Fresh milk curdles when added to hot coffee and tea Came in to work this morning and made a round of coffees, the same as yesterday.

To freshly washed and fully rinsed mugs, I added instant coffee, and the milk then filled with boiling water and the milk instantly curdled and all the bits floated to the surface.

Thinking it was just bad milk (the milk didn't smell off at all but I remember seeing it sat on the side at some point yesterday) I bought fresh milk and repeated. The same thing happened.

We are using the same kettle as yesterday, the same mugs, the same instant coffee.

To be sure it was the milk, I made a coffee with just coffee and water, it was fine, I then added the milk and it curdled.

To eliminate bad luck with 2 different jugs of milk, we've poured the milk into a glass to inspect and drank it and it is fine from both milk jugs.

Please help, I had a few beers last night and need my coffee!

Boil the milk on its own in a clean/rinsed container (microwave).  If it curdles, it's the milk.

Otherwise either there is a decalcifying agent in the kettle or something in the coffeee is making it too acidic.  It takes very little, after decalcification, we usually have to pass about a gallon of water through the coffee machine before the steam wand stops curdling milk.

If you're in a jam, boil your water in a cup in the microwave and avoid the kettle.

problem is the full fat milk.....use low-fat milk or non-fat milk


Cooking through thick liquids I'm a big curry aficionado and am trying to cook curries that both taste good and require minimal preparation during the week. I like to make both vegetarian (usually, green/red lentils, fresh) and chicken-based curries.

For that reason, I'm starting by blending the masalas, tomatoes, onions, etc, in a blender, frying, adding the rest of the ingredients, adding water, and then reducing until finished.

I've noticed that both the tubers and the lentils cook very slowly using this method.

If the blended mix is particularly thick (e.g., it includes the tubers themselves or ground nuts), I've found that it hardly cooks at all.

I've figured that the problem has to do with the viscosity of the cooking medium (starches obviously make it the most 'gluggy') and feel that things would work much better if I cooked the lentils in water and then transferred, once cooked, into the sauce, but the recipes I've read all use the all-in-one method that I'm following without much success.

In addition to not cooking, things seem to require very frequent stirring and sticking is a big problem.

Is there any solution to this?

This answer presumes your worry is that by not putting in the pulses/tubers from the beginning, you're actually not ending up with the "correct" result.

My experience with recipes (even from reputable sources) with regard to slow cooked, stewy dishes, with ingredients that take time before they're done, is that they're either short on time, or short on liquids. Either that, or I'm bad with measuring, use ingredients of lesser quality, or suck at cooking (most of the time I suspect the latter two are the guilty parties).

But most likely (and here's the good part), the pulses/tubers are there from the beginning to act not only as a nutritional component, but also serve a dual function as thickener. They're most definitely (IMHO) not there from the beginning to impart flavor to the curry.

So one of the solutions you've already found yourself:
Cook the pulses/tubers separately, and add them in the end. The curry will not suffer any loss in flavor. If it's to thin, either squish some of pulses so the starches can thicken it, or reduce a bit longer.

Second solution: Start out with more liquid than the recipe prescribes, and cook/reduce longer, until the desired thickness has been achieved.

Here are some tips:

1) Don't make a paste of the onions and tomatoes. Instead keep a ready supply of finely chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chilies. You can quickly shallow fry these in oil and cumin / mustard a large steel ladle which most Indian kitchens carry . IT looks like this:

Ground onions are difficult to cook - they take too much oil and time and most times will leave a raw acidic flavour in your food. They also cause the viscosity you are referring to unless they are fried in a lot of oil.

2) Buy a stainless steel pressure cooker which can soften your lentils / potatoes / chicken / veggies (brand Hawkins / Prestige). Not only does it quick cook stuff , it also pressurizes the flavour of the curry into your chicken / lentils making it a lot tastier. Please learn how to use it - it can be tricky with water estimation and whistle timing.

Now let's say you wanted to make curried lentils - just pressure cook your lentils with a little salt and turmeric. Then prepare your seasoning with onions, topmatoes, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic and dried red chillies and pour it over your cooked lentils and stir it all together. If you prepare the seasoning in Ghee (unclarified butter) instead of oil, the lentils will taste amazing.

Alternately, you can prepare the seasoning in the pressure cooker, then toss in the soaked lentils, pour water and set your lid to pressure cook all of it - this approach is the best for cooking chicken curry, vegetables like beans and carrots.

Happy to answer follow up questions.


Cracked Mexican/Spanish style rice I've been trying to reproduce my favorite kind of Mexican or Spanish style rice that I find in some restaurants.  It is dry and fluffy and seems to be cracked or split open.  I've gone through many different recipes and videos but the rice always seems to have more moisture than I'm looking for (intentional, for the recipes I'm following) and no split-ness.

I've tried both standard pan and a pressure cooker methods.

Anybody know what the style of rice is called, more specifically, by my description of "cracked/split" and perhaps the secret to making it?

Thanks!

You have to use the right type of rice - Spanish Rice, (such as Arborio Rice or Valencia Rice). This SA post may be helpful to you. You can buy Spanish Rice on amazon.

Don't use rice cooker or pressure cooker. You suppose to toast the rice in oil and fry it with ingredient. See this post for more information.

If you want to increase further the "crack-ness" of the rice, I suggest to soak it in water for few hours before rinsing it. Every time I left the rice forgotten in water they end up breaking apart after cook.

Cracked or split open rice sounds like instant rice to me.  I used to use it exclusively in the olden days.  It was always fluffy.  I imagine some restaurants might use it to save time and trouble.


Is cooking beans or any other food in metal cans safe? Occasionally, I go camping and cook beans over a fire inside of the [what I am assuming is tin] can it comes packaged in (after opening the lid).   Does heating the metal can release any chemicals in the food?   Is it safe?

I usually have the top of the can open and stir it frequently.

The interior of modern cans are a heat resistant plastic (remember they pressure cook the cans at the factory), and will be fine for heating liquid things

Just don't try using it to fry stuff!

buy organic bpa free canned beans and you won't have a problem and a tonne better for you...


How can I recreate the flavour of instant ramen without the salt? I am looking to make my own instant ramen soup - nothing complicated, but there must be a way to duplicate the instant variety without all the salt. I've played with combinations of dried onions + no - salt chicken bouillon, but without much success. The key is something that can be kept in an office drawer for some time - I can already make homemade soup from the scratch.

The Japanese use a stock called Dashi for the base of many soups, sauces and dishes including the famous miso soup. Dashi is made like tea by seeping several different varieties of dried ingredients such as dried bonito flakes, dried baby sardines, dried kelp and dried shitaki mushrooms in varies combinations.

What you can do is boil water and use a teabag to seep the ingredients for a while then just remove the teabag. It requires quite a bit of bonito flakes to get any flavor. Rather than using Ramen noodles you might opt to use cellophane rice noodles or mung bean noodles instead. Finish with a dash of soy sauce, sambal or saracha. All these ingriedents can be ordered online, found at an Asian market or Whole Foods. You might also find several other types of mushrooms (watch out for sand), fish and vegetables that have been dried which will rehydrate nicely in the soup.


How does MSG enhance food flavor? Back many moons ago I used MSG all the time. When a lot of controversy cropped up I gradually went away from using it as I was concerned about the high sodium content it was purported to have.

Now, after doing more reading, I found that MSG has only approximately 1/3 of the sodium content found in table salt. So, my trusty Accent is back in my spice cabinet.

My question is how does it enhance the flavor of foods?

As you are no doubt aware, there are 5 basic tastes - salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami. Umami is the savoury flavour of mushrooms, cheese, cured meats, and so on. MSG is essentially 'pure' umami. In other words, MSG is to umami what salt is to salty and sugar is to sweet. So if you add it to savoury dishes (throw a parmesan rind in to vegetable soup while it's simmering) it enhances their savouriness.

No umami is not a taste, umami means flavor. I've read a couple of sites from non-Japanese that had this misconception.

Most commonly the flavor extract of glutamates + sodium from kelp but it doesn't have to be. It can be practically any food stock but people started misappropriating it to MSG specifically and a "glutamate taste" category.

When used in its original form in Japanese, you can use it to describe any tasty stock's "richness" as umami.


Why do grape-flavored foods taste different than actual grapes? Grapes are one of my favorite fruits, but I typically don't like grape-flavored foods. For example, grape jelly or grape candies (like Jolly Ranchers) have a distinctly different taste. I imagine some of the taste perception has to do with water content. Why is it so different?

Concord grapes, which most grape jellies/jams/preserves in the US are made from, are derived from the (US-native) "fox grape" (Vitis labrusca) rather than (Europe-native) wine grape (Vitis vinifera). Common table grapes (the ones eaten as fresh fruit) such as Thompson seedless are also derived from Vitis vinifera wine grapes.

Fox grapes have a "foxy" taste character, which is a result of the presence of the naturally occurring compound methyl anthranilate. Methyl anthranilate is a rather simple compound, and is used in many situations as an "artificial grape flavor". In many cases "grape flavored" candies, drinks and medicines are flavored not with grape extracts, but with synthetically produced methyl anthranilate. As such, these artificially flavored foods taste like Concord grapes (fox grapes), rather than table or wine grapes.

While it would be possible to come up with "artificial wine grape" flavor, the flavor profile of wine and table grapes is not dominated by a single compound, as fox grapes are. Therefore, any such "artificial wine grape" flavor would be much more expensive than artificial Concord grape flavor (i.e. just methyl anthranilate). As such, when companies reach for "grape flavor", they tend to go for the more inexpensive Concord grape flavor.

This also adds to the persistent expectation (at least in the US) as to what "grape flavored" means. Even if you came out with a wine-grape-flavored Jolly Rancher, many in the US would think it wouldn't taste right, as they expect grape flavored things to taste like Concord grapes.

A jelly or candy, even if using the same aroma compounds that a (raw or cooked) grape or glass of grape juice contains, has a very different balance of sweetness (jelly has a far higher sugar concentration), acidity (balanced by the sugar, or even removed in processing) and texture (jelly coats the tongue, has far less water).


Can I substitute whole anchovies for anchovy paste? I have several recipes that call for anchovy paste; I think they're typically vinaigrettes.  They don't carry the paste at Trader Joe's so I bought a small can of whole anchovies.

Can I substitute the whole (presumably chopped/smashed/pureed) for paste?  I assume I would use the same volume?  And for others, can paste be substituted for whole in recipes where the whole anchovy is going to be pureed anyhow?

Oh, and since I'll have leftover anchovies from the can, I assume they will freeze fine for further anchovy paste substitutions?

You can easily make your own anchovy paste from canned anchovies.   This America's Test Kitchen video shows how:

Chop the anchovies fairly finely
Mash with a fork until smooth

Some sites recommend adding  a little oil for a smoother texture.

I have never tried it, but I don't see any reason this would not freeze exceptionally well, as neither whole anchovies nor the paste are used for their texture.

The paste is just ground up anchovies. I use a mortar and pestle to make it.


What is the term for the "amuse-bouche" at the end of the meal? At several restaurants I've been to, in addition to  serving an amuse-bouche at the beginning of a meal, there is an equivalent complementary small desert served at the end, sometimes before or after the check.

What on earth is the name for this "course"?

I believe you're thinking of "mignardises." This is what they call it on the french laundry menu, and others.

Another possibility is "Petit Fours", which are small pastries typically served at the end of a meal.  I believe there is some overlap in the use of the two terms.

If seeking an English language term, I think "Post-Prandial" is a could work well. But I cannot claim that it's ever been used before.


What are possible substitutes for pineapple in sweet and sour pork/chicken? Most recipes for sweet and sour pork/chicken I see include pineapple example.

But what if someone does not like pineapple?

What are candidate substitutes?

Do they necessarily need to be fruits?

What purpose/taste-component does the pineapple serve?

The recipe title kind of answers the question--it is the sweet, and some of the sour.  Pineapple also has a good firmness.  Note that all of the below is speculation, as this is a most unusual substitution request, so I haven't tried any of this.

Fruit will best serve the role of both tart and sour, so almost every reasonable substitute is going to be fruit.

You have indicated you don't like the flavor of pineapple, which for your goal, is probably good as nothing else will provide that distinctive flavor.  While my first choice would be to not make this recipe, where you don't enjoy one of the signature ingredients, if you do, then you want something that:

Has a good body and mouth feel the way pineapple does, even after the pureeing called for in the cited recipe
A floral, complex flavor
Something sweet and tart

In the recipe you cite, the pineapple is canned, so you are not losing its enzymatic action, as the enzymes in the pineapple were deactivated by the heat during the canning process.

What comes first to my mind is mango, perhaps with a mixture of lime and orange juice to replace the acidity of the pineapple juice, and maybe a touch of sugar to balance the flavor.  You will have to find the right balance, depending on your particular fruit--you may want extra acidity from lemon juice, even, or perhaps extra sugar.  I would use something that adds complexity like brown sugar or turbadino depending on where you live if it is needed.

If you try this, however, you will be inventing essentially a new dish, and will have to work out how long to cook the mixture.

Another more radical choice would be canned peaches, perhaps using some of their syrup for sweetness, and again, lemon or lime juice mixed with orange juice for the acidity. This will probably be even more divergent, but peaches have a good floral complexity, and with enough lemon juice, you should be able to find the sweet/sour balance.  Of course, this would be far from authentic.

Peaches- apricots- oranges or juice- pineapple juice instead of chunks-


White cloudy areas on bottom of new stainless steel skillet I just bought my first few pot and pans "Calaphon" stainless steel trip-ply

I used my new 10" skillet tonight, and cooked pork chops. I heated the pan first, added olive oil, let it heat, then added chops. After I was done, cleaned it immediately under water, and noticed white cloud looking areas on the bottom of the skillet. They won’t wash or rub off

Do I need to return these? I did buy them for the look as well.

Sprinkle the 'cleaned' dry pan with coarse salt - add any kind of inexpensive vinegar, just enough to wet the salt to a wet paste, scrub the pan with this paste with a paper towel for 30 seconds or so, using the salt as a mild "abrasive", while the vinegar dissolves the cloudiness.  Rinse with water and dry.  Voilá.

This is simpler and cheaper than using any kind of kitchen cleanser, and no toxic residue.

It's hard for me to believe the answer is mineral deposits.  After one cooking and one wash, white cloudy marks on the inside bottom of a brand new pan, and in fact on all the pans and pots I used from this new set.  And yet I have another stainless steel pan that I've had for years that has never accrued this mottled, unattractive staining.  I think it must be a cheap quality of stainless steel, and maybe the fact that the tri-ply also has aluminum in it.


How should I incorporate separated eggs in a cookie recipe without instructions? I found a partial (ingredients only) recipe of my Mother's that called for 3 eggs separated for an "Italian Cookies" recipe.  I would love to try it but without any instruction\directions how would I manage this ingredient?
Other ingredients include:

10 Tbsp. butter

1 1/4 c. sugar
beat 2 minutes

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon zest

3 c. flour

bake 350 15-20 minutes.
That's all I have.

I'm going to suspect you beat the whites  (all clean, no fat, no grease, no bits of yolk) to at least soft peaks, possibly stiff peaks, and fold in to the rest - cream the butter & sugar (that's the beat 2 minutes step), add the yolks, add the remaining ingredients, fold in the whites. This is a fairly standard method of using beaten egg whites for a sort of "leavening" by expoiting their trapped air bubbles.

I'd be prone to putting some of the sugar and the vanilla and possibly the zest right at the end (it's got some oil so that's a little risky) in with the whites, but the way you have presented it does not seem to suggest that.

I would suggest:

Mix egg whites, sugar, vanilla - granularity of sugar will incorporate air into egg white
Add butter (room temp or browned) - everything will thicken
Lemon zest can go into any of the above steps
Add flour - you may want to hand-mix and leave little dry flour

Of course, refrigerate and bake the next day.


Storing dried peppers I've got about 20 red thai peppers from my garden this year that I air dried.  I currently have them in a mason jar with the lid and ring on (not sealed though).  Is this a sufficient storage method, or is there a better way?  The peppers are whole.

That's how I store the bird's eye chili that I get from my small balcony garden. I truss them up so they're hanging from their stems and hang that from a baker's rack, let them dry naturally, and just store them in a glass jar with a lid or cork.

I produce way more than I use, so I use small (pint) size glass jars to store the peppers, and I rotate them by using the oldest batch to grind up into several kinds of chili powder; the oldest batch I keep in the cabinet is about 8 months old (and that's the point where the pungency has mellowed just enough for use in rubs and stuff)

But yes, as long as you've got them covered and stored in a relatively cool place, they'll keep a nice flavor for quite some time. Just don't forget about them and taste before using if you can't remember when you bottled them (labels help!) :)

If they are not completely air dried, and in a jar (even without the lid tight) condensation and/or mould will result. Make sure they are dry - I hang mine by threading clear filament through the stems with a needle, stacking them with the string at the top to tie them up to hang - and you can always add more. Hang in a shaded dry place (not over stove-top or sink).

Also add fully dried chillies to an Olive Oil bottle, along with some whole peppercorns and let sit on shaded counter-top for a few weeks to infuse.

Fresh chillies can be frozen in a jar whole, with stems on, or chop them fine and freeze.


What is French couscous? In the US some supermarkets carry several varieties of couscous in their bulk sections, one of which is labeled French couscous. How does it differ from the other varieties of bulk grains called couscous?  Is it just a matter of shape?

My guess is that what they call French couscous is really Lebanese couscous in marketing disguise. The Lebanese speak French, and calling it Lebanese might put people off due to their political leanings. French is probably just more palatable. Kind of like creating the term canola oil in favor of trying to market rapeseed oil.

Okay yes canola also has other aspects for its name. Other examples of renaming are nyjer birdseed and orange roughy fish (aka pacific slime head).
The bag of ‘French’ couscous I made last night went wonderfully with the braised lamb with vegetables, clementine, and kumquat stout stew. The balls were about the same size as lentils, bigger than Israeli couscous.


Where can I bulk-buy cheap parmesan? My friend planted three rows of basil in his garden to make pesto, and now we need to source roughly 25-50lbs of parmesan. With that kind of quantity, cheaper is better.

The price of genuine-sealed-and-certified parmagiano reggiano is quite high and fairly consistent, especially for more aged varieties.  I think your best bet to save money will be to use a similar parmagiano reggiano cousin, such as grana padano, romano, or a quality Argentinian reggianito.  As a second-tier approach, you might look at domestic Parmesan, but use caution as it may not have the same quality as a one of the Italian imports.

As for genuine Parmesan: you're buying at least a couple hundred dollars of cheese, and this gives you some bargaining power.  Buy or ask to taste a small sample of whatever you're considering, and try to negotiate; managers may be willing to offer you a bulk discount.  I'd gather a couple quotes from cheese shops, try prices at your local Costco/Sam's Club, and talk to the upscale grocery stores in your area.

As far as pricing goes, I've seen genuine-seal-and-everything Parmagiano Reggiano on sale at about $12-13/lbs at my local Southern Season.  I generally expect to pay $18-22/lbs at upscale grocery stores for Parmesan, with remarkably little variation between stores.  Your standard grocery stores tend to sell small blocks of inferior-quality and freshness Parmesan for similar prices.

In contrast, grana padano runs around $12-13/lbs on average at my local Trader Joe's, and might be available for under $10/lbs with a good sale.  I usually buy blocks of that for general cooking use, as it is close enough in taste and much cheaper.

This is just plain silly!  You can get grated domestic parmesan at ca 4.14/lb in bulk foods section of WINCO supermarkets. Plenty of flavor, particularly if making pesto


Can I store raw meat in the fridge after defrosting in the microwave? I had a frozen package of bacon. I only wanted to use half the bacon, but couldn't separate the frozen bacon strips, so I defrosted the whole package in the microwave. The bacon got quite warm - not fully cooked, but smelling like bacon. I used what I needed and put the rest in the fridge immediately. I'm planning on using the rest of the bacon in a few days. Is that a good idea, or should I just throw it away?

You can use it in a few days, that will be fine. Issues with food safety come into play largely when food is kept in the danger zone, around 40-140F for an extended time.

The texture of the bacon might not be quite as good since it's kind of like the second time you'll be cooking it.

You didn't say HOW LONG it was "quite warm" nor how warm "quite" is, but assuming you mean it was a room temp for a few hours, it's fine. In a more general way, if it doesn't smell bad, it is probably OK.


How long can cooked food be safely stored at room/warm temperature? If I leave fully-cooked food (particularly meat) out at warm temperature - say on the counter or in a crock pot that's been turned off -  how long will it stay safe to eat?

Does it make any difference if I re-cook the food afterward?

The USDA has this to say on it:

  Storing Leftovers
  One of the most common causes of foodborne illness is improper cooling of cooked foods. Because bacteria are everywhere, even after food is cooked to a safe internal temperature, they can be reintroduced to the food and then reproduce. For this reason leftovers must be put in shallow containers for quick cooling and refrigerated within 2 hours.

You'll find similar statements from government agencies around the world.  The safe limit for raw or cooked food is 2 hours in the danger zone (40-140° F or 4.4-60° C).

If you're a restaurant owner or cook, you must follow this rule, hold hot foods above 60° C and quick-cool other foods before refrigerating.  If you are not working in a professional capacity then you are not legally required to follow it, but if you are serving guests then it would be irresponsible (and possibly actionable, if someone gets sick) to do otherwise.

If you're an individual serving only yourself, then take whatever liberties and break whatever rules you want; it's your food, and your body.  But there's no table or chart anyone can give you; there's no single specific point at which a food transitions from "not entirely safe" to "probably will kill you" because it depends entirely on the food, the environment, your immune system, and a plethora of other variables. The rule is 2 hours, period; any longer and there is some non-trivial risk to your health.

Some hints, tips, and warnings:

The 2-hour rule is a conservative estimate with a safety margin. Don't ask what that margin is. It's like asking what the "real" speed limit is on a posted road; you might know from experience, but it could change depending on circumstances and exceeding it by any amount means you take your chances and accept the risks.
Don't put large, hot items (such as an entire pot of soup or chili) directly into the fridge. The residual heat will warm up and potentially spoil other items in the refrigerator.
To quickly cool large cooked items, use an ice-water bath and/or divide them into small containers. (Note: Don't use an ice-water bath for cast iron.)
Don't assume that re-cooking an improperly-stored item will make it safe. Most bacteria produce protein toxins, which are actually the primary agents responsible for food poisoning, and several of these toxins are heat-resistant. Cooking will not kill or inactivate these toxins and eating the re-cooked food will still make you sick.
Don't assume that cooking "kills everything" and that a cooked food or cooking surface is absolutely sterile. Cooking kills enough to make the food safe to eat, but some organisms - such as bacterial spores from bacillus and clostridium - can survive the cooking process and immediately start producing more bacteria. Sous-vide bags, crock pots, etc. are not safe environments for cooked food in the temperature danger zone.

I left a crockpot full of broth, smoked turkey, turnips seasonings  and spices(Onions red green & yellow peppers) mistakenly, out overnight & it was covered. That was around 8pm. I went somewheres, returned at 10am. Yeah, it was left all night long. But I said, "bump that", reboiled it, threw in some sun dried tomatoes & fresh spinach, threw some hot sauce on it, served over rice and I ate it, damn everything these germophobes say! Then I washed it down with some ice-cold gingerale!


Onion soup: How to chop the onion and what kind of cheese to put in it? What is your preferred type of cut for the onion in onion soup?

And how do you put the cheese? A deep chunk submerged in each plate, on top? What kind of cheese do you like?

When I make French Onion soup I slice my onions very thin. It also helps to use a small onion so the pieces aren't so wide.

For the cheese I use gruyere cheese. It should be grated.

In order for the cheese to cook properly you need to have some stale french bread. It should be toasted lightly on both sides and then sliced fairly thin. Then you place the bread on top of the soup and then the grated cheese on top of that. Next put the soup in the broiler so that it melts the cheese.

Definitely add shallots, makes the soup so tasty. Float the toast topper with some provolone on top, melt under the broiler.


Prevent cocoa from settling I want to make a lightly sweetened, very dark chocolate sauce. I've been trying to make this with water or milk and cocoa powder and a small amount of sugar. It has the taste I want, but the problem I'm having is that the cocoa settles to the bottom of whatever it's stored in and is a pain to mix every time it's used.

I've thought about making a syrup, however that requires a lot of sugar. I've thought about adding a gum, but that seems to change the taste.

Any ideas? I'm also open to better dark recipes, such as @rumtscho suggested (using chocolate instead of cocoa powder).

You are fighting a losing battle here. Cocoa powder does not dissolve in water, and it will simply sediment over time. If you are unwilling to do something about viscosity (and I understand that - gums do change flavor), you can only slow the process by using methods which are increasingly difficult to apply at home (basically, creating smaller cocoa powder pieces).

If you are not already doing so, boiling the sauce first will help somewhat. This is the same line of thinking as adding some starch (cornstarch or tapioca were mentioned, doesn't matter which). Cocoa powder itself is mostly starch, so once it is cooked, it will be more puddinglike and will bind water better.

My preferred solution though would be to abandon the recipe and start working with chocolate instead. Chocolate is a sol, consisting of solid particles suspended in fat. Much like an emulsion, only both phases are solid. When you mix it with the fatty emulsion of milk, you achieve a much smoother mixture than the cocoa powder + water combination. It won't guarantee perfect dispersion, but should be better. Unlike the previous suggestion, do not boil or you will lose the advantages of the existing sol/emulsion.

I would inquire as to the best place to introduce "Tapioca Flour." It is a great thickener and can often used in many dessert applications.


Kitchen safe touchscreen recipe reader I think it would be nice for me to have a rugged computer based networkable device with a touch screen mounted in the kitchen to bring up those difficult recipes.

Does anyone here have any experience with such equipment and so point me to a reliable one?

I've been using an iPad as others have suggested. Option 1 is to vecro it to a cabinet or the fridge etc. where it is not in danger of getting caught in a spill. You can navigate just fine with a nuckle or the back of your wrist if your hands are a mess.

Option 2 is put it in a gallon zipper bag. I recommend the 'storage' type over the freezer type as the plastic is thinner and won't interfere with the screen. If you are going to be using it for something with audio it won't sound good, but if you have something with airplay (I use a in the kitchen you can shift the audio over there, which is a good idea anyway as the volume level of an iPad really can't compete with kitchen noise.

I'm considering putting in a permanently mounted 50" LCD screen when I remodel. If so it will be connected to a computer in the basement under the kitchen, and have a touchscreen overlay added to it. The overlay uses light beam interruption and senses 'touch' without you really having to make contact with the screen. This is probably more than most people want to mess with though.

I saw a deal on one of these a few weeks ago and while my mouse was haning over the buy-now box i had a mental picture of my cook-books.  Mine are covered with grit, grime, and god knows what else. Before you think about going with this solution think about what currently holds your recipies and what kind of shape it's in. If yours look anything like mine then your new shiny touch screen could be ruined in a very short time.

Also, think about where you're going to put this. Too close to the stove and you have heat/ steam issues; too far away and it's pretty useless to have a scroll touch-screen if you can't reach it. Also, when I'm in the kitchen I alomost always have something in my hands, wooden spoon, sharp knife, apple, whatever; I'm sure I would stab, bludgeon, or otherwise mangle a touch screen very quickly.


How can I modify my banana bread recipe to make cookies from it? I love banana bread but it is troublesome to find a proper container to store it or even a bag big enough. For that reason and also for convenience, I would like to try to use the banana bread recipe, but make them into cookies. The thing is, I'm not sure how I would have to change the recipe because banana bread and cookies have difference in the recipe that make them cook differently.

Here is the link for the banana bread recipe I use--though I modify it by adding more bananas, some butter, and a touch more baking soda and baking powder to adjust for the difference in volume of ingredients. I also add cocoa powder because chocolate and bananas are wonderful flavors together.

How can I turn this recipe into one that I can use to make cookies?
Will the cookies be like bread or more solid like a typical chocolate chip cookie?
How should I adjust the temperature and cooking time for cooking?
Is the consistency of the dough really important? (Should it just be enough to make cookie blobs)

As DrRandy said in the comments, cookies are really far from banana bread. It's going to be pretty difficult. I would suggest instead looking for a banana cookie recipe. Even if you don't like the first one you find, you can use it as a starting point or find another, and you'll go through a lot fewer failed batches than you will if you try to start from your banana bread recipe.

If you do start from a banana cookie recipe, the things you'd most likely want to modify:

adding more chocolate chips - just do it
adding more chocolate flavor - replace a bit of flour with cocoa powder
adding more banana flavor - you can try adding additional banana puree and flour to compensate for the water, but it'll make the cookies more cakey and crumbly, less chewy. You can also just use banana extract.

If you do try to convert it into a bona fide cookie recipe, I'm pretty sure you'll discover fairly quickly that the idea doesn't make a lot of sense. In order to make a cookie recipe, you're going to take all the ingredients besides bananas and chocolate and completely change their ratios. To figure out how to do that, you'll use a cookie recipe - so you'll be converting a cookie recipe into a banana cookie. You'll have to reduce the amount of bananas , too, because a cookie can't hold that much liquid. No matter how you get there, all that'll be left of your banana bread recipe is the fact that what you baked contains bananas, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder.

So to try to answer your specific questions:

(how to convert) If I had to guess, I'd say the best starting point might be a chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses melted butter. You could replace half of the butter with bananas and see what happens. From there you could possibly add additional banana and flour, turning it into a cakier cookie with more banana flavor. And to get cocoa powder in, just replace a bit of flour with it. But why not instead start from an existing banana cookie recipe? It'll be much closer to what you want, much less trial and error. And I don't really see any way to think of this as modifying the banana bread recipe; you need a cookie base for your cookies.
(will they be like bread) Well, if you just tried to make cookies using your existing recipe, yes, they'll be like bread. If you use a cookie dough as the basis, they'll be more like cookies.
(temperature and time) No matter what you do, the time will be way shorter (smaller things cook through faster). You probably won't have to adjust the temperature that much, maybe 25 degrees either way depending on the kind of cookie you decide to make.
(is the consistency important) Totally subjective. If you want to make something that's obviously a cookie, well, the consistency is the big difference between a cookie and a quick bread. If you want it to be easier to keep (not crumbly, less moist so it won't mold) then again, that's all about consistency. If all you want is to make something that tastes good, it doesn't matter at all. You can spoon sufficiently thick quick bread/muffin batter onto a baking sheet and bake it, and you'll get basically muffin tops.

http://www.theslackergourmet.com/2012/11/baking-turning-quick-bread-mix-into.html
Well here's a link on how to do so for All the non believers . Hope you enjoy !


If a recipe calls for canned beans and I want to use dried beans, what do I need to do to the dried beans first? This is for chili in a slow cooker and I'll be using red beans of some kind--kidney I suppose.  I know I need to soak them, but do they need to be pre-cooked too?

Canned beans are already cooked, so if you want the same texture... yes.  Soak and then cook your beans until they are just tender.

nonsense.  I always just rinse the dried beans and throw them into the crock.  The crock cooks all day, why would you need to soak the beans for an equal amount of time beforehand?  I've made plenty of soups using beans, and have never had a problem.


How long does bicarbonate soda (baking soda) keep? I am thinking of baking biscuits for presents for Christmas.

However, the recipe calls for baking soda, and I cook from scratch fairly rarely, so I'm worried the leftover bicarb will go strange in my cupboard.  And since people use it for all sorts of purposes, it's one of those products generally not available in the small quantities called for in cooking.

If I do buy a packet, how long is an expected shelf-life for it?  Based on this question I probably should find an airtight container to store it in, which may assist.

(Note if relevant: I live in Sydney Australia; Christmas here is mid-summer, and often fairly high-humidity and 35-40 degree C heat.)

StillTasty provides a very conservative answer: 6 months at best quality. In my personal experience, it can last much longer and be just fine, though I think the longest I ever kept a box was a couple years, not 5 years like riotburn. StillTasty suggests that the concern after more than 6 months is lost potency, but I believe the potential to take on odors from the surroundings is much more of a concern; store it in something airtight like you said, and you should be pretty safe from that.

So I'm sure it'll last at least until next Christmas. And if you do get into baking, you might go through a box faster than you'd think. Otherwise, it's fortunately pretty cheap, and it does have other uses (e.g. cleaning) so it won't hurt you too much to just go for it.

Baking soda causes a flattening of baked goods.  Baking powder gives baked goods a rise.  So the older baking soda in the picture did exactly what it should have and there is no reason to discard the Nov 2010 baking soda.


Whiskey inside a metal flask for a month. Safe for drinking? Taste aside, is it safe for drinking? Whiskey that was left inside a stainless steel flask?

Whiskey is quite high in alcohol, on the order of 40% by volume, and is not hospitable to pathogens growing.

The flask is intended to hold liqueur, and so is made from or lined with a food safe material, such as food grade stainless steel (assuming you have one from a reputable manufacturer).

So yes, it should be fine.

Remember:  when it was distilled, the whiskey was probably held at different stages for long periods in a stainless steel vat.

I have a dozen stainless flasks,  that i place 80 proof whiskey in and age an additional 4 years before drinking.......some of the best stuff I've ever drank.


Cookies are too sweet I made chocolate chip cookies and added too much brown sugar. The cookies are too sweet. I've used real butter and real chocolate chips. Does anyone have any ideas?

You might be able to overcome the sweetness by adding a tart glaze to the cookies (lemon or lime), but I don't know how well that'll go with the chocolate chips.  Another option would be to crush them up to make a yogurt parfait (made with plain, unsweetned yogurt).

You might also consider some of the options mentioned in What can I use hard, crunchy, leftover cookie-mistakes for?

There is nothing that you can do with your current batch of cookies (or eat with milk).

You just have to follow the recipe correctly and not add sugar as expected!!!

If after properly following the recipe, switch to another low(er) sugar recipe.

Use any internet search for "low sugar cookies" (or something similar).


How to flake rock sea salt? I received a gift of pink rock sea salt and would like to know how best to process it into flakes.  Briefly tried a box grater but that resulted in fine granules. The container includes three walnut sized crystals.  Is there some kind of gadget that these are used with? Suggestions?

AO

Flakes form when salty liquid evaporates. With naturally formed flake salt, like harvested sea salt flakes, it's skimmed off the top of seawater pools. I have read, but not confirmed, that higher-volume commercial flake salt manufacturers boil salt water dry and collect the salt from the cooking vessels.

So the good news is that you don't need to buy any fancy gadgets; the bad news is that if you're just interested in obtaining flaky salt and not doing this for some other reason, you probably don't want to do this.

You could try dissolving your salt in water and then boiling it down, but I'd be surprised if you managed to get a consistent flake scraping it off the bottom of the pan. Pretty sure that just buying flake salt and saving your big old salt nugs for grinding or grating would be the way to go... but hey, it's your salt.

There is a thing called a morter & pedistal. Make sure it has groves in it for grinding. Hard stone is the best. Onix or marble.


How do I make my Thai curry with paste taste better? Looking for simple tips to improve my curries made from paste.  I know of a few answers I've learned, but looking for others...
Thanks!

Original curry recipe:

Fry tofu in oil in a non-stick pan.
Bring coconut milk to a boil, add curry paste.
Add tofu and any other veggies.
Simmer for >= 15 minutes.

If available, add Kaffir Lime leaves to the coconut milk.
They go a surprisingly long way in adding a more authentic Thai taste.  It adds more sweet & savory flavor; not like something like Bay leaves at all.

Fry the tofu ideally in a cast iron pan.  Otherwise anything but non-stick is also more preferable (i.e: steel).
That helps caramelize the surface more, which non-sticks don't really do at all (they just singe).


Why is it recommended to blanch onions before pickling them? I was recently looking for a recipe to pickle onions, and among several others I found this one. Skimming through the comments I came across the same question as I'm asking now, but without any other answer than the musings of the author of the recipe:

Pouring water over the onions is something I've always done without quite knowing why. A quick internet research shows that most picked onion recipes call for this, but without explanation.
Hot water is often pour over onions (that aren't going to be pickled or cooked) in order to tame their sharpness and soften them a little. But a pickling brine is so intense and sharp itself, perhaps it isn't necessary.

So I started wondering myself whether or not the latter part of the quote is true; is it necessary to blanch the onions before pickling them, as the pickling solution is so sharp in taste anyway?
The recipe in question mixes:

1 medium red onion, about 5 ounces
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar

And then let it all rest in a jar for 30 min-2hrs before it is ready. It is supposed to keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. The blanching of the onions happens before it is all put in the jar.

From  indiacurry.com :

  Blanching Vegetables for freezing or pickling

  Vegetables have a natural enzyme that continues to effect texture, color and flavor. Blanching stops the enzyme action
  The natural enzymes help vegetable to grow and mature until they are harvested. After the vegetables have been harvested, they continue to remain active even when frozen or pickled making the pickles to be tough, effect the color and flavor. Blanching stops the action of the enzymes.
  The purpose of blanching is not to sterilize or pasteurize vegetables. It may kill some but not all the surface micro-organisms

  Blanching is done by either scalding vegetables in rapidly boiling water, or in a steamer for a short time period. The vegetables must be scalded just long enough to stop the enzyme reaction, but not too long to make them soft and mushy by breaking up the cell-walls.
  Under-blanching stimulates enzyme activity and is worse than not blanching
  Over-blanching causes loss of texture, color, flavor and vitamins.
  Vegetables are blanched for freezing or making Indian pickles.

It's likely a matter of taste.  Why not do a little experiment?  Blanch half, pickle all, keep track of which is which, taste, report back.


does bread have alcohol in it? According to wikipedia, the byproducts of yeast fermenting (like done in baking it says) are carbon dioxide and alcohol (not necessarily ethanol -- the kind you can get drunk on).

If that's the case, then technically speaking does every form of raised bread have alcohol in it?

The majority of the alcohol evaporates during baking.

McGee's On Food and Cooking says (pg 532):

  In making beer and wine, the carbon dioxide escapes from the fermenting liquid, and alcohol accumulates. In making bread both carbon dioxide and alcohol are trapped by the dough, and both are expelled from the dough by the heat of baking.

I also found this report, which states that some alcohol (0.04 to 1.9%) may remain.

However, the report is from 1926, so
1. it may not be really representing modern day situation
2. the data, methodology etc. is not reported: it looks more like an informal news than a real research article, so I cannot critique on whether the results are realistic.

Theres a reason why people add alcohol to bake bread or cake, so that it could have a long lasting half life for it to  stay long enough to avoid spoilage of the baked desired product. So either heat or not, there is always little quantity of alcohol left in it after baking has taking it proccess...


Substituting margarine for butter in cookies I want to make cookies but I am allergic to dairy. Is margarine an acceptable substitute for butter in cookie recipes, and if so, how do I substitute it?

I have a family member who is lactose intolerant, and we often substitute margarine (or various oils) for butter in cooking. We've found that this is mostly interchangeable, but can be unpredictable in baking due to different melting properties. Also, as Marti noted in a comment below, it's a challenge to find unsalted margarine (important if directly substituting for unsalted butter).

I'd love to see any answers on strategies for adapting recipes to account for butter-margarine differences, but in my experience it is easier to either settle for slightly sub-par cookies — or (preferably) to try non-dairy or vegan recipes instead, which are designed with a non-butter fat in mind and therefore have better results.

It's absolutely no problem to replace butter with margarine in cookies and actually in any other kind of dough. Just substitute butter with margarine keeping the same proportion.


How to grill without an actual grill Clarification: The term "grill" is used here with the US-based term for grilling, which may differ from other countries such as Great Britain and Australia, where it is typically called a "barbecue"; Ideally it is a direct flame against one side of the food at a time, though other heat sources are not out of scope.

I live in an apartment complex where it is hugely impractical (if not impossible) to own a full-size grill. Despite this, I really want the ability to grill small amounts of meat and vegetables without too much hassle. Two possible solutions occurred to me, but I'm not sure which would be better or if there's a third option I'm unaware of:

Portable propane grill (camping stove) - I don't know how practical this would be, but the ability to fold it up and store it would be nice. Do these work as well as a normal propane grill?
Cast iron grill pan - I've seen many of these online that basically just sit on a stove burner and allegedly emulate a regular grill. I'm skeptical because the lack of a direct flame seems like it would affect the outcome.

Are either of those actually good options? Is there a better way that I haven't thought of? I know there are also miniature charcoal grills but they don't seem to be nearly as portable or space efficient as the other two.*

Edit: Advice in the answers/comments has led me to order a smokeless stovetop grill, because they're so cheap and allegedly pretty good there's no reason not to try it out. This is the one I decided on. In a couple days it should be here and I'll give it a thorough test and report back.

Keep the advice coming! It seems there are several other good options, so I want to float as many of them as possible for future viewers to reference.

* As for an outdoor solution: it's somewhat restricted in my area, you're allowed to have them but they must remain unconnected to a fuel source if they're within 25' of the building. That's one big reason I'm interested in indoor solutions, though I can compromise if a charcoal option seems like the way to go.

Conclusion: The stovetop smokeless grill worked out great. It's not a perfect replacement for a real grill but for such a cheap pricepoint and for its ease of use, it provides very satisfying results. The only things you need to watch out for are the fact that it doesn't cook evenly, so you have to rotate your food at least once, and it doesn't burn away oil and fats like a normal grill, though it does drain a fair amount of them; basically just go very light on the oil or you'll end up with a greasy mess.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!

Another consideration is that some apartment complexes have restrictions on what type of grills can be used because of fire hazards. Where we lived many years ago we were not allowed to use charcoal or gas.

So, there are a couple of options. First would be a smaller than full size electric grill. There are many available in different shapes and sizes. Some can be used both indoors and outdoors.

This is similar to the one we had. It has a small footprint and works well where there is limited space. But there are also many small table-top models available.

Another option is a smokeless indoor stove top grill. This is closer to actual grilling than a grill pan and actually works better than it looks like it would. I have one that we have used for years anytime outdoor grilling has not been an option. Most are very reasonably priced and work well on both gas and electric stoves. And using two (or more) is always an option.

2 Cheap ways to grill and without a bought actual grill.

A) In the city or in a town: If you are in the city or in a town, then you obviously can not make a bonfire. So then what you could do is if you have an old concrete building tube you could use it as the wall of the grill.
On the top of the concrete building tube put a stove grill, and on that grill you can grill your food.
You could use coal or wood exactly like a normal bought grill to burn in your grill. But this grill is pretty much for free.

B) In the city or in a town: This one is the same as no. 2 but with a difference that you use some old bricks instead of concrete tubing. You simply build a square brick shaped wall so that you get a hole about 50cm or more in the middle. See to it that the bricks are not stacked exactly on top of each other but stacked in a staircase order exactly as if you were building a house. And on the top of these bricks you put the stove grill where you grill you food.
You can use coal or wood as a normal grill for this grill too.
NOTE: Do not make your grill out of stone bricks, because they could explode.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Both grills are for a garden or anywhere outside. Note that the free solutions are all based on self building, so it is VERY important of how good you are at self building stuff. If you are not good at self building  stuff (handyman), ask help of somebody who is a good handyman, and if you have no such option then I advice not to play with fire. After all making a grill by yourself is playing with fire. Of course do look up at the laws and regulations of the place you live first.

How well it is made it is of key importance behind any self made grill.

The question is mutual of "How to grill without an actual grill", it does not specify of a commercial or not commercial grill, he only makes an EXAMPLE of commercial grills compared to another solution. So there for commercial or not commercial grill answers are both fine.

NOTE - IMPORTANT: How ever for the free solutions if you do not have your own garden or small peace of soil to build a free self build grill then build it together with your neighbors and share the grill. Of course "together with your neighbors" with their approval too. On the other hand do inform yourself of the local laws or regulations on self build before you start it. Also talk with the owner of the land if the land is not owned by you with your neighbors. RESPECT them in your surrounding, is very important.

EXAMPLES

Brick home made grills:

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/project_images/building-a-barbecue/single-brick-bbq.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c4/2c/5b/c42c5bee37a65dec32339c40a3565480.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5e/1a/c7/5e1ac7226080cfce7ff29a0950296555--homemade-grill-diy-grill.jpg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kmDYUrVHPWc/maxresdefault.jpg
https://cdn.instructables.com/F6I/AO6S/HHJOCILD/F6IAO6SHHJOCILD.MEDIUM.jpg

CONSTRUCTION simplified blueprint for a brick home made grill: http://amazingribs.com/images/pix/Hog_Pit_RGB.jpg

Concrete building tube home made grills:

https://cdn.instructables.com/F03/6H49/HHS9LRP2/F036H49HHS9LRP2.LARGE.jpg
http://images.manmadediy.com/rIA76RlEyTY8_asw-tY8CEfTXcs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/http://assets.manmadediy.com/photos/27602/hibachi_00-1_large.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/44/b9/c7/44b9c7f3b5f65b6556cfa31d6e84d957--concrete-projects-outdoor-projects.jpg

NOTE: My grandfather use to build all his life brick stoves in his time for many towns in Romania. Although stoves and grills are not the same thing, they are pretty much similar when we talk about wood heated stoves. He thought me some of his ideas, that is why I know how to build them or grills too, the same technique is applied, but grills are more simple then stoves.


Can I make pancakes with waffle mix? It's thanksgiving, bought pancake mix to enjoy on a cold morning with the family. It had bugs in it from the store.

I have waffle mix, but my iron is MIA. Can I make pancakes or something alike using the waffle batter I have on hand?

Yes.The basic ingredients for both are the same; the difference lies in how they are cooked.

Yes you very well can! I have Krusteaz Waffle Mix and instead of the box directions I just mixed it with water and they came out great!


Problems cooking Wagyu brisket While I save up for a proper outdoor smoker, I've been experimenting with using the basic brisket BBQ techniques, but with a fan forced in our kitchen. So far, the regular briskets have turned out fine, but the Wagyu ones have all turned out tough and dry.

This weekend I tried again with two identical 7.5lb Wagyu briskets - one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
The one on Saturday was tough and dry, so I reduced the temperature and the cooking time on Sunday - same result.

Would appreciate any advice. My cooking methods over this weekend are below:

SATURDAY

Use paper towels to remove excess moisture.
Apply a rub of salt, pepper and smoked paprika.
Wrap in foil and leave overnight in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to about 248 deg F (120 celsius)
Put a container of water at the bottom of the oven for moisture
Remove the brisket from the foil and place on the middle rack
Leave in the oven untouched and unopened for 3.5 hours
At this point the color was good but the outside was hard,
and when pushed with a finger the meat felt well done.
Spritzed with cider vinegar, then wrapped in foil
Placed back in the oven and reduced the temperature to about 220-230 deg F
Cooked for a further 2.5 hours in the foil
Removed from oven and rested for an hour

RESULT - Dry, well done and chewy with the meat in the middle looking gray.

SUNDAY

I reduced the initial temperature to about 220 deg F
and reduced the unwrapped cook time to about 2 hours.
Everything else was the same.
When I took it out, it wasn't as dark but still felt well done
and when cut, it was still dry and 'overcooked' right through.
The foil-wrapped cooking time didn't help tenderize it at all.

QUESTIONS

Why is it overcooking and drying out at such low temperatures, when normal briskets don't?
My Mom says that a fan-forced oven is hotter than a regular one, but I reduced the temperature
to compensate for this. Could a fan-forced oven still be the problem?
I would have thought Wagyu would be even more tender than regular brisket. What's up?

Thanks in advance.

Your brisket was undercooked, not overcooked. At the temperatures you stated, rule of thumb for brisket cooking time is about 1.25-1.5 hours per pound. Convection may drop that down a tad. A 7.5 pound brisket should be cooked for at least 8 hours, and could be closer to 10 or so.

The cuts of meat that are designated as "barbecue" meats are generally full of connective tissue. You put it through a long, low-temperature cooking process to render down that tissue, which will both tenderize and moisturize the meat. Undercooked barbecue will often be mischaracterized as "dry," because the amount of chewing required on the meat robs the mouth of saliva. Properly-cooked brisket will slice easily, and a slice should easily pull apart when gently tugged with two hands. This is not a steak, so the sensibilities you would apply to cooking a steak go out the window. A brisket has only just BEGUN to break down its connective tissues when it reaches what would be regarded as "Well Done." It is not likely done from a quality perspective until the internal temperature of the meat has reached at least 190f.

Next time, budget a cooking time 1.5 hours per pound. If it is finished sooner, wrap it in foil and towels, and leave it to rest in a cooler. It will safely keep that way for up to four hours, and a long rest will result in a better product anyway. Start checking the internal temperature of the meat about halfway through your budgeted time. At around 165f, wrap the brisket in foil, pouring some beef broth into the wrap, and return it to your oven. Start checking for doneness at about 75% of the cooking timeline you have laid out. You should be able to slide a probe in and out of your brisket easily, with just a small amount of resistance. That is when you know it is done. Not by time, not by internal temperature, but in the tactile clues provided by the meat. You can optionally take the brisket back out of the foil when you think your are close to being done, in order to give yourself a better bark. When you are confident the meat is done, rest in a cooler (using the aforementioned foil/towel treatment) for at least an hour.

When you are ready to slice your brisket, be sure to SLICE ACROSS THE GRAIN. This will serve as another tenderness aid. You should also reserve the jus that is generated, and pour it over your brisket slices. This should enhance your success with making a brisket.

Wagyu it not anything special comparing to other grass feed cattle, it's just more fat marbled. So if you like that, then it's great

The increased marbling is mostly in the top cuts, and not so much in the bottom cuts like brisket, so Wagyu cross breed cattle isn't going to make that much difference for this

Your technique seems overly complex! Just cook it, covered, until done by measuring the internal temperature


How do you clean a seasoned cast iron skillet? I have a seasoned cast iron skillet, and I don't want to mess up the seasoning when I'm cleaning it.  What do I use and what don't I use to get it back to clean?

I've heard not to use soap and to make sure it is dry, but nothing beyond that.

Kosher salt and a small amount of vegetable oil.  Scrub the pan with the salt on a rag or paper towel, if there are stubborn bits mix a couple drops of oil with the salt, wipe dry with clean towel.  If you use a wet method to clean the pan re-heat it after cleaning to make sure it is completely dry before storing.

Well-seasoned cast iron cookware provides one of the best surfaces for cooking, since it heats foods evenly and can do just about anything — including go on the stove or in the oven. That said, it's a notoriously tricky material to clean and maintain if you don't know what you're doing.

Avoid using the dishwasher, soap, or steel wool, as these may strip the pan's seasoning. Scrub off stuck-on bits: To remove stuck-on food, scrub the pan with a paste of coarse kosher salt and water.


Leaving the food out to cool off after cooking After cooking, if the food is hot I heard it is better to leave it out until it cools. Why? Because if you place it hot in the refrigerator, the bacteria will grow there.
On the other hand, I think that leaving it out too much on the shelf would also attract bacteria.
So what is the truth? What should I do, leaving it out to cool off or placing it hot in the refrigerator?

Some facts seem to be getting mixed up here.

Hot food is going to remain "warm" (i.e. in the danger zone) much longer if you leave it on the counter rather than in the fridge. That's basic physics. If the ambient temperature is colder, then the food will stay warm for less time, leaving less time for bacteria to grow.

There are reasons not to pop a huge boiling pot directly into the refrigerator, or more importantly the freezer, but they mostly revolve around the side effects - notably, that it will warm up other food, accelerating spoilage of everything else in there, and in some cases be very hard on your appliance (which needs to run at full tilt in order to handle all the heat).

Assuming you've got your food divided into small portions, you'll want to refrigerate them as soon as possible, or use an ice bath to cool them even faster as Jason mentions.

I leave my hot food (usually stews or soups) out (things like steaks and such go right in, covered), for a while, for a number of reasons:

A 'skin' forms over the top of the liquid, preventing evaporation via steaming, which creates a cooling effect.
I stir the pot frequently, bringing the hottest food out of the center, allowing it to cool faster.
I don't want to put hot food in the refrigerator, it will tend to warm up the other foods already in there.
I like to cover the food once it's in the refrigerator.  If I put a pot in uncovered, the chances are fairly good that I'll forget about it and have dried glop the next day.


Cream separates to oil when heated When I heat 35% cooking cream on the stove, a layer of oil separates. I tried heating in the microwave and still observed the same. Is that normal in the process of heating cream? Should I use a lower heat level?

Thanks.

Generally if the cream separates, that means you've heated it too much -- either too hot, or too long.

Also, if you're making a cream-based pasta sauce, the standard method is to add the cream last to the other cooked ingredients in the sauce.  That way you're less likely to overcook the cream.  Most cream-based pasta sauces start with a base that has solids and oil, such as a white roux or a pesto, which further helps the cream hold together.

That layer of oil is known as purified butter. In India it's known as ghee. We use that in cooking, it's better and healthier than processed oil that you get in the market.


What is pizza sauce? I am making a dip that requires 'pizza sauce'. The store doesn't sell anything called 'pizza sauce' that I could find. Instead, I got plain tomato sauce. What do I need to add to it to make it 'pizza sauce'?

Pizza sauce is, presumably, whatever tomato-based sauce you'd put on a pizza. Those tend to be essentially like smooth (not chunky), lightly seasoned spaghetti sauce. If by "plain tomato sauce" you mean a jar of tomato sauce for spaghetti, you're probably in good shape. If you mean a can of pure tomato sauce, with no other ingredients, you'll probably want to add some seasoning. Basil and oregano are good bets for herbs; garlic and onion are also common, and perhaps crushed red pepper if you want a little kick.

If you're looking for a real recipe, this isn't a recipe request site, but search engines will serve you well.

at home I just used tomato paste, and added something simple, ex. salt


Is it necessary to rinse Chinese or other tea before first brew / steep / infusion? I've been told that I should be rinsing Chinese tea with the boiled water before the first full infusion intended for drinking.

I make the occasional very-expensive tea from Taiwan and I feel it is a waste to throw away a first pot simply for "rinsing".  However, my mother-in-law insists it is correct to rinse the tea first :-)

Is this practice of rinsing always advisable, or are there specific cases or kinds of tea where rinsing is necessary? What are we trying to rinse away?  Is the practice only for Chinese tea, or for other kinds of tea as well?

Looking for some enlightenment from some tea experts.  Thank you!

Update:

Since I asked the question, my mother-in-law came across a newspaper article, in Chinese, describing pesticides found on some teas from China, and so it is advisable to rinse before consuming.

Here's a scan I made of the article:

Something in English...

Essentially, the article references a 2012 report by Greenpeace.  You can read a press release about the report, and here's a link to the report itself: Pesticides: Hidden Ingredients in Chinese Tea Report (PDF).  Press release summary:

  A Greenpeace investigation has found pesticides banned for use on tea
  in the products marketed by some of China's top tea companies. Some of
  the firms, which include China Tea, Tenfu Tea and China Tea King,
  export tea products to Japan, the US and Europe.

For that reason, I accepted the answer below which suggests rinsing for reduction of pesticides.

Of course, I don't think I'd want to drink a tea with 17 kinds of pesticides present, even if rinsed!  Caveat emptor ... I plan to ask more questions when I buy my tea.

Usually the first infusion is to remove pesticides and some dust that accumulates while aging the tea. Another reason is to let the dry leaves "breathe" to bring out their taste in subsequent infusions. You're supposed to drain out the water in seconds; so it shouldn't take away the taste.

Washing your tea is useless in my opinion.

I get rid of impurities by using a strainer instead of throwing away the baby with the badwater. I wake up the tea by warming up the gaiwan (reusing the bottle water I use for it) and putting the tea in the empty pre-heated gaiwan for a while. I try to buy tea with little pesticides, but keep in mind that organic etc. also contain pesticides. They are not always easy to dissolve or wash away, and they are also not only on but also present inside the leaves.

Washing tea is like buying a good wine and spitting it out because it contains alcohol. Tons of people drink bad teabag tea every day and never rinse it.

Your good quality loose tea, that you spent hard earned money on, deserves to be consumed, not thrown away.


Can I pre-cook chicken in a sous vide bath while cooking something else? Let's say I'm in the middle of a 72-hour 135F sous vide recipe, and I want to cook some chicken thighs for dinner for tonight.

Does it make sense to put the chicken in the bath at 135 for my normal chicken sous vide time, then finish them using a conventional cooking method (in the oven or on the stovetop), until the inside is fully cooked?

Alternatively, can I turn my 72-hour short ribs SV bath up to 150F for 1.5 hours to sous vide the chicken simultaneously?

You can cook chicken at 135F, or indeed any temperature 131F or up. It will take a while; several hours, as noted in the Baldwin Sous Vide Guide you posted. If you pasteurize it at 135F, you can then later cook it, ignoring the temperature (and only worrying about the texture, etc.), as its already cooked to safety.

If you want to hold it, chill it down quickly, e.g., in an ice bath. Do not remove it from the bag until you're ready to throw it in the oven (to minimize oxidation).

I do not suggest turning your water bath up, as you will end up with well-done shortribs instead of the medium-rare ones you wanted.

I would not do this.  While you don't mention an amount of time, the temperature is much lower than what you would need to cook chicken safely.  You could easily incubate and multiply harmful bacteria, and while you might kill them off later in the oven...is it worth the risk?  Just cook the chicken the traditional way.  Here is a good resource for sous vide time and temp:  http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide


What is the dish shown in the "Sunset Limited" In the movie, "The Sunset Limited" Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson eat a dish which I'm dying to know what it is.
They say it has molasses, rutabaga, bananas and mangoes in it, and it's sort of liquid.
Can anyone try and say what that is, and where I can find a complete recipe to make such a recipe? (If you are up for the challenge, maybe you can create one yourselves to include the ingredients above.)

This is the bit I am talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfH9SclYNVg&t=13m20s.

Also including a readable text link to the novel transcript.

I vote the dish is a hot dish, not a dessert. Samual L Jackson's character gives soul food to the man who is empty. I can't see soul food being cold, or a dessert. That shit is hot for your belly. This is amusing because I was looking for the same recipe after I saw the film. It seems that if the fruits and vegetables were all in chunks, and the molasses mixed with other chili like ingredients sort of provided the in between sauce you might be on the right track. Invent it. My friend once made chocolate soup on a Sunday afternoon.

I don't know if it is a real dish; I couldn't find anything googling either.
What I gathered from the clip is that it's a spicy dessert.
The ingredients are: molasses, mango, banana, rutabaga, and chili.
Rutabaga
They didn't chew much on it so I assume that the rutabaga was boiled down. I have never eaten it before but according to wikipedia it is a turnip like vegetable, but slightly bitter.
but it looked as tho there was enough consistency for light chewing(could of been the fruits tho).
Chili
Tommy Lee Jones mentioned chili after the other ingredients, followed by a cup of water.
So it is spicy, but yet the "creeps up on you" kind of spicy. (So it is boiled in with the rutabaga.)
Ok, I would first dice the rutabaga in 1 centimeter cubes then salt them. (I don't know how bitter it is so I would salt them if I thought the bitterness was overwhelming the other flavors.)
After that, I would rinse the rutabaga (so the dessert doesn't become salty).
Boil it in water with molasses brown sugar and chili powder. (If rutabaga is like other radish types it will absorb flavors well.)
I would boil it until the flavors soaked in well, but the rutabaga is still firm enough, so that if I poked it with a chopstick and lifted it, it wouldn't fall apart.
Next, I would use cornstarch and creme to thicken it a bit, then turn off the fire adding the banana and mango. Then let it cool naturally. (Both fruits are already soft so I would want to keep the consistency but slightly soften them by adding it into the mix right after I turn off the fire-) Then again, Samuel L Jackson said he reheated it a couple of times to get the flavor right; maybe he wanted a bit of the fruit flavors in the sauce as well. In this case, I would have 2 batches of banana and mango, the first would go in the pot with the rutabaga (it will probably melt), then the second batch at the end.
Instead of salting, I'd maybe boil the rutabaga once, taste the water and rutabaga, and if it is too bitter, dump out the water and reboil with fresh water, molasses, and brown sugar.
After it is cooled, refrigerate and serve cold! (The dishes weren't steaming.)


What's the best way to store rice long-term? I have purchased a rather large bag of long-grain white rice (25 lbs.) and need to know the best way for storing it long-term. This rice will be used as both a food-storage food source and as my everyday source of rice for cooking, so the storage solution should (hopefully) be resealable, rather than once-it's-open-it's-open. I eat rice maybe three times a month, so it isn't really "everyday" but it will be my go-to when I have it.

If you are only using it three times a month then this 25lbs bag may last a very long time indeed.

The problem is that even white rice can eventually develop off flavors when exposed to light and air. Additionally- even if pests don't have access to the rice, it is not unlikely that the rice has some eggs on it that can hatch and spoil the whole bag.

The solutions to these problems all make it difficult to use the rice in the short term. For long-term food storage dry foods are typically sealed in either #10 cans or mylar bags. An oxygen absorbing packet is also included. This will prevent spoilage and pest growth. Mylar bags are less expensive and you can open one bag at a time for short term use.

Alternatively- if you can freeze the rice to ensure there are no pests then the rice can be stored, sealed, in a cool, dry place as others have described.

Given how cheap rice is- it might be acceptable to you to just take your chances and replace it if it spoils after some months.

You can use caster oil . All you need to do is take one big vessel. Put rice grains in it , add some amount of caster oil in it and mix it well. And store it in Air Tight container.

In India people are using Mercury tablets to preserve rice and other grains for long time. So you can try that too. All you need to do is just add few tablets in the rice and store it in its container.

PS: As mercury is used here in its pure form. So its not harmful to people. But still to prevent that you can wash rice grains properly before using it.


How do I fix and prevent a baked custard from weeping? I made a rhubarb custard pie that turned out  nicely; the custard was flavored with orange zest and 2 tablespoons of orange juice and 1 teaspoon of orange flower water.

I wanted a baked custard made of the filling without the crust.

I doubled the recipe and baked it in a souffle dish, using a water bath under the souffle dish. I baked it at 325F. It took almost 2 hours for the knife inserted in the center to come clean.

The custard was a  good texture when removed from the oven and cooled, but when I scooped some out, clear sugar fluid accumulated  where I scooped.

The fluid tasted only of sugar, not the rhubarb or the orange flavors.

I tilted the souffle dish. Overnight approximately 2/3 cup of fluid accumulated in the space where I had scooped .

My question :

Why did this happen?

What could I do to avoid it happening in the future?

Why did this happen?

One possibility is that the outside of the custard became overcooked while you were waiting for the middle to set. As eggs cook longer they tighten up more and more, squeezing out liquids that were previously captured by the protein matrix. The cooking process continues for a while even after you remove the custard from the oven, so the overcooking might have happened later than you'd think.

  What could I do to avoid it happening in the future?

If the overcooking hypothesis is correct, then any of the following could help:

Reduce the cooking time. Most custard recipes that I can think of call for cooking times around an hour, depending on the size of the dish.
Use smaller baking dishes. With a smaller dish, you won't have to wait as long for the center to set.
Use a shallower baking dish. Same as above -- cooking the custard in a thinner layer should help the whole thing set more quickly.
Remove from oven before it's completely done. With some recipes, like cheesecake, you need to remove the item from the oven before it seems to be done. This prevents overcooking at the edges and cracking in the middle. The same idea could work for your custard.
Modify the matrix. Many custards contain ingredients like starch or gelatin, which can fortify the protein matrix that gives the custard body.

I'D SAY GO FOR MORE STARCH AND LOWER COOKING TEMPERATURE. My experience was a corn casserole.  I used cornmeal as my starch (however, I may not have used sufficient).  I used a dome oven, and I realise my temperature may have been too high, since, although the exterior of the casserole was nicely coloured, next day the casserole wept a bit.  Maybe it was the coldness of the fridge. I'm trying a pumpkin casserole next, and will be sure to pay attention to my own advice, too!


Cooking a chicken and peppers in a crockpot instead of sauteeing, how much water should I add? My father shared a recipe with me and my mother "gently corrected" some of the details, but it sounded good, and I wanted to replicate it, but cook a little more to have some leftover for later.

The recipe they're using is:

1 whole onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 1b chicken, sliced into ~1" x 2" pieces
1 jar pasta sauce
  handful of parmesan cheese
Saute the onion and pepper for about 10 minutes, till they start to have some juice
in the pan. Add the chicken and cook about 3-5 minutes on a side, till it's about
cooked through. Add the pasta sauce and let it come to a slight boil (so it's nice and hot)
Remove from heat and cover with the cheese (so it melts)

But I've moved up to 5 peppers (two green, one red, one yellow, one orange) and 2 onions and 2.25 lbs chicken breast, sliced as per recipe (also seasoned a little with some light marinade to give it a little extra taste). I thought it might be nice to cook it in the crockpot (4qt classic) with the cool weather and let it slow cook, and have something nice when I get home.

My plan is to add all the veggies and chicken when I leave the house, and add the sauce right before I'm ready to eat (I actually want to split half of the crockpotted mixture and store it without the sauce on it, to heat later with the sauce). What I'm not entirely sure about is:

Do I need to add some water so the chicken doesn't start to stick while it cooks, or burn in some way? I'm going to be at work but I'll be home at lunch if I should stir it or change something.
What is the best temperature to set my crockpot to? Low I would assume.

If I really need to cook this in my large deep skillet I can, but I like the idea of trying this recipe in a slow cooker.

You don't need to add any water to the slow cooker whatsoever. Your recipe is somewhat similar to the one that I use to cook my lunches but the quantities seem larger than mine, much larger. I assume that you chop everything up into small piece, including the chicken. The slow cooker should not be more than 3/4 full, so reduce your amounts if the quantities are too big.

Chicken breast doesn't need more than three hours on the 'high' setting in order to cook (six hours on low); this cooking time leaves most of the vegetables crisp (courgettes and pumpkin soften, but bell peppers, carrots and onions retain their texture).

Running a kosher kitchen, I would not know about adding cheese to the food, but anyway I would recommend adding the cheese to the food prior to serving, not while it is being cooked.

If you wish to separate some of the vegetables, one technique which I have used successfully is to put these vegetables in a wire tray (I use the plastic punnets in which we buy fresh mushrooms): these vegetable are cooked like the rest but are kept separate.

If you do wish to add certain vegetables after you have already started cooking, then you are supposed to add 20 minutes to the cooking time (every time one opens the lid of the cooker, steam escapes and it apparently takes 20 minutes to obtain the same amount of steam).

This is the pattern of crock/slow pot cooking I am accustomed to.

Separate your vegetables into two groups

vegetables to be dissolved into the stew with the chicken.
vegetables where you want to retain their individual distinct cut and taste.

Procedure

Cook the chicken with group 1 vegetables on high for 2 - 4 hours.
After that, turn it lowest until you are ready to serve it.
Mix in group two vegetables and let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

My recommendation that can be used as group 1 mixture

onions
carrots
egg plant
potatoes
garlic cloves
dried shitake mushrooms
hot chilies (don't if you can't take the heat)
celery
chick peas
lentils
artichokes
cauliflower
any spices, bay leaves

My recommendation that can be used in group 2:

sliced bell/sweet peppers
broccoli
asparagus
green peas, french peas
long beans cut short
sliced tomatoes
mint leaves (never cook mint leaves)
cilantro
chopped lettuce
sliced mangoes
sweet canned mandarin oranges

My grouping for group 2 is because, undissolved vegetables must retain some level of crunchiness and should never be cooked yellow. I find it easy to be close friends with people who like to eat vegetables cooked crunchy. I find myself very reserved with people who like to eat their vegetable mushy and cooked yellow. There is a distinct quality of personality/character between the two groups.


Is white vinegar the same as White Wine vinegar? Is white vinegar, aka the stuff just labelled as "vinegar" in the US and which I use for cleaning my kettle, the same as "White wine vinegar", which I have purchased on accident a time or two? If not, what is white vinegar made of?

No, it's not. White vinegar (also known as distilled vinegar) is made of acetic acid diluted in distilled water. Its flavor is simple—its just sour. Typical concentrations range from 5–7% acetic acid.

White wine vinegar is made by allowing white wine to turn to vinegar. It has a much more complex flavor profile. It is also frequently less sour (acidic) than distilled white vinegar.

They are different. You can drink white wine before it turns to vinegar but if you drink distilled water and acetic acid you’re nuts.


Is it really necessary to properly heat oil in a pan before frying veggies? As an example, we often lightly fry onions in (preferably) Olive Oil before adding them to any number of dishes, such as scrambled eggs for breakfast.

My talented cooking friends frequently remind me, "Don't put your veggies into the frying pan until the oil is hot!" The thing is, I personally can't tell the difference if I put my veggies in immediately after adding oil to the pan, or if I wait for the oil to properly heat up first. My friends also tell me, "Don't turn the heat up all the way either!"

Why do people recommend heating the oil first? Are there really benefits to waiting the 3-5 minutes?
If the answer to above is yes, how high should you turn the heat up to get the oil? Can I just set it to 100% for 1 minute to cook the oil faster? Yes I realize I have to watch the oil carefully otherwise chaos will ensue.

If you are looking to fry veggies then yes, it is necessary to pre-heat.  If you put them in a cold pan with oil, you start 'sweating' the veggies instead of frying them.

For example: if you put a sliced onion into a pan with hot oil, it will cook and have a nice golden brown color as it caramelizes.  Put that same sliced onion in a cold pan with cold oil and then add heat, and the onion will first turn translucent and lose moisture.

Both of these cooking methods have their uses, but they are different.
How do you know when the oil is ready to cook? It will start to shimmer a little before it reaches the smoking point. Put the veggies in when you see this shimmer, or at the very first wisp of smoke.

First answer is yes, it matters, sometimes. Food reacts differently to different temperatures, particularly when you're aiming for certain coloring. The type of metal pan you're using also reacts differently to oil and heat so as to stick or not stick. The most important reason you keep your oil hot is in a restaurant environment, where you don't want to waste time cooking when you can simply keep your oil hot (spend a few minutes upfront, when you're not busy) and start cooking instantly.

For most home cooks however, this doesn't matter.

The second answer is it depends. Different oils have different smoke points. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point


New takes on recipe format I'm working on a cookbook that is designed to make it easier to master the steps that go into a recipe, and understand the timing, especially when trying to get multiple items to 'line up' so they all complete around the same time to serve a meal.

I've seen a number of interesting takes on recipe format that take it beyond the typical list of ingredients--list of steps format. These include the cooking for engineers format, and a wide range of illustrated recipes that are cute but actually make it more difficult to understand for a novice.

I have 'invented' something new unlike anything I've seen anywhere else, but I want to look around and make sure I'm not accidentally stepping on an existing idea; I don't want to be accused of having stolen someone else's concept. So I'm am curious if anyone has seen any interesting formats for recipes around.

The cookingforengineers site has a nice ingredient plus method layout. I use a similar format for my personal recipes

I edited a cookbook for the Kingston Yacht Club published in 1996 using Word Perfect and Page Maker as the composing programs. The format was that followed by "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" with Title and yield on the top line, Introduction in a short paragraph across the entire page followed by 2 columns (1/3 ingredients, 2/3 instructions) which alined the ingredients with the preparation directions. A final margin to margin paragraph might follow.


Egg safety. When to eat and when to not eat I have a question about eggs and when it is safe to eat them.

I've read online that there are 2 ways to test if an egg is safe to eat or not (without cracking it open):

Float test: Get a massive bowl, fill it with water and place the egg inside. If it sinks to the bottom and lays on its side, it's "fresh" (not old). If it bobs up slightly then it's a few weeks old and if it floats to the top throw it away (too old).

Those sites also say that test is no indication of whether or not an egg is rotten, it only indicates the age of the egg and that eggs can be rotten before they even expire.
Slosh test: Gently shake the egg near your ear. If you hear a distinct sloshing sound, the egg is rotten and should not be consumed.

Is the above true? Are they old wives tales/myths?

I've also read that egg shells covered in crap and blood are not safe to eat because they more than likely have bacteria. Why do most eggs have crap and blood on them?

I've also read that eggs with dark colored spots all over them should not be consumed. Why? Why do most eggs have weird colored spots all over them?

Sometimes when I gently shake an egg, it does not slosh but I can feel the insides moving around (it kind of feels like a big ball inside rocking back and forth) - is that normal? Is it safe to hard boil and consume those eggs?

I guess my question is, what are the guaranteed ways to determine if an egg is safe to consume without cracking it open? And please, if you can provide any official sources that would be great.

If the shell is undamaged, and the eggs are not past their expiration/best by date, they are safe to eat. Official source: your government's food safety agency, unless you live in a place with really really lax food regulation. But your profile says Australia - I'm sure things are fine there. If there are problems with salmonella outbreaks, it's not anything that you can detect. A salmonella-contaminated egg will look exactly like an uncontaminated one - that's why governments generally recommend you cook the egg, which will kill the salmonella and make it safe. If you're eating raw/undercooked eggs, you'll have to decide whether the risk where you are is low enough.

In practice, they're actually safe for a while after the best by date, just not as fresh, and if the shell is cracked without damaging the membrane or they were very recently cracked, they're also safe. But no damage and before the date is the most absolute guarantee you can get.

The two tests you mention will help you get some idea how fresh the eggs are. Neither has anything to do with good vs. rotten. As eggs get less fresh, they dry out a bit, forming a larger air pocket. So they'll slosh more, and start to float.

But it doesn't mean they're rotten. An actually rotten egg would be completely obvious by smell - they're sulfurous, a lot like the smell that's added to natural gas. If you're getting eggs that float in water on the day you buy them, with really obvious sloshing, yes, it means they're not fresh, so they're certainly not good as fresh eggs from a farm. So if that's the case, your supermarket isn't selling you good quality eggs. It doesn't mean they're unsafe, though.

As for "Why do most eggs have crap and blood on them?" ... "most" is a huge exaggeration, the places I've seen - they get washed. And as rumtscho pointed out in the comments, the eggs are coming out of a chicken, so some ugly stuff is natural. You never actually said what your eggs look like, but if you live in a place where they're not cleaned (even before selling in a supermarket??), then it still doesn't mean they're unsafe, just that you should probably clean them before cracking them.

And dark spots? Some eggs are naturally speckled - that'd be fine. If it's something else, I guess it would be helpful for you to provide a picture.

According to a local farmer I spoke with: when you shake an egg and it sloshes, it's rotten. When it floats to the top of a bowl of water its too old and if you feel something moving around inside when you shake it its rotten. If any of those 3, you should not consume the egg. If it has a hairline crack do not eat it because chances are bacteria has already entered into the egg. I also told him that lately when I buy eggs from the supermarket most of them slosh when I shake them gently and he said that's because by the time they get from the farm to the distributor then to the actual supermarket they're already a month old in many cases. So that explains everything. I was right. The eggs have been rotten and I'm not paranoid without good reason.

I just bought a carton of the local farmers eggs and not a single one of them sloshed,  moved around inside or floated to the top in a bowl of water.


Uncovered Raw Meat or Milk in Fridge I believe the harm in leaving raw meat uncovered in the fridge is that more bacteria will enter, more oxygen will enter (causing faster bacteria multiplication), and more water will escape (causing dryness which probably slows bacteria multiplication, but toughens the meat, so let's consider dryness to be bad; I'm not making beef jerky).  Please ignore the stinky odors that escape; just consider the quality of that one uncovered piece of meat after we eventually cook it.

How much faster will the food spoil (percentage, compared to the same meat wrapped in plastic wrap)?  I imagine that meat with skin, like a whole chicken, is not effected as much as meat without skin, like a bare chicken breast, and that ground meat would be effected the most.  I wish I had some data to convince my roommate to cover his meat; is there any research on this?  Feel free to answer this for milk instead if there is more research for it.

There is no practical difference in spoilage time for wrapped versus unwrapped.  Spoilage is a factor pretty much of temperature, since in practice, all foods have pathogens present which can breed.

Assuming your refrigerator is free of insects, dogs and similar macro-fauna, wrapping is to prevent odors from going from one food to another, drying, or cross-contamination of one food by another through drips or splashing.  Now, outside of a refrigerator, where ants, flies, and so on are abundant, wrapping also provides a physical barrier to prevent infestation, but the body of the refrigerator already does that.

In fact, in some rare occasions, you may wish to specifically refrigerate your meat unwrapped:  for example, after brining a turkey, refrigerating it for 24 hours unwrapped will permit the skin to dry out, and permit a more crispy result.

Your initial assessment sounds pretty dead on.
OFCOURSE sealing foods will slow spoiling.
Your concern about bacteria and such needing oxygen to breed is certainly correct - for for all micro-organisms, but most.

As far as the argunent made that the bacteria is always present internally in meat is only part true.
first, it makes a world of difference whether we're talking about cooked or raw meats.

in the case of cooked meat, assume that after you properly cooked it there is no living bacteria and it. That means that for it to spoil, it needs to be exposed to bacteria from the external environment. A lot of sources exist to do this such as, handling it, breathing on it, siliva exposure to contaminants in the air in general, exposure to other food products, etc.

so it's pretty clear that proper storage that's not open and exposed will slow spoiling, especially when you add in the oxygenation effect.
that said,if you wash food before sealing it you certainly want to try it off since moisture is quite the catalyst for breading micro-organisims.

in the case of raw meat that potentially contains live bacteria and parasites in it, the type of meat makes a pretty big difference.
that's why we thoroughly cook poultry and pork but not necessarily beef.

rather than believe me, since others seem to disagree with what I just said, here's a pretty good link with professional advice on the matter.

http://www.foodsafetysite.com/educators/competencies/general/spoilage/spg1.html


Is it normal that cooking time of my pizza is 1 hour in oven with 230 degrees? I know its wired but i need to keep my pizza for one hour in oven with 230 Celsius degrees to properly cook it
but everyone says 20 minutes or less is enough
i don't know why it takes so long for me

sorry for bad English its not my native language

One hour sounds like a long time for a 1.5 to 2 cm thick pizza at that temperature, regardless of the style of pizza.  I would begin by locating an oven thermometer to check the temperature of your oven.

This temp, essentially 450 F is a reasonable temp for crispy pizza crust in certain conditions.

thin crust, not too much sauce. You are OK.

Really, good crisp pizza wants high temp and short times to get dough spring and fast melting.

Crank the oven and cook for just a couple minutes.