bread dough always too sticky I have two recipes for bread; one is Julia Child's Sandwich bread and the other is honey wheat bread using the recipe on the back of the King Arthur wheat flour bag (can't find the recipe online for some reason).
I've made both breads twice and I have the same problem: the dough is always too sticky. When mixing the ingredients together, it looks like dough but almost like a batter (if that makes sense). But as soon as I try to knead it, it becomes super sticky, getting stuck on my hands and work surface the more I try to work with it. So I ended up adding A LOT of flour to get it manageable, sometimes almost double what the recipe calls for. And even then, it starts to stick to me so I add more flour. The last time I made the breads, I used a stand mixer and after 4 minutes the dough was becoming more batter-like and drooping from the dough hook, so I ended up kneading it by hand (and adding a lot of flour).
Yes my bread always ends up a crumbled mess when I try to cut it and I know I shouldn't be adding so much flour but I don't understand why my dough is so liquidy that I have to add more flour.
I have done a few different things. Like using less water at the start and sifting the flour before using it, and I even made it at different times of the year (summer vs winter in south-central US), and the dough is always too liquidy.
Someone told me I should wait awhile for the flour to absorb the water before I start kneading it (by hand or in a stand mixer) but I'm worried that would affect the yeast.
I'm also a novice baker (I guess you could call bread making baking?) but I run into wet dough issues all the time, and I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas what I'm doing wrong (aside from adding way too much flour for kneading).
For reference, I always do the scoop and level method and use the same measuring cup for measuring water.
Edit: thank you all for the tips and suggestions! I've never used an actual cookbook or used any books for cooking, just online and occasionally videos. So I will definitely look into getting a book for properly making bread especially.

There are many potential causes, it is impossible to say which one (or maybe multiple ones) is the problem in your case.

Wrong measuring. The only way to exclude that for sure is to start baking by weight.
Wrong flour. You mention that you are in the southern US, I have some vague memory reading that they use bread terms a bit differently. Look at your flour package and make sure that it lists at least 9.5% protein. But if you want to have it easier, I suggest making it with bread flour (11-12% protein). Also, these recipes are made for standard wheat flour, don't do any substitutions.
novelty. Maybe you are simply not accustomed to working with doughs on the wetter side. Especially if an elderly relative taught you to make stiffer doughs by hand, they may have told you to do it without measuring and just add flour until it stops being sticky. Many bread recipes are made with doughs that are sticky during work. If you want to start using them, you will have to get accustomed to them. If not, just disregard any recipe above 70 or 75% hydration.
wrong kneading process. Maybe you are kneading for too little time, or not resting properly.

I am uncertain how to interpret your descriptions, and whether it is predominantly the novelty factor or a problem with the dough. "super sticky, getting stuck on my hands and work surface" - for the Julia Child recipe, this is not super sticky, it is normal for dough with 83% hydration and some butter to stick during initial mixing. "batter-like and drooping from the dough hook" - if it was a ball that was slowly drooping from the hook of a turned-off mixer, then it wasn't batter like. Or did you mean that it was dripping from the hook?
In any case, it seems that you are not getting the results you want, and your attempts at troubleshooting are not helping. So, I would suggest to stop using shorthand recipes from random sites, and learn making bread from a book that describes the whole process of making the dough, proofing it and baking it, as well as containing proven recipes and info on proper troubleshooting. Once you have gathered this initial knowledge, you can start hunting for additional recipes again.

I have made thousands of batches of bread dough, both at home and professionally.
Stickiness is all about hydration (the ratio of water to flour), with a bit of effect by way of fat content, but that is usually so low as to not be a noticeable reason.  A good, basic bread dough does not have to be sticky.  (Some, such as the best English muffin dough I have ever made, are very sticky and take practice to handle.)
If your dough is too sticky, using a measuring cup for the flour is not the problem.  The problem people almost invariably run into when measuring flour by volume is not the water absorbed from the air, but from packing too much flour in.  That would make your dough drier -- not stickier.  If you lightly spoon the flour into a measuring cup and knife off the extra (with blade tilted in such a way that you are scraping the excess up and away, rather than pushing it down and into the cup), you will be fine.
The whole idea that weighing flour is somehow superior to measuring it by volume is questionable, at best.  Apparently, people aren't considering that 454 grams (one pound) of "flour" kept in a somewhat humid environment has a higher water content than that kept in drier conditions.  That means that you're getting less of the solids (including the proteins that make gluten) -- and added, unaccounted-for water -- per pound in high humidity.
When you measure by volume, gravity will cause inescapable packing of "wetter" flour, meaning that you're probably going to end up with very close to the intended amount of flour solids at any time of year -- but a little extra water, too.  When it's humid and I'm making a batch of dough that normally calls for 10 1/2 ounces of water, I'll cut it down to 10 or maybe even 9 1/2 ounces.
I have used both mass and volume measurements with a high degree of consistent success.  (Even intermixed -- pounds of flour with quarts of water...)  Because of variables you cannot possibly measure exactly (such as the exact protein or water content in a particular batch of flour), don't sweat the details.  What you need is a good starting point: good ingredients and a recipe that you know to be good.  Once you have that, purposely use a little less flour than the recipe calls for, get it thoroughly mixed, then add flour a little at a time until you achieve the desired consistency.
Thoughts:  If your bread is always a crumbled mess, that implies lack of gluten development.  If you were forced to give up on developing the gluten through kneading and/or time, that could have affected it.  Also, it could be because you added a lot of extra flour to the wet dough -- but did not add more fat.  (It's fat that makes the bread moist.)  Another thing is the yeast.  If your yeast was good, about the only thing that will kill it is heat.  Use water no hotter than 125° F to be on the safe side.  Tepid (body temperature) water is fine.  Much below that will only slow the first rise -- but will allow superior gluten and flavor development!
If you give me the exact measurements and ingredients (brand, type) that you used, I can probably tell you what went wrong.  In any case, good luck.  Homemade bread is one of the most sensuously satisfying things to come out of the kitchen.  Just don't make and eat too much of it, as I have over the years.  All those carbs are not good for your health.


How can I tell if vitelottes/purple potatoes have "green flesh"? I know not to eat white-fleshed potatoes if the skin/flesh is turning green.

Is there any way to tell with purple potatoes?
I know this variety is darker purple all the way through, unlike some...
so I wouldn't be able to see a green flesh color inside, but imagined maybe they'd turn brownish from the combination?

They have just started to sprout, which is what caused me to question them.

Sprouting and turning green are two basically unrelated things.

Sprouting means the tuber tries to form roots and grow into a new plant. It can be triggered by light, but even more so by warmth and the "internal clock" of the potato. That's the reason you are supposed to store potatoes in a cool place, ideally around 10C / 50F.
And yes, the sprouts contain solanine, but as they are not eaten and sprouting does not significantly raise the solanine content, sprouting per se is not critical.
(The reason gardeners encourage sprouting in light is the fact that the sprouts remain shorter, less brittle and some even grow the first tiny leaves.)

Greening, on the other hand, happens whenever a tuber is exposed to light - even in those that are growing slightly partially above the soil, which means you can even harvest green potatoes, although they are typically not sold in stores. This greening correlates with locally higher levels of solanine, the glycoalcaloide found in members of the nightshade family and the rule is to cut off green parts. To prevent greening you are supposed to store potatoes in a dark place.

So while both effects may happen together, sprouting does not automatically mean greening.

If you look closely, you can sometimes see a green tinge that needs removing, e.g. here:

Source

For the really dark purple varieties, it may be hard to impossble to see clearly. In these cases, a bit of knowledge about solanine distribution in green potatoes helps: the highest concentration is found in the green parts of the skin and directly (as in one or two mm) below. So if you suspect exposure to UV light, peeling those potatoes should bring you easily into into safe territory - reducing the solanine content by up to 80%.

And finally, note that solanine is a rather weak poison. Sources vary a bit, but typically you find doses of 2-5 mg/kg body weight for toxic symptoms. Modern potatoes contain around 7mg/kg in and directly below the skin, way less in the other parts. Heirloom breeds can contain significantly more, but I couldn't find exact numbers, again, peeling removes a significant portion. And the last line of defense is your palate: Solanine tastes slightly bitter, so eating bitter potatoes is a bad idea, both from a culinary and from a food safety position.

In short: no need to worry about your sprouting purple potatoes if some basic precautions are taken.

I don't know if this is true.  *t was told to me by a microbiologist chef when I asked him the same thing. His answer was that it was sunburned but was ok to use. hittykittty


Which sugar is used in pastry more often, white or brown? Which sugar is used in pastry more often, white or brown? Which sugar provides more taste/flavor?

For a short answer, I recommend using brown sugar in your case.

Brown sugar has more of it's own flavour, while white sugar is very plain, so when you ask "which one give more taste", you probably want brown. Brown sugar tastes this way because it contains molasses (a juice from the sugarcane).

An alternative to brown cane sugar is "raw sugar" (also known as "natural brown sugar", "whole sugar", or "unrefined sugar"). There are also similar sugars not made with sugarcane, such as maple sugar and coconut sugar.

There may be cases where you don't want the molasses to interfere with the other flavours (such as chocolate). You can use white sugar, while golden sugar (or light brown sugar) is in-between. However, I personally prefer brown sugar in most pastries. It works very well with cinnamon, apples, and raisins. You can also add additional molasses if you want the brown sugar to taste stronger.

you can use both white or brown sugar.

brown sugar are naturally moist,so when you use brown sugar in the pastry so your pastry become more softer and moisture.

and brown sugar contain more mineral than refined white sugar and brown sugar gives you mineral,calcium,iron and potassium.

so in most cases brown sugar is added in pastry and it gives more taste.

and when i made pastries or such like baking things means cake etc i prefer brown sugar because of its benefits and also for the taste.

so i too recommened you brown sugar in pastry

i hope it helps.....


Why orange carrots turn black while peeled? Freshly bought carrots turn black (like coal) on peeled surfaces in minutes if not seconds. I wonder why and why are these special.
Obviously it is not black rot. The carrots taste normal, albeit not too sweet. Too much fertilizer nitrates? Or just contain lots of starch like in potatoes?
The carrots were clean to begin with and I washed my hands too :-)

Update: I live in Denmark and these carrots are from Spain, perhaps Canary Islands, fresh veges seem like a bit of a struggle here, hence I am surprised.

I must admit that my answer contains a bit of speculation.
Let me start with beta carotene which is the pigment responsible for the orange colour of common carrots. It is easily and quickly oxidised by exposure to air and enzymes already present that get activated upon cutting and exposure to light. As such it looses its orange colour very quickly.
Now, browning of fruits and vegetables happens for oxidative processes when they are exposed to air. It is a common an unpleasant occurrence.
Where I do speculate a bit is on why the browning is so pronounced in the case of carrots to be even described as "blacking".
I have few possible reasons that make sense to me (consider I have to deal with "colours" at work, if this gives a bit of credibility).

Carrots are deep orange. The dark layer of oxidised surface on the underlying orange gives us a almost black colour.

Carrots contains other deeply coloured pigments. Some are darker than beta carotene (indeed carrots originally came in purple, and some are indeed black!) and more resistant to oxidation. As such oxidation of beta carotene can reveal darker pigments (anthocyanines) otherwise unnoticed.
This is somehow similar to what happens with leaves. At first they are green due to their content of chlorophyll. Once they fall, chlorophyll has been degraded and other red and yellow pigments become visible.

A mix of the above, depending on the type and amount of pigment present in that particular carrot.

Extra: if cooking with carrots they get a green tint, this is due to a too high (alkaline) pH. For instance too much baking soda in the batter. Pigments can be sensitive to pH, too.
Based on the comment of Lorel C.
Indeed the level of tissue damaged as well as porosity are know to exacerbate the browing process.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/10971842/
This is evident when instead of sharply peeling the carrots we clean them by scratching with a blade hold perpendicular to the surface. This is likely to be the case depicted in the photograph by OP.
Many recipes indeed recommend the use of soft brushes to clean carrots.

To me it looks like black fungus. If these carrots were picked right after the typhoon. Washed in a bleach solution. Then stored. They would look good at the store. Once peeled the fungus could be there. Then show very fast. This is just a guess may not be.


What's the best way to defrost ice-cream/sorbet quickly? I made some sorbet at the weekend, and realised just when we were due to serve that I had forgot to take it out of the freezer to soften, and so it was rock hard.

What is the best way to bring it to a usable temperature quickly?  We chucked it in the microwave and then hacked it with a spatula, but ended up with a lumpy texture as many parts were still very frozen.  Any ideas to avoid a repeat in the future would be appreciated.

Don't.  Ice cream is hard.  It melts slowly.  Instead, focus on scooping.

Get the largest spoon you have, or ideally, an ice cream scoop.  Fill up a cup with boiling water, or as hot as your faucet will get it.  Dip spoon/scoop in the water.  Scoop.  Dip.  Scoop.  Shake off excess water as you go.

Like a hot spoon through ice cream.

When you go to the kitchen to get your ice cream, don't tell the guests what you're doing. After you take it out, announce dinner. That way, you can eat dinner while the ice cream defrosts. Check on it when everyone has finished, then tell them you have dessert. Now you can give them ice cream.


Can I make drinking milk with evaporated milk? Can I mix evaporated milk with water to make milk to drink? I am finding it hard to get to the store to get milk.

You can make something approximately 'milk-like' though it will taste more like that revolting UHT stuff they put in hotel rooms with the tea & coffee.
It will never go back to being 'fresh milk'.

Try it & see.

Here's my recipe:

Take one cup of evaporated milk
Add one cup water
Mix thoroughly
Pour down the drain

Seriously, evaporated milk will never taste like fresh milk, but there's a dietary need you can use it but will have to get used to the taste. A 1:1 ratio is probably a good starting place. If you have any cream or half-and-half you can add in that might help.

You might try almond milk instead which is easy to make at home and can have a rich, creamy flavor (in my opinion homemade almond milk is a million times better than any store-bought. Not 900K times; one million). The best way to make this is in a blender like a Vitamix. All you need is a cup or so of almonds (presoak overnight) a pinch of salt, and 3-4 cups of water. Blend for a few minutes at high speed. I sometimes add an emulsifier to this and blend an additional minute. Heating also helps emulsify (a Vitamix will heat by itself if in for long enough). The hard part is squeezing through a nut bag. Also messy. Another method is using a Nutramilk which is faster and easier and you don't have to soak the almonds (and shouldn't) and don't have to use a nut bag. There's also much less waste of the nuts.

If you don't have a Vitamix or Nutramilk you can use any kind of high-speed blender or food processor and will probably get decent results.

Hope this helps.


What is a good substitute for Farro? I saw this ingredient (farro) listed in a recipe that I was interested in making; however, I've never seen nor heard of it before.  Could you explain what it is, please. What can I substitute for Farro?

Farro is a grain, a bit nutty, usually cooked to soft, but with toothsome body.

Here's a good article about it from NPR

Pearled barley would be a good substitute, but if your recipe includes cooking times and instructions, those will vary if you substitute out the grain. Follow the package instructions for whatever grain you do use.

I do prefer barley "pearled", but that means that most of the bran is polished away along with the inedible hull, so it's no longer a whole grain. You can also get it with just the outer hull removed, so that it is still a whole grain. I prefer the texture of the pearled, but either choice would be a perfectly acceptable substitution for farro.

EDIT: I concur with Matt Ball's comment though. If you're in a part of the world where it's easy to get (that includes all of the US), you should try it!

Rice can be a 'workable' substitute for Farro if your options are limited.


When comparing food processor models, why do some have additional blades? What are advantages or disadvantages to a middle blade in the food processor? Might this shape be harder to clean than a single-blade model?
It's also called top blades:

The Robot Coupe is widely regarded as the standard food processor for professional use.  Neither it, nor the industry-leading Cuisinart or KitchenAid food processors have those middle blades.  As such, it seems unlikely that they are requirements for a quality unit.

The maximum rating is based without the top blades inserted into the pitcher. This drives the greatest power.

TIP: When pureeing, use only the bottom blades for best results.

Top [middle] blades are needed to power through tough ingredients like ice, solid fruits and vegetables.

http://content.abt.com/documents/51012/BL830_OwnMan.pdf

Bonus idea
For the prices I'm looking at ($100-200), it almost seems worth it to get rid of my current blender, buy a combination attachment blender--with food processor and portable blender containers:

Related: blades be sharpened or replaced?


What does 'white' alone mean in cocktail recipes? I've come across the two following cocktail recipes:

  East Meets West

  Absolut Raspberry vodka, Cointreau, St-Germain
  elderflower liqueur, pomegranate juice, lime juice, white

  The English Writer

  Tanqueray gin, Aperol, pink grapefruit, acacia
  honey, lime juice, white

what does 'white' mean here? white rum? white wine? white liqueur (if there's such a thing)?

As mentioned in a couple of comments, this almost certainly means egg white, which is used in some shaken drinks to create a stable foam on top of the finished cocktail. It can also "round out" the flavor of a drink and prevent them from seeming overly sweet or tart. Neither of these is explicitly identified as a shaken cocktail, but that's the usual technique for drinks that include both sugar and citrus, as both of these do.

Some recipes use as much as an entire egg white, but much smaller quantities can be used if you crack and separate eggs before service, storing the whites chilled in a squeeze bottle, or mixed directly into a syrup you're making in bulk for one specific drink, a technique sometimes used to speed up service in high-volume bars. (For the "English Writer", you'd combine and keep chilled the non-alcoholic ingredients: grapefruit, lime, honey, and egg white. This allows your bartender to measure only 3 ingredients when making the drink rather than 6, which speeds the process and increases consistency.)

The abbreviation to simply "white" could mean any number of things: it could be they're using an egg substitute instead, or don't want to raise health concerns about the egg (which are minimal, but guests occasionally get squeamish) or the recipe simply got cut off (bartenders tend to list recipes from largest quantity to smallest). Without the exact context, it's difficult to say why the "egg" was left off here, but it wouldn't surprise me to see egg along with the other ingredients in both of these drink recipes. It's commonly used in cocktails and I can't imagine what else they might mean.

‘White’ in cocktail speak means with half n half, i.e. White Russian


Can I add unsweetened cocoa to a store-bought white cake mix to make chocolate cake mix? I know that buying a chocolate cake mix would be the easiest, but there is a white cake mix whose flavor I like...

A small amount will be fine, but if you try to add enough to make it significantly chocolate flavored, you'll throw off both the wet/dry ratio and the acid chemistry of the mix, and probably end up with an unsatisfactory cake.

For the added chocolate, put the Hershey's powdered chocolate in the dry mix, mix well; go from there. You got your chocolate. No problem


Can meat freeze from the inside out? We received a turkey recently which was meant to be 'fresh'. When it arrived it was frozen on the inside. We are told that the fridge was probably set a bit low so the turkey froze on the inside.

I'm not rocket surgeon, but I would have thought that meat would always freeze from the outside in, and then thaw from the outside in. Meaning in this case that the only way for the turkey's inside to be frozen would be for the whole turkey to have frozen and then partially thawed.

My question: is it possible for meat to freeze on the inside first or is by butcher pulling a fast one?

That's not how it happens. Turkey can be labeled "fresh" as in -never frozen- even if the turkey is held at temperatures below freezing. By law, 26F (-3.33C) is the cutoff in the US. If the turkey spends weeks at 27F, it can still be labeled fresh even though it would be considered frozen to any of us mere mortals.

So, if a turkey has spent 2 weeks at 27F, and you buy it and put it in your fridge, it's going to be frozen on the inside for a day or so, despite being labeled "fresh".

Here's more, pointed out by Phillip in his comment. From the Good Eats transcript:

I say both; it's possible, but it defies all logic.

Yes the above discussion about freezing and thawing is probably right, but since the question is about if it's possible... Cut it and pour liquid nitrogen in it. It'll freeze from the inside out, maybe all the way through, and the nitrogen will evaporate so there's no trace.

Still, probably not what happened,the real thing is the freeze/thaw scenario. Firstly, it's hard to tamper with unsold products and get away with it, and even harder to do. it with something large, complicated to use, and rare as a jug of liquid nitrogen (well it's not rare but hard to obtain.). But you can see the other theory yourself, it's so simple. Get a tray of ice and let it sit somewhere warm and it'll be sitting in water and shrunk. Outside thaws and inside is still frozen solid.


How can you reduce the heat of a chili pepper? There are many chilis that have amazing flavors but are so hot that it is hard for most of us to appreciate them. Beyond the standard suggestion to discard the seeds and cut away the ribs, are there any other methods that can lower the capsaicin level while retaining the other flavors?

This was asked on Dave Arnold's Cooking Issues podcast, and I'm not sure they landed on a solid answer.

EDIT: I'm looking for something that might cut the perceived heat by like 90% or even 100%, not just make it slightly milder. Something that completely neutralizes the capsaicin, not simply buffers it on your palate. (Starting a bounty).

In Indian cooking we usually add Ghee (Clarified butter) to reduce the heat of a chili pepper. Most Indian dishes, we would add a good heaping spoon of ghee before feeding little ones. This helps temper the heat but keeps the flavors alive so that the children get used to them and can gradually learn to eat hotter foods.

Disclaimer:  pure speculation...

This won't reduce by the 90%+, but maybe it will help a little:  I've read how the pickers of peppers have to use gloves to prevent getting burned.  Perhaps a higher concentration of capsacin is in the skin, and cleaning them by rubbing with something (bleached water, ghee, alcohol, oil-soaked paper towels, all of the above???) might reduce the strength.  Or, for that matter, peeling them.  This is all a guess of course.


How long will whole coffee beans last in the freezer? I was gifted several bags of great coffee beans, which I won't be able to use all at once. If I store them in the freezer, how long will they last without losing flavor?

I know some have noted that they can last months in the freezer, but I seem to notice a difference in taste after just a few weeks.

They will technically last a long time in the freezer - up to many months - but this is not the best way to store them as they lose flavor quickly (as little as 5-6 uses).  Even though the beans will last, storing them in the freezer is not ideal.  It affects flavor for a number of reasons. (See below)

If you haven't opened the bag, store the bag in the cupboard, away from sunlight, heat, and  excess humidity.

The best way to store coffee beans after being opened is in an opaque, airtight container at room temperature (unless you have a resealable bag with a degassing valve designed for storing coffee).  After being opened, the beans are considered fresh for 2-3 weeks, although if you are strict about the storage you may be able to get up to 5 out of them. (When I say fresh, I mean with minimal flavor change/loss)

Why the freezer is bad:

Freezing beans severely lowers the humidity in the bag or container.  This causes the beans to become stale very quickly.  In effect, you are slowly freeze drying them.  Also using cold beans in a grinder can mess with grind due to the oil on the beans being in a more solid state, which in turn affects the brewing.

If you do decide to store them in the freezer, put them in an airtight container and when you go to use the beans let the container warm up to room temperature before opening.  This way you do not mess with the overall humidity content of the container too much.  Especially let them warm up to room temperature before grinding.

Sources:

I am a Barista in a cafe and a lover of coffee at home.  I have tried both methods of coffee storage and have dealt with many customers who have tried both.

In my store we follow these regulations:

Beans that go into an opaque container that is not totally airtight are fresh for two weeks max.
Packaged beans with a degassing valve are fresh for six months or longer in the bag.
Beans, once ground, cannot be used after two hours (that being said, ground coffee starts losing flavor immediately).

Obviously, the sooner you use everything the better, but we follow those guidelines.

Don't ever freeze beans. Quality will be compromised and flavours destroyed upon freezing.  Better idea is to put freshly ground coffee into pre sized packages. Use as needed.


Burger/Kraft Slice Style Cheese Is it possible to make smoothly melting cheese slices at home, similar to Kraft American cheese slices?

What are the key techniques?

Sodium citrate is a salt that is often used in making cheese sauces. When you dissolve it in water before melting the cheese into the same it will prevent the cheese fats and proteins from separating and thus prevents the sauce from becoming grainy. It can also be used to melt, thin, and remold cheese into new slices which have better melting characteristics than the original cheese.

If I may cite my source (Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet, Volume 4, Page 222) and offer a recipe as example: To make 635 grams of cheese slices:

Mix 5g salt, 14g sodium citrate, 6g iota carrageenan, 2g kappa carrageenan and disperse them into 230g of water.
Bring to a simmer
Gradually add 200g swiss cheese and 180g white cheddar to the water mixture, blending with an immersion stick or whisking constantly.
One the cheeses are incorporated continue to blend until smooth.
Pour into a mold and refrigerate for two hours until the cheese sets.

Essentially we just melt the cheese(s) into excess water with some thickening and stabilizing agents. Once it sets slices may be cut off in the case you have a mold. If you don't have the capacity to make nice slices you could pour the mixture directly into a sheet pan so it may set at the desired slice thickness.

You'll likely offend people by calling it 'plastic' cheese, as the typical name for it is 'American' cheese.

You should be able to find recipes for it under that name, such as this one.


What's the difference between Yorkshire Tea (red band) and Yorkshire Gold? The descriptions on Yorkshire's websites (reproduced below) are quite vague. There is a link for  "More info" but that simply directs you to betty.co.uk where the same info is reprinted.

Gold is more expensive. Right now, at betty.co.uk, for a box of 160 bags (500g), Yorkshire Gold is £5.29 and Yorkshire tea is £4.29 (excluding shipping and all that). On Amazon.com (USA), the prices (with 5% S&S discount) are $19.09 and $13.00 respectively.

My questions are:

Do the tea leaves for Yorkshire Tea (red band) and Yorkshire Gold come from different sources?
Is there any objective sense in which Yorkshire Gold is better (hence justifying the higher price)?
In taste tests, could one tell the difference between the two? (Right now I happen to be having a cup of Yorkshire Tea and it seems to be a tad weaker than Gold, which I last had a couple of weeks ago, but I could just be imagining things. Briefly Googling, I see some discussions on various forums. Many claim that Gold is better. But some claim it is not as good.)

Descriptions from Yorkshire's website

Yorkshire Tea (red band):

  A proper brew. Pure and simple. To give our blend its refreshing flavour, strength and colour we use top quality Assam and African teas. In the tea trade we’re renowned for paying more to get the pick of the crop. Our experts travel the world to find the people who grow the best teas, which we then blend together using our secret recipe to create a traditional, satisfying brew.

Yorkshire Gold:

  Here at Yorkshire Tea we know that the best tea is about the best blend of leaves. And the finest blend we make is Yorkshire Gold. We choose teas from our three favourite origins and buy them from the top ten tea gardens in the world. Back home in Yorkshire, our master blenders bring these luxury leaves together to make a rich, smooth and incredibly satisfying brew.

Speaking very generally, there are three bands of quality when it comes to black tea in the UK Market.

Brown (Economy) is your lowest grade, it is the cheapest in the shops and usually very dusty and fibrous. The flavor is weak and the color with milk is a dull brown.Teas can come from central Africa, south India, Argentina and the middle east.
Red is the middle of the road tea, covering about 80% of the black tea market. This is your Tetley, PG, Yorkshire Red etc, that have good flavor and strength and is with milk the color comes out red (there's a pattern here).Teas for this type of blend usually originate from central and east Africa.
Gold is the premium quality blend, tasting full of flavor, strength and character. These blends are your Yorkshire Gold, Dorset Tea, Clipper Gold,M&S Gold using the highest quality gardens including Rwanda, Kenya, Assam (North India) and Sri Lanka. In case you haven't guessed already, the color with milk is gold.

There are no official perimeters in place for these categories which means some tea companies abuse this, but with Yorkshire, Gold is definitely better than Red.

The terms red and gold have meaning in tea classifications other than the coincidential packaging colors on the market here although as far as Yorkshire goes gold is best


Can an enameled dutch oven be used for stir frying? I want to use a KitchenAid enameled cast iron dutch oven for stir frying Asian style. Are there any issues with using it for stir frying? I am a cooking newbie, and want to find healthy cooking options for others in my family who cook.

I wouldn't do it, for a few reasons :

Cooking over extreme heat can damage the finish of enameled cast iron.  It will typically cause discoloration if you have a white interior, and it may cause crazing (fine lines all over the place).  It can also soften the enamel enough to fuse he pan to the stove.
The high sides of a dutch oven hold in steam, which will change how the food cooks.
It's more difficult to keep things moving in a large pot to ensure even cooking when cooking over high heat.

You would be better off just using a skillet, and working in batches and re-combine everything when done.

I don't think there is anything wrong with using a dutch oven for stir fry, but the warnings about using enamel in high heat is something you should take note of. Enamel Dutch Ovens are the predecessors of slow cookers and should generally be used as such.

Lodge has a 14 inch cast iron wok which is one of my favorite cooking tools, especially for stir fry. They also have non enameled dutch ovens if you are looking for a multi-purpose tool. Make sure you get one big enough for the size of your family. My 5 qt dutch oven barely makes enough food for 5. I never have enough stew even when the liquid level is brought to within a 1/2 inch of the top. I haven't yet, but I need to add a 7 qt oven to my arsenal.


Why use a kettle to heat water? Whenever I need to heat up water for a French press or hot chocolate, I do it in the microwave. Is there a good reason to use a kettle instead of the microwave to heat water?

I think the primary considerations are convenience (how much effort is it to set up and use the system?) and time spent (how long does the system take to heat the water?).

A standard electric stove can have 2500W elements, and most of this energy will go into a kettle sitting on the element and thus heat the water. Even a big built-in microwave won't be rated at much more than 1000W, and a fair percentage of that is wasted in heating the magnetron (I've found citations of 30% to 50% wasted power). So, all else being equal, a kettle on a stove will heat a body of water 2-4 times as fast as a microwave oven.

If you're instead talking about electric kettles, then in the US (120VAC) they're 1000W to 1750W with very high efficiency, so they'll still be faster than anything but a stove or a commercial microwave. In the lands with 220VAC power, electric kettles can be up to 3000W, which would be even faster than a stove-top kettle.

With a mug of water the convenience of a microwave may outweigh the lost time, but if you're heating a liter or more of water then you probably want to pull out that kettle.

The electric kettle is specially used for boiling water, and his existence must have his own reason, and the speed of heating the electric kettle water is very fast, which can improve efficiency.


How to make mint sauce I seem to have the basic ingredients. Mint (from the garden), sugar, vinegar. However I seem to end up with vinegary mint, or minty vinegar depending on the relative quantities.

From a jar, it seems a lot richer in flavour and more sauce like. Any idea what I am doing wrong?

You seem to be saying you have two issues: weak flavor, and watery sauce. There can be many separate causes for each, but one problem that causes both issues is a lack of reduction.

What are you doing to reduce the sauce down and concentrate it?
Are those the only 3 ingredients you are using?

Sounds to me like your trying to make a mint jelly, not a sauce, only your missing one of the main ingredients and that is pectin......I like to make the jalapeno mint jelly   :)

Grandma Abby


Pink salt vs regular salt What is the difference between pink salt and more typical coarse salt (e.g. sea salt)?

I know it is pink due to mineral deposits, but culinarily is it any different? e.g. does it taste different, is it used differently, etc.

Since there may be more than one kind of pink salt, I'm talking specifically about "Himalayan Pink Salt".

In my experience, the difference between various salts has little to do with flavor, once you've moved beyond iodized table salt and bulk kosher salt, and assuming we aren't talking about salts that are flavored by additions like herbs or smoke during processing.

So limiting the discussion to natural, high quality finishing salts, the differences are mainly texture and color. Some salts, like Maldon, are flaky, while others are large pyramids or cubes, and others tend to a small grain size and hold on to a bit of moisture. Each of these textures can bring something special to a finished dish. For example, flaky Maldon adds a delightful crunch, while another salt might adhere better to a French fry.

Color, like the pink salt you mention, is used pretty much for the visual interest. And there is nothing wrong with that. Simply save it for a dish where it will be noticeable. For example, those pink grains would look amazing on a chocolate truffle, or a savory meringue.

If anyone thinks they can actually taste the difference among unflavored finishing salts, I'd challenge them to do a triangle test with those salts dissolved in water (in equal amounts by weight) so that texture and color isn't confusing the issue.

Himalayan pink salt isn't your average table salt. Hand-harvested and minimally processed, it contains 84 minerals and trace elements including magnesium, calcium, copper, potassium and iron, according to the website The Greater Green.

Regular table salt is "actually full of many forms of chemicals and even sugar", according to natural health website Global Healing Center. This type of salt is difficult to digest and can lead to inflammation of the tissues, high blood pressure and bloating. Himalayan pink salt is easier for the body to process, requiring far less cellular water in order to neutralize the sodium chloride content in chemically-treated salt.


Can sauerkraut be prepared with open lid? If the cabbage is successfully kept with weight, under the brine, all the time.

I use a glass paper weight as weight. Can mold also form on the weight, on the portion which remain above the brine while using a closed lid or an open lid?

Thanks.

Making sauerkraut does not require a lid.  As long as the cabbage is submerged (and you have the proper brine) it will be fine.  Any mold that forms on the surface or the weight can be removed.

When I made it, I found you need to remove some moldy bits from anything on the surface whether the cabbage touches the surface of not.


Lemons and oranges coated with imazalil I scrub waxed citrus fruit under hot water with a little washing up liquid added as I have been advised.  Can I clean up unwaxed citrus fruit coated with imazalil in a similar way please?  I use a lot of citrus zest in my baking so this question is important to have an answer.

No, you can't wash it off. Part of it is probably that washing methods are not fully effective, another part is that there is diffusion into the fruit, and the diffusion is strongest in the uppermost cell layers. In oranges, this is the peel.

From Kruve, A., Lamos, A., Kirillova, J., & Herodes, K. (2007, September). Pesticide residues in commercially available oranges and evaluation of potential washing methods. In Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Chemistry (Vol. 56, No. 3, pp. 134-141).

The same paper found 0.64 mg/kg imazalil content in orange peel and 0.04 mg/kg in orange pulp before washing. The regulatory allowed limit is 5 mg/kg. So if your fruit starts out with more pesticide than theirs - and it can legally be sold with 8 times more - the residue will be even higher.

If you want to follow safe food preparation practices, you have to use organic citrus fruit for zest. Non organic fruit can have pesticide residue from the growing period and still be labelled as "untreated" because it was not treated post-harvest.

If you are eating only the zest, you can happen to stay under the WHO acceptable daily dose, which is 0.05 mg/kg (human weight, not fruit weight). So if you're a 75 kg man1, you can eat a bit over half a kilogram of orange peel (if it doesn't exceed regulatory limits) and stay under the limit. But 1) you're also taking in the pesticide from the pulp, and while there's less in it, you're eating much more pulp than zest, 2) regulatory limits might be laxer where you live than in the EU, and 3) you're still poisoning yourself, even if it's not enough to become alarmed about it. Why consume one more carcinogen when you can avoid it?

1 it's less for women of childbearing age and children

How long do fungicides in wax on oranges take to degrade? That may solve a problem. Or just wash wax off hands after peeling. Our bodies are very good at getting rid of bad things.


How do I boil/cook frozen vegetables to maintain nutrients? There are already a few questions on cooked vegetables on Seasoned Advice. I want to know the best way to cook them straight from the freezer to maintain nutrients. I normally put lots of water in a cooking bowl and boil them for a long time. My wife thinks this loses the nutrients.

Is defrosting them on a pan with a small amount of butter and letting them slowly cook actually helping? Are there any other methods to maintain the nutrients as best as possible for frozen vegetables?

For frozen asparagus I pan cook it very lightly once defrosted with salt and pepper.
For broccoli I place it in a pan with water and boil it.

Is steam cooking better, or microwaving? I don't have a microwave as I don't believe in radiating food.

What you want to avoid is where you leave lots of liquid behind.

When you're boiling, water soluble nutrients (eg minerals, vitamins B) will be leached out.

If you cook it slowly in fat (oil, butter, etc.), but it's so much that it's a puddle left behind, you might be losing fat soluble vitamins (eg, vitamins A, D, E)

Cooking at too high of a heat can also break down nutrients into other compounds ... but it's a trade-off, as cooking breaks down cell walls and makes them more bio-available.

...

Personally, I tend to look at flavor, not just nutrients, as if it doesn't taste good, you're not going to eat it, and then you won't get any nutrients.

So, I'd recommend a 'steam-sauté' method:

Put the vegetables in a pan with a little bit of water (about 3 TB / 45mL) and a lid
Heat until you have steam, and let steam for a couple of minutes (exact time depends on the size of what you're re-heating, but you want them defrosted)
Take the lid off, and let most of the water evaporate.  You can push the veg to one side to speed this up
Add a little oil and whatever seasoning, and cook 'til you get a little bit of color

For fresh vegetables, I'll sauté first, then steam.  (and for brocolli, I saute the sliced up stems before adding the florets)

Straight to a hot stove pan with butter.


What ensures big holes in my bread? Is it a high hydration rate? Minimal kneading? High-protein flour to hold hydration?

There are lots of theories about this topic.  Basically, to get large holes, you want a dough that has enough air to expand greatly, enough structure to support that expansion, and somewhat uneven distribution of the air/structure to produce various size holes.

Some things that will help:

Relatively high hydration.  It's not strictly necessary, but it allows more random gluten connections to be made, making for a more chaotic internal structure.  Hydration needs to be compared to flour gluten content.  High gluten is not generally necessary, but a good bread flour will help.  Nevertheless, it is possible to produce large holes in short or squat loaves (baguettes, ciabatta, focaccia) even with AP flour.  The high protein is usually only necessary to get a high-rising loaf.  Lower protein flour loaves may still have relatively big holes, but they are more likely to spread rather than rise high when baked free-form.
Gentle kneading at the outset.  You really only need to mix until ingredients are thoroughly combined and distributed.  Extended kneading at that point is not only unnecessary, but it can encourage the initial gluten connections to be really even (and not the random network of strands and holes).
Instead of kneading at the outset, do stretch-and-fold maneuvers periodically during the bulk rise.  They will add a lot of strength while minimally disturbing the emerging gluten networks.  And they will encourage more random connections between each stretch-and-fold maneuver.
Don't skimp on the bulk rise time.  This is when the big air bubbles and random gluten networks form.  Many people even do this overnight in the fridge or follow the "no knead" bread recipes that just let it sit out for many hours.
Don't "punch down" the dough after the first rise.  Instead, your goal is to shape the bread as efficiently as possible without destroying the random network of holes that is present.  Contrary to popular belief, you don't necessarily need to be very gentle with the dough at this phase (though with some types of bread, like ciabatta, it can help).  It doesn't matter so much if you lose some air, as long as you are stretching the gluten to add structure.  So, don't deliberately try to get air out, but instead focus on stretching and folding over to get a taut, elastic dough in preshaping.  Or, be gentle -- the dough may not rise quite as high, but it should still have large holes.
If you do lose some air during shaping, don't skip a bench rest.  A bench rest essentially allows another "stretch-and-fold" exercise that adds strength.  Preshape the dough until you can feel it become a bit taut.  Then cover the dough and wait 10-15 minutes.  Then do the final shaping of the dough, being sure that the surface is taut, which will allow the strongest final rise and increase oven spring.  Again, as long as your yeast is strong, the big holes will return even if you lose a little air here.  In most cases, being gentle and "trying not to disturb the bubbles" will actually result in less of a final rise and therefore smaller bubbles in the final loaf.
Use any techniques that will increase oven spring.  Anything that gets you a bigger loaf means more room for the bubbles to get bigger.  That includes: steaming the oven, baking on a preheated stone, slashing the loaves properly right before the bake, baking on high heat (at least for the first 10 minutes or so), etc.

IT's sad to see that most answers are wrong.
In the past, crops such as einkorn, spelt, kamut, all raised throught long fermentation, so with a sourdough, couldn't give big holes in the dough.
Now we have big holes in the dough because recent hybrids of wheat ( that came largely after WW2) have much more gluten and the gluten is not degraded by long fermentation. Instead bakers use very short and powerful fermentation with yeast. That's what makes big holes in bread. So basically big holes in bread is the trademark of lousy bread that is high in gluten, which wheat comes from a modern hybrid and that went through a fast and powerful fermentation that produced a huge amount of CO2, not air, as mentioned in the first answer. It's not air, it's CO2 from the metabolism of the yeast that produces the bubbles that get trapped into very dense and strong gluten.      It's amazing how everthing has been understood backwards.  Today people believe that good bread must have big holes in the dough (produced by big bubbles of CO2 through fast powerful yeast fermentation) and that a tighter, more even dough is the product of a novice. Wrong! That's the opposite. Crooks masquerating as bakers have become masters at baking white flour inflated with yeast into something that looks rustic. Understand that to call a bread Whole Wheat it must only contain 17% of whole wheat flour. The rest can be disgusting, refined, constipating white extremely refined flour.  The sad truth is that most people calling themselves artisan bread makers are cheaters, at best. So to answer your question, use white flour from modern hybrids and use yeast and you'll have big holes in your bread.


How to quickly soften hard, dried out brown sugar I had some brown sugar that didn't get properly sealed and so now it's too dry and solid as a rock.  What's the quickest way to soften it up and get rid of the clumps? Folks have suggested leaving an apple with it in a bag overnight; any suggestions of a shortcut for rehydrating that takes minutes instead of hours or days?

There are a variety of tips for quickly softening hardened brown sugar here: 10 Ways to Soften Hard Brown Sugar.

The one that worked best for me personally, when I had to do this in a hurry, was to chip off a large chunk of the hardened sugar, put it in a (microwave-safe) Ziploc bag with a damp paper towel, and microwave it for 5-10 seconds at a time until it was soft enough to use.  Don't pierce the bag; the whole point is to allow the steam to re-hydrate the sugar.  But obviously don't leave it in the microwave for too long either, otherwise the bag will either melt from the heat or explode from the steam.  You should also let it cool for a minute or two between zaps; the sugar will continue to absorb moisture as long as the steam can't escape.

I also use the paper towel trick if I need to re-hydrate the sugar the day before.  Place a piece of wax paper on top of the sugar, then a damp paper towel on top, and seal it.  It'll be good as new the next day.  Don't leave the paper towel in there for too long though, otherwise it'll grow mold (doesn't seem like it should, but I personally witnessed it happen).  I like this method because it doesn't require me to waste any apples or bread, if I even have any around.

Just put in a couple of apple slices and the brown sugar softens like magic.  Remember to taie the apple out otherwise it will mold


What kind of flour is needed for strudel/fillo dough? In Hungary, they sell "rétesliszt", strudel-flour. What makes it better for strudel? Is it higher gluten? Lower? Softer? Harder? Which flour in a typical (USA) supermarket comes closest to rétesliszt?

I know from experience that all-purpose flour sucks for making strudel dough, and for that reason I usually just buy the frozen fillo (phyllo) stuff, but it's really not the same thing at all - it's too paper-thin and the sheets are too small. In a pinch, puff pastry rolled out real thin can also work, but the result will be a very German-style strudel.

Your best bet is a stone ground bread flour or hard flour in the US that means finding a local mill. At your standard supermarket a high protein bread flour is your only option if you can find it there. I generally have to venture out to a Whole Foods market to find that as my "local" grocery store doesn't carry it. You could also try Tipo 00, I have run across it in some specialty stores. You are looking for the highest gluten content you can find so that you can get the elasticity you need to make proper strudel.

In Los Angeles-- California Milling-- 50 lb sack of BENCH BOSS-- Can be rolled and stretched  as thin as a sheel nylon


Do gums have any nutritional value? Do gums (e.g., xanthan, guar, cellulose, glucomannan) have any nutritional value, or do they pass undigested like chewing gum does?

Are there known allergies to any gums?

Gums are considered fibre because they are ignored by our microbiome.

Besides, industry (at the contents of any product that we buy) also consideres fibre anything that is not processed by our digestion.


Ceramic vs Stainless Steel in coffee mugs My travel mug broke :(  Looking at replacements, I find that most travel mugs with designs tend to be stainless steel, whereas my prior mug was ceramic. Is there a difference in heat retention between the two materials in this day and age? Are there other considerations I should take into account when choosing between materials?

(Note: I put tea in it)

Stainless Steel

Most stainless steel travel mugs are double walled, but are NOT vacuum flasks

They usually have a screw on stainless steel base, or just a plain plastic base. Both of these stop thermal air losses, but are in no way as efficient as a true vacuum flask. It can't be anyway, due to the lid having a drinking hole in it

Lids with sliding covers are impossible to clean, and should be avoided. Just a simple double wall stainless steel mug, with a "reduced spill" style plastic lid and silicone gasket will last many years, be cleanable, and provide reasonable heat retention

Double Walled Ceramic

Double walled ceramic mugs are heavy, and while reasonable strong, generally have two fundamental flaws:

They are very heavy due to having two ceramic layers, even though both layers are quite thin
Because the layers are thin, most mugs do not have a handle, as they cannot support one without breaking

Their insulation qualities are fine and they can be-reheated in situ. The typical silicone lids they ship with are easy to wash which is a bonus

If you don't mind not having a handle they are fine, but heavy

I don't like drinking from silicone, it feels weird, and the hole is usually too small. Cutting a bigger hole always ends in disaster (maybe a hole punch would do it?). They also break much more easily than a normal ceramic mug if used while travelling

A lot of the above comments are correct. I have a SS double wall vacuum insulated tumbler that i use for hot or cold liquids. The vacuum insulated walls will keep may drink hot or cold all day if the lid is on. I've put coffee in it at 6am and at noon it was still too hot to drink without just sipping. I've left it full of coke with ice in it on my dresser over night and in the morning it was just as good as hours before. Still lots of ice, not watered down, and it doesn't sweat at all. The SS double wall vacuum insulated does, of course, cost more, but the added cost is more than worth it when you use it and see how well it really does perform. That's the only way to go. You'll never want anything else after using one of these quality items.


How can I keep my blueberry pie firm without the flavor of corn starch? In the summer, I often make a refrigerated blueberry pie. The recipe calls for a graham cracker crust, and you make the filling by cooking one pint of blueberries with one cup of sugar and 3 tablespoons on cornstarch on the stove until the mixture becomes thick. It's then poured into the crust, and topped with another pint of fresh blueberries, and chilled until it's firm.

The flavor of the blueberries is delicious, but I always find that there's a pronounced corn starch flavor that detracts from the simplicity of the pie. How could I change the recipe or the technique to decrease that flavor while maintaining the firmness of the filling?

you could try some other thickeners, like xanthan gum, tapioca starch, arrowroot, or the like. not certain of the proportions, though, but i'm betting google knows.

Use arrowroot instead. Corn starch is usually GMO.


Substituting for Candlenuts in Indonesian Food Indonesian cuisine relies heavily on candlenuts as a base and thickener for spice pastes which are the foundation of the cuisine.  This includes many of the various rendangs and sambals, such as Sambal Kemiri.   Candlenuts are also used in Malaysian cuisine.

Thing is, in San Francisco candlenuts are kind of hard to come by.  I have to buy them in the Asian supermarket, frozen, and they're quite expensive.  So my question is, what's the best substitute for candlenuts using readily available ingredients in an American general market?

Here's a few I've thought of, some of which I've even tried:

Macadamia Nuts
Raw cashews
Roasted Cashews
Brazil nuts

The thing is, I don't have very in-depth experience with Indonesian cuisine, so even if it tastes OK, I'm not sure I'm getting the flavor right.  Recommendations?

Macadamia is as close as you will find for the texture and oil content. As you are using it for spice pastes -the only use I have had for them- then macs are an excellent carrier. That slightly bitter and sometimes soapy aftertaste, I have yet to find a substitute for.
What's a Laksa without that flavor component?

other recipes call for cashew nuts instead of candlenuts


can Tilapia replace salmon in recipes and taste good? I have a few recipes for salmon, and a freezer full of tilapia. Can I just use the tilapia instead of salmon? It's for things like "salmon and rosemary", and "poached salmon with cucumber dill sauce" for example. I know fish is not all the same, but I would like to try these out without having to get more fish when I have so much. So can I just change it right over, or will it not taste right?

It depends on the recipe.

As Jefromi said, salmon does have a different flavor. Specifically it has flavor. Tilapia doesn't really have much flavor at all.

More importantly, salmon has about three times as much fat as tilapia. Salmon holds together better than more fragile white fish. This makes grilling salmon much easier than other fish which fall apart.

If your recipe highlights the flavor of the fish, or relies on the fat or cohesion of salmon then you should not make the substitution.

On the other hand if your recipe calls for baking in a pan and uses other flavorings, such as lemon, that can overpower the flavor of the fish, it would be a good candidate for substitution.

I would use wolf herring to replace salmon. They have nearly the same texture, in that as a kid I could peel the flesh of poached steak off into layers for either of them. Wolf herring flesh is similarly as stable as salmon flesh.

When you cut up wolf herring and salmon into steaks, and take a b & w picture of them, they are nearly indistinguishable in shape and texture.

Both of them can be made into fish gefilte that hold together reasonably well (after doping them with tapioca flour starch). I have made fish balls out of both of them with similar results. They have the same firmness.

Their similar firmness allow both of them to be similarly poached or grilled without their flesh falling apart. You could similarly drop both their grilled steak from a height of 8 inches onto the table/plate and they would not disintegrate.

Wolf herring also has a rich and amenable flavour as does salmon.

Wolf herring is about the same body size and length of salmon.


What should I do with a just-baked lasanga? I'm a complete cooking newbie. I just made a lasanga from a recipe - or something that looks like a lasanga. However, it will probably only be eaten 3-4 hours from now. What should I do with it in the mean while? Leave it in the oven (after turning it off, of course)? Put it in the fridge? Just lay it on a table?

And how should I re-heat it, if it will be required?

The lasanga will be even better 4 hours from now, but you definitely need to get it cold. Bacteria grow between 40°F and 140°F (often called the "danger zone"), so you need to get it cold now. I wouldn't put hot lasagna directly into the fridge, though, as it will raise the temperature of your fridge. Let it cool for a little while, maybe even let it sit on some ice, then refrigerate.

You can re-heat it all at once, in a low temperature (250°F or so) oven, or cut into individual servings and microwave it.

There's only one way to be completely safe: Eat it now, or give it to someone else so they can eat it now. If your guests aren't due for 3 or 4 hours, make another one that'll just be cooked when they're due to arrive. Your second lasagna will probably taste better than your first anyway.


What is the benefit of a pasta pot with an inset? All my life I’ve cooked pasta in regular pots. The most fancy thing I had in regards to pasta cooking was a pot with little holes in the lid and a locking mechanism, so that you could use that to drain the pasta:

Said pot now broke, and as I am looking for a new pasta pot, I see a lot of large pots with some strainer-ish inset:

What is the benefit of such a strainer inset pot over a regular pot?
These strainer pots seem more expensive, taking up more space, and I'd have to clean more.
I can see that the strainer may be useful for other things like steaming vegetables.

Anything else, especially when it comes to cooking pasta?

I find these gadgets inconvenient, so, I would say no real advantage.  I cook pasta in a large stock pot, and remove with a spider to the pan with the condiments. I can even cook several batches in a row this way. I don't really find inserts helpful, and don't need the extra "stuff" in my cabinets. Your point about extra expense, space, and clean up is accurate. I will also add that the insert takes up significant volume in the pot, so you actually lose usable space.  They are just not necessary.  Spend your money on a good, solid, multi-purpose stock pot.

If your pasta touches the bottom or sides, the temperature can get higher since the heat would be conducted directly to the pasta from the metal surface.  Having the barrier prevents pasta from touching the sides and it should be cooked evenly at the temperature of the boiling water.  You can also put water in the bottom and use it as a steamer.


Can you reconstitute garlic powder? Every time I have garlic powder around, it always ends up forming into a hard sticky lump. Is there any way to reconstitute this into a usable form? Placing it in warm water seems to take forever and it never really dissolves.

I've had this happen with other types of spices as well. I put it in the blender or coffee grinder to loosen it up again. Works well for me.

I have tried pouring oil in the garlic powder bottle/jar. And you have instant garlic oil for your noodles, roasts etc. Goes long way as oil acts like a preservative. How is that?


What chemical processes occur in tea that spoil it after some time? What happens to the brewed hot tea when it is left in a cup for some time (up to several hours), that spoils the taste of the drink and change its color? What chemical processes lead to such unwanted results and what are the general methods to prevent tea from going bad too quickly?

If there is a significant difference in different tea types' brewing processes, I'd like to know that too.

Assume we make a cup of Earl Grey tea with a spoon of sugar and leave it for a day at room temperature.

I've seen a thin rainbowy layer appear after leaving tea for a few hours (up to a day). I often saw that in teas made from cheap bagged tea. Also the color of the drink becomes distinctively "stale".

A rainbowy layer is almost certainly oil. (This is called thin-film diffraction.) Earl Grey uses oil of bergamot for flavoring, and likely cheap teas you've used have oil-based flavorings as well. It's not surprising that the oil eventually separates, and there's not really any way to avoid that without significantly modifying the tea, or using tea that doesn't have quite so much oil.

I would definitely expect the flavor to be stale after it's left for a while - aromatic compounds are by nature volatile, and they'll slowly escape. You might be able to prevent some loss of flavor by putting the tea in something airtight (preferably a completely full container, so there's not even air on the surface) and chilling it, but it's going to be a losing battle. You said the color was stale as well; I don't know exactly what processes would cause that, but in general, the only way you're going to be able to slow down any chemical processes is by chilling the tea.

In the end, the real answer is simply that it's best to drink fresh tea. Your time would probably be better spent getting to where you can make it quickly - for example, get an electric kettle that can rapidly boil a single cup worth of water.

I, too, have been looking for the answer to the OP's question, which was not answered here, btw. I think the process he is referring to is the eventual growth of bacteria in warm tea, but I have yet to find the definitive statement from an official source. I have noticed it in brewed tea that has been sitting too long in restaurants before serving.  I do note that the authorities are now recommending that people not make sun tea, and cite the growth of bacteria as the reason. My experience says that refrigeration is the answer to keeping the tea from growing this bacteria.

Also, and this rather mystifies me, some people seem not to be able to recognize the taste of tea that has "gone bad."  Others, like the OP and I, recognize it instantly. Sometimes the bad tea has a slightly foamy or fermented look to it.


Microwave cooking ready frozen meals If a frozen ready meal states 9 minutes microwave cooking, how do I work out cooking time for two identical meals?

Do both fit in the microwave at the same time ?

Start at the recommended 9 minutes, test the temperature, nuke it for a few more minutes (2, 3 ) and test again.

If you have a rotary table inside, it will make thing easier, if not, move the 2 meals every couple of minutes.

I think 5 minutes for each will be enough. It also depends on the degree of freezing of the product.


Rubber like skin on surface of chocolate mousse When I make chocolate mousse, I usually end up with a slightly rubbery surface on the mousse.

To make the mousse, I do the following:

Melt dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water
Separate 2 or 3 egg whites from the yolks
Whip the egg whites
Mix the yolks in with the chocolate and add a bit of sugar
Fold the egg whites in with the chocolate mix
Transfer to bowls and put in the fridge

Usually when I go to eat them the next day, there is a rubber like surface on the mousse, but underneath it's nice and soft.

I am just wondering what causes this, and how to prevent it?

The cause is that the mousse dries out on the surface. It builds a skin of dehydrated mousse. It happens with most cremes, not only your yolk foam.

To prevent it, put plastic wrap on the mousse. Don't span it over the bowl, press it on the surface itself, without leaving air between the mousse and wrap. Your mousse will stay soft. This also works for custards and starch-thickened puddings.

In general, also cover other things you put in the fridge, or they can get an unpleasant odour.

I suggest that you omit the egg yolks from your recipe. Add to your recipe: scratch whipped cream using 3-oz of heavy cream. Fold in the whipped cream just after folding in the egg whites. Allow the mousse to set for about 3-4 hours in the refrigerator. Then pipe or scoop into serving glasses, wrap in plastic wrap. Will keep 2-3 days.


How can I remove salt from a saline infused pork sirloin roast? How can I remove salt from a saline infused pork roast. I purchased 4 of them.

After making the first one I could not eat it.  I am on a low sodium diet.

Before cooking, Remove any packaging and soak in cold water for 4 - 6 hours changing the water once or twice

One of the best ways to remove salt from food is to cook it with potatos, they will absorb some of the salt out of the meat for you. however, in your particular situation, you may come to find your meat will stay at a higher level of sodium then you would like.

how to unsalt food


How to bake a sponge cake in a grill microwave oven How can we bake a sponge cake in a grill microwave oven where there no preheating functionality? It's an Electrolux grill microwave oven. Is there any substitution to the preheating process?

If you are sure that your oven can turn the microwaves completely off, then use it like any other toaster oven. Turn the microwaves off so only the heat elements are on, turn to the temperature you need, let it "bake" for 10 minutes without anything inside. It is preheated. Bake the cake as usual. Be aware that, if the heating elements are on top only, you probably won't get a good cake. Cakes can be made in toaster/grilling ovens, but need heat from both below and above, or in the worst case from below only.

If you don't have temperature controls for the grill, you can risk a try, but it is unlikely that the temperature will be suited for a cake.

If you can't turn off the microwave function (and sadly, there are even some ovens which have a button for it but still use microwaves when it is selected), there is no way you can bake cakes with it. You need another oven for any dough then, your options start with toaster ovens at ca. 50 Euros.

I have Electrolux grill microwave. But I can bake with this microwave its amazing I can make tandoori food soup boil reheat steam I can make pizza also with this microwave I can make cookies also with this microwave if you want to bake I think that I can help you if you want to make pizza press combi mode for 10 minutes  if you want to bake cake the same thing you can do it for 25 to 30 minutes to make cookies press grill but don't use any grill tray place the Cookie dough on the microwave glass plate for15 minutes  off the microwave  turn the cookies and on microwave grill mode for 6-8 minutes  and then on micro mode maximum for 1 minutes and cookies are ready if you want to want to preheated the oven you can press grill or micro mode


How did rust appear on my cast iron in a matter of minutes? So this has been an on-going saga the last few days, and I've already posted several related questions here, and I am feeling quite defeated.

I have/had a beautiful 16" cast iron dutch oven from Cabelas. I took it out for a test spin the other night (I had completed all seasoning steps that the Google Gods recommended). Then:

I tried (and failed spectacularly) to cook a pork roast in it, but cooked it at way too hot a temperature and burned/charred/fused the animal fats/juices into the oven, whereby it basically baked into the cast iron (related question here)
I tried cleaning/scrubbing it with coarse-grained salt -> did nothing
Then I tried cleaning it with dishwashing liquid + salt -> did nothing
Then I let the whole thing soak in a vat of a 50/50 mixture of water + white vinegar -> took all the tarry slude off, stripped some seasoning off (revealing bare iron), but in 80% of the burned/charred areas, still did nothing
Then I went to town on it with a steel wool and salt and dishwashing liquid and was left with some smooth, properly seasoned surfaces, and some more areas stripped down to bare metal
I decided to just re-season it. So I scrubbed it one last time (about 1 hour ago) with a steel wool and some water, got all the rust and remaining crud off (finally), and built a fire.
I placed it on the hot coals of the fire and let it sit there for 15 mins. My intention (whether misled or not) was to burn off all the remaining water from when I had previously washed/scrubbed it, then let it cool off, then season it with oil, and then bake it for a few hours.

So I just took the oven off the fire and opened the lid...and the entire inside is covered in rust. An hour ago there was none. When I put the oven into the fire 15 mins prior, there had been none (yes, I checked) This just came out of nowhere.

I'm ready to give up, unless anyone can offer some concrete set of steps for me that will salvage this $100 rust bucket. How can I get rid of the rust and then re-season this before more rust sets in? Meh...

The problem with your last step was the lid, I think.

If you had placed it on the hot coals, open, the heat should have driven the water off as you intended, drying the pot before it rusted.  With the lid on, the moisture was trapped inside, and had opportunity to cover every inch of the metal - and, as Joe mentioned, heat speeds up the reaction.  Sitting on the heat with a coating of water, and you have a layer of rust.  Not functionally different that if you'd tried boiling a pot of water before seasoning it.  The seasoning is, after all, supposed to protect the bare metal from water so it doesn't react like this when being cooked in.

How to fix it - go back two steps.  Scrub off the rust, or as much as will come off easily.  I agree with paparazzi, here, if it won't come off while scrubbing it will probably not come off while cooking - especially under the seasoning.  Once it's well scrubbed, dry it off.  You might use a towel or something first, but if you're going to put it on the fire, leave the lid off so the moisture can escape the pot.

You might have the lid drying to the side, leaning against the outside of the pot, or partially on (generously offset) if you want to dry the lid as well.  You probably don't need to heat it for long, either, just until it looks dry - and it will be evaporating water all the way until it cools down, too.  When I'm re-seasoning my frying pan, I heat it only 10min or so, and by the time it cools it is usually dry (disclaimer, I use the stove rather than coals, so your timing may vary).

After that, you can smear it with a layer of oil and re-season.  wipe it down with oil, and heat to re-create the layer of seasoning that got scrubbed away in the first place.

Beyond that, it will probably help to calm down a bit.  In the future, just remember to keep the lid off when drying, and that you don't need to panic quite as much.  Cast iron is pretty sturdy, and scrubbing down to the metal and re-seasoning is always an option until the pot is worn away to holes.

Evidently there was a protective coating on the dutch oven you scrubbed off.  I don't think you are going to get it back.

In hind site you were worried too much about getting the crud off.  If it will not come off with a good regular cleaning then it is not going to come off and contaminate the next food you cook. You should have tried just cooking with it.

Rust is not poisonous.  You could try cooking with rust and see if it taints the food.


Why do spots appear on iceburg lettuce during cold storage？（0~4℃） Why does round lettuce appear spot during cold storage？（0~4℃）Is it still edible?

I would like to extend the storage time.

Lettuce is packaged with other vegetables, like red chicory, NewZealandspinach, Romaine Lettuce, etc.

May be my expression is not clear, my English is very poor, please forgive me. I want to know the reason of the spotting, so I can avoid it.

The brown spots you see are known as "russet spotting". This is a reaction which is believed to be caused by ethelyne gas emitted from citrus, such as apples, bananas, etc.

Bottom line, the lettuce is completely safe to eat. It's certainly less visually appealing, but it is indeed safe to eat. For ideas on preventing russet spotting, check out the source linked above.

It seems to me that there is a little bit of slimeyness on one piece of your lettuce, this can be discarded.
There are a few reasons why this happens.  Firstly, bruising from picking, packaging and general movement.  Secondly, how cold is your fridge.  Is the spotting only on the exterior of the lettuce?  If so, simply remove the effected area and consume the rest. If your fridge is too cold it will have a detrimental effect on your produce.  Try keeping all your salad items in the crisper drawer away from severe cold. Hope this helps...


How can I make the tops of my macarons smooth? After a recent trip to France, I have become mildly obsessed with making macarons (using this recipe). I have made a couple of batches so far - the first didn't turn out well, more like cookies than macarons, due to under-whipped egg whites and too-coarse almonds.

The second batch has turned out better, much more like macarons. I whipped the egg whites to stiff, glossy peaks and blitzed the almonds, powdered sugar and cocoa in a food processor to remove lumps and make the almonds finer. Some of the macarons even have the characteristic little 'feet'.

However, while the flavour and texture seem generally good, they don't have the smooth, perfect surface of a proper macaron. Looking at videos online, it would seem my mixture is too stiff, because any little tip of mixture left by the piping bag fails to 'melt' into the main part of the macaron - it simply sits there. Also, any little craters left by air holes in the mixture fail to smooth themselves out, so the result is a bumpy macaron.

Given that the egg whites need to be stiff and glossy, what else could be a factor in achieving a smooth macaron? I assume the amount of powdered sugar is a factor, but how much can I safely reduce the amount by?

The meringue should be glossy and form soft peaks. When you take your whisk out of the meringue it should look like this:

The French say that when you take the whisk out of the meringue, it has to look a bit like a bird's beak, hence the way the meringue forms a soft peak slightly pointing downwards.

But to be honest, I don't believe that is you problem. I guess you just undermix your batter. People often say it has to fall like a ribbon or like magma, but I always thought that is hard to imagine. You can take a knife and cut through the batter. If it flows back immediately, it's ready. But let me tell you: One or two strokes too much with the spatula and the batter becomes unusable.

And one tip I can give you: The process of transferring the batter into the piping bag also 'mixes' the batter, so maybe don't go too far if you are unsure.

And as already said, it is important to tap the the tray from the bottom after piping as it helps to remove any air bubbles in there. Also, always pipe straight from the top (90° angle). This also helps the batter to smooth out.

I wouldn't recommend you to chance the amount of powdered sugar, as the French use Tant pour Tant (TPT) for their macarons, which means fine almond meal and powdered sugar are mixed proportional to each other.

When mixed perfect, it looks like this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WhPHUKwckUw/S4WP1eBE7pI/AAAAAAAAB00/gYqFjGOvEiU/s1600-h/5.jpg

When gone too far, it looks like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_WhPHUKwckUw/S4WP-q8RrdI/AAAAAAAAB08/7R6uO1uGfBQ/s1600-h/6.jpg

Maybe try counting your strokes while mixing, some people say that it helped them.

you probably need to sift your almond flour/confectioners sugar mixture after blitzing it in the food procesor, this ensures that you achieve the smooth domes you desire.


How do I substitute stevia for sorbitol? I have a cake recipe that calls for 1/2 cup of sorbitol. I would like to use stevia instead since I am concerned about the side effects of sorbitol. How do I make that substitution? I could just add water to the stevia equivalent for the sorbitol amount to bring the stevia to 1/2 cup of volume. But I don't know if that will have the same effect as using the sorbitol. I know that using unsweetened applesauce will help with moisture retention. Any suggestions?

According to stevia.net one tablespoon of stevia (in powder or liquid form) is the 'equivalent' of one cup of sugar.

Similarly, lowcarbdiets.about.com tells us that sorbitol is 60% of the 'sweetness' of sugar.

Using sugar as a common denominator, 1/2 cup of sorbitol = .83 cup of sugar and so you should use ~.83 Tablespoons of stevia to gain the relative sweetness.

  1 cup of sorbitol = 1.66 cups of sugar 'sweetness', so .83 cups of
  sugar would be 'as sweet' as 1/2 cup sorbitol

That calculated, I would mix 1 tablespoon of stevia with 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce and then use 3/4 of a cup + 1 tablespoons of the mixture, and then adjust from there.

  1 cup = 16 tablespoons, .83 cup = 13.3 tablespoons

Conversions like this are admittedly 'imprecise' but this should give you a good approximation to start from...your mileage may vary.

Polydextrose is for the humectant with sucralose for the sweetness

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydextrose

http://www.tateandlyle.com/ingredientsandservices/Chooseaningredientorservice/EuropeMiddleEastAndAfrica/Documents/PolydextroseSTALITETateLyleOct2009.pdf

ive not used polydextrose too much, but try a 60/40 polydextrose/sucralose mix to replace the sorbitol by volume (not weight)


Can I use unsweetened baking cocoa raw, or do products with it in it need to be cooked? I'm asking because I found a recipe online for an ice cream that calls for baking coco, but doesn't call for cooking. I've used baking coco before to make hot chocolate, but it seems that it wouldn't dissolve fully if not first put in some sort of hot liquid, even though it's finely ground. If not, do I need to treat it differently before putting it in a recipe?

If we are talking about something like Hershey's (the brand I know) unsweetened cocoa powder (the dark reddish-brown very fine powder), it can be mixed with cold milk if you make a paste of it first, and then dilute it to the consistency you want. I.e. start with the powder, pour in the milk bit by bit stirring and "mashing" as you go so as not to let any of the powder float on the milk. This cocoa powder also mixes easily with oil & fat, so that property should help with your ice cream ingredients which probably have some butterfat included.

If your recipe includes only ingredients and no instructions, perhaps that paste technique can help.

I enjoy buying vanilla ice cream and mixing in baking cocoa to taste.  You can make it as rich as you want, and it tastes good.


What does "bring to a simmer" mean? First, a confession: I work in software, so I'm probably paying way too much attention to the state of liquid that is "a simmer". That written, I love to cook, and no recipe direction gives me more confusion, sadness, and googling than "bring to a simmer". Accept no substitute. I find this to be the most vague direction in all of culinary science, and it drives what's left of my organized mind insane.

So here's the setting. I'm making vichyssoise, because I'm intrigued by the possibility of making a dish that has no color at all. I've been instructed to "bring to a boil and simmer the soup for 35 minutes."

The internet is filled with unsatisfying and at times contradictory answers. My research yields a few prototypical examples:

"Simmer" means "low or off position," suggesting basically no heat at all.
To "simmer" is to heat to a temperature point just off boiling, generally acknowledged as somewhere around 95 degrees C or something like 195 degrees F.
"Simmer" is something like a "soft boil," a vague state that appears to be between "not bubbling" and "roiling", but which by definition must boil in some way, since you know, it's bubbling.

Each of these examples mean fundamentally different things. As far as I can tell, a "simmer" is a phase transition whereby the suspension in question, whatever the soup, sauce, or solid (apparently you "simmer" bratwurst, you never boil it) may be, cooks in a way that only years of experience or training can identify. Hence, my question:

What does "simmer" mean? Does it differ per recipe or is it universally defined?

EDIT: Did a bad copy/paste job from another window.

Personally, I would argue that 2 and 3 are actually the same, and they are your answer.

If you heat a pan of water you'll notice the bubbles forming before the water is actually boiling, hence the talk of between not bubbling and full on roiling.

Also, when you're making your soup, it isn't pure water, so the boiling temp will not be a perfect 100 degrees C in any case.

So, I would say, that simmering is when you keep it just under a full boil. Watch what you're cooking, there should be gentle movement, but not a full roiling pan of whatever it is you're cooking.

To get something simmering away, you need to bring up to a full boil, then reduce the heat until you're getting movement, but not full bubbling.

I have a brand new Kitchenaid cook top with a simmer function.  According to their service department simmer is 110 F.


My chutney is too thick I made two batches of chutney a week ago, one with tomato, apple and raisins, the other one with plum and cranberries. Making the chutney I added all the usual spices, sugar, vinegar etc. but I tried one of the jars and it is way too thick.  Could I take the chutneys out of the jars and put them in a pot with some apple juice to heat up? Would this lighten it and would it be okay?  As you may have guessed I have never made chutney before. I hope someone can help.

Cranberries (and to a lesser extent, apples) have a great deal of natural pectin, which will make your chutney gel when it is cool or refrigerated.

If you want a thinner consistency, you can reheat it and add any complimentary liquid that you desire:  apple juice would be fine, but remember, you are diluting the flavor of your chutney with the additional juice, so you will want to find balance between texture and flavor that you like the best.

The other thing you can do is warm the chutney for service, which will make it more liquid.

When I make cranberry chutney, chilled, it is as stiff as a good commercial jam.  This might even be desirable.

Note:  I am assuming these are refrigerated chutneys.  If they have been home canned, you should not change the recipe, as the acid balance is essential for safety in canning.

Pour some water to it and keep it freezed all time, have it with hot rotis and it will be fine.


How much does potato starch affect a cheese sauce recipe? I'm following this recipe for making cheese sauce:

(text) https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229731/homemade-nacho-cheese-sauce/
(video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMw4Q1RMD6I

While purchasing the ingredients I noticed something about pre-shredded cheese versus a block (Kraft brands); they are exactly the same via the Ingredients list on the package except the pre-shredded cheese has added an unspecified amount of potato starch.

Will this affect the amount of flour (or other ingredients) required or even make the product not come out as intended?

Hmm I suppose they add starch to keep it from turning back into one block of cheese.

Thing to do is if the sauce looks to thick just add more milk.

Not a chance theres enough potato starch to change anything. I cant see the recipe but believe me I have made more mac and cheese then the average human. I always  use pre-shredded. Good luck


Pressure cooked stock out overnight, still safe? I see a question here about stock out overnight, but in my case it's a bit different in that I used a pressure cooker.

My question is, is there anything that could possibly have survived an hour of high pressure cooking?  I've essentially gone far beyond what's done in pressure canning, and never opened the cooker.

Is it really possible that anything survived that inferno?  Pressure cookers by definition have an air tight seal, so I can't see how anything would crawl in after the deed.

Safe to eat?

No, it is not safe.  As soon as a pressure cooker loses pressure it is not hermetically sealed. Stock, in particular, is often used as a culture medium in petri dishes to GROW bacteria.  They love the stuff.

Pressure cooking or pressure cookers do not confer magical powers to food - once the pressure is gone all the regular food handling rules apply:

Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours (1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F).
When in doubt, throw it out.

Here's a little story about Bending the Rules on Bacteria and Food Safety, wherein a cookbook author feeds lethal week-old stock to his family - and the expert opinion on why this is NOT ok.

I often make a pressure cooked stock, turn off the gas, leave the pot alone (allowing the pressure to dissipate naturally), leave the lid undisturbed, and return to it the next day to strain, package and use or freeze.  Depending on your altitude, the temperature inside your pressure cooker can reach 250 degrees F.  This is well beyond the temperature to kill off any potentially harmful bacteria.  As you state, if you don't open the lid, nothing can enter.  Bacteria don't crawl or fly around, so it is hard to imagine something getting in through the pressure release...unless you dumped some tainted liquid on the pressure cooker...then....maybe...  Draw your own conclusions, for me it is a routine practice.


How can I get thinner pancakes? I've been messing around with the pancake recipe that calls for the following ingredients in the past few days.

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

They come out really thick, slightly more than half an inch thick. I can get it thinner if I spread the batter out using the ladle, but that's a bit of a messy solution.

Is there anything I can do to tweak the recipe to make the pancake batter come out a bit thinner from the start?

To make you pancakes spread more, and thus be thinner, increase the amount of liquid in the recipe.  This will make the batter less viscous, so that it will spread more before beginning to set, thus giving you thinner pancakes.

I would start slowly, perhaps a couple of tablespoons extra milk (or just plain water) until you find the consistency that you like.

You will also have to experiment to determine the appropriate cooking time, as the additional
liquid will somewhat need to be cooked off to get the best texture.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with using the bottom of your ladle to help the batter spread out a bit more.  This is normal, and will somewhat even out as the pancakes cook.

I don't quite see what's wrong with thick, fluffy pancakes. So, I'm going to venture to guess that you may mean tough pancakes. In that case, be sure to not beat the batter too harshly. If you do that, you excite the gluten in the flour and then end up creating more protein strands, leading to tough pancakes.

So, fold, fold, fold. Ever so gently. Resist the urge to get all Emulsifier on it. :)

I bet if you try that, they may be a bit fluffier and not so thick.

Also, try crepes if you want something thinner.


How do you know when a cultured item is no longer safe to consume? How do you know when yougurt (for example) is no longer safe to consume?
Do I know it from the taste, how it smells, or something else?

Cultured milk products rarely become unsafe.

Yogurt in particular is so acidic and teeming with bacteria already that it can't really go bad per se. It will get moldy as others have said.

I culture my own buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, cheese, etc. Many times they stay on the counter for days at a time. They get more and more sour (if they are the kind that incubate at room temperature) but they can't really go bad. Even sour cream doesn't become dangerous- the mold just tastes bad.

To second what kajaco said: if I do have cultured dairy get too sour or moldy I will wipe off the mold and bake something with it.

It should be noted that non-cultured milk is completely different. Of course it goes bad fast but after even a short time it is too bad to bake with. And never ever EVER use old milk to culture your own yogurt or cheese. The bad bacteria will overwhelm the good and you will end up with liquid that will haunt you in your nightmares!

-- Edit --

https://web.archive.org/web/20161129153701/http://nchfp.uga.edu:80/publications/nchfp/factsheets/yogurt.html (OR pdf)

I did some research and it seems that they can eventually go bad. It doesn't fit my experience but I'll defer to the scientists. Trust your nose.

It is not safe to eat anything with mold on it !  See,  some of the spores are microscopic so it is not visible to your eye, I  would dump it.
Mold is  a mycotoxin it can cause biotoxin illness,.
This is what I do I put  a sticky on the lid of my homemade yogurt and I just keep it for two weeks max that is it.


What is the best way to reheat a sub-style sandwich? So you go to a deli, pizza place, or any number of places that will sell you a 12"+ hot sandwich (e.g. a philly cheeseteak).  You eat half and save the other half for another day.  When that other day comes, what's the best way to reheat it?

For many other foods, the most common ways are microwave, toaster oven, regular oven and skillet.  Unconventional ways I can think of would be steaming and sous vide (though the latter seems excessive for a sandwich).

The goal would be to get the sandwich hot enough to remelt any cheese, but to not render the bread too mushy or too crunchy (toast).

What method or combination of methods would you recommend to reheat a sandwich from the refrigerator?  Be sure to specify whether you'd use higher or lower temps or power.  If no one method would work well for all sandwiches, could you post guidelines?

I would suggest opening the sandwich so the filling is facing up, removing any toppings that you would prefer to remain cold, and sticking it in an oven or toaster oven for a bit. That gets the heat to the center of the sandwich immediately, though you'll want low heat (maybe 250F?) and not to heat it very long or the bread will get too toasted. It won't ever be as good as the day before, but I find that microwave reheating tends to result in poor-quality bread.

Sous Vide it. Seal it, put it in the water, and be amazed.


What is this black stuff coming off my George Forman grill? I bought this George Forman Grill with detachable trays that are supposed to be dishwasher safe. I noticed that after the dishwasher there's this black soot on them. What causes this? Is there anyway of preventing it? The drip tray that came with the grill has written on it "wash in top rack only", should the same be done with actual grills? What difference does it make if something is washed in the top or bottom rack?

Most likely your problem is caused by your dishwasher detergent. Many of them will cause aluminum to oxidize creating the issue you are experiencing.

I would suggest that you hand-wash and remove the oxidation as it looks quite extreme. (You don't want any of it to come off in the dishwasher and be deposited on other dishes.)

While it technically may be 'dishwasher safe', to prevent the oxidation from reoccurring I would recommend going forward that you hand-wash. The other option may be to try different dishwasher detergents to see if you can find one that does not cause this reaction.

I believe it is the heating elements in the grill that are oxidizing... grill gets way hotter than dishwasher.  Also the heating elements are covered in the same soot. I don't think there is a solution but wonder how safe it is to continue cooking with the unit.