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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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.

---

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 recognize when American style chewy cookies are done?

Question

I made chewy chocolate chip cookies. The recipe gave baking time suggestions, but noted

check your cookies before they’re done; depending on your scoop size, your baking time will vary

and suggested to bake them "until the edges are lightly toasted". However, I used dark brown sugar, so my dough was much darker than in the pictures, it was an ochre shade. I didn't notice any changes in color, and I don't think I could in the dark dough, but my second sheet got rather hard after cooling, I suspect I overbaked them.

How can I notice the right moment to take cookies out of the oven?

Asked by rumtscho

Answer

Most cookie recipes (including the Nestle Tollhouse recipe) call for 9 - 11 minutes at 375 ° F (for a 3-bite sized cookie). Within this range, finding the exact time (and temperature) for your preferred done-ness and with your equipment can be a fussy business.

One of the best indicators is the darkening color at the outer edge of the cookie, as shown in the last picture in your recipe. (For what it's worth, substituting dark brown sugar for brown sugar may make a significant difference in the outcome of the cookie.)

You can also gently poke the edge of a cookie to test it. (Only do this if your fingers are used to enough kitchen abuse to be OK with poking hot cookies and gooey melty chocolate.) The edge of the cookie should be a little crispy and have a texture when done. When un-done, it will be liquid and gooey, like the middle of the cookie.

If no other methods prove useful, I fall back to the "test cookie" method, where I bake one cookie at at time at different intervals of time (30 seconds), wait until they cool, and then re-use the time from the best resulting cookie. (Same for dialing the best temperature.) Go with a slightly overdone cookie for a tie breaker; when baking your batches of cookies, the extra mass will take a little longer to bake to the same done-ness. Yes, this is a tedious and fussy procedure, but once you've got this figured out, you can replicate it ever time. And, as with all baking, practice makes perfect.

Answered by KatieK

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Can you estimate how long it takes to reduce a liquid?

Question

In a lot of recipes, there is a step that includes reducing your liquid. In most sauces, this isn't a problem, since you just need to thicken it and that's something you can see and doesn't take a long time.

However, last week I was making a base for a sauce, that included water, vinegar and white wine. The recipe asked me to reduce it till it was about 1/3 of the original amount. I didn't think it would take as long as it did and as a result, everything was ready except the sauce.

Is there a way to calculate how fast something reduces? I can understand it would depend on the ingredients, on the surface area and on the temperature, but assume that I know these variables.

Asked by Mien

Answer

If you're boiling something rapidly, and it's not in a terribly deep, narrow pot, then essentially all of the heat output of the burner is going into turning water into steam. The latent heat of vaporization of water is 2260 kJ/kg, so if you want to reduce something by a volume V, and your stove has power P, the time required is:

t = V * (1 g/mL) * (2260 J/g) / P

If V happens to be in mL, and P is in W (J/s):

t (s) = V / P * 2260

This would be modified slightly if you're using a really tall, skinny pot, since the convection within the pot, from the bottom to the top of the liquid, would be less efficient, with more heat transferred to the sides of the pot and out into the air, but I doubt you're actually going to try to reduce something like that. The P here is the effective power; for example, a gas burner wastes a lot of heat out the sides, so the advertised power will be higher. See TFD's answer for approximate efficiencies.

If you don't know the power of your stove, in all honesty, the easiest way to measure it would probably be to just see how long it takes to boil away a given volume of water, and work backwards. To get an accurate result, you should not boil a pot dry - once the water is a thin enough layer, the heat transfer might start working differently, with the pot itself heating up more, and water splattering. So you could, for example, put in a liter of water, boil away at the stove setting you intend to measure until it's substantially reduced in volume, record the time, then pour it out to measure how much you boiled away. At this point, knowing the power output might be overkill, though; you can really just measure the time per volume reduction, and use that, unless you care about the power for other reasons.

Trying to deduce the power of the stove from, say, the temperature of an empty pot or of the burner without a pot on it (assuming it's electric) would be difficult; you'd have to deal with the heat transfer between metal and air, and the convection in the air.

Dependence on ingredients shouldn't be significant - you're still just boiling water, unless there's a substantial amount of alcohol, in which case the latent heat of vaporization will be different. Pure alcohol has a latent heat of vaporization of 841 kJ/kg; I haven't found a good table for mixtures.

For solutions, as I noted in the comments, the latent heat of vaporization should be that of water, plus/minus the heat of solution of the solutes (I forget which direction that's measured in). The most common solutes are probably salt and sugar, which have heats of solution of 70 and 16 J/g, respectively. (I found this table, and converted.) The next most common thing I could think of that might be present in substantial concentrations is citric acid; this paper reports a heat of solution of -57 J/g. In all these cases it's small compared to the latent heat of vaporization of water, so pretending the liquid is water should be a good approximation. It's possible that things change if you're reducing really far: heat of solution does depend on concentration. That is, things are different thermodynamically (statistical mechanically?) in a nearly-saturated sugar syrup than in slightly sweet water.

Answered by Jefromi

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How can you know that your bread is done?

Question

Most bread recipes give an estimate to how long that bread must bake. However, I find it hard to check whether it's done or not. I don't have a thermometer, and I don't think the toothpick trick works with bread.

Is there a way to know if your bread is fully baked?

Asked by Mien

Answer

Very simply, bake it for the recommended time in the recipe. Then if it looks golden brown (note that if the air in the oven is not humid enough the bread may stay pale, on a side note a humid oven helps to develop a good crust), tap it in on it's base and if it sounds hollow its done. If it feels soft in the base and not hollow or If its still not golden brown, put it back in the oven for a few minutes then try the tap check again. Although you stated you dislike the thermometer technique, for others reading the bread should have an internal temperature of 200F or 94C, if not return it to the oven for a few minutes until it is.

Answered by Sebiddychef

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How to decide the baking temperature when recipe doesn't mention it?

Question

On what factors does the temperature setting depend?

Of course if I have to bake a stone, I would need to set the temperature at 900C perhaps :rolleyes: ;), but in normal cakes where you have a banana or an orange as an extra ingredient, how do you decide the temperature?

Example: How much temperature difference can there be in a plain cake and a banana cake?

If you bake a banana cake on 200C instead of 180C, is that going to make a difference somewhere? In which way?

Asked by Anisha Kaul

Answer

Cooking temperature and time are determined by a number of factors. The idea is to get the inside of the product properly cooked before the outside dries out, becomes tough, or becomes unpleasantly dark or even burned. At the same time, you usually want the product to get nicely browned (adds flavor and looks nice) before the inside is overcooked. So it's a balance.

Factors which influence appropriate temperature and time include:

• ingredients: High protein ingredients (like meat or eggs) easily become tough when overcooked. High sugar or starch recipes will tend to brown or burn more easily.

• moisture level: For some products, such as popovers or many kinds of pastry, steam is an important leavening agent, and a high temperature is called for. In other products, like cookies, one of the goals of baking is to drive off excess moisture. And in still others, moisture is absorbed into the other ingredients.

• shape: A fat, round loaf will usually need a longer cooking time and lower temperature than a thin, flat pizza or a long, skinny baguette because it takes longer for the center of the loaf to heat up.

• pH: Changing the pH of the product will change how it browns.

• leavening: Some chemical leavening, like double-acting baking powder, activates at a certain temperature.

• personal preference: At the end of the day, the most important factor is whether you like the way the product turned out. If you like a crispier crust, change the temperature and/or cooking time to suit your taste.

Any baking recipe should specify the temperature and cooking time, unless perhaps it's from a book that specifies those things for a number of recipes at once. If not, find a similar recipe and use the temperature specified there, but keep a close eye on the product during the baking process. Learn how to tell when the product is done. For cakes, you usually go by color for the outside, and by temperature or using a toothpick or wooden skewer for the inside. (Briefly: poke a wooden toothpick into the center of a cake; if it comes out with wet batter, keep cooking; if it comes out clean and dry, it's probably overcooked; if it comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it, it's probably perfect.)

Answered by Caleb

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Crockpot recipe when converting temperature from low to high?

Question

I have a crockpot recipe for burritos, located here, that I really want to make. It says to cook the mixture on low heat for 6-10 hours but that is too long/short. I really want to convert the recipe to a high heat so I can cook it quicker. Do you think it is possible to cook this on high? If so would the recipe itself change and how (more/less water required)? How long should I cook it on high?

Asked by Kyra

Answer

You can probably get away with high heat, but you need to watch the liquid content. Since you're not cooking something that is liquid and can circulate to heat evenly, you risk burning the food or having it dry out.

I can't see any reason this needs to cook for such a long time. Ground beef is finely divided, so cooking for extended times won't benefit it that much. I'd say bring it to a boil either on high in the crock pot or on the stove, then transfer to the crockpot for 2+ hours (as long as you have).

Answered by Adam Shiemke

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What does baking time in oven depend on?

Question

Banana bread recipe requires 1 hour, and the banana muffins recipe require 20 minutes.

Both the recipes contain bananas, and flour. Why is the baking time so different among the two?

Asked by Anisha Kaul

Answer

These are the things that popped up in my mind at first glance:

Volume

How bigger the thing, how longer it will take to be fully baked. This is the reason why you find such a difference in the baking times for banana bread and banana muffins.

Surface Area

The volume can be the same (ground surface x height), but the surface exposed to the heat can differ. If something is flatter, the center is more rapidly reached. If you would bake your bread in a normal bread mold, it would take a longer time than if you would flatten out a bread on a baking sheet (but note that the volume is the same).

Oven temperature

Something very obvious. If it's hotter, it won't have to bake as long. However, don't play too much with this. I would advice to use the temperature a recipe has recommended. If you put it too hot, the outer parts can burn, when the inner parts would not be baked fully. This question is related.

Vessel Material

Some materials conduct heat better than others. As a consequence, some things will be faster done in metal than in glass for example. (But I believe this has a less important role than the other factors I've mentioned. I can't say much about it, since I don't know a lot about it.)

Answered by Mien

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How do I control the temperature of water for an extended period of time?

Question

When making the "perfect" mash, Heston Blumenthal recommends cooking waxy spuds in hot water for half an hour at the temperature of 72 degrees Celsius, exactly. At 75 degrees stuff starts breaking down.

I would like to try this out but am unsure how I can keep the temperature constant.

What kitchen tools and process can I follow to measure the temperature throughout the process? Are there any tricks?

Answer

You can try to set up my at-home on-the-cheap monkey-at-the-controls sous-vide machine. I take a nearly full 22 quart stock pot with an analog instant read thermometer to monitor the temperature and watch the temperature and adjust the dial accordingly.

With this only needing 30 minutes you probably just want to get the water to exactly 72 degrees C and then immerse the potatoes without adding any heat. The amount of energy in 20 quarts of water is phenomenal and you won't lose a lot of heat to the air.

Alternatively you could get 72 degree water and a beer cooler and try that way for the extra insulation.

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Cheesecake Cooking Time Change with Pan Change?

Question

I've made many cheesecakes before using a 9" spring-form in a water bath, and have always loved the result. For a party coming up, I'd like to make individual-sized cheesecakes using a muffin/cupcake pan (Including liners). So the question I have is what do I do to the cooking time?

All the recipes I've found for muffin-pan cheesecake say about 30 minutes (for example: Cupid's Cherry Cheesecakes). But the recipe I plan on making (a modification of White-Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake) has a cook time of 55 minutes (in a normal spring-form).

So, what I was thinking is to only bake for 30 minutes. I don't want to open the oven too often to check (and risk cold-shocking the cakes), so I'd prefer to get some insight. I'm also planning on doing a water-bath below the muffin pan.

What do you think?

Answer

The 30 minute cooking time is somewhat similar to my experience with mini-cheesecakes in a muffin tin, although I would recommend checking between 20 and 25 minutes with a toothpick. In my experience mini-cheesecakes were cooked until set entirely in the middle, but if your recipe is for an NY-style cheesecake that seems to wobble a bit, things might be different.

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How long should a 4-5 pound rib roast take in an infrared cooker?

Question

I'm going to attempt to cook a 4-5 pound rib roast in an infrared cooker. Specifically, a Big Easy Infrared Turkey Fryer.

Everything I've read says that it's done when it's done. I understand the sentiment there, but I would like to know an approximate time so that I can have other foods prepared to hit the table at the same time.

How do I estimate how long this will take?

Answer

I'd use the recipe they have on their site for pork shoulder as a guideline, since it's very similar in terms of size and shape to a beef roast (just not as heavy).

They estimate 10 minutes per pound, which is more or less consistent with the per-side estimate of most broiler recipes (which is very similar to infrared cooking).

So start with an estimate of 40-50 minutes but do what they recommend and monitor the temperature very carefully.

I have to point out that 4-5 pounds is very heavy/large for high-heat cooking methods like broiling or grilling (or infrared); it's not the same as infrared "frying" a turkey or a leg of lamb which has a very high surface area/weight ratio. Steaks would no doubt come out great this way but larger roasts respond better to roasting, so don't be too surprised if your roast starts to get seriously charred on the outside before it's sufficiently cooked on the inside.

You might want to consider starting with smaller, 2-3 lb roasts, and move up the weight next time if those come out perfectly. Based on their claims, it should take roughly the same amount of time for one large item vs. two smaller items anyway.

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Is there a table that shows the cooking temperature and the duration for different meat types and its bones?

Question

Just wondering if there is a table (similar to the one below - including a example) that can shows the cooking temperature and the duration to cook different types of meat (and/or its bones) in different style?

============================================================================================
| Temperature (Celsius) | Min. Cooking Period (Minutes) | Meat / Bones        | Styles     |
============================================================================================
| 150                   | 25                            | Steak               | Grill      |
============================================================================================

Answer

A table like you're asking for can't actually exist: doneness depends on the internal temperature and hold time of the food, not the oven temperature; your table is missing some columns.

So, there are a couple variables you're not accounting for—the biggest one being the shape and size of the meat. A ½" thick steak will cook much quicker than a 1" thick steak. The other one is the starting temperature—a steak that has been left to warm for an hour before cooking will cook quicker than one straight from the fridge. You could, I suppose build a table for all variations of size (steaks go from maybe ¼ through 2"), initial temperature, and desired doneness, but that'd be a large chart, just for a steak (and it'd be different for a T-bone or porterhouse due to the bone).

More reasonably, you could just use a food thermometer. Then you only need to worry about the temperature for desired doneness.

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Meaning of do not thaw for frozen food

Question

Today I bought frozen food for the first time and the brand is Mc Coin.

I read the instructions, which have the following instructions;

Do Not Thaw and cook from frozen

I am unsure how to parse this. Can someone please tell me what the company is telling me in the instructions, and how I am to cook it?

• Should I put my opened packet into freezer ?
• Should I cook it directly from the packet ?

Answer

Your question is slightly confusing but I'll try to answer your question.

As far as I can tell McCoin brand is bags of frozen vegetables (correct me if I am wrong). If it says do not thaw and to cook from frozen, it just means you do not need to thaw it before you cook it.

Thawing is the act of unfreezing something. This can be accomplished by leaving something out at room temperature to naturally thaw.

So if you have frozen corn and want to put it in chili or soup, just throw the frozen corn directly in without thawing it.

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Why has the meat turned out to be hard like rubber?

Question

I was following this recipe for Chinese Stir-Fired Steak with Peppers.

I think I messed it up by cooking this for too long. The meat (I used lamb's meat) turned out very hard, like rubber.

I suspect this was because I cooked it for too long. Can someone confirm this? I will be much obliged.

Answer

Yup, cooking most meat too long is a bad thing. Cooking lamb too long like that will result in rubber.

Its also possible that you accidentally cut with the grain instead of against it - which would result in a very chewy, rubber like texture. You end up with long proteins that are harder to chew. When you cut across the grain, its a bunch of very short proteins.

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How should I boil green beans to keep them crisp?

Question

I just pulled fresh Blue Lake Bush green beans from my garden, snapped the ends and wanted to boil them, while keeping then crisp. How should I boil them so they are cooked through, but not limp?

Answer

You shouldn't cook more than a few minutes, and should cool them as quickly as possible afterwards. Ideally, you'll be blanching them, and here's how:

1. Bring a pot of water with a pinch of salt in it to a roiling boil
2. Dump beans in, and cook for a few minutes
3. Check that beans are fully cooked (time will vary by variety and ripeness of beans)
4. Strain beans, and IMMEDIATELY transfer to an prepared ice water bath to cool as fast as possible

This ensures beans are precisely cooked, but do not have a chance to over-cook, and using the ice water helps them retain color and flavor.

It's how we get deliciously crisp haricot vert (French green beans) at the restaurant I work for. Note that cooking times and crispness will also vary based on the variety and age at which the beans were picked.

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pork fillet cooking time

Question

I have a pork fillet which I've cut in half and marinated in some honey and soy. I heated a pan, and seared it on all sides, then put the pan in the oven at 180 deg C. The question is, how long to leave it in the oven until it's cooked through? I suspect it's about 20 minutes for the average fillet (3-4cm in diameter). Any suggestions?

Answer

Every Kitchen needs a meat thermometer. Little too late in this case but it would have saved you here. I never used one at home until after I started working in a restaurant that only had a flat top and a convection oven with burgers on the menu. I got a relatively cheap one for $5-10 at Wal-mart and it does the job. Another option for next time is to check your meat often and poke it with a spoon, once it feels firm throughout, like the skin on the back of your hand when you make a fist, it's done.

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why do my pancakes (crêpes) take such a long time to cook?

Question

I am making crêpes and I wonder why they take such a ridiculously long amount of time to cook, about 5 or 6 minutes per pancake. I remember once upon a time I was making crêpes cooking them about 90 seconds on one side, and than 30-60 seconds on the other side, and they where ready. Now, after 3 minutes of cooking on one side, they are hardly separable from the pan, and it takes at least 5 minutes in total to make them eatable.

I tried both on medium and maximum flame. I am now doing it on a propane-butane portable stove in a van, but the maximum flame on the stove doesn't differ visually in size from a maximum flame in a brick-house stove. When I was doing them some years ago it was in a brick house on methane gas.

I do it on a simple thin Teflon-coated pancake pan.

I also don't use any eggs, and I am trying different mixtures of flour, usually about 85% of wheat flour, and the rest either: corn flour, rice flour or powdered milk. And 900 ml water per 400 grams flour mixture.

But even when I tried making them once with 900 ml milk plus 400 grams wheat flour, they also took a long time to make.

Is it because of the lack of eggs, the heat is too low, the pan is bad or something else?

What to do to cook pancakes at a rate of 1 pancake per 2 minutes again? On propane-butane without using eggs. Preferably only using grain products and water.

Answer

If it doesn't contain eggs, or at least something that serves as a substitute for eggs, it's not a crepe. Crepes cook quickly because eggs need very little time/heat to set up. Like justkt said, what you've described is a tortilla. I'm not exactly sure how or why a tortilla "sets up" (if you can even use that term for a flatbread), but it's a completely different mechanism than cooking eggs, and takes a much longer time.

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How to make Kidney beans, tender?

Question

The way I do it is, soak the Kidney beans for overnight. But still they have to be cooked for a long time on gas before they get tender enough to be edible.

Anything that can be added or be done in a different way to reduce the time on gas?

Answer

Adding a little bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to the beans when soaking overnight should help soften them.

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How can I melt cheese for dipping?

Question

I love dipping things like pretzels in metled cheese.

I've done this lots of times at fairs and other places with 'pretzel carts', but I've never been able to replicate it myself at home.

Whenever I try it, I get really thick, stretch cheese with a layer of liquid oil sitting on top of it. It's gross, and not good for dipping.

So, how can I melt cheese into a nice, smooth, liquid that I can use for dipping in?
I'd love to learn if there's a particular type of cheese that will work best, how to heat the cheese, and any other tips that you can provide.

Thanks!

Answer

Normal cheese melts like that. It is made of proteins, fats, and water, and these separate when they are heated.

For dipping, you need processed cheese. It has additives which keep the fat, fluid and solids mixed in a smooth mass. Also, it really helps to use very slow and even heat. This is the easy option.

If you want to do it "for real", without processed cheese, you have to make a cheese fondue. It is traditionally made with Swiss cheese (I am fond of Appenzeller fondue), but you can use most types of semi-hard yellow cheese. It also contains some fluid, traditionaly white wine, and is emulsified with simple starch. It is preferable to have a special pan for this, as you can serve it heated. But if you make a big portion in a pan with a high thermal capacity, and make it immediately before serving, you can do without the special gear.

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How long should I boil green beans to get them crisp?

Question

I just pulled fresh Blue Lake Bush green beans from my garden, snapped the ends and wanted to boil them until they are crisp. How long should I boil them so they are cooked through, but not limp?

Answer

You shouldn't cook more than a few minutes, and should cool them as quickly as possible afterwards. Ideally, you'll be blanching them, and here's how:

1. Bring a pot of water with a pinch of salt in it to a roiling boil
2. Dump beans in, and cook for a few minutes
3. Check that beans are fully cooked (time will vary by variety and ripeness of beans)
4. Strain beans, and IMMEDIATELY transfer to an prepared ice water bath to cool as fast as possible

This ensures beans are precisely cooked, but do not have a chance to over-cook, and using the ice water helps them retain color and flavor.

It's how we get deliciously crisp haricot vert (French green beans) at the restaurant I work for. Note that cooking times and crispness will also vary based on the variety and age at which the beans were picked.

Check more discussion of this question.