Fire alarm keeps going off when roasting in oven. Advice please? The problem started recently. I cook a lot and especially love baking cakes and roasting all sorts of vegetables in the oven. Recently when roasting, I noticed smoke coming out of the oven and the fire alarm went off.

It was because a lot of grime and food drippings had accumulated (for over a year) at the bottom, and it was getting charred. The next day I cleaned up the whole oven (applying baking soda paste overnight then scrubbing with vinegar and steel wool). Except for the top of the oven which I simply can't get perfectly because that would require me to bend over backwards and clean, the rest is all squeaky clean.

However now when I try roasting above 350 F, it still causes the fire alwarm to go off. There's nothing else in the oven that's getting burnt, even the veggies I placed in the oven weren't done completely. I am really puzzled. Any suggestions?

Make a cover for the alarm. Get velcro tape from a hardware store and attach one side of the tape to the alarm or to the ceiling. Then, make a cover out of foam rubber or whatever is convenient and attach the other side of the tape to the cover. Obviously, it needs to be airtight. Note that frames can be made by bending a coat hangar. Coat hangars can be cut by a chicken wire cutter, available at any hardware store.

When you cook, attach the cover and when you are done pull it off and put it away.


Is it possible to fry vegetables in cream? Cream A: The fat that gathers on the top of boiled milk.
Cream B: The cream available in packets: http://www.amul.com/products/amul-freshcream-info.php

Can vegetables be actually "fried" in these types of cream? Any precautions need to be taken in this case?

Short answer:  cream is far from ideal as a frying medium.

In the US at least, heavy cream is about 35% milkfat.   Recently, I have learned the UK has a product called double cream which is closer to 50% milkfat.

So what is the rest of the cream, if it is only 50% milkfat at the high end?   It is water, with dissolved milk solids and minerals.

Even butter is only about 80% milkfat--the rest is an emulsion of water and milk solids in the main milkfat phase.   When butter is made, one by product is buttermilk (the old fashioned kind, as opposed to the modern cultured milk product) which is the remainder of the liquid components in the cream after the butter precipitates.  The essence of making ghee is separating the milkfat from the other components.

What does all of this mean?  Cream would be far from an ideal medium for frying, as the water would have to evaporate before the temperature could rise to frying levels.

It may be possible in some way by reducing the cream until only essentially the fat is left, and then frying in that, but it doesn't seem very practical.  I am not sure how you would do it without introducing many off flavors from scorching or burning the milk solids.   I could not find any references to such a thing when googling, although the results for fried ice cream did tend to predominate.

If you want to fry in cream--use ghee.  It is highly concentrated milkfat.

You absolutely can fry in cream, and it has several advantages over oil. Food52 and Ideas In Food have plenty of recipes that all work great. https://food52.com/recipes/81961-caramelized-cream-eggs-from-ideas-in-food


Can I use normal household glass items to steam cook inside pots? I have normal glass kitchenware, like glass rice bowls and glass cups. Can I use these for steam cooking?

Example stuff to cook:

steamed veggies
steamed pieces of chicken meat
maybe use a glass cup to multitask cooking (e.g. pot to cook soup and steam fish while I'm at it)

Would it be OK to use my glass kitchenware - and if so, what are some boundaries (e.g. heat, temperature) that I should keep in mind?

Note:  I am assuming this glass is kitchenware, like mixing bowls or measuring cups, not service ware like drinking glasses or teacups.

Glass melts at about 1500 F / 800 C.  There is no danger of melting the glass in any type of steamer, or realistically with any equipment you may have at home.

The real issue is thermal shock:  very rapidly cooling glass from a hot temperature to a cold temperature can cause it to crack or shatter.  You want to avoid doing this.  The same thing can happen in reverse from cold to hot, which is why you would never use glass cookware on an open flame or burner element of your cooktop (hob to our British friends).

To prevent thermal shock, even in a closed pot used as an improvised steamer, do not place the glassware directly on the bottom of the pot.  It should be suspended on a rack or otherwise raised from the bottom.  If no other solution presents itself, aluminum foil loosly crushed into a ring will do the job (loosly, because aluminum is a good conductor or heat, but air is not).

Steaming is fairly gentle in terms of heating, and if you let it cool on the counter, you should be fine.  Note that I would not do this with any delicate or thin glass.  Think about it this way:  if you would use the glass in the microwave, the steamer should be fine as well.

Of course, you can always steam on a lettuce leaf or similar, which is very traditional, or use a metal steamer basket as well.

Please also see Rumtscho's answer for more optimal alternatives.

Since I use a rice cooker as a steamer, my solution to the thermal shock problem is quite simple. I set the rice cooker to "Warm" rather than "Cook" mode for a few minutes. Only then do I switch the cooker to full "Cook" mode. My rice cooker also has a "Congee" mode for cooking rice gruel or chocolate porridge. So I sometimes also use that for the added convenience of a single slow cook setting.


How to prevent chocolate from melting? It is tough to store chocolates during summer season. Is there any way to prevent chocolate from melting ?

I store mine in the freezer. It keeps it hard and thaws without an issue.

You will need an isolated box, that you keep cool. This can be done by adding ready made ice, or by a closed-circuit pump system, that removes hotter gas molecules before feeding them back in the system, so inside of the box is it colder, and outside, where the pump is, it is hotter.


What's the black thing at the bottom of navel oranges? Sometimes I'll cut into a navel orange and notice something black inside which originates at the bottom of the orange, where the navel is. What is it?

I have seen it get pretty far into the fruit too. Like almost half way in... is it safe to eat an orange like this?

I'm not as familiar with citrus, but tomatoes and peppers can develop something called blossom-end rot. This is caused by the plant not receiving enough nutrients (specifically calcium), whether b/c the plant isn't getting enough water and thus can't get the nutrients out of the soil or b/c the soil is deficient.

Regarding whether it's safe to eat, a tomato w/ blossom end rot is still safe to eat, once you remove the affected area.

I hope this is helpful!

Do you have a picture of the orange in question? That would help greatly with diagnosis.

Depending on how long you have had these oranges, this could be mold. However if you just bought them and the fruit is firm, it is very unlikely. In terms of safety, if it isn't very soft but firm, I don't see a problem with it.


How to bottle your own homemade salad dressing I would like to bottle my homemade dressing. The main ingredients are olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, lemon and dijon mustard. Once it is bottled, is there a processing time as there is with canning vegetables?

To can foods safely, you should always use a tested recipe. You can find safe recipes for most things on the site of the National Center for Home Food Preservation or on the Ball Jars canning site.

Sources like this recommend against trying to can your own flavored vinegar or flavored oil ... one could safely assume they would thus recommend against home canning of vinegar and oil.

I think this article is a helpful Q&A explaining why it's not recommended (or safe!) to create and can your own recipes -
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/heatprocessingbackgrounder.html

Use a vacuum sealer and their special bottles. The machine, basically "sucks" out the air allowing you to store it.


How to Save Overly Salty Tapenade I made a tapenade with the following ingredients: kalamata olives, capers, anchovy, garlic, thyme, lemon, olive oil. Although I rinsed the olives and capers (as per the recipe) the result is pretty salty. It's not inedible but would be a lot better if there was something to counter the saltiness even if it doesn't end up tasting like a traditional tapenade. I just want it to be eaten! Any suggestions what I can add?

Ideas:

Veer into pesto.  You could add walnuts or pine nuts and basil pesto style.  This would be a good pasta sauce.  I would eat it right now.
Stretch it out with chopped spinach or arugala.
Thin it with cheese.  A dip with your tapenade and feta cheese or a mild blue cheese 50/50 would be dynamite.  Or just with plain yogurt, which is very unsalty.
Top a pizza with it.

According to the chefs of Bon Appetite magazine, the following are steps you can potentially take when you over-salt your food, in general:

Add acid (e.g. vinegar, lemon juice)
Make more of the food to dilute it with
Add greens
Add fat to coat the taste buds
Add sugar (if it makes sense in the dish, which it might not in this particular case)
Under season other elements of the meal


How will baking chicken at a high heat differ from a lower heat? I want to fix my daughter's favorite foods for her birthday -- chicken and fries -- but don't want to actually deep-fry anything.  (Don't have a deep-fryer, for one thing.) I have found a couple of highly-rated recipes for baked "fries"  and pan-fried then baked chicken breasts.  The only problem is that the fries call for a 450-degree oven and the chicken calls for 375.  I only have one oven, so I am trying to figure out the best way to cook both and have them ready at the same time. I thought about baking the fries first, then the chicken and putting the fries back in to re-heat for the last 5-10 minutes.  I don't want soggy fries, though, and am not sure this way is best.  I also don't want dried out chicken. although the pan-fry then bake method promises that it will be tender and juicy.  Ideal would be to find a way to cook them at the same time, as I will be doing this after getting home from work. I do have a convect-bake setting on my oven, if that makes any difference.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It is possible to cook chicken at 450 degrees. I have a recipe that cooks 1/2 inch thick chicken cutlets at 500 degrees for 8 minutes , so at 450 I would cook them for 10-12 minutes, or 15-20 for full-thickness chicken breast. This high-heat method can actually keep your chicken moister than a lower-heat method, and will work with your French fries, so maybe find a recipe that cooks at 450 degrees. There are many available if you google "chicken breast 450."

The main issue with high temperature is that chicken can end up being dry, i.e. the worst kind of chicken possible. To mitigate it before putting it in the oven to roast, quickly fry it on the pan to form nice crust on the outside. This crust will prevent juices from escaping too easily.


Infrared on regular gas grill I have a regular gas grill (Brinkmann) and I'm trying to find a way or a workaround to have an infrared on it, have any of you tried that? is it possible to use something like this by placing it on grill?

YES!! You can do this!! It's even Brinkmann/Charmglow who offers the solution.

Brinkmann produces a "drop-in sear burner" that bolts to the side of typical stainless steel barbecue grills.  It's called:

Charmglow Brinkmann Stainless Steel Built In / Drop-In Sear Burner 814-6805-S
This comes in a "Dual Fuel" model or a Natural Gas model.

See: https://www.amazon.com/Charmglow-Brinkmann-Stainless-Natural-814-6805-N/dp/B00FY5038K

These get upwards of 800 degrees F, plenty hot enough for searing those steaks.

I have a 10-year old 3-burner-plus-side-burner Altima/Sonoma grill that this bolts to the side of.  I'm sure it would also bolt right onto my Charmglow 4-burner + side burner unit I got at Home Depot 7 years ago, probably fit even better.

This assumes that your grill has a side table or side burner that is bolted to the side of the main grill unit, and can be lifted off and removed after loosening the mounting bolts a little.  After removing the "stock" side table from your grill, you slide this one on and snug up the bolts.  OK, all that is if you get lucky and the bolt holes line up.  In some cases, you will probably need to drill some holes through the side of your existing grill in order to mount this as a side table/burner unit replacing one of the factory ones.  Still, relatively a piece of cake.

You can get it either in dual fuel propane/natural gas model ($150 at time of writing) or in a natural gas only model (under $100 while it lasts). If you go with the propane fuel version, you may need a second tank and regulator.  Still, a small price to pay for the safety and performance of a sear burner and enclosure designed to work together.

Why cobble together a potentially unsafe "Frankenburner" retrofit of a sear/infrared burner into a grill it was not designed for, when you can do this instead?  With this sear burner and enclosure were that designed to work together, you neatly avoid the fit and safety issues that can arise when trying to mix and match replacement burners from other "real" infrared/sear burner grill models into an enclosure that was not designed for it.

On top of that, you still have all the normal functionality of the regular burners on your grill.

When this side sear burner encloser is bolted to the side of your grill, you can still use it as a side table when the burner top is closed.

See this product:
https://www.amazon.com/Charmglow-Brinkmann-Stainless-Natural-814-6805-N/dp/B01CGX5H8I/ref=pd_sbs_86_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01CGX5H8I&pd_rd_r=BXAWZZS0VHB7HDE4EX3X&pd_rd_w=EOx2B&pd_rd_wg=Ox1hP&refRID=BXAWZZS0VHB7HDE4EX3X&th=1

P.S. Sorry if I sound like a salesman, I'm just happy to have a solution that is safe, takes so much of the guesswork out, and lets me sear thick steaks without affecting/compromising any of my grill's other functionality.

Generally for indirect heat on a grill, you have the heat source on at one half or one third of the grill, depending on the size and the other side is the indirect heat area. The effect only works when the cover of the grill is down.


Excess coriander in mutton curry I have made a mutton curry with onion, tomato, garam masala and chilli powder, after marinating the mutton in coriander, garlic and ginger.
However, the coriander in the marination has been excess and hence the curry is overpowered by coriander flavor. How can I get rid of this excess coriander flavor? Help!

If the flavor is already in the dish, there isn't really a way to get it back out. You may be able to add more spices to bring it back into balance, but this is also likely to simply make all of the flavors equally overpowering.

If it is only the marinade that has too much coriander, you may be able to leave the coriander out of the remainder of the recipe.

Add some boiled potato to your dish. Let it stand for some time. It will soak some of the flavour off the curry. Don't serve the potato along with the dish.


How to minimise exposure to systemic pesticides while eating non-organic fruits and vegetables? For those who cannot afford organic produce, what foods would you suggest limiting the consumption of in order to minimise the amount of systemic pesticides being consumed?

I ask this specifically about systemic pesticides, as non-systemic pesticides can be avoided by washing the exteriors of fruits and vegetables.

You reduce your chances of consuming pesticides by looking at the country of origin. For example, EU countries frequently have tighter standards than Asian countries, and even within the EU, there are differences in which pesticides are allowed, and at which levels. You would have to find out whose regulation you trust most, and then follow the relevant magazines about potential contamination/limit excess reveals.

This is usually in direct contradiction to your desire to spend less on produce, since the norms tend to be better in countries with higher labor costs, conformity is better in countries with low corruption, which also have a correlation with labor costs, and in general, it is impossible to keep low produce production costs without generous amounts of strong pesticides, because the farmer then has to absorb the losses from ruined crops. So if you can only afford the cheapest tier of produce, such as Spanish strawberries, there may be nothing you can do but eat it with whatever pesticides it contains.

What can also help is eating seasonal produce. Out-of-season produce is frequently delivered by mass producing, purely profit-oriented corporations who trim their production to efficiency. Smaller, traditional, more idealistic farmers tend to grow in-season, and even if they don't get an organic certification, some of them would reduce their pesticide use based on personal beliefs what farming is about. So on average, you will have a somewhat lower pesticide exposure, even though the actual levels will vary wildly per batch.

Devils advocate comment: Certified Organic foods give zero guarantee of being pesticide or herbicide free.  Organic certification limits which chemicals can be used, not if any can be, and commercially produced produce marketed as organic will use those materials systematically just as non-organically grown will use theirs.  The basic rule is that for organic, the pesticide, herbicide, fungicide or fertilizer has to be from an grown or mined source, not a refined source and some of the approved sources are not that nice or harmless.

To directly answer your question, well, it really is hard to say.  I have never seen a reason to use a chemical on things like squash or pumpkins, and yet I know commercially they do.  I for years though citrus was relatively chemical free, but was told recently this is not true, than many have insect issues and use systemic pesticides.  I personally would recommend trying for local grown farmers markets or small farmers and freezing/canning but that is also not cheap and still might be iffy unless you get to know and trust the growers because if a small grower does use the chemicals, they may actually not stay down to recommended levels.

However, this list comes from a Dr. Mercola.  I make no claims to his accuracy, but he quotes an "Environmental Working Group" using USDA data to claim the most contaminated 12 are Strawberries, Apples, Nectarines, Peaches, Celery, Grapes, Cherries, Spinach, Tomatoes, Sweet bell peppers, Cherry tomatoes, Cucumbers in that order.  The 15 "cleanest" were Avocados, Sweet corn, Pineapples, Cabbage, Sweet peas (frozen), Onions, Asparagus, Mangos, Papayas, Kiwifruit, Eggplant, Honeydew melon, Grapefruit, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower.  You can see more here but that was also a limited study with their own criteria.


How do I make my roux taste less like flour? When I make a roux for soups and sauces it always ends up tasting like the flour. What is the correct way to make roux? How long does the flour need to cook out of it?

Cook it longer, and watch your proportions. If it's too dry (not enough fat), it's hard to cook through without burning it. You want to get to a golden brown color throughout. You can cook it until it's darker and it'll add more caramel/nutty flavor (don't burn it), but it has to be at least a golden color before it's cooked enough to not taste of raw flour. When in doubt, taste it. If it tastes raw still, go a bit longer.

A good start for proportions is 1 part flour to one part fat--by weight, not by volume. Start with your fat in the pot, and get it nice and warm but not blazing hot, then add your flour a bit at a time, stirring (or better yet, whisking) for a couple of seconds to incorporate it smoothly before adding more. Stop adding (no matter how much flour you've used) when you get a slightly soft paste. Not too runny, but not as stiff as toothpaste either. I've yet to find a common thing people can agree on that has the right consistency to describe it, unfortunately. When you get the right consistency you need to keep stirring it over the heat until you get that golden brown color.

I admit that it's a little imprecise, but it really is a thing I do by feel and experience, based on what I said above as my original starting point. I've learned how I like it over the years, but I started with that.

Add butter until the floury taste is gone. Good Luck


What is the difference between making a cheesecake with confectioner's sugar vs. normal sugar? I would like to make a cheesecake with confectioner's sugar and though it's been awhile since I've made cheesecake, I believe I used normal sugar before. However, I only have confectioner's sugar on hand at the moment.

While you could use it, it would likely affect the finished product. As a substitute in baking, when the recipe calls for granulated sugar, powdered sugar is not always suitable. And, although it is granulated sugar which has been processed into powder, cornstarch has also been added to prevent clumping.

With sugar, the size of a granule determines how well air incorporates into the batter. The larger the granule, the more air and, since the batter needs that air to help it rise, using powdered sugar will not produce the same results.

Regular white sugar will make the taste richer, with more flavor than powdered sugar.


How Long Does Tomato Juice Last? We've been buying tomato juice in smaller containers and now decided to buy bigger ones.  But, when we went to the store the tomato juice says that it only lasts two weeks in the fridge.  Expiration dates always err on the side of caution.  How long can we expect to keep it after we have opened it?

According to this website, 5 to 7 days in the fridge.

No more than a week-ish, then it will start growing fungus on the top of the juice.


What makes lye food grade? I've been looking around for lye to make pretzels and found few solutions for food grade lye.  I want to continue using lye in my baking and would like to make my own lye going forward.  The process looks cheap and easy but I'm not sure what I need (or don't need) to make food grade lye.

What part of the lye making process makes (or doesn't make) lye food grade?

What is food grade lye

Pure lye is by itself always food grade. There is nothing toxic about lye (although it's corrosive even at low-ish concentrations).

When a manufacturer sells you food grade lye, they are guaranteeing you that it is not contaminated with anything unpleasant. After all, a chemistry plant will make a lot of different chemicals using the same equipment, and you don't want to use lye which was mixed in the same erlenmeyer flask as a batch of pesticides. Also, the equipment used in an industry processes can leave unpleasant traces too, some search shows that one of the more common setups in the 20th century used an asbestos barrier for the electrolysis process of lye creation.

The problems of making lye from sodium and water at home

If you make your lye at home, you'll only have to ensure that your ingredients are food grade. There is nothing in the process which can make the lye accidentally toxic. Even if you use wrong ratios: if you add more water than intended, your lye will be diluted, which does nothing bad, and even makes it less corrosive. If you add more sodium, you get more concentrated lye, which you can dilute. You don't need any catalysts, solvents, or other intermediate reagents about whose possible residues you should worry. All you need is food grade sodium.

But here we come to the first problem with your plan. It is much easier to find food grade lye than to find food grade sodium. Retail lye is used for household purposes, including baking pretzels and cleaning cooking utensils. I don't know of any use for retail sodium beyond seventh grade chemistry class demonstrations.

The second problem is that storing pure sodium at home is a PITA. First, you'll need to find some food grade liquid for the airtight seal, and it will react with cooking oils. You obviously don't want to use kerosene, so you'll probably need to get medicine grade liquid paraffin. Should you ever have a fire in your kitchen, the sodium will also burn with a much hotter flame than anything else around, and you probably won't get it extinguished until it has burned itself out - non-watery fire extinguishers are not very effective on it, and water-based ones will actually accelerate the fire.

The third problem is that you should pay lots of attention during the reaction. Sodium powder is prone to spontaneous explosions. Luckily, there isn't that much chance that you'll produce powder from it unwittingly. But the byproduct of the reaction, pure hydrogen, is also explosive when mixed with air at certain ratios, and you cannot control the ratio you produce.

The fourth problem is that the reaction is quite exothermic. You can mitigate it somewhat by adding very small amounts of the metal to the water (but not small enough to make a powder), but you'll still get some heat development. And it is happening right under a possibly explosive hydrogen-air mixture - not a good idea.

So my recommendation is to just buy food grade lye and use that. It will save you from lots of headaches.

The problems of making lye by brine electrolysis at home

You clarified that you had planned to use electrolysis. This is possible, and sodium chloride is certainly a more benign ingredient than pure sodium. The resulting sodium hydroxide should be safe for consumption. Still, I think it's more trouble than it's worth, and purchasing commercial lye is the better option.

First, you still have to manage your byproducts. You'll get elemental hydrogen and elemental chlorine bubbling up. You don't want either of these gases floating in your living space, hydrogen being explosive and chlorine plain poisonous.

Also, if you want a decent lye concentration, you usually do the reaction in a container where the electrodes are separated by a semipermeable barrier, else it reacts right back to salt. The problem is that your product will corrode most barriers quickly. I have done it as a kid in a u-shaped part of a drinking straw, with a piece of sponge in the middle. The lye ate the sponge away, and before that the chlorine turned the water in its part sickly green (yes, you have to dispose of that byproduct too somehow, it doesn't get out so quickly).

If you use this method, it will be very hard to either find a barrier which is not corroded by the lye, or accept some corrosion but make sure that the product (which will contaminate your lye) is not harmful when eaten. Then there is the part about electrodes Wayfaring Stranger mentions in a comment: you want to choose a cathode material which is not dangerous when ingested, especially no heavy metals. To complete the equipment safety part, use a glass container for the whole bath, not a plastic or metal one. And of course, don't use phenolphtalein drops to check for the proper concentration, get dry strips for dipping.

I know this question is old, but I am in the process of making lye right now. My homemade lye is potassium hydroxide, while purchased lye is sodium hydroxide. I believe that our ancestors used the same method I am using to make the lye that they used for cooking.

I am using hardwood ash, from burning oak and apple wood. I collected rainwater during recent storms, and have had the ash and rainwater soaking for the past two weeks. I let it sit until it reached a ph of 13. Right now we are reducing it by heating it up for evaporation. I will know that it is sufficiently concentrated when a potato or egg floats in the lye solution with an area the size of an quarter floats above the surface.

I am doing this to make soap, the way our ancestors did. They had to make lye using the same process.

But then my mind turned to the foods that use lye. Is my lye food grade? Yes, I think it must be. We grill food using oak and apple wood. It adds a wonderful flavor. The only other ingredient is rainwater, which has been leaching the lye out of the ashes, and then simmered to concentrate it.

So I think I may need to make pretzels before I make soap.


Do pan "pores" exist, what are they, and what are their effects? There are a number of common cooking lore techniques which revolve around the idea of "pores" in the surface of a pan.  Two of the ones I've heard most often:

(1) When heating a pan where sticking is a concern, one should wait until the pan is hot before adding oil/fat.  Supposedly the "pores" will close as the pan heats, leaving a flatter surface for the oil and less places where the food can get caught.  This is often cited for cooking on stainless steel, but sometimes for other materials as well.  (Some of the answers to this question, for example, cite this as a rationale for preheating pans before adding oil.)

(2) When seasoning cast iron (and sometimes other metals), one should be sure to heat the pan before applying oil.  Supposedly, the "pores" open up as the pan heats, allowing the oil/fat to penetrate the surface better and create a better seasoning.  (This has been mentioned a number of times here too, and it also is referenced on the Wikipedia page on seasoning pans, where preheating will "open the 'pores' of the pan.")

One obvious problem here is the contradictory logic of these claims: in the first case, one heats the pan to "close" the "pores," but in the second case, one heats the pan to "open" the "pores."  Which one is it?

I've heard these claims about "pores" and their very existence disputed.  At best, many commentators who seem to know something about properties of metals will say this is a strange shorthand term for the uneven surface of pans at the microscopic level.  (The end of this post and the discussion in comments, for example, contains some speculation along those lines.)

For years, I dismissed a lot of this discussion of "pores" as some sort of weird cooking lore myth.  For example, it's good to heat cast iron before seasoning to ensure it's thoroughly dry, regardless of the status of the "pores" in the metal.  And some people have done experiments claiming it doesn't matter whether you preheat a pan before adding oil to avoid sticking.

But I recently came upon a reference to these "pores" in Shirley Corriher's Cookwise, where she refers to the first claim I listed above: heating a pan to "close the pores" before adding oil/fat.  Alton Brown cites Corriher's claim too in a couple places, including in his Gear for Your Kitchen, where he refers to it as something you had to worry about to stop food from sticking in those ancient times before Teflon existed.  Corriher and Brown have been known to be wrong occasionally, but they generally are careful before citing random cooking lore.

So, are these "pores" real?  Do they expand or contract when heated?  Are their supposed culinary effects real?  Or is there some other mechanism or surface feature of metals that is being referenced here?

EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm hoping someone may be able to point to a more reliable discussion of what's going on from a reputable food science (or science in general) source. I have my own thoughts about what may be going on here based on my knowledge of thermodynamics, metallurgical crystalline structures, and general materials science. But in cursory searches, I haven't been able to find any solid discussions of these supposed "pores" based on actual scientific evidence.

This is the microstructure of SAE 304, a steel type commonly used in pans:

At this magnification, its "pores" look like cracks. Now see it at other magnifications (still a SAE 304, other types of steel look completely different, especially if you look at martenistic steels):

It gets even more complicated than that, because steel structure differs between the surface and below the surface:

As you can see, the holes are nowhere "pore" shaped. But they exist; steel is not even at the microscopic level.

I cannot point you to more cooking-relevant sources, but this at least confirms that holes exist in the type of steel used for pans. Somebody else will have to tell us what happens to them when heated.

Note that there is a version of the "pore" theory which insists that the "pores" are still moving at certain temperatures and static when the pan is properly preheated. I'm not sure if it's true. On the one hand, it's presented in a rouxbe video, which is generally a very good source, and I can imagine steel doing funny things on the crystal level. On the other hand, the use of the "pores" term and the lack of explanation of the underlying mechanism make me doubt it.

If you heat a cast iron pan to 400f, the pores, if they exist, will expand 1/5 of 1%. To get an idea of how much that is, if you had a 1" hole in your pan it would expand by the thickness of 1 hair. Yep, 1 hair. Do you think this 1 hair makes a difference in a 1" hole. 1/5 of 1%.


Chili with bitter aftertaste and not enough kick I cooked chili using the following ingedients:

Oil for sauteing
1.5 pounds beef, minced
1 large white onion, finely chopped
1 red bell peper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 12 oz bottle of beer
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp cayenne peper
1 tsp red peper flakes
2 tsp Tabasco
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 can of cooked red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

The method was, basically:

Saute onions and pepers for approx 5 minutes
Brown beef
Add tomato paste, and mix
Add can of tomatoes and mix
Add beer
Add sugar, salt and pepper
Boil for approx 20 min
Add remaining spices
Cover and simmer for 2.5 hours
20 minutes before it's done, add the beens

Two problems:

A slight bitter aftertaste
Not enough kick

I think that the bitter aftertaste is from the cayenne pepper. I have read that cayenne pepper is quite neutral in taste (not bitter) and carries a lot of heat. Is this correct?

Then I tried this: Put a couple of spoonfuls of chili on a plate. Add 1/4 tsp (approx) of cayenne pepper and mix. Taste. Well, the heat increased, but not TERIBLY so (it was perfectly eatable). Also the bitter aftertaste became worse.

I also tried tasting a tip of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, directly. Ok it was hot, but not unbearably so. Most of the heat was in my throat, not in my mouth (mostly as an aftertaste), and I did have that bitter aftertaste

Can something be wrong with my batch of cayenne peper? Or is this how cayenne peper realy tastes?

I could reduce the amount of cayenne in my recipe, but then I would need something to increase the heat.I could go with more tabasco (I tried this on a spoonful of chili) but this would, also, increase the acidity (tastes a bit sour) which is not terible, but not ideal either

Any sugestions?

I've never known cayenne pepper to have any flavor, so if it is bitter you may have a bad batch, or the brand you are using may have put in additives that give it a bitter flavor. You may have other sources of bitterness:

beer: brewers add hops to beer to give it bitterness, and some beer is more bitter than others, it depends on which type you chose
Tomato paste: this can have a bitter taste if it is not fried off. If you add it directly to liquid it often adds bitterness to a dish
Kidney beans: I've always found that canned kidney beans have a bitter taste, even if rinsed

So there's other ways you could get bitter chili. I'd balance it out by adding some sugar or honey plus maybe a bit of lemon juice or tamarind paste.

Try adding a ltitle more cumin. Not much. A dash at a time will take away the aftertaste. Be very careful not to over do it!!!


Ramen with Egg :: Screwed Up Something I was using some variant Veg. Ramen Noodles (The one with the noodle brick and the TasteMaker) and wished to add some "real" protein in the form of egg.

I cooked the Ramen as follows:

I got the water to a boil and added the brick
After about a minute, I added the TasteMaker and stirred
I added 1 egg and stirred.

However, once I added the egg, the whole noodle mixture got congealed and semi-solid and no matter how long I let it be, it didn't change form.

I inferred that I should have added the egg just before I was ready to take it off. This reinforced my inference. However, I tried again and this time, I added the egg 30 seconds before I was ready to take it off but now it tasted weird.

I wanted something more like scrambled eggs in Noodles.

Note: As always, I am on a student budget.

EDIT: A minute ago, I found a video on youtube which stated that I should throw away the extra water a minute after I add the egg. This doesn't seem right, does it?

Here are two really good, really easy ways to make ramen with eggs:

The easiest way is to just boil an egg and toss it in.  If you eat this a lot, you can boil a few and keep them in the fridge. They should stay good for about 3-5 days. If you like liquid yolk in your soup, soft boil the eggs (boiled between about 3 and 9 minutes, to taste). Just cook your ramen, peel the egg, and drop it in for about 90 seconds right before you eat it. Cut the egg in half if you like. It is best to use older eggs for this. What I like to do personally (and remember this comes from the internet, so listen to me at your own risk) is use them for boiling if they have passed the expiration date, since that date (in the US) is based on the thickness of the egg white, not food safety. Older eggs don't stick to the shell when they are boiled, but new eggs do.

The slightly harder (but tastier) way is to poach the egg in the ramen. To do that, cook your ramen, and make sure you have tasted your broth and you like it. If you don't like the seasoning pack from the ramen, you can add any combination of soy sauce, grated ginger, crushed garlic, oyster sauce, miso paste, sriracha, etc. There are lots of tasty, cheap things to add depending on where you live. Try them! Anyway, back to the eggs... You want to cook the ramen until is is soft but not cooked all the way. Turn the heat down to almost nothing. Crack a very fresh egg (fresh eggs have a nice thick white) into the pan once it stops bubbling. Give it a few minutes. If you want to feel busy, you can spoon the hot broth onto the top of the egg to cook it faster. If you are particular about how cooked it is, jab a knife into the middle of the yolk and check it out.

Here is the last egg and ramen tip: My friends and I just called this noodle slop, but it tastes good, uses fresh at least a few fresh ingredients, and is super cheap. Cook some ramen noodles and drain them. In a big skillet, add some oil and fry some combination of celery, onions, chopped cabbage, ginger, fresh chili peppers, garlic, matchstick carrots, bell peppers, chopped scallions, cucumber, zucchini, etc. You want to cut them to the size you get in Chinese takeout and cook them until they get a bit soft. Then, scramble one egg per ramen package in with the veggies. When the egg is cooked, add the noodles and mix it all together. Add some salt and pepper, or the seasoning from the ramen if you are into the whole MSG thing. It is like cheap chow mein.

You could just cook it easy with these steps:
1) cook the ramen the way you would ie. Boil water, pour in the ramen noodles and seasoning, cook it like normal.

2) cracking an egg into the pan/pot/cooking item you use to cook ramen maybe like 20 to 30 seconds before you take it off the heat.

3) Stir it around. Carefully if you prefer the yolk to not be broken (me), or go crazy and mix it all in.

end result: yolk not broken: really yummy, chewy noodles and good broth plus yolk
                   Yolk broken: you get like a really delicious broth because you stirred it all together so it
                                          tastes better.

Protip, add a cheese slice if you wanna with the egg. Tastes good but don't cook it too long or else it mixes with the broth and you get a creamy broth.


Why do chefs traditionally wear a high white hat? The stereotypical chef beloved of TV, cartoons, and elsewhere is always pictured wearing a high white hat.

A hat I can understand. But why so high?

Reaching back to my time in culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI:

The style of hat originated in the Greek orthodox monastaries during the middle ages where chefs (often taking refuge with other educated members of society) would distinguish themselves from the monks by wearing a white hat (monks wearing black).  The early chef hats were slightly elevated but not as tall as they eventually became.

Marie Antoine Careme (commonly called "Chef of Kings and King of Chefs") is credited as the father of classical french cuisine for the development of mother sauces and standard garniture and classification of terminology used in kitchens.  He's also credited with much of the organization and division of labor in kitchens still used today.  To designate role and stature in the kitchen he had his cooks wear hats of various height.  His being the tallest designated him as the Head or Executive Chef.

Traditionally it is said that the now traditional pleats indicate the number of ways that the chef wearing the hat can prepare an egg (of course this predates the disposable paper hats we now use).  100 pleats is considered to be the "ultimate" number to be desired.  However as a chef with 25 years experience in commercial kitchens, I'd be hard pressed to name 100 ways (without including eggs as an ingredient in recipes) to prepare an egg.

It's for deception.  Back in the old days with knights, when they swung with swords they would aim for the head.

If a chef is cooking with one of those tall hats on, then when a knight swings at him more often than not it will just knock his hat off giving the chef time to escape.


Should pasta be started in cold or boiling water? There are two main methods, either putting the strands into water already at boiling point, or putting them in cold water and then putting on the heat.

Which method is the best to cook pasta?

Does it make a difference if you add pasta to cold or boiling water?

As stated in another answer, Italian tradition is that all pasta is cooked in boiling water. A reasonable explanation for this usage is that it's easier to get the time right this way.

Pasta is very sensitive to cooking time, and will easily turn from 'al dente' to an overcooked mush if left on the fire a couple of minutes too much. By cooking it in boiling water, you ensure that it cooks in uniform conditions, always at the same temperature, regardless of the starting temperature of the water, the temperature of your kitchen, and the power of your burner. So it is a safer bet that cooking it for the same amount of time will work.

In my experience, the time marked on the package is almost always accurate for pasta cooked in boiling water. So it gives you a useful reference point, which you don't have if you cook it starting from cold water.

Actually both given answers and options in the question are wrong. The highest temperature starch needs for hydration is 83°C. Water boils at 100°C, thus you don't need boiling water. Cold water is also wrong, but not because of the pasta, because of the cooking pot. The salt is made of ions which need to connect to other atoms when the salt is dissolving. If the water is cold but you heat up the cooking pot, then the ions might connect to the high energized iron atoms instead of being surrounded by low energized water molecules. Damages to the cooking pot will be visible after 10 years though.
In the cooking water the salt is added to prevent starch granules in the pasta to merge with each other instead of swelling during hydration. Because if they merge the pasta lose elasticity and the sugar taste of the starch is less accessible for our tongue, making the pasta taste bad and feel clumsy. For this fact you can allegedly never add too much salt to the boiling water. Rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon for 1 liter of water. There is no rule of thumb for the ration of pasta and water, since you can even cook pasta like a risotto.

The best way to cook pasta is to heat water in a cooking pot until you see bubbles at the bottom, then add salt and then add pasta, stir occasionally.
Boiling cooking water is for lazy cooks who don't want to stir all the time and cold water cooking is for soaking the pasta when you are low on heating fuel.


Does whole milk or soy milk spoil faster? Why? I'm doing a science fair project and I need some help. My question is does whole milk or soy milk spoil faster? Does anyone know which one spoils faster or if they spoil at the same rate? Please explain why.

Not sure about why, but in my experience cow's milk spoils much faster than soy milk.


Why do we need ceramic pan if they serve for several months? As known ceramic pans serve 7 times less than teflon pans (they keep non-stick properties for 6-9 month). And teflon  is the third most slippery substance known to man. And teflon isn't that easy to damage. Why would I purchase a ceramic pan then?

For people who believe that Teflon causes health issues and ceramic does not, ceramic becomes the better choice.

I've found info that you shouldn't cook food with high or low pH, i.e. acidic or alcali food and also concentrated salts in teflon, so don't put marinades, brines, pickles in there. Probably tomato sauce too as tomatoes are acidic (not sure about this one).
So that creates a problem when you wanna cook meat soaked in marinade and you've got teflon.


How can I get my bacon flatter? When frying bacon, it tends to curl up. I don't like it because my bacon doesn't cook equally and it's hard to get it crisp that way.

Is there a technique or a tip so I can have flat bacon?

This is how I cook bacon, and also produce almost perfectly flat bacon. No special tools required (Well, I'm assuming most people have the following in their kitchen).

Tools

Sheet Tray
Cooling Rack (slightly smaller than the sheet tray)
parchment paper (Optional, but makes for easier cleanup).
BACON (I like the extra-thick cut).

Steps

Take the sheet tray and line with parchment paper.
Lay bacon down on parchment paper. You can fill the tray up, but I make sure the bacon stays in a single layer with no overlapping.
Place the cooling rack upside down onto the bacon. This should keep it from curling.
Place into oven and turn oven to 400 F. I don't find I need to pre-heat it, as, well, bacon isn't very complicated to cook.
In about 15 minutes or so, you'll have cooked, flat bacon. (Adjust cooking time depending on your preference of crispiness.
Take out of oven and remove from tray. (The tray and fat are hot, the bacon will keep cooking if you don't)

The cooling rack should keep it from curling while the fat slowly renders out. As a bonus, I don't need to clean my stove after.

Alternatively, the mention of the George Forman grill reminds me of an idea I saw somewhere (might have been Good Eats), use a waffle Iron! Use it just like the grill in Ward's answer.

Best to use a bacon press made of wood, no iron smell, no rust, won't burn your hand, handle won't come off.  Make sure it's food grade wood.


Is there any way to avoid grease splatter? I often cook fries in a skillet. I put about 1/4 cup vegetable oil into a large skillet and heat on high, then I toss in some frozen fries.

As soon as I toss them in there is an explosion of grease that makes a huge mess. After it simmers down though, I can cook the fries without spilling anymore grease.

Is there anyway to avoid the initial uproar?

Use a deeper dish. Fries shouldn't be fried in a skillet. Use a 4+ quart pan.
Then cover with a metal screen to reduce the splatter.

Put a lid on your pan. It's physics really. The downside is that you will end up with a lid that needs washing.


Boiling Chicken Breast (or any meat) before cooking to cook evenly Good day. I've had another disagreement with my mother on how to cook Chicken Breast. I know it seems like a small topic and it is situational, but do consider it.

The scenario is this, let's say you forget to take the Chicken Breast (whole, not chopped or butterfly cut) out the freezer and you need to cook it as soon as possible, OR you want to make sure you don't over cook the chicken as you fry it since they can get thick sometimes and you don't know if you cooked it all throughout.

In that scenario, my mother believes that it is okay to boil the chicken meat first in water before frying it. Her logic is that boiling actually cooks the inside evenly without burning the outside and frying gives it color.

However, I think that boiling the chicken takes the flavor away, just like how chicken bones are boiled to make stocks. Also, I think that boiling the chicken for too long causes the chicken to dry out (just like overcooking it).

I tried to tell her that butterflying it would be the best solution to cooking the chicken breast evenly, next to cooking it in the right temperature to not boil it (which seals the flavor inside) and then putting it in the oven (optional).

What do you guys think? Is boiling meat that detrimental to the flavor and overall quality of the dish?

Short answer - you are right on all counts and she's wrong. Tell her that, she'll love it. ;)

The longer answer is that boiling a frozen piece of meat, especially one that is thick in the middle  like chicken breast is exactly the opposite of what you want to do as you'll cook the outside but the inside will still be frozen, and boiling (as you rightly point out) will remove flavor from what is already IMO flavorless to begin with. Any cooking method will dry the chicken out whether boiling, baking, or frying, so by cooking twice you are liable to end up with food that is overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside.

Cooking frozen chicken isn't a great idea from a safety and quality perspective but it can be done if the meat is cut thin, so your point about butterflying it is very valid. What I do personally is I thaw chicken meat (thighs in my case) partially in the microwave, then I slice it into 1/2" (about 1.3cm) pieces across the grain before cooking in a saute/stir fry of some sort. I like partially rather than fully thawing in the microwave because it gives a better taste/texture than a full thaw in the microwave, and it is very easy to slice when partially frozen.

Mom is right and if you season it first the pours open up during the process getting flavor deep into the meat without long marinade process. Then crisp skin by frying. You will have more flavor than ever before


Gummy residue from baking spray/oil I'm sure everyone's seen this - that brownish stuff left behind when you grease an area of a baking dish that gets left exposed to the heat. Soap doesn't bother it too much, and it likes to gum up my scrubber. What's going on there, and are there any easy ways to get it off?

When oil gets overheated, it turns into a polymer that is insoluble in water, even with soap.

The best way to clean this up is with Barkeeper's Friend, Bon Ami, or a similar solvent (I think they're all alkaline-based solvents). It's non-abrasive, and safe to use on almost all cookware without leaving marks.

Edit: To help prevent this from happening in the future, use a paper towel to wipe off any excess baking spray on the edges of the baking dish that won't be covered by food.

Plain oil painter's turpentine does the trick. Thins the oil, dissolves residue...discard excess liquid oil, apply turps with an old bristle type paint brush. Thick caked-on gunk (like an abused deep fryer) may take a couple of applications or soaking but unlikely to have to wait "overnight". Turps isn't gritty and gets in the finest cracks to displace plasticized oils so fine polished finish on stainless steel isn't blemished with scratches from grit based cleaning products. Wipe with paper towel.
Clean residual turps "smell" off appliance with any dishwashing detergent or methylated spirits for extra clean.


How to make modeling chocolate shiny? I have modeling chocolate panels I am using for a cake. They have a very soft shine from being smooth, but I was hoping to bring them to a higher shine. I had wanted to make them out of tempered chocolate but the shape made it problematic. I've tried lightly buffing with my hand, but that is not doing enough. Can I use perhaps a warm, damp cloth or glaze with a mix of 1:1 corn syrup:alcohol? Would that make them tacky?

I think adding a few drips of vegetable oil or honey could help! Always heard other people say that.

An hairdryer could help.
The idea is to make the outermost layer of chocolate just melt. The way I use mine is I turn the dryer on low speed and medium heat, and move the air flow over the chocolates.  Keep the dryer moving or it may melt too much!  With my dryer it only takes a few passes to do the trick.
Let the chocolates re-cool and you will be all set.


Difference between boiling and steaming vegetables? I have eaten both boiled vegetables and steamed vegetables (e.g. broccoli, carrot, zucchini etc.), and I cannot tell the vegetables are cooked in one way or the other, whether by texture or by taste (unless they are boiled in broth; here, I refer to boiling in water).

Is there a reason why vegetables are preferred boiled to steamed, or vice versa?

To boil vegetables, you add the vegetables to a pot of water, and boil the water for a short duration until the vegetables are sufficiently cooked.  One may add salt or other flavorings (such as broth, as you mentioned) to the water prior to boiling.

Steamed vegetables are cooked in a steamer basket, where the vegetables are not in the water, but are instead sitting above the water, and are thus cooked by steam.

Salt must be added to steamed vegetables after they are cooked rather than to the water prior to cooking, since salt does not evaporate.

Steamed vegetables can retain more of their original flavor and nutrients, since they do not leech out into the water during boiling.  On the other hand, you cannot add additional flavors to your vegetables during steaming--since flavors cannot soak into the vegetables from the water, either.

Which taste/texture you prefer, of course, can be a matter of personal opinion.

In my experience, boiled vegetables are often mistakenly referred to as steamed vegetables.  And often, many restaurants will sell "steamed vegetables" which are really just microwaved frozen vegetables, which may strictly be steamed (it certainly isn't boiled!), but really bears little resemblance to the true steaming process (and has relatively poor flavor, as well).

The flavor does evaporate if they reach boiling point. It's the temperature at which molecules get enough energy to "fly" and circulate. For example, the flavour of many spices is given by volatile compounds that "fly" even at room temperature. There are many other examples of volatile compounds in liquids. In those cases, flavor can be given (or taken, depending on the point of view) by the steam formed in the process


Baking 2 dishes needing slightly different temperatures and time In one oven I need to bake 2 dishes: one needs 35 minutes at 375ºF, and the other needs 45 minutes at 350ºF.  How much time should the second dish cook at 375ºF?

On a practical basis?  40 to 45 min.  That is, bake it for 40 min and then check it to see if it's done (or otherwise check it 5 minutes earlier than you otherwise would).

The difference between 350F and 375F in actual cooking is generally dwarfed by the temperature inaccuracy of home ovens.

To be honest, your probably don't even need to worry about the slightly different timing and temperatures.

I'm not a temperature expert but, I'm relatively sure that Fahrenheit should be converted to Kelvin to calculate the specific difference between two temperatures.
25F sounds like a big difference but it really isn't.

350f = 449.817 kelvin
375f = 463.706 kelvin

Then we can compare the values:
449.817/463.706 =  0.97

This shows us there's a 3% actual difference.
If you wanted to figure out the precise timing (but i assure you it won't matter) - you'd calculate 97% of the longer time which ends up being 43 minutes and 39 seconds.
I'm fairly sure if 1 minute and 21 seconds longer is going to ruin your dish - you're doing something else wrong.


Why does the inside of fried chicken sometimes turn brown? Tonight I cooked fried chicken on the stove. However, I have seen chicken with brown ligaments or bones, after cooking before. Not just from frying the chicken either. Is it due to the age of the chicken, or an incorrect temperature or overcooking?
I hate seeing that when I eat chicken and if I knew what was causing it, I could avoid it, and enjoy my chicken more.

The darkening is harmless.  It is more likely to occur in younger birds, since their bones are immature, soft, and porous.  It is also exacerbated by deep chilling or freezing, since microscopic ice crystallization will allow various colored substances (e.g., marrow) to coalesce around the bones.  When the meat is cooked, these substances will usually turn brown.

Therefore, interior browning can be avoided by using older chickens and avoiding meat that has ever been frozen.  Given that most commercial chickens in large countries like the USA are slaughtered very young (less than seven weeks old), it may be difficult, but not impossible, to find an older chicken.

It's likely the brown you are noticing is the blood seeping from the bones during the cooking process, and then turning brown after being exposed to heat.


What difference would using Rock Sugar make in tea? I like my tea sweet, and generally add several cubes of white sugar. Teavana sells rock sugar, which it claims is somehow "better" while being vague on what that means. Is it sweeter? Less sweet? Somehow interacts with the tea leaves differently?

Interesting, you're meant to brew it with the leaves, presumably sweetening the whole pot rather than doing it to taste for individuals, which sounds annoying. Is that just marketing or does that have some benefit?

In Northern Germany, sugar crystals similar to the style depicted on the linked web page are used for "East Frisian Tea". East Frisian Tea is more a style of tea service than a specific variety of tea, but usually some blend of Indian black teas is used, often Assam and Darjeeling, but some variation from that is possible; the main thing is that it's not an aromatized or fruity tea, but a black tea blend, and tends to be infused with the intention of being slightly bitter.

When serving, rock sugar is placed at the bottom of the cup. Tea is poured over the rock sugar. Then, typically, but not always, a bit of cream is poured on top of that. You don't stir what's in your cup, so you start with a creamy flavor, progress toward a fairly bitter/astringent black tea, and have an increasingly sweet finish. You keep on repeating the process of adding sugar, tea and cream and drinking until you've run out of things to talk about with your friends.

The slow melting process is the main desirable attribute of this type of sugar, not the flavor difference. The brown crystals, with a slight molasses hint, were the most common ones I saw in Germany, but clear ones were not unheard of either. The hint of molasses is the only flavor difference from the brown crystals.

Rock sugar is beet sugar (rather than cane sugar). It sweetens tea without overwhelming the natural flavor of the tea. Use it as you would use crystallized sugar, including that you stir the sugar into the tea (to get it to dissolve).


What is the inside of a nut called? My 3-year-old and I were sharing our traditional mix of Christmas nuts. He's getting pretty good at cracking them open by himself, and wanted to know what the part he eats is called. Anyone have an authoritative answer?

I've always heard the "meat" of the nut, or "nutmeat". Alternate terms include "kernel" or "seed" or, well, "nut".

If you were to ask a botanist, the edible part is the embryo and the endosperm, though it varies depending on which type of seed you're referring to. Also, for a few seeds—not sure if any of them are called nuts—we eat the seed coat as well (e.g., beans).

Iv actually always known the inside of a peanut named the mouse, I don’t believe anybody that calls it a embryo. This part of the nut is definitely called a mouse.


Substitute ratio when using butter instead of shortening How much butter should be used to use as a substitute for 1/2 cup of shortening for a banana nut bread recipe?  I don't have any shortening on hand.

1/2 cup of shortening is 110 g, while 1/2 cup of butter is 114 g. Also, butter is only 82% fat. So if you want to be precise, use 134 g of butter: (100/82)*110 = 134. You may want to reduce the liquid by 24 g in this case.

If you don't care for precision, you can also substitute 1:1 and use 1/2 cup of butter. Most recipes for quickbreads are flexible enough for that, and you are changing the texture anyway by substituting a fat with a different melting profile.

Ratio: 1 cup of crisco = 1/2 cup of butter or margarine

So, in your recipe is 1/4 of butter.

The link where I originally found the ratio is in the edit history (removed because the site is now redirecting to spam).


How long can coconut milk last in the fridge? I opened up a can of coconut milk the other day and was unable to use it all. I placed the remainder of the coconut milk into a sealed container in the fridge. I was wondering how long this would be good for?

There are 2 ways of looking at it; how long it will be safe to eat (ie from food poisoning) and how long it will still be appetizing and taste alright (ie not gone rancid).

As you've taken it from the tin it won't get that tinny flavour but as time goes on may absorb other flavours from the fridge so make sure you keep it away from anything that is strongly smelling. Also as around 87% of the coconut milk is fats it will soon go rancid, so keep that in mind, (you'll know when it does by giving it a quick sniff).

In terms of food safety, if it's UHT which most are, then it could probably last for a long time (as long as UHT milk) so about 2 1/2 weeks I'd say. Otherwise if it's not UHT then not as long. I would say about the same time as fresh milk so around a week as it contains sugars and fats and so is a very compelling proposition for any bacteria.

Other sites discussing this: http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=14563, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/291163 and http://forums.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/t-418419.html.

Hope this helps!

I've left coconut milk opened in the (cardboard) container with the screwcap on for weeks and possibly months in the fridge and never had any issues...smells and tastes the same as when it was first opened... even though it says to consume within 5 days of opening...


What combination of flours can be used as a substitution to a bread flour? Following is the list of flours that I can get hold of in India easily:

Whole wheat flour
Semolina flour
Chickpea flour
Maida
Multi grain flour
Corn flour
Rice flour

What can be the combination of these flours which can then result in a substitute for the bread flour?

None of those flours on its own is a good substitute for bread flour, at least for making yeast raised breads.

Yeast raised breads require the development of gluten, which is possible only with a wheat based flour.  This leaves you only three choices:

Whole wheat flour
Maida
Semolina

Comparing the characteristics of each of these to bread flour:

Whole wheat flour, depending on the wheat from which it is milled, may have higher or lower protein levels.  Your particular whole wheat flour has a moderately high protein level, at the bottom end of the bread flour range.

However, the bran that is a component of whole wheat flour is very sharp at the small scale, and does not participate in the chemistry or physical structure of gluten creation.  In fact, the sharp edges of the bran actually serve to physically block formation of gluten strands, and even cut already formed strands.

For this reason, whole wheat flour is less than ideal for some bread making.  In general, you would want to substitute only a portion of bread flour with whole wheat flour; in fact, it is better to use it only in bread recipes specifically designed for it.  If you do choose to use it in lieu of bread flour, consider starting with only 25% of the total flour amount.

Finally, whole wheat flour has a different flavor than white flours, due to the additional components in the flour from the entire wheat berry.  The bran, the germ, and the endosperm all ground together (thus the term whole wheat), giving the flour its own flavor from each of these components--mostly the germ.

This is also what leads to the shorter shelf life of whole wheat flour.
Maida flour.  According to Wikipedia, maida flour is a soft (low protein) flour comparable to cake flour or pastry flour.

This means that it has much less protein, and much less gluten formation potential than bread flour does, on a weight for weight basis.
Semolina.  Semolina is a hard wheat flour with a high protein level, but is typically very coarsely ground.  Generally, you can feel the individual granules when you pick it up and hold it between your fingers, and can see them when you look quite closely.

This is a much larger grind than bread flour.

You can make bread with semolina, as this recipe from King Arthur Flour demonstrates.

With these components available to you, you would need to experiment to find the best possible outcome—and unfortunately, that is not the best place to start if you are not already a a fairly comfortable bread maker.

My best guess is that your best outcome would be from a mixture of semolina and maida, probably about 50-50.    However, the dough may take longer to hydrate and come together than expected, due to the larger grains of the semolina.

If you wish to incorporate whole wheat flour, I recommend starting with 25% of your total flour, and no more than 50% total.

Note:  India Curry article refers to an Indian flour called atta which is much closer in its description to bread flours... is it not available in your region?

I'm in Goa. I use maida, rawa (semolina) and atta. I also have atta with multigrain flour. I'm just looking at getting some Ashirvaad Select Wholewheat???. I was quizzing a Nepali at the German Bakery today. He said he can get me some of the flour he uses. It might be a hidden secret. Happy baking.


Olive oil instead of peanut oil to air fry potato? I’m allergic to peanut oil, can I use olive oil for baking potatoes in a power air fryer oven elite

According to this chart, the smoke point of extra-virgin olive oil is 160 C or greater, equal to that of peanut oil, although there seems to be a wide variety in the temperatures reported. In this case you should be able to substitute the oils for cooking purposes. Personally I prefer a higher smoke point oil, such as canola, for frying and baking


Is it safe to eat a chicken that leaked a ton of red fluid after roasting? I just roasted a small chicken, and after taking it out of the oven after about 1 1/2 hours, a large amount of watery, red fluid leaked from the bird.

Did I somehow mess up cooking the chicken? Is it edible?

The chicken was cooked, alone, in the oven at a temperature of 180 Celsius (356 Fahrenheit). There was nothing else done to the chicken (no brining or anything).

Based on the given information, it does not sound like the chicken was actually cooked as planned; maybe the oven's thermometer is off, or there is another problem.
It sounds like raw meat juices (water and myoglobin, not blood, and I cannot remember the technical name for this fluid just now). If the oven was truly at 180 C (about 355 F), this would have evaporated or the heat would have destroyed the red color.

Since the chicken was held at unknown temperatures for an extended period of time, I wouldn't risk eating it.

I would recommend discarding this chicken immediately, and buy an oven thermometer immediately, to check its calibration, and if it is off, get it serviced.

I had a similar problem with my grilled chicken. I decided to put the chicken back on the grill for a couple minutes. It worked fine and my family ate it. Well none of us got sick so I am going to say success


Why do my onions keep burning? Twice now, I have burned my onions while heating them in a pan. I was just trying to caramelize them, and they burned every time.

They were on medium heat, and I put olive oil at the bottom of the pan (which may or may not have been a mistake), and they just burned, sticking to the bottom with a fervor I've never seen before (except the other time I tried to heat up onions).

What am I doing wrong?

To clarify a little, there are several ways you can cook onions.

You could be trying to get them to turn translucent. In which case, you can cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. This will take somewhere around 5 minutes. Preheating the pan isn't really required (especially if using a non-stick pan). If they start to brown, turn down the heat.
You could be trying to get them to turn translucent, with brown edges. Proceed as with translucent, but make sure to preheat the pan, and also use medium-high heat (but if they get too brown, turn down the heat).
You could be trying to caramelize them, turning them brown throughout. Cook them on low heat. At first, you can stir infrequently, but as they turn translucent and begin to brown, you'll have to speed up your stirring. This takes 30+ minutes.

So, if you were actually caramelizing onions, your heat was much too high.

In general, when something is browning too much (or outright burning) before the center is cooked, you need to turn down the heat or if only the pan-contact parts are browning then stir more frequently. To some extent when cooking in a pan, there is a trade-off you can make: low heat, infrequent stirring, long cooking time vs. high heat, constant stirring, quick cooking.

1) Olive oil has a really low flash point. Dont cook with it. It will burn at lower temperatures than Canola.

2) you cant just leave them to sit on the pan and expect that t od


Should you add some salt to flour when baking? I was always taught to add a pinch of salt to flour when baking (mainly cakes / muffins and puddings).

I have recipes that specifically mention adding salt and others that don't.

Is there a scientific reason to add salt?

Salt serves two primary purposes in baking:

To regulate yeast

Salt kills yeast. The addition of salt to a yeast leavened dough prevents the little beasties from growing completely out of control.

To enhance and mask specific flavors

Salt is almost a universal flavor enhancer. Virtually anything that tastes good, will taste better with salt. What typically comes as a surprise to people is that this holds true with sweet things too, particularly chocolate. The addition of even a tiny bit of salt can make a sweet dish significantly sweeter. It also serves to mask the taste of raw flour.

Update

Also according to Progressive Baker salt affects the strength and shelf life of baked goods.

I believe salt cuts the gluten in the flour and makes it more supple and less elastic, especially when baking breads.


Is it safe to eat green onion slime? I just harvested some scallions from the garden, where it's getting bit chilly (late November in Seattle).

After chopping them, I realized that their insides were covered in a gelatinous, slippery, viscous goo!

What is it? Is it safe to eat?

Normally, people associate slime with "inedible" because some bacterial colonies can build up slime on spoiled food. But there are plants which naturally produce slime, and it is as edible as any other part of the same plant. Slimes are most common in algae, but I have also seen them in other plants such as hyacinth greens, and scallions have it too, although in normally not that much. But if you mash a "dry" scallion or the greens of a typical yellow onion, they still feel slimy, while other alliums become slimy on cooking, for example leeks.

Physically, slime is just a special kind of gel. As long as it is not of bacterial origin, it is not a sign of spoilage, and it is highly improbable that a living green plant without signs of sickness will be full of colonies of spoilage bacteria. So, I would declare it good to eat.

I have bin a chef for 35 years & have never seen slime like this on any of the thousands of green onion i have prepared until today .& anyone that tells me this is normal is lying,slime has bin & always will be a sign that the food is not eatable .
In my opinion this is another product of food engineering (AKA: G.M.O) & that is something that no one in the world should be consuming or ingesting & should be avoided at all cost
we should eating vegetables that are naturally grown in organic gardens & not this poison the big companies call food


How do you properly defrost frozen fish? I recently bought a package of frozen cod that contains about 6 pieces. How do you go about properly defrosting them? Thanks.

There are two safe ways to defrost, one more rapid than the other.

First method is to defrost in the refrigerator.  This keeps temperature below 40 degrees F, in the safe zone.  This will, also, take a while.

Second method is to defrost in the sink under cold running water.  The water doesn't have to run rapidly, but it should change regularly.  This will defrost the fish more rapidly than in the air (water is a better conductor of heat than air) and will keep the fish in the danger zone for the shortest period of time.  If you are not going to cook it immediately, then return to the refrigerator.

If you are deep frying, there are some techniques that will allow you to go direct from frozen to fried, but that is generally done in a professional kitchen where they have powerful fryers that can take the temperature hit and come back strong.

What about laying frozen cod on a sheet tray at room temp, to prevent waste of water and needing faster than in fridge? Isn't thawing anything at room temp, as long as it's put away before hitting danger zone, natural thawing?


What is the proper way to use corn starch to thicken sauces? How do you mix corn starch slurry and how do you use it?

Do you add the corn starch to the water, or do you add water to the corn starch?
Generally what proportions do you need, what is the ratio of water to cornstarch?
Do you need to use more slurry to thicken more liquid; if so, what is the quantity per volume?

When making the slurry, stir cornstarch into cold water until it has the consistency of cream. This can be set aside until it's needed, but be sure to stir it briefly before you pour it into the sauce to redistribute the starch granules in the water. You should pour it into your sauce toward the end of its preparation.

According to McGee you should use roughly 2/3 as much starch as you would flour. If you aren't using a recipe, add your slurry a bit at time until it's a thick as you like it. Also remember that the sauce will thicken a bit as it cools, so it should be a little bit thinner on the stove than you intend to serve it.

most starches will separate from water if you let them sit. this is why a roux is used; it changes the gravity of the flour and prevents it from sinking to the bottom of the liquid where it burns


What is the brown sauce in authentic Chinese fried rice? There is a lady at work that makes the most awesome and most delicious Chicken Fried Rice on the planet. She uses white rice with some sort of brown sauce that is added when frying the rice in the wok. She won't tell anyone what that brown sauce is other than she is using soy sauce.  Not true!  It is extremely mild, and slightly brown in color.  Does anyone have any idea?

If it really is authentic, then it is soy sauce. Some recipes also use oyster sauce but I would not call that authentic or traditional.

Soy sauce can mean many things; it might just be a different soy sauce from what you're used to. There are light vs. dark soy sauces, and also fermented vs. hydrolyzed kinds. A naturally fermented light soy sauce would probably be (a) mild and (b) slightly brown.

Some other common types of sauce that I've seen used in stir fries are hoisin and satay. But, as with oyster sauce, I wouldn't call those authentic or traditional. That "some sort of brown sauce" is almost certainly soy sauce. It might include XO sauce, although you would notice a seafoody taste in that case.

The sauce is Dynasty brand brown gravy sauce, a very thick, sticky substance with little flavor of its own.  If added to rice when about done, just before mixing in the eggs and veggies you get the old fashioned dark brown fried rice. McQuink


How to get a synthetic cork back in a wine bottle? The past couple times I've bought wine stopped with a synthetic cork, I've had a very difficult time reinserting the cork after opening the bottle. It seems the cork expands after leaving the bottle, and it's made of such a rigid material that sometimes I can't squeeze it back in. (And no, inserting the back end doesn't work, as it sometimes does with real cork.)

Is there a trick to getting an expanded synthetic cork back in a wine bottle?

There is no trick, it just won't work. Synthetic corks are popular as replacements to cork not only because they are cheaper, but more effective at preserving wine as they don't dry out, and they expand more in the neck keeping a tighter seal. This makes it more difficult, if not impossible, to get them back in.

The simple and easy solution is to buy re-usable bottle stoppers. There are many different types, I prefer the ones which have a lever or button you push down to expand the stopper as they are best at preventing spills and leaks. There are vacuum sealers as well, however IMHO they're gimmicks and don't improve the storage of wine.

Why not expand the wine bottle head using heat then fit the cork back in maybe that should work


Tips for cooking a whole lamb in a fire pit? A while ago we tried to cook a whole lamb in a fire pit.  Basically we dug a pit about 2-2.5 feet deep, lined it with rocks to try and retain the heat, made a large fire in it, and started to drink.  Then when the fire had died down a bit we lined the fire with some damp straw, put in the hessian wrapped lamb, put more damp straw on top then covered the whole thing with earth and left for 24 hours.

When we dug it up, the lamb was done beautifully on the fire side, but raw on the top.

What might we have done wrong, apart from getting drunk whilst the fire was burning?  Has anyone done this before and what are the things that we should bear in mind if we do it again?

In the past when I've cooked in the ground I put rocks into the fire. Don't really know what sort of rocks, but I've been involved in sessions that use bricks.

Point is that you needs some way to "envelope" the heat around the thing you are cooking so what we did was put the rocks into the fire to heat them up.

Carefully remove the rocks before putting the lamb in and then put the hot rocks on top of the hessian covered meat before putting the dirt back on top.

Let it sit for a while and you should get a much more even result

AFAIK the traditional way of cooking something in a fire pit involves building the fire on top of the buried carcass. But I might be wrong here.


Why is sugar a wet ingredient? The last time I checked, most sugar is really dry (unless it's something like brown sugar).  So why is it categorized as "wet"?

Sugar is not really a wet ingredient, it's just treated as one in certain types of baking (i.e. cakes).

When making a cake or other "fluffy" baked good, you want a fairly small amount of gluten to be produced, otherwise you'll get a chewy texture instead, and you definitely don't want a cake to be chewy like bread.

Dissolving sugar in the water inhibits the gluten-forming proteins.  It's a method (actually, the method) of adding more liquid to the mix without getting a tough, chewy cake.  It is for this reason that sugar is considered a "wet ingredient" - because the process only works properly if you add it with the water, not with the other dry ingredients.

It's even possible for sugar to be a dry and wet ingredient in the same recipe; you might add just enough sugar to the water to get the right texture, and add more to the dry ingredients for further sweetening.

In baking, you need to keep a proper ratio of wet/dry ingredients.  When heated, sugar returns to its original liquid form.


How long does cooked pasta last in the fridge? I sometimes cook more pasta than I intend to eat or use at once and store the rest in a container in the fridge (just plain, cooked pasta). How long would it store safely for?

http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/index/17887 is as good advice as any I'd give.

In my experience, it gets some slimy mold stuff on it. If it feels slimy, its probably not good to eat, although the mold might taste delicious, you never know...

I've stored it for over 2 weeks without water and all that crap others are telling you. As long as it doesn't have green mold on it, it is safe to eat. Otherwise only a really bad smell would be bad. Easily over 14 days if kept in a container with a lid. In fact I store my pasta sause in a container as well for just as long. People will have you throwing away good food just because they don't know or are uninformed. I've save a bunch of money doing it my way. Like meats for over 2 weeks and fruits and vegatables. If it ain't got green on it or smells bad then it's still good to eat.


Why does my olive oil smoke/burn when I fry with it? I see many chefs/people in food channels who use olive oil to fry stuff (like salmon). However, when I add olive oil for frying it quickly burns releasing dark smoke. Is there a specific type of olive oil that they use for frying that doesn't burn? or am I just possibly doing something wrong?

You're heating the oil past its smoke point.

There is no trick or technique that will prevent oil from smoking and oxidizing ("burning") at temperatures above the smoke point. It is literally being slowly destroyed at that temperature.

I honestly don't know why TV chefs are so attached to the idea of cooking with olive oil when most serious attempts to compare it to other oils (for frying purposes) strongly indicate that it loses all or almost all of its unique taste by the end. Some cite dubious health benefits, but the low smoke point of virgin/extra virgin olive oil may also make it worse for you health-wise due to exactly what you've witnessed - smoke and oxidation.

EVOO is great as a dressing but it's a terrible choice as a cooking oil. If you absolutely must imitate these confused TV chefs, you can either fry at very low temperatures (as in, just barely a sizzle), which will take considerably more time, or used a refined (not virgin) olive oil which has a much higher smoke point. These would typically be the "cheap" olive oils you find in large plastic or metal containers.

Actually extra virgin olive oil has one of highest smoke points so it's perfect for frying. The only problem is that it's expensive.
Probably you are using a refined olive oil or a cheap one that has a low smoke point ..try to use extra virgin and not to over heat the oil not only to avoid burning the oil but also to avoid undercooking the food. Regular vegetable oils degrade when heated beyond the smoke point and because of their low smoke point they start forming free fatty acids which are bad for health. Extra virgin olive oil is more stable with a high smoke point and will not loss it's beneficial properties by frying or heating that's why it's preferable oil for cooking and frying.
Some more information:

Olive oil is ideal for frying. In proper temperature conditions, without over-heating, it undergoes no substantial structural change and keeps its nutritional value better than other oils, not only because of the antioxidants but also due to its high levels of oleic acid. Its high smoking point (210ºC) is substantially higher than the ideal temperature for frying food (180ºC). Those fats with lower critical points, such as corn and butter, break down at this temperature and form toxic products.
Another advantage of using olive oil for frying is that it forms a crust on the surface of the food that impedes the penetration of oil and improves its flavour. Food fried in olive oil has a lower fat content than food fried in other oils, making olive oil more suitable for weight control. Olive oil, therefore, is the most suitable, the lightest and the tastiest medium for frying.
It goes further than other oils, and not only can it be re-used more often than others, it also increases in volume when reheated, so less is required for cooking and frying.


Is there a way to cook hot dogs in a microwave without them bursting? Whenever I cook hot dogs in the microwave they invariably split and/or burst open. I've tried shortening the cooking time, but haven't found a happy medium where they are thoroughly cooked, but remain unmutilated.

Is there some trick to cooking them in a microwave without this happening?

Poke them with a fork in a few places. This will let the steam out in a controlled manner and prevent bursting.

or, even better, skip the microwave and boil them in a pan over the stove.

Just punch some holes before cooking em..and itll be fine.. ;)


What can replace milk in crepes? I want to make crepes, but I am out of milk.  Can I still make crepes?  What can replace milk in this application?

I do have yogurt, beer, eggs, cream, butter, flour, salt, and sugar.

Try watered down cream, as you'll still get some of the milkfat, but you don't want quite as much.

Water would probably also work for your crepes, although it would change the taste.

Well, since some are saying to use non fat or almond milk, I am going to experiment with rice milk, which I find quite tasty.


Why are foods often packaged in weird measurements? Whilst shopping I have noticed quite a number of products having very weird measurements. for example my jar of peanut butter is 127g, but I can't spot a pattern here.

Is this just a random part of production, or is there some reasoning behind this?

Quite often, it's because a manufacturer prefers to decrease the size of a packet than to increase its price.  Customers notice when the price goes up but don't tend to notice the product getting smaller.

For example, jam in the UK used to be sold in jars containing one pound, which became the equivalent 454 grams with metrication. But, more recently, that's shrunk to 400g and even 350g in some cases. Similarly, according to Wikipedia, Yorkie bars used to be 70g, which then became 64.5g, 61g, 55g and now 46g; packets of crisps that used to be 30g are now often 27g (10% smaller) or even less.

100% marketing

When the packaged weight serves no normal recipe use, or is not a round number e.g. 1 Kg

When the price end in .99 or .95

You are a victim of marketing

Avoid these if you can, or just smile and carry on


How do you make tomato paste? I have a garden every year and would prefer to use my own tomatoes for all my cooking.  I can them and make sauces, but haven't found a good recipe that describes the technique for tomato paste.  I need it to be thick like you buy at the store - I use this for sauce dishes, etc that I don't like to be too runny.  How would a home cook go about making tomato paste?

Tomato paste is just tomatoes with the water removed, essentially.  I'd slice the tomatoes in half and roast them (cut side up) at 350 degrees F for an hour (this will concentrate the flavour nicely and you can add s&p/olive oil/herbs/garlic if you want).  Then mash them through a sieve or food mill to get a smooth consistency.  Then put that tomato puree in a pot and just boil them down until it's as thick as you want.  As it gets thicker, you'll need to stir it regularly to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.

This is how I usually get a nice thick sauce home :

Blanch the tomatoes and peel off the skin
Mash the tomatoes into a puree (Either squish them using a wooden spoon, or use a blender, depending on the recipe you want to use it in. For eg., I sometimes like a good, smooth, blended sause for a sphagetti dish, but prefer a roughly mashed-up pulpy sauce for some vegetable curries)
Put it on stove-top and bring to boil on a low flame. Stir occasionally to avoid burning.
I also add sugar and salt at this point and continue to boil. (Seasoning is optional of course)
Take cornflour in a small bowl and mix with a bit of water to make a smooth paste.
Add the corn paste slowly to the boiling puree, keep stirring to avoid lumps. Gradually the puree thickens. The quantity of cornpaste depends on how much tomato puree you have, and how thick you want your sauce to get. You can try making a paste with two teaspoons of cornflour, but only add a little of it at a time.Continue adding till you get the right consistency.
Once the paste reaches the desired consistency you can take it off the stove top and use it in recipes.


Acceptable to cut steak before searing? I have a rather dumb issue; I have some cuts of steak that are too large for my cast iron, and if I tried to cook them, the ends would be lifted into the air which I assume is not preferable (although I am no expert). Is it fine to cut the steak when it is raw or will it do something terrible to it?

I am of the mindset that it is just cutting the raw beef, so no juices or anything will run out like cutting a steak before letting it rest, but again, I'm no expert!

Why would it not be acceptable to cut raw meat? It was already cut from another larger piece of meat that was cut from a whole animal. Nothing terrible will happen. A steak is not a bag of juices, nothing significant will leak off of it.

It's indeed better to cut in a smaller piece that fits your pan, the whole steak should touch the bottom of the pan otherwise you might have uneven cooking  / raw ends.

I've cut roasting joints into steaklets before, one time it was all they had and another it was on special offer.  Took a thick bit for me (I like it rare in the middle) and thinner slices for the others who like it well done.  Was OK.

As others have said, cut across the grain.  If you can't tell by looking it's usually less stretchy in the grain direction.


Difficulty Working with Koji I've made a shio koji "starter" using koji-inoculated rice grains, salt, and water, and have added fresh rice to it once in a while to keep it living and fed. I've heard many chefs and home cooks talk about the value of koji's proteases and amylases for tenderizing and increasing glutamate concentration in meats, but I've run into a problem when marinating chicken thighs in shio koji. While pubs like Cook's Science advocate anywhere up to 3 days in a shio koji marinade, I find the salt content generally recommended for use in shio koji just ends up curing the chicken, and you get a very stringy, unpleasant texture in the final result when cooked. Has anyone had this experience? Are shorter marinades the way to go? Reducing the salt content?

The salt can interrupt the fermentation, but the right amount of it depends from other factors also. Try with the skin only and see the result.


Why did my ginger garlic paste have a bitter aftertaste? I cooked a base for indian sauce based on lots of onion, homemade ginger garlic paste, some veggies (I used carrot, a little napa cabbage, bell peppers) and spices. After cooking, the sauce had an unfortunate bitter aftertaste. Nothing burned, I cooked over careful heat.

First I thought it wasn't cooked enough, so I cooked some more over low heat. The bitter taste did not disappear.

After considering this some more, my suspicion turned to my homemade ginger garlic paste. It turned green after grinding the ginger and garlic, but that didn't bother me, it's a fairly common phenomenon. But I fried some paste in two batches, and then tasted the result. One was fried until it browned. The other was just fried for 2-3 minutes, and remained quite green. Here's a picture showing (clockwise from lower right) raw, lightly cooked and browned ginger garlic paste:

The browned batch was sweet, followed by the pungent ginger. The lightly fried batch was quite bitter, and also pungent.

So I think the bitterness in my sauce was caused by my ginger garlic paste. But why? What happened?

I see three possibilities based on what you've said:

the germ of the garlic. The germ, or new sprout of the garlic, should be removed before cooking. If your garlic had started to sprout and especially if you left in the germ, this is a possible cause of the bitterness.
acid. Cooking garlic in an acid environment can cause chemical changes in the garlic, such as turning blue-green or bitter -- as in your picture. Ginger and onions might even be enough to trigger this, or other components of the dish.
over-cooking the garlic. Though you said you were careful with heat, it's easy to burn garlic just enough to make it bitter.

Overcooking Ginger is the cause

Ginger if overcooked in sauce masala, tea etc gets bitter and loses its flavour.

Garlic can be burnt a little and it gives a good flavour (umami taste i think)


How long does grease take to go bad/rancid when sitting out? If I make a skillet full of bacon, how long can I leave the grease sitting out before it is unsafe/rancid?  Is the answer different for ground beef grease?

Fat doesn't spoil like other foods. No bacteria can live in fat. Going rancid is a chemical reaction in which the fat molecules break down. So "leaving out" is not a problem.

The major factors in going rancid are light and air. The more light hits your fat, the sooner it goes rancid. Also, rancidity occurs when the fat is oxidized, meaning that if you prevent contact with air, your fat will last longer.

Both factors are minimized by transferring the fat to a tightly closed opaque container. With liquid oils, you use a dark colored bottle. As bottles are impractical for solid fat, just strain your grease into a jar, close it, and put it in a cupboard. The shelf life should be many months, probably more than a year.

Also, don't worry that you can get something nasty when the grease goes bad unnoticed. Rancid fat isn't a big safety risk, and ingesting it in small amounts is not problematic. If it stinks, throw it out. Before that, there is no problem eating it.

The above assumes pure, well-strained fat. Pieces of fried meat left over in the fat are a safety risk, even tiny ones.

I've been using the same fish grease for 5 years....my mother did the same for even longer...and so did my grandmother who just turned 92. We're all in great health, no prescriptions. So skip all the talk, I'm living proof you can reuse over and over again.


What grains and/or technique will result in a thin pancake with a artisan bread type structure? I have tried whole wheat flour, using more fat, using more liquid, but not
getting good texture - usually just a weaker pancake. I'm trying to get a thin pancake with texture that is hearty,somewhat porous and tender.

I think you cannot have both thin and bread-like structure.

AFAIK, To have a bread-like structure the batter/dough needs to develop some gluten in it.

Usually pancakes do not have a bread texture, they are, erm, a pan cake.

The batter is just mixed, and most recipes say to not over mix the batter.

You can try buckwheat, it has a rustic quality to it that can be seen as "bread-like".


Do I cover a pork roast? Cooking baby  potatoes  and small carrots with it.  It is only about 2 pounds.
Hoo
Honestly never cooked a pork roast beforeand there are  so many different ways I am really confused.

The purpose of covering anything is to retain moisture as steam in the pan, instead of letting it evaporate away. So, using a pan that has a tight cover allows you to control the amount of moisture in the resulting cooked food.

Because you're cooking vegetables along with your pork roast, being able to cover the pan for at least part of the cooking time, can be helpful because it will allow the vegetables to steam, so they won't get dried out.

If you leave the cover on for the entire period, you'll steam the meat — it will cook, but it won't be as appealing. Start out with the oven preheated to a high temperature (at least 450F or so), and with just the roast in the pan, uncovered, just until the outside begins to brown. For a small or medium roast, this should be no more than about 15 to 25 minutes, and you may wish to turn the roast once or twice during this period.

Now add your vegetables, cover the pan, and turn the oven down to a slow temperature (285-315F). In addition to your potatoes and carrots, you may wish to add some chopped onion, celery, and/or green pepper. Those vegetables will release lots of moisture (especially if you add salt), and along with the meat, create a nice broth so your other vegetables won't dry out.

Cooked slowly along with the vegetables, the roast will be very tender and flavorful. It may take an hour or more, depending of course, on the size and shape of the roast. A meat thermometer is the best way to determine when the roast is cooked. For pork, the coolest temperature in the center should be 170F (77C), but take it out a couple degrees lower because it will still cook a bit after coming out of the oven.

I make a nice marinade with soy and fruit juice and beer or wine. Make it kinda thick so it clings to the meat. Put some in the bottom of the the pan with water. Garlic, salt, and pepper rubbed in or just sprinkled on the roast. Broil open for 15 minutes or so and then cover and low temp for a couple hours. Works great with rice.

The other way is cover the thing with green salsa and keep it covered with water in the pan and cook long and slow at 300+/-
 Works great for tacos and burritos. Use the resulting gravy to ladle over the burritos. Sprinkle cheese and BOOM!