What makes a hot dog a hot dog? I like hot dogs, but I'm always conscious that they are a means by which unspeakable bits of meat can be made appetising, even when they get a fancy name like bockwurst to cover the fact.

So I bought a packet of Tesco brand vegetarian hot dogs and was surprised to find they look and taste like the ones with meat in them. Then I bought a pack of Tevion vegetarian hot dogs - they taste "right" too and they're kosher! The texture is similar to the real thing with both products as well.

So what makes a hot dog a hot dog? As far as I can see, you don't need meat!

EDIT: The responses so far are focusing the question.
The hot dog is a bland sausage, designed to use up "meat" that would otherwise be regarded as unsaleable. The meat contributes little or nothing to the taste and texture, it is ground so fine - but the sausage has definite taste and texture.

So there are two questions;

1) what IS the flavour of a hot dog? It is not unique, because companies across the world make them, but I can't give it any labels;

2) what agents do they use to make this finely ground mass of disparate ingredients cohere into a skinless sausage shape that stands up to being cooked without falling apart?

Hot dogs are a an example indigenous to North America of a class of sausages called emulsified sausages.   The meat and fat are ground so finely that they emulsify together into a smooth paste.  Other sausages of this type include German Frankfurter Würstchen (of which the hot dog is a descendant) and Italian Mortadella (which is also the pre-cursor of the American Bologna sausage).

Hot dogs are cured, and typically hot smoked and sold fully cooked.

They can be made from a variety of meats, but beef and pork (or a mixture thereof) are the most common.

Hot dogs require a careful balance of lean (for the protein myosin, which provides the binding and structure to the sausage), fat, and water (usually added in the form of ice during the manufacture ring process, to help keep the nascent emulsion from breaking by keeping the mixture cool.)

There is no binding agent as such in hot dogs:  the myosin in the meet forms a matrix that provides the structure and chew of the sausage.  A hot dog without enough meat (or some other protein source) would not hold together.  This is much akin to the way a pâté is made--in some sense, a hot dog is a pâté stuffed into a casing, and hot smoked.

While it is possible to add fillers (and emulsify in additional water), it is not necessary and high quality manufacturers do so in moderation or not at all.

The major flavor elements in a New York style hot dog (where they originated) are typically the cured meat itself, salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika, as well as the smoky flavor.  Around the world, emulsified sausages are flavored with a wide variety of spices, especially warm spices, but these would not be typical in a hot dog.

You can find a recipe and slideshow with detailed pictures of the hot dog making process at Serious Eats.  It shows all of the key steps:  selection of ingredients with a careful balance of lean and fat, initial grinding, emulsification, stuffing, and smoking.

What is the flavor of hot dogs? The answer is hardwood smoke, salt, paprika, onion, nutmeg and celery powder. You only have to look at the label of all-natural hot dogs in health food stores to find out.

The original, 100+ year-old flavor of hot dogs came from a handful of simple ingredients, and believe it or not, the generic Tesco hot dogs derive from that very same century-old recipe and are not magic, despite being filled with mysterious ingredients. All of these so-called natural flavorings, MSG etc, mimic the original hot dog recipe flavor. All-natural hot dogs achieve the same result using only the original ingredients.


Problem with gummy-bears being too much like jelly I've been trying a simple recipe I found on the internet, which is a simple recipe consisting mostly of gelatin.

The problem is that the end result is basically just a fruit-flavoured jelly (Jell-O?), rather than the more chewy gummy-bears (Haribo) style of jelly confectionery.

Can anyone suggest what I need to do to make them less springy and more chewy.  It's all difficult to articulate!

Here's what I used for the first test-batch:

12 tbsp sugar
12/3 cup fruit juice
8 tbsp Golden Syrup
8 tbsp gelatin

soften the gelatin in 1/2 cup of cold water.
place sugar, syrup and the juice in a pan and gently heat until sugar dissolves.
Stir in the gelatin and stir until dissolved.
Pour into moulds and wait until set.

Thanks

Be careful of substituting agar or any other "firm" gelling agent; you're likely to end up something closer to Turkish Delight and agar in particular has the property of syneresis (meaning that your gummy candies will dry up fast).

I can think of a few things that would alter the consistency of a gelatin candy/dessert:

First, it is very important to let the gelatin bloom.  When it says to "soften" it in cold water, you need to let it sit there for a good 5 minutes or so until it has absorbed plenty of water and you can actually see a gel forming.  Don't stir it at this point!
All gelatins are not created equal; you need to look at the bloom strength.  I think the most common kind in supermarkets is Knox, which has a bloom strength of 225 and is usually what most gelatin recipes calls for.  "Platinum" gelatin (normally sold in sheets) goes up to 260, "Gold" is generally around 200, "Silver" is 160, and "Bronze" can be as low as 125 - practically useless for this.  If you managed to find powdered gelatin with a bloom strength of under 200, you would need to increase the quantity or else end up with jelly.
Although gelatin does not require particularly high temperatures to hydrate, you do need to heat the solution to at least 50° C before you set it.  If you don't do this, it won't dissolve properly.
When using powdered gelatin, you're normally supposed to bloom and dissolve it in the same liquid.  The recipe you have seems to call for chucking the bloomed gelatin directly into your syrup; this may be deliberate in order to produce some effect I'm not familiar with, but it sounds like an oversight to me.  Instead I would heat the gelatin/water solution up to 50° C after blooming (as described above) and then add that to the syrup.
Finally, as Computerish says, make sure you're heating the syrup solution enough to get all the sugar dissolved, and you might even need to reduce it a little (let it simmer).  The more you reduce it, the more viscous the syrup itself will become (at the extreme end turning into pure caramelized sugar, which is rock-hard).  So if you're absolutely sure that you are using the gelatin correctly, this would be the next line to pursue.  If the syrup is actually syrupy at room temperature then it should form great chewy gummies, but if it's watery then you're more likely to end up with Jell-O.

I guess that you could add more flavored gelatin, but if you are worried about having a salty flavor( because you will if you use too many packs of unflavored gelatin and the gummies do not have enough flavor) then you could substitute the water or whatever liquid your using for fruit juice.


Why do my grains smell like my room? My rice smells like my room and it's kinda weird. It tastes fine but I moved the rice to another location that smells different and I can still smell the strong smell of my room whenever I sniff the rice, even after rinsing and cooking.
However, this isn't only my rice, I have oatmeal that I keep in cabinets and it smells exactly like my cabinet before and after cooking.
My main concern is: is my stuff safe to be eaten? In both cases I've eaten them both and nothing bad has happened so far, they both still taste as if they were original (hence they are also not even expired or best by date yet).
But I am wondering how they absorbed the smell. I can't find any information on grains absorbing smell anywhere.

Anything absorbent will absorb smells. That's why fabric picks up smells easily, wood will over time, and glass won't. As I'm sure you know from cooking grains, they are quite absorbent, and that applies to smells as well.
All techniques I can think of to remove smells from other items aren't ideal for using on food, so your best bet is probably to cover it up with some strong spices. To prevent your grains from picking up smells in the future, store them in something airtight so air and smells won't permeate the container and reach your food. Open containers are the worst, tightly closed cardboard boxes and thin plastic bags are a bit better, sturdy airtight plastic containers are better still, and glass containers with metal lids are the best.

OK so since I am a professional at eating rice (since I'm Asian) the rice smell comes from the bag itself. When you open the bag once the scent comes out and a material absorbs it. I would recommend using a plastic box to contain your rice


Microwaving wine to remove alcohol? Does microwaving wine have the potential to remove the alcohol? If so, how long might be required?

(I'm specifically interested in the microwaving aspect, which is why the existing questions on cooking away article aren't exactly sufficient)

Cooking is not as effective at removing alcohol as many people think; the alcohol and water evaporate or boil together. At a simmer, it might only take 10-15 minutes to get rid of half of the alcohol, but getting rid of 90% of it takes more like two hours. See this previous question on cooking away alcohol for more detail.

In any case, a microwave can certainly simmer or boil liquids, and the alcohol/water evaporation doesn't care about what equipment you used to cook it, so you certainly could do use a microwave to reduce the amount of alcohol in wine.

However, it doesn't give you nearly as much control as a stove; even if you use a reduced power, it'll tend to boil on and off as it cycles the power. And microwaving for extended time periods is a pretty awkward method.

So in general, I'd suggest doing this kind of thing with conventional cooking methods, especially if it's as part of a dish. You can use the cooking time of a stew to help reduce the alcohol, for example. And even if you want to remove more alcohol than the cooking time of your dish permits, a pot on the stove gives you much better control.

Alcohol is more volatile (lower boiling point) than water.

With a microwave you boil both and even though would lose more alcohol than water than water but not much more.  If you boil the water you basically give up most of advantage of water being a lower volatility.

A better method would be to float a bowl of wine in simmering water for an hour or so.  You will lose about 20% of the water and like 98% of the alcohol.


For Boiling Water Canning (not pressure canning) can you use other glass jar other than Mason Jar? Does these type of glass jar (some may even refer to it as jam jar) works with boiling water canning? I asked a question about these glass jar for pressure canning and got answered it will not work for pressure canning. But will it work for boiling water canning.

Most commercial pint- and quart-size mayonnaise or salad dressing jars may be used with new two-piece lids for canning acid foods. However, you should expect more seal failures and jar breakage. These jars have a narrower sealing surface and are tempered less than Mason jars, and may be weakened by repeated contact with metal spoons or knives used in dispensing mayonnaise or salad dressing. Seemingly insignificant scratches in glass may cause cracking and breakage while processing jars in a canner. Mayonnaise-type jars are not recommended for use with foods to be processed in a pressure canner because of excessive jar breakage. Other commercial jars with mouths that cannot be sealed with two-piece canning lids are not recommended for use in canning any food at home.

That is from the National Center for Home Food Preservation which is  basically a clearing house for USDA rules.  They have a lot of good, tested, authoritative info and are well worth bookmarking.

As a practical guide, you can use most any jar that the two piece canning lids will fit correctly.  The rubber sealant and canning lids, both one piece and two are no longer made with a film that is at all reliable for more than one usage.  Attempting to reuse them, especially the commercial one piece shown in the question is not safe and will lead to high numbers of seal failure.  But if the jar is the correct size for a 2-piece, even, and undamaged, it can be used.

Know though that these recycled jars are not the same as years ago.  The thickness and quality of the glass is less to save the packers money and weight and since most will be trashed anyway.  They are far more prone to breakage even with tiny scratches you may not even notice.  They even can be used in pressure canning, but only if you are prepared to lose some and you will get breakage and failures.  It will happen with hot water bath too, just not as often.  Use caution though, because sometimes the sizes are not exactly the same as mason type and the slight difference will cause a higher seal failure rate.

Yes you can use these. My mum has been using all types of glass jars for her jams and she always seals them with water boiling. :)


Why does meat in the crockpot always end up dry? Just cooked some chicken breasts today. All day in the crockpot and when done the meat was horribly dry.  I put chopped onions, carrots, spices, and coconut milk and 1/2 cup water and 4 chicken breasts.  There was plenty of fluid there when it was done, but the cooked chicken meat was really dry.

This seems to happen with beef roast as well.

Is there some trick to getting meat to be tender when cooking in the crockpot?

Cooking anything really lean for a long time can result in super dry meat.  Chicken breasts have little fat and little connective issue.  The same goes for a lean beef roast.  You can do chicken breasts in a crock pot - just not all day, more like a few hours on low.

Try something with more fat like a thigh (or any dark meat) or a beef chuck (shoulder) roast and you should have more luck.

In my opinion, the trick is to not use a slow cooker for chicken at all. The dish you are describing (kind of  simple tom ka gai, it seems like) would normally be built quickly in a wok. Here is how I would make a dish like that on a busy day:

Steam your carrots (or celery or broccoli or cauliflower if you want it) for about two minutes and then dump the hot water out and run cold water over them to stop the cooking. They will be just a little soft on the outside. You can do this the same day you buy them. The same day you buy your chicken, reserve the portion for the soup, chop it into half or three quarter inch cubes, salt and pepper it, and put it in a baggie in the fridge. Chop your onions, grate your ginger, etc. The day you want soup, if all of this is done, you will be able to prepare an amazing soup in less than 15 minutes. The key is do all the preparation beforehand.

To make the soup, lay everything out. This includes the utensils and even the serving dishes. When you are ready, heat your wok and add oil. Let the oil get hot and add garlic. About 20 seconds later, add the chicken. Let the chicken get nice and brown and toss in the onions and carrots. Let them get a little brown (keep everything moving by the way) and add any strong flavors like vinegar, mirin, fish sauce, etc. Let the meat and veggies pan braise in the liquid. At this point, I just reach in and grab the biggest piece of chicken I see and slice it in half to gauge the cooking. You want it to be just barely undercooked - this means no raw color, but a little less cooked than you want to eat. Add the coconut milk and the lime juice at that point. Taste the broth as it cooks and add salt, fish sauce, or lime juice until it tastes perfect. When the coconut milk is hot enough to serve, you are ready to eat. Add your cilantro at that point and maybe a sliced chili pepper if you want a little spice.

Again, just do the prep work the night before and it will only take a few minutes. As you make the recipe more, look for efficiencies. You can season your coconut milk and put it into a cleaned mayonnaise jar so you just shake it and dump it and don't have to fumble with the can opener-- that kind of thing.

This answer is turning into a novel, but I want to answer the question about beef as well. Beef is good for the slow cooker, but you want to get tough cuts of beef with big chunks. Think butt roast, shoulder roast, etc. The names in grocery stores can be really different, so the best strategy is to ask the butcher for a good cut for slow cooking. I like to cut the beef into two to three inch cubes-- really big pieces.
There is not consensus among chefs as to the best way to keep the meat tender. Some recommend cooking the outside to create a seal. Whether it makes a seal or not is up for debate. I personally do it this way. I either dredge it in flour and brown it in oil, or salt it heavily and pan sear it. Other sources recommend putting the raw meat into the cooking liquid at various times, either into cold or hot liquid. You will just have to experiment and find what you like. Six to eight hours cooking in liquid is a really long time, so you want to do what you can to not overcook it.

When done right, braising, or any other low temperature cooking is fantastic, but when any meat (or poultry) is overcooked in liquid, the tasty fats seep out and plain water seeps in. Once that has happened, it is the same thing as soaking an overcooked steak in broth; it is wet; not moist, tender and flavorful.


What are the pros and cons of coarse and fine coffee ground? Coffee can be bought either as whole beans or as coarsely or finely grounded coffee.

What are the pros and cons of the coarse and fine coffee ground? Are there different applications for coarsely and finely grounded coffee?

Mainly the grind types have to do with how long the grounds are going to be in contact with the water during the brewing of the coffee. Finer grinds for espresso (quick brewing) and medium grinds for drip, etc. This chart will give you an idea of what grinds go with which preparations http://www.ineedcoffee.com/03/coffeegrind/

if you want your grinds to have a good-decent flavor(in my experience) get a bag that has a one-way air valve (much like a respirator with no intake) thebeanforge.com sells their ground coffee in such bags. To answer your direct question, I would only assume the courser grains will keep the flavor longer than the finer grains. Finer grains may be able to bleed the flavor at a lower temperature=less brewing time. In my experience you can brew course grains satisfactorily in a regular drip coffee maker, such as the "Mr. Coffee" makers and a run-of-the-mill paper filter.


How does the metal of a baking sheet get burned? My kid wanted to boil a kettle of water on the back burner.
An empty baking sheet was sitting on the front (we had baked some cookies earlier).
They accidentally turned on the front burner instead of the back, and walked away for a minute.
How does a baking sheet itself get burnt? Are stove tops a lot hotter than 500 degrees?

A natural gas flame is about 1950 C or 3540 F, so yes, a lot hotter than 500 degrees. (source)
Electric stoves will get red hot, indicating a temperature in the range of about 500-900 C or 770-1220 F. (source)

I take it this is an Induction cooktop/electric glass cooktop.
"Induction cooking is performed using direct induction heating of cooking vessels, rather than relying on indirect radiation, convection, or thermal conduction. Induction cooking allows high power and very rapid increases in temperature to be achieved, and changes in heat settings are instantaneous" - Wikipedia, Link
An electric glass cooktop uses electricity to first heat a burner. The heated burner then heats the cookware in contact with it - baconappliance.com, LINK
Because it is directly heating the cooking vessel, this induction stove will "cook" your metal directly, not boiling what is inside of it. It's the same principle as all kinds of stoves basically, it cooks your pot.
So, without anything inside of it the heat will be rise quickly (and because it's thin nothing like a pot), it could reach up to 260C (500F)Link. But this is depending on your stove because some stove doesn't have thermocouple to check the temperature it only adjusting the power of your induction, and it will rise quickly to 300C or who knows in max setting on the knob..
The black burns will show up because it reaches the temperature to burn the outer layer of steel because lacks cooling/food inside to cook it.
Edit:
"How hot does a stovetop get on high?
I have found that using an IR thermometer to read pan bottom temperature after 5 minutes of heating (the temperature is no longer rising), that high corresponds to 375 degrees F, medium-high to 330 degrees, medium to 300 degrees, and low to about 275 degrees." - expandusceramics.com
so either you have the induction cooker that has more capability to reaching more temp, or you have an electric stovetop that has a broken thermocouple or it sets to max temp.
edited to correcting my dumb :)


What does al dente really mean? Initially I was told that al dente meant that the pasta was cooked but still firm, definitely not soggy or overcooked.  Later, someone told me that it meant not quite cooked all the way through. Actually many people began telling me this. In addition, they would also tell me that it was silly to make such a request because no one in their right mind would eat pasta this way.

So what does al dente really mean?

"Al dente" is used to refer to food cooked so it is still "firm to bite" but not soft

This is very important to pasta which should be removed from the cooking liquid just before it has fully cooked through, as like most foods, it will continue to cook after being removed from the heat source

Always gently stir your pasta every minute or so while cooking to ensure it cooks evenly. Then near the end of the cooking time, bite into a piece of paste every 15 seconds or so to see if it has nearly cooked through. It should be firm to bite, and not soft all the way through. It should not resist biting though

With some pasta types like Penne etc. you can sometimes actually see the uncooked inner layer (a thin white line) if you carefully slice it in half which a knife, or just bite cleanly with your teeth

If the pasta is going to be mixed into a hot liquid sauce before serving, take the pasta out of the cooking liquid at an even firmer point

The term "al dente" can be used for all cooked foods that should be cooked to just before soft, and then served (fresh greens, thin meat cuts etc.)

The reason for all of this is that there have been many flavour and nutrition benefits noted when cooking to this point. Also for pasta it tends to fall apart if cooked past "al dente"

In my Italian family we always felt that when pasta s ticks to the wall when thrown. Or sticks "TO THE TOOTH" it is alla dente.


Why did my banana catch fire in the microwave? Wow, that sounds like a silly question, but really! My wife froze bananas in the freezer with the peel still on. You can't peel them frozen. I put it in the microwave for one minute at 50% power. After 30 seconds the thin end of the peel (where a bunch connect to each other) was on fire, with a visible flame (about the size of a lighter). What on earth happened?

It's caused by the high amount of potassium in the banana. Microwaves react with metals, bouncing off and cause arcing. You can even create a cool light show by putting a raw peeled banana in the microwave. Don't worry, it won't explode, but it will make a mess, it's also harmless.

This can also happen in some frozen vegetables depending on the soil conditions they grew in. As noted in the linked article, other high concentrations of metals such as magnesium, iron, and zinc can be the responsible mineral.

Momentary brief sparking is harmless and won't harm your microwave, but the USDA recommends turning off your microwave if you see sparks nonetheless. If it does start a fire, unless it's a very small fire, do not open your microwave door. The safest thing is to turn off the microwave and let the fire burn itself out by consuming all the oxygen. Opening the door could create a dangerous backdraft induced fireball.

See Also:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1697458/USDA-Microwave-Ovens-and-Food-Safety
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/specif/veglegmicroe.shtml

Bananas is the only fruit that contains radiation. That is why it will catch fire.


How long can chicken stay out raw at room temperature before becoming unedible? I know chicken isn't edible raw, but how long can it stay outside the refrigerator without gaining bacteria to where you can't even cook it?

Chicken that has been defrosted in the fridge can be kept for an additional 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator before cooking; chicken that was thawed in the microwave or in cold water should be cooked immediately to be safe, but up to 24 hours or so should be fine.

Depends where you are located. In humid and warm places, the easier bacteria builds up. Generally you shouldn't keep raw meat out of refrigeration for more than an hour to be on the safe side.

If you are defrosting, put the meat in the refrigerator from the freezer the night before.


Anise Seed vs. Fennel Seed with Taste as No.1 factor I've noticed that in some recipes Anise seeds can be used interchangeably with Fennel seeds.  I understand their taxonomical differences but in regards to taste, can they be used interchangeably without any big difference in taste?

For example, I've found a lasagne recipe which calls for fennel seeds.  I do not have any but I do have Anise seeds (not star anise).  Could I use the Anise seeds in the recipe without much noticeable difference?

I thought this was an interesting question, so I went into the kitchen and had a comparative chew. Anise Seed (or aniseed where I come from) is smaller, darker and gives a more immediate anise hit, but it fades quickly. Fennel seed is two or three times larger and paler. When you chew it, there's little flavour at first, but then a wash of anise flavour comes in. I think fennel tastes a bit softer, smoother, "greener" and more rounded.

If I had to substitute anise for fennel, I'd probably use a third or even a quarter of the original quantity. Although you might just want to leave it out. I agree with bikeboy - the great joy of fennel in Italian food is biting on fennel seed and getting that green-spicy hit in a meat dish (oh! I have a pasta dish with sweet Italian sausage, tomato, cream and fennel that is to die for). I don't think you'd get the same effect with anise.

I am going to guess that people who think anise and fennel are interchangable don't like black licorice. That supposition is based on the idea that they taste the same. They are distinctly different. Anise has a sweet aftertaste and pairs better with sweet things. My point friends is no they do not taste the same. Yes anise has more flavor, but is it the right flavor (when called for).


Substitute double cream for butter? I have a lot of leftover double cream and I was wondering if I could substitute it instead of butter in a biscuit recipe? I know it's a different consistency, so there would have to be some calculations on it - but has anyone done it? Can anyone offer any advice!

I was also thinking I could use it in a butter cream filling? Or would that not be possible?

Any advice welcome!

You can't really substitute double cream for butter as the fat/water ratio is different - it's basically just too wet. However, guess what they make butter out of - cream! If you 'over whip' cream, the fat separates from the liquid leaving you with fresh butter. Naturally this is easy if you have an electric mixer. If you're doing it by hand, prepare to be tired.

I have tried a few times to use double cream instead of butter since seeing Ed Balls do it on Sport Relief Back off. I had a couple of failures but I've now successfuly used double cream instead of butter when making lemon drizzle cake. I didn't know about the fat/water content ratio so didn't take that into consideration. I used a victoria sponge ratio - weighed my eggs and then used equal amounts sugar, flour and double cream whipped to an almost 'overwhipped' consistency.
The cake took much longer to cook so I covered with tinfoil and i'd say it took almost 20 -30 mins longer (prob that water content) but the texture was amazing. I didn't take it out of the oven when it passed the skewer test - I left it in there to cool so that it didn't collapse as had happened in previous trials). I'm definitely going to keep refining my recipe and will now take the water content into account too!


How does one stop sushi seaweed wrapping being too chewy? When we make home-made sushi, we often find that the seaweed wrapping (or nori) is too chewy.  The seaweed we buy is from the local supermarket, and nothing fancy.

  Question: How can we ensure that the seaweed is not too chewy?

In addition to what Jason says above, which is absolutely correct, nori needs to be toasted to be crispy.  Sometimes you buy it ready-toasted, but sometimes it's not toasted and you need to toast it over an open flame yourself.  How to toast nori instructions and video.

Additionally, I've found that if you live somewhere high-humidity (like San Francisco, where I live), you sometimes need to re-toast nori even if you're buying ready-toasted packets, because it becomes moist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=746lrMDFkGA
it looks like they put the rice on the very end :D so It has no time to get moist, to help tham they are using special foils , the same is with onigiri wraped in crispy nori.


What's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? I was debating with someone today whether what we were eating was a cupcake or a muffin, but realized we didn't really know the difference. So what's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin in American English?

In case you're wondering, what we were eating had a sweet batter, but not overly; had blueberries in the batter; had no icing or frosting; was perhaps about three fluid ounces (1 dL) big; and had been baked with a paper wrapper.

There is considerable overlap between cupcakes and muffins.

Method

From a technical point of view, muffins are made by the muffin method, making them small quickbreads.  In the muffin method, the wet ingredients are combined in one bowl; and the dry ingredients are combined in another bowl.  Then the two are quickly incorporated together with minimal mixing to avoid gluten development.  This gives muffins a somewhat coarse crumb.

Cupcakes are small cakes, and are made by one of the traditional cake methods such as the creaming method, the reverse creaming method, the genoise method, the chiffon method, and so on.  They tend to have a finer crumb than muffins.

Contrast

While no single criterion distinguishes a muffin from a cupcake if you do not adopt the technical definition above, the following trends exist:

Cupcakes tend to be sweeter than muffins; there are savory muffins such as cornbread
Cupcakes are often iced or frosted, whereas muffins tend to have no topping, or a simple crumb topping
Cupcakes usually have a head or top no larger than the body of the cupcake; muffins are often encouraged to overflow their baking cup, so that their top is larger in diameter, giving them somewhat of a mushroom shape
Cupcakes are almost always, well, cupcake shaped; muffins can be made as just muffin tops
Cupcakes are almost never crispy or crunchy; muffins are often encouraged to brown and develop texture, especially on the tops

Hehe, exactly as much different as biscuits and cookies , if you know what I mean. Them "Americans" just created a new term out from their Brit Ancestors, like this cookie from biscuit thing, that's all. YES THAT'S ALL! Whatever tiny toony differences people are trying to show off are tiniest to the power tiniest made up just for the sake of the subject....


Does vanilla really bring out the flavour of other foods? I can't count the times I have heard that vanilla brings out the flavour of other foods. For example it "makes chocolate taste more chocolatey," etc...  I have also heard that it's the only spice that does this (enhance the flavour of other spices/foods).

Is this true? If so, by what mechanism does it do this?

Here are some places online that mention this alleged property of vanilla without explaining how it works:

"Vanilla is used for its sweetness and its ability to enhance other flavors." (eHow)
"Vanilla delivers characteristic and complex flavor notes to hundreds of types of food. With fruit- and dairy-based products, it enhances flavor by cutting acid notes, bringing out creamy notes and rounding out flavor systems." (preparedfoods.com)
"Add vanilla to give new 'life' to flavorless seasonal fruits or other foods that need a flavor boost.  Did you know that chocolate by itself tastes 'flat' which is why it usually contains vanilla?" (vanilla.com)

  ...Chocolate simply wouldn’t taste like chocolate without vanilla. “Chocolate tends to be somewhat dull on its own. Vanilla transforms it,” says Patricia Rain, author of a new book, Vanilla: A Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flavor & Fragrance. “Vanilla
  really enhances the flavor notes of chocolate,” agrees John Scharffenberger, CEO of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker in Berkeley, CA, where they prize vanilla so highly that they grind whole vanilla beans with cocoa nibs to make their chocolates.

(vegetariantimes.com)
"Vanilla is one of those ingredients, like salt and fat, that complements and brings out the flavor of other ingredients." (Wiki Answers)

I'm not sure if there is a scientific explanation for this. I also think it's more that vanilla enhances the overall flavor profile of the dish rather than actually bringing out other flavors. Salt, on the other hand, does enhance flavors.

Well it is like sugar it has not been proven but is easy to taste the difference that it does enhance the taste of other ingredients


How can I make my sauces shelf stable, other than adding acid into it since my recipe doesn't include much of it? I would like to be able to can and sell my own sauces (brown gravy sauce, chile paste sauce). There isn't much acid in the recipe of the chile paste, and Mason Jar for pressure canning is cost prohibiting in my country. Is there any other way to preserve my food products and make it shelf stable? Can I use the jar as on the picture if I were to use boiling-water canning?

There is no way at all to do that.

If you made up your own recipe, pressure canning is out of the question. It is only safe for recipes which have been developed and tested with pressure canning in mind.

Water bath canning is generally also only advised with recipes which have been developed and tested for canning, in order to ensure that you have both the proper acidity and proper thermal behavior. If you have the skills and tools to measure pH, you might decide to go with that and do water-bath canning of your own recipes with testing each batch before and after canning. This might do it for you personally, but 1) you will have to develop recipes that taste pretty sour (which you don't want to), 2) you will still have to use proper canning jars (as answered to your previous questions, both pressure and water bath canning require Mason or Weck style jars, jars with twist-off lids as in your picture are not safe) and 3) if you are selling, your local food safety authority might not agree that it is safe just because you say you measured it.

The only feasible storage option available to you as a home cook is freezing, which makes it almost impossible to operate as a cottage food producer - you would have to ensure that the jars stay frozen the whole time until they reach the customer and the customer would have to consume them within 3-5 days of defrosting, plus it is likely to mess with the texture of some sauces.

It is absolutely possible to do this however it is not simple. Your microorganism control toolkit consists of:

water activity
temperature
ph
salinity
oxygen levels
enzymatic activity from beneficial microorganisms
preservatives (not recommended by me)

The more types of control you use the less of any type is required, but there is no magic formula. You need to educate and test.

There is type of sous-vide bag suitable for canning called a retort bag

I would be buying (or "borrowing" from the library of genesis) a number of books ranging from home-canning, to modernist cuisine, to proper food science books targeted at manufacturers.


Why does my corn flour dough feel like wet sand? I did corn dough empanadas and the dough felt almost like wet sand and was tearing apart in my hands, impossible to shape up.

What should I do better next time ?

I followed this simple receipe:

2 1/2 cup (290 g) corn flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm water (plus a splash or two of water)
2 teaspoons olive oil

I tried to add more water and/or more flour and it was the same.

I finally added weat flour to save the day as the clock was ticking but I really wished I could land that dough.

edit: I used the parchemin paper technique for shaping and it went well.

I really wonder about the texture of raw dough not about shaping technique. I couldn't achieve any of the shaping steps with my dough.

Corn masa is what you need for this.

The process of nixtamalization makes the corn more easily ground and therefore the texture of doughs made with it will not be "gritty" in the way that a dough made with corn meal or corn flour will be.

Also, corn masa (or masa harina) is more nutritious than standard corn products due to the chemical changes that result from the nixtamalization process.


How to shell macadamias without a special tool? I know you can get tools like the Bonk and MackaWhacka specifically for shelling macadamias but I've very rarely had them handy when I've needed to do it.

In the past I've sat macadamias in a little hole in the cement outside and smashed them with a hammer but it would more often than not damage the kernels as well. I'd ideally like a way which:

doesn't damage the kernel inside
doesn't require a macadamia-specific tool
doesn't take several hours per nut, and
doesn't involve risk of missing teeth and permanent disability

I've used C-clamps before.  You set the macademia in it, then tighten it down 'til it cracks.

You can keep a gloved hand around the nut while turning the screw with the other hand to avoid the risk of flying shell bits.  (but you should be turning slow enough that it doesn't crack explosively)

It does take some time, but it's less than a minute per nut.  It goes faster when they're all similarly sized, so you're not adjusting the clamp signicantly to fit the next one.

Perhaps a good mortar and pestle can do the trick.

This would be closely related to your hammer and divot-in-concrete method, especially if using a good strong mortar and pestle (mine is heavy granite).  However, the benefits of this are that it is easier to handle and move (you can keep it at a workable height), you can control the force more precisely (several lighter taps to fracture, then tease the shell apart, mean less chance of the kernel breaking), the nut is more contained in a deeper bowl, and so won't flee if the strike is off-center (again privileging several lighter taps, preferably at different points on the shell).

In case I was unclear, the emphasis is on several sharp controlled taps to fracture the shell, not great strikes which might injure the kernel, or more importantly, yourself.  Let the weight and hardness of the pestle do the work.  The force of the strike, and the nut, will be contained in the bowl of the mortar.

Method is basically drop a nut in the bowl, thwap at it a few times until you hear a crack, move on to the next.  If it won't tease apart after, drop it back in for a few more thwacks.  I've shelled different kinds of nuts this way, though not macadamias specifically, but I see no reason it should not work if your mortar and pestle are of a decent size and weight.


How to know when to remove lemon squares from oven? I'm making a lemon bars/squares recipe that I've made a few times before, and I keep having trouble deciding when to take it out of the oven. I don't want to overbake it, but I don't want to underbake it either as I won't be able to cut it properly into squares. The recipe says "until set, about 25-30 minutes". My lemon bars have been in the oven over half an hour; the top has gone light brown, but it still jiggles around like liquid when I move it. How do I know when it's "set"?

Custard without any flour or starch should be baked to about 83 Celsius internal temperature. Below 80 is underbaked, above 90 it curdles, so you have a very small window of good texture. It may be even narrower, it depends a bit on the other stuff you have in there, sugar gives you wiggle room but acids (including lemon juice!) will make it harder to get right.

If you have starch or flour, you need to reach almost boiling temperatures. 95 Celsius should be OK.

If you want high confidence, you really need to measure the internal temperature. External signs are not reliable, and time even less so.

If the middle of any baked good does not look done but sides are browned, I turn oven off and leave dish 19 minutes longer in turned off heat.


Can you sharpen a ceramic knife? Can you sharpen a ceramic knife?

Ceramic blades can only be sharpened against something that is harder than it is.  I would recommend sending it back to the manufacturer for sharpening if needed.  Typically it is done using a very hard abrasive wheel because of the risk of the blade breaking, you do not want to do this without proper safety equipment.

Sharpening of ceramic knives can be performed either manually (with diamond stones/rod) or with the professional tools. Manual sharpening is time consuming and can cause more harm then good (as ceramic is very fragile). The best tools for ceramic knife sharpening are electric sharpeners (for example Work Sharp - it's universal tool for steel/ceramic knives).


secret ingredient in a restaurant bolognese I have dabbled with almost every ingredient I can think of in varying amount to get my Bolognese to taste similar to a restaurant made Bolognese in the italian alps.

Including:
Pepper
Sugar
Salt
Tomatos and tomato puree, tinned and chopped tomatos
garlic
lea & perrins / Worcester sauce
Onions & onion gravy granules
different meats, pork, beef and veal
Herbs Basil, greek basil, thyme and oregano
red wine
and most recently balsamic vinegar

These all get close and do make a nice Bolognese. However the secret ingredient is still missing!

If you are missing an umami note, it's possible you are missing a very common ingredient in bolognese - chicken livers. These give a meaty, almost sweet flavour. Soak them in water for a few minutes, then finely chop or pulse in a food processor. I use minced (ground) pork, beef and chicken livers.

You might also try adding pancetta, to add a smoky tinge.

I use umami paste by Laura Santtini (in fact her entire line is awesome) as well as her tomato paste bomb. With a little Worcestershire sauce that added level of flavour depth is reached. Hope this helps.


What can I do to thicken the mixture in a meat "cup?" I've got a pound of ground beef in the refrigerator that I need to use by tonight, and have been eating pasta and hamburgers in unusual abundance lately so my usual standbys of ragù and patties are pretty much off the table.

While searching for recipe ideas I happened upon these barbecue beef cups - a bit heavy on the store-bought ingredients, but very convenient and looks palatable.  However, one of the reviewers pointed out that, even with various savoury additions, the final product came out more or less like a sloppy joe, and I'd prefer to have something less... sloppy.

In other words I'd like to make one of these so that the filling holds its shape and doesn't start leaking after the first bite.  On the other hand, I also don't want it to come out like a fruit tart with the consistency of jelly.  I keep thinking of those Jamaican beef patties you buy in stores and the consistency of the filling; it's relatively moist, but dry/solid enough to stay in the patty.

Can I accomplish this, preferably without the aid of exotic hydrocolloids?  I was thinking of mixing in an egg, but I'm not sure how well that would work or if it would be better to use the whole egg or just the yolk.  Tomato paste is another "thickener" that would seem to work well with this type of recipe, but might not get it thick enough before ruining the taste.  And of course I have various starches and baking ingredients but I worry that too much of those will just turn it into jelly.

Any tips/suggestions?

A little cornstarch should, if you add it with the bbq sauce, make it just thick enough to cling together a little better.

I'd say make a slurry of say 1/2c water, 1/4c bbq sauce, 1tsp cornstarch and add it to your ground beef. Let it cook down (I'm basically thinking how taco packets work here) until it's close to where you want it; continued heat in the oven should finish binding.

Or skip the bbq sauce, use dry herbs and spices mostly with just a tiny dab to bind it together.

Also you just made me want a patty, you awful man.

This sounds like a muck-up of a short pastry meat pie? Bad idea

The simple fix is less saucy stuff and use flaky pastry instead of biscuit dough. Put a flaky pastry lid on it too to ensure zero leakage

Put the cheese on top of meat mixture, and lid on top of that

The trick is how you eat it so that the filling doesn't leak out. This isn't a cooking problem :-)


Is it safe to eat raw eggs? I have a friend that is training for a marathon and he drinks 6 raw eggs before running (Yes, like Rocky) - is this safe?

Food safety experts and government organizations target their recommendations to what's safest for everyone, and would recommend against this. However, "safe" is a subjective term. It's all about managing risk levels. The odds of a given egg containing salmonella or other food-borne illness are pretty low. A healthy adult with a normal immune system can probably fend off any nasties, or at least recover from illness.

The source of the eggs has an effect on the risk levels as well, I believe. Organic free-range eggs are probably less risky than supermarket brands.

No egg is safer when it’s raw. It will give you SALMONELLA POISONING AND THE INFECTION which is in the ENTEROBACTERIACEAE family and in the GAMMAPROTEOBACTERIA class
Your friend may have gotten it but he just did not know because it does not affect you right away after you consume it. Please be safe: he runs the risk of contracting it while drinking it raw. Please be aware not to eat RAW MEAT/POULTRY, AND **RAW EGGS** DO NOT HESITATE AT ALL TO SEND YOUR FOOD BACK TO THE CHEF WHEN YOU FIND THAT YOUR MEAT IS PINK ON THE INSIDE. That is dangerous food that you don't want to be eating. Cut into it to make sure it is not pink before hungrily devouring it.

I have seen patients that have this and families who have all been affected by this. Despite what my username may say, I am a family doctor. I have seen too many cases too count where children and their families were effected. It has become ridiculously paining to watch and it needs to end. Please do not encourage this because it affects 1.2 million Americans each year and it continues to encourage the number of people affected in American. This number alone of people in America affected by salmonella will quickly increase. Your kids can be affected by this. They will miss going to school for weeks and continue to not get educated. Also you will have to take off of work for sick days if your children fall ill or if you do so, too.

Please protect your friends and family and everybody else around the world by not doing this and finding different ways to get the maximum protein you need for running and training for that marathon.

All I wish for is that you and everybody stay safe. You cannot be safe when you are consuming six raw eggs every time you run, which runs the risk of containing this horrendous bacterium that could give you severe diarrhea, vomiting, and eventually kill you. Look up above at the person who has experienced this, and had an absolute miserable time after contracting this from eggs that were not worth the one week in the hospital. I have seen patients that have this and families who have all been affected by this. Despite what my username may say, I am a family doctor. I have seen too many cases too count where children and their families were effected. It has become ridiculously paining to watch and it needs to end. This is dangerous and threatening to people’s lives. If you were to contract this bacterium and infection, it would be at least a week less of training time for your marathon. Think about how others will be affected by this if they get into the habit that you are in and how you will be effected. This can be spread to other people and you for sure do not want to harm anybody that you may have seen, may have touched, or may talked too. Please think about what’s at risk here.


Tips for reheating food in the microwave I often want to buy more than a meals-worth of fast-food (or other food you buy hot) to save multiple trips, but the reduction in taste that comes from reheating it makes me not want to.

What can I do to reheat food in the microwave and have it taste more like it did originally?

The best advice I can give is that you're not going to want to use full power very often.  I find that food tastes much better if you cook it for longer at 60 or 70% power then if you blast it quickly at 100%.  This is especially true for proteins like chicken.  I guess this allows for slightly slower, more even heating without destroying all the water in the food.  The extra minute or two of time is worth the huge difference in the final texture.

I find that pretty much any vegetable or rice-based dish will reheat "ok" in the microwave, because of the nature of the microwave itself, which works very well for steaming.  When reheating stuff like this, throw a tsp or Tbsp of water in the container, and place a lid on it (but do not seal the lid, you want it vented slightly).  Again, stick with less than full-power.

I know someone who swears by boiling a glass of water in the microwave first to fill it with moist, warm air.  Supposedly it helps with evenness and faster cooking, and reduces drying out the food; I don't know if I buy it but thought I'd mention it so you and the community can comment/decide.  I understand the idea, but feel like you'd lose so much of that just opening the door to swap the water for your food.  If you do go this route, it's very important that you understand superheating water, which is dangerous.  Don't try to boil water in the microwave without reading that link.

If you're adventurous, there's a line of Corningware Microwave Browning products (scroll about halfway down the page where it mentions browning) - I was given one a half a year ago and was surprised at how well it works.  There's a lining of microwave-safe metal (I believe tin oxide) inside the bottom of the casserole/skillet, and you heat the casserole by itself for a minute or two first which gets that blazing hot.  When you drop food on it, it actually sizzles, so now you're using a combination of normal microwave cooking and direct, skillet-like heat.  I've had a lot of good luck reheating things like pork chops and keeping/adding a crust to them.

Also, there's a book, Microwave Cooking For One, and an accompanying website, that are both supposed to be really useful.  I don't own the book but have heard from friends who do own it that you can learn a lot about general microwave use from it - even if you don't plan on cooking from "scratch" and are just reheating leftovers.

All that said, I completely agree with Jefromi's comment.  90% of the food I reheat is reheated in the toaster oven, either preheated like a regular oven, or under the broiler depending on what the food is.  You might take an extra 5 or even 15 minutes to reheat this way, but the difference is unbelievable, and the convenience is still the same - I just put whatever I want to reheat into a casserole dish and throw it in, sometimes covered, sometimes not.  So, cleanup still only involves one dish, and you can eat directly out of it (though it will be very hot, so be careful!) Once you get into the habit of using the toaster oven, you'll find a way to make up for the small amount of extra time - for example I often I empty the drainboard while it preheats, and wash dishes or something similar while the food heats up.

When heating or reheating in a microwave uses microwave safe cup of water. Microwaves cook from the inside out or bottom up. That's why dishes are hot on the bottom. Anything with cheese on it the outside will but use more cheese on the edges and less in the center which will not get all melty as fast. Stir the food if possible to get it to heat evenly. Cook slower at a lower temp. Use the casserole or defrost button on your microwave and trust your instinct. You cooked it so you must be able to tell if and when its done.


How are savoury meringues made? I've come across occasionally mentions of savoury meringues with flavours such as beetroot. How are these made? What is used as a substitute for the sugar?

The eggs whites in traditional meringues are used to spread the sugar into a thin foam that is then dried in the oven (or dehydrator) leaving behind the sugar structure and some proteins from the eggs. To make a meringue you need something that dissolves to tangle up with those proteins. I would guess that the beet meringues from Café Atlantico are made with beet powder replacing the sugar with the goat cheese in the middle adding to the sense of savory.

I have never made savory meringues, but if I were to experiment I would mix freshly whipped eggs whites with sugar to those created by reducing a savory liquid and then adding powder egg whites to it.

1 Savory meringues are made with salt not sugar.
They are primarily used to smother and braise a side of fish or chicken.
[2] Cheesy Clouds
This recipe can have added herbs and seasonings.


Does wine go bad or just taste bad? Does wine left in the fridge more than the recommended time of up to a week (?) before it goes "off" go bad in terms of bacterial or mold overgrowth? Or is it safe to drink but just doesn't taste as good? I don't know if wine is as acidic as vinegar. And how long is really too long food safety-wise? I would probably just cook with it. I don't mind if it's vinegary, just asking from a food safety perspective. I hope this question is not too much like this one. Can wine gone bad be bad for you?

Dos wine can go bad? It can't have mold (because alcohol), it's shouldn't have any EXTRA bacteria (because of alcohol).
In fact - the bacteria that turn vine into vinegar is acetobacter. So spotting that one in the brew is pretty easy. You start to have acid.

Wine (depending on type of course) is pretty safe to store for a long time. That's the added value to it. You store wine  for 200 years and cash a fat check afterwards.
The "best before after opening and store in fridge" date is usually there for two reasons:

The cork is not real one. And the alcohol will start to reacts with it.
The wine was made in such manner that the yeast didn't die (so not enough alcohol content and with that extra air after opening they will start to digest carbs again).

What can change the taste of wine is storage type. Like in the answer you provided. Bad storage will lead to bad wine. Or not bad WINE but some bad liquid.

In general, if an ingredient, wine, meat, fruit or vegetable does not taste good, don't use it for cooking.

Wine will oxidize.

This is one of the reason wine go bad, at least for drinking; and if you cannot drink it, you don't cook with it.

Not because it might be "bad" for me, but because it will not taste good and will ruin any dish that will use it.

If you want to keep the wine from going bad, you have a few options.

just remove the air from the bottle
remove the air an replace it with a neutral gas (argon or nitrogen)
freeze it (use a ice cube tray, and store in plastic bags.


How does lemon juice "cook" meat? Various meats can be "cooked" using lemon juice. But how does lemon juice actually "cook" the meat?

Let's start with a definition of cooking.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines to cook as:

  To prepare or make ready (food); to make fit for eating by due application of heat, as by boiling, baking, roasting, broiling, etc.

However, from a chemical point of view, what happens when you are cooking meat is that you are using heat, amongst other things, to denature the proteins of the meat.
Denaturation can also be achieved by other means, such as marinating the meat in an acid, such as citric acid (contain in lemon juice) or acetic acid (contained in vinegar).

You can also use other agents to induce denaturation, but they are not always fit for eating.

However, it is important to understand that from a purely cooking perspective the two things are not the same: "cooking" with lemon (I guess it is fine to use the verb to cook as long as you put it in quotes), gives a completely different result than cooking with heat. This is because other chemical reactions happen during application of heat and because, obviously, you do not end up with an hot product!

Cooking is only through the application of heat.

Period.

Since stomach acids can't kill 100% of pathogens, who is crazy enough to believe lime or lemon juice can?


What north atlantic fish can we use to make a good ceviche? I am planning to do a ceviche entrée in Ireland but I am limited in the choice of seafood and most likely won't find Peruvian/Pacific ones. Any recommendations for? substitutes

I think just about any large flaky-fleshed fish that's not too fatty is a good candidate for ceviche. Salmon can work, though it's a tad fatty. Tuna is not a good choice, in my opinion. Cod and any kind of bass can work really well. I would think haddock or even sole or flounder could work too.

There is lots of white-fleshed fish available in the North Atlantic, and many will do great in ceviche. Take a look at the flesh and see if it seems similar to what you would usually use, and when in doubt ask the fishmonger for advice. Even if they don't know ceviche, if you can tell them what fish you'd usually use, they can probably advise you on substitutes.

I'm a sucker for Tilapia, seems to work out quite well


How long will a refrigerated risotto stay safe to eat? First time posting here.

I made a risotto Sunday (Arborio rice, butter, onion, white wine, chicken stock, mushrooms, asparagus, peas, turmeric, lemon, parmesan).

It's been refrigerated since cooling completely. It's now Thursday. Am I better to be safe than sorry and toss the last of my leftovers, or should I be okay giving it a good nuke in the microwave before eating the last portion today?
There is not any notable off aroma.

Edit// There's no information in that wonderfully long detailed list of food storage/safety pertaining to cooked rice whatsoever. Thanks anyways...

The reason people won't answer these types of questions is that there are too many factors, and are (perhaps errantly?) concerned about liability. Was there any cross contamination? How long was it left out before it cooled? Will it be reheated to cooking temperatures before it's consumed? What's the internal temperature of the refrigerator?

Many foods, such as rice, also have special concerns. Bacillus Cereus can survive cooking, and if the rice was left at room temperature for a number of hours before it was refrigerated, can produce toxins which will make you sick even if the rice is reheated. This has a tendency to hit sushi places particularly hard.

The truth is that there's no binary "safe/unsafe" with food— it's all about reducing risks and making judgment calls. Considering we have the binary choice about whether or not to eat it, that makes questions like yours a bit difficult to answer remotely.

All that said, if it was my rice, I'd make some risotto balls, bread them, fry them, and eat the ever-living-sh** out of that tasty leftover risotto. Should you do the same? Uh... Let me point you to a stackexchange answer-turned-community-wiki-entry on the topic... ;-)


How can I stop my soups sticking to the bottom of the pot? I like cooking soups, however often as not the lentils or oats stick to the bottom of the pot and start to burn. I like cooking my soups over several hours in a large pot.

How can I avoid this?

Cook on a lower heat, in a pan with a thicker base, to distribute the heat. Check every now and again, and add water if the soup has become too thick. Also, the occasional stir can only help.

Consider buying a slow cooker -- there are very cheap models that do the job well.

Add some meat or broth (chicken, beef) in your pot.
Basically add something, that will turn water into oily/fatty liquid.


what is the purpose of lemon/acid in fruit maceration for pie baking? A lot of pie recipes will tell you to take out the liquid in juicy fruits, like apple and peaches, for pie baking.

The purpose is to avoid a soggy crust with too much liquid.

Some people even put tapioca starch to thicken the liquid.

Fruits must be macerated to take out the liquid. This is done by slicing and then adding sugar but also lemon juice.

But what is the purpose of the lemon juice? I know that it lowers the PH and increases the acidity.

But how does this assist in taking out the liquid from the fruit (I"m assuming this is the purpose).

Why don't  just skip it?

I googled it but the answers didn't seem scientific or accurate? E.g., lemon juice is to add flavor or it is to speed up the process (but how?)

While there might be an acceleration effect, sugar on its own is very capable of drawing out liquids quickly. Two other effects are probably much more important:

lemon juice is very effective in stopping cut fruit from oxidizing/enzymatic browning.
taste balancing. Fruit is naturally sweet and sour, adding heavy amounts of sugar can upset that balance too far into the sweet region, resulting in a cloying/one dimensional/stodgy character
in some recipes, keeping the sugar/fruit mixture from caramelizing/browning too much. Acid inhibits maillard reactions to a degree.
acid promotes sugar inversion when combined with heat, which slightly changes the sweetness profile (halfway to honey, more or less) and potentially significantly the texture (there will be no crystallization of loose sugar-water mixtures upon cooling).

The answer to your question is related to the PH balance of your fruit filling.  When you heat your filling after adding sugar, it releases pectin which is negatively charged.  This allows the fruit to release flavor but these negativley charge pectin strands repel each other and so the lemon being acidic adds a positively charge which allows the pectin strands to bond.  These bonded pectin strands are what allows your juice to thicken.  Many add geletin, tapioca, corn starch or flour to assist with this but the acidic lemon juice is what balances the PH of the filling and keeps it from being too juicy.


What causes congealed bacon fat to have a wrinkly surface? Earlier this week I refrigerated some rendered bacon fat in a small metal prep bowl, for later use. Today, after making bacon again, I went to add more grease and saw a surprising texture on the surface of the congealed fat (click for full 2592x1456 resolution):

If it's not clear from the picture, the surface is very wrinkly, with the edges significantly raised---it looks like it expanded unevenly as it solidified, but this would seem to indicate the presence of water. Water and fat, of course, don't mix and it looks totally homogeneous.

I've stored bacon fat plenty of times before and it always had a smooth surface after solidifying---schmaltz tends to be a bit less smooth but still a flat surface. When I look at pictures online, such as in this blog post, I also see nothing but smooth, flat fat.

I don't think I did anything different this time. I've used these metal prep bowls and I've used glass bowls. Does the way it solidifies say something about the quality of the bacon, how the fat was rendered or how it was stored?

It has been in there for 3 or 4 days and we haven't had any earthquakes or step-dancing parties.

Here's the same 60 mL prep bowl with more fat from the same package of bacon added this morning, on top of the older fat, after sitting for ~30 minutes in the fridge---no longer wrinkly! This seems to rule out the particular batch of bacon as an influence.

Even though you strained your fat while it was hot there is still micro-particles of bacon proteins left in the fat.  These particles hold their heat longer than the rest of the fat as its cooling, and rise to the top, and as it solidifies create the texture and slight color change.

Great pan of precious fat you have. To answer your question, fat and meat contain air and water. When the water and air evaporate the fat will move.Those spaces that do not fill in will be wavy.


How much rice should I cook per person? I would like to know how much rice I should cook per person.
Preferably in some "fast" measurements - like cups, spoons, etc.

It would also be nice to know how much water should I add to the rice-cooker.

Edit: I want to have the rice as a side dish, usually with some kind of stew.

Edit: The cup I've been using is 300ml filled about 3mm below top edge (which is what i consider "full").

I usually use 1/4 cup per person for a smallish portion, and 1/3 cup per person if you're a bit hungrier. You'll probably want to check the instructions for your rice cooker to check exactly how much water you should add as different manufacturers vary. I believe the one I used in the past needed an equal quantity of water to rice.

It should be 1/2 cup maybe for an average person.


Why did my pavlova not bake properly? My pavlova turned out too soft , sticky and "gooey".  Yellowish liquid was seeping out of it during and continued after baking,

Gooey is how they are meant to be on the inside, with a thin, crisp, and lightly browned shell, otherwise it's a meringue

Weeping is a common small problem, it shouldn't affect it too much, and can be corrected

Check out my post of how to make them What is the best way to making a great pavlova base?

I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that if you used fresh eggs rather than older ones then there’s more chance of liquid oozing … hope that helps


Why does my cauliflower puree taste mustardy after two days? I recently made cauliflower puree following this recipe.

I put florets of cauliflower in a microwave oven safe pot, together with some butter and some milk, and cooked it till more or less tender. Then I added salt, pepper, a bit of nutmeg and some cheese (I used cheddar and emmental).

At that point in time it was fine, like I had it before.
About two days later, I wanted to eat the leftover puree (which I stored in the refrigerator), but its flavor had changed. There was now a distinct sharp flavor present, which reminded me of horseradish or perhaps mustard.

Does anyone know why and/or how the flavor changed?

The flavor / odor notes you're experiencing are probably sulfuric compounds. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower contain sulfiric compounds that are released on cooking. That's why the stir-fried crisp-tender broccoli tastes so different from the limp overcooked olive green florets. Similar to how spicy salsa fresca grows ever spicier after a couple days in the fridge, your puree is slowly continuing that "cooking" process.

It's still okay to eat, but you'll be less aware of the flavor change if you use it in a more highly spiced dish once it's a couple days old.

I think the cheese and nutmeg has infused the purée with their flavors a lot more than when you made it.


Maillard in a Pressure Cooker I was reading about frying in On Food And Cooking this weekend and it mentions that frying works so much better than oven cooking because oil has a far higher specific heat than air so it is able to transfer that heat to the food being cooked much faster than an oven. It then went on to mention that oil has significantly less heat storage capacity than water - according to this specific heat table, it looks like water has around 2.5 times the heat capacity as most oils. This got me thinking about whether there’d be any way to “deep fry” something in water. What I mean by “deep fry” in water is - get the water up around the temperature you’d get in a deep fryer, and then drop some food in. This way you’d get the same temperature as the oil, and therefore hopefully you’d have the same Maillard reactions, but none of the oilyness from frying. I’d like to give this a try. but there are a few important hurdles I’d have to get over first and I’m wondering if anyone here has any guidance. around a few questions this raises:

I did some calculations and it looks like I’d have to get the pressure up to around 70 psi above atmospheric pressure in order to get the water up around 155C - Probably I’d want to go a bit higher than this in practice. It doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility that a pressure cooker could exist that could handle this kind of pressure (bicycle tires go a lot higher than this), but I only see pressure cookers that go up to around 15psi. Do pressure cookers that handle this high of pressure exist? Otherwise, might there be other kitchen-sized industrial equipment that could achieve this high of pressure and temperature?
Can I expect a maillard reaction to occur at high pressure, or will the pressure make the reaction require relatively higher temperature and therefore preclude it from occuring?
Can I expect a maillard reaction to occur under water? Everythíng I read about the maillard reaction mentions that it will only happen after the water on the surface of the food evaporates specifically because water keeps the temperature too low. This makes sense at standard pressures, but will the water in and of itself make the maillard reaction difficult or impossible (since one of the outputs of maillard is more water), or is the water mentioned ONLY because it keeps the temperature so low.  All of the references I've found that say water deters the reaction specifically state that this is because of the temperature factor.
Is there any chance that I’d get any crisping through this process? I’m thinking that if I depressurize the food while the surface is superheated (obviously I’d have to figure out a way to get it out of the water bath first), I’d get some amount of the water in the surface boiled away as the pressure dropped, and thus some crisping.  Might this work?

Obviously I’d have to set up a pretty crazy rig inside the pressure cooker to get the water and food pressurized without significantly cooking the food in the process, then have a setup inside the pressure cooker that drops the food into the water at a given temperature, and then pulls it back out after a set time. I’m thinking that my first step would be to get a super-high-pressure pressure cooker and drop some chicken into it, get it up to 160C or so, cool it and see what I get. It’d be way way overcooked I’m sure, but I think I’d be able to tell if I could get any reasonable browning in water, and proceed from there if the results were favorable.

I'd really appreciate any insight, either from experience with pressure cooking of non-traditionally-pressure-cooked foods, or other experience, or possibly from understanding more about how maillard works and what I would expect at high pressure and submerged.

Unless you are prepared to build some industrial strength equipment of your own design and then move everyone in the neighborhood away while you experiment with this, I fear you are taking your life in your hands.

Normal pressure cookers add a maximum 15 PSI to achieve a water boiling point of 121 C or 250 F.  Autoclaves, used for surgical sterilization, go to 30 PSI.  You are talking about going more than twice that.

There is no reason, based on the science of Maillard reaction, to believe that it would not occur at a high enough temperature.  The presence of excess water would normally inhibit the process because of temperature reduction, but your "super duper pressure cooker" would keep the temperature at a high enough level to allow the chemical breakdown to occur.  You might, in fact, discover that it occurs a bit earlier, as water tends to facilitate many reactions.  Caramel making comes to mind as an indicator of what might be achieved, as sugar syrup (OK, most of the water is gone, but in principal) browns when you get in the above 330F-165C degree range.

As to crisping based on quick pressure reduction (perhaps when your device explodes?) That seems less likely as most crisping comes at the loss of water, and you are, in effect, keeping water in contact with your food both in liquid and superheated steam form.  It would, most likely, be similar to a braised food surface, than a fried one.

Interesting thought.  Please don't try this.

Check on ebay you can buy a used "pressure vessel" these are industrial/laboratory things that normally cost a few grand but there is no demand for them so you could get something that does 100psi and holds 10-15 liters easily for a C note and regular pressure cookers do 15 psi so that would be 6-7 times more powerful.

Those are perfectly safe and most likely in your price range to experiment with.  I just wanted to throw this in there, but I saw one that does 1,000 psi used for 2 grand it only holds 1 liter though and that is 60-70 times more powerful than a regular pressure cooker if you wanted to take it to the extreme =)


How long will soaked chia seeds last? I was just wondering how long you could keep chia seeds in the refrigerator after they have already soaked in the water. I know dry chia seeds have an extremely long life if stored properly but I can't find anything online about once they are already soaked.

Thanks.

Chia seeds have been known to harbor salmonella, and considering their high fat content, high carbohydrate content, and their physical/chemical reaction to being soaked in water, they are an ideal growing medium for any number of hazards.

The USDA does not have a published opinion on the topic.

The EFSA has approved them as an ingredient in all forms,including uncooked, but has only researched cooked form (which is typical for seeds and nuts)

Give the lack of guidence from a credible organization, and the wildly varying ranges of unauthoritative sources, I would treat soaked chia seeds as most akin to leftovers of a salad that has dressing applied, which is to say even in the refrigerator, no more than a day and "when in doubt throw it out".

Mine are at least 3 or 4 weeks old and seem fine.


How to fix ghee which partly turned white and smells rancidly? A friend of mine has mistakenly stored his ghee in a bowl which was not quite hermetic hence exposed to oxygen and the sun light. The result is that the ghee turned white and is rancid. See the picture:

Is there any method of fixing it? Or should I just throw it out? Thanks

There is sadly no way to reverse or undo rancidity, and the potent flavors are very unpleasant.  The rancid portion should be discarded.

The photo is unusual in that there is a clear color line, which may or may not correspond to the depth the rancidity reached, or how far into the main product the unpleasant breakdown products permeated.   You might try scraping off all of the obviously bad portion (plus a little extra).  Retain the remainder only if it smells (and tastes) normal.  Fortunately, rancidity is easy to detect by odor and taste.

You could try using vitamin E, and beta carotene which prevents oxidation, in some cases reverses oxidation. I was told by my mother when I was younger if you burn a stew put peanut butter in it, this will remove the burnt flavor. While years later, after several science classes and several degrees. I had bought some ghee, and I removed the white part, but it kept going. It stopped when I added the vitamins. And rancid oils and fats are bad for your health, they cause free radical damage, hence your mouth saying don't eat it.


Doughnuts preseratives Calcium Propionate

I normally use calcium propionate for extended shelf life problems. I am a packed doughnuts manufacturer, and I have a problem managing my shelf life. Regarding mold on our product, I need some halal/vegan preservatives to extend my shelf life from 3-10 days. I am using yeast, baking powder, eggs, salt, and butter as an ingredients. Some authentic solutions would be highly appreciated.

I have experience with a few natural options such as Bred-Mate, Bro-Lite and MoisturLok, but I doubt that any of those will get you as much shelf life as calpro will. MoisturLok and Brolite both have formulations for sweet goods, and I did have luck getting yeast breads to have a 7+-day shelf life with Bro-Lite.
If you have access to it, I'd recommend just getting halal calpro, as that's going to have the longest shelf-life by far.

King Arthur Flour sells a "cake enhancer" that extends shelf life by a few days.  It works just as well in breads and other baked goods.  The enhancer is gluten free, vegetarian, and Kosher.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/cake-enhancer-10-oz


Making crisp hash browns I buy frozen, shredded potatoes. What is the best way to drive off moisture to help make them crispy when cooked?
Would microwaving on a paper towel help remove ice crystals and help avoid soggy potatoes?

Here's my method. First I rinse the frozen potatoes under cold water (in a colander) until thawed. It only takes a minute or two. Then I squeeze as much excess water out of the potatoes as I can. Then I season them and put them in a very lightly oiled pan and press and form to get the shape and thickness I want, and get them to hold together. When the first side is golden, I turn and let the other side get golden and crispy.
Over the years, I've found that the excess water caused problems with browning, crispness, and holding together. Also, I usually add a tiny bit of butter to the pan as it helps to get that perfect golden color.

According to these folks, just compact frozen, shredded potato and begin frying. Cover, and cook the first side until golden. Remove cover, press, flip, season, cook side 2.
Perhaps adding your current technique could help me improve my answer.


Tea water: heat to 80 °C or boil to 100 °C and let it cool down to 80 °C? Boiling water is too hot for some teas. Today I heard that it's better to boil water to 100 °C and let it cool down to 80 °C rather than heat water to 80 °C. Is this true? Does it really affect properties of the water, other than killing bacteria?

It's actually the opposite, you shouldn't boil water for tea unless you want it boiling. Water has dissolved oxygen in it, the more you have the nicer your tea will taste. This has been covered in this question.

The hotter your water gets, the faster it loses dissolved oxygen, so you'll get better tea (for most people's palates) if you raise your water to 80°C and use it right away. If you boil it and then let it cool you will lose much more O2.

FYI, 80°C is pretty low for most black teas, I experimented with this some years ago and found that most black teas brewed at 80°C came out pretty awful, green tea seemed to be the exception to this. I found 90–95°C to be more of the sweet spot.

Other than boiling to kill pathogens the one thing I can think of would be to purge chlorine from the water, which boiling does. However, you'd need to boil it for 15 minutes to get rid of all of it, not just raise it to boiling. Also, boiling doesn't get rid of chlorinates, which are used to purify water more often these days. See this question for more details on that.

Boiling changes the molecular structure of water.

  When water is heated, a large part of the heat energy goes into breaking the hydrogen bonds between the water   molecules.

https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/webui/guest/look.do?context=90d3ff2780020ca601a3f1c414ba7138&confirm=true

Also the pH value goes down.

https://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Acids_and_Bases/Acids_and_Bases_in_Aqueous_Solutions/The_pH_Scale/Temperature_Dependence_of_the_pH_of_pure_Water

pH value is a measurement for acidic and alkalic.

The human blood is around the middle on the scale.

The scale goes from 0 to 14.

14 is alkaline.

0 is acid.

You can check with litmus paper.

Most organisms die towards the ends of the scale.

Means, both substances in these areas are poisonous.

Here you will — not — get through boiling, but think like detergent and toilet cleaner.

So better to stop before 80°C for green tea.

And as @GdD says, black tea probably needs more.


How long can I store homemade caramel or butterscotch sauce? I made a butterscotch sauce for a butterbeer cupcake, but I have about a cup of the sauce left.  How long can I leave it in the fridge since it has heavy cream?  Can I freeze it?  I imagine for most purposes, caramel and butterscotch sauces will have the same storage methods.

This similar (also has heavy cream) recipe from epicurious recommends: "Room temperature, up to 3 days; refrigerated, at least 3 months."

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Caramel-Sauce-105889

...And that conforms to my personal opinion, as well. I would not freeze it.

about a week.  Do not freeze the milk proteins get ruptured when the water crystalizes.  (water expands when frozen).


Using a vacuum sealer to marinate? With the vacuum sealers that have hit the market, they're have been a lot of toys added onto the products.  One such device is used for marinating meat.  It just looks like a tupperware bin with a nozzle on the lid, and you use a hose to vacuum all the air out.  The claim is that this will pull the fibers of the meat apart allowing you to marinade in half the time.

My question is, does this really work or is it just marketing hype?  If it does work, is this a better way of marinating?

This works by increasing the porousness of the meat inside the bag. When a vacuum is created, there is a natural tendency for matter to occupy that space. It does this by increasing the amount of space between particles, otherwise known as density. This increases the size of the microscopic holes in the meat, and thus effectively increases the surface area in which the marinade can contact the meat. More surface area means by marinade sticks to your food.

If you'd like to see the effects of vacuum pressure on foods greatly exagerrated, put a marshmallow in a vacuum seal bag and see what happens. :-)

Think the 'sucking' theory is plausible. I imagine any gaps in the meat will act like straws drawing in any moisture around them to replace the air being sucked out. Any air spaces in the meat that are open to the surrounding vacuum will also become part of the vacuum as the air is removed. Only completely closed off air pockets would retain atmospheric pressure.
Perhaps osmosis is sped up as the liquid isn't competing with any air for contacting surface area. But I wouldn't have thought that would have sped the process up that much.
Perhaps as a vacuum is created, moisture inside the meat is drawn to the surface, contacting the marinate outside and creating a free flow of liquid, again speeding up the transfer of flavours as the solutions combine.

Or it could just be magic. The thing is I guess, stuff sometimes JUST WORKS. Sometimes even science doesn't have all the answers.


Why is water often added to the eggs when making omelettes? Why is water often added to the eggs when making an omelette?
Also, is there a recommended amount of water?

Eggs are already 3/4 water anyway!

By mixing in a small quantity of extra water before you cook the eggs, you are slowing down the cooking process by making more water available that has be evaporated. This keeps the cooking temperature to less than 100°C (212°F) for longer, therefore increasing the the time for the egg proteins to foam and expand before setting

The amount of water you need to add depends on; personal preference, the type of egg, and how old it is. Older eggs generally require a little more water

Adding skim milk will enhance this process slightly too. Adding extra fat will generally not enhance this process

BONUS TIP To make even more spectacular omelettes place a loose fitting lid over the pan to increase the steam exposure all around, and let the egg fully develop

Using water does make the taste a lot better because the protein is a lot richer.


What is the difference between making French baguettes and US style baguettes? I have noticed that there is a large difference between French baguettes with chewy crust and consistent airy and chewy inside.

Baguettes in the US are a different type. I am referring to the ones I find in serious bakeries (not mass production ones). They're often fluffy inside like a sandwich loaf, and the crust is either crispy or totally soft.

What are the differences in the production process which determine that a baguette will be of the French type as opposed to the US type? How are French baguettes made?

If you buy a French baguette in the morning, you can use it as weapon or vehicle jack in the evening. It is no surprise that a Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, tried 1852 to prevent this by hermetically sealing the bread, as he thought the problem is merely the loss of moisture - and who then learned, that his lovely baguette would still go stale hermetically sealed and so discovered starch retrogradation at the same time.

Anyway, bread that is stale the very same day is not what the average customer wants. They want their bread to last for a week - the tradition of buying fresh bread every single day these days can be mostly seen in France and Italy, not even in Germany any longer. And in France it is easy to maintain this tradition, as the next boulangerie is just around the corner. And they usually bake in two shifts, a morning and an evening shift.

It is rather easy for a real baker to choose how the baguette has to be (if he makes the dough), all the processes are well-known since more than 50 years, but there is always a trade-off and that is the problem. The biggest trade-off is the shelf/kitchen life. You get the best shelf life without traditional yeast, without much leavening and with emulsifiers that delay the staleness. This will produce bread with a soft, cake-like interior, an uncrusty crust and uncharacteristic flavor.

Here you can see the difference in comparison:

(The lack of natural yeast and traditional rising leads to this huge difference of the inner texture, the color difference is due to the flour. Note that bleached flour is an US invention. I don't think you can get bleached flour anywhere in France or Germany.)

This is how a lot of industrial doughs are still optimized. The more shelf life you are willing to sacrifice, the closer you get to the French baguette. This is the core problem. Of course, it is possible that one bakery uses a more appropriate flour than the other bakery, but there is no magic involved that only a handful of French bakers know - if the US baker would want to mimic the French baguette perfectly, it would take him less than a week to adjust the recipe to the local circumstances. But then again, how many US bakers ever flew to France to get a baguette for comparison? And how many US bakers actually make their own dough instead of buying the French baguette dough?

It is not possible to determine afterwards why the bread is different as customer. You can make a non-industrial baguette with a terrible crust but great shelf life f.e. by incorporating buttermilk or egg yolks, but it could also have be an artificial industrial emulsifier or an industrial dough in the first place.

Let's come to the ingredients and techniques:

French baguette is flour, water, yeast and salt. That's it. The very moment you add anything else, so it lasts longer or can be better kneaded by machines, you lose.

The most important technique is time - from ingredient to baguette takes at least 3 hours and the best result is obtained by kneading it as human, because what is desirable for bread, a consistent interior by kneading over and over, is not desirable for baguette. So the big difference between the US and France is:

Regarding the steam:
The steam prevents the building of the crust as it prevents the drying out. With steam you get a larger and lighter loaf, with a thinner, but nicely glossy crust. Here you can see the glossy crust of a baguette with steam:

This is not a particular trait of French baguettes.

The flour may take some part in it. In the US most flours found in stores seem to be bleached, which may alter the bread quality. It's not easy to know for sure which quality/flavour has been used in the final product.


How is mass egg-frying performed? I'm currently at a hotel in Spain. We are having a buffet breakfast and one of the meals are sunny-side-up fried eggs. I estimate they probably fry several hundred eggs per breakfast. I wondered how they pull it off in the kitchen, especially the "breaking eggs" part.

I can imagine two extremes:

A cook is breaking eggs manually, taking extra care not to put any shell onto the frying pan.
Some kind of automated process takes place, e.g. eggs are put in some foamy container, the top is cut off and then the whole lot is flipped over the pan.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. Anyone with mass-kitchen experience, care to enlighten me?

Chefs are really fast at cooking.  It's what they do.  A chef can almost effortlessly crack an egg with one-hand in about a second.  Scrambled eggs would be pre-cracked and beaten prior to the cooking-shift.

I probably cook scrambled eggs for about a thousand people a day. As well as cook to order fried eggs at the same time. I use a large, deep well, non stick skillet over a gas burner. Each pan pan holds about 3 quarts of shelled eggs. I keep the pan in constant motion and use a flat spatula to stir as the pan rotates underneath. This keeps the eggs from browning and they remain fluffy. The eggs are removed at a very soft scramble as they will continue to cook after put in the warmer pan. Individual fried eggs are made in a tiny omelet pan inbeteeen large scramble batches. Cracking the egg with one hand while again moving the pan beneath to keep the egg from browning. Fried hard are made by flipping the egg and puncturing the yolk underneath and pressing the egg into the pan to cook quickly without browning. I have better control with the pans as opposed to the flat top which I leave untouched all day lol. Besides, our kitchen is open to the “audience” and they love to see eggs flipping through the air and the small “flash fires” this can create. Makes them feel like they’re watching Hells Kitchen or something haha.  Every chef is different and will swear their routine is best. This is just what works for me and keeps our customers happy .


Cooking away alcohol When you cook with wine or spirits, when does the alcohol cook away? Obviously high temperatures will do it, but how low of temperatures will work? Also, does it vary by the type of alcohol?

You will never fully cook away alcohol, only reduce the amount.  See Alcohol retention in food preparation, or for the quick table, see wikipedia.

They covered this on an episode of America's Test Kitchen, and concluded that surface area matters -- a wider vessel would cook off more alcohol; it wasn't just a function of time.

If the sauce/soup/etc is above the boiling point of ethanol (about 173 F or 78.4 °C) the ethanol will boil out almost immediately.  It can't remain in solution at temps above the point where it becomes a gas.

The other flavors, sugars and spices and all, will remain.  Ethanol can't remain a liquid at 212 F or 100 C - physically not possible.

I don't care what Wiki says in this case.  Moments after passing 173 degrees, all the ethanol evaporates from the solution, it has to.


Removing that eggy smell from cakes I've been baking for not that long now and I usually peruse the web and the hundreds of books I have at home before I attempt a recipe. However there is one thing I am just not able to get down right.

Whenever a cake or something involving eggs is baked, I get a really strong eggy smell that puts me off. Even after it has cooled down, the egg smell and taste remains. But I don't notice this in cakes from stores or bakeries. I don't know what to do to neutralize this, or is it completely normal?

I use brown farm fresh eggs that aren't pumped full of stuff (at least that's what they say on the packaging).

Update: I will try to figure out what the cheap eggs taste like in the next cake that i bake. Furthermore, i will also compare with results i obtain from a new professional line oven that i am purchasing soon. One of these is the culprit, since whenever i eat baked goods elsewhere this issue is rarely experienced.

Hi i have the same problem and the only way to cut this smell is by adding lemon and orange zest to the batter. Also you can try a table spoon of whiskey or cognac.

If you beat egg whites separately and egg yellow and sugar separately and followed by flour, I Am sure you will not get an egg smell in your cake. After beating both you have to combine both and fold. I find this is the best way.


Why do bananas turn black in the refrigerator? I've noticed that a banana in the refrigerator will turn pitch black in just a few hours. Why is this?

Your fridge speeds production of polyphenols, which speeds the blackening process. Unrefrigerated bananas ripen by ethylene gas which will also eventually turn them black, but the cold short circuits that process.

It is because, the water that is present inside the veins of bananas get expanded when is cooled from 4 deg celsius to 0 deg. at refrigerator. As the expansion of veins reaches climax it can't be holded any more and finally bursts causing blackening of bananas. It is included in the topic ANOMALOUS EXPANSION OF WATER!!!!


How do you ensure a tortilla keeps all its contents when making a burrito? What's the best technique to tuck or close the tortilla when preparing a burrito so that it doesn't come undone when it's time to eat?

Folding a burrito is serious business. Get it wrong and you'll end up dumping most of the contents all over the place and look like a burrito noob. Get it right and your hands and plate will be perfectly clean, and you'll no longer be hungry. Beware: publicly flaunting these skills might lead to people wanting you to fold their burritos for them.

General Tips

First off: make sure your tortilla is ready to be folded. A cold or dried out tortilla is likely to crack or split. Use a warm and moist tortilla.

Second: don't overfill the tortilla. If you have small tortillas don't try to make a giant burrito and expect that to work.

How to fold

Now that we have the basics out of the way let's get to folding. See the flash animation at Chow.com (which I've converted into an image here):

Place the contents in the approximately center of your partially folded tortilla. Leave plenty of room on the ends otherwise you'll most surely have food spilling out once it's folded up. Hold the filled tortilla so the weight of the filling pulls it tight. If your burrito busts through now, it will certainly burst later. If not, proceed to step 2.
Fold one end towards the center.
Fold the other end over.
Roll the bottom (the end nearest you) up towards the top. This isn't the intuitive way, but it's the right way. Make sure not to let the food squeeze out. I hold it with my fingers at the crease where the bottom edge that's been folded up meets the food.
Keep rolling it up.
Om nom nom.

A traditional burrito's tortilla is NOT folded. It is just rolled

If your filling comes out it is to finely chopped, to wet, or too much

If it wants to unroll, just hang onto to it! A fresh, soft, and warmed tortilla will quite happily stay rolled. Maybe you tortillas and to dry?

Many cultures use flat breads to serve saucy foods in, they do this because they didn't have sufficient utensils, or water to clean utensils in. They use flat breads as then the utensil/plate is eaten too, and no food is wasted, as they generally don't have to waste