49° <S> C–55° C) <S> Water temperature for activating yeast designed to be mixed with the dry ingredients in a recipe. <S> 105° F–115° F (41° C–46° C) <S> Temperature of water for dry yeast reconstituted with water and sugar. <S> 100 <S> ° F (38° C) or lower When yeast is mixed with water at too low a temperature, an amino acid called glutathione leaks from the cell walls, making doughs sticky and hard to handle. <S> 95 <S> ° F (35° C) Temperature for liquids used to dissolve compressed yeasts. <S> 80 <S> ° F–90° F (27° <S> C–32° C) <S> Optimum temperature range for yeast to grow and reproduce at dough fermentation stage. <S> 70 <S> ° F–80° F (21 <S> ° C–27°C) <S> Recommended water temperature for bread machines. <S> 40 <S> ° F (4° C) Recommended refrigerator temperature.
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Used directly from the fridge, yeast is too cold to work properly.
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What can be added to veggie burgers to increase texture? I add chopped onions, garlic, grated carrots, some flour and spices to pre-soaked TVP. Onions add a bit of texture but after baking tvp densifies becoming like soft rubber. I think mushrooms, beans, corn and peas can make it more texturized but I'm not a big fan of all those ingredients. Anything else you can think of? <Q> Instead of adding ingredients as an answer, how about tackling the TVP texture? <S> Try many-hour soaking first off. <S> Drain and let steam in it's own 'juice' in a tight-lid pan (not too big) on low for just a few minutes. <S> Done at your desired chewiness. <S> This has the effect of giving off some of the soaked up liquid that would otherwise wick off during burger frying. <S> Can add in your seasoning while cooling. <S> Binders best added when room temp. <S> Now, for texture and sogginess prevention, my fav vegburger addition is cooked brown rice. <S> A little goes a long way. <S> Also, terrific crunchy chewiness with fine chopped raw broccoli. <S> Raw sunflower seeds add meaty-ness if burgers are fried several minutes. <S> If quicker fried then maybe soak them first. <S> Pumkin seeds too. <A> Variants of tofu skins are great for meat-like textures. <S> If you look up chinese buddist cooking or monastery cuisine, you will find many imitated meat and poultry dishes that are often called "vegan duck roast", "vegan abalone" etc (probably by non-practising consumers). <S> One of the best for this is dried tofu skin sticks (not promoting the seller, just a random search result for a picture). <S> Fried tofu skins pockets and pressed tofu also work pretty well. <S> You will need to cut them into tiny shreds or chop them up coarsely to get the effect. <S> These ingredients have plenty of surface area and are great at taking up seasoning and sauces to mimic meat juices. <A> You could dip in egg wash (or other liquid if vegan), then breadcrumb before frying/baking. <A> Try adding grains like cooked rice, quinoa, bulgur, unripe spelt, oatmeal. <S> With grains that can be used soaked raw, undercooked, or cooked, consider all three as separate options adding different textures. <S> For binders, legume flours (red lentil flour, chickpea flour) tend to do a great job. <S> One special kind of beans is worth trying: Douchi (chinese salted black soybeans) - just rinse and mince. <S> Not too much, these are flavor and texture intensive, a tablespoon to a pound of mixture is a lot!
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Also, a classic ingredient in meatballs (and old-school burgers) works brilliantly in veggie burgers too: breadcrumbs.
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Are there desserts which use whole eggs (not mixing them in)? It is my opinion that all savory dishes can be improved by putting a fried egg on top, and I've yet to find an exception. However, the idea of doing that to a sweet dish seems totally foul. Considering that eggs are ingredients in many desserts, like cake batters, curds, and meringues, why would that be? It's not just that they're not sweetened, because you can use, for example, unsweetened cream cheese in both a sweet pastry or a savory one. Am I wrong in my premise? Are there sweet dishes with eggs that are used without mixing them into the other ingredients? <Q> It's a cake rather than a dessert (always a tricky distinction) and traditionally uses the unbroken yolk rather than the whole egg, at <S> but I offer you the Chinese moon cake . <S> The egg isn't universal; neither is the cake being sweet. <S> You certainly get sweet ones with egg. <S> Apart from being a (rather poor) example, the Mooncake hints at something else: <S> the sweet/savoury-main course /dessert distinction isn't universal. <S> In fact it has European roots but has spread widely. <S> Eggs also have small but non-negligible amounts of salt and glutamate, flavours we associate with savoury foods, especially together. <A> Would seem very out of place there to me. <S> It is a sweet bread with an orange and anise glaze and dyed egg in the center or sometimes more than one. <S> What we consider dessert or main is far more tradition IMO than some written fact. <S> I personally hate boiled eggs, but my grandfather considered them a dessert. <A> Korean gyeran-ppang is a small sweet cake with an entire egg cracked into each before baking. <S> They might be an acquired taste, or maybe take some practice--my friend who studied abroad in South Korea loves them. <S> I made them myself , and they were okay, <S> but... <S> Not my cup of tea in the end. <S> I shouldn't have been too surprised; I dislike runny yolks. <S> One of them came out absolutely perfect: the egg in the center was just barely set into a sort of mildly sweet custard, but the rest... <S> shudders .
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I would contend that I have never seen Italian Easter bread served as anything but a dessert, but I am told by others they have had it as a main course side.
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I get black flecks on my butter when I grease my pan I recently bought a Teflon-coated pan and have been using it without cause for concern, but while greasing it tonight I found the butter stick I used came away with grey flecks / residue. I typically handwash it, but I have also used steel wool in the past to get burnt food out quickly. Have I somehow removed the coating? Is it safe to use this pan? <Q> Never use steel wool on teflon-coated pans!!! <S> You surely have scratched and damaged the teflon and some of it came off the pan. <S> I'd throw it away. <A> In any case, this pan, after being abused with steel wool (which is, as mentioned before, a metal tool), is no longer fully functioning as a nonstick pan. <S> The safety aspect has likely been discussed satisfactorily in The bottom of my black cheap pan has worn off <S> and I can now see the metal below where food would go. <S> Is that pan safe to use anymore? <A> It has been said but it needs to be emphatically stated. <S> If you have used steel wool on your non stick pan you have RUINED it. <S> It may be food bits you are seeing <S> but i would say It is not safe to use <S> and you must not eat anything cooked in it. <A> There are a few inconsistencies here. <S> Exposed aluminium: <S> bare aluminium baking tins and molds are common, and bare aluminium saucepans exist too. <S> What is the difference between those and the aluminium partially exposed in a damaged non-stick pan? <S> PTFE: <S> Manufacturers and chemists warn about toxic products of thermal decomposition (PFIB). <S> If a complete coating of PTFE is safe at normal cooking temperatures, why should loose flakes of PTFE at the same temperatures be unsafe? <S> If loose flakes were to fall into the flames of a gas burner or onto a hotplate or heating coil, I can see problems, but inside the pan and mixed with food? <S> Surely in that scenario, anything unsafe about flakes in the pan/food would also be unsafe for intact coating too.
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The residue could be actual flakes of the nonstick coating, or food residue that stuck (non-nonstuck if you will) to the pan where it was no longer nonstick, or the result of some reaction between food/cleaner and base metal (unprotected aluminium tends to create black residues when in contact with aggressive foods or dishwasher detergents...).
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How long can oil sit for? My brother is having a go at me because I apparently destroyed his Tefal fryer because I left the oil sitting. He said that "the oils been sitting too long, it's messed up the wiring underneath, and it doesn't work". Can the oil stop the wiring from working?? I believe it can't as oil cant seep through metal, can it? <Q> If oil is even in contact with the wires the unit is defective or has been modified, making it impossible for the oil to be the cause of electrical failure of a correctly working, unmodified unit. <S> In addition, most oils are mostly non-reactive, that is why they are used for frying applications and can be used repeatedly. <S> Some exotic oils may be a bit more reactive, but are not used for deep frying. <S> The fryer units are made with the expectation they will have oil in them most of the time. <S> I would respectfully suggest that your bother is mistaken and attempting to cast blame where it does not belong. <S> I say respectfully as the actual words that come to my mind are more harsh. <A> This is very, mightily, unlikely (unless you have been deep-frying sulfuric acid or aqua regia :). <S> I normally filtre and then store oil in my deep fryer; so far without problem. <S> If the oil vessel were leaking, I would expect it to have completely drained and sitting on the bottom of your (his) cupboard as the bottom of deep-dryers is vented. <S> As well, oil has very low conductivity; somewhere between ionized water and damp wood ( Electrical properties of vegetable oils between 20 Hz and 2 MHz ), so is unlikely to short the wiring (although any contaminants may have done so). <S> I suspect either that the appliance just failed or somehow water got into it (did he wash it in the dishwasher?) <A> Cold oil is far more viscous than oil at frying temperature - remember why you usually filter oil for reuse as hot as you can get away with! <S> Unless any seals are built in a way that they take advantage of thermal expansion (unlikely!) <S> to seal tighter at operating temperature, they would fail during operation and not at rest with cold oil. <S> As mentioned already, oil is indeed a very good electrical insulator - actually, high voltage equipment is routinely filled with oil (not edible oil though) for that reason. <S> Still, any appliance design that could fail by letting oil into any wiring where it is not supposed to be would be defective safety-wise: While immersion in oil is a good idea for aome electrical circuitry as mentioned, having oil residue and air around wiring that could get hot is a potential fire hazard. <S> Oil could eventually penetrate plastic (very very slowly), but never metal, glass or non-porous ceramic...
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Letting a unit sit too long may result in spoiled or contaminated oil, but not issues with the unit.
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How do you cook lasagne noodles? Do you throw it all out in a tall pan at once or by batches? In what pan should you cook it? Do you put them on top of each other in the pan? Do you place them horizontally or vertically? With oil in the water or not? How do you drain them in the colander without everything sticking? Should you boil, par-boil, or let them soak in water before layering (concerning run of the mill DeCeco lasagne)? <Q> I mainly use freshly made egg pasta and cook two or three sheets at a time. <S> I build the lasagna as I go. <S> So...Bring water to boil. <S> Add a couple of tablespoons of salt. <S> Do not add oil. <S> Drop in a couple of sheets of pasta. <S> Fresh takes a minute or two. <S> Remove to a towel on counter top with a spider. <S> When cool enough to handle, transfer to lasagna pan and add condiments. <S> Drop a few more sheets of pasta into water and continue layering. <S> Then bake. <S> For dry pasta, use a large pot and add all of the pasta. <S> Salted water... <S> no oil in water. <S> Cook for a couple of minutes below the package recommendation. <S> Drain. <S> You could use a little bit of oil here to keep pasta from sticking together...or refresh in cool water bath. <S> I would blot dry before layering. <S> Build your lasagna. <S> Bake. <A> OR..don't at all. <S> " <S> No boil" is kind of a gimmick, any store bought dry lasagna noodle <S> can be 'no boil' just put them into your dish dry. <S> If you don't already start with a small layer of sauce at the bottom and then add the noodles, sauce, cheese, etc..repeat and bake. <S> During the course of baking the noodles will absorb liquids from the sauce and soften. <S> I prefer this because it leaves the layers with enough structure to stay together better on serving. <S> One caveat, you might want to thin your sauce just a little if it isn't 'thin enough' to begin with. <S> Add some more wine, broth, beer or wine... <S> did I say wine twice? <S> ;) <S> (also see Turning regular noodles into no-boil noodles ) <A> For normal dry store-bought noodles, I recommend assembling the lasagna with the noodles uncooked, but then leave it in the fridge for a few hours, up to overnight. <S> That will soften the noodles enough to give the right result. <S> If you don't have the time to "pre soak", then I suppose boiling them for around 1/2 the recommended time would give the right result. <S> The way to keep them from sticking is to use a large enough pan and stir regularly. <S> Instead of draining in a colander, fish them out and drop them into a bowl of cold water. <S> Oil in the water does nothing. <S> Assembly <S> : Start with a layer of sauce on the bottom, then noodles, then whatever other ingredients, and cycle. <S> End with sauce on top of a noodle layer, and possibly some cheese on top of that if you want. <S> Store bought noodles should be about the same length as the short dimension of the pan, so they fit approximately 3 side-by-side in a typically sized pan. <S> Don't overlap noodles. <A> I place them in the bake pan. <S> In water with spice like garlic in it. <S> Cover place in fridge & let soak till 1/2 to 3/4 soft. <S> This I find adds extra flavor to them. <S> Remove & use pan to bake them in. <A> Simple for me. <S> Doesn't take a trick. <S> I buy mid- to high-grade box lasagne noodles (not the no-bake stuff- bleagh). <S> Your pot and water height does not need to be higher than the length of the noodles. <S> Boil rapidly, add a modicum of salt, add noodles. <S> Reduce heat to a gentle simmer. <S> The noodles will ply eventually, (pretty quickly), submerging. <S> I never follow times on boxes. <S> When the noodles are pliable like a stiff eel, remove carefully (I remove from the standing pot, never use a colander), place on parchment paper sprayed with Pam, take care of everything else while they sit.
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I once boiled the noodles fully (as per the instructions on the box), and while they were nicely al dente at the time, they got too mushy by the end of baking.
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Does the order in which I turn off the gas stove matter? I have a gas stove. This is connected to a big gas canister (I don't know the volume, but I'd guesstimate 20-30 liters). Whenever I want to cook, I turn on the valve on the gas canister, as well as the knob for the corresponding stove plate. When I'm finished, I ususally turn off the stove knob first, followed by the valve on the canister. Would it be safer, waste less gas, or have any other effect to turn off the gas canister first, followed by the stove? Edit : the stove has no safety features - you're free to turn on both the gas valve and the stove knob and let the gas flow. <Q> I had this type of stovetop for many years. <S> The way I usually did was: Turn off the stovetop <S> turn off the canister <S> The next time you turn the canister on, gas won't leak through the burner you left on (because you didn't!). <S> And the amount of gas left in the connecting hose is negligible and should be safe to leave it there until the next use. <A> This leaves gas in the line so it lights easy. <S> Turn on the gas before the stove to light. <S> This saves that 30 seconds it takes for gas to refill the line. <S> We use 20lb bottles here. <S> Our stoves ovens here are more like you would have had in the 50s in America. <S> No safety on them. <S> 3rd world & all. <S> May not apply to your Country. <A> Here, were I am at (Germany) gas stoves have a safety that allows gas to flow only while you hold the knob or while flame is burning. <S> This is monitored by a temperature sensor on the side of the burner. <S> On a stove like that it would not matter what you turn off first. <S> But as a common TV trope is for some murderer to turn of the gas stove and leave <S> I guess that's not the case in the US. <S> But even then turning the stove off should stop the gas flow. <S> I don't have experience with this kind of stove <S> but I'd guess that there, too the order would not matter.
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It is best to turn of the stove first.
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Why is my stock flavorless? I made stock last Sunday, which I intended to use as the base for homemade tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen. Accordingly, I used both chicken and pork (roughly equal amounts of chicken backs and pork hocks). I also added several cloves of garlic, a large leek, celery, carrots, and small knob of ginger. I boiled the meat/bones briefly before straining and starting over with cold water (for clarity of finished stock), added the other ingredients, and brought to a boil. I then reduced to a simmer and skimmed the very small amount of scum from the surface. The stock simmered for about 8 hours before I strained it through a cloth. The resulting stock is perfectly clear, with an excellent, thick mouthfeel and gelled nicely in the refrigerator. However, the stock also has very little flavor-- even copious amounts of salt don't help much. Since my stock is by all other measures a success, I'm puzzled as to why it's so flavorless. Where did I go wrong? <Q> Couple notes or suggestions; Added in fat? <S> Typically for ramen adding in a copious amount of finely chopped pork fat is a must. <S> Usually boil a slab on top of bones for 4 hours and then chop and add. <S> Serve with a side of lipitor. <S> Where is the savory flavour or unami? <S> You need to either cook some veggies/aromatics to get the Maillard reaction or cheat and add some MSG and/or a unami super boost (mushroom, marmite, anchoivies or other). <S> Lots of techniques to get savory flavour; which I think is what you may be missing. <S> soy sauce, or miso are also classic; pending what your end ramen is going to be. <S> Overall the technique is good; just missing the flavoring step; the base broth itself is not going to have a lot of flavour since you are not roasting; along with blanching step. <S> Blanching for a clear broth does remove a significant amount of flavour; but is more classical ramen approach. <S> Another trick you can use to extract more flavour is add a acid early to process; 1TBsp to 1/3cup or so of apple cider vinegar. <S> My goto when making a thai sour chicken soup or some other white broth soup that will be loaded with lime and cilantro later. <S> Drastic flavour change; so be-careful and test first. <A> I've always made stock using meaty bones with salt added. <S> I have borderline low BP and can use the sodium. <S> But I've heard many people making perfectly good stock without salt <S> so I don't think that in itself is the problem. <S> If others agree your stock lacks flavour, it won't be due to your method. <S> I'd say it's more likely your meat. <S> Remember that chickens are slaughtered at a very young age - a matter of weeks - so the chicken backs would be from young chicken. <S> Older larger chickens would be left whole for roasting. <S> The same goes for pork hocks. <S> A grown pig is a very large animal and you'd be able to judge from the size of hocks you used, the pig they came from wasn't that old either. <S> Most pork we eat comes from pigs between 5-10 months of age - no longer babies but comparable to roughly a young teenager. <S> Old hens and parts from fully mature pigs was what was traditionally used to make stews and soups. <S> The meat was too tough to fry or roast but was very flavourful for slow simmering. <S> Think of the difference in flavour between veal (calf) and beef. <A> Now I don't use salt in making the broth <S> but it's often the salt that draws out the stock's flavour <S> and so the final broth is often much richer when you salt or add soy sauce, fish sauce etc. <S> My method these days involves a pressure cooker with a fixed volume of liquid - not necessarily covering the meat. <S> My favourite ramen broth is a smoked ham hock with 1L water in the pressure cooker for 45 mins and it's fairly intense without extra salt. <A> Too much water? <S> not reduced enough ? <S> I would color the meat and the vegetables with a little bit of oil (one batch for the meat and one batch for the vegetables) before adding the water. <A> I have found triple reducing helps optimize flavour and viscosity. <S> Reduce, add water 3/4 of original amount, reduce to desired outcome. <S> I also love salt more than most so to avoid over salting I finish with a splash of vinegar. <S> White, rice, apple, or whichever suites your preference for the final profile.
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I make stocks on a weekly basis and am used to some variation in flavour but the lack of potency usually comes from 1) too much water 2) not enough salt
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Sugar Free Chocolate Cake Too Dense Yes, I know it's almost impossible to get a good sugar-free chocolate cake, but I won't give up trying,as my husband is a diabetic, and I want to make something nice for his birthday. This recipe is good-tasting, but too dense, with a fudgy layer at the bottom. I've been working on this for quite a while, but I need the help of professionals with this one. Sugar-Free Black Magic CakeGood tasting, but too much moisture, and a fudgy layer at the bottom ½ cup coconut oil (115 g) 2 ¼ cups Splenda (56g) 1 medium banana (½cup when mashed) (59 g) (try leaving out) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1large egg plus 3 large egg yolks (117 g total) (save whites foranother use) (try 2 yolks) 1 cup full-fat Bavarian-style buttermilk(240 g) (try ½ cup lowfat buttermilk) 1 tablespoon pure vanillaextract ¾ cups unsweetened natural dark cocoa powder(63 g) ½teaspoon baking powder ½ cup nonfat dry milk powder(g) (try 1 cup) 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons freshly ground cardamom 1 cupself-rising flour (125 g), or convert plain flour to self-rising,sifted twice (try cake flour) 1 cup strong brewed coffee (240 g), or1 cup water plus 4 teaspoons Nescafe instant coffee Dark unsweetenedbaking chocolate (190 g) (try leaving out) Preheat oven to 300º F. Grease and flour two double-parchment-lined (bottom only) 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch sides. Prepare brown paper collars for the pans. In a small saucepan set over low heat, melt together baking chocolate, cocoa, coffee and coconut oil, whisking to combine. Set aside. Using a fork, mash banana with baking soda on a plate. In the bowl of a mixture, add banana mixture, eggs, Splenda, buttermilk, vanilla and the rest of the ingredients, except flour and chocolate mixture. Whisk thoroughly, using whisk attachment. Switch to mixing attachment. Bring chocolate mixture to a boil. Add flour and boiling chocolate mixture. Mix again on medium speed, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl, until batter is well mixed, a couple of minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Tap pans gently several times on the counter to remove air bubbles. Bake on middle rack 20 to 25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. When just out of the oven, remove the cake from the pan and place both cake and the parchment it was baked in, on a rack and then straight into the freezer for at least 30 minutes. After this time, wrap with plastic wrap, then foil, and place back into the freezer until ready to frost. Notes: For best flavor and sweetness, banana should have dark spots on the skin. Try adding ¾ cup cornstarch to lighten the cake 1 ½ recipe for 2 (9”) cake pans. If using 1 (9”) pan, bake 40-45 minutes. Wet ingredients should be at room temperature before mixing. Batter should be no more than 2” deep Try Bain-marie-Place cake pans into a bigger pan of water. If using cake right after cooling, flip the top layer over so that the domed top becomes the bottom of the cake. Flip the second cake so that the bottom becomes the top of the cake, slicing some of the dome off if necessary to make an even cake. If making one cake, cut in half horizontally and flip. <Q> There's a few things that could be happening here, you could have too much moisture in the batter, not enough leavening agent (unlikely in this case) but my money is the oven temperature - it seems low. <S> I'd usually bake a cake at 350F. <S> When baking a cake you first get a rise from the action of the leavening agents and the expansion of air and water vapor due to heat, next a crystalline structure forms which holds that shape. <S> If your oven is too low that crystalline structure won't form in time to hold the rise, the leavening agents will run out and the steam and air will escape, and your cake will collapse leaving it dense. <S> In addition to the oven being low <S> the baking time might be too short, if the baking time is too short the batter won't have time to crystallize and it will collapse when taken out of the oven, again making it dense. <S> I'd try upping the temperature a bit and see how it goes. <S> Also, the toothpick check isn't the most reliable, use a touch bounce test and a digital instant read thermometer. <S> Most cakes are done when they read between 200-210F in the middle of the cake. <A> All the cakes I make use less sugar than the normal recipes. <S> Sugar is needed to give structure to the cake. <S> What I do is I add just over a teaspoon of cornstarch and gluten each for every 100 grams of sugar I cut back. <A> It looks to me as if you've made a cake that's not only sugar-free, but almost fat free as well. <S> A number of years ago, using mashed bananas or other fruits or veggies as a fat substitute was popular, but that idea faded away, thank goodness. <S> No wonder it wasn't good! <S> Then you can sub sucralose (Splenda) for the sugar. <S> They make it in a version that is a 1:1 substitute for sugar. <S> Don't try to use the kind that comes in little packets! <S> The amount that's in the straight sucralose packets is equivalent to at least 2t of sugar in sweetness, so it would be way too sweet and probably have texture issues as well. <S> Use the one that's made for baking. <S> Don't try to use aspartame (NutraSweet), because it loses its sweetness in heat. <S> But do yourself a favor and don't try to make a "healthy"version of a birthday cake. <S> Stick with a delicious recipe and just sub out the sugar. <S> Just say no to gluten-free, fat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, flavor-free recipes, and just concentrate on the sugar.(it will still have carbs in it from the flour, of course. <S> And you'll want a recipe that uses unsweetened chocolate or cocoa for the chocolate flavor.
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If you want a delicious chocolate cake, and your only concern is that it's sugar-free, your first job is to find a delicious conventional recipe.
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Sealed package submerged in water in the fridge, still safe to eat? In my fridge I had a sealed package of bacon and hotdogs in the bottom drawer, and the water of the fridge somehow got in there. The package was partially submerged in this water (1 inch of water). The reason why I think they might have gone bad is because something in water may not get as cold as if it wasn't. Is it safe to consume? <Q> I know the mantra here is "when in doubt, throw it out", and we know you are in doubt, otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question... <S> but, nevertheless: The speculation, "something in water may not get as cold as if it wasn't" isn't true. <A> Except for something newly introduced into the fridge (or something that had been taken out of it for a while and put back in), anything that has been inside the fridge for half a day or longer should have the same temperature. <S> Everything should reach "steady-state". <S> (ok, most fridges are designed to have different zones with slightly different temperatures, but we can afford to ignore that for this question). <S> As @LorelC pointed out, whether it was submerged or not really makes no difference. <S> The big question however is whether somehow the water had been warm at some point and raised the temperature of the contents of your drawer to an unsafe level and then before you had noticed anything awry, the fridge managed to chill everything back down to a normal safe temperature. <S> Without knowing how the water got there, what the source of that water was and whether that was was once at a much warmer unsafe temperature, it is impossible to say whether you food had been exposed to an unsafe temperature and for how long. <S> I have no idea <S> how big your drawer is <S> (half inch depth is only one of the three numbers needed to figure out how much water was there). <S> Also, you have not said how much food is in the packet. <S> I am assuming that you had a pound or half a kilo of meat, and your fridge is set to 3C or 37F. <S> For your meat to reach 15C or 59F, very roughly speaking, you would need 2lbs of water at 15C/59F or 1lb of water at 30C/86F. For a 1 inch depth pool, your drawer needs to be something like 18"x24" to give you 1lb of water, or twice that size for 2lb of water. <S> How likely are you going to have that much water going into the draw in one go at that range of temperatures? <S> I would not rule it out completely since I know nothing about your case <S> but I would say not very probable. <S> For that reason, there is no need to delve into how much time it would take to warm your meat and then cool back down. <S> So, after thinking through what it would take to warm your meat to an unsafe temperature, unless something extraordinary had happened, your packet likely was not exposed. <A> All meat products that are closed packages should not be harmed and should be safe for consumption if kept at same temperature . <S> If the packages had been opened you would then want to throw them out ! <S> Had this experience myself with both closed and opened packages . <S> Closed packages were fine and opened ones were tainted in flavor and smell !
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I don't quite get how that water got into the bottom drawer of your fridge, but if the water was at refrigerator temperature when it came into contact with the bacon and hot dog packages, and if they truly are sealed so that the meat isn't touching the water directly, then they shouldn't be harmed by having the outside of their packaging touched by cold water. Something in cold water will come to the same temperature as the water, just like it does in cold air, and probably faster than in air.
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Transforming shredded cheese into chunk cheese I am at an event where I need to serve cubed chunk cheese, but I only have shredded mozzarella. Is there a simple way to melt mozzarella into chunks? Any idea would help. <Q> Make 1 round of cheese. <S> Only thing I could think of would be to see Felx. <S> Our local blacsmith & have one made. <S> As a specialty item. <S> Kind of like a long handled garlic press with out the holes in it. <S> Think along those lines. <S> Something cube shaped you can mash the cheese together in. <A> There is no way, neither simple nor difficult. <S> You can only create a block of cheese during production. <S> Once you shred it, there is no way back. <S> You can in principle make processed cheese which is meltable and shapeable to a point, but it doesn't have the mouthfeel and taste of chunk cheese either. <S> You have probably eaten it as these edges packed in foil which can be sperad on bread, for example from La vache qui rit. <A> Found a good solution: simply shape the mozzarella into smooth balls. <S> No melting even necessary! <S> At this point, I could have chopped them into cubes, but I left them as spheres.
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Normally when you have smaller cheeses you use a cheese press to mash them together.
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Unable to make yogurt in cold climate I have read the answers to this question - How to thicken yogurt and I am not sure if my question is on topic or not - this is the procedure I followed to make yogurt in a mountainous region and I am not able to make yogurt twenty four hours after I started the procedure 1) Boiled unpasteurized milk2) Cool the boiled milk to where when I touch the milk it feels warm. 3) I added three teaspoons of branded yogurt(3 % fat)4) Stir for couple of minutes with teaspoon I am not sure if you are required to put a lid over the milk as it ferments (I did not) but today morning when I looked it is half milk and half yogurt. It still tastes milk like. The bottom portion is yogurt and the top portion is milk. I am in a mountainous region and it is fairly cold right now(the coconut oil has frozen). I reckon it is around 13-14 degrees centigrade plus rain and I am wondering if my milk culture is "gone" or is there a way to rescue it ? In the morning I did wrap some woolens around it and did put a lid on top of the vessel. I am looking to know what I did wrong here. <Q> Not covering it was unwise - <S> it accelerates cooling and also allows other (unwanted) bacteria to populate it. <S> Not insulating it to keep it warm was your main problem. <S> I seem to recall that some cultures in cold climates that traditionally fermented milk products would do so in a bag worn next to the skin, under clothing and blankets, to keep the ferment warm at body temperature. <S> You can probably improvise something a bit less primal, but it's there as an option. <S> A well-insulated box is generally simple enough, but waiting until the milk was already cool to "wrap some woolens around it" is too little, too late - you need the insulation to keep the heat in, as it does not warm the milk up when it's already cold. <S> I have decent success with a 35-37C temperature for a long time (24 hours) - but without a means to hold the milk at temperature (perhaps set it above the warm computer? <S> Carefully!) <S> I'd start in the 45C range and wrap it up in a lot of insulation to hold the heat as long as possible. <S> Aside from woolens, styrofoam or cardboard are fairly inexpensive or even free insulating materials that are widely available. <S> You can nest several cardboard boxes inside each other to make multiple layers for better insulation. <A> Most store-bought yoghurt cultures are thermophillic; you need to provide heat to grow them. <S> Generally, the ideal temperature range is between 50C and 58C for me, but I noted that Chefsteps has a 43C recommendation as does the comment below. <S> You do need to maintain that temperature range for a few hours at least. <S> It is best to thin down your bought yoghurt with enough milk so that it mixes easily and readily with the bulk of your milk, otherwise you will either get lumpy or gritty results or you will have two layers as you described. <S> The idea is that you should disperse the culture as widely as possible throughout the milk, otherwise, in what you described, you will have fermentation happening slowly and only at the interface between the two layers. <A> You need to keep your developing culture at a steady temperature. <S> Fluctuations in the temperature can allow less desirable microorganisms to grow. <S> The ideal temperature for incubating yogurt is 113° F (45° C). <S> I found replacing the oven light with an incandescent 60 watt bulb gave me the heat I needed when I left the light on. <S> Experiment to see which wattage provides you with the right temperature. <S> I used a thermometer to check and left the light on long enough (30 minutes) to make sure it was accurate. <S> Still, I immersed my container of milk and culture in a large soup pot of warm water to provide even warming throughout.
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If you are making a small quantity of yogurt you can add bottles or jars of warm water for additional thermal mass (wrap them all up together inside the insulation/box.)
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Substitute for Aluminum Foil - Grilling I have used aluminum foil when I grill salmon because it keeps the oil from running onto the heating element and smoking the fish. Can anyone suggest a substitute for aluminum foil? <Q> Dried palm fronds are traditional Thai. <S> Not sure you have access however. <A> Soaked corn husks work for this, too, and this time of year can be had for free at most supermarkets if you ask (they leave out bags for their shoppers to husk their corn into in the produce section.) <S> A soaked cedar shingle is also popular to use on the grill, especially for salmon. <S> Some supermarkets stock packs of them near the fish counter for this purpose. <A> Rather than improvising a pan out of foil, you could just use an actual pan. <S> Cast iron is common outdoor cooking, but anything without plastic parts will work. <S> Still... smoking is part of the point of cooking on a grill. <S> Otherwise, you might as well do it indoors. <S> If you want to keep dripping away from your food, you can use indirect grilling , where the food isn't directly over the hot coals/burner. <S> Or you can use a drip tray with water in it to catch dripping and reduce burning. <S> You might also consider something like a cedar plank , which doesn't catch the dripping but will route it away from your food. <S> It also provides a flavor of its own, including some smokiness; that's considered a benefit of grilling. <A> You can now get 'grilling mats' to place down so that food doesn't slip through the grill grates. <S> It would also help with your problem, as it would deflect any oil so it drains off to the side, not directly onto the elements. <S> Amazon seems to have them in their 'lightning deals' quite frequently. <S> (for months it seems like it's always the same stuff in there, so <S> I'm guessing there's probably one in there right now)
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Some supermarkets and specialty stores carry banana leaves, which do a great job of cooking and steaming food over a fire.
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Is canned “tomato sauce” already cooked? The can says the ingredients are tomato puree, garlic, etc. I suspect that cooking turns puree into sauce. But then why does it change again when simmered for half an hour with ground meat and chili seasonings? The meat's already browned prior to adding the tomato sauce, so I was thinking that we wait until the tomato is cooked. But my wife says the tomato is already cooked. So what is happening, and what do we call this when cooking? To reiterate, suppose the components are not “raw”. But you still have to simmer it all together for 30 minutes. What do you call that, since you’re not moving from a state of being uncooked to being cooked? <Q> But "cooked" is a pretty vague term, and we know that there are different degrees of it. <S> Did you cook your onion on a low heat until it was soft, or until golden, or until caramelised? <S> Did you cook your steak until it was rare, or medium, or well <S> done? <S> Likewise with tomatoes, if you blend them up and then cook them for ten minutes they're not going to taste the same as when you've cooked them for three hours in a low oven with the lid off. <S> Lots of chemical reactions are going on inside the food as it's cooking, and some of them only happen over rather long time periods. <S> So what you're doing when you're putting the "cooked" canned tomato sauce in with your "cooked" meat and leaving it for a while <S> is... cooking. <S> The combination of ingredients plus more heat and more time will cause further changes and different flavours to emerge. <S> Also, canned tomato sauce will only be cooked enough to preserve it in the can - it's not been cooked to the point where it's going to be at its best for eating. <S> That part's up to you. <A> The term 'cooked' is being used subjectively here. <S> Canned tomatoes are 'pasteurized' which is a process similar to cooking. <S> The contents are held at a slightly elevated temperature for a short period to kill the germs. <S> The temperature and time used are not enough to significantly change the structure of the contents, however it may slightly change the flavor. <S> This step of the canning process is necessary to avoid botulism and other bacterial growth while the canned goods are waiting to be used. <S> You can use the tomatoes straight out of the can if you wish, provided that the canning process was performed correctly and the container is not breached(dented, rusted through, punctured, etc). <S> However if you choose to cook them further you will most likely be using temperatures much higher than the temperature used to 'pasteurize' them and the structure and flavor will change significantly. <S> Tomatoes are rich in nutrients. <S> Cooking the tomatoes further changes the nutrient content and effectiveness. <S> Lycopene for instance is activated by cooking the tomatoes. <S> Vitamin C however is destroyed by the cooking process and possibly by the canning process. <S> i.e. Fruit juice that is pasteurized has to have Vitamin C reintroduced. <S> (sorry for the sideline <S> but I feel it helps to understand the difference between cooking and pasteurization). <A> Did you first brown your meat before adding tomato sauce? <S> If you did, there's a chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction between the sugars and protein in the meat. <S> The byproducts would mix with the tomato sauce altering the flavour. <S> If you used onions and browned them, they too would change the flavour. <S> Even spices will mingle to make a new combined taste. <S> Don't forget that tomato sauce is acidic and acids de-nature protein (break them down) in meat, some which dissolve into the sauce enriching its flavour. <S> If you were to pre-cook sauce and meat separately, then mix them (as Megha mentioned), it wouldn't taste the same as if cooked together. <S> Heat speeds chemical reactions up and cooking <S> is a chemical reaction between different foodstuffs. <S> If you were to mix them pre-cooked, it's conceivable that it may taste similar to cooked together if you allowed enough time for the reaction to occur. <S> But it would proceed so slowly at refrigerator temperature (or even room temperature) that the food would spoil first.
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Yes, in some sense, the contents of a can of tomato sauce are already cooked.
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Are eggs left in car trunk for 3 days safe to eat? I had purchased eggs at the supermarket and i forgot them in the trunk of my car for for 3 days are they still okay to eat? <Q> Would you risk getting sick for ~ $4. <S> It's not like you left a tin of Beluga caviar in the trunk for 3 days. <S> Toss them! <A> In Europe, eggs are always stored out of the fridge and last there for weeks, so I'd say <S> yes they are safe. <A> They are probably OK as long as they didn't get too hot, but you should test them before eating . <S> Here's how: Fill a bowl with cold water and place an egg inside. <S> If it sinks to the bottom, it's good. <S> If it sinks but stands on its point, it's good, but won't be good for much longer and should be used soon. <S> If it floats, toss it. <S> As far as refrigerating eggs in the U.S. vs. European room temperature storage: "In some European countries, egg-laying hens are vaccinated against salmonella. <S> In the U.S., vaccination is not required, but eggs must be washed and refrigerated from farm to store, and producers must follow a host of other safety measures." <S> Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs <S> And Most Of The World Doesn't — September 11, 2014, Rae Ellen Bichell, NPR Eating And Health Also, commercially produced American eggs are washed with soap and hot, steamy water after collecting which removes a thin protective layer from the shell, which can effect shelf life at room temp. <A> As long as the temperature there was not above, say, 21 degrees Celsius.
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Eggs can be stored at room temperature, though I still like to put mine in the refrigerator. As long as you use the water bowl test, you're good to go.
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How to mask the taste of iron? Right, so this is an odd one. Due to a person's combination of iron deficiency, a not-so-sturdy stomach and no particular interest in eating red meat or the like, that person essentially handed me a bag of heme iron supplement and an enquiry as to whether or not I could make this supplement palatable. The supplement is a powder, smells vaguely of iron and tastes like blood – because that's essentially what it is, I suppose. It can safely be heated and mixed with acids and bases. My patron predominantly likes sweet, sour, and burnt food, but I'm open to any suggestion which answers the question: How do I mask – or, I suppose, complement – a teaspoon or two of dried blood in a meal? <Q> Agree with the above posts as general guidelines but considering the taste buds it sounds like the "patron" does not like savory/umami flavors. <S> Best luck I've had for hiding the flavors of iron supplements is making smoothies; Citrus or some other very over-powering fruit. <S> Then the "meaty" flavour disappears in the smoothie thickener. <S> ie: <S> pineappleChocolate bannaorangeBerry (black berry, strawberry, etc...) <S> A homemade v8 blend / <S> Bloody mary would be perfect also; if they love veggie taste. <A> To me, iron is closest to Umami in the taste bud system (at least how it's generally understood). <S> Umami is often described as "savory" or "meaty", so I would experiment by using this supplement in dishes where savoriness is a benefit, and expected. <S> You could think of it as a flavor additive, rather than trying to hide it you can use it instead to enhance savoriness. <S> Try pairing it with eggs, lentils, mushrooms and as a replacement for soy sauce in stir fries, you could add it in coating/breading for fried foods as well. <A> With Vitamins C if the person have problem with digestibility of iron. <S> Apple jelly is one of the best. <S> As GdD mentioned "bloody" taste would be good in things that usually pair with meat. <S> I would avoid things with coffe, tea and milk (and also cheese). <S> Mint, thyme, marjoram, dill and parsley are good in hiding iron taste in medium raw burgers. <A> If this person truly likes sweet, sour, and "burnt" food, it seems like you could make up a modified sweet-and-sour potion using as a starting point some recipe found online or elsewhere. <S> [E.g.: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/01/sweet-and-sour-sauce.html] .... <S> Hide some of your heme powder in there, and maybe even add garlic, garlic powder, or even chili peppers, if the stomach sensitivity permits. <S> You mention that red meat "or the like" is out, but could you still baste this stuff onto some chicken, turkey, or flavorful fish, and broil the heck out of it? <S> Re-baste some more sauce onto it after cooking in case <S> the charring destroys the biochemical properties of the heme powder (?) <S> If the victim - oops, I mean "diner" - happens to be a vegetarian, do the same with either tofu or perhaps a portobello shroom. <S> Serve with rice. <S> Yum.
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Easiest way to hide the iron taste, for me, would be to mix it with gelatine and add some sour fruit acids. The fruitier and stronger tasting, the better.
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What situations are pressure cookers not appropriate I have now pretty much replaced all my long slow cooking dishes (chilli, stews etc) from either cast iron in an oven or stove top to pressure cooking due to the time saving. Are there any these sorts of recipe where you should not use a pressure cooker? <Q> By raising pressure, you get water to boil at a much higher temperature and thus speed up most of the physical and chemical reactions involved in cooking. <S> Elevated pressure can play a smaller role too. <S> With higher temperatures, you can get faster caramelisation for instance which may not be desirable in some foods, dull and/or dark colours and bitterness are two properties that come to mind (bright green pea soup gets dull for example) <S> With lower pressure rating cookers (below 15psi or 1 bar), there is less risk of runaway browning. <S> Another issue is with foods that either need fairly precise cooking or are prone to get overcooked. <S> There is no easy way to open the lid to monitor or halt cooking abruptly. <S> Related to this is the inability to stir and a very real risk of food getting stuck and then burnt even when there is still plenty of liquid (as it just happened to me moments ago). <S> Heat control cannot always be casual. <S> Whatever you put into it, should either have a high water content (70% or so) or you need to maintain a certain amount of free water for it to work. <S> I find that often I needed to use extra water and drain it off after cooking; that may not always be desirable. <S> Making pet food for example can be awkward as you do not really want to get rid of the free liquid which has plenty of nutrition in it. <S> You can work around it by putting your food in an elevated container and pressure steam it although you still tend to get free liquid from condensates in the container. <A> One important group is anything where you do NOT want boiling (as in, water is vaporized regardless of temperature) to happen at all - eg because there are whole ingredients that would burst, overexpand or disintegrate. <S> Dishes containing alcohol or very volatile aromas might also behave differently. <A> Something else that should not attempted is to pressure fry food e.g. only add oil and meat, then bring up to pressure. <S> Pressure fryers have more safety features than a conventional pressure cooker, doing so in a regular domestic PC is highly dangerous.
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Obviously, any really thick stew that is best handled in a nonstick pot (unless your PC is nonstick), or anything that could unexpectedly foam into the pressure vent, is also unsuitable...
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How much is a "splash" I've run into several recipes which asked for a "splash of" water, soy sauce, etc. How much is a "splash"? I assume if it's something more concrete like 1/4 cup, they would have said so. Since it's a "splash", I just poured some (1/2 a cup) water into a coffee cup and poured once around the pan, although, my control isn't that good so I probably ended up pouring 1/4-1/3 of a cup. Everything still tasted ok but I'm just curious what a "splash" is. <Q> Or to put it another way, stop pouring about when the stream of liquid hits the pan and consider that mid-air-stream a (medium) "splash". <S> I would usually get a couple tablespoons of liquid pouring this way. <S> Of course, stronger liquids usually come in smaller mouthed bottles so less gets poured - for soy sauce, I'd get a few teaspoons, for water (from a cup) <S> a few tablespoons, for something like liquid smoke - a few drops since the bottle's opening is very small. <S> More generally speaking, I've always considered "splash", "dash", "sprinkle" and other such measurements to be an equivalent for, like oft cited for salt and pepper, "to taste". <S> Or perhaps "to texture", depending on the what-where-when that's being added. <S> The recipe doesn't have a measurement because it isn't recipe-critical <S> how much is actually added, it's just to the preference of whoever is cooking. <A> A splash is a small amount, definitely not 1/4 of a cup. <S> This is obviously a subjective thing, but I'll try to put some numbers on it. <S> Once I did a quick measurement of my soy sauce bottle to get an idea of how much I was using when I added a few shots (the bottle had a pin hole top and the soy came out in bursts <S> when the bottle was shaken, I call that a shot). <S> It turned out with that bottle about 6 shots was a teaspoon. <S> If a recipe called for a splash of soy I'd have done 5 or 6 shots with that bottle, so I would call a splash of something about a teaspoon, aka 5ml, maybe up to 10ml. <S> It's a non-specific amount so you don't need to be too worried about it. <S> Why don't recipes say to add a splash of something instead of an actual measurement? <S> It could be laziness, the author didn't measure the amount used so adds subjective amount <S> (I've been guilty of that once or twice), or rather than laziness <S> the author didn't have time to grab a measuring spoon as the water was required quickly. <S> It could also be the author's style choice, favoring a freestyle approach to cooking rather than specifying everything. <A> I'd have to do some testing to get firmer values for things, but they're still ranges, as it depends on what you're pouring it from. <S> Here's what I typically use for imprecise measurements: Liquids dash : a quick shake from a bottle with a restricted top. <S> If it doesn't have one of those plastic things in the neck of the bottle, cover the opening partially with your thumb. <S> (likely less than a teaspoon) <S> splash : <S> From a bottle with an unrestricted top, tip the bottle 'til the liquid starts flowing, then pull it back. <S> (maybe a couple of tablespoons at most) <S> glug <S> : start pouring at a steep angle, stop when the bottle attempts to aspirate (air is sucked back into the bottle, making a 'glug' sound; very dependent on the size of the bottle opening and liquid's viscocity; might be a couple of tablespoons to a half cup) <S> Solid powders/granules <S> dash : a shake or two from a container <S> w/ a restricted top (eg, a shaker top on spices) <S> pinch <S> : what you can pick up between your thumb and one finger (note: <S> dependent on what you're picking up; you can pick up more flaked salt than fine salt in a pinch) <S> heavy pinch : <S> what you can pick up between your thumb and two fingers Misc <S> smidge : very small, but I have no clue. <S> I typically use a dash or a pinch.
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I would measure a splash by the second - that is, holding the container (usually bottle) about a foot above the pan, and pour about a second or two's worth of liquid.
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How to clean up spill? I've noticed some of the most difficult messes to cleanup happen in the kitchen. I opened the fridge and a large container of salsa fell out and spilled on the floor and beneath the fridge. It was chunky and a rag didn't absorb it well. Lot's of things in the kitchen are partly solid and partly moist so it's not easy to pickup in one piece but to chunky to wipe up or wash away. Another example is spilled stew or cereal. Any advice on how to clean up things like this? <Q> Dry stuff : <S> vaccuum cleaner or broom. <S> Liquid stuff: <S> rag, mop, paper towels, Chunky stuff: rags, paper towels. <S> After that, just clean up floor with floor cleaner. <A> Use something that can "scrape" - old bench scraper, edge of a shovel, stiff straight edged piece of cardboard or packaging plastic or sheet metal, old ruler (or dethroned emperor) - to direct the bulk into a bag/newspaper/... <S> Then, follow usual practices for liquid spills... <A> With sloppy, gooey messes, I've found that table salt can help to make the liquid more "solid". <S> It's actually on the side of the Morton Salt container to clean up eggs. <S> You might also try a small amount of flour or corn starch to help soak up the juices too. <S> It might seem to make a bigger mess, but it'll be easier to sweep or scoop up, rather than chasing around slippery juices. <A> For chunky stuff, I use a paper towel or rag to push the chunks onto a dustpan, and then empty it into the trash. <S> I then clean it up as if it were a liquid mess. <S> I'll wring the rag out as I go and then shake it over the trash can to dislodge the chunks that stuck to it. <S> I find that using something absorbent reduces the amount of liquid that I end up pushing around and reduces the area and amount that I have to clean as a liquid.
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For chunky spills, you can use a food scrapper to help pickup the solid part of it, and after that use a mop to clean up the liquid part of it.
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What is the function of salt in chocolate? Iv'e recently seen, for the first time, chocolate coins filled with caramel and "Atlantic salt". I did a bit of searching and found some more of these types of sweets: To the food simpleton that I am, adding salt to chocolate and caramel seems counter-intuitive. I realize that these are small amounts of salt (at least compared to the sugar). What is the idea behind this practice? Also, what is "Atlantic salt"? Salt from the Atlantic ocean? Does it really make a difference which salt is used? <Q> Salt tends to enhance tastes, and make flavors pop, and is used in many foods for this purpose. <S> Even most sweet foods, desserts or baked goods, will have some amounts of salt added for this purpose. <S> Some certain kinds of salts - including many kinds of sea salt - are also called out for additional tastes or textures, caused by trace minerals or crystallization patterns - such are usually known as finishing salts, since dissolving looses many properties (including texture, and some elements of taste which are easier distinguished in concentration). <S> I would assume Atlantic salt is one of these finishing sea salts. <S> Also, contrasting flavors and/or textures are fairly common in cooking - in this case, sweet and salty. <S> This often seen in savory dishes (sauces for meats, for example) where sweetness is added - sometimes quite a bit - even though the resulting dishes are generally considered savory. <S> And while such foods quite different from foods without that added sweetness, if well balanced they can be well received. <S> A sweet-with-salt, like salted chocolates, or salted caramels, is very different from a pure sweet taste. <S> It isn't inherently better or worse, just different. <S> Too much sweet can overwhelm the tongue (one reason milk, rather than juice, is favored with many kinds of desserts), and adding salt to that sweet cuts the sweetness, adds flavor and contrast, and also adds texture as large grains of finishing salt, often sea salt, are used rather than fine dissolved salt. <S> The result can be very pleasant to some. <S> Also, while your example is a sweet with salt added for contrast, it may be worth noting that chocolate is not itself inherently sweet, but generally has a more bitter flavor profile (unsweetened chocolate) and so can be easily used in savory dishes - for example <S> , Mexican mole sauces. <S> Sweet chocolate is very common, yes, and tastes very good, but the base flavor can certainly take salt without trouble - and the less usual pairing can increase the novelty factor and the pleasure one takes in the salt and chocolate pairing. <A> Salt is a bit special because of its action on the tongue. <S> The sea salt, in this case, is a major ingredient added to be intended to be an independent flavor, but it is also a flavor enhancer. <S> So, for this purpose, salt can be considered a complementary flavor enhancing the flavor of both the caramel and chocolate. <S> Instead of caramel, chile peppers or orange peel could be used with the sea salt. <S> That is while you'd be hard-pressed to find Anchovies and Sea-Salt Dark Chocolate. <S> You'll also find concept of flavor opposites in South East Asian cuisine like Salty(Salt)/Sweet(Sugar) and Spicy(Chile)/Cooling(Mint). <A> While this is a different question, the answer is essentially the same as https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/17264/6279 . <S> Salt is both a seasoning, with it's own unique flavor and a catalyst for other flavors. <S> The collection of taste buds on your tongue are not 'all created equal' while some react to acidic, sweet, salty flavors others do not. <S> When salt comes in contact with the tongue not only can you taste it with the 'salt sensitive' taste buds <S> but it also triggers a reaction with the 'sweet' sensitive taste buds to make them 'more receptive' to sweet flavors... <S> For a more thorough description, with visual aids and all, Check out " The Ballad of Salty & Sweet " from Alton Brown.
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Often in chocolate, large crystal sea salt in used to give a salt crunch and taste.
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What stops commercial ice lollies from being rockhard? In the UK you can purchase ice lollies/suckers that are pretty soft to eat.However, if you were to make your own in an ice lolly mold they'll be rock hard like ice normally is. What do commercial companies do to their ice Lollies to make them soft to eat. I'm unsure if this applies to other countries such as the US, I'd assume it does. <Q> If they are rock-hard, they need more sugar (or you're one of those people that use artificial sweeteners and they don't have the same effect that sugar does.) <S> About 30% sugar is a typical proportion that works - feel free to experiment. <S> i.e. mix 300g sugar with enough water and flavoring to make 1 liter of mixed solution. <S> If using juices, calculate how much sugar they contribute from the label information and add enough more sugar to reach 30% Pectin can also be helpful. <S> You need things that interfere with the size of ice crystals. <S> Jam is one way to get it, (and some sugar - again, read the label to find out how much) or you can get the pectin made for canning your own jams. <A> Popsicles are very easy to make at home, and regulating their hardness is very simple. <S> If the water content of the pop is too high, they end up extremely hard - like ice cubes. <S> Sugar and alcohol both help keep this from happening. <S> By lowering the freezing point of the solution, they make the pop softer. <S> Add too much, however, and the popsicle won't freeze solid enough to stay on the stick. <S> Once the pop is frozen it tastes much less sweet, so don't worry if the mix tastes too sweet before you freeze it. <S> Most fruits work pretty well with 1 pound puréed fruit, 3/4c simple syrup (boil one cup water and 1 cup sugar until clear). <S> Watery fruits like melons benefit from more syrup, and very sweet fruits (especially canned ones) might need less (I use 2/3c syrup). <S> If you're going to add alcohol, use about 2 shots for 25 fluid ounces of mix. <S> Any more, and the pop won't freeze correctly. <S> Pectin and gelatin also have an effect, but I find they give the finished pop a very strange texture - and they need sugar to set anyway. <A> In addition to using enough sugar, one other possible trick is churning the mixture - much like ice cream, mechanically breaking the ice crystals down to keep them small and the resulting confection soft. <S> I have had these ice pops, the simple tube-in-plastic ones, and caused this to happen. <S> A few times, once the pop was frozen (depending on how slow it froze) <S> the ice would be obviously crystalline. <S> I once tried simply squishing the ice to break up the crystals, and re-freezing (since the act of crushing started to melt the pop). <S> That pop was immensely soft compared to the simply frozen ones. <S> and it is an extra step that most home ice-pop-makers wouldn't do, since the results of simply frozen ice pops are passable. <S> This also makes sense of the fact that, like ice cream, partially melted and refrozen commercial ice pops tend to have patches of harder, more crystalline ice. <S> If the softer texture was only about the proportions of sugar or addition of stabilizers, melted and refrozen ice pops would probably still have that soft texture. <S> The fact that texture is lost when melted and refrozen seems to suggest one of the factors that keeps the ice soft happens during the commercial freezing process. <A> I can't say what UK ice lollies contain, nor can I check what ingredients are included in popsicles in Canada where I live since I don't have smaller children and don't eat them myself. <S> But I've made various frozen desserts and have incorporated some ideas from the chapter 'Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts' (from the Handbook of Food Products Manufacturing ). <S> It's free to download <S> so I did as I wanted to learn more. <S> Food grade glycerin <S> (there are vegan forms too) <S> can be added to frozen desserts to lower the freezing point of the mixture so rock hard ice doesn't form. <S> It's more effective at lowering the freezing point than other sugar alcohols and better and healthier than using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which also lowers the freezing point. <S> That's why one finds it so often in commercial frozen desserts. <S> Plus HFCS is much cheaper than glycerin (although that's changing) and manufacturers want to keep costs down. <S> Depending on how much sugar you use, I'd say something between 1/2 - 1 tsp glycerin to 1 cup of water or juice (not counting any added sugar) will give a softer but still frozen ice lolly. <S> Sorry I can be more specific but other ingredients added to ice lollies makes it hard to be exact.
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So, commercial ice-pop makers may well have access to ice cream churning equipment or the equivalent - and simply letting the ice pop liquid churn for a bit while (or after) freezing and before pouring into their final molds would result in much softer ice pops...
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When do you add spices to homemade butter? I have looked up many homemade butter recipes. I know how to make plain butter. I have seen some recipes with herbs added and other seasoning. They don't say when to add the seasonings. Do you add them with the cream or after it is turning into butter? <Q> I'd add herbs and spices after churning. <S> If you'd add them to the cream, you 'd discard at least some of it with the buttermilk and some more when "washing" the butter in cold water (depending on which method you use), which is a) wasteful and b) makes judging the correct amount very difficult. <A> When churning cream you'll eventually separate the fat from the whey, and after that you'll need to rinse the newly formed butter. <S> If you add seasonings before that, they will be rinsed away and with it all the flavor, so I'd suggest to add after that. <A> Tradition way of preparing butter from curd or milk cream. <S> I usually prefer to make butter from curd.
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Seasoning will works perfect as it is turning into butter and mix it.
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Tasting food while cooking I cook quite regularly at home, but I have trouble tasting food while cooking. All I want to know is if I should adjust salt, pepper or sourness. On the rare occasions that I taste, I invariable mess up the ingredient that I tasted. For example, I might place a little quantity (enough to lick) on my palm, wait/ blow for it to cool down, taste and adjust for salt. Later when eating the meal, I discover that I have added too much salt. Any tips? If it matters - this is South Indian style vegetarian cooking - lentils, vegetables. <Q> Tasting while in progress is trial and error and a learned skill. <S> If a sauce needs to cook for an hour or more to meld favors together, it will not taste the same early in the process as the finished product. <S> Some ingredients mellow during the process, others concentrate. <S> Garlic as an example may taste strong to begin with, or be undetectable in other areas until it has melded with the other ingredients. <S> Salt will often become stronger as the product cooks towards completion. <S> The art is learning that at the half way mark knowing what the salt or other ingredient should taste like and how forward it should be to have it where you want in the finished product. <S> If you cannot taste it at all at the half way point, there almost certainly is not enough, but if it tastes like what you want at the end, then you may have too much and need to make other adjustments. <S> For me, this comes only with experience <S> and you will get that only by consistently tasting and learning what it tasted like in progress when it turns out the way you want in the end. <S> You will definitely make mistakes, the key is remember and learn from those. <S> In the long term, you final results will tend to be better if you go by taste in many products than trying to go by one pinch in this dish, two dashes in this, and so on. <S> Meat is especially notorious for one piece taking more spice than another, but many vegetables are the same way, especially things like onions that can vary in strength, tomatoes that vary in acid, etc. <S> In learning on some dishes, like sauces, you can even consider dividing into two sauce pans. <S> One you spice a bit heavier than he other, taste side by side, and proceed. <S> Then compare the end product and see which was closer to what you wanted. <S> If both are OK, but one better, you now have a better idea of what the mid point target was, combine them for serving so no loss and remember the lesson. <A> Yes, do as professional chefs do - give it a real raste , not such a small taste that it's only a "lick". <S> You can't properly get the sense of what something tastes like when the amount is that small. <S> Keep a soup spoon handy as a 'tasting spoon'. <S> When you want to taste your cooking for possible seasoning adjustment, use the larger spoon (used for stirring your cooking) to scoop about a teaspoon of food onto your 'tasting spoon'. <S> You can blow on that without worrying about burning yourself and by putting it a separate spoon, you don't have to get a clean spoon each time. <S> No cross-contamination <S> either. <S> Don't just swallow that teaspoonful of food either. <S> Savour it. <S> Move it around your mouth so you can taste what it's really like. <S> If you're not sure, take another small spoonful out. <S> You get a much better idea than simply a lick. <A> South Indian vegetarian cuisine is often stew-like, no? <S> That is because as you cook, evaporation occurs and the salt becomes more concentrated. <S> I would wait until the cooking is complete, then just before serving taste and adjust seasoning, especially salt.
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While many seasoning do need to cook with the dish so that the flavors meld, in most cases, if you add salt, then continue to cook, the end result will be saltier.
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Should I write Steak or Beef Tenderloin on the menu? I am trying to write a simple menu. One of the dishes is "Pan seared sliced beef tenderloin". Is sliced beef tenderloin considered steak or would that cause confusion? My concern is if I write just "beef" it could be confused with beef stew or any other type of beef. There is only one beef dish on the menu. <Q> I would say anything that is a slice of meat thicker than around 1cm, taken from a larger muscle and (usually) cut across the grain can be considered a 'steak'. <S> Depending on what part of the tenderlon you have, you could call it either sirloin or rump steak or filet mignon, just 'tenderloin steak' or even plain old 'steak' (see Wikipedia for more info) <S> I don't think it is misleading or confusing to call it steak on the menu. <A> Chuck steak, rump steak etc. are beef, steak, but would not what a person might be happy with if just labeled steak. <S> It is not even unusual when trying to make it sound upscale to refer to hamburger as a steak burger. <S> Steak tends to be a more generic term which does not even narrow it down to being beef. <S> If space it too limited for you to actually describe the the dish as suggested by @moscarj, then I would find the generic "Beef" preferable to "Steak" then expand that to be more descriptive as space allows. <A> There are three possible approaches that I would recommend: Call it Pan seared beef medallion (or 'medallions' if more than one per person). <S> It's a little longer than the 'steak' option, but it suggests that it's a smaller boneless steak, and they're typically from the tenderloin. <S> Call it <S> Pan seared filet of beef . <S> Filet is typically a cross-cut (ie, steak) from the tenderloin (eg, filet mignon, which is a cut from the smaller end of the tenderloin) <S> Ask the printer to adjust the kearning if it's only a few letters too wide. <S> Or adjust the letter width to 95% or so (usually not so noticeable that people will realized it). <S> The only time that this might not be available is if they're using a letter press technique (movable type or linotype, where the raised letters are stamped into the paper) ... <S> but this is pretty rarely used these days. <S> (except for stamped pencils, embossing, or things w/ gold foil) <A> It depends on how you are preparing it. <S> If the tenderloin being oven roasted (slowly is preferable, but that is a separate issue) and then sliced into servings then being finished with a sear. <S> (IMHO the 'right' way to do it) <S> then it 'should' be called a " Beef tenderloin roast ", mentioning the sear is optional. <S> To be a steak the tenderloin is first sliced into servings and then grilled, broiled or pan fried. <S> A ' steak cut from the tenderloin ' is called a ' filet mignon '. <S> Most commonly a banquet will opt for the first option as it is easier to prepare en mass, and that is what it sounds like you are describing, so I would go with "Tenderloin Roast" to conserve space, I doubt anyone expecting something slightly different would not be bothered by the difference. <S> If you want to be more specific, consider "Tenderloin of Beef"
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Steak, IMO, is no more clear than beef.
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Substituting white chocolate in Julia Child's mousse I've been making chocolate mousse à la Julia Child since I was 12. I vaguely recall trying it with butterscotch chips, which didn't work. Now I have high quality white chocolate I'd like to try in lieu of semisweet, but what to substitute for the two liquids, espresso and liqueur/orange juice? I want this mousse to taste like white chocolate, so orange juice, Cointreau, Amaretto, and coconut milk are out if a quarter cup would compete flavorwise. Rum may be a safe choice, but I only have Captain Morgan's on hand. I won't up the liqueur to a half cup. I appreciate the mocha flavor of the original, and wonder if using espresso would overpower the white chocolate, or if orange juice would any more than rum. I have a couple more days to figure out what to do. Suggestions? <Q> Guittard replied to my query after the fact, so I learned firsthand that one should use less liquid because cocoa solids in dark chocolate are absent from white chocolate. <S> I substituted 1/4 cup milk for the same amount of strong coffee in the original recipe, and the Baker's Premium White Chocolate liquefied. <S> Melted semisweet doesn't pour like it did, and I was paranoid <S> my mousse wouldn't set. <S> I studied my liqueur options at the store. <S> A 750mL bottle of crème de cacao tempted me with thoughts of frozen cocktails, all requiring additional 750mL bottles of other liqueurs, and I didn't want to go there. <S> The selection of 50mL bottles was limited, but I settled on E&J Vanilla brandy. <S> When I opened it, there was no essence of vanilla; I smelled only brandy. <S> The 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract I added to the milk was imperceptible, as well. <S> My attempt at white chocolate mousse was more like a brandy Alexander custard. <S> My official taster said he wouldn't have known I used either white chocolate or vanilla if I hadn't told him all about it. <S> His initial "Wow!" <S> and the way he savored it conveyed his appreciation nonetheless. <S> Brandy made for a good flavoring. <S> If I found Baker's 4-ounce bars on sale again, I'd forgo using liquid in the melting step, and hope for a less custardy consistency. <S> I even reduced the butter by 2 tablespoons, and beat the living daylights out of it before folding in the egg whites. <S> It set, but a spoon won't stand up in it like the original. <S> Thank you for your advice:) <A> Cheryl, to me (as I can't speak for others), white chocolate doesn't taste at all 'chocolaty' but just has the mellow rich flavour of the bean's fat and the cream used in making it. <S> Even if someone added a very small amount of expresso or coffee liquor to it, it would only taste like coffee, although fairly faint. <S> Not at all like mocha. <S> White rum has little flavour <S> so I'm assuming you mean dark rum. <S> I think dark rum would overpower it but <S> perhaps not one <S> that's somewhere between the two. <S> I don't know if Captain Morgan makes one. <S> If you like the flavour rum adds, use it. <S> But Captain Morgan is a very rough tasting rum <S> so yes, cut it down to 1/4 cup or less. <S> Make up the difference with cream when cooking the egg yolk mixture. <S> It seems like there are a number of Julia Child Chocolate Mousse recipes and not all are the same. <S> The original recipe published from her cookbook in 1961 has this for the ingredients. <S> 4 egg yolks ¼ cup instant sugar (very finely granulated) <S> ¼ cup orange liqueur <S> 6 ounces or squares semisweet baking chocolate 4 Tb strong coffee 6 ounces or 1 ½ sticks softened unsalted butter <S> ¼ cup finely diced, glazed orange peel (optional) 4 egg whites pinch of salt <S> 1 Tb granulated sugar <S> Does this sound the same? <S> Orange liqueur like Cointreau sounds lovely with white chocolate but perhaps not what you're aiming? <S> How does a little Grand Marnier? <S> It has an orange flavour too but quite different to me. <S> It's more robust than Cointreau <S> so I wouldn't use that much. <S> Ultimately, it comes down to your preferences and any guests you're serving it to. <S> (As a side thought, I wonder how a nice brandy would go with white chocolate mousse? <S> I've used it in different desserts before but back when I could afford to stock my cooking pantry with some liqueurs, rum and brandy.) <A> White chocolate makes me think of neither chocolate nor vanilla--- it definately has its own flavor. <S> I don't recall what edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking <S> I copied the recipe from. <S> It includes the same ingredients posted here, though I typed 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 6 squares semisweet baking chocolate, and 1/4 cup orange juice, orange liqueur, or rum. <S> A family friend presented my parents a bottle of Amaretto Disaronno every Christmas, so I used that until I moved away from home. <S> My experience with alcohol is very limited, and I'm unfamiliar with brandy outside of blackberry. <S> I read that even white crème de cacao tastes chocolaty. <S> I'll probably buy an airline style miniature bottle of whatever I go with. <S> I always suspected that the liqueur/orange juice was additional assurance any bacteria remaining after heating would be killed. <S> Beating raw eggs over almost-simmering water isn't a death threat to Campylobacter jejuni, but I don't have a raw egg hangup. <S> I've been sampling raw cookie dough for almost half a century, and even taking a pathogenic microbiology couse doesn't dissuade me. <S> In my opinion, adding cream would pollute Julia Child's recipe. <S> The whipped cream used in other recipes for loft makes me think of bras that add a cup size with padding. <S> Doesn't seem French by nature. <S> The half cup of liquid I use has to be subtle enough not to mask or compete with the delicate flavor of white chocolate. <S> It's possible that much butter will overwhelm the lesser amount of white chocolate.
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Perhaps white rum is the best liqueur, and water instead of coffee to thin the chocolate.
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How to imitate the oven on the stovetop? I would like to know if there are techniques of replicating oven-cooking on the stovetop, without using actual stovetop ovens (aluminum box that sits atop a flame). Although I can cover skillets and grill pans with foil, the problem would be that meats would burn on the bottom side. Hoping you could share some tips for an amateur cook. <Q> There is no great solution for an oven on the stovetop, even stovetop ovens aren't that great. <S> The two are entirely different styles of cooking. <S> The only thing I can think of that comes close is a dutch oven as the thick sides conduct more heat around the vessel, but that still gets most heat on the bottom. <S> If you want to do a lot of browning of the tops of things in a commercial situation then you could invest in a dedicated top grill unit, these are just for that purpose, a bit like a broiler except it's a table-top unit. <S> If you want to brown the top of things and melt cheese every once and awhile but can't have an oven then I would introduce you to my good friend the piezo ignition gas torch which you can pick up in most hardware stores. <S> Other than the equipment side <S> I'd suggest you modify your choice of dishes and ingredients to fit the equipment you have available. <S> You can struggle trying to re-create oven cooking on a stovetop with mediocre results, or you can learn to make falling off the bone stovetop slow-cooked meats. <S> One approach is more rewarding than the other. <A> I just remembered form my camping days that I once had an aluminum folding box like thing that would sit atop a Coleman stove. <S> I baked a pie in it and it worked great. <S> You should be able to find one of these in an outdoors store that sells camping supplies. <A> Baking is a dry-heat cooking method in which the heat comes from all around. <S> The problem you'll have on the stove is that the heat comes from only the bottom. <S> However if you have a deep enough pan/pot you can "elevate" the protein on a wire rack or even a bed of vegetables, such as onions and carrots, to prevent the bottom from burning. <S> Cover with a tight fitting lid and you will have something that is similar to an oven, but you still won't get much browning like you would in a real oven. <S> So it would be best to carmalize your meat on a higher heat on the stove first then transfer to this type of set up. <A> I made a pizza once on the stove top. <S> I placed a rimmed cookie sheet on top of a saute pan. <S> I put the pizza on the cookie sheet and placed another larger rimmed cookie sheet on top and perpendicular to the lower sheet holding the pizza. <S> This allowed moisture to escape and the pizza came out very good.
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It is going to be impossible to get a good immitation of an oven, on the stovetop, due to the fact that there is no way to get a dry heat source on all sides.
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Do roasted and unroasted peppers taste different after slow cooking in soup all day? I love red bell peppers. Is there a taste difference if I roast them before chopping and adding them to soup or beans that slow cook for 4-6 hours? Am I just cooking them before cooking them again or does roasting (under my broiler, then peeling) produce a unique taste that I wouldn't get from just simmering them for hours? <Q> <A> Roasted red peppers would add some subtle sweeter flavor and some smokiness depending how you roast it (over grill, wood ... ) <S> But depending on the actual recipe it might just not make a big difference. <S> Also when roasting peppers like that, you will remove the outer skin which is hard to do with un-roasted peppers. <A> Having done some extensive testing on various chili recipes it is fair to say that roasted peppers do taste 'different' than unroasted. <S> That difference is more noticeable if you also peel the peppers after roasting as the peel itself is something of a 'flavor barrier'. <S> This page has a good tutorial on how to roast and peel red bell peppers, but the technique is good for any pepper I have tried. <S> For my part, I prefer to open the peppers and clean out the spines and seeds and membrane before roasting and peeling. <S> With hotter peppers this amplifies the flavor affect of the roast because it clears away most of the 'heat' (capsaicin) allow you to really taste the pepper and not the heat.
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The roasting process doesn't just heat the peppers, but the high, dry heat also causes a bit of both scorching and carmelization of the sugars, so I would expect there to be a bit of different flavor, even if both get cooked to the same consistency in a subsequent process.
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What's the line between salsa and guacamole? I know there is guacamole dip you can buy in the store refrigerator case. I know there's guacamole itself. I know there's jarred "guacamole style salsa" which is a smooth salsa with avocado in it. But where is the line where guacamole becomes a salsa and a salsa becomes guacamole? <Q> Part of the problem is that "salsa" doesn't mean just one thing to everyone. <S> If you do a web search for "avocado salsa" you get images ranging from liquid to chunky: <S> Similarly, there's no one "correct" way to make guacamole. <S> Some people like it smooth and thick - hummus-like, if you will, other people like it partially mashed and partially chunky... <S> almost the same as the chunky-style salsa. <S> So, how do we set limits if the products are so varied? <S> We really can't. <S> I could write long "definitions" claiming that guacamole should be X% avocado and must be mashed in an authentic molcajete rather than in chunks or pureed... <S> that salsas should be X% or less avocado and must contain things like tomato, onion, tomatillo... <S> but you'll always be able to find something that calls itself "salsa" but seems more like "guacamole" or the other way around. <S> The important thing is, it's all delicious. <S> Enjoy it! <S> The other part of your problem is that guacamole is a kind of salsa. <S> From Wikipedia : Salsa is the Spanish, Italian, Greek and Turkish (salça) term for sauce, and in English-speaking countries usually refers to the sauces typical of Mexican cuisine known as salsas picantes, particularly those used as dips. <S> Salsa, contrary to common belief, is in fact not a condiment, although it may be used to flavor various food items. <S> Salsa is often a tomato-based sauce or dip that is a heterogeneous mixture that includes additional ingredients such as onions, chilies, beans, corn, and various spices. <S> It is typically piquant, ranging from mild to extremely hot. <S> If you look under the "types", you will find guacamole. <S> You'll also find "Creamy avocado salsa". <S> Creamy avocado salsa is a sauce made from avocado, lime, cilantro, jalapeño or serrano peppers, garlic, olive oil, cumin, and salt. <S> Still, they're both "salsas". <S> So, in the end, there is no way to separate the two... <S> though, if I were at a restaurant and order "guacamole" and they give me the first image at the top... I'd complain. <S> Any of the other three, I'll take. <A> I think what you are seeing is marketing speak. <S> Many different manufacturers put out similar products but may call them by different names. <S> From what I've seen, guacamole, guacamole dip, and avocado dip are pretty much synonymous. <S> They can all be used as a dip or condiment. <S> There will be differences, e.g. one may taste slightly different than another or one may be chunky and another smooth, but the manufacturer chooses what name they give it from a marketing standpoint. <S> Regarding a line between salsa and guacamole, I don't see that there is really a line. <S> What I mean is, adding avocado to a salsa <S> doesn't make it guacamole any more than adding apples to a salad <S> makes it a Waldorf salad. <A> The traditional guacamole is a salsa made specifically from avocado (the word comes from Nahuatl "ahuacatl" - avocado + "mole" - sauce). <S> So your Venn diagram would have guacamole inside salsa. <S> Once you start omitting the avocado in your salsa, you've left guacamole-land.
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Guacamole is thicker than a sauce and generally used as a dip; it refers to any sauce where the main ingredient is avocado.
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Rescuing a CUT but unripe avocado I've seen this Q&A What can I do to help my avocados ripen? And this one Will avocado stay fresh longer if stored in the refrigerator? and this one What can I do to help my avocados ripen? but none of them answers my question which is: I have an avocado I cut open but it's not ripe yet. Being that it's already cut what if any are my options? For the moment I poured some lemon juice on the exposed parts, put them in a container and put them in the refrigerator but I kind of get the impression they'll never get ripe in there and I should just throw them away. Being already cut it doesn't seem like I can leave them out of the refrigerator in a paper bag. Is there any way to rescue these already cut but unripe avocados? <Q> If you don't want to use the unripened avocado right away, according to this site Store Cut Unripe Avocados - If you have cut open your... avocado and found it to be unripe, sprinkle the exposed flesh of the avocado with lemon or lime juice, place the two halves back together and cover tightly with clear plastic wrap before placing in the refrigerator. <S> Check the avocado periodically to see if it has softened up enough to eat. <S> Depending on firmness when the fruit was cut and temperature conditions, the ripening process will vary Another user suggests to use vitamin C powder instead, as her experiments show the vinegar would darken the avocado. <S> Ironically enough, there's a solution to ripen the avocado (almost) <S> instantly if you want to use it right away. <S> This link <S> talks about "instantly" ripening a foil wrapped avocado by baking it in an oven preheated to 95 <S> °C/200° <S> F oven. <S> Cooking time can start as low as 10 minutes. <S> Keep checking every 10 minutes until it's soft enough for your use. <S> After it's been in the oven, let cool and unwrap. <S> Note: that the taste and texture would be changed after thus heating the avocado, but it should be usable right away after baking. <S> There's also uses for the unripened avocado seen here <A> If you can put the two halves back together with the pit in the center, vacuum seal it. <S> This will prevent it from drying out or turning black from oxidation. <A> There is one out there that says to use your microwave [1]: <S> https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-ripen-avocados-quickly-in-a-microwave/ <S> [1]. <S> You use something to poke a few small holes just through the hard shell an then microwave for short periods of 30 seconds on medium to low setting, checking after every 30 interval.
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Another possible way to protect it from oxidation without affecting the taste/texture of the avocado would be to coat all the exposed area in a thick layer of avocado oil
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What is the best way to cook chicken if I plan on microwaving it a few days later? I'm going to start meal-prep sunday soon (in about a month). Basically I'm going to be making all of my meals on sunday and eating them throughout the week. I'm loving the idea but I'm a little worried about my chicken. I love chicken but whenever I broil it (I don't own a grill) and then microwave it a few days later, it's extremely dry. Marinating isn't an option (I'm going to be cooking with a lot of people who have a whole bunch of different allergies), so I'm stuck to salt/pepper. I'll probably buy chicken breast most of the time but an answer about any kind of meat (other than ground) would be extremely helpful. How should I cook so that it's not dry when I microwave it? <Q> Under such tight restrictions, one step that might help is brining. <S> This would apply to chicken breasts, pork loin, or pretty much any other lean meat; darker cuts such as chicken thighs will benefit less, but there's no reason you can't brine those if you want to. <S> You can find a quick primer about how and why this works here ; in short, brining denatures some of the proteins that "squeeze" moisture out of the meat as it cooks, which reduces moisture loss in the finished product. <S> You don't really need anything other than salt, water, and time, though many recipes will call for additional flavoring agents. <S> Make sure that you don't overcook to begin with. <S> If you can, get a thermometer and measure the meat's internal temperature. <S> Here is a decent guide to the recommended temperatures for various types of meat; remember that you want to cook to slightly below these temperatures to allow for carryover . <S> From personal experience I would advise you to vary your technique and try to cook different variations on the same basic food; this guards against boredom, and makes it easier to stick to a regimen of weekly meal prep. <S> If chicken thighs are on sale, get some and braise them instead <S> (you don't need to bother with brining if you do this). <S> This takes some time to cook, but it's very easy, and they'll reheat well for days. <A> I've been meal prepping with chicken for nearly a year. <S> If you want it to be moist after re-warming it in the microwave, you have to cook it near perfect or even just a little under, so it will finish just right in the microwave. <S> If your goal is to do this long term, forget about using a brine, thermometers or any other extra steps that take time. <S> Meal prepping is about saving time. <S> If you use whole breasts, you'll want to cut them before cooking. <S> I like to use tenderloins because it allows you to skip that step. <S> Roast the chicken with salt and pepper at 400F for some time. <S> Make small adjustments until you get the time correct - everyone's oven is different. <S> I've found 11 minutes to be the right time for tenderloins in my oven. <A> My favorite way to cook chicken for meal prepping is either marinating and then roasting in the oven with veggies, or more often than not, using my slow cooker. <S> You can still make basic sauces or marinades for the crock pot that are allergen friendly and use a lot moister (aka chicken thighs) cuts of meat that will break down really well in the slow cooker. <S> Using citrus juices or flavors will help to tenderize the meat and still give great flavor! <S> If you have a good idea about what their allergies are <S> I’d be happy to make other spice or marinade suggestions too. <S> Hope this helps!
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Instead of broiling, cook your chicken on the stove, then make a basic pan sauce to serve over it, which will add moisture and flavor.
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Is it possible to season chicken breast with BBQ sauce before baking it in the oven? I always put BBQ sauce on my chicken after it is done baking, but I was wondering if I can do the same while seasoning it to save time? <Q> Baking the chicken with the sauce will cook the sauce and will start caramelize some of the sauce making the chicken better (IMO). <A> Yes, "It is possible"... <S> however there are trade offs. <S> The sauce will caramelize and become a tasty glaze... <S> but...your chicken becomes more 'braised'(cooked in liquid) than 'grilled'. <S> You get the caramelized sauce but loose the ' maillard effect ' that comes from grilling. <S> As taste is personal matter <S> the best advise is try it and see which you and your audience prefer. <S> On an aside, you might try doing a brine (long soak) or marinade (other than the viscous BBQ sauce, for instance soy sauce) <S> and/or even injections to layer different flavors. <A> Yes. <S> Advantage is moister chicken, more tender chicken with a baked glaze on it. <S> Seals the skin it will. <S> I often rub a chicken inside & out with a wild honey& BBQ dry mix. <S> Yard hens. <S> If over baked at most all you need remove is the skin to discard. <A> Yeah, people make baby back ribs this way by gradually adding layers of BBQ sauce on the meat. <S> You'll eventually get a good layer of sauce coating the meat.
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Yes you can, and should try it.
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why my dishes are always over satiating? whenever I cook dishes its always over satiating, I believe it has too much umami on it, and whenever I cook I always feel like being full already by just tasting while cooking. Like its too delicious and you cant eat more of it. Is there a way to get rid of that over satiating taste? <Q> "Too delicious, and you can't eat more of it": I don't see the "too delicious" part as a problem. <S> Delicious is good. <S> "Can't eat more of it", as others have pointed out, sounds like it is just too heavy, or too rich. <S> So, as others have also pointed out, it might help to cook some less heavy foods. <S> In general, fish, tofu, and vegetables (especially raw or steamed) tend to be lighter and less filling than meats and heavy cheesy or buttery sauces. <S> Depending on your cuisine tradition, however, substituting different food items may not be an appealing option. <S> If most of the dishes that you and your family find acceptable happen to be on the heavy side, at least you can serve them along with other things in the meal to add variety, like plenty of plain rice or other simple grain, green salad, and/or steamed, pickled or raw vegetables and maybe a refreshing cold beverage or fresh fruit. <A> There is a real point here. <S> If, while cooking, you repeatedly season by tasting the current (accumulated) mixture, you may become habituated, especially to the level of salt, and go too far. <S> If you retain a sample of the unseasoned mixture, and compare the flavor to that, you get a better idea of what it's like for a guest, tasting it for the first time. <A> Interpret, rather than take literally, what your tasting spoon tells you. <S> Our taste sense is rather heat dependent - and straight-from-the-pan heat seems to make many people under-taste salt and sugar, and over-taste bitter compounds (which would call for compensating with ... <S> you guessed it, salt and sugar). <S> On top of that, you will get a "first-bite taste" that doesn't take accumulating flavours (the kind that only develops after a couple of bites) into account. <S> Also, some sauces will be less tongue-coating (due to lower viscosity, especially of fats!) and thus appear less intense than they are at pan heat. <S> Alternatively, don't taste a pan-fresh spoon but actually plate (or let cool on the spoon) <S> a small portion.
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Try intentionally seasoning so your tasting spoon seems underseasoned but reasonably balanced.
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What fruits, vegetables, raw meats, or spices are naturally blue? So, here's an odd question. A few years ago, my home ed. teacher told us that she would not eat anything that is colored blue. it's unnatural. Thinking on this, I confronted her about blueberries. She argued that blueberries are purple. Okay. What vegetables, fruits, meats, or spices are naturally blue (either before or after preparation)? (For all intents and purposes, yes, blueberries are blue) <Q> Butterfly pea flowers, corn flower , chicory flowers , blue mallow flower and blue lotus all have blue flowers and the petals are used to make tea, in salads, or to spice foods (for the color). <S> Black goji berries are also supposed to make a blue tea, so probably have a blue juice. <S> If blueberries' purple juice disqualifies them, blue juice should qualify the goji berries even if they look very dark when whole. <S> aztec black (grinds to blue meal, so blue inside), santo domingo , lenape , or my favorite (and very visibly blue) baby blue jade corn. <S> There's also assorted odds and ends like blue sausage fruit or succotash bean , prickly caterpillar bean , fruit of the bilberry cactus , a blue kale , a blue-green tomato (the blue-reds tend to look black, but they're called blue), couple other blue tomatoes , blue potatoes , the blue carrot Sobachatina mentioned - some heirlooms can get oddly colored, it's fun. <S> Some of these do tend towards the purplish, but in every case either the inside is blue, the juice or pulp is blue, or there are pictures of truly blue examples as well as purplish ones (probably depending on pH of the soil). <S> There's also a double handful of blue flowers and berries that are ornamental, but not eaten, and again as much of purpleish ones that have some really blue pigment (in patches or along edges). <A> Blue corn would be a good example. <A> A meat that is blue is lingcod (about 20% of the time, according to Wikipedia ). <S> The rock/kelp greenling and cabezon also sometimes have blue flesh, though I'm not sure if the cabezon is edible ( source ). <S> Some chickens and birds lay blue eggs. <S> Now, the yolk and white aren't blue, but the shell is.
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Blue corn is also an option, as payton B mention - there are many varieties including hopi blue ,
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Grilling Surface for a DIY Barbecue What is an appropriate semi-permanent surface to use over an open fire barbecue?I am planning on making a grill rack for my fire pit. My intention is have this surface remain outdoors within the pit. I'm looking for something that wont corrode and that is food safe and something that can handle the high heat of a fire pit. I have seen sprays that can be applied. Some are high heat sprays made for grills (exteriors). I'm not sure if these are food safe. Has anyone had experience? I have also seen food safe anti-corrosive metal sprays, but I cant find information about their heat tolerance. Thank You for any help. <Q> Almost all of the high heat sprays are not expected to last against direct flame exposure. <S> I have a outdoor fire pit/BBQ with plain rebar as the grill. <S> Even though it does rust a bit, the exposed rebar is thick enough that it would be <S> decades before I would need to replace it, and the baked on char/oils actually protect the metal quite a bit. <S> The other option would be using stainless steel rods as the grill rack material, then there would be negligible amounts of corrosion. <S> If i had to remake the grate on my fire pit <S> I would probably use 416 stainless steel rods like these http://amzn.to/2gV2DVD <S> Also, avoid anything that is chrome or zinc plated. <S> When chrome or zinc gets burnt, they produce toxic byproducts. <S> Just to be safe, I would avoid anything that is plated for your grill grates. <A> Definitely don't use a non-food treatment for a food contact surface. <S> Those paints will flake off into your food. <S> How big is the grill going to be? <S> DIY grills in most commercial operations <S> It's a super durable, super low maintenance way to go, but they're heavy as hell and tough to trim to suit your needs if you don't have the equipment. <S> If you're looking for something a little more refined, restaurant suppliers (like webstaurantstore) sell replacement grates for commercial grills– they're usually cast iron, so you'd have to cover them to keep them from getting rained on. <S> As long as there's a decent layer of cooking grease on them and they're not getting directly rained on, they should resist corrosion. <S> If you see some, sand it down to kill the cancer and oil it. <S> If you're building it from scratch and can choose the dimensions, consider making it the size of an already popular product, like Weber kettle grills. <S> That way, any grill that works for them will work for you. <A> Consider using stone. <S> I believe hot stones used to be used for cooking in place of metal pans. <S> I have used a pizza stone for making pizza, bread, chicken, and fries. <S> When the stone is preheated properly the food is very evenly cooked and crisp. <S> Fatty foods like beef may produce a burning smell and you may want to consider using a separate stone for dry foods. <S> Cleanup is largely just water and/or scraping. <S> No soap or chemicals or oils should ever be used on a stone that I know of. <S> I would avoid brick or man-made bricks, as they may have undesirable materials in them for human consumption. <A> Stainless steel, non-magnetic ( eg. 304) would be best. <S> Expensive; However, some grills come with SS racks . <S> Because the SS racks last forever they can be found in junked grills . <S> I recently saw a grill at the curb on our neighborhood "junk" day. <S> Some salvage /recycle yards may sell the SS racks. <S> To clean . <S> build a good fire in your BBQ and heat the racks to dim red heat ( ca. 1100F) , I promise nothing will be living on them. <S> I occasionally do this "self-cleaning" cycle on the SS racks in my gas grill. <A> Expanded metal grates such as: are popular improvised grill surfaces. <S> Available at many local hardware stores or online and reasonably priced. <S> You want to avoid galvanized or other coated versions but this material is easy to cut to fit and should serve you well.
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Finding a large cooking/pizza stone and making a stand to hold one or two in place over the fire is an option. I've seen use unpainted steel road grates.
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How can I measure / weigh really small quantities? Yesterday I was cooking a Focaccia were I required just a gramme of yeast and a gramme of salt. When I try to use my (electric) scales, it never registers 1 gramme of difference. I also needed to weigh 5 grammes of olive oil, but i could not take out the exact quantity. What can I do to measure very small quantities whilst cooking? <Q> Simplest solution: Buy a more sensitive scale. <S> There's plenty around that can measure grams. <S> If that's not an option, you can sort of just about get it quite, but not completely wrong by using measuring spoons: <S> A full teaspoon with something in it is usually around 5 grams. <S> A quarter teaspoon would be 1.25 grams, if you happen to have a 1/8th measuring spoon, it would be around 0,6 grams. <S> I'm not very proficient in baking (or not at all, really), but what I notice (or think I noticed) is that correct measurements in baking are more important than they are in cooking. <S> So the best advice would still be (since you're baking a focaccia) to buy a more sensitive scale. <A> Convert it to volume. <S> You can easily google the density of yeast or olive oil. <S> When I did it for yeast <S> I found that there's about 2.8g per tsp. <S> So, a heaping 1/4 tsp is about 1g. <S> I also found that 5g of olive oil is about 1.1 tsp. <S> The site I found is here: http://convert-to.com/ <A> You can measure a power of two, and then divide. <S> For instance, you measure 15 grams, which is almost 16, and then you halve it, halve one of the halfs, etc., four times: you end up with one gram. <S> Or measure 30 (almost 32) and halve five times. <A> A decimal gram scale is a lot more affordable then many people think. <S> I have this one ( https://www.amazon.com/TREE-KHR-3001-Kitchen-Scale/dp/B01HKK4GYS ) <S> and it is great. <S> It's accurate to .1 gram and measures up to 3 kg. <A> Another option that's used often in analytical laboratories for the same reason: stock solutions! <S> You can then measure 10g of <S> this with fair accuracy and add it to your dough, effectively adding 1g each of salt and yeast. <S> The main downside of this method is that you are wasting salt & yeast to make the stock, but seeing as they're both fairly cheap I don't see it as a dealbreaker. <S> The other point of attention is that you're adding a bit of extra bulk ingredient (8g of water in the above example), which you might need to take into account at some other point. <S> Footnotes: 1: You can substitute water for flour, or any other bulk ingredient, however solid ingredients require very careful & thorough mixing for the above method to work 2: More accurately it's a dispersion as yeast doesn't really dissolve
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Since you want to use fairly cheap ingredients, you can create a "stock solution" (in water 1 ) and measure that with much more accuracy. In your case, you can measure 10g each of salt & yeast, mix them with 80g of water to make 100g of a stock solution 2 containing 10% by weight salt and 10% b.w. yeast.
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How to achieve in my homed-made mayo the same strong 'egg flavor' as in store-bought mayo? I have been experimenting with home-made mayonnaise recently. My favourite mayonnaise brands like Hellmann's and Hienz have three distinct taste 'points' that I have tried to achieve: Tangy Salty A distinct 'eggy', or egg-like flavor While I have been able to achieve the tangy-ness and saltiness through vinegar and salt, I have no idea how manufacturers make their mayonnaise taste so eggy . Do they half boil the eggs before emulsifying the mayo? Or is it achieved through a blend of other spices? I tried adding more raw eggs to my recipe but they don't seem to have any effect. I appreciate any advice on what I could add to achieve this strong egg-like flavor in my home-made mayo. Edit: Thanks for the answers so far. I will green tick the answer that worked best for me once I have tried them. Edit 2: The answer that worked for me was the one that suggested home pasteurising the eggs. I pasteurised the eggs at 135 F for 1hr 15 mins as recommended but I couldn't keep the temperature (it kept fluctuating high and low). I used a small metal sauce pan. The final result was a mayo that had the strong eggy flavor I was looking for, but was also too watery. Still, in the context of this question it did work. Will be finding more ways to keep the eggy flavor while making the mayo thick and stable. <Q> The sulfur content in the distilled white vinegar used in commercial mayo really emphasizes the egg flavor. <S> If you're using a different vinegar, I think that you should switch to see if it does the trick. <S> If you've got an immersion circulator, you can do a relatively high-temperature pasteurization for whole eggs in their shell, while not actually cooking them through, and use those for the mayo. <S> There are commercially pasteurized shell eggs available from Davidson's Safest Choice, but they don't taste vastly different from regular eggs <S> — I imagine they pasteurize them at a relatively low temperature for a pretty long time specifically to make them as similar to raw eggs as possible. <S> Without an immersion circulator, you almost certainly won't have the temperature control you need to pasteurize the eggs without cooking them. <S> Good luck! <A> The Organic way: <S> You're saying that you've tried adding more raw eggs to your recipe, but do not provide any details, so I'm assuming you make mayonnaise with the entire egg (like my aunt does) <S> whereas I only use the yolk of eggs of vegetable and maize-fed chickens and mine tastes much more "eggy" than my aunt's... <S> So: Buy your own chickens and feed them stale bread, vegetable scraps from your kitchen and add about a cup of maize per week. <S> Use organic eggs from a reputable source (local farmer, ask what they feed to their chickens) <S> Use only the yolk Use even more yolk if that still isn't "eggy" enough <S> Disadvantage: <S> My aunt doesn't like my mayonnaise as it's way too rich for her... <S> The chemical way: <S> Just buy some Egg yolk, cooked flavour from the Italian (what else?) <S> company FlavourArt and add one drop of that... <S> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ <A> Use black salt, kala namak. <S> It have a very strong egg flavour and aroma.
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The cooked egg flavor you're looking for comes from pasteurizing the eggs for the mayo.
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Is there a name for the taste coming from alkaline food? I know "acidic food" is described as "sour" but what do we call food that is "alkaline"? <Q> The most recognizable taste to encounter would be "soapy". <S> You can see it as a bit of a special case though, since it is not the taste of a pure alkaline substance, but the taste you get when the alkaline substance reacts with fats. <S> Since most food contains fats, this is what you frequently get if you try to make alkaline food. <S> You are also likely to get descriptions like "chemically tasting", since it is not a flavor we frequently encounter in food, but it can remind us of the aroma of some inorganic substances in our daily lives. <S> Try overdoing double-acting baking powder in a muffin, or making it with ammonium or potassium based leaveners instead of the widespread sodium ones, and you'll see what I mean. <S> Beyond that, we don't really have good descriptors. <S> And I am not even sure pretzels count - the goal there is to have the lye react away with the gluten, <S> so they might not be very alkaline in the end. <S> Also, the salt on the surface and the unusual texture distracts us a lot from the subtler flavors there. <A> The question intrigued me, mostly because I was under the impression that foods just varied in the degree of acidity, and we don't eat alkali materials. <S> So looking up on a couple of charts found randomly on the internet, ... Approximate pH of Foods and Food products <S> pH Values of Common Foods and Ingredients ... and keeping in mind Mr. Janowski's statement from 10th grade that water has pH 7, and anything higher than that is a "base", I find that yes, we do eat alkali foods <S> [he also taught that "alkali" was a fancy word for "base"], but not very many. <S> Some of the ones that jumped out at me were: corn, ripe olives, tofu, birds nest soup[??] <S> , clams, coconut, conch (pH of 7.52-8.40!!), graham crackers, grass jelly[??] <S> , hominy, lobster, soda crackers, cooked spinach. <S> (Some of those were listed with a range of pH values extending from just below 7 to just above 7). <S> So what taste do they have in common? <S> In fact what do they have in common at all? <S> Many have either been heavily processed maybe with alkaline chemicals (ripe olives, tofu, hominy), or come from the sea (conch, lobster, clams). <S> Those examples seem to mostly have a salty component to their flavor. <S> As for the land-origin, naturally occuring examples, i.e. corn and coconut, they aren't salty, and they don't seem to have any taste in common to each other or those other basic foods. <S> So my (disappointing) answer is, I don't think you can taste the "basic" quality itself, except that many foods which are basic are often salty because of processing or being borne of sea water (pH 8.1 - 8.2 per internet). <A> Alkaline in food does not impart any specific named "taste" to the food. <S> So the food is just being described as alkaline or basic. <S> Unless you are using food texture to describe alkaline foods, as foods treated with alkaline usually ends up with a different texture such as being firmer/denser. <S> On a related note: Even though there is not much flavor from adding lots of alkaline to food, what it does do very well is it drastically changes the texture of food. <S> Alkaline(Lye) <S> treatment usually gives the food items a more slimy gelatinous texture before you cook it. <S> Lye water is used commonly in Asian cuisine, it makes food alkaline. <S> Powdered <S> Lye <S> is also commonly used to make pretzels.
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There is no single word to describe that taste, and no single taste receptor for alkaline substances either (whereas there are taste receptors for acids).
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Very moldy cast iron cookware - what's the best way to clean it? Returning home after using cast iron cookware on a camping trip, I forgot to clean the cast iron in the midst of much unpacking and other matters. As a result of A) leaving any cookware with food in it for almost a week, and B) leaving a cast iron pot sealed with its cover on it, there was more mold in that cast iron pot than I'd ever seen on any cookware before. My main priority was to clean all the mold ASAP. I put the pot and pan (lid) outside in my yard, poured bleach on it, then followed up with boiling water. That seemed to kill all the mold, and nearby grass. After that, and rainy weather the following day when I intended to leave it outside to air out and dry in the sun, the cast iron became very rusted. Now I embark on the task of scraping off all the rust using steel wool, scrubbing the cookware with soap, rinsing it in hot water, drying it, then reseasoning it. This all has me wondering: when cast iron cookware gets very moldy, what's the most efficient and accessible way to make it hygienic and usable again? <Q> Then proceed to re-seasoning. <S> Taking the bleach side trip adds the joy of rust removal, which you can avoid if you don't let the cleaned (by fire/heat) cast iron get damp before oiling it and starting the re-seasoning process. <A> You have done it. <S> Remove rust with fine steel wool (XXXX) <S> and then wash with a mild dish soap, then re-season. <S> Dry thoroughly. <A> Killing the mold with hydrogen perioxide works better than bleach. <S> Wash thoroughly with the peroxide and then put in the oven to reseason. <S> Let it sit for a week... <S> if the mold persists, repeat the process.
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The most efficient method would be to skip the whole bleach step, and start right in on burning the mold (and seasoning) off either in a fire or in an oven on the self-clean cycle.
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Please can someone help me identify this? Please can someone help me find out what this is <Q> This is a Chaenomeles speciosa , commonly known as flowering or Chinese quince, sometimes also as Japanese quince (but not to be confused with the smaller shrub C. japonica, also known as Maule's quince). <S> It is edible, but very sour (lots of vitamin C!), very hard and often slightly bitter. <S> Culinary uses are similar to regular quinces (Cydonia oblonga), but due to the high pectin content they are especially suited alone or mixed with low-pectin fruit for jams and jellies. <S> The plant itself is - at least in the western world - typically planted for the showy flowers as ornamental hedge (C. japonica is smaller and often planted as solitaire), not primarily for fruit. <S> In fact, many gardeners don't realize that chaenomeles are edible. <S> The fruit in your picture are far from ripe, they need at least another two months and will turn yellow and fragrant with dark kernels. <S> They remain hard and if picked before the first frost and can be stored for months. <S> Harvesting after the first frost gives you slightly softer fruit with shorter shelf life, but even better aroma as some of the bitter components are destroyed. <A> Looks like a quince to me. <S> Very astringent. <S> Basically inedible raw but used in jellies with a ton of sugar. <S> I would call it more candied that jelly myself, at least any I have ever had. <S> In truth, in US I have seen it grown far more as an edible than a culinary item, but have always understood it is more popular some other parts of the world. <S> Russian ladies I worked with were especially fond of them. <S> I believe there are some other culinary uses, but would think most involve pickling or sugar type curing to break the astringency. <S> I would regularly add a few too my cider pressings though when I had too many apples that were too sweet. <S> A small amount added to overly sweet cider registered, at least to me, as tart and mellowed the cider nicely. <S> ETA: <S> Sorry, all pictures I am finding of quince look more like deformed pears, less list apple, but the varieties I had and that I grew up with looked like what you or picturing. <S> A very dense apple look with speckles. <S> But the pictures draw into question that ID, so may want to go to gardening for and ID. <A> Decent fruit though looks like you may have picked early, I think the seeds will get darker as it ripens, the fruit turns yellowish. <S> Usually Fall. <S> The fruit ought to twist off easily. <S> But...they can be stored for a long time and will ripen slowly off the plant (with less flavor).When <S> you cook them (boil with water and sugar) <S> they will turn pink. <S> My favorite is quince-cranberry chutney for Thanksgiving.
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The seed shape is very characteristic of quince though as said before this is chaenomeles speciosa which is used more for decoration, pretty flowers.
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How can I reduce the sugar in this oatmeal bar recipe? I made this recipe for oatmeal bars, following the instructions with just a couple changes. Although they turned out well, I would like to reduce the sugar content while still preserving the texture of the bars. They are currently somewhat dense and a bit crumbly but still hold together, and I'd like them to either stay that way or be lighter and less crumbly. What changes could I make to achieve this? Here is specifically what I did: 2 cups rolled oats 2 cups flour 1 cup creamy peanut butter (Jif) 2 beaten eggs 3/4 cups white sugar 3 tsp vanilla 1 tsp each of baking soda, salt, cinnamon 1 cup raisins cooked in 5 tbsp water, including water 4 tbsp whole milk plus enough more to make the dough hold together Mixed everything together and baked in a greased 9x13 glass pan in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. <Q> You could try putting some medjool dates in a food processor then grinding them down into a powder! <S> Lots of vegan and paleo recipes use dates instead of sugar as a healthier and less sweet option. <A> Ok, so just attacking the sugar content and texture I would suggest replacing the 3/4 cup white sugar with 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 brown sugar , the molasses will help your texture (think 'chocolate chip cookie') and 1 tablespoon honey <S> (along with this you should probably reduce the milk by 1 tablespoon) <S> A sugar free peanut butter will also help (but may be at the sacrifice of texture, YMMV) <S> Another good substitution would be craisins for the raisins . <S> (since I know you also want to boost the protein, you might add in some dark chocolate chips or cocoa powder) <A> You can cut the sugar to 1/2 cup, given that raisins included in the recipe.
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To make the bars lighter, try adding 3/4 cup butter or coconut oil and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
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How can I reduce the sodium/salt in Halloumi? I bought some Halloumi cheese the other day, and noticed that its sodium content is a whopping 1.3 grams per 100 grams! I'm really scared to serve this now. Surely your blood pressure would skyrocket through the roof after consuming it? I've read somewhere that soaking Halloumi overnight in water and lemon juice can draw out the salt in it, but is this true? And more importantly, to what degree? Does it only make it slightly less salty? Have you experimented with it? Would chopping up the Halloumi and then soaking it overnight help draw out even more salt? <Q> Chopping it up will increase the surface area and allow more salt to be drawn out, it's still not going to make it that much less salty. <S> If you have concerns about salt intake then there is lower salt halloumi sold in places, however that doesn't taste like much. <S> A little halloumi goes a long way, you could just eat small amounts of it or pair it up with something else. <S> I barbecued pineapple and halloumi skewers this past weekend with a 2:1 ratio of pineapple to halloumi <S> and it was a very good balance. <S> Everyone ended up eating one or two chunks of halloumi in the end, so really overall a moderate amount of salt. <A> An effective (if time-consuming) way to "reduce" the salt in cheese would be to make it yourself. <S> Want less salt = add less salt. <S> Be careful about soaking cheese in plain water for too long. <S> Cheese can get a bit slimy when soaked. <S> I believe it is to do with calcium (and lack-thereof in the water). <A> As GdD mentioned, cutting the cheese in smaller pieces will increase the surface area and make this process faster, but instead of soaking it in water and lemon juice, soak it in fresh milk. <S> The calcium balance of the cheese and milk will stop the cheese from melting as it would do in water. <S> Depending on the firmness of the cheese, you can leave from one to two days. <S> If you're not satisfied after that and the cheese is still firm enough, you can change the milk and try for two more days and repeatable until it suits your taste. <S> You can also try to go for the lemon and water method, but then just add a teaspoon of Calcium chloride for every two liters of waters. <S> I have to warn that I had more success with the milk though. <S> Hope that helps! <A> Done this many times very effectively. <S> Slice and cover in (ideally hot) milk or hot water and simmer for up to 5 minutes in a frying pan on a low heat. <S> Water does soften the cheese, but I find that is no bad thing. <S> Use a spatula to gently squeeze the cheese to remove extra salt / remove it faster. <S> Replace the hot water or milk once with more hot liquid of the same to further reduce if desired, though I find this usually takes the process a bit too far. <S> In your case you may want to as you're aiming for minimal salt. <S> If frying, drain the liquid from the pan, squeeze with the spatula and fry as normal on a medium heat, add a little olive oil if desired. <S> Any residual liquid should quickly boil off and you'll find you get lightly browned. <S> The end result is really good, especially with (unsalted) vine tomatoes which really help to cover any remaining saltiness - <S> though obviously in your case, that wouldn't be the point. <S> You can't totally eliminate the salt, but this does work to get rid of 2/3 of it <S> (ie. <S> more than half it by taste) <S> and I've done it many times. <S> Even so I wouldn't rely on that being an exact reduction of salt by weight if you were consuming a large quantity <S> , I suppose you could hypothetically dry and weigh the residue, but even that would contain proteins and be very inaccurate, not to mention pointless in a practical sense! <S> Hope that helps. <S> Also, others have asked to what extent this removes the salt. <A> A simple solution is to slice the halloumi into fry size pieces, add to the frying pan, half fill the pan with water, bring to the boil, simmer for a few minutes, drain the water, add oil, fry.
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Soaking Halloumi might get rid of a bit of the salt in the cheese that's close to the outer surface, but it isn't going to do much for you.
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Are trace amounts of lead in seasoned bakeware safe? I want to order a custom-cut steel plate to use like baking steel in the oven, and I read that in common raw steels the trace amount of lead can get up to 0.36%. If I season the steel like I would cast iron, and only use it to make pizza and bread on it, could that trace amount of lead be harmful? Edit: I just found out that 0.35% is the allowed amount of added lead to machinable steels. The maximum amount found in common raw steels is limited to 0.1%, and in practice probably a lot lower than that. <Q> I, and in general we, cannot answer if something is safe. <S> There are instances where we can say something is clearly unsafe, but when dealing with things like is this piece of metal safe for cooking we are not equipped to give anything but anecdotal answers and partially informed opinions. <S> The only safety answer that is actually reliable would come from lab testing and that is why we shell out tax dollars and public funding for organizations like UL and USDA in the US and similar organizations in other countries. <S> They do testing and declare metal products, glass, plastics, etc. <S> to be food grade or not food grade according to their composition and reactivity to normal food products. <S> They are not always correct, but their declarations are made from testing results, not guesses and partially informed opinions, mine or anyone else's. <S> Also an opinion, but one that I think is really the only prudent and reasonable one to make is get a product that is rated food grade, not a custom made item you or others think is safe. <S> The amount of toxins in the metal may well be low, well within standards, but that does not say it is not in a reactive form which will enter you food on first contact with a slightly acid item, and lead may even be one of your least concerns. <S> A piece of steal which was not manufactured under food grade conditions could have many other toxins that are not permitted in food grade manufacturing, permitted because they are in low amounts that are safe for the intended use but become readily transferred to food. <A> Normal steel will have < 0.02 % lead. <S> And "free machining" plate or sheet would be a very unusual product ; free machining is typically bar product , most likely containing sulfur and maybe lead. <A> Numbers aside, with the amount of steel that most food comes in contact with during packaging, processing, and shipping, your baking sheet would be the least of your concerns.
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Unless you are paying a premium for "free machining" steel , there is "no " lead in it.
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What am I doing wrong soft boiling my eggs? I've been trying to cook a good soft boiled egg for a long time now, and I don't think I've ever gotten it right. I've tried a bunch of different methods, but this is the one that I've seen thrown around the most, and this is the one I try when I want a soft boiled egg but it still doesn't work for me: Place the egg in room-temp water Bring the water to a soft boil Take it off the heat Let it sit for 6 minutes Take the egg out and place in ice water But it never quite works. The yoke always settles to one side of the egg so, one part of the yoke is totally done, and the other is still bright, shiny yellow, but no part of it is still running. What am I doing wrong? <Q> If the yolk is settling to one side (typically the wide, bottom end) try placing the carton on its side in the fridge the day before you use them. <S> This will move the yolk back towards the centre. <S> This will allow the whites to set much quicker than the yolks, preventing the yolks from migrating while they cook. <S> Cook in a covered saucepan with about 1/2 inch of water for about 6 1/2 minutes. <S> As you have been doing, immediately cool in an ice bath or under cold running water. <S> Try taking the eggs out 30 seconds apart and see what provides the best time for the results you want (a digital timer will help here), then stick with that in the future. <A> Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen has a pretty foolproof method. <S> The trick is exactly controlling the cooking time and temperature. <S> When you have a large pot of water, if you add in eggs, the temperature of the water drops, and has to heat back up to boiling. <S> This is a highly variable process, depending on volume of water, heat of the burner, heat capacity of the pot, number of eggs, etc. <S> What they've arrived at, instead, is to just use about 1/2 inch of water in the pan. <S> You heat it up to boiling, and when the eggs are added, there's so little water in the pan that it gets heated back up to boiling very rapidly. <S> This makes the temperature and time cooked very, very consistent which allows for consistent results, even when varying between 2 to 6 eggs. <S> They are actually steaming the eggs, essentially. <S> While their site is behind a paywall, many others have shared the method on other sites - Bring 1/2 inch water to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. <S> Using tongs, gently place eggs in boiling water (eggs will not be submerged). <S> Cover saucepan and cook eggs for 6 1/2 minutes. <S> The Bitten Word: Foolproof Soft Boiled Eggs <S> NOTE: <S> Cook's Illustrated recommends a shorter steaming time, if I recall correctly, but that yields a very, very runny egg and whites. <S> I think this site increased the time for more solid whites, and soft or runny yolks. <S> You'll need to tweak it a bit between 5 to 6.5 minutes to find how you like it. <S> The nice part is, once you do, you can easily replicate it! <A> I've never had any luck making soft boiled eggs using the heat and stand method, hard boiled that's my favorite method. <S> I think when you take the pan off the heat you get less convection, which would account for the uneven cooking, but that's my own theory which I haven't backed up with any scientific process. <S> For soft boiled eggs I would suggest putting cold eggs into cold water, then bringing the water to a soft boil for exactly 5 minutes and 20 seconds (this is for UK Large eggs which would equate to US XL), then immediately spooning them into ice water. <S> I use this technique often and it gives me very consistent results, the white is hard and the yolk is still gooey. <S> You will have to vary the time depending on the egg size you use and the hardness of the yolk you want. <A> Use a skillet with a lid. <S> Bring unsalted water to a boil. <S> Lower heat to a simmer. <S> Add 3 - 4 drops of white vinegar. <S> Crack the egg in its own small cup. <S> Lower the egg into the water. <S> (Repeat if want more) immediately put a cover on the skillet, turn off the heat. <S> Let it sit exactly 4 minutes. <S> Scoop out with a straining spoon. <S> Serve! <S> (don't put them in ice water!)
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Also, ensure your eggs are cold before and start them in boiling water. Finally, depending on your location, equipment, and how set you want your eggs, you may have to adjust your cooking time.
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Does Tomato Damage a Wok's Seasoning? I have been using a wok since some years, it is nicely seasoned and I was quite happy with it and the results. Recently, I have started cooking some Indian dishes, and because I like my wok, I just made them in the wok. However, it seems like the tomato is removing the seasoning - there are more and more blank spots appearing. Can that be? Is it maybe the acid in them? Or is it something else specific to the Indian recipes (I use typically tumeric, ginger, garam masala, chili, and of course garlic and onions, but I used those before for non-Indian recipes without issues). <Q> From experimental evidence*: <S> Yes. <S> Wet and acidic braising sauces (as you have in indian cooking) <S> that stay in the wok for a long time are quite aggressive on the seasoning. <S> A contributing factor could be rapid thermal changes when cold, wet ingredients are added to a hot mixture. <S> Also, in many cases the seasoning in cookware used for sundry purposes isn't exactly perfect - there can be spots where there is very thin or no seasoning covered by carbon deposits which can be underwashed or soaked if the pan is flooded with liquid for a long time, both softening these carbon crusts and allowing the liquid to attack the metal underneath. <S> * <S> An extreme example: making american-chinese style spring roll or pineapple sweet-sour - plenty of vinegar, fruit juice, tomato balanced by plenty sugar. <S> Seen that take a significant amount of the seasoning off a cast iron wok within half an hour. <A> It could be, but it's probably not because of the acid specifically. <S> The smallish amount of acid in tomatoes shouldn't have any direct effect on the polymerized oil which makes up the seasoning, and the polymerized oil should prevent the tomatoes from directly touching the reactive bare steel that the wok is likely made of. <S> Combine that with the carbohydrate content of tomatoes and that's a recipe for getting stuck to your pan. <S> Keep in mind: any time you have a food sticking to a seasoned surface, it's sticking to the seasoning, not the metal. <S> When you try to move it, it's going to want to take some of that seasoning with it. <S> Other things to consider: Are the foods you're cooking wetter, stickier, or sugarier? <S> Are they cooked at a lower temperature? <S> Do they Require more scraping during or after cooking? <S> Use less oil? <S> If you previously did quick and hot stir fries in the pan and are now switching to simmering things, that could definitely loosen up the seasoning, even if it was hot water. <S> The answer could be as simple as really cranking the heat, making sure you're using enough oil, or using a different pan Good luck! <A> It is the tomato and it is a known effect and it is related to the acidity. <S> As for the comment above for a small amount of acid in tomato remember that a of organic acids are “weak” acids. <S> That means that can produce similar acidity with lower amounts. <S> It is the same with the seasoning of cast iron pans or the seasoning of the french carbon steel pans. <S> I have used my french carbon steel with tomato and the seasoning has gone but do not despair. <S> If you want to continue using it just use it. <S> The seasoning will go but after you wash it with water dry it with a tissue, wipe it with oil (i go for olive) and heat it and remove the extra oil with a tissue. <S> If you cook a lot of chinese dishes and you use the wok with high heat, you will season it as you cook.
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Tomatoes do have a high water content which cools down the part of the pan they touch significantly.
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Trouble frying an egg on a stainless steel pan I recently purchased a stainless steel pan from AllClad, but I'm struggling to use it. Food, and in particular eggs, seem to stick readily to the pan, making it hard to use. There is a question on Seasoned Advice that pertains to cooking an omelette on a stainless steel pan, but I think the challenges of frying an egg are different and more challenging. I've been able to cook an omelette in this pan, but have yet to succeed with a fried egg. Looking online, I learned that stainless steel pans, like cast-iron, need to be seasoned in order to be non-stick. The process that I followed to season my pan was as follows: Pour in 1/4 cup walnut oil. Heat pan on medium heat until the oil begins to smoke. Turn heat off and let the pan cool completely. Remove the oil and wipe the pan dry. I tried this process, but when I try to fry an egg in the pan, it still sticks readily. There is some improvement, but it is still not possible to cook an egg without sticking that destroys the egg in the end. I'm not sure what I may be doing wrong, or is a stainless steel pan just not something that one can use for frying eggs? Should I just expect that there will be some stick whenever I use this pan? Update After watching this short course on pay frying , I tried to pre-heat my pan, using the water-test as a guide, and adding just a bit of oil to the pan before dropping the egg in. The results were the same. The egg stuck to the pan thoroughly. So again I'm not sure what I'm doing incorrectly. Maybe the oil I'm using isn't right? I've been using ghee. Update 2 : I've yet to succeed in frying a egg on this pan, but a few additional questions/issues have surfaced: Some answers here have suggested that despite the presence on the web of tutorials for "seasoning" stainless steel pan this is not necessary and may not be advisable. The trick may be to fry the egg starting at a much lower heat then you might with something like a piece of meat. For meat, you often encounter the suggestion to use the "water test", but as at least one answer has suggested here that may not work with a fried egg. These are the possibly insights I've gleaned so far, but I've also yet to succeed, so these may turn out to be wrong as well. Satisfying Answer (May be others) The solution that I have settled on here -- i.e. what finally worked for me -- was to work with lower heat than I thought was needed, and not to season the pan. There is definitely a lot of conflicting information out there about stainless steel pans. There are a great number of blog posts and YouTube videos that talk about how to season a pan. Seasoning may still be a useful thing to do, but I was able to fry an egg on an unseasoned pan finally. The method I used is more or less as follows: Clean pan thoroughly. Take egg out of refrigerator and let it sit in warm water for five minutes or so. (This may not be necessary.) Put pan on stove on medium flame/heat. (I only tried this on a gas stove.) Let pan pre-heat until it is warm when you hold your hands over the pan. Warm, not hot! This might take 20-30 seconds, maybe less. Add the oil (1-2 tbsp), and lower the flame to low. Let the oil heat a bit, perhaps another 10-15 seconds, or less. Crack the egg into the pan. The whites should stay clear, only slowly whitening. If the egg begins to turn white immediately, the pan is too hot. And the egg should also not stick at this point. There may be a bit of sticking, especially around the edges. You can dislodge the sticking gently by hand, but don't mess with the egg too much. Cook until done or ready to flip. Make sure heat stays low. If you see some sticking it may be (I'm not sure about this) because the pan has become too hot. So that's the best I've been able to do with help from the selected answer. <Q> From your description there are two things that stand out to me: 1) stainless steel pans should NOT be seasoned in a manner similar to cast iron. <S> These are completely different materials, and if you "seasoned" your stainless pan, such that it has a coating of basically burned oil on it <S> , you have to first clean that pan until it's nice and shiny/bare steel again. <S> 2) using the sizzle test for eggs suggests to me the pan is too hot. <S> when ready to cook the egg, heat the pan on medium heat. <S> to test for hotness, hold your hand close to the surface to see if it feels warm. <S> obviously, don't burn yourself <S> ;) add your ghee to the pan and let it heat a little longer until it looks very fluid and shimmery. <S> swirl the pan to distribute the oil, then add your egg(s) and do your thing <A> Like the OP in this previous question ( Why do scrambled/fried eggs stick less when cooked with butter instead of oil? ), I believe you are blaming the equipment when the fault may well lie with the operator... <S> See this answer and the linked material there (especially the Alton Brown video) to improve your technique. <S> The keys are thoroughly warming the pan and oil to a medium heat and patience. <S> ( should this be considered a duplicate question ?) <A> I have had a set AllClad pans for over a decade <S> and I had this issue at first <S> but here's what I do that <S> mostly avoids sticking: <S> Heat: I throw small drops of water on the pan. <S> If they dissipate immediately the pan might be a little too hot. <S> If they turn into little balls that roll around as if there is no friction, then it's perfect. <S> Use Butter <S> : I prefer this to oil mainly for the flavor <S> but it also is helpful to know whether the pan is the right temperature. <S> If it starts bubbling hard and browning, it's too hot. <S> You can still use it but turn the heat down. <S> Once the butter has laid down flat and the water has left it, you can drop the eggs in. <S> My eggs are cold from the fridge so I usually turn the heat down after they have warmed a bit. <S> Wait a bit before breaking the yolks. <S> The yolk sticks a lot more than the whites. <S> For scrambled eggs, I typically wait for the white to go translucent and then gently break the yolks. <S> Let the yolk harden a bit and then fold. <S> At this point I let turn the heat way down (off even) and let them get to the desired consistency. <S> This typically results in no sticking that would require more than a brush or scouring pad. <S> I would recommend getting some Bar Keeper's Friend powder for maintaining the pans especially if you want to keep the outside of them looking nice. <S> What's worse than eggs is burned-on oil and if you are bound to do this at some point especially if you use the pan for searing. <S> Detergent won't put much of a dent on that. <S> The oxalic acid will take it off in seconds with a little elbow grease. <S> Baking soda is also a decent option for this. <S> Kosher salt can be used in a similar manner for eggs if you really get them stuck. <A> I have two All Clad tri-ply stainless steel pans. <S> First things - these pans are much more efficient. <S> The highest heat level I use is medium high. <S> That's for searing only, then reduce heat to medium for cooking. <S> Seasoning the pan, I preheated the pan on the stove you can trust with a drop of water. <S> If it bubbles the pan is ready then turn the heat off. <S> Use whatever oil you cook with. <S> Remember this well - Oil will affect the taste of your food. <S> Use a paper towel to wipe excess oil off the pan. <S> I did this twice before I cook on it. <S> You could check All Clad website for more details. <S> PS. <S> I only use high temperature to boil water in the pan. <S> Always wipe pan thoroughly dry after washing it with soap and water and soft sponge only. <A> Use plenty of fat! <S> I always fry my eggs in butter <S> - I love the flavor. <S> Use plenty <S> so it creates a nice puddle for your eggs. <S> I have no difficulty in my pan either on high heat <S> (you must stay there and babysit it!) <S> for brown butter; or lower and slower. <S> Yumm. <S> Always delicious, easy, never seasoned a stainless steel pan in my life. <S> Chandler. <S> Good luck.
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For eggs, you always want to use lower heat to prevent them going dry and sticking (even in a non-stick pan, you will have some sticking if you use high heat for eggs, especially when scrambling) so try this: clean your pan.
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How to correct bitterness in blended homemade salsa? Anybody know what might work to correct the bitterness I got from Blendtec blending fresh tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and garlic salsa? <Q> If you can find out where the bitterness came from by sampling other pieces of your raw ingredients, you can try upping the ratio of other ingredients to temper it. <S> Advice more specific than that would require a crystal ball, I'm afraid. <S> If it's really quite noticeable, then you're probably better off making a new batch with new ingredients. <S> Good luck! <A> Maybe a bit of sweet. <S> Experiment with sugar, honey or applesauce. <A> My guess would probably be the garlic, if it's a fresh salsa. <S> That's going to impart a certain amount of bitterness if everything is left raw. <S> A couple suggestions (I'm just spit-balling here) - maybe roast the garlic and add roasted garlic paste, instead of raw garlic (also, garlic carries botulism bacteria, which is why it is not recommended that people make homemade garlic-infused oils). <S> Another might be to leave out the garlic altogether. <S> People rave about my fresh salsa, and it's just cilantro, lime juice, salt, jalapeno, sweet onion and tomato. <A> Assuming that's all fresh raw ingredient, don't blend it, chunk it. <S> You have almost all the ingredients for a classic pico di gallo there - which isn't traditionally blended, it's left in small cubes/chunks. <S> If it tastes better, then you were probably over-blending seeds from either the tomatoes or chillies. <S> If it still tastes bitter, change your supplier. <S> I'd also squeeze half a lime into that mixture & a good hit of salt too, which will either just give some zing if you eat it now, or help soften the textures & mellow the flavours after a few hours. <S> Ratios for pico di gallo would be approx <S> 4 tomatoes 1 onion 1 clove garlic 1-2 jalapeños ½ lime cilantro [coriander] …'a small bunch' - kind of hard to weigh or otherwise accurately measure. <S> I work by sight, add until the 'colours weigh the same' [red against green against white] not the actual quantities. <S> salt 'to taste' - no-one can gauge this for you, but I find people tend to under-salt things these days because they think it will kill them ;)
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If the problem is just a little bitterness on the tongue, salt is usually the best foil.
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Bread baking: dough has little holes after first rise I'm making a half white flour, half whole wheat flour bread, with garlic, olive oil and dried herbs. After kneading it for about 20 min I left it to rise even though it wasn't as springy as I'd like. It was also a bit sticky, but was afraid to make it too dry since I'm using high gluten flour and whole wheat which both need more water. After the first rise it still didn't feel springy enough, and I gave it another knead and let it rise again for 15 min. After this, and when shaping the bread, I noticed there are little holes in the dough as seen in the pictures. For some reason the gluten didn't fully form to which I attribute the little holes and tears to, but I can't think what to do different. Any ideas? <Q> What kind of whole wheat flour are you using? <S> An organic supermarket near me offers a mill to use on-site, and I once bought a package of wheat and milled it there, to see how bread tastes with unoxidized flour. <S> The roughly milled bran teared my gluten badly, and I had much difficulty getting the dough to perform well. <S> The bread didn't rise well either. <S> Adding all those spices doesn't help, neither does working with high gluten flour when you are using whole wheat. <S> The whole thing looks like too much and too tight gluten to me, that gets torn by the bran and pulls together, leaving holes. <S> Also, home bakers tend to use too much yeast, and I suspect that getting the air pockets expand too quickly or even too much (overrising) increases the problem. <S> Standard recipes start at 2% yeast (2 g fresh or 0.7 g instant per 100 g flour) but artisan breads use less, to allow for longer rising times. <S> So my advice would be: use finely milled whole wheat flour (not home milled) <S> try also getting your spices finer milled - if you are doing it in a coffee grinder, use a Turkish grind use AP flour instead of high gluten flour use more AP and less whole flour work your dough with frequent breaks, so the gluten can relax a bit use the proper amount of yeast. <A> Its hard to tell from the photos, but it looks dry. <S> Dough will have holes like that and will tear easily if you make it too dry. <S> If the exterior is dry, you also will need to make sure its covered well - I coat my dough in olive oil and put it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. <S> Another idea is to let it rise slower, large air pockets can form if you have it rising too quickly, like sitting under a lamp (this can also dry it out). <S> As a side note, whole wheat flour doesn't rise as well, won't be as soft, and won't stretch as well as white <S> (AP) flour. <S> I typically use about 1 part wheat to 2 parts AP when making whole wheat pizza dough to help the consistency. <A> Garlic, dried herbs, and the bran of whole wheat can all "poke holes" in your dough. <S> You have gluten, but you also have a bunch of "knife equivalents" poking holes and cutting gluten strands. <S> You could pre-soak the dried stuff and whole wheat <S> (for which you might call that an "autolyze" step) to soften them somewhat. <S> And to some extent this is just going to happen, and is not the end of the world.
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Your dough looks rather irregular to me, and I believe to see tiny beige dots which may be bran.
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Use non-inductive pans on induction cook top I moved to new place with inductive cook top. But all the pans I have are the normal non-inductive pans (ceramic and stainless steel). I tried using them with no luck. Cooktop shows error, keeps beeping and doesn't start. If I try an induction pan, it works. Is there any way to make them work? <Q> You seem to be mixing up some things here. <S> The difference is not between "normal" and "inductive". <S> The difference is between pans which happen to have a ferromagnetic body, and thus work on induction, and all others. <S> All pans with ferromagnetic body also work on resistive or gas stoves, so they are sold as "normal" pans, just like the non-ferromagnetic ones. <S> "Ceramic" has nothing to do with the pan body <S> **, that's a coating which can be put over a body made of a variety of metals, some of them ferromagnetic and some not. <S> Most steel pans and all iron ones should work on an induction stove, regardless of how they are coated. <S> You can test this with a magnet - if it sticks, it will work. <S> If it doesn't, don't try it anyway - in the worst case it can be an aluminium pan, and melt on the stove <S> bad things can happen - my memory is patchy about what exactly happens, but the general advice is "don't". <S> You are likely to already have enough pans to use on the induction. <S> But if you want to keep using some existing pan which is not ferromagnetic, you can simply use metallic discs which are sold for this purpose. <S> The downside is that the performance of the stove drops to levels comparable to old-style resistive stoves (non-glasstop). <S> But you can continue with your existing pans, and ditto for pots. <S> ** <S> I assume here that you mean ceramic-coated nonstick pans. <S> The word "pan" is ambiguous in English and can also mean e.g. a lasagna pan whose body is 100% ceramic. <S> But these are not used on stovetop, so I think we can exclude them here. <S> but they are quite rare. <S> None of the full body ceramic will work on induction, no matter if intended for the oven or stovetop. <A> Short answer - no . <S> Longer answer - yes, but you don't want to. <S> Longish answer - <S> yes, you can get steel gadgets (such as <S> this one from amazon) that you can put on the cooker that will heat up, and transfer the heat to the non-inductive cookware. <S> But you lose all the advantages of an inductive cooker, and have yet another thing to worry about. <S> My recommendation is to get proper cookware. <S> Induction cookers are great to work with, and it's worth the extra cost. <S> It's as fast as gas, yet easier to clean than a regular vitroceramic cooker. <S> (And, as rumtscho points out - most cookware is induction-compatible already. <S> There are exceptions, though, such as ceramic fondue caquelons , glass saucepans and all kinds of solid aluminium cookware.) <A> Measure your various pots and pans. <S> Go buy cast iron skillets (etc.) <S> they will fit inside. <S> A flea market may be cheaper than other sources. <S> You may or may not choose to use the cast iron skillets as pans themselves, too.
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Another option is a series of solid ceramic pots and pans developed for the stove, like Arcoflam/pyroflam
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How to thin Ranch dressing? I found a recipe online for Ranch dressing that uses mayonnaise, sour cream, and buttermilk. The ratio of these ingredients are to my like (tastes good enough). However, I'd like the dressing to be a bit thinner (more liquidy). How would I go about achieving this? Add milk, cream, water, or something else? <Q> Anything, including a 'neutral' flavor, is going to change the flavor, even if all it does is reduce the 'intensity'. <S> So what you need to find is what is an 'acceptable' change. <S> With this in mind I suggest your best 'first choice' would be to warm your dressing slightly. <S> Place the container or mixing bowl into a warm water bath. <S> You are not trying to 'cook' or make it 'hot' just warm enough to thin it out without actually changing the flavor profile. <S> If that doesn't work for you then you might consider adding something to the mix. <S> The most likely thing you can do is alter the existing ratio to favor the 'thinner' ingredients. <S> More Buttermilk, less mayo or sour cream. <S> Your second 'best' option would be to seek an thinning agent that does not distort the existing flavor profile 'too much'. <S> Best candidate would probably be heavy cream or soft butter. <S> If neither of those options produces an acceptable result you might look for a different thinner such as an oil (olive, soy, canola) or another dairy (milk, low-fat or whole) <A> Milk or cream would work. <S> If you don't like how they change the flavor, you can instead blend in a neutral oil (vegetable, soy, canola, avocado) to thin it out to the desired consistency. <A>
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I would try decreasing the sour cream and replacing it with whole milk, cream, or buttermilk in equal volume measures.
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How to get sour cream & onion potato chips flavor? I've noticed that when eating common 'sour cream & onions' potato chips, there is a distinctive, cheesy-like flavour that distinguishes the chips. What gives it this flavor? Is it simply MSG, or is there a way to achieve this using natural ingredients , such as black pepper, Worcestershire sauce etc? To give more context, I am intending to use this in a home-made ranch dip. <Q> First things first: If you're trying to precisely replicate the flavor, you'll probably fail. <S> Food scientists put an incredible amount of time, money and effort into developing those flavors and have ingredients and equipment that we don't have access to. <S> Often, the flavors themselves are byproducts of industrial processing, and they've been combined in a way to make them pleasant. <S> So if you're looking to get that exact flavor in your dip, you're going to be disappointed. <S> If you're really just looking for a ballpark approximation which might be a little closer than what you've got now though, you've got a good shot at it. <S> If I were you, I would first try using dehydrated or freeze-dried green onions or chives which can often be found in glass jars in your grocery store. <S> Mix them with your dip or make them into a powder to toss with your chips. <S> For the more industrial products, you'll have to look on the internet. <S> Commercial chips almost certainly use sour cream powder (among other flavorants you probably can't find on Amazon) in their sour cream and onion chips. <S> You could even try some sour cream and chives powder to see if that gets you closer, with less work. <S> Good luck and happy dipping! <A> I would try adding some softened cream cheese to your dip mixture. <S> Most creamy dips are made up of one or more of sour cream, mayonnaise, and cream cheese. <S> Also, you could try caramelizing the white parts of green onions (or just any old white/yellow onion) for a deeper flavor, and then stirring in the green parts, minced. <S> Don't forget salt (and maybe some pepper) to taste. <S> If that doesn't get you there, garlic powder would be my next choice. <S> Good luck! <A> Potato chips belong to the most exactly engineered foods we eat. <S> They don't have any taste in themselves, and the flavor on top is created by a complicated industrial process. <S> It is certainly not pure MSG. <S> The exact ingredients and process will be a trade secret of each manufacturer, although there might be a way to look up the main flavor molecules, I don't have such literature at hand. <S> This won't help you further though. <S> I don't think you have any chance replicating it at home. <S> Maybe you could just dissolve the chips in the dressing and see if the texture stays acceptable for your purposes. <A> This is not "sour cream & onion" flavour. <S> I can taste only 3 different flavours in chips. <S> For me there are "salt and herbs" "vinegar" and "smoked salt w/ paprika". <S> Sour Cream and onion is the vinegar taste. <S> It's oniony taste is from sulphur. <S> Like when you mix white vine vinegar with a hint of black salt (not to mistake with baked salt that is black in appearance). <S> The cheese flavour that you are tasting is the part of "cream". <S> It's Lactic acid. <S> You know, the one you are producing when sweating and then complaining you smells like onions OR <S> sour milk. <S> So, anyway. <S> If you want to make a dip what you need is sour cream. <S> Sour cream can be bought or made from regular cream by adding either vinegar or citric acid. <S> Then you want to add spring onions. <S> Remember that the white part of onions are more sweet and have "lighter" taste than the green parts. <S> So use that to balance the onion taste and counter acidic of vinegar. <S> And, if you want to make it taste more oniony just use onion with a sharp taste. <S> Put it in a hot place (or bake it for few second over a fire) and then mince it raw. <S> Or juice it out and use the liquid. <S> If you taste it later and there will be "not quite this" it will be the umami flavour. <S> Don' be afraid to use MSG to get that <S> or if you want to avoid it use Maggi or few drops of soy sauce.
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Perhaps pureeing a product like chive cottage cheese which is made with dehydrated/freeze-dried chives might get you there.
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How to liquify butter -- and keep it liquid? Is there a way to liquify butter and keep it in a liquid form at room temperature (at minimum) or in a refrigerator (preferably)? I can't seem to find any solution on the web. Everything seems to point to making clarified butter, which is not what I want (plus, the ghee I've seen is solid at room temperature). Is there anything I can do / add to the butter to keep it liquid? <Q> You could blend it with an oil that does not itself solidify in the refrigerator, but that's no longer butter, it's possibly "butter flavored oil" - don't use olive or coconut as they solidify in the fridge (or moderate room temperature for the coconut.) <A> I don't know of any way to keep butter in a liquid state, but here are two suggestions to give you the flavor without having to worry about the butter re-solidifying: <S> A natural butter flavoring or extract. <S> Margarine spray such as I Can't Believe <S> It's Not Butter or Parkay spray. <S> They can be found in the dairy aisle with the regular margarines. <S> This should give you a buttery flavor and they are already in a liquid state. <S> (These are not the ones in a spray can that would be used as a non-stick spray.) <A> It's pourable. <S> Don't know if that helps.
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4th & Heart makes a ghee oil that remains liquid at room temperature by blending 60 percent ghee & 40 percent grape seed oil.
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Emulsifier: is it safe to cook mayonnaise? I'm making some Buffalo wings sauce that calls for cayenne pepper sauce, butter, and oil to be heated together. I'd like to add a bit of mayonnaise (not sure how much -- suggestions?) as an emulsifier. Is it safe to cook mayonnaise? I can't readily find Soy Lecithin, which I am thinking alternatives. I don't think I should consider mustard as that seem out of place for wing sauce? Or is that less out of place than mayo? <Q> The mayonnaise itself is only a stable emulsion in certain temperature ranges. <S> If you are talking about standard mayonnaise (made with egg yolk), it will split when heated, and won't help your new sauce at all. <S> If you are planning to use one of those vinegar-oil emulsions sold in supermarkets under the name mayonnaise, I cannot predict how they will handle. <S> They may or may not split. <S> But they are not in principle supposed to be heated, so you can experience weird results. <S> And the emulsifiers in them are calculated to be in the proper ratio for the mayonnaise as sold, so there will liekly be too little of them to sufficiently emulsify a sauce when added to it. <S> Mustard won't help you at all. <S> It is only a physical emulsifier, so only works with limited success. <S> The cayenne flesh is already doing some physical emuslification, if that's not enough, mustard won't make it better. <S> All in all, if you plan to heat your mixture (why?) <S> then mayonnaise is unlikely to help you as an emulsifier. <A> Mayonnaise is safe to cook. <S> Prepared mayonnaise that you purchase in the store has been pasteurized and usually has more than enough acidity to keep any harmful pathogens from growing. <S> Cooking with it can only make it even safer (if that is possible). <S> If you need more evidence of how safe mayo is, you can read this. <A> Yes, you can safely cook mayonnaise, but it will most likely separate if you apply much heat. <S> Therefore, it is unlikely to help much with thickening or emulsification in a hot dish. <S> While you will find mayo in some hot dishes, it is usually applied as part of a mixed sauce after cooking is complete. <S> You could certainly base a wing sauce/dressing on mayonnaise, but you wouldn't want to cook the sauce. <S> Traditional wing sauce is made up of equal parts melted or clarified butter and hot sauce, though you can vary the ratio quite a bit. <S> Cayenne pepper can be added to increase the heat without altering flavor much. <S> Frank's RedHot is the original in "Buffalo wing" sauce, but pretty much any hot sauce will work. <S> Sometimes palm oil or a hydrogenated oil is substituted for butter in commercial sauces, particularly shelf-stable bottled brands. <S> If you wish to add a thickener or stabilizer to your sauce, I'd suggest xanthan gum, which is readily available, relatively easy to use, and is used in many commercial wing sauces. <S> In fact, I've had some good sauces with a heavy mustard component. <S> It's more for flavor than emulsification, though. <S> My own preference is to whisk together equal parts melted butter and Frank's RedHot, Crystal, or sometimes Sriracha. <S> I've never had a problem with it separating. <S> I usually give my wings a second toss in a homemade Cajun seasoning blend of garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, dried oregano, paprika (preferably smoked), ground celery seed (optional), white pepper (optional), and lots of fresh ground black pepper ( not optional). <A> Safety isn't the issue here. <S> If it's safe to eat cold, it's safe to eat hot. <S> That's my answer to the question posed. <S> Flavor wise <S> I think this won't affect the hot sauce because the main thing you taste in mayonnaise is vinegar, which is probably already present in your sauce and if it's not then the vinegar would essentially behave as a seasoning, not a major flavor profile ingredient.
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If seeking advice on how to emulsify your hotwings sauce, cook it as normal, then after it is taken off the heat and cooled a little, whip a little mayonnaise into it. I don't think mustard would be out of place in wing sauce at all.
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How to clean up after a grease fire? So I was about to sear some steaks in my trusty cast iron skillet tonight, when upon pouring a couple tablespoons of avocado oil, it burst into flames. Having read about how to put out grease fires , I covered the pan with a lid and turned off the electric burner, extinguishing the flame, and transfered the skillet to the garage (the door is 3 ft from the stove) to minimize the amount of smoke in the house. Even though this all happened well within a minute, the smoke alarm went off, and the two wood cabinets above the stove turned grey from the smoke. So my question is twofold: How should I clean the cast iron after such a fire? It's got some sticky residue on it (burnt oil?), but otherwise seems fine. How do I clean the soot (?) off of those cabinets? I tried using a little vinegar and some elbow grease, but basically nothing happened. <Q> This is no big deal. <S> Small grease fires happen constantly in commercial kitchens. <S> Ever see a big flame coming from a wok at a good Chinese restaurant? <S> That's probably an oil flare up, not alcohol, and is one of the things that gives a well-made stir-fry its trademark smokey flavor. <S> Most of the time, in between uses, commercial woks just get cleaned out with some water and a stiff bristled brush. <S> As far as your cast iron goes, unless you let it burn for a while, you should be able to clean it the way you normally would. <S> Give it a good wipe with a dry towel after to get any black bits out so they don't stick to your next meal. <S> People way over think the care of cast iron pans. <S> As far as your cabinets are concerned, if it is actually soot and not temperature damage to the material, you just need a basic degreaser. <S> Most kitchen/all-purpose cleaners are degreasers. <S> This one is my favorite for non-food-contact surfaces, such as cabinets, if you're interested. <S> For slight graying from a bit of burnt oil, a good quality glass cleaner would probably do the trick with minimal effort. <S> If you end up needing something beefier, check your local grocery store for Lestoil. <S> I have never, ever encountered a greasy soot will stand up to that stuff. <S> It's rarely my first choice, however, because it's got a very strong, distinct, (though not entirely unpleasant) odor. <S> If for some reason, you've got the world's worst grease stain and absolutely nothing else is working, and you'll have to replace the surface if you can't get something to remove it, lye will get rid of it. <S> Lye is also extremely toxic, gives nasty chemical burns on contact and in my opinion should only be used as a last resort. <S> You can buy pure lye, or spray on lye-containing mixtures in the form of oven cleaner. <S> Note: this has a much higher chance of totally destroying the surface you're attempting to clean than any other method. <S> (as an aside, lye is a great way of stripping old crap off of cast iron pans) <A> Why not use dish soap? <S> It's a degreaser. <S> That's what you want. <S> Oil and vinegar don't mix well (meaning the vinegar won't lift the oil). <S> Even another oil like Murphy's or Pine-sol is better for your cabinets. <S> Wow, first line on Wikipedia about Pine-sol: <S> Pine-Sol is a registered trade name of Clorox for a line of household cleaning products, used to clean grease and heavy soil stains. <S> Another thing, I think the "never use soap" thing about cast iron has been thoroughly debunked. <S> http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the-truth-about-cast-iron.html is a really good place to start. <S> Just don't let it soak in soapy water for a long time. <S> Scrape out the gook into the garbage and wash the pan with soap and water. <S> Then try it on stove. <S> You may not have to re-season <S> your pan, or just minimally be heating to get all the water out and giving it a little wipe down (all over the pan) with an unsaturated fat. <S> If it doesn't feel right, wipe with oil, put it in hot oven for a while, try again. <A> If neither vinegar nor elbow grease is affecting the "soot" on the cabinets, it sounds like it is more than just soot, but maybe soot + sticky oil residue. <S> Try an ammonia solution. <S> Ammonia works on my sticky grease kitchen residue pretty well. <S> If it seems to help at all, try increasing concentrations (maybe testing first on inconspicuous parts of your cabinet in case it removes paint or something), until you get a strength that works for you. <S> As for the frying pan, heat it up until that gross sooty grease-gel melts a little, then wipe it out with a paper towel. <S> Repeat with more paper towels until the easily-removed gunk starts to get pretty sparse on the paper towels. <S> Then start adding fresh oil and rubbing it around with more paper towels in the warm pan. <S> The fresh oil and heat ought to help dissolve that "jellied" oil and you can remove even more of the gunk. <S> Pretty soon I think it should get to a point where it is just "dirty" instead of horrendous. <A> I think it’s a hi polymer. <S> It took off all the soot except where I had tried washing the soot off with various chemicals. <S> It’s a lot of work <S> and I need to find a bigger eraser. <S> I would try using wet cleaning only as a last resort, because if whatever you’re using doesn’t work, it will be permanently stained. <S> Test a small inconspicuous area with any wet cleaner. <S> Those are the areas I will I have to repaint.
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I tried everything on my latex painted ceiling and walls for grease fire smoke, the magic thing that worked the best was a regular white eraser.
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Sausage patties dry when cooked I have a problem with homemade sausage patties that I make. They come out too dry on the inside. Could it be the difference in kosher salt and iodized salt? The recipe is as follows: Ground pork with high fat content Chopped onions Ground nutmeg, ground cayenne,powdered oregano,cracked anise seeds iodized salt, pepper Minced onions Mix. Grill as is, with no oil whatsoever. When I first tried this recipe, I was using kosher salt, and the result was good and juicy. However, I remember transitioning to iodized salt, and I still got good results, however I may be remembering things in a blur. Update. I've drastically changed some parts of the recipe. (1) the meat is now fresh ground twice thru the KA meat grinder, so it's super moist and I suppose it's preserved inside the patty (wrapped in film, frozen), (2) using kosher salt, and a less amount of it. With the test fry, it's more moist now. <Q> The most important difference here is the grain of the salt. <S> Kosher salt has a coarse grain, whereas table salt ("iodized") is fine grain. <S> Yes, it will affect the juiciness of your meat. <S> Here's an article that discusses it. <S> Cooking with Kosher salt : I generally reserve Kosher salt for meat and recipes that call specifically for it. <S> Because the larger flakes hold onto moisture, Kosher salt essentially holds the moisture inside of the meat. <S> It keeps pork chops tender, steaks juicy, and chicken breast moist. <S> See for yourself. <S> Salt one chicken breast with table salt and another with kosher salt. <S> The one with kosher salt will retain its moisture much better than the chicken breast salted with table salt. <A> I suspect they are dry because you are overcooking them. <S> Cook on low heat and bring them off when they are still moist. <A> Two suggestions: Cooking to temperature (use a thermometer) and follow a good recipe that still would of course ensure the pork is fully cooked. <S> Remove all salt from the recipe. <S> Salt can be added afterwards, after all.
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It seems there may be two culprits causing dryness: Overcooking Salt
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How to get the texture of commercial ketchup? This has some relation to my previous question. Though I have managed to successfully blend xanthan gum with my home-made tomato mixture, I am unable to achieve a texture close to Hienz, or Hunt's ketchup, or any commercial sauce for that matter. My xanthan gum-added ketchup does not have the same buttery, smooth texture of Hienz. No matter what I do, the resulting sauce is too mucus-like. My question is, besides xanthan gum, do ketchup manufacturers add anything else to achieve the buttery, smooth texture? Below is my ketchup recipe: Boil 1kg of canned San Marzano tomatoes for 5 mins, until soft. Press the mixture through a sieve to get a clear juice and filter out any pulp or skin. Ketch I would then simmer this juice with 200ml of vinegar on a pot for 3- 4 hours until it reduces from 900ml to 300ml. Note that at this point, the sauce is still watery. I added xanthan gum at this step, 1/8 of a teaspoon at a time. The resulting mixture after adding around 3/8 teaspoons was that the ketchup was still thin, but already mucus-like in mouth feel. Adding more xanthan gum at this point thickened the sauce considerably, but also made it more disgusting in mouth feel. <Q> Try sugar. <S> Per Heinz' website , the ingredients in their ketchup are: <S> TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL <S> FLAVORING <S> I notice that they do not include xanthan gum at all, but they do include sugar in the form of various corn syrups. <S> Cooking plain sugar can can harden it (think the ball stages of candy-making). <S> I think that what happens in commercial ketchup is not so much a "thickening" as a "hardening" of the tomato syrup, for lack of a better word. <S> It is likely that during the reducing stage of ketchup making, the sugar reaches what would be at least soft-ball stage if the ratio of sugar to everything else was correct, thus leading to a ketchup that is "thick" but not hard or mucus-y. <S> Edited to add: <S> As noted in the comments by @Ecnerwal, Heinz also seems to be using a tomato concentrate, which would include the flesh of the tomatoes. <S> When I initially read the question, I seem to have missed that you're straining out the solids. <S> Try leaving them in as you reduce-- <S> the addition of solid matter will also help thicken while providing a better mouthfeel. <A> Big name commercial ketchups are some of the most precisely manufactured substances in the food business. <S> Heinz's process has been described (in an article I can't find at the moment) as "harder than rocket science," though that includes the very precise growing and selecting of tomatoes that go into their concentrate. <S> Trying to replicate it precisely has eluded generic ketchup manufacturers for quite some time. <S> Your process is essentially attempting to thicken tomato water with xanthan gum. <S> As you noted in your question, this will unfailingly yield tomato snot. <S> Even a powerful high-speed blender will produce a mixture more closely resembling baby food than the imperceptibly small particulate matter in commercial ketchup, but it'll still be pretty good. <S> If you don't really care about the source of your tomatoes, go ahead and start with canned tomato paste and cook vinegar, spices, sugar, etc. <S> This will get you even closer. <S> You might find this video to be useful. <S> Good luck! <A> I have 3 young children who will only eat UK Heinz tomato ketchup. <S> The kids mainly spot the difference with texture/mouth feel. <S> After much research I have found a possible answer - Heinz does not 'add' thickeners. <S> It relies solely on the tomato for texture. <S> From a recent Advertising Standards Case related to Heinz ketchup in Australia and New Zealand, but the same recipe as the UK where I live- <S> The thickness of the Product comes from the inclusion of 77% concentrated tomatoes. <S> The Product contains 181g of tomatoes per 100mL, which equates to 905g of tomatoes in every standard 500mL bottle. <S> The Product does not contain any other thickeners <S> So how does Heinz get the rheological properties (thixotropic) without additional thickeners (hydrocolloids)? <S> I found this article claiming that waste tomato pulp can be used for this purpose, which 'may' be the key ingredient- <S> Tomato pulp powder, a by-product of the tomato processing industry, could be used at low levels as a thickening agent in ketchup, in place of other hydrocolloids <S> The full publication is linked here
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If you pureé the tomatoes until they are extremely smooth using a high-speed blender such as a Vitamix or Blendtec, and then cook the mixture down slowly until it turns into tomato paste, you can then add your spices, sugar, and vinegar to get something which more closely approximates commercial ketchup. I am trying to make homemade stuff to mimic Heinz with the same main ingredients.
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What quantity of baking powder satisfies a mass of size x? I have always had a question when it comes to "how many grams of baking powder to use for that amount of cake I made." I would like to understand if there is any kind of proportion and if there is technique where I can always make changes based on it. Without ever having to rely on a ready-made recipe. <Q> About 5g baking powder per 150g flour, or about 1tsp of baking powder per US Cup of flour (Source: <S> Michael Ruhlman's Ratio app.) <S> That will work for most chemically leavened batters, quick breads, pancakes, etc. <S> This is a guideline, not a rule. <S> Sometimes more leavening is desirable— you might want a slightly puffier quick bread and you're using a dough with enough protein to handle it. <S> Maybe you want less because you've got a batter that doesn't stay together on something you're frying. <S> Unless you're planning on doing some workshopping, I recommend using an existing proven recipe to get a good ratio of ingredients. <S> After a while, you'll get a better idea of how much leeway you've got with each variable in the technique. <A> There is no such amount. <S> Change an ingredient, and you have to start all over again. <S> Formulas are impossible here - you can use "average" ones for a given type of cake, like 1:1:1:1 for pound cake, but as soon as you start to change the base ingredients or adding other ingredients or change the mixing method, the way the cake leavens changes too, and you are likely to get into a situation where a different amount of baking powder is needed. <S> And then there is personal or cultural preferences - what kind of internal structure is the goal. <S> If you are in a pinch, you can use some rule of thumb. <S> Just be aware that it will not result in a good cake all the time, and almost never will be the optimal for a given recipe. <S> You already see this arbitrarity in the two answers you got, one is 5 g per 240 g flour and the other is 5 g per 150 g of flour. <S> For what it is worth, European producers sell baking powder in sachets of 15 g, and usually print something like "for 500 g flour" on them, so 5 g per 167 g flour. <S> However, I personally never use this ratio, because it tastes too metallic to me. <S> But if you want to start working with a single number, you can pick any of the three, or another in that range, it doesn't really matter. <A> Well, it depends on the type of cake, so let's take a simple one. <S> One of the most basic cake batters there is is the standard 1-2-3-4 Yellow Cake . <S> In this formula, the "3" stands for "3 cups self-rising flour", which is contains roughly 4.5tsp baking powder (and recipes which use regular flour bear this out). <S> So your mass here is: <S> roughly 8oz Butter 2 cups sugar (14oz) <S> 3 cups flour (14oz) 4 eggs (9oz) 1 cup buttermilk (8oz) <S> Totalling 53 <S> oz of ingredients to 4.5tsp baking powder, or 1tsp baking powder for every 12oz of cake batter, roughly. <S> Or, in real measurements, 5g of baking powder for every 335g of batter. <S> However, that's a limited use ratio because cake recipes scale up and down poorly; both very large and very small cakes usually have to be adjusted to avoid over or under cooking, rounding too much, or center collapse.
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Each recipe behaves differently, and a lot of experimentation is needed to finetune the ratios of all ingredients, including the baking powder.
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Why would a commercial kitchen buy enormous carrots? I was recently on a Caribbean cruise ship, and took the behind-the-scenes tour (it was fun seeing an immersion blender the size of an outboard motor!). While we were in the pantry, I saw enormous bags of enormous carrots; that is, the bags were enormous, and each carrot was in itself enormous (perhaps 2" in diameter and over a foot long). I've never seen carrots anywhere near that size in retail supermarkets (in the Northeast USA), and I'm wondering why they were so large. Are they cheaper? Easier to handle? Better tasting? Or were the large ones what was most recently available, and another time I might have seen what I think of as "normal"-sized carrots? <Q> This is just a guess, I have no factual proof, but is it possible <S> it is purely for aesthetic or decorative purposes? <S> I am guessing in cruises, hotels and other festive, leisure, touristic or vacation occasions meals often have a certain flair, and presentation is a big part of it. <S> Plates, tables, rooms, etc. are often adorned with purely aesthetic artifacts like small sculptures or ornaments made of fruits, vegetables, other edible and non-edible decorations. <S> I imagine larger pieces (of any material) provide more creative freedom. <S> Carrots for their consistency and bright color make a good edible medium for these decorations, and larger ones probably provide the artist/cook more freedom, less waste and flashier results. <S> Alternatively, maybe some particular dish served on board also requires larger carrots, like some sort of stuffed carrots, or something served over a carrot as a vessel. <S> Ships generally have inherently limited space; larger products pack better and store more efficiently by wasting less space and packaging per net amount of usable product, both saving space and money aboard a cruise liner. <A> Many reasons. <S> When you put them in a automatic peeler they lose 1/3 in size. <S> Carrot flakes are used in other foods & juice. <S> Only store grade size are shipped to stores. <S> Many big & small carrots are sold to other business. <S> Large carrots go into baby food canned soup, juice. <S> They are cheaper to buy. <S> You never know once processed what size they were. <S> It use to amaze me the size of carrots I would see shipped from California to canning plants in box cars under ice to the rest of America. <A> You don't have to be gentle with larger carrots, as the odds of breakage are a function of the slenderness ratio (length / width), so more automated methods can be used for processing. <S> ('baby carrots' were originally an attempt to reclaim some value from those broken slender carrots, but they were so profitable that they started planting thinner carrots specifically to make them) <S> Peeling generally goes to the same depth no matter the size of the carrot, so removing 2mm from a 5cm ( <S> 2") carrot is 1/4 the loss as from a 2.5cm (1") carrot. <S> And it takes time, even when it's being done by a machine if someone has to handle 4 carrots as opposed to one. <S> And that loss has to be disposed of, which can be an additional cost when you're at sea. <S> The reason that you don't see them in most American grocery stores is that these days carrots are often sold in 1lb, 2lb and 5lb bags in the US ... <S> so you need smaller carrots to get the bags to the correct weights. <S> When you're buying 50lb bags of carrots, it's not a big deal if the carrots weigh a pound each. <S> If you want to find large carrots in the US, I'd recommend international grocery stores -- around me they tend to favor price over other cosmetic concerns (eg, the apples might not be uniformly colored, but they're 1/2 to 2/3 of the price).
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There's an economics reason for large carrots -- they're cheaper to process. There may also be economic or logistic reasons, like saving space and money. By yielding larger chunks, bigger vegetables can be cut into different shapes and allow sculpting more inventive forms with attractive appearances that wouldn't "fit" in smaller vegetables.
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How to grill without an actual grill Clarification: The term "grill" is used here with the US-based term for grilling, which may differ from other countries such as Great Britain and Australia, where it is typically called a "barbecue"; Ideally it is a direct flame against one side of the food at a time, though other heat sources are not out of scope. I live in an apartment complex where it is hugely impractical (if not impossible) to own a full-size grill. Despite this, I really want the ability to grill small amounts of meat and vegetables without too much hassle. Two possible solutions occurred to me, but I'm not sure which would be better or if there's a third option I'm unaware of: Portable propane grill (camping stove) - I don't know how practical this would be, but the ability to fold it up and store it would be nice. Do these work as well as a normal propane grill? Cast iron grill pan - I've seen many of these online that basically just sit on a stove burner and allegedly emulate a regular grill. I'm skeptical because the lack of a direct flame seems like it would affect the outcome. Are either of those actually good options? Is there a better way that I haven't thought of? I know there are also miniature charcoal grills but they don't seem to be nearly as portable or space efficient as the other two. * Edit: Advice in the answers/comments has led me to order a smokeless stovetop grill, because they're so cheap and allegedly pretty good there's no reason not to try it out. This is the one I decided on . In a couple days it should be here and I'll give it a thorough test and report back. Keep the advice coming! It seems there are several other good options, so I want to float as many of them as possible for future viewers to reference. * As for an outdoor solution: it's somewhat restricted in my area, you're allowed to have them but they must remain unconnected to a fuel source if they're within 25' of the building. That's one big reason I'm interested in indoor solutions, though I can compromise if a charcoal option seems like the way to go. Conclusion: The stovetop smokeless grill worked out great. It's not a perfect replacement for a real grill but for such a cheap pricepoint and for its ease of use, it provides very satisfying results. The only things you need to watch out for are the fact that it doesn't cook evenly, so you have to rotate your food at least once, and it doesn't burn away oil and fats like a normal grill, though it does drain a fair amount of them; basically just go very light on the oil or you'll end up with a greasy mess. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! <Q> Another consideration is that some apartment complexes have restrictions on what type of grills can be used because of fire hazards. <S> Where we lived many years ago we were not allowed to use charcoal or gas. <S> So, there are a couple of options. <S> First would be a smaller than full size electric grill. <S> There are many available in different shapes and sizes. <S> Some can be used both indoors and outdoors. <S> This is similar to the one we had. <S> It has a small footprint and works well where there is limited space. <S> But there are also many small table-top models available. <S> This is closer to actual grilling than a grill pan and actually works better than it looks like it would. <S> I have one that we have used for years <S> anytime outdoor grilling has not been an option. <S> Most are very reasonably priced and work well on both gas and electric stoves. <S> And using two (or more) is always an option. <A> I used one of those portable propane grills when I was in an apartment. <S> Stoves are different. <S> A grill will have a long burner and a grate that is meant to be cooked on. <S> The stoves will have round burners for heating pans and the grate will be more spaced out. <S> It does an ok job. <S> Not a lot of heat from those little burners. <S> It will handle a small amount of food and take longer to do it but it works. <S> The pan won't do what you want. <S> Even with a gas stove it just won't be at all similar to a grill. <S> A better option is just to use the broiler of your oven. <S> I've not had an oven that didn't include a broiler. <S> They take a little adapting to since it is upside down <S> but they produce a very hot, direct heat that you can use just like a grill. <A> The grill pans are, as others have mentioned, a disappointment on top of the stove . <S> On the other hand, using a cast iron grill pan with the broiler is an effective combination. <S> Adjust your oven rack to it's highest position, put your grill pan in empty and turn your broiler on high. <S> Using a good hot pad/glove (I prefer the glove or mitten) pull out the pan, add your meat and set it back in the oven. <S> Give that a few minutes to cook, pull it out, flip it and go again. <S> Pre-heating the cast iron is key. <S> Raising the meat up off the surface allow the air to circulate and give you as close to a 'real grill' flavor as you can get, and classic grill marks to boot. <S> A couple of 'gotchas' to look out for:1. <S> If you have some type of handle cover for your cast iron (silicon) remove it when doing this.2. <S> Watch for flare ups, if your meat has a decent measure of fat, it can render and catch fire...not a big fire, hit it with a squirt bottle, just like you would a real grill. <S> Here are a couple of articles that go into a bit more depth for you: <S> http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-broil-a-steak-in-the-ov-42896 <S> This one also shows building an indoor smoker, but I've never tried. <S> https://www.epicurious.com/archive/holidays/grilling/how-to-grill-without-a-grill <A> When you say you want a grill, all your examples are actually more like barbecues. <S> Which were you looking for? <S> If you only need a grill, a George Foreman grill is one solution. <S> It presses the food down, so there are some things it simply cannot do properly, such as cheese toast. <S> It's OK for grilling meat though. <S> Definitely buy one with removable grill panels - <S> the ones with fixed panels are very hard to keep clean. <S> Combi microwaves can include a grill, like this Bosch example . <S> This can give you the best of both worlds - quick microwave cooking, with a crisped/browned outside. <S> And with the same footprint as a microwave, you can also get countertop ovens which can grill as well. <S> This Igenix countertop oven for example includes electric hotplates on the top too. <A> When I was in college I got a Coleman camp grill as a gift <S> and it was fantastic. <S> I used it through college and for the first 5 or so years once I moved into my own home before buying a full sized grill. <S> Still use it for camping. <S> This looks like it's the updated version of what I have: https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Camp-Propane-Grill-Stove/dp/B000W4VD8C/ <S> If you want something that gives you more of a real grill feel, a friend of ours has a Coleman Road Trip Grill. <S> They bring it to picnics and events like that <S> and it seems to be a nice product. <S> : <S> https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-9949-750-Road-Trip-Grill/dp/B0009V1BDA/ <S> You couldn't use either indoors, but both are portable and easy to get in and out of an apartment.
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Another option is a smokeless indoor stove top grill.
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Is there any way to avoid fruit flies with my fruit on the counter rather than the fridge? I enjoy keeping bowls of fruits out at room temperature in my kitchen. This has given me quite an annoying abundance of fruit flies in my apartment. I've brought my fruit in the fridge to avoid this for now, but I was wondering if anyone has any success or tips to leave fruit out without any fruit flies present? Note: I've tried leaving some apple cider vinegar nearby but that hasn't been successful in trapping them/distracting them. <Q> You've described exactly me and my apartment. <S> I like bowls of fruit on the counter, but I don't like the inevitable fruit flies. <S> But I actually haven't had a fruit fly problem for about two years now. <S> Make sure it's breathable, or your fruit will ripen really fast. <S> Cheesecloth, a towel, or piece of netting will all work fine. <S> This works because the fruit flies can't reach the fruit <S> , so they can't use it to feed and reproduce. <S> That's same reason putting your fruit in the fridge works. <S> I have noticed that the fruit still ripen more quickly compared to an uncovered bowl. <S> This can be a benefit or a drawback, depending on your situation. <S> Also, a bowl with something over isn't as pretty as an open bowl full of fruit. <S> But given the choice, I prefer good fruit and no pests. <A> We make a fruit fly trap with Apple Cider Vinegar, a glass, and a piece of paper. <S> Roll the paper into a cone so that it rests on the rim of the glass and allows about 1-2" of space from the bottom. <S> Tape it <S> to ensure it does not change shape. <S> Cut the very tip off to allow room for the fruit flies to get into the bottom. <S> Add a small amount of Apple Cider Vinegar, making sure it does not touch the bottom of the cone. <S> Works wonders! <S> Place near your fruit, and the flies will be able to get in, but not out. <S> Eventually, they end up in the vinegar. <S> It really works! <S> We had been inundated by fruit flies with our tomato harvest, and went from dozens to zero in 24 hours or so. <A> I live in a tropical country, and exposed fruits in this climate draw fruit flies like moths to a flame. <S> I generally cover them with a cloth napkin. <S> If inadvertently exposed and the pests are sitting on them, and I'm in a particularly devilish mood, I pass an electric mosquito swatter over them. <S> The ensuing pop sounds are music to my ears! <S> :). <S> I wash the fruits thoroughly though before consuming, cos I am imagining the grubs they must have left on them. <S> That said, fruit flies are very clever, you cannot really outwit them. :)
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The solution is to simply lay something over the bowl of fruit.
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Transfer vegetables objects from cutting board to pan I have one of those thick & heavy bamboo cutting boards that I just got. Until now, I've been using a simple plastic cutting board that doesn't weigh much. After dicing vegetables, I would simply lift the cutting board in my left hand and use my right hand holding the knife to transfer the vegetables onto a pan, bowl, or wherever. My question is, how do I do this with a heavy cutting board? Obviously lifting it with one hand is not an option. I couldn't find any youtube videos showing proper technique of using the knife and the other available hand to transfer the diced vegetables onto something else. Thanks <Q> You can use a bench scraper for this sort of task: Just push the food onto the bench scraper (you can slide the bench scraper underneath the food as well), and move it. <S> You can see a demonstration in this article by Serious Eats. <S> Depending on how your cutting board is positioned, you can also just use a knife/bench scraper to push it off the board into a bowl (e.g. if the board is on the edge of a table). <S> Depending on the type of knife <S> you're using (a chef's knife, for example), you can move the dice onto the side of the knife, but you won't have as much room as with a bench scraper. <S> Also, you can dull your knife this way / cut yourself if you aren't careful. <A> Don't overcomplicate things. <S> Put down your knife and use your hands. <S> You say it's a thick board so you can scrape the last bits off with your knife into your hand that you keep to the side. <S> Place the board a little over the edge of the table if you need more depth. <A> You could do it in 3 different ways. <S> No need to buy some extra tools. <S> You can use a cake/pie server, spatula or turner or the big kitchen knife blade and here is how: 1) <S> Use a large knife and transfer the vegetables / objects on to the side of the knife blade by using a wood, plastic or teflon spoon, cake/pie server, spatula or turner. <S> If you do not have it in other then of metal then use one of metal, but metal could scratch your knife blade. <S> You could use your hand instead too, to push the vegetables / objects on the knife blade too, just watch out so you do not cut yourself by accident on the knife blade. <S> If you have no cake/pie server, spatula or turner, then just use what ever you have in the kitchen that looks more or less like a large flat thin surface. <S> 3) Put the board near the edge of the table and simply put the pan under that edge and push the vegetables / objects using the knife you cut it with. <S> Of course for this you need to have the pan cold, not hot, so you do not burn yourself. <S> PS: <S> It looks like there are those who have a lack of imagination, so there for I need to be MORE specific. <S> Example if you do not have a specific pallet for such, do not buy one, use a cake pallet or a big spoon or a blade of some sort, that would work too. <S> Use something like this: <S> http://www.eatwell101.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Good-Grips-Stainless-Serving-Spatula.jpg or this: http://www.spode.com/media/catalog/product/cache/8/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/5/1573864.jpg <S> NOTE: <S> You do not need to buy anything, just see what you have at home that has a flat and clean surface and has a good in size and is thin and enough hard/durable enough to carry the vegetables / objects you cut.
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2) Use a large cake/pie server, spatula or turner and then transfer the blade over the pan or object you want to ditch your vegetables / objects in.
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Does Kombucha Tea spoil if left outside of refrigeration? I accidentally left an unopened bottle of GT Kombucha tea outside the refrigerator. Discovered it the next day... It was in my basement, thus cool and out of sunlight. No where on the bottle, could I find where it says to "keep refrigerated" OR "refrigerate after opening"--although it is refrigerated in the store. and this is also how I keep it. Does anyone know if this bottle would still be safe to drink? Especially if it tastes and smells normal? <Q> First I found that it ships refrigerated and has a somewhat short shelf life. <S> Then, I found a picture of the label and <S> it clearly states 'KEEP REFRIGERATED. <S> - DO NOT SHAKE.' <S> Here's a link to the Amazon page where you can see a pic of the label . <A> Kombucha is usually made by fermentation, typically at room temperature. <S> It is acidic and has live cultures (if unpasteurized), so I would not worry about spoilage from infection after a few days out of the fridge. <A> Kombucha is made by fermentation. <S> but it will still be safe to drink <A> I drank a bottle of unopened, bottled kombucha that came from a 6 pack that had been sitting in our garage for about 2 weeks - and that night I felt like I was giving birth to an alien. <S> DO NOT DO IT. <S> I've given birth 3 times and this was like a 4th.
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If you leave it out of the fridge it may undergo a second fermentation , which will make it more vinegar-y and carbonated Seems as if it must be kept refrigerated.
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How to preserve herbal syrup or herbs that will be used to make syrup? I want to preserve my windowsill herbs before the plants die back, and my idea is to make herbal syrups for lemonades or cocktails. (Possibly even meat sauces.) The method I'll use is a cold, dry maceration - bruising herbs in sugar and leaving them in the fridge for a day or two for the sugar to absorb the flavour, and only using enough heat to dissolve the sugar later. While this makes for superior flavour, the lack of boiling makes this prone to spoiling - my previous batches had weird gunk floating in them eventually. I've read in other questions that freezing herbs alone can diminish their flavours. Can I, say freeze 1:1 or 2:1 syrup without this happening as well? Or maybe just freeze the sugar-herb mush once it's done macerating? (I'm hoping the flavours being bound in the sugar might help.) <Q> Remember that whatever method of preservation you use you will always lose some flavor <S> , there's no way to keep it all. <S> If you want to make a syrup for long term preservation then freezing them is your best bet unless you want to add preservatives which you don't really need to do if you have a freezer. <S> A smart way to do it would be to pour the syrups into ice cube trays, then once frozen pop them out into zip lock freezer bags so you can use the trays for other things, and keep the ice from sublimating. <S> I'm in favor of straining the syrup first, <S> that way the cubes are ready as soon as they come out of the freezer. <S> Depending on the herb it may be more efficient to simply freeze the herbs directly. <S> Thick herbs like sage, rosemary and thyme will do just fine while others like basil and parsley will turn to mush and you'll lose flavor. <S> Have you considered drying them? <S> It's not hard to do, and there's plenty of how-tos out there <S> , may be the best solution for thin herbs. <A> For cocktails, not mentioned in the other answers is the tincture, or preservation of some amount of the herb with some amount of alcohol (of some percentage alcohol). <S> This may be noted as a ratio of for example 1:3, which means 1 part herbs (by weight) to 3 parts alcohol (by volume). <S> Consult a book on herbs for suggested ratios and what percentage the alcohol should be. <S> (I've only read "alchemy of herbs" by Rosalee De La Forêt, which is where the above information comes from.) <A> Probably there are more ways to preserve herbs (you didn't specify what herbs and not all herbs are suitable for this treatments), but here are some I have done in the past: Dehydrate (on air, on the oven or on a dehydrator) <S> Freeze <S> Make <S> herb butter Make herb flavoured vinegar <S> Make herb flavoured oil <S> Make herb paste (Pesto) <S> Some dehydrated herbs usually have more concentrated flavours. <S> How to Store Fresh Herbs <S> How do “frozen fresh” herbs compare to fresh? <S> How much dried herb to use when substituting for fresh herbs?
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Make herb seasoned salt And answering your question, yes, frozen herbs lose some flavour.
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What to use instead of John Dory fish? I was looking to make Marco Pierre White's Dory a la Nicoise , but John Dory fish is quite a high-end, pricey fish which you will find in many fancy and high-end restaurants – while I am happy to give the recipe a try, I'd like to use a more common/affordable alternative, as I am no professional chef who is looking to risk wasting the high cost. Having looked around in different forums (e.g. flyertalk ), I have seen it compared to Dover sole , but there isn't much else to go on, so I turn to the folks at cooking SE. In terms of flavour and texture, what is a good alternative to John Dory fish? A cheaper, more common fish suggestion would be preferred. Special consideration to the recipe and complimentary flavours involved will be thoroughly appreciated, but is not necessary, as I intend to respect the site's ethos for general Q&A rather than highly-specific and only relevant to me Q&A. <Q> Looks like what you read was correct. <S> From Fine <S> Seafood Co here is a description of the John Dory fish. <S> (As many in the US will not be familiar.) <S> John Dory Often named <S> The English name John Dory arrived from the French ‘jaune doré’ meaning ‘golden yellow’ – a good description for this unusual looking fish, which varies in size from smaller 230-450g fish up to 2kg. <S> Because of the large head (like Monkfish, this accounts for half its weight), John Dory is best filleted, but beware the low yield (around 35%) and some sharp nasty spines, which require extra care when filleting. <S> The flesh is creamy-white, with a dense texture similar to Dover Sole , which holds up well during cooking. <S> Ideal pan-fried or grilled John Dory works well with Mediterranean flavours, salsas, and peppery sauces. <S> It may be an expensive fish with a low yield – but it’s worth it! <S> (Emphasis mine.) <S> Per my research, Dover Sole seems to be the first choice to use as a substitute for John Dory. <S> Another that I found mentioned quite often was Turbot. <S> But that seems to be even more expensive than John Dory. <S> Others listed as possible substitutes on Cookipedia <S> are: Bass, Grouper, Snapper, Emperor, and Halibut. <S> Here's a link to the Guide on Fine Seafood Co with descriptions of many other fish. <S> (No endorsement intended - just good information.) <A> IMO, you could do this recipe with whatever "white" fish your local friendly fishmonger offers. <S> Hallibut, haddock, hake ... even cod. <A> You can generally substitute any white fish for any other white fish, and I'm sure you could do for this recipe, however you might not get the result you are looking for. <S> The recipe you are making is extremely simple, with some distinctive flavors like fennel and anchovy, something like cod or haddock would be too mild and not have enough structure. <S> Sole might work, although it's very thin <S> and I personally don't think it has much flavor.
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Lower cost fish alternatives would be bream, grouper, red mullet, snapper (red has the most flavor because it's diet is shrimp), and sea bass. St Peter’s fish (St Pierre in France, Janitore in Spain), as he is alleged to be the origin of the distinctive dark ‘thumbprint’ (or spot) on its side as a thank you for some help with his tax!
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How do green jackfruit and hearts of palm compare for vegan pulled pork/carnitas/barbecue? I have been reading a lot about the latest vegan meat substitute choices, but I'm having trouble deciding between green jackfruit and hearts of palm. I am wondering what the advantages and disadvantages of each are. Why I might prefer each? <Q> Whereas jackfruit has a much better, meatier consistency. <S> I've done <S> BBQ pulled "pork" sliders with jackfruit and they were awesome. <S> You can buy it canned at Trader Joe's and elsewhere. <S> Some places, like Whole Foods, sell it pre-marinated in BBQ sauce and other flavors. <S> DELISH. <A> The immature jack fruit are easier to get. <S> The hearts of palm are much harder to get, hence one of the names 'millionaires salad, https://yoursourcetoday.com/recipes/hearts-palm-millionaires-salad . <S> When we cut a coconut palm down we have two parts to the heart. <S> The crunchy small part of about 4 kilo which is best sliced and eaten raw. <S> The other part of the palm growing tip which is where the heart came from is made up of white leaves and these are nice to eat raw. <S> The palm heart deteriorates fast and best used in 3 days. <S> I have never heard of the immature/green jack fruit being eaten raw. <S> They keep well, at least 3 days at our 28C room temperature. <S> When peeled, chopped into lumps and cooked with meats it takes on the flavour of that meat. <S> Here in Bali that meat is normally pork. <A> There's a vegan place near me that makes this incredible "pulled pork sandwich" made with jackfruit <S> and it's honestly mind-blowing. <S> do the jack fruit. <S> i love all the meats, and i can say (the way they prepare it) <S> it's just as good as pork without the greasy mouthfeel. <A> The palm hearts I am used to (in Brazil we use Euterpe edulis or Bactris gasipaes ) are generally very soft and used raw or blanched in salads. <S> It seems too watery, and don't think that it will hold its texture as the green jackfruit does. <S> I suggest jackfruit.
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As a veg/vegan for 24 years, I've used both and prefer jackfruit. Hearts of palm typically come canned and quickly turn to mush if you do anything but slice them up.
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too many hot chilli peppers in my Italian Beef! I put way too many hot chilli peppers in my Italian Beef! What can I do to tame it down? <Q> The only things that could really work without modifying the recipe: pick out the peppers, if they're whole and not thoroughly cooked in add a lot more beef, so it's diluted down to a reasonable heat level <S> Otherwise, a couple options, which can be combined: add something creamy/fatty to cut the heat, e.g. sour cream, yogurt, coconut milk, or some kind of creamy <S> sauce add enough of something else to get to a reasonable heat level, e.g. make a stew, make sandwiches with other ingredients, make pasta or rice, put it in baked potatoes, etc. <S> See also <S> : How can you make a sauce less spicy <S> /hot? <S> and How can I wash down spicy food? <A> if you are talking spontaneous combustion level heat, I'm not so sure this solution would do you any good. <S> I also concur with Jefromi and suggest that something creamy be added, hope this helps. <A> I had this problem once. <S> It turned out that the sauce was really spicy, but the meat itself was not spicy. <S> Remove the meat from the sauce and use another sauce for it; or adapt the meat to another recipe.
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I have found that a slight amount of sugar put into chili can cut some of the heat, not enough to make it sweet, I usually add less than a teaspoon, however
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What to do with ginger leftover from ginger ale production so I have been experimenting in ginger ale brewing lately and I have been following a method which involves fermenting the ale as always (ginger, water, sugar) and then discard the ginger before bottling. But as a good ginger lover, I found it to be a pity to discard that much ginger for every batch I make. So, is there any usage for those leftovers? Maybe some kind of candy? Thanks <Q> I boil it for about twenty minutes in a simple syrup, when I take the ginger out of the syrup I place it on a cooling grate and let it cool completely. <S> I then roll each individual piece in turbinado sugar(I have used white sugar too.) <S> To store I place it in a plastic bag with a little extra sugar to prevent the pieces from sticking to each other. <S> I also keep the syrup tightly sealed in the freezer, the syrup is great for cocktails, or as a remedy for an upset stomach. <S> I have also peeled leftover ginger and stored it in a tightly sealed container inside my freezer. <S> This is convienent because when you need ginger, you can easily grate the frozen ginger for your recipe. <S> Generally you can store it frozen for at least a good three months. <S> Hope this helps. <A> I make ginger ale as well. <S> In my process I finely slice the ginger and steep it to extract flavor. <S> When this is done I rinse it well to leave nothing but fiber behind. <S> My suggestion would be to do something similar to extract as much flavor from the ginger into your soda so that the leftovers don't have any use. <A> You can toss them with sugar before drying if you'd like.
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I have used excess ginger by candying it- Spread the leftover slices out on parchment paper and put them in the oven at low heat until they're as dry as you would like them.
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do szechuan peppercorns get stale? I've got some Szechuan/Sichuan peppercorns that don't make my lips numb or tingly, even when I just chew on several of them for 10 seconds or so. I would expect that they would. The jar smells good. Are they old? Low quality? (Or am I immune to the chemical?) <Q> It's impossible to say for sure as senses are subjective, however there may be nothing wrong with it. <S> Sichuan pepper comes from a completely different plant than black pepper, it's actually in the citrus family, and is more aromatic than spicy. <S> You should get more of a spicy, slightly citrus note rather than it blowing your mouth out with pepperiness. <S> If you aren't tasting much <S> they're most likely old, spices do lose potency over time. <A> I believe all spices and dried herbs or seasonings lose potency if stored improperly, I would recommend trying to store them in an airtight container. <S> Also toasting your spices on the stove top in a dry pan over medium low heat until they are frangrant will also help increase the flavor you get from them. <S> Hope this helps. <A> I wouldn't say that Sichuan peppercorns (zanthoxyli pericarpium)，hua jiao (花椒）go stale, but they do lose some of their numbing effect <S> /potency the drier they are. <S> Fresh ones are green in color, quite difficult to find in USA, and tend to be the most potent in their numbing power. <S> There are reddish ones which are what we normally see here in the USA, which are pretty potent. <S> There are light brown ones, which are a bit more dry, with less potency. <S> I would say the drier they are, the less potent they are in their numbing power. <S> But the drier they are, the easier it is to powder/crush them if you just want a bit of the numbness. <S> You could also lightly crush and heat them in dry pan or you can add them to your dish right away if they are dried out. <S> Of course, add more to increase their potency. <S> I would suggest a dark/opaque, air tight container in the fridge to help preserve their potency.
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Keeping spices sealed well in a cool, dry place helps slow degradation, but eventually the flavor will go.
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What could be the basic ingredients that potentiate sourness and bitterness? When it comes to basic tastes (saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and umami ), I can easily think of very basic ingredients that could be considered the essence of a given taste, something that you can add to any meal and potentiate that specific taste: For sweetness, we have sugar. For saltiness, we have salt. For umami, we have monosodium glutamate . I have doubts regarding sourness. At first I thought about vinegar or lemon juice, but both ingredients do modify the flavor of meals you add them into (and not just potentiate a given taste). And regarding bitterness, I just have no clue. Note that I am speaking about ingredients (something you can find in a kitchen), and not about chemical compounds in general. So what ingredients can be considered the essence of sourness and bitterness? <Q> About any acid will deliver a sour taste from H+, along with whatever taste the corresponding anion brings along. <S> Most alkaloids are bitter. <S> The term covers a wide range of different chemicals, mostly including nitrogen qnd oxygen as part of their structure. <S> There are likely quite a few bitter compounds which are not alkaloids, but none spring to mind at the moment. <S> Bitter is a far more complex response than sour or sweet. <A> A caffeine solution can be used as a neutral bitter flavor standard. <S> While not common in the kitchen, the acids are available in the US in homebrewing stores, and caffeine in a pharmacy. <A> Here is a small list of herbs that provide bitterness, thyme, marjoram, lovage, rosemary, tarragon, bay leaves, sorrel, sage- <S> If you want more bitterness and your recipe calls for these herbs- <S> you might try increasing the amount of these herbs till you like the taste or achieve the result you are looking for, Alternatively- if you heat lemon juice it will tone down the actual lemon flavor and turn bitter. <S> Sourness can be found in these foods- citrus fruits (such as lemon and limes), sour milk products (like yogurt, cheese, and sour cream), and fermented substances (including wine, vinegar, pickles, sauerkraut, and soy sauce). <S> Again I would recommend that you simply increase the amounts of these foods in your recipe, Alternatively, I would recommend that you use a store bought artificial flavoring like lactic acid or fumaric acid, OR you could infuse regular white vinegar or a lightly flavored vinegar(such as apple cider or champagne vinegar) with fresh herbs(specifically one or more of those that are called for in your recipe.) <S> I hope you get your conundrum solved....:-)
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Citric or lactic acid solutions are both neutral flavored organic acids; acids are what cause a perception of sourness.
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Self-made fatty dough separates in refrigerator, how to prevent I'm not sure if this dough has a specific name in English, it consists of 3 parts (by weight) flour, 1 part fat (mix until it consists of small crumbs) and 1 part water (+salt, mix until it's smooth). Used either to wrap around some filling, or as the bottom below the filling. I'm using liquid plant fat (sunflower) for the fat. Recently I tried making a double portion and keeping half in the refrigerator to use later. But the dough partly separated, i.e. some of the fat ran out. Where I live this type of dough is readily available in stores and I've never had the separating problem with store bought one. But the store bought ones usually use butter or hardened plant fats. Apart from using such less healthy and/or non-vegan fats, is there something else I can do to prevent separation? I would like to emphasize that I'm after some small change or trick to solve my problem, not another kind of dough. No, I'm not preparing it wrong. When used fresh, it's just fine, i.e. the way I want it to be. <Q> I have had this problem before too, and the only solution I have encountered is to freeze the dough you want to store, this requires a bit more planning as you will want the dough to thaw completely before you use it. <S> The best way I have found to thaw the dough is covered on the counter or placed somewhere <S> it can rest without being touched or moved much. <S> I hope this helps <S> and you solve your problem:-) <A> What you are describing is known as pastry crust, and it has to be made with solid fats. <S> It really only works with solid fats, not with oil, and not only because of the separation - to bake it properly, you need pockets of solid fat enclosed by fat-and-flour layers and water-flour layers, that is, you need a very special partial mixture which is impossible to achieve with liquid fats. <S> So sorry, but there is no way around it, you need to work with solid fat. <A> You don't add water to fatty dough. <S> Use flour and oil in 2:1 ratio. <S> Don't forget the water dough as the second component. <S> The pastry will still not puff as much as a regular butter puff pastry, but the flakiness is still unmistakable. <S> This kind of pastry consists of a water dough and an oil dough, two parts. <S> It is commonly used by the Chinese in their traditional pastry baking. <S> The water dough comprises flour, water and a little oil. <S> Here is an example: https://www.cookstr.com/recipes/chinese-puff-pastry . <S> Another one: http://www.recipies.50webs.com/Tao%20Sar%20Piah.htm <S> The method: http://www.recipies.50webs.com/Huaiyang%20chinese%20pastry%20.htm <S> I like to use this recipe for health reasons because I can use canola or olive oil.
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The oil dough comprises flour and oil and perhaps baking powder, but absolutely no water.
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Can raw honey look dark and runny? I have purchased Safa raw honey . They have written that their honey is: 100% Pure & RawRawUnheatedUnfiltered This honey is runny and dark in colour (almost black). It has some residue in it. This website shows raw honey that looks like a paste: http://www.hibeautiful.net/directory/skin-benefits-of-raw-honey Have I been fooled? Can raw honey look dark and runny? <Q> That seems normal. <S> All the "raw" means is that it was extracted from the honeycomb without significant heating. <S> It's liquid to start with in the honeycomb, so it's normal for it to still be liquid when you get it. <S> I don't know if I'd call it runny, it should still generally be a pretty thick, slow-flowing liquid, but it's not a paste. <S> The color is mostly just a function of what the bees were gathering. <S> Dark is often more flavorful, probably a good thing, but depends on your tastes. <S> I've definitely seen plenty of raw, unfiltered honey that looks liquid and roughly the darkness of the raw honey you bought, judging by the picture in the linked page. <S> If anything, it's probably more common to find dark unfiltered honey, because the filtering can lighten it up a bit. <S> The "paste" you linked to looks like it's crystallized/creamed. <S> There are a lot of tiny sugar crystals, making it thicker and opaque, which tends to make it look a bit lighter too. <S> (It's not completely smooth, like "perfect" creamed honey, but it's a lot smoother than uncontrolled crystallization, so <S> I think it's fair to call it creamed.) <S> Raw, unfiltered honey does crystallize more easily, because it has more imperfections in it to jump-start crystallization, so it's not entirely surprising to see raw honey in that form. <S> But raw honey certainly doesn't have to be that way. <A> Honey can range from light to very dark; from what I have in stock at the moment <S> one may be able to see that the rightmost trends towards almost black. <S> These samples are all from bees in the pacific northwest area. <A> It seems the further into the tropics you go the thinner honey gets. <S> Dark honey normally has more pollen in it. <S> So what flowers did it come from? <S> But black honey I have not seen. <S> Dark brown <S> yes. <S> If set does some bees wax form in the honey? <S> Is there parts of bees in the honey? <S> Unfiltered is not normal. <S> Taste varies from week to week when fresh honey is bought. <S> Or hive to hive in honey. <S> Our honey they get a hive. <S> Put it in a 5 gal. <S> bucket. <S> & the boys walk down the street selling it. <S> You stick your finger in & taste it before buying. <S> Bring your own jar. <S> The comb is mashed &the honey filtered threw a cotton cloth into your jar. <S> Some wax is seen in the honey. <S> Light to dark brown in color. <S> Not to many particals in it. <S> Some wax. <S> It almost sounds like you bought cooking honey. <S> We normally use the dark honey in cooking.
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Mass-produced honey is very often lighter, and wildflower honey (where the bees just get whatever they want) is very often darker.
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Is it possible to do slow cook things using a sous vide machine? My question is the exact opposite of this one . I'm considering getting a sous vide tool like this one . I'm wondering what's preventing me to use it as a slow cooker? Like, would it make sense to use the sous vide thing to circulate water in a bain-marie, and cook something inside a second bowl? Maybe that's overkill, or consume an unreasonable amount of energy? If that's not a good idea, what's the cheapest way of getting equipment that allows you to do both slow cooking and sous vide? <Q> Sous vide cooking is often at low temperatures, for long periods of time. <S> But, you lose out on things like evaporation which can be essential for slow cooked meals or certain types of flavor development . <S> So you have to be careful with what recipes you convert to sous vide; some will be easier and better if you don't use sous vide. <S> People do use mason jars for sous vide cooking, e.g. to make cheesecakes/custards. <S> But most things are done in plastic bags (ziploc freezer or vacuum bags). <S> If you'd like a setup that can sous vide and slow cook and <S> you have an oven, you could buy a dutch oven and a sous vide circulator to put in it (e.g. something like Joule since it sticks to the bottom of the dish magnetically). <S> For slow cooking, put the stuff in the dutch oven, leave the dutch oven covered but open by a crack and stick it in a low oven (225 F ish). <S> For sous vide, put water in the dutch oven, put the circulator in and go. <S> As The Food Lab states in their pressure cookers > slow cookers <S> article, the dutch oven setup described prior will often give you better flavor development and is not necessarily any worse than slow cookers on the safety front. <S> You also have versatility, e.g. you can increase the temperature to 300 F make a slow cooked tomato sauce and take advantage of the maillard reaction better and things like that. <S> Alternatively, just buy a slow cooker <S> if you really want a slow cooker -- they're super cheap, particularly if you look at yard sales (likely under 10 dollars). <S> The price will be basically negligible next to your sous vide circulator. <S> Then buy whatever circulator you want and use it in an appropriate container. <A> I think its possible, but because you can't fit a lid on top of whatever pot is holding the water (well, not easily; you can do some cutting to make a hole for the sous vide device in a plastic lid, but then that lid/pot become dedicated to the technique), and that lets the heat escape probably more than what would be desirable for what you're trying to do. <S> What you really need is something more like this . <S> It controls the water temp to perform the function of an immersion circulator for sous vide cooking, but it can also be used for slow cooking without the water. <S> I searched Amazon for sous vide slow cooker and got lots of results. <A> I am going to be the dissenting opinion here, kind of. <S> I have had decent luck using my sous vide cooker as a slow cooker. <S> You can put soups, stews etc in bags or Mason jars and submerge them in the sous vide water bath to achieve similar results. <S> As someone else stated you can't get any browning or evaporation this way but for a lot of meals that you would do in a slow cooker this works. <A> My first sous vide set up may be exactly what you're looking for. <S> Get a mechanical (stupid) slow cooker (7 quart), i.e. WITHOUT any electronic control. <S> Plug that into a precise PID temperature controller <S> (mine was bought from Auber Instruments in US). <S> You can leave this setup permanently, as it will have much better control of the temperature than the usual (high) range in which slow cookers operate. <S> The PID controller has a probe which you'll put into the slow cooker which measures current temperature. <S> When that temperature is one degree off from the target temperature, the controller will switch on (or off) which will turn on (or off) the slow cooker heater. <S> Depending upon what you're doing, the slow cooker pot will be filled with water or food. <S> I use both methods of cooking regularly.
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You can't do things like stir food in a sous vide setup easily.
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