How much yeast is in a "package"? Our Better Homes and Gardens cookbook calls for "1 package active dry yeast" in its pizza recipe, which is less than helpful, since we keep a container of bulk yeast in the freezer. What is the standard volume (e.g. in teaspoons) of yeast in a package?

According to Red Star, a very common yeast brand in the US:

  The strip contains three packets; each packet in the strip is considered one package.  Each package contains 1/4 oz. or 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast.

This is approximately 7 grams, or 11 ml.

This is representative of all of the US brands.

As far as measuring yeast, I use instant yeast, rather than packets.  I have a Tupperware tub of year that's been in my freezer for about 15 years!  It shouldn't be viable, but it is.  The equivalent of 1 packet of yeast is 2 1/4 tsp.  Since my yeast is so old, I use 1 1/2 tbsp (sometimes more) and I get wonderful bread out of my almost 25-year-old bread machine.  I hope this helps.


Is it ok to keep reusing a water bottle indefinitely? I have a 1.5 liter plastic water bottle (the disposable kind) that I keep on a shelf by my bed. I fill it every night before bed, and generally nearly finish it by the morning and refill it when I wake up. I recently noticed that I've been using the same bottle for months... is there any issue with this? Any mold concerns, etc? Or can I keep using it indefinitely?

The general prescription for water bottles is to recycle them, not reuse them. According to a University of Virginia paper:

  Reuse of polycarbonate plastic bottles is generally not recommended by
  commercial bottled water manufacturers, as it may pose a health risk
  from two perspectives. First, everyday wear and tear from repeated
  washings and reuse can lead to physical breakdown of the plastic, such
  as visible thinning or cracks. Bacteria can harbor in the cracks,
  posing a health risk. Secondly, reuse of plastic water bottles can
  lead to bacterial contamination unless washed regularly. If a consumer
  wishes to reuse a plastic water bottle, it should be washed after each
  use in mild detergent only and rinsed well (9). The plastic should not
  be subjected to extreme, hot temperatures or harsh detergents, and
  should be carefully inspected for physical breakdown prior to reuse.

Additionally, the narrow opening can make it difficult to clean and dry properly.

There was a case in Italy where the death of the girl was blamed on the water bottle she always used. It was then proclaimed by experts on TV to NOT be safe, so I'm discarding them now after I while. I can't find the story on Internet now, but I saw it on TV there. You can do some more research if you want.

I also noticed my bottle I use for running acquired a bad taste and smell after a year, although being washed.


How to prevent liquids from spilling when pouring from measuring cup? One problem I've had that I know others have too is when pouring from those Pyrex glass measuring cups. I just saw it happen in the Binging with Babish video:

Is there any good way to prevent this? I've tried pouring fast and slow, but it always seems to get liquid coming from the sides, thus making a mess.

Use a larger measuring cup so it is only partly full. Then the cup will be tilted more when the pour starts.

Tilt the cup longitudinally so that you're pouring on a slant, not directly tilting the container toward the cup. This will simulate a pouring spout and allow the pour to proceed more cleanly.


Is picante sauce a type of salsa? My dad asked for picante sauce at the store. I never heard the phrase, and asked if he meant salsa. He told me no, he meant picante sauce. He wanted Pace's picante sauce:

This was opposed to Pace's salsa:

Now I thought the first one was a "salsa", just a special type of salsa. However "salsa" doesn't appear anywhere on the jar. Furthermore on www.pacefoods.com, there is a distinction between salsa and picante sauce. This led me to believe that "picante sauce" is NOT a type of "salsa".

If translated literally to Spanish, "picante sauce" just means "spicy sauce" and "salsa" just means "sauce".

So technically speaking; ketchup, barbecue sauce, A1, ranch dressing and Tobasco are ALL salsas. However if you ask me to buy some salsa you obviously don't mean A1.

According to http://www.ehow.com/facts_5770035_difference-between-salsa-picante-sauce_.html:

  While the two terms are commonly used interchangeably in English, they are not synonymous, because picante sauce is a specific type of salsa.

So picante sauce IS salsa according to this website, however there is a contradiction because it says:

  Picante sauce, on the other hand, has one distinguishing characteristic that sets its apart -- its intense heat.

Pace (who apparently was the inventor of picante sauce) sells mild, medium and spicy picante sauces along with salsas.

I know the stuff inside the jar that says "picante sauce" has a different texture and tastes different than the stuff inside the jar that says "salsa", so I'm not really asking what the actual culinary differences are. I know those. I'm asking about a definition.

  Are "picante sauces" a subset of "salsas"? Does a tomato based sauce have to be spicy to be "picante"?

There's not really a definition as precise as you're looking for. Picante sauce refers to either Pace or something similar, depending on the person. So yes, picante sauce is a somewhat ill-defined type of salsa - nothing that people call picante is not a salsa. As you point out, it does not actually mean intense heat; the regular/medium is not particularly hot and even the "hot" isn't all that hot, and people will refer to any variety of Pace Picante (or similar) as picante.

Pace's distinction between the two is more of a branding/marketing issue than anything else. They have to keep making picante, without changing the recipe too much and certainly without changing the name. They also want to make other things, and salsa is a pretty natural name. That doesn't mean their Picante isn't a kind of salsa, just that they're choosing not to market it as one. But as long as you consider basic mass-produced jarred salsa to still be salsa, Pace Picante is definitely an example of it.

The reason there's no satisfying answer or precise definition is that all usage of the term like this stems from Pace Picante sauce. It's just the name someone chose for their sauce in 1947, and since that sauce eventually became widespread in stores across the US - stores that likely didn't have a lot of other salsa - people ended up using the term in a more casual, generic way.

I struggled over this in my years as a Spanish teacher. “Salsa” in Spanish is a noun which means “sauce”. “Picante” is an adjective which means “spicy”. “Picante sauce” is essentially “salsa picante”. If you don’t go to Pace’s website and read their definition, there is nothing in the words themselves to explain it. And if you are talking in Spanish to a native speaker and expect them to know the difference, especially since “pez”, pronounced “pace” means “fish” in Spanish- you will end up in a completely confusing situation.


The best way to clean a French Press coffee maker I have been using a French Press coffee maker for quite some time now, and I have tried a few methods for removing the spent coffee grinds from the vessel.  It is always a bit of a chore to this in an efficient manner without making too much of a mess.  I am hoping to find a way that is quick, but does not result in grinds all over my hands or excess grinds going down the drain.  I wonder if there are any accepted or creative methods for this action.

I have a small sieve (like the one pictured) that I use for this purpose and it is very quick and easy. Slosh water in the press, pour through the sieve and dump grinds in the trash!

I scoop the grounds out with a long handled metal spoon. Then rinse the rest into the toilet.


How can I maximize the caffeine content of my coffee? Like many people, I rely on coffee in the morning to really get me going for the day. I always use more than the directions require to get more caffeine for that extra morning jolt.

How much ground coffee should I use to reach caffeine critical mass in my brew? Is there a formula for volume of grounds per unit of water that I can use so I can get the maximum caffeine experience without wasting coffee?

Use lighter roast coffee: caffeine burns off as the roast darkens.  All other things equal, though, the stronger the cup of coffee, the more caffeine will be in it.  You aren't going to reach caffeine saturation just by brewing (even very) strong coffee.  So brew coffee with lighter roasted beans to your maximum desired strength.

To get the best coffee (and therefore caffeine) ratio to water drink Espresso.


What's the purpose of a bread box? For some reason I always thought bread boxes were supposed to be wood, and that some property of wood helped keep bread fresh.  Like a cigar box, perhaps.  But after looking for a bread box, I see that many are plastic and metal.  Before I buy a bread box, I should probably understand what exactly I'm purchasing.

What is a bread box for, and do all types of bread boxes accomplish the intended purpose?

In my experience, they're best at concentrating mold spores, and hiding away unsightly loaves.

While chic, and quite popular in the days before plastic bags, they're not much use now. Pretty much the same as the "pie safe"

I majored in Bread Science at the University of Northhampton, near Oxford and from a purely British perspective, all your answers are wrong. Bread is meant to be consumed on a daily basis, ie. as in the Lord's prayer, "give us our daily bread. Any bread worth eating should be consumed ASAP and so there is no reason to own a "bread box." because there will be no bread left to be stored.


How to cook pancakes without spreading that horrible smell of burnt oil? I live in a region where pancakes are considered traditional food and it's typical to cook them on some special occasions.

For example, right now someone has decided to throw a party in the office and is baking pancakes on another level of the building. I know this because I feel the smell of burnt oil with a slight addition of normal smell of just-baked pancakes. From my experience just about every time someone tries to cook pancakes there's this horrible smell of burnt oil dominating over the smell of actual pancakes.

I'm sure that's not the normal way of cooking pancakes but I don't know how to resolve this in a positive way.

What are exact steps and key factors to cooking pancakes in such way that there's mostly smell of pancakes, not smell of burnt oil?

Very simple: don't burn the oil.

Different fats start to burn at different temperatures (called "smoke point"). This can be as low as ~100°C for unrefined vegetable oils. Butter is also low, at around ~150°C, which is below frying temperatures. Refined vegetable oils have very differentn smoke points depending on the plant they were made from, some starting as low as butter, and going up to around ~250°C (safflower oil, rice bran oil). Fats meant for deep frying (palm fat, clarified butter) are also around ~250°C.

So the two things you have to do is 1.Choose the right fat, and 2. don't let the pan get too hot.

From a nutritional point of view, deep-frying fats are not so good, so I'd recommend using a vegetable oil with a high smoke point. If you can find refined safflower, it's perfect, but if not, canola is also a good choice.

About the temperature, the easiest way is to measure it so you will know how hot the pan gets at any given moment. I use an infrared thermometer when frying, and make crepes at 200°C. If you don't have one handy, you could try heating a pan with oil on a middle setting for a long time (20-30 min), look if it smokes. If yes, let it cool down, and start again with a lower setting. If not, increase the setting and wait again. When you have found out the setting where your oil doesn't smoke, you can use it, or you can try one setting above (the first where the pan starts to smoke) because the room-temperature batter cools the oil. It is time-consuming, but you only have to do it one to find out the correct temperature.

You could use a nonstick pan, but the typical PTFE coated ones lose their nonstick layer at about 250°C, and a pan used for frying quickly heats much more than that. It is safe when used at lower temperatures, but you cannot fry crepes at 150°C. So unless you have a ceramic-coated nonstick pan (but not the type which disintegrates from hot starch in oil!) or you are controlling the temperature of the pan closely with a thermometer, it is better to use a noncoated pan.

If you want your crepes to taste like butter, don't fry them in butter. Instead, keep a cup with melted butter in a water bath near the pancakes. As soon as one is ready, take it out of the pan and use a glazing brush to brush it lightly with butter on both sides.

Clarify your butter-doesn’t burn.  Don’t use butter to fry use a light amount of crisco in a non stick. Melt it on with a paper towel. It’s how Greek restaurants make pancakes. And I recommend birch bender brand buttermilk.  Oh baby


How can I identify dutch process cocoa? I have a hard time finding "dutch process cocoa" in the store sometimes.

What other names might dutch process cocoa be known as?
Is there something else in the ingredients that might identify dutch process cocoa.

What is the key property of dutch process cocoa that makes it do its job?  (Especially in cake and brownie applications?)

There really isn't another name for Dutch processed cocoa. You could perhaps look at the ingredients or label and search for some reference to alkalization. Cocoa powder, Dutched or natural, consists of a single ingredient: cocoa. The difference is that Dutched cocoa has an extra step in the manufacturing process.

Normal cocoa powder is created from cocoa beans. These beans are fermented, roasted, shelled, and then ground into a paste known as chocolate liquor. This is roughly 50/50 cocoa butter (fat) and cocoa solids. At this step it is can be molded and sold as unsweetened baking chocolate. To make cocoa powder the liquor is hydraulically pressed to remove ~75% of the fat, and then pulverized into cocoa powder.

Dutched cocoa powder has an extra step before the shelled beans are ground into liquor. They are soaked in an alkaline solution of potassium carbonate.

Dutched cocoa was created in the 19th century by a Dutchman named Coenraad J. van Houten. Van Houten had invented the method of using a hydraulic press to defat chocolate liquor. Hot chocolate in these times would have a fatty greasy scum floating on the top of the beverage. Removing much of the fat prevented this. However, it also made the drink much harsher, acidic, and gave it a much lighter color.

Van Houten's idea was to counteract the cocoa's natural acidity (pH ~5.4) by soaking it in an alkaline solution. This neutralized the acids in the cocoa raising the pH to neutral (7) or higher depending on the duration of the soak. The higher pH also has the added benefit of darkening the cocoa; the higher it goes, the darker it gets.

Now, you might think that mellowing out the cocoa would be undesirable for the flavor. However this has been shown to not be the case. It turns out that the very acidic nature of natural cocoa can actually mask many of the natural undertones of flavor in the chocolate. Chocolate is much like wine and has hundreds of flavors that make up its flavor profile. These include sour, bitter, astringent, fruity, figgy, nutty, floral, smoky, and may more. Dutching only targets the bitter, astringent, sour and fruity undertones allowing the remaining ones to really showcase the chocolate.

There is a bit of misinformation that floats amongst bakers that the pH of the cocoa can affect the leavening of the baked good. Many recipes will actually sternly suggest using either Dutched or natural cocoa depending. This makes sense since leavening is a sort of balancing act that involves both acids and bases. However, it has been experimentally shown that this does not actually occur, and baked goods made with both Dutched and natural cocoa powder showed no differences in leavening.

So to actually address your questions. Again, no there isn't another name for Dutched cocoa, but it can't hurt to check for alkalized verbage. There is (should) also no additional ingredient that would identify a cocoa powder as Dutched. The key property it provides is simply chocolate flavor.

This answer is adapted from the Jan. 1, 2005 Cook's Illustrated review of cocoa powder. Their results showed that without fail Dutched cocoa was voted superior to natural cocoa in every single blind taste test including: pudding, shortbread, devil's food cake, and hot chocolate (which was masked by a sippy-top so reviewers could not see the tell-tale color).

If the cost doesn't make you do a double take (it's not really that expensive considering the quantity). I highly suggest you buy a 1 kg (2.2 lb) bag of Callebaut Cocoa Powder. This was the winner of the blind taste test performed by Cook's Illustrated. I must agree that it will change your baked goods for the better like you would not believe.

There are two types of unsweetened cocoa used in various chocolate recipes: natural cocoa and Dutch processed cocoa. Natural Cocoa is made from ground roasted cocoa nibs from which most of the cocoa butter have been extracted. It is naturally acidic with a pH of about 5.4 and is beige in color. Dutch processed cocoa is further treated with an alkalizing agent to neutralize its acidity and bring the pH to about 7 and has a rich, dark brown color.

Most American cocoas are natural and most European cocoas are Dutch processed.


How to warm up canned beans? A recipe is asking for "canned black beans, drained, rinsed and warmed".

I've never just heated up beans by themselves. How do I warm up these beans without using a microwave? Do I heat them up in a pan with some butter/oil or in simmering water?

I'd use a microwave but you've ruled that out. Taking "warmed" literally as meaning made warm but not hot, you could put them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and wait a few minutes. I suspect that you actually want them hot, in which case you could put them in a small pan, pour over boiling water, cover, and return to the boil for a few minutes. If you don't have an electric kettle, just boil a small pan of water and tip the beans in.

Done two days ago. Open, drain, plunge beans in hot water, drain again.


how do I get the salt out of my chinese take out I bought some overly salted Chinese food ( I did not know it at time) and took most of it home.
Now I would like to get the salt out so i can it eat. Do you have any suggestions?

While Erlenmeyer flasks and graduated cylinders and food-science may not be able to save your leftovers, adding some cooked rice with fried egg (basically any fried rice recipe) will likely crowd out the saltiness of the base dish as well as extend your leftovers.

We accidentally added too much mountain seasoning to fried rice. So, we rinsed it with boiling water and that took the excess saltiness out without losing the flavors.


How to line a tart ring for a perfect tart crust I am trying to line a tart ring to get 90 degrees corners and straight edges. My method, until now, has always been to chill the dough properly, roll it out and gently roll it on the ring, straighten the corners from within using my fingers and cutting around the edge to remove excess. Then chill it again before blind baking.

The results were good but I wanted to perfect them even more by trying a different method which I've seen French pâtisserie chefs use. In this method, they cut the base of the tart, cut strips and assemble them into the tart ring seperately. I've measured and cut everything out first and chilled, then
I assembled and chilled again before blind baking.

The issue is that no matter how well I push the dough in the corner to connect between the stripes and the base, I still get a gap after baking. And if there is no gap, still when I lift the tart shell up after it's completely cooled - the bottom falls off, as if they were not well "glued".
I've tried a full base and stripes on top and also tried to first add the stripes and a bit of a smaller base in the middle. I've made three batches to try to seal/glue it better each time - but I keep getting the same result.

I know I can just go back to the first method, but I really feel like i'm just missing a small step here, they look perfect when they go into the oven!
Does anyone know of a good way to connect the two pieces together so they won't seperate?

I'm using this almond pâte sucreé recipe: http://wp.me/p8AkNR-1h

Here are some pictures to explain what I mean:

TL:DR; don't chill the pieces after you cut them. Assemble it straight away.

Long version:

I think what's happening is that chilling after cutting the pieces will dry the surface, making it harder for them to stick together when assembling.

The point of putting the dough in the fridge is to help stabilise temperature, allow sugar and other solid stuff (salt, leavening if using) to dissolve, and most importantly for gluten to relax. But the fridge is also quite good at removing humidity from your products, that's why you cover it in saran wrap.

If you put the cut pieces back in the fridge, the very high surface to volume ratio will inevitably cause an undesirable moisture loss. Dry edges will not join - I've seen recipes suggest using wetting the edges when assembling similar things (with different doughs), but it should not be necessary.

The recipe itself looks fine (I would add a pinch of salt, but it does not make a difference for your purpose). Pastry flour could help, but since you're already cutting it with almonds it should not be a big issue.

Temperature is also a factor. At my latitudes, temperatures in this season (45° N, august, ~30 °C during the day) make it very difficult to make a good pate sucree in a kitchen unless there's air conditioning going on at full blast. Butter will begin melting much earlier, making it much more difficult to avoid overworking.

Here is how I would change the procedure:

Assemble the dough in the processor as per recipe
Chill it ideally 4 to 24 hours. 30 min is too little. 3 days is definitely too much.
Take it out of the fridge, knead it a bit to make it workable (you can also beat the dough packet with a rolling pin. Really!)
Roll it, cut the pieces, assemble it straight away
The side on top of the base version should be easier to work with than the base inside the sides, since the dough will contract during baking. The other version could have a slightly better look when finished though.
Use your fingers to make sure the join is... joined. The warmth of your hands should convince the butter to yield very quickly. You should not be able to see any seam.
Alternatively, I've seen pastry chefs completely avoid working the joint when using micro dotted rings as you're doing, instead applying softened butter with a brush like glue to avoid the kind of separation you're experiencing.
Back in the fridge, turn on the oven
Bake it as per recipe.

First, I'll say that I don't like this recipe. I have no idea why you'd use powdered sugar, which is primarily used to soak up liquid (not particularly useful in a dough) or dust evenly. I also think using a whole egg is a bad idea. My first recommendation would be to find a more traditional pate sucree recipe and use that. Since you put the recipe there though, this is what I'd change:

kill the egg white. Just use the yolk. Use the equivalent amount of water to make up for the liquid loss. Personally I think there should be two yolks for this much flour, but I'd have to test how that would be incorporated.
use pastry flour instead of AP flour, or replace 1/8th of your flour with another food starch like cornstarch
make sure you're mixing it for the absolute bare minimum amount of time necessary in your food processor to pull the paste together
make sure you're chilling it for at least the specified amount of time. Since you're using a method that's more affected by the proteins in the mixture, you may want to chill your crusts in the tart tins before baking.
I also noticed that with one, you were docking the crust with a fork rather than weighting it with beans or pie weights, but the more shrunk one didn't look docked very much. This could affect the shrinkage. Make sure you're very evenly docking or very thoroughly weighting.

It's my understanding that the gluten strands tightening up in crust are usually what make it contract while baking, and I'm assuming that the protein in the egg white isn't helping. There's no water in this recipe— it looks like the egg white is replacing the water used in a typical pate sucree. It's convenient, but it probabably takes longer to incorporate, which means more mixing time, which increases gluten formation. I also think that not using plain granulated sugar/castor sugar/etc., which turns to liquid at baking temperatures, it negatively affecting it, but I'd have to do some testing to figure out how to mitigate that. I think you could see some improvement by following this advice anyway.

So taking steps to reduce the protein in your flour (pastry flour, no egg white) relax the gluten that you do have in the crust (chilling,) and minimize the gluten formation to begin with (minimally manipulating, no egg white) should help you out. It should also improve the texture, and possibly flavor of the crust.

If you try this out, I'd love to hear the results.

Best of luck, and happy baking!


Burn stains inside microwave I heated a dish that my local fish store said was in a microwave-safe aluminum foil. Now I have a brown (chocolate looking) residue, mostly on the sides of the inside of my microwave. I have read that I can sprinkle baking soda, then add acetone (followed by liquid coffee) to remove these stains.  Will this work on a white interior or is it just for stainless steel? I have white.

Acetone is not considered a carcinogen in the United States

The Material Safety Data Sheet can be found here.

It is the active ingredient in regular nail polish (varnish) remover.
It may remove the 'paint' from surfaces.
It is legally sold in the United States.
It is highly flammable and explosive in the right concentrations.

I would not recommend it to clean your microwave as it's hazardous to health if used improperly under a variety of conditions or used without proper safety equipment.

I would also advise against placing an aluminum foil pan in the microwave and turning it on.

Where did you get this misinformation, Connie?

  I have read that I can sprinkle baking soda, then add acetone (followed by liquid coffee) to remove these stains.

The above is incorrect!

Please do not use Acetone or Nail Polish Remover!

Here's a generic Nail Polish Remover ingredient list:

That's not good stuff to have around food preparation products.

To clean your microwave safely and chemical free:

  1) Buy a lemon or two

  2) Cut into pieces

  3) Place in a microwave-safe bowl and fill with water

  4) Place the bowl in the microwave and turn on for 3-5 minutes

  5) Let stand with the door closed for about 5 minutes

  6) Carefully remove the bowl (it will be very hot!!!!) and wipe down the inside of the microwave with a cloth, towel, or paper towels until clean.

The water and lemon juice steam will help loosen and remove grease and other baked on substances, plus it will leave a nice smell in the microwave afterwards. Best part, it's 100% chemical free.

If you have really stuck stuff in the microwave  - you can use a mild natural abrasive and some warm water on a towel to help remove it. I recommend using Kosher Salt, since it's natural and won't leave chemical residue in the microwave afterwards.


The dough in my bread maker collapses just after cooking starts Every time I try to bake some bread in my bread maker, it rises at first but just when cooking process starts and the device increases the heat, the dough collapses!

I tried several recipes with white bread, french bread, whole wheat bread with various amounts but always this happens.

My device is Even Baker XBM 1029S. There is not much info about this model but it seems to be a clone of "Cookworks Signature Breadmaker". The same menu, LCD, Buttons.

I would first check on the type of flour I am using. To produce breads, always use flour that contains the highest protein count. It is this protein that produces gluten, and the more of this protein the stronger the gluten. This can be called a multitude of things, from 'Strong Flour', to 'Baker's Flour', to 'Best For Bread'.

Another thing you might want to do is check your mixing times. If your dough is undermixed, the gluten will not be strong enough to properly expand and hold structure from the CO2 produced by the yeast. Likewise, if the dough is overmixed you can see the same problem.

just a couple of things to start.

EDIT: you don't mention what type of flour you are using at all... If you aren't at least using a 50% mix of wheat flour, you aren't going to get proper rise as wheat flour is the only type that contains 'gluten'. Even when you buy 'whole wheat bread', this is usually a mixture of flours.

Make sure there is a stable temperature in the room where your bread machine is working, no opening and closing doors.


What is bakery emulsion and how is it different from flavoring extract? I was in Ross for Less and saw (and bought) a bottle of lemon bakery emulsion because it just sounded good.  Looking online it seems that it is a one for one replacement for extract, but I have not found a real difference online.  I haven't had the chance to try it in anything yet.

What is the difference between bakery emulsion and a flavoring extract (there were other bakery emulsion flavors on the shelf, so it is not just lemon that comes this way)?  Are there certain types of recipes that benefit from emulsion over extract, and why?

I've added a bounty for this question, but I need an answer based on experience.  I know how to search the web.

A flavoring extract is flavoring disolved in alcohol, while a flavoring emulsion is flavoring suspended in water with an emulsifier. Citrus oils like lemon have a stronger flavor when placed in an emulsion than an extract, and that is why they often come that way. (source)

As far as uses go, bakery emulsions keep the incorporated flavors more stable while your mixture changes temperature, and they combine more easily with other emulsions (butter, sugar, egg for example) than extracts do. As this book indicates those characteristics make them especially useful for pastry cremes.

Emulsions are oil-free and therefore can be used to flavor specialty royal icing, whereas extracts are oil based and therefore ruin total icing.


Adding lime juice to green curry paste and heating I am trying this recipe which requires preparation of a green curry paste with lime juice as one of the ingredients. Once the paste is prepared, I add it to a pan with hot oil (after which I add coconut milk to the paste)

My doubt is - is it a good idea to add lime juice to a hot mixture because the heat probably destroys the vitamins in it? Or is it better to add lime juice later towards the completion of the preparation of the dish?

Lime juice is one of the components of green curry.  The acid from the lime juice macerates some of the other ingredients and wakens up some other flavors. If you don't add it as part of the paste preparation, then you aren't cooking with Green Curry.

If you add the lime juice in the end, you will have a very different result, mostly that of a dish that tastes like it was sprinkled with lime juice before served.

I add a sprinkle of lime at the end when you have it plated it doesn’t taste like lime added it wakes all the flavors


Looking to add some texture to my tomato soup recipe I have been working on perfecting a tomato soup recipe for the past month or so and I've reached the point where the soup itself is to my liking.

I am now trying to figure out the garnish and so far I've decided on a dollop of creme fraiche  and a few drops of basil infused oil.

Presentation wise, the red, white and green looks fantastic, but the one element I'm missing is texture. You see, the soup is very smooth as are the creme fraiche and oil, so I'm looking to add some contrasting texture. I am at a loss of what would pair well with tomatoes. Does anyone have any suggestions to add some "crunch" to my soup?

Croutons. They are a cinch to make at home, and just top with lemon and garlic. Or, if you are pressed for time, get some at the store.

Just came across your post and thought I would present a recent recipe I have tried and is getting great feedback. My easy tomato and basil soup gives great texture as I blend the roughly chopped cooked vegetables rather than the usual smooth finish.


Why did my idli looked cooked from outside but was still mushy inside? I sometimes try using Homemade batter for making idlis and dosas as I live in the perfect temperate climate which is required for fermenting the batter properly and wish to cut down on the preservatives which are found in ready to use batter packets.

Usually it comes nice and fluffy, sometimes a little hard due to more urad in it. But this time when I thought the batter was all perfect, my idlis totally disappointed me. In the steamer it looked as if it had cooked perfectly although it did not rise much, but to my disbelief when I removed it from the steamer's plate, and opened it up it was uncooked inside.

Can anyone suggest what am I doing wrong here? I ferment the batter overnight. Is it less? Will it not become rotten if I keep it outside for 24 hours? I know its like a rocket science which either one gets it or not, but I am looking for a desi method here which will not disappoint me everytime!

P.S. I just realised that I also changed my steaming process. Do you think that could have changed something?

Earlier I was using a pot like this over the flame:

Now I use an electric steamer and keep the idli plate in the steamer section, something like this:

If you are in a "perfect temperate climate" then the batter should not "go rotten" as the method is from southern India, which is very hot. It does not rot there, so it will certainly not in a cooler climate. You may not, however, have the same rate of success for the same reason.

You imply you are an experienced idli and dosa maker, so you will have to experiment with fermentation and cooking times. If they did not rise, it would suggest you are not fermenting long enough. And denser batter will take longer to cook. You already have a genuine desi (Indian) recipe and methodology, you just need to tweak it to your local conditions.

When you say that usually it comes out fine, this suggests that you have a method and that this method has proven itself a reliable one. This reconciles well with the remainder of what you describe, which posits your current predicament as something of a one-off experience. In short, there's clearly in this go round some unaccounted for factor, (and probably beyond what can be apprehended though some may wish to venture a guess), which caused your batter to respond poorly to otherwise familiar conditions. More likely an issue of quality control here or there. Rather than labor further over the same batch or, for that matter, dread its recurrence, it is perhaps best to rely with confidence on what usually occurs, as this is plainly the best predictor of future events.


Why do apples sometimes taste bitter? I sometimes come across apples that taste very bitter (not sour like a granny smith, but more like tannin). This is maybe one in 10 or 15 apples. It doesn't seem to be restricted to a certain variety (I've tasted it in pink lady, opal, honeycrisp and some I've forgotten). Sometimes it's just one, and sometimes it's a whole batch. Washing doesn't remove the flavor

Google search suggestions show other people have noticed this too, but I can't find a good answer as to why. It seems too common to me to not have a good answer though; maybe it's something only some people can taste, like cilantro tasting soapy or cyanide smelling like almonds?

We have an old variety apple tree, similar to Yellow Transparent, of uncertain origin. When ripe - that is, the flesh has softened to edibility and sweetness has developed - the skins provide a highly tannic note. Removing the skins before using the apples in cooking dramatically reduces the tannins.

My guess is that the bitter taste might be from the chemicals sprayed on these fruits...
Sometimes the whole bag of apples almost all taste slightly bitter, sometimes none at all.


Why add breadcrumbs to meatballs? Besides getting them to stay together, what other reason would there be for adding breadcrumbs to meatballs. Do they impart any particular flavor or texture?

In meatballs or meat loaf or even burgers, breadcrumbs are sometimes added with egg.

The bread, if unseasoned, doesn't change the flavor much except to dilute it.

The texture is definitely different. It is smoother and spongier. The breadcrumbs also soak up liquid so the product doesn't lose as much and stays moister.

Purists often decry the use of breadcrumbs in things like burger patties. For myself- I will add breadcrumbs when I am in the mood for the breadier texture- often when I will be adding extra liquid flavorings like Worcestershire or liquid smoke and want to strengthen the structure a bit.

Bread with milk or water will suffice. Bread is the important additive as it has rising agents and this mixed with ground meat serves to lighten the texture and slows the hardening of mincemeat once cooked. It's not used to extend the meat yield.


French Fries: Why soak in cold water, and if so, why a long time I have heard that, to get crispy french fries, I need to get rid of the excess starch on the surface of potatoes after cutting them. But that can't be the reason, really, because starch is actually what FORMS the crust... so my reasoning is the following: we soak them because enzymes released by cutting will quickly convert the starch into glucose, and THAT will caramelise and burn our french fries. Is that the reason why we use cold water, to keep the enzyme inactive?

If so, soaking in cold water seems unnecessary to me. Thoroughly rinsing until the water runs clean should be enough. Am I correct?

The reason why you want to get rid of the excess starch on the surface is, while cooking they will brown faster and will yield very dark brown fries, instead of golden-brown "which we all like ;)". It has nothing (or little) to do with enzymes aiding caramelization/maillard reaction. The browning happens at high temperatures, such as the temperature of the frying oil. As you have more starches on the surface, they will get darker, or even burnt.

As a side note, I’ve found out that instead of soaking, just cooking the fries in water for a short while helps greatly in getting rid of the surface starches, even more than soaking or running them through water.

Soaking French fries in cold water is done for two reasons. This takes out the excess starch from the outside of the potato. Let them soak for a minimum of four hours in your refrigerator. They can stay in the water for up to some 24 hours or so with no harm coming to the potatoes. Be very careful in drying the fries before putting them into the oil? Water and oil do not mix. The second reason for soaking is that it has the advantage of keeping the fries from getting too dark during the cooking process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZJ739iMYXI


Can I just rinse the knife & cutting board, instead of washing it, after cutting washed vegetables? I was wondering something I can't seem to Google anywhere, concerning food safety/hygiene.
And that is whether I can just rinse the cutting board/knife, after cutting up some washed vegetables (e.g. cucumber & tomatoes) or whether doing so could be quite unhygienic and I ought to just wash it every time
• By rinse I mean to just let water run on the knife and cutting board vertically
• And by wash, I mean use a detergent with a sponge or a brush

As a general food safety rule/best practice, you should still perform active washing, rather than passive rinsing, even for fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables are still vectors for food borne illness and cross contamination. Wide scale recalls of vegetables due to listeria and e. coli are not uncommon. Active washing with soap and water will combat this. A quick swipe with a soapy cloth followed by a rinse will clean up much better than rinsing alone.
Fruits and vegetables also contain things such as sugars, which passive rinsing may not fully clean. This can result in spoilage and/or mold growth on your cutting board. A great demonstration of this would be to cut beets, which have both relatively high sugar and an accompanying red color, and passively rinse up vs actively washing. Washing will clean up much better. The same is true for other fruits and vegetables, though the lack of red dye makes it less easy to notice.

Yes you can just rinse it.
Personally, I just rinse it under water after prepping fruits and vegetables, and when cutting meat I rinse and use coarse salt and lemon to give it a gentle scrub.


Which cherries do I use for cherry pie When making a cherry pie is it best to use frozen cherries or canned cherry pie filling when you don't have access to fresh cherries.

The frozen ones are just like fresh, only softer and they drip their juice out - but that's OK when you are going to bake them anyway. Canned cherry pie filling is sweetened and spiced, so it is going to taste the way the canner made it, not like homemade. If I go to the trouble of baking a pie, I always go all the way and make my own filling, not using the premade stuff - then I could just go out and buy the whole pie.

It is always best to use frozen fruits. Thaw them in the refrigerator, then allow them to come to room temperature before using them so that your pastry bakes properly

I worked as a contractor at a canning plant. I had heard it is better to use frozen than canned or even "fresh" fruit. The reason is, canned fruit gets added ingredients to preserve the color...peaches look yellow, apples are white, etc. Fresh fruit has to go from the farm, to the packager, to the distributor, to the grocer...all the while, continuing to age, and sometimes sprayed with something to preserve "freshness". Frozen gets shipped from the farm, to the packager, where the fruit is frozen and kept at that state until you buy it and use it.

The only real fresh fruits are the ones that are bought at farmers' roadside markets, but then, you don't know whether any pesticides still exist on them.

Personally, I found a roadside market that has proven to be fresh and clean, and reliable. When the fruit I want is out of season, or not grown locally, I buy frozen, except bananas, which I buy at the store by the bunch, and peaches, which I buy canned, because I like the syrup.


How to imitate commercial fried chicken? I'm trying to develop my own "secret" fried chicken recipe, something that is similar to Popeye's or Church's. I'm a LONG ways from getting there. Here's what I did in my last experiment:

Chicken was marinated in buttermilk with Cajun spices and Tabasco
sauce for 24 hours
I used a deep fryer and canola oil. 175C.
Prior to "dressing" the chicken, I let the excess buttermilk brine drip off the chicken. I then seasoned it with Cajun seasoning
I made a batter using an egg, self rising flour, milk, baking powder
I also tried using just plain flour for breading

Results:

Using the batter, the chicken came out looking burned and too smooth (didn't have that crunchy look). It burned too much that I couldn't finish cooking the chicken.
Using the flour, the chicken came out with a thin crust, somewhat crispy, but also too burnt.
Dipping the chicken in the batter AND then flour gave a bulky & crunchy look. However, again, the result looked too burnt.

Modifications:

I then changed the the breading. I used bread flour and corn starch. I dipped the chicken in the batter again, then used the new breading. The bread flour was a bit lighter. And the corn starch was even more lighter. But they were still burn looking (just lighter shades). I also dropped the temperature to 160C.

Results:

Burnt chicken whose crust wasn't really sticking to the skin/meat.

Questions:

Any suggestions on what I can do to improve? I'm guessing something in the batter is causing the burnt coat. What flour should I use? What can I do to make the coat stick to the skin/meat? Any other suggestions on what to do?

160C sounds about right for cooking oil temp. I typically shallow fry on the stovetop for about 10-12 minutes for the thighs and then transfer them to a 175C oven to finish cooking (if needed) and then repeat with the breasts. I would stay away from "battering" if you are looking to replicate something like popeye's.

A few things I do to ensure a nice thick crunchy crust:

Put your flour (seasoning or not thats up to you) in a very large zip top bag or paper bag will work too so that when you put the chicken in you can "tumble" it around to be coated like in a dryer. I find that this is cleaner and more effective in creating a crust.
pull out the dredged chicken, redip it in the buttermilk and then throw it back in the bag to tumble.
let the chicken rest on an elevated rack for 15-20 minutes (up to an hour ideally) to allow the dredge to set and adhere to the chicken well. This helps prevent the dreaded "skin falling off the meat" phenomenon.

Bisquick for the breading - add your spices to the Bisquick. Prior to using it I dip the chicken into a couple of raw beaten eggs then coat it in the breading.


What can I substitute for onions? I love onions; however, someone that I cook for does not.  Absolutely hates them and can tell whenever they are in the dish.

That said, so many recipes call for onion to be added. What can I use instead that would have a similar but less intense/noticeable effect?

Leeks can provide some of the same flavors as onions, but the flavors are lower intensity than onions.

While cooking instead of onion you can use cabbage. It has almost the same taste, try it.


Honing Steel Forward or Backward I'm really confused before I thought when you hone a knife you bring the edge towards you however the other day I was watching gordon ramsay bringing the edge away when honing. I tried searching on this topic however couldn't find anything. Could someone explain to me if this is a different technique or what? Thanks appreicate it.
The video of him doing it is linked below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBn1i9YqN1k

I have a very simple reason for taking the edge away:
It's less dangerous - for you, don't do this before someone.

I don't know if it makes for better or worse honing (should be the same as long as the angle is the same I'd say).

Think of how metal gets an edge; you can get an edge on metal either forwards or backwards. My personal belief is when you sharpen a knife the traditional way you are honing the metal and thin edge back into the knife; when Gordon Ramsay hones in reverse, he's going forward, not folding backwards, so I believe you get a sharper edge because the metal is now pointing towards the part of the blade you cut with and has a sharper hone.
I have asked at least six chefs about what their training said; they could actually see the point of folding the blade towards the cutting edge. Obviously, you're supposed to use a stone afterward, but it works for a quick solution in the kitchen. The first time I saw Gordon Ramsay sharpen the knife that way I was surprised. After considering and asking questions it seemed quite logical. To each their own, but it is pretty hard to get away from what you have been taught. You never know, in a few years everyone may be honing the knives the other way; after all, everything evolves.


How can I tell the difference between a rabbit and a cat? I received a shipment of prefabricated skinned rabbit last week and the shipment seemed unusual. Rabbits have a very close resemblance to cats once their “hair” and skin have been removed. Is there a telltale sign that I’m working with Bugs Bunny, not Sylvester?

I have a suspicion that Elmer Fudd is running out of legitimate product.

All jokes aside, how do you tell the difference?

In Germany we have an old (joking) saying that roughly translates to "head off, tail off - bunny", so your question is legitimate. But first thing's first: There is no health risk1 involved if you ate the latest shipment of "meowling rabbit". (To cat lovers everywhere: This is no endorsement, I have a much loved and pampered cat, too!)

The most obvious differences are

head (look at the teeth!),
tail (short vs. long), and
feet (cat claws are quite distinctive).

But I suspect these would be removed prior to sale, so we'd have to dig a bit deeper into anatomy:

Shoulder blades:
Cats' shoulder blades are rounded on top, especially in the front, making the shoulder blade almost semicircular with the ridge making for two differently shaped parts, rabbits' shoulder blades are triangular with the ridge somewhat parallel to the front side.
Femur (thigh bone):
A cat's femora are straight, whereas a rabbit's is more or less bent, especially pronounced in older animals. Same applies to a lesser extent to radius and ulna (forearm), but they might have been removed.
Ribs:
Cats' ribs are "rounder" than rabbits' ribs according to this source. I can't say by how much, but @aitchnyu's comment below suggests the difference is obvious enough to play a significant role in the novel/movie Papillon.
Pelvis:
The same source as above states that the foramen obturatum (= the loop-like opening near/below the hip joint) is oval in rabbits and round in cats. I couldn't find a good picture to show this, though.

Here's a rabbit:

Source: www.onlineveterinaryanatomy.net

And a cat:

1 other than the general risk every meat from questionable sources brings

just take a look at the tail..!
if(tail is long)
then CAT
else
confirm RABBIT


How do I prepare prawns such that they are straight after boiling/steaming? I'd like to make a sushi roll or a vietnamese prawn roll but can't seem to get the prawns to straighten, which would make them much easier to roll up. They were still curled up after I cleaned them before the boil.

Wash the shrimp and remove only the head.
Insert a bamboo skewer along the shrimp from head to tail, running along the legs without touching flesh
Drop into boiling, salted water for 3-5 minutes (do not put a lid on); after this period, they'll change color and rise to the top. If they feel firm, they are cooked.
Quickly place them into ice water, which helps them have good color and stops the flesh from shrinking and becoming hard.
When shrimp are cold, remove from ice water and drain in a colander.
To remove the skewer, use a screwing motion.

For nigiri-sushi:

Remove shell from around body, but not the tail.
Butterfly cut open, cutting from head to tail along the belly with the knife only going halfway in.
Use the knife or your fingers to open it up and flatten it carefully, without further breaking the flesh.
Remove vein and rinse with lightly salted water. Lay on papertowels to drain.

If using for sushi rolls, remove tail and cut in half lengthwise.


How do you grill a perfect burger? I'm a pretty good griller (gas barbeque).  I can turn out perfect steaks, fish, duck breasts, and even an entire leg of pork.  The one thing that eludes me is the simple burger.  Even with lean beef, I get constant flare-ups and greasy black smoke.  What's the trick to grilling the perfect burger?  (fresh meat, hand pressed, not a recipe question)

Edit: Definition of a perfect burger

Cooked through with just a suggestion of pink in the center.
Juicy on the inside - Your bun should soak up lots of beefy goodness after it's been bitten

Honestly, don't grill.

Don't run away!

Hamburgers were originally cooked in pans, not on grills. One of the reasons for this is thta with grilling you lose any fat and moisture that comes out of the burger.

So I use Heston Blumenthal's method now. While I tend to ignore the preparation elements (I have neither the time nor the money to hand-grind my burgers with a specific ratio of this cut to that cut to the other cut), the cooking method is flawless:

Make your burgers.

Over very low heat, place a pan with just a little oil (or bacon/duck fat, which is lovely). introduce burgers to pan. As soon as they release easily from the surface, flip. Thirty seconds later, flip. Repeat until cooked through. (fifteen to twentyish minutes).

This will give you the juiciest, most tender burgers you have ever had in your life. I promise. Essentially what you're doing is basting the burgers in their own fat.

Alternatively, if you have an immersion circulator, cook your burgers sous vide and then just mark on the grill when done. I've had burgers done this way and they are excellent.

Burgers will flare on the grill--that's all the fat (and therefore flavour) being squeezed out by the action of cooking and burning away.

Good burgers are about good flavor no? I think the best flavor is the charbroiled one from CHARCOAL.

Cooking a burger in a pan is like deep frying pizza.......you ask yourself why?

As some culinary professionals and some grill experts probably already know......flip the burger as little as possible (yes this does require patience)

flip every 30 sec?    honestly? lol. where'd all the juice that was holding flavor go? oh yeah you cooked it off :/

Eveyone likes THEIR burger.....it's just traditional to cook a Hamburger on a Charcoal grill. Otherwise you should just call it what it is.....

Searing ground beef. fail.

cook the flavor IN :P


Is corn a fruit, vegetable, or a nut? I've been debating with my friends whether or not corn kernels are considered to be fruits or vegetables or nuts. To my knowledge, a fruit is a sweet "bubble" (in that it's a membrane with a fleshy interior) of a plant's seed (they remind me of pomegranate seeds). A vegetable is part of a plant that is eaten but not part of the seed. I was under the impression that nuts were only from a specific "branch" of plant evolution that is predominantly trees. This information would lead me to believe it is isn't any of them. Looking into it myself, I learned the word aril, but I'm not sure if corn's kernels are like that, either. It doesn't sound like it fits the criteria of that, or any of them.

Taking up from there, I'm a bit confused on what corn should be called. Do we have a name for corn like we do everything?

Thanks!

Corn (Maize) is clearly a cereal grain, and not any of the other things you mention. Even the farmers and agricultural agencies consider it a grain - it's one of the "official grains of Canada" and regulated by the Canadian grain commission.

I'm not sure when or why it started being called a vegetable, but as far as the culinary definition goes, it has far too much sugar and starch to fall properly into that category. The typical culinary definition of a vegetable is savory, not sweet.

Botanically, the kernels can be considered a type of fruit called a caryopsis (AKA a grain), although it's not normally eaten as fruit (for one thing, it's normally cooked).

It may accompany vegetables reasonably well, just like rice or many other grains. But it is a grain.

A maize grain is considered a fruit because it shares some features with other fruits, for example: it has two scars, etc.


Why is there liquid in my macaroni salad, potato salad and tuna salad the day after making them? When I make potato salad, macaroni salad, tuna salad, and sometimes ham salad, it seems like there's always a puddle of excess liquid at the bottom of the storage container the next day.

Does anyone know what is causing this or how to prevent it from happening?

I always cook the pasta in water with oil to limit absorption, and I always try to drain it thoroughly. I also always use regular mayonnaise or salad dressing instead of the light ones which have more water in them. A day later, I am always draining off the excess liquid and remixing with mayonnaise all over again.

The supermarket salads never seem to have this problem: what are they doing differently? Can anyone help???

Have you tried baking pasta, after boiling it in the water?

I highly recommend you bake the pasta in the oven on very low heat, for 20 minutes, then you will see that there is no more liquid.

Also it gives the macaroni a spongy condition which makes it able to keep the liquid in it.

I believe if you bake the pasta before mixing with mayonnaise, you will get a good result.

The reason it probably gets water is from tasting it and putting the utensil back in the salad. Saliva will break down the mayo or salad dressing and viola!!! Water.... When you taste it put it in another dish and use a different utensil.  Don't let your fork touch the serving spoon either.... It contaminates it.....


Purpose of hole in stove leading to oven I'm staying in a hotel and have access to a "electric coil stove" for one of the first times.

I accidentally turned on the oven light and saw that the light was shining up through only one of the stoves:

There's only a port from the oven into the top right stove, and note that the stove is not on.

Here's a view from within the oven:

Is there a hole here as a vent for the oven for some reason, or is this for the stove? I typically use a glass "flat-top stove" that doesn't have an oven underneath it. I've never seen a direct hole from a stove to the oven before, and have to wonder what the purpose is.

A simple Google search yielded the following

https://www.shopyourway.com/m/questions/1019973

All ovens are vented one way or another. You would not want to heat up the air in a sealed chamber because of thermal expansion. It would explode due to the heat expanding because it has no way to vent. A vent is also needed to vent fumes and by products that burn off during the self cleaning process.

A vent is necessary and should not be blocked

I assume it is to help with air flow. Heat the same air over and over again and it gets stale. It also lets the wonderful smells waft about the household.


Is burnt microwave safe to use? Microwave popcorn left a burnt hole on the little metal plate inside the microwave. It still, works perfectly fine.  But is it safe food wise? Should i use it?

That's not a metal plate. it's heat resistant mica composite. The microwaves come into the oven through the hole behind it. You can take it out scrub it off, put it back in and be good to to go. Be gentle with the stuff. It'll crack if you scrub too hard. From the soot marks on the metal above the piece, you must have had a big blob of grease explode onto the shield, where it burned merrily. Clean the soot off too.
Pull the piece up gently to remove, and push it down under the clips to put it back.

I have always been told by my dad that a fire in ANY electric appliance warrants an expert who is knowledgeable in the repair of the appliance before it is used again. Electricity is one thing, microwaves are another. All of the shields are there to protect you and your family. What price will you pay later to save a few dollars. My advice is take it outside and destroy it. People go thru dumpsters to pick up stuff and sell it to someone who is trying to save money. If it works use it is bad advice. But do what you want and I hope you sleep well


What is "Buttered Sugar"? What is "Buttered Sugar"? Is it something specific?

I got the term from this image floating around the net. I'm trying to understand what specifically the different sugars are.

A search of the internet for "buttered sugar" comes up exclusively with variations of the this list on various websites that list alternative names for sugar.
Of these only one "Returning to nature" lists it as a synonymy for buttercream.

It is possible that site is correct and "buttered sugar" is a possibly rarely used alternate name for buttercream. I would suspect that it is more likely that there has been an error at some point in the past that has been copied between these sites.

Basically melted butter mixed with sugar. I've think of this two ways: 1) spread butter over the toast and then sprinkle sugar over. 2) in baking context we usually mix the soft butter with sugar into this mixture before adding other ingredients. This is also called creaming.


Panda Express style Chow Mein I find myself addicted to Chow Mein served at Panda Express, and have tried cooking it several times, failing each time.

I have followed these recipes:

http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-do-you-make-panda-express-chow-mein.html
http://www.chinesefood-eye.com/recipe_100232_panda-express-chow-mein.aspx

The secret seems to be sugar+chicken broth.

However each time I make it I can never get the noodles quite right.  They turn out mushy, and half of them stick to the pan.

I've tried vermicelli, Annie Chung's chow mein, and egg noodles.

How do I get nice, firm, golden chow mein noodles?

If your noodles are mushy, then you're overcooking them. Vermicelli take barely a minute or two to cook in already-boiling water. Egg noodles take a little longer, but either way, trying the noodles as they start to loosen up is the best way to ensure the right texture.

Remember, you are going to be cooking them again when you stir fry them, so they should be a little underdone when they come out of the broth. Rinsing in cold water will arrest the cooking process and also wash off the starch that can make the noodles stick to the wok when frying.

Try using fresh Japanese soba noodles.  They can be found in most Asian markets in the refrigerated areas.


Getting butter from yogurt The common way for taking butter from milk is to shake the cream captured from milk. There is also a traditional way to shake yogurt to separate butter. However, I was unable to find any instruction for separating butter from yogurt.

Although, separating butter from high-fat cream is quite easy, but full separation of cream from milk at home is almost impossible. However, transferring milk to yogurt is quite easy. Therefore, there is an advantage for getting butter from yogurt (rather than cream), when the starting point is raw milk.

Why this method is not popular? Is there any drawback for that?
Where to find a practical instruction for this procedure? the
best temperature? using Greek (heavy) yogurt or adding water to
it?

I am skeptical that butter from yogurt is a thing.

When yogurt is made the milk proteins denature and form a mesh that traps all the large molecules in the milk. Water, sugar, and some small molecules can come out but the fat never does- it's huge and tightly bound up in the gel.

Even when yogurt is blended up the whey will separate out but the fat never does. I have a hard time believe that extricating the fat from that protein mesh will be easier than just letting it rise to the surface in milk.

Perhaps thoroughly cooking the yogurt would melt out the fat but you would still lose the rest of the milk solids and would have ghee.

With purchasable yogurt it would be even less feasible because it is often made from low-fat milk to begin with.

EDIT-

Searching online I was able to find Indian recipes for making butter from yogurt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vK8hW_oSu0
In this case they made yogurt from heavy cream. The goal was a cultured butter- not easier butter.

There is a huge difference between the Butter in west(from milk) and The one from East (from Yogurt)(India ,Pakistan Turkey etc)
There are many advantages of Butter from Yogurt but I Will highlight only one and thats is the Bacteria Culture present in Butter which is separated from yogurt.
Go search it yourself.


Should I use my microwave's 'popcorn' button? My microwave oven has a "POPCORN" button. Its manual reads:

  Touch this pad when popping popcorn in your microwave oven. The oven's sensor will tell the oven how long to cook depending on the amount of humidity it detects from the popcorn. See page 31 for more information.

Page 31 clarifies:

  POPCORN lets you pop commercially packaged microwave popcorn.

(As opposed, I suppose, to popping kernels in a paper bag, which I also do.) Fine. Other microwave ovens have a similar button (though I must admit I haven't checked their manuals).

The problem is that my "commercially packaged microwave popcorn" bag reads:

  Do not use popcorn button.

I've seen it on other microwaveable popcorn bags, too.

So... which of the two manufacturers is correct, and why? And why does the incorrect one claim what it does?

A better instruction would be "do not rely entirely on the functionality of the popcorn button on your microwave, since microwaves vary widely as do bags of popcorn." But that's longer, and kind of complicated, so they abbreviate it "do not use popcorn button".

There's no problem with the power setting of the popcorn button, only with the timing. You should hang around near the microwave, and when you hear the pops slowing, stop it, no matter what your popcorn button thinks. And if you get a lot of unpopped kernels, and the popping didn't slow before the button said the microwave was done, consider doing it yourself next time and letting it pop for a little longer.

The problem with leaving it in too long is that the corn scorches (usually from the centre out) and the whole bag is inedible. If the energy is no longer going into popping kernels, it's going in to scorching what you already have. Get it out before that happens.

For starters, if you are popping LIGHT popcorn, and it say not to use the popcorn button, it's not kidding. You will almost certainly burn the popcorn if that is the case.  The logic for preset power and time is for normal oil levels.

Otherwise, if your microwave has the right weight setting for the popcorn, it will probably work.  But always supervise it, and use the audio rule the first time you pop a brand. If it shuts off on it's own when the popping slows down, feel free to use the button in the future. If it quiets down too soon, don't use it again.  Very few actually use an audio sensor.


Why is there no sweet (as in 'with sugar') butter? I understand salted butter can be useful is some situations, but why there's no such thing as "sugar butter" that can be sold in stores? I mean, there is sweet milk (concentrated, for instance) and sweet yoghurt, but no sweet butter nor sweet cheese. Is it just cultural or is there some chemical explanation behind it?

Butter traditionally has salt in it as a preservative, mainly to stop bacterial growth on the residual whey, and to slow fat rancidity

Modern butter has a much lower amount of salt than is required for shelf storage in the pre-electric era. Now we have refrigerators, salt is not required at such a high level

Butter with no salt has nearly half of the shelf life of modern salted butter

Processed sugar is a modern ingredient, and therefore there is no culture in having it in butter.

Sweet yoghurt and milk are all "new" inventions

Using salt as a preservative is as old as recorded history. Many cultures used salt to preserve fruits, as well as meats and vegetables

Two reasons.
Butter is sweet.
Butter is a base ingredient.  How would one determine the level of sweetness and what would it be used for. How would sweet butter increase sales over plain?


Dry milk substitutions? I'm trying to make homemade Tootsie rolls, and the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup of instant non-fat dry milk powder, which I don't have. Is there any way I can substitute regular milk for this? If so, do I use the same amount?

Maybe you can try whey powder, which you can find in the sports drink column in grocery stores. Whey is one of the proteins present in milk.

Also, whey powder is low fat and low carb, some comes in vanilla flavor, which maybe good for making sweets/dessert. Hope it helps :)


Can you make oven proof and microwave safe pie dishes using cardboard and who supplies them? Does anyone know where I can source cardboard oven proof and microwave safe pie dishes and if these are even possible?

I'm not sure whether they are sold for consumer use, but I can say that Amy's brand pot pies come in a cardboard pie pan with instructions for microwaving or baking in a conventional oven. So they do exist.

Whether such pie pans are suitable for start-to-finish creation of a pie is another question, I'm fairly sure the Amy's pies are partially prepared and then transferred to cardboard pie pans (possibly after they're frozen).

For home cooking, a glass pie pan would be an option if you need to bake a pie in the oven and then heat it later in a microwave. Depending on your oven, you may need to be careful to place the pie pan on a metal tray, or put a metal tray on the lower rack below the pie pan to prevent radiant heat from over-cooking the lower crust of the pie. (Edit: On second thought, a baking stone would probably provide a better radiant heat barrier.)

You can look under the packaging of products in frozen food aisle at the supermarket. They all have the name of the company who produced them. You can try contacting them.


Is cheesecake a cake or a pie? Is cheesecake technically a pie or a cake?

I'm curious as to why. Are there solid definitions of what makes a dessert a cake or a pie?

Alton Brown and an Elvis impersonator called it a custard pie.

I think cheese CAKE means that it has to be cake... look at the name for goodness sake.


What is the proper way to maintain a can opener? I bought a hand crank can opener (Oxo) because of the good online feedback and only use the "shake" dry approach. It quickly developed rust in between the metal. If I invest the time and scrub, I can remove most of the rust.

When I initially posed the maintenance question in IRC concerning rust and utensils and kitchenware in general, I got suggestions from "spend a little on a decent one" to "you want stainless steel". I stored both answers as helpful for future purchases.

Just recently I noticed two can openers in the office pantry that both show rust. Obviously these were neglected and showed more corrosion. After seeing this, I am curious if rust is actually normal and harmless. Are there more expensive stainless steel can openers that are rust resistant? Should I be drying more rigorously? I just thought of another possibility: should I keep the can opener in a jar of cooking oil?

I have a lot of canned food and have gone through my share of can openers. I'm generally OK with a rusty can opener, but I don't like the rust flakes getting into my food. I can't bear that metallic taste.

While I don't mind buying a new can opener (they sell them at the dollar general for two dollars), but I find it a bit wasteful.

This may sound a bit un-orthodox, but I use rubbing alcohol (90% or higher). I have a jar filled with it next to the sink, so I will rinse the can opener off, dip it in the jar of alcohol, and put it back in the drawer. It dries fine in there.

This also works for other rust-prone utensils like whisks.

I would throw it in the dishwasher, most are dishwasher safe, and the drying cycle might dry the opener better than just a towel. but that's me, i'm pretty lazy and don't like washing things by hand.


Why are my potatoes sour? I've noticed that when we roast potatoes in the oven, they will often have a very sharp tangy aftertaste to me, and often that taste will linger in the back of my mouth for a while after I've finished eating. The weird part is that my husband can't taste this at all, so it may just be something that my palate is particularly sensitive too.

Within one batch I'll get the flavor from some potatoes but not others, and I've noticed it even when just baking the potato with no oil or seasoning, so it seems to be coming from the potato itself. Most recently when eating a whole baked potato, it seemed like this flavor was coming most from the skin, and not from the starchy center.

What could be causing this sourness? Is it an indication of something harmful (going bad, chemicals)? Is there a good way to prevent or mask this flavor in the future?

Remember that the potato is a member of the nightshade plant and you can use a potato as a battery. Better even if cooked. What you are tasting is basically the solanine (which often has a battery taste...I believe there is a correlation there somewhere but it could help people remember not to eat bitter potatoes). I've tasted it too but not everyone has the same taste buds as we do.

Also, the battery (essentially the life of a plant) that I'm referring to starts when the sun comes into through the leaves (Solanum tu-berosum) and producing the starch, "which is transferred through the plant to its underground stems, known as stolons. Starch collects at the end of the stolons, forming swollen sections called tubers. These are the potatoes." Just like any living plant, the tuber stores energy for the plant. "The complex process of turning sunlight into food energy is called photosynthesis. ... The potato plant can live for six months without the energy of the sun, because it survives on its stored chemical energy in the form of starch in tubes, or small sacks called tubers."...(http://www.simpsonstreetfreepress.org/science/plants-and-photosynthesis)

When your potatoes sprout during storage, they’re using available light and stored starch". During harvest and storage, "When exposed to light, potatoes manufacture increasing amounts of chlorophyll as well as two bitter-tasting alkaloid compounds, solanine and chaconine" especially prolonged exposure to light with improper handling and storage. "In high concentrations, these can not only make potatoes taste bitter but also can cause headaches and stomachaches" (among other things). "A 4-ounce (114 gram) potato naturally contains 5 to 6 milligrams of solanine and chaconine, which is considered harmless. But when a potato looks green from an increase in chlorophyll, it indicates that it will also have higher levels of these alkaloids-  as much as 20 times in potatoes that have turned completely green." I have read here that you can "deeply cut away any green parts" (...https://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-cooking-potatoes-2);but I have also read conflicting information asking to avoid them altogether. I already do not eat potatoes when dining out including fries but I also avoid eating potatoes within a couple of days from each other. According to the Smithsonian... (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/horrific-tales-of-potatoes-that-caused-mass-sickness-and-even-death-3162870/); "A general rule for avoiding illnesses like the ones described above? Green and sprouted? Throw it out." On the site, the Smithsonian will give you many links that I've found interesting. Where I live, the potatoes are mostly green and I plan cooking potatoes when I see good ones on the shelf. We have a small offshoot grocery from a big named chain so we get all of the bad stuff here. I makes me sick every time I see them selling otherwise discarded produce to uneducated victoms.

I'm glad you are ok now.

..."A 4-ounce (114 gram) potato naturally contains 5 to 6 milligrams of solanine and chaconine, which is considered harmless. But when a potato looks green from an increase in chlorophyll, it indicates that it will also have higher levels of these alkaloids-  as much as 20 times in potatoes"...

Here is a link with more information:
https://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-cooking-potatoes-2 and check out an unbiased article on Mother Earth News at https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/green-potato-myths-and-safe-potato-eating-zbcz1509

Here is a very scary place to research. It may make you never want to eat potatoes nor any nightshade ever again. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/killer-tomatoes-and-poisonous-potatoes/

As we know, our diets are lacking and research is all over the charts but until our governments step in and investigate the money hungry monopolizing industries; it is to each his own so research and research again but it is always a good idea to not rely on only one source of information.


chef knives and cutting surfaces I recently acquired a chef knife.
Alton Brown says I should never use a glass surface to cut, but when I need to cut chicken I don't want to use the wood block because it will be contaminated.

how do I go around this conundrum?
What should I use to cut chicken with my new knife?

I believe that there are two major options:

Wood cutting boards
Plastic cutting boards

Either of these will provide a perfectly appropriate surface for you to use your knives against.

From a food safety point of view, both can be excellent, although they have different pros and cons.

There is some evidence that wood cutting boards actually inhibit pathogen growth.  They can be sanded down for maintenance, and sanitized with a light bleach solution, but should not be placed into the dishwasher, which may be an inconvenience for your lifestyle.  Some larger wood cutting blocks are also a very nice aesthetic statement.

Plastic cutting boards can be very effective, and can be placed in the dishwasher, and are easy to sanitize.  Some people are concerned that once they get deep cuts within them, this can harbor pathogens even through cleaning cycles, so they have a limited lifetime.  They also are not as pretty as wood, although often far lower in cost.

Most sanitation guides will recommend that you reserve one cutting board for meat (or in a large kitchen, one for meat, one for poultry, and one for fish), and another for vegetables.  This is often easiest with color coded cutting boards, which plastic makes easy.

My personal preference is for the very thin, flexible plastic cutting boards.  They are inexpensive, easy to move around, dishwasher safe, and can be rolled up to easily dump the product into a pot or container.   They may not have an infinite lifespan, but they are very inexpensive.

Since you do not wish to use your good cutting block for chicken, I recommend the thin, flexible style of cutting board--you can use your block for vegetables, bread, and so on.

Get cheapest plastic boards for cutting meat. Treat them as a disposable item. As soon as they display signs of wear, replace.

You can also go with two boards: one for cutting vegetables and the like, and the other for meats. Meat has enough germs in it that the little from the board won't change much - it's all about the thermal processing that sanitizes it. Vegetables you eat raw don't provide nearly as good growth environment for the really harmful germs, so you won't risk as much. Only chopping veggies on meat-contaminated board you run at a risk. That way the only problem is steak tartare.

Alternatively, look for some swift and efficient knife honing solution, use the glass board and spend some extra time maintaining the knife.


Caffeine content of cold-brewed coffee: higher or lower than hot-brewed? I recently rediscovered the joys of cold-brewing coffee. (One level cup of rough-ground beans, 4-1/2 cups of cold water, steeped overnight and strained, produces a rich coffee concentrate. A shot or three of concentrate in a mug topped with hot water makes a cup of coffee; poured over ice and milk makes a fantastic iced coffee drink.)

The information I've found online is contradictory. One site says this method produces a drink with less caffeine than traditional hot-brewed coffee; another says it actually contains more caffeine.

On the one hand, there's the heat in the traditional method. On the other hand, the beans are in contact with the water for twelve hours in the cold method. It seems as if the caffeine content could be identical? While the beans used will, of course, alter the outcome, does anyone know for certain if cold-brewed coffee has more or less caffeine than hot-brewed?

There's an article from MSNBC which quotes the Toddy company.  The Toddy company makes a device for easy brewing cold brewed coffee.  Apparently, in a side by side test of Toddy cold brewed with Star Buck's hot brewed, the caffeine content was ~30% less in cold brewed than in hot...  I'll go with that.  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/5728227

However caffeine is very volatile, so hot water extracts and eliminates it more than cold...which implies that in a cold brew, more caffeine is retained in the brew and not boiled off. For this reason esspresso actually has less caffeine than traditional brew coffee because of the high heat and pressure..it's a stronger flavor but not a higher caffeine content.


What is the difference between Alaskan King Salmon and Scottish Salmon? I'm considering throwing a dinner party, and I don't have much experience cooking salmon. What are the main differences between these two types of salmon in terms of price, taste, and cooking methods?

Alaskan King, or Chinook, salmon is generally wild, generally caught in the Pacific Northwest, often but not exclusively in Alaska. Scottish salmon is generally farm-raised Atlantic salmon, and as far as that goes is essentially identical to farm-raised salmon from Chile or Norway.

Price: hobodave's comment is correct that the price will vary based on location, but in fact the king salmon will be more expensive almost everywhere. Generic farmed Scottish salmon is a commodity product that generally sells for about $1 more than other farmed salmon for no particularly good reason, but wild salmon can easily cost twice as much regardless. Short of actually being in the Pacific Northwest it's likely that the Scottish is substantially cheaper.

Taste: the quality comparison is the big one here rather than species. King is usually treated much better (shipped quicker, wild diet) because it's not a commodity, but not necessarily. Scottish will vary depending on the farmer, but I think you have to prefer the King to any generically-farmed Scottish salmon.

Cooking methods: no necessary difference. Smoked on a plank is a common method in the Pacific Northwest, but no real reason you couldn't do either in that way. Pick your favorite method.

Wild Kings, Sockeye, are far superior to the Atlantic version. They spend more time gorging on krill and by extension, plankton, giving their flesh it's beautiful color, fatty oils, and silky texture. The farm-raised stuff is crap full of chemicals and bacteria. Atlantic stocks have been infiltrated by farmed fish for a century now, diluting the dna and spreading disease, Sea Lice, etc. The preponderence of lineolic acids and omega 3s set them apart from their Atlantic cousins and put them in a league with Iberico pigs and dry-aged grass-fed beef. When given the chance chefs always choose wild Pacific


Which vinegars are essential to keep on hand? There seems to be a large variety of different vinegars called for in the various recipes I've been trying out lately. I've ended up with a cabinet full of half used bottles. That being said, which vinegars can I substitute for another in recipes? I'm hoping that there are two or three "good enough" vinegars I can keep on hand and buy in larger quantities.

The ones I always have:

White vinegar (as a condiment, and also for cleaning);
Balsamic vinegar (mainly for salads - let it age!)
Rice vinegar (essential to almost all Asian cooking);
Red wine vinegar (essential in French and a lot of Italian cooking);
Cider vinegar (the best deglazer, and great in chilis)

I find Balsamic vinegar very useful, especially when making salad dressings.

Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Garlic
Salt (and/or) Pepper


Butter clarifying mixing mistake During the making of clarified butter, I mistakenly mixed the oil and protiens in the pot with a wooden spoon. So I have an emulsion now. I was thinking, that the oil and the rest will separate anyway, but it is not the case, it is just an emulsion.

Is there a way, how to still separate the oil and the rest, so I can grab the oil and have clarified butter?

Try straining it out through a fine mesh strainer.

The two comments above are correct in a certain way and incorrect in another way.  This happened to me 2 nights ago.  I made a desert that needed 4 cups of clarified butter for a specific desert.  I forgot what I was doing and last night when I got to making it I stirred it up after taking off the foam off the top, then saw the the white milky part and more junk.  I decided to reheat that one and start another one "just in case".  After melting, cooling and I thought everything was ready, boy was I wrong.  By the way, I was taught you do this on a low heat not fast and furious.  So after hours, the one that was messed up was still messed up and the "new one" was perfect" and I treated as such.  My desert came out perfect with those 4 cups of clarified butter.  The bad one I clean up some more, got some more milky stuff off and more foam and used it for another one of my other deserts.  It turned out great.  JUST AS A NOTE.  CLARIFIED BUTTER DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PUT IN THE FRIDGE, IT CAN STAY OUT AND IT DOES NOT BURN. MY ENTIRE LIFE MOST OF MY FAMILY HAVE USED THIS BUT... IT NEEDS TO BE GOOD QUALITY BUTTER, SWEET, UNSALTED BUTTER.