What is the difference between green, white and black tea? What is the difference between green, white and black tea? Are all based on original tea leaves?

White, green, oolong, and black tea are all products of Camellia sinensis leaves and buds, the only difference is how they are processed.  You can turn the plant matter into any of the varieties.  Different sources will give different accounts of the processing steps, but in rough order of least-to-most processed:

White tea is minimally processed and not oxidized, meaning it retains the natural antioxidants, but does not develop as much flavor, color, or caffeine.  Sweet or flowery flavors are characteristic.
 (Chinese Silver needle white tea)

Green tea has a minimal amount of oxidation, halted by additional pan-frying (Chinese teas) or steaming (Japanese) steps.  The additional processing brings out more flavor, and allows for caffeine to develop, at the cost of a reduction in antioxidants.  Characteristic flavors are grassy, vegetal, and earthy, with sweet notes.

 (Japanese Sencha)

Oolong tea gets partial fermentation, and often an additional shaking/bruising step that release additional flavors.  Oolong can range in color from dark green to black. The combination of bruising and partial fermentation give many oolongs distinct flowery & earthy flavors.  Darker oolongs may have buttery or smoky tastes to them.  It has somewhat more caffeine and less antioxidants than green tea.

Tieguanyin or Iron Goddess: (light oolong)

Black Oolong: (Wu Yi)

Black tea is fully fermented, which blackens the leaves and causes the formation of caffeine and tannins. It generally possesses the most robust flavor and highest level of caffeine, but the least antioxidants.

 (Chinese keemun)

Pu-erh is tea that is pressed into cakes and post-fermented, meaning that after processing and drying it undergoes an additional ripening/fermentation. Microorganisms work on the tea, changing it chemically in a similar fashion to aging cheeses.  Traditionally this is accomplished over years in controlled climate conditions (10-15 years being ideal), but in recent decades a several-month fast ripening process is sometimes used.

Pu-erh develops a richer, more complex flavor, and has the widest range of flavors of any of the varieties. Before post-fermentation, it may resemble a white, green, or oolong tea, but the ripening process can impart darker black-tea flavors, giving a unique character.

Pu-er Cake

Rooibos, sometimes called red tea, is made from another plant entirely, Aspalathus linearis.  It is a traditional South African infusion, prepared like a black tea but without caffeine. There are two varieties, green and red.  Green is un-oxidized, where red is oxidized.  Rooibos is characterized by a sweet, woody/malty flavor.  Health-wise, it is a source of anti-oxidants, may aid in digestion, and some say it may aid with nervous tension and allergies.

Yerba mate is from the South American plant Ilex paraguariensis, whose leaves are steeped like tea.  It is generally toasted in processing, and produces a brew with caffeine similar to coffee.  Despite its caffeine, mate is actually relaxing to smooth muscles, so you don't get jitters, and it also helps control appetite. The flavor is vegetal and herbal, and can be bitter if brewed hot. Although it contains antioxidants, this is balanced by traces of carcinogens from the toasting, and the jury is still out on whether mate overall increases or decreases cancer rates.

Tisanes or herbal infusions these are various blends of dried herbs, fruits, spices, and flowers which are steeped like teas, but do not contain tea leaves.  Generally, the ingredients are dried, although fresh ingredients can be used too.  To confuse matters further, black and green teas may also have flavorings added to them, giving a similar result.

white tea About 10 to 30% of the fermentation

but black tea is Fermentation degree of 80 to 90% of the whole fermented tea


Baking - Substitutions for a gingersnap crust I'm making a recipe that calls for gingersnap crumbs in a crust. I don't really want to make a trip to the store to try and find gingersnaps but I have graham cracker crumbs. Could I just put a bit of ginger or molasses with the graham to make gingersnaps or is there a better way to substitute gingersnap crumbs?

Thanks in advance for all help!

I suggest you look for a similar recipe that makes its crust from the crackers you have, then add ginger to that. The fat content (and therefore the fat you need to add) will vary, as will the sugar. I've done almost the opposite substitution on a chocolate cheesecake and could have been a bit more careful to get the texture right.

I'm told Graham crackers are very suitable for a crust, certainly the nearest equivalents over here are, so it it just a matter of getting the substitution right.

Firstly, do you really need the ginger?  If not then your problem is solved.  If possible (taste availability you have), why not try an alternative such as cinnamon or other type of spice?


What natural ingredients can be used to color food blue or green? I've been experimenting more and more with "natural" food colorings - meaning spices and other ingredients that naturally impart color as opposed to a commercial food dye made specifically for this purpose.

For example, I've let scallops (among other things) sit in a beet puree, and they get a brilliant pink color.  I plan on trying turmeric and saffron for more yellow/orange/red colors.

Are there other ingredients that I can try that might create a green or blue color in scallops? And would these work for other foods as well?

According to this blog, you can make blue dye from red cabbage, water, and baking soda. I don't know if it would specifically work on scallops, but I haven't been able to find any proof that alkaline dyes are detrimental to them. The article points out that they work for pastries, though.

Spinach or matcha (green tea powder) could work for green dye. Matcha is already used, primarily in Japan, to dye several kinds of foods and/or drinks and I've personally used spinach to dye Easter eggs.

Its a well known fact vanilla ice cream are green in colour. For getting the green colour, you can use vanilla or its products which render green. There are plenty of manufacturers who sell  natural green colorant.

regarding blue  colour, i am not sure. I think one can try blue grapes to get blue (more of purple) colour.

Apart from this there are lots of green / blue flowers / fruits in nature. Just google it and may get some positive results for colour extraction from the selected flower / fruit. and can be  extracted in backyard and can use it.

I dont think spices can render green / blue colour.


Why are olives always better at the restaurant? Between olives I've been served at restaurants as a starter and various brands of olives I bought in supermarkets I have found that the ones in restaurants often taste much better. In particular they are often less salty, less bitter and more buttery in taste.

Is this a bias on my part, maybe because I tend to be more hungry when I go to a restaurant or are they actually better. Are there particular varieties of olives  (eg. specific region or method of preservation or preparation) that taste like the ones in restaurants? Is it that they are fresher at a restaurant?

EDIT: I'm referring to plain olives here, not a processed. The kind you get as a starter, sometimes with some bread on the side. In particular mediterranean or middle eastern restaurants serve them that way.

Assuming that you are buying from supermarket shelves,(and not, say, from olive bars that some supermarkets have) there is a quality difference between shelf-stable canned and jarred olives vs. olives available in olive bars like Whole foods or in a Mediterranean deli. These come oil cured or submerged in water, and cannot be stored for long term, and they taste much better.

European olives are not salty. I hardly was able to find any salty olives in europe. Only americans and asian countries who doesnt know how to eat olives eat salty olives. That is the only difference. Salty olives exist everywhere but in europe, non salty olives are very easy to find and tastes so much better and does not ruin ur taste when eating with pasta and other stuffs.


At what point is eating left-overs or perishables not just daring but dumb? I am a college student who is sometimes a foodie, sometimes a garbage disposal. There is plenty of good food that some of my peers would turn their noses up at. But sometimes I wonder if this is not just disgusting, but actually bad for my health.

Food service standards are not what I am looking for here. Those are already clearly too stringent to me. Rather, I am looking for some rules of thumb about when I should not just cut or scrape the bad parts but trash the whole thing.

When in doubt, throw it out. It's cheaper than a hospital visit.

If you are wanting to save money, be proactive and find out the best way to store each food, and how long it can be stored.

Some things lose taste and texture as they age (even in the proper environment), while some things begin to grow dangerous kinds of bacteria or molds. For example, hard dry bread gets turned into french toast. Moldy bread gets thrown away.

Controversial answer, but:  if it doesn't taste good.  Spoiled food is disgusting in texture (mealy, slimy), taste (pungent, bitter, chemical), and smell (rotten, sour, noxious).

Any food more than a day old should really be reheated anyway. But don't reheat something that doesn't taste good beforehand.

In short, don't go by rules.  Go by looks and your senses.

p.s. Don't smell or taste more than necessary to test the product.


Is aluminum foil porous? When cooking certain items in the oven, I line the baking pan or sheet with aluminum foil. Without fail, when cleaning up, I find oil or juices from the food between the foil and the pan.

I always use one piece of foil, meaning that I have not joined two pieces together, thus there is no seam. I use a large enough piece to extend past the edges of the pan. I use heavy duty foil with no apparent holes or other visible imperfections.

When researching, I have learned that there are porous aluminum foils produced specifically for other applications, and this is by design. But from everything I've read, foil sold for food use is not supposed to be porous.

So, how does this happen?

There are two questions here:

Is aluminum foil porous (particularly the types of foil sold for household cooking)?
Is foil's porosity responsible for the liquid that sometimes appears on the other side in cooking/baking applications?

I'd say the brief answers to these questions are (1) sometimes a bit, especially when not using "heavy duty" foil, and (2) perhaps responsible for a small part of the effect in some situations, though how much likely depends on the foil type/quality and how it is used.  More details below.

First, aluminum foil can be porous when it is sufficiently thin.  This is usually due to small holes left in the manufacturing process.  According to Gordon Robinson's Food Packaging: Principles and Practice (3rd ed.):

  Aluminum foil is essentially impermeable to gases and water vapor when
  it is thicker than 15 µm, but it is permeable at lower thicknesses due
  to the presence of minute pinholes.  For example 12 µm thick foil has
  a WVTR [water vapor transmission rate] of ≤0.01 g m-2 day -1, and 8-9 µm thick
  generally of 0.07-0.1 g m-2 day -1 (Lamberti and
  Escher, 2007).  These values are still far below those of most plastic
  films used for food packaging....

Other sources give slightly different numbers.  The Wiley Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology lists:

  0.001 in. (25.4 µm) and thicker is impermeable; 0.00035 in. (8.9 µm) has a WVTR of 0.02g/100in.2 (0.065m2); 24 h at
  100°F (37.8°C)

How thick is common household aluminum foil?  According to this link:

"Standard Duty" usually is between 0.0004" and 0.0007" thick.
Most foil labeled "Heavy Duty" is between .0008" and .001" thick.
Most foil labeled "Extra Heavy Duty" is between .0011" thick and .0016" thick.

The first source above lists the minimum thickness for impermeability to be about 0.0006" (15 µm, though this may only be for gases, not liquids), while the second source says 0.001".  Other sources seem to indicate liquid impermeability requires a minimum thickness of around 0.001".  Regardless, it seems likely the "standard duty" foil has some permeability in most cases.  On the other hand, "heavy duty" foil is likely completely impermeable (or very nearly so).

But how much is this permeability?  At room temperature, it would only allow something like a hundredth of a gram through per day in a pan, probably less.  At baking temperatures, permeability would increase, but you still would likely only see a fraction of a gram of liquid getting through during a typical baking period.  And for heavy duty foil, the amount should be zero or negligible... at least theoretically.

To move on to the second question, so where does this liquid come from?  I myself have seen such liquid even with a double layer of foil or with heavy duty foil.

Other answers have suggested one likely culprit, which is condensation.  Ovens often tend to be humid places when uncovered foods are cooking, and food that is in contact with the bottom surface of a pan (and the foil) is generally still cooler than the oven (often the coolest part of the food is on the bottom), which means that humidity will condense on the surface of the pan/foil.  It's usually a lot faster for molecules (even larger ones, which often "piggyback" on evaporating water) to move this way in a hot oven than through microscopic pores in the foil.

The other likely issue is imperfections created during the handling of the foil.  A perfectly smooth layer of foil removed carefully from the roll may theoretically be impermeable, but bending, crumpling, and otherwise shaping the foil may expand or fracture some tiny pinholes (or other thin sections).  All it takes is a few tiny holes (which may not even be visible) to significantly increase the permeability.

Actual leaking may be due to poor manufacture in modern foils or to the severe crumpling done in experiments like this one. (EDIT: See discussion in this thread, which responded to that link with several other experiments.  The conclusion was that is was likely design that caused the leak, and some brands of heavy duty foil do seem impermeable to water.)

In any case, it's clear that aluminum foil -- when used practically in home culinary applications -- can sometimes allow some liquid to flow through at a greater rate than the theoretical porosity would suggest.

In absolute terms the answer is yes. Depending on the molecular size of the products it is containing is could be that it is porous. With regular cooking I'd say it you will not notice it. Could it be that you damage the foil while putting it in the baking pan or while taking it out?


How to make a Hungarian Túró Rudi at home? I want to make some Túró Rudi for a Hungarian friend. Túró Rudi is a chocolate sweet available to buy in Hungary, and vast numbers are sold every year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BAr%C3%B3_Rudi

The outside is easy, it's just chocolate. The tricky part is the inside, which has the consistency of the inside of a Bounty (coconut) bar for those that know it. the centre is white firm and sweet, but in the Túró Rudi it is made with cottage cheese (Túró) and sugar, but how can I make a firm, sugary centre out of cottage cheese? I've had them in a restaurant so they can certainly be made in a kitchen.

I've searched and searched for a recipe, but I cannot find one. I'm happy to experiment, and any help is welcome.

I spent quite a bit of time working on a variety of recipes for this. In all honesty, none are particularly close to the "real thing" but the results can taste pretty good and are reminiscent of the actual product.

The main challenge is in buying authentic túró. After a lot of work, I've confirmed that there's no standard, easily available equivalent in the UK. British quark, an easily available curd, is very different to túró. British cottage cheese is really nothing like túró. So if you're in the UK and want to make anything with túró, you'll need to compromise on taste, or buy some túró from a Hungarian or Eastern/Central European provider. Alternatively you could make your own by acquiring the curd from soured milk.

The recipe I used with the best results was simple. Mix the túró with a little sour cream and some fine sugar to sweeten it to your taste. Stir in some liquid (melted) gelatine. Pour the mixture into moulds (I used a small ice cube tray) and freeze it. When frozen hard, quickly dip each in chocolate and put them in the fridge.

The texture is jelly-like, which is very different to a real túró rudi (which is firm and slightly crystalline), but it tastes pretty good.

Perhaps a combination of cottage and cream cheese put into an ice tube mold and allowed time to set a bit.


Would cooking a leg of lamb for 12 hours be a problem? I found a nice recipe for a leg of lamb. It is however supposed to be baked for four hours.

It would be more practical for me if I could let it bake for 12 hours (overnight) -- would 12 hours vs. 4 hours be a problem?

I was planning to seal the pot and set the oven to 110°C (230°F)

EDIT: did it. 2 hours at 180C then 12 hours at 90C. The it was sealed with plastic foil (heat resistant) It was fantastic.

It shouldn't be a problem. I would probably use a lower cooking temperature however. Start with a highish temperature of about 180-200C, to bring the meat out of the danger zone quickly, then lower it to 80-90 for a long slow cook. You will probably want to introduce some liquid to the pan to avoid it all drying out.

Fry it in the pan, the marinade in wine for a day  then you can cook it even at 70 degrees C. Just apply some liquid every half hour or so- its delicious


What are the important traits of a good popcorn machine for home use? I am aware that this question is somewhat subjective, so I did my best to ask a good subjective question, instead of "What popcorn machine should I buy?".

I recently shared my popcorn-related troubles and got several suggestions on how to improve my microwave popcorn experience. After a discussion I had today, I was suggested to invest in a popcorn machine, as, supposedly, it would make my popcorn better than a microwave.

When looking at some available machines, I saw a vast difference in price, ranging all the way from 20€ up to 100€ (ignoring the professional machines).

This made me wonder what determines the quality of a "good" popcorn machine? Is it only about size? Are there different internal mechanisms? What should I look out for when choosing a popcorn machine for home use?

There are three non-microwave ways to pop popcorn:

an air popper
a plug-in dome popper
a stovetop popper

Each of these makes different popcorn.

The air popper uses no fat, though if you're going to add melted butter you probably don't care. In fact the absence of fat means salt and other powdered flavours don't stick well. You can't burn the popcorn. My air popper also used to blow unpopped kernels all over the kitchen. We eventually repurposed it as a coffee roaster.

The plug-ins require a plug, you add a little oil, and you need to pay attention or you might burn a few kernels.  I use coconut oil in mine, and add less butter than I used to add to air-popped corn.

The stovetops are apparently terrific if you want to melt a coating (eg caramel corn) onto the popcorn. I haven't used one.

===

ETA:  Two additional options.

If one already has an electric skillet, such as:

With a bit of oil and corn it will hold a steady temperature and do the job without a separate space eating devise.  This option takes a little practice to get the temperature that works best for you, and shaking the skillet a couple times while hot is a pain, but this was always my grandparent's preferred popper.

If you do not wish to eliminate the microwave option, several makers produce these:

These dry pop for those who are concerned with oil.  Or for those of use who prefer, we dry pop it, then dump on the butter after.  This gives the option though of using spices and such after much like an air popper, but in my experience had a higher pop rate that air poppers of packaged microwave popcorn and was much less prone to burning.  They do require little concentraters that are inserted and would each hold up for 4-6 batches though.

A popcorn popper contains a heater and yet is made out of plastic; this requires competent engineering and the use of proper materials. A good popcorn popper will work reliably. A bad popcorn popper will stop heating properly, melt, or set your house on fire after extended use. (A middling popcorn popper will be underpowered and take a long time to pop the popcorn.)

The resultant popcorn is unlikely to differ between machines, as long as it's not on fire or covered in melted plastic.


How can I make home-made veggie burgers stay together so I can grill them? I tried this weekend to make veggie burgers to cook on the grill, with fake ground beef (maybe Gimme Lean or something like that), egg, breadcrumbs, spices, and they totally fell apart.

Is there a secret to home-made veggie burgers that can be cooked on the grill? All grilled veggies instead of fake meat?  Just a proportion issue? Can't be solved?

Thanks!

I second the recommendation for Lukas Volger's Veggie Burgers Every Which Way. I've been working my way through it and have made several of the recipes so far, all of which have been good. However, I would say that not all of the recipes in the book work well for the grill.

I've been doing everything vegan from the Volger book with mixed results. Many of the recipes use eggs, but you can do them with just breadcrumbs and water as the binder. They come out pretty delicate that way and are better in a skillet and then baked, as Volger recommends. His tofu and chard burgers use some tofu that has been browned then pureed as binder. This works ok, but the burgers came out quite delicate (but still delicious).

Silken tofu pureed in the food processor gets a thick, creamy texture that could also be used as a binder.

Eggs are by far the most common binder as they may be the best edible binder there is, since they are basically liquid protein, but obviously not vegan.

For delicate burgers, I use this cooking grid on the grill, which works great. You can find something similar at most kitchen stores.

Another binder option is steamed rice, prepared like you would for sushi. It gets sticky and makes a great binder, though they'll still be a bit delicate.  I've been making the beet, brown rice and black bean burger recipe from Volger's book. I add bbq sauce and a paste of pureed rehydrated prunes, similar to the veggie burger at Hillstone/Houston's restaurant and they come out really great. They work fine right on the grill, though refrigerating them overnight makes them a little sturdier.

Another option is adding vital wheat gluten and water, aka raw seitan dough. This is what is done in the Veganomicon black bean burger recipe. I tried these straight on the grill also and they stayed together perfectly, as well as any commercial veggie burger. However, they were a little bland and could use some more seasoning.

I haven't tried any of these in burgers, but some common binders in vegan baking are peanut butter, apple sauce and Ener-g egg replacer. I bet peanut butter would work well in a burger with flavors that work with peanut, like Thai flavors or chipotle.

Falafel-style burgers also don't need any binders, they stick together pretty well and can be grilled, though you may want to use a grill grid or something similar.

Lastly, you can put a cast iron skillet or pizza stone on the grill - it's common now for grilled pizza and will work for delicate burgers.


Which plastic wrap is okay for oven use? On television I have seen cooks use plastic wrap, then foil over a pan of food that is going to be baked. I can see how this would stop the chemical reaction between certain foods and the aluminum and possibly form a tighter seal on the pan.

How do I know which plastic wrap is okay to use in the oven i.e. won't melt all over my bakeware and/or food?

Do I look for a certain plastic formulation?
Will the packaging tell me a certain wrap is okay at typical oven baking temperatures (300°F-425°F)?

The plastic actually does not reach 300°F in the oven.

According to a forum post at Cheftalk, the dish beneath the plastic releases steam, which cools the saran wrap to 212° F, which is still below the melting point.

However, you should not just use saran wrap. Saran wrap easily shreds, and there are special foils for heating food which are usually refered to as reynolon. These are stronger and more resistant against releasing chemicals into the food. Check the forum thread above for more information.

DO NOT PUT NAME BRAND GLAD CLINGWRAP IN THE OVEN!!!

Clingwrap melts below 200 degrees. Save yourself the frustration, and learn from my mistake. Be careful with information that you receive from the internet.


What is the purpose of the sugar in ketchup? Most ketchup recipes - even homemade ones - include several tablespoons of sugar.  Commercial ketchup often has lots of high-fructose corn syrup.  What purpose does all of this sugar serve in a ketchup recipe?

High fructose corn syrup is a preservative. While sugaring your ketchup is good for flavor, HFCS is great for shelf stability, as is the vinegar.

The reasons you typically see HFCS in American Ketchups is that it is (1) heavily subsidized and domestic and cheap, (2) farmed by the same companies making the tomatoes, and (3) a preservative. Also, it helps to improve flow while maintaining viscosity.

Sugar generally can be used to cut the acidity in a tomato dish without inhibiting the taste or outshining the tomato. My stepfather had digestion issues with high acidity meals and swore by a teaspoon or two of sugar to help aid the stomach issues. Likewise, the acidity of ketchup may well be mitigated by all the sugar.

Sugar acts as a preservative and also adds taste to the food. Also, many food products use natural preservatives like sugar, salt and oil.


Chicken enchiladas still safe to eat I cooked chicken and made up enchilada with sour cream and the green sauce and made extra.
How many days can I keep them in the refrigerator before reheating?

I would heat within 3 days.  From that point on, first flavor will decay, then quality of tortillas...then, say after about a week, they will get progressively nasty.

Due to the presence of sour cream, they will keep no longer that any other dairy product. I would be more concerned about the consistency the the tortillas. Have you already stuffed them?


deli ham left in warm car I bought some ham from the deli the other day and forgot it in the car for about 5 hours. It was a 77 degree day. When I ran out to go get it the meat still felt cool so I threw it in the refrigerator right away. Is it still safe to eat?

This is really an issue of risk.

The USDA's recommendation is not to consume meat that has experienced more than four hours of cumulative time between 40° and 140° F. Essentially, that means that the level of risk of illness from food-borne pathogens is acceptable in that range. The government's position is that 5 hours beyond a level of risk that they are willing to expose the public to.

Also be aware that (sliced) deli meat is more prone to pathogens that a whole ham.

That said, it comes down to what level of risk you are comfortable with. Personally, I would probably eat it myself, but not serve it to others.

If in doubt, throw it out.

I think the statistics is for every hour left out of the fridge the bacteria (or whatever) multiply by two. Five hours is a long time. Especially if it was intended for sandwiches (therefore, not cooked).


Why won't my boiled egg whites harden? I'm having problems with boiling eggs. The egg whites are not hardening and stay soft, but the yolks did set. The eggs I'm using are freshly laid.
What can cause this? How can I make sure my egg whites set too?

This is not a real answer, but rather some info to hopefully, help:

Egg whites are 90% water, when they harden, the protein unravels and creates a grid network that does not allow the molecules to slip past each other.  If the protein level drops, it might make it harder to set and stay runny.
Egg white proteins go through a phase change (become hard) at a lower temperature than the Yolk by a few degrees, that's how you can have soft-boiled eggs.
If you crack a fresh egg and it sprawls on the dish (as opposed to hold tall), you're looking at an egg from a chicken that didn't eat many insects/larvae. ;) This may be expected as at this time of the year (northern hemisphere) insects aren't very active.

There is a good section in Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma that gets into more detail.  And perhaps better information regarding the off-season feed.

i have been boiling and poaching eggs for many years and this is the first time I have not been able to cook the White of an egg, so I don't think it's the cooking process but to do with the chicken's productive system


Does the inside of a lid used to cook rice or steam vegetables have anything besides water on it? After cooking rice or steaming vegetables the inside of the lid used to cover the pot has water droplets on it - is it just water or do elements of the food make the lid "dirty" and require washing?
Edit:  I should have mentioned the assumption that the food has not made contact with the lid and that if the lid is removed after cooking and placed on the counter, the next day it has no visible residue on it.

Starchy foods, like rice, tend to bubble and splash.  They will get starch on the inside of the lid.  If you don't let it dry out, you might decide a quick rinse is sufficient, but if it dries it will probably need a proper wash to remove the starch.
Steaming is more interesting.  There shouldn't be any splashing above the level of the food, so it should just be clean water on there.  I'd rinse it before drying and putting away.
That's a minimum; I would just put mine in the dishwasher; there's often a space when it's otherwise full that wouldn't be much use for something really dirty.

You're asking 2 things here:

"Is there anything else than water on your lid when you take it off and after it dries, is there any residue?"
"Should I wash the lid?"

So 2 answers:

Yes, as already stated in the other answers: water isn't the only volatile substance in your rice / veggies / ...
No, because the steam is >100°C (above the boiling point of water) and although some of the other volatile's boiling point will be <100°C, the majority will be plain and simple H20, so your lid will be sterile, so it won't need any rinsing nor washing.

Note 1: #2 above is true provided you don't have a single splash on said lid... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Note 2: Unless you don't have access to tap water and need to carry bottled water all the way up to the nth floor, it's not a big deal to just rinse the lid and make your partner happy!


After breakfast, egg plate clean up I wash breakfast plates for about 800 people every morning, I scrub the plates before putting them in the dishwashe, is there some kind of chemical I can use to break down the egg protien and no longer have to scrub? - tired hands and all!

I feel you pain. I spent 2 summers cleaning dishes to help pay for summer camp and that was only 100 campers (3 meals a day). 800 eggy dishes is not fun!

Getting egg off doesn't require anything special, just a soak in cold soapy water for a few minutes. Egg is a mix of protein and fat. Fat comes off better in warm or hot water but proteins come off much better in cold or cool water as heat makes the proteins stickier. If you can, set aside a container of some kind with cool soapy water and put loads of the plates into it. Soak as long as you can, then pull them out a few at a time and wash the gunk off with a sponge, then get into the dishwasher right away. If you're scrubbing you're working too hard!

I known what you mean on Saturday or sunday we would have soft boil egg .
after eating the egg , the york remains on bowl or plate.
i usually running with cold water and use brush if you have one or back of sponge ( rough side). if it still don't come out use a little hand washing dishes deg.
If you have rough sponge like yellow one use that one or pink one too.
If you don't load dishes into dishwasher straight away, get empty tub or use sink to fill up with cold water .
this also work with milk remained.


How can I chop onions without crying? Onions are an excellent addition to many dishes, but cutting them can be frustrating when they make you "cry" all the time.

Does anyone know any tips or tricks to help minimise the tears when chopping onions?

Can't comment directly due to rep limit, but I'm not sure Ryan Elkins above is correct. I'm fairly certain both allinase and LFS are found throughout the layers, though the "core" might contain a higher concentration. Certainly there's no gas contained in the central bulb.

There's a couple of basic strategies for avoiding eye irritation:

Avoid breaking cell walls: use a sharp knife

The enzymes and amino acids involved in producing the Onion Lachrymatory Factor (seriously!) are normally contained in the cells, and only become a problem when released in volume. Using a sharper knife will avoid mangling cell walls, creating more clean separations between layers, and reducing the amount of enzymes released.

Slow down the reaction: refrigerate/freeze the onion

I would guess the activity of both enzymes involved here peaks somewhere around room temperature, or maybe a little higher. You want to get out of this optimum range: either freeze the onion, or heat it beyond denaturation. The former is probably way more practical, since heating to denaturation will leave a soggy mess instead of an onion. You may also be able to deactivate the allinase by substantially altering the pH, for example by coating your knife in lye (not recommended) or lemon juice.

Avoid the reaction products: cut underwater or ventilate

The OLF and the reaction intermediaries look to be fairly water soluble, so cutting under running water should take care of them with sufficient flow rate.

I'm not sure what the mechanism behind the common candle suggestion is, OLF is a thial oxide and not very flammable. My best guess is that the rising air draws some of the irritant up and away from the area, but in that case a fan should work much better.

I've had success with cutting onions near running water.


How can I learn to sharpen my Japanese knives properly? I have a couple of nice Japanese kitchen knives, and a whetstone in two grades. I can sharpen them reasonably well using the stone, but does anyone have any good tips for improving my sharpening skills?

The Japanese Knife Company has a couple of good tutorials on their website. http://www.japaneseknifecompany.com/sharpening-guides .

Update from Joe:

They have videos on many different ways of sharpening knives (diamond steel, wheel, water wheel, stone, water stone, single sided blades).  If you check their YouTube channel Japanese Knife Company, they also have videos for maintenance of your knives (stropping using newspaper), storage (magnets or blade up in knife blocks; advantages of different blade protectors)

It's almost impossible to describe the process only with text, especially as some of his advice has to do with the sound of the sharpening or stropping, or showing undesired movements of your arm, so videos are the best way to explain the process online.  But even with that, you might not be aware of mistakes that you're making, so you may want to look to see if there are knife or kitchenware stores in your area that offer classes.

I have a "Work Sharp" belted sharpener and have whet stones and diamond impregnated sharpening tools. Japanese knives typically have an extra hardened surface that is supposed to keep them sharp longer. Sharpening these knives removes some of the extra hardening surface layer. Assuming yours are serrated as well, one side is flat without any bevel and should only be smoothed of any burrs, not sharpened. The angle of the edge on the other side should be studied to determine proper attack. There are a couple different gauges made for this purpose.


What's the difference between masa for tortillas and for tamales? I often buy fresh prepared masa from Mexican markets in order to make tamales and pupusas.  Mexican cookbook authors stress getting the correct masa for the recipe, either masa for tamales or masa for tortillas.  However, the masa at the market is in an unlabelled bag and is identified by the proprietor as just "masa".  Questions:

is this more likely to be tamale or tortilla masa?
is there a real difference?  What?
if there's a real difference, is there a way you can modify one type of masa into the other?

Clarifying: the above question is about fresh corn masa, not dried flour.  Prepared masa, in particular, has at least oil and salt added to the fresh-ground corn.

I found a link that will provide the explanation you are looking for:

http://www.mymexicanrecipes.com/ingredients/masa-harina.html

Here is a direct quote from the site:

  Masa is dried corn that has been cooked in limewater (cal), soaked overnight, and then ground up while still wet. Sold in this form, it's called fresh masa, and it makes the lightest, fluffiest tamales. In Mexico, it can be purchased at tortilla factories in two ways: with smooth consistency for making tortillas and, upon request (if you are lucky), with a coarser consistency for making tamales. (Be careful to differentiate between masa para tamales and masa preparada para tamales; the latter, available at some tortilla factories and large Mexican groceries, is the coarse-textured masa mixed with lard and flavorings.

When you are reading the labels on the fresh masa:  one has the  slated lime soaked corn coarsely  ground plus lard or shortening, salt, and baking powder. The other has the ground corn without the other ingredients.

One way of making a tortilla is to use the the masa without lard etc. and add just enough masa harina (ground corn flour)until the wet masa is stiffer. Dry fry it in a hot skillet until it is lightly colored and not dry. Note: the tortillas have a nutty, corn texture to them. Roll into a ball and put between a pieces of a heavy plastic bag or use tortilla press.

Hope this helps.


What is a good substitute for Fish Sauce? Are there any good substitutes for Fish Sauce for cooking Thai food?

This is due to a severe food allergy (anaphylaxis) to all forms of seafood, so I'm unable to substitute for other fish-based products.

Try mixing hoisin or miso into low-sodium soy sauce.

From one of my favorite bloggers, Smitten Kitchen, "I often see low-sodium soy sauce suggested as an alternative but I’m not convinced it’s a fair swap. There’s something more caramelized and fermented in the fish sauce that you’d miss. If you feel like playing around, I might whisk some additional hoisin or even miso into that soy sauce for a more complex flavor."

Soy sauce contains E numbers that are derived from Fish! So any type of Soy sauce is out of the question for those with a fish allergy.


What is Zwieback toast and where can I find it? I am baking a black forest cake and it calls for zwieback toast.  I cannot find this anywhere.  Does anyone know what this is or where I can find it?

Zwieback toast is a twice-baked sweetened toast fed to teething children. It is also known as teething toast, and can be found in the baby aisle of most grocery stores.

You can also go to Amazon and order it. I bought a box from Amazon and it arrived two days later. Hope this helps...


Why use onions in cooking? Onions are an ingredient in almost every recipe. I hate the taste(flavour) of them (I know I might be the only one). I always try to avoid eating them and try to pick them out of the food. Seeing that I am the only one in the house that doesn’t like the taste of onions not using them in a recipe would be selfish.

I was just wondering (a) if there would be a good substitute or (b) do I really need to have them in a recipe? And (c) what purpose do they add to food?

Their primary purpose is flavor, although (as mentioned by @David Richerby) they can also be used for thickening in some cases. If you don't like them, but other members of your household do, then it becomes a cost-benefit analysis of every dish.

If your hatred of onions is visceral, yet other family members would just kind of rather have them than not, not including them is easy. It becomes trickier if everyone else loves them.

Consider prepping onions by quickly soaking the chopped onions in cold water or giving them a quick pickle in vinegar and salt. That may remove flavors that you find offensive while still keeping those qualities that other members of your household may like.

Garlic provides much of the same flavor profile as onions. Can you add a bit more garlic when you eliminate onions?

You might find some types of onions less offensive than others. Consider supersweet onions like Vidalia, green onions (AKA scallions), and red onions that have been tamed a bit by soaking or pickling.

Consider asafoetida as a substitute, along with other substitutions found here: What can I substitute for onions?

Onions were used as a way to collect bacteria as it passed through the gut, when using less than perfect meat. It was a way of preventing people from getting sick before  Refridgeration. This is one of the reasons it is included in stews so often. Eating an onion whilst sick with food poisoning will rapidly reduce the period of time with symptoms.
The taste aspect then in modern cooking can be eliminated if it is too strong.


Webshop to buy vegetarian/vegan products online delivering in Canada? I would love shops with bulk of almonds, various beans (soy,lentils,chickpeas), speciality cereals like quinoa/amaranth, seitan mix, vegan fake chiken, broths, wheat grass, vegetarian/vegan fake meats ...

As I buy from Quebec, it could be harder a little ...

Go Dairy Free's list of online food retailers is a good start.

Have a google of Indian/Asian/Baking supplies too. Doesn't have to be an all Vegan online source, eh?

I relied on a middle-eastern import company for pulses years ago before they were available locally. Had to order 10K sacks! Learned to share the bargain with friends.

You're not going to have much luck with "online" organic food in Canada.  I'll talk about it later, but first I'll talk about shopping yourself.
Bulk Barn actually has a ton of organic grains (eg ORGANIC QUINOA).
Other stores (highly hit and miss) that carry organics are:  Sobey's, Loblaws, Costco, and The Real Canadian Superstore.
Just show up and browse the produce.  Sometimes you'll find a killer deal on organic grapefruit at one of them, and completely zero organic stock in the other.
Costco carries Earthbound organics salads (large boxes) in their fridge section.  The price or less is the same as conventional salad in a regular grocery store.
If you're in Toronto, try also Ambrosia.
On Online delivery
I don't have a good experience with online food delivery.  I just don't see a need to pay to get it delivered, when I can easily go out and get it myself.  You don't get to choose the fruits you get, and you are going to pay much more.
That said, there's a listing here, and it includes a group called Front Door Organics.
Now I haven't tried them, but browsing their produce, it looks promising.  Still,
you're probably not going to have much luck with online services that do delivery, simply because it's too expensive and you don't get much bang for your buck, plus you can't pick the fruits that are in good condition.  You're better off going to the store yourself.


Technical terms for an oven that would resist to cleaning products wipping out painted symbols? Hi not sure if anyone could help with this but I aim to buy an oven that would keep its settings symbols for a decent amount of time. Would be great if ovens had a technical term(s) that would indicate the ability of the oven to withstand cleaning products from removing painted symbols?

I have spent already 30 minutes looking all over the internet and could not figure out how I could possibly find out the answer to this. Looking to buy online does not give you much of an indication whether the symbols are engraved, painted or behind a glass window?

Many thanks

In my experience, it is not an issue, I've been clean my oven, inside and out for 15 years and there are no problem with removing painted decals or not.

Unless you are using really harsh cleaning product or too much abrasive, you should not have an issue.


My whipped cream can has run out of nitrous. I want what's inside anyway. What's the least destructive method of doing so? I have a circular saw meant for cutting metal, I have pliers, I even have a can opener, but I'm not certain others encountering this problem and looking it up on DDG/Google may have these. So, what's the solution to a commercial can of whipped cream being unable to empty on its own? Assume that I want the cream edible but don't care anymore that it won't be foamy.
EDIT: There is concern that this might not be safe. Ensure that your answer, therefore, is safe.

Circular saw will fill it with metal filings - not great for the mouthfeel, I'd think.
Pliers aren't sharp enough to puncture.
Can opener will have no lip to grab.
Your first issue will be the container skidding out of your control - with potential for finger-loss & furniture damage. You're not going to easily find any implement you can squeeze slowly to make the first cut, you're going to have to hit it with something sharp.
Your second will be how much gas is actually left in the container & what that results in.
Messy but possible, grip it in a vice & puncture with a hammer & fine wood chisel. Then use something like aluminium sheet cutters (they're like big, tough scissors) to finish cutting around the perimeter.
Cons:-

Spray/spatter on your first puncture, assuming you can hit it hard enough to penetrate the top face without going straight through & pouring the rest on the floor.
Sanitising the tools.

I'd just bin it.

Try grinding the bottom lid off with an 10" file.  It will take about 10 minutes of filing and the lid will come off in one neat piece along with a ring of metal that remains from what used to be the lip. Or you could grind the bottom lid off by rubbing the can's bottom on the surface of a cement sidewalk like in the YouTube video "3 Awesome Ways To Open A Can Without A Can Opener"


Cookware and methods for large quantities of rice On my next Catering job, I was asked to cook a large amount of rice. I will probably use about 15 to 20 cups of Basmatti or Risotto rice.

For the Basmati, my options are to either cook the rice 4 cups at a time (re-season, clean the pots, etc) or use my large soup / gravy pot to do the rice.
For the Risotto, I'm not really sure if cooking that much risotto is even possible simultaneously.

My question in a nutshell is how much water and salt should I put in?

Now I know that water and seasoning depends on humidity, weather condition, type of rice, where was it harvested from, was it drained ? washed ? drained and washed? soaked?, the moon and earth cycles, night and day, and that the amount of water decreases significantly as the amount of rice increases. I'm looking for a ballpark figure (+/- 1 cup)

EDIT

I'm sorry to be a pain in the rear; however, there is definitely a difference between cooking 2 cups of rice and 20 cups of rice. I ended up resorting to making my spice mix ahead of time and cooked the rice 4 cups at a time with about (5-6 cups of water for each batch).

I'll keep researching this and see what I can come up with

I would definitely not do the risotto, very hard to get and hold the right texture in those kinds of quantities. The basmati rice will work fine in a large pot. Cook it by the absorption method (bring to a boil with 1 3/4 cups of water per cup of rice, reduce to a simmer, cook covered, without stirring, until all of the water is absorbed).

The best answer I can offer is two inches and go from there. Let me clarify put your rice in your soup pan cover it with water until it is two inches over the top of your rice on medium high heat and check and stir it until it is to the right consistency. Once the rice has absorbed all the water fluff. I know it is not a very accurate number but as you said there are a lot of factors involved. For the Risotto the most I have managed to cook at one time was six servings and that was difficult to get the proper consistency, I just don't have a pan large enough to cook it properly over that amount so have never tried.


Is nigella oil (black cumin or black caraway) aromatic? I have a weak spot for aromatic oils. Not essential oils, but the cooking oils like hazelnut oil and avocado oil. I love making dishes where they are the primary flavour component (e.g. a veloute sauce poured over something bland).

Just now, I was shopping in a Turkish grocery store, and they had nigella oil (I am not sure which plant it is exactly. The label says Nigella big, then Black cumin in the English translation and Schwarzkümmel in the German translation. Schwarzkümmel is usually translated to English as Black caraway). I almost bought it, but at the steep price (14 Eur for a 250 ml bottle) it would have been too bad if it turned out to be a neutral tasting oil.

Has somebody tasted it? How strong does it taste? The stronger, the better (for my purposes). Does it taste at least as strong as avocado oil, or is it a weak aroma, like grapeseed oil, or even neutral, like sunflower? Also, if it has a taste, is it a taste most people are likely to accept (like macadamia, or almond oil) or one which is at best an acquired taste (like the overly bitter flaxseed oil)? For reference, I like black caraway seeds as a spice.

I bought a bottle some time ago and wanted to share my experience. The nigella oil has turned out to be one of my favorite oils. I don't have any other like it.

It has a very strong aroma, more similar to fresh carrot than to black caraway seeds. It is slightly bitter, and also slightly hot. The hotness is weak when compared to most hot spices, but it is there. The bitterness is very pleasant. It doesn't have the fatty, clingy quality of flaxseed oil bitterness (and has no fish taste at all). All in all, it is a very green, fresh taste, more like a herb than like an oil. "Robust" style olive oils taste this way, but the nigella oil is much stronger.

It is too strong for combinations, but it is easily made the main star of many dishes. Frying an omelette in it completely changes the taste, no need for other spices at all (it does get more bitter at low frying temperatures, but does not lose the strongest part of the flavor, just the overtones). It is also very good for dipping a rustic bread. It is also economical in the sense that a little bit of it goes a long way (using too much of it makes it really overwhelming). Conclusion: a great thing to have in the kitchen.

I don't think black seed oil is for culinary use. Could be... but the cold pressed natural oil taste and smells like turpentine!


Should maple syrup be stored in the refrigerator? Is there any reason to store maple syrup in the refrigerator? It tastes better when it's a little warmer.

I'll assume that you're talking about pure maple syrup in a glass container; if it's that adulterated pancake syrup then it's probably riddled with preservatives, so any advice here doesn't apply.

Pure maple syrup can and will grow mold on the surface if left in a cupboard.  There are several reports of this happening, and although several of those people say that it's OK to simply strain the mold and re-boil the maple syrup, (a) I wouldn't chance it, and (b) that process is hardly any more convenient than simply taking it out of the refrigerator a half-hour earlier and letting it come up to room temperature.

Maple syrup should be stored in the refrigerator.  It doesn't have to be, and it will probably take at least a year for it to grow any mold if left in the pantry.  But it will last longer in the refrigerator; I've seen refrigerated jars 3+ years old without any mold.

Maple can grow mold, but that doesn't mean it's trash. Pour it through a strainer into a pot to remove the chunks, then heat it to 180 degrees for 5-10 minutes (do not boil!!). Scrub and rinse the container and pour the syrup back in.  This will kill anything lingering in your syrup, and also the bottle, without hopefully affecting its quality. If the syrup once cooled smells or tastes off, then its trash (not unhealthy per se, as anything icky is now dead, but who wants to eat offtasting syrup)


What should I know about the peels of raw fruit and vegetables? I've not been paying much attention to what I ate, but now I have just become a vegetarian and want to try eating much more raw foods.

I know that in many fruit and vegetables, most of the important nutrients are found in the peel or directly below it; however, it is also commonly known that for example the green of tomatoes contains a poison and must be removed before consumption.

I'd like to know what other fruit and vegetables contain potentially bad substances when eaten whole and raw (or put in a blender etc.), and what to look out for.

Also, many people remove the skin of mushrooms before eating them; is this actually advisable?

In my experience, whether or not you peel a fruit or vegetable has more to do with how easy it is to digest than any level of toxins. If you're going into the realm of herbs, however, then you need to be more careful, as some are quite potent. But as long as we're sticking to fruits and veggies, here's my advice, and it's pretty simple:

Clearly things like melons, and corn don't have edible peels, simply because their outer layer is too difficult for us to masticate, and then digest... Things like citrus peels can be digested, but not when they're raw. They need to be pickled, cooked (think of marmalade) or turned into a zest. When it comes to soft, thin peels, like apples, pears and kiwi, it's more of a personal preference. Some don't like the feel of a furry kiwi slice going down, but I don't mind it, so I slice it right into my cereal.

In the realm of veggies... Yes, stems are great for you. If it's really difficult to chew it, it's not going to be broken down enough for your stomach to handle it, and extract anything useful from it. Ex: Broccoli stems - they'll benefit even from some light steaming, and they're GREAT for you. But raw? Rather difficult. The florets however are a classic raw snack. That's my general guideline. Same with artichokes. They need some kind of cooking in order to be digested. But carrots? Kale? Celery? Simple chewing pulls them apart enough to make the extraction of nutrients easy for the body.

Hope that helps!

Mindy

P.S. A great tip for raw kale - not everyone likes the consistency of raw kale because you have to chew it for soooo long. BUT, if you massage it with a bit of lemon juice, and a touch of olive oil until it softens, and the color brightens (5 minutes or less), it's easier to chew, very tasty, and you haven't cooked any of the nutrients out of it!

Most of what you have stated as "commonly known" is not commonly known and/or probably false

Many things "commonly known" as poisonous are not very poisonous, and it is usually excessive consumption of one item that makes you sick (yes there are some very poisonous plants, but most markets don't stock them in their poisonous state).

The skin of most fruit and vegetables is "dead", just like human skin. Can't imagine it is better than the interior? Your parents probably made you eat the skin/crust etc. to gain some control and satisfaction (a simple battle to win).

There is often more to be concerned with how the food was grown, and how clean it is before you eat it. Bacteria and other pathogens may have been transferred to it during transport or at a busy market (snotty kids with grubby hands). Hence peeling and/or cooking can be a good idea!

E.g. Commercial mushrooms have often been cited as needing peeling because they grow in crap, but in many mushrooms farms the soil is quite sterile. A quick rinse is all that is required to remove any dust etc. (also, they do not soak up water, another popular myth)


How do I make restaurant-quality white wine sauce? When I have made white wine sauce at home, I have been unable to replicate the classic 'round' taste, with the 'long' aftertaste. The taste I'm looking for is typical for restaurants serving it with white fish, like cod.

I have a theory that this particular quality has something to do with the preparation of butter, e.g. caramelization.

How do I make restaurant-quality white wine sauce?

What kind of sauce are you making ? a simple "beurre blanc" ? a gravy (with a roux) or a cream sauce ?

Can you describe the recipe you are using (ingredients, technique) ?

What I do (for beurre blanc):

Cook down the schallots slowly in wine; add a little bit of water and white vinegar, it should not be dry.
Use cold unsalted butter cut in small chunks
Mix in the butter with a whisk until the butter is well integrated.
Pass the mix through (sp) a fine mesh to remove the schallots.
Adjust seasonings.
...

The solution is:

Your question is equivalent to asking "how do I make roux incredibly well"?

White wine sauce is just roux, and you throw in some white wine.

It is very, very difficult to make roux.  I suggest starting with some of the classic texts on the issue.

Apart from anything else, it's impossible unless you have the finest possible ingredients (the copper pot, the flour, the butter)...


Nutrient impact of squeezing water out of frozen chopped spinach Many recipes using frozen chopped spinach instruct one to thaw and squeeze out the water from the spinach.  When I do this, how much nutrition I am squeezing out?

One way of looking at it is that nutrient density is increased due to the removal of water. Minerals will not have been drained away at any rate.

Example from nutritiondata.self.com:

                            water content, g per 100g  Iron     vitamin A
Unprepared thawed spinach   90.2                       1.9       11725
cooked drained              88.9                       2.0       12061

I assume more nutrients are cooked away rather than squeezed but that was the data available.

I'd think this would have the same effect as overcooking. It'll probably be difficult to measure the amount of lost nutrients, but there will likely be nutrients lost.


Why does waffle dough get dark? Always when I make waffles or pancakes the dough of it gets dark after a few hours. It looks like having black sprinkles.

Why is that and how long can I still use it?

The ingredients I use for waffles are:

250g sugar
250g margarine
500g flour
5 eggs
500g milk
baking powder
a shot of rum

And for pancakes I use almost the same

sugar
flour
eggs
milk
baking powder

It will get darker - it is still pretty fresh.

This is strange. I've never made waffles before, but that pancake recipe is almost exactly the one I use, except for the baking powder. If it goes dark soon after preparing the mix, it is most likely a chemical reaction between two or more of the ingredients. It should still be perfectly safe to use, so don't worry about the discolouration. :)


What is this fruit called? Very soft inside, small seeds, tastes bit sweet

It looks like either Pepino Melon (which I'm growing this year, and I tried to grow in 2015) or Tzimbalo, by the color, the dark striping and the leaves. Eggplant is related to both, but eggplant leaves leaves are broader and bigger than I see in the picture, usually (if not always). Pepino Melons are typically (not always) bigger and longer than Tzimbalo, but it's hard to tell from your picture which it is. I personally think it looks more like a Pepino Melon by the color, lack of sheen, and the way the leaves look.

It looks like the plant might have spider mites, by the speckling on the foliage. Mine had spider mites in 2015. If you do have spider mites, showering the plant with a shower nozzle on your hose every two or three days may help, at least if you're in a semi-arid to arid climate.

Pepino Melons are not melons, although some people think they taste like them. They're in the Solanum genus of the nightshade family.

To me it looks like a Mexican tomato. Tomatillos  A native plant to Mexico. Tropical or warm weather plant.


For blenders, is Stainless Steel sturdier than Glass? My grandparents intend to blend warm (≤ 70°C = 158°F) soups in addition to fruits and vegetables. To them, glass feels more fragile and untrustworthy compared to stainless steel. So is stainless steel stouter?

They know that opacity is one disadvantage of Stainless Steel; they haven't lighted on a transparent stainless steel container/jar.

If they are going to blend hot soups, go with stainless. Glass can (and does!) crack due to the thermal issues. If they are religious about cooling their soups down to room temperature glass can be ok. But I've definitely had glass jars crack when blending hot soups. Tempered glass does not solve all problems.

I'm surprised your grand parents did not have a glass blender before; they were and are still very common.

Glass jars are safe; I've not heard of reported problems with them; and have been in use for many, many years.

They are made with tempered glass and should not break during normal usage.

Also have a look at blender with plastic jars; maybe that could be a good solution.


What kind of wok should I get? I saw the question on the site about preparing a wok, but I'm curious what kind I should get. I have heard of stainless steel, carbon steel, aluminum, etc. Also, there's a non-stick variety. I'm new to stir fry and will be cooking on an electric ceramic stovetop.

You should get a carbon steel wok with two short handles (not one long handle).

You want the steel to build up a patina of oxidized oils, which rules out stainless steel and aluminum and non-stick. You could conceivably get a cast-iron wok, but those are really heavy.

You want the two small handles so you can pick up the wok, but you don't want long handles that will dump hot oil or food everywhere if you bump them. Unlike a saute pan, you don't toss the pan, you toss the food. (Tossing the pan pulls it away from the flame, which is bad when stir-frying!)

Your best bet is to go to an Asian grocery. You'll be assured of getting a product at a good price. Shouldn't cost more than $25, I don't think.

Oh, one other question is what sort of stove you have. If you have an electric stove, (a) I'm sorry, and (b) you have to get a flat-bottomed wok. If you have a gas stove, you can either get a flat-bottomed wok or a round-bottomed wok, but the latter only if you get a wok ring that holds the pan just above the flame. You want as much heat going into that pan as you possibly can manage!

Since you are new to stir fry I would suggest you to buy the non stick one. So you don't have to worry about seasoning the wok and all that. Then if you find yourself in the future in the need of a different wok you can buy it then.
For now I'll go with the easiest one


Why isn't Almond Milk (and other non-animal based 'milk') considered juice? As per the title, I consider "Milk" to be the substance secreted by living being to sustain their young, whether they be human, cow, dog, etc...

Almonds do not produce milk to sustain their young, in fact they are simply crushed. This reminds me more of juice than milk. So why don't people call it "Almond Juice"? Wouldn't this be more accurate?

The only reason I can think of as to why they would call it Milk would be to attempt to market it as a "milk alternative". Is that all there is to it? Or is there some defining feature that actually makes it fit the definition?

EDIT- Looks like I'm not the only one who finds this strange

One reason is simple appearance, I think - opaque white liquids or saps have long been called "milky", including nut milks, coconut milk, dandelion or milk thistle saps, and several other white substances.  Nut milks get called milk because they look like milk to the eye.

Another reason is that nut milks behave like milks in recipes - they are emulsions with sugars, proteins, and fats... fruit juices tend to have nutrients and sugars, mostly, they behave rather differently in cooking.  Almond milk was a long held substitute for animal milk in medieval times because it was more reliable - the nuts would be shelf-stable, while actual milk could spoil within hours.  It is worth pointing out that nut milks were substitute for so long because they worked in dishes calling for milk, at both the chemical level and for rough flavor profiling.

Also, it is probably worth noting that nut milks taste like milk, as well - a mellow flavor, very mild and a bit rich.  The flavor isn't strong or sweet like other juices.  They are different from cow's milk, true, but perhaps nut milks are not immensely more different from cow's milk than it is different from sheep's milk or goat's milk.

In the end, nut milks get called milk because they seem similar, and there's no other category they fit into more neatly.  If it is to label them as an alternative, it is a very old label, and for an alternative that works very well in nearly all applications.

Ps: if it helps, the nutrients extracted from the almonds into the milk were produced by the parent tree and intended to sustain the baby almond-plant... so the major difference is that the plant stores the milk in solid form, not whether it was meant for the next generation or not

An edible almond is rather dry - and part of it (the shell) is even inedible and not useful to make food of at all. If you just pressed it, without adding water and heat, you would likely end up with impure almond oil and not a thin liquid like almond milk is. This would be like pressing dried beef instead of milking a cow and expecting milk. The same applies to rice, grains, cashews (where using the whole fruit would be actually poisonous!) and most other sources of plant milks.


How long is coffee with creamer added safe in a thermos? I'm not sure if this or this questions' answers satisfactorily cover my question but I am seeing a lot of answers that talk about the shelf-life of coffee and say things just "change" when adding sugar or dairy.

I make about 20oz. of coffee each morning and put it in a thermos.  I then add my creamer to this at home and take it to work.  Most days I get through it within a couple hours of being there, but some days I don't go through the whole container and the coffee is still pretty hot by the time I get home (go thermos!).  I understand that if it was plain this should be fine, but does the dairy creamer break down over the day to the point I shouldn't be consuming it by the time I get home (about 9 hours after brew time) given it has been kept pretty hot most of the day ?

If I should be tossing this sooner by a certain time when is that?  Does keeping it hot prolong life beyond the 2-4 hours in the danger zone I am seeing on other posts?

The clock on the danger zone starts when the food temperature drops below 60 celsius. It should be 4 hours for coffee - two hours are for meat, where it is assumed that bacteria in it have had some chance to grow while it was being butchered, transported, and stored in a supermarket. In coffee and creamer, there will be no bacteria growth at all in the ingredients, it will start after you have brewed the drink and mixed in the creamer, and the temperature has fallen below 60.

If you want to go by the book, measure the temperature of the coffee inside the thermos 5 hours after brewing. If it is above 60 Celsius, then it is still safe up to 9 hours after brewing. Do it on several days to have a significant result.

(For those of us on my side of the pond, that's 140 degrees Fahrenheit. )

I usually don't answers questions but since I'm a coffee junkie I felt inspired. As I write this at 9:30 Sunday morning I'm sipping on a cup of coffee that I brewed at 10:am on Saturday morning but have kept in a thermal carafe since. I poured a cup, (which was still a little warm after almost 24 hours), and nuked it in the microwave for 2 minutes to reheat it, then added my usual splenda and powered creamer and other than a slight stale taste, (which I always get when I reheat lukewarm coffee in a microwave), it is fine. I wouldn't reheat coffee that has been left out uncovered overnight, but I've never had a problem when I've reheated coffee that's been stored in a carafe even on the rare times when it was from a pot of coffee that I brewed but wasn't able to drink even up to 24 hours later. Finally I will apologize to the true coffee connoisseurs out there who are cringing while reading this.


Do you need to cook tomato puree? I'm making a tomato sauce cold from tinned tomatoes and I was going to add tomato puree to thicken the sauce. Is it ok to use tomato puree without cooking it?

While it is perfectly safe to eat tomato puree without cooking it, it is not generally recommended.
Uncooked tomato puree in a sauce can be undesirably sour and have a rather raw, rough flavour.

If you don't mind this then go ahead, but I would recommend simmering the sauce for at least another 10 minutes after adding the puree.

Yes, I assume you are talking about what comes in a tube or a small jar.


Why does frozen spinach have so much less iron than fresh spinach? I have been trying to increase my iron intake and was dismayed to learn that my frozen spinach only has 2% of my daily iron needs while fresh cooked spinach has about 20%. I have been under the impression that freezing vegetables preserves their nutrients from the moment they are picked/frozen and that transporting fresh vegetables across the country depletes the nutrients.

There was a whole about this some time ago either on TV or the internet or someplace.

So when I read the back of my frozen spinach container I was really surprised to find that it only has 2% of what I need.

Why is this? Is there a difference between the kinds of spinach that are grown for canning/fresh/frozen? Does freezing break something in the case of spinach? Does this happen with all fresh green leafy vegetables?

Thank you for your time.

Judging by the nutrition information I can easily find (for example, from nutritiondata.self.com), frozen spinach is generally cooked by boiling and draining. That's pretty much what I'd have guessed; it's certainly the easy way to cook things.

Unfortunately, that means that some nutrients are lost with the discarded water. I doubt it'd be different for any other green leafy vegetable - though it's certainly much harder to find frozen mustard greens!

The nutrition information for fresh spinach is for fresh, raw spinach; if you boiled and drained it, you'd make the same sacrifice that the frozen spinach has.

As for your generalization, freezing vegetables and fruits does preserve most things pretty well - but only what's actually left in them when they get frozen! And while transporting fresh vegetables around can cost you some "freshness", it's not going to affect minerals. Some vitamins could be lost by breaking down (I'm not an expert here, but it seems possible) since they're more complex molecules, but minerals are just single elements. Those iron atoms won't fall out of the spinach on the way, and they're certainly not going to be transmuted, either!

Edit: Essentially what's been said in the comments is that the USDA nutrition facts say that "Spinach, frozen, chopped or leaf, cooked, boiled, drained" has about half as much iron as "Spinach, cooked, boiled, drained". A discrepancy, indeed, though not the same one cited in the question. My interpretation here is that the frozen spinach is simply not cooked in the same way (boiled and drained more thoroughly) as the non-frozen.

An alternative, proposed by Adisak, is that the frozen spinach nutrition means that you've taken the already-cooked, frozen spinach and boiled it again and drained away even more nutrients. This seems unlikely; frozen spinach is already cooked, so there's no reason for the nutrition information to assume that you'll boil it over again. The description (it seems to me) is referring to the cooking that took place before it was frozen.

From Eating Well:

  *Fresh Spinach vs. Frozen Spinach**
  There’s a reason Popeye reached for a can of spinach rather than a fresh bunch. He knew that he could get more bang for his buck. You can squeeze a lot of spinach into a can or a box, delivering more spinach in less volume. (You would have to eat a mountain of fresh to get what you can in a 10-ounce box of frozen.) We prefer frozen spinach over canned—it’s got better flavor and is lower in sodium—but the same principle applies. One cup of frozen spinach has more than four times the amount of nutrients, such as fiber, folate, iron and calcium, than a cup of fresh spinach, so if you want to power up, do it with frozen spinach.

  Winner: Frozen spinach!


Removing long-term residue from teflon Over time, teflon manages to become coated by polymerised oils, similarly to the intentional seasoning on an iron pan. This tends to make the pan just too sticky for such as fried eggs.
I have tried the usual suspects - nylon mesh pan scrubs, Barkeeper's Friend & similar, those little bricks of mica, bicarb. - and all work to some extent, but none get it right back to the original 'teflon'. The substrate is aluminium, so even though a heavy oven cleaner will work well, it also damages any areas with scratches.
With cheap pans ($£€ 25 or so) I usually throw them out once they get to this stage, but for the last few years I've had a really good, expensive one. I retired it to dry frying only & replaced it a while ago, but it turns out it's still actually better than a new cheap one after just a year.
So, I'm back to trying to get this one back to an as-new state on the inside (the outside I really don't care about).
Does anyone have any sure-fire method I've not yet tried? Good for aluminium, bad for organic polymers.

You cannot use physical methods (scratching), so you are only left with the chemical ones. And for this kind of gunk, the only thing I know to work is a strong enough base.
In the mildest cases, oven cleaner sprays might be sufficient. If not, somebody suggested ammonia in the comments, and then there is lye.
The big problem is that any base strong enough to clean this stuff will corrode aluminum too. If your pans are teflon on steel, go ahead and clean them. If they are aluminum pans, maybe you can try the oven cleaner as a last ditch effort, but you are risking the pan itself. Else, all you can do is continue use them as normal sticky pans.
The usual modus operandi is actually not to clean them somehow, but not to let the gunk happen. Just like you don't use metal on Termin, to prevent the failure mode of "scratched pan", you don't use techniques which produce gunk, to prevent the failure mode of "gummed up pan". This means that you have to avoid anything with small amounts of oil, and either use the pan without oil (at low temperatures though, or you'll burn the coating), or with lots of oil at moderate temperatures, or for wet cooking.

According to this Reader's Digest 2/14/2020 Article, you should discard non-stick pans with significant scratches. The Teflon has been damaged and the chemicals can be flaking into your food. If there are scratches you are concerned that oven cleaner would get through, I would throw it away. Article Snipet Below.


Do I have to defrost chicken before cooking? I'd much rather throw the chicken in the pan straight from the freezer but I worry about the tastiness and tenderness. Looking for seasoned advice on this one.

Not a great idea. The oven cooks from the outside in, so by the time your chicken is done on the outside, it'll still be uncooked on the inside. If you cook it longer so it cooks through, the outside will be as tough as shoe leather and the inside will be just lukewarm enough to encourage microorganisms (that may have survived the freezer) to fester, which could sicken you.

Put it in the pan the night before, cover it (or not, as Alton Brown sometimes suggests), and put the pan in the refrigerator. When you get home from work or whatever, preheat the oven to 450 F, season it, and bake until done. When is it done? It's done when:

  The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer reads 165 degrees
  F when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (the legs of the
  chicken should wiggle easily from the sockets too.) Remove the chicken
  to a platter and let stand for 10 minutes, so the juices settle back
  into the meat before carving.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-roast-chicken-recipe/index.html

Note that some would say 165 F is over done, but safe is better than losing a kidney to E. coli or other nasty microbeasties.

I put them in a toaster a couple of times.  It seems to work.


Best way to remove fruit flies from your kitchen I have a confession to make.

I was lazy, I didn't think it would cause any harm, but it did.
And now they are back. The fruit flies have taken over my kitchen, and I need help fighting them.

Story: I was preparing a must for homebrewing a batch of forest fruit wine. This all went well, the wine began fermenting and I was left with 4lb of warm soggy fruit mush. I tactically decided that the best place to dispose of this was in my inside kitchen bin.
Naturally the next morning I woke up to discover hundreds and hundreds of fruit flies in my kitchen, feasting on the fly-superfood in my bin.

Question: What is the best method of killing/removing the fruit flies from my kitchen? I have already emptied, cleaned, and sterilised the offending bin, but the flies seem to be okay with not having a food source anymore.
Will they eventually leave/die from lack of food? Can I drive them out with a smell or incense? Should I just commit mass insecticide and sweep them up afterwards?

Thanks :)

Fruit fly trap !

Put some strong smelling vinegar, like apple cider vinegar, in a glass and make the trap by making a cone with a sheet of paper. The strong sweet smell will attract them and they won't be able to get out of the glass.

I have two methods that I use:

Something that attracts them, usually the source itself placed outside the window. They will eventually gravitate towards it and once most of them are outside I quickly remove the rotten fruit and close the window.
But there are usually some that stay behind. For them I use a flame thrower to burn them in mid-flight. I use a blowtorch that is attached to a gas cartridge. If you turn the whole apparatus upside down the liquid gas will pour through the nozzle throwing a big ball of flames. Just be careful using it close to walls. The oxygen starved flame produces soot that can deposit on the wall.


What is a good way for a beginner to start sous vide cooking? I am just about to start experimenting with Sous Vide cooking. My plan is to start out with some very simple equipment (A PID controller and a kettle) and slowly build up until I have made my custom awesome Sous Vide cooker. (I'm an robotic engineer, so I'm looking forward to this bit).

To start with, I'd just like to try the simplest Sous Vide recipe I can. Something that:

Requires low accuracy
Is safe for a pregnant woman
Takes less than 2 hours

What meat is reliable for a first sous-vide attempt, and can be cooked in such a short time?

Start by estimating the accuracy of your temperature sensor and controller.  You're going to need to do some comparisons with reliable thermometers for this step.  I'm guessing you don't have any laboratory grade thermometers at home that have recently been professionally calibrated.  (Who does, really?)

Start by finding two or three digital cooking thermometers (preferably different models) that seem trustworthy.  Then calibrate your PID controller by measuring the temperature of a mixture of equal parts crushed ice and water.  It should be 0 °C.  While you're at it, use the ice slush to check the accuracy of the cooking thermometers you found.  Recalibrate or replace them as needed.  Finally, heat some water to around 60 °C (or whatever temperature your think you'll be using most often for cooking).  Then measure the temperature with your PID controller and the cooking thermometers.  That should give you a pretty good idea of how accurate your PID controller will be during cooking.  (If you find that your PID controller is accurate at ice temperatures, but quite a bit off at higher temperatures, you likely need a new temperature sensor.)

Sous vide accuracy is frequently in the neighborhood of +/- 0.1 °C, but +/- 0.5 °C is often good enough.  I'm not sure what "low accuracy" means, but let's say, for example, that you estimate your accuracy to be +/- 2.0 °C.  In that case, simply raise the temperature setting by 2 °C to compensate for the margin of error.  It might result in a different level of doneness than you want, but the food will probably be safe.

Take a look at Douglas Baldwin's A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking.  Not only does it have some excellent recipes for beginners, but it also has some great safety information.  If the food is to be consumed by pregnant women, you don't just want it to be cooked.  You want it pasteurized.  The guide includes tables for looking up the pasteurization time for fish, poultry, and meat (beef, pork, and lamb).  If the meat is starting frozen, add about 30 minutes to the cooking time.  If a recipe's going to take too long, use the tables to adjust the meat thickness or temperature in order to reduce the cooking time to your preference.  Keep in mind that your shouldn't start the timer until the food is in the water bath and the water is up to temperature.  So, save time by heating the water first thing when you're ready to cook.

This is at your own risk, there clearly is a risk of food poisoning.

I've done this with thinish meat (3/4" or less), beef and salmon, and short term, under an hour. As people have pointed out, don't do this for things that you want to cook for long periods, etc.

If you have hot tap water, you can do beef and salmon in it. You probably want to finish it on the bbq or broiler, but you can get most of the cooking done just by putting the food in a baggy in a bowl, and running a trickle of hot tap water into it. Now you do need water that is too hot to stick your hand in, but not into the scald range (so somewhere around 120 deg f).

I've done both, and then finished on the bbq or broiler, to heat a little further, and brown the outside. I've been happy with it.

I now own a machine. But either build your own, or spring for a Sous Vide Supreme, the thing I got is kinda lame.


Is eggnog just a milkshake? Last year I tried eggnog for the first time, following a homemade recipe involving egg, cream and sugar. The result tasted like a thin vanilla ice-cream milkshake (with spices and alcohol).
Recipes for homemade ice-cream use similar ingredients (without spices and alcohol).

Is this just superficial, or do the definitions of ice-cream milkshake and eggnog overlap so that it is reasonable to conceive of eggnog as a flavoured milkshake?

(I am looking for a technical answer that rules out my milkshake theory, or suggests it's an acceptable substitute.)

Not really.

For a start there's no milk in it (there's cream, but milk is the defining factor in a milkshake). Second, egg isn't a normal ingredient in a milkshake, and neither is alcohol. Of course they can be added, but they take you away from what's normally meant by the term. When that happens it's normally reflected in the name.

In general, trying to precisely categorise foods is an exercise in futility - defining a category that includes everything you'd expect it to invariably includes things that don't belong, or you end up with categories so broad as to be useless.
Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Even calling eggnog a cocktail (An alcoholic drink consisting of a spirit or spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as fruit juice or cream.) is slightly problematic, as "cocktail" usually implies it's mixed just before serving, rather than bottled in between (as is common with eggnog).

No. Eggnog  is more a thin custard (especially the lightly cooked versions, the raw egg recipes less so)


Does sour-cream go bad? I have had a container of off-brand sour-cream I bought from the grocery store in my refrigerator for almost two months. When will it go bad or will is ever go bad?

Eventually, yes...  but it does have a fairly long shelf life.

According to Eat by date, you should expect 1 to 2 weeks after the date on the package.  They say:

  You can tell if sour cream has gone bad if you notice dark mold on
  its surface, bright bacterial marks, pockets of watery liquid and a
  sharp, bitter flavor. First the liquid will begin to separate, at
  which point it can still be used but within a week you will need to
  throw it out when you notice mold on the inside of the lid and then in
  the product.

yes it does...i just had to throw mine out that was 5 weeks old.


Where can I buy borosilicate (Pyrex) bakeware in the U.S.? Because of the shattering dangers of the apparently inferior lime glass that Pyrex uses for manufacturing in the U.S. as exposed by Consumer Reports, I'd like to replace my Pyrex with borosilicate bakeware.  Apparently Pyrex used to manufacture their bakeware with borosilicate until about 10-15 years ago in the U.S..

I thought I found a manufacturer (Marinex) that used borosilicate, and though they advertise it as such, based on this report, it turns out that the materials used by Marinex still may not be as safe as "true" borosilicate bakeware.

How can I purchase true (new) borosilicate bakeware from the United States?  It doesn't have to be manufactured in the U.S., and I'm open to ordering it from foreign stores that export to the U.S..  Specifically, I'm looking for 13x9 and 11x7 rectangular, and 8x8 square baking dishes.

I believe the following companies advertise that they produce bakeware made out of borosilicate available in the US, :

Luminarc
Arcuisine Elegance

I can't speak to the boron/boron plus/zero boron debate, but those are the two I would investigate.

I know that Bodum also advertises borosilicate products, but I'm not sure if they make bakeware.


Reusing marinade JUST used for raw chicken Can I take raw chicken out of a mainade that consist of soy sauce, vinegar and other things and put ribs into it to marinade as well?  Its a couple days old and been in the fridge the whole time.

It's a bad idea to re-use a marinade, especially to marinade a different meat or poultry:

Chicken may contain salmonella, if yours does and you re-use the marinade you'll then contaminate the next thing
By the time you re-use it is old, the older it is the less safe it is to use
It will have lost most of its effectiveness: the flavors and acidity will have acted on the chicken, so the marinade will have lost much of its flavor and ability to tenderize.  Even if the marinade was safe to use again it wouldn't have the kind of kick to give you a good result on the next thing

It's a good thing to want to re-use things where possible and avoid waste. In this case it's not worth the risk, and unlikely to impart any flavor anyway.

Never reuse a marinade.  Always get rid of it as soon as you use it the first time.


How can you recognize cold milk that has gone bad or is about to? The methods that I know to test cold milk is to either boil it and look for the break, taste it (yuk!), or hope it smells bad enough to know it's bad.

Is there an easy and scientific way to know whether milk is still good?  and for how much longer it's likely to stay good?

The expiry date alone is not a good indicator since it assumes some conditions about the storage temperature and we've all seen good milk past expiry and bad milk before expiry.

I'm also curious about the particular moment beyond which we consider milk 'goes bad'.  Can one tell how far away it is from the current seemingly healthy condition of milk?

Looks like FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) publishes a formal testing handbook here.

One of the easier methods:

  2.4.5.3. The Alcohol Test

  The test is quick and simple. It is besed on instability of the
  proteins when the levels of acid and/or rennet are increased and acted
  upon by the alcohol. Also increased levels of albumen (colostrum milk)
  and salt concentrates (mastitis) results in a positive test.

  Procedure:

  The test is done by mixing equal amounts of milk and 68% of ethanol solution in a small bottle or test tube. (68 % Ethanol
  solution is prepared from 68 mls 96%(absolute) alcohol and 23 mls
  distilled water). If the tested milk is of good quality, there will be
  no coagulation, clotting or precipitation, but it is necessary to look
  for small lumps. The first clotting due to acid development can first
  be seen at 0.21-0.23% Lactic acid. For routine testing 2 mls milk is
  mixed with 2 mls 68% alcohol.

Simplified for home use:

This test is likely to be adaptable to household alcohol drinks such as vodka or similar beverages.  For example the number of teaspoons of Vodka an ounce or two of milk can hold before it clots.

Working on a theory that milk in early stages of going bad will stick to side of glass longer than fresh milk and that residue will consist of almost micro curds if you look closely.


Lemon cake has no flavor I have tried and tried numerous recipes for lemon pound cake.  None of them taste very lemony.  I tried adding extra lemons n lemon extract but no real difference.  The only thing to make it taste like lemon is the glaze. What am I doing wrong?

The 'lemony' flavour in a lemon cake is from the volatile oils which are present in the fruit's zest,(mainly nerol, limonene and citral). I would'nt advise adding actual lemon juice to the cake as it will disrupt the ratios in the cake recipe and ususally the tart, zingy flavour gets lost anyway after baking. To get a really lemony flavour whilst still using a pound cake recipe (using the creaming method) there are several things which would enhance the lemon flavour:

Adding finely grated lemon zest to the sugar, then blitzing  with a blender (to release the oils) and leaving to infuse. The sugar is simply a medium to infuse into
Melting the butter (using it as a 'quasi' solvent) and adding it to some more lemon zest to infuse. Then once cooled use it as per the recipe requires.
Add lemon extract too (we're trying to get as much flavour as possible into the cake!)

And if all else fails, you can always soak the cake in a lovely tangy lemon syrup and may be top it off with some lemony cream cheese frosting!


Can you make Sous Vide Steak in a Pressure Cooker? I have been reading about sous vide cooking and it seems like sous vide cooking is done under pressure. I want to try cooking a steak sous vide in a pressure cooker and then searing it to create a nice crispy edge at the end. Is this possible with a pressure cooker? What specific temperature and time frame should I consider for beef steak? Are there any weight graphs available to determine the time required?

I'm afraid you have gotten something wrong.

Sous-vide and pressure cooking are, as far as food physics is concerned, on the opposite ends of the scale.

Pressure cooking allows you to increase the boiling point of water, thus reducing the cooking time. (Bad idea for a tender steak, btw., as soon as you exceed a certain temperature, the proteins in the meat change irreversibly and the meat gets tough.)
Sous-vide uses temperatures way below the boiling point, combined with a very extended cooking time. This means you can safely and slowly bring your steak to the desired core temperature without the risk of overcooking and thus toughening the meat. A final sear is just a finishing touch, not technically a necessity for cooking the meat. (But don't skip it, it's for flavour and eye appeal!)

So no, we can't give you a temperature / time chart for steak in a pressure cooker - because the results would be very unsatisfactory.

I believe you can. Put your meat in an aluminium foil. Then into your ziplock bag. Seal it. Bring lots of water in your pressure cooker to a boil, then lower the heat to the lowest. Then immerse the bag inside. Cook it for half the time you boil your meat. Take out your meat and sear it with some seasoning. Bon appetit!


Why do milk products stay fresh longer when stored in glass? Over the years I have noticed that when I buy milk in glass bottles it will stay fresh-tasting longer than milk bought in plastic jugs or paperboard cartons. This includes other milk products such as whipping cream and half & half.

What I don't know is why this happens. Most US grocery stores sell these products in plastic or paperboard containers, with dairies being the place to get them in glass bottles.

I have researched quite a bit and found some very interesting information, but most of it is in regard to nutrition or environmental, production, and transortation information.

Does anyone know why milk products stay fresh longer in glass?

First off I want to point out the term "fresh". While some containers might keep milk from spoiling for longer, it may not taste as nice.

Several things might be why:

1.) Plastics leach flavor and odor into the milk. Cardboard cartons are also lined with plastic, not wax since about the 1940s. I would say this is likely the biggest impact-- I've always found plastic containers make drinks and food taste downright funky.

Plastic milk jugs are made of high-density polyethylene. The FDA considers this material safe, but just because something is safe doesn't mean it doesn't impart a flavor.

Study from Journal of Dairy Science showing glass having least effect on taste:

  "...overall, the development of water off-taste occurred least in
  glass containers and most often in high density polyethylene
  containers..."

2.) Glass bottles feel colder. Ice cold milk tastes better(fresher) to most people.

The thing is, it's not actually colder while in the fridge. Glass has a higher thermal conductivity than most plastics. That means heat can transfer through it faster than plastic. The second law of thermodynamics demands equilibrium, so while your hand makes the milk hotter, the glass of milk makes your hand colder. Because of glass's higher thermal conductivity, it does this faster than plastic and we sense the glass as being colder.

So while it's not -actually- colder and wouldn't keep the milk from spoiling for longer, it would affect our perception of how cold it is and therefore also the taste.

Packaging of milk varies so a thicker glass bottle might also keep the milk colder while it's sitting on the counter vs most thin plastic milk jugs. There are a lot of variables with packaging so it really depends on what you're comparing.

3.) Oxygen Permeability: Glass has no O2 permeability whereas most plastics do.

Starting in 1937  the Methylene Blue Dye Reduction Test used to be one of the main statutory tests for checking if milk was bad by checking how much oxygen is present in the milk. This lets you know how much aerobic bacteria is in the milk (bacteria that requires oxygen). This is actually a science experiment you can do yourself. While we do have newer, better tests for handling milk in bulk refrigeration these days, it's important to note for a long time this was a large part of measuring milk quality.

4.) It just takes time to process, test, and ship milk. You mentioned it yourself-- usually to get a glass bottle you have to get it from a dairy, something local and closer to home. So it hasn't traveled as far.

Also, while it's not legal everywhere, some people will sell raw milk in glass bottles so there isn't even time wasted processing or testing the milk. However, raw milk goes bad faster. Still, some people might prefer the taste while it's still good. Processing is done to kill bad bacteria(so it's not a bad thing), but it does take time that eats into shelf life. Milk delivered to you may only be a few hours old. The processing itself can effect the flavor of the milk. Processing plants can hold milk for up to 3 days.

5.) In many areas, the companies that bottle with glass are the ones that are making higher quality milk in the first place. Glass is expensive, and usually only people who are willing to pay more for higher quality milk are going to be the same ones who pay for a higher quality bottle. Glass bottles are good for the environment and so some people are willing to pay more for that. Refillable glass uses about half as much energy vs plastic counterpart. Note here that glass doesn't automatically mean "better milk".

6.) The way food looks affects our perception of taste.

  In a 1980 study, subjects were blindfolded and asked to tell whether
  the beverage they were drinking was flavored orange. Only one in five
  could. But when they were allowed to see what they were drinking, each
  of them identified the orange flavor. And when a lime-flavored drink
  was colored orange, nearly half of respondents thought it was flavored
  orange

You also see this with high-end restaurants-- they put a lot of value in how the food is plated, going as far as using a ruler to get a perfectly straight line, and wiping up small drips to make the food look perfect. Our vision influences our taste.

Since most glass is translucent and most plastic containers are not, there's a good chance this influences taste as well.

Glass is truly neutral. Plastics is not. Glass is non-porous, plastic is porous. Glass doesn't leach, plastic leaches. Glass containers are thicker than plastic containers, so stay colder by being a heavier heat sink (it stays colder longer because it takes more heat to warn that column of glass than it does to warm a paper thing plastic jug.