How do I cook beetroot

Question

I've just pulled some beetroot out of my garden.

I've never cooked beetroot before so would love a few suggestions.

Asked by Stacey Richards

Answer

Basically you boil them or roast them until tender, then let them cool and peel them. It is better not to cut or peel them before cooking, they will bleed lots of color and flavor. Some classic things to do with them: puree into a soup called borscht, slice them in a salad (particularly nice with goat cheese), serve as a roasted vegetable like you would a potato or turnip. They especially love dairy products with a little tang such as sour cream, feta cheese, yogurt and so forth.

Answered by Michael at Herbivoracious

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Why do instructions for carving a chicken disregard the back?

Question

Many instructions for carving a roast chicken don't mention doing anything with the meat on the back. For example, Mark Bittman in How to Cook Everything, describes how to cut the breast, leg, and wing from the bird, but doesn't say to do anything with the back (other than, presumably, to put it in stock). The back meat tastes perfectly fine to me, although it isn't a large pretty chunk like the other pieces.

Why aren't there instructions on how to carve it too? Should I serve up the back meat? Keep it for myself? Use it as a part of some other cooking?

Asked by Michael Hoffman

Answer

Back meat on poultry tends to be rubbery, inaccessible, and there is relatively little of it. The meat is almost like other dark meat but is found only in thin sheets. Also since, during tradition roasting the back meat is down in the pan, it tends to be less cooked than is pleasant for dark meat.

It isn't practical to try and carve it because it is a ton of effort for just a little bit of not-very-good meat.

After carving off the major cuts I will use my hands to pull off any useful scraps- including some of the larger pieces of back meat. I save these pieces for my standard poultry scraps applications: pie, soup, and enchiladas.

Whatever is left gives up it's goodness into the broth when the carcass is boiled and is then fed, with the spent carcass, back to the chickens.

Answered by Sobachatina

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What can I do with frozen eggs?

Question

Although a previous question asks if raw eggs can be frozen, my eggs froze, in the shell, because the chicken coop into which they were delivered was very cold last week.

I thawed the eggs, and they seem fine, except that the yolks are solid / gelatinous. This means that scrambled eggs are out, at least as I know them.

What else can be done with these eggs; this will probably happen again?

Asked by David

Answer

The best I can offer you comes from Functionality of Proteins in Food:

The gelation of egg yolk can be partially reversed by heating after thawing. This treatment improves the functional properties of proteins. The stiffness of the gels obtained after frozen storage can be reduced by more than 50% and become pourable at 21° C by heating up to 45° C for 1 h.

Eggs don't actually start to set until you hit 63° C, so if I had previously-frozen eggs, I would heat them as the above paragraph suggests. Just be very careful not to use too much heat.

You won't get perfect eggs, but they'll be edible.

Answered by Aaronut

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Are the leftovers from making stock good for anything?

Question

Having made stock and strained it, can the meat and vegetables boiled up in the stock be used for anything, or should they go in the bin?

Asked by Sam Holder

Answer

The veggies aren't very palatable after such a long simmering (unless you like celery paste, I guess), but if you've thrown a whole chicken in the resulting meat is wonderfully tender and flavorful.

Answered by ceejayoz

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What to do with crumbled muffins?

Question

I made some muffins that apparently didn't have enough liquid to stick together (perhaps substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream was not such a good idea, as that, butter, and an egg contributed the only liquid). So the muffins crumbled completely on leaving the greased tin. Are there any culinary uses for them, or am I stuck trying to eat the big chunks and throw the rest out? They are so crumbly that packing them to the office for breakfast like I usually do won't work.

The specific ones I made are cinnamon coffee cake flavored, but I'd be curious about the general case.

Asked by justkt

Answer

Since it sounds like they are basically a dried out batter at this point, I would turn to implementations that rely on those kind of food-stuffs;

• With some further baking and possibly additional brown sugar and butter or apple-sauce, I would use them for a crumble topping. If they are coffee and cinnamon an apple-cardamom cobbler would benefit nicely.
• The crumbles could be incorporated into a biscuit batter recipe
• In all likelihood, any kind of recipe that relies on a granola could probably be referenced for further ideas.
• You could also use the crumble as a stand-in for oat based no-bakes. The no-bakes might feel mealy to the tooth, so not entirely eliminating the oat might work best.

If you wanted to repurpose, you might try thinking of it as a material to be suspended. With an ingredient like well-blended coconut butter (not to be confused with coconut oil or milk or cream) you could create a base with which to make a kind of post-raw bar cookie (basically press and chill the coconut butter in a pan on top of wax/parchment paper, pulse the muffin bits with some dates or brown rice syrup, and once the butter sets press the bits/dates mixture into the top and drizzle with some ganache or whatever).

Answered by mfg

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What is the best way to re-serve day old meat balls?

Question

I've noticed that meatballs are one type of food that often tastes much better the next day. So whenever I make meatballs, I make lots of extras and put them in my fridge to allow the flavors to "develop".

However, when I warm the meatballs up in the microwave they sometimes get dry or have slightly tough and rubbery spots -- especially on outside edges.

What is the best technique to re-warm / re-serve meatballs that you have made the previous day (or a couple days prior) so they stay moist and delicious?

Asked by Adisak

Answer

My preferred method by far would be heating them in a pot along with some kind of sauce.

Failing that, I think I might try putting them in a tightly covered pot in the oven along with just a little water (just a tablespoon or so)--that would gently heat them and also keep them moist.

Answered by bikeboy389

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Are there any savoury dishes using matcha tea?

Question

I know that you can use matcha powder in a similar way to chocolate in sweet foods but are there any savoury dishes you can make with it?

Asked by Willbill

Answer

One trend I've seen recently is making tea broths/sauces for meats, fishes, etc... Besides being a good use for tea, this has the double effect of giving off the tea's natural aroma when presented to the eater as opposed to simply using the tea to crust a meat - where you wouldn't really get any tea flavor until you actually bit in.

I've also seen people smoking meats with tea leaves and such. I haven't tried this myself to see if the results are worth the trouble (aka - if you can actually taste the tea flavor).

I would also try poaching various items in a matcha tea poaching liquid. For example:

1. Water
2. Sugar + salt
3. Matcha tea powder
4. Peppercorns
5. Bay leaves
6. Whatever else sounds good to you.

You could use this to poach chicken and fish.

Lastly, don't be afraid to add it to soups! Carrot-ginger soup would benefit from the addition of some matcha powder.

Answered by Chad

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In what kinds of dishes is asafoetida traditionally used?

Question

A friend recently gave me a small jar of asafoetida without telling me how to use it (or that it smelled horrible). In my googling, all I've been able to find out so far is that it's the dried sap of a Middle Eastern herb, used as a natural remedy, should be stored in a tightly sealed container due to its strong scent, and should be used "sparingly." I'm interested in knowing more specifically how I might use it in cooking (and if its flavor is better than its scent).

Asked by Iuls

Answer

It is used extensively in Indian cooking. I have one book, Lord Krishna's Cuisine that calls for it in virtually every recipe, and each time reminds you to cut the amount down by 3/4's if you can't find Yellow Cobra brand. It does indeed have a flavor someone reminiscent of aged garlic. It is thought to have medicinal value as well (see the wikipedia article for details).

Answered by Michael at Herbivoracious

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Uses for fondue broth?

Question

I had meat fondue last night: beef, chicken, and shrimp cooked in a simple vegetable broth at the table. When we were finished eating, the broth was thrown away. I could only help but wonder: are there any typical dishes made with the used broth?

Answer

I would use this broth to make soups. It would make a great base for a number of soups such as scotch broth, but also for using for the stock for making other soups such as lentil or whatever you fancy.

Good luck!

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How can I use roses in cooking?

Question

I have some very pungent roses in bloom at the moment, on smelling them my first thought was that they smelled like Turkish Delight. My Second thought that was it should be possible to use them in a pudding of some sort myself.

I have seen rose water in some recipes, is this the only way to use roses in cooking? What is a good way to get the flavor into food?

Answer

Rose petals are edible. If you look for rose petal recipes, you will find many creative uses of them, including rice pudding with roses - so your pudding intuition was correct. During colonial American times they were considered a treat. You can candy rose petals with egg whites and sugar - typical cautions about appropriate raw egg white useage applies.

Before using your rose petals in culinary applications, make sure to remember what chemicals you used on them. If they've been sprayed with pesticides, you don't want to be eating them.

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What is chickpea flour used for?

Question

I bought a bag of chickpea flour once thinking (erroneously) that I could use it to make hummus. I've since bought dried chickpeas and made hummus the "right" way... but now I have no idea what to do with my unopened bag of chickpea flour. What is it generally used for?

Now, I know it can be used as a substitute for eggs (in vegan baking) and flour (for gluten-free cooking), but I'd rather not use it as a substitute for something better if I don't have to, so I'm looking for recipes where chickpea flour is the preferred ingredient.

Answer

Chickpea flour (gram flour, besan) is very useful in Indian cookery.

The most common use in the West is probably for making bhajis and pakora. The most popular of which are Onion Bhajis, very popular in the UK. They are essentially an spiced onion fritter, shaped in either discs or balls. Any vegetables can be used to make pakora (which is essentially the same thing) or bhajis, but spinach (sag pakora), aubergine (us eggplant, brinjal bhaji), potato (aloo pakora) or cauliflower (gobi pakora) are the most common, sometimes in combination.

Gram flour is also used for making poppadoms (also papad, papadum, a crisp fried pancake, served as an accompaniment to meals with chutney.

One of the more commonly seen uses is in chevda (sometimes chivda), or as we call it in the UK usually Bombay Mix (I believe it is called Punjabi Mix in the US). A mixture of dried savoury snacks, coated in spice. One of the primary ingredients is sev, a dried noodle made from gram flour. Mixtures predominantly composed of sev are called sev mamra.

There are also a number of Indian sweets made with besan.

Besan Barfi (barfi is something akin to fudge, made with condensed milk):

Besan Ladoo (little sweet balls):

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NB. You can use it as an egg substitute in vegan cookery, but soya flour works better for the same purpose and, in my opinion, has less associated flavour.

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Different uses for avocado?

Question

I hear that avocado is really good for you and I want to try to eat more of it. Other than guacamole what types of food a recipes do you recommend?

Answer

Avocado and Pineapple Salad.

Yes, I know it sounds strange, but I had it at a restaurant when in Spain a couple of years ago. The closest recipe I can find is a version claiming to be Cuban; I don't recall if the version I had used lime and orange, as it would've had to compete with the pineapple.

I tend to use them in many Latin recipes that you might top with sour cream ... it doesn't give the tang (unless you're like me and tend to douse my avocado with a healthy squeeze of lime or lemon), but it gives the creaminess without being dairy for those of us on restricted diets.

You could also take a look at recipes on the California Avocado Commissioner's website

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Culinary Uses for Wheat Grass Sprouts

Question

Typically the only way I've found people consuming wheat grass sprouts is through juicing. Can this item be used in cooking, preferably as a main ingredient?

(Please keep in mind that I'm vegan.)

Answer

One has to juice wheat grass and consume raw if you want to get any health benefits and nutrients out of the superfood. Smoothies, ice creams and other beverages are good places to start consuming wheat grass juice. Freezing any plant or animal food will cause the cells in the food to expand and burst so it is best to drink any fresh juice right away before oxidation takes place and to not freeze or keep left overs.

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Is there any use to salmon heads and spines?

Question

The fishmonger gave me a whole salmon rationed, and included the head and spine. I threw the head and spine away, but was wondering whether there is any culinary use for it.

Normally in a fish stock, I use white fish, not blue.

Answer

I agree that you can get some good meat from the head and could use it to flavour Bouillabaisse, i wouldn't however use it for stock as oily fish can lead to a cloudy fatty stock rather than the clearer and more flavoursome fish stock that can be derived from the off cuts and bones from white fish.

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How can I use persimmons in a cooked dish?

Question

I've recently had my first taste of a persimmon, having no idea how it tastes or how it should be eaten, I cut it into slices and ate it like an apple.

It is a very interesting sweet taste, and would like to know how I can incorporate it into a cooked meal or dish?

Answer

Raw

Personally, growing up I've usually just eat it raw after it's ripened. That's the only form that i've a experienced a persimmon.

Nonethless, a quick google reveals use as a sauce:

This morning, I cooked the last of the mushy persimmons into a second batch of persimmon sauce. The first, served over bread pudding on a whim one evening, was so popular that it was deemed worthy of the last persimmons. It’s simple and delicious, primarily because, as I discovered, a generous serving of nutmeg and a bit of meyer lemon is the best way to season persimmon anything!

Source: Oakland Garden Kitchen

In this article, Oakland Garden Kitchen blogger, also lists a recipes for persimmon bread published by David Lebovitz. Lebovitz has a very comprehensive blog article about persimmons.

Persimmon in Bread

In this blog, he provides an adaptation of James Beard's, "Beard on Bread", Persimmon Bread recipe. If you don't like this version of the recipe. Epicurean has another version.

Persimmon as an Entree

Wine Press NW also once published a recipe of use of persimmon as a glaze for salmon.

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What is maggiorana and how can I use it

Question

Someone left me a jar of maggiorana and I have no clue what to do with it (other than pass it on to someone). Wikipedia says "marjoram is synonymous with oregano", but the stuff I have tastes and smells nothing like oregano. smells almost like tea and is almost tasteless.

What purpose does it serve and where can I use it?

Answer

Marjoram is botanically an oregano subspecies, but it does taste entirely different (a situation very common in herbs, think spearmint and peppermint). The description "smells almost like tea and is almost tasteless" indicates that you got mass-produced stuff where the good aromas have long left the dried plant matter. Fresh marjoram is a rather mild herb, but it still has a distinct aroma, and not a generally "grassy" one.

The aroma of majoran isn't very intrusive, so it can easily be combined with many flavors. It is very often used with potato dishes of any kind, but a big herb producer recommends it for practically everything:

Potato soup and salad, potato dumplings and fried potatoes, meat and sausage salad, all salty cheese dishes, meat loaf, chicken fillings, and especially to homemade lard, duck and goose, rabbit and pork fat. Marjoram is good also for dark mushrooms, cucumbers, all bean dishes and feed legumes, stuffed tomatoes and tomato soup, carrots, peas, sour cream sauce, herb mayonnaise and herb cheese, all heart, liver, kidney, lung dishes, tripe, fish soups and fish stews, fish baked in fat, pie fillings, soups and wild game stew.

It would have been perfect if you had the fresh stuff, but even the dried herb is better than nothing. Just add it to some dish (you can use big amounts, because it is already weak) and decide if you like it.

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What is a good recipe that uses a lot of evaporated and/or sweetened milk? [closed]

Question

I have 60 oz of evaporated milk and don't know what to cook with it. I have found some recipes, but they only call for 12 oz to be used and I'm about to get another 36 oz. What is a good recipe (or recipes) that use a lot of evaporated milk? Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, or desert recipes are welcome. This question taught me that I can turn some of it into sweetened condensed milk, so that can be one of the ingrediants too.

Answer

Flan, a type of custard, is the same as crème caramel, tasty desert.

Pumpkin pie uses a bunch of evaporated milk.

Ducle de leche is a terrific desert topping and filling, translated literally it means 'sweet of milk'. The reason I mention this is that in Argentina and Chile, cans of sweetened condensed milk are boiled, unopened, on the stove for some hours to produce dulce de leche. I understand that what you have is evaporated milk, which is different; there is no reason not to try using it to make this delicious treat.

Here is a link with a bazillion uses for evaporated milk:

http://www.carnationmilk.ca/recipes.aspx

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Are there culinary uses for the water left from peeling almonds?

Question

Is there a possible use for the water used for peeling almonds?

(Throw the almonds in boiling water and let them soak for a couple of mins before peeling them: the water left is yellowish and almond scented)

Answer

Generally, there is no reason not to use it. However, I'm hard pressed to think of a good place, generally because good cooking prefers other, stronger flavored liquids instead of water.

An application where you can have the flavor on its own would be making ayran or a lassi. I think it would be an improvement over plain-water-ayran.

For other uses, just substitute plain water to get a slight nutty hint. I like to pair rice with nuts, so you could use it instead of pure water to cook rice. Or add it to a pot of stock you are making - with a complex stock of a meat and several vegetables, it will be too subtle a taste to register consciously, but will enrich the flavor as a whole. For a simpler stock (e.g. just chicken with classic mirepoix) the taste of almonds can get too strong, depending on the quantity you use.

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Would one use holy basil to make pesto sauce? Are there other culinary uses?

Question

I got some holy basil seeds (via mail) from a guy on an internet forum. I planted them and they are growing nicely. They taste similar to thai basil. Would one use holy basil to make pesto sauce? Are there other culinary uses for holy basil?

Answer

Use it the same as you would thai basil, or even "normal" basil. It's a little more strongly on the licorice flavor side of things than lettuce leaf basil, but it still works nicely in conjunction with tomatoes, garlic, and other "italian" flavors.

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How should I use extra summer squash?

Question

My CSA delivers me a lot of summer squash, more than I can actually find the time to cook in a week. Can I freeze the remainder in some way? Is there a quick recipe I should be making that stores well? I'm not thinking primarily of meals here -- if I had the time to cook dinners more regularly I wouldn't be overwhelmed -- but of things I can store for a while.

Answer

I feel your pain. If only I liked summer squash better...

You definitely can freeze squash -- thick slice it, blanch it in salty water briefly until almost tender, transfer to an ice bath until it's chilled, bag it, and put in the freezer.

Later, thaw and use with recipes that don't require ultra-crisp squash.

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