Why can heating things in a microwave make them soggy?

Question

Why does heating something (like pizza) in an oven make it crisp but heating it in the microwave makes it all soggy?

Asked by Kaushik

Answer

Microwaves specifically heat water molecules in the food. This turns them to steam, and because the air in the microwave is actually cool, the steam then condenses. There is often not proper air circulation to move the steam away from the food. Often times the outside edges of the food will not be soggy, but rather burnt, because they receive more energy and the water can totally vaporize.

For better results when reheating food, do not reheat your food on "high" or the default power. Reheat it at a lower setting for longer time. For pizza specifically, I heat it in the microwave only to room temperature and then finish it in the toaster oven or in a pan.

Answered by smcg

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Do you have to use water to sous vide?

Question

I've been using the beer cooler hack instead of a sous vide machine and I was wondering if water is the only medium I can use to cook in it. I was thinking that I could fill it with oil for a high thermal mass that would use less energy since I'm using a plastic bag to prevent any contact with the food anyway. Also, how important is that plastic bag? Could I use a broth to sous vide in with something pourous holding my meat and seasoning together?

Asked by sarge_smith

Answer

You could use oil, but I don't think it's worth it; realize that you're going to be using additional energy for obtaining, cleaning, and disposal of it.

Regarding using a broth with a porous bag, well, that isn't sous vide. That's more akin to a slow-cooker. The whole point of sous vide is the airtight barrier between food and heat.

Update

Oil does not have a higher thermal mass than water. Ammonia does, but I'd suggest avoiding that. ;)

Source: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-heat-fluids-d_151.html

Answered by hobodave

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Party scale sous-vide

Question

I have used the chilly bin (cooler) sous-vide hack at home for a while and get excellent results for up to eight servings

I use extra insulation on the lid and a digital submersible flexible probe thermometer. The whole setup only loses around one degree C per hour with four servings

I want to go to party scale, say 30 to 40 servings, what are my chances of success?

Should I just get three or four chilly bins or just one large bin?

Has anyone had success at large scale sous-vide at home?

I am using it for chicken breasts and sliced fatty beef cuts. These are home-kill cuts so I know of the quality and cleanliness

Edit

In my 25L chilly bin for four serves of Chicken breasts, I half fill the chilly bin with tap hot water and add one jug (2L) of boiling water = 63°C. When I add the four pouches of chicken it drops to 62°C. A hour later I take out the chicken at 61°C, and add a small jug of tap cold water and I have 56°C, four beef cuts go in for an hour too. Temperature at end is 55°C

Asked by TFD

Answer

Has anyone had success at large scale sous-vide at home?

My scale was not quite as big as yours, but I cooked my Thanksgiving turkey for the extended family this year sous vide. Not only was the outcome a huge hit among the guests, but it was a huge relief for (your truly) the chef.

I want to go to party scale, say 30 to 40 servings, what are my chances of success?

In my experience, scaling up is one of the biggest advantages of cooking sous vide. Cooking 30-40 servings on a home stove would be a daunting prospect, to say the least. With sous vide, 15–20 servings is only marginally more work than 4–6. Again, I've not done 30–40, but it should scale accordingly.

Should I just get three or four chilly bins or just one large bin?

If your food will fit in one cooler, it will work, but I think you'll find it much easier to use more. The more water you have, the slower it will lose heat, and thus, the less you will have to pay attention to it. I also typically cook chicken and beef at separate temperatures, so I would probably have two coolers for chicken and two for beef.

Answered by Ray

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Mixing mozzarella without clumping

Question

Whenever I use mozarella in a pasta dish, and attempt to mix it in like you would cheddar or anything else, I end up with one giant clump of mozzarella. Ex) I cook some pasta, and add the cheese/milk right after draining and attempt to mix.

Is there a way to thoroughly mix this hardheaded cheese?

Asked by JWiley

Answer

You need to add in your cheese in small quantities and stir after each addition.

I'm not sure what you're making, but you could make a cream sauce prior to mixing the pasta with milk/cream, cheese and butter. Again, though, you'll want to add the cheese in small quantities and ensure that it's incorporated before adding another batch.

Answered by Jacob G

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What method for advance prep of seitan prevents deterioration of texture and preserves flavor while protecting from spoilage?

Question

Tonight, I am hoping to cook up three to four loaves of seitan for final prep three days from now. My intent is to form the dough, simmer in stock or steam, and then refrigerate. In three days I hope to use the seitan to make sandwiches after bringing up to temp while smoking on the grill and then slicing.

I have seen storage options including freezing, refrigerating wrapped in cling wrap, refrigerating while submersed in the simmering liquid, and a few variations in between. Three days is long enough that I would be concerned about spoilage, as well as picking up stray odors (I will be doing a bunch of bulk cooking of different foods). It is at once short enough that I don't think the texture would necessarily be compromised, but definitely see it as possible if stored in liquid. Likewise, flavor will last fine, but if it is in a simmering liquid, that is soy based, I am concerned it would leech every drop of saltiness and end up as some decaying, more-spongiform-than-usual, briny bread.

So I am looking for three possible things and the benefits/drawbacks of any methods;

• What advance cooking method will work for a batch that will be reheated by smoking (low heat for about an hour or two)?
• What storage method will preserve texture, maintain flavor, and lock out nasties?
• What steps can I take when re-heating to preserve all of the above effort?

Essentially, what is the prep/storage/plate combo that will save me from turning a few pounds of simmered vital wheat gluten into cloudy clods?

Asked by mfg

Answer

hmm....

my thoughts:

1) biologists use stock as a medium for growing bacteria. therefore, anything stored in stock; I generally like to boil/heat up a lot first before eating

2)the seitan should stay just fine; kept dry in the fridge in an airtight container

3) have you tried making steamed seitan, ala seitan of greatness from lachesis?

4) have you tried making "dry" seitan in a water bath (bain marie) in the oven: this is how it is done in the rfd (real food daily) cookbook. I make this a lot; both the "chicken" and "basic" (which reminds me of turkey)

Answered by Jill Renee

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Pre-made seasoning to add to rice in rice cooker to make rice more flavorful?

Question

I've looked all over for this and not found much.

Chipotle resturant adds lime and cilantro to their rice, some folks put Saffron. I thought "gee there must be others".

Any other pre-made seasonings you could buy and add to rice while cooking it (ideally something you could put in a rice cooker or in rice that you'll cook in a pot). I'm happy to order it by mail (especially if it's in the USA)

This is a more specific version of: Making white Rice more tasteful.

Asked by Clay Nichols

Answer

You can combine it with practically everything, so the question is somewhat broad. So my answer is equally broad: rice pairs well with fresh tastes and acidity, or with moderately sweet components. Or you can just underline its own slightly nutty notes. Below is a list of specific examples, but it is impossible to make it exhaustive.

For fresh tastes, use herbs. Summer savoury and spearmint are the classics, I never make stuffed peppers without them. But other light tasting herbs are also a good choice - lemon balm, oregano. Rosmarin is sometimes good, but somewhat overpowering, it is better for a dish where the rice is cooked together with veggies (eggplant, zucchini).

Beside herbs, you can try more exotic seasonings. Lemon zests are good, finelly chopped grape leaves and shoots are great.

Coriander powder should give you a similar taste profile to cilantro, but it is easier to keep at hand for when a quick dinner without much planning is needed.

The sweet option is also interesting; if you don't overdo it, it is OK to serve it as a side dish for a savoury meal. The easiest way to achieve it is to cook the rice together chopped dry fruit. Sulfured raisins are popular, the dish will be somewhat si milar to pilaf. But others work too, I especially like dried apricots because they are slightly tart.

Other methods for sweetening don't really fall into the "dry seasoing" category, but are worth mentioning. You can add fruit juice to the cooking water (apple or other slightly sour juices are best; this will affect the starch in the rice, causing it to cook firmer than usual) or you can add a small amount of sweetener to the cooked rice (prefer aromatic sweeteners lik honey or C grade maple syrup). Or if you prefer it spicier, mix it with a sweet chutney, like mango.

If you want a subtler taste, combine the rice with nuts (cook them together). Always use nuts with the brown skin removed. I have found unroasted, finely chopped nuts to work better this way. Hazelnuts and almonds are a very good choice. Para nuts also pair well with rice, but are seldom availablr blanched+chopped. This works especially well if you use the parfrying method for the rice, frying in the oil of the nut used. However, I don't know if you can parfry rice in a rice cooker, I always make mine on the stove.

Answered by rumtscho

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What is the easiest way to measure bread's rising?

Question

How can I easily measure the volume of my bread as it rises? I usually eyeball it or test for feel, but this isn't very accurate, and definitely isn't getting the full rising potential out of it.

Proofing buckets seem like one possibility, but I don't want to buy a large uni-task kitchen item if possible. I'm also not sure what volumes to expect from a pound of dough.

Asked by BobMcGee

Answer

Do you have a large plastic container? Something like this: .

Use a non-permanent marker on the outside to mark the initial volume.

A small diameter will make it easier to monitor the volume.

Answered by soegaard

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If a recipe doesn't specify the type of vinegar, is there a standard type implied?

Question

I occasionally come across recipes that call for vinegar, but don't specify which of the many varieties they mean. (A recent example is this recipe for a corn and pepper salad, which just says "2 tbsp. vinegar".)

While I recognize that sometimes this may just be that the recipe is badly written, I've encountered it often enough to wonder: is there a "standard" or implied type of vinegar that should be used when a recipe simply calls for vinegar? Or is it assumed that the chef will be familiar with the flavor profiles of the dish they are trying to make and will be able to choose an appropriate vinegar by their own knowledge and discretion?

I've been unable to find an authoritative answer to this: other forums provide conflicting answers with no documentation or reasoning for the answer put forth, or make it seem like your only options are white vinegar and cider vinegar.

Asked by Laura

Answer

I don't think there is any “standard” type of vinegar worlwide. In recipes for French dishes, an unspecified vinegar can be assumed to be a red wine vinegar. Mien seems to have a different opinion, so I'd say it's pretty much a cultural issue.

Answered by F'x

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Wet Cooked Ham Slices

Question

If you were to open a packet of cooked ham slices and they were wet, is that a bad sign? Are they gone bad? Is it ok to eat them?

Asked by Adam Lynch

Answer

Extra water in cooked ham is 100% fine to eat, see here. In general, you can use the printed "use by" date if you're in the US and you'll be safe. I'm adding my answer to provide an authoritative source for you, so you'll know for certain you won't get sick from it.

Quotation, for @adamlynch:

HAM: In order to be labeled as "Ham," the product must be at least 20.5% protein in lean portion as described in 9 CFR 319.104. Added water is permitted in a product labeled as "Ham." In fact, water will be declared in order of predominance in the ingredients statement. This is how the cure solution is introduced into a ham.

HAM AND WATER PRODUCTS X% of Weight is Added Ingredients: Product contains more additives than a "Ham Water Added," but the product name must indicate percent of "added ingredients." For example, "Ham and Water Product 25% of Weight is Added Ingredients" for any canned ham with less than 17.0% protein.

As you can see, water added to ham is perfectly safe to eat, as it's normal for it to be present in the ham.

Answered by Nathan C. Tresch

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What is club soda and how do I make it?

Question

After many searches on the Google, I still can't find out how to make club soda. So, I have to ask the question - what is club soda exactly?

I bought a iSi Soda Siphon and have figured out how to make carbonated water (finally).

Now what do I have to do to make club soda? How about seltzer?

Asked by mikebmassey

Answer

Seltzer and club soda are the same thing - they're just carbonated water. "Seltzer" comes from German:

The term seltzer water is a genericized trademark that derives from the German town Selters, which is renowned for its mineral springs. Naturally carbonated water has been commercially bottled and shipped from this town since the 18th century or earlier. Generally, seltzer water has no added sodium salts, while club soda still retains the sodium salts.

So, the primary difference is that seltzer has no added ingredients, but club soda does:

Sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, sodium phosphate and sodium citrate are added to club soda...

Here's a decent review of the ingredients list and taste of various types of fizzy water.

So to answer your question directly, you can make seltzer just by carbonating regular tap water, and you can make club soda by adding potassium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, or baking soda to water and carbonating it.

Answered by Laura

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Maillard in a Pressure Cooker

Question

I was reading about frying in On Food And Cooking this weekend and it mentions that frying works so much better than oven cooking because oil has a far higher specific heat than air so it is able to transfer that heat to the food being cooked much faster than an oven. It then went on to mention that oil has significantly less heat storage capacity than water - according to this specific heat table, it looks like water has around 2.5 times the heat capacity as most oils. This got me thinking about whether there’d be any way to “deep fry” something in water. What I mean by “deep fry” in water is - get the water up around the temperature you’d get in a deep fryer, and then drop some food in. This way you’d get the same temperature as the oil, and therefore hopefully you’d have the same Maillard reactions, but none of the oilyness from frying. I’d like to give this a try. but there are a few important hurdles I’d have to get over first and I’m wondering if anyone here has any guidance. around a few questions this raises:

1. I did some calculations and it looks like I’d have to get the pressure up to around 70 psi above atmospheric pressure in order to get the water up around 155C - Probably I’d want to go a bit higher than this in practice. It doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility that a pressure cooker could exist that could handle this kind of pressure (bicycle tires go a lot higher than this), but I only see pressure cookers that go up to around 15psi. Do pressure cookers that handle this high of pressure exist? Otherwise, might there be other kitchen-sized industrial equipment that could achieve this high of pressure and temperature?

2. Can I expect a maillard reaction to occur at high pressure, or will the pressure make the reaction require relatively higher temperature and therefore preclude it from occuring?

3. Can I expect a maillard reaction to occur under water? Everythíng I read about the maillard reaction mentions that it will only happen after the water on the surface of the food evaporates specifically because water keeps the temperature too low. This makes sense at standard pressures, but will the water in and of itself make the maillard reaction difficult or impossible (since one of the outputs of maillard is more water), or is the water mentioned ONLY because it keeps the temperature so low. All of the references I've found that say water deters the reaction specifically state that this is because of the temperature factor.

4. Is there any chance that I’d get any crisping through this process? I’m thinking that if I depressurize the food while the surface is superheated (obviously I’d have to figure out a way to get it out of the water bath first), I’d get some amount of the water in the surface boiled away as the pressure dropped, and thus some crisping. Might this work?

Obviously I’d have to set up a pretty crazy rig inside the pressure cooker to get the water and food pressurized without significantly cooking the food in the process, then have a setup inside the pressure cooker that drops the food into the water at a given temperature, and then pulls it back out after a set time. I’m thinking that my first step would be to get a super-high-pressure pressure cooker and drop some chicken into it, get it up to 160C or so, cool it and see what I get. It’d be way way overcooked I’m sure, but I think I’d be able to tell if I could get any reasonable browning in water, and proceed from there if the results were favorable.

I'd really appreciate any insight, either from experience with pressure cooking of non-traditionally-pressure-cooked foods, or other experience, or possibly from understanding more about how maillard works and what I would expect at high pressure and submerged.

Asked by timmyp

Answer

Unless you are prepared to build some industrial strength equipment of your own design and then move everyone in the neighborhood away while you experiment with this, I fear you are taking your life in your hands.

Normal pressure cookers add a maximum 15 PSI to achieve a water boiling point of 121 C or 250 F. Autoclaves, used for surgical sterilization, go to 30 PSI. You are talking about going more than twice that.

There is no reason, based on the science of Maillard reaction, to believe that it would not occur at a high enough temperature. The presence of excess water would normally inhibit the process because of temperature reduction, but your "super duper pressure cooker" would keep the temperature at a high enough level to allow the chemical breakdown to occur. You might, in fact, discover that it occurs a bit earlier, as water tends to facilitate many reactions. Caramel making comes to mind as an indicator of what might be achieved, as sugar syrup (OK, most of the water is gone, but in principal) browns when you get in the above 330F-165C degree range.

As to crisping based on quick pressure reduction (perhaps when your device explodes?) That seems less likely as most crisping comes at the loss of water, and you are, in effect, keeping water in contact with your food both in liquid and superheated steam form. It would, most likely, be similar to a braised food surface, than a fried one.

Interesting thought. Please don't try this.

Answered by Doug Johnson-Cookloose

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Club soda recipe?

Question

After many searches on the Google, I still can't find out how to make club soda. So, I have to ask the question - what is club soda exactly?

I bought a iSi Soda Siphon and have figured out how to make carbonated water (finally).

Now what do I have to do to make club soda? How about seltzer?

Asked by mikebmassey

Answer

Seltzer and club soda are the same thing - they're just carbonated water. "Seltzer" comes from German:

The term seltzer water is a genericized trademark that derives from the German town Selters, which is renowned for its mineral springs. Naturally carbonated water has been commercially bottled and shipped from this town since the 18th century or earlier. Generally, seltzer water has no added sodium salts, while club soda still retains the sodium salts.

So, the primary difference is that seltzer has no added ingredients, but club soda does:

Sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, sodium phosphate and sodium citrate are added to club soda...

Here's a decent review of the ingredients list and taste of various types of fizzy water.

So to answer your question directly, you can make seltzer just by carbonating regular tap water, and you can make club soda by adding potassium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, or baking soda to water and carbonating it.

Answered by Laura

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Create a water + baking soda solution?

Question

I was wondering if there is a way I can mix the two and put it in a spray bottle ? I would like to use water + baking soda in some cases to spray a little rather than have large amounts. Is it possible ?

Regards

Asked by DMz

Answer

A small pot of water and baking soda (over saturated is OK), and a simple brush is all you need

A quick stir of the pot with the brush, and wash it on what you need works fine

Answered by TFD

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Cooler as a pantry?

Question

Spices (and many other things) are supposed to be stored in a dark, cool, dry place.

I live in an apartment (i.e. no dedicated pantry), in California (i.e. it's warm) and my kitchen is small so cupboards are close to the oven (so they're not exactly cool or very dry).

I was wondering: what would be a good pantry replacement in that situation?

A cooler (without the ice/water inside, of course) seems like a good replacement. Has anyone tried that and has practical experience with it?

Any other ideas for containers that can be used in an apartment as a pantry?

Asked by Krzysztof Kowalczyk

Answer

Being near the oven doesn't necessarily mean that your cabinets aren't dry - they're probably as dry as any pantry.

I doubt a cooler is going to be significantly better than a cabinet. Without ice/water, it's just an insulator, so it'll resist change in temperature, which would tend to make the temperature variation inside it a little more moderate than that in the rest of your kitchen. (It'd also lag behind - it'll stay cooler as your kitchen warms up, then stay warmer as your kitchen cools down.) But more importantly, it's sealed, so there's no airflow. This may cause it to end up more humid than the rest of the kitchen.

The best thing is probably just to use the best available cabinets - low and as far from the oven as possible. They shouldn't heat up all that much from stove and oven use, and I'm guessing you use the oven more often in the winter, when the whole room is cooler anyway. If your kitchen is still getting too warm, try using a fan to circulate air with the rest of the apartment while cooking. Of course, in your case, in San Francisco, even the summers aren't that warm. You should really be fine using the cabinets. Failing that, you can always just buy a standalone shelf or cabinet, call it your pantry, and put it a little farther away.

If you're still having problems with spices not keeping well, you might want to just try to buy smaller quantities (if you have somewhere that sells them in bulk), or grind them yourself instead of buying ground spices. I wouldn't be overly concerned about storing them without light, either; so many people do just fine with spice racks (clear glass jars) on the counter.

Finally, some foods can also handle being stored in the refrigerator. Really depends what you're worried about!

Answered by Jefromi

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Can I safely roast a chicken for 4 to 5 hours on a low heat?

Question

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 for 5 hours, uncovered. The recipe mentions ensuring it reaches 85C internally.

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

Asked by Tea Drinker

Answer

I would suggest not roasting a chicken at such a low heat for so long. Here is a response to a similar question on another cooking forum:

A few days ago I printed out a recipe from peacefulnightdove "BEST Slow-Roasted Chicken". It sounded wonderful but was to be roasted at 250 F (126 C) degrees for 5 hours. That sounded like a low temperature to me, so I emailed the County Nutritionist and Health Agent where I lived. Here is her reply: Good for you JoAnn to be suspicious! That is definitely outside the USDA guidelines, and yes bacteria may well be growing for quite a while in there. Poultry especially should not be done at less than 325 degrees. You could use the same spices and onions, increase the temp to 325 and decrease the time. Figure about 20 min per pound for the time. The safest way is to use a meat thermometer, final temp in the thigh should be 180 degrees. http://community.tasteofhome.com/forums/t/173823.aspx

I would also suggest using a crockpot.

Answered by Vecta

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Masking the grass flavor of green tea

Question

I would like to start drinking green tea regularly.

Unfortunately I am much more of a coffee drinker than a tea drinker. On top of my general apathy towards tea I happen to think that green tea in particular tastes rather like grass. This seems worse when I oversteep it, but I pretty much always taste an unpalatable flavor. I have even experienced this flavor with green tea that contains other herbs for other flavor notes. Since I have good reasons for drinking green tea at the moment, I'm trying to get around them.

At the moment I'm masking the flavor with sugar, sometimes lemon juice, and non-dairy creamer. Is there something else that will counter the grassy flavor or at least mute it? If there is, why does it work?

Asked by justkt

Answer

Green tea is not to everyone's taste. You can try adding honey instead of sugar. As honey has more of a distinct flavour than just sugar it may help mask the green tea flavour more successfully. Another suggestion is to add some mint leaves if you're a fan of mint. If you're drinking green tea solely for health reasons the mint can be excellent for aiding digestion.

Certain tea companies also sell 'light' green tea. This can be more palatable, especially for people like yourself who don't like the taste of steeped green tea so changing your brand of tea might be helpful.

It may be that with perseverance you may acquire a taste for green tea (I personally used to hate camomile tea but continued to drink it every day and now it's my favourite).

Answered by nixy

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Is it okay to use a microwave in convection mode without the turntable?

Question

I just bought a muffin tin which is too large and certainly won't rotate on the turntable. My microwave doesn't have a "stop turntable" button. So is it okay if I remove it altogether and use just an oven rack to place my muffin tin on? Will it result in uneven baking?

Asked by Uday Kanth

Answer

I'm specifically answering your question "Is it okay to use a microwave in convection mode without the turntable?" -- Yes.

Your own answer points out the reality that if a pan is too large then the turn table will simply hit the sides of the microwave oven and then stop turning. There is nothing wrong with this. There is nothing wrong or damaging to have a metal tin touch the metal sides of your oven.

How was your baked items bottom? If you can sit your tin up so there is air flow under your tin, then you will improve the baking efficiency and it will bake more evenly.

CAUTION: If anyone else is reading this question and wondering about their own machine, then you really need to take caution about the "convention only" mode. You have to make sure there are NO microwaves in this mode or else your metal will conduct and you could have a serious explosion or break your microwave oven.

Answered by MADCookie

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Do flax seeds lose any of their nutritional benefits if cooked?

Question

I found a recipe on the internet in which half a cup of ground flax seeds are added to the mixture to make muffins.

Since there is flour and sugar in it I was wondering if that defeats the purpose of using flax seeds to increase your fiber intake and profit from all of their properties.

Thanks for your help.

Asked by Sergio Romero

Answer

Here's an article from WHFoods.com citing several sources from well-respected journals that says that "Research studies have shown that the healthy omega-3 oils and lignan phytonutrients in flaxseeds are surprisingly heat stable. Not only is it safe to leave whole flaxseeds at room temperature but you can also use them in baking." This is mainly true of the ground flax, but not the oil.

Here's a couple articles they cite:

• Hyvarinen HK, Pihlava JM, et al. Effect of processing and storage on the stability of flaxseed lignan added to bakery products. J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Jan 11;54(1):48-53.

• Manthey FA, Lee RE, Hall CA 3rd. Processing and cooking effects on lipid content and stability of alpha-linolenic acid in spaghetti containing ground flaxseed. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Mar 13;50(6):1668-71

As you probably know, flax seed has tons of benefits besides fiber including omega-3's, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. It's what they feed chickens to make those omega-3 eggs.

In general, using whole flax seeds is pretty pointless from a nutritional standpoint, as we don't really digest them (maybe if you really chew them really well :).

A great list of the benefits of flaxseeds can also be found on this site.

For another good vegetarian source of fiber and omega-3's, check out chia seeds which you can mix into water for a healthy drink, add to food, or use like flax seed as thickener.

Answered by paul

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What juicer is best for leafy greens and vegetables (like carrots)?

Question

There are many juicers out there and not any one juicer is best at juicing everything. I am specifically interested in juicing leafy greens and vegetables like carrots.

Asked by ericgorr

Answer

Hydraulic press juices such as the Norwalk first grind the produce into a pulp, then press the juice out of the pulp. The theory is that malic acid in green apple pulp can release more vitamins and minerals from the other vegetables and fruit. The hydraulic press action squeezes more juice out than other types of juicers. But you're looking at $2500 for a Norwalk.

Macerating juicers would be next, up around the $400+ mark. Gear crushing action, leafy vegetables no problem. Not as much juice extraction as the hydraulic press machines.

Then would come auger style juicers, they easily handle leafy vegetables and wheatgrass, but give a little less juice than the macerating juicers.

Finally the cheapest powered juicers, the centrifugal juicers. I've had trouble using them for leafy greens as there is not enough mass in the leaves to throw them forcefully against the chopping edges. Usually more solid vegetables are required to follow them to force them through.

Carrots are fine in all the juicers.

Answered by jontyc

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Estimating sugar & cream for a coffee service

Question

I'm helping to organize a workshop, and we're planning on providing coffee ... but not being in the catering business (nor a coffee drinker), I really have no idea how to estimate these things.

I found on Giant Food's catering tips page, the following recommendations:

• Plan on guests consuming a cup of coffee every 1.3 hours (3 drinks over 4 hours).
• Coffee consumption peaks in the morning, late afternoons and after meals; coffee drinkers will usually consume 1½ cups each.
• Don't forget cream and sugar and sugar substitutes!

I've also found an estimate of breakdown of caff/decaf/tea if male or female groups, and I've misplaced the link, but I had previously found a site talking about how the length of the breaks can affect how much coffee people consume (if they have 30 min, they have time to drink & get a refill).

... but I've been unable to find any recommendations on how much cream & sugar to plan for ... obviously, it's going to vary depending on how many people are watching their weight and possibly regional, but do any of you have rough guidelines? (or better advice for the coffee estimates in general?)

Asked by Joe

Answer

My company runs several coffee events per month. Here are some of my formulations that are a result of doing coffee tastings and events around Seattle:

3-oz of coffee by weight, brewed with 62oz water will yield and aiprot or a standard 12-cup pot of coffee (60-oz brewed coffee or 7 servings if you are using 8-oz hot cups). For coffee gigs I bring 1-pound of regular and 3-oz of decaf coffee per 25 guests. So for 50 guests you will need 2-pounds of regular and decaf is never more than 20% (even after dinner). So for 50 guests you will only need a half pound of decaf. And will probably not use more that one pot of decaf coffee.

Cream: 1-pint half & half per 25 guests. We just put the carton of half & half in a small bowl of ice. We use Organic Valley half & half with the little plastic cap/spout. It works well and is one less thing to clean up after the gig.

Sugar: 5 packets per 25 guests.

If you are worried about getting hit hard with coffee drinkers just double all of the above.

Answered by Darryl

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What flavor (besides chocolate) goes well with hazelnut?

Question

I have a family recipe for a to-die-for hazelnut torte with chocolate frosting. I want to bake it for an occasion coming up, but there will be at least two, possibly three people there who are allergic to chocolate. (No, none of them are related to each other. Just one of those things.) What sort of frosting can I make that will go well with the hazelnut, but which doesn't involve chocolate?

The cake is pretty sweet — equal parts sugar and ground hazelnuts, plus egg whites — so I usually make a bittersweet chocolate frosting by combining a good half or two-thirds cup of dutch cocoa with 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar, 6 tablespoons water, and 8 egg yolks, cooking until thickened, and when cooled mixing it with two sticks of unsalted butter. I'm thinking if I leave out the cocoa, I will have to substitute something for the volume as well as the flavor.

I often see raspberries paired with hazelnuts and chocolate. Do raspberries still go well with hazelnuts if there is no chocolate involved? Also, unsweetened raspberries tend toward the sour, while unsweetened chocolate is bitter; how would that affect things?

Asked by Marti

Answer

Coffee goes well with hazelnut and has a slightly bitter note, so you could make a coffee infused crème pâtissière by simply folding in a shot or two of espresso (or just some good strong coffee) into whipped cream (or make a coffee frosting).

Answered by ElendilTheTall

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Pre-mixing liquor — any downsides?

Question

I love Long Islands. In fact, all I make are Long Islands. Yet every time I make one, I have to independently mix the four liquors I use: Vodka, Tequila, Gin, and Rum. (plus I add lemon juice and splenda)

It seems to me it would be easier for me if I could pour all four bottles into one container and just pour my drinks out of that. (and store this container in the fridge indefinitely until ready for use) That way I don't have to worry about proportion (since I always mix them equally anyway). Is there any downside to doing this (aside from the obvious downside that I can no longer pour any other mixture)?

Asked by Kirk Woll

Answer

There should not be any problems with mixing alcohol as long as you don't introduce organics. I would suggest mixing the alcohols and leaving the lemon juice and splenda out until you pour a drink. Keeping alcohol cool and in a dark place. As for indefinitely, no. The amount of time it stays good is dependent on the amount of air in the bottle. Glass is always preferred if possible.

Answered by murisonc

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How do I steep mint for mint ice cream?

Question

My garden is brimming over with chocolate mint, and I want to make mint chocolate ice cream with it. The general plan is to use cocoa, as opposed to melting chocolate, and steep the chocolate mint in the cream. I have two questions: 1) how long should I allow the mint to steep in the cream, and 2) is it preferable to steep it cold or hot (over heat)?

Thank you in advance :)

Asked by Sabrina

Answer

You want to make a "mint infusion". Googling this will give you many recipes.

Basically you brew the mint like herbal tea:
Remove stems,
Bruise the leaves a little,
Add the leaves to a cup of very hot water,
Let steep for a few minutes,
strain and throw away the mushy leaves and use the liquid for your flavoring.

The liquid will be brown as you are destroying the chlorophyll that makes the leaves green. In most applications I add food coloring to fix this. As you are making chocolate mint ice cream this should not be a problem.

Save some of your mint leaves to use as a garnish.

I love chocolate mint and I am very excited for you having a bumper crop of it.

Answered by Sobachatina

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What makes bread mold grow; light, air or both?

Question

I'm building a breadbox that will hold multiple loaves of bread. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to put a gasket around the lid to reduce air infiltration but I don't know what is more important. So is the key to keep out light or air or both?

Asked by murisonc

Answer

Mold grows best in warm, moist conditions. It's a fungus, not a plant; light has nothing to do with it. Fresh air doesn't really make it grow either, but circulating air does help reduce condensation, depriving mold of moisture. So you really don't want to seal a breadbox - that'll just help create a nice moist environment for the mold to grow in.

Breadboxes are really just about keeping other pests away from your bread, while still being able to keep it at room temperature. (It goes stale faster in the fridge.) If you're worried about mold growth, you probably just want to freeze some of the bread.

Answered by Jefromi

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Does nutritional yeast expire or go bad?

Question

I have a tub of nutritional yeast with a "best by" date of February 2012 (at the time of this posting, it's about a month past that). Is it still good to use? It still looks and smells the same as it always has.

In general, what is the shelf life of nutritional yeast?

Does nutritional yeast ever expire or otherwise go bad? Or just lose nutritional value?

Asked by Ben Lee

Answer

Your question: is it good to use. My answer: yes.

1. You say it smells and looks normal. That's an important clue.

2. We are talking about a dry product. No moist means no growth, no toxins...

3. Best before date. Wikipedia:

Most shelf life dates are used as guidelines based on normal and expected handling and exposure to temperature. Use prior to the expiration date does not necessarily guarantee the safety of a food or drug, while a product is not always dangerous nor ineffective after the expiration date

Answered by BaffledCook

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How to make boiled and partially fried vegetables palatable?

Question

I boiled carrot and beans pieces till they were soft, fried onions and green chillies in a pan, added 1kg of the carrot and beans to the pan, few pinches of salt and some powdered spices.
Fried this for 20min and the taste of the veggies were still bland. No taste at all.
I was told to add red chilly powder to it, but I did not have any at 11pm in the night. Kept the pan in the fridge.

I can buy red-chilly powder today and try continuing to fry it.

Do you have any suggestions on what I could add to it, how much chilly powder to add, how long to fry it without spoiling it or any other precautions and tips to make it into a tasty dish?

Asked by Nav

Answer

I would do two things to make them more palatable. 1) Boil the briefly (5-10 mins depending on how hard of a veg they are) in salted water. Something like a tablespoon of kosher salt per 4 quarts water. 2) After they are parboiled, I then will saute, simmer, or braise (depending on the recipe/mood/vegetable) in a highly flavored sauce or spice mix until they are cooked.

So if I was cooking the carrots and (green/string?) beans and wanted to use chili powder I would chop some onion and saute that in olive oil while the other veg parboils. Then, add 1-2 tbls chile powder to the onions (and maybe some garlic, b/c everything is better w/ garlic) and let those flavors meld while you drain the veg. Once you have the veggies drained add them to the onions and spice w/ a bit of liquid (wine, beer, stock; maybe 1/2 cup) and let them cook on low until they are as done as you would like them.

Answered by amedinasmith

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Resources for cooking for a person with type 2 diabetes

Question

I am a private chef and will have to cook for 16 days for a person recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

The meals I'm required to prepare are lunch and dinner. There will be six people and dinners are served family style.

I have occasionally cooked for the family in the past and the meals have always been simple, eclectic and very healthy made from the highest quality ingredients which I have access to. I have never baked for this family and don't see any reason to start now.

What I need is information and resources on low-glycemic, diabetic diets. We also love to eat creative, fun and interesting foods so that should make it easier. I'm just curious what ideas are there, so please share.

Asked by Adam S

Answer

Recently diagnosed Type II Diabetes patients are frequently prescribed a low-carbohydrate diet. The type of carbohydrate ("slow" or "simple" are familiar terms) doesn't matter so much as the total number of carbohydrates.

A person with this dietary prescription would have learned to count gross carbohydrates and to eat the same number of carbohydrates at every meal. Their calories ought to come primarily from protein and fat, but also from a modest portion of carbohydrates.

Therefore, something such as a salad w/ dressing, a protein, a vegetable side, and a modest portion of starchy food would probably be most appropriate. Legumes, and other fiber-rich sources of carbohydrates, have the added benefits of being more satisfying and nutritious (as opposed to, say, white rice). They also sport a low glycemic-index.

For example: Salad, a reasonable portion of a creamy-type chicken dish, a steamed (non-starchy) vegetable side, and a modest portion of whole grains, legumes, or starchy vegetables.

Dessert, for the recently diagnosed, is probably too optimistic. Something along the lines of a low-sugar lemon sorbet might work. Sugar substitutes, although they taste bad, are medically acceptable.

You can find specific recommendations on the number of carbohydrates for diabetics on various websites, but it's probably easiest to just ask your client about their individual situation.

There is one extra consideration that is easy for a cook to miss: thickeners, such as cornstarch or flour, can have a very high carbohydrate content; certain vegetables, while they do not seem starchy, actually have quite a bit of sugar. If your client is seriously following the diet I've described, then such carbohydrate sources must be taken into account.

Answered by shotwell

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Is there any truth to the idea that you shouldn't multiply seasonings when multiplying a recipe?

Question

I often hear cooks discuss that idea that if you are multiplying, say, a recipe for 4 to be a for 32, that you shouldn't multiply some herbs, spices, or salt. I've never understood any reason why this should be true. Maybe something to do with surface area to volume ratios, or cooking times? Does anyone have a real explanation, or is this nonsense?

Asked by Michael at Herbivoracious

Answer

The notion that salt or spices specifically don't scale linearly sounds like nonsense to me. In any recipe involving salt and water, the salt is dissolved, so all that matters is the concentration, and that concentration is going to be the same with linear scaling.

Scaling in general is problematic when scaling more than 2x or 4x. When you take into account that:

• Recipes targeted at home cooks are imprecise to begin with and often use volumetric measurements that are sensitive to heat, humidity, and other environmental conditions, so the imprecision is magnified at larger scale;

• Larger portions of food may get cooked less evenly and/or at less consistent temperatures due to the volume/surface area ratio; that part is correct, but it has nothing to do with salt, it has to do with your equipment. On the stovetop, most of the heat is coming from the bottom of the pan unless you use induction, and even in an oven you've got one or two heat sources radiating heat in a specific pattern.

• Cooking times are also going to vary due to changes in things like rates of evaporation. The total amount of heat you're able to deliver at any given time generally does not increase as quickly as the amount of heat you need to deliver, so very often you need to increase cooking times.

I'm sure you probably already know all this, but the reason I'm pointing it all out is that I'm pretty sure that this odd-sounding assertion about non-linear salt/spice scaling is due to some mutation or misunderstanding of general scaling issues.

Probably, salt and spices are typically present in very small quantities in most recipes, and those quantities are already wild guesses much of the time, so the effect of compounding all this wild inaccuracy, especially with volumetric measurements, is actually pretty noticeable at large scale. Scaling sucks with these ingredients because the initial quantities and scaling method are both nonsense.

Assuming you have a precise recipe that gives weight measurements, and you scale by weight, then you're not going to have any problems as long as you either cook it in batches or adjust your cooking time/temp accordingly.

I suppose I could be wrong, but I spent 20 minutes digging for some evidence to contradict my claims above and came up dry; you'd think that somebody would have presented some evidence if the claim were true.

Answered by Aaronut

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Bacon substitution

Question

I do a great simple dish that involves bacon so I'm interested whether there is a vegetarian substitute for bacon. It would be quite useful having one since I use it all the time.

Here's the recipe:

I make small ball doughs that I boil for a couple of minutes until they are a bit firmer. In the mean time I fry bacon pieces (not slices but small square pieces) and eventually add dough balls to bacon and add sour cream.

Asked by rlesko

Answer

Bac'n Bits are, in fact, vegetarian. They're a passably good crunchy garnish.

There's also Bacon Salt; which has many variety and spin-off products. It's vegetarian and kosher!

Answered by KatieK

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Why is it called coffee cake?

Question

There is no coffee in any of the recipes I've seen for coffee cake, so why is it called that?

Asked by John

Answer

It is traditionally served with coffee when getting together with friends for coffee; kind of like tea-cakes are served at tea-time.

Answered by KatieK

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What's the point of using sugar in savory dishes?

Question

I never get why people add a sweet substance to a savory dish. Especially in something like a a curry or noodles. People say it balances out the flavors. But which flavor is it actually balancing out?

Asked by Uday Kanth

Answer

Hot Sour Salty Sweet

Sugar balances both salty and sour flavors in dishes. Adding just a little sugar makes salty things taste less salty and sour things taste less sour, without actually reducing the amount of salt or acid in the recipe.

For example, the liquid base of the Pad Thai recipe I follow contains chili powder, fish sauce, tamarind, and light palm sugar. The palm sugar balances out the sour from the tamarind and the salt from the fish sauce. Without it, the noodles would come out too sour and too salty.

I don't know the physiological reasons for this. Would be interesting to hear them if someone knew ...

Answered by FuzzyChef

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Name the vegetable from Nilgiri hills

Question

I bought this in Ooty market and was told that it is a Nilgiri hills specific vegetable. It is pink on the outside and white inside with two hard black seeds in the upper half of it. It tastes sour, very similar to unripe strawberry.

Now, I'd like to know what the name of this vegetable is and whether it can be used in any dishes. Until know, I've been eating it as a snack, just like I would any other bite sized food.

Asked by rlesko

Answer

I think it is a fruit called Chambakka.

There are a few recipes for chambakka achaar, which means pickled chambakka.

But I would try this chambakka jelly recipe. It looks delicious!

Answered by doctoraw

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Why does whip cream dispenser sometimes produce “ragged” cream?

Question

Sometimes I make whipped cream in my ISI cream whipper and it comes out beautifully fluffy and smooth, and other times when I dispense it, the cream looks "ragged" for lack of a better description. Any ideas what factor accounts for the difference?

Asked by Michael at Herbivoracious

Answer

When I first got my iSi I had wildly inconsistent results, including exactly what you're describing. I'm not sure if you're just whipping cream or if you're whipping other cream-based preparations, but the most common reason for this happening is that the liquid going in isn't quite, er, liquid. Any solid particles of any kind will almost assuredly cause sputtering, which is why they recommend that you strain everything through a fine sieve.

Other things I've learned about the iSi whippers to help prevent these inconsistent results:

• Ignore everything the instructions tell you about how to charge it. They're somewhere between very misleading and complete nonsense. What I actually do is this:

  1. Screw on a charger as described.

  2. Shake it vigorously, as if it were a cocktail shaker.

  3. Let it rest for a moment, then shake again. Repeat the shaking 4-5 times.

  4. Finally, remove the charger and screw the cap back on.

  The instructions are full of ominous warnings about not being able to discharge it properly if you shake it too much because the nozzle will get blocked or something. Never happened. What's far more likely is that the cream doesn't actually whip fully or there are large air pockets. Do not err on the side of caution here; many "external" iSi recipes such as those you find in the HRC actually tell you to shake frequently as the dispenser chills. I'm not sure if I'd do this with cream (as opposed to a water-based foam) but I can't stress this enough, don't skimp on the shaking.

• If you need to chill it some more after charging, make sure to chill it on its side. The instructions are quite explicit about this and in this case they're actually correct.

• Shake it again after you chill it and before you dispense any. This is very important and conspicuously absent from the instructions. You shouldn't need to shake as much as the first pass, but some of the gas does seem to separate over time.

• Start by dispensing the cream very, very slowly, until you actually see some come out, then you can apply more pressure as needed. If you squeeze the trigger as hard as you can right off the bat, you'll just end up depressurizing the thing before any cream has a chance to come out. Every single time I've pulled too hard, I've ended up with spatters.

• Finally, make sure that you actually thoroughly clean it all between uses, including the tiny horizontal hole in the metal tube that you screw the tips onto (I forget what it's called) as well as the socket that piece goes into. Any blockages whatsoever, no matter how small, can cause at least minor sputtering.

Hope some of that helps. If you do all of that, you shouldn't have any sputtering issues. Last 7 or 8 times I've used mine, I haven't had any.

Answered by Aaronut

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Exploding or alcoholic soda

Question

Well, I tried to follow a very simple recipe from "Cooking for Geeks" for Ginger Lemon Soda.

I made a simple ginger syrup by cooking ~200g of chopped ginger together with 2 cups of sugar, then I used half of that syrup together with 1/2 a teaspoon of yeast (from the local home-brew store), and topped off with 900 ml of water.

The recipe says: Let rest at room temperature for two days, then refrigerate and drink.

Well, for the first batch, I had so much pressure that when I opened it, it came out like champagne and I lost half of the soda.

For the second batch, I put it in the fridge after one day. Now the level of carbonation is just right, but it's still a bit alcoholic. I had half a glass and I can definitely tell that there was some alcohol involved.

I wonder: What is the way to go to get nice sparkling soda that isn't also high in alcohol?

Asked by Lagerbaer

Answer

This recipe is listed under the section for fermentation, together with beer, wine and mead. The section starts with the sentence "Wine, beer and traditional sodas all depend on yeast to ferment sugar into alcohol and generate carbonation".

I don't know enough about the history of soda to know if early sodas were alcoholic. Or rather, I am quite sure that there were alcoholic, fermented, carbonated drinks long before what we call "soda" today existed, but I don't know if they were called soda.

Whatever the language problem is, this recipe is definitely intended to produce a low-alcohol beverage, comparable to beer. If you want carbonated syrup, you should buy a carbonating machine. These take a bullet full of CO2 and press it into the drink base you have selected.

As for the too-strong carbonation, this is probably due to the vague term "room temperature". Yeast growth speed depends on temperature. Because it is an exponential growth, even small changes in temperature can lead to vastly different results. If you want to repeat the experiment despite the alcohol production, try better controlling for the temperature. As I don't brew, I can't tell you the temperature for optimal carbonation after two days, you will have to find it out by yourself.

Answered by rumtscho

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How do I control the smoke from a chimney starter?

Question

I'm seasoning my new Weber Smoky Mountain smoker according to the excellent instructions, given for free, on Amazon, by a 20x BBQ grand champion. (What an amazing thing for this guy to do!)

Anyway, I'm using a Weber RapidFire chimney starter, and both times I've used it so far, it's completely filled the entire backyard with wood and paper smoke.

My upstairs neighbors sleep with their windows cracked when it's warmer (which is when I'll be BBQing), and so I'd really like to not smoke them out of their own bedrooms at 6 in the morning. Any advice for minimizing smoke when using a chimney starter?

There's some advice here about using only one sheet of newspaper doused with a bit of oil, but I don't know if that mitigates smoke.

Asked by Rich Armstrong

Answer

First off, I'd cease using paper as your tinder. While it is the cheapest way to get your charcoal started, it does create a lot of smoke and ash flying around. And avoid oil-soaked paper. This will create even more smoke (I speak from experience).

I started using firestarter cubes, as they burn hotter and longer, meaning my coals are ready for cooking faster. Also, another side effect has been that the only smoke I see is from the charcoal itself. I started using the Weber ones, but they are expensive and don't burn as long. So I switched to a different fire lighter. You'll have to forgive me, as the name escapes me -- once I get home I'll edit this answer with a picture of the bag. Anyway, they're cheap, at about US$ 5-6 for a bag of 72. And they burn long, hot, and smoke-free.

The only remaining problem you'll have is that when charcoal begins igniting from a low starting temperature, it puts out quite a bit of smoke. If you are still worried about smoking your neighbors out, you will probably want to experiment with different brands and types. Stubbs briquettes are a bit less smoky on ignition, as is most lump charcoal. If you use lump, though, you should make sure you pack the charcoal ring in your WSM nice and tight, or it will burn very hot and fast. Also, put a piece of expanded steel on the charcoal grate to keep the small pieces of charcoal from falling through.

Answered by Sean Hart

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What temperature to cook a pork tenderloin at?

Question

What temperature do you normally cook a pork tenderloin at? I was searching on the internet and saw anywhere from 325° to 450° and couldn't seem to find a good answer.

Also, does it depending on how long you want to cook it or in how you prepare it before cooking?

Asked by amurra

Answer

With a pork tenderloin:

Season the meat, sear all sides in a very hot pan, and then finish in the oven at 350 degrees until the internal temp. hits 145. Let sit for 10 minutes, then cut 'er up.

If you need it done faster, a higher oven temp will accomplish this, but may compromise quality. But like I said, for a tenderloin, you don't want too low, or too high. Just watch the internal temp., that is the key.

Answered by mrwienerdog

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Will potatoes discolor if I pre-make scalloped potatoes?

Question

I'm planning to make scalloped potatoes with russet potatoes and cream and cheese. If I prepare and assemble the dish in the evening, can I store it (covered in the refrigerator) overnight and bake it the next day? Will the potatoes discolor or soften in the cream?

Asked by KatieK

Answer

They should be fine.

We sometimes do it in the morning for dinner and it gives no problem. Just make sure all the potatoes are covered with liquid, or those pieces would discolour.

Answered by Mien

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Watery liquid on top of homemade yogurt

Question

I made homemade yogurt tonight, except it didn't turn out as I expected. I followed this recipe with a few exceptions.

I made it with three quarts of milk instead of 4 (or two). I modified the amount of "culture" I used accordingly.

I also added flavorings after the milk had cooled and the new culture extracted. I added some lemon juice (thought it was lime, mixed up the bottle). And added some Jelly Belly Green Apple Syrup for icicle pops or something.

I also put it in 8 oz jars instead of 32 oz jars.

The jar with the new culture/start in it, turned out fine. Nice and solid. However, the other jars are about half liquid and half solid. Did adding an acid (lemon juice) mess something up? Is this expected?

What do I need to do next time to make sure this doesn't happen. I haven't tasted it yet so I don't know if it's good or not.

Asked by Malfist

Answer

We also faced the same problem and found that when the quantity of water is more, the problem persits. The solution is very simple. Boil the milk as long as you wish. (Make sure you dont evaporate the liquid part). Depending on the consistency of the thickness of the milk, stop the heating and proceed with subsequent steps.

Also, make sure that the extracts that you add, should have low water content.

Answered by Anil

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What's the best method for making iced coffee?

Question

How should we make iced coffee at home? We only have a French press.

Asked by Rebekah

Answer

French presses work pretty well for cold brewed coffee. Just put the coffee and the water in and let it "brew" for a long period of time, then press it down to remove the grounds. Recipe for cold brewed coffee from the New York Times.

Answered by Chris

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How can I tell when ground beef is fully cooked?

Question

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

Asked by hasan

Answer

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.

Answered by Mien

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How do cooks prepare risotto in a restaurant?

Question

I'm not looking for a Risotto recipe. I make a pretty nice risotto, thank you very much.

But, making a risotto takes about 20 minutes. It seems unreasonable to me that a cook would start from scratch in a restaurant.

So how do they do it? There must be some pre-cooking involved, and then it's finished off when ordered in about 5 minutes.

Asked by Chris Cudmore

Answer

It's actually hard to hold when it's almost all the way cooked -- it'll start getting gluey on you if you let it cool off, but could start scorching on the bottom if it's not stirred, and get too runny if you keep adding stock.

I saw a show and Mario Bitali said that risotto isn't finicky in the middle -- so you can cook it part way, cool it down (I think he said he spread it on sheet pans to cool quickly), then can add hot stock and cook it from that point, so you've already got a 10 minute head start.

I've also been to a restaurant where it was only served on the hour and half hour.

(okay, I admit it ... it was on Martha Stewart, about 12 years ago ... I was living in Kentucky, and didn't have cable, so there weren't many options of what to watch in the morning while waiting for the others in my carpool)

Answered by Joe

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What to do with under ripe figs?

Question

It has been a cool summer and our tree has a large amount of under ripe figs. The frosts will be here in a couple of weeks so they need to be picked.

So what can be done with a large number of under ripe figs?

Asked by Simon

Answer

Figs are climateric fruits that is, they will continue to ripen after being picked from the tree (because they will start releasing ehtylene). However, contrary to other climateric fruits (such as bananas) this only works if the fruit is picked in the later stage of its developement.

From: Regulatory mechanisms of ethylene biosynthesis in response to various stimuli during maturation and ripening in fig fruit (Ficus carica L.). - Owino et al., Plant Physiol Biochem. - 2006

The fig is a climacteric fruit and treatment with ethylene in the later part of stage II stimulates growth, accelerates the onset of the rise in respiration, induces ethylene production and promotes ripening. A typical respiration climacteric is not displayed by fruit harvested before the natural initiation of ripening on the tree. However fruit in which ripening had been initiated on the tree gave a normal climacteric rise and ripened fully after detachment from the tree. Thus in many aspects the fig behaves as a typical climacteric fruit, but as a result of its growth pattern, the ethylene production preceding ripening occur during a phase of active cell expansion.

What many people suggest, is to put some olive oil on the eye of the fig. I have never done it, but apparently you only need a very small amount around the eye to hasten ripening.

Here are two links to forums explaining this fig-oiling technique 1, 2

Apparently this will speed up a lot the ripening of the fruits (although some people seem to report they are less sweet).

This works because olive oil will increase the release of ethylene from figs.

From the same paper I cited above:

It has been known since the 3rd Century BC that a drop of olive oil applied to the ostiole (a process termed as Oleification) of the fig fruit stimulates growth and leads to uniform ripening of fruits. The application of several vegetable oils such as rape seed oil, sesame oil, soybean oil, camellia oil and linseed oil also had similar effects as the olive oil whereas animal oil stimulated fruit ripening but the effect was less than that of the vegetable oils. It was also observed that refined olive oil was more effective in accelerating maturation of the fig fruit as compared to unrefined olive oil or other vegetable oils.

[...]

A transient induction of ethylene was observed in fruit treated with olive oil, with ethylene production increasing a day after treatment and later declining

Answered by nico

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Why do English recipes of “sauce marchand de vin” call for Worcestershire sauce?

Question

The “sauce marchand de vin” is a French red wine thick sauce typically served with meat. Its recipe in my French cookbooks call for two main ingredients: red wine and brown stock. It also uses shallots, butter, flour and black pepper, but I understand the two ingredients cited previously are the main ones.

However, many recipes I can find online (here and there, for example) on English-speaking websites add Worcestershire sauce. Not all of them do, but I still wonder: what purpose does this extra Worcestershire sauce add? I'm not too familiar with it, but if I understand it might bring some spiciness (already somewhat covered by black pepper).

So, what do you think it brings to the recipe and overall taste?

Asked by F'x

Answer

Worcestershire Sauce is added where the recipe wants a fast way to develop or add savoury richness, umami.

It's often used where umami would develop over time with slow careful cooking (and heavy bottomed pans). Adding this extra ingredient is a good cheat where you just want that kick without the wait.

Answered by vwiggins

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New potatoes in pressure cooker with salt: how to optimize water amount and cooking time?

Question

I am trying to replicate a recipe that my father-in-law performed once at home… well, not much of a recipe, rather a cooking style, as you'll see.

The idea is to cook new potatoes (specifically, new Ratte potatoes) in a pressure cooker with salt. The potatoes are easy to find (at least here in France), and are quite small: about 5 cm in length. After scrubbing them but leaving the skin on, he put them at the bottom of the pressure cooker, with a little water and quite a bit of sea salt. After a small cooking time (which I estimated at 5 minutes), the potatoes were cooked just enough and crusted with salt.

Now, I have tried that three times myself, and the results were disheartening. The first time, I had put too little water, and burnt the bottom of the potatoes. The second time, there was too much water, and I ended up with regular pressure-cooked potatoes floating in salty water. The third time, I overcooked and while there was no excess of water, half the potatoes has exploded into mashed potatoes (and there was too much salt).

How could I get an idea of how much water, salt and cooking time is needed for this recipe? Trial-and-error is not working very much here, and I have no idea how to figure out these quantities.

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PS: it's not relevant to the question, but he made with that an olive oil/coriander/chili sauce that was real good. That I managed to reproduce, at least!

Asked by F'x

Answer

The only time I've ever heard of something similar is Salt Potatoes

www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/travel/escapes/22rNYfood.html

allrecipes.com/recipe/syracuse-salt-potatoes/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_potatoes

but I've never seen them done in a pressure cooker. However, most pressure cooking charts (http://fastcooking.ca/pressure_cookers/cooking_times_pressure_cooker.php for example) list the cooking time of whole new potatoes at about 5-8 minutes. If it was me I would try one of the salt potato recipes and just cook them for less time.

Answered by djmadscribbler

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How to test that a knife is sharp enough?

Question

As per the question - how to I test that a knife is sharp enough?
And/or, how do you know when a knife needs sharpening?

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Edit:

Yesterday I attempted (I feel quite successfully) to hone my knives for the first time ever (requiring me to purchase a honing steel), which immediately made a rather noticable difference (I shall be honing them regularly from now on).

Not sure whether additionally sharpening them as well would be a good idea?

The suggested tomato and paper tests make sense, and I shall try them in the near future and see..

Asked by DMA57361

Answer

I usually notice when cutting onions and tomatoes. With a very sharp knife cutting an onion doesn't cause much tears at all. As it dulls though it does more crushing than slicing which releases more gas into the air, which makes you cry more. Ripe tomatoes help because they are so tender. If it becomes difficult to slice a tomato without crushing it, your knife is too dull.

A well used, properly cared for knife should require sharpening every 6-18 months, depending on usage. Mine get sharpened yearly.

You may find it beneficial to read these related questions, and their answers:

• http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1137/how-can-i-safely-improve-my-cutting-technique
• http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/315/how-do-you-care-for-your-knives
• http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1804/why-not-put-knives-in-the-dishwasher

Answered by hobodave

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Does Julia Child's Crème Brûlée work?

Question

In "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", Julia et al. explain that Crème Brûlée is simply Crème Anglaise (Light Custard Sauce) made with whipping cream instead of milk, half the amount of sugar and then chilled.

I made a couple of attempts but it didn't set. Here's a shortened version of the recipe:

1/4 cup sugar 4 yolks 1 tsp cornstarch or potato starch (optional, but I went with the potato starch) 1 3/4 cup boiling whipping cream

Beat sugar into the yolks until they reach the "ribbon" stage. Beat in the optional starch. Pour the boiling milk in a stream of droplets into the yolks whilst beating. Set the mixture over a moderate heat, stirring slowly and continuously until the sauce thickens enough to coat the spoon with a light creamy layer. During this time the mixture should not go above 165 degrees F (without starch) or 170 degrees (with). I also added an optional tablespoon of orange liqueur for flavour.

I beat the mixture at just under 170 degrees for around 30 minutes without it thickening up much. On the second attempt I used more starch (about a tablespoon) and it thickened up, but still didn't set after chilling overnight. Any ideas?

Asked by Chris Steinbach

Answer

Most creme brulees require baking, however after a little research I did find a recipe in "On Cooking" (Sarah Labensky/Michael Hause) that came from Chef Vincent Guerithault of Vincent on Camelback in Phoenix, AZ and his was similar in that it was not baked.

First, just making creme anglaise with heavy cream isn't going to do anything to let it set up into a firm custard. More egg yolks or starch would be needed.

Supposing that this really does work and it was something you perhaps did, my guess would be that it was either mixed too much (breaking down the proteins trying to link together) or too vigorously (incorporating air which weakened the protein links). In your description you say you "beat it". Did you beat it or stir it? It should be stirred back and forth zig-zagging across the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or heat-safe rubber spatula to keep from whipping air into it.

Time, temperature, and eggs/dairy ratio are going to be the main issues in getting custards to set.

Egg proteins begin to set at 160 degrees but curdle at 180 so there's very little "wiggle" room temperature wise.

According to Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise": 2 egg yolks will just barely thicken 1 cup of milk or cream. Her Creme Anglaise recipe uses 5 egg yolks to 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream which is more yolks and less liquid than Julia's and this isn't intended to set up. 1 teaspoon of starch isn't going to provide the thickening power that is needed, it's there to keep the yolks from curdling as easily.

The recipe I use and many others I've referenced (including Chef Vincent's), use a ratio of about 6-7 yolks per cup of cream.

Also, if using a starch, you need to nearly bring the custard mixture to a boil (as is common in puddings and cream pie fillings) otherwise an enzyme in egg yolks known as alpha-amylase will eat away at the starch bonds and break them down into a watery mess. Chef Vincent's does not use any starch.

If you want to use that recipe, I would increase it to 10 egg yolks. After the hot cream is tempered into the egg yolks then return to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until very thick but do not let it boil. Remove it from the heat and strain into a clean metal bowl and chill over an ice bath to cool quickly. Once cool, spoon into your desired serving dish or a cookie cup and caramelize the top with sugar.

Answered by Darin Sehnert

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Is cooking with hydrogen peroxide an accepted practice?

Question

I had some pork (shoulder) I had to use today, suspecting it might be unsafe tomorrow.

So I thought I'd soak it in some hydrogen peroxide, about 2-3% concentration to at least get rid of any surface bacteria.

After about 10 minutes, the pork looked half-cooked and felt extremely pliable. I assume the proteins had denatured like in a ceviche. Stir-frying it quickly to finish it off took less than a minute and it was really tender.

Is cooking with hydrogen peroxide an accepted practice?

Asked by jontyc

Answer

The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety offers the following information and advice:

Use of Hydrogen Peroxide in Food Processing

1. Because of its strong oxidising property, hydrogen peroxide is used as a bleaching agent in some foods such as wheat flour, edible oil, egg white etc. in countries like the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
2. It is also allowed to be used as an antimicrobial agent in food, e.g. milk, and as a sterilizing agent for food packaging materials.

and

Safety of Hydrogen Peroxide

1. Oral ingestion of 3% hydrogen peroxide solutions (household strength) generally does not result in severe toxicity but may result in vomiting, mild irritation to mucosa and burns in the mouth, throat, oesophagus and stomach. Ingestion of higher concentration, e.g. >10%, can result in more dangerous sequelae such as burns to mucus membranes and gut mucosa.
2. Hydrogen peroxide is unstable and would decompose in contact with food and after cooking.

and, finally,

Advice to the Trade

1. If hydrogen peroxide is used in processing food, only food grade hydrogen peroxide should be used in processing food.

2. The amount of hydrogen peroxide to be used in food processing should be limited to the amount sufficient for the purpose.

3. Appropriate measures should be taken to remove residual hydrogen peroxide from the finished products.

Based on this information, it seems there is some precedent for using hydrogen peroxide in a cooking environment.

Answered by Eli Lansey

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