What to look for when buying good quality loose black tea?

Question

What features should I look for when buying good quality loose black tea?

Answer

Every tea can have potentially various grades and different teas will have different qualities. I'm not sure what is available where you are, but if you're fairly new to drinking loose leaf teas, I'd for starters find a store that lets you see, smell and possibly sample various teas. Once you have a better idea of what you're looking for, then online dealers will be easier to navigate.

1. So, firstly, find a reputable store, one where they are knowledgeable about their product, and difference in grades.
2. Ask to smell the teas. Please DO NOT stick your head in the tea, waft it with your hands or the lid of the tin. If you like the aroma, it's a good starting indicator of how you'll like the tea.
3. Look closely, are the tea leaves fairly even in size? An unbroken leaf is generally graded higher than a leaf that is broken/crushed. Though since you're specifically asking about black teas, note that certain black teas are deliberately cut, to encourage a stronger flavour. If the leaves are torn, crushed, it may be a sign of a rough machine harvest, or poor handling. This could result in bitterness. The lower grades (small crumbs and dust) generally end up in tea bags. So, note that.
4. Most importantly, taste it! If the store offers a few different sampler sizes, go for that. Ask the people there, about how they'd recommend you prepare it. And try a few different kinds and grades.

Note, if you're new to loose leaf tea, it should taste different than what you're used to. Trust your taste buds and your nose first... Regardless of what it looks like and the price and what the description says, if you don't like the way it tastes & smells (which is often subjective) the rest is pretty meaningless.

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Way to fix sharp tasting sauce

Question

I've made a sauce with some white wine (with cream & tarragon) but it's really sharp (prob the wine was a bit old, or I didn't boil it off well enough - is there any way to fix it? and what's the most likely cause?

Answer

If "sharp" means too much alcohol left, bring it back to a simmer and cook off more of it, then adjust with more cream if needed.

If "sharp" means too acidic, your options are:

(1) add more cream and other ingredients to dilute the acid (2) try to mask the acid with a bit of sugar (3) I guess you could try to neutralize the acid with a very small amount of something basic, like baking soda. But that seems like a bad idea, it will probably taste terrible.

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Caffeine content of cold-brewed coffee: higher or lower than hot-brewed?

Question

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

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

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

Answer

According to the Wikipedia article on caffeine, its solubility is drastically different between room temperature and boiling (2.17 g/100 ml room temperature to 67g/ml at boiling). I assume this means it's easier to get caffeine into boiling rather than cold water, but the drastically longer steeping time may counteract this. It's worth noting that the solubility is far higher than the actual amounts of caffeine that's in coffee.

Farther down the page it mentions caffeine per liter of liquids like coffee (386-652 mg/l or ~.0004 to .00065 g/ml). If you can find similar information about cold-steeped coffee, it might help.

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How spicy is authentic, traditional Palak paneer?

Question

I have heard that the spiciness of Palak paneer is regional, but I don't have any historical or geographical facts to confirm this. So, is there anybody around here that knows if a proper, old-school traditional Palak paneer is hot spicy, medium or mild, and which are the various regional traditions?

Answer

Hot, medium and mild are very subjective terms, which is why it is difficult to qualify regional variations in India. I have had palak paneer in north India and south India. Generally, this dish is hotter in south India. I am a south Indian, but have lived in north India for most of my life, and would call the north Indian (traditional) variety medium. Again, what I consider medium may be mild for some people, whereas for others it may be hot.

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Is it safe to use the same cooking utensils for raw and cooked meat?

Question

So, being new to cooking, I tried cooking a pan-seared ribeye steak for the first time recently. I'm just getting new cooking utensils, and the idea of flipping the steak is something I'm not sure about.

Last time, I used the same utensil the whole way through. I know, many are likely cringing at the thought. But I was afraid of over-cooking so I was as attentive as possible to the steak.

I'm wondering if this is "safe". I'm guessing most will say it is not, and that's fine. I'd like to do better if it's not safe. I bought a pair of tongs since then (I was using a spatula to flip before!) but I still only have one pair. So, should I be placing the steak in the pan with the spatula, flipping with the tongs, and removing it from the pan with...something else?

Is it safe enough to use the tongs, and rinse them each time they touch meat before it's finished? Should I be scrubbing them with soap each time? Should I simply stick to different utensils? (In which case I might just stop cooking--I don't have that many utensils, don't plan on buying more for this purpose, and quite frankly I don't wish to clean so many utensils when I'm finished cooking)

I know there are other topics, but they haven't been quite as specific as the questions I'm asking here, so I hope I can get a good response on the subject.

Answer

Most chefs will use there fingers to put the meat into the pan, then wash their hands. Turning and lifting out, some will use a spatula, with the utensil touching only the cooked, bottom side of the meat, not the top. Thus only needing to wash the utensil at the end of cooking. I have seen some chefs use tongs, though I can't comment on their practice.

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What are some good substitions for alcohol in cooking?

Question

One of my favorite recipes these days is making a good bananas foster dessert. Everyone I know enjoys it, to some extent, so it's a go-to dessert, for me.

One of my concerns, however, is that since the recipe calls for rum and banana liqueur, I can't (or at least I choose not to) serve it to anyone too young. I'm not so concerned with the legal age limit as with serving it to very young children, like a nephew under 10 years old. The idea is to burn off the alcohol, but I assume there is still some that remains in the dish after it is served.

So what I'm wondering is, what are some good alternatives to alcohol in common dishes? I obviously won't get the same "flambe" presentation from the bananas foster, but it seems like a small tradeoff when considering I'll be able to serve it to more people. (I wouldn't make the dessert for my sister, if her son couldn't eat it too)

Answer

I can't give you a list with good substitutes for common dishes. First, I doubt that my common dishes are your common dishes. Second, it would be too long. If you want to substitute alcohol in a dish, you have to understand what it does in the specific recipe, and then use your imagination to think of an ingredient which will have a similar effect.

Alcohol has mostly three effects in a dish. First, it is a liquid, and its bulk must be considered. In recipes where the ratio is important (mainly batters), if you leave out the alcohol, you have to add some other liquid to maintain the original ratio.

Second, alcohol adds its own taste. A small part of it is the taste of the ethanol itself, but cooks mostly use beverages with a strong taste of their own as a component of the dish.

Third, alcohol is a solvent. It can get more taste out of your other ingredients than pure water. (Ever wondered why vanilla extract is alcohol based?) This is especially important in recipes which give it a longer time to interact with the other ingredients, such as the slow boiling of a coq au vin.

Depending on which of these effects are important to you, you have different options to act.

• Just leave it out. If you aren't baking, you probably aren't that interested in the ratio. And if you expect the result to taste well enough without the alcohol, the simplest solution is to skip it.

• Use a liquid substitute. This is especially important in baking and confectionery, but you can decide to do it in any case. Depending on the original kind of alcohol and taste you are aiming for, you can use pure water, a liquid trying to stay close to the original taste, or a liquid which gives a completely new taste profile to the whole recipe. For example, in a sweet dish like your foster dessert you can use caramel dissolved in apple juice instead of dark rum if you want to mimic the original, or cherry juice to create a cherry-banana dessert. Common liquids to use are sugared water (when the original recipe had a sweet liquor), a fruit or vegetable juice, a herbal infusion, clear stock, or pickle liquid. Don't be afraid to use more than one liquid to get closer to the effect you want. If the recipe already uses some other liquid, you can just use more of it.

• Use a spice or condiment. This is when your main concern is the taste, and you don't care about the missing liquid. Again, you could be trying to mime the original closely (using orange zest instead of Grand Marnier), or just using any strong spice so the dish doesn't become bland. It is up to you. A special case is to use only a taste "essence": for some beverages common in baking, you can buy a propylene-glycol based condiment which approximates their aroma. Rum essence is widely available, but I'm quite sure that the whiskey flavored ice cream in the supermarket isn't full of real whiskey.

• Leave the alcohol in the recipe (possibly reduced). Obviously impossible in some circumstances, like a wine sauce, but quite feasible in others. You don't have to drown the dessert in rum and flambe it. If you use 20 ml of rum per 1000 g of other ingredients, a child who eats a normal serving (150 g) will consume somewhat less than 1.2 g of ethanol if no alcohol at all is cooked out - and in practice, if the recipe calls for cooking, maybe half of the alcohol will evaporate, and a very young child will probably not eat the whole serving. I don't think that such miniscule amounts are problematic for children.

Of course, you are free to combine these solutions in any way you see fit, depending on which effect(s) of alcohol you are trying to imitate. For example, if a baking recipe calls for 50 ml of calvados, use 15 ml of calvados, 35 ml of apple juice, and a breath of powdered cinnamon. Or baste a roast with a mix of tomato and carrot juice instead of red wine. The possibilities are endless, you just have to be clear on why you are choosing whatever you are choosing.

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Microwaving frozen tofu before marinating

Question

I froze some tofu in order to get extra water out of it before marinating and cooking. I'd kind of like to get a start on the marinating process, but it's taking a while to thaw at room temperature - is it ok for me to put it in the microwave, or will this ruin the texture?

Answer

According to this page http://www.ehow.com/how_6514671_change-texture-tofu.html http://www.ehow.com/how_6514671_change-texture-tofu.html freezing and micro waving will change the texture.

But it seems the author actually prefers the texture change...

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How long does it take botulism spores to germinate in the fridge?

Question

Based on this question, I started wondering how long I could keep an anerobic food in the fridge before I have to worry about botulism colonization. 1 day? 3 days? 2 months? Clearly it's not a short period of time (hours) or we'd all be dying of botulism poisoning by now.

Unfortunately, nothing I've been able to find on the net seems to be based on solid studies of germination times. So, if I put a pre-prepared sous vide packet in the fridge, or homemade garlic oil, a low-acid sauce, or lemon curd, or similar, when do I have to toss it to be safe?

Answer

This completely depends on all of the other factors involved in botulinum growth, not to mention the particular strain you're concerned about (there are several).

Salt, acidity (low pH), low moisture, and extreme temperature (low or high) will all slow botulinum growth significantly.

There are proteolytic and non-proteolytic types of bacteria. The non-proteolytic C.botulinum bacteria will never grow in the refrigerator - they cannot grow at temperatures below 12° C ^source. The proteolytic strains can grow at temperatures as low as 3° C. That is very close to refrigerator temperature so clearly they will grow very slowly - again, the exact speed depends on other factors - but they will grow.

According to other sources, the proteolytic strains (the ones that can grow in the fridge) are the ones that tend to produce gas and off-odours, so they'll be more easily detectable. They also have far lower heat resistance, so they are easier to cook away. But of course, if they've grown to a sufficient level, it's too late to do that.

As far as I know, there aren't specific guidelines for vacuum-packed foods, whether commercially packed or simply cooked sous-vide. I'd ask you to consider that botulism is not the only type of foodborne illness that can grow in the refrigerator. There's also listeria, salmonella, and possibly some others I'm forgetting about. Cooking (especially sous-vide cooking) doesn't kill every last one of them, just enough to make the food safe. By the way, listeria and salmonella are both facultative anaerobes which means that they can grow with or without air.

There's also the small matter of your actual refrigerator temperature. Although the theoretical temperature (4° C) is lower than that required for all but the hardiest of bacteria, once you move up even a single degree to 5° C there are many more kinds that can start to grow. How cold is your fridge, really? I've heard of some being as high as 10-12° C in parts! If your fridge temperature is even slightly high, botulism will be the least of your worries.

Honestly, given the incredibly tiny number of actual documented cases of botulism (less than a dozen per year in the U.S.) compared to the insanely high total number of food poisoning cases every year (1 in 4 according to some sources), people seem to place far too much emphasis on that particular species. I realize that it's one of the scariest on account of that whole "instant death" thing, but even if you could prove that your improperly-stored food is 100% free of botulism toxin, you could still get seriously ill from eating it. You're literally worrying about the least probable vector for food poisoning.

Bottom line, I'd strongly advise you to treat sous-vide food just like any other food in terms of food safety and freeze it if you plan to store it longer than 4-5 days. There are just too many variables at play to conclusively say otherwise.

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Is It Possible to Make Corn Tortillas At Home Without A Press?

Question

I don't own a tortilla press and until I have more cabinet space, one is not in my future. However I value making as much as I can from scratch and love using tortillas in my cooking. I have made whole wheat tortillas using a variation on this recipe, subbing oil and butter in for the shortening to try and get a bit more flavor out of the tortillas.

I'd like to move to homemade corn tortillas, but every recipe that I have seen instructs one to use a press. With flour I was able to roll my tortillas as thin as required, but will I have trouble when moving to masa trying to do it with a rolling pin, or will I be able to get thin corn tortillas without a press?

Answer

Yes, you can do it without a press. Place a ball of dough between two layers of plastic wrap. Use at least twice the area of wrap that you think the final tortilla will be. Squish the ball flat with a pan, book, or your hand. Now use a rolling pin to roll the dough between the sheets of plastic. Make sure the thickness is even, and don't get it too thin or it will break when you cook it. Bonus: you can store the uncooked tortillas in the plastic until using and they won't dry out.

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Should I prick sausages during cooking?

Question

Whenever I go to a BBQ and sausages are cooking, the chef will always prick the sausages while they are cooking. I have no idea what this does, I assume it's to get the fat out, however I recently read that you should never prick sausages as it results in them being dry inside?

So my question is, should I prick sausages with a fork or knife during cooking?

Answer

I'd say no never prick the sausages if you can help it. the fat inside helps to keep them succulent and moist, and if you have a problem with the splitting and are pricking them to release the pressure as was stated by @foodrules, then I'd say you are cooking them over too high a heat. Lower the heat, or if you are BBQing move them further from the source, then you will get to have unsplit, moist sausages. When pan frying I prefer a very low heat for a long time. This allows a delicious sticky crust to develop on the outside of the sausages. mmm...

If they were meant to be pricked why would they not come pre pricked?

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Some sauce that goes well with fish sticks?

Question

I have found that fish sticks and potatoes/pasta, which I like to eat because it's fast and easy to make, is kind of dry.

Does anyone have any good tips on some sauce that would go well with this kind of food?

Answer

For fish, I really like making the hollandaise sauce. You can make different versions of it, by spicing it a but different. Lemon and dill (or other herbal spices) is a good supplement for fish. Remember to use fresh spices and not the dried ones for a good result. You can often get a lo of basic green spices as plants in supermarkets.

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Would freezing affect the flavour of mint tea?

Question

I have a recipe that calls for a large pot of strong mint tea. I don't have time to make the recipe these days, but I'd like to make the tea before the spearmint in the garden dies off so I can finish this later when I have time. My plan was to harvest the remaining mint (I was going to include the stems as well since by now I've already used many leaves - but would stems affect the flavour in a negative way?), brew a pot, then put it in a container and freeze it, and then thaw when necessary. Would freezing affect the flavour?

Answer

Some of the volatile flavors will be diminished, but I've managed to make fairly good drinks with the help of mint that I kept frozen. In my experience, freezer burn starts to become visible after two or three months, and starts to harm flavor probably around 4-6 months.

I'm not sure preparing the drink will work really well, but if you just defrost the drink in the refrigerator, it probably won't be terrible. Active thawing with heat will probably cause some harm. Many infusions and teas become a bit cloudy and lose color after bottling or freezing, which is why most bottled teas use an enzyme (not usually a listed ingredient) designed to mitigate that.

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How can I keep ingredients cold while camping?

Question

I am going camping tomorrow and I was looking for campfire recipes. People use hot dogs, bacon, cheese and other stuff regularly for campfire cooking. But these ingredients must be kept cold.

How do you carry these kinds of items with you? I thought about one of those coolers where you put a block of ice and it keeps cool, but those things are only for a few hours. How do you keep stuff cool on a multi day trip?

EDIT: Just got back from the trip. I used a cooler. It was wonderful. Tilapia, chicken breasts and eggs stayed nicely in the cooler for 2 days.

Answer

Here is my camping strategy. If I'm going for more than a few days, here's what I do.

• Start with a good air tight cooler. (Big enough to hold everything perishable). Forget those "gel packs". Definitely don't get a bag of ice from the convenience store. They melt and mess stuff up. Get a 2 litre bottle, rinse it out, fill it with water and freeze it. (Do this a couple days in advance, if possible). The less air in the better. This won't leak and will stay cold a good time as long as you don't open it.
• Take any raw meat that you're NOT planning on eating on the first day and freeze that too. Put the meat and all the frozen stuff at the bottom and to one side. My bottle of ice goes either directly on top of the meat or right beside it. This way, my meat has at least an extra day or two of grace and I don't need to waste extra space with an ice pack.
• Then layer stuff that isn't frozen, but can handle a little freezing on the next layer. Then work your way up, to any produce being on the top layer. Plan for the coldest stuff to be at the bottom and/or near the ice packs. Depending on what's in there, sometimes I put a towel between the frozen stuff and the non frozen stuff to insulate it a bit better. And prevent produce that shouldn't be frozen from freezing.
• Then on each day, I move the frozen meat for the next day meat away from the ice packs and upward to allow it to defrost (making sure, it's sealed, so I don't get any raw meat juice leaking out).
• On the last day, the water in the bottle can be drank, but once you start emptying it, it'll start melting.

Obviously, minimize the time you keep it open if possible. I realize you said you're going camping tomorrow, so freezing a 2 litre bottle might not happen in time. In this case, I'd switch to multiple smaller bottles and failing that those gel packs. I hate bags of ice, as they melt and make a mess. Finding cheese in a pool of water is never fun. The rest of the stuff would still apply. This usually lasts me quite a few days.

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How can I keeping ingredients cold while camping?

Question

I am going camping tomorrow and I was looking for campfire recipes. People use hot dogs, bacon, cheese and other stuff regularly for campfire cooking. But these ingredients must be kept cold.

How do you carry these kinds of items with you? I thought about one of those coolers where you put a block of ice and it keeps cool, but those things are only for a few hours. How do you keep stuff cool on a multi day trip?

EDIT: Just got back from the trip. I used a cooler. It was wonderful. Tilapia, chicken breasts and eggs stayed nicely in the cooler for 2 days.

Answer

Here is my camping strategy. If I'm going for more than a few days, here's what I do.

• Start with a good air tight cooler. (Big enough to hold everything perishable). Forget those "gel packs". Definitely don't get a bag of ice from the convenience store. They melt and mess stuff up. Get a 2 litre bottle, rinse it out, fill it with water and freeze it. (Do this a couple days in advance, if possible). The less air in the better. This won't leak and will stay cold a good time as long as you don't open it.
• Take any raw meat that you're NOT planning on eating on the first day and freeze that too. Put the meat and all the frozen stuff at the bottom and to one side. My bottle of ice goes either directly on top of the meat or right beside it. This way, my meat has at least an extra day or two of grace and I don't need to waste extra space with an ice pack.
• Then layer stuff that isn't frozen, but can handle a little freezing on the next layer. Then work your way up, to any produce being on the top layer. Plan for the coldest stuff to be at the bottom and/or near the ice packs. Depending on what's in there, sometimes I put a towel between the frozen stuff and the non frozen stuff to insulate it a bit better. And prevent produce that shouldn't be frozen from freezing.
• Then on each day, I move the frozen meat for the next day meat away from the ice packs and upward to allow it to defrost (making sure, it's sealed, so I don't get any raw meat juice leaking out).
• On the last day, the water in the bottle can be drank, but once you start emptying it, it'll start melting.

Obviously, minimize the time you keep it open if possible. I realize you said you're going camping tomorrow, so freezing a 2 litre bottle might not happen in time. In this case, I'd switch to multiple smaller bottles and failing that those gel packs. I hate bags of ice, as they melt and make a mess. Finding cheese in a pool of water is never fun. The rest of the stuff would still apply. This usually lasts me quite a few days.

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Does dumping the water from boiling ramen noodles reduce the fat content much?

Question

I enjoy eating ramen noodles cooked in the microwave at work. I've already learned to toss the sodium seasoning packet to avoid the salt, but I notice the noodles themselves have lots of fat and much of it saturated. (I understand the noodles are deep-fried as part of the preparation for packaging.) In an attempt to make this not-so-healthy lunch a bit less problematic, I dump the water after the noddles are cooked and add more water to start up a new broth.

(For reference, I add Thai red curry seasoning and either an egg, canned salmon or both. If I have one, I'll squeeze a lime over the finished product.)

Does it help reduce the fat content of the meal if I dump the initial broth? Is there any way to know how effective the practice is?

Answer

Fat floats, so if you dump the water into a bowl and let it sit for a bit, you can see how much floats to the top. You can then remove the fat in any of the normal ways (this is exactly the process you use to defat a stock or a soup), and measure it.

Of course, I quickly looked up the nutrition information on ramen, and it has ~7g fat, ~3g saturated. An egg is ~6g fat, ~2g saturated. The fish is ~27g fat, ~6g saturated. Check your red curry seasoning as well (varies a lot by brand/type) So it seems like your approach is misguided, but nutrition questions are off-topic here.

edit: From thinking about your comment, you may want to try switching to spaghetti. You can just break it until it fits in the bowl, and it should be cookable in a bowl in the microwave, or even soaking in boiling water. You won't get perfect al dente or anything close, and my Italian ancestors will be after me for even suggesting this, but it will cut down on the fat. You can even get whole-wheat spaghetti.

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What do you have for breakfast during camping

Question

What are some camping breakfast options if I do not wish to carry eggs? (They break)

Answer

Oatmeal. Before you leave, mix the oats with whatever you like: brown sugar, spices, a little salt, nuts, dried fruit, even powdered milk. Boil water and mix it in your bowl so that's all you have to wash; you can boil extra water and get tea or coffee at the same time.

I'm not sure if you're trying to avoid ice chests too, but there's always yogurt, or milk and cereal (something more solid like granola). And of course, fresh fruit is also always good with any meal.

For hot meals, I think baka's suggestion of premade pancake mix is probably the next best. If you're a more do-it-yourself type, you can make the mix yourself (using powdered eggs and powdered milk), but storebought will probably serve you quite well - and again, you can premix with extra ingredients like nuts, or spices for gingerbread pancakes, if you want something more exciting.

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what's a good technique for pasteurizing eggs?

Question

I tried to make homemade eggnog last Christmas. It turned out fine, but the eggs were an issue. I thought about buying pasteurized eggs but they would've run me $12 for two dozen, which seemed obscene.

Pasteurization was important because my young child might have wanted some eggnog, so it needed to be very safe.

So I pasteurized the eggs by heating them a little at a time in the microwave, stirring, heating etc until they reached 145F. I may have separated the yolks, but can't remember exactly. I read about the technique on a blog. This worked well enough, but I ended up with some chunks of cooked egg in the egg nog. Not a big deal, but I spent a lot of time on this eggnog and was disappointed that it was less than perfect.

What's a good technique for pasteurizing eggs that doesn't result in chunks and gets the eggs to the correct temperature?

Answer

The microwave is too harsh an environment for this.

Pasteurize them in the shell, in a large pot of water on the stove. You must bring the water up to 140 - 150 F (60 - 65 C) for 3 to 5 minutes to pasteurize them. You must not exceed 150 or you will begin to cook the egg. If the eggs are in the water as you heat it then they will closely match the temperature of the surrounding water. Just make sure they aren't resting on the bottom of the pan. If you want to be extra careful you can leave them in longer, as long as you don't let them get too hot.

Alternatively, you can combine the eggs with the milk and heat this slowly on the stove until it reaches a temperature or 140-150 F, maintaining for 3-5 minutes.

Update

You can also pasteurize in-shell at 135 F (57 C) for for 75 minutes according to this reference: http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html

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What is the black, slightly sweet, flavour in some Asian food?

Question

It seems to be a popular ingredient in Asian (esp. Chinese?) food. I encountered them on pork spareribs, and some side dishes. Apparently it turns everything completely black when it is added.

I can rule out soy sauce (which is too salty and tastes entirely different) and I realise that this question is rather vague. What additional information could I provide?

---

Edit: I can rule out oyster sauce. I asked in a restaurant what the black stuff was, but either she didn't understand me or she didn't want to (all she told me was that it contained salt). Finally she said she made it herself. Anyway, I bought Hoisin sauce:

and I think it's as close as it gets (perhaps the restaurant uses a slightly different version of the one I bought, as mine is a bit saltier and a bit less sweet).

Answer

Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, and black bean paste seem to be the most likely culprits. What is the texture of the sauce? If it's smooth, it's hoisin; but hoisin tends to be salty. If it's not smooth, it's black bean paste. Oyster sauce is a little oilier than the other two, and is used in almost every Asian sautee.

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Why does white vinegar taste better when at restaurants?

Question

Just got back from dinner, where I had some decent fish and chips with white vinegar, and a thought came to me: At restaurants, I've found the white vinegar there helps to accentuate the flavour of the dish, mainly French fries. But when trying to do the same thing at home, the taste is more like I had just thrown on water as opposed to vinegar.

Barring that I'm imagining things (and it's entirely possible), I wonder if anyone else can shed some light on this at all?

Answer

According to a quick search on Google, there are two other types of vinegar served in fish and chips shops along with malt vinegar.

The first (and my best guess) is onion vinegar -- which is white vinegar that has been used to pickle onions. This is clear, but at minimum contains onions and salt, and perhaps sugar and other pickling spices. (I should note that the recipe I linked to uses malt vinegar to pickle the onions, but you could certainly achieve the same result with white vinegar.)

The second vinegar is actually called non brewed condiment, and isn't actually vinegar. It's ascetic acid, water, and a bit of caramel coloring. The coloring would make it brown, but it wouldn't have the malt flavor.

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What should I check when buying a pineapple?

Question

I live in middle Europe so pineapple (so called "ananas") is an exotic fruit for me.

What should I check when buying a pineapple to make sure it would taste well? Should it smell specific? Should it be soft or hard? Should it be big or small?

I believe this questions is valid for other regions as well. Is it?

Answer

It should be firm, not mushy, but not rock hard either.

The most important thing, however, is smell. An unripe pineapple won't smell like anything. An overripe pineapple will smell vinegary. A ripe pineapple will smell sweet.

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Substitution for egg to bind hamburger mince

Question

My wife is having pregnancy cravings for (homemade) hamburgers, but has developed a prenatal allergy / intolerance to egg.

What is a possible replacement for egg to stop a hamburger pattie from collapsing into mince during cooking?

Answer

A bit of corn starch would help if you cannot add egg at all.

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How should I cook a 1lb bottom round roast beef in the oven?

Question

I'd like to try cooking a small roast beef. It's just me and my boyfriend so I only got a small 1lb one. I don't have any special cooking tools like crockpots, so how can I cook this in the oven so it will be tender and tasty?

Answer

Given your lack of tools, we're going to have to get MacGyver on this roast.

• You'll need some sort of flavorful liquid (or a combination of them). Chicken stock or beef stock would work. I'd normally also recommend using something acidic like red wine or tomatoes, however, using this method (which is based on tinfoil), acids can react with the aluminum to produce off flavors. If you want to cook with wine or tomatoes, you can transfer the meat to your casserole after you brown it. (More on this below.)
• You'll also need some Some type of mild tasting oil. Vegetable, corn, canola, peanut, rapeseed, light olive oil, will all work.
• Salt.

That's it in terms of software.

Hardware:

• Paper towels.
• Tinfoil (preferably the big, wide king, and heavy duty).
• An oven.

That's it.

Algorithm:

This is basically the same technique that Cos Callis proposed, just using different tools.

Adjust your oven's rack to about 6 inches from the broiler. Turn on your oven's broiler on its highest setting.

Lay out two layers of tin foil on your counter. Make sure the tinfoil is big enough such that if you were to place the roast in the middle of it there would be a border of tinfoil around the roast that is at least as wide as the roast itself.

Optional: Put the tinfoil on a large sheetpan or cookie sheet. This will help you in transporting the device to/from the oven, and it will also ensure against spillage in your oven. If you do things right you won't have to wash the sheet.

Pat the meat as dry as you can get it and put it in the center of the tinfoil.

Pour a bit of oil on top of the roast and rub it all over. You only need enough to barely coat the entire roast.

Generously salt both sides of the roast. I prefer using kosher salt, because it is less saline by volume, so you can more evenly distribute it without over-salting. You'll probably use a good tablespoon or so.

Put the roast under the broiler. Wait about 5 minutes, but that number isn't exact. Use your eyes. Just wait until it looks good and brown and crusty and delicious. Just don't blacken the entire thing.

When the top side is browned, flip it over to the other side. The best tool for the job here is a pair of tongs, but a fork will do.

Brown the second side.

Remove the roast (which is hopefully on top of some type of pan for your convenience).

Turn off your broiler and reset your oven to 275 degrees F.

Fold up the sides of the tinfoil around the roast to make a sort of pan around it. Try to leave as little room around the roast as possible.

Alternatively, if you want to use acidic ingredients, you can transfer the roast to the casserole at this point. The reason why you couldn't use your casserole from scratch is that it is probably not broiler-safe.

Pour in enough of the beef/chicken stock to just barely cover the roast. It shouldn't require very much liquid.

Once the liquid is in, fold the tinfoil on itself to seal the top, such that you end up with a tinfoil package containing the browned meat and the stock. Try and make it airtight.

Stick that in the 275 F oven.

Just let it sit in there for ~3 hours. You don't need to touch it.

After ~3 hours, take it out. Hopefully the tinfoil didn't leak.

If you did this correctly, all the cleanup you need to do is crumple up the foil and throw it out.

You can also experiment with adding other vegetables (e.g., thinly sliced onions or whole garlic cloves). You can even add them from the very beginning.

As I mentioned in a comment on Cos Callis's answer, bottom round roasts have a lot of tough connective tissue which needs to be cooked low and slow (<300F) in the oven in order to become soft and tender. However, if you were to cook the beef the entire way at that temperature the meat would end up being gray and tasteless. The reason is that the Maillard reactions (which are what turn the meat golden brown and make it taste more meaty and delicious) don't really occur below ~300F, which is the purpose of the initial sear.

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What do you need for Chinese style Hotpot at home?

Question

I love going to hotpot at the restaurant; how can i do it at home? What sort of equipment do i need?

Answer

You will need the following:

1. A pot that's about 12" in diameter and 4 inches deep
2. Put the broth in the pot, you can buy broth packages usually at Chinese/Asian supermarket. You just need to mix it with water and boil.
3. Food you want to cook in the pot. Sliced beef is my favourite, but mussels, beef balls, fish balls, shrimps, veggies, etc.
4. You will need chopsticks, hot pot scoop that looks like (http://www.flickr.com/photos/helljoy/5793585934/) so you can scoop the cooked food to your own plate
5. To add flavour, usually you dip the cooked food in soya sauce, but a mixture of raw egg, soya sauce and satay sauce is used as the deep. You can even add chopped chili, green onions and chili oil to it.

Just make the broth. Cook the food you like as you eat. That's it!

:)

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What is more difficult to make: beer or wine? [closed]

Question

I would like to know, in your opinion, what is harder to produce: wine or beer. I mean, including all the steps: planting grapes or barley, taking care of them, collecting, making, etc... the whole process :)

Answer

I haven't done it myself, but I guess making beer is more difficult for one good reason: safety!

Grapes will ferment by themselves and will produce either wine or vinegar. The fermentation process is violent, so there's no risk. Added meat will be fermented as well!

Beer needs to be sterilized before a yeast is added and there's a risk for butulism.

Now, making a good wine is something else. I guess that making a good wine is far more complicated then making a decent beer, once you overcome the safety issues, as there are a great number of steps involved in making good wine. For instance: aging in oak.

Commercial wines start by sterilizing the grapes and afterwards adding a certain yeast strain, but hey...

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What kind of rice should I use for frying?

Question

Which properties should I look for or avoid in rice when I'm planning to fry it (the day after cooking)?

Answer

It depends how you like your rice. Personally I like my fried rice to have a few sticky lumps through it to add texture. Others may like it completely 'separated'. It's really up to you. I usually use a combination of long grain and Basmati.

Another point is to make sure your rice is safe - it needs to be cooled relatively quickly, and kept cool, to prevent the growth of Bacillus cereus, which can cause serious (no pun intended) food poisoning.

As it happens, fried rice is much better when cooked with cold rice and very hot oil anyway, so it's a good idea to keep it cool in any case.

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What can you make with Dried Lemon Grass?

Question

A friend went to Cambodia for vacatation, and brought back many packets of dried lemon grass. Can someone tell me what its uses are, and mention some easy to prepare dishes that make use of dried lemon grass? I can prepare many types of Indian food, never really come across this.

Thanks for the help!

Answer

Personally I dont find dried lemon grass that flavorsome and much prefer fresh (usually you can get several big sticks for cheap in the chinese/asian supermarkets).

But I'd probably try thai based dishes - many of their noodle soups (e.g. Tom Yum, chicken noodle soup) will have slices of fresh lemon grass in. I'd try adding the dry stuff when you are making the stock and see how it works out.

You could also try stirfries and looking around there are several drinks prepared with it (e.g. Lemongrass vodka (at the bottom of the page) and cooling drinks here). Though I suspect again fresh would be better

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why add a shot of vodka to a cream sauce?

Question

I don't understand what reason there would be to add vodka to a cream-based pasta sauce.

Vodka is allegedly tasteless, and the alcohol burns off. So why?

Is it to make the recipe 'nouveau' or something?

Answer

First, the alcohol doesn't burn off. We had a table about the percentage of alcohol left after a period of cooking, and especially in something cooked as short as a pasta sauce, there is a substantial amount left. For the longer discussion, see Cooking away alcohol.

Second, alcohol is a great solvent. It can leach aromatics from spices and herbs which wouldn't come out with water only. There is a good reason why extracts and essences are made with alcohol. While a really good extract needs a long time, even the short cooking time will be enough for alcohol to make a difference.

Third, it can stabilize your sauce. Cream is an emulsion of fat in water, and not terribly stable, especially if some acid is present. Alcohol dissolves both fat and water, so it will stop the cream from eventual separating.

Fourth, maybe you happened to find a not so great recipe. Vodka will help with the first three points, but it is seldom a good choice for cooking, because there is almost always another alcohol which will accomplish the same and introduce a good flavor which harmonizes with the remaining ingredients. For pasta sauces this tends to be a good brandy, but it depends on what else you have in the sauce. And because even vodka will leave a taste of alcohol in the end, it is hard to argue that it can be used where the taste should be kept unchanged.

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Secret to takeaway curry

Question

It's become something of a quest for me to find a curry recipe that tastes like the curry you get from an Indian Takeaway. I'm getting close with the consistency, but can't get the taste right.

I won't list the various and numerous things that I've tried, but most of the variations that I've tried include:

tomatoes (I've tried fresh, tinned and purée), onion, yoghurt (although this doesn't seem to affect the flavour, so I stopped using it), cumin (tried seeds and ground), mustard seeds, coriander (fresh and ground), ginger (fresh and ground), fenugreek (fresh and ground), garam masala.

I'm pretty sure that I'm missing one or two ingredients that restaurants and takeaways use as a matter of course, but I haven't been able to find it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

EDIT:

I didn't realise that they differ, but I'm in the UK - so that's the takeaway I'm referring to.

I appreciate curry's vary in taste, but there seems to be an underlying taste to all the tomato based ones. For the purpose of clarity, I'm trying to make a Rogan Josh.

Here's a sample of the sort of thing that I've been trying:

• 4 - 5 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 1 Onion chopped
• 1 lb Diced Lamb
• 2 - 3 Garlic cloves crushed and chopped
• 2 tablespoons of Garam Masalla
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 inch root ginger grated
• Oil

Slowly heat the mustard and cumin seeds until the pop, then add the onions and garlic and fry gently until soft. Add the meat and up the heat to cook. After about 10 mins add the other ingredients and leave for an hour or until the tomatoes have turned into sauce.

Another thing that I've tried is puréeing the garlic, spices, tomatoes and ginger and adding that after the onions are cooked. This helps with the consistency, but doesn't really affect the taste.

EDIT:

The best single answer that I had to this was cream. However, cloves did also make a difference. I still haven't managed to get the takeaway flavour, but thanks for all the suggestions.

Answer

If the English curry is similar to this, you are missing CREAM!

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How long will Jalepenos last in the freezer?

Question

I have a big bag of ~50 jalapenos in my freezer, frozen less than a day after being picked. How long will they last in there, and how will I know they've gone bad?

Answer

First off, pretty much everything stored in a properly cold freezer (0°F/-18°C) will be safe to eat forever.

The flavor will eventually go, e.g., by getting freezer burn and also by enzymatic degradation (if not blanched). How long this will take depends on exactly how you've stored them. In general, airtight packaging with no air inside seems to be best. For example, vacuum-sealed thick bags work well. Cheap, thin plastic "storage" bags don't work well. You can get around 8 months according to UNL. Colorodo State believes you can get 12 to 18 months.

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Are coffee mugs oven safe?

Question

Is a coffee mug oven safe? I'd like to make French Onion soup au gratin in a mug. My concern is the mug shattering while the food is being served.

I currently bake the french onion soup at 450°F, but I'm curious about broiling as well.

Answer

Hello Justin,

First of all, a question like this should be answered by an expert in materials science, and I’m not. Bear that in mind when you read the following.

Generally, you should not take it for granted that coffee mugs are oven safe. Quite simply, some are and some are not.

However, high quality coffee mugs produced for the catering industry; especially the white ones with no decor, are normally oven safe. Nevertheless, I will not give you any guarantee.

Basically, coffee mugs cannot be regarded as oven safe, unless the manufacturer have stated so with a stamp underneath or otherwise have published some kind of guarantee, and the manufacturer is a respected and well-known entity within the industry.

Why coffee mugs aren’t always oven safe

A coffee mug isn’t always what it seems. Coffee mugs come in many varieties, are made from different materials, differ in decoration, and so on.

Moreover, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and other hot drinks commonly served in mugs, are seldom; read never, served at temperatures above 100 ºC / 212 ºF. However, due to competition, special on sale items, and so on, coffee mugs of low quality might not be able to withstand temperatures much higher than this. The reason is simply that manufacturers, or the manufacturers’ customers, want to save a few pennies to gain a market advantage. There might also be a consumer demand for cheap low quality coffee mugs.

Materials

Most coffee mugs are made from some kind of ceramic. Others are made from wood, plastic, clay, pewter, steel, and a long list of other materials. Obviously, some of these materials will never be reckoned as oven safe. To keep it simple, I’ll stick to ceramic for the reminding part of this answer, although other materials might be oven safe.

Ceramics commonly found in a kitchen environment includes Earthenware, Stoneware, Porcelain, and Bone china. Of these Earthenware and Bone china are seldom, read never, reckoned as oven safe, although this isn’t completely true as far as Bone china is concerned. Nevertheless, only a complete idiot would use a Bone china mug to make French Onion soup au gratin, cup cakes or any other kind of food.

That leaves us with Stoneware and Porcelain. Both Stoneware and porcelain is normally oven safe, unless decor elements have been added after the finale glaze is applied and the coffee mug is baked in a furnace.

One finale remark needs to be added about coffee mugs made out of thin porcelain. Although these mugs might very well withstand the heat, it’s advisable to ensure that they are not exposed to any other kind of force while hot, e.g. handled without care.

Further information about Coffee Mugs, and links to other resources, can be found at Wikipedia: Coffee Mug.

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Is baking by weight really more accurate?

Question

It's gospel among serious bakers that measuring by weight is far more accurate than measuring by volume. However, I'm not sure that measuring by weight helps at all when you have varying humidity levels. It seems to me that, if the recipe author has much higher or lower level of humidity in their kitchen than you do, measuring by weight would tend to make differences in water balance even worse.

For example, I recently made the same pizza dough recipe in my apartment (65F, 80% humidity) and at my in-laws (75F, 35% humidity). Getting the same texture of dough was a difference of 2/3 of a cup of water, or around 6oz of weight. This water already was clearly in the flour in my apartment, adding to its weight but adding somewhat less to its volume. This means that if a recipe was written by someone in Tuscon and I made it in San Francisco, I'd get a sticky mess of a dough without enough flour.

Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to make repeated experiments in measurement at different humidity levels to see if weight or volume is more accurate when the hydrometer is going up and down. Is anyone?

Answer

Changes in the weight of ingredients due to humidity are very small compared to changes due to how loose or tight your flour gets packed into the measuring cup.

Weighing the ingredients eliminates one (major) source of measurement error. You'll still have to compensate for other things on your own.

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What temperatures should I keep my refrigerator and freezer at?

Question

For a refrigerator, if it's cooler then items like milk and meat last a bit longer. However, if I set it close to freezing, then some items start showing frost on them. What temperature should I set my refrigerator to for best overall results?

Since the person answering is likely to know, I'm also asking what temperature I should set my freezer to. :)

Answer

roux is spot-on with his answer. I'll elaborate on it a bit here.

As indicated by his bottled water in the freezer trick, a full freezer is a happy freezer. The same applies to the refrigerator too. While I wouldn't put random bottles of water throughout my refrigerator, it's important to know that the fuller your refrigerator is, the more it holds it's temperature when opening/closing, and the less energy you'll use. However, you don't want to jam pack it so full that there isn't any airflow around your stuff, because this can hamper the cooling efficiency as well.

The ideal refrigerator temperature is 35 F (1.6 C). You're not hugging the danger zone like you would be at 40 F (4.4 C), and you're distancing yourself sufficiently from 32 F (0 C) that you don't freeze half the stuff in your refrigerator. That said, the temperature within your fridge can vary rather significantly with normal usage.

The coldest parts of your refrigerator are the back, and the bottom. The back because the cooling element is there, and the bottom because warm air rises. If items you don't want frosty are getting frosty, then move them away from the back of the fridge. I would avoid putting items in the door of your fridge that are particularly sensitive to spoilage though. The items in the door of your fridge can easily get as high as 59 F (15 C), and often. Putting milk and eggs in your door will significantly decrease their shelf life. Butter is OK in the little covered section in the door, because the door actually helps keep it's temperature a little better. You also generally don't want rock solid frozen butter.

So, put your meats on the bottom shelf in the back, your condiments (mayo, ketchup, mustard, etc.) in the door, and put everything else where it fits.

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Are glass jars from the supermarket oven safe?

Question

I recently discovered from the working class foodies video on french onion soup that mugs are oven safe, or at least their mugs and my mugs seem to be by experimentation. I also happen to be one of those people that saves pickle, salsa, etc jars to store food, so I was wondering if these are oven safe too.

The jars in question are trader joes corn and chili salsa, and the bottom has the following symbols and numbers on them, which might hint as to the qualities of the glass.

So, are these jars oven safe? I currently bake my french onion soup at 450°F, but I might want to broil it as well to brown the cheese.

Answer

Short answer: They're probably not safe.

Unlike "microwave safety", there isn't a safety risk in contaminating the food contents of the jars due to heating in an oven; in this case you just run the risk of the jars breaking.

I am not sure what the symbols on the bottom of your jar mean; (see edit below) from what I understand—unlike plastic resin identification codes—there isn't a standard set of symbols for glass. Those symbols likely represent the manufacturer, production date, and patents.

Unless glass is processed in a special way, it is prone to breaking when it goes through rapid temperature changes. Therefore, if your glass is run-of-the-mill soda-lime glass (which is extremely likely), and if you were to put it from room temperature directly into a 450°F oven, the shock of that rapid temperature change would likely crack it. Furthermore, even if you were able to gradually heat it up to 450°F without it cracking, it would likely crack even as it naturally cools down. In order to try and ensure that the glass doesn't crack you'd have to both gradually heat the jars up and then very gradually step the oven temperature back down to room temperature.

If you want to use glass, your best bet would be to use something like Pyrex.

Even Pyrex, which is explicitly designed to be oven safe, can't withstand the direct heat of a broiler, though.

Edit: I believe the symbol on the bottom of your jars reads "A.G.C." surrounded by the outline of the state of Arkansas. This implies that your jars were made by the Arkansas Glass Container Company. I believe the numbers indicate the model number, which appears to be this jar. AGC unfortunately don't have anything on their website listing the oven safety of their glass. If you're really interested, you could try contacting the manufacturer.

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How do I know if a black banana is too old to be eaten?

Question

From time to buy, I buy too many bananas. For the future, I am considering refrigerating them instead of eating them, but they turn black.

How can I know whether a black banana is still edible?

Answer

Open it up. If it's soft and pale brown or darker inside too, it's overripe and no longer good for eating straight; however, it can be used in baking, banana bread, or smoothies. Once it's black, the banana is garbage.

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Is there any difference between chopped and crushed garlic in cooking?

Question

Often recipes say to chop garlic, but I usually cheat and just crush it as it's quicker. Is there any difference in doing this? Will it have much of an effect on the flavour of the dish?

Answer

I guess it depends upon the definition of "crushed" If by crushed, you mean using a garlic press, then there is quite a difference between chopped and crushed garlic. When you crush garlic, no need for a garlic press, the flat of a knife and a little salt is all that's needed, you release the essential oils, resulting in a stronger flavour. You can also purée the garlic.

It's also important to consider the type of recipe, in some recipes, such as a pasta sauce, chopped garlic is fine. In Asian cooking, especially Indian cuisine, it's common practice to use minced or puréed garlic. In roast dishes, using the whole cloves in the roasting tin with the meat, can produce an incredible sauce.

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Is it safe to reheat old water in an electric kettle?

Question

I usually throw away the remaining water in the electric kettle before refilling it if the water is more than about a day old. In theory wouldn't boiling kill any impurities the old water might have? How long would the water stay drinkable in the kettle (assuming you boil it again before drinking)?

Answer

Maybe I'm wrong, but there is no safety risk at all when boiling old water. There is however something like taste. The reason the old water is discarded is because, after boiling, it lacks oxygen and will taste stale. This is also the reason why coffee is made with 95ºC hot water, or why Moroccan tea is poured from above (to oxygenate)...

So, as long as you boil it before drinking it should be safe.

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How do I remove bitter flavor from lime rind in soup?

Question

I just made a large pot of soup. It's a Mexican Caldo de Res. I added a bunch of lime juice, and thought, hey, maybe i'll throw the lime rinds in there too for a bit. This was a huge mistake. Now the whole thing has a really bitter flavor. I've removed the rinds, are there any suggestions on how to save this?

Answer

You might be able to counter-balance it with other flavors (salt, sour, sweet, hot), but you're likely still going to have some bitter notes come through, it's just a question if it's tolerable or not, and some people dislike bitter more than others. (I can't understand how people can drink beers other than lambics)

In looking at a similar thread on Chowhound, one of the recommendations is a bit of milk or cream. If you're not lactose intollerant, it might be worth a try.

This could also be a chance for an experiment -- ladle it into a bunch of glasses, try some different things (sugar, vinegar, soy, hot sauce, milk, worcestershire, combinations of them, etc), and report back to us with what you think worked best.

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How do I stop my brownies from rising?

Question

I have been trying out brownie recipes baked in a muffin tin. I am using the muffin tin so that I can get all edges. (And I have been decorating the tops!)

My brownies tend to rise, in my opinion, too much. This rising is also not quite uniform for all the brownies. Some are flatter than others. The result tastes fine, but is not dense like other brownies.

Other than maybe air that I beat in, there are no rising agents. How do I stop the brownies rising to get denser brownies?

Edit, recipe ingredients: Butter Cooking chocolate Sugar Eggs Regular flour Vanilla essence Cocoa powder Salt

Edit, some of the process: melt butter and choc together, let cool, mix in the eggs, then the sugar, then everything else.

Answer

Well, if air is the only raising agent, simply add less of it by not beating the mixture as much. Failing that, beat as normal, then give the mixing bowl a couple of (careful) bangs on the counter top to knock the air out it again.

A bit of experimentation will be necessary to get the right results, I think: perhaps pour some of the mixture into the tin as is, then knock the air out of the remaining mixture and compare the results.

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Dark stock proportions

Question

When making croquettes, I always end up with more meat than I can use. That is to say that I'm aiming at about 20% meat in a flavor-full concentrated velouté.

The problem I'm having is that I use about 400gr meat for 1 liter of water, and that's 40% meat to begin with... (OK, after cooking the meat loses 50% weight, but I have no idea how much water evaporates).

I'm afraid to use less meat, but maybe I could add more bones?

What proportions are appropriate for a nice dark stock (or an ordinary one)?

Answer

According to the Culinary Institute of America there basic formula for all Meat or Poutlry based stock would be:

8 lb/3.63 kg bones and trimmings
5 -6 qt/4.80 - 5.76 L water
1 lb/ 454 g Standard or White Mirepoix

You would not need any actual cut of meat for a stock according to them. Those would be reserved for making a broth. Their basic formula for broth doesn't specify a ratio between meat and bones just 10 lb. of meat or poultry including bones to 5 qt water. If you are converting a stock into a broth they give the formula of 3 lbs meat to 5 qt stock. Based on that a good starting point might be 7 lb bones and 3 lb meat to 5 qt water.

Just an FYI they make all their mother sauces using stocks, broth seem to be reserved for soups and other applications.

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Substitutions for greek yogurt?

Question

Are there any available substitutes for greek yogurt?

I don't have any in the fridge. Looking for a substitution besides regular yogurt or any yogurt based substitution. Looking to make a creamy like cold sauce for fish tacos.

Answer

Sour cream could work. It has a similar flavor to plain greek yogurt, although the consistency is somewhat different. In fact, My fiance and I have switched to using greek yogurt in place of sour cream because of this since sour cream is higher in calories. I think it would be just fine for a sauce.

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Substitute sugar free maple syrup in baking?

Question

We're trying to make trailmix chunks. Is it alright to replace sugar free maple syrup (springtree low calorie maple syrup) in baking for this case?

My concern is that the sugar free syrup would break down and isn't a real replacement for the real syrup.

Update:

Recipe (roughly; as it was just eyeballed previously):

• 1 lb pepitas
• 1 lb raw diced almonds
• 1/2 lb of flaxseeds
• 3 cups of cranberries
• 2 cups of maple syrup
• Several tablespoons of honey

Answer

Honey is your real binding agent here, not maple syrup. You can substitute the sugar-free syrup but be aware of what's in it - according to the ingredients, it's mostly Sorbitol, which is both a humectant and a laxative.

Now, ordinarily, I wouldn't tell people to worry about the digestive effects of sorbitol, but that's a seriously large quantity you'd be adding, so if any of you have sensitive stomachs, beware of eating too much of that trail mix at once. The other property - humectancy - means that what you end up with is going to be moister than what you'd get with pure maple syrup. That may or may not be a good thing depending on your tastes.

Since your issue seems to be a lack of availability rather than a problem with sugar itself, I'd personally substitute generic pancake syrup, sugar syrup or even corn syrup instead. Or, if you're really keen on the sugar-free stuff, you can use less of it and add more honey because the sorbitol will help keep the whole product moist.

If you really want to cut down on the sugar, you can also use agave nectar, which is a fairly close substitute for honey (a bit thinner), and could also stand in for maple syrup if used in combination with another syrup and perhaps some maple extract or maple flavouring. It won't be the same flavour, but, texture-wise, it should be a pretty close match.

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keeping ice cream fresh for 12 hours while transporting

Question

Is it possible to keep it fresh during a long distance travel by train? Normal styrofoam boxes won't work I guess, what about thermos flasks?

Answer

My dad used to buy icecream after a long day work for us (it was a 3 hour drive.) He used styrofoam boxes with some dry ice. Not sure if it can hold up till 12 hours.

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What temperature is the “warm” setting on a conventional oven?

Question

I'm making a rack of pork ribs and I want to try and cook them as low and slow as possible, with time not really being an issue. Just wondering if the warm setting is enough to do the trick. I'm cooking the ribs from frozen, with two cups of water in a covered pan and some liquid smoke.

Answer

The collagen in the ribs needs to get to a temperature of about 160 F to start breaking down into water and gelatin. If your oven can be set as low as 175 or 180 F on a normal bake or convection bake setting that is probably a better alternative unless you have access to an oven thermometer and can measure what temperature the warm setting on your oven attains.

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Are there any savory dishes made with cucumbers?

Question

I'm currently getting about 4 cucumbers a day from my garden (and may increase) and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them all. Are they are savory dishes that can be made from them? I've found a lot of sweet recipes for them (cucumber lemonade was weird but good) but no savory dishes that looked good to me.

Answer

Fry them!

They're moist enough that you don't need to make a batter. Simply slice into 1/4" slices, season with salt & pepper, dredge in flour and pan fry in butter until golden brown. Serve with sour cream & dill.

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Pink salt vs regular salt

Question

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

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

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

Answer

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

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

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

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

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What is the best way to store chopped vegetables?

Question

To speed up our cooking during the week, I would like to chop up all the vegetables I will need for the week on a Sunday and then just use them throughout the week.

What would be the best way to store these vegetables?

Will this work with all vegetables or are there some vegetables that just can't be chopped until you are about to use them?

Answer

I'm a fan of prepping some vegetables for the week on a day off. I'm much more likely to eat salad if I have the fixings ready in my fridge. I'm no expert, this is just what I've found works best for me.

Certainly some vegetables are more suited to cutting and storing than others. I find controlling humidity and condensation in storage to be the most important factor. I store almost everything in covered pyrex, unless it needs to breath (and those go in the humid compartment). Veggies with less water can be kept humid with a lightly moist paper towel on top. Wetter veggies can cause condensation and lead to sliminess. A dry paper towel and/or an open container can help with that. A veggie should either be submerged in water, or not in water at all. Sitting in condensation is that biggest problem in storage.

Cut carrots keep in water for a week with no change in quality. Out of water, they can dry out a bit. I don't find the dryness to be a problem.

Sliced bell peppers keep pretty well with a moist paper towel in the container.

I find onions to be pretty indestructible, though the flavor gets a bit milder over time.

Broccoli and cauliflower are also pretty hardy. A dry paper towel or two will deal with water from washing them, which is the biggest problem I've had.

Mushrooms and leafy greens need to breath.

Cucumbers and tomatoes don't store as well as others.

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How to Replace Icing Sugar in a No-Bake Cheesecake

Question

Are there any good substitutes for sugar in Cheesecakes? I am not interested in synthetic sugar like Aspartame. I want to use natural sugar substitute like honey. But if mix honey into the cheese (e.g: Philadelphia cheese), will it ruin the cheese cake. I don't mind getting the honey taste in the cake, but will I get the same consistency in the cheese compare to if I mix sugar into the cheese?

This is the recipe. I got it from www.recipify.com:

250 gr of digestive biscuit/biscotti

80 gr butter

80 gr Philadelphia cheese

5 table spoon of Nutella

4 tablespoon of icing sugar

400 gr of creme

1. Melt the butter in the sauce pan.

2. Crumble the biscuit, and pour the melted button onto it. Cool it in the fridge for half an hour.

3. Mix the Philadelphia cheese with the icing sugar. Once you have done that, mix the Nutella.

4. Whisk the creme. Combine it with Nutella and Philadelphia mixture.

5. Put everything onto the crumbed biscuit. Leave it in the fridge overnight.

Thanks

Answer

Can you make cheesecake with honey instead of sugar? Sure!

Is it as simple as just replacing it 1:1? Not quite, there's increased moisture, but check the top answer here.

You'll need to reduce any liquid you might be adding a bit. Without seeing your exact recipe, I can't give you an exact answer there.

---

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa....thats not cheesecake, thats no-bake 'cheesecake'. And that's not normal sugar, that's icing sugar.

No bake 'cheesecake' is much more forgiving about the ingredients - you'd not trying to set a custard like, you just want a thick, flavored, semi-firm pie filling. Add the honey, but leave off a touch of the creme, maybe 20-30 g overall? Icing sugar will actually thicken it a bit as its not only not a liquid, but its also got cornstarch in it. There's about 1/4 tsp of cornstarch in that much icing sugar, so I'd add that. If you're against cornstarch, I don't think it'd be the end of the world to leave it off.

I'd add the honey and then add 350 g of creme and see how the consistency is. You'll probably end up adding another 20g or so, but I'd wait and see.

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What difference does oxygen content of tea water make?

Question

I've heard the advice that water should be boiled for tea only one--that when boiled it loses oxygen, and if there is insufficient oxygen in the water, the flavor of the tea is (somehow) affected.

This doesn't seem to make sense to me. If the water loses oxygen when it is boiled, it would have lost it before tea ever touched it anyway.

Does this really make a difference, or is it just a commonly perpetuated kitchen myth? If there is one, what affect does the oxygen (or lack) have on the finished product?

Answer

All moving water has dissolved oxygen in it. That is what fish breath

Dissolved oxygen is reactive, and will most likely extract more substances from the tea leaf, than without it. If these are the good flavour parts of tea, I do not know?

When you heat water it starts to release the dissolved oxygen. The more you heat water the more oxygen escapes

You can buy tea making kettles that bring water up to 95°C (203°F), but not boiling, so as to decrease the amount of dissolved oxygen lost, but still making the water hot enough to brew tea. They also save energy :-) I use one of these, and am happy with it

Example Kettle

Some people "watch" their kettle, and switch it off just before the water boils!

It is a personal taste preference if tea tastes better when brewed in water with more dissolved oxygen or not

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Condensed milk versus regular milk in fudge recipes

Question

What is the difference between fudge recipes that call for sweetened, condensed milk versus regular milk?

Answer

Fudge is basically a chocolate flavored candy.

You combine chocolate and a sugar syrup and boil the syrup until you get the desired concentration. Everything else about the recipe is to either minimize sugar crystal size or add flavor.

Sweetened condensed milk will do two things-
1- give you a nice, caramelly flavor
2- Save a little time. Since it has less water to begin with there will be less to boil off.

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Should I read ingredient weight as prepared or unprepared weight?

Question

Once I have made a recipe a couple of times, I tend to follow my instincts rather than strict portion sizes.

When following a new recipe, however, I have often wondered about how an ingredient's weight should be interpreted.

For example, if a recipe calls for 500g of pumpkin, diced into 1cm cubes, does convention expect me to use a 500g cut of pumpkin, that I then de-seed and dice, or 500g of 1cm pumpkin cubes pumpkins?

Answer

In your example, it means 500g pumpkin before preparing.

In general, you might see this two ways:

1. 500g pumpkin. Dice the pumpkin.
2. 500g diced pumpkin.

The first option refers to the weight before prepping while the second refers to the weight after prepping. In general, the second one is far more exact for the actual recipe while the first one is more exact for shopping. I assume ease of shopping plus presumption of yield is why the first one is so often used, although in high end cook books (Grant Achatz, Thomas Kellar, etc) the weights are often given post prep for precision.

You will see the same thing for volume measurements (i.e. one cup of nuts chopped vs one cup of chopped nuts).

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what is the difference between butter spread and pure butter?

Question

first of all, basically what is the difference?

what are their uses and is there a big difference? for example is there a case where I should use pure butter for some things but never a spread or vice versa? When the recipe says butter which one should I use?

Answer

Generally speaking, butter spreads have a water component to them. That's what the emulsifier is for, as it keeps the fat and water from separating.

The problem is that you can't fry/cook with it. If you place it in a pan it will separate, and sizzle in a very unpleasant manner. If I remember correctly, it actaully smells quite awful in the process.

As for baking, I think it'll be fine anywhere there needs to be fat as fat. Wherever you need fat as something to hold the structure, you had probably best not use it. Caveat emptor, as I don't bake very much at all.

Let it be aid, however, that margarine as opposed to butter spread, can be used anywhere that butter is used. It isn't as tasty, and has trans-fats. On the other hand, it has less cholesterol.

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How should I prepare Risotto

Question

I've been watching a lot of Hells Kitchen, and one of the signature dishes that Chef Ramsay has the chefs prepare is Risotto. This seems like a simple enough dish but often times the seasoned chefs on the show get it wrong. I'd like to try making this dish at home, so what is the technique I should use to ensure a tasty final result?

Answer

One of my favorite recipes is Giada De Laurentis' Wild Mushroom with Peas. It's rather simple, but amazingly delicious.

The most common flubs when making a risotto are overcooking or dumping in all the liquid at once. I always use the wooden spoon test to determine when the risotto is finished.

First, stir often!

Periodically drag your spoon down the center of the pan as to part the risotto. If the path the spoon makes closes quickly then it isn't finished yet. If the part stays open, then you've overcooked it. Ideally it slowly oozes back together.

You're looking for two important things in a perfect risotto:

• Creamy
  • The finished risotto should be creamy, not runny, and not gummy. The spoon test takes care of this.
• Tender
  • The rice grains should be tender, not crunchy, and not mushy. You should taste frequently as you approach the end of the cooking time. You want the grains slightly al dente. You should know that you have rice in your mouth and not just a good tasting mystery-paste.

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How to make cookies less crumbly?

Question

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?

Answer

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.

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Cooking with barleywine

Question

Given that barleywine is a strong ale, is it suitable in recipes which call for ale, or does the extra alcohol and stronger flavor overwhelm the recipe?

I realize the answer will be "it depends" if varies by recipe; I am more interested in whether the answer is "Absolutely!" or "Absolutely not!"

Answer

Barleywines initially have a large amount of sugars in them before fermentation, and brewers balance that by adding a large amount of hops. There is a large bitterness factor in a barleywine, which you may or may not notice, depending on your tastes and the individual brew. If you try to reduce it like you might with a wine, the bitterness may quickly get overwhelming.

With that in mind, I see no reason why you couldn't use a barleywine in any recipe that would work with a strongly flavored beer.

Check out The Home Brewed Chef for some great ideas for how to cook with beer.

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Can I re-freeze fruit?

Question

I bought about 1.2kg of frozen raspberries with the intention of using them yesterday, but it turns out I won't need them for another couple of weeks. I had let them thaw but have put them in the fridge since I realised my mistake.

Am I able to refreeze the berries or should I find some immediate use for them?

What are the risks / consequences if I do refreeze?

Answer

Basically, you can refreeze the raspberries.
When a fruit or veg. is frozen, the water inside the plant cell expands, and bursts the cell wall, which is why there is so much 'juice' when you thaw. If you refreeze, you can be sure that the raspberries will freeze into a giant block. If you are using them to make a sauce or a jam, this is not significant. That being said, if you are using frozen raspberries in the first place, you are obviously not looking for a perfectly intact raspberry, you are using them for some other purpose. Therefor, refreezing is no big deal. I recently answered another question about freezing and refreezing, and how it is basically a myth that it renders the refrozen product inedible. Any time you freeze you know that you are not going to get 'exactly' the same product when you thaw it, and the same goes with refreezing, there is always a 'slight' degredation of the product with each successive freeze (do you like my liberal usage of quotes?) You won't poison yourself or anything like that, you should have no worries.

That being said, what are you doing with the berries? Certainly a refrozen raspberry should be no worse that a raspberry frozen once.

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