Some batter falls off during deep fry I have been trying to replicate a bloomin' onion, but it seems that I can never keep the batter on the onion during the frying process. It doesn't completely fall off, but it is definitely not the same as what I see in restaurants.

I usually do a mixture of 2 eggs and a cup of milk for the wet and flour with spices for the dry. I dip in the wet first, then dry, wet again, then dry again. I fry it at 350, but when the time suggested (6 minutes) is up, I pull it out and it just seems to crumble off half the time.

Could it be that my oil is not the correct temperature? Am I leaving it in for the incorrect amount of time?

I am trying to follow the recipe found on food network's site.

Edit: As suggested by @Satanicpuppy I will try coating it in the flour mixture first, giving it a total of five dredgings. I will update this once I try it again if that is the solution.

From Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food (p. 99): "The number one reason breadings fail (fall off) is too much primer coat (flour). There is nothing to hold the layers together so they unzip from each other and your breading is floating free in the fryer..."

If you're going to use a three-stage breading process, which is what you've described, you need to make sure to shake off as much of the initial flour layer as possible.  Dry flour doesn't stick to itself very well, so if a too-thick initial dredging creates clump-like layers of flour that aren't well moistened, in the relative violence of the fryer the dry interior of those clump-like layers will separate from each other and your breading will flake off.

For "bloomin' onions," the process I've seen wasn't a three-stage one like you describe.  Rather, the onions were stored/soaked in milk (because soaking in a slightly acidic liquid mellows the onions -- water should be as effective, and soaking may not be necessary at all), and, as needed, pulled out, shaken free of excess liquid, and generously dredged in seasoned flour.

Fry the batter on a sausage to get the batter crispy, then slide the batter to the thing you want to put it on.

You can cook the onion in a pan before putting in the batter, after this, you can cook the thing as a whole for about 5-10 mins. If you fry the onion as a whole, it should keep together as a whole, if this is what you want.


Why is dark chocolate dark when pure cocoa is light brown? Kind of a simplistic question, but my curiosity cannot be assuaged. When you look at pure cocoa powder, it has a light brown color, like a milk chocolate bar. And yet a dark chocolate bar, which is much higher chocolate content than milk chocolate, is a vastly darker color than cocoa powder. Even a 100% pure cocoa chocolate bar is a very dark color.

Pure cocoa powder

Milk chocolate bar

Dark chocolate bar ~75% cocoa

Dark chocolate bar 100% cocoa

What is at work here? I know chocolate has fats and solids other than cocoa in it, but that just makes it more confusing why a pure chocolate bar is dark as well. Does compacting the cocoa into a solid form (which is how I assume you make a pure cocoa bar) darken it that much? Are there differences in preparing the cacao beans (like different roasts for coffee)?

There are probably several factors in play:

The chocolate liquor used to make the chocolate may have been dutched (processed with alkali) which makes it darker.  AT the extreme end, it is almost black, like an Oreo (which is made with highly dutched cocoa).
The fat phase surrounds the cocoa particles, and makes them appear darker, much like wetting cocoa powder with water makes it appear darker.
The cocoa used to make the chocolate may be roasted to a greater or lesser degree, which affects its color, might like with coffee.  Thanks to  Didgeridrew for pointing this out.
Milk chocolate is necessarily lighter, as the milk particles are white, and help make the entire bar a lighter shade.

The cacao percentage is not a major factor, as even low cacao chocolates (like the very, very sweet German's Baker's Bar) are quite dark.

Roasting the brown cacao power turns it dark and destroys many of its nutrients. Raw cacao after being fermented and dried is the best form and retains the nutrients that are desirable for this super food.


What can I use as a replacement for Curry Powder? I do not like the taste of curry powder.  I have a recipe that calls for the use of this spice. What do you suggest that I can use in place of the curry powder?

Curry powder is a blend of spices to some recipe or merchant's taste, as a convenience.   More traditionally, a particular blend of spices would be created for each individual dish, tailored to that dishes idiosyncrasies.

You can research one of many current powder recipes on available, and simply make your own blend without whichever spice or spices it is that you do not enjoy.

I usually just use curry paste, Indian or Asian curry paste in place of the powder form, and I find it does its job.. Just like you I dont like the powder, I find it over powering, where as the past its gives it a much better aroma and flavour...


Is white rice bleached before being processed? My dad is being especially paranoid of this. He claims to have read a paper years ago that said that the standard in rice processing was bleaching the rice to produce "whiter" rice.

I've been searching everywhere, and for only weird fringe sites, most of the main sites (Wikipedia, some other cooking websites) make no mention of bleach.

Is my father being paranoid about this? Or are his claims substantiated?

No. It is not general practice to add bleach to rice. The brown rice bran is removed through mechanical processes. As to whether he should continue to indulge this worry...I'd be more concerned about [insert common American male problem here] before ammonia in rice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138007/ This review has many free references in it.  Should you want further peer-review reading, I can provide it.

White rice is bleached. You can find videos on you tube that show you the process.


How to prevent cucumbers from tasting bitter? I am a cooking dummy and I hate bitter cucumbers. :) Help!

The biggest thing you can do is peel it. If a cucumber's bitter, it's much more in the peel than in the flesh. It's also usually more bitter at the stem end, so you might want to start from the other end, and possibly ultimately discard an inch from the stem end if it really is too bitter for you. Unless you're unusually sensitive to the bitterness, that ought to cover it.

Bitterness is also fairly variable from cucumber to cucumber, so it's possible that you could shop for less bitter ones - maybe a different variety - or buy them only during more favorable seasons.

My mother used to say that you peel from flower end to stem end. Seems to work. I have tried doing the cutting end off and rubbing...that seemed to work as well.


How do I clean my cast iron grill pan? I'm recently the proud new owner of what I appears to be a Le Creuset "Skinny Grill" which is an enameled cast iron grill pan.

I fairly new to cast iron but I'm accustomed to the no-soap cleanup and maintaining a season. This pan, however, is making me crazy. The little ridges make it difficult for me to get anything down in there. They are higher and spaced more closely together than the photograph below may indicate. I can barely get a fingertip down between the ridges, let alone a paper towel or rag. If you do manage to get something in there for wiping, little bits and fibers get torn off because of the rough surface. That's clearly not good eats.

Most of the "advice" I've read online (mostly message board conversations between folks who are facing this exact problem) say to use soap and water and scrub it down like it's any other pan. If I'm reading it correctly, the general advice on the Le Creuset website even suggests a ride through the dishwasher! I'm worried about ruining the season. It's tempting to dunk the whole thing in warm soapy water and go at it with a scrubby pad but that just feels wrong.

Incidentally, the previous owner abandoned this pan for this very problem. It "made a mess" and they "didn't know how to clean it."

Do I just treat it like a regular cast iron skillet?

It makes a tasty burger...

Edit: After playing around on the Le Crueset website a bit I'm finding separate instructions for cast iron and something they call "Satin Black Enamel." Is this not a cast iron surface? Now I'm extra confused.

I own a similar square grill pan and have always had luck cleaning it with a stainless steel scouring sponge and lightly soapy water.  The spongy texture is very effective at getting down into the grooves.  No need to be especially vigorous - a couple quick passes will take out accumulated residues, and you can use a regular sponge afterward if you like.  I've no idea how they season these, but it seems to hold up quite well over time.  As near as I can tell, you can also re-season these just like any other cast iron when it does degrade.

Their statements about enamel are probably referring to the outer, colored finish - I also own a Le Creuset dutch oven which has the same enameling inside and out.  Care and feeding of that surface is of course totally different from cast iron.

Spray with oven cleaner, foam up ,let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes scrub with sponge with rough side,rinse, dry with paper towels, season pan put away ready for next time. I also spray lightly with Pam before I start cooking


I have clay tajines from Morocco that I've always cooked in and suddenly new stove is smoking? When I lived in Morocco I purchased small clay tajines to bring home and I've been cooking in them ever since; several years. Mostly on convection ovens, and once on a flat surface stove. I've just bought a house with a flat surface electric stove and this first time I've used the tajine here, the stove is smoking and smells really strong of plastic burning! My husband had just cleaned the stove (with chemicals) which I was claiming HAD to be the reason, but really? Burning plastic smell? Any ideas here??

You're not using the induction stove-top properly. Induction cooking works by inducting a magnetic field in the cooking vessel. Practically this means that a cooking vessel must be made of, or contain, a ferromagnetic metal such as cast iron or some stainless steels. If you want to use a ceramic or glass cooking disk then you should use a ferromagnetic interface disk (essentially an iron plate) which functions as a conventional hotplate.

See page 17 of the pdf file for an Electrolux range which describes the cookware type to use. Basically you want a magnet to be able to stick to the cookware.


Bread cracks in the oven I'm having trouble with my hamburger buns cracking in the oven.

click to expand

In this photo you can see a a bun with the crust cap cracking, isolating the bottom portion and exposing the crumbs. I used to have Hamilton Beach mixer for kneading and never had any issues. I set the Hamilton Beach mixer on speed 4 for 10 minutes. But now I got a KitchenAid Artisan mixer, and am having trouble with the exact same recipe.

I first tried to follow the KitchenAid instructions to knead only for two minutes at speed 3 which didn't work out well and the dough failed the window pane test. I then searched and found some advice to knead at speed 4 for about 10 minutes. I did and my dough passed the window pane test but somehow after rising during the shaping the crust/surface of the buns show a non-smooth surface (happens a lot more on whole wheat). What are some of the reasons this happens? The same recipe works perfectly with the Hamilton Beach mixer. Any advice on the technicalities would be appreciated.

I've read What causes the crown of the bread to crack during baking? (and I appreciate people citing that). But that question is about a loaf, and it's normal for loaves to crack like that, and normal to score loaves. Hamburger buns, in contrast, are not generally scored, and the recipe I'm making is not supposed to require it. It's worked fine without scoring sometimes, so there's something else going wrong besides the lack of scoring.

Your picture makes me want to say that it's a classic case of underproofing, but... You also mixed that dough at a pretty high speed. I think you may have over-developed the gluten. Sometimes if the gluten is too tight, it won't be stretchy enough to accommodate proofing and oven spring, which can lead to a rough surface during proofing and ripping while baking. This is more frequently a problem for buns since their shape requires them to be molded tighter than a loaf would normally be, and their small size means that they rise faster than the gluten can relax. You might have better luck only mixing for the recommended time on the lower speed, and then folding it once or twice during the rising time.

Possibly three reasons that I can think of:

If the water content was less in the dough and because of less moisture the bread cracked.
Over prooving of the dough during the second rise.
If you baked the bread at less temperature for a longer time.


How to recognize fizzy wine? I don't have much theoretical knowledge about wine, but I like the taste. So I often get a random bottle from the wide selection at the supermarket, avoiding only the bottom line of TetraPack wine. I have noticed a few trends (e.g. I don't like Chillean wine), but it is still mostly a hit-and-miss. One of the "bah" moments I have had several times recently was fizzy wine.

I don't mean wine sold as sparkly, such as champagne or prosecco. I mean bottles which look like normal wine, which are closed with a normal cork instead of a pressure-containing plug, but on opening they turn out to have a special kind of carbonation. Not the big, rising bubbles found in soft drinks, but small bubbles which are sometimes not even visible in the glass. Sometimes they are visible, but they stand there, instead of rising. When I drink the wine, the carbonation is noticeable from the slight bite.

I don't like carbonation. It not only makes the drink more acidic (and gives it a very unpleasant soda taste when there is not enough taste to cover it, such as in sparkly water), but the physical sensation distracts from the taste. I can tolerate it in soft drinks (if I have to drink one at all), but I have higher expectations of wine.

I looked at the bottles of carbonated wine I've had, but the labels don't seem to contain an indication of whether the wine is fizzy or not. I have seen it in red and white wines, cheap and expensive ones, local and important ones, without any pattern. Am I missing some important clue? Is it printed somewhere where I don't think to look? Or is it specific for certain grape cultivars? For certain regions? How do I learn to recognize the fizziness of a wine in a closed dark bottle sitting on a shelf?

You could check whether a wine is carbonated which should be indicated on the label (it's one of the processes to produce wine).

If it's not indicated on the label, then it's normally a young wine. The way to get rid of the off flavour is very simple: wait! A glass of evil smelling, lightly carbonated, wine can become a very nice drink if left to breathe.

You can see the carbonation in a glass (not in the shop), if you see some tiny bubbles at the rim. Once you see these bubbles, you can leave the bottle open for about half an hour to let it breathe.

Young wine is this year minus one. So, we are living in 2012 and a young wine should be labelled 2011. It would be very surprising to see a 2010 wine with carbonation.

The reason you get carbonation in young wines is that they are bottled while the sugar hasn't been completely consumed yet. It's not considered a defect of the bottle, as it will disappear with time. You can check that out by yourself, buying a number of bottles and opening one each month. Maybe the first two or three will have carbonation, and the rest will be fine.

Edit: This is called Spritzy.

  Very slight sensation of carbonation, most common in very young wines and can be considered a minor flaw.

I have to disagree with most of the comments here. I regularly buy older wines in the 20 to 25 dollar range.  Rioja, Chiante, Cabs, always XD and of high quality. These wines always have a certain amount of carbonation coming out of the bottle. A bit of breathing reduces it, but it doesn't go away completely. Now I am making my own wine and just tried a glass after 2 months of oak aging. It is getting very good, but it's  also very flat. I'm wondering if its a PH thing? To me it's missing that slight fizz that good dry wines have coming out of the bottle. A completely flat wine doesn't seem to have any life to it. The slight fizz activates the taste buds. The flat wine is very smoothe though.


In baking, can yoghurt replace butter? By baking, I mean cakes / muffins / biscuits.

This is mainly to cut down on fat.

I've tried replacing butter with yoghurt in all of these and the results were OK.

Are there any cases where it's not a good idea?

I generally replace with equal ratios e.g 100 ml butter = 100 ml yoghurt.

Is this the best ratio?

I guess it depends on what the substitution is for.

Certainly if the butter is just for flavour, it's a reasonable substitute (I think I'd use slightly more yogurt).  But 9 times out of 10, fat is the main reason the recipe is calling for butter!  Yogurt cannot substitute for a fat (butter) because it has very little fat.

If you lower the fat content of a baked good then you'll generally end up with a product much denser and less flakey.  So if you feel you must do this for some reason, then I would increase the sugar in the recipe to compensate (sugar inhibits gluten formation and will help to make the result less chewy).

The other thing you'd better keep in mind is that yogurt is naturally sour and will become even sourer when baked at a high temperature.  The longer you bake, the more sour it will become, so you might need to amp up the sugar significantly to maintain the proper flavour.

So for the most part, no, yogurt is really not a substitute for butter or any other fat.  Obviously this is partly a matter of personal taste, and if you're happy with the result, then continue doing what you're doing - but I think I'd definitely hesitate to eat a cake that was baked with yogurt instead of butter.

You can replace it just fine - I read that the moisture butter provides simply acts to keep flour from forming long protein strands, and keeping baked goods from turning into rubber.  So apple sauce or yogurt can replace butter any time!  It just makes you bakes goods softer, so don't use that on crispy goods such as cookies.


How much juice is in a lemon? A lot of recipes call for the "juice of a lemon". I keep a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge as this is easier, cheaper and more convenient than buying lemons all the time but my problem is I never know how much juice should come out of a lemon. Surely it depends how thoroughly you squeeze it?

Does anyone know approximately what volume of liquid is meant when a recipe says "juice of a lemon"?

It can range on the size of the lemon and the time of year.  A medium lemon will give 2-3 Tablespoons of juice, where a larger lemon can give 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons).   Just have to decide on much lemon flavor you want in your recipe as to which number you pick.

Start with 3 TBL then adjust to YOUR taste!!


Are British curd, Cottage Cheese, Indian Chena the same thing? Are these the same thing ?

British Curd - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curd
Cottage Cheese - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottage_cheese
Indian Chena - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhena

Short answer: no.

'Curd' is the generic name for the solids obtained from coagulating milk.

Cottage cheese is a type of curd cheese that is unpressed, and not entirely removed of whey, so it stays creamy and wet, with soft lumps

Chhena is a curd cheese that is strained to (almost) completely remove the whey, and gently pressed to firm it up and form a more coherent mass of curd

There is no way you could call indian chhena a curd.

Recipes (taken from my mom):

Curd: Take lukewarm milk and add curd. Cover with a lid (most important step). Wait for 4-5 hrs.

Chhena: Heat 1/2 L milk and keep the flame on. Squeeze 1 full lemon in it. Keep stirring until the white part is completely separated from near transparent liquid. Filter!


Muffin sticks to paper cases Today I tried to cook my favourite Raspberry and White Chocolate muffins using a recipe I found on BBC Good Food.

However after cooking them for the set amount of time and removing them from the muffin tray I found that when I tried to peel away the paper cases (from the muffin) the muffin stuck to the case.

The mixture itself was cooked but for some reason it stuck to the paper cases, this is also odd because I've done this recipe before and it worked fine. I've tried to think of any factors that may have changed when cooking for a second time and all I can think of are:

The raspberries were cut slightly larger (in half rather than in quarters/thirds)
Slightly less egg whites were used (because of a slight spill)

Could these factors have caused the muffin to stick to it's paper case?

Turns out I hadn't left them to cool long enough. After I left them for about 2-3 hours and tried again to peel the case off, it came off perfectly and nothing stuck to it.

Sorry about the false alarm but I never thought that not leaving them to cool long enough would have caused this kind of problem.

Thanks for all your answers!

I think your problem was you added too much raspberry into your muffin and not enough egg white which neutralizes that effect.


What distinguishes pork sausage from ground pork? Let me preface this by saying that I am basically a complete novice when it comes to cooking. So I apologize if this is a silly question.

I sometimes like to cook things using ground pork sausage, but much of the time it's nearly impossible to find in the local grocery stores. However, they always seem to have ground pork, which I've considered using as a substitute. I know it wouldn't cause my kitchen to explode or anything like that ;-) but I'm curious, what's the difference? What exactly am I putting in my food by using the sausage that I'd miss out on if I used regular ground pork?

Ground pork is simply that, pork. Pork sausage is ground pork that has been seasoned.

You can substitute, but you'll have to bring your own seasoning.

in your grocery check by the lunchmeat, etc and you will see the bob evans packages for sure.  there will be several different brands of sausage in tubes, use these just like you would bulk from the meat counter.


Can I substitute marmalade for peach preserves? I've got a recipe here for fish done with a glaze made of peach preserves that looks pretty tasty. However, some members of my household dislike peach. Citrus is a classic pairing for fish; can I swap out the preserves for a marmalade? I'm not 100% sure on the differences between the two. Or is there another substitution that would work better?

Recipe: Ginger-peach glazed tilapia

In addition to the sweetness, marmalade has a pronounced bitter flavor that could overpower the fish. It seems that others feel the same way — there are few online recipes for fish with marmalade, and of those few, most are for salmon which has a more robust taste of its own to balance out the marmalade. Perhaps something like an apricot preserve would be more in the spirit of the original recipe?

The bitter flavour of marmalade will overpower the fish.


Slime in Fermented Pickle brine I have pickles that have been fermenting for 3 weeks now, which in my experience is the ideal length of time.  When I checked on them,  there is mucousy slime in the brine.  There's no unpleasant smell, and the pickles are crunchy and taste like pickles. There is some yeast on the top of the brine,  but this is something I've seen fairly frequently.
Can anyone identify this slime,  and confirm if these pickles are safe to eat?

On its page, White Film On Cultured Vegetables, Cultures for Health identifies kahm yeast as the probable culprit. Many reference sites indicate that the food is safe to eat as long as mold is not present. The yeast film should be removed as it may affect the flavor of the food and it may adversely affect digestion.
Kahm yeast formation can occur because:

The batch is insufficiently acidic
There is not enough salt in the brine
The culturing temperature is too warm
The batch is over-exposed to oxygen
Good hygiene was not observed during preparation

You should be able to avoid kahm yeast formation in the future by following good lacto-fermentation procedures.


Why did my brown beef stock end up yellow? Over the weekend I attempted a brown beef stock for the first time.

I roasted (from frozen) a couple of kilos of beef bones in the oven for an hour or so until they were a deep brown colour all over.

I drained off the fat that had collected in the oven dish, deglazed with water and added this and the bones into a stockpot with an additional 2 litres of water, roughly chopped onions, carrots and celery, a few sprigs of thyme, a couple of bay leaves and a few black peppercorns.

The stock was brought to the boil and then left to simmer for 3 hours over a low heat. When I strained the stock, it was a yellowy tan colour and not the dark brown that I had been hoping for.

What did I do wrong?

The brown color of the stock comes from the cooking method, not the kind of bones, a chicken stock cooked in the "brown stock" method can be as dark as what we expect beef stock to be.

Roasting the bones was a good start; but you also need to brown the vegetables, either with the bones for the last half hour or in a pan on the stovetop.

One of the most important parts of brown stock is to add tomato to the vegetable mix, either finely diced or more often tomato paste. Cooking the tomato to a dark brick red will round out the components needed to make a very dark stock.

Whether you roast all the ingredients together in the oven or separate the vegetables to the stove; deglazing everything as you did helps the flavor, color, and of course makes cleaning the pans easier :)

Simmer the stock for 6 hrs not 3! This is crucial in order to achieve a dark brown stock with 2 liters of water. Add tomato paste, as it will brown the stock. If nothing else works, just put it on mid - high heat for 30 mins or until demi-glaze is made. Demi-glaze is the only way to salvage it


What does "buttermilk" mean in an American pancake recipe? I want to experiment making American style pancakes (I usually make Austrian style unleavened palatschinken). The recipe I found says "buttermilk", but I remember reading somewhere that the Americans sometimes misuse the word for milk thickened by fermentation. What should I use for the recipe, real buttermilk or fermented whole milk?

And if you have ever shopped in a German supermarket, do you know which product would come the closest to what the recipe author meant? I have the choice between buttermilch, sauermilch, dickmilch and kefir. Currently leaning towards sauermilch (it isn't really very sour, tastes actually less sour than yogurt).

Note I am not asking for substitutions trying to approximate acidity by curdling milk with different acids available in the kitchen. I know of this method and don't intend to use it. This question is asking which existing milk product is closest to the one used in the original recipe.

You are correct that in the US buttermilk refers to cultured milk and not the soured leftovers from making butter. Historically buttermilk was the liquid left after making butter that had fermented during the accumulation of the cream. It was described as milky and sour- not creamy like modern buttermilk.

Your recipe is certainly referring to the cultured variety. I have never seen or heard of actual buttermilk being sold anywhere and so I have no idea if it can be used in the same recipes.

The milk doesn't have to be whole. The product is thick, creamy, and tart not unlike a loose yogurt.

I don't know German but I can say that Kefir (if it is the same product as one with the same name in Russian) is definitely not buttermilk. It can be used as a substitute as it has a similar texture but the flavor is very different.

Here is a link to a powdered buttermilk product for cooking and baking. I have not used it, but my cousin says it's very good.  Probably not available to the European market, but maybe there is a similar product
http://sacofoods.com/products/view/cultured-buttermilk


What can I substitute for Kaffir Lime Leaves? Kaffir Lime Leaves seem to be a common ingredient in Thai food, particularly coconut based dishes. I have never seen them in Atlanta, and I've looked (farmers market, whole foods, normal grocery, but not an Asian grocery store). What is the flavor profile of these leaves? Is there a good substitute?

I wouldn't attempt to substitute. I've read somewhere that you can use regular lime leaves, but I've never seen those anywhere. Even Googling for lime leaf turns up kaffir lime leaves.

They can be found easily enough online: ImportFood.com. They freeze well for months in just a zip-lock bag.

The flavor profile is best described as a bright floral aromatic. It's similar in function, not taste, to a bay leaf. Thai cuisine uses kaffir lime leaves much as we do bay leaves.

If you decide buying online isn't worth the hassle, then Kitchen Savvy suggests the following substitute:

1/2 a small bay leaf
1/4 tsp of lime zest
1/8 tsp of fresh lemon thyme

I think lemongrass has a similar super floral citrusy flavor.

Maybe lemongrass with a little lime zest.


How to get rid of boiled chicken breast smell? I boiled sliced chicken breast in plain water for elders. It's their meal. Raw chicken was fresh, but cooked chicken smells not nice. I know it should smell, but I feel bad for them eating this thing.

Is there any tips to get rid of the smell? Thanks!

There are a lot of simple hacks that you might try to get rid of the smell in the finished dish, which involves adding small amounts of herbs or spices etc. But of course, it needs to ensured that no-one will have any adverse effect with the additives.

Some ideas:

1) Add lemon juice (fresh squeezed is better) and some ground black pepper near the end of boiling. This is a classic combination.

2) Add Bay leaves and whole black peppers in water when you start boiling.

3) Add sage/thyme during the boiling.

Just keep in mind one thing: The smell and taste capability of many elders are diminished, and the plain boiled chicken might not smell too bad for them. and they might be more interested in avoiding anything that might upset their stomach than a better-smelling chicken.

When boiling add some onion, black pepper, rosemary leaf, saffron  (if available ).
Make a pretty good and nice scent broth.


How do I know if my salmon fish is cooked properly? I intend to cook some salmon fish over this weekend so that I can treat my friends and relatives. However, I saw this article - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/22/the-hidden-dangers-of-unc_n_120584.html, it mention about the hidden danger of uncooked salmon.

So, my question is how should I cook my salmon such that it is cooked properly? (in other words, how can I identify that my salmon fish is not cooked well. Of course, I don't want my salmon fish to become so cooked that it turn into a black ash.)

Would appreciate if there are pictures showing a well-cooked salmon fish and pictures showing salmon fish that is not cooked properly and showing sign of rawness inside the cooked fish when cut into half.

Just some illustrations as follows:

I don't want my salmon fish to be somewhere like this cause it look un-cook inside:

Also, I don't want my salmon fish to be somewhere like this cause it look over-cooked outside:

Also, I ask a article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_rare (honestly, I do not know if it can apply to fishes)

==========================================================================================
Term (French)               | Description                        | Temperature range[1]
==========================================================================================
Extra-rare or Blue (bleu)   | very red and cold                  | 46–49 °C (115–120 °F)
==========================================================================================
Rare (saignant)             | cold red center; soft              | 52–55 °C (125–130 °F)
==========================================================================================
Medium rare (à point)       | warm red center; firmer            | 55–60 °C (130–140 °F)
==========================================================================================
Medium (demi-anglais)       | pink and firm                      | 60–65 °C (140–150 °F)
==========================================================================================
Medium well (cuit)          | small amount of pink in the center | 65–69 °C (150–155 °F)
==========================================================================================
Well done (bien cuit)       | gray-brown throughout; firm        | 71–100 °C (160–212 °F)
==========================================================================================

So, I was wondering if I really need to cut those salmon fish into tiny slices so that when I cooked them, the fish will be between "Medium well" to "Well done" throughout. (Notice that I did not want a "Well Done" because I don't want to have "black ash" on the outside of the salmon fish)

The most reliable way to test any meat is with a thermometer. Be careful to insert it all the way into the center (since the outside will be hotter). As has been mentioned in the comments, the 130-135F range is cooked, but very soft. It's more likely that you want something in the 140F-150F range.

This is where the second method comes in - just test it. When fish is cooked, it should easily flake apart, and you can see the inside and verify that it's cooked how you want it. Remember, you can always cook it a bit longer, but you can't go backwards, so don't be too shy about checking it. There's no shame in having to check it a couple times before you decide it's done; within a try or two you'll know exactly what you're looking for. And you can do this along with a thermometer, since it's hard to tell exactly what temperature would be best for you.

Whatever you do, be careful not to overcook it - remove it from the heat as soon as you think it's done. It'll still cook a little bit more, as heat transfers from the outside to the inside.

You still haven't mentioned how you plan to cook it. The picture you think looks bad might actually be really good - if it was cooked on high heat, it may be done perfectly on the inside, with a bit of browning and charring on the outside. If you're cooking it more slowly, that's obviously not what you want it to look like on the outside - then inside would be totally overcooked.

All that said, the easiest way to cook fish (especially if you don't have a lot of experience) is baking it, wrapped in foil (or in a foil-covered dish). It's a slow heat, so it's a lot harder to accidentally overcook it, and it cooks more evenly than a hot pan or a grill. There are a lot of other great ways, but this might be good to start with. You could look for recipes for baked salmon to get some ideas here, if you don't just want a plain piece of fish.

Do as the link suggest and freeze it to get rid of potential Larva, to pasteurise you need to over cook the salmon. Alton is right on the money for pasteurising, but need to keep it at 131 for a while, and it will be overcooked. I would suggest to eat it below 131 and be happy, I do mine at 104!


Is there a difference between Kansas City strip and New York strip? Wikipedia gives the impression that Kansas City strip refers to the same cut as New York strip. Are they really the same cuts? If so, which name is more "authentic"? And if not, what's the difference between them?

The Kansas City Strip and the New York Strip refer to the same cut of meat.  Apparently restaurants in New York City in the 1930's decided they couldn't sell a fancy steak named after Kansas City (where the stockyards and slaughterhouses were located).  So, they just started calling it a New York Strip.

If you want a steak renamed by a egotistical chef, order the New York Strip.  If you want a steak named for the cut of beef originally selected by butchers working next to the stockyards, order the Kansas City Strip.

KC is a NY with partial bone and small strip of fat for flavor. You can still find hi scale aged steakhouse  restaurants that sell both cuts. Its that simple. However, if your KC or NY strip is not served as part of a Porterhouse,  you're just 'doing  it wrong' anyway. ;) ..and always eat the filet first when its fresh out of kitchen. ENJOY!


Seasoning on Magnalite anodized aluminum fry pans needs to be removed and re-done, what is process? I bought a set of three Magnalite anodized fry pans(used) and was told they needed to be cleaned out and re-seasoned. What would be the best way to remove the old seasoning?

If you mean that the anodization has chipped and you have bare metal showing through, the best way to remove the remaining anodization is by sandpaper and lots of time/ effort (aluminum oxide, a.k.a. corundum/ ruby/ sapphire, is one of the compounds used in sandpaper, so it's sort of like grinding a diamond with another diamond). You could also likely dissolve it with concentrated acids or alkali, but these may also destroy the pan in the process, and I do not know that I would want to do that to cookware.

The most challenging problem lies in how to put the anodization back on (very controlled re-oxidation of the surface), without a large vat of hazardous chemicals or investing more money than the pan is worth having it commercially re-anodized.


Was too much oil used, or not enough when seasoning? I went about trying to reseason my cast-iron pan yesterday. I used some recycled canola oil at 400F for 60 minutes right-side up. After that I checked on it (before it was completely cooled), and noticed that most of the surface was a matte black with a web of a glossy material.

I was under the assumption that the surface was supposed to be a uniform color, so I put it in for another 30 minutes, thinking that I had pulled it out too early. When I checked on it afterwards, I noticed that more of the surface area was glossy, and not matte. So before I threw it in for more time or added more oil, I figured I'd ask here.

Should I strip the surface and do something different? Should I use brand new flaxseed oil instead of recycled canola oil? Should I flip it upside-down and set the oven to 350F?

You used far far too much oil. And you definitely used the wrong oil.

Ever notice how oil moves around the surface when you pour some in a hot pan? It doesn't spread out uniformly flat like water does but seems to be moving in a changing pattern. I don't know what this oil fluid dynamics is called but I'm sure you've seen this too.

When you oiled your pan, this pattern is what started to form and then from the high heat - and it doesn't take long - it baked on with thicker and thinner layers of hardened oil. Rather than trying to bake on a layer of fat in one sitting, you'd do better to laminate your seasoning so it lasts.

What you want to use is a "drying oil" that will form a hard slick film that fried food will slide off with the addition of a little cooking oil. What's the drying oil painters use? Linseed oil. The food grade and safe equivalent is 100% pure unadulterated flax  oil. So your second choice is what you need to use.

But remember, you should laminate your seasoning. By repeatedly adding a thin layer of flaxseed oil and then heating it for an hour, letting it cool for a couple and repeating this 4 or 5 times, you'll end up with an almost glass-like smooth finish to your pan that's more nonstick than Teflon could be.

It's important when you coat your pan for seasoning, you wipe off any excess before baking it. You want a barely there film. Why? Because doing so, enables the oil to absorb oxygen in the air evenly (a thicker layer would prevent oxygen reaching the oil next to the pan's surface) which is necessary. It also lets the iron function as a catalyst that speeds the process. What you get is polymerization of the flaxseed oil (the actual chemical change) from a liquid to a hard solid, not a thick sticky layer of half-baked oil.

Before you can properly season your pan though, you'll need to remove that previous attempt. The easiest method is to place your pan, face down, in a self-cleaning oven to thoroughly burn the old oil off. Then, you can brush off the ash, wipe your pan clean and begin seasoning it correctly.

Just a tip about maintaining the finish. Use your pan for frying only, not stewing or ever cooking with acidic foods. The best way to clean residue on your pan after frying is with salt and oil. I scrape the worse off and then add about 1/2 teaspoon oil to my pan and pour some ordinary table salt on the oil. With a bunched up paper  towel, I use the lubricated salt to scrub off any food residue. The salt doesn't scratch the seasoned finishing and really cleans well. I usually rinse it under water before drying the pan and putting it on the heated element just to be sure it's completely dry.

You are way too fussy. And 400* is hot. Try 250* for 10 minutes. This is not rocket science. Dry the pan with a paper towel and move on.


How do I practice piping icing without wasting icing and money? Is there some cheaper alternative to real icing so I can avoid wasting good icing and money while practicing? Or can I avoid having to throw the practice icing away? I do not want to waste good butter just to practice my piping skills =)

If you're just practicing piping, you can just pipe onto parchment paper (or a clean counter) and then scrape it off with a spatula and save the frosting. That way you can actually practice with the frosting you'll be using and not be thrown off by different textures and consistencies.

ETA: This is what we've actually done in a few bakeries where I've worked. If you had an odd request, you'd mark a section of the counter the same size as the cake and pipe the outline or lettering onto that to check sizing/kerning etc before doing the actual cake.

Use play-doh...it will be easier to clean up. Just make sure you dont forget to return them to your children toy's chest


Is mold on quartered artichokes bad? I found some dark mold on a bottle of quartered artichokes in the packing solution, and accidentally ate one before realizing there was a problem with them. Should I be worried?

You shouldn't be very worried at the moment because mold usually isn't too harmful, and common symptoms are a stomach ache. If you feel worrying symptoms going to the doctor or the hospital (If necessary) may be a good idea. Still, keep in mind that it is rare to become very sick from eating mold and that you will probably be okay.


Why is butter usually labeled "Sweet Cream"? Most (or even all?) butter found at the grocery store is labeled "sweet cream".  Is there a distinction between this and another type of cream, and if so, what is it?

It means the butter is made from cream that hasn't been fermented. Butter made from fermented cream is known as "cultured cream butter", and it has distinct sour, lactic acid notes. Sweet cream butter tastes, well, sweet, and if it is from really good fresh milk you may be able to taste grassy notes. Both are good in their own way.

"sweet cream" butter tastes sweeter than non-sweet cream because it doesn't have (or has much less) salt in it.


Can I safely roast a chicken for 4 to 5 hours on a low heat? Hard pressed office worker and cook here. If I go home at lunchtime and put in a medium sized chicken to roast in the oven can I ensure it's ready to eat when the family get in in the evening?

I've found a recipe instructing me to roast at 120C (250F) for 5 hours, uncovered. The recipe mentions ensuring it reaches 85C (185F) internally.

Does that sound reasonable? Any other tips to ensure I don't risk a charred/undercooked bird?

Warning: Although I've cooked the following low-temperature chicken two or three times without a problem, I'm no longer convinced that it is safe (see this question). Nevertheless, it is advocated by a well-known and respected chef, so I won't delete this answer unless I'm able to establish to my own satisfaction that it is, in fact, unsafe.

According to this article, also backed up with data from the USDA, you can cook chicken as low as 140F (60C) as long as the internal temperature of the bird reaches and maintains that temperature for at least 35 minutes.

You may have to do a little calculation and experimentation to find a chicken weight and temperature that hits the five hour mark, but it seems that you can do it safely as long as you have,

an oven that can maintain a
temperature (I would invest in an
oven thermometer to be sure, most
oven dials are way out);
a good
digital probe. Probe the meat in
several places to make sure of the
temperature;

I would also leave the meat to rest a while so that cooking continues with the residual heat. I don't know how long you would need to feel safe, but I would probably wait 30 mins.

A tip taken from a Heston Blumenthal recipe is to brine the bird before hand. That way you will also kill a lot of bacteria from the skin.

Update:

Brining won't kill bacteria. The Blumenthal recipe involves dunking the chicken (see In Search of Perfection p.56) twice for thirty seconds in boiling water. I imagined, erroneously as it turns out, that this was a regular part of the brining process.

Brine that bird! If you put the bird in some heavily salted water for an half hour or more, you can kill the bacteria and make it easier to cook because it stays juicy longer at higher temps. Plus the skin will be crisp unlike cooking it in a crockpot.


Boiling things using salt Since recently i have to cook for myself and a lot of products mention i should boil some water with salt and when it boils add the product.

Why on earth do you have to add salt to the water?

This is generally to season the thing being boiled whilst it is cooking.  The salt will infiltrate the innards of the thing being cooked infusing it with some seasoning.

Try with something basic like pasta or rice to see the difference between cooking in plain water and cooking in salted water.

This quesion and this one might also provide some insight.

Adding salt just slows down or stops osmosis, so the cells of the vegetables do not blow up with water or burst. Salts cannot pass the cell walls, they are SEMI permeable, so there is no leakage of salts into the boiling water... otherwise you would not have osmosis at all. Likewise, the salt cannot get into the cells. Other nutrients may leak into the water, though I do not know that...well obviously some do, otherwise the water wouldnt get any colour or taste, but how salt infuences this I do not know. Oversalting would result in water leaking out of the cells, and so more nutrients would be lost, I think.


Why do chefs use Gold and Silver Leaf? I don't cook myself, but I watch a fair few cooking shows. Recently the theme of gold and silver leaf has been quite recurring. My first thought was "Well it can't be actual gold. Who would eat gold?" But it looked very shiny and metallic; like it was actually made out of metal. I thought maybe it was made of chocolate, since I'd seen it in a lot of desserts, and the closest thing I could come up with was "chocolate coins are covered in gold foil -> the gold leaf is in a dessert -> you'd think it has to be something edible -> maybe it's chocolate?"

Well, finally I just looked it up. I found this website which goes into a good bit of detail about what gold leaf is. And...it's gold! I was definitely surprised. So my research uncovered that it was indeed made of gold, but now I'm left with another question which I did not find the answer to:

  Why do chefs use gold and silver leaf?

I mean...you're eating metal. I'm sure it doesn't taste bad, or else professional chefs wouldn't use it. But I can't imagine it tastes good either, it's metal! I've tasted tinfoil before (not swallowed it, but come into contact with it enough to notice the taste) and it certainly isn't pleasant.

So all I can think is that they add it because it looks pretty. And okay...sure, I'll give you that. It does look pretty. But you're eating metal, expensive precious metals at that! The world's gold is going down our digestive tracts? Curiouser and curiouser.

So I suppose I'm looking for an objective reason why chefs would use this item. I see a lot of new and interesting and odd things on these food shows, but this is a real strange one for me. Is there an aspect I'm missing that makes the use of gold leaf make more sense? Or is it really just as simple as "it's pretty so we're putting it on there"?

It's just decorative, in a bit of an extravagant way. The leaf is so thin that you can't really tell it's there when you eat it; you're not really eating much metal. That's also why it's not that expensive - for example I see 25 sheets for $49 on Amazon. Not cheap, but if someone uses one $2 sheet for a few dozen truffles sold for a dollar each, it doesn't seem quite as crazy anymore.

It's also not actually that new an idea. For example, kaju barfi, a traditional Indian dessert, is commonly decorated with silver leaf. See Google image search for pictures - it does actually look pretty cool.

We have ingested metals medicinally for centuries. Silver was the only cure for syphylis before penicillin and gold was used to modify the course of rheumatoid arthritis until a decade or so ago. Of course metals such as lithium have psychotropic effects and is still used as a mood stabiliser. So none of these metals are inert and all have potential to damage the kidneys if ingested daily over a long period but a tiny bit in gold leaf as an occasional indulgence will do nothing.
I will however strongly recommend against a mercury enema.


How do I make paneer firm and chewy like in the restaurant? Recently I've taken a liking to Indian cuisine and am trying to replicate the curry experience at home. The biggest problem I'm having is with the paneer cheese, which is used in curries I like the most.

When I eat out at an Indian restaurant, their paneer is firm, squishy and kind of 'squeaky' on the teeth. The one I make is always crumbly and falls apart in the curry. I've tried all kinds of recipes from the net; at one point I even asked a friendly Indian chef about it and he told me that they buy the milk directly from a farmer, and that the low-fat, UHT shop variety just won't do.

I tried reinforcing 2% milk with cream before as per the advice of one recipe or other, but not "country-milk" so I got some milk from a friend who keeps cows and the result wasn't much better. The cheese still won't stick together and keeps falling apart, you just can't feel the chewy, curry-flavored bits of paneer at all, so it's pretty useless to even bother with it. Help please?

If you are using UHT milk, that is your answer right there. It won't make proper ricotta or mozzarella, so I'm not surprised it won't make good paneer either. Something about the heat treatment makes it so that it will only produce grainy, tiny curds. I made this mistake myself once, in my excitement to try my new cheesemaking kit. Here is some reference info, including pictures, from cheesemaking.com.

Well.. a response now from India.. Cottage Cheese or Paneer is really easy to prepare at home.
Here are the things you will need:

2 liters Full Cream Milk
Ice Cubes
2 tsp vinegar

In a pan, head the full cream milk until boiling and bubbling. Reduce the flame and let boil for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and stir slowly until the milk starts separating and cuddling. When the milk stops cuddling which should be around in 2 minutes. Add the ice cubes and turn of the heat. Adding ice cubes instantly stops the cuddled milk to get more chewy and harder. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

In a linen cloth sieve the whole stuff of the pan. Save the water which was in the pan while you save. Now, squeeze out excess water from the cheese in the cloth and keep it on a flat surface of a sieve. Place a plate over the cottage cheese prepared in the cloth and then above it the water you saved in a pan over the plate. This will squeeze out excess water from the cheese in next 1.5 hours.

Diagram for after sieving in a cloth:

     |       |  <-- Pan
     |_______|
    ----------- <-- Plate
      ------
     |      |   <-- Prepared Cheese
      ------
   ------------- <-- Sieve

You will then be ready with the paneer or cottage cheese after 1.5 hours ready to be cooked. To use it for later purpose, you can keep it in your refrigerator for 2-3 days max.

You can find a number of recipes of paneer on my blog too @ http://recipesglobally.com


How is the chai latte in Starbucks made? I can brew my own chai latte (without the foam machine). It smells great with different types of spice. However, it just doesn't seems to reach the taste of the chai latte from Starbucks. The chai latte from Starbucks has a sweet taste like fruit. I wonder if they add other ingredients.
Here are the ingredients I use: cardamom, clove, ginger, cinnamon, low-fat milk, and tea.

The chai tea latte at Starbucks is made from the Tazo Chai Tea Latte concentrate. This product is available at supermarkets and online, and is mixed with milk to make a product not unlike what you have at Starbucks (minus the foam, as you pointed out).

So, what are these flavors (say, if you wanted to make this from scratch)? The website mentions that the black tea is malty. You could likely reproduce that with a maltier tea like Assam, though the box also says a "a rich blend of flavorful teas", meaning that a stronger blend like English Breakfast might be a closer match. It looks like you are on the right track with the spices as well: cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and cloves are all listed, though the website mentions black pepper, star anise, and vanilla in addition, which ought to lift your cup of chai a bit as well.

The concentrate that Starbucks sells is not what they use in their stores. The in-store chais are secret-recipe full concentrate and taste better than the concentrate that they sell. We are not supposed to know that the secret concentrate exists; but it does and I have seen it.


How to make cookies less crumbly? I baked cookies last night and they came out rather crumbly. It felt like I put in quite a lot of flour - would that affect the crumbliness?

Well, looking at the recipe...

The sugar (brown sugar + honey) level looks roughly appropriate compared to the flour so that's unlikely.

The fat level looks a tad low for the cookies I normally do, but I've never used oil in cookies before.   You might try increasing the oil just a bit to lend extra tenderness, but I don't think this is the real issue.  (Using oil in cookies also means you're not creaming, which is typically important in most cookies...so its a bit odd, but I don't know that it would cause them to be 'crumbly'.)

The lack of the egg definitely isn't helping it to keep structural support.  The recipe is basically banking on the fact that it needs to be moist to hold together.  There's not really enough liquid to form gluten to add structure (which you don't usually want for cookies anyway).  Since there's nothing in the cookie to give it 'structure', if you dry it out its just going to fall apart on you.

I suspect your problem is from the directions of 'Don’t overbake these, or they’ll dry out a little.'  They dried out a bit too much and lost all support.  It's easy to over bake cookies and this is a recipe with very little room for error in that area.

Too much flour can definitely cause crumbliness. I suggest you experiment with the amount by trial and error. This (alone) may not be the most effective solution though...

Moreover, the lack of eggs in that recipe is naturally going to have its effect. Egg is used in baking primarily as a binding agent, and the lack of such here is going to lead to lack of cohesion/increased crumbliness. If you don't mind adding eggs, this is the easiest solution. Otherwise, there are alternative binding agents that could do the job pretty well:

Cornstarch and water
Soy flour and water
Flour, vegetable shortening, baking powder, water

The recipe you give seems to utilise baking powder and vegetable oil as binding agents, but this is quite possibly insufficient. Also, I have heard that using whole-wheat flour decreases crumbliness.

There is a great page on Egg-Free Cooking Options in general over at exploreveg.org, which mentions the above options and more. (And gives exact measurements.)


Can you identify these chiles on sale in Serbia and Macedonia? In the market in Niš, Serbia yesterday there were the most beautiful capsicums (bell peppers, red peppers) and chiles on display that I've ever seen.

But also on sale were these "ugly" ones that I first thought were some kind of root vegetable due to their characteristic dull finish. Note also the characteristic "etched" concentric rings going around them:

My Serbian host has little English and after much effort and phone calls was proud to tell me they are called "hot chille peppers", but hopefully the culinary experts here can find a much more specific name or description.

I don't mind if the only names you can find are in Serbian or some other language, but I am interested to know why they look so different to the shiny chiles and how they are put to use in this part of the world, especially uses which differ to the more familiar looking varieties.

I've now found them on sale in a posh supermarket in Skopje, Macedonia. This time labelled:

  потекло
  скопско

  пиперки везени

  благи / кг

Which Google Translate massages into:

  origin
  Skopje

  peppers embroidered

  mild / kg

So an answer is "пиперки везени" or "embroidered peppers", for at least one name used in at least one country. Here is a close-up photo giving a better look at the striations:

(Almost) all of the peppers and chilies in the US are covered w/ a food grade wax.  I, for the life of me, couldn't find any pictures of chili peppers without the paraffin.  But that's what I think that is.  Hot chilis that have not been treated w/ wax.


What are the benefits of whisking when making muffins? What are the benefits of whisking when making muffins?

I think your question is been answered here

"Over mixing batter forms gluten, which in turn hardens the cake", @Theindependentaquarius.

"There's a difference between "don't overmix" and "don't mix" - you're supposed to mix enough to incorporate, just don't try homogenize it", @Aaronut.

Whisking muffin batter.

... affects the entire leavening or raising process because no baking powder is used....
This allows a greater number of cells to form and the cells contain a larger amount of air.
Loss of aeration results in a smaller product with a coarse texture.
Aeration is only successful if the air remains in the batter until it is baked. For large mixes, stabilisers and emulsifiers (or fats) are added during the whisking stage.
(Source: Cakes > Whisking Method)

Whisking batter makes it smooth, silky, fluffy and free of lumps


Sugar won't dissolve in cacao butter In an attempt to make (vegan) white chocolate I noticed that the sugar doesn't dissolve in the melted cacao butter.

For reference, this is the recipe I'm using: Organic Authority's "Four Ingredient Vegan White Chocolate Recipe"

I melt the cacao butter au bain-marie, add the coconut oil and melt that too. Then I add the vanilla and sugar. What happens next is that the sugar forms clumps and sinks to the bottom. Why does this happen? I'd love to understand this. (Putting the mixture in a high speed blender didn't help as well.)

In a previous attempt I tried heating the mixture directly in a sauce pan to the point where the sugar would 'melt' but this turned out to be a big mistake. The sugar seemed burned and the result was cacao butter with burned caramel. Needless to say I didn't eat it.

I have a hunch that I need an emulsifier in order to get a smoother result, however I have no experience in this at all.

When melting factory made chocolate au bain-marie I get a much creamier result which actually looks like melted chocolate. The chocolate I'm making is just very oily (with sugar lumps in it) and looks nothing like I would expect. What does it take to get such a result?

Sugar won't dissolve in cocoa butter.  Or in coconut oil, for that matter.

When making chocolate, the sugar is smoothed and kept in suspension by prolonged grinding, conching, which is really a mechanical process... and one of the reasons making actual chocolate at home is very rare, absent specialized equipment, as the sugar crystals will not dissolve and this leaves a gritty product.

You might have better luck with powdered sugar, since it's already more finely ground.  Or superfine or castor sugar, perhaps.  I see that the recipe calls for coconut sugar, and I'm not sure there's commercial powdered or superfine, but you might be able to grind it more finely for a better result anyway.  For powdered or castor sugar the amounts in volume will be a bit different - as the sugar will physically settle differently, plus the addition of cornstarch for powdered - but weight should be the same and there are conversions for volume measurements.

It may also help to cool the cocoa butter/coconut oil mix down to a thicker consistency (semisolid, maybe like softened butter, something of the sort) before mixing in the sugar, as the thicker texture should help keep the sugar in suspension rather than letting it settle out before the mix finishes cooling.  With the cocoa butter/coconut oil mixture in that thicker state, the incorporation would look more like creaming.

Add a bit of milk (about1/3rd the amount of oils you used), helps the sugar dissolve almost immediately, but keep the amount low, don't want it to become fudge. Alternately, I've used Maple syrup with success.

You can always try using honey or corn syrup to sweeten your chocolate instead.


Margarine in place of shortening According to the Wikipedia article on shortening, it seems as though margarine is considered shortening.

Has anyone substituted margarine for shortening in any recipes, and can you report your results?

Margarine is essentially 80% hydrogenated vegetable oil, the rest being mostly water and a touch of coloring and flavoring.

Shortening is essentially 100% hydrogenated vegetable oil.

That means that to truly substitute shortening versus margarine, you would need 5 units of margarine, versus 4 units of shortening plus one unit of water.

However,  in many, many applications substituting 1:1 is well within the tolerance of recipes.  This applies to almost all savory cooking, and most baking including breads, quick breads, cookies, and cakes.

I do not use margarine in any cookie recipes since the margarine is not what it used to be.  The cookies that have margarine in them do not hold their shape and spread all over the cookie sheet.  I use real butter.


Does placement of ingredients and condiments on a sandwich change the taste? When making a cold deli meat sandwich or a burger, does layering the solid ingredients and condiments in a different order change the taste or mouth-feel? If so, how and why? Are there reasons to prefer one order to another?

Yes, it can change the taste quite significantly.

Here's an easy experiment that you can do:

Make a sandwich, but spread mustard on only one of the pieces of bread.
Take a bite of the sandwich, mustard-side up.
Take a bite of the sandwich, mustard-side down.

Mouth feel is affected as well, but not quite as dramatically.

was told once to make burgers starting with the bottom of the bun. sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. then the meat and cheese. was told that is how our taste buds were built and let someone taste all the flavors


Tips To Make Pizza Dough Workable I've used several recipes for making pizza dough, most recently one from Delfina Pizza.  My issue is that regardless of the recipe I use it is very difficult to work the dough into the pizza crust.  It is usually very sticky and it tears too easily.  I'm working on how to make the dough easier to work with, any ideas?

That's just a bad pizza base recipe.

My family recipe is totally different. Not sure if I can post recipes here, but anyway here's a link to something similar http://www.recipepizza.com/doughs/pizza_dough.htm

You can use sugar or honey, it's just food for the yeast. You can use 2 or 3 times more olive oil to make a smother dough

Some extra tips:

In my recipe each cup of flour makes one thin 30cm pizza base. Most people make the base to thick and it wont cook properly
Try not to roll the dough, pull or push it out by hand, if it wont do this you made the dough wrong or you have the wrong flour
Let the oiled dough rise in a warm place with just a cloth over it
After making the base on the tray, let it rise another ten minutes before putting toppings on it. Be quick from when you start adding toppings and getting it to the oven, otherwise it will go soggy
Use the hottest oven you can dial up, or a hard wood fired oven. A thin crust pizza should take no longer than eight minutes to cook
Sing bad Italian Opera while kneading. You will either get good at singing, or get fast at kneading

My attempts at pizza dough have been damp affairs used the farina 00 flour blah blah hold back on the water is what to try next! Every attempt has been eaten! Last one so sticky mashed and pulled play dough style onto tray even cooked it a little before toppings yum! So I guess if its sticky and extra flour isn't working, dry it out some with 5/6 mins and its not such a disappointment!


What are certified synthetic colors? At Aldi where I shop (in the United States), there are many foods that have the label "No Certified Synthetic Colors":

What exactly are certified synthetic colors? And why would a company advertise that their products do not contain them?

The FDA recognizes 9. Here's how they put it on their official website:

Certified colors are synthetically produced (or human-made) and used widely because they impart an intense, uniform color, are less expensive, and blend more easily to create a variety of hues. There are nine certified color additives approved for use in the United States... Certified food colors generally do not add undesirable flavors to foods.

Clicking deeper, the FDA reveals the ingredients that are officially allowed to be called "coloring" on food labels.

FD&C Blue Nos. 1 and 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red Nos. 3 and 40, FD&C Yellow Nos. 5 and 6, Orange B, Citrus Red No. 2, annatto extract, beta-carotene, grape skin extract, cochineal extract or carmine* paprika oleoresin, caramel color, fruit and vegetable juices, saffron (Note: Exempt color additives are not required to be declared by name on labels but may be declared simply as colorings or color added)

So these must be the actual 9 ingredients that are "Certified Synthetic Colors":

FD&C Blue Nos. 1 and 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red Nos. 3 and 40, FD&C Yellow Nos. 5 and 6, Orange B, Citrus Red No. 2.

The rest:

annatto extract, beta-carotene, grape skin extract, cochineal extract or carmine* paprika oleoresin, caramel color, fruit and vegetable juices, saffron

are not synthetic, but they can still be called "coloring" on the ingredient list. BTW, cochineal extract and carmine are made from powdered bugs.
Definitely, artificial colors like Red 40 are high on the list of "scary because we don't know what they are" things. I do find that particular labeling odd because "Certified Synthetic Color" is not exactly a household term.
*EDIT March 24, 2017
As of 2009, cochineal extract and carmine are off the "natural colors" list:

Until 2009, cochineal was one of many dyes that fell under the umbrella term "natural color" on ingredients lists. But because cochineal provokes severe allergic reactions in some people, the Food and Drug Administration requires carmine and cochineal extract to be explicitly identified in ingredients lists.
Aside from its role as an allergen, cochineal has no known health risks, although those who keep kosher or choose not to eat animal products will want to keep their distance. In addition to food, cochineal is used as a dye in cosmetics products, including lipstick, and at least one person has reported a severe allergic reaction to a cochineal dye used in a pill coating.

-LiveScience.com

It’s to intentionally mislead.  It means:  “we use artificial colors, but they aren’t certified, and we cannot guarantee their origin.”

They also dope their foods at Aldi with hydrogenated soybean oils, microcrystalline cellulose, and heaps of cheap fillers to lower costs.


How can I tell when ground beef is fully cooked? So, how do you know that the ground beef is fully cooked when you are stir frying it on a sauce pan ?

Ground beef cooks quite fast. It doesn't need more than 5 minutes (depending on the base of your pan and the amount of meat of course). Just take a piece and rip/cut it open. If it's brown inside, and not red or pink, it's fully cooked.

When you buy ground beef you see it has white spots. That is what makes it oily. You will know when it's fully cooked when it is a medium brown color it should be ready. Make sure to keep an eyes on it when it's dry add a bit of water. Then cover it.  Then you do this once more let it dry and it should be ready. MAKE SURE THERE IS NO RED OR PINK


Over-stirring muffin mixtures In muffin recipes, the instructions often say to stir the mixture till "just combined".

Why does over-stirring the muffin mixture result in tough muffins?
And how do you know if you did too much stirring?

The easiest way to tell if you've over stirred muffins, quick breads or cakes is the texture when it's baked.

Correct, and it's all even.  Over stirred, and you'll have a series of larger bubbles in the cake, called 'tunneling', where it looks like worms have burrowed their way through your cake or muffin.

Stirring develops gluten, which is essential to trap in bubbles for most yeast breads, and to give it a little bit of chew -- but not something that you want in a typical quick bread. (muffins, cake, etc.)

My experience suggests that you can mix a cake batter or a brownie as much as you want, till you are satisfied that all the ingredients are mixed well. The only trick is to not whip the batter or mix it too quickly. Be gentle and your baking powder will work exactly the way it should.


Can dried peppers get hotter with aging? I have some dried hot peppers which are over a year old.  These are hybrids, part chile de arbol, but less hot so that I can use them for mixed company.  A friend grew them for me specifically because of their medium hotness.

After around 16 months in doubled ziplock bags, I used some of these in a couple recipes last week, including a Mexican squash casserole.  The dried peppers were partly rehydrated prior to use.

While I remember being able to use 2 or even 3 of these peppers in a recipe when I first got them, even one of them made the dish so hot I had to quickly make something else for two of our guests.  This happened three times over the last couple months, so it's not just which individual pepper I pulled out.  It seems like these peppers got hotter with ageing, something I'd think was impossible ... shouldn't they lose capsaicin as they age?

So, my question is:

Is it possible for a dried chili pepper to become hotter with ageing, instead of losing flavor?
If so, what causes this?

I'm guessing that it's just my faulty memory, but I'd love some verification.  Thanks!

You could be just that lucky to get hotter peppers recently. Chilli peppers are known to have variable hotness, even when harvested from a single plant. Most of peppers on a plant may be mild, but a few very hot.

Also, you can remember them being milder than they are if you were used to eating them more then.

They can intensify over time for certain varieties. Others get milder. The Capsaicin undergoes some sort of unstudied transformation.


Is there a non-penetrative method for checking cake doneness? Is there some way to check a cake is done without using a toothpick or other penetrative device?

I like the thermometer idea, but no one seems to know how the heck to use them.

If the reason you don't want to use a toothpick is that it leaves a big hole, you can buy a cheap little item called a cake tester that is just a thin piece of wire with a little handle. It leaves such a small hole that as to be unnoticeable. As a bonus, it is quite useful for checking the doneness of vegetables. This is the one I use.

poke a wooden toothpick into the center of a cake; if it comes out with wet batter, keep cooking; if it comes out clean and dry, contrary to common knowledge, it's probably overcooked; if it comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it, it's probably perfect.


How do I fry potatoes for curry? I have been failing, for six years, to make the amazing fried potato curry I grew up eating at home in India. I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have tried literally every single variety of potatoes I can get my hands on at my Trader Joe's: Russett, Golden, Red, White, you name it.

I cut up the potatoes into small, uniform cubes so that there is a larger surface area to work with; I first add oil (I've worked with olive and canola oil) to my pot and let it sit until I can feel it get hot. I then add my spices (cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and green chilies) and let it all splutter nicely. Then I add my potatoes.

Every single time, the potatoes end up not getting fried, rather, they end up sticking to the bottom. I then up adding more water or more oil with increasing frustration to try and get the potatoes off the bottom; they only get more and more mashed. As a result, I've never been able to eat my favourite curry, and end up with a subpar dish that's neither your American mashed potatoes nor your Indian potato curry.

What am I doing wrong?

There are two easy ways to prepare dry potato fry/curry. First one which I always use is first boil the potatoes till tender (not mushy though), peel and cube them. It is important that they are firm and hold their shape . Then proceed with frying.  Add oil, temper spices, add the potatoes, do the seasoning, let the outside gets crusty(fryed) and there you have it . This method works fine and you won't find potatoes sticking to the bottom. The second method is direct cooking of potatoes in the pan(which you mentioned) and yes, they tend to stick to the bottom. I suggest you cut the potatoes into smaller pieces and use a non stick pan for frying. (To ensure it doesn't stick also to ensure it absorbs less oil). If you do not have non stick pan, then try frying with a little more oil than usual, give it some time, and then turn gently. It's ok if they stick little bit. They come off as u keep frying. Fry in low flame to begin with. And don't add spices like chilly powder or salt at the very beginning. They may stick to the bottom making the already existing problem multiply, and will get burnt. Once the potatoes are almost cooked and do no more stick to the pan, add the seasoning. I use both these methods for cooking potatoes and they work exceptionally well. Of course both have their own taste. Hope it's clear now. All the best!

Fry potatoes-big chunks. Put them in curry thereafter. Cook on low flame for sometime.


What stabilizer can be used in non-dairy ice cream with alcohol? I am making coconut milk ice cream with alcohol. I'm using 28oz of coconut milk, fruit macerated in 1/4 cup of alcohol, another 1-2T of alcohol, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of arrowroot. It tastes great, but it melts way too fast. What can I use besides xanthum gum, guar gum. Could it be the freeze time? Or the tupperware containers I use in the freezer? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Assuming a few things about your recipe - your coconut milk is full fat, your alcohol is a liquor at 80+ proof, it sounds like you're just adding too much stuff that doesn't really freeze. You've got a total of maybe 3/8 cup of alcohol, when just 2T is enough to soften ice cream noticeably. Ice cream made with just cream is already plenty soft, so adding that much alcohol can make it really soft. You didn't mention sugar, but that would make it softer as well. This is the opposite of the normal problem of too much water, not enough fat/sugar, making ice cream freeze too hard.

The simple solution is to just add more water, in whatever form suits you. Since you're using fruit, I'd suggest simply adding more of that! You could also try using light (reduced fat) coconut milk so that you have less fat. I suppose you could even reduce the booze - just slowly simmer it until the volume is reduced, so it'll have less alcohol, but retain flavor.

Otherwise you're going to have to dilute things - use less coconut milk or alcohol and add something more water-based that freezes harder. For example, you could replace alcohol with some kind of flavored extract, or replace some coconut milk with milk.

(The arrowroot isn't making your ice cream melt. It'll thicken it a bit, and stabilize it (keep the fat and water from separating), both of which are fine things. The stabilization is probably good, since coconut milk does separate eventually.)

Alcohol lowers the freezing point (and melting point), you can use this calculator to figure out the melting point.

For other additives, you can use the turkish ice cream method with gum arabic and salep to give it more strength.


Sourdough starter from regular yeast? I live near San Francisco and I am in love with the local sourdough bread. It is very expensive and I'd like to bake my own bread. I am wondering though, is it possible to make sourdough starter from regular breadmachine yeast?

Yes you can create sourdough from regular yeast, but it's not necessary. Ordinary flour comes with a trace of yeast. In the San Francisco area, that yeast is famed. Just mix flour and water 50/50 to make a batter-like mixture and leave it in a jar on the counter. Put a lightly fitting lid on the jar.

Add more flour and water every 12h (give or take). You should be doubling the initial amount each time, so 1 teaspoon, 2 teaspoons, 4...

After a couple of days you'll see bubbles developing in the sourdough. Once you're at that stage, you can reduce the amount of care. 'Refresh' the sourdough once a week: mix, take out 1/2 of the sourdough, add the same amount back (50/50 flour/water as before), mix. According to the Wikipedia, this can be kept at room temperature.

Sourdough is a mixture of flour, water, yeast and bacteria. When unattended for some time, 'water' forms at the surface. This liquid contains some alcohol that adds to the flavor of the dough. It's part of the sourdough and should be mixed in when refreshing the dough.

Since you are impressed with some local strains of sour dough (for good reason) you might also try to reconstitute one of those local cultures by starting with some of the actual bread, You can do this using baked bread as not ALL of the culture is normally killed during baking, but you may want to try a few parallel starts as not all starts will take off.

Start by getting some of the desired sourdough bread and cut it into cubes about 1 inch, no crust. You will need 7 cubes per attempt.

Use these cubes with @BaffledCooks directions, in place of the flour for the first 3 days of the process (1 cube, 2 cubes, 4 cubes, then switch to flour).

On day 4 you should be able to tell which samples are taking off by the bubbling action in the sample. From there you now have duplicated the culture at your favorite bakery. Of course other ingredients bring flavors to the mix, but with this you should be able to get very close to your favorite sourdough.


Why isn't my homemade yogurt smooth? Last week I successfully made my own greek yogurt! I was and am very excited that I finally got it to work. But now the problem is, the yogurt I am making is just not very smooth. Store bought greek yogurt (such as Dannon Oikos and Fage) is silky smooth, thick and creamy. This texture is one of the biggest reasons I enjoy it so much.

My DIY greek yogurt has a rough consistency closer to ricotta cheese. It also has very small (1 mm) cottage cheese like curds in it. I found out that you can make Ricotta simply by heating up whey. That causes the albumin protein to turn into ricotta. The first step to make Greek Yogurt is to heat up the milk to denature albumin protein. Apparently this results in the protein staying in the  yogurt instead of the whey. So I thought if I didn’t heat the milk up as hot, it would keep more albumin protein in the whey and the result would be a smoother yogurt, and a higher yield of ricotta from the whey. What I ended up with was  more whey and less yogurt. More importantly, the yogurt had the same texture as before.

Does anyone know of something I can change in the yogurt making process that leads to a more silky smooth consistency?

You are correct that the milk is heated to denature the albumin so that it becomes part of the structure of the yogurt instead of washing out in the whey. When distributed through the yogurt properly this protein will not cause the clumping problems you are seeing.

You shouldn't expect to make ricotta from yogurt whey- even if the milk wasn't boiled it just doesn't work well.

Most yogurt problems, including breaking and clumping, are caused by poor temperature control. Heating the milk too much during incubation, over incubating, or erratic temperatures, can all cause your bacteria to misbehave. Often this causes the yogurt to be too acidic and to curdle which would explain your clumping.

As has been canvassed in other answers; the best yogurt incubation temperatures are between 100 - 110°F (38-48°C) but it seems to vary a little with the starter. The best results seem to be had from putting 110°F (48°C) milk in an insulated container to incubate rather than trying to use a heater.

Many yogurt recipes call for powdered milk to boost the milk protein in the mix. Another possible explanation is if you mixed it in insufficiently.

I ferment my yogurt for 24 hours and it comes out great, you just have to cool it for a couple hours to let it set.


Can I double a pumpkin pie recipe for 10 x 2 inch pan? Can I just double the Libby's recipe and bake the pie in a 10 inch by 2 inch pie pan?

Here's the classic Libby's Pumpkin pie recipe (makes one 9-inch pie):
1 can (15 oz) canned pumpkin
1-1/2 cups (1 can or 12 fl oz) evaporated milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep dish pie shell

Combine everything but the pie shell, pour the filling into the pie shell.
Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, reduce temperature to 350F and bake 30-40 minutes
or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

Source: the label on a can of Libby's Pumpkin from my pantry (Instructions paraphrased by me)
The note about the "4 cup volume" of the pie crust gives a helpful hint. This recipe should make about 4 cups of pie filling, so to substitute into a larger pie pan, you will need more filling. Based on moscafj's helpful information that a 10x1.5 inch pie pan has a 6.5 cup capacity, we can do the math to make a substitution.
The larger pan has the capacity for 1.625 times as much filling as the recipe makes. Since the recipe has two eggs in it, it can be easily scaled in increments of half a batch. Half-batch increments will leave you with some leftover pumpkin and evaporated milk, which can be frozen for later use. I have found from experience that this recipe is perfectly good made with regular milk of any fat content, so you could avoid having leftovers by using one can of evaporated milk plus 3/4 cup regular milk. If using all regular milk, bring it up to room temperature or the filling will be cold, which will make the crust underbaked on the bottom.
You can round down and make 1.5 times the recipe, and make a slightly shallower pie. Or round up to 2 times the recipe, and have about 1.5 cups of leftover filling. The leftover filling can be cooked in a smaller pan, with or without crust. Making it without crust is useful if you have gluten-free guests. Be sure to check on it and take it out of the oven earlier than the large pie, or it will burn.
Ingredients for 1.5 times batch of Libby's Pumpkin Pie (makes about 6 cups of filling)
22.5 oz canned pumpkin (you will need to purchase two 15-oz cans or one 29-oz can)
2-1/4 cups (18 fl oz or one and a half 12-oz cans) evaporated milk
1-1/8 cups (1 cup plus 2 tbsp) granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
3/8 tsp ground cloves
3 large eggs
1 unbaked 10-inch pie shell

Ingredients for 2 times batch of Libby's Pumpkin Pie (makes about 8 cups of filling)
2 15-oz cans canned pumpkin OR 1 29-oz can
2 cups (2 cans or 24 fl oz) evaporated milk
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
4 large eggs
1 unbaked 10-inch pie shell
optional: additional pie crust to fit a smaller pan with 1.5 cup capacity (such as a Gratin dish or small tart pan)

Instructions: same as classic recipe, except that the final baking time at 350F will be different. The increased pan width would make it longer, but if the filling is shallower that would make the cook time shorter. Actual bake time will depend on how deep your filling is. Start checking on the pie at around 20 minutes, by jiggling the pan. Once the filling no longer wobbles, start checking with a knife. Expect your first attempt to have many knife slits in it. If you align the knife slits with where the pieces will be sliced, you can pre-slice the completely cooled pie and your guests will never know.
Note: The edges of the crust often burn when I make it in even a normal 9-inch size. For a longer bake time, I highly recommend shielding the crust edges with strips of foil or a purpose-made pie crust shield. Remove the shield for the final 5-10 minutes of bake time if it's not adequately browned already.

This should get you in the ball park.  While they don't specify a 10x2 pan, they do indicate that a 10x1.5 (25x4 cm) inch pie pan has a capacity of 6.5 cups (1540 ml).


How long do meatballs in sauce need to be heated in a crock pot? I'm participating in a pot luck lunch this week.  I'm bringing fully cooked meatballs, served in pasta sauce.  My plan is to make the meatballs (around 30 - 40) the night before, cook them fully in the oven, and refrigerate them overnight in the crock pot without the sauce.

My question, to have everything properly heated before lunch time, how early should I start the crock pot?  I don't want to start too early and turn everything to mush, but I also don't want to serve cold meatballs.

They're meatballs.  It's a crockpot.  Why bother refrigerating them or cooking them in the oven?  Just brown them in the oven under broil and then set the crockpot on low and cook them overnight in the sauce.  They'll be perfectly done, perfectly safe, and delicious in the morning.  A few extra hours won't hurt them at all and then you won't have to worry about time, temperature and food safety.

Thank you to everyone for your great advice.  I ended up using a combination of everyone's answers.

I prepared the meatballs the night before and cooked them in the oven as per usual.  I stored them overnight in the fridge in a large ice cream tub, rather than refrigerating the crock.  (Thanks for that tip Joe and MargeGunderson.)

In the morning, I combined everything in the crock pot and brought it to work.  I started the crock pot on low at 8am.  Everything was already cooked, so no need to worry there.  The meatballs were heated through by noon.  (Thanks everyone for the tip on starting early.  Thanks nico for the assurance on "mush".)

Now, time for lunch!


What kind of mushroom goes well with Tandoori Chicken on a pizza? I was thinking of making a pizza with the following ingredients which I found on reddit.com.  I'm looking for a dream team of herbs, spices and mushrooms to complete this.

Sun dried tomato and garlic sauce
Extra Cheese
Onions
Mushroom
Roquito Peppers
Tandoori Chicken
Chorizo (Optional)
Herbs

What kind of mushrooms would you use?  I was also wondering if anyone had any ideas for the herbs besides fresh basil, and oregano?

Not the question you asked, but properly done tandoori chicken or Mexican chorizo will completely mask all of the other flavors you list.  Subbing a simple grilled chicken and Spanish chorizo makes for a nice savory pizza (indeed, I had just that pizza last night, without chorizo).  In that case, simple white, button, or crimini mushrooms (the latter sometime sold as "baby portabello") will give a nice earthy note without breaking the bank.   Saute' them before putting them on the pizza for maximal flavor and minimal chewiness.

As for herbs, basil and oregano are obvious, and nothing else is required.  Marjoram and/or nutmeg would be okay. Lemongrass would be interesting but maybe overkill.

I would use sliced button, because they have very little flavor, and cook down to almost nothing. Also, they are very cheap.


Can you get sick from milk that's been heated at a high temperature? If you have pasteurized milk that is steamed for lattes, could that end up making you sick?
The steaming seems to occur at a high temperature.

No, there is nothing about raising otherwise-safe milk rapidly to a high temperature that is going to make you sick. Unless you are already lactose intolerant or otherwise allergic to milk. Raising milk rapidly to a temperature above the danger zone (140 F / 60 C) is going to make it safer, not less safe.

ABSOLUTELY !

I had two latte today on a fairly empty stomach at the coffee shop - now I usually have black coffee, but today I thought I'd have latte.

Afterwards and during, my belly swelled up, I could not STOP FARTING ! ...it was very very uncomfortable, I also got terrible stomach cramps.

Then around an hour later I feel very shaky and sick.

Can heated milk in latte make you ill, ABSOLUTELY !

...I have heard a rumour that you should eat something with a latte - but to be honest, my experience today with coffee and heated milk has put me off latte for LIFE !


What am I doing wrong with my pressure cooker? Every time I try to cook beef in my pressure cooker it gets dry and inedible.

Today I tried with 2 x 450 g (2 x 1 lb) beef, with .5 l (2 cups) water and 25 minutes.

The result was very dry and there were .7 l (3 cups) liquid.

What I was hoping for was the meat would be so tender that it would pretty much fall apart when trying to cut it.

I have seen charts like this one, but that would cover the meat in water. Can that be right?

I suppose that .5 l water is way too much, as I ended up with .7 l afterwards.

Question

Have anyone experience with beef in pressure cookers, and can guide me on what the problem could be?

Should I have fried the beef on a pan before putting it in the pressure cooker?

I use a pressure cooker quite often and its all about the cut of the meat.  Much like slow cooking, using a often cheaper, fatty cut with lots of connective tissue - a chuck roast for example, yields much, much better results.  Lean cuts of meat are make for fast searing and that's about it.  If you try to coax them to be fall apart fork tender, you'll fail - those are the cheap, fatty cuts that go that way.

I have a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker, and I used their recipe for Beef Brisket 2 LB., and it turned out perfectly cooked and I was able to pull it with two forks easily.  2 LB beef brisket.  1 & 1/2 cups liquid.  55 minutes on high pressure, then natural pressure release.  It was juicy, tender and delicious.  I did the same thing with a larger 4 LB bone-in pork shoulder roast, and it turned out the same - tender, juicy and delicious, and pullable with forks.  Generally, i agree with others here that the smallest recommended amount of liquid is best, and it makes a difference whether you use natural or quick pressure release.  Generally, for most meats, you want to use natural.

By the way, the instruction booklet for my cooker says to use 1 cup liquid if cooking your dish for 45 minutes or less, and 1 and 1/2 cups liquid if cooking longer than 45 minutes. Also, just as with regular cooking, when you cook meat, it is important to rest the meat for some period of time (usually tented with foil) before cutting into it. If you cut the meat without resting it while it is still extremely hot, all the juices tend to run out on your cutting board - leaving the meat dry. You generally want to let it rest at least 15-20 minutes before cutting, and longer for larger cuts. And,remember to cut your meat against the grain to help with tenderness if you aren't shredding/pulling it. Good luck!

Finally, cook times for pressure cooking start after pressure has been fully built. So, it will take some time for the pressure to build, then your cook time, followed by the time it takes for pressure to release. So, your dish will actually be cooking longer than just the cook time. If you are counting your cook time from the time you close the lid to the time you open the lid, you may actually be under-cooking.

Update from 2/15/2016:  I just did a beef chuck pot roast for the first time in my pressure cooker.  3 & 1/4 LB. chuck roast.  I cut it in two pieces and seasoned and browned each on all sides.  Added 1 & 1/2 cups golden lager beer as the liquid.  Set the machine for 80 minutes cook time, and used natural pressure release. When done, I took it out and tented it with foil and let rest 15 minutes.  It was moist and falling apart tender.  I pulled the meat with forks and put back in the cooking juices to store and used the meat for sandwiches.  Delicious!

Update from 2/17/2016:  I made another beef chuck roast similarly to the one a couple days ago.  3 & 1/4 LB. beef chuck pot roast.  Cut into 3 pieces to fit in cooker.  Seasoned all sides with salt, pepper and grill seasoning, and then browned all sides.  Put meat back in cooker.  I added 1 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix + 1 pkg. dry ranch dressing mix + 1 pkg. dry beef gravy mix (these three ingredients I got from another recipe online somewhere). Sprinkle all the dry mixes all over the beef. I added one whole onion cut in fourths, 2 bay leaves, 1 can cream of mushroom soup (right on top of beef), 1 can cream of celery soup (also on top of beef), and slightly less than 1 cup golden lager beer in bottom of pot.  The soup plus the beer made plenty of liquid to get to the 1 & 1/2 cups.  Set on high pressure, and set cook time at 80 minutes, and did natural pressure release.  Let meat rest tented with foil for 15 minutes, and it was falling apart tender and juicy.  I shredded it and put back in the juices to store - which by the way on their own made a great gravy!  Be careful not to over salt the beef.  All of the packaged dry mixes as well as the soups have some salt in them.

NOTE: I do find that with pressure cooking with a somewhat fatty cut of meat, the fat and connective tissue does not really completely break down and render into juices as it does with slow braising in the oven for several hours.  So, I did have to deal with more manual fat removal with the pressure cooker method.


Is there a word for the flavour shared by onion, spring onion, shallot, leek, and chive? Among the flavours of onions, spring onions, shallots, leeks, and chives there is one that they share. Is there a name for it?

Conversationally, "oniony". Everyone will understand that, and tend to say it naturally.

In a more serious cooking context, you could also get away with "allium flavor", though likely not in everyday conversation. There are a lot of alliums, including onions, garlic, scallions, shallots, leeks, and chives, so if you refer to the whole group, you're pretty obviously referring to the overarching common flavor. For example, On Food and Cooking has subsections called "The Flavors and Sting of Raw Alliums" and "The Flavors of Cooked Alliums".

In East Asian Vegetarian diets, they are named as "The Five Pungent Spices" and are being forbidden from consumption. Note that, other than Allium vegetables, the word also include Asafoetida for Buddhist, Coriander and Brassica Rapa for Taoist.